Weapons of Mass Destruction

I don't see anything, nor do I send my senses into the area. I just sit on the ground, still down an arm and a leg, as blood seeps from my many wounds.

I’m not even using thermal energy to power my passive, the only thing I can do is listen to the sounds of the battle nearby and feel the vibrations in the air. The white-haired demon tears through the group, but the point comes where all the sounds and screams stop, while the air fills with the heavy scent of blood.

Something explodes nearby, Whitey most likely leaving to hunt the fleeing members, their movements giving them away. It's a sort of detection that tends to be difficult to trick, even more than using mana. He can just sense your movements, down to the beating of your heart.

He passes through the area around me multiple times, and I refuse to move even as he gets further and further away. Just a trickle of my mana seeping into the ring to power its effects. The least amount possible; I'm trying to hide as much as I can, focusing my entire being on said task.

It gains me a few notifications as the skills level up, but I won’t let them distract me. I don't even check the timer to see the amount of time remaining. Even my thoughts feel sluggish from the state I'm trying to force myself into. My own heart beats very, very slowly, and I feel cold in my remaining limbs as it fails to supply enough blood.

The passage of time is hard to estimate, but after what feels like forever, I hear steps approaching me, the slow, confident steps of someone who’s found their prey.

It seems like the group’s been wiped out already.

I can't stop my heart fully, no matter how much I try. I'm sure Lily could pull it off, but that’s not where my talents lie.

And even that little is enough for it to detect me, and the presence stops right in front of me. Proving all my efforts useless, as my own heart reveals my location, even in its heavily suppressed state.

I use [Tether], teleporting to my final anchor, one that I placed further away than the others. My mana starts radiating from my body, the entirety of my reservoir and body mana seeping out gradually as I use it to stack layer after layer of barriers.

The timer shows 10 seconds left till my stay token expires.

I direct my thermal energy outwards, using the flames to infuse my barriers rather than trying to heal.

I don’t want to do it but given no other option, I create an orb of black mana and allow it to seep into my body and mind, strengthening both for the first time in a while. It's easier than I remember, and I find myself reminded of the addictive power it holds.

Another black orb forms nearby ready to be used.

Eight seconds remain, and a building explodes nearby. Another the size of a small apartment complex is thrown into the air, before being reduced to a cloud of debris hanging in the air as if frozen in time. The demon moves through it all, his long white hair trailing through the air behind him while his red eyes remain glued on me.

Seven seconds remain, and he stands in front of me.

I use the arcane glove, blood projectiles erupting forth from my body in an even more powerful copy of the skill the leader used before.

They seem laughable, failing to so much as pierce the demon’s skin.

Six seconds remain, and he breaks all of my barriers with a single strike, the whole stack crumbling under the sheer physical force he brings to bear. No mana, no skills, just a powerful body, and kinetic energy.

Five seconds remain, and my flames are blown away, with a single wave of his arm. It looks so slim, and even so, his simple application of kinetic energy extinguishes my flames like a child blowing out his birthday candles.

I try to move, but I freeze on the spot. My heart stops, my lungs stop, not a single hair on my skin moves, and it becomes so eerily quiet.

The demon surrounded by all this debris frozen in time takes a step towards me.

Using my mind, I launch the orb of black mana at him, the orb elongating and speeding towards his head.

He tries and fails to freeze it in the air much the same way he has with everything else, and the projectile embeds itself in his arm as he raises it to protect his head.

Four seconds remain, and I extend my domain as far as possible and place another anchor, teleporting away.

Four seconds remain, and he is in front of me once again.

The mana impaling his arm is already gone, thrown somewhere far away and he grabs my arm and pulls it, tearing it from my shoulder.

At least it’s just the mana prosthesis.

I teleport again.

Three seconds remain, and my heart still hasn't beaten nor have I been able to move since he found me, that’s just how big the area his skill covers when he decides to stop everything around him from moving. Everything other than black mana and the mana I use to power my skills.

Three projectiles made of black mana shoot at him, and this time he dodges each one with an air of extreme ease, but it does slow him down, at least a little. I teleport again, and before I can do so again, a stone crashes into my body, breaking the bones in my back, and sending my body crashing into the wall of a building.

Unable to move or even groan in pain, I teleport.

Two seconds remain when he reaches me again.

I strengthen my body with as much black mana as possible, my mind straining despite its reinforced state. My unique passive activates, [Redistribution] activates as well, and I even manage to lift the damaged arcane claymore to block it. Just for that split second, I move my body against the hold, using all the power I have at my disposal.

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The punch breaks my arm, and shoulder as my sword gets pushed aside, slamming into my body and causing even more damage. The amount of mana that flows into my reservoir as the kinetic energy is transformed into mana exceeds anything I've felt so far.

It's not enough though, it's so far from being enough to face him.

One second remains when I use [Tether] for the last time.

I once again find myself unable to move as he changes his approach to my immobilization. I watch as Whitey moves towards me. He bulldozes through buildings, trees, and anything else in his way. Every time he does so, the debris rockets into the air before being stopped in place.

His steps don’t even seem to touch the ground, they seem so smooth, almost as if he’s running on air. None of his kinetic energy seems wasted, damaging only what he wants to damage.

