Energy Instinct told Nil that Meatball was doing her job well. He didn’t know whether the Cursed One still managed to keep track of her, but the creature was at least a couple of hundred meters away and moving farther by the second. Pietro couldn’t absorb the monster’s heart and power up without catching up to it or finding an opening.
Before Nil could push the advantage, more Cursed Energy signatures flared all around them. They were much smaller and weaker than the beast Meatball led away. Pietro’s eyes momentarily left Nil, too, and the flying spears ceased coming. He scanned his surroundings. The swarm of scarabs masquerading as snow gathered around him, ready to defend.
Instead of canine Cursed Beasts as Nil expected, humanoid foes came sprinting out of the darkness and dropped from the nearby snow-covered roofs. Some were muscular. Others had wiry builds, and their limbs looked like twisted cords of tissue. The rest were hunched over and ran like chimps, switching between just hind legs and running on all fours during their approach.
The creatures were diverse but had a few things in common. First of all, they were all far taller than the average person. The smallest of them appeared to be two meters long, head to toe. They had dark leathery skin like the Cursed One and long braided hair. Even though the creatures moved like zombies, they didn’t look rotten and emaciated like them. The creatures also seemed to breathe Cursed Energy, leaving a trail of black vapors in their break.
At first, Nil leaped to high ground, trying to stay out of their reach, but then he watched Pietro take them on, and his stomach dropped. The God of Death Gauntlet trapped the closest inside his scarab swarm before plunging a spear into its chest. Orange flowed through the weapon’s shaft to Pietro, and the energy radiating from the scarabs gained intensity.
Letting the Cursed Beasts overwhelm Pietro wasn’t an option. Given the man’s depth of experience, Nil didn’t think it was possible either. He had hoped that they would distract the man enough for him to sneak in a critical strike, but the decision no longer felt smart. Standing aside would only help Pietro feed his corrupted soul weapon and get stronger. The Cursed Beasts had less than a hundredth of the energy in one of the giant Cursed One’s hearts, but every morsel added to the man’s advantage.
Despite all the training, Nil only had one combat-ready technique. It wasn’t quite what Nil wanted for combat, but it felt better than nothing. He sped up the flow of energy through his body and collected a large chunk of it in his right gauntlet, focusing it in the crimson gem. Nil emitted a wisp and used shaping to contain it within a tight sphere. Manipulation came next as Nil made it spin, doubling the rotations per second until he reached the desired speed.
More emissions followed. The rotation minimized the difficulty of shaping as it sucked in the crimson energy, helping the sphere grow larger. After weeks of training, he had a Source Sphere just bigger than a tennis ball. No vapors diffused from the edges. It was tight, neat, and stable. It only took minimal concentration in manipulation and shaping techniques to keep the rotations up and avoid leakage.
Satisfied with his creation, Nil leaped from his perch. In the time it took him to create the Source Sphere, Pietro had consumed another Cursed Beast and was about to start on his third. Then Nil disintegrated a third of the creature’s torso. The combination of the destructive force and rotational energy ensured the technique lost less than a tenth of its mass.
When Nil attempted to strike Pietro with the Source Sphere, a wave of scarabs struck Nil’s side, throwing him off balance. He immediately used Expend through the impacted area and destroyed most of his garments, ensuring that any scarabs that got on him were blown off and destroyed.
Nil felt glad he had consumed the Tundra Survivor’s Brew when setting off. A chill lingered afterward, but he brushed it off before attempting another strike. The Source Sphere killed several scarabs, protecting Nil from another wave, but before he could strike his opponent, more of Pietro’s power seed’s fruit came from the opposite direction. Nil moved with the attack, retreating. Another Expend was destroyed with more of Nil’s clothes, but he considered it necessary as he felt little stings in the area.
It was tempting to switch to Absorb and retreat, but that would mean losing the Source Sphere or reabsorbing it. The technique demanded a handful of seconds to create. Nil couldn’t afford to lose the time. He swiftly dispatched a couple of Cursed Beats, disintegrating them with the volatile, destructive energy. Then Pietro came for him.
Waves and tentacles of the scarab hive attacked Nil from every side, keeping him from retreating backward. Masterful spear thrusts added to the chaos, and Nil couldn’t flee to the side either. He had no other option. Nil was trapped and needed Absorb. However, he worried that going on the defensive would give his opponent the opening he needed to gain ground. Pietro’s current moves felt like the desperate strikes of a cornered rat.
