BANG! BANG! BANG!
The floor got bent in more and more places as Nick and Ardum punched and kicked it.
Some seconds later, more and more parts of the floor fell into the sewers.
The amount of floor in the room was decreasing.
Yet, Ardum still couldn't find Nick!
Where the fuck was he?!
In a rare moment of peace, Ardum used his knives and created large cuts on the floor in front of him.
As long as he could see Nick, he would be able to kill him!
The only reason why Nick had been able to fight him evenly was because Ardum couldn't properly use his ability like this.
At least, that was what Ardum thought.
After more cutting, almost all the floor in the room had fallen into the sewers below, and Ardum could finally see the entire room.
Nothing!
Nick wasn't here!
Then, Ardum saw a small hole in the ceiling near the other wall, and Ardum immediately realized what had happened.
BANG!
At that moment, a blade shot through the ceiling above Ardum and hit his head.
Ardum's Barrier blocked the blade.
CRACK!
But compared to Futuma's Barrier, Ardum's Barrier didn't negate kinetic energy unless it was programmed to do so.
Ardum lost his grip on the wall behind him and shot down.
Ardum's eyes widened in horror and fury, and he turned to look up.
Through the bit of sunlight coming from behind Nick, Ardum could see Nick's silhouette through the hole that Nick's hand had just made.
Immediately, Ardum threw all his knives at Nick in a last-ditch effort to kill him.
DING! DING! DING!
Nick moved to the side, and the three knives punched through the ceiling in front of Nick.
"I WILL-"
SPLASH!
Ardum couldn't finish his dramatic shout as he fell into the sewers, and his mouth got filled with liquid that only a limited number of people would call water.
Nick moved forward again and looked into the sewers through the hole.
'If he has a similar reaction to Wyntor, he will be out of the fight for a while,' Nick thought.
Then, Nick slowly snuck forward on the second floor of the building.
While he was doing so, Nick clutched the right side of his abdomen.
A lot of blackened blood was flowing out of that spot.
Ardum had hit him with one of his knives when Nick had been cutting through the floor.
The spot where the knife had hit Nick hurt like hell and burned like crazy.
It felt like Nick's insides were decomposing.
BANG!
Nick heard a loud crash from below him.
It sounded like someone had kicked a door open.
On the first floor, Futuma and Selina charged forward.
Earlier, they had seen Ardum get hit by a spear and charge into a smoke-filled alley.
The two of them had run through the smoke-filled alley, but they didn't see anyone on the other side of the smoke cloud.
They had been searching for Ardum and Nick until they heard and saw three knives shooting through the roof of one of the buildings.
Ardum had to be in here!
The two of them searched through every room on the first floor.
Some seconds later, Futuma nearly fell into the sewers as he entered a room without a floor.
Luckily, he had reacted quickly enough and grabbed the floor behind him.
"Ugh, cough, cough, huuuuuur."
Futuma heard the sounds of violent coughing and heaving from below him and looked down.
There, he saw his boss, Ardum, puking his guts out.
He was swimming in the "water".
Ardum saw Futuma. "Don't- huuurh, don- huuuurh, do- argh!"
Futuma furrowed his brows as he tried to decipher what Ardum wanted to tell him.
BOOOOOM!
Futuma's copper-colored Barrier exploded into pieces, and his eyes widened in shock and horror.
Behind him, a hole had appeared in the floor of the first floor.
And in the wall behind it.
And in the floor of the second floor.
Yet, Futuma's chest also had a hole.
Nick had been watching Futuma through the light-holes in the second floor, and when he had seen Futuma hanging from the floor, he knew that his opportunity had arrived.
Nick remembered where Futuma was, ran to the room beside the one he was staying in, and threw his spear with all of his power through the floors, walls, and Futuma's chest.
Splash!
At that moment, a part of the sewers splashed.
Nick's spear had landed.
But the next moment, a tiny wire that was going through Futuma's chest strained.
BANG!
And Nick's filth-covered spear enlarged the hole in Futuma's chest as it shot back.
Futuma lost the strength in his arm and fell into the sewers.
BANG!
Right on top of Ardum, who was pushed below the surface again while he was coughing, gorging himself on another mouthful of sewer soup.
BANG!
A door was kicked open, and Selina charged through the room.
But then, she suddenly stopped and barely managed to avoid stepping into the room without floor.
She had just heard a sound coming from here.
Selina quickly looked into the sewers, but she couldn't see anything.
There was just water.
Then, she looked around.
That was when she saw a suspicious hole in the ceiling.
'That hole is the same size as the enemy's spear,' she thought with narrowed eyes.
BOOOOOM!
Selina's Barrier exploded.
Her eyes immediately lost all focus, and she fell backward.
There was now a sizable hole in her face.
CRACK!
And the hole became even larger as Nick's spear passed through it again.
Splash!
At that moment, Ardum broke past the surface again and took a deep breath.
BANG!
And was pushed under again by Selina's corpse.
On the second floor, Nick chuckled a bit.
"Ow!" he suddenly shouted as he clenched his abdomen in pain.
Nick removed his hand and saw that it was covered in blackened blood.
'I have to deal with this,' he thought.
BANG!
Nick punched through the ceiling and went to the roof of the building.
Then, he ran to the place where he had talked with Futuma earlier and grabbed his spear.
Finally, Nick ran towards the Outer City.