Partner

When Frenzy of Time activated, Grant immediately dove towards his opponent in an effort to end the fight as quickly as possible.

After only a few steps though, his opponent who had been completely frozen in time, sudden moved his eyes towards Grant.

Although stunned, Grant did not relent in his attack.

When he was a single step away from his target, the mini hulk managed to turn his entire head towards Grant.

Now Grant was well and truly overwhelmed with surprise. This was the first time that anyone had been able to move under his Frenzy of Time.

As Grant brought his raised sword down towards its target while activating Tectonic Slam, the sound of something shattering permeated the area.

Following the sound, the mini hulk managed to move its entire body and for the first time in the fight, dodged an incoming attack.

When Grant's sword made contact with the ground, a massive shockwave shot out from the tip of his sword and destroyed everything in its path.

The mini hulk continued to dodge backwards until it had escaped the effecting range of the skill before it stood up and looked at Grant.

Since Frenzy of Time also affected his allies, Grant deactivated the skill to allow Phoenix to move again.

The bird seemed both confused and surprised by the fact that it had suddenly been halted in place and time but knew that the skill belonged to Grant so it hadn't been concerned for its safety.

When it saw the destruction in front of it, it had thought that Grant had managed to destroy their enemy, but was surprised when it looked at Grant and saw him staring towards a spot beyond the effective range of the skill.

When the bird turned its head, it realized that their opponent was not only still alive, it was completely unharmed.

That's when Grant's voice suddenly appeared in its mind through their bond.

[I don't know if we can beat this guy Phoenix. My Dragon's Roar will deactivate shortly and we'll be fighting this guy at full strength.

Any suggestions?]

(I'd say run, but I am not sure that we are capable of outrunning this guy. So we either fight or die.

Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of dying so I'm going to fight with everything I have and hope for the best!)

[Lets do it partner. If things go south, run away as fast as you can and I'll do my best to keep him here.]

(Those should be my words.)

The two simply looked at each other and smiled. It was clear that neither of them would be abandoning the other to die in this place.

They would either go down together or come out victorious.

Although they had only known each other for a few hours, Grant was surprised by the dynamic they had already built between each other.

He figured that it probably had something to do with the bond that was created between them by The Path, but now wasn't the time to think too much about it.

While Grant and Phoenix were communicating through their bond, the mini hulk was busy dusting itself off and getting ready for the next round.

When he saw the expressions on Grant and Phoenix's face, for some reason, he smiled.

"It looks like you've steeled your resolve. Whatever those two skills were that you used, they are quite powerful.

For making me dodge, I will at least tell you my name.

I'm Loki Snow."

"No no.. that's all wrong... at least it should be Bruce...."

Grant's voice was both sad and annoyed when he said that which caught Loki off guard. Why would this human be so obsessed with his name?

He seemed more surprised by the fact his name had more effect on Grants emotions than any attack he had used thus far.

Well, it didn't matter to Loki, for the first time since coming to this planet, he had finally found an opponent who survived more than a few exchanges with him.

Even if their were two of them, it was still quite an impressive feat. Especially considering he had recently ascended to Tranquil Tier with the help of the mana density on this planet.

Grant, was well and truly annoyed now. How dare this mini hulk look the way he does and have the name 'Loki'.

Since Grant had unallocated points, he immediately pumped them into agility and prepared to continue the fight.

Phoenix was the first to move however, he used Flash Steps and instantly appeared next to Loki, throwing a kick directly at his head.

Before Phoenix's attack even landed, Grant had appeared on Loki's other side and threw an attack of his own.

Loki simply lowered his body and allowed both attacks to pass over his head before he threw a punch at both of his attackers, sending them flying backwards a few feet before they regained their footing.

Undeterred, Grant and Phoenix continued their attacks.

They would do their best to match their timings and coordinate their attacks in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes they would attack from the front and back, other times it was from either side.

On a few occasions, one of them would attack with a feint while the other would follow up from the same direction but at a different level.

When the duration of Dragon's War finally ran out, the fight became even more difficult.

Refusing to give up though, the two partners continued to unleash attack after attack on Loki.

The longer the fight went on, the more fluid their attack patterns became.

As the fight passed the fifteen minute mark, Grant became increasing frustrated and confused.

Although Loki attacked to push them away, he had not attacked with his blades since his first attack on Grant.

They had never left his hands and their had been plenty of opportunities where he could have seriously injured or even killed them.

After another 15 minutes, Grant started to get a hunch that maybe Loki had no intention to harm them.

Was he testing them?

Was this just fun for him?

Loki had been smiling widely for quite awhile now. Clearly he was enjoying this.

Grant reached out towards Phoenix through his bond and told the bird to stop attacking because he wanted to test a theory.

After Phoenix came to a stop next to him, he simply turned around and began to walk away.

"Thank you for the fun. We have somewhere to be. Until next time 'Loki'"

Seeing his opponents walking away, Loki frowned. He had been having so much fun messing with these weaklings but they had suddenly ended it and were leaving.

He felt like they were looking down on him.

He was having fun with them but they thought they could just quit and walk away?

They were taking advantage of his kindness in not killing them immediately!

How dare they disrespect him like this!

His anger grew slowly at first but burst forth when he felt disrespected.

Grant sensed the change in the atmosphere and since he had not let his guard down or put his sword away, he prepared for an attack.

But before he could so much as react, he felt a piercing pain in his stomach.

He looked down to see a small tip of a dagger sticking through his armor before a small stream of blood began to flow and drip to the ground.

When the dagger was ruthlessly ripped from his stomach, he lurched backwards before falling forward and landing flat on the ground with a small pool of blood quickly forming around his body.