Chapter 793: Brawler v. "Axeman"

"Alright, you two stay out of sight until we can find an opportunity to get you two back to the Library, okay kiddos?"

"Yes, Big Sister Hurricroak!"

"Excellente."

While Zhen Liu was running interference in the form of swinging an ax like a crazy person, Hurricroak and Screamira had managed to abscond with Jasper and Janice in tow, and hide them somewhere that was, ideally, safe from Olstenna and his freaky purple flames.

In the process of running away, the two kaijin had switched back from their human forms into their more comfortable kaijin forms. After all, the two of them still needed to maintain their secret identities as normal humans...for the time being at least. With their assigned task now finished though, the two kaijin had to figure out their next plan of action.

"The way I see it, we have two options," Hurricroak told Screamira while holding up two of her webbed fingers. "We could stay here, make sure the children are safe and also figure out a way to get the others here faster than the snail-like pace they’re currently moving at."

"Or...," Screamira prompted with the full understanding that waiting around wasn’t Hurricroak’s style in the least bit.

"We go back into the arena and punch the everliving shit out of Olstenna until he stops moving and twitching."

"We’re doing that one?"

"We’re doing that one."

"Alright, but I have a question. Well, two."

"Shoot."

"When we left the manager alone to fight Olstenna, he showed up with a giant bone axe which I think was originally his bone club, right?"

"Yeah and...?"

"Does the manager know how to fight using an ax, at all?"

"I...huh."

While this question of Screamira’s wasn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, the kaijin couldn’t help but ponder on this stray thought for whatever reason.

Incidentally, this caused Hurricroak and Screamira to run back to the main arena floor at a slightly slower pace than intended.

[I mean...clubs and axes are used in similar manners, right?]

[I don’t think so...]

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*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

*FWOOSH!*

*FWOOSH!*

Holding the ax in a double-handed grip at this point, Zhen Liu swung it in a forward manner in an attempt to jam the weapon into Olstenna’s chest. For good measure, he used [Ghost Flame] to enhance the blow.

Unfortunately, Olstenna managed to use one of his fists to knock away the ax blow before it had a chance to land.

Zhen Liu clicked his tongue in disdain, but did his best to make himself seem more confident than how he was actually feeling in the moment.

[I don’t know if I should be more impressed at your ability to block or your ability to actually keep up with me,] Zhen Liu openly taunted.

[Funny. I was just about the say same thing about you, my friend,] Olstenna retorted.

[Ha!]

Despite this banter of words though, both sides were actually rather miserable in the moment. After all, it was frustrating not being able to take someone down in a single blow.

’Damnit! Why is this bastard’s defense so weirdly strong?!,’ both warriors thought as they continued to exchange punches for ax swings.

During the first exchange of blows between Zhen Liu and Olstenna, the former made the startling discovery that the latter’s skin was as tough as a steel plate, while the latter learned that the former was significantly tougher than anticipated.

In the moment Zhen Liu had brought down his "new" ax down on Olstenna’s arm, aiming to at least leave a nasty cut if he couldn’t outright lob it off, he found his ax had suddenly gone askew as the ax blade made contact with Olstenna’s skin.

A horrible scrapping sound occured as Zhen Liu committed to the attack and continued to push the ax against Olstenna’s skin. He was hoping to ride the momentum of his own attack to make sure that Olstenna was unable to perform a follow-up on his failure.

Unfortunately, while committing to this action though, Olstenna had used the opportunity to launch a punch aimed directly at Zhen Liu’s stomach.

The punch landed with no interruption and managed to push Zhen Liu back several feet away from Olstenna.

Luckily for Zhen Liu, his [Regalia] and innate invulnerability managed to absorb most of the damage, but Zhen Liu still received a surprisingly nasty shock to the stomach.

While this wasn’t the first time Zhen Liu had ran into someone or something that was able to cause him bodily harm, he still found it incredibly annoying whenever it occurred.

