(A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER...)
Su's eyes were closed and she entered a profound state of unconsciousness. She felt as though she was actively drowning in a crystal-clear sea and has no power to stop it.
"I am trying my best! Why isn't it working!" These words echoed around her.
"Where am I?" She spoke weakly.
"It hurts, It's frustrating,"
"Did I lose?"
"I am weak! I can't keep my promise to you."
"Whose voice is that?"
"I can't protect anyone. I have failed you papa."
"Oh, that's mine. The self-loathing. I guess I actually did lose. No matter how far I go, there will always be a wall I can't overcome. I thought I had made peace with that. I thought I was going to give my all regardless of that fact and move on with my head held high...So why do I feel this pathetic? Why do these words echo in my head?"
From behind her, a faint yellow light emerged, illuminating the entire space she was falling into.
"I also have a goal to fulfill and I don't care how many people or demons I'll have to take down to achieve it."
She now had a vivid recollection of Kris repeating these things. She blinked open her eyes. As the light continued to get increasingly stronger behind her, her fingers started to fold.
"But that's wrong. The end never justifies the means. Going down that path would only make you lose yourself. It's straight up dumb to give yourself excuses in order not to feel bad about hurting someone. What's wrong is obvious, so why go through that stress?" A memory of Oumar talking to her flashed through her mind and her eyes opened a bit more. The yellow light began to sink into her body and her fists clenched.
"Even when you are forging your own path, never forget to show kindness to the people you meet along the way." The voice of her father echoed.
"Papa?" She spoke in surprise and her body was suddenly standing upright as she was staring at an energy form of her father.
"Yes my little one."
"How are you... Why are you...?"
"I am always with you..." He pointed at her and the base of her chest glowed.
"My core..." She chuckled as tears trickled down her face.
"You've been through a lot. I am so proud of you."
"It's not enough. He's strong. I don't think I can beat him."
"Then are you going to give up? Strength is more than what you have physically. It's more from what you are willing to stand for, what you are willing to fight for and what you are willing to protect. Ideology, Morals and Creed" The energy form of her father touched her face with a smile. Her body began to glow as the yellow light sunk into her.
"Now go." He spoke finally before dissipating.
Tears rolled down her eyes as she kept a smile. "I have my Ideology to stand for, my morals to fight for and my creed to protect." The glow of her body reduced to the base of her chest as though power was accumulating.
"I reject that of Kris and I'll win this battle to order to prove mine!" She shouted. She and the entire area were enveloped in the energy that soared upwards.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The arena was in a deteriorated state. Deep holes, large cracks, widened gaps, scattered boulders around and a part of the wall destroyed thereby revealing the red energy barrier. Su and Kris locked eyes as Kris slowly started to stand up.
"That form... Just like back then with Abubakr," He thought to himself. A memory of Abubakr in his astral armor, and the words he said flashed, "This form is the maximum defence your cloak can grant you before it turns to a full armor. It's far stronger than anything your aura augmenting can give you."
"To think that she would reach it... Fuck, I could actually be in trouble now." Kris gulped as he lifted his guard.
Su inhaled deeply and exhaled fully. She slightly stiffened her muscles and let her energy swirl around her before soothing herself. She took a step before charging at Kris. She struck with a straight jab but something was different. She hadn't gotten any faster and her fist was calm. As she hit against Kris arm. He felt the vibration run through his body followed by the pain of the punch which was suddenly felt at every point of his body.
"What?!" A stunned Kris voiced out, then his head was rattled by two punches on his face which he didn't see nor sense, but felt the vibration course through his body before feeling same pain on his face across his body. Su followed with a high kick to his right side which he deflected but same vibration-pain phenomenon occured and soon he felt a kick to his left side which sent him spinning into the air and landing on his face. Kris coughed out as he forced himself to his feet. He fell to a knee shortly after but used his right hand to prevent himself from falling.
"What the hell is going on?" He questioned himself. He heard a sound before lifting his eyes. Su was landing with a drop kick on his head. He avoided it and got to his feet. Next she followed with a palm strike which he deflected but felt the same vibration-pain phenomenon. Instinctively he ducked and faintly saw Su's second strike pass above him. She suddenly hit his face with a knee, which propelled him into the air. She grabbed his leg as he started to rise, whirled him around, slammed him face first onto the ground, then slammed his back to the ground and repeated the process three times before throwing him into the air.
She lunged after him with her energy spiralling around her fist. She smashed it into his chest and it dug deep. His ribs cracked, his eyes sunk, he coughed out blood followed by his breath seizing before he was launched through a boulder and into a hole in the ground. Kris couldn't breathe and the vibration-pain phenomenon still occured, therefore he felt the exact pain at every single point of his body. He struggled to place his hands on his chest then pumped himself with red energy in order to expand his chest and air flowed in.
