68 Vice Battle II

"Cinder, what are you waiting for?" Ganda voiced out in panic. Aster's utterance made him realize that their efforts were not getting through with him.

Cinder knew what Ganda meant as the cigarette smoke that came from his lit cigar suddenly experienced a surge as it accumulated in the roof section of the factory. Even Aster felt pressured from seeing the cluster of it all. It was a cloud of smoke that slowly entrenched the upper part portion.

"Synnefo kapnou!" This was Cinder's trigger chant that literally translated to Cloud of Smoke. Aster had to reign on his elevation as Cinder might incorporate the technique with the Flaming Smoke skill he used earlier.

'What are these guys planning for having to do this?' Aster mused while his senses were occupied to react to every scenario. He had to watch out for exploding metal balls, forceful pillars of stone, and now he had to watch out from above.

"Tank, lower your pesky pillars so that the barrage can begin." Batter grinned as he felt that the incoming combination is enough to occupy his enemy. Tank eventually remolded the pillars to submerge into the waving ground.

"Senior Tank! It would be better for you if you stop the waving ground and put up that spiky thing you do. That would be overkill!" Pretty Face advised as he knew the drawback of Tank's continuous expenditure of mana. A stationary stone formation of deadly effects would be enough for the next scenario that would unfold.

Tank nodded while his other team members agreed with Pretty Face's suggestion. He eventually surged a bit in mana use as the waving ground suddenly stopped its waves. A mental image was forming in his mind as a channeling chant was muttered along in his thoughts. As the final touch, Tank yelled and said. "Akanthodes edafos!"

With a sudden spiking sound, impaling spikes suddenly emerged and stood in place. The poor burnt corpses had to be impaled in the earth molding technique called the Thorny Ground. Tank eventually released himself from his ground punching stance and tried to regain his bearing.

Aster wanted to dish out a counterattack but he had to stop himself due to the clinking of metals that he heard.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"Be distracted, you damn brat!" The paused onslaught of Batter's bat and return strategy eventually continued. Aster was not skilled with teleporting and issuing a mana attack simultaneously, so he had to pick one and that was the Space Skip to evade the attack.

The metal balls now became an endless distraction that stopped Aster from giving out a strong counter. Instead of sending the three of them at the same time, Batter was now juggling them skillfully that Aster had no time to relax. Pretty Face was not one to be left out as his blades seem to not run out as it continuously shot out from his sleeves.

'Time to escape to the roof, I guess!' Aster eventually chose his last option because the thorny ground was a big no-no but before he could teleport and do that, the cloud of smoke above him eventually had a change.

Cinder's state of using such a large scale attack was not any different than Tank's self-harming accumulation. Aster had to take into account that such a strategy might be an open secret to the leader figures of the Unkillable Rats.

"Nikotiniki vrochi." Cinder said in a cool fashion as the cloud of smoke eventually condensed too much that it had to follow the next phase in the cycle of water which is precipitation. What else could cigarette smoke magically condense and give out other than the poisonous and toxic nicotine?

"Hehe, there it is! I just saw my seniors' major moves being used at the same time, Thorny Ground and Nicotine Rain." Pretty Face smiled like a fanboy while Ganda had his panties wet from seeing his forced boyfriend smile beautifully.

'To actually have such fearsome trump cards.' Aster was in a pinch as he mused but he eventually sighed in relief. 'Here I thought that it was some major move like raining out a fire. Didn't the smoker learn that I have blood abilities?'

'Oh well! I guess it would be best if I make him remember it.' Aster was having fun on his own. Before any of the toxic droplets could reach him, his attributeless mana changed into dark red as it became into its blood attribute. He also wanted to showcase some sort of magical chant of his own and said. "Hehe! Bloody blood, bloody blood! Blood Creation and Blood Bend!"

The complacent Batter stopped his barrage of attacks and he took this chance. Blood floated above him and copied the form of an umbrella. He had no care whatsoever nicotine infected it because infected blood is still blood after all. It was rain and the natural counter was the most practical tool that would not make him wet.

His complete mastery did not have him make use of flashy words of Greekish origin because it is plain unnecessary but he wanted to feel included in a magic battle, so he did so.

"Fucking freak!" Batter thought that Nicotine Rain would have Aster in despair but he eventually realized the fault of his paused bat barrage. Clinking metals were heard again as it made its way towards Aster.

CLANG! CLANG!

Aster eventually knew the secret behind his Baseball Implosion, so he made use of Blood Bend and its original designation to substitute weapons. A bat that was the two times bigger than Batter's metal bat was formed from completely powerful blood. With hardening, Aster struck the incoming balls with the use of bloody telekinesis.

