The Gamer's System

Chapter 90: One Step Ahead

The changing of the dimension greatly strengthened Samael and, not only him but also his wielder Zeke. With [Knight's Vow] active, Zeke took in the added defensive capabilities offered within Samael's [Grand Chariot].

The king, confused with what just occurred, had no time register everything. And Zeke doesn't plan to give him any time to do so. Both he and Samael still continued on with their attacks. leaving the king dumbfounded from the blows that seem to have no end.

Yen, even with the flashy display one fact remains the same. For Gallio, it is only the strongest who would win. No matter how many tricks, moves, or fancy named skills are used, the one left standing at the end of every battle is always the strongest. 

The king also knows one thing, that nobody could defeat him. With this, he activated another skill from his hidden arsenal. Suddenly, the king got armored again and, this time it is [Dark Mana] that covers his whole body. 

A Lion's features can be seen all over the armor. Aside from this, Zeke felt Gallio getting stronger again. Yet, he didn't dare stop because he knew that if he did, the king would gain momentum once more.

"Whatever armor that is. I'm going to break through it." Zeke thought to himself.

"Weapon conjure." The human dived again. With the whole space being like a limitless shadow, there is no restriction to where the gamer can appear next. Then, he made a combo, alternating between [Flash Steps] and [Shadow Dive]. Slashing the king at some point while, using the shield to defend himself whenever the king caught up to his attack. 

Over and over again, the king tried hitting him but, the human either cleanly evaded or blocked every blow. With the built-up momentum, Zeke still sped up hitting the king's back. Again, the king moved to attack but, on the last second, Zeke used [Shadow Dive] once more. The human reappeared right in front of the king's wide-open chest. He stuck the shield next to Gallio's armor and said:

"Release." 

All the stored force within the shield got out. This blew Gallio away immediately. Yet the king is also relieved, believing that such a strong attack can only be used once; a presumption which he soon regretted.

Zeke kept popping out all over the place. In his hand is the same shield, releasing the same amount of force each and every time. The shockwaves continued on and on, destroying the king's armor bit by bit. As the weapon is nothing more than a conjured version of Samael's it can imitate the current state of the weapon every time it is conjured. This is the reason why Zeke orderer the creature to never use the attack; a decision which is currently paying off.

Again, the king found no way to recover from the attack and, although able to make blows from time to time, it isn't enough to stop Zeke. But then, the notification finally came up, telling Zeke to hasten his pace.

[Grand Chariot's duration is about to end]. The system noted.

But this isn't the only thing ending soon. Even Samael's duration is about to come to an end. None of this worried him as, all the pieces of his plan are already in place.

With the armor of Gallio completely destroyed, Zeke has found a way to cut through the King's flesh. He finally took back [Death's Void] targeting the side of the king using its melee form. Gallio answered by hacking at the human. This almost cut off Zeke's left shoulder. The king thought that this would be enough to stop him yet, the attack didn't end. Zeke's thrust dug deeper and deeper into the king's flesh.

He punched and kicked the human. But Samael came to hold down the king. Then, Zeke looked up to him smiling after placing the whole weapon inside. 

"Let's hope your insides are as strong as your armor." Zeke continued as Samael proceeded to taking its master out of the pocket dimension. Zeke stayed just enough to see the results of his attack. The sphere of darkness became larger and larger until, the human is once again back to seeing a plain blue sky.

As it stands, Zeke has no means of condensing the force created from the charged bullets. With the coming of Samael and [Grand Chariot] it didn't take Zeke that much effort to knit together the details. Within the pocket dimension, space is limited and, can be limited even more by Samael. With this in mind, Zeke proceeded to executing this startegy.

He destroyed every armor of the king. Not caring about the damage he dealt, the human continued targeting the only hindrance to his plan. On the pocket dimension, this became a problem as the king generated a new armor. Yet, with the shield of Samael being fully charged, Zeke found another way to break through his opponent's defense. Move after move, he tried to stay ahead of the king giving him the upper hand no matter how strong Gallio became.

With the second armor being completely shattered, Zeke finally charged head on. He cared not about his own life, knowing that one more charge of [Blood King's Curse] is still available. And so, Zeke is able to plant the bullets within the king's body. No matter how strong he is, there isn't a way for him to escape an attack that is inside his own flesh. 

