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[New Move]
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…
The battle, which seemed to have come to a momentary stop, resumed abruptly, with both parties clashing fiercely.
Electraction dashed in first, using her electric-enhanced speed to get to Taka first in but an instant, her charged punch swinging savagely towards him as a wild grin spread across her face.
"Die!!!"
-CRACKLE!-
Before it could connect, however, Taka simply raised a hand.
"...?!"
Then, in the blink of an eye, his aura expanded and engulfed Electraction, immobilizing her mid-air.
"L-let me go!" She demanded as she struggled, releasing electricity to try and shake herself off.
To her surprise, however—
"As you wish."
"Agh…?!"
Taka proceeded to wave his hand with dismissal, as if batting a fly. That alone was enough to send her hurling back in the direction of the still approaching Titaniphite.
The rocky villain's charge was forced to a halt once he noticed his companion flying in his direction, catching her before she flew past, and glaring at her with annoyance.
"What the hell are you doing? If you're not going to be useful, get out of the—"
"Don't get distracted."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 119 → 2221
▸ Defense: 1038 → 2.221
▸ Aura Projection: 3784 → 499
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
What Titaniphite didn't expect was for Taka to appear in front of him with just a moment of distraction, fist winding up a punch.
"...!"
Without a chance to react, and with both hands occupied carrying Electraction, all Titaniphite could do was receive the punch head-on.
A fraction of a second later, the impact came.
—CLANG!—
A metallic ring drowned the vicinity after that, and to the surprise of everyone watching the fight, the one who was sent hurling several meters away after the impact, despite his humongous size, was Titaniphite. He left a trail of broken concrete as his feet dug into the ground to halt himself.
What was more surprising, however, was the huge crack on Titaniphite's stony chest, exposing his inner skin.
After recovering his balance, the villain inspected the crack with shocked yet angry eyes, passing a hand through it in disbelief.
"How… you… What did you do?"
Taka simply raised his fist, showing his slightly reddened knuckles.
"I hit you."
Titaniphite's breath became more labored, and the look in his eyes sharpened.
"You hit me, you say?"
His fist clenched, and he dropped the already recuperating Electraction onto the floor, who barely caught herself and sent Titaniphite a venomous look.
But the villain simply ignored her.
Then, he began to walk again towards Taka, the rocks surrounding his body growing larger and sharper with each step, almost like a terrifying and enormous stone hedgehog.
Only for his slow walk to quickly turn into a full-on sprint, like a bull charging at its prey.
"THEN—HOW ABOUT I HIT YOU BACK?!"
The villain's eyes reddened, and suddenly, what had been a stone fist began sharpening into an eerie spike, making the nearby spectators gasp.
Taka, however, remained still. His figure relaxed and composed before the incoming threat.
And soon, the dangerous weaponized arm began falling upon him with a weight and speed that would impale a human being with terrifying ease.
And yet, just as it was about to reach Taka…
One finger.
That's all he lifted to block the attack.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 2.221 → 200
▸ Defense: 2.221 → 4.741
▸ Aura Projection: 499 → 0
─────────────
[Innamovible object] (ACTIVATED!)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
The ominous spike, which had painted a picture of blood and skewering, came to a stop just like that, letting out a sharp metal ring as it struck.
—CLANG!—
And Taka, who had simply used one finger to block the spike's tip, remained unmoved and unshaken, his posture still tall and relaxed.
Furthermore…
"Is that all?" He asked, his tone equally unimpressed and teasing.
That was enough to break Titaniphite.
"What…?! No, how does that make… It's impossible!" Titaniphite snapped his arm away, stumbling back in shock.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 200 → 2.221
▸ Defense: 4.741 → 2.221
▸ Aura Projection: 0 → 499
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Sadly, he wasn't about to get away that easily.
Before he could fully escape, Taka's other hand—the opposite of the one that still had its finger raised mockingly—clenched into a fist and followed after Titaniphite, who, seeing he couldn't dodge it, decided to block it with his rocky and spiky forearms.
