131 129 Interlude: Ned

Ned is a simple man.

He has simple desires, simple drives.

He just wants to hurt, to suffer, to feel that 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 feeling of pain.

Only through pain can he grow. Only through 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 can he become 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

No one has ever understood. No one 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 understand.

But that was always fine. They didn't need to understand him. They just needed to 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 him.

Because of this, Ned never felt that he was missing anything with the Nine. Like Jack said, traveling with them got him in a lot more danger than he was in by himself, and he can't deny how much he grew during the few years he was with them.

But then, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 came along.

At first, she wasn't much to take note of. She killed Chuckles, which was nice. His laugh was annoying.

It was only when she passed his test that his interest was peaked.

Not only did she manage to hurt him, something that is becoming increasingly rare, but she actually agreed to hurt him some more.

But, while he was happy about it, Ned's expectations weren't too high in all honesty.

That changed when she got out of the box and they had that 'fight' in some town, Atta-something.

It was then, that Ned first felt 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥.

She tore into him with an all to familiar abandon, ripping his flesh and consuming it in the same motion, all the while he did the same, biting and clawing and melting her.

For hours, they continued this dance, maiming and healing in the same breath until, for the first time since his trigger, Ned felt 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥.

So he had nothing to say when she killed Jack, nor when she declared the Slaughterhouse Nine no more. Because he understood 𝘩𝘦𝘳, just as she understood 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

Just because the Nine is gone, that doesn't mean she's going to stop, and so long as she keeps moving, there will always be more opportunities to grow.

Such as right now.

Jack never would have approached an Endbringer. The closest they ever got to one was when they visited cities that were recently wrecked by one of them, making a bad situation worse for anyone who lived there.

But 𝘩𝘦𝘳? She didn't even hesitate to take the first available ticket to an Endbringer fight, bringing Ned along with her, purely because she knew he would want to go.

Over time, Ned has been hurt in countless ways, and his body has grown all but immune to just about any form of damage.

But when that beast, Behemoth, smacked him away, like one would swat a bug, Ned felt 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯. Sweet, sweet, glorious 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯.

Ned can't remember the last time someone managed to hurt him through simple physical impact, maybe it was that time, two years ago, when a cape hit him with a hammer that weighed over a hundred thousand tonnes, thanks to their power?

Even Alexandria, in the short fight earlier, couldn't actually 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 him.

But Behemoth? A single strike and Ned felt half his body reduced to pulp. If the Endbringer's clawed finger was any thinner, he was sure he would have been split in half from the blow.

He wants more.

But his power only knows to grow, to fix and to become better. By the time Ned stopped flying from the force of the blow, he was completely healed. Better yet, he was 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 than he was.

Always more.

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. Ned felt his power's thirst for pain grow alongside his own, his skin tightening and shifting, making him even more resistant to harm than ever before.

More, more, MORE!!

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴, this is what Ned lives for. This 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯, this feeling of 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩.

It's never enough.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!!

An explosion of white light erupts from the beast, rending the sky asunder, as if announcing to the world the futility of their actions, that Death has come and there is nothing they can do to stop it.

The shockwave from the blast pushes against Ned, even from where he is, hundreds of feet away and he 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 in it.

He recognises the feeling of radiation as it washes over him from a cape a little over a year ago, who tried to melt him with a concentrated blast of the stuff.

It didn't work.

It never works.

Following the blast, Ned sees a figure being launched away, careening through the air without control.

Of course, he recognises his friend, even from afar. How could he not?

But Ned doesn't worry for her, for she is like him. She will be fine. She will be 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.

Only through pain can we grow.

So instead of thinking about his friend, Ned focuses on the beast in front of him, letting out a howl of joy as he charges forward once more.

A dozen other capes move around him, but he doesn't care.

A thousand and one lasers slam into Behemoth. It doesn't care. They don't leave a mark. They don't even slow down his stride.

The beast retaliates with a wave of flame, hundreds of feet wide and almost as tall that incinerates everything it touches.

He sees a couple of other capes get caught in the flames, only to immediately be reduced to ash, yet when they wash over Ned, he doesn't stop his charge, only giving him a single thought.

𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘮.

Moving with all the speed he is capable of, Ned 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘴 into the Behemoth's leg, knocking it back a step, but nothing more.

Just like last time, one of Ned's many eyes catch one of it's mighty arms swinging down to swat him, but this time he sees something else as well and ignores the beast, focusing on climbing it instead.

Right as it's clawed hand is making it's way to Ned, a small, flying blur 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 into it, knocking the blow off course and causing the beast to hit itself in the hip.

Ned 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴, loud and hard; flames exploding out of his mouth from the constant heat in his gut that he can hardly even feel anymore.

Twenty minutes ago, she was trying to kill him, and now, Alexandria, one of the first Heroes, is 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 him.

He knew following her was the right choice. Only she could make the world this interesting.

It takes only a moment to reach the beasts chest, and he sees a hole already torn into its chest. He recognises her work and decides to follow her lead once more, digging into the beast with reckless abandon.

Years seem to pass in seconds as all that exists is this obsidian black flesh, bleeding black, sludge-like blood over his form as he tears and he tears and he 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.

Impacts ring out against his back, and he recognises every sensation. From the physical strikes to the lighting and the radiation. The heat in his gut becomes unbearable once again, rising to all new levels like Ned has never known.

