Chains Of Pride

"Gero move!!" Lanzo shouted a command the minute he saw where the Shepherd aimed.

Not long after he spoke, an explosion went off between the two of them sending them flying.

Boom!!!

Takeshi then dashed in the direction of the physically weaker Gero. His body may have been reinforced by the power he now wields, but it only augmented to a greater level what you had before.

As a result, Lanzo's body far surpasses Gero's, even though the latter's body now goes leagues beyond even the most impressive athlete.

Ergo, by this logic, Takeshi going after the seemingly weaker link was and is a sound strategy.

Shu!! Shu!!

"However, the minute Gero's feet touched the ground, his body flickered for a moment before disappearing.

"A speed type huh? That's pretty rare" Takeshi commented quite with a raised eyebrow.

Clang!!

The minute Takeshi spoke, a flash of light came from the front. He raised Asunder in a horizontal block and parried the blow throwing Gero off balance.

"Your weapon's design looks to be extremely suitable for assassination. Your best chances are to aim for an enemy's blind spot and catch them off guard using that speed of yours."

Though Takeshi was fighting them he was still giving them advice allowing them to learn and grow.

Clang! Bam!!

Lanzo snuck up from behind, planning to catch Takeshi off guard as he gave Gero advice. He threw forward a devastating blow, but it was like the Shepherd had eyes in the back of his head.

He quickly blocked the punch from behind using the side of the gun. He then wheeled around and landed a blow to Lanzo's ribcage sending the fighter flying off to the side.

"Not bad, it's evident you fought a lot, but that's your poison here. Don't attribute your previous point of view with Taliums. We're stronger, faster, and deadlier, a mistake like that can cost you your life."

Since the fight started, Takeshi had not broken a sweat and used only four moves to not only put the two in a sorry state but even found and helped to mend the holes in their assault.

Vhwoosh!!

Takeshi decided to stop putting on airs and then released his pressure. The first couple of advice came with two moves and one suffering from a rib fracture probably. As far as Takeshi was concerned, this was his way of saying 'with love.'

Boom!!

"What the…!"

The weight of the pressure bore down on Gero and Lanzo, the density was suffocating. The air was thick like syrup, it was even hard to breathe!

"Use your in'essence to resist it! Under the tempering of my pressure and aura your powers and by extension, your constructs, will start to become stable!" After he said this, he began to walk towards them.

When they followed his advice, they started to feel much better, but at the same much worse. They knew that from now on, he would say nothing more, only using his actions to make them learn from their inevitable mistakes and the pain that comes with it.

His pressure would increase if they adapted enough for them to feel comfortable. Keeping them in a state of perpetual stress until they capped out.

"I might have said that you won't die several times, but don't go thinking you're safe if you don't try hard enough, because if my hand slips, I might accidentally unalive you."

With his pep talk over, Takeshi brandished Asunder, he shot it at the now significantly slower Gero and then levied another at Lanzo.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

Explosions took place around, large swaths of earth were scorched. Both Lanzo and Gero were flung away by the shockwaves alone.

"We can't stay at a distance Lanzo, long-range is his comfort zone. We 've gotta get in close!!" Gero shouted to Lanzo who landed not far from him.

"I know, but how?! Every time we make a move, he fires that gun of his and blows shit to hell!" Lanzo replied.

"Try to draw his fire, keep him off me, with my speed, even though it's slower now, it shouldn't take too long for me to get all up in there," Gero said.

"Heh, sounds dirty, but consider it done." Lanzo sprinted off, circulating his in'essence to stave off the Shepherd's pressure. No matter how much he did though, the pressure remained the same, at a set level. He gritted his teeth and rushed forward.

"Hhmn, a decoy to destroy tactic huh? Not bad, it's a bit rusty, but one of them was only a Digium with no combat experience a few days ago, so that's expected." The shepherd thought as Lanzo rushed forward and Gero suddenly disappeared.

Gero was really fast, even under the suppression cast by Takeshi, he was still moving at a speed dazzling to the eyes.

Boom boom boom boom!!

In quick succession, Takeshi fired off a number of bullets all around him, then he turned to Lanzo charging through the one path he intentionally left open.

"Damn it!"

Both Lanzo and Gero whispered to themselves in indignation. That shitty shepherd was pretty smart, by firing off those explosions all around, Gero can't get in close enough.

Lanzo already picked up momentum and found it hard to stop his forward charge towards the Shepherd who already took aim with Asunder. With no hesitation, the Shepherd pulled the trigger.

Lanzo only saw a red spiralling bullet-shaped mass of light, or maybe energy. He knew that Gero couldn't block this for him, or help, so he had to rely on himself.

"No! There's gotta be something I can do, c'mon think. Oh yeah, my blood origin!"

In a split second, he drew from his Blood Origin, drinking in the knowledge of what his construct was capable of now.

Clink, clank, ping, tung!

Metallic noises could be heard echoing out in rapid sequence. The left gauntlet now boasted a small shield that grew in size when he placed his right gauntlet behind it in a cross guard fashion.

B-Booooom!!!!

"Lanzo!!!!" Gero shouted his name in worriment when he saw what happened. A slew of fire, sand and all else exploded into the sky as the blast obscured Gero's vision of Lanzo. "Damn it you Shitty Shep- Where'd he go?!"

The original spot the Shepherd was located in was empty.

"Though it is good to show concern for your comrade, taking your eyes of the enemy can result in all of you being taken out," Takeshi's voice came from behind Gero.

Asunder's nozzle nestled gently on the back of Gero's head. He didn't dare move, he didn't dare speak.

After some time, the explosion below died down and showed a well done Lanzo (not rare, nor medium rare, but well done).

There was a decent-sized shield in front of him, this was the reason why he didn't suffer much more injuries.

C-Crack!!

The shield eventually showed a small crack that began to grow until it reached every corner of the extension. It eventually shattered, revealing only the gauntlets that possessed small cracks of their own that were beginning to heal.

"This shield shattered so easily."

That was to be expected, in all honesty, the shield he invoked was the kind of ability that was to be used in his beginner days as a Talium, when he was a Genesis. He only drew it out because the situation only allowed him time to grasp this simple defensive measure. Ergo, the fact that it managed to block Takeshi's strike was phenomenal.

When he looked around him and saw Gero's situation, he couldn't help but whisper violently to himself, "Shit!"

Click...

Relaxing the hammer-like mechanism on Asunder, Takeshi removed the tyrannical gun from Gero's head.

Feeling the drop in pressure and the nozzle no longer locking him in place, he flickered before he disappeared and reappeared beside Lanzo.

"Congratulations, you managed to spend the time not being dead, this is good," stated Takeshi nodding his head in seeming approval.

Both Lanzo and Gero felt a bit relieved when they heard, they deconstructed their weapons, preparing to leave. When the next few words froze them in place and confirmed the existence of true terror.

"Good going, deconstructing those will allow you to recover faster. We are going to do everything over again until I've fully vente- eh, I've made sure you're stabilised." Takeshi coughed a bit at the end of this.

Gero heard this and knew what he planned to say, "You a.s.s mountain! Why were you the s.p.e.r.m that won!?!"

Lanzo just sat down to concentrate and recover his energy. For he knew that no matter what way this ended, they wouldn't win.

Takeshi's ventin- eh, training, lasted till morning.