’What’s the point of being mostly Invulnerable if I have a glaring weakness?!,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself, while conveniently forgetting the sheer amount of times in his past life where he defended the usage of such a trope. The things that could hurt him could also hurt other people though, so he really couldn’t call all the bullshit he had been dealing with lately a Kryptonite Factor.

’This is fucking-wait a minute...did I manage to leave a cut? Fuck yeah!’

Regardless, this exchange of blows confirmed for both Olstenna and Zhen Liu that they were able to cause damage to one another, albeit, in a dampened fashion.

The latter saw that his wild ax attack had managed to leave a small but noticable cut across Olstenna’s skin, that appeared to be bleeding a strange color of what Zhen Liu assumed to be blood. Granted, Zhen Liu never seen anyone have blood that released literal when exposed to the air.

Meanwhile, Olstenna noticed that while his punch didn’t leave any physical marks, he could see that his opponent was acting just a touch slower, which was the telltale sign of someone dealing with internal damage.

Confident with the knowledge that they were able to inflict harm upon one another, Zhen Liu and Olstenna proceeded to throw themselves back into the fray, exchanging ax swings for punches and vice versa.

At some point during this exchange of blows though, both sides started to employ their innate aether fires again in an attempt to gain leverage over the other.

They had both figured that as long as their flames didn’t make contact with one another, they’d be able to use their power to inflict additional damage...ideally.

That said, it wasn’t just these two fighters trying to figure out a possible weakness to exploit.

________________________________________

’Godsdammit, have you guys figured out what kind of flame this guy is using yet or nah? I can only take so many blows to the head before I get a concussion or something.’

*Pow!*

’Like that, ow.’

∆We’re still in the middle of identification, we just need a little more data,∆ Pathos assured Zhen Liu. ∆The only issue is that we have managed to narrow it down to two very different choices.∆

’Different how?’

∆Well...judging now the [Ghost Flame] reacted when it made contact with Olstenna’s purple flame, it’s either the [Netherworld Purple Phoenix Flame] or the [Violet Berserker Spring Flame]. Both provide their owner with significant regenerative abilities, but if it’s the former then the motherfucker will be able to bring himself back from the dead if you end up killing him.∆

’What the fuck does the other flame do?!’

∆If it’s the latter, his physical abilities will get stronger and stronger the closer he gets to death, to the point that he’ll be able to punch a hole through you and the city block behind you.∆

’But...but we’re in an arena!’

∆Exactly.∆

’Motherfucker.’

=Milord,= Logos interjected, =See if you can get him to blast another fireball at your head.=

’What the fuck? Why?!’

’Remember how you ended up earning that [Ghost Flame] in the first place?’

’Yeah, why -oh. Oh! Wait...are you sure me trying to absorb/copy whatever flame this guy is using won’t have an adverse reaction on me? Because I saw that shit burn through Jasper and Janice’s [Chaos] constructs.’

=That’s because they’re only Acolytes. You’re a Grandmaster, you have a much higher pain tolerance.=

’Okay, that makes-wait a minute, those kids are only Acolytes and they’re already hitting that hard? What the fuck?!’

∆Turns out we have a knack for raising rug rats, now focus on the fight please!∆

=And don’t swallow your tongue in the process.=

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[Alright, fuck it!]

[Huh?]

"HA!"

In an attempt to change the rhythm of the fight, Zhen Liu switched his ax grip to a one handed position before empowering it with [Ghost Flame] and a touch of [Chaos].

This fusion of energies caused the initially bone white axe to take on a more emerald hue, not that Zhen Liu noticed.

He was too busy trying to figure out the timing for the dumbest possible thing he’s done to date.

’I sincerely need to find a way to absorb these aether flames without having to literally swallow them...’

________________________________________

Meanwhile...

"That warrior in black that just showed up...why does he feel...incredibly familiar?"

"Not sure either..."

"Wait... there’s no way that’s...no..."