Adam possessed six Blood Codes at the moment.
But not all of them could be used together. Although Apoz was an odd exception, it didn't possess any offensive or defensive capabilities at his current expertise.
Fortunately, the passive enhancements from the other combat-related Blood Codes remained active even if they didn't fully mix.
And one that he found most useful was Ichos, a Blood Code obtained from Yami.
Despite being unable to manipulate fire and use strengthening gifts while wielding it, it quickly became his favorite due to its simple utility.
The amplifying vibrations enhance his blade's cutting power and enable him to sense changes in the air with incredible detail.
And, even after losing access to Ichos when changing to another set of blood codes like Atlas and Berserker for higher close-quarters performance, he still had a sharp sense of the changes in his environment…
So that is why he understood that Jack, the Hunter, was called the strongest revenant outside of the provisional government because he genuinely earned that title. Not because Gregorio had aided in the spread of rumors, so that Jack could go uninterrupted in his duty as the watcher of Relics.
The strong pressure coming from Jack as he charged towards Adam in his carnage suit…
The exo muscles around Jack's body that granted him immense power…
The vibrations around the Hunter became compressed as they struggled to move and expand out of the successor's way… his speed had increased too much.
Until he seemingly disappeared from Adam's radar… but wasn't he in front of him? At this moment, Adam sensed the speed of a bullet from the man in front of him.
But those crimson eyes that could even capture the striations of a shooting bullet could still see the Hunter.
A void was created as the air failed to fill the space where Jack had been a moment ago.
Ha had just surpassed the sound barrier.
A clash at Mach speed-
….
…
..
.
*-om!*
Noise.
Vibrations.
Pain?
The sound of an explosion drowned the ringing in his ears…
"Huh!?" Adam regained consciousness quite quickly, despite having lost the exchange terribly.
"Sh1t!" He cursed and gritted his teeth as pain quickly reminded him of the situation.
He realized that one of his arms was just gone, the bloody sleeve of his Blood Veil fluttering wildly, being the only proof that his limb was in there, while his remaining arm, although still gripping his giant sword, was barely recognizable.
Despite his situation-
"How long until I can do that?!" Despite seeing the horrible state of his body with his own eyes, the image of a red monster running at Mach speed keeps flashing across his mind.
Not out of fear...
With a twisted yet thrilled gaze, he rotated and kicked the air with the only leg that wasn't broken to regain some sense of stability.
Only after a few attempts was he stable enough to survey his surroundings.
Adam was surprised by the hills and canyons he had to look past to find the successor's nest.
It was around a mile away, the distance increasing as his flying speed wasn't slowing down yet.
The small clearing where they clashed was now a crater.
"Haha, can't you let me rest a bit?" Adam changed to his strengthening blood codes and began to twist to wind up an attack.
He had not even landed yet, but Jack, using his carnage suit, ran across mountains and cliffs with seemingly no effort. He planned to intercept Adam's landing.
And Adam was ready to meet him in full force. Being sent flying at top speeds from crossing blades with someone traveling at Mach speed had filled him with adrenaline.
He had experienced some bizarre situations that made his stomach churn, but this one seemed to make him feel butterflies.
A sentiment that was rather conflicting in his situation, but what kind of man doesn't wish to experience the extraordinary?
The little time he had to rest was enough to heal most of the damage, except for his still regenerating arm.
Jack still had incredible control of his overwhelming power as his blade made a beautiful arc upwards, meeting the blade that Adam struck down.
*THUNK!*
The strength that Adam had built up, plus the weight of the giant sword, wasn't small.
Yet, Jack received the full force of it.
The shockwave visibly traveled through Jack's blood suit and passed down to the ground…
'What th- Seriously???' Adam planned to use the dead coral to his advantage.
After all, it is more fragile than concrete and would crumble under the force of their strikes, the crater where they traded blows clearly showed that…
'Wait-'
The current Jack, receiving the full force of Adam's strike, was noticeably smaller than the one that sent him flying. He was slightly taller than Yakumo, who was already above 6' tall, and he was now around the same stature as Adam.
Where did all that extra blood go?
Under his feet…
His blood inside the dead coral helped the dispersion of shockwaves so the ground wouldn't fall apart…
"Tch- huh?" Adam felt his fall resume as Jack loosened his grip on his curved sword.