He coughed out in relief just to see Su coming in with a "superman punch." He squealed before creating a blast from his hands and feet which propelled him out of the hole just before her fist could hit him. There was a large tremor as her energy tore cracks from the point of impact and spread to the surface. Kris landed beside a boulder and rolled behind it. He needed to catch his breath.
"Damn. Any punch she gives transfers a vibration which carries the pain across my body. Because of the lag between the vibration and pain, my mind gets distracted long enough for her to land more blows which I wouldn't be able to detect since my brain is busy processing the other pain. That's quite the cheat Su..." Kris rested his head as he took quick breaths.
"Is that your idea of hiding?" Su asked and Kris noticed that she was hovering in the air by releasing energy like thrusters from her hands and feet.
"Shit..." Kris gave a defeated smile as Su dropped to punch him. He rolled out of the way but as she got to the boulder, she touched it lightly and used it to change her direction towards him. He shrieked as she closed in with a kick but he dodged by tilting backwards. As she landed, she turned sharply towards him and drove in with a flurry of quick attacks, some piercing his cloak but none being decisive as Kris kept dodging with full concentration.
"I can't block or deflect her attacks and since she seems to have gotten a bit slower, dodging her attacks will be my best option. I can do that while constantly utilizing my full speed but it won't last. I don't have the stamina to continue this." Kris thoughts ran through his mind.
While concentrating intensely to dodge Su's attack, Kris stepped into a wide crack that sunk his leg then holds it in place
"Huh?!" he remarked.
"Finally," Su smirks as she thrusted at his face.
He gritted his teeth and formed an energy blast which he launched at Su to counter her punch, however, it resulted in him forcefully propelling himself out of the crack. As he landed, his leg slipped and he began falling into a deep hole behind him. Su, who had jumped into the air earlier, swooped down with both feet and slammed into Kris' chest which pushed him to the base of the hole. Kris screamed out in pain as his eyeball shrunk. Su crouched a bit and looked at him with an expressionless face before she used his body as a lever to push herself into the air, she spun then dropped with her knees onto his guts shattering his cloak on impact. Kris squealed until his voice vanished. She picked him up by squeezing onto his bandages. Her fist got soaked in his blood and he looked barely conscious. She sighed and in that slight moment her guard seemed to have dropped, Kris released an energy wave which pushed her back a few steps. As he landed, He created energy blasts at his feet which shot him high up into the air.
"Tchh..." Su hissed but as she was about to move, The entire hole glowed red, and that was followed by a large explosion which shot a beam of red energy upwards that Kris barely avoided before falling onto a boulder. The boulder cracked and he fell through it and onto the floor. After a short while, the aftermath of the explosion settled. Su walked out of it unscathed. She reached the edge of the hole and dusted her astral armor. She looked at Kris then smirked. Kris stood with his body wobbling before he was able to gain his footing. His injuries had reopened fully and his body was drenched in blood and sweat which were dripping. He was feeling dizzy and was only standing due to his will power.
AT THE VIP, section.
"This battle will soon reach its climax. In all honesty, anyone else would have been defeated, but Kris' extraordinary physical toughness has enabled him to survive. Louis, I could wind up winning this bet if things keep going this way." Elizabeth sighed.
"It's not over until it's over. Agreed Kris doesn't seem like he can continue, but his face doesn't show any sign of giving up. When pushed to the edge, the real monsters in us get unleashed."
"Hmph..."
A sudden energy pool was felt in the hall. Its significance was understood by every full-fledged source soldier. The portal's energy surge. The fact that it was ready to begin expanding signified that... THE BLOOD MOON HAD APPEARED IN THE SKY.
"Louis, you handle things here. I'll be taking command at the base."
"Sure." Louis smirked.
Elizabeth and every full-fledged source soldier present left the hall with silent quick steps. To the average human, it would look like they suddenly vanished.
"Now then." Louis tapped his feet on the ground and white energy surrounded the exterior of the hall covering it in a dome. The energy began to blend with the environment till it cloaked the entire hall and made it invisible. It also hid the presence of everyone within. To anything outside, it's as though the hall didn't exist.
"Now this will be secure enough and they can finish their battle uninterrupted. For a demon to even sense us, It would have to be very powerful. I wonder if I'll see a demon worth my time in Egypt." Louis chuckled. He gazed at the stage and saw Kris charging energy spheres in his hands.
"At least you are still willing to fight. Entertain me more, Kris"
BACK ON THE stage,
"If her defense is that tough, then I guess I am limited to only flash shots. If they don't work... tchh." Kris bit his lower lip as he thought to himself. He released an energy field to surround him. From the energy in his hands, he formed flash shots on each finger. He placed his palms together which merged every single one of them to the tip of his middle fingers while he folded his fingers till his hands had a gun like outlook. The sphere began to deepen in colour and morphed into a bullet. Suddenly he noticed that Su wasn't infront of him. Her fist came from the side but the energy field resisted her punch just enough for him to react from his shock. He dodged the punch and then a few others from her before taking a big leap onto an elevated portion of the stage.
