A/N: You already know it's brand new chapter time. Let me know which moment you enjoyed more. And please donate some powerstones and reviews for poor old me :(
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Back in the mansion, Burly and Dante broke apart after the initial clash.
Burly commented, "You are abnormally strong, and abnormally durable. Just who are you?"
Dante responded, "I'm Dante, and I'm the man that's going to surpass Eustass and become an SS-Rank Adventurer."
Burly was surprised, then composed himself and smiled. He said, "What a tough goal. Show me then, if you are worthy of such a title."
Dante jumped at him again. They clashed. Dante unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, while Burly expertly wielded his Metal Baton. Every strike and block rattled the mansion. The floorboards cracked under the force of their blows. Chairs and tables were smashed as they fought through the first-floor layout.
The entire first floor of the Vellacroix Mansion was turned into a battlefield. As two monsters battled it out.
Dante punched through the entrance hall, dodged a swing from Burly's baton, and countered with a spinning kick that sent Burly back into a broken bookshelf, shattering and tearing apart Domiré's mom's book collection. Burly staggered, smiled, and swung again, narrowly missing Dante, who ducked and rolled behind a toppled table.
The battle raged through the first floor. Dante's fists shattered doors, and Burly's baton smashed pillars and floor decorations. They were evenly matched, neither giving an inch.
After an intense clash, both showed superhuman athleticism and effortlessly leapt to the second floor, landing far from each other, separated by the stairs.
Burly, a little curious, said, "You are not human." He stated it as a definitive fact, not a question.
Dante said, "I don't know what you're talking about, old man." To be honest, he didn't understand a lot that was said by anyone most of the time.
Burly said, "You've been casually leaking large amounts of mana since our fight started, which should explain why you heal so quickly. It might be your mana passively healing you. I've never met someone with so much mana before in my life. If I don't take this seriously, I'll really die, you know. So I'm going to get a little serious now."
Dante just looked at him like, What is this man talking about? and got into his battle stance.
Dante then said "Yah, you better get serious, because I'm about to get serious as well Old Man"
Burly replies "You know, you keep calling me Old Man, when I'm not even that old. but it's fine. A question tho, why are you not using any Techniques. With such large amounts of mana you could fire off large spells I'm succession and end the fight fairly quickly"
Dante says "I don't know what you are talking about. I don't know anything about Techniques"
"But you wouldn't mind me using them, would you?" Burly aks.
Dante replies "Use them, I'll beat you even if you use them anyway, so it doesn't matter"
Burly smiles and says "Okay then. shall we commence round two"
---
Back in the backyard, Joone looked over Fenn, who was on the ground after losing the initial clash.
Fenn starts laughing and says "It's really time for me to get serious now." He jumps up and lands on his feet very dramatically.
Joone sees this and says, "It's useless, Fenn. You are not stronger than me—"
But before he could even finish his sentence, a Mace lands clean on his face and sends him flying and crashing into the pool. Effectively sinking under the water.
Fenn says with a smile, "You say I'm not stronger than you? Don't make me laugh Joone, you don't get to decide that, i do."
On the bottom of the pool, Joone, laying on his back is perplexed. "Huh, what happened?" he says to himself "Did he get faster? Why?, How?" he refuses to accept this reality.
Joone gets out of the water, visibly angry.
He asks, "Fenn, what did you do?"
Fenn smiles and replies, "Nothing much. I was just weakening myself with weights. Now that I've taken them off, I feel so much lighter and faster."
Joone's eyes widened in shock. He says "You fought both me and Burly with ankle weights on and lost and your friend got taken away because of that, are you stupid.
Fenn replies "I actually forgot about that i had weights on during that fight. Besides even if I had taken my weights off, I wouldn't have beaten Burly"
Joone wasn't sure whether that speed was a fluke or not. If it wasn't, then he was definitely in real trouble.
Fenn continues, "It's true that you are physically strong Joone, stronger than me at least. But strength is useless if you can't catch me, don't you think?"
With that, Fenn disappears and instantly reappears beside Joone, swinging his mace. Joone raises his arm to block, and gets hit in his bicep. The impact sends him flying and crashing into the porch.
Joone gets up, his bicep visibly aching. He starts walking toward Fenn angrily.
He says, "Don't get cocky, Fenn. Just because you got a little faster doesn't mean anything, I'll crush you with absolute strength."
Fenn says "You still don't get it do you Joone. You are not as strong as you think yourself to be. But don't worry. I'll prove this reality to you."
Joone rushes forward towards Fenn, but Fenn decides today he's got to show off and embarrass Joone.
Joone throws a left punch which Fenn effortlessly dodges as it whiskers past his face, he then effortlessly dodges a left punch which also effortlessly goes past his face.
Fenn then proceeds to deliver an uppercut kick right In the jaw of Joone, send him staggering back. Joone grits his teeth and charges forward once again. It's about matter of pride for him now.
Fenn then proceeds to effortlessly dodge every single one of Joone's punches, mocking him in between. He calls him slow, retarded, a meat head and so on. Fenn even uses Joone's own momentum as a catalyst to block and redirect attacks. Joone is pantinf, exhausted.
Fenn looks at him and asked with a cruel smile, "Are you done attacking now? Because it's my turn."
Fenn then released a named attack: "Gravity Crush Mace". Which is an overhead attack swung ridiculously fast which crashes down on Joone's shoulder.
Joone fails to react. The attack hits him cleanly, paralyzing the entire left side of his upper body and blood flows from his mouth from the impact. He kneels, gasping for breath. Internally, he freaked out. What is he? Why is this kind of monster still in Little Swan? Why did he never figure out Fenn's true strength. Could the gap be that large.
Joone looks up at Fenn in terror. What he sees is Fenn's sinister and sadistic smile.
It's useless, he thinks to himself. I have to run. Get stronger, then come back for revenge. I can't fall here. Who the hell is Domiré anyway? Why should I put my life on the line for him. Screw him
He gets up and attempts to flee, but Fenn ever so fast appears right besides him once again.
Fenn says, "Where do you think you're going Joone? Our little playtime isn't over yet is it."
He hits Joone cleanly in the chest, sending him flying backward. Fenn then followed up with a barrage of rapid attacks, each one faster than Joone could react.
Joone manages to land one punch in Fenn's gut when Fenn dropped his guard due to sheer enjoyment from absolutely cooking Joone. Fenn spills some blood from his mouth and is sent flying backward. But he gets up laughing, almost as if nothing happened.
Joone scoffs internally. I'm not winning this he thinks. and it doesn't seem like Fenn is keen on letting me leave. What a pain.
"This is so much fun," Fenn said. At this moment, Fenn looks nothing like the gentle guitarist that Dante had seen at Old Man Roy's bar. This is a man now reveling at the thrill of battle.
Joone gets up, a bloodied mess, clearly drained of strength. He looks pale as if he could collapse at any time.
Fenn looks at him and says, "It's time to end this, Joone, I've had my fun, but good things eventually have to come to an end."
Joone just looks at Fenn, as if having already accepted reality.
Fenn prepares and releases another named attack: "Oblivion Strike Mace". An attack where he spins twice adding momentum to his Mace and strikes in directly at Joone. The attack hits Joone with precision, effectively ending the fight as Joone's eyes roll back and turn completely white.
Fenn then collapses to his knees, laughing.
"I did it," he says, with an unbreaking smile.