The Infinite Bk. 05 Ch. 03

His arms were then yanked back as if by an invisible force, stretching out behind him as his shoulders dislocated. They twisted around until the bones ripped through the flesh, and then from the splintered ends, new bone tissue surged out and encased his arms. With a sickening crunch and fountains of blood, Korbin's ribcage opened up like a blossoming flower. His ribs multiplied, and his torso changed shape, becoming a giant tooth-filled mouth, with his internal organs fusing into a rudimentary tongue. His head likewise transformed, retracting into his torso like a turtle and becoming one with his spine, with his brain taking its new position just above the upper jaw. His arms were now a pair of horns, anointing this new abomination like a crown.

Witnessing this transformation and seeing what her father had become, Shannon released a tearful shriek of terror. Her voice drew the monster's attention, and it turned to her and roared without a shred of humanity in its beastly voice. Every trace of the man who raised her was now gone, replaced with a soulless demon. It charged towards her, continuing to snarl with rabid bloodlust.

Shannon was cornered and too scared to move in the face of the coming monster. It pounced, about to close its jaws around her, but at the very last second, Valia managed to intercept. Her sword was wrapped in mana, allowing her, with one mighty slash, to behead the monster at what had initially been Korbin's waist. All three tumbled off the cliff and into the surging waters below and were carried off in darkness.

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Deacon zoomed back and forth around Noah, attacking from all angles. Their blades bounced back and forth rapidly against each other as if drawn together by gravity, only to be explosively repelled upon colliding. Up close, with his own magic active, Noah could see the dark power of the parasite flowing into Deacon from his mutated arm. The potency and strength were far more significant than he had seen with the fiends. This parasite seemed like an entirely different creed from what was bestowed to the lower ranks.

Deacon, once an elf, had far greater speed and strength than he ever possessed before, making him impossible to chase down and difficult to block. However, Noah was fending him off with expert swordplay, proving invulnerable to the Profane warrior's fighting technique while inflicting one cut after another. Though each wound healed in seconds, the look on Deacon's face revealed his building unease. It was dawning on him that he wasn't fighting an ordinary human. Every drop of blood he lost, every cut he received, darkened and enlarged the shadow he now found himself standing in.

Deacon backed away and held out his arm with a circle of black runes burning around his wrist. Noah shot him with a mana bullet, interrupting his spell before it could activate, leaving him unable to try against for several seconds. Though there were no witnesses, Noah was abstaining from utilizing his invisibility or his clone, instead limiting himself to illusion guns and bullets. This late-night marauder was a perfect source of combat data, letting him test this new ability's usefulness on a durable foe.

Unable to best Noah in close-range fighting, the Profane warrior moved in a zigzag pattern to evade Noah's bullets, zooming back and forth. Noah held the illusory gun steady and planted round after round into Deacon, but with his superior speed, he eventually dodged one of Noah's shots. Granted a brief window, Deacon formed a dagger of bone within his arm, sliding out of his wrist and into his hand, then hurled it at Noah.

Noah sidestepped to dodge and lost his bead on Deacon, who continued running while hurling daggers. Noah ran to escape the volley and countered with mana bullets, but Deacon's Profane agility proved him a difficult target. Noah switched to an automatic rifle and then a shotgun, compensating for accuracy with rapid fire and buckshot. How the caliber of bullets he used affected his targets had yet to be determined, but this was the perfect time to find out.

Bursts of illusory ammo pelted Deacon, each time interrupting his magic. About to curse in frustration, he was struck with an idea and ducked into a tent. Just as he expected, no bullets hit him from behind. He didn't understand how they worked, but it was clear these bullets couldn't pass through solid objects, even something as flimsy as a tent. Now given cover, Deacon plunged his sword into the ground.

"Field of Impalement!"

Upon piercing the soil, Deacon was surrounded by a black magic circle, and a wave of bone spikes began surging from the ground in all directions like an expanding wall of spears. The rising spikes ripped apart the surrounding tents and hoisted the corpses of fiend and innocent alike into the air. However, after only a few moments of growth, the spell was broken, interrupted by an explosion going off at Deacon's feet. It originated from Noah, standing at the edge of Deacon's territory and holding a six-round grenade launcher. Though the shredded tent over Deacon's head protected him from illusory impacts, his senses were still exposed. Five more grenades exploded at his feet, assaulting him with blinding light and deafening noise.

