by L. M. Kerr
One appeared where Micheal had just stepped to, while the other two appeared near the speed-boosted warriors.
The spacetime bubble that Micheal had spawned for himself caused the world to distort, time inside it accelerating. He was careful with his efforts, manipulating time to run at roughly 31% faster, the highest amount he felt he could stably maintain without throwing his focus or actions off, given his clouded mind.
He had found, through even more experimentation, that he could ‘flare’ his Time Bubbles in a way. By depending on his Soul stat, he could briefly move time forward at a rate faster than his Soul could normally sustain, a number between 47% and 48% quicker. Doing so, however required a sizable amount of energy and put a significant strain on his Soul, drawing his focus away from other things that might require it…
Like, for example, the two Time Bubbles Micheal had created right in front of both Silver 1 and Silver 2’s spears.
The main weapon of each of these warriors, alongside their upper arms and shoulders, entered each respective Time Bubble at the same time that Micheal entered his.
And in that moment… not only were their weapons drastically slowed down, so too were the bodies of the Great Ape duo as a whole, returning to a speed that was roughly normal for them.
The Time Bubbles affected them in the same way all Time Bubbles affected Micheal, encompassing them despite the fact that their bodies were not fully enveloped in the original frame of the bubble. As soon as that took place, the slowing effect rose to instant prominence.
Micheal didn’t know how the two fighters did it, but they somehow instantly surmised how to throw off the effects of his Time Bubbles. The two warriors flared their Ki, tossing the full force of their Souls right at Micheal as they tried to shake off his constraints.
That force was promptly bounced back with almost casual ease as Micheal’s Soul stood as steady as a towering castle, entirely unimpressed.
The two warriors instantly tried again, activating their powers with a simple thought. The amount of time it took to do this was almost microscopic, meaning that even though they were a mere fraction of a second away from colliding with Micheal, they could sally forth once more to try to resist.
While their Soul stats simply could not be compared to Micheal’s, it wasn’t as if they were weak. On the contrary, they were well above average compared to most humans.
If they were given enough time, Micheal’s stalwart Soul would’ve eventually cracked, letting them escape. Every time they pushed back, it added to the strain on his Soul, making it harder and harder for him to focus. With that said, because of how powerful Micheal’s Soul was, he would still be able to safely tank quite a number of attempts.
Unfortunately for both Silver 1 and Silver 2, they never got the chance to test that number. By the time their second attempt failed, Micheal had already arrived in front of them.
His back was still facing them, something that he could not change. Even under the effects of time acceleration and the power of his well-trained body, he simply could not move fast enough. This pincer attack had come forward so quickly and with such precise planning, the current him was left unable to respond normally.
Micheal took full advantage of that as he opted to attack in the most non-normal, unexpected way he could conceive.
For the second time in this life, Micheal stabbed himself in the chest with his own sword, practically hurling the blade through his body and effectively committing suicide to surprise his enemy.
Why fix something that wasn’t broken?
His Crystal Millennium Sword cut through his left lung like it was butter, the Advanced Tier Sword Energy ripping through his ribs with ease. Micheal didn’t even feel pain from the horrifyingly sharp attack, only a sense of numbness.
As he launched this final sword strike, Micheal kicked off the ground with his left leg.
The sense of numbness that had formed was extended a thousand-fold and joined by a light-headed feeling as, a moment after he stabbed himself in the chest, Silver 1’s Hammer Energy-boosted spear plowed directly into the right side of Micheal’s back. Micheal’s gaze flickered with energy, as if concentrating on something else the moment this happened.
Micheal’s Time Bubbles had successfully slowed their attacks down, allowing Micheal to seize the initiative, but that didn’t mean he could dodge all, or even any, of the attacks his enemies had unleashed.
He most definitely could not. They weren’t considered elite warriors, chosen by the Vile King, for no reason.
This single strike from Silver 1 obliterated most of Micheal’s chest, causing such a torrent of blood loss that it was an indisputable fact that Micheal would die from that alone in less than 2 seconds.
The lack of pain was a blessing in disguise as Micheal’s body was forcibly twisted over by the blow. His legs jerked upward as his hands fell away to the side, function in both arms lost as his right arm virtually disintegrated while his left arm finally stopped working altogether.
Silver 2’s crushing spear strike from above was, at this point, only a trivial amount of time from hitting Micheal. Because the warrior opted to attack from above, on the off chance that Micheal might somehow try to escape by jumping or flying, his spear was slightly slower than his ally's stab.
Still, this attack was invariably going to finish what Silver 1 had started, aimed directly at the remnants of Micheal’s flailing body. Micheal would soon transform into a corpse before these vaunted warriors, his body literally blasted apart by forces it never stood a chance of surviving.
In this absolute last free moment, in the last shred of time Micheal had before he was killed…
Two things happened.
The sword Micheal had stabbed through his own chest began to cut directly into the chest of Silver 1, the hidden, near-impossible-to-predict surprise attack working with superb effectiveness.
And…
Micheal’s left leg lurched through the air, flying up thanks to the help of a pair of small, blue orbs, hidden from sight under what was left of his green robe.
