The second smoke bomb renewed the panic. It was total chaos.
My new power pulsed within me. I felt faster, lighter. The pain from my injuries was gone, replaced by a cold, focused energy.
My second target was a girl who manipulated sound. She was the one who had laughed the loudest when Yoo-Na humiliated me.
I slipped into the darkness, a predator in its element. The other members of the Ivory Circle were trying to regroup, shouting their names. They were disorganized. Terrified.
I found the sound girl. She was creating small shockwaves around herself, trying to 'see' with her ears.
She sensed movement near her. "Who's there? Park?"
I didn't give her time to react.
I burst from the shadows. She turned her head towards me. I saw surprise and fear in her eyes for a split second before my dagger slit her throat.
A gurgling sound. That was all.
I pushed her aside.
Two down.
"He's here!" someone shouted. It was Park. He had managed to create a small flame in his palm, an orange and flickering glow that faintly lit up his sweaty face.
The light revealed the scene. The first boy, dead on the ground. The sound girl, collapsing in a pool of blood.
The crowd of onlookers screamed. It was no longer a game. It was a massacre.
They rushed towards the only exit, jostling, falling over each other to flee.
Park saw me, a few meters away from him. His eyes widened with horror and rage. "You... Monster!"
He threw a fireball at me.
I didn't dodge. I simply cut it in half with my dagger, effortlessly.
Yoo-Na was right behind him. Her face, usually so perfect and controlled, was distorted by shock and a hint of fear. She hadn't planned for this. She had never imagined that the rat she had stepped on could turn into a wolf.
I started walking slowly towards them, my dagger pointed downwards, blood dripping from the blade.
The game was over. The hunt was beginning.
Most of the spectators had fled, leaving the Pit almost empty. Only me and the surviving members of the Ivory Circle remained.
Park's small flame lit up the scene, casting our huge shadows on the concrete walls.
"Regroup!" Yoo-Na shouted. Her voice trembled slightly, but she was trying to regain control.
The four remaining members gathered around her and Park. There were six of them. I was alone. But fear had changed sides.
"You're going to pay for this, trash," Park growled. The flames around his fists became more intense, more wild.
I smiled. A real smile. Cold and joyless.
The new energy within me was intoxicating. I felt the dagger, no longer as a tool, but as a part of my being. It was hungry.
I didn't wait for them to attack. I lunged.
My speed was incredible. I covered the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I was much faster than during our last duel.
Park was surprised. He threw a fiery punch, but his movement was slow, telegraphed.
I ducked, easily dodging the blow. I slipped under his arm and found myself in the middle of their group.
Chaos.
One of them, a guy with skin-strengthening power, tried to hit me. I parried his blow with the flat of my dagger, nullifying his power. His fist, now normal, struck my blade with a dull thud. He cried out in pain, his fingers probably broken.
I didn't wait. I spun and plunged my dagger into his stomach.
Three down.
I turned just in time to see ice spears, thin and fast, hurtling towards me.
Yoo-Na. She had finally attacked.
Yoo-Na's ice spears were incredibly fast. She wasn't nicknamed the "Ice Princess" for nothing. Some, in the forums, even called her the "Light Speed Queen," an exaggeration, but it gave an idea of the speed of her attacks.
I had no chance of dodging them all.
I focused. The new energy within me responded. I moved, dodging the first two spears that shattered against the wall behind me.
But a third one managed to hit me. It grazed my arm, a sharp and icy pain. A superficial wound, but a wound nonetheless.
Blood flowed from the cut. And my dagger, in my hand, reacted.
I felt it vibrate. The black blade absorbed a drop of my own blood that was flowing down my arm. And at the same time, it absorbed something else. A residue of Yoo-Na's Aura, left by the ice spear.
My interface, which I hadn't noticed until now, flashed.
['Absorption' ability activated.]
['Analyzing enemy Aura...']
