Rise of the Crusader



"What in the world...?" The disbelief in the student's voice echoed in the suddenly somber air as he stared at the ominously darkened sky. A colossal sphere, ominously large, dominated the firmament, casting an impenetrable shadow over the city.

His shock was mirrored by those around him, the faces of metahumans and meta-beasts alike reflecting a shared confusion. The sphere's sudden appearance brought a halt to the city's bustling activities, replacing the familiar urban cacophony with a chilling silence. The city's inhabitants, human and beast alike, looked on with a blend of trepidation and disbelief.

"Could this be... the end of the world?" The question hung in the air, unvoiced yet palpable, as they watched the sphere. It seemed to exude an aura of danger, of impending doom, making them feel as insignificant as insects about to be crushed under a boot.

Suddenly, one of the meta-beasts pointed a trembling hand towards the sphere. "It's descending!" His voice was a panicked shriek, shattering the eerie silence. As if his words were a catalyst, the city erupted into chaos. The looming threat had become a reality, and there was no time for disbelief, only survival.

Across the city, Latario watched the sphere's descent with a grim acceptance. His body was a ruined shell, legs and arms lost, a gaping hole at the center of his torso. In his current state, resistance was impossible. He was utterly helpless against the sphere's relentless approach.

"Perfect," he murmured, a bitter smile playing on his lips. As his words faded into the chaos, the sphere came crashing down, obliterating his existence. It devoured him, leaving no trace of his body, no fragments of his severed limbs. Latario, once a formidable presence, was now erased completely from existence.

Moments after the annihilation, the sphere hovered ominously for a few more breaths before it spun violently in the air and vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

Time froze as if held in the grasp of an unseen force, the sphere evaporated into nonexistence. The meta beasts and humans, their lives hanging by a thread, halted their panicked flight. Their gazes, filled with confusion and disbelief, turned skyward.

A male student broke the silence, his voice echoing in the abrupt tranquility, "That's... peculiar." His hand was thoughtfully placed on his chin as he tried to make sense of the bewildering spectacle.

Minutes passed, and the murmuring crowd simmered down, the theories fading into resigned silence. No reasonable explanation for the vanishing of the sphere that had threatened their world was forthcoming. With the immediate threat gone, they gradually resumed their activities, though the air was still tinged with unease.

In another location, Latario had been engulfed by the sphere and vanished. Raphael, donned in full body armor, exhaled heavily. His armor was smeared with blood, trickling down to spot the ground beneath him. As a drop splattered against the dirt, he cracked his neck, wincing slightly.

"Good thing that did the trick," he muttered, "If I had to push past my limits... it could have been catastrophic."

Raphael hadn't directly combated Latario, instead relying on his arsenal of gadgets. However, each gadget exacted a toll on his body. His armor acted as a buffer, for his physical body couldn't withstand the brutal force of the gadgets.

Raphael drew a deep breath, prepared to retract the protective armor, when he sensed an unsettling shift in the atmosphere. Every hair on his body stood on end; danger was prowling closer. A rift tore open in the air, and a massive sphere materialized from it. Raphael's brows knotted into a grimace.

At the base of the sphere, a figure emerged. Latario stood there, a hand resting on the sphere, a cruel smirk playing on his lips.

"I need to end this," Raphael muttered, his hand curling into a fist. He had hoped to avoid escalating the battle, but Latario's resilience forced his hand.

Latario, despite the distance, heard Raphael's words. A chuckle rippled from his lips, "I was thinking the same."

"Your time's up, kid. Let me show you how it's really done." With these words, Latario hurled the colossal sphere towards Raphael.

The wind stirred with an ominous chill, as if the very air itself was protesting the arrival of the gargantuan sphere. It swept toward Raphael with seemingly unstoppable momentum.

Yet, Raphael merely outstretched his hand, his voice carrying an authority that belied his youth. "Split," he commanded. The sphere did not resist, instantly decomposing into its original six diminutive spheres.

Then came the sound - a resonating 'Gbam!' - as if the universe itself was protesting the unnatural phenomenon. Almost immediately after the sphere returned to its original form, a punch of terrifying force speared through Raphael's armor. Latario had struck.

Latario's assault didn't stop at a single punch. A storm of blows, a maelstrom of kicks - each one causing Raphael's stance to wobble, each one delivered with a brutal intensity.

"You've got a lot to learn, kid," Latario taunted, his words punctuated by an uppercut of such ferocity that it sent Raphael soaring through the air. "Without understanding, all the gadgets in the world won't make us equals."

Before Raphael's body could even connect with the ground, Latario was there, his hand reshaping into a claw. Without a moment's hesitation, he drove his transformed hand through Raphael's armor.

The ensuing crash as Raphael's body hit the ground echoed ominously in the silent surrounding. He rolled several times before finally coming to a rest.

Latario surveyed the prone form of Raphael, his face inscrutable. As Raphael began to rise again, Latario's lips curled inward in intrigue.

The grinding sound of bones echoed eerily as Raphael pushed himself to his feet. His armor, save for the gaping hole in the chest region, remained intact.

"Scheming something, are we?" Latario's words hung heavy in the air, but were quickly drowned out by a spurt of blood from his own mouth.

Confusion flashed across his face as a hole began to form in his chest, mirroring the one he had inflicted on Raphael. He glanced at Raphael, knuckles cracking ominously, then back at the wound on Raphael, which had mysteriously vanished.

Agony racked Latario's body, the sensation of phantom punches and kicks assailing him, despite Raphael standing meters away. As the area of impact and the source of pain aligned with the spot where he had struck Raphael, realization dawned.

"Attack Transference," Latario muttered, comprehending the trick Raphael had used.

.....

Author's words: The update plan of Rise Of The Crusader will become 15- 20chapters a month (guaranteed) Also in the meantime I want to invite you to a new journey. Check out Reverend Sovereign, my people. It's a book you've been searching for

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