NOVEL NEXT 93. Angel Vs Hanger
The two forces clashed in the gray sky like opposing thunderstorms. Hugo threw the first punch, wind wrapping around his massive fist like a spinning blade. Angelo shot upward, barely dodging the attack, and fired an energy blast directly at Hugo's face. The beam hit dead-on, but Hugo didn't even blink—like someone had flicked a pebble at a brick wall.
Hugo turned toward Angelo with cold amusement while Red and Blue flanked him from opposite sides, trying to cover each other's blind spots.
The duplicates rushed in together, their energy-wrapped limbs throwing a coordinated barrage of strikes. Hugo looked annoyed rather than threatened. With a casual burst of wind, he swatted them away like bothersome flies—a mini shockwave that sent both fragments tumbling through the air.
Angelo steadied himself, shaking off the disorientation. When he opened his eyes, Hugo's massive fist was already inches from his chest. The punch connected with his diamond armor, which held firm without a crack, but the force drove every bit of air from his lungs. Angelo bounced backward, used Hugo's face as a stepping stone, and dove toward the ocean below.
Hugo started to follow, then caught sight of Red and Blue preparing another coordinated attack.
"Sub-Trinergy Burst!" they shouted in unison, the purple energy beam exploding toward their target.
Hugo turned toward them calmly, both massive arms outstretched. A concentrated stream of wind met their attack and pushed it back with frightening ease.
"What the hell?!" Red spat, his energy flickering with frustration. "This bastard lost to Dray, and we beat Dray! How is he kicking our asses?"
Blue gritted his teeth, his analytical mind working even mid-battle. "He was amplifying Dray's power during that fight. Our energy didn't—that doesn't mean we were actually stronger than him!"
"I don't give a flying fuck about the math!" Red screamed, pouring more energy into the attack. But he was fighting alone now—Blue wasn't matching his intensity.
"Stop!" Blue shouted, diving toward Red to save him from the explosion building between them.
Angelo's mental voice cut through their shared consciousness like a blade. "Get it together, you hothead! We can't afford any stupid mistakes right now!"
Red whirled around, ready to snap back at Angelo, but Hugo was already there. The gang leader casually backhanded Blue aside like he was swatting a mosquito, then grabbed Red's entire head in one enormous hand.
Hugo's smile was pure malice. "Let's see how loud you scream when I crush your skull." His fingers started to squeeze, expecting to feel bone give way beneath his grip.
But his smile vanished when Red's grin grew even wider. What happened next genuinely confused Hugo—Red dissolved into crimson smoke, slipping through his fingers like water through a sieve.
Hugo watched the smoke stream toward Angelo, his eyes narrowing with sudden understanding. "A fog creature... so Veronica wasn't imagining things after all." His fists clenched as his aura flared with rage. "It was YOU the whole time!"
Red materialized beside Angelo, forming his flying gear mid-air with infuriating casualness. "Well, looks like that secret's out of the bag."
"You mean the cat's out of the bag," Blue corrected wearily, taking position near the others.
Angelo's mental voice carried urgent desperation. "This is bad. We can't even scratch his defenses. We need full Trinergy if we want to hurt him, but we can't get enough distance to create it!"
"Save the strategy talk for later—here he comes again!" Red shot back as Hugo launched himself at them like a human missile.
Hugo swept his massive arm downward, a hurricane-force gust following in its wake like an invisible giant hand. All three fragments dropped lower, caught in his wind trap. He kept pressing the attack, over and over, trapping them in an invisible net that dragged them steadily toward the ocean below.
When they finally learned his rhythm, they found a brief window to scatter in different directions, preventing him from forcing them any lower. Blue broke away from the pattern, flying straight toward Hugo's upper body.
Hugo responded with a series of air blasts, but Blue's energy vision let him see the attacks coming and weave between them effortlessly. When Blue got close enough, Hugo threw a lightning-fast punch. Blue was ready—he veered just slightly, letting the massive fist whistle past his ear, then drove his knee directly into Hugo's nose.
Hugo stumbled backward, rubbing his nose as his eyes started watering. "Why you little—" He began sneezing uncontrollably, his eyes streaming from the impact.
"Nice hit, Blue!" Angelo called out as the trio gained precious distance.
"Get back here!" Hugo tried to shout between sneezes, launching more air blasts that went wildly off-target because he couldn't stop sneezing long enough to aim properly.
