novelraw Chapter 137 138: Battle In ?'s Facility [I]
Chapter 137 138: Battle In ?'s Facility [I]
Hollowblade was an item given to him by HeroGod to be able to cut through mana and sever through the circuits of mages as a whole but during his first time using it which was now, Koya was being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of mana that was coming through those beams.
'Fuck!!' Koya thought as he was pushed backward as well, the body of the sword was heating up as well and that was when Riffi chose to intervene as an invisible shot struck Todd straight in the chest, making the man fly back to the other wall.
The impact was loud enough to crack the white ceiling above the point where he hit.
The sword clattered to the ground after that and the pale black shin of the Hollowblade had turned completely white.
? didn't even look fazed as Todd slammed into the other wall, bending it inward.
"Ah I thought your Familiar was strange since similar to me, she doesn't give off regular mana." ? said. "And another interesting thing… you actually have a sword that can cut apart mana? What an interesting artifact, where did you find it?"
Just then the hole in Koya's shoulder sealed up and he held Hollowblade that was still glowing a bit.
'What the hell is happening to it?'
「Host, the density of the mana that was fired at you was far more than what this C-rank weapon could cut through so it overheated」
? laughed as Riffi glared at him from Koya's shoulder.
"You won't talk? That's fine. Let me tell you more about your opponent since I'm not a bad sport." ? said and Koya looked back at Todd that had his chest completely caved in by Riffi emerging from the crater in the world. "Todd is the strongest mana user you will encounter in this world."
Todd staggered and mana flowed around him, healing the wound on his chest within seconds.
The caved-in section reformed like someone was pressing it back into shape from the inside. There was no scar at all, if it wasn't for the crater, it would be as if Riffi hadn't attacked him at all.
"Perhaps even greater than the White King… Todd has no elemental affinity or even physical magic but he makes that up with sheer mana control." ? said and took a step closer to the tube. "Todd is able to use mana multiplication which makes even his regular attacks with mana 20x stronger than usual."
'He's able to go above that, up to 100x but his body isn't complete.' ? sighed, there had barely been any genetic material remaining of Todd except his brain matter and little parts of his body after all this time so it was pretty hard to rebuild him. 'But that doesn't matter, he's here.'
Koya's blood on the ground was absorbed into the floor, and as long as they made him bleed or even lose an organ, ? would be able to rebuild Todd and maybe the others too.
This was the whole reason he brought Koya down here, he wasn't trying to kill him but harvest more of his blood… even more than Renji could.
"Try to survive hehe~" The man said and then reached for the tube, letting it minimize until it was the size of the baby and ? grabbed it before starting to run away.
"Hey, get back he–" Koya moved to the right as another beam of mana dove at him, he dodged it and it slammed into the white ground, dispelling immediately. "Fuck."
Todd was flying again and after the confirmation, Koya knew that he was out of his league… even one of Hakai's skills would only allow him boost his mana by 5x, and Todd could go all the way to 20x.
"Riffi." Koya said, holding his blade in a stance and Riffi's eyes widened.
"Yes Master."
"I want you to stop Question Mark, make sure to kill him before he gets out of here with that thing." Koya said.
"But Maste–"
"I won't die, have a little faith in your Master after all. I hope you don't mind… I might have to use your ability too." Koya said and Riffi looked at him before licking his face.
"If Master dies then I'll come and kill you again." She said and with that, she hopped off closing the distance between her and the running ? while Koya focused on the man in front of him.
Todd didn't focus on Riffi at all, his focus was straight on Koya and his eyes slowly furrowed as if he was trying to remember something.
Within that short frame of time, Koya had already accessed the System Shop and was looking to buy some skills that would help him.
'Anti-magic will be perfect.' He thought but Anti-magic which would render the guy without any sort of defenses was 1 million Fate Points which was more than he could afford at this time.
"Ed?" Todd tilted his head to the side and a small smile appeared on his face, though Koya didn't know why the man called him Ed.
If it helped him survive this powerhouse then he was fine with it however the man's eyes widened.
The smile lasted exactly one second before it died completely.
"Ed!!!!!" He shouted out loud and his mana blew everywhere, blowing Koya's hair back as if it was wind and temporarily blinding him. "I'll murder you!!!"
The man shot down completely like a rocket, throwing caution to the wind and even knocking ? and Riffi over in the distance as he shot down and grabbed Koya by the neck, shooting toward a wall.
BAM!!!
Todd slammed the young man into the wall making him spit out blood but regardless, Koya had activated Numb now so he didn't notice the damage and instead adjusted Hollowblade stabbing the man in his chest in one go.
