Onur and his two companions - Gazet and Bairwa - looked on as Raxu scorched to ashes. The moment his body caught fire, they knew he couldn’t be rescued so they didn’t even try.
"We would avenge him!" Onur snapped his teeth and declared.
In response, Gazet and Bairwa nodded fiercely, their eyes bloodshot.
"You were using him as a guinea pig and now you want to avenge him?" Zed’s body radiated with intense fire energy fluctuations as he continued, "Your hypocrisy is really admirable!"
Onur’s expression changed in disbelief. For a moment, he was struck on spot.
How did he know my intentions?! Could he read my thoughts?! Or it was a guess?! Am I so obvious?!
Gazet and Bairwa, on the other hand, looked at each other in dismay.
What hypocrisy is he talking about?
"You didn’t tell them, do you?" Zed was amused.
"What is he talking about?" Gazet asked.
"Nothing! He is just trying to create a rift between us!" Onur shouted and charged at Zed. "Let’s kill him before others arrive!"
Gazet and Bairwa didn’t think much and rushed forward.
Some time ago, before they arrived in this corridor, Onur has flared the hatred Raxu felt towards Zed by reminding him of his embarrassing defeat. He has done it subtly so that Onur would attack Zed on his own, without involving them.
Even though Onur didn’t show it, he was terrified.
Not of Zed, but of the trial zone itself!
More specifically, the rule of protection!
The palace was also a part of trial zone, and while there was no trial taking place now, he believed the rule was still in force.
So, he wanted to know if the rule protected Zed not!
Raxu and others naturally assumed the protection didn’t apply to Zed as he was no longer a ’contestant’. But Onur wasn’t so sure.
If by some chance the rule also protected Zed then wouldn’t they be killed instead?
This was why he allowed Raxu to take the lead. If Raxu died by trial zone, then Onur could simply back away.
When he saw Raxu was still safe after launching an attack, he was relieved... It was a different matter that he didn’t expect Raxu to die at Zed’s hand.
"Oh my! Three against one!" Zed gaped in shock, his face filled with fear.
Onur ignored his words and summoned an energy chain. He twirled the chain in his right hand and lashed it at Zed.
With a whistling sound, the chain swept forward to catch Zed.
The fear on his face turned into mocking and he wrapped his body with swirling flames. As the chain was about to catch him, he propelled himself high into the air.
As he expected, the chain turned its direction to catch him.
At the same time, Onur and others have already closed the distance. They stepped on the remains of Raxus’s existence as they lashed out at him.
"You should never insult the dead in such a way," Zed said while somersaulting in the air. "Otherwise, bad things happen!"
Onur’s eyes flickered and he lowered his head.
From the ashes below, bright sparks dispersed out and exploded like firecrackers, carrying blistering heat waves.
"It was a trap?" Onur couldn’t believe it.
Hang on!
Was this why this punk stepped on Raxu while he was burning? Were those conversations a distraction?!
Onur was having a hard time understanding this.
He gritted his teeth and brought the chain back just as it was about to tangle Zed. Without saying anything, he slashed the chain down.
BANG
The blistering heat waves dispersed into thin air.
"This is child’s play!" Onur shouted in anger. "You might be strong, but so are we!"
At the same time, as Zed landed on the floor, he was a bit surprised to see Gazet running through the remaining heat waves without any injuries.
"Enhanced strength and strong durability," Zed thought.
Gazet pounced on him like a cheetah. Zed retreated, enveloped in flames, but Gazet’s speed amplified and he caught Zed.
"Got you!"
The flames sizzled and the air whirled as Gazet grabbed Zed by his chest!
He locked Zed from behind with his arms, and as Zed strengthened the flames around him, Gazet only grinned.
Th1s chapter is updated by n)ovel/\bin/\
"Give it up!" Gazet was confident of his physical powers to resist fire. He decided to teach this punk a lesson and further tightened his arms.
Cracking sound ringed from Zed’s chest and the veins on his face bulged.
Meanwhile, Bairwa appeared some hundred meters away from Zed. Onur also stepped beside Bairwa.
He was happy with the quick conclusion of the battle. They didn’t have to spend much efforts!
"Why don’t you smile now?" Onur asked.
Zed didn’t respond, his eyes filled with despair.
"Hehe, this punk was sure overconfident till a few minutes ago!" Bairwa laughed loudly before adding, "Let me vent some frustration before we kill him!"
"Good!" Gazet agreed with his suggestion. He grabbed Zed tightly and locked him in one place, and said, "Check how good our punching bag is!"
Bairwa responded by charging forward, his right fist ready to throw a punch. Even though he said it was to vent, the punch carried a staggering strength.
He was also a strength-type mutant and the vibrating ripples spreading out from his fist was proof of just how powerful he was.
At this moment, the corners of Zed’s mouth curled up.
