Chapter 119 Altar Room (Part 4)

Leo and Trent had traded blows many times and neither one of them had yet to land a hit. Each time Trent would attack, Leo would use a Wind Blade to intercept the attack.

Each time Leo would attack, Trent would use a ball of fire to intercept the Wind Blade. It was a stalemate that would end when someone runs out of Energy.

Unfortunately for Leo his Energy is much lower than most ability users, he tested this with the members of his group and realized that all of them can use their abilities weakest attacks more times than him before running out of Energy.

Each of their attacks was on par with Wind Bullet, so he knew it was his own Energy that was lacking.

'The low Energy is the downside of my ability but Im one of the only people that can replenish Energy during combat. Technically, I have an unlimited amount of Energy...the problem is that I usually use more energy than what I'm getting back and so I run out anyways, but it does help to bridge the gap.' Leo thought to himself as he used Leap and Absorb once again to replenish some Energy.

Leo had used Leap many times already during this fight and it was causing his body to become sluggish. His legs felt like they had just gone through a rigorous workout.

[Energy - 43/60]

'Although I've been using Absorb as much as possible, my Energy is still getting lower constantly. I can't drag this on for too long.' Leo thought as he landed on the ground.

Having made the decision, Leo charged towards Trent in an attempt to break the stalemate and force him into close combat.

'He won't be able to cause explosion at such close range since he will be caught in the explosion.' Leo dodged a fire ball that had been shot towards him by using Dash to increase his speed.

[Palm Strike]

He arrived in front of Trent with speed and initiated the movements for a Palm Strike. He placed the highest amount of Energy he could into his hand and attacked.

After practicing some more with his ability Leo realized that when he used too much Energy on a single attack then the skill Absorb became half as effective because he had strained his ability core.

This would limit his capabilities during in combat because he would run out of Energy quicker. Because of this, Leo tested the limits and found that he could safely place around 10 Energy into his entire body for attack and defense in general, but he could only place around 5 Energy into a single body part at once.

Focusing all 10 Energy into his hand would take more effort and control and would strain his core, causing his Absorb to be weakened.

With 5 Energy placed into his hand, Leo attacked with the Palm Strike while aiming for Trents sternum. As Leo's hand was about to make contact, a smile appeared on Trents face and a ball of fire appeared in front of his chest.

Leo's eyes widened from surprise but he couldn't do anything to stop his attack now. There was a flash of light and a thunderous explosion ereputed from the ball of fire.

[Absorb]

[Redirect]

Leo's body was thrown across the room as the searing flames engulfed his body. The force of the explosion was greatly lessened by his use of Absorb and Redirect. He used this chance to replenish whatever Energy he could and then redirected what he couldn't.

Of course thus didn't completely get rid of all the force, only around half of it was dealt with. The other half Leo was forced to endure, but thanks to his defence stat rising, as well as the energy within his body, he was able to survive the force of the explosion.

His body slowed in the air but still landed on the ground rather hard, causing him to bounce and roll a few times.

His body was covered in burn marks, but because he was essentially standing side ways due to using Palm Strike, his right side was far more severe than his left.

Leo stood to his feet while enduring great pain. His shirt had been completely burnt away and his right arm and chest were black and red from the burns.

The right side of his face was missing most of its skin, with his eye lid having been burnt off from the heat. His hair had mostly burnt away, with only a small amount of it remaining.

The further down his arm you looked, the worse the burns became. His hand was almost touching the fire ball as it exploded, meaning it would have taken the most damage.

His hand was charred black and his skin was visibly falling off and revealing the red meat beneath it. Although he tried, his hand refused to move and his arm was barely any better.

[Warning]

[Severe damage to the user has been detected. Emergency use of Energy to enhance the skill (Regeneration) is required.]

[Regeneration] (- 10 Energy)

Leo could feel his body healing at at least three times the speed Regeneration would usually apply. Although this didn't due much in the way of repairing his arm right now, he knew it was mostly keeping him alive.

'That was too close...if I hadn't used Absorb and Redirect then I would have died. I got lucky with my hand as well... If I hadn't placed that 5 Energy into it then instead of it being severely damaged, it would have been taken off.' Leo's mind was foggy and his body felt awful.

His skin felt like sand paper and each time he moved it felt like his skin was tearing open. He lungs hurt immensely due to him having taken a breath of air that was on fire, this caused the inside of his lungs to get burned as well, making it difficult to breathe.

He could feel that the first thing his Regeneration was affecting was his lungs and his breathing was becoming easier as time went on.

A large portion of the room was on fire and Leo was looking around to see where Trent might have landed.

That's when he found him, standing in the exact same spot without a hint of injury on his body. Leo couldn't believe his eyes.

'He's completely fine...how...I don't understand. Even his clothes are untouched!' Leo was starting to feel like he couldn't win this fight anymore.

Although he had taken a lot of damage, he was expecting Trent to be in a similar, if not worse condition. Seeing Trent standing in the middle of the flames unharmed was a huge hit to Leo's morale.

"How... are you not hurt?" Leo asked with a dry and pained voice.

"Since most people avoid getting caught in their own attacks, it wasn't until recently that it was discovered. You can't be injured by your own ability... Most of the time." Trent replied with a snarky attitude.

'I can't believe none of us ever tried to see if we could injure ourselves with our abilities.' Leo thought in disbelief.

'When you buy a sword, do you cut yourself to test its capabilities? No. So why would any of you try to harm yourselves with your abilities. They're weapons and they should be treated as such. I'm sure this was something that was discovered by accident.' Dreifus replied.

"You don't look so good you know? Should I just end your suffering now? If you give up then I'll only torture you a little before I kill you." Trent had a sadistic smile on his face as he created another fire ball in the palm of his hand.

It was at that moment that there was a dull flash of light that appeared for a moment a few meters to the side of Trent. A man wearing a cultist robe was suddenly standing where the light had been a moment ago.

He turned a few times until he spotted Trent, he then proceeded to walk towards him. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I've been instructed by the Master to come to get you, Sir." The cultist said in an apologetic tone.

"What!? Why now of all times!?" Trent shouted back in annoyance.

"The military are going to arrive soon. I've been told that it would be best to leave before they arrive." The cultist replied.

Seeing the two of them speaking to each other, Leo knew that this was his best chance to surprise Trent.

[Dash]

[Leap]

Leo charged forward as fast as he could, crossing the space between them quickly. He didn't care about the consequences of straining his core right now and placed 10 of his remaining 14 Energy into his fist

He attacked hard and fast, aiming for the side of Trents head. Then was a loud sound of impact and and a blast of air erupted from the impact.

Leo's eyes widened as he looked at a completely unharmed Trent. Although Tent was just as surprised as Leo was to see Leo's fist floating a few centimeters from his face.

A translucent barrier was floating between Leo and Trent. There was cracks spreading over the entire barrier from the spot Leo's fist had impacted.

When looking behind Trent, Leo could see that John was standing there with his hand held outwards.

John walked up to Trent and the other cultist and stopped next to them, maintaining eye contact with Leo the entire time.

"Fine. Let's get out of here." Tent reluctantly said. The cultist looked around for a moment

"What about Mr Silas?"

"Forget him. He's not worth the trouble." Trent answered bluntly.

The cultist grabbed both Trent and John by their shoulders and in a flash of light they all disappeared.