「You have bought new skill: Full Body Strike (C-Rank)」
Hollowblade glowed in a red light as he stabbed it upward completely, piercing the man through the chest and making him cough out blood generating a shockwave of his own.
Todd flew backward rolling across the ground with Hollowblade still in his chest as his red blood gushed all around.
His top half separated completely from his lower half at the chest.
The cut was clean but what came out wasn't. His organs hit the white floor in a wet pile, intestines unspooling across the ground, and the two halves of him kept twitching independently like both parts hadn't gotten the message yet.
The blood that spread underneath was dark and thick and there was a lot of it.
Koya slid down to the ground and looked at his wrists, they had completely shattered with that strike as the muscles in his arms were also destroyed but they were being healed by Blessing.
「Skill Name: Full Body Strike (C-Rank)」
「Description: This skill channels the power of every muscle into the chosen contact points of the body, one clean hit would be the hardest single strike the user can physically produce with an exchange of remaining motionless for a minute after use」
That was as much power as his body could physically produce in a single strike, by rupturing his arm muscles, he had managed to at least kill this man.
He also aimed specifically for the heart that kept the flow of mana going through a human's body so there was no way for him to use his mana again.
"Idiot!" ? yelled out with a laugh while dodging an attack from Riffi that caved in the wall. "You've sealed your own fate!"
The upper body began twitching and Koya watched with horror, his body hadn't healed from doing the strike so he was left motionless on the ground.
Todd's right hand pulled out Hollowblade and it landed on the ground glowing white again… From what he could see, the whole thing was overheating meaning that the man supercharged his own blood with mana but that wasn't the most surprising thing.
The upper body and lower body of Todd connected and he began twitching again as the wound regenerated, Koya could finally move and the first thing he did was rush at the man who had begun pulling himself up.
His organs had already disappeared back into his body. The intestines, the blood, all of it pulled back in like it was on a string. In under ten seconds he looked like nothing had happened to him at all.
Even though his legs hurt, he closed the distance between the two of them and kicked the man across the face making him fly back and roll across the ground again but Todd steadied himself on the ground with both knees.
"I'll murder you!"
A bead of sweat dropped down from his face as his hands healed.
'Is this the only thing he can say or what?' Koya stepped on the hilt and Hollowblade went into the air, he grabbed it and got into stance. 'But he's dangerous.'
Todd bent off the ground and shot forward at him again closing the distance between them in an instant, while Koya didn't understand how the mana was helping him fly, he didn't have a choice in the matter.
Domain Sense already picked up on Todd closing the distance and he decided to charge at the man, both men rushed toward each other and at the last moment, instead of colliding, Koya slid under him making Todd blink in confusion as he shot past, having momentarily lost view of Koya, he stopped and that was when Koya kicked him in the back.
His foot connected with the spine and something burned it on contact but the kick landed clean.
The impact knocked Todd back a few meters and Koya could see his foot being burned by the mana but he ignored it and ran over, Todd spun back to face him and his eyes glowed as he shot out beams from his eyes.
Koya angled his sword, earlier when Todd missed the strike, he saw that the ground dispelled the mana at which Todd shot out so once the beams came, he made sure that Hollowblade deflected the beams to the ground and they worked, the beams of mana were properly redirected to the ground and dispelled into nothingness.
Todd watched his own beams hit the floor and while his expression didn't change but he stopped firing.
"Hah!" Koya charged his body full of Fighting Spirit and closed the distance between himself and Todd, another thing he noticed was that Todd lacked any sort of technique… He moved like a brute with no technique at all.
Todd brought his foot down however Koya moved out of the way, dodging the strike and once the foot collided with the ground, a shockwave shot outward and blew his hair but he didn't waste any time, rearing his fist forward and landing a straight punch in Todd's stomach and forcing the man to stagger backward.
"Nothing?" Koya blinked as he looked, the man was moving but he wasn't really being affected.
Koya pulled back as Todd grappled both hands together in an attempt to hug him to death and he looked at his hand.
It was burned. The mana from this man had done that the moment his knuckles made contact… not from the punch landing wrong but just from touching him.
'System, have you analyzed this person? Any weaknesses? Give me a full list.' He thought as he leapt backward once more to avoid a strike from Todd.
「Target has been analyzed completely」
「Name: Derek Todd」
「Ability: Mana Multiplication」
「Current Observable Skills:」
「Mana Beam - Concentrated beams fired from the eyes that can burn through skin and flesh easily.」
「Mana Coat - The user's body constantly radiates pressurized mana and damages anything within proximity」
「Mana Suppression Field - The raw output of the user is so high that weaker mana techniques collapse when he is in the surrounding area, in other words Host, you are unable to use your mana」
「Final Observation: Run away or Die」
'Helpful as always.' Koya thought.
