*Slash*
*Slash*
*Break*
The injuries got more frequent with time as Poland lost more blood. But this didn't make Lei Shi slow down at all, rather it caused him to be more savage in his attacks because he didn't want to give Poland a shred of hope on escaping. He wanted Poland dead before any of the reinforcements arrived.
Lei Shi once more pulled out his gun, and held it in his right-hand as he attacked with his saber using his left-hand. This was supposed to be in preparation for the scenario that Poland chooses to detonate his HTB suit's energy core. But now, it was done as a bluff to scare Poland from trying to self'-detonate because Lei Shi's HTB suit was almost out of energy, and therefore didn't have enough energy to power his gun enough to shoot an attack capable of stopping that. So, all he could do was hope that Poland was frightened by the gun, and doesn't throw all caution to the wind, and detonate his energy core, because other than having a slim chance of escaping the explosion with his life intact, especially in his current state, Lei Shi didn't want Poland's HTB suit to be destroyed because it was of great value.
The fight continued, there were even times that Lei Shi used the two blades at the nozzle of his gun to attack.
Poland, upon seeing the dismal situation, that he couldn't turn the tables and get the initiative in the fight, that he was injured and bleeding from several parts of his body, together with some body parts even being broken, that he was slowly losing consciousness due to excessive blood loss and worst of all, that he couldn't even self-detonate due to Lei Shi's gun's possible interference and the fear of destroying the package in Lei Shi's backpack.
He chose to retreat, and regroup with Huo Feng. So, he powered his thrusters.
*Bang*
*Slash* Poland's head flew into the air as his body lifelessly fell to the ground, dead.
As soon as Poland had turned to flee, Lei Shi shot his injured left-thigh, and after he was momentarily stunned, due to the electricity of the energy bullet, Lei Shi immediately pushed his HTB suit's Speed to the max and beheaded Poland, ending his life.
*Thud* Lei Shi fell on his butt as soon as Poland's head descended on the floor, his body wracked with pain.
This was only to be expected because the maxing-out of a Rank 2 HTB suit's power output for prolonged periods wasn't something the human body could easily endure. The speed boost his HTB suit gave him was something that strained his body heavily even when used on its own, and now that he bore the strain of simultaneously maxing out both Power output and Speed boost, it was natural that he would face immense pain. But doing that was his only choice. It was the only way he could give powerful enough attacks that could maintain the pressure on Poland, while being fast enough to not give him a chance to counterattack.
This battle showed Lei Shi the difference between Rank 2 HTB suits and Rank 3 HTB suits. Even though Poland's suit had been partly destroyed, he still possessed great power that Lei Shi could barely overpower only after maxing out his HTB suit's power output, and even at that, he had to attack crazily to pressurize him.
And when it came to speed, the only reason Lei Shi was able to surpass Poland in that aspect was because Poland's HTB suit was geared to be more of a power-type than speed-type suit, his suit-type was apparent since he wielded such a heavy mace. But if they were to race in a straight line, Poland may even be slightly faster than Lei Shi if he utilized his suits thrusters, thrusters which were available only in Rank 3 HTB suits and above.
Lastly, the only reason Lei Shi was able to survive was because Poland fell for his trick of appearing to have inexhaustible energy reserves. If Poland had endured for another five minutes, Lei Shi would have run out of energy and wouldn't even have had the ability to run, becoming a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered. However, all these were now things of the past to be grateful for. Now, Lei Shi was going through the pain of his life.
A few minutes later, after the pain had receded and the pain from moving his body was bearable, Lei Shi got up and checked Poland's corpse in order to strip him of his Rank 3 HTB suit because that was the battle spoil that he fought so hard for. After taking the device that was aligned to the back of Poland, which the HTB suit, belt, bracelets and shin guards had now receded into due to having their wielder killed, Lei Shi checked the energy-level of Poland's HTB suits energy core. What he saw left him dumbstruck and caused stars to appear in his eyes.
