Magus Supremacy-Chapter 826: Reinforcements (2)

Chapter 826

Clang—!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You could have tried better, my dear," Pluck taunted, his voice dripping with condescension.

The moment he blocked the heavy hit, Pluck was already coiled and ready to counter.

Sensing the shift in his momentum, Alba swiftly leaped back to create distance.

But unfortunately, the instant her feet touched the parched ground, Pluck materialized before her in the blink of an eye, defying the laws of inertia.

His massive fist shot through the air with deadly intent and terrifying velocity, aiming to end the duel then and there.

By the skin of her teeth, Alba ducked beneath the whistling punch and then proceeded to slash her sword upward, hoping to catch the Vice Leader in his exposed midsection.

Lifting his knee upward with practiced ease, Pluck intercepted the rising strike.

A loud, metallic clang echoed around the area, sending sparks flying between the blade and his hardened skin.

His leg then proceeded to shoot forward, bashing into Alba’s face with the force of a mountain.

The impact caused blood to spritz out from her nose as she lurched backwards, her vision blurring in a haze of mild pain and shock.

Pluck didn’t waste a single second of his advantage as he proceeded to rush forward with lightning speed, his bulk moving with predatory grace.

But Alba was a veteran of a hundred battles; she was ready for him in an instant.

She twisted her whole body aside, narrowly dodging a massive, open-palmed slap heading for her face that surely would have shattered her jaw.

Then, in one fluid motion, her blade arced through the air with full speed.

The steel caught Pluck in the arm, but once again, it only caused a frustrating, surface-level scratch against his durable hide.

’Shit!’ she cursed inwardly, realizing her standard strikes were barely ticking him.

Pluck just grinned openly, his teeth bared, before twirling around sharply.

He hoped to catch the woman with a swooping kick from below, a move designed to break her ankles and end her mobility.

But already reading his movements through the shift of his shoulders, Alba vaulted backwards, dodging the kick that collided with the air in a dull, heavy thud.

"Ah... guess you are nothing without the rest of your clan, eh?" Pluck taunted, a sinister smile stretching across his rugged face.

Alba’s shoulders rose and fell rhythmically as she caught her breath, staring at him deeply while raising her sword in front of her face in a ritualistic guard.

"Hm."

That was the only response she offered him before she exploded from where she stood with a sudden, violent burst of speed.

A crescent crimson slash from her sword hurled forth from the left, while her physical blade came from the right, catching Pluck in a lethal pincer enclosure.

Knowing how dangerously powerful Alba’s famous Crimson Slash was, he opted to avoid the energy rather than tank it.

All he did was move backwards with incredible speed, slipping out of the enclosure just as the two forces met.

However, with a subtle shift of her feet, Alba steadied herself and then dashed forward using her raw, unenhanced speed to bridge the gap.

The maneuver caught Pluck off guard for a split second as her sword suddenly raced toward his unprotected neck.

Flooding his legs with Ki to stabilize himself, Pluck tried leaning his torso backwards in order to dodge the decapitating strike.

Then, with a surprising show of hidden agility, Alba’s free fist came in from below with incredible speed.

It pounded into Pluck’s abdomen with the concentrated force of a charging bull.

A spray of saliva spritz out from his mouth, followed by his whole body sliding uncontrollably backwards across the arena.

His heels dug deep, jagged trenches into the ground with every foot of the slide.

Alba wasn’t about to let this hard-earned opportunity go to waste.

She sprang off from her position with full force, causing the terrain to buckle and shatter under her weight as she was sent speeding through the air looking like a lethal, human arrow.

Pluck was still sliding backwards when Alba appeared before him with a descending axe kick aimed directly at his skull.

Grounding his teeth with intensity, Pluck twisted half his body to the side at a grotesque angle.

His torso was sent twisting away while his lower half remained grounded to maintain his center of gravity.

Then, his hand reached out like a viper, grabbing Alba’s leg mid-air.

With all his might, he yanked her out of her flight path and clobbered her into the hard ground.

CRASH—!

The ground ruptured violently beneath her body as thick dust clouds erupted into the air from the impact.

Without a moment of mercy, Pluck’s foot rushed towards her head with so much strength that the dust clouds that had gathered were instantly dispelled by the sheer wind pressure of the stomp.

With a dark grimace, Alba rolled away with all her might just in time as Pluck’s heel crashed into her previous position, kicking up another thick cloud of dust.

At the same time, the ground shattered deeper, sending spiderweb cracks racing across the arena floor from the sheer weight of the impact.

Springing to her feet with feline grace, Alba wiped the smear of blood off her lips and darted forward instantaneously.

Her sword jabbed forward—aiming directly toward the man’s abdomen with increasing, lethal speed.

However, with a tight, vice-like clasp of his hands on the tip of the sword, Pluck pulled the momentum to a sudden halt.

Alba gnashed her teeth, pouring every ounce of her physical strength into the blade, which was held tight and refused to move so much as an inch forward.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk," Pluck scoffed, his eyes glinting with malice.

Instantly, his leg shot upward toward her face in a blistering kick.

With widened eyes, Alba was forced to let her sword go.

She powered her feet with Ki, dodging the kick at the very last second by a hair’s breadth.

Swinging his hand away, Pluck hurled the captured weapon aside, sending the steel clattering across the stone ground several meters away.

Simultaneously, he rushed forward like a bat out of hell, closing the distance before she could even recover her footing.

In a jiffy, he was before the woman and from there, the struggle devolved into a brutal battle of fists.

With seemingly equal determination, they began clashing.

Punch for punch.

Hit for hit.

Kick for block.

They danced around the battlefield, with Alba making sure she avoided the brunt of the heavy hits.

Even though they were somewhat evened out in raw might, Pluck still held quite the advantage due to his massive frame and superior reach aiding him.

A punch came.

Too fast.

Alba was left with no other option than to cross her forearms across her face just in time to absorb the blow.

Bam—!

The punch landed on her arms with the strength of four raging bulls.

If it wasn’t for her dense Ki coating her limbs, the bones would have likely cracked by now. Still, the force was enough to send her hurling through the air like a ragdoll.

With a loud crash, her body hit the massive form of Noir.

The familiar acted as a sturdy anchor, breaking her flight as he refused to be moved even an inch by the collision.

Only with a slight tilt of his head did Noir look back to see the woman standing up.

A determined fire burned in the depths of her eyes as she stared down the approaching Pluck.

With a low sigh, Noir turned around smoothly in a way that ensured he wouldn’t disturb Grey’s meditation.

Opening his jaws wide, a bright, searing orange glow could be seen emanating from the back of his throat.

Then, with a thunderous roar that shook the coliseum, a huge fireball burst forth like greased lightning toward the charging Pluck.

Seeing the fireball all too late, Pluck was forced to abruptly halt his reckless charge.

At the final moment, he twisted his body to the side in a desperate attempt to evade the heat.

However, the fireball still grazed him, singeing the side of his face.

Fresh blood trickled out from the burn.

He ignored the stinging pain and turned his murderous attention back toward Alba.

But before he could even take a single step forward, an ashen portal yawned open directly in front of him, and from the swirling mist, three distinct figures stepped forth.

Reinforcements had finally arrived.

"Took you all long enough," Alba scowled, her voice raspy as she saw the three people walking out into the fray.

Dame. Killian. Lance.