Steve vs the Loki Familia
~Just a small town girl~
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As soon as Raul gave the signal to go, both Finn and Gareth blurred out of sight at speeds which were hard to track even for the level fives. They reappeared in the same spot they assumed Steve to be in while striking their weapons at the same spot like they were hoping to impale him. But their weapons had hit only empty air.
For Steve had blitzed right past them and came to a stop in front of Riveria who was beginning to chant but then found herself stumbling back at him suddenly appearing in front of her. Steve backhanded her away, her staff coming up just in time to block his strike so his hand would not hit her body but her body was swept of the ground and she was sent tumbling head over heels as she came to a stop into a built up mound of dirt.
"Take out the mage first." Steve said before he blurred back to the two fighters and landed a nasty punch right in the middle of Gareth's face, burying the dwarf headfirst into the ground from the force. Finn advanced and began spinning his spear while thrusting forwards in awkward motions hoping to skewer Steve's unprotected sides. But Steve span and and turned, while sometimes just bending his body sideways.
Steve ducked under one thrust and tried to sweep kick Finn from underneath. The Pallum back flipped out of the way and landed on his tip toes in a crouching motion. Using that position to put power in his legs, Finn shot off towards Steve with his Fortia held out, like a large dart the size of a small child.
Steve summoned his Netherite spear from his hot bar and the two weapons clashed against each other as both were locked into a power struggle, more on Finn's end than Steve's. The spectators noticed the difference between the two spears. Finn's was about as tall as a normal human's due to his size and the golden spear tip was shaped like a leaf.
Steve's however was made out of the same purplish-black metal they had no clue of and was enchanted, so it emitted the radiant sparkling purple/blue glow of magic. The spear was made completely out of that metal with no connecting parts, one solid block of metal straightened out to become a spear and the spearhead was split into cruel serrated bits that gave the correct impression that when the spear landed inside flesh, it was meant to stay there unless it was yanked out by force. The biggest difference was that this spear was about almost 8 feet long.
"Mine's bigger." Steve smirked at the Pallum, making Finn raise an eyebrow.
Steve pushed forward and knocked the Pallum out of the way before spinning around while twirling the spear and thrusting at Gareth who had dug himself out of the ground and was about to shield charge him. The tip of the Netherite spear slammed into the shield and embedded itself in it a little as Gareth grit his teeth to hold steady against the vibrations the strike had made, The dwarf's nose had been broken, punched inwards as blood seeped from his upper lip. The punch to the face had by no means been a gentle one.
Steve then retracted his spear and with expert spearmanship, he twirled the spear and thrusted at different intervals while simultaneously blocking axe sweeps from the dwarf in rhythms and sequences much more complicated than Finn's. Steve used the spearhead to knock the axe out of the way one more time before he span the spear around and thrust the butt end backwards, hitting Finn right on the stomach as the Pallum coughed up a lot of spit. Finn was a seasoned adventurer, so he bore the pain and began relentlessly attacking attacking the human as Steve fended off both his and Gareth's much heavier attacks together.
The Loki Familia gaped at the speed and ferocity at which these people were fighting, more impressed that Steve was giving Gareth and Finn a hell of difficulty getting past his defences, especially as the gamer began pushing them back. Steve in a weird demonstration of his talent with the spear somehow managed to tangle Gareth's axe handle with his spear. With his superior strength, he wrenched it out of the Dwarf's grasp and the axe handle span so fast, it hit Finn on the head, dazing him a little and Steve gave a kick to Gareth's shield to push the dwarf back before he span around, lowered himself to one knee mid-spin and swept Finn aside with the length of his spear like he he were playing baseball with the Pallum.
Steve then got up and stepped on the edge of Gareth's grand axe, flipping the weapon upwards into Steve' grasp which he then hacked into Gareth's shield as the Dwarf tried to rush him again. With shield blocking Gareth's sight, he didn't see Steve use place his spear between Gareth's feet and then pulled to one side, pushing one foot away from the other as the dwarf found himself nearly doing the splits. Gareth retaliated by trying punch around his shield but Steve weaved out of the way and stepped a little backwards before he dodged Finn's thrust attack. He grabbed the Pallum's leg while he was airborne, swung him around and hurled him into his dwarven partner.
