“Karin?” Lily asked.

“Oh, another one now?” Tina asked. She grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.

“Did we get him?” Bailey asked as she exited a nearby room. “Oh, it's a wom- Karin!?”

The woman didn't even have the strength left to fight back against Tina. It also didn't help that the punch was somewhat electrified.

“Since that asshole isn't gonna wake up, what don't you explain what's going on?”

----------------------------------------

The man in black sat in the chair, quietly observing Tibaut. The fireballs behind him soon began to shrink in size. Did he realise the man in black could escape if he blew a large enough hole? He wasn't going to escape but he wasn't going to scoff at such a gift.

“You fucking bastard. Haven't you had enough of messing with us!? Huh!? Answer you son of a bitch, I'll give you some last words before I turn you into a pile of charcoal!” He snarled. He closed the door when he entered and out of sheer spite, he moved his hand to the knob, keeping an eye on the man and began using his magic to melt it. This was going to end tonight, whether it was his death or the man before him.

The man in black chuckled. “Aw man, that sucks. It's not like I have any windows I can jump out of.”

“I don't think your fat ass can fit through any of the ones here,” Tibaut said as he crept closer. His eyes showed no warmth, it looked like he was looking at a piece of shit rather than a person.

“Really? I remember a pretty big one upstairs.”

Tibaut fired off his barrage of fireballs and the man in black quickly exited the chair, breaking the glass of the receptionist area and ducking down to dodge all of the fireballs headed his way. Tibaut had lost half of them turning them towards him but the other half peppered the receptionist area. As he approached it, more fireballs behind him, a handful of rubble was thrown at him.

He instinctively threw a fireball, before quickly backing away. He realised the purpose of the rubble. The fireball exploded a few feet in front of him and he quickly got rid of the other fireballs to spare himself from unnecessary damage.

The blast sent him back a few feet, though he remained on his feet no worse for wear. (“That didn't sting as much as I thought. Oh right, the armour.”) He thought with a cold-looking face. (“I'll have to thank Vanessa after this. Now I can show this little bitch a real fight.”)

The man in black jumped over the counter. “If you're not careful you're the one getting turned into charcoal Tibaut. Honestly, that's some volatile magic, not sure I'd be a fan of it-”

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Tibaut closed the distance and threw a punch. The man in black parried but wasn't unscathed. (“Tch, this armour seems like a hassle.”) He thought. The blades on the gauntlets ran against his skin, cutting him deeper than he expected.

He attempted to stab into his torso but Tibaut simply swatted it away like a fly, showing no fear of the blade and delivered another clubbing blow. He landed in his torso, though he felt the resistance of armour.

The man black moved to headbutt him but Tibaut moved fast enough to counter with a headbutt of his own, the two backing up after having their skulls smashed into one another.

Blood started to flow from Tibaut's forehead while the man in black looked on.

“(He's adjusted to this style. What a monster.) It seems like I have the harder head.”

He quickly moved his head out of the way of a fire spear.

“Shut up and die,” Tibaut stated as he launched another barrage of fireballs. This barrage was far slower than the last but he didn't notice their presence which made them more valuable to him.

As the man in black dodged and stabbed at them, Tibaut closed the distance between them and aimed a punch straight for his jaw. The man in black narrowly avoided it through some miracle, though it did glance at him, cutting some skin.

He countered with a head butt, fully connecting with the centre of Tibaut’s face. But he wasn't out. He moved his hand to the back of the man’s head, pulling him forward and started biting into his face.

“Are you an animal or something!?” The man in black asked as he pushed Tibaut off him.

He had a visible bite mark on the upper left part of his face, now revealed. In the mouth of Tibaut was a piece of black cloth.

“I can tell you're an ugly bastard but don't worry, I'll leave you even uglier when I'm finished.”

He spat it out and ran towards him. They were done feeling each other out. It was time to kill.

The gauntlets made defence a game of agility for the man in black, which made it quite a ball ache as the boy had managed to get quicker since their last meeting.

(“I swear, kids improve in the time it takes to blink these days.”)

He was forced to back away as Tibaut peppered his area of attack with blows. After another blow, Tibaut felt something odd happen and noticed he was closer than he realised. The man tried to stab at his liver but the hard and smooth surface of the leather under his metal chest plate managed to skid the blade off him as he turned to dodge it.

Tibaut had his legs swept but he showed the man in black why that was a bad idea by punching his lower leg with the gauntlets. He didn't show the pain but he quickly backed away.

Tibaut got to his knees and was greeted by a kick that nearly rang his bell. He managed to block it but even with his gauntlets on, it was like he took a punch to the face.

He could feel the man in black moving his leg for another kick and instead threw his leg upwards. The man in black took it in stride, doing a backflip and then landing on both feet before thrusting the knife at Tibaut as he approached him. Tibaut managed to stop it just before his face and used his other hand to try and push it away as the man in black committed to using both of his hands to overpower Tibaut.