Feeling Sebas's presence being forcefully driven out of my mind instantly alleviated the intense pain while also clearing up my thoughts. With the unconscious Sebas still clutched in my hands, I threw him toward the wall, causing him to be embedded in it, while I leaned against the desk and used this chance to rest since, even though it was but a short struggle, it had exhausted me even more than a drawn-out battle.
Taking deep breaths, I turned around and glanced at the white-haired man along with a woman, who I didn't even notice until now, only to realize the two of them were also unconscious; the white of their eyes showing, causing me to raise an eyebrow in pure confusion as I hadn't attacked them.
"W-What's going on? Why are they already knocked out?" Questioned Diddy between his heavy breathing in confusion while propping himself up with the desk, though what he didn't know was that everyone else in the base was also unconscious.
I had no idea what was going on, but I didn't think about it for too long as I focused on calming my breathing into a specific pattern, a technique I had personally created after breaking down many different martial arts; its primary purpose is to maximize one's recovery speed by breathing in a specific pattern to increase oxygen absorption, and it's pretty effective. I had taught this technique to Freyja and then beat her until the brink of death since I was curious how good it actually was; I wasn't stupid enough to injure myself heavily when I had someone who'd use any opportunity given to them to kill me.
The results were rather impressive, and although it wasn't some game-changing technique, it improved one's recovery ability by about fifteen percent; of course, I'm sure such statistics would change depending on who uses it, but either way, it's helpful no matter what.
Within a matter of a few minutes, the exhaustion I felt had significantly disappeared, well at least the physical exhaustion; that breathing technique did little to help my mental fatigue.
"Ugh." Said Sebas as he groaned in pain, causing Diddy to display a feral grin as he looked at him.
Seeing Sebas come to rather quickly, I grinned as I approached him, and when I arrived before him, he lifted his head and looked at me, though there was no fear in his eyes, only firmness.
"You really pissed me off, Sebas; attacking someone without even announcing yourself is not something I'm fond of; in fact, I want to kill you instantly!" Stated Diddy while grinning as he looked up at Sebas, who seemed completely unfazed.
"Then do so, Kong; I'm an old man, one who's not scared of death; I've lived a long enough life and experienced many things. Dying at the hands of someone with such a powerful mind isn't shameful at all." Said Sebas calmly while blood leaked from his orifices as he looked at Diddy with firm eyes that displayed his tenacious will.
"Hehe, if you wished to die so badly, why not do it yourself?" Asked Diddy with a smirk as he grabbed Naga-sa off his back and slammed it onto the ground beside him, causing the area to tremble slightly.
"You've got it wrong young Kong; I have no desire to die without achieving my ambition, and if I could, I'd still attempt to resist, but I can't. I'm an old man with a weak body, and although I doubt you used much force when you threw me, my body is in tatters; I'm definitely seriously injured and on death's bed." Replied Sebas with a slight smirk as he attempted to move his body, only for him to cough blood and grunt in pain.
"So what if your body is weak? Didn't you say the mind reigns supreme? Fight back with your mind." Exclaimed Diddy as he brandished his staff and held it right before Sebas's chin.
"Hehe, I also can't do that; whatever you did to me had greatly wounded my mind even more than my body; if I hadn't retracted some of my presence in time, I would already be dead." Said Sebas with a slight chuckle as he coughed more blood and eyed the staff just before his face.
"So, what you're saying is, right now, you're nothing but a deadman breathing? Well, then I'll fix that for you." Remarked Diddy with a savage grin as he unleashed his killing intent, his actions shocking the two slumbering people present awake, activating the innate survival instinct of every living being.
"Ugh, what happened? My head is killing me." Muttered the woman sitting on a chair with gray hair wrapped in a long braid as she rubbed her head, only to get engulfed in Diddy's killing intent.
"F-Father!" Yelled the white-haired man while rubbing his head in pain as he glanced at Diddy and Sebas, his words prompting the woman also to look.
Hearing two voices, I turned around, only to see the man that led me here and the woman; both stood up while unholstering their weapons as they pointed them toward me, yet their bodies were covered in sweat and trembling, clearly affected by my bloodlust.