A phantasmal dust cloud was left behind, and whether it was frustration, anguish, or determination, Deacon howled and leaped high into the air, out of the smoke, and over his field of spikes to the open ground. Noah dispelled his illusion and conjured his bow and an arrow from within his ring. With careful aim and a steady breath, he drilled a hole in Deacon's shoulder while it was in the air.

The warrior hit the ground rolling, and got to his feet, amused. "Ha! A whole quiver couldn't kill me!" He ripped the arrow out, only to find that the head had separated from the shaft and was left in the wound. He then began to feel a stinging pain radiating from the injury. "Poison? I've outgrown such silly weaknesses!" he shouted while trying with everything he had not to flinch.

"Not poison, rather an irritant; capsaicin. There is a pepper in the Anorvan Forest that the elves call Byrnestoir's Fury, one so spicy that those who eat it need healing magic afterwards. I harvested some of the extract and purified it, then applied it to that arrowhead. Now it's flowing through your veins, spreading into every little capillary and pore. You Profane have a high tolerance for injury, but just looking at you now, it's clear you aren't immune to pain."

"Bastard!" Deacon hissed, feeling a stinging sensation spreading through his body, from his toes to his eyeballs.

He hurled two daggers at Noah and then jumped again, but an arrow struck him in midair, and he hit the earth with a hard tumble. Before he could get up, a third arrow was planted in his back, then a fourth. Noah calmly approached him, launching arrow after arrow, each sticking in Deacon and hindering his mobility. He struggled to stand and angrily began ripping out the arrows, then staggered, disoriented. It felt like his senses were being twisted until they threatened to snap.

"There is plenty of nasty stuff on each of those arrowheads. It seems even your biology can't handle them all," said Noah as he approached.

"Shut your mouth, you pathetic human!" Deacon screamed.

He tried, rather clumsily, to slash at Noah, but the moment he raised his arm, it was taken from him, severed by a perfect slice. He stared at the bloody stump, seeing doubles from all the toxins flowing in him. He then collapsed, not because of the drugs, but because Noah delivered another slice, severing one of his legs. Deacon lay helpless on the ground, and Noah removed his remaining limbs. Though blood poured from his wounds, Deacon thrashed and snarled in blind fury, refusing to accept his defeat.

"You're quite resilient, I almost couldn't make those cuts because your bones are so tough. It's no wonder Prince Lupin is having so much trouble with you guys. However, I'd say it's pretty clear where you and I sit on the power scale, comparatively." With his sword, Noah poked at Deacon's severed, mutated arm. "Then again, you are merely a poor imitation, a degraded copy of the true Profane. At least you were a good source of data during the fight, and I'm sure there are plenty of secrets I can squeeze out of you. Be glad to know your existence was of some benefit to me."

Noah then perked up, hearing the sound of wingbeats. He gazed up at the moon, seeing a massive creature circling overhead. His eyes widened, feeling something he was not used to, a shiver crawling up his spine. His spiritual senses told him that something dangerous was approaching, something that his body instinctively recoiled from, feeling the fear that his mind could not.

Noah conjured an illusory sniper rifle and gazed at the coming threat through his scope. It was a massive bird, some kind of condor, but what made his hair stand on end was the man standing on its back. Noah pulled the trigger, hitting the bird in the chest and making it stumble in the air, causing the man to fall off. He dropped out of the sky, with Noah hoping the fall would kill him while knowing it wouldn't. The man landed with perfect grace, like a cat hopping off a table.

He wore a kimono-like robe and carried a sword on his belt while glaring with piercing eyes that exuded a deadly aura. His mana was black as tar but didn't originate from any point. Instead, it surged up around him like dark flames.

"Ghoul," Noah muttered.

"You know my kind?" the man replied, flashing his long, sharp teeth.

"The third race of the Profane, the wielders of corrupted magic. But unlike him, you're a genuine ghoul. I wonder if you'll bring even better fortune than this fake did."

"The fake still has value, so I'll be taking him with me," the man said, pointing to Deacon.

"Lord Tysinger!" Deacon gasped.

