Far away from the inhabitation of the New Facility, where the Vortex Frontier was teeming with the cataclysm and maelstrom of cyclonic vortexes, one of the ocean of vortexes was making a significant change. It was on the verge of breaking apart, because...
-----
"slllrrrch"
The Materion-type Resonant who was pale and weak from loss of blood a moment ago, suddenly smiled.
'Ahh... so that's its power...'
His face had begun to retrieve its liveliness and his torn heart, flesh, ribs and muscles were healing back to normal, realigning into form. His heart pumped back to life as it resumed pumping blood all over his body, only this time, faster.
Standing up and stretching again, he gazed at the kneeling Hazard, which was unmoving. Had it died? There's only one way to know. Activating his Resonant ability, he summoned a rod some distance away, forming it from the grey sand, and then controlled it to plunge straight onto the dying monster.
But then, the monster vanished.
The Resonant suddenly opened his eyes in realization.
'I won't be caught by suprise again, okay?'
Feeling its presence, he turned around and there, the Hazard Riftborn was standing whole, like no injury had been dealt on its body any moment before then.
'It's got healing too,huh? What really is it's ability?'
He was somewhat stunned at the realization.
'Well, there's only one way to find out.'
He then summoned the Vortex System panel.
Status. Combat Entity. Exchange Log.
<< PANEL >>
[ STATUS ]
--------------------
User: Resonant (Stage 3)
User Archetype: Materion
Neural Efficiency: 27/40%
Resonance Storage: 83%
Physical Integrity: GOOD
VP Balance: 674 VP(Vortex Points)
Current Vortex: Planetary Type(Monochromatic) | Sequence Two
--------------------
[ COMBAT ENTITY ]
--------------------
Riftborn Detected.
Class: III
Form: Hazard
Threat Index: Low
Special Trait/Ability: N/A
VP Gain: 21 to 23 VP(×1.5 ×1.2)
--------------------
[ EXCHANGE LOG ]
---------------------------
VP Balance: 674 VP
Exchanges:
→1000 VP = 1% Efficiency
→1000 VP = 5% Resonance Storage
→1500 VP = 1% Physical Integrity
[ Each exchange is a one-way exchange ]
--------------------
<< END OF PANEL >>
'Huh.'
The System had its unique way of communicating the summoned data to its wielder. The data could differ, depending on what the System wanted to display. For instance, if two Unbounds willed or summoned the same set of data at the same time, the System could choose to show them datas of slight difference. One of them could have a more detailed panel display than the other. Based on their long acquaintance with the System, they had learnt that the System was rather a... being?... of its own, thus possessing its own mind. It was an austere entity entirely that responded only when the need be or when the Unbound summoned it. It still chose the important datas to be known at a given moment, even if the wielder willed it. It was a sort of.. guidance.
The N/A displayed meant that the System had 'chosen' not to display the special ability of the Riftborn, which meant one thing.
Before every Unbounds became Unbounds, majority had been trained as cadets back at the Academy, with the rest through other means of neural training. The Simulation trainings back at the Academy used a method of 'awareness' by the Simulation. The awareness was based on the neural readings of the player. The simulations were programmed according to how each cadet reacted to different moments and situations of the simulated battlefield.
Similarly, the System operated that way. Perhaps it was a knowledge shared by the Unbounds, but the New Facility knew that the System operated that way for every Unbounds. After all, the technology of the neural era was also based on the System–from neural bands to vortex simulations, and to other aspects of technology.
The System displayed data according to the status of the Unbound. If an Unbound needed to know an information and willed it, the System would display it. But if the Unbound didn't need the information at the moment, it would most likely not display it, even if the panel was summoned by the Unbound. It was a sort of guidance.
Straightening, the Resonant returned his gaze back to the looming anomaly, which was staring back in all of its fury.
Then the atmosphere thickened. The System spoke.
[Riftborn Threat Index: Low(Accumulating...)]
The threat level of the Riftborn was still the same, but accumulating meant one thing. The threat index would change any second.
[Riftborn Threat Index: Medium.]
[Riftborn Threat Index: Medium(Accumulating...)]
Just then, an invisible force surged out from the Riftborn, easily overlapping and overwhelming the initial resonance it had been emanating around it since the start of the battle. This resonance felt much stronger, and much more willful. Almost palpable. A simple word defined it.
'Strong.'
No, two words.
'Quite strong.'
The threat level of the riftborn had reached medium level, enough to begin being wary of. It's becoming life threatening.
Without wasting any more time in thoughts, the Resonant dashed forward. The Riftborn had grown many folds stronger and was beginning to be a serious threat– this was a Class III Hazard, after all.
