Chương 81: The Difference of Might

The soldiers turned toward the sound of the exploding firework. At the same time, as they closed in on us, their numbers dwindled thanks to the striking arcs of my Sword-Axe's powerful swings. Each swing carved brutal arcs through the night, leaving flames trailing behind the blade like angry comets. Armor shattered, bodies split open in fountains of blood, and limbs flew through the air as I reaped through their ranks with merciless force.

Heads rolled, chests caved in, and screams turned into gurgles as my blade drank deep. Beside me, Xhife's staff struck their heads with devastating cracks. Skulls dented inward with sickening wet sounds, and eyes popped from their sockets as brains were pulped inside. One soldier's head caved in like a ripe melon, and another's face collapsed entirely. Blood sprayed in wide arcs as the staff whistled again and again. The ground became slick with gore, and bodies piled up in broken heaps.

Our chaotic engagement made even more noise. More and more soldiers poured into the fray, attacking us from every side. We both Vestutoed and ravaged further, even though I was running on fumes, completely carried by my emotions. I was visibly cut up in multiple places since my Animo was not fully recovered, and blood drenched my clothing, dripping down my legs onto the battlefield. Still, I moved with absolute conviction, carried by an angered madness.

I had just seen a unit pour boiling water over a captive old man, killing him close to me, and they looked at me with the exact same disdain I held for them. My flames mixed with Xhife's howling wind currents, creating a storm of death. Even if potential reinforcements arrived to free the captive slaves, we needed to cut down as many enemies as possible right now. The battlefield quickly turned into a slaughterhouse of torn bodies and blood-filled earth. From afar, a loud boom came as both jumped.

The youngest, Liangi, looked at the oldest, Liushan.

"I was right. My plan worked. Naivety is truly a shackle and look at that its two not just one..." Liushan snorted.

"And your recklessness is a noose that will hang you one day, little brother."Liangi laughed darkly.

"Better to break the cage than rot inside it. The strong hunt. The weak make plans. Remember naivety is a shackle, but overthinking is a grave." The middle child, Liuyong, ignored both and charged forward like a violet storm, as he made it here thanks to all the noise. Liushan stopped him with both arms wrapped tightly around him, squeezing hard. Liuyong still struggled, veins popping on his forehead. Liangi threw a hissy fit, his voice rising in anger.

"This is unfair! I want to battle all of them be it the target or my shitty brothers! Why do you always get in the way?!" In his mind he already imagined killing Liushan because he wanted the young heir position so badly. Liushan tightened his grip and spoke firmly.

"We already did the Mǔ Zhàn thumb-war. Yo uwon it fair and square, Liangi. That means you have first dips on the target. Stand down, Liuyong." Liuyong refused, his eyes wild.

"No! I don't care about your stupid thumb-war!" His madness took over. He slammed his elbow into Liushan's face with full force. Liushan let go and took a step back, now pissed, blood already trickling from his lip. Both brothers looked at each other with pure eagerness to kill each other in brutal motion. Liuyong snarled, "I always hated you, Liushan, just because of your stupid height you think you can order me around!" Liushan grinned viciously.

"Ohh, you've done it now. Let's go wild, twerp!" The battle between Liushan and Liuyong erupted with cataclysmic force. They charged each other like colliding mountains. Liushan's massive fists, reinforced with brass knuckles that glowed copper-gold and locked onto his wrists with heavy chains, smashed forward in devastating hooks that cracked the air. Liuyong answered with his long, wide saber that had five transparent rings along the blade, each ring singing with dark energy as he swung in wide, howling arcs.

Their weapons met with explosive booms that sent shockwaves flattening soldiers and trees alike. Liushan landed a brutal uppercut that lifted Liuyong off the ground, but Liuyong spun mid-air and slashed downward, opening a deep gash across Liushan's shoulder. Blood sprayed. They traded blows without mercy... fists against saber, power against speed. The ground shattered beneath them. Trees snapped like twigs. The night sky lit up with sparks and dark flashes as their Animo clashed violently.

