With Blackbear as the tank, Hugh constantly messed up their opponent, a Tier 2 Tyro's, steps by sinking or raising the earth for him to take missteps, tumbling and falling to meet Blackbear's fist.
The short lived battle ended at the moment Serpent showed up, slicing his throat with a swift cut of his fingers.
Cleaning his fingers with a maroon handkerchief, Serpent said coldly. "Percy told me that Lady Scorpio and Petal may need help. Ignore Blade and Tristan, they're handing the situation well."
With that said, he walked away, leaving a slender shadow to fade away.
He heard Hugh's and Blackbear's rapid footsteps, rushing at the direction of the rest of their teammates through Percy's specific information.
Alone and in silence, Serpent took out an old phone from his pocket.
Rubbing the fresh tiles and keys, Serpent pressed a few numbers, ready to dial a number.
He switched off his communication device, and pressed the phone against his ear.
"It's me, Serpent. May I speak to the queen?"
"Sorry. She's busy."
A creepy voice travelled from the other end of the phone. Just from the voice, you can imagine the person on the other side being an alien like being.
Serpent frowned coldly. "She gave me this device before I can make the most important decisions. I'm saying this very straightforwardly, I don't like you at all. You've been neglecting my words and preventing me from directly speaking to her for years now. Like I said, pass the device to her."
"No need. Before she went on her own mission, she informed that communication will go through me. And since I'm in charge, I'm telling you responsibly." He paused to chuckle. But with the dry, creepy voice of his, it sounded more like a evil cackle. "Your daughter is growing more beautifully as days go by. Your wife is aging well too, too bad, living sadly without her husband."
Serpent bit his lip so hard upon hearing news about his wife and daughter. He didn't even notice the metallic taste of blood dripping into his mouth.
"I still don't understand. Why?" Emotions clogged his mind.
"Because." The voice paused for a second before cackling longingly. "Just follow orders and they will be released in time."
The phone hung up abruptly, leaving Serpent muzzled.
Do I really have to?
He stared at his hands, where the blood stains of the enemy he slain remained.
Do I really have to kill Atlas?
———————————
The cold chains pressed against Borus's heated body where blood is pumping up, binding one of his arms and dividing his attacks on Kraig into half.
Still in the air, Atlas contacted Nam. [How do you activate the Aura thing again? I forget how.]
{Spiritual Energy I think?}
[Oh yeah! Thanks old man!]
Atlas unleashed his third eye mid air, attempting to lock Borus's Aura and win the battle.
But other than blankness, nothing is spilling out his vast brain capacity.
"Ah crap." Atlas flew straight towards Borus as Borus jerked his arm forcefully, closing his distance in Atlas with his claws positioned at his chest.
Atlas fired a quick beam of Aura, propelling him to a desired direction to rotate himself for a better landing.
Kraig took this chance when Borus decided to attend to Atlas, dealing a massive blow to change the tide.
"Rain dance." Atlas murmured a technique that sounded like a Pokémon move.
It's one of the several moves his mentor taught him a long time ago since Atlas chose needles as his main weapon.
Hundreds of needles floated out from one of Atlas's pouch, hovering over Atlas through the power of Aura manipulation.
"Kraig, move aside. This causes quite some area damage."
As Kraig jumped aside without hesitation, so did Borus. However, this just gave Atlas easier job.
Not only is he bleeding from the gushing wound across his chest, but now also a more vulnerable target.
At the same time, this is also a perfect scenario for Borus. Even though he is hurt pretty badly, the gap in strength between a normal Tier 3 Axonn and a Tier 6 Elite is uncountable.
Luckily, Atlas isn't any ordinary Axonn.
Atlas bolted towards Borus, the hundreds of floating needles coating him dense enough to visualize a running human with a porcupine head.
[Such precise control of Aura!] Borus thought, shocked while holding his stance.
Still few meters away from Borus, Atlas swiped his hand, bringing a large portion of needles raining down on him.
Shouting out "Sinister Dragon Claws Vol 2" for the millionth time, Borus mustered the Aura he possessed, forging it into that set of deadly black claws that constantly emits an uncomfortable stench.
Borus's eyes darted everywhere, his pupils reflecting the nearly hundred of needles.
Just as Borus meticulously located the exact locations of where the most lethal needles are going, the annoying monster child kidnapper's voice entered his ear.
"Sike!"
The rain of needles paused at a clean full stop, retracting back to Atlas and continuing to orbit around him as the rest flanked from both sides, cutting off space to back out.
[He faked me!] Borus gritted his teeth, calculating the minimum amount of damage he can take.
Atlas watched as Borus stormed at his highest pace right to him, ignoring the tiny slashes caused by the lucky needles that got to him.
"Punches number 3: 𝓓𝓞𝓞𝓜 𝓕𝓘𝓢𝓣"
Murmuring under his breath, Atlas used the technique that almost drained him completely back in the Coiling Dragon Arena.
But after the cleansing in the Aura Accruing Pond, he is certain that his body can better stimulate the potential of that powerful move.
Unlike previously, the mounting increase in Aura capacity and strength has clearly upped the destructive force of "𝓓𝓞𝓞𝓜 𝓕𝓘𝓢𝓣".
Bam!
The milk white skull formed mid air like last time as the punch gradually completed, but this time, more realistic and terrorizing.
Both terrifying force made contact, creating a deafening screech like two pieces of metal scrapping one another.
Numbness rippled across Atlas's arm as it loss some strength, allowing Borus to obtain additional suppression over Atlas.
His other hand wasn't left empty, ramming his claws towards Atlas's wound that reopened during the fight.
After a few seconds though, Atlas didn't feel any pain.
In fact, a gorgeous parazonium with the frenzy mixture of black and purple appeared, blocking the claw from moving any further.
Meanwhile, the Tier 5 Axonn who was hit with corruption is unconscious on the ground, the corrosive effect ceasing permanently.
Zhou Yu is on the ground as well, his thick makeup smeared by sweat and his powdered face cosmetics being fanned away by Iris's sister, Ilita, while Zhou Yu's iron fan laid tattered with thin parazonium wounds poked all over the surface.
Kraig observed as the rest of Atlas's team swept off the rest of Borus's men, his proud heart shattered with major disbelief, respect and admiration.
He was too, searching for an open space or opportunity to stab Borus or help Atlas.
The skillfulness and organization of their close ranged battle made it also impossible to interfere without hurting both sides or even inflicting backfire on himself.
Despite all the difficulties, Atlas's friend, Nova, who has just entered the spectator field for a few short seconds, managed to successfully intercept a lethal attack from a Tier 6 Elite Axonn at maximum efficiency and reaction speed.
These two are incredible!
Kraig reminisced the first time he met Atlas, which is a week ago.
This 17 year old boy was taken out with one relaxed punch of his, and magically became capable of maintaining his stand without losing against a grizzled Tier 6 Elite Axonn a mere week later!
Kraig was speechless.
[He's definitely better than that fake ass 'gentleman' genius of the Qin Family.]
Kraig turned around, noticing Ilita's typical blank expression adding a cherry red shade after a tough battle.
[How great would it be if she always smiled Ike before...]
He continued to judge Hugh, who to him also improved a lot, drawing to a conclusion that he might have an 35% chance of winning Iris's family's heart if he maintains this progress.
He had a bigger reaction to young Tristan, who is spotted in some blood from his enemy.
"The son of the seventh in-line to the throne of the Qin Family... his father is a pretty cool guy I hear." Kraig whispered to himself, soon placing his attention back on the intense battle between Atlas, Nova and the leader of the Sinister Scales.