In that moment, Jabari allowed his emotions to consume him. Azurian and Danso's faces faded, replaced by a far more haunting image – Oluwa's.
As Azurian prepared to charge forward and finish what he had started, Jabari surged to meet him, fury and instinct entwined. His glaive cut through the air with a bloodcurdling whistle, his intent clear – this was no warning strike. He was aiming to kill!
Azurian would've been skewered on the spot, had Danso not intervened. The boy's war hammer came crashing toward Jabari in defence of his partner, but Jabari, already halfway into the swing, dipped low with unnatural calm. The hammer passed harmlessly over his head as he closed the distance on Azurian.
Forced to break his charge, Azurian barely managed to leap aside, avoiding Jabari's lethal thrust by the skin of his teeth.
Jabari came to a halt, placing himself protectively in front of August. His gaze – cold and sharp as frost – pierced through both attackers. The killing intent radiating off him was suffocating, thick and oppressive.
Even August could feel the venomous pressure pouring from Jabari.
He had lost control.
Truly and completely.
He wasn't thinking. He wasn't calculating. He was hunting – and only blood would soothe the fire raging inside him.
But just as he was about to spring forward again, a large, heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Calm down," August said, ignoring the searing pain from the wound in his chest.
The hand was firm but familiar, and the voice – though strained – cut through the haze like a bell through fog.
Jabari froze.
He inhaled sharply. One breath. Then another.
The rage dulled, his senses returned, and he stepped back, though his grip on his glaive remained tight.
"What's wrong with you two? Why are you attacking us?!" Jabari barked, eyes locked on the pair still recovering their stance.
"I think they're being controlled," August said through gritted teeth, wincing slightly.
"Controlled?!" Jabari echoed, staring now at the glazed, unfocused look in both Azurian and Danso's eyes.
"Remember what I said earlier – about the possibility of something else calling the shots?" August reminded him.
With that, Jabari's anger drained completely. If they were under the influence of something else, it meant they hadn't betrayed them after all.
They were victims.
After fighting beside them, seeing them bleed and endure, Jabari might not have called them friends – but he had respected them. He didn't want to hurt them unless he had no other choice.
"So what do we do?" he asked, his mind already racing.
"All we can do now is either knock them unconscious until we figure out how to break the control…" August trailed off.
"Or?" Jabari asked.
"Or kill them."
The words hung in the air like a blade suspended by a thread.
Either path was brutal.
Of the two, though, killing would be the easier – no need to hold back, no hesitation, no mercy. Yet as Jabari stood there, his eyes flicking between the two, his stomach turned.
Hesitation caught hold of him as his thoughts churned.
His mind flashed to that nightmare. The one that had followed him for as long as he could remember. The person he had killed in a past life. The blood, the guilt...
The uncertainty.
He hadn't told anyone as he had no way of knowing for sure, but something deep inside was telling him that if he killed again in the future, instead of the unknown crimson-haired mage, it would be them that haunted his nightmares.
He had felt no hesitation earlier when rage consumed him. But now, with his clarity returned – other than Oluwa – he couldn't bring himself to take another life, not like this.
"I'll go with option one," Jabari said quietly.
August studied him for a long moment, but in the end, said nothing.
"Fine. Option one it is," he replied, adjusting the grip on his axe as he took a step forward.
"Where are you going?" Jabari asked, lifting an arm to halt him.
"You can't seriously expect to take them both on," August replied flatly. His tone wasn't harsh – just matter-of-fact.
Jabari didn't answer. He didn't need to.
The silence was his response.
August let out a low breath. "You should've noticed during the fight with the gorillas. Between their strength as newly awakened Beast-Warriors and the weapon training they've had since they were kids – they're both stronger than you. Without my help, you don't stand a chance."
Then Jabari said something that caught August completely off guard.
"You know, you've said more to me today than you have in all the six months I've known you combined."
August's eyes widened as he realised Jabari was right.
Jabari wasn't the only one who kept his guard up. So did August.
But at that moment, he realised something. Somewhere between battle and betrayal, blood and brotherhood, their relationship had shifted without either of them noticing.
"Just relax," Jabari said with calm confidence as he turned to face his two opponents. Have a little bit of faith."
August, standing just behind him, didn't reply at first. Jabari couldn't see it, but for the briefest moment, a faint smile curled across August's lips – gone before it could settle.
"Fine, do what you want," August said at last, stepping back a few paces.
Even so, the grip remained tight around his axe, every fibre of his being ready to leap in at the first sign of trouble.
But Jabari was already locked in.
His face took on a focus unlike any he'd worn before. Despite the impossible odds – two skilled Beast-Warriors against him alone, with no spiritual energy to rely on – his grin widened, unbidden.
Excitement surged in his blood.
"Come!" Jabari shouted, his voice alight with exhilaration as he charged.
The moment he closed the distance, his glaive swept outward in a blur of steel. Azurian, closest to him, ducked low with fluid ease, pushing the attack into Danso's path.
Danso responded without hesitation, bringing his war hammer crashing down to intercept. The instant glaive met hammer, Jabari felt his arm jolt, numbness crawling up from his wrist. The impact rattled him to the bone.
'So that's the power of a Fire-Based Beast-Warrior,' Jabari thought, eyes narrowing. 'He's stronger than me…
But not untouchable.'
As if rehearsed, Azurian moved the moment Danso's hammer knocked Jabari's glaive down. His dual blades gleamed under the light as one arced toward Jabari's exposed neck.
Jabari ducked beneath it, swift and steady, but Danso's hammer was already following up, aimed to crush his ribs.
