The G95A1, replacing the G36, had been Frank Russo's weapon of choice.
Summoning it into the world, Frank was ready. Meanwhile, Riley had brought his fists to a gun fight.
Immediately, Riley leapt towards his opponent. Spinning his body and twisting his hips in mid-air, he delivered a downwards kick with his shin, his power accelerated and amplified by [Falling]. The resounding impact to his collarbone caused a thunderous boom which echoed in the air.
"Tch."
Summoning a combat knife, Frank grabbed ahold of Riley's ankle, spinning his arm and throwing the youth into the air, summoning a sniper rifle and aiming it at the rapidly spinning teenager. Taking a few seconds to predict where Riley would fall, Frank finally pressed the trigger.
[Crashing] was dispatched, acting as a shield. Yet, even still, the armor-piercing round blew through the car, even if it was strengthened by Riley's prison massacre, delivering a shot to Riley's stomach.
It broke the skin and outer flesh, but stopped at the ribcage, simply due to Riley's toughness.
Son of a bitch, this guy's nasty.
Grabbing onto [Crashing], Riley put his feet on the car and kicked off of it, leaping even further into the air as he summoned [Hanging], grabbing onto it and flying safely down onto the ground, erasing [Crashing] before it hit the ground and hurt civilians.
Cracking his knuckles, Riley saw a kid crying, hugging his parents as his dad tried to protect his son, taking him away. Riley waved, before turning back to face Frank, his eyes narrowing.
Yeah, no. I can't afford to get hit by sniper rifles. Not to mention, if there's too much distance between us, then he'll use his flashbang grenades; yeah, no, I'm not dealing with that.
A shiver running down his spine as he recalled that awful memory engraved into his body, he deeply detested flashbang grenades.
Within the amusement park, with its many paths, Riley summoned [Hanging] to go straight towards Frank, whilst he took a different path. Running as quickly as he could, Riley managed to flank him, seeing Frank struggling against the flying noose.
It wasn't that [Hanging] was particularly lethal or damaging. Rather, it was incredibly annoying. A telekinetic noose which couldn't be killed, and constantly tried to wrap around his arm and change the trajectory of his bullets, it was an annoyance.
Closing in, Riley went in unarmed, throwing out a straight right punch towards Frank, who slipped off to the side. A pistol in his hands, close to his body, he did not hold it outwards, preventing [Hanging] from easily taking it.
Instead, he used the Center Axis Relock technique, keeping the gun close to his chest as he repeatedly fired into Riley. With speed that caused Riley's mind to blank, he was shot twice in the chest and twice in the head.
Although, due to it being a handgun, when facing off against Riley's toughness, it stopped at the skull, not managing to pierce all the way through.
Stumbling backwards, a shotgun was summoned forth, and just before it shot him, [Hanging] moved the barrel into the air, causing it to fire towards the sky and potentially saving his life.
Countering, Riley grabbed the shotgun, trying to pry it from his hands before he summoned a pistol. Once more, [Hanging] intervened, pulling Frank's jaw up and preventing him from getting a clear shot, Riley narrowly avoiding the bullet's trajectory.
Within this ultra close quarters situation, he encircled his opponent, grabbing the older man by the waist from behind. Lifting him up into the air, Riley pressed off the ground with a great leap, bending backwards to perform a pseudo-suplex, [Falling] in tandem.
With each inch Riley descended, the two's acceleration sent them rocketing to the ground, a great crash nearly snapping the grown man's neck as Riley gave a show of his formidable ability.
Fight smarter, wasn't that right?
Having learned from his failure to control his anger, Riley dedicated himself to staying calm and using his abilities as creatively as he could.
On the ground, Frank wrapped his legs around Riley's waist, putting him in his guard. Riley put his hands on Frank's hips, trying to push himself outwards, yet Frank quickly reached up. Grabbing Riley's tricep, and performing a crunch-like movement, Riley's wrist was bent forwards too much, toomuchtoomuch—,
"Snap."
