A few minutes later, Kuhn Lau watched from a distance as Slicer traded violent punches with Ace and Indistructo. He held his own against the two while Kuhn Lau carefully studied the assassin's actions.

It seemed he had the upper hand as he could surprise Slicer with an unexpected attack. With his right hand pointed toward the ground and his eyes closed. He fixed his attention on the aquifer. The moment that he did that, the current halted. Through the might of his skills, it ascended toward the surface. Despite surging toward the surface, the current was not strong enough to phase through.

"What is going on?" He pondered.

"Why isn't the water coming out?"

After some time, he concluded.

"Of course, the thickness of the crust is blocking the current from coming out. Now, I wonder what would happen if I raised my hands?"

He elevated his hands to apply additional pressure to assist the current in passing through. As luck would have it, a spring of water erupted. There were also multiple springs of fresh water all around Kuhn Lau. The springs emerged from the earth and ascended toward the dark, grey sky.

Kuhn Lau then moved his hands in various ways to manipulate the springs. Then, a peculiar event happened. The water springs began to ascend in a spiral shape, initially resembling a tornado. While this was happening, Kuhn Lau levitated until he arrived at the center of the water tornado.

Meanwhile, Ace kept Slicer distracted while Indistructo charged his Iron Fist. When the Iron Fist of Unmei was energized, he tried to strike Slicer with it from behind. Unfortunately, the latter zipped away, using rapid movement. Instead, he hit Ace with it.

The force of his fist repelled him at a further distance. The windows of the buildings that Ace passed ruptured.

"Ace!" He yelled with concern

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Slicer inquired.

"Shut up!"

Without notice, Indistructo pursued him, flying with tremendous speed. However, Slicer analyzed his body to find vital points.

He did this by using his HUD. He found one of his vital points, which was on the nape. With precise speed, he struck him with a chop to the neck. He then lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

He then tendered his gaze to Kuhn Lau. When his eyes fell on him, a frightening sight stood before him. Kuhn Lau was confined in a terrifying element, a tornado of water.

"Well, I'll be damned. I guess Kuhn Lau isn't as weak as I thought. No matter; I've dealt with far worse than this," Slicer murmured.

When the tornado reached six hundred feet, Kuhn Lau opened his eyes and fixed them toward his adversary.

"It's time for you to atone for all your sins, assassin!" Kuhn Lau exclaimed.

He extended his hands in his direction, which caused the tornado to change into a wave. The enormous wave rushed to sweep him away as it crashed into the ground. Slicer, however, transitioned away from his current position and appeared above Kuhn Lau. Kuhn Lau was too surprised to respond at that moment. He believed that the current had swept him away.

Sliced clobbered him with a double axe handle because he left himself wide open. He was knocked to the ground by the force of the attack. He hit the earth, making a hole in the surface.

Moments later, Slicer descended to the ground. When his feet touched the surface, that's where he encountered his next opponent, Pete.

Pete hurled a series of energy balls his way. Slicer stood still and let himself get attacked. When the myriad of energy balls struck him, an explosion occurred. Slicer then emerged from the fire and made his way toward Pete unscathed.

Out of frustration, Pete grabbed his hair and tried to rip it away from his head.

"Just die, god dammit!" He exclaimed.

He then sprinted at Slicer; he jumped and attempted to kick him with a flying, spinning kick. Slicer snatched his heel and slammed his body into the ground quickly.

Slicer then hoisted him off the ground by holding his neck. He then delivered a devastating blow to Pete's abdomen. When that fist landed, blood spurted from his mouth. Slicer then landed a barrage of punches to increase his suffering. When the ordeal ended, he looked at Pete one last time.

"Peter, Peter, Peter. Whatever happened to your confidence? You are just like your friend, Nicholas. You are all talk but no action. I'm fairly disappointed. I thought your training had paid off. So it seems that you've wasted your time; how sad."

Slicer then tossed him away like he was a plastic bag. Pete collided with the nearest car. When that happened, he sat up and held his right shoulder to alleviate his anguish.

***********

At The Skyscraper

Max's lens sent a wave of high-frequency pulses that recorded a response time. In doing so, a map of the entire building was formed; this then helped him locate the whereabouts of the hostages.

"I found'em." He said with his head cocked up.

"Where are they?"

"They are on the twentieth floor. However, we have a problem. It looks like Slicer's lackeys surround the hostages."

He further studied the building until a particular object grabbed his attention.

"We have a problem."

Viper looked at him with her brows narrowed.

"Why, what's going on?" She inquired.

"I have detected incendiary energy."

"Wait, do you mean? Is it some bomb of some sort?"

He nodded, hinting at the accuracy of her answer.

"How can you map an entire building with just a lens?" She inquired.

"Well, I applied echolocation by converting the energy cell of my phone into a high-frequency generator; this then allowed the HUD of my lens to map out the entire building," he said with a smile.

She incremented her eyebrows and nodded.

"My, I'm impressed. So you are a mechanical engineer, I presume?"

"Yes, of course."

***********

The two exited the elevator after its doors suddenly slid open. They moved forward through a maze of corridors. They then barged into a small housing office building, where all the hostages were seated on the floor with their hands over their heads.

About fifty troopers stood in that vicinity. Fortunately, there was enough room for everyone to be present.

The hostages then quavered like a pack of mischievous mice as the troopers aimed their kinetic rifles at them, heightening their concerns.

Then, a bomb started to count down, bringing them closer to their demise. A few captives began to cry as they were not far from the bomb. It was close by, affixed to a column only a few meters away.

A child leaned her head on her mother's side and ran her fingers through her clothes. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she feared the worst, and her eyes filled with despair.

A trooper raised his helmet lens by pushing it up.

