The controlled body of Hayato backed up and looked towards Seris.
"Are you going to continue to stop me?" Scelus's voice echoed out from seemingly nowhere again.
"You got that right," Seris said as he swung one of his rings in his hand. "I'm not too keen on losing Grey, and there's no way I'm going to let Crowe be stalled by the likes of your cheap tricks."
"Then you accept your fate. This friend of his should be more than enough to deal with you."
Hayato rushed forward again, albeit still more unbalanced than his usual form. A quick, but easy to read, punch flew at Seris's core but his free ring swung in front of him and deflected Hayato to the side.
Seris than grabbed it from the air and swung it down where Hayato stepped aside. Hayato took a few quick steps forward and dodged the attack. A second ring swung horizontally forced him to duck.
At this moment Raijin stepped forward in an attempt to help but a blue summoning circle of lightning appeared between him and the battle.
Grey stepped out and spread his wings.
If you interfere he would attempt to take you over as well, and you would be too powerful for either one alone to take you on.
"I can't sit back and do nothing!" Raijin exclaimed as lightning sparked from his drums.
On the contrary, if you wish for Seris's plan to work, that is exactly what you must do, nothing. Seris is not planning on achieving victory, he is merely attempting to stall the Chancellor for as long as possible. It's no secret that the Council has been acting strangely, but at the same time, there's not much anyone can do because of the legal matters being correct. If we are wanting everything to stay the way it is, we need the wild card that is your friends and mine. If they can free the council from the Chancellor's hold, then they can reverse the process already set in motion. So I advise you to step back and watch from afar.
Raijin scowled, "I hate that you make sense," he growled as he sat down on his cloud and moved back from the combatants with Grey close beside.
After Hayato dodged the second ring he placed his hands down on the ground and delivered a backwards kick into Seris that sent him flying.
He let go of his rings and they moved behind him and caught him, reducing his speed quickly and placing him on his feet.
It wasn't quick enough as Hayato was already on his position before he could get back into stance. He delivered another blow to Seris's stomach that made him double over in pain. Hayato lifted his hands in a double fist and was bringing them down when the ring blades began to unleash a deadly barrage.
The first ring blocked Hayato's attack, the second delivered another hit to his fists to ensure that the attack would miss. The first ring came back around and Hayato threw a punch to deflect it, the second ring did the same from the opposite direction and Hayato punched that one to the side as well. They circled around quick, forcing Hayato to step back bit by bit with every strike. The rings continued to circle and strike long enough for Seris to get back to his feet and catch his breath.
With a deep breath to get himself back into the moment he straightened up and continued the barrage from his rings; however, he now contributed by throwing in several lightning strikes. He reared back his hand and a dark cloud began to form in the sky. He dropped his hand and a bolt of lightning shot down, long enough to distract Hayato for a split second while one of the rings collided against his armor, pushing him back.
The distraction didn't last long, however, as Hayato deflected the second ring with ease.
In fact, it seemed as if Hayato had an easier time with deflecting the rings now. The longer the attacks continued the quicker he got at blocking them. It wasn't long before he was doing so with one hand.
He turned to look at Seris as he brought his own free hand up and brought down a blast of lightning onto Seris, stunning him and bringing him to his knees momentarily.
After the strike he quickly took both of his free hands and grabbed hold of Seris's rings, stopping them from flying around and striking him. His muscles tensed up as he fought against the power of them trying to move, but he held strong. He could feel them trying to spin in his hand, desperately trying to break free.
With a quick couple of spins of his body he released them and sent them flying into a nearby wall, embedding them halfway into the stone structure.
He then turned his attention back to Hayato and with his body turning a slightly lighter shade of yellow he rushed forward, almost faster than Seris could see and started to attack.
Before Seris could even react he felt too many punches to count against different parts of his body. He only knew the first one hit him in the side. He could feel electricity flowing from Hayato, but it wasn't flowing into him.
20, 30, 40, 50 punches in less than 10 seconds, he could barely feel his own body anymore aside from the excruciating pain.
60, 70, 80, 90, 100, totaled in the next 5 seconds.
Blood started to flow down from the side of Seris's mouth.
