Gaia. (15)

"…"

Yaksha remained silent, and Relovan changed his fighting stance yet again, adopting the more defensive, peekaboo type style he had come up with while training at Chief Nura's compound. He then charged Yaksha again, glaring at the cloaked warrior from behind his fists. Yaksha held the jagged blade out, and some kind of Essence started seeping out of it, coating the blade making it… sing. The song was more like a screech, and the blade even rattled and shook violently in Yaksha's hand, prompting Relovan to be extra circumspect as he approached. The caution ended up being warranted, as Yaksha suddenly started swinging the blade violently, and with far more speed and force. The Enforcer found himself on the defensive, tightening his guard and tucking his elbows in. Much like he had in Nura's Training Room, he began to sway his torso just like he did during the final spar. The octagram defence was in full swing which was just as well, because Yaksha wasn't playing around. Each swing of the blade resulted in a louder wail from the weapon, and Princess Nkanyezi even found herself having to block her ears as the high-pitched screeching became too much.

'This is ridiculous.' Relovan thought to himself as it seemed like this was going to turn into a battle of stamina.

After a particularly telegraphed feint, Relovan dashed to his left, which was in the direction of the wall. Yaksha followed him, dashing after the Enforcer while continuing to swing. Another feint and dash later, and Relovan was suddenly standing with his back to the wall, which limited the number of evasive moves he could do. Yaksha aimed to capitalise on this, and trying to further drive Relovan into a corner. Feinting as though the next attack was going to be a horizontal slash, Yaksha had Relovan attempt to duck beneath the slash, yet the strike changed to a rising, diagonal slash from right to left. Just as it looked like Relovan was about to get cleaved, the Enforcer changed direction himself, dashing to his right and moving completely out of range of the blade. He then grabbed Yaksha's wrist with his left hand and pulled it forward, driving the blade towards the wall which it actually pierced. Immediately after doing so, the Enforcer released Yaksha's wrist, clenched his left fist drove it right through the sword; snapping the blade. The weapon actually began to screech and cry even louder than before, and it actually sounded like the tortured cries of a banshee. Almost everybody ended up covering their ears this time, however Relovan decided to play through the pain and dashed towards Yaksha, who was in a trance of sorts and just staring at the broken blade. Relovan took advantage of this and unleashed a series of blows, first connecting with a body blow to the midriff so ferocious, the loud bang returned and a shockwave burst out from Yaksha's back. He then followed that up with yet another body blow, but this time to the kidneys, producing yet another bang and shockwave. The cloak was fluttering about like crazy after each hit, and everybody who was watching on believed that Yaksha was all but done for. As Relovan stepped in with his left foot and threw a straight right that was aimed at Yaksha's head, a hand snaked up and caught the incoming right hand, stopping it dead. Yaksha's eyes then started glowing deep red from behind the darkness provided by the hood, and Relovan's skin began to sting and crawl. He was being warned of immense danger, yet could not pull his fist back. An aura of Essence surrounded Yaksha, and it was similar to the one that had engulfed the sword earlier. The cloak fluttered about some more, and Mkhaba and his cronies all went from being extremely concerned, to cheering without a care in the world.

"That's it Yaksha! Finish him off."

The aura was not only powerful, but suffocating as well, and the weaker members of Mkhaba's crew ended up on all fours, emptying the contents of their stomachs. Relovan, who was the intended target of this Essence attack, was feeling the full force of the aura. But instead of retreating, the Enforcer stood tall and scowled intensely while staring right back into Yaksha's glowing eyes.

"If you think this little display is going to make me retreat, you are sorely mistaken! Whether you rebel or not, you are still under arrest, so stand down, or be put down! You and your defiance are nothing before me! I side with, I stand for, and I am the law!"

Relovan absolutely roared the last two words of his declaration, and Yaksha, whose aura continued to grow, watched as the Enforcer's eyes began to glow bright purple. Princess Nkanyezi, who had been a silent spectator the entire time, actually raised her forearm in front of the eye mask, shielding her eyes.

"He's so bright!" She remarked to herself as she even had to turn away.

Nothing engulfed, enveloped or surrounded Relovan though, yet it appeared that none of that was even required as he felt the grip on his fist loosen, and eventually, his hand was released. Yaksha's eyes continued to glow for a little while longer, and the cloaked warrior walked to the wall, reached down and pulled the part of the blade that had snapped off out of the wall. Yaksha then looked at Relovan one last time, before turning around and walking towards Mkhaba and his fallen henchmen.

