Chapter 302 – Opening Ceremony [9]
Inside her mind, Keisha whispered to Shakei,
’Give me some of your power, Shakei!’ She thought hastily, ’Just a bit, I can’t handle much without you taking over my body!’
’First, that’s not your body. That’s OUR damned body!’ Shakei hissed, ’and you are me, and I am you! When will you accept that? Look! Your father accepted his Alter-Ego, and he’s more powerful than any Tier One could imagine! He is the Fog! You could bee—!’
’Enough! Enough!’ Keisha shouted inwardly as Natalia grabbed her collar and yanked her away from Joykiller’s attack. The ground beneath them caved in, splinters of rock flying.
Keisha gritted her teeth, growing genuinely angry, ’If I lose, I’ll never speak to you again! Never! Cassius would be disappointed!’
’Fuck Cassius!’
’Don’t curse at Cass!’
’Tsk. Stupid girl. This weak, bony girl should be nothing for us. But fine, take it,’ Shakei said, deeply annoyed, granting her some of her power, or rather, their power, ’3%. That’s all you can handle without me taking over.’
Instantly, Keisha felt her essence grow denser and purer. Slowly, its nature shifted from neutral essence into pure, unfettered frost essence.
The temperature around her dropped, cooling so sharply that Natalia let go of her immediately.
Keisha stood on the ground, mist curling and twisting along the length of her body.
Natalia noticed the change and studied her friend’s face, sighing in relief at the sight of Keisha’s still-innocent, still-pure eyes.
"You’re still you." She said, standing beside Keisha.
"Yes." Keisha nodded, mist curling from her mouth, "But my body can’t hold this power for long. I’m sorry, Naty. Can we end this fast?"
Natalia nodded, her eyes slowly losing all emotion, beginning to reflect the world around them like perfect mirrors.
"Shall we, then?" She said, smiling at Joykiller advancing toward them, two enormous black bone daggers in hand, "If we lose, Klaus will never let us hear the end of it."
Keisha giggled, "Then let’s not."
She leapt forward, shooting toward Joykiller on a burst of ice beneath her feet.
Reaching her, a rapier of frost and mist materialized in her hand. She swung it in a sweeping arc at Joykiller, the motion freezing the air in its path.
The second-year blocked with one black weapon, then countered with the other, aiming straight for Keisha’s stomach.
But a single pulse of essence turned the ground beneath into frost so smooth and slick that Joykiller’s balance faltered, throwing off her strike.
Her attack missed Keisha by a few centimeters, but just then, a small mirror opened in front of it, swallowing both weapon and arm.
Joykiller’s eyes, visible behind her bony, beastly mask, widened, but Keisha gave her no time to react, kicking her legs out from under her with full force, sending her toppling backward.
Before her back hit the ground, a mirror appeared beneath her, and the weapon and arm reemerged, piercing straight through her bone armor.
The armor cracked under the force of its own returning weapon, black poisonous blood seeping deep into Joykiller’s flesh.
Her eyes went wide, black veins spreading beneath her pale skin. The fourth ranker began growling, thrashing to strike back, but Keisha clapped her hands, summoning a cloak of mist that enveloped all three of them.
Giving Joykiller no chance to recover, the two childhood friends attacked relentlessly, Natalia using her Skill to let Keisha’s brutal strikes land from every angle through her mirror portals.
Victory felt within reach, and that confidence made them all the more dangerous.
But Joykiller, while Imbued Rank like them, had far more experience, far more time studying her Skill.
Which meant she’d also had time to develop her own Created Technique, born of her deep understanding of the Bone Aspect.
A sudden chill slid down Keisha’s and Natalia’s necks as Joykiller’s voice, laughing yet seething with fury, echoed through the mist:
"Created Technique..."
Natalia’s eyes went wide. She grabbed the necklace around her neck and hurled it upward with all her strength, screaming, "WINDY!!!!"
Then Keisha, face slick with sweat that froze instantly, eyes hollowed with exhaustion, wrapped her arms around Natalia and leapt away from Joykiller.
Too late.
"...Bone Bloom."
It happened instantly.
White bones erupted everywhere across the battlefield like weeds, sharp and endless, piercing the fleeing Natalia and Keisha.
The pain forced them to stop...a grave mistake.
With a loud rattle of bone, Joykiller tore through Keisha’s mist and closed in on them, face bloodied with black veins, her Bone Armor fractured in multiple places, still crumbling.
Her right hand had transformed into a giant skeletal fist. Hundreds of bones condensed and reshaped into an arm so massive that, an inch away from crushing both childhood friends, it felt as though the entire world were bearing down on them.
Keisha’s body strained under power she still couldn’t fully control. And seeing that, Natalia knew she couldn’t hold back any longer.
She finally chose to play her trump card:
"Blessing..."
The giant, bony fist hovered an inch from their faces, Joykiller cackling with mad fury.
"...Mirror’s World."
CRACK—!
Space fractured before them like glass, and all three of them vanished into a shower of falling essence shards, pulled into an entirely different reality.