The Hunter capitalized on the fact that Adam had no ground to stand on and fiercely turned his body to deliver a quick elbow to the chest-
*Fwom!*
A torrent of fire blasted from Adam when the impact should've happened.
Jack quickly jumped back, a small cloud of red mist emanating from his side, accompanied by a faint sizzling sound.
'Even if it's a product of Ichor, it still acts as blood would.' Adam examined his opponent, remembering how Louis boiled the red figures before.
'Prometheus… already has a decent output.' Jack examined the figure engulfed in fire. Within a few seconds, the surroundings became significantly hotter.
'So he isn't using the rest of the blood because he thinks he can take me handicapped?!' With raging fire, Adam felt quite offended.
With a glare, he flexed and gripped the hand of his new arm without daring to take his attention from Jack.
It was his first time experiencing the loss and regeneration of a limb. As stomach-churning as the feeling of a regenerating arm was, he stopped himself from dwelling on it. He would lose a lot more if he didn't stay fully alert.
With a short sigh, he cleared all useless thoughts. Adam readied himself, now gripping the sword with his two hands as the fire around him enveloped it.
Just as he suspected, Jack closed the distance even though his fire had proved hot enough to affect his blood.
Despite Jack's exo muscles containing less blood to prevent the ground from collapsing, he was still stronger than Adam.
Particularly now that he was using fire, since it meant he couldn't access his strengthening Blood Codes.
So, inevitably, Adam was driven back the moment he blocked the first strike.
Jack's lead didn't stop at that.
Every attempt at fighting back was intercepted, and every chance at recovery was cut short as Jack's speed and strength outclassed Adam's.
It wasn't just strength.
A blade almost cut Adam in half before another swing came twice as fast to cut his arm.
One horizontal slash became an upward strike.
And a thrust of the curved weapon made a gash on his shoulder once it was pulled back.
It was tempo.
Jack controlled the rhythm.
He was more than experienced.
Despite the fire around Adam, coldness washed over the flesh the blade cut through his body.
He realized something: his sword was too cumbersome for swordsmanship.
Whenever he swung, there was air resistance.
But whenever Jack did, he simply cut through it.
As if their speed had different starting levels, Jack was already fast the moment he moved his blade.
However, Adam didn't need to win head-on, nor was swordsmanship the only way to win as a Revenant.
*tssss*
With every passing moment, his fire became stronger. The blood on the Hunter's blade boiled with every clash. He didn't need to directly land an attack… as much as he tried to.
Buster swords weren't for refined swordsmanship. They are meant to be devastating, no matter how you swing it, and for that, they needed weight and size.
One opportunity was needed to use it as such.
Although faster than him, it didn't mean that Jack was unpredictable in his eyes.
'If he is as strong as Yakumo while using reinforcement, then I can handle it.' Adam felt his arms go numb as he parried and swiftly stepped back.
He left his attack range, but it wasn't the same for the Hunter.
"Woah-" A blood spike struck from the ground and grazed his side before he swung his sword.
It was uncharacteristically dull; it couldn't even scratch his blood veil. But it certainly disrupted his balance.
Losing balance when handling such a heavy sword was a lethal mistake.
At that moment, he clearly felt it.
'It will kill me.'
Instinct.
With an odd movement done without thinking before an overwhelming force struck him, Adam jumped back, along with the blow, to minimize damage.
'It didn't pierce a lung, did it?!' He worried about the wound across his chest. The Blood Veil barely served as protection.
"OH-" He sensed blood spikes growing right where he was about to land.
With a quick swing, Adam unleashed the fire that had built up around his sword, and, although nowhere close to Louis' expertise, the wave of fire was powerful enough to burn the wall of blood spikes and melt the ground.
The coral briefly transformed into molten lava.
"Hah!" A quick breath was enough to realize that Adam didn't have to fight the Hunter while drowning in his own blood.
Speaking of blood…
'This might be the only thing to work-' Adam fully turned around, giving his back to the charging Jack. An action that puzzled even the Hunter.
There was a reason he did not dare to give his back to Jack until now, aside from the obvious danger of such an act.
'Huh?-' The particular dark purple slime that had built up on Adam's back was unleashed upon Jack.
