"Deadlock," The man said in a low voice, and his eyes changed their shape, turning into a '+' sign and automatically aimed at his target.
He could easily read the pea bullets projectile in this mode and dodged without even using his knife.
"I got you on my sight."
The man aimed at the vine, and his eyes could read the movement easily. He threw a knife towards the vine, cutting one vine easily.
"VIII!" Little Ivy was wailing in pain. Yang Zhang quickly looked up, and he was horrified when he saw that Little Ivy's vine had been cut, just like what happened when they fought the big black bear before.
"Oh, no! Put me down, Ivy. You will get hurt even more!" Yang Zhang said, but Little Ivy refused.
"Vii! Vii!" Little Ivy said, insisting that she would continue swinging to protect her master.
But the man didn't let her. He threw another knife to cut the only vine that was still swinging.
"VIII!" Little Ivy was wailing in pain, and Yang Zhang fell from such height that would crush him.
"VIII!" Little Ivy didn't want her Master to get hurt, so she pushed herself and stretched one more vine to grab whatever branches she could find, and Yang Zhang landed on the floor safely.
"IVY!" Yang Zhang checked on Little Ivy, that was still grimacing in pain after getting two of her vines cut. Of course, she would recover, but the pain was real.
"Vii…"
"No, no, you're doing great. Just rest inside the tote bag with Poddie right now. Don't come out. I can handle this."
"Vii…" Little Ivy was still worried that something would happen to her master, but since she would be no help after getting her vines cut, she went inside the tote bag and hid with Poddie inside.
"Heheh, this is a fair fight now, don't you think?" The man snickered. "Your swinging pet is so unique. I am 100% positive that you can command your animals with your ability. This is getting interesting!"
Yang Zhang stared at the man coldly. He wasn't really an anarchist that would fight without provocation. He liked to mind his own business, but since this man dared to hurt his mutated friend…
"I will make sure that you will regret provoking me," Yang Zhang said. He picked the Mana bead in his pocket. It was Doctor Jun's Mana bead that could give him the power to shoot compressed air from his mouth, like an air gun.
He didn't know the side effect if he swallowed the Mana bead twice, but if that was the price of avenging the man who had hurt his mutated friends…
Yang Zhang swallowed the Mana bead without hesitation, and the Mana bead was stuck on his throat again, just like the previous use.
His body felt hot and cold all over, and he almost fainted after the sharp pain in his brain, as if the Mana bead activated something inside his brain.
The man peered at Yang Zhang, who had just swallowed a blue bead. He had seen the same bead coming from inside a dead ability user's head. It was just like that useless brain bead.
'No, but surely, he is not swallowing something that originates from a man's brain, right?' The man wondered. Like what the government broadcasted every time, they had to destroy those blue and red beads because it was dangerous and could sprout an even worse monster from the ground.
The man was a tad intimidated by Yang Zhang right now because he never expected a man to eat such a gross thing.
Yang Zhang started sweating bullets right now. He felt that his head was getting hammered, and his heart was beating uncontrollably. This was the effect of swallowing the same Mana bead for the second time.
The effect seemed to take a toll on his body so much, but he couldn't give up here. He didn't want his mutated friends to get hurt even more.
Yang Zhang got up on his feet and stared at the man in front of him, he was breathing heavily, but he tried to brush off the pain and filled his gun with pea bullets.
"What an idiot, do you think using those pea bullets would hit me again? You hit me once because I underestimated the strength, but it turns out your pea bullets are as strong as a real steel bullet, huh?"
Yang Zhang didn't answer, but he realized that Spicy Wing and Chestnut were ready to attack.
"No, guys, you two should hide inside my pocket or the tote bag. Look at that man's eyes? It seems that his ability is like Sharingan or something. You can read a movement a second faster, right?" Yang Zhang confronted the man.
"Correct," the man confirmed. He had no worry about telling his ability because he took pride in it.
"What do you think? You might have a cool ability, but mine is a lot more practical," the man said.
Yang Zhang had no intention to deny that, although he was actually just a human with immunity. He smiled thinly and nodded, "Your ability is indeed great. It's perfect for me."
"Huh? Perfect for you?"
"You will know soon," Yang Zhang said. He thought he could befriend, or at least try to act as if nothing had happened between them, and they could leave in a separate way.
But this man wanted a death fight, and Yang Zhang would give it to him.
That Mana bead would be perfect for him. It was indeed a practical ability for a fight.
They were preparing their stance and faced each other, waiting for an opening to attack first.
The man got impatient since Yang Zhang didn't move, so he threw a knife to start a fight.
Yang Zhang used his gun and aimed it at the knife to deflect the knife with his pea bullet.
BANG!
CLANK!
The man chuckled when he saw Yang Zhang's shaking hand. The stab wound must've hurt badly right now, at least compared to his pea bullet would, Yang Zhang had so much worse.
The man threw a knife towards Yang Zhang and rushed towards him with a knife in his hand, just like before.
BANG! BANG!
Yang Zhang shot twice to deflect the bullet and attack the man, but the man's deadlock eyes easily read the second pea bullet launching at him. He deflected it with the knife in his hand.
CLANK! CLANK!
Yang Zhang knew that would happen as well, so he pouted his lips and blew a strongly compressed air at the man.
The man didn't know what Yang Zhang did, so he continued charging.
But when he was only five feet away from Yang Zhang, he suddenly felt an invisible bullet made out of the air that hit his thigh. It wasn't strong enough to hurt him, but it did make him lose his balance.
"AH!" The man staggered for a moment, and Yang Zhang used this to attack with another pea bullet.
BANG!
The man barely dodged the bullet since his attention was diverted. He backed off and distanced himself from Yang Zhang again.
'What was that?' The man asked himself. He didn't know what had just hit his thigh, and his deadlock eyes caught nothing from Yang Zhang other than the pea bullets.
Yang Zhang smirked this time after he saw the confusion in the man's eyes.
"What's wrong? You can't read my move with your deadlock eyes? I guess it's not very practical, huh?" Yang Zhang said half mockingly.
"Shut up," the man tried to ignore the creeping fear in his heart. He felt that he might be too hasty to fight this goofy kid. But there was no turning back now.
Yang Zhang sensed the fear in his enemy, so he took the chance to attack first now.
Yang Zhang took a deep breath from his nose. He felt that his lung was a lot bigger when he used this Mana bead, so he could run faster than usual.
The man clutched his knife and read the attack with his deadlock eyes. He threw another knife towards Yang Zhang, which Yang Zhang deflected while running by shooting it with his gauntlet gun.
BANG!
CLANK!
Yang Zhang quickly reached the knife that had been deflected and grabbed it with his free hand since Little Ivy wasn't using his left hand anymore.
Yang Zhang dashed straight towards the man with a knife in his hand, and the man read the pattern of Yang Zhang's attack.
Yang Zhang swung the knife to cut the man's neck, but the man dodged to the left and thrust his sword to attack Yang Zhang's left arm.
Yang Zhang turned his head around and blew compressed air to the man's face, and it hit the man's right eye.
"ARRGGGHHH!" The man jumped backward when he felt another invisible bullet hit the edge of his right eye. He couldn't dodge it because his eyes couldn't read the invisible attack at all.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" The man yelled while covering his right eye with his hand.