Skill and Power

"Oh? You ask why I can regenerate my arms and my legs, but why I'm not healing the cuts on my chest? Well, I have a reason for that."

I said as Ichigo pointed at the gashes on my chest, which were leaking blood.

I looked at Luna, who was watching us.

Then I spoke in a low voice, only enough so that Mr. Ichigo here can hear.

"When my health percentage reaches a certain number, all my stats are doubled. So, that means my strength, speed, and senses are heightened. Do you understand?"

Ichigo closed his eyes and nodded.

Now you may ask, why am I telling my enemy my strength?

I'm telling him because I play fair. While Luna was busy fighting him off, I figured out where his source of distortion came from. His source is his horn. If I can somehow break that horn off, he'll be stripped of his distortion powers. Then from there, I'll be able to fight him on equal footing.

I looked over at Luna.

"I think you did enough. You should rest."

Luna nodded and began crawling away towards the corner.

I looked back at Ichigo, who raised his fist. Ready to fight.

"Not using your sword? Well, I'll warn you, I have black belts in for three kinds of martial arts and two brown belts in two others."

I got into the right lead stance. Though I lowered my left arm to chest height when it's supposed to be the same elevation as my arm.

I exchanged glares with Ichigo. Silence filled the room and a dark aura leaked out from Ichigo while I exhaled an icy blue mist.

Now, I'm barely keeping my health below thirty percent right now. It's difficult fighting with pain coming from your chest and seeing your health counter go up and then down.

[Health: 284/950]

[Health: 273/950]

[Health: 285/950]

Ichigo made the first move. He ran towards me and threw his fist, aiming for my head. I weaved and used [Jab] while going for his face. He ducked and threw another fist, this time going for my chest. I countered, blocked it with my left hand, and then jabbed him in the left abdomen. He staggered but recovered quickly. Then he tackled me, his horn stabbing my stomach.

[Health: 229/950]

"Ack!"

I extended my claws and used [Lacerate] to cut through his armor and raked his back. This caused him to let go, and I was free.

I looked at the hole he created in my stomach and blood was spilling out. With the effect of [Rehab Tenacity], the hole slowly closed up in an instant. Since I have control over [Rehab Tenacity], I can regenerate any part of my body at will. Whether it's my arm getting cut off or my legs, they can regenerate as much as they want. If I don't want them to heal, then they won't heal. Currently, I don't want the wound on my chest to close up because I want my health to be lower than thirty percent so I can keep the boost.

Ichigo backed up and got back into his stance. I retracted my claws and balled them up.

I smiled.

Looks like he hasn't noticed.

My hands were covered in blood. I had collected some blood coming from my wound and I'm waiting for the right moment to use them to my advantage.

Ichigo charged at me again, and there was an opening, so I took it.

"Here, take this!"

I splattered blood on his eyes and he stopped in his tracks and covered his eyes.

"Burns, huh? No worries, you were going to get splattered in blood when you exit this tomb, so consider this as a warning of what happens-"

I charged towards him and grappled him. My right arm which was over his shoulder had snatched the forearm of my left arm which was beneath his underarm.

"-when you cross paths with me!!!"

Then I swept his legs, and then I slammed him into the ground. Looks like I'm pretty strong when my stats are doubled. As he was staggered, I grabbed onto his horn with my right hand and prepared to use [Lacerate] to cut it off with my left hand. In a panic, Ichigo's horn glowed, and then I received a couple of slashes on my right arm.

[Health: 175/950]

"T-t-that hurts!"

Even though my right arm was bleeding, I still held on and my left hand started to glow.

[Lacerate]

Slash!

My left hand phased through his horn and a second later, the horn flew off.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Ichigo roared in pain and kicked me in the face.

"Che-!"

Sh*t, I think he broke my nose. I looked at my hands; I didn't know if my nose was bleeding until I saw blood dripping from my nose.

[Health: 134/950]

I wiped my nose and looked down at Ichigo.

Now that his horn is gone, I don't need to worry about his distortion again.

Ichigo flipped around and started to crawl away.

Oh? He's crawling away now? Where may he be heading?

Then I noticed. He was heading for his blade.

That's bad. While Luna was fighting him, I noticed that the blade also has the ability to distort. Not only does his horn allow him to distort, but also his blade. When he has his blade, he uses it for attacking while his horn is used for defense.

"Hmph, resorting to these uses? I think not."

I took a step forward and walked past him. Then I knelt down and picked his blade up.

Right when I picked it up, I suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling. The feeling... to kill.

I dropped it on the ground, and my hand started flashing rapidly.

"W-what was that feeling?"

It stung.

Then a shock went through my body like I was being shot with a taser.

"Ack!"

I tripped and fell on the floor. I tried moving my neck to look around, but I couldn't.

Shing!

I saw a shining blade slowly approaching me. Ichigo held his blade with both hands and he got closer and closer. I gulped and started brainstorming what to do in this situation.

He was now in front of me and he held the sharp end of the blade in front of my face.

"Die..."

