highvale gang strength

In a dark alley, a battle was happening, and in just a few seconds, two men already died, leaving behind three in one group, the highvale members, and two attackers, Ryu and Nura. With Ryu at one side and Nura at the other, leaving no path for the highvale member to retreat or flee, the three men stood aligned, with one at the center and one at the left preparing to clash with Ryu and the one on the right looking back, ready to fight Nura.

Unlike the first two, who fell instantly without even defending themselves, the three remaining already picked their weapon in hand and prepared their minds to face the danger that fell over their heads.

With a large step, Ryu went from the falling man at the front to the man at his right, while the smoke flickering staff on his hand moved to his right side, ready to take down the second man in another blow.

But, as soon as Ryu entered the range of this highvale member, a young man with spike hair, who had his sword ready, stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and Ryu. Along with the man, he came with his sword, with a quick and precise horizontal stroke, carrying the determination of a cut that had certainly tasted blood before.

Seeing the sword coming straight to his neck, Ryu realized the danger of fighting in the dark, he might have the advantage of the weapon and the costume since he planned it before, but that doesn't mean that a thin metal sword was easy to track.

Fortunately, Ryu had the heavenly pillar martial art style to guide him in battle, so, as the sword came to his neck, the front end of the staff moved up. Along with the staff, a gust of wind blew upward into the small dark alley, pushing the weapon in Ryu's hand upward at an astonishing speed he could never achieve with his own strength alone.

A loud metallic sound echoed as the staff collided with the blade of the spike-haired man's sword, deviating its trajectory to pass above Ryu's head by a large margin. But Ryu's movement wasn't over yet, for as one tip of the staff moved up to deflect the sword, the other tip moved down and continued with its momentum to advance.

Thus, the defensive move transformed into a counter-attack, which was only possible because the second part of the move borrowed the fluidity of the water to correct its path. This blow came out of the spiky-haired man's field of vision, and since his sword went up, he had no chance to block or dodge the attack aimed at the side of his belly unless, of course, he had the skill hidden under his sleeve.

Ryu saw the eyes of the man in his front when the blow was about to land: his eyes moved down, looking at the staff coming for his side, and it immediately returned up, looking back at Ryu with confidence. Even with the blow coming his way, this man did not attempt to dodge, block or at least contract the muscles in the abdominal region to reduce the damage, he acted as if nothing was about to happen.

Despite the confidence of the man in front of him, Ryu didn't try to stop his attack or change his target, so, whatever the man was planning, he would have to do it after getting a blow at his side.

And the blow connected evenly, producing a watery sound that echoed throughout the alley while a splash of water wetted the gray robes of the spike-haired man. However, instead of bending like Ryu expected him to do, the man simply stood immobile, as if Ryu had just hit him with a light feather.

It was a shock that Ryu wasn't expecting, it would be okay if he dodged, tough at that short distance, dodging was unthinkable, it would also be okay if he somehow blocked, but instead, the man received the blow as if it was nothing.

So, Ryu looked at the man's side, where the blow hit, and saw a green layer of light, separating the staff from the man. Although the color was different, Ryu instantly recognized the resemblance of this layer of light with the barrier he conjured with a talisman, so he figured out: that man should have a barrier skill.

Identifying the enemy's ability was only part of the problem. If Ryu didn't discover the power of this barrier, the conditions to use it, or even if it could protect the entire body, he would never be able to exploit a weakness of the skill, therefore, never he would defeat the man who was looking at him with a mocking smile.

Now, it was the man's turn to launch a counter-attack on Ryu, so, taking advantage of his sword being thrown upward by Ryu, he cut in an arc downward, putting all the strength and weight of his body to split Ryu into two halves. But Ryu would not accept this slash passively, so he moved his staff up horizontally above his head, ready to block the sword.

However, as Ryu prepared to take the sword's impact, a sense of danger reverberated in Ryu's mind, alerting him that he was missing something. No matter what, Ryu couldn't get rid of this weird sensation, and this is something dangerous in battle as one has to keep focused the whole time.

But this one time, Ryu decided to listen to his emotion and changed his sight focus, which, thanks to his enhanced vision skill, happened many times faster than a regular person could do. And what he saw was the man at the middle thrusting with a thin pointy sword, aiming to his exposed ribcage.

The situation wasn't good for Ryu, as with one strike coming from the top and another from the side, he had no way to block both attacks or dodge. Fortunately, he had one life-saving skill to use at this moment, which was exactly what he did.

Using the vanishing raindrop steps, Ryu disappeared from his position, leaving only an afterimage behind. The spike-haired man slash and the thrusting attack from the youngest man at the middle passed empty, leaving the highvale gang members astonished.

Close to death, Ryu used his trump skill, and for a single moment, the world went still while a circle of eight meters in radius spread around his position, on this large circle, several small circles expanding, marking possible positions to Ryu chose as his destiny.

The spot Ryu chose was right behind the youngest man thrusting at him, a moment after he disappeared from his dangerous position, causing the two strikes aiming at him to go missing, he reappeared in his chosen location. Since this place was out of sight of both men he was fighting, neither of them noticed his presence, which gave Ryu the perfect opportunity to take another man down.

Thus, Ryu prepared his stance, raised the black smoke shaping a staff high above his head, and moved it in a downward arc, targeting the youngest man's head just one step ahead of him.