Chapter 14: White Flag

Fooshh!

The firestorm blew like a hurricane, consuming everything within its path to the extent one side of the forest looked like hellfire. When the fire waned out, the lady was surprised not to see Mordecai anywhere near the burning hell.

'Aagghh!' an ear-piercing scream shut out from above and behold, Mordecai was above the lady, spinning erratically on mid-air so he could deliver a kick to her again. The lady gently took a few steps back and waited for Mordecai to drop so she could counterattack him. But Mordecai didn't drop on his feet, he dropped upside down, using his hands as support for his body then rotated with his legs which created a crosswind. A crosswind that attracted most of the fire burning the trees and extinguished half of it.

'I admit, you are good.' said the lady.

'You haven't seen anything yet.' Mordecai spoke after he stomped on the ground.

'You should consider that coming from me.'

Fooshh! Fooshh!

The two opposers lunged themselves at each other to exchange heavy blows and kicks.

Mordecai directed a sky-rocketing jab to the lady visage but the lady swiftly avoided it after she connected her four fingers on her right hand to make them as sharp as spear then using her wrist as a shield, she diverted Mordecai's fist to her left, piercing in further with her razor-sharp hand she delivered a close hit with her elbow straight to Mordecai's cheeks. It didn't end there, with that same razor-sharp hand she spun Mordecai 360° around her and then from nowhere she dipped her kneel inside Mordecai's stomach. Mordecai was forced to vomit and lie straight to the ground. The lady didn't take a second glance at him before purposely sending Mordecai spinning 360 on-air with a ground-shaking kick to his face.

Mordecai immediately got himself after the kick, so he made a precise turn on the air to land on his feet. This time Mordecai didn't react harshly, instead, he stayed silent and watched the lady who looked down upon him like a deity. Extending both his hands, his Ethereal Ring was formed. The light blue ring, sparking and travelling around his fist like wired currents and creating a screeching noise.

Shang!

Another majestic light blue circle appeared at his back with astronomical drawings and patterns dancing inside it.

'Mantra of The Forever Demon light.'

He whispered to himself and the items inside the circle coalesced to form almost a human-shaped figure. Swiftly he dashed out again at the lady calculating how many hoaxes blows he would attempt to land an original where she'd least expect. Back at the lady she introduced another handy scroll and unrolled it to manifest a long spear made of pure mana. She clenched this spear and made a clear picture of its capabilities to Mordecai by swinging and turning it around her body at an unbelievable speed. Wherever she swiped, an intense heat follows behind and incinerate the surroundings through a wave.

Mordecai didn't mind, he ran, spun and jumped around the lady as he avoided all the ships the spear posed to him. If one should stare at this battle, they would only see a streak of light moving in zigzags before a lady. Down to his legs, the spear sliced, then back up to his body, the spear destroyed all the after images he left behind. After a while, Mordecai retreated to catch his breath. He noticed the lady deployed that spear just to keep him away from her. He was right – he really is Mordecai the Bliss. In terms of speed, the lady knows she couldn't dance along with him.

'The issue isn't who is faster. It's can you last as long as you think.' she chuckled and spoke.

Countless beads of sweat were already running helterskelter on Mordecai's face. He had to end the fight or else he would power down and then the lady would be the one ending the fight.

…

Search!

The bald's main weapon broke through a thick tree after several attempts.

'Hmm…' he wasn't satisfied with the result the weapon gave him. Bobby was still on the loose, running around, and he still hadn't sliced his head off yet. For him, how frustrating!

'I recommend you stay still so you wouldn't feel pain why you leave this world.' he said gently.

Bobby blended perfectly behind a tree that was close to the bald man. He was completely petrified being chased down to his grave. If he were to come out of this, he will forever hate Mordecai for including him inside his personal issue. One step is taken wrongly and he was surely become a midnight corpse.

The bald man showed only signs of indifference as he scanned to the area. When his sight rested on a tree, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion and then immediately, he flung out his weapon again. His weapon sliced opened a tree and revealed Bobby's hidden spot in a second.

Bass!

