Promises and results
[Iron Skin]… A typical and troublesome skill of golems.
Now that the golem’s defenses skyrocketed, its mobility lowered just as much, with Darius simply walking around and waiting for the skill’s effect to wear off.
This ability was great against mages or other creatures when they used their strong skills. But against me, a mere human, using this ability wouldn’t help the golem with anything, as it only turns it into an immovable rock.
But even though he sighed unimpressed at the unmoving golem, something made him flinch. The golem’s head started regenerating, and Darius had no desire to let that happen.
"You’re craftier than expected."
He rushed back in, and with punch after punch, he made sure to blow his head before it finished regenerating. Thanks to [Iron Skin], Darius’ punches were less efficient than before, but they still burdened the regeneration. Based on Darius’ knowledge, the skill was now almost exhausted, and his head was only halfway regenerated after Darius continued to chip it with strike after strike.
-ROAAGH!-
The golem was able to create its mouth, and with a furious roar, it opened its mouth and tried to shoot a miasma breath.
"Yeah, not happening."
He stepped on the golem’s knee and jumped atop the golem’s head, easily dodging the beam of miasma that shot out in the far distance.
Now that the golem’s defensive skill was deactivated, Darius simply stepped hard once more and completely shattered whatever the golem struggled to regenerate.
"Now let’s end it."
Darius easily sneaked behind the golem and threw a fury of punches at the iron plating, denting it more and more.
-WOONG!-
The golem’s wild swings resumed as well, and Darius had to use the hit-and-run tactics, going in and out each time he found an opening, as if playing tag with the golem.
After about six strong punches, Darius finally penetrated through and destroyed the plates that worked as the back joints of the golem.
With a strong blow, Darius broke off the iron plates that normally were stacked together, then punched again at the rocky structure that kept the golem together, making it bend weirdly and have its upper body fall backwards as if its spine got broken.
-THUD!-
With a small quake, the golem fell on its back, unable to balance the irregular weight, and taking this opportunity, Darius jumped on top of it and started ripping pieces of iron and stone apart from its chest that were stuck together. Because he already tore off the head, he had it the easiest to go through its neck, ripping iron bars, gravel, and pieces of rock and even earth that made the protective box for a golem’s core.
Since the core was rather sensitive, its first layer of protection was made of smaller and softer materials, such as earth or sand, while the outer shell was made of more brute, larger pieces, such as metal or even rocks.
-WOONG!-
The golem condensed miasma and released it all at once because he sensed something wasn't right. This was not a skill, but rather the usual last struggle of a monster to push away the enemy and try to run.
Feeling the energy gathering in one spot, Darius already knew what was happening, so he jumped right above the golem, the shockwave sending him upwards for about 5 meters in the air.
"With this, it should be game over."
With a grin, Darius made a flip in the air, and with a straight kick downward, he launched himself right at the golem’s chest. Using his whole weight, the gravitational pull, and the force of his stone-shattering kick, Darius landed with a strong impact on the golem, completely smashing into its chest and shattering the core into bits.
-WOONG~!-
The golem let out a last pitiful cry, then turned into debris and stones. Getting off the pile of concrete and iron, Darius shook his numb legs and massaged his wrists while glancing at the drone, uninterested.
"Anything else?"
[I’m seriously wondering whenever you’re truly a normal human.]
It was the second time her calculations were completely mistaken. Lily also looked over his data and saw that, other than a slight stress applied to his legs’ tendons, there were no damages whatsoever. Rather, even that level of physical stress could as well be compared to someone falling from a slightly higher place. Other than a bit of numbness, anyone would still be fine and able to go on about their daily lives.
[The way you fought the golem showed that you already knew its abilities, weak spots, and overall fighting style. I’m pretty sure they don’t teach such stuff to Elites, am I right?]
"And I’m also pretty sure that the reason for this test wasn’t to find out about my background but to gain a better human sample, am I right?"
"Please don’t start again…"
Feeling more tension between the two, Lily interfered and asked for Lola to just get straight to the next test, making her grumpy and unsatisfied.
After she thought for a bit, she summoned another humanoid mannequin. The next moment, the mannequin started changing, and the face of a person appeared, making Darius raise an eyebrow at the sight of the other person.
