Chapter 32: Eternal Cloud Sect 3

"How dare you hurt our brother!"

The skinny disciple had caught the short one in his arms. He then backed away to gain some distance.

The weird thing was, even the bulky gorilla – ehem, disciple backed away as well. He disregarded his advantageous position to look after the punched down disciple.

He appeared to be concerned for the well-being of the other person.

Allen Stryka was taken aback with what he saw. He was left alone while he had fighting stance ready after all. He remained unmoving for a few seconds.

Fortunately, the annoying fountain of water was dispelled when the ability-user was hit.

The young man pondered for a while. He then voiced out his thoughts. He inquired,

"Could it be that you're really brothers?"

The worried look from the two remaining disciples had made him consider this possibility. The amount of concern they were giving was more than what sworn brothers would express.

Well compared to the typical treatment of sworn brothers from the novels he read before the apocalypse that is.

The skinny one glared at him. His eyes were full of anger. There were even a few drops of tears forming on the edge of his eyelids. He answered,

"So what if we are? Why would a brute care for this detail?"

"Brute?"

Allen raised an eyebrow. He was confused on what the other person was talking about.

These three had no hesitations on ganging up on him. But when one of them got hit, they come accusing him of being rough.

What case of entitlement was this?

If this was how the disciples here behaved, then there was no reason to be impressed with the Eternal Cloud Sect.

The young could not help but give them a piece of his mind. He reasoned out,

"This is a battle. If you're afraid of getting hurt then don't go attacking other people."

However, his words seemed to have fallen in deaf ears. Instead of reflecting on it, the skinny disciple was enraged by this. He snarled,

"You dare!"

"Enough Goree. Take Yeruu away from here. I'll handle this cretin on my own."

The bulky man cut off the skinny disciple. Whose name was apparently Goree.

On a side note, Allen would have loved to point out that the one who should have been named as Goree was the bulky disciple.

He looked and acted like a gorilla after all.

But this issue was out of the young man's hands. He was not the one making these names after all.

Anyway, the skinny disciple looked dejected by the order. He shook his head as if to express his refusal. He pleaded,

"No brother, I can still fight!"

"This is not for discussion. Go!"

The bulky disciple was adamant with his decision. Then he rushed forward. He angrily declared,

"You cretin! I, Burak, shall finish you!"

Allen wanted to voice out his complaints on the naming sense of whomever called them that. But he chose not to. He was about to engage on a fight after all.

He readied his stance. He then faced the enemy head on.

The bulky disciple threw a punch forward. But the young man was able to avoid it easily. The latter then followed-up with a light left jab.

Allen might have started to embody the technique of countering. But he would still need more experience before he could become adept on it.

Fortunately, he could try that out against the disciple in front of him. That was why he was pulling his punches right now. Literally.

The bulky man named Burak seemed too distressed to fight properly. Perhaps he was really concerned with the condition of his so-called brother.

Thus the young man had simply considered this bout as a sparring match. Was he making fun of the disciple in front him? Was he not giving the guy some face?

Of course he was.

Allen was quite displeased with these 'disciples' after all. He heard them say 'Die! Die!' so easily. And yet they falter in the first sign of damage.

The young man had traveled through the wilds. Where saying something that grave meant having the conviction to risk your own life.

How could these pampered people take the word so lightly!

The sparring match continued after a few more exchanges.

And then,

"Brother, I can still fight!"

The short disciple named Yeruu shouted. He seemed to have now regained his bearing.

Finally.

Allen sighed in his thoughts. He had actually been waiting for the short disciple to recover.

Unfortunately, he was not as vigorous as the bulky one. Hence waiting for him took longer than expected.

"Very good!"

Burak smirked. His expression lightened up now that he heard to voice of his brother. He returned to that pompous attitude he had in the beginning.

He backed away from the young man. He then ordered,

"Let's use that! Time to finish this cretin once and for all!"

The two other disciples nodded in agreement. They both have a smug grin on their faces. They then rushed to meet with their elder brother.

