MERCHANTS 4 [IX] (Ch. 84)

James arrives at his destination in good time, having the desired information he heads into the club with haste, rounding the passages corner he's quick to notice the elevator is out of commission,

(The stairs) he's up and through the stairs in a flash praying desperately to a God he had no faith in for his friends safety, upon his exit at the fourthieth floor, upon exit he's blasted back by a kick that rattles his bones, Daryun,

James despite the disadvantage of lower ground and uneven steps drops to into a combat stance, Daryun empowers his Striker technique: 'Press point', his feet crashes downward, James rather than taking the brunt of the strike falls back lower before empowering his Enforcer technique: Force coating (out Force), the 'Force' pushes against space and in a flash his knee is crashing into Daryun's poorly formed guard, James presses with a fist to the abdomen, Daryun takes it with a groan before hopping back and forward the flipping into a taekwondo one thousand and fourty degrees kick empowered with 'Force', James forms a guard as he gets bulleted back and down the steps, he coughs away the strain empowering his Striker technique despite the compounding weight of gravity on his fractured arms from Daryun's Striker technique, Daryun sweeps down with another spinning kick, James concentrates gis 'Force' into his right before meeting the strike, Daryun's leg is distabilized by James out Force allowing the former to follow up with a heavy blow into Daryun's back, the blow prevents him from rebalancing and eventually he crashes back first into the floor, James presses still with a heavy blow with his Striker technique still empowered, Daryun tanks the hit, his superior advancement aiding him, he rolls away unto his feet before igniting his Striker technique, the two square off and the look of impatience begins to crack James's calm visage, 

(Time is running out!), He pulls out a pair of extendable Batton each black thick and two feet long before dropping into his stance, his training in Kali Arnis as shows as Daryun despite his advancement at the Bone Control Flow stage he found it hard to cope with James's use of 'Out Force' and batton's as he kept his body out of range while negating 'Press point' with his Striker technique, the alarm signal shoots through his earpiece as his own need for haste sets in, he frowns with a wounded pride that he'd been unable to subdue James easily, 

(He's skilled, i can copy him but....i can't copy those weapons...or can i?) Daryun risks trying an Enforcer technique he'd been experimenting with,  he forces 'Force' into his very bones, blood coughs out his mouth as his bones heat boiling his blood, he whips is leg at James who further empowers himself meeting the blow with his two batton's, the heat from with his body heats the air around him as his skin glows amber, Daryun grins madlly as he stares st his hands,

(I did it!), Finally, he'd reforged his....., Blood fountains out his orifices as his bones cracked and fractured, he dropped to his knees as his body seemed to fail him, his attempt to reverse engineer Vin's technique to evolve his own had failed, and now he would pay the price, James stared at him with remorseless eyes waisting no time to squeeze the last bits of 'Force' in his body into the batton in his right before crashing it against Daryun's jaw, the batton explodes under the strain of 'Force' further damaging Daryun's head, at the end of the explosion is a downed blonde teen looking barely alive and above him is an auburn haired teen clutching his weary body,

(I can't be much help now anyway) he concludes but nevertheless makes his way forward. 

       Duke dodges the first few attacks from the lady, it very quickly become obvious the difference in skill between them, unfortunately for him Lino is being destroyed by the staff master, while Tobi is going toe to toe with their burly behemoth, 

(He's holding back) Duke mules striking the woman in the ribs, the force ripples through her and then she drops, he wastes not time pulling her badge off, he attempts to run to aid Lino when a call comes,

"Duke!" Tobi exclaims, "We don't have much time!, Go!" He shouts crashing his Striker technique into his assailant's ribs, 

"I'll handle things here" he states blocking the path to the elevator,

"Tobi",

"Go!" He roars, Lino roars in tandem as he charges at the spearmaster, the spear disassembles mid swing coiling around his arm before straining to straighten, Lino roars pouring 'Force' into his arm to prevent it from being ripped clean off, despite his efforts his muscle slowly rends tearing at ab agonizingly slow pace visible to the eye, Tobi goes low raming himself into the abdomen of his opponents igniting his Enforcer technique: 'Raging bull', his momentum built with every step, The spearmaster pulls Lino into the path of collision before releasing his weapon, Tobi slams his feet into the ground before twisting his hip and throwing his opponent aside, the chinese hulk grabs a hold of Tobi's shirt forcing Tobi down with him, the two grapple with fervent intensity, Tobi empowers his Striker technique as he slams into his opponent roughly as shockwaves ensue, The Chinese Hulk's veins bulge out with increased flow as he slams his empowered Striker technique fist into Tobi's face sending the latter reeling, Lino on the other hand rolls away still clutching him arm, Lino is up as fast as he can managing to swerve away from the Spear masters follow up, the next trust aims for his injured arm, Lino manages a dodge by throwing himself aside, he's up and running, he makes way as fast as he can towards Tobi who hits blow for blow against the Chinese hulk of a human, Tobi desperate to end the confrontation ignites both 'Shock Wave' and 'Raging bull', The Chinese hulks expression twists, he hastens to meet the blow but a flash and a bang later He's rocketed through the wall, Tobi wastes no time ruthlessly pounding against the formers skull, with each blow followers a reverberating shock wave, coupled with his Enforcer technique the Chinese hulk was seconds from death when a metal staff sledgehammer's into Tobi's jaw, he sees black momentarily, long enough for another heavy attack to crash towards and against his make shift defense, the weight, with the 'Force' in his body rapidly being burnt he risks a heavy blow to his ribs biting it down as he nigh teleports into the spearmaster's range, the latter uses 'Force' to disassemble his staff turning it into a three part nunchuck and using the last bar to defend Tobi's blow, the shock stuns his arms and despite his superior technique Tobi's gathered momentum and Shockwave blows downs him in seconds, before he loses consciousness comes a question,

"Why?", Tobi turns to him with a weary but steady gaze, "did you chose to serve someone weaker", Tobi frowns at this statement before turning to find that Lino is unconscious, then a reply,

"Having power does not make one fit to rule" Tobi states in reply staggering over to lino before picking him up with great effort,

(I should probably hold the line here, the Drain makes me too weak to be of any assistance).

       Raven despite the commotion stares at Lingyun with blurring but determined eyes, Lingyun doesn't deign it of any importance to acknowledge the alarm, his number one priority being ivy's safety.

"Get him a car!" Lingyun orders over the blabbering guard, he leads Raven down the to the elevator, 

"You're a dead man Raven Voss" lingyun declares once inside the elevator, 

"Awwwn thank you for worrying, I've got nine lives" Raven mocks.

At the entrance to the the club was another commotion for before the guards where bowed low, Darwin Tripp had joined the fray.