Chapter Eighty-One

In terms of speed and HP, Edward and the skeleton gorilla were easily matched. Edward held a slight advantage in speed while the gorilla had more health than him. However, in terms of raw firepower, Edward was easily twice as strong as the gorilla. As the gorilla charged at Edward, he used his thrusters to back a few meters away. He didn't attack, for he wanted this fight to last as long as possible.

The gorilla must've known Edward was playing with it, for the gorilla immediately roared and pounded its fist against its chest. Then, it charged forward once more— its feet chipping away at the stone floor below. The gorilla's weight and overall power made it seem like a walking tank, but Edward knew he would cut off a serious chunk of its HP with every attack.

As the gorilla reached Edward, he quickly used his thrusters to fly over the gorilla in a cartwheel-like fashion. The red flames from his thrusters left a trail of fire and smoke behind like a fighter jet from Earth. The gorilla attempted to punch Edward as he flew over but missed by only a few inches. Edward felt the cold aura surrounding the gorilla's fists brush against his hair. He smiled, his eyes widening in anticipation.

Before he landed, Edward pulled his legs into the air— causing his body to flip backward— and kicked his leg forward. An arc of flame sliced through the air like a whip, soon crashing against the gorilla's arm. The gorilla bellowed out a primal roar and charged forward. As soon as Edward landed, he stepped forward with his right leg and turned his body. With the momentum generated by this move, Edward swung his fist forward and shot a ray of fire at his target. 

From what he could tell, Edward had two speeds and two styles of using pyrokinesis. Either speed could be used with either style, but Edward wouldn't be able to use both speeds or both styles at the same time. Speeds were how fast he moved his body while styles were the way he formed his hand or feet to deliver the attack.

If Edward used a fast speed, the flames he summoned also became fast. They would condense— sometimes becoming thin and long like an arrow. This density of flames proved to be incredibly powerful— to the point where Edward believed he could use it to snipe enemies from afar. When Edward used a slow speed, the flames he created were generally larger and more spread out. This was great for when Edward wanted to cover more area— like when he used an attack to cover the entire boss room on the first floor. Slow flames, however, were often weaker than the flames he summoned with faster speeds.

This didn't necessarily mean they would do more damage— just that they would extinguish easier.

The styles were very similar to the speeds. One focused on generating more flames over a larger area while the other focused on creating sharper and more accurate flames over a smaller area. Edward called these two styles 'open' and 'closed.'

The open style was what created the larger set of flames while the closed style did the opposite. An example of the open style was when he attacked with his open palm— thus creating attacks that were often the size of a school bus. When he attacked with his fist he used the closed style, thus generating flames that were smaller but more accurate. 

Therefore, when he used attacks that were slow and open, the resulting flames would expand to great lengths— sometimes attacking everything around Edward. This was the type of attack he used on the first floor, even though he wasn't yet able to replicate it again. 

With quick and closed attacks, though, his flames would be much quicker and more resilient— they just wouldn't be as large. The biggest advantage was being able to attack in quick succession, but this battle was the first where he chose to test his abilities with both styles.

So, when Edward chose to use a closed fist to attack the gorilla, the resulting flame was quick and thin— like an arrow. This was exactly the kind of attack Edward wanted, as it was powerful enough to push the gorilla back.

As the flame struck the gorilla's chest, the pressure behind the flames attacking it forced the gorilla back. It fell backward as it flew through the air for one or two meters. When the gorilla finally landed on the stone floor, the vertebrae on the gorilla's spine were broken and chipped by the impact. A rib or two fell out of the gorilla's ribcage as flames danced across the gorilla's sternum, each ember causing a separate small crack to form all over the gorilla's ribs. As Edward saw the gorilla's struggle, the smile on his face deepened as he felt genuine euphoria. 

Edward's body moved exactly as he wanted it to. He was like a machine whose sole purpose was to spew dragonfire. Every twitch in his muscles was dedicated to creating red fire. He knew exactly how to position his feet and when to keep his palm open or closed.

With the gorilla on the ground, Edward readjusted his posture until both his feet were parallel to his shoulders. Then, he stepped forward with his left foot and stomped it onto the ground. His ankle twisted to the right as he swung his right foot forward, his right hand pulling up to his chest as he moved. Then, when his right foot reached the ground, he shot his hand forward, his fingers facing toward the ground with an open palm.

An explosion of flames erupted from his open palm. They quickly widened like the maw of a hungry dragon before consuming the gorilla in its teeth. As the flames disappeared, they revealed the gorilla's broken and charred body. It wasn't dead yet, as seen from the dim blue glow in its eyes, but it was on the verge of crossing over.

Edward slowly walked forward until he stood just above the gorilla's body. Then, without even summoning any flames, he crushed his foot against the gorilla's skull. He felt the bones crunch underneath the weight of his boot and smiled.