Right now what the others were looking at was Erwin and some strange boy squaring up against each other. And the odd thing was it seemed Blair just stood there watching along with some other boy they had no idea of. Running towards where the fight was about to take place, they were determined to come to the aid of Erwin. But as they arrived, surprisingly they weren't allowed to go through to meet Erwin.
And the one who stopped them gave them even more of the shock.
"Blair, get out of the way. He needs our help!" Corey tried to force himself through Blair. But the other was just to quick and instantly was in the way of Corey.
This behavior just didn't make sense to them at all. And at that point, Johan was prepared to knock Blair over if it meant that would secure him access to go have a look at what was happening.
"Damn, are they all always like this?" Luke the one with the red pattern on his hair questioned. And to this remark Blair had just turned and gave a slight shrug with a nervous laugh. And then he turned to the others with his arms wide apart seemingly in an attempt to block out their path to Erwin.
"Calm down guys!!. You are just making the same mistake Erwin made!" Blair tried to shout the words into their ears as at this point it appeared to him that they weren't paying attention to what the other was saying were too focused on what was happening at the front.
"Just what are you going on about?. You mean to tell me you are afraid of one guy?!!" Blaze said clearly disgusted by Blair's behavior. To her, she perceived fear from Blair and that somewhat infuriated her. Why this was so though wasn't really clear. Perhaps because Blair had somewhat portrayed himself to be brave and fearless to her. Well on most occasions, because on many occasions he had proved certain things do frighten him a lot.
"No, will you all trust me and just relax?!" Blair said and was now frustrated himself. Now seeing the look of seriousness on his face, they were keen on listening now. Well that didn't stop the looks that said "I think he has lost it" that they all gave him. But nonetheless, he went on to explain the situation at hand.
"This is just a spar between Erwin and Shaw!!" Blair said face palming himself almost trying to insinuate that the others were idiots not to pick up on this or at the very least ask. But thinking back to how a certain person reacted similarly to this exact scenario, he was forced to understand why they were so.
The trauma from the experiences they have had made them hyperactive. They were all on the edge and ready to throw down the moment they sensed danger. This was only natural considering they all happened to be kids whose lives have been close to be cut short countless times in such a short amount of time. The strange thing in itself was usually, occurrences like this would tempt one to run and save themselves at the sight of danger. But in this case, they had somehow developed this all for one and one for all pack like mentality for one another.
And this trait didn't go unnoticed by Luke. Not like he was missing the kind of bond he saw Corey and his colleagues share. But in fact, he admired it in a way. It was like they were all acting like twins. As this sort of behavior reminded him of how he and his brother would always have each other's backs.
"Okay, so Erwin is sparring with a total stranger that we all can't TRUST" Corey made sure to convey his displeasure at the last part. Now Blaze and Johan both had their arms crossed and were both staring at Blair. This was a look that Blair was familiar with by now. They would give him this look on occasions when they thought he hadn't done well.
"Come on guys...." Blair said face palming himself as he had no words to say to them. Something that was sort of a first for him.
"Strangers?.. We are not strangers..." Luke said but paused mid sentence as he had fierce eyes puncturing holes through his body." Errr excuse me.." Luke felt the need to be polite. "I mean we helped saved you all yesterday in the fight with the demon. Surely it's fine if you don't remember, I mean we didn't remember most of the things that happened before we got to level ten.." Luke was going to in but was cut short.
"Wait, you two are twins right?" Eiko said with eyes glowing almost like something had clicked in his head. The others seeing the excitement on his face made their skin cringe a bit. The look on his face was a perfect depiction of a mad scientist that had hit a breakthrough.
"Uhmm....Yeah" Luke responded not sure why Eiko would ask. To him it was pretty obvious that they were twins. Aside the different hair pattern, not much could be said to differentiate one from the other. They had the same body lenght as well as width. They were basically spitting images of one another.
"Guyssss... Don't you get it?.." Eiko said with excitement " I mean I knew something was oddly wrong about the entire scenario that played out yesterday. I just couldn't place my hands on what it was. But now I know, the serpent beast, the monkey like beast as well, those were all your doing and that other guy who happens to want to rip my friends chest off" Eiko explained excitedly.
