Reborn: Apocalypse - Volume 2

It brought back memories of times back on Earth, when his worst fears were whether or not he would be accepted into college, or how he would find a new girlfriend. Memories of camping out with his best friend, of climbing trees and crossing rivers.

Micheal took a deep breath, a small smile appearing on his face. Several more seconds pa.s.sed as he let the music take him away.

A few moments later, he exhaled and opened his eyes, his smile fading.

The previously forlorn rooftop was now swarming with Morenkai.

Dozens of the creatures had burst out from the roof entry shed, drawn by the loud music. As Micheal looked out across the roof, he could also see a few Morenkai reaching over and pulling themselves up from the edge of the skysc.r.a.per. These ones must"ve been in the process of climbing the skysc.r.a.per to have reached the roof so quickly.

♫ Soon I will go to free my heart… ♫

Micheal"s right hand rested upon his Ashari Blade as he stared down the roughly two dozen or so Morenkai that had rushed onto the roof. All of the creatures had currently just locked their eyes onto him and were standing still.

A single, split-second later, the Morenkai broke into a charge. Their feet pounded on the cement rooftop as they charged at Micheal relentlessly, hurling their bodies forward.

The first wave of Morenkai that had appeared were all regular ones.

As Micheal saw the creatures charging at him, powerful monsters that could shrug off bullets or rip a man in half with their bare hands…

He closed his eyes once more.

♫ To that stage and stone, beneath the stars… ♫

The music serenaded within him.

And as it did, Micheal"s senses moved beyond that, powered by his enhanced physique.

The Strength stat of a human being was primarily a.s.sociated with the brawn a person could display. However, that wasn"t the most technically accurate description of the stat.

One"s Strength stat influenced the raw power of all of a human being"s senses. Not only did it represent the physical strength he held, but it also represented how powerful his senses were. His Soul stat complemented this aspect, boosting how effectively he used his physical senses and how powerful his innate, intangible ability to sense nearby awarenesses with his Soul was.

Even with his eyes shut, Micheal could feel the world around him at an incredibly in-depth level. The music he listened to served as a focal point that helped him zone in on everything that stood out. This was a technique he"d used in his training in the past, many years ago.

To his right, he felt a Morenkai step just a few meters from him. He could hear the sound of its feet clomping on the ground, feel the air s.h.i.+ft at its arrival. Its presence in his mind was like a firefly, flickering feebly but still notable.

In his head, he was surrounded by dozens of feeble fireflies, each one headed right towards him. Some of them threw themselves atop of others, all rus.h.i.+ng to get at him as fast as possible.

And just as these fireflies were about to collide with him…

Micheal"s right arm flickered.

He opened his eyes.

All around him… the attacking Morenkai fell apart.

Acidic black blood spattered across the roof as two dozen Morenkai bodies collapsed and fell to pieces, killed instantly. In the span of a second, the initial wave of Morenkai had all reached Micheal.

And every single one fell to pieces.

♫ Clear my mind and float my soul… ♫

Micheal ignored the slew of Points notifications that cropped up as he dodged several showers of Morenkai blood. His Endurance stat had boosted the raw, defensive toughness of his body to a strong level, but there was no reason to potentially damage his suit or skin if he didn"t have to.

His attacks had been exacting in their precision. Every move he made, every millimeter he raised his blade, every contraction of his muscles… each and every one was calculated automatically by his intuition and practice, built up over years and years of continuous effort.

He could still feel it.

His body could barely keep up with his demands, but the feeling was still there. His boosted stats were, by the thinnest margin, allowing him to fight like he did in the future, or the past.

Using his powerful body and Soul to sense the enemies around him, his senses expanded to the extreme as he took into full account their every movement, every strike, every technique. It wasn"t necessary to shut his eyes to achieve this, but Micheal opted to as a warm-up.

His younger body wasn"t used to this style of combat. It was one that was both extremely draining and required an excessively powerful strength of will. Micheal wouldn"t be able to keep this form up for long in his current state.

Still, it was indeed a glimpse into his past, and a glimpse into his future. A small glance at the power he used to hold. Power that had found him a nickname he"d built through blood and tears, the name his enemies called him. The first name he earned from the fear others felt when facing him.

