UNLOCK: I CAN SEE MY STATS

chapter 13 : the hard way

"You're very calm, boy..." said the burly soldier Grimr as he drove his spear into the ground and added,

"Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"As for me, I prefer the hard way, so please resist..."

He grinned.

Marcus raised his eyebrows and smirked mischievously.

"As you wish..."

He whispered, bowing his head slightly as the rain grew heavier, its droplets splashing over his hair.

A faint violet glow flickered in his eyes as he quietly activated the All for One technique, something he had avoided using since the moment he first opened his eyes.

∆ All for One ∆

The principle behind the technique was both simple and terrifying , every single cell in Marcus’s body was forced to abandon its independence, channeling all its energy and resources to empower a single central cell. That enhanced core cell became a generator of Eternal Energy, producing it at a frantic pace and granting Marcus a nearly limitless reserve for as long as the technique remained active.

CRAAACK!!

The air around him trembled. The silence shattered with a sudden flash of violet lightning, as if a storm had erupted from within his body.

BOOM!!

His muscles convulsed violently, and green veins bulged under his scorched skin, twisting from his neck to his palms, as though his entire body was boiling from the inside out.

The soldiers instinctively stepped back.

"What the hell is happening with this kid!?"

One of them stammered.

"I… what is this crushing feeling?" Grimr muttered, eyes wide as he stared at the scrawny boy before him.

ZzzzT!!

BOOM!!

A brilliant violet aura exploded from Marcus’s body, swirling around him like a living vortex. It emitted a faint buzzing, like compressed air straining to escape.

This wasn’t an illusion, it was real, physical Eternal Energy. A force so dense it suppressed everything around it. Even the flames burning nearby flickered out for a moment under the pressure.

Marcus opened his eyes slowly… they glowed with deep purple light, devoid of mercy.

"Your name is Grimr, isn’t it?" he said calmly, staring directly into the soldier’s terrified face.

"You chose the hard way, didn’t you?"

"Who… who are you!?"

Grimr recoiled, his voice soaked in fear. Even without being a sensor-type, he could feel the massive Eternal Energy leaking from Marcus’s body. Not even his strongest commanders had ever radiated this much power.

"It’s best not to waste time…"

Marcus muttered as the waves of power surged within him. This technique had a limit, a boundary he must never cross. He knew all too well what would happen if he did.

After all, that was the reason he was here now.

He shrugged, as if shaking off a phantom weight. With each exhale, violet mist coiled tighter around his frame, compressing against his bones like armor. In that moment, his enemies realized, there was no more room for talk. Even the air began to vibrate with an electric frequency, signaling the birth of a coming storm.

Marcus took just one step forward, but it was enough to force the five soldiers and the massive dog to brace themselves like prey sensing a predator’s leap. In a blink, the battlefield transformed into a canvas of mud and sparks.

Grimr was the first to react, knowing that hesitation would allow this overwhelming aura to consume him before he could even move. He pressed his palm into the wet soil and slammed a knee down hard. The earth trembled beneath him, and a horseshoe-shaped stone wall rose two meters high, sealing off the space in front of Marcus.

At the same time, the other four soldiers signaled one another. Lines of mud surged under the rain toward a fixed point and burst into rows of sharp stone spears, jagged like the teeth of a crashing wave. Their plan was to distract and drive him back into the wall, trapping him.

Their coordination was flawless, at least in theory. But they had overlooked one truth: their opponent had already stepped beyond the limits of ordinary humans the moment All for One was activated.

CLACK!

CLACK!

CLACK!

Marcus stomped on the first rising spear with his boot, shattering it into crumbling soil before it even grazed his burning skin. Then he formed two quick seals and slammed his palms into the mud, an obvious warning that the earth itself was about to turn against them.

∆ Earth Style: Spearfield ∆

Dozens of stone spears erupted beneath the feet of the four soldiers, shooting up at angles like giant hunting arrows. Each spear struck a different part of their armored bodies.

One soldier was lifted half a meter into the air, the spear piercing his shoulder. Another’s thigh was split to the knee. The third and fourth were struck through their backs and stomachs, screaming before thunder drowned their cries.

One moment was all it took to flip the battle's momentum. As the ground settled, their bodies slumped into the mud, groaning, unable to rise again.