—CLANG!—
The same metallic echo from before filled the area; however, this time it didn't come alone.
-Crack!-
The sound of rock cracking apart and crumbling came right after. Making everyone, including Titaniphite, stare at his arms in shock.
"N-no… this can't be…!"
The powerful guard of rock crumbled and fell to the ground uselessly, showing the reddened and bruised human skin beneath.
"No, no, no, my invincible armor… how could you, someone who was barely able to hold me back earlier, shatter it?!"
Taka didn't answer, but simply studied the rupture with a satisfied grin beneath his mask.
'Turns out, I was right about changing stats for this one.'
Although he evidently favored AP over his other stats, always pouring his gains onto it right away, in this case, it was hard countered due to its low offensive nature.
After all, AP worked only like a pseudo-telekinesis that used aura instead of cerebral power. It could grab, hold, pull, or push, like some sort of ethereal force under his absolute control.
However, against someone as durable, strong, and heavy as Titaniphite, all these uses were rendered useless or ineffective. He couldn't push him as his strength and weight overwhelmed the aura's force output; he couldn't pull him either, not even mention grabbing and holding him back.
The amount of aura points in it might have been high, but the type of attacks it could enforce was not ideal.
Hence why he shifted to a more physical approach.
With his strength increased by his 2000 aura, which was around a ton in strength, and all that blunt power focused into the single point that was his fists, which were comparatively small to Titaniphite's body, it was understandable why it had become a lot easier to pierce through the man's armor.
Of course, if he had placed all his aura into strength, then he could have probably dealt even more easily with the guy. However, with the other two villains around, he didn't dare take too much aura from defense, and AP was still useful in case he needed some long-range mid-fight.
So he settled for 2000 aura in strength, which, as seen now, worked wonders.
All that rested now was…
'To beat him to the ground…' Taka's eyes narrowed, and he took a step towards Titaniphite, who backed off instantly. His earlier intimidating and stoic attitude completely cracking.
"S-stay away!"
His opponent was utterly panicked.
'Which makes it even easier.' Taka smiled, and, without warning, kicked off. Winding another fist.
But just as he was about to reach him—
-Crackle!-
A lightning bolt shot at him.
In the next instant, said bolt transformed into a human form and revealed Electraction, whipping a powerful and electrically charged kick in his direction.
While Taka's body may have been too slow to respond, his mind wasn't.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 2221 → 200
▸ Defense: 2221 → 4242
▸ Aura Projection: 499
─────────────
[Innamovible object] (ACTIVATED!)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
The kick connected cleanly, an explosion of electricity going off on his body the next second, almost as if lightning had descended on him.
Smoke burst from Taka, his costume clearly more charred now.
But as the smoke cleared, his unaffected eyes showed to everyone.
"What the heck?!" Electraction groaned as she jumped away to make distance.
Taka was about to lift his hand to command his aura, but then—
-Bang!-
The distant sound of a gun echoed, and soon, another bullet struck him on the head.
The impact sounded clean, but the bullet still ended up bouncing off harmlessly.
By then, however, Electraction had returned to Titaniphite's side, looking vexed at the now ominous figure standing before them.
A man in tatters, surrounded by the smoke of his own clothes, but that no matter what, never received any damage.
Just what kind of monster was this vigilante?!
'No,'
She shook her head, refusing to believe that someone could just be invulnerable.
"Oi, snap out of it." She punched Titaniphite, who looked the most shaken between the two, snapping him out of his trance. "Don't let him trick you retard, there's nothing invincible in this world. I'm sure damage must be accumulating, even if he doesn't show it!"
"He blocked a sharpened strike of mine with his finger, and it doesn't even have a droplet of blood in it after that. How can you say we are inflicting damage?" Titaniphite snapped at her, growling.
"I don't know, but this ain't the time to be crying like a bitch." She gritted her teeth, eyes darting back to Taka, who stood impassively before them. "We might be getting bodied one-on-one, but we can overwhelm him working together. He can't hold you with your strength, and he can't react to my attacks. If we continue, we should be able to breach his defenses eventually!"
