DIFFERENT FONT STYLES USED:
"STORYLINE" "'SPECIAL SKILLS OR MOVES'" "SPEAKER" "SPEECH" "THOUGHT"
SCENE:The forest outside the base Lazarus trains in.
Lazarus sits cross-legged on a rock, open hands clasped together by the fingers as he meditates; eyes closed in concentration. He focuses his thoughts and skill, concentrating on the power within his mind…
Lazarus: Focus. Focus the power out of my mind, and all around my body. (…until sparks of vivid purple electricity begin to generate from his head and flutter around his body) Now, focus it to a single point. (the sparks all converge into one point over his hands, creating a little ball of energy, no bigger that a billiard ball; he opens his eyes and looks down at his handiwork as he raises his hand slightly and gives a satisfied smile) Hah. It worked. A ball of psychic energy. (looks up at the dusk sky) I still have time before I need to go back inside, now that I've finally managed to manifest psychic energy, let's see what I can do with it.
SCENE:HQ Mess Hall.(the next day)
Lazarus sits with another weary face in front of his…"meal" – a bowl of porridge and fries potato slices. He hesitantly puts a spoonful in his mouth.
Lazarus: (groans in disgust) Ugh! If I have to eat this crap for even one more day, I'll lose it. (leaves the hall and heads to the multivator) I still have time. Let's see if I can manage to finish that new move in time.
SCENE:HQ Training Room. (a little after ten)
The trio wait around in the giant room for Lazarus to arrive. Saeto and Corinth stand, while Merlin paces back and forth impatiently.
Merlin: (growls angrily) The hell is that brat?!
Corinth: He was the one so eager to fight, and now he's the one that nowhere to be seen. (unknown to the trio, the whole scene is captured by the security cameras and begin broadcasted to the whole building by the training room's command room crew; courtesy of one guard's overhearing and gossiping, every eye in the base was now on various wall-mounted screens, waiting for the fight to start)
Security Guard #1: This ought to be good. I can't wait to see who'll win.
Security Guard #2: Me too. I hope they start soon.
Enforcer #1: So, who're fighting exactly?
Enforcer #2: Apparently some top-tier challenged three others to a fight. They're all newly appointed though.
Enforcer #3: I heard it was that experiment kid.
Guinevere: What? (walks up to them) Who'd you say is fighting?
Enforcer #3: (turns to her) That Lazarus kid, whose friends caused quite the mayhem a while back. Apparently, he challenged his whole them to a fight. My money's on them, though.
Guinevere: Challenged experienced enforcers? Is he crazy or something?
Security guard #3: You don't Bishop knows about this, do you?
Enforcer #4: Of course not. If he did, he'd shut it down. Fighting amongst enforcers is forbidden, remember? (ironically though, Bishop is not of well aware of it, he's even watching it on his personal computer in his office as well; besides him, a man sharply-dressed in a silver dress suit stands, watching the scene as well)
Chase: (monotone) You're not going stop this sir?
Bishop: Lazarus has been training non-stop all day, everyday, ever since his battle with Kyleo. It seemed have been a wake-up call for him to get stronger as quickly as possible. Let's see the fruit of his labor.
Enforcer #5: (getting annoyed) Hey, what's taking so long?
Security Guard #4: (also annoyed) Get the fight started already. C'mon, I placed a big bet on these guys winning.
Security Guard #5: That Lazarus kid hasn't shown up yet.
Enforcer #6: Well, where is he?
Security Guard #6: Think he chickened out at the last minute? (back in the training room, Merlin only grows more impatient)
Merlin: (growls) Where is he, already?
Corinth: It's already been twenty minutes. Seems he finally got it through his thick skull that he was in over his head and decided to chicken out.
Merlin: (angry) Are you kidding? I can't believe I actually wasted my time to-- (gets interrupted as vivid purple light begin emanating brightly from a point in front of them, forcing them to cover their eyes; once the light fades, they all look on to see Lazarus standing in the spot the light came from, a stoic but determined look on his face)
Lazarus: Sorry I'm late. Lost track of time.
Corinth: (annoyed by his nonchalance) You were the one who chose the time.
Lazarus: (half-hearted shrugs) I said sorry.
Merlin: Finally. I beginning to think you ran with your tail between your legs.
