The Power Of Wrath-Chapter 25: Speed Or Strength

Like it was straw against knife, Rio's red fire 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 over his leg and they let out consolation yips and growls.

"You should get back" Rio said to the direhog, but then just as he was about to make 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 him in his eyes, 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.

"Why would you think that."

"That 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 this answer though.

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 several times Rio had gotten a strong sense of what the energy felt like and though Rio was calm at the moment, using the pain, that travelled through his body, he searched for the energy, grabbing and drawing upon it with all his might when he found it.

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 who had been calm all this while and she turned to Ark who was some distance away.

"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 seductive woman but as he turned to look at Rio, he found himself face to with a man who radiated so much bloodlust one would have thought he was a savage 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 up, his palm smashing into Rio's palm, both their fingers entwining as pushed against each other.

Considering that Ark still had his right hand free and 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's words 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 with their proximity as Rio punched his right arm, sending it flying back along with the sword and with a roar smashed his arm down his amour, this combined with Rio grip on his hand sending Ark falling to his knee.

"You will die today" Rio said with a bright smile, excitement filling him when saw a pure unbridled rage fill Ark's eyes at the realization that he a king had been made to kneel.

A powerful buildup of energy suddenly appeared within Ark, forcing Rio to disengage and rapidly retreat, but unfortunately, he was not fast enough as he was hit by a powerful wave of energy, becoming disorientated for some seconds and when he regained clarity, had to duck out of the way of a blade but unfortunately couldn't escape a brutal kick follow up kick.

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Bam!!

Despite raising his hands 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 press his advantage, 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 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 on which he lay 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, but unfortunately being unable to get on his feet as Rio flowed into another stance and performed a roundhouse kick which sent him smashing on the ground.

Rushing to his opponent, Rio released a fist down at the ground intending to take off Ark's head but could only blink in surprise as his fist collided with a metal helmet which popped out of nowhere, Ark used this chance to kick at the ground and send himself rolling away.

"Interesting armour, it can be used to enhance either strength or speed. Unlike speed and strength though which need to be preset and can be adjusted, defence 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, and chest and going out, and then.

Bam!

Ark's legs were tensed ready to chase after Rio after dealing him such a grievous injury but never could he have imagined that instead of fleeing Rio would lean forward and deliver an earth-shocking punch to his chest.

From within his amour, Ark groaned in pain, and Rio without hesitation lifted his left hand which was full of pain and 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 ringing 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 down without mercy. Unfortunately, as the seconds passed, 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 survived that time only because he misread me, I won't be able to survive a second time if he moves that fast.

With feelings of rage rushing through him and sense of urgency hanging over his head, ignoring the pain he felt from his knuckles, his arms and the gash across his chest, he punched down as hard as he could, not caring that his actions were tearing open the cut on his chest which his body was trying to heal, and then at point, he turned around on Arks' body, placed Ark's left 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 and making him gasp in pain and release Ark.

"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, 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 adjust the energy in armour and optimize it 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 hands from which he had just released a torrent of flames.