Chapter 38: [Ch. 38] A Chilling Smile and a Taste of True Power
Panzram fought with the two mercenaries relentlessly. Every time he managed to charge at the distant fighter, he was then attacked by the combatant female. His eyes darted around trying to come up with a way out.
The female mercenary pounced on him to attack, noticing his distraction. He managed to avoid her attacks but noticed an incoming wind blade soar at him. He dodged it, but it was not fast enough. He grimaced as the blade cut into his arm.
He ignored the cut on his arm and quickly decided how to end things before he could suffer more wounds.
The female mercenary charged at Panzram without waiting for him to recover. Panzram waited for her right jab, then he met her wrist with his katana. With all his strength, he tossed the female mercenary through the air. Her body smacked into the distance fighter, causing them both to crash into the ground.
Panzram did not miss a beat and thrust his sword toward them. The female mercenary noticed and jumped out of the way quickly. However, the male mercenary was not as lucky. The katana plunged into his shoulder, striking bone.
The mercenary jumped back and held his new wound. Then he clenched his teeth and continued attacking.
Panzram avoided his wind blades while simultaneously avoiding the female mercenary's attack. However, Panzram was getting more tired. He could not keep up with the female mercenary's attack.
His body was slowly getting covered in more and more cuts.
His scowl grew darker. Hundreds of thoughts began to invade his mind.
Where was Ryu?
Why was he not helping?
Was he still fighting Nitta?
But why would he be?
Ryu was ridiculously strong. He should only have to use an illusion and he could stop everything.
So… Why wasn't he?
Could it be that he was much closer to Nitta than he had let on?
Panzram had heard Ryu flirting with Nitta before he had come outside. Perhaps Ryu actually liked this Nitta… And maybe Ryu had set him up to be killed by these two mercenaries.
This had to be it.
Panzram knew he could not trust Ryu.
Ryu had abandoned him so quickly.
Was he merely just a toy for Ryu to play with?
Had he gotten bored?
The female mercenary noticed Panzram was distracted once again and went to deliver a deadly blow.
Panzram snapped out of his stupor and went to block, but realized he could not make it in time.
He scowled from a mix of anger and betrayal.
Unexpectedly, the Earth began to shake abruptly, halting the attack.
Panzram's eyes widened in confusion and saw the two in front of him completely frozen midway through the attack.
The female mercenary was dangerously close to cutting a major artery in Panzram's neck.
If she hadn't froze, he would have surely died.
Panzram could see everything around him shake, but it was as if he was completely impervious to it. Panzram felt a strong murderous intent and looked over. He saw Ryu smiling with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
His face was oddly chilly, much unlike his usual upbeat appearance.
Ryu saw Panzram covered in wounds and felt his blood run cold.
Before he had left to fight with Nitta, he had used his chaos energy to monitor Panzram. As long as nothing happened to Panzram, he wouldn't feel a thing. However, once Panzram's blood was drawn, he would feel it immediately.
So, when Ryu felt multiple cuts being formed on Panzram's body, he hurried over. However, since he could really only create illusions, he could not transport. In this moment, he felt determined to figure out how to transport humans instead of just items much like his interdimensional bag.
When he finally arrived at the scene, what he saw filled him with tremendous anger.
If he had not caused the two mercenaries to freeze, they would have seriously injured Panzram. Ryu clutched his fists as he glared at them. As he smiled, he tried to contain his anger that was nearly consuming his rationality.
"I'm going to show you something interesting."
As he spoke, the wind seemed to stop and the atmosphere became tense enough to stop anyone's heart. Even Panzram felt a sense of doom as his body froze, refusing to budge.
Ryu tilted his head as his eyes shrank back in anger, "There's something at your feet."
The man who had been attacking Panzram has suddenly snapped back to reality from these words. He looked towards the ground like someone possessed and took a step back in horror.
He let out a small shriek as mangled hands started to reach up from the ground towards him.
As they grabbed at his legs, they ripped his clothes and scratched at his skin. He screamed in pain as the claw marks began to fester and bubble, turning blue.
It was an unimaginable pain from an unknown source.
He started swinging his wind blades at the hands to cut them off his legs.
However, the wind blade did nothing as the hands raised up, trying to pull him down. He panicked and continued to try to cut the hands down. Ryu's chilling laughter echoed off the trees and sounded along the forest. It seemed as if there were mouths all around the man, laughing and taking pleasure in his pain and fear.
Panzram watched the scene with a bit of shock.
Although he didn't see what the mercenary could see, he was able to see what was truly happening. The man was striking his wind blades against nothing but his own flesh. He was severing his legs and tearing his muscles.
It was as if he couldn't feel that he was actually attacking himself. His own body didn't even recognize that it was being attacked.
Even when his legs were chopped up into an indiscernible goop, there still wasn't a single drop of blood.
This was the true power of a chaos user.
To trick not only the mind, but the body as well.
He finally fell to the ground and screamed, feeling as if the hands had pulled him to the ground and grabbed his throat. He attempted to cut the hand pawing at his throat.
It was the last thing he did before everything turned dark.
Panzram watched the scene feeling horrified by how graphic it had been. He believed himself to be completely hardened against things of this nature. However, this sight made him uncomfortable and even slightly afraid.
This was what true power looked like.
Ryu chuckled coldly then looked to the female mercenary who was still frozen, unaware of what had just occurred.
His colorful voice rang in a melodious and ominous tone, "Now just how should I play with you?"
Panzram snapped out of his daze and grasped Ryu's arm.
Ryu was surprised by this but didn't shrink away. He turned to Panzram and slowly his chilling smile disappeared. It was replaced by a warm and comforting one as he faced Panzram in front of him.
Panzram spoke plainly with a scowl, "Don't."
Ryu blinked and then nodded. He waved his sleeve and the female mercenary started fighting an invisible enemy. She chased it through the woods and eventually disappeared from sight.
Ryu spoke in a low voice, "Then I will just lure her away by making her think that she is fighting you. That way we can shake them off of our trail."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Nekoru
Nekoru Don't mess with hubby!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone