Chapter 668: What Next?
"Recoil!"
Nel shouted as his feet connected with Northern's palm. To his shock, however, his body jerked violently, thrown away as if struck by an invisible force.
His grin twisted into an expression of shock, his limbs flailing as the momentum slammed him into the ground.
He was sure the hit had been delivered. The recoil happened, but it felt like it had occurred with the air instead, causing the impact to affect him and throw him away.
He staggered to his feet, legs trembling, only to double over as a thick spurt of blood spilled from his lips. Wiping it away with a rough swipe, he smeared crimson streaks across his nose.
Slowly, he lifted his head, locking his bloodshot eyes onto Northern, defiance glinting through the pain.
Northern smiled with fulfillment.
"Are you surprised? Why did your attack not work on me..."
He grimaced the next second.
"Guess what. I don't feel like saying."
Northern's legs struck Nel's face with brutal force, the impact reverberating through his skull. In that instant, Northern's voice rang out, cold and unyielding:
"Combined effect-Reversal and Echo."
Pain exploded through Nel's body, sharp and unrelenting, as the kick sent him hurtling through the air. His vision blurred, the world spinning as he was launched like a ragdoll.
He tried to immediately stand, but suddenly the world blanked out. He fell back to his knees and collapsed, unconscious.
Northern stared with a little worry rising on his face.
"Did I do too much?"
Echo and Reversal actually shared a certain nature with each other.
After copying the talent, he had figured out how it worked. Reversal immediately stored impact and released it-however, it was possible for Northern to determine how much of it was released.
While Echo multiplied damages on a target.
Of course, when the broken boy had struck Northern, what he had really struck was the void force.
The impact of his attack had collided with the air, generating a shockwave that sent him reeling. That was not Northern attacking.
However, taking that impact, Northern kicked him, using his Reversal ability and applying Echo on it.
The result? Nel passed out.
Which was slightly disappointing for Northern, who thought he'd be able to experiment more with this ability.
Having nothing else to settle with the boy, Northern grabbed Aster. A black shadow slithered from beneath him and merged with the shadow of the wall as he walked away.
A few minutes later, Schneider's voice pierced the corner.
"Here... come here, leader. He is here."
He led the leader into the corner, only to freeze in the next instance.
There on the ground was Lennister, lying unconscious.
Schneider's eyes widened, his mouth dropping.
"What?"
The boy standing next to him, upon seeing Lennister lying cold on the ground, ran towards him and bent down.
"Lenny?" he softly called as he shook the poor boy awake.
But there was no response. Lenn was out cold.
The boy took a glance at the wound on Lenn's shoulder, and a dark frown forebodingly settled upon his brows.
"Who did this?"
Schneider trembled slightly under the pressure that he exuded.
"All this happened because we were cleaning off the leftovers of the Starchasers."
The boy folded his fist.
"Looks like we were too lenient with them, leaving them to keep their place as students of this academy."
He picked Lenn up in his arms and stood up.
"Schneider, summon an emergency meeting with the student council. We are going to file a petition for those criminals to be exterminated from the academy."
Northern stared down at the runes of his new talents, very satisfied.
[Copied Talent]
Talent: Full Impact
Class: [SSS]
Talent (True) Name: [Force Of The Fall]
Description: [At a time, the force and the fall existed as a synchronizing part of a larger whole. However, time shattered and lost both in a torrent of Chaos. What is lost can never be found again, this is mainly a meimitatuonion.]
'What a detailed description...'
Northern wanted to believe that the description he saw on copied Talent was something that somehow tied the strings of true name to the talents themselves.
Even though talents are copied with their true name, Northern had come to realize over time that he does not own the true name.
Indeed, when he evolved the talent, the true name also evolved with it.
But it wasn't like the three special true names that have been attached to his own since he
took them.
Which prompted Northern to think that descriptions are usually a hint that connect talent to
true name.
If so, what is achieved when this connection is realized and fortified?
He did not know yet. For somebody like him, who had no inherent talent of his own, this reality posed no benefit-except if he wanted to link Nameless to Formless. However, it was silly and unreasonable. Attributes cannot be linked to true names; they are a
part of true names.
Northern brushed all those complicated thoughts away from his head. For now, he was content with gaining an ability that would be useful not just in hand-to-hand combat, but in whatever form of combat he decided to use. With Full Impact and Phantom Sword, Northern had practically become an unstoppable force.
Talent Ability: [Reversal], [Recoil], [Return], [Nullify]
Attributes: [Rising Impact], [Falling Impact]
Talent Progression: [10,000/0]
Northern grimaced at the last part of the panel.
'Just like I thought... they will be difficult to evolve.'
There was nothing he could do about it in that case. It was better for him to focus on the lower
ranked ones first; there were, after all, a couple of talents on his mind.
He finally averted his gaze from the panel and looked at the boy kneeling in front of him,
humbly silenced.
Aster, with his amazing nature and affinity for words, had somehow not said anything since they got to Northern's room.
Instead, the moment both of them entered, he removed himself from Northern and went on
his knees until now.
Northern wanted to say a lot of things, scold him. Because thanks to him, his precious
summon was going through serious recovery.
Nothing had ever driven Night Terror to such a corner. But what has happened has happened.
It would be idiotic to dwell on it. Now, however, he had to make sure this kind of thing does not happen again.