"Hey! Is your entire body immune to fire?" Zed asked Gazet.
"Of course! So don’t even think you can escape from my grip!" Gazet answered, his voice filled with viciousness.
Gazet was just twenty meters away! Just five seconds!
"I still want to try though," Zed replied by yanking his feet upwards. He was still pinned by the chest and has no space to leave.
Just as Gazet opened his mouth to tell this punk to stop, his pupils constricted.
Zed’s feet moved upward but they were from behind. They stopped between Gazet’s knees, most likely due to physical limitations.
But this wasn’t what made Gazet shocked.
He screamed as he sensed Zed’s feet booming out streams of fire. They crashed straight into his crotch!
Gazet left Zed and brought his hands to stop the fire. Thankfully, the fire wasn’t strong enough and he extinguished it in a moment.
Just then, he heard sharp sound along with a shocked voice.
"Gazet!" Bairwa called out in alarm as his fist slammed onto Gazet. It was just a second ago that Zed ducked the punch by crouching down!
Sadly, a second was enough.
With a bang sound, Gazet was sent flying into a wall.
"Bastard!" Bairwa brought his eyes on crouching Zed.
Bairwa’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, and as he eyed the punk, he saw Zed was sporting the same devilish smile from before.
"Punk! Gazet would be fine!" Bairwa was sure of his companion’s strength. "So stop smiling! You are done for!"
"No idea whether I’m done for or not," Zed replied, still smiling. "But you sure are."
"What?" Bairwa suddenly felt a strong suffocating pressure.
He collapsed on all fours, his face deathly pale.
What’s going on?!
Bairwa was sure this was not done by Zed. He tried to process this when every bone in his body began crushing to powder.
"AHHHHH!" Bairwa screamed.
Some distance away, Onur’s pupils dilated.
The fine hairs on his body stood up in fright as he muttered, "It is the punishment from the trial zone! Zed is not protected by the rule of protection but Gazet is!!"
The trial zone didn’t intervene when Bairwa threw a punch at Zed, but when it landed on Gazet, the rule was broken.
It resulted in this unique punishment.
THUD
Bairwa crashed further with his head slamming on the floor. The terrifying pain of skeleton turning into powder has already killed him.
Now, he was just a corpse of flesh and blood... no bones.
~step~
Zed got back on his feet.
He took out a recovery pill from his storage ring and consumed it. The minor cracks in his chest rapidly filled up, and he returned to his peak condition.
With a swoosh sound, flame erupted on his body as he gazed at Onur.
Behind, Gazet has recovered from the punch. When he regained clarity, he saw the condition of his companion, and realized the tragic truth.
"Son of a bitch! I would kill you!" Gazet wailed and charged forward.
He was like a berserk mammoth, thirsting for blood.
"Die!" Gazet punched straight.
The air exploded under his shocking full strength as his punches rushed to kill Zed. But just as it was about to land, Zed twirled his body like an insane gale and jumped, narrowly avoiding the punches.
The jump was not for a retreat!
He was jumping backward, just a few centimeters above Gazet’s height.
"In next life, learn to use your brain," Zed said, his voice cold. "Unless there is an overwhelming difference in strength, never believe you have won before the battle concludes."
A fireball appeared in his hand which he smashed straight into Gazet’s eyes!
"And also, remember: nothing in this universe has perfect immunity, nothing," Zed added as the fireball exploded into Gazet’s eyes.
Gazet was in no condition to think about his words.
As soon as the fire swept into his eyes, he opened his mouth and screamed.
His eyeballs were melting!
Some distance away, Onur jumped into action.
He thought he didn’t need to step in due to Gazet’s berserk state, but now he obviously realized how wrong his decision was.
He rushed to help Gazet and stop the fire.
"I have pills with regenerative abilities!" Onur shouted to let Gazet know everything would be all right.
In the midst of despair, Gazet was a bit relieved that there was a chance!
That might be but he still wailed like a dying dog due to the raging pain.
"Just a few moments and I will be fine!" Gazet thought as he screamed.
But just then, he felt something hot stuffed into his open mouth.
"You think this is some game where I would let you heal?" Zed asked coldly as he threw a fireball into Gazet’s mouth.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The moment the fireball entered into Gazet’s mouth, it exploded into streams of fire.
Just like how blood flows through the body, the streams of fire coursed through his body, burning him from inside.
Gazet learned that no matter how durable and strong his body was from outside, but from inside, it was considerably weaker and far more susceptible to fire.
At the same time, Zed stretched another hand towards Onur and released a column of fire.
"Damn!" Onur’s eyes flickered and he rotated the energy chain like a spinning wheel.
A strong gale erupted from the chain and crashed into the incoming column of fire. Alongside, Onur ducked sidewards and whipped the chain diagonally at Zed.