"And if we don't?" Titaniphite asked, looking unsure at the man in the dark in front.
Electraction snorted, electricity already flaring around her again. "Then this was a lost cause from the beginning. But we won't know that unless we try."
Titaniphite frowned at her words and glanced at the cracks in the stones around his chest and forearm.
"Very well." Then, with a dissatisfied huff, the rocks around him sharpened again, giving him that dangerous appearance from earlier, and he prepared to charge.
Taka, on the other hand, opened his arms welcomingly.
"Come."
And so, the two jumped into action.
"Oryaaaaa!" Electraction was the first to reach Taka, performing an elbow strike that sent yet another discharge on the youth's body.
But Taka didn't seem to care and simply lifted his hand, shooting a burst of aura to capture her.
But before it could get her fully, a huge shadow descended on him.
"RAAAAH!"
-Swish!-
-Swish!-
-Swish!-
-Swish!-
Titaniphite, now with both hands turned into spikes, stabbed at Taka multiple times. Like a Gatling gun of piercing jabs.
Taka blocked the first barrage with his forearm, but soon they became too fast and too many to block, making him receive the full barrage on his chest.
While that happened, Electraction circled around him before delivering a swift kick to Taka's back, discharging some more electricity.
He tried to grab her, but she then turned into a lightning bolt and circled him yet again, appearing above and hitting a knee strike right onto Taka's face.
-Bang!-
At the same time, a bullet hit his ribs.
-Bang!-
-Bang!-
-Bang!-
No, not one, many bullets began raining on him. All while Titaniphite's onslaught continued, and Electraction hit and ran constantly.
Ultimately, though, their stamina wasn't endless.
After a while, the two in the front line ran out of fumes, and Reaper Sight must have run out of bullets, or was recharging, because the attack barrage came to a halt, and both villains in the front retreated, catching their breath.
"Did you have enough, freak?!" Electraction yelled, frustrated, amidst gasps.
But then—much to their growing vexation—
-Pat, pat, pat-
Taka simply patted his clothes, as if brushing off dust.
Then, his eyes glared at them with disdain.
"Is that all?"
"...!"
"...!"
In an instant, the exhaustion that was beginning to dull their fury reignited. Their eyes sharpened, blazing with renewed rage.
And so, the fight resumed.
—Thud, thud, thud, thud!—
Titaniphite's charge shook the earth, each step cracking the concrete further.
CRACKLE!—
Electricity erupted around Electraction, escalating from the level of a faulty power line's spark to the chaotic overload of a collapsing city grid, and then, she shot forward like a lightning bolt.
Then came the bullets.
-Bang, Bang, Bang!-
Electraction and the hail of shots reached him simultaneously.
-Kachiiin!-
-Cling!-
"Go down already!"
—CRACKLE!—
Bullets ricocheted violently off Taka's body, and Electraction's electric discharge detonated against him—only for him to stand there, unbothered.
Electraction's teeth ground against each other, but her frustration was interrupted when she saw Taka lifting his hand to capture her once again.
But yet again, before he could do so, Titaniphite forced his attention away from her.
"Wraaaah!"
With a thunderous roar, another barrage of heavy, stabbing blows crashed toward Taka. He blocked what he could with his palms, but several still hammered into him.
Meanwhile, Electraction had already turned into a lightning bolt, spiraling around him in search of an opening.
And then, to her delight, Taka finally shifted from defense—pulling back a fist to strike Titaniphite.
She quickly transformed back into her human form and sent a swift kick into Taka's ribs.
Or that's what should have happened.
"What?!"
Before her charged kick could connect, her whole body froze mid-air, the feeling too familiar to mistake.
Taka had captured her.
"Impossible! You didn't even point your hand at me like earlier!" she shouted, struggling—and failing spectacularly—to move.
Titaniphite noticed her predicament and immediately intensified his barrage, hoping to knock Taka off balance and free her.
