The air had a high percentage of humidity, the shirts were soaked with sweat, a noise, almost a groan came from the mouth of 3 boys, 2 on the ground and one still standing holding himself on his knees, breathing with difficulty.
Ethan and Jesús, Emily and Marcus, Cloe and Lucius, each one performed a basic defense training, ways of defense against different forms of attack, whether armed or hand-to-hand.
Rudolf maintained a better pace than the boys, but it didn't mean things were going better for him, he encountered the insurmountable wall, the monstrous physique of Caleb was leaving him in a bad position with the assassin techniques he knew; it was like asking an ant to lift a dog, he simply couldn't.
"Haa..what the hell haa…why haa… is there so much difference"
The one complaining gasping almost without air was Jesús, who in none of the assaults could land a hit or catch Ethan, he was far superior regardless of the tactic he devised, his speed and jumps left him overwhelmed, apart from the points he marked on his body while dodging each blow, he was practically telling him that at those moments he was dead, at this point he could be considered a colander for the amount of tape marks he had stuck to him.
On Cloe's part she was a little more relaxed, although Lucius was brilliant, his poor physique left him in the same situations as Jesús, both on the ground. Lucius didn't understand how someone could be so flexible, deliver battles and throw their hand as if it were a knife, hitting critical points that could kill him if they were real knives. He had purple bruises all over his body, if Ethan was more attentive to teaching the weak points of the attacks that Jesús tried to land on him, Cloe would be totally ruthless showing how an enemy could attack him without him being able to defend himself, this of course in order to accustom the 2 to their own speeds that were already scandalously overwhelming in themselves.
Over time, the two could start devising strategies to better defend and attack themselves, although each one should rotate with another companion of the Inquisitors of Elend to be able to practice and understand what they should improve on.
However…. Emily had a difficulty that she didn't expect to find.
'…Damn, doesn't he ever get tired?, he seems like a cockroach that can't be eliminated'
The only one who was still standing, breathing with difficulty and still putting up a fight, was Marcus.
Emily is not a specialist in hand-to-hand combat, she is in charge of covering the backs of her companions at a distance, despite that, it didn't mean she was weak, far from it, the whole team were monsters in themselves.
What left her perplexed was not that he resisted only her bare-knuckle attacks, she was provoked on one occasion, which made her take a branch as a replacement for the spear she used and attack him with her specialty, in a limited manner of course, but that didn't mean she had been soft with him.
"..haa, is that all you can give? haa… come at me" absorbing the air with difficulty and with a mocking smile provoking her enemy, Marcus still wanted to fight against his opponent, that caused a rage that she didn't expect to spring from the depths of her being.
"Ja…. If you ask for it", between whispers, Emily launched herself against Marcus in a wave of provocation and rage.
'I should stop the encounter, it's been almost two hours since they started, it's better if they change partners', I thought as I watched Emily lose control before her overflowing emotions.
Personality #2: {Let them}
Suddenly I heard another voice in my head, it was #2
'Do you want me to kill him?, he seems to be out of control'
#4 was in charge of handling my body, even after leaving the narcos' complex, there was a specific reason why I kept that personality still in play, even if that caused more stress on my body.
For my luck, it was only an assimilation of a maximum of 50%, far from the stressful 75% I had to use against Varyn.
Personality #2: {Don't focus only on the surface, didn't I tell you once?, to see the possible paths you must see beyond all the probabilities, at this point you underestimate what Marcus is trying to do, pay attention and only intervene at the end}
{It also seems dangerous to me, are you sure?} said #4 while my eyebrows slowly furrowed.
{just trust me} finally said #2.
From the beginning of the conversation in Heiss's head only 3 seconds had elapsed, therefore, Emily was already practically on top of her adversary.
Suddenly, in a rough and strong movement, the rod with which she slid as in a dance slid over the grass, hitting Marcus's feet and making him lose his balance.
Releasing the rod, she spun again with the momentum gained, and raising her foot, a descending kick crashed against Marcus's side, making him fall into the grass.
The blow made him spit out saliva from his mouth, but for some reason, his eyes were still bloodshot as he looked at Emily.
Caleb noticed how Emily had lost her sanity and was the situation Marcus was in, he stopped what he was doing and took a step to go stop her.
But at that moment, Rudolf arrived with a kick to the head, tilting his center of gravity and spinning to raise his foot. With no other option, he stopped the kick with his arm.
"WAIT"
With an alarming voice, Caleb tried to stop Rudolf.
"That's not your business"
However, Rudolf didn't pay attention to him and simply told him that it wasn't his business.
"Just observe"
If Rudolf knew anything, it was that Heiss was not normal at all, and that as crazy as he was, he wouldn't let his subordinate be seriously injured without some intention.
But he didn't make this decision for nothing, he made it by observing the behavior he had in the combat, he didn't let himself be carried away by panic and remained firm without moving.
Immediately distinguishing his intentions, he stopped worrying and took advantage of the opening Caleb left at that instant.
In the middle of the combat, the kick fell like a guillotine, it seemed like it was going to be a fatal and overwhelming blow.
"¡Thok!"