Lazarus: Run from you? Give me a break. I'd sooner run from my own shadow; you're not even worth considering a threat. (Merlin growls in fury; everyone watching keeps their eyes on the screen, some cheering as the fight can finally start)
Anastasia: (walks onto the scene confused, Wildflower by her side) What's going on?
Wildflower: (sees the display on the screen; points to it) Hey, Amazon, isn't that your mentee?
Anastasia: Huh? (sees Lazarus on the screen) HUH?!
Bishop: Alright Lazarus, show us how much you've grown.
Merlin: (proceeds to furiously stomp towards Lazarus) You're dead, runt!
Saeto: (grabs his shoulder to hold him back) Don't. you'll play right into his hands.
Merlin: … (calms down a bit)
Corinth: Alright. Who fights first?
Merlin: I'm going first.
Saeto: I think you're still too angry right now to--
Lazarus: No need to argue amongst yourselves. I never intended for this to be a one-on-one battle anyway. (points to them) I take you all on, at once. (both the trio and everyone listening are shocked at this statement)
Corinth: You actually believe you can handle three tier-bishop opponents on your own? You're even more brainless than I thought.
Lazarus: (genuinely surprised) Only tier-bishop? From how haughty they act, I could have sworn that they were weaker. It's mostly people who only have a little strength that prey on anyone they perceive as beneath them just to validate their own place below those with actual power. Are they just strong fighters who let their strength go to their heads? Well, seems this fight may be more entertaining than I thought. And as a bonus, it's a great opportunity to learn their skills and fighter-types early on.
Anastasia: What one earth does he think he's doing? Is this how he plans on making them respect him?
Wildflower: Is your student gonna be alright? I mean, does he really think he take on all three of them at once?
Anastasia: (uncertain) …
Guinevere: (nervously sweating) Is that guy stupid or something?
Chase: (shocked) Is he serious?
Bishop: Quite the interesting request.
Lazarus: (cracks a condescending smirk) What's wrong? Too scared to face a "weakling" three-on-one? Can't you trio of snobs to do anything other than stroke your own egos?
The three definitely do not like that. Merlin growls like wild animal ready to pounce, Corinth glares hatefully at Lazarus like she's trying kill him with her eyes; even Saeto has had enough of Lazarus' disrespectful and unyielding attitude and thinks he really does need to knocked down a peg or two. Lazarus' crimson-red eyes light up as he powers up, Corinth and Merlin's eyes also light up.
Lazarus: I see. So their eyes light up when they power up too. (looks over Saeto, whose amber eyes aren't glowing like his friends' or Lazarus') His eyes aren't glowing. Isn't he going to power up? No, it's more that they don't glow when he powers up. It's still a little hard to guess hi skill though, but from his appearance, I'm guessing it might be sound related, if the loudspeakers are anything to go by. But I'll have to fight the others to even see their skills. Okay. (creates a coin and flicks it into the air) As soon as the coin touches the floor, we do this.
SCENE:Kalahan Manor. Kyle's lab.
Kyle works on some chemical experiments while Mavy in the background, looks around in the large space, half as big a supermall indoor parking lot, walls and floor made of white marble, with a ceiling that's only the interior of a large, glass roof, transparent as to not only let the sunlight in, but also make the sky visible from inside. She looks around the room on the last floor of the mansion, filled to brim with computers, machinery, chemistry equipment and other knick-knacks of every shape and size. She picks a device, a kind of remote with only two big buttons – a upward-pointing arrow-shaped button, and downward-arrow one. One the side of device she reads: …
Mavy: "Re-sizer". (points the remote at nearby bonsai and pushes the up-arrow button, firing green beam from its sensor, which hits the bonsai and causes it to grow 3X as big; surprised, she presses the down-arrow button and the remote fires a beam that shrinks down half its original size and leave her impressed) Huh.
Kyle: (looking into a microscope, not even turning around towards her) You said you needed to talk about something important.
Mavy: Right. (drops the remote and walks up to Kyle) It's about my fight with Wallace the other night.
Kyle: The phony district lord?
Mavy: Yeah.
Kyle: What about him?
Mavy: Well, when Neil searched the guy up, his profile stated his level was 3.0 but when I fought him, he strength was totally different story.
