The two approaching opponents exchanged a glance with one another before splitting up, the bladed armament wielder sprinting off to join the other group. Now that it was just one on one, the remaining gang member cracked his knuckles and neck, slowing down his approach. Gritting her teeth half in resolve, half in pain, she readied herself once again. This guy was much larger than anybody she's fought previously, and much more intimidating. He had an unknown intrinsic and possibly more tricks up his sleeve, and she would have to last whilst Cipher dealt with an extra body now. Watching the other person leave, her body noticeably deflated in position, this only meant her partner would be even more occupied for a longer time.
"Eyes over here, you're with me, Princess."
He's annoying.
Despite herself not having a good ranged option with the knife taking up her only hand slot, she began to backpedal just like how her companion did earlier. Keeping the distance between the two seemed to be ideal, even if there was no way for her to hit him, she really didn't want to find out what one of those punches could do. The only problem with this kiting strategy is that he was significantly faster than her, closing the gap would've been easy for him. For some undiscernable reason, he continued at his slightly faster than walking gait, just fast enough to keep the distance between the two consistent for the time being.
"Aww, you're running? That's rude. Come on, fight me! Like you did my other two guys."
This is definitely the captain.
The most recent comment served as the only warning for her as the unarmed fighter broke into a dead sprint, his boots thundering against the tile floor in a fit of pure aggression. While she was keeping a decent enough pace against the moderate jog, this burst of speed was unable to be matched at her current level. Barely able to bring up her single arm in time, with the knife back in reverse grip, she was forced to eat this first blow. The dull side of the knife pressed into her forearm as the burly man's fist connected with the sharp edge. The blade sliced into his knuckles at the same time the wisps of orange energy coalesced at the impact. Causing the top of his fist to glow a bright orange, a small hiss was all the two could hear in the moment. An unusual, monotone command rang above everything, despite the spoken word itself being quiet.
Is that a healing Intrinsic?
"Explode."
The amber coloring expanded more and more until flooding her corneas with the radiant color signature, ultimately resulting in an audible crack on par with Cipher's heavy hitter of a firearm. The top of his fist exploded violently, shaking her unstable defense off kilter and blasting her away with the shockwave. The blade in her hand rattled under the immense pressure, but somehow maintained its form. More importantly, Kanashima managed to keep the weapon contained in her hand, thankful for the grippy leather gloves coating her hands.
Sliding back on her feet, she managed to come to a stop thanks to friction several meters away from the starting point, frazzled, but overall okay. Her insides were shaken and feeling a little upset at the amount of force the body just had to absorb, but she was still able to regain her balance. The worst part was how bad it felt in the open wound in her foot, having to put immense amounts of weight on it made it sting just that much more.
"Surprised, princess? Just come with me, it'll be easier that way."
Even with the benefit of clarity, retorting and trash talk was still a weak point of hers. No matter how much she wanted to retaliate verbally, she made a deliberate decision to ignore the feelings and focus on the physical aspect of the fight at hand. Perhaps afterward she could seek out some assistance from Cipher, or maybe even another one of the cafe Wild Eyes' members. She had a feeling Haze had a fairly deep pocket when it came to verbal exchanges. Nothing made an opponent more uncomfortable than a well timed sex joke, if her friendly conversation in the break room clued her in on anything.
Huh, to ask them would mean I joined up with them, right? I already said I wasn't.
The gap between them barely gave her enough time to dodge the next strike, dropping her right shoulder just in time for the sliced up knuckles to brush her earlobe and punch through black and purple strands of hair. Unfortunately, the two skin parts that made contact with each other began to glow that signature orange color again, and soon all she could hear was ringing deep in her ears, almost touching her brain.
"Explode."
A small scale explosion rang out from her right ear and tossed her head over to the left, sending her body hopping a couple meters to the side with it. The loud noise was completely disorienting, and she couldn't even depend on her ears for stabilization. Spending the better part of a few seconds shaking her head, she brought up her violet eyes just in time to see the quick frontal approach from the explosive Intrinsic perk once again.
Dropping low to the ground, she avoided a very telegraphed left hook and raised the Loving Lullaby once again, brimming with her own purple energy. As the bruiser made a pass over her head, she dragged the vibrating steel across the stomach area, slicing through the sturdy armored vest and digging into the pieces of clothing under it, somehow not going deep enough to draw any actual blood. Much to the dismay of Kanashima, her slash didn't seem to slow down his onslaught in the slightest.
"You managed to hit me! Good job, princess!"
