Chương 51: Can't Touch This

Ch. 51: Can't Touch This

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"What?" Folus growled.

"How did you make all that energy come out of you? Is that like a switch you can do or something?" Folus took a step, the ground cracked beneath his feet. He took another step, quicker, and jotted away so fast I lost track of him. As he raced toward me, his feet landed on the ground and created a brief afterimage. Suddenly I felt a breeze and heard the dotting of his soft foot on the ground. He was behind me. He punched me in the back. It sent me hurtling multiple feet forward.

My body slammed along the ground and when my flightpath began to wane he was there to receive me with a punch to my guts. His punch ceased my momentum before he turned around and kicked me into the ground.

"You are quite powerful, I'll give you that!" Folus boomed. While I was still on the ground, he delivered a hail of blows to my body. Each one cracking the cement under me.

"But I'm powerful and fast," Folus continued. He picked me up by the collar and punched me in the face so hard that I flung through the glass double doors of the California Science Center into the main building. I rolled along the cold tile. He erupted toward me with his arms outstretched, like a clawed torpedo. Before I could get up, he collided with my body and ran us both through the first two walls. Before we could crash through the third wall, I reached my hands back and cast a cloud.

Our bodies impacted with the third wall but the cloud negated the impact and even stuck around, thanks to its increased durability. Folus pulled himself up. He said, "I'm not even remotely done showing you my power." Folus grabbed me by the feet and pulled at me, I said, "Hey man… I'm not asking you to show me your strength. How did you do that aura flare?" He looked taken aback at how casual I was, but instead of answering me, he picked me up by the leg and slammed me against the wall.

He breathed, "I'm done playing games with you." As he tried to slam me again, I spurted cloudstep from my feet at him. Since the cloud acted as a solid, it created an increasing sludge of cloud between us. It expanded between his chest and his grip on me until it became so abundant he was forced to let go of me. I landed on my feet.

"You're getting stronger for what? For the sake of getting stronger!? You got your entire pride killed. It didn't matter how strong you were. You weren't interested in using that power to protect the people around you!"

"All this just proves my point!" He yelled, "This could have been prevented if I just had more… more level ups. More… power."

"I guess that makes sense," I said. He ran toward me. I leapt up, taking my knife out. He swiped at me, missing me as I arched over him. He turned around but before he could, I sliced deltoid with my knife. He quickly pivoted and raked at me with his claws. I cast firefist and punched him in the gut with my spare hand. He took a step back and then I followed it up with a kick. It was his turn to go flying. He slammed against a large metal disk meant to illustrate sound amplification.

"Tell me more about the demon's level up system. It seems like we all have a different one."

"I told you, I am not yet a demon," He muttered as he recovered.

"So it's like a level up? Or a prestige. I guess that makes sense. The demon lords are fierce. But they weren't randomly chosen or created. Everyone on that side gets a shot at the title. Now… that aura flare. Does it do anything? Or just cool points." He glared at me, and said, "I'm done talking." He zipped away from his beaten-down spot on the column. Once again, his superior speed only showed flitting afterimages where his feet landed. He bounced along the ground. He bounced to another wall.

To the ceiling then to the wall, ground, and ceiling all over again. He was behind me. In front of me, to my side, and above. He was trying to get me to slip up, find some blind spot that he could take advantage of. My perception stat was allowing me to roughly track where he was going. But his speed was just barely outpacing my perception. The more and more he moved the more my eyes followed slower behind. I would probably need a few level up points before I could match him.

That being said, I didn't need to match his speed. I didn't need to parry. I didn't need to jump out of the way. The game he was playing was one of inches. And even though it cost me a lot of my precious mana, those few inches would save my life. That's why the moment my eyes became a full second behind where he was going, I said:"Gap." Claws lurched at absolutely nothing. I had traveled 5 inches away from my opponent. I bent my leg and snap kicked him in the gut.

He let out a short growl as the air had left his lungs and he went sailing back the other way.

"How do you do the aura flare!?" I yelled, "Tell me how and I'll let you live!" He broke through the wall and crashed into an exhibit about the double helix shape of DNA."

"Is that true!?" he yelled.

"Of course not!" I screamed. 15% mana remaining. Stolen novel; please report. Not great. How much blood does this guy have left anyway? And will it help? I had lost him. He'd disappeared somewhere in the exhibit. I called out to him, "Tell me anything about your side. This is all a game! You all get double experience for invading us… and we close up the hatch by invading you. We're pitted against each other. Do demons get to touch people and give them powers as well? And also… I hate to sound like a broken record…

but the aura flare-" Annoyed by my antics, his booming voice came through the large open room of the exhibits I was in.

"You clenched your muscles while expending a little mana. You do it at the same time like you're flexing a muscle."

"And it doesn't do anything?"

"It alerts others to your strength level. Consider it a warning."

