LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 45.2
With Alan protecting the city, Kara let the drones fully focus on evacuating civilians, separating those that succumbed to the demonic influence with shields while Jay helped the ones that needed the most immediate attention.
Squeezing her hands into fists, Kara knew she had to stop the anger demon’s influence before it became too much or spread too wide… and she really needed to punch him. The bastard was laughing, fully enjoying the effect he had on the city.
She didn’t come at him from below, the risk was too great that he’d attack her and force her to block or risk letting it hit an innocent. Instead, she flew up, punching a tentacle out of the way with a roar before diving towards the monster.
The demon still noticed her attack, but Kara just waved between two beams of magic and answered with a blast of heat vision that scored a line on his already burnt chest and drove him back.
“Bitch, that nearly hurt!” the demon taunted, his face turning into a smirk. “Well, now, you’re an angry one, aren’t you?”
Instead of answering, Kara punched him in the face, twice, one of his teeth went flying but, at the third hit, he grabbed her fist into one giant hand and pulled her out of position, preparing to deliver a hook.
Lifting her arm, Kara blocked it. With a growl, she wrapped her arm around his bulging forearm and pulled him closer, head-butting his nose. He released her and started to fly back from the impact, but she grabbed his head, pushed her thumbs into his lower eyes and did it again, her mask cracking as his nose crumbled under the impact and blood flew everywhere.
“Shut the fuck up and DIE!” Kara screamed, following after him. Catching up, she grabbed him by the throat with one hand and continued punching.
In her anger, Kara had left her guard down, trusting her costume and Kryptonian biology to resist anything he did. She would pay for that mistake.
The punch hit her in the liver with far more strength than she thought he was capable of, several times harder than his previous attack. It absolutely obliterated the nano-robots that formed her costume, the pain was instant and so strong Kara lost focus of everything, the stinging sensation on her lower torso all that she could think about.
Slapping her hand away from his neck, the demon pulled his arm back and punched her jaw before she could recover; the hit finished breaking her mask, leaving her mouth uncovered and only the upper part intact while sending her flying back.
“Ha, I love it! Such anger, give me more!” he yelled, snapping his nose back in place with a hand. “I am Wrath and I have to say, yours is absolutely a marvel to witness!”
With a laugh, he released another blast of eldritch energy from his remaining eyes, this one three times bigger than before. With her concentration muddled by the pain and anger, Kara just couldn’t get out of the way, having to lift both hands to block.
The magic hit her gloves, the nth metal dispersing most of the energy, but it couldn’t stop everything as beams slipped through her fingers, hitting her in the face and body, causing her to grunt in pain and discomfort as her face started itching.
Finally, she managed to stabilize her flight and blinked in confusion, her costume had grown in size and turned entirely black, the sunstone nano-machines having lost most of the power condensed inside as the spell increased the rate of entropy on her costume.
Thankfully, the Nth metal had blocked the majority of the power or Kara was afraid the small devices would have broken completely, dissolving into dust as they aged decades in less than a second.
More than that, Kara felt herself growing weak, exhausted, she even briefly lost control of her flight and started dropping, her hair coming undone as it seemed longer.
Finally, as the rays of sunlight hit her body and re-energized her as well as her costume, she managed to stabilize her flight before she hit the ground, her clothes slowly regaining their color.
There also seemed to be something strange about her vision, but Kara was too angry to notice or think about most of the changes, a red aura of light starting to gather around her. With a roar, she flew back towards her enemy, aiming to tear him apart.
Wrath just laughed, flying towards her even as his body grew even larger, the demon gaining strength from her uncontrolled anger, feeding off on it. Deep inside, Kara knew it was a mistake, but she was beyond being rational.
If Wrath was feeding off on her, she’d just have to hit the bastard until he stopped… and perhaps a lot longer.
They clashed midair, the shockwave of their fists hitting each other sounding like an explosion as they bounced back, Kara pushed far away by the sheer strength of her enemy, but Wrath only retreated a few dozen meters. Noticing that only increased her rage.
Flying back, her attacks grew sloppy, without any technique as she aimed to do as much damage as she could to the Rao cursed demon, shards of red light hitting his skin and breaking off against his muscles, the diffused light not strong enough to pierce his defenses.
Wrath was playing with her, dodging every hit and striking at her body repeatedly just hard enough to cause pain but not disable, he was clearly having fun with their battle.
Kara knew she had to get her mind in order, but the knowledge only made her angrier, wilder.
