by L. M. Kerr
While it was true that the elderly Farian had been a well-known lioness in her youth, the last battle she’d fought in had happened well before Micheal had even been born. She maintained her strength and kept up with training her Blood Aura manipulation, but her present life was that of a researcher, not a fighter.
This showed as she froze in the immediate moment, giving Micheal enough time to sprint to the middle of the room and arrive next to the pulsating silver cocoon.
The cogs in Micheal’s head spun rapidly as he began to adjust his plans for the present.
He switched the King’s Rock to his left hand as he brought it out of his pocket. He then began to activate it continuously.
However, instead of focusing solely on himself, he also focused on the air around him.
As a result, the magic incense in the air began to disperse. His Artifact ate it up, quickly scanning the air and starting to cleanse it. The same properties that made the incense so silently deadly were more than enough to qualify for elimination in the eyes of the King’s Rock.
The incense had been spread about thickly because of Micheal’s urgency, meaning this process was one that would take an extended period to finish. His King’s Rock was effective, but it could only affect the immediate 1-2 meters near him.
As the nearby magic incense was eliminated, incense outside of that range would be pushed into it, gradually lowering the concentration in the air, bit by bit. With almost everyone downed, enemies and allies alike, there was no longer a need to keep it active. It had finished serving its purpose.
At the same time that he did that, he brought out his Crystal Millennium Sword. The blade glowed dark with the color of Advanced Tier Sword Energy, coated it in a layer of deadly power.
Without a whit of hesitation, Micheal slashed down with his blade, utilizing the full power of his body in one smooth motion. His sword cut through the air like a guillotine, zeroing directly in on Silverback’s energy cocoon.
And then, a moment later, bounced ineffectually off it.
‘Damn.’ The thought flashed through Micheal’s mind as he saw this, the menacing look on his face growing even grimmer.
‘Slow down.’ Micheal took a step back from the cocoon and activated his Time Bubble Ability. A time-slowing bubble immediately popped into existence, clashing with the Celestial Aura that Silverback was constantly releasing.
Micheal wasn’t sure whether the man was so focused on recovery that he didn’t notice the Time Bubble or whether he simply didn’t care thanks to his Artifact shield, but either way, Micheal successfully managed to counteract Silverback’s Celestial Aura enough that he returned the man to operating at a normal rate of time.
“Who are you? What are you doing?” The Wise Lady finally managed to offer up a reaction as she witnessed Micheal’s failed first strike. She remained calm and collected as she took several steps forward, the picture of cool poise.
Micheal’s eyes flicked up, calculating a few things.
The elderly Farian’s movements and words made her intent clear. She was trying to buy time for her men to recover without directly confronting him, a smart decision to make when facing an unexpected situation like this.
“I am not your enemy, Myla Hannis. I am here to kill him.” Micheal pointed his sword down at the silver energy cocoon, staring at it sharply enough that if looks could kill, Silverback would already be dead.
“Him?” Myla took another careful step forward, not questioning how Micheal knew who she was. She slowly waved her hands to the side as she spoke, sending out several small lines of red Phoenix Fire. These balls of energy began to land on the members of the Shadow Guard, Shadow Captain Tanin included, lighting their bodies up.
‘She can heal them with it too?’ It didn’t seem likely that she was trying to kill her men. There was little information known about her Bloodline, save for its attack power.
Shadow Captain Tanin was only a few meters from Micheal, the elite Farian in the process of silently staring Micheal down. When the fire hit him, he didn’t seem to be in any pain, confirming Micheal’s suspicions. The famous Blue Queen from his first life possessed a Type related to the Phoenix that had the power to heal others, though hers had centered around ice, not fire.
“The Seeds.” Micheal nodded at her slowly and motioned at the silver cocoon. As he did so, he finished lining his sword up. It was aimed at one of the corners of this energy cocoon, what appeared to be the weakest spot in Micheal’s opinion.
“I have already killed the ones up above and tracked this one down here. I can’t wait any longer, allowing this one to recover would ruin everything.” As Micheal finished his succinct explanation, he looked back at the silver energy cocoon.
A thousand thoughts seemed to race in his mind as he went over the calculations he had made earlier. He ran through the options he had, knowing that the decision he made here could have ramifications that spread far beyond this incident, as he settled on one plan in particular.
’It should be more than enough.’ The moment he reached this conclusion, a weight seemed to lift off his shoulders.
In that same moment, before Myla or anyone else could react, Micheal activated an Ability.
‘Impact Release.’
His right hand… began to glow.
Over the course of the next tenth of a second, an absolutely titanic amount of energy began to center around Micheal’s wrist. This was a concentration of force that should’ve blown Micheal’s body to pieces, raw power that was not something he could control, by any means.
This impact far outstripped any other attack he had used in this life, at least in terms of sheer physical force. It was more than 30 times stronger than the impact he had absorbed and used when he killed Silver 2, near the end of that desperate duel above.
In that tenth of a second, Micheal released one of his final trump cards:
The impact he had absorbed at Yvvtal’s Inheritance.