In a last feeble attempt to break free Seris unleashed a surge of lightning from his body and for a split second he could see the movement of Hayato's attacks.
The blast did little to slow Hayato, it only surprised him momentarily, but not enough for him to stop, but it gave Seris an idea.
Suddenly, Hayato's punch missed where he aimed at, albeit slightly. The next punch was off completely. Hayato realized it wasn't him missing, it was Seris dodging.
The surprise threw him off enough to allow Seris to jump back faster than Hayato had seen him move before.
The speed threw Seris off balance and he had to catch himself against a nearby pillar. He clutched at his sides and grit his teeth as the pain of moving was amplified by the internal bruising he was sure he had.
"Kind of tired of getting my ass kicked," he muttered as he took a few deep, ragged breaths.
With a flash of yellow Hayato rushed forward again but Seris reacted in kind and, in a flash of blue, he moved out of the way.
Hayato adjusted and continued his pursuit, not giving Seris much time.
He ran towards his rings and grabbed them. With a grunt he flung them out of the wall as hard as he could. They flew behind him and barely missed Hayato but they gave Seris the distraction that he needed. He glowed blue once more and turned to attack Hayato as his rings began to circle around and attack him once more.
The rings appeared to be moving in slow motion as Seris rushed forward and threw a lightning infused punch straight at Hayato's neck.
In the last instance before he connected, however, Hayato moved out of the way.
Seris unleashed even more electricity and Hayato slowed down again. He went for another punch to the neck but before he could connect he felt his organs twist and he puked up a mouthful of blood.
He fell to his hands and knees, trembling as he struggled to hold himself up.
Hayato stared down at him and with a slight twist to his body he sent a kick flying towards Seris's face.
Seris braced for the impact, but to his shock, nothing came.
He opened his eyes to see Hayato's foot a mere centimeter away from his ear.
"You fought well," Hayato said in his normal voice as he slowly placed his foot firmly on the ground.
"You... You're normal?" Seris gasped.
"I havent been under control since you tried to shock me," he offered his hand to Seris.
Seris took it and shakily stood up, grasping desperately to his sides.
"What's wrong with me?" he asked as blood trickled down his chin. "I was doing fine, I was in the middle of an attack and I almost collapsed."
"Somewhere in this battle you discovered one of my secrets," Hayato replied. "You learned to infuse your body and your brain with electricity and improve and speed up your body's movement capability and your brain's processing speed."
"That explains how you hit me so many times so quickly," he wheezed, "But I didn't even see that last hit... how fast are you?"
"That last hit was not me, that was you using up almost all of your energy. The body can handle being sped up, especially for those like us who can use electricity freely, but it still has its limits. You pushed past those way too quickly. Your body was going too fast, but even worse, your brain was too. Your brain sent too many signals and your body couldn't keep up. You almost killed yourself."
"I see..." Seris said, deep in thought.
"Here, sit," Hayato guided him to the wall.
Seris collapsed against the stone and relaxed his body.
He sat there gasping with his eyes closed for a moment.
"Why do you think you're not being controlled anymore?"
"Partly because the surge of electricity you gave me possibly helped me regain more focus, but if I had to guess, I'd say that most likely Crowe has gotten uncomfortably close and so he had to turn his attention from our battle."
"Heh, mission accomplished then," Seris smirked as he let his head rest against the wall.
It didn't take long before he completely lost consciousness.
Raijin floated next to them and looked down at Seris.
"Well, we can't just leave him here by himself," he said as he crossed his arms.
"You're right," Hayato replied, "Security would surely have him put away and he couldn't handle it in this condition.
Don't worry, I'll take him, Grey said as he descended next to them. Would you lift him onto my back, please?
Raijin nodded and placed Seris on the horse's back gently.
It would be wise for the two of you to disappear as well. Crowe will need as much help as he can get.
Grey turned and took off at a soft, low flight into the Hub.
"Think they'll be alright?" Raijin asked.
"As long as Grey is alert and well they'll have little issue," Hayato replied, "Those that can control lightning are a force to be reckoned with," he smiled as they turned to go search for Crowe.