Faces of Fear
"The other two fronts were utter disappointments, calling in for help. Yours was the only group we didn't get a call from, though Julius had already destroyed the receiver, so I came to check up on progress." Qundra calmly explained. But then, his eyes grew dark and his voice got more serious, though still with a playful undertone. "And, what do I find? Your entire squad cowering. I mean, have you no pride; whatever happened to 'when we hunt, we kill... we will burn our own to hold the line', huh?" he finished, raising an expectant eyebrow.
"No; y-you don't understand, sir. We- We weren't cowering; w-we were... regrouping and... strategizing." the soldier tried to explain, though his words were almost total lies.
"Oh, is that it?" Qundra asked, his expression growing less dark as the soldier frantically nodded 'yes'. "Tell me... do you think I'm a complete fool... or were you just hoping I am?" The question was filled with anger and malice, but as the soldier panicked and stammered, trying to come up with something to say, a sharp projectile flew in and embedded itself in the base of the soldier's brain, killing him instantly.
Shaad, having had enough of the scene before him, spit the extra-long toothpick he kept in his mouth at the soldier like a bullet , the extra length of the toothpick, and the force he put behind it, making it able to pierce straight into the skull and reach the base of the man's brain.
"Now why would you go and kill my prized subordinate like that? It's very upsetting." Qundra falsely whined as he let the soldier's body fall to the ground and a small smile appeared on his face.
"Shut up." Shaad spat. "I'm not gonna let you just play your games. You're lucky it wasn't you. Unfortunately, I'm not that good yet."
"Oh?"Qundra questioned, a tantalizing and mocking tone to his voice, which only irritated Shaad more when paired with the annoying smirk.
Shaad took a deep breath to keep from lunging at the newcomer, and once he'd calmed down a bit, he said, "You know, there was actually a time when I wouldn't have cared about you killing your allies."
"Allies? Ha," Qundra interrupted with a scoff, "this trash was barely strong enough to be my underlings."
Shaad ignored the dig at the now dead men and continued, "Not too long ago, I would've rushed you without a second thought for such an action, but now-"
"Now you see the reason for such action and decided to help?" Qundra laughed.
"Now," Shaad spoke in a deathly serious tone, refusing to let himself be provoked. "I'm able to keep my calm... while I kill you."
"Kill me? I'd love to see you try, but first-" without finishing his statement, Qundra turned completely into the dark cloud from before and launched himself at the large group of rebels whom had stayed standing in the same spot, merely watching everything that had transpired with bated breath. Now, as the dark cloud that engulfed and killed so many ShadowKnight members threatened to swallow them the same way, they ran for their lives, unsure of exactly what was after them but knowing they had no way to stop it. Still, though, it took almost no time at all for the cloud to ensnare the closest rebels, their ensuing coughs and brief, frightful screams only serving as reason to run faster for the others.
It was already too late for those few, but before the particle cloud could make victims out of any more of the rebels, Shaad moved between them and stopped the cloud's advance with the blade of his sword. The elemental cloud was solid at the point of contact and pushed back on Shaad, though he easily held it at bay. Qundra's head then reformed from some of the strange cloud and spoke to Shaad in an entertained tone. "Interesting. I didn't think you'd be able to stop me."
"You're not the first Logia Devil Fruit user I've fought... and you're certainly not the strongest." Shaad responded at the same time he cut through the cloud.
But, the cloud simply dispersed and gathered together again a few steps back before re-engaging Shaad with even more force. "Oh ho!" Qundra laughed as he and Shaad pushed against each other once more. "You may be fighting me, but... I'm not fighting you." Not even giving Shaad a moment to ponder those words, Qundra sent most of the elemental cloud past him, and towards the group of rebels he was defending, while still maintaining the struggle with Shaad.
'He's more skilled than I thought.' Shaad observed, readying himself to move back and stop Qundra again. But before he started his move, something huge flew through a building lining the street they were on and dispersed the cloud in all directions before crashing into the Rhino with a thunderous impact and being brought to a halt.
As the dust began to settle, the first thing that became visible was a lean man with the toned, muscular physique of an elite short distance runner. As the scene cleared even more, everyone could see he was wearing orange, yellow, and white striped pants topped by a multicolored shirt with a sunburst pattern. In his hand was a slightly shorter than normal katana paired with a longer bladed one tucked into the wrap around his waist.
Behind that man, fully visible with the dust now gone, was a massive... man (more machine than man), over ten feet tall while kneeling, rising from a huge crater where Kayden once stood, no sign of Kayden to those looking on. The large man's full height stood at over twelve feet tall, though his legs were almost comically small in comparison to his bulky and highly mechanized upper body. He wore a simple pair of tight, plain shorts showing off that despite their [comparatively] small size, his legs were indeed muscular enough to carry the overwhelming size that was his completely mechanized and obscenely oversized arms and shoulders. Additionally, about three quarters of his face had been covered in metal as well as his entire torso to go along with some sparse modifications to his legs, presumably increasing their strength capability.