It almost took the form of a maw trying to swallow him.
And, as he was betting on it, Jack stopped himself from coming in contact with it.
He stopped and swung his blade to cut it while stepping back.
Adam's proficiency with Apoz wasn't good enough to disrupt Jack's blood suit, but the latter didn't know that. The fact that the Hunter avoided contact with the liquid made Adam more certain of his plan.
'He doesn't know all of my Blood Codes.' Most likely about the ones he attained through vestiges.
With a satisfied smile, Adam managed to get by his side much faster than before.
Berserker and Atlas Blood Codes are in full throttle now. And, if the molten dead coral under his feet told him anything, it was that there was no blood to disperse shock waves.
If there was a chance to take care of Jack, it was now. The blood would surely climb back up to replace the one he had just boiled.
With a burst of speed, Adam was already swinging his sword upward behind the retreating Jack.
*clank*
Even when he saw an opening to exploit, Adam found the curved blade stopping his weapon from reaching Jack.
But his attack did what he wanted it to.
His upward swing from a low angle sent Jack flying through the slime, and he quickly ran after him.
He didn't need to use Ichos to sense all the blood behind him, trying to return to Jack.
Jack's blood manipulation skills were clearly too good to be affected by shockwaves, as the blood was still functional even when running at Mach speed.
Fire was good, but not enough in Adam's situation. It could have been if Jack hadn't had blood available before the fight, but this wasn't the case.
His Ichos usage wasn't proficient enough to disrupt Jack's blood with sound waves, as he could barely use them in his own weapon.
So Adam needed to change his strategy.
*clank!*
Adam struck Jack before he could land-
*clank!*
The Hunter was sent hurling again.
*clank!*
And again, however, this time he managed to touch the ground.
*clank*
'And he is supposed to have lost his memories…'
Swords crossed.
Jack's hook-like sword almost curved around Adam's Buster Sword.
Its sharp end barely missed his face.
The lock didn't last even half a second as Adam twisted his waist and jammed his shoulder onto the flat side of his blade to push Jack further.
Adam remained relentless, not only due to the blood quickly following behind him, but because of the ledge they were nearing…
'So that's what you want…' Even if Jack was being driven back, he wasn't completely losing as Adam's attempts pushed him less and less.
But that changed quickly.
From the depths that contained experiences that didn't belong to him, Adam held onto something.
A familiar yet foreign feeling welcomed his novice grasp.
The blade he saw and experienced with his own flesh fitted him like a glove. Without pondering about this feeling, he followed its lead for a short moment.
"Huh-!" The attack that should've countered Adam's inherently slower attacks couldn't even begin.
Instantaneous speed
Was it to cut him down?
No-
This attack's purpose was different.
He was hammering down a nail.
*THUNK!*
His hasty guard was broken, and Jack felt a crushing force on his shoulder, only for the ground under his feet to give out.
In that instant, Adam saw it. Part of the exo muscle's shoulder burst into a mess of blood. Even if it gave absurd power and speed, a proper blow could break the flow.
The ledge they were on completely collapsed, and the two fell down the canyon.
"AHHAHA! Bet you felt that one!" Adam laughed with glee despite falling into the abyss after Jack.
Whatever he felt a moment ago, he liked it. Getting one over Jack and grasping that sensation.
It was all too thrilling.
An experience he could not live without if he weren't here– A dangerous world with even more dangerous powers.
"Heh!" But it was a momentary relishing; the fighting wasn't done yet.
With a smile that has yet to fade, his gaze quickly focused down the canyon.
Jack shot down through all the rubble and found himself under the falling chunks of dead coral, Adam nowhere to be seen.
Regardless, Jack didn't even have to rely on the eye of the Queen; another sun suddenly was born at the top of the falling rubble.
Adam summoned the strongest fire he could to boil the blood still following Jack down the canyon…
'He is above all this mess!' The blood suit around Jack slowly lost form and reversed to its messy figure, like the red puppets from before, undistinguishable but still humanoid.
The man, once again, moved upwards and entered the falling debris as if the laws of gravity were mere suggestions.
'That's how it works!' Noticing the blood stopping its chase, Adam used Ichos to sense Jack.
Jack produced rhythmic and intense vibrations while in his carnage suit, which meant there were some complicated inner workings under the blood.
