Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

61 - Merciless

Nero Mendax - POV;

"Don't play with me boy! They don't call me Scar for nothing!" the ruffian growled pointing the x-shaped scar on his cheek.

"Yeah, the boss got that in one of his most epic battles! How do you stack up to that?" Scar's seven foot ally held me firmly from behind, halting my movements as his leader screamed annoyingly at me. It's not like I could really do anything about them in this situation though.

"Let him know of my wonders, Tiny!" Scar laughed to his accomplice. I whom had been staring at the floor the entire time, had begun to laugh as well.

"An epic battle? Against what? Judging from that little mark, I'd say it was an epic loss against a blade of grass or a paper sheet!" I exclaimed in a mocking and humourous tone.

"Do you think this is a joke you little runt?!" Scar bellowed.

"Oi... Oi Scar! People will hear us! Quiet!" Tiny whispered. Scar grit his teeth, clearly not wanting to follow his underling's suggestion but knowing that it was true.

"Yeah, I do find you lot to be hilarious!" I growled, spitting on the man's face.

He wiped it glaring menacingly at me. "Tch. Seems I'll have to discipline you in good old Blaze fashion," he cackled as he clenched his fists. He delivered a powerful right hook to my jaw causing my head to lurch in that direction. Immediately, he followed up with a flurry of blows to my abdomen, ending in a devastating uppercut which caused a gush of blood to erupt from my mouth. Taking on a specific stance, he drew back his right arm and, as he seemed to charge up this blow, flames slowly began to engulf his fingers and forearm.

"This is the power of Blaze!" he roared as his hand shot towards me at a frightening speed. I winced in anticipation of the pain but in that second I had missed it. Scar stood with widened eyes and an ajar mouth as he glared at the man holding firmly onto his burning wrist, mere inches away from me. With his free hand, Xyder casually pulled his hair back into a ponytail, seeming to pay no attention to the two fiends.

"Who the hell are you?!" Scar growled.

"I am your worst Nightmare, you spineless bitch of Blaze," Xyder insulted him. With a single rapid motion, Xyder drilled his elbow into the male's skull knocking him flat.

"What the- Boss! Now you've done it you punk!" Tiny bellowed, tossing me aside like a ragdoll as he charged at the son of Zephyr.

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

I barely managed to dive out of the way as Tiny hurtled himself like a missile towards me, leaving him to ram head-first into a solid wall. Surprisingly, he rose up and shook it off as if it was nothing, and roared to the heavens as his body burst into flames. He flailed about haphazardly, clearly hoping he could catch me with one of his random motions. Having trained myself for years however, I wasn't about to be defeated by a mindless berserker and utilising my amassed skill, I easily dodged his wild blows.

"Stand still!" he cried out in frustration.

"I'm sure you'd like that," I mocked.

"We would."

I spun around to face the voice that had crept up behind me but I was met by Scar's solid kick which pushed me directly into Tiny's path. A solid punch to the spine lifted me off the ground and a second to the chest brought me smashing down onto the concrete.

"And so he falls!" Scar cackled as he began to stomp down, aiming directly at my cranium.

"Not so fast!"

Scar's attack had been interrupted as he froze from the sudden kick from behind to his groin. Satella performed a forward flip and wrapped her legs around Scar's neck as a follow up to her initial blow. With a swift spin, she brought the man face first into the concrete. I had foolishly allowed myself to be caught up in the moment and I failed to realise the larger male who had already been towering over me, armed with a massive metal barrel which he swiftly slammed down.

I barely managed to avoid certain doom by rolling between his legs, but before I could recover and return to my feet, he spun around flailing a fiery forearm which was certain to hit its mark. I braced for the impact, prepared to absorb it head on.

"Smack!"

The resounding tone of a solid hit echoed through the passageways. However, it was not my face which had the honour of meeting Tiny's arm but the hand of another. Nero stood holding onto Tiny with what seemed to be all his remaining might.

"Run home to your masters you Blaze dogs!" Nero growled, jerking Tiny's arm into an unnatural position behind his giant body. In a remorseless motion, he dislocated the male's shoulder, leaving him to flail helplessly as he squealed in pain. A single kick to the abdomen left Tiny haunched over giving Nero the opportunity to reach out and hold onto his head.

"Wait! Don't-" I began.

A loud noise interrupted my protest as Nero snapped the giant's neck and let him slump lifelessly to the Earth.

"Kyaa!" Satella screamed raising her hand to her mouth.

"You monster!" Scar roared, shakily rising only to fall at Tiny's side. Nero glared menacingly down at them; murderous intent filling his eyes.

"Take him or leave him. Either way, you have five seconds to get out of here," Nero murmured.

"W-what? That's not-" Scar began.

"Five."

"H-hey! You can't-" Scar continued.

"Four."

Scar merely ground his teeth in anger, unsure of how to proceed.

"Three."

"I couldn't expect any more from a thing bred to be a monster," Scar spat.

"Two."

In that instant, Scar made a mad dash away from us, clearly intending to not suffer the same fate as his comrade.

"One," Nero whispered slamming his foot down on a nearby metal pipe, causing it to rise into the air. With a full circular spin, he slammed the tip of his boots into the air borne object, hurtling it like a missile. The projectile plunged straight through the back of the fleeing man, emerging through his chest.

Satella dropped to her knees as she witnessed the gruesome scene unfold and her body shivered in what could only be true fear. As Scar's bloodcurdling scream filled the streets of Fenix City, Nero turned to face us with a cigar gently being rolled between his teeth.

"Given the circumstances, we have about three minutes at most before the authorities get here," he puffed and our vision became partially clouded by the smoke, "If you two get caught here, there is no doubt that you will be disqualified from the tournament and most likely placed on death row."

"Wait, are you saying........" I paused as I grabbed onto Satella's wrist.

Nero threw down his joint before looking at us both.

"RUN!"