Rhino couldn't hide his grin as he was waiting for the chance to have a rematch ever since he came to after being knocked out by Mako that night and with each passing day, he would build even more rage and hatred toward the person known as 'Blaze', because he had robbed him of his golden opportunity.
Rhino or otherwise known as Enzo Ceros was a gifted individual who had a naturally strong physique which was quite rare to see, given the number of luxuries that completely enveloped and plagued society as a whole.
Coming from a rough childhood, fighting came naturally to him and he was one of the few people that received an ability directly from the leader of the Dark Raven. Mako had still not been given the full credit that an ability such as Mutant Rhino transformation deserves, and it was nothing more than pure luck that had allowed him to secure his victory during the battle royal.
The only problem was that Enzo's mentality was very poor, and it was the biggest reason why he was still not of the higher-ranking members of the Black Raven. With such a low mentality, it was not more than a miracle that he even was able to learn the transformation ability in the first place.
However, this was where his lucky streak ended, because, with such a low mentality, Enzo wasn't even able to learn a skill as all the moves that he had were of his own creation.
Before the battle royal, Enzo was called by the leader for a private discussion. During that discussion, the leader presented him with an amazing opportunity if he would be able to secure victory in the battle royal tournament with his son, he would help him break past his barrier and gain more strength.
Being the strongest level 3 ability user in the entirety of the Dark Raven, Enzo was more than happy to accept such a request and win the battle royal tournament, but this over-confidence was what led to his downfall because if he had just rushed Mako, he would be able to counter him, but instead, Enzo stalled for the appreciation of the crowd and this gave Mako the window of opportunity he needed and use his pills to overpower him.
Enzo would become sick in the stomach just by thinking about such a horrific defeat, and the same went for Mako. Mako hated the fact that he would call his fight against Rhino a victory since he cheated. Mako had to learn it the hard way that even though he was blessed with an amazing system, he would still have to work hard for his strength and that he is no protagonist of a fantasy novel where everything would just go his way so easily.
Mako was also hoping to fight Rhino again, but this time, he won't rely on any pills to get him through and he would fight till the end with honor.
***************
There were going to be a total of 16 matches in the second round split between 4 phases since there could only be 4 battles that can be conducted at once. The first three matches of the first phase would be boring since none of the stronger teams were chosen and all the spectators were just curious to watch Blaze and Rhino clash again.
After some time, the fighters started taking their positions in the rings and as Enzo was going past Mako and Bill toward his own position, he taunted them by saying," Once I am done with you, they will have to peel your remains off the ground!"
Mako and Bill didn't respond at all and continued with their warm-up stretches. This was the norm and Bill was used to it, but this was still relatively new for Mako and it took a while for him to become ignorant and unphased by such remarks.
Once in position, the butler came around just like always and counted down for the fight to begin.
"3...2...1.... FIGHT!" The butler yelled.
Rhino's partner stayed in his position while Rhino started charging toward them, still in his human form. This was a bit surprising for the two boys since they expected Rhino to transform straight away, but that wasn't the case.
Rhino charged toward them with his fist charged up behind him and with great speed too. Bill immediately moved and raised an earth wall to protect the two of them. As Rhino approached the wall, he didn't hesitate one bit as he unleashed his fist on the wall which came crumbling down in the next instant. The shockwave was strong that it went past the wall and still reached Bill's chest.
*Cling!*
The sound of metal being hit resounded in the ring as the shockwave struck Bill's chest. Bill was wearing his breastplate from underneath his clothes and he wanted it to be kept hidden, but the shockwave had torn through his clothes and was barely able to be stopped with the power of his Medium Tier breastplate.
Bill was knocked down to the ground but he wasn't hurt just yet. Rhino wasted no time as he cocked back his fist once again and charge toward his opponent.
While Bill took on the impact of the punch with his wall, Mako wasn't just standing around. Rather he was infusing his Fire essence into the ground and activating the same skill that helped greatly in Rhino's defeat last time. As the wall crumbled and the two boys came into view, Rhino was already aiming at them with a second punch, but then suddenly a spark emanated from under his feet.
[Flame Pillar has been activated]
A pillar of fire erupted from the ground to envelop Rhino's body and he was immobilized for a couple of seconds while the fire dealt damage to him. Mako helped Bill get back on his feet by grabbing him by his shoulder and raising him up. While Rhino was still burning, Bill made a blunt earth spike erupt from the ground, sending both him and Mako a couple of feet back into the air creating distance between them.
The Flame pillar got deactivated the next moment and Rhino was still standing strong. There were a couple of char marks on his body and steam was also coming off of him, but he didn't seem to have taken much damage at all. Rhino was slowly opening his eyes again searching for his opponents once more when Rhino's partner suddenly shouted from the back.
"There on your left side, close to the boundary of the ring! Come on! Don't you want to take back what you lost?!" The partner shouted while his eyes also started glowing blue.
A wave of soothing energy washed over Rhino as while his partner said some encouraging words, his eyes also started glowing blue. Mako and Bill were a safe distance away, the first thing that Mako did was to see what was up with the blue glowing eyes.
'Analyze'
[Profile: Liam Pittsburg]
[Ability: Determination (Level 2)] ⓘ
[An emotional manipulation ability as this ability allows the user to be able to produce chemicals that affect the hormones of the targeted person, such that their emotions can be manipulated. The affected person can have a wave of determination wash over them, and give them a certain amount of boost in attributes, depending on how strong the ability is.]
'OHH, SH*T! That could be troublesome!' Mako thought as he planned his next moves very carefully.
While using Analyze on Liam, Mako's gaze also landed on Rhino, and nothing had changed in his attributes at all, but the shocking thing that back discovered is that Rhino was wearing power armor underneath his pants and shoes. Rhino was wearing two pieces of High Tier armor which was why he was so much stronger than before, and he didn't even transform at this point.
Taking a closer look, Mako decided to check the stats on the two pieces of armor.
'Analyze'
[High Tier Lion Slug Leg Armor] ⓘ
[A durable chest armor forged from the crystal and flesh of the Lion Slug found in (Unknown). A poor quality armor forged by (Unknown)]
[Fortitude +10]
[Agility +10]
[Defense: 50]
[High Tier Lion Slug Boots] ⓘ
[A durable chest armor forged from the crystal and flesh of the Lion Slug found in (Unknown). A poor quality armor forged by (Unknown)]
[Fortitude +5]
[Agility +15]
[Defense: 50]
They weren't of the highest quality or gave great attribute boost but they did provide additional speed and defense which were the two weaknesses that Rhino had.
Just as Mako was finished analyzing his opponents and figuring out their strategy, he heard a roar from none other than Rhino as he was screaming at the top of his lungs while his body started to bloat and change color.
Rhino was about to fully transform into the Mutant Rhino and with the additional boost he would receive from his armor and ability as well as the boosts his partner's ability would provide, it was safe to say that Mako and Bill would be facing their strongest opponent yet and both of them weren't confident that they would win, but they had no choice other than to face him.
A lot was riding on this fight for both teams as neither could quit even if they wanted to, so the only other logical solution would be to fight till the last second. The two boys gave each other a nod as they prepared to go all out against this strong and formidable opponent.