Atlas's PoV
The bleeding had slowed to a halt. I completely ripped my shirt and used it as a tourniquet, asking myself when this was going to end.
It was strange that I couldn't feel thirsty or hungry in this greyscale hell. I wasn't about to complain, though. I already feel lethargic and couldn't afford to sleep.
For two hours, I forced myself to walk on this never-ending path, with the canyons looking over me like clouds.
They could literally be touching the clouds, but there isn't enough light to make that out.
In the distance, I could hear the pitter-patter of a familiar foe.
It was another Snair, about 800 meters away from me.
I felt my heart rate go up, fear enveloping my body as I slowly walked backwards.
I didn't want to face this monstrosity again, not after what it did to me before.
The pain was still throbbing, not letting me even think straight.
Fuck...
I bit my lip, causing a stream of blood to drop on the sandy ground silently.
I could hear the bassy thumps of the creature before I could even react. As I turned my head in bewilderment, I got launched into the walls of the canyon, face-first.
Countless liters of blood and other fluids spewed from my mouth as the sand caught my eye. I fell limp on the ground, facing upward. My nose bone was protruding, and even my ear was half detached.
My shirt soaked up a new layer of blood, making it stiff and itchy.
{STEILHANG]
Air wasn't going inside my lungs anymore. My brain, sending neurons at light speed, screaming at me to do something.
I couldn't.
A whistle through the air, followed the Snair, claws first, and the very tip of it almost grazed my eye.
What could I do?
My Reserves are around 50%, but I cannot move anything.
I don't want to die.
Not fucking yet...
I haven't even begun my journey...
To brutally rip IT to shreds.
Mom....
What Can I Do....?
.
.
x ——>1 / x
『 Completed 』
What is this?
I feel like I've been here before.
Ah...That's right.
The moment I turned 15, I remember this landscape.
Am I dead?
I guess not, but...
The lines look different here.
" The transformation happens to only Transcendents when they're about to die.
It's not a known topic, since there are an astronomically small number of people with such Functions.
It's almost as if,
The Functions themselves defy death and will do whatever they can to stay alive.
Of course, this happens only once.
The Laws will allow only so much rule-bending."
Oh-
I think I'm still alive.
The Snair wasn't on top of me, snapping, with disgusting saliva dripping from its mandibles at me, threatening to pluck my eyes.
Instead, opposite to me, there was a massive crater, decorated with splashes of green and flesh.
My Reserves are filled to the brink.
No, I can't even understand how much I have. The Domain feels so foreign, as if it's rejecting me.
I stood up, expecting myself to struggle, but I didn't.
Every single one of my wounds somehow fixed itself.
I couldn't help but laugh at this situation.
Another Snair approached me, as if it had been waiting for a fair fight.
It took one look at the crater and screeched at me.
I instinctively turned on Steilhang, but it felt off.
It wasn't the usual technique.
The dust wasn't settling at his footsteps; it was instead slowly being repelled by something enveloping me.
It's the exact opposite of my Steilhang...
It doesn't slow things down near me; it pushes them further and further away.
This means...what if I....
I crank up the Domain, a low hum echoing throughout the empty canyons.
The Snair chittered, crashing its mandibles against each other, as it prepared to leap at me.
"Remember, when a pond is undisturbed, drop a rock in the middle, and waves will propagate equally.
The more times you tap the pond, the more waves flow."
The ambient Domain around me seemed to favor mine. I could feel immense power with every step I take towards the Snair.
It just stood there, unable to show how scared it was.
I thought to myself, how the fish in the pond would react whenever it would rain.
Surely they would feel uncomfortable with the number of waves caused by the raindrops.
Then again, the drops are too small to cause anything.
What if I could make the water droplets bigger?
Would these fish feel more than just discomfort...?
2 seconds.
The Domain triggered a chain reaction with the ambient Domain, exciting the neighboring Domain, and the cycle continues- every two seconds.
"Mom!
Lookit these puddles!!"
"That's nice, Atlas.
Just don't hurt the fish, okay?"
"Okie!!"
The Snair's knees buckled, followed by satisfying cracks of its exoskeleton, every time it tried to get back up.
The screeching only got louder, accompanied by the flailing of its arms and legs. I spat blood as I slowly approached the downed prey.
1 Second.
The intensity of the Domain waves increased as emerald began spewing from every crevice of the exoskeleton. I could finally see the yellowish-green flesh hiding underneath that cheap armor.
I shouldn't be smiling, but I couldn't lie to myself.
Watching this thing suffer made this fun.
The ground began to crack, pushing the Snair further into the ground, its organs decimating under the pressure.
I couldn't help but rest my foot on Snair's head and use Domain Boost on my foot.
I shouted, stomping it as hard as I could, repeating.
Another emerald pool.
But this was different from the first fight.
I actually won.
This isn't enough for me.
Where there is one Snair, there follows a pack of them, easily above 100 in numbers.
The Snair responded to my Domain.
So...
Using around 60% of my Domain Reserves, I sent out a wave that went as far as possible.
Pebbles dropped from every direction, followed by a violent dust cloud that masked what was causing it to approach me.
I smirked, thinking to myself how eager they were to meet me.
[𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮̈𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞]
It went on for approximately one minute; the suffering of these poor creatures.
