Chapter 403

Teeth rattled, one of them even managing to tear free of its socket and a bunch of others rattling loose. Arthur's head snapped back, even as blood and muscles and shards of bone and the fury of contained refined energy spread outwards. The blade stuck in his stomach slipped free, leaving him staggering backwards, his guts half-spilling out from the wound that been created.

Coughing and spitting to the side, Arthur brought his weapon to guard, his mind still wooly and confused by what had happened. Cursing himself, for not studying the mental safeguarding techniqueearlier. For not giving himself some form of security against someone reaching within and influencing his mind.

Then again, what kind of crazy person used such techniques, rather than something more direct.

"You!" That was the only word that Arthur managed to discern, as Hameed clutched his shattered face and nose with both his hands. He'd dropped his spear and kris, nose gone entirely, blood streaming and chunks of flesh and bone missing from one side. He must have turned, at the last minute, to catch it one side rather than head-on.

Incredible reflexes. 

Arthur's own kicked in, long years of training having him stab with his spear. It slipped in, without pause, one-handed or not, the spear went through muscle and flesh like butter knife through kaya. When he pulled out, blood splashed to the ground, almost squirting from Hameed's torso.

Arthur still wasn't sure what the man had used, what was going on, but when in doubt, attack again.

Spear went in, again. And then again. The third attempt was partly blocked by waving arms, but even cutting along the edges of the body, the enchantments triggered, causing his opponent to gush. And not in the good way.

Shocked, Hameed backed off, blood still rushing out of him. He pointed a hand at Arthur, energy forming in it. Not blue or green or anything normal, but pale yellow, and somehow sickly looking. Rather than face it, Arthur threw himself to the side before it finished forming, dodging the blob of power that shot outwards.

To his surprise, the attack swerved, homing in on him. 

A raised hand to block it did little, as it splashed and then swung around his hand, like a glob of water flowing around a physical object. It kept coming, striking Arthur in the head, gluing itself to his aura before seeping in.

Just like the initial attack.

Fear coursed through Arthur, fear of the unknown. It motivated him to extend himself into a lunge and push, aiming to put his spear through Hameed's body. It made him forget, that he'd been gutten not so long ago, and when the pain of extending and twisting coursed through him, shifted the point of his weapon.

It dropped, going through stomach and guts rather than chest. A damaging attack, especially as Arthur finished his collapse onto the ground, his lower body suddenly not willing to hold him up any longer. Hameed joined him moments later, not before dropping another sickly yellow blast though.

At first, Arthur wasn't sure what was happening. Unable to move, his body doing its best to put his stomach and guts back in place, to fix loose teeth and torn open and smashed nose, he only understood what was happening later, as the energy burrowed into him, trying to lull him to sleep.

Anger had him utilizing his own Yin Aura. Anger and a little cunning, in the hope that using his aura offensively, he could guard against additinoal strikes.

Mind closing off, he forced himself to focus on his technique, on just one thing. Pouring energy through him, again and again, empowering that same attack. Pulsing it outwards to the other.

Unable to think of anything more, even as the mental poison threatened to put him to rest.

Well, except for one thing.

Not at all a particularly noble sight, this fight.

 

***

 

Arthur lay there, for a long time, pushing against the logginess in his brain, focused only on keeping his Aura technique working. He felt at the edges of the attack, noticed how it pressured him, how it interacted with his body and his mind and perhaps even soul. As much as he desired to move, it was all he could do to pour his energy into the Yin Aura and stay awake. 

He wasn't sure how long they lay there - five minutes or thirty, it was all the same in his hazy recollection. Eventually though, the energy that had forced itself into him dispersed, his own stores that had been utilized to run the Yin Aura gone. He dragged himself to his feet, focus still swimming to look over at Hameed.

The boy lay by his side, a few inches away. He'd flipped over onto his face at some point, dragged himself over before finally collapsing, the Yin Aura soaking through all his wounds, all his defences to lull him to sleep. After that, he'd just bled out, the massive wounds his spear had caused and its bleeding enchantment finishing the job.

An ignominous ending to the fight and the Second Chancer. Yet, Arthur understood, he had been somewhat lucky. If he had utilized his REED at any time, if the other had known abou the Pocket Simpanan and his ability to utilize a stored attack, he would have been done for. 

That initial mental attack had lulled him to rest, forced him to lower his guard. Such that even getting stabbed was insufficient to push him out of it. 

No wonder Nor had been willing to risk utilizing Tun Rahman to get rid of Hameed. Few climbers would have utilized a mental cultivation technique or a defense for it yet. No monsters in the Beginner Tower wielded such gifts, and mental attacks - while highly useful against sapients - did very little against a large swathe of common monsters. 

Not as though you could mentally influence a carnivorous tree or canbilistic flower to stop it from eating you, or leeches whose basic instincts drove all their choices. In fact, the fact that Hameed had made it this far spoke to quite a powerful skill set outside of his cultivation techniques.

Too bad for him, he'd gotten used to one-shotting others with his techniques, leaving him open to Arthur's own attack.

Of course, he knew exactly how lucky he had been. Sure, his caution, his ability to suffer damage, his Yin Body were all advantages he had gained and utilized, along with a degree of paranoia with regard to hiding his skills; but the end of the day, if Hameed had been just a little more cautious, Arthur would have been dead.

Sitting with his legs pulled up, arm around his tender stomach, gritting his teeth as he finished pushing things around, massaging the parts that weren't in the right place, Arthur had to remind himself that the past was just that. 

Over and done with.

Nothing he could do to fix it, though the moment he had a chance, he was going to learn that other cultivation technique. 

For now, though, he had a new problem; one that was stomping over. 

The very last fight, and him with nothing more than a small amount of Tower energy in his secondary dantian and all his Refined Energy. Which, right now, was being poured into his Accelerated Healing to finish closing up his stomach wounds. Because the last thing he needed was for that to pop open, spilling his guts into the surroundings.

Again.