"Eat this!" He shot the bullet at Su. It smashed into her armor and pushed her a few meters back. It created a dent on her astral armor. The moment she realized it, she tried to grab the bullet.
"Damn... not enough power." Kris hissed before clenching his fist which caused it to explode just before she could touch it. Kris took heavy breaths as he watched the dust cover rise.
"My energy has gotten too weak due to the damage I have taken. I should have finished her off earlier. Right now, my body won't last long. " As Kris was about berating himself suddenly the words of Oumar flashed through his mind.
"Everything strong about you comes from within."
"From within... My body feels weak but my core isn't necessarily producing a weaker source energy. Could it be?" His eyes widened as he looked at his right hand.
The explosion had relaxed and Su was standing on her feet. There was a slight crack on her astral armor. She glared at Kris and launched at him. Kris burst out energy from his body. He pointed his left palm at her and hastingly, his energy began to converge at his left hand, forming energy blast which he fired at her like a gattling gun. Su was dodging them till Kris basically led her to a point which had deep cracks and gullies around. Su lifted her hands to tank the incoming blasts. The continuous barrage prevented her from doing anything else as she held her ground.
"When releasing source energy from the body, one basically drags it from the core to the surface, scattering it through the pores. During my special training for the graduation ceremony, I asked James why the energy felt different on the surface than it did when it flowed within the body. He mentioned that once it scatters through the pores of your body, it loses part of its potency, invariably becoming weaker. But that problem was solved through constant augmenting. If everyone has the potential to produce stronger energy, looking at how the astral armor energy is greater than the cloak form and the real armor energy is greater than that of the astral armor. Then it all boils down to how much potency is lost through the scattering from the body's pores." Kris thought rushed in as he began piecing information through his experiences together.
His heart rate began to increase and he felt a throbbing pain in his chest but he maintained the constant fire.
"If I can release the energy I want to use for attack through fewer pores, then I can maximize its potency." Kris coughed out stopping his barrage. Su used that slight opportunity to close in on him. She charged her fist and cut through his energy field while aiming for his face.
"Don't get too full of yourself!" Kris yelled as he shot an energy blast through his index finger. Su's eyes widened as the blast connected to her just as her fist was an inch away from Kris' nose. The force from her fist sent Kris through the elevated ground while the blast pushed Su for a bit before engulfing her and turning into a large sphere. It lifted her into the air and exploded. releasing a ring of red energy around the explosion. The crowd could not hold their excitement cause the explosion looked like a mini saturn, but just red. They yelled out praises.
As the explosion dissipated, Su was seen dropping head first to the ground. Everyone gasped as she looked as though she had been knocked out. Moments before she reached the ground, she streteched out her right hand and as she touched the ground, she flipped back onto her feet. Her body was shivering and she had visible cracks on her chest region. She coughed out blood as she went down to a knee.
"Even in that defeated state, he can still release such heavy blasts? He's dangerous. I have to finish this soon." Su mused to herself.
Kris held his right arm in pain and screamed out. It felt as though everything (bones, muscles, tissues, cells) were hammered with a hot iron.
"It worked but the drawback is immense! How the hell does Oumar handle this pain?" As he squeezed through the unbearable pain, a glint of realization hit him. "Does Oumar even feel any pain? Judging from when he used this method to punch the sphere, he was mostly unfazed. There must be something I did wrong or something he did that I didn't do. Remember Kris, what was so different?" Kris began to slowly rise to his feet. His arm still ached but he persevered through it regardless. He saw Su on a knee coughing. He looked at the damage she had incured and noticed it didn't match the reaction she was displaying.
"Now everything makes sense. I questioned why, ever since you obtained your astral armor, you fought without hurling energy blasts. It wasn't because you were overconfident; rather, it was because the earlier damage to your body never fully recovered. Su, you're also past your limits, aren't you?"
"That's quite the assumption Kris."
"You've been trying not to waste any moves or do anything that will be too heavy on your body. Because your remaining stamina wouldn't support it"
"Tchh..."
"It doesn't matter whether or not you admit it. The battle will expose you."
"Assuming I don't knock you down first. As long as I avoid heavy attacks like the last one. I will be the one claiming victory."
Kris took in deep breaths and closed his eyes. "I still have one more card to play." He opens his eyes and burst out a towering amount of red energy and began to spin it violently.
"This is..." Su gasped.
"Yeah... The double cloak form."
"Are you insane? Your body can't handle a double cloak as it is. It would be the same as throwing the match."
"Funny story, the last person that said same thing got buried under my fist."
The double cloak was formed and Kris stood visibly shivering with a smirk on his face. He clenched his fist and stared at Su.
"You FOOL! You aren't even putting into consideration the aftermath of this battle. What would happen to you after all that adrenaline has subsided?
"That's then. This is now. Everything I choose at this moment, is what will really matter after.... and I choose to FIGHT."
"Tchh... That makes no sense. How much more are you willing to give for your BROKEN IDEALS?!"
"Whatever it takes."