Chapter 46: Azure Light

Rein checked his stats.

Level: 90 → 119

Health: 1500 → 2370 (x1.19 STO boost)

Energy: 750 → 1185 (x1.19 STO boost)

Speed: 225.7 → 317.2 (x1.19 STO boost)

Strength: 240.3 → 401.3 (x1.19 STO boost)

Defense: 227.9 → 324.5 (x1.19 STO boost)

Intellect: 202.8 → 291.4 (x1.19 STO boost)

Inventory Limit: 580.6 kg → 802.6 kg (x1.19 STO boost)

[Skills]

Significant Regeneration (Health) (NEW!)

Significant Recuperation (Energy) (NEW!)

Cold Affinity: Resist

Demonic Affinity: Resist

Slime Affinity: Resist

Earth Affinity: Resist

Sound Affinity: Resist (NEW!)

Expert Blacksmith

Legendary Cook

On Sight: Allows you to copy the Spring of someone by simply looking at them, as long as you know what it is.

Warped Touch: Enables you to flip the Springs of other people by touching them for 3 seconds.

Spring Absorbtion: Taking the life of a Spring user grants the System a new skill based on the Spring

Memory Flip: Every 24 hours, allows you to copy a Spring from your inverse history for 60 seconds [Refreshed!]

System Take-Over: Buffs your stats and skills based on your level. Shreds through energy at an alarming rate (NEW!)

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As usual, every time he gained a level, he restored his health and energy, but he had somehow gained 29 levels. He didn't know how, nor did he question it at that moment. He took advantage of the opportunity and used his power to fight Luther.

With his memory flip skill refreshed, he was able to copy Emria's Spring from his history, while still using the earth Spring as STO allowed you to use multiple Springs at once. As Rein grew stronger, so did the Springs that he copied. While Emria's Spring still hindered his defense, it was not nearly as much as before, meaning that he could still tank some hits.

Rein dropped the earth dome he erected around them, as he didn't want Luther's sound Spring to echo in the enclosed space, and he also wanted to preserve energy. Rein had to try and end the fight in one minute before memory flip ran out. He went all out on Luther, who now seemed to be engaged in the fight. He blitzed around him, Luther barely being able to keep up without STO active. It was now Rein who was on the offensive, relentlessly attacking, forcing Luther to defend, who was laughing all at the same time.

Rein landed a devastating blow on Luther's glave, rattling him, making him take a knee to the ground. Rein swiftly capitalized on the opportunity, encasing the downed man in a ball of earth, crushing it down as much as he could, then slashing through it with his swords, causing the ball of earth to crumble.

There was nothing inside. Once again, Rein felt something grab onto his feet, making him stab downwards, digging a deep hole that reached the magma that lay below them. Luther wasn't there, popping up shortly from behind Rein, delivering a quick slash at Rein before dropping back down into the floor. Rein was able to block the attack and then retaliated, creating another hole leading to the magma.

The next time Luther popped out of the ground, Rein was ready. He slashed horizontally at him, but to his surprise, his sword went straight through him. This allowed Luther to confidently slash at Rein while he recovered from his attack. Using his enhanced speed, Rein dodged his attack, then made a gaping hole under Luther, not allowing him to duck back into the ground.

"Smart play," Luther remarked, smiling at Rein.

Luther activated his flight Spring, removing his intangibility. Rein realized this fact, then bulleted towards the floating man to attack him. Luther blocked Rein's quick attack, Rein then landed on the other side of the gaping hole he created and jumped back, continuing this pattern until Luther slipped up. He continued flickering towards him at incredible speeds, back and forth across the volcanic hole in the ground. Eventually, Rein was able to clip Luther's shoulder with a slash, cutting him with the same sword that had Luther's blood on it.

He noticed that his other sword, which had blood on it when he awakened, was now completely clean. He wasn't able to ponder it for much longer, as the next time he bulleted towards Luther, he had activated STO, turning his hair yellow and his eyes red. Rein went straight through him, landing on the other side of the hole again. He looked back, and Luther was gone from his spot.

