Like it was straw against knife, Rio's red axe had been cut into and seeing the other half fall a distance away, he couldn't help but frown.
"That axe was a relic"
Grrrr! Grrrr!
As if understanding that the weapon held a place in his heart, the two-headed direhog ran over to Rio, both their heads rubbing his leg and they let out consolation yips and growls.
"You should get back," Rio said to the direhog, but before he could decide on his next move, he looked around the battlefield, his gaze going to the spectators and then finally to the king, who despite having the strong desire to end, was just calmly watching him.
"Would I be right to assume this is his first fight against a real enemy?" Rio asked, looking at the grand Priestess in the distance.
"Why would you think that?"
"The fact that despite his strength, I don't feel like running away. You guys are treating this fight like some sort of practice, a showing perhaps." Rio thought not speaking out on this.
Ark possessed incredible strength, but the man fought like a novice, just substantially better than the men he had killed at the waterfall. It was baffling.
Dropping the now useless metal in his hand, Rio clamped the nails of his finger on his left arm and then dragged them down.
At first, Rio's skin held firm, but then he pressed deeper into his flesh and his nails broke through.
After tapping into the mysterious energy a few times, Rio had gotten a strong sense of what it felt like, and though Rio was calm at the moment, using the pain that coursed through his body, he searched for the energy, finding and drawing upon it with all his might.
As Rio pulled on the energy, bringing it out of whatever depth it rested in, before it flooded his body and became noticeable to the world, surprise appeared in the eyes of the grand priestess and she turned to Ark, who was some distance ahead of her.
"He's finally called upon the power of the curse, kill him now and show your might as the hands of the ancestors."
Ark nodded at the words seductive woman but as he turned to look at Rio, he found himself face to face with a man who radiated so much bloodlust one would have thought he was a wild beast.
Without a word, Rio's hand shot forward, looking to grab Ark's face, but it was stopped in its track as Ark's hand shot forward, his palm smashing into Rio's, both their fingers entwining as they pushed against each other.
Considering that Ark still had his right hand free and was wielding a sword, Rio was in a very bad position, but the smile on his face spoke nothing of him being afraid.
"So, it's the suit huh, Pathetic," Rio said with a sneer, and though Ark couldn't understand Rio, he could understand the look of disgust on his face.
Ark brought his sword down in anger, but as he did so, he was reminded why that wasn't such a good idea, as with their proximity, Rio punched his right forearm, sending it shooting backward and with a roar smashed his fist down on his armor, this combined with Rio's grip on his left hand sending Ark falling to his knee.
"You will die today," Rio said with a bright smile, excitement filling him when he saw unbridled rage fill Ark's eyes at the realization that he had been made to kneel.
A powerful buildup of energy suddenly appeared within Ark, forcing Rio to disengage and retreat.
Unfortunately, he was not fast enough as he was hit by a powerful wave of energy, becoming disoriented for some seconds, and when he regained clarity, he had to duck out of the way of a blade, but couldn't escape a brutal kick that followed.
Bam!!
Despite raising his arm to block, Rio was sent shooting across the ground, his form bouncing and rolling, and a strong ache running through his arms.
It looked like Rio was out of commission but as Ark shot forward looking to finish him, Rio also pushed off the ground and met him head-on.
"He's gotten weaker but faster"
With blood running down his arms, Rio swerved out of the way of the slash and with determination in his eyes, swept Ark off his feet and as the man fell to the ground, released an axe kick on his back.
"Boom"
Ark's form smashed to the ground, cracking the earth beneath but when Rio moved to release a kick on his head, he pushed against the floor with incredible strength, sending his form rising into the air,
Sadly, he was unable to get on his feet as Rio flowed into another stance and performed a roundhouse kick which sent him flying and smashing back on the ground.
Rushing toward his opponent, Rio released a fist down, intending to crush Ark's head, but could only blink in surprise as his fist collided with a metal helmet that popped out of nowhere.
Ark used this chance to kick at the ground and send himself rolling away.
"Interesting armor. It can be used to enhance either strength or speed but unlike speed and strength which have an inverse relationship, the defense stat is permanent."
"Now that he has on his helmet, I have no obvious spot to attack, so I guess I'll just ….."
Rio was in his thoughts when for the first time, his instincts flared with danger and Ark blurred in front of him, his speed leaving Rio slow to react and dreadfully watching as the man's blade sliced down on him.
"Fuck"
By the time Rio leaned away from Ark, the man's blade had cut into his body, slicing down his left shoulder into his chest and coming out, and then....
Bam!
Ark's legs were tensed, ready to chase after Rio, but never could he have imagined that instead of fleeing, Rio would lean forward and deliver an earth-shattering punch to his chest.
From within his amour, Ark groaned in pain, and Rio without hesitation, lifted his left hand, ignoring the excruciating pain, launched another hit at him.
The first time Rio had delivered such a hit, Ark had fallen to his knees, but this time he fell flat on the floor and Rio, with burning anger mounted his form and began raining down punches, fist against metal.
Settling his weight on Ark's body and his knees over the man's arms, Rio pinned him down as he punched without mercy.
Unfortunately, in just seconds, Rio could feel Ark's strength rapidly increasing, his struggles beneath him becoming harder to suppress.
"I need to get past this amour and kill him before he regains his strength else am toast. I was able to take advantage because he misread me, I won't be able to survive a second time if he gets the opportunity to move that fast again."
With feelings of rage pulsing through him and a sense of urgency hanging over his head, ignoring the pain he felt from his knuckles, his arms and the gash across his chest, Rio punched down as hard as he could, not caring that his actions were further tearing open the wound on his chest, one which his body was struggling to heal.
At a point, he turned around on Ark's body, placed Ark's right arm in an armlock, and then pulled with all his strength.
Crack!!!
Ahhhhh!
Twisting and making sure he did a good job, Rio paid for this thoroughness as Ark's left arm came smashing down on his chest, hitting right on his bleeding gash, the agonizing pain making him release the king.
"Bastard," Ark screamed, but as he pushed himself off the ground and rose to his feet, he found himself falling flat back on his face as an axe kick fell on his helmet.
Filled with rage at Rio's continuous use of this technique to bring him down, with a roar, Ark slammed his one good arm on the ground, he dug his fingers into the earth and twisting his wrist, sent his body into a spin, looking to sweep Rio off his feet.
Unfortunately, Ark could only watch as Rio jumped back, evading the attack, but then as he sneered and stood to his feet, ready to optimize his armor for extreme speed, he found himself consumed by a powerful wave of fire, bathed in its fury.
"Did I just do that?" Rio thought, looking at his hand from which he had just released a torrent of flames.