Armsmaster went on an all-out offensive, slashing as fast as his arm could move, cutting leg, knee, tail, leg again, moving out of the way of Leviathan’s attacks as though it were easy.  For ten seconds he continued, relentless.

Good work!

“I should thank you, monster,” Armsmaster spoke, after he’d just finished a backflip that had carried him near enough to Leviathan’s torso to strike the creature across the lower belly.

For giving him a chance to restore and boost his reputation?

Leviathan lunged, dropping to all fours, as if trying to swamp Armsmaster with a huge volume of water by way of his afterimage.  Armsmaster was already casting his grappling hook out, pulling himself out of the way.  In the final moment before he pulled away, his other Halberd swung up and into Leviathan’s neck, making a wound mirroring the spot where Narwhal’s forcefield had cleaved deep, the one Kid Win had undoubtedly opened wider with his laser turret.  Armsmaster reeled the hook back in.

This battle is really cool.

The Endbringer turned, as if to run, only for the loop of the grappling hook’s chain to pass under his ‘chin’.  Armsmaster heaved himself up and onto the Endbringer’s back, drove the Halberd into one side of the neck, lengthening the cut he’d just made.  He stepped on the top of the Endbringer’s head, leaped down, catching the Endbringer across the face with the Halberd as he descended.  Leviathan collapsed, going spread-eagle.

Leviathan down, CC-7! For some definition of “down”, anyway. It’s not quite clear what the armband’s definition of that was, considering the unconscious Clockblocker was never reported as “down” as far as we heard.

He stepped forward, then stepped again, waiting for some cue from Leviathan.  On Armsmaster’s third step, Leviathan took a small step back, lashed his tail behind him.

“Finally scared?” Armsmaster taunted.  “Good.”

Try not to be too cocky. Before you know it, you might misinterpret a preparation to attack as fear because that’s what you want to see in it.

Nausea and pain was welling up in me again as I watched from the corner of the building, under the carport, threatening to override my sense of awe.

She may have her reasons to dislike Armsmaster, but she can identify badass when she sees it.

Besides, she did spend most of her life admiring Armsmaster before she found out he was a dick.

It was all I could do to keep quiet, keep from distracting Armsmaster, or distracting Leviathan and throwing some wrench in Armsmaster’s data.

I suppose that is one way of helping.

The last thing I wanted was to become the hostage that made Armsmaster hesitate for the fraction of a second that cost him -cost us all-  the fight.

Yeah, that would be unfortunate.

So what is Taylor’s role here?

Having one single hero take out Leviathan pretty much on his own without Taylor finally finding a way to help seems a bit… counter to some of the things that’ve been somewhat in focus in this Arc – teamwork to take down a threat to everyone and trying to find a way to help even though it seems hopeless.

That said, maybe that’s the point.

He passed one Halberd to the other hand, so he held two, wiped some frothing spittle from his mouth with his gauntlet.  “I am going to be the one to take your head, abomination.  I can only hope you know mortal terror in your last moments, know what you’ve inflicted on so many others.”

Okay, pride and falls and all that, but Armsmaster genuinely is pretty good at this kind of speech.

Leviathan stood, straighted itself, touched its claw to its ruined face, then its neck.  The amount of blood it was losing – it seemed somehow more than Leviathan should have been able to contain within himself.  I mean, he was big, but this was a lot of blood.

Wow.

For several long seconds, Leviathan didn’t move.

Considering how rapid his movements have been through the last few chapters, every time he stops moving feels quite significant.

“Delaying, buying time for a tsunami?” Armsmaster laughed, and Leviathan cocked his head at the display of emotion.  “No.  Three point four minutes before the next big wave breaks through the ice.  Dragon’s probes are giving me the data on that.  This will be over before then.”

Let’s hope you’re right about that.

Leviathan lunged, and Armsmaster fired out the grappling hook, stopped it in mid air by freezing it in time.  Leviathan ran himself through on the chain, the thing spearing deep into his neck and out the back of his torso.  Uncaring, the Endbringer continued to charge at Armsmaster.

Ouch.

Let’s make a Leviathan necklace!

Armsmaster let the chain go slack, ducked a swipe of the tail, leaped forward and to one side to avoid the claw that followed.  Another small hop and roll ensured he moved right beneath the afterimage, and he made two swipes with the blurry Halberd at the back of Leviathan’s thighs as he passed behind the Endbringer.

