by L. M. Kerr
“Clever. To warp your Spatial Ring out of my Omen Sealing Chain, your Life Orb Mastery Ability is far more unique than I thought.” Prime’s voice cut through the mire of darkness, full of a hint of surprise and ostensibly genuine respect.
Micheal didn’t react to Prime’s words and instead continued to shoot towards the stage. He used his Cloud Stepping Shoes to up his pace, feeling slightly dizzy from the weakening poison in the air.
Even he, himself, wasn’t fully aware of his own powers. He had only discovered this part of his power by chance, back when he was working with the Godfather to lure several Monster Class Morenkai.
In that adventure, he had made a mad rush for the Godfather while taking on multiple serious injuries. In the end, he had ended up dying just as he reached Head Cameron, causing a Life Orb to shatter.
However, when he reformed… his Ivory Skin Leather Armor, an Artifact that had been in tattered remnants not long before, had been restored back to its original condition. His regular clothes were still a mess and only this Artifact had been restored.
This was the first major clue that made this entire plan possible. He had pondered long and hard about this phenomena, eventually extrapolating and reaching various conclusions that led him here.
Artifacts that were both ‘bound’ to him and were consistently ‘carried’ by his body were seen as ‘part’ of him. And when he died, those Artifacts would return to their ‘carried’ state so as to restore his ‘parts’ back to full.
He didn’t know what the limits of this were. How long could he remain apart from one of his ‘bound’ Artifacts before it wouldn’t return to him? How badly damaged or destroyed could an Artifact become? What about the contents of his Spatial Ring? What if he quickly withdrew some of them and then tried to restore everything? His clothes came back to him too, but they remained in their tattered, destroyed state. Why?
He had many questions, but few answers. He saved those for more peaceful days, however, and had instead turned his focus into planning for the future. A future he was experiencing right now, here in the present.
As Micheal flew through the air towards the stage, he started a mental count in his head. For every meter he crossed, he counted off a single number. Relying heavily on his perfect memory, and the fact that he’d jumped from the stands and knew exactly where he had been, he was able to reconstruct roughly how close to the stage he was.
A total of 4 seconds passed as he hurtled through the air, accelerating forward.
He couldn’t see Prime, but he could still vaguely sense the man’s presence using his sixth sense. He knew for a fact that Prime was about to attack him, and that the time he had left was extremely scant.
The moment he landed down on the stage, Micheal acted.
From his Spatial Ring, Micheal withdrew 4 armed ‘Tazer String Guns.’
Each gun was roughly the size of a normal handgun. They were colored a sleek silver and had a metal prong attached to the end, where a bullet would normally fire from. The prongs were connected to a long, thin metal wire that would conduct a heavy electrical charge imbued with Elemental Lightning.
Micheal grabbed two guns in each hand, pointing them vaguely in Prime’s direction. Each gun began to light up with energy as they were activated and readied, armed to fire at any second. His eyes gazed out searchingly, as if seeking something out.
And then, as he was about to fire the four guns…
He hesitated, unable to find where Prime was.
It was only for a split second. Right after that, he pulled down on the triggers and activated the Tazer String Guns, firing them in a determined manner.
However, because of that split second of hesitation…
Before he managed to shoot, six knives pierced through his chest, ripping through the Ivory Skin Leather Armor like it was paper. A wave of pain swept across Micheal’s mind as his arms jerked wide at the abrupt attack. His four carefully aimed Tazer String Guns all shot off in random directions, completely missing Director Prime.
The hum of electricity simmered in the air as the guns fell from Micheal’s grasp, setting the Mire Wicker Poison to cascading about energetically, but completely failing to injure Prime.
“Alas. You are lacking, young Micheal, even if you have had visions of the future. Losing the Artifact that allowed you to sense my presence was a fatal mistake.” Prime’s voice was cold as he landed on the stage with a light tap, appearing just a few meters from Micheal. He had somehow managed to figure out exactly what the Wavelength Crystal Bracelet did, reverse engineering its properties.
