AA. 13 (Patreon)

Despite the rubble, metal scraps, and shards of glass in the grass, Nil walked without boots. Absorb ensured he made no noise as he walked and also kept the debris from shredding his soles. Whenever Brutal Battery’s levels edged closer to capacity, he momentarily used Expend to cover great distances in bounding leaps. The long air time gave him enough of an opportunity to switch to Absorb, resulting in soundless landings.

Meanwhile, Nil’s opponent made no attempts to keep silent. Glass cracked, and stones skittered under his boots. Meanwhile, a strange scraping sound accompanied him wherever he went. Nil could hear him moving ahead along adjacent streets. Instead of directly approaching his opponent, he moved through alleys and across rooftops, circling around the man to get behind him.

Burning Sands was a six-foot-tall man with a big belly. He appeared in no shape for the fight. Every bit of him jiggled as he moved, and he walked with an almost penguin-like waddle. However, the announcer’s familiarity with the fighter and the sand swirling around him told Nil not to take the man lightly. Each grain under his control emitted a soft orange glow.

Dark wisps moved along the floor and joined everything his power controlled. Not all of the new grains glowed. However, all the luminous flora they touched lost their bioluminescence and ended up blackened and charred. As the mass the man controlled grew, he condensed some of it into tendrils that danced with the swirling sands. The orange flecks bits combined with the natural pink, blue, and green lights, adding an incandescent touch to the ruined city’s beauty.

The man hadn’t attacked or defended yet, but his Schema-given ability already looked fascinating and enchanting. Andrew claimed the Pit organizers liked fighters who put on a good show. Nil could see how Burning Sands met the brief. Haunting Visage walked around the man, inspecting him closely like a description placard at an art museum. Her eyes betrayed concern.

The longer Nil delayed, the more dangerous his opponent would become. The sand cloud appeared to grow with every step the man took. So, he attacked first. Instead of charging in, he used a skill Andrew and he developed together.

Discussing Brutal Battery and the Schema's description of it with Andrew and Udit led Nil to the conclusion that not everything the screens told him was strictly accurate. Too much was lost in translation. Expend didn't just empower movements but also increased the amount of power he could output, and it didn't just limit itself to strikes, pushes, or jumps.

If not for Armsmaster’s Disappointment, Nil could turn into a battlefield terror with nothing but a hammer. Despite the curse, they had experimented with one, and he turned a wall into rubble with a single swing. He threw up from the terrible flashbacks and nausea afterward and almost broke a toe after dropping the hammer on his foot. However, it gave Nil a decent idea of what could've been and also let him discover the curse's parameters firsthand. Moments later, when he picked up the hammer, channeled Expend, and threw it, no memories of failure plagued him. His motor skills didn't deteriorate. So, Nil and Andrew had spent the following days sharpening his aim and improving his timing with Expend.

Switching from Absorb to Expend required concentration and focus, and the reverse was almost as difficult. However, Nil faced no such challenges using either from a neutral state. In fact, using the more finicky Expend proved easier if he didn't channel Absorb for two seconds prior to activation.

So, Nil snuck closer to his opponent, using the crumbling buildings and flora as cover. Once close enough, he ceased channeling Absorb and grabbed the hardest and most evenly shaped stone within sight. Then he aimed, took a deep breath, released his hold on the imaginary balloon, and threw with all his might. The act reduced his stored energy to a quarter, and the projectile shot forth like a cannonball.

Unfortunately, Burning Sands appeared to have a passive defense. The grains swirling around him condensed and shot upwards, forming a curved barrier. It stopped the rock, rippling as it dispersed the force across the many grains, and then let the projectile drop silently on the ground. The visage recoiled and retreated, almost behaving as if the glowing orange grains had struck her.

Nil and Burning Sand’s eyes met. The latter’s expression made him look like a dumb brute. He wore a brown jumpsuit and had a white scarf draped around him. The black eyeliner and mascara around his eyes made it look like a sleep-deprived panda. Then, he smiled, and Nil saw nothing but rage and malic.

Mage or Summoner discipline. Both need high Mind. The cosplay looks stupid but he probably isn’t.

The man flicked his wrist at Nil, and two sandy tentacles swung toward him. An Expend-powered kick helped him push out of the first’s path. He switched to Absorb just in time, blocking the second. The tentacle didn't completely come to a stop like the swipes, slashes, and hammer swings Nil had endured before. Instead, it dissolved into him, and sand rained around his feet. Some got in his mouth, leaving Nil sputtering as he retreated further from his opponent. The air in the arena was cool, but a dry heat consumed Nil as he fled the sand. His throat dried, and sweat beaded around his temples.

Two more projectiles shot at Burning Sands, but the results didn’t change. However, watching the sands rush back to their master told Nil that his opponent couldn’t attack and defend simultaneously. Only a fifth of his energy remained, so he ceased the assault, got to a safe distance, kneeled, and studied his opponent. The low stance made him a smaller target and also masked his next movement.

