The system chimed, and Kurt's vision flickered with notifications.
[SUB-QUEST COMPLETE: Infiltrate Mansion Undetected]
+5 points awarded
Available Points: 40
[Try not to ruin the potential streak]
Kurt blinked at the last line and said, "Did the system just... sass me?" He knew the level up changed stuff about the system, but if this is how it was going to get each time it leveled up then he'd rather take his chances with the level one version.
Sam, frozen in the corner, stared at him like he was drunk or crazy. "What?" She asked with a worried look that said 'this wasn't the time or place to go crazy.'
"Nothing," Kurt muttered, dismissing the screen. "Just losing my bloody mind."
It was at this point that Baran made his move. His approach was casual, like a testing strike to get a feel of his opponent, as his arm swept in a lazy arc toward Kurt's shoulder that still packed enough power behind it to smash through a wall.
Kurt's body reacted before his brain caught up, shifting his weight and raising his left hand to redirect the incoming strike harmlessly past his body.
In the same motion, he drove his right fist into Baran's chest with an impact that sent Baran skidding backward, his boots scraping against stone, and Kurt grinned.
"Picked up a few tricks from watching Emma," Kurt said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Turns out, she's got a hundred different ways to kill a man."
Baran's expression didn't change even after hearing that. Why should it? He simply adjusted his stance and came again, this time from a different angle, faster and sharper than the last.
Kurt ducked like a boxer, slipping under the strike, using a subduing hand to drive Baran's arm downward and followed up with a sharp chop to his neck that made the man stagger to the right, off-balance.
"That's pretty much all I got from watching her train but it seems to be enough for your scrawny arse," Kurt said with a grin, still bouncing on his feet with his arm raised beneath his face.
Benji who watched with panic now in his eyes, screamed from the corner in that high nasal, shrill voice of his. "I'm not paying you to dilly-dally! Kill him already!"
Kurt's eyes shifted to Benji and back to Baran then straightened, rolling his shoulders and feeling a bit more cocky. "Two-for-two, mate. Feeling pretty good about my odds right now."
Unfortunately for Kurt, his cockiness proved to be the spark that ignited the powder keg of Baran's anger, as a dark and oppressive aura that made the air vibrate, erupted from his form.
With an obvious increase in physicality, Baran withdrew his blade and slashed in a blur of motion that Kurt barely had time to react to, activating Predator in a desperate bid to keep up.
His nails extended into short, curved claws, his blue eyes shifted to slits, pupils narrowing like a cat's and his teeth grew sharper, canines elongating, as his senses were heightened.
But even with Predator active, Kurt barely dodged the attack as the blade whistled past his face, shearing off a few strands of hair, and the system chimed immediately.
[NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE DETECTED]
+2 points awarded
Available Points: 42
Kurt didn't have time to process the system's notification because Baran was already moving again; slashing, cutting, a relentless storm of attacks and Kurt managed to dodge them all.
If getting your clothes and flesh slashed multiple times could be considered dodging.
He weaved left, right, ducked and twisted, but the blade kept coming, nicking his shoulder, slashing through his coat and even carving a shallow line across his ribs.
The system kept chiming, again and again and again, each alert another brush with death.
[NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES: x11]
+22 points awarded
Eleven times, he came close to dying. Eleven times, death came knocking with each strike he barely got out of the way of.
Kurt grunted, blood seeping through his clothes, his breath coming in ragged gasps and it was clear to him that he couldn't keep this up. Not for long at least.
And then Baran seized the barrage of assaults and took a leap backwards with a stance that suggested it was only going to get worse from here on.
He sheathed his blade in one smooth motion and dropped into an iaido stance, one hand on the hilt, body coiled like a spring, ready to draw and strike in a single lethal motion.
Kurt's mind raced. He had maybe one second or less before that blade came out again, so he pulled up his system and dumped points frantically.