['Temporary ability copied: Cryokinesis (Rank F)']
A feeling of coldness rose in my left hand, the one that was free. It was weak, barely perceptible. But it was there.
Yoo-Na saw that I had been hit. She thought I was vulnerable. She created a new volley of ice spears, bigger, more deadly.
Park took the opportunity to attack me from the other side, his fists burning.
I was caught in a pincer movement.
But now, I had a new card to play.
I held out my free left hand towards Park.
A small ice dagger, fragile and poorly formed, sprang from my palm and shot towards him.
It wasn't powerful. It was only a Rank F ability. But the surprise on Park's face, seeing his enemy use a miniature version of Yoo-Na's power, was total.
That split second of hesitation was all I needed.
The small ice dagger struck Park in the shoulder. It shattered on impact, leaving him with only a small cut and a feeling of cold. It was nothing. But it stopped him in his tracks.
His gaze jumped from his minor wound to Yoo-Na, then to me. Confusion was written all over his face.
That hesitation was his fatal mistake.
I ignored Yoo-Na's incoming ice spears. I lunged at Park.
He tried to raise his flaming fists to defend himself, but he was too slow. Too shocked.
My black dagger, the real one, found its target. I plunged it deep into his chest.
His eyes widened in surprise and pain. The flames around his hands went out suddenly. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but only a bloody gurgle came out.
I looked him in the eyes as he collapsed. I saw the life leave his gaze.
"That's for my neighbor," I whispered.
Meanwhile, Yoo-Na's ice spears reached me. They embedded themselves in my back, in my legs. The pain was intense, a cold that burned to the bone.
But it didn't matter.
Four down.
I turned around, tearing the ice spears from my body in a brutal gesture. Blood flowed from several wounds, but I barely felt it. Adrenaline and hatred were a powerful anesthetic.
Only her and two of her bodyguards remained.
Yoo-Na looked at me, her perfect face distorted by disbelief and pure rage. She couldn't believe that Park, her second-in-command, her right hand, was dead. Killed by me.
"You..." she hissed, her voice full of venom. "How did you...?"
I didn't answer. I just raised my bloodied dagger, pointing it at her.
Her turn was coming.
Park's death broke something in Yoo-Na. Arrogant confidence gave way to a cold and focused fury.
"Kill him!" she ordered her last two bodyguards.
The two men, a wind specialist and another with energy blades that came out of his forearms, hesitated for a second. They had seen what I was capable of. But their queen's order was absolute.
They attacked together.
The wind specialist created a powerful gust to unbalance me. The other took advantage of the opening to rush at me, his energy blades ready to cut me apart.
But the ice wound that Yoo-Na had inflicted on me earlier still gave me an advantage.
I planted my foot on the ground to resist the wind. And with my free hand, I created a small, fragile wall of ice in front of me.
It was only a Rank F ability, but it was enough.
The man with the blades shattered my ice wall effortlessly, but it slowed his attack by a fraction of a second.
I spun, my black dagger in an upward motion. I parried his energy blades. The contact was brief, but my dagger did its job. His blades flickered.
And I felt a new ability seep into me.
['Absorption' ability activated.]
['Temporary ability copied: Energy Blades (Rank F)']
I counterattacked. I ignored the wind specialist and focused all my attention on the man with the blades. He tried to back away, but I was faster. My dagger ripped open his stomach.
Five down.
I turned, just in time to see a wind blade, thin and almost invisible, coming straight for my head.
That's when I used my new toy. I raised my free arm. A small energy blade, pale and unstable, sprang from my wrist and intercepted the wind blade.
The wind specialist stared, dumbfounded.
And meanwhile, Yoo-Na had disappeared.
I sensed immense danger behind me. I spun around.
She was there, right behind me, her body surrounded by an aura of ice so intense that it distorted the air. Her hand, glowing with a deadly cold, was inches from my chest.
She was fast. Incredibly fast. The "Light Speed Queen" wasn't just a nickname.
I would never have time to parry.