Following up from the spin, Steve raised his spear and threw it at Riveria who was trying to chant again. The spear tore her staff out of her hand and impaled it into a tree in the small forest behind them. He rushed towards Riveria who held her arms up in defence and threw a punch which he ducked under. She was still a level 6 even if she was a mage, so she had incredible strength as he could see from the little pressure field her fist created. He palmed her stomach, knocking the wind out of her as he raised her in the air.
There she laid on her stomach in the palm of his hand as he raised her above his head and she looked down at him, trying to get her breath back.
"I'd feel bad punching a mage." He said before with his other hand, he grabbed the front of her shawl and threw her in the opposite direction of her staff, like he were tossing a potato sack into a cart. He called back his spear and put it in his hot bar as he pulled out his axe and swung it at an angle to disarm Gareth's damaged shield as the dwarf's shield arm was driven to the side, exposing his belly. Gareth swung his axe towards Steve's head but a simple bending of his neck made the axe pass over Steve's skull, only just grazing the hairs on the back of his head. Steve punched downwards into Gareth's chin, making the dwarf look down suddenly as he felt his brain rattle in his skull and he was stunned for a moment Steve kicked him aside, before flipping off the ground as Finn used his small frame to try and go for his shins.
Steve landed on the ground and brought his axe down on Finn's spear, snapping the handle in half and then kicking him aside as Finn felt himself surfing through dirt until his back hit a tree. He still had one half of his spear in his hand, which thankfully was the top half with the spearhead.
Gareth lunged forwards as he dropped his shield and clenched his fist.
"Dvergr Enhance!" The dwarf said as he punched forwards, his fist meeting the open palm of Steve as the punch shattered the ground around them from the shockwave of the impact. But Steve showed no sign of pain nor struggle as he lifted the dwarf by his fist and flipped him over his head and body slammed him. Gareth in his pain swung backwards with his axe but it was met with Steve's own. Steve pulled on his axe and tore the Dwarf's axe out of his hand yet again, only this time the axe went spinning somewhere over the trees.
Steve jerked backwards as he let go of Gareth and used the hand to catch an arrow about to pierce his cheek. He followed its point of trajectory to see Riveria with a bow in her hand.
"Where the hell were you hiding that?" He asked.
"Never mind." Riveria said as she released another arrow which flew surprisingly fast. Steve weaved between each one she fired as he got closer while she tried move away. He got close and she tried to sweep her bow underneath to take out his legs. He flipped over her and she quickly shot an arrow upwards but he caught it and landed a few metres away. He quickdrew his own bow from his hotbar and fired her own arrow back at her, this time with the arrow head covered in flames.
She tried to duck out of the way but it caught on her shawl and took her with it, thunking into a tree with her dangling from being pinned by it. The trunk began to burn as did her shawl. She tore it off her to allow her body to fall while she tried to regain breath. But she was given no time as a fist flew towards her face. She ducked this time and Steve's fist slammed into the tree trunk, snapping the several feet wide tree in half as the top half flipped dozens of time in the air from the power of his punch. The tree landed on the ground making it tremble as leaved exploded outwards.
"I thought you said you'd feel bad about punching a mage." Riveria said.
"Didn't want to ruin your pretty face." Steve said cheekily. "But since you tried to maim my handsome one with a bastard arrow, equals pequals gal."
He hooked her body with his bow and pulled on it, throwing her aside before Gareth stepped in again with his axe, this time going for Steve's feet. Steve lifted a foot and stomped the axe into the ground before kneeing Gareth in the chin and making his helmet fly off. He then grabbed Gareth by the hair at the front of his head and lifted the dwarf up, armour and all.
"I once saw a dwarf say 'Nobody tosses a dwarf!'" Steve smiled as he wound his arm up. "But I tend to disagree." He threw Gareth into Riveria as she stood back up. "In fact, it's quite funny."
