Nox cracked a devilish smirk across his face. Soren noticed, still weak on the ground, staring at him.
"Huhhh? Does your situation feel funny, boy?" Shuri asked, hand on her waist.
Nox chuckled darkly. "Hahaha, I suppose you came here to seek revenge for your creepy commander. Speaking of Rios, how is he? Still alive?" He tilted his head, eyes taunting. "Or maybe rotting in the dirt?"
The words cut like daggers. Gelly's eyes widened, triggered.
Her sharp pole retracted with a SNAP, leaving Soren to collapse flat on the ground. "I'll deal with you later," she hissed, turning toward Nox.
"Good," Nox thought. "Now it's all eyes on me, but how am I going to fight them both?" His gaze darted between them. That pole, from what he's just seen, it was fast and unpredictable. And Shuri, she's strong, and can turn invisible. Was it really possible to beat them both?
He raised his short blade, grin sharpening. "I thought you were here for revenge, not just to stare me down." He dropped into stance.
FWIP! Gelly's pole launched like a bullet. Nox ducked, eyes locked on Shuri. He flashed forward, blade flashing toward Gelly.
But her hand flicked, the pole vanished in mid-air.
"Tch." Nox read her motion, traced the angle, but his gaze on shuri escaped for a moment as he leapt up. He thought he'd dodged.
CRACK! A punch slammed into his chest mid air, blasting him backward. WHAM! He skidded across the dirt.
Shuri landed smoothly, chest heaving. "You didn't forget about me now, did you?"
Nox gritted his teeth. "She's fast too…" His eyes narrowed. Shuri's making the pole invisible. While Gelly baits, Shuri strikes. It was perfect teamwork, but predictable.
Gelly struck again, pole extending with a WHOOSH. Nox twisted right, just barely dodging. Another invisible strike followed, he shifted again, threading between the two attacks.
"Now that I'm between her two poles, she can only attack my center." A kick whistled through the air. "Got you," Nox muttered. Then THWACK! A foot smashed into his face. He staggered back, over exaggerating the hit, feigning weakness.
"Let them think they're in control," he thought, blood dripping from his lip. If I can predict the timing, I can counter. Shuri loses invisibility every time she attacks.
The poles snapped back with a CRACK.
"Hmph. I heard Soren struck the commander, but you delivered the final blow," Gelly sneered. "I thought you'd be stronger. I can't believe Rios lost to the likes of you. Or…" she tilted her head, "…did you use a dirty trick?"
"Honestly, I was worried," Shuri added coldly. "But it seems that you weren't worth the headache."
It seems they don't fight other iora weilders often. Nox spat blood on the ground. Ptoo! "If I'm so weak, why don't you fight me head-on? Man to ma—err, uhm… face to face." He coughed, fumbling.
"Oh-ho, how vulgar, to call a lady such as myself a man," Shuri teased, grabbing her chest dramatically.
Nox flushed scarlet and turned away. "Tch, don't flatter yourself."
Gelly's eye twitched, but she decided to focus on the task at hand. "It doesn't matter. As long as we defeat you!" she screamed.
Her poles shot forward with a SHOOM.
Nox's eyes locked, one coming from his shoulder, the other low at his legs. "Got it!" He vaulted upward, five feet high, chest wide open, baiting.
WHISH! Shuri appeared, leg whipping toward his chest.
"Now!" Nox focused all his iora on speed. CRACK! He caught her slender leg mid-kick, twisting in the air, and hurled her down with brutal force.
"Shit!" Shuri shouted. BOOM! She cratered into the earth, dust exploding around her.
Nox winced, clutching his chest, Shuri's kick connected,but now was not the time to feel pain, Gelly was wide open. He blurred forward, WHOOSH, a fist cocked back.
But his heart faltered
"She's a killer. Part of Ten Thousand. That means she qualifies to get pummeled too," he thought. But at the last second. His fist pulled back.
THUD! His strike connected with something else, something pale and solid standing before Gelly. The force shoved it back, feet digging into the ground.
Nox froze. Gelly was kneeling, eyes wide with shock. Shuri crawled out of her crater, hair disheveled but grinning.
The air grew heavy.