But, now? Those vibrations were much more tame and lost their constant vibrations. The purpose of the blood wasn't to grant him raw power like before.
If Jack can control blood as he pleases, can't he just control the blood around him to lift his body?
Yes. He definitely could. He has done that.
NOW, could he do that when he is in Carnage mode?
No, most likely not.
He must concentrate on the blood around his body to work as exo muscles and must take a lot of focus. Trying to use the blood moving at super speeds that grant his suit the power to fly can be dangerous to him and leave an opening for the opponent.
Even the outer layer that keeps the exo muscles' circulatory system from being exposed cannot be used for more than negating any interruption from external shock, as long as it isn't a direct attack, of course.
Just like how Adam's landing strike made that part of the suit explode.
So, if cautious enough, he only needed to be careful of other liquids trying to mix in, like Apoz.
Jack appears to need a separate body of blood to help him fly while in Carnage mode.
'Right, didn't he lose his flight ability when he began using Carnage Suit at the start?'
If that is so, then Jack didn't descend. He fell the moment he switched to combat mode.
Likely the reason he came prepared with blood from the beginning. The process of producing blood and letting it out of a system of blood that travels at absurd speeds without disturbing his Carnage suit must be a grueling task.
Yes, that extra amount of blood is something Adam won't let him create.
Jack seamlessly moved through the falling rubble without issue, occasionally using some of it as a foothold.
*boom!*
"Tch!" Jack frowned as a gigantic piece of dead coral headed in his direction. Its speed was greater than that of others, so it was quite clear that Adam somehow pushed it.
"Fine then!" Jack was zipped to the side by his blood and readied his blade.
And, as he expected, a slab of metal was ready to meet him at that moment.
Adam had dug his fingers into the chunk of coral for better stability and swung the giant sword with one hand.
Sparks flew as Jack received the full force of the blade, but he managed to deviate from its path. Due to his ability to fly by moving the blood around his body, he didn't need a platform to stand on and disperse the force of the strike.
The clash that would've sent him spiraling down the pit only pushed him back before he attempted to leave Adam's striking range by flying away.
"Seriously-" Adam quickly kicked the coral chunk and followed.
If Adam wanted to get close, Jack could let him, but at a price.
Jack stopped his retreat, and the blood around his body molded into thorns.
"Ugh!" Adam groaned as the blood spikes that grew from Jack made gashes across his chest up to his shoulder. They were precise as they aimed for the torn portion of the Blood Veil that Jack had stabbed through before.
It was clear that these blood formations were more dangerous and precise than when the Hunter used his Carnage suit, possibly because he didn't need to divide his attention between the two.
'It's gonna hurt!' But he didn't stop and grabbed a spike with one hand and smacked Jack with the flat side of his blade.
The Hunter was sent spiraling down.
"Damn!" Adam's attack would've been more effective if the spike had changed from solid to liquid at the last second.
Without leverage, his attacks could only carry so much weight.
But the result was better than his first attack.
And he followed to-
"Whoa-" His fall lost speed as he felt himself being lifted by his blade.
'Sh!t, that's smart!' He couldn't complain about Jack's cleverness as he saw a chunk of blood attached to the flat side of his sword.
*SHhh!*
With fire, the blood boiled to nothingness, and Adam quickly began his pursuit. Jack couldn't be allowed to create more blood.
Adam maneuvered through the air and managed to gain a foothold on a chunk of the debris before jumping to intercept Jack again.
They had fallen for a few seconds, but they were already engulfed in darkness as daylight could not reach the depths of the crevice.
Suddenly, the Hunter gave up on ascending and flew to the side, right onto a wall, planning on letting all the debris fall.
However, the moment he reached it, he felt a scalding fire behind him.
Like a flamethrower, Adam shot all of the fire he could muster and forced Jack to move.
A second barely passed during this plan, execution, and failure, yet the coral wall had begun to deform and melt.
Jack, with red sizzling sounds emitting from his blood suit, quickly flew across the wall, and Adam followed in pursuit to force him to descend.
The sparks of their clashes and occasional flames revealed their figures for brief moments.
Jack created extra blood for attacks, and Adam used his fire to boil it before it gained form.
