The mauler hesitated for a while, staring at both of its attackers. For the first time in a very long time in its existence, the mauler was afraid. It wasn’t full fear, but that little twinkle was enough to give it away.
Only Tatehan noticed it. It was like ten percent fear, very little, but it was something. The mauler, the fearless beast which everybody was afraid of, was scared.
It felt impossible to Tatehan. It was more like a humorous scene than the actual thing he was seeing. If he hadn’t fought this creature and Kael had come to tell him that this was what it was doing— that it feared, even for just a little while, he wouldn’t have believed it.
The fear from the beast also came with hesitation. Now this wasn’t intentional fear; instead, it was the mauler’s brain activating it. Finally, it recognized Tatehan and Kael as actual threats rather than just food in this fight.
And this... this could change everything. This could change the whole shape of the fight. It would give the mauler more cautiousness. It would be more cautious with its attacks but very precise with its hits.
Tatehan let that sink into his brain. It didn’t take him long to notice this, though, because the mauler only paused for four seconds, looking at them intensely.
Tatehan clenched his sword tightly. Kael did the same. They exchanged quick glances, their eyes shining with bravado.
They would kill this thing!
They would kill this thing!
The words echoed in their minds. They would do it!
They would do the impossible!
With that, they stormed forward. But this time, Kael stopped halfway. It seemed they had made a plan without their knowing. Tatehan saw him wait, but that only made him go forward faster, in similitude to the speed of a racing car at high velocity.
Tatehan had been a good runner back on Earth, and that had made him able to excel in games like ’CHASER’, a game where you’d be chased by someone but you had to avoid contact, couldn’t let even a morsel of the chaser’s body get to you or you’d lose.
Tatehan had been able to dodge so well back then. Throw a hand at him and he’d be moving with the speed of light to the sides: left, right, back, front. All in order to dodge your hands from getting to him.
That was what he would be doing now. He could see the mauler aiming its hands at him. Doing so very quickly. But Tatehan seemed to see the movements before they took place. Before the mauler could move a hand, Tatehan would be away from it just in time, dodging swiftly.
The monster threw a hand—Tatehan was already on the other side. It threw another—Tatehan was already past the first hand, taking a leap and rolling on the floor, dodging another one too closely. A split second slower and his head would have been off.
He seemed to be able to predict the movements before they came toward him. It sounded supernatural, superhuman even, but it was perfectly normal. Someone who was so excellent at doing this without an enhanced body, having one made him able to do so in preternatural ways.
What helped again was his brain. A normal human brain would have been too slow to process what was happening before he even made a move.
The Hexapod mauler eventually grew tired of Tatehan’s dodging and was now preparing a roar. The moment it came to where Tatehan had been, he was already at the back of the mauler.
Kael watched all of this in awe, surprised and yet impressed at the same time that Tatehan was able to read the mauler’s movements. Not in the way he had first expected, but this was also incredible to watch.
The roar met nothing. The mauler looked around, seemingly befuddled.
Now it was Kael’s turn. He directed his chakrams at the mauler’s eyes. Because the mauler didn’t see it coming, they met an eye—both of the chakrams, severely damaging it. If the mauler had seen Kael before he aimed, like actually facing him, it would have dodged, but now that it didn’t know, it was taking the hit.
Tatehan summoned the armor’s helmet. Using all his effort, he leapt high in the air and somehow landed on the mauler’s back.
Meanwhile, Kael had caught his chakrams and the mauler was now howling in serious pain. It was literally blinking blood at this point, an outpour it couldn’t control.
Tatehan found it hard to focus on the mauler’s back since the beast was now thrashing wildly, aiming all of its six hands forward, trying to grab something, someone...
But nothing it saw... no one either. Tatehan could understand that the monster would be very frustrated and was just moving desperately at this point.
The moving made Tatehan unable to balance on the monster’s back. He would have fallen if not for his other hand, the one without the sword—gripping the monster’s flesh. He was gripping so tight he didn’t even know what place he was holding.
The monster continued its furious charging. It seemed to be making its body adapt to the pain, and as soon as Kael saw it open the other eye, the one that was still good, he said to Tatehan in a really loud voice:
"Distract it! Don’t let it look at me!"
Tatehan shouted back:
"Okay!"
He aimed his sword for the flesh in front of him and dug it deeply.
The mauler roared upward in pain. The roar was so impactful it triggered the top wall of the left side of the amphitheater, letting many loose debris fall from it onto the mauler’s head.
Tatehan quickly somersaulted to the ground as it hit, using his gravity manipulation powers to bring more rocks down on the mauler.
The first wouldn’t have brought it down, but the ones Tatehan controlled did.
It was a miracle the amphitheater didn’t just collapse after that.
The mauler fell, but it immediately stood up, fuming with blind rage, the same thing that gave it the strength to stand up.
Kael quickly aimed his chakrams for the other eye. They hit, bringing it back down.
This was their chance!
Tatehan immediately charged.