" Niko." Niko was still in a battle with his opponent after Vulco hit his sending her into the bushes where there has been no movement. Assuming she was done, Niko expected a little help with his opponent who seemed to be a bit higher skill. " I'm gonna go find Sho and Luke."
" What!" Niko looked at Vulco with confusion and anger as he avoided another attack barely missing his chest.
" The dude they were fighting. . . He seemed the strongest out the bunch. They might need my help."
" Help me first and we can both go." Niko landed a kick sending the red armor sliding in the snow.
" Nah. You got this." Vulco began dashing threw the bushes back to where Sho and Luke should be leaving Niko to deal with the armor on his own.
The armor closed distance quickly. It swung it's kakugan but Niko parried throwing a strike of his own. The armor jumped back dodging the strike before dashing in low sweeping at his legs. Niko jumped over him their kakugans connecting in mid air.
Landing on the ground. Neither of them waisted time dashing back in, their kakugans smashed together. The stayed pushing against one another. Niko was naturally stronger than most people. So when this guy was actually pushing him back. . . It caught him off guard.
" Ha." The armor let out a short laugh. The voice was deep, like one of a older matured man. " Your friend made the wrong choice." Niko slipped his sword off of the mans. Using the snow he slid his feet kicking it up in the mans face. He dashed behind him in an attempt to catch him of guard. . . Didn't work The man simply placed his sword behind his back blocking it. Then spinning around clashing kakugans once again.
" What do you mean. Made the wrong choice." The man in armor leaned in closer to Niko.
" Your friends are already dead." Niko kept a composed face but on the inside those words caused a small bit of panic. It was most likely true that the one they left to Sho and Luke was the strongest. They didn't' realize this until they had already engaged their own targets. " Their is no one to save. He's just rushing into his own death."
Niko, with a some frustration pushed the man back. Dashing in Niko ducked a swing from the man landing a slash of his own across the mans lower body. The armor mad a horrific sound as the kakugan grinded as it cut threw it vary little.
The impact from Niko strike sent the man rolling back threw the snow. Examining the damage, Niko could see no blood but he did crack the armor with his strength alone.
" Your strong." The man rose to his feet feeling the crack in his armor. " But that's all. You have such little shrine energy you can't due anything special!" The man let out a scream and as he did the ground began to shake and crack beneath him.
Looking beneath his feet, lava came shooting straight out of a single crack in front of him. At first he thought the lava was going to land on him, but in the air, it was gathered into a ball and went flying at the man.
Stopping in front of the mans hand. He held it in front of his face a couple inches. Now the size of a large bolder it hovered in mid air.
" Bet you've never seen anything like this." The man said with a proud tone. Niko examined the area, the earth that they were on had been uplifted with cracks in the ground that Niko could fall in.
Realizing he had vary little options. Niko came up with one solution to his problems, although a dangerous one. The man brought his arm which the lava ball was hovering in front of back. Launching it forward like throwing a baseball. The lava approached quickly and Niko could feel it's heat.
Crouching down Niko placed his hands under a piece of uplifted rock.
" No way!" The man in armor shouted. Using all his strength he ripped up a piece of rock the size of a house wall placing it in front of the lava ball. The impact shook the ground and smoke filled the surrounding area, Niko saw the snow melt due to the heat and chunks of rock fell to the ground.
He couldn't detect the man due to his little shrine energy and had to relied on eyes. But the smoke mad that impossible. Then, he heard a nose directly in front of him where the wall is placed. the wall suddenly spit diagonally and the man in armor came shooting through with his kakugan in hand.
Attempting to take a quick step back Niko tripped causing him to fall. The kakugan raised quickly at Niko and with no other options he raised his as well. . . Their was no sound of kakugan clashing, only the sound of a blade cutting flesh.
Niko rolled back and jumped to his feet. Feeling a sharp pain in his right hand he looked to find no arm from the elbow down. Blood covered the ground beneath him.
" Finally." The man exclaimed with a tiered voice. " I'll give you this kid. Your strong as shit, but that's really all you got." the man walked till he was only inches away from Niko. " You were no match for me in the long run. . . Well, it was fun." The man raised his kakugan.
He began the downward movement when he suddenly froze. Looking down at Niko. . . He saw a smile. A creepy wide smile. Looking at his arm, he saw it slowly regenerating.
" The hell!" The man quickly swung down but only smacked the floor. Looking up Niko was now standing in front of him with the same smile. the blood had stopped coming from his arm and has now regenerated up to the wrist.
" I'm not vary lucky." Niko began to speak.
" What are you talking about.
" Often bad things happen to me. . . In battle and in the real world." The arm was fully regenerated now. " You know how I have such little shrine energy." The man in armor took a step back " That's a lie, I'm surprising it, have been for a while. . . You see every bad thing that happens to me gets turned into shrine energy."
The man took another step back examining Niko. Even through his slits eye holes, his fear was visible as he saw Nikos shrine energy grow to even greater than his.
" I'll show you a little of what I have."