How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 245: Number 846 [2]
"So... come on." I deadpanned, one hand buried in my pocket as I gestured lazily with the other.
Yeah, I know. Cold, arrogant, smug—pick your poison. I was literally asking Chase to throw the first strike, like I wasn't the one challenging him. But hey, I wasn't trying to be edgy or disrespectful. Honestly, I just thought I'd let him make the first move before I one-shotted him.
Of course, intentions didn't matter. The world didn't grade you on good faith.
Chase's face twitched with irritation, confusion, and exasperation all at once. He looked at me, then at his dual swords, before narrowing his eyes.
"That's it? You're not even going to use a weapon?"
"Ah, right! I knew something was missing—" My eyes lit up in sudden realization as I smacked a palm against my forehead. I even glanced around, patting my sides like I'd dropped a pen somewhere. Then I gave a helpless shrug.
"What was it you said earlier? You're not big on picking on the weak?" The corner of my lips curved dryly. I waved my hand, dismissing the thought.
"Well, neither am I. These are enough."
Chase's expression froze for a heartbeat. Silence rippled through the stage before he suddenly burst into laughter—light, almost genuine, as if he couldn't help himself.
"What?" I tilted my head, not following the joke.
He lingered with his smile, then raised his dual shortswords, settling into a forward-leaning stance. His gaze sharpened.
"Man, I heard you were crazy and arrogant. Guess the rumors were true. Fine then… but don't blame me for what happens next."
Before I could respond, Derrick's familiar gruff voice cut in from the sidelines, mocking.
"Are you two girls gonna fight, or stand around gossiping about boys all day?"
I gave a lazy shrug. "Well, you heard the man."
I stepped forward—just one step—when something flickered in Chase's eyes.
A sharp glint.
Then his body blurred, vanishing into motion. In an instant, he split the air with a spring-loaded lunge, exploding forward like a streak of steel and muscle.
I hadn't even completed that single step when he was already upon me, dual blades reversed in his grip. Aura erupted off him like a shockwave, slamming into the arena, thickening the air with raw pressure that clawed at my lungs.
This... this was the strength of a top five hundred.
It was... negligible.
My eyes narrowed calmly, the moment inching down to a crawl, as i felt the air around me almost harden.
'So that's what it is...'
His Aura wasn't just flaring— it was trying to bind me. To choke my reflexes, suppress and pin down my movements in place and slow my reaction.
'Interesting...' i mused inwardly, analysing the strange and unfamiliar sensation that tried to creep around my body. It felt like invisible burdening chains had tied down my limbs and joints, restraining me in place with a stuffy weight.
And the closer he drew nearer to me, the heavier the weight of the pressure around me increased.
Chase was an Aura user. Could this have been his Aura Art...some kind of Suppression or Intimidation?
It wasn't bad, i thought.
Of course it could have been much, much better.
"Got you." A cold smile twisted on Chase's lips that smelled checkmate and the First of his shortsword flashed. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
The blade hissed, sharply tearing through the air in swift arc for my neck like they were made for each other.
But I begged to differ.
I drove my fist forward in a straight, unyielding punch—
—and met his face with a crushing crunch a heartbeat before steel could kiss skin.
He had been too close, too reckless. There was no time to retreat, no margin to react. My knuckles buried themselves into his nose, caving it in with grotesque force.
A wet, sickening squelch tore through the silence. Chase's skin folded grotesquely under my fist, and for a frozen instant, his wide eyes screamed one question that never left his lips:
How?
The next second, Chase's body torpedoed backwards as gravity took place, sending him flying in reverse from which he came.
Surprisingly, he managed to twist
his body mid-air and regained control of his landing, but stumbled the moment his feet touched the ground.
The moment Chase was finally flung back, the invisible weight crushing down on me snapped—gone as if it had never existed. My shoulders loosened, breath came easier, and the heaviness pinning my feet melted away.
So I hadn't been imagining it. Chase had been doing something.
Fascinating.
I glanced down at my hands, flexing my fingers as curiosity sparked. Was it a Skill? Or could it have been… an Aura Art? That would explain how he had carved through every challenger with flawless victories.
Across from me, Chase staggered, blood streaming from his mangled nose. His face was twisted, ruined, yet his glare burned hotter than ever as he locked eyes with me.
An Aura that suppressed a target, in simple terms. If it had been any stronger, things could have been a bit more troublesome.
But how i broke off it's effects wasn't anything special — i simply brute forced my way out of it.
I grinned at Chase dryly.
Raw untainted power, you see, was incredible at times.
Of course if i had still been a mere Mortal Rank, i could have struggled a bit more with Chase's strange Art if i weren't careful. But now, my Eta Ranked physique allowed me to shrug off and tank such level of effects like it was almost nothing.
"Wow, buddy. You actually had me for a moment there. I almost thought I'd have to unleash my true power."
Hands slipping into my pockets, I strolled toward Chase with a lazy grin etched across my face.
"Wh–what…? How—?" he coughed, voice breaking under the pain, his mangled features twitching with every groan.
"But fun is fun," I continued smoothly, my tone flattening as the grin faded into indifference. "And we both know neither of us enjoys wasting time on toys weaker than us. So…" I drew in a steady breath, closing the distance with unhurried steps.
"Let's not drag this out any longer."
My eyes locked onto his, cold and final.
"Now—" I exhaled slowly.
"—my turn."
