The rooftops in Nun’s higher buildings were built haphazardly. The designers figured not many people would have a need to go on top of them, so they were where creative liberties were taken. Many angles and shapes lined the tops of the buildings, making them difficult to stand on. Lights of all colors were often positioned to the ground, but some more were set up to shine in the sky or across other buildings. The design was odd, but those that maintained building codes in the city saw no reason to force the designers to comply with any given code for the rooftops. With some of the extreme personalities in Nun architecture designers, they figured that having one space for creative outlet would leave the rest of the building somewhat normal.
However, the odd design had an unintentional use, which was that when looked at together, they formed a difficult course for what would be known on earth as parkour. Some daredevils had found joy in leaping across the rooftops in secret, but no formal activity had been created on Resh.
Rheba found herself in the middle of a firsthand experience with the rooftops as she ran across them. She was forced to jump, climb, and slide, pushing her military training to its limits.
The tall warrior would have not been in such a rush, but as soon as she retreated to the roofs, Thorir quickly leaped after her.
She had not expected the yellow-haired Netzian to scale the building so quickly and could not increase the gap between them before he could begin his chase.
“I didn’t think a warrior would be such a coward!” Thorir shouted from behind as he gracefully leaped and contorted through the unintentional parkour course.
Rheba’s ear twitched, but she said nothing in reply. She needed to find a place with sound footing to properly engage with her opponent.
The warrior bounced off a wall to make a 90-degree turn before colliding with the side of a building. She quickly used windowsills to hop up to a higher rooftop. Opposed to the graceful movements of Rheba, Thorir could not change his direction so rapidly and smashed through a window. There was a scream from the tenant of the room as he burst in, but he paid them no mind and quickly began to run across the room.
As he ran to the apartment wall, he punched two fists together. The metal bonded to his knuckles began to glow, and purple sparks flicked off them. When the hulking Netzian reached the apartment wall, he thrust his fist forward and punched a hole into the next.
Thorir continued running through the complex, smashing through walls and ignoring the screaming tenants. At the other side of the building, he burst through a window and flew through the air to the next building. As the Netzian anticipated, Rheba had run across the top of the building and was leaping down the next. They came close in the air, and Thorir didn’t let his opportunity go to waste. He threw an electrical punch at Rheba’s head. She only had enough time to block the blow with her forearms before she was thrust through the air.
Rheba smashed into the next building's rooftop and rolled several times before coming to a stop. She was quickly back up on her feet as Thorir landed on the roof.
The opponents had landed in a narrow flat area, where they both stood. To both, their sides was an angled section with poles sticking up like tree trunks. The columns dotted the roof in straight lines on either side of them. Behind the dualling opponents was the fountain where The Bentalousian warrior and Gwyn had planned to meet. She could see Gwyn’s bright hair as he entered the area with a familiar writer.
Rheba gritted her teeth. She would have to take a stand on the roof or leap down and get Gwyn involved in the fray.
The Bentalousian warrior took a deep breath and formulated a quick plan. She would combat Thorir on the roof for a moment to assess his ability. If she could not easily best him, she would bring the fight to the fountain and have Gwyn support her.
“Finally decided to stop? Great! Let’s fight!” Thorir said with glee.
Rheba put her arms up into a fighting stance. She couldn’t help but notice a slight lack of feeling in her two arms, but she shrugged it off and looked at her opponent's eyes. They were bright like a child might be when buying him candy.
“I must warn you, I have been trained to take on all species and prepared for all manners of abilities,” she cautioned. Rheba planned to use his reaction to assess his confidence.
Thorir smirked and took a pose of his own.
“How funny, so have I!”
Neither exchanged another word. They charged at each other in the narrow section of the roof, and each aimed a punch at the other's head. Thorir opted to take the brunt of Rheba’s blow, letting her fist dig into the side of his face. Rheba figured caution was better and moved her head to avoid getting hit. His knuckles sparked with purple electricity that would have been discharged in the Bentalousian warrior.
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She quickly swung her leg to hit his side. Thorir thrust his elbow down to stop the blow with a sharp jab. Before she could back up, he grabbed her leg in a hold. With a swipe of her other foot and a twist of her leg, Thorir spun Rheba’s large form in the air and smashed her back into the ground. Before she could get up, he punched her in the stomach.
Electricity ran through Rheba’s body, and she felt an immediate vibrating pain like many tiny needles stuck in her core. She grunted and pulled her legs back. With a mighty push, she slammed both feet into Thorir and threw him across the rooftop. His back smashed into one of the avant-garde poles the designer had put up. Several cracks formed throughout it from the blow.
