Chapter 296 Secret Tricks

Ritsuka sailed straight towards the ground. The blow to his head made him instantly dizzy. He could hear Lee Seng calling for him as Kaleb and Jake winded up a tag team attack on Ritsuka.

Lee Seng flashed forward, swinging a left hook straight into Kaleb's back. The air flew out of Kaleb, his grip releasing the staff as he went flying.

"Dammit." Lee Seng cursed. "I might've just overshot that punch!" Ritsuka grunted in confusion as he rolled away from the strike. The metal sword clanged inches away from his face as Lee Seng leapt over his teammate and forced Jake into a defensive stance.

"Are you okay?" Lee Seng asked. Ritsuka shook his head as he forced himself into a sitting position.

"I'll be fine soon." Ritsuka told him. "Where's Kaleb?"

"On the other side of the arena. I missed Jake with that punch." Lee Seng looked up at the health indicators. He had taken a lot of blows from Kaleb's tricky nunchuck chain moves. Ritsuka had taken a heavy blow to the head and his half stood about halfway.

'He might have a concussion.' Lee Seng thought. 'Dammit.'

Jake rushed forward, barraging Lee Seng with shield and sword combos. Lee Seng pulled his scabbard and sword out and blocked a few of the sword hits he couldn't dodge.

'Jake is a sword and shield combo… A good defense and a good offense. If I could use my gravity powers, I might be able to cut through that shield.'

The shield rushed straight at him, quickly moving last second to reveal a sword moving straight for the piercing blow.

"Barrier." Lee Seng whispered. A gold light enveloped him as the sword hit him. It bounced away, making Jake lose his balance.

"It looks like Lee Seng has a trick up his sleeve! Barrier has been activated! If you all don't know, a barrier is a defensive rune enchantment that can be set on an armor! It takes two slots and is costly but man does it do its job right!"

'He had a barrier in his arsenal the whole time?!? Dammit, I'm not gonna be able to block!' Jake panicked. Lee Seng slipped his sword back into its place as he swung a punch straight for Jake. The punch collided with his armor and sent the sword and shield user flying.

"And just like that, Jake has taken a big chunk of damage! When they said Lee Seng could pack a punch, I didn't think it'd be three-quarters of a life bar! What a hard hitter!"

The crowd went insane. Jake groane das he clutched his abdomen. His armor had easily cracked from the hit.

"What the hell is he made of?" Jake coughed blood.

"We need to do the plan." Kaleb jogged over to Jake. "If we can do that, we'll be fine."

"You're still adamant about it working? Even with my armor this fucked up?" Jake looked down. His armor had cost a fortune.

"He broke through your nice ass +2 Advanced Physical like it was nothing." Kaleb snickered. Jake stood up, clutching his stomach.

"Can you do the plan with me in this condition?"

"I only need you to distract long enough." Kaleb raised his hand. The staff next to Ritsuka whipped, flying straight and clocking Lee Seng in the back before flying back to it's masters hand.

"Fine." Jake groaned as he grabbed dhus sword off to the side. His shield, thankfully, was attached to his arm. "At least he didn't mess with the shield mechanisms."

"They're planning something." Lee Seng told Ritsuka as he stood up.

"Are they? Damn, that staff hurts. I think I have a concussion." Ritsuka replied.

"You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, if I take another hit like that, I might just pass out."

"I'll take that but if I need to. We're gonna have to disrupt their plan. Jake is distracting."

"Okay. I can handle Jake."

"You sure?" Lee Seng raised his eyebrows. He took his sight off of Jake and Kaleb for a second to assess the situation with his partner.

"I'll be fine." Ritsuka snatched his katana off the ground and stumbled over to Jake. "Just give Kaleb a concussion back or something. I don't know." Ritsuka Gabe a wicked smile at Lee Seng before moving towards Jake.

"Fine." Lee Seng smiled back. He moved his eyes back onto the battle. Kaleb had moved to the side, behind Jake. "So he's using Jake in this instance. What is he gonna do?" Ritsuka watched Jake as he kept his back towards Kaleb.

