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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 49 Floors, Time: 11:00 AM
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Now we return to what Ace and Koras are doing.
Ace finds himself facing off against Rinco, handling the situation quite well by adeptly blocking Rinco's attacks with his shield.
Growing frustrated with his inability to penetrate Ace's defenses, Rinco insults him, saying, "You, Yoshos Empire guards, are real CLASSY with your shield."
As Rinco's irritation rises, he starts contemplating the possibility of cutting through the shields.
Suddenly, 'I could cut the shield in half, making it useless.' Rinco thinks to himself.
'Hehe, good one, brain.' Rinco acknowledges that his genius ideas sometimes take time to emerge, but he's grateful when they do.
Taking advantage of a momentary distraction, Rinco manages to escape the immediate confrontation by pushing Ace back.
Ace swiftly regains his footing and prepares to defend against any incoming attacks that may come his way.
'What's he doing? No plans?' Ace thinks to himself. He isn't sure what Rinco could do, perhaps something foolish.
Nevertheless, Ace readies his shield as Rinco approaches, swinging his blade hand at it confidently.
'Hehe, atta-boy.' Rinco smirks convinced that this strike would render the shield useless.
"Haha! I got you now!" Rinco feels smug as he attempts to pull his arm down to cut through it, but to his surprise, it's stuck.
'What in the bloody hell?' Rinco feels confused; he has dealt with Yoshos Empire guards before, and their shields were easy to overcome.
Why couldn't he cut through this one? It made no sense! How strong was it? Who made these shields?
Before Rinco can dwell further on his thoughts, he is suddenly backhanded by Ace himself, leaving him staggered.
Ace seizes this opportunity and swiftly slashes at Rinco in a star-shaped manner, dealing a significant blow.
"These aren't regular shields. I had them custom-made with molten alloy and platinum, so people like you wouldn't even think to try to cut through them," Ace states as he raises his sword to the ceiling.
"Judgement." A white sigil appears both below and above Rinco. He is confused before he is hit with a blinding light, which turns out to be a powerful light beam.
"You... Damn, rich boy!" Rinco says as he looks at the blood that he is bleeding out.
"I will make your damn face into an unrecognizable mess!" Rinco exclaims before screaming. His body seemed to transform as his eyes turned into stained glass-like colors.
His face resembles melted flesh, with visible teeth and eye sockets. He appears to be wearing steel knight armor, but some of his flesh is seeping out of the armor's holes.
Both of his arms have flesh-like blades, held together by a gruesome bunch of teeth. The middle part of the blades has two giant eyes poking out.
"You are one of the Serpent Eldritch?" Ace asks, surprised that they still exist. The Serpent Eldritch problem had been taken care of almost three years ago, and he can't believe they are still around.
"Looks like you did your homework. But, that won't matter, as I'm going to rip your guts out once I'm done with you!" Rinco exclaims as he dashes forward.
Ace decides to transform into his blessing form. "Then, I will make sure that you receive your punishment!" Ace says as he prepares himself.
And what was Koras doing?
Engaged in a fierce battle! It was like wrestling with a rhino because that's exactly what Koras was experiencing right now.
Throwing punch after punch, he was determined to take down Binco. It felt like two mighty gorillas clashing head-to-head.
"You ain't going to say something?" Koras grunted, wiping the blood off his forehead. Binco remained silent, standing there like a living statue or a golem.
"Heh, Silence as always," Koras remarked as he lunged for a tackle.
With all his might, he successfully brought Binco crashing into the wall.
Yet, Binco remained oddly stoic, not uttering a single sound.
Koras looked at Binco, uncertain if the fight was over.
"Sorry about that, bud," he said, turning away and starting to walk away.
Unexpectedly, both Koras and someone else said in unison, "No hard feelings, right?"
Koras spun around and was astonished to see Binco standing tall, seemingly unscathed.
"I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. Words are unnecessary in this mission," Binco finally spoke, his words simple but profound.
"But Boss orders that I shall be the one who exterminates you," Binco said, his eyes transforming into stained glass-like patterns.
His head became rhino-like but devoid of any eyes, nose, or ears, except for the horn.
Gray giant horns pointed upward from both his shoulders, and he wore armor and leggings made of an almost reflective metal.
His glove appeared to have a horn pointed downward in the middle.
"I don't care what form you guys have. I will take you down!" Koras exclaimed, determination burning in his eyes.
He suddenly rushed towards Binco, throwing a flurry of punches at his new form, but Binco stood firm, unaffected.
"Huh. Pretty sturdy," Koras remarked as Binco grabbed him by the throat and hurled him across the hall. Rolling, Koras managed to stop himself.
"Guess, I'll get as serious as you are," Koras said, clenching his fists, summoning flames on both of them.
Binco began walking towards him slowly, while Koras unleashed his feral instincts, charging at Binco with incredible speed.
Ace confronts Rinco, and it becomes evident that they are evenly matched.
The clash of their weapons continues, with both fighters showing determination.
Ace, eager to finish the fight swiftly, blocks Rinco's attack and retaliates with a shield bash, pushing him away.
"You're just wasting my time. Just give up already!" Ace's frustration is palpable; he wants this battle to conclude.
"Said you with that filthy shield of yours, pals!" Rinco retorts, pointing disdainfully at Ace's shield.
Now, Rinco attempts a dual-wielding strategy, wielding two-blade arms to increase his offense. Despite landing a few scratches, he fails to break Ace's defense.
Surprisingly, Ace's shield seems imbued with some kind of sentinel power, and money, of course, which bewilders Rinco.
"Head up!" Ace shouts to alert his opponent before attempting to stomp Rinco into the ground.
