Greg Veder vs The World

Cutscene: Glorious

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

"–tuation isn't looking good in the slightest. All we have to go off are statements from the man h–"

"–smaster, Miss Militia, Triumph, Manpower, Glory Girl, and Lady Photon have been seen maintaining the perimeter ar–"

"-uations are still ongoing! Repeat! Evacuations are still ongoing! Stay safe and wait for BBPD, PRT or Protectorate guida-"

"–orts indicate that the Brocton Bay police, PRT and Protectorate have been hard at work in attempts to locate the explosive — which some are now calling The ABB Superbomb — but without a def–"

"–omeone like Lung doesn't need bombs. The man is a [beep]-ing bomb. Don't even bring up hostages either! He's held the entire city hostage just by living here for the last [beep][beep] deca–"

"-ielder still out of play, of course, but Laserdream has been spotted assisting Brandish and Flashbang in evacuations as well as creating firebreaks and tackling some of Lung's men along with Battery and the PRT. No word yet on the location of Dauntless, Velocity, Assault or any of the W-"

"–e fandom knows what it wants and it wants a fight! A slaughter! A throwdown for the ages! This is gonna be a match to remember so let's live and let die! LIVE! CAPE! BLOODSPORTS! The best thing you'll never get anywhere else, brought to you right here on L33tNatio–"

"–It's been over an hour now and it doesn't seem that the Protectorate has any intention of actually facing Lung. Estimated death to–"

"-ey've got a ten-foot tall, fire-breathing villain stomping around, setting chunks of Downtown on fire like he owns the place, and a bunch of his trigger-happy goons playing keep-away with the PRT and pol-"

"–he Protectorate can't really be buying time for some random new cape, can they? What kind of Hail-Mary play is this? I don't care what Lung threatens, this sort of action is a direct violation of everything the organization stands f–"

"–nearly two hours into the standoff and Lung is showing no signs of backing down, his bomb threat still hanging in the minds of every Brockton Bay reside–"

"-irect confrontation is out of the question. The BBPD has had to deal with the aftermath of Lung's rampages before and we can tell you very well that even with evasive tactics, you run the risk of escal-"

"–ust be asking right now is, how is the Protectorate going to salvage this situation?"

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

An explosion of broken glass surrounded her form as she dove through the balcony window, arms crossed in front of her face. She didn't stop there, rocketing further forward into the shoddy second-floor apartment, a jet of fire nipping at her heels and overwhelming the balcony she had just crashed through, turning it to slag in an instant. A short moment later, Glory Girl halted her movement before she would have met another obstacle in the form of cheap drywall, her flight-power arresting her momentum nigh–instantly.

The girl's fists tightened at her sides as she took in several quick yet calming breaths, before spinning around in mid-air to face the new, flaming hole in the wall where that window had been. Blue eyes suddenly widened as the entire building suddenly shook around her, chipped paint falling from the walls like snow all around her.

In most other situations, she'd be scowling at the mess of what now looked like dandruff caking her perfectly-styled hair but the sound that had accompanied the rumbling of the building – the ground-shaking roar of the dragon outside – kept her mind firmly on track.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Glory Girl rushed right back out the building the exact same way she came, wind rushing past her as she cleared the building's confines in a near instant. Without wasting a moment, the blonde accelerated to three–quarters her top speed in a matter of seconds, her white-clad form bursting above the skyline before she could be caught back up in the mess at ground–level.

Still breathing heavier than she would like, Glory Girl cast her gaze down at the fight below and fought the urge to cringe.

Chaos.

If anyone had ever bothered to ask Victoria Dallon what she loved most in just one word, past that of her family or her boyfriend, that was likely the answer she would give you. Most would have assumed 'heroics', 'attention', 'flying' or maybe even, 'fighting.' Those who would have picked the latter would also be right, in a sense, but also just as wrong as anyone else. The answer was more than it seemed and more complicated than most would give it credit for.

Yet, it was all the same rather simple.

