Chapter 43: Battle Royale (3 )The Strongest
Yurin noticed his captain pull his bowstring back.
\'Its time to end it huh? And here I thought I could test my weapon out some more...\' He mused, facing Pencil with a stern glare.
Pencil took a step back instinctively, "Ending it already huh?" He awkwardly chuckled.
"Yep." Yurin pushed his palm forward, a fury of fire exploding out of his gauntlet.
"I yield," Pencil said, putting down his weapon.
The flames stopped, immediately absorbing back into Yurin\'s palm.
"Good fight..." Pencil said, his tone slightly somber.
Yurin ignored him, dashing over to where Tyr and Jonas were. \'I want to get a good look at this...\' He thought to himself.
While the others who were fighting resumed their battles, Tyr focused on the two figures in front of him.
Jae seemed lightheaded and still slightly off balance from that last attack.
Shaking his head, he rose to his feet. He gripped his guitar, facing Hanzo who stopped walking.
"Get serious. I want to end this." Hanzo said as Jae spit out a loogie of blood.
"Those words... they are a contradiction. Why would you want me to get serious if you want to end this?" Jae responded, playing a note on his electric guitar.
Hanzo raised his chin slightly, "Contradiction or not, I want to tell how much stronger I\'ve gotten."
"Yeah yeah..." Jae exclaimed, suddenly contracting his forearm muscles. Viens bulged out, his entire wrist and arm revolving with dozens of dense muscles.
"Final attack: Death Song!" Jae exclaimed, beginning to play his guitar strings at an extremely quick pace.
Giant waves of Musical Aura which resembled dark neon colors began to pulsate out of the guitar. The music, although blaring, sounded amazing--like a powerful guitar solo at a rock concert.
Jonas stepped in front of Tyr and the others, getting down on one knee before placing his giant sycthe in front of him.
From it radiated a powerful energy that quickly formed into an invisible forcefield all around him and the other onlookers.
\'Wow... a powerful-looking attack weapon with defense capabilities too? I wonder what Jonas\' Ancestral Ability is.\' Tyr thought to himself as he saw this.
Hanzo pulled his bowstring back as a blue arrow manifested in his fingertips.
He let go, the blue arrow clashing against Jae\'s Musical Aura waves before exploding into a large, transparent blue forcefield.
"That\'s Hanzo\'s defensive attack: Defense. An arrow that turns into a barrier of protection on impact." Yurin exclaimed, crossing his arms.
Tyr was getting more and more impressed by the second. Hanzo was the real deal.
Some waves of the Musical Aura crashed into Jonas\' invisible forcefield before being spread apart and thrown into different directions.
"Tsk... that how easy it is huh?" Jae exclaimed under his breath, continuing to play his riff to unleash more waves.
Hanzo continued walking forward despite the waves rampaging toward him--unleashing several blue arrows as he walked.
"Just how powerful is your forcefield? Is it as strong as Hanzo\'s to be able to deflet these Aura waves?" Tyr questioned, impressed at the fortidude of the thing.
The waves crashing against Jonas\' forcefield still made it shake slightly, but it was intact in the end.
Jonas scoffed on hearing this, "Far off... Jae\'s attacks aren\'t intended toward me, but fully toward Hanzo. Only about 20% of his power is being slammed into my force field. It wouldn\'t stand a chance if I was getting hit with 80% like Hanzo is right now--especally at such a close range."
Tyr was slightly taken aback, "I see... Im beginning to understand more and more why he\'s called the strongest now."
"You got decent, Jae!" Hanzo exclaimed as he got 20 feet away from the mohawked young man. He pulled his bowstring back again, this time creating a red arrow in his fingertips before letting go.
"Attack." Jonas said as he heard the arrow go off.
"What?" Tyr questioned at that moment.
"Its the name of his red arrow. It spins so fast that most Aura gets shredded on the molecular level from its force curve."
The arrow pierced through all of the incoming Musical Aura waves like a spinning drill ripping through leaves.
It neared Jae\'s face at extreme speed, barely grazing the side of his cheek before puncturing the iron wall beside him with a loud boom.
