Sigma/Star

Chapter 94: The War In The North Part 4

The Mahari towered over Porter's body, its shadow covering the White Storm completely as it blocked out the sun. Fluids dripped off its exposed muscles, a combination of different biological and artificial oils without enough skin to keep the liquids contained. It did not hesitate in raising its arm, clenching its fingers into a fist and driving it down towards Porter as he lay on the ground.

Porter's battlesuit began to hum, vibrating on the ground as electricity coursed through it. Before the Mahari struck the ground, the White Storm split in five different directions, blue afterimages fading into little bolts of electricity that scattered away on the ground. The whole thing happened in less than a second, occurring so quickly that those who blinked missed it entirely and assumed the worst as the monster's hand broke straight through the ground.

The air behind the Mahari warped and twisted for a moment before the five images of the White Storm appeared, flying together to form the complete battlesuit. It crackled with electrical energy before pointing its sword down at the creature. A bolt of lightning shot off the tip of the weapon, smashing into the Mahari's back before fading away.

Another fulmination leaped off the end of Porter's blade, smashing into the Mahari and causing the flesh and muscles in a small circle on its back to rip apart, skin bubbling from the intense heat. The monster felt no pain though, and swung its fists around with unnatural speed. Porter was gone again though, his warmachine vanishing in spectacular fashion once again.

Ochenkov placed his hand on his chin and his Goliath emulated the behaviour. "You don't have to do that you know," Ardwen said, shaking his head at his senior. "You don't need to show me you're thinking."

"You know what happen?"

"No, I don't get what's going on at all. All I know is Porter is winning."

"Channeling," Ochenkov responded, his voice showing hints of surprise at Porter's skill and...at something else. "Has to relax first for channel. Lie down."

"He's channeling his chi? I could've guessed that Ochenkov!" Ardwen threw up his hands in frustration convinced he had been given the worst possible team to work with by Saint Ishiyama. "What about the weird disappearing."

But Ochenkov only shrugged, also confused by what was going on. "Is Goliath, not Porter." That was all he said about it, regardless of any further prying Ardwen tried to do. The barbarian simply shook his head and continued to stare at the fight with a newfound curiosity.

* * * * *

Porter could feel the world around him, feel every heartbeat of every person, feel the pulse in everyone's veins, feel the life that coursed through every plant. He could sense the sinister presence of the Jahari, their chi horribly blackened and twisted. But he didn't know where he was in all of this. He just knew that he was.

The White Storm appeared once more, this time in front of the Mahari, and unleashed more lightning, twin bolts slamming into the monster's face, sending it reeling for a moment from nothing but the force. It couldn't react to the pain as it had no way to sense it was injured. All it could do was try to fight, and it clumsily swung up at Porter as he hovered in the air, its vision distorted by the chi attacks.

But Porter was just outside the beast's reach, factoring in its inability to quickly move its feet. The behemoth stumbled forwards, staggering and trying to catch its balance as its tremendous upper weight propelled it forth. Porter took the opening without hesitation, dashing downwards towards the creature's back, grabbing his sword stuck in the cannon while swinging his remaining blade at it from the other side. He managed to lodge both his weapons in the bony structure of the gun before forcing them both together, severing the weapon entirely.