Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 200: ELAHS-1104

💯💯

’Fuck...his Void power is this strong even while limited? I’m scared to think of the damage I’d have taken if it wasn’t for my suit!’

Such thoughts came to Shale’s mind as his body came to a halt, and immediately he forced himself to his feet.

He had spent the past 3 months observing Jamie in preparation for this day, which was why he knew.

’Spatial and Void Manipulation may be his strongest powers, but they’re not his only powers!’

As if confirming those thoughts, Jamie’s fist coated in swirling blue lightning and flames crashed down on the ground where his head had been a split second ago. The force splintered the earth and sent rocks flying in all directions.

Shale locked eyes with Jamie and in that instant, he felt his body freeze, reminding him of another fact.

His spatial power was only partially nullified.

’Sequence #1: Slash.’

Jamie commanded internally and a long spatial blade descended from above, drawing a diagonal cut across his opponent’s chest and knocking him back with the force.

The Hybrid frowned and used Sequence 2#: Cut, with the results being less than stellar.

’Around 60-70%. That’s how much of my spatial attack potency was nullified.’

Jamie concluded this as he conjured a longsword of lightning and flames, infusing destruction law energy and a tiny bit of void power into it before swinging it down at Shale.

In response, Shale got to his feet and infused his blade with Water, Swords, and Extinction law energy, swinging it upwards to meet Jamie’s overhead slash.

When the two swords collided, the impact created a blinding flash of light, followed by an ear-splitting thunderclap that reverberated across the battlefield. The ground beneath them shattered, sending chunks of earth flying in all directions.

The lightning and flames from Jamie’s blade met the water and extinction energies of his opponent, creating a volatile reaction. Arcs of lightning surged outward, crackling violently and setting the ground ablaze. The extinction energy radiated in dark pulses, obliterating everything it touched.

Lastly, the water law energy formed a protective barrier that evaporated into steam upon contact with the flames, creating a dense, obscuring mist.

Their swords continued clashing, creating a scene right out of an action movie—if you ignored the 30cl energy potion bottle in Jamie’s mouth, that is.

Jamie had been trying to recover his energy faster, so he had removed about 5 top quality energy potions from his subspace earlier. He drank one on the way to Skyhaven and drank the second right after entering the mountain. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

This one in his mouth now was his third.

As expected of top-quality potions, they helped him recover faster, though he was now expending as much as he recovered. The downside with them, and all potions, was their reduced efficiency with continued intake within a short period.

If the first worked at 100%, then the next would work at 98%. By the third, he would only have 92% efficiency and this would become 84% by the fourth.

As of the fifth, it’d only be 68%.

Before that point, his consumption rate would exceed his recovery rate. In an attempt to delay this inevitable occurrence, Jamie began using his void power sparingly, since it was the thing that guzzled most of his magic power, even more so as he had to use twice the normal amount to fight the barrier’s limitation.

He’d only use a little bit in his sword strikes while waiting for a decisive moment to unleash its full potency and end this battle.

As the clash of their swords continued, the battlefield around Jamie and his opponent became a blur of swift, precise movements. Jamie’s longsword, still crackling with lightning and flames, met Shale’s blade in a series of rapid, forceful strikes. Each swing was met with a parry or a counterattack, sending sparks of power flying.

Suddenly, Shale infused ambient cosmic energy into his sword and with it, he broke Jamie’s energy blade in two, scattering the flame, lightning and destructive energies constituting it.

Seizing the opportunity, Shale lunged forward with a powerful thrust. Instinctively, Jamie conjured a spatial barrier, a shimmering wall of distorted space appearing between them, but he quickly supplemented it with a barrier of flames in the next split second.

However, Shale’s sword, powered by the energy of extinction, tore through both defences effortlessly. Jamie had backed away just in time, but his opponent, not giving him a moment’s respite, infused more cosmic energy into his blade, elongating it with a fierce thrust aimed directly at Jamie’s chest.

Reacting quickly, Jamie raised his right hand and used it to parry the blade, redirecting it to his shoulder instead. The blade pierced through his shoulder, and a concentrated blast of energy erupted from it, blasting apart the joint in a violent explosion of blood and energy.

Yet, in less than three seconds, the damaged tissue and bone regenerated, before being covered up by brand new flesh.

Jamie stepped forward and threw his left fist in a powerful punch, forcing Shale to abandon his blade to block, barely bringing his arms up just in time to absorb the impact.

Despite the power behind Jamie’s strike, Shale’s eyes glinted with cunning and he channelled the imperceptible cosmic energy into his palm, weaving an invisible spell.

A beam of pressurized water began to take shape, unseen by Jamie as he focused on following up with his punch.

Jamie conjured a new sword of fused law energies in his left hand and punched with his right coated in flames and lightning. His punch had just landed when the beam of pressurized water infused with cosmic energy shot forward, slicing through the air and aiming directly at Jamie’s unprotected back.