Kyle: So what? (looks up from the microscope to write down some notes) People are leveling up all the time, it's how special skills work. You and Neil said it yourselves that he was gone for two months; that's enough time to get stronger.
Mavy: Enough to level up from a 3.0 to tier-knight? 'cause his aura was definitely that of a tier-knight.
Kyle: (shrugs and begins mixing some chemicals, all while never looking back) Everyone grows at different paces. Some, faster than others; few very fast. Just like--
Mavy: I'm not talking about you. But there might really be something about this. (pulls out the empty vial) It's worth taking a look at least.
Kyle: I think you're just overthinking it.
Mavy: (a bit irritated) And you're underthinking it. (sighs in frustration) Just think about it; actually think about it. (drops the vial near his work and leaves)
SCENE: HQ Training Room.
Lazarus stares down the trio of snobs, the trio stare him down. Everyone watches in anticipation of who will make the first move.
1 second past…
…4 seconds past…
…7 seconds past…
…10 seconds past…
…coin hits the floor.
Merlin makes the first move, turning into what can be best described as a sand elemental – more-or-less as it's just Merlin with his body and clothes turned to sand, looking more like a sand sculpture version of himself – and launches his arms as projectile beams at Lazarus. Slightly caught off-guard, Lazarus creates a force field of telekinetic force energy to block it.
Lazarus: Sand? That was unexpected. (swings his arm out at Lazarus, sending sand shuriken at him, which he effortlessly blocks) Hmmm. (Saeto dashes around to his back and points his open palms at him) Flanking me from both sides? Smart. (Lazarus turns puts a hand out at Saeto and shoots a beam of fire…) Both not smart enough. (…only for it to be blocked by a pink energy barrier; shocked) What?!
Corinth: (stands proudly with a smug but straight face) Hmm!
Lazarus: (turns to her, realizing it's her doing) … (Lazarus' force field starts to crack from Merlin's relentless attacks, which he notices in time and forces his power to repair and reinforce; Saeto aims at him from behind and fires and powerful sonic wave discharge at Lazarus, which the latter is able to notice in time and leap away from)
Lazarus: (skidding backwards to a halt) Hmmm. This might be harder than I thought.
Corinth: (raises her staff and summons an array of pink, energy spikes…) 'FLYING SPIKES'. (…and sends them flying at Lazarus by pointing her staff towards him; Lazarus notices the incoming spikes and stops them with his telekinesis, he glares at her and swings his arms at her, creating and launching a storm of knives and other blades at her)
Corinth: (surprised) …! (creates a shield to block them; the spikes disappearing)
Lazarus charges straight at her, only for Saeto to get in-between and fire a sonic blast that hits the caught-off-guard boy point-blank and sends him flying into a wall. The spectator all cheer at the fight in enthusiasm; well, most of them, others like Anastasia watch with concern, while others like Guinevere, Bishop and even Wildflower watch with anticipation. Lazarus shakily gets up, Merlin swings an arm at him, sending a – literal – tidal wave of sand directly for him. Lazarus performs a righthanded karate chop in front of the wave and splits a path between using nothing but pure telekinetic force; the harmlessly moving past him – he passing through the path – and hitting the wall behind him.
Merlin: (shocked) WHAT?!
Lazarus: (dashes forward) How pathetic.
Merlin generates two giant sand fists and launches them at Lazarus, who easily evades them by teleporting past them and uses his telekinesis to push himself forward at greater speed, he charges straight at Merlin, purple energy charging in his fist and delivers right hook right into his face, blowing up his head with a blast of psychic energy. Everyone watching is left shocked at what he just did. Unfazed with his own actions, he continues on his way to Corinth. The girl, now a bit scared, conjures and fires more energy spikes at Lazarus, which he effortlessly dodges, he leaps towards her, jumping high over head with a fist now full of lighting, attempting strike from above. Corinth conjures a barrier just in time for the fist to collide with the shield, demolishing it completely. Corinth leaps back from him to create distance.
Saeto fires another sonic attack that Lazarus effortlessly blocks with his shield before firing a blast wave of his own. Saeto uses his sound waves to propel himself away from the path of the attack.
Lazarus: Huh. So he use those wave to not only attack but evade too. (notices too late as sand surrounds from underneath and wraps itself around him…) Hey! Wha--!
