Rise: "ARAOOO--NNNNN~!"

Without braving a step, 4 quickly and cautiously motioned for his weapons to tear away at Rise.

He aimed for Rise's face, trying to strike at the boy's piercing, yellow eyes that gazed deeply into 4's every location no matter how much cover he took advantage of, nor where exactly he relocated himself to.

He struck at the newly outstretched snout sniffing the air for any and ALL signs of danger, be they metallic in scent or human body odor mixed with cologne. The putrid stench of blood permeated everyone standing so Rise could easily tell when anyone was coming, but identifying who they were required remembering their specific scent differences like who has a fainter bloody odor, or who's smell reeks of cologne.

4 targeted his upright ears that were busy selectively picking out noises from the battlefield with maniacally swift movement. Utilizing his sharp ears and heightened sense of smell to their peak aided him in always knowing exactly what was coming at him and from where.

He targeted the wild child's outgrown chest – ripping and throbbing with muscular perfection.

His legged pants that shifted in position to protect against a deadly injury. The varying muscles within Rise's 'legs' pulsated and contracted fiercely, but each leg moved at a separate rhythm so that he would not go back on his word.

With the rest of his body committing to perform the role of attack AND defense, his legs and more importantly, his feet, were largely left with little to do.

On one hand, this was because they didn't NEED to do anything right now. Whenever Rise swung his hands, a vast and terrifying shock wave in the form of claws tore metal knives into metal fragments. Spikes were blown apart by a single outcry of his Reverberating roar, and as soon as 4 moved in to kill…

...His face was always met with 5 dagger-like claws; each far too massive to serve as a functional finger nail! In fact, one could even argue they resembled swords more than daggers!

Feeling indignant, 4 tried one last time to engage in deadly force against Rise with his arm – encasing spears. He charged at Rise's spine while the boy brute was dealing with a myriad of flying metallic spikes and scalpels, whipping his two arms back and forth with grace and dexterous precision. So many weapons flittered around his eyes, ears and nose, how could he POSSIBLY sense 4 coming? There was no chance! Rather...this was the PERFECT chance! Both spear tips came together and stopped, just short of clanging against one another. His footsteps overshadowed by the cover of flying blades, he prepared for impact!

…!

..

.

Unfortunately, Rise spun 180 degrees until his chest now faced the duo of spears, and swiped down with speed surpassing the human eye's receptive capability.

His swipes were basically too fast for Four to see.

*CLANG!*

Long claws tore through the pointed weapons like a heated, steel knife shaving away at a stick of butter.

Before he could react, he saw a mocking grin replace the muzzle's drool – spreading snarl, and knew things had gone south. Luckily 4 had actually prepared for this EXACT situation at the start of their rematch. After cutting the metal protrusions in half, there was a thin series of metal scalpels flying from five separate locations towards Rise's face. They bought him those precious 2 seconds needed to make a mad dash from that immediate position. The poor beast child tried to extend his nearest arm to the man…

SO close…! Yet, so out of reach. Had he wanted to give chase, the man would be dead by now... but if he did that…

No! His pride wouldn't allow it! He just needed to make do with his own situation.

On the other hand… By Rise remaining still, the battle was slowly shifting. 4 gathered metallic clumps to reform his spears. He stood far away from Rise in order to gather enough metal once again. 4 worked hard right now, this was his ONLY chance towards survival! His ONLY opportunity to kill that kid! While Rise still had attacks to take advantage of, such as his claws that would create vacuums in space or shock waves when needed, and his despairingly powerful cry that mixed a wolf's howl and a buck's guttural, varying - in - pitch grunt… They weren't able to touch 4 after he retreated to the trees just past the clearing.

And it's not as if they couldn't 'reach' the man. They could reach his 'location' wit pinpoint accuracy, but he had much greater time to react accordingly - thanks to their distance. Considering he was capable of dodging Rise's attacks BEFORE he underwent this strange transformation, and Rise was previously as fast as Nathan Ericson, it could be seen that 4 was capable of quite an impressive level of super speed for an under – the – radar mercenary.

