Chapter 85: Give and Take

“Shifting Waves: Branching Stream.”

Cool energy rushed from Dorian’s soul, imbuing itself within his left arm. He visualized a river that split into two branching streams, flowing evenly on either side.

WHOOSH

The meters long greatsword that the Grakon wielded seemed to expand, growing in scale. The air trembled as it cut down, bearing an unstoppable amount of force, imbued with the Law of Might. The full-powered strike of a King Class fighter.

This sword pierced straight towards Dorian’s head.

Dorian’s left arm blurred as he punched forward, vibrating at a very fast frequency.

The sword and Dorian’s left arm collided.

BOOM

THUD

“Arrrrgh!”

Dorian sailed past the Grakon, crashing through the incredible impact thanks to the power of his Moving Force Ability. His mind shook, however, and the attack from the Grakon physically jarred him, causing the Ability to deactivate.

He just barely managed to maintain the still charging Hyperion Beam Ability by giving it his full focus, his eyes bloodshot.

The Grakon King finished charging forward, smashing its legs into the ground as it forcibly came to a halt. Shards of rock and ice shot up in the air as it stopped its charge. Its greatsword was stained with black blood.

The Grakon cocked its head as it stared at the floor.

Specifically, at an arm that had just been sheared off and was lying still, black blood leaking out of it.

Dorian’s black-skinned left arm.

‘Ow dammit-‘ Dorian mentally cut himself off as he forced what was left of his left arm to stop bleeding, scrambling forward. He blocked out his sense of pain, using a mental trick he’d gained over his memories of long years of martial practice.

No matter how powerful his Mystic Martial Arts, no matter the strength of his Abilities, Dorian could not escape the fact that his Soul Spell Matrix and physical form were only at the Lord Class in terms of strength.

The gap in strength between an Early Lord Class warrior and a Late King Class warrior was immense.

The sheer power difference between Dorian and the King Class Grakon was absolutely not something that could be ignored. Now that the Grakon had grown serious, its every movement and attack was one that could obliterate Dorian without resistance. A simple touch from the powerful beast contained the Law of Might, and therefore an incredible amount of force.

Dorian was well aware of this.

However, to defeat the King Class Grakon, he needed to charge past it, right here, and right now. He was on a strict time limit.

Therefore, he did the only thing he could.

He completely redirected the force of the impact, saving his life, but at the cost of losing his left arm.

‘In the end, an injury like this is nothing.’ He thought as his body hurtled forward, comforting himself. He could technically heal from any injury using his Soul Spell Matrix, without having to rely on healing spells or medicine at all, though the energy point cost was bound to be prohibitive.

“Hup!” Dorian’s body disappeared into the large cloud of steam that had been kicked up in the center of the room by the streaks of green dragonfire he’d thrown just a few moments earlier. Faint sparks of green energy could still be seen, slowly fading in the steam.

The Grakon King paused, staring at the cloud of water vapor and energy with confusion. It jogged forward a few steps, holding its greatsword out cautiously in front of it. Its movements were tentative and testing.

The steam from the melted ice was full of remnant sparks of energy left behind by his Emerald Flames. The remnant energy was only there because Dorian overloaded the attack with energy, and would only last for fifteen or twenty seconds.

But that was more than enough for Dorian.

The Grakon King’s vision allowed it to see the world mired in energy.

If Dorian’s guess was right… that meant a cloud of steam like this, full of rampant energy, would make him invisible.

‘Charge…charge…’ Dorian mentally whispered as he looked at his right hand. At the charging orb of rippling black energy.

His still-charging Hyperion Beam

“GRRRR!” A loud guttural roar rang out as the Grakon King stepped closer and closer, its movements calm and collected. It began to move forward at a faster pace. It held its greatsword out in front of it, a weapon that was starting to expand in size, growing to be 10 meters long.

A few seconds passed. The Grakon King had yet to reach the steam and appeared to be waiting for it to die down, instead of rushing in carelessly.

WHOOSH

Dorian felt his arm shiver. The orb of power in his hand had grown and expanded, becoming roughly the size of a basketball.

–

Dorian – Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Early)

Health: Injured

Energy: 6,133/69,027 (Condensed)

–

He peeked at his status, nodding his head grimly. He could feel the exhaustion, and lack of energy, within him. The injuries he’d taken were brutal, and far above what any normal creature could reasonably be expected to survive.

‘Alright.’ He thought, his eyes twitching back to the orb of power for a moment before looking out across the steam, at the charging Grakon. His Demonic Eyes gave him an enhanced vision, letting him see through the dense steam as if it didn’t exist.

‘Action.’

“Emerald Flames!”

Dorian spewed out three balls of emerald fire, scattering them up, a meter or two above the steam. Instantly, most of the steam that was high up in the air dissipated, leaving only the bottom portions remaining. The leftover energy from his Ability shivered and fell, causing the steam near his feet to become even denser.

The Grakon spotted Dorian immediately, and let out a yell, its body blurring as it charged at him. Its heavy, powerful Aura surrounded it, causing it to crack the golden floor as it ran.

Dorian watched its movements calmly, his right hand shaking slightly. Maintaining the charged Hyperion Beam attack was slowly starting to become more and more difficult.

THUD

THUD

The Grakon charged forward fearlessly, its feet smashing down on the ground.

