Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

195 - A Monstrous Trio

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"Fenix..." I muttered, never breaking eye-contact with the enemy.

"You're helping us?" Dagan enquired.

"Heh," he chuckled, "Don't be fooled, Zephyr. I just would never be satisfied with an ending like that. That bastard stepped over a line he never should have. Our battle isn't over yet, Xyder Zephyr. The one who gets the most hits on that bastard before he eats the dirt, wins!"

"Oh?" I smirked, "For the first time I have to say, I like the way you think, Zacharias Fenix."

"Imbeciles!" Zephyrus bellowed, bounding towards us with his wide, pounding steps. However, we were not only ready, but were now fully determined and confident that we would prevail.

Zacharias, in his demonic form, and I shot towards our foe, flanking him from both sides. Unsurprisingly, he blocked our strikes simultaneously with his limbs, yet we were unfazed. After all, we'd planned for it... at least subconsciously. When he halted our limbs, it allowed us to lock him in place for a moment; just long enough for Dagan to appear, driving his arm into the unprotected abdomen of the Vessel at maximum force.

Neo-Zephyrus pitched across the field haphazardly, somewhat catching himself just in time to steel his body against the earthen, arm-like construct which emerged abruptly before swatting at him powerfully. He extended his elbows fully, catching hold of the giant, dirt palm as I, having bolted to him, attempted to land a solid knee to his obliques. His experience shone through when he effortlessly raised his left leg to parry my movement perfectly, but it left him only a bit vulnerable for what was hardly a few seconds. Zacharias capitalised on this, striking the man's jaw with a flying uppercut that gave him tremendous lift.

Seeing the opportunity presented, Zacharias immediately took off after our fazed opponent with Dagan, whom had flung himself skyward with his element, at his side. They struck out simultaneously at the man from both sides in an attempt to confuse him, however he was above such tricks, twisting and redirecting their series of punches away from him. In the end though, he proved to be distracted just long enough for me to appear behind him and unload a combo of swift kicks which drove him earthbound, head first.

I had already been preparing for our next move, catching Dagan's hand as he rose past me and hurtling him in the opposite direction before giving chase myself in a bolt of Lightning. We caught up to Neo-Zephyrus amidst his spiralling descent, aiming to further his unfavorable odds of escaping with minimum injury from the fall. We didn't even anticipate his next desperate move, intentionally dislocating his shoulder temporarily so he could reach behind him enough to seize our throats and wrench us forward to break his fall. We were inches away from being planted into the floor when Zacharias appeared beside Neo-Zephyrus and pulled off an arching left hook to our foe's temple, causing him to spin off violently from the momentum, parralel to the base of the arena.

I twisted my body in such a way that I slowed my descent from a combination of drag and the lift from my Wind Element. The instant my shoe grazed the grass, I blasted after the dazed Primordial Vessel alongside Fenix's Regulus Heir. In a near synchronized motion, we swooped down and caught him just beneath both arms and, momentarily, held him upright as Dagan drove his Corundum forehead into the man's skull.

Neo-Zephyrus collapsed with such force from the blow that upon contacting the sand, his body bounced back up some four feet. Barely even catching their breath, Zacharias and Dagan went to work again, catching Neo-Zephyrus by the mandible and pelvis respectively before driving him down onto my waiting knee with all of their body's power and weight. I could feel every grind and snap of his lumbar and thoracic spine as it shattered from the grueling impact. However, this wasn't the end of our assault.