Both brothers roared with pure hatred, eyes locked, refusing to yield even an millimeter. But before I could seize the chance to rescue a captive from a unit Xhife and I had just wiped out, Liangi kicked my neck into the ground. The impact shook the foundation, and I rolled into a bush with Xhife scrambling after me. Nobody saw it coming. His face was a mask of madness as he turned toward his brothers.

"YOU HAD TO RUIN IT AGAIN, BOTH OF YOU! MY PERFECT GAME!" He then ran into the bush where I lay on the ground, huffing and puffing for air as his devastating kick rocked my world. He grabbed my head, which was buried deep in the dirt, and hurled me far to the north. Before the Vagabond Xhife could even help me with his staff, Liangi nullified his momentum and threw him directly toward me while I was already hurtling through mid-air. Liangi then leapt up after us.

Flying through the sky, I finally snapped back to reality, my eyes flying wide open as I realized the brutal truth. When that fucker had kicked me earlier, the sheer impact of the blow had killed the captive I was about to free from his shackles. Anger overloaded my senses, and the blood in my veins ran hot, boiling over even though my subconscious recognized the true extent of the damage I had just received from that ground-shaking assault.

That power confirmed a terrifying suspicion in my mind: they were much closer to Master strength than I was. Mid-air, Siegfried's shadow hovered right behind me, berating me and laughing at my pitiful state. It enraged me further, pushing me past my absolute limits until a volcanic fire burned fiercely in my heart. My Animo forcefully surged back to a higher degree, completely drowning out the agony wracking my broken body. When I landed, I was on the verge of losing my transformation.

However, thanks to the rising Animo, my mind flooded with pure madness instead. Delusional and entirely consumed by my own boiling emotions, I wanted nothing more than to slice him to pieces. As he landed and witnessed my surging growth, Liangi smiled with twisted reciprocity.

"Oh, there is your full Vestuto," he confirmed.

"But it feels different from what I expected, like there is something missing. Alas, let's go wild! I will find out what you are hiding. I can't wait to bring you to Papa and punish you myself." He salivated at the very thought of the torture.

"Let those two morons kill each other. It is now time for me to take the stage and have fun!" He tore his clothes, stretched his legs, twisted his body in the air, and fell. His Vestuto activated with his legs spread in a perfect split. There he was shrouded in darkness, his body infused with deep Black Rock. His skin turned obsidian-like as the armor formed. He gloated of his own power, putting his finger on his forehead.

"This is my Hei Cun Shang Jia, otherwise known as my Black Stored-Damage Armor! My current capacity was read to me recently at 92, 245, and that was only two weeks ago. Setting aside my base Vestuto Animo, the real kicker is that the more damage I take, the dormant black armor on my body leaves my flesh and falls to the ground. As that stored armor, which has absorbed all the weakness of that damage, purges from my body, it frees up my true potential. I gain even more ANIMO! HAHAHA!"

Xhife, who was the other one sent flying through the mid-air, managed to land safely. He struck a nearby tree and rolled with the momentum toward the ground in a cool, fluid motion. Now, the two of us looked at each other with sweat-filled eyes as we processed the open newly shared information. The terrifying reality set in: the more damage he received from us, the stronger he grew. Liangi laughed, throwing his body backward in arrogant gloating, arms spread wide as if the whole night belonged to him.

"Time to nap the two of you into the ground for my ascension." I interjected, "Wait... I will go all out then, if that the case. That's what you want anyways, right? Beat us, when we are at our best..." Before he could thrust his steel fan, which he created from thin air out of black materium and ran straight at my eye, he stopped right there. He opened the fan with a sharp snap and fanned himself lazily, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

"You're right. My apologies. Transform to your full power, both of you. Let's go nuts. I want to see that complexion of hope on your face, and then watch it realize it was futile all along. You will fully know that your naivety was the root cause of all that will befall you, but your hope without power is the chain that drags you straight into the grave." Knowing this and filled with pure rage, I knew the ramifications would be massive.