In the first five seconds, the stampede stopped dead in its tracks.
20 seconds in, and almost every Snair fell to the ground, flailing its limbs in a hopeless attempt to make it out unscathed.
I should stop.
I feel sick.
In the next 10 seconds, the crackling of the pathetic excuse for exoskeletons only intensified, followed by the torturous scream of pain; the sounds of their own armor stabbing into their ugly flesh with increasing force.
Am I going too far?
They don't deserve this.
I'm the enemy here.
𝟎.𝟓 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬.
The next 10 seconds consisted of the waves pulsating in a phase difference of half a second.
This instantaneously silenced the Snairs, accompanied by a faint requiem of their final cries.
No. I'm not.
𝟎.𝟏 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬
I need to live.
I couldn't tell whether it took 15 seconds or minutes.
I just stood there in awe, as I could see wisps of steam- climbing their way out of the prison that they called blood vessels.
There was no green sea, but the eerie remains of a massacre that no one could figure out had ever happened. The faint light from the sunless sky illuminated a rather new light on me. The scars I had on either side of my cheek slowly, but surely, dripped a couple of drops of blood.
I wiped both sides of my face with my hands and adjusted my hair, marching along the never-ending labyrinth.
A Week Later
I had come to several conclusions regarding my Function.
1. Natulich Welche has a limit of a 0.1 phase difference between each wave, and it takes approximately 1 minute 25 seconds to render my Reserves useless.
2. I can alternate with Steilhang, but there was a delay in the beginning. I suppose it was because my body still had to get used to the way it treated the Ambient Domain.
The delay went from 5 seconds to 1 after practicing without any imminent danger.
3. Using Domain Boost simultaneously was close to impossible while using either of the two.
Switching between supporting my muscles with Domain versus my sword and shield gave me a great case of nausea. It wasn't perfect yet, but baby steps.
4. After these events, I couldn't tell the difference between my mom's mental or mine.
Both were equally fucked, yet it felt so right.
Oh?
I was resting under a naturally made underpass that the canyons provided, when I heard yet another stampede.
I groaned in annoyance, stretching my arms and cracking my neck in preparation.
What do I do this time?
I could feel the thumping, shaking my body, yet I didn't fear it one bit.
Using NW got boring real quick...
They were almost 100 meters in front of me.
Stielhang + Domain Boost it is.
Just like the good ol' days.
Using Domain Boost with Steilhang was very tedious. The very way my Function processes Domain made it so that it had a comical negative proficiency towards Domain Boost.
How I used to fight back in Zahl was very cowardly, in my opinion.
It was all about using the opponent's speed against themselves, taking advantage of their center of gravity while they're stuck in my shield.
I wasn't even able to use Domain Manipulation that well- I only had the basics down, but it was never 'battle-ready'.
It sadly had no counter, but I didn't feel anything when I won every single round in the Parthenon.
Now was a different case.
Domain Boost was supposedly meant to reinforce your body to a certain degree, but the new transformation made it more of a glass cannon.
It was an aggressive trade-off, but at the end of the day, it didn't really matter.
"Please, give me a tough time." I beckoned to the Snairs, running at me at speeds I could now easily fathom and match.
They couldn't rush at me all together, it would only cause them to stumble upon each other. It was in smaller herds of 10.
I couldn't have asked for better.
A low hum encompassed the battleground, as I stared into 20 claws, suspended right in front of me.
I smiled, knowing I was completely dead if I messed this up. The fear only made this scenario worth it.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins at incredible speeds- as I gave the mental command to switch.
x ——>1 / x
It was over in the blink of an eye. All 10 snairs went soaring and inevitably crashed into the walls, twitching with a deep hole where the abdomen was meant to be.
The exoskeletons weren't doing shit. I berated them, as the next group didn't want me to catch my breath.
They were sadly mistaken. It was I who didn't want to wait.
My legs felt hot and tingly- as Domain filled my legs, giving them the power to do anything.
The sound that followed could only be described as a slice in the wind, made from the world's sharpest sword. The Snairs couldn't react to my speed but were already in motion to rip me apart.
I grabbed one of the arms and anchored it with my elbow, cleanly tearing it apart from the poor creature.
I heard in one of the lectures that the Snairs' claws could even penetrate their own exoskeleton. I wasn't in the mood to punch anymore.
With my newly founded weapon, I shoved the arm against mine, cringing and almost puking at the sound of my arm tearing through the flesh of the new 'prosthetic arm'.
Let's find out.
All I had to do was slash with my left arm, and it would leave a couple of Snairs choking on their own blood and eventually bleeding out to their deaths.
With my right arm, I hold the Snairs in place, while my other arm slashes them apart.
I had several slashes on my back because pain was necessary to keep the adrenaline pumping. It hurt like hell, and yet I welcomed it.
It was a weird feeling- Euphoria.
The song and dance I shared with the hundreds, if not thousands, of snairs showed me a new door. It had me laughing, beside the pile of corpses that rivaled the height of the canyons themselves, bathing in the Emerald Ocean.
.
.
Finally...
The Alpha Snair shows up after I caused the entire species to go extinct.
You'd better hope my teachers were right about begging us not to fight you guys.