Reborn: Apocalypse

His abrupt entry caused a rather immediate reaction.

The regular Morenkai stayed where it was, trapped by Sophia's Fairy Eyes still. The towering Abnormal swung its head to look at Micheal, its muscles bulging as it began to step towards him.

The Golden Morenkai swiveled its head, zeroing in on Micheal. Golden light began to shine around it as it stared, unmoving, faint sparks of energy twinkling in the air.

Micheal didn't waste any time as he sprinted forward, his superhuman muscles blasting him through the air. His footwork was impeccable as he moved as fast as possible, his body a blur.

The large Abnormal lumbered right towards him, its large legs stomping down hard on the stone floor. Sophia's Fairy Eyes would need a second or two to take effect, even if she ran in right behind him. In that split second, the Abnormal and Micheal reached each other, crossing the distance in an instant.

"Hup!" In one graceful movement, Micheal ducked down and slid, his entire body falling almost directly down as he focused.

WHOOSH

A huge fist bigger than his head pushed aside the air, forming a small breeze as it flew barely past his head. The spikes on the knuckles and fingers of this fist nearly cut into his face as they passed over him, gleaming faintly as sunlight reflected off of them.

'It is a fast one, damn.' The muscular Morenkai's blow was extremely fast, almost clipping him in the chest and head. He only barely managed to avoid it by predicting the strike based on the positioning of its body and the movements it made, reacting preemptively.

Micheal temporarily decided to put his faith in Sophia as he ignored the giant Morenkai, rushing at the Golden Morenkai. If he didn't and gave it a chance to escape, it would be far too dangerous to chase it out onto the streets, even if he could potentially use his Life Orbs to fly up out of danger.

Thanks to that, and his hurried sprint and abrupt entrance, Micheal managed to land next to the Golden Morenkai before it had a chance to do much of anything.

SHHKK

The results were predictable.

His blade, coated in a layer of Sword Energy, easily sliced through the legs of the Golden Morenkai, immobilizing it, and cut off its arms as well. In the same cutting motion, he leapt through the air slammed his blade down onto the chest of the regular Morenkai that was standing just beside it, still immobilized by Sophia's Fairy Eyes.

Black blood spattered out as he spun around, ignoring the corpse of the regular Morenkai as it fell to the floor and the Points notification that went off. Several Life Orbs floated around his body at the ready as he kept his guard up, ready to attack the Abnormal.

As he turned around, however, he smiled.

The huge, muscular Abnormal Morenkai was standing absolutely still, unmoving. Its body was frozen in a stepping motion, as if it was about to take a step and then found itself unable to finish.


Walking over towards Micheal, with only a hint of nervousness, was Sophia, her eyes glowing pink.

"Great job, Sophia!" There was a reason he considered recruiting her, beyond just her personality.

The Ability 'Fairy Eyes' was a Limited one. Many of the unique Abilities were like that, only given out in Limited quantities and usually quite cheap. The Shop must have had a certain logic for these designations, at least, researchers had argued, but Micheal wasn't aware of the specifics.

Regardless, her Fairy Eyes were extremely powerful here, especially against most Morenkai, and even many Abnormals. She would be a huge asset to his team, should he continue to form one.

"I-I got it! But it's taking up almost all of my focus. I don't think I can trap anyone else right now!" Her voice shook slightly, but underneath was an undercurrent of steel.

"Just keep it steady there. This is what you need to kill over here." Micheal pointed at the Golden Morenkai that he had taken down.

The creature, despite losing its arms and legs, was still alive, its entire body vibrating with golden energy. The skeletal creature was grotesque, its appetite for human blood showing through as it tried to lunge at them.

"Hup!" Micheal walked up and flipped the body of the creature over, brutally stabbing it in the spine without hesitation. Almost immediately its struggles ceased, though it remained alive.

"This is it. If you kill this, you should gain a huge amount of Points, more than 10,000. I'll go handle the Abnormal." He glanced at her, his eyes steady as he studied her.

Sophia looked at the Golden Morenkai, her pink eyes narrowing. Her entire body shook slightly as she took several deep breaths, gaining full control of her emotions.

'She really isn't like a normal human at all… no wonder she got called the Demon Fairy…' It was only day 3 yet she could already handle something like this. She had a far stronger will when it came to stuff like this than he had had when it was his first time, it reminded him a bit of Shin. His best friend had always been able to handle change better than he had.

"Here." Micheal handed her a regular sword from his Low-Tier Spatial Ring. When he had trained Lana and Khari, he had purchased a plain, normal sword himself in the Shop for cheap. It was a bad sword that normally wouldn't even scratch a normal Morenkai, suitable only for practice.

"The back of their skull is very weak, even a sword like this can pierce it." He motioned for her to go on.

Sophia looked down at the Golden Morenkai. Her eyes flashed as she stared at it and then, without waiting, stabbed down with the blade.

SHHHHH

Black blood spurted from the wound, several drops melting the normal iron sword as she hastily withdrew it. She looked at Micheal, her face apologetic.

"Sorr- oh my goodness!" Sophia cut herself off, her eyes widening in shock as Micheal took his now damaged iron blade from her.

"Th-the Points! I gained a bit more than 13,000!"

Micheal smiled as he heard her excited tone.

"See? I told you this was a viable and fast way to earn Points!"

Sophia turned to look at him, tears appearing in the corner of her eyes as genuine gratefulness bled through.

At that exact moment… something completely unexpected happened.

WHOOSH

THUNK

Micheal jerked his head to the left as he saw and heard movement.

"Ooh, that was a big un', a big un' indeed."

From out of nowhere, a huge axe had slammed into the chest of the muscular Morenkai. This axe blew apart a huge hole in its chest, black blood leaking out of the now gargantuan wound. Slowly, the corpse of the Abnormal fell, killed in a single blow.

"Pretty rare to see one as big as that." From the shadows of the stairwell he and Sophia had emerged from, a large, armor clad figure appeared, walking forward in slow, steady steps. This figure wore a set of immaculate black armor that fit so perfectly it looked like a gleaming outer set of skin. Beautiful grey designs could be seen on this armor, giving it an archaic, medieval appearance.

'Shit.' Micheal's eyes widened as he realized who he was facing.

The A Ranked Pirate Lord Brandon.

One of the two leaders of the Black Flag Pirates.

One of the physically strongest fighters in the entire Cluster.

'Damn it.'

'It's too soon for me to handle someone of his level. This never happened in the past...' As his heart tried to panic, he instantly forced the feelings down, remaining calm and collected.

The Pirate Lord came to a stop as he fully entered the room, his facemask turning as he ostensibly scanned it. Micheal's entire body tensed up as his mind raced ahead of him.

'Focus. Think.' For the first time since he returned, a vicious light appeared in Micheal's eyes. The friendly cheer he'd shared with Sophia vanished, replaced by a predatory cold gleam.

The eyes of a man that had been through hell and came back ready for more.

His entire demeanor changed as his heart grew cold. Every fiber of his being was stretched to the extreme, his entire concentration centered on one being, a single thought flush in his mind.

'I cannot give up here.' Sophia would almost certainly die if he fled.

"Hello, you two. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill the both of you."

.