The cat will mew, and every dog shall have his day.
Humbolt Building - Karin City - Gorean Occupied Karin
OCCUPATION: Day One Hundred Seventy Three
*AD NAUSEAM*
Sal-zÿr looped the building, pulling up and away from the trap Edward had painstakingly laid for him, the rippling explosions blowing the windows of the office towers outwards, lancets of glass showering the pavement and shredded everything in their path.
Edward gaped; uncertainty hitting him for the first time since he'd began the loop. That was unexpected; Sal-zÿr had always been predictable... Edward didn't have time to dwell upon it. He thumbed the wrist-mounted accelerator as he swung left around the next office tower. The blue-scaled creature leapt, ploughing a great chunk out of the steel and glass structure, throwing itself towards his path.
Edward leaned back, trying a full loop, turning about on the way he had come, expecting the Gorean to turn behind him, only to come face to face with a gaping maw lined with teeth.
"Peek-a-boo, I'm smart too!" Sal-Zÿr roared, taking a bite out of the air as Edward ducked low, going under the great beast's chin and skimming low under his belly as the creature scrabbled for him.
The tail! Edward thought desperately, as the bladed club swung downwards, knocking Edward through plate glass windows of the office tower opposite. The hoverboard struck the floor and dumped him to the ground as it went skimming through the far windows, exploding as it impacted with a skimmer.
Dizzily picking himself up, Edward turned to see Sal-zÿr's eye staring at him through the shattered edge of the office tower.
"Do you really think me that stupid, Emperor of Man?" Sal-zÿr's claw raked at the edge of the building, pulling down part of the floor, tearing it away as he curled his great head back, swaying gently from side to side on his arched neck.
"You don't actually expect an answer to that," Edward responded, pulling a large shard of glass from his arm and watching the wound close.
"The more you repeat a loop, the more those trapped within it become aware of its existence." He huffed out a long laugh. "You are nothing but a child in this. Accept the fact that I am superior to you, accept the fact that I will kill you and all of this will be done."
"I have yet to see a sign of your vaunted disciple powers," Edward answered, standing uneasily on the shifting floor. "How many times is this? And you've still yet to defeat me!" He laughed, shaking his head, "I may not have beaten you, but you can't beat me. No matter what you do, chomp me, barbeque me, electrocute me, disembowel me, you still haven't stopped me. And you know that I will find a way to stop you. All it takes is once; I just need to get lucky once."
"Your luck is about to run out!" Sal-zÿr drove a claw deeper into the ruined building, trying to get a hold of the young Princling.
"I'm the God of Luck, damn it," Edward snapped, wagging his hand with a broad grin. "I make my own fucking luck, bi-a-tch!"
"I will make you suffer a thousand unending deaths of vile torment!" Sal-zÿr swore, climbing the office tower. The whole building began to list, the Gorean struggling to reach inside the floor.
Edward popped, vanishing from the building as it began to cave inwards, appearing on the roof opposite, and looking down at the top of Sal-zÿr's head, "You're too slow, too fat and too damn old!"
Sal-zÿr leapt away from the crumbling building. Catching the opposite building with his fore claws, he used his great forearms to pull him hand over hand up the side of the building after Edward.
"Time manipulation, teleportation," Edward shrugged, "just a couple of my tricks. I have telekinesis too..." He concentrated, pushing outwards as he caught the giant lizard in an invisible wall of force, dragging it back from the building.
Sal-zÿr's muscles bulged as he fought to hold onto the apartment tower, stones shifting and cracking under the forces exerted upon them. His immense head lifted up and he turned it to smash down upon the roof, caving in a great section. Edward blinked as the floor gave out beneath him, yelping as he plummeted into the rubble of the floors below.
He gasped painfully, struggling to sit upright, watching the teeth rushing towards him. He knew that he'd given it everything he had that time. Resorted to the full strength he had; an immense arsenal that just hadn't been enough to fell Sal-zÿr.