Reborn: Apocalypse - Volume 2

The Wonder King Vladimir reached Micheal first .

The man wielded his long spear with precision as he landed in front of Micheal and thrust it forward . His movements spoke of long practice and skill, something he must"ve carried with him from before he arrived in the First Layer .

As he thrust it, his leg stamped hard on the ground, propelling himself with the maximum amount of force he could muster .

"Oh, come on! His body is already on par with some A Rankers! How is that fair?!" The first thing Micheal noticed was the man"s physical strength and speed . He groaned when he observed this, cursing all S Rankers, future and past .

Unlike Micheal, the Wonder King didn"t limit himself in Ability choice, and instead went for all the most powerful Abilities he was able to afford on the First Layer, including a Type Ability . While these Ability choices were sub-optimal in the grand scheme of things, on the First Layer, they were some of the best available . Thankfully, the man hadn"t had too much time to gather Points or experience yet, and still lacked some of his future, signature powers .

From the historical records Micheal had read, both the Wonder King and General Asim had started their journey by wiping out most of the criminals and gangs in their respective Cl.u.s.ters, vastly boosting their Points early on and letting them purchase a slew of powers . While it wasn"t enough to boost them all the way to their legendary status, it was enough to power them up significantly .

Even if one didn"t buy the most optimal Abilities, it didn"t mean it was impossible to become powerful . Micheal"s original Ability choices had been extremely sub-optimal, yet he still managed to become a member of the top 50,000 humans in existence at the time, though largely because of his fanatic obsession with training his Sword Mastery .

When the man struck out, the Wonder King"s attack speed was considerable . The spear pierced through the air, aimed directly at Micheal"s chest with exacting skill .

Micheal"s right arm drew up as he brought his first Obsidian Axe to intercept the head of the man"s spear . While his raw speed and strength weren"t on par with the Wonder King"s, his attack speed was roughly equal, or even slightly superior, thanks to his years of experience and training .

The axe and spear clashed loudly, the metal shrieking as the majority of force from the blow was redirected . Micheal sent the man"s spear off to the right, cutting through the air .

At the same time, white light flashed and an odd, unsettling sensation fell upon his shoulders . For a brief, split second, his mind felt incredibly thick and clouded .

Micheal"s Aura Nullification Necklace flashed dimly beneath his robe .

The unsettling sensation and clouding of his mind immediately stopped and vanished .

The deflected attack sent Vladimir barreling forward . The warrior hadn"t expected Micheal to be able to skillfully deflect and redirect the force behind his blow in the tiny moment Micheal had to react to it .

However, despite tumbling forward, the Wonder King lowered his shoulder and turned it into a body slam, aiming at Micheal"s side . He made the attack all in one motion, perfectly transitioning to a strike .

If Micheal had been affected by the man"s Ability that slowed his mind, the attack might have worked .

Unfortunately for the man, Micheal had come in prepared .

Micheal"s right knuckle tapped on the man"s left shoulder .

"Impact Release: Monster Truck . " He released one of the three stored impacts he"d prepared .

For a single, frantic moment, Vladimir seemed to stand absolutely still .

The next, the man"s body was rocketed backwards as a huge impact slammed into him, sending him flying . He veritably flew across the roof, soaring through the air until he slammed into the shed that opened up into the bowels of the skysc.r.a.per with a resounding thunk .

The man somehow managed to keep a grip on his spear, one that loosened as he bounced off the wall of the shed and fell to the ground where he lay still, in a collapsed mess .

Micheal spun to his left as he finished sending the Wonder King flying, his eyes flicked to the side as he zeroed in on the Arabian General Asim .

Asim had rushed forward as soon as he recovered from sliding backwards . Micheal"s exchange with Vladimir had been brief, but just long enough for Asim to have covered half the distance between Micheal and himself .

Micheal snorted when he saw this, his eyes watching the white Aura that surrounded the man, knowing he needed to avoid it at all costs .

