"How can those 3 idiots be so strong without the aid of their Guides?" Lonely Pussycat couldn't fully fathom the raw physical prowess of the Drunken Brats, however, not once did she think that she could lose.
"They only caught us by surprise that's all." Admitted Lioon Belt boastfully. "That fat turtle is mine. I will repay him for making me look bad earlier by retreating."
"Leave that handsome one to me." Zukin Bird smirked at Xuan Li. "I'm going to tear his smooth beautiful skin apart."
"Then that leaves me with the Dark-Human. He doesn't amount to much." This was Lonely Pussycat's deduction after observing the Drunken Brats' combat prowess.
"They look like they are ready to tear us to pieces." Stated Sugar Bun. "My strength might have increased drastically, but I'm certain it won't be enough to defeat them now that they are going to take us seriously."
"Sugar Bun is right." Xuan Li agreed while glancing at Dam Son. "Dark-Human, when are you going to release that thing, is it not ready yet?"
Looking down at his clenched fist, Dam Son felt the surge of Natural Verb Force rousing to the surface. "I can do it now. All I need is one strike to knock them all out at once. Can you 2 set that up for me?"
"I will try my best."
"Me too."
Sugar Bun and Xuan Li agreed to aid Dam Son's plan. If they managed to succeed then they would have won their first official battle at the Page Coliseum.
Getting tired of waiting around, the Claw Slicers rushed the Drunken Brats with baleful intensity. Xuan Li and Sugar Bun dashed in separate directions to garner the attention of Zukin Bird and Lioon Belt respectively.
"Get those two!" Lonely Pussycat commanded her allies to give chase to the fleeing brats as she leapt directly at Dam Son. "Rising Paw!" A deadly upper slash almost took Dam Son's head clean off had it not been for his sapphire suitcase which guarded him abruptly.
"Suit attack!" Dam Son issued an attack of his own. With his sapphire suitcase in hand, he mimicked Xuan Li's evasive technique to gain a metre distance away from Lonely Pussycat. Soon after he got clear, he extended the handle of his sapphire suitcase that slammed directly into Lonely Pussycat's midriff.
"Ahh! You abomination! You'll pay for this!" Feeling irate, Lonely Pussycat summoned 3 Powered Scripts from her Guide and activated them simultaneously.
[Basic Word Augmented Script: Speed] (Activated) –25(APL)
[Basic Word Augmented Script: Weapon Enhance] (Activated) –25(APL)
[Basic Word Mage Script: Wind Bubble x2] (Activated) –60(APL)
"What is she up to?" Not knowing what was about to happen, Dam Son retreated several more steps to observe. He witnessed Lonely Pussycat activating 3 types of Powered Scripts. One that boosted the velocity of her gauntlets; one that enhanced the durability of her Augmented Weapon, and one that produced 2 rotating balls of wind beneath her feet. The Wind Bubbles helped with her adroit mobility across the stage.
"Your dead meat little mouse!" Screaming at Dam Son, Lonely Pussycat began unleashing all that she had on him from multiple angles. Her attacking pace was so fast that it created a huge smokescreen across the stage.
Being able to only defend against the impactful assaults swarming him from all angles, Dam Son felt the rocky texture of his skin getting chipped away very swiftly. He had to endure it for now, at least until Sugar Bun and Xuan Li got in position.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! How do you like me now dark rodent!" Lonely Pussycat became elated by how easily she was destroying Dam Son's avatar. The referee watching offstage wondered if he should intervene and stop the match, but after he consulted the judges, he decided to let the battle continue.
"Come on guys, where are you? I don't know how much longer I can withstand these heavy assaults." Due to the rising smokescreen obscuring his vision, Dam Son couldn't ascertain clearly the whereabouts of his teammates. It was at that crucial moment that his Wisdom Stone reflected on the gift he received from his sexy Word Augmenter teacher, Ms Ever Moist.
"Guiding Sense!" Tightly closing his eyes, Dam Son tried to recall the sensation he felt when he first started practising Guiding Sense. It took him about half a minute before he recollected its method of application.
Visualizing the vast darkness encompassing him, Dam Son drifted deeper and deeper until faint glimmers of lights started showing up around him. "It's working." He started seeing multiple spherical glows that had a twirling vortex of Letter Force inside them. His vision reached approximately 20 square metres.
The most prominent Letter Force that Dam Son sensed was Lonely Pussycat. Her aura had a poisonous taint to it. The many characters twirling around her Letter Force's vortex were constantly fizzing together similar to a carbonated liquid. Guiding Sense could also pick up on certain emotions of living creatures, such as their mental state of mind, disposition, power attribute, etc.
