Learning how an Altered fighter moved, attacked, what their special traits were, all of those factors were important in an Altered fight. Gary had seen Jayden Tiger multiple times on TV, not to mention the countless times he had seen the highlights of the White Tiger Altered’s fight on PouTube.
Alas, just like with his fight against Kirk, this supposed advantage turned out to only exist in theory. An Altered fighting in the ring on screen, and them fighting in real life, proved to be completely different from one another. So much that had been displayed on TV seemed to be far from the actual limit of the White Tiger Altered.
The simple punch alone had packed enough power that it would at least severely cripple a normal human for the rest of their lives. Gary didn’t know if this was the full extent of his power, but he was far deadlier than in his normal human form.
“I see you have the spirit, but are you sure you can continue to fight in your condition?” Jayden asked, not moving from his position.
Gary let the blood dribble out of his mouth, shaking his head a little.
“Yes.” He answered, although it wasn't exactly clear what he was saying through his large snout and teeth. The noise was ruffled, but his actions were understandable enough. Gary wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but with a single step, Jayden had managed to cross a large distance. It looked like he was almost gliding across the air, but not only that he was incredibly fast, even faster than Kirk.
‘How the hell is a White Tiger faster than a Cheetah?! That should be impossible.’ Gary was flabbergasted, covering his face with his arms in a type of boxing stance, bracing himself for the attack. However, he only felt a gust of wind, as quick as Jayden was able to move forward he was seemingly able to stop and slow down as well. Unable to react, the Altered had moved to his side and kicked him in the ribs.
[-8 HP]
‘The blow isn't as heavy as the punch. Is he taking it easy on me because he thinks I’m still hurt ? … or could he be unable to continuously use such a heavy hit?’
Enduring the pain, Gary went to swing his own leg out, he did his best not to flinch and delivered everything he could into the attack. That's when he could see that Jayden had dug his claws into the concrete ground, his muscles were tense, and the next second a large piece of the ground was lifted and thrown in the air. The Werewolf’s leg smashed into the piece of concrete, destroying it, but hurting himself in the process as well.
[-2 HP]
The pain wasn't great, but the main thing was it had slowed him down and caused several pieces of debris to mess with his line of sight. The next second, although Gary couldn't see anything, his ears picked something up.
Aware that something was coming his way, he lifted his large foreforms to block it and tried to move from the area. Before he could, though, he felt something deep cutting through his strong hide and his warm blood started trickling on the ground.
[-8 HP]
[-8 HP]
The attack was strange, and just before Gary could hear something silencing the wind, when looking around he noticed that Jayden wasn't close to him at all. He was a good five metres away.
‘I thought it was strange, I could tell that he wasn't close to me, so how did he hurt me?’ An image appeared in Gary of the ranged attack he had performed against red colour gang members. Jayden must have used it on him now.
‘I need to stop thinking of him as just a ‘white tiger’. In the first place, Altered are based on beasts, that are different from the animals we have today. On top of that, he seems to be a different type of Altered altogether.’ Gary reprimanded himself. ‘I shouldn’t be surprised that he is faster than Kirk, nor about all the strange things he can apparently do.’
Not wasting any time. Jayden continued his barrage of attacks, now Gary could see it clearly. Jayden was somehow able to create an attack that would work from a distance. Slashes broke through the wind and were coming right towards him.
Lifting his already injured forearm, he suffered another attack, slicing through, sharper than any knife. The Werewolf's hide was strong, but it was strong and sharp enough to hurt immensely. No wonder, it had been enough to bisect those gang members.
[-8 HP]
Gary attempted to run away from the wind strikes, because the worst thing about them was the fact that they were nearly impossible to see. They distorted the airspace a little as they went through. When Gary was running around, he avoided the attacks, and bravely decided to charge forward towards Jayden once again.
‘Oh, I have to ask him how he’s able to avoid my slashes if he can't see them.’ Jayden noted. ‘Xin, your little boyfriend just continues to be full of surprises.’
If Gary had been the same as before the gang war, then his old speed would not have allowed him to keep up with the Altered’s attacks. Once again, the teenager was inwardly thanking Kirk.
The other reason for him being able to evade, were his ears. When the wind strikes left Jayden's hand, he was able to perceive the noise it made going through the air, telling him where not to go if he wanted to avoid the hit.
‘Faster, I have to move faster… I still have yet to use this speed to its full potential!’ Gary thought, as he pushed his legs off the ground the second they touched it. He focused on drawing strength from every inch of his body including his toes.
Rolling, dodging the strange attacks, moving from side to side, Gary had the image of Kirk in his head from before. Now at the perfect place, the Werewolf leapt from one side with a claw out, aiming for Jayden.
At that moment, though, as it looked like Gary's claws were about to reach Jayden's face, his arm suddenly moved on its own. Another strong gust of wind lifted it upwards, and before Gary knew it, another powerful blow, this time a kick, connected with his stomach and sent him flying across the supermarket car park.
[-60 HP]
[16/160 Health]
Lying there on the ground, Gary had cancelled his transformation. As stubborn as he was, he understood that if he were to continue, he would just be risking losing all of his Health. Using Last Stand seemed like a waste, since he didn’t feel confident in being able to hit Jayden in that one minute.
Seeing that the teenager had reverted to his normal self, the young adult did the same. He picked up Gary’s shoes and brought them over.
“You did way better than I thought. I know you might be sad or disappointed but trust me don't be… but I do have one message for you. As long as you are still in this gang business, I can't entrust Xin to you. I want my little sister to be safe and protected.
“Buuuutttt, seeing as you’re a dumb young teenager, and believe it or not, I used to be one myself, I can’t really expect you to just listen to me acting as the voice of reason. I’m sure that you want to have both, right? Here’s the deal, the day you can actually beat me, you’ll have my blessing.” Jayden smiled as he offered Gary his hand.
*****
Current GT rank: 9
Top 10 in golden tickets = 5 chapter mass release
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