"I'm afraid he has a prior engagement. However, if you'd like to come with him, that can be arranged. I just have to make you travel-sized," said Noah.

"I have a better idea: Come with me. It's clear you have some worth as a warrior, but there is so much more power you can possess, power we can give you. You would do well in our group."

"I've already heard the power speech from these pawns, and I'm not interested. However, I would like to know what the Profane are doing in these lands. I feel that would make for a much more stimulating conversation. Indulge me, won't you?"

"It would be a waste of breath explaining things to a dead man. If you are not my ally, you will be my prey." As he spoke, he drew his sword, an elegant black katana with a serrated blade as if lined with shark teeth.

Then, with inhuman speed, he shot toward Noah with a single step, flying like an arrow. Noah instinctively fired several mana bullets while he stepped out of the way. Tysinger defended with his sword, blocking the illusions before they struck him. They failed to land, but countering them slowed him down enough for Noah to dodge the incoming slash by a hair's breadth. Without missing a step, Tysinger turned and attacked Noah once more. Noah blocked the swing, but the strength behind it knocked him through the air, nearly breaking his arms in the process.

Noah hit the ground and rolled onto his feet, only for Tysinger to be upon him again, this time delivering a mighty downward swing. Noah parried the attack and directed Tysinger's sword to the ground, where it struck with enough force to send dirt and rock flying. Noah lashed out with his sword from the resulting dust cloud, narrowly missing Tysinger's face as he turned his head to the side.

He's not even using magic, but he's as strong and fast as Valia in her enhanced state. This is troublesome.

Noah continued the attack, raining slashes and stabs on his opponent. He couldn't hope to defeat Tysinger in a match of speed or strength, but if he could keep him from building up momentum with a wide swing, he could hopefully endure any counterattack. Despite the difference in physical abilities, Tysinger was stuck on defense, facing the sheer cliffs of Noah's skill. That changed instantly when he intercepted Noah's incoming strike and retaliated with an uppercut slash, subverting his guard.

The serrated blade sliced him across his chest, and though it failed to get past his armor, it left a cut on his cheek. The small nick should have merely stung, but throbbing pain swept through Noah's face. His immediate thought was poison, but his eyes widened when he saw blood flowing from the wound and into the air, being drawn to Tysinger's sword. More than the few drops such a scratch would leave behind, this was a crimson stream being forcefully pulled from his veins.

Noah formed an illusory shotgun in his free hand and blasted Tysinger. Not even the Profane swordsman could defend against such an attack, and he was left stunned long enough for Noah to escape his range and splash a healing potion on his face. That was all the time he had as Tysinger rained slashes down upon him. Noah did his best to defend, but Tysinger's sword skill was revealing itself, equal to Valia's and his own, and the gap between their physical abilities could not be crossed.

Noah's composite armor protected him from any deep wounds, but every serration on the blade was another chance to break the skin, and every scratch, no matter how small, hemorrhaged blood, which all flowed to Tysinger's sword and clung to the edge like a scarlet sheath. Finally, Tysinger stopped and touched the tip of his sword to his tongue, drinking Noah's blood as if from a large syringe.

"Your blood tastes surprisingly young, and is remarkably healthy, fitting for such a warrior. But there's something else... an exotic flavor. It doesn't taste like any human I've ever had. You are worthy of devouring."

Noah, momentarily woozy from all the blood he had lost, took a gulp of a health potion. "Lots of vegetables, exercise, and a full night's sleep, that's the key. You have a different secret, though, don't you? You don't use a parasite, you were bitten."

"Indeed. I was once just a human swordsman, like yourself."

"You were never like me."

"Doomed to die with my talent unfulfilled and my name forgotten, I longed for something better. When my predecessor offered me the power of the Profane, I accepted without hesitation, and now stand as one of the greatest warriors to walk the land."

"Everyone dies unfulfilled, everyone is eventually forgotten. Just because you don't age like you once did doesn't make you immune to the ravages of time. The blade of inevitability severs all dreams and destinies."

"And it is I who wields the blade of inevitability. Tonight, it is your destiny that will be severed." He held out his sword, and the blade began to glow, with Noah's blood burning like crimson flames. "Sanguine Wrath!"

