Ace groaned, coming out of the daze the explosion had thrown him into.
When he did so, he was distracted by something soft and leathery swishing past his face. Finding the strength to open his eyes, he could see that it was a leaf, swinging back and forth as the branch it was attached to waved in the wind. Taking in his surroundings, he felt an onset of weightlessness, or rather, finally took notice of it. Looking down, things started to make sense.
He was hanging from a tree, impaled on one its branches. Filled with too much adrenaline to feel pain, he scanned the area looking for his opponent.
'Explosion must have thrown him off somewhere else...But damn, I wasn't expecting it to just blow up like that... I kind of liked that rock.'
With the coast clear, he used his sword to break the tree branch he was stuck on. Somehow, he had kept his grip on it. Stuck at an awkward angle, it took Ace a few swings to free himself, falling to the ground in an unseemly pile.
As soon as his foot touched the ground, Talos chimed in his ear.
[What have you done?! You're overflowing with Sever energy!]
'It's a neat trick right?! Been working on this for weeks!'
Talos thrummed in his ear again, except he sounded... angry?
[This is more than a just a neat trick you fool! You're can damage your **** by forcibly overloading yourself with high density energy! I told you what can happen! The only reason you're alive is because you are one of the *******! Expend your excess energy quickly or there will be dire consequences! HURRY!]
As Talos's voice fizzled out, a blue screen flashed in his vision.
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Sever Capacity : 200/96.6
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"Holy Shit!"
Taking in the numbers, Ace quickly removed the tree branched lodged in his body and healed himself. After, he checked his capacity once more, hoping to have made a solid dent in it.
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Sever Capacity : 195/96.6
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'Huh? Healing is never that cheap!'
[That's because you have Savant levels of energy within a Lawless body! Now hurry up and finish the fight! Spare no expense in your Notch usage, use EVERYTHING!]
Reacting to Talos's words, Ace felt around inside his body. On top of heart, he could see his shell had fully regenerated. Upon closer inspection he noticed that wasn't actually the case, at least not in its entirety.
'There's two layers!?'
Basking in his newfound power, he looked for the Bone Blade.
Only a few dozen feet away, he was there, standing in a ready position. His arms were raised in a boxing guard with his knife held securely in the lead hand. He was even bouncing on his feet.
Ace narrowed his eyes.
'Something about that rhythm... It's familiar... Is he from the slums too?'
Shrugging off the unnecessary thoughts, Ace broke a large part of his heart shell and threw it into his legs.
In the next instant, he was behind his opponent, lunging forward with his sword. Without resistance, the weapon pierced the Bone Blade's back and exited through his stomach.
Leaning forward, Ace hissed in his ear.
"Yield!"
In response, he only heard his opponent mumble two words back.
"Nice try..."
Shortly after, he was elbowed in the face and sent flying backwards.
Healing instantly, he scrambled to his feet. Still, the blow stung. How in the world had his opponent hit him so hard while being impaled? Such a things shouldn't have been possible, especially from the angle he was standing at. Confused, Ace circled around his opponent, taking slow and steady steps.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something about his sword.
'There's no blood on it?! But... I saw it go through him! I heard the sound! Hmmm.... must be a Notch. And a really annoying one at that.'
Faced with uncertainty, Ace decided to break through it with sheer power. Filled with excess energy, he had more than enough room to make mistakes... as long as he avoided fatal injuries.
The only question was when Ace would make his move.
His opponent rotated, following Ace's movements as he made his circle. He kept the same boxing stance, leaving no room for opening. After a few seconds he even raised a hand and beckoned towards Ace.
'Fine then, I guess I'll make the move!'
Spurred on by his opponent's taunt, Ace broke off another piece of heart shell, moving so fast that he knew it would be impossible for the Bone Blade to dodge. Once again, he pierced his opponent... and even saw blood splatter. Then, just like the first attack, he was ruthlessly countered, being stabbed six times before being kicked away.
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Losing blood in large globs, he was forced to heal once more. After, he spared a quick glance at his blade. It was clean, save for a few nicks and scratches he had accumulated in it from previous battles.
'But how?! I know my attack connected! I saw the blood!'
Now back on his feet, Ace walked around the Bone Blade, unsure of how to attack him. He completed a full circle, shocked at how even his clothes remained unscathed.
Even with his hood on, his confusion was apparent from his body language alone. Seeing this, the Bone Blade shrugged his shoulders at Ace and then tapped his temple.
'This guy...'
Feeling the fringes of anger, Ace rose to his provocation, running in once more. Only this time, as soon as he stabbed the Bone Blade, he jumped up to kick him in the head at the same time.
Ace expected him to receive the strikes and counter like he had previously. Instead, the Bone Blade raised both of his arms to block Ace's kick. Then, he grabbed him by the ankle and threw him.
Ace landed on his feet but immediately fell to his knees, chest rife with pain. He looked down.
There, lodged deeply in his chest... was his own sword.
'W-what?'
Fighting unconsciousness, he pulled the sword from his chest, bringing an onset of nausea that persisted even after he healed.
With sweat forming on his forehead, he eyed the Bone Blade who was now approaching him, knife in hand.
Instinctively, he backed away. He had no idea what was happening... and he wasn't eager to find out. How had his own sword ended up in his chest? The Bone Blade blocked with both hands so how? Contemplating these questions, his back eventually hit the wall of the arena. Left with no options, he turned to the only weapon that had never failed him, his mind.