Merlin: 'SAND PRISON'. (…encasing him in an expy of the sand coffin justu, the spectators are surprised to see Merlin still alive and fighting, his head back on his shoulders; the sand-bodied enforcer looking pretty pissed)
Lazarus: (grunts) Even though that only minor attack and wasn't full-powered, I still expected it take him out of the fight. (touches the wall of the sand prison)
Merlin: Your dead runt. 'SAND--'.
Lazarus: 'MATERIAL BREAKDOWN'. (the sand construct disintegrates, freeing him)
Merlin: (shocked) What?! How do you--?
Lazarus: Molecular destabilization. Don't bother asking, you wouldn't understand if I explain it anyway.
Merlin: (gets madder) …! Why you… (summons six sand tentacles and sends them at Lazarus)
Lazarus: (hold out one hand and snaps his fingers)'MATERIAL BREAKDOWN'.(disintegrates the sand tentacles)
Merlin: …! (outside, the onlookers all watch with various reactions and emotions)
Enforcer #1: Wow.
Enforcer #2: Amazing.
Security Guard: I thought that Lazarus kid wouldn't stand a chance, but now I don't know who to root for.
Anastasia: (worried for student) …
Chase: Quite impressive.
Bishop: Indeed. Who knew he had mastered to skill to this degree. (back with the fight, Merlin roars in anger and launches a storm of tentacles at Lazarus, who takes to his heels, running, leaping, spinning, etc. to dodge the sand tentacles)
Lazarus: (chuckles internally) Just what I was hoping for. Hot-headed people that act cocky like him do so because they genuinely belief they outrank everybody else in the world. If they conclude you as greatly beneath them, it's a decision set in stone. This works out in your favor greatly, because the moment you start to show who the weaker one truly is, they begin to lose the composure, become desperate to win so as to maintain their delusion of being the strongest; and they'll end up making a mistake. (leaps into the air, raises his arms to his chest and crosses them so that his hands are in front of his shoulders, then swings them apart while snapping his fingers, summoning an inferno of brilliant blue flame that engulfs all the tentacles) 'SCORCHING SAPPHIRE'. (this action shocks Merlin, his friends and everyone watching)
Security Guard #1: He just set the sand on fire.
Security Guard #2: Can he do that?
Wildflower: (whistles in amazement; to Anastasia) You taught that kid well.
Anastasia: I didn't teach him that though.
Lazarus: Alright, NOW! (manipulates molecules to create a fiery-glowing ball of explosive matter) 'VOLATILE MASS'. (Merlin senses the incoming danger and creates a large dome of sand to protect himself, the ball hitting the dome and exploding in a large brilliant blast; surprising everyone)
Anastasia: (shocked) And I definitely never taught him that!
The explosion creates a hole in Merlin's defense but otherwise leaves him unharmed. Lazarus prepares to attack again, only to sense something and project a shield to block an incoming sonic attack, having unconsciously read Saeto's mind and anticipated his attack. The force of the attack is still enough to push him back though, sending him flying across the room. Lazarus twirls mid-air and lands feet first, skidding backwards to a stop. He gets back up to continue fighting but suddenly finds himself trapped in pink cube.
Lazarus: (shocked) What?!
Corinth: (pointing her staff at him) 'ELEGANT CUBE'.
Lazarus: … (tries but fails to teleport out)…?!(attempt again, and two more times)Can't teleport. (punches the walls but it's no good)
Corinth: (smirking triumphantly) Don't bother. My elegant cube is unbreakable and inescapable from the inside. It's no Force Shield, it gets the job done. You're trapped.
Lazarus: Oh spare my life. My body might be trapped, but my mind isn't. (places his index and middle fingers to the sides of his temple) 'RAVISHING MIND'. (Lazarus sends a wave of telepathic force energy straight into Corinth's mind, causing to suddenly scream due to intense pain of the mind r*pe)
Saeto: (alarmed) Corinth! (said girl groans and collapses to her knees with tears of pain down her cheeks as she drops her staff and holds her head with both hands)
Lazarus: (the cube dissipates)'MASSIVE FIREBALL'.(shoots – as the name implies – a massive ball of blue fame at Corinth)"Spare my life"? where did that come from?
Saeto: No…! (leaps into the way of the fireball and gets hit instead; skids to stop on the floor with severe burns all over)
Guinevere: (impressed) Wow.
