CHAPTER 32: MONSTERS VS MINARO

Minaro and Zeph stand a few feet away from each other on the battlefield.

Kofron lifts up his megaphone.

"On one side, the long-haired guy has returned for another battle, and on the other side we have Zeph, the monster man!.. Let the fifth match begin!"

Minaro waits for Zeph to make the first move but no one budges. Zeph continues to stare at Minaro coldly.

Minaro instinctively stares back at Zeph in the same cold manner that he's being stared at in.

"Aye, are y'all gonna fight, or is this staring contest?" Kofron comments.

Minaro looks at him. Zeph appears right in front of Minaro and throws a punch, Minaro eyes widen as he quickly blocks.

"Yeah! That's what we wanna see!"

Minaro throws a left hook, Zeph dodges and tries to kick him, Minaro grabs his leg and throws him.

Minaro dashes towards Zeph ready to throw a punch.

Suddenly Minaro's heart drops as he feels the presence of something unknown to him appear.

An enormous monster quickly appears out of nowhere from behind Zeph that somehow phases through him. It has gray skin resembling a frozen pale dead body, It is lizard-like and raggedy looking, It has visible flesh in the socket around its eyes which are entirely black with some grey circles in them like Zeph's and it has its jaw wide open, inside tons of saliva and dirty dried up blood ridden teeth.

The monster seems to swallow Zeph as its jaw gets closer and closer to closing on Minaro.

Then the monster's gaping jaw clamps down and cuts most of Minaro's arm off, blood splashes and fails everywhere. Minaro is mortified.

Most of the guardians look surprised and worried.

"Oh! That's nasty!

Kofron says while staring awkwardly.

"... That's a violation of the rules I think? No severe injuries?"

…

Mausho: Zeph! What the hell are you doing!?

Iza: Hey! You can't do that to him!

Maya who was still slumped on the floor quickly lifts her head up because of the yelling, she spots what's happening and quickly stands up to go and help Minaro.

Maya: Hey!

The monster snaps to her and roars, she covers her ears.

...

Minaro flails back, Zeph is now holding his disembodied arm, he quickly smacks Minaro in the face with the arm and knocks him to the floor.

Zeph realizes that some of the guardians are worried and turns over to the group of people yelling at him, then he looks to those that aren't. The monster disappears.

Zeph: Liz, can you come heal him?

Liz looks a little angry, she quickly stands up and walks to Minaro.

Liz: Zeph! We said you can't try to kill him! These are practice battles.

Zeph: Sorry I… Forgot.

Liz: You didn't forget anything! Don't lie!

Zeph: Yup… Sorry

Zeph hands Liz Minaro's disembodied arm, she aligns it with the rest of his arm and then starts healing them together. A few seconds later she finishes.

Minaro stands up and shakes his healed arm around, surprised that Liz was able to heal it perfectly. He glances at Zeph angrily who was walking away from him.

"Bitch."

"Long-haired guy is fine now, let's keep this battle going!" Kofron yells.

Minaro's rifts appear beside him, Zeph again is not moving and just staring at Minaro.

"I have to be expecting whatever that thing was to appear again."

…

Maya is relieved that Minaro is fine, so she takes a seat on the floor away from Mausho and Iza.

Mausho notices her.

Mausho: Hey, why are you sitting all the way over there? You can sit next to us.

Maya turns to him confused.

Maya: Oh, okay.

Maya stands up and walks over to Mausho.

Mausho: Uh, sit next to Iza over there. Because your friend is already sitting here.

Maya sits down next to Iza. Iza smiles at her and waves.

...

Minaro shoots rays, Zeph dodges them and runs towards him, the monster from before appears beside Zeph and is running towards him as well.

"There it is again!"

"The monster is back, let's hope the same thing doesn't happen again!"

Minaro shoots more rays, the monster is hit but unaffected and Zeph is now gone from Minaro's sight. The monster lunges at Minaro with its mouth open, saliva spills from its jaw.

Minaro moves away from it and manages to punch it in the cheeks as hard as he can, it doesn't budge which surprises Minaro, the monster becomes more agitated, it roars violently and that actually blows Minaro away a little.

"Its roar is enough to move a human! How strong could this creature be!?"

"Okay, I can't punch it." Minaro thinks.

Zeph jumps over from behind the monster and towards Minaro. He lands in front of Minaro and throws a punch, Minaro blocks.

The monster tries to bite Minaro again, he jumps away from it, the monster and Zeph run towards him.

Minaro releases a giant wave of spiky ice, Zeph stops moving, the monster continues and is impaled by the spikes, blood flies everywhere.

