Chapter 9: Clash of the Exalteds

Allen wanting to hear what Hellhound knows about Alice engages the Exalted in battle.

“Tell me where Alice is you b*****d!” 

"Please, what purpose is their for a Wolf to communicate with a maggot."

"You really think you're hot stuff don't you? Eat this!"

*Whoosh*

Allen sends a sharp gust of wind towards Hellhound hitting him in the chest, but it doesn’t faze him

'Are you serious?! That's the same attack that sent his lackey's head rolling to the ground. What's with this guy?!' Allen thinks to himself as he prepares his next attack

“Is that the best you can do?” Hellhound asks Allen in a condescending tone.

“Far from it!”

*Woosh* *Woosh *Woosh*

Allen sends in multiple sharp gusts at Hellhound, but this has no effect as well.

“What a shame, you’re all bark and no bite. My body emits a strong aura of heat energy, your wind has no effectt.” Hellhounds says with a disappointed look on his face

“GO TO HELL!” Allen yells as the intensity of the wind surrounding him increases as his anger continues to rise.

“HAHAHA. Don’t make me laugh. You’ve stepped into Hell the moment you picked a fight with me!” 

With a snap of Hellhound's fingers Allen is lit on fire by devastating flames.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Allen yells feeling the overwhelming heat of Hellhound's flames.

"You can forget about this Alice woman boy, you’ll be nothing but a pile of ashes by the time I’m through with you.”

‘S**t.. these flames are nothing to play around with.. But I must find out where Alice is.’

*Woooooosh* 

Allen quickly dissipates the flames with his wind but begins breathing heavily

“This has been a major waste of time.. Listen, I got things to do, so I think it’s time I put an end to this little charade” Hellhound says as he pulls a pair of black claws out from his desk and puts them on.

 Hellhound lunges toward a fatigued Allen.

 “It’s over!”

‘D****t.. After all that talk this is all I could muster? Guess nothing has changed then.. I’m still weak.. '

Allen pictures Alice's face within his mind.

'I’m sorry Alice..’

"FLY!"

Lance uses his Push and shoots a blast of force at Hellhound and manages to push him out of the way before he could land the decisive blow onto Allen.

“I was wondering when you were gonna join in Exalted. I saw you use my katana to cut yourself free with your ability. Very resourceful.” Hellhound says complimenting Lance.

“Lance.. no one told you to butt in... This is my battle and mine alone.” A fatigued Allen tells Lance

Lance points upwards at a chandelier suspended below the ceiling.

“Look alive Allen, there’s another one here.. Come out! I’ve already sensed your presence!” Lance shouts.

*Poof* 

A cloud of smoke appears and a tall slim man emerges out of it. His face is completely concealed behind a white drama mask representing comedy, and he is dressed up in a yellow-black jester garment. 

“Heeheeheehee! Pleasure to meet you folks. The name’s Cutlass," the man says bowing to his audience

He then proceeds to point at Hellhound.

"I’m with the big guy over there."

“Very impressive! Whoever your master is, he has brought you up well boy. That man over there is a trained assassin who’s an expert at utilizing magic that conceals his presence. His presence is hard to detect even for the most seasoned individuals.” Hellhound applauds.

“That goes without saying! My master is Alaster Grand Infinium! I was trained by the greatest” Lance replies

Hellhound strokes his chin in amusement.

“Ahh. The Supreme King huh? I have a lot of respect for that man and the good he does in the world. You can even say we have a lot in common."

Hellhound then releases a vast amount of heat energy from his body

 "Very well. As a sign of respect I’ll engage you in battle. But make no mistake, you’ve got a LONG way to go before you have even a punchers chance with me.”

“We’ll see about that. Allen take care of that Cutlass guy, I can tell he’s no pushover don’t let your guard down. I’ll get everything out of this Hellhound guy you can count on it. After that we need to talk!”

“Tch. There you go again taking all the glory for yourself. Very well, let’s take care of these clowns,” Allen replies with a smirk on his face as he rushes towards Cutlass with new found resolve..

“Tell me what everything you know about Alice, and what you’re after!” Lance yells as he rushes forward at Hellhound.

“I’m not one to just give answers out for free, you’ve gotta earn my respect first.” Hellhound replies, his eyes fixated on his target.

Lance then draws out his blades.

“Very well, on my name Lance Bladerunner, I WILL take you down.”

Hellhound snaps his fingers lighting Lance on fire as he rushes at him with his claws

“Brace yourself for a world of pain boy!”

‘Ahh calling these flames hot would be a major understatement, but I’ve dealt with MUCH worse’ Lance thinks to himself as uses his broadswords and parries Hellhound’s strike.

"Just a heads up boy. Your magnetism will have zero affect on these claws. These claws were taken from a legendary black dire wolf i slew many years ago and were forged into a magnificent weapon. This direwolf's claws are harder than diamond and sharp enough to cut steel itself. Its from that very dire wolf which my gang's name is derived from."

'Crap, this puts me at a major disadvantage then if i can't use my magnetism. Oh well let's try this.'

“FLY!” 