My body would be damaged in a way I had never experienced before, but I fully pumped myself up, completely disregarding the aftermath. Knowing these monsters and their constant preaching of power, I was determined to show them my own power to no end. In my head, I knew he was so much faster, and Siegfried's shadow still loomed behind me, laughing at my pitiful state yet again. It made my decision so much easier. I pumped my energy so hard that the fire in my heart burned with a fury I needed to fully let loose.

Before my grand transformation, I made a case to Xhife, giving him hope for his reinforcement to come and give him a chance to save himself, while I fully sacrificed myself to this rage. I argued to my opponent that I preferred a one-versus-one battle, stating that after my defeat or potential death, which I would make him pay dearly for, that they could fight afterward. That had become my plan.

I hoped Xhife would understand, though I didn't even look back at him; I wanted all my anger locked entirely on my target. Besides, I had no control over this form, and I refused to endanger a companion. Also, I wanted to let my instinct slowly focus on that target and maybe even weaken him out of the mighty form. Xhife had already proved he could react in his Vestuto against non-Vestuto foes, very well.

Now, I was pumping all my anger-filled, fiery fury straight into my brain, my eyes focused entirely on Siegfried and the man playing "Siegfried" in my mind. The obsession with my target, Liangi, began. The transformation came far more powerfully this time, fueled by my raw emotions and the full package of Animo hidden deep in me. As I stood on all fours, the sheer heat from my back released so much blistering smoke that the air around my exhaust pipes warped and hissed like a living furnace.

Black-silver flames and shadowy plates erupted violently, with the charcoal-grey armor and its silver sheen forming in a monstrous storm. My eyes glowed with a cold silver light while fire raged across every inch of the black plates. This unstoppable, overwhelming surge made the ground crack and shatter beneath me. Liangi clapped in joy, but his eyes showed he knew he was still much stronger even in potential thanks to his dark attribute.

"And so our battle can commence." His steel fan closed on my sword-axe with terrifying speed. I already lost consciousness as I put everything into the overloading soul Attribute. It swings were heavy and desperate, each one carrying the weight of my very soul. My ultimate released in roaring waves of black fire and silver light that should have incinerated everything, but he humiliated me completely.

He blocked every strike with his fan, sending strong dark pulsating waves that turned my ultimate release into nothing but raw force with no heat. He started to play on my defense, jumping around with insane agility in weird splits and sideways leg positions that let him dodge in ways It could never match. Then he put the fan on my armored forehead and pushed hard backwards, making it roll across the ground and crash into a tree, snapping it in half. The ground trembled. The heat rose and combat intensified.

He deliberately let himself get hit multiple times, each blow making him stronger as his Black Stored-Damage Armor absorbed the damage and converted it into power. He humiliated my form even more playfully, dancing around me, tapping my armor with the fan like a teacher scolding a student. Then with a single fan chop he deactivated my form completely only a unconscious man remained. He danced around in joy, laughing maniacally, before his eyes turned toward Xhife who did not fare any better.

We both got beaten badly as he was about to take us and go toward his Father. In the nick of time the "reinforcement" landed with a heavy thud... it was an amber-hued man, no mask, dressed in plain, weathered clothes. Strong wooden sandals that looked deliberately uncomfortable to wear dug into the dirt. His dark green robes were speckled with brown spots like old bloodstains. He was clearly annoyed at being called here for what he considered a trivial matter. Liangi recognized him immediately.

"Zhuofing the Dirty Finger… Rank #211 among Zenhai's Escort Agency, but that's not the reason he was recognized. He was the one who killed an entire army of Hardened Steel Sect soldiers who attacked his Agency years ago, making him a legend of notoriety." Zhuofing's earth-attribute Vestuto was a terrifying fusion of an ancient beast, manifesting as humanoid armor with a Taotie-like face and lion-like ferocity.

It was heavy in profile, tailless, and forged from weathered jade, cold iron, and oxidized bronze, giving it the solemn presence of a living relic from forgotten wars. His nickname was Dirty Finger because he supposedly fought dirty. On both arms, he wore armored gauntlets covered in greenish-reddish circular patterns that grew in power with every targeted hit he landed.