Two invisible some walls clashed into each other, stirring the atmosphere and almost upturning the ground beneath. The next moment, the air rung in a clash of metals. The two adversaries, desperation written on each face, had clashed violently as their resonance clashed, fighting for dominance.
The Resonant felt his senses dim a little. He could feel an overwhelming aura... no, the Riftborn's resonance pushing against his as they got closer. It was so strong...
He felt a subtle strange and foreign pull in his heart.
Widening his eyes slightly, he let go of the tightening push of the clashing steels, prompting the both to leap backward a little... before moving forward again.
The Riftborn was not a Riftborn of any random power. It was a class III Hazard, its trait being that it could develop a crystal covering and harden it with time. Riftborns were generally known to possess various types of countless powers and this was what made them mysteriously dangerous, most especially the intelligent ones, known as Hazards.
However, the Riftborn in question had a very daunting and surreal power.. one so unfathomably dire. It could manipulate minds of beings, living or dead. Not just on a surface level, but as long as there was a body with features a living being was supposed to possess, it could take hold of the body, controlling it...or many of them, as puppets. Once controlled by it, the body has no remedy of regaining consciousness after being released, that was if it was a living one. A dead one, once controlled by it, would rot away like ash after the Riftborn's resonance had been released from it.
However, some Riftborns could possess more than one special ability. This was a random distribution by the System and so there was no certain pattern on how one could be encountered or avoided within the vortexes. Any Unbound could encounter any Riftborn, special or not, anywhere. The second special ability of this Riftborn was that it could regenerate its body parts.
Well, it's got limits.
Once that part is shredded or cut off, regeneration is not possible.
The Resonant, gaining a hint of the Riftborn's special ability within a split second, sighed subtly as he summoned...
The world suddenly seemed to slow down,like the speed rate of a holo-feed video reduced drastically. The Resonant and the Riftborn were inches away from each other, on the verge of breaking through each other's defense. This took place within a fragment of a second.
In that moment of a fragment of a second, the two were hanging in the air. The Riftborn was in a leaping position, its long and adamantine sleek crystal-covered metal claws hovering few centimetres away from the Resonant's chest, the other set of claws from its other hand reclined backwards, seemingly ready to launch an instant blow at him any moment from now. From the way it was positioned, it was going to be swaying it's hands in turns at the Resonant,but in an eerily unpredictable manner, and less bestial. The Resonant was in a lunging position, despite being in the air. His right fist was clenched in a fist, but his right elbow was what was aimed at the Riftborn. His style of attract seemed somewhat immature, but that wasn't the whole thing, by the way. His other hand was hidden by his torso, reclined backwards behind his body. It was gathering momentum...
Since a Materion-type Resonant could manipulate any form of matter including the air, the Resonant had chosen to resort to a striking plan. Hovering above the open palm of his hidden hand, the air began to swirl. It was subtle at first, but it took more tangible form within a fragment of time.
The air hovering above his left palm thickened as it swirled towards the center, as if collapsing into itself. Then he infused the solidifying matter with an unfathomable amount of resonance, one that could drain him of all his power for a few hours. But judging that the Riftborn grew in intelligence with every passing moment in the violent battle, he judged that he should finish it all up, even if it took him the rest of his reserve of resonance.
By the way, the resonance was what served as fuel for every power manifested.
The System spoke involuntarily as a new panel surfaced in the horizon of his mind.
[Resonance Storage: 81%]
[Resonance Storage: 80%]
[Resonance Storage: 75%]
[Resonance Storage: 67%]
[Resonance Storage: 54%]
Not minding the informations popping up one after another, he increased the infusion of r
esonance into the swirling solid air.
[Resonance Storage: 32%]
[Resonance Storage: 13%]
[Resonance Storage: 3%]
[Resonance Storage...]
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Draining the last of his resonance, he screamed at the top of his voice as he suddenly switched hands.
While the Resonant was infusing the swirling air with a vast amount of resonance, the Riftborn detected that there was something wrong with how the Resonant attacked. But then again, the Resonant had created a distraction, which aided the complete infusion and also made his resonance reserves to run out fast. Distracted by the oncoming manifested crude swords surging with speed from behind the Resonant, the Riftborn prepared to dispel the forceful attack from the barrage of crude swords. However, that was what the Resonant needed to fulfil his plan. Without wasting much time, he suddenly drove his hidden fist forward, swapping it with his right. In that instant switch, something bewildering occured.
The world... suffice to say, the whole vortex suddenly began to crumble...
A resonant was at his peak mode.
[Neural Efficiency: 28%]
[Neural Efficiency: 29%]
[Neural Efficiency: 30%]
A blinding flash resounded across the crumbling monochrome world as everything that dwelled within it was doomed for instant annihilation.