But he didn't.
Taka's eyes narrowed, his gaze cold as it locked onto Electraction.
"That was just me playing around."
Even as Titaniphite's onslaught continued, Electraction began to rise—slowly at first, then steadily floating higher.
-Bang!-
-Bang!-
-Bang!-
Bullets rained down along with Titaniphite's stabbing strikes, but none of it stopped her ascent.
She only kept rising… until she reached the top height.
"L-let me go!"
"No can do," Taka muttered, closing his eyes.
Then—
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 200
▸ Defense: 4242 → 3242
▸ Aura Projection: 499 → 1499
─────────────
[Innamovible object] (ACTIVATED!)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
She plummeted.
—BAM!—
Her body slammed into the street, back arched, eyes rolling back instantly.
"...!" Titaniphite's eyes widened, his assault faltering for a moment.
Then, seeing his partner's limp form fly past him as Taka flung her away from the area, he cursed under his breath and broke off to catch her before she hit anything else.
With Titaniphite momentarily out of the fight, Taka summoned a field of aura around himself. The bullets slowed drastically the moment they hit their boundary, losing all momentum.
Thus, finally earning himself a moment of respite.
Taka closed his eyes.
'Fuck…'
His body was aching like hell.
The villainess had been right. He might be looking fine outside, but he was not really.
With all three villains cooperating, he'd been forced into an entirely defensive stance. If he moved even a sliver of his aura away from defense, he risked getting seriously injured. So he couldn't hit back and couldn't use Aura Projection for anything meaningful.
And with his defense pumped to absurd levels, the damage was still stacking.
He'd activated Innamovible Object because he realized its effect—spreading incoming damage throughout his whole body—helped soften certain attacks. Like Titaniphite's piercing blows. Under normal circumstances, those strikes would pierce straight through. But by distributing the force evenly, the piercing effect was lost… at the cost of taking a bit more overall damage, but which could also be reduced more easily with his defense stat than a piercing attack would. Same with the bullets.
And with his defense on such great heights, he'd been tanking everything like a champ.
But tanking isn't nullifying.
The damage kept piling up; what started as mild discomfort had become sharp, jarring pain radiating across his entire body.
Good thing he had that pain-resisting skill.
And honestly, it would've been far worse if he hadn't managed to bait Electraction into overcommitting so he could use his AP on her and finally land a solid blow.
Her electricity damaged his whole body regardless ofInmovable Objectbeing activated or not, which meant the damage could only be reduced by his defense stat.
But with her gone, his job had gotten way easier.
Now, only two villains remained—unless she woke up, which Taka hoped she wouldn't.
'The rocky guy can be dealt with strength, but as for the other…' Taka frowned, glaring around, unsure of Reaper Sight's location.
The bullets weren't the main threat—annoying, sure, but manageable. The real problem was the guy's Quirk. The bastard could teleport away the moment Taka got close, meaning he'd stay an annoyance for the entire fight, until he dealt with the rocky villain.
So, what could he do?
A clone, maybe? If one could keep the sniper busy, that'd solve it.
But thinking it through, Taka grimaced. Wasting aura on a clone right now was a terrible idea.
He needed every aura point at his disposal. He couldn't afford to make a clone, at least not one with enough power to make a difference in this fight.
'So what the heck do I do?'
How was he supposed to get rid of that guy?
You're uncreative host… uncreative… uncreative…
The system's words earlier in the fight echoed in his mind. Whether it was an actual memory or just the system replaying it for him, he wasn't sure.
Whatever it was, he focused on finding the answer to what they meant.
Where was he lacking creativity, exactly?
He'd already been pretty creative with Inmovable Object.
His other skills? They were practically built for aura farming, not combat utility. None functioned like a long-range attack either.
So what the hell did the system want him to be creative with?
His stats?
Taka frowned.
Strength? Defense? How would getting "creative" with either help him deal with a guy who could teleport around constantly?
So that left Aura Projection.