It seemed, at first, like a rather pointless movement.
His leg was… just a leg, and a barely functioning one at that, even if it was flying forth with extreme speed. Micheal’s spine wasn’t completely ruined, but it wasn’t a stretch to say no one would be able to move their leg with an injury like this, let alone walk. This particular leg was also broken in six different spots, faring better than his right leg, which had almost completely shattered.
In fact, Micheal’s body was literally two arms and a leg past the edge of ruin.
Because he’d removed his Cloud Stepping Shoes, his feet were bare, the normal socks he’d worn obliterated by the force of Silver 1’s attack. Somehow, he still had all of his toes, ones that jerked through the air alongside Micheal’s body in one last hurrah.
Finally, thanks to his frenzied efforts, the big toe on Micheal's left foot just barely managed to make contact with something...
It lightly brushed the side of Silver 2's neck.
Right before the elite, enhanced warrior crushed Micheal’s body, destroying what was left of him…
Micheal activated one final Ability.
An Ability he had already activated, just a moment prior, in the exact instant when Silver 1’s Hammer Energy-empowered spear slammed into him.
‘Impact… Absorb…’
“…"
“…”
"…"
‘Impact…'
"…"
"…"
‘Release.’
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Chapter 49
Silver 2’s neck was guarded by a thin plate of reinforced metal, the same armor used by most of the warriors within the Beasts of Providence. While he was also actively using the Asura’s Tears Ability, lowering his defensive prowess, he was still an expert warrior that could take heavy hits and keep on fighting.
That metal guard crumpled like paper as a titanic impact slammed into it, detona
ting against the man’s neck with a nigh-unstoppable amount of force.
It took less than a fraction of a second for that impact to spread to the rest of Silver 2’s skull.
In one moment, the warrior’s eyes glared at Micheal, tears of red light dripping from them as he prepared to strike Micheal down.
In the next moment…
Silver 2’s head vanished.
There was no loud crash, no overt spurt of blood or crashing collision.
His head was there…
And then it wasn’t.
The warrior’s neck, skull, and head were, for all intents and purposes, erased from existence, obliterated into dust and ash as the massive force Micheal released annihilated everything in its path. It was an instantaneous blow that came with no build-up, no time for any warrior to prepare or guard against.
Just like that, Silver 2 died.
.
—-Points Notification—-
Points Obtained: 37,227
.
As for Silver 1…
In the immediate aftermath of Micheal’s sudden strike, Silver 1 surprisingly managed to survive.
Micheal’s suicidal sword attack, cutting through his own chest to get at Silver 1, was an attack the strong fighter had absolutely not been prepared for. It was a move that was so incredibly unpredictable, it would astonish even the wiliest of elites.
Silver 1 had readied himself for practically every other avenue conceivable, whether it was an attempt to flee, to break forward through the somewhat weaker trio of Blue Tailed Monkey users at the front, or to try to spin around and confront him and Silver 2 directly.
If Micheal had tried anything along those lines, Silver 1 was supremely confident he could handle that. Even when the world around him distorted, somehow interfering with Silverback’s Celestial Aura, Silver 1 knew he was more than capable of completing his attack.
The one thing he did not expect was that his target would try to kill himself in an attempt to ambush him.
By the time Silver 1 reacted to the attack, the deadly sharp weapon had already pierced past his metal armor and cut half an inch (1.3 cm) into his chest.
It was a fast strike, one that was initially under some type of time acceleration technique, something Silver 1 had seen many times before. It seemed to lose this acceleration after it hit him, but its abrupt arrival meant that mattered little.
However…
Even with all of that, Silver 1 was still confident he could survive this and ensure Micheal’s death.
The moment he realized what was happening, Silver 1 dropped his spear and gave up on the rest of his attack entirely. He was already satisfied with the damage he’d dealt and instead opted to use this moment to stamp down hard with his right foot, cracking the earth and launching himself backwards.
His target’s attack was devious, but because of the odd angle that Micheal was forced to attack at, it wasn’t a particularly fast or powerful blow, even when initially time-accelerated. There was a deadly cutting edge within the strike that made confronting it head-on suicidal, but all that really meant was that Silver 1 needed to move back a bit.
He’d taken a small amount of damage, but it wasn’t yet a fatal injury, while his target, Micheal, was already at death’s door. The fight was as good as over, as far as Silver 1 was concerned; all he needed to do now was survive.
And it was here, as Silver 1 was in the midst of leaping backwards, that his body abruptly, and unnaturally, jerked to a halt in mid-air.
When Micheal was hit by Silver 1’s spear strike, not only did he shift his body and the speed of the strike to ensure he wouldn’t die outright, but he also concentrated intently on doing several things.
His main focus here had been on using his ‘Impact Release’ Ability to absorb this impact. Micheal’s powerful Soul, combined with the sheer overwhelming force behind Silver 1’s spear strike, meant he was able to store and utilize that impact as soon as he absorbed it, letting him use it to take out Silver 2.
However… that wasn’t the only thing Micheal did then.
