Rick looked up at the giant of a man talking about killing him like he was doing him a favor. He sighed. He was getting really tired of this noble shtick really fast. It was novel at first, but all of the restrictions weren't floating his boat.
He was somewhat shocked then, when he heard Mira's voice. She was standing behind the man who was really loud for a man with a name that alluded to talking in hushed tones.
What kind of bond villain was he? In fact all of his opponents seemed really eager to trash talk him. The snake was the same. What were they, gamers late at night?
Their trash talk was trash too! Not a single yo mama joke! Although that might have been wise, considering that his mother was on the battlefield and was know as the Bright Terror.
He looked over at Mira. She was standing there, perfectly pristine. It was like she hadn't participated in the battle at all.
At her feat there was a shifty looking fellow who she had carried over here.
"Roach." He heard the man say.
"Hey pretty lady. Mind telling me why you got my subordinate with you?"
"Roach?" Mira laughed. "What a fitting name for him. He does seem to have a talent for scurrying about."
Jeff frowned. But his mind was too bent out of shape for him to pick up on her subtlety.
Mira shook her head. "I don't know why I put my hopes up anyway. You're just a brute, and you're going to die here."
She reached over backwards to her back. There, there wad a secret compartment in their clothes.
Along the ridge of here spine, nestled there, was here weapon. It was a staff, broken into three parts and connected by short chains.
They would have been nunchucks if only the chains were longer.
'Wasted potential. Although, I might want to see how she would deal with that considering her…. gifts.'
She then pressed a button in the middle section of her staff, causing the chains to suddenly retract, the ends of the sections slamming into each other and then fusing seamlessly, reconstructing her staff.
A breath of wind blew by, sweeping her hair away to the side. It was like a movie scene.
'Cool…' Rick said underneath his breath. It really was cool.
He had stood up and was on his feet by now. He didn't want to be outdone. He took a fighting stance.
"Well, allow me and my partner there to disabuse you of your delusions of grandeur. The notion that you are a noble, to the extent of even speaking like us, disgusts me."
Rick said. As he said so, he shifted into a fighting stance, hands up on guard, feet square and shoulder width apart.
They looked ready to act out David and Goliath.
There was a moment of still tension, and then, in the eyes of the mundanes, all three vanished at the same time.
The next thing they heard was a boom! And then the next thing they saw was Jeff blocking Mira with one arm and tanking Rick's attack with his back.
Only for the trio to vanish once more and then start again over and over.
Jeff mostly tanked Rick's attacks, but took care to if not avoid, then block the attacks of Mira.
Mira had a vibration ability, and an affinity tied to the concept of resonance. She was able to vibrate whatever she touched, and this was deadly when she was wielding her staff.
A staff is a blunt weapon. At every point of impact, vibrations would be created naturally. Mira was able to take hold of these vibrations and amplify them in the case of her enemies, but nullify them on hers.
Anyone who has ever felt a rebound because of using too much force applied improperly knew of that kind of pain and discomfort. Mira was able to magnify that tenfold, or even a hundredfold.
Therefore she was the worst kind of match-up for Jeff. She somewhat nullified his fortitude concept by going through the skin to attack the muscles, organs and bones underneath.
It was an insidious sort of armor-breaking power. Of course, Jeff's fortitude could tank Vibration as well. But tanking a concept like Ricks which had to do with heat and tanking one that had to do with penetration like Mira's was fundamentally different.
Also he had some information on this little girl going toe to toe with him right now. She was no warrior. She was a mage.
Rick, unlike Mira who had most of her attacks blocked and dodged, was suffering. He was like an annoying gnat taking pot shots for the hell of it.
'This isn't working.'
He focused on the flame in his mind. His body was being fortified by the white flame, but it wasn't working.
His hand was bruised at this point. Punching Jeff was like punching a moving steel wall. Even the sound rang out like he was hitting metal.
He had gone from slicing through the rogue to feeling like he was a kid hitting an adult. A pro muscle building adult.
And he wasn't safe in his harassment either. His coordination with Mira was something to wonder at. When one attacked the other interfered. Evidently they had a style where they were to come together and the sum was to be more potent than the individual parts.
But Jeff effectively neutered Rick. Worse than that. Since all of his attacks were ineffective he was open to counters a lot. He kept getting grazed by Jeff's humongous fists.
Despite looking like his muscles would hinder and slow him down, Jeff's explosive speed was shocking. He danced about the battlefield gracefully. His steps barely made a sound.
He had the grace of a figure skater and the power of a train. Although he was fighting two Awakened, he was actually holding his own.
He held them in a delicate balance. It was like a delicate dance. In that situation, all it took was a single variable, a single mistake, for the balance of the battle to change.