Mako knew he had to act quickly while the smoke cloud lasted. He continued to use Motion sense to dodge the random incoming blades of fire as he maneuvered around under the cover of the smoke.
Within the smoke, Mako had an advantage as Mikhail couldn't see him, but Mako could still see him. Analyze didn't help him in displaying Mikhail's profile to him, but it was still capable of highlighting the person that the Analyze is being used upon, making it so that Mako could see the white outline of Mikhail as he moved frantically within the smoke trying to find Mako by chance.
[Silent Steps has been activated]
Mako used this to quietly circle back around to where the fighting had initially begun and exited the smoke cloud without alerting Mikhail who still thought that Mako was inside the smoke. However, as soon as he came out, Natasha shouted at the top of her lungs, alerting Mikhail of Mako's location.
Mikhail quickly stopped throwing random fire blades and started rushing back to Natasha's voice at full speed. The smoke cleared from his path as he was moving with such force and agility creating a funnel through the smoke screen.
Mikhail quickly exited the smoke screen too, but he was too late as Mako had already retrieved the staff that he dropped earlier.
Another great thing about the Storm Caller staff was that Mako could infuse his lightning aura inside the crystal beforehand and he didn't have to fire it right away as it would remain charged so that he could fire it later when he wished.
Mako had used the time that he earned while Mikhail rushed back toward him and charged the staff with as much lightning aura as possible. As soon as Mikhail exited the smoke screen, Mako aimed the charged Storm Caller staff toward him with the hilt's height set to the shortest setting.
Mikhail walked forward with confidence as he continued to show a huge grin on his face.
"You think your puny stick can hurt me!?" He shouted full of pride and ego.
With that, Mikhail lunged forward with his fists reignited with red flames, but Mako sidestepped at just the right moment and grabbed his wrist, using his own momentum against him to throw him off balance. Mikhail stumbled and fell forward several feet, and Mako took advantage and aimed the staff at Mikhail's back.
"Let's find out!" Mako replied as he activated his ability.
[Lightning Strike has been activated]
A massive bolt of lightning was released from the crystal on the tip of the staff. The lightning bolt released was absolutely massive, making a bone-chilling crackling sound as it traveled faster than any Lightning attack Mako had released before.
In an instant, the lightning bolt covered the distance between Mako and Mikhail and blasted Mikhail with thousands of volts of electricity right on the back. Mikhail's screams resounded loudly throughout the open field as he got electrocuted by the Lightning Strike.
Soon, the lightning subsided and smoke rose from Mikhail's body as stood in the exact position he was in when he was struck by the lightning. Mako thought that maybe this had sealed the deal and made it so that Mikhail's muscle fibers had stiffened up thus he couldn't move.
However, as Mako still tried to approach him while exercising caution to check out his condition because the system hadn't said that he had won the fight and defeated Mikhail, he heard the simple sound of slow clapping coming from Mikhail's direction.
The clapping soon began to be accompanied by laughter as Mikhail turned around to face Mako, leaving Mako in shock. The lightning strike was able to tear a hole through Mikhail's military uniform and now the hidden power armor that Mikhail was wearing underneath was revealed.
Mako stood there with shock and denial as he watched Mikhail slowly unbutton his burnt shirt and toss it away completely revealing the beautiful breastplate armor which was blue and had what looked like feathers made of crystals embedded into the breastplate.
Mako tried to see if he could use Analyze on just the breastplate and luckily he was given some information regarding it.
[Analyze]
[High Tier Diamond Hawk Breastplate] ⓘ
[A breastplate forged from the crystal and feathers of a Diamond Hawk found in (Unknown). A decent quality piece of armor forged by (Unknown)]
[Fortitude +25]
[Defense: 60]
[Passive skill: Set Elemental Resistance] ⓘ
[Set Elemental Resistance: The crystal and feathers of the Diamond Hawk can be used to create breastplates, leggings, and foot armor. Although each individual piece of armor doesn't provide an active or passive skill, by wearing all three pieces of armor, the wearer receives passive resistance against any type of elemental attack.]
Judging from the description that the Analyze skill had given him, it was safe to say, that he had all three parts of the Diamond Hawk set on his body thus his resistivity against Mako's massive lightning attack. This was also the reason why Mako's punch felt like it had a solid object and not the flesh of a human.
Mikhail slowly began to walk forward, his eyes burning with anger. "You're tougher than I thought," he said, cracking his knuckles. "But you won't last long against me."
Mako had officially run out of ideas. He wanted to use more of the combos that he had practiced again and again in his backyard, but that won't do him any good either as they were all elemental attacks that his armor would just protect him from.
Mako's ribs were still aching, and his back felt sore from the impact of Mikhail's kick, but he still took on a defensive stance, ready for whatever Mikhail had in store for him. He could feel his heart racing, his senses heightened by the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He had already started to formulate a new plan in his mind but he was going to need a bit of time to put in action and potentially win; time that he just didn't have.
Mikhail charged forward again, his fists ablaze with red flames. Mako focused his energy and dodged his first punch, then countered with a swift kick to his side. Mikhail grunted in pain, it looked like the amplified lighting strike did in fact do some damage to Mikhail and the Elemental resistance wasn't as great as it would seem but it wasn't enough to make him falter. He continued his assault with a flurry of punches and kicks.
Mako was barely able to keep up, his movements becoming slower and more sluggish as his injuries started to take their toll. He knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer, and he had to find a way to end the fight before Mikhail landed a fatal blow.
As Mikhail raised his fist for another punch, Mako saw an opening and seized it.
Mako quickly took out his high-tier combat knife from around his leg strap and with it in his right hand, Mako began to do a spinning motion while infusing his fire aura as usual creating multiple circular rings of fire, which extended outwards forcing Mikhail to create some distance between them.
[Flame Wheel had been activated]
Using the time to utmost efficiency, Mako quickly formed his right hand into a gun and channeled his fire aura making at the tip of his pointer fingers.
[Flame Bullet has been activated]
Mikhail recovered quickly once again because of his armor's passive skill and his own ability which basically neglected fire damage, but this time he couldn't provide a counter-attack as before he could come near Mako started to attack him with a stronger fire attack.
The flame bullet was a concentrated attack that not only dealt fire damage to the opponent but since it was condensed into a small bullet, it had a lot of force with it as well dealing massive amounts of regular damage.
Additionally, the bullet became more deadly, the longer Mako was able to condense his fire aura into his fingertips. The absolute maximum amount of energy that he could store inside his fingertips in a single attack at the moment was enough to form a cave out of the hole that Leon and Iris were digging.
Mako didn't have the luxury to charge up his flame bullet to the extent that he could and use it against Mikhail; however, he was still able to charge it up for about 5 seconds which was enough to create a decent enough bullet.
As Mako released the first flame bullet, Mikhail was caught off guard as the bullet blasted him right on in the chest, blasting him further away by several feet.
Mako wasted no time as he began charging another flame bullet and since Mikhail was further away he could charge the flame bullet for a longer period of time; however, the bullet didn't seem to do too much to Mikhail as he laughed crazily once again and immediately started rushing toward Mako at very high speeds.
Mikhail was not stupid and he wasn't going to get hit by the same move twice, because even though he didn't show it, the flame bullet did indeed do some real damage to him. Mikhail began zigzagging as he moved so that he was more of a difficult target for Mako to hit.
Mako tried his best to aim at the right moment and hit Mikhail but Mikhail was also increasing and decreasing his speed at random moments to make it more difficult for Mako to predict a pattern and strike.
Mikhail was quickly gaining on Mako, and with his opportunity quickly disappearing, he decided to just trust himself and take the shot.
*Bang!*