He felt a presence behind him, above him, in front of him, and to both sides of him. He was surrounded by copies, or clones of Luther, all smiling at him every way he looked. He had cloned himself 5 times, each one of his clones outstretching their hands, Rein knowing what he was about to do. He preemptively de-activated Emria's Spring, knowing that he wouldn't be able to handle the attack if it was activated. He needed as much defense as possible.

As Rein expected, Luther once again released the ear-piercing sound he was familiar with. The noise Luther now created was the loudest yet, coming out of 5 different places. Rein grit his teeth as he was brought to his knees. Luther planned to make Rein erect an earth dome around him, then have a clone appear from under the ground into his dome to reverb the sound in that enclosed space, making it echo. Except, Rein didn't erect an earth dome. He stood there, withstanding the noise, thanks to his new skill.

"Hmm? You're withstanding the sound now? Impressive, but with your speed diminished, can you handle this?" Luther took a breath, then the sound that was produced from his palms turned into a magnetic pull, stretching Rein from all sides.

Gripping his swords, Rein's body was stretched into an x shape, each part of his body being pulled in a different direction. Luther strengthened the pull, making Rein grunt from pain. Suddenly, Rein let go of his swords, making them fly directly at Luther's clones, the clones disappearing into a cloud of nothingness. That action freed Rein's arms, enabling him to attack the other two clones with his earth Spring, who then also disappeared.

All that was left was the one flying above him, as Rein began propelling upwards. He extended his swords from both sides as he flew using his earth Spring, catching them by their blades, on one hand touching Luther's blood that had splattered onto the sword earlier. To Rein's amazement, he was able to inverse Luther's most active Spring through that, copying the magnetic pull Spring, obtaining a repulsion Spring. As he approached Luther, he retracted his swords and held them by the handles, releasing a wave of repulsion at Luther.

He dropped back down on the ground as Luther flew up. He looked up, seeing the flying man suddenly disappear.

"So that one was a fake too, huh?" Rein said to himself.

"That's right, the real one's down here," Luther exclaimed as he rose from the ground. "I'm impressed, I didn't know you could inverse my Springs too. Gotta be careful with that."

"Tch, how the hell are you so strong," Rein said as he felt his powers catching up to him, beginning to tire.

"Well, my contractor's no slouch, that person's a machine when it comes to slaughter," Luther erased his playful expression, replacing it with a serious one as he gazed Rein in the eyes. "I don't know how you recovered, or how you gained so many levels, but your experience with STO is nothing compared to mine," he frowned at Rein, noticing that he was at a loss for energy and that his black hair was beginning to turn white from the ends.

"Well, I'd say you're just abou—" Luther was interrupted by a blue light that beamed up into the sky a little ways away from them.

When Luther saw the light, his face went into a full panic, de-activating his STO.

"Ahhhhh!! Shit! I forgot about that! Man, I'm gonna be in such deep shit! Fuck, I need to think of a way out of this…" He began thinking on the spot, Rein being confused as to what just happened. Luther remembered the situation he was in, then turned to face Rein.

"Well, I've gotta go now, kid. But don't get too comfortable, we will fight again soon. I expect you to be way stronger than you are now. See ya," he said as he frantically took off, flying north at full speed.

Rein de-activated STO, heaving a deep breath, then releasing it in relief. He checked on his health and energy.

Health: 1973/2370 (REGENERATING…)

Energy: 97/1185 (RECUPERATING…)

"I still have some juice left in me. I should go investigate that light. Looks like it came from the center of the volcano," he said as he picked up his swords, noticing the one with Luther's blood was still stained, while the other had somehow cleaned itself.

"What the hell was that? Did the blood disintegrate off of this one? And how in the world did I gain so many levels? Versys, you got any ideas?" He thought to himself.

"Don't look at me man, if you've got no clues, then I can't give you answers. Anyways, you should get going to that blue light. I have a feeling something freaky happened," Versys informed, as Rein returned to the tunnel that he dug from the path towards the center of the volcano.

When he returned back down into the tunnel, he met up with Core's group, who were hurriedly making their way into the center of the volcano, with a distressed look on their faces...