X POV:
My Ki spread out instantly in a circular motion, forming a transparent dome around me. The distance between the edge of the spherical barrier that extended underground and me was 20 metres; everything inside that space was inverted—that included myself too.
In order to stay upright, I had to apply Inverse to my body. This made it function as if I was outside of the inverted area.
As for Esmeralda’s blade, which was centimetres away from my face, her strike was inverted. The blade shot back and struck her shoulder as her blood flowed upwards. She immediately took a step back and jumped out of the inverted space.
“...”
She studied me carefully as I slipped my hands into my pockets while the ends of my hooded cloak rose. If another body entered the inverted space, their bodies wouldn’t invert. However, they would experience symptoms such as dizziness and auditory issues.
I watched Esmeralda hold her head as blood trickled out of her nose.
“Where did you send the Amplifier?”
She sheathed her sword and stood upright. I could see that her balance was off since her legs wobbled slightly. It was quite underwhelming that this was all it took to shake her up.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll be staying in District 3 for awhile.”
I walked forward, and Esmeralda splayed her hand, manipulating the earth into very thin, sharp needles that shot forward.
It wasn’t a bad approach.
I imagine she assumed that if I couldn’t physically see it, then I would be unable to invert it, but I was a capable person.
I took my hand out of my pocket as her elemental attack entered the inverted space, and pointed my finger at her while walking forward.
“Displace.”
Our bodies switched positions, and the previously inverted space reverted, causing the sharp earth needles to reverse once more. Her hand flickered as she drew her blade and cut down her own enhanced attack.
I couldn’t even call this a warm-up anymore; she was too afraid to engage. In other words, she was an incapable person who could only talk.
I watched her dark green eyes gaze at the wound on her shoulder before turning around. I flicked two fingers up towards the sky, and the world gyrated around me again.
***
The new scenery began to stabilize as my eyebrows dropped slightly. I saw Gia's heavily wounded body, that was battered and bruised all over. Blood gushed out of several places as she passed out on her feet.
The right side of her face was swollen badly, yet she stood firmly in the middle of the tunnel, blocking the entrance to the prison cell that once held the Amplifier.
I looked ahead and saw an unknown man, most likely the District Leader, sprawled out on the ground with his face crushed in.
To the right stood Andre, his face busted open badly while burn marks were littered all over his body. In the middle stood Solina; she was uninjured and unfazed by my sudden appearance.
“And you must be the mastermind behind this unwise operation.”
She folded her arms and looked at me unimpressed. Solina voluntarily walked into the inverted area and stood a few meters in front of me. Her strong Ki negated the effects of the inverted space.
“Call me X.”
I stood sideways and pointed my finger at Gia.
“Inversion: Displace.”
My finger flicked downwards, and all the damage she had received was transferred to me. The technique regarded whatever was displaced as negative, and it also ignored the Inverse effect on my body when using Inversion. This meant since I was standing within Inversion, the damage was inverted.
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Two negatives equalled a positive.
The bloody wounds that had afflicted my body a second ago vanished in an instant. I cocked my head to the side and glared at Solina.
“I don’t appreciate what you did to Gia.”
Her purple lips curved upwards as she stepped forward. An explosion of Ki wrapped around her as the dungeon walls began to break apart. The force she exerted was incredible, and Andre, who had been watching silently, immediately backed away.
“X, you have an interesting ability. Magnetism, is it? In addition, it seems you’re also able to use it as a form of teleportation? Wonderful. Your value is high.”
She stretched out the palm of her hand as she got into a stance. My eyes narrowed at her words. She had managed to figure all of that out in the span of a minute or so.
“Unfortunately, it’s not yet time for our fists to meet.”
I jumped backwards and grabbed hold of Gia’s unconscious body. Although I had healed her injuries, she would still feel the pain for a few more minutes.
‘!’
I flicked my two fingers up towards the ceiling when Solina's fist smashed into my face. The force of the blow rocked me, but I held Gia close to my chest as I rolled along the ground.
‘...My ability didn’t activate.’
Solina put her hand on her hip and smiled while looking down at me.
“You should have left her behind, X.”
