Chapter 66: Chapter 66 : A Reminder (Part 3)

[[Fusio-]]

[[No.]]

Ralf promptly refused his other self’s suggestion.

[[…]]

Sensing Rei’s silent criticism, Ralf followed up with, [[It’s not needed, I can handle this myself.]]

Ralf’s decision wasn’t him letting his pride get the better of him. The process of fusing took just under a tenth of a second to complete, and in this time, they were essentially frozen in place. A blink of an eye was a brief window, but with how this battle had gone, he was sure his opponent would choose this time to attack.

The second reason had to do with the tactic he was currently employing. It was a tactic that he could never perform in the Mental Space: pain-induced Psi scrambling.

The idea passed through his head as he was getting cut into. When he noticed Morris ceasing his attacks, Ralf decided to go for it, playing it up to the best of his ability.

Now, with his back against the tree, head hung low and face partially shadowed by his falling bangs, he clenched his jaw, clawed at the dirt, released grunts, and squirmed as though fighting off waves of pain assaulting his brain.

Most importantly, he had his Psi behave erratically, making it appear no different than a frenzied amoeba. It exploded out and then just as quickly, spurted out of existence. He did this repeatedly for emphasis, all for the purposes of playing his part.

And so far, it had worked swimmingly. The approaching Morris had seemingly dropped his guard.

Fusing would ruin this tactic. Silver’s entrance was too grand. The White Asura Inheritance had given this body the ability to release strong electromagnetic signals.

The mental signal emitted depended on who was occupying the body. Ralf’s mental signal gave off a warm feeling, whereas Rei’s gave off a cold feeling. Silver, the combination of these two, was akin to a violent tornado. Should he arrive - or descend as he called it - Morris would immediately put up his guard and the current plan would dissolve into thin air.

For these reasons…and his pride, Ralf refused.

[[Trust me.]]

Ralf said but didn’t stop there. He telepathically shared his status and a recent memory detailing his current plan with Rei.

[[I see, good. Then, claim victory.]] Information relayed, the worry in Rei’s heart greatly subsided.

[[Will do.]]

A strong determination coloured Ralf’s response. Following it, the entirety of his focus once again gathered on his foe.

Morris, known in his mind as Donald, was a most formidable foe. His Psi talent, martial skill, Psi control, and techniques were all high level. More importantly, these things were seamlessly coordinated to produce the staggering results they did. It was clear to Ralf from their brief exchange that his opponent had a ton of combat experience under his belt.

Still, while his assessment of the other was high, Ralf was confident in besting Morris.

Thanks to Morris’ decision to halt his attack, and subsequent decision to slowly stride over to him, Ralf was given enough time to recover. The headaches and dizziness had been pushed away, and his mind was clear, ready to begin and win round 2.

But as confident as he was, Ralf wouldn’t purposely worsen his odds. His current tactic had the greatest chances of success in his mind, and until it collapsed, he wouldn’t abandon it.

‘Keep walking…’

Ralf chanted silently as he watched Morris’ approach.

As he took in the other, Morris did the same. The middle-aged man’s thoughts focused on the nearing youth.

‘This kid is something else, it’s actually absurd. He wasn’t lying. Those techniques, his Psi control, Psi talent, even his body…my mallet should have knocked him out. He mentioned his surname was Fawkes, could he be…I wouldn’t be surprised. Ha, to think I’d add a Bloodline of Fire descendant to my collection. Today’s a good day.’

Morris’ eyes honed in on the Psi bursts his opponent was releasing, ‘Hmm, as impressive he is, in the end, he’s just like the others. One scratch and they turn useless.’

Disdain passed through Morris’ heart at the sight. He had battled hundreds of people, and the vast majority of them had their combat prowess plummet after receiving even a bit of damage. From there, defeating them would be a cakewalk.

‘Should have trained more, kid. Though I suppose with his skill and speed, he might have believed that he could avoid every hit... how foolish,’ he shook his head.

Moving away from these observations, Morris moved to much more enjoyable observations.

‘Aaah, marvellous.’

Taking in Ralf’s scrunched-up expression, painted thick with anger and frustration, caused a wave of indescribable pleasure and fulfilment to flood into Morris’ being.

This was exactly what he lived for.

