Seltron Super Academy Chapter 15

Opening up the fight was Major with his laser beams streaking across the gym at us. I danced to the side and around it while Alex just raised her wings together as a ‘shield.’ As far as tactics went, I didn’t think that one was the smartest, as it just obscured Alex’s vision, and her wings, while tough, didn’t seem to be any tougher than the rest of her body; hopefully we’d have time to discuss that later.

I raised my hand and fired a bone spike out at Major. Before it could land, it hit a conjured, shimmering, mostly transparent, brown wall raised in the air. The bone spike went through the barrier but wildly veered off course as it did so, hitting the wall above the students heads and shattering. What is that thing?

It looked like a force field, but with how my attack moved through it... seeing Major’s attack gave me the answer. Not a real force field, but a distortion barrier. Major had to pull back his laser beams as well, the light striking wildly well over our heads and cutting into the ceiling as he tried to return fire.

The students jumped or tried climbing down (most who tried to climb fell on the slippery ladder), and Alex charged forward, not at any student but at the front wall/ledge/side of the gym itself. Her fist hit the wall they were standing on, and it rippled, a few cracks spreading out near the base beyond the gym’s ability to repair itself. The vibrations sent most of them tumbling down, including Marcellus, his barrier disappearing.

I let out a low whistle at that show of strength as I snapped off a quick bone spike at Major, who managed to retain his balance enough not to fall down but not dodge my attack, the spike catching him in the shoulder. Then I turned my attention to the fighting at the base, Alex tossing the other students around like hay in a storm. I moved in too; my bone spikes were good for when I needed long-range attacks, but they used up too much mass to use constantly. It's also too deadly to risk too often; I’ll do whatever it takes to survive, but I’d like to win the day without costing anyone’s life.

Jumping near the fray, I managed to snag Alex with a tentacle and pull her away just before the Angelica would have laid a hand on the winged girl’s shoulder. I smacked the doll transformer around with a spare tentacle and knocked her out with ease.

“Watch your back,” I called out to Alex as I let her go, who nodded in surprise before jumping off to fight another group of students. I could see how the girl was holding herself back, trying to use some of the less damaging moves and even perfectly executing one of the throws the coach had shown us last week. Not the level of adaptability and learning Seven has, but she’s as good as most people get. That girl really is impressive - almost too impressive at times. The other students were still thrown about with bone-breaking strength, but Alex’s control was enough to make sure none of them would die from her incredible strength.

She's mentioned breaking through doors by accident and can be clumsy enough with her strength in day-to-day life, but then a fight like this comes along and she's... perfectly controlled. Possibly even better than me, and I have a huge edge, not just in experience but with my ability to help, not hinder me. What is the real deal with Alex's powers?

I couldn’t spend too much time on that, though, as lightning, crystal shards, and other projectiles were being hurtled my way from some more classmates who had arrived, standing above me. Diving back, I sought cover behind one of the many walls I had raised around the place.

A short kid with brown hair and red dye tips revealed where all the armaments were coming from. Hayden handed out to the others some weapons before making a long set of stairs for them to walk down, drawing the metal for both from the ground with his hands. Metalshaping, a power I had thought was interesting but nothing too special before. This fight’s at least showing me how versatile and powerful some of my classmates can be, especially when working together. 

The metal flowed like liquid as he drew it upwards before solidifying it in place. I saw that by peering over the edge before ducking behind my barricade again as the ranged fighters continued their assault, walking down and able to face us, not hampered by a rough descent down the side ladders like I had hoped.

Suppressing a snarl, I thought, trying to plan out an attack. I could see Alexandra fighting off some other students on the other side of the gym. None of them had as flashy powers as some, but I guessed that most were geared around trying to get past the seeming invulnerability she had. Dryden’s a clear sign of that, I thought, watching him send out his lethargy waves at her with Yuki standing far back and raising walls in between them whenever Alex tried to punch at him.

A crystal shard smashed against my head, causing no damage against the heavy bones covering it but reminding me to keep fully behind the cover. My battle form is good, and I’ve practiced in private enough to be nimble with it, but I haven’t fully adjusted to the different size of it. Getting close to Alex was impossible; the open gym space between us would make me easy pickings if I tried to get close to her. Thankfully, the angelic girl seemed to hold her own, unaffected by most of what they’re sending her way. Though the walls Yuki was making gave me an idea...

