The Over-Break System

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

A massive impact shockwave spread for several blocks as the Mana-Fusion Engine exploded into a violent blue and silver ball of consuming fire. But just as soon as the explosion occurred, it was suppressed. Every building in the vicinity lit up with golden runes, and a thin Mana Barrier enveloped any nearby pedestrians.

Before the damage could get out of hand, a swirling vortex of energy struck the fire, absorbing it like a vacuum. Within seconds, only metal shards and a burned-out Hover-Van carcass remained of what had once been a catastrophic level explosion.

Yet before the Mana Barriers could be retracted, nearly a dozen blacked-out SUVs descended from the sky and set about quarantining the Area of impact, with several people in uniforms taking control of the scene.

Among those in uniforms was a grizzled old man who seemed to be a detective of some sort, wearing a long black overcoat and flanked on either side by men in Enforcer uniforms.

“Crazy bastard, the pilot of that vehicle chose to kill himself and his group instead of falling into our hands,” BlackCoat grumbled as he sifted through the rubble, looking for corpses.

“Anything on who was piloting the van? The two adults don’t have any record of being able to fly like that, nor do they have any pilot training.” Looking away from the blackened vehicle, BlackCoat asked one of the members of his entourage.

“Sir, I’ve gone through the CCTV footage, and from what I can tell, it appears that when we were noticed, the Team Captain, Ivar Ragnarsson swapped seats with his Instructor and took over from there.” One of the Enforcers stated as he continued sifting through the compiled data.

“How? How can a newly advanced Tier-3 boy no older than 14 outpace and pilot us without training? Let alone that he somehow disabled all the onboard safety features for that vehicle. Are you trying to tell me the kid is some kind of freakish Fighter Pilot Genius?” With a frown, BlackCoat turned away from the Man, flicked his wrist, channeling some Mana, and cleared the debris from the vehicle.

However, his frown deepened when he realized something vital was missing from the wreckage.

“Fuck! SET UP A PERIMETER; NO ONE GETS IN OR OUT! THE TARGETS HAVE ESCAPED SOMEHOW AND ARE ON THE RUN! WE MUSTN’T ALLOW THEM TO REACH THE ARENA!” BlackCoat yelled in an authoritative tone as he slowly spun around while observing his surroundings.

—

“Tsk, fucking corrupt assholes, Oi Garrison, what the fuck is going on? How can there not only be military members trying to stop us from reaching the Competition, but even the Enforcers are after our asses.”

Standing on the top of what could only be described as the medieval ruins of what was once a large settlement, Cynrik snorted loudly while pulling his hood down and eavesdropping on the group searching for him and the members of MyrkLys.

“What, how, where, HUH?” That was all Instructor Garrison could say. Things had happened so fast that he couldn’t even react fast enough after realizing Cynrik was about to get them all killed.

But just as they were about to hit the ground, and Garrison saw his life flashing before his eyes, an inky black substance rose from the vehicle’s floor and covered him and everyone else in the Hover-Van.

Everything changed when the vehicle’s front end made contact with the ground. Garrison experienced a forceful tug as his body sunk deeper into the inky black substance and then into the ground.

From there, he found himself floating in a weightless black-and-white world, several dozen meters in the air, and upon looking down, he noticed what seemed to be a ruinous ancient city.

However, his observation time was cut short as the black material retracted from his body. Soon after, he saw Brance floating over to catch him, with the unconscious Kurza under his left arm and Head Dean Rimsfel under the other.

[[THAT WAS AWESOME DARLING~~~!]] Making her way over to Cynrik as the group descended into the ruins, Selene pulled down her hood and looked at her boyfriend with sparkling eyes.

[[It wasn’t bad, but this…hm, this is new?]] Catching Selene with one hand around her waist and pulling her up against his body, Cynrik glanced around with [Mana Sight] still active. It had been on since the moment he got into the van, and it had played a big part in his navigation of the cityscape at high speeds.

Unlike the landscape he had gotten used to, which amounted to a sizeable shadowy forest, this time, the Area he landed in the Shadow Realm was vastly different than expected. Gone were the trees, and in their place were ruins.

[[Cyn, what is up with the Shadow Realm? I thought it was always that weird shadow forest place. This… looks like an abandoned medieval town; look over there; there’s even a destroyed castle.]] Even Brance was confused as he guided Garrison toward the destroyed stone road below.

“We don’t have time to worry about this place; that is for later; for now, we are running out of time before our turn for the Opening Ceremony walk out, and…” Cynrik paused and glanced at the sky, where he saw the fruits of his deceptive escape were being found out.

“MyrkLys, your mission is to get to the Arena ASAP.” Spinning around a couple of times while he spoke, Cynrik’s eyes flicked around too fast for an ordinary person to see anything except a blur, and he suddenly pointed toward the south.

