From inside the massive clouds of dust and fumes, Li Qiu and Enbi Arin heard a bellow of laughter.
"Hahaha…..is that the best you could bite me?" Said David as he slowly walked out from the dust cloud and patted his clothes to remove the accumulated dust over it.
"H-H-he's unscathed. Impossible" Shrieked Enbi Arin.
"I don't understand the reason for your aggression towards me. Tell me why David" Li Qiu coldly questioned in vigilance.
"Hehehe….you don't understand the reason?.....hahaha…..thats too funny" Laughed David.
"I don't think he's sane" Uttered Enbi Arin.
"Shut up kid!" David shouted towards Enbi Arin as she faced his full brunt aura which made her knees tremble.
Li Qiu snorted "I'm running out of my patience"
"Heh, don't act all high and mighty. I could crush you like an ant anytime I wish" Taunted David.
"I'll see you try" Retorted Li Qiu.
"Before I kill you, let me at least tell you the reason for your death. Hehe" David proclaimed.
"….." Li Qiu just glared in silence.
"It's because you caused Erika's death" David said in an almost solemn tone while radiating with such an intense aura full of killing intent that made the air in his immediate vicinity tremble.
"I don't know anyone by the name of Erika" Li Qiu calmly retorted.
"LIES" David hollered.
"I'm tired of putting up with your crap every day and acting buddy-buddy with the very person who killed my sister. At that time, I desperately awaited for the police investigation to find conclusive evidence against you but those bastards just closed the case with a statement of 'Suicide Attempt'"
"I think you're mistaken about something. I never knew your sister and I have never killed anyone" Retorted Li Qiu.
"Heh, the system investigated through all the channels and records available in our intelligence network and could find conclusive evidence pointing towards you" Sneered David.
"System…" Enbi Arin muttered in shock.
"Those parasites just made up that convenient excuse to control you" Snorted Li Qiu with disdain.
"Don't you dare look at me with those eyes, you goddamn mud worm" Hollered David with rage as he charged towards Li Qiu while oozing out copious amounts of killing intent.
"He's coming" Alerted Enbi Arin as she raised the stats of her reaction, might and agility attributes.
"Come" Li Qiu bellowed as he materialized a blue one-metre long sword and a red one-metre long sword on his hands.
The blue long sword was made from his Spirit Flames while his red long sword was composed of his thermal flames.
David raised his fists to deliver a straight right to Li Qiu as he neared him.
At the next moment, Enbi Arin disappeared from her position by making use of her high agility and reappeared 2 metres above the ground just behind David.
"Heup" Enbi Arin reallocated most of her stats to might and delivered a ruthless kick towards the back of David's head.
"Ugh" David was disoriented for an instant due to the kick to his head when Enbi Arin side-stepped using this opportunity and delivered another kick towards his crotch.
"Aooowww" David howled in pain as he knelt on the ground while his hands clenched his nether region.
"Now" Shouted Enbi Arin as she prepared another butcher beam in her hands.
On her cue, Li Qiu slashed squarely towards David's head with the blue long sword which he called as the Spirit Sword as he used the skill 'Spirit Slash'.
His Spirit Sword shone with a blue radiance as it passed through David's head and emerged on the other side.
But just after his Spirit Sword emerged from the other side of David's head and before Li Qiu could ready another slash with his Thermal Sword, he heard David's voice.
"Radial Wave"
Suddenly Li Qiu felt as if time had stopped for an instant as at the next moment everything ranging from dust and stones to Enbi Arin and Li Qiu were all blasted off radially with David as the centre.
"Huff….Huff….Damn Bitch…." Wheezed David as he grit his teeth in pain and stood with wobbling legs in the epicentre of the 50-metre crater he had just created.
"System…..check health status" David commanded but was next shocked to receive no response from his system.
"Damn….bastard, what have you done" David hollered towards the far away Li Qiu who was coughing up blood as he tried to stand up.
"Swoosh"
"Boom"
"Aaaarrrgh" David howled in pain again as a slab of burning iron severed his right arm and created an explosion of dust and debris as it collided onto the ground surface.
"Bro, create a Chakram"
Li Qiu suddenly heard a voice just at the time of the explosion. Obviously, that iron rod was the handiwork of Prakash who threw it using his innate ability with enough momentum that the rod almost reached its melting point due to the resulting air friction.
Li Qiu turned his head towards the source of the voice to see a bloodied figure soaring towards the sky on a piece of concrete slab as it approached towards his direction.
Li Qiu grit his teeth and coughed a mouthful of blood as he materialized a 5-metre wide Chakram using his Thermal Flames and coated its edges with his Spirit Flames as he hurled it towards the flying Prakash.
The moment Prakash caught the Chakram he rapidly soared to about 100 metres high and removed his footing on the piece of concrete slab as he began to vertically fall towards David's location.
During his free fall, Prakash held the Chakram above his palm as urged his innate ability 'Moving Nature' to function at its maximum potential.
