by L. M. Kerr
The eyes of a man that had been through hell and came back ready for more.
His entire demeanor changed as his heart grew cold. Every fiber of his being was stretched to the extreme, his entire concentration centered on one being, a single thought flush in his mind.
'I cannot give up here.' Sophia would almost certainly die if he fled.
"Hello, you two. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill the both of you."
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Chapter 42: Fight
"Hello, you two. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill the both of you." The Pirate Lord's voice echoed as he spoke, supremely confident.
The pounding of Micheal's heart echoed in his ears as he stared at the black armor-clad man, his eyes zeroing in. He took in everything in the room in a single, sweeping gaze. The windows, the walls, the dead Abnormal, Sophia, the Pirate Lord, the other Morenkai corpses.
Everything.
Micheal blinked.
The gleaming axe that the Pirate Lord had thrown abruptly jerked out of the corpse of the dead Abnormal, spattering black blood around. The axe flew up into the air and then soared all the way over into the waiting hand of Pirate Lord Brandon.
'It's all the same. He has his Returning Axe, the Black Knight Type Ability, and most likely Earth Tier Ki Cultivation.' As Micheal sized him up, staring at the fighter unblinking, he knew one thing.
'There is no feasible way I can kill him.' This wasn't a fantasy story or some epic movie, it was real life. The power of faith or hope mattered little in reality, it wasn't like he could slay a dragon with friendship.
'Not if I fight fair…' As he reached this conclusion, he instantly lurched forward, standing between Sophia and the Pirate Lord.
"Sophia, use your Fairy Eyes on him, now! Bullets won't work on him!" He bellowed out, his tone brooking no argument.
Sophia complied, sensing the tension and danger in the air. The temperature in the room dropped as a pink aura was emitted from her eyes, focused on the Pirate Lord.
"Oho? I see." Lord Brandon's voice held a tone of interest.
"It's just as they said. I see why we wanted to recruit you, Sophia. Shame." The Pirate Lord took several cautious steps forward, his head tilted slightly down. His tone made it clear that there was no redemption for either of them.
"W-what?! He's not affected!" Sophia stuttered out, her voice catching. Despite her obvious fear, the woman took a few steps forward, not backing down. Micheal would've admired her bravery if it wasn't an A Ranker they were up against.
As she moved forward, a long, glowing red knife appeared in her hand, one of the magical weapons from the Shop. Micheal recognized it as a Burning Steel Knife, a sharp weapon that cost 4,200 Points.
'There's no chance she'd be able to break through his armor with that, but she would be able to kill a Morenkai with it.' He noted, eyeing her. She hadn't mentioned she had such a weapon, not that he held it against her. They'd only known each other for an hour or two, they each had their own secrets.
"No, he is. He's just able to resist it as long as he doesn't look directly at you." Micheal's words were quick as he held out his blade in front of him, forcibly calming his breathing.
As Sophia stared, she realized what Micheal said was true. Their attacker was looking at the floor, his eyes avoiding making any direct contact with her.
Despite that, she still felt he was affected to some degree. Merely, because of the armor protecting him and the fact that he had a Soul stat stronger than hers, the effect was minimal.
"Y'all are smart. What group are you with?" Pirate Lord Brandon's voice echoed as he continued to slowly walk forward, his confidence unwavering.
"The Angels Arcadia." Micheal walked forward moving right towards the corpse of the dead Abnormal and the Pirate Lord who was standing a dozen meters beyond it, replying almost instantly.
"Huh?" Brandon paused, his voice shocked as he stared at Micheal. He stopped moving, standing still.
"You're with Arcadia?" His voice was incredulous.
In the time that he spent standing still, Micheal had managed to reach the corpse of the dead Abnormal Morenkai. The gruesome mess the man's axe had left was everywhere, acidic black blood staining the ground. If he stood here for too long, the shoes he'd brought with him from earth would begin to melt.
Micheal's eyes flicked up towards the Pirate Lord.
