3.13

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[Alexander's POV]

00:04:46:32

That was the counter on my watch. Slightly less than four hours, and the mission would be over.

Nagato, Yahiko and Konan were all alive. Sarah, Chris, Johnathan and Erik were all alive. Of the newbies, Charles, Bob, Asher and Jordan were alive. Even Claire, who had gone to find help, was still alive. Hell, Asher had managed to break her Genetic Constraint.

But the mission was not over. Not for me. Simply because, 5 newbies had died. I lost 10 000 Points.

I also lost 100 Points from Spoilers, while I earned 2000 Points from the side Mission. I entered with 5300 Points, so I'm currently at… -2800 Points.

Meaning that if I complete the mission without any more deaths, the 3000 Points from completing the mission will barely pull me at +200 Points. Survival. Victory.

But deep down, I knew things wouldn't go like that. Hanzo's men hadn't attacked us for 2 hours and 36 minutes now, and this time, it wasn't because we had killed any of their men. Instead, I, along with the rest of the team, suspected they were about to finally launch their final assault, to finish us off.

All the forces of the Akatsuki had arrived in the country, but they still needed some time to reach us. And Hanzo's men will certainly attack us in this period.

As for me, everyone thought I was sacrificing myself for them, which made me want to laugh. I hadn't told any of them about my mission, because I had no reason to.

After this entire week of fighting, I was tired, but it wasn't like I hadn't gained anything. To start off, I had completely shattered my Genetic Constraint. In other words, I was constantly in unlocked mode. Or I had managed to gain complete access to my full instincts even in normal mode.

I wasn't really sure about that, because usually when I enter unlocked mode my emotions get dampened, but now I barely felt it anymore. I did feel more clear headed than before, but my emotions were still strong, probably thanks to the Dark Side.

Secondly, all this meditation had improved my healing speed with the Force, and allowed me to delve deeper into the secrets of the force, which resulted in my last ability.

Force Drain.

The teachings of the Sith were split in Offense, Body and Mind. Each was a milestone in the training of a Sith, and until now, all my Sith abilities had been under the Offense category.

But Force Drain was a power of the next tier, Body.

At its peak, this power allowed Darth Nihilus, a Sith Lord, to devour an entire planet's lifeforce, or for Darth Sidious, aka Sheev Palpatine, to almost devour the connection between Rey Palpatine (She's no Skywalker no matter what she says) and Ben Solo.

Basically, the technique was about absorbing the lifeforce of someone else, either to heal oneself or strengthen one's bound with the Dark Side of the Force. However, for all its advantages, it also had its dangers.

If used too frequently, or at least not in a controlled way, the user will become a victim of hunger, with an urge to absorb every trace of life that the user crossed.

But this week, this power happened to be very useful.

Even with my stamina and my Force Meditations, I couldn't go on for an entire week while fighting several times every hour.

I had estimated that by the fifth day I would no longer be able to go on, so my plan had been to show weakness from the third day, by 'failing' to save an ally. Surely that way they would take the opportunity to finish me off and send their men, instead of their clones.

But things took an unexpected turn. Asher managed to save herself by unlocking her Genetic Constraint, and she even managed to kill the hiding ninjas. It was impressive, as not even I could do that.

And since I was certain to have better Stats than her, then I guessed that not everyone's unlocked mode was exactly the same.

In any case, those kills gave me the corpses I needed to experiment, and with them I had managed to draw some of their lifeforce. There wasn't much as they were already dead for more than a dozen hours by the time I managed to get the skill, but it was still better than nothing.

Thus, since the fourth day, I have been relying on my Force Drain to go by. The clones, although weak, contained some faint traces of lifeforce in them, which I guessed was Chakra, and although meager, they made up through sheer numbers as they allowed me to get the energy required to go on. The Shinobis that managed to break into the building a couple days ago also were a great source of nourishment.

I couldn't show that on the outside, of course, so as the days passed, I showed graver and graver signs of exhaustion, keeping many of the injuries visible as I portrayed myself on death's door.

Actually, I really was tired as hell, but I had enough in me for another fight, and it was all I needed. It was about time we assaulted Hanzo's mansion, and there I would get plenty of people to drain. Besides, I half expected Hanzo to throw one last assault at us, to finish us off.

His troops either didn't attack to prepare for a last attack, or they had retreated to Hanzo's mansion for the final attack, if they somehow managed to detect the incoming troops of the Akatsuki.

Right shoulder.

Left leg.

Back of the head.

Heart from the front.

Suddenly, I felt my instincts warn me as I was attacked from all directions. Opening my eyes, I saw a large fireball coming from the front, and smelled ozone… probably a lightning Jutsu behind. As for the sides, it seemed to be two wind attacks.

Dodging them wasn't a possibility, but that wasn't the only thing I was capable of.

"Almighty Push."

Did I say that out loud? Hell yeah I did!

A wave of energy suddenly erupted from all around my body, not only stopping the incoming attacks, but also raising a cloud of dust around me.

It also sent a tremor into the building, which was the signal for the start of the battle.

Getting to my feet, someone wearing a gas mask suddenly appeared in front of me, and I also felt a presence behind me.

They had studied my Force Powers quite well it seems, as they apparently knew I couldn't use the Force immediately after using Almighty Push.

I leaned forward, feigning an attack for the one in front before suddenly turning around, nearly slamming my back into the one in front as I parried the blade coming from behind.

I felt something slam into the back of my armor, but because I had jumped at him, he didn't get to build enough momentum into his blade as it was knocked back by my armor.

My right arm tensed, and the one behind immediately reacted as he jumped away, creating distance. That's exactly what I wanted, however.

I threw my sword at the one in front, who widened his eyes in surprise as that wasn't what I was supposed to do with a sword.

And sure enough, he easily dodged, and stabbed me with his kunai.

And yet again, I subverted his expectations as I let him stab me in the belly, right next to my armor. I did move a little, making the blade narrowly miss my liver, and I was now close enough.

Not leaving him any time to react, I grabbed his head with both hands, and stuck my body to him as I activated Force Drain.

Because of my poor mastery of the skill, I needed to be in contact with my target to start absorbing them. And the more of my body touched the target's, the better the absorption.

Understanding there surely was something wrong going on, the shinobi tried to wrestle away from me, but it was too late. He quickly started growing weaker, and in a couple of seconds, he was already too weak to resist.

Feeling a danger in my back, I pivoted around the shinobi, making him tank the incoming sword as I continued draining all the life within him.

At the same time, the others came out of the building, and started fighting the enemy. As for me, once the shinobi was weak enough, I freed one of my hands to pull the kunai out, and watched as it healed at a visible speed, thanks to this guy's lifeforce.