Finally, Wrath kneed her in the solar plexus, smashing her body against a small brick building and leaving her gasping for breath as she hung by its side, halfway buried in the wall.
Slowly, he approached her. “Hmmm, I think I’m gonna be keeping you, perhaps give you to Lust once I’m done?”
“No, you won’t.”
Wrath froze, a large hand grabbing him by the top of the head like a vice and locking him in place. Lifting his hands, he grabbed the arm and attempted to struggle free, but he may as well have not tried as the owner didn’t budge a single muscle, his red cape covering most of his body and flapping against the wind.
Pulling him back by the head, Kal punched the demon in the stomach, folding him in half and causing him to throw up in the air. Releasing Wrath’s head, Kal punched him again, his fist digging deep into the demon’s muscles before sending him flying up with a sonic boom.
Wrath hit one of the eldritch being’s tentacles so hard the limb exploded in gore and then his back bounced against a second one, finally stopping his momentum and allowing him to fall down, all four of his regenerated eyes nearly popping out of his head from the pain.
With an incoherent scream, Kara exploded from her place in the building, flying straight at the demon with Red Light covering her entire body. Just as she was about to reach his falling body, she felt something grabbing her by the leg.
Twisting around, she lashed out, blind with utter rage, but her enemy was too strong, wrapping an arm around her body and pressing it against his chest, locking her arms against her chest and holding her in place.
“Coff… Coff… That’s it! Coff… hit her!” Wrath managed to scream, his power hitting Kal straight on and causing his eyes to shine red.
“No,” Kal said, his voice calm despite all the anger in the air.
“Wh-what?” Wrath gasped, unable to understand what was happening.
“Kara, shhh, remember our lessons,” Kal whispered in her ear, his calming heartbeat filling her ears. Kara could feel his anger radiating from him, but it wasn’t affecting his words or body.
With a scream that broke the windows around her, she finally snapped out of her murderous rage, but she was still left shaking from anger, her fingernails digging into his costume and she did everything she could to hold herself back. “Ho-how can you do it?”
“Do you think I don’t feel anger?” Kal's arm relaxed, releasing the grip he had on her body. “I’m not a stranger to rage, none of us are, but it will never control me. It’s not why I fight, it’s not why I want to fight. There is so much that’s more important. Focus on what’s important to you, on why you’re angry, not the anger itself.”
“I don’t know if I can…” Kara managed to say, but Kal just smiled at her, hugging her closer to his chest.
“I trust you. You’re much stronger than you think you are.”
Breathing hard, she finally released the death grip she had on his arm and floated in place, the rage still filled her mind, the diffuse red haze surrounding her body, but she did her best to control herself, to rise above it. It wasn’t easy.
“Ah fuck off,” Wrath yelled, having finally recovered enough to pounce on them once again, but he seemed smaller, slower, less filled with power. He was unable to feed upon Kal’s fully controlled anger. “You weak hypocrite!”
Kal just leaned back, letting the punch pass in front of his face before backhanding the demon so hard he sent him flying out of the city, hitting the water and creating a huge trench before bouncing against the surface hundreds of times.
Without even glancing at the result, Kal gave her a bittter smile. “Sorry, I have to go,” then he burst into action, getting back into the fight by punching through a tentacle.
Even without Wrath around, Kara still felt the same rage, the same desire to rip and tear everything around. Taking slow breaths; she closed her eyes and tried her best to control herself.
Accept it, don’t fight against it, don’t resist. The anger was real, it was part of her but, just like Kal had said, there were so many things that were more meaningful to her.
Her family… her friends… her goals… In the end, weren’t they far more important than her desire to hurt others? Kara did her best to keep images of Kori in her mind, of Kal and Kon, but it wasn’t easy, the rage still running so strong, like fire in her veins.
She gathered her thoughts, her feelings, focusing the rage instead of just wallowing in it. Slowly, the sounds from the city started registering again, the cries for help, the desperate fighting in the sky.
Finally, when Kara opened her eyes again, they were no longer clouded. She still felt her rage simmering just below the surface, she still REALLY wanted to follow the demon and demolish him, but she wasn’t alone and, in truth, Wrath wasn’t that important in this fight.
Her rage was still running hot but, no matter how strong it was, she had realized it was unsubstantial in the face of what she truly cherished, something for her to use, not be used by.
Closing both hands into fists, she refocused and looked around. She had a job to do.