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Aspax, Basin: Desolate Ash: Arclop Palace: Main Area, Time: 4:50 PM
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Cauli struggled against The Beast, who was screaming and flailing wildly, demolishing the palace interior like an angry toddler.
Cauli was frustrated having to deal with this creature - he wasn't even sure if it was human.
The 10-foot tall Beast wailed again, swinging its thick arms around blindly. Cauli tried stabbing it in the chest to no effect - it simply grabbed his leg and swung him around like a mace.
"I think I'm gonna hurl..." Cauli groaned before The Beast rolled him up into a ball and bowled him into a line of Purified members, scattering them like pins.
"Hehe...strike..." The Beast chuckled before resuming its tantrum. Cauli shook off his dizziness and steeled himself.
"Okay, I'm dealing with a dumbass here. Got it," he realized, tightening his belt. He had to get serious and safely retrieve Don and Layla from this maniac's path.
Cauli took a deep breath as he analyzed the situation. The Beast was rampaging with brute strength alone, all reckless power without precision.
Meanwhile, the Purified members gawked uselessly, overwhelmed by the spectacle. "He got no chance to beat The Beast!"
"Sakura-Style."
Cauli took a sword-fighting stance, utilizing his Sakura training to meet power with swift, strategic strikes.
As The Beast lumbered nearer, Cauli darted forward, feinting left before swinging his blade right.
He sliced cleanly through the ropes suspending a giant iron chandelier, sending it crashing directly onto the Beast's head.
The metal bars crumpled around the creature with a resounding gong, finally staggering it. "Ow, my head..."
Emboldened, Cauli leaped onto a damaged pillar, rebounding off it for momentum before delivering a devastating double-footed drop kick straight into the creature's back.
Howling in pain and outrage, the Beast blindly grabbed at Cauli, who nimbly front-flipped clear out of range.
His polished scabbard spun rapidly as he attempted to disorient his giant opponent further.
"Oh god, he's beating the beast!" The Purified could only stare in shock at this diminutive warrior strategically evading every lumbering swipe while cleverly using the environment as a weapon.
Cauli's katana hit The Beast's chin, staggering him for a moment.
"Sakura Waterfall." Cauli slashed him once before following up with a million more cuts. The Beast's body was only sparking before it started to bleed more as Cauli held his ground.
"He's beating him... what?!" The Purified members were shocked. Some of them were choking on popcorn as Cauli gained the upper hand.
The Beast decided to throw a punch, but Cauli boosted himself up on the arm like a board.
"U-Signature." Cauli brought his katana down to The Beast's shoulder before pushing it further into his stomach and bringing it up again to his other shoulder, creating a U-shaped scar.
Cauli, still airborne, could only glare at The Beast; both of their eyes met, one filled with fear and the other with annoyance.
"You think you can just harden your body and get out of this without a scratch?" Cauli asked, finally showing him that he was the one who should be in fear.
The Beast decided to knock Cauli's katana away, figuring that if he knocked the weapon away, he wouldn't be hurt anymore.
Cauli blocked the attack, but his katana was knocked toward one of The Purified members, stabbing directly into their chest. "Dammit!"
Cauli looked at his hand; it was bleeding a little from the impact. "I will prove to you that I don't rely on my blade." He got into a fighting stance, his fists flattened, almost snake-like.
"Cobra-Style."
The Beast roared in anger as he got on all fours and lunged toward Cauli, creating a crack in the ground.
Cauli was prepared for this, his fists glowing in purple. He waited for a bit before The Beast was in front of him. "Wicked beast..." Cauli wasn't intimidating, but he would do anything to say something cool.
"Poison Point." Cauli punched The Beast right in the stomach, making him frozen in place before Cauli spun himself and kicked The Beast to the side.
The Beast crashed into a bunch of walls, even some poor fellas who were trying to enjoy a game of poker.
Cauli picked up the pace, following after The Beast. "Slithering Flow." Cauli punched him left and right, a combo that he couldn't escape from.
Cauli then finished it off with a haymaker to the head, knocking him onto the ground.
Cauli stood there, staring at The Beast, whose head was stuck on the ground. "You may regret your actions and decisions, but..." Cauli smirked like a child, "too bad you smell."
Cauli cringed a little. "Okay, maybe I could do something better..." Cauli put his hand on his chin, pondering some new line he could come up with.
