Finally, John gives the signal to start the fight.
Instinctively, I leap backward at once in a series of rapid bursts, the blood axe already clenched in my fist. But I barely have ti to widen the distance between us when a truly terrifying sight unfolds before my eyes.
In the blink of an eye, Hank’s body begins to change completely.
His height nearly doubles, pushing close to four ters, and his muscles swell to an absurd degree, becoming monstrously massive, tearing his clothes apart and leaving him completely naked.
But above all... his skin begins to shift toward a dark green hue. And not only that — thick, sharp black spikes sprout from his elbows and back, and long, curved horns of the sa color erge from his forehead.
What the fuck... WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?! This is a joke, right?! RIGHT?!
«What’s wrong, Jace? You look scared,» John taunts, snickering. «What you’re looking at is Hank’s true form — an ogre. Oh, a word of advice: those muscles aren’t just for show, so if I were you, I’d try not to get hit.»
Thanks for the tip, asshole. Good thing you warned — I was just about to let myself get punched for fun!
Anyway, let’s try to look on the bright side — there’s no way sothing that massive can move quickly...
But I don’t even have ti to finish the thought before Hank is already on top of !
Shit... that damned ogre covered the more than twenty ters between us with a single fucking leap!
How is it possible that a lump of muscle like that can move so fast?! It makes no sense!
Hank raises both fists overhead, ready to smash , but I avoid the blow with a lightning-fast lateral dash, slipping away at the last instant.
His strike carries through by sheer inertia, and when his fists slam into the ground... fuck, it’s like a teor impact!
A huge crater opens beneath the ogre’s feet, and the shockwave from the impact almost knocks off balance, but sohow I manage to stay on my feet.
A choking cloud of dust and debris instantly fills the air, wrapping the whole area in a thick brown curtain.
Perfect — this plays right into my hands.
Given the difference in size between us, it’s child’s play for to pick out his enormous silhouette through the dusty haze, and I doubt it’ll be nearly as easy for him to spot . I’ll take advantage of his obstructed vision to catch him by surprise!
I extend my arm toward him and... «Blood Manipulation: Spike Bullet!»
A large spike about ten centiters long — almost twice the size of what I could generate just a few days ago — bursts from my palm, streaking straight toward the ogre’s silhouette.
A low yelp bursts from the creature’s mouth — I hit him, that’s for sure, even if I doubt I seriously hurt him, since the sound he made seed more annoyed than truly pained. Still, it’s a good start!
John warned Hank not to kill ... but he didn’t say anything like that to !
That bastard was expecting to get crushed instantly, huh? Fine — then I’ll repay his underestimation by giving him the spectacle of his loyal lackey being cleaved in half!
I bend my knees and launch upward — a leap of nearly ten ters, more than enough to carry above the smoke, which grows thinner by the second.
I see him — the ogre is right beneath !
I grip the axe with both hands and... my skin begins to redden more and more, my musculature swelling visibly, though not even remotely to the ogre’s level. My eyeballs turn completely bloodshot, and blood starts pouring first from my nose, ears, and mouth, then from my own skin, which begins to tear along my limbs under the pressure of my rapidly growing muscles.
Regeneration seals those wounds in an instant, but for every one that closes, another opens elsewhere. The pain is unbearable, but it’s the price to pay to invoke the technique of elite vampire warriors — Blood Rage!
I let myself drop onto Hank, the axe clenched in my hands, ready to split his head in two like a waterlon with all the strength I have.
SLASH!
The blade bites into Hank’s dark green skin right at the neck, and a jet of nauseating greenish blood spurts from the wound, splashing over .
Yet I don’t even have ti to celebrate the successful strike before shock and terror hit as I realize what just happened.
The axe blade pierced his flesh... by a handful of milliters — maybe even less!
And I had poured every single scrap of strength I had into that blow.
How the fuck is it possible that I didn’t do anything to him?! I didn’t even make him flinch in pain! Not even a miserable "ow"!
And things only get worse.
Before I can pull the axe free from his neck, the ogre’s enormous hand clamps around my ankle.
Again — «Blood Manipulation: Spike Bullet!»
The spike, this ti much smaller than the previous one due to the pitiful amount of Sanguis energy I have left in my body, hits him square in the face, but all I manage to inflict is a shallow scratch on his cheek, while his grip doesn’t loosen for even a second.
In fact, he tightens it even more, and a searing pain explodes instantly as I feel my ankle shatter under that iron grip.
The agony is so intense my vision blurs.
Damn it... I hit him twice with Spike Bullet, one of them straight in the face, and I drove the axe into his neck using the strength boost from Blood Rage, and yet... just a couple of scratches — that’s all I managed to do, giving it everything I had.
What the fuck is this damned ogre made of?
Now Hank grabs by both ankles and starts spinning on himself, like a hamr thrower... and I’m the hamr!
BAM!
In an instant, I’m hurled with terrifying force against a rocky wall. Blood explodes from my mouth as my spine snaps on impact.
Shit... I can’t move a single finger anymore. In fact, I can’t even feel pain anymore, which is definitely a bad sign. My body is completely numb, my vision growing darker and darker, my strength fading.
I lose consciousness.
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