“The Arena is that way. I could clear all but the last two kilometers, so you will have to hoof it. But with ZeroG, it shouldn’t be too hard. I will rendezvous with you in a while; I have some things to take care of, so go now.”

At his order, not one of the members of MyrkLys fought him or argued; instead, they all kicked off the ground and speedily left in the direction he pointed without hesitation. With a quick handoff of the unconscious people to Benny, Brance looked toward Garrison, who nodded and decided to follow along without asking any questions, even if he was insanely curious about what he was seeing.

[Brancie, when you get there, observe the surrounding situation. I want you to have everyone spread out and locate any hidden enemies around the outside of the arena and pick out the entry location carefully. The moment we emerge from the Shadow Realm, I feel all hell will break loose.] He said without bothering to watch everyone leave; then Cynrik jumped toward the destroyed castle and climbed to its highest point.

[Copy, I assume you are going to collect data on who was targeting us, just don’t do anything fucking stupid. We are already in a shitstorm of a situation as is, so don’t make it worse.]

[Yeah yeah, I’ve got shit to do, so go do your task; I will meet up with you guys in a few minutes.] With that said, Cynrik kicked off the stone, fragmenting it, and launched himself into the air before using a stream of fire to fly close to the barrier between the Shadow Realm and reality.

With a few more bursts of fire, he positioned himself under the parked SUVs and started taking note of all the enemy Mana Signatures. Unsurprisingly, many of which he already had cataloged. But when he spotted the most familiar one, a creepy grin spread across Cynrik’s lips.

‘There you are, you fucking piece of shit.’ Cynrik thought as he slammed down both arms. With a flick of both wrists, all fourteen hidden blades were ejected from his Assassins tools, only to be taken control of by his new Umbral Blade-Dancer Skill [Dance of Blades].

With a soft hum, Cynrik waved his left arm, causing the sentient blades to swirl around him close enough that he could leave a seal on each one with his second skill [Disorient].

After establishing the seal on each blade, Cynrik equipped his two Kodachi, drew the swords, and quickly placed a [Disorient] seal on both before looking up at his target and pointing his right Kodachi at the unsuspecting Man.

A string of inky black Mana shot forth from the tip of the Kodachi, broke through the barrier between realities, and wrapped around the Man’s ankle. Before he could even scream in fear, the Man was pulled into the Shadow Realm, wearing an expression of pure terror without anyone recognizing he was gone.

The immensely different landscape didn’t even register for the Man as the moment he crossed into the Shadow Realm, his stomach lurched so forcefully that he puked. However, that was the least of his worries because not even a second after the spew of vomit left his lips, fourteen thin blades surrounded him and, like a meat grinder, began slashing him all over his body.

After the fifth attack, his body spasmed, and his fear turned to horror as he received notification after notification stating he had been affected by multiple Status Effects, with the first one being [Paralyze]

Rendered immobile, all the Man wearing a black suit could do was watch as after each blade slashed his body, it was pulled away as if tethered by a rubber band, then came flying back.

Because his back was to Cynrik, he couldn’t see who the person controlling the blades was, nor the impressive Orchestra conductor-like movements the young Man was making as he retracted a used blade to reapply a new seal and sent it back to battle.

It only took a handful of seconds to stack up over 20 different status effects on the Man. Once satisfied, Cynrik summoned back the blades, dismissed the skill, and stored them back into his Assassins Tools before gliding over to greet the Man who had started this whole fiasco.

“Well~ well~ well~, if it isn’t the treacherous Organization Staff Member who not only betrayed his title but sent a hord of baddies after my team and me.” Drawing down his hood with his left hand, Cynrik floated around the Man to put on an act that he was in control, all the while dragging his left Kodachi against the Man’s suit, effortlessly slicing through it as if it were made of paper.”

Hatred, Rage, Fear, terror, hopelessness, and many other emotions flashed through the spy’s eyes as he quickly recognized the person before him as the team leader of VSFA’s Tier-3 Competition Team.

“As much as I would like to take my time having fun torturing you, because of the timetable I am working with, that just won’t be possible.” Stopping in front of the Man, Cynrik dragged his left Kodachi up the Man’s shoulder and made a small cut on his cheek. In an instant, the skin began bubbling and turning purple and green as a thin trickle of pus leaked out from the festering wound.

“Aw, isn’t it sad, unable to move or even scream as the most infectious poison known to Man seeps into your body? I am sure you are feeling more pain than you’ve ever experienced before; well, let me give you a little spoiler; it will only worsen.” Using a chilling tone to speak and talking down on the spy as the Man had to him earlier, Cynrik asserted he was in control with his manic and evil way of speaking.

“You see, my Omnipoison isn’t some weak two-bit poison. There is no cure; it carries thousands of strands with an equal amount of fun reactive effects. I suggest that when the paralytic effects of my attack wear off, you start speaking. At least then, I will give you a swift death instead of allowing you to melt from the inside.”

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