In fact, in case it wasn't properly pointed out by the two teams' reactions to each other's attacks…

every single one of them was capable of SOME semblance of faster - than - normal speed. This fight was only worthy of being watched by those with reactionary capabilities rivaling these battle participants' physical movements close enough to comprehend what is going on; by those able to MOVE at similar levels of speed to the point where they can keep pace with these killers toe – to – toe; or…

.

.

.

Those who can record it and watch in a frame – by – frame setting.

Not only was he at a comfortable dodging pace creating more metal and inadvertently slipping past Rise's bursting attacks, but the older male clearly held a passion for designing the battlefield in his favor.

…

He continuously gathered metal! Was he looking to run this forest DRY of minerals?! Everywhere he went he would take care to do 'two' things: to keep a lookout for Rise's attacks that were extremely fast, much more so in his transformed state, but too far away to catch him unawares. And his second task was the most obvious...to continuously produce spikes like a one - man mass – production factory!

Rise was fierce, determinedly showing exactly how strong and fast each and every one of his slashes were. He would even occasionally make an effort to chomp away to flying spikes his head effortlessly dodged...all just to prove one, single point - in hopes that his opponent will comprehend JUST how beneath Rise he was.

He wanted everybody on the battlefield, Noel included to see one single factual truth:

.

.

That HE is superior!

Even by standing there alone and bombarded from all sides, such an act alone won't stop him from killing 4!

.

.

.

Alas...

...This only served to keep 4 at a safer distance and ensure that he transformed this battle into a long range fight.

Since he couldn't face off in close combat against the brute, then naturally he needed to chip away at the kid's stamina and hope for a mistake! Overpower rare quality with quantity!

...After all, why throw his life away for a chance at close-ranged attacking when he can spam metal from afar??

His blades danced around the bestial teen's figure, from the upper areas of his body, such as his shoulders, biceps or neck to the lower regions like his thighs, calves and ankles. Rise needed to continuously watch his surroundings to make sure a flying spike doesn't catch him off guard. Yet, the problem could only grow since each time they were destroyed, they'd only reform and come back for vengeance. At first, while attacking multiple opponents, 4 could not pull this tactic off. He had to split his concentration and watch out for many enemies at once! In THIS fight though, where Rise is the only target for him to focus on...he can do it! It will take extra concentration to manipulate a metal blade to reform after breaking...but it isn't impossible!

…

And as the battle progressed, the spikes continued to increase in number without stop – putting the boy at even MORE of a disadvantage than he was at moments prior.

4: "Ahahaha!! You don't realize how grateful I am, how APPRECIATIVE I feel towards you right now, boy. Thanks for allowing yourself to become the perfect sand bag to test my metal work out on...or should I call you a cactus now that I'm about to strike you with over 2000 spikes?! Just keep your end of the bargain and STAY STILL okay?! AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Rise was feeling furious now. This worm..! This stupidly pathetic worm…!

Rise: "Am I…being MOCKED?!?"

Rise was pissed off, but more-so than that, he was embarrassed. Standing still was his proud declaration, but at this rate the battlefield might actually grow dangerous! For...for Noel at least.

Not for Rise. Definitely not for Rise.

...

Surrounding him on all sides were the promised 2000 spikes...but...darkness? Was the sky becoming night so early?

From a glance, it was very obvious that something fairly large was currently overshadowing the shared battlefield. Something big. And to make matters worse: the ground beneath him was beginning to shake!!

4:"Ahahaha! That reminds me, there was always one GLARING weakness to your 'standing still to beat me' strategy…

Aside from giving me enough preparation time to set the field up in my favor – since you PROMISED you wouldn't move, how will you dodge my underground spikes that are about to RUN YOU THROUGH from below?! I've been ESPECIALLY ensuring the production of these particular babies by the minute~

Hahahaha! This is it!! I won!"

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