Hearing the sound of his joint breaking, Riley felt a sharp pain in his wrist, looking down with horror as Frank pulled back, summoning a revolver of his own and shooting it into Riley's chest.
Having been shot open repeatedly, Riley grit his teeth as he summoned [Bleeding], aiming to swing the knife—grabbed, his arm was grabbed.
With Riley's right wrist snapped, his left, non-dominant hand was the one to try and stab directly into Frank's head. Frank grabbed the wrist, using both hands to overpower Riley's one, pushing the knife out of the way.
Trapping Riley's wrist to the ground using his elbow, Frank summoned a flashbang grenade, pulling the pin. Seeing that loathsome sight, Riley flinched in fear.
Then—nothing.
His distraction was taken advantage of, as Frank leaned up and grabbed the back of his shirt. Bunching it and wrapping it around his neck, Frank adjusted his arm and used Riley's clothes and his forearm to compress Riley's neck, putting him into a baseball bat choke and strangling him.
The forceful compression of his neck was incredibly frightening.
Unlike the amateurish of the strangles before, with merely hands, Riley was being shown just how devastating a professional was. His airways tightened, his face feeling puffy, fat and bloated as he turned slightly red.
But, even still, he summoned [Crashing], one of the tires of the car falling onto Frank's head, breaking his nose. Even still, Riley felt the overwhelming pressure around his neck, it was, it was, continuing.
No options left. [Bleeding] was administered, stabbing into Frank's side and slicing up his own shirt, forcefully unsummoning the knife but still clearing him of his strangulation.
Riley sat up, seeing the outpour of blood profusely spraying from Frank's side, the result of a heightened [Bleeding]. Frank pulled his leg back and kicked Riley in the nose, using his strength to send Riley's light body a great distance away from him as he rolled to stand up, gritting his teeth in pain and looking down.
At their core, they were both monsters.
Frank was a terrifying force, able to summon any gun in the world and handle it with precision honed by years of hunting and his service in the military. Even at close range, with his training in martial arts, he was able to gauge timing, throw better punches and attacks, and when it came to grappling, easily dismantle Riley's body with the techniques of a professional.
And yet, Riley himself was not a slacker either.
His blood pouring out quickly, losing heaps and heaps of blood, Frank was forced to sacrifice blood not yet spilled in order to close up the wound.
And yet, even with that having been done,
"Hghk."
His skin growing pale, his breaths growing weak and labored, he could hear his own heart's palpitations ringing in his ears like a bell. The sensation of weakness spread all-throughout his body, feeling dizzy enough to make fighting difficult.
Even with one strike, enough blood loss had been induced to drastically weaken Frank's body.
Riley, even despite his lack of experience, was able to change the playing field, all with just one strike. Of course, in human levels, being able to jam a whole kitchen knife into someone's side practically guarantees the fight's been won. But among servants of Ghira, who did not play by those rules—the moment they were reintroduced, combat became frightening once more.
Hearing the screaming of children and their parents as they saw and filmed the immense bloodloss, Riley put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"Hey now, hey now, you're scaring the children! Maybe don't bleed so much next time, y'know?"
Faking what he assumed extroverts were like so that the children weren't as afraid, he shook his fist in the air with a playful anger.
Making himself into a joke, he eased their feelings before heaving a sigh, shrugging his shoulders and putting his hands up like a boxer.
The way he held onto his gun… it's super close to his body, which makes it a pain to grab with [Hanging]. He'll most likely be hesitant to use longer guns, as [Hanging] will always be there to alter its trajectory.
Riley was not a very intelligent person. He wasn't the kind of man who could learn a skill after seeing it just a few times, nor was he particularly creative. Or strategic, or tactical, or experienced or determined or particularly that good at combat—regardless.
Even if he wasn't very intelligent, he knew what he knew about the human body, his knowledge formed from research and experience.
If the brain doesn't get oxygen, then it can lead to long-term brain damage, or even death.
