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Quote of the Chapter:
"Look at the city. All those people over there… They're all afraid of something. They have anxieties. Anxiety over their future… Worries about their families… Fear of illness… That's what makes humans great. We're wonderful because of that little bit of fear and worry in our heads. Humans who don't know fear cannot live life to the fullest. Humans with no worries cannot love others. That's what I think. "
— Kotaro Shirai. (Kamen Rider: Blade).
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"I'd advise you to give up quietly; things may get a bit ugly on your part otherwise. After all, you never had a chance from the start."
Both Victor and Lorenzo tensed instinctively and shifted into defensive stances while facing the two figures in front of them.
Victor's gaze flicked between the massive brute and the masked man before darting around for a way out of this quickly, before he settled on stalling for time.
"…Listen, let's talk about this man," Victor said, keeping his voice steady, "mind telling us your names?"
The masked man tilted his head slightly. "Oh…my apologies. I am known as Agent 101 or simply Mantis." He took his hand off his chest and turned his head slightly while motioning to the large man behind him. "And this here is my partner, Agent 230, otherwise known as Ox."
Lorenzo and Victor looked at each other for a bit before turning back, with Lorenzo having a contemplative look on his face before snapping his fingers with a confident grin spread across his face and pointing at them.
"Ah, I get it now, you're both furries!"
A heavy silence filled the corridor after that statement, with Mantis getting pissed off and breaking his composure.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Lorenzo gestured vaguely between them. "Listen, man, we don't judge, well uh...I don't judge, at least, I can't speak for my friend here, but I won't shame you for your likes."
One eye on Mantis's mask twitched, matching his face underneath. "That is the stupidest conclusion I have ever heard."
Ox remained silent and didn't show any change in attitude towards the comment besides the slow tightening of his fists.
Victor dragged both hands down his face before looking up toward the ceiling with a groan. "…Holy shit." He lowered his hands. "He's trying to get us killed…we are so doomed."
Lorenzo raised both hands slightly. "What? I'm easing the tension."
Mantis, however, was getting extremely tired of this whole act, as he shot forward without any warning. His hand cut through the air in a precise chop aimed directly at Lorenzo's throat.
Victor reacted instantly, stepping in and raising his arm just in time as the strike connected. A sharp crack erupted through the halls as Victor held back his hand before the force of the blow sent him sliding backward across the floor, shoes scraping hard against the ground as he was pushed back several feet.
"Victor—!" Lorenzo moved immediately to try to assist Victor; however, he was immediately blocked by Ox at a speed faster than anyone his size should be able to move. His fist came down in a brutal downward swing as Lorenzo barely shifted aside in time, and the punch missed and crashed into the floor, with concrete exploding upward with cracks across the hallway from the impact zone.
"Holy shit, dude, have you been eating bricks your whole life?" Lorenzo muttered, stumbling back.
Ox didn't pause to let him recover; he ripped his arm free from the shattered ground and swung again in a wide and brutish arc. Lorenzo quickly ducked under it, feeling the air pressure from the punch brush over his head, and quickly countered with a full-powered punch to the chest as he stumbled slightly by two steps before slowly breaking his blank stare with a feral grin.
Victor finally regained his footing as he slid to a stop, his arm still stinging from blocking Mantis's strike. He flexed his fingers, feeling the lingering vibration run through his bones before raising his guard again. "Jesus Christ, do they have you guys on steroids or something? At least try to play with your food if you know you are stronger than me, will ya?"
Mantis adjusted his sleeve calmly, as though the exchange had barely counted as effort on his part. "You blocked better than expected." His glowing crimson eyes remained fixed on Victor. "If you were ordinary human trash, that strike would have removed that arm entirely from your shoulders."
Victor rolled his shoulder slightly, testing the soreness. "…That's a weirdly specific compliment, thank you."
Mantis rushed forward again, both hands raised in sharp chopping positions, and began to attack as Victor reacted immediately, shifting to the side as he narrowly avoided the first strike as it sliced past his face. The second came right after, aimed towards his abdomen as he grabbed it and locked his hand around Mantis's wrist.
Seeing that he caught Mantis in a hold, Victor jumped and attempted to drive both feet forward in an attempt to plant a drop kick directly into Mantis's chest. Mantis, however, saw this and immediately adjusted his body as he twisted his arm free and shot his other hand towards one of Victor's legs, catching him mid-kick as he was then slammed into the floor.
[BANG!!!]
Victor crashed into the ground hard enough to knock the air from his lungs as the impact echoed throughout the corridor. Before he could recover completely, Mantis's foot entered his vision and came down fast towards his head, before Victor quickly rolled to the side as his heel smashed into the floor instead, cracking concrete where his head had been a moment earlier.
Victor pushed himself backward, breathing heavier now as he slid across the ground. "You are...ugh...officially the most annoying person in this place," he muttered, wiping dust from his mouth. He forced himself back to his feet and raised a finger towards Mantis. "After I kick your ass...I'm taking...your clothes."
