Power level isn’t linear. It grows in different ways over time. At [50], you’ll resist small bullets. Past [10] and common materials start to be weaker than your strength. Not steel, but wood and eventually rock. The difference between me and these turtles were staggeringly high.

  So when it calmly grabbed my hands, pried them off, and punched me hard enough to crack my armor, I wasn’t surprised or shocked. Just in a whole lot of pain as it felt like that one punch nearly stopped my heart.

  The turtles were ambushers but that didn’t mean they couldn’t fight. Just that they were super, hyper dangerous. Four opponents so much stronger than us was a big ask. The only saving grace was that the 10% rule master had mentioned had clearly not gone into effect yet at our power levels, otherwise we’d already be dead.

  The two turtles rushed me, angry now. Blood poured down from the head of the one wielding the pole as the other seemed to practically flicker around it, aiming to stab at me. The pole slammed into my arms as I raised them to try to protect myself. I felt a hot feeling of pain as daggers tore into any unprotected areas and cut long lines across my flesh where they could. I couldn’t stay defensive, they’d pick me apart!

  I lashed out with a kick, causing the dagger wielder to stab downward. My heart skipped a beat as I felt a dagger try to pierce my leg but the armor blocked it. But I could barely focus on that as a pole tried to rearrange me into pieces. It hit harder than Ragual had ever been able to, shaking me like a leaf in a storm and leaving cracks across my armor. It wouldn’t hold up for long against these kinds of strikes and I hadn’t even managed to do any real damage yet!

  I could hear fighting coming from behind me, Ragual doing his best just to stay alive, as my brain rapidly tried to figure out what to do. Our opponents were just too much. It felt like no matter what I would try, they’d win. Every time. It felt like a noose was closing around my throat. Our only advantage was light. Even now, both turtles could barely look at me, their eyes showing how they were practically blind staring at me.

  We’d been too arrogant, not thinking this through. A level [8] and [7] weren’t going to beat four level [10]’s without something massive to bridge the gap and the other side already had weapons.

  Blow after blow came at me, my arms already feeling like they were starting to break from the heavy hits. The armbraces were only going to be able to do so much and the moment they broke or any of the armor broke, would spell our end. It stung, realizing that the last attack had merely been a probing strike from them. They had our measure and I could see it past the anger in their eyes. They didn’t think they were going to lose in any way.

  My mind spun faster, faster. I was far less injured than I’d ever been and yet I felt almost as close to death as I had when I’d first met Ragual. My mind was screaming, my blood was boiling, it was telling me I’d walked into a fight I will not survive if I didn’t get lucky or pull out something right now!

  As the seconds ticked by, that screaming almost began to give way to despair as my heart rate skyrocketed. My fledging fighting experience was going to start thinking I was doomed in about half a second. I could tell why, the information coming faster than it ever had, like a new layer of my mind had been turned over.

  The armor. It was doing so much more than I thought. Combined with the light it was protecting me, shielding me, but it was one hit away from breaking. The moment it did, the exact moment any piece did, they’d stab me or break me, and then they’d capitalize on it. A single injury and in the next moment, I’d be dead. I could almost see it. The next slam of the pole would break my armor and then the dagger wielder would dart in, eyes closed, dagger pushed straight up faster than I could see, tearing through my body and stabbing me in the heart.

  I was walking a knife edge and as the hammer blow of the pole came towards me, I realized this was the very last moment I had to try to change my fate. A split second before it hit me, my hand shot downwards, grabbing my last hope.

  My pupils shook as it hit, my armor shattering and cracking apart into pieces, the pure power rocking me apart. I could feel all of my ribs crack simultaneously and one break completely. The pain was indescribable as I screamed and before the pieces even had a moment to hit the ground, the one with the daggers ducked in close, daggers rising to pierce through me. My death, my future, my fate, my end, it was all playing out in that cold moment.

  But my hand burned. The burning cloth scorching my hand, the pain focusing me away from the debilitating hit, just enough to turn. The daggers came and the daggers stabbed, but they only barely missed hitting anything truly vital. My palm shot forward and latched onto the turtle's face as we both screamed.

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  His were louder.