Lance uses his push ability and manages to knock Hellhound back a little before following up with a downwards slash which puts a shallow cut into Hellhound’s torso.

Hellhound's eyes light up with excitement!

“EXCELLENT! Maybe I should turn it up a notch!” 

Hellhound engulfs his claws with scorching flames, and the intensity of the flames covering Lance grows as well. 

"AHH!!" Lance yells out in excruciating pain as the scalding heat begins to take its toll on Lance's body.

Hellhound proceeds to blitz Lance with a flurry of quick swipes.

'Even after training under Lord Alaster's extreme gravity, his strikes are still tough to dodge.' Lance thinks to himself

Lance tries his best to dodge Hellhound's assault but is grazed multiple times all over his body leaving scorch marks on the outsides of the wounds. 

"Like a deer, you're very nimble! However, a wolf always manages to track down his prey."

As Hellhound attempts to thrust his claw into Lance’s chest, Lance grabs onto the claw, and though simultaneously cutting and burning his hand manages to flip up into the air.

 He places his left palm on the back of his right hand in an X formation and yells out.

“IMPACT!”

The force of the blast manages to bring Hellhound down to one knee.

“Nicely done! I can see why my Blackwolves would have trouble with you. You have a lot of potential boy.” Hellhounds says complimenting him once more.

But Hellhound counters and ferociously sends an elbow towards Lance's stomach.

 "Repel!" Lance yells in an attempt to deflect his blow.

"Not good enough boy," Hellhound states as Lance's forcefield gets shattered and he is sent flying across the room.

“Lance!” Allen yells out seeing his friend struggle against his opponent.

“I wouldn’t take your eyes off of me if I were you!” Cutlass yells out as he goes on the assault attacking with his blades with several acrobatic flips and spins.

*WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH*

Despite Allen's injuries and fatigue from his battle with Hellhound, he manages to dodge Cutlass' assault and sends a flurry of wind blasts in his direction. 

"Heeeheeeheehee! You've got some fun magic kid! I'm flyiiing!" Cutlass laughs as he rides Allen's wind blasts

‘This guy.. He's using the direction of my wind blasts to his advantage. It’s as though he’s dancing. I can’t worry about Lance right now, this guy is too dangerous to be left alone.’ Allen thinks to himself as he surrounds his body with a fierce whirlwind.

“Lets go! No more playing around!” Allen yells out to himself

Meanwhile Lance gets up slowly. Battered, bruised, and still on fire..

“I admire your determination, but it’s no use, you are no match for me.” Hellhound calmly tells Lance

“You.. You said you respect the good my master’s done.. Why would a criminal like you care about any good done in this world?” a weary Lance asks Hellhound.

“Sure yes, I’m a wanted man by the government, but I assure you I'm not the bad guy.”

“You’ve kidnapped hundreds of villagers and separated people from their families! How can you possibly be the good guy?!” Lance asks beginning to get irritated.

“It seems you’re still naïve with the world around you. I assure you something big is coming. Separating families are the least of our worries, you’ll see eventually."

Hellhound then extinguishes the flames that were engulfing Lance’s body.

"Matter of fact, the reason I’ve been on the hunt for Exalteds is because we are preparing for a battle, one in which the very world we cherish so much hangs in the balance. For that reason I want you to join our organization: The Twilight. We're a group of powerful individuals. It doesn't matter if you're a righteous man or hardened criminal. If your skills meet our criteria, you'll be welcomed in with open arms. Our aim is to protect those who walk in the light by staying in the middle to combat the darkness. With your help we’ll be able to do more good for the world." Hellhound says hoping to convince Lance to come to their side.

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Even if you ARE doing good for the world, I don’t approve of your methods. There are other ways you could’ve gone about this. I don’t want anything do to with your little group.”

"Gahh.."

 Lance finally feeling the strain from his battle falls down to the ground.

“Ahh, that’s a shame. Perhaps I overdid it a bit. Seems you are at your limit then,” Hellhound says with a sigh of disappointment.

‘D****t. I can’t move anymore. This guy really is in a league of his own..’ Lance thinks to himself before passing out from his injuries.

Hellhound begins walking towards Lance..

Meanwhile Allen is struggling with his opponent as well

‘S**t. This guy must be some type of circus freak! I haven’t been able to land a single hit let alone leave a scratch on him. Every time I shoot my wind at him, he seems to use it to fly around. At this rate I’ll run out of mana.’ Allen thinks to himself.

“Oh looks like your buddy there is down for the count, guess I should wrap things up here as well.

Allen looks over at Lance who has fallen from his battle with Hellhound

‘Damn, things aren’t looking good.’

“HEY WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TAKING YOUR EYES OFF OF ME HEEHEEHEEHEE!”

*SLASH*

Cutlass sends a devastating deep cross-slash directly into Allen’s chest causing the latter to spew out blood from his mouth as he collapses on the floor.

“Heeeheheeheee, I don’t see a fat lady, but I’m sure she’s out there singing somewhere.” Cutlass says as he bows to his fallen opponent

BOTH MEN ARE DOWN. IS THIS THE END OF THE LINE FOR LANCE BLADERUNNER AND ALLEN KIRKWOOD?