Enforcer: Whoa! Had no idea that kid had access to such impressive powers.
Security Guard: You don't think their gonna lose, do you?
Enforcer: I hope not. I bet half a grand on those guys. It's all the tokens I have left.
Bishop: I wasn't aware he had leveled up these skills to this extent. Even though they're not his, he's already mastered them enough to use them seamlessly like they were his natural skill. He's only had them a month, but yet he's almost fully made them his own. Even the original owners couldn't level up this fast, and they had since childhood to train. Is he just being lucky? Or…is there another reason?
Lazarus: Sacrificing yourself to protect a teammate? I'm impressed. I can respect that. Alright, time to end this. (points an open palm charging with psychic energy at them, ready to fire)
Merlin: Oh no you don't! (summons sand pillars around Lazarus; raises his hands and clasps them together)'SAND CRUSHER'(the pillars all bend inwards and try to crush him)
Lazarus: … (creates a sword and lacerates the pillars completely) Goddammit. I was hoping not reveal this yet. Not until I got that move fully figured out. (dispels the sword)
Merlin: … (charges at Lazarus and spins into a sand twister)
Lazarus: A walking sandstorm? Huh. He's stronger than I thought. (leaps back to create distance) So, how do deal with this. (tries to leap again when Merlin starts to get closer, but is stopped by something) What? (looks down at his feet to see a rope of sand wrapped around his ankle; shocked) He can maintain fine control even in that state?! (grunts as several more sand binds wrap around his entire body; sees Merlin get closer) Goddammit.
Wildflower: (tilts her head in confusion) Strange. Why doesn't he just teleport away?
Anastasia: You can't teleport out of a bind. That's basic teleportation fundamentals.
Wildflower: Oh…? Then he's in trouble. (Merlin finally reaches Lazarus and the poor boy screams as he gets sucked up and spun around)
Anastasia: (worried) Oh no!
Enforcer: (cheers) Woo-hoo, yeah! C'mon, beat that kid.
Anastasia: (glares at them) …
Lazarus: (growls) Screw this! (yells as he releases a pulse wave of psychic energy to escape, some of the crowd cheers,others look displeased while Anastasia smiles)
Merlin reforms into his humanoid state, Lazarus uses his telekinesis to levitate and flies towards Merlin, only to just barely avoid getting hit with an energy spike that flies past his front; forcing him to stop. He turns to the side to see Corinth and Saeto, both back on their feet and very angry.
Lazarus: (shocked) They recovered already? (close-up gaze at Saeto) And all his burns are gone? (Saeto releases a sonic wave attack that Lazarus flies away to avoid, Saeto however follows his movement with his hands, keeping the attack on Lazarus' trail) Gah! I can't keep this up. This keep uses up a lot of minergy. (a sand wall suddenly appears in his path…) What?! (…which he doesn't notice in time and crashes into and gets hit by Saeto's waves, sending him flying; he lands and reacts in time to block another attack with his forcefield, only for it to pelted as well by a flurry of pink spikes; this combined attack being a more than the shield can handle and it begins to crack…) … (…and as if to add insult to injury, Merlin comes in with a large sand beam that shatters the forcefield completely, leaving Lazarus at mercy of all three attacks; he screams in pain as he is sent flying straight into a wall and falling to the ground)
Saeto: I suggest you give up now. You're clearly no match for us.
Lazarus: (mad, very mad; staggers to his feet despite being a bloody mess) Oh will you shut the f*ck up already?! You guys really have superiority complex. I imagine you're not very popular among the other enforcers.
Saeto: … (Lazarus does a battle stance, shocking everyone that he still plans to fight in his condition)
Wildflower: Does he still intend to win in that state? He's got more guts that I thought.
Anastasia: (worried) Blondie. Give up. You're too hurt.
