Bobo pivoted away from Kairo, turning his full, unwavering attention back to Susie as he dropped back into his stance, bracing himself for whatever she had left.
Susie stared at him for a beat, her expression shifting from irritation to a strange, lingering intrigue. "Hey, fatso... what do they call you?"
Bobo, while taken aback for a split second by the sudden question. A small, defiant smirk broke across his blood-stained face. "The name's Bobo. The vigorous heart of the Chikarake blood."
Susie's lips twitched into a cold, lethal smile. "I see. Well then, Bobo... hope you're ready, because this next attack... will be my last."
As she spoke, a brilliant, menacing wave of seikon energy surged violently through the veins in her arms, flooding outward across her entire body. She dropped low, sinking deep into her predatory tiger stance.
Bobo hardened his gaze, standing his ground as he called out, "Bring it on!"
From across the chamber, Kairo watched with wide, horrified eyes. As he tracked the glowing, pulsing seikon energy crawling up her skin, a chilling realization hit him. "She's a Stage 1 user..."
Panic seizing his chest, Kairo threw his head back and screamed across the room. "Bobo! She's about to launch her attack! Stay on your guard!"
Hearing the warning, Bobo sank even lower, planting himself into a broad, sumo-like stance with his center of gravity firmly anchored to the stone floor. His posture leaned forward with quiet menace, his entire frame built not to trade blows, but to seize, grapple, and overpower.
Susie grinned. "Ready Bobo?"
Suddenly, her feet pushed off the ground. But instead of charging straight ahead as expected, she moved with staggering, erratic speed. She lunged like a pinball, shooting off the left corner of the chamber, bouncing hard toward the right wall, and moving with the terrifying agility of a four-legged beast.
As she sprinted along the stone surfaces, using the walls to accelerate, her mind raced. "I'll use his blind spot... circle around and finish him from behind."
Circling Bobo in a high-speed blur, she locked her eyes onto her opening. "There!"
Shifting her trajectory, she vaulted off the wall like a striking tiger, her razor-sharp claws lunging straight toward Bobo's exposed back.
Kairo tracked her movement in mid-air, his voice tearing from his throat in sheer desperation. "Behind you!"
Suspended in the air, Susie bared her teeth. "Too late."
Her claws swept down to slash his back wide open. But the exact microsecond Kairo’s scream hit his ears, Bobo reacted. Relying on sheer survival instinct, he tucked his chin, dropped his weight, and violently twisted his shoulders and hips toward the incoming strike.
His head slipped cleanly out of the path of the claws, forcing her lethal strike to rake harmlessly across his thick shoulder instead of his spine.
Susie’s eyes blew wide with disbelief mid-air. "What?!"
That exact rotational pivot carried Bobo all the way around, bringing him face-to-face with her as she descended.
As she landed right in front of him, Bobo’s hand shot out, lunging to grab a fistful of her hair. Susie flinched back, but using her momentum, Bobo dragged her face closer, driving his other arm straight toward her chest to land a hit.
Just before he made the contact, Susie channeled a sudden, dense burst of seikon flow directly into her chest.
BOOM.
The kinetic barrier repelled Bobo's hand instantly, sending his arm bouncing backward off her chest. Bobo’s eyes widened in shock.
Susie flashed a cruel, triumphant smile.
Before Bobo could reset his footing or recover his balance, Susie struck. With blinding speed, her right arm whipped upward from below like a vicious upper-hand strike, driving her open palm directly into Bobo’s chin.
A thunderous crack echoed through the chamber as the raw force of the blow hit home. Bobo was blasted backward off his feet, his body rocketing through the air with such velocity that small stones shattered in his wake, until his back slammed violently against the far stone wall with bone-crushing force.
From across the chamber, Kairo stared in absolute, paralyzing horror and screamed at the top of his lungs.
Susie stood her ground amid the falling debris, her eyes closing as she drew in a long, slow breath. She let out a heavy sigh, her voice flat. "Hah... what a hassle."
Slowly, she pivoted around, locking her predatory gaze onto Kairo as if he were her next meal. Kairo’s eyes burned with boiling rage, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached. There wasn't an ounce of remorse or hesitation on her face.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Just as she lifted her foot to take a step toward him, a sudden rustling sound broke through the air behind her back.
Kairo’s eyes blew wide, staring past her toward the thick cloud of dust. Susie caught the movement too, freezing in her tracks as she whipped her head around.
Crawling out from the debris on his hands and knees, Bobo let out a low, ragged growl. He hacked up a mouthful of blood, his arms trembling violently under his own weight. Across the chamber, Kairo’s eyes flooded with a mix of deep sympathy and overwhelming relief, his friend was still breathing.
Susie stared at the crawling figure, her expression dark and silent. Without a word, she turned her body away from Kairo and began walking straight toward Bobo.
Kairo saw what she was about to do. Panic seized his chest. At first, a desperate, breathless. "No..." escaped his lips, but the next second, it shattered into a frantic, raging scream. "NO! Stop!"
He hollered at the top of his lungs, but she didn't even acknowledge him, her back turned to him as she closed the distance. Her hand extended outward, her razor-sharp claws lengthening in the dim light.
