Chapter 18: Die With Your Name
Yunku moved like a shadow given life, his speed increasing with every heartbeat until the air itself seemed to tear around him. The archer became a blur of motion, feet barely touching the marble as he circled the stage in a deadly spiral.
I stomped my foot once.
Waves of echo pulses exploded outward from the point of impact, rippling across the entire arena in perfect concentric circles. Every heartbeat, every footfall, every shift of aura became crystal clear in my inner sight.
Yunku pulled his bow in mid-stride, three metal arrows nocked at once. With a burst of pure speed he leaped skyward, body twisting like a storm wind. The arrows left the string with a thunderous crack, streaking down from above like falling stars.
From my position I felt the three projectiles descending, sharp, lethal, singing with killing intent. I spun once, twice, the cane whipping through the air as I dodged each arrow by the narrowest margin, the wind of their passage slicing across my scarf.
Before I could regain balance, Zion was upon me.
The giant dropped from above like a falling mountain, his massive axe raised high, muscles bulging with overwhelming strength talent. The blade descended with enough force to split the stage itself.
"I can't evade it," I realized in that frozen instant.
"Die with that useless name of yours!" Zion roared, voice booming across the arena.
Without thinking I slammed my palm forward.
"Echo Palm!"
A heavy pulse of violet-black waves erupted from my hand, slamming into the descending axe and slowing its deadly descent by a fraction of a second. Yet Zion's strength talent was overwhelming, raw, unstoppable power that crushed my resistance like paper. I managed only to push the blade away from my vitals.
The axe still found flesh.
In one savage slash it sheared through my right and left fingers, then left wrist, then shoulder in a clean, horrifying arc. Blood sprayed across the marble in a crimson arc.
I did not scream.
Instead I activated one of my foot techniques, gathering explosive energy into my soles before releasing it like a bursting spring at the midpoint of the step.
"Echo Step!"
The force hurled me backward across the stage, evading the follow-up arrows that Yunku had already loosed from the sky. I landed in a controlled slide, blood dripping from the ragged stump where my left arm had been.
Immediately I felt Yunku and Zion engage each other in fierce combat.
Yunku spun his bow like a deadly blade, trying to slit Zion's throat open in a whirlwind of strikes. Zion's defense was on another level, his shield and body tanking every blow with earth-shaking resilience, axe swinging in wide, crushing arcs that forced Yunku to dance away.
"I see… I can't fight these two while holding back," I realized, voice calm despite the pain.
During my berserk state my body had adapted. I could now use two talents at the same time.
I activated my regeneration talent and my main talent, Call of the Abyss, together.
My missing fingers from my right finger regrew first, bones knitting, flesh bubbling outward. Then the shoulder, then the entire arm reformed in a grotesque display of rapid growth. I fell to my knees, hugging my body as white-hot agony coursed through every nerve.
"Ha… haa… haaa…"
I laughed, low, broken, rising, as I pushed myself back to my feet. Muscles and skin still knitted together, the new arm flexing with fresh power.
"How does this one possess a regeneration talent?" voices rose from the crowd in horror.
"Did you see how fast his flesh grew back? It must be an S-grade talent!" some whispered in disbelief.
The sight dragged me back to a dark memory, the very first talent I had devoured in the pit: the girl who had tried to eat me. How her flesh had regrown even from shattered bones.
I faced, Yunku and Zion.
My face cold now, the gentle smile completely gone. Only the abyss remained.
I activated my main talent.
Plunging my hand into my own chest. The flesh parted willingly. My fingers sank deep, then I pulled.
A small arm emerged first, pale, clawed, twitching with life. Laughter, high, mischievous, and utterly demonic, echoed from inside my ribcage. A small head followed, crowned with two short red horns. Mischievous crimson eyes blinked open, a wide grin full of sharp teeth splitting its face. I dragged the rest of its pot-bellied, short-statured body free. It looked like a devil in miniature, an abyssal goblin born from the darkness itself.
"Dual talent holder!" someone in the crowd screamed.
"And for that matter summoning talent!" others whispered frantically, trying to guess the species of the creature that had just crawled out of my chest. They had never seen anything like it.
"Seeing geniuses like this gladdens my demon heart," Vabun murmured to himself, eyes gleaming.
"I have to get my hands on those three… especially him."
By his side, Dabara smiled with quiet excitement, arms folded, gaze fixed only on me.
"That boy Zion, his talent as a tank is superb," the vice-principal of Twilight Academy spoke, eyes shining like drawn swords. "He will make a great shield for our great country Fortsterling."
Alvin stared at me and Yunku, presence now commanding total authority.
"I must take that devil child back to the Royalist faction," he thought. "I am ready to use every resource if it gives me the advantage." Yet each academy head had their own goals and motives burning behind their eyes.
Still holding the little abyssal goblin, I flung it straight toward Yunku.
The archer's eyes widened in shock.
"When did he?!"
Yunku immediately turned his full attention to the creature, jumping several steps back as he loosed a volley of arrows at it.
The goblin gave chase, dodging the deadly projectiles with unnatural agility. It leaped, twisting in mid-air as I sent waves of Echo Pulse beneath its feet for extra momentum. Yunku spun, using his right elbow to block the incoming strike.
Yet the moment of contact sent a pulse of dark energy straight through his organs.
"Blugh!"
Yunku coughed up a mouthful of blood, staggering.
"What was that force…?" he gasped, regaining his footing. He now held two arrows like daggers. "is this the feeling I have been looking for?"yunku questioned himself.
"This wavey feeling in my head, the feeling of death!"
A large, demonic smile split his face, wild, excited, unafraid.
Aura flared violently from his body, black and crackling, as he prepared to go all out.