"No, you aren't from Arcadia. You haven't even achieved the Earth Tier of Ki." Brandon shook his head slowly, starting to walk forward again.
"Interesting that you know of them. Not many people in the Stardust Cluster know about the major powers of the Main Cluster."
The Pirate Lord's actions and movements were slow and methodical, leaving no openings. He talked his actions and movements out as he walked forward, giving them nowhere to escape to.
"Now you've got me curious as to who you are. I guess I won't kill you directly."
"Sophia! Keep your Fairy Eyes active!" Micheal yelled out loud, casting his hands down to the side. At the same time, he subtly tapped on his Low-Tier Spatial Ring and shifted his body, disguising the movement.
"Hmph." The Pirate Lord merely snorted as he finished sizing the area up. There were several ways to leave the ground floor, but only two stairwells that went up. One of those was behind him, while the other was to his right. From his position now, near the center of the room, he was confident he could stop his targets from fleeing to either one, even if they had some way to enhance their speed.
He no longer had a reason to hold back.
Brandon stamped down hard, his metal clad foot echoing as the air around it shivered. As Micheal saw this, a multitude of thoughts flashed through his head.
The Pirate Lord Brandon had a multitude of Abilities. While Micheal's memories of the First Layer weren't perfect, he could still recall things like the reported Abilities of strong people from his own Cluster.
Of his Abilities, some were ones Micheal was familiar with, like Enhanced Recovery, Enhanced Strength, and the Earth Tier of Ki Cultivation. Others, like the Black Knight Type Ability, were ones he was only aware of the effects.
All of his power and Abilities greatly boosted his Strength.
In terms of raw, physical power, the Pirate Lord Brandon was as strong as 14-15 normal humans combined. Overwhelmingly stronger than normal Morenkai, and far, far stronger than Micheal.
In fact, he was stronger than Micheal had ever been on the First Layer, even when he was about to leave in his first life.
The heavily armored figure leapt forward, his body transforming into a black blur as he charged directly at Micheal. The man covered the distance to Micheal and the body of the dead Abnormal in a split second, smashing forward like a crashing avalanche.
The sheer force of presence the Pirate Lord wielded slammed against Micheal, the man's massive armor-clad body like that of a charging bull. The man moved incredibly quickly, reaching a speed faster than Earth's quickest runner in merely a split second.
Brandon led his charge with a wild axe strike, cutting through the air and aimed directly at Micheal's chest. It seemed he was serious about not killing Micheal directly, not going for a fatal strike.
By the time he reached Micheal, Micheal had already prepared, holding up his Steelborn sword in his left hand, coated in a layer of Sword Energy.
"Hup!" Micheal positioned himself precisely, his eyes unblinking as he forced his body to move exactly as he wanted.
The Pirate Lord's axe collided with Micheal's sword as he reached the ground right next to Micheal, the armor-clad figure stamping down hard as he lazily struck.
The force of the attack sent Micheal flying. That single, seemingly lazy axe slice almost cut through his blade, the Sword Energy coating it only barely holding up. Micheal fully absorbed the impact as he clung on to his blade, refusing to let go.
As a result, he was thrown more than fifteen meters before he came to an abrupt stop, slamming into one of the walls of windows of the skyscraper and sliding down it to the fl
oor. Several Morenkai on the other side of the window froze, turning to stare at him.
Micheal felt his left arm break, the blow cracking three separate bones in his forearm and shoulder. His eyes grew unfocused for a split second as his mind fluttered, the sheer impact and pain temporarily stunning him.
In only a split second, however, he recovered, leaping to his feet.
Almost as soon as he got up, a deafening explosion shook the air in the enclosed room, almost blowing out his eardrums. Micheal winced as he heard it, the powerful pressure waves and heat sweltering over him.
"Arrrgh!" Sophia didn't fare as well as him, dropping down as she covered her ears, yelping in pain. Her Fairy Eyes Ability broke down as she fell, losing its effectiveness, the pink aura fading.
Micheal turned his bleary eyes towards the source of the explosion, his face expressionless.
