As Max stepped off from the shattered remains of the stands and back onto the stage, the moment his foot hit the floor, he felt a sudden, sharp vibration in his pocket. Following that vibration, a surge of energy, a slight but unmistakable hum, was felt going right through Max’s body.
’What is this? I feel a little bit refreshed... it’s another boost,’ Max thought, a slow smile spreading across his face. ’My phone in my pocket... it can’t be, can it?’
Having felt this specific sensation a few times before already, Max knew exactly what it was. It was the physical manifestation of his Vow, the boost he would receive whenever a significant amount of income was obtained. It didn’t necessarily have to be an extremely large sum for him to feel it, but it had to be more than the typical trickle of money he would obtain from his businesses on a day-to-day basis.
’One of the guys... they must have done something. They must have been worried that something happened to me,’ Max thought.
When thinking like this, he could only think of one person, and specifically one who most likely knew the exact situation he would be in right now.
’It had to be Aron. But to feel this type of boost... how did he manage to give me such money?’
It wasn’t something Max could afford to think about for long. What he needed to do was take this newfound boost and use it to do what was required of him. He felt his muscles tightening, his senses sharpening as the energy settled into his limbs.
’Alright... I think I have a plan.’
When Max looked at the two leaders standing before him, he had already decided which one he needed to take out first. However, in order to set the trap, he didn’t head for his target. Instead, he dashed forward, and the person he went towards was Ramon.
Max threw a sharp kick to the side of Ramon’s head, which was blocked by the mechanical arm of the suit. He didn’t stop, immediately following up with several quick punches, one after the other. Each of these was blocked by Ramon, the metal clanging with every impact. Not stopping for even a breath, Max continued to throw out attack after attack, but all of them were being intercepted by the exoskeleton.
"Can’t you see this is useless?" Ramon claimed, his voice smug behind the faceplate. "Even if you hit my bare body, it wouldn’t amount to much!"
Just then, Max felt it, a kick that was coming to the side of his head. Since the attack wasn’t coming from directly in front of him, he knew instantly it was from Darius.
Quickly jumping up, Max swung his leg out towards where the kick was coming from. He had done so as fast as he could at a snappy, explosive speed. Regardless of whether it was a real kick from Darius or one of his fake "intent" strikes, Max’s goal was to reach him before he got hit himself. He felt a solid connection as his foot slammed into Darius’s chest, pushing the man back.
’I was fighting at the same speed and strength I had been before... but that extra boost now is coming into fruition. And now that I’ve caught him off guard...’
Spinning his leg as he landed on the ground, Max delivered a spinning kick that hit Ramon rather hard on his arm. It wasn’t meant to finish the scientist, but just to stop him from trying to pursue Max further in that moment. Because instead of staying with Ramon, Max dashed and headed right for Darius instead.
As he jumped up, he drove his knee straight into Darius’s chest, causing the leader of the Black Hounds to stumble back again. Darius took a desperate swing, but Max dodged right underneath it. As he sprung back up with his legs, he drove his fist right into Darius’s stomach.
When fighting against the two of them a little while ago, Max had realized something important. He noticed that Darius was doing most of the actual fighting against him, acting as the primary distraction. Then, when Darius would throw in his trick punches and kicks to break Max’s focus, that was when Ramon would come in and deliver a heavy blow to Max, breaking his rhythm and landing a clean hit.
Ramon was clearly the faster and stronger out of the two, making it harder for Max to suddenly switch and stop an attack coming from that exoskeleton. But it wasn’t as if Max couldn’t handle Ramon in one way or another, which was why he had thought of this plan.
By attacking Ramon first and then waiting for Darius, who was slower, to move in for an attack, Max could strike back in his direction. This allowed him to land a hit, and right after, he could hit Darius with everything he had to deal with him quickly. Only then could he face Ramon one-on-one.
Max grabbed the back of Darius’s head, pulling it down as he drove his knee right into his face. Letting go of his hair, he watched as the force caused Darius’s head to fling right back.
"Remember those threatening words you said to me back on the cruise ship?" Max said.
He ran forward and jumped into the air, spinning his body with the momentum of his boost. He landed a spinning kick that hit Darius right in the face, the force sending his body and his head tumbling right to the ground.
"You let this little fish grow into a dragon," Max claimed, standing tall over the fallen leader. He turned around and looked at Ramon, who was watching from the center of the stage. "Now, there’s just one left."
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