Reborn: Apocalypse

Micheal slowed his breathing as he ran, his eyes staring directly at the head of the Pirate Lord. He watched every minute movement the man made, reacting instantaneously to them with small changes in how he positioned himself.

In just a split second, they collided.

SSHKKK

Micheal carefully parried the attack, his sword batted backwards as Lord Brandon's axe slammed into it. The resulting impact was mostly absorbed by his arm and chest, causing him to spin around, the force of the blow turning him to his back.

The attack, despite not directly hitting him, shattered several of his ribs and caused his right lung to collapse, blood spurting out of his lips. It also twisted up his right leg, causing his knee to be pulled out of its socket, and spread a huge amount of pain through his body. The Strength gap between Micheal and the Pirate Lord could not be closed with raw skill alone.

At the same time, as he spun around, Micheal painfully jammed his left hand forward. The bones in his arm were cracked but that didn't make it inoperable.

The Close Impact Bomb was a small, white cube with a magical sensor on it. As long as Micheal twice tapped the button that would turn it on, it would automatically be armed and ready to explode at the slightest amount of movement discovered.

His left hand carried the bomb all the way to where he had been looking, the black metal facemask of the Pirate Lord.

Before it could reach, however, the left arm of the Pirate Lord preemptively crushed down, tucking Micheal's arm into his black chestplate.

SNAP

Micheal's left arm broke yet again, this time splintering in multiple places along the forearm. Blood spattered out as Micheal's vision grew woozy again from all the injuries he had taken. He ignored the sweeping waves of pain that were screaming at him, his focus and power of will carrying him forward.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice your strategy?" Brandon's voice carried with it a tinge of disappointment.

"The head is the most vulnerable part of a human. Obviously you would go for it, especially using your explosives." The Pirate Lord sighed,

"And here I thought you were interesting."

'Do I go off like that when I am about to kill people?' Micheal internally wondered as he forced himself to remain conscious and focused. His body had already lost a ton of blood, making that task a challenging one.

In the scant second Micheal had when the Pirate Lord had trapped his hand, Micheal had repositioned his right arm, holding his sword out in front of him. The sword, instead of being pointed away from him, was turned around and aimed at his chest. He made use of the unexpected extra few seconds to precisely position the sword a little more accurately.

All of this was obscured from the Pirate Lord's vision due to where Micheal's body was, blocking it off, and his focus on stopping the Close Impact Bomb from reaching his head. While the explosive would be greatly weakened by the armor he wore, it still had a chance at hurting him if it blew up right next to his head.


With the explosive trapped under Brandon's arm and chest, clamped between the metal armor, there was no chance at all that Micheal would be able to move it upward.

At this point in time, as everything seemed to be lost and going exactly as the Pirate Lord had predicted…

Micheal smiled.

He then stabbed down with his sword, piercing his own heart.

His gleaming Steelborn sword cut through his flesh and bone like it was paper, stabbing directly through his heart, virtually pulverizing it. The blade cut all the way through him and continued forward, unabated, blood spurting out of his injuries…

Right until it stabbed directly into the joint that connected Lord Brandon's left arm to his shoulder. The Sword Energy that covered his blade carried just enough cutting power to pierce through this location, splitting the metal apart and cutting slightly into the arm of the Pirate Lord.

The direct plate armor of the Black Armor Ability was extremely tough, defensively. That was the main point of the Black Knight Ability, its strong suit. At his current level of Strength and Soul, Micheal wasn't confident that he would be able to pierce through it directly. While he may have the Grandmaster Sword Mastery Skill, he could only utilize a small portion of it with his current Soul stat.

However… when it came to the weaker joint sections… well, that was another story.

A split second later, as the Pirate Lord was registering the attack, the Close Impact Bomb Micheal held in his broken left hand went off. The bomb was pressed up against the chest plate and left arm of the Pirate Lord, located just below the large gouge Micheal's blade had made in the shoulder joint.

"…"

BOOOOOOM

Micheal died.

His body was flung away, the top half of his face and chest blasted to nothingness, crashing down against the window of the skyscraper. His Steelborn and Spatial Ring stayed attached to his right arm, falling down with him.