"I can kill it with ice!"

"... The monster can be killed! That's good news for anyone hoping for long-haired dude to win!"

Minaro watches the monster disintegrate only for it to appear running towards him from the side, his eyes widen.

"Huh?"

Minaro then notices that Zeph is behind him.

"The monster is back again! It can die but it doesn't stay dead for long!"

…

Iza notices that Maya is nervous.

Iza: Hey, are you okay? You're shaking like there's an earthquake.

Maya: I'm okay.

Iza: If you're anxious about your friend getting hurt like before, you don't need to worry, I'm pretty sure your friend will be fine, Zeph being yelled at by Liz was enough to keep him safe.

Maya looks a little more relaxed.

Mausho: … Zeph is unpredictable though.

Iza and Maya stare at him.

Mausho: There's no telling what Zeph might do, yelling at him definitely won't stop him. He's kinda crazy.

Iza grabs Mausho's head and forces him to stare at her.

Iza: I'm trying to calm her down, so shut up.

Maya laughs a little.

Maya: I appreciate that!

Iza: … If Zeph tries anything that might kill your friend, we'll stop him! Okay?

...

Minaro quickly turns around to Zeph and tries to punch him, Zeph quickly blocks and throws his own punch, Minaro dodges and shoots a ray that forces Zeph to jump away.

"The monster has to be taking energy from Zeph, and If I kill it, it probably takes more."

Minaro turns around and summons ice towards the monster. It stops and disappears behind the ice.

"This time it knew to stop, that thing is learning."

Zeph runs towards Minaro and tries to punch him, he dodges and tries to kick him, Zeph jumps back to avoid the attack, the monster appears behind Minaro.

He shoots rays everywhere at the same time to ensure that Zeph is hit.

"Oh wow, I can't see anything!" Kofron shouts.

Minaro turns back and shoots a wave of ice at the monster, the monster is gone from his sight.

"How fast is this monster?"

Zeph is behind Minaro, he starts throwing several punches, Minaro blocks, and counter-attacks. None of the punches thrown deal much damage.

"This Zeph dude isn't much to deal with, it's his monster, where is it?"

Zeph dashes to behind Minaro now, Minaro quickly turns to hit him, Zeph blocks and tries to punch him, Minaro blocks. He then shoots multiple rays towards Zeph, Zeph dashes away.

The monster quickly runs towards Minaro from the side and tries to bite him.

"There it is!"

He shoots ice at the monster. It climbs over it and lunges towards him.

That's a jumpscare!" Kofron shouts again.

Minaro jumps back before he gets crushed, the monster charges at him. Zeph appears behind him, Minaro summons a giant wave of ice that extends everywhere, the monster is impaled and Zeph is gone.

Minaro's ice disappears, he notices the monster is right in front of him and it charges at him, Minaro barely dodges, Zeph appears beside him and throws a punch that Minaro blocks, the monster swings back and tries to bite him again.

Minaro turns and summons a wave of ice, but this time the monster braces itself and crashes through the ice which surprises Minaro, Zeph throws another punch. Minaro dashes away.

"The ice isn't working anymore! Long-haired guy fans are crying right now!"

He summons a flat line of ice the heads under the monster and as it does Minaro morphs the ice into a giant spike. The monster is impaled.

"Oh wait, nevermind, Ice is back in action."

Zeph appears behind Minaro and throws multiple punches that Minaro blocks, suddenly Zeph stops attacking.

He sighs and jumps away, he looks at the group of guardians.

Zeph: I can't fight like this!

Everyone looks confused.

"Zeph announces his retirement, what's going on?"

Minaro appears beside Zeph and tries to punch him, Zeph catches his fist and lifts him up, slams him into the floor, and then kicks him away.

Zeph: Piss off.

Defei and Liz look the most bothered from the group.

Defei: Can you really not hold back?

Zeph: My monster and I fight brutally, we are meant to kill our opponents. I can't fight without wanting to kill my opponent. Holding back this entire time is just not the way I fight.

Minaro appears behind Zeph ready to punch. Zeph glances at him annoyed.

Zeph: I said piss off.

The monster appears out of nowhere and swallows Minaro.

Iza and Mausho, who were prepared to stop whatever happened next, sit back down.

Some of the other guardians also looked as if they were ready to dash off.

Maya's heart drops, she quickly stands up and dashes towards Zeph. Zeph grabs her face and looks at her, she struggles to get his hand off of her.

Zeph: Your friend is fine, calm down.

Zeph lets her go, Maya looks around and spots Minaro holding open the monster's jaw so he won't get eaten, she runs towards him.