It wasn't just fighting that Victoria loved. It was the real fights; the fights that made her struggle, the fights that got her blood pumping, her heart pounding in her ears as she narrowly avoided a hit that could pop her shield like an all-too-fragile soap bubble, the rare fights where everything was a constant rush of motion…

The fights that could only be described with one single word; chaos.

Still, at the moment, she couldn't help but be reminded that too much of a good thing had a tendency to go real bad, real quick.

Bright blue eyes darted open as wide as they could go, sudden fear filling them as Glory Girl suddenly shifted gears. Her investigating hover turned into a mad, evasive spiral as the emptiness she vacated was suddenly filled by a rush of heat and roaring sound. With only that little warning to go off of, a burst of flame with the form and speed of a crude missile tore through the air scant feet from Glory Girl with several more following after it. Shit!

She had her orders, of course. Run interference. No direct combat. Keep the fighting to an absolute minimum. If Armsmaster's brusque voice hadn't made that clear, her mother's own words surely had. It was a shame nobody bothered telling Lung the same as the villain was hell-bent on turning this game of keep-away into an all-out brawl to the death.

And something told her she really didn't want to see if her shield could withstand more than one of those flaming missiles when she narrowly dodged one that detonated on her heels. The conflagration sent a surge of heat rippling through the air, ruffling her skirt and hair as she yelped.

"Son of a-!" The blonde bit off a curse as she twisted, pulling an Immelmann turn to avoid an errant lance of flame, then barrel-rolling around one of those many silver drones flying around the area. Talk about close!

The drones were just another nuisance in this hellscape; flying cameras streaming the entire fight to those gimmicky idiots, Uber & L33t. She'd already had to dodge around several of them so far as they flew in to capture the action at every angle. And while she may enjoy the occasional photo-op, having them flying around while she was trying to do her job was annoying. She could already imagine the commentary both Uber & L33t must have been adding to their footage; the two picking apart her every move, all to feed-creeps and trolls that just wanted to tear down a true hero of this city.

Assholes.

Sadly, the drones seemed to be indestructible... or close enough, at least — a major shock, considering Leet's builds were notorious for being dangerously unreliable — displaying impressive resistance against both Lung's fire-blasts and the "accidental" super-strong punch.

Force-fields. They weren't any fun when the villains had them!

Glory Girl twisted and twirled while streaking through the sky like a white comet, pursued by shooting stars of red-yellow flame, circling the perimeter of this burning Downtown plaza while Lung did his best to duel with the Protectorate heroes below.

That wasn't to imply that Lung was losing, or anything like that. The heroes were just doing their best to avoid actually fighting with the rampaging dragon-man, relying on tactics that were too diversionary to even classify as hit-and-run. Glory Girl knew the point of this whole thing was to avoid direct combat with Lung as much as possible, barring these few moments they used to keep him hemmed in within the area the villain had chosen as a staging ground.

The name of the game was 'stalling'.

And they had to stall hard.

Lung wasn't the goal.

Not really.

His 'super-bomb' — a weapon of destruction far greater than the city had suffered in the last few days that Lung claimed to possess, hidden somewhere in the city, when he captured a news-team to broadcast his threats and demands — was the only thing anyone really cared about. The other teams scouring the city had to find it before they risked going all-out on Lung. Otherwise, they'd end up losing either way.

And Lung wasn't making their job any easier.

Not in the slightest.

A blazing heat roared from behind Glory Girl, the air suddenly far warmer than she would like. She found herself gritting her teeth as she tried to push it, pouring on the speed in an attempt to outspeed the several bursts of semi-solid flame threatening to enclose on her. Goddammit… "I could use a little h-help here!" She couldn't help the crack in her voice, her tone jumping from forced calm to nervous shrillness mid-sentence as she quickly spun to avoid yet another fireball. Victoria Dallon tightened her expression, putting on a determined face as she darted around an empty, scorched billboard. Not the time.

A thunderclap rang out from the upper floors of a blazing apartment building moments after, the ear-splitting crack of an anti-material rifle as it penetrated steel and asphalt. Its original target - Lung - had just barely dodged the bullet itself, the shot narrowly missing his temple as the villain turned his head to roar.

Near miss or not, it did its job.