Piecing puzzles gave him such a thrill that he had almost disregarded the situation on ground. While the others would have taken their time admiring Eiko's brilliance, they had more concerning issues at hand. As right now, since the whole situation had been cleared and everyone understood what was happening, Blair had moved out of the way and now they were watching Erwin and Shaw go at it.
Erwin running forward with a fist full of lightning swung his arm out. But before it could even hit Shaw, the other had dodged beneath the blow making it hit nothing but air. Then ascending from beneath Erwin he launched a perfectly placed punch that collided with Erwin's jaw. The other's witnessing this almost instinctively had their hands on their jaw as the upper cut was insane mere watching.
But to shaw and those that were watching surprise, Erwin had remained on his feet. The only thing that happened was his head had been knocked back. They all thought for sure that Erwin was going to fall but he hadn't. Well the next move from Shaw ensured that he would. As he bent to his knees and had his hands placed on the ground. Then with one leg stretched out towards Erwin, he performed a sweeping kick that displaced Erwin.
*Thud*.
Erwin fell on his back and before he could even catch his breath, Shaw was right on top of him. He jumped up to the air and came down with a paw swipe. Yes, his hands were now transformed and looked large with sharp pointed claws sticking out of it. The claws were heading towards Erwin's chest but he had managed to roll out of the way. Then he quickly got up and picked Shaw off the ground driving him to hit a tree.
"Err guys, this looks more like an all out war to me" Johan aired his concerns and the others were not opposing this at all. But two other people felt otherwise about the entire thing. Luke for the most part just had a smile on his face.
"Hahaha...I know you, this has to be pay back for what he made you pass through" Luke thought to himself with a smile. While on the other hand, Blair had a different thought running through his mind.
"Come on Erwin, don't let me down. You are the strongest out of us that I know, you won't allow this guy beat you, i know it" Blair said and had an even more fierce look on his face than those that were actually doing the fighting.
"Erwin is outmatched, the other guy's movements seem more fluid and even in terms of strength, he is stronger" Eiko made his deduction from the short fight he had witnessed. Of course this ruffled a few feathers and in particular, Blair was not a fan of this comment.
Now holding on to Erwin's hands, Shaw attempted to somewhat open the arms wrapped around him as Erwin squeezed hard on his abdomen and would continue driving him to trees. With his beast like hands, his biceps muscles grew larger and the growth wasn't only noticed in size. Erwin who had his secure grip around Shaw could feel the sudden increase in power as well. And moments later he could feel his grip loosening slowly as look powered through and unwound his hands.
"That's it!" Erwin said and immediately sparks shot out of his hands tossing Shaw back. Then Erwin not wasting any time rushed forward as he saw shaw getting up. And with a lightning charged fist he hopped into the air with his fist drawn back and swung down aiming to end the fight that moment.
Things would eventually turn out the opposite way as his hands were knocked off mid swing. And now Erwin could see Shaw's right hand was almost like the size of his lap. While his right hand was so, the left hand had reduced considerably to its normal size. Then with the large hand Shaw grabbed Erwin by the neck and held him up against a tree. And with his other hands he had sharp claws pointed at Erwin's face.
"You win" Erwin said .
Shaw let go off Erwin's neck and turned his hands back to normal. Then he stretched his hands out and offered a handshake to Erwin, "You're good" Shaw said with his hands out. Erwin nodded his head and accepted the hand shake. Now they both walked back to where the others stood looking at what had just transpired.
*Bing*
[Quest to grow stronger]
[Daily quest available]
•Do 100 push ups•
-status: completed-
•Lift a weight of 50 kilograms•
-status: completed-
•Run 500 meters•
-Status completed-
[Rewards received]
-5 free stat points-
"Alright" Erwin said inwardly with a smile after seeing this. And all through he had his eyes fixed on Shaw who walked in front. "This isn't over" Erwin murmured with a smile.