“That's an interesting power,” Burning Sands said. He sounded friendly, but Nil knew better, looking at the man's manic expression. The sand slowly trickled back towards him. Nil noticed the masses swirling around his opponent had grown in the moments since the attack. “You're pretty passive, though. Don't tell me you just ascended.”

Nil didn't answer. Instead, he went on the offensive. The single tentacle strike had filled the balloon by a third of its maximum capacity. It had power but lacked speed. Nil needed to get past his opponent’s defense and strike first.

Expend-powered strides helped Nil close the distance quicker, and he purposely let the balloon almost empty, creating maximum room for absorption. Then, when he saw his opponent wind up another attack, he immediately switched to Absorb. Two strikes and uncomfortably warm sand exploded against his body, filling Brutal Battery and almost throwing him off balance. The heat left his face, eyes, and throat stinging. However, Nil got within striking distance of his opponent.

“My. My. Aren't we brave?”

After every attack, the man appeared to need a couple of moments to gather his sand. So, Nil skidded to a halt, planted his left heel in the ground, channeled Expend, and launched a roundhouse kick.

Burning Sands threw up a barrier just in time to weaken the blow before it struck his belly, folding him in half and throwing him back several feet. Scratches and burns covered Nil's leg, and sweat coated his back, but he pushed on, refusing to let his opponent recover. He leaped forward and pulled back a fist, ready to strike the supine man's head and, hopefully, knock him out.

All the gathered sand buffeted Nil at once. A dense mass struck his abdomen mid-stride, and the unbearable heat choked him while the force threw him back. A sudden panic took over as Nil struggled to breathe, and it felt like several tiny ants were ripping at his chest from the inside. A moment later, he landed on his back, coughing. The sand retreated, and Nil did the same. By the time he activated Absorb again, Brutal Battery's stores had emptied.

The balloon didn't remain deflated for long. When Nil regained his wits, he found the visage waving at him urgently. A giant glowing fist of sand and fire swung down toward him. Despite his previous declaration of staying on the offensive while Absorb was active, he threw his arms over his face. It was more on reflex than intentional.

The move proved life-saving. Brutal Battery’s stores jumped to full, and the residual force rattled Nil's skeleton. All of his joints and ribs groaned. Then came the unbearable heat. He felt it burn his skin as sand tried to sneak into every available orifice. It was as Andrew had warned him. Kill or be killed. His opponent intended to suffocate or burn him alive.

Instead of retreating to its owner, the sand encased Nil and squeezed. He could do nothing to reduce the pressure around his chest with Brutal Battery at capacity. Barely any air remained in his lungs, and panic fought adrenaline. A desperate idea came together, and he put it into action without a second thought. Nil used Expend's dual function. He released the stored energy through touch. Instead of channeling it through a focused surface, he let the energy leave through every inch of skin that felt sand against it.

The balloon deflated all at once. A miniature explosion followed, and the force of it lifted Nil off the ground. All sand flew off his body. Parts of his vest, shorts, and mask left him too. Nil landed, coughing and spitting blood. Adrenaline helped him roll onto his back and channel Absorb. He couldn’t tell if the energy release had burned him since it felt like all of him was on fire.

Expend has progressed to Mortal 4!

The fight was far from over. So, he gritted his teeth, jumped to his feet, and raced at Burning Sands. Fear, shock, and surprise filled the man’s eyes. A sandblast struck Nil, but it was significantly weaker than all he had faced thus far and only refilled three-quarters of the energy he Expended while closing the distance. Since all of him was burning, he no longer felt the heat. Instead, he focused on his breathing and tried to keep his blurring vision focused.

A sand barrier blocked an Expend-powered punch, but then he released a third of his stored energy through his fist. The shield exploded, and the residual force sent Burning Sands staggering. Darkness had started to encroach on Nil’s vision, but he kept pushing. The next strike missed, but then a spinning roundhouse kick knocked his opponent on his back. Unfortunately, Nil had already blown all of his remaining energy because of his compromised control. A sand tentacle whipped him across his chest. It sliced skin, and blood sizzled as it landed on the hot sand on the ground.

Nil’s blurring vision focused enough to see the visage. Aisha’s concerned eyes darted to his left, and he activated Absorb just in time to block another whip. Then more followed, lashing at him at high speeds. The blows slowly inflated the balloon.

Burning Sands started to rise. The darkness encroaching on Nil’s vision accelerated, but he could see the fear on his opponent's painted face. The glowing grains had dimmed, too. More sand lay inert on the ground than in the man's control. There was a chance he could win.

You can do this! He's almost out of energy.

Nil stumbled forward and kicked at Burning Sand's face. He missed and lost his footing. His vision narrowed to a pinpoint, and he heard his opponent’s winded words just before everything went black.

“Just stay down, you fucking idiot!”

Might has progressed to Mortal 8!