But for every fibre of flesh he loses, he only becomes 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

The fire that started burning again, once more is reduced to a simple warmth. The lightning and radiation soon join it in spawning in his gut, but they too, are soon reduced to nothing but soft sensations.

So he digs. He digs, and he tears and he rips. Until, his claws suddenly stop making progress.

His teeth crack, his acid washes away without a mark.

All of a sudden, Ned finds himself incapable of digging any further.

But that doesn't stop him. If he can't dig any further as he is, then he will just have to become 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 than he is.

So he claws and he bites, and his claws snap and his teeth shatter.

But they come back stronger.

The beast starts to glow white again, but he ignores it.

The glow intensifies, but it doesn't matter.

Until it does.

An explosion, 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 in size erupts from the beast, sending Ned flying out of the fresh cavity in its chest, and annihilating everything within a kilometre of its location, the resulting shockwave destroying whatever else was left of the surrounding town as nuclear fallout paints the skies.

Only two places remain unharmed by the blast. The hastily set up command centre, full of tents for the injured, where there is an enormous barrier of multicoloured light, clearly the effort of dozens of different powers, each dedicated to protecting the injured.

The other place is far more uniform. A single, green barrier, surpassing all of the others all by its lonesome, stands guard in front of the nuclear power plant that is the Behemoth's target.

Behind the barrier, floats a single man, wreathed in green and 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 power.

With a gesture, the fading light from the explosion returns full force, like someone hit the rewind button over the entire town, but only for a moment before he switches power again, and all of the radiation flies towards him and condenses into a ball the size of a palm.

Then the barrier drops, as he takes on a new power in it's place, shaping the concentrated energy into a spear that breaks the sound barrier as it launches towards the Behemoth's open wound.

The projectile collides against it's hastily raised palm and 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 once again, the only difference being that the energy is concentrated around the beast, instead of being allowed to run rampant.

But the beast doesn't take a single step back as it takes control over the force of the attack, and directs it into the ground, causing a crater to rapidly start spreading out from where it stands, only to be stopped when Eidolon suddenly appears in front of the beast, just outside of it's kill zone with one palm on the ground, the other pointed up at it.

The echo of power reaches Eidolon in less than a second after his arrival, but it stops expanding immediately after coming into contact with his palm, and a sudden beam of pure force is launched out of his other palm, striking the beast right below it's wound.

𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙢!!

Everyone feels the ground shake and the skies scream out in agony as the attack lands, yet even with all of that power, the mighty Behemoth only stumbles back a dozen paces, his chest gaining a new wound, this one wider but shallower.

Ned is about to charge right back in, his blood pumping from the display, before he is tackled to the side, rolling from the blow as he feels his flesh start to get torn to pieces, spitting in the face of his recent growth.

It takes him only a moment for one of his many eyes to find out who assaulted him, and he can only let out a wild grin as he takes in the sight of his dear friend, bigger than she was, as she tears into him, consuming him with a desperation that only makes sense once he notices her legs regrowing themselves.

𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥.

The thought brings unbridled joy to Ned, knowing that he was right.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥.

Almost as abruptly as she came, she stops biting into him, only long enough to lean closer to his head and to whisper a few scathing words at him.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? 𝘎𝘦𝘵 '𝘦𝘮."

But however she might sound, Ned knows exactly what she's feeling. He can hear it, hidden away in her tone.

He recognises the feeling well enough that she's all but broadcasting it to him.

𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺.

And that's all he needs.

With another laugh, Ned charges straight for the beast once more, ignoring his friend as she devours his flesh.

Every bite she takes, she gets stronger, he knows this; and every time he heals, he too, gets stronger.

Like the ouroboros, an endless cycle.

She only stops once they get close enough that the beast starts ignoring the Manton effect again. Fire, hotter than before, burns in his gut, radiation and electricity joining it as the energies try to tear him apart.

The all too familiar scream of pleasureful pain above him is enough to know that she is getting the same treatment.

But soon enough, they are both laughing once more, howling out to the world!

Her wings spread wide, and both of them leap at the beast, each taking a leg to themselves and pushing it back a step before they start racing up it's crystalline flesh, side by side.

The beast, no longer dismissing them, charges a strike of crimson red lighting above it's head.

The lightning, thicker than ever before, slams down on the beast and the two monsters assaulting it like the righteous hammer of a God, engulfing them completely in an explosion of concentrated power greater than even Eidolon's attack.

𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙈!!!!

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I hope this was as cool as I wanted it to be.

Lusia was supposed to be unconscious, but then I wanted more insanely powerful combat, so this happened, and then I thought it was lame that lusia didn't get to actually fight with crawler, so she woke up.

Also, for those of you real ones that have read my last fic, remember Mantis? I never actually explained it (I planned to write a Mantis interlude but I guess I forgot) but Mantis basically worshipped Hana like a god on earth, so he was unerringly loyal.

You could basically say that Crawler is Lusia's Mantis. She is the only person that really matters to him, and hopefully this chap has helped show that he would literally follow her into anything, above all else.

Also, to be clear, there is no romance between either of them, it's purely platonic

Also, I am definitely making Eidolon stronger than he is in canon, but I have three reasons. First, fuck you. Second, I just really love the idea of one person throwing around a shit tonne of powers. Third, I do actually have a small AU reason for him to legit be stronger than in canon, thanks to a small butterfly :)

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses