"Oh-ho?"
Frieza sat in that egg-shaped levitating cockpit, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked at Loki.
"Since you're so filial, go."
Frieza's gaze swept across the gaunt, haughty alien hovering in the distance.
"Make it pretty."
"Yes, Lord Frieza!"
Loki shuddered, the green light in his eyes flaring.
"Men! Did you hear that?!"
Spinning his twin daggers, Loki whirled around and roared at the squad behind him, "For Lord Frieza! Shred that noseless old mummy!"
"Kill!!!"
Boom!
The moment the words left his mouth, Loki shot out, leading the charge.
Juggernaut and Sebastian were right on his heels.
However, they were thousands of meters in the air. Apart from Erik, none could fly. After a few steps, the two ground-pounders were left flailing in mid-air.
All they could do was glare helplessly at Ebony floating overhead, raging in impotent fury.
"Bunch of idiots." Erik snorted, his aged face full of disappointment.
He jerked both hands upward.
Vrrr—
Several metal plates shot in, slotting precisely beneath Loki, Juggernaut and Sebastian.
"Stand steady."
Erik snapped his fingers, the magnetic field erupting. The plates sprouted anti-grav engines, rocketing the group skyward like arrows loosed from a bow.
In that instant, Erik became the ultimate support.
"Over there! I want that spot!"
Standing on his plate, Loki bellowed through the comm.
"Got it, shut up!"
Erik hated taking orders, but eager to impress Frieza, he crooked a finger.
Whoosh!
Loki's plate surged, slicing straight toward Ebony's flank.
Green light blazed in Loki's hands.
Swish... Swish...
Hundreds of Lokis in white-and-purple tights filled the sky.
Layer upon layer, they ringed Ebony.
Every Loki laughed maniacally, every Loki slashed with daggers.
"Come on! Guess which one's here to kill you?!"
"Hahahaha!"
Facing the sky-filling onslaught, Ebony's ashen face didn't even flicker. He simply hovered, hands folded with elegant disdain, eyes full of contempt for lesser creatures and their tricks.
"Tedious parlor tricks. Is this what Earthlings call tactics?"
"Too crude."
Ebony raised a skeletal finger and tapped the air.
Hum!
A heavy, powerful wave of telekinesis rippled outward.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The lifelike Loki illusions burst like soap bubbles the instant they met the psychic pulse. Even the real Loki hiding among them was slammed by the force.
"Ngh!"
Loki grunted, nearly falling off his plate.
"That all you've got?" Ebony sneered and jabbed downward.
Rumble!
Behind him, several steel dragons formed from wreckage lunged at Loki.
"Damn! Juggernaut, block it!" Loki shrieked.
"Roar! Leave it to me!"
Juggernaut, primed and ready, shot forward.
Under Erik's control, he became a red cannonball, head-butting the steel dragon.
Clang!
A bell-like boom rang out and Juggernaut actually stopped the dragon's charge with his skull. But the Impact left him dazed and bloodied, his metal plate nearly cracking beneath his feet.
"My turn!"
Sebastian burst in from the side. Arms wide, he happily welcomed the telekinetic blast Ebony casually flicked at him.
Crackle!
The rock-shattering psi-blast hit Sebastian without harm—it was charging him up.
Sebastian's body glowed, muscles swelling as he absorbed the energy to its peak.
"Oh?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Ebony's eyes.
"You can absorb kinetic and psychic energy?"
"Interesting, but nothing more."
Ebony twirled a finger and countless tiny shards of metal swarmed Sebastian, cocooning him in an iron mummy.
"Why don't you absorb this?"
"Mmmph-mmmph!" Sebastian thrashed inside the orb, helpless.
"A bunch of misfits." Ebony shook his head.
"Since you love those ridiculous tights so much, wear them to hell." He flung both arms wide.
Hum—
All the metal in the city answered his call. Countless steel bars floated into the air, tips pointing skyward.
Every spearhead locked onto the battered figures overhead.
Ebony clapped his hands together.
Shrrrrrik—
The lethal rain shot toward Loki and the others from every angle.
"We're done for!"
Loki went white at the sight of the sky-filling assault.
There was nowhere to dodge!
"Help! Erik, what are you doing?!" Loki screamed in despair.
At that critical instant—
"Hmph."
A snort of supreme disdain crackled through their comms.
Erik, hovering idly at the rear, finally stirred. Watching the alien toy with metal before him, he was full of fury.
This was an insult to his very name!
"Alien scum."
Erik slowly lifted his helmet, silver hair whipping in the wind. His eyes flashed with a light that made the very magnetic field tremble.
"You know nothing of the power of metal."
Hum——
A magnetic field ten, a hundred times mightier than Ebony's erupted from Erik—the true might of an Omega-level Mutant.
In that instant, the Planet's own field answered his call.
In a heartbeat, the billions of shards meant for Loki froze—suspended barely a centimeter from the trickster's eye.
"What?!"
For the first time, Ebony's elegant composure cracked. He felt his control over the metal being ripped away by a force both violent and absolute.
"Playing with metal in front of me?" Erik rose, arms spread as though embracing the world, his voice low yet sovereign.
"Did you ask their master?"
"Go… BACK!!!"
Erik thrust both hands outward.
Boom!!!
The billion shards whirled about, faster and deadlier than before—a tidal wave of steel reversing straight toward Ebony.