In that time, Micheal had fallen backwards. Miraculously, of the six daggers that had pierced his torso, only two of them pierced into one of his lungs, directly collapsing it. One had stabbed into one of his kidneys, while the other three had pierced non-vital flesh.
The injuries were horrifying, but not enough to kill him.
But Micheal wasn’t surprised by this. After all…
He knew Prime wasn’t trying to kill him again. Not yet.
Micheal spat out a mouthful of blood and looked back up at the Director, his eyes gleaming viciously as he showed a hint of his true self. His hands trembled as his body tried to go into shock, a reaction he shoved away forcefully as he tapped on his Spatial Ring.
Two small, metal daggers appeared in his hands as he got to his knees.
‘A little longer…’ He thought as he began to speak,
“I have never claimed to be an all-knowing expert, Director. But I will not just sit down and let you kill me.” Speaking with multiple daggers inside of you was difficult, to say the least, but he managed to speak clearly, ignoring the dribbles of blood that fell from his mouth.
The black haze in the air shook energetically behind Prime as the man sighed.
“I don’t enjoy this, Heron. But I hope that isn’t all you have.” Prime’s voice was supremely unconcerned, as if everything was in the palm of his hand.
Micheal took a slow, ragged breath as his hands trembled from blood loss. He slowly raised the two daggers he’d pulled out in front of him, taking a defensive stance.
“Oh… it’s not.” Micheal grinned, the blood on his lips transforming his smile into a rather horrifying rictus of pain. His motions were jerky and unsteady, haphazard at best as he readied himself.
Prime’s gaze was cautious as he watched all of this, dropping his unconcerned pretense. The man’s eyes glowed as he stopped time several times, apparently trying to determine if Micheal actually was still a threat.
In the midst of that, by seemingly random chance, Micheal’s two daggers lightly tapped on each other.
Upon impact, a couple of sparks appeared. A rather normal sight for two metal weapons making contact, especially strong weapons bought from the Shop. These two daggers, in particular, were commonly seen ones imbued with Elemental Fire, making the reaction expected.
Those sparks fluttered in the air, sizzling slightly as they made contact with the Mire Wicker Poison that had spread across the entire room, a dense poison gas that only managed to cover everything by accident due to Prime intercepting Micheal’s attempted redirection of a gas-filled grenade.
A gas that, just a few moments ago, received a huge amount of Elemental Lightning-based energy from four misfired Tazer String Guns, guns that had only been fired off-target because of Prime’s lightning-fast attack and Micheal’s split-second hesitation, resulting in them covering different areas of the large theatre.
As a result of that energy, the poison gas, as a whole, fluttered energetically. In the current darkness, however, it was almost impossible to notice.
Impossible unless you were constantly studying the surrounding gas and watching its movements, knowing how it normally operated from experience.
Gas that weakened Prime’s senses such that, even when time was frozen, it made it more difficult for him to notice things and focus. Even more so when his full attention was centered on Micheal, trying to understand the mystery beh
ind Micheal’s words and trying to figure out what his next attack would be, or what Micheal was doing.
A series of apparently random coincidences, many of which Prime himself had created by his own actions. Things that, individually, would not even be worth a moment’s notice.
The gas spread. Some guns were jerked from a man's hands and misfired. A large amount of energy was near-invisibly absorbed into the gas. Several sparks imbued with Elemental Fire made contact with the large room full of dense, energized gas imbued with Elemental Lightning.
For a single, frozen moment, nothing happened.
A microsecond later...
The entire theatre exploded.
.
Chapter 80
Elemental Energy made up the building blocks of reality in the 7 Layers. In Micheal’s first life, humanity had determined, through a colossal scientific investigation carried forth by tens of thousands of their brightest researchers, that the 7 Layers were not within the same ‘universe’ as Earth.