The muscles in Micheal"s left arm bulged as he raised his Obsidian axe into the air…

Advertis.e.m.e.ntAnd then chucked it at the charging fighter with all his might .

The Arabian General had been in the process of raising his saber, prepared to block Micheal"s attack when it came down . After seeing the blow that Vladimir had suffered, the man had a.s.sumed Micheal would come in for close combat .

After all, this was the first time either of them had met or should have heard of each other, and Asim had met very few people that knew of or would recognize his unique Ability .

However… given the Arabian General"s extremely powerful Ability, one that Micheal wasn"t confident his Aura Nullification Necklace would block, agreeing to fight him at close range would be suicidal .

Asim"s Ability didn"t make him invincible, but Micheal had read it was extremely hard to adjust to . It was part of what made him so dangerous as an S Ranker .

His Ability was one that not only was nearly impossible to block, but also nearly impossible to prepare for . It was also one that was nearly impossible to control, something stated in the Ability description itself, leading almost everyone to avoid picking it . Asim managed by being a genius, a feat few could replicate .

Thus, Micheal"s best resort was to not give him a chance to get near him at all .

The Obsidian Axe slashed through the air, covered in a layer of rippling red Sword Energy . In a fraction of a second, it reached the chest of the Arabian General .

Once more, the General"s Defensive Artifact activated, absorbing the brunt of the impact . Just like the previous time, the impact of the blow seemed to be intangibly transferred to Asim to some degree .

Most Defensive Artifacts had some amount of force nullification, but usually weren"t able to nullify everything . Strong impacts would send the user backwards or tumbling, and extremely strong ones could break past the barrier their Defensive Artifact formed .

Before it could collide with the man"s chest, his Obsidian Axe first clashed with the man"s saber .

A flurry of sparks shot out into the air as the large, black axehead rammed into the sleek, grey metal saber . A faint, metallic ripping noise echoed out as the two weapons collided .

Roughly 0 . 1 seconds later…

The saber was split in twain, sheared completely through as Micheal"s axe continued onward and then promptly smashed into the Arabian General"s Defensive Artifact . The blow shattered the Obsidian Axe, but not before the full power of its strike was pa.s.sed forward .

The power of Micheal"s Advanced Tier Sword Energy couldn"t be ignored . His weapon was so incredibly sharp it defied normal logic . While Asim"s saber had certainly been a treasure he purchased from the Shop, it was nowhere near the quality of weapon that would be required to stand up to one of Micheal"s full powered attacks .

Neither Asim nor Vladimir had trained, yet, in any of the Weapon Mastery Abilities . Each of these types of Abilities were fairly similar in concept, the meditation and focus required almost identical for each one . For someone who had been here just a month or two, however…

They simply hadn"t had enough time to fully realize the potential of the Ability . There weren"t many experts on the First Layer that possessed any Weapon Mastery Abilities .

Experts that did possess similar Abilities were far more common on the Second Layer .

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Asim"s Defensive Artifact projected several glowing s.h.i.+elds right in front of him . Micheal"s attack was strong enough to partially blow past them, forcing Asim back nearly a dozen meters and causing him to flip over and slam into the ground .

Blood spurted from Asim"s lips as he landed . To his credit, he instantly recovered and stood up, holding the damaged remnants of his saber in a guard position . His face had grown pale, however, as he glared daggers at Micheal .

Micheal had recognized the effects of the man"s Artifact . It was a Soul s.h.i.+eld Necklace, an Artifact that only cost 40,000 Points in the Shop . It was relatively cheap, but relied heavily on the user"s Soul stat . Excessively damaging attacks, like the one Micheal hit with, were not fully blockable and would transfer some of the damage to the user"s Soul .

A moment pa.s.sed .

Asim"s top half of his saber clanged off the ground, while the remnants of Micheal"s Obsidian Axe pittered and pattered, spreading a small clump of rock-like debris .

Despite the man"s injury, Asim held steady and even took a few steps forward in that moment, his courageous spirit guiding him forth .

Just as Micheal was focusing on the Arabian General, Micheal saw his eyes twitch .

