Chapter 159: Unconscious
"I'm relying on my instincts again..."
The one who reacted first wasn't even the Pope, to Moonstar it looked like the bluff of a dying man-child. However, there was someone else who quite literally spat out his drink when he heard what Night say.
'He's going to use martial arts? Why did he unequip his weapons.....'
A Grandmaster, one of the four hidden primary classes, the user is able to break through the class restrictions and equip every single weapon. Night was a student of a Legendary Grandmaster, perhaps due to how often Noel was involved in his life, Night couldn't exactly see the true specialty of a Legend.
He didn't exactly take Noel for granted. On the contrary, Night took Noel seriously, very seriously. However, perhaps due to how much he was exposed to and how quickly after starting the game it happened as well, the true essence of a Legend didn't exactly hit Night.
Noel specifically instructed Night that he was relying on his instincts too much and that it was for the worse, especially as a Grandmaster. Initially focusing on technique rather than freedom was what Noel explained. The truth of weapon mastery lay in perfect harmony between technique and freedom.
'What's going to happen....'
Kenny was at the edge of his seat, his hands supporting his chin, his foot tapped the ground, his eyes remained open in an attempt to not miss a single moment. ATHENA was told to analyze and record every single movement of Night's.
"I wonder how your brain works. You couldn't beat me with that double-edged sword but you seem to think you can, without it," the Pope said as he flexed the muscles in his body.
"Watch," Night muttered before activating Hermes Exploration.
When his speed was doubled, Night was faster than the Pope, and it worked out perfectly, he could fully utilize his martial arts without relying on his weapons. Of course, the true peak would be the ability to use both or to find the perfect balance.
Night shot forward, covering the distance in a few strides. Seeing this the Pope relied on his newly enhanced body and threw a punch that would perfectly connect in a second, sending Night deep into the ground. However, just before the knuckles touched Night's face, he disappeared and appeared to the Pope's right. A vulnerable spot, Night took advantage of the momentum he gained and struck the Pope's elbow.
*Krackkkk*
The sound of a crunch was followed by an agonizing scream. The Pope staggered away from Night who now stared at the Pope's broken hand. It was twisted the other way due to the hit landed on the elbow. Night's hands were covered in black flames, the darkness in him was sharper than ever.
"Ouch, that must've hurt..." Night joked as the Pope shot back a deadly glare at him, his eyes were blood red, it almost looked like he was bleeding from his eyes. "Come now, you had it coming. From the time you burnt down my forest, I'm going to slaughter you and then every follower here. No actually, I need you to watch me burn this cult house down. Oh well, would you look at that? Noctis is having fun there."
"Y-you fucking demon....H-ho..how.... You'll ...pay for this," the Pope looked at his hand and felt it burning up internally. It was useless, the bones were completely shattered and his hand was literally out of place, the shards were poking into his muscles. In one swift motion, he cut off his right hand. It was the only option he had, forcing himself to use the hand was essentially poisonous.
"You say that but I'm the one with two working hands," Night said as he looked at the pool of blood behind him, it was the blood of the followers who were caught in Noctis's massacre. Night felt relief. It worked, trusting his instinct worked, but he knew not to got ahead of himself and his martial arts but still, he was glad it worked.
Night ignored the notifications he received as Noctis continued his slaughter, instead he focused on finishing his battle before Everzone's condition got worse. He was aware that the main reason he managed to injure the Pope was because of the element of surprise.
Although that wouldn't matter all too much considering he had a huge advantage now, the Pope lost around a million health from the blood as well as removing it. The entire attack worked out perfectly. Night closed the distance once again and continued to push Moonstar back. It was considerably easier this time. Every second kick landed properly and almost every punch landed, and at the same time, Night barely took any damage. The Pope wasn't given a single second to breathe, let alone use magic to save himself.
'What's happening....I feel tired...what about the followers.....'
It was a brutal sight. When the Pope looked to the followers for further help, all he was met with was an owl-looking pet sitting on the floor and all around the pet were the bodies of the followers, some were killed, some were critically injured and some just fainted from fear.
"Reed, do you think it's going to happen?" Kenny asked as he turned back to look at Reed massaging his own forehead while pouring both, Kenny and himself, a drink.
"Yes sir....it was bound to happen. It's not like we can interfere and stop it, let's just hope the skill created isn't going to be game-breaking," Reed answered as he put a few cubes of ice into the brownish liquid.
"Let's hope it isn't game-breaking? Reed....I hope you understand the potential of his skill. While Nate has the ability to block magic for 5 minutes, Night could essentially gain the ability to drain mana, which is stupid because.....well you know..." Kenny sighed as he looked at the screen, "what about the fatigued feeling? is that due to mana dispersion as well?"
Reed took a minute to ponder. At this point, making a mistake would be deadly, Night would quite literally be able to take on NPCs quite easily. An example of that lay in front of Reed, he was against a rare-grade NPC who was nearly a hundred levels above him, not to mention the buffs he received from the followers, and yet any fool could say that Night was going to win. This was simply due to the effect of his unknown martial arts and the worst part is, Night couldn't be called a bug abuser due to the fact that he himself wasn't aware of it.
"I-i'm not sure...however...I can say that ATHENA should be able to find the balance in his growth..."
"Let' s just hope you're right..." Kenny said as he narrowed his gaze onto a bulky man on both his knees in front of a young blue-haired man, around who a thin dark line could be seen.
"It's over....I want you to watch this, but before that," Night equipped his Glacial Balance and sliced off the Pope's other hand as well. At this point, even though he wanted to, the Pope couldn't muster the energy to scream, his body was empty. He could feel no energy in him, it was unexplainable.
Night summoned his Dawn's bow and rained down hundreds upon hundreds of arrows and within a few minutes, the entire building collapsed. It was black rain that annihilated anything that it touched.
"N-no...." the Pope said. He wanted to cry, throw a fit, rage, destroy, the Church he worked so hard for was destroyed right in front of his eyes.
"And now it is yo-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Night felt Noctis's paws touch his head. It was sudden but he could feel that Noctis had something to say.
"What's up buddy? Now isn't the best time..."
*KRUUUUU KRRRRUUUUU*
"Woah hey! Language! You're still not old enough to be saying such things," Night said as he lightly flicked Noctis's head. "But, I shall let you do what you wish. Go for it."
As soon as Night finished what he said, Noctis flew straight to the Pope and sliced his head off. Although, just before his claws reached the Pope's head, his eyes met with the Pope's. Just the stare was enough to kill someone and that was the real reason. The head cutting was simply for Noctis's own pleasure.
Numerous notifications popped up, more than when Shade was 'undergoing a significant change' in the Forest of Silence. However, it wasn't the best time to stop and check them out. Night was more worried about Everzone and it made sense, Everzone was stuck in an illusion and he was possibly made to see things.
"Snap out of it. You got this buddy, he's dead, I killed him. You can get up now, come on," Night said in a slightly agitated voice, the Pope was slaughtered, meaning the spell or the illusion was supposed to be lifted, and it was true, Everzone wasn't under the illusion anymore. However, he was still unconscious.
Night was slightly worried. He knew that there would be nothing wrong in reality but the fact that Everzone didn't wake up yet was something that flamed his anxiety.
"Come on kid...you got this..."