A gust of wind reached the clearing where Brand and the mysterious figure occupied.
The figure ahead of him seemed to hesitate when he felt the harsh breeze, and then briefly watched as the remains of a large beast had rained down from far away.
He took out the Cerberus Fiend as well? Just who exactly is he? No wonder the Master—
"Anyway," Brand spoke, uncaring where his attention was. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I asked you first."
"Aye, you did…" Brand replied with a tone so intimidating that it made the other figure sweat from under his hood and cloak. He waited nervously at Brand's next words, gulping even at his stillness as he stood there unbothered by the huge gust that just passed by. The wind whistled against his metal skin as he remained, looking as if he were contemplating something dire that could mean life or death.
"Please forgive me," Brand said with a bow.
HE'S FUCKING APOLOGIZING!? The figure writhed to himself at the sight of him.
"In any case…" Brand spoke again as his faceless mask slowly rose. Even the gesture alone shot shivers down the figure's spine.
Here it comes… the figure thought as he shifted a foot backward. I need to prepare a spell… Shit… I'm nearly drained after summoning so many Grade 1 beasts—let alone a fucking horde! But what if he counters it? No, I don't have time to hesitate. I need to act now before he—
"Uh… Please forgive me… Could you repeat your question? It seems I forgot it…"
THIS GUY IS FUCKING MESSING WITH ME! The figure writhed again, his fingers flexing and twitching in Brand's direction.
"Well then, if you won't remind me, I guess I'll have no choice…" Brand uttered. This time he seemed serious.
It felt like everything bowed to his will, and the figure felt his skin crawl. Even the loose of his breath stuttered when Brand's metallic voice found his ears. His presence… What is this? Is this why the Oculus Fiends refused to attack him? Even now, I see their glowing eyes cowering in the trees behind him. Who? His trembling thoughts spilled, Just who the hell is—
Brand got down on his hands and knees and began to bow profusely. "I guess I'll have no choice but to beg for your forgiveness! Please accept my humblest apologies! Please accept my humblest apologies! Please accept my humblest apologies! Please accept my—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The figure finally yelled, agitation pushing him over the mental ledge. "I DON'T KNOW WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE, BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT YOU ARE ONE GODDAMN ANNOYING PIECE OF SHIT!"
The figure crashed out as he gently placed a palm to his face, chuckling to himself as he continued, "I can't believe I was actually scared of you for a second. I mean come on! If it wasn't for the way you speak, I'd have pissed myself… But you… You're a goddamn joke!"
Brand's head remained on the ground, mask still faceless as the man before him lectured.
"I've made up my mind," the man said as he removed his cloak. When his features revealed, he had short red hair, thick sideburns, and rows of golden earrings. There was even a thin golden band that wrapped around his head, resembling a slim crown, and he wore a half-doctor's mask that sported those same colors along its gunmetal sheen. Only his golden eyes revealed, and he almost resembled a monkey. "I'm gonna make you wish you were never born!"
He whipped out a red-and-gold rod that he seemed to be hiding from within his cloak, and slammed it on the ground. A pentagram that resembled a sun etched and glowed a bright blue atop it as he formed a hand sign that intertwined onto the rod, chanting,
"Primal Conjuring Magic: Grade 2 Type: Behemoth Rising!"
Right then, a Behemoth crawled out from the ground through the pentagram as he remained center, letting it lift him like it was his podium.
Large, sharp teeth emerged like an eerie smile as its red eyes burned into view. Its muscled arms pulled it out as its gnarly claws dug deep into the ground. Rough, gray skin, intimidating horns, and a tail that seemed to go on forever, it was truly the higher Grade 2 beast Brand had come to know.
This is the best I can do right now… the monkey man thought. I've used up way too many Grade 1's just for all of them to get utterly fucked by that Captain of theirs… But this? This should be enough for this—this— "IDIOT!" he shouted the word out loud.
Brand's hand twitched.
The monkey man stood atop the Behemoth like he controlled the thing, laughing as he remained on it like some false king.
"One of the highest Grade 2 beasts to ever exist… In my personal opinion, these things should be Grade 1 beasts, but I guess there needed to be room to label its ultimate form… If ever a mage where to come across one of these, you can consider them dead," he explained to Brand, eyes wild and words dipped in condescension. "You can consider yourself dead."
