’20 percent is way more demanding than I remember it being. Then again, I was already in Gamma Rank by the time I maxed out my separate Augmentation skills and unlocked Actuate,’ Glancing down at the NightWalker as it tried collecting itself, I felt my left leg, the one I pushed off of the ground with, spasm slightly, but I was able to play it off as me shifting my footing.
’If it’s already like this at only 20%, I don’t look forward to what shape ima be in as I increase things.’ Tilting my head to the side and releasing a pop from my neck, I thought back to my training two years ago when I finally unlocked Actuate.
Knowing the effect the Skill had on me physically, I knew better than to take things too far, but that didn’t stop me from executing a quick off/on of the Skill at each percentage. From that split second at each different increase, I was able to gauge how long I’d be able to sustain the Skill before something critical happened to my body.
Suffice it to say, the limits of my body far surpassed the ones I had in the origin timeline, where even pushing to 70% for five seconds was more than enough to cause near-permanent damage to me.
Being a 6C had its perks, and my body was naturally more sturdy; still, that didn’t mean I should go around abusing the shit out of it, and while I could easily obliterate the NightWalker by using 100%, I only had rough estimates for how long I could hold up before my legs say…exploded, or I turned into red mist.
The Skill was simply that double-edged.
By my estimate, I could hold 100% for all of a second, any longer than that, and I would get shredded to a point where I’d either die on the spot or spend the next five years in a medical tank.
’20% did some damage, but it was able to heal it within 3 seconds,’ Narrowing my eyes, I slashed my claws against each other, generating another shower of sparks, as I heard the first shouts of surprise from my group.
Sure, everyone but Piniki and Sonas knew about me, but they, too, were caught off guard when I suddenly showed up as Xipher after being blown off the platform.
"XIPHER! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" My Father screamed in an over-animated manner, almost making everyone roll their eyes at his poor acting skills.
"Ohh, what do we have here, Mr. JaxxRett, Little Marek, Lady Castle…hm, do my eyes deceive me or do I spot my adorable little Pinky too…and…" blinking three times, my line of sight fell on Sonas, and I almost snorted instinctually in laughter because of how ridiculous he looked.
"Poor little Sonnasitc seems he took quite a bump there; keep up the good work, Little Pinky," Smiling with my eyes, I watched as pure horror filled Piniki’s face because I was the one person she had never been able to silence when it came to her nickname…and well, I was the source of it to begin with.
I had beaten her black and blue and took some liberties with her body…if you catch my drift, and on national Television too, and when I called her Adorable and Pinky, the image she had worked so desperately to build for herself was shattered in an instant.
Alright, I may have gone a bit overboard with her back then, but what did I care?
"Hmm, someone’s missing; ah yes, Nexus, tell me, heroes, where has your leader disappeared to?"
"GAOOOO!" Mid conversation, annoyed that it was being ignored, and enraged at how I’d manhandled it earlier, the NightWalker shot toward me, wishing to rip me to shreds with its claws, but with a slight hop, and activation…
’Actuate: 20%,’
BANG
I elbowed the monster in the stomach with such force that black gas spewed from its nose and mouth, kind of like bile or blood; regardless, I hit the damn thing so hard I saw all six of its eyes glaze over.
’Actuate: 30%,’
Yet I didn’t finish things there, with my eyes flicking around its body, looking for weak points to abuse; I locked onto the damage, which still hadn’t fully healed on its chest, and stabbed my left dual claws into the hole and tore it around to widen it from the golfball size it had healed to back to that of a bowling ball.
"GAHHH GAAAOO GAAOOOOOOO!" It screamed as I tore it up like a cat to a scratching post, with each of my slashes and stabs being more brutal than the last; unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough.
I was careful not to strike the same spot more than once; that way, I could observe how quickly it was recovering, and after nearly a minute, I calmly turned my body…
’Actuate: 35%,’ and delivered a palm strike into the throat of the monster, sending it sailing back to the mountainside, not far from the gate.
’Shit,’ deactivating my Skill and watching the monster hurtle through the air, I felt a twinge of pain in my hand as multiple bone fractures instantly opened up.
Looking down at my hand lazily, I injected a healing concoction by way of my gauntlet and felt the bone fractures healing rapidly.
This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēwebnovel.com.
’Tsk, 35% is rough but manageable; however, it’s not enough to deal with the NightWalker; if anything else took a hit like that, their neck would have been pulverized, but I didn’t even cause hairline fractures; it’s no normal NightWalker, this thing has been modified.’ Looking toward the sky, I calmly shook my arms out and flicked my wrists up, retracting my claws to the point that they lined up with my forearm, kind of like a metal brace on both sides.
"Hahhh, Dravey, Dravey, Dravey, how many times have I told you it’s a bad idea to manipulate and modify certain creatures? Come on, get down here." Rolling my eyes and tapping my foot like a disappointed parent, I ignored the screaming NightWalker and the stunned squad and called out to the sky, where I knew the lavender-haired bastard was watching.