Paris Monsieur in Gotham) [DISCONTINUED]

(Chapter 32)

Jia Long panted, sliding down against the wall and leaving a red trail in his wake, courtesy of the lacerations on his back. He hissed at the slight friction between his wounds and the wall behind him.

He cursed at Hawkmoth and cursed whatever deity up there chose to use him as a sick joke like this.

His day had started off wonderfully, for real. He finally made a start to clear his secrets up with Dahlia, they had a heart-to-heart talk that lessened the weight on their chests and he got a decent night’s rest that helped him shave off the majority of the strain from using the Mouse Miraculous.

Then right after he had a decent breakfast, cue the Akuma Alert going off on LadyBugOut.

Naturally, him and Chris dropped whatever they were doing and sprinted off. Unfortunately, Mme. Bustier caught them and they had to waste precious seconds apologizing for running down the corridors like children and being so ‘anti-social with the rest of their respective peers’ seeing as to how they were ‘isolating themselves’ right after eating.

They made their way back to Paris and went straight to the battlefield.....which was the first big mistake they made.

The akuma’s name was Region and Red Beetle had to admit that this time...Hawkmoth really outdone himself.

Region had control over space- she could fu$king manipulate the spatial region as though it was a giant mound of clay she could knead to her will.

The bad part was that Suzaku was put out of commission...the worst part however, was when a solemn Viperion told him the truth.

She had been put out of commission as Kagami; as a civilian caught in the crossfire.

Viperion tried, god he tried, to go back and fix his mistakes but he couldn’t because he was either too far or Region was just too ahead.

It took him 35 times to so much as grab the Dragon Miraculous from Kagami before he was forced to fled lest Region utterly pummel him with her powers.

Red Beetle was glad Viperion chose to do that, because not too long after, he himself got hit with a blast when he was stupidly within the boundaries of Region’s territory.

That was the second mistake he made.

From what he’s been able to pick up, Region’s manipulation over the spatial region was limited to a radius of approximately.....5 feet. Within that 5 feet radius, she can make any and all of their attacks useless- projectiles were deflected like flies, punches and kicks were blocked like a brick wall and even if they get within close range, she could literally blow them away.

Amber could testify the last part. Said hero had been blown straight through a wall and went splashing down into the Seine.

After fighting for an hour while gaining no ground, Marcel unified Tikki with Longg. He ignored the kwamis warnings and protests- he ignored his own voice in his head telling him he could kill himself with this- and did it anyways, becoming Jia Long.

Besides....him suffering a bit of nausea and coughing from wielding the Dragon Miraculous too? That’s nothing compared to how badly he failed Kagami, he deserved it because he was too slow again, not strong enough, not proficient enough-

He had to do this.

Unlike his yoyo or Amber’s trompo or Viperion’s lyre, his sword gave him an edge. Turns out, it was capable of ‘piercing’ Region’s spatial territory so to speak. While she could still block and nullify his attacks, there’s no denying that he was steadily driving her to a wall and gaining ground.

The third mistake he made was letting his ground, allowing himself to be blinded by the invigorating prospect of hope.

He charged towards Region-