The Magnos

Sola and Darwin found themselves locked in a flurry of consecutive blows. Due to the mercenarys Revel and the grey haired boys unnaturally hard skin, neither were able to inflict any visible injuries on the other.

”Youll have to do better than that Sola! ” Darwin yelled.

A blast of blue energy flew past the mans face, leaving a small cut. His beetle black eyes looked behind his opponent was none other than Francine who had her Silver Mercury gun pointed at him.

”It seems I have to take out the small fry first. ” He said with a wicked look on his face.

In a instant, Darwin moved from Sola to Francine. The Revel surrounding his fist surged to the point that it was visible to none adepts. Before he could land the punch though, his hand was caught by Sola.

”Your opponent is me remember? ” The boy said before punching his face.

Darwin was knocked slightly into the air by the force of the hit. He noticed that the metal liquid flowing from Solas wounds was now gathering around his fists and solidifying, amplifying his hitting force.

”You
e not super strong, are you Sola? ” He asked as he got back to his feet.

The boy only glared in response. The mercenary let loose a maniacal laugh before lunging at him. The two intercepted each other with their fists, causing a bone cracking sound to be heard.

”Its been a while since a person with your kind of power. ” He said. ”I guess Ill have to let out the big guns. ”

The Revel emitted by Darwin surged and became visible once more. The strange energy began to swirl around his body, hardening into a sort of crystalline substance. The man drew back his arm and let loose a punch with his crystal covered fist. Revel exploded from the crystals, sending Sola flying backwards and crashing into a tree.

More of the metal liquid came out of Solas mouth as he gasped, leaving him with a taste in his mouth that was worse than bloods.

”Impressed? ” Darwin asked rhetorically. ”Its called the Hardened Stardust Technique. With it, I can physically manifest Revel on my body to boost my attacking power. ”

A blue flash shone as Francine shot at the mercenary again. Instead of dodging, Darwin stretched out his hand to intercept the attack. The impact resulted in a blue explosion. Once the dust cleared, it could be seen that the large man was unscathed.

”It also improves my defensive capabilities. ” He added with a wide grin.

The man raised his hand into the air and brought DMA frightening punch down upon the ground. A blue surge of energy came forth as the Revel from the crystals formed a sort of energy burst. Sola and Francine were immediately knocked backwards as soon as the energy made contact with them.

Darwin continued his assault on Sola by running up to his fallen body and kicking it up into the air. He brought down his crystal covered fist on the boys back, sending him back down. The extreme surge of energy that invaded Solas body reacted to his impact with the ground by blasting him back into the air to receive another punch. Darwin did this four more times before kicking him away.

Surprisingly, after that beating, Sola was still able to get back to his feet. His metallic blood was all over the place as it kept spilling out of his mouth. He wiped off the metallic liquid from his face and let out a small smile.

”Whats got you smiling? ” Darwin asked.

”Its been so long since someone has made me bleed. ” The boy said. ”I even forgot it isn blood pumping through my veins. Unfortunately for you, now that you know what my blood looks like, you won be surviving this fight. ”

The man laughed. ”You think you can kill me or something? ”

”A thought presents a possibility. Im speaking with certainty. ”

The metal liquid that had spilled to the ground suddenly started moving. Darwins eyebrows rose with surprise as the liquid was mysteriously finding its way back to its owner. It flowed up his leg and all the way to his hands. The liquid surrounded his fists, giving them a metallic sheen.

”Psionics. ” Francine gasped as her eyes widened at the sight of what she had just seen.

”So you
e ferrokenetic, huh? ” Darwin stated. ”Well, I knew it couldn be Revel or natural super human strength that was behind your power. You probably just use your psychic powers to increase your blood flow and give yourself adrenaline rush boosts of strength, am I right? ”

”You deduced that perfectly. You
e much smarter than you look. ” Sola said. ”But like you
e about to find out, Im not limited only to adrenaline rushes. ”

Veins bulged on the boys body once again. In an instant, Sola was in front of Darwin with his metal covered fist coming in at his face. The action happened so fast that the mercenary only had a few seconds to harden Revel around the place that was to be hit. The punch set the man flying backwards through a tree. After a couple of seconds, Darwin was back on his feet.