Specifically, from when he forced his body to withstand the full, pent-up explosion of energy that appeared when the power of an entire Magic Forest came into existence all at once, energy that had been bottled up and stripped away returned back to nature.
Naturally, he wasn’t able to absorb all of that power. His body disintegrated long before that.
However, thanks in part to his powerful Soul stat, he had managed to seize a sizable chunk of it for his own use should it ever be needed… which it was now.
The appearance of this energy caused the air to visibly shudder.
The world seemed to stand still as the concentration of power appeared in Micheal’s hand, his Ability both protecting him and allowing him to accurately aim it. He felt a hefty strain settle on his Soul, stretching the limits of things that he could safely handle.
From his hand to his sword, the full force of his attack was conveyed perfectly.
Naturally, his Crystal Millennium Sword shattered, its infamous durability notwithstanding the magnitude of Micheal’s attack.
That same durability, however, did allow it to exist for a few fractions of a second.
And those fractions of a second proved to be more than enough time for the full fury of this blow to travel through the blade, melding with the properties of Micheal’s Advanced Tier Sword Energy as it collided with the silver cocoon of energy.
In one moment, the world was shuddering.
In the next, the world around Micheal exploded with light.
Blinding silver and red light clashed as the air screamed, the ground beneath Micheal’s feet breaking apart. Micheal’s body was flung backwards, crashing down hard against the wall of the chamber as his Time Bubble was blown apart. His body slammed into the tough surface with such force he left a vague imprint of himself, cracking the stone.
He managed to keep hold of his King’s Rock throughout this, his grasp of the Artifact just barely remaining steady.
The backlash stunned Micheal, his vision swimming as he slid down the wall and collapsed to
the floor. His hands had grown numb, covered in a dozen ugly cuts from the explosion of his sword, and he could feel several fractures in his right arm and hand. His head felt thick, the shock stunning him.
The Farians in the chamber fared somewhat better.
Myla’s Phoenix Fire shielded them from many of the adverse effects caused by the whiplashing energy, though from the way her face grew pale, this put a sizable strain on her Soul. The few still-standing warriors of the Shadow Guard were knocked off their feet and flew backwards, especially Captain Tanin, the closest person to the impact apart from Micheal, but none of them suffered any new injuries.
The attack caught everyone by surprise, an insanely strong blow that came with basically zero warning.
Almost as soon as the flashing light and crazed power appeared, it then promptly vanished, the devastating impact spending its full force faster than Micheal’s heart could beat.
The world returned to normal.
Micheal forced himself to get to his feet and tap on his Spatial Ring, pulling out a pair of Mid-Tier Healing Pills and swallowing them whole shortly after. He didn’t plan on wasting this life, and even though each Pill cost 8,000 Points from the Shop, the boost to his Recovery stat was more than worth it.
The effects of the Pills were immediate, warm energy clearing the fog from his mind and setting to work repairing his fractured hand.
Micheal paused as his mind started to clear, his heart freezing over as he realized something.
He had not received a Points Notification.
His vision finally finished restoring itself a moment later, the world revealing itself before his aching eyes.
In the center of the room, smoke and dust clouded the air. Micheal could sense that a majority of the invisible magic incense he had released had inadvertently been dispersed by this air-rending explosion. He wasn’t sure whether this happened because his King’s Rock had been active at the time — perhaps the rioting energy boosted the Artifact’s range and strength — but it was definitely an unexpected side-effect that had turned in Micheal’s favor.
Unfortunately, that appeared to be the only thing turned in his favor.
Sitting in the midst of that murky dust, in the middle of a large, newly formed crater that went several meters deep, was the silver cocoon that protected Silverback, glowing faintly. There was no discernible change in the oval-shaped sphere of energy, apart from its location.
Micheal’s attack had failed.
He stared at this, complete, unadulterated shock filling him.
‘What? How?!’ He blinked, his mind refusing to accept what he was looking at.
This… this should not have been possible.
‘Think. Focus. Do not stop.’ Micheal forced himself to breathe, overcoming his abject surprise through sheer force of will alone as he stumbled towards the cocoon of energy once more.
‘Time, speed up.’ Micheal spawned a series of Time Bubbles as he jogged forward, accelerating himself and buying himself a little more time to think.
He then did his best to analyze the situation, dozens of thoughts flitting through his mind each second as his powerful Soul helped him think at a superhumanly fast rate.
‘What went wrong? How is he not dead?’ Micheal was at a loss to explain it, but didn’t let that stop him as he rapidly began to break things down, searching for even the tiniest of hints.
It was not an exaggeration to say the fate of humanity might yet lie on what he did in these next few moments.
He had been completely certain that this world work; he wouldn’t have acted otherwise.
This Celestial Silverback Type User was strong, but he was not invincible. Even with a Defensive Artifact that shouldn’t exist on this Layer, it should be 100% impossible for him to have blocked that attack. Micheal could surmise, from what he witnessed, the highest the man’s Soul stat could possibly be, as well as determine how tough his body and armor were.
