Chapter 14-Flint vs Doku

"Khione! Noah!" Flint desperately cries as he spins around frantically, as iron walls rise out of the ground around him, separating Flint from his comrades, "KHIONE!"

"DAMN…" Flint grunts as he receives no answer from his allies, "We can't hear each other through these iron walls…"

Flint wanders around for a bit, observing the iron walls that have risen up out of the ground around him.

"So this must be the work of Twilight Wolves boss…" Flint sighs as he places a hand to the iron wall.

Flint frowns.

"Boss…"

"Hello again, my Putrid Pupil," a voice says, causing Flint's body to tense up.

"Master Doku…" Flint growls as he lowers his hand from the iron wall and peers up, seeing his old master balancing on the thick iron wall over him, with his arms folded behind his back.

Effortlessly, Doku backflips off of the wall then lands on the ground behind Flint in a cloud of dust.

As the dust settles, Flint turns around to face his old master.

"So you still have that bad habit of making unnecessarily exuberant entrances?" Flint snickers.

"And YOU still have that habit of calling me 'master'," Doku replies from behind his mask, causing Flint to narrow his eyes at him.

"After I defeat you, YOU'LL be the one calling ME 'master'," Flint replies as he enters his Charge Stance, and golden-tan sparks of energy burst and swirl around his body.

"Sand Charge, Level Two: Sand Spear!" Flint shouts as he launches a flurry of kicks towards Doku, which fires off a spear of sand with each kick.

In response, Doku enters his own stance. Doku brandishes two shuriken, one in each hand, and brings his arms up in a cross as he presses his heels together just as how Flint foes. Violet sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around Doku's body, and then, poison gas begins to swirl around his shuriken.

"Poison Charge, Level One: Acidic Star," Doku says as he flings his poison-gas engulfed shuriken towards Flint, which collides against his sand spears in a burst of sand and poison.

Once the burst of sand and poison subsides, Flint's eyes widen as he watches Doku's shuriken fly towards him.

Flint brings his arms up to block, however Doku's shuriken tears into him either way. But then, Flint's body turns into sand, and Doku's shirken passes straight through Flint's sandy body, before piercing the iron wall behind him. Flint's body then disappears into the sand. A second sand mound then rises out of the ground behind Doku, and takes the form of Flint.

"I'm no fool," Doku says, without even turning around to face Flint, "I know your tricks, my Putrid Pupil. Your sand clones can't fool me."

"Oh, then why did your spell miss?" Flint smirks.

"BECAUSE THIS ONE WON'T!" Doku shouts as he resumes his Charge Stance.

"Poison Charge, Level Two: Death Cloud!" Doku shouts, he scrunches up his body, and poison gas flies from every pore of his body, engulfing Flint in a cloud of gas.

"Crap!" Flint yelps as he gasps for air then puffs his cheeks out and holds his breath.

"Impressive," Doku comments as he uncoils his body then peers over at his pupil, "So much as making contact with my poison should have melted your skin off by now."

Flint narrows his eyes at Doku.

"Ah, that's right," Doku smugly replies, "You can't reply or else my poison will flood your lungs and kill you within seconds."

Doku then draws two more shuriken as he enters his charge stance, and poison gas engulfs his shuriken.

"Poison Charge, Level One: Acidic Star!" Doku shouts as he flings his shuriken towards Flint, "You can't summon any strength if you can't breeze."

As Flint's face grows pale, he enters his Charge Stance. Flint then launches a weak punch towards Doku, firing off a spear of sand towards his master.

Doku's poison-covered shuriken tears straight through Flint's sand spear, before tearing into Flint himself, who doesn't have the strength to create a sand clone.

"I forget that you're skilled enough to E-Charge without chanting," Doku comments.

Weakly, Flint grunts as he reaches up and rips out the shuriken that pierced his shoulder, before tossing it to the ground. Blood drips from Flint's shoulders, as Doku's poison creeps into his body.

After another moment, Doku's poison dissipates, and INSTANTLY, Flint opens his mouth up wide and gasps for breath, before dropping to his hands and knees

"Hah…hah…" Flint pants.

"I almost forgot that you're mostly immune to my poison," Doku comments.

"Yeah…who would have thought that your grueling training would come back to haunt you?" Flint weakly smirks as he peers back up at his master.

In response, Doku resumes his Charge Stance.

With a roar, Fling moves into a running stance then charges Doku.

"Poison Charge, Level One: Acidic Star!" Doku shouts as he flungs his poison shurikens towards Flint, which passes straight through his sand body.

"YOUR POISON CAN'T TOUCH SAND!" Flint roars as he launches a fist towards Doku's face, but swiftly, Doku raises two fingers up and flicks them into Flint's wrist, causing his punch to change trajectory and miss.

"Yes, however, you MUST become solid again when you go on the attack," Doku replies as his shuriken pierce Flint from behind, causing the man's eyes to widen.

"How did…?" Flint weakly asks as he peers over his shoulder at the shuriken piercing his blood back.

"Did you TRULY think that my shuriken could be evaded that easily?" Doku asks as he reaches up and grabs Flint by the folds of his gi, before dragging his gut into a powerful wrist strike, and causing Flint's eyes to widen as he spits up a glob of blood, "I simply threw my shuriken in such a manor that they would curve around and strike you after my initial spell missed.

"Damn…" Flint grunts, "Master Doku planned for me to turn into sand to counter his spell…"

Doku then ducks down and slips straight under Flint's legs, before popping back up and chopping Flint in the back of the neck.

"shit…" Flint winces as he stumbles forwards, "Master Doku is small, so he's crafty. He's a master of unconventional yet precise martial art strikes…"

Doku removes his Charge Stance.

"Poison Charge, Level Two: Death Cloud!" Doku shouts as he poison gas flies from his pores, just as before.

In response, Flint resumed his Charge Stance.

"Sand Charge, Level Three: Sandstorm!" Flint roars as he launches an uppercut into the air, causing the sand around Flint to begin spiraling around his feet, then rise into the air in a powerful sand tornado.

Doku's poison gas cloud blasts into Flint, powerless to break through Flint's sand tornado. Doku's poison gas then begins to circulate and rise into the air as well, following Flint's sand tornado.

"What?!" Doku cries, "The force of Flint's spell is causing my poison gas to swirl upwards as well?!"

"That's right!" Flint cackles, "SAND CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: SANDSTORM!"

Flint's spell then explodes outwards, and Doku yelps in pain as he's pelted by razor sharp grains of sand. By the time that Flint's attack subsides, Doku is kneeling on the ground, a pool of blood forming beneath him.