Chapter 46 - Three Way Battle (4)
A Beastman over eight feet tall stood in front of a man of short stature, facing each other in an aura clash. The incredible thing was that the small man's aura was superior to the giant's, generating great pressure at times on the Beastman. These were precisely Malo and Ocelot.
Malo was markedly tense. The power emanating from Ocelot's presence was enough to make him feel that the strength he was so proud of was utterly inadequate to take down the enemy in front of him. After all, while Malo's physical strength was similar to that of a Qi Centurion, the rest of his abilities were not on par. This would be the most dangerous death battle of his life. However, Malo's fanaticism made any hint of fear within him disappear.
The indistinct shadow that surrounded Ocelot had no clearly defined form, unlike Sagat's Will. After all, Ocelot had only just crossed the threshold of a Qi Centurion, and his Will was only just becoming defined. His Qi was also not entirely pure, and his level had not stabilised. For that reason the halo of elemental Qi that usually surrounds a Qi Centurion was constantly fluctuating, as not all of his Qi had made the qualitative change. This was the main reason why although he had the advantage over Elijah and Malo, he had not been able to finish them off in a short period of time.
Now that Elijah was out of the picture, Ocelot could devote himself to Rhodnius' Beastman. One of his dark pleasures was his enormous delight in playing with his prey, something Sagat had admonished him for on several occasions. However, given the difference in levels, Ocelot sincerely believed that he had everything under his control at the moment.
Ocelot disappeared and began to attack Malo repeatedly and with extremely high speed and agility, after which he would retreat before Malo could counterattack effectively. Malo's attacks, which were made with full force, had the strength of a level 48-49 Qi Centurion. If he managed to touch Ocelot it was possible that the latter would be seriously injured, but Ocelot's agility was such that everything Malo did seemed to be in vain.
Ocelot was using the strategy that Elijah wished to use in the fight against Malo, but Ocelot being stronger than Elijah used it more comfortably. Moreover, his attacks were quite insidious, hitting Malo wherever his Tonfas could reach without exposing himself to the slightest risk. While it is true that such attacks would do little to no damage to Malo, they served a dual function.
For one hand, the cumulative damage would eventually cause Malo's defence to collapse, no matter how high it was. Besides, Malo could not sustain the berserk state indefinitely. On the other hand, Ocelot's attacks were like those of an annoying fly, something that would irritate Malo more and more, who, with his mind clearly affected by his berserk state, would attack with less and less control, which would create weak points that Ocelot could use to give him the final blow. This was creating a vicious cycle which Ocelot was taking a clear advantage from.
Ocelot kept "dancing" around Malo hitting him with his tonfas, and from time to time he would use his new elemental Qi, which caused critical attacks on the Beastman. Within minutes Malo had multiple bruises all over his body, and despite his high defence, he clearly had multiple muscle tears as well as bruises. However, nothing he did seemed to work.
"DAMN IT, FIGHT LIKE MAN, YOU DAMN RAT!" shouted Malo in a moment of unbridled rage.
Ocelot could only sneer at Malo's words and continued to attack with his tonfas as if it were nothing.
Malo knew that if this continued he could have his life forfeit. So at a moment when Ocelot approached to attack him, he gathered all his Qi into the horn on his forehead which began to glow, as he tried to headbutt Ocelot by surprise.
Malo stood for a second observing the damage he had caused, but Ocelot seemed to have disappeared. Suddenly he looked up and Ocelot was leaning on the roof of the cave, having buried one of the tonfa in it. Dropping down, he lunged in favour of gravity, attacking Malo with his remaining Tonfa, which was surrounded by the faint halo of yellowish ochre Qi.
Malo met the attack with his chest as he extended both arms to either side. His chest caved in several centimetres, causing Malo to vomit a large amount of blood. However, a bloody smirk was visible on his face. "I knew you wouldn't waste the opportunity for a big attack like the one I made, you cowardly rat," said Malo.
Thereupon his hands were filled with Qi and he quickly lowered them as he tried to crush Ocelot to the ground, while two hoof-like images were drawn around his hands.
Ocelot could barely react, since he had no foothold, but without losing his cool, since his tonfa was still on Malo's chest, with his other arm he used all his strength to attack the other end of his tonfa, forcing it against Malo's chest.
BAAAAM!
Malo's attack seemed to raise a dust bowl. When it disappeared, Malo was on his knees with both hands on the ground, while his head was lowered. Ocelot was underneath Malo, holding him up while his Tonfa had gone all the way into Malo's chest, destroying his heart, finishing off the Beastman.
Ocelot tossed Malo's body as he dusted himself off. A trickle of blood was visible on his lips, and he had several broken ribs, but overall he had no major injuries.
"Damn sub-human. With his desperate attack he almost managed to really hurt me." said Ocelot as he gave a bloody spit in Malo's direction.
"Hahahahahahaha... This is the power of a Qi Centurion. When I master my Will, my power will increase greatly. I don't have to live in the shadow of Sagat anymore, with my skills I'll get shelter in one of the sects or families in the outskirts of Ansem," Ocelot gloated.
