A torrential downpour came down upon Nil and the ancient temple. The heavy drops were loud on the stone. The pillars already limited Nil’s range of vision, and the rain limited his vision further. It was icy cold but didn’t bother his Body of Bronze much. The constant movement helped too. The elements had rendered the ground rough, and he didn’t worry about slipping much.
The decision to opt for a minimalistic outfit worked out in Nil’s favor. He didn’t need to worry about the damp clothes weighing him down or restricting his movement. Much like Adam, he had opted for a simple form-fitting vest. Meanwhile, knee-length white gym shorts covered his lower half.
Nil planned on relying on Energy Instinct for victory, but he sensed nothing but the Cursed One. Most other arenas he had visited contained alien flora that radiated unearthly energies. It gave him a sense of the world but also clouded the ability-given senses. Now that he felt nothing but the Cursed One, Nil couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Everything was too quiet. Too inert. The horrid weather didn’t help with the atmosphere either. It made the dark and gloomy world feel even colder.
It's not just a Dark World. It's an almost dead world.
The trail of Cursed Energy led Nil deeper into the temple complex. Given the seemingly endless intricate pillars, rare spires, and even rarer buildings, Nil could see how someone could get lost and confused in the arena. The dark, cloudy sky meant there was no sun, moon, or stars for directions either. If not for Energy Instinct, Nil would have no clue of where to go.
The trail of Cursed Energy led Nil into a cluster of squat, broad-based buildings with several gherkin-like extensions growing out of the roof. It was pitch black inside, and it took Nil’s eyes a moment to adjust. He found nothing but life-like humanoid statues and detailed wall carvings either. The latter appeared comical, with characters with exaggerated features. They appeared to be telling a story, but Nil didn’t dare take the time to analyze them. The Cursed Energy in the building was so dense the air almost felt viscous. Black, purple, and crimson luminous motes floated in the air but somehow reduced visibility instead of improving it.
Nil took a handful of steps into the building, eyes struggling to penetrate the shadows in the hollow cones overhead. He struggled to see more than a couple of feet in front of him. A chattering sound, accompanied by clicks and scrapes, surrounded him. It was almost as loud as the rain outside. Despite his bronze-ranked Finesse, Nil’s physical senses failed to detect anything.
Only Energy Instinct sensed a shift. Every fiber told Nil’s body to move, and he obeyed, diving backward. Nil moved just in time, avoiding the giant mass of dark grey that came rushing out of nowhere. Stone splintered, and the building shook. Nil stood just outside the temple structure’s entrance between the thick darkness and loud rain.
There was no telling where Klocky Kennit was now. The man specialized in laying temporal disruption traps and lying in wait. Nil currently lacked the luxury of worrying about anything but the Cursed One and focused on Energy Instinct, letting the supernatural sense spread all around him. He hoped it would be enough to track his opponent and the monster ahead simultaneously.
A tall figure appeared just beyond the entranceway. It looked like a human but stretched out. The torso and limbs were spindly and disproportionately long on the twelve-foot-tall figure. An oversized hand grasped the arch. It was big enough to wrap around a full-grown man’s chest. Nil didn’t doubt the claws would have no trouble rending flesh either.
The Curse One ducked, carefully positioning itself to ensure the antlers that grew out of its eye sockets, wrapped around the top half of its head and spread outwards, didn’t scrape the ceiling. It grinned at Nil, exposing two rows of jagged teeth.
The same discomfort Nil had faced during his emergency quest clawed at the back of Nil’s mind. Even though the beast had no eyes, looking at it felt the same as meeting Oth’s maddening gaze. It cackled, and Nil’s ears hurt. A voice inside his head advised him to either tear his ears off or claw his eyes out. He believed that he would've given in if not for the recent extra ranks in Mind.
The Cursed One's smile disappeared when the preferred tactic didn’t work. It snarled and charged at Nil. His first instinct was to retreat, but Nil didn’t. Instead, he fell into a defensive stance, arms raised so that his fists half covered his eyes and knees bent to move with the strikes. His opponent started with a wide swipe. Since Nil had burned half of Brutal Battery’s stores during his approach, he didn’t hesitate to catch the attack with his left arm. Absorb took care of the force behind the swing, increasing his energy levels by twenty-five percent.
Nil turned the block into a grab. His blocking hand wrapped around the creature’s forearm while the other landed an Expend-powered punch to the torso. He grabbed a handful of lost flesh and invested significant resources into a throw. Recent cultivation techniques proved handy as he boosted Toggled Supercharging and standard Expend-empowerment significantly.
A very human ear-piercing scream escaped the creature as Nil sent it flying and tumbling through the air. The creature’s trajectory abruptly changed as parts of its body suddenly slowed.
I was right not to retreat.
Nil couldn’t tell whether Klocky Kennit had an awful sense of style or just enjoyed dressing like a cartoon supervillain. He wore a form-fitting navy suit and a silk shirt. Sparkly golden watches decorated the latter. His leather shoes seemed inappropriate for the battlefield, as did the several pocket watch chains hanging from his pockets. The man carried a cane with a glass sphere on one end with a clock on the inside.
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The rain didn’t seem to touch the man. It splattered against a translucent dome above him. A thin film of water had frozen in place and remained undisturbed by the drops that fell upon it before trickling away. Kennit stood, maintaining a demeanor similar to Pietro's. Casual. Confident. Callous.
The Cursed One screamed again, and unlike Nil, Kennit recoiled, covering his ears and wincing. The monster rushed at the suited man, long arms scraping along the ground. The antlers emitted a neon pink shade, vibrating. The headache and voices intensified. Kennit fell to his knees, screaming.
