Connection Evolved

Going back four and a half minutes, Atlas paid no attention to Big A or Celeron as the two began to fight, though to be fair, Atlas wasn't fully in control of his body. Instead, since he'd stopped holding back and listened to the voice, his fading consciousness had shifted, and he'd felt like a viewer in a futuristic VR POV movie. He had only been able to observe as his body had blasted Verian into the boulders and then cut the strange threads that had led from Amaryllis to the Tainted's portal. He hadn't even felt more than a flash of pain when he'd broken the bones in his hand and legs during the times.

Not that he was complaining. Atlas had never trained in any sort of martial arts outside of the karate classes at the YMCA when he'd been ten. If anything, Atlas had gone most of his life trying to avoid fights, so even if he wasn't thrilled that something he didn't understand had taken hold of the reins, he could deal with it this once if it meant he would get out of this god-forsaken Scenario alive. One thing that he experienced did surprise him, however.

How much fucking fun he was having in this fight. Even if his sensations were dulled in his current state, the adrenaline pumping through his body outshone anything he'd ever felt before. Atlas had always been one to "just say no" when people had offered him things at school, but even if he had taken them up on their offers, he couldn't imagine it could match up to any of what he had felt in the last minute. That was especially true for the power he'd felt flow through his body and into his hand when he'd compressed his aura and debilitated Amaryllis.

Maybe that's why he felt excited when Verian regained consciousness and pushed herself out from the rocky rubble around her. It took the scale-suit-covered woman less than a second to take in her surroundings, including Amaryllis, who now lay only the ground limply, the only sign of life left her shallow, wheezing breaths and the occasional shiver. Surprisingly, seeing her ally in such a state seemed to seriously affect the sadistic woman. "You bastard!" She screamed as she rushed toward him barehanded, her axe lost somewhere after Atlas's first blow.

Atlas felt her bloodlust physically wash over him, trying to freeze him in place like a deer staring down a predator. However, the entity controlling Atlas's body paid it no attention and matched her charge with a punch containing so much power that Atlas could feel the muscles tearing as his arm moved. Prepared this time, Verian blocked the punch by crossing her arms in front of her body as the energy running from her Tainted core to the rest of her body reinforced her arms. Atlas still managed to send her sliding back as scales flew from her arms and toxic ichor followed, but he paid for it as the bones in his hands shattered.

The power flowing through him quickly remedied that as the bones cracked and shifted back into place, any fractures disappearing as if they never happened. At the same time, the torn muscles in his arm mended together. Even better was the feeling of excitement flowing through his veins at the exchange. The fact that Verian seemed so shocked by his strength as if she'd thought his first hit had been some sort of fluke, made it all the better.

"What did you do to Amy, you half-done freak?" She snarled at him as she caught her balance.

As much as Atlas wanted to say that he didn't have a clue and ask her why she'd called him that, he had no control over the muscles to move his mouth, so he couldn't give her an answer.

That obviously irritated the Tainted woman, who lunged at him with a wrathful screech. In a reverse of the last exchange, Atlas found himself on the defensive as the fury-filled Verian threw punches and kicks. Rather than block them, Atlas's strange autopilot tried dodging as efficiently as possible. The only downside was that the speed at which he had to move to avoid the E-Rank movie caused micro-tears and tiny fractures, though with the increasing speed of his regeneration from the equally-increasing Beyond mana flowing through his body they healed instantly.

As Atlas continued dodging and slipping in between her strikes, he began to sync back with his body. He still didn't have control, but all the sensations that had been dulled before came with a roaring vengeance, though any pain that should have appeared still stayed gone. Perhaps he should have been concerned, but in all honesty, Atlas loved it. The exhilaration he felt skyrocketed, and he felt his facial muscles respond by curling up into a smile that had to have been insane from any normal person's perspective. That smile only expanded as he noticed that the threads from Amaryllis had appeared behind Verian as well.

The change from his autonomous blank expression to a mad grin also served to throw Verian off her rhythm, and she overextended herself on a punch and disrupted her balance. Unwilling to let such an opening go, Atlas moved before he could realize he had control of his body back and threw a Beyond-mana empowered elbow into the woman's face knocking her to her back on the ground. She hit so hard that the rocky ground of the plateau cracked, and though she hadn't been knocked unconscious, she was dazed.

Unwilling to let her get back up, Atlas didn't even take the time to think. He gave into his instincts once again and felt as his aura contracted around his hand once again. His voice changed once again as the words slipped through his lips on their own once again as his hand began to drop. "Your Fate Is Mine to Decide."