Steve then focused on Finn who was running with his body low to the ground as to stay out of reach of Steve. In one of his hands was the broken half of his Fortia spear while in his other was the dagger that Steve had enchanted for him. Finn ducked under the boy's grab for him, jumped on a tree trunk and using his legs, vaulted off while tossing the dagger at his. Steve swerved out of the way before spinning around again to meet Finn's spearpoint heading towards his face. Steve pinched the tip quicker than lightning and wrapped his fingers around Finn's throat.
"Quite a predicament you find yourself in now, don't you Captain Finn?" Steve asked him.
Finn struggled not to say anything or smile. It was helped along by the fact that even though this was a spar, Steve's grip was quite tight on his throat. So Finn successfully managed to not show his inner triumph when the {Loyalty} enchant kicked in and the dagger began flying back towards he back of Steve's head, in the direction Finn's throwing hand which was pressed against Steve's face in effort to push him away.
Time slowed down as it seemed like his plan was about to succeed and Steve would be struck by a result of his own doings. But at the very last fraction of a second, Steve turned around with Finn quick as a flash and drew Finn's arm outwards so the spear would intercept the projectile weapon. And it did, for what remained of Finn's Fortia spear completely broke as the dagger got stuck in the spearhead.
"You dare use my own spells against me, Pallum?" Steve said with little amusement.
"How did you-"
"I enchanted it, did you really think I would allow it to be used against me like that?" The dagger wrenched itself out of the spearhead to go back to Finn's hand but this time Steve let go off Finn arm and caught the dagger between his index and thumb. "What can be given, can also be taken!" Steve exclaimed as the sheen of magic membrane disappeared from the dagger and it became a normal weapon again.
Finn used this opportunity with his arms free to swing his body upwards in just the right way which allowed his neck slip out of Steve's fingers. Using Steve's arm like a branch, Finn perched on it and tried to punch Steve in the face. Steve turned his face to a side as Finn's punch brushed past his cheek, then countered with a gut punch that knocked air and wind out of Finn's lungs. The Pallum was sent flying into his comrades to topple them again as they tried to get back up.
Steve was contemplating his next attack while they were all down before he sensed a presence closing in on him from the spectator's side and he lifted his palm to catch the heel of an armoured boot which was aimed for his face. Bete's leg felt like he had just tried to taekwondo kick an immovable object and it sent sparks of pain shooting up his leg.
"What's with people trying to go for my face?" Steve said as he gave the werewolf an upwards side-eye. "Why are you here? This was a fight between me and your elders."
"You think I'll let it slide when you grab our Captain by the throat?" Bete said. "Nobody does that in a duel. And I'm not the only one who thinks that."
Looking past Bete, he saw Tione sprinting so fast she was almost flying at him with her two weapons drawn. He grabbed the werewolf's ankle and threw him over his shoulder as he grabbed the wrist of the Amazon.
"And what is your excuse?" Steve asked.
"Bete started it, so I thought I might as well join in." Tione huffed. "Also, you've been shamelessly trying to pick up my little sister, when even the Captain doesn't even respond to my interests. She's been winning so many of our arguments lately that I've decided I need to vent."
"So you're here because basically your sister is having a better shot at romance than you are?" Steve questioned. "Bit pathetic really. There's no competition in family."
"You will prove to me you are worthy of my sister!" Tione exclaimed as her eyes went red and he felt her strength just exponentially increase all of a sudden. His grip tightened and pushed her arms back.
"I faced off against Goliath, Amphisbaena, Udaeus and Balor alone. The last two which takes your Familia to operate in groups to kill. And you think I have to prove myself worthy on strength alone." Steve bent her wrists, making her drop her knives. "Fine by me!"
He planted the sole of his foot in her stomach and she became a cow as she was forced to eat the shrubbery by tumbling head over heels in the forest dirt. Steve ducked under a punch from Bete that came from the side, although that was what the werewolf intended because at the same time, one of his Flosvirt was kicking upwards towards Steve face. The upper part of the Gamer's body blurred out of the way before he grabbed the leg from underneath, swung Bete upwards and then face dunked him into the ground with an earth shaking shudder as Bete found himself three feet buried in the ground.
Steve pulled him out of the ground and threw him with the other fallen members of his Familia. He looked to the side to see Tiona hopping on her feet with excitement with her Urga out and Ais with a hand on her Desperate's handle, the flame of intent and desire alight in the quiet girl's eye.