Once the connection reached five percent, then fifteen percent, and then thirty percent, the accumulative damage built relentlessly until it hit one hundred percent. At that peak, the full force struck all at once, regardless of the distance to the target who had the damage built up on them. That was exactly why they called him Dirty Finger, as it was an incredibly underhanded style. Zhuofing's eyes narrowed as he scanned the battlefield, then landed near me, a Suren standing among the chaos.

A flicker of genuine confusion crossed his face, quickly followed by a slow, knowing grin. He clearly did not take the young heir's ego too seriously whom was not pleased of his sudden appearance. Liangi puffed up his chest and gloated loudly, pointing at me with his steel fan.

"Dirty Finger! Look at this one! Erumes Flamma is his name, I believe. Anyway, this Suren is the one who defeated Feng-Dao and caused all this mess in our territory. You have no jurisdiction here and you know it! My name will be carried even higher in the sky of the Zhongguodao once I drag him back to my father in chains! So, I guess you are a relative to this fierce monkey demon Vagabond over there. You can take him. I only need the Suren."

Zhuofing let out a low chuckle, his grin widening into something almost mocking. He scratched the back of his head lazily, clearly amused by the young man's arrogance.

"Kid, you really think dragging one Suren back is going to make you the next leader, and then what? You grow stronger and can stand in my path? Anyway, I was dragged here for what you call a small fight, and yet this one feels somewhat strong with his arrogant little power stance." He looked over at his knocked-out son.

"Tsk, tsk. He is much stronger than you could ever hope to overcome right now, my stupid son." He looked at me again for a brief second, his expression shifting from amusement to measured respect as he turned back to speak to Liangi.

"Still, your name will indeed be carried high in the Zhongguodao, if you survive tonight against someone like me. Whether as a trophy of mine or as a legend who died standing, that is entirely up to you, young one." Liangi bristled at the subtle dismissal but said nothing more. The tension between the two... the warrior and the close to be young heir crackled in the air like lightning before a storm. Both engaged quickly. Liangi was losing ground fast.

His darkness was being systematically destroyed by the accumulative effect of Zhuofing's Vestuto. The aged dirty Finger fought with brutal efficiency, his gauntlets slamming forward in heavy, crushing melee strikes. The fan met each blow with sharp metallic clangs, spinning and slashing in close quarters, trying to cut deep gashes across Zhuofing's arms and torso.

Liangi danced around him with aggressive footwork, thrusting the closed fan like a dagger, then whipping it open for wide, sweeping cuts that forced Zhuofing to block with his forearms. Sparks flew every time metal met metal. Zhuofing countered with raw power, driving his gauntlets straight into Liangi's guard, each hit stacking the hidden damage such the number grew 5%… 15%… 30%… The percentage built silently inside Liangi until it erupted in devastating internal explosions. Dark armor cracked and splintered.

He staggered, coughing blood, but refused to fall. After his full transformation shattered completely, Liangi stood naked, chest heaving, his stomach a horrifying super-red mess of bruised and ruptured flesh, on the very brink of imploding from the accumulated damage. Yet his sheer will kept him standing proudly, eyes blazing with humiliated rage.

"S.. SOooo... That's why you're named Dirty Finger… arghhhhh!" he screamed, kicking around wildly, stomping the ground and sending shockwaves in all directions, bound by nothing but his own anger and frustration. He refused to accept defeat, swinging his fan desperately even without armor, trying to land one final meaningful strike. Zhuofing simply stood there, watching with calm eyes, but felt approaching numbers of powerful entities closing in.

Only after the hunch in the entire battle was now truly over, as he clapped once with full power slow, deliberate, and powerful. The sound echoed like thunder across the ruined battlefield, carrying for two hundred kilometers. With a resounding WOOSH, Zhuofing vanished from the plains, carrying both his son Xhife and me each one on his powerful arms. Liangi screamed into the sky like a broken, humiliated man.

He was completely stripped bare as his targets vanished, realizing he had lost this battle, fracturing his steel-like pride forever.