The smoke in the area began to clear, allowing Mada to observe his surroundings more clearly. Mada watched as Pori continued to do battle against the man with the long black hair and twin daggers. During the battle, Pori hovered several meters above the ground, rapidly shooting large balls of compressed air from its mouth. This put the man on the defensive. With no way to reach the familiar, his only hope was to slash, dodge, and block the incoming projectiles.
"The other two men seemed skillful enough to cause them some problems, but it looks like Lucus and Pori should be able to easily hold their own." Mada thought as he turned his gaze back towards Kuma, who slowly stepped towards him and Trayner. "From how I see it, the only person who stands in our way is Kuma."
Kuma began to infuse spirit energy into his sword, causing it to glow in a bright, alluring yellow. Then, after just a few seconds or so, the glow began to fade and was replaced by yellow sparks of lightning that danced across the blade. This sight had sent a strange sensation through Mada's body, making him extremely cautious.
"You always were a promising fighter, Za'Mada Maki. It's too bad that it all has to end here!" Kuma yelled as he tightened his grip around the flyssa, causing the lightning to channel up his arm until it reached his shoulder.
"That sword. It was made using a spirit beast's core, wasn't it?" Mada asked in a low and dark tone.
His tone was more determined, but Mada couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that came over his body. Mada knew that if this was, in fact, a weapon that used the power of a spirit beast's core, then this fight might not end with him as the victor.
Mada dropped his guard and quickly knelt to check on Trayner, making sure not to break eye contact with Kuma. Mada wanted to make sure that Trayner was both breathing and had a steady pulse.
"If you're not going to answer, I'm just going to take your silence as confirmation on this topic!" Mada spoke as he quickly looked over Trayner's body.
"So that must be the special gift that he was talking about." He thought as an image of the sword flashed through his mind.
Then Mada shook his head and began to mumble a few words. "What a foolish old man."
Kuma remained silent as he walked, eventually putting his head down as if he were ashamed of something. Kuma walked like this up until he reached within striking distance of Mada and Trayner. Once he reached this point, Kuma lifted his head, revealing a deranged smile.
"After all this time, you just don't know how happy it makes me that you're the one standing in my way!" Kuma yelled as he prepared to swing the electrified flyssa.
Mada watched Kuma's blade as it was lifted into the air, then swung back down with extreme force at him and Trayner. Mada moved as fast as he could, reinforcing his fist with spirit energy while sending an uppercut directly towards the blade. As Mada's fist collided with Kuma's blade, both men were launched back due to the equality in power. This had caught Kuma by surprise. He didn't know why, but for some reason his sword couldn't cut through Mada's fist when they made contact.
"It must be because of those gauntlets! I've heard rumors that that pack of dogs is working to create a new mineral, so this must be their results." Kuma thought as he pulled his sword back and prepared to strike again.
Anticipating the incoming attack, Mada quickly grabbed Trayner and rolled out of the way. Though Mada and Trayner were not hit by a fatal blow, Mada's actions were a millisecond slower than Kuma's. causing the sword's blade to graze Mada, leaving behind a large gash down his forearm.
"Shit!!!" Mada yelled in his head as he stared at the cut and flowing blood.
"Seems like you're faster than I remember!" Kuma yelled with a large grin as he again walked towards the two. "Guess I shouldn't have gone for your arm then!"
Realizing what Kuma was insinuating, Mada carefully stood up to his feet.
"So, he's serious about not trying to kill us. That's good, but what could they want with Trayner?" Mada thought as he coated a layer of spirit energy over the cut to stop the bleeding.
Mada quickly turned his attention back towards Kuma, who, unlike before, didn't take his time closing in on Mada. For one moment, Mada and Kuma were over twenty feet apart. Within that same moment, Kuma had instantly appeared in front of Mada, sending a solid punch into his gut. The force of the punch had only caused Mada to be pushed back by a few inches, which caught Kuma by surprise.
"So, we're all full of fancy tricks now." Kuma thought as he looked down at his fist, seeing that it was pressed against a shield that resembled a turtle shell.
Kuma knew that his fist had made contact with something hard, but he just assumed that it was a special type of armor that was produced by the Zibiru tribe. This slight moment of downtime had granted Mada the perfect amount of time for a counterattack. With his hand still infused with spirit energy, Mada landed a large right hook to Kuma's jaw. The force of the punch had caused Kuma's jaw to shatter and sent him spiraling into the ground several meters away from his previous location.