Legion.

This was the realm of a Master.

♫ To lay down all my sorrows… ♫

Micheal"s gaze was cool as he studied the Morenkai corpses dispa.s.sionately. He stepped past their dead bodies as he walked over to the old record player and turned it off.

He had drawn sufficient attention to get things started, and while he enjoyed practice while listening to music, he was going to need his complete and undivided focus for what was about to happen.

The deaths of the first wave of Morenkai had not gone unnoticed.

By this point, most of the Morenkai in the Tower were well aware that something was happening on the roof. The disturbance Micheal had caused was too noticeable to be missed.

And of the Morenkai that moved to check it out, the Abnormal Morenkai moved fastest.

From the entry shed, 8 Abnormals appeared. Several of them had large, bulging bodies while a few of them had a smaller stature. One of them was covered in black, spiky hair, of all things, while another had two bulbous hands.

From the four sides of the roof, 13 Abnormals appeared, distributed pretty evenly on each side.

A total of 21 Abnormals had reached the rooftop around the same time. Burgeoning behind these Abnormals were at least 40 regular Morenkai, climbing and shambling forward after the Abnormals.

The brief interlude between his start of the music, his slaughter of the first wave of Morenkai, and his putting up of the record had been enough for all of these creatures to reach the roof.

There was a single, tense moment where none of the Morenkai made a move.

That moment lasted less than the time it took for a b.u.t.terfly to flap its wings.

The Morenkai attacked.

Micheal leaned back ever so slightly right before the chaos broke out, his powerful eyes missing nothing.

A bolt of white energy rocketed through the air where he had been standing.

He ducked his head slightly forward a moment later.

A large, black leg smashed through exactly where he had been standing, missing by mere millimeters.

His right arm flickered.

Three separate Abnormals that had closed the distance already s.h.i.+vered. Only one of them had managed to send in an attack, while the other two were still in the process of preparing to strike.

In unison, their bodies collapsed to the floor in pieces, black blood spattering out.
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Every time Micheal struck, he automatically returned his Ashari Blade to its sheath. This was a familiar pose for him, one he"d honed many thousands of times. It wasn"t the most practical technique for straight combat, but it was great for training one"s control, and helped him get a better feel for his boosted state.

Another bolt of white energy shot towards Micheal"s head and missed once again as Micheal preemptively ducked. The rippling energy shot through the air past him and slammed into a regular Morenkai, blasting a huge hole in the creature"s chest and causing it to collapse. Micheal"s eyes flicked to the side as he glanced at the Morenkai that had lobbed the energy attack.

It was an Abnormal, one with faded grey skin and a rather large head. It stood at the back of the charging Morenkai, lobbing attacks at him from afar.

By this point, around a dozen regular Morenkai reached Micheal.

Micheal mowed them down like an unstoppable war machine, killing them with almost casual ease as he focused on the attacking Abnormals.

A group of 3 Abnormals were the next to reach him. Two that had huge bodies bulging with muscle and the one that was lean and covered in spikes.

The creatures timed their attack well, attacking from different sides at the exact same time. The two large ones spread their arms out and dived at Micheal to try and hug him in their crus.h.i.+ng grasp, while the spike-covered one struck forward with its deadly arms, aimed at Micheal"s head.

Micheal attacked like he had before. A lightning-fast strike that moved so quickly his arm transformed into a mere flicker, coated in Advanced Tier Sword Energy.

His blade slammed into the two large Morenkai and cleanly cut through it.

Or, at first, it seemed like this was happening. The first big Morenkai was split in twain like nothing. However, when Micheal"s blade cut into the second one, for a single, split-second, his sword got caught.

Micheal"s eyes opened slightly as he saw this, a small smile forming on his face.

"Did they plan this? Is this the influence of the Monster Cla.s.s Nest..? How amusing." Abnormals were more intelligent than regular Morenkai, but they couldn"t think like Monster Cla.s.s Morenkai could. Using a complex strategy like this would normally be beyond them.

The second big Abnormal seemed to have used the first Abnormal as a way to its tactic. Micheal"s blade was too quick for them to physically track, but it could sense when their fellow Morenkai were hurt or killed.