However, Rinco's agility saves him as he quickly evades the attack and retaliates by swinging his blade at Ace. Ace quickly blocks the attack.
"Huff... you're good." Ace looks on in surprise at Rinco's deftness. His swordsmanship is impressive, and his use of a hand blade reminds him of something.
He then realizes that Rinco's twin blade hands are imbued with some kind of power. "You are hiding your true power, aren't you?" He asks Rinco.
"Heh... these? Why, I am not just an ordinary Serphent Eldritch. An offspring of a certain race, you could say." Rinco displays his blade hands with a confident smile. Well, a smile that only a mother could love.
"I will show you the real deal of who you're dealing with!" Rinco said as his blade hand started to shine in a crimson aura.
"Have a taste of this," Rinco said as his voice somehow became more distorted and louder. Rinco disappeared as Ace tried to find where he was.
"Where the hell-" Ace's train of thoughts stopped as Rinco appeared right in front of him with his arm blade lifted into the sky.
"Goodbye." Rinco swung his blade down, trying to chop Ace's shoulder down. Ace could almost see red and black colors around him as Rinco went for another chop.
"G-Get off of me!" Ace said as he tried to stop Rinco from chopping his shoulder once again. He decided to stab Rinco's back with his blade as he stopped the attack.
"You're a fucking rabid meat dog," Ace yelled as he held his shoulder for a bit. Okay, now he is finally what he is.
A species of Serphent Eldritch called 'Mimicry.' They could transform into almost identical humans, it's like a curse.
They have evolved so much that they learn other skills of their society. Swordsmanship, Archery, Magic, they learned everything.
"This is the power of Mimicry. I will make sure you humans regret this decision of making our race extinct," Rinco laughed as he proceeded to disappear.
Suddenly, he reappeared behind Ace and kicked him to the ground.
Rinco attempted a combination of slashes and kicks, but Ace blocked the attacks with his shield. "You truly are pathetic." Rinco taunted him, as he continued his relentless assault.
Ace struggled to keep up with Rinco's inhuman speed. Determined to end this quickly, Ace retorted, "Oh shut up, you insect! I'm already sick of you!"
Seizing an opportunity, Ace tightened his grip on his shield and went for a shield bash, catching Rinco off-guard and sending him to the ground.
Now was Ace's chance to finish the battle. He advanced slowly toward Rinco, holding his shield and sword.
As he tried to stab Rinco with his blade, Rinco blocked it with his hands, using them like a shield.
"You're such a disgusting creature. I hope God will reincarnate you into a better being," Ace was insulted, fed up with Rinco's actions.
He was determined to defeat this foe once and for all.
"Heavenly Judgment..." Ace began to glow with a yellow aura.
Deciding to step back, he then dashed at Rinco with lightning speed.
This time, Rinco couldn't block the attack, and Ace pierced him through.
A bright light sparked off Rinco.
"True Punishment!" Ace exclaimed as a heavenly chain wrapped around Rinco's neck. A barrage of heavenly weapons rained down on him, piercing him one by one.
As the last weapon dropped, Ace flew forward and slashed Rinco, creating a brilliant light that shone before quickly fading.
Rinco exploded from the attack, and his body flew into a wall.
Ace let out a heavy sigh, relieved that the fight was over.
"God, am I going to become like him in the future?" Ace said as he looked at his hand, noticing the resemblance to his older brother.
He felt a little annoyed at the thought of becoming the same kind of teacher as his brother, who had once thrown him off a cliff as if it were just yesterday.
"I hope everyone is doing alright. I'm worried about them," Ace said to himself, not wanting anyone from his crew to perish.
Koras was doing well. Way too bloody well. Blood was soaked everywhere for both him and Binco.
These guys had been screaming at each other while throwing punches for the entire 20 minutes.
Koras' shirt was almost ripped apart; the Nourtuck people had knitted his shirt brand new, but now it felt like an unwashed rug.
'God, they gonna kill me if they knew the shirt was ripped.' Koras should have felt bad, but his adrenaline was at an all-time high.
This was the hardest energy rush he had ever felt in his life, well, second, considering The Lucky Inquisitors...
"You are like a rabid dog. How do the directors see anything good in you?" Binco was insulted, disgusted at how Koras seemed to care less about anything.
Binco threw a punch at Koras' left cheek.
"And you are a two-faced rhino bitch!" Koras returned the favor, throwing his punch at Binco's right cheek. Both of them stumbled away, trying to recover their balance.
"I am finishing this now," Binco said as he prepared himself to tackle Koras. Koras tore away his shirt and started stretching his neck.
"Then come after me, you smooth brain titan," Koras taunted, preparing to tackle as well. It was like a bull and a rhino going at each other.
"Marsh Ram..." Binco readied himself to take full charge ahead.
"Sunday Strike..." Koras smirked to himself as he prepared himself.
"Rhino crash!"
"Flame Charge!"
Both of them charged at each other, with Binco surrounded by a Rhino spirit shield and Koras having a Bull spirit shield.
Before Binco could tackle him down, Koras decided to drag Binco along, putting his meaty arm on Binco's stomach.
This canceled Binco's entire attack as Koras screamed at the top of his lungs before finally facing a dead end.
Koras decided to slam Binco's entire body into the wall and punch Binco in the head.
Binco's body dragged along the wall as he face-planted onto the floor. He's defeated.
"WOOOOO WHEY! THIS IS THE LIFE!" Koras screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt so much adrenaline flowing through him.
"Thanks for that bud, no hard feelings, right?" Koras said as he walked away, leaving an unconscious Binco behind.
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