Adam shifted tactics again and again.
From linear strikes, to feints, low sweeps or upward arcs, but William moved like a leaf in the wind dodging all the attacks .
He wasn’t faster, he was just unstructured.
His body bent and twisted at angles that broke rhythm. Every ti Adam committed to a trajectory, William’s fra slipped just outside it.
Adam recognized the flaw.
His battle technique was shallow.
At equal star power, chanics, timing, angles and footwork mattered.
But he lacked the refinent.
If I can’t outskill him, I out-disrupt him.
William leaned to avoid another scythe arc, but a crystalline material suddenly ford around his legs.
Cryogen.
The frost layer thickened.
Then shattered, warping William’s leg unnaturally.
But it wasn’t fully disfigured.
This was because Cryogen’s control had been reduced at this star power reduction.
But it was still enough.
William lost his footing mid-dodge and gravity did the rest.
Adam didn’t hesitate.
He stepped in and swung downward.
His martial spirit manifested behind him, wind coiling tightly.
"Wind Carnage Requiem."
The blade descended and the wind slash detonated downward with him.
The power was diminished compared to his full output.
But at ten star power—
It was enough.
William’s head separated cleanly.
The force carved a long scar across the rocky ground beyond, as the body dropped and the head rolled a few ters away.
Adam exhaled slowly.
He had gone all out at reduced capacity.
And he had won.
However sothing felt wrong.
There was no notification for an existence gain.
He pulled up his panel instantly.
[Star Power: 10]
His star power hadn’t been restored yet.
His eyes lifted to see the headless body standing with the violet aura intensifying around it.
The severed neck did not bleed.
It pulsed.
The aura thickened around both the body and the detached head.
That was when Adam understood.
He’s been dead since the beginning.
William hadn’t been alive when the fight started. Which ant killing him wouldn’t restore what was taken.
And whatever had taken it—
Was still active.
****
Everything aligned quickly.
The reason his Death affinity had stirred the mont William appeared and the reason Analyze had shown no cultivation talent or rank.
It was because there was nothing to read.
A dead martial artist couldn’t retain talent indefinitely. Once the soul degraded beyond stability, cultivation dissipated and the structure collapsed.
Adam had learned that from his experint back in sector 418 with the corpses of Henry’s followers.
But for that level of degradation to occur, the body had to have been dead for at least a week.
Which ant, William had been dead long before entering this rift.
Questions like who moved him? Who animated him? And what stole his star power? ford imdiately.
But there was no ti to ponder on these mysteries, as the headless corpse began expanding.
Its muscle fibers thickened, its bones stretched beneath grey skin and the violet aura intensified, compressing around it like a second skeleton.
Adam activated Analyze mid-shift.
[Star Power: 14]
Williams’ star power had increased by four and before Adam could reposition, the corpse moved faster this ti and delivered a blow squarely to Adam’s face.
The impact would have snapped his neck at ten star power.
But Bone Protector activated.
The type two tier five armant flared faintly providing a defensive star power of 24.
Unlike conduits, armants did not integrate into core star power. They were limited and purpose-bound.
But for defense that was sufficient.
The force drove Adam backward regardless and he crashed into the rocky ground, rolled, and forced himself upright into a low stance.
His neck was still intact and his vision was still stable, as he assessed the situation quickly.
He could disengage and retreat beyond range. But his star power would remain suppressed.
And suppression without recovery was strategic suicide.
To restore it—
He had to end this properly.
What did I get myself into?
Despite the condemning question, a cold smile ford behind the bone mask.
The sa one he wore when facing monsters.
The corpse lunged again and Adam stepped in to et it.
Lightning flared around his legs, cryogen added another layer of defense and a bone scythe ford mid-motion as he clashed with the headless corpse.
****
Bone Protector was the only reason Adam was still standing. At full star power, he wouldn’t have needed it. His natural defense would have absorbed most of these exchanges.
But now, With star power suppressed to ten, the type two tier five armant was carrying him.
It granted him defensive output equivalent to twenty-four star power, but only for its intended purpose. It did not increase his strength or speed. Only durability.
Without it, his neck would already be broken.
Although he could heal with Cryogen.
Healing a snapped spine at reduced star power was a risk calculation he wasn’t willing to test.
The exchange continued.
William’s fist slamd into the layered skeletal armor Adam had ford over his ribs, reinforced with Cryogen’s crystalline lattice.
The impact drove him back but he countered with a scythe sweep that missed its mark.
Analyze flickered mid-motion.
[Star Power: 16]
Its star power had risen from fourteen to sixteen.
With each exchange Adam’s breathing remained controlled, but internally the equation shifted.
At sixteen star power, the gap widened, his reactions lagged and his strikes were deflected more often.
Still, he didn’t relent.
Each clash refined sothing.
Foot placent, weight distribution and angle discipline.
He adjusted between strikes, learning through pressure. In a twisted way, the fight was sharpening him faster than any controlled training.
But durability had limits.
Bone Protector began to show hairline fractures along its projected defensive field.
Armants had durability values and sustained force wore them down.
He had exploited that fact once before, shattering Henry’s barrier in Sector 418 through relentless impact.
Now...
William was doing the sa to him, as he delivered another fearso blow and this one sent Adam’s body skidding across the rocky ground, before stopping near the discarded conduits of the team that had fled earlier.
But his current state was not so good, as Cracks spiderwebbed across the skeletal armor layered over his body. Cryogen reinforcent flickered in multiple places.
Bone Protector’s glow dimd slightly and one more clean hit at this scaling pace was all that was needed for it to fail.
William stepped forward again, his star power steady at sixteen.
Adam exhaled once.
"That’s enough for practice."
Throughout the fight, he hadn’t just been adjusting his combat rhythm.
He had been thinking.
The corpse scaled with engagent.
Killed once, it stood again; simple destruction wasn’t the solution.
His gaze shifted downward briefly.
To the conduits at his feet and a plan was ford.
Now he just needed execution.
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