Mike & Kris vs The Rat King III

Mike's limbs moved like flowing water as he and the Rat King zipped across the destroyed landscape, leaving even more destruction in their wake as they moved.

Mike still had that big grin on his face. His aura flowed smoothly as no matter what the rat king did, its attacks failed to land properly.

Kris chased after them while they moved, however, he didn't seem overly happy with what was happening.

'Mike is deflecting all the attacks, but...' He frowned. 'He isn't landing any hits of his own.'

Indeed, Mike was doing a beautiful job at deflecting the attacks of the rat king. However, he had his hands full doing just that, so he had no time to counterattack, putting him in quite the precarious situation.

And he knew this.

'Dammit. I can't use my Partial Transformation while Kris is here.' Mike thought as he deflected another attack that split the ground apart.

Even with his aura on maximus output, he was barely able to defend, talk less of attack.

He'd already poured his stats into perception, too, which was the only reason why he could anticipate the attacks of the Rat King. But as things were, it was far from enough, and it was only a matter of time before‐

His instincts suddenly blared, and in his vision, several silhouettes appeared before the Rat King, and without hesitation he moved.

As soon as he did, the lava surrounding the Rat King converged and briefly turned into smaller versions of the creature which charged forward at Mike.

At the same time, Mike created two Haven Rings that wrapped around two of the clones, then he made another two run into each other... and he was forced to block the last attack that came from the Rat King itself.

The impact set his teeth on edge as he was sent sliding back, but the Rat King was on him like a shark that smelled blood. Lava turned into tendrils that surged towards him, but before they reached him, several chains appeared and slammed into them, relieving the pressure.

'Thanks, Kris.' Mike thought as he exhaled.

'Crimson Ladder is starting to become relevant, but it's not fast enough.' He charged forward to meet the Rat King. However, the result wasn't the same as before.

When Mike tried to deflect the attack, a shockwave of heat suddenly erupted from its claws. Mike naturally foresaw it and managed to defend, but the movement left him open, and the creature pounced.

And then a large boulder slammed into it from the side, throwing it off balance.

But that wasn't all.

Some ways away, Kris's chains were picking up and throwing large boulders like they were artery batteries, each one thrown with force that far outpaced a bullet as they momentarily got the Rat King off Mike who really needed the breather.

'Support him as best as you can to lessen the pressure.'Kris thought as he continued his barrage. But it only took a few seconds before the King regained its bearings and screeched.

The halo on its back suddenly shone, and a barrier of lava surrounded it, causing every rock that hit to get turned into molten sludge.

The creature was about to charge at Kris when Mike came in from above, his leg swinging down like an axe.

It broke through the barrier and descended on the thing's head like a pillar from heaven, the sheer kinetic energy crushing the rat into the ground and destroying said ground.

The damage was... negligible, and before Mike could follow up, he was swatted away by its tail, and he conveniently landed next to Kris, who was rolling his shoulders.

"Alright. I think I have a feel for your timing now." Kris said, and Mike wiped some of the blood off his lips.

"That works." Mike simply nodded as he looked at the Rat King that was already back to its feet as it stared at them hatefully.

'Fine, then. No point in delaying.' Mike let out a slow breath as he activated a skill that had been collecting dust in his skills column for a while now.

Overclocking.

The first time he used it, he was more than a bit scarred by the experience, as the pain of having his energy Pathways damaged was something he'd rather not want to experience again.

However, after he acquired his new ability, he tentatively tested the skill a few more times, and he was pleasantly surprised to discover that he could use the skill far longer.

However, the backlash would still happen. It just wasn't as severe, but it would still leave him unable to fight for a while.

"We have ten minutes." Mike stated as his aura started to flicker before erupting. That wasn't all, though, as he activated Primal Dominion as well, and a domineering aura suddenly descended on their surroundings.

All of a sudden, the surrounding ash started to settle down faster. The heat from the magma was suddenly a bit more bearable, and the imposing presence of the Rat King didn't seem as scary as before.