Leon was the only one who seemed to find the strange duo, and all of the events that had just transpired, the least bit amusing as everyone else stood aghast, mouths hanging open and eyes nearly popping out of their heads as they presumed their local powerhouse had just been beaten, by a monster even larger than he, in an instant.
"Aah, that solid dude went down without even a fight. I expected better; didn't you Jumbo?" the smaller man stated, expressing false sympathy in his words.
The monstrosity of a man referred to as Jumbo had obviously lost much of his mind due to the surgeries and experiments as the only thing he uttered was, "Jumbo." in a deep, slow drawl.
"Exactly." the colorfully dressed swordsman cheered. "I guess it's two on one then. You don't mind do you?"
Leon's grin grew even larger as he answered, "Naw, I wouldn't mind, but I think yer forgettin' somebody."
"Hu- Aaah!" Before he could get the entire word out, he exclaimed in shock at the rough movement of the ground beneath his feet. For the first time, he lost his cool, shouting to Leon, "W-What's going on; what did you do?" while trying to maintain his balance on the turbulent ground.
"I ain't do nuttin'" Leon answered with a Cheshire cat grin as the shaking continued.
The slender man then turned around to look at the center of the crater. He was shocked to see his companion, Jumbo, moving unsteadily as the ground, no, the person, beneath his feet lifted him up with pure strength alone. With all of the metal plating and mechanical enhancements, Jumbo weighed about as much as three full grown elephants yet this man was prying himself from the solid ground with every bit of Jumbo's weight on his back. Not only that, but all this after being crushed and buried by Jumbo plummeting from an unknown height and landing directly on top of him.
Having pushed Jumbo off of him, Kayden stood erect in the center of the crater, unaffected by the surprise attack save for a few marks on his skin and a line of blood leaking from the side of his mouth. Concrete, rubble, and dirt fell off his solid muscles in chunks as he used his thumb to wipe the blood from his lip before looking over both new opponents and then towards an overjoyed Leon.
Leon couldn't help but laugh out loud at the bewildered expression on the rival swordsman's face; the look of astonishment truly priceless. Once he settled his laughter, Leon took a few deep breaths to get some air back in his lungs before returning Kayden's gaze. Seeing that show of strength and durability made him even more eager to test out Kayden's strength for himself. But, he held back for the time being, keeping that feeling to himself and instead answering the unasked question: "You take Jumbo behind ya ova there; I'll deal wit dis freak." Leon grinned as his gaze turned malicious and he focused it on the man who would be his opponent.
After about a minute, Jumbo was able to lift himself back up to a standing position, showing that he did indeed tower over the already exceptionally large Kayden. Meanwhile, the more flamboyant enemy regained his wits after being thrown for such a loop. "I am Essex, the fastest among the Five Shadows. Do you really think you can beat me just because your friend somehow survived the 'Jumbo Drop'?" the man stated in a more serious tone than he'd spoken in till this point.
"I can tell by the way yer talkin' dat ya ain't feelin' as good as ya was before." Leon smirked in satisfaction. "So wha do ya say we get to da real fun?" he said as he held Akuma-õ no Kiba out in front of him, pointing it directly at Essex as if to declare a challenge.
"I'll teach you to mess with me!" Essex yelled in an exclaim of fury and pride before charging Leon, his own blade ready to strike as well. Essex moved with the same amazing speed as before and got past Leon with no problem, cutting into his side in the process. Leon just smirked at being cut. The wound wasn't near deep enough to take down Leon, and it wouldn't even do anything to slow him by a noticeable degree either.
Seeing Leon's smirk angered Essex even more and he attacked Leon again and again in the same way from every angle, with the cuts getting progressively deeper each time, until he started to grow tired. When he stopped, content with the damage he'd done since Leon no longer even tried to avoid the attacks, he turned to Leon with a satisfied smile.
Leon returned the smile, much to Essex's dismay, and even went so far as to mockingly ask, "What's wit da 'death of a thousand paper cuts' routine? If you wanna prove I should fear ya, give me a reason; show that you can finish me." Leon's taunting visibly frustrated Essex, but the next round of mocking really blew the lid off his patience. "Bees are fasta den meh, but I ain't scared o' 'em... Though, they're probably more dangerous than you" he chided. With his anger constantly mounting, Essex sheathed his shorter blade in exchange for his longer, heavier katana and charged him like a madman, intent on leaving his sword stuck in Leon's chest.
Leon was smiling like a giddy child as Essex got closer. Once his target was in range, Leon stepped forward to cut into the room Essex had to operate with, briefly surprising his opponent.
However, Essex displayed an impressive level of agility as he sidestepped without slowing down, restoring the distance to the original space between them, and went in for the kill with a single diagonal slash aimed for the shoulder blade and neck area while Leon came at him with a wide arcing slash of his own.
