While Kia was taking on the Beasts of Burden, Mwana's battle against the codes was still ongoing.
After activating his bloodline for the first time ever, Mwana had entered the Drunken Dragon mode. His body was filled with so much strength that he was literally 'drunk with power'.
However, his opponents did not give him time to savor the feeling.
A spear tip was already at his forehead!
The attacker was Code C – the Cipher. This man had extremely long eyebrows that basically touched his hair at the sides. His hair was also very long and tied in a neat bun. Further, it was noticeable that he had grey sides so he obviously was not a young man.
Concerning his weapon of choice, the Cipher mainly used a long spear with a huge spearhead. This spear was at least the length of 2 men. Judging by the size and material of the spearhead, the entire spear probably weighed several tonnes!
However, when this spear got close to Mwana's head, the Cipher was shocked to see the boy easily break his precious spear with a single kick!
In the same breath, the boy who looked 'out of it' blasted out another attack. This time it was a powerful punch which sent the Cipher crashing into the mud. However, he was not the only one who received Mwana's attacks.
"Drunken Dragon Fist!"
The man beside the Cipher was also hit by this punch. This man was Code I – the Iron known for his sturdy defense. Despite this, Mwana's punch still sent the Iron flying even though he had already put up his guard!
This naturally shocked everyone on the scene since Mwana's previous attacks had not been able to affect this man that much. After all, he was an over 2 meter tall giant of a man, and one who specialized in physical strength and defense at that. There were barely any warriors in Milele that could force him to take a step back let alone send him flying.
However, despite his opponent's strong guard, Mwana's attack was strong enough to even stun his arms.
"What power! I almost can't close my hands into a fist!" Watching his trembling hands, the Iron could not help but silently exclaim.
After activating his bloodline, Mwana's physical attributes had more than doubled. He was now stronger, faster, and more durable than ever. However, all this power came at a cost – his mental state!
Luckily, under the town's normalization magic, only Mwana's physical abilities could be enhanced while the more supernatural aspects of Mwana's bloodline power were still suppressed. Otherwise, if they had been triggered Mwana might have lost his mind in the process! Without proper training and control, the activation of this kind of bloodline power was more of a detriment rather than a boon.
"Aaaaaah! Boy! You have angered me now!" While Mwana's remaining opponents seemed unable to continue holding on, a shout emerged from the spot where the Cipher had fallen. While his body was covered in mud, he was surprisingly fine.
The Cipher instantly leaped back into battle joining the encirclement against Mwana!
"You are not down yet? You cockroach!" Seeing this guy come back to pester him, Mwana who was out of sorts could naturally not tolerate it.
Mwana broke into a sprint unleashing the Running Man Punch onto the Cipher's chest. This attack was basically the Dambe version of a Superman Punch.
"Hahahahaha, brat, keep tickling me."
Bang! Another attack landed on the still gloating opponent's face.
"Is this the kind of weak massage you give your father? He must be crying with back pain everyday!"
Bang! Pow! Smash! This time Mwana landed three solid attacks on his opponent's body.
"Haish, what a worthless son." Once again, the Cipher was back up and standing as he continued taunting Mwana.
Bang!
"God damn, are you trying to scratch my itch? Apply more strength!" The man kept shooting off layered insults one after another. He was beaten down by Mwana with each attack being stronger than the last yet he kept getting back up!
Suddenly Mwana regretted calling this man a cockroach.
'Is this what they mean by "beware the power of the tongue"? Did calling him a cockroach transform him into one?' Mwana's inner thoughts were messed up when facing this man. It was as if the man had gained a cockroach-like vitality!
While Mwana was able to bulldoze him in each clash, the Cipher surprisingly took zero damage! Even other defense experts like Code E – the Egalitarian and Code I – the Iron could not boast of this! Not only was the Cipher able to withstand Mwana's attacks, he even managed to create openings for his allies.
"You are full of hot air!" Mwana shouted in his response to his opponent's taunts.
He had already guessed that the Cipher was an inflated balloon but he could not yet tell where the opening was. It was like a riddle where the answer was right at the tip of your tongue but you couldn't get it quite right; a very frustrating feeling.
In fact, the Cipher's shocking defense was not due to a martial skill. Instead it was due to the Seven Star Armor that he was wearing underneath his clothes.
