*Clash*
*Clash*
*Bang*
Sounds of sword-saber and saber-shield collisions echoed through the battlefield, as Leng Shi and Huo Feng fought valiantly, with none giving an inch to the other.
This time, Leng Shi sent a kick at Huo Feng's head with his right-leg and Huo Feng's reaction to it was to block with his shield.
*Bang*
As soon as the foot connected, Leng Shi's HTB suit released a pitch-black bone-chilling cold gas that engulfed both him and Huo Feng, blinding them.
*Poof*
"Futile tricks!" exclaimed Huo Feng as his suit released terrifying heat that vanquished the cold and incinerated the black pigment in the air. But to his surprise, the black pigment was being incinerated at a much slower pace than he expected.
Without giving him enough time to figure out why, Leng Shi sent a backhanded saber-slash towards Huo Feng's mid-section as soon as his right-leg was withdrawing from the shield.
Huo Feng, relying on his vast battle experience, and upon noticing the glint reflected by Leng Shi's saber right before it connected with the right-side of his belly, was able to block the saber by twisting his arm and swinging his blade outwardly.
*Clash*
*Bang*
At this moment, Leng Shi's right elbow slammed into Huo Feng's chest, because instead of retreating and taking cover in the smoke before attacking again, Leng Shi propelled himself at Huo Feng as soon as his right-leg touched the ground.
Upon being forced back by the unexpected elbow-strike, Huo Feng spun the sword in his already outward-gone right-hand and holding it like a dagger, stabbed at Leng Shi's back.
Leng Shi, seeming to not notice the threat, pulled out his gun, and without wasting his precious time, and waiting for it transform to its bigger size, shot at the floor.
This shot didn't break the floor; rather it froze it and made it as slippery as the surface of a frozen lake, causing Huo Feng who was taking a step back due to being hit by the elbow-strike, and hearing a gunshot aimed towards his leg, to slip after his foot met the ground.
Huo Feng forcefully stabilized himself, and kept on with the attack.
*Slash*
Although his sword still connected with Leng Shi's back, it merely slashed, but not stabbed it.
On the other hand, Leng Shi ignored the pain and sent another backhand slash at the right-side of Huo Feng's belly, using his right-hand alone.
Upon once more seeing the glint from Leng Shi's saber, Huo Feng brought his left-hand downwards and blocked the saber by hitting it with the edge of his shield.
After having his attack blocked, Leng Shi let go of his saber (a foolish move under normal circumstances) and lifted his right-hand above his head, as if he wanted to pound on Huo Feng's head with the under of his fist.
Huo Feng ignored Leng Shi's hand because even though it may be painful if it struck him, it was bearable.
He lifted his right-hand that was holding his sword, in an attempt to stab Leng Shi again, and this time around that Leng Shi had abandoned his saber, he was confident in killing Leng Shi with this move.
But suddenly, right before his sword-wielding hand peaked it's ascent, Huo Feng heard a crisp sound of metal with metal emanate from the direction towards the right-side of his back. And feeling an impeding sense of doom ringing in his hand, he chose to abandon the attack with his sword and lean his body to his right while tilting his head in the same direction.
*Swoosh*
A saber, crackling with electricity, narrowly passed by the side of his head, right through the place that his head was a moment ago.
"Nice try" Huo Feng, having dodged the sneak attack, mocked with a smirk on his face.
*Grip*
Suddenly, with his outstretched hand, Leng Shi caught the hilt of the flying saber, and hacked down with it.
*Slash* blood spilled as Huo Feng was beheaded
Huo Feng's head flew into the air with his eyes wide open, filled with shock at the way that he was dying, and at the fact that it could be described as him 'Washing his neck and waiting for Lei Shi's knife'.
*Bang*
In annoyance, Leng Shi blasted Huo Feng's head into ice particles. He then spoke in a similarly condescending tone, as Huo Feng did earlier "Don't be naive, haven't you heard of twin-sabers before? We're twins and we both carry sabers, and that makes them twin-sabers. Besides, everything is fair on the battlefield. The fact you don't have a twin can only be blamed on your father's weakness". Those earlier words of Huo Feng seemed to have seriously vexed Leng Shi.
Leng Shi stopped his HTB suit from releasing anymore black smoke.
As the smoke in the air was dissipating, he bent down and stripped Huo Feng's headless corpse of its HTB suit and weapons.
"Nicely done Bro, The angle of the slash, and the expression on his face, all perfect" said Lei Shi.