Zeph looks back at Defei and Liz.

Defei: Then you can't fight right now? Like, you can't hold back at all?

Zeph: Yeah. This is not the way I'm meant to fight.

Defei: Damn, well then we can't continue. You wanna stop it?

Zeph: Might as well. It'll spare that guy's life.

Minaro: No! I want to keep fighting Zeph!

Maya managed to help Minaro get out of the monster's mouth, he was now standing with his fist covered in blood, Maya right next to him.

"This guy hit me with my own arm, I have to give him a good ass punch before this battle can end."

Zeph turns and looks over at Minaro.

Zeph: … If we keep fighting I guarantee you will die or be extremely injured beyond healing.

Minaro: That's fine! I've been in life and death situations like this before and I had no healing.

Liz: … Are you sure you really wanna keep fighting?

Minaro: Yes!

Defei: Are you really sure?

Minaro: Yeah, I'm sure.

Zeph: Fine... I'll give you some time to say bye to your friend next to you.

Suddenly the monster bites down onto Minaro and dashes away.

Maya: Hey!

Zeph: fights over.

Minaro: It's not.

Minaro comes out from behind a tree. The one that got eaten was a clone.

Minaro: Let's do this.

"Zeph did not retire! Let's keep going!"

Minaro stands ready to fight, the monster instantly appears in front of Minaro, his heart drops, he quickly regains his senses and jumps back, the monster chases after him, Minaro shoots ice at it, it quickly climbs the ice and lunges at him.

Minaro dodges, Zeph appears in front of Minaro and punches him in the face, launching him away.

"They both got way faster!"

Minaro scrapes the floor and stops, the monster and Zeph run towards him,

Minaro shoots ice under the monster, it dashes and appears beside him avoiding the ice, Zeph is in front of Minaro and throws a punch, the monster attempts to bite Minaro at the same time. Minaro quickly dodges, Zeph throws punches while the monster bites right after continuously, this overwhelms Minaro who shoots ice to push them back.

The monster quickly disappears and reappears in front of Minaro, it goes for a bite.

"The monster can't be hurt by my ice anymore."

He dodges the bite, Zeph appears beside Minaro and tries to punch him in the face, Minaro quickly blocks.

Zeph throws a lot of punches, Minaro blocks some, but a lot more land.

"I hate this guy!"

Minaro throws a punch, Zeph dodges and punches Minaro in the stomach, the monster tries to bite him, Minaro dodges and summons multiple giant rocks over the monster to crush it, but that fails. Minaro throws a punch at Zeph.

Zeph dodges and punches Minaro in the face, the monster tries to bite him, Minaro dodges it and as Zeph tries to punch him again, he shoots rays everywhere, the monster goes for 3 consecutive bites.

"Zeph and his monster are out for blood!" Kofron states.

Minaro jumps away, Zeph appears beside him and tries to punch him, Minaro blocks but is punched in the stomach right after.

Minaro's eyes widen, the monster runs towards him, Minaro clones appear and dash towards Zeph. Minaro pulls a quasar from his rift and throws a punch at the monster, Zeph punches Minaro in the face before the punch can connect, launching him away.

Zeph then kicks him, Minaro quickly stands up and starts throwing multiple fast punches, Zeph manages to catch both of his fists and hold them tightly. The monster quickly appears behind Zeph and tries to bite Minaro's arms off.

"I need to keep them close to me so that I can attack but they're too fast."

Minaro shoots a wave of ice, Zeph lets go. and as he runs away, he shoots rays. Zeph appears beside Minaro and throws a punch, Minaro looks angry as he blocks.

Minaro grabs a quasar and dashes towards Zeph, Zeph dodges and punches Minaro in the stomach, the monster runs towards Minaro from behind him.

Minaro dashes towards it and slams a quasar into it, the monster fades away, blood splashes everywhere. As Minaro turns back, he notices Zeph is smiling, his sharp teeth on full display.

Zeph: … I'm a monster!

"Zeph is looking more and more savage! Let's hope he doesn't get any crazier!"

Minaro feels his heart drop as the monster appears behind him but at a speed, he can't recognize, just as Minaro turns around to hit it, it's now in front of him, it lets out a tremendous roar that blows Minaro to the floor.

As Minaro tries to get up, the roaring is still going, making it harder for him to get up, Minaro shoots a giant wave of ice, the monster and Zeph appear in front of him.

"They're both way faster than my ice now."

Zeph kicks Minaro away, Minaro quickly stands up and almost uppercuts him, Minaro jumps back and stares at the floor, he's pissed.

Minaro: Hey, I think I'm really gonna kill you.

