"Hot hot hot" the possessed screamed out when its torso was reconnected to its lower half. It rolled around on the ground, trying its hardest to put out the fire. Although it couldn't be killed by normal means, it still felt pain. After a few seconds of rolling around, the fire went out. But it wasn't because of its efforts. The fire went out because Mane had broken his connection to it. Since the creepy thing couldn't die, keeping his flames going would only be a waste of his inner energy. Of course the possessed that had the mind of a little boy didn't think so. As far as it was concerned, the fire went out because of its efforts.
It got up quickly and scanned the battlefield. Once it found what it was looking for, its eyes twinkled like a little boy who had been given some sweets and a silly smile plastered his face. He rushed to the part of the battlefield that had what he was looking for.
"A rod?" Mane was curious to see what it was looking for, so he didn't stand in its way. Besides, he was only buying time for Abelard, so it was all good in his books. However he was surprised when the possessed picked up a dirty rod from the ground and proceeded to wipe off the dust with its hand.
Mane found it odd that the possessed was so happy to hold onto the rod. He did notice that one of the earth wielders was a rod user, but possessed didn't have any memories of their past lives. It was odd that this one wanted to fight with a rod.
"What is happening" he asked his masters?
"I do not know. But be on your guard. It may be a mutated possessed. It isn't rare considering that it was born from the combination of two possessed" 6th was the one to reply.
"Okay" Mane acknowledged. He sent his guard up. He wanted to be ready for anything.
"Now I kill" the possessed had a disgusting smile on its face. It looked at Mane with bloodlust. It may be mentally young, but it didn't forget the one who had caused it so much pain when it had only been in the world a few minutes. It span the rod skillfully and dashed towards Mane.
*Bam*
Mane was struck backwards due to the sheer power of the strike. The rod was a powerful weapon. Mane's weapons were high grade artefacts, yet the rod didn't seem to lose out to the swords. Mane found that odd. When the earth wielder who initially used that weapon had tried to attack him before, Mane easily deflected the attack and sent him flying backwards. At the time, Mane didn't have his sword in his hand. However that made little difference as he still blocked the attack with his arm and countered without much difficulty. Yet Mane could feel that it would be impossible to do that now. The rod had somehow gotten stronger. It sounded impossible but everything up until now wasn't logical. The stinging pain he felt from blocking that attack was the confirmation of his assumptions. It would be best for him to avoid the rod if he could instead of meeting it head on.
*Boom*
Mane skillfully sidestepped to avoid the plunging possessed. The rod that was meant to flatten him struck the ground with the full power of a being that was half a step into the Heaven Realm. Several spider-web like cracks were formed on the ground and Mane was thankful he didn't choose to block that.
*Whoosh*
The rod hit the air above Mane as he ducked to avoid the follow up of the Possessed's attack.
"He is skillful with it" Mane remarked as he struggled to cope with the quick strikes of the Possessed.
"You can get that sometimes with Mutated Possessed" 6th instructed. "Sometimes the mutations lead to the mastery of an element. At times it boosts the physical prowess of the Possessed. At times the mutations cause unexplainable occurrences like the birth of a Telekinetic Possessed" 3rd continued.
Mane was surprised at the new information. He finally understood how complex these beings were and that it wouldn't be so easy to find a solution to the skill. He once again avoided anther attack and tried to open the gap between them.
"Kill" the Possessed got excited seeing that its attacks were forcing Mane back. It quickly gave chase, not ready to give up its commanding position.
*Boom*
Mane avoided the attack again, but this time he wasn't so lucky.
*Bam*
The fist of the Possessed embedded itself into his midsection and sent him flying backwards.
"It's getting smarter" Mane remarked as he wiped off the little blood on his lips. The unexpected attack had drawn out a bit of his blood. The reason he said the Possessed had gotten smarter was because of its recent attack. It did attack with the rod, but that was just a ruse. The real attack was the fist it had been sneakily preparing, and Mane fell for it.
The Possessed pulled out the rod that was embedded in the ground. Without wasting any more time, it dashed towards Mane.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
The two traded blows for a while. Mane couldn't avoid the attacks any longer. Doing so will provide an opening for the sneaky beast to get a few hits in. But he was slowly being pushed backwards. First of all, he was weaker than his opponent. Although Takeover had bridged the gap between them, the Possessed was still a bit stronger than Mane. Secondly, since Mane wasn't trying to kill the creature, he wasn't going all out. His inner energy pool wasn't as large as the Possessed's, so he couldn't use all his power without knowing where its core was. Thirdly, although the Possessed felt pain, it wasn't afraid of his flames any longer. Although Mane was fully engulfed in fire, after the Possessed realized that its attacks were effective, it didn't care about the flames. It attacked recklessly, its insanity overshadowing its pain.
"That's enough" Mane mumbled as his aura exploded. The strange situation knocked the overeager Possessed backwards. Mane's hair and eyes became even redder. The dark aura that coated his flames grew even darker and the flames became just as dark.
"This has gone on long enough" Mane seethed.
"Star Flicker" Mane quickly arrived before the surprised Possessed and furiously struck it several times with his sword and blade.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
The Possessed held its rod vertically, dealing with most of the attacks. But it still got cut a few times.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon"
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King"
*Clink*
The expression of the Possessed changed when the rod it regarded as its companion was struck out of its hand and away from it. It looked into Mane's crazed eyes, and for the first time since its birth, felt fear.
"4 Way Cut: Perfect Square"
A square shaped light was released by Mane's principal weapons. They passed through the body of the Possessed without any resistance, and cut through it cleanly. Its limbs were severed from his trunk, and its head was lobbed off.
*Bam*
Mane kicked the head far away, and stumped on the torso that remained.
*Boom*
"Brimstone"
He allowed the flames that covered his body to unleash their fury on the Possessed. Although it couldn't die it still felt pain. Its torso writhed under the powerful flames of the Supreme in agony.
"Did you find it" Mane screamed!
"I did" came the reply. Mane didn't do all this just because he was angry. Before the Possessed was born, he cloaked Abe with an invisibility barrier. He reckoned that although they wouldn't be fighting where his friend was, it was still better to make it so Abelard couldn't be seen. That was why the Possessed had been fully focused on Mane. If it noticed Abelard, it may have attempted to kill him first.
When he was battling the Possessed he felt his barrier stir. Someone was trying to break it. So he focused a little bit of his attention on the barrier. It was then he noticed that the one trying to undo the barrier was his friend. But his loss of concentration came at a cost. The Possessed was finally able to land a good hit. But Mane didn't care about that. Since Abe was up, he needed to set the stage for his friend. So he decimated the Possessed before he undid his barrier.
How Mane wished he was a telepath now. If he had such ability, he could have asked his friend for what he found without having to break the Possessed into so many pieces. But it was all good. He kicked the trunk of the creature towards its head. The flames were extinguished before the trunk arrived at its destination.
"So where is it?" Mane wondered. "Lower jaw. Directly beneath the ear" Abe replied. He didn't comment on Mane's strange appearance. After all he had seen his friend in this form before; during Mane's duel with his father.
"Okay. You know where it is, so you will have to kill it. I will be your aid" Mane offered. Since he wasn't sure were exactly the core was, their victory rested entirely on Abe.
"Alright that works" Abe nodded. "You sure didn't go easy on it" Abelard remarked upon witnessing the limbs of the Possessed flying towards its body. Mane could have chosen to hold on to its torso so that Abelard will get the head and break the core. But he didn't do that. Although he accused Abelard of not finishing his fights cleanly, Mane was the same. But his reasons were different. He wanted to observe it just a little longer. He hoped to gain some insights into how Possessed functioned by this.
"I will kill you" the Possessed screamed once it was fully healed! But deep within its eyes there was a bit of fear when it looked at Mane. It didn't even register the one standing next to him; a decision it was bound to regret.
"You really are heartless" Abe noted that although the Possessed was screaming death threats, it wasn't taking the initiative. Mane had definitely traumatized it.
Mane scratched his head in embarrassment. Abelard shook his head and continued,
"Let's get to it then"