Published at 20th of September 2024 7:23 am

Chapter 174: Duel

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At the West Sector…

“They called out Ares?!” A booming voice echoed through the large chambers in what seemed like an underground temple, filled to the brim with candles long melted, merging into the ground in a pile of wax that still had wicks burning.

Aiden shuddered instinctively as he nodded towards a robed man while on his knees, his skin chaffed and ripped with wounds.

The robed man placed the bronze chalice he held in his hand down on the top of an altar, behind which lay the beating heart of what Aiden could only call a monstrosity. He had never seen anything like it, almost as though it was a biological abomination, spawn out of hate and sins. A unsettling low whimper was slowly emitted from the ‘thing’, like a ghastly melodic tone.

“So you were right about the Seven Snakes.”

“Yes, Sir Preta.” Aiden bowed with his head low to the floor, complete respect given to the leader of the Violet Demons.

“Then it seems your punishment was unfair. If even Sebastian had to mobilize Ares to fight against Kyle, it would not make sense for you to be able to hold onto the Culdao Peaks Town.” Preta spoke calmly as he turned to face Aiden, walking slowly. “Do you know what this place is?”

“I… I do not, sir.” Aiden decided not to lie. It was never good to lie to Preta.

“The name Violet Demons is not just a moniker. Others may see it that way, but our origins are far deeper and greater, more than you can possibly imagine. Not many members of the Violet Demons could lay their eyes on such a marvel, a miracle.” Preta motioned with his hand towards the pulsating monstrosity behind him. For a brief moment, Aiden swore he could see the marks of a screaming face in the mesh of flesh.

“The human body is weak,” Preta continued on, walking around Aiden while preaching. “It is extreme folly for ordinary people to believe they are the masters of this world, when we have yet to conquer the skies nor even the Great Waves. We rely on technology – arctech, in the hopes that it would elevate us to greater heights far beyond our pathetic capabilities.”

Is he referring to mages? Aiden thought in his head, looking up at Preta’s hidden face only to see what he could only describe as a demon’s face, nearly causing him to scream out of terror.

“Good, if you had screamed, I might have reconsidered.” Preta grinned, baring his fangs widely. “Instead of burdening ourselves with the restraints of metal and stone, we seek to fly free with our own bodies. It is our foundation, our bearing that we must improve first before we are able to ascend as literal gods. And if remaining human limits us, then there is no reason to remain one.”

Aiden gulped instinctively, staring at the chalice that had a purplish liquid within, clearly extracted from the monstrosity.

“You lost to Kyle because of strength. And instead of running from your mistakes, you faced them head-on and returned to me.” Preta praised. “Not many humans can make such a choice, putting you far above them. Today, you shall become one of the true members of the Violet Demons.”

The chalice poured over him, an immediate stinging sensation covering him entirely as the viscous purplish liquid was instead a throng of tiny worms, squirming and wriggling. They bit into Aiden’s pores, forcing him to grit his teeth in endurance as the pain wrecked havoc in his body, the worms massing all over his body.

Preta motioned with his hand towards the entrance of the chapel, prompting two guards to enter. “Make sure the transformation is complete and not a single worm is wasted.”

“Yes, sir. Bezul is waiting for you above.”

“Understood.” Preta walked up the underground spiral staircase, his face morphing back into a palpable human visage before exiting into the office, where his chief of staff was waiting for him already, tapping her clipboard in her well-manicured nails impatiently.

“Do you really have to go through that wish-wash everytime we induct someone new?” Bezel groaned, obviously frustrated.

“It helps in the transformation.”

“Maybe, but right now we’re still fighting a war. Without our main troops fighting, it’s going to be hard to adhere to the defence contract we’ve signed with the Ardent Cretins. Our defensive line around Raktor is flailing terribly.”

“Cancel the contract.” Preta waved his hands dismissively.

Bezul narrowed her eyes at Preta, who had turned into a handsome man with long sliver hair, his features immaculate. “Sebastian won’t be happy if he survives.”

“Kyle is out for blood, and he won’t stop until Sebastian dies. If Ares had to be called out, it means the Seven Snakes are far too weak now. Redirect all our forces to begin capturing the Cretins’ outer lying resource deposits, before the Veiled Angels grab it first.”

Bezul didn’t argue any longer, nodding her head as she began to relay orders through a radio. Despite the alliance of the major gangs, anyone who showed enough weakness would be ravaged immediately by the others, a form of consolidation. The first movers would be the one to get the bulk of the loot.

“Pull out all troops from the defensive line – let Sebastian enjoy his last death throes. And once the Cretins have been wiped out by the Snakes, the Snakes will be far too weak to mount any sort of resistance. At that point, the South Sector will be ours.”

[Sir, the Violet Demons are retreating!]

Kyle tried to reply, but he had no time as another deadly punch slammed into him, blocked only by his wavering arms holding the Spear of Defiance. Ares grinned as he quickly followed up with yet another punch, this time sending Kyle skidding backwards.

The battle still raged all around them, but both sides left Ares and Kyle to their own duel, neither wanting to get in the way of the two destructive superpowers. Kyle’s helmet had already been fractured, his head nearly crushed in an iron grip from Ares.

Kyle eyed his opponent warily while circling, spitting out a glob of blood as he suffered from internal bleeding, continuously healing himself with the Necklace of Healing.

The adrenaline pumping through his ears and heart overwhelmed his senses, his vision locked onto the half-giant Ares, who seemed hardly flustered, only smiling at Kyle.

“That all you got?” Ares taunted, motioning for Kyle to attack, but Kyle didn’t fall for the trick, analysing his opponent carefully. That level of physical strength is impossible without genetic modification – he seems like a hybrid variant of a human.

Attuning his eyes to arcia, he could see that Ares’s physical strength was buoyed by arcia energy, explaining the increased explosive movements and energy.

