Most of the poisons used by Poison Ruler Type users, accessible on the First Layer, were low-level. Most of them were gaseous and were manipulated using strands of energy.Micheal knew this fact and had known it for a long time.
Not because he had ever considered the Ability or thought it useful, but mostly because the strongest S Ranker in the Main Cl.u.s.ter had been killed by someone with the Poison Ruler Type.
This single event had been hugely impactful and shook the entire First Layer. Head Cameron had been a powerhouse that created the monolith that was the G.o.dfather Organization entirely by himself, expanding it over the past three years to have Branches in almost every Cl.u.s.ter.
The man was incredibly driven and a genuinely good person. He had been the leader of an international charity that worked to feed, house, and treat impoverished children back on Earth. This past experience translated well as he worked to see that every baby and child brought into the Seven Layers was cared for.
Upon learning of his death and all that occurred, Micheal had done his own research into the Ability, research that he recalled with clarity when he was planning on how to deal with the Black Witch.
Malwa Poison Energy was a gaseous type of poisonous energy that also happened to be very vulnerable to anything aspected with Light Energy, a type of elemental power. Fire, Ice, Earth, Wind, Darkness, Light, and more, the various ways any type of energy could be aspected were limitless.
Standard Ki Cultivation produced Ki, or energy, that wasn"t aspected to anything at all. People with Elemental Body Types could typically manipulate their Ki into a specific type of aspected energy, a practice that was especially common in later Layers.
When the Malwa Poison Energy was launched at Micheal, he withdrew an Inferior Light Energy Crystal that he promptly shattered, releasing a small cloud of Light Energy. This was a type of resource purchasable in the Shop, something that cost Micheal 2,000 Points.
Malwa Poison Energy could only be counteracted by another energy source, and could not be cured through other means. If one"s body was poisoned with it, one would be forced to use their Ki to burn it off. It was possible to swallow and try to make use of external energy sources, but such a method was very dangerous.
Micheal circ.u.mvented that entirely and directly burnt the energy up before it could infect him, the cloud of Light Energy he released completely counteracting it.
"Well now…" Micheal"s voice was calm as he took a few steps forward, wiping off his shoulders casually. Nothing had actually managed to stain him, but the motion of wiping his shoulders helped mold his appearance.
His every single action was carefully designed to create a specific image of someone that was extremely powerful and confident. A powerful A Ranker that they would need to take seriously, not a warrior with a body that was at the peak of only C Rank.
"That was a bit rude." As he finished speaking, his eyes flashed, the Ki within his body flaring as he gauged their reactions.
The three looked stunned, caution filling their eyes as they glared at him. None of them rushed forward yet, all three pausing.
As he saw this, he reached up and casually fiddled with something underneath his s.h.i.+rt.
"This has nothing to do with you, Emissary Heron. I would encourage you to walk away. This is a private matter that is being settled internally." Leila"s voice echoed out, her words ruthless as she ordered him to leave. A laughably fake order with a worse excuse, but it wasn"t like she was known for her improv.
Micheal was well aware they would attack him the instant his back was turned if he chose to leave. Right now, they were in a state of caution, testing the waters. They would only begin to go all out if they felt fully confident.
The two members of the Nightrunner Numbers, Fourteen and Eleven, stared at Micheal silently, as if confused as to how he found them here at all.
Micheal couldn"t blame them. It would truly have been a coincidence if he had just randomly stumbled upon them without preparation.
Unfortunately for them, his being here was no coincidence… and he was far from unprepared.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
…Some time before this…
.. .. .. .. .. ..
"c.r.a.p, c.r.a.p c.r.a.p." Micheal"s breathing was ragged as he flew across the rooftop in a jerking motion, as if he had just been hit with an enormous blow. His body careened forward, cras.h.i.+ng through the air as he sailed off the skysc.r.a.per and tumbled over the edge, plunging downward. The air rushed past him as he began to hurtle towards the ground, his eyes wide.
