“...Hmmm,” grunted the pale man, more deeply than before. Behind him was a circle which looked like it had been drawn in the air with a compass. From the shining ring emerged a thin warrior from another world, his body covered in armor.
“Commence the Enlightenment.” From somewhere inside the mask that entirely covered the warrior’s face, a man’s voice sounded via a machine.
The man who had appeared first, a Reincarnator dressed in a black business suit, withdrew through the ring of light as if changing places with the warrior in full armor. The armored Reincarnator advanced; with each step, white smoke billowed up from the ground. Steam rose from fists readied at the Reincarnator’s waist, distorting the scenery behind him.
“This crater is the sacred land of the Ex Machina. Don’t walk in here as if you own the place.” Dill lowered his stance. “You’ll pay for your blasphemy with your life.”
Kicked up by his heel and the back of his knee, Dill’s chain mail cloak rang out stridently. At that moment, Dill charged toward the Reincarnator, who met him head-on. The heel of the Reincarnator’s shoes blasted out fire, propelling his attack forward with explosive speed!
“Nue, we should run—somewhere where we won’t get in Master’s way!”
When Sid shouted this, Nue shuddered. Her red eyes seemed to ask, Are you afraid of me? Do I disgust you? Sid grabbed Nue’s hand, and her harsh eyes looking up at him suddenly shivered in confusion.
“Why...”
“What do you mean, why? It’s the normal thing to do, right?!” Sid’s hand, dripping with sweat, was cold and trembling. However, he endeavored to hide the fear in his eyes, staring straight back at Nue. This was both to protect his own pride, but more than that, to avoid hurting Nue’s feelings.
“I suppose it’s normal for you,” mumbled Nue, looking at the hand offered to her before grasping it in return. As the two fled, the mingled sounds of different solid objects clashing together rang out through the air behind them.
Fire blasted from the Reincarnator’s elbow, propelling a punch that struck Dill’s chain mail cloak. Staggering from the impact, Dill retaliated with the hilt of his dagger. Pieces of Dill’s torn cloak and fragments of the Reincarnator’s shattered visor danced in the air as the combatants were thrown backward by the impact, but both of them kicked the ground and clashed yet again at the same point.
The Reincarnator’s full-body armor was different from both the plate armor of Redguard and chain mail, in that it fit the wearer’s body like a glove. It was light, allowing for nimble movement, but lacked the ability to absorb and diffuse impacts. In short, it was fragile.
Dill, perceiving this, rained fierce blows upon the Reincarnator. Sweeping with his sword and gouging with his dagger, thrusting his knee forward and tearing at the armor again with his dagger in an underhand grip after withdrawing his arm from the previous blow—all the while forcibly interjecting with elbow strikes. It was a flurry of crude attacks, devoid of all pretense; he stuck to the Reincarnator and wouldn’t let go. With no crowd to rally around him, this was Dill’s other fighting style.
The Reincarnator blasted flames from both elbows, causing both arms to accelerate and spin like propellers, flinging Dill aside. The warrior then leaped backward, touching down at twice the distance a normal person would be able to jump. At the point of landing the Reincarnator’s heel emitted a burst of flame. Without taking a moment of rest, he rocketed forward, powered by a Skill.
These jet bursts even made short-distance flight possible. While hovering in the air, the Reincarnator fired another jet burst, his trajectory freely changing—and he was now heading straight toward Dill. This transcended the laws of nature—even the gods would have feared the power of this Skill! This must truly have been the epitome of power!
Dill opened his chain mail cloak and hurled the javelin he had hidden beneath it. The Reincarnator repelled it with only one hand. It fell to the ground—and now the Reincarnator was right under Dill’s nose! His right elbow spurted flame for a straight punch fired with full power.
The armored fist passed through thin air. In response, Dill’s sword traveled in the opposite direction, slicing open the Reincarnator’s flank. The Reincarnator staggered backward. Trying to stand up, the armored warrior blasted fire from each limb.
“You’re a Flinter, aren’t you?” asked Dill. In response, the Reincarnator blinked twice beneath his helmet’s broken visor. “Using your pyrokinesis to propel your body instead of just blasting your opponent with flame is clever. Not a bad idea. However, you’re not the first Flinter to think of it.”
“What of it, barbarian?” A brief, cold response, but Dill was satisfied, and he raised the corners of his mouth in a grin.
“It means that I know how to kill you. My name is Dill Steel-Link, and I am no barbarian. I am the killer of the dead, a calamity upon Reincarnators. That is the name of one who has slain many Reincarnators—and is about to kill you.” This was sufficient as a taunt, and Dill had been sure to mention his own name.
Having achieved his aim, the sneer fell from Dill’s face and his expression hardened. He advanced toward the enemy, but the Reincarnator didn’t move—only waited there with both fists ready to shoot from the hip.
What’s he playing at? Dill only hesitated for a moment. He had already swung his sword down, aiming to cut off the enemy’s head.
The Reincarnator’s elbows, readied at each hip, both lit up.
Right, right, left...right, left, right! A subsonic but still high-speed rush! Fists charged with the power of a Skill hit Dill six times, almost all at once.