Chapter 527: An Accident
After a bit more questioning, Kennedy got everyone’s attention.
"Alright everyone, on to the main event," she said after everyone turned to face her.
Suddenly, Leona and War, who had been standing right next to Laz, disappeared.
When he noticed them again, he saw they were standing in front of the group of women, next to Jill and Ruby. Behind them were Kennedy, Death, Malene. Directly behind them were Lyssa, Celes, Nora, Pestilence and Famine.
Each girl was now facing Laz with a serious look in their eyes.
"Um... did I miss something?"
"Nothing important lover. But please... try not to die. Ok?" Kennedy said with a smirk on her face, one echoed on each of the other’s faces as well.
Laz had a stunned look on his face for a second before his eyes went wide as he understood just what was happening.
Before he could even say anything else, War and Leona ran forward along with Jill and Ruby, but they vanished out of sight quickly as Laz’s view became occupied with just War and Leona.
They didn’t stop once they reached him and instead struck Leona going for his legs and War aiming straight at his chest.
Laz lifted his left leg slight and took the impact of Leona’s blow while bring his hands up, striking War’s fists and brushing them off to the side.
Having just blocked these attacks, Laz sense a slight shift and leaned his head to the right before twisting his body to the left, barely avoiding the fists that Jill and Ruby had aimed at his head and torso.
"Hey. If this is about last night, I didn’t mean to just... you know... firehose everyone. It was an accident. Honest."
After the first four backed off, Kennedy and Death came rushing in as Malene’s figure vanished. Death, he face a mask of nothingness, struck with her scythe, slashing down at Laz from above. Taking a step to the side, Laz noticed that Kennedy was right there, smiling as though wild and feral and slashed at him with her hands, long claws extending out from where her finger nails normally would have been. Laz then stepped and twisted, once again avoiding the blow to his heart. Laz had to immediately drop down to avoid the thin sword that had been aimed at the back of his head, having arrived the minute he dodge Kennedy’s claw attack.
Then everything went black, as though every light had been extinguished. Despite that, Laz’s senses allowed him to see everything in detail, almost better than when he used his eyes. Famine and Pestilence attacked at the same time as Laz felt something like a boulder hit his body. He was glowing with a faint light that seemed to constrict his movements as a cloud seemed to settle over him, making the air feel heavy, like he was trying to breath in water. On top of that, Laz heard something like a hum in the air that seemed to sap his strength.
Then, as he was standing there, something hit him in the chest with the force of a speeding car, sending him fly off into the wall.
Standing up, Laz could hear a laughing in the distance as the darkness began to deepen, even cutting off his spiritual sense. Despite this, he vaguely noticed several flickers within that carried a strange symbol.
’Runes huh? I guess it’s only right that I return the favor.’
Laz quickly drew in the air, his dark flame hidden with the lightless space.
The girls looked on, curious how he would react. As they watched, several runes lit up in front of Laz before disappearing as though fading into nothingness.
"He wouldn’t just do that for no reason. Be careful," Celes warned, not knowing what he did but understanding it wouldn’t be that simple.
After that, they came again and again. Laz dodged, ducked, jumped, rolled and did everything he could to avoid them, but it seemed like that didn’t work as they didn’t stop.
’Alright. Well... I can’t hit them... although I think at least Ruby, Leona and War would like that... soo....’
Famine hadn’t been watching her positioning and Laz ended up close to both her and Nora, ending up standing in between them as they had been focused on him, Famine to ensure the weakness curse was still working and Nora who had been using something akin to energy blasts to hit him and try her best to knock him off guard.
While the room was covered in darkness, thanks to Celes’ rune, they could see as though it was completely light. So when she and Nora turned and looked at him, they noticed Laz grinning with a wicked smile, even though his eyes were closed.
Everyone had paused as they felt that Laz was actually going to fight back before their faces froze in shock and then anger.
Laz ended up reaching both hands out and before they could even brace themselves, he struck, slapping both of their butts with a loud ’Clap’ that echoed across the room.
Both girls couldn’t help but stop their attacks as they grabbed their now red backsides in pain.
"GET HIM!" Malene called out, causing their dance to continue. While Laz’s realm was higher than anyone else’s and the number of fights he had been in hadn’t been low. Be it animal, god or human, Laz had been fighting them all for a while. As such, he had developed a good battle sense.
Kennedy and Death were the closest to him in realm, both being at the Void Lord level while the rest were in the Void Palace stage. Even then, Ruby, Leona, War, Famine, Pestilence, Malene and even Nora were close to breaking through while the rest were just a little bit off. Except for Jill of course who was still in the foundation Realm while Lyssa was at the peak and ready to begin her palace building.
Either way, Laz was kind of enjoying himself, having to dodge but not fight back, except to sometime deliver a slight love tap when he was in position to do so.
Soon though, the girls were getting more aggressive and using more of their power, not just their physical abilities. Those that had them anyway. Nora wasn’t a physical fighter and while Famine and Pestilence could fight, their real power lay in their curse and chants.
The strange thing was that as things moved faster, Laz moved faster. Once Kennedy, Ruby, Leona and War took on their battle forms, things got really intense; a spirit fox, a half woman, half snake, a female ware panther and a war god.
Laz had to completely focus on dodge that he felt that when he moved, even space was bending slightly in front of him. It was a strange feeling, one that he was trying to discover more of when he failed to notice Malene’s sword that came from behind, aiming, as she had been taught, right were his heart was.
At this point, Laz couldn’t dodge. He could retaliate and blow her back with energy, but that might hurt her. And that wasn’t something he could stand. Instead, he tried something else.
To everyone’s horror, the blade that Malene had fused all her strength into went into Laz’s chest and out the other side.
There was a shocked moment of horror as everyone came out of their battle stats, having lost the fire and drive that had been building to dangerous levels.
"LAZ!" They all seemed to yell at once as Malene let go of the thin sword in horror, only now realizing what she had done.
Strangely, Laz didn’t bleed. Instead, to everyone’s further shock, his body just faded away.
"NOOO!!!’
"LAZ!"
The screams came out a since no one knew what had just happened.
"Damn.... Let’s not try that again," Laz said, reappearing a second later on the other side of the gym, his tight shorts in tatters as there was barely any fabric left to hold them together.\
Before he could even check the state of his body, Malene ran over and jumped, crashing straight into him with enough force to knock him on the floor.
"Whaaaaaa..."
Laz held her tight and patted her head as the others joined her, still in shock.
Kennedy sat down next to him while he comforted Malene.
"So... we might have gone a bit over board.." She said, feeling a bit ashamed.
"A bit?" Laz asked back with a half smile.
"It wasn’t our intention to go all out," Death said, lowering her head as a brush creeped up her face. Laz reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it for comfort. Death was normally the quiet one of the sister. War was outgoing, Pestilence was kind of cheeky and Famine was the youngest and most chipper. So Death coming forward to speak first just showed how much she had been shaken up.
"Our bloodlines come from things and places we are only beginning to understand. So all of you need to be more aware that sometimes the beast inside wants to be let out. You just need to learn to channel that in the correct way," Laz advised, knowing about his own impulses.
"We know," they all said in agreement.
"But still... How are you ok?" Death asked, speaking up first again.
The girls looked on and nodded, wanting the answer.
"That’s simple. He bent space," said a voice that no one had expected to hear.
Vivi was standing up and stretching having awoken from her nap.