His chain reeled in, pulled free of Leviathan’s neck wth (sic) a spray of blood, came down and across Leviathan’s hip to snap back to the top of the Halberd.  He fired it off again to get himself more distance, pulling himself across the street, spinning to face Leviathan once more as he stopped.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This entire fight would be really cool to see animated.

Maybe Armsy is filming this with his visor, so that he can make sure his historical victory over Leviathan is properly recorded. That would provide more reason for his monologuing.

Armsmaster called out, “Let’s see how quickly you respond to classical conditioning.  Every time you try to run, I’ll do something like that.”

I mean… if you fail here, the world might regret you teaching an Endbringer not to run. Especially considering Plan A was “beat him up until he goes away”.

That said, I suppose it could help someone else take him down for good.

Leviathan had no reply.

Leviathan isn’t exactly the talkative type. Comes with having no mouth, I suppose.

He simply climbed to his feet, swiped a claw through the air.  Armsmaster parried the afterimage that sailed through the air toward him, using the purple flame. 

“For the record, that last trick was a temporal stasis trigger, with thanks owed to the cooperation of a subordinate of mine.  Drains my battery reserves, but you don’t understand that, do you?”

Man, it’s a good thing he doesn’t seem to understand you, because you keep laying bare your strengths and weaknesses.

I’m guessing this subordinate is Clockblocker. Much like how Bakuda was able to make bombs emulating Vista’s abilities (and probably Clockblocker’s too, for the time bombs – in fact I’m thinking that turning other parahumans’ abilities into explosives might’ve been a part of her specialty), Clockblocker and Armsmaster may have been able to emulate the former’s power in tech affected by the latter’s.

Leviathan whipped his tail at Armsmaster.  Armsmaster stepped out of the way, slapped at the tail with the broad side of the blade.

Ah, I guess he didn’t manage to detach it completely just yet.

More dust, another chunk of flesh gone, ichor pouring from the injury.  He ducked the echo as though it were an idle afterthought.

Making progress, though.

Leviathan turned to run.  Armsmaster sent out one blade like a grappling hook, circled the smaller of the Endbringer’s claws with the chain.

Huh. It seems Leviathan actually feels threatened now. Nice. But Armsmaster’s not going to let him get away – he wants to kill him. A bit of pride that might just bite Armsy in the armse.

Leviathan moved, oblivious or uncaring, and Armsmaster waited until the slack was out of the chain, pressed a button.

The chain and Halberd ceased moving, and even Leviathan’s strength ceased to move it.

Huh.

Rather than pull away, the Endbringer skidded, fell on his back, wrist still held by the chain.

A half second later, the chain went briefly slack, then rigid again as Armsmaster reeled himself in.

And there he goes.

Hm. One potential outcome here is that Armsmaster ends up killing Leviathan, but taking out himself in the process, possibly intentionally. That would make his exit a true heroic sacrifice, set apart even from all the other sacrifices in this Arc, through its successfulness at doing what it seems like no one has ever done before: Taking out an Endbringer.

In death he’d finally get his precious reputation, and deserve it too.

He drove the blurry blade straight into Leviathan’s face with all the force of his forward momentum.

Ooh, that’s gonna smart. Well. No it isn’t– actually, yes it is? Leviathan has been seemingly reacting to pain even though he doesn’t have a nervous system? I’m confused. *checks Interlude 8* Ohh, Tattle’s power said he had a nonstandard nervous system.

It’s gonna smart. Probably.

He pulled it free, slashed again, then freed the chain and used it to pull himself across the street, out of reach of Leviathan’s violent response.

Nice work, man.

Leviathan lunged, stopped, letting his water echo get ahead of him, then lunged again, a half second later.  Armsmaster leaped out of the way of the echo, drew his knees to his chest to avoid a claw swipe while he was still airborne, and sent his grappling hook between Leviathan’s feet to pull himself to the ground in a flash. 

That said, Armsmaster really does seem to know what he’s doing. Out of everyone still alive, he probably has the best shot at this.

I don’t think he’ll pull it off, but he’s gonna do a damn good job trying.

He skidded with the momentum, right between Leviathan’s legs, and raised the blurry Halberd to strike Leviathan between the legs, against the first ten feet of Leviathan’s tail.  The tail was turned to dust where the blade made contact, the plumes of it briefly obscuring Armsmaster.

Oh shit, it seems like Armsmaster just straight up got rid of the tail, assuming the turning to dust went all the way through. The tail is not only one of Leviathan’s most effective weapons, but Taylor explicitly pointed out that it seemed to help him balance.

…

I can’t help but imagine Leviathan comically tipping over like one of these things: