RB Chapter 203 The First Minute

Pa! Pa! Pa!

This sound, which was intense to the extreme was being produced by two entangled figures. Due to the speed of their movements, they were very blurry. It was created when their limbs clashesd...a barehanded fight!

Zzzzzzzzt!

The electric snakes occasionally produced by one of the figures and the spear vaguely strapped on the back of the other exposed the identities of the two, Eric and and the white furred monkey.

They were having an 'intense' battle between themselves which was mostly physical, only having their reflexes, strength and defence relying on how fast each could channel energy to their limbs while attacking, or strengthening a certain body part before it was struck by the opponent! It was like a game where expertise in energy channelling was being tested thoroughly.

Eric was currently frowning more and more as he continued on with this exchange of moves! The reason for it was because of the strange nature of the monkey's defense. An attack it couldn't evade would occasionally strike its body, only for him to feel like he was punching cotton, not to mention the way its fur rippled as of dispersing the force through its skin. This was very frustrating to him, who had wanted to test the monkey's might. This alone meant that it would be hard to kill it unless he attacked with plasma or electricity.

The white furred monkey was also no better in terms of expression as all its attacks, no matter how strange, were being blocked in a bizarre manner. Sometimes, Eric's limbs would twitch in a bizarre manner before appearing in the way of the attack in a baffling manner. This manner of defense appeared to be entirely unscripted, relying in some instinctive stimulus that was bizarre to the extreme. This kind of defending even made Eric take on bizarre poses that sometimes deterred the monkey from attacking.

As the exchange went in, Eric calmed down more and more from his earlier state.

(Boy, it looks like you have improved a fair bit...) 

An electromagnetic wave made its way into Eric's ears from his earpiece. His eyes widened,  electricity flashing within as he figured out the owner of the voice.

'It can actually transmit its voice through waves?!' Shock endlessly rippled through him. He hadn't yet even managed to figure out such a method! A spectrum domain afforded a very wide spectrum of abilities, that some, if not known by the lifeforms, might go on to become undiscovered for life!

(Don't tell me that such a minor party trick hasn't been grasped by you yet?) It taunted, its crimson gaze appeared to contain amusement within as his violet eyes locked with that of the monkey. A crease faintly appeared on the skin of his forehead at its jab.

"I thought you detested humans? How come, you have the leisure to speak to me?" Eric asked, his question taking the time of almost 40 exchanged moves, due to the usage of his mouth. Though, this question hadn't been asked in retaliation at the earlier jab, he was genuinely curious.

(Humans...I detest them, but you are an enigmatic being. What was that form that allowed you to escape from my grasp before? I felt some other will taking over the body at one time.) Curiosity appeared within its crimson gaze, increasing the red color within its pupils as if the question was important.

Teeth grinded and a force caused the ground to crack in a spider web pattern, scattering the thin layer of mud away. Those words had reminded him of that frustration that he had passed through. He didn't want to revisit the helplessness he had felt at that time, and so, his expression became colder at the question.

His left fingers straightened, turning his hand into a palm blade. The hand became hazy as if it was vibrating, causing electricity to coat it. Eric brought it down onto the monkey's right shoulder. He wanted to hack it off. The previous idea of sounding each other out removed from his mind. Ever since he had appeared in front of the monkey, only 30 seconds had passed!

The white furred monkey didn't take the hit lying down, instead deflecting by hitting his inner arm in a well timed manner, causing it to miss, but Eric wasn't done, he forcefully turned his momentum, making the hand slash horizontally! He felt the muscles and tendons scream in pain at the forceful change, but his face didn't drop its cold expression one bit, instead becoming even more chilly. He was going for the kill.

'If it dies, it will reduce the burden on the battlefield. I need to eliminate this piece of trash, to hell with playing defense!'

The white furred monkey took two steps backward, arching its back and managing to evade the palm blade completely. After the evasive maneuver, it made a small leap backward, not retaliating in any way, instead, its crimson eyes taking the breather to observe the rest of the battlefield. Its gaze was narrowed, as if awaiting a development of some sort.

Eric did the same, only now putting the two oddities within this battle space into his eyes. Everything within a few meters of the two had already died to that small pulse of electromagnetic energies, leaving these two as the sore thumbs. They were two beasts, and judging by their flaring domains, spectrum level beasts. One was a distortion, all electromagnetic waves practically warping around it, whether light, or other frequencies on the spectrum. It was as if it didn't want to show its appearance to the world. 

The other was a humanoid grey bull, its entire form packed with raw muscle. It was basically the beast equivalent of a pro wrestler, but even more gigantic and muscly. Some of the vessels carrying its blood were even visible along its limbs, pulsing in tandem with its breath. Its long snout was releasing clouds of vapor with each exhale and was currently glaring at him. Eric took in its current state, lowering his gaze with the expectation of seeing its hooves kicking the ground with the intention to charge.

'It was affected by that heart pulse...' Eric reached such a conclusion upon seeing its current state. Aside from its body appearing like a coiled spring on the verge of being released, he could hear its heartbeat, which was far from normal. It was drumming with such power that his heightened senses could even pick out the minute vibrations that passed into the ground through its feet.

'...so before it went into shock, it used that brief instant to squeeze its muscles such that the heart was restarted. Interesting!'

"I didn't know you were that much of a coward to allow these two to join you...since this trash is too weak, I will allow it." Eric even raised his chin as if the trio of beasts were currently beneath him. His entire demeanor radiated boundless arrogance.

Hoooof!

A burst of even copious amounts of vapor escaped from the bull's snout at the insult, its gaze becoming even more heated. It appeared to be on the verge of charging, but something appeared to be holding it back from such a course of action.

'That's right, it will be better if the three of you are tied here by me. Even if they don't fall for my trick, I will make sure they all stay here...sorry Chloe, I will leave you the other four...'

-----

Boom! Crack!

Chloe kicked out after some unknown information was exchanged with the yellow furred monkey. It tried to block, but due to its unpreparedness, its arm shattered within, the bone breaking in multiple places, before the kick connected with its chest, the force pushing it away from the battlefield, down the hill. The beasts in its path were the unfortunate ones.

The outcome of the clash alone caused all the others to look over. The other three spectrum beasts also paused for a moment, shocked that the monkey hadn't been able to hold on for even an instant.

'Why did it choose this action?' Chloe was curious about what the yellow furred monkey had conveyed to her. Her knitted brows were a sign that the information had been somewhat important.

'It doesn't matter, I will have to take care of the other three...' Her target now changed to a frog, dark green skinned and humanoid in posture. Its legs alone made it appear taller than her, but the legs also made its entire appearance weird as, they appeared too thin to support the massive belly that she was looking at.

Chloe looked into its eyes which were tinged with a bit of derision as if it was looking down on her. She was puzzled by its gaze, instead of dismissing it, she became even more vigilant. She knew that all the seven spectrum beasts had managed to capture her image when she had ambushed the their leader. Unless this toad was crazy, there was no way that grin portrayed it as underestimating her. Also, its gaze insinuated that it knew something about what the yellow furred monkey had been plotting.

As her eyes sized the frog up, its body blurred in her eyes, the next moment, it was crouched low, its posture reminiscent of that of a true frog. Its chin started swelling up, as if was about to ribbit.

The two looked into each other's eyes, forgetting everything else. Chloe saw boundless confidence within its horizontal slitted greenish yellow pupils. The confidence appeared to stem from its abilities.

'Heh! Now this is interesting! Can it really match my speed?' Something clicked in her mind, causing a grin to involuntarily surface on her face. Her blood sped up under the effects of adrenaline...she was excited. The pressure of commandeering the war was temporarily forgotten, only leaving behind the excitement of meeting a challenge.

The frog was confident because of its leaping strength...she, was confident in her ability to instantaneously move from rest to infinite velocity...two combatants, each having supreme confidence in their abilities, were about to put them to the test!

There was no delay, no posturing and no deliberate snide remarks, the two simply vanished from their positions, Chloe being the more conspicuous one with electric arcs circling her form! Do bear in mind, this entire clash, from Eric confronting the white furred monkey, to the current exchange, hadn't yet exceeded the one minute mark!