"Stop!" Kairo screamed, his voice cracking. "That's enough!"
Bobo slowly lifted his head, blood matting the short hair at the back of his neck, as his vision swam with a dizzying blur. Through half-lidded, dazed eyes, he tracked the settling dust, first catching sight of Susie walking menacingly toward him.
His gaze drifted slightly, landing on a venomous cave scorpion crawling silently near his hand in the dirt. Then, his eyes snapped back up as Susie loomed directly over him, her lethal claws gleaming and ready.
Through the searing pain, Bobo weakly stretched a hand forward, his voice a gravelly whisper. "Kairo..."
Across the room, Kairo fought to force his battered body off the ground. His leg throbbed from earlier wounds, blood soaking through his torn pants, but he didn't care. He hauled himself up, staggered heavily, and crashed back down to his knees, yet grit his teeth, enduring the agony as he clawed his way forward to stop her.
Susie reached Bobo's side. Bobo lay flat on his stomach, his face pressed toward the ground with his back facing upward. Without a single word, she reached down, grabbing a harsh handful of his torn shirt and aggressively dragging his face up toward her level. She raised her other hand, her razor-sharp claws poised to strike as she stared coldly down at his bloody, battered face.
At that exact moment, Bobo’s hand slowly crept upward.
With a final surge of defiance, his fingers locked tightly around her forearm.
Hiss.
An instant, sharp burning sensation seared through Susie's arm the second Bobo's grip closed around her. Her face twisted in a sharp flash of shock and agony. Reacting purely on instinct and sudden aggression, she whipped her arm upward, violently shrugging his hand off her skin.
"What the hell...?" she snarled, staring down at him in pure outrage.
Bobo looked back up at her, a weak, cheeky, blood-stained smile lingering on his lips.
Seeing that mocking grin on the face of a half-conscious opponent sent a fresh wave of boiling agitation through her. With a fierce, irritated grunt, she swung the back of her heavy, clawed paw sideways, smashing it directly into the side of Bobo's head.
The heavy impact echoed through the chamber, instantly knocking Bobo completely unconscious as his head dropped slack against the stone floor.
......
For a long, agonizing second, the entire chamber seemed to hold its breath.
Kairo froze. His eyes stared down in absolute horror at the unmoving form of his friend. The searing pain in his own battered legs completely vanished, overridden by a cold, hollow numbness. Slowly, he forced himself forward, staggering heavily across the stone toward where Bobo lay unconscious.
"Hey... Bobo..." Kairo whispered, his voice trembling, utterly devoid of its usual fire. He took another shaky step, stretching out a hand as he called out again. "Bobo..."
There was no response. Bobo lay completely unresponsive. A violent, icy shiver racked Kairo's entire body.
A few feet away, Susie straightened her posture, looking down one last time at the defeated boy before pivoting on her heel to walk away.
The exact moment her body completed the turn, a strange, violent jolt rippled through her veins. A sudden, creeping numbness began to spread outward from her arm. Her expression twisted in sharp confusion and alarm as she stumbled slightly, clutching the arm that Bobo had grabbed moments ago. A fierce, burning sensation radiated beneath her skin, hotter than before.
Keeping her head down and her teeth gritted against the strange affliction, she limped forward.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. Susie flinched, lifting her head and locked eyes with Kairo.
Kairo's eyes were blown wide in raw, unadulterated horror, his mouth parted slightly, his face pale as he staggered blindly straight toward her.
Without breaking his stride, Kairo walked right past her, his gaze locked entirely on the unconscious form of his friend.
Susie smirked bitterly, keeping her back to him without bothering to turn around. "How childish..." she muttered, her head still bowed as the strange burning in her arm flared. "Coming into a life-or-death trial... you have to be a naive little fool to think everyone was going to make it out alive."
She suddenly threw her head back, her voice raising into a harsh, echoing scream. "There are no rooms for bonds here! You hear me...?!"
The very microsecond she turned her head to finish the sentence, a terrifying, silent shadow erupted into her space.
BOOM.
A devastating, fury-fueled punch slammed directly into her face. The sheer kinetic force of the blow shattered the air around them, sending Susie rocketing backward off her feet.
She slammed hard into the stone floor, tumbling end over end before skidding to a halt. Clutches of blood sprayed from her nose as she groaned, pressing a hand to her face. She forced her head up, her eyes widening in pure shock as she looked at Kairo.
He stood frozen in place. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned stark white, his face twisted into a mask of terrifying, abyssal rage. His chest heaved as he dragged in ragged, heavy breaths.
Before she could even process the shift in momentum, the burning sensation in her arm flared with blinding intensity, searing through her muscle and bone. She gasped, grabbing her arm as panic flickered across her face. "What... what the hell is going on...?"
Kairo didn't blink. His voice dropped to a low, gravelly snarl that echoed off the cavern walls, vibrating with intent.
"You'll pay..."
His eyes burned into her,blood streaking his face as he threw his head back and roared at the top of his lungs.
"You'll pay for this! You hear me?!"