Thanks Bigfoot.

Depending on the perspective, a quarter mile was either near or far. Why was that so? It was far because my 1911 couldn't help me much at that range. But, when talking about distance from me, it was very much nearby. 

Many might wonder what the hell I was talking about. I was 5'10" and weighed in at 200 lbs. with my body fat percentage over 40%. How could such a fat fuck run faster than even Descendants and a Ninja? The answer? {Fates}. 

Everything I would do from here on out was to show my team and the world one thing. There were no useless {Fates}, only useless Reapers. 

An average person could cover about three-quarters of a mile in five minutes. When I was alive, I probably couldn't even do it in twenty. But right now? I am far from average. 

The orange lights from the flames lit up my path. The heat and soot made it hard to breathe. In front of me were more than twenty reapers. The same ones who abandoned the Formless and the Reaper army. In other words, they were scum. 

I huffed as I ran. My legs were like pistons in an engine. Up. Down. Up. Down. They slammed hard on the uneven ground. Surrounded by burning bodies and freshly brutalized Reaper corpses, I pushed forward. 

Robyn was short, perhaps due to being a kid. She was around 4'11" and had short limbs. Her toned body showed that she had an active lifestyle. From the way she fought, her combat style relied heavily on speed. Meaning she never experienced being slow. 

That was likely the reason she believed her own {Fate} {Carry} was useless, but to me, it appeared different. I noticed it from the moment I learned her {Fate}. {Carry} did one thing: reduce gravity. 

"{Carry}," I uttered. 

{Carry} used 50 souls to reduce a target's weight by three-quarters for a short period. Only a fat bastard like me would think of using {Carry} on my own weight. The result? From 200 lbs., I now weigh only 50. My legs, which could support my weight, got freed of their burdens. 

If you had ever seen a grasshopper running for its life, you would be lying. You couldn't see it do that, since it was fast as fuck. And because of {Carry} I became one. 

At this point, {Listen} and {Perceive} showed me the reactions of the assault group to my mad dash. 

"Incoming bogey! Way faster than the running zombies!" 

"Block it, shielders form up, spearmen next, archers after. Take it down once it stops," another voice screamed. 

'A fine tactic,' I mused. 

Like a wall, the shielders would stop me, then the rest would attack. Well, they were free to dream. I bent to my left side and grabbed the foot of a zombie from one of the burning piles with my left hand. 

"{Pack}." 

{Pack}, the next evolution of {Carry}, allows anyone with {Carry} to reduce an object's weight to zero while holding it. I took a quick glance at the body whose foot I was holding. The speed of my dash made its limbs and clothes all fail in the air. 

"OHH! I got a Bigfoot!" 

The Bigfoot was over 6 ft, and probably weighed over 180 lbs. To me, though, it was like I had a toothpick in my hand. I began to swing the Bigfoot like a baseball bat. 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?! He is swinging a person by the foot one-handed!" a Reaper screamed in terror. 

'Hmm, so only I found it funny.' 

"It's a Reaper! Prepare long-range {Fates}, blast him as he approaches. If he wishes to die, then let's help him out." 

In under a minute, I had already traveled half the distance. I could already see their soulweapons gathering energy. The attack should come soon. 

"{Save}." 

I maneuvered the Bigfoot to cover my body like a shield. I didn't know what was coming, but better safe than sorry. 

"{Withstand}. {Endure}." 

True to her occupation as a shield-maiden, Liv's {Fate} was defensive in nature, but it still took skill to use it. Unlike the superheroes in comics, you did not get iron skin or glowing shields. It contributed nothing to your defense. It did, however, cancel kinetic energy. 

That was right, {Withstand} broke the laws of physics, much like {Carry}. 

Kinetic energy cannot be created or destroyed; it is transferred or transformed. So, when you punch a face, the reason your fist gets stopped is due to resistance. The jaw uses its mass to deliver a counterforce that cancels your punch. 

This counterforce was what gave the feeling of hitting something. If you punched an object with greater mass, the counterforce would break your hand. If you hit something with less mass, your punch broke it instead. That was how physics worked. 

But {Withstand} contradicted this fact, denying it altogether. {Withstand} made anything it was applied to immune to kinetic energy. And for the internal shockwaves? This was where {Endure} came into play as it canceled exactly that. 

