A skinny, luminous tether connected Jaqueline’s knife hilt to an unknown garment under her dress. The orange and yellow contents of the Cursed One’s heart seemed to flow through it, twisting and pulsing. The multicolored flecks of light that Energy Instinct highlighted when detecting Cursed Energy danced around the woman and seemed to seep directly into her body.
The look of fatigue from pursuing the monster and the injuries from the fall faded. Jaqueline’s skin brightened, and for a moment, she almost seemed to glow in the night. As Nil took a moment to catch his breath, recover from the shock of the injury, and get his thoughts together, he promised himself that he wouldn’t get involved with another Death Gauntlet match unless the Nexus desperately required it.
Cursed Ones only came out of hiding and were more easily found at night. Nil had read that many also went into stasis, making them nearly invulnerable. As a result, the matches could only take place under the cover of darkness. It only made combat more challenging. The landslides caused by the Cursed One had buried most of the flora. In most cases, only the giant woody mushrooms seemed to have survived. As a result, the arena was significantly darker than when the match began. If not for Energy Instinct, he’d be fighting blind.
Some forums claimed that Summoned gained benefits from whatever attribute they boosted first and that potentials also played a role. Besides making someone more muscular, stronger, and improving their natural healing rate, Might also granted height, boosted immunity, and the rare few believed that it also prolonged life. Finesse was already known to sharpen the senses, but there was research going on in the degree of benefit. Some theorized it supercharged the individual’s strongest sense. There was a lot less talk about hidden benefits of Mind and Spark.
Nil personally believed that the latter increased one’s sensitivity to otherworldly energies. He was sure his opponent saw far better than he did. She had attacked with reasonable accuracy even though they stood in reasonable darkness. The Source Gauntlet’s gems weren’t bright enough to act as beacons.
Fortunately, Jaqueline the Shredder’s sawblades appeared made of crimson hardlight. They stood out like beacons in the darkness. After absorbing the Cursed Energy, they seemed to grow more solid and also gained luminosity. So even though Nil couldn’t see much outside of what Cursed Energy highlighted, he had little trouble finding her.
It was as Nil hypothesized: the corrupted soul weapons empowered their users after absorbing Cursed Energy. He couldn’t tell whether it was a permanent boost or a temporary one. But Nil was sure of one fact: he was in trouble.
Jaqueline’s lips spread into a chilling smile. It sent shivers down Nil’s spine. In the dim light, she looked worthy of the title of Scourge Champion. The recordings of his previous matches suggested she liked to plant fear in her opponents and toy with them. Nil took solace in the fact that the woman couldn’t injure him further as long as he had Absorb active. He would need to create an opening or find an alternate route to victory.
Even though Nil’s left shoulder hurt so much, it brought tears to his eyes. He didn’t retreat. Instead, he went on the offensive. Jaqueline momentarily lost her look of triumph. It returned for a second before Nil threw a prepared rock at her. She leaped from the dead Cursed One, manifesting her ankle constructs. The new angle showed that they were far wider than the sawblades Jaqueline used as projectiles. If the teeth weren’t curved, one would assume that they were gears.
The construct’s edges blurred as they picked up speed. As soon as the woman touched the ground, she shot forward at incredible speed. Instead of making rollerskating movements, she fell into a surfing stance, and large sawblades manifested, spinning a couple of inches over her forearms, covering her hand and wrists like spinning shields. She also flung a few at Nil, pulling them out of thin air, but stopped when they proved ineffective. The projectiles lost their velocity and stopped spinning as soon as they reached him. The constructs fell to the floor and shattered before fading into nothing.
As soon as Jaqueline was within reach, Nil supercharged strength, dropped into a kneel, and went for a spinning kick to the ankle. Despite the extra energy infused into Toggled Supercharging, Nil only managed to crack the thick constructs she used for mobility. However, the force behind the attack almost buckled Jaqueline’s knee. Her spinning right arm blade struck Nil’s bicep instead of the neck. Much to his surprise, it bit a couple of centimeters into him despite Absorb. The strike still increased Brutal Battery’s stores, and the sawblade slowed.
Might has progressed to Iron 9!
The meleeblades have something more.
The shoulder injury already limited Nil’s use of his left arm. The new laceration only made things worse. Nil Expended a tenth of his stores through the injury. It expelled the sawblade and knocked the connected arm backward while simultaneously cauterizing the new injury. Jaqueline staggered away from him, thrown off balance. Nil used the opening to land a quick strike to her torso. GIven the speed she exhibited in her videos, he didn’t dare switch to Expend yet, and his decision proved wise.
As Jaqueline staggered backward, she launched a barrage and simultaneously slashed with her knife. It appeared to slither out of her dress and directly into her hand, moving with almost a mind of its own. Worried that Absorb wouldn’t hold out against it either, Nil also retreated. Most of the sawblades didn’t damage Nil, but the last bit into his pectoral muscle and further bloodied his white vest.
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There was no visual difference between the blades that could somewhat bypass Absorb and those that couldn’t. However, Energy Instinct could tell the difference between them just fine. The blade on her right arm—the one that had struck Nil—flickered. Panic flashed on Jaqueline’s face, her confident expression and taunting smile fading for just a moment.
She’s almost tapped out.