Bobby flew away from the tree as it exploded. The man revealed a smirk and threw out the weapon again to the defenceless Bobby.

As this moment, due to shock and fear, Bobby was unable to move a limb and could only watch as the weapon travelled straight to his visage and reflected on his eyeballs.

Kra-Bam!!

A loud sound, akin to a clap of thunder resounded across the entire field. When Bobby opened just an eye, he briefly caught a shocking yet amusing scene in a glimpse.

Vester out of nowhere appeared before him, delivering a devastating kick to the man, to the extent the man's face was briefly disorganised and brutalised.

Contrary to the man's expectations, the kick was something he hadn't felt for like a year. If not for his anatomical structure, he would have dropped to his knees as he found it so hard to maintain his consciousness.

W-what was that?

This attack gave the duo breathing space and just seconds to formulate an escape plan. Bobby was on the verge of shedding tears when he saw Vester. Honestly, to think, if he were Vester he would have run as far away as he could from the battle. But Vester came for him, knowing fully well how inconsequential there were to a man like this.

'V-vester!!' Bobby jolted to meet Vester. He was surprised to see Vester could still control his movements. Half of Vester's face was disfigured, his left eye was burst open and he could barely stand up straight.

'V-vester?'

Vester couldn't answer Bobby nor did he have time to grieve with anybody. He gripped Bobby's hands tightly and made a run for it.

While running, Bobby kept staring at Vester. Hoping they would make it back alive so Vester could treat himself. If he hadn't ask Vester to come along, he'd be a corpse already by now. But now Vester was present, it was like him and Vester switched places.

Suddenly, Bobby's attention was pulled back. An object unexpectedly flew faster than sight behind Vester. This object was the man's weapon. It flew straight into Vester's back as they ran. Bobby wasn't fast enough to notify Vester nor was he quick enough to stop the weapon. All he could do was shout.

Vester!!

Even his scream came out too late. The weapon had already made its face visible via Vester's chest. Bobby tried to grab Vester in his arms but Vester was pulled back by the weapon straight into the man's grasp. The man impassively stared at the lifeless body of Vester before removing him from the weapon and tossing him over to the side.

'I hate children.' the man grumbled.

Bobby's wobbly feet could no longer hold him up. This man had surpassed the confines of his imagination, killing a boy he barely knew. This was the first time he experienced a scene like this. A very terrifying scene.

Why did it have to be this way?

He couldn't even raise his head up to see the man's face. It was only after he was covered by a shadow he decided to stare up and lo, the man stood close to him, gazing down onto him with a stern look.

'That's enough.' a gentle voice sounded from above them.

The bald man looked up and saw the silhouette figure of a person floating under the full moon. This person wore a white cloak and had its hood on to cover the pure white mask it had on.

Just the presence alone of this person shook the bald man to an imperceptible level. The bald man gently withdrew his steps away from Bobby and stood directly under this newly arrived figure's shadow. The newly arrived figure stretched forth his right hand and in a blink of an eye, himself and the bald man were transformed into a puddle of water.

...

Puuagh!

Mordecai was slammed into a tree forcefully and was caused to retch out water. But despite this, Mordecai stood up again even more vibrant than ever. His eyes were razor-sharp and his countenance could not be ignored. He squatted and positioned his body to that of a lurking tiger and the just as he was about to pounce on the lady, a figure wearing a white cloak appeared behind the lady and manifested his golden Ethereal Ring which made them turn into a puddle of water.

Squash!

The scene happened in a second. Even for Mordecai with his speed, he could not give a clear account of what happened. When the figure and the lady left, he snapped back into his senses.

'Bobby?!' he whispered and jolted further into the forest.

When he arrived behind Bobby, he was pleased to see Bobby was still alive. But after really getting close to Bobby he saw the body of Vester laying flat on the ground in front of Bobby. With Bobby's inhuman look on his face, Mordecai could tell Vester was murdered by the bald man.

'T-this is an m-my fault.' Bobby whispered.

Mordecai could barely talk when gazing at the huge whole inside Vester's chest.

'Bobby, I... I am sorry.'

'No… this is your fault. This is your fault MORDECAI!!'