The force was strong enough to send the mysticized bombing balls back along with the little droplets of nicotine raindrops. The stage was the only one not afflicted by the nicotine rain because they were also not immune to it after all.

Ganda saw the incoming splashes and thought that it was time to act. Before the toxic ball and toxic splashes could breach their safe zone, he gave out a powerful kick that formed a gust that served as a barricade that stopped it from proceeding back.

He reprimanded Batter in big time. "ARE YOU DUMB? I am going to use your language for you to understand. Are you FUCKING dumb?!"

"Tsk!" Batter could only reply with a click of his tongue. He did not know of the consequences that his attacked enlightened Aster. The youth under his blood umbrella smiled and said audibly to them. "Sorry, it looks like I realize a method in which your powerful rain could be used against you."

Rat and the vice leaders turned grim as they suddenly saw the blood bat dissipated and transformed into something that looked like a paddle racket.

The tactical Ganda and the silent boss realized their most idiotic trump card to date. Ganda shouted at Cinder to wake him from his state of pain and focus. "Cinder! Cancel your Nicotine Rain before we all become injured by our own blades!"

Cinder went on to try and dispel it while the blood paddle eventually slapped the already falling rain towards the foolish group. Aster was already inside a cocoon of fresh blood under the nicotinized umbrella to save himself from the adverse effects of the blood paddle rampage that he is controlling.

Nicotine was not quick-acting and killing as it seemed in the eyes of many but a concentrated amount of it and harboring it in one's body would prove fatal. The true terror was from its adverse effects on the human body in the long run. Aster had no idea about much of its destructive process on the human body but the gruesome imagery and warning in cigarette packets were enough to scare him. He treated it as a complete plague in its solid, liquid, and gas form. There were also other deadly substances from cigarettes that were mixed with the rain and he did not have the courage to test it all out.

The Unkillable Rat team was more experience on the Nicotine Rain's deadliness and were trying their best to fend off against the raining rampage. They had measures like plugging their nose and coating themselves from being affected with the gas but they were not prepared from being exposed to the rain directly.

Ganda was doing his best to kick up gusts of wind that countered the gust from the huge paddle. Pretty Face and Batter used their partners as human shields as they stood behind them. Rat felt that Ganda's kicking power was not enough and turned to Tank. "Tank, do your thing while Ganda is temporarily fending it."

Tank, who was still battered from his ground molding had no choice but to mold the ground again. He issued another ground punch that was out of place as he yelled. "Chytefsimo edafos: Giino teichos!"

It was the go-to defense spell for earth mages and earth warriors called Earth Wall. A huge wall formed from the thorny ground to block the raindrops that were being swatted by the paddle. It was an unnaturally wide and big Earth Wall because Tank incorporated his large scale Moldable Ground spell to it. Of course the adverse mana usage further damaged the muscular man that he was already dripping blood from his mouth.

Fortunately, Cinder had already dispersed Nicotine Rain and not much of the droplets were left for Aster to use to his advantage.

The leader figures on the other side of the earth wall felt everything was quiet as the gust from the blood racket stopped. They were in a pickle whether they would drop the wall down or not. Aster was too quiet on the other side that they became too apprehensive.

Rat and his extrasensory nose were rendered useless because all of them had to plug their sense of smell from the nicotine infestation. It was now that they truly realized how foolish it is to use an outdoor spell in an indoor environment.

They were basically asking themselves to be killed by their own set of spells meant for a massacre.

Before all of them could debate whether to drop the wall or not, they were caught off guard with a spear of grayish and red blood that pierced through the wall and headed straight for Rat's throne of rat decoration.

"Eeeeeekkk!!!" A rat-like squeal of pain could be heard from rat himself as his left arm was damaged by the surprise attack. His rat seat was partially damaged but that was inconsequential to losing a pretty good arm.

"Oya! Oya! My guessing aim actually hit someone. What a surprise!" Aster praised himself from his blind guessing and spear throwing. The earth wall also rendered him unable to see the other side but it did not stop him from mixing the blood racket and his umbrella to make a super sharp spear.

He had no way of reading all of the vices movements from behind the wall but he remembered the visual position of Rat's arrogant seat. That was his best option and who knew that he could actually succeed with first injuring the most powerful person in cultivation within the factory.

His chances of winning just rose to greater odds in his favor. An injured and poisoned leader would essentially crumble an organization of hierarchal goonies.

'Now, what move am I going to use next?' Aster pondered as he waited for the response of the panicking group on the other side of the wall.