Grover reaches into his pocket with his right hand and attempts to pull something out, but he winces from the pain and drops it. I hear a "clang" as the object hits the ground and I peer over to see a kunai knife laying on the ground, like something that a ninja would use. How the Hell did Grover get those
But dropping the knives didn't stop him. Grover swiftly reaches back into the blue pouch strapped to his thigh and tossed out two...three, no, four kunai knives Hakari, but they all miss.
"Ha! I didn't even need to block that!" Haraki taunts. "That's all you got, kid?"
But Hakari fails to notice what's behind her. Grover smirks. "Nah, not really! Each one of Grover's knives disappeared into a wormhole behind Haraki, before four new wormholes spawn around Haraki. "WORMHOLE: KNIFE STORM!" Grover roars as he knives fly out of his wormholes, slicing Haraki in multiple places at once. Haraki, who failed to notice the attack coming, isn't able to sprout her scales in time enough to defend. Haraki then raises his arms at Haraki, opening and closing his hands. When Grover closes his hands, a wormhole closes, but when he opens a hand, so does a new wormhole. Grover's knives disappear into another wormhole, before appearing out of a new one, slicing Haraki again. Grover keeps this pattern up for what seems to be hundreds of knife slashes on Haraki. I peer over at Grover, seeing that his usually goofy is masked by an expression of concentration and focus. Grover's opening and closing his wormholes with such speed, such precision, such accuracy!
"He...he's so far above me…"
Eventually, Grover's Knife Storm attack ends, and as Grover's knives clang to the ground, so does Grover, as he drops down on one knee, panting heavily. It must expend a lot of concentration and Cursed Power to open and close his Wormholes like that.
"Jeez, kid, are you really just taking part in these exams now?! How much training have you had to go through to reach this level at such a young age? You must have had your Cursed Ability since birth!" Haraki cries.
"Hey…thanks…" Grover pants as he fakes a weak smile. "And yeah, I've had my Cursed Ability since birth. And the reason that I haven't entered the Slayer Exams until now…IS SO THAT I CAN DO THIS!"
Grover takes a deep breath in…then out, and closes his eyes. When Grover opens his eyes again, he fixes his glare on Haraki, and I can swear that Grover's green eyes are glowing.
In the blink of an eye, Grover swiftly spawns a new wormhole to his side and leaps inside, before reappearing outside of a second wormhole, behind Haraki, aiming a roundhouse kick for the back of her head. "WHAT?!" Haraki cries as she spins around to face Grover. But before Haraki can defend, Grover kicks her in the back of the neck, sending her stumbling forwards.
Also in the blink of an eye, Grover then teleports directly before Haraki, snap- kicking her in the chest before teleporting away again.
My eyes widen as I watch Grover teleporting around -faster than I can see- and kicking Haraki. All I see are flashes of green bolts of Cursed Power as Grover teleports. Grover is even opening and closing his wormholes too quickly for my eyes to keep track of.
"Grover…he's amazing…" I softly say to Ella.
"When Grover gets like this…he's not even thinking…" Ella softly replies. "Grover is just teleporting around relying on instinct, not even his eyes nor his mind can keep up with his body. If we jump in now…Grover may just kick us too…"
"Your speed makes your Cursed Ability a tricky one, kid, but you're a one-trick pony! Now that I know what you can do, if I keep my scale defense up, then you won't be able to land a single worthwhile blow on me!" Haraki cackles.
"Trust me, I know!" Grover shouts as his roundhouse kick slams into the back of Haraki's scaled neck, causing Grover to wince in pain. "I know my limitations better than anyone!" Grover continues as he disappears into another wormhole, reappearing right above Haraki's head. Grover…he's moving so fast that all I can see of him are flashes of green bolts of Cursed Power spreading from wormhole to wormhole. I'm too star-struck by Grover's impressive display to move. "I've long since realized that if I don't switch things up, that I'd reach a wall when I run into Cursed Abilities like yours!" Grover continues as he delivers a powerful axe-kick to the top of Haraki's head. "And that's why-" Grover continues he disappears into another wormhole, reappearing to Haraki's right, aiming a hook-kick to her ribs.
But before Grover can deliver his kick, Haraki roars: "Why what?!" And shoots as scaled hand outwards, catching Grover by the throat. Haraki hoists Grover into the arm, who kicks and flails in protest. Grover's teleportation is useless if he can't wiggle himself free.