”That was a close one! ” He exclaimed.

”Was it? ” Sola asked while pointing at the hit spot.

Darwin placed his hand on his face and eyes widened. The materialised Revel covering his face was shattered, with a few small pieces piercing his skin. Though he was short of time when making use of the Hardened Stardust Technique before Solas hit landed, the crystals that were made as a result of the technique were several times harder than regular alloys at its weakest.

Taking Darwins moment of contemplation as an opportunity, the boy moved with another burst of energy to land another strike. The man quickly snapped out of it and raised his arms to block the incoming hit. He managed to do so successfully but Sola struck with enough force to crack the crystallisation on his right arm.

Now Darwin was completely baffled by the amount of strength Sola could draw from accelerating his blood flow before attacks.

The collision between the twos fists caused sparks to fly. The speed at which they fought was so fast Francine could barely see it. What she did notice was though Sola had the advantage when it came to his output of power, he was still injured from his fight with the Ancient. There was no way he would be able to land a decisive hit.

Unfortunately, Darwin knew this as well. He was prolonging the conflict for as long as he could until Sola could make no use of his metallic blood. He gritted his teeth as a silver flurry of pinches continued to chip away at his crystalline armour.

Another punch from Sola pushed the mercenary backwards. The two fighters were out of breath but only one wore a smile on his face.

”Its been a while since I fought like this, ” The dark skinned boy grinned. ”But I think its time we ended this. ”

”You may think you
e in control of this fight but you
e the one whos disadvantaged. ” Darwin growled. It seemed he had lost cheeky attitude to the boy in front of him.

”Statistically speaking, your right. ” Sola replied. ”But you
e the only one who has revealed their trump card. ”

More of his metallic blood began to flow out of his mouth. The blood suspended its self in the air as it swirled around him. Darwin flung himself at Sola. He could not allow him to do whatever it was he was preparing. The crystals on him began to shine radiantly as he filled them with more Revel. Darwin now resembled a shooting star as he flew at his opponent.

All the crystals simultaneously shattered as Darwin released a burst of all the gathered energy. Only a large shard remained on his chest from which the blast came from. Sola wavered nor shook as the celestial beam came at him. The radiance engulfed him completely as he raised his hand to block the attack.

Francine covered her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping from her. The blast shone brightly for a few moments before fading away, leaving only a crater to tell the tale of what had happened. Darwins was shocked to see Sola still stood there with a disk made of his blood floating in front of him. Francine could not believe her eyes either. She always knew Sola was strong but being able to withstand a blast of that magnitude after being hit by a similar attack was inhuman.

”My turn. ” Sola said with a grin still on his face.

The metallic disk began to swirl as it took on another shape. Now floating in front of Sola was a 13 foot long spear made of his own blood. He grabbed it by its shaft and took aim for the mercenary. After expending all his strength in his last attack, he no longer had the energy to move thoughtless of blocking the impeding attack.

The veins on Solas arm bulged to the size of serpents as he drew every last bit of adrenaline he could muster. With one vicious throw, the spear was sent flying. The spear tore through the air like a silver bolt of lightning. It went straight through Darwin, destroying the crystal on his chest and ripping it apart, leaving a large hole in it.

Blood spurted out the hole, as well as from Darwins nostrils and mouth. He fell backwards as his vision faded into darkness and his body fell backwards. He could only muster enough strength to speak his last words.

”Monster ”

The metallic spear flew back into Solas hand and reverted to blood. It returned into his body by flowing into the pores on his skin.

”More impurities. ” He whispered to himself. ”At this rate… ”

He turned to Francine who was glued to where she was, frozen with shock due to the entire ordeal she had witnessed. With his enemy gone, Sola no longer wore the joyous grin from before. In fact, his demeanour seemed more serious than before, and she knew why.

”Thank you for helping me with the Ancient from before, but Im afraid I can let you live. ”

Her heart raced. ”I promise I won tell anyone. ” She pleaded.

”If doesn work like that. ” He said. ”Know that you know I have psionics, you must die. ”