It had occurred right where the body of the Abnormal had been. A cloud of black dust and blood could be seen, temporarily blocking his vision. As he saw this, he rolled his eyes slightly.
He didn't need to be able to see to know the result. There was no suspense here.
"Oh? Explosives, huh?" A calm voice echoed out as the black armor-clad Pirate Lord emerged from the cloud of dust, almost virtually unscathed. A few white marks and dents in his armor could be seen around his legs, the ground zero location of the bomb.
"You must've hidden it there in a split second... That was quite the clever tactical move. I'm actually impressed." Brandon pounded on his chest as he coughed, his voice tinged with an undercurrent of anger as he ominously stepped forward, ignoring the downed Sophia.
"Now I really must know who you are." The Pirate Lord seemed to consider throwing his Returner Axe, a special Artifact that could magically return to his hands after he threw it.
From the moment the Pirate Lord had appeared, Micheal had begun to prepare. He was well aware that he would lose in a direct confrontation with the Pirate Lord. Thus, he did everything in his power to prevent that.
Fighting fair was for heroes and fools, and the difference between those was like the difference between a glass half empty and a glass half full.
When Micheal reached the corpse of the Abnormal, he had shifted his body and tapped on his Spatial Ring, pulling out one of the Close Impact Bombs he had gotten from trading with the Necrozark Gobel.
At the same time, he'd called out to Sophia, calling on her to keep her Fairy Eyes active, distracting the Pirate Lord's vision as the man looked completely down by instinct for a split second.
Just before this, he'd claimed to be from one of the major powers of the Main Cluster, the Angels Arcadia, to further temporarily distract the Pirate Lord and gain enough time to move to where the Abnormal was.
Because of this, he was able to hide the Close Impact Bomb, securing it. He lured the Pirate Lord in and then used the man's own attack to launch himself out of the danger zone. The bomb then went off.
"If my Ability was any weaker, you might've managed to injure me." Brandon's voice was dour as he decided to charge directly at Micheal once again. This time, however, the warrior moved with full caution, his mighty charge tempered with control and awareness. He was not a mindless brute, letting his guard down after being challenged.
Instead, his eyes stayed completely focused on Micheal, watching his every movement. With the threat of Sophia's Fairy Eyes temporarily removed, there was no way anything Micheal did would escape his observations.
Internally, Micheal saw all of this, ignoring the sweeping pain that was wracking him because of his broken left arm and shoulder, and smiled.
He pulled out a second Close Impact Bomb, painfully clutching it in his left hand, his blade in his right, and began to charge back at the Pirate Lord.
'I've got you now.'
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Chapter 43: Heart
Micheal slowed his breathing as he ran, his eyes staring directly at the head of the Pirate Lord. He watched every minute movement the man made, reacting instantaneously to them with small changes in how he positioned himself.
In just a split second, they collided.
Micheal carefully parried the attack, his sword batted backwards as Lord Brandon's axe slammed into it. The resulting impact was mostly absorbed by his arm and chest, causing him to spin around, the force of the blow turning him to his back.
The attack, despite not directly hitting him, shattered several of his ribs and caused his right lung to collapse, blood spurting out of his lips. It also twisted up his right leg, causing his knee to be pulled out of its socket, and spread a huge amount of pain through his body. The Strength gap between Micheal and the Pirate Lord could not be closed with raw skill alone.
At the same time, as he spun around, Micheal painfully jammed his left hand forward. The bones in his arm were cracked but that didn't make it inoperable.
The Close Impact Bomb was a small, white cube with a magical sensor on it. As long as Micheal twice tapped the button that would turn it on, it would automatically be armed and ready to explode at the slightest amount of movement discovered.
His left hand carried the bomb all the way to where he had been looking, the black metal facemask of the Pirate Lord.
Before it could reach, however, the left arm of the Pirate Lord preemptively crushed down, tucking Micheal's arm into his black chestplate.
