Chapter 54 – Pitch Black Fight
“Why?” asked Vishwas.
“That’s confidential. Sorry,” Uruvi replied.
He placed his hands on his hips and let out a dull sigh. “Just to be clear. Your plan is to level up and take on Rank 1 in a head-on duel?”
“Yup,” said Uruvi.
“That is a death wish. Even if you reach his level or go above, he is just impossible. He is not just strong, he is a monster. He massacred multiple Contestants his level… at once,” he explained.
“Yeah. We know. But we still have to,” said Uruvi.
He threw his hands into the air. “You guys are insane.” Suddenly, his eyes drifted away from her and appeared to be looking at something behind them. “Shit.”
They looked back and saw a shadowy figure approaching them.
“Who is that?” asked Uruvi.
“Trouble,” he said, bluntly.
The figure appeared beneath the lamplight, taking the shape of a short, lean man. He boasted a young and pretty face, accompanied by fair skin and curly black hair. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and blue ripped jeans. His sharp grin and relaxed pose set off alarm bells within Uruvi.
“What is this, Vishwas? You can not go around sleeping with anyone you see,” he said. His voice was high-pitched and grating to the ear.
The ladies were taken aback by his comment.
“Macha. Two ladies are here. Don’t say such things,” said Vishwas.
“It is all the better for it,” he replied. He shifted between the two of them as his grin widened.
“And you must be Behram,” said Uruvi.
“Oh! Seems like I am famous already!” he said.
“Yeah. For all the wrong reasons,” she retorted.
“Come on now. The important thing here is you know me.” A blade dropped from his sleeve into his hand. “And you also know what I do. Yet, I don’t see fear in your eyes.” His smile suddenly vanished. “I don’t like that.”
Uruvi swiped her axe up, aiming straight for his chin. He leaned back just in time to avoid getting hit.
A loud giggle erupted from him and was followed by, “Now that is more like it!” He snapped and lunged at her with his knife at the ready.
Uruvi leapt forward and delivered a swift front kick, sending him back tumbling along the ground.
“Is he the one who massacred the other gang?” asked Rambha, as they regroup.
“That is what Ashish… said,” she choked a little on the boy’s name.
They watched him get back on his feet, giggling. The number 22 appeared over his head, along with a full health bar.
“What can you tell us about him?” asked Uruvi.
“He is a psycho,” said Vishwas.
“We can see that,” said Rambha.
“And he is dangerous,” he added.
“Okay, so nothing then,” said Uruvi. “You are on our side?”
“Definitely not going back. They will kill me,” he said.
Suddenly, Behram disappeared from her vision, leaving behind a red mist. On instinct, she and Rambha yelled, “Barricade!”
He appeared, just as suddenly, between them and smashed his knee into Vishwas, who blocked it by crossing his arms. The hit was powerful enough to send him flying back into the darkness.
Behram followed it up by swinging his knife at Rambha, shattering her shield. His knife suddenly grew in size, becoming as long as a short sword. She blocked it with her suitcase, giving Uruvi the opportunity to strike.
Her hand went straight for the axe, which she swung at his head. He countered by kicking her shield and using it as footing to throw himself and Rambha out from under the streetlight and into the darkness.
‘Wait! Where did they go?’ She instantly opened her third eye and saw a scuffle happening in a narrow alleyway.
“They are inside the block!” said Vishwas as he ran after them.
She looked up at the sky and saw a blank canvas. ‘No moon! Fuck!’ Without any further delay, she charged into the darkness. The path forward led into a dense layout of huts and small houses. The place was a maze with a dozen or more streets crisscrossing every fifty feet. She used her third eye to navigate through the narrow roads, but the range wasn’t far enough. “It is level 2, and the range is still shit!”
“Affirmative. To get enhanced range, upgrade skill to level 3,” said Arya.
“Of course…” she sighed in resignation.
Occasionally, sounds of a scuffle erupted from the darkness, leading her deeper into the maze. But its origin kept changing, which forced her to alter her course. ‘No wait… I need to think this through.’ She came to a stop and patiently waited for the sound to come once again. But when it did, she didn’t chase after it. She kept her calm and waited for the next scuffle. Then a third. ‘I see it. It’s travelling to my right…’
She ran on her toes, moving to her right and closer towards the sound. The sound of footsteps filled the air, and her third eye caught a certain individual lingering on the street behind the row of houses. ‘It’s him!’
She leapt into the air and over the row, appearing right above Behram. The axe swung in a semicircle as she came down onto him, shattering his shield. Behram quickly rolled forward as she slammed into the pavement. Without wasting a second, she lunged at him, taking a swipe with her axe.
“Barricade!” he said, just as the blade reached his neck.
The blade bounced back, but she saw it coming and let the axe go. “Thunderclap!” she said, and the resulting shockwave shattered the shield. The force was strong enough to push him back, but he quickly recovered and came at her with his sword.
Uruvi’s left hand snapped onto his wrist, while her right hand knocked the sword out of it.
“You want a fist fight?” he asked.
Uruvi replied by smashing her fist into his right side, aiming for the liver. He blocked it with his arm and returned a solid hook with his left hand. She felt his fist dig into her cheek, but it lacked power. She bit through the pain and trapped his left hand by twisting her right arm around it. A flurry of punches was sent straight at his face. He tried to block them with his free arm, but failed. She closed it by letting go of his hand and delivering an uppercut that sent him crashing into the ground.
He continued to giggle as he rolled on the ground. She heard the sound of metal scraping against the stone, just before he lunged at her.
Uruvi ducked underneath the arc of his swing and rolled away. She reached for the axe that sat a few feet away from her.
“I don’t think so!” he growled as he chased after her.
Fire erupted from behind Behram as Vishwas appeared with a clenched fist, lighting up the pitch-black night.
“Barricade!” Behram said, but the punch smashed right through the shield and into his face. As he plummeted towards the ground, he threw a small ball into the air.
Uruvi flicked the ball away before it exploded into a glorious ball of fire above them. She grabbed the axe and tried to bring it down onto his neck, only to be interrupted by a powerful Thunderclap.
Behram recovered quickly and shot after Vishwas, who was still picking himself up. Suddenly, a Meka Meka appeared out of the darkness and smashed into his head. A rope shot past him and wrapped itself around his right arm, before dragging him into the darkness.
“You are not very strong,” he said as he yanked the rope. But nothing came.
Vishwas lunged forward and slammed his fist into his stomach, making him cough. He lifted him up into the air as his gauntlet began to fire up.
Behram countered by bringing his sword close to Vishwas’s neck, close enough for Rambha to jump in and block it with her own short sword. He let a grin escape as he tossed multiple explosive balls right at Rambha’s face, which froze with fear.
“Thunderclap!” Uruvi roared. The shockwave sent all three through the wall, and the explosives scattered into the darkness.
The night sky was lit up by a bright orange glow, followed by a loud explosion that nearly threw Uruvi off her feet. She dashed through the hole in the wall to find several brick kilns on fire, across a small open field. Behram stood before them, continuing to giggle like a madman.
Vishwas and Rambha appeared beside her. “You guys, okay?” she asked.
Vishwas just nodded while Rambha said, “I am fine. Just a bruised ego.”
“Where did he get the explosives from?” asked Uruvi.
“My guess. He made them,” said Rambha.
They watched as his health bar filled up once again, while his wounds healed on their own. “What the hell?” Uruvi exclaimed. “Is he back to full health, already?”