And since oxygen is carried through the blood, I think, then that means that losing blood impedes your ability to think… man, I'm so smart.
"Next up, I'll slice off that head of yours!" Riley shouted, summoning [Bleeding] into his hands. Driving his feet into the ground, he kicked off with impressive might, as Frank summoned his assault rifle.
Swapping out [Bleeding] for [Crashing], Riley hid behind the vehicle, whilst Frank opened fire upon it. Unlike with a sniper rifle, however, his assault rifle did not have the penetration power to travel through the car, ultimately getting stuck at the seat or fragmenting or ricocheting to avoid Riley.
Once the initial storm of bullets had gone without success, Riley grabbed the sideview mirror, ripping it off and tossing it at Frank like a grenade, detonating it right next to his ear. The force knocked Frank's head to the side, with Riley laughing and sliding over the hood of the car.
Got him. Doesn't feel so good when you have your own little grenade—,
His foot. It had touched the ground.
The next moment, he erupted in a flare of pain, launched into the air before slamming down onto the ground, hearing children screaming off to the side and running away.
Ah? Wait, wha?
He smelled pumpkin pie. That sweet scent of pumpkin filling his nostrils inside of the amusement park's Halloween Event, it was then overcome by the scent of gunpowder.
Sitting up, he looked at Frank, whose face was bloody, his flesh having been torn up from the explosion on one side of his head.
Ah, ow…
"Fuck!" Riley shouted, grimacing as his leg was filled with a burning pain—just a bit below the knee. Not able to feel anything underneath, he braced himself, having a pretty good guess as to what exactly had occurred.
Tilting his chin down, he found that, sure enough, he had stepped on a landmine. Sacrificing his own blood, he regenerated his leg back fully, standing up with a torn apart pant-leg.
Seeing the children having evacuated due to the explosion, Riley softly smirked and summoned [Shooting], spinning the revolver to emote as he trained the barrel at Frank.
"Welp, the kids are gone. This isn't a PG program anymore… ah, I need to shut up with the stupid lines. Just tryna lighten the mood, tho'. I'm like Spiderman, pretty much."
Shrugging his shoulders, he shot at Frank—and totally missed.
That was to be expected, from a boy who never had any training with a gun. Frank got to his feet, summoning an assault rifle. With no choice, Riley leapt into the air towards him, using [Falling] to land down quicker, aiming down a downwards dropkick which Frank ultimately evaded.
Getting into close quarters, Riley threw out a sloppy left overhand punch, using [Falling] on his arm to amplify its downwards momentum, to which Frank slipped to his left. With the awkward angling, Frank was in a pristine position, and thus accepted Riley's offer.
Relaxing his hand, Frank planted his feet firmly into the ground, with such firmness that it caused the concrete below to crack under his pressure. Explosively twisting his hips, and only tensing his hand at the moment just before the impact, Frank shot his knuckles into Riley's ribcage, aiming to maim him with his overwhelming strength.
The overwhelming impact of the right hook—defied.
Defying logic. Riley had been struck with a punch that defied his logic. Or rather, more accurately,
"GHK!!"
A crunching popped into his ears, Riley's body knocked off balance as he did a half-spin, falling to his knees in pain. Although it was a right hook, which did not hit him in the liver, it had instead driven directly into his kidney.
The moment his weak knees struck the ground, Riley coughed, trying to grab his left side.
He'd been impaled with a punch, of course. But this was his first ever punch thrown against him that had been performed with actual skill and precision.
The new experience ruptured his sense of combat, his mind flashing white with burning pain.
Driven. That word flashed into his mind for a half-second. It had been properly driven into him, the punch of a man who knew what he was doing.
Collapsed to the ground, Riley looked down, only to hear a faint shuffle of metal. Turning around and swinging, he sliced off the barrel of a shotgun trained at the back of his head. Indeed, [Bleeding] could cut through anything—even guns.
