Chapter 97: One versus Two (Part 1)

The anomaly of a supernatural, the man who himself does not know what kind of supernatural he is, stops in his tracks all of a sudden.

The Hellfire Gabriel Washington, however, keeps going with his fists charged to bash his opponent's head on the ground, and rather rapidly as well. With this speed, within the time it takes for a person to blink, the Hellfire would already have destroyed his opponent.

That is, at least, how it would go most of the time.

The identity of his opponent in this battle commands enough agility to make it an exception.

Gabriel: "Tsk!"

Clicking his tongue on a reflex as his opponent dodges his punch by a hair's breadth, the Hellfire focuses his impact that would otherwise go to waste towards the ground so the consequential gust of wind formed from the impact causes dust to fly in all directions - making it a battlefield harder to fight in.

Before the dust even reaches his eyes though, the commander of the Spectre army jumps away and lands at a good enough distance from the Hellfire.

Abgere, using the singular moment Dyne would need to rebalance himself after bringing his feet back to the ground, rushes him as well. But, unlike Gabriel, he tries not to punch him with high impact but to act like that's what he intends to do so he can blindside Dyne.

And he almost succeeds too.

By the time Gabriel's eyes are completely refocused on the Dyne's new position, Abgere manages to throw a rock aimed right at the Spectre's eyes without having him realize that is what he intended to do.

Dyne, realizing too late his opponent's move, can only try to dodge once more by jumping away just like before.

By a millisecond's difference, Dyne manages to dodge the rock and get further from Gabriel and also far from Abgere.

Gabriel: "Tsk!"

Abgere: "Tsk!"

At that moment, the two click their tongues because they realize that they missed an important chance and will now have to face not just that one man but the entire Spectre army.

But,

Dyne: "Stand back!"

Orders their leader with a voice colder than ice and words louder than thunder.

Dyne: "None of you is allowed to do anything to assist me or to harm them. You all are to just stand back and come up with the best strategy you can think of for finding the Phoenix."

As their orders were made clear, their words were lost from their mouths.

Dyne: "Also, if you can, try to get in contact with the other group."

And with that final order, Spectre Dyne stands straight up and looks at the two who just tried to take him down and almost succeeded, and says,

Dyne: "Pathetic!"

Gabriel: "?!"

Abgere: "?!"

Dyne: "You two are truly pathetic."

He says so with a straight-forward voice, giving no room to doubt the cold sincerity of his words and feelings.

Gabriel: "You really think so, huh?"

Gabriel realizes that the opponent he is dealing with isn't meant to have any unnecessary pride within him. It's unlikely for him to have been programmed with something like that in his mind. And, the seeming truthfulness of his words prevents it from being a lie meant to provoke them.

So, if he says these words, he truly means them.

Gabriel: "I guess that's another person I don't understand at all."

He says and readies his fists by charging them up with energy. Abgere, on the other hand, remains silent and vigilant throughout as he waits for the right opportunity to attack.

Dyne: "Ha!"

On one side, a Hellfire is ready to blow him away with constant attacks and on the other side, an anomaly of a man with multiple abilities is ready to take him out if his foot stumbles just one time. It's truly not an easy situation to be in, even for the leader of the strongest army in the world.

And yet, he scoffs as if he does not feel threatened at all.

Dyne: "You underestimate your death, fools!"

Says the Spectre in his usual voice as he stands firm without any defensive measures, waiting for the Hellfire to attack him.

But the Hellfire, seeing that, hesitates.

Gabriel: "..."

Thoughts of his opponent hiding an ace up his sleeve or having set a trap for him to fall into - they all lead him to back off for the moment and get more defensive while trying to charge up more energy in his hands but this time manipulating the heat around him as well.

However,

Dyne: "Well, what's this now? Guts, the one thing you had, is now gone too?"

Dyne asks him in the same straightforward voice with no mockery in his intent but an unmissable deriding look.

Abgere: "..."

Witnessing all this, Abgere says nothing either but definitely becomes more cautious. He, like anyone else, can tell that the Spectre known as Dyne has the power to back up that deriding and condescending look.

But, even so, that can't be the end of it.

So, finally being ready,

Gabriel: "I wonder how Ghosts deal with fire."

Gabriel Washington says so as he shoots a small ball of fire, a miniature sun in fact, at Dyne.

However, instead of dodging or defending against it, Dyne merely brings his palm up to the miniature sun, covers it slowly around it and encloses the sun in his hands, leaving all the onlookers gawking in surprise even though most of them had seen him doing things like this before.

Abgere: "Wha-"

His words get stuck in his mouth as he sees Spectre Dyne's hands burning but his hold around the miniature sun not weakening at all, as if the pain of burning isn't even being felt by him.

Dyne: "This is why I said it before - Pathetic!"

Says Dyne as he opens up his palm, revealing that the miniature sun is gone and his hands that took the damage are rapidly healing.

Gabriel: "..."

Abgere: "..."

It's no secret that he's powerful but seeing him in action would still leave most people gawking in awe just like his current opponents.

Ethan Kales knew this. He knew that this fight is likely to turn out this way. He knew that both his allies will be slapped back down to earth if they fight Spectre Dyne.

Even though his planning coupled with Sneha's well-timed execution of them worked back on the island, the one big factor working in their favour that time was that Dyne underestimated them.

He didn't underestimate their individual abilities. But, he underestimated their combined ability.

This time, he definitely won't make the same mistake.

Yet, even knowing all of that, there was no choice but to leave Dyne to the two of them. And so, he did.

But, already, the tables are turning, and it's not a very beneficial development.