Another blonde shot past Glory Girl in the air, peppering the draconic villain with bright purple shots of energy and tearing his attention further away from the Alexandria-package in the air. Forcefields bearing the same hue threatened to enclose on him, Lung treating them with as much patience as he did the strafing blasts from Lady Photon as he exploded through them with strength enough to rival a certain blonde.

A figure in blue armor leaped off a near roof, form almost blurring as he landed atop a burnt car husk with a violent crunch and began rushing towards the pyrokinetic. Victoria couldn't help but note the slight differences in the Tinker's armor from when she had first seen him earlier; the design was far bulkier and more organic than she was used to, and the mechanical servos that were usually visible between the armored plating looked far more like human muscle now. Whatever its actual purpose, Armsmaster did seem to be operating on a much higher level than usual so Glory Girl doubted she'd have any complaints for him. Lung didn't seem to appreciate Armsmaster's uninvited approach, regardless of velocity, displaying the depth of his annoyance with a swipe of his scaled arm in the man's direction. A near-solid wall of flame coalesced from Lung's aura and shot towards the bearded cape with frightening speed. The immense breadth of the flame-wall left Armsmaster no real room to dodge.

Thankfully, he didn't need to.

Halberd suddenly in hand, Armsmaster twirled the pole-arm in front of him and swung the tip of it upwards in a sharp crescent. A thunderous sound blared out and with nearly as much speed as Lung's own fire blasts, a burst of air larger than the man himself shot from the tip of Armsmaster's halberd, tearing apart the integrity of the firewall. Not wasting a moment, Armsmaster leaped over and through the fading conflagration, the man running along the side of a building with seemingly no strain as he readied his halberd again and let loose a thin jet of snow-white foam all over Lung's feet, the chemical solution quickly expanding along the villain's lower body.

Judging by Lung's roar and the explosion that followed, he didn't seem to appreciate that.

That short series of distractions provided Glory Girl the few seconds she needed to maneuver out of the path of another incoming set of fireballs, several of them colliding into each other as a barrage of others converged on her location. One detonation set off another, creating a chain of explosions that seemed to rip the air apart with just their shockwave, and with much greater force than the young heroine had been expecting.

With a near-panicked yell, Glory Girl found herself flung from the air by the blast, tumbling head over heels through plumes of smoke as she tried to regain her bearings. It took a few moments of out-of-control flailing and another to pull her cape away from her face before the blonde powerhouse was able to right herself and dart for cover, but she managed it regardless.

"Thanks, guys!" Glory Girl managed to call out, voice dipping slightly as she jerked to her right to avoid the husk of a burned-out truck stuck in the middle of the road. Shaking her head at the near-miss, Victoria ducked low and around the side of a half-burned parking lot, barely even curbing her speed as she ducked into the third floor of a formerly mid-renovating building, quickly making her way in-and-out all the way to the roof, to scan the area for civilians. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be plenty of ABB to take their place.

"Are you kiddi-" She darted around a corner, not even bothering to finish what she had to say as the sound of gunfire filled the air, bullets on a direct path toward where she was. Not for the first time this afternoon, Glory Girl found herself having to corral a bunch of the gangsters herself. They seemed to think that their machine guns and pistols would succeed where Lung's fireballs hadn't.

How they managed to sneak past the scores of PRT officers milling around the ground level and the other heroes working this sector of downtown eluded her completely.

Much like their bullets.

After all, none of them clearly had any experience trying to shoot targets as fast as she was.

Nor did they stand any chance against someone who could collapse the floor beneath their feet by smashing a load-bearing wall — one already weakened by the devastation of the battle it bordered and general structural damage — by flying through it.

Their cries of panic and horror were sweet music to her ears, a grin still on her face a few seconds later as she let the PRT officers on the comms know about the small squad she'd just stalled for them. Another roar cut her off mid-sentence, Glory Girl somehow stumbling in mid-air at the sudden closeness of the sound.

Glory Girl thrust an arm out in front of her, flight-power responding immediately as she burst out of the building in a blur of white, quickly ascending to skyscraper-like heights to avoid Lung's attention. She darted around in the air, not quite leaving her position as she used her eyes to hunt for the source of that specific sound.

