[GamerShadow]

Finished Chapter 8. Although I put more effort into this chapter than in any other chapter, I still think it came out bad. I have to edit these when I am finished. For now, here is Chapter 8. Comments, etc are appreciated.
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Chapter 8:

There was nothing left. Every building, every street, everything in the entire Brag Board nation had been destroyed, toppled, ruined. Dust and ash blanketed the ground, giving the Brag Board an empty feel. Signs of life were now scarce; whatever was still alive was rapidly descending into the abyss of hell. Everything was suffocating in the nightmarish dust cloud that hung over the Brag Board lands. In no way did the gentle winds aid the granting of life. If anything, it only further illustrated the emptiness of the fallen land. There was no sun. There was no moon, no stars, no light that shone through to give the land hope. There were a few tracks in the powdered dust that led to the occasional corpse. The scenery was truly desolate and hopeless as a whole, and the effect it had on anybody who saw it was devastating.

Engler rose from off the ground, brushing the soot and dust off of his shoulders with a few effortless hand motions. The surprise blow Manti had landed did not injure Engler, but it did leave a bruise on his chest. The rest of his body had a few light scratches, mainly attained from sailing through the rubble from the destroyed landscape at such a high velocity. There was a miniscule tear in his right sleeve. At that point, Engler decided that the shirt would only slow him down, and took his time in removing the garment, and tossing it onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and ash, which floated upward, diffusing into the soiled air above it.

Engler knew that Manti had great power, and the game now was to not allow the beast to touch him. It was a game of hide and seek. Except with much higher risks. And in order to win such a game, one had to know where they were playing. Engler took a huge risk, and slowly and deeply surveyed the surrounding landscape, both immediate and distant. There was an occasional wall from what were previously skyscrapers. Other than that, there really wasn’t any other cover.

If Manti had located Engler at this point, it would have been a simple matter of sneaking up on him and tearing him in half. Fortunately, Manti was nowhere to be seen. This puzzled Engler slightly. But he figured that he was in no rush, as Manti was seeking him out at this very moment. Engler’s ears picked up a signal that would have otherwise been absorbed by the buildings if the Brag Board had not been destroyed. It was a faint roar. Barely audible, but it was unmistakable. It came from the south. The intent and desire to kill was apparent from the way the roar was carried out, even from what Engler figured was a mile’s distance.

“Time to end this battle,” Engler thought out loud to himself as he rose higher into the air, the shadow beneath him gradually shrinking, “I’m finished playing games with this dog.” With those words, Engler phased himself into a state of intangibility, making him virtually untouchable by anything that was not in the same state as he, and began to fly towards the exact point where Engler had figured Manti would be.

Engler was surprised to come upon Manti only two minutes later. “The ash must have really absorbed the sound.” Engler thought to himself as he prepared to re-enter battle, “I could have sworn that he was at least a mile away.” What surprised Engler more than even that was that Manti was facing in his direction, slowly walking on his back legs. His wings had been stained black, and his skin had paled to grey, and then had shifted to a darker shade of the monotone color. The mane that encompassed Manti’s lion face was now blood red, as were the claws on the beast’s hands and feet. Manti’s breath appeared in dark red vapor through his nostrils, creating a translucent cloud.

Engler began to worry. Not once had Manti averted his deathly gaze from Engler’s eyes. It was almost as if he knew Engler would be in this exact spot, at this time, trying to pull off a sneak attack. Their eyes locked, and Engler saw nothing but fury and wrath. For a brief moment, time stopped. The tension peaked and crackled around the two titans. Nothing moved. Neither of the warriors breathed. The wind died. Silence.

Then Manti struck. With the swiftness of a ninja, he shot his fist right at Engler, who was still intangible, and opened it, the claws touching Engler’s nose. With a sudden expulsion of energy, Manti forced Engler out of his current state, and with a second rapid movement, he closed his fingers around the Phantom’s face, and drove him straight into the ground. Engler, who was caught completely off guard, could not respond to the assault, and was simply taking the beating at the moment. Engler’s face was now punctured by five holes that were created from Manti’s claws. The back of his head was also badly scratched up, and was also leaking blood from the fist that had crashed onto it just a moment ago.