Micheal instantly ducked down and leaned backwards, bringing his one remaining Obsidian Axe in front of his chest .

Not a moment later, a vicious spear strike knocked into his axe, sending him flying backwards . The force of the blow caused him to fly up several meters into the air .

Standing on the roof wielding the spear, with blood dripping down his face, was none other than the Wonder King . A large indention could be seen on his red armor, several large cracks from the force of Micheal"s impact running up and down it . The man cradled his left arm as he attacked, using only his right one to wield his spear .

"He recovered fast . " The thought flashed through Micheal"s mind as he tumbled, wincing as he felt his hands get swarmed with a numb feeling . The power of the man"s spear wasn"t something to scoff at .

He once more felt a sensation of sluggishness appear and then disappear, his Aura Nullification Necklace once more proving its value . He landed down on the ground smoothly, trying to shake off the lack off feeling in his arms .

"Nice shot!" Asim"s voice echoed in the air as the Arabian General took a few tentative steps forward, his face still bearing an unhealthy pallor .

Vladimir nodded back, taking a step or two of his own as he advanced on Micheal .

"I"ll take the front, you get him while I hold em" . " The Wonder King shamelessly proposed a strategy right in front of Micheal, as if he couldn"t hear the man at all . Asim nodded his a.s.sent and began to stalk forward, jogging towards Micheal .

All around them, the various downed men and women were slowly recovering . The fierce battle had only progressed for a few seconds, all the events in it happening quickly .

Vladimir sprinted at Micheal, whipping his spear forward once more . The man was relentless, even with his armor badly damaged and his left arm injured .

Micheal lifted his Obsidian Axe, holding it with two hands as he struck it out to engage the man"s spear . A layer of red energy coated his weapon as he cut down with it .

He was no master of axe combat, but he had used this type of weapon several times before . That, when combined with his very high degree of mastery in sword combat, gave him a significant advantage that helped make up for his lower stats .

Micheal"s axe slammed into the man"s spear . Energy crackled and flashed between them as their weapons collided three times .

Micheal blocked the man"s initial spear strike and shrugged it off, leading forward with a strike at the man"s chest . The Wonder King responded by using his shaft to ward off Micheal"s attack, putting it at an angle to prevent Micheal from shearing through it .

Vladimir moved past that by whipping the spear down, trying to crush Micheal"s shoulder as the Wonder King jumped backwards .

Micheal blocked the third strike with a twisting blow of his own, one that threw both his and Vladimir"s weapon out to the side . They both maintained their grip on their weapon, but at an awkward angle .

Every strike made was one that was measured and skillful . The Wonder King seemed to react to things instinctively, sensing the flow of combat and adjusting his combat style . The man had grabbed a faint grasp of Micheal"s attack style in just a few exchanges, something that Michael found faintly horrifying .

Micheal took full advantage of their third attack"s awkward result to spin his entire body, bringing up his left leg in a sharp kick . The muscles in his legs bulged, the energy running through his veins filling him with strength .

Behind him, he could sense more than hear Asim rus.h.i.+ng forward to intercept them . While Micheal and Vladimir"s duel had only taken a scant couple of seconds, it was long enough for the Arabian General to get close .

Close enough that Micheal felt a faint pinp.r.i.c.k of worry appear in his heart .

"This is taking too long . " The skill shown by the Wonder King at this stage was beyond his expectations, especially when he was limiting himself by trying to stay in disguise and not resort to using a blade . The man was a future S Ranker for a reason .

Vladimir raised his right arm in a frantic motion as he saw Micheal"s incoming kick . Micheal"s casual elbow that sent the man flying had left quite the impact on the man"s mind, one the warrior wanted to avoid a repeat of . As he raised his arm, the Wonder King then attempted to dodge backwards, trying to moving out of the line of attack .

Unfortunately for him, Micheal"s blow had struck too abruptly . Micheal"s leg cut through the air and smacked directly into his defending arm .

And then pa.s.sed through the air as the arm dissipated into light .