Brand rose from where he had been bowing. His rise was slow and exaggerated as his metal skin clinked with each paced movement. He then brought his arms up, leading his right ahead of him and then drawing it back, flexing his draped hand into a fist and positioning it tightly to the side of his face while the other locked ahead of him. His legs squatted like tree trunks into the ground, and it cracked from the bracing of his stance—his signature.
"I have some bad news," he said.
"What? You ran out of apologies? Oh, let me guess, you're begging for mercy next!? Ha! You should have started with that!" the monkey man mocked.
"Quite the contrary… The bad news is for you," Brand replied as steam exited his joints, and his black metal skin hissed. His Black Wolves jacket fluttered as it revealed his sleek interior underneath; not a single shade of anything else other than midnight black on his metal surface.
It was then that the monkey man felt his body shudder once again. Though he dismissed it, the feeling remained true—worse than how he had felt moments before. The feeling that this masked mechanical man was actually a lot stronger than he portrayed himself to be—the true reason the Oculus Fiends avoided him like an obvious possumrat trap.
"You see… my best friend just so happens to be a Behemoth. And we spar a couple times a week," Brand said lastly.
"I knew I should never trust the feeling I get from you. You are a worthless fool. Your presence is wasted on the likes of you."
Dark clouds rolled in as rain had begun to drizzle. Brand remained in his fighting stance, ready to take on this monkey-looking male standing proud atop the snarling Behemoth.
"My name is Jinxu, one of Riot Gang's Head Officers. Ranked fourth nearest Master Wrath— are you even listening!?" he preached but lost his temper when he witnessed Brand teetering from where he stood—mask blank as if he had lost signal for some unexplained reason.
"I was not! Please forgive me!" he shouted back obliviously. He stopped teetering and focused. "But thank you for letting me know who you are…"
"Were you or were you not listening? Make up your damn mind!"
"Because you have been so kind," Brand went on, uncaring of proper conversation etiquette. "I will endear you with a good fight."
Without a second's notice, Brand had disappeared from where he was standing; the only thing left was the dust that picked up amid the light rain.
There was no sound for a moment, only the slow realization of Jinxu's face contorting into fear at the last second.
Brand had appeared before him atop the Behemoth, a right hook already midway and heading toward the side of his face.
His fist struck and sent the monkey man flying off his high horse about thirty yards away.
He didn't land gracefully, finally finding his footing; he whipped his head back to where his Behemoth was, only to witness it get pummeled into the ground followed by the view of a massive shockwave spreading out toward him.
"What the hell?" Jinxu said as the dust blasted past.
Standing atop the dazed beast, Brand rose slowly—dramatically, leading with his back, arms dangling to his sides, and digital eyes emitting an ominous red from the smoke.
"Behemoths have a weak spot on their back just under the trapezius and rhomboid minor. Their spines are like armor over it, so it's easy to miss. However… if one where to strike this spot underneath the armor, they will experience a state of paralyzation for about three-point-four seconds," he said academically as Jinxu's brow had begun to twitch. "Any pause in time for any beast—or other living being for that matter—can pose lethal especially in critical mome—"
The beast's tail whipped, knocking Brand off as he flew somewhere yards away.
Keeper… My emotions are like a goddamn rollercoaster today… I need to calm myself. I'm an SS rank mage for crying out loud! I need to gain back control and—
Before Jinxu could get out another word, the Behemoth's hard scales had shattered off its body, revealing its naked frame underneath. Then, like the speed of light, Brand was back with a metallic fist already drawn.
It roared down onto the beast, and its limbs flailed outward, bottom of its jaw flopping violently atop the ground.
Jinxu's eyes widened as he witnessed his Behemoth become thoroughly disabled in mere seconds.
"But of course," Brand said, continuing as if he hadn't just been tossed across the field. "I'd be a fool to think this was all it was going to take."
Suddenly, the lifeless body of the Behemoth began to shudder.
It started to transform and morph as if the heavens would not allow the Keeperforsaken thing to die. Light had descended from seemingly out of nowhere onto the carcass of the beast, cracking and contorting its limbs into something more.
