Gaurdian

Back on the lower level, Jasper was struggling in his fight against the bald man. Not only did the man have incredible physical strength but his body was incredible though.

This was the first time in his life that Jasper had fought someone who could touch Destruction energy with his bare hands and come out unscathed.

Being physically weaker and struggling to damage his enemy, Jasper was being pushed into a corner.

Seeing a straight punch coming at him Jasper ducked down and struck his opponent's knee with a palm strike to no effect.

"Dammit, I can't use my Spear to full it's effect at this range," thought Jasper trying to clear some distance. Unfortunately, his opponent expected as much not letting him make the space he needed.

Bamm... Taking a right hook to the face, Jasper was sent flying again. Thanking the Gods Cain taught him the Destructive Membrane technique or this would have gotten a lot messier.

Seeing a propane tank connected to a piece of machinery, Jasper kicked it sending it flying straight at his opponent, a strand of Destructive energy close behind it.

Boom.....

The tank exploded right in front of Baldey's face blowing him a good 10 meters away.

Looking over at the Red Awakening Stone, Jasper darted at it full sprint hoping to snatch the stone and make a run for it. His hands millimetres away from touching it, Jasper saw a door coming straight at him with the velocity of a bullet knocking him away from the stone.

Looking up and seeing his opponent only had first degree burns made Jasper start to worry. "Dammit does anything work on this guy?"

Standing up Jasper was hoping his team would finish up fast and offer some backup, he didn't know how much longer he could last.

Deciding it was time change strategy,

Jasper dropping his Spear concentrated an extremely large amount of Destruction Energy on his hand shaping them into what seemed to be MMA gloves.

Destruction Path: Destructive Fist.

While using a weapon offered plenty of advantages the downside was you had to limit the amount of destructive energy you laced your weapon with.

Too much and it would destroy your weapon while having too little would making adding the energy pointless. Being completely immune to his own destructive energy, meant collecting it on his hands, allowed him to fare more destructive might than using a weapon.

Meeting his opponent head-on, Jasper struck his fist out at the same time as his opponent. Both fists collided creating a shockwave sending both opponents backwards.

While his opponent was stronger, having a large amount of Destructive energy lacing his fist had brought them to a stalemate

Getting back to his feet Jasper was delighted to see he finally managed to inflict a wound, even if it was only superficial burns on his opponent's knuckles.

Seemingly angry someone bypassed his defences, Baldey charged madly at Jasper. "I'll kill you" he shouted trying to give Jasper a Bear hug.

Just when he started to charge Alex appearing out of a Spacial Tear delivered a kick to Baldey's head, sending him flying for the 1000th time.

Delighted seeing his apprentice show up, Jasper was starting to get nervous using so many different techniques and the strain of battle left Jasper running on fumes.

"God I feel like I'm in a human Pinball machine," said Baldey standing up shaking his head. Seeing Alex charge at him he groaned, "more insects for me to stomp".

"Path Of Fate: Fated Strike," Shouted Alex hoping to end the fight quickly with his killer move. Contrary to his expectation Baldey didn't even try to dodge, just watching as the Spear tried but failed to pierce his skin.

The major strength of Fated Strike was it couldn't be dodged but blocking the strike was definitely possible showing one of its major flaws.

With a big grin on his face, Baldey grabbed Alex's Spear swinging both of them around and lunching him through a wall.

Just as Baldey lost focus Isabel appeared behind him grabbing his head. "Rahhhhh," screaming Baldey fell to his knees. Isabel was channelling all the energy she could muster from her Will Path into Baldey's head trying to make him pass out.

The Will Path was one of the most unusual Paths of power. Having a wide range of abilities one wouldn't initially expect from initially hearing about it.

The major difference between that and other Path though, was that without a strong enough will the ability's one could muster could be absolutely useless. It was because of this that a Will user had to temper their Will as well as their power giving them more of a challenge as opposed to other paths.

Slowly but surely, Baldey slowly started to quiet down before falling to the floor unconscious. "I think he's had training to resist external Wills," said Isabel seeming slightly exhausted.

"You might be right," said Jasper walking up to the bloodstone removing it from its pedestal.

Jasper was perplexed, even though it looked nothing like an Awakening Gem it releases an aura extremely similar to one. "Is this how these bastards are gaining their weird abilities?" Thought Jasper storing the stone away.

Walking out of a hole in the wall, Alex was holding is head. "Everyone doing ok?" He asked shaking slightly.

Everyone gathered around Jasper waiting for his next order. "Well done everyone, we managed to turn reconernonse missions into a full-scale confrontation," said Jasper sarcastically.

"What shall we do about him," asked Alex pointing at an unconscious Baldey ignoring Jaspers remark.

"Unless you have a way to kill him quickly I suggest we leave. If anyone who worked here signalled for backup then we're working on borrowed time." Said Jasper getting ready to leave.

"Kristina gets us out of here," said Jasper looking exhausted. The fight with Baldey really taking it out of him. Opening up a portal about 0.5 miles away the team walked through it.

Even though they got out unscathed, baldey reminded them how weak they currently were. If any of them face him alone the situation would have been dire.