Grimr, trapped behind the very wall he had raised, realized he’d lost the human shields he’d hoped would buy him time. Still, he didn’t retreat. Rain soaked his head, blood mixed with mud at his feet. He lifted his spear, forming a single slow, powerful seal, intending to summon a wide rock pillar to erupt beneath Marcus.

But Marcus had already shifted, moving with a sudden sidestep that sliced through the air. His boot stomped down, and the wall crumbled in front of him like a hoarse voice fading into silence.

GRAAWWWH!!

The giant dog, waiting for a chance to strike, seized the moment. As Marcus focused on Grimr, the beast leapt horizontally, jaws aimed for Marcus’s throat, fangs flashing in the lightning.

Marcus spotted the shadow mid-leap and ducked, letting the monster soar over him. At that exact moment, he clapped his palm onto the ground.

∆ Lightning Style: Serpents of Lightning ∆

A swarm of blue lightning ribbons slithered from his hand like ghostly snakes hungry for flesh. They wrapped around the beast’s hind legs and back.

The first jolt made it yelp. The second turned the cry into a raspy bark. The third surge paralyzed its muscles, sending the monster crashing onto its side in agony. But Kelbon tribe dogs were known for their tenacious physique. The moment its breath hit the ground, it jerked upward, trying to stand despite the sparks still dancing across its fur.

Marcus didn’t give it a chance.

The lightning had been a setup, a smokescreen for a decisive blow. He raised two fingers to the sky, as if drawing a blade from the clouds, then traced lightning seals in the air. The space above him lit with crackling violet fury.

∆ Lightning Style: Thunder Cataclysm ∆

The roar was like a collapsing mountain inside a tunnel. The sky flashed once, then a massive violet beam, thicker than a crimson tree trunk, shot down upon the dog’s back.

The energy mass sliced through its fur like a razor and split the earth beneath it. The beast dropped into a scorched pit that opened under its feet.

In under a second, its massive body became a smoking heap, white steam rising from every pore of its burned skin. With a final choking breath, its red eyes dimmed. The body convulsed, then collapsed into the mud, as if the storm had been silenced at its source.

Grimr was the only one left standing, his eyes stunned by the fall of his comrades and the beast he had believed to be an invincible ally.

He noticed his feet sinking deeper into the soil than normal. A glance down revealed the mud darkening and spreading around his legs. He began to suspect he’d stepped into another unseen trap.

Drawing on the last of his courage, he stepped toward Marcus. His spear thrust was half a meter wide, angled to pierce directly into Marcus’s heart.

But Marcus’s aura altered its trajectory before it could begin. The spear tip struck an invisible wall of violet pressure and veered off course.

Marcus didn’t flinch or mock. He simply reached out and grasped the spearhead like it was a twig. The metal groaned, everyone could hear the cracking as it disintegrated between his fingers.

He let go. A flick of his wrist scattered silver dust with the rain.

A mute terror echoed in Grimr’s chest. He considered fleeing, but a single step from Marcus arrived in a blink. His heel slammed the ground, and the earth quaked. A stone dragon, three meters long, erupted from the depths.

∆ Earth Style: Earthen Dragon ∆

Its cracked maw rose first, teeth like muddy spears wrapped in roots. It coiled to Grimr’s side, crushed him in its spiral, then flung his body into the air like a discarded doll. A deep cracking sound pierced his chest,mixed with a short cry, and silence followed.

The dragon’s stone tail whipped in a brutal arc, sending the limp body flying into a burning tent post, smashing both at once.

The rain slowed as if the sky had emptied its rage. Distant flames faded under fresh downpours. The mud shifted from crimson to grey.

Marcus inhaled deeply, sensing the pulse of his central cell, a core still flooding him with near-limitless energy. He mentally counted the seconds passed, maybe four to seven minutes since activation. He had, at most, nine seconds left before that overwhelming power turned into a deadly burden.

He cast a glance at the fallen soldiers , three unconscious, two bleeding out with no hope of survival. The massive dog was nothing more than a smoldering husk.

"Huff!...Huff!...Huff!...Huff!...Huff!..."

He exhaled loudly, ignoring the dead beast. He approached one of the soldiers, placed a hand on his chest, and extracted the remaining Eternal Energy, shaping it into a glowing orb.

He didn’t consume it. He tucked it into his pocket, he had better plans. He repeated the process with the other soldiers, then vanished from the field at speed.