PRT vehicles raced through side streets, agents taking the fight to what remained of the ABB in this area. A flash of yellow from one alley and the sound of distant gunfire and explosions let her know that her uncle wasn't too far from the majority of the action, assisting where he could. A sound like an air cannon on steroids accompanied by a storefront window shattering into a thousand pieces told Glory Girl exactly where Triumph was.

It didn't take very long before she caught sight of her real target, blue eyes widening slightly as she spotted Lung – the dragon-man having grown slightly more yet again – on all fours as he attempted to chase down a narrowly evading Armsmaster. That's not good.

Her eyes widened slightly further as she spotted the bright purple trail of her aunt, the woman flying slower than usual as she took off from the roof of a building on the verge of collapse, a force-field bubble trailing behind her and a familiar passenger in tow, clutching some sort of wound. Miss Militia? Glory Girl felt her chest tighten in worry. That's even worse! She fought the unease in her stomach, desperately hoping Miss Militia wasn't too badly hurt. While she did care for the older woman, her feelings stemmed from cold rationale just as much as they did from genuine empathy. They couldn't afford to lose a cape right now, not when they were barely k-

Before her thoughts could go any further, a long keening noise and a clamoring, thunderous din – like a rainstorm heard from inside a house – demanded her attention. The blonde quickly snapped her head to the side, blue eyes widening even further as she spotted what looked like a singularity form on the rooftop edge of a parking garage a few short blocks away – mind-bending color scheme shifting to a more tolerable blue as it twisted into itself – several ABB suddenly swirling into its epicenter, every inch of their bodies stretching in wholly unnatural ways and a third of the entire building just vanishing completely. The thunderous crumbling didn't cease as the garage began to fall apart, several black-clad figures atop the roof of it visible as they rushed toward their similarly-colored SUV, dragging and carrying wounded officers with them.

Holy shit!

Glory Girl was already off before she could stop herself, cape fluttering behind her as she burst through the air to the PRT's rescue. She shot down at a sharp right angle before Lung could turn his attention back to her, the sudden dive augmenting her flight speed to the point that everything not in front of her was barely more than a hazy blur. Hair whipping back and wind screaming in her ears, Glory Girl quickly shifted her downwards motion, pulling up just enough that her momentum was preserved as she burst directly towards the crumbling building at speeds slightly faster than she could manage on her own.

Even then, she wasn't quite fast enough.

Five stories of concrete began to fall apart as she neared the garage nearly ten seconds later, the vehicle marked P.R.T. in bright white letters desperately tearing towards the ramp leading towards the second floor. Said ramp crumbled beneath frantically spinning wheels, the ground dropping out from beneath the vehicle frighteningly fast. For the span of a heartbeat, the armored vehicle seemed to hang in the air, alongside that of the concrete rubble, struts, and metal; the entire world caught in the single act of resisting the pull of gravity.

That moment passed frighteningly quick.

The car dropped like a stone, alongside everything else, the vehicle tumbling over itself with no ground to support it. Concrete crumbled with a sound like thunder, battering the falling vehicle like a storm of bullets as it rushed towards the ground and…

"...nngggh!"

She felt her shield flicker off as the armored SUV struck her, her strength failing her for a frightening moment. Still, Glory Girl held tight, shield flaring back to life half an instant later as her body supported the weight of several tons of metal in nigh-blatant disregard of anything as mundane as leverage or impact force. Sure, it hurt like a bitch, but what was a little pain here and there?

Even with the vehicle on her shoulders, she refused to slow down much, barreling through an already-shattered concrete fixture. Powdered by gray dust and bits of rubble, Glory Girl didn't allow herself to stop moving, flying through the chaos until she found herself back out onto the street.

Jesus… Her mouth opened wide as she took in a desperate mouthful of air, the SUV coming down off her shoulders with as much care as she could manage. As a result, it only bounced a little as it landed on the street, tires sinking as the vehicle's suspension finally gave up what semblance of life it had clung to.