Combined, {Withstand} and {Endure} canceled kinetic energy for both internal and external attacks. They made even my clothes tougher than steel. The downside was, with {Withstand} and {Endure} active, I could not change directions. 

It "rooted" me in the same heading. And while I could still move, I could no longer turn. If I used it incorrectly, I would expose myself to an attack from the side. 

Luckily, that is not an issue right now. 

"ATTACK!" shouted one of them. 

Like a kaleidoscope of brilliant lights, projectiles of every color flew toward me. The attack was a mix of elements: arrows, sword slashes, round spheres, and transparent axes. They seemed to have no commonalities with one another other than that they were meant to kill me. 

"This is going to fucking hurt," I whined. 

Right, the worst downside to {Withstand}? It did not mitigate damage or pain. Only momentum. This was the most spartan way to defend against an attack. 

'What the hell did Liv even wish for to gain {Withstand}?' 

I moved Bigfoot closer to cover my body as we charged. I kept an eye open to ensure I could respond to anything I couldn't expect. The moment the projectiles smashed into Bigfoot, I almost got blinded by the light show. And immediately, they got me. 

A sharp pain ran through my right thigh, left shoulder, and left earlobe. The pain was so intense that I nearly bit my tongue off. I began to feel weak from the damage. My every step began to send fire into my veins. 

I felt blood running down the side of my head. It seemed they attacks had chopped off my left ear. 

'FUUUUUUCKKKKK!!!!!!' I felt a surge of panic within me. 

Besides the pain, though, the attack did nothing to slow me down, nor did Bigfoot get torn to pieces. I didn't know the extent of the damage, but he was still in one piece. 

"HE IS STILL COMING! ATTACK AGAIN! HURRY!" 

"Thanks, Bigfoot. Give them hell," I whispered. 

After the volley of attacks, I wound up my left arm and threw Bigfoot like I would a baseball. Due to {Withstand}, my entire body didn't even shift one bit. And after leaving my hand, Bigfoot lost the weight reduction of {Pack} and flew like a ragdoll hit by a truck. 

With {Aim}, I threw Bigfoot to the shielders before me. My momentum, Bigfoot's speed, and the zombie's growing mass made a battering ram. Like a bowling ball, Bigfoot smashed into the Reds' assault group. He knocked some down and disorganized the others. 

The chaos that ensued was hilarious. They were all scared shitless that an undead had gotten so close. The ones around Bigfoot began to slash and hack him to pieces in panic. While they were preoccupied, I leaped through the hole that Bigfoot made and got to work. 

I kicked down the one immediately in front of me and shot him in the face. 

"Hello!" I greeted. 

"WHAT?! Oy! Ignore the zombie! Focus on the Reaper!" one shouted in terror. 

Another benefit of {Withstand} and {Endure}, the 1911 no longer had any recoil. I could now handle it like an airsoft toy, not a gun, as I no longer needed to re-steady my aim after firing. With {Listen} and {Perceive}, I knew exactly what was going on around me. 

Unable to turn, I fired my gun like an action hero without looking. I used the sounds of their breathing. One after another, I shot three people dead. 

'Being unable to turn is troublesome.' 

A guy then stabbed me in the flank as an arrow buried itself in my back. 

"{Withstand}, {Endure} Cancel." 

The pain that I felt right now made me want to die. Like having molten lava liquefying my limbs, everything just hurts, yet I cannot stop. 

Without {Withstand} turned off, I could now turn. The first thing I did was stab the 1911 towards the fucker who wounded me and fire my gun into his eye. 

"{Pack}." 

I grabbed the swordsman's corpse and turned it into a shield. Three people came for me with spears, and I used the corpse to block their strikes. Unfortunately, one pushed through the body and stabbed me in the chest as well. While the leather armor blocked it, I vomited blood from the impact. 

I quickly used my gun to kill the spearmen in rapid succession. 

"{Reload}." 

I then threw the corpse I held towards the archer, knocking their group down. In such proximity, the ones around him might as well have been sitting ducks. With both hands on my weapon, I fired until all the archers lay dead. 

"How is he still alive?!" someone cried, clearly agitated as hell. 

Perhaps they saw hope because I was bleeding all over. Another man rushed at me and then stabbed me in the neck. I smiled as I shoved my gun into his mouth and blew his brains out. 

"{Rewind}."