That was to say… they were in an entirely different dimension.
Reality here functioned in ways science could no longer easily explain. Many facets of life were the same, or near-identical. Many other facets, however, were not.
One of those things was the concept of ‘Elemental Energy.’ This unique type of energy was a volatile substance that tied together the very fabric of reality, something humans became very familiar with.
Many Abilities allowed people to manipulate, examine, or use Elemental Energy in various ways. Many Artifacts were imbued with or allowed one to control Elemental Energy. As time went on, most of the power humanity accumulated relied upon Elemental Energy.
Even Ki itself was merely another form of Elemental Energy, manipulated into a complex system focused on empowering and improving the power of a being.
Elemental Energy had many forms. Some forms were relatively safe, like Elemental Light, a type of rare natural energy that could heal injuries to the body or Soul.
Other forms were extremely volatile. Elemental Lightning and Elemental Fire… these two forms of Elemental Energy were some of the most volatile that existed. Each one could, when concentrated enough, unleash devastation to horrifying degrees.
However, contrary to humanity’s initial beliefs, mixing these two types of energies did not always create an extreme reaction. Instead, the two energies tended to fight against each other and cancel each other out, creating a muted, self-defeating end.
The raw impact from these two types of energies meeting would sometimes create an explosion, especially so here, where the Mire Wicker Poison had effectively spread the Elemental Lightning throughout the room, acting as a stable conduit in an enclosed space. But the brunt of this impact would typically become neutralized as the two Elemental Energies fought against each other.
In other words, the explosion would be all bark and no bite, able to harm weaker enemies, but liable to do little to Director Prime.
Micheal, standing at the epicenter of the explosion, was killed instantly. The highest concentration of energy occurred in his hands, literally melting his body apart in a split fraction of a second, regardless of whether or not the two energies were fighting.
The explosion then spread out through the room, using the Mire Wicker Poison as fuel to detonate. This type of concentrated, poison gas, when energized by the Elemental Lightning, had explosive properties that couldn’t be easily negated.
The theatre was instantly awash with boiling lightning and roiling flames, leaving no room for anyone to escape. Even Director Prime was instantly covered, unable to dodge. The sudden attack had come from seemingly nowhere.
‘Hmm.’ Micheal’s consciousness floated in the air, hidden from reality as he returned to his stable, Soul-like state. He could sense the theatre area keenly, but was free from any type of danger as he watched the remnants of his attack.
Most of the gas was burned off in around a single second. The crackling screech of two different Elemental Energies clashing with each other clashed in the air, creating a chaotic scene for a brief period.
Soon after, the violent energies began to fade. Smoldering smoke and black haze dotted areas of the room, but for the most part, a semblance of norm had descended.
The Monster Class Nest Core was, unsurprisingly, completely fine. The powerful energies were dangerous, but mostly only to creatures of flesh and blood.
Director Prime, however…
As the smoke and black haze began to clear, Micheal got his first look at Prime. Micheal was still in his mystical, Life-Orb controlled state, not yet allowing himself to spawn back in.
Black haze and smoke dissipated around a vague figure, glowing around Prime’s body like water. Gradually, as the haze faded, Prime’s body was revealed, standing in the middle of the theatre seats, blown back and away from the main stage.
The man’s previous, casual attire was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his clothes had been entirely replaced by a suit of metal armor, what looked to be a mix of grey and black metal as well as dark-colored leather. A sleek, metal helmet covered his face, adorned with a few glowing red inscriptions on its bottom half. Likewise, on Prime’s armored chest were a couple of long, red inscriptions that glowed with fiery light, straight down the center.
As the haze continued to fade away, Micheal saw that he now wielded two large, glowing energy swords, each one coated in a visible, black aura.
From what was visible…
Prime’s appeared to be completely, and perfectly, unharmed. He looked to have been fully protected by his armor.
Micheal stared at Prime, the equivalent of a grim smile forming on his hidden consciousness as he took the scene in.
