When Gods and Monsters Collide 2/2
"HAHAHAHA!"
Hercules rose from the shattered earth as well.
The same excited smile was still on his face.
Not the slightest trace of fear toward the new power of the man in the sky.
For a moment he looked toward Sentry.
Then toward Graviton.
His battle instincts seemed to grow sharper and sharper.
As if he were returning to what he had once been.
A divine warrior.
He slammed both fists together in front of his chest.
The explosion of air that followed swept all the dust away around him.
At that exact moment, Sentry shot toward Hercules with his fist forward.
At the same time, from the sky, Graviton launched one of his gravitational bubbles.
As it descended toward Hercules, the sphere began absorbing everything around it.
Earth.
Rocks.
Debris.
Everything compressed toward its center until it formed a gigantic mass of rock and soil falling like an artificial meteor.
Then seismic sensors across several countries began to activate.
Alerts appeared across monitoring stations.
The countries closest to the area began to feel massive tremors.
People running through the streets.
Buildings shaking.
Alarms blaring.
The battle was affecting half a continent.
Several seismic stations began sending automatic alerts.
In some countries, experts were already trying to determine whether it was a massive earthquake…
or something far worse.
At that moment, a red flash tore through the sky above the battlefield, like a crack of energy opening in the middle of the storm of destruction.
The shockwave from the battle struck his body the instant he appeared, ruffling his hair as he looked down at the chaos below.
A figure emerged within that light.
His expression was a mixture of surprise, shock, and complete confusion.
Owen.
He looked down.
For a few seconds he simply watched the devastated battlefield, the shockwaves and explosions still shaking the ground.
Then he blinked slowly.
"...What the hell is going on here?"
"HAHAHAHA!"
Hercules laughed as he exchanged punches with Sentry, while Graviton seemed to be forming small planets and throwing them down on top of them.
The fists of Hercules and Sentry collided again and again, each impact sending explosions through the air.
Owen could hear several alarms ringing from his phone.
But it was pretty obvious why those calls were coming in.
If those three kept fighting like this, they could destroy a large part of the world.
With a red flash, Owen moved toward them, weaving through the meteor-like masses Graviton was launching, some of which were smashed apart by Hercules, others by Sentry, their fragments flying in every direction.
Just before Sentry and Hercules could deliver another blow that sent them flying in opposite directions.
Owen appeared right where Hercules was getting back to his feet, a little blood on his lip, the excitement of battle clearly reaching its peak.
"Hercules," Owen said, stopping him just before he could leap toward Sentry.
Sentry paused slightly when he noticed someone new appear, staring directly at Owen.
Graviton did the same, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Oh? It's you, Colt. Want to fight me too?" the muscle-brained warrior asked excitedly.
"Don't be an idiot. What is happening?" Owen asked calmly.
"A battle between warriors," Hercules replied proudly, laughing.
Owen gave him a flat look.
"Owen Colt," Graviton suddenly said with an arrogant smile.
"So you finally show up. Someone asked me to help capture you… but now I don't really care about that anymore."
As he spoke, he raised one hand.
Above his palm appeared what looked like a tiny black point.
Almost the size of a grain of rice.
Yet the immense gravitational pull coming from it could still be felt.
Graviton's arrogant smile only grew wider.
"Your repulsion, or whatever it is you call that power of yours, cannot defeat gravity."
Owen slightly tilted his head and glanced toward Hercules.
"You don't mind if I remove one of your opponents?" he asked calmly.
"Oh, him?" Hercules said, glancing at Graviton with clear disinterest.
"I don't care. He's just an annoying fly."
Then he pointed toward Sentry.
"I'm only interested in the solar brat who's getting better in the middle of the fight."
"Don't destroy the world. The others are already on their way," Owen said calmly before disappearing in another red flash.
Sentry followed Owen's movement slightly with his eyes.
But before he could even say or do anything, Hercules suddenly launched himself toward him.
The ground behind him rose violently as he moved.
He appeared right in front of Sentry's face with a punch that seemed to tear through the air itself.
Sentry ducked, narrowly avoiding the blow.
Every strike from Hercules looked capable of shattering a mountain.
"HAHAHA! Getting stronger that fast is the privilege of youth. That's how it's done, kid!" Hercules said with excitement.
Even if Sentry was his enemy, watching a powerful warrior stand against him and grow stronger in the middle of battle only made Hercules feel better and better.
After all, Hercules was a warrior to his core.
And now that neither of them had to worry about Graviton's indiscriminate attacks…
They could fight face to face.
Sentry slammed his head into Hercules' stomach, using the force of his flight to amplify the impact.
Both of them shot upward into the sky.
Hercules exhaled sharply from the blow, but he reacted almost immediately. He lifted his knee and drove it straight into Sentry's chest, forcing him to recoil in midair.
Before the other man could regain his balance, Hercules grabbed him by the neck.
Then he smashed his forehead straight into Sentry's face.
"You still need to improve where you strike. It's not just about hurting your enemy… it's about putting him down," Hercules said.
The impact made Sentry's eyes close slightly.
And when he opened them again, Hercules' fist was already right in front of his face.
The blow sent him crashing back toward the ground.
At the same time, Hercules followed him down, descending with his fist forward.
"Come on, kid! I'll teach you how to beat me!" he shouted as he fell like a meteor, even more powerful than the ones Graviton had been throwing.
…
Meanwhile, Owen appeared directly in front of Graviton.
The man was still watching him with arrogance, holding what looked like a small planet forming in his hand. A compressed mass of rock and earth that continued pulling everything around it inward as gravity compacted it tighter and tighter in his palm.
It looked like it wanted to drag Owen into its center as well.
But Owen's body was glowing with his red aura of repulsion.
The invisible force warped the air around him, as if an unseen pressure constantly pushed away anything trying to approach.
Even the small stones floating nearby slowly shifted away when they drifted too close to his aura.
Owen hovered in the air without even moving his legs.
"What exactly are you planning, Doctor Hall?" Owen asked calmly, looking at the man who controlled gravity.
"Explaining it would be pointless if you couldn't even understand it," Graviton replied.
Then he looked at the rocky mass spinning slowly above his palm.
"But his power will help my research greatly."
He watched the compressed sphere rotate slowly in his hand.
"That neanderthal almost ruined my plans with how monstrously strong he is… but now…"
His eyes gleamed as he observed the sphere of rock like a god admiring his creation.
Then he looked back at Owen.
"Still… you might prove useful as well."
He studied him with a curious expression.
As if evaluating an interesting experiment.
Owen raised an eyebrow when he saw the look on the man's face.
And he couldn't help letting out a small amused smile.
As always.
Power inevitably corrupted the weakest minds.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the explosions from the clash between Hercules and Sentry lit up the sky.
Owen's body didn't just seem to pulse against the air around him.
Even the gravity trying to pull him toward the rock in Graviton's hand seemed to distort when it approached his aura.
At the same time, a growing amount of heat began to radiate from his body.
"I planned to deal with people like you once I finished organizing the creation of the association," Owen said calmly.
His eyes turned slightly colder.
"But I suppose I'll have to do it now… before you cause problems we don't need."
Graviton let out a mocking laugh.
"You know absolutely nothing… and yet you speak with such arrogance."
For a moment, Owen stared directly at him.
Watching something only he seemed to notice.
And that made his eyes narrow slightly.