While Seth and the rest of the participants were diving through the storm, the test area was silent. The characteristic silence before the storm that approached from above.
A lot of thirio's had very sensitive ears and senses, so they had been able to hear the weird loud sound of an airplane passing above the city. And shortly after, a lot of thirios were looking to the sky, expectant.
It didn't pass too long before the first participants came out of the storm, and the thirios' primal instincts took hold of them.
The strongest and fastest were the first ones to choose a target.
On top of a particular building stood a pair of humanoid thirios. They had oval-like heads that looked almost like their whole heads were just big snouts with a couple of sharp and intimidating rabbit-like ears on the back. Instead of fingers, they had five long and sharp claws on each hand and their legs looked like those of a werewolf.
Their already drooling mouths slightly opened as they saw the first participants appear in the sky. Both of them chose a target as they activated instinctively their abilities, then, they glanced a glance to one another before dashing in opposite directions.
Even from such a distance, their eyes were able to see little details like the characteristical features of the participants. And, one of these humanoid thirios had fixated its gaze on a particular red-haired participant.
As he dashed through the buildings at high speed while keeping track of its prey, he licked his teeth with his tongue as his mouth started drooling even more.
"S-…trong…, t-tas… ty"
The participant opened his parachute, and a couple of seconds later, the thirio was already exactly below him standing in the middle of the street. The thirio's eyes shot wide open as his mouth drooled and opened even more, he looked like a beast who hadn't eaten in a long time.
The energy quickly flowed through his body, then, he hit the floor with both hands and a gigantic spike rose from the ground.
RUMBLE!
The whole vicinity trembled as the spike rose in the blink of an eye, while the red-haired boy's eyes opened in surprise because of the sudden appearance of the spike. He quickly used energy to strengthen his body as he channeled his ability and focused it on his arms.
He only had time to protect himself with both arms before the spike hit him and sent him against a close building.
The thirio didn't lose time as he dashed toward the building. It didn't even bother to enter as it used its claws to climb by one side. Meanwhile, inside the building, an orange light could be seen through the dust cloud generated by the boy's impact, before it dissipated. As the fire dissipated, the boy could be seen, his arm, wrapped in fire, still defensively crossed in front of him. A little trail of blood was already running down his face and his arms were trembling because of the hit.
'Sh*t, that came out of nowhere,' Jake thought as he stood up.
He reached for one of his pockets and took out a pair of bladed knuckles. At that moment, the thirio that attacked him entered through the window's hole.
"What are you? Some kind of mutated rabbit wolf?" asked Jake mockingly with a smirk, trying to hide his confusion, surprise, and nervousness. However, the thirio seemingly smirked back, showing its big fangs and drooling mouth.
'That attack could have killed me, but it purposely reduced its strength so it wouldn't. Is it trying to play with its prey?' Jake thought. His arms were still shaking from the previous impact. 'I can't let another of those attacks hit me.'
Jake channeled his ability through his body, which lit up in fire for a moment, while getting into a fighting stance. The next moment, the thirio dashed at him.
'He's fast!' Jake thought as the thirio closed the distance in the blink of an eye while slashing at him with his claws.
Clang!
Jake quickly reacted and blocked the claws and threw a punch with his free hand.
Bang!
Before the punch could connect, the thirio kicked Jake to one side, who landed against one of the walls of the room.
The thirio didn't immediately attack, leaving Jake the time to stand up again, as the thirio slowly walked to him. Jake realized he had to be the one to take the initiative and so, as he dashed forward he used his ability to create an explosion in the base of his foot.
Boom!
As a result, Jake's acceleration was literally explosive. He instantaneously closed the distance.
Boom!
He used an explosion on his other foot to accelerate an extremely fast kick. However, the thirio leaned back, dodging the kick. And kicked Jake upwards.
Bang!
The force of the kick made Jake go through the ceiling.
The thirio waited for some seconds for Jake to come down, but since he didn't appear, the thirio jumped through the ceiling's hole. As he went through the hole he was received by a fire punch. He couldn't dodge.
BOOM!
The force of the punch sent the thirio through several walls, leaving behind him several dust clouds.
Jake observed as he wiped the blood out of his mouth. Then he closed his eyes. He had to take advantage of that situation. He focused on his energy, on his ability and its observer reality. He willed the fire to wrap him, he willed for it to dance and burn around him.
Whooom!
Jake and his surroundings quickly heated up before catching up on fire. At that moment, the thirio came out of the dust cloud. Once he saw Jake who had his eyes closed, he quickly dashed toward him.
At that moment, he opened his eyes.