Mantis straightened slowly, completely unbothered by the threat. "…I welcome the challenge, young man; do try your best." Mantis's posture lowered again before he launched forward once more at great speed.
The distance between them vanished in an instant as his hand cut through the air toward Victor's throat once more. Victor barely shifted aside, feeling the strike pass close enough to stir the air against his skin. Mantis followed up immediately, his other arm sweeping toward Victor's ribs.
Victor blocked; the impact rattled through his forearm; however, it felt less painful than originally. However, he quickly stepped back before Mantis continued his assault. He began with another chop before moving into a knee strike and finally a punch aimed at Victor's jaw. Victor twisted, ducked, and blocked, barely keeping up as Mantis forced him backward down the corridor.
Victor planted his foot and threw a quick counter toward Mantis's side as he tilted slightly, making the punch miss before he sent an elbow strike immediately toward Victor's face. Victor leaned away just enough to avoid the clean hit, though the graze still snapped his head sideways.
"…Okay," Victor muttered through clenched teeth. "You are seriously starting to piss me off." Mantis didn't respond before sending a punch towards Victor once more, as Victor responded in kind with a punch of his own, and both fists collided.
Across the hallway, Lorenzo was having a much easier time. Ox's attacks were incredibly terrifying, as each punch carried enough force to easily destroy concrete. Lorenzo's speed and agility, however, meant that even though the hits were terrifying, he couldn't get hit unless he wanted to be.
He stepped to the side as Ox's fist buried itself into the wall behind him, and it exploded outwards as Lorenzo moved lightly on his feet, twisting around to Ox's side and driving a punch toward his ribs.
[BANG!!!]
Ox grunted from the hit; however, he immediately took his other hand and tried to slap him from the side as if he were a mosquito before Lorenzo moved once more before getting hit as he jumped up and grabbed Ox's neck and, using his own weight, strength, and momentum, slammed him now into the ground with an R.K.O.
[BANG!!!]
The impact thundered through the corridor.
Concrete shattered beneath Ox's massive frame as Lorenzo drove him headfirst into the ground with the improvised slam, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb from the impact.
Dust burst upward as chunks of broken floor scattered across the hallway.For the first time since the fight began, Ox had stopped his assault. Lorenzo rolled away from the impact and quickly pushed himself back to his feet, breathing hard as he looked down at the crater.
"…No way…no fucking way..." Ox remained still, half-buried in fractured concrete, as Lorenzo blinked and stared at the sight before him. "…Holy shit." A grin spread across his face as he pointed downward triumphantly.
"I did that, baby!" He took a few exaggerated steps backward and then immediately started celebrating with a small victory dance, both in excitement and disbelief. "LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOO!!!!" He pointed toward the ceiling. "I'm built fucking different!"
Across the hallway, even Victor caught a glimpse of it mid-fight. "…Did he just—" Suddenly, a strike from Mantis nearly clipped his jaw again as Victor barely avoided it. "Fuck, right, gotta focus."
Back near the crater, the dust began to settle as Lorenzo kept dancing over Ox's body, shoulders loose now, confidence rising. "…Hell yeah, I'm absolutely amazing in this body." Meanwhile, on the ground, the rubble began to shift faintly as a deep sound echoed from inside the crater, and Lorenzo immediately stopped dancing and whipped his head around. "Oh, fuck...I think I jinxed it..."
The broken concrete began to tremble as a massive hand pushed upward, and Ox slowly rose from the crater. His head was lowered as his shoulders rose; however, now there was a different feeling about him as the air around him felt significantly heavier.
His fists were clenched tightly, his teeth grinding hard enough to tear metal off with a bite. The chains at his side rattled violently as he trembled with undisguised rage. Then, suddenly, without warning, he raised his head as he shouted in pure, unbridled rage.
"EEENNNOOOUUUGGGHHH!!!!!"
The sound blasted through the hallway and was immediately followed by a violent burst of force. A blinding white glow erupted from Ox's body, forcing Lorenzo to shut his eyes as the shockwave pushed him back two full steps. Loose debris skidded across the floor, cracks spreading outward beneath Ox's feet as the air itself seemed to vibrate.
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To be continued in the next chapter of
RIDING THROUGH THE OMNIVERSE!
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Alrighty folks, how do you like the start of the 2nd fight of the arc? Pretty cool, right? Honestly, I think it's super, but that's just me. Tell me your thoughts in the comments and whatnot. Also, from now on, starting this Thursday and so on every Tuesday and Thursday will be a guaranteed chapter, and depending on the support I see and or the feeling of the day I'm in, I might give you all extra chapters. Finally, I'm gonna make a Discord server around chapters 10-15, where I'll be giving y'all ways of voting for stuff, as well as helping me help you make future chapters better, aaaannnnyywaaayyy catch y'all on Thursday. This is your host signing off for the night.