The Abnormal tensed up its body as much as possible and twisted its chest right as Micheal was attacking. This caught his sword at an odd angle and force it to freeze for a tiny moment.

That moment pa.s.sed in a heartbeat.

Micheal"s blade forcefully ripped through the second big Abnormal, scattering its split body parts backwards in a splay of black blood.

However, that tiny moment of hesitation had allowed the spiked Abnormal a chance to attack Micheal, an opening.

The creature took full advantage of that as its spiked hand rocketed towards Micheal"s face.

When Micheal saw this, he snorted.

His left hand whipped forward in an open-palmed slap, moving so quickly the Abnormal didn"t have time to react at it slammed into the creature. As it struck, he s.h.i.+fted his hand so that his pinky was edged out in front of his palm.

Right before the palm made contact, a flicker of red energy covered his pinky.

A resounding smack sounded off as Micheal"s palm slammed into the Morenkai"s head…

And then literally slapped it off, decapitating the Morenkai in a fraction of a second.

This was a clever move used to intimidate enemies, one he"d picked up on the Second Layer. The Advanced Tier Sword Energy on his pinky did all the real cutting while the rest of his hand shoved with enough force to look convincing.

The intimidation had no effect on the single-minded Morenkai, but it was an old technique Micheal relished being able to use once more. Only a person that could move as quickly as he could currently could manage to pull the technique off without butchering it.

A spurt of black blood shot up into the air as the body of the Abnormal fell backwards. Micheal ignored the successive Points notifications as he spun around, holding his sword at the ready with a small smile on his face.

He was truly starting to feel it. The sensation of battle, of fighting enemies using skills he"d trained for years, a feeling that was almost addicting to him. The feeling of making progress with his swordsmans.h.i.+p and relis.h.i.+ng that progress.

Morenkai continued to charge at him.

Morenkai continued to die.

Abnormals, regular Morenkai, they attacked with abandon. First in 2s and 3s.

Then in the dozens.

Soon, Micheal had wiped out the second wave of Morenkai that had arrived. He killed the long-range Abnormals by using his Life Orbs to jerk them forward, while murdering the close-range ones with his blade and fists.

Not long after, a third wave arrived and Micheal dealt with them all the same.

The rooftop was soon coated in pools of black blood and Morenkai corpses, a death zone dominated by a single man.

He was an executioner.

He was a killer.

He was a Legion unto himself.

He was death.

Michael"s lungs burned as he killed the last Morenkai in the third wave, a fast Abnormal that was almost able to keep up with him. Almost in terms of raw movement speed, but nowhere close in terms of attack speed.

Throughout the entire battle, Micheal took great care not to take any injuries.

Micheal did not want to die.

He had the sinking suspicion that, at the moment of his death and subsequent revival, his boosted stats would vanish completely. After all, his Life Orbs restored him back to full health. His current enhanced state would likely be viewed as, essentially, him being "poisoned" and his body restored to its normal, and physically weaker, status.

And that would make things more complicated.

And finally, as Micheal was wiping off his blade…

He detected an unmistakable presence appear on the rooftop.

It had arrived.

His heart rate accelerated slightly as he jerked his head to the left, zeroing in on the Morenkai that had just waltzed out onto the rooftop from the roof entrance shed.

It was green-skinned Morenkai that was of average size for a Morenkai. What stood out most, apart from its skin color, were its unusually long arms. Each one rested almost all the way down to its ankles, far longer than regular Morenkai. Further, the hands on each arm had long, pointed nails that looked more like claws than anything else.

This Morenkai carried with it a strange presence. The air around it seemed to distort ever so slightly, a faint, harsh Aura emanating from it.

An Aura only Monster Cla.s.s Morenkai possessed.

Micheal stared at the creature, his entire body relaxing as he focused his full, undivided attention on the being. He slowly sheathed his Ashari Blade as he took up a small, open stance, resting his left hand on the sheath of the sword and his right hand on its grip.

He faced down a monster that even the S Cla.s.ses would struggle to kill, with only a single feeling flaring in his heart.

Antic.i.p.ation.

"How strong am I right now..?"

"Let"s find out."

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