Resh did not have tasers or any device with a similar concept, but Thorir’s electrified attacks were close in comparison. He had found the attacks easily paralyzed Netzians, Aqueenians, and Zenototes. Hobusians’ rougher skin seemed to act as an insulator, making them more challenging foes, and Bentalousians could feel the attacks but often would task several blows before the paralysis set in.
Fortunately for the yellow-haired attacker, he had faced many opponents who could handle the punch part of his electrified attack. Rheba was the first to not only get taken down in one blow but quickly deliver a harsh counter-attack. He was ecstatic.
Rheba quickly scanned the Netzian’s limbs for a Needaimus; when she found none, she was forced to make an assumption.
“You are using the spells of energy and reinforcement, aren’t you?” she asked as she stood back up. Her stomach still felt off from the blow, but she ignored it as best she could.
Thorir smirked. He had searched for a strong opponent for years after mastering his craft. He found the idea of a Needaimus abhorrent. Not only did they give abilities that weren’t natural, but they also granted power to people without proper training. A person could do extraordinary feats without earning it, in Thorir’s eyes.
He had banded together with a small group to research and develop the seven simple spells into a potent fighting force. As he honed his body, he honed his spellcraft. Others left one by one when they realized how challenging the task actually was. Ultimately, the yellow-haired Netzian was the only one who reached mastery.
He had wandered across Resh for several years after, picking fights with Needaimus users and skilled fighters without prejudice. His only hope was to find someone with sufficient fighting skills to best him, or at least train someone with magic to carry on his legacy.
Eventually, Array found him and offered him a deal. They would involve him in situations where powerful fighters would gather. Thorir would have rathered fought the strong commanders that offered him the position, but he was not so much of a musclehead to overlook a good deal. He accepted with the goal of picking fights among the organization later.
Unfortunately for the Netzian, he had not found strong fighters after joining Array. They were mainly focused on Nun upon his initiation, and he saw the citizens of the grand city were too squishy for his liking.
It had been several years since he had taken a hit and many more since he thought a bone may have been broken. He was happy as could be and made a sinister grin at Rheba.
“Tell me, what is the Bentalousian rule for getting a Needaimus?” Thorir asked as he pushed himself off the cracked pole.
Rheba’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t see the relevance but was not going to share the information regardless. Seeing the defiance in Rheba’s eyes made Thorir chuckle.
“Alright,” he said, “Just say something if I am wrong. Your culture believes a fighter should be competent first and a Needaimus mortal second. Only after mastering many martial arts skills and winning several live fights, you will be granted a Needaimus.”
What he said was correct, but Rheba was not sure if she should say anything or not. She decided it was better to figure out what her next attack would be. Silently, she considered which words she should say. Only in her vision could she see the estimated amount of points each would cost.
‘I will defeat you’ cost three times her current stockpile. ‘I will not be electrocuted again’ was even more. She gritted her teeth as the values were an additional way to measure her opponent's skill level. Rheba could tell that he was strong.
“I’ll take that as a yes, very good,” Thorir said with glee as he took another fighting stance. He quickly lunged forward and threw a kick at Rheba’s waist. She wasn’t sure if the foot would be electrified and leaped back to avoid the strike.
Thorir had counted on her move. His kick was actually a feint, and he quickly redirected it to the ground and pushed off to lunge closer.
“I will dodge,” Rheba shouted as Thorir moved his sparking fist of purple lighting close to her head. She was able to move in an awkward and contorted manner around him as the fist harmlessly sailed in the air. More impressively, she recovered from the awkward dodge and slammed her foot into Thorir’s back. He was smashed into the rooftop and grunted.
“So, even you rely on your Needaimus,” Thorir lamented. Rheba did not understand his tone or words but jumped back in case he was about to try something. Sure enough, her concern was warranted as a discharge erupted from Thorir’s body.
He pushed himself and glared at her with rage.
“Is it too much to ask for a good fight?” he grunted as he ran across the rooftop.
“I would think electrifying opponents would not make for a good fight,” Rheba replied as she jumped in the air and over his head. Thorir stopped short of hitting the cracked pole a second time.
Rheba swiftly began to run across the roof as well. She figured it would be best to end the fight quickly before meeting up with Gwyn.
She pulled her arm back in preparation to strike as hard as possible. Thorir, on the other hand, suddenly broke off the cracked pole. He spun the pole like a baseball bat at Rheba. She quickly halted and pushed herself back. At the same time, Thorir lunged forward while continuing his swing. The hit connected, and Rheba flew across the sky into the under construction building on the opposite side of the fountain.