Chapter 52: A Contest Of Strength?

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Angus had his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The explosive strike that had sent him into the wagon and crumbled him under splinters of wood had indeed been powerful but was certainly not enough to keep the Dionisio Gang Leader down.

Alas, the strike had hit the Vinculum on his chest causing the pulsing of the purple gem to race which in turn sped up his Heartbeat to an almost painful degree.

His mind was pulled from his body and sunk into the item on his chest where he met a strange sense of self and the more he stayed in the presence of that 'sense of self', the better his understanding of Vinculum became.

Angus came to realize that simply breaking his bond with his dead creator was not all this Item was capable of. It had no sentience of its own and yet, it called to him…

And then, he felt a hand grab hold of the item and attempt to pull it off his chest.

Angus' eyes snapped open and he looked up into the face of the scaled Vyker, his mouth contorted in effort as he tried his best to pull his Master's item off this thief's chest.

Slowly, the item lifted an inch off Angus' chest but the silver tentacles that grew from the edges of the item continued to dig into Angus' chest determined not to be separated from his body.

"Nnghh!" Angus groaned. It felt like his flesh was being pulled clean off his body.

"What? Does it hurt?" The scaled Vyker asked with a chuckle, "It'll hurt even worse. I promise you."

With scales growing in his ears, the Vyker had cut off almost all sound and ensured Angus' spellbinding would not work on him and so, all he had to do now was rip his Master's property off this bastard's chest. An act he was sure he would be capable of achieving.

As he howled in pain, Angus finally regained his bearing and grabbed the Vyker's wrist, holding him in place to stop him from pulling any further.

The scaled Vyker raised a brow in surprise at the attempt and then chuckled,

"You fight with words, old man. Don't embarrass yourself in a contest of strength— Huh?"

As he tried to resist Angus' hold and continue pulling at the item, the Vyker realized he wasn't moving.

"What nonsense is this?" He asked.

Angus said nothing and just clenched his fist.

"Ahh—" the scaled Vyker let out in pain. His scales had improved his pain tolerance and yet, the pain he just felt from that fist clench, hurt more than any strike he had ever faced since he was able to manifest his Vyker abilities.

"Ah—" he let out again when Angus continued to clench and the pain began to become more consistent. So consistent that he was forced to let go of the Vinculum and allow it to snap back onto the Gang Leader's chest.

"What— What the hell is this?" The Vyker asked with his face contorted with his struggle.

Angus was standing upright now. His clenching had gotten so painful that the Vyker's knees shook and his stance wobbled so much he was forced a few inches closer to the ground.

"The item… It's making you stronger!" The Vyker accused.

"Maybe," Angus said calmly. He mouthed it slowly in case the Vyker couldn't hear him through his clogged ears.

Whether or not Vinculum made Angus stronger didn't matter because;

According to Henry's <Insight>, Angus' true strength Stat, which he now had access to again thanks to Vinculum breaking his connection with his Creator, stood at an impressive 80 which was a massive difference to the scaled Vyker's lesser 50 Strength Stat.

The Vyker's scales increased that '50' figure but apparently, seeing as how Angus was still perfectly capable of overpowering him, it was not quite enough.

The Vyker raised his free hand and struck toward Angus but he smacked the fist aside and raised his leg to kick him in the stomach. Sending him sailing away to strike the ground with an *oomph* before rolling and crashing into a wooden structure.

"Ack!" The Vyker groaned.

Slamming into wood and breaking it with his body had not hurt but the blow to his stomach had shaken his insides. It had injured his organs and blood was now pooling in his mouth.

But of course, he stood back up and he did so with pride.

How could he, as one who had been infused with the blood of a powerful magical Beast —A Wyvern—, lose in a contest of strength against a Spellbinder?

"Not possible!"

Gritting his teeth as his upper canines lengthened into fangs, scales grew all over the Vyker's face, essentially covering the only other part of his body that had remained unprotected.

Opening his mouth wide, the Vyker let out a roar that struck Angus with a primal fear. His hand twitched and shook as he raised it to the front of his face to observe it.

The scaled Vyker grinned.

<Wyvern Pride!> was an ability he shared with many other Vykers created by Maude Aleric because there were only so many types of Vykers the Lord of the Black Manor liked to create and scaled Vykers boasting incredible strength was certainly a favorite.

At a speed that stuck the ground with audible thuds, the scaled Vyker closed the distance between himself and Angus in seconds and struck at him with a hand tipped with wicked claws.

Angus looked from his hand to the Vyker's face and his purple eyes flashed right before his previously twitching hand moved.

The hand moved so fast and with such fluidity that the Vyker only realized what happened after he had been struck and sent slamming into the Mansion wall. His eyes were bugged in surprise that inched closer to shock.

'He resisted Wyvern's Pride?!'

The impact forced the Vyker to arch his back as he fell to his knees. Or more accurately, he was falling to his knees when Angus grabbed him by the neck and lifted him so his back was pressed against the wall as he began to get punched in the face.

*Bam!*

"Ah!*

*Bam!*

"Urgh!*

*Bam!*

"Nghh!"

When the scales on the Vyker's face began to crack under the pressure of Angus' powerful strikes, the Dionisio Gang Leader ended it all with a knee strike to the stomach that forced the Vyker's head forward as he spat out blood.

As blood dripped from cracks in the Vyker's scales and down the corner of his mouth, Angus slammed his hands so hard against his ears that it broke the scales that had been filtering sounds.

"Take off your scales," Angus said and the force of his Spellbinding flowed, unhindered, into the Vyker's ears.

Obeying the command, the Vyker's scales sunk into his body as he looked up at the Gang Leader.

Angus reached behind him and pulled out a gun he had tucked away,

"It would have been a bother breaking through those damned scales," he said calmly as he pointed the gun at the Vyker's head,

"This saves us time."

He fired the gun and the force of the bullet piercing his forehead knocked the Vyker neck backward and struck the back of his head hard against the wall before he finally slumped to the ground.

This happened only seconds after Triss killed the Flame Vyker. One of them, at least.

The second Flame Vyker was in a tussle with Devon. A tussle the Half-orc was losing.