Through the helmet's opening, he murmured in a garbled voice, "Enjoy the last seconds of your lives!"

The time chimed down with haste, making its presence known as it read 00:04:37 and counting.

Suddenly, Max and Vanessa stormed inside the room. Some of the troopers directed their rifles at the two.

"You're not allowed here. We will shoot you if you don't return where you come from!" One of the troopers said.

Max used his abilities without warning, prompting his eye contact to change to light blue. From that point forward, he sent forth a magnetic field that made the rifles fall out of their hands. Max moved his hands in various ways; this enabled the weapons to pivot and point back at the troopers.

The terrified Dark Raiders took a few steps back while raising their arms. Max pushed the trigger on each rifle, firing a hail of kinetic energy blasts at them without touching the triggers.

He then hurried to the column as the rifles fell to the ground after finishing the act. When everything went according to his plan, he saw an uncontrolled storm moving toward where they were. If you're wondering what that storm might be, it was a fleet of Dark Raiders that was five stories above them. It appears that most of them descended the stairway, with only a tiny number boarding the elevators.

"We've got company."

He assured her while disarming the explosive. She lowered her eyes and turned her icy, bone-chilling gaze toward the hallways, waiting for an attack.

"Don't worry, I'll see it to the end that I may keep our guests entertained," she said.

***********
At the battlefield

Yung Fu shot two red-ki blasts at a charging Slicer, and a massive explosion occurred. Slicer, however, defied the terror of the hungry flames and emerged from the fire after a short while. Yung Fu forced a hard lump through his mouth as he pondered how to stop this demonic force from terrorizing their lives.

Indeed, they had expended a significant amount of energy on their attacks.

Nevertheless, despite everything they did, none of their attacks were successful. Their opponent remained unharmed and had replenishable energy stores. The more they attacked, the more their energy was depleted.

"How are we supposed to defeat Slicer? We did everything possible to bring him down, but nothing worked!" Yung Fu muttered.

Fear had seeped into Yung Fu's bones for the first time in many decades, for he had never encountered such a formidable adversary.

Slicer, though, could see his fear through the windows of his soul. He knew that doubt had taken control of him; now, it would be a matter of time until he and the other Guardians fell to their knees in surrender.

Without warning, Slicer zipped away from where he stood and appeared before him. His hand morphed into a blade, and he drove it through the right side of his chest while tackling him to the floor.

Yung Fu yelped when the blade encountered a chain of bones in his body.

He pulled the blade out to satisfy his blood lust and drove it through his chest again. This time, he stabbed him multiple times as blood seeped out of his flesh; this created an image of liquid cheese erupting from a volcano of nacho chips.

When there seemed to be no hope left, Ace appeared on the horizon and rammed the scythe through Slicer's back. Finally, some form of attack could pierce through this impenetrable shell.

Slicer raised his head and fixed his piercing, frigid gaze on him despite the scythe carving an open wound. He then scowled and held his hand while pointing a finger toward Ace.

Fearfully, Ace rubbed his head and chuckled sarcastically, "I'm sorry."

He struck the latter with a lightning bolt; it ate away at his clothes and skin, sending him flying across several blocks.

Indistructo then fired a laser beam at Slicer from behind. Slicer survived even though a regular being would have died at the impact of that attack.

Indistructo's eyes widened with astonishment. Then, he furrowed his brows as he devised a different strategy to take Slicer out.

"This time, I won't miss!" Indistructo said as he clenched his fist. He charged his Iron Fist once more.

Slicer turned to face him and said, "Oh, so you think that that's supposed to scare me?! Foolish creature, you are very naive. To prove to you that your attacks will do nothing to me, I dare you to strike me!"

Once the Iron Fist Of Unmei was fully charged, a black aura coated it, and he flew towards and attempted to strike him. Slicer grabbed his fist, thus proving the validity of his statement.

"Aren't you tired of this? We went through this before. I don't see how there will be anything different this time."

Nicholas clenched his teeth in frustration. Slicer's remarks made him reflect on their first fight. He raised the ferocity of the Iron Fist to a new level.

Slicer looked at Indistructo's fist and saw how gradually the latter was overpowering the vice-like grip he had on his fist. Slicer's hand started to shake nervously.

"Impossible this has to be a mistake!"

To prevent him from getting the upper hand, Slicer eased his hold on Indistructo's fist because he would suffer damage to his hand if he didn't. The longer he held onto the latter's fist, the stronger it became, as a wave of vibrations spread throughout the city block.

Meanwhile, Pete looked at this battle slightly from afar. He was studying Slicer, probing for weakness. Kuhn Lau then emerged from behind.

"Why are you still looking? Can't you see that Nicholas is in trouble? We need to help him!"

"Look, Kuhn Lau, we shouldn't waste our time and energy trying to outmuscle him. At this point, it is useless; we all know how powerful he is. We need to exploit his weakness now, or we will lose!"

Kuhn Lau nodded and inquired, "What should we do? Max is not here. If he were here, he would immobilize Slicer. At the same time, Ace is somewhere out there, unconscious with his scythe."

Pete directed his hand toward Slicer's proximity, with his finger pointing at an object close to Slicer's ankles. Much to their fortune, it was Ace's scythe. It fell to the ground after Ace shoved it into his back. The scythe fell to the ground nearby when Slicer took him out with a lightning bolt.

To Be Continued

Author's note

The Eastern Dragon symbolizes power and strength in East Asian culture. Its holiness was incorporated into martial arts. The user of the dragon style primarily uses sweeps, a wide range of kicks, locks, and takedowns. As such, Yung Fu is versatile and relies on a heavy degree of unique kicks and sweeps. He is so powerful that he is one of the top three most potent members of the Divine Guardians.