Zeph: Okay! Go ahead! I'll try and kill you too.

"Oooooh, someone might die? Are we going to need to stop this battle?"

Minaro's left-hand freezes into an Ice spike, in the right he holds a quasar tightly. He dashes towards Zeph.

Zeph dashes as well, as they're about to collide, Minaro shoots strings towards Zeph which grab onto his arm, Minaro pulls him away and tries to slam the quasar into the monster behind Zeph, but Zeph grabs Minaro by the back of his neck and throws him away.

The monster appears behind Minaro and tries to bite him again, Minaro quickly impales it under its jaw and slices its mouth open, Zeph dashes towards Minaro and tries to punch him, Minaro quickly blocks but is pushed away by the monster reappearing and roaring.

Zeph runs towards Minaro and goes for a kick, Minaro's clones appear behind Zeph with quasars.

"Quasars, speed, and clones are the way to beat this guy."

Zeph dashes forward and kicks Minaro, avoiding the clones completely. The monster then appears and bites the clones.

"I don't have the speed."

Minaro is launched back, he stands up and dashes towards Zeph with a quasar in his hand, as Minaro tries to punch Zeph the monster appears behind Zeph with its jaw open.

It looks as if Minaro's arm is going to be bitten off, but 10 Minaro clones appear around Zeph and the monster each holding a quasar.

"It's a galactic ambush!" Kofron reports.

"I'll beat his speed with, amount. Overwhelm!" Minaro thinks.

The Minaro clones use their remaining hands to shoot strings everywhere, they manage to shut the monster's mouth using the strings.

"They trapped the monster, will that actually work?"

Then 2 of the clones slam their quasars into the monster's body, Zeph dashes towards Minaro and tries to punch him, Minaro blocks, Zeph then gets strings wrapped around his body, he's restrained and pulled back.

Zeph starts yelling and violently trying to escape the strings, Minaro dashes towards him and punches him very hard in the face with a quasar.

"Long-haired guy has finally landed a hit, a really good one too!"

Zeph is launched, one of the clones punches him in the back with a quasar, he's launched again then punched in the side with a quasar before the rest of the Minaro clones can land their punches, the monster quickly appears and rams into all of them, they disappear.

"... Zeph got hit by 3 space thingies. Is he still alive?"

Zeph hits the floor and quickly stands up, he's covered in blood, Minaro breathes heavily and stares.

"I gotta make sure not to kill him. I almost forgot."

Zeph laughs. Minaro stares at him awkwardly.

Zeph: You almost killed me… Guess I should deliver that same type of energy back.

Suddenly Zeph appears in front of Minaro, Minaro's heart drops, Zeph punches Minaro in the face, he's launched into the air, Zeph dashes and kicks him.

The monster appears and quickly dashes towards Minaro, snatching him from the air. Minaro's legs can be seen dangling out of the monster.

"Oh! Someone get that dude out of that mouth!"

Minaro, who is submerged in ice, falls out of the monster's mouth, he froze himself to stop impalement. As he hits the ground the ice breaks and he gets up.

The monster roars, Zeph dashes towards Minaro, he jumps into him, and kicks him back. Minaro is caught by 2 of his clones, Zeph appears and throws fast punches, Minaro and his 2 clones attack back, Zeph kills them both and then grabs Minaro's face and grips it tightly

Minaro shoots rays, Zeph jumps back, and Minaro dashes after him, suddenly the monster's tail slams into Minaro and launches him away.

"God, that's gonna leave a big ass mark, his whole face is gonna be flattened."

Minaro hits the floor, Zeph lunges over to him and starts throwing punches as Minaro tries to get up.

Rays shoot out of Minaro's rifts, Zeph jumps away, Minaro stands up, and dashes after him. As the rays disappear the monster appears and heads towards Minaro. Minaro quickly attempts to stab it. The monster opens its mouth wide and Zeph runs out of its mouth, he punches Minaro.

Minaro is launched back and as he tries to get up, Zeph appears and throws another punch. Minaro quickly blocks, the monster appears behind him, its jaw comes down.

Minaro is swallowed, but the monster's jaw explodes, Minaro made ice spikes in the monster's mouth. He lands on the floor, Zeph dashes towards him ready to kick. Minaro blocks the kick but is still launched back.

"Long-haired guy keep somehow surviving these deadly attacks!"

"... I'm tired!" Minaro thinks.

Around 40 Minaro clones appear each with their hands frozen into an ice spike, Zeph looks around rapidly and smiles maniacally.