When it was just a couple dozen meters away, however, the undead King seemed to trip slightly, as if realizing something. Immediately, it forcibly slammed its sword down, cracking the ground as it jerked to a halt. A small, two meter long gouge was cut in the golden floor as it slid to a stop. A small explosion of wind blasted out at the impact, scattering the remaining portions of steam.

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Revealing the glowing Red Portal that stood between Dorian and the Grakon King.

‘Too late.’ Dorian thought, his eyes narrowing on the scaled minotaur,

‘I knew you’d figure it out.’

“HYPERION BEAM!”

The ball of concentrated power blasted forward, cutting through the air in a split second. The energy in this beam of light was hypercondensed, and contained an incredible amount of force. Dorian’s body flew backward as he launched it, the most powerful attack he had ever sent out. He didn’t even bother trying to stand still and bear the backlash.

As he was flying back, he activated his Moving Force Ability.

His beam attack moved with an incredible amount of speed.

Despite that, despite the surprise nature of the technique and the near instantaneous attack speed, the Grakon King was still a powerful, King Class beast. A legendary fighter that, while now undead and weakened, had at least some of the experience and wisdom it had gained in its living life. Aristodemus the Coward, a Great Grakon General.

In the moment before the attack launched, the Grakon King managed to predict it and moved to dodge it. In the split second before the Hyperion Beam would land, the fallen General made the determination that letting the attack hit it would be far too dangerous.

It couldn’t kill the Grakon King. But in the fighter’s current injured state, a blow like this would worsen already dire injuries, and it was possible the humanoid in front of it could manage to defeat it, or worse, escape and besmirch what was left of its honor.

In that instant, the Grakon King stepped to the side, dodging the attack completely.

An oddity arose, however.

Dorian’s Hyperion Beam wasn’t aimed at the chest, or the neck, or even the head of the Grakon King.

It was aimed at the right hand of the fallen Great General.

Specifically, the hand that was holding on to the Grakon King’s sword.

A sword that was firmly planted in the ground.

Unable to move the heavy blade out of the ground in such a short period, the Grakon King was forced to let go of it for a brief moment as it dodged to the right.

Dorian’s eyes flashed as he saw this, his smile widening.

“Got you.”

“Basic Magnetic Manipulation!”

“PULL!”

THUNK

A heavy, steel javelin shot forward and slammed into the back of the Grakon King. One Dorian had casually left on the ground earlier, before he charged forward.

“Hup!” Dorian yelled out loud as he physically blasted backwards with as much force as possible. His Moving Force Ability made his momentum far more potent, combining with the backlash from his Hyperion Beam.

As the steel javelin collided with the back of the Grakon King, Dorian felt his insides seem to twist. He kept ‘Pulling,’ drawing fully upon his Ability.

The power from his Moving Force Ability and the momentum of the steel javelin seemed to combine. Dorian’s body twisted and instantly came to a halt, his remaining arm trembling with strain as he stopped, the impact transferring over to the steel javelin as it hit the Grakon King.

His Basic Magnetic Manipulation Ability allowed Dorian to do two things. He could ‘Push’ magnetic objects and he could ‘Pull’ them. How much he could ‘Push’ or ‘Pull’ depended on how much energy he had, but also his own physical state.

Just like on earth, in the 30,000 Worlds, all energy in a system must be conserved.

When Dorian ‘Pushed’ the steel javelins back on the bridge, he was knocked back a step each time, due to him redirecting the force of the impact.

Likewise, if Dorian was to ‘Pull’ one of these javelins, while moving backwards at a very fast speed… his own physical force would transfer over.

And that force was just enough to hurl the Grakon King forward, catching it completely by surprise.

“GRRR!” The Grakon King spun around, its arms flailing as it sailed through the air. It reached out for its blade, its hand stretching for it.

The sword flew towards the Grakon King, exploding from the golden ground as it broke free and started to expand.

Unfortunately for the Grakon King, it was too late. The second it needed to make the blade fly over had cost it.

The powerful momentum carried it into the Red Portal.

“GRRRRrrrrrrrr.” The guttural roar of the Grakon King was cut off as it fell into the Red Portal, its body beginning to vanish. It flailed its arms ineffectually in anger, its sword flying off to land next to the portal.

Dorian’s eyes flashed darkly as he saw this. His soul trembled as he focused on the portal, his chest heaving.

“Flicker.”

His mind grew hazy as he put his every inch of willpower into a single command.

The glowing light of the Red Portal seemed to swirl for a brief moment.

Dorian felt his head grew light as the last remaining bits of energy in him vanished. His soul trembled.

Fate twisted.

The body of the Grakon King vanished, transported away.

But just as the right arm of the Grakon King was falling through the Red Portal, the glowing pool of energy… flickered.

Temporarily deactivating for just a brief second.

WHOOSH

THUD

A quiet echo rang out as the arm of the Grakon King flew off, crashing down onto the ground near its sword.

A quiet moment passed as the tension and violence of the moment faded, the bits of remaining steam casually fading away. A sense of calm gradually began to appear.

Dorian stared at the severed arm of the Grakon King, and then looked at his own arm.

“An arm for an arm, my friend.” Dorian smiled, a small trail of blood leaking from his lips.

WHOOSH

The Red Portal reactivated. As it did so, however, chaotic bursts of energy rang out, setting the air astir. The portal itself seemed to have become even more destabilized.

‘Danger! This stronghold has become extremely unstable! I am detecting extremely dangerous levels of energy fluctuations! It is estimated that this underground fortress will detonate in approximately 84 seconds.’

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