Infinite Regeneration In The Apocalypse-Chapter 87: Two Groups Of Fighters

The building was less than ten meters above him now, blocking out the sky completely.

Vogue didn’t hesitate or consider whether his body could handle such a powerful technique. He didn’t care that it would drain his blood essence and vital energy to dangerous levels. Death by technique strain was better than death by building.

He raised his enhanced Nevulium machete high above his head with both hands gripping the handle. His stance widened, his knees bent, his entire body coiling like a spring compressed to its absolute limit.

He immediately activated the ultimate killing move of his new technique.

"Supernova!" he roared, his voice echoing across the devastated street.

He slashed upward at the building surging toward him like a comet falling from orbit.

The blade in his grip began to tremble violently as energy poured into it from his body. His muscles expanded and bulged grotesquely, growing to twice their normal size as every fiber contracted simultaneously. Veins stood out across his arms like thick cables carrying high-voltage electricity.

Energy surged out of his body like glowing mist, flowing from his pores and mouth and eyes. The energy was bright orange, the color of a dying star’s core, and it coated the blade completely until the weapon looked like it had been forged from solidified sunlight.

The blade itself looked as though it was about to shatter from containing so much power. Hairline cracks appeared along its surface, spreading across the metal like veins in a human body. The cracks glowed with internal light, and the weapon vibrated so fast it became a blur.

But the enhanced Nevulium construction held. The blade didn’t explode despite containing energy far beyond what it was designed to handle.

For a split second, there was sudden darkness as all the light in the area seemed to be drawn toward the blade, creating a zone of shadow around Vogue.

Then the blade descended.

It drew a brilliant arc of orange light through the air, a line so bright it burned afterimages into the retinas of anyone who saw it. The slash created a visible distortion in space itself, reality bending around the concentrated cutting force.

The blade’s energy collided with the falling building.

"KABOOOOOOOOM!"

A massive explosion shook the entire street and reverberated through every building for miles around. The sound was deafening, louder than thunder, like a bomb detonating at ground zero.

The shockwave expanded outward in a perfect sphere, turning everything within ten meters into complete smithereens. Cars were reduced to scattered metal fragments. Concrete was pulverized into fine dust. Street signs were vaporized. Even the air itself seemed to tear apart.

The building was instantly sliced cleanly in two perfect halves, cut as smoothly as if a giant knife had passed through warm butter. The blade energy that resembled an exploding star tore completely through the entire structure from bottom to top.

The separated halves of the building began falling to either side of Vogue, tumbling away from the center like split timber. Ten stories of concrete and steel crashed to the ground on both sides of the street, creating secondary explosions as gas lines ruptured and vehicles were crushed.

Captain John was hovering in the air behind the building, and when it exploded he was caught completely unprepared. The shockwave slammed into him like an invisible fist, blasting him backward through the air.

He tumbled end over end, completely out of control, blood spraying from his nose and mouth. His telekinetic flight failed as his concentration shattered, and he plummeted toward the ground.

He crashed hard onto a rooftop, his body bouncing once before sliding to a stop. Blood poured from his nose in a steady stream, and more blood leaked from his ears. He had pushed his mental energy to its absolute extreme for that one killing attack, and the backlash combined with the explosion had severely injured him.

He couldn’t maintain his flight anymore and lay there gasping, struggling to even remain conscious. He looked weakly toward the place where Vogue had been standing, where the building should have crushed the player into paste.

He had used his ultimate attack, strained his mental energy to the breaking point, and lifted an entire building for a guaranteed kill shot.

The dust began to fade, settling slowly.

And Vogue could be seen standing at the center of the massive rubble field, still alive.

But he wasn’t unscathed. His body was extremely thin, almost skeletal, as though all his blood had been sucked out. His skin was pale and drawn tight against his bones. His muscles had withered to a fraction of their normal size.

Blood flowed from his eyes in red tears. Blood dripped from every pore on his body. Blood leaked from his nose, ears, and mouth in steady streams. He looked like he was bleeding from everywhere at once.

The Supernova technique had drained him completely, consuming his blood essence and vital energy as fuel for that single overwhelming slash.

Vogue panted heavily as he held the blade, standing at the center of the massive crater surrounded by ruins. The machete in his hand was covered in cracks now, damaged but not destroyed. It had survived channeling that much power, barely.

When Captain John saw Vogue’s condition, his face flickered with disappointment. The player should be dead. Should be crushed or drained to the point of death. But as John watched, Vogue’s body began regenerating.

The skeletal frame started filling out again. Muscles regrew, blood vessels repaired themselves, skin color returned to normal. Within thirty seconds, Vogue looked healthy again, fully restored.

John simply smiled at that sight, a weary expression of acceptance. He had given everything he had and it still wasn’t enough. There was nothing left he could do.

But Vogue didn’t let him speak another word or make peace with his fate.

He fused Big Dipper Step and Time Step together, creating a combination movement technique that made him faster than either ability alone could manage.

Vogue arrived behind Captain John like a ghost materializing from thin air, as though he had just stepped through an invisible portal. One moment he was in the crater, the next he was standing directly behind the captain with his blade already in motion.

With a single slash, clean and precise, he cut off the captain’s head.

John’s head separated from his shoulders without resistance, the enhanced blade passing through his neck like it wasn’t even there. The head tumbled through the air, and the captain’s expression froze in that weary smile, never changing even in death.

A notification immediately popped up in Vogue’s vision.

[Genetic Soldier Eliminated: 1/100]

[Congratulations! You have obtained: Spirit Warrior Art (Earth Grade)]

A book materialized from thin air and dropped to the ground beside the captain’s corpse. Vogue picked it up immediately and scanned the cover. His eyes widened slightly with pleasant surprise.

The Spirit Warrior Art was actually a cultivation method based on telekinesis and mental energy manipulation. It would allow him to systematically increase his mental energy reserves and strength. More importantly, it taught techniques for attaching mental energy to objects and controlling them from a distance for sneak attacks and versatile combat applications.

Vogue hadn’t expected to gain something this valuable. The captain had been strong, a genuine threat, and the reward reflected that difficulty.

As for the rest of the soldiers he had killed throughout the battle, he didn’t gain any special items from them. Just the kill count that contributed to his human elimination side quest. Only the captain, who had been designated a "Genetic Soldier" by the system, dropped actual loot.

A few radiants that had been hiding nearby were attracted by all the noise and explosions. They emerged from damaged buildings and approached cautiously, drawn by the scent of blood and fresh corpses.

Vogue killed about twenty radiants that surged forward and tried to circle him, dispatching them quickly with efficient strikes. His blade moved in simple patterns, no wasted motion, each cut targeting a heart.

[Radiants Eliminated: 1,350/1,000]

Then he left the area in a hurry, not wanting to stick around and potentially meet an even more difficult opponent. Other captains or genetic soldiers might be operating in nearby zones, and he had used up significant resources in this fight.

He needed time to recover, to study his new techniques, to prepare.

-----

Vogue had just reached what used to be his street in Washington Heights when he heard explosions ringing out from a direction to the east. The sounds were distinctive, clearly not grenades or conventional gunfire.

Those were the sounds of abilities clashing. People were actively fighting with powers and techniques!

His curiosity immediately peaked. Other players nearby meant potential threats, but also potential opportunities. He needed to know what was happening in his territory.

He headed cautiously toward the direction of the fighting, moving from cover to cover and staying alert for ambushes.

When he got close enough to observe, what he saw immediately stunned him.