The man had curly and black short hair, a darker shade of skin, and his body was tall and fit—thinner than Darius but still very athletic. He had no facial hair and appeared to be about the same age or maybe a bit older than Darius. He was wearing the BSA’s uniform in a rather rebellious way, with untied buttons and rolled-up sleeves. Although seemingly rebellious in appearances, his eyes were shinning with a serious and firm glint, not one to fall for distractions and vices.
[This time, and the last test for the day, I will have you fight against the best mage of the Blue Spark, Joshua Bluestone. For a whole year, he has been continuously trained inside the VR in the Southern City’s VR training grounds. Here you have Joshua, who continued to grow and level up throughout a full year, becoming the strongest mage of our forces.]
"To put a human against the strongest mage isn’t really a wise choice, Lola."
Lily couldn’t agree to this match-up, but Darius didn’t say anything as he just gazed at Joshua right in the eyes.
To think I would see this bastard for the first time in this life in a VR test… I’m rather curious about his full power right now.
Joshua Bluestone is also known to be the strongest mage in all worlds except for Amanda’s, the Gunslinger, where Ian was the strongest mage.
He was part of the main scenario of the story as a very important character that helped the four main heroes, Ian, Icarus, Amanda, and Rosy, adapt and train their powers once they set foot in the Southern City for the first time. Long story short, he’s basically their nanny until they finish their job there and move to the next city, the eastern one, to continue their adventures.
He’s the one to take care of the heroes for the first part together with Bella Hart, a mage focused on support but one that’s more focused on managing the city together with the commander; the military part is left to Joshua to deal with.
In the game, his combat abilities weren’t that well showcased, but after seeing him fight firsthand, Darius remembered cursing at the game’s creator for not adding his crazy skills to the story. Although he got killed by a [Prince] under his command when the great war started, it was a fact that even normal Spirit Wielders had a hard time against him. The fact that a human was fighting against such a superhuman made one wonder what was in Lola’s head… With the exception of Darius.
The best mage or not, he’s still something I’ve trained my whole life to kill. So let’s see the fruits of my training.
A sinister grin appeared on his dark face as he raised his guard and lowered his stance, his blood boiling.
He’s like a killing machine.
Lily saw Darius’ data and observed how suddenly his brainwaves, his blood pressure, the level of his radiation, and other diagrams that showed his physical, mental, and emotional traits suddenly spiked in intensity. It was known that normally such things couldn’t simply be activated on command, while even the greatest fighters and most trained martial masters still had a hard time completely controlling these traits so accurately. Just like a switch, Darius’ senses and instincts were almost peaking, entering The Zone and ready to give it his all in a life-or-death situation.
[Since there are no complaints, start.]
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Lola gave out the command, and Joshua instantly detected Darius.
-BZZT!-
In a blue flash, his body disappeared and reappeared right behind him. At the same time as Joshua disappeared, Darius ducked and dodged the hand that slashed horizontally right above his head, slightly burning the tips of his hair with the edge of his lightning-imbued palm.
"Fuuh~"
Darius’ sharp hearing heard Joshua’s breathing, and as he turned to strike him with the back of his fist, Joshua disappeared again.
"Hup!"
He inhaled deep.
Since his enemy was moving faster than his eyes could see, Darius gave up focusing on his sight other than pin-pointing where the enemy reappeared and focused more on his hearing.
This is bothersome.
Being able to tell Joshua’s way of moving from the wind pressure as well, Darius decided to make his own shirt disappear, remaining topless while trying to focus all his senses on the enemy in front.
[Just what is he doing…]
"I don’t know, but I don’t mind~."
Lola’s voice resounded rather apathetic from the drone, while Lily smirked amusedly, not hating what she was seeing in the slightest.
Of course, from an outsider’s point of view, his action of taking his shirt off was rather questionable, but he had no reason to pay anyone any mind except for the enemy in front, using all he could to his advantage.
Failing to take him out after using his best skill, Joshua became more wary and reached out his finger, a blue spark appearing on the tip of his finger.
"!!!"
Seeing the finger pointing at him, Darius’ instincts started screaming as his chest also felt slight static currents. He quickly moved away from the finger’s point.
-BZZT!-
Barely able to move away, a red-burnt horizontal line appeared on Darius’ chest and shoulder, showing the trajectory of the lightning bullet that just barely grazed him.
"Fuck."
