There was madness in Kai's charge.
With the sabers almost hidden along his body's length, Kai locked Sparrow's figure with his round eyes. She didn't move. Behind her, Kai could feel the burst of Mana coming out of Cuckoo.
Whatever she was doing, it was refilling her Mana, Kai could tell.
Kai slithered, both his hands lifting, outstretching towards his left. Sparrow didn't even flinch.
One step more, and she would be in Kai's reach. Suddenly, Kai changed his direction. There was such a smoothness to his steps as if he was no creature of legs.
Only reptiles could have achieved such a feat.
Only a serpent could slither.
Under the shocked gaze of the masked woman, Kai jumped towards the mirror wall to his right. As he reached the broken edges, his body whirled like a tornado. The sabers kissed the mirror wall, and the mirror shattered with a boom.
Kiss of the Giant Serpent!
Imaginary mirror shards fell on the ground as he landed. But Kai's brows were pressed tight over his nose.
Behind the broken mirror wall, there was another wall. More mirror shards kept appearing, breaking in a never-ending cycle. He slowly turned around and looked at the woman named Sparrow.
"You done?" Sparrow asked, lifting her chin at him. "You have an Elementary Ability, I can tell. But I have seen many like you, overestimating themselves and then dying like flies. I hope you have learned something from this futile attempt of yours."
"I did," Kai said, pointing his saber at her. "I learned you are an ugly old cunt."
Kai's words failed to rouse Sparrow's fury. But the girl behind her had neither Sparrow's patience nor her wisdom.
"How dare you?" Cuckoo shouted. "How dare you use your filthy tongue for my aunt?"
Kai grinned. But his grin turned into a shocked silence. Cuckoo must have freed her hands, for she was pointing them at Kai now. Then Kai saw the most unreasonable scene. Her hands twisted into two semi-automatic pistols, both barrels aimed at Kai.
She fired.
The foreboding sense made Kai slither to his left, trying to put the masked woman in between him and the girl again.
Even then, he couldn't dodge all the bullets. It was too soon, too fast. One of the bullets just grazed his right thigh. The other lodged itself deep in his left shoulder, making him lose his balance.
Kai wondered how much pain he would have felt if it weren't for the Pain Factor.
He staggered, searching for balance that had become elusive to him. But this staggering had brought him out of Cuckoo's line of sight, too, and the woman, Sparrow, seemed too proud to move out of the way for the girl to have a direct line of fire.
Kai sniggered. What a fucking moron! He thought. She has the advantage of two versus one, and yet, she won't take it. Tch! Well, good for me.
If he couldn't run away, then there was only one way to live.
Kai buried the pain in his useless left shoulder and hacked at the woman. She effortlessly moved sideways, dodging the saber. Kai followed with his left saber, albeit rather slowly. She danced away from that too.
Then Kai smiled. Time after time, he kept hacking at her, and Sparrow kept dodging.
Cuckoo fired whenever she could in short bursts, but Kai never appeared in her line of sight again. Right, left, back, and forward, Kai slithered, hacking like a maniac as if he had no other way left to him.
He couldn't use the Elementary Abilities granted by the Blood Essences without activating his Glitch. But Slither Footsteps and Twin-Saber Style were something he had resurrected with.
Kai panted, and the tips of the sabers kissed the ground. The woman seemed to give him an approving look mixed with disgust. "Such potential," she whispered. "A waste! Stand down, child. Accept the judgment. For… Justice is Balance, Balance is Order."
"Let me try one last time, then…" Kai feigned a tired voice.
He charged, both sabers pointed at the Sparrow.
Just as she was about to move, Kai suddenly slithered back, his feet leaving the ground.
His muscles screeched as if a parachute had swung open behind him while falling freely from an airplane. This was the hardest and fiercest slither step Kai knew, which he had mastered in many deadly battles.
Giant Serpent's Sky Hood!
In mid air, Kai sent the sabers back to the Inventory and took out two Mass-Produced Daggers. They had almost no Damage capability, but they were coated in enough poison to trigger Perception.
Kai threw one dagger at the girl. The other he threw at Sparrow.
The masked woman, for the first time, lifted her hands hastily. But instead of rushing to save the girl, she was still rooted in her place. A glittering golden disc appeared on her left palm. The golden disc had many weird symbols and geometric shapes, and its edges kept giving off tiny sparks. The darkness ran away as the disc glowed all around, reflected by the mirror shards.
She threw the disc in the path of the dagger bound for Cuckoo. The dagger struck the disc and bounced off. The second dagger hit her chest. Yet, even this one couldn't do anything. It seemed the monk garb on her wasn't simple clothing, but armor.
Both dagger fell, the steel rattling as they touched the ground.
"Aunt!" Cuckoo shouted in amazement. "You have mastered the use of Tao Mandals?"
"Only one," the woman replied, smiling. "But one is enough for today."
Kai's attack failed, as expected by Cuckoo. As expected by the masked woman, Sparrow.
Strangely, as expected by Kai himself.
Kai wanted his throws to work, but that wasn't the last attack he had talked about. He knew, or he believed, Contestants from the 4th floor would have over one trump card up their sleeves.
When his feet landed, his hazel eyes had already turned red, surrounded by yellow. Then he took out two things from his Inventory, which made the woman gasp.
No. They weren't sabers.
"How can you have those?!" Sparrow asked incredulously, finally a touch of fear appearing in her voice. "You are a Pokemon Trainer, and a fighter, too?"
Kai drank her fear, his MP and HP Regeneration Rate kicking up.
Then he looked at the Items in his hands.