Chloe's entire body worked in overdrive...she could feel each and every muscle group, tendons, fibres and nerve pathways tingling with a certain anticipation as she took the first step. Every thing else slowed down, but she didn't move her gaze away from the opponent to admire the scenery! This was the most basic courtesy that she could afford the spectrum beast.

In her eyes, the frog had also leaped, not diagonally upwards, but instead horizontally towards her, a frontal attack. Her eyes widened a bit in her sockets when she saw that its speed wasn't any slower than hers! Something else she managed to catch was the fact that the frog's mouth was in the middle of opening...

'Why? Does it want to talk? No no no...there is no way it would do that...' The hairs at the back of her head stood on end, small electric arcs slithering playfully within them. Danger! That was what she could feel at this moment!

Another step, brought her within 4m of the frog! 

Something darted out of its mouth at such a close range causing her to involuntarily shiver at its velocity. It was pink, long and slimy, a tongue. Due to the increased speed of her motor functions, her eyes managed to see what it was very clearly.

'So that was what it was!'

The target of the tongue was her chest. She had the vague feeling that if it connected, that would be the end of her life!

Her hand transformed into a palm blade, plasma coating it. The pain, due to the enhancement of her nerves with electricity was excruciating, but she didn't so much as show a wrinkle on her face!

Another step, this time to the left, caused her to side step the attack, her right palm aiming at the tongue! The frog's eyes widened at the attack of the palm, causing it to retract its tongue. There was no way the soft appendage would have been able to survive the high temperatures of the plasma coating the palm, not to mention the fact that the highly volatile electricity would have travelled back to its body, causing its eventual demise.

The palm passed within inches, missing the tongue and the two passed by each other without launching any more moves.

Booom!

An explosion was set off, launching a shockwave away from the two the moment they stopped in place. Their speeds alone had broken the sound barrier! Not to mention that at their landing points, the ground cratered as if it had been impacted with a cannon shell! The craters alone were a few cm deep, at their lowest!

Zzzzzzzzt!

'This is no time to stop...' Chloe pivoted on her left foot, her velocity still maintained. The frog on the other hand seemed to have exhausted a lot of energy from that leap, so it hadn't yet even turned to face her!

Zzzzzzzzzzzt!

Electricity flashed as her godly form blurred, appearing at the frog's back instantly. The frog's form flickered for a split second, bit she didn't care, brandishing her right hand into the form of a spear, coated with deadly plasma, plunging it into the back of the frog, making sure to target the vital organ, the heart!

'Hmmm?!' Her gaze wavered when she felt the hand piercing through soundlessly without meeting any resistance.

'Illusion?! It managed to trick my perception just by manipulating the light waves just before I turned?' She was so shocked by its ingenuity, that she stopped in place.

Five meters in front of the fake frog, the true frog appeared, but since she had been successfully tricked, it was now prepared.

"Interesting!" She said that one word of praise, her body's shocking intensity of electrical arcs simmering down. She was cutting off the electricity that was stimulating her muscle fibres. The stimulation had been causing her body to be in a perpetual state of reflex action, a very dangerous action that had damaged many of the fibres. Of course, she didn't do that because she couldn't go on, instead, a new situation had arisen in the battlefield.

A situation none would have expected! A spectrum beast had just died, its head separated from its body, causing its blood to splurt out like a geyser. It had been a part of those others she was supposed to hold back from reaching the wall.

Its form had been that of a snake, a black one with glistening scales. It had been over 20m long and 1.5m in width. Right now though, its severed serpentine head was sailing through the air, severed front the rest of its body in one slash! And what had done it? Something sinister looking in appearance...just a single glance alone had caused a burst of terror in Chloe's heart! 

"Too weak!" A hoarse voice taunted. It was grating on the ears, as if two metal sheets were moving along each other in opposite directions.

The voice caused a stagnation on the battlefield, even attracting the gazes of Eric and the white furred monkey who had resumed their battle under the watch of the bull headed beast and the distortion.

*****

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