Rise of the Crusader

85 Metal Man

“They are already here.”

It wasn’t up to a second after Sylvia spoke, and three men jumped out of the water and stepped onto the ship.

Sylvia took a step backward when she saw the three men who had just appeared. She then immediately took out the katana from its sheath and assumed a battle stance.

It wasn’t just Sylvia that assumed a battle stance when she saw the three men, Xavier also steadied himself. He had eyes on the three men with his hands clenched into a tight fist.

The three men were of the same height and possessed similar face to one another. Their physique was also quite similar, and the only difference that could be said to exist between the three of them was their hair.

One of them had brown long hair that was tied into a ponytail, the other had short gray and the last man had black curly hair, but was however bald in the middle of his head.

“They are stalling,” Sylvia mumbled.

While the three men didn’t say a word since they come on the ship, their stance asserted what Sylvia had just said.

And as Sylvia stared at the three of them, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that even if she wanted to flee, she wouldn’t be able to. Though the three of them weren’t excluding any unfathomable power, Sylvia could sense danger coming from them.

.....

Suddenly, Xavier spoke, “We can as well call this a suicide mission now they are here. But, if there’s someone who should survive among the three of us, then it has to be me.”

With that said, and Xavier dashed out of the ship.

Xavier moved extremely fast, and within a few seconds, he had activated the emergency drive he arranged just in case the situation were to fall out of hand.

The drive had already appeared beside the ship, and Xavier was about to jump out of the ship when a fist that was made of steel struck him in the abdomen at full force.

Blood flew out of his mouth as he was sent flying backward from the blow. His body hadn’t even touched the deck of the ship when he received another strike on his back.

Xavier’s body curved into an arc from that blow he received. And before his body could even hit the ground once, a figure appeared in front of him and slammed his body right on the deck of the ship.

“Pfffttt!!” Xavier vomited a mouthful amount of blood from those waves of attack.

The attack came so fast and unpredictable that he wasn’t even able to spot the person who was hitting him and not to take off using his golden flames of hell on the person.

As Xavier was slammed on the deck of the ship, the person who had been dealing with him as though he was a punching bag emerged. And once Sylvia laid eyes on him, she didn’t waste any time and immediately attacked.

XIU!

The sound of sword strikes sounded in the surroundings as before Sylvia even got to the man she had begun to slash her katana at him. Each katana strike was at full force, and Sylvia was careful enough to contain her attack so as not to damage the ship.

XIU! XIU! XIU!

It was a sword strike after another, Sylvia didn’t hold anything back and continued to slash her sword at the man who simply maneuvered his way around her.

After a few seconds, Sylvia moved a few steps backward. She took a deep breath, and she loosed the bandages which were on the left side of her face.

“Hehehehe!!!” A bulky middle-aged man with dark shiny hair, who stood at a height of 6’5 and was wearing a black shirt and trousers, chuckled when he saw Sylvia.

An expression full of mockery could be seen evidently on the man’s face as he stared at Sylvia.

“You still have some moves left. Okay, then, why don’t you give it your best, I won’t move an inch from here.” The man stretched both of his hands out as he spoke.

Meanwhile, a deep frown appeared on Sylvia’s face when she heard the man. Sylvia had already loosened the bandages which were on the left side of her face, so her expression was now visible.

Sylvia’s mouth opened slightly, and she said, “Kirin.”

After Sylvia uttered the word in her mouth, the clouds shrouded immediately and within seconds, lighting began to move rapidly around each of the clouds in the sky.

The atmosphere was suddenly enveloped in an intense pressure that even the expression on the face of the bulky middle-aged man changed very quickly.

“Kirin!” Sylvia spoke in a loud voice this time around, and suddenly, the water began to tremble violently.

The water which was steady and peaceful a moment ago suddenly became chaotic. Followed by the sudden change in the movement of the water also came the wind, which was moving in a frantic motion.