  Its eyes boiled and burnt, the burning cloth shoved right across them, blinded not just by light but by damage now. It stabbed my hand in a flurry of movement that-

  I thought I knew pain. I was wrong. Agony destroyed my hand as I screamed like a broken monster, loud enough to shake the stone walls around us. I pulled my hand back, but it was far too late. It was less a hand and more a broken, ruined lump of destroyed flesh, too bloody to even be recognized for what it once was. It had been pierced so many times, so fast, that the amount of stabbings had completely disfigured it.

  The dagger wielding turtled pulled back, screams still echoing, as the pole came at me again. Angrier, faster. I raised my hand up only to feel it crack through the armbrace and slam onto the Vambrace itself. The light flickered before turning off, the only light coming from the burning cloth and torch on the ground, dyeing us in firelight. My arm was all but broken after that hit and again the pole came towards me.

  I dodged, my movements faster than they ever had been, only success by prediction and instinct available. I moved before they came and it was only a miracle that I dodged the blows. I had to dive, duck, and weave because my life depended on it. I could feel the air parting, every swing and hit harder than those from the gangsters who’d shattered my body in what felt like a lifetime ago.

  Time was running out. I’d bought it at the cost of my hand, multiple stab wounds, and a broken arm but it was only buying time. If I was hit, if Ragual lost, if the turtle screaming and clawing at its burnt out eyes returned to the fight, if anything changed I’d be dead.

  So I changed first.

  I charged, getting closer and as a slam of the pole came for my side, I let the lessons I’d been taught through fighting Ragual flow through me. I jumped, whipping a leg back and slamming it into the face of the pole user. They stumbled back but one lesson wasn’t enough here. I used the momentum of the kick to dash towards the dagger wielder. He was blind and in agony but I knew all too well how fast that could change.

  I had to kill him right now.

  I had one arm but two legs. I wasn’t used to using them but now wasn’t the time for thought. It was the time for action. Death waited closer than it ever had and it wasn’t only me that it was calling for. Ragual’s fight was quieter and my heart raced in both adrenaline for my own life and panic for his. He was my friend. My first one in years. If he died-

  My thoughts cut off as I slammed into the dagger wielding ninja turtle. It fell, my body on top, and I used the most deadly thing I had available. My head. The pole wielder had already taken a few blows, with the kick I hope I had time. I only needed time. The dagger tried to stab at me, but I’d hit its side and twisted to be on its back as we fell. I pressed down on the back of its neck with my one good arm, barely holding it as it struggled.

  And then I slammed my head down on its, helmet and all.

  The force was like a gunshot in the tunnel. It’s head between a rock helmet and the full force I could muster and the rock of the tunnel. I felt dizzy, dazed even. I may have been wearing the helmet but it only provided so much protection. I’d felt like Ragual had punched me as hard as he could in the head. It hurt, all of it hurt. Everything hurt.

  The turtle was still moving, so I didn’t stop, each hit fast and hard. Time was running out. I felt my skull crack, my brain shake, and my blood pour down from broken skin into my eyes. But I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t stop. I would never stop! I wasn’t going to die here!

  I leaned back for a hit, only to freeze for a moment.

  The turtle wasn’t moving.

  A pole came for me and only a quickly raised arm prevented my head from being torn from my body. The hit was unlike any other I’d ever experienced. My left arm had barely been damaged so far and yet the hit broke my armbrace and my arm all in one go. My body faired little better, feeling myself practically be launched away.

  Then I saw it.

  In the flickering light of the burning cloth and dying torch, the pole wielders eyes were frantic, panicked, angry, afraid, as it stared down at its brother. He wasn’t moving and a quick look could see why. It was too dark to see fully, but red blood flowed from its head. It didn’t look… intact. Like a broken eggshell.

  More than anything though, a realization like lightning struck me.

  I couldn’t see its power level anymore. It was gone.

  I’d killed him.

  I’d killed someone. A person. Not a rabid animal, but a person. A person trying to kill me but a person. I’d killed a person. A person. An actual person. A- A-

  A head disintegrated, torrents of blood pouring out, my father's body lying on his back. Vega’s outstretched hand. His smile, his evil smile. I’d… I’d…

  A yell like thunder shattered my eardrums. It wasn’t in a language. It was a croak, but I knew that croak. It was my name. Ragual was screaming for me.

  I turned… just in time to see the sword fall.

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