"T-Trenza, Scar, s-stand down! This isn't your fight!" Yelled Sebas while spitting blood, though the two ignored his words.
"If you wish to further harm Father, you'll have to kill us first!" Yelled Trenza with shaky arms as she pointed her dual pistols at Diddy.
"Grand was right! We should've killed you and never allowed you to speak with Father!" Stated Scar as he grabbed a knife from his hip and held it in a reverse grip while slowly approaching Diddy.
"Ho, I've defeated Sebas, so what makes the two of you think you'll have any hopes of defeating me!? Though you're welcome to try, killing one or three people makes no difference to me." Said Diddy with a smirk as he ignored Sebas and faced the two.
"D-Don't fight him; you can't win! Y-You'll only die a needless death!" Yelled Sebas, but just like previously, the two ignored his warnings and stared Diddy down.
"It doesn't matter whether we'll win or not; I'm not just going to stand around and watch as you die! What kind of son would I be, If I just let my Father die!?" Exclaimed Scar as he brandished his knife and dashed toward Diddy.
"And what about all those stories you used to tell us when we were children? All those times when you were in such a desperate situation with no chance of winning in sight, yet all because you continued to fight, you eventually won!? If you didn't stop then, Father, we won't stop now!" Exclaimed Trenza with a hardened gaze as she supported Scar by firing several times at Diddy, causing him to block the bullets with his staff.
While easily deflecting the numerous bullets that the woman shot at me, I glanced at the approaching Scar as he neared me with his knife before jumping into the air; just as he was about to stab me, I thrust my staff right for his abdomen, and although he tired blocking with his knife, it proved useless as I easily broke through it, sending him crashing into the ceiling before falling on the ground, though he was still alive, if barely.
Ignoring Scar, I glanced at the woman named Trenza, who had been continuously firing bullets at me from a distance, and even though she was out of my reach, I prepared to attack with my staff once more; clutching my staff, I thrust it right toward her.
'Shigan, staff version.' Thought Diddy as he used his staff to launch a compressed air projectile that swiftly lodged into Trenza's chest, causing her to spit out blood as she got sent crashing into the wall.
"I'll deal with you two later; I've got a more dangerous enemy to kill first." Said Diddy though he smirked when he heard movement coming from behind him.
Sensing movement from behind me, I smirked as I turned around, only to see Sebas standing behind me with his fists raised high; no longer was he embedded into the wall.
"Y-You've harmed my son and daughter enough, Kong!" Yelled Sebas in anger, and with his broken body, he threw a punch toward the smirking Diddy.
Seeing the incoming fist, I could easily dodge or block, but I opted to do neither, taking the punch to the face, my head was slightly tilted back, but that was it; his attack didn't even harm me, though I got to hand it to him, I didn't expect he'd still be able to muster this much strength given his state.
"Hehe, nice attack, but you should've used your ability. Didn't you say your old body was weak?" Said Diddy with a smirk while eyeing Sebas, who also smirked in response.
"Heh, why do you think I touched you? As you know, the closer I am to my target, the stronger my ability is!" Stated Sebas, who suddenly widened his eyes, attacking Diddy again though given his state, his presence in Diddy's mind was much weaker than before, though it still caused him to grab his head in pain.
"Y-You're one tricky old man, I'll give you that, but this won't be enough to bring me down; after all, I can't allow the same attack to work on me twice." Remarked Diddy with a grin as he began battling Sebas's presence with his mind and will, slowly pushing him back.
"If it was before, you might've won this exchange, but your defeat is inevitable with how injured you are." Added Diddy as he continued pushing Sebas's presence out of his mind while Sebas tried his hardest to fight back.
Although Sebas was still putting up a decent fight, I eventually managed to forcefully push his entire presence out of my mind, injuring him even further as he fell to the ground, yet even after having been defeated twice, his eyes were still as firm as before; such a sight caused me to grin.
"You're powerful, Sebas; join my crew!" Declared Diddy with a smirk as he sat on the ground beside Sebas, and though it may not seem like it, he was exhausted.
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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/FTH6ms5n
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Elven Legacy (Chapter 151: Comet's Desire & Elaine's Instincts) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 31: Scaly Potion) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 46: Back to The Palace) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]