As the Chakram started to spin at an insane RPM, Prakash used his innate ability over his clothes as he too started to rotate trying to build up as much angular momentum as he could over his arms during his descent.
Prakash bit his tongue to avoid fainting during his rotations. And just when he reached 10 metres above David's location, Prakash bellowed as he hurled the Chakram towards David unleashing all the momentum he had built up until now.
"GET CHOPPED!!"
The moment the Chakram left his hands, surpassing his reaction speed, Prakash felt a petite figure wrap its hands over his hips as it instantly brought Prakash to a safe distance about a couple 100 metres away from the point of impact.
"Whiing"
"B-Booom"
At the moment of collision of the Chakram with David, the trio heard a high pitch grating sound as if two sharp metallic plates had rubbed over each other under high speeds and stress.
"So, it was you" Murmured Prakash as he gazed at Enbi Arin who had come to his rescue in a timely manner and fainted due to the exhaustion of his Aria, the excessive loss of blood due to his injuries and due to the final stunt he had successfully pulled.
"Arin! Is he alright" Shouted Li Qiu in worry as he ran over to their location.
But before she could reply to Li Qiu, the trio heard a roar from inside the huge sea of flames.
"I'll kill you....Roooaaar"
"Move Prakash over to the entrance of the ant nest and let Aurella heal him. Now Hurry up. That bastard is still alive" Said Li Qiu as he once again materialized both his Spirit Sword and Thermal Sword.
"Just give me a second" Replied Enbi Arin as she instantly vanished with Prakash and returned a couple of seconds later.
"I explained the situation over to Myra through our mental link. She's on standby at the nest entrance to come to our rescue at any moment of our need" Said Enbi Arin as she raised her vigilance to the maximum.
Li Qiu too tried to locate David's position by tracking the source of the roars amid the sea of flames.
"Roooaar…..hehehe…hahaha….hohoho….I feel like I'm about to die due to laughter" Bellowed David with disdain and mockery in his voice as he slowly walked out of the sea of flames.
"W-What….. the hell is that" Enbi Arin stuttered as fear slowly crept onto her voice and face.
"......" Li Qiu increased his vigilance as he started to reinforce both of his swords with more flames as he felt a bit of helplessness creep into his mental state, slowly start to take root and grow rapidly like sea tides.
"I guess that's the maximum power practitioner stage worms like you could muster" Sneered David.
David was currently a crystallized version of himself but with various cuts and holes on his crystallized body and an obvious lack of his right arm, the result of successive attacks unleashed by the trio of Li Qiu, Prakash, and Enbi Arin
The thing that made both Li Qiu and Enbi feel fear and a sense of hopelessness was the fact that the various holes and inch deep cuts and scars over David's body were rapidly filling up with new crystallized fluids and they also started to slowly reform into his severed right arm.
The process lased for approximately 10 seconds before David's body started to look in a pristine state as if everything that had happened till now was just an illusion.
"Man, even I feel ashamed for tricking you poor insects like that. Hehe, did you seriously believe that you worms with such measely abilities could even injure an Adept stage expert like me….hahaha" Laughed David by clutching his stomach as if he had witnessed his life's most funniest moment.
"Adept Stage!" Li Qiu narrowed his gaze in thought as he taunted back.
"So..." Li Qiu dragged on for a second as he said "Where's your system".
At the next moment, the laughing David abruptly stopped his laughter as his face took on a serious expression as if his previous laughter was all but an act he put.
"Heh, nice try. Do you think you can fool me just with that dumb laugh?" Sneered Li Qiu
"I have to say that I was honestly shocked when you severed my connection with the system not once but twice. I have to acknowledge your ability" Exclaimed David as he clapped his hands.
"But I could again re-establish my connection after a mere 5 seconds. That is all you're capable of and all you'll ever be" Snorted David as he flickered towards Li Qiu.
Enbi Arin instantly unleashed her butcher beams towards the rapidly closing in David but could only manage to create small nicks on David's crystallized body and moreover, Li Qiu's Thermal Sword could lodge only a centimetre deep into David.
"Did I mention that my innate ability 'Crystallization' endowed me with a crystal body that can be easily repaired, regrown and also has high resistance to both physical attacks and energy-related attacks?" Said David, as he once again blasted Enbi Arin away with one of his wide ranged shockwaves.
Li Qiu spoke during his impasse with David as his Spirit Sword was blasted away and his Thermal Sword was caught in between David's index finger and middle finger.
"You may not have noticed it, but that system is a parasite that would eventually gain complete control over you, your memories, your emotions, and finally your very soul. Look, it is already influencing your actions"
"Influencing my actions? Control my body? Heh, it seems that you are aware of them but aren't aware of the entirety of their workings and functions" Sneered David as he punched Li Qiu in his stomach and sent a couple of shockwaves into his body thereby damaging his internal organs.
"Bleh" Li Qiu coughed out a mouthful of blood due to suffering from internal damage as he lost his footing and began to fall down.
David caught the falling Li Qiu by his neck as he slowly muttered before his face.
"Let me enlighten you before your pitiful death"