The Formation Of DASF (2)

With the coming of the second group, Bazel figured that he could turn up the heat a little bit now that they knew what to expect.

Not to mention that he wanted to see what tactics these guys would come up with, considering this one had a leader lurking within.

Facing off against them Bazel said,

"Start."

Immediately he shot out his four shadows, not giving them any time to do some kind of complicated maneuver and forcing them to react accordingly.

And react they did, instead of separating they stayed in a group.

The two machete wielding men intercepted two of the shadows that were shot forth like whips, while the other two were intercepted by two combat knives that came out from behind them.

With all of his shadows tied up, Bazel found himself open to returning fire from the barrels of two guns that were shot over the shoulders of their own allies.

'So that was the reason for them wearing hearing protection,' concluded Bazel as he used his reserve shadow to attach to his left leg like an exoskeleton.

He then used the enhanced speed of the created limb to lightly tap the ground, flashing in place and avoiding the first round of bullets.

He then retreated his four shadows slightly and had them hover in front of the slow moving four men as they advanced, acting as a single powerful entity.

"Impressive, like this I will not be able to easily take you out like before. How about I try a little then?"

Using his scythe like shadows, he controlled them carefully as he pressured the defenders hard.

At first the two in the front were more than enough, causing Bazel to have to constantly dodge the returning fire and even almost get hit once or twice, but he slowly increased the speed of his assault to the levels he would use in an actual fight which made all four of them put their full focus in defending.

'A stalemate, but I still have an extra weapon at hand.'

Bazel used his last shadow to form the portal he loved to use, creating one end in front of him while creating the other behind the men.

"Now!" shouted the leader of the group, as he and his fellow officer turned around and shot into the portal that appeared behind them silently.

Having his move read shocked Bazel as he felt several rubber bullets enter his own portal, appearing directly in front of him.

Doing his best to use his enhanced body to try and dodge away, whilst closing the portal, Bazel managed to amazingly dodge several of the projectiles but was still clipped in the shoulder by two of them.

His focus slipped for a moment, allowing one of the machete wielding gangsters to deflect one of his scythes and chop away at the vulnerable part below the scythe. Bazel quickly retreated the shadow and then had it re-engage, but the moment he did he noticed that all the men were now aiming for the connecting parts of the weapon whenever they deflected one.

'It seems I underestimated them too much, very well, let us see how they handle this.' Thought Bazel as he felt his stinging shoulder.

"Well done indeed, but a measly two bullets would not stop me. Prepare yourselves."

With one quick motion he combined his four scythes into two, bringing them just under the level of strength that Bazel used to defeat the Sanguis men.

Their speed was just on the edge of completely unreactable, with the four men struggling to mount a defense.

Pausing his rhythm for a moment, then turning all the scythes into lances, he drew them back like the the plunger in pinball.

Releasing them all simultaneously, the spiral lances shot forward and past the defenses of the four men.

The result, four lances stopped directly in front of four throats: Victory for Bazel. The men were stunned from the course of events, as the move that Bazel used was the fastest and most powerful that they had seen yet.

Cold sweat was dripping down their backs, as they realized if the lances went just a little bit forward they would have been skewered.

Waking them up from their sudden existential crisis was Bazel, who clapped in praise while saying,

"That was far better than the last groups attempt, very good. You each used your own strengths to their full effect and even laid down a trap for me using previous observations, well done.

"Just remember, the greatest strength in Gifts is not the raw speed or power but the versatility they have. Observe."

He brought out just two of his shadows, turning them into all the various forms that Bazel had access to.

They started out as powerful and bone crushing whips, then they changed to deadly scythes that had a love for beheading, and finally they turned into the spiral lances that had an impossibly quick thrust.

"Each weapon I have access to has its own strengths and weaknesses. But the main purpose of me personally sparring with all of you in this manner is not so that you learn my own attack patterns, but to learn how to deal with an extremely versatile enemy that you know next to nothing about.

"Remember that there are five major powers, each with abilities that are as unique as mine.

"Not to mention that a Gift seems to be able to go under transformations and evolve as time passes, so even if you know you have one House down like Sanguis there is always the chance for a nasty surprise."

Having finished with his lecture, Bazel was about to call for the next group when the leader of the four he had just fought walked up towards him and saluted.

"Thank you for the lesson sir, I am Corporal Louis Zamperini. I will take what you said to heart and be sure to not make such a mistake again!"

Ending with another, and even more throughout salute, Corporal Louis walked back to his men and led them to the sidelines while discussing what they can do better next time.

'What a passionate fellow,' thought Bazel.

The next group was up and this one was the one that Bazel estimated to be the strongest, for it was the one led by Loera himself.

Standing front and center was Loera, holding one large machete and one small one with a serious look on his face and hyperfocus clearly present.

To his left and right were two of Neto's gang whilst behind them was one officer who curiously enough had one pistol in each of his hands.

"Begin."

Immediately Bazel attacked with his full force, using two spiral lances to close the distance within the blink of an eye directly in front of Loera.

Loera responded by crossing his two weapons in front of him and slashing them outwards, actually managing to repel the two lances.

The feat was not easy for the force he just deflected caused his hands to be unable to hold his weapons any longer, as they dropped to the floor.

Yet he had created a strong opening for his allies, two of the other machete wielders darting forward and aiming to cut the connecting shadows.

Bazel barely managed to pull them back, but was met by a stream of bullets that came from his final opponent. Avoiding the bullets by dropping on his back, Bazel fell into a portal he had created and and appeared diagonal to where he was standing.

The fight had reset to dead even, with Loera picking up his weapons once more and maintaining the same exact stance as before.

'What strength...even if it's just for a moment, Loera was able to do something that so far only the blooded ones were able to pull off. Just what did Neto's men go through to be so strong?'

Maintaining a stare off for a moment, Bazel decided to employ a new strategy to fight.

Using his shadows carefully, he created two portals to his side that had two exits above the group of four.

The gun wielding officer tried to do what the previous group had done, shoot into the portals to get a hit, but Bazel made sure that he was not foolishly standing on the opposite end this time around so all the officer accomplished was wasting his bullets.

Using his remaining six shadows, he turned them into two whips and shot them into the portal to attack the group from a new angle.

He then retracted them, shifted the portals, and then shot them in again and again.

He continued this process, not letting up on the enemy at all, causing Loera to be unable to personally block everything.

Bazel also made sure to aim for the officer with the guns, robbing them of any ranged capabilities so he could personally advance safely.

Slowly he walked, while the four men desperately fought against the whips that could come from any direction.

When he was just a few feet away from them he retracted all of his shadows instantly, infusing them all into his two arms and opening his arms wide like he was going in for a hug.

With his two enlarged hands, he clapped three of the men in his hands and brought them to the ground.

"Out"

Said Bazel with amusement as his plan worked, but he immediately had to use one of his hands to swat several bullets out of the air.

Curiously, the four bullets shot missed...was what he thought but after hitting the ground in front of him they actually ricocheted off the floor and hit him in the stomach.

Being brought to his knees from the sudden pain, Bazel used his remaining hand to swat the pesky officer who had gotten him with his clever move into the ground.