Before them, something began to materialize. A pale, seven-foot creature, limbs unnaturally long, skin as pale death,head twitching, eyeless.
Nox's breath hitched. His heart pounded. The Dreknar.
His mind flashed back to the day they entered the castle,by morning when he woke, it was gone. Now here it was, right in front of him.
The Dreknar screeched, claws gripping its head. "SKREEEEEEE!"
The sound wasn't random this time. It was focused, weaponized. A sonic wave ripped through the air, WHOOOOM, slamming into Nox's chest.
"GUHHHH!" He was launched backward, crashing through trees. CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! Branches splintered, the world spinning in his ears.
Shuri blurred in. BAM! A fist smashed into his ribs, sending him flying again, before he could even crash from the first hit.
The screech shook the battlefield, and finally Soren stirred. His eyes opened, body trembling, bloodied.
He clenched his fists, weak but defiant. "Nox…"
The Dreknar's scream rattled the battlefield. Soren pushed himself upright, trembling, fists curling despite the blood dripping from his arms.
Both his hands barely worked, but still, he clenched them.
Ahead, Gelly's pole glinted, aimed for where Nox would crash.
"Raaaahhh!" Soren roared, iora flaring. His gravitational punch slammed forward. BOOM! The shockwave sent Gelly flying, smashing her into a tree with a CRACK. Bark split, leaves rained down.
She staggered up, spitting blood.
"Ten Thousand was supposed to protect the people!" Soren charged, fists glowing. WHAM! Another strike launched Gelly across the field. "Instead, you sided with the devil!"
He slammed a third punch. BAM! Driving her into the dirt, blood spraying. His voice cracked, fury boiling over. "Do you know how many died because of you?!"
He staggered forward, shoulders bleeding, breath ragged. "You were there when my mother was handed over to that red haired bastard, and you did nothing, even after she saved your life!" His fists trembled, his words spilling like venom.
"And now you cry revenge for Rios?!" He struck again. BOOM! The ground shook, Gelly coughed blood. "What about the guards who died? The people you grew up with? What about Portos?! What about my mother?!" His teeth ground. "Who serves revenge for them?!"
His chest heaved, fury making his fists shake. "Fine…" He raised his arm, veins bulging. "…I'll serve it myself."
THUD! Gelly hit the dirt again, bloodied, broken, barely moving.
Soren stood over her, panting, rage burning hotter. His arm lifted for the finishing blow.
CRACK! A fist slammed into his jaw, snapping his head sideways. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he staggered back.
Shuri stood there, fist trembling, her eyes blazing.
"What about us?!" she screamed, voice cracking with emotion. "Who protects us from your father?!" Another punch. WHAM! It slammed into his gut, folding him. "Who protects the rest of Blitz's citizens from his wrath?!"
Soren spat blood, stumbled, then straightened, defiant. "I don't care. I'll kill every last member of Ten Thousand for betraying the kingdom!"
Shuri brushed her hair back, face set like stone. "Then you'll have to start with me."
"Fine!" Soren roared, fist igniting with iora.
The two glared, trembling with rage, the weight of their worlds crashing together.
Meanwhile…
Nox was being torn apart by the Dreknar. WHAM! A claw slammed him down. BOOM! A fist buried into his side, ribs screaming. SMASH! His body bounced across the earth.
He barely dodged the next swipe, weaving through its strikes like a spirit. SWOOSH! SWOOSH! Left, right, duck, roll. His blade flashed, grazing pale flesh.
The Dreknar howled. SKREEEEEEE! The sound shook the trees.
Soren's head snapped toward the sound. "Nox!"
He faltered, torn between his grudge and his comrade. Gritting his teeth, he turned away from Shuri and charged.
SHUNK! A pole pierced through his thigh. Soren collapsed, face contorting in agony.
"Khh!" He hit the dirt, clutching his leg.
"Kill the other one first," Gelly coughed, pointing at Nox. Her lips curled into a bloody smile. "That one's more dangerous…"
Shuri looked toward the Dreknar's battle. Nox was weaving, surviving, adapting, moving like a blur.
"Damn," she muttered, watching his ghostlike movement. If he landed a counter, even the Dreknar might fall.
Her fists tightened. She dashed toward him, cloak flickering invisible mid stride.