'Fuck!' Koya dodged yet another attack and looked at Riffi who had a vein on her head as she chased around ? with different shots, their own fight was comical compared to his.
? was running, Riffi was shooting, and somehow neither of them was making progress. 'Is there anyway to break past the coat other than using Full Body Strike?!'
He was trying to reduce the amount of damage his body would incur once he deactivated Numb, especially since he had exams to take tomorrow.
「No」
Koya sighed, moving his face to the left… dodging a full power punch from Todd that made the air behind him tremble, he didn't have a choice at all in this matter.
'I can't keep on dodging forever…' He thought while pushing away from Todd, clearing several meters while the man flew after him.
Every dodge cost stamina and Todd wasn't tiring at all.
As he landed on the ground, Todd had already closed the distance and raised both legs up to slam them into the ground but Koya expected that already and used Overdrive which was luckily still working and as Todd smashed both legs into the ground kicking up a shockwave but Koya was nowhere to be found.
The shockwave tore through the space where he had been standing a half second earlier.
Todd turned his head to the right and saw that Koya was already mid-air with his leg aimed at his shoulder glowing in red energy.
It collided and just like before, a monstrous amount of power was unleashed in a singular strike onto the man's shoulder and this time he even enforced it with Fighting Energy, it landed and crushed the man's shoulder however Todd released his mana.
It pushed against Koya's leg and he was stuck mid-air, trying to hit the man while being deflected effortlessly.
His leg ruptured on its own and the next instant, Todd took hold of the flesh and bones that remained grabbing it tight.
The grip alone crushed what was left of the knee joint. Koya heard it before he felt it.
"Murder!"
He slammed Koya into the ground face-first and blood burst out as his jaw broke and even several of his teeth came out, Todd lifted him up again and slammed him in the other direction.
"You!
The second slam hit harder than the first and the floor cracked under the impact as Koya's vision went white for a full second.
"Master!" Riffi blasted him with void however for Todd, the same thing wouldn't work twice as he simply expelled mana out in a shockwave, containing the attack.
Koya blinked, his eyes were blurry and one of his arms had bent awkwardly but the one holding onto Hollowblade was working while Blessing was healing as much as it could.
Todd spun him before throwing him backward and Koya blinked.
The ceiling was above him… at some point he had hit the floor and bounced.
'I-If I was much higher in rank then I would be able to defeat him.' He thought, he was a Four-liner fighting against someone who was much higher in power than him.
Of course he wouldn't win… He also didn't want Riffi to use her Mini Domain yet, Todd was like Yvelion, it's not like they could kill him since he would just come back.
Using it now would burn Riffi's best card for nothing.
'I need more power…'
Todd's eyes were glowing now and Koya really felt like he would die.
'Rank-ups come when someone is in a traumatizing situation right?' Koya thought while holding Hollowblade. 'Where's my plot armor?'
He had been slammed into floors, had his jaw broken, lost teeth, had his leg ruptured and was being held up by one working arm. If this wasn't traumatizing enough then he didn't know what qualified.
The beams shot outward and he angled the sword as much as he could with one hand, deflecting the two beams while being pushed backward in the air.
"Master!" Riffi let out and her voice sounded oddly closer, wasn't she supposed to be chasing down ?
'If I can maintain this…' Koya thought. 'Then I should be able to buy myself more time.'
His broken hand healed and he held it up, blocking against the strike with much more power now. Koya's leg was healing and his teeth were growing back too…
「Naturally Host, it's not like he'll be able to fire a beam out of anywhere els–」
Todd angled his palm and shot out a beam of mana from there too, shooting toward his chest. Koya blinked.
'You were saying?'
「New skill registered for Derek Todd」
Just as the beam was about to hit, Several red pods came down from the air around Derek and he stopped attacking to look at the pods curiously… Koya landed on the ground and Riffi arrived at his side.
"Master!"
"I'm okay… I'm okay." Koya said, he most definitely wasn't okay but he glanced at Todd… Those pods, they were very familiar. 'Isn't that…?'
Todd picked one up and immediately the pods opened and tendrils made of blood dove into his body all around, completely immobilizing him with one going through his brain too.
Todd froze mid-reach. Every tendril had found something… his joints, spine, and even the base of his skull. He couldn't move a single part of himself.
"You… you brute." A bat appeared in front of Koya and in a puff, Tori appeared wearing a black combat suit.
Her pale beautiful face and red eyes were something Koya didn't know he needed to see at a time like this, her silver hair was also blowing in this place despite there being no wind as she folded her hands. "Are you trying to turn me into a widow?!"
The Princess of Vampires, Amagi Victoria had made her entrance.