Weapons of Mass Destruction

Observing Noelle and tracing her aim, I predict the trajectory of the incoming arrow. Even so, I remain cautious, just in case she’s capable of bending that trajectory.

And she does.

The arrow comes quickly, and follows it with a second one at a higher speed, ensuring that both will hit at the same time from different sides.

I release two short bursts of kinetic energy to change their paths just enough to allow me to dodge without having to use mana for defense. As the next three arrows reach me, I do the same.

Just a few steps away from the throne, five arrows reverse course and make their way back at me.

At that moment, Derick moves as well, his tattoos lighting up all across his body. I feel a powerful disrupting effect, especially centered around his fists, elbows, and shins. His mana glows vividly in my vision, separating itself from the stark black and white world I see.

He dodges my Needle Point and sends a burst of mana washing over his body to disrupt my attempt to halt his movements.

Next, his fist crashes into my left forearm as I move to intercept his strike, and cracks the bone. The disrupting effect on his fist shreds all mana based defenses in the small area of contact, sending out a powerful, brief vibration that further damages the bone beneath.

Even though it is cracked, I do not worry about it. With [Knitting] strengthening them, my bones will handle much more.

The lightning arrows reach us at the same time, and I teleport away as they pass through the spot where I had been standing, only to reappear in the same place.

I release the collected kinetic energy and take a smooth step toward Derick.

This time, the tattoos on his forearm light up as he projects energy in front of him, forming a shield-like barrier to block my attack.

I immediately switch tactics, grabbing his forearm. Boosting myself, I pull his forearms apart and unleash another quick burst of kinetic energy.

This time, though, he simply redirects it with a smaller shield wrapped around his free arm.

Thermal energy floods into my body as I move to pass it through his forearms, but he reacts quickly. In one incredible movement, he frees himself, takes a long, quick step around me to reach my side, kicks against my shin, and strikes my shoulder. This makes me stumble and nearly fall until I release another burst of kinetic energy to steady myself and throw another punch at him.

He ducks under, delivering two quick strikes to my chest, both landing just over my heart, and shoving me while kicking at my feet again to make me lose balance.

I stagger backward again, dropping the barrier that shielded my heart from an attack that would have surely damaged it. Dodging two lightning arrows from Noelle, I form and boost two javelins in return.

She moves in with quick, long strides even before I release the javelins, effortlessly avoiding both and firing more arrows at me. Each primordial lightning arrow forms in her hand before she latches it onto a string made of mana and releases it at incredible speed.

Derick closes in again to draw my attention while Noelle moves to flank me. He ducks, sidesteps, and leaps over my projectiles, deflecting one of my arms of mana with his glowing tattoos, disrupting a large portion of its structure before it can reach him.

So he prefers making strong attacks over a small area, I conclude.

I duck under his swing and use Steelroot to bolster my defenses as he kicks at my feet, trying to make me lose balance once more.

He clearly likes to use his opponent's inertia against them.

As he shoves me, I absorb my inertia, redirect it into another movement, and punch him as he moves to duck under the anticipated strike. When he takes a step back, Noelle attacks with two quick arrows, once more causing them to arrive at the same time.

I duck under one arrow and grab the second with my bleeding arm.

It also takes a short moment for his tattoos to power up; he clearly can’t channel mana as quickly as I can.

I boost my body, redirect my movement, let him land a punch to my side, and swing to stab the arrow in his neck. Derick smiles as the lightning arrow vanishes from my hand, but his smile falters when a mana stake appears, hidden below the arrow until now.

At the last moment, he lifts his glowing forearm to block it. He expects his tattoos to disrupt the mana, but they do not.

My stake buries itself in his forearm, expands, glows, and pierces through the entirety of his arm, heading toward his neck until he kicks me, sending me backward while he also dodges the projectiles I shoot at him.

I have observed his tattoos and modified the frequency of my mana. Even though I am sure he can adjust the effect of his tattoos on the run, I can adapt faster.

The inertia of his kick carries me backward, and I let it happen, even adding to it, heading toward Noelle, whose mana surges in response, and her movements pick up an incredible amount of speed as she fires a dozen arrows within seconds. Not even bothering to avoid them, I teleport through a [Ley Line], placing myself in a location closer to her, lowering my body to further increase my speed as I charge at her.

She drops her bow, and the arrow in her hand changes and twists into the shape of a saber made of primordial lightning.

