Overknight Hero

Chapter 17: Alter Bridge (2)

(God... Things indeed got the worse turn for me.)

Xaviel had lost his concentration because of slight vertigo. It made his effort to nullify crushing motion in vain. Thus, the Beast began to put pressure on his fingers, which cracked his entire body. But...

CRSHT!!

A certain amount of blood scorched.

ZEOAARGH!!

The beast cries in pain as its head wiggles around.

Xaviel had managed to slip by the Beast’s grasp. He is now sitting on the ground, panting while his right arm holds his left shoulder.

“Huff...Huf...Huff...Got you... Bitch..” said Xaviel while pointing at the Beast with his left hand.

“What..?? How? What had happened??” Krey shouted in confusion.

“It’s simple.. actually. I could explain it thoroughly until you understand what I just did... But what do you think?”

“What do I.. Think?”

“Would you think I would explain it through and through so you would understand?”

“I have no reason to believe you would”

“Not. A wrong answer.”

Xaviel rose and said, “Thanks to you. I had reached a higher level of understanding of my own power. Which in turn, made me more competent in using it,”

Krey didn’t do anything but stare at him in response to that.

Xaviel closed his eyes.

A silence occurred as he calmed himself down and focused. He is now looking at an empty void with a black tint, except his hand is still visible. Xaviel then focused his mind on making something appear. Soon, a thread of white lines appeared horizontally. It is followed by another thread spanning vertically and another and another. The threads accumulated and created a spiderweb-like object spanning Xaviel’s entire vision filling this empty void. Looking closer to the complexities of the spiderweb, Xaviel can see icons attached to each of its threads. Most of the icons are in grey color except for two icons colored blue and yellow, respectively. He reached and popped the blue icon opening a pop-up window.

-+

[Phantom Armament]

Objects you currently possess are converted to a ‘phantom’ state.

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Characteristics: Passive

Class: Cardinal

-+

(Phantom Armament.. the ability to make an object I grasp into an intangible state. The premise is bound by 2 phases, the [CONVERSION] Phase and [CHOOSING] Phase)

Xaviel looks at his palm. He proceeds to form a cross with his right hand above his left hand.

(For the Conversion Phase, It usually goes out for about 30 seconds to convert something or at the lowest 10 seconds if I had converted a similar object before. It relies heavily on the imagination and structural knowledge of the object. I can’t use it on massive objects because usually, the entire object has a very distinct structure on each of its parts. Heavily decreasing my time to focus and convert it all to a phantom state)

Xaviel, in need of a study case, imagines a concrete wall in front of him. His hand then reached and made direct contact with it.

(For example, if I were to use it on a concrete wall. There should be different bricks inside the wall that make up the structure. They may be set in 2’s or 3’s, but I won’t know the details until dissecting them. Because it is also required to convert each of the structural parts into a phantom state. Same with the human body, it's too complex for me to properly turn every skull and organ into a phantom state. I stuck with the basic stuff like daggers, rocks, pebbles)

He remembers the scene where he first kills a Giant Rat.

(In Choosing Phase, however, where I choose what object it can touch and not, things are far more straightforward. It does require prior knowledge of the structural parts of the object I want to enter, but it doesn’t require time like in the conversion phase. For example, when I previously stabbed all those giant rats right in the brain, I had prior knowledge of a rat’s anatomy. During my time at Uni, we used the rat as a laboratory experiment for our brain to machine interface contraption. That anatomy knowledge was enough for me to ideally phase through the rat’s other body parts or organs. When I choose the object to be tangible again, the effect will occur instantly)

He imagines a door with a lock, resembling his near-death moment when he explodes the lock.

(These are the basic rules of Phantom Armament that I personally gathered by using excessively. Though, it seems my understanding was somehow still quite lacking)

Backtracking, he remembers the scene just before. Where he was completely cornered with no way to escape. When he is grabbed by the Beast.

(At that moment, where I was about to be crushed. I activated Phantom Armament using something other than my hand. That time... I made my armour intangible using my upper body, so it went through the Beast’s hand and turned it back to tangible halfway through. Impaling its hand with my armour. Then  I used its own blood as a lubricant to slip away back to the ground)

Xaviel, filled with a realization, spreads out his hands.

(Conversion Phase of Phantom Armament isn’t limited to what my hand can touch. Instead, it's what my body can touch and feel that can be converted into a ‘phantom’ state. Thus, if anything my body touch can become a phantom object, then the particle of every object that interacts with my body can be intangible. Every ounce of my body could convert anything to a ‘phantom state.’)

Slowly both his hand is filled with light. Slowly but surely, it spreads down, forming a figure. Yes, the light is forming his entire body!

As the light fades, it reveals that his whole body is now visible inside this empty void.

(The presence of my entire body means I am not yet nearing my limit nor capabilities of using Phantom Armament. It means that with enough concentration and willpower… not just on my hands but my entire being, I could more effectively turn objects into… ‘PHANTOM’ STATE!!)