Leon was in a disadvantageous position and used his strength to get the upper hand. Stopping Essex's attack by grabbing his wrist before the sword could reach him allowed Leon's attack enough time to reach the colorful swordsman, and for a moment it looked like it was Leon's win. But, Essex quickly redrew his shorter katana with his off hand and blocked Leon's attack with little time to spare, though the force of the swing knocked him back and caused him to let go of the sword he attacked with as he moved away.
Leon picked up the dropped weapon and after giving it a quick once over, he tossed it back to Essex. Essex caught his sword, but was stunned by the simple fact that Leon gave it back. The confused expression of his enemy amused Leon, but he explained nonetheless. "Dat sword is heavia n e'en has a weighted tip to cut through more solid materials (I 'magine bone more so than anything else). You'll need it if ya want any chance of killin me. I doubt yer strong enough to properly use it though."
"You let me worry about that." came the determined response as Essex seemed to be getting drawn deeper into the heat of battle. His anger and frustration was slowly dying down, being replaced by anticipation... anticipation of what was still to come. Sheathing the shorter sword again, Essex gripped his other sword with both hands and charged Leon head on once again.
This time, Leon chose to meet him directly and swung Akuma-õ no Kiba viciously with a single hand. The two swords fiercely clashed; the reverberations ringing out from the impact. Leon's bigger, heavier sword, backed by his superior strength, pushed his opponent's sword back, but Essex still continued to push forward with all his strength. That wasn't enough, though, as with a twist of his torso, Leon put even more strength into his attack and flung Essex back and into the wall of a nearby building. The impact cracked the stone wall and knocked the wind out of Essex as he lay in an indent created by the force of his crash.
That wasn't the only jarring impact being dished out as the conflict between Kayden and Jumbo had devolved into nothing more than a bare knuckle brawl (despite both of them possessing fists far harder than a normal person's knuckles). It started shortly after Essex ran off to fight Leon. Kayden turned around to get his first look of who he'd be facing, but was met by a strong right that hit him solidly in the face instead. The punch staggered him since he wasn't prepared for it and it took him a second to come back, but when he did, he was ready. As Jumbo came at him with a left hook, he put up his right arm to stop it and delivered an uppercut to the midsection that took the cyborg off his feet for a second before performing an over the shoulder toss on the giant monstrosity, sending him smashing into the ground and causing the street to crack. Kayden followed that up with a hammer fist, but Jumbo got his arm up in time to block it, though the power was so great that Jumbo was still pushed even further into the ground. However, when Kayden tried to pull his arm back, he couldn't because it was being held, and instead he was pulled forward before being sent reeling backwards by a hard straight.
Jumbo was quicker than he looked as he rolled over and hopped up before Kayden could recover and then charged in, tackling the still somewhat dazed Kayden. They both went tumbling down, though Kayden received the brunt of the impact, but quickly got back to their feet.
Since then, they'd been as they were now. Toe to toe, just exchanging thunderous blows back and forth with no sign of any attempted defense. Kayden's blows dented Jumbo's metallic exterior while each one of Jumbo's punches made Kayden recoil and sent blood flying. The slugfest continued in this manner until Kayden landed a particularly effective haymaker that broke Jumbo's metal faceplate and drew blood. The pause it created was enough time for Kayden to land another powerful blow followed by a left hook and yet another overwhelming right. From how cleanly each of those landed, Kayden thought it might be enough, but he put so much behind that last punch that he inadvertently placed himself in a precarious position: standing right over a backwards leaning Jumbo with his arm extended and his entire side exposed. Jumbo took advantage with an uppercut right to that unguarded area, landing cleanly on the ribs. Kayden had never suffered a shot like that, neither before he ate his Devil Fruit nor after. The punch folded him in half like a broken tree before having his head blasted back by a devastating cross. Kayden would've liked nothing more at that moment than to fall back and catch his breath, but Jumbo was relentless. He grabbed onto Kayden's head with a single massive paw, squeezing with all his might while using his other hand to repeatedly punish the defenseless Kayden with strong body blows.
It was an unprecedented sight to see the rock hard muscle man being treated like a human punching bag, and it didn't end until Jumbo tossed him into the air like a rag doll, connecting with an unimaginably crushing, bone shattering overhead right as Kayden descended, sending him flying. He was launched across the vast clearing and crashed into a building, but didn't even slow down as he went through a second building. After going through a third building, he finally hit the ground, though that didn't help to stop him as he continued to roughly bounce along the paved, brick ground, tearing through building after building along the way, like a stone skipping across dry land, until he'd effectively burst through an entire block of buildings before coming out the other side and passing through a strange dark cloud before violently crashing into a large metal object, almost knocking it over before coming to a complete stop, a beaten and bloodied husk.