I pointed my finger at Solina, but her body flickered leaving a multitude of afterimages within the inverted area. I clicked my tongue and pointed at Gia instead.
“Inversion: Displa—”
Her fist smashed into my face again, and I crashed into the wall behind me. Blood spewed out of my nose as I checked to make sure Gia was uninjured.
“The problem with abilities like yours is that you have to be vocal about them. I applaud your creativity, but you lacked vision.”
She stretched out her hands and grabbed hold of the inverted area. She ripped it apart like a piece of paper, instantly dispelling the ability.
“See? Once you understand how it works, it’s easy to get rid of.”
‘!’
My blood flowed backwards, and I quickly removed the Inverse I had placed on myself. I wiped the blood pouring out of my nose on my sleeve as I placed Gia gently against the dungeon wall.
“You are quite capable.”
I put my hands in my pockets as I faced Solina.
“Why thank you, but I'm more than 'quite capable.' So, flattering me will get you nowhere.”
I had already secured the Amplifier and was now on to phase two of my plan. Solina was able to seal parts of an ability as well as force someone to answer whatever she asked. The only connection I could make out between the two was isolation.
“Your ability is Isolation. Rather than sealing a part of my ability, it’s more accurate to say that you separated the technique from my ability. This would also explain how you forced Andre to answer your question against his will—you confined his freedom of speech.”
The fact that she had designed her ability with such details in mind was astonishing. Most Ki practitioners who had reached Shin made basic abilities that didn’t come close to scratching the surface of what was possible with Ki.
In other words, Solina was a very rare individual. However, Gia still took the number one spot. I was confident that she had only lost because it was three versus one.
Solina's perfectly shaped lips formed a thin smile as she clapped her hands in response.
“Wonderful. I suppose spying has its benefits. Join us, X. I don’t want to have to kill someone whose value is as high as yours.”
She stuck her hand out while watching me with intense eyes. There was no benefit in joining hands with the enemy. Besides that, I needed to correct something she had said.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I said you’re quite capable. That means you’re not capable of killing me.”
“Ah. You’ll change your mind once my fist meets your face again.”
She smiled and got back into her stance. My lips curved upwards into a smirk as I stepped forward. Normally, I would target the person, but to test a theory of mine, I aimed at the space around Solina instead.
“Attraction.”
The space between us vanished, and I stood beside her arm. She had anticipated my move; her body already spinning while her foot tore through the air as it approached my chin.
“!”
I stood in place as her foot abruptly slammed into the ground beside me. She quickly recovered and dashed in. I took my hands out of my pocket and met her head-on.
We traded blows in the middle of the tunnel. Each strike shook the surrounding area, exploding parts of the walls around us. It was unfortunate, but in terms of close combat ability, Solina was more than capable.
Her hand flashed, and I twisted my neck as her fingers grazed past my cheek. Blood spurted out from the open wound as she spun her body, throwing powerful leg kicks that shattered the stone ceiling above us.
I stepped in, cutting off her kicking trajectory and threw a punch of my own. She ducked inwards while her arm went over mine. Her fist smashed into my jaw as she countered. The recoil of the blow forced me back, and she charged in to capitalize on the opening, but that’s what I wanted.
“Attraction.”
I splayed out my hand, and her throat entered my grip against her will.
“Heuk!”
I slammed her head first into the ground as a pained moan escaped her mouth.
‘Now then, this one is for Gia.’
My fist rained down on her face, but I was only able to get in a couple of good punches before she broke free and kicked me away.
I watched Solina wipe away the blood from a small cut on her lip that had smeared some of her purple lipstick. Her eyes were red with rage as she looked down at the blood on her hand.
‘This was good enough for now.’
I smirked at her mockingly.
“Repel.”
My fingers fanned out, and the distance between us widened drastically in an instant. I threw Gia over my shoulder and glanced back at Solina sprinting towards me with enraged eyes. It was as I thought; she couldn’t isolate my techniques as easily as she would like to.
I dashed deeper into the tunnel and turned the corner before Solina could catch up. My two fingers flicked up towards the ceiling, and the world spun around me once more.