However, while the wind and the sea experienced drastic change, the entity that experienced the vast change of all was the sky. And it was what everyone on the two ships was staring at.

The clouds had turned into a thundercloud, and after Sylvia uttered that word the second time, a giant figure with a striking resemblance to a dragon appeared in the sky. The giant was brimming with unfathomable power and lightning was coiling all over its body.

“Y-You...” The bulky middle-aged man stuttered as he felt an imminent threat coming from the entity above him.

When the bulky middle-aged man came in contact with the so-called kirin that was mentioned by Sylvia, he didn’t need to be told, and he immediately used his powers right away.

The bulky middle-aged man was one of the iconic metahumans in the world, and he was none other than metal man.

And the instant he saw the giant that possessed a striking resemblance to a dragon, he immediately covered his body with a hardened metal-like substance.

His hands were then clenched into a fist, he was about to launch himself at Sylvia when suddenly, she vanished from the ship. Metal man would have scanned through the surrounding for Sylvia, but that was the least of his problem, as the figure above struck an attack at him.

“This bitch...” Xavier coughed out blood from his mouth as he spoke, “She is going to kill everyone.” Xavier mumbled in a low voice.

While numerous bolts of lightning struck at the ship, there were mainly focused on dealing with the man who was wrapped around with metal. The lightning locked onto the whole surrounding, making sure that metal man wouldn’t be able to flee even if he wanted.

A long, low rumble resounded in the sky, and as the lightning struck the man’s body, a loud crack rang out.

“Hmm” Metal man’s body shook violently, he, however, managed to stand still in his position. And it wasn’t even up to a second after the lightning struck him that another one came forward.

The battle had quickly shifted from the ship onto the sea, as metal man maneuvered his way through the lightning. In this battle, those pair of boots that gave him the ability to move on water certainly aided him.

Metal man was able to dodge a few of the lightning, but some left him no room to escape. He was being bombarded all over the sea with lightning, and when one of them struck him, he staggered a few steps backward.

Before he could even regain composure, he already saw another bolt of lightning rushing toward him. However, this time around, metal man clenched his hand into a tight fist, and struck out a full-force punch at the lightning.

BANG!

The collision between Metal man’s fist and the bolts of lightning sent him moving a few steps backward. But, for some reason, a smile appeared on metal man’s face after the punch.

“There you are.” Metal man said.

A bolt of lightning was rushing towards him, but before the lightning could come in close contact, Metal man moved. Once he advanced towards the lightning, numerous bolts began to emerge, but regardless of how many they were, metal man kept moving forward.

“Got you.” Metal man muttered.

Metal man stretched his hand at one of the lightning that was coming his way, and as he grabbed it, the lightning transformed into a figure of a person whose body was covered in bandages.

Sylvia’s eyes widened, and she stuttered, “Y-You...”

With a sneer appearing on metal man’s face, he tightened his grip on Sylvia’s neck until he had a bone crack in her neck, and he then threw her to the ship.

Sylvia’s body rolled a couple of times on the deck from the throw, before she then settled. After Sylvia suffered the hit, the giant figure and the thundercloud in the sky disappeared immediately.

Metal man took a few steps, and he appeared back on the ship. He stared at Xavier, and Sylvia that were laying on the ground, and his lips curved into a smile.

However, the smile only lasted for a few seconds, and it turned into a frown. He turned towards the three men who were on the deck, and said, “Someone is missing!”

The three men glanced at one another when they heard metal man, seemingly dumbfounded. “Apart from the people who were captured, it was only these two we saw on the ship.” The man who was bald in the middle of his hair spoke.

“That’s not right,” Metal man shook his head.

Meanwhile, underneath the sea, a figure drove a speed boat across the sea. He was wearing a scuba set, and he moved at an insane pace.

The figure was none other than Devon, and the speed boat was the same drive that Xavier had built for moments of emergency.

A boat that was capable of moving underwater.

...

AN- What are your thoughts on creating a discord channel for MVA?