Maybe he was coming up with excuses just to fight them.
In truth, there was sothing lingering in his mind.
And it was,
….He wanted to smoke them.
Rolling his sleeves up, he then pulled his gloves, fastening it. Feeling the ring on his finger, he felt his body lighten as if he could stretch his muscles.
Swoosh—!
Imdiately, Brandon's figure blurred away as he grabbed the pathways, appearing right before Raven.
Bang—!
The two's fist's collided, sending shockwaves as if the air had been distorted by a single exchange.
Brandon imdiately leapt back, setting a fixed distance from Raven. But it was then when he felt his senses disorientated. Or most probably his hearing?
Was he hearing right?
He could hear a couple of footsteps around him, but as his eyes abruptly flicked all around, there was nothing.
Most likely Sarah's ability.
To think she could create such realistic auditory hallucinations.
Maybe he had too many expectations for her combat capabilities. Clearly, she seed to excel in support.
And that was his assessnt of Sarah.
Boom!
All of a sudden, explosions rang from the corner. Crackling flas ignited, obscuring his vision as it sent tremors, shaking the ground with intensity.
A hand engulfed in flas appeared right before his peripheral vision, only for Brandon to twist his body to the side, barely dodging Reinhard's attack.
At the sa ti, Brandon felt a sharp, heavy pain in his stomach, right before he noticed Raven's fist implanted right in his abdon, sending him hurling back several distances away.
Just as he was about to land on his feet, water bullets pierced right through his leg in rapid successions. Condensing with purple electricity, his drenched figure spasd spontaneously.
A combo attack between Amy and Claire, perhaps?
"Khh…!"
Boom—!
Sensing Reinhard rushing towards him, as flas lood around him, he was about to grab the pathways, when he realized his legs had been encapsulated in ice, swiftly crawling up to his waist.
Boom—!
An explosion resounded, and Brandon gritted his teeth as he was sent flying upwards.
While recovering from the pain that had just occurred, he felt the back of his head slamd, and Brandon was sent flying down, crashing hard on the ground.
"Akh!"
Spitting out blood, Brandon massaged his head. His hair had already co undone and he brushed his bangs back, the ends of his mid-length hair smoothly flowed down.
This was no sparring session anymore. They were out for his blood, as if they wanted to deny his strength, his dominance over them.
Brandon couldn't have that.
It should've been a friendly spar at first, to teach them of the world's strength, but this….
He wanted to win.
Out of sheer pity, Brandon's figure blurred in that instant, the fog scattering from where he once stood as he appeared right before Reinhard. His fist clad in athyst flas swiftly struck Reinhard's cheek, sending Reinhard flying back.
Smoothly swaying the hand that had just struck Reinhard to the side, Brandon felt a light tug on his fist, and as he subtly increased the mana output, his hand moved fast as if disappearing.
He did not know who he had just hit, just that, he knew his attack worked as he felt the vibrations all over his arm.
Then, once again, his senses disoriented. No, as of this mont, he could see several silhouettes erging from the fog. Sending his hand forward, chains shot from the ground, scattering the fog and the silhouette's.
However,
There was nothing.
"....?"
"Nice one, Sarah!"
A scream resounded.
He surmised that Sarah's sound illusion was much more imrsive than at first glance. The auditory illusion was powerful enough to trick the brain, or more precisely, his sense of sight.
He had to give her credit for it.
Sarah was the most annoying opponent at the mont.
With such thoughts, his first priority was taking Sarah out.
Swoosh—!
Before Raven and Claire could hit him, Brandon's figure blurred once again, sending the fog in a scattered manner, and appeared right before Sarah.
Sarah's eyes widened at that mont. But it was only for a brief mont, as she clasped and twisted her hands together, a veil of sound materialized, and Brandon paused in his attack.
He felt his ears start to bleed from the static sound, a frequency high enough to make him feel like his eardrums were bleeding.
"Ukh!"
A shadow entered his peripheral vision, and he felt his ribcage shatter as he took in the full brunt of Raven's attack.
But pain.
He could handle pain.
Pain was nothing.
Gritting his teeth, Brandon recovered before he was sent flying and appeared right behind Raven.
Catching him off guard, Brandon reached out with his hand. Chains sprouted from the ground, latching onto Raven's key points. Both of his shoulders, and both of his legs.
It seed like he tried to break free from the chain's hold, it was to no avail as Brandon heavily struck him in rapid succession, athyst flas procuring from his attack, dancing in the air.
At the mont, Raven had to recover sowhat. Before that could happen, he needed to take out the other variables that would make him lose this fight.
This fight would've been way easier if he used his sword, but he refrained from it. The only one who used a weapon as of this mont was Claire, who's rapier shimred closely, catching his attention.
Chains appeared at that mont, easily repelling the tip of Claire's spear. Brandon rushed through the chains and swung down hard at Claire, sending her head in collision with the cold, hard, ground.
BANG—!
The ground shattered on impact, and Claire's body grew limp.
She had passed out.
"That's one."
Brandon indifferently muttered.
Swoosh—!
Just as his leg was about to be wrapped in water whips, Brandon blurred away and Amy's figure registered in his sight.
"You just don't fit in with this crowd."
He provoked her. But that was the truth. Amy had contributed the least in this fight.
Wherever he went, the others would try to follow him. In fact, he could still feel the cold breeze beneath him.
Rachel was onto him.
Snow started to congest his body, trying to freeze him, and before he noticed it, his fingers had been affected by frostbites.
