Roaring flame, crashing thunder, both fueled by the ether, an idea beyond mind.
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With a slight shift, Tyrai peeked from the corner, fixating his eyes on the ones near him, who seemed to engage in discussion amongst their lot, which he could not really confirm at that moment.
Then he amplified the degree of soundwaves his ears could account for, thus gaining supernormal hearing, and able to catch on to their talk with the faint echoes and waves slowly growing louder.
"Scorched? Really?" Purogu asked Kai and Huo with a heightened interest, amidst the latter’s head scratching and the former’s casually folded arms.
"Yeah.” Kai said, dropping his hand and averting his eyes. "And when I went ahead to uncover the material responsible for it…" "It wasn't anything ‘normal’…" Huo said, with a tone slightly calmer than his usual.
The attention of his allies piqued in reaction to his words, producing gestures of equal intrigue and confusion.
"Is that so? But what could it have been then?,” said Purogu in a perplexed tone as she returned her gaze to the two. Huo scoffed in frustration, and Kai slightly lowered his head. "No clue. I did my best to dig deeper but…no clear-cut traits.”
"We've just been moving around in circles at this point anyway.” He said with a scornful scowl. "Got better ideas, Ruthless Aggression?" Drizzled retorted, hastily drawing an irate reaction from the human. "I should–!" "Stop this!" Purogu exclaimed in an attempt to mediate and de-escalate the confrontation.
"Infighting won't lead us anywhere. Wukong, while I do connect with your complaints, your attitude is a tad crude.” She noted, focused mostly on Huo as she reached the end of her statement, bringing him into a disbelieving gasp. "Hah?!”
“Me!? I’m actually trying to resolve this as hurriedly as possible. If my attitude throws you off, that’s on you.” He retorted with a more controlled aggression, with gestures of hand of a myriad of forms. But, Purogu said nothing at first, only clenching her fist in a slowly rising irritation,
“...So are we all.” “Huh?”
"So please, settle down, and let us get on with it.” She finished, carrying a gentle smile but speaking in a commandeering voice, sending terror into her contemporaries, to them a side of her they rarely saw.
Some shriveled back, some gulped, but Drizzled, he just smiled at the wonder of it all.
She then clapped her hands, smiling now only optimistically. "So, let's get to it, shall we?"
Her allies looked at her in astonishment, lost for words.
They would share glances at each other afterwards, sharing their common feelings of disbelief, which perplexed Purogu just as well.
“Beyond all that…” Hether began to add, and the eyes of the group fell onto her.
“Considering the very fact all we’ve been getting are red herrings and vague clues, Huo is not entirely wrong in a sense, as you said.”
“That’s true.” Purogu responded. “And with the ‘paradoxical’ energy sensed by Probacon and David, the attempted luring of our ranks to their doom, and the rise in bystander casualties…”
“This is not something I see reaching a resolution anytime soon.”
The reply she received was a unanimous one, one of heads nodded in agreement with her prediction.
Afterwards, they split themselves into mani-man units and went separate ways. Meanwhile, Tyrai looked at each of these units, keeping reasonable distance from each still.
He closed his eyes, shrugging in disinterest.
Boring. He thought to himself as he turned to walk away in the opposite direction.
Amongst the units formed were one of the two overmen hominids Hether and Huo, who then entered into the near-empty entertainment center, which was also in the middle of clearing out.
"I'll get started on this end,” said Hether, transforming into an unknown small animal, seemingly possessing features of a mouse, six limbs and a whip-like tail, gaining only a dirty look from Huo. "That tone annoys me.”
He proceeded to form the dog sign with his hands, summoning his own version of the renowned Cursed Wolves.
"Go.” He beckoned to them, causing them to begin moving around.
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For a while, they scouted about the area, garnering minimal success in their attempts, and seeming to take steps backwards time and time again in their eyes. It was also not as easy initially as they had to evade the wary eyes of the beings still around the center, and even after it was only them left, there was still little to show for it.
A visibly frustrated Huo would end up kicking over a table virulently, prompting Hether to just glare at him with unamusement and crossed arms. "Big sis was right. Chill out, man.”
"Shut it, will you?,” responded an irritated Huo, turning to face her. "I barely have a care for the thoughts of you people." "Yet you're here.”