Even though Nil had planned against it, he flung the Source Sphere. The destabilization started straight away. The now eyeball-sized orb’s edges blurred as its content rapidly diffused into the atmosphere. Terror flashed across Pietro’s face as he recognized the danger. He seized his spear attacks and sent forth a wave of scarabs. Nil switched to Absorb, letting a pair of converging Cursed Beasts strike him as he fled sideways, restoring severely depleted energy stores.
Meanwhile, Pietro’s defense dissolved the Source Sphere, and the man’s depth of experience helped him push the advantage. The energy technique had destroyed a monstrous chunk of the scarab hive, but the man still had plenty to spare. They came at Nil, trying to coil around his feet, but supercharged speed helped him flee. He felt scarabs crawling around on his skin, but their pincers failed to pierce it. However, the chill now reached more than skin deep.
Nil needed to ensure his opponent’s summons didn’t reach him, but the tactic felt unsustainable. The incoming energy was far less than the outgoing, and Nil saw no option but to flee to high ground and drop from the height to recharge. Though effective, it was an inefficient tactic and would give Pietro time to flee, chase down the Cursed One, and power up even more.
I need a better defense.
Energy pooled in Nil’s arms, and the energy circulation through his system gained speed. He considered letting scarabs swarm him and then using a full-body Expend to destroy as many as possible, but if his tactic failed, he’d lose his clothing, a shit load of energy, and Pietro’s chill will have gotten in deep. The heat and burns from Expend only affected his skin and outer tissue, of course.
A constant trickle could also do the job, but Nil had never maintained it for more than a handful of seconds and never from his whole body. For a moment, Nil wished he had Shawn’s ability. The barriers gave him defense, offense, area control, and so much more. Once combined with cultivation, Nil was sure he could’ve done a lot with the ability.
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Then it found him.
Nil had the epiphany he had spent the past several weeks seeking.
Something also clicked in the Source Gauntlets. Everyone claimed that soul weapons were alive, but Nil had detected no signs of consciousness in his until that very second. His second companion stirred and came with new ambitions. The Source Gauntlets had tasted the power of the Immortal Realm and wished to return to it.
Flashes of possibilities flooded Nil’s mind, and he understood what he needed to do. The Source Gauntlet’s gems switched from the deep crimson to the same silver luster of Shawn’s barriers. The energy that flowed out of the soul weapon when Nil emitted had the same color. Much to his surprise, his legs ceased moving. It wasn’t that he couldn’t move; it was more of a matter of the insane weight on his body and especially his legs. Atmospheric pressure seemed to have multiplied.
Wield The Source has progressed to Iron 5!
Source Gaunltets have progressed to Iron 5!
Nil closed his eyes, ignoring the scarab hive rushing toward him from all angles, and focused on shaping the energy he emitted. Adding manipulation to the mix was currently too challenging for him. The rough gherkin-shaped barrier struggled to maintain its shape as the tide of scarabs struck. It took every ounce of Nil’s concentration to maintain its shape, but he couldn’t help but grin. Brutal Battery’s stores rapidly shot up, and scarabs fell to the ground, losing the momentum of their charge. They struggled to cling to barrier, too.
The crimson energy that formed the Source Sphere and similar weapons were the tangible and contained manifestation of Expend. The silver was the same for Absorb. It all felt so simple and obvious, and Nil struggled to fathom why he hadn’t figured it out before. Red destroyed. Silver protected.
The barrier didn’t just display Absorb’s power to steal the kinetic energy of the scarabs’ charge but also seemed to momentarily remove their ability to move.
Or they can’t stick. Maybe it's a frictionless surface.
It wasn’t the right time to solve such a quandary. Nil took advantage of Pietro’s confusion while it lasted, letting Brutal Battery’s stores gradually climb toward full. Every passing second made maintaining the barrier easier. It grew smoother, and the drain for maintaining it became easier. However, Nil couldn’t move his legs. They remained locked in the horse stance he had assumed while focusing.
I’m an immovable shield.
A panicked, empathic scream ruined Nil’s focus. It was Meatball. He felt the whelp’s pain. She was returning to him, and he could feel the Cursed One hot on her trail. Nil needed to act quickly and not let the fight drag out any longer. He wasn’t too proud to admit that Pietro was the superior fighter. If the monster got within range, he’d feed and power up. Nil doubted his chances at victory afterward.