"You can join in if you want too." Steve said as all the core executives, the most powerful members of the Loki Familia, all seven of them, stood before him. He drew out his sword. "I'll batter the lot of you!"
"I don't appreciate the breach of this duel's agreements." Finn said sternly to the younger members, particularly to Bete. "But seeing that Steve does not seem to mind, I'll deal with you later."
"Stop chatting, more fighting!" Steve said as he shot forwards.
"Loki Familia, charge!" Finn said as they all rushed him, barring Riveria who had managed to retrieve her staff at this point.
For the spectators, time slowed down as Steve met with the other six mid-air a second before their class.
Pandemonium was all that followed next as the air became a blur of blitzing figures, showers of sparks as weapons collided and thunderclaps as body parts connected while the air vibrated with each clash. Small craters were formed and trees were uprooted, sliced, or simply felled from the pressure of the fight.
At one point, Steve found himself up against the bare fists of Gareth, Tione and Finn who had all activated their respective magics that increased their strengths. Finn's eyes were red as were Tione's crazed, while Gareth grit his teeth as he used his Strength boosting magic to put all his power behind his punch. Steve's bare fist collided with all three of theirs and the ground felt like it jumped up as all fighters and spectators were thrown off their feet as a massive crater formed below the four.
A shockwave sliced all the remaining trees in half and it looked like the contest of strength was tied. But the three members found to their horror as the force of the encounter finally seemed to register in reality that Steve's fist was pushing back against theirs. Proving to be the one having a punch stronger than all of theirs combined, Steve sent them all flying with the force of his blow. Bete bounded into the crater, ran up behind and tried to kick Steve in the face but Steve blocked it with his forearms. The werewolf tried to follow up with a punch, but Steve moved his arm to the side and knocked it away before he rapped him upside the jaw and a tooth flew out of Bete's mouth. Steve then grabbed his outstretched arm and threw him into Tione who tried to come around his other side before he simultaneously parried a blow from Tiona and Ais with one swipe as the sheer strength behind his swing lifted them off their feet.
Gareth reclaimed his axe and tried to bring it down on his head again but Steve blocked with his sword and punched the dwarf in the face for the second time round, before he brought his sword down again to bat Finn away with the flat of his blade.
"Lil Rafaga!" He heard as he backflipped in the air and Ais covered in a cocoon of wind rushed past beneath him.
'Another shameless page out of JJK.' Thought Steve as he increased the strength of his landing, which displaced pebbles and debris into the air around them. At super speed, using his fingers he poked each piece away from himself and towards the Loki Familia. They flew like little bullets as they peppered the adventurers, smashing against their skin. Even though they were all durable enough to not get a bullet hole through them, it still left nasty bruises.
Ais was the first to recover as she activated her 'Ariel' and rushed Steve with lightning fast blows which he deflected, transitioning into defence as Tiona came up behind him and then Tione from the side as she found himself with his singular sword pivoting and swirling his sword arm around as he guided the other blades around him while he bathed in a flurry of sparks, using his free hand to deflect sneaky melee attacks from his opponents.
With one hefty sweep, he knocked aside all their weapons but also slashed at their abdominals just light enough so cuts would appear and blood would run but not to the point of being fatal or anything. As the three fell back, Bete appeared in front of him with another fist outstretched.
"It's the same trick!" Steve yelled as he ducked under the punch and dug his fist into Bete's stomach so hard, it looked like it made a bulge in the Werewolf's spin temporarily, and Bete choked up blood with his eyes bulging from the pain. "Do better." Steve grabbed Bete's ankle and began using his body as a bat to smack away and of the adventurers that tried to come near him.
Gareth approached with both axe and shield but this time went for a shield bash. Steve decided to barge the dwarf's shield with a heavy shoulder and Gareth was knocked off balance from having a greater opposing force slam into him. Steve used the sword to sweep away the shield from Gareth's arm, punched the base of the axe and finally ridding it to a distance where it was not easily retrieved.
