Mod Superhero - STUBBING AUG 17TH!

Chapter 7.81 - Showdown

Optical lenses, such as those in cameras or telescopes, work by bending light. However, glass isn't the only material or medium that does this. The same effect can be seen in a pond or in the haze of a hot afternoon. Similarly, some galaxies are so massive that their gravity bends light around them. This is called gravitational lensing. While most lens effects can be seen with the naked eye, gravitational lensing is small and faint, and the effect requires powerful telescopes to see.

Paragon threw the first punch, and reality bent around him.

Mod was probably the first Earthling to witness such a thing. The distortion effect was over so quickly that only a Class 5 speedster could've observed it, and only someone with equal durability would survive the punch.

Warnings flared, and Mod's processing went into overdrive. He'd once tapped a third of new Venice for processing power when he fought the speedster, Velocity. Three months had passed since then. Now, he had magnitudes more power at his disposal.

The world slowed to a crawl.

In simulations, the most difficult aspect of this fight was that Mod's mind moved far faster than his body could react. He could see Paragon's attack coming, but even his Prime body wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. Mod was still bound by physics, and so there were limits to what his body could do. That was where the shard of mirror came into play. It wasn't limited by reality. It was bound only by power source and mental focus, of which Mod's supply was boundless.

In the milliseconds before Paragon's first punch landed, Mod summoned barriers, layering them by the billions until they were as numerous as grains of sand on a beach. The punch landed like a crashing wave, obliterating layers of barriers like sand churning in the surf. Deeper layers flexed and bent, softening the impact until it reached Mod's body.

Soft was a relative term, however. If not for Mod's new body, that first punch would've destroyed him. Thousands of design iterations and untold years of subjective time and work kept him from being blown apart. The punch hit him in the shoulder, but the immense force was distributed across his entire body.

The impact blew a crater in the moon and hurled Mod backward like a cannonball. His feet dug into the ground, gouging twin lines in the lunar surface. Thrusters flared across his back, arresting his momentum. Mod traveled almost a quarter mile before he came to a halt.

Mod had simulated this fight thousands of times, but there were too many unknowns. Paragon's attack even caused a sound and shockwave when there wasn't any atmosphere. But now Mod had data. Warnings ticked by in his HUD, but his body was already isolating damaged layers and repairing them. Defensive layers adjusted, and Mod was already finding more efficient ways of layering his magic barriers.

Meanwhile, Paragon hadn't moved. He hovered just above the crater, silhouetted against an expanding cloud of moondust. He stared back in disbelief.

Mod took a mental snapshot for posterity. Then he checked that Paragon's earpiece was still intact and sent him a message.

"I didn't come here for one punch. I came here for a fight."

Paragon obliged him. The Dunaman launched forward in an explosion of moondust. The sheer speed gouged a trench into the landscape, completely overwriting the gouges Mod had dug just moments earlier.

Mod saw that attack, and every other, in slow motion. The battle became a chess match, with Mod moving himself around the board, placing himself in advantageous positions while trying to take advantage of Paragon's mistakes. This was the fight of Mod's life, and yet somehow like every other battle that came before it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his old electronica music playlist had started.