Weapons of Mass Destruction

It’s amusing how much of my arsenal doesn’t work on him, as he doesn’t even bother to use mana beyond what’s absolutely necessary. Almost all of it is turned into kinetic energy.

I deploy my own field with Resonance Flow, and a large section of the sea’s surface immediately settles, and Whitey’s field and mine collide against each other as we fight for control.

He remains in Pulser Stance, while I launch mana projectiles at him and conjure exploding orbs, while creating lances that almost seem to scar the air itself, leaving fields of shimmering air in their wake. The surface of the aircraft carrier beneath us cracks more and more as we both direct kinetic energy into it.

This time though, I don’t hold back. My mana surges through my body, to the point where Whitey goes pale, the sheer amount threatening to knock him unconscious.

But the demon holds up.

His red eyes shine, and the rhythm of his heart changes at an incredible speed. Needle Point, Pulser Stance, Wraith Dance, Resonance Flow, Steelroot, Counter Flow, Breaker Style. He uses all seven techniques in an incredible display of mastery over kinetic energy, employing them to their limits in an attempt to counter my own output, which keeps growing.

My attacks are explosive and even a partial hit would be enough to kill him. Yet he dodges, avoids them, and strikes back in turn.

A materialized [Ley Line] cuts the aircraft carrier apart again, but the ship doesn’t split. Whitey holds it together with his kinetic energy, absorbing all of the massive ship’s momentum. But I know he can't handle that for too long. He’s not a brute like me, he just can’t handle such a massive output. There's a reason for that.

He flings it at me, forcing me to block at the last second and sending me flying off the ship until I crash into the waters below.

I track his movements and detonate the floor under my feet, diving into the hangar below.

Whitey hurls a jet at me, boosting it with kinetic energy.

Armor forms around my body as the jet collides with me, erupting into a fireball. With a burst of kinetic energy, I fling the mangled remains aside, and the flames burn out as I absorb their heat, and send a laser thin stream of golden fire shooting forth, slicing into the metal above Whitey’s head as he ducks. Molten metal drips from the edges of the cut, red-hot and glowing.

Whitey charges me again, and I opt to release a powerful surge of mana, no technique, no specific skill, just a colossal blast in one direction, something I’ve done before during the original challenge.

Unlike his Lurker self, Whitey reacts with incredible speed, using Wraith Dance to slip aside. The kinetic field around him shifts, his entire body vibrating, letting my attack pass through him as though he weren’t even there.

“Well, that’s new.” I transform all of my mana into golden flames that blaze into the area around me, heating the surrounding metal to glowing white luminance and raising the temperature in the hangar.

Whitey blasts through a nearly molten wall with a surge of kinetic energy, sending droplets of molten metal flying, and I follow right behind him.

“I saw Specter doing something like this in your memories. It took me six months, but I found a way to do the same with kinetic energy,” he answers smugly.

My lance pierces the wall next to him, unleashing a dozen [Ley Lines] that materialize for a split second, slicing everything apart before another explosion of golden flames floods the corridor in Whitey’s wake. Wraith Dance propels me through the flames, then through the hole, until I land in the calm patch of the sea surrounding Whitey.

“Before you ask, I don’t think you’ll ever manage to pull it off. You’re more of a brute than the type to use more refined means of control,” he teases, stomping down.

Kinetic vibrations slam into a barrier I throw up in reaction.

At the same time, the destroyed carrier behind me collapses onto the sea, kicking up waves that freeze in midair, along with the ship itself. I reshape all that energy and release it through Needle Point. It’s thicker than a mere needle, nearly as large as a train, ripping the very air, churning the sea, and blasting past Whitey before piercing yet another carrier, which starts to shudder.

Both of us charge, my armor stretching around me as flames surge across my body.

Whitey strikes me, snuffing out the flames with a single powerful gust. He ducks beneath my follow-up attack, vibrating his body so that my arms of mana simply whiff past him. He slams a fist against my chest, but a thick layer of mana thwarts the blow again. He phases once more, passing through a stream of flames, absorbing the train-sized surge of Needle Point and compressing it into a single strike.

The world around me slows as I enter a deeper state of [Focus]. Barrier after barrier forms ahead of his attack, shattering and reforming, steadily slowing and weakening it until it finally collides with my armor, vibrating through its form and tearing into my heart a bit more.

He tries to phase again, but I deliberately reverberate the kinetic energy in a similar manner, not to mimic him, but to disrupt his phasing.

Whitey switches to Steelroot, and I halt the attack I was about to unleash, all that immense mana frozen mid-flow, as I grab his left hand instead.

Before he can attack or attempt another phase, I yank him closer, driving my knee into his chest and releasing a tremendous amount of kinetic energy which he’s forced to absorb. Then a blast of mana follows, sending Whitey flying; leaving his ragged arm hanging in my grip.

I teleport to the anchor I placed on him and duck under his kick. He phases through my [Ley Line], and when he rushes me. I unleash a torrent of flames that boils the surface of the sea. Whitey punches, diverting the heat off to the side where it melts part of a nearby ship. He tries to land another blow, but I teleport again, reappearing behind him making use of the same mark as before.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Before he can strike, I teleport once more.

