Luca DR
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Edge of apocalypse 44
🕑 Added 2023-05-29 14:48:46 +0000 UTC“Cool thing, that system you have.” A voice echoed from afar. “I wonder if I can extract it from you the same way I stole all the memories from your mother’s head before I left her to die.”
Albert’s heartbeat was like a drum. The tunnel, already small and humid, shrunk around him.
“I’m going to be unstoppable with it, you know? No, of course you wouldn’t know. You’re just a silly little boy playing with things you don’t understand.”
The voice was getting closer, along with the footsteps and the splashes of water that followed.
“I’m going to take it, and use it better than you ever could. Perhaps you won’t even die in the process, who knows? I’ll make you into my personal butler if you survive, how about that?”
The system had not, as his mother said, coughed up a quest. The system had not done anything to help Albert sort this whole mess out. Nothing. Nada. Zero. And now he was standing in a sewer, knees deep in literal rivers of shit, about to face off against the most powerful opponent he had ever seen. One ruthless enough to have killed in cold blood both his mother and his grandfather in their home not five minutes ago.
The sole thought made Albert’s knees go weak, triggering the activation of [Mental Fortress] without the actual psion it was supposed to protect him from even having attacked yet.
“You know why I killed her?”
Albert turned around to face towards the voice that was suddenly behind him. He hadn’t even seen PsyOps move and now he was standing a solid ten meters away? How was it possible?
“You must think I’m a ruthless monster. That I want to kill people just for the fun of it.”
There it was again! PsyOps teleported! Albert checked his mana reserves and activated [Perception]. There was a faint hint of space mana that did not taste like the mana that came from PsyOps himself.
“I am a monster, of course. Which I guess is the reason your mother did all those things to me. Because, you see, I was a monster but I was also terribly useful.”
The next time he teleported Albert finally saw what was going on, thanks to a brief activation of [Bullet Time]. There was another person blinking in and out of existence in brief flurries of masterfully controlled space mana. Feeling a hard coldness to his mind, uncharacteristic of him but granted to him by the system’s skills, Albert studied the way this mysterious person teleported.
“Useful enough to consider the risk acceptable. Doesn’t this make her the monster? It doesn’t matter much now, I guess, does it?”
“What are you talking about?” Albert asked, trying to buy time. “My mother is a wonderful person.”
“Was. She’s dead now.”
Albert felt a surge of heat come from inside his ribcage. He fought back tears.
“She was not a monster!”
The psion shrugged. “Let’s agree to disagree, shall we?”
That was time enough. Something clicked in Albert’s mind as soon as PsyOps teleported again with the help of the mysterious stranger. The mental attacks began, but this time Albert instead of feeling completely paralyzed, felt the opposite. He had cracked it. It was time to end this charade.
[Skill proficiency increased.]
[Teleportation II] -> [Teleportation III]
- Short-range teleportation under 5 meters will not require the use of the Map
This time it was Albert’s turn to disappear. Watching the world go by in slow motion, he burned through all of his mana in order to blink in and out of existence all around the psion, peppering him with fireballs. But it wasn’t easy, because while he used his own attacks, the psion never stopped attacking him in turn. The mental attacks didn’t need line of sight, it seemed, and they never ceased, grinding down whatever defenses his skill granted him.
Albert kept teleporting. After the fifth jump he was feeling lightheaded, and could barely tell whether his fireballs were hitting the target or not. He kept absorbing mana from his crystals whenever he needed to, but sometimes the slippery shards of congealed magic slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground. PsyOps appeared as a haze in his vision in the low light of the tunnel.
He too moved around, flying and sometimes teleporting. The attacks continued, and when Albert emerged from yet another teleportation, bleeding from his nose and swaying on his feet, he saw his protective shield shimmer and fizzle out. His ring had just saved him from something, his mind told him. He tried to teleport out again, this time moving away from the action, but his legs trembled and his knees gave out.
His head was about to burst. He circulated mana as fast as he could, trying to regain clarity. Images of his mother flashed before his eyes. But he knew they weren’t real. She was not there, was she? It was all a trick.
The next fireball did not hit its mark. He could never hit his mother with it. Instead, he was taken over with the desire to run towards her and to hug her. She was not dead! She was here with him!
Shit.
Grasping all the mana crystals he had left, letting a good portion of them slip through his fingers, he flooded his mind with magic to purge the alien interference from his brain.
[Mental Fortress III] -> [Mental Fortress IV]
Clarity returned all at once, the playful and colorful space of the illusion he had been thrown in fading and the world once again turning into a damp and dark tunnel. He could waste no time. Refreshing [Bullet Time], he teleported as close as he could to the psion. He knew he could not teleport inside him to gut him, but he could try to hit him with his increased strength.
It was a mistake. PsyOps grunted and lifted his arm to block the attack, and overpowered the enhanced Albert with apparent ease. He was not even sweating. Then he punched him in the gut and set him flying.
Albert spat out some blood, letting the metallic taste fill his mouth. A wave of nausea hit him, and he didn’t know if it was another mental attack or if it was the pain. Perhaps the blood, or loss of it. Something.
The battle was not going well. But Albert was not done.
PsyOps was used to being the most powerful person in any given room. He was used to winning fights with a wave of his hands. He was not ready to fight against someone who could resist his mental attacks and had means to counteract his telekinesis. He was not ready, then, when Albert once again teleported right next to him and instead of attacking him, did something unexpected. Having moved to protect himself, PsyOps had left himself completely open to robbery.
And he was robbed of the very thing he had that did not belong to him.
A thing that could turn the tides of the fight for good.
That’s where Albert was truly superior. On being able to think, and being willing to execute truly creative and reckless plans. Plans that broke, bent or otherwise ignored all rules that were thought to be ironclad, going beyond what’s possible.
Clutching the Hazegem, Albert locked eyes with the man. He saw PsyOps beginning to form a smile on his face, no doubt thinking that the Hazegem would be useless while on cooldown. Surely it was the most sensible thing to think. But it was not like that.
Albert prayed that his gamble would pay. Clutching the gem tight, he flooded it with all the mana he had. Fuck caution. He didn’t care about consequences.
All the mana he had only bought him a few seconds. The gem exploded into shards, digging deep into his flesh.