It proceeded to transform until it was standing on both hind legs, and let out an intimidating roar. Its massive tail burned, swinging as a blazing claymore formed, whipping behind it—tough, gray skin now white as snow.
"This was always the most tedious part of our sparring," Brand said as he began to take off his Black Wolves jacket, letting it fall from his shoulders while the sprinkles of rain echoed off his black metal skin. "But I'm grateful because…"
He repositioned himself in his signature fighting stance, and with his left fist, he slowly raised his index and long finger. Then, as if his muscles were rearranging themselves from his back, another pair of arms concocted, joining his original pair as he now displayed four at once.
"Smooth seas don't make a great sailor."
He locked in all four of his robotic arms and they flexed, rippling throughout his mechanical body like the heightened form of a complete organism. His long, spiked gray hair waterfalled behind him like the mane of a great lion, and his mask had shifted into a more battle ready form.
"Do you ever stop talking?" Jinxu said, irritation sharpening his words. "Regardless of what you do—this is still a Higher Grade 1 beast! And I am its master! You will lose!"
Jinxu twirled his staff until the end of it touched the ground, and it pulsed. A wave of aura flooded himself and the Great Behemoth like they had received some kind of power-up.
"My magic allows me to not only summon high tier monsters within a designated space, I can also enhance the physical and magical prowess of each beast that comes forth. Though at a great cost of my mana, the result overrides the caveat. This is why I am fourth among the other ten Riot Gang Head Officers. And why I am labeled as an SS rank mage!"
"Hm… seems we both have an overtalking issue…"
"Fuck you."
The roar of the Great Behemoth sounded, signaling the second round of their match, its enhanced aura filling the place. Brand swung his arms sharply, and they locked in different fighting positions as he invited them. "Come!"
The Great Behemoth and Jinxu bolted at a staggering speed.
As they arrived, Jinxu leaped over Brand, and met him with a powerful strike with his staff; the Great Behemoth, in like, threw down a claw at him.
Not only did Jinxu have the ability to enhance his Conjured monster summons, but after they were enhanced, he could also mimic it, matching the type of beast, its magic ability, plus the enhancements made upon it without having to change form. Though the cost to this was a great source of his mana, the returns were in equal favor.
So, technically, Brand was now fighting two Great Behemoths at the same time. His only advantage was that Jinxu could only do this once per day. And in Brand's own way—because he sparred so much with Havoc—he was also fighting two mages…
Brand flexed and blocked both strikes, glittering traces of gold as he had hardened his body to stone.
Jinxu and the Great Behemoth continued to rain down strike after strike unendingly, but Brand blocked them almost too effortlessly; their attacks made little to no damage against his black and gold metal.
What the hell!? I'm hitting him with the power of two Great Behemoth strikes—on an enhanced level! How is he blocking these attacks so effortlessly? Jinxu thought, frustration finding him like an unwanted friend.
"You're probably wondering," Brand said as he continued to deflect and block their attacks. "How I'm able to do such a thing…"
Jinxu clicked his tongue.
"My magic is Haste magic. I can control the speed of both myself, and anyone or anything I make contact with."
Jinxu and the beast kept attacking, waiting for Brand to get to the point.
But he never did. He had said nothing more…
"You didn't explain shit!" Jinxu yelled.
"I'm sorry. Were you expecting a handout?" Brand said as he turned around to meet Jinxu with a counter punch, too quick to react to.
Fuck! I got flustered, and he used it to catch me off guard! He took the strike to the face and flew back, skidding off the ground until he met a tree in the far distance of the clearing.
He grunted and spat as he crashed into it.
From behind, the Great Behemoth swung its burning tail down onto Brand, and he bolted to the side, avoiding it.
The Great Behemoth reacted just as fast, and before its tail landed, it bolted as well, cratering the ground from its dash.
They met for a short second, elsewhere, only inches away and with fists and claws ready. But as they neared an inch more, they both disappeared again, and collided in a different section of this large clearing.
Clash after clash, offense and defense were shared between the two anomalies—their movements were too quick for the average being to comprehend.
Unlike Jinxu who still thought like a human, the Great Behemoth didn't have the luxury to think of such trivial things. It's only goal… was to annihilate Brand at whatever the cost—whatever that meant to its meaningless existence.