Jabari rolled back, narrowly escaping death for the second time in mere seconds.
But they gave him no room to breathe.
Azurian's blade thrust forward again, aiming directly for his throat. Jabari spun his glaive in a tight arc, the flat of the blade smacking Azurian's sword away at the last second.
But the second blade was already descending, targeting his right shoulder with surgical precision.
Thinking fast, Jabari twisted the glaive, using the lingering force from their previous exchange to redirect the shaft upward.
*CLANG!*
Jabari's glaive skillfully met the descending sword and stopped it cold.
'Again?!'
The first blade returned, now slicing horizontally toward his neck.
Jabari bent backwards, his torso parallel to the ground, narrowly avoiding the edge as it carved the air above him.
Then he saw it – a shadow growing larger.
Danso's hammer came down like a meteor.
Jabari gritted his teeth, coiling every muscle in his body. With a feat of sheer bodily control, he halted his backward lean mid-motion, then twisted sideways, pushing off the grass in a blur of movement. He dove out of the hammer's path just in time.
*BOOM!*
The hammer slammed into the earth, sending a shockwave through the ground and leaving a small crater in its wake.
Jabari landed, breath short. He glanced at the crater and sucked in a sharp breath.
If I were just a moment slower…
August, watching from the sideline, felt his back break into a cold sweat. Time and again, he prepared to intervene, certain Jabari would be struck down. But each time, Jabari danced just beyond the reach of death.
And then August saw something that made his eyes widen.
"He's having fun?" he muttered.
Jabari's eyes blazed with exhilaration.
He was locked in another exchange, blade against blade, steel against steel. Azurian's movements were like flowing water – graceful, uninterrupted, effortless. Every swing of his twin blades led smoothly into the next.
Meanwhile, Danso's hammer strikes came down like thunderbolts, shattering the air with sheer weight and force.
Jabari had no time to counter.
No time to breathe.
And yet, the grin on his face never waned.
His glaive spun like a whirlwind, blocking, redirecting, evading – never striking, always surviving.
He was on the losing side, and he knew it.
But this wasn't just battle.
This was growth.
And Jabari Thrived.
The thrill of the fight surged through Jabari like wildfire. The sheer ecstasy of going all out, of facing death with every breath, had his blood bubbling. He hadn't known this part of himself existed – this deep-rooted love for battle. But even amid the rush, he didn't let the excitement cloud his judgement.
'My footwork…' Jabari thought as he ducked under a slicing blade and spun away from another hammer swing. 'Even though my glaivesmanship has come a long way, I forgot how vital footwork is in a real battle.'
Zaire's words echoed in his mind. Footwork wasn't just a support – it was the foundation. It was what gave life to his spear, the rhythm to his offence, the flow to his defence. Without it, even the finest spear technique would fall short.
August's eyes widened on the sidelines.
Jabari was changing – adapting – right before his eyes.
Where once he had fought with pure reflex and grit, Jabari now moved with a purpose. Each sidestep, each pivot, each backward shift was precise, fluid. No longer barely surviving – he was beginning to control the rhythm.
And with that control came the beginnings of counters.
Little by little, Jabari started pushing back. Azurian's twin blades still danced with elegance, and Danso's hammer fell like thunder, but Jabari now threaded through the storm like wind weaving between falling stones.
"Hahaha! This is it! This is the feeling!" Jabari roared in exhilaration.
He was bleeding – shallow cuts lined his arms and chest from Azurian's blades – but he was alive. Gloriously alive.
In truth, fighting both of them at once worked in his favour. Their teamwork was sloppy at best. Their attacks weren't in sync, and that gave Jabari opportunities. Whenever one tried to corner him, the other would unknowingly create an opening he could slip through.
He knew it, though – if this were a one-on-one fight, he'd likely already be down.
'The difference between ordinary warriors and Beast-Warriors isn't exaggerated at all,' Jabari thought grimly, leaping clear of another hammer blow that left a crater in its wake.
Then-
A roar of pain split the air.
Jabari's heart skipped a beat. He spun around instinctively.
"August?!"
There – behind him.
Gichinga stood over August, a wicked grin etched across his face, his hand gripping a knife embedded deep in August's back.
Jabari's mind reeled.
Before he could make sense of what had happened, Azurian's blade whistled through the air toward him. Jabari leapt back just in time – but not without cost. The sword grazed across his chest, carving a deep line into his flesh.
He staggered back, hand over the wound, eyes fixed on Gichinga.
At first, Jabari thought Gichinga might have been under the same control as the others. But no. There was no glazed look in his eyes. Only hatred. Pure, deliberate malice.
"What will you do now, Mr. Genius?" Gichinga sneered, his sadistic grin stretching wider. "Focus on your little duel with the two elites before you...
Or save your dear friend?"
Jabari didn't respond right away. He simply stared, calm and cold, as if Gichinga were an annoying insect that had flown into his personal space one time too many.
That look – those eyes – drove Gichinga mad.
"I really hate THOSE EYES!" he screamed, twisting the knife deeper into August's back.
"If you kill him…" Jabari's voice remained level, eerily composed. "I will kill you."
His tone didn't rise. There was no dramatic flare, no shout of anger. But the raw conviction behind the words turned Gichinga's blood to ice.
His hand trembled. Sweat pooled down his back. Fear crept into his twisted grin.
Jabari looked down at August. Despite the wound, his eyes were steady – masking the agony, showing only calm resolve.
Jabari's grip on his glaive tightened as he turned, eyes locked on the building that housed the others.
He took a breath, then bellowed with all the force of a commandment from the heavens.
"SILVER! GET OUT HERE!"
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