CHPT 62: Sight regained

"BEGINNNN!!!"

Prof. Raizen's stern voice boomed across the field like thunder and shocked the Mob into action.

Claude and Isaac sprinted into battle. Isaac was deceptively fast for his build and the amount of armor he wore, he kept up with Claude while his shield stayed up guarding his body perfectly.

"They're kinda close." Isaac said mid run, in reference to how difficult it would be to fight Drake and Venom when they're shoulder to shoulder.

"Working on it." Claude replied.

He moved his left hand oddly and green energy suddenly covered it like a glove.

BOOSH!

The sound of bursting plant growth came from in between Drake and Venom, the snake slithered away quickly and hissed in response while Drake tried to cut it.

"ha!"

SHI—!

He sliced at the five foot tall tendril-like vine and only cut about three fourths of the way through.

"The heck?" He said as he watched the vines slowly heal and reconnect around his sword.

"AH!" He quickly pulled his blade out and jumped away.

"Impressive." Isaac said to Claude as they entered the barrier.

Drake and his snake now stood at least twenty feet apart and were both occupied with one of the two students that made up the newest Mob.

***

"Alright scaly, let's see what you got." Isaac said. In response the snake rose to its full height and hissed before slithering towards him menacingly.

"Smart idea, making the Knight go against Venom, but don't think you guaranteed your win off that, I'm no pushover." Drake said as he got into his combat stance.

"That's ironic." Claude thought before going on the offensive.

CLANG!

Claude and Drake clashed swords. Drake's back was slowly getting closer to the barrier as his opponent overpowered him. He redirected Claudes weight with a shove and swung from the same direction as Claude stumbled away.

"Uh!"

Claude made a sound of effort as he barely missed the tip of Drake's sword.

They continued to take turns on the offensive and defensive while Isaac and the Venom did the same. Nobody was landing any significant strikes, until Drake suddenly switched up his attack pattern.

He delivered a two handed slice to Claude's chest which was dodged, but mid swing he took his right hand off the grip of his sword and quickly sent his fist flying towards Claude's face. He smiled arrogantly thinking he was certainly going to land the blow. "Let's see how scary you look with a broken nose." He thought.

Claude's eyes were drawn to the movement of Drake's hand sliding off his sword resulting in him expecting the punch, he sidestepped at incredible speeds and punched Drake's arm out of the way with his left hand.

The crowd could hear the sound of wind and fabric being moved at high speeds as Claude pulled off the impressive defensive maneuver.

Boom!

"Kah!" Drake made a pained sound as his forearm was hit by the immense impact of Claude's punch. The assault didn't stop there.

He then punched Drake in the face with the hand that held his short sword.

Crack!

Drake's head flung back and his nose spurted out bright red blood from the impact of the blow. The coppery smell of the blood enticed Claude and increased his anger.

"Stupid fucking followers! You're all nothing!" He spat angrily as he used his element to root Drake in place.

The grass beneath Drake's feet began to grow and combine until it twisted and locked around his legs. In his daze he looked up from the vines that held him in place, he was confused...terrified at what he was looking at. His eyes told him he was looking at a student but something deep down within him was screaming that wasn't the case. Drake met his pursuers bright green eyes and felt like a moth drawn to a flame, he knew those eyes would kill him but he couldn't look away.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

"OUUUUHHH!!"

Students roared and cringed as Claude began to deliver strike after strike to Drake's face, some of the more perceptive students began to become confused and scared since he held Drake right at the edge of the barrier, all he had to do was push him to win, but he didn't.

Crack!.....Crack!.....Crack!

Isaac took quick glances at Claude as he quite literally destroyed Drake with every punch. "Is he really what they say he is?" He began to think. Before he could watch any more, Venom sent his dense muscular head at his shield again.

***

Drake's vision was fading more and more with every punch, "This psycho's gonna kill if I don't do something."

"I said....I'm not a pushover!!" Drake roared weakly as he activated his skill, (Beast Trait).

His eyes suddenly slitted like a snake and glowed an earthy yellow, at the same time his arms bulked up incredible at speeds under his armor. He blocked Claude's next punch with ease due to his increased strength and threw his hand away.

Claude stumbled back from the strength behind Drake pushing his arm away, before he could react, Drake's newly muscular arms wrapped around his upper body in what seemed to be an inescapable bear hug.

His blood and hate induced trance was broken as the grip tightened around him.