But what could it do? The sniper was too far for him to drag in, and even if he got close, the guy would just teleport again. His range wasn't wide enough to catch him pre- or post-teleport.
What was he supposed to do against that with just a pseudo-telekinesis, exactly?
Hold on…
Pseudo-telekinesis?
Taka's eyebrows lifted.
… That didn't sound quite right.
Aura Projection… The name didn't suggest "telekinesis" at all. It suggested using his aura—turning it from a simple stat booster into something that could interact with the world. Thus, projecting his aura, duh.
So why did he automatically assume it was just Telekinesis?
And if it really wasn't just that… was there something else he could do with it?
His closed eyes furrowed.
What was aura, really?
According to the system, it was energy generated from other people's awe toward him.
Energy.
Aura was energy. One with multiple purposes.
It could boost his physique.
It gained odd functions through skills like Clean or his cloning ability.
It could move things around him.
So why couldn't it do more than push and pull?
It was energy. And when you talked about energy…
'Hah… could it be?'
A small smirk curved under his mask as his eyes opened with newfound resolve.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 200
▸ Defense: 3242 → 2242
▸ Aura Projection: 1499 → 2499
─────────────
[Innamovible object] (ACTIVATED!)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
His body lifted off the ground, floating higher and higher until he had a clear vantage point over every rooftop where the sniper could be hiding. Titaniphite remained below, choosing not to jump—he wasn't about to enter a situation where he was vulnerable to Taka's "telekinesis".
With the ground threat effectively stalled, Taka waited—eyes closing as he focused.
Soon, the sound he'd been anticipating arrived.
-Bang!-
Another shot. The bullet pinged off harmlessly a moment later.
But that was all Taka needed.
His eyes snapped open, locking onto the source.
'There you are.'
He raised a hand—
-Bzzzz!-
With a buzzing noise, a sphere of pure light was generated on his palm. Heat radiating from it, growing hotter and hotter until–
-Woooosh!-
The light erupted into a blazing ray, shooting toward the sniper at blistering speed.
"...!"
Having seen Taka gathering energy in his palm from the beginning, Reaper's instincts flared, and he managed to teleport away at the last possible second.
As for the spot he'd been standing—
-Tssss…-
A clean, molten hole burned through the rooftop, and concrete liquefied around the edges.
Taka stared at it in stunned silence.
Then, to his satisfaction—
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Aura Projection - Pew Pew Mode]
Description: Through sheer creativity, you realized your aura's potential is far from limited.
And let's be honest—what's cooler than shooting lasers from your hands? Nothing.
Is there anything else to be said?
▸You can now condense AP points into pure destructive energy. The more AP spent, the stronger the blast.
▸Spent AP deducts from your total AP and regenerates over time.
▸The more you fire, the longer it takes to recover (50 aura per second).
▸You are now authorized to shout Kamehamehaaaaa!
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka blinked.
So this was it? Huh.
Thinking back… yeah, he had definitely been uncreative.
"Hahaha…" He laughed under his mask, smirk widening. "Now, this is good."
Now he could finally end this fight.
...
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-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: I hope I was clear on why Innamovible object reduces the damage Taka receives in some cases.
I'll explain it here just in case.
Piercing attacks like Titaniphite's spiked jabs deal higher damage through Taka's defenses thanks to the smaller focus points. Think of it like an attack with armor penetration. Taka's defense stat doesn't block as much as it would with a blunt attack, for example.
But with Innamovible Object, the piercing in Titaniphite's jabs is nullified as the energy behind the attack is spread through Taka's whole body instead of focusing on one point and piercing. Hence, taking away the attack's armor penetration effect and making it a normal attack that Taka's defense stat can reduce normally, even if the attack's damage value goes a bit higher, thanks to the skill's effect of increasing incoming damage.
In LOL terms, the skill makes true damage become physical damage, which allows for armor to reduce it.
Maybe I just made it overly complicated. But either way, I hope you understood.
And I hope you liked the chapter.
Eitherway, until the next chapter.