Chapter 08-02

Alex turned and started to walk towards the impact point where Marcus or Colvontra or whatever he was calling himself had landed. The problem was that when he got there, there was no body just the impact creator.

“Well shit.” Alex said looking in all directions trying to figure out where the man went.

A tooth rattling punch knocked him off his feet. He tumbled rolling head body over ass a few times before he crashed to a stop. With a painful moan he pushed himself off of the ground. He found that his HP had been reduced by seventy points.

“Son of a bitch!” Alex said gingerly touching the sore spot on his face. His eyes shot around the cavern, but the light was sitting on the ground twenty feet away, and the dark was the perfect cover for someone to hide.

Slowly Alex started to take steps towards the light. If he was going to be able to participate in this fight he was going to have to be able to see. Then it hit him, he had a new power that he was not utilizing. He reached his hand out and with focus and a few points of energy the light lifted from the ground and shot into his hand.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Alex said slowly scanning the cavern with the light. It was no good, not only could he see nothing, but his backside was completely exposed to whatever might come.

Then came an impact as a foot slammed into the back of his knees. Alex dropped to his knees. An arm was wrapped around his neck. A weird feeling started to take over his body. He had lost access to his super-strength power and he could feel energy rushing form his body as he was lifted from the ground.

Alex was having trouble thinking, but a crazy idea crossed his mind. He didn’t have access to his super-strength, but he still retained he other abilities. With a fair bit of concentration, he was able to redirect the energy that was being drained out of his body into his flight power.

He pushed off of the ground and flew them upwards towards the ceiling. It took longer than he hoped but Alex smashed them both into the rock. He was thankful that he missed the sharp protruding rocks as he did so. They broke apart as they fell towards the ground and he could instantly feel that his super-strength was his again.

He was able to assume two things. One, his enemy had to maintain contact in order to use the powers of the person he was touching. Two, when Colvontra was using the powers he was borrowing that person’s energy as well. Colvontra was obviously a super, but was his power limited to borrowing at touch, or were there other things in his arsenal. The punch that he had landed on Alex’s face was extremely hard hitting.

Then again, Alex continued in his head, the body was that of a professional miner. It would be safe to assume that in that line of work they had spend several points into strength and now whatever was going on with him was giving him the ability to manipulate those points into attack power.

“Colvontra, is it? Why don’t you stop running around in the shadows and face me like a man?” Alex suggested.

“I’m right here.” The man said inches from Alex’s face. He martialized from nothing in the space in front of Alex. The wind shot from Alex’s lungs as a knee was slammed into his gut. He doubled over in pain.

“Good one.” Alex coughed. That was two powers. He could take powers from others and he could become completely invisible. This made Alex wonder what was going on in that man’s body. He didn’t think it was possible for NPCs to have more than one power, but if this was story driven, he’d seen weirder in story-based missions.

“You will make a good vessel for more of my children. You and the girl.” Colvontra said with a sicking smile.

Alex said no more. He was ready to attack since he could actually see his target. He balled his fist and struck for Colvontra’s head. His fist whipped past the man’s head. Alex swore that the man’s head had been there upon impact, but like some kind of after image it was gone.

“Alright, that happened.” Alex said looked questioningly at his fist.

Colvontra reared back and butt Alex with his head. The impact was like being hit by a mac truck. Alex tumbled backwards end over end until crashing into one of the pillars on the side of the path.

Alex’s health was down further than he was comfortable with. He only had about seventy points remaining of his whole health pool. He retrieved one of his health serums and injected himself with a groan of pain.

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“You’re way too freakin powerful!” Alex pushed himself off of the ground.

“My power is centuries old.” Colvontra said, “And this time it is different.”

“Yeah that’ll do it.” Alex said dusting himself off. He took a look around the cavern. There had to be something that he was missing. The mission was in his level range, but this guy was so powerful.

“Succumb. Become a vessel for a being that is far more powerful than you will ever be.” Colvontra said clenching his fist with strength.

“I’d really rather not.” Alex said clenching his own fist.

He jumped focusing energy into flight and then used his new flight ability Air Sprit which tripled his flight speed. He clenched his fist and activated his seismic fist skill. In a blur of blue light Alex flashed through the air and his fist made solid contact with Colvontra’s chest. The attack sent him flying through the air. His back smashed into the doors to the temple. The doors crashed open and he continued to fly backward.