Fitting its name, this armor had 7 stars located at different parts of its entire whole. There was one star on the head located within the invisible helmet, two stars on each of the arms, one star at the center of the chest, and another at the waist. The final two stars were located on the right shoulder and the left leg.
The armor itself was golden-colored with mesmerizing red patterns. As for the stars, they glowed with a bright white light when the armor was fully activated.
Although Mwana's attacks did no damage to his opponent, they still managed to tear apart his outer garments. Therefore, Mwana was finally able to see this armor that stood in the way of his victory.
"Illusion Dragon Claw!"
"Iron Breaker: Dragon Scissor Kick!"
"Useless!" the Cipher shouted in response to these attacks, "Your legs cannot break through my defense."
"Hohoooh, are you sure?" As he said this, a strange glint flashed through Mwana's eyes.
Immediately, a sense of unease entered the Cipher's mind.
'Has the brat figured out the trick? Impossible!' In the end he still chose to place his faith in his armor. However, he was bound to be disappointed.
The 7 Star Armor was extremely complex. In fact, between each two stars, there existed a path and this path could transmit up to two unique signals. However, at a junction between 3 stars – a central star and two branch stars, the signal could only take one direction and this process was completely random. It was slightly similar to a simulated quantum particle experiment.
However, despite the complexity, Mwana was still able to catch a glimpse at the proverbial Achilles heel – the chink in this godly armor.
'It all lies in the reverberations! As long as I get the timing right, I can break through his defense!' With this thought, Mwana's rain of attacks did not stop.
While he still had to fend off other opponents, Mwana made sure to give the Cipher 'special care.' With each attack that he landed, the armor's signals and energy dispersal patterns became clearer and clearer right before his eyes.
Dong!
With every attack it received, the armor would light up with red sparks. This time, when Mwana focused on sensing the armor's reaction, he finally captured the subtle pattern that arose.
"Drunken Dragon Fist - Dragon Shot!" Without hesitation, a finisher was unleashed.
Before the attack was even released, all hair on the Cipher's body stood on end.
'Crap!' These were the Cipher's last conscious thoughts. He could not even think fast enough to dodge the attack.
Suddenly, everyone saw the Cipher's body fly out. However, they did not hear any sound for a moment or so.
'The sound was delayed.'
The Iron who had been fighting right beside the Cipher silently thought about the lack of sound or impact. He was naturally shocked at this strange phenomenon.
Kaboooooom!
An explosion that rocked the street suddenly emerged from the point of contact. The strange thing was that it appeared a while after the Cipher had already been sent flying!
This scene really looked like a videogame lag.
The Dragon Shot that Mwana had just unleashed was a self-created technique that fused the irregular movement of Mwana's Withered Wood Dance with the [Muscle Strengthening Section] of the Green Dragon Mantra.
When this technique was aimed at the Seven Star Armor's Achilles heel, the Cipher was naturally taken down in one move.
His body was sent flying crashing through multiple walls in this empty back-street. In fact, this could have been prevented if one of his allies in his trajectory had caught his body. However, when this other man had seen the Cipher come crashing toward him, he chose to dodge the Cipher's flying body instead of catching him.
This man actually walked up a wall backwards just to avoid saving his ally!
He was Code W – the Willow Battle Wizard. Just like his name implied, he was a practitioner of strange magics.
Even when his magical power was suppressed, this Wizard still found practical ways around this.
The Wizard suddenly took out a flaming torch from god knows where and blew on it. A river of flames suddenly flowed towards Mwana's direction at an extreme speed. Mwana could not help but wonder if this man was storing a fuel tank in his mouth.
Regarding his looks, the Wizard had a yellow vertical line on his forehead. He also wore yellow clothes below the standard black cloak. His hair was long and messy like the typical wizard. Combine that with the flames flying out of his mouth, one look at him and anyone would think: 'Now that is a real wizard!'
"Holy Flame: Atomic Fire Breath!"
The fire art unleashed by the Wizard was a type of Holy Flame that could deconstruct anything in its path. Naturally, it was much weaker when unleashed under the effects of Milele's normalization magic formation. Nevertheless, it was still strong enough to scorch everything in a 20 meter radius.