Taping a few buttons on the tablet, I lowered the wall in front of me while making a new, far longer one rise up in between the group attacking me. Bounding forward before the walls even finished changing, I charged the two left on my side of the new wall, the metalshaper and a tall-ish, stocky girl with a hammer whose name I couldn’t recall. So many of these weaklings I didn’t bother to think about, and now I’m paying for it.

The boy reacted quickly and smoothly where the others floundered, pulling on the new wall forming and making a spear from a small chunk of it to meet my charge. I laughed, my four legs pounding the ground as I approached, tossing his weapon away with a tentacle as he thrust it forward, ripping the spear from his hands. The girl with the hammer swung my way, giving the metalshaper time to scramble away but got herself bashed against the wall by the back end of my claws.

A bunch of students ran towards me from the side, some armed with weapons that Jeremy gave them, others with their bare fists. Honestly, I’m not sure which ones are more dangerous, and that’s just sad. Coach really needs to get on training them how to fight properly. Though, given how much it helps me, I probably shouldn’t be complaining.

No one there seemed to have strength enhancement abilities, so the punches and kicks were very nonthreatening to me, but they at least managed to knock the coach’s tablet out of my hands and kick it aside. Those with weapons might ‘potentially’ be dangerous, but it looked like Jeremy had surrounded himself with the only people that actually knew anything about how to use them - this lot I had to be more careful with not hurting the others as I tossed them about and deflected their clumsy strikes.

They used a few powers, but most of them were things that were flashy, with no substance behind them (Stacey’s clones were particularly telling, as the real one was standing in plain view on the top in the corner of the gym, so I just ignored the multitude in front of me). They were all defeated quickly and left unconscious around me as I spotted the others that had gotten around the wall, combined with a few more that were running down the stairs to group with them and the boy making weapons to hand out to the rest.

This group approached me a bit more cautiously, making sure to stick close and remain ready for any sudden moves on my part. As they walked, the metalshaper pulled forth a large shield from the ground and passed it to the tallest boy. I detected a faint whiff of ozone from him and remembered him as the electrokinetic. Eulogy? No, that can’t be his name. Whatever, I’ll just call him Sparky for now. I didn’t need to deal with this right now. So I didn’t.

Running straight at them, the five or so that had gathered readied themselves for my charge, but at the last moment I changed direction, jumping away from their blasts and well out of range of their weapon swings, heading past them and using my claws to vault over the wall I made.

I found Alex being pinned down by lashes made of light extending from the fingertips of a girl, a boy beside her placing his hands on them. What’s that guy doing? Who is he again? Right, I remember he was a braggart with some kind of reinforcement power. I shut him up once when I heard him boasting in the halls about how he ‘could have won it all if he’d gone all out.’ Didn’t take more than a single glare before he almost pissed his pants. Of course, now wasn’t the time to reminisce; his power might not make him a threat by himself, but together with others...

Alex was struggling mightily, but pinned down by those lashes and hemmed in by stone walls, letting Rahul pierce her with his giant flaming drill hands. I heard about him and his power, though I didn’t get the chance to see his match. Classmates had said it looked dangerous, but no one could tell as he was quickly eliminated by Sparky. It was easy to tell now that that was true, the drills actually causing Alex’s skin to break and blister from the heat and drilling power. They weren’t going very deep, fast, though; her near invulnerability luckily ran all the way through her body, not just the skin.

I charged in, tentacles whipping about and driving Dryden back behind a wall the lethargic boy was peeking around, unable to use his powers against us and remain safe. Rahul gave up on Alex’s arms and torso and stabbed at her legs, causing Alex to thrash even more violently than before, the pull almost breaking the light bonds holding her, lifting the girl they were attached to up in the air such that she had to send a number of light bonds down from her toes to keep herself from flying away. Enough still broke for Alexandra’s left hand to break free, and she grabbed Rahul by his head, tossing him aside, rolling over a couple of other groaning bodies, and into a wall, his drill hands shrinking and replaced by regular ones.