-Notice: You’ve Found a Devastating Skill Combo.

-By using Air Sprint and Seismic Punch together you’ve gained a 35% to the attack power and potential damage bonus.

Alex landed in a skid. He took a breath and stood up straight. His footsteps crunched as he walked towards the temple doors. He walked the few steps up into the main building.

The chamber inside the doors was three stories tall there were fires burning in bowls throughout the chamber. Along each side of a path down the center were pillars that went all the way up to the ceiling. Along the left and right walls were rooms and at the back there was a smaller chamber.

On the outside of the pillars there were rows of pedestals. Two dozen on either side of the large chamber each with a crystal floating a few inches from its top surface. Each crystal was a different size, shape, and color, but they were all within a few centimeters of each other. The colors ranged from dark black to bright white and everything in between on the rainbow.

Colvontra laid on the floor a few yards inside the doorway. He was already starting to rouse the ground. He was groaning as he moved so Alex’s attacked had done something.

“Not so unstoppable I see.” Alex said with a hiss.

“You’ve caught me off guard, that is all. I will not let it happen again.” Colvontra said with a smirk.

“We’ll see about that.” Alex said clenching his fists. His energy was nearly halfway depleted so doing that attack again would leave him completely drained but knowing about the combo was like having a secret weapon in his back pocket.

“I believe that you may not get the chance.” Colvontra said motioning with his hands.

“Trying to do a little magic?” Alex asked in a mocking tone.

Alex’s groaned as someone kicked him in the back of the legs. He dropped to his knees again and attempted to get up, but a pressure forced him to the ground. It was like waves of pure gravity were pushing on his bones.

Fighting the pressure, he could turn his head to see Obsidian being forced into the room. A tall woman with a very thin frame was guiding Obsidian with her hand on her shoulder. The woman’s skin was pulsing with the same purple color that Obsidian’s did when she was using her powers.

“Finally, Volitotin, you have returned. Have your brought me more Vessels?” Colvontra asked.

“I have master.” The woman nodded. She motioned with her hand and three children walked into the room. They seemed to be under some kind of mind control.

“Excellent!” Colvontra said clapping his hands together, “We will have five more tonight, but we will start with the girl.” He motioned towards Obsidian.

One of the others grabbed Obsidian and directed her forward to stand before Colvontra. She was forced down onto her knees.

“Aether.” She said trying to fight the man, but like Alex she was completely powerless.

“Don’t you fucking touch her.” Alex growled, but still he couldn’t fight against the pressure that was being exerted upon him.

“And who is going to stop me?” Colvontra asked with a dubious chuckle, “You?”

He walked away from Obsidian towards the collection of crystals that hovered over the pedestals. Selecting carefully, he picked up one of the crystals, a light blue crystal, that was narrow at the top but wide at the bottom, but he never actually touched it. As he walked back towards Obsidian the crystal hovered over his hand.

Colvontra lowered himself down onto his knees in front of the young scared girl. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Get the hell away from her you piece of shit!” Alex spat at the man.

“In this crystal is a trusted advisor and my dearest love. I was waiting for the perfect vessel for her, and though this girl may be a little old, she will be a lovely body for you.” He said. His hands were folded with the crystal hovering in front of her face.

“Your breath is atrocious.” Obsidian growled.

“Salstasa Come forth and be with me again.” Colvontra said completely ignoring Obsidian’s insult.

A beam of blackish blue energy connected from the crystal to Obsidian’s forehead. Pulses of white light rode the beam and crossed into her head. Obsidian started to scream and yell in pain.

Alex fought with all of his strength, but he couldn’t fight the power of the gravity-kinetic. There was no telling how much energy the man had. Alex hoped that he didn’t have some ungodly amount like their powers. The only good thing that he had going for him was that his own energy level was almost full. The pseudo resting state that he was in allowed for the maximum regeneration speed.

The lights pulsed faster and faster until the stream of white light was almost solid. And then it was gone. The stream broke. The crystal fell dull and dropped to the ground. Obsidian sucked in a deep breath of air. Her eyes snapped opened and their edges were lined with white light.

“I’m so glad to be awake, husband.” She said standing up from where she was kneeling.

“Salstasa, I’ve not been this happy in so many years.” Colvontra said embracing his wife.