With this new skill he had acquired, Dam Son quickly found the whereabouts of his teammates on stage despite the rowdy smokescreen obscuring his eyes' vision. Sugar Bun's Letter Force had shaky characters laced with trepidation. As for Xuan Li, his Letter Force expressed more confidence in rotation, but that sliver of doubt was still present.
"I've found them." Still using Guiding Sense, Dam Son perceived the battle on stage in a 4-dimensional view.
Xuan Li endured the pain he was receiving from Zukin Bird's retractable Vambraces so he could close the distance and grab her tight. Sugar Bun did the same. He waited for Lioon Belt to attack him with the flaming sword. Using his robust turtle shell to block the assault, Sugar Bun closed the gap and gripped Lioon Belt's waist.
"Get off me you damn turtle!" Lioon Belt was madly smashing away at Sugar Bun.
"Ahf!" Though his shell was getting attacked repeatedly, Sugar Bun did his best to hold out until Dam Son made his move. "Hurry!"
Dam Son heard his crew's plea clearly. As soon as everyone was in a straight line, he made his move. "Now it is my turn to counterattack."
Dam Son let go of his sapphire suitcase. As it hit the ground, a small crater was formed. Next, he reached out his right hand and grabbed the gauntlets Lonely Pussycat was using to assault him.
"Come forth!" A bursting surge of Natural Verb Force encompassed both of Dam Son's arms. Their intense pressure even caused many cracks to appear across Lonely Pussycat's Augmented Weapons.
"What the heck is this power?" Lonely Pussycat was at a loss, along with many baffled members of the crowd. They had no idea what they were seeing on stage. As for those viewers who had been preoccupied with something else, as soon as they sensed Dam Son's vicious 'V' energies, their eyes became captivated.
"That Dark-Human… what sort of ability is that?"
"Is he using a special Word Fu Script?"
"It couldn't be. I don't see any of those Drunken Brats with their Guides out."
"Then what could those unnatural bundle of swirling V's be?"
"I have no idea. This is a first for me. Let's just see what happens next."
The dark Natural Verb Force oscillating Dam Son's mien had everyone who was focused on Battle Arena 1 intimidated. His energies were pouring wildly; he had no control over it whatsoever. As time progressed, he felt more and more bloodthirsty. Dam Son released such ferocious pressure on Lonely Pussycat's arms that everyone surrounding the stage could hear her bones cracking.
"AHHHH! You broke my arms!" Lonely Pussycat's scream garnered the attention of the referee. However, he too was too scared to act.
"I better finish this quickly." Dam Son realized that he was slowly succumbing to the dark side of the abyss. His Natural Verb Force was getting so extreme that it even caused the seal on his forehead to loosen. He had to end the match quickly, thus without much procrastination, he delivered a finishing blow to Lonely Pussycat's gut.
The moment his fist collided with Lonely Pussycat's tummy, Dam Son's Natural Verb Force formed a spinning vortex that sent her flying in the opposite direction. She crashed into Xuan Li and Zukin Bird then into Sugar Bun who was holding onto Lioon Belt. All 5 of them got blasted off stage, leaving only Dam Son standing.
"We have a winner!" The referee was eager to come on stage and end the battle. After he saw that Lonely Pussycat and the others weren't extremely hurt, he approached Dam Son calmly. "The battle is over now. Are you alright?"
"Ah…" Dam Son answered softly while nodding his head. He was preoccupied trying to get his rousing Natural Verb Force to calm down. After some time, he managed to accomplish it. He turned to the referee and said, "Yeah, I'm fine now."
"Oh, ok. The winners of this battle are the Drunken Brats!"
Hearing the referee's outburst, the surrounding crowd was silent for a while. A minute later, they began railing for the Drunken Brats.
Cinder Burn and her gang saw the positive reaction of the crowd and were very displeased by how many cheers Dam Son was receiving. "That damn Dark-Human again…?"
Balloona noticed how Cinder Burn was staring fiercely at Dam Son and asked, "Do you two have some sort of history?"
"Keep dreaming." Cinder Burn turned and walked away with her anger soaring sky high.
Later, Dam Son regrouped with his teammates inside the Page Coliseum's infirmary. Though they didn't like how roughly Dam Son handled them on stage, they were grateful to win their first battle and for the 50 Q-currency that each of them earned.
When they were fully healed and ready to battle again, they strengthened their resolve then went back out there challenging various opponents. Dam Son's Natural Verb Force display, intimidated many teams into submission. Thus they maintained a small winning streak of 5 consecutive battles; climbing higher and higher up the tournament ladder.