Chapter 866: A Showdown between leaders
The doors from Kazz’s room were seen flying into the hallway, not looking like they were once before. They had been crushed to pieces and following soon after them, was Quinn with both of his arms held up in a cross position.
’Damn it, this old bastard. Does he really have to be the type to attack first and ask questions later!’ Quinn thought. ’You think a leader would be more sensible than this?’
’Quinn, look at his eyes! This isn’t an attack that was rationally thought out.’ Vincent warned. ’It’s one driven by pure anger and hatred.’
It was so sudden the attack. Before Quinn could even see who it was, Bryce had moved from his seat and thrown out a punch, but it wasn’t any regular punch. It was surrounded by the blood hardening, making it stronger than usual.
Although Quinn didn’t have time to raise his shadow, he did have time to cast himself with the second stage of Qi, minimising the attack’s strength.
[-5HP]
[Quest received: defeat the first family leader]
[Reward: instant level Up]
[?????]
’Really system, you think I didn’t know this was going to be a hard fight!’
But it did tell Quinn one thing, it was a fight that he could win. At least the system thought so.
"I saw how you came through those doors. The trail of shadow you left behind as you rose." Bryce said as he walked through the broken doors into the hallway.
"But, I’ve never seen you before, a face I don’t recognise, but it doesn’t matter because you carry with you that power." The anger in Bryce’s voice was felt and heard as the cane in his hand could be seen vibrating.
"Are you someone that kid trained? No, you’re too strong. You blocked my attack, which can only mean a few things. You’re either someone working for Arthur who is still alive from back then, or you’re the tenth leader himself disguised." Bryce started unsheathing his blade from his cane and pointed it towards Quinn.
"You should learn to control your heartbeat because it seems like one of my guesses was correct!" Bryce shouted, swinging his blade, but Quinn was just as fast as he used his gauntlets to knock the attack away. More swings from the sword came, and Quinn continued to block them with his gauntlets.
’I can’t just keep blocking!’
Eventually, Quinn got the timing down of the attacks, and managed to raise his shadow to block one of them, and at the same time with his hands free. Threw out his fist towards Bryce’s stomach. The attacks landed but Bryce was also able to block it with his sword, only sliding him across the floor down the hallway.
’I can do it, I can keep up with another leader!’ Quinn thought to himself. ’Even though my gauntlets are at the emperor tier, with my shadow and second stage of Qi, I can block his attacks.’
’I wouldn’t be celebrating just yet.’ Said Vincent. ’Bryce is considered one of the strongest vampires for a reason, and he still has a lot to show. He hasn’t used his ability, or blood weapon just yet and look at your gauntlets.’
Looking down at his hands, Quinn could see that they were severely chipped and scratched, with each attack they were getting hurt, despite coating them in second stage Qi.
[Durability 90%]
’If I continue just blocking the attacks with my gauntlets, they are going to eventually break, and I can’t use my shadow for defence either. He’s only punching now but with stronger attacks my Mc points will go down to zero in no time.’
Kazz had rushed from the window in her room, and was now by the door peeking around the corner looking at the two fighting down the hallway. She didn’t know why but when looking at the old man fight, a pain was felt in her chest.
’Are these two fighting over me, but why?’ She wondered.
"Fast and skilled. I can’t believe that you are the tenth leader." Bryce stated. "I waited here for something to happen, I thought someone would come back to get the job done when they hadn’t killed Kazz. Maybe they were hoping for me to react or do something, so instead, I did the opposite. I made it so no news would leak out about her, and I knew that would worry whoever had done this, and they would come back eventually.
"What I don’t understand is, why the remnants of the punishers have chosen to team up with the other side. Are you with the bloodsuckers, or with Cindy?" Bryce asked.
He swung his blade again, this time throwing out a blood swipe with it. It was a skill that looked almost identical to Leo’s. Knowing full well its power, Quinn avoided it but then could see that the real blade from Bryce was coming soon after, this time coated in red blood.
Activating his gauntlet’s active skill, Quinn summoned the red fire blade of energy out from the top of his gauntlets and coated it with the second stage of Qi. The two blades collided, and Quinn was able to stop the sword. For now, this solved his problem of his gauntlets being damaged since the blade worked based on his gauntlets active skill. But to keep the blade out, Quinn would have to use his Qi, which was draining his energy quickly.
That’s when Quinn noticed a smile on Bryce’s face.
"You think you stopped my attack?" He said.
A few seconds later and stinging pain could be felt through his armour and shoulders. Two large slash marks were seen on his body, and blood started to pour from his wounds.
’But I blocked the attack, so how did it still hit me?’
’You fool, haven’t you seen his ability many times before, it doesn’t matter if you blocked his attack or not, or if you narrowly avoided it. Just don’t get within the range of his sword, this battle will have to be a long-ranged one if you plan to win." Vincent advised.
Bearing through the pain, Quinn gritted his teeth, and turned the pain channelling it into anger, he wanted to pay back for what Bryce had done.
"You know, if you would let the two of us talk it out, then maybe you would realise I didn’t come here to fight!" Quinn shouted. He used all his strength and focused his Qi on the flame blade from gauntlets, and swung Bryce’s sword to the side.
Then throwing out the shadow, he created a path. Luckily Bryce was close, and the area was narrow, so it had hit him, slowing down his movements. If he wanted to get away, he would find it difficult now. Then with all his energy, Quinn reached out with his hand in the shape of a claw, swinging it like a wild animal, but as soon as it got close, it felt like multiple attacks were hitting the outside of his gauntlets. Strikes from Bryce’s ability were hitting his hand, trying to move it away. It slowed down his own hand, but in the end, his fingertips managed to graze Bryce’s chest, just drawing blood before he stepped back away from Quinn.
[Left gauntlet durability at 70%]
’Damn, I only managed to graze him, and my gauntlets are already so damaged. I’m getting pretty tired using all this Qi as well, but the shadow managed to slow him down, and I can hurt him.’
There were still blood attacks Quinn could use as well, but with a fight like this, Quinn wanted to be cautious about how much blood he used, and still knew Bryce hadn’t used everything he had just yet.
However, Quinn was suddenly surprised as he could see Bryce holding onto his chest, and his face showed great pain. Even though he was trying to hide it.
"You, what the hell is this!" Bryce shouted and soon after screamed, continuing to hold onto his chest.
’He’s in pain from a little scratch like that, but how?’
Looking at his blood-red gauntlets, Quinn realised what had happened. Since returning, this was the first fight he had with a vampire. Fighting with the gauntlets before he forgot they had this effect. What was hurting Bryce right now, was the Blood fairy’s blood, from Alex.
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