Guinevere: …
Corinth: You just can't get it through your thick skull, can you? Maybe you'll finally learn your place after…this!'PROJECTILE STORM'.(fires a large storm of projectiles)
Lazarus: … (summons a handful of missiles and launches them at the spikes, which all get destroyed in the resulting explosion upon collision; shocking everyone) Just a little a trick I learned from Militant. (snaps his fingers, summoning more missiles…)'WARZONE WRATH'.(…and launches them)
Corinth summons a wall to block the missiles heading for her and Saeto, while he releases a sonic attack them which destroys most of them, but Lazarus projects a forcefield with his telekinesis, to protect the rest and hit the energy wall; destroying it and sending the back with force of the blast. The missiles on Merlin's side all get blocked by a large wall of sand, which is however destroyed alongside only two or three of the missiles and the rest continue on the way. Actually getting scared, Merlin summons more sand walls, but Lazarus maneuvers them through the air with his telekinesis; forcing Merlin to on the evasive to escape.
Saeto: You two. Cover your eyes. 'HIGH FREQUENCY'.
Saeto releases high frequency sound waves from the speakers all over his arms that spread throughout the entire room. This sound stretches throughout the large open space – which unfortunately has good acoustics – increasing the volume and potency which on a normal human have just caused great hearing pain, but metas who have superhuman hearing, it's a serious problem. Corinth blocks the sound for both Merlin and herself with her energy constructs, Saeto not needing block it as it's his own skill, but Lazarus – literally – gets blood spurting out of his ears; causing him to drop to his knees and his missiles to go off-course.
Lazarus: (breathing heavily on his hands and knees) He switch between two types of attack? This owns more dangerous than the former. It's everything I can do just stay conscious at this point, and my minergy's almost ran out. I need to end this quickly.
Corinth: (breathes heavily as well) I'm running out steam. I only have so much minergy left. (looks around at her partners who are also breathing heavily) They're not doing much better either. (looks over at Lazarus, who's already getting back up, albeit shakily) I can't believe he held out this long, he's far stronger than we thought. We need to end this quickly.
Lazarus leaps towards Corinth, wanting to take her out first, shocking her. Saeto gets in the way and fires a sonic blast but Lazarus teleports out of the way to the sky, where he shoots a large beam of fire from above. Corinth manifests a shield to protect him, only for Lazarus to suddenly teleport towards her, catching her off-guard. Lazarus punches her in the stomach, sending her flying and coughing out blood. A swarm of giant balls of sand suddenly rise into the air, surrounding Lazarus.
Merlin: 'SANDY RUSH'.(squeezes hand pointed at Lazarus shut, sending all the sand balls after him at once; Lazarus leaps and jumps to avoid the attack but is eventually caught in it) And now…'BURIAL OF SAND'.(all the sand converge into a sand giant sphere and crash to the ground; only for Lazarus to emerge, flying out no more injured than before, leaving Merlin shocked) WHAT?! (everyone watching is surprised Lazarus could shrug off an attack like that easy. Lazarus flies straight to Merlin at top speed, freaking the cocky teen out; Merlin forms a giant hand out of sand to block Lazarus' path, but Lazarus just smashes right through on his way, shocking Merlin)
Merlin: (flabbergasted) WHAT?! HOW?!
Lazarus: 'WHIRLSHOCK'.(spins mid-air with arms open wide, creating a small typhoon that completely blows away Merlin, who screams in shock at literally being blown away; drops to feet, landing, then summons a large metal wall to block Saeto's attack) … Hmmm.
(flashback)
A week or so earlier, Lazarus busies himself reviewing the tapes of Kyle's attack, studying his moves and fighting style.
Lazarus: Such an odd fighting style. It changes depending on who he's fighting. It's erratic and unusual, changing constantly depending on who he's facing and even then, can shift between multiple mid-fight and back. It's as if he can't settle on a proper battle method, or rather…it's more like, it adapts specifically to his opponent. That makes it hard to counter, but is one consistency: he always fights barehandedly, and focuses more on pure physical prowess rather than using his special skills. Why? Is he just that inexperienced with his own abilities? Or is it…?…that he's just that strong without them. From this, I can at least tell that he's a striker, but not much else.
(flashback ends)
Lazarus: Kyleo defeated a building full of well-trained enforcers singlehandedly. If I want any hope of beating him the next time we face, I need to sharpen my abilities as much as possible. Training on my own is own thing, but I'll need firsthand experience in a real fight to truly get stronger and smarter in a battlefield. This fight will help with that. I can test my new moves and assess a real battle scenario like this. So I'll give it everything I've got.
