188. Re: Akor vs Rex (Part-2)
With Rex breaking through the 1-foot-wide Volatile Aqua shell with relative difficulty, Akor went all in and made it as tough as he could, tripling its thickness.
Although that troubled Rex, going all out had let him pierce his arm through the shell.
But that gave Akor enough time to dodge incoming attacks. To counter that, Rex activated his other Innate Exclusive skill, <Deceleration Debuff>, on his opponent.
<Deceleration Debuff>: Allows the user to cast a debuff to quarter the target's movement speed for 1 minute.
Cost: 20% of the user's Spirit Energy.
As soon as the skill's effect took place, Akor's movement speed dulled considerably, making it harder for him to dodge Rex's claws.
Most of the time, Akor dodged them by a hair's breadth, but occasionally, a few gashes appeared on his skin.
Akor knew that he couldn't continue with that for long.
If that continues, the chances of him losing to Rex were sky-high, and he didn't wish to lose, especially to Rex. So, he made a bold move, one that Rex didn't see coming.
Akor didn't dodge the incoming claw strike to his torso and instead let it stab through him.
Despite the tormenting pain, Akor made his move without even a split-second delay. He gripped Rex's arm with all his strength as he simultaneously repaired the hole punctured in the Volatile Aqua shell.
Doing so seized Rex's body within the shell, making most of his body immobile while at the same time having to suffer the burn from being in direct contact with the Volatile Aqua element.
Although the Pseudo-Speed Energy protected Rex from the damage, it came at the cost of heavy Spirit Energy expenditure.
He could only endure that since it was the most effective way in his arsenal to save himself from being burned by the Volatile Aqua element.
Akor could barely move whilst grabbing onto Rex's arm that stabbed into his torso, but that didn't stop him from deploying his ace move.
A bunch of 10-feet long Tridents made of Volatile Aqua element began to materialise on the inner side of the miniature dome shell that enveloped the Stage.
That process was slow enough for Rex's tuned-up time perception to sense those Volatile Aqua Tridents were pointed at his back.
If it weren't for him being stuck within the shell, dodging those tridents would be a piece of cake, but only if his movement wasn't restricted.
Rex tried to free himself, but to no avail, and before long, those tridents were launched at him one after another.
Every time one of those hit him, a deafening bang would resonate throughout the entire Colosseum.
The spectators occasionally flinched at the devastation Rex would be suffering with each strike. But what they didn't know was that Pseudo-Speed Energy took care of most of the damage.
However, that further increased the already exorbitant Spirit Energy expenditure, leaving Rex with few seconds before his Spirit Energy reserve could hit rock bottom.
If he couldn't defeat Akor by then, that would be the end of their Bout, with him being on the losing end.
Instead of trying to free himself, he focussed on his right arm that stabbed Akor's torso.
With Akor firmly holding onto it and the shell engulfing most of him, pulling out or pushing in the arm was out of an option for him.
So, Rex came up with the next best thing. He began to vibrate his arm as fast as possible, and thanks to the amplified movement speed and attack damage of Pseudo-Speed Energy, the damage dealt was no less than stabbing Akor thrice in the same spot.
While coughing up blood, Akor squeezed in a smile, "Filthy Mutt, to defeat me, you need to be willing to put yourself in more harm's way...…..I have what it takes, do you?"
Soon after that, Rex's Spirit Energy could no longer hold up the insane expenditure and was exhausted completely.
With the Pseudo-Speed Energy no longer protecting Rex, he was as vulnerable as butter to a knife in front of the incoming Volatile Aqua Tridents.
The next moment, Rex was impaled onto the Stage, leaving him in a sorry state.
If not for Rex's body occasionally twitching from the piercing pain, the spectators would have doubted he died from the impalement.
In the little to no time he had, Rex tilted his body as much as he could and managed to avoid those Tridents impaling his most vital spots.
Before the Volatile Tridents could cause substantial damage from within, Akor's Spirit Energy depleted as well, and those Tridents vanished along with the shell that protected Akor, as did the miniature Volatile Aqua dome that engulfed the Stage.
If not for the enhanced regeneration provided by his racial skill <Lycanthrope Vitality>, Rex's blood would have gushed out through the numerous see-through holes all over his body instead of coagulating as quickly as it did.
But that wasn't of much help to Rex. The pace at which those heavy injuries recovered moved at a snail's pace due to the severity of the injuries inflicted.
Even in such a condition, Rex approached Akor and threw a swing at him, disregarding the injuries.
With either of them no longer possessing Spirit Energy, the spar turned into a first fight.
In regards to physical condition, Akor was in a better state. After all, he had a single hole in his torso, while Rex was riddled with several such injuries.
However, Rex was the one who held an advantage, all thanks to the 45% passive movement bonus from his Innate Talent.
While Akor could barely land a hit, Rex didn't have trouble landing several of his own.
Before long, their Stamina almost hit rock bottom, and their Bout turned into a dull brawl, where neither could barely swing a punch at the other.
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