Pirate Lord Brandon fared much better, his protective armor mostly shielding him from the impact.

However, due to the large gouge in his armor where his left arm connected to his shoulder, the explosive impact managed to penetrate past the protective gear. The blast sent the Pirate Lord flying backwards, flipping twice through the air till he crashed down hard, smoke rising off his body.

Sophia, on the other hand, had managed to recover from the first blast. The second one shocked her eardrums again as she fell backwards, her hands shaking. Her eyes grew bloodshot as she stared at Micheal's deceased form, her mind shaken.

For a moment, there was silence.

"…"

"Arrrgh! Fuck!"

Pirate Lord Brandon swore as he got to his feet, his chest heaving. He didn't dare to look at his left arm, able to feel the gruesome, bloody injury. The injury was crippling and likely would cost him a large number of Points to repair. His vision was filled with red and blurred as he looked around the room.

crunch

His breath grew ragged as he saw several Morenkai file into the skyscraper, from three separate ground entrances. The explosions had drawn their notice and they began to lumber forward, their great, black skeletal figures ominously shambling.

He glanced at the downed Sophia.

Sophia glanced back, somehow recovering in that short period of time. Her mental fortitude was incredible for someone that was only 21. As she looked at the Pirate Lord, a pink glow began to appear around her eyes.

WHOOSH

THUNK

The Pirate Lord threw his Returner Axe at her, only to see it bounce off some type of magical forcefield that blocked projectiles. A bracelet glowed on Sophia's arm, the Artifact that powered the shield.

Instantly, the Pirate Lord made a decision as more Morenkai began to fill the room, calling back his Returner Axe.

He turned around and fled, not wasting any more time.

Everything that had happened here was far beyond his expectations. He had played everything cautiously, not acting in a careless manner, especially after he saw his target use explosives. Yet, somehow, despite that, he still was badly injured, though he did manage to kill his opponent.

'What kind of man stabs his own heart to attack someone else?!' The thought flashed through his mind, full of incredulity, as he blasted away, sprinting to a doorway and rapidly clambering up the stairs.

Back on the ground floor, Sophia got to her feet, picking up her red dagger as she looked at the approaching Morenkai. Her breathing became quick and nervous as she watched their figures approach. She prepared to make a break for it as well, towards one of the other stairwells.

Before she could do anything else, however…

SHKKK

A blurred figure dashed into sight, cutting down two of the regular Morenkai with ease. Black blood spattered in the air as Micheal looked at Sophia, giving her a wink.

"Quick, let's get out of here! They'll keep swarming if we don't!"

"H-Huh?! Yo-you're alive?!"

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Pirate Lord Brandon took several heavy breaths as he looked out at the overhanging sun, wincing as he felt the agony his left arm was experiencing. He had just made it out onto the rooftop, away from that hellish scene down below.

'The tendon is shot and the muscle almost fully cut. The bone appears intact, if cracked. My shoulder blade is cracked as well, and several of the ligaments are burnt. With proper care from the medical team back at base, I should recover fine, though I'll likely require some medicine from the Shop.' His body shook,

'If I hadn't already killed that unknown bastard, I'd swear an oath to do so right now. I left that bitch alive too…' He swore in his head, trying to regain control of his thoughts. The pain and anger he felt was clouding his judgment,

'But really… who stabs their own heart to attack someone, and then sets off a bomb while still holding onto it?!' He was filled with anger as he repeated an earlier thought, still not over it. He had never faced such an illogical opponent. If not for his powerful Type Ability, he likely would've died. The entire series of events ridiculous.

"Oh? Is that you, Brandon?"

Abruptly, Brandon's heart dropped as he spun around, hearing a familiar voice,

A man covered in a lustrous, golden aura with a pair of beautiful wings flowing from his back stared at Brandon.

"Raymen." Brandon muttered back, stupefied. He had just run into the General of the Saru Group. One of his avowed personal enemies. How could his luck today be so bad?

"Far from home, aren't ya? Oh? You appear to be quite injured." General Raymen's eyes flashed as he took this all in, his hand slowly going to his waist, where a long silver sword could be seen.

"How unfortunate for you."

.