[WARNING: HOSTILE DETECTED]
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Description: Nathaniel lost his mind; he wants to kill you. Defeat the opponent without killing him to earn experience (stored mana will be converted into experience).
-Rewards for completion: A thousand experience points for defeating Nathaniel; five hundred D.N.A. in either case; and two dexterity points.
-Failure Penalty: Death by killing or defeat in the inner rankings.
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As Nathaniel's rage increased, the biological supercomputer detected the young man's hostility and issued a quest Erik didn't expect.
He had to defeat Nathaniel, and if he managed to do so, the system would turn some of the mana it stored into experience points.
Erik looked at the young man standing before them with an expression between shock and hatred on his face. He couldn't believe that Nathaniel was really trying to kill him again.
This wasn't the first time, and he wondered how he could trigger so easily. Erik actually killed someone in the past, but that happened because he couldn't bear any more of Conal's, Logan's, and Orson's attacks.
He thought about killing people and stealing their power but didn't cross the line; they were mere thoughts.
However, Nathaniel was really aiming to kill him. Now that his bloodlust was directly headed for him, Erik was pissed. He didn't want to allow Nathaniel to treat him like this. So, he quickly gathered his strength and prepared for the impending confrontation.
Then Erik realized something; previously, when he saw Nathaniel or heard him talk about him, he had only viewed him as a spoiled brat, but it was now evident that Nathaniel was a sociopath.
"Let me tell you something," said Nathaniel, looking at Erik. "After this, they will need to pick you up with a spoon."
"You're going to regret what you said, "Erik replied. "I'm sick of you!"
His voice echoed through the room. The words made Nathaniel just angrier as, in his distorted mind, Erik had to be scared.
At that moment, Nathaniel darted toward Erik; his speed was significantly higher than before, and he finally managed to reach Erik's speed.
That was impressive since it meant that Nathaniel was able to reach the speed and power of an OMICRON-1-ranked fighter despite only being at the PI level. Erik was annoyed by life's unfairness.
If only he had been born with such a mighty brain crystal power, he wouldn't have had a life so hard. As soon as Nathaniel reached Erik, the awakened avoided the strike again. Still, things weren't so simple this time for him since, with the increase in mana output, Nathaniel pumped up the radius of his attacks, making it harder for his opponent to avoid the strikes.
Erik couldn't help but feel envious of Nathaniel's brain crystal power, but he knew that he had to focus on his fight if he wanted to survive. In fact, the young man quickly understood that if the prick managed to land even a hit on him, he would get seriously injured. Nathaniel punched, releasing an incredible amount of mana and moving the surrounding air easily.
He basically created air cannons that made it hard for Erik to keep his balance. Erik tilted to the side and avoided the blast; he could see Nathaniel's opening and raised his Flyssa to cut him.
However, Nathaniel used the second function of his rare brain crystal power and created a small barrier that decreased his mana by a lot. He blocked the move, channeled mana, and raised his arm to punch again.
Erik moved at an astonishing speed and went directly behind Nathaniel, who heard the man and quickly jumped, twisting his body and raising his mana-charged leg to unleash a kick on Erik's head. Erik anticipated Nathaniel's move and bent back, avoiding the lightning-fast kick and the shockwave it created; then, from that position, he counterattacked, swinging his sword again and aiming right above Nathaniel's shoulder, which caused the young man to release another barrier, through which he parried the attack.
The blow landed on it, stopping the attack. Erik felt like he had just struck a metal bar, but no sound was produced. It was weird.
However, Nathaniel stumbled back as a result of the sword's impact, but he quickly regained his balance and charged at Erik, who was astounded by Nathaniel's fortitude. The two clashed in a flurry of blows, their weapons ringing in the air as they fought with all their might.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Nathaniel started maniacally laughing since the more the fight progressed and the more his bloodlust increased.