The abyss they kept falling into did not hinder their senses at all.
Jack could not only fly, but he could also use dead coral chunks as footholds, while Adam could only do the latter.
And yet-
'I feel a lot lighter…' An involuntary thought crossed Adam's mind as he focused solely on the battle. A rather obvious statement, given the circumstance, but not even he knew it was in his mind at that moment; all he knew was that everything was in a better place than before.
One target.
A single-minded focus to reach it.
The use of the environment to achieve it… and something else within the sea of foreign experience, like a lucky breeze that just happened to guide his boat in the right direction.
The repetition of jumps from one place to another and bouncing from clashes and battling Jack, it felt familiar.
As if he had fought his very life in the line this way more than once.
Not that the current Adam could muse about the feeling, he could only afford to follow it in the heat of battle.
*sckshh!*
Sparks flew as Adam and Jack clashed once again.
It wasn't about winning. It was about time, Adam knew that, and so did Jack. Adam just needed to stall his opponent for a few seconds until they reached rock bottom.
This exchange was momentary as the Hunter simply let himself be pushed down before using a new foothold to jump away from Adam.
His blood that allowed him to resist the pull of gravity, adding the force of his kick, made him much more adept than Adam.
Unlike the many times before, Adam had no immediate footing to follow…
He had been doing quite well, but, ultimately, Jack had the better cards, and they were nearing the top of the falling rubble.
The collapsing dead coral was becoming scarce.
but-
'... it feels just right.' It had felt so natural by now.
A veteran cannot just do an action once to recover their old rusty skills.
Repetition is key.
The very reason they reached their peak.
The space between what was left of the falling, dead coral wasn't empty. There were differences in temperature and air density all around.
'I feel stupid for not noticing…'
Ichos allowed him to sense the vibrations, their slight differences when traveling through air and bouncing off objects…
Ironically, only in such a mess could he notice them.
Their patterns…
He could see the scattered surfaces filling the empty air around him.
'Tha-!' Jack found a pair of crimson eyes staring at him like prey as a blade was coming down on his head.
Again, it had that absurd speed.
Adam's weird movement, similar to Yakumo's double jump, was something Jack was familiar with.
However, as taken aback as he was-
*Clank!*
"urk-" Adam felt his back go numb for a moment as the force of the clash sent him crashing into the wall of the canyon.
His body being forcefully engraved into the dead coral stopped his fall speed tremendously.
"Sh!t-" He cursed as he immediately jumped out towards Jack, who was at the opposite wall, the figure remained the same messy silhouette; however, the arm holding the blade had a much firmer shape…
'Of course, he can just cover a part of his body with his exo muscles!' Adam sensed intense and constant vibrations.
He used that extra burst of strength to bounce off the clash with him and exit the group of rubble.
But there still was time.
Adam had struck from above, so his landing was higher than Jack's.
His chances weren't reduced to zero just yet.
"It was a good plan," Jack said as his limbs began to take a firm shape, and he threw himself upwards from the wall.
'Fuckfuckfck-' In the short time he was stuck against the wall, Adam had lost all of the debris to use to move around.
But not all was lost; he heard some of the dead coral reach the water beneath them.
He is close.
He now had to use the invisible surfaces he had just noticed to move, yet-
'It "was" a good plan my ass! It STILL IS!' Adam increased his speed, but Jack was now running up the wall in his carnage suit.
Can he reach Jack before he leaves his range?
No.
Normally, at least
Jack wasn't the only one to leave a little trump card for the end.
A flame dimly lit the center of the abyss before-
*boom!*
Kevin's Blood Code, Hunter.
Jack snapped at the sound of the explosion and saw the awkwardly lunging Adam going in his direction.
'Bakugo makes it look easy!' Adam grits his teeth and begins to twist mid-air to swing his sword with one arm.
'That's how he moved the boulder at the beginning-' The Hunter put two and two together before attempting to get out of the way by jumping and twisting his body to jump in the air once again.
Whether Jack could escape or not would be decided at that moment.
Without a ground to stand on, he knew that Adam could only swing so fast, and if he tried to lunge again, he could react.
"-Oh?"
