John activated Accelerate and rushed back out of the classroom the moment those booming words registered. There, he snapped his gaze left and right, taking in the scene. The situation was about what he expected.
On his left were his human comrades, in the process of backing away from the thing on the right, all with wide-eyed looks, clearly taken off guard. Beyond them, Daniel, Marius, and Farah were already halfway down the corridor; Marius had thrown Daniel over one shoulder and tucked Farah under the other armpit, and even in Level 5 Accelerate it was clear the guy was moving at incredible speed already, building up momentum with whatever ability he was using.
He took all that in with only a glance, because the thing on the right was much more deserving of his attention. Emerging a few steps beyond the smokey wall that cut off the corridor, it was like a demonic praying mantis; where the natural insect was typically lime green, this thing was a mixture of black as deep as coal and hellfire red beaming out from its eyes and gaps in its carapace that almost made it look like it was wearing a tailored suit, with spectacles covering the bulbous eyes on its triangular head. It was nine feet tall, and walking with a straight posture, seeming far too poised, too human, for a giant insect. It even had its arm thingies behind its back like a strict disciplinarian. Naturally, it was staring daggers at the 'student' who'd deviated from the schedule: John.
John knew what he was going to see before he even used Soul Vision, but he felt the need to check and make sure anyway. A quick flash of the Spell, and he had it confirmed.
Its soul was red.
For now, it was moving in slow motion from the perspective of John's time dilation. But that didn't mean it'd be slow. The crab monster back in the bus depot had moved faster than his Accelerate could track even though it'd been the size of a double-decker bus, and praying mantises were known for striking with incredible speed even in their regular-sized insect forms. He felt fairly confident in guessing the headmaster would be disgustingly fast. Fast enough to catch them if they tried to run now, at least.
While John was confident he'd eventually reach a point where taking red monsters on solo wasn't beyond him, he was too weak to defeat it now. They had to get the hell out of here. If they just straight up ran like the trio were doing, though, he was sure it would catch them, picking them off one by one. Daniel had waited until they were far along the corridor to spring his little trap, leaving them so much further to run. Plus, John would undoubtedly accumulate massive Aura losses for retreating, if he just ran. It would have to be a fighting retreat.
Looking on the brighter side, the current crisis forced him to get over his indecision regarding his Aura. He was going to hold back some points to put into a level in case the headmaster landed a hit on him and he needed to heal, but aside from that, he went all in.
Force Push, Force Pull, and Hydro Stream Combined into the Sanguine Clone for a total of 15,000 Aura, and then a cloud of red mist was once again rising from his skin, immediately congealing into a bloody doppelganger, boots, jacket, and all. It even carried a blood replica of his scythe, which he'd taken out of his Inventory just to check whether the clone would copy weapons, too. With that confirmed, he put it back, but the clone kept its copy of the weapon.
John's consciousness split, granting him two perspectives of the world, and relief coursed through him when he found that his clone body also benefitted from Accelerate. His heart was in his throat as he watched the red bar in the corner of his vision drain, but it had evidently ticked up high enough that activating another clone didn't drain it down to nothing. Even though the bar ostensibly represented his blood levels, he felt no strain, no anemia. It wasn't as if it was completely symbolic, either; he'd seen the blood come straight from his body. Unnerving as hell.
Once that was done, he placed Summon Undead in his other Spell slot and poured dozens of souls into it, watching the number in the other corner of his vision appear then start to tick down. With no corpses targeted, zombies started to pull themselves out of the ground in the corridor, coming to stand between them and the demon headmaster. They didn't benefit from Accelerate, so they were awfully slow about it.
The plan here was to put as many bodies between himself and the headmaster as possible, then run the fuck away, shouting some nonsense about having to protect his weak teammates from the monster, implying he'd totally stay and fight it one-on-one if he was by himself.
He moved to put his plan into action. While his clone body hefted the blood scythe and ran towards the headmaster, John turned his real body, finding his comrades didn't need the situation explained to them. They were already in the process of turning, though all in slow motion from John's time-dilated perspective.
Sanguine Clone had gained several new abilities with the addition of Force Pull, Force Push, and Hydro Stream. The Force aspects essentially allowed him to push or pull the body based on its relative position to a target, the opposite of their original function to push or pull with a hand thrust or come hither gesture. This allowed it to cross the distance to the headmaster at incredible speeds even by Accelerate's standards. The corridor blurred.
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Then it was a step away from the giant praying mantis, and the new Hydro Stream aspect came into play. Hydro Stream had allowed him to unleash a torrent of water from his outstretched palm with the power of a fireman's hose. Now, the aspect could perhaps better be described as Blood Stream; the clone was, after all, made of a liquid, so it was perhaps only natural that the combination of the two would synergise into something rather different.
