The main person that would cause trouble for them all in this war was clear, it was Pine. The 7 or 8 spiked Dalki. The reason why they were finding it hard to tell, was due to the spike sticking out of the top of his head. They were unsure if that counted as a spike, that added to his power, or if it was just a trait the Dalki was born with. Either way, whatever the fact was, it didn't stop the main goal… they needed to get rid of him. "I have to say, good job." Russ smiled, as he couldn't be happier about the sword in her hand. He had the power of the shadow, but had no clue how it would do against the energy blast. On top of that, similar to if Quinn was using the shadow power, blocking an attack of that level would require him to use more shadow, and in turn use more MC points. "Oh… who is this, they don't look strong." Pine said, as the palm of both of his hands started to glow. He still had a little bit of energy left over and swung them forward, firing out two balls quickly. Seeing this, Layla hit them cleanly through the centre. Due to the size of the energy sword, the strikes from her blade made them disappear completely. 'There is no resistance at all from my attacks, she doesn't even get pushed back, and there was that shadow from before as well.' Pine thought to himself. 'To think in a place like this, I would meet two people that were able to counter my ability.' Pine wasn't worried though, because the reason why he used the ability in the first place, for him, was simple as it was just practice. Jumping from his position, he was directly in front of the other two in an instant with his fist out. Luckily, Russ had somewhat predicted the next move, he raised the shadow powers he was currently using and had created a wall blocking the hit. It absorbed all of the power, and at the same time, Layla saw this as an opportunity. She knew that her own powers, of a true Hannya, even with all the emotions absorbed and Qi inside her, wasn't going to do much. Her power before was unable to hurt a six spiked Dalki. However, the sword was special in two ways, one in the fact it could negate all abilities and powers, and that it was able to cut through anything. This was tested when fighting against the demon tier beast that the Dalki had come from. A sharp sound was made, and the tip of the sword ended up hitting the ground. For Pine, he had just simply moved to the side, and when Layla realised that she could see a large foot, it hit her right in the centre of her stomach, and she went flying. She was going through the air so forcefully that she almost let go of the sword but held onto it tight. Her back crashed into several walls; she did her best to protect her body with Qi but was unable to stop her internal organs from hurting. With a cough, blood spilt out of her mouth. "That useless b*ch!" Russ complained. Right now, he was using the shadow power, and because of it, he was taking a more defensive approach, relying on Layla to do the high damage part, but she had done neither, leaving everything that needed to be done to him. Swinging its arms from above, Pine was ready to hit Russ and finish him off in one go, since he did look more squishy out of the two of them. Lifting his hands though, they started to transform and were taking on a very similar appearance. Russ managed to grab Pine right by the wrist and held him there. "How does it feel, for your own power to be used against you, and in a much more powerful way?" Russ had grown Dalki hands, and out from his back, there were eight spikes. When looking through Pine's mind, he found two figures that Pine was almost afraid of. One of them was human, due to this being the case Russ had no clue what the person's ability would be. Instead, he took on the Dalki, which he was pretty sure was H. Holding onto Pine's hands, Russ opened his eyes, and red lasers hit him across his chest. It was burning the top of his skin. Letting go of his wrists, Russ then went on to punch his chest. Before he could reach, though, Pine with his other hand knocked it away. Russ quickly went to use the red eyes, the lasers, but Pine was out of his sight and had kicked him in the back, bending his spine slightly. Russ, in his Dalki body, hit the ground a few times before he finally got up, and Pine was right on his tail. The punch was thrown out, hitting nothing but the air, and a shockwave was still sent out, destroying the building behind them and blasting a head off the onlookers watching in that direction. Popping back out, Russ had appeared from a shadow and threw out a kick, hitting Pine right in the head, sending him to the ground. It was an earth-shattering kick. When Pine bounced off the floor, the whole area broke beneath him. "Damn it, I hate people like you. Even if you have images of others that should be stronger than you in your head, you actually always see yourself as higher than them. In your mind, you're at the top. Which is why my power isn't as strong as it should be." In a way though, it had worked out in Russ's favour because he was able to also use Quinn's shadow power, taking on a slightly weaker form, but his MC cells would drain a lot faster now. With a blink though, Pine was no longer on the floor, and before Russ knew it, his whole hand had been grabbed. 'How… fast is this guy? Just what is going on?' Russ thought. His whole body was being pulled forward, and a large knee hit him right in the face. Blood came out from Russ's nose and mouth. Still holding on, Pine pulled on the back of Russ's head, allowing him to see the sky. He lifted his hand, and when he did, several abilities shot off towards it, charging it with energy once again. Rather than swinging his hand down for a punch, he placed it on top of Russ and released the energy right into his stomach. A strong blast from point blank made his insides twist in pain. His whole body slammed against the floor, and now he was the one who bounced before landing on the ground. The shadow was too slow, and the current Dalki body he was in was too slow as well. There was a downside to Russ's ability, and it was the fact that he was unable to pull out his own memories or past ones, only those around him. Thankfully, there were people in the area who knew of a certain someone that was very fast. When Pine went to deliver another finishing blow with his fists right to Russ's head, his whole body moved at a quick speed, and his whole body was now purple as he took on the form of Stark. When he reached the outer edge of the marketplace, Russ was holding onto his side, clearly hurt from the fighting so far. 'Is this the best I can do, just run in a Penswi form?' Russ thought. 'It was a good thing this guy thinks highly of the Dalki in a resilient way, otherwise I would be a goner. Even though I hit this Pine guy a couple of times, he hasn't got a scratch on him… how are we meant to win this fight?' Russ was contemplating giving up, thinking the person he was meant to be protecting wasn't even here. At least that's what he thought until Layla could be seen walking out from the hole in the wall she had made with her body. When she came out, the sword was by her side, and the white of her entire left eye was black. "Maybe you can be more useful this time," Russ said. ***** For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below. Instagram: Jksmanga P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga Discord: discord.gg/jksmanga When news of MVS, MWS or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I'm not too busy, I reply back.