Even if the warrior had filled his free Ability slots with the most optimal Soul-stat boosting Abilities one could at this point, even if he somehow possessed and took in a full vial of incredibly rare Blue Drake Blood the moment he vanished from Micheal’s sight, the strongest of the very few obtainable substances that could be used to briefly raise one’s Soul stat here on the Second, even if he had activated any of a plethora of other Artifacts that might boost his chances of survival while not clashing with his main Defensive Artifact…
Micheal had done the math.
He knew exactly how strong he was, how big an impact he had stored, how much of it he could accurately convey, how high his Advanced Tier Sword Energy would raise its attack power by.
The man should be dead, invariably.
Yet, reality itself refuted him.
The warrior was still alive.
‘The Artifact.’ As he reached the edge of the new crater and looked at the silver cocoon of energy, still pulsating calmly, almost as if to mock his efforts, Micheal’s perfect memory instantly brought up everything he knew about this particular Defensive Artifact, scanning through his entire past in a split moment.
Silver Shell Home Necklaces were Artifacts that could be used repeatedly, with days-long breaks in-between usage. They formed a tough defensive shell that was renowned for its defensive prowess. This shield's overall defensive strength and activation length was based on the Soul stat of its user.
Humanity had extensively researched Artifacts, some of the most meticulous minds in existence spending years peeling back the layers of mysticism surrounding these hallowed tools. Express mathematical equations had been defined, calculating ratios that showed how a person’s Soul stat directly correlated with the power of various Artifacts as well as Abilities. The field of Artifacts and Ability Studies was an entirely new frontier, inspiring a thirst for knowledge in humanity that could never quite be slaked.
The Silver Shell Home Necklace was one such defined Artifact.
‘Its defensive prowess is directly correlated to the Soul stat of its user.’ Micheal repeated the thought, his eyes squinting as he recalled exactly where he learned this.
Back in his first life, during the period of time when Micheal was on the Third Layer, he and Shin had obtained a list of data that told him everything he needed to know about this particular Artifact and many others.
The Third Layer had been one of the more dangerous Layers for Micheal, a place where he and Shin were still in the midst of growing, overcoming the horrors of the Second Layer wars; it was a place where having a good Defensive Artifact could mean the difference between life and death on a nigh-daily basis. The Miracle World of Floating Islands had a pretty name, but that couldn’t hide its true nature, a ‘world’ where ever-present danger lurked on all sides.
It was a world composed entirely of vast multitudes of floating islands…
And only floating islands.
If you got knocked off one of those floating islands, the only thing awaiting you was the dark, endless void that lay below. If you lacked the power to fly or levitate, then that was it for you.
You died.
People that truly fell were never heard from again.
Through the memories he scanned in this brief, frenzied moment, Micheal recalled looking at this ledger in a fit of professional curiosity.
The first reaction he’d had to it was a general feeling of distrust, at least at the time.
He had felt that this research was far too ambitious, the inner cynic in him eschewing it. How much could humanity truly understand or know about these Artifacts, especially after only a short few years, even here on the Third? He could not rely on other people, and especially not a group of fanatics from the Purgatory Church, the original source of this ledger.
The Church’s beliefs had developed, by the time Micheal was on the Third Layer, to preaching that the 7 Layers were a destined ‘Purgatory’ that humanity deserved to burn through for their sins, or something roughly along those lines. To Micheal, their teachings impli
citly implied that destiny was predetermined, a belief he rejected out of hand.
Life was what one made of it. He knew other races existed, was well aware by then that there were even beings that called themselves Deities…
But he would never allow himself any excuse to shirk responsibility for his past.
It was only later, as the fame of the Church’s Dark Void Research Branch grew, that he learned that their methodical work was indeed correct, exactingly so. All of the numbers they projected, all the ratios they stated, everything listed was empirically proven to be dead-on accurate. Fanatics or not, the information they gathered was right, and that was what mattered.
As he went through all of these memories, sifting out what was relevant while ignoring what wasn’t, he went over his calculations one more time, and again reached a conclusion that gave him pause.
His math had been correct.
He was not wrong. He hadn’t made any mistakes.
Micheal’s attack was enough, in the absolute worst-case scenario he could conceive, to kill Silverback three times over with room to spare.
This warrior should not be alive. His Artifact should’ve ruptured alongside his heart, spleen, and every other organ in the man, obliterated to dust like Micheal’s Crystal Millennium Sword had been.
This situation should be impossible…
And that meant one thing for certain.
Something was terribly wrong.
.
Chapter 55
In the moment where Micheal concluded something was horribly wrong, his eyes began to widen.
A series of four seemingly unrelated facts abruptly raced to the forefront of Micheal’s mind, a realization of massive importance seemingly dancing at the edges of his awareness, a feeling that he was on the verge of realizing something extraordinary.
Silverback’s Defensive Artifact was too strong.
Micheal was not able to find any of his dead enemy’s Spatial Rings, even when they died in places where outside signals were blocked.