Derick is close, though, following hot on my heels, threatening to intercept me at any moment.

My mana explodes and expands, creating a spherical barrier around the three of us and trapping us inside. I open my mouth and spit out an orb filled with a mix of thermal energy and mana.

Then I teleport myself out of the throne room.

I once again feel the sea breeze on my skin and smell the air as I wait, but there are no notifications. However, what I find outside is interesting in its own way: most of the people from Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty are gone; only a few from Hell and Beyond remain.

And there is another surprise.

Two people have the word [King] over their heads.

When Derick finally exits the tower through the hole in the roof and lands on top, that makes it four of us.

Derick is wounded; burns mark his forearms and face, and in some places, bone shines through the holes in his flesh. Yet he still seems capable of fighting and even wears a lazy smile.

Jean is down there, too, smiling brightly as he shouts, "Noname! I challenge you to a duel!" The maniacal call surprises Derick and the last [King], who had probably made a different deal with him that didn't include a 1v1 fight.

They should have known better than to think he would act according to their plan and wouldn’t just try to duel me. Though they probably don’t have as much experience with him as I do.

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While the tension starts rising again, I observe the last [King], the 10th round’s representative. He looks Asian, likely Korean, slim, and tall with black hair. He wears sleek black clothes, and even from here, I sense dozens of mana batteries embedded in them along with a web of inscriptions sewn into the fabric. The whole thing resembles one of the arrays I keep stored in the back of my mind.

One of the Beyonders from Derick's round is here, along with Lucien, and a woman from Jean's round, and two more Beyonders by the 10th round [King]'s side: a young Korean girl, barely 12 years old, and a Korean man in his 50s.

It seems like it’s about time.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the object that splashed into the water as I left our fortress.

It is a finger. Specifically, a finger belonging to a woman.

As it hits the ground, a figure emerges from it. Black hair, brown eyes with one of which is a shade lighter than the other, and an expression that I believe fits her more than any human alive.

Victoria stands on a patch of ground near the 10th round’s [King] and Jean, but she just glances at them and turns to look up at me.

She asks a single question, "Which one?"

"The bald guy over there, along with the rest of his group, please," I reply.

Victoria nods and disappears. In the next moment, she crashes into Jean, sending him crashing against the wall and then breaking through it with Jean’s fellow Beyonders following close behind.

Before anyone else can react, I teleport over to the Korean [King] with mana oscillating around my hand, taking the opportunity to slash at his neck.

Instead of him reacting, the young Korean girl moves to block the attack. I sense no mana from her, almost as if she has none at all. Instead, she relies solely on her physical stats. As my hand cuts into her forearm, she doesn't even flinch. Her face remains expressionless, the look of someone utterly focused.

So, a concentration type skill?

The older Korean man moves as well, as the area around me begins to grow incredibly cold. Frost forms on my body, and the ground under my feet freezes. My breath puffs out in a cloud of mist.

Derick appears nearby, attacking from the opposite side of the girl. His tattoos glow even brighter with a stark white light, nearly blinding me through my trait as the intense mana attempts to overwhelm my vision.

I teleport away and launch a javelin toward the tower's roof, where it collides with a lightning projectile. I redirect it just enough that it manages to miss me completely. Noelle stands there, the left side of her body terribly burned, one of her eyes ruined, and her left arm charred. She has discarded her bow, and instead, a circle of lightning that spins on an orbit around her.

Derick moves to my left while the Korean [King] moves to my right. The girl takes the front, and behind me, another man with a powerful signature appears, betraying his status as a Beyonder, likely from Derick's round. The old man who had tried to freeze me stands nearby, ready to jump in.

Then the man behind me swings a staff he is holding, and it touches one of the invisibleLey Lines I’ve suspended in the air nearby. The staff absorbs a piece of thatLey Line and glows as he slams it against the ground. A field forms within the fortress barrier, and all theLey Lines I have placed vanish.

Breathing heavily, the man falls to his knees.

I try to use [Ley Line] and find myself unable to. I attempt to radiate heat from my body, but it is actively suppressed by the old man, who already seems to be watching just for that.

"We have made preparations against you," Derick says as his tattoos shift their frequency again. They change constantly, several times per second, and I can see the strain it puts on him.

I return his gaze, "And you think this will be enough?"