FWUIIIIIISH!
Suddenly Ocelote felt a great pain in his chest and looked down, noticing the tip of a sword, which was glowing with a bluish colour, piercing his torso. Ocelot touched the sword as a large amount of blood emanated from his mouth without stopping, and turning his gaze with difficulty he saw the impassive face of Elijah right behind him.
"You're definitely a lot stronger than the Beastman and me. But you should have been told you talk too much" Elijah finally said as he bent the sword and finally pulled it out of Malo's back, finally sealing the mercenary's fate.
"It's not the most honourable route, but all's fair in war. Besides, I was the one who taught Nerun to act as if he had died," Elijah said as he smiled in a form of self-deprecation. When he was fighting with Malo and Ocelot, he had decided to expose a weak point and use all his Qi in a defensive technique, taking attacks from both of them and pretending to be defeated. With both Warriors being slightly stronger than him, and with time against him, it was the only plan he could come up with to defeat them both as quickly as he could.
"I wonder if the boys are alright. I must get to them soon," Elijah said to himself, but had to stop as he held his side and coughed hard, spitting up blood. Although he had finally emerged victorious, he had paid a heavy price for his victory; with several injuries, contusions and bruises all over his body. Specially Malo's last attack on him, have caused son fracturas to his ribs.
...
Meanwhile, in the cell area, Ren watched Silvester and Nerun with restrained anger.
"I will tear you both apart and hand your bodies over to the jackals so that not even a trace of your bones will be left in this world," Ren said angrily, as he disappeared from where he stood.
Nerun's pupils surrounded by his characteristic golden halo became like pins as he shouted " WATCH OUT" and kicked Silvester with all his might making him move several meters.
Ren appeared right where Silvester had been moments before, his outstretched arm striking the ground and creating a large crater. If Silvester had not moved, he would have been turned to mush by the sheer force of Ren's attack.
"Hehehehe, you seem to have good eyesight little boy. Perhaps the first thing I should do is to immobilize you, gouge out one of your eyes and then kill your friends slowly in front of you" said Ren with all the cruelty his heart could conceive in order to torment Nerun's mind and heart.
Nerun fell silent as he looked at Ren, and as he stood close to him, he began to move his extended arms in a spiral, rapidly, in a clockwise direction. The energy moved by Nerun was invisible, but Ren's instincts made him sense an enormous danger in Nerun's movements and he immediately rushed at him, giving him no time to finish his technique.
Ren appeared in right in front of Nerun who seemed flustered, and with both hands he stopped Nerun's arms as he lifted him up to his face. Nerun tried to kick but his short limbs could not reach Ren. Nerun's technique had been stopped before it could even be used and there was dismay painted on his face.
"Now what will you do you brat. The first thing I will do is rip your arms off, before I take out one of your eyes as promised" Ren said with great malice as he began to strain his hands.
Nerun made a small whimper before saying "Can I at least say one thing?".
"Oh, do you have any last words, you shitty little kid?" said Ren smirking at Nerun.
"Yeah..... I just wanted to say... cough, cough... I wanted to say... that besides being ugly you have awful breath" said Nerun as his eyes which were staring into Ren's eyes formed a golden halo that spread to the whole sclera and said
"Καλειδοσκόπιο" - /Kaleidoskópio/
Nerun's eyes began to bleed, but Ren lost consciousness for an instant, at which point he released Nerun. Meanwhile, the latter closed his eyes and shouted "NOW".
Silvester rushed at Ren and with his two hands joined over his head, he gathered all his Qi and attacked Ren while shouting
Silvester's attack threw Ren several meters backwards towards the central cage, however Ren regained his senses after the attack, and although he had taken some damage, it was not critical and he landed safely.
"Wow. You have more and more secrets. A Mana eye technique. But if this is all, I'm afraid it's not even enough. I guess you can die now." said Ren, as he built up his Qi in his body and prepared to use a technique to finish off the two brats once and for all and then kill the rest of his companions.
"Actually, they're not finished. I was the last part of the plan," came a seductive voice from behind Ren. He had been inadvertently thrown very close to the beautiful woman in the central cage.
The woman, stretching out her chained arms, wrapped one hand around Ren's neck, and he felt all his hair stand on end as he saw the shadow of death grow closer and closer. He felt that at the woman's touch he could not put up any resistance and his strength of which he was so proud could not even move a finger from the woman's hand.
"Impertinent, who gave you permission to touch me," said the woman, in a voice capable of melting any man who heard it. Yet this voice to Ren's ears was like the call of Death itself, and he tried even harder to break free but the woman's hand was like an unyielding pincer of steel. With her other hand she took the blade that was still trapped in Ren's torso and slowly plunged it into Ren's chest as though it were butter. Finally the blade pierced Ren's heart and he breathed his last.
The woman had transmitted a message towards Nerun previously, telling him to somehow manage to throw Ren towards her, while she would take care of the rest. Nerun having no other way out, decided to trust her and with a quick signal made a plan with Silvester which was quite successful, given Ren's undermining of the children's ingenuity and resources.