He slashed the ground as though swinging a golf club, and a wave of scarlet energy surged from the blade, tearing apart the earth like a plow as it screamed toward Noah. Noah set off in a run, dodging the first blast and the ones that came after. He countered with his mana bullets, but Tysinger proved better at avoiding than Deacon and continued firing off attacks.

Noah knew this was not an opponent he could defeat while holding back. Tysinger's reflexes and strength made standard attacks useless. However, he wasn't ready to lay all his cards on the table. He brushed his hand across his eye, activating his invisibility with his clone overlapping. He couldn't use his guns while his invisibility was active, but his sword would hopefully be enough. As he channeled mana into the steel, the blade began to glow, and a circle of runes appeared. It was purely an aesthetic enchantment, but it would look like warrior magic to others.

Noah separated from his clone and charged toward Tysinger, and then he and his illusory counterpart raised their swords. At that moment, a look of confusion crossed Tysinger's face, and he instinctively lashed out, blindly intercepting Noah's incoming slash. Their swords collided, and Noah was repelled, with the two warriors equally bewildered by what had just happened.

"Taking this seriously, are you?" Tysinger asked.

"You could say that. You aren't the only one with a fancy sword," said Noah, speaking through his clone.

"So, your blade lets you cut foes from a distance?"

"It's very well made."

The reason why Noah had his clone mimic his actions while he attacked was to bait his enemy with false clues, hiding the true nature of his magic. Tysinger's conclusion was exactly what Noah wanted him to think, but no one had ever blocked this attack. He tried again, this time having his clone swing its sword continuously in a figure-eight. Tysinger assumed a defensive stance but didn't react to the continuous feints. Noah again went in for the kill, but Tysinger would spontaneously counter and reflect Noah's attack each time he tried to cut him.

Noah returned to his clone and launched a barrage of flashbangs, drowning Tysinger in light and sound. He hissed in pain and shut his eyes to try and block it out, but even then, when Noah tried to attack from behind while invisible, he spun around and intercepted his attack.

"You have neat tricks, but that's all they are. No matter how you might try to deceive me, your killing intent is clear as day. It doesn't matter how resolved you are to win if you aren't strong enough to make it happen!"

'So that's it. Even if I can fool his physical senses, his spiritual senses can pierce my illusions,' Noah thought as he returned to his clone and pulled two cards out of his sleeves. "Interesting! Let's put that awareness to the test, shall we? Flashbang, Gas Conversion."

Once more, Noah bombarded Tysinger with flashbangs while a noxious odor filled the air. It was the smell of alchemy, but existed only as a sensation. Though Noah could not cast magic, he could replicate specific characteristics like sight and sound or, in this case, smell. His mana was spreading through the air and replicating the abundant oxygen, and those illusory atoms were bonding into ozone.

Immaterial and inert, this imaginary gas had one influence on the world: deceiving smell receptors. Already waterboarded by light and sound, Tysinger was left nearly overwhelmed by the dense, pungent smell of ozone filling the battlefield. His superior ghoul senses were now his undoing, and try as he might to escape the flashbangs, he could not find clear air. More of Noah's mana assaulted his senses, this time as a deep smokescreen, smothering Tysinger's already-decimated eyesight. He moved wildly through the cloud, running and jumping in all directions to escape the sensory assault, then stopped when he heard Noah's voice.

"You would be wise to not underestimate my tricks."

Tysinger charged towards the source, and with what little awareness he retained, he slashed a figure in the smoke. At that moment, an arrow struck him in the chest from behind, wrapped in Noah's invisibility aura. It pierced Tysinger's heart with pinpoint accuracy, and he staggered forward. A second arrow hit him in the back of the neck, fracturing his vertebrae but missing the nerves.

Noah had used all his poisoned arrows on Deacon and hoped this would be enough to turn the tide against Tysinger. However, as he readied another arrow, the ghoul spun around and shot towards him, launching himself through the air with a single step. His senses were still scrambled, so he directed himself based on the arrows' trajectories.

Noah narrowly dodged Tysinger's blind thrust and opened up some distance as his foe stopped to rip out the arrows. Clearly, his bow wouldn't get him anywhere, not when he was fighting an enemy who could shrug off a pierced heart. His only chance was to immobilize him the same way he had Deacon.