When they had caught each other's strikes, the ground cratered beneath them. The Great Behemoth retracted then swung its burning tail again at Brand. He aggressively whipped his arms in the direction it was coming.
Two arms met the flaming tail inches away and it was forced back without making contact. The sheer force of his directive swings had repelled the tail without even touching.
How's that even possible!? Jinxu exclaimed in thought as he picked himself up from across the clearing, watching and waiting for the perfect time to join back in the fight.
The burning tail flew back then shot down into the ground, seeping its heat below. Brand looked down, and the ground began to glow like magma; the Great Behemoth bellowed vehemently all the while, adding unending heat until it erupted.
The ground exploded like a volcanic tremor as he and the beast were engulfed from within.
Jinxu grew a wicked smile across his face as the fierce blasts of wind surged past him, and he cackled. "Now that's more like it! There's no way you could have survived— Huh?"
His eyes widened after he stopped his words. As the eruption continued, he saw a silhouette from within, standing there—tall, proud, and with four arms.
"There's no way in hell!"
Its silhouette was followed by the shadow of the Great Behemoth's; its glowing red eyes pierced from the fire and shadow.
Brand breathed, and like the air had obeyed him, it formed an opening from the fire, using his aura alone to push out the flames. He stood there for a moment as the steam from his joints left his body, clinking and clanging with each shifted part.
The Great Behemoth then flexed its muscles and by the same force of aura, the flames around them dissipated as if it was sent elsewhere except their battlefield. Charred and cindered ground was what remained aside from the two irregularities.
"No, fuck this! I will end you!" Jinxu shouted as he bolted back toward them.
He held his staff like a blade, and it skidded the ground, sparking flame as he mimicked the attribute of his beast. It burned like a raging claymore as he swung a heavy slash down onto Brand.
Brand's arms then began to move in response, his hands forming into two separate commands—two to each side of him—until his fingers linked with one pair above, and the other pair below.
"Two hand signs!?" Jinxu commented, his burning staff still in route.
"And two spells," Brand added as he chanted,
"Haste Magic: Di Shift— Haste Magic: Tempo Brand!"
The two spells activated. And Brand began to glow that secondary gold once again.
"Tempo Brand lets me control all the areas of this field that I had previously made contact with," he said as Jinxu's eyes shuddered from what he was doing. "And Di Shift is my second fastest gear—allowing me to do what I am about to do next in a blink of an eye."
In an instant, pieces of boulder and stone the shape of walls ascended and gathered up in the air all around them.
"And when I say 'everything' I made contact with… I mean everything." As Brand said this, both the Great Behemoth and Jinxu began to float in the air along with all the boulders and pieces of ground. "Whether by strike or mere touch—it is all mine to control."
Even the rain and the smoke of battle had begun to swirl around them, it was as if the air was included in the list of things Brand had made contact with since the beginning of this battle.
Jinxu could hardly grasp what was going on. It was as if his thoughts along with his movement were stuck in a slowed stasis, while Brand could do as he pleased in a higher state. Even the Great Behemoth had barely comprehended that it was now in the air.
Then, like he had appeared everywhere at the same exact time, Brand punched each of the boulders—each of the pieces of ground that looked like walls, including Jinxu and the Great Behemoth toward the same spot. The center.
At top speed and consecutive motion, he hopped from one floating rock to the other, and then the beast, and then Jinxu. Everything to him in this moment had been slowed down almost to a halt. The only trace one could use to pinpoint Brand would have been the glowing gold off his radiant black metal skin. But with his Di Shift, there was no living being capable of following his movements at this time.
In an instant, everything collided simultaneously. The crash was like an implosion in the sky that left only a heaping rock with the heads of the Great Behemoth and Jinxu's limbs sticking out from within it.
Jinxu grunted, eyes turned white from the impact after being immediately rendered useless.
On the ground below the floating planetary rock, Brand appeared, back facing it as two of his arms raised, and the other two positioned themselves in front of him. And two giant, thick slabs of wall emerged from the ground on opposite sides of suspended mass.
"Sorry… I miscounted. It was actually three spells. I hope"—as if crushing something invisible between both pairs of his flexed hands, he forced it together into a clasp—"you will forgive my delinquency…"
All this time… Jinxu thought. He was just prepping the field for this outcome… He spat blood from behind his mask, and it cracked. Just who the hell are these Black Wolves…!?