Seeing another flash in the corner of his eye and feeling the hair on his neck stand up, he quickly dashed away from where he was a while back, and just as he did that, Joshua’s kick completely shattered the ground and sent rocks flying in all directions, scratching Darius’ arms all over as he tried to protect his body and head.
Still here, still here, still here, disappeared.
Even though he got injured and didn’t even regain his footing yet, Darius’ focus continued to remain on Joshua, as if Joshua were his main body and not his own, as if trying to get inside his head and understand where he would appear again.
-BZZT!-
Once again, Darius dodged the slash to his neck, this time with a thin but long cut appearing along his neck.
"I see."
"?!"
A large grin appeared on Darius’ face, his unfocused, slightly purplish eyes appearing especially eerie to Joshua. Although he overpowered him greatly and already inflicted some injuries, he couldn’t help feeling like he was simply dancing in the palm of his enemy, unable to deal a fatal enough blow to actually feel like he had the upper hand.
Fear was instilled in the doll. Lily, what’s Darius’ level of radiation?]
"If 100% it’s the level of a healthy human with strong emotions, then Darius’ it’s about double of that."
[A mage’s level of radiation is about three times that of a normal human. Too strong for a human, but too weak for a mage—just what is he? A new type of variant?]
"Too weak for a mage? Maybe his data doesn’t meet those standards, but his complete control over himself truly makes up for pretty much everything he lacks."
[Another type of monster…]
Lola and Lily commented to the side while looking over the firsthand data that was updated per second, leaving them only more confused the more they observed the battle.
Back to the battle, Darius already understood Joshua’s ability as his fighting spirit soared even higher than before, placing a weird pressure on his enemy, who now distanced himself from him.
I see…! He first chooses the spot to appear, then he activates his lightning like a skill to send him there at a speed similar to teleportation. Then all I need to do is read his next move and…
Focusing on Joshua’s facial expressions, gaze, and breathing, Darius slightly breathed out a hot breath of air, his body already turning red from the accelerated pulse.
"!!!"
He saw Joshua’s eyes focus right behind him after he inhaled strongly once again. Not waiting for Joshua to disappear, Darius reached out behind him, and the moment Joshua disappeared in a flash again, his hand was able to grab onto something, his eyes following right after to see himself grabbing onto Joshua’s collar. A sinister smile was visible on Darius’ face, making Joshua feel another chill down his spine.
"Gotcha."
Out of fear, Joshua quickly disappeared again and reappeared 5 meters behind his former position, his shirt now ripped as the pieces remained in Darius’ claw-like grip.
I see now… Good. I will use you to train my senses and reflexes even better, Joshua.
"Let’s dance."
Darius’ stance relaxed while he held his guard high, focusing solely on his senses.
Feeling danger, Joshua chose to keep his distance while shooting lightning bolts from the tip of his finger, while Darius dogged with minimal movement. Although bruises, some deeper cuts, and burnt marks continued to appear all over his body, Darius felt no danger as all he had to do was not be in front of Joshua’s finger while stepping closer and closer to him.
Bullets are slow in comparison to this guy’s lightning bolts, so once I get to perfectly dodge his shots, a gun-bullet should become a breeze.
After about 30 seconds of dodging that felt like half an hour to Darius, he finally appeared close enough to be able to kick Joshua in the head. And feeling the danger, Joshua stopped his firing, and with swift moves, he started slashing at Darius with the blade of his hand after forming a plasma blade that reached out another palm above his fingers.
-BZZT BZZT!-
Each slash threatened to cut Darius in two, but although very quick, Joshua’s moves were very large and visible, giving Darius the chance to dodge and even block by stopping Joshua’s unprotected wrists.
I’m starting to get tired. I must end this now.
Feeling his gaze starting to blur, Darius decided to go into the offense, blocking another slash from Joshua and reaching out for a punch.
-BZZT!-
Joshua disappeared again, and Darius simply stepped back with his elbow forward, striking Joshua in the plexus while he also penetrated Darius’ other shoulder with the tip of his blade.
"Hup!"
Darius wanted to grab Joshua again, but he quickly inhaled again. Knowing where he'd reappear, Darius kicked a stone from the ground forward, and right when Joshua reappeared 5 meters behind, he quickly covered his head to block the stone. That fraction of a second made Joshua unable to exhale and gave Darius enough time to dash forward. In two large and quick steps, Darius was already in front of Joshua, who barely exhaled and wanted to inhale again, only to have his neck gripped tightly, bloodlust visible in Darius’ eyes.