Poland's HTB suit's energy core had more than half of its energy left, and this was after such a bloody battle. On the other hand, Lei Shi's HTB suit's energy was depleted. First, it was that supercharged energy beam that took a huge chunk of his energy, followed by that intense fight which took almost all that was left, and lastly, that last shot with his gun, and burst of speed that let him behead Poland were what took the last dregs. But this Poland had so much left? Lei Shi was surprised that Poland chose to flee even though he had this much energy left in his HTB suit "Maybe it was the excessive blood loss that caused his brain to go stupid" he thought to himself, forgetting the despair and turmoil that he put Poland through, that caused him to chose to flee or retreat as the case may be.
Thinking up to there, Lei Shi didn't tarry any longer and absorbed the energy into his HTB suit. Surprisingly, Poland's suit's energy core that was 59% full was able to make his own Rank 2 HTB suit's energy core to be 91% full. This outcome caused Lei Shi's eyes to turn green with envy. He wanted a Rank 3 HTB suit.
Having his suit's energy level at 91% gave Lei Shi a sense of security. He then looked around, collected the shrunken Giant-mace that was now a foot and 3 inches long, patted his butt and left. Leaving behind a battle scarred land.
When he returned to Leng Shi's battlefield, he saw their fight was already reaching its climax. Huo Feng fought using the same fighting-style as western knights of old, while Leng Shi fought using a special martial-saber-style.
Huo Feng gave a backhand slash with his sword that he held in his right-hand, while Leng Shi's saber arched into the sky, and with Lei Shi holding it with both hands, descended with a hack onto the sword.
*Bang* sparks flew in the air from the clash, while both weapons were forced back.
After Huo Feng's hand was pushed down from the recoil of the clash, he immediately twisted his arm, making it inferior to his hand and stabbed his sword at Leng Shi from the same angle.
Leng Shi, seeing Huo Feng thrust his sword at him, side-stepped to Huo Feng's left, and with his saber in a vertical position, he grated his saber on Huo Feng's outstretched sword, sending sparks flying in the air from the friction, and before Huo Feng could react, Leng Shi pushed away his sword using his saber and sent a chop at Huo Feng's head.
*Bang*
All of a sudden, Huo Feng pulled out a rubber-metal ribbon from his belt which instantaneously turned into a kite-shield, and used it to block Leng Shi saber strike.
Before Leng Shi could make heads or tails of what was going on, Huo Feng who was already very close to Leng Shi fired his thrusters and gave him a thruster-powered head-butt, sending Leng Shi staggering backwards.
Looking back at Huo Feng after stabilizing, Leng Shi disdainfully said "So much for a so-called knight"
Hearing his words, Huo Feng replied in a condescending tone "Don't be naive, Haven't you heard that knights carry kite-shields with them? Besides, everything is fair on the battlefield. The fact you don't have a shield can only be blamed on your weakness". He then charged at Leng Shi with his Black and Orange sword in his right-hand and his kite shield in his other.
Leng Shi, seeing the sword slash of Huo Feng who already closed the distance between them, gritted his teeth and blocked with his saber that he was holding with both hands due to the power difference.
*Crash*
*Slam*
Without any warning, Huo Feng slammed his shield into the side of Leng Shi's body as soon as his (Leng Shi) saber collided with his (Huo Feng) sword.
After staggering backwards and stabilizing himself once more, Leng Shi gritted his teeth both in anger, and to suppress the pain from having his body slammed by Huo Feng's shield.
"Give up" said Huo Feng arrogantly
"Need any help?" asked Lei Shi playfully from the side while still maintaining his distance.
"Wait first, let me cook" replied Leng Shi to Lei Shi as he crouched, released a breath of cold gas from his mask, and sprung at the arrogantly standing Huo Feng.
"Futile" remarked Huo Feng before lifting his shield, and blocking the saber strike that Leng Shi had sent his way as soon as he was close enough to.