The way he uses kinetic energy is beautiful.

You have no time left on your Stay Token. You will now be removed from Beyond.

You have failed to reach the 1st floor safe zone, the next time you enter Beyond, you will appear on the Entrance Floor.

Before Whitey reaches me, the area around me changes, and I find myself returning to the familiar cold air of the 6th floor, the beautiful stars and nebulas swirling in the sky.

I can move again, but as the black mana strengthening my body wears off, the pain intensifies. So many wounds mark my body that I just continue to lie there, keeping myself conscious and feeding thermal energy to my passive, just to get that little bit of healing.

As far as I can sense, there is only one presence nearby. She isn't even trying to hide, and upon detecting me, it takes her a scant few minutes to reach my location. She drops from her run into a slow walk when she spots me lying on the ground and slowly approaches me.

Lily squats by my side with her knees pulled to her chest and looks at me, curiosity burning in her eyes, “Bad day?”

“It could be worse.”

“I see. Need some healing?”

“Not really, just a few flesh wounds, nothing worth mentioning.”

“That's true, you’re missing an arm and a leg, you’ve broken most of your ribs, you have three holes piercing completely through your chest, and missing a chunk of your other leg, one of your ears is also gone, taking a decent chunk of the skin on your face with it. Plus a bit of internal bleeding, and a strained brain. Did I miss anything?”

“A broken fingernail.”

“That's true, I’ll add one broken nail to the tally,” Lily says, nodding seriously.

“My passive will take care of that.”

“Your passive sucks, Nat.”

“It does well for being only epic grade.”

“I could heal better on the 1st floor.”

“Show off. So what are you doing here?”

“Just hunting. Tess said this would probably be the place you entered Beyond and that you would probably end up here when you returned, so I’ve been hunting in the area from time to time,” she says, reaching out and poking my body with her finger, and through that, I feel her warm mana flood my body.

I let it happen, and I soak in the feeling as she starts healing me, starting with my internal injuries and the more serious wounds.

“Any trouble?” I ask.

Lily shakes her head, “Everything’s been going well, Tess and Sophie decided to take over the remnants of Black Tower, and Tess has kind of become the new leader. She’s already started threatening the other groups around us. Sophie’s basically vice captain, and sometimes she takes over so Tess can go out to level.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Well, we’re all fairly strong, so Tess only ever needs to spend a few hours at a time to manage things. Most of the time, we level and train. We’ve even started using the information they’ve collected to locate powerful monsters and good hunting spots.”

“Still boring,” I say, continuing to lie on the ground and observe my wounds as they heal and my limbs regrow.

It still annoys me that I can’t replicate it, even after all this time.

“How was Beyond?” Lily asks.

“Different than I expected but not in a bad way. It's just another challenge, and I think you, Tess, and I should be able to find each other.”

“You’ll need to tell me everything. It shouldn’t take long, and I’ll be able to do my 3rd trial within the next few months.”

“Don't worry, I’ll tell you.”

At that, Lily smiles and pokes me again, flooding me with another wave of her healing mana.

The atmosphere between us is so much different from what I had with Shayna. With Lily, I notice myself dropping my guard, and there is a realization that if she really wanted, she could kill me with ease. I wouldn't even know it had happened, just a short burst of that gray mana in place of her healing. It would be enough to destroy my chest and my heart with it.

“I got four damaged arcane items,” I note and watch her reaction.

Lily giggles, “Maya’s going to be all over you when she finds out, and if you mention it in the Community, Tess Is going to be hoping for a javelin.”

She then looks at the claymore on the ground and reads the description, and I show her the ring, glove, and piece of clay.

None of them seems to catch her interest, and she returns them to me. Instead, she pulls a finger bone from her pocket, the one that came from the Champion on the 5th floor. Nevan's father, who was easily one of the most durable people in that world.

“I think I came up with a way to make my bones stronger. I’m testing it now, and if I succeed, I should be able to do the same with yours. Of course, it hurts terribly, and blocking pain receptors is difficult, but you can do it! The stone we got from Savant and Champion Tristan's disciple Hella certainly helps. Oh, and I might have come up with a way to put a mark on you. It could store some of my healing mana, and help you out when activated. It might take a few months to make it work, though, and I’ll definitely need your help with that. Oh, and…” Lily continues to babble on excitedly like she does every time she gets a chance to talk about her experiments, and I listen to her.

With another piece of my mind, I check on the notifications I got from that last fight:

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 51 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 52]

[Focus - lvl 50 > Focus - lvl 51]

Not as many as I would like, but at least I got a hold of some items to experiment with. Together with Flamebearer, that makes 5 damaged arcane items. It's a scary amount, enough to convince a group of more experienced attendees to risk their lives. Even a single damaged arcane item makes you significantly more interesting to the right people.

However, I can’t bring myself to care too much. Sure, my inner loot goblin would like to have more of them. Arcane, epic, all the items. Mostly so I can use them to improve my abilities. Flamebearer, for example, even now, is a font of inspiration, helping me improve my use of thermal energy.

I just don't want to become reliant on items, so no matter how happy I am when I find one, it can't compare to learning something new.

Pushing these thoughts away, I continue to listen to Lily, who has already started talking about the prospect of growing wings and an extra set of arms.

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