"Snake strength, pretty nice huh?" He said as his grip squeezed tighter and tighter like a snake constricting a rodent.

Claude fought and squirmed under the increasing pressure of Drake's bulked up arms.

"Since you didn't want to just punch me and toss me out, I'm going to return the favor. Your not leaving this barrier until I break a few of your bones." Drake said smugly.

The crowd cheered as the assumed villain looked to be losing.

"AHHH!!!" Claude roared in pain as he was squeezed tighter and tighter.

He began to fade out of consciousness from the intense pain. As he swam in the deep blackness of pain induced sleep, two voices broke through to him.

"There you go Drake! Squeeze him until his ugly ass head explodes!". "Yea, break his bones Drake!" Samuel and Tai yelled while the crowd cheered on.

The Professors watched in amazement at the majority of the students excitement to see Claude get squeezed by Drake's crushing grip.

Samuel and Tai's voice began to bring Claude back as quickly as he left.

"I'm not going anywhere.....I'm not going anywhere until you bastards are beaten and broken AT MY FEET!!" He thought in a rage as he activated his own (Beast Trait), while slowly coming back into conciseness.

The students continued to cheer on as they watched Claude's limp body be crushed, his head hung backward revealing his face clearly to everyone as he lay motionless with his eyes shut.

***

Ursula and Warren looked at the ecstatic crowd surrounding them in anger.

"He fought well. Better than the last two." Warren said in a defeated tone.

"He's not done..." Ursula said.

Warren quickly turned as he heard the crackle and pop of ice. He saw her watching the fight with an enraged expression as crystal blue ice crawled up her arm.

"He's not done. He wouldn't give up that easy..." her voice was overpowered as the crowd increased in volume.

***

"He's done. Unfortunately he didn't listen to my warnings." Prof. Brennan said sadly as he watched the students body be crushed.

"Break them up. Claude lost." He continued.

Right when Prof. Raizen was about to step in, Claude's eyes snapped open violently and he too had his very own reptilian eyes that glowed a furious shade of green.

The crowd silenced and students all over shrieked and jumped at the suddenness of his awakening and his voice as he spoke.

"IM NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" He yelled to the crowd that celebrated his assumed demise as his anger and the heat of battle overpowered all of his social awkwardness.

His words came out oddly and students that could see his face in the front row gasped and stepped away behind other students. The belief they had in the rumor that surrounded his name began to solidly the longer they looked at his face.

He slowly rose upright and looked down at Drake who looked equally as stunned as the students.

Claude felt the strength in his arms returning and increasing further as they grew exponentially to mimic the crushing strength of a snake.

"Snake strength....this is pretty nice." Claude replied as he broke out of Drake's grip and landed oddly on the ground.

Drake stumbled back a step and pointed at Claude's face saying, "H-How? W-W-Why do you....you have fangs?"

Claude suddenly froze thinking he transformed in front of everyone, he brought his tongue up to his teeth to feel the so called fangs he had. Once he reached them his heart froze again, thinking the fangs solidified the thought that he did transform. But something was off, they felt shorter and way too slim, the oddest part was the warm liquid that felt like it was dripping out of them constantly.

He spit out the liquid after it built up for a while and noticed it wasn't spit, it was too thick and had a golden tint to it.

"Venom?" He thought to himself.

Right after he spit out the venom, he heard Isaac yell out to him and slithering increasing in speed and sound right behind him, but he received the warning too late.

"CLAUDE HEADS UP!"

SQR—

Woo!

Claude moved fast enough that only one fang sunk into his upper leg. The pain was intense, he felt the hot and oily venom seep into his muscled thigh and ignite his leg like a fresh dose of acid. The pain caused him to react at near impossible speeds.

He gripped the snakes jaws with his snake strength infused arms and pried Venom from his leg before too much of the snakes venom entered it.

He held Venom in the air by the jaws, fighting to keep it from overpowering him and biting his hands. Suddenly, the smell of intense fear surrounded and excited him to no end. It reminded him that he was fighting someone, it also told him that he already won.

At incredible speeds, he swung the thick muscled body of the snake at Drake like it was a giant scaly baseball bat.

As he swung the snake through the air, he said to himself,

"For a moment I lost sight of my goal....maybe a little longer than a moment. But the blindness was temporary, I remember what I need to do. I need to get to them....and your in my way."

CRACK!!!!