But still…
Gritting his teeth, Brandon pushed through.
"Amy!"
A resounding scream.
But Brandon was ruthless.
His fist, cladded in athyst flas ignited as it rushed through the fog. But in that instance, he felt his hand phase through a bubble of water, the sheer speed of his attack decelerating.
Realizing that, Brandon grabbed the pathways once again, repositioning himself before Amy from another angle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rapid flurry of attacks reached Amy, and she too had passed out on the ground.
"Two."
Flicking his head to the side, Brandon reached out and grabbed sothing.
"Hua!"
Rachel gasped in horror as she realized Brandon had grabbed onto her wrist before she could even do anything.
Brandon pulled Rachel's arm close and struck her abdon. In response, Rachel's saliva spattered in the air.
Bang! Bang!
Ruthlessly mashing his fist with her figure, and in the last attack, Brandon let go of her wrist and swung hard for one last attack.
Bang!
Rachel's figure was sent flying in the air and she crashed on the ground soon after.
"Three."
"At least go easy on them, man!"
Raven scolded with a frown as his fist t Brandon's palm, sending the fog scattering, as the ground trembled from the sheer impact of the exchange.
"No."
Brandon shook his head.
This was training.
They knew that, which was why they had never asked him to go easy on them.
Except for Sarah, at least.
Just as he was about to deal another exchange with Raven, a throbbing pain echoed all over his back and an explosion rang once again.
"Ukh!"
Then, he felt his entire cheekbone shatter as Raven twisted his body in the air, striking heavily on his jaw.
He was sent flying, rolling all over the ground. A stinging, burning pain seethed all over his back as he felt the pain on his jaw vibrate.
Lifting his body up, his eyes widened upon noticing a boot wrapped in shadow aid squarely at his face.
However, swiftly grabbing the pathway, he managed to dodge Raven's kick in ti.
The mont he did appear, he felt another attack coming his way as explosions rang, the ground shaking intensely.
By instinct, Brandon moved his arm sowhere, blocking the incoming attack.
Boom—!
Feeling a hand brush past his arm, an explosion ignited, sending him toppling back once again.
Just as he was about to grab a pathway mid–air, he felt an attack coming from the back of his head.
In that instant, a chain shot from the ground and he used it as a foothold, backflipping, narrowly dodging Raven's surprise attack.
Athyst flas erupted, engulfing his entire leg as he counterattacked, hitting Raven squarely on the face, sending him away.
However, Brandon extended his hand forward. Threads shot from his fingertips and latched around Raven.
Clenching his hand, Raven was pulled back towards him and Brandon landed another attack.
Bang! Bang!
Attack after attack. The sa instance occurred, but that was until what seed to be a flaming arrow shot towards his direction.
However, the arrow's trajectory was slightly off, piercing brushed past him.
At that mont, an explosion echoed from behind Brandon and he looked back.
There, he could see a large gaping crater etched on the ground.
The sheer destructive force of the arrow amounted to that much.
It was quite scary.
But most probably, Reinhard missed due to the lack of control over his attack.
That was the most optimal conclusion Brandon could co up to.
Seeing Raven down on his knees, Brandon's alarm bells suddenly rang and he looked up.
A large magic circled hovered above him, and ice began to encapsulate his legs once again, swiftly crawling up.
Just as Brandon was about to break free of the ice's hold….
Tzz—
Sparks of purple lightning entered his peripheral vision. That, and searing flas ignited from a different direction.
Having no ti to grab a single pathway, Brandon crouched down and chains shot from the ground, completely repelling the oncoming attacks.
Clank—!
Claire's rapier seed to be stuck in between the narrow gap of the chains, while Reinhard's attack scattered away.
Brandon turned to look at their directions.
There, he could see Claire glaring at him, her chest heaving up and down as she tried catching her breath. Reinhard, who seed to be glaring at him as well, his blue eyes flickered ominously.
Rachel on the other hand, had her hand held up as her chest heaved up and down in the sa manner as Claire.
They all seed to be on edge.
But the sa could be said for Brandon.
He too was on edge.
He wanted to go all out. To use everything in his arsenal.
But just as he was about to continue…
Beep—
A beeping sound rang from sowhere, and a static voice followed shortly after.
—Attention! Your ti is up! If you would like to extend, ring the button once. If not, please proceed to the exit.
It seed like their rental had expired.
"Looks like this is it for today."
Brandon shrugged as he looked at Claire.
Clank—!
Imdiately the chains dispersed, and Claire's rapier fell on the ground.
"Haaa… H-haaa…"
Claire went down on both knees and tried to catch her breath.
"You're fucking…. Haa…. Insane."
"You guys almost got m—"
Boom—!
Another attack pierced through. But Brandon was able to block just in ti with his chains. The flas imdiately dispersed soon after.
Claire turned her head to the side.
"Reinhard, what are you doing!?"
However, Reinhard seed out of it. As if he had never heard the announcent, he bursted forward, flas igniting behind him, and appeared right before Brandon.
However, at that mont, just before Reinhard's palms reached him, threads lood in the air and latched onto Reinhard.
"Rein, didn't you hear the announcent?"
"Fuck why am I so…. Hm? What announcent?"
A look of realization washed over him as his brows raised.
"We're done here."
"Oh."
He may have sounded like he had just realized it. But Brandon could see Reinhard biting his lip in frustration.
It seed like he was still on edge.
Shortly after, they cleaned up after themselves, changed their clothes, and stepped outside the training facility.
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