He Returns Once More

"To think you don't recognize my voice just pisses me off even more." He says while coming out from the shadows.

That's when I could see that the person before me was definitely Astal. I recognized his appearance from the last time we fought, he's hardly changed at all.

"Astal why do you keep trying to do this?" I question while staring at him.

Why doesn't he realize that I don't want to kill him, or anyone for that matter.

"Because it's my quest and I have to follow my system too." Astal responds while balling his fist.

"I'll just have to stop you again Astal." I say while gripping my sword.

No one ever wants to do this the easy way, it always has to be a damn issue.

Before charging in, I signaled everyone to stay back since I could handle this on my own for the most part. Astal hasn't proven to be a problem yet so I needed to deal with this on my own no matter what the scenario.

I'm the only one who can guarantee that he won't die here today.

So I charged in with the boost added onto my speed, this was hopefully going to be the fastest way to deal with him.

"Yes, use your system Sevarian." Astal says as he grits his teeth.

As I approached him and began to strike down I felt an immediate stop on my attack. My sword clashed against what appeared to be some sort of gauntlets.

"I've been adjusting and getting stronger too Sevarian, it's not just you." Astal says while blocking against my sword.

I can't go lethal on him so I need to try and not use my other skills, or this will be a pretty bad attack.

So I kicked him back and tried to push in once more while slashing away at him with more and more momentum. Every time I tried he seemed to block my attack but I'm not sure how to get around these gauntlets without using more strength.

He's making it really hard for me right now.

Bam!!! Pow!!!

Before I could react, he punched through my defense instead while I was focused on how not to kill him. Not just one punch, he got me multiple times.

I felt myself go back quite a bit, but I managed to keep my sword in hand as this damn guy stood before me. Now he charged at me with the intent to kill, this wasn't going to be an easy battle at all.

Bammm!!!!!!!!!

Immediately trying to withstand his current attack I felt my defense completely break as my sword flew out of my hand and out of my reach.

"The tides are going to turn regardless Sevarian." Astal says while throwing more punches.

I couldn't just let myself take those head on so I threw my arms up to block against them but the pain went throughout my arms instantly.

Shit! Shit!

"Gahhhh!!!" I let out a scream of pain while trying to think.

"Screw this." Rika says with a pissed off tone.

Behind me I could hear Rika coming, her speed was always a lot better than mine so I knew that she wasn't going to take long.

Pow!!!!!

I watched as Astal got sent away from me a couple feet, but it doesn't seem like that will stop him like the last time.

"At least let me help you Sevy." Rika says with an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, thanks Rika. Your help is definitely needed after all." I reply while trying to catch my breath.

"Two vs one? How interesting is that." Astal says before charging in once again.

Something was different, his vibe had changed from what it was before. His speed also seemed to have increased from before, does he have a lot more to his system than last time?

Rika moved before me and blocked against his attacks for a few moments, it seems even she noticed the difference.

Drip. Drip.

Huh?

Blood was dripping off of me, did he really do that much damage just from those attacks on me earlier? My regeneration should be kicking in already but yet it's not.

Pow!!!!

"Sevy watch out!!" Rika shouts as she goes flying past me.

As I looked towards Astal his punch immediately connected with my face and sent me flying through the café walls.

"Shitttt!!!!!" I screamed while stopping at the last wall.

Everything was looking terrible for me right now, I'm not sure that I can keep fighting without the use of all my skills. This fight won't end in my favor if I keep fighting without all my skills.

"Cough. Cough. Screw it." I say after coughing a few times.

I activated all the skills that needed activation and ran out of the building towards Astal, this wasn't going to be the day I died. I have quite a bit of strength on my side now, so this will be different.

Upon reaching Astal I began to throw a furry of punches that put him on the defense within seconds. With each punch I could hear his gauntlets cracking from the amount of pressure he was under.

One, Two, Three. Counting each punch before the next set was how I kept myself in the moment before realizing when I needed to stop. This guy wasn't the type to give up so I needed to drain his strength as much as possible.

"Why are you so damn annoying!!!" Astal shouts while blocking against the attacks.

I wasn't focused on what he had to say at the moment, his defeat was all I needed on my mind till the fight was over.

Crack!

~Warning System is now active.

Huh?

The message threw me off and I felt myself slip up almost instantly. My next punch missed and went past him while I noticed someone else was coming.

~Incoming unknown entity, Brace yourself Sevarian.

Push!!

I used force to kick myself away from Astal with my skill still active to avoid the incoming enemy.

Swoosh!!

"Hahahah. What timing you have." the person laughs as they stand a few feet away.