Adam's free hand, its palm engulfed in blinding fire, approached the handle of his weapon, only for it to go past it and lay its palm on the flat side of the blade-
*boom!*
The light of the explosion, pushing the sword downwards, illuminated the pitch-black void of the canyon. However, this time, it didn't extinguish fully, as sparks flew wildly, revealing two clashing Revenants.
Despite being airborne, the resistance Jack had put to stop himself from falling even further was surprisingly strong.
But, in the end-
*THUNK!*
The nail was hammered down nonetheless.
The wall of dead coral gained a new scar as Jack was forcefully struck down across it. Even in that short moment, he managed to change his trajectory's descent.
His sword stabbed the wall to stop his fall and exerted his blood through his blade into the wall to root himself properly.
"Ahahaha!" Jack heard Adam laugh to himself again.
He was running down the wall toward him, the opposite of what Jack did a second ago.
"Tch!" The Hunter glared and created blood spikes in front of him-
But Adam advanced nonetheless.
The perks of having a buster sword showed at times like these. Adam used the flat side of his blade like a shield.
Buster Swords become tools at their size.
"Finally-" Jack heard Adam's pained breath as both of them slammed through a floor of dead coral made of falling debris and were swallowed by water.
*shhh-*
The layer made from the chunks of dead coral swayed as the black waters underneath it boiled and turned.
In a matter of seconds, a red light shone and seeped through the gaps between the chunks of dead coral.
Jack jumped out of the lake, drenched in water. The messy blood cloak he had appeared to be much looser around his body than before.
Some volumes of blood fall, their density much thinner than before, only for more to take their place.
Not that he had time to care about it.
"Rhfhtos-" Some blue devils followed him to the surface.
But, to someone like Jack, they were disposed of in a single swing. He wasn't strong because of his Blood Code; the Blood Code was strong because of him.
*boom!*
It was muffled, but an explosion erupted under the layer of dead coral, bringing boiling water to the surface.
But it didn't end there.
*boom!* *boom!
*boom!*
A pillar of fire resurfaced.
As the brightest source of light, it attracted most of the coral devils, however-
*Boom!*
They were sent flying.
Jack clicked his tongue as he saw Adam's figure at the center of a pillar of fire with explosions going off.
Not just debris but also the blue devils were sent to the walls… and plenty of them were hurled in his direction.
The steam spreading across the bottom of the canyon didn't restrict the sight of the two Revenants or monsters.
Jack didn't bother with them as the blood around his body rotated, separating the water from the blood while he avoided the blue devils.
Water is a solvent that can prevent the blood from clotting and otherwise dilute it.
Being submerged in water and then exposed to steam, which is just small droplets of water hanging in the air, there was bound to be an effect.
Jack snorted as he saw a piece of dead coral thrown directly at him, "Since when did you grow a brain?"
He continuously created more blood to replenish the one that began to dissolve, creating layer upon layer of protection.
The process repeated as he retreated to the wall of the canyon.
{!...}
Cutting down the pair of blue devils and the debris in a single swing, Jack found a blade about to cleave his skull.
*clank*
The sheer shockwave produced by his parry cleared up the mist around him.
And sure enough, the blood that had hugged his body even when traveling at Mach speeds jumped off his arms momentarily.
"So-"
It wasn't a simple throw; the giant sword carried a particular vibration.
Again, Adam grasped a notion of incredible control and precision from the depths of experience his new body had.
No, it wasn't just grasped; he was still holding onto it, and very willing to use it right now.
"-did you miss me?" Adam appeared in front of Jack, winding up a punch that clearly carried enough strength to level a building and then some.
Adam's figure had many bleeding wounds, but the smile under his tinted mask couldn't be any bigger.
'Huh…'
Amusement.
That might be the only way to describe Jack's expression, barely hiding under the blood cloak.
The dead coral under Adam's feet crumbled as all his power quickly but expertly transferred to his fist and-
*Boom!*
With a devastating explosion similar to a sonic boom, a circular wave of pressurized air expanded from the point of impact. The mist and debris were cleared as the walls of the canyon shook violently, causing the coral devils to cry and flee.
…
"I can still sense them, but I hardly can follow who is who," Yami, sitting on the coral chair with crossed legs, commented as he gazed at the abyss where Jack and Adam fell. A few empty ichor cartridges lay on a coral coffee table by his side.
