Transcendent Gene
Chapter 82: Vehicle Delivery [6]

Chapter 82: Vehicle Delivery [6]

Gio’s eyes were sharp.

’I can’t keep this up.’

That first big movement alone took too much of his energy. He was expending too much Aether trying to keep this man at bay. He couldn’t let things stay like this.

He couldn’t tell what level that man was at, but it wasn’t a weak one. He had the balls to chase after the ground team, so he couldn’t be weak.

’He’s injured.’

That was why there was so little strength in his body.

But that was as far as Gio could think.

He felt himself getting pushed back. It was stupid to even try to compete with strength.

’Good thing that was never my intention.’

The moment he felt the enemy put strength into his sword to break the stalemate, he opened his palm and dropped his sword.

The man couldn’t stop his momentum in time, throwing his arms into the sky. He could do nothing as Gio ducked down into his blind spot and sent an uppercut into the side of his ribs.

"Keugh...!"

The man coughed as a stabbing pain went through his body.

’Dammit!’

He couldn’t accept this. He was already on the verge of dying, and it wasn’t even caused by enemies. He was injured by the bombs his own people dropped to kill them.

His internal body was in tatters. He wanted to get revenge. He wanted to do at least one thing to validate his existence before he died.

However, a single punch was all it took to blind him for a second. His consciousness went out and came back in the blink of an eye, but by the time he could register the world again--

Bang!

A fist slammed into his face. The empowering force of Aether made it feel like a punch from a grown man, sending the red-haired man stumbling back.

"Fuck!"

He shouted, slapping himself to get a hold of his mind.

"I’m fucking Tover, goddammit! I’m the fucking Blood River Racer! I can’t die to a kid!"

Gio decided not to comment on the nickname. It was better to let it die with the man named Tover.

He wasn’t thinking about anything. This was his opportunity to steal the advantage.

Gio pushed off the ground and rushed to cross the ten steps separating him from the enemy.

Rumble!

The ground provided him with another sword. When it entered his hand, it slowly transformed from hilt to tip into metal.

Ten steps later, the transformation was already complete.

Clang!

Tover acted like he’d lost it, but his battle senses were acute. Gio’s first attack was deflected completely on instinct, and the force brought Tover back to a state conscious enough to fight.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their swords clashed over and over again.

Tover used pure strength. He knew that as long as he could hit the kid one time, he could kill him.

However, Gio was zippy. He was fast and knew how to use the environment to his advantage. He knew how to stay in the opponent’s blind spot and abuse the moments when Tover’s consciousness slipped from reality.

His sword moved too fast. The blurry eyesight Tover had couldn’t keep up with all those movements.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dust was thrown into the air as Tover’s sword hit the ground with great force over and over again.

On the other hand, Gio’s sword made no sound, only slightly breezing through the air as it formed small cuts all over Tover’s body.

"Huu..."

Gio was forced to breathe more rapidly as he expended energy, but he kept his breaths as level as he could. His eyes never even looked at Tover’s blade a single time. His gaze was solely focused on the motions of that man’s body.

’A cold weapon is just an extension of the body.’

Unless there was a Sequence involved, it would move in accordance with the body’s changes. In simpler words, the body moved first and the weapon followed.

Tover was making large sweeping motions to catch Gio in the midst of his rapid counterattack. It was the best solution he could think of at the moment, but it also made him incredibly easy to read.

Whoosh!

Gio ducked under his blade and dropped his sword again, sending his fist into the man’s stomach.

"Keugh...!"

Every blunt impact caused far more pain than any cut could, and Gio knew that too. He entertained a battle of blades only long enough to find an opening to use his fist.

Tover stumbled back several steps with blood leaking from his mouth.

The worst part was that it couldn’t even be considered Gio’s accomplishment. It was no different from stealing a kill in a game when the boss was already at low health.

However, the game leaderboards didn’t care about that.

History would forget about this interaction, but the people who remembered it wouldn’t.

They would remember that Tover was defeated by a child, and in Tover’s own mind, it was the same.

He gripped his chest with gritted teeth. His Housing Area was damaged, making it hard for him to use his Sequences. He knew that he would experience backlash for even trying, but he didn’t care anymore.

He wasn’t going to let this child think he was hot shit just because he couldn’t use his Sequences.

"Ragh!"

Tover made a sound like he was hawking spit and growling at the same time. It was an uncontrollable sound his throat made when it was clogged with blood.

Crimson energy swirled around his body, filling his eyes with madness once more.

"Kid!"

He yelled. At the same time, his power exploded.

"This is it for the both of us!"

The wide grin on his face said it all.

He’d completely accepted death, so he was willing to fight without considering his life at all.

’Dammit.’

That was not good news for Gio.

Boom!

A bright flash of crimson light blinded Gio’s eyes. Tover would be in front of him before he could see again. He only had that moment when he first saw the glow of energy to find a way to counter it.

’There’s no choice.’

He could defend himself to the best of his abilities, but he’d have to take the hit.

Gio pushed his foot hard into the ground and willed the world to answer his calls. The broken concrete crawled up his leg like a snake and wrapped around his body.

He opened his eyes wide. The opening wasn’t big enough for him to cover his entire body. Even if he didn’t see the attack, he had to see where it was going to land.

[Memory Book] brought back the moments of the past like frames cut out of a video. It showed him how Tover usually moved, and it showed him how the man moved before the flash of light appeared.

He had no choice but to follow these assertions and move the concrete plate circling his body.

’Right shoulder.’

BANG!

He was barely able to move it in time before the concrete shattered to pieces. Gio felt a stabbing pain from his collarbone before it was replaced by a strikingly cold burning sensation.

His body was thrown back several feet. His vision was blurred, his head was spinning, his ears were ringing, but he didn’t lose consciousness.

He didn’t lose consciousness, so he rapidly turned his body in the air, landing on his other arm and rolling several times before coming to a stop.

’Move!’

"Khhh...!"

Even before he’d stopped moving, he dragged his left arm along the ground and gripped at the stone. Hekat’s power controlled the world, ripping out a massive chunk of concrete that Gio could somehow move like it was made of paper.

Without even thinking, he raised his arm and swung the chunk through the air.

Bang!

It came in contact with a sword that was stabbing down towards him, slightly pushing it to the side. Tover was never expecting to be countered. He never expected his blade to touch cement before it touched flesh.

The chunk of concrete shattered to pieces, but the shock of impact traveled up the sword and shook Tover’s bones.

He felt a shiver through his body, stopping his sword for just a second before it continued down on its path with much less speed.

Gio rolled out of the way, stumbling to his feet and grabbing his right shoulder.

There was a massive hole in his flesh that was bleeding profusely. He was lucky he didn’t lose the arm entirely.

He could feel the iciness of adrenaline trying to mask the pain, but it wasn’t helping.

His body and mind wanted to quit already. There was enough blood spilling out of his body to form a river, and even when he tried to plug the hole with a block of cement, blood still leaked through the cracks.

In a single attack, Tover turned Gio’s mind into something similar to his own.

’But we’re different.’

There was a key difference that separated them.

And it was why Gio still had confidence even though he was on the verge of passing out.

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