Saeto: (Lazarus teleports to his front, shocking him) …! (Lazarus swings a left kick that the taller, broader boy barely manages to block, then follows it up with right punch to the face that Saeto also – just barely – manages to block with hand but is still pushed back)
Lazarus: As I figured. None of them have any strength fighting close range. (begins a delivering a succession of kicks and punches that Saeto can defend against) You can't defend forever, try hitting back. You can't, can you? You're a ranger, so specialty's in long-ranged combat, furthermore, your skill isn't that effective when confronted close up, is it?
Saeto: (doing all he can to block the attacks while being subsequently pushed backwards with strike) I thought, given his attack pattern so far, that he is a caster, but no, this strength, the power in his blows, he's really a striker. (Lazarus rears his hand back and plants a powerful punch straight into Saeto's jaw, sending him flying) His blows are so powerful, and yet they seem just above average in terms of proper striking power. Is he holding back?
Enforcer: Amazing.
Security Guard: What an amazing fight.
Bishop: Truly impressive.
Chase: He seems to have gained the upper hand. From what I can tell, he seems to have opted to battle each of them one at a time; making sure to render the one he's fighting unable to do so before moving on to the next one.
Bishop: You're right. And it seems to be working. (Lazarus continues with his onslaught of kick and punch after kick and punch)
Guinevere: Wait. I think something's up with those blows. They seem to be…
Anastasia: …getting stronger.
Lazarus: By combining my telekinesis each blow, I can increase the force output the produce, tenfold. It's a tough technique, requiring accurate focus of my Psychic Will while I rely on muscle memory to repeat the same sequence of strikes. It's imperfect, and if Saeto can figure out the pattern, that'll put me at a disadvantage. I created it to fight Kyleo, but using it now, I see it's still incomplete. But for now, it doesn't matter. I can beat him with this incomplete technique:'SUCCESSION COMBO'.
Lazarus delivers a barrage of punches unto Saeto that leave him dropping to his knees. Just as he's about to deliver the finishing blow, a pink energy lasso wraps around his wrist, which surprises him. He gets pulled back and slammed into a wall, the lasso vanishing. Lazarus gets back up to see Corinth back on her feet, her injuries gone.
Lazarus: (glares at her) …
Corinth: 'FLYING SPIKES'. (releases a storm of energy spikes, which he counters by stopping them mid-flight with his telekinesis; shocking her)
Lazarus: (summons another ball of explosive matter…) 'VOLATILE MASS'. (…and throws it to the side, maneuvering it in a semicircle path straight to Corinth) Followed by 'CURVE SHOT'. (the ball comes in at Corinth from the side, forcing the glasses-wearing redhead to put up a shield to defend herself; the spikes all disappearing at the same time, leaving him surprised and bewildered) Huh? (realizing) Oh, I see. So that's how it is. (Corinth successfully blocks the attack, but it cracks her shield; she launches a giant energy ball at Lazarus, but he summons a floating swarm of spears and sends them all at her) 'PUNCTURE SPAM'.
Corinth: (flabbergasted) …! 'ELEGANT CUBE'.
Corinth summons the cube to defend against the spears, but the ball disappears. The spears are repelled by the cube but still manage to heavily damage it, leaving full of cracks. Lazarus charges in, summoning a spear in his hand and stabs it into the front wall of the cube, shattering it completely; shocking Corinth.
Lazarus: As I figured, you can't attack and defend at the same time, can you? Furthermore, that cube is unbreakable from the inside, but not the outside. (Lazarus throws the spear away with one hand and grabs Corinth by the throat with the other in one swift motion; gasps spread amongst the spectators at the turn of events)
Security Guard: He got her.
Lazarus rears his free arm back, ready to punch the choking girl, only to be smacked away by a sand tentacle. He hits the floor and rolls to a stop. He gets back up, holding on to the side of ribs in pain; breathing heavily. He looks around to see a furious Merlin in one side, a coughing and heavily-inhaling Corinth with hand to her neck in another and a very hurt Saeto in the last; all three surrounding him.
Merlin: (slamming his hands to the floor) 'SAND SKEWERS'.
A flood of sand spreads throughout the floor, causing pointy-headed pillars of sand to protrude from the floor. Lazarus begins a series of backflips to dodge these pillars before projecting a forcefield around himself which gets surrounded by the pillars. Lazarus converts the forcefield into a pulse wave that destroys the pillars. He gets ready to continue but his suddenly bound by his wrists by energy chains.