‘I got him.’
This was Prime’s Annihlus Armor, a set of Limited gear that cost more than 200,000 Points. No one knew how Prime got it, though it had to have been from some Irregular, likely in the First Wave.
This armor was powerful, able to resist Elemental Energy of almost every single element, while boosting its wearer's physical prowess and shielding them from physical attacks. It was of a much higher tier than Micheal’s middling Ivory Skin Leather Armor.
His swords were Hai’ton Flame Swords, imbued with both Elemental Darkness and Elemental Fire. They were powerful blades that melted and corrupted anything in his path, aiding his own terrible prowess.
All of Prime’s Abilities were focused on enhancing his own power, from what Micheal had read of history. Prime never used any power apart from his own physical strength, he was a raw fighter. While Micheal didn’t know what specific Abilities Prime had, it didn’t matter.
None of it mattered.
From the time Prime had allowed Micheal to unleash his Mire Wicker Poison, the fate of this battle had already been set in motion.
Prime began to speak, his voice calm and collected as he looked around the room.
“A clever plan, Heron. I’ll admit I almost didn’t see it, not with this damnable poison clouding my thoughts. But in the end, nothing can escape my visio-“ Before the man could finish his speech, he abruptly froze.
“Gah-!” Prime’s grimaced aloud, instantly cutting himself off just a moment later as he inadvertently let off a grunt of pain. His figure remained ever stalwart, but Micheal knew more than anyone what was happening.
Prime wasn’t physically injured, it was true. His body was in perfect condition. The man’s Annihlus Armor would’ve activated before the Elemental Energy could’ve hit him, protecting him completely. It was very likely Prime had managed to figure out Micheal’s plan at some point, and prepared for it accordingly. There was a reason the man was famed for his power and strategic might, an invincible S Ranker that was an undefeated genius.
Even with all the effort Micheal went to make everything seem coincidental, even with all the painstaking thought he put into everything, Micheal had been almost certain Prime would’ve noticed.
The man’s power to stop time, when combined with the man’
s obsessive nature, was simply too ridiculously powerful.
However… that was something Micheal had been counting on.
Prime saw him as an adversary that was, if not his equal, at least worthy of caution.
And so, throughout their entire battle thus far, Micheal had focused on one thing:
Telling a story.
A story of a warrior trying his hardest to poison Prime and weaken his mind, a warrior trying his hardest to dodge Prime’s attacks and buy himself time to let the poison spread, a story of a warrior pretending to hesitate to ready a trap, and finally, a warrior trying his hardest to trick Prime into dying in an explosive blast.
It was a story he told with skill, told so convincingly that even a man that could stop time to ponder would willingly accept.
After all, in his world of frozen time, Prime couldn’t experiment with Elemental Lightning, Elemental Fire, and Mire Wicker Poison on his own. He had no way to know that the energies created would do little physical damage when they reacted.
All he could do was react to what he saw and what he knew, to the best of his capabilities.
And unfortunately for him…
Mire Wicker Poison had certain special spiritual properties… ones that could affect a being even if you were completely protected…
Normally, these properties would function as they had before. They would cloud the mind and weaken one’s vision.
However, in the future of Micheal’s first life, a discovery was eventually made. During a battle that took place within the dense foliage of a swamp on the Second Layer, a Wizard of the Rakkonian Race had cast a Spell that contained Elemental Lightning against a Fairy of the Farian Race. That Fairy had responded by throwing up a shield of Elemental Fire, drawing upon his Bloodline Magic.
The location for these two clashes of Elemental Energy had been none other than an area infected with Mire Wicker Poison.
The resulting interaction had created a huge, spiritual backlash alongside a large, physical explosion.
The backlash directly killed both the Rakkonian and the Fairan, tearing their Souls to shreds. It spread out and injured hundreds of participants in this fight, maiming their Souls with injuries that took months to heal.