"?!"

At the last moment, Jamie sensed a ripple in the fabric of space around him, alerting him to the impending danger. He was momentarily surprised that he had not sensed anything until it got within a 3-metre radius, but this did not delay his response.

Without turning, he conjured a barrier of water behind him, infused with his law energy, to intercept the attack.

The pressurized beam collided with Jamie’s water barrier, creating a spectacular display of elemental power that sent water splashing in all directions.

The man’s expression was a sight to behold as he was completely unaware that Jamie could use Water Laws as well. However, Jamie had been balancing all his powers from Day one, so it made sense for him to gain Water laws to balance his powerful Fire laws.

Although the cosmic-infused water of the man’s attack tried to pierce through Jamie’s barrier, Jamie pumped his barrier with more energy, allowing it to hold firm and disperse the beam’s pressure and force.

Seeing his attack thwarted, Shale’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t lose his composure. Lunging forward, he conjured a new blade of Extinction and Sword law energies, aiming to exploit the momentary distraction, but Jamie was ever ready.

With a swift twist, Jamie redirected his energy back into his sword and met the incoming strike, their blades clashing once more in a storm of sparks and raw power.

The ground beneath them cracked, echoing the intensity of their battle and they moved around at hypersonic speed, breaking through buildings, throwing and kicking themselves at the walls of the barrier trapping them together.

Mid-fight, Shale suddenly infused his cosmic energy into his body, creating a burst of speed and power that threw Jamie off balance. Taking advantage of the moment, he sliced through Jamie’s face, cutting his left eye and blinding him on that side.

Half of Jamie’s vision went black, and the powerful extinction law energy delayed his regeneration, taking about three seconds for his eye to heal.

Despite this, Jamie pressed on, attacking even in his impaired state. However, with his depth perception affected, his strike lacked the precision he normally would’ve had.

His blade missed its intended mark, only grazing his opponent’s neck instead of delivering a critical blow. Though Shale took some damage, he retaliated swiftly, thrusting his blade into Jamie’s chest and piercing his heart.

Jamie’s eye finally regenerated, restoring his vision just in time to see the man’s triumphant expression.

Summoning his strength, Jamie prepared to counterattack, but a sharp pain radiated from his heart, spreading rapidly across his entire body. It felt like pins and needles stabbing him all over, piercing his flesh and bone. His body convulsed, muscles seizing under the relentless assault of agony.

With sheer force of will, Jamie swung his sword, barely landing a glancing blow on the man before the pain overwhelmed him. Staggering down to one knee, he clutched his chest in agony, his breaths coming in ragged gasps.

Shale stepped back, observing Jamie with a cold, calculating gaze.

"Ah...finally got to use that."

He twirled his sword around, a grin playing on his lips as he leaned in and asked Jamie.

"It hurts, doesn’t it? You’re questioning why you cannot heal from the damage to your heart, aren’t you?"

Jamie wordlessly threw his fist encased in flames forward, but it lacked his usual speed so Shale was able to dodge the strike with ease.

In that same moment, Jamie’s sweat pores on his right arm which he attacked with leaked blood as some of his energy circuits ruptured in that moment, filling him with even greater pain.

Something was spreading through his body. It had come from Shale’s sword, entered his heart, and was now spreading through his bloodstream.

While he was making this internal analysis, the man he was fighting took off his helmet and began talking.

"Hey, Westley. I never did introduce myself, did I?"

Jamie was thinking of how to deal with his current situation, not bothering to listen to the talkative man’s self-introduction when Shale uttered a line that Jamie could not ignore.

"I am Extinction Legion Anti-Hybrid Soldier 1104."

"?!"

"Ah...that look of shock on your face. It’s fun to see.

But yes, you didn’t hear wrongly. I am indeed an Anti-Hybrid Soldier."

Shale repeated his words, making sure they sunk in before walking forward as he spoke, slowly curving in a circle around Jamie who was down on one knee.

"I was never given an actual name, you see, so I chose one for myself.

I simply reversed the initials of my Identification Code, ELAHS-1104, and I got Shale. That’s the name I decided to go by."

Shale spoke with a nostalgic look on his face, remembering the time when he chose this name for himself years ago.

"1104.

That was the number of attempts made to create an Anti-Hybrid Soldier capable of killing you; the now immortal Void Manipulator, Jamie Westley.

But there were 1103 failures, each one either dying, mutating or simply resulting in an enhanced Vampireslayer or Wolfslayer."

As Shale spoke, he revealed the reason why he was sent to target Jamie.

It was due to Jamie’s Void Manipulation powers that allowed him to control nonexistence and erase things from existence.

Someone, somewhere, didn’t like that Jamie had this power and wanted to take Jamie out before he could grow strong enough.

But Jamie went on to become an Immortal, so they had to first create something capable of killing him in his current state, and Shale standing before Jamie was that something.