It had not been a minute since they fell, but something had already caused the entire canyon to shake.
"I'm not worried about that. I have smacked him around harder than that for him to die here." Yakumo was clearly not bothered. Not by the fight or his new coral chair, he was rather calm.
"I have you know, it is because of my Blood Code that he can fight while falling in that canyon." Yami grinned and bragged. Reminding everyone involved in Adam's training why their Successor was their Ace.
"I mean, he can double jump because of me." Yakumo, unenthusiastically, picked his ear to clean the crap he just heard.
"Objection!" Yami pointed at the nonchalant man, "You didn't even teach him that!"
"But he saw my perfect example. What else could he ask for?" Grinning, Yakumo flicked the product of his digging to Yami.
"Ugh!" And he avoided it like the plague.
It was true that Adam could now double jump, but his body wasn't strong enough to do it the same way Yakumo could.
To exert the force that Yakumo did, Adam needed more room for movement. Bigger motions to compensate for the lack of base strength.
But, from the looks of it, Adam didn't do such big motions. It appeared that Berserker Blood Code made the process easier.
"So, wouldn't that mean that he can because of me?" Oliver pointed at himself with confusion. he was the only one standing as his chair was being made.
"Are there any of you who can pay attention?" Louis glanced at his team with a blank expression. He sat on the coral couch.
"Aye aye cap-" Yami quickly focused, "- they are coming out… more like someone is dragging someone else outside."
Whatever he was sensing, Yami frowned.
"Damn, that is cool." He admitted.
A figure clad in crimson armor ran up the opposite cliff to the team, using the dead coral wall as a canvas and creating the image of destruction with his trusty brush, Adam.
The picture of chaos continued up until the top, where-
*Boom!*
An explosion finally separated the two.
Jack, clad in dense blood armor, twisted and kicked the air with enough strength to stop himself from falling down the canyon before quickly chasing Adam.
"Ah, I feel like the extra jump isn't as special as I thought…" Adam complained as the first thing to reach the ground was his hand, piercing the dead coral to stop his momentum from the explosion.
He was upside down, and yet, he had to deal with the charging crimson knight.
Can he regain his footing fast enough?
No.
But was the ground the only place he could stand?
Not anymore.
From Ichos Blood Code to understand and sense his surroundings, Adam switched Berserker to produce instantaneous power, and in tandem with Atlas, he carries and increases momentum. At this point, this process has become almost second nature.
The air struggled to move out of Adam's way and was forced to condense by sheer power to become his stepping stone as he kicked and twisted to strike the oncoming armor-clad Jack.
*clank*
The punch aimed at his side was struck down; unfortunately, the charging red knight wasn't, as he shoulder-tackled Adam.
The arm stabbing the dead coral wasn't enough to stop him from rolling across the battlefield like a ragdoll.
This one time, Jack simply stood where he was.
Not even after Adam regained his balance by kicking the air and twisting to regain his foothold, his feet skidded back across the coral momentarily.
Jack's armor, after the explosions and strikes he received when dragging Adam outside the crevice, had remained almost intact. It didn't even have a dent where Adam struck to deviate his punch.
But this seemingly untouchable armor had a fracture on its torso… the place that Adam struck when they were at the bottom of the canyon.
*crack*
The armor began to lose form, each plate that protected Jack's body dissolved layer after layer before slowly going back to its original form, messy blood hugging his body just before slowly flowing down his figure and finally digging into the ground.
"...the hell…" Adam said through gritted teeth, almost sounding like a murmur. His gas mask was too broken to begin even covering his face.
It hadn't been a long fight, but the number of injuries he had healed was past dozens.
Despite the numbness ringing through his body after sustaining many injuries, his knees wouldn't stay on the ground.
"I'm still standing!" His body was drenched with so much blood that he could make a blood armor of his own if he could.
He stared at Jack with his crimson eyes, the two of them scarily similar except for color– red and purple, respectively.
The man meeting those crimson eyes examines him and opens his mouth. "...Just exhale deeply," Jack instructed as if he hadn't fought a battle that made the entire canyon shake.
It was an odd comment.
And just because Adam was wrecked, it didn't mean he had gone blind.
He saw it, a hint of an emotion he couldn't describe. The Hunter appeared to reminisce about something.