Ralf’s acting ability was good, but it didn’t need to be at this moment; he was genuinely indignant at being pushed to this point. This was made worse by the fact that he was Silver not too long ago. The lingering feelings of superiority that came from being his fused self only made his current sorry state that much more unbearable and infuriating to bear.

Morris continued watching these negative emotions dance across the teenager before him.

‘Wailing and crying are good…but this is great too. He entered the Monster Zone with nonchalant thoughts, slaughtered those monsters with ease, and probably thought himself unstoppable. With his talent, he must’ve believed he had a bright future, that he’d be able to accomplish something big. But now, bloodied and battered, these thoughts, still fresh in his mind, are crumbling in real-time…delicious.’

Morris freed himself from his thoughts and focused on Ralf, now eight metres away.

“It’s futile…this is the end of the road kid. Just give up.”

Ralf didn’t stop his Psi emissions as suggested, which caused the savage smile on Morris’ face to widen.

“You did well, I’ll surely remember you. Before I put you out of your misery, a question…are you a descendant of Kai Fawkes?”

Ralf didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he struggled to his feet. His body shuddered the entire way up.

“I…a-ah?!”

In the middle of his declaration, Ralf’s erect posture faltered and he slumped forward as though struck by intense exhaustion.

Morris’ eyes flickered as he observed this. When he captured the pitiful poofs that were released from Ralf’s body, his mind pieced together what he had just seen.

‘He’s out of Psi?’’

Following the thought, Morris chuckled coldly. “Ha ha ha...they say hell has seven layers, but you’ve managed to fall one level deeper.”

“F…all,” Ralf repeated with a hoarse voice. He pushed off against the tree to make himself more presentable and turned Morris’ way.

“I answered…your question. I have…my own.” While saying this, Ralf naturally entered a coiled-up posture. He leaned forward and had his right foot press against the tree, ready to launch off it.

“Oh, what is it,” Morris asked from six metres away, where he stopped in place.

Ralf took a breath, made an adjustment, then voiced his rhetoric question.

“Why?”

Morris smiled. It was an all too familiar question, but he could never get sick of answering it.

“That indignant expression of yours, that exactl- ah!?”

*Boom*

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Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way, causing his footing to go to hell. This abrupt loss of balance momentarily paralyzed his thoughts and actions.

‘Now!’

Swoosh!

Timing everything perfectly, Ralf propelled himself forward at his fastest speed. The technique he used wasn’t Flicker, nor True Flicker, but True Overclocked Hysterical Flicker.

While the first two danced on the line marking his limits, the third knowingly crossed it. His body was forced to endure more force than it could safely handle. Ralf deemed it necessary at this moment. Using this technique, he flashed forward with the speed of a released arrow.

Immediately after this technique’s activation, he had his Psi rush to his right arm to form the Psi Drill. It began spinning rapidly, and holding his arm at a right angle, he aimed it towards Morris’ heart.

But…

Even in his compromised state, Morris managed to rally his Psi to meet Ralf’s attack.

Still…

*Shatter*

It wasn’t enough. The drill tore through the barrier and tunnelled straight through Morris’ body, destroying his heart and chest cavity in the process. Inflicting this damage in passing, Ralf used a parachute to slow down, dismissed it, then turned to take in his opponent’s current circumstance.

Morris wobbled on the brink of total collapse. The flame of life quickly burned up its last remaining fuel. Realising his end was near, a thousand thoughts and emotions seemed to pass through Morris’ gaze.

Pain! Sadness! Regret! Anger! Indignation!…

He wondered if this was what his prey felt like when they met their end. His mind wanted to pursue this line of thought further but Ralf didn’t allow it.

Not wasting any time, he swiftly ended Morris’ life with a Psi bullet. Upon entering, the bullet expanded and blew his head apart, in a most gruesome fashion.

*Thud*

The headless and heartless corpse hit the ground.

At his first kill, not a trace of remorse or regret could be seen on Ralf’s expression, however, bitterness was aplenty. And as he continued looking at Morris’ remains, this bitterness increased.

‘This won’t be something to put on the highlight reel.’

This casual thought wasn’t to be mistaken. An immense amount of disappointment, shame, and indignation was coursing through his being at this very moment.

Ralf wasn’t beyond using any tactic to achieve his goal, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have preferences. Achieving victory through the method he had, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Feigning Psi disability and striking when Morris’ guard was lowered, was Ralf’s initial plan. But as the sequence of events flashed through his head, an additional element was thought up, to collapse his opponent’s footing and while Morris was destabilised, strike fast and hard.