In response, Mwana actually chose to get close to his opponent instead of stepping back. While moving at extreme speeds, he narrowly ducked under the fire and leaped towards the wizard.
The margin of error in this move was extremely narrow!
In fact, when he had ducked under the flames, he had less than half a meter of space between the flames and the ground to pass through. Mwana's body had leaned forward to the point that his face was only a few millimeter from the ground. Even his running form looked more like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon run.
After reaching the Wizard, Mwana's speed was instantly transformed into a kick combo. This was the Devils 3 Spin Kick Combo. It started with a 360 degree kick followed by a sweep to the opponent's legs that transitioned into a 540 finisher.
With these fast rotational kicks, the Wizard who was not that strong in close quarters combat was naturally taken out. However, at this point, Mwana's energy had already stated running out mostly due to the pressure of his bloodline activation. After all, it was his first time activating his bloodline so he was not as skilled with the process.
Due to the drop in power, some of Mwana's opponent's finally gained a minor advantage in the battle. Even then, Mwana still kept landing one kick after another, sometimes using his opponents as footholds instead of landing on the ground.
'I feel like I am gonna pass out at this rate.' At this point, the fight had already become a battle of attrition. Mwana activating his bloodline for such a lengthy time also lead to a huge stamina drain. He could barely maintain his clarity.
Naturally, when his opponents saw that the boy was a bit disoriented, they would not let go of the chance that had just opened up.
Bang!
Mwana was rammed into a building wall so hard that half his body, his upper body, broke into the building. He could even the smell of food in this building so it was obviously some sort of kitchen or restaurant. As for his lower body, his legs were sticking outside the building and enjoying the harsh rain.
While he was still stunned, Mwana felt some rough hands grab him by the waist and pull him from the building. He was lifted up and rammed into the ground head first!
If Mwana's body was not so sturdy, his brains would have been splattered all over the damp streets after this attack!
Naturally, the man who could manhandle Mwana so easily was Code I. After dropping Mwana into the ground head first, this man was still not satisfied. The iron once again picked up Mwana and then proceeded to powerslam him into the ground once again. Only this time, Mwana landed on his back.
Kabang!
The pot-holed rundown tiles of the alley could not take the stress of this attack and neither could the ground below Mwana and the Iron. Everything exploded at once as a huge dust eruption erupted outwards. The resulting shockwave sent everything within a 10 meter radius flying everywhere.
Even then, while Mwana was left reeling from these powerful attacks, between him and the ground, he was more durable. Therefore, he did not receive much injury.
However, before he could reorient himself, the Iron came charging at him once again. This time the attack was one that utilized the head as a weapon. The Iron could afford to risk his head and use it to attack since he was actually wearing a sphere-shaped iron cap on his head. This iron cap was green in color and had snake-like patterns. As for its use, what else but to ram people with it!
Against the attack, Mwana did not even have the energy to jump around so he just chose to roll back on the ground even if his clothes got dirtied by the black mud in the dark alley.
"Huff, huff, huff, huff…" At this point, everyone in the street was huffing.
It was not only Mwana that was tired; even his opponents were at the end of their stamina rope.
After a short break, Mwana and the Iron traded blows once again. This time, the iron landed a punch on Mwana's face. However, he only managed to catch Mwana's saliva. Mwana had slipped through his punch!
What followed was a counter punch that sent the Iron reeling once again. But this time, Mwana did not pause between his attacks, his counter blow directly transitioned into a turning back kick that created distance between him and his opponent.
"Iron Breaker!"
The finisher was landed straight to the Iron's jaw. But this man, this man was still standing! If this attack had landed on another member of the Codes such as Demon Hand, his neck and jaw would have been shattered. However, unlike the other gang members, the Iron was neither blown that far back nor injured by the Iron Breaker kick. Not only did he have a large stature, but his tank-like nature due to his Body of Iron skill made him almost invincible against physical attacks.
Of all the men in this specific squad, Mwana was sure that this man had the strongest pure physical defense without the use of powerful armor like the Cipher's [7 Star Armor] or strange martial arts like the Egalitarian's [Law of Equals]. Expectedly, his abilities lived up to his title, Code I, the Iron – the man with an iron jaw.