There was a moment of extreme disorientation as one of his bodies flowed out of its human shape and turned its entire volume into a column of blood that launched right at the praying mantis, aiming for centre mass. Accelerated even faster by its Force Pull aspect, the attack struck at absurd speed. For a single heartbeat, John even allowed himself to wonder if it might do some serious damage.
Then the headmaster tilted its upper body out of the way, and the blood clone sprayed right past it.
"ATTEMPTING TO ASSAULT A MEMBER OF STAFF?!" Its voice boomed like thunder, though its mouth never moved. "YOU COURT DEATH!"
Even in the midst of Accelerate, John understood the words clearly. The Level 5 Skill now lasted for 25 heartbeats, and sped him up significantly faster than it had done at Level 1. Its obvious flaw still remained; his heart started speeding up at the revelation that the headmaster was fast enough to still make its voice understandable to him even while he was moving several times faster than a normal human. He'd counted 18 heartbeats so far. It would be over in no time, then placed on a cooldown before he could use it again.
Everything had happened so fast. He'd barely moved his real body half a dozen paces, only just catching up with the others with their little head start on him. The first zombies were only just straightening up to interpose themselves between him and the headmaster. The clone was only just beginning to gather itself enough for a more comprehensible vision of the scene to materialise; it had blasted past the headmaster and smashed right into the ceiling before falling back to the floor, where the blood was reforming into his clone.
John activated Precognition, and the single second of forewarning saved him. He threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the headmaster as its sword-like arm stabbed through the spot where his torso had just been. It gave him no time to recover, slashing down with its other arm. Instinct guided him, and he threw himself into a Flash Step. Not wanting to endanger his comrades, he moved himself towards his clone, simultaneously having it Force Pull itself along the corridor, essentially trading places.
Accelerate finally came to an end a moment after he emerged. As he expected, the headmaster had eyes only for him. Beyond it, his comrades stumbled, throwing worried looks back at him.
"Go!" he shouted, and there wasn't time for anything else, as the headmaster attacked again.
It weaved past the reaching zombies with impossible grace, roaring on the way, "NOW YOU TRY TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT?! YOU RISK BEING EXPELLED, YOUNG MAN!"
Somehow, John got the feeling expulsion wouldn't mean being booted out of the portal world and told never to return. With the zombie meat-shield plan clearly ineffective, John swapped out Summon Undead for Ultimate Shot and fired without hesitation. The shot roared across the distance with a tail of myriad elements, heading right for the headmaster.
It didn't dodge. John had a brief moment to wonder if it was so unworried about John's power level that it was just going to tank the hit, but what actually happened was worse.
At the last moment, the monster's sword-like arm snapped up, moving so fast it was a blur, and the Ultimate Shot was split in two, right down the middle, sending two halves careening along the corridor on either side of the headmaster. It didn't even break stride. With a flash of light, burning foliage and shards of ice began to radiate out from the two impacts.
"ANOTHER ASSAULT, AND NOW DAMAGING SCHOOL PROPERTY?! COMPLETE A THOUSAND YEARS OF DETENTION, AND I MIGHT CONSIDER LEAVING YOUR CORPSE INTACT!"
John snarled. Deeply unwilling to engage the monster in close-quarters combat, he switched out Ultimate Bullet for Shadow Stream, and found himself wishing he'd put some thought into coming up with a Stealth Combo loadout. Blasting oily darkness around him, he swiftly backed away while ordering the clone forward. It hefted its blood scythe and charged.
That proved to be a mistake. Just as the shadows had cut him off from the Aura system's scrutiny, so too did it muddle the headmaster's senses. From within his greyscale world, he watched with mild horror as it pivoted on the spot and faced his comrades, who were still barely halfway down the corridor at this point. Marius had just reached the end, and he charged through the portal without hesitation.
Fuck, John thought. Fuck fuckety fuck fuck fuck.
There was a high chance Daniel's trio were going to turn around and ambush his comrades the moment they got out of the portal world, and that outcome was especially likely if John wasn't there with them. On the other hand, there was no way they were getting out at all if he didn't distract the headmaster. But, the headmaster was too fucking deadly. There was a genuine chance it could kill him, and then they'd be fucked either way.
Growling under his breath, he dispersed the Shadow Stream, switching it out for Adamant Defence. He didn't believe for a second that his metal skin would stop the headmaster's attacks, but he was banking on the monster taking damage in response.
That wasn't to say he was just going to let the monster hit him, though. Accelerate was active again the very instant it reached the end of its cooldown; he'd been practically spamming the command, unwilling to waste even a moment.
The giant mantis immediately turned back to him when the shadows were gone, and started rushing down the corridor again. The zombies he'd summoned were still there, but they barely slowed it down for a moment. His blood clone moved to intercept, using Hydro Stream to throw itself into a solid line across the corridor that the headmaster couldn't immediately move past. But the delay was only for a second, and then the headmaster was on him.
John tried to steel himself for the hit. Once it landed, though, he realised nothing could have prepared him.
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