Pietro also seemed to sense the approaching beast. He pulled back the hive just as Nil charged, infusing Toggled Supercharge with his new stores. He pushed the ability further than his Finesse would allow. It put him at risk of stumbling and losing his balance, but he saw no other option. Victory wouldn’t come without risk. The only idea that came to mind involved putting him on the brink of death.
The spear came at Nil, and a swift middle block pushed the weapon aside. He couldn’t rely on Absorb anymore. He had switched to Expend and trickled energy through every bit of his body that was not protected by the gauntlets. The surviving patches of Nil’s clothes disintegrated. The same happened to any scarab that came in contact with him. He felt no stings, but the chill continued to find its way to him. It dug deep, making its way past skin, muscle, and bone. He also felt the cold in his chest.
Pain accompanied every heartbeat and breath. Nil had never felt cold like it. Winter Hunter’s ability paled before Pietro. The man was just Iron Realm, but he had mastered his ability over several years. It was likely that the Cursed Energy he absorbed through the corrupted soul weapon further empowered the scarabs, the size of the swarm, and the man’s control over them.
Nil was too slow to block the spear thrust that came next. He just about pushed the head away from the solar plexus, where it was primed to strike. It slipped between his abdominal muscles instead, biting deep. Nil caught the shaft and started to wear through the outer surface, but something deep within fought back. Then his energy ran out. It rapidly restored itself to ten percent, but that didn’t help much, and it wasn’t long before he was forced to switch to Absorb.
Expend has progressed to progressed to Iron 9!
Brutal Battery has progressed to Iron 9!
The hive captured Nil’s limbs and pulled them above his head. None bit him or crawled toward the wound. Pietro appeared to know better and wasn't willingly to take risks. He intended to kill Nil with the cold slowly.
“Why hello, Mr Roy.” Pietro grinned.
“Is this where you deliver your big villain speech?” Nil asked, trying to draw energy from just anywhere but he had nothing.
“Who has time for that nowadays? I just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent fight. Your family must be—”
Scarabs rose to shield Pietro’s face, but it wasn’t enough. A brown sphere burst through the meager barrier and struck the man’s face. A shiny spike ripped open a gouge from cheek to ear. It knocked Pietro to his knees just in time to avoid what came next.
The scarab’s holding Nil’s arms in place didn’t falter but his leg bindings weakened for a moment. He managed to move just enough to catch the monstrous axe swinging toward where Meatball landed. The scarabs tightened their hold again, but Nil got what he wanted. The Cursed One’s attack halted on touching Nil, and it stumbled, losing its weapon. The monster hung over them like an ugly grey arch. Pietro rose, blood pouring from his face and another spear extended from his free arm. It pierced one of the monster’s three hearts.
Meanwhile, Nil had killed several birds with one stone. He kept the beast from getting to Meatball, stopped the Cursed One in its tracks, and restored Brutal Battery’s stores. He switched to Expend for just a moment and released a blast through both of his hands. It blew the surrounding scarabs away. Nil focused all of his energy into the release and used all the focus he could muster to shape it.
“What the hell—”
Black sludge and orange slag rained on the pair. Pietro wasn’t prepared. The scarabs holding up Nil’s arms burned and melted, freeing him. Meanwhile, his opponent took it all to the face. He screamed, releasing both spears. The scarabs trapping Nil also loosened their hold, and he broke free.
Pietro’s voice turned hoarse from all the screaming. The slag had charred his face and melted parts of it. His armor and the skin under it hadn’t faired much better. Nil staggered forward and threw himself on Pietro. The man barely had the strength to fight back. His scarabs swarmed and piled Nil, but without a commander, they lacked the coordination to do much, adding to the cold already threatening to shut him down.
Consciousness threatened to leave Nil, and he had no energy to warm himself. He had little to rely on but grit. The punches he threw at Pietro’s face started weakly, but the force behind them increased with every strike.
The Cursed One crumbled to pieces around the fighters. Nil had focused his blast in a wide cone. Destroying most of its body and eviscerating one heart. The other had suffered significant damage and continued to leak. The monster’s attempts at recovery failed. Its body’s breakdown slowly accelerated. Then Meatball came flying out of nowhere, destroyed last heart and claimed a chunk of flesh as her prize, screeching victoriously. Meanwhile, Nil finished the job the orange slag had started.
He didn’t stop when his knuckles were all raw and bloody.
Nil didn’t stop when the God of Death Gauntlet ceased breathing.