Arman, heavily injured, was being carried by the Iron Fists of Justice.
His breathing was abnormal. His heartbeat had also far exceeded their usual rates.
Arman was feeling dizzy, and it was cold too.
Walking on the snow was extremely hard and energy-consuming, so Iron Fists of Justice too was exhausted.
Both of them were now powerless.
It was around three a.m. in the morning.
Arman, who didn't sleep well since two days, couldn't move an inch.
Most of his blood had left his body, as the attack from the maskedman had left Arman with only fifty percent of his hp.
On top of that, both of them were very hungry.
Eveline, who was still at a distance, couldn't help not having pity on the pair.
But she wouldn't move a finger to help them in any way. Afterall, everyone thinks only about themselves, they won't have any interest in others buisness.
But Eveline wasn't one among them, she wanted to help Arman, but her duty came first to her, so she couldn't.
And in no time, the Iron Fists of Justice reached her limit. She fell to the ground, and Arman, who was hung on her shoulders, rolled over the ice-cold ground.
The Flame king appeared.
He sighed in anger.
"Stupid successor, you can't defeat that measly weakling?"
"You damn old geezer! Stop commenting and help me."
Arman replied.
At this, the Flame king made a confused expression.
"Who is the 'old geezer' here, I look like I'm just twenty-eight, and you are calling me a geezer?"
But Arman knew everything.
"You look like twenty eight years old, because you made your appearance like that using your powers. You might be atleast a few thousand years old."
"Hmmm."
A few seconds of silence.
"Hey! Why did you just stop there, aren't you going to help me? What was that... Huh! Healing magic, use that and heal me." Arman exclaimed.
"Why should I help you? You are my successor, not my disciple. Help yourself."
The Flame king clearly denied.
"People give away their entire property, their kingdom, even their entire lives to their successors, and you can't heal me once?"
Arman persisted.
"Okay, okay, I will heal you, but nothing more than that."
The Flame king placed his hands on Arman and Iron Fists of Justice's injuries, and the same green coloured light was being emmitted from his hands.
And finished.
[Your HP has been completely healed, and you have returned to your original state.]
Iron Fists of Justice looked around, but found nothing.
"Are you perhaps, a Healer?" She asked.
The Flame king temporarily made a mental link with Arman.
[Don't tell her about me.]
He said to him using that mental link.
[I don't need you to remind me that.]
"I am an all-rounder."
Said Arman to Iron Fists of Justice.
"Ohh. Even though my age is less, I have met millions of people all over the galaxy, but never met an all-rounder. What a luck."
Iron Fists of Justice admired Arman being an all-rounder. But it wasn't completely a lie, the Flame king was an all-rounder, and so was Arman. The only difference was that Arman had yet to realise it.
We will talk about that later, let's first move on with the story.
"By the way, didn't that old man say that there were three men working under the maskedman?"
Asked the Flame king.
"Yes, he did say."
The Flame king got alarmed.
"But only two appeared in the battlefield, that means..."
"Lady, we have to attend the old man now!"
Arman shouted aloud.
"But why?"
Asked Iron Fists of Justice.
"I thought that it isn't important, so I didn't tell you. Actually... there were four men in the maskedman's team."
"What??? Why didn't you tell me that earlier? This means that they sent one of them after the old man. Quick, we need to go."
And their exhausted feet, stood up to get in motion again. But, to their surprise, their bodies weren't exhausted.
Instead, they were feeling much more relaxed than they ever felt in their lifetime.
This were the effects of the Flame king's healing, which not only healed injuries, but improved health condition.
All their fatigue was dissolved, and their composure was regained.
They could now feel even more fit than they felt before.
'He's no ordinary guy, there is more to him than what meets to eye. I'd better be in his good books.' She said to herself.
And they moved on.
They had to move with the highest speed possible, and Iron Fists of Justice was a psycho-kinesis type, so she couldn't move with high speed on her own. So Arman carried her on his back and he dashed simultaneously.