"Huh?" Micheal"s sole thought was one of confusion .

A split second later, Micheal"s leg successfully connected with Vladimir"s armor, smas.h.i.+ng into it . Instead of breaking the man"s arm, however, he only further cracked the armor and bashed the man to the side .

At the same time that Micheal kicked Vladimir, an arm abruptly shot out of a hole in the man"s armor, appearing from seemingly nowhere as it grabbed onto Micheal"s leg .

"Ah d.a.m.n it . " Micheal realized what had happened at that moment .

The arm that Micheal had been kicking was a light mirage formed by the man"s wondrous Abilities . The Wonder King had, in the seconds he took to recover and attack Micheal, not only plotted out how he would respond but formed a surprise attack strategy, counting on a moment when they would both go for direct physical attacks .

"f.u.c.king geniuses . " Micheal cursed in his heart . There was nothing he hated more than fighting people like Vladimir . No matter how hard he trained, it always felt like some people seemed magically able to conquer a skill or tactic in just seconds .

The man latched onto Micheal"s right leg, clawing down with a vice-like grip .

The moment it touched, a searing, agonizing pain rippled through Micheal"s leg . It felt as if his s.h.i.+n was literally on fire, magma melting into and incinerating his skin .

The raw pain was incredible and nauseating . Even for someone like Micheal, the feeling was extremely unpleasant and horrifying to experience .

"I got him! Now!" Vladimir"s voice was harried as he yelled over at Asim . He brought his spear up into a guarding motion as he held on to Micheal"s leg, s.h.i.+elding his head and shoulders .

Tears formed in Micheal"s eyes from the pain, ones he ignored as he flicked to the left and saw the charging Arabian General .

In terms of pain tolerance, ever since he gained the Impact Release Ability, the amount of raw agony he could bear had increased notably . There was something to willingly experiencing obliteration over and over that helped with that .

"I have a couple of seconds . " He realized this instantly as he saw that Asim"s Forsaken Aura was several meters away still . He made a quick judgement call in his head, estimating how long it would take to reach him .

Micheal"s attention flicked back to the Wonder King as he raised his right arm up into the air…

And then mercilessly brought his Obsidian Axe down on the man"s spear, smas.h.i.+ng into it .

And then he raised it and brought it down again, lightning fast .

And again .

And again .

His first blow didn"t use any type of Sword Energy, just raw force . It knocked the man"s spear down, slamming it into Vladimir"s armor .

His second blow used Basic Tier Sword Energy . This attack caused his spear to s.h.i.+ver, but otherwise maintain its integrity . It forced Vladimir down to the floor, causing the man"s arms to s.h.i.+ver .

His third blow used Intermediate Tier Sword Energy . This attack also failed to cut through the shaft of the man"s spear, but further smashed Vladimir into the roof . While the man"s guard held up, his grip loosened as he started to feel the effects of Micheal"s repeated smas.h.i.+ng .

His fourth blow used Advanced Tier Sword Energy .

His attack sheared through the man"s spear, breaking apart the expensive Artifact like it was nothing . The axe continued downward and bashed into the man"s armor .

Just as it was about to cut into the man and split him into two…

The world around Micheal s.h.i.+fted .

He blinked .

Everything had become odd and horrifying .

The sky was no longer above him, but below him . Every movement he made caused a result that appeared to be the opposite . His senses were thrown into complete disarray as reality seemed to flip, instantly and without warning .

Micheal tried to jump up into the air, but found that himself smas.h.i.+ng forward into the ground . Despite knowing how his senses would flip, adjusting to the incredibly distorted state in an instant proved impossible .

He saw stars as his head knocked against the solid stone .

A moment later, his Life Orbs flickered under him and slammed into his ribs, shooting him off into the air . This time, he didn"t aim up, but instead in a direction off to the side . Even if he went in the opposite direction, he would still be going out of range .

As he expected, he flew to the opposite direction he had been aiming at . As soon as he got out of range of Asim"s Forsaken Aura, the world returned to its normal state .