"Ozama Guree!"

"Ozama Yeruu!"

"Ozama Burak!"

The skinny one, the short one and the bulky disciple recited respectively. The elder brother then took the central formation while the other two each went to his side.

Each one of them had taken a different battle pose. But when put together, they would resemble a triangular shape.

Are they really going to do that?

Allen thought while having a deadpan expression. The actions he saw reminded him of the television shows he watched before. It was about a certain team of colorful fighters.

But for some reason there was a disconnect between those scenes compared to what he was seeing in from of him. A very huge disconnect at that.

Nonetheless he did not lower his guard. He began to accumulate his soul energy as well.

And then the Ozama brothers seemed to be ready. They all shouted in unison,

"[Ozama Delta Hurricane]!"

Their elemental energies combined. Forming an ethereal triangle in front of them. Then the construct began spinning.

The twisting motion had conjured a horizontal whirlwind. The localized tornado was now heading towards the young man.

SWOOOSH!

The attack resolved and there was nothing left but a pile of rubble where the enemy once stood.

"Take that! The skill combination of us brothers is the best after all!"

"Serves you right for making fun of us."

"Hmm, weak."

Goree, Yeruu, and Burak said respectively. They sounded quite pleased that they had dealt with their enemy.

"Hmph. As what you would expect from the disciples of the Eternal Cloud Sect."

The voice of the lady named Etena was then heard. She seemed to be praising the three disciples. She then called out,

"You!"

"Yes, elder?"

A nervous voice replied readily. Perhaps it belonged to another disciple.

The lady continued after taking the attention of the nervous one. She ordered,

"Pick up the corpse and dispose of it immediately."

"As you wish, elder."

However,

"Not yet!"

Allen sprang out of the rubble. He rushed forward and aimed for the Ozama brothers.

The reason why he did not stand up immediately was because he was charging up his attack. It apparently took more time preparing two Raging Smashes at the same time than he estimated.

BAM!

His left straight punch landed on the skinny disciple named Guree. The young man had chosen the guy as a target because he had the fastest reaction time amongst the three.

He had to eliminate the speedy one first during an ambush after all.

Allen moved on quickly. He unleashed the built-up energy on his right fist.

BAM!

The second Raging Smash landed on the short disciple named Yeruu. The attack would probably knock the guy longer this time.

Allen was now in front of the bulky disciple. The young man had used up both of the attacks that he had just charged-up though. Nonetheless his other technique was still active.

[Fire Fist: Pugilism]!

He pelted the disciple named Burak with multiple flaming punches. He had to account the fast recovery rate of this disciple. Thus he made sure to connect more hits than necessary.

Worry not though. With the help of [Life Detection], the young man could ensure that the three disciples were not in grave danger.

He was not able to do this before because he was still not used to these three new soul energy signatures. Now that he had locked on them better, he could perceive the limits of their respective soul energy pools.

Nolan had taught him that beating up other abilities-users inside the city was technically prohibited. But if could not be avoided, would still be pardoned.

However killing an ability-user would be a different matter. Nosales valued the lives of every person that could manifest an element after all.

And taking the life of someone like that was extremely prohibited.

Which was ironic actually. These disciples kept on saying 'Die! Die!' and yet they had to be kept alive in the end.

He could not kill the disciples but they had no qualms if he was the one that died.

The young man had a clearer picture of what kind of place this so-called Sect was. And he did not like it one bit.

And main cause of this dissatisfaction was the person approaching him right now. The lady who was named Etena.

She was walking with her chin raised up. She looked like she was not bothered by the sudden upset in the battle.

"Not bad."

Was the simple remark she gave. She quickly turned her back and pointed at other disciples who were watching the battle. She then ordered,

"You! You! And you!"

The appointed disciples replied immediately. The lady then continued with a fierce voice,

"Pick up those trash. And get them out of my sight."

"Wait a minute."

Allen called out to the lady wearing an expensive looking garb.