Bruno grabbed his wrist, twisted it a little, and glimpsed at Ralphie. "In my opinion, I disliked that guy," claimed Bruno, looking at Harry's beaten body, "but I didn't expect to see him fail so miserably, and all he had to do was stop a single person. How can that be so hard?"
Ralphie tapped the ground with his toes. "I suppose he just wasn't up for the job. I can't believe I trusted that guy. It reminds me of what happened back on the ship after I lost my friend. But, now that I have gotten adapted to this fighting, found good friends, and sailed the ocean, I'm going to share my power with them, no matter how far we'll go. I'll be there." Ralphie explained, talking about Tim and the others. "Unlike Harry, I can at least trust them, and I'll make those agents pay for what they did to *him*, no doubt."
Ralphie spotted Bruno exerting nothing else but silence. "Enough talking. You're just stretching out the inevitable. Let's fight."
Bruno sped toward Ralphie. He moved up close and whipped forward a punch from the side. Ralphie ducked beneath the arm, backed away, and then kicked upward toward Bruno's jaw.
Bruno received a powerful strike to the jaw but then quickly recovered. He raised his leg and kicked at Ralphie, who defended the smash with his sturdy legs.
Both pulled their legs again. They made sure to kick at one another at a straight angle. Their ankles collided, and the impact kicked up a whirlwind.
They dropped their feet at identical moments, but Ralphie dashed and blinked from the spot, popping out in front of Bruno's view.
He kicked in the middle of the air, trying to ram his instep at Bruno's skull. Bruno dodged, feeling the trailing wind from Ralphie's kick spinning around. He took that moment to grab Ralphie's outstretched leg and pulled him over his shoulder.
He spun Ralphie around and hurled him in the distance like a ball. Ralphie balanced himself in the air to control his movement and pressed his feet against the wall behind him. He squatted and propelled himself back at Bruno at breakneck speed, leaving a dent in the walls.
Bruno stepped back, circling with his hands. Ralphie came dropping above with an added flip and then dove down his ankle with a prepared, powerful kick.
Bruno bent his upper body in front and blinked from the spot, causing Ralphie to drive his heel into the ground and lift up another whirlwind that swirled in the air and pulsed through the air.
Bruno suddenly appeared in the distance but instantly blinked again and materialized behind Ralphie. He swiped with his leg, kicking obliquely, and rammed his instep into Ralphie's face. It dealt high damage and pushed Ralphie into a side roll.
Ralphie prevented himself from stopping spinning by stomping his foot on the ground, and at that moment released a powerful vibration that spread through the ground, quaking.
Bruno leaped in the air and dodged the vibrations, then vanished. Ralphie managed to detect his foe in front of him, so he instantly dropped down onto all four of his limbs and let Bruno's kick sweep above his hair.
Bruno prepared to land on the ground, but Ralphie used that opportunity to shift back around, pulled his right leg close to his stomach, and then drove it straight in the middle of Bruno's stomach, stunning him in the air.
Ralphie quickly flashed behind Bruno, when suddenly a yellow aura started flaring out from his leg. "Bright Kick." He said and rammed his sole into Bruno's back in a round motion.
When coming in contact, it burst out yellow wings of energy and shone brightly. It squeezed Bruno's back deep into his body, then sent him blasting through the air, directing him to crash into the wall, but Bruno acted and managed to wrap his hands around the streetlight, and speedily spin himself around, letting himself getting launched toward Ralphie, catching him in surprise.
Ralphie's eyes trembled, and before knowing it, he felt Bruno's foot crashing itself into his face. Its force bowed his torso back, and before he would go flying through the air, Bruno used that same foot to bounce away from Ralphie and dropped to the ground in the distance.
That's when Ralphie ended up getting crashed into the building and demolished the wall. Bruno landed with a squat, but stood back up and put his hands in his pockets. "I'll admit. Your kicks are strong, but it's not enough." Leandre and Nicole were caught in surprise as they saw Ralphie's body lying inside. He had his neck leaned on the torn piece, his blonde hair hiding his two eyes.
He was bleeding from his face and had scratched visible. Ralphie exhaled, and then slowly stood back up, the pebbles dropping behind him. He looked into Bruno's eyes and grinned. "Thanks for the compliment." Ralphie turned serious, and suddenly yellow energy started waving around him at intensity.
