Overkill: Incarnations Chapter 8: Chapter 8 : Deception
Read chapter 8 of Overkill: Incarnations by Kudo_Aosakka on NovelPedia.
Deception The roaring jubilation of half a million identical golden-skinned spectators surged through the bone-and-diamond coliseum, a wave of noise so uncanny it bordered on a fever dream. On the stage below, the focus of their collective, mirrored gaze was split between two distinct duels: Ryo Itsukizu versus the hulking, single-eyed vanguard Malakor Vael-Oryn on the left, and Kurael versus the translucent, serene Shiunoko on the right. Kurael stood with an elegant, ancient stillness that entirely subverted Kuroshiraga’s usual exhausted posture. With the effortless courtesy of a high-born gentleman, he offered a low, fluid bow toward Shiunoko, gesturing for her to take the initiative. "Ladies first," he murmured, his voice laced with smooth indifference. Shiunoko offered a serene, barely perceptible nod. In the next fraction of a second, her physical form seemed to tilt effortlessly to the left before turning into a seamless blur. She vanished. Clack! She materialized directly in Kurael’s blind spot, the razor-sharp edge of her polished iron folding fan slicing cleanly through the air toward his jugular. Kurael didn't panic , tho. He shifted his center of gravity, leaning back while tilting his chin just enough to let the whistling iron fan miss his throat. The metal ribs merely scraped his right cheek, drawing a thin, shallow line of crimson. Before he could reset his stance, Shiunoko twisted her torso with predatory grace, sweeping her right leg in a vicious low kick meant to shatter his balance. Anticipating the sweep, Kurael instantly flooded his leg muscles with dense Ryoku, launching his body straight into the air to evade the trip. But as he reached the apex of his leap, a sharp glint of light flashed directly above him. During the frantic exchange on the ground, Shiunoko had already tossed her first folding fan high into the air, perfectly calculating his trajectory. 'When did she—?' Mid-air, Kurael lacked the leverage to dodge, and the heavy iron fan was descending faster than his natural arc, its lethal point aimed squarely at his heart. His expression remained entirely deadpan. Activating his Authority of Convergence, he didn't try to move sideways; instead, he forced the ambient space to compress downward, violently multiplying his body's gravitational mass. He plummeted like a meteor. His boots slammed into the stage floor with a deafening crack, sending a network of deep, webbed fissures through the ancient travertine bone. The moment his feet touched the stone, he dug his left hand into the cracked floor, using the leverage to violently push his body backward. The descending iron fan sliced through the air where he had been a millisecond prior, embedding itself halfway into the solid stage with a heavy thud. The sheer kinetic force of Kurael's self-inflicted push sent him skidding across the arena, but he fluidly twisted his torso to absorb the momentum, landing firmly on his feet. Shiunoko gave him no room to breathe. Appearing instantly at his flank, she elegantly whipped her second iron fan directly at his head. Kurael tilted his skull back, the whistling metal obscuring his vision for a fraction of a second. The fan missed his nose by a hair, but it was a feint—concealed entirely behind the passing fan was the sole of a sleek, silent cloth boot, driving straight toward his lower torso. This time, Kurael chose not to evade or block. As the kick approached, he threw his hand forward, his palm activating a localized convergence field that dragged her shin directly into his iron grip. He clamped his fingers around her leg, anchoring her in place. Shiunoko’s dark eyes constricted, a rare flash of alarm crossing her serene face as if she realized what was to happen. She instinctively crossed her arms in front of her chest to brace for impact. "Too slow," Kurael muttered. Using his authority, Kurael exponentially increased the density and forward inertia of his right fist, transforming hi