'He isn't going to budge from that spot.' Ritsuka gripped his sword. 'Lee Seng managed to break part of his armor and he doesn't have a lot of life left… We're on the same playing field then.'

"Who's gonna fall first, the one with a concussion or the one who has a huge hole through his stomach?" Ritsuka smirked. With that, the two jumped at each other, colliding with each other.

"Maybe I should just bash you with the shield and see how you feel afterwards!" Jake shouted.

"I'd like to see you try!"

Kaleb pulled the nunchucks apart. He dropped one of them and began to move them around.

'They never said enchantments were off the table, so I'll make them go flying with this enchantment.' Kaleb thought. His movements grew faster. Lee Seng's ears twitched.

'Kaleb's doing something fishy.' Lee Seng hovered around on the outside. He was keeping an eye on Kaleb and Jake. Jake never tried to go for a finishing blow on Ritsuka when he didn't have to. He kept his eyes on both Ritsuka and Lee Seng.

'Is he gonna go in? The enchantment takes awhile to charge, so if he went in now, Kaleb could technically cancel twice before he loses it.' Jake jumped backwards, sliding to a stop. He winced and moved his hand to his stomach.

"It looks like yours hurts more than mine!" Ritsuka added more salt to the wound. Jake gritted his teeth.

'Just ignore him until Kaleb is almost done with the enchantment.'

"If Lee Seng and Ritsuka get the upper hand on us, there's one way we can for sure take out Lee Seng and maybe Ritsuka." Kaleb's voice echoed in Jake's head. Jake turned to look at his friend. He pulled the popsicle out of his mouth and raised his eyebrows.

"How?" Jake asked.

"You know those nunchucks I like using? The reinforced ones I barely touch?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"I'll use them in the match."

"You're going to use those decorations in the match? Why?"

"They're not decoration, dumbass!" Kaleb pushed Jake's head away. Jake took another lick of the popsicle. "I got them as a gift. They're adventurer-grade. They have a couple of functions. It can be used as a nunchuck and a staff. Those chains can be extended due to the intricate nano tech on them, but there's one big thing about those nunchucks in particular that make them scary good."

"What's that?" Jake asked. He tore off a piece of the popsicle and sucked it into his mouth.

"There's an A-rank enchantment on it. If I swing the nunchucks for thirty seconds, I can create a huge ball of fire off the edge. It'll take away everything on the field. Chang won't be able to stop this without using his powers!"

'I just need to hold out a little longer.' Jake moved forward, putting pressure on Ritsuka. The two of them wer at a stalemate, but Jake was more worried about Lee Seng.

"Lee," Ritsuka whispered. Lee Seng's irises shimmered a blue color. "You hear me?"

"Mmm." Lee Seng answered. He twirled the katana in his hand as he tried to find an opening.

"You said your katana can contain some of your DM, right?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"If it can store your DM, then you could possibly release a gravity wave without outputting any DM through the nano chips on your body, right?"

'I forgot about those.' Lee Seng thought. 'I should use it.' Lee Seng glanced at his katana. It was true that he had the necessary enchantments on his blade to pull it off. The only thing that stopped him was the fact he didn't know what the other enchantments did.

"Do you think you can do it?" Ritsuka asked as he grunted and pushed away from Jake.

"Mmm, I could do it. My speed, alone, could catch up to him in an instant. I just don't know how to use the enchantment." Lee Seng answered. The golden orb glinted off of his blade. "Maybe I do know… It's already been given to me… I just need to speak the right incantation."

Jake and Ritsuka dashed at each other. The two slammed into each other as they tried to gain an opening.

"You're all going down after Kaleb's done with this trick!" Jake smiled.

"Oh? What if you're not accounting for a sneaky trick up our sleeves?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. Jake's expression grew serious.

"You couldn't have a trick up your sleeve!" Ritsuka shoved him away and slashed, hitting the shield.

"Frozen Strike." Ritsuka spoke in Japanese. He swung another slash at Jake. He watched Jake raise the shield. "Got you." Ice exploded out of the light blue rune, swallowing Jake's shield and arm in ice. "Now!"