[Agility: 24 → 34] (10 points)
[Perception: 23 → 33] (10 points)
[Luck: 13 → 23] (10 points)
[Predator: F → D Rank] (15 points)
[Available Points: 19]
The world sharpened as he updated his stats and he felt his body go lighter with senses drowning in clarity.
Baran's blade flashed in that moment, but Kurt was ready, moving with precision to catch the blade between his teeth. If he'd been a fraction slower, or luck hadn't tipped his way, his head would've been gone.
His Predator-enhanced jaws clamped down as he activated StrengthAura plus Kinetic Absorption simultaneously.
The force of the strike transferred into his body, and he twisted, swinging Baran, blade and all, into a steel support beam embedded in the basement wall.
The impact was brutal. The beam bent, concrete cracked, and sand showered down from the ceiling as Baran's body hit the metal with a sickening crunch, leaving him gasping on the ground.
"Not bad for a bloke with only two decent moves." Kurt spat out blood and grinned.
Benji's eyes were wide with terror as he watched the scene of Baran crashing into a beam unfold. He scrambled backward, his face pale, whispering "No, no, no—" as he retreated.
Seizing the distraction, Sam sprang into action, rushing over to Mary and snatching a hairpin from her pocket.
She worked feverishly on the locks, Mary's muffled sobs growing louder as hope sparked in her tear-filled eyes.
In a desperate attempt to stop her, or just do anything really, Benji turned and lunged at Sam, but she kicked him square in the balls so hard that he collapsed, wheezing, and Sam went back to picking the lock.
"Almost there, Mary," Sam whispered. "Just hold on."
Meanwhile, Kurt gaze locked onto Baran, tracking him as he rose to his feet slowly, and when he cracked his neck, the sound echoed through the basement like a gunshot.
Baran stood before him one moment and in the next he was gone, simply disappearing with no trace, no sound, no presence, nothing.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[ Enemy ability detected:
[Description: Bends light and erases sensory presence]
[Current Perception: Insufficient to counter]
"Bloody hell." Kurt's eyes darted around the room, searching for someone who didn't want to be found.
"AAGH!" Kurt screamed as the blade came from nowhere, stabbing clean through his knee and collapsed forward in a pain that was unbearable, but nothing he couldn't handle.
Another strike, this time from behind, severed the tendons in his ankle and forced Kurt to fall on all fours, his Kinetic Absorption reducing the damage but not enough to stop it as blood pooled beneath him.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[Perception too low to detect enemy]
[Notice: Host's available points will not be enough to raise perception to adequate level]
"Great," Kurt muttered, spitting blood. "Anymore brilliant observations?"
He was about to take another jab at the system that remained silent when Baran's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once, cold and emotionless. "You're stronger than expected. But strength means nothing if you can't see your enemy."
Kurt deactivated Predator and switched to Osteokinesis, dumping his remaining points into it.
[Osteokinesis: F → D Rank: 15 points]
[Available Points: 4]
His bones hardened instantly, becoming dense like steel wrapped in flesh as he activated StrengthAura and Kinetic Absorption and braced himself for the next strike which came from above.
He decided to go for the more direct approach, wagering it all on his newly heightened defense.
And it was a bet which paid off as the blade slammed into his shoulder but failed to go clean through.
In the same motion, Kurt swung a blind uppercut in the direction of the impact and felt his fist connect to something solid.
He felt ribs shatter under his knuckles, and Baran's body rocketed upward, smashing into the ceiling with a heavy impact as dust and debris rained down, and Baran crashed back to the floor, coughing blood.
As Kurt tried to stand, his legs gave out, and he collapsed back down. Blood poured from his wounds, and he felt himself slipping slowly and inevitably into the dark.
With a Herculean effort, Baran pushed himself up, wiping blood from his chin as his expression twisted into a psychotic scowl.
"There you are," Kurt said, grinning through the pain.
But Baran didn't respond, he'd said all he needed to. He simply sheathed his blade and raised one hand, commanding a pure, condensed, and deadly light to gather in his palm and solidified into a glowing sword.
Upon witnessing this, Kurt's grin faded. "Shit."