I flinch as I feel two hands press up against my shoulder blades. And then, just like before, I feel a rush of strength surging through my body. "Luis!" Ella cries, and I turn and peer over my shoulder at Ella, who has fresh blood trickling down her nose. "I used the last of my Cursed Power to give you a strength boost! Now, go save Grover!"
That's right. Ella, Grover, and I. None of us are fighting alone anymore. We're all here together.
I turn back towards Grover and Haraki, as I create a small tornado around my fist, just like before. "Right!" I roar as I charge Haraki.
"A strong kid is still just a kid!" Haraki roars as she launches Grover away from her, before firing off a few scale missiles towards him. With Haraki too busy using her scales to attack Grover, her defenses are lax, and she's too busy focusing on Grover to notice my assault.
The perfect time to strike.
"I'll show you who's weak!" I roar once I'm right on top of Haraki, slamming my fist into her chest, which sprouts with scales in response.
"I told you, your wind can't break through my scales!" Haraki cackles.
But I ignore Haraki's taunts, and just keep pushing on. With a roar, I speed up my winds, until I'm plowing into Haraki with the force of a drill. Meanwhile, Grover's back slams into the tree behind him, before being pierced by Haraki's scales. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Ella tends to Grover's wounds. But I ignore them. I focus on the here and now, which is breaking through Haraki's scales.
Haraki grunts in pain and takes a step backwards. "There's no way that a brat like you…CAN BREAK THROUGH MY SCALES!" She roars.
"YOU SURE DO TALK A BIG GAME!" I roar back. And then, with one final push, I hear a cracking noise as blood sprouts from Haraki's chest, who yelps in pain.
I've broken through her scales.
I drop down to one knee, panting heavily, as Haraki stumbles backwards, clutching the bleeding wound in her chest. Grover teleports up to my right, and helps me off of the ground, while Ella jogs up to my left. The three of us stare at Haraki, panting heavily, who stares back at the three of us, traces of bloodlust lingering in her eyes.
"Ella. Luis. Normally, I wouldn't ask for help. As the future Chairman of the Slayer Organization, I need to be strong enough to face my problems on my own, but-" Grover begins to say. Grover looks to his feet as he balls his hands into fists, and gritting his teeth tightly. Blood begins to trickle through Grover's fingers. Grover takes a deep breath out as he looks up, untensing his body and opening his hands. Grover then spins around to face Ella and I. "But I can't do this without your help! Sorry about before, but please, let's beat her together!" He says as he holds a hand out to Ella and I. I can tell how much it pains Grover to say this.
I smirk and take Grover's hand, our blood mixing together. Ella does as well.
"What's the plan?" I ask as Grover grabs Ella and I, dragging us together.
"Luis, with Ella's strength boost, you were able to break through Haraki's scales with that tornado-punch-drill thingy you used earlier. That's our key to victory. Just focus on offense, Luis, and Ella, you focus on supporting Luis. Don't worry about defending our dodging attacks, my Wormholes will take care of that," Grover explains in a whisper, before breaking our huddle.
"Right," Ella and I reply, and the three of us turn to face Haraki again.
"What're ya' whispering about over there?!" Haraki asks.
"Nothing much, just how we're gonna beat you!" I taunt.
"Oh yeah? Well let's see you say that again when I do this!" Haraki roars. Contrary to before, where scales only formed on part of her body, every last bit of flesh on Haraki's body, arms, legs, chest, and head alike, begin to sprout scales and grow larger. A scaly tail sprouts from Haraki's tailbone, as her hands and feet morph into claws and talons. She looks like a damn dragon. Haraki lets out a bellowing roar, one far more ominous and intimidating than even the roar of a demon.
"Woah!" I wince as I take a step backwards.
"Don't worry, the plan hasn't changed, go, Luis, go!" Grover shouts as he opens his hands and spawns a wormhole in front of me.
It hasn't occurred to me until now that people other than Grover can even use his wormholes.
"Right!" I shout back as I leap into the wormhole.
Using Grover's wormhole was pretty weird. It didn't really feel like anything, but it was a tad disorienting to take a step forwards and end up somewhere completely different than the space in front of you. Because when I exited Grover's wormhole, I found myself in the air above Haraki's scaly dragon head.
"This trick again?!" Haraki roars as she turns towards me, aiming a scaled fist at me. I flinch, but then I remember what Grover told me. That he'll take care of the defense. I don't remember the last time that I've done this, but…
I'll just have to trust him.