However, it was totally different than Erik's, as it made Nathaniel rapidly descend into madness, while the awakener was much more composed when his need to kill arose. Erik's eyes glinted with fierce determination as he parried Nathaniel's attacks, his movements calculated and precise. Despite Nathaniel's increasing frenzy, Erik remained calm and collected, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
His opponent, instead, seemed to have lost his mind. "I WILL KILL YOU! YES! I'M GOING TO SEND YOU TO YOUR DEAR MOTHER!" Nathaniel yelled at Erik.
The young man stepped up his game and released a barrage of punches aimed straight at Erik's chest. The awakener had trouble avoiding the deadly strikes, but at least Nathaniel started caring less and less about his stance, multiplying his openings severalfold.
Erik started slowly counter-attacking. A slash here, another there, but every strike was parried or avoided by Nathaniel, who, after one minute, looked more like a beast than a human. "NATHANIEL MCCONEL! STOP, NOW!" The healer shouted.
It was now clear that this duel went just beyond the inner-ranking climbing. Not even two minutes had passed since he called for reinforcements, and the guards had yet to arrive. He started growing more worried since it was clear that Nathaniel was fighting to kill.
He pressed the button again and contacted security. "Where the fuck is the security?!" he shouted on the phone. "They are on their way; what is happening, Martin?!" the person on the other side asked, but the healer slammed the phone on the desk and stopped paying attention to it. Martin's heart was racing as he tried to remain calm, but the thought of one of the two students dying made him feel uneasy.
He could not intervene to stop the fight, as the two students showed a prowess much higher than their levels, and he was a healer and not specialized at fighting at all. For the peasant rank, the Red Palace usually only sent the healers to check up on the fights since they were usually sufficiently strong to stop the kids in case something like this happened. For the higher ranks, more people got actually sent.
Still, the two students were well beyond the peasant rank in terms of strength, as they were essentially at the knight level. For those ranks, there were usually guards stationed in every room. Nathaniel's mana seemed endless, while Erik's was meager in comparison.
Yet, the awakener, thanks to a masterful management of the spare resource, could keep his flyssa sharp. However, it was clear that he wasn't winning anymore, and his initial confidence disappeared.
But over time, the urge to kill gradually took its place. Erik was trying to keep his bloodlust under control, but it wasn't easy with Nathaniel's full-on psycho mode. The need to kill him or at least make him suffer arose.
The fight continued; 3...4...5 seconds elapsed, during which the two exchanged blow after blow. Erik started becoming increasingly able to capitalize on Nathaniel's now numerous openings, and the young man started accumulating wound after wound, further enraging the kid.
"YOU ARE DEAD! I PROMISE YOU WILL NOT SEE THE SUN AGAIN TOMORROW!" Nathaniel punched again, and Erik avoided the strike.
However, he didn't go beside Nathaniel this time but simply dove. His hair fluttered into the wind due to the shockwaves Nathaniel sent, and this time he punched; his opponent was too lost in his rage and delusions to notice that Erik didn't use his main hand.
Nathaniel used his barrier again to stop the blow, but the awakener actually used the momentum he gained to spin in the air and attack Nathaniel from the side. Erik exhausted all his mana in this strike, making his Flyssa able to cut steel easily.
In that split second, Nathaniel tried to block the attack with his barrier again, but since he exhausted a lot of mana to keep up with Erik's speed and to conjure the barriers, his mana was dangerously low. He didn't have enough of the ethereal substance to create a new barrier, and Erik ended up cutting Nathaniel's hands off his arms.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nathaniel shouted in pain, and immediately, the mana he channeled got disrupted. It was at that moment that the guards finally arrived.
They quickly jumped into the middle of the room and pulled Erik away from Nathaniel. The healer emerged from the room and yelled, "NO, IT'S THE ONE ON THE GROUND!" The guards then rushed at Nathaniel, who was losing a lot of blood and was looking at his stump.
However, the healer immediately rushed at him and started reattaching his limbs.
"YOU WON THE MATCH, ERIK! NOW, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
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