"What are you doing, you creep?! The job isn't don't yet! Go back there and retrieve the Princess, NOW!"

Yaksha's eyes glowed once again, causing the fat man to tremble. There was a stare down between the two, before Yaksha turned back to look at Relovan again. It appeared as though the warrior bowed, before the strange sticky Essence aura enveloped Yaksha, then melted into the ground, disappearing together with the strange one.

"What?! He just up and ran away?!" One of Mkhaba's remaining conscious goons bellowed.

"Mercenaries!" Mkhaba spat, before looking at Relovan. "Looks like we have to get rid of this one ourselves."

Relovan, who was standing with his fists clenched and a scowl on his face, looked at Mkhaba and his crew with still glowing eyes. They were actually standing in front of and blocking the lift doors, and as the two remaining goons readied their melee weapons, Mkhaba reached within his robe and pulled out a staff which had a glowing orange cube on top of it. The fat man raised the staff high above his head, before pointing it in the Princess' direction and letting fly with a massive Essence Fireball. Relovan quickly turned around and sprinted towards the Princess again, much like he did in the Gateway District. He reached her with far more time to spare this time and wrapped her up completely with his cape. The Fireball was intense and powerful, and as it exploded, it shattered the hard shield provided by the cape, depleting that resource completely. Mkhaba sneered as he watched flames dance blip and burn away, thinking he had destroyed the Enforcer. Instead, Relovan stood up slowly, and turned around to face the fat man.

"Princess… I need you to grab hold of my cape as firmly as you possibly can."

Princess Nkanyezi didn't even hesitate or enquire as to why that command was given – she just held the cape in both hands. She looked away from Relovan again as he was too bright for her eyes to handle, and his eyes started glowing again. The Enforcer looked about as pissed off as a person could be, and this caused Mkhaba to actually panic a bit.

"How are you still alive?! That attack should have turned you into a boneless ham!"

"Mkhaba!!" Relovan roared as he clenched his fists and crouched down a bit, as if getting ready to launch himself forward. "For attempting to kidnap a Princess, for destruction of property, for attempting to murder a Police Enforcer… I'm going to… fuckin'… CRUSH YOU!!!"

The purple vapour that was the Enforcer's Essence had started seeping out from his body and Relovan, who at this point looked like coiled up spring, suddenly leapt forward. He burst off from where he was standing with such force, the asphalt below cracked and split, and the Princess was almost blown off of his cape. Mkhaba let out a panicked wail and aimed his staff at the incoming Enforcer, firing off a series of Fireballs in the process. Relovan, who was careening towards the fat man with both arms stretched out in front of him, twisted his body in midair and began to spin. His Essence gathered around and surrounded his body, and the Enforcer was enveloped in purple. The Fireballs all hit Relovan, but instead of exploding, they all bounced off of the Enforcer and turned black, before disintegrating and wasting away in midair. The spinning Enforcer blasted past the two goons, and the resulting shockwave sent them both spinning into the ceiling and wall respectively, while Mkhaba's eyes balked with fear. Relovan drove both fists into the fat man's considerable gut, launching him off of his feet, into and then through the lift doors and into the lift itself. Relovan manipulated his body so that he landed on his feet, while still spinning. As this happened, he reached out with his left arm and caught Princess Nkanyezi, pulling her against his body tightly while simultaneously bending and cocking his right arm. As the Enforcer pushed off of his feet and jumped up, he unleashed the most ridiculously ferocious uppercut he possibly could, which connected with Mkhaba's chin. Relovan's body was covered in his Essence once more, and he also spun again, but this time, the force of the punch launched him, the Princess, Mkhaba and the lift straight up. They left the sewer level behind and climbed so rapidly; the floor indicator couldn't keep up. Ten or so seconds after the uppercut landed, the lift burst through the ceiling of the building it was housed in, and the three occupants of the lift flew out into the open sky. Relovan, who continued to hold the Princess close to him throughout the duration of the attack, pulled his fist away from Mkhaba's shattered chin, and held the Princess in both arms as they plummeted towards the ground.

"There they are!" A familiar sounding voice boomed from somewhere