AN: Hey everyone, a slightly bigger chapter with a fun surprise near the end! I hope it will be enough for you as I will most likely only be able to give you a 1/2 chapter tomorrow. IDK, I may end up doing more if I have the time as writing fight scenes is fun.
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"Man, I can't believe I was sent out for something like this again, especially with this weather. Though… I wouldn't mind returning the favor after you killed Nobunaga." Pulling one of his hands out of the pockets of his sweatpants Phanks boldly strode straight towards us as his aura loudly exploded out of his body before jerking back toward his body as he reigned it into his control.
Soon, when he reached the ground he swung his arm out to his side before looping the arm in circles. And with every repetition more aura began to collect in a spiraling torrent centered on his fist. However, Unlike the last time I saw this attack he continued to build power as he approached me at a casual pace.
'Fucking hell' seeing that I could no longer be passive or react in this confrontation less his strength eclipses what I am capable of dealing with I ran forward from the center of the arena toward Phanks as I began to reinforce the front face of my body as I began to increase the tolerance of this instance of my Hatsu as I came before him.
*Bwoooosh* Receiving the blow right on my nose, I was shocked by the sheer power that weathered my defenses. Normally I would be able to afford to take a fraction of the damage to focus on sapping the energy behind the attack to store for later use. Except, in this case, I had to channel all of the attacks behind me as I would wager even a small amount of that attack could have very well crippled me.
*tap* kicking away from the ground to put some distance between the two of us I took the opportunity to calm myself down as I would wager that I was sweating bullets. Unfortunately, I was being pelted with rain so I would never be able to confirm that.
*bang* constructing a gauntlet that covered my arm and a portion of my chest as I sent an uppercut toward my opponent. Meanwhile, using my left hand with a surprising amount of dexterity slipped under my coat and unsheathed my knife whilst Phanks countered my attack with one of his own.
Controlling my Hatsu with much more finesse than just a week before, I constantly shifted the state of my armored shell as I controlled it like an exoskeleton. Granting me a dexterity I would otherwise fail to achieve on my own.
Using the force from the most recent trading of blows I rocketed my arm carrying the knife around as I attempted to spear him with the knife. Though much like the uppercut it didn't do much as he grabbed my wrist with his other hand that was now free of his pocket before he used his other hand to send a nen-enhanced strike straight to my stomach that would have normally sent me flying a few feet back had he not held onto my wrist.
*bam* * bam* *bam* Taking the opportunity he began to wail at me with his aura-coated fist as I struggled to keep my focus on tanking the attacks despite I had the wind knocked out of me beforehand. Though looking on the bright side these were "only" Nen-enhanced strikes and were not his Hatsu.
*BANG* creating a concussive force centered around the hand he held onto I managed to wrest back my hand from him. Pushing the slight initiative I carved out for myself as he staggered back, I sent a flurry of knife strikes toward him as I attempted to corner him.
*crack* *shoom* Yet my attacks did not meet flesh, instead carving through a layer of brick and plaster as a building sprung into existence between the two of us. So I instead crashed through the wall like the koolaid man as I looked around for my opponent in the dust generated by my abrupt entrance.
*BWOOM* But then I got launched out of the side building when I was punched in the side of the head as I skid across the asphalt back toward the center area of the arena.
"Uggghh…. Someone get the lisenshe plate of the truch that hit me!" shakily getting up I groaned as I dazedly stared at the house I just came from, except it was rotated from the last look I got of it.
'Ah, after I entered the house it spun placing the bastard to my side to knock me in the side of the head.' shaking the dust and rubble out of my hair that was now freely hanging on my face as it wasn't tucked in my now missing hat.
"Sorry I wasn't able to assist you then, I sensed the presence of a normal person and tried to prevent them from interfering as they just did earlier. It seems we will be at a terrain disadvantage as long as this person remains…" calling over to me was Melody, who was busy trying to navigate the living mass of brick, concrete, and rebar that was doing everything to prevent her from advancing toward what I could only assume was the location of the Hatsu user.
"Alright, I guesh I'lll… fucken *sigh*" continuing to slur my words I held my head as I tried to ignore my awful state. While I did not take any abrasions by sliding across the pavement like a hockey puck I did get my head rattled around a fair bit.
Moving back toward the house and the approaching figure walked out of the house, giving me a slight boost in my mood as I saw him scowling at me as he rubbed his head a bit. I guess taking a concussive blast in your face without any protection will do that to you.
*boom* dashing toward him I molded the aura coating my hand into sharpened talons seeing as I lost my knife once more after being launched away earlier. Running forward to meet him in another trade of blows I aimed to spear him in the chest as it seemed to work well enough in my past fights.
*crack* But my attack did not reach as I was crushed into the ground below me as he slammed me into the ground before he pinned me in the ground underneath his foot.
"Tsk… you gave me one damn headache, and that really pissed me off you know? I suppose this is my fault as I didn't end this earlier than I should have, but I'll still enjoy taking out my frustration on you bastard!" grinning viciously at me from above he began to wind his arm with a speed he had not demonstrated before as an insane amount of power began to visibly build and dye my vision in a bright yellow glow.
'Shit, Shit, SHIT!' staring up at the incoming attack my mind drew blank as I tried to think of anything I could to worm my way out of this, I overextended my energy reserves when I tried to spear him just moments earlier and I took all the incoming energy from the attack to enhance my own instead of storing it.
'I don't think I can take this, the amount of aura required to negate this is an amount I wouldn't have at my peak state. I don't have anything to counter this… right now that is.' watching as the fist began to viscously pull back as he stood over me I got a spark of inspiration as I stood at death's door.
'Condition and vow…' recalling everything I could about Nen and how I wished to develop my powers in the future I quickly cast aside my long-term plans as I felt a slight shift in my power.
*zzt* in what seemed to be a snail's pace as the attack sped toward me, arcs of small lightning washed over my body as my Hatsu coating transformed from an amorphous blob of aura into a structured bug-like exoskeleton that wrapped arrow-like fingers around my limbs as an armored helmet formed around my head as my dazed and laid out body was locked in place.
'20th-century boy…' feeling a slight smirk appear on my face as I stared at the bright encompassing light covering my vision I felt a tidal wave of relief wash over me as I didn't even feel a thing as I heard the loud cacophony of the mass destruction that attack caused. After the sound died out, I devolved my Hatsu into its energy form as I stood up in the middle of a crater.
*whistle* "wow… the staple of any anime fight, getting out of a crater unphased by a big ass attack!"