Lazarus: (surprised) …?!
Corinth: (pointing her staff at Lazarus) 'PERFECT BONDAGE'. (more chains materialize from the floor and wrap around his arms, torso, neck, legs and ankles, keeping him bound and confined to the spot)
Saeto: Alright. Keep him there. Merlin, it's you and I. Both at once. (weakly raises his arms and points them at Lazarus) 'SONIC BLASTER'. (fires of a massive sonic attack)
Merlin: (summons pillars around Lazarus) 'SAND CRUSHER'. (they lean in to crush)
Lazarus: (looks on in dread) …! Dammit all! (the attacks hit, creating and explosion of sand, shocking everyone watching)
Security Guard: I can't believe they delivered the finishing blow. Aren't they supposed to be one the same squad?
Enforcer: Is that kid okay?
Anastasia: (terrified) …
Merlin: Did we get him?
Saeto: …
Corinth: (sees something odd as the dust clears) Huh? What's that? (the dust in the air from the sand all clears to reveal a crystal cocoon encasing Lazarus, surprising everyone)
Corinth: (surprised): Huh?
Merlin: (shocked) What?!
Saeto: (stunned) Don't tell me. (Lazarus opens his eyes and bursts out of both the cocoon and the chains, sending crystal shards and broken chains flying everywhere)
Bishop: He created a crystal barrier at the last second to shield himself. Clever.
Chase: Truly. (Lazarus flash steps out of the sight, the three look around for him)
Merlin: Where'd he go?!
Corinth: (points upwards) Look up there.
They all look up to see him high up in the sky, before descending, Merlin shoots a sand attack, but Lazarus waves his hand, wrapping himself in a ball of blue fire that burns the sand. Merlin backs away as Lazarus lands and lunges at Merlin, shooting stream of fire from his index and middle fingers that he slashes through Merlin's torso with, burning up his sand body; Merlin screams in shock and even pain as he collapses to the floor.
Corinth: (shocked) Merlin!
Enforcer #1: He's…he's down. Merlin's down.
Enforcer #2: I don't believe it.
Saeto: Dammit. He was weakened just until a second ago. Where did this power come from all of a sudden? (Corinth tries to chain Lazarus up again but he just leaps into the air)
Lazarus: Let me show you how to properly use chains. (creates a set of chains and wraps Corinth's body in them; the chains squeezing tighter around her body, making her scream)
Saeto: (worried for his teammate) Corinth! (turns to Lazarus…) Why you… (…and fires another massive attack)
Lazarus: (notices the attack) … (teleports out of the trajectory and crushes the chains in his hand, causing the chains binding Corinth to tighten until they break apart violently around her, injuring her greatly)
Saeto: (momentarily distracted) Corinth!
Lazarus: (lands feet first and leaps towards Saeto) And now for you.
Saeto, momentarily distracted by Corinth's defeat, remembers Lazarus in time to turn and see him approaching. Saeto raises a hand out to fire as Lazarus raises a hand across his chest, blue flame burning from it as he prepares for a sideways karate chop. Time seems to slow down as the moment of truth arrives, and Lazarus boosts his speed via teleportation, closing up the distance between them, and before Saeto can even process what just happened…his arm is sent flying off. Literally everyone watching the battle's climax is left shocked.
Saeto: (grunting as he drops to his knees, holding the hole in his upper arm where the rest of it use to be) We…lost. You win. (they spectating crowd begins to cheer; few of them anyway; some are still left stunned by what they just witnessed, while others – a greater number of the audience combined – are all left in tears at the money they just lost)
Guinevere: Even in that state? He still beat them? Three on one?
Anastasia: (impressed and proud; sighing and smiling in relief) Wow.
Wildflower: Not bad. Kid's a lot stronger than he looks, even for someone who's just using borrowed power. I imagine he's even stronger with his own abilities. I can see why someone like him would be best friends with one of the Eight Almighties.
Chase: That was an unexpected outcome, to be honest.
Bishop: I get it now. It's not that the skills to are easy to use, or that he's opponents are too weak. Lazarus La rose just seems to have an aptitude for strength. No wonder Terror was after him.
The scene fades to black as the chapter ends.
STORY CONTINUES IN CHAPTER: 19 (MEET THE PROCTOR)