Chapter 94: Desperate

SLASH!

Amelia’s blade cut through Cheryl’s back. A bone-deep gash appeared as liters of blood sprayed from it.

The blade had been coated in Ashe, that of a professional assassin. She had been ready to deal a fatal blow.

“Arrrghhhh!” Cheryl screamed, stumbling forward.

Amelia’s energy rampaged in her, damaging her internal organs and spiritual veins.

She planted her foot on the floor, stopping herself from falling. She spun, attempting to localize the threat.

But Amelia was already gone. She reformed five feet away, quietly observing Cheryl.

Cheryl’s breath came ragged. Blood dripped like a fountain from her back, her spine visible.

Things are bad. What to do? she thought, her teeth gritted, her breath shallow.

I cannot win, not like this.

Her vision blurred, but she struggled. Her eyelids could not shut. She had to know their situation.

She threw a glance at Bol. Maybe she would not have to do it if he could manage.

But her heart trembled after looking at them.

…

On the other side of the bounded field, the air was dense. So dense everything else barely appeared.

In those thick fumes of particles, two individuals threw kicks, punches, expelled energy that shattered stone, cracked the asphalt, destroyed everything that stood between.

They had been analyzing each other, seeing how to take advantage of the other.

Gravity versus momentum was not a battle that could be decided in an instant.

Unless one practitioner had overwhelming advantage against the other.

However, at levels that were similar, deciding a victor was harder.

He knew Bol was a difficult matchup for him. Anyone else would have lost by now.

At the start of the fight, as a gravity wielder, he had used the best strategy he could have against someone like Bol.

He had anchored the opponent, using his comprehension to increase the weight around Bol, directly targeting his main weapon: momentum.

How Bol responded went out of his expectations.

Multiple practitioners of the Warrior route with similar sub-routes could fight totally differently.

That was because they achieved different comprehensions.

Based on Inertia Breakers Jorg had met before, he had expected Bol’s reaction to be converting his spiritual energy into pure velocity of intent.

That meant, instead of fighting the pull, Bol was meant to use the pull to accelerate his own movement, turning Jorg’s well into a slingshot.

However, Bol had surprised him.

Instead of that, Bol cancelled his inertia to escape the gravity crater, appearing behind Jorg, striking with his dagger. He had reset his momentum to zero, then accelerated perpendicular.

Inertia cancellation plus inertia re-acceleration. Instead of the slingshot effect.

Jorg had been taken by surprise. He had a tactic against Inertia Breakers who mastered the slingshot effect.

He had faced slingshot users before.

He learned that unpredictable anchor shifts denied them consistent pull. Without that, they could not weaponize his gravity against him.

The fight becomes straightforward: his crushing weight versus their diminished speed. And he always won because his foundation was superior.

But this was different.

His old solution did not apply. Bol was not using the gravity at all.

It is either I adapt or I lose.

He looked at Bol, his single eye scanning Bol up and down.

How should I do this?

That is when they heard Cheryl scream.

Bol’s attention was dragged from Jorg to Cheryl.

Jorg knew Bol had been distracted, but a warrior should never lose attention on the battlefield.

BOOM!

He appeared above Bol. Gravity multiplied to a hundredfold.

Distracted by Cheryl, Bol only noticed Jorg at the last moment.

The time he took to cancel and re-accelerate, Jorg’s fists were on him.

BANG!

Bol’s already shattered body, full of bruises, cracked ribs, and bleeding cuts, dug into the asphalt under Jorg’s crushing punch.

He lay there, unconscious and bleeding.

He had been distracted during a fight against an Adept warrior, and he had paid the consequences.

Jorg stood upright, looking at Bol’s body. He had exerted so much force under a hundredfold gravity. His hand pained him and his reserve of Ashe had reduced.

But he had successfully knocked his opponent out.

He shook his head. Tch! He was not satisfied. He had been looking for enlightenment, something that could make him cross that threshold.