"Go sleep."
He pushed Joshua into the ground, and with all his power, he slammed his head right into the ground, cracking the concrete and stunning Joshua for a good second. This was enough time for Darius to get up and go for a brutal finisher by smashing his head with his knee.
"!!!"
However, just as he prepared to end it, Joshua's eyes flashed with lightning and disappeared from where he was in just a flash.
"Well, you're not a mage for nothing."
Right after, Joshua appeared behind him with the tip of his fingers at the back of Darius' head, concluding the duel with Darius' loss.
I can confidently say I did pretty well for a frontal-battle against a mage. However, this guy...
He got up and smirked at Joshua, a sigh escaping his mouth.
"As expected, your killing intent is still too weak."
.
On the other hand, after the duel ended and Joshua's virtual clone disappeared, the two onlookers were left completely silent.
[…]
"…"
Lola and Lily observed Darius' data completely focused while Darius tried to breathe in and out, a strong headache almost making him collapse from tiredness.
As expected, without a dopamine and energy pill, it’s almost impossible to hold that overdrive state for more than a minute. Ugh~ my head…
Already irritated by this headache, he looked at the drone and growled.
"Oy, this is all in VR, right? Don’t you have something that recovers me instantly? Use it already, damn it."
[… Sure.]
A bit after she said that, the migraine that made Darius feel like his head was about to explode was suddenly no more, making him breathe at ease. His injuries also got healed completely, while a shirt was once again covering his top.
"You said that was the last test, yes? I’m free to go, I suppose."
Back with his neutral gaze on, he spoke to the silent drone, and Lily sighed somewhat amused. It was the first time since she had known Lola that she had noticed her acting surprised and out of words. Rather, this was the first time she saw Lola be surprised by something and have her think "That was unexpected".
I told you he might surprise you.
With a smile, Lily remembered Lola’s sneer when she told her that Darius might take her by surprise, only to be answered back with "nothing can surprise me once I have the data." Darius completely refuted this claim, which left a significant mark on her ego for such a haughty person.
Since nobody said anything else, Darius took it as an affirmation to his question and simply exited the VR world, leaving both the girls baffled. Sure enough, if this was truly his first run in VR, then he shouldn't know how to exit on his own, so the fact that he did so was even more confusing.
[… Is he always like this?]
"By like this, you mean doing whatever he wants? Then yes. He doesn’t really take others’ feelings into consideration before acting. Like someone I know."
[Don’t even think of comparing him to me. We’re nothing alike.]
"I said nothing."
Lily shrugged her shoulders with a light chuckle and then decided to prepare to log off as well, already saving all the data she received into the system. However, right before leaving, she still said,
"Also, don’t forget what you promised."
[Whatever do you mean by that?]
"Lola, don’t play with me now."
Lily’s smiling face turned into a frowning one, not liking the way Lola worded it.
Seeing her usually composed friend suddenly get irritated, Lola sighed for a moment, then reassured her while backing off for a moment.
[It’s about not uploading Daniel’s data on the reconnaissance camera application, right? I know, I know. Don’t worry now.]
"… On that application, or on any other that could track his location or recognize him through the city’s video systems by using the data acquired from this session."
Wording it like this, it was Lola’s turn to click her tongue, annoyed.
[I don’t get it. Why are you helping him and have his back like that? Wasn’t he just a business partner to you?]
"I decided to have his back, Lola, because he's a partner of mine who values his own freedom more than his life, but he still agreed to expose himself like this at my request."
[What do you mean by your request? He did it simply because of my data, which you let him copy from your phone. It was blackmail, so don't make him appear so noble-]
"Lola, you promised."
Lily’s red eyes shone with disappointment and contempt, not expecting her best and only friend to actually want to back down from a promise she made to her.
After reading her eyes, even Lola couldn’t simply brush it off and do as she wanted, sighing once and then with a weak voice, saying,
[Fine. I’ll do as you wish. But only because of our friendship… However, the moment that man proves to be more dangerous than expected, I will keep you accountable.]
"Thank you."
With another smile, Lily nodded her head and then logged off as well, leaving Lola alone to review the data and also send her a copy of it.