"That's how the cookie crumbles...?" Cauli pondered about it, not knowing if it sounded good or not.
"Grab him!" A voice stated before Cauli was getting dogpiled by The Purified Members.
"Ah, stranger danger!" Cauli's voice started to get muffled before a pile of Purified members was on top of him.
"I got his leg!"
"I got his other leg!"
"I got his waist!"
The Purified members were trying to pull The Beast up; he was heavy and big, but they managed to pull him.
Cauli struggled against the grips of the Purified members pinning him down, but couldn't break free of the dogpile holding him.
The Beast was back on its feet, bellowing angrily at the upstart who had knocked it over. Cauli knew he had to think fast.
As the creature lumbered towards Cauli, fist raised to pummel him, Cauli quickly channeled his energy and shouted "Poison Point!" A shockwave erupted outwards from his body, forcing the thugs off him.
Though still exhausted, Cauli leaped up and grabbed a hanging chandelier chain, swinging directly into the Beast feet-first.
Knocked backward but unfazed, the Beast grabbed a giant marble column, detaching it from the ceiling with its massive strength. It hurled the pillar straight at Cauli like a battering ram. But Cauli was ready.
"Slithering Flow!" His lightning-fast barrage of punches battered and redirected the massive projectile inches before the collision, sending it off course to smash through a wall instead.
The Beast pounded the ground furiously, its destructive tantrum intensifying at being outmaneuvered again by this tiny opponent.
"Hehe, gorilla..." Cauli stated before The Beast quickly lunged which caused Cauli to hit the ground running. Cauli grabbed his katana on the way as well.
Cauli sprinted through the crumbling palace halls, vaulting over debris and ducking wavering pillars. The shrieks and crashes behind him indicated the Beast was giving chase, hindered but not captured.
Spotting a damaged staircase, Cauli leaped upwards, rebounding off the cracked walls in an impressive parkour display that would make his trainers proud.
He needed to gain distance and find his friends before the rampaging creature tracked him down in these tight corridors.
Landing atop a broken balcony, Cauli chanced a glance backward. The Beast was struggling to pull itself up the narrow steps, its mass constantly destroying the surrounding infrastructure in showers of dust and stone fragments.
Cauli allowed himself a tiny smirk - outmaneuvering brawn with agile finesse gave him a rush.
Cauli then decided to leap down back to the main area of the palace. He crashed into a food stall but didn't break anything before deciding to eat an apple while at it.
"I need a plan..." Cauli pondered to himself: What would Don do? Aside from his teasing, he would do something stupid and hilarious at the same time.
"Oh, man. This motorcycle incident is way too crazy, man..."
Cauli heard a voice from outside; it was two Purified members as they were extinguishing a fire from the motorcycle that Don and Layla created.
"Yeah, man, you think it's some rival gang after us?"
Cauli decided to grab a bucket before throwing it over to both of their heads.
"What the?!" The guard was later knocked out by Cauli hitting their head with a frying pan.
Cauli then looked over to the motorcycle, "Now, what can I do with you?"
After a few minutes had passed, The Beast burst through the palace wall. He was fuming with his prisoner jumpsuit ripped, leaving him only in boxers, and then he spotted Cauli on the other side.
"We got you surrounded, at least from this side!" The Purified member stated, circling him like vultures aside from the entrance.
"Well, come at me!" Cauli taunted. He backflipped onto the motorcycle before starting to speed up toward all of them.
Cauli let the motorcycle drive itself as he slowly stood up from the seat, gripping his katana sheath.
The world slowed down as The Purified members and The Beast slowly got closer to him. He closed his eyes and was ready for his ultimate attack.
"Sakura Festivals..."
Cauli opened his katana sheath before dashing toward, the water drop slowing down to a crawl.
"Fever."
Cauli was on the backline of The Purified members, slowly closing his katana into his sheath. The more he closed the katana, the clearer the pinkish slash shape appeared in front of them.
The water drop was about to hit the puddle as Cauli closed his katana, leaving an eerie silence in the air.
The water dropped to the puddle as all The Purified Members scattered away to the side by the slashes. The Beast had it worse as the slashes weren't enough, and the motorcycle dragged him along, back to the palace.
He crashed into multiple walls before Cauli turned his back toward the screaming man as the engine exploded.
"I did it..." Cauli dropped to the ground with a smile on his face. He defeated an entire army.
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