RB Chapter 207 Illusions

Pew! 

Many things blurred, tracing dark paths in the atmosphere as they flew towards the beasts below.

Flowers of blood bloomed as a rain of black descended upon the beasts under the wall, whether cowering or mobile. The black spikes made holes within their bodies, passing through and into the ground. The velocity of the spikes, had rendered everything that might have impeded them, including the chitinous armors and the hard bones inside of the beasts, obsolete. Nothing had been able to stop their advance the slightest bit, and they even left deep holes upon penetrating the ground.

All the beasts within a semi circular radius of 7m near the city wall collapsed. A lone figure could be seen up on the wall beholding her handiwork.

A display of power was an intoxicating feeling, a drug you might say, as for even Jane, who had just experienced the most primal of terror, had for just this moment, forgotten that and admired her prowess.

"Good!"

Someone praised from far away. She didn't turn her head to look though, her eyes moving away from her handiwork onto another battlefield where a figure clad in electricity was fighting with a white haired monkey. Two others, one, a shimmering haze of colors, since light was distorting around it and another, a grey skinned bull were watching on.

Just by looking at them she felt a chill down her spine, causing some of that primal fear from before to surface.

"What am I doing? I should simply focus in my task." She mumbled before welcoming another assault by the beasts which had been out of range of her skill.

-----

'I suppose we found some competent people.' 

Eric had been keeping a close eye on the wall at his back even as he engaged the monkey. The mounting of an attack on the wall by the hyena had caused a spike in his heart for a moment before someone else solved it. He was sure it was an ant, one of the surprises Chloe had spoken about.

Crunch!

His expression shifted as he felt a bone from his left arm snap in two while blocking the monkey's downward sweep with the spear.

He spun around on the spot after taking that hit, eager to let the arm rest and set itself in a few seconds. The spin caused him to shift to the left, the spear passing through where he had been and making a groove in the ground. The monkey appeared to have put a lot of force in the blow, considering that it hadn't pulled back.

As he spun, he bent his right arm, an elbow being aimed at the monkey's face. Since it had been holding the spear with two hands, it lacked the limb to block with, causing the attack to connect, splattering saliva and blood from its mouth. 

After that exchange, both retreated...

 "You...appear to...have improved...(ptooi)" it spoke, before spitting out some blood to the side.

Eric instead put his right foot forward, position the right side so that it became a bit in front of the left one.

"I say, why do you carry around something that can snap so easily?" Eric asked, channelling some energy so that the bone could reconnect even faster.

"Snap-"

"Besides, the spear is a human weapon, aren't you in contradiction of your beliefs using such a weapon?" Eric pushed.

"Human, do you want to die?" The sound came from the distortion, the electromagnetic waves warping around it even fluctuating a bit.

"I will be glad to do it." The bull headed one spoke for the first time.

"Shhhhhh!..." The white furred monkey raised a hand to calm the others.

"Enlighten me...human, can...you really...say...that only...your species can...use...weapons?" It asked, its red eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Hmpf!" Eric scoffed, breaking eye contact. He wasn't intimidated at all by the crimson pupils.

"The...time for...playing has...ended."

The moment that sentence made it out of the monkey's black lips, the entire atmosphere changed. It wasn't subtle, but drastic, like water dousing a burning flame.

Eric felt a chill piercing through his skin, the murderous intent so heavy that it was suffocating! The monkey had instantly taken a stance...

Its spear pointing towards him, but held at the monkey's waist with one foot in front of the other.

"Boy... I have...lost interest...in finding out...your origins. If...you don't...want to...die, then...bring out...your full...strength!"

"Heh!" Eric scoffed, also taking a stance, his broken bone having finished mending just now.

"Come!" He gestured with his hand, his violet eyes also suffusing a chilly murderous intent.

'I shouldn't overexert myself since there are other threats.' He really wanted to stimulate the energy in his entire body to end the life of this monkey, but that would leave him momentarily weakened, and these two might capitalise on it.

As he was in a standoff with the white furred monkey, he abruptly felt a change in the air, prompting him to side step.

'Shit! An illusion!' He cursed himself for falling for such a minor trick, but that didn't hinder his movements at all as he felt another change at his side. It must have been a thrust and now it had changed into a sweep.

Ting!

A burst of sparks lit up the night as the spear collided with his mounted defense of scale covered hands. He had reinforced his SYMOR, plus vibrating his muscles to scatter the force, a trick he had learned from watching the white furred monkey. It wasn't perfect, but he believed that it could be mastered.

The white furred monkey reappeared, the illusion vanishing. This time it didn't stop, pulling nack its spear and spinning it, thrusting out again, all in the span of a second.

This time it wasn't a single thrust but over ten. Eric didn't even take a chance at defense, instead leaping away and only focussing on defending against the bursts of air. He was sure that there must have been multiple illusory thrusts within.

His eyes lit up as he used his other senses to determine that the thrusts had ended, then, with a forceful horizontal leap, he instantly appeared in front of the monkey which had also been in the middle of closing the distance, catching it offguard.

At the sides below his armpits, his hands had been pulled back, fingers curled to make fists. The very air itself compressed, becoming liquid at their front as he threw the fastest double punches that he could...

Boom! Ting!

The air exploded as both fists made contact with the white bone spear shaft which had been raised in defense. It curved dangerously, as if it would snap, but it held steady, managing to block the two cannon-like double punches.

The force of the blows pushed the white furred monkey back, leaving grooves on the ground, but Eric refused to give up on his advantage, once again, putting force into his left foot, cracks spreading around it as he leaped, surpassing the height of the monkey and stomping down upon its head with his right foot, only for it to pass through...another illusory copy.

The air exploded as a sweep of a spear from the side headed for his left arm, only to pass through as he had staged an illusion, his true posture being him squatting on the ground.

Pushing force through his feet, he leaped side ways, his head hitting an invisible figure, which was pushed back, its invisibility vanishing. He once again lunged...

The battle went on, a cutthroat challenge between the two, this time to determine who would be the victor. One was using illusory tricks to gain an advantage with their spectrum domain , only to find out that the other was doing the same.

Their battle made it very hard to follow, only being able to listen to impact sounds, shockwaves and explosions. Grooves, craters and skidmarks appeared in increasing frequency as they battled fiercely.

-----

"I was worried the boy was a one trick pony, but it seems I was mistaken." Someone said, his voice deep.

"Hmpf! How could you be that stupid. Everyone who gets to this level can't be weak." A woman's voice berated.

"Are you trying to antagonise me? The man asked?"

Cleo ignored all this bickering, instead having her eyes focus on the the large screen which was showing Eric's battle.

'Too bad...this battle is a little hard to follow. I can't even tell who's losing and who's winning.' She lamented. Since the two were engaging their spectrum domains to create illusions, it was very hard to keep track of their movements, even with other filters.

"Only less than five minutes have passed. That boy and that woman have ATP capsules I assume, but how will the beasts replenish their energy that fast? The winner will be determined in 30 minutes at the very least." A city lord said.

"What about that coward who ran away? How will our federation deal with such people? This time it was just some energy channeller...how will we deal with such a situation if a spectrum warrior takes the same course of action?" The woman who had been bickering with the other city lord asked, her eyes on Cleo. Her question caused the attention of the others to shift towards her.