The very moment my words echoed across the unnaturally suspended silence, the blue-blooded spiff who I had assumed to be the executives' leader, just as It assumed of me, withdrew Its salivary slimed blue tongue.
It's four already large, lidless eyeballs somehow enlarged more, becoming wider and wider. And as it did, the blue veins that swam in the eyeballs thickened.
Finally, it's lipless mouth that was more like a divided slit painted in the middle of its face, parted.
And the very moment it did, a cascading wave of active, anomalous Te washed over the entire building, actively spiking the building's temperature to degrees higher than high.
I stood firmly, toes wriggling inside my shoes. My fists were tightly clenched, and a wide smirk was present on my face as my elated gaze studied the mouth movement of the source of the Te pressure.
—"Kill Them All."—
It uttered.
The air grew thicker, almost stale and congealed as it hit my skin. It felt as if time stopped at that moment. My black bangs whipped in slow motion against my forehead, slightly brushing against my slowed-down vision as my sight became clearer.
The blue-blooded one's Te quality and signature became smudged and smeared by the twisted conjoining of the various qualities of the numerous other spiffs' Te pressures that radiated — their weights pressing down on me.
The moment demanded immediate action, and so, I couldn't turn to look down at Mangé.
But I gave him a clear signal, raising my clenched left fist, then unclenching it.
The moment I did that, various multi-colored, refined laser beams tore through the stale air, whipping past me, and toward the spiffs that, almost simultaneously, jumped down from the rails.
Now, my mind switched to the immersed state. And everything remained in suspended motion. Both the laser beams hurling upward and the spiffs jumping down from the rails with loud, space-quivering roars remained frozen in my vision.
Calm and collected, my strained gaze shot past them all, finding the four eyes of the blue-blooded spiff.
Its four lidless eyes moved left and right in an incessant motion. They were the only normally moving things in my vision.
I made sure It felt the murderous intent dripping from my grey gaze as I grinned.
Immediately, my Te flared. And as it did, the entire staircase and all the stair rails quivered. The already tempered temperature skyrocketed to an anomalous degree as my Te boiled the air around us.
Then, time snapped back to its normal pace in my vision.
The light beams collided with most of the spiffs. Some of them blocked the beams with a sort of... net. Their long, wide, hairless upper limbs had sharp edges to them, like blades. It felt as if their bodies were evolved for combat.
Their shoulderless limbs seemed jointless and lacked fingers. Where fingers were meant to be, there were perfectly, intricately woven strings that resembled net patterns.
Those dark yellowish nets were present in their two arms, and they seemed to be able to filter light, or plasma, which most of them used to their advantage against the incoming lasers, strategically reducing the flesh-dissolving beams to nought but smokes and faint traces on their bodies of what could've been had they lacked their natural filters.
But alas, before they finally landed on the ground, the beams struck some, shaving and burning off parts of their bodies, and leaving gaping holes in some, as not all of them were skilled with their nets.
—"Arggggh!!!"—
Echoes of pain-filled screams abound. But I ignored those screams, even ignored the battle that erupted between the now landed spiffs and my allies.
They had 'Hawk Eyes' with them, after all. And although Mangé was a little nervous, his skills far surpassed those of those… things.
Time to do some work on my part, then.
I crouched immediately, raw strength surging through my veins, circulating in my calves. My sight was set on the blue-blooded spiff who refused to jump down with the other spiffs.
With a force that left a small dent on the metal staircase, I leaped, soaring through the air with unbounded speed.
The hot, skin-melting air blew against my squinted eyes as I leaped.
And there, in the air, a diving spiff made its way toward me. Both It's blade-edged arms were drawn back, aimed at my head as it streamed down toward me.
There were still more that hadn't jumped?
The spiff merged Its two arms, and the nets on both arms unattached, crawling like stupidly fast maggots, intertwining with each other to perfectly glue the spiff's arms, the dark yellowish bladed edges were now a single, concentrated threat, still aiming at my head.
I clenched my left fist, the biceps of my left hand bulging and brimming with raw strength. Then, I dragged my fist toward my waist, striking a dynamic pose as I streamed through the air, my face squeezing into a grotesque frown as I clenched my jaw.
We collided in the air.
It was a swift and calculated last-second evasion.
The direction of the spiff's swing was straightforward — my head.
Knowing this, I slightly tilted my neck right just before Its blade could connect, and it passed, almost cleaving my left shoulder.
But I firmly parried the blunt side with my right palm, throwing It off balance as I landed my tightly clenched left fist directly at Its face.
Bam–!
The round-faced thing burst immediately, its red blood staining my fist as its lifeless body fell to the ground.
Disgusting. A red-blooded spiff.
Unperturbed, I looked upward. That small interaction had caused a tiny dent in my ascension.
Well, it seems like it was the only one remaining. That's good.
I could no longer land directly in the room above. Instead, I firmly grabbed onto the rail, my feet dangling freely in the air.
Then, before making another move upward, I looked down, overlooking the rugged sight of Mangé and his executives engaged in combat with the spiffs.
Mangé fought in that same methodical and graceful way he always did. Fluidly weaving through openings of attacking spiffs, breaking, shooting and tearing their limbs apart as he blast the legs of the spiffs running toward him, painting the ground red with their blood. It was a perfect mix of pure close combat choreography and pistol mastery.
I taught him that.
They were roughing up the Orned executives. But some of Mangé's own executives were falling.
Most of his executives faltered. Except one, who, with flames wrapped around his fists, seemed to pierce and puncture the guts of the spiffs he attacked, painting the ground with a mixture of red blood and melted viscera.
Who's that guy with a flame elemental Til? I'll ask him of his name later. If he survives.
Overall, the majority of Mangé's executives faltered because the spiffs had begun to unleash their racial Til. An innate ability that — unlike humans who possessed diverse Tils along ten different divisions — every single spiff possessed, leaving the rank and mastery level of their Til as the only way for spiffs to compare their strength.
The moment my ears picked up a low, echoing sound, I turned my neck from the battle below, toward the direction of the sound.
It was a growl.
With a low grunt, I pulled myself up from the rail, carefully jumping over the metal bar to meet the source of the growl.
And then, with my left fist smeared crimson by the blood of that red-blooded spiff, and my right blistered fist slowly recovering, my gaze narrowed, lips widened, and body endured the menacing Te pressure as I stood face-to-face with the blue-blooded spiff.