Alan weaved in and out, using [Dark Step] with each movement of his breath, each beat of his heart. The world was a smudge passing by as he constantly shifted his position. It was a dangerous and quite sinister game of lack-a-mole that left his mind strained from the constant shifts of perspective.
The insectoid’s buffed movements were a thing to behold. Alan had to admit there was beauty in the four hands moving so seamlessly. This was swordsmanship. Even Zirida, as he had watched her fight, hadn’t moved as beautifully as the disgusting creature before him.
However, learning anything from observing the alien was impossible in the short term. Alan had half a mind to try and imprison the thing and use it as a sparring partner, but that would create a whole other host of problems. If there was some sort of a hive-mind scheme going on then things were much more serious than he had assumed and Rust had been right to freak out. Not right to do all he had done, but the freaking out part—nailed.
Plus, Alan was currently focused on running for his life more than anything else.
The longer the fight went the more Alan thought the dead one had been a lucky kill, as it had used whatever this buff was only after Alan had hit it with [Severing Mana]. And even in the throes of death, it had tried to fight back. Cut apart, but unwilling to fall and fail.
There was nothing flashy about the skills of the insectoids, nor did they use any ranged attacks. Simple mastery of the sword aided by a simple buff and a spatial movement skill.
It was ridiculous he was in so much trouble!
Alan tried to create distance once again, but whatever that buff did it boosted the movement skill as well, allowing the alien to move faster, to follow closer, and to cover distances as large as the limits of [Dark Step]. It was better in all aspects, rather than a simple increase of strength.
[Shadow Creation] was barely keeping up as it was, and most other skills were useless. [Spirit Devour] was hitting a strange wall of unshakable will, while [Consuming Dark] was easily dodged. Shadow slashes did little to no damage to it either.
Alan had tried to place a curse mark during one of the closer brush-ups against his enemy, but that too had been rejected. It seemed that short of using [Chains of the Dark Servants] and then [Severing Mana] again, there were no other options. However, that cursed light weakened his shadows… There was no choice.
Alan cursed under his breath as he summoned the dark silhouettes, infusing them with a bit of vitality. Their chains shot out, trying to latch unto the thing, but the light around it suddenly grew brighter and Alan felt a presence. A familiar and cursed presence. It was a weak imitation of what he had encountered through using [Will of the Dead] but it was unmistakable… The trapped spark of consciousness inside of him resonated through its shadowy prison.
So that’s how it is… whatever I encountered is helping or controlling this thing. Fuck my luck.
The chains simply melted before latching on and no matter how the servants tried, they couldn’t bind their target. That led to a sad development that made Alan want to pull his hair out. It was getting quite long anyway.
The servants simply stood there, wasting mana and life force. Their ability was limited to holding on to Alan’s chosen target and apart from that they were no servants at all. Just some not-real guys with ropes.
This is ridiculous. If he couldn’t bind the thing landing [Severing Mana] would be out of the question. It was a skill that took time and precision. Had he truly killed one of them just because of luck? The notion made him sick. After so many improvements and epiphanies. After so much growth.
No.
Alan knew he was strong.
His will and shadows burst out of him and the whispers only grew stronger still. They seemed to react to his unleashed presence, and to the danger it brought to the world. There was nothing else but the bleak grayscape around Alan, and the golden enemy before him. He was not even paying as much attention to the insectoid itself, as much as to the spark of will driving it forward.
Could it be a takeover? Was he fighting some sort of a leader, rather than the thing before him? His eyes widened as he once again dodged the four swords and unleashed a dozen shadow slashes that melted away against the golden glow.
Rust’s cursed skill had been modeled after those bastards! The man had tried to turn himself into something similar to the one controlling them, to the will currently giving him so much trouble. That was sick. Genius and very useful if one had an army, but quite sick. And all it had resulted in was the strange mutations.
Alan was resolved to have a long talk with the guy, but for now, he had to win. It was not like he didn’t have ideas, but trying them out was risky, and the chase he was currently the target of couldn’t last forever.
Either the buff would run out first, or it would grow stronger and Alan would become unable to keep up. He was reaching his limit when it came to speed, which was a shame. It hurt his pride, but it was better to realize his strange situation didn’t make him invincible.
Another narrow dodge and one of the swords clipped his chest, leaving a bloody scar through the shirt. Instantly the invading force returned, but Alan’s whole body was a furnace burning dark mana that consumed the unwelcome guest. It was becoming more difficult to run too. The golden light burned the shadows he left to act as anchors, removing options from the field of play, and making him predictable.
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He couldn’t rely on [Dark Step] without having shadows to move to. It had a delay similar to [Void Step] that wouldn’t be enough against this enemy.
There was one thing he had been meaning to try… [Sacrificial Attack] had been quite clear before, but its new variant of the same rarity… It did mention attacks, but the flavor text often alluded to possibilities.
Pilfered Life Ignition (Epic)
Why forfeit your vitality, when you can steal and ignite that of another? Consume their essence, and turn it into energy to supplement every one of your acts. Use the life force of others as a source of destruction.
This skill only works by being fueled with the life of another.
Burn the stolen vitality and strengthen your attacks.
