I leaped out from behind the wall. Aurelia owed me big time for doing this bullshit. Fighting against this crazy extremist.
"Listen, man. I honestly don't want to do this, so just leave and we'll have a peaceful night."
He looked at me with irritation, his face tightening. Guess that was a no.
I stretched my arms and legs as he stood there. He was that confident. But I just needed to fight him long enough.
"You're at a massive disadvantage, Dominio. What will you do against me?"
His voice pissed me off even more. "I honestly don't even care. I still know I'll stand a chance, especially against someone like you."
I kept stretching. "You know, having arms is honestly a blessing. You can hold things—like food, weapons, the touch of a woman. All kinds of stuff. Sucks to be you, honestly. How do you even wipe your ass when you take a shit?"
His Lumin arms appeared. This time, only two—and the gold was more radiant. I'd pissed him off that much? Good.
His face tightened, more determined. A flicker of anger crossed his features, but this time it was different. He was harder to provoke than I thought.
He dashed toward me, going for a punch. I ducked just in time, feeling a faint breeze from the aftermath.
I kneed his side, then went for a kick—but he caught my leg. A massive golden fist appeared above me.
What the hell?
The fist crashed down on me hard, slamming me to the floor. Rowan's grip tightened, then he hurled me against the reinforced wooden wall. I hit the floor before he let go.
"Is that all you've got, Dominio? I expected more." He grabbed the back of my neck and slammed my face against the wall.
"So, how should I kill you? Cave your skull in? Give you brain damage, maybe? Or just crush your bones? There are infinite ways to kill a man with your bare hands. I'll try every method on you."
His grip loosened. I kicked his chin, sending him back slightly, then kicked his jaw again. I jumped back to create distance as he turned to look at me.
"What have you done?" He held his face hard, eyes wide.
A unique skill. An ability someone is naturally born with that others cannot copy. A unique skill helps you depending on the class you're born with.
Mine was color manipulation. Manipulating the way people saw colors. And right now... Rowan was seeing every color in existence within seconds. That stuff messes with your head. Badly.
"You alright, man? You don't look good."
I extracted Lumin from my soul, letting it escape my body into a thick outline beside me. Slowly, it transformed into a copy of myself. The cloning technique—splitting your Lumin to make a duplicate. Its strength depended on how much Lumin you gave it.
My clone and I dashed toward him. Lumin emitted from my feet. I jumped up and kicked his face while my clone kicked his stomach, sending him flying down the hallway.
I ran at him again. Then—
A massive fist collided with my face. My head snapped back.
How?!
He dashed toward me, punched my face, then grabbed my arm, pulling me in close and punching me again. He pulled me back after the impact and punched me again. Again. Again. And again.
Then a fist shot up from the floor, uppercutting me. He let go as his arm grew bigger—bigger than a small child.
The fist hurtled toward my face. I ducked. The arm extended past me and smashed into my clone, destroying it.
I jumped up and uppercut him again, making him stumble back slightly.
Blood trickled down from my nose and forehead. This bastard.
He looked back at me. Then his mouth widened into a grin.
"Even at a disadvantage, you're still fighting. You know, when I was weaker, I would always give up, knowing I'd lose eventually. But you, Dominio... you're like a hornet fighting a much larger animal, even though you know you're outmatched. You're truly a fascinating person."
A person who keeps fighting even at a massive disadvantage?
That sounded more like Zain. Even outmatched, he kept fighting. He wasn't even a hornet. He was a jaguar that would still leap into the river to hunt an alligator.
Golden Lumin poured out of Rowan's body. Two extra arms grew from his sides.
I was really at a massive disadvantage now.
He ran at me, moving like a blur of golden light. He threw a barrage of punches. I dodged each one, but this time it was different. They were faster. More organized. He grew more and more arms. Six? Eight? Nine? I couldn't even count.
It was like he was disorienting me too. Wait... what? He was confusing me with the sheer volume of attacks, wearing me down. I looked up at him as I dodged. He was smiling, looking past me.
I glanced back.
Giant golden hands loomed behind me.
He stopped.
I felt the warm hands clamp around me.
That was his tactic? How did he—
Wait.
He hadn't just been attacking me. Throughout his barrage, he'd been throwing Lumin behind me so he could form that giant hand to grab me. He'd had so many chances to land a hit—nine arms—yet he'd kept aiming past my head.
He was good. Really good.
Rowan walked toward me slowly. Every step was deliberate, and he stumbled occasionally, like he was drunk.
I pressed my hand against the golden fingers holding me. I spat in his eye.
He recoiled, clutching his face. The grip of the hand tightened.
My body ached. Rowan stumbled, touching the wall for support.
"You're a smart bastard, Dominio. Blinding me so I wouldn't kill you myself."
Footsteps echoed from the stairs behind me. I looked back.
Six people. Including the woman in heavy armor with the axe. Her olive skin made her recognizable. It was the woman from the cafeteria. His bodyguard.
She walked past me and glanced down briefly. So he'd brought his cult with him. Bastard.
They stopped in front of Zain's door. She kicked it open, then stood still.
She looked back at me, her face twisted with rage. A vein pulsed on her forehead.
"WHERE IS HE?!"