Chapter 41:

Don't Stop the George Fanclub Raphsody

Zero.


Kayel roared, stretching his arms and fingers to make ice spears rain. Fun. Enteng saw lines. None of it would touch him, but he had other people to worry about. Thankfully, his party read the room and started breaking. Enteng didn’t move. He only swatted one that was supposed to hit George.

He jogged forward.

Jonathan danced, weaved, and bashed his way through to cut through the cold blanket of spears. Joey shrieked for a moment, then realized that he had water to work with. He’s a water bender now, as what the cool kids would call it. It looked like Enteng didn’t really need to worry anymore. The guy just whipped his hands to summon a thick, muddy wave of water that stopped the spears there and then. Uncle burned through everything, creating a wall of steam around his body. Lucy hugged that wall of steam and basically used Uncle as a shield.

They wouldn’t be stopped. Enteng grinned. They’re about to have a good time.

He had to start it off.

He wouldn’t be jogging anymore.

Enteng shot a breath, lowered himself, and remembered that feeling with Tabu, that feeling of fear of freedom melted together, forming his wings as he screamed while falling down the cliff. He zoomed with a burst of air at his back and bashed Kayel’s head like he’s a goddamn shooting star.

Jonathan came, baring his teeth. Determined. His eyes were wild and focused like a tiger that defied the laws of gravity and punched the dude before he could even do anything else. Kayel, on the other hand, did something else. He summoned yet another swarm of icy projectiles. Enteng managed to get away. Jonathan was able to tank it without any problems. Uncle, who wasn’t into cardio, caught up with them and got speared down, but the gleam in his eyes remained. Kayel scoffed and grinned, blasting the poor guy with a ball of flame.

Smoke.

Everything stopped for a moment, but everyone else grinned. There’s nothing that Enteng should be worried about for that man that he had saved like a bitch yesterday. Uncle ripped through the blanket of dark smoke of cooked flesh with his own body burning, naked. He spread like a charred squirrel, glorious like Lady Godiva speeding in a blazing racecar that smashed the monster’s face and ended everything with a beautiful explosion.

Enteng’s heart raced.

Everything was feeling the same too. They could do it. They’re having a good time. They’re having a ball. Just a little more.

Kayel crashed, but he was able to push himself off the ground. He readied another batch of spears, but water flooded over his body, giving Uncle enough time to freeze him in place.

They couldn’t be stopped.

Enteng smiled. Uncle did the same as he bolted forward, burning his body even more as if the rain didn’t matter, glistening like a torch and setting both of them to explode.

Lucy got to them, too, she tossed Enteng a spear. He watched as that proud monster rolled to the ground once again, with an arm burning away. Kayel stopped to heal himself, and Enteng wouldn’t let that happen. He fixed the grip on both his bat and spear and summoned another blast of wind behind him to rip through the distance like a supersonic man, leading with a spear that pierced through Kayel’s palm and almost reached his neck.

Look at this man. He probably expected that he’d have something like a bat. Cute. Kayel’s eyes darted, somewhere. He’s confused. Afraid that it’s almost cute. He’s looking for someone that allowed this to happen, and his eyes fell on Lucy, who flipped him off.

They wouldn’t be stopped.

Kayel roared, burning everything around him in a torrent of flames. Enteng summoned the tempest beneath his feet to send himself flying through the air to get away. Their onslaught stopped for a moment, or so he thought. Kayel froze the ground and filled the burned space with ice spikes. But Uncle was there.

“Flame Emperor…” Uncle let out a deep breath as he took his stance. But it was wrong. It seemed wrong. His fist was not close to his body. It’s like he’s imitating something huge. Something much stronger. “Rayan!”

A beam of bright orange flame ripped through the field of ice when Uncle mentioned those words. It reached Kayel, and it forced him to move and redirect the flames around him. It wasn’t much. It’s normal. It seemed like he was used to this. And there’s something that he wasn’t used to.

“Thanks, Brother.”

Smoke and steam had been summoned yet again, forming a grey wall where Jonathan pierced through like a ball, entering the fight again by spinning into a kick. And like dynamite, it pushed Kayel back and forced him to his knees.

Kayel responded by summoning spears from the ground, which Jonathan managed to jump away from. That’s what he was looking for. Kayel had the rest of the party where he wanted them to be. Now, all it would take was for him to—

“Enteng!”

Lucy shouted.

Enteng didn’t know why, but her timing was on point. He summoned the wind at his back again and sent himself spiraling down like a rocketship. Line. He crashed his metal bat at the side of Kayel’s face, bending it as he bruised and ripped through his right eye.

Enteng rolled to safety, picking up the pace. Fire Fist Uncle came. He copied him. He was in the sky like a glorious flaming satellite, a phoenix screaming caw caw, burning him down with a thick beam of red flame. It didn’t do any damage, but a bit of his skin was charred.

Kayel summoned a wall of ice that defended him from Uncle’s next blow. He needed to heal.

But it’s not happening.

Jonathan and Enteng dashed in to not let him heal.

Line. Kayel summoned a blade of ice in his hand and took a swing at Enteng. He missed. Enteng had no weapons anymore and chose to punch his face. Enteng saw a line. But that line was not for him to take.

