The pure vitality emanating from his weapon was shocking to say the least. It was literally sucking in the air so hard you could see the air itself. Like a giant monster, breathing in. Though, it wasn't the air around it that it was sucking. Strictly speaking, it was sucking the soul juice that was in the air; being even more specific, it was absorbing part of Bob's "Acoustic Resonance" attack! And although it was only a small portion, around 10% or so, it already had a visible effect on the color of his face; because, of course, it is a totally accurate way to see if someone's fine or not by using the color of one's face.
Standing about 10 meters, or 30 feet, from the fight, Ann was only mildly surprised. In fact, most fetal organs display a surprising amount of vitality. Like a baby having soft and supple skin when in infancy. Though, this was a bit more than others, including hers which was even more surprising for her. Albeit only for a second, as its liveliness started to die down to a certain and stable point.
At this point, you're probably wondering what kind of weapon is it for it to be described in such a way:
"Author, you better tell what that weapon is or I promise, you will, NOT, be seeing me again!" Even the author panicked,"Please, oh mighty viewers, bestow unto me your most attentive ears. It's… actually just a sword. I'm sorry okay. It's just swords… are just an easy template to build upon. I won't do it again. Sigh, where was I? Oh, according to Earth standards, it would be called a sword breaker. Well, more like a fusion between a falchion and a sword breaker. It's length being a bit longer than a typical falchion, being from 30 to 48 inches, or a total of 48 inches from pommel to the tip of the sword. That's over a meter tall, or 4 feet! But that's not even the best part. Actually, its entire blade is a color known as titanium white. That's about as white as one could get! What's worse is that its entire guard, handle, and pommel are jet black. You can even see Rans name on the blade with a beautiful pink hue. A total of three lines beginning with a R, A, and N. The first Is the longest, while the second is the shortest and the third is almost as long as the first one. All in all, just looking at them makes you feel like you're staring at a bunch of worms wriggling-ready to pounce at you. "
Standing just a few feet from this thing… gave Bob the jitters. In fact, he quite liked this feeling because it showed a worthy opponent was going to show himself.
Ran, who had his eyes closed, slowly opened them; and with his organ in his left hand, he immediately rushed towards Bob using his family's military technique.
Sigh, and that was truly… truly the worst thing he could have done. I knew that this duel was a bad idea.
Bob immediately saw the technique coming and countered it flawlessly with his sword, though he felt a peculiar sensation afterward. But the reason he was able to see through it so easily is because it isn't his. A technique created by the military is supposed to be suited for all types of people-meaning it is truly mediocre when compared to something even a child could make, if it was meant for someone specific. What's worse was that those techniques were meant to be used in groups, or formations, in order to get the best effect.
"Alas! I guess his parents never told him that it was useless to actually use those moves in battle. At most, they would be just a warm up, practice routine, one's foundation or any other word that can fit in there; and I suppose that's what they wanted. To prepare him for himself. He's not so bright is he?" Bob thought. How could someone with such a peculiar and fascinating ability be given such garbage parenting skills! Such is the way of life I guess.
Upon being countered, Ran flew a few meters back and spewed a bunch of blood. If this wasn't a story of fiction, he would have fainted and possibly been in a coma from blood loss… or even worse, death. But continuing on, he truly might have sustained too much damage. And I know what you are going to say, how can he faint from just one counter attack.
Come on, besides the fact that he's a rank 10, he just awakened the day before. He doesn't even know how to use both his sigil and organ properly and trying to have him fight a rank 8?! Please.
He hasn't gone through any rigorous training, and I mean rigorous training-none of that noble pansy shit! Has he gone to a waterfall and sat there for 7 days and nights? Or how about fighting a hollow knight that can't die for three days straight; until that knight's armor was mangled to oblivion? Has he worn that same suit of armor and have it crush his body continuously so as to train both his mind and body… I THINK NOT!
Point is, even if he fought another rank 10-as long as that person had trained for a certain amount of time… he could totally wreck Ran, weird sigil or not. And don't get me wrong, Bob technically hasn't been in the business for too long either, so his experience isn't that great. Even among rank 8's, he could be considered a rookie.
Phew, glad I got that out of my chest. But seriously, Ran slowly saw his vision darkening when he suddenly saw Ann's figure above him: At that moment, he fainted.
"Fool, wake up!" Slap! Ann slapped him across the face but he still wouldn't wake up."Sigh, guess I saw that coming. Though I was a little hopeful."
But at that moment, once again, the indomitable "Bob" started acting indomitable again; particularly by picking Rans presumably "dead" body, chucking it over his shoulder and winking at Ann.
"Brothers always take care of each other, right, brother?" Bob held Rans head and started bobbing it back and forth like a ventriloquist. "That's right, brother. Thanks for taking care of mme. You always take care of me, brother." "Hahahaha… anytime, brother."
Oh no. Oh no. I can't bear to watch this anymore. Seeing our Ran Ran like this… makes me want to laugh my ass off! Haha.
Ann, however, cannot believe her eyes. In fact, if she could take them out and polish them with a microfiber cloth to see If she could see better, she would. I mean, what kind of servant watches her master be turned into a puppet and made fun of with his own failure. In fact, recalling the scene earlier, she also wanted to laugh her lungs out. "But alas, servants are bound by their master, and their master bound to the servant. I must uphold my integrity. Not just for me, but for my master too… pfft. What am I thinking? That fool asked for it."
The three stooges then walked back to the cart and set off to the nearest power house-the capital of "His Majesty's The Conclave", His Majesty's Hair Comb!
***
The cart, after about a week of travel, the three stooges successfully made it to their destination- a village on the outermost perimeter of The Conclave. Oddly enough, Bob's destination was the same as theirs, well almost. And upon entering an inn, they quickly paid the rent for two separate rooms and discussed what happened and what they are going to do afterward.
"You know while fighting this so-called 'master', I felt something most strange, sis… sister." Ann was surprised as he hadn't mentioned anything of the sort back at the desert. "Uh, ok. So what happened then?"
"When I countered his attack, specifically, that sword of his… it gives me the chills. At the moment of impact, I felt like a ghost hand had latched onto my soul and ripped a piece out. When that happened, I felt a slight but still noticeable decrease in my energy. I have to say, looking back at how it greedily took the soul juice away from my sonic attack, it truly is a wonder of a weapon. You sure have great taste in men I see… sis-ter."
"Taste in men my ass! He fainted from one attack. It wasn't even an attack, you just slightly deflected the attack with your sword and pushed him using your strength." Bob disagreed however, "Well, yeah, but he still did pretty well for his rank. A normal rank 10 that just awakened would have already fallen under my control from the beginning. Speaking of which, what the hell was that light? The more I see what happens around this kid, the more curious I get, right, brother?" At which point, he grabbed Rans swollen head, from Ann's continuous slapping throughout the journey in an effort to wake him up, and bobbed it back and forth again. Its swolleness only added to the madness that is happening right now. "Yes, brother. I am a good brother." But Bob suddenly took on a serious face, "Is he going to be alright though? You haven't even treated him." "Don't worry, he's been resting for a whole week and the only reason why he hasn't woken up is because he's a day person. Once sunlight hits his face, he'll wake up. You know, being inside that cart, there hasn't been even a single ray of sunlight for a week and by the time we got here, it was night already. So it was technically your fault he hasn't woken up yet!"
"Oh. You heard that brother? You are going to get lots of sunlight tomorrow. Since you are my brother, I will forgive you for being a 'day' person."
And true enough, as soon as a Sunray hit his still swollen face, he clamored awake and spoke, "Did I win?"
No, no you did not.