Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... "Soli! Freeze his legs and immobilize him, Odrunn, grab hold of him tight, Arel needs to land a hit." 

Soli sprung into action as hues of blue shone from her hands. A freezing ray emerged as it froze everything it touched, the ground was glittering with ice, as the thug, Underling 1, skillfully dodging it avoiding his legs from being frozen. 

He dodged the beam left and right while Soli focused on exerting effort trying to freeze his legs. Just as he started to smile, he felt like he had his back against the wall landing against the mountain that is Odrunn. With a quick grab, he locked underling 1 in his grasp making him unable to move entirely. 

Soli's beam finally connected as she froze him where he stood, with Odrunn holding onto him and Soli freezing his limbs, Arel sprung into action running full speed before touching his head as that familiar glow came from his eyes. 

"His manifest is <absorb and coat>, thankfully he does not entirely become the material, it's just a coating. If we break through his armor we should be able to stop him."

Z nodded as he summoned his pieces of 8, the triangles floating behind his back like a shining star. As he started to face underling 1, his triangles started to point towards the direction like bees ready for the attack. 

'boom' a sound could be heard from a distance as Zeno was viciously slammed against the mountain. underling 2 had overpowered Zeno entirely and it didn't even take much for underling 2 to swing him off. 

"Damn it! Watch out!" 

Zeno shouted, as underling 2 dashed over to underling 1, knocking both Odrunn and him away breaking the ice that trapped him. 

underling 2 grabbed Odrunn as he tossed Odrunn to the side like a sack of potatoes. 

'thud' Odrunn landed on the ground hard, rolling and skidding for a distance before standing up completely unharmed. 

"Wow, I don't feel like I'm hurt. I'm okay boss!"

Odrunn shouted as he assumed his battle position yet again. 

Zeno who was against the mountain shuddered as he felt the pain course through his body. 

"Nice I got the bar charged up a bit now."

Zeno stood up as he shook the dirt off him as he dashed forward engaging underling 2 again. With the additional boost of speed and strength, he plowed into him like a cannonball. 

underling 2 used his additional limbs to stop Zeno from pushing him further as they were caught in a deadlock of strength. 

"Odrunn! Change of plans! Go assist Zeno!"

Z shouted at Odrunn who smiled as he nodded springing into action. 

"Zeno! Don't worry about Odrunn getting hurt, you can absorb 50% if you think it's better for you, he has a self-heal manifest!"

Zeno nodded, but deep in his heart, he was skeptical, how much help could a tank level self - heal manifest provide? 

Odrunn appeared behind underling 2 and grabbed him tightly again. This time, the purpose was not to detain but to cause serious damage which was right up Odrunn's alley. Locking his grip around the waist of underling 2, he exerted force coming from his feet, the spiked, tough boots Mach 2 grounded him. His Quadriceps more wound up than a stretched rubber band, as the veins started to throb. 

Underling 2 felt his legs lift off the ground, as the scenery changed from looking at Zeno, to the sky, and then the ground. 

'Crash!' a perfect suplex, underling 2 was planted into the ground as Odrunn stood back up and raised his fist in excitement. 

"Use your gauntlets! Don't be happy because you did a suplex!"

Z shouted from a distance, shaking his head. 

Underling 1 had been fighting with Arel, with Soli and Z providing support. 

Arel's dual blades shone in the sunlight as hit after hit landed on underling 1's body, still unable to break through the armor. 

Z dashed forward, using his psychic to control the pieces of 8, striking at the vital points while avoiding Arel. Sparks flew as the hits bounced off of him. 

underling 1's face twisted into a smile, the people in front of him just doesn't have enough power to break through his armor. He went into an offensive swinging his metal-clad fists into Arel, who skillfully dodged every attack, occasionally throwing in a hit. 

"Pathetically predictable." 

Scoffed Arel, his manifest, absolute analysis allowed him to analyze everything just by a touch, which was why he was able to analyze the vehicle in all its entirety earlier on. This works especially well for his opponents as well, once he touches his opponents everything from attack patterns and styles would be analyzed in its entirety by Arel. 

Soli launched icicles as well from the side, which pelted down on underling 1, unfortunately doing not much damage either. 

"Soli, he is clad in armor, small attacks don't work on him. Let's go for something big, drop an iceberg on him or something. If we can break through his armor, we make sure he can feel it through his armor."

Z had adopted a blunt force approach, if he couldn't pierce through the armor, he would use a blunt force approach and make sure underling 1 can feel it through his bones. He manipulated the pieces of 8 and layered each piece on top of each other forming a thick triangle. He purposefully used the blunt end to swing it smashing against his body. 

Underling 1 was agitated, the hit had rattled his insides and the pain was unbearable for him. He watched Z's movement carefully as he tried his best to avoid the next attack. Building up a rhythm, he controlled his movement to dodge both Z's attack as well as block Arel's attack. 

Z moved his hands and split the pieces of 8 up, before letting them stick side by side and covering up Underling 1's face. 

The pieces of 8 acted as a curtain blocking Underling 1's view from the rest of the world.