Jonathan followed up by sinking his heel deep into Kayel’s shoulder. The impact was heavy enough to silence the rain and make the poor monster scream. Line. Enteng kicked his balls. No damage. Line. Jonathan couldn’t see it, but he knows where to attack. His fist trailed that line when he delivered an uppercut that set Kayel’s brain rocking. Line. Enteng elbowed his face. Line. Jonathan delivered a body blow into his stomach that sent him back, gasping. He looked like he’s about to summon a wall of ice again and change the terrain, but a tower of flames melted through his pitiful ice shield and pushed him down towards the ground.

Just a little more.

“Uncle, you’re going to follow up. The rest of you back away!”

Lucy screamed. Uncle said something, but Enteng couldn’t hear him since it’s raining and he’s too far away. Enteng caught a glimpse of Uncle flying down while Joey was putting up a wall of water between them. The kid set both his feet off to burst through the rain and into Kaye’s range. Goddamn Mister Two-hundred Degrees.

“Flame Emperor Rayan!”

Uncle rolled, got on his knees, and summoned a tower of flame that ate Kayel at point-blank range. The rain seemed to stop for a moment as steam and smoke began to blow once more. Of course, Kayel only looked roasted, a bit charred, but he didn’t seem to be taking that much damage. It’s more of a mild inconvenience. It’s not the same for Jonathan and Enteng, though.

Lucy shouted again. “Joey—”

“Shut the fuck up, I know what I’m doing!” Joey screamed, doing finger guns, and a bullet of water hit Kayel.

He was too far. He didn’t do much damage other than an itch and a moment of irritation. But it was enough.

“And Lucy!”

Lucy shouted for the last time, her voice breaking as she ran towards them with a stone in hand. She picked up a rock, summoning her authority to fuck things up and throw the rock with a powerful “eh.” That made them expect something like a blast before it fell to the ground, nowhere to be seen again. It made things worse. But Lucy seemed to act like it was all part of her plan.

“Enteng!”

Kayel instinctively turned to Enteng. Enteng didn’t do anything. Clever girl. Jonathan came from the wall of steam, hugging the monster from behind, tightening his grasp, screaming as he pulled him into the air for a German Suplex, and slamming him back to the ground.

Kayel bounced, thinking about what the fuck just happened. And the big man, Jonathan, didn’t let it end there. He grabbed Kayel’s leg even before he could fall, made himself spin, and smashed him to the ground once again before making another turn to let him fly.

“Hah! You bought it, didn’t you?” Lucy laughed.

Enteng grinned. Jonathan smiled. Joey smirked. Uncle scoffed and took his stance. George remained on the porch, cheering for them.

They couldn’t be stopped.

Joey didn’t let him fall, grasping all of the water that he could get control of to summon a tower, cringing at the thought of copying Uncle. But he did it anyway. It kept Kayel in place, and Uncle froze it again to make sure that they would have a window of time to move.

By then, Lucy had gotten close enough to toss Enteng a stone sword. Line. Enteng sent himself flying again, letting out another burst to send himself forward at the best angle to swat. To smash through the slowly melting layer of ice and send this big crocodile to the ground. Line. Enteng followed up, bursting to catch up and break the stone sword at Kayel’s face.

Kayel recovered for a moment and sent ice spikes to rain, but they all missed Enteng. The old man chuckled. He didn’t even have to move. He didn’t bother dodging. Line. And like it was bound to happen, Enteng stretched his arms to the side and felt the touch of weapons going to his side.

It was a bubble of water that got him a spear on his left and a stone sword on his right. Line. He dodged a punch and speared through his side. Line. Kayel swiped to rip off his face, but he missed. Line. Enteng snickered, grabbed the stone sword with both hands, and smashed it down on his right shoulder. His weapon broke. Something cracked inside Kayel’s body, too, and his right arm limped.

Enteng ran out of breath, but he smiled. Right. He wasn’t alone this time. Jonathan ripped through the wind, following the sound of water being blasted, and dropkicked Kayel in the face. Enteng held up his palms and shot him forward once more. Like it was second nature, the man angled himself to make himself spin and sink his foreleg deep into that monster’s throat.

Kayel choked, and as a last-ditch effort, he summoned thorns of ice around him, impaling Enteng and pushing Jonathan away. Kayel screamed for his breath. He recreated a thick layer of armor and turned himself into an ice dragon. And there, he forgot another one thing.

He forgot Uncle.

It’s like Kayel forgot about him a lot. The ice didn’t reach him. In fact, they all melted around his body. Kayel didn’t have the time to react. His body was too heavy at that moment. Uncle’s eyes gleamed with destruction, and that right fist of his was burning red.

Uncle ran, screaming. It was a short-ranged attack. Kayel screamed again and raised his gigantic claws. He rained down spears again for good measure. Line. Enteng came and used his body to hammer through the spears that would hit Uncle. Jonathan came to punch, kick, and used his body as a wall to make a path for this little man.

“Everybody, duck!”

Joey screamed. Enteng wanted to say where, but he lowered his head. Jonathan did the same. Uncle smiled. Lucy was roaring, too. A white light drawn by a whip of water flashed and carved a deep line through Kayel’s armor. It was too shallow to do any significant damage.

But it got Uncle just in range.

“Divine Spear Uncle.”

Uncle shouted and sent his burning fist flying. Hot. His fist blazed through Kayel’s thick layers of armor and sank deep into his chest, almost turning it into ash. Kayel wanted to heal himself, but Uncle’s fist ripped it open in a great explosion. It shattered Kayel’s armor, breaking his body, ripping everything down to his waist, and sending his head beyond the fucking stratosphere.