He said as he recoiled his arms and then pummeled his blade down.

Clink!

I slapped my hands together and caught the blade before it got me. The surrounding air warped, and I weaved my head to the right.

Crack!

A large crack appeared next to my left. I realized that there was a slight delay between his real attacks and his distorted attacks.

I wrapped my legs around his right arm and performed an armlock.

Kirik!

His armor cracked as I pulled harder on his arm.

Clang!

Ichigo let go of his blade, which fell onto the ground.

"Fufu, what's wrong? Is that all you've got?"

I said as I tugged harder. I may have heard a few bones crack, but I wasn't sure because it was masked by the sound of his armor breaking.

"Now... since that horn of yours is gone-"

My hands glowed. I started pouring light energy into his arm. When he noticed, it was too late.

In a second, his right arm blew off.

It didn't leave any traces of blood or flesh. It just dissolved into ashes.

Ichigo jumped back and glanced at his now missing arm.

I attempted to get up, but suddenly my legs gave out.

"Huh?"

I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Why?

Then my vision suddenly became blurry.

[Health: 59/950]

Shoot, I haven't been watching how much stamina I've been using. I'm exhausted. Doing that armlock must've put a strain on the pain in my chest. Though I didn't feel it, I must've opened the gash on my chest wider when I pulled on his arm.

I looked at the two cuts on my chest, and they slowly closed up. It's nice to have [Rehab Tenacity] except that my health will only go up ten points per second.

Shiiiiiing~

The blade glinted as it was pointed in front of me.

"So what I did was a waste, huh? That's nice to know before I die."

I said sarcastically.

Ichigo looked at his blade and then at me.

Then what happened next was kind of unexpected.

He jabbed his blade into the ground and offered me his hand.

"Get up..."

Did he just say what I thought he said? Despite all the protesting in my heart, I took his hand, and he pulled me up.

"Why... would you do that?"

Ichigo sheathed his blade and inspected it. He walked up to me and placed it in my hand. When he placed it in my hand, I expected to get shocked once more, but instead, nothing happened.

"Wha-"

But then he held another blade in his hand, a dagger. The one that Luna uses. He started removing his armor until it was just his shirt. He then got onto his knees and then looked at me.

I know what this is.

Seppuku.

"But why?"

"No one... has ever done this to me when I was alive."

He said glancing at his missing arm and touched his forehead where his horn was supposed to be.

"Not even my former master was able to harm me. I despised him, so I left him and became a ronin."

Then he glanced at me.

"If only I had served someone like you."

He hovered the dagger near his stomach.

"Wait."

I said. Ichigo looked at me with a confused expression.

"I know how you can serve me."

Ichigo was silent as he heard that.

"How?"

"You can serve me, but you'll have to end your life here."

"That's alright with me. I have already died once. If I'm able to die twice to serve someone like you, I'll accept it."

"Good. For that, I'll behead you so you won't feel any pain."

"Thank you."

Wow, to think I would behead a samurai. This is like... an honor!

I unsheathed the Katana out of its sheath. There it was again, that same blood-lusting feeling I felt when I first touched it.

Ichigo hesitated for a second, and then he thrusted the dagger into his stomach. He twisted it a few, and it sounded painful.

Without hesitation, I used [Lacerate] and the blade went through the back of his neck in an instant. There wasn't even a slicing sound, just a "Whoosh!". There was a slight delay before his head disconnected from his neck.

I was gripping on the blade hard, then I sheathed it. The blood-lusting feeling went away.

[Quest: Defeat Ichigo Homare the Distorted One (Completed)]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Lacerate level up! (Lv9)]

[Jab level up! (Lv8)]

[Rewards: Murderous Daunting, Koshiro]

Murderous Daunting and Koshiro?

[Murderous Daunting: Intimidation; allows you to disable enemy's guard for ten seconds when first glare]

I looked at my storage and what I pulled out was a replica of the sword I was holding. Then the sword melted in my hands, leaving me with the copy.

I carried Ichigo's body and head and placed him in the coffin and bowed.

Now...

I turned around and there was a purple soul wandering around the room. Raising my hand, it slowly came towards me.

[Soul absorbed]

"A purple soul, huh? Well, it would've been disrespectful if he was a green one."

How much space did that take?

[Souls: 40/42]

Ten spaces, huh? So blue souls equal one, green equals two, and purple equals ten. Hehe, I can't complain.

[Quest: Clear the Tomb (Completed)]

[Reward: Wind Magic(Lv1), -Branch Skill: Distortion-]

Branch skill?

---

[Skills]

Fire Magic(Lv4)

Light Magic(Lv6)

Dark Magic(Lv1)

Wind Magic(Lv1) -Distortion-

Jab(Lv8)

Leap(Lv2)

Lacerate(Lv9)

---

So it's like an extra skill, got it.

Then, suddenly, the ground shook.

"Whoa, what's happening?"

Ding!

[You have 10 minutes to escape.]

[Time to escape: 10:00]

[Time to escape: 9:59]