The SUV was a mess from the outside, the entire side of the car crumpled and bent from where Glory Girl had tackled it out of the air. The front wheel that she could see from the left side hung uselessly, the thing entirely out of place and the side panel above it half-missing, the other half nowhere to be seen. The entire hood had disappeared, what remained of it nothing more than a strip of metal swinging up and down pointlessly on hinges that held tight to almost nothing.

Thankfully, the inside was nowhere near as damaged as the outside as the car, Victoria quickly noted. Unconscious or dazed enough that the point was rendered moot, the agents inside still showed signs of life; breathing and groaning most obvious among those. Slowly-deflating airbags revealed several visored faces, the figure sitting in the driver's position raising his face from the steering wheel, surprise visible behind the shattered visor of his combat helmet. The man's mouth dropped open in surprise the moment she made eye contact, which was expected, of course. Having that effect on people was basically part of the job description as a member of New Wave but…

Victoria stepped further back, unconsciously floating again as she watched the man's eyes widen further, gaze growing distant and expression paling as she began to rise into the air. It only took that long before the realization hit her like a speeding car. Oh, no.

Glory Girl spun around to see him with his body surrounded by a cloak of flame as he rushed towards her, the ground just now beginning to tremble. She glanced back at the frightened agent in the vehicle, only for her heart to sink in her chest as she realized the burly officer had joined the rest of the van in unconsciousness for a second time. God, no.

Eyes trained from looking down at a city from distant heights noticed the insect-like pincer Lung called a face twisting into a grin as he noticed Glory Girl's hesitance to escape and her refusal to get near. Oh, God no.

"I need back-up! Like now! Like, right now! " She didn't fight the urge to scream into her comm, several shades of fear coloring her voice more than she would like to admit as the thing released bursts of incomprehensible static in her ear. "Armsmaster! Triumph! Anybody! Lung's moving on me and I've got trapped unconscious PR-"

Lung bellowed again, silencing Glory Girl as his roaring seemed to make the air tremble much the same way his physical form did to the ground. Relief filled the teenager's chest as she spotted Lady Photon's signature purple aura flit through buildings as she neared Lung to strafe by again. Purple bolts lanced from Lady Photon's hands in barely-aimable volleys of steel-denting energy, raining down on Lung in an attempt to keep the gang boss in place through sheer effort.

Lung didn't seem to have any respect for the woman's effort, commendable as it was, only looking up at the leader of New Wave as he sent a volley of his own to meet her with an angry swipe of his arms. Glory Girl couldn't help but gasp as she saw them come together almost at once, launching from the fires burning around the eleven-foot villain with frightening speed; a ground-to-air missile barrage of yellow-red fireballs nearly as large as she was.

Lady Photon made to move, intent on weaving her way through Lung's attacks, much the same way her niece had been doing repeatedly for minutes at a time. Glory Girl, on the other hand, felt the relief she had been feeling drop away as she realized what her aunt was attempting. Her hand flew to her ear, hopefully trying to get her comm to work again so she could warn her aunt. She herself had barely gotten used to dodging Lung's barrages as the fireballs slowly got faster and larger over the past thirty minutes, Glory Girl learning how best to move to avoid the things. Without that, she doubted Lady Photon could manage the same.

"Lady Photon! Lady Photon, can you hear me? Lady Ph- Aunt Sarah!" One finger in her ear, Glory Girl's comm crackled as she tried it again, the thing continuing to let off bursts of static in between the sounds of a nigh-inaudible voice on the other end. Goddammit, not now!

As she expected, Lady Photon couldn't avoid the blasts, especially with Lung exerting control over them as they seemed to chase you down for a time. A purple-tinted shield formed around her as she tried to escape each persistent missile, another one layered around the first for extra protection. Yet, they weren't as effective as she would like, Glory Girl unable to hold back a groan as she watched her aunt get battered out of the sky and the scaled villain continued his charge.

Victoria steeled herself as she began to feel the encroaching heat from where she stood, the heroine realizing she was going to have to lead Lung on another chase, if only to keep the people behind her safe. The young heroine rose a few feet into the air, letting out a shout as loud as she could manage, and flared up her aura as high as she could, broadcasting her challenge to Lung.

