Ch39. Do or die - 2

"SAY IT!" Leblanc's voice echoed through the warehouse. "WHY ARE YOU, A REGULAR, PLANNING ON CREATING A GUILD?!?"

Nikolai's face was an ugly sight, swollen and full of bruises.

'What did they do to you, my friend...' Kurt clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.

"Did they tell you already?" Nikolai said in a muffled voice.

"What? WHAT DID THEY TELL ME?!" Leblanc urged him to speak.

"To... Go... Fuck yourself." And he laughed a mouthful of blood.

Kurt saw the hand coming towards Nikolai's face. This punch would definitely kill him if it hit.

He took one of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and before he could think properly, threw it towards Leblanc's hand.

'Say goodbye to your other hand.'

The sound of metal cutting through flesh and bone was almost audible from the skylight as Kurt jumped through, still cloaked in [SHADOW WALK].

Leblanc shrieked in pain as he issued orders to his followers, all wearing black cloaks with the New Dawn guild symbol embroidered in gold on their backs.

"THAT BASTARD IS HERE! GET HIM!"

But none of them knew where to look for the masked man, while Leblanc squirmed in pain.

***

[KURT'S POV]

I felt a wild rage building up inside me, and somehow I knew that the emotion taking over my heart wasn't mine, so I had to do whatever was in my power to suppress it.

I remember very well what happened the last time I let my feelings get the best of me, and I'm not letting it happen again.

I'm also not letting you die again, Nikolai.

The migraine still insisted in making home in my brain, so I walked around with each step sending a huge shock to my head, but it didn't matter.

The first of Leblanc's followers was right in front of me, guarding Nikolai as if he was some very important item.

'He's not a thing. He's my friend!' I thought as I moved my hand towards his throat.

Killing someone with telekinesis, or when you're in a blind rage is one thing. But killing them when you're wide awake, and with your hands holding the death's tool, is something else entirely.

I felt the blade sliding through the skin of his neck faster than the regular eyes could conceive, and all that was left was the black glimmer of my blade's trail in the air, and the blood spurting from that open neck.

I couldn't speak or else I would fall out of character, but I didn't feel like it. They had taken Nikolai, they had taken my friend, and left him in that miserable state.

They had to pay with their lives.

Keeping them from hurting other regulars was just a positive side effect.

As I moved towards the next man who looked at his fallen partner with eyes wide an open sea, he gives me an unexpected surprise as I slide my blade through his neck.

It only leaves a slight mark, and the sensation of my blade sliding through his skin reminds me of someone I knew and was very dear to me while it lasted.

They were trying really hard to get on my nerves today, right?

But even if it weren't really Rodrick's ability being used to protect that guy's body, it was enough to make my blood boil.

"IF YOU MAKE ONE MORE MOVE, I'LL KILL THIS FILTHY REGULAR!"

That was when everything froze around me.

Leblanc had his... Wait, I did cut both his hands off!

But he was definitely holding Nikolai's head on his hand, and the other arm, as I saw it, made me remember the incident at Blake's mansion.

Where Octavius severed arm grew back, but I thought it was just my head playing tricks on me because I was too enraged to differ reality from hallucination.

But Leblanc's severed hand was growing back.

And his eyes gleamed in a maniacal tone of red.

"Whatever you must do, do it! There's no need to-" But his sentence was cut in the middle by Leblanc, who squeezed Nikolai's cheeks so hard it probably broke his jaw, judging by the painful grunt that he let out.

The bloodshed stopped.

"Good boy. Now show yourself!" Leblanc ordered.

'Okay, you want it, you have it.'

I uncloaked myself from [SHADOW WALK], and they saw me, right by the one who had strengthened his body, and he took a few steps back, eyes wide in fear.

"Why are you so scared, Zeke? He's in our hands now." Leblanc's eyes shook, and I felt something strange inside of me.

As if something in him was resonating with something in me.

I felt an indescribable urge to get closer to him for reasons completely unknown.

And then the system beeped.

[THE PLAYER MUST GIVE HIMSELF]

[ASSIMILATION IS MANDATORY]

[THE PLAYER WILL NOT OVERPOWER THE *#¨$%@#*@¨]

So it was the system again...

But Leblanc didn't have the same kind of power, did he? Or else he would've known who I am by now.

No.

I focused on the sensation of the mana around me, the memory of how [INVISIBLE HAND] used to work, and as subtle as ever, I called upon the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] to appear behind Leblanc, in his blind spot.

I knew they would try to beat me senseless, so I had to do it quickly, and I was right.

Once I raised my hands, to show them I was unarmed, the one with the reinforcing ability came in full strength towards my lower body.

If it weren't for my high stats, it would've been a killer blow, but I curved my body to let him think that he caused me more pain than I was actually feeling.

'Three...'

One more blow, and this one hit the mask, with a little bit more force than the previous one.

I felt the heat of my awakening inside of me growing, and the sensation of the mana intensifying as blood trickled from my nose.

I gotta get a better grip of this motherfucking system, or else I'll always get punched at least once!

'Two...'

I raised my head just enough to see what was happening, and other of Leblanc's followers had joined the fray. It was getting a bit harder to maintain focus.

But Leblanc was exactly where I wanted him.

He was looking at me with malice in his eyes, with a lost for blood that could put any murderer to run calling for mommy.

'One...'

And I clenched my fist, as I saw both the blades of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] piercing through Leblanc's chest.

It took Octavius' heart to make him stop, so I imagined that it would take Leblanc's too.

His dead body dropped like a sack of potatoes to the concrete floor with a final, surprised gasp, and his followers looked back to see him dead.

'Poor mistake.'

I summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] back to my hands and activated [SHADOW WALK] again. But this time, I already knew what to expect.

The reinforcer armed his guard, protecting both his neck and face, but I was quicker this time.

Despite the migraine, which I was being quite successful in suppressing, I gathered the mana around me, swirling around my fist, and focused the better version of [INVISIBLE HAND] in a single blow directed towards Zeke's stomach.

The effect was instantaneous.

He could harden his arms and neck, but wasn't able to harden all his body at once, and he fell unconscious.

From when I copied the ability from Rodrick, I can definitely say that his were nothing but a cheap copy.

A few seconds later, my blades were bloody and the four members of the New Dawn were down.

But when I looked at Nikolai, he could barely breath, and his face was purple.

He was dying from asphyxia.