Slicing it in two, Riley had avoided death. Once a weapon of Frank's was cut into two, it automatically vanished from the world.
Pressing off the ground with all his might, Riley's shaking legs did not obey.
Stumbling backwards, the pain pulsated through his stomach, rendering him in despair. His eyes widened, his gaze locked upon Frank, who grit his teeth and summoned a grenade, Riley summoned [Crashing] behind the man.
Yet, of course, he could not detonate it fully. With there being lots of expensive property around him, Riley did not want to cause damage.
—Unmistakably, as Frank heard the tires hit the ground, that was his thought process.
Having a fair grip on Riley's personality, he did not believe Riley would go through with his threat. And yet,
It detonated, regardless.
Sending the body hurtling towards him, a split-second explosion knocked him off his feet and forced Frank's movements. Shooting towards the teenager, Frank's eardrums burst from the overwhelming damage inflicted upon him.
It was less than half a second. Crossing that gap in the blink of an eye, Frank couldn't even see Riley, who had planted his legs onto the ground. Having done a small hop beforehand, using [Falling], Riley had ensured that his legs stood, and would not leave the floor or slip.
His clenched fist spoke for him.
[Falling] amplified all of the downward force his body produced. He could travel great distances, or take advantage of incredibly small gaps in time with the speed he gained, provided that he was going downwards.
Overhand.
A right overhand, which went down at the very end.
Yes, indeed. In that less-than-half-a-second gap, Riley Woods took advantage, and completely caved in Frank Russo's sternum with his overwhelming power.
Crunching, both of fist and sternum, had roared upon the world.
Frank's body spun, his upper body struck mightily, and he continued hurtling through the air, his body left eviscerated.
But, naturally, Riley had produced a force his body was not strong enough to handle, and that led to a grizzly sight which made him gag.
Looking down, he saw what remained of his hand. Flattened, split apart, it felt disgustingly "fleshy," seeing "that shade of red," which reminded him of cartel videos. Of course, holding hands with that disgustingness, came excruciating agony, which he quickly fought to get rid of, sacrificing his blood to heal the wound.
"Well, all prim and proper," Riley half-heartedly stated, trying his best to fake serenity despite how horrible he felt. Of course, not wanting to sacrifice too much blood and grow weak, he had only healed his hand, not allowing his kidney to heal at all.
The pain continued to pulsate in his stomach, and he felt so pained that he wished to take a seat, ultimately turning back to see a grown man, struggling to breathe, lying on the ground.
Did I win yet?
From the looks of things, it seemed he had. His opponent was on the ground with a grossly caved in chest, with terrible noises escaping his throat.
Riley Woods had finally won his first battle in quite some time. This was, after all, pretty much a first of his.
Having lost so much, his heart filled with joy at a genuine victory. With a soft smile on his face, he walked towards his opponent, watching his step to avoid sneaky landmines.
At the end of the day, he had taken advantage of his opponent's assumptions and beliefs, using his techniques in tandem—just as Frank himself had suggested.
Approaching the beaten man, Riley loomed over him, a soft smirk on his face.
"Alright. Y'know, the festivities this time of year sure are splendid. Would you be a darling and give me a backpack full of ammo for my gun? I can only assume that I've satisfied you, since you wanted a grand hunt, no? C'mon, give me some ammo, and we'll call it a day."
Frank looked up. Despite his labored breaths, in spite of the readily apparent damage which had shown itself within his chest and body, his face was the opposite. Indeed, rather than being overwhelmed by pain and anger, instead—,
Huh?
It was confusion, which had cemented itself within his expression.
The hunter, confused by the words of the prey, spoke.
"...You're still so incredibly wet behind the ears," Frank earnestly commented. Then, a strange heap of metal which far surpassed the size of any gun Riley had—
"Shit!" Riley shouted in fear, leaping back as a rocket launched towards him. Striking his legs, and detonating without mercy—,
—A singular attack had been executed, which turned the tides of the battle in an instant.