It was a scene straight out of a horror movie as Yun Zhe started screaming. His agonizing cry reached the farthest row of the audience, giving them shivers. The nearer audience had it worse since they could clearly see Yun Zhe helplessly spasming in mid-air. He had his full armor and shield at his disposal, but those were deemed useless by the 'Curse Beam' that shot out of White Mist's hand.
Curse Beam, while it seemed like an attack that was named by a three-year-old, it was one of the most potent tricks up White Mist's sleeve. He had never used it in a fight because of how dangerous it was. It could kill the opponent in one hit— such was the deathly nature of the Curse Beam.
However, Yun Zhe was an overwhelmingly formidable opponent. Never in the history of beast tamers did anyone achieve a Penta Beast Integration. And yet, Yun Zhe pulled it off effortlessly. It was a walk in the park for him.
And that's the reason why White Mist considered using the Curse Beam attack in the first place.
The Curse Beam is penetrative in its nature. Like any other attack at Death Metronome's disposal, the Curse Beam affects the natural order of life, giving it the unique characteristic of ignoring anyone's additional defensive statuses. Simply put, the Curse Beam could damage the opponent directly while piercing through any defense.
White Mist didn't bother explaining the attack to Yun Zhe. It had connected, and Yun Zhe suffered severe damage because of it.
In a snap of a finger, the fight that heavily favored Yun Zhe began tipping in White Mist's favor. White Mist was winning, and victory was now in plain sight as White Mist wrapped it up.
Once the attack dissipated and Yun Zhe was seen in plain sight. Another series of gasps erupted from the audience as blood outwardly sprinkled from the gaps between Yun Zhe's armor. It was indeed a cursed beam since it had left Yun Zhe bleeding all over.
A blood pool started forming underneath Yun Zhe as he slowly descended. Despite his sorry state, he kept his head up, and his posture remained as straight as a stick. He didn't want the audience to take pity on him even when he had been suffering. He wanted to curl his whole body up, but he fought the urge since he didn't want to appear unsightly in front of the audience.
"That was a pretty powerful attack you got there, White Mist." Yun Zhe's hoarse voice was evidence of his bloodied state. Mustering all his strength, he prompted the Primordial Excalibur on his shoulder while he steadied himself. It took all of his being to remain standing.
"You took it like a champ, though. Are you all right?" There was a hint of sarcasm in White Mist's voice. His plan had worked, and victory was well within his grasp for all he knew.
Yun Zhe coughed as his body almost tipped forward like a teetering building. Instead of using the Primordial Excalibur to right himself, he took a step forward to regain his balance. The attack sure did a number on him, but he could recover if he bought enough time for himself.
"I thought I could take it. I clearly underestimated that beam. Who on earth names such a powerful attack with a ridiculous term?" Yun Zhe shrugged as if he wasn't coughing blood as he spoke.
The parents who were watching even had to step in and cover their children's eyes since the gore was not something they could stomach themselves. But as usual, the children got even more curious and started clawing their parents' hands to get a glimpse. The blood was well censored in the live stream, so they didn't worry about the underaged on that end.
While stalling for time, Yun Zhe evened his breathing while focusing on his Primordial Excalibur's healing properties. In essence, the Curse Beam severely damaged him and put a curse within his body that stopped his regeneration abilities. Because of that, he had to rely entirely on his Representative, Primordial Excalibur, to eliminate the curse and begin the healing process.
"I guess this puts at an even ground, huh? Your current level is approximately the same level as me in this sorry state." A smirk appeared on Yun Zhe's face as he removed his helmet. (Well, he didn't really remove it. It just disappeared since he wanted it to.)
"You know... I'm sorry about this, Yun Zhe, but I'm the one winning this match." White Mist proclaimed, charging at Yun Zhe for the second time. He could tell what Yun Zhe was trying to do at that moment, and he decided to stifle it.
"Well, I thought it'd work. At least I tried." Yun Zhe muttered to himself as he threw his shield at White Mist.
The white shield with gold engravings initially had a typical shape of an escutcheon. But after throwing it in the air, it began spinning at an alarming speed, and then it changed shape. What was once an escutcheon shape then shifted into a perfect circle, and it accelerated through the air faster than White Mist had anticipated.
"What the— " White Mist called out as he extended his hands (still in the shape of Death Metronome's creepy elongated hands). Since he couldn't dodge the shield anymore, he decided to catch it and throw it back.
But that's where he messed up. As it turned out, the shield had a will of its own, just like all the other equips that White Mist had, thanks to his beast integration.
As soon as White Mist reached his hand, the shield spun even faster and its edges turned into a blade of sorts. Now it resembled a buzz saw more than a shield.
Kishchsck~!
It was hard to describe the sound of flesh being torn open together and bones shattering into little pieces. Some of the audience stood up at the barbarism of the attack, and the commentator let out a timely scream as soon as the 'shield' connected with White Mist's flesh.
The shield was supposed to be caught by White Mist, but it spun even faster and cut through White Mist's palm straight through his forearm. In the process, it popped his elbow. His radius and ulna didn't get away from the cruelty either since they were shattered to pieces as well.
Now it was White Mist's turn to scream as the pain shot from his hand to his brain. The shield could've cut his hand through, but to everyone's surprise, it took a sharp turn to the left and cut White Mist's other hand before returning to its owner.
As White Mist's face contorted into a squeamish expression, it was White Mist who smirked this time.
"It looks like you're not worthy of catching the shield." Yun Zhe commented as he caught the shield by its edge. It stopped spinning right before Yun Zhe caught it, causing White Mist to snort at the unpredictability of the projectile.
"Curse Redo," White Mist grunted.
Before Yun Zhe could attack for a second time, White Mist muttered another skill that Death Metronome had. His hands, torn to shreds, suddenly started spinning (it looked like it was spinning but was actually regaining its previous state.)
A split second later, White Mist's hands returned to normal. It didn't even look like he suffered any significant injuries from the shield attack.
Or so it would seem.
"That hurt." White Mist muttered as he clenched and unclenched his fist to intimidate Yun Zhe. While it may look like White Mist wasn't struggling at all, he was actually in a way worse state. Compared to what everyone assumed, he really did suffer major injuries from the attack.
The only reason it didn't look that way was his skill, Curse Redo. Curse Redo allows the user to return to his original state in a limited time. Curse Redo works by putting a curse on the user and redoing what happened in the past. In this case, the curse redoed the injury. That doesn't mean the injury was gone, but it temporarily alleviated its effects.
White Mist only had three minutes left before his skill deactivates. Once that timer ends, there was no way he'd be able to defeat White Mist with a bludgeoned right hand.
The fight was finally in its gun lap. On one end was Yun Zhe, who was doing way worse than White Mist because he was bleeding all over. And then there was White Mist, who was at a disadvantage since he could only attain Trinity Beast Integration. On top of that, his hand was shredded to pieces, and he only had three minutes before it reverted to that injured state.
Nod.
Nod.
For some reason, White Mist and Yun Zhe nodded at each other. They have decided to pour their everything into one final attack. This finale would dictate whether one or the other was victorious or not.
White Mist and Yun Zhe started screaming at the top of their lungs.
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