Even though his face was still covered up by the charcoal neck gaiter, she could practically hear the smile spreading across his face. The absolute, unbridled joy in his eyes was unmistakable, the Nihility leader was having fun tossing her around and making her dance. Taking half a step backwards, he brought up his right foot to the point where her violet eyes were on the same level as his heel. The flicker of light that matched the color of the glee in his eyes shimmered through her vision once more, serving as the prelude to the world of pain his foot was about to give her forehead. The last thing she heard over the ringing of her ears was a cackle of laughter, no doubt from the explosive juggernaut.
Oh this is going to hurt.
Sparking off from the contact, more orange energy expelled from his arms and flooded to the affected area. Once the big ball of electrons formed into a sphere the size of a golf ball, the warmed colored flakes wrapped around it tightly, even overlapping in some areas. Now that they were even together, their glow grew brighter and smaller, almost becoming too much to look at without permanently damaging either of their eyes. Hearing the cold, monotone word over the incessant ringing once again, all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut and prepare for the worst. Hoping for the best wouldn't change much, not with her subpar, ALFA influenced luck.
"Explode."
The resulting fiery colors and concussive blast formed into a tight cone, sending her rather light body skipping across the tile floor. The entire situation was completely disorienting, down to the shaking sensations throwing her spine into a corkscrew. Her almost empty stomach churned at each impact, threatening to release the rest of its contents all over the marked up floors.
Once she had slowed down enough, placing her hand flat against the ground forced her to come to an early stop around forty meters away. A warm red liquid dripped off her forehead and streamed down her cheek, a few droplets flaking onto the golden floors. With squinted eyes from the amount of pain, she could barely make out the explosive fist fighter charging her once again. His laugh was truly awful, each beat taunting her, making fun of her more and more. If it wasn't for her Inverse Pressure property, the amount of overwhelming dread would definitely be in control of her actions. Oddly enough, she still knew the emotions were there through the veil of the minor perk.
Alright, up, up, up.
Even sitting felt awful, her spine screaming in bruised suffering. She had to get on her feet immediately to answer the fast approaching threat to her own freedom. Gritting her teeth, she pushed past the mental block of pain and forced herself to stand up. Fortunately, she managed to hold onto the Loving Lullaby through the blasts. With the point sitting at eye level, she watched each and every move carefully of the speeding bullet in the air that was her opponent.
The seasoned brawler readied his punch once he was about eight meters out from her position. Luckily, this one was also completely telegraphed, his fist so far behind his back that there was only one clear move to do from there. All Kanashima had to do at this moment was find the perfect way to dodge it. With the processing speed of a completely inhibited brain, the simple exercise was easy. The steps she needed to take were so clear in her mind, which motions allowed her to dodge the flight path and avoid the incident with her ear. Which motions allowed for a quick counter attack. Even considering the time loss the pain in her right foot would cause during the movements, this was looking to be her only chance.
I'm already thinking like quite the fighter… Is that what Cipher meant by no hesitation?
Stepping backwards and shuffling to her left, she was able to fully dodge the haymaker she was promised. There was no time for her to enjoy the correct prediction, the large saxe knife already over her head and ready to slam down. She had to end this now, any longer and she was liking her chances less and less. Widening her stance a tiny bit, she brought down the blade hard, aiming for the back of the neck. Her victory was sweet, perfect, she almost couldn't believe it.
A loud clap in front of her brought her brain out of the early celebration, her assailant looking a lot less dead than she would have wished. The crazy Nihility captain actually managed to catch her blade out of the air in between both of his palms, using the hold of friction to disrupt all movement. His same languid laugh filled her ears once more, announcing the hidden grin on his face. Before she could start forcing her own violet electrons through the blade, it already was taking on a vermillion hue. The glowing grew immensely bright, encompassing the entire blade.
"Well that was a fun move, but I'm sorry to end our fun here, Princess. Explode."
Her instincts let go of the armament handle before she could register what exactly was happening to her weapon. Culminating at its brightest level, the ensuing explosion rocked the battlefield once again with its sheer power. With the saxe knife absorbing most of the force, it spun out of the friction grasp and embedded itself deep within the floor a couple hundred meters away.
Dusting his bare hands off, he rolled his shoulders after the grand display of power. As far as he was concerned, he had already won. Kanashima was not that good of a fighter, she was inexperienced, needed refinement. The only thing she could possibly attribute to her combat skills was being crafty. Now that the man was giving her this grace period, she raised her weaponless right arm once more, fingers pointed out at him. The same purple electric signatures flooded her nervous system once again, pooling into her five digits.
Full charge should be able to do it. Right at the head. This is necessary, Kanashima.