A dry blow was heard when it touched his side, making Marcus spit saliva.
Despite that, something incredible happened, Marcus's left hand wrapped around Emily's leg at the moment of the blow.
He didn't look away, as if he knew the blow was coming.
Falling dizzily and holding onto her limb, Marcus spun around the leg, then raised his right foot in the air while spinning.
Using every muscle in his body, and tensing it to the maximum, he let his foot fall, his idea was to wrap himself around his opponent's foot, taking advantage of the kick received and spinning on his own new axis, in order to trap his opponent's foot and crush it with another upward kick.
Without more, the foot fell, hitting Emily's thigh.
Upon realizing his intention, she let herself fall, letting herself fall backwards on her only foot that supported her. This to avoid a certain blow, well that could perhaps seriously injure her in the best case, break her leg in the most likely.
"¡Thok!"
With all that, she still received a powerful kick that made her hit hard against the ground, the greatest pain was at the intersection of her leg where the force of her held foot and the kick hitting her made her feel a strong muscle twinge.
"¡AHH!", a loud scream, was heard.
Everyone was watching the fight without blinking a single second, Emily's companions became worried.
Unexpectedly, Emily grabbed the wooden stick she had let go of to the side in the grass and pointed directly at Marcus.
He was tangled with his arm under Emily's leg, he had no way out.
A whistle was heard in the air, the rod was launched in the direction of his opponent's face.
"¡!"
Suddenly, a hand grabbed the tip of the spear before it could hit Marcus's skull and shatter it.
Personality #2: "I need him alive, I would appreciate it if you left off here"
The gaze of everyone was on Emily, Marcus and Heiss. Especially on Heiss, everyone thought something when they saw him arrive, 'so fast!'.
"¡Don't interfere!", a strong voice was heard, and the rod began to tremble violently, it was her using all her strength.
Personality #2: "I thought I had told you to stop ¡crack!"
The wooden stick broke once Heiss used his hand to apply opposite force, managing to break it and pull it to the side.
Once discarded, he approached her and looked directly into her eyes.
Personality #2: "Learn to moderate yourself, understood?"
His eyes had changed, now they were ruby red looking at her stoically, but which caused chills down her spine, she stopped worrying about the pain and got up quickly, then bowed.
"..I'm losorrow", amid nerves she apologized by bowing her head.
Stopping looking at her, he approached Marcus and observed him with his penetrating eyes. He could feel as if he had offended a king, and not just any, one that was totally terrifying.
Personality #2: "And you, the maneuver was good, but do you think it's worth unbalancing the opponent if you were going to lose in the end?, if you didn't get his weapon away in the same way you would be dead. Besides, this is a practice…"
Taking him by the neck, he lifted him up to leave him standing, then brought him closer, leaving just a few centimeters from him, to finally finish him with some cold words.
Personality #2: "Were you going to break her leg?, and then what?, you would give all of us problems, would you assume responsibility?"
"I, I'm sorry…"
A defeated look appeared as he realized that he had gone too far with his opponent just because he was strong. It was a practice and nothing more, he should learn from them, not abuse their trust.
Upon seeing that the two had learned the lesson, he turned to see the others.
Personality #4: "This is a practice, don't forget that your rival can be lethal, but more than that, pay attention to what the point is of doing all of this. Stay calm and take advantage to interact and find your own weak points, I won't let any stupid mistake give us problems later on. When we all get to Florencia you will understand, you can't underestimate the MRCU, when we do that consider yourselves dead"
Each one swallowed saliva slowly, even Caleb and Rudolf stopped after Heiss's interruption.
Each one could feel the change of personality he showed a moment ago, it was methodical, cold and stoic, besides being incredibly precise when speaking and acting; hardly anyone could have stopped that wooden stick at the speed and closeness they were going.
2 people in particular felt and froze when they saw the such an abrupt change of personality, one was Rudolf, the other was Cloe.
His ruby eyes were slowly replaced by the dark green he had before.
Personality #4: "If you've already rested, you can proceed with the change of partners, I'll go buy something to drink, continue"
Moving away from the place, he distanced himself towards one of the local stores that sold different products for consumption.
As he distanced himself, he put his hand to his nose, feeling something warm falling slowly.
It was a drop of blood that fell from his nose, then more fell until the bleeding stopped.
'I must be more careful, I knew that keeping you all was going to be a burden on my nervous system, but I didn't think it would go that far as to use #2'
'Maybe it was me who rushed, I shouldn't risk myself for the sake of some strangers'
{Remember that strangers took care of you when you arrived at the district, wasn't it your sworn brother who took care of you when you arrived?, you must know that you need as many people as possible if you think about stopping them, and they can be useful to you}, this time it was #3 who spoke inside my head.
'…That doesn't mean I should bet everything on them'
{Maybe you should bet everything if you want all of us to be alive in a few years, don't forget Heiss, we, your older brothers were the ones who risked helping you when no one else did, the least you must do is fulfill their will, our will}
'….As convincing as always'
Without more he squeezed the fist in which the drops of blood had fallen, his gaze reflected rage, desolation and great sadness.