Manti followed up by tossing Engler high into the air, who was now flipping and rolling in a direction he could not name. With a mighty force, Manti sprung himself into the air, and slammed a undercut onto the helpless Engler’s head, which sent him crashing back down into the spot where the fight had originally began. Engler took extra effort in quickly rolling to the side as Manti’s foot crushed the ash that was under where Engler had just been. He got back onto his feet, and had to duck again to avoid the right-handed swipe that probably could have beheaded him. Engler could feel the after breeze from the attack brush his face, which caused the fresh puncture holes to sting furiously. Another backwards leap saved Engler’s throat from meeting Manti’s tail, which then shot a dark, acidic substance onto Engler’s chest, which immediately assimilated the substance.

The resulting agony was enoromous, but Engler managed to keep himself moving as Manti’s attacks continued to come. Each one felt more powerful than the last, and Engler knew that if the battle continued like this, he wasn’t going to make it out alive. An unexpected fake-out by Manti left Engler wide open. He braced himself for impact, and as predicted, Manti unleashed an incredible uppercut that connected perfectly with the weary Engler’s chin, which sent him sailing twenty feet high. The rough landing Engler experienced was not only a blow to his physical condition, but a blow to his mental standing as well.

Manti let loose another roar, one that sent chills down Engler’s spine as he lay on the ground, panting. He had only been struck a few times, but each hit was so powerful and colossal that he was almost out of energy. Blood was now splattered everywhere, and one of Engler’s eyes had swollen and turned a purplish black color. His right arm was now completely shattered from the landing, and the bloodied ash that surrounded the area of impact was proof. To top everything else off, the impacts on his head was serving nothing good for his thought process. Everything appeared blurry to Engler, and he couldn’t smell or feel anything. His body was already waving the white flag, but in his clouded mind, Engler knew that he had to keep fighting. But he was not in any condition to do so. He had to do something to make Manti drop his guard. And he did the only thing he could.

Manti advanced on the nearly finished Engler, and glared at him intensely. Each step he took released a powerful shockwave through the ground that shook up everything within a quarter mile like a giant electric shock. He noticed that the indigo aura had left Engler, but that was most likely a drop in power, which in his mind, was a sign of defeat. As Manti prepared to deliver the final blow, a weak voice barely called out to him.

“No,” it coughed, splattering blood over the already wounded chest, “…don’t… kill… me. It’s…” he coughed to talk in his weakened voice, and continued up more blood, “it’s me… Engler. Please… spare… me.”

Manti froze, and his mind went through an explosion of memories of Engler. For a second, he said nothing, but eventually, he confirmed it. The body really was Engler. And whatever had possessed him was gone. Manti felt awful, and his hands dropped to his sides, hanging limp by his waist. His wings and tail drooped, and he hung his head in shame, his mane concealing any expressions Manti was making at the moment. Eventually, Manti picked his head back up, and with a solemn tone, apologized. He walked over to Engler, and was about to pick the body up, when a strange phenomenon occurred. In an instant, Engler had his unbroken hand on Manti’s ankle, and he was beginning to absorb energy from Manti’s body. Suddenly, the indigo aura returned with a surge of sound and light. As Engler’s strength returned to his body, he tightened his grip and laughed, while Manti began to lose his strength.

“You fool,” Mocked Phantom Engler in his ultra-deep voice once again, “see what happens when you don’t simply finish off those that are about to die? You haven’t learned anything, you stupid dog, and I am going to make you pay most dearly for your mistake.”

Manti was now beginning to lose his consciousness. His eyesight was becoming blurry, and his hearing was fading quickly. He fell onto one knee as Engler began to stand up, laughing the whole time this was happening. And just when Manti was about to give up, a voice echoed from the heavens.

“You will not destroy this world, noob, and I shall see to it myself.” Instantly, a gigantic white missile like object shot down onto the ground, causing an enormous cloud of ash and dust to fly up into the air. Engler, in shock, let go of Manti, who on instinct got up and retreated back a few steps. After a few seconds the voice spoke again. This time, it was much closer, and it spoke with authority and power. “Engler, your life ends here and now. You will die by my hand, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Engler shivered in fear with his eyes wide open. “No,” He said, his voice shaking as well, “You aren’t real. You are but a legend, a myth. You can’t possibly exist.”

“A myth?” replied the voice, “Then exactly who or what is standing in front of you at this very moment?”

Manti quickly interjected to make his presence known. One word was all he needed, and that word was, “Shashakiro.”