This upcoming battle is supposed to Arman's longest and hardest battle ever, as all his previous fights had ended up in less than few seconds.
But the reasons behind the fights ending so fast weren't the difference between strength,
there were many different reasons.
Be it an unfair advantage of catching the enemy off guard, and that while the other side was unarmed, like he did on his first meeting with Soso. Or just bursting open the opponent's fuel tank.
Or, hitting and running strategy, which he used just a few hours ago.
All of these were tactics, which he couldn't use right now, because the only hope of Arman completing the Duncan temple raid was that old man and his son.
But still, Arman was sure that this maskedman and his squad were no match for Soso's gang, A four metres tall gigantic destroyer robot which is equipped with heavily destructive weapons.
And a mid sized alien, with fierce guns that can punch a hole through steel.
A robot which knows about everything in the universe and has every bit of information in the world.
This was a very deadly trio.
And he had somehow defeated Soso.
That is why, defeating this maskedman was within his reach.
And in no time, they reached their destination.
Arman quickly asked the Flame king.
[Is there something like 'buff magic' which can temporarily increase strength?]
And he got a quick reply.
[There is such a thing like which you described, but it's not called buff.
It's called boost.]
[So, can you cast it?]
[Yep, I can. Did you forget it so fast, I am an all-rounder]
And the Flame king casted boost on Arman and Iron Fists of Justice.
And a series of notifications popped up.
[You received a buff]
[All stats temporarily increased by seventy percent.]
This time, Iron Fists of Justice wasn't surprised, because she now knew that Arman was not an ordinary person.
But still, seventy percent buff was too extravagant.
They now had the force to fight toe-to-toe with their enemies.
"Ready to die? Bastards!"
Arman again gripped his sword, which appeared out of thin air.
And a scarlet red armour with pitch-black spots appeared again, but this one seemed more harder.
For sure, it was due to the boost
Arman knew that shield was useless against this guy, so he sumonned another sword, but a scythe came.
And Arman would be like "Darn!"
But he didn't have time to undo and redo it.
The maskedman was surprised.
It had been less than a few hours, and they already had recovered.
This level of recovery was monstrous.
And not only that, they now even seemed more powerful.
Arman saw the old man and his son tied down with a rope.
"Look, we don't have an enmity between us, so why fight? You don't interfere in our matters and we won't interfere in your matters.
It will be a win-win situation.
What say?"
Arman took a deep breath.
"What you are saying is right, but that old man is my last hope. I have found a shortcut to become stronger and to use that shortcut, I am not strong enough. But this old man has something which can help me, and he promised to give me that as a payment for keeping him alive till the morning.
And once it is dawn, the villagers will come looking for you."
"Can't we help you out somehow?" The maskedman asked one last time.
"Unfortunately, no."
The maskedman tried to talk his way out, but that wasn't possible, so he would cut through his path.
"Charge!"
He said.
"Cover me!" Said Arman to Iron Fists of Justice.
"By the way, you fell for it."
Said the Flame king.
Clang!
The maskedman tried to punch Arman with his heavy gauntlet, but Arman blocked it with the sword and landed a strike on the left leg of the maskedman with the scythe.
Pah!
Arman naturally was faster than the maskedman due to the boost, so there was no way the maskedman could have dodged, evaded, or blocked it.
But the maskedman took advantage of this situation.
Arman's scythe was locked in the maskedman's leg, so he couldn't remove it immediately, perhaps, it would take time to remove it.
And it would also take time for Arman to remove his hand from that curved handle and guard of the scythe.
Meaning that Arman was locked in that position for a while.
The maskedman pushed onto Arman and made him fall to the ground.
Twisted Arman's both hands in a wrong position.
And hit Arman's head, with his head.
This caused Arman to get stunned for a second.
[You have been stunned]
A notification popped up.
He made full use of this one second and hit Arman many times.
And he also got himself free from the scythe's hold.
[Your stunned state has been removed.]