Kris stared at Mike for a few seconds before he simply nodded.

On the other side, the Rat King seemed momentarily hesitant when it sensed the change in Mike's aura. However, its hesitation turned into greed shortly after as it realized just how nutritious of a meal Mike would be along with Kris.

There was a brief pause, and then, the fight resumed.

Mike and the King shot forward at blinding speeds, while Kris sent forward dozens of chains that were only a bit slower than Mike.

The two sides met, and another powerful clash erupted as gauntlet met claws.

Mike lost the clash. But he wasn't thrown away.

The Rat King's tail moved in, but several chains immediately intercepted it and kept it busy.

Meanwhile, the main body faced off with Mike, and the latter had gotten far more aggressive as he relied on his senses and instincts to dodge attacks while countering.

The Rat King was still faster. It was still stronger, too.

But it wasn't overbearing anymore.

Kris hadn't been lying when he said he got Mike's timing now, as the way his chains assisted him was truly impeccable.

They covered his blindspots, and the number of times Mike had to defend or dodge reduced significantly as he danced between them.

It took a moment, but soon, Mike learned to trust the way they moved as well, giving the chance to cover him from certain spots as he went in for attacks that normally would have left him open.

All of a sudden, things became far more even. Mike was landing far more hits compared to before, and while the damage was discouraging, it was progress.

The Rat king was annoyed by the change in status quo, but it seemed like it wasn't going to adapt any time soon.

That said, Kris and Mike couldn't afford to simply drag things out. After all, Mike was on a timer.

But even with all of this, what could they do to break through its defenses and deal a decisive blow?

Well...

'I can't land another White Spark, but I'm not dealing enough damage. No, I need to do something else.' Slowly, Mike's eyes, which were already wide, widened more. Not in surprise or anything like that, more like he was trying to capture even more as he refused to let anything escape his attention.

'My energy, I need to make it denser. More controlled.'

At that moment, he recalled how his teacher, Alice, had placed so much emphasis on energy control and how condensing your energy will allow you to deal more damage.

For some time now, Mike's aura still resembled smoke, which was a density that surpassed most people of his age. However, it wasn't enough.

His brain was already doing a lot of things. Keeping track of the internals of the Rat King, keeping track of the silhouettes that allowed him to predict its movements, keeping track of Kris and his chains, and keeping track of his surroundings.

It was a lot, and most people would have passed out from the strain.

Not Mike, though. Not only did he keep track of all of this without losing his cool, but he extended his senses even more.

It was dangerous, and he almost made a mistake that could have been fatal.

But he succeeded.

All of a sudden, he was aware of his body and everything within.

He could map out his energy pathways and watch how every bit of energy flowed until they reached his pores and were expelled, amplifying his body.

He then observed his aura and the energy that made it. He observed how the smoke persisted around his body before dissipating.

'So wasteful.' He thought.

So much energy was expended, and yet, the rate at which his aura dissipated without even amping him as much as it could was simply disappointing.

He could do better.

He knew he could do better.

But forcefully condensing his aura to make it more efficient wasn't something he could do on the fly.

... Not normally, at least.

Suddenly, his Primal Dominion surged... and then constricted.

As it did, Mike made it do what it was best at.

He made it suppress.

And he made it suppress his very aura.

It was like vapor in a rapidly shrinking glass ball.

Instead of his aura dissipating, it was, in fact, being pushed against his body to condense forcefully.

'Visualize it.' Mike told himself as he imagined his Aura shrinking and condensing with the help of Primal Dominion.

'Condense it.' His aura was now pressed tightly against his body, the smoke having no choice but to Condense with nowhere else to go.

'Come on...!' He gritted his teeth as he still felt some resistance, and at that moment, his patience entirely snapped.

In an instant, he sent forth his will, amped by his Primal Dominion, and 'grabbed' his aura.

'Condense!' He yelled inwardly. It wasn't a request, but an order from a being who existed at a higher level.

Caught in such a situation, his aura had no choice but to obey.

And then... it liquefied.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.