Ace considered the facts.
'My attacks have either been rendered useless or somehow turned against me... It's definitely his Notch. I would try to stall him out, but if he catches a lazy strike, I may end up with another terrible wound.'
Evaluating his options, Ace took a second to peek at his capacity.
150/93.6
The Bone Blade was only a few steps away, now approaching with a crossed arm block. He inched closer, taking up space with slow and intentional movements. Seeing him do so forced Ace to make a choice.
"Fine then! Parry this!"
Loading his arm with a large shard of his heart shell, Ace threw his sword at the Bone Blade and followed directly behind it.
Watching closely, he prepared himself as the Bone Blade bent his knees to duck. Ace matched the movement, bending down low. Immediately after, the ground beneath the Bone Blade cracked and he shot upwards, as if he wanted to jump over Ace's tackle. Seeing the movement, Ace jumped first, determined to intercept him. All he needed was a grab.
During the fast paced exchange, time slowed down. In the slowed world, Ace watched in slow motion as the Bone Blade somehow... cancelled his jump?
Impossibly, he remained on the ground in spite of the signs that he would leave it.
Sailing above into the empty air, Ace could only watch helplessly as the Bone Blade plunged his dagger into his heart.
When the blade made contact, another wave of nausea flowed into him, causing his vision to shift into darkness even though his eyes were still open.
In the field of obscurity, Ace could see faint white outlines that represented objects in the physical world. He could even see the Bone Blade, arm still outstretched as a result of the slowed time.
A few seconds later, he hit the ground, making his already wounded heart throb even more. In a flash he removed the knife and healed his heart.
However, as he looked back up, his vision had yet to return to normal. Everything was still in black and white. In fact, the balance points of everything in the arena littered his vision, like stars in the night sky.
'What is this?'
He had seen balance points from a distance before but it had always taken a conscious effort and was only ever one at a time. Never had he seen them in such as fashion before.
Driven purely by curiosity, he tried to manipulate the pebbles underneath his feet. Following his will, the balance points moved exactly as he directed. It was so easy that he accidentally ripped the balance point out of one of them, dragging it into his body.
What happened next was... strange.
The pebble stuck to his boot, as if it was some kind of accessory that he had glued on. Giving his foot a small wiggle, he tried to shake the rock off but it held steady.
'Huh? That's a little strange...'
He would have examined things further, but a quick glance back at his opponent proved that wouldn't be an option. Running at him in a vicious sprint, the Bone Blade was closing the distance. He was fast... very fast.
Taking a second to look at the pebble stuck to his foot, Ace got an idea. One that he was sure would work.
With steps full of conviction, Ace matched the Bone Blade's charge, only this time he didn't try to strike him. Instead he ducked under a quick hook and grabbed the scruff of the Bone Blade's collar. Using a large portion of his shell, he loaded his legs and ran over to the largest rock in the arena. Even while carrying the Bone Blade, he arrived at his destination in mere moments. Wasting no time, he tapped it with his foot.
Then... he dislodged the the rest of his secondary heart shell. Using that energy as fuel, he ripped the balance point from the Bone Blade's body.
Before his opponent could react, he threw the balance point inside of the giant boulder. As soon as he finished doing so, the change was immediate.
Struggling to keep grip of the Bone Blade, Ace found that he was now impossibly heavy. So much so that he was dragging the both of them towards the giant boulder. Wedged between his opponent and the rock, Ace was forced to dive out of the way. As soon as he did so, the Bone Blade was smashed into the boulder with blinding speed.
He flew so fast that he left an impression of his body on the rock, sending tiny shards of stone flying. Through the impact, Ace could hear an audible scream of pain.
Still, he couldn't revel in his successful plan too much. The act of holding the Bone Blade's balance point within the rock was draining his reserves by the second. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he jumped onto the rock and mercilessly beat down on his opponent.
Despite the Bone's Blade inability to move, Ace could feel some of his strikes being reflected back at him. He didn't care and instead only quickened the pace of his punches, left hand turning into a blur.
A minute into his ruthless assault, Ace finally felt his attacks connect... and stay that way. Enthralled by the success of his own punches, he struck even harder.
As his attacks rained down, a bloodthirsty smile found its way onto his lips.
Remembering the way in which Bell had been defeated, Ace started battering on the Bone Blade's leg. Unable to use enhancement, it took a few moments before he got the result he wanted.
With a sickening crunch, the Bone's Blade leg shattered, forcing the boy to let out a foul stream of insults.
Feeling satisfied, Ace placed a heavy knee on the Bone Blade.
"Yield... NOW!"
From his position under Ace, the Bone Blade only spat one word back, struggling to get it out in between fits of coughing.
"Go eat a -"
Not letting him finish, Ace brought a hammer fist down on his other leg, breaking it too.
After he looked to the Bone Blade, waiting for a surrender. There was only silence. His consciousness was only indicated by him holding up the middle finger.
Feeling the bloodthirst writhe its way into his mind once more, Ace hardly resisted when his hand flattened into a knife like form. Completely powerless to the strong desire for blood, he let his body raise his arm high.
It was only fair right? House Lightning treated his teammates like trash. It was only fair that he punish at least one... especially one so cocky.
Through the haze, he could hear Talos screaming in his head.
[ACE! JUST HOLD ON... IT'S ALMO-]
Cutting through both Talos mental voice and the surge of violence, a deep voice resonated.
"That's enough boy."
The voice didn't belong to Karn...