Chapter 101: Kill him
All five Death Crows lunged simultaneously, their weapons poised to cut Vince into pieces. Gideon’s colossal scythe plunged from above, Brian’s blood-red cleaver swung from the flank, and Sara’s rapiers darted toward his exposed throat.
Pinned against the cold basalt wall by Vesper’s shadow pins, blood dripping down his cheek, Vince didn’t flinch. He slowly raised his head, his dark bangs falling over his face as he spoke, his tone unnaturally calm.
"Tell me something, Vesper... What do you think the Duke and the higher-ups truly want with me?"
Vesper stood on the high rafter, his red eyes cold and unfeeling as he raised his hand. "I don’t concern myself with the politics of this world. Your head was all he requested, and your head he shall have."
Vesper brought his hand down, giving the final signal for decapitation. "Kill him."
During the brief second of Vesper’s answer, the space in Vince’s right hand distorted. Dark violet kinetic mana gathered in a concentrated flash, materializing Executioner’s Edge—his massive, double-edged sword.
As the blades descended to take his life, Vince gripped the heavy hilt and unleashed a violent, full-body backhand swing.
BOOM!
A catastrophic shockwave of compressed kinetic force exploded from the blade’s arc. Vesper’s shadow pins shattered into harmless dark dust. The sheer, terrifying pressure blew outward in a three-hundred-sixty-degree circle, slamming into all five Death Crows mid-air and hurling them backward through the alley like ragdolls.
Gideon’s massive armored frame smashed into the basalt wall, Brian tumbled across the shattered cobblestones, and Sara barely managed to catch herself against a stone chimney on the roof, gasping for air.
Vince slowly stood up from the rubble. He swung Executioner’s Edge through the air with effortless grace, resting the heavy, dark blade against his shoulder. A cold, cruel grin spread across his face as his eyes blazed with an unholy purple fire.
`[SYSTEM OVERRIDE APPROVED]`
`[All attributes and skills now passive. Can be used at will.]`
Vince cracked his neck, his purple eyes scanning the Death Crows as they scrambled to regain their footing on the rooftops and cracked streets.
"Five on one doesn’t really seem fair," Vince purred smoothly, his voice echoing through the silent alley. "Let’s level the playing field a bit."
Vince didn’t draw a spell circle or chant a prompt. He simply released his intent.
A suffocating, pitch-purple pulse of gravity erupted from his body, expanding across the entire alleyway like an invisible iron ceiling slamming down from the heavens.
`[TRAIT ACTIVATED: Gravity of the Unworthy]`
`[Hostile Effect Applied: 50% Physical Movement Speed Reduction | 50% Internal Mana Circulation Suppression]`
The reaction was instantaneous.
High above, Kira let out a strangled shriek as her body suddenly felt five times heavier, forcing her to her knees on the roof tiles. On the cobblestones below, Brian staggered, his jaw dropping as the blood-red mana pulsing around his war-cleaver flickered out like a dying candle, his internal channels violently grinding to a halt.
"What... what is this?!" Sara gasped from a high window ledge, struggling to even lift her twin rapiers. "My mana... I can’t circulate it!"
Vesper’s slick, mocking composure completely shattered. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he pressed a hand against the wall to keep from being crushed to his knees. A suppression domain?! he thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. This is similar to what I felt back at the academy but it was so insignificant then that it didn’t have any effect on me or the others... But right now it’s more than double what it was then! Was he suppressing his own abilities back at the Academy!? Or has he gotten stronger entirely? either way this is bad!
"Die, you monster!" Brian roared, fighting through the 50% gravity penalty with sheer, unadulterated rage.
The bare-chested giant charged forward, his boots cracking the stone with every agonizing step. Beside him, Gideon grunted under the sheer weight of his armor, swinging his colossal scythe in a brutal, synchronized dual strike meant to crush Vince from both sides.
Vince didn’t dodge. He didn’t even attempt raising Executioner’s Edge to block.
As the massive war-cleaver and the heavy scythe reached his neck and torso, dark-purple, razor-sharp dragon scales suddenly manifested across Vince’s forearms, shoulders, and chest, fusing seamlessly with his skin at a thought.
CLANG! CLINK!
Sparks flew in a violent shower. The high-tier executioner weapons hit Vince’s scaled body and stopped dead. Not a single drop of blood was drawn. The sharp edges didn’t even leave a scratch.
Instead, the immense kinetic energy behind both strikes surged into Vince’s body, swallowed instantly by his passive kinetic loop. His storage bar maxed out in a fraction of a second, purple lightning snapping along his scales.
Brian stared in absolute horror at the shimmering, impenetrable scales covering Vince’s skin.
Is that dragon scales
"What... what kind of monster are you?!" he stammers, his hands trembling against the hilt of his cleaver. "I would be foolish if I still considered you a human. You’re an abomination."
"Are you okay kira" sara asked as she tried getting her to her feet.
"Ye... yeah I just took a vile to get light adjusting to the shift in gravity I should be able to walk." Kira responded gasping for air as she continued "judging from how we’re all feeling right now I doubt gravity is the only thing he manipulated."
The dragon scales quietly faded back beneath Vince’s skin as if they had never been there.
Without a word, Vince reached out with his bare left hand and caught the shaft of Gideon’s heavy iron scythe. With a casual jerk of his arm, he yanked the massive, iron-clad titan forward like a child’s toy, lifting Executioner’s Edge with his right hand.
Vince looked up past the terrified faces of Brian and Gideon, his glowing purple eyes locking onto Vesper, who stood alone and sweating on the high rafter above.
"You were right about one thing, Vesper," Vince grinned, his purple eyes burning in the dark. "Welcome to the bottom of the food chain."