Jae stopped playing his guitar, placing it behind his back as he raised both of his hands: "Alright alright, you won! You are still the strongest! Tsk..."
Hanzo smirked, "Thats what I like to hear!" He said loudly with a smile. But then his smile disappeared and his face returned to normal as he turned around, "Just kidding, I couldn\'t care less." He said, walking over to Tyr and the others.
Jonas undid his forcefield, standing up and turning to face Hanzo.
Everyone gazed at the young man with awe dancing behind their pupils.
Some fighters were great because they had long mastered techniques that were mesmerizing to behold--the subtle perfection and experience through every movement.
Other fighters were great to watch because their fighting was beautiful, like a dance in the middle of a battle.
But fighters like Hanzo were the best the to watch, and this was because they simply overpowered every obstacle in their way like a truck ramming through Novel MCs.
*BOOM*
A noise sounded from behind, everyone turning their attention to Misterel and Crank.
They both were knocked out cold from what seemed to be a large final clash.
"You\'re dead!" Miski exclaimed, charging at his opponent for their final clash as well.
"You are still years behind me!" The sword guy exclaimed as the two lunged at each other in the center.
They both slid to a stop on opposite sides with their backs facing each other. After a second, Miski dropped flat on his face.
The sword guy, whilst panting, raised all of his blades in the air: "I\'m still stronger!"
And just like that, all of the battles that day were concluded.
Tyr and the other Ultimatum Hunter Squad members were staring at all of these figures silently.
\'He got knocked out huh? I guess I can pay him a visit some other time.\' He thought to himself.
Suddenly, he felt a smack on the back of his head.
"What the--!?" He turned, Hanzo standing there with his hands on his hips and a large smile on his face.
"So, how about it?" The squad captain said.
"H-how about it?" Tyr exclaimed in slight puzzlement, scratching the back of his head. \'He\'s probably talking about me joining his squad. Yeah, that\'s got to be it!\'
"I accept!" He blurted happily. The other Ultimatum members had sour expressions on their faces as they saw this. They all turned to the side, as though embarrassed or fearful.
"Really?" Hanzo said with excitement in his eyes, "I thought it was going to take longer than that to convince you! Its a long trip after all..."
"Huh? A trip? What are you talking about?" Tyr thought he understood, but now he was lost.
Hanzo\'s joyful look slowly turned to an unhappy frown as his eyes panned over his squad members.
As he made eye contact, they all looked away as though in shame.
"You all had one job... a simple, single proposal. And yet, you all failed at even such a minimal thing?" He said, a vein bulging out of his forehead in anger.
The others couldn\'t reply to him, all too ashamed.
"What proposal exactly?" Tyr asked, still not filled in.
Hanzo sighed, "Well... what they were supposed to have asked you was a question." He paused, staring at Tyr for a few seconds.
"Tyr, would you like to go on an A+ Class Hunter Mission with us to another kingdom? It\'s going to be Ultimatum\'s, and for that matter, Drance\'s largest quest yet." Hanzo\'s face was sincere yet confident, like a fresh breeze.
Tyr was surprised by this sudden proposal. It was big news. According to what he knew, Subworld was far larger than Earth. A single kingdom was similar to the size of a continent, so traveling it wouldn\'t be easy nor short.
But, there wasn\'t a single second in Tyr\'s mind where he was opposed to the idea. Without much hesitation at all, he said:
"Yes! Yes I would!"
Hanzo smirked: "Perfect!"
The other members of Ultimatum burst out into a laugh.
"Wow! That really was easy huh?" Yurin exclaimed, chuckling slightly as he mocked Hanzo.
"Huh? Shut up nerd, I\'ll beat you up." Hanzo replied, the group laughing even more.
Tyr couldn\'t help but also chuckle slightly, and then break out into a full-on laugh as the commotion between the group members continued.
He hadn\'t been on Subworld for long, but he felt comfortable in this moment. More comfortable with these people, in this place, than he had been on Earth for over a decade.
\'Im happy I made this decision... I think I would have regretted doing anything else in this world other than this. Im prepared to grow stronger with these people.\'
.
.
.
*3 Month\'s Later*
***
Author Note: Please read the Author\'s Thought. Thanks!