Chapter 17-A Final Counter

" I can feel it!"

That last punch triggered a feeling within my body. One I could only describe as feeling familiar in a way. Through my years of playing sports, I have become familiar with this feeling... There is only one name for such a feeling...The Zone!

Right now, I feel the best I ever have, and not just for this fight but for my entire life. That strike, I've only pulled it off twice. This time it felt different, stronger. The after-effect this time was very different.

Both punches were landed by complete chance, I had no control over whether or not I pulled them off. I didn't know I had landed it until the moment of impact. Now though, I feel like I can land it at will...This is my chance to finish it off.

" HUH?'

I heard the sound of someone breathing, no trembling like they were terrified. I shifted my gaze to the left and I found a girl with short hair and an all-black outfit leaning up against a wall...It looks like her leg is broken and her right eye is in bad shape.

" What are you!?"

" Huh?"

I attempted to speak but all I heard was an animal-like growl that overshadowed my voice...Wait this girl. I know her...Mina right. The one that was so confident in herself, a bitch to Kala and Liza...Did she even shed tears when Xavier died?

I looked her up and down examining her current situation, and all I could think was...Serves her right!... Wait! What am I thinking...This isn't me. These thoughts don't seem like mine, no they are but...Something is influencing them out of my control.

I looked at my hands and finally noticed how much they've changed...Shaped more like claws than fingers. My skin is all red and the rest of my body, especially my head, feels different....What the hell am I?

" CRUMBLE!!"

The building began to tremble, the same building that Mina was leaning against...If she doesn't move she will likely be crushed...That thing is still alive. It comes first.

I shifted my gaze to a hole above the girl where the Tolu had gone flying through, the building began to shake more as debris came falling nearly missing the girl. I bent my legs and leaped through the same hole in one strong motion.

I landed on top of a rafter and looked down to the floor. The Tolu was standing on the ground level and I saw its body finish regenerating from the hole I had put in its armor-like skin...It doesn't know I'm here!!

" BANG!!"

I put all my power into my right leg and launched from the rafter of the old building. Slamming my right fist into the Tolu's face smashing a hole through its armor revealing the black abyss hiding under its purple blood.

Adrenalin rushed through my body after landing the hit. My concentration was through the roof. I can hear and see everything...I can feel this power coursing through my veins.

I turned back towards the Tolu which was still recovering from the hit. Purple blood spilled from its face to the floor. Before it could regenerate I dug my claws into the back of its left shoulder and threw it threw a concrete wall back into the crying outside.

The water had begun to build up on the ground. The Tolu splashed through said water as it rolled to a stop. It reached its feet quickly and healed its wound faster than it had before. However, I noticed its bright red color had also faded some...What does it cost to heal faster I wonder?

I built up strength in my right leg and as it left its placement I felt the ground crack as I closed the distance. I swung my right fist at it and only nearly missed as the Tolu was able to react at the last possible moment...I see. You're slower.

" THWAK!!"

I threw a left kick that landed on its chest before it could counter. Knocking it back I turned my body to face it and faked a right punch. The Tolu reacted and brought up its guard to block. I pulled down my right and lowered my body. 

" BANG!!"

Another bright red flash turned the raindrops a blood-red color. The Tolus' lower body had received a massive hole in its armor and lost its footing. Flying off the the left and smashing up against a tall building.

It roared out in pain as its wound quickly healed but it again lost more color. I dashed at it and pulled my right fist back looking to land another strike in its fresh wound.

"BANG!!"

The bright flash turned the purple blood a bright red as the Tolu roared out in pain. The building it was leaned up against cracked and loose parts of the upper floors began to fall to the ground. I brought back my left leg and prepared to smack it straight through the building.

" BANG!!"

" CRASH"

The Tolu was sent straight threw the building from one end to another. It bounced off the ground on the opposite side of said building as I quickly chased after it. 

"BANG!!"

" BANG!!"

"BANG!!"

I landed consecutive strikes on the Tolu as I broke away its skin like armor and it roared out in pain as purple blood skipped across the ground. Its body was healing faster than I could reach it allowing it to somewhat recover before my follow-up strikes.

" BANG!!"

I landed a kick that sent it flying skipping off the roof of a building back to the ground. I leaped threw the windows of said building to catch it on its way down.

" BANG!!"

I landed a strike on its chest sending it rolling across the ground which now had an inch of rainwater built up on it.

I felt angry with every strike. Remembering what it had done, the people it had killed. the girl who gave me this power...Her name...Wait what's happening, my memory is foggy...Who was she?

" HELP ME!"

A little girl's voice called out from somewhere within a destroyed building...Shit, I forgot people were still here! Still, inside these buildings, we were smashing each other through. How many...How many have I!!!

"SKRSSHH!!"

" HELP Please...Mommy get up!"

I scanned the battlefield and found her. Around 200 feet away. I could only hear her due to my enhanced senses in this body. I then noticed the Tolu sliding to a stop...It has to come first, it should pay for what it did...The people will be fine if I kill this thing.

I launched myself at the Tolu and prepared to land a downward strike on its head.

" BANG!!"

I missed!! The Tolu on all fours launched into the sky and my fist crashed into the ground. The sense of adrenalin began to leave my body as I watched the Tollu hover above the destroyed city.

The Tolu then brought its hands to its chest and formed a circle with them around the center of its chest. I terrible feeling filled my body, a hole opened where its hands were. the black abyss under its skin was revealed once more.

I felt the need to defend myself...I conjured a wall of roses above and around me...I don't know why I used this formation or how I knew it but it felt instinctual...Wait, I remember. Liza was the girl...I loved her, how could I forge-

" SKRAASH"

The black abyss turned into a bright red and it fired like a beam down to the earth. I felt the earth rise from beneath my feet and saw as all the buildings in my vicinity began to fall and get sent flying through the air.

The beam had landed in front of me a couple of feet. Perhaps it missed or maybe on purpose. Either way, it would have the same end results... My rose petal wall began to crumble as the explosion reached me.

It felt like something punched me right in the gut as I felt my feet leave the ground. I was flying through the sky when I felt a pain at the back of my skull before it went black...All I could feel was the coldness of the air and the rain, along with the smell of smoke.