Overkill: Incarnations Chapter 11: Chapter 11 : Bravo!
Read chapter 11 of Overkill: Incarnations by Kudo_Aosakka on NovelPedia.
Chapter 11; Bravo! On the right side of the stage, the fight had reached a different kind of conclusion. Kurael and Shiunoko had been exchanging blows for several minutes. He had used his abilities more creatively, while she had stopped relying on the reflections as her primary tool, shifting instead to something more direct. She used her foresight to anticipate his movements a fraction of a second before they completed, positioning herself at the edge of his reach before he fully committed to a direction. Shiunoko alternated seamlessly between using her reflections as a means to attack and using them as substitutes. It was, by any objective measure, a good fight. Neither of them held a decisive advantage. Kurael was aware of this reality. He was also aware that he was expending Ryoku at a rate he could not reliably track, because he had not done the foundational work of understanding precisely how much he had at his disposal and exactly how each application of his authority drew from it. He did not know how to balance the ledger. He acknowledged he had not mastered his abilities, and this created a significant gap in his defense. He had managed to land one more hit on the real Shiunoko, a grazing strike to her left shoulder that she had mostly absorbed by rotating into the momentum, and she had landed two solid counterstrikes on him. One struck his ribs and the other caught the side of his jaw, making the arena briefly tilt in his vision. He had not gone down. She had not gone down, either. They stood at a distance of several meters, both perfectly still, breathing heavily. Then, Kurael’s heart sank as a cold chill ran throughout his body, so intense he could feel it within his very bones. 'What is this? ' . He could not help but shiver, the thought echoing inwardly as he turned his gaze toward Shiunoko. He noticed she experienced a similar reaction to his own, though her state appeared much worse. Her already pale skin paled even further. The pupils of both Kurael and Shiunoko constricted simultaneously, both seized by an extreme premonition of unfathomable danger. The sensation demanded so much of their attention that, for the time being, they could not bring themselves to care about their duel. Kurael did not know exactly what the danger was, nor could he tell how it would affect him. All he knew was the direction from which the malevolence originated, and that was the opposite side of the stage. 'What foe would require the use of such power to invoke this much fear, dread, and danger?' 'Isn't this a bit over the top? Has that man lost his mind?' Kurael thought, unable to understand why Ryo would go to such lengths. Kurael did not know Ryo's character well enough to judge. As far as he was concerned, Ryo was a stranger. However, his initial impression of the man contradicted the reality unfolding before him. Madness, unsheathed and all domineering, was all Kurael could perceive. 'I see nothing, I feel nothing, I speak of nothing, I hear nothing, I taste nothing, therefore, I understand nothing... ' Kurael did not know why these specific thoughts drifted through his mind. It felt as though his very body was screaming at him . And He listened . Closing his eyes, gritting his teeth, covering his ears, and crouching low to the shattered floor. He did not dare peek to see Shiunoko's reaction, nor did he care. 'Why would I concern myself with the condition of my enemy? It is best I focus entirely on my own survival', Kurael reasoned, bracing for the impact of whatever threat approached. Then, a single compact, dense word was uttered across the distance. The syllable carried the fundamental concept of dimension itself. Compressed within its sound was the complete, unabridged history of what the word had been, currently was, and would become, filling every angle of perception that Kurael could comprehend. "¿¡‽■■■■‽¡¿" Kurael partially heard, mostly felt, and barely saw the manifestation, tasting, thinking of, a