Hugh felt the impact of the kick directly at his chest, taking his breath away. His body bent backward and rotated in the air until he fell with his back on the ground.
Hugh inhaled deeply as he tried to recover from the fight, but Joub did not give him the chance.
One of Joub's bodies restrained Hugh's arms. Hugh was still coughing as he tried to recalibrate his breath until Joub lifted his head to look at his eyes.
"Come on! Transform!"
Hugh did not answer and continued to cough. He gathered the saliva in his mouth and spat it towards Joub.
"Go to hell."
Joub wiped the spit in his face with a creepy smile on his face. He seemed to be intrigued at the fact that Hugh was stubborn as all hell.
Joub did not hear a denial in Hugh's words, which meant that there really might be a possibility that he had a hidden power.
Joub raised his right hand, and stubs formed in his wrist. The stubs continued to grow until it became hands that Joub opened and closed until he got familiar with it.
Without any warning, Joub punched Hugh's fatty body with his hand that had multiple fists. With just one attack, Hugh felt his whole body hit with numerous punches.
He could feel his bones being broken and his muscles being broken down. It hurt like hell. The only thing that he could do was to endure the beatings.
Hugh was starting to feel numbness in his upper body as the barrage of fists continued to hit him. Hugh had no choice but to cough up blood until he felt his strength come back to him.
The four-second cooldown was now gone, and he could finally summon his armor to fight back.
Hugh activated his armor on his left arm, and silver and brown liquid formed into an explosive armor. He burst out power in a short amount of time that allowed him to escape from Joub's clutches.
Hugh quickly ran away as he regained his control of his own body. He held his chest as it still ached from the beatings, but he felt revitalized.
He finally got the chance to fight back for at least two more seconds.
Hugh wiped the blood from his mouth and taunted Joub to come for him with a cheeky smile and an inviting wave. Hugh wanted to irritate Joub so that he would somehow make a mistake that he could use.
The calm and collected demeanor of Joub proved that he was not easily agitated. Hugh disliked dealing with people like this. He could not read their thoughts, which made them even more dangerous.
When Joub's other body restrained Hugh, he realized a vital flaw in Joub's Desire. Hugh was able to get out from Joub's arm lock successfully, but Joub could have created more hands to restrain him.
Hugh remembered that Joub still had his freak arm with multiple fists when he tried to escape, which meant only one thing; it meant that only one body could be deformed.
This was still a guess by Hugh, but he had to try or lose the fight. While Joub was preparing his attack, Hugh thought up of a plan.
Joub's two bodies ran towards Hugh while holding hands. Hugh was surprised to see that Joub's speed increased once they held hands, which must have been a unique attribute of his Desire.
Hugh lightly jumped as he readied his attack. His attacks need to be precise, or else his plan would not work.
With the two bodies in Hugh's attack area, Hugh lifted his leg and performed a roundhouse kick towards their heads. It was sloppy because Hugh was not a martial arts master, but his explosive strength made up for that fact.
Hugh activated his leg armor as soon as his leg was about to hit Joub's face to maximize his efficiency with his armor.
Joub's right body did not dodge his attack and let Hugh's armored leg hit his head. Like before, Joub's head twisted around, negating the damage done to it.
Joub's head did a full turn and faced Hugh as he showed a grin. Joub displayed a smile that showed Hugh's attack to be null.
Hugh's leg continued to sweep past Joub's head and headed towards Joub's other head. This was the moment of truth that Hugh waited for to know if the hypothesis was correct.
Joub furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Hugh's armored leg. This time, his head moved backward and dodged Hugh's roundhouse kick.
Hugh smiled as his guess was confirmed. Joub could not use his ability in two bodies at the same time. Hugh flashed a cheeky smile towards Joub that told him his secret was blown.
Hugh's armored leg continued to swing as it landed on the ground, destroying the pavement below it.
Joub no longer had a carefree smile as his face turned serious. He seemed to have figured out that Hugh knows his only vulnerability.
This agitated Joub and forced him to finish the fight before Hugh gains any more information about him. His moves got faster but were more wild like he was acting with haste.
Hugh dodged away as soon as his kick was finished. Joub formed spouts on his wrists and created fists that were like the one he used to beat up Hugh.
Joub clearly wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible, which gave Hugh the advantage. As a counterattack, Hugh created his armor in his fist and punched towards Joub.
Joub's arm full of fists versus Hugh's armored fist launched towards each other. Hugh was aiming towards Joub's face, and Joub was aiming for Hugh's face.
Joub was more confident in his fist, and he was sure that he would deal more damage in this exchange. If he were more observative, he would have noticed the ground was destroyed underneath him.
Joub stepped on the uneven surface, which made him lose his balance. His body started to fall, and his fist missed Hugh's body.
Hugh continued his punch, and it headed towards Joub's other body. Hugh created that uneven ground when he finished his roundhouse kick, so it was in his calculations that Joub would lose his balance.
Hugh's real aim was towards Joub's other body. Joub had already used his Desire to punch it towards Hugh, so his other body was undefended.
Joub's other body tried to dodge, but Hugh caught him off guard, and Hugh's punch landed directly on Joub's face.
This time, the armored punch was explosive enough to dislocate Joub's jaw. Hugh could feel that his fist connected a direct hit as Joub's body flew across the air.
Joub was down on the ground while Hugh was panting as he barely stood straight. He was able to deal a ton of damage with his armor, which gave him confidence in the fight.
Hugh did not waste this chance as he rushed towards Joub's body and used his last second of armor to pummel him to the ground.
Joub's face was now beaten and bloodied like he had been through hell. Hugh's armor was now on cooldown, but that did not stop him from punching Joub while he was still down.
Hugh's knuckles were red from his own blood, as his fist was not used to punching a hard surface this many times.
Hugh panted as his fists became slow, and his arms started to ache. Right at this time, Joub used his strength to elbow Hugh in the gut.
Hugh saw the attack coming, so he was able to mitigate some of the attack. He held his stomach as he separated away from Joub's body.
Hugh panted as he wiped the blood away from his knuckles. He saw Joub slowly get up while blood was still flowing from his face.
Joub's other body disappeared and melted into a liquid that flowed towards Joub. It absorbed back into his body, and Hugh could see Joub's injuries start to heal themselves.
Joub spat blood on the ground and wiped the dirt off of his face. He looked towards Hugh while he spoke with a chilling soft voice.
"Not bad...you're smart, but that won't be enough to defeat me. Let me show you the difference between a first-year and a second-year."
Hugh physically felt the aura from Joub start to change. He felt a chill on his back as he heard Joub speak.
"Ruination Imitation."