Taking a short breather, I gather enough mana and teleport once more, deploying my [Mana Domain]. The sheer density of mana in the air becomes almost tangible, making him hesitate. Even so, a Needle Point bores a hole into my side and another into my leg, these ones thicker than before.

I teleport again, and he pursues me, passing through the field left behind by [Empyrean Lance]. Once inside, his heart stutters, his movements slow, and I see surprise flicker through his eyes as the remaining effect disrupts his primordial energy.

He drops onto his ass in his rush to avoid my javelin. But a tricolored orb is already there to meet him, glowing brilliantly all the while, Whitey quickly crawls out of the field on all three limbs. Right before the orb detonates, he curls into a ball. The explosion sends him flying, creating ripples across the rough sea as a shower of debris from the carrier rains down alongside the displaced water.

Once again, the surface grows still, debris and individual droplets of water suspended in midair, as Whitey breaks through to stand atop the water. Blood drips from his body, staining the surface red. He glances at his left arm which is now nearly entirely gone. His left arm, his left eye, a chunk of his chest, all broken and burned.

“Why is it always the left arm?” He smirks, though the expression is anything but friendly. It’s dangerous, like a predator’s grin.

"Tradition demands it," I say, as the mana surges through my body.

I feel a grin creep onto my face, not all that different from Whitey’s, as I glance at the clear blue sky and take a deep breath. My heart is hammering so wildly, and it isn’t just the kinetic energy. The tips of my fingers tingle, and my own mana threatens to tear me apart at the slightest misstep.

“I apologize for underestimating you. You’re one tough motherfucking demon,” I admit.

I’d thought I would beat him easily, even without using black mana. But this version of Whitey is nothing like the lurker. It’s not even close. What had seemed like a slight difference between a mindless beast fighting on instinct and a living being who fights with purpose makes a huge difference. And beyond that... the damn demon has gotten better. He didn’t show me exactly how, but he spent over six months in my mind, in this mind space, training every moment he wasn’t sparring with me or teaching.

I turn my gaze on him, compressing a wisp of mana with [Focus]

That whirlpool surrounds me, trying to pull in any ambient mana, but there isn’t much. Whitey’s mana is nearly gone too, most of it having already been converted into kinetic energy stored in his body.

Of course, that wasn’t my goal. I seize the crown, forcing it under my command to power my skills and fortify my body.

“Fucking humans, always cheating,” Whitey says with a grin, unbuttoning his camouflage jacket one-handed. He shrugs it off and tosses it into the air, where it remains frozen like everything else. Standing there in a bloodied pale-green shirt and camo pants, even the blood seeping from his wound ceases to fall.

“I didn’t realize demons were such complaining crybabies,” I reply with a smile, building my mana more and more in preparation.

Whitey’s heartbeat changes once again, adopting a rhythm I’ve never sensed before. Something entirely new. The vibrations it creates around his body send a cold sweat down my back and raise goosebumps on my arms.

Once again, I can’t help feeling a deep admiration for him and the sheer control he has over his body and his heartbeat, especially given the condition of his body throughout his life.

If his circumstances had been different, Whitey might very well have been an Absolute candidate.

No more words are exchanged as black mana floods my body, completely replacing my normal mana. Whitey extends a domain I’ve never seen him use before, colliding with my [Mana Domain], demolishing it, and halting only when it strikes [Eclipse].

Both of us attack once more.

I open my eyes, finding myself back on the stairway outside the tower.

Even here, I feel the urge to move, to fight, and I have to take my time to gradually calm myself down.

Draw.

Standing up and climbing the stairs, I think of that word, replaying the fight in my mind, especially the ending. All the while examining my own feelings.

Frustration. Satisfaction.

I ascend a few steps.

Annoyance. Amusement.

A few more steps.

Thankfulness. Admiration. More frustration.

I reach the inside of the tower, where Kyralon already waits on the loggia, sitting in a chair.

After taking a seat opposite him, I say, “I want to ask a question now, and I’ll answer the questions to pay for it, then a hundred more to earn another question.”

“Please do so,” Kyralon gestures.

“There’s a presence in my mind. Someone I challenged, and I want to try placing them in a new body or something similar.”

“Tell me more.”

I explain in detail, providing as much information as possible so he can give a well-informed answer.

After a moment of contemplation, Kyralon shakes his head. “The wording of your challenge will not allow it, nor will the system. Across the long history of the tutorial, there have been many cases like this. Absolutes going rogue, corrupted challenges, and Rulers twisting the rules in unexpected ways. Never, not once, has a native of the tutorial escaped. Sometimes, the system was slow to act or waited until the attendees began their return to their homeworlds, but in the end, no native has ever broken free.”

I study his manner, looking for any hint of deception.

There is none.

"The presence in your mind, those memories will almost certainly vanish the moment his lurker regenerates on the first Beyond floor. That is what I would expect from the system for a challenge like this, a challenge that should never have been approved. Even if he takes over your body or finds a new one, he will not be able to leave. So at most, he can kill you in revenge before the system erases him. That, perhaps, is what Envy is counting on. It will make no difference if you try to store the memories in an item or by some other means, the outcome remains the same."

“I see.”

Kyralon observes me for a moment. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“I expected an answer like that.”

“Have I answered your question?”

“Yes.”

"Then allow me to continue with the questions you owe me."