But the necklace Natalia had thrown skyward was still falling, about to hit the ground.
Before it landed, a sharp gust of wind cut across, snatching it midair.
"Just in time!" Windy chirped with a wide smile. She surveyed the frost-strewn, mirror-shattered, bone-littered battlefield below, nodded, then flew straight toward her master.
"Don’t give up, girls!"
...
BAAM!!
"Damn it!" Klaus cursed as Atomic’s attack sent him hurtling into the sky, clothes catching fire.
He twisted in midair, torso rotating, and summoned his Second Skill, conjuring a bow made of wind.
Aiming at Atomic with perfect precision even in that position, Klaus loosed a condensed wind arrow that whistled straight toward him.
Atomic simply stepped back, dodging the arrow without much effort.
Klaus hit the ground, breathing hard, sweat drenching his face. His body was riddled with wounds, his clothes torn to shreds. He lifted his head, wiped blood from his nose, and narrowed his eyes.
Seconds later, Love appeared beside him, equally sweat-soaked, dust smeared across her face, eyeing her own opponent.
A fat man — truly fat, his clothes straining to contain him, short grey hair, eyes barely visible beneath the layers of flesh on his face.
Yet despite his appearance, Love was struggling badly against him.
"This damn fat bastard." She cursed, massaging her wrist.
"What’s his Aspect?" Klaus asked, feeling Windy return to his side, nodding at him with the necklace in her grip before vanishing again.
"Weight, or something like it." She replied, wiping sweat from around her eyes, "He can increase or decrease his own weight at will. Makes him ridiculously fast sometimes. Watching a man that fat move that quickly is genuinely disgusting."
Klaus’s lips curved into a thin smile as he watched both Atomic and Fat Bastard. Neither spoke, both preparing for another strike.
He turned his head to look at Love. In that same moment, she was already looking back at him.
Without needing a reason, they both smiled.
"You’re already disappointing enough. Don’t make it worse here."
"Stop talking and act. Be a man for once. You’re embarrassing."
No further words were needed. In that instant, they both understood nothing else needed saying.
Klaus grabbed Love’s hand, which began glowing pink. He planted one foot forward and spun, Windy conjuring a whirlwind that sent him spinning over and over, before he hurled Love straight toward Fat Bastard.
Her body became a blur of pink, moving so fast a shockwave trailed behind her.
Klaus himself kicked off and dashed toward Atomic, his body pressing into a straight line of green wind.
He reached Atomic in seconds, right as Love reached Fat Bastard, who’d already increased his weight defensively.
Atomic grinned wildly, grabbing his saber, slick with his own sweat, and swung it down at Klaus.
Before the strike even reached him, the sweat coating the blade’s edge began bubbling like boiling water, heating the steel until it glowed crimson, the air hissing around it.
But at that exact moment, Klaus’s and Love’s palms flashed with pink runes, and the two of them swapped places.
Love found herself directly in Atomic’s searing attack path. She flashed a bloodthirsty grin as his eyes widened in surprise. Her speed and perception surged, boosted by the runes etched into her skin.
She ducked left, dodging the strike, then countered with a backhanded slap across Atomic’s left cheek with everything she had.
A resounding crack echoed out.
Atomic staggered, ready to explode in fury over the disrespect, only for the words to die in his throat.
On his cheek sat a rune glowing with a dangerous crimson hue. A rune that stripped Atomic of both his sight and hearing for exactly thirty seconds.
"W-What?"
At the same time, Klaus closed in on Fat Bastard, fast and fluid. He slipped behind him like wind curling around an obstacle, mounted the man’s massive frame, and pressed both palms against his cheeks.
"Let me show you a new trick, fatty." He said with a grin, then, channeling his spirit essence, wrapped his palms in a strange, illusory wind and siphoned nearly all the air from Fat Bastard’s body.
The big man gasped, eyes finally peeking through the folds of flesh, bulging and red.
His head spun, lungs screaming, his body weakening rapidly as he began to collapse.
Klaus released him, vanishing instantly, Love now taking his place directly behind Fat Bastard.
She delivered the finishing blow, pressing her palm to his back and forcing a violent surge of air into his body, so much that he choked, his lungs fracturing with a loud, booming crack.
Klaus, meanwhile, had reappeared directly in front of Atomic, just as the man’s lips parted hastily.
"Ultimate Skill—!"
"Nuh uh, buddy." Klaus cut him off, pressing his hands over Atomic’s mouth, flooding it with sharp, needle-thin wind that shredded through his insides before erupting into a whirlwind, tearing through his organs and tissue.
Atomic’s body convulsed, blood dripping from his nose, ears, and mouth. A hoarse cry escaped him.
Then Love’s runes finally deactivated, and both Atomic and Fat Bastard collapsed to the ground, bodies twitching like fish out of water, blood pooling beneath them into a crimson carpet.
A dreadful silence settled over the battlefield, so still even the wind seemed to hush.
Love and Klaus looked at each other, then, with matching bloodthirsty smirks, their bodies blurred, racing off to help Omm.
—End of Chapter 302—
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