"Mmm," she hummed, licking her fingers. "Monkey blood is tasty."
Her eyes slid to Kellix.
"I wonder what you taste like."
Kellix didn't hesitate.
With a sharp pull of Abi, his clay cleaver formed in his hand, solid and heavy.
"You stupid freak," Kellix snarled. "I'll kill you for what you've done to my friends."
Debora "Your friends are weak, they are all going to die, if they haven't already."
Kellix "That's unfortunate, you wont be so sucessful."
Debora laughed softly.
"You know I can see your Abi, right?" she said, tilting her head. "So honestly... stop the bullshit because you don't even come close to me, ive murdered entire villages you little-."
She never finished.
Kellix vanished.
The ground cracked as he launched forward, cleaver tearing through the air, but Debora slipped away effortlessly, creating distance in a blur.
"Hmmm," she mused. "You're really fast."
She tapped her chin. "If I had to guess... around Mach 300. Maybe a little faster."
Kellix slid to a stop.
She smiled wider.
"Ooooh," Debora cooed. "I think I hit a nerve. That means I'm right."
Her eyes gleamed. "Well then, baby boy... I've been moving faster than lightning for decades."
She dropped into a runner's stance.
"I just want a little taste."
She exploded forward.
Too fast.
Kellix barely managed to raise his cleaver as her bladed tentacles struck again and again. He blocked several blows, but each impact came with pain.
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ABI: 127%
A slice across his arm.
Another across his shoulder.
A thin line opening on his cheek.
She was so fast she had time to drag a finger through the blood on his face.
In the next instant, she appeared behind him, sucking the blood from her fingertip.
"Mmm."
She held it out toward him. "Want some?"
Kellix gritted his teeth, fury boiling.
"How the hell is she so fast...?"
Debora smiled sweetly.
"Okay," she said lightly, "this time I'll need to take some really thick pieces of meat out of you."
She leaned forward. "It might hurt, but don't worry. I promise I'll be honest about how delicious you are."
She charged again, grinning with pure depravity.
Kellix braced himself, and thought fast.
I've burned a lot of Abi... but I still have more than half.
His Abi surged.
ABI: 115%
Lemon-colored electricity erupted around his cleaver, crackling violently 'Lemon Monster"
With a single, perfectly timed strike...
BOOM.
The blade connected.
Debora was launched like a thunderbolt, slammed into the ground so hard the earth caved beneath her, rubble erupting skyward.
She crawled from the crater, coughing blood, eyes wide with shock.
"WHAT THE FUCK," she choked. "How did you do that?!"
Kellix's gaze flicked instinctively toward the tree.
Rufo, still impaled.
"...Rufo," Kellix whispered. "I'm sorry."
Debora clutched her chest, electricity still pulsing violently through her body.
"What the fuck did you do to me, shrimp?"
"You move at the speed of a lightning bolt," Kellix said coldly.
"My max speed is Mach 350. But when I activate Lemon Abi... my speed matches lightning itself."
Debora snarled, and charged again.
Kellix planted his feet.
She's stronger than me, he realized. Several times stronger.
The only way I beat her is my awakening... and it'll drain my Abi completely.
His jaw tightened.
But if I don't get past her... I'll never reach the king.
He raised his cleaver and pointed it at her.
"I am Kellix the Brave, son of Jerix, Art of the Painter—"
ABI: 110%
She was already in striking range.
Then, a blur.
A massive force slammed into Debora from the side.
The ground exploded as she was grabbed by the throat and driven face-first into the earth, buried nearly to the shoulders.
Kellix's eyes widened.
"...No way."
The figure stood over her, bloodied, shaking with rage.
"Rufo..."
Rufo's body was torn and soaked in blood, but his grip was unyielding, the sound of his lungs barley holding on.
"I will not," he growled,
"be bested by a parasite."