The monster stopped just before reaching its target. At first, it appeared frozen, but Nil noticed slow movements. Its hip and shoulder blades twitched, suggesting the entire body wasn’t within the temporal distortion. Kennit straightened up. He fixed his collar and wiped the blood trickling from his left nostril. He pointed his cane at the monster, and the golden clocks covering his shirt came to life. Chains burst from them and wrapped around the neck, limbs, and mouth. Then, a hooked mass slithered toward the monster’s heart.
Nil used the opportunity to attack. He had ducked into the shadow when he saw Klocky Kennit and the man seemed least bothered, prioritizing the Cursed One.
Mistake.
Nil moved as fast as he could without losing balance. He held both his arms bent in front of himself and knocked his knuckles together, manifesting the Source Gauntlets. Nil leaped onto the part of the Cursed One’s back that was still moving, pressed his palm against the spine, and released a concentrated blast. The Cursed One’s slaggy interiors didn’t burn his hands. The heart continued to beat. It wasn’t in the temporal distortion either, or Klocky Kennit’s power wasn’t what it seemed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kennit yelled.
The temporal distortion holding the Cursed One melted away, and the chains unfurled. The injured beast roared, stumbling backward and arms bent backwards. They came at Nil awkwardly, but he didn’t stick around long enough to let the beast grab or scratch him. Instead, he wrapped his gauntleted fingers around the burning, orange heart before kicking off the Cursed One’s back. The empowered leap carried Nil far enough from his previous position so that the chains missed. The falling beast froze again, suggesting Kennit had also tried to capture him with the odd ability.
“No!”
Kennit’s scream came too late and did him no good. Nil’s clenching fist crushed the Cursed One’s heart. It immediately lost its flexibility and magic, drying out, cracking, and then crumbling into dust. The Cursed Energy immediately dissipated.
It was tempting to quip. In fact, Bunty believed that the viewers would love it. But Nil could neither think of anything nor care. There was a chance a taunt would anger Kennit further, and he'd make a mistake as a result, but it all felt like a waste. Nil could only think of eliminating his foe.
Nil sprinted at his opponent, covering several meters with each stride. The throw and subsequent Expends had brought his energy stores below half but thanks to the additional ranks of Spark, he had more than enough to spare. At first, Nil struggled to sense Kennit’s ability, but the close encounter with the Cursed One helped. It was subtle and faint but impossible to miss. Spending time in the garden and trying to identify each Qi-emitting plant individually sharpened Nil’s understanding of Energy Instinct. Kennit’s power had no colorful visual cues. His abilities didn’t add any colorful vapors and constructs for him to track. Fortunately, Nil could just about sense when something wasn’t right.
Instead of spatial or temporal distortions, the chains came for Nil first, confirming his suspicions. His opponent’s ability was low range, and he relied on his soul weapon to fight at a distance. He was ready when the chains whipped and snaked toward him. Nil waited until several bunched up before manifesting the three finger blade. It cleaved through the chains without issue, triggering a rain of destroyed links. Nil stomped on another trying to wrap around his ankle before releasing an energy blast to destroy them. If not for the rain, he would’ve suffered a nasty burn.
Nil kept moving, continuing to close the distance between himself and his opponent. Energy Instinct detected bubbles of time distortion that blossomed at his feet and mid-air and danced around them. A barrier formed ahead and to his left while a mass of chains shot at Nil from the right. Kennit wanted him to retreat or rush into a trap. He picked neither option.
The recent exercises in cultivation and Qi Shaping all revolved around the concept of forming, compacting, and refining spheres. They didn’t translate well to Nil’s fighting style, but he still indulged in the exercises because they made more sense than the freeform projection and shaping needed to create his blades. Nil had resolved to master the manuals first and then modify the techniques to create what he needed.
Expend has progressed to Iron 6!
Brutal battery has progressed to Iron 5!
A crimson sphere no bigger than an eyeball manifested, hovering over Nil’s right hand. It wasn’t as sharp as the manuals said it was supposed to be. The edges diffused rapidly, making it look like a rapidly shrinking crimson fireball. Nil threw it into the mass of chains, and they disintegrated whatever they touched. The energy ball only traveled a couple of meters before dissipating into nothing and creating one completely drained the respective arm’s gem.
As he approached, Nil created another. Hoping what Samara had said about the Source was true. It bent the laws of the universe. Once he was less than half a dozen feet from Kennit, he threw the construct. A temporal distortion caught Nil, freezing him in place, but his senses remained active. Time continued to flow normally. However, his body moved so slow it appeared immobile.
Meanwhile, the sphere slowed, as did its deterioration. Kennit seemed to assume otherwise and swung his cane at Nil. Chains burst from the sphere on its end and wrapped around his neck and wrists. Meanwhile, the sphere continued flying forward. It was two-thirds the original size when it ate its way through the cane and no bigger than a pea by the time it reached Kennit, entering just below his solar plexus at a downward angle.
The ability that had Nil trapped immediately disappeared, and the chains went slack. Kennit scrambled backward, screaming and clawing at himself. His eyes filled with the same panic that Adam had displayed in his final moments. A knot formed in Nil’s stomach as he freed himself from the chains and advanced. His stores were nearly empty, but he consumed the energy, thrusting a palm into Kennit’s face. Nil emptied his stores with a blast of energy, disintegrating most of his opponent’s head and turning the rest into shrapnel and mist.