“Rarrgh!!” She howled out in pain and rage, stomping her feet on the ground, making tremors, and struggling against her remaining bonds to go after the downed drill boy. Shit, I’ve gotta intervene.

“Focus, Alex! Don’t lose your head,” I called out to her while taking a tentacle to the Reinforcement boy and pulling him away from the light holding Alex down. The winged girl then broke free of the bonds easily, and I used the moment to gallop in front of her and Rahul, just in case she was still angry.

It didn’t look like I had anything to worry about, however. My words got through to her, and while she still looked upset at the pain, she was focused back on the fight, using a remaining light lash to pull the girl in and smack her about with wings. The blows knocked the girl insensate, but didn’t seem to cause any permanent damage.

Alex gave me a grin, but we had no time to talk before the other students moved in on us. I still noted it, though. That grin... even though she’s back in control, there’s a hint of battle lust to it. Alex still isn’t used to getting hurt in a fight, but much like everything else, she's learning fast.

Battle raged on around us; I struck wildly, my altered form posing a threat that most couldn’t deal with. Alex was able to simply brush off most blows against her and countered so hard they were defeated in one shot. Still, everyone else had powers too, though some weren’t displaying them (due to a lack of usefulness or friendly fire concerns), and I got separated from the winged girl for a moment. I wasn’t too concerned until Sparky stepped in front of one of my heavy blows, protecting an ally and the other three near me sliding around me.

Lightning arced from the tall boy’s outstretched hand and into me, my muscles locking up and my body starting to smoke from the electric blast. The pain was dulled greatly, but I could still feel a hint of it. Then the three others took their weapons down upon me. Even momentarily paralyzed, my hide should have dealt with the attacks without problem, but it looked like they had learned from last time; the blades were sharper and larger than before.

Heavy axes and broadswords swept down and cleaved into my flesh, though even the heaviest strikes failed to do more than minorly chip at my armored head. My torso was less well defended, and blood burst out; the pain nearly blinded me as I felt my organs pierced. I’ve lost at least a couple of lungs and a heart or two amidst a number of other wounds, but it’s fine. I’ll be fine.

I recovered from the shock and tore into them viciously with my six striking limbs. They focused too hard on trying to kill rather than disable me; they won’t make that mistake again. I shattered their blades with my claws and bashed them around (I still had enough awareness and self-control not to kill them yet). My motions were jerky from the lingering shocks, however, and I didn’t manage to hit them as hard as I wanted. One tentacle deflected off of the shield ‘Sparky’ was holding, and a jolt passed through me from the contact.

Almost falling to my knees, I saw him beginning to charge up an attack, lightning arcing off his hands- then a rush of wind and a blur of white and pink took his place.

“Get away from her!” Alex shouted, arms outstretched from a push that sent him across the room. She rushed after him, and he picked himself up, blasting her with the electricity he had gathered. The flash of blue light left spots in my eyes facing that way and dazzled everyone. It didn’t slow Alex down as she plowed into him. I would have watched further, but I had my own enemies to fight.

Their powers were weak for the most part, and with Sparky gone and their weapons broken, the trio didn’t pose much of a threat anymore. I beat them down, and while I shifted and recovered from some of the damages done to my body, I took in the state of the gym:

It was scared and scorched in places, some barricades chipped and broken, even with the room set to repair itself. Many cracked or smashed walls of stone littered the place as well. Most students were scattered or waiting together on the sidelines, if they weren’t already defeated like the majority seemed to be. A few clusters were gathering near the bottom entrance, one small, frizzy, brown-haired girl with spectacles darting off to the side to get a better look at Alex, the winged girl backhanding another student in the gut and knocking her aside. 

Alex looked a little scratched up, but mostly superficial damage, beyond when the drills had pierced her. She’s like a pajama-clad valkyrie dominating the battlefield, a vision of invincible victory. Of course, that’s when it happened.

The small, unassuming girl off on the sidelines raised a hand in the air and conjured a massive floating purple cube, dozens of meters across. I saw the purple block drop from the air and hit Alex and then... nothing. Alex vanished within it, and the block disappeared soon afterwards, leaving not a trace of the winged girl behind.