He also sent two of his Life Orbs fluttering up, directing them to help drag his bedraggled body upward and allow his foot to, just barely, touch the neck of Silver 2, giving him the leeway he needed to unleash the massive impact he had just stored.
Micheal had only used 2 Life Orbs to accomplish this.
That didn’t mean he only had 2 Life Orbs under his control.
On the contrary, he currently had 3.
While those first 2 orbs were flying up to ensure one half of his plan worked, the sole, last remaining orb flew out on a different mission.
It shot down between the legs of Silver 1 and then flew up, floating to a stand right behind the back of the warrior.
Thus, in that vitally important moment where Silver 1 jumped backwards…
He ran into the floating orb and was jerked to a halt.
The orb wavered from the impact, but held steady for a single moment.
A moment later, this particular orb shattered as Micheal’s body well and truly died, the orb giving off faint particles of blue and white light.
This freed Silver 1 and allowed him to continue his desperate retreat.
By that point, however, it was already too late.
That single moment the Life Orb used to block Silver 1 bought enough time for Micheal’s Crystal Millennium Sword to pierce clean through the chest of the speed-boosted warrior.
The Advanced Tier Sword Energy, no longer guided by Micheal’s now actually dead hand, went wild at the impact, ravaging Silver 1’s body from the inside out. In a single heartbeat, every major organ and a majority of the bones in Silver 1’s body were ripped to shreds by the violent power, cutting through everything in its path.
Without realizing it, Silver 1 joined his comrades, killed in a way he could not even comprehend.
.
—-Points Notification—-
Points Obtained: 38,007
.
The next few moments were hazy in Micheal’s recollection.
He returned to the ephemeral, empty world where he waited before coming back to life, adrift in a sea of endless fog. Flashes of light echoed in this world, vague waves that seemed to move of their own will.
He was vaguely aware that the remnants of his body were being corroded and destroyed by the surviving trio of Blue Tailed Monkey users. The bodies of the two Great Ape users each collapsed to the ground in the same moment, water flung through the air as they hit the earth.
It took Micheal a couple of seconds to gather his mind, his thoughts unclear and fuzzy.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was approximately 4 seconds, Micheal found himself able to think clearly.
‘Huh. I can get Points even after I die.’ It was the first thing he noticed. The last Great Ape user he’d killed had died after Micheal died, yet Micheal still obtained a very sizable number of Points from him.
Right after that, the scenes of battle rushed back into his mind as he focused on the present.
His secretive use of his Impact Release Ability had successfully paid off.
It was an Ability he planned on removing soon, to clear up space for other Abilities he desired. While its usefulness was gradually running its course, especially as his enemies grew tougher, it was still a deadly Ability when used properly.
With his now-much stronger powerful Soul stat, Micheal was able to shorten the amount of time required to absorb an impact. When this combined with the raw, unadulterated level of force behind the first Great Ape user’s Hammer Energy-infused strikes, it meant he could take in a monumental amount of power in a tiny fraction of a second.
He couldn’t absorb the full impact, his body was in ruins, but he took in enough to easily ensure Silver 2’s death.
He hadn’t planned on his Impact Release Ability being one of his trump cards, but had kept it in the back of his head, factoring it into all of his plans while he still had it.
>
Micheal’s gaze centered on the trio of Blue Tailed Monkey users as he felt a tugging sensation in his Soul, indicating that he was about to return to life.
The group of warriors were currently staring at the dead bodies of their comrades, almost in shock, as if they couldn’t believe the two speed-boosted warriors had perished.
It was then, when one of them was just walking forward towards one of the corpses, that Micheal finished activating his Life Orb Ability, drawing on the energy from the shattered Life Orb.
Micheal’s corpse, including bits of his clothes and all the remnants of his body that had been splattered over the area, dissipated into dust.
In that same moment…
Micheal came back to life.
He reappeared perfectly unharmed, his Spatial Ring returned to his hand and his green robes became whole once more, as if time had turned back. As he’d tested before, things purchased through the Shop or ‘bound’ to him came back with him when he returned to life.
Micheal decided to come back right next to where his Crystal Millennium Sword had fallen, kicking it up into his right hand with a light tap of his foot. He slipped his Silk Strider Gloves onto both of his hands in an instant, pulling out his Aura Nullification Necklace and placing it around his neck as he activated it.
The rain was just now beginning to die down, though the dark clouds above maintained their ominous presence.
By the time he finished preparing, the trio of warriors had just noticed his arrival.
Without questioning how he could possibly still be alive, the trio all universally took a single step back, their bodies tensed with shock. A half-second later, the area around the three of them began to distort as they each activated their Fast Retreat Ability, intent on falling back.
It was clear to them, now, that they didn’t stand a chance against Micheal in direct combat. If they pivoted to constant ambushes and guerrilla tactics, their Squad’s specialty, the trio reasoned they might fare somewhat better.
Micheal didn’t allow them that chance.
The half-second this trio took to react gave Micheal just enough time to send out a net of titanium threads. As these warriors’ bodies began to distort, space around them twisting, several glowing-red metal threads wrapped around each of them.