Gareth seized this moment with both of Steve's arm up to punch Steve in the stomach with all his strength. But the moment he did so, even through his protected knuckles he could feel like he hit an Orichalcum wall. Steve tutted before punching Gareth in the face AGAIN, in the exact same spot as before as Gareth's lip busted open.
"Always the face." Gareth bemoaned in his head as his back slammed into the dirt. Steve then decided to switch mostly to his fists as he punched the adventurer's away as they leapt at him repetitively like frogs. To each of them, his punches felt like they were being hit with the weight of a mountain as even when they put their arms up in defence, their guards would be broken from the raw strength behind each punch. Bete learned the hard way as he felt his forearms fracture.
Riveria in the mean time had finished her spell as a large magic circle span beneath her feet. She made a couple of hand signs to Finn who relayed them to his Familia members. Collectively they all jumped into the air, putting as much space between them and the ground. Steve recognized this and locked onto Riveria who finally finished chanting and released her spell.
"Rea Laevateinn!" She said aloud as a blast of fire spread out in a horizontal line towards Steve. Steve contrary to the reactions they thought he would take instead lowered his weapon and stood straight and tall as the wall of fire consumed him and the area around him. The whole place became ablaze with Riveria's fire as it burned with intense heat for a moment and the trees caught on fire while the shrubbery also caught alight, making a fiery carpet so to speak.
The Loki Familia executives landed beside Riveria and stared into the storm of flames.
"Think that was enough to get him?" Bete choked out as he held his sternum and blood dripped from the side of his mouth.
"He took a blast from Balor head on." Finn said. "I highly doubt that did anything to him."
"Dammit." Gareth wiped blood from his lip as his hands felt empty without his weapons. "Don't you think elf? What if you damage my equipment in there?"
"Your fault since you started this dwarf." Riveria said without even looking at him. "If your axe is melted, tough luck." Riveria narrowed her eye at the place they'd last seen Steve. "He's such a brutal fighter. It's like he intends on causing as much pain to his opponents as possible just short of killing them."
"It's effective if you ask me." Finn said. "We've lost most of our weapons and I think I've torn a muscle."
"My face feels like crap." Gareth pointed to a large dent in his face, his nose smashed in and bent at an awkward angle as a large purple bruise began forming. He funnily enough was starting to look like a plum to his Familia members.
"Even when we ganged up on him with our blades, he still fended us off." Tione said as she looked at the damage on her knives. "That sword of his is way too heavy yet he swing it around likes it's a feather and he has way too much strength behind every thrust and every blow."
"His strength stats are definitely off the charts." Tiona said. "I've never seen anybody punch Gareth in the face like that and live to tell about it."
"Hmmph!" Gareth grunted.
Heavy footsteps began approaching them from the fire as Steve emerged completely unscathed, not even his clothes showed any more signs of damage. The wall of flames behind him enhanced the pressure that fell upon their shoulders, the same one they all felt when they first met him.
"I've enjoyed this game, my friends." Steve said as he sheathed his sword in a position indicating he was still intending to fight. "But I think we've reached the end now, you and I."
"We still stand before you as clear challengers Stephen Hewer." Finn said. "We know you're more powerful than us for sure, it is undeniable at this point. But this fight is not over until you have knocked us all down with no hope of us getting up again."
"That's all?" Steve asked. "Calm. You know what, just to wrap up things lightly, I'm going to use a portion of my true power and speed."
"Speed to do what? Run away?" Bete mocked although he was wary of what might come next.
"To do this." Steve took a step forward before he suddenly disappeared and in a fraction of a second he went from each member to the other, jabbing at their pressure points and certain nerves before he reappeared again to the normal eye in the middle of these people. The Loki Familia all swayed for a moment before it looked like they were hit multiple times in the stomach back and neck simultaneously.
There they lost the battle as their eyes closed in unwelcome sleep while the gamer waited for them to wake. Steve raised his sword in the air as a sign of his victory. Most people were completely blown away with the kind of excitement that had just transpired. But regardless they clapped and cheered for him because at the end of the die, it was his victory.
Stephen Hewer had gone up against the best the Loki Familia has ever had and ever had to offer and he won the battle, emerging victorious above them. And just like that, the balance of power shifted once more.
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