"Thanks" answered Leng Shi as he froze the wound on his back. The wound was slightly charred due to the nature of Huo Feng's sword.
"Sorry Bro" said Lei Shi.
"No biggie" replied Leng Shi.
"Look on the bright side, you have Huo Feng's HTB suit, and can absorb the energy from his energy core" consoled Lei Shi.
"Oh, there's that" said Leng Shi as he began absorbing the energy from Huo Feng's suit "Goddamn..." added Leng Shi with shock as he saw Huo Feng's suit's energy that was 46% full, fill his own suit's energy reserve that was at 20% full.
"I know, right" replied Lei Shi.
At this time, Catherine, seeing their weakened state, and that Huo Feng was dead, stretched her hands, causing long claws to emerge from the tips of her fingers.
Curling her fingers and putting her hands in front of her chest, Catherine crouched in an attempt to dash and kill the twins, since this was the best chance to.
"Don't even think about it" said Lei Shi to Catherine as soon as she crouched. He looked at her and added "I have already absorbed the energy reserves of Poland's energy core. So, unless you have a death wish, or can fight better than Poland and Huo Feng, then you can come" he then collected his saber from Leng Shi.
After hearing his words, Catherine paused, not daring to move any closer. Seeing her response, Lei Shi directly ignored her, and looked back at Leng Shi.
"It seems we have company, let's scram" said Lei Shi, because he received an alert from his spotter that the reinforcements were close by.
"Cool" replied Leng Shi before he and Lei Shi called and boarded an aircraft that they had parked between two unremarkable distant hills.
The aircraft was a Benziol 3.2, and it looked like the cross between a hawk and a fighter jet. It was capable of space travel, and had a length of 30 meters, a width of 25 meters, and a height of 5 meters. The interior was spacious with two seats at the helm.
*ZOOM* their flying ship sped away.
Few moments later, almost simultaneously, from three directions, 3 flying ships arrived at the battlefield.
"Let's chase them" said a woman in one of the flying ships.
"Don't bother, we'll never catch up. Besides, they aren't stupid enough to flee in a straight line, and without a camouflage at that" replied a lean man who was in another flying ship.
"Do you mean we should let them get away with it?" asked the woman hotly upon feeling slightly embarrassed from being countered using obvious points.
They both, somewhat subserviently, looked at the last flying ship, waiting for the man at its helm, who seemed to be their superior, to give the final decision.
After a few moments, the man spoke in a low voice "Frost King and Bolt King came prepared this time, it's evident from the fact that they were able to slay Flame Knight and Lollipop." he then looked at the woman and said "Fear not, Flame Lady. Your husband will be avenged." he paused, then ordered "Retrieve their bodies and return to HQ" after saying that, he directly left with his ship.
After that man left, the woman that was addressed as Flame Lady, the wife of Huo Feng gritted her teeth, forcefully suppressed her boiling anger, and retrieved both Huo Feng and Poland's bodies, then flew in the direction of Kangaroo Corps's Headquarters with the lean man in tow with his ship. All this while, the three of them treated Catty Catherine as air, as if she didn't exist.
Catherine, who was quiet this entire time, was feeling a mix of emotions. She didn't know whether she was fortunate today or not. Fortunate in the sense that she wasn't killed by Leng Shi or Lei Shi, nor was she blamed for Huo Feng and Poland's deaths, or unfortunate in the sense that she was weak, so weak that she couldn't protect Poland and Huo Feng, so weak that Lei Shi and Leng Shi disdained fighting her, speak less of killing her, so weak that Flame Lady didn't blame her for the death of her husband, so weak that Flame Lady didn't even spare her the stereotypical 'Why did he have to die and not you' words of widowed wives to those who survived what their husbands didn't, fuck, so weak that they didn't even bother asking her what happened. She stood there and thought about her life for a long time.
While she was thinking, she remembered the glimpse that she got of the man in the third flying ship. She didn't manage to see his face. However, what she saw terrified her.
She saw a Rank 6 HTB suit, no, a Rank 6 HTB Armor, because from Rank 6, HTB suits cease being called HTB suits, because the level of improvement and Power that they have makes calling them suits and understatement. Secondly, suits of such high ranking actually do look more like Battle Armors than Suits.
Remembering that glimpse made her think of her life some more, it made her think of just how insignificant she was. Only after a long time did she finally return to the half destroyed building that was the facility.
Meanwhile, Leng Shi and Lei Shi were on their way to Planet Mars.