The Messenger of Death

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

Al bounced on his back 3 times before rolling and then coming to a stop. He coughed a mouth full of blood the moment he tried to get back on his feet. "Bastard!" He roared out.

In a rush, Al rolled to the side, dodging a huge rock that was thrown at him.

When he got back on his feet, the Prince was nowhere to be seen, but Al knew that he was still around here, he just couldn't tell where, nor could he see him.

-Bam!

A kick hit Al on his back, sending him flying once again. Al wore a frown as he couldn't understand how the Prince became fast enough to sneak around his senses and hit him. He could sense the attack coming a second before it reached his back, but Al wasn't fast enough to do anything.

-Bam!

A blow came from the side and hit Al's jaw while he was still airborne, changing the trajectory of his flight.

-Bam!

Hit after hit, Al couldn't trace where the Prince was coming from. Unbeknownst to Al, the Prince was executing a movement technique that was hard to keep track of. Al was being thrown around like a doll after being hit several times.

Al also has a movement technique, but his is suited for assassination and not battle. It had to with stealth, and less of speed, the Ghost steps couldn't help him at the moment.

-Bam!

A strong blow hit his solar plexus.

"I swear I'm going to break that hand of yours!!" Al said in rage.

Draconic flames exploded forth from Al's body, momentarily disrupting the Prince's movement technique.

"I've got you now!" Al stated as he approached the Prince as fast as he could, not wanting to give him any chance to escape.

The Prince was about jumping backward, trying to put some space between him and Al before executing his movement technique once again. However, before he had the chance to do that, Al caught on to his hand and pulled him closer.

Following his capture, Al threw a leg over the Prince's shoulder, sending the two of them to the ground before locking the Prince's arm in-between his legs.

"Arrgh!" The Prince roared out in pain. Al wasn't planning on making him tap out or submit with this hold. He aimed to break the Prince's arm, just like he promised, albeit in a painful way.

-Crack!!

The creaking sound of a bone, breaking echoed out alongside a hollow shout from the Prince's mouth.

Al then kicked the Prince's jaw after breaking his arm. He then released his hand and got up, pushing his hand forward to grab the Prince's leg with the intention of breaking it too. Only after doing that will Al feel that they were even and maybe pay back with extra.

Stepping on the left knee of the Wailing Prince, Al exerted force on his foot and a crushing sound filled his ears.

"Kaaayy!!" The Prince cried out in pain.

"Aha!! You see, I knew that you had some pig blood in you, with how you're screaming out in pain anyone would be deaf if they can't recognize the pig in you!" Al mocked.

The Prince was so furious that he vomited blood. His anger clouded his judgment, making him unable to think of a way to get out of his predicament. Al wasn't only hurting him physically, he was taking jabs at his mental fortitude too.

A part of Al's jaw was a bit swollen after taking some hits there from the Prince. Al held his jaw and flexed it a bit. "Motherfucker!" Al cursed out and stepped on the Prince's other knee, crushing the bone there.

"Arrrgghh!!" The Prince cried out.

"Shut up!" Al kicked his jaw once again.

In anger, the Prince's breathing pattern changed, his chest heaved up and down heavily. "Inferno!!" the Prince roared out and all Al saw before he was sent flying was a bright light.

-Boom!!

This explosion was unlike the others that occurred while they were fighting, it was on another level. It sent Al flying, throwing him thousands of Kilometers away from where the Prince was...

-Boom!

"Arrkk!" A cry escaped Al's lips as his back hit the walls of a hill. A crater appeared on the hill, covering more than half of it.

Al felt as if his world was spinning as he was barely holding on to his consciousness. Blood spurted out of his mouth and gushed down his nostrils. His ribs cracked in multiple places and his neck was bent in an unusual way.

['Al! are you alright!?'] Alex asked.

His voice helped in keeping Al conscious.

['You can't fall asleep here!'] Alex added.

['Switch with any of us if you're going to fall unconscious.'] Xander chipped in.

['Don't fall asleep yet Al, the repercussion might be dire!'] Lex said.

What they were worried about is Al going unconscious and disabling all of them. He might go unconscious and none of them would be able to take control, and at the same time, if he faints, one of them might be able to take control. But all of this was on a possibility that they weren't willing to gamble on, especially not while they are still searching for the Midas petal and with so many threats around.

After all, they all shared one brain, so one of them fainting while in control can also lead to the rest fainting, or not.

['Al! Al!'] Alex called.

['Will you shut your bitching self for a fucking minute, Alex, please!?'] Al roared out in his mind. ['You are causing more pain than the state I'm in.'] He added.

['Oh, sorry about that… But are you alright?']

['Do I look… no, I'm not. At least not at the moment, that bastard got the last hit.'] Al wanted to spit out, but his jaw couldn't move.

Al was aware of how far he flew. That last attack was something that could have killed him if he hadn't refined his body in boiling magma. And while it didn't kill him, it injured him greatly.

Closing his eyes, Al took in a few deep breaths to sway his focus from the pain to circulating his blood QI. Soon his whole body was consumed by flames and his body began healing.

While he was healing, a black falcon was heading for his position like a shooting star, and it was Milo. After Al was blown away, he forfeited obtaining the token and chased after the Al, now that he had arrived near Al, Milo hovered around the hill, checking if there were any possible danger around Al.

About 40 minutes went by before Al healed completely. "It's a good thing I picked some skills from that Prick of a Prince. But that movement technique of his…" Al pondered. He was thinking of a way to imitate the technique, but he found it hard to do.

In the first place, the only reason why Al had been able to imitate the skills of the Prince is because of his sensitivity towards flames. He could sense the flames within the Prince and how they moved, what meridians they passed through.

However, when it came to the movement technique and the last attack of the Prince, Inferno, Al had no idea how it was done.

Milo saw that Al was done healing and then landed next to him, transforming into a Persian cat before rubbing his head on Al's legs. Al bent down and picked Milo up.

"Don't worry about me Milo, I'm fine." He muttered as he stroked Milo's black and red fur.

"Meow!" Milo licked Al's hand.

"The token wasn't important, what's important is the Midas petal so you've done nothing wrong," Al replied.

*Ping!

*Distance calculated, User is 5.71 kilometers away from the Midas petal.

The system notified and Al's eyes lit up in response. He just realized that the Prince had blown him towards the Midas petal. "Hahaha!! Is this my stroke of good luck!? Is this how my good Karma is coming back to me!? There is indeed fortune within misfortune after all." Al exclaimed happily.

Suddenly feeling as if all the bad experiences that he went through on this island were worth it. "When that pretentious prick of a Prince realizes what he has done, he will die from a heart attack, hahaha." Al laughed out and started running towards the Midas petal.

Speaking of the Prince, he too had been going through a lot of pain after executing Inferno. It was a skill that he was still trying to learn and hadn't mastered properly, so in the process, he too had been hit by his attack. Although he spent less time healing than Al did, he felt humiliated to the core.

His urge and desire to kill Al burned in his heart.

Many people had witnessed the fight between Al and the Prince, and although they weren't clear of who the winner of the fight was, they were certain that Al made the Prince eat a lot of dirt today. And for someone that had a reputation to withhold, this was a huge mental blow for the Prince.

Just thinking about Al made the Prince cough out a mouth full of blood.

"Your Highness!" The young man that came along with the Prince called out as he rushed to the Prince's side.

"I'm fine… When we go back to the Celestial Plain realm, I want a bounty placed on that bastard's head. I want him brought to me alive so that I can rip his heart out with my own hands while he's still breathing!" The Prince order.

The young man responded with a nod…