Hugo rubbed his face furiously, trying to regain control. After several long moments, he managed to stop the sneezing fit, wiping his face with his massive forearm. When he looked up at them, his expression was pure murder. "Now you've really pissed me off." He shot toward them like an angry rocket, closing the distance with terrifying speed.
"He'll catch us in seconds!" Red noted, glancing back at their pursuer.
"Then we'll have to try mixing the energy while we're flying," Angelo decided.
Blue's voice carried obvious concern. "We've never attempted that before. The instability could cause it to detonate in our hands!"
"What other choice do we have?!" Red snapped back.
"Put your hands here—now!" Angelo stretched out his arm, the other two immediately following suit. Their energies began mixing between their palms as they flew, but the concentration required made them slow down significantly. Hugo's arrival became inevitable.
The silver sphere stretched and warped more than any of them liked, but finally stabilized just as Hugo entered critical range. They pulled their arms back in perfect synchronization.
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"Take this! Trinergy Bomb!" they shouted, hurling the beautiful, deadly projectile straight at their target.
Hugo smiled confidently, knowing he could tank the hit and use their surprise to finish them. He braced himself for impact, ready to power through whatever they could throw at him.
Then—BOOM.
Through the billowing smoke, they watched Hugo get launched backward like a rag doll, his face a mask of pure shock. It was the first real hit they'd managed to land on him the entire fight.
But their relief was short-lived. Hugo straightened himself mid-air, wiping blood from his forehead with the back of his hand. When he looked at them again, his voice was a deadly whisper that somehow carried across the distance.
"You're all dead." The murderous intent radiating from him made the air itself feel heavier.
While the trio battled in the sky above, a very different scene unfolded at the small coffee shop perched near the cliff's edge. Neiva approached Rorck's table with careful steps, something in his calm voice drawing her forward despite the danger closing in behind them. She gently set Sam down on her feet.
"What are you doing?!" Sam grabbed Neiva's arm, her voice sharp with panic. "We need to keep moving! They're right behind us!"
Rorck turned toward Sam with the same serene expression he'd worn while watching the ocean. "Would you care to join us for some coffee as well?" Beneath his gentle tone lay something harder—like steel wrapped in silk.
Sam's eyes went wide with disbelief. "Coffee? Are you completely out of your mind, old man?!" She started shaking Neiva's shoulders desperately. "Come on, we have to go! Look—they're almost here!"
But it was already too late. Cliffhanger gang members had surrounded the entire coffee shop like a tightening noose, their boots scraping against the cobblestones as they moved into position. Several of them started rushing toward the outdoor seating area—then something invisible stopped them cold.
"What the hell?" Sam breathed, her grip on Neiva loosening in confusion. "They... they're not attacking..."
The gang members had formed a circle around the tables, growing tighter with each passing moment, but none of them stepped forward to grab their targets. They stood there like predators held back by an invisible fence, shifting nervously but unable to cross some unseen line.
Neiva slowly lowered herself into one of the wrought-iron chairs, her legs suddenly feeling unsteady. Sam watched her with wide eyes, then hesitantly took the seat beside her, still glancing around at their motionless captors.
"Two more coffees over here, if you would," Rorck called pleasantly to the barista inside, raising his hand like he was ordering at any normal café.
The barista stared at him through the window as if he'd just asked for a unicorn with extra foam.
The peaceful moment shattered when an angry voice erupted from the crowd of gang members. "What the hell is wrong with you people?! She's sitting right there!" One Cliffhanger shoved his way through the front row, his face red with frustration as he locked eyes with Neiva.
Rorck took a long, deliberate sip of his coffee. The sound of liquid hitting his lips seemed to echo in the sudden silence, cutting through the tension like a blade. The outraged gang member froze mid-step, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the old man.
"This is complete bullshit!" the Cliffhanger snarled, taking another step forward.
Immediately, several of his companions grabbed his arms and yanked him backward. One of them hissed in his ear, loud enough for everyone to hear: "Have you lost your damn mind?! Don't you know what he is?!"
Rorck glanced up from his cup with mild curiosity, as if he was listening to an interesting conversation about the weather.
"That old man is a fucking Enlightened!" the gang member continued, his voice dropping to a terrified whisper. "You lay one finger on him, and we're all dead before you can blink!"
Sam's face went pale as understanding crashed over her. The angry Cliffhanger looked at Rorck with new eyes—no longer seeing a harmless old man, but something far more dangerous disguised in gentle wrapping.
