*Swooosh!*
"Activate!"
Iron Alchemist clapped his hands together, activating the booster thrusters under the bottom of his feet. He jumped up and aimed the booster thrusters towards Hugo's face.
The thrusters exuded blue flames in the form of explosions.
No matter how socially inept he is or was, Iron Alchemist was not a newbie to battle; Hugo could tell the much from his first attack.
"Sadly not enough. Why are you holding back Iron Alchemist?"
Hugo slashed Shiloh downwards and split the explosion in half.
If they were only weapons, that would have been extremely disappointing. Those were magic-type summons and from his ability no less.
"Black Refract!"
Hugo swung the edge of the sword towards Iron Alchemist.
"Damn!"
Iron Alchemist activated the boosters once again, but this time was using it to escape the impending danger.
However, it was still too late.
The technique had been activated.
*Boom!*
Shiloh's body emanated black flames that shot for IA V-1's body as loud explosions.
"This is Shiloh's first ability, Black Refract."
Hugo slashed the sword down, the black flames still fiercely burning on the surface of the sharp blade.
Through the screen of smoke, Hugo could vaguely see IA V-1's figure struggling to get up.
"Now Now, don't die on me. There are still two more powers left, you have to see them, considering you're the one who challenged me."
Hugo smirked smugly, his arrogance gleaming like the hot sun in the afternoon.
"Cough. I'm not that easy to get rid of."
Iron Alchemist stood up and swept the dirt off his body slowly.
"I guess it's my turn now!"
Iron Alchemist's voice sounded out smilingly.
It was at this point, Hugo realized how scary this guy exactly was.
"Damn, that aura coming from him..."
"Cannon Arms!"
Mechanical whirring broke through the park's air and at the same time, Iron Alchemist's arms were undergoing some sort of strange transformation.
"Hah!"
The mechanical man exuded a small breath and brandished his arms towards Hugo, who could now clearly see what happened to this friend of his.
Strange compartments had opened up on his arms and Hugo was almost certain he saw the barrel of cannons, though it was very much still Iron Alchemist's arms.
"Flash Barrage!"
The mechanical whirring stopped and the compartments on his arm opened up a little wider.
"Let's see what you can do against the abilities of a next-gen Skydancer... Black Knight!"
Hugo was now certain this fellow was laughing at him from under that astronaut helmet of his. Hugo wanted to laugh too if only the danger those compartments were emanating was little.
The compartments stopped widening, and the mechanical whirring started up once again, but the bass of exploding cannon rounds accompanied this time around.
Hugo could not dodge, and even if he could, found no reason to.
"I to want to test myself against the new generation of Skydancers."
With a small frown, he braved the small cannon rounds and faced the greatest shock of his life, not only did they not make some sort of explosion, the rounds were completely harmless, only causing some brief flashes of light.
'Well, damn. Was I wrong about his arm?'
He was not.
Simple decoy trick and he only realized it until it was too late.
"Over here!" The familiar voice exclaimed from his side and the sound of mechanical whirring was heard again. But this time, the rounds were not some mere flash cannonballs. Instead...
"Fire-Ice Cannonballs!"
The tiny cannonballs hit his body and in a fury of red and blue lights, ice crept across his body and fire licked his skin and clothing.
The two elemental forces of nature tamely crept towards his chest and collided in a fierce battle of strengths.
*BOOM!*
The first collision was the last, the fire and ice hit each other in not just an explosion of lights, it was icy-hot, not any different from the portrayed forms of fire and ice in many media.
Hugo's shocked being collapsed to the ground, with only his equipment looking relatively unharmed, his skin and hair was another story though...
"Not possible, you have overwhelming power, Black Knight that I, a mere A-Rank skydancer could never hope to beat so easily. Stand up and fight me properly, use your full power!"
A heart-moving declaration, Iron Alchemist's voice was so loud that the birds fled and the throngs of Skydancers who were coming to the park felt chills up their spines, not knowing the reason. Just concluding that they had to get there fast.
Silence.
Iron Alchemist received no response from Hugo.
He waited there for a response, but to no avail received none.
"It's my fault for expecting much fro-" Mid-way his sentence, Hugo's calm voice interrupted him.
"As you wish!"
Black matter particles flew out of his body and towards his spine. They attached to his spine and clustered together to condense into sleek jet black wings.
The wings were scaly and feathery, just like the body of the legendary sky dragon told in tales of old.
Without his control, Hugo ascended the sky and only stopped when he reached a certain point in the air.
More and more black matter particles flew out of his body, but this time clustered together in the atmosphere, darkening the clear and sunny skies.
A huge dark vortex opened up in the sky and the black matter particles converged at the centre of the vortex. A huge metal tip was seen descending the land from the vortex.
Heads turned and people who were trying to mind their own business looked at the sky with eyes filled to the brim with shock.
The huge bit of metal falling from the vortex became a bit smaller, but it was still very large beyond compare.
"Otherworldly Conjuring- Great Sage's Cudgel, Ruyi Jingu Bang!"
The complete frame of the descending object was now visible to all. The object was a... giant black cudgel!
Hugo, no, Black Knight's ethereal voice over-shadowed all the other events happening nearby, it was not an exaggeration to say only his voice was heard in the surroundings.
"Do you concede?"
His voice posed the most difficult question to Iron Alchemist.
'There's a huge chance I might get obliterated from the first clash alone. But still... I really, really want to fight that weapon!'
"I do not!"