POV Derick Kelley

Even surrounded by all of us, he shows no sign of nerves. His expression remains as calm as before, even colder than it was during our Beyond expedition. Back then, he gave me goosebumps, and that made my decision clear. Noname needs to be the first to go in this event.

We’ve collected as much information on him as possible. We paid off as many people from his round as we could to share what they knew, and we came prepared.

Without Jean, Kang Jiwon, and I are forced to serve as tanks, while Park Tae-sik is tasked with facing down Noname’s fire abilities. Noelle provides support. By sacrificing a powerful item, we even managed to suppress his teleportation, which usually seems nearly impossible to stop.

Noname disappears in a movement that does not use mana and almost resembles teleportation. I follow him immediately, joined by the girl.

He reappears near Kendrick, who is still kneeling, expended after using the staff. Noname grabs the back of his head and smashes it against the ground, turning him into blue particles in an instant.

The girl reaches him sooner than I do, but I dodge to the side as she finds her body being flung past me by his kinetic energy. She still lacks experience, even though her talent is incredible.

I reach him, bracing myself for the impending attack, but it does not come. Noname moves again, and this time, I can follow him better. I observe his body, taking note of the feints he uses most often, and move almost simultaneously with him.

Trailing behind him, I grab his left arm and pull in an attempt to take him off balance and stop his charge, but to my surprise, his arm gives in and remains in my hand.

Did he cut it off? But why? Just to prevent me from stopping his attack?

That momentary hesitation allows him to reach the man shrouded in that intense chilly aura, so cold I would not even dare come near it. But Noname charges in, gold flames blazing around his skin, and expanding to fill the area.

I hear a heartbeat, just one.

At the same time, the arm I’m holding starts glowing bright white. I barely manage to raise a shield before it explodes, hurling me against the ground and bouncing me off the wall. As I pull myself back to my feet, I redirect the mana flowing through my tattoos into undamaged segments to keep them active. I strengthen my body, clear my mind, and rush back.

Noname stands where Park Tae-sik once did, and there is no sign of the man anywhere. The area around us is molten, the heat rising into the air, causing it to shimmer with motion. I notice a golden glow in his gray and brown eyes.

Baek, the 10th round's [King], finally moves. He sighs in his usual lazy manner and shakes his head. The black clothes he wears seem to move as if they were alive, adorned with blue mana stones that shine like stars as they expand.

A deep blue suit of armor forms around him, taking on an almost metallic sheen. Sleek and dangerously sharp in design, it solidifies around him. A sword materializes in his hand, made from the same dark blue mana, and gleaming with the same metallic luster.

Baek takes a stance and charges at Noname, swinging his sword just a step away from him.

A field radiates from Noname, draining all color from the area. Only his crown and small flickers of his golden flames remain, while everything else fades to black and white.

The armor around Baek and his sword vanish like a candle being blown out, and his inertia carries him to Noname, who catches him by the neck and smashes him against the ground.

A pale blue mana arm grows from Noname’s severed limb, and he drives its fingers down, aiming to stab them into Baek's head.

But Noname stops mid-movement and instead lifts Baek, using him as a shield against the charging girl. As she collides with her [King], Noname releases a burst of kinetic energy, sending them both flying. Between them shines an orb filled with golden flames and pale blue mana.

Noname tilts his head to avoid Noelle’s arrow. It hits the ground instead, sending a burst of lightning through it and striking Noname, stunning him for a moment.

As the golden orb attached to Baek explodes, I reach Noname and take advantage of the brief stun to bury my fingers into his chest, aiming for his heart, but I'm too slow with all my wounds, and in the last moment, he shifts his body, causing me to miss.

Up close, he turns to me, his expression unchanged even as blood seeps from his nose due to the strain and from his mouth because of the wound I’ve just caused.

Then he spits that blood into my eyes. Surprised and blinded, I feel a sharp pain, and I stagger back to gain time. I notice my arm missing, cut off at the elbow.

When I look up, Noname is nowhere to be seen, but a sudden thud in my chest sends me staggering back. As I look down, I see my own severed hand, its fingers piercing my heart. He must have used kinetic energy to boost the throw. The fact that it was my own arm, filled with my mana, likely made me lower my guard, even as I sensed it coming.

I try to move, but after a few steps, I see a haze of blue particles and find myself outside in our common area, fully healed and only now realizing how much damage those attacks caused me.

Looking around, I spot Kendrick and sit on the bench next to him, watching the event on screen with the others already waiting outside.