"Haste Magic: Continental Discord!"
With the command of his incantation, the giant walls—like continents—rushed in like it was moved by the Keeper's hands.
The impact surged the whole area in wind and earth from the sky, blasting away the rain as if it had never hit this area. Shatters of rock debris rained instead—a massive shower of meteors.
Cubed boulders blasted the ground from their fall as Jinxu and his conjured beast fell back to the world. The Great Behemoth faded, having already been felled. And the half-doctor's mask on his face shattered as his blood-filled mouth revealed from behind, matching the hue of his hair.
"I didn't even…" he said as crimson gushed from his mouth. "See… anything…" He landed silently onto the dirt.
Brand didn't say a word until he was at least a few feet away from Jinxu's mangled body. Though conscious, every one of his bones were twisted and contorted in abnormal ways.
Finally, the rain began to shower once again as heavier drops hit Brand's black screen of a face. No eyes shone from it this time as he peered down to Jinxu.
"Who… are you?" he asked the cyborg.
Seconds passed, and Brand said nothing.
But his head whipped slightly to the presence of another, suddenly there with them now…
"Look at you, Jinxu… done in by mere fodder," the mysterious new presence said, having appeared without warning or notice.
Brand hardly reacted as he saw him.
He stood at eight-feet, shrouded in a black tattered cloak. He had a half-doctor's mask on, just like Jinxu once had, and wore an exaggerated plumed hat with large, curved horns protruding out of them…
"Shut up… Gorran," Jinxu barely got out.
It was then that a familiar female joined the face off.
"Ha! I found you, pathetic fake-horned man!"
Brand's screen glitched at the sound of her voice.
From the dead gray, a girl with pink hair and dark gray horns emerged. She hardly even realized Brand was there as she pulled up feet away next to him.
"S-S-Star!" Brand spat.
"Huh? Who said that?"
"I'M RIGHT HERE, YOU DISRESPECTFUL B—"
Her maniacal laughter overshadowed him as three curved lines formed on his screen, resembling a tightened forehead.
Then another female's voice sounded from behind. "Star! I told you to not run off on your own!"
A young blonde girl with pigtails entered the scene. When she saw Brand, she was elated to have run into another Black Wolf.
"Well, we found the vacuum…"
"VACUUM!?" Brand shouted. "IS THAT ALL YOU SEE ME AS!? MERE HOUSE APPLIANCE, ALICE!?"
The large, horned one across them sighed. "Shall I teleport us away? These Wolves will regroup soon. And in your current state, I doubt you could summon another horde for them to deal with," Gorran said to Jinxu.
"I still… have… my trump card."
Jinxu dragged his broken body forward, heavy leaks of blood exiting his body all the while.
"Fool" was all Gorran uttered as he watched Jinxu struggle, then teleported away, never to return.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE, COWARD!" Star shouted.
As Jinxu made it to his desired spot, he stammered miserably, "This is my last… and final spell… may my death… be a steppingstone… for Riot Gang!"
He then agonizingly forced his shattered hands together as squirts of blood spilled out from the open cuts of his arms, blood pouring from his mouth, and chanted,
"Primal Conjuring Magic: Grade 0 Type: Kaiju Supremacy!"
The ground violently ruptured as a fissure dismantled the ground in an X shape with Jinxu at its center, amputating his already dying cadaver.
From the fissure, large claws shot out like pillars from hell, grasping the ground before the three Black Wolves. And a beast the size of three skyscrapers with horns as large as columns emerged.
It snarled, and it felt like the gust of a raging storm.
"H-H-H-Holy shit!" Alice shouted.
"Ho-ho-holy shit!" Star serenaded.
And Brand, if calm were his middle name, took out his comm and began typing a message. It was a message to the rest of the Black Wolves in a chat they were all in, sending a message that read as only a single word. But when he hit send, it bounced, accompanied by a red circled exclamation mark…
His blank face, though lacking in expression, looked as if it shouted something else than what his dead calm portrayed.
He looked at the message for so long, like it would miraculously send if he just remained as he was.
But it never did, reading it over and over to himself in thought. A single word that weighed heavier than a paragraph. A word that the others would most likely never see.
Help.