Before he left that range, however…

A feeling of heat slashed into his right, Obsidian Axe-wielding arm . The spike of pain ran flush through his mind, one he forcibly crushed as he hurled off to the side .

Micheal tumbled and rolled onto the ground, his body aching as he made himself get to his feet again . He quickly turned his head around, glancing back at Asim and Vladimir .

And what lay between them .

His right arm had been sheared off through the bone, his Obsidian Axe falling to the ground where it lay still . The muscle and tendons on both the cut-off-arm and his shoulder had been seared, the warrior"s broken saber holding some sort of fire element effect .

Despite the damage to the weapon, the man had somehow managed to not only predict Micheal"s abrupt dodge, but also account for the jerking motion of his retreat, all in the span of a fraction of a second .

"f.u.c.king geniuses… G.o.d, I really hate fighting them . " He swore again in his heart, his breathing ragged .

If this had been a real fight where he was trying to kill them, he would"ve just blitzed them at the start with his superior sword skills, and maybe a few explosives, without giving them a chance to defend . Trying to extend the fight, especially without using a blade, just gave the duo time to show off their annoyingly genius-level adaptivity such that they reduced him to his current state .

Asim and Vladimir weren"t in too much of a better state, however . Vladimir"s face had grown unnaturally pale, while Asim was stumbling as he helped the Russian to his feet . Vladimir"s right arm looked to be broken, while his left shoulder and armor, in general, were heavily damaged .

Asim"s main injury was one to his soul, something that didn"t quite show any visible impact . Despite that, the man managed to adeptly manipulate his Ability and precisely strike out with a perfectly aimed slash, enough to cut off Micheal"s arm .

A tense moment formed as they each stared at the other .

"Alright, I should-" Micheal"s thoughts were abruptly cut off as he leapt backwards .

Not an instant later, a brilliant spear of white light slammed into the ground a meter in front of where he had been standing, sending up sparks .

"What is going on here?! All inter-human combat has been forbidden within the territory of the Angels Arcadia!" A figure wearing a mask and the customary white leather armor of the Angels Arcadia appeared in the air, landing down on the skysc.r.a.per rooftop . Several other armed figures could be seen rus.h.i.+ng across one of the bridges, heading towards them .

"What?! Already?!" Micheal"s eyes widened when he saw the troops from the Angels Arcadia appear .

The Great Arrival kicked all of the Big 3 into high gear as they heavily patrolled and moderated their territory, trying to forcibly control their land . Initially, their efforts saw positive results . As more and more people poured in, however… things grew out of hand . At least, that was what happened in Micheal"s first timeline .

Micheal hadn"t expected to see troops appearing so quickly, however, though the multiple explosions he set off likely drew a ton of attention from everyone in the area .

Indeed, as he glanced past them, he could even see a few Morenkai clambering up the side of a nearby skysc.r.a.per, drawn by all the noise they"d been making .

Micheal took one last glance at the two leading geniuses of the future "Dawning Six . "

The duo were leaning on each other as they glared at Micheal, holding steady . A spear of light had landed on the ground in front of them as well, something that had caused them to freeze up and face the yelling Emissary that had appeared .

"Good enough . " Micheal spun around, wincing in pain as his badly burned leg twinged . He burst into motion as he sprinted towards the edge of the skysc.r.a.per . His run wasn"t graceful, but he was able to use his Cloud Stepping Shoes to make it fast, barreling forward at maximum speed .

"The Church forgets nothing!" He yelled out some nonsense as he fled, the words echoing in the air with deadly, but decidedly fake, promise .

"Halt! In the name of-" The rest of what the Emissary said was lost on Micheal as he threw himself off the side of the skysc.r.a.per, his Life Orbs slipping under him as he fell . In mid-fall, he shattered one of his three Life Orbs, restoring his body to full health, though leaving him exhausted .

He then beat a fast retreat, zooming off to the north as he fled the territory of the Angels Arcadia, off to meet up with an old friend .

. . . Leaving behind a pair of slackjawed geniuses and a very confused Emissary .

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