GBAM!
GBAM! GBAM! GBAM!
In the deep, shadowed corners of an industrial alleyway, the air screamed as series of strikes collided which released shockwaves and stone pebbles. Kageno was locked in a brutal exchange with the corrupted ZhangLi.
He was sent hurling backward, his heels skidding against the pavement, but he used the momentum to whip a flurry of shuriken toward his attacker. ZhangLi parried them with a contemptuous flick of his clawed hand, but by the time the last metal star clattered to the ground, Kageno was already an inch from his face.
"Got you," Kageno whispered, his fingers stiffening into a piercing strike aimed at the ZhangLi's chest.
But a massive, obsidian-scaled hand caught Kageno's wrist mid-air.
"Hey… what exactly do you think you're trying to do?" the corrupted ZhangLi asked, a dark, devilish smile splitting his face.
Kageno's eyes widened, the violet glow of his dark spiral tattoos pulsing. "Hey, kid. You have no idea what you've done to yourself. I'm trying to save you. Now let go, or you'll make me regret killing you along with that core."
"TRY IT!"
ZhangLi roared.
With a surge of unnatural strength, Kageno was sent flying, his body crashing into a brick wall with enough force to create a spiderweb of cracks in the masonry. Kageno slowly peeled himself from the debris, wiping a line of dark blood from his chin.
'Tsk. Troublesome strength', Kageno thought. 'I can't believe I'm being pushed back by raw physical superiority.
He straightened his vest and drew a kunai, his gaze turning predatory. "Alright, let's get serious. Let's see who the superior is when it comes to true strength."
ZhangLi lunged again, laughing like a psychopath. "Hahahaha! You say what?! Say it louder!"
He threw a devastating thrust punch, but Kageno vanished. Using a back-stunt, He crouched on the wall like a spider, just inches below ZhangLi's fist as it pulverized the bricks. Before ZhangLi could retract his arm, Kageno used the demon's own arm as a stepping stone. He launched himself upward, delivering a spinning kick that landed squarely on ZhangLi's jaw.
The impact sent the half formed monster skidding backward, his claws furrowing deep trenches into the pavement to halt his momentum. ZhangLi's face twisted with animalistic rage. He lunged again, delivering a barrage of strikes so fast they blurred. Kageno dodged them all with a fluid, haunting ease.
"Too slow," Kageno whispered, burying a punch deep into ZhangLi's gut.
The blow sent ZhangLi hurling through against three consecutive walls. Nearby civilians screamed and fled in a blind panic. ZhangLi stood up amidst the dust, gritting his teeth before his expression shifted into a jagged, dark smile. He licked the blood from his hand.
Kageno walked slowly towards him, hands tucked casually into his pockets. "Had enough? If you'll be a good boy and stay put, I can get that core out of you."
"Hahahaha!" ZhangLi laughed, his dark-red aura flaring with a murderous lust. "Had enough? Dream on! I'm just getting started!"
He moved in a sonic dash. A clawed slash narrowly missed Kageno's throat, but the follow-up was a hand that clamped onto his face. ZhangLi slammed him into a wall and dragged him across the rough stone, sending sparks and pebbles flying. He hurled Kageno across the street and followed up with a crushing knee strike to the stomach.
Kageno coughed up a spray of blood, his hands gripping the knee pinned against his torso. "You… bastard."
With a grunt of exertion, Kageno threw ZhangLi backward and immediately gave chase. He delivered a falling axe-kick that sent ZhangLi crashing into the center of a deep crater. Kageno landed on top of him, pressing his black sandal onto ZhangLi's mangled face.
"Stay down, kid, before I push this too far."
Suddenly, a hand gripped Kageno's ankle. Beneath his foot, ZhangLi's face was already knitting back together. The injury vanished in seconds.
Kageno's eyes widened. "Still persistent, huh?"
ZhangLi's smile grew wider as he slowly forced Kageno's leg upward. Kageno's muscles trembled as he struggled to keep the pressure down, but ZhangLi's strength was overflowing. With a violent shove, Kageno was tossed back, though he performed a mid-air flip to regain his balance.
'Tch. This is nothing compared to the original Varakhan', Kageno thought with a forced scoff.
-----
Elsewhere, Kael and I were moving toward the epicenter of the energy flare. We passed a street vendor which made me remembered Kael hadn't had any. I stopped by a grilled meat counter and bought Kael two sticks. I paid the counter keeper 100 Aster coins. Kael slowly ate the meat. I secretly watched him eat. His cheeks flushing a slight red, a rare sign that he was actually enjoying something. Then, the vibrations of the energy I had felt earlier changed.
