The Five Evolution

『"The weight of a mountain."』

Amara sighted the Collector and the horror that surrounded him. "The Collector..." she whispered and brandished her blade.

"The Collector?" He raised an eyebrow, placing a hand over his mouth thoughtfully. "Hmm... I quite like it." Both hands dropped loosely at his sides. "I have a name though."

Amara didn’t come to chat. She squeezed the hilt of her blade with both hands, took a deep breath, and dashed forward.

The Collector sighed loudly. "Great." He ripped away whatever was left of his white cloak, revealing a black, sleeveless mesh attire beneath.

She closed the distance in a blink, Angel’s Bane carving through the air itself.

The Collector swayed back, the edge passing millimeters from his throat, and his smile widened.

"Good technique." He manifested a weapon in his right hand, a hammer that looked deceptively simple. Metal handle, steel head, nothing ornamental. "But how about that follow through?"

He swung, and Amara blocked with Angel’s Bane, blade meeting hammer in a clash that should’ve been straightforward.

Instead, the impact drove her backward three feet, her arms screaming from the force. If there were ever any doubts that they were leagues apart, it evaporated in that moment.

The hammer wasn’t just heavy, there was something wrong with it. It was as though it carried momentum from somewhere else.

"Graviton Maul," the Collector explained as he advanced. "The hammer generates as much mass as I need it to. That tap you just blocked? Roughly two sextillion pounds."

Amara passed Angel’s Bane to her left hand. "You talk too much," she said, flexing her right.

The Collector glanced at her flexing hand and smiled. "I do." He twirled the hammer once around his grip. "It’s a terrible habit." Then he took a step forward.

As though mirroring his movements, Amara took one step back cautiously and activated her intent sight. At this point, she couldn’t tell if it was fear or caution. Maybe both.

Her pupils constricted, turning bright blue, and the world sharpened around her.

Lines of possibility unfolded around the Collector like invisible currents. Every movement carried purpose. Every twitch hinted at what came next.

There.

Graviton Maul came down in a downward strike and she leaped backwards just before it crashed into where she’d been standing earlier.

The hammer’s mass was instinctively adjusted by the Collector, reducing it just enough to blow a hole through the floor, rather than collapse the entire pocket dimension of the room.

She immediately countered with a horizontal slash aimed at his midsection. Angel’s Bane’s edge sang through air as atoms parted before it.

The Collector blocked with the hammer’s handle that became dense enough thanks to the mass added, and the impact sent vibrations through Amara’s blade, up her arms.

Before Amara knew it, she was being driven back again, forced onto the defensive as his hammer swings came in rapid succession.

High. Low. Left. Right. Each strike carrying incomprehensible weight at impact, yet producing no recoil to the Collector at all.

There was only so much Amara could evade, and when she blocked twice in a row, her arms went numb from the accumulated force.

Can’t keep blocking... Her jaw tightened.

She feinted left, then closed the distance in a single burst, appearing inside his guard with Angel’s Bane driving toward his chest, hoping to take him by surprise.

However, the Collector’s free hand caught her wrist in a surprising twist, stopping her from advancing, and her eyes widened for a brief moment before turning defiant.

"Lovely Amara," he said, and brought the hammer down on her blade in an impact that was earth shattering.

The sword couldn’t be destroyed, but the weight transferred through the blade into her body.

Amara felt gravity multiply, felt her bones compress under unreal pressure, and felt the floor crack beneath her feet as she was driven downward.

She tried to move, but her legs refused. Her body weighed like a hundred times what it should—no, more. Every muscle screamed trying to support mass that kept increasing.

The Collector released her wrist and stepped back, resting the hammer’s handle on his shoulder. "Graviton Maul’s secondary effect."

His gaze traveled over her body, noting the subtle tremor in her arms, the way her boots sank deeper into the fractured floor with every strained breath.

Amara gritted her teeth and forced herself upright. Every movement felt like she was dragging a mountain chained to her limbs. "I... didn’t ask for a lecture," she said.

The Collector tilted his head as she adjusted her grip on Angel’s Bane. "But I’m guessing... you’re going to give me one... anyway."

His smile widened. "Correct." He raised one finger. "Knowledge is important. Especially when it explains why you’re losing."

He then tapped the side of Graviton Maul. "Anything Graviton Maul strikes experiences a hundredfold increase in effective weight for two minutes."

He reached into his trouser pocket, produced a golden pocket watch, and clicked it open. "Unfortunately for you, it compounds with each strike."

Amara was fairly certain he didn’t need to check for the time so dramatically. He was doing it because he enjoyed it.

"Right now, your body weighs..." His eyes flicked to the watch briefly before snapping back to hers. "About 75 billion tons." He shrugged lightly. "Give or take."

The floor beneath Amara’s feet cracked further, cratering more and more beneath her.

Get up. Move. Don’t let him—

"You know..." The Collector swung the hammer into her side. "It isn’t looking good for you." It connected with her ribs despite the attempted block.

Pain exploded across her side as she was launched backward like a missile, vanishing into the infinite expanse of the fractured pocket dimension.

There was nothing to stop her. No walls. No horizon. Just endless white rushing past in a blur. Then golden light wrapped around her.

"Whoa!" Sophia’s telekinesis caught her a split second before she disappeared into the distance entirely, and the strain hit immediately.

Sophia’s nose started bleeding. "What the hell did you eat?" she grunted, lowering Amara gently toward the ground with visible effort.

Amara’s weight cratered the ground once she reached it anyway. She landed in a crouch, Angel’s Bane planted beside her for support as every muscle in her body screamed.

Her sword didn’t seem to be affected by the weight increase. But that didn’t matter if she could barely lift an arm.

"Very..." She sucked in a painful breath. "...funny." Her legs trembled when she tried to stand, then they gave out.

One more hit and she’d have been toast.

"According to the Collector, the effects should wear off any minute now," Amara managed. "Unless I get hit again."

Sophia landed beside her and immediately placed one of Amara’s arms around her shoulders to try and support her weight. "Well, I’ve got you."

Her helmet hummed with the effort of supporting her weight as sweat ran down her temple.

A moment later, red lightning flashed through the shattered remains of a spatial barrier.

Hiro emerged sprinting, then skidded to a stop when he saw the state Amara was in. "What the hell happened here?"

"We’re leaving," Sophia said through clenched teeth. "Cover us, Hiro."

Amara winced as Sophia helped her upright. "I got my ass handed to me, Sophia."

"Yeah," Sophia replied flatly. "No kidding."

Ahead of them, the Collector continued his slow approach, hammer rested against one shoulder. "I keep telling you guys... we’re on the same side." He raised his voice loud enough for them to hear.

"And we totally believe you!" Hiro responded, his voice raised as well.

Red lightning crackled around him as he snatched up chunks of broken floor and hurled them at lightning speed toward the Collector.

The projectiles became streaks of red-white, and the Apostle sighed.

He simply spun his hammer like a fan, blocking it all. By the time he was done, they were already gone.

The Collector made no move to chase or look for them. He just smiled and dismissed his hammer.

Far ahead, as Sophia flew with Amara, the crushing weight began to fade. She was back to her normal weight, and the pressure was lifted as her breathing eased.

"The Directors." She turned to face Sophia who sped up now that the burden was gone. "They’re back there. We have to go back for them."

"Tough shit." Sophia kept flying with Amara. "Unlike you, I’d like my ass not handed to me today."

Below them, Hiro kept pace, glancing nervously over his shoulder toward the distant figure of the Collector.

None of them missed the fact that he wasn’t chasing.

And back in the ruined War Room that felt like thousands of miles away, Ethan stood, facing his brother.

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