As Arman came back to his senses, the maskedman increased the distance between them, by stepping backwards.
"Tricky." Arman was gasping for breath.
But the maskedman wasn't better off.
He was injured in the leg, reducing his agility greatly.
Both had dealt equal ammount of damage to their opponent.
Arman ran in full speed towards the maskedman.
The maskedman too was prepared to counter any attack.
Arman raised the sword above his head, and the maskedman realised that Arman was trying to target the head.
He would kick off with mana, to turn towards the right quickly and get behind his back to knock Arman off.
But, Arman's intentions were quite contrary what the maskedman had imagined.
He unprecedently lowered the sword and swinged it.
The maskedman, who was already low on his legs, got hit by this attack.
But thanks to the vambrace, his arm didn't get severed.
Arman, who was gaining the upper hand in the fight, asked the Flame king.
"What did you mean by 'You fell for it.'"
Without wasting any time, the Flame king told Arman in a second that
"He never wanted to compromise with you in the first place. Afterall, you killed his partner.
He knew that you had received boost.
And boost has a time limit, so he was wasting your time.
You roughly have a minute until the boost effect disappears."
"Shit!"
The maskedman smirked at Arman.
"You seem to have realised something, but it is too late now."
Now, Arman had to deal as much damage possible, within this one minute window.
But, rather than facing Arman head on, the maskedman chose to avoid him till the time the boost effect runs out.
"Don't I have anything like a trump card?"
He asked the Flame king.
"Yes, but unfortunately you can't access it directly due to the restrictions put on you."
"Directly? Do you mean to say that we can use it indirectly.?"
Asked Arman.
"Yes, but that requires time."
Said the Flame king.
"Time you said? I will get it."
Arman, from the corner of his eyes, could see that Iron Fists of Justice was having a good time fighting her opponents.
One of them was already exhausted in the previous fight and the other one couldn't do anything alone.
On top of that, she even had the Flame king's boost effect.
"Can you build a mental connection with her for me?" Asked Arman.
The Flame king replied in an instant.
"Yes."
"Do it."
And the connection was built.
[Listen, it's me, Arman. Can you buy me some time?]
Arman wouldn't stop amazing the girl.
She nodded.
The maskedman, roared and jumped at Arman.
But he was hit with an invisible force.
He was surprised by this sudden intervention of someone in his fight.
"Which bastard dared to stop me?"
He roared again.
And then he ran towards Iron Fists of Justice, trying to close up distance with her.
"Okay, so how do I do it?" Asked Arman without further wasting any time.
"You just focus your energy on your hands, I will handle the rest."
he said.
On the other side.
Iron Fists of Justice was alone fighting against three people, with her opponents stronger than her.
She used her powers to push them backwards.
[The opponent's ability to resist your push is very high. Skill failed.]
With the maskedman's strength combined with others, they could now resist the invisible force.
They were coming nearer and nearer.
And Iron Fists of Justice's powers go useless once the opponent is within range.
And now, they were walking towards her as if they weren't being affected with her powers.
Iron Fists of Justice was now as good as dead.
One of the underlings of the maskedman hurled a blade.
The blade was about to hit her, but a giant arm blocked it.
The arm belonged to a gigantic golem.
[You have successfully sumonned a Fire Bot.]
A notification popped up in Arman's head.
**************
[Name: Fire Bot No. thirteen.
Type: Sumonned Golem
Description:- A golem sumonned from the World of Unending Flames. Can be summoned only by the Flame king.
Battle prowess equivalent to twenty-five percent the battle prowess of the sumonner.]
[All stats are hidden, as conditions for sumonning of the Fire Bot are not met.]
[Skills (Active)]
[Dash]
[Moves the user desired distance away from current location with high speed in the desired direction. Maximum distance depends upon the level of the skill.]
[All other active skills are currently locked as the Fire Bot is summoned while all conditions are not met]
[All passive skills are currently locked as the Fire Bot is summoned while all conditions are not met]