‘This guy is so annoying to fight’ Michael exhaled a painful breath as he backed away and cast his piercing light skill at the man.
And much like his other skills, it was blocked or redirected, Michael was not sure how the man did it, after all, the skill was pretty difficult to detect.
But not to him apparently as he kept on deflecting them and closing in on Michael, hitting him with pretty heavy blows despite only using daggers.
He had the system to thank for the parrying, he didn’t have to worry about it at all, the only thing he needed to focus on was attacking and not getting his head cut off.
‘I don’t suppose Heavenly Judgement is off cooldown?’ He asked with annoyance as the fight didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
His mana was limited, he couldn’t say the same for the man’s physical abilities as they seemed to be much better than his own.
However, everyone had limits, even if it didn’t look like they did.
‘Don’t block the next non vital attack, I want to try something’ He informed the system and proceeded to fight as per usual.
But unlike before, he showed more openings, he wanted the man to take advantage of them and hit him.
Michael’s reasoning was pretty simple, if the man could block the attacks with his daggers, would he still be able to do the same without them?
The attack came but it didn’t seem like the man would fall for his cheap trick, most of his attacks were still directed at the vitals.
‘Guh.. fuck’ One of those attacks managed to graze him, albeit slightly, but even then, it was enough to blow out one of his lungs.
However, his passive regeneration mended his injury very quickly.
It seemed like using heals on himself was no longer necessary unless they were fatal or more serious in nature.
He didn’t know if he could mend a pierced-through heart or even a split into two body, however, he was willing to bet that he could.
The man once again attacked, but this time, his daggers were heading for Michael’s arm, seemingly in an attempt to cut it off.
‘This fucker…’ He was glad at the fact that the attack wasn’t heading for his vitals, however, it was heading towards his arm.
It seemed like everyone’s go-to method of injuring someone was cutting off an arm or two, he just had to experience it multiple times himself.
The system didn’t parry it and let it connect, however, just as it embedded itself into his arm, he shut it tight with a shield, holding it in place.
That seemed to throw the man off a little bit as he had a look of surprise on his face.
He tried taking out the dagger but it seemed as though it was stuck inside of his arm, Michael made sure of that.
With only a single dagger remaining, his chances of winning grew by a lot.
Michael backed away and cast a few shields in front of himself, blocking off the man’s approach while also beginning to summon hundreds, if not thousands of swords, which were all heading towards the single-daggered man.
He attempted to replicate Heavenly Judgement, however, there seemed to be some kind of a rejection that made it impossible for him to finish the skill.
Safety mechanism against your own stupidity, thank me later.
‘…’ Michael ignored the system’s words and stared at the man who now seemed to show a hint of struggle.
However, he knew better than anyone, that he hadn’t used his affinity yet.
The entire fight, he only used his daggers and a little bit of mana and not a single skill from what Michael could tell.
‘Unless… deflection was his skill..’ He thought for a moment but dismissed that idea, it seemed too far-fetched.
A single sword connected with the man’s thigh, throwing him a bit off balance before he let out an inaudible shout, one that seemed like a high-pitched shriek to Michael’s ears.
However, it seemed to have broken all of the incoming swords of light.
It also managed to push Michael back slightly, it was now his turn to show surprise.
‘What was that?’
The wind affinity perhaps, it seems like he is going down the path of sound… It means he uses sound to fight.
‘So as long as I can’t hear him, I’m fine?’ Michael asked for confirmation as he was considering his choices.
The vibrations would still affect your brain.. however, I could focus all your defensive capabilities on it, making you pretty much immune to his affinity.
‘That seems pretty simple.. is there a catch?’
Yes, I would need to seal off your hearing for a bit, that is, until you finish the fight.
Michael looked in thought for a moment before nodding ‘Do it.’
And the moment he said that, his hearing completely disappeared and the system’s outer shields did too.
I said full focus. Be careful.
The system warned him and Michael turned to look back at the man.
His appearance looked a little haggard, it seemed that his little shriek was not able to completely destroy all of the swords as there were holes clearly visible in his body.
However, the fight was much more balanced now.
Michael could see the man saying something and then his expression turning to one of confusion, then right after, shock.
It seemed like he figured out what Michael had done and decided to take the fight up front once again.
‘He doesn’t have a lot of life left..’ He thought as his eyes of the healer skill overlooked the man, there was a little flame that was growing weaker by the moment.
He assumed that was the man’s life force, it would definitely coincide with the injuries he took.
Michael took one step forward, baiting the man into a defensive stance, and in that one little moment, he sent a bunch of swords directed at the man’s feet.
The man dodged by jumping upwards, however, Michael was prepared for that, as in the next moment, an invisible sword cut off the man’s hand which was holding the dagger.
All this time, he was preparing a single piercing light, and in the very end, he managed to succeed with his surprise attack.
The man looked at Michael in terror as he caught his own hand and pried it open, taking the dagger out and attempting to swing at him once more.
However, it was to no avail, as the hand managed to be lopped off as well, it was much way easier for Michael to take advantage of this fight now that he had made the man panic.
And all that was left, was to finish it.
However, he still wanted answers. Who exactly were these higher-ups? And why was this man tasked with ‘toughening’ him up?
‘System, is there any way for you to safely let me talk with him while also protecting my brain?’ He asked as he stared at the man who was shaking and seemingly preparing to run away.
I can interpret the words he speaks and relay them in your mind, just ask your questions.
‘Alright.’ Michael walked up to him and kicked him in the stomach, hurtling him down on his back.
“Who are you and who are your so-called higher-ups?” He asked away and saw the man mumble something.
Fuck you, impostor.
Michael stared at the man for a moment and sighed. He dealt with these kinds of people back in his time in the military.
And every single time, they remained quiet, the devoted cultist type.
“I see..” Michael waved his hand and turned around, hearing a plop on the ground as the system had restored his hearing.
Well, that was pretty unproductive.
‘Yup..’ Michael proceeded to walk off of the arena and sit down on the very last step, acting like some sort of a chair.
‘So what now?’