"Its for cool points," I muttered, then loudly said, "Let me try."

"You won't have the chance." Folus leapt at me, claws up, fangs out. As he jumped through the air, I did as he said, activating my mana and clenching all my muscles. An EMT of aura, blue with flecks of red, pulsed from my body. Everything pushed farther away from me. Exhibits that were on wires were pushed back and rattled together like violent car keys. Carefully crafted simulacrums of structures meant to show best practices for earthquakes jostled and fell over.

Every glass case in the immediate area cracked and if they didn't crack they shattered completely. Folus was stopped in his tracks and fell to the ground, landing on his feet.

"Huh," I said, "Yeah, that's pretty good." I said. Folus' voice was shaky.

"Y-you're so strong." I braced, ready to fight, but he continued to talk.

"I had my suspicions when I smelled you. But you refused to tell me. I beg you to satisfy my curiosity. I've seeked one of you out. Knowing that defeating you would help me reach demoncy. Just admit it. Just admit you're what I sought. Even if it destroys me. I need to know that my search was not fruitless. Tell me who you are."

"I'm Anon, the new Kirin God." He slacked his fighting stance and bowed respectfully.

"I know now that I am not strong enough to defeat you. I will give you all the information you need. Our system, anything. Just please spare me. And the next time you see me, I'll be stronger and we will have a fairer fight. I ask you this as a fellow warrior."

"Tell me everything."

"Do you agree to my terms?" I wanted to say yes. Even if it was a lie. I wanted to extract him as a valuable source of information. But my voice was shaky too. I thought about what he did. And tried as I might, only the truth could escape my lips.

"No."

"Then it's a battle to the death. I'll need to put everything into this attack." He let out a mighty roar. Whatever exhibits I had that were still up that I had only cracked with my flare now shattered completely. He bent over and propelled his muscles and leapt toward the ceiling. He placed his feet on the roof and turned around and bounced off again. He was once again trying to keep a high speed propulsion that was just out of my mind's eye. He was even faster this time. I didn't have the mana left for a gap.

Like a vicious game of ping pong he bounced around the entire exhibit. Then, there was a brief moment where a step right in front of me was heavier than most. He slowed just enough for me to catch him. He slowed to put extra power into his leap. I had fought the leonids enough to infer that he was about to pounce. He pinged into the ceiling, and ponged off of it to attack me from above. He was huge. His jaw opened and it was big enough to swallow my head whole. His teeth were sharper than swords.

I lifted my head up and called out my attack.

"Firebreath." The power started in my belly, entered my throat and erupted from my mouth like a pyrotechnics show. It entered his open mouth and scorched him inside his body. It enveloped him entirely and it drained my mana. Before I could stab him, he charred completely. His corpse landed in front of me and I sighed. No blood means no mana.

"Yeah," I said, "Maybe I'll be able to snag a shiftabeest before I land at Dodger's stadium. Come on, Bloodsucker. We have to see how my friends are doing. Kayla was up, and healing Nelo when I got there. Nelo was coming to. Kayla saw me and said, "Drake, what happened?" I looked at my hands. I could see it. The palms shimmered. The next person I touch. I thought.

"Drake?" Penelope slowly came to.

"Penelope!" I said as I saw her. I rushed up to her and kneeled next to her.

"You're okay. You're… you're both okay!"

"We're pretty roughed up but," Kayla gathered her thoughts, "Where are we? How far are we from the core?" Nelo tried to get up. Every part of her body ached. She looked over at me and slowly, she moved her achy joints to stand up.

"You came back for me," She said.

"Penelope…" I said.

"Yeah?

"You know you're my favorite bloodbag, right?" She smiled that smile she sometimes smiled and said, "A girl still needs to hear it sometime." Despite her hurt, she got on her feet and approached me for an embrace. I stuck my shimmering hands up.

"Stop!" I said.

"S-stop?"

"I.. I can't touch you." I said as I slowly started backing away. Nelo and Kayla both exchanged glances. It snapped me back to my senses. I needed to save Dory. I needed to make her my follower. I would have to move fast.

"The… the core is a montabeest! Its only a few blocks away. Go find it and kill it! I'll meet you over there. I have to go do something."

"Drake!" Kayla called to me, "Come on… you can't-""I'm sorry! I'll.. explain everything… maybe. I have to go!" As soon as I was out of their line of sight, I leapt into the air to the nearest building. Nelo turned to Kayla, blinking twice. All she could say was, "Stop?" Oku continued running on all fours. He ran as fast as he could back to the hatch door. Tears in his eyes as he did.

He was terrified of hearing what his system would say and when two dings meant there were new notifications, he did his best to ignore it but morbid curiosity won out. He stopped moving. Oku was panting from running so hard. His worst fears were confirmed when the two notifications displayed on his screen. New Role Unlocked: Pride Chief New Path Unlocked: Path of the Bastard