Micheal's left arm broke yet again, this time splintering in multiple places along the forearm. Blood spattered out as Micheal's vision grew woozy again from all the injuries he had taken. He ignored the sweeping waves of pain that were screaming at him, his focus and power of will carrying him forward.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice your strategy?" Brandon's voice carried with it a tinge of disappointment.
"The head is the most vulnerable part of a human. Obviously you would go for it, especially using your explosives." The Pirate Lord sighed,
"And here I thought you were interesting."
'Do I go off like that when I am about to kill people?' Micheal internally wondered as he forced himself to remain conscious and focused. His body had already lost a ton of blood, making that task a challenging one.
In the scant second Micheal had when the Pirate Lord had trapped his hand, Micheal had repositioned his right arm, holding his sword out in front of him. The sword, instead of being pointed away from him, was turned around and aimed at his chest. He made use of the unexpected extra few seconds to precisely position the sword a little more accurately.
All of this was obscured from the Pirate Lord's vision due to where Micheal's body was, blocking it off, and his focus on stopping the Close Impact Bomb from reaching his head. While the explosive would be greatly weakened by the armor he wore, it still had a chance at hurting him if it blew up right next to his head.
With the explosive trapped under Brandon's arm and chest, clamped between the metal armor, there was no chance at all that Micheal would be able to move it upward.
At this point in time, as everything seemed to be lost and going exactly as the Pirate Lord had predicted…
Micheal smiled.
He then stabbed down with his sword, piercing his own heart.
His gleaming Steelborn sword cut through his flesh and bone like it was paper, stabbing directly through his heart, virtually pulverizing it. The blade cut all the way through him and continued forward, unabated, blood spurting out of his injuries…
Right until it stabbed directly into the joint that connected Lord Brandon's left arm to his shoulder. The Sword Energy that covered his blade carried just enough cutting power to pierce through this location, splitting the metal apart and cutting slightly into the arm of the Pirate Lord.
The direct plate armor of the Black Armor Ability was extremely tough, defensively. That was the main point of the Black Knight Ability, its strong suit. At his current level of Strength and Soul, Micheal wasn't confident that he would be able to pierce through it directly. While he may have the Grandmaster Sword Mastery Skill, he cou
ld only utilize a small portion of it with his current Soul stat.
However… when it came to the weaker joint sections… well, that was another story.
A split second later, as the Pirate Lord was registering the attack, the Close Impact Bomb Micheal held in his broken left hand went off. The bomb was pressed up against the chest plate and left arm of the Pirate Lord, located just below the large gouge Micheal's blade had made in the shoulder joint.
"…"
Micheal died.
His body was flung away, the top half of his face and chest blasted to nothingness, crashing down against the window of the skyscraper. His Steelborn and Spatial Ring stayed attached to his right arm, falling down with him.
Pirate Lord Brandon fared much better, his protective armor mostly shielding him from the impact.
However, due to the large gouge in his armor where his left arm connected to his shoulder, the explosive impact managed to penetrate past the protective gear. The blast sent the Pirate Lord flying backwards, flipping twice through the air till he crashed down hard, smoke rising off his body.
Sophia, on the other hand, had managed to recover from the first blast. The second one shocked her eardrums again as she fell backwards, her hands shaking. Her eyes grew bloodshot as she stared at Micheal's deceased form, her mind shaken.
For a moment, there was silence.
"…"
"Arrrgh! Fuck!"
Pirate Lord Brandon swore as he got to his feet, his chest heaving. He didn't dare to look at his left arm, able to feel the gruesome, bloody injury. The injury was crippling and likely would cost him a large number of Points to repair. His vision was filled with red and blurred as he looked around the room.
His breath grew ragged as he saw several Morenkai file into the skyscraper, from three separate ground entrances. The explosions had drawn their notice and they began to lumber forward, their great, black skeletal figures ominously shambling.
He glanced at the downed Sophia.
Sophia glanced back, somehow recovering in that short period of time. Her mental fortitude was incredible for someone that was only 21. As she looked at the Pirate Lord, a pink glow began to appear around her eyes.