Rorck slowly lowered his coffee cup and smiled warmly at the group. "This really is exceptional coffee," he said, as if commenting on the weather. "The beans have a lovely richness to them. Quite remarkable for such a small establishment."
Meanwhile, back on the sandy beach below, Sol was fighting for his life against Veronica.
The two fighters moved like dancers locked in a deadly waltz. Sol threw punches and kicks with everything he had, his silver energy crackling around his fists like captured lightning. He managed to land several solid hits on Veronica's arms and shoulder, but she barely seemed to notice them. It was like punching a brick wall that happened to smile back at you.
Veronica's leg snapped out like a whip, catching Sol square in the stomach. The kick drove all the air from his lungs and sent him stumbling backward, clutching his ribs. He shook off the pain and launched himself forward again, jumping high to strike from above.
She pressed her palms together just as his fist was about to connect. Sol's punch hit something that felt like odd rubber, stretching and stretching until his knuckles were barely an inch from her nose. Veronica's smile was pure venom.
"Nice try," she purred, then released all that stored energy at once.
Sol went flying through the air like he'd been shot from a cannon. He managed to twist into a backflip, dodging another crackling whip strike as he fell. While still airborne, he gathered his dark energy into a sphere between his hands—it looked like a tiny silver sun—and hurled it straight at her.
Veronica just smirked. She stretched her elastic energy between her palms like a slingshot, caught Sol's attack, and fired it right back at him.
Sol's eyes went wide. He snapped his fingers, sending a bolt of silver lightning racing toward his own rebounding attack. The collision created an explosion that sent sand flying everywhere like a small volcano had erupted on the beach.
Yellow energy blasts suddenly pierced through the swirling sand cloud like deadly fireflies.
"Whoa!" Sol dove to the side, barely avoiding the barrage. But the energy blasts were just a distraction. Another whip cut horizontally through the floating sand, slicing across Sol's ribs and tearing through his tank top. Dark blood seeped through the fabric as he winced and rolled to his feet.
When the sand settled, Veronica stood there looking incredibly pleased with herself.
"Such a waste," she said, examining her nails like she was bored. "You really should have minded your own business."
Sol slowly pushed himself upright, one hand pressed against his bleeding side. "I wasn't looking for a fight with you people." He shifted back into his fighting stance, silver energy flickering weakly around his hands. "But my father never ignored criminals, and neither will I!"
He punched the air, sending a volley of silver fireballs streaking toward her. Veronica casually swatted them aside with her whip like she was brushing away annoying flies. Then the tip of her whip shot past Sol and embedded itself deep in the cliff face behind him.
"How unfortunate," she said with mock sympathy.
The whip tip dug into the rock several times, loosening a massive boulder. When she pulled back, the enormous stone was wrapped up in her elastic energy like a gift from hell.
"Time to eat dirt!" Veronica yelled, swinging the boulder toward Sol like a wrecking ball.
Sol leaped out of the way, firing everything he had—darkness shaped into fire, lightning, and pure energy blasts. But Veronica either danced around his attacks or sliced them apart with a second whip she'd created. Again and again, the boulder came crashing down where Sol had been standing. Each time, it was harder to dodge, and each time, he was a little slower.
Finally, when Sol jumped aside again, the boulder crumbled apart in Veronica's grip, reduced to rubble and dust. Sol let out a shaky breath of relief.
That's when her whip shot forward like a striking snake, coiling around his entire body.
"Shit...!" Sol struggled against the elastic bonds, but they only tightened.
Veronica began slamming him into the cliff wall like a human yo-yo. Each impact sent shockwaves of pain through his body, and each time he cried out, she seemed to enjoy it more.
"Just die already!" she screamed, pulling back for one final, devastating slam.
"Ooooaaaughh!" Sol's scream echoed off the rocks as he hit the cliff face with bone-crushing force.
But this time, something gave way. The impact loosened a section of the cliff that had been weakened by their battle. Tons of rock and boulders came cascading down like a deadly waterfall, burying Sol completely beneath the rubble.
Then there was only silence.
The beach fell quiet except for the sound of small pebbles still trickling down from the pile of stones that now covered Sol. Veronica stood there, staring at the rocky grave she'd created. In the distance, the sound of ongoing battles drifted down from the sky and the town above. But here on this small stretch of sand, one fight had reached its brutal conclusion.