Minaro and his clones dash towards Zeph from all directions and start throwing punches and kicks, Zeph dodges and counters most of them, the rest are trampled on by his monster.

Zeph: Die!

Zeph punches the real Minaro multiple times then Minaro throws a real fast punch which catches Zeph off guard.

Zeph dodges it and opens his mouth, he bites Minaro's arm and holds on.

…

Maya: What the heck is wrong with this guy!?

Mausho: I'm a close friend of his, and I really don't know why he acts the way he does but it's how he's always been. He calls himself a monster, the way he fights, the way he acts- in battle, he's the embodiment of a monster, or at least he thinks he is.

Maya: … If this guy wants to be a monster, why is he in a group meant to help people? This guy doesn't seem like a good person at all! He fits an evil villain group more!

Mausho: I mean he's not generally evil, he's like a lawful,neutral, sometimes good monster. The only reason he's in this group is that I'm in here and he ran out of ideas for a job.

…

Blood falls onto the floor, Zeph's bite digs deeper into Minaro's skin. Minaro shoots Ice at Zeph who jumps back.

Blood flies everywhere and Minaro feels a burning pain, he thinks that Zeph took his arm with him.

"What the fuck!?"

Minaro then notices the monster directly above Zeph, it spits out his arm.

"Huh?.. The monster bit his arm off! I thought Zeph did that for a second! I'm trippin." Kofron comments.

Minaro freezes his arm, Zeph runs towards him.

…

Maya, Mausho, and Iza are attentively watching, Liz comes over to them holding Doa by the shoulder, Doa is drowsy.

Liz: Hey, I brought your friend, she's somewhat fine now. She's still kinda healing up.

Doa takes a seat next to Maya, she rests her head on her and Iza looks over at Doa.

Iza: Hey, sorry about that last punch, It just kinda happened.

Doa yawns and talks.

Doa: Yah ur goo

Iza laughs awkwardly.

Iza: hmm?

…

Minaro jumps back, Zeph appears in front of him and kicks him to the floor. Minaro has a tough time standing up again.

Minaro manages to stand up but instantly the monster spins and Minaro is hit by its tail from the back and is slammed away and back onto the floor.

Minaro is quickly punched by Zeph into the air, the monster bites him and shakes him violently.

Minaro hits the floor, he's missing another arm. Minaro tries to lift up his head but it flops back down.

Zeph kicks Minaro again.

Minaro: I can't go on!

Minaro hits the floor.

"Well, there's the battle!"

"The winner of the fifth match is Zeph!"

Liz quickly runs over to Minaro, Zeph picks up Minaro's disembodied arms and hands them to Liz. His smile is gone, he's back to looking serious.

Liz lifts up Minaro and starts healing him. Zeph walks away.

…

Mausho yells at Zeph which catches his attention.

Mausho: Zeph! Come sit over here!

Zeph hesitates at first but walks over, he reaches Maya and glances at her, Maya stares at him angrily.

Zeph takes a seat next to Mausho.

…

Osora stands up, Defei looks at him.

Osora: I'm going up next.

Defei: Alright, but I think you'll need to go easy on the girl, she doesn't seem so adjusted to reality yet.

Osora glances over at Doa who is now asleep on Maya's lap.

Osora: … I feel bad, I don't wanna make her fight.

Defei: Yeah, uh… Maybe the red-haired girl she's on, or the cat, can fight instead.

Osora: … The red-haired girl, she seems fine… Problem is, I don't want to fight her.

Defei: Why not?

Osora: I was hoping to teach the gun girl some new things about guns which is why I volunteered to fight.

Defei: … Then that leaves us with Kofron, Me, and Zizin as the only other people to fight right now.

Osora: Zizin should go up, he's probably the most equal match for her.

Defei looks over to the floor and notices guardian Zizin messing around with his fingers while sitting down awkwardly.

Defei: Hey, you're up next Zizin.

Zizin stares at him, all worried and bewildered.

Zizin: Uh, do I really have to go?

Defei: Yeah, is something wrong? You seem worried about going up.

Zizin: No, no. I'm fine, just pretending to be nervous. It'll confuse my opponents.

Defei: Ah. Okay, I don't think they're paying attention to you though.

"I'm so nervous."

…

Defei walks over to Maya.

Defei: Hey, it's your turn again.

Maya nods, and stares at Doa who is very relaxed on her lap. Iza places her hand on Maya's shoulder.

Iza: I can take care of her if you want.

Maya: Really?

Maya lifts Doa's head carefully and stands up, Iza holds Doa's head as she is. Iza moves and now Doa is resting on her lap.

Maya walks over to the battlefield.

TO BE CONTINUED…