102 This is War! 6 Bite off more than one can chew (1/2)

Bruma chuckled softly as he held the shallow cut on his neck. If the blade had made it any deeper than he would be on the floor bleeding out and breathing his last.

He looked appreciatively at his opponent, a level of respect for another person that he had only felt for a few others.

”I must ask out of blatant curiosity, why am I still standing now? I know you held back with that last attack, but even then, I'm sure that what you displayed isn't your true strength.” He said as his eyes gleamed.

Lorean opened his mouth to answer before quickly clamping it down. These people had a leverage on him that he did not feel like admitting to a stranger.

”No reason old timer.” Lorean quipped before looking at him sharply. ”Unless you want me to actually attack you? I don't mind doing that, but I don't want to waste too much time so I'll go all out if I have to.” He warned as he looked at the cowering men with a guarded expression.

He was mostly just acting strange on purpose so the opposition did not make out any of his goals through some form of super deduction. He did not know if that was a thing and wasn't too keen on finding out.

”Wing leader what are you doing?! Attack him!” The cowardly pile of refuse that was Rapunga called out, hurriedly clutching the pole of his tent, visibly quailing at the tempestuous glance that a few of the men who had retreated from the front line shot at him.

Lorean raised his brow at his annoyed opponent, uncaring of the remarks that some other outsiders decided to throw out.

With a defeated sigh Bruma looked over at him. ”Well, you heard the man, and though we're pretty much equally qualified, he still makes a whit of sense. If I don't stop you now you'll go on to terrorize the inner circle.

I can't allow that. So please” And with a motion of his hands he brought his sword back up. ”You first.”

Lorean nodded mostly mute and indifferent to the entire situation. ”Well you asked for it, so let me kindly oblige!”

With a sudden shift in expression his back seemed to straighten up, an invisible aura seeming to begin its emission from his person. The men around him recalled as an irrational surge of fear shot through their bent bodies.

With a feral roar of stirred up wind he released his conqueror's Haki. A wave of aura blasting out. Everyone that the aura touched crumpled down, a few unwilling the rest unaware. The only one that still stood was the man that he had been facing.

And even he was wound up in a level of anticipation at the eventuality of the battle.

”Hoh? You did not fall? I was quite sure of my Haki. Well all that means is that I need to train it harder, and it's been quite a while since I let it free so why not?” Lorean said, the later parts of his sentence more to himself than his enemy.

As he came into range of his younger foe, he suddenly felt a weight that he imagined could only be felt if one were to hold up the sky press onto his back. With a groan he fell to his knees, the momentum of his charge scraping his kneecaps on the floor.

The pressure around him was suffocating. As he looked up, he could see a faint silhouette of a faceless figure that glowered down at him. With a surge of Haki the figure seemed to rise, and as Bruma lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was the gleam of a single eye judging his very existence...

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The eye in the room had turned inward, closed, patiently waiting for the smell of blood to become appealing enough to make a move. Its thrall had begin to move, cutting through the chaff with ease, but it wasn't enough.

The eye was hungry, so hungry..

The most it could do was savor its fantasies of sweat and soft flesh that would melt between its teeth. Usually it would not bother to move, simply opening its huge gullet to swallow all that was sacrificed to it.

But it had been awoken, yet no one fed it! These insects simply waved blood and gore over its closed nostrils before taking it away! IT was Infuriated!

The eye shot open, gleaming with a madness that a man would only ever see in the eyes of another who had been forced to cannibalism to survive.

FOOD!

As the water level surged the eye seemed to pierce through the wall. Through a fog of memories it remembered. The face of its thrall, the smell of the thralls flesh, the smell of addled breath over its open maw.

If possible it grew crazier, but a hint of sanity had returned to the solitary eye. With a lazy swirl of its lens it closed shut, calming its hunger pangs.

Moving would be too much of a hassle. It would wait for its thrall to appear before having a feast!

The solitary eye in the room slowly opened up, a mottled green hew that bellied an intelligence that was frightening. But as it did, it felt a swirl in the air, a new scent!

A tastier scent!