But more than anything, what did he mean by-
"-Huh?"
It was weird… the way Jack said it didn't convey any intent to pacify Adam.
What did he mean?
Well…
…
It was confusing for Jack to say that after he had used my face to make a new fracture in the canyon, but the moment I felt something strange in my body, I was compelled to do so.
Something in my chest, to be more specific, my lungs.
"Uck-"
I clenched my chest, trying to reach for whatever was in my body.
But I couldn't.
This sudden loss of control and weakness originated from within.
And I couldn't do anything about it.
Something rubbed against the insides of my chest. They touched the walls of my lungs in a way I couldn't nor wouldn't want to explain as a lump began to form in my throat.
It was asphyxiating.
The hands that could squeeze ore into iron couldn't do a damn thing about it.
The senses that made me see the world's beauty and ugliness so vividly blurred into a jumbled mess.
Vision grew dark spots, needles prickled my neck, and my ears wouldn't stop ringing.
I felt powerless as the substance forced itself out of my chest.
Revenants wouldn't die without air, yet we still breathed it, since we could heal even brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen. Still, a sense of smell is useful whether you need oxygen or not.
I fell to my knees as something in my throat exited my body through my mouth and nose.
"93io2uewjn-pHUCK!"
What lay before me was a puddle of blood as my airways felt torn momentarily.
"Yow cunt- blergh."
I couldn't throw my whole vocabulary of swear words at Jack, as my stomach was emptied first on the dead coral.
"Piece of sh-*cough*- thaat bloood- ehg- " my voice grated, "better not have been inside someone else before!"
The blood that Jack extracted from my body quickly dissipated in the air; now, my vomiting remained the only proof of my traumatic experience.
Fuc*er…
"... I have things to do, I won't waste time answering questions that John can." The bastard rummages through the jacket that his blood brought to him and leaves a walkie-talkie on the floor near me before walking off.
As I recovered, I noticed my blood being carried by Jack's own blood to gather at his side, creating a sphere.
I felt a slight ground tremor as he said, "Contact me in an emergency; otherwise, I will come to you… In better conditions."
Absurd amounts of blood built underneath his feet before it lifted him and carried him to fu*k off, who knows where.
"Damn it- puh-" I spit whatever was left in my mouth because IM NOT eating or drinking anything after that experience.
Not that I have done much of those since I became a Revenant.
Ugh…
It wasn't a horrible injury.
I felt my torn air track fully healed already.
But that despicable sensation wasn't going anywhere.
"Ugh." After I sat up, making sure I was somewhat clean, the others approached.
"Adam, are you alright?" Io immediately hurried to my side.
Oh, Io…
If only there were a way to describe it.
Actually, there is!
"I feel sullied in a way that a bath won't wash off."
Io stared into my eyes, "I shall cleanse thoroughly-"
"Offer accepted-"
"DO YOU actually know him or not?" Yakumo, professional cockblocker, interrupted.
"No, since I don't remember him," I shook my head, "Ironically, I feel like this is as best it could've gone."
I said that, but I felt worse than shit.
As much as I hate the 10 seconds that just went by, Jack clearly showed that he could have ended my life by manipulating the blood I inhaled to pierce my BOR parasite the moment it entered my lungs.
Thankfully, I've met some sort of criteria in his mind and refrained from doing so.
And, although a bit of an asshole- No, a real asshole about it, he pretty much told me that I was off the hook and I could even count on his help.
"That means he was a soldier in the war with you." Oliver pointed out.
____________________________________________________________________________
Word Count: 6,780
Tell me if the fight was too wordy, I don't want to make fights a slog instead of a constant flow…
Fun fact: This chap of 6k words is a 2-minute scuffle. From the moment Adam and Jack high-fived each other at Mach speed to the punch that shook the canyon.
I don't know why I always found fight scenes where the characters are falling kinda cool.
Like "gravity killing me ain't the issue, the problem is your ugly mug not being caved in by the time it reaches the ground!"
Anyway, Jack Rutherford ain't no wimp. He is a veteran of the Queenslayer Op, leader of a special squad to kill said Queen, possesses more than 20 years of experience as Revenant, and since he hosts a Relic to watch over other Successors to put them down when they go frenzy, he has more than some experience fighting monsters with bullshit powers.