Alan grinned. At worst, he would have to flee to the Spirit Domain he had set up. He hoped that was an option since he hadn’t tried to open the passage on his own. There were not many other things left, considering his strongest skills were losing out against the evergrowing strength of the invading presence.
He could see cracks and tears forming in the golden carapace from the strain, but whether it would last longer than him or not was a gamble he wanted to make. What would happen next, however, was just his sort of gamble.
With a painful grin, Alan pulled at a large part of the vitality stored inside of him. It was just a force that had no use to his mana body, but once he ‘ignited’ it inside himself and directed it to supplement his constantly running [Internal Mana Boost], the world exploded and so did his movements.
Heat unlike any he had ever known burned on the inside of him. A raging fire that was as gentle as it was hot. It felt almost like he was dying, and yet… part of him enjoyed it. His speed, his strength, and his thoughts instantly grew and changed.
A sword came from him and Alan’s hand brushed along the flat side, pushing it away with no issue before using [Dark Step] yet again. His whole body was bleeding dark mana tainted with burning red and oddly dark gold lifeforce. It twinkled like stars in the night… much like a recent vision he had seen.
Stealing life like some sort of a vampire, and then burning it was hardly a good deed though. It couldn’t be the ‘positive’ side of his powers. The sensations were growing more intense by the minute, and while [Internal Mana Boost] had been strengthened, it was not enough to fight back.
Burning even more of the stored vitality, Alan urged [Shadow Creation] to unleash its full potential. Shadows spread around him, tens of tendrils constantly growing and trying to fight the light of day. The insectoid didn’t pause even momentarily as the darkness suddenly started burning with red stars and shot out. It was a torrent of attacks slamming into the enlarged body.
Not shadow blades or anything of the sort. Just solid darkness, burning with the light of stolen life.
Alan felt the strike almost as if it had been his own hand that had done it. His control over the shadows had grown immensely. He laughed as he moved, finally on the offensive. His supply was diminishing fast, the speed at which Vitality was going too high for his comfort. Constantly burning it and boosting two skills, none of which were strictly in the attack category, was too much.
He couldn’t keep this up, but it was effective. His shadows lunged at the briefest of thoughts and the light’s deterrence seemed to have grown many times weaker. It was good! Great even! He unleashed his pent-up frustration and allowed the shadows to take bites and stab at his enemy. The armor was hard but it started to crumble under the joint efforts of his will and the burning darkness that was his mana.
Take this you son of a ladybug. I’ll show you what I’m made of—
The light exploded and the presence intensified, battling against Alan’s boosted [Shadow Creation]. The cracks on the carapace grew large and a few of the eyes of the alien before him popped from the pressure. It was a disgusting sight but the strengthened presence was all Alan could focus on.
He screamed as he coated himself in darkness and burning life force and struck, his hands moving like a conductor guiding an orchestra. His instruments were the darkness pouring out into the world around him. There was no grace nor any sort of martial art behind it. Just overwhelming power, raging will, and the desire to fuck shit up.
The insectoid was soon just an exoskeleton as its flesh had melted too, but with its last strength it exploded once again, and Alan felt the blades sink in his flesh. His burning body moved almost instinctively, and the mana inside him, strengthened by the sacrificed lifeforce was quick to extinguish even the traces of the overwhelming presence that tried to sneak in.
Whoever it was, they didn’t know who they were dealing with.
The light suddenly expanded, forming a massive being similar in look to the insectoid before him, yet vastly different. Too many eyes to count. Six arms. A golden armor covering a massive humanoid body, and a crown. It or she as her features were quite clearly female, sat on a lavish throne.
The latter pissed off the whispers in Alan’s ears, but he couldn’t much care about their foolishness as the swords exploded inside his body at the same time as his shadows finally broke through and consumed whatever remained of his enemy’s used-up body.
The System messages came again, but Alan fell to the ground unable to even stop himself. He didn’t know how much time passed as his mana frantically tried to patch up the holes in his body. The burning vitality would’ve assisted the process, but it was all gone now, and Alan didn’t have the strength to drain more from the ‘Immortal’.
“Master! Master!” he heard Mayra scream.
I’m here. All fine and dandy.
She knelt next to him and her scrolls unfurled but Alan managed to place a hand on her knee and turn over.
“Healing… doesn’t… work… on me.”
Mayra bit her lip and started to lift him up. In other situations moving someone as hurt would’ve been dumb, but this was no normal situation. Alan was acutely aware of the breeze he felt passing through his body as she easily propped him up into a sitting position. A foreboding sense of danger made him force himself to look around.
Those from the Sanctuary were looking at them and the curled-up figure of Rust on the grass a bit further.
“I think they want to use the opportunity to end you both. And me, of course. They’re talking. I left a [Listening Orb] up there…”
It would be strange if they didn’t.
“Need… a minu—” air left through the holes in Alan’s chest and he briefly lost the ability to speak, so he simply waved toward Rust. He wanted him to come where they were going.
Alan grimaced, then, with the last vestiges of strength he had left, did the only thing that would bring him safety.
And afterward, he would be sure to act as a conqueror would.