"That shouldn't keep him down for long." Mada thought as he quickly pulled another familiar eye from his pouch. "But this should be enough to protect you for a little while until I figure out a way to defeat Kuma."
Mada infused a large amount of spirit energy into the small marble, then tossed it towards Trayner. The familiar eye began to light up in a bright teal color, the same way that Pori's had, but unlike Pori's familiar eye, it shook violently on the ground, causing a small-range earthquake. The earthquake had only lasted for a few seconds, but it still managed to cause everyone on the battlefield to stumble on their feet. This, of course, did not include Pori, who instantly began to fly towards Mada's location after defeating the man with long black hair.
"Maybe summoning Benjie at his full power wasn't my best idea!" Mada thought as he stumbled, making sure to catch himself before he hit the ground.
The familiar eye began to crack and shatter, revealing a small figure of light. The figure of light began to expand rapidly, eventually consuming the familiar eye and growing to the size of a large boulder. As the light faded, it revealed a large turtle-like creature that had three horns sticking out of its head and a large shell that was covered in spikes. Two of the turtle's horns were located at the top of its head, while the third was located directly under its chin, resembling an old man's beard.
"Things must be getting really bad for you to summon me at my full power." The turtle said in an old and raspy tone, making both his voice and appearance resemble those of a man in his late sixties.
"Now's not the time!" Mada yelled back as he noticed Kuma walking back toward their location. "Protect Trayner!"
Kuma walked back towards Mada and the others at a rapid pace, cracking his jaw back in place with one hand. He could be seen healing from all of the damage that Mada had inflicted on him, but his body still showed signs of exhaustion. Kuma looked down before kneeling to pick up his sword, then looked it over thoroughly. He reinfused his spirit energy into it, causing the lightning to reappear on both him and the blade. Then Kuma lifted his arm and pointed the sword straight up towards the sky.
"This is a death that is more than you deserve!" Kuma yelled as a beam of electricity shot up from the sword into the sky.
The electricity spread out and caused the sky to become covered with dark, roaring clouds that crackled with lightning.
"What is this!" Mada asked in concern as he looked up at the sky.
Mada observed the lightning as it began to gather in a circle just above his head. The gathering of the bolts caused the clouds to glow in a dark, raging yellow. The lightning continued to gather like this for a few seconds, until eventually the large ball of electricity began to drop from the sky. The lightning bolt moved with blinding speed, racing towards Mada, Trayner, and Benjie.
"Benjie, we need a barrier!" Mada yelled at the turtle as he stretched out both of his arms facing the lightning bolt.
Small orbs of light could be seen floating through the air towards Mada, gathering directly in front of his hands. The orbs of light began to absorb each other, creating a ball of pure spiritual energy that slowly grew in size. At the same time, a teal circle of light appeared on the ground around the three, slowly rising to create a dome. Mada continued to gather spiritual energy even after the dome had closed in the small gap between his hands and the ball of energy.
"I'm not sure if this will be enough, but here goes!" Mada said as he unleashed the collected spirit energy into a focused beam.
The beam of spirit energy had left Mada's hands at a speed that was hard to follow for normal human eyes. Mada had planned to intercept the bolt of lightning with the energy beam, either canceling out the attack or knocking it off target. But as the two energies collided with each other, there was a clear winner. In the beginning, Mada's blast was able to slowly push back against the lightning, giving him a little hope that the two energies might cancel each other out. That hope soon vanished after Mada witnessed the lightning begin to wrap around and consume the beam of spirit energy.
"Benjie!!!" Mada yelled in a panic, noticing that the lightning wouldn't take long to reach them. "Get Trayner away from here, now!!!"
"But what about you?" The familiar said as it began to retract several of the spikes on its shell. "You're not the same as us familiars. If you die, you won't be revived. So, I hope you know what you're doing."
Benjie began to lift Trayner up with his tail, placing him on his shell. Not saying another word to Mada, he turned around with Trayner on his back and created a small opening in the barrier. Benjie rushed out of the opening, moving as fast as he could to put distance between them and the barrier. Turning his head to catch one last sight of Mada, Benjie watched as the lightning bolt completely devoured the beam of energy, striking the barrier.
"Nooo…" Benjie yelled as he forced every muscle in his body to continue running.