“If you don’t come to me, then I’ll come to you!” Ares grinned as he lunged, his feet blasting apart the surrounding debris in mini-craters while his body flew towards Kyle faster than Kyle could anticipate.

Impulse! Kyle’s exosuit thrust to the side, allowing him to side-step and throw a jab of the spear, intent on imploding Ares’s body. Ares spun on one foot, dodging the spear hit before attempting to grapple Kyle, who leapt backwards again to avoid once more.

The exchanges so far have been part and parcel for the duel that has been going on for more than fifteen minutes now, both sides unwilling to show off all their hidden abilities. Kyle kept his skills close to his heart, not willing to use them unless absolutely necessary. I need to find a sure-kill combo that can take down Ares in one hit.

Kyle considered using the negation field, but this meant that he would have to be within five meters of Ares for it to take effect. He was unsure of what the effects would be on Ares’s body, but any misuse of the Negation Field meant that he would have to wait for a long cooldown.

Ares launched another attack, pressuring Kyle as Kyle’s mind raced, trying to come up with the perfect combo to take him down. Four crystals left in the Spear of Defiance. Six-tenths charge left in the Advanced Arcia Crystals. Passable.

Kyle countered with a spear jab as always, with Ares anticipating it and dodging. However, the sudden thrust on the side of the spear engraving jerked it sideways, skewing the trajectory and allowing the spearhead to pierce right towards Ares’s body. Got you!

However, just before the spear was about to touch Ares’s skin, the spear suddenly stopped, blocked by some invisible forcefield.

Kyle’s eyes widened for an instant, before he channeled his arcia energy into his exosuit to give him as much thrusting force as possible. Penchant for Violence!

The two of them skidded in the same direction as though they were connected, Kyle still unable to break through the forcefield.

Does he have a similar skill to This is My Turf?

“Don’t be too surprised. A champion of my stature always have a trick or two up their sleeves.” Ares smirked before his hand reached out to grab hold of the spear.

Shit! Before Ares could grip on, Kyle quickly channeled a single basic arcia crystal worth of energy to the tip, creating the implosion effect in midair and forcing the two of them back away from each other. He quickly checked the damage to the spear, noticing that the surface had been eroded violently, as though it had been weathered for nearly a hundred years. The weakened surface showed signs of crack, threatening to break the spear in half.

That doesn’t make sense – Ares did not touch the Spear yet. Kyle racked his brain, trying to figure out what was Ares’s unique ability. His eyes darted around even as Ares chased after him, the two of them dancing and clashing over the battlefield. Kyle did not spot any Galactic Era devices on Ares, nor did he see any arctech weaponry.

Does this mean he is a system user as well? Kyle barged into a derelict building, with Ares quickly following in. With a violent spin, Kyle turned and attempted to stab Ares once more, this time using the same bending trick to catch Ares off guard.

However, before he could even cast the impulse engraving, Ares’s hand had already grabbed a hold of the Spear, his hand completely touching the spear. Kyle watched with his own eyes as the spear’s shaft warped and twisted with an ear-splitting creaking sound, the entire Spear of Defiance broken into half.

Instead of using the spearhead, Ares tossed it to one side, continuing to keep within melee range of Kyle as they fought hand to hand, Kyle still wielding what was left of the Spear of Defiance. “Come on, show me what you got!” Ares roared, before delivering a flurry of punches, forcing Kyle to parry and block every hit.

His exosuit vambraces rattled violently with each strike, the armour already becoming fragile from each hit in a similar fashion to the spear. A decay ability? The Necklace of Healing could not keep up with the damage being inflicted, Kyle pushed to his limits as his body fought harder and harder, the exosuit’s Advanced Arcia Crystals’ energy beginning to seep into his body.

Infuse! Kyle instinctively channelled arcia energy into his muscles and bones, strengthening and hardening them, allowing him to fight on par. Ares finally became much more serious as he felt his own fist go numb when hitting Kyle’s body head-on, no longer in a playful taunting mood.

Kyle’s vision expanded once again, reminding him of the time he fought against the elder from the cult of Nona, but this time he could see the flow of arcia energy much more clearly, while the ambient arcia energy dwelled in the air all around them like a dense fog, some being clearly absorbed into Ares’s skin. Just like Mari.

An epiphany appeared out of the blue in Kyle’s head, as he could feel his senses and affinity with arcia reach a new height.

Every single bead of arcia energy was now apparent to him, a part of reality just as much as the beads of sweat clogged in his pores that stuck to his inner clothing, as he threw another arcia-infused punch, this time hitting harder than ever, even activating the impulse engraving on his elbows to give him more thrusting force.

Just like the spear, his armoured fist stopped right before touching Ares’s skin, unable to proceed any further, though Kyle could tell that Ares was struggling a bit more to fend off the fist. I have a chance!

Kyle did not wait about, immediately pulling back and delivering an arcia-infused kick to Ares. But this time, his leg could not even move; his exosuit suddenly locked into place though his exposed head could still move freely. Another magnetic pull?

Kyle looked around for a similar device but saw none, assuming that it was in the ground. However, with no spears left, he could not do anything about it anyway, though he noticed the arcia energy surrounding his exosuit was condensing, forming something akin to a human hand grabbing onto him.

Ares’s eyes were flaring with energy, grinning widely as Kyle’s exosuit was picked up and flung wildly, smashing between multiple walls and rooms before coming to a halt. The violent impact dealt significant damage to Kyle’s internal organs, causing him to gag as he laid in a pile of rubble, his exosuit on the verge of falling apart. His mind could not understand what had just happened, but he could only liken Ares’s ability to one thing as Ares’s half-giant body floated towards where Kyle had fallen.

This guy has telekinesis!

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