GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



His hand smashed into the black-scaled brute's face. The two body parts made violent contact with it each other. A spark was created, which was followed by an explosion. The black-scaled brute was knocked flying by the force of the explosion. He flew just as the other brute landed on the ground in a heap of broken flesh. Soverick flexed his arm as he turned to the first brute that he attacked.

"That is not good." He muttered after observing his hand.

He didn't come out unscathed from the short exchange of blows. He was the one that did most of the dishing out but his hand suffered for his generosity. His hand was crushed. He had damaged his arm simply by punching the black-scaled brute.

On the other hand, the brute that he punched came out of the collision without any injury. The brute was disoriented and was sent flying but that is all he suffered. Soverick isn't surprised though. Brutes are very durable and very strong. He can boost his defense, speed, strength, perception, spirit, and vitality just like an immortal power, and just like an immortal power, he can only do one at a time. So he can't have improved strength and defenses at the same time. He has to choose one. 

Brutes have the advantage of having two enhanced attributes at once. Their fixed connections grant them both strength and defense. So while he might be stronger than them, he will face the consequences if he punches them because his defense is lacking. He knew this, but he did it anyway. It was to give him the opportunity to finish what he started.

He turned to the white-scaled brute just in time to see it already regenerating. The bone-deep injuries he caused were already knitting themselves back together and all his work will be rendered useless soon. 

"This is also not good," Soverick observed to himself.

It turns out that the threads of brutes enhance three attributes, not two. It also seems like the brute has gotten more threads. He has killed two paragons already so the rest will get stronger. The available connections will be shared by 7 instead of 9 so there's more power for each of them now.

He groaned, "Now they will heal faster too." 

Now that they have more connections, they will be stronger, have increased defenses, and they will also be able to heal faster. Brutes were built to be able to take severe punishment to their body and also have the ability to return from near-death conditions. He has to hit them faster and harder than they can recover.

So he activated WORLD BREAKER again and took three steps toward the healing brute. He split himself into 8, recombined, and entered the law matrix. He found his target in the law matrix. Then he smashed into the brute there. He was rebuffed as if he hit an elastic surface. Then he rematerialized in the world of manifestation.

"I'm not going to do that again." He complained as he stumbled.

His injuries are so bad that he can't even stand properly. He came out of the law matrix without one-third of his body. Large portions of his body have disappeared exposing the white paper-like material that makes up his body. This injury extends from his head down to the half that is left of his right foot.

He groaned. "I should have just stuck with punching them in the face." 

He groaned and this time he really felt some pain. That attack didn't work out as he thought. It turned out badly. In fact, it turned out worse than when he punched the brute in the face. Using world breaker on the brute was a bad idea. He failed to do any damage to the brute itself despite injuring himself. He did damage the threads on the brute but that's only because they covered him like a cocoon and protected him. 

It was like the pyramid in the third challenge. The threads formed a layer around the brute that he must overcome if he wants to damage the brute. He failed to overcome the defense of the threads and was rebuffed. It caused a backlash that hurt him. The brute was already injured but he still managed to make Soverick suffer.

"Now what?" He asked himself.

Splitting himself into more specters will not be a good idea either. It will be like the dragon situation all over again. He already injured himself using just 8 specters. He will have to go into a coma if he pushes himself to 128 specters. 8 specters should have been good enough. It requires little energy from him and it can be activated quickly. It leaves behind a tear in space that is almost imperceptible and heals instantly unlike the tear he created when he fought the dragon. 

8 specters are good enough for people with a soul body. They don't have the defense of their concept manifestation that the body of law that a titan has to protect themselves. 8 specters were good enough for the power immortal. That guy's body unraveled like soggy noodles when Soverick smashed into him. He was Soverick's second target after he dealt with the speedster.

"Speaking of my second target..." He said as he looked at the spot where the immortal power was still standing.

The immortal power hasn't moved despite all the action going on around him. He isn't doing so well after the first WORLD BREAKER was used on him. That was after the DANCE OF THE SPECTRAL WIND was used on the second speedster. Soverick dealt a fatal blow to him but he is immortal. He should have disappeared but his existence remained anchored to the world despite his existence becoming warped beyond what a living being should be. 

So he is dying and resurrecting over and over again. He has been afflicted with this problem since Soverick appeared in their midst so he is too busy to bother with anything else. Soverick saw all of these and smiled. The paragons on the other hand had differing opinions when they saw what has become of their once intact mate.