Before Nox could strike back.
Nox finally geared up to strike back when the Dreknar suddenly went invisible.
Shuri's doing? Nox thought, just before WHAM, a leg smashed him from behind. A flurry of fists and kicks rained down, too fast to counter.
He managed to catch Shuri's fist mid-swing and threw his own punch, crack, but the Dreknar slid in between, taking the blow. Each time it was struck, the Dreknar unleashed a bone rattling screech that shook the trees.
So that was the trick. Shuri wasn't just fighting him, she was using the Dreknar, as shield and spear.
Nox was blasted deeper into the forest, tumbling through branches, bark splitting around him. No room to breathe. No room to plan.
In the distance, he saw Gelly crawling across the dirt, her face twisted with blood and rage, dragging herself toward Soren.
"I'm going to fucking kill you…" she muttered, eyes locked on Soren like a starving predator.
Nox's chest tightened. Only one way out. An old trick. His hand closed around the Iora Ring in his pouch. He drew in its power, sprinting toward them.
Gelly was nearly there. Shuri and the Dreknar were closing in behind.
Soren will be caught in the crossfire, Nox realized. But it's the only chance.
He slammed his fist into the earth. BOOOOM! The ground ruptured, trees split apart, rocks tore free.
The explosion carved a crater three times bigger than the one he'd made training with Raizen and Juro. Debris rained everywhere.
Through the chaos, Nox grabbed Soren's limp body, and Gelly too, though he cursed himself for it. Damn it… she would've died. But Nox couldn't let someone die right in front of him, not when he could save them.
He hurled them both toward the safest edge he could see.
Then he turned back. The Dreknar and Shuri were still pressing forward through the falling wreckage.
Nox met the beast head-on. His fist rammed into its jaw. CRUNCH! Shattering its face before it could scream.
BOOM! The monster hit the crater floor. Nox didn't give it a second, he dropped from above, his knee driving into its broken head as black mist stitched it back together.
He remembered what Raizen said about the Dreknars now having hearts, so he went for the chest, nothing. No heart.
"Fine," Nox growled. "I'll just smash everything."
His fists blurred. BANG! BANG! BANG! A drumbeat of destruction, pounding faster than the Dreknar could heal. Shuri froze, unwilling to get close to the storm of blows.
When Nox finally stopped, his fists and chest dripped black blood. The Dreknar still twitched, still trying to mend.
It opened its ruined mouth, preparing to scream again.
Nox's eyes went hollow. He grabbed its throat and ripped the vocal cords out in one violent motion.
The monster convulsed, then fell limp. Its healing stopped. It was dead.
Shuri's heart skipped a beat. Now it's my turn.
Nox rose from the corpse, the crater yawning around him like an arena of death. His gaze fell on her.
Right now, he was worse than Portos. Worse than the King. More terrifying than the Dreknar itself. He was raw menace, walking.
Shuri forced herself to stand, though her knees shook. "I'm going to die. Nothing can save me. At the very least, I should die on my feet."
She clenched her fists as Nox strode toward her.
Their auras clashed, ripping logs and stones into the air, the forest bending under their pressure like a storm at sea.
And then,
THUD. Someone dropped from above.
A man in his twenties. Black hair mixed with white. Dressed in ragged black, like Nox before the battle tore him apart.
He clapped his hands together. "Enough. You've wrecked half the forest already, and now you're too close to the fig tree."
Nox blinked, he hadn't even noticed. The battlefield was gone, only shattered ground and a single fig tree left standing.
Relief spread across his face, that the fight was stopped. For a moment, his fury had drowned out everything else, logic, mercy, even his own sense of self. Shuri's life had hung by a thread, and the terrifying part was how ready he'd been to cut it.
She masked her fear with bravado. "Who the hell are you? And why do you think you can stop my fight?"
Nox's eyes narrowed. On the man's fingers were twenty black rings, two per digit. His left ear bore an earring shaped like yet another ring.
The stranger's tone was almost bored. "Me? I'm Ren."
"Ren?!" Nox exclaimed, shock washing into relief.
The man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's what I said."
Nox cracked a bloodied smile. "Well, HI REN."
Then he collapsed, tired, at Ren's feet.