One fist drawn back in a pose that made her intentions clear as day, she stared down the charging form of the villain in her path as she flew out to face him. "You and me, asshole! Let's do this!"

Lung rose to the bait without even a moment of hesitation, the flames on his body almost seeming to find new life at the idea of a direct challenge. A plume of fire burst to life around his face, crowning the villain with a lion's mane of hellish flame as Lung let out an eager roar. The ground only trembled more as the scaled colossus redoubled his charge, limbs brimming with a blue-yellow flame that seemed far more solid than any flame should.

A wave of nigh-unbearable heat buffeted Glory Girl as she neared Lung, the ground below him turning to melted asphalt from what she could see through the haze. He wasn't too far away now, barely a block from where she currently was, tossing aside empty cars and the husks of larger vehicles on his beeline toward the blonde Alexandria-package challenging him to a brawl.

Glory Girl poured on the gas, intending to blindside the villain and shoot past him, forcing another chase she was bound to win. It was a simple plan, the same one she had used against Lung over and over in the last hour of this mess, but it wasn't like Lung was much of a thinker anyway, right? Mind made up, she shot forward even faster, her cape fluttering like mad behind her and the world blurring at the edges of her vision as she forced herself into the triple digits.

With the sound of screeching metal and crumbling concrete, Lung slammed to a sudden stop in the middle of the road, his charge halted as he dug a claw into the ground to slow himself down as quick as possible. Glory Girl's eyes widened as fire suddenly pooled around the villain – a massive bonfire centered in the middle of the street – and with a roar that sent a chill running through every single part of her, Lung threw his hands out to release pure hell.

It was so sudden that Victoria didn't even have time to get out of the way, her own momentum sending her on a direct path towards the onrushing hellstorm. Her mind frozen by the sudden shock, instinct drove her to raise her arms over her face as she shut her eyes, not even given a moment to scream.

"Yamete!"*

A voice – boyish, lively and undoubtedly loud – made itself heard for a single moment as a painfully bright burst of golden light seared Glory Girl's closed eyelids, the sudden interjection followed by the even louder sound of air rushing out in the most forceful manner possible; like that of a wind turbine combined with that of a tank's main gun.

Immediately after, the oppressive heat abated, and there was a sudden silence.

Before Glory Girl could open her eyes fully, she felt herself move. Her voice almost froze in her throat again, from surprise again this time as she went spinning through the air, her body caught up in some sort of miniature windstorm that sent her flying back several meters until she caught herself in mid-air.

Cape and hair falling out of her face again, tiara having gone missing long ago, Victoria Dallon found her eyes widening as she stared at the figure several meters away from her, unsure of whether or not she had contracted a very sudden case of traumatic brain injury.

A blond, teenage boy stood facing her atop of a burnt-out minivan, arms folded across his chest and feet spread out wide as they somehow found purchase on the dilapidated surface of the vehicle itself. Other than his shirt, which was a vibrant blue, he seemed to wear white all over; a bright, white leather jacket with dragon patterns etched in gold up and down the side, a matching pair of jeans, a white pair of blue-tinted sunglasses with diamonds inlaid into the frame, and bright white sneakers. A gold chain hung from his neck, corresponding with the multiple rings on his fingers and the blue-gold watch glistening on his wrist. His tousled blond hair a much more buttery yellow to her bright golden blonde, the teen tossed his head back and nodded at her.

All in all, he was certainly… a sight.

One that Glory Girl wasn't sure she wanted to see right now.

"Omatase shimashita (1)." He bowed his head slightly as he said those words, her limited knowledge of the language informing her that he had just said something in Japanese.

… Again, a sight she wasn't sure she wanted to see right now.

Behind him, Lung could be seen further down the street, pulling himself from the ruins of a brick wall, rubble falling all around him as the scaled villain finally found himself on his feet again. The boy in white turned his back to Glory Girl as the noise reached him and continued to stare with his arms folded at Lung's now-roaring form.

