"No," Cherry answered as she slit her wrist while covering her arms in her own blood, "just more creatively than them."
With a surge of energy, the Crimson Knight sprung from her position with her arms lighting up. The High Grade, mesmerized by the sight of the Mutant setting its arms on fire, leaped back while keeping its sword comfortably close by its side.
The altercation between the two powerhouses turned into a game of cat and mouse. Cherry chased the High Grade who fell on the defensive side. Instead of challenging her, the High Grade evaded all her jabs skillfully.
Of course, this started to nag Cherry who, instead of continuing the pursuit, decided to change tactics. Instead of using her raw strength, the Crimson Knight changed to using Blood Skills.
"Changing tactics I see," the High Grade chimed as it stood a few meters away from the Blood Mutant, "Are we now switching to energy-based attacks?"
"We?" Cherry questioned, her countenance changing as a spike of energy burst forth in every direction. The Crimson Knight gagged under the weight and pressure of the High Grade’s Eneraflux surge.
It was strong, powerful, and highly ominous, so much so that it was almost tangible. Those close enough felt an intense heat emitting from the energy pulse, a condition that a select few, and exceptionally strong, Eneraflux users possessed.
"Your friend’s power is impeccable," Gravax, who was battling the smaller High Grade, smirked as he felt the sudden rise in Eneraflux coming from it, "I’m starting to wonder if he’ll actually defeat my Mutant easily."
"Wonder?" the smaller High Grade scoffed and declared, "Your Mutant stands no chance. Against that energy, not even you can do anything to it. She could have stood a chance against me, but not him." Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Behold, Blood Mutant," the larger High Grade laughed with a cocky smile on its face. It dropped its sword and raised both hands to its sides while placing one leg over the other. "My power, a form I cultivated just for this moment. Commander shared his encounter with the male Blood Mutant so I trained and prepared for the moment I’d get to face one of you. Let us begin, enough time has already been wasted."
In the blink of an eye, the large Ethisian shot from where he was with his fist on course for Cherry’s face. There was no chance in the Heavens for the Crimson Knight to dodge on time so instead of "attempting" to move out of the way, Cherry gritted her teeth and embraced the attack head-on.
Like a rag doll, the force from the punch catapulted Cherry’s body and flung her back, sending her crashing into the tough, rocky surface repeatedly but that wasn’t all.
The High Grade, still moving as fast as before, appeared behind Cherry with its hand wide open. Once it got close enough, it grabbed her by the head, leaped in the air, and flung her to the ground.
As she fell, the High Grade followed quickly with his knees resting on Cherry’s chest. The two crashed together, one pressing their thick kneecaps on the other’s chest.
"AARRGGHH!!" Cherry screamed and grunted loudly as she felt her bones crack under the Ethisian’s weight. Her body, for a moment, became paralyzed while the Ethisian remained on top of her.
In pain, the Crimson Knight folded her fingers and began drawing blood towards her. However, the Ethisian wasn’t going to make it easy for her. As soon as it stood up, the High Grade gripped Cherry by her head again and ran as fast as possible towards the wall.
Mightily, it flung her upward and then grabbed the Crimson Knight by her feet before slamming her head on the Wall. The High Grade began to run, each step pushing its body forward faster.
All the while, Cherry’s head was constantly smashed into the thick, sturdy Wall. The red blood flesh on her body began to peel off as the pain made her weaker. Before she knew it, Cherry was too dizzy, disorientated, and nearly knocked out to do anything else.
"Will you not put up a fight?" the High Grade taunted and as it did so, Lord Gravax, Atris, and a few Granian soldiers noticed their Mutant’s sorry state. They needed to do something fast because if they took any longer, their Mutant was going to die.
"GRANIANS!!" Gravax, after quickly distancing himself from the smaller High Grade, pointed his sword at the larger High Grade while screaming, "PROTECT THE BLOOD MUTA..."
"Stay...back," Cherry, despite being brutally beaten, spoke up and dejected saying, "He’ll..finish yo...you all before...you get to me...I’ll handle this...myself."
"The lies we tell ourselves." Cherry’s body was lifted once again but just as the High Grade was about to fling her across the battlefield, the Crimson Knight flipped the table by igniting all its spilled blood.
Since she had coughed up blood from her internal injuries, Cherry coagulated and hardened it into small balls which she discretely positioned inside the Ethisian’s scales while Gravax drew attention to himself.
While the explosions bombarded the Ethisian’s body heavily, Cherry managed to free herself and allowed her body to heal.
A few minutes passed and the Crimson Knight’s wounds healed completely. At the same time, the High Grade emerged from a cloud of pink smoke with its body missing more than half of its thick scales.
Its body was charred, blackened, and carbonified. Worse of all, for it, it was bleeding from its mouth, chest, and scale segments, a terrible condition for it given that its blood was enchanting to the Crimson Knight.
"You’re...just like them," the aggravated High Grade cursed at Cherry as its body stumbled from the crater-sized hole it was blown into. Angry, the High Grade grabbed the nearest weapon it could find, a simple long, single-edged sword that wasn’t ideal but decent enough for the job. "You fight just like these damned Granians.
"You are a threat to our race, and must be dealt with accordingly."
"That’s a lot of talk coming from someone who’s bleeding in front of a Blood Mutant." Cherry grinned and then, with her hands stretched out, began to drain the Ethisian.