Episode 3 part 1: Will Ember City survive the night ?
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Aamon placed a clawed hand over his face, shoulders shaking—then burst out laughing.
Aamon: "Eleven vs one? And you call yourselves heroes?"
He snickered. "How funny… all of you are a fucking joke."
Mindstorm flinched but forced himself to steady his breathing.
Mindstorm: "Ignore his taunts—guys, Gravity, do your thing!"Mindstorm: "Ignore his taunts—guys, Gravity, do your thing!"
He slashed his hand forward.
"Thunderstrike, Frostbite you know what to do!"
Gravity threw both arms out, veins bulging. A shimmering bubble snapped around Aamon, multiplying the force around him by ten. The ground beneath the demon spider-webbed, concrete cracking.
Aamon barely tilted his head.
Aamon: "…Oh? How cute."
Thunderstrike sprinted left, hammer dragging sparks. Frostbite bolted right, ice creeping off her boots. Rock-man pushed himself up face twisted in painband formed his remaining arm into a jagged stone blade before charging in again.
Mindstorm extended a trembling arm, psychic force locking onto Aamon.
Mindstorm: "Spectra—your turn!"
Spectra pressed two fingers to her temples, pupils shrinking—then unleashed twin laser beams that carved the air with a sizzling SSSHHRRAAAK.
Photon jumped in front of Mender, shield raised high.
Photon: "Stay behind me—just in case!"
Mender:" O-okay!'
Echo slapped a palm onto Inferno's shoulder—
Echo: "Go!"
—and warped them behind Aamon in a flash of blue static.
Hydroblast swept his arms outward, wind spiraling into a tornado laced with water. Inferno fired a massive fireball into the vortex. The attacks slammed together, creating a roaring spiraling inferno that swallowed Aamon whole.
Thunderstrike slammed his hammer into the ground—BOOM!—lightning zapped upward, crackling around the vortex. Frostbite hurled a barrage of razor-thin icicles, impaling the swirling flames.
The smoke ballooned—thick, choking—pieces of debris whirling in the air.
For a moment, no one breathed.
Then—
Something shot out of the smoke.
A long black arm blurred forward, claws slicing the air with a wet SCHLKK—and plunged straight into Mindstorm's chest.
His eyes went wide.
Blood sprayed across Frostbite's cheek.
The arm tore outward, ripping his heart free. Aamon crushed it casually in his fist as the limb snapped back into the smoke.
Mindstorm dropped to one knee, fingers twitching against the gaping hole in his chest… then he collapsed face-first, dead.
No one had time to react.
Aamon burst out of the dust cloud, unleashing multiple fire blasts and psychic-reflection strikes—sending their own combined attacks back at them.
Photon slammed his shield forward, batting a fireball aside. Frostbite leaped back and threw up a frozen wall that shattered under impact.
Thunderstrike didn't fall back—he charged straight in, hammer spinning.
He landed a brutal crack across Aamon's jaw—CRACK!—drawing a splash of black blood from the demon's nose.
Aamon grinned, blood dripping down his teeth.
Aamon: "You're mine."
He lunged and bit into Thunderstrike's shoulder—tearing deep. Thunderstrike screamed, convulsing as Aamon's corruption spread. His skin grayed. His eyes burned red.
:"Deal with them Minion."
He turned slowly toward the heroes.
Thunderstrike: "…yes… my lord."
Mender cursed under his breath.
Mender: "Fuck—we need to strategize! I can't save Mindstorm, he's go—"
Aamon blurred forward, jaws snapping—CRUNCH—ripping Mender's throat out. Blood sprayed in an arc across Photon's shield.
Photon roared and slashed with his sword.
Aamon ducked, twisting like smoke, claws whipping up—CLANG!—but Photon barely blocked with his shield before being launched into a parked car, crushing the hood.
Photon: "Shit—! He killed our healer… and our strategist… We're losing—badly!"
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Rock-man appeared behind Aamon with a wild scream and drove his stone drill into Aamon's back—sparks and pieces of stone flying.
Aamon turned slightly.
Aamon: "You again?"
He kicked Rock-man in the chest—BOOM!—sending him skidding across asphalt, leaving a bloody trail.
Inferno roared, unleashing a massive fire beam that lit the battlefield orange. Aamon opened his jaws and expelled his own hellfire—deeper, hotter, darker.
The landscapes trembled.
Inferno's fire collapsed instantly—engulfed by Aamon's.
Aamon (thinking): These pests are getting on my nerves…
Gravity screamed, muscles locking, pushing everything she had.
Gravity: "TAKE HIM DOWN—NOOOOW!!!"
Aamon's knee buckled as the pressure crushed the asphalt under him.
Aamon: "…Her? Tch."
Frostbite kept firing rapid ice shards, the shards slicing chunks of flesh where they hit.
Thunderstrike—still corrupted—charged Frostbite. She dodged sideways.
Frostbite: "Jeez—snap out of it, dude!"
She stabbed an ice spike into his leg—he didn't even flinch.
Aamon used the opening.
He kicked Inferno—WHAM!—sending him crashing through the side of a collapsing building. Dust and flames exploded outward.
Aamon drooled thick, hot saliva as he rushed Hydroblast—his jaws dripping strings of glowing spit.
Hydroblast sliced the air forward, sending compressed air blades—SHHING!—cutting straight across Aamon's snake tail, severing it.
Aamon didn't scream.
His expression didn't even change.
He simply stepped forward—onto Hydroblast's face—and pressed down.
The skull caved in with a sickening CRRSHK.
Blood exploded outward. Brain matter sprayed across the cracked asphalt.
Aamon lifted his foot, the man's head now crushed inside his torso like a smashed watermelon.
Aamon: "That's for my damn tail. One more down."
He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.
Photon spit blood onto the cracked asphalt, wiped his mouth with a trembling wrist, and dragged himself out of the crushed car. Metal groaned as he stumbled forward.
He sprinted toward Aamon.
Frostbite slammed both palms down, freezing the ground and locking thick ice around the wolf's legs. The ice cracked violently under his strength.
Gravity collapsed onto one knee, hands shaking, veins swelling in her forehead.
Gravity: "Hh—hngh—! Even with all this… fucking pressure… he's still moving. I… I feel like I'm gonna pass out…"
Rock-man planted his remaining hand into the ground to push himself up, staggering. He sharpened his stone arm again with a grinding GRRK and rushed forward beside Photon.
Rock-man: "C'mon, man—before Gravity drops! We've lost too damn many already! We can't afford to lose anyone else. This demon is beyond us."
Echo rushed forward, splitting into two other physical clones.
Echo, extending a hand: "Go. Stop Thunderstrike. Don't let him reach Inferno."
The two clones nodded and lunged at Thunderstrike. They dug their heels into the ground, straining—trying to slow the corrupted brute.
One grabbed him by the arm and shoulder. The other latched onto his right side, gripping his arm, trying to disarm his weapon.
Thunderstrike shook violently, but the Echos stayed locked onto him.
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