The smile on his father's face seemed mocking to him and he found it very annoying . He couldn't say that he had expected this battle to be easy, he had expected the worst outcome but the mocking part of it wasn't part of what he had fantasized. He hated feeling like he was weak and that was all the smile on his father's face spoke of. It was crystal clear on his face that he mocked them and they was nothing they could do about it.
He fell backwards, regrouping with Edmund, Warren and Sian. He did feel partial about his grouping of the battle but if they stood a chance against the mad tyrant, it wasn't with swords and scythes.
Their help was still needed regardless but as a secondary attack group. They would create an opening for them after tiring out their opponent.
Sian and Edmund provided cover while Harold and Warren attacked head front. Warren leapt forward, his speed drastically increased by the combined boost of he and Harold almost matching that of Alexander who this time had to take them more seriously.
He lurched forward, his Tonfas releasing several cuts of air towards the tyrant who evaded as fast as he could. It was a quadruple attack and he could barely keep up any longer. He circled himself with his casual violent air rotation, warding out all attacks while he started his own assault inside his enclosed dome.
"Not today!" Harold cried out stopping the dome with combined effort from Warren, while Edmund and Sian launched their combined combo of fire and ice towards the now accessible man.
Edmund's flames had turned blue, creating a whole different environment and power level. At the same instant, their combined had exploded the instant it reached the target, giving it a wider range and more destructive capability.
The ice from Sian's attack had spontaneously changed it's state of matter into gas providing the condition which gave way for a whole different attack altogether.
Alexander's mocking smile had suddenly vanished and a more serious expression appeared on his face. He had been taken completely unaware by Harold and Warren and was completely open to a more lethal attack that had already reached him. Acting purely on instincts, he immediately shielded himself with a ball of earth even though he didn't have enough time to enforce his defense, it was strong enough to hold while he finally covered himself completely inside the earth ball with solidified air.
The smoke cloud finally cleared out, each of them waiting to see the expression on the look of their adversary's face but as usual the demon they faced appeared even more graceful than before. Like Harold he was now afloat, his smile not as bright as it was but he still had it on him.
"That was close" He acknowledged "But I'm afraid you won't get such opportunity again"
"It's good to see you're finally taking this seriously" Harold replied flying upwards to his father's level.
"Such confidence. Why do kids always assume they know better than their parents?" Alexander questioned rhetorically.
"We're not kids and you're most certainly not a parent" Harold answered and Alexander chuckled.
"You and I are more alike than you think Harold. You're part of me and I am part of you" Alexander reminded.
Harold stopped to think about his words. He had felt no remorse whatsoever when Inferno was about to murder Nathaniel and he couldn't still figure out why. He admitted that they might be traces of evil in him but he was nothing compared to his father. This man was just pure evil, taking lives and manipulating people to do his dirty biddings while he stayed unaffected in his home.
"We're nothing alike" Harold rebuffed. "You're a monster!" He added
He flared up his malevolent aura once more his smile now more diabolical than ever.
"Prepare child, I'll show you the true power of a monster." Alexander announced before rushing forward at his son, his speed even more than before. Harold created a dome around himself which shattered on impact. The hand of the beast reaching his torso and pulling him forward before he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He had been kneed and soon he was falling from his height onto the floor but Warren had rescued him just in time.
Edmund released his new blue flames towards the approaching man who cancelled out his attacks with relative ease. He ducked low just in time to avoid a blade of air which swiped above him. Arms of earth shot out from the ground and pulled his body which was positioned perpendicular to the floor slamming him into the hard rock.
Hayley and Lucas launched forward just before the tyrant could reach Sian intercepting him mid way.
"Be gone pests" Alexander ordered launching a wave of air to clear them from his path but the two of them had dodged simultaneously.
They were completely in sync, warding off the tyrant as much as they can. Their teamwork was just undeniably good and it seemed for a while they had the upper hand, mowing down and slipping through any attack that came their way.
Obviously infuriated by the constant pestering from the duo. Alexander let out a frustrated shout before blowing them away with a shockwave. Almost immediately, Warren launched forward, bypassing the shockwave and sending the tyrant backwards with a burst of air.
Recovering midair, Alexander e released balls of earth encircled in flames towards Warren. His command over the three elements was simply superb. He unleashed each one of them as if he was born with them and had trained for ages to master the different techniques of the elements.
Warren dodged the attacks and blocked the few that were too fast to dodge. He reached the tyrant and and they both engaged in combat. He was outsped and the raw force of Alexander's attacks outmatched was just overwhelming. Even though he had more co ordination and weapon control, all didn't matter when his speed was overwhelmed and his blows weren't doing much.
Alexander levitated even before Warren could bend low commanding the earth to erupt under the attackers body just as he rose into the air.
Warren was too distracted from above expecting the next attack to come from the air but instead, the earth rose beneath him throwing him off balance and projecting him upwards towards the descending tyrant. He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, it was obvious his ribs had cracked as the tyrant stepped down on him and into the hard ground. Blood spewed out from his mouth as soon as he made contact with the ground. The earth rose him once again up to the arm level of the tyrant who sent him out of sight with an air covered fist.
Sian rushed in immediately, catching Warren before he reached the floor. She instantly built an ice wall before them as a decoy blocking the tyrant's view before she glided off from where they stood. She laid him down while he struggled to sit up.
"Sian!" He exclaimed shooting out a ball of air to stop the approaching man from reaching them. They'd been careless and had almost fallen prey to Alexander's clutches. Sian conjured out ice spikes from the air and sent them flying Alexander's way but the tyrant easily bypassed the attacks.
Alexander suddenly stopped just before an air enhanced flame flew past him. He turned around instinctively, parrying Caleb's attack with his flame engulfed blade. He countered another strike before sending the pest flying .
He caught hold of Caleb who was still in motion upwards and slammed him into the earth before covering himself with an air dome as he descended. Without wasting a second, he surged forward towards Harold and Edmund reaching them before they could react. He spun around pulling the two them towards himself with the air behind them. The two flew forward towards the tyrant who proceeded to send them into the earth with bone breaking kicks.
Taking a look around, Sian could see everybody was down apart from Lucas. Hayley had dropped down after the shockwave have hit them. She had already lost blood from her arm injury and with two consecutive blows from Alexander, she had finally gone to sleep.
Sian dropped Warren giving him a reassuring smile that she'd be alright before walking towards Lucas who had already taken a battle stance. They both smiled to themselves before walking forward towards the tyrant. She knew they stood no chance, but she wasn't planning on going down without a fight.