Chương 55: FADING HOPE
Frozen with fear, the three couldn't move.
And who could blame them?
The strange man, seemingly lifeless seconds ago, now stood with a wide grin, his eyes completely black and inhuman.
The man's pitch-black eyes and the way he stared at them, as if they were some kind of play delicacy, along with the sinister grin on his face, all conveyed a sense of immense, inhuman, deadly danger.
While the three were still stunned, Raziel swiftly moved towards the man. A thick black mist emanated from his body, shaping into a pitch-black scythe in his right hand, drawing from the mist flowing off his form.
As he closed in on the strange man, the scythe had fully taken shape, boasting a long handle and a sharp, black, gleaming blade. This enabled Raziel to leap slightly into the air and swiftly send the scythe flying down towards the strange man's head.
The rapid sequence of actions unfolded so swiftly that even the three observers struggled to fully follow. Despite this, the strange man managed to swiftly evade Raziel's attack, moving out of harm's way.
However, this didn't slow Raziel's movements. He promptly launched himself once again towards the man, skillfully employing the scythe's blade to block the fingers aimed at him. Simultaneously, he executed swift swings, targeting vital areas on the man's body when not countering the fingers or slipping out of the man's grip.
Whatever had happened to the man appeared to enhance his abilities, as he consistently withstood Raziel's attacks. Even when Raziel landed a hit, the rapid healing of his wounds was so swift that one wouldn't notice he had been injured numerous times already unless closely observing their fight.
Raziel, however, showed no signs of relenting. He maintained a relentless and steady assault, consistently targeting different vital organs.
Once again, he sent the scythe's blade towards the man's throat, removing a chunk. Blood spilled, staining everything from the scythe's blade to Raziel's and the man's clothes, and the floor beneath them. However, akin to previous attacks, the injuries swiftly healed, leaving only the traces of the spilled fresh blood.
Prepared for another attack, Raziel seemed to aim at persistently injuring the man until he couldn't heal. To his surprise, the man vanished from sight.
Within a few seconds of the man's sudden disappearance, Raziel had to swiftly jump in the opposite direction as he felt something flying toward him. Fortunately, he evaded a punch from the man, who now stood behind him.
Nevertheless, the man persisted despite his initial failure. He swiftly charged toward Raziel, delivering another blow that caught Raziel off guard as his body was yet to regain balance from evading the first attack. This blow produced a loud bang and sent Raziel's body crashing heavily to the floor.
Undeterred, the man continued his assault, rushing toward the struggling Raziel, who was trying to get back on his feet after the impactful blow.
The man charged towards Raziel with both hands stretched out and fingers positioned like claws, seemingly aiming to grab him in a lock. However, Raziel managed to teleport behind him. This ability was likely facilitated by the mist emanating from his body since the beginning of the fight as Raziel had only teleported to the farthest extent reached by a significant amount of his mist, which was still not too distant from the relentless strange man.
The three students, who had been silently observing the entire battle between Raziel and the strange man, sighed in relief as Raziel managed to evade the man's attempt to lock him.
Despite Raziel standing back on his feet, there was a sense that he wasn't in good condition. It appeared that the fief ability he used to narrowly escape the man's grip had taken a toll on him.
His complexion was notably paler than usual, his eyes appeared fatigued, and his movements were slowing down. Even the dark scythe in his hand seemed to be losing its unique luster. Eventually, he fell behind the man's attacks and was now struggling to defend himself from the relentless assault.
The three observers felt their hearts in their throats as they witnessed how swiftly the tide of the battle had turned against them.
They couldn't fathom the possibility of the strange man defeating Raziel. After all, he was the strongest in their group. If the man managed to beat him, what hope did the others, not even half or quarter as strong, have?
As they pondered their precarious situation with the battle shifting against them, Amanda abruptly moved towards the ongoing fight. Her skin slowly took on a lustrous gray hue.
Bobby had witnessed something similar with Joel's ability—a fief of skin hardening. However, Amanda's version didn't last for a few seconds before vanishing completely, and the hardening effect wasn't localized to just one part of her body.
In a short interval, her entire exposed body turned gray, and she quickly initiated a run, gathering momentum directed at the strange man. Meanwhile, Bobby and Azel silently observed.
While having more assistance in the fight increased the likelihood of winning or surviving, Bobby and Azel, considering their current strength, would be more of a hindrance than help. As a result, they chose to stay in the same spot, fervently praying for the tides of the battle to once again turn in their favor.
Amanda continued to gather momentum and quickly collided with the strange man, who appeared too engrossed in bullying Raziel to notice her swift approach. Leveraging the momentum she had built, Amanda effortlessly pushed the man several meters backward until he crashed into the wall, creating numerous cracks.
She didn't, however, allow him any time to recuperate. She swiftly pinned him to the cracked wall and began relentlessly smashing her steel fists into the man's face. The impact of the blows caused both the man's bones and flesh to mash and crack.
Despite the injuries healing instantly upon impact, Amanda observed that with successive blows to his face, it took progressively more time for the injuries to heal. Recognizing this, she heightened the intensity of her punches.
The man finally succumbed to the relentless barrage of punches, his face now bloodied, and nearly every breakable feature on his visage shattered.
At some juncture amidst the onslaught, his healing abilities appeared to cease entirely. His eyes were barely open, yet the peculiar smile on his face persisted, rendering a more eerie effect.
He finally succumbed to the blows, going unconscious after Amanda delivered more punches. He collapsed to the ground once Amanda released him from her steel grip.
Amanda stared in shock at the man's bloodied face as he lay motionless on the floor.
She hadn't anticipated successfully defeating the man; initially, her intention was merely to buy time for Raziel to recover from his weakened state.
However, she had indeed managed to pull it off.
Swiftly turning back toward Bobby and Joel, who wore expressions of relief, and Raziel, now in a reclined position from his earlier squat, still visibly fatigued, a sense of pride was beginning to form on her face. Yet, her satisfaction was abruptly interrupted when someone firmly grabbed her throat from behind.
The expressions on both Bobby's and Azel's faces instantly turned fearful and grim at the sight of the man standing back on his feet. He tightly gripped Amanda's neck, his face bloodied, wearing a creepy smile.
Amanda, too, was completely stunned by the sudden turn of events. However, in this case, she wasn't utterly helpless. Her skin remained hardened, rendering the man's grip on her neck ineffective. Moreover, the passive strength her abilities provided enabled her to break free from the lock, disregarding any buff the man might have obtained.
She had already managed to push his hand halfway off her neck when an unexpected development occurred.
Her skin gradually returned to its normal state, and her ability to push his hands off her neck diminished rapidly.
Soon, her skin had completely reverted to normal, leaving her entirely unable to remove his hands.
Unfortunately, the time limit for her fief duration had been reached.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
DreamScribbler
DreamScribbler what's good readers
we back on our story on these two Dyyxs
don't forget those power stones and comments.
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