"Almost," Fate replied. "I have one more body to add to my tally first."
"You forget yourself, Null. You are merely an Avatar." Norman raised his hand in a sweeping gesture, and Fate suddenly found that he couldn't talk. He felt his face with a hand, finding nothing where his mouth should be. Did he ever have a mouth? He couldn't recall any instances where he had or even used one. Maybe it was his imagination?
"Do you see? I can play with your mind as easily as a child plays with his toys. Your entire thought process is mine to command. So, tell me, how do you plan to kill me without arms?"
'I've never even had arms, dumbass. But I can kill you just as easily," Fate thought to himself.
He realized that Norman's lie detection was a by-product of his true ability: controlling people's thoughts. He was probably a Cognition Embodiment. Unlike Nikolas, who fooled the eyes with his illusions, Norman duped the brain. Which was an interesting thought because Fate was certain the scientist hadn't used his powers yet.
'Whatever, let's just kill this guy and be done with it,' he decided.
He sprinted toward Norman, storming through pulses of Divine Reach and barreling into the man. He slammed Norman into the wall, placing one knee on Norman's chest to hold him down as he headbutted the scientist. The man's nose crumpled but didn't break. Fate tried again, undeterred.
On the third strike, Norman's nose crumpled in a gush of blood that splattered over Fate's face and colored one of the few white spots left on his jumpsuit red. Norman groaned as crimson flowed down his face. Fate went to headbutt him again, but…
He flew backward, landing on his back as Norman's Divine Energy rushed over him. As soon as he hit the ground, he raised his legs and sprung forward, jumping into the air and alighting on his feet.
He crouched into a runner's stance, about to charge forward again before his mind went blank. He straightened his posture, staring blankly ahead. His eyes were misty and unfocused as if he were daydreaming.
Norman cackled, wiping his blood on a handkerchief he produced from his lab coat. "There!" he declared spitefully. "You can't kill me if you can't even think!"
He ambled toward the frozen Fate, giving him a once-over with a sneer. Norman was much shorter than Fate was, the latter being about three heads taller than the former. Due to this, Norman was forced to look up as he stared into Fate's eyes, a genuine grin gracing his face as slapped his hands together in front of the Avatar's face.
Fate didn't even flinch. Norman laughed once more, waggling his finger in Fate's face.
"As helpless as a newborn babe," he said, reigning in his chuckles and adopting his usual expression. "I'll let you sit tight while I get a few guards in here to replace the ones you killed. Then it'll be Athena's turn to watch you squirm. But first…" He reared his hand back, swinging it forward with a Cheshire grin as his hand sailed toward Fate's cheek.
His giddiness quickly turned to a frown as Fate caught his hand by the arm, then shock as the Avatar pivoted on his heel, spinning Norman over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground in a judo throw. Fate dropped down, his knee landing on Norman's stomach and driving the air out of the Personification's lungs as he punched the man's neck.
The air exploded out from Norman's mouth as his throat constricted. If it weren't for the body enhancements he gained at the Personification Level, his neck would've collapsed from the strike. As it is, his neck was severely bruised and he could feel it swelling.
Fate stayed where he was, his knee on the man's chest and his fist on Norman's neck as he continued his blank stare. The weight made breathing even more difficult for Norman than it was already with his closing airways.
He attempted to bring oxygen to his brain, every breath out only restricting his lungs more as Fate's knee sunk deeper. To free himself, he pulled a taser out of his coat and jabbed it at Fate, the device crackling with white bolts of electricity. He didn't know how bad of an idea that was.
Fate caught it as effortlessly as he had caught Norman's wrist earlier, his hand wrapping around the scientist's and twisting it so the shocking end was pointed at Norman. Norman fought back valiantly, his Personification Level giving him bodily strength much greater than Fate's own and his Divine Grasp aiding his fight.
Unfortunately for him, Fate had saved up quite a lot of Divine Energy by now, and his own Divine Grasp joined the fray, pushing the taser down and eroding Normand's Divine Reach.
With all of these factors put together, the two would be about equal in strength, as Norman's 860-pound Divine Grasp coupled with a physical strength capable of lifting one thousand pounds thanks to his Level was just over Fate's physical and Divine Grasp strength. But with Norman's body deprived of oxygen, and his vision growing darker and darker, he couldn't muster his full strength.
The stun gun inched closer and closer, advancing so slowly that it seemed to barely move at all, but to Norman, each incremental advancement was another tally mark on the seconds he had left in this world. Even when his throat swelled completely, removing his access to oxygen, he continued to struggle, refusing to lose to a drone that worked only on instinct.
Any attempt he made to rewrite Fate's brain was dashed by the carnivorous Divine Energy that made up Fate's Divine Reach.
Fate's flesh rippled as his bones rearranged and mended themselves underneath his skin, his pain lessening considerably the more Normand unwittingly fed Fate's Manifestation in a last-ditch effort to save himself.
Not that it mattered; Fate was running solely on instinct, the same instincts to fight and protect himself that the Advanced had drilled into his body all those years ago. In the face of self-preservation, pain was an afterthought, not even present in Fate's mind as he drove the taser closer.