Those two things were… Pokeballs.
Kai grinned. "Try to block these," he said menacingly, not betraying his true intentions. "I choose you… Ekans! Misdreavus!"
These were the only two Pokemon names he knew. So these two names he shouted as he threw both the Pokeballs towards Cuckoo. The woman, forgetting everything, hurled herself and her disc to save the girl.
The disc hit one Pokeball, and she hit another with her backhand, her back facing Kai all the while.
One moment passed after another, but no Pokemon came out.
The Pokeballs weren't the last attack either, but a diversion.
A cunning diversion!
If Kai had let out a more evil grin before, he couldn't recall. He crouched like a tiger before lunging at his prey. A saber appeared in his right hand, and a bronze visorless spartan helmet on his head.
The moment Kai had regained some of his MP, he had used the Primordial Theater Skill to imbue life in The Herald of Chaos. This was the best thing about the first Act of this tale, Relentless Love. He could let it sleep inside him and then burst out with the buff when the enemy least expected it.
Titan's Buff!
…
Strength +3
Agility +4
Stamina +5
…
Strength exploded. Under the darkness of his helm, his eyes became bloody red, his sclera glowing yellow.
Steam puffed out of his helmet as if he was a fire-breathing monster. This was the thing Kai had been planning for since he had realized he was facing a 4th-floor Contestant.
Kai breathed out, and scalding hot steam came out with it. He pressed his left hand against his chest as if he was punching himself with an uppercut. His right hand, holding the saber, went around the left hand as if he was hugging himself. The saber was so curved behind his back that its point peeked out from behind his right shoulder.
Crrrr!
His toes dug into the earth, the muscles of his thighs exploded, ripping off his pants, and his biceps ballooned up, tearing the cloth over them.
Hundreds of red snaky veins popped over his entire body.
Then pain overwhelmed him.
In Kai's Twin-Saber Style, there was a move which he had only used once in his previous life.
The use of the move itself was forbidden, for it left the user in a state worse than what could only be called suicidal.
Even here, after his resurrection, Kai would think a hundred times before using that move. However, he had recently gained something which could theoretically let him spam it, as long as he was willing to bear the initial hideous shots of pain.
Mana exploded around Kai.
He had planned for this moment for a short time. But what was a few minutes for others, were enough for Kai, given his computing capabilities.
There was a reason he hadn't used Shadow Ball.
The Skill was great, but it also consumed too much Mana. Moreover, Kai needed Titan's Buff to support his fighting style, which would also eat his MP, he knew. It was then he had decided to go with this painful route, because there was a Skill he could use that could lessen the pain without draining his MP empty.
Pain Split!
…
[
Activating Skill Pain Split
Time Limit: 30 Seconds
…
Skill: Pain Split
Grade: E
Specification: A non-damaging Normal-type move
Requirement:
1. Contestant's instantaneous HP < 80% of Max. HP
2. Correspondence >5
Attributes:
1. MP Consumption: 30
2. Accuracy: 100% within 10 meters
3. Accuracy: 0% above 10 meters
Effect:
1. Establish a Mana Connection between the Contestant and the Target
2. Take the average of instantaneous HPs of the Contestant and the Target
3. Assign the new HP as the instantaneous HPs for both Contestant and the Target
Warning:
1. Contestant can gain or lose HP, depending on the Target's instantaneous HP
2. If Target's HP is greater than 100% of Contestant's Max HP, then the Skill is subjected to failure
3. Max. HP will include Buffs, if any
]
…
This Skill wasn't just a Skill.
If Kai's HP was lingering below 10%, or was about to hit 0, then Pain Split was a second lifeline.
Moreover, it was an Instantaneous Trigger Skill. So Kai didn't have to wait to charge it up.
Under the effect of Titan's Buff, Kai's Max. HP now stood at 150 and his instantaneous HP was 90, still falling because of the transformation he was going through, preparing for his final attack.
Still too stunned because of the lack of Pokemon's appearance, Sparrow didn't even get the time to think her next move. She hadn't lost any HP at all, which, including buffs, was 190.
Suddenly, she lost 50 HP as if a ghost had sucked a part of her life. Even if she was a 4th-floor Contestant the combination of surprise and her HP loss was just too much for her to react. The only thing her Perception must have felt was a danger.
A danger, so potent, that there was no avoiding it.
She recalled the disc.
Too late!
Kai felt drunk on the sudden gain of 50 HP. It was like a shot of adrenaline.
Twin-saber style Forbidden Technique…
As Kai's charged at her, ripping air apart, his bloody red eyes became hazel first, and then they became slits.
Blue-tailed Boa Constrictor's Blood Essence kicked in, a snake tattoo materializing on his saber-wielding arm. Snake Instinct coordinated with the Slither Footsteps and his Perception, broadening his vision and letting him pick up all minute changes in his surroundings.
… Serpent God's Wrath!
Boom!!
Kai's figure blurred.
His left hand's bone imploded as he pushed out his right hand with it. Even before the Black-Steel Saber could touch the woman's waist, it was breaking into tiny silver sandy particles.
When Kai reappeared, he was one step ahead of the woman.
The Mirror Dimension vanished.
Behind Kai, Sparrow fell to her knees, clutching her waist. Blood was running down, pooling under her like a red grave.
Kai turned around.
He slashed at empty air, flicking the blood off the blade.
And under the bronze helmet, his slitted pupils glowed murderously gold.
******************
AN: Bonus Chapters:
a. 1 Bonus Chapter for 100 Power Stones per day
b. 2 Bonus Chapters for 150 Power Stones per day