256 A noble sacrifice

Deeply confused by what just happened, the others thought it must have been a mistake on the beast's part. Perhaps, Logan's attack had hurt it more than they thought and now its movements weren't as swift as before.

The only one that knew what had happened was Quinn himself. He used the Phantom Punch, this was an attack that would only work on humanoid creatures with a certain level of intelligence.

Quinn wasn't so sure if it would really work but it was obvious that it worked and was incredibly useful in the battle. Those with high intelligence wouldn't be tricked by the phantom punch, at the same time, beasts whose intelligence were far too low wouldn't even recognize the trick in the first place. This was the reason why the Phantom Punch wouldn't work on most beasts.

However, it seemed like the beast in front of him was perfect for the Phantom Punch. The level of intelligence was enough for it to be tricked, but not high enough to recognize that it was being tricked.

The standoff between the two continued, with Quinn avoiding most of the blows cleanly, and whenever an opening revealed itself., Quinn would throw multiple punches mixing in a Phantom Punch in between.

Once again, another blow landed, this time on the beast's neck just above its chest.

"Again, is the beast starting to slow down?" Cia thought.

But watching closely...

Fex could see that the beast hadn't slowed down at all. Its movements were still as fast as ever, so what was happening? It was simply incomprehensible.

Eventually, the tide was starting to turn. As Quinn continued on with the fight, he started to be the aggressor more often. Hiding his Phantom Punches in between the ordinary jabs. The outsiders felt as if the beast was the one on the defensive and that it was delivering itself onto the path of Quinn's attacks.

It would constantly, dodge and lean onto Quinn's fists.

Then, instead of dodging. The beast decided to block the upcoming attack. Lifting its arm, it covered its rounded head, but with its movements. Quinn took the opportunity to send a blow to its stomach.

At this point, Fex finally understood what was happening, "It's got to be the Phantom Punch. I can't think of anything else. He's mixing it with the ordinary jabs and hooks. But who taught him the Phantom Punch, and when?

"He was just in the school with me, or could it be that the other vampire is teaching him in the school again?"

Even with all these points, and even if Quinn did have a teacher that was in the school. It didn't explain the crazy amount of time it had taken him to learn such a skill. Now, Fex was starting to feel frightened.

The punches continued to descend like a waterfall, and now it looked like the beast was getting bullied. The monster that they were all afraid off just a few moments ago was getting punched left and right by Quinn.

"I was wrong," Cia said. "I can't believe I thought he was useless. I'm sorry Layla. I now understand why you got mad."

As Layla watched Quinn, even she hadn't expected something like this from him.

Although, the tides had turned in the fight, with Quinn being able to attack the beast several times. It was having no effect on it whatsoever. The blows didn't leave any wounds or marks and it had barely moved from its original position due to Quinn's attacks.

'It has to be doing something...'

Quinn thought, otherwise why would the beast attempt to block the attacks? Still, he wasn't doing enough damage, and if he continued on like this, his stamina would run out before the beast.

"Looks like I have to use the hammer strike after all." Quinn thought.

There was still a problem though. The Hammer Strike may be quicker than the Blood Hammer, but it was still far too slow for the beast.

Another Phantom Punch was delivered to the stomach, as the beast went to block the attack, a Flash Step was performed, and Quinn was now standing directly behind the beast.

The movements of the Hammer Strike had started, and the beast attempted to turn around. As it did all of this, its movements slowed down, and its feet got stuck in the place where it was standing.

It hadn't noticed that during the fight, Quinn had moved his shadow down to the beast's feet. Holding it in place, the plan was never to keep the beast there, he knew it wouldn't hold it back long enough, but it was enough time for him to perform the Hammer Strike.

Placing his foot down, and pulling one arm back, he snapped the other one out, hitting the beast right in the centre. For the first time, it had been lifted into the air, and when it landed, the beast stumbled, struggling to stand on its two feet.

"Logan, get ready!" Quinn shouted.

"Maximum output!" Logan shouted and his final Katar-like weapon doubled in size.

The beast was now recovering, it was starting to lift itself off the floor. The attack was effective, but not good enough. Afraid that it might move and avoid the decisive blow. Quinn reacted fast.

"Shadow Void."

A bubble-like space was created in an instant. It was the same as the Shadow Void from before. But this one was a lot smaller. It also didn't encase Quinn and Logan, but only went around the beast.

This would stop the beast from running away and would buy them a little bit of time that they needed.

"Attack now!" Quinn ordered.

Logan was slightly confused at what was going on. After all, Quinn was displaying several different skills that he had never seen before.

After seeing what he was able to do against the beast so far, he decided to listen and swung down at the bubble-like space, where he last saw the beast.

At just the right time, Quinn prepared himself. He planned on cancelling Shadow Void at the right time to allow Logan's attack to land on the beast.

"Cancel shadow..." While in the middle of cancelling the skill, the Shadow Void had broken itself. This was also an expected result. Logan continued to lunge forward with his large energy Katar.

But he noticed something strange...

In the short amount of time it was in the shadow void, its appearance had completely changed. The green roots that covered, and formed the muscle structure of the beast, were now glowing slightly red.

When looking at them, it looked as if all of the roots were flowing with energy. They were pulsating, and something could be seen flowing all throughout its body.

"Did I wait too long?" Vorden said as he watched from a window up high. In a building nearby. He was still waiting for the perfect opportunity, so he never threw the spirit spear. It was too hard for him to find that opportunity since both Quinn and the beast were just too fast for him to see.

But right now, Vorden could tell what had happened to the beast. It was now in Rage Mode. Something only beasts at a higher tier could do. When they felt at danger, or their life was jeopardized, a beast could go into a rage mode.

With this, the maximum amount of energy from the crystal inside them would pump around their body. Beasts rarely went into this mode, due to the fact they could only go into it once. If all the energy from the crystal was used up while in rage mode. They would die and no longer exist.

It was a move only used in desperate times. The other problem was if a beast was killed while it was in rage mode, the crystal obtained from it would be useless. Travellers would often try their best to defeat the beast before it ever entered rage mode.

It was clear though, a beast in rage mode was a lot stronger. Even with his help and the new and improved Quinn, Vorden was unsure if they could beat it.

The Katar continued to thrust forward, when seeing this, the beast knocked the weapon away, shattering it as its attack collided against the weapon.

Lifting its legs out, it extended it like a fast piston, hitting Logan in the stomach. Flung back in the air, Logan was thrown several feet down the street. As he was chucked through the air, several of the spiders that made up the suit seemed to fall onto the ground as well.

They had been damaged, beyond what they were cable of withstanding and could no longer be used.

"Why…? Does the world really want us all dead?" Layla said.

Fex seeing this was sure now. He had made the right decision. He had been suppressing it this whole time, but with the blood loss, his lust had grown to the maximum. Purposely, not healing himself, Fex had done this as a last resort and it was time to use it.

Slowly his body was starting to change, his muscles were bulging, his skin shrinking, and his hair was falling off from the top of his head.

Ham flew away from his master, looking back at what Fex had become. He had a sad look on his face.

"So, you really did transform…"

*****

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