"Weird… Kael? You feel that?"
Kael nodded and pointed toward the wall of a nearby warehouse. I couldn't feel anything yet, but Kael threw away his sticks and braced himself. A second later, the wall exploded. A figure was sent hurtling through the debris, skidding across the pavement to our feet.
"Kageno?" I said, shocked.
"Tsk. More nuisances," Kageno muttered, wiping blood from his mouth.
A blurry shadow appeared instantly in front of Kageno and delivered a punch that Kageno barely blocked with a cross-arm guard.
BANG!
The shockwave shook the ground. While Kageno was locked in the block, a heavy kick caught him in the ribs, sending him flying into the distance. The figure stood upright, his neck cracking as he turned his head nearly 180 degrees to look at me.
"Oliver… Veyron." He smiled darkly. "Today is the day I finally get my revenge!"
"ZhangLi?" I looked at his monstrous form with a mix of pity and anger. "What have you done to yourself? How did you get that core? If you wanted revenge, you should have fought me like a man, not this disgraceful thing."
"SHUT UP!"
He lunged at me with blinding speed, but Kael's metal restraints snaked out of the ground, catching him mid-air. ZhangLi's blood-red eyes fixed on Kael. He roared, shattering the metal, and appeared inches from Kael's face, claws raised to rip his head off.
"No interference!"
I appeared between them in a flash. I used my left foot to parry his descending claws and my right to deliver a thunderous roundhouse kick to his neck.
BANG!
The strike sent him skidding across the pavement. Before he could recover, Kageno appeared above him, delivering a knee strike to the face, followed by a twist kick that sent him tumbling backward again.
"Kageno? What's happening?" I asked.
"I was scouting and found some cult people in black hoods," Kageno replied, his breathing heavy. "They're behind this. ZhangLi was just the victim."
My expression immediately widened. 'Black hooded people? Something isn't right here.' I thought inwardly.
From the crater, ZhangLi's aura flared violently.
"OLIVER VEYRON!"
He roared, his voice now a terrifying harmony of his own and a demonic growl. Black cracks spider-webbed across his skin, and a second obsidian horn slowly sprouted from his skull. The air began to tremble with the weight of his curse.
He flickered.
In an instant, strikes landed on all three of us. We were sent hurling backward into different buildings. I barely regained my balance when a dark-red mana-slash tore through the air, aimed at my head. I dodged by a hair's breadth, watching as the building behind me was carved in half, a glowing burnt mark left on the stone.
'Shit. That would have severed me', I thought, sweat cold on my neck.
ZhangLi looked at his claws, then back at me. "Hey, Oliver. I never imagined this kind of power. If that had touched you, you'd be in pieces. I feel… amazing!" He said with a joyful dark grin.
"You're crazy," I said, lunging at him. "You traded your soul for a lie!"
I threw a punch, but he shifted his head slightly. The wind pressure from my fist punched a hole in the wall behind him. He smiled and countered with a lightning-fast strike that caught me in the chest, sending me coughing blood as I crashed into the ruins.
Before he could finish me, a massive steel rod slammed into his face. Kael was standing in the distance, his eyes locked onto ZhangLi as he manipulated dozens of metal rods, coiling them around the monster's body to restrain his movement.
Kageno walked up to the bound ZhangLi, his dual black short swords drawn. One rested on his shoulder, the other was held in a reverse grip.
"I told you. Push me too far, and I'll take you out."
ZhangLi's demonic smile only widened.
"INSECTS!"
With a ferocious roar, he shattered the metal restraints, the force sending Kageno and Kael backward. Kageno immediately closed the gap, a sword in his mouth and another in his hand. He executed a whirlwind of slashes, severing one of ZhangLi's arms and carving a deep X into his chest.
I rose from the rubble and joined them. We watched as the core in ZhangLi's chest pulsed with a sickly light. To our horror, the severed arm grew back in seconds, and the chest wounds closed as if they were never there.
"Hahaha! See?! You can't defeat me!"
He lunged again.
'Fine. He's getting arrogant', I thought. 'I don't want to use Molecular Resonance to end the fight since I had swore never to use it on a human … but I'll use his overconfidence against him.'
Just as I was about to strike, a single word cut through the chaos like a frost-breath.
"Halt."
ZhangLi's body froze mid-dash. His muscles locked, and his neck trembled as he struggled to turn around.
Standing behind him, a beautiful lady approached with a cold, absolute authority.