Verian only had time to widen her eyes in horror before Atlas cut through the threads connecting her to the portal. As they dissipated into the air, she let out a scream of pain identical to Amaryllis's before she began to flail about just like her fellow lieutenant. Atlas only bothered to watch her for a moment before turning away, gaining no enjoyment from her agony.

Now that he no longer had to worry about the two E-Rank lieutenants, Atlas took a deep breath to calm his heart and looked over to where Big A and Celeron had been fighting, only to see the Titano standing over the corpse of the D-Rank, staring at Atlas with a look of shock on his face. Atlas took a step forward to congratulate the Titano only to stumble as his muscles turned weak. He forced himself to remain standing as he gave himself a once over. Finding nothing obvious, he decided to test an idea.

He reached down and grabbed a shard of metal left over from the many broken weapons across the plateau and used it to cut his palm. Even as blood began to well up, the wound rapidly healed. At the same time, the feeling of exhaustion in his body increased by a small amount confirming his suspicions. Even outputting as much of the Beyond's power through his aura as he had, the strain it had put on his body as it healed him and flowed through his body had rapidly depleted his body's energy.

"Guess I overdid it a little, huh?" Atlas said with a tired grin as Big A walked up to him.

"You certainly did more than could have been asked of you. You can rest easy now. Since the lieutenants have all been stopped and this was not a mid-level invasion, no one else will come through the portal," Big A said, also visibly tired as he leaned on Apollyon. 

Atlas wanted to shout in disbelief at the idea that what they'd been through was an "easier" invasion, but he felt too tired. "Still got some time left before I can let it go," he said, his eyes flicking to the timer in the corner of his vision.

TIME REMAINING: 0:45/1:30:00

TAKE AT LEAST .1 PERCENT OF ATLAS'S POWER FOR 5 MINUTES CONSECUTIVELY (4:15/5:00)

"Until then, I can—" Atlas cut himself off as his instincts screamed at him to go to the portal. He wanted to ignore them with how tired he was; instead, he said, "Big A, I need to get to the portal, now!"

To his credit, the Titano didn't question Atlas's sudden tone change, and he just unsummoned Apollyon picked up the human in his golden arms, and moved across the plateau in an instant. He set Atlas down and took a step back, letting the human do his thing.

As his Beyond empowered aura covered the portal, Atlas realized why he had felt it so important for him to get there. Hundreds of ripped and torn threads extended from the edge of the portal, and Atlas realized that his original impression of it being a tear in space wasn't far off. He also realized that even if he and Big A had succeeded in stopping this invasion, leading to the portal's closure, it would only be temporary. The tear would reopen and it would happen again, possibly with even stronger enemies. Atlas couldn't let that happen, and he had a feeling that his aura could help him. The problem was that even with his aura boosted to as high as it was, though he'd kind of stopped keeping track, it still wasn't strong enough.

Letting out a sigh, Atlas shot another glance at the timer.

TIME REMAINING: 0:35/1:30:00

I'm getting real tired of these damn time limits, he thought. Even as he griped, Atlas let his thoughts fade away, relying purely on his instincts to guide him. He reached out to the Beyond mana that had been raging through his body all this time, and following it to its source in Big A, he willed even more of it into his body, a call it willingly answered.

"Atlas, what are you doing?!" The Titano said in shock.

Atlas didn't bother answering as he grit his teeth and grunted in pain. He could feel the power accumulating in his body, and he gradually used it to strengthen his thread-revealing aura, increasing its glow. He chanced a quick glance at the timer.

TIME REMAINING: 0:23/1:30:00

Knowing he was out of time, he threw caution to the wind. With a scream, he forced every bit of the power of the Beyond in his body out through his aura even as it refilled from Big A. As he did, blood began running from his tear ducts, nose, and pores, and he only then realized just how infinite the power of the beyond was. Still, he was too far along and far too stubborn to stop now with so little time left.

TIME REMAINING: 0:15/1:30:00

Luckily, his efforts paid off, and his aura was so thick that the air felt liquid. With force of will, he focused his aura on the portal threads, and began to force them together, the white threads now purple with his power. For one final time, he felt something powerful rise in his throat, though the words were different this time.

 "The Tapestry of Fate is Mine to Weave."

As Atlas finished speaking each power-infused word, he felt the threads give into his will and snap together. They began to tie together and interlock in a complicated weave, Atlas's aura still powering them.

Finally, Atlas's body could handle the strain no more, and he dropped to the ground as the portal threats snapped to completion. As his vision turned black, he gave a victorious smile, and in a quiet voice, he said, "Fuck yeah," at the timer before passing out.

TIME REMAINING: 0:00/1:30:00