He glared at her with visible frustration, and received only a reply of boastful smugness.
He swiftly turned back to mind his business, crouching and letting out some grumbles.
She sighed, exasperated by his antics.
She then began making way towards him, seeking to connect with him on some level, and to draw out some more cooperativeness from him. “Hey…”
"Look, I get it. You’re the same as everyone in our stance about this, all that's happening. And we're all equally as frustrated. That much is easy to tell." She said, as she placed her hand on his shoulder, while he still averted his eyes and even frowned more.
"But no one else is going out of their way to act like a jackass ‘cause of it. That's all it is. We’re in this together, Huo. No one wants to antagonize you, in any way. Trust me, at least.” Hether finished, with Huo finally turning to look at her standing.
He stared at the presence of the young woman with hair and skin of shades of grassy green and eyes of emerald directing a bright, optimistic smile at him.
Still, he glared at her in a blatant contempt and a deep disregard.
"Oh, yeah. I'm definitely synced with the commandos, the know-it-alls, the morons, AND the freak beside me right now.” He retorted as he looked away and counted with his fingers each of his mentions, ending it with a reverberation. A reverberation that stunned Hether.
He quickly flicked her hand off his shoulder, no delay or hesitation.
She stepped back as she clutched both hands to her chest, and her smile slowly faded.
Suddenly, a loud crash was heard by the two, both instinctively turning to the darkness far behind them from which it came from and activating their abilities, with Hether emitting electricity and ki on both hands and utilizing her heightened senses, and Huo activated his Reflection Eye, a two-tomoed one, and held onto part of his trusty staff, which rested in a holder harnessed on his back.
As they peered, something made an unholy and unearthly sound, and a few dots of lights glowed from that darkness beyond them.
In an imperceivable instant, everything faded to black.
***
Meanwhile, the tournament commenced without wait as it commonly did, as an intense battle raged on with the crowds and combatants watching on with intrigue.
Yurupt was yet again engaged in contention, this time against a human with long and wavy black hair, white skin covered in red and black tattoos of certain patterns and positionings, almond-shaped brown-irised eyes and teeth more pointed than usual, with a long brown and gray loincloth atop a pair of black pants, and with a wide and enthusiastic grin on his face. And around and behind beings were a numerous amount of varieties of items.
《A battle of the All-Tools; possessors of potential all-access to all forms of the “equipment” of the omniverse.》
The latter began charging at Yurupt at great speed, carrying a large greatsword in his grasp and positioned for a rapid slash.
He followed through with his intent, but could only connect to a giant nanotechnological shield from Yurupt's end.
The duo stared at each other with wide, vibrant grins, and their eyes sparking with intense fires.
They pushed each other back, ready for the next charge.
Then with an explosive aura, Yurupt transformed. His appearance had turned to one similar to that of a transformed Lulua Star, but with ocean blue irides. As he was shirtless, his chest and abdominal muscles were also shown to lack the fur covering.
He launched a rapid-fire ki blast at his opponent, who evaded it with celerity.
"What power! Are we raising the intensity?!" He exclaimed, summoning to himself from nowhere a strange blue gem and a glowing yellow cube.
《Dije. Immortal Warrior. Age Unknown.》
Both warped a four-dimensional platform's reality on a grandiose scale.
But Yurupt simply smirked, confusing his opponent.
He brought out two of the same, ready to go head-to-head with Dije, much to the latter's bewilderment.
But Dije would chuckle upon realizing, just what the nature of the crazy and ridiculous persona before him.
"You're one nutty bastard.” He acknowledged of his rival, as the two went at it one more time.
And their battle was lengthy, drawn out by the inconceivable amount of weapons they possessed, along with their own abilities. With each moment of a potential grasp of victory, the opposition always had a card up their sleeve. It was a battle of vibrance and entertainment, and much lauded by the general consensus were the capabilities of these two wonders.
《A battle of the hand. Of the works of the hand. Displaying capacity beyond any demand. They present their fruits and gifts with irrevocable command. And to their audience, a great show of hand. But in the end…》
But Yurupt sealed the deal with a powerful blast in the end, taking out Dije.
《The one with illogical permanency bested.》
And for that, he would be the one called upon as the victor of the match…
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