Zeke sat at the battlefield, looking at the small crack on the sky. And, after a few seconds, the timer for the pocket dimension finally ended. This made a huge gust of wind which blew away all of Zeke's [Poison Cloud]. The explosion coming from his bullets have just ended and, in front of him is the kingor what's left of the creature. The king's remains are completely burnt, making Zeke think that the last attack was too much of an overkill.

[Samael's free trial has ended. Level requirement needs to be met in order to summon the creature once more.] 

"Yeah yeah I know." Zeke said, smiling. But the smile disappeared as soon as it crept up. There are two things missing from the current moment. One is, the mission rewards that comes from completing the main mission and, the second is the contract's eight clause actually taking effect.

"Come on aren't you dead yet?" Zeke said as he looked back at the corpse.

A cold chill ran down Zeke's spine telling him that things are far from finished. And, this is confirmed by the clouds forming up on the sky, swirling with darkness toward a single direction. Lighting ran through it and, Zeke found himself starring at something incomprehensible.

The king has evolved yet again. With the near-death experience, his body grew even more and developed a similar skill to Zeke's [Blood King's Curse]. And to make things even worse, Gallio's version restores him to full health. 

"It is always the strongest who will win." Gallio said merrily, locking his eyes on Zeke who didn't summon any [Conjures] anymore. The king thought that, his enemy has now exhausted all resources and, is waiting to simply get killed by him, the prefect mortal.

"As a way to show my gratitude. I shall offer you a swift death." Gallio said, finally coming into stance. The succeeding events followed swiftly. Zeke's blood splattered all around as Gallio used the human as a living punching bag. Hitting him in every direction possible and, following through even with the human using [Shadow Dive] and [Flash Step].

"Hundred Fangs!" Gallio shouted, creating a hundred swords imitating the attributes and bonuses of [Leo Rex]. Gallio slashed over and over again. Every time Zeke tried to dodge, Gallio would simply appear at a different direction, as if the skill had an auto aim system installed within it.

"That makes fifty kid!" Gallio continued, not relenting and, even getting stronger with every blow. This is what make the skill so dangerous. Not only is it a flashy display of a hundred floating swords, the skill also strengthens the user with every blade used. And the reason why Gallio used the skill is because, [Ultimate Berserker] has also ended.

The barrage continued reaching 70 swords used. 

[80 Swords]

[85 Swords].

With the ninetieth sword, Gallio's attacks began releasing flames of crimson red, burning up Zeke who coughed and screamed in agony. The king enjoyed the sight and did not relent.

With Zeke's body being tattered and torn, the human finally got flung up in the sky. All the used swords pointed at the human while Gallio held the original Leo rex in his hand. Then, the king gave an order:

"Ravage!" He shouted, releasing all the blades which continued piercing Zeke's body. The human got planted to the ground and, left a cloud of dust with him. Then, Gallio took the last blade and dived to the human, digging through Zeke's flesh and creating a shockwave of flames so strong that it burned up the whole crater with it.

[You have died.]

This is the natural response of the system to the attack combination made. But, even in this situation, Zeke has something up his sleeve.

[Second Activation of Blood King's Curse is now in effect.]

[You gained three seconds of immunity.]

Zeke always thought about it after seeing the three major deities. What would happen if light and darkness clashed? Where would Chrono be in all of that? 

"Time to find out." Zeke said as he used [Blood Counter]. Gallio began spewing blood all over and, Zeke didn't miss this opportunity. He punched through his enemies' wound, making the king scream in pain as Zeke placed his whole fist inside and even moved it around.

"Crazy bastard!" The king said, punching the Zeke away. But what he didn't know is thiseverything up to that moment is still within Zeke's calculations. The other [Death's Void] into his enemy. This is charged with a dozen bullets as, he decided to save some up on the last second. Adding to this is [Sun Eater's] duration ending. This gave his weapon light attributed bullets which stored all the energy he gained throughout the fight. 

The end result is simple, both bullets exploded, colliding with each other: the dark attributed [Umbral Slash] and the light attribute generated through [Sun Eater]. The area grew larger and larger until, they began sucking each other up. Light tried to dominate and Darkness forced the same. In the middle is Gallio experiencing the pull from both sides, ripping his body into two, bit by bit. Zeke went as far away as he can while watching everything unfold. And then, it finally formed, a black hole which is unbound by the rules applied by this world. The hole had a ruling of its own, even time itself.

The attack became the deciding factor of the fight and, everything that came next.