However, Yime had asked them not to stall. Finish as quick as you can, she had said.

Tch! He chipped for a second time, really annoyed.

He had been close. He felt like if he continued the fight against Bol and properly searched for a way to disable his abilities, he would have gotten what he was looking for.

He knew the next step for him was imposing weight on abstract concepts. Ashe! Jorg nodded.

This was the way, but he had no idea how to do it.

He slowly turned to look at where Amelia and Cheryl had battled.

As expected, he saw Cheryl barely standing, blood pouring from her back, looking at him. Her gaze was hazy but dark, and it carried a hint of fury.

He could tell by her expression she was pissed.

Her teeth were gritted, her hands clenched, but he guessed there was no force in them.

He knew Amelia could have killed her, but she had chosen not to. Yime had asked for them to be captured alive.

The reason why, he did not know, but they had to perform the task given.

It did not matter whether she had been knocked out by Amelia or not. She could do nothing against two third grade Adepts in her current state.

Jorg turned his gaze to Bol. Similar to how he had carried Zack York and Makun, he applied his Ashe and lifted Bol, who was unconscious.

“Seems like we are done here.” His gaze turned to Amelia. “Knock her out. Let’s go.”

He slowly started walking in the direction of a bewildered Makun, with Bol floating behind him.

…

Makun had watched the fight.

He had difficulties following it. The speed. The dense particles in the air. The powerful Ashe being used. Even with his spirit eyes active, everything had felt surreal.

But he could not take his gaze from them.

He was learning. Learning how the more you advanced on this ladder, the more it had to do with the concept you understood.

Your comprehension of the sub-route and the route.

The fight of Jorg against Bol was not a fight between two people. No, it was a fight between two concepts. Two powerful comprehensions.

One was gravity, and the second was momentum.

How does chaos play into this? he asked himself.

Only to be distracted by Jorg asking to knock the petite girl out.

Makun sighed in relief. It was finally over. He still bled from his scalp, his body was still torn, but this was over. He was going to rest, then depart from here.

Those were the thoughts he had before sharply turning in the direction of Cheryl.

He had heard something.

giggle! giggle!

He had heard her giggle. But this was not the giggling of a lady who had just won a cash prize. No, it was eerie. It carried with it dark vibrations.

Vibrations flooded with hate, resentment, and bloodthirst.

Makun looked at her face and almost gasped. The look on her face was sinister. Her smile spread from ear to ear, her teeth red from all the blood that had poured from it.

Her gaze had darkened, while her body trembled.

It trembled and kept trembling. It felt like she had entered a trance.

“Hahahaha!” The giggle turned into laughter, an eerie laughter full of malice. “Done here? Who said so?” Cheryl spoke, her voice hoarse.

Makun’s face paled. The energy felt off, as if she was pulling something she should not be pulling.

If he had to describe it, it felt like invoking demons mentioned by different folkloric tales.

As if a ritual was taking place.

He turned his head to look at Jorg, whose expression had changed. There was surprise on his face, and what felt like resolve. Resolve to kill despite Yime’s order.

He looked at Orel. He had planned everything till now. He had known everything till now.

Maybe it was not that bad.

Orel’s face slowed Makun’s heartbeat a tiny bit.

He was calm. He turned to look at Makun, his face expressionless, but the smirk still tugged at the corner of his lips. “She is desperate. She wants us to pay,” Orel said. “But in vain.”

Makun did not know how far Orel had planned, but he did not like what was happening.

Not with him here.

Things could turn sour at every moment.

He redirected his gaze to where Cheryl had been, only to see Amelia on the move.

It seemed she had come to the same conclusion as Jorg. End her now before things went out of control.

She flashed and reached Cheryl’s side in a heartbeat. However, as she was about to strike, the bounded field shook.

It shook so hard it felt like breaking.

BOOM!

Dark energy poured out of Cheryl.

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