Kou and Koume continued observing the battle. "Kou... I'm not sure if your captain can defeat Niklas. If he can't use that forbidden technique that Niklas is exploiting, then he's in trouble." But Koume, who was bothered, noticed that Kou wasn't worried. "No, Tim will figure it out. He'll fight until he figures out, and he's the last person you'll see breaking promises."
Tim stepped forward, and orange flames expanded around him, circling and swallowing him whole. He unleashed exploding fire from his soles and launched himself through the air at great speed.
He phased out of the fire, his right arm burning, and raised his chest. His mouth shook and dropped down to attack, when he punched forward with his burning face, aiming to hit Niklas' face. Niklas vanished from the spot, and Tim crashed his weight into the ground, punching the ground.
He provided an insane amount of pressure when it came in contact with the ground, it erupted the flames in the air. "Damn it!" Tim angrily swooped around and punched from the distance.
He unleashed a fire fist that darted toward Niklas, but before it would strike him, he raised his fingers and raised a pillar of shadow energy that absorbed the flames and mixed itself and it into a weak explosion.
Niklas vanished from the spot and teleported in front of Tim. His right leg was enveloped with its armoring, and the next moment he kneeled Tim into the stomach. Tim's stomach was squashed as if he was getting squeezed alive and in the next moment, he was sent rocketing through the air.
Niklas's right arm was surrounded by a shadowy tentacle, and just then he released it forward. It sped through the air like a rope, and then it immediately wrapped around Tim's body, stopping him from getting knocked further.
Niklas pulled his arm back and dragged Tim back toward the ground. Tim, even if he tried to break through, wasn't successful. The tentacle smashed him into the ground like a wrecking ball through a wall. It quaked the ground, cracking it.
The tentacle unwrapped itself off Tim's body and disappeared into black liquid. They waited for the dust cloud to dissipate and observed Tim crawling up with his arms, coughing out saliva.
Tim raised his head, revealing the fury which he kept inside. "You're really annoying with that ability of yours." Tim supported his weight with his palms pressed on the floor.
Tim picked himself up, holding his right arm that was hanging below his knees. He lowered his head, and slightly glimpsed at his arm. "I was worried about this. I shouldn't continue releasing flames from my right arm. That will just worsen the situation, but I can't fight with just one arm, and something's odd about his ability." Tim believed, making sure that others didn't hear him. "Whenever he uses his immunity, he doesn't disperse into essence like fire, water, or lightning. He's making sure that at least a tiny part of his body is acting as if he's trying not to disperse himself entirely." He was picturing it.
"When I do it, I can easily spread myself into a single fire and don't need to worry about how much of my body is revealed. Could he be lying about his ability being of the elemental essence, and has some other trick he does to make my attacks miss?" Tim stepped forward and smiled. "He might not actually be immune, and I might not need to worry about finding some sort of another way.
"He could be just shifting his body at the right second to make it look like his abilities are of elemental essence. He could be connecting them aftward as if he has control over his own body, different from me, whose body is mostly immune when I make it happen. I think I should try to test it out, and use more speed to see. If I'm correct, and he's actually controlling his body, then attacking him before he could shift is what I'll do." He ended, then stood up straight.
He reached in front of his jacket, and pulled it off, throwing it to the side. He positioned himself into his "front-limb-back-step offense position", then shared out a solemn face. Niklas noticed Tim's sudden pressure increase and twitched for a moment. "Hey, Niklas!" Tim's voice reverberated throughout. "I think I figured you out."
Niklas was puzzled. "Figured me out? Do you hear what you're saying? You're practically claiming that you found a weakness that you could use without knowing the forbidden technique of armory." Tim held on to his unfazed look. "Yeah, I did. It's simple. Your ability has nothing to do with the elemental essence, you're merely deceiving your opponents by controlling the shadow in your body and doing it at the perfect time when you get attacked. You're trying to trick me."
When Tim stated those words, Niklas' mouth shook from annoyance but quickly masked it behind a calm expression. "I have no such ability." He claimed. Tim smiled, and spit on the floor. "We'll see."
To be continued...