He swiftly switched his sword stance, aiming the tip of his blade right at the fallen ape. Duncan had raised up once again and began to close in on the beast, with his sword in the close right stance.
His hands were tucked right by his right side, while his blade was bent slightly forward.
Both Abel and this ape raised up, staring each other down. Abel just smiled upon looking at this angry beast. He remained on his hands and feet, which made his two friends look at him, confused.
The two fighters slammed into each other and began wrestling with each other. Abel remained firm with his feet planted in place, but so did the ape. Zeke and Duncan watched on with awe upon seeing just how strong Abel was.
For beasts like this, the students were advised to use their range and superior intelligence to outwit it. However, Abel was somehow playing its own game and contending.
Abel took a powerful step forward, making the ape grimace with a look of struggle and surprise. Seeing a much smaller being push it back seemingly confused it, and Abel's advance didn't seem to be halting anytime soon.
His cheeks shook lightly as he pushed at this beast, and his hybrid face was taking form once again. Glowing amber golden eyes took form, and he landed a clean punch to its face before landing yet another.
His success was short-lived, though, as he was hit by the massive beast. He then received a slam from its large left shoulder to force him further forward.
This slam sent him flying away, leaving a stinging pain in his chest. Upon falling, his friends took the initiative to step in for him.
They tried to fight the beast at range, doing just as they had been trained to do.
Duncan closed his eyes, channelling his qi into his blade. It began to gleam with the colour of his dark blue qi, and he threw down his blade.
With its greater speed and power, he cleaved at its arm and torso, leaving a deep wound. Dark red blood spurted out from the wound, and it growled in pain. Backing away, Abel could see that this was his chance and he promptly pounced.
With relentless impactful punches, the beast had tumbled onto its hands and knees, before falling to its side. With its neck totally exposed, Duncan decided to take it out of its misery. Throwing down his large weapon, the sharp edge cut right through its flesh and decapitated it right there and then.
"Phew... I thought we were gonna be toast there!" Duncan said, taking a sigh of relief.
"Same here." Zeke said, cleaning the blood off his sword in his armpit.
"Zeke..." A voice called out from the distance.
Abel and Zeke both looked alert, but Duncan didn't seem to hear a thing.
"Zeke!" Duncan was now alerted and could see his friends looking around hastily.
Abel looked back to Zeke, who had a weary face. He had a slight tremble on his grip, and his sword shook as a result.
"Did you really think you would be free from Nudra forever?!" A man asked, with glowing red eyes.
Across his face were dark black veins, and he gave off a maniacal smile to reveal four large fangs, with much larger upper canines.
He had black curtains with shaved sides that had a single clean line that was cut across it and pale, clear skin. What was most striking about him was his attractive face and sharp jawline.
"A fledgling..." Zeke whispered to himself, which caught the attention of Abel.
'Fledgling?' He thought, looking to his friend then back to this unknown man.
The man lifted his arms slowly, and a dark red aura of the same colour of Zeke's aura formed around his body. He lifted his left arm and a red, material substance began to grow and flow around his hand.
BOOM!
A large chunk of this red material was shot toward the three, and all of them were almost frozen as it moved. They were too slow to accordingly react to it.
The blast of red energy soared toward them but then, a large shield of a slightly paler red material manifested ahead of them.
"Run guys! Run now!" Zeke turned back to his friends, with black veins scurrying down his face.
Duncan was frozen, staring at his demonic red eyes. His sclera were totally black, and he backed away in fear while Abel did the same.
However, Abel remained a few steps away from the ensuing battle. He could tell that Zeke knew something and was something that he didn't know. He needed more information and was eager to see these fighters clash.
This man charged forward with such speed that Abel couldn't even track him. It was like he teleported forwards.
Zeke held up his forearms and blocked the man's incoming attack.
"You've grown weak outside of Nudra, Zeke! The heir to the throne, reduced to the power of a mere fledgling!" He roared, before red qi cloaked his right fist.
He punched Zeke right in his face then slugged his next fist forward to try and land a subsequent hit.
Hitting his jaw, Zeke's face remained firm, and he began to push against his fist that was cloaked with the blood-like qi.
Zeke stared the man down and revealed his large fangs to then continue his combat. Zeke faced his foe with a new fearlessness and rage. It was clear that this mysterious vampire was fighting on the backend.
Their punches sounded like explosions, and they swiftly began to destroy the area around them. These warriors, including his friend, were the two strongest warriors he had seen in his entire life.
They reminded him of the strongest masters at the academy, with insane amounts of skill and raw power.
Their attacks were not only strong and impactful but elegant and technical.
Wrestling with his back up against a tree trunk, he threw his body right out of the way before Zeke punched the tree with full force.
His punch caused the tree to be snapped in two in an explosion-like manner. The top of the tree was sent flying, and red lightning began to form and concentrate across Zeke's right hand.
"Come on, Zeke! Show me what you're made of!" The man taunted angrily.
Even with his arrogant taunt, he was clearly beaten and wounded. Blood covered his skin, while Zeke looked to be in peak condition.
He pounced on his enemy and tried to catch Zeke by surprise with a swift punch. However, he stepped to the side and left a trail of lightning in the process.
He whipped his punch ahead, that was engulfed in lightning energy, and drove his fist right into his stomach.
His fist managed to go through his entire body, causing his aura to vanish. The vampire coughed out blood, before grabbing onto Zeke's extended arm weakly.
Zeke stood over him with an intimidating glare, and the vampire fell to his knees with weakness.
Viciously retracting his fist, the vampire tumbled onto his one hand, with the other grasping the hole in his stomach.
"If you know what's good for you, you should leave. Don't you dare report anything that you have seen today!" Zeke demanded, clenching his fists.
The man didn't immediately respond, and his gaze was still directed at the floor. He wheezed in pain, but Zeke and Abel could see the wound visibly healing. In seconds, the hole in his stomach was no longer a hole and the two wounds on each side of his torso were steadily closing.
In a flash, he revealed a dagger that was cloaked in blood qi, and he tried to swipe at Zeke's neck for a final attack. His movements were too slow, though, and Zeke jerked back his head to evade the slash entirely.
Air whistled as the blade cut through the air, then Zeke's hand cloaked in a red lightning once again. Extending his fingers like they were claws, he dug into the man's chest, and stopped him in his tracks once again.
He began to lightly tremble and dropped the dagger that he had unsheathed. Looking down to his chest, he looked back up at Zeke before he gasped in a struggle to breathe.
Zeke's hand was submerged in the man's chest, being covered by his own blood that was being spewed out at high velocity.
He pulled out his hand, and held the vampire's heart in his hand. It continued to beat, but its beat slowed and dulled until it became completely still.
Upon seeing this, Abel jumped out from behind a tree trunk in surprise.
"Did you kill him?" Abel asked, taken off guard by his brutal move.
"What, I told you to run! Anyways, to answer your question, no, he's not dead." Zeke stated, before dropping the heart on the ground.
"How?! You ripped his freaking heart out!" Abel retorted.
"Abel, there are a lot of things you don't know. Removing the heart from his body neutralised it. If I had vervain, I could destroy it but because I don't, I can't get rid of him. His body should heal in a few hours or days depending on how much human blood was in his system." Zeke explained.
'Human blood! He's like me!' Abel realised.