Chapter 175: Duel (II)

Before Kyle could figure out a way to circumvent his power, his exosuit was suddenly lifted up again before being slammed back down into the rubble, the force of the hidden human hand made out of arcia energy holding him down.

“Don’t you know who levelled Section A of your frontline?” Ares chuckled as he floated towards Kyle.

Kyle didn’t need to hear the answer, knowing it was Ares who had destroyed the entire block. Telekinesis was unique to the Orisians, and Kyle had seen the option during his race selection.

No known race has unlimited telekinesis. Kyle was sure that Ares didn’t actually have such an ability, more like a different manipulation of ambient arcia energy in the air. He could see with his Arcian eyes that Ares was now floating on another disembodied human hand holding him like a giant avatar, who gently let him down onto the ground.

One weakness that Kyle knew about the Orisians was that they were extremely physically weak, something that could be exploited if you could get past the telekinesis effect. However, a single glance at Ares already told him that Ares had long account for that weakness, able to handle melee combat anytime.

“No more tricks?” Ares grinned as his eyes flared once more, controlling the two disembodied human hands to crush Kyle, threatening to flatten the exosuit completely into the rubble.

The reactive armour engraving triggered continuously, healing Kyle and nullifying some of the pain. However, the energy storage of the Advanced Arcia Crystal was dropping rapidly the longer Kyle waited. Do I use Negation Field now?

Kyle was hesitant to use it – defeating Ares was far from the end. He still had to contest with Sebastian’s elites and Sebastian himself, who only Yual knows what powers he had hidden as well. Using the Negation Field now meant that he would not be able to use it for the rest of the battle unless he retreated.

Instead of relying on the Negation Field, Kyle gritted his teeth and channeled the point defence engravings, firing a stream of green arcia bolts right into the human hands holding him down. The disembodied human hands dispersed, a seeming war of control over the ambient arcia energy as the green arcia bolts shot towards Ares.

The hands quickly moved to form a skin-level shield around Ares, blocking all the incoming shots. So that’s why my spear couldn’t make it past. Kyle finally figured out that Ares was created a compressed layer of arcia energy around his body so dense that nothing could pierce it.

With the pressure of the hands gone, Kyle leapt out of the rubble in his exosuit, fighting against Ares with arcia-infused punches once more. This time, his own Arcian eyes looked out for the incoming human hands, dodging them before Ares could grab onto him.

“Oh ho, you can see arcia?” Ares exclaimed. “Impressive.”

“I can do more than see arcia.” Kyle grinned. Intimidation Aura!

The ambient arcia energy suddenly came under Kyle’s influence, restricting the movement of the disembodied arcia hands and even reducing their sizes as it became a battle of control over the arcia energy. Kyle could only liken it to a robot receiving two separate commands of equal authority, unsure of which one to execute first.

Instead, the arcia energy became a mismash of commands, becoming a turbulent flow that buffeted them. Kyle took advantage of the chaos, pummeling Ares before the disembodied arcia hands could form a compressed defense layer again.

This time, Kyle’s armoured fist hit home, the arcia-infused punch slamming right into Ares’s white buttoned shirt and ripping it apart in a devastating twist, the skin below ruptured as Ares was sent flying back through another building, causing the three floor aboves to collapses shakily.

Before Kyle could follow up, the air suddenly shifted once more, his intimidation aura suddenly unable to control the ambient arcia energy once more. Ares rose up from the rubble, levitating as his eyes and capillaries burnt blue with arcia energy surging, dominating the area.

Looks like he is really an Orisian variant. Kyle continuously dodged and weaved as Ares’s strengthened arcia hands slammed and threw large pieces of rubble at him. Any onlooker unable to see the arcia energy battle would only see Kyle seemingly fighting against ghosts, dodging invisible monsters that threatened to flatten him.New novel chapters are published on

Seeing his chance, Kyle cancelled the skill and punched with his fist outwards, breaking apart the weakened hand. Ares could be seen panting, his forehead dripping with sweat as he tried to muster another hand, but Kyle was already fast approaching him.

Kyle delivered an arcia-infused punch to Ares, right in the stomach, Ares unable to summon the defensive layer in time. The punch lifted the half-giant’s body by nearly half a meter in the air, before Ares crumpled to the ground, struggling to get up.

“For all your muscles, it looks like you need work more on your stamina.” Kyle remarked as he grabbed Ares by the head, slamming his face into the ground. But instead of hearing the satisfying crunch of the nose and face along with a blood squish, Ares’s face stopped just a centimeter off the ground, a smile on his face.

“I got you.”

Kyle quickly backed off, realizing Ares was feinting. But it was far too late, with Ares having conjured six hands that sealed off Kyle in all directions in a cage. Kyle threw punches and kicks at the disembodied arcia hands to no avail, the hands density stronger than ever.

“Thought I could only use two?” Ares taunted as he stood up, patting the dirt off of his shirt as it became apparent that the punch to the stomach barely made a dent, though it did damage the shirt and buttons. “That was fun, but playtime is over.”

The hands tightened, blocking off the flow of air as well into the space within as Kyle began to feel breathless, oxygen failing to reach his lungs.

“Everyone needs to breath.” Ares laughed, his eyes still focused on holding the cage in place until Kyle was unconscious due to the lack of air.

Kyle could feel his vision swirling, but unlike the other times in the Galactic Era when he had truly lost air in his space exosuit, he could still feel energy entering his body in the form of arcia energy, delivering power to his muscles, organs and even brains, keeping the human body functioning. However, it was slightly inefficient. Seems like eventually I might not even need air to survive.

“Last chance to surrender, Kyle. I’m willing to keep your men alive in respect of your strength.” Ares offered, stepping closer to the cage.

“Fuck you.” Negation Field!

The flow of arcia energy suddenly reversed, no longer stable. The hands immediately dissipated, with Kyle charging right into Ares. Ares was truly caught off-guard, unable to understand why he could not summon the hands any longer. Defensive Layer!

But it was far too late, as Kyle this time grabbed Ares’s face with a tight grip and threw him to the ground with force. Kyle bellowed as he delivered a raging course of punches unlike anything he had delivered before, but it was unable to fully damage Ares’s strong physical body as well.

Power! I need more power! Kyle instinctively drew more energy from the Advanced Arcia Crystal into his fist, infusing it stronger than ever and far beyond even his own internal MP capacity. His veins glowed hot yellow like a fists of a god before slamming down into Ares.

The Negation Field wreaked havoc within Ares’s body, which had been long used to deriving energy from the ambient air. His body weakened significantly, disrupted by both the Negation Field and the strong arcia punches delivered by Kyle. Ares tried to fight back, using his muscles to fend off Kyle and push him back.

Despite Ares’s sheer muscular strength, Kyle had the clear advantage with the Negation Field, able to still rely on his armour and skills to fight. They clashed again and again, but over the minutes, Ares was clearly weakening, unable to keep up with Kyle’s punches and kicks.

With a final battle cry, Kyle punched in Ares’s face as hard as he could, before following up with a brutal kick to Ares’s shin, bending his knee inwards and causing Ares to fall to the ground.

Before Kyle could stomp on Ares’s face once again, a loudspeaker suddenly blurted out from the forces of Cretins, even reaching Kyle’s ears.

[The Ardent Cretins surrender.]