Nil capitalized on the lapse, supercharged speed, and raced at his opponent. He kept Absorb active and accepted all that flew at him until Jaqueline threw an empowered blade into the mix. He dodged it, got close, and avoided a slash of her knife. Nil grabbed the woman’s wrists, hoping to disable his opponent before finishing her with an empowered headbutt.
Energy Instinct has progressed to Iron 4!
Unfortunately, his opponent once again displayed the reason behind her popularity. She wasn’t just gorgeous with a terrifyingly beautiful ability. Jaqueline The Shredder had also grown to fame for her gymnastics and melee-fighting skills. She twisted around in Nil’s grip so she was facing away from him, hopped, placed both feet against his chest, and pushed. Her ankle constructs spun and sputtered, struggling to pick up speed while Absorb robbed it of most of its power. They still managed to peel skin from his chest and tear our chunks of flesh. Yet, Nil refused to release her wrists and yelled through the pain, trying to wrestle her back into his control.
Absorb has progressed to Iron 8!
The likelihood of people figuring out Nil’s base power was now high. Enough content creators had made videos dedicated to it, theorizing and debating the possibilities. Most seemed to have deduced that Nil’s defensive and offensive abilities couldn’t function at the same time. They were mostly right and were still trying to confirm the nature of his energy attacks. However, even though most had seen his soul weapon, none had figured out the extent of his abilities. In all fairness, he hadn’t demonstrated Wield the Source enough, and Galvanize wasn’t easy to figure out.
Festus the Creator, copycat channels, and content creators dedicated to soul weapons had discussed the Source Gauntlets’ design at length. Most wrote off the gems as a cosmetic element. None had guessed that they stored energy or that Nil could use it without Expending. Nil emitted and shaped. He didn’t need precision. Just destructive power. He created rough blades through his palms. They only lasted for half a second but drew a gut-wrenching scream from Jaqueline.
Wield The Source has progressed to Iron 4!
The femme fatale and almost film star fell face first. Her still-spinning ankle constructs gave her the necessary mobility to move a couple of meters away from Nil. They and everything else born of her power simultaneously blinked out of existence. She kicked the ground violently, moving further away from him, and left a trail of blood in her awake.
Jaqueline the Shredder’s elegant, manicured hands lay at Nox’s feet. She turned onto her front and struggled to rise while clutching the stumps of her forearms to her chest. Her face was a shredded crimson mess dragging along the floor but it was the least of her worries. Nil had destroyed her wrists with the unexpected move.
“No,” she begged when he slowly advanced on her. “Please. You don’t have to do this. We can both forfeit. I promise to make it worth your while.” Her voice trembled. “I’ll give you everything and anything you want. Anything. Money. Information. Contacts. Please. Anything.”
Nil didn’t stop. He marched toward her, analyzing the woman’s internal flow using Energy Instinct. Nothing but pulsating Cursed Energy remained, gathering in a band around her waist. Nil assumed it was her corrupted soul weapon. The tether flowing from it was changing, transforming into something new. Then, he saw subtle traces of it. Crimson hexagons glided along her skin to the stump of her left hand. They fused to the damaged flesh before interlocking with each other, slowly forming a new hand.
“I’m not doing this,” Jaqueline said. “I promise. It follows my mental image. This is my subconscious. I promise, Nil.” Tears streamed down her face as her back hit the quarry’s wall. Her legs still kept kicking the ground. It almost looked like she was hoping new ankle constructs would manifest and help her escape. “Please.”
The requests fell on deaf ears. When Nil kneeled in front of Jaqueline, the hexagons gathering around her wrist molded into a spike, and she stabbed at his neck. He had expected as much and grabbed her stump and squeezed. Another scream burst from Jaqueline. He silenced her swiftly with an Expend-empowered punch to the face.
The blow caved in the woman’s face, pulverizing into a mess of bone, skin, and blood. Nil used Expend’s secondary function and trickled the energy through his gauntlet, disintegrating Jaqueline’s head and all the gore sticking to the black, charred metal.
Expend has progressed to Iron 8!
Brutal Battery has progressed to Iron 8!
Unlike last time, Schema notifications appeared even though he hadn’t yet exited the arena-turned-graveyard. An almost undetectable pulse of energy also radiated from Jaqueline The Shredder. Nil wondered whether it was the same energy the arena construct used to help purify fallen worlds. He understood the purpose and all the good it did, but that didn’t mean he liked it.
You have received 5 Schema Tokens and 1000 Schema Credits for your victory.
Victory against a combatant with twenty-three Gauntlet of Ten and nine Death Gauntlet wins has earned you an additional prize.
The Schema has convinced your Qi-training mentor to grant you three additional lessons.
You have earned 5 Schema Tokens and 1000 Schema Credits for progressing your quest.
Nil couldn’t care less about the reward. He slumped onto his bottom and dispelled the Source Gauntlets. He wanted to leave. The cauterized wounds still burned and blood poured from his shredded torso and the now cracked burns. Nil still believed in finishing his foes swiftly without causing suffering. However, the blood loss left him light-headed. He didn’t intend to make a show by approaching Jaqueline slowly and using measured, deliberate movements to finish her. It had taken every ounce of Nil’s focus to track Jaqueline’s soul weapon and stop her final attack while also mustering the willpower not to collapse. His opponent had gotten uncomfortably close to killing him.