CLING!!!!

A burst of light glows from the other icon in yellow, followed by a wind breeze.

Xaviel reached out his hand towards the icon. As his finger gets nearer, he felt more and more energy surging into him.

CLICK!

A panel popped out of nowhere, revealing information representing the icon. It acts much like that of a pop-up window inside a computer. The panel reads...

-+

[Phantom Armament’s Mastery]

-=Level: Adept=-

Phantom Armament will convert objects into a ‘phantom’ state much faster.

’Structural Knowledge’ is gained within 1 minute after every successful conversion.

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Characteristics: Passive

Class: Proficiency

-+

***

ZOARG!!!!

The Beast began moving again, charging toward Xaviel.

Xaviel is still closing his eyes, with his right hand on his left shoulder and his left hand holding his stomach vest.

As the best entered a specific distance range, it grabbed its paws and slashed it in Xaviels direction.

SWUSH!!

SRCTSTTT!!!

At the last moment, Xaviel used his powers to phase through his own armour from his body and onto The Beast’s hand,  severing the flesh and revealing its bone. To a shock, the Beast cried out in pain yet again.

ZOARGHHH!!!

With the Beast stunned. Xaviel ran away, evading the Beast, managing to grab his previously left knife on the floor and retreat to a nearby wall. As the entire hall was dimly lit, one couldn’t be sure where someone else was hiding. This caused Xaviel to be temporarily hidden from Krey.

“THE LAST HERO!!!” Krey screamed in panic and ran towards his significantly wounded Beast. “It all be fine!! Alter Bridge!!!” Krey strikes up a weird pose.

A blue panel appears again. It appeared directly on the flesh cut off from the Beast's hand this time.

(It seems the fucker is trying to heal that Beast. Well, let him try)

Xaviel then thrust his knife to the wall creating a swarm of pebbles.

As the panel went by, it restored the Beast's hand back into its original. But wait, somehow the hand looks very different. It had... A massive bulge on one of its wrists!

“What the??”

“That bulge..!!” Xaviel shouted as it echoed around the hall. “That bulge was a piece of a metal button from my uniform! Because of how old it is. It has already been corroded because of oxidation !”

“What???”

“It had now entered The Last Hero… And in turn, his blood will be contaminated by bacterias and cause LockJaw (Tetanus[1]) !”

“What, what is that??”

“You don’t know? Lock Jaw is a deadly disease wherein a matter of seconds. Your Beast will die of suffocation because of that bacteria. Its brains will then explode!!”

“NO... It can’t... You’re bluffing..”

“If you think I am… Just look at the bulge. It will explode because of the bacteria in 5….”

“NO!!”

“4…”

“NOOOO!!! THE LAST HERO, GET DOWN. I'LL CLEANSE YOUR BLOOD!!!”

“IT’S TOO LATE NOW!!!” Xaviel said.

“ALTER BRIDGE!!!!”

Suddenly a blue panel emerges from the ground approaching the Beast. Xaviel then emerges from a nearby wall chasing the blue panel.

“Whaa??”

In truth, Xaviel was waiting for this moment. He had purposefully inserted the metal button onto the Beast’s hand. But it wasn’t to affect the Beast with any bacteria at all. The bulge keeps expanding to look like it would blow up because Xaviel made it tangible at a prolonged speed at the Beast’s outer body. Xaviel was also bluffing the whole time. He didn’t even know what tetanus does. He purposefully leads Krey to believe that the Beast contracted some kind of bacteria so that he would use his own power to cleanse its blood.

Xaviel, too was poisoned because of the Giant Rats. He was looking for a way to cure himself. He then goes on a plan to exploit the weakness of the blue panel made by Krey. Because Krey can’t control what goes affected and what is not affected, given the proof, the previous metal button stayed inside the Beast's hand without any deterioration or anything.

At the start of the bluffing moment... Xaviel was already prepared and decided that at this time. He will cleanse his own blood and attack at the same time. This is why he is now charging forward. He chased the blue panel overtaking it by the process. Clearing his blood of any remaining toxins. Then, As the panel reaches the Beast, the bulge explodes as the metal button has been entirely tangible to the Beast’s hand. Blood scorched out of its hand, staining Xaviel's body. Though this did not stop his movement. Not one bit.

As he charged and got nearer to Krey, he clenched his fist and hanged it up. Krey, who was in a weird pose, seemed stunned.

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Xaviel cries.

BUK!!!!!

Xaviel hits Krey’s jaw with a mighty punch, sending him backwards. Then, Krey falls onto the ground with his entire body on the floor, seemingly out cold.

“usyha!” Xaviel said as he pointed to Krey.

[1] Lockjaw or Tetanus: Tetanus is a potentially fatal bacterial infection that affects the nerves interfering with the ability to breathe, eventually causing death.