Melchior watched carefully as the first two masked opponents came lunging straight at him, closing the gap between them in all but an instant.

He reacted with a quick sidestep, dodging the two vicious kicks cutting clean arcs straight at his head. The closer opponent reached out once more, hands balled up into fists until they reached Melchior's head.

Then it changed quickly. A small dagger appeared, falling straight down.

'Not good.'

He pushed every muscle in his body to go faster, then jumped into the air, avoiding the strange attack just in the nick of time. However, that left him vulnerable, for the most part. Another kick came for him, however, this time from high above.

This time, it connected. The massive kick landed on his shoulder, sending his body flying to the ground.

"Is this all, Wren?" the man who kicked him said, landing on the ground softly like he was a feather. His garments were faintly different from his companions, with faint green engravings etched onto the side.

"No cutting corners for this mission, Hawk. Remember the last time that-" Wren, the other man, cut himself short, "Whatever, let's just deal with this guy as quickly as possible,"

Hawk nodded, then lunged forward. A slight wind picked up around his body, seeming to cause him to 'fly' a few metres above the ground.

Almost as if he disregarded his own life, he crashed straight into Melchior's stationary body, sending both of them hurtling in the other direction till they finally made contact with a rough mountainside.

A searing pain spread throughout Melchior's entire body. The earlier axe kick on his shoulder hadn't even healed. He felt the bone pop out of place, and a dent form in his skin there.

This next Kamikaze-like attack caused a small rupture to form in his organs, causing him to spit out blood.

It was far worse than that strange man had given him with his weird time pause. Then, he could tell that he was being played with, much like a cat would play with its food first.

Now, his opponent — Hawk — was trying to put an end to this as quickly as possible. That was the main difference.

His incredible physique was the main reason he could survive so long. The average First Layer Bonded would be long dead if they were in his shoes.

Hawk got up first, dusting the dirt and rocks off of him.

"I don't think he should be alive anymore," the man muttered, staring at the collapsed boy.

Melchior groaned. He could hardly feel any bone in his body, like they had all turned to mush.

'Tirun.' He called out desperately.

A weak wave of dark energy came upon him once again. It had been dispelled after the multiple hits he went through and came back, albeit a bit weaker now. The active connection to the spirit admittedly made the pain a little more tolerable.

He struggled to his feet, not once taking his eyes off the opponent. Some common deduction had told him that he was facing a speedster. Unlike freezing time, this had much more obvious counters and countermeasures.

"You're really rude, you know that right?" he said, eyeing Hawk cautiously.

The other man looked deadpan, then muttered. "Always so talkative when on death's door"

"See? Rude." Melchior added, speechlessly.

He wasn't just engaging in needless chit-chat, obviously. His focus was trained directly on the two men fighting in the back. Great. So much so that he struggled to hold his grin in.

"This is the third time this night that you people have tried to attack me." he paused to stabilize himself. "Is this really necessary, though?"

It took Hawk a minute to register that Melchior had had continued talking, and a second more to register what he had asked.

"The Deputy Lieutenant gave instructions. We follow instructions." A short and simple statement.

"You're not much for conversation, are you?"

Silence.

Melchior grinned at that. For what it was worth, that was just about enough time for stalling.

He bolted to Hawk, hand stretched out to grab the man in the same manner as he had for all the past few opponents. It obviously wasn't as easy, though.

Hawk rose into the air, and then Roundhouse kicked at them. Strangely enough, his whole body accelerated mid-air, like he was flying. The surrounding wind flowed to accommodate him and increase his speed even further.

Arm and leg clashed. The winner in this scenario was more obvious than it could ever be. Except it wasn't.

Just as their limbs collided, Melchior acted.

'Damjan…. Flood Tide!'

The switch was quick. All of a sudden, the dark aura surrounding his body and arm disappeared. 

If not for the roaring waves passing through his veins, Melchior wouldn't have realized something had happened.

It wasn't as flashy, but it certainly felt far stronger. He withdrew his arm, then returned it twice fold.

A storm of punches erupted upon Hawk's body, catching him off guard. His body flew back a few metres in response to the sudden change of fighting styles. He landed on the branch of a nearby tree, stopping to assess the boy with a newer light.

His fighting style switched up completely. From mostly focusing on grabs and palm strikes with the ability to devour, to suddenly unleashing a barrage of strikes like the waves of the ocean.

Melchior's grin came out in an unbridled fashion now that he had managed to push Hawk back. 

He leapt into the air. His body felt more flexible. Like water.

A vague light blue fog curled around his body, and the thundering of the ocean waves followed after. He unleashed another barrage of strikes onto the tree that Hawk stood on.

Flood Tide!

This time, something happened. Out of nowhere, a small wave of water appeared in the air, rushing straight at Hawk's body.

It was a little weaker than what he had in mind, but it still felt exhilarating.

Unfortunately…

"Hmph!" the opponent scoffed, bringing his arm down in a chopping movement.

"Autumn Wind!"

The wind picked up quickly, lifting the leaves up in a hypnotic circular motion, then shooting straight through the centre of the wave. His sudden burst of wind cut his flood tide right into half, but dispersed past that. No doubt the attack would have killed him if it had gone any further.

Mel's attack had collapsed just like that, but he grinned even wider when he saw what happened in the background.

Zale towering over Wren just in front of them.

He pointed a finger behind the opponent. "Look," 

Hawk… listened. The masked opponent turned back to see his companion's final scenes. A small vortex appeared on the ground, sucking Wren straight into it and ending his life forever.

And without even wasting any more time, Zale headed straight for Hawk's figure.

Hawk was stubborn, but even he wouldn't be able to beat Zale to his fullest.

And that was the mindset Melchior had gone into it with. So, taking that brief window of opportunity, he ran away.