He had accomplished this by sneakily burrowing into the ground with his drill-tipped Psi rope. Ralf had it move through the dirt, positioning it below Morris and when the time was right, had it expand in an explosive manner, which crumbled the dirt below Morris’s feet.

Usually, such a simple tactic wouldn’t work, and definitely not against a psionic of Morris’ calibre. But the efforts of Ralf and the unique circumstances present had set up the exact conditions for it to work out flawlessly.

Ralf’s frequent flashes of aura functioned to give the illusion that he was incapable of Psi manipulation and to act as a cover for the Psi that was sneakily burrowing into the ground.

Still, Psi Sense was a thing. Even with his Psi Scan retracted, Morris would have sensed the Psi contraption only metres below his feet. This was why Ralf made sure to coat the rope in vanta. This made it hard to detect, but not impossible. In his normal state of mind, Morris wouldn’t miss this. Thankfully for Ralf, he wasn’t.

Morris’s twisted nature had led to his downfall. His focus and indulgence on his ‘prey’s’ crumbling expressions had robbed him of the ability to see through Ralf’s illusion and detect the danger he was in.

And so, death befell him.

[[Good job, Ralf.]]

Rei’s words broke Ralf out from his gloomy daze. [[Ah, thanks. Told you, he was no match.]]

[[Yeah, good thing we didn’t summon Silver for him. If we did, that cocky bastard would give us shit about placing another unworthy opponent in front of him.]]

Ralf smirked. [[True.]]

[[Okay, enough dwindling, we’re dying, get to work.]] Saying this, Rei began transferring sensory data to his other self.

Ralf received it and immediately acted on it. First, he had his telekinesis wash over his entire figure, removing all the dirt and blood until he was back in his ‘pristine’ form.

Observing himself with his Psi Scan, Ralf noted dozens of injuries, both on the surface of his body and internally, with the most concerning one, being the long gash across his abs. Ralf directed his Psi to repair these problematic areas in earnest.

To perform this task smoothly, Rei was transferring the body’s internal model they had saved in the Mental Space. Using this accurate and detailed template, Ralf could make the necessary adjustments. He connected severed blood vessels, tissue and muscles then held them in place with his Psi constructs.

Ralf performed this task swiftly and precisely. Healing via Psi wasn’t new to him, he had done so extensively during duels and virtual space runs - or rather, he was forced to.

At the same time, his White Asura body’s speedy regeneration worked its magic. Not content with this alone, Ralf retrieved a regeneration potion and drained it of its contents.

[[Ralf, feeling anything strange?]]

[[A bit lightheaded, but nothing else.]]

[[I’m worried, check his bag.]]

Ralf took to his other self’s suggestion. The bag floated over. Opening it up, he eyed several items, with a vial containing a purple liquid standing out.

[[This should be it,]] Ralf said as he compared the colour of the liquid and the dim sheen on the knife’s blade.

Poison.

The duo’s thinking wasn’t unique on the subject, Morris coated several of his weapons with a fast-acting poison. When Morris chose to attack with the knife, Ralf’s instantly realised that the attack was poisonous in nature and took measures to counter it.

After getting kicked, he deliberately expelled blood from the slashed area, and then made artificial blocks to prevent blood from that area from reaching his heart, so that even if poisoned, the infected area wouldn’t spread. Taking these actions, Ralf was confident that he was out of danger. And this confidence was bolstered by the fact that his White Asura body also had a degree of poison resistance.

[[Good, knowing which poison it is will help the process. Now, let’s get out of here.]]

[[Yeah.]]

Ralf did a quick sweep of the area and collected Morris’s items and his mission’s requirements. He then hopped onto his Psi Bike, ramped off a hill, boarded his Psi Plane, and streaked towards Ganurg.

Today’s trip to the Monster Zone would act as an important reminder to the duo.

They were still weak, incredibly weak.

The many injuries on their body made this fact painfully clear. Understanding this reality, the duo’s desire to get stronger burned brighter than it ever had before.

The decision to stop the lengthy Mental Space training sessions was instantly reversed in the duo’s minds.

They would get stronger…strong enough to defeat a ‘Morris’ without leaving a single scratch on their body or pride.

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