Arms coming free, he pointed his left at Lung, voice clear and rather loud as he made another statement, the meaning still imperceptible to Glory Girl. "Ore no deban da ze! Omae no aite wa ore da (2)!"

The villain on the other end of the conversation appeared nearly as confused as Victoria felt at the moment, the majority of the man's menace melting away as he suddenly seemed to join Glory Girl and anyone else witnessing this craziness in the simple act of wondering who the hell this idiot thought he was.

A single moment passed in relative silence and the teen paused, throwing his head back in laughter and adding to everyone's general sense of confusion just that much more. "How foolish of me," he began in English this time, voice overly pompous and affecting a terrible Shakespearean tone for no real reason. "Let me introduce myself in a more proper manner!"

The blond shifted his hands again, tightening one into a fist and drawing it down low, tucking it at his waist as he flattened the fingers of his other hand and slashed across his chest at an upwards angle, voice jumping in volume as he struck the odd pose. "Henshin!"

With that last word, he was suddenly lit from all sides by a bright blue glow as immense winds suddenly began to kick up and his entire body suddenly surrounded by floating particles of light bearing a similar hue. The glow brightened to obscure his face and entire body, the wind blowing around him shifting from a quick breeze to a sudden gale in moments. The blue particles and the wind seemed to dance around him, spinning around the posing blond in a rapid tornado and suddenly…

White-and-blue armor stood out vibrantly against the soot, ash, and grime that coated the surroundings as the cape stepped forward, shifting his stance slightly as the car roof squealed under him.

"Hear ye, villain!" A beautiful sword materialized in his outstretched hand, pointing directly at Lung, the edges of the blade seeming to shine with some sort of subtle golden light. "To attack a maiden most fair 'tis an act most wicked and craven!" His free hand met the other around the hilt of the slightly-glowing blade, sword still held high as if to bring it down upon the dragon from such a distance.

He lifted his gaze, slight golden light seeming to flare out from behind the eye slits of the cape's horned helm and his blue mantle billowed heroically in the unnatural wind. "Now tremble, wretch, for The White Knight 'Prodigy' has arrived, to bring down upon thee heavens' most divine justice!"

That was the moment Lung chose to explode.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

STR + 14

SPD + 17

VIT + 5

INT + 4

(Perk) Danger Sense + 2

Equipped:

Fate/Prototype Armor – Saber v2 (Home–Made)

Made with a slightly more practiced hand, more lightweight materials and a thoughtful balance regarding form and function, this redesigned armor is lighter, easier to move in, and less cumbersome than before while looking even more impressive. A direct improvement upon the original costume, it still bears a regal appearance suited to a hero.

+ 10% Damage Reduction

+ 5 to all [Swordplay] abilities

+ 5 to STR

+ 5 to SPD

+ 5 to VIT

+ 15 to CHA

Gram (Bastard Sword) – Lv Max

Forged by the flames of a dragon's breath, molded in battle against a scaled demon, and cooled in the blood of the same dragon, this sword represents the ideal of a true dragon-slaying knight.

+50% [Slashing] Damage

+50% [Piercing] Damage

+250% Damage to all [Dragons]

+25 to [Parry Ability]

+25% [Bleed-out] length

+25 STR

Title Change: Ninja-In-Training → Dragon-Blooded Knight

Dragon-Blooded Knight [ACTIVE]

My body bathed in the blood of dragons, my soul forged in the hottest fires, my skill honed in battle, I have been reborn.

+ 10% additional Damage Resistance

+ 10% Resistance to Fire

+ 10 to VIT

+ 5 to STR

+ 100 to Health

+ 50% Damage against [Dragon]s.

Quest Gained!

A Knight's Duty II: Dragonfall

Details: Cutting the head of the snake in a more literal fashion. Defeat the leader of the ABB in front of witnesses, declaring the symbolic end of the ABB for all to see.

Success: + 25 Stat Points, + 10 Perk Points, 200000 XP, + 5 STR, + 5 SPD, + 20 VIT, $50000,[???], [???], [???], [???]

Failure Objective: Lose to Lung/Die/Flee

Bonus: Deflect Lung's flames at least five times.

Bonus:???