Not even a second later, as Micheal was still falling, a rattling, ominous sound echoed in Micheal"s ears.
"…Kttthhh."
Slowly, a white-skinned Morenkai"s head appeared over the edge, looking down at the now-falling figure of Micheal. Micheal"s s.h.i.+rt was ragged and torn, stained with blood around his neck.
Micheal spotted the Morenkai, his eyes blurring slightly from the rus.h.i.+ng wind. Upon sight of it, he mentally swore in his heart, adrenaline pounding in his veins.
"d.a.m.n it! Why is the Grandmaster Sword Mastery Ability worth so much?!" He tossed the thought from his mind as he called his Life Orbs into action, causing them to fly out and appear underneath his shoes.
He smoothly changed his freefall to a controlled dive, and then that to a fast, controlled flight as he began to zoom off between skysc.r.a.pers, flying at maximum speed. Thanks to the increases in his Soul stat, he could now move much faster.
Previously, his top speed had been around 30ish miles per hour (50ish kilometers per hour). With his enhanced Soul stat, he could now move at a top speed of 50ish miles per hour (80ish kilometers per hour).
The difference was substantial. It was now much closer to riding in a car, one that didn"t need gas and could fly, traveling freely and un.o.bstructed as long as he was within range of other skysc.r.a.pers.
In addition to the increased speed, the range he could control the Life Orbs had increased as well. He could now move them to be anywhere within 18 meters of himself, up from his previous 16. This also meant the range he could fly was extended to be 18 meters away from a solid, stationary object that could support his weight, giving him a lot more freedom when it came to maneuvering in mid-air.
With all of that in the back of his mind, Micheal"s thoughts were chaotic as he put his full effort into fleeing.
"When did my luck get so bad?!"
As soon as Micheal had finished talking with Sub-Commander Borial, he had left. Ditching the Sub-Commander and the Iron Eye Branch had been quite easy, the excuse that he needed to keep hunting for his target working perfectly. With his only "lead" dead, there was no reason for him to delay. The Arcadia Headquarters would send their own investigators if they so wished, the work he had done already sufficed.
The first hour of his new journey had proven mostly uneventful, something he had been grateful for at the time.
At first, he ran along several bridges, crossing through Arcadia territory with ease. After a bit, however, an uneasy feeling settled in his gut.
A feeling that arose from his sixth sense, something that made him feel unnerved.
A feeling like he was being followed…
Followed and hunted.
Because of that feeling, he ended up doing two things, or at least, attempted to do two things.
The first was that he switched over from running to using his Life Orbs to zoom by, sticking to the lower ends of skysc.r.a.pers to remain out of sight. He was able to vastly increase his pace, though he now entertained the risk of exposing himself and some of his powers.
After he"d flown for an hour, without being hara.s.sed once, Micheal then flew up to the rooftop of a random, empty-looking skysc.r.a.per to start on his second idea.
He"d felt comfortable with the distance he"d created. The feeling of being followed had gradually faded away until it didn"t exist. At this point, he wasn"t even entirely sure if he had been followed at all or not.
Still, without being 100% sure, he decided he"d best prepare for the worst case scenario.
He was going to store a new impact.
His Impact Release Ability had grown more powerful alongside his Soul stat. Currently, Micheal was unsure how powerful a blow he could store. No matter what, he was certain that he could store something stronger than a bulldozer falling from a skysc.r.a.per, the previous limit his Soul had reached.
"Hmm… what should I go for?" As he looked over the options, he mentally weighed various objects, trying to decide on one to go with. The Shop seemed to weigh its Points prices according to a few characteristics, like weight, material type, size, and more.
Micheal also had to consider how big an object he picked. Even if he made a building fall on him, he wouldn"t be able to absorb much of that impact at all due to how spread out the blow would be. The smaller and denser an object, the more he could get from it.
He was in the middle of picking between one object and another when it happened.
He died.
.