Pride's Origin

Chapter 12 - Taliums vs... Come Again?

    As the scar-covered man headed towards Kura, the oppression inherent to their kind radiated from him in waves.

    Kura immediately felt it, it was much more refined than hers, and its exquisite control was felt from him. The experience was evident in his aura and pressure alone, but for some reason, it seemed to be lacking… something. To Kura, it felt almost empty for some reason.

    “Aaargh!”

    After releasing a mighty shout, the muscles on his arms bulged, and he unleashed a massive punch into the ground below him. An enormous shock-wave spread out heading towards her and by extension Rikona and Makoto some distance away.

    Her expression finally changed when she saw that Rikona and Makoto were about to be implicated in the attack.

    “Damn it! Dimensional Shift!!”

    She wasted no time in spurring the floating sphere into action. A small gesture from it once more heralded another response.

    Soon the entire space around Kura, Rikona and Makoto seemed to have been fragmented as if they were in another space, though they could still clearly be seen where they were.

    Shortly after, the attacks heading towards them had somehow gone right through and at the same time, around where they were, creating an odd scene.

    “Wh-What the hell was that!? What just happened!?” When the earlier spectacle took place, Machyal shouted in surprise.

    This development far exceeded his expectations! As far as he knew, Taliums were just beings that teetered on the limits of human abilities.

    Though he saw Kura floating from before, he was aware of certain Taliums that could do the very same, though they were considered very high level, and not ones he could easily bring out.

    He was lucky to get permission for TM-A26, the woman Talium he brought with him. He was under the impression that Kura, unlike her sister, was just another high-level Talium, but this overturned everything he knew!

    Not to mention Director Shihai, who had effectively become a spectator during all this. Even the two Taliums who came with Machyal were a bit shaken, but that was all. Their expressions were still dull.

    Kura noticed their surprised demeanours and realised, “Wait, they don’t know about Constructs!? Hold on now I get it, that’s what was lacking with his pressure and aura earlier! They may be one of us, probably even have been longer too, but they’ve only scratched the surface, just bulldozing their way through with the physical augmentation that being a Talium would bring.”

    Rikona saw through it as well, and she was of the mind that probably many of the skills they were privy to were most likely out of their reach as well. Her expression changed when she realised this, “They’re only children.”

    She looked to her younger sister ahead, who stared back at her with that same cold look, something that pained Rikona’s heart. Nonetheless, they both nodded at this sudden revelation, aware of each other’s thoughts.

    However, Rikona’s gaze became more meaningful, not breaking eye contact, and when Kura saw this, her expression softened. She then mouthed something and nodded to her big sister once more.

    When Rikona saw this, she sighed in relief, thinking to herself, “It looks like I don’t need to keep worrying about her.”

    After a while, Rikona smiled to herself as she readied herself for one hell of a fight, “Hmph, I won’t lose you so you won’t lose me, huh? Well, that goes for us both bunny. It’s about time I get back in there. I can’t make my construct own thingy yet, but I sure as hell can take on the other one.”

    The reason why Rikona was a bit reserved and apparently weakened after the first incident, was all because ‘willing’ a bullet out of her body along with the accelerated healing that came after, drained a lot of energy.

    It was the first time she even attempted something like this, so the inefficiency involved caused a lot of energy to be needlessly wasted.

    However, her strength was finally coming back, and this meant that she could finally stop being the one thing she hated to be… useless.

    She regained the composure she held at the beginning and began walking forward once more, standing by side by si… air, with her younger sister.

    “Kura, I know I don’t have to tell you what their shortcomings are,” Kura nodded when Rikona brought up the issue, she nonetheless continued.

    “I got a lot of energy back, but I’m still not gonna go airborne though. Seems like breaking another level has given you a surplus, so I won’t comment on your current situation.”

    “I know you’re worried about my mindset, but don’t worry, I’m getting a reign of myself. These ‘Taliums’ aren’t good enough to have me lose myself,” she said the word Talium with disdain as if reluctant to grant the ones in front of her that title.

    “That’s good, keep that fire, now let’s show them how a real Talium fights!”

    When Machyal saw that they were not paying any attention to him, his anger surged, “So it looks like both of you are dead set on doing this the hard way, fine by me!”

    He looked to the Talium who attacked before, “TM-B157 switch to the older sister! TM-A26, take down the one who’s airborne! But be careful, take them alive if you can. Move!”

    As he finished speaking, the feet of the female Talium beside him slowly began to leave the ground, and within a second, she instantly appeared before Kura.

    “Hhmm, so his thing is strength, and your thing is speed. Explains how you all just popped up out of nowhere. Guess you were the one that brought them both here. Doesn’t matter though, what really pisses me off is the fact that you keep on accepting his orders like a dog. Damn disgrace!” Kura snorted at their arrival.

    “…”

    TM-A26 said nothing, but only brandished a short dagger she retrieved from her bootstrap. She then seemingly disappeared from where she floated and appeared behind Kura with a dagger in hand, heading straight for her neck.

    Kura sighed when she saw this, “It’s a shame seeing my kind not even realising their own potential.”

    The knife shattered when it made contact with Kura’s skin. Not even a nick could be seen. It seemed her breakthrough to a higher level brought even greater benefits to her body.

    “Space Compression!”

    The space around Kura instantly grew heavier, as if one was moving in amber.

    All this took place in seconds, and TM-A26 seeing this realised her situation and decisively withdrew.

    “You may be fast, but let’s see for how long. Space Compression!” Kura didn’t plan to give her any time to breathe.

    TM-A26 floated some distance away, wordlessly staring at the space that surrounded Kura, how it fluctuated and seemed oddly distorted, warped even.

    “Well, are you just gonna stay over there and keep staring at me? I mean I know I’m drop-dead gorgeous and all but uh, I don’t swing that way.”

    TM-A26’s eyes narrowed when she heard this, almost as if she was insulted, before she disappeared once more.

    Kura readied herself while the land trembled because of what was happening some distance away. She glanced over to her sister’s direction due to the tremors.

    “Can’t those guys keep it down? I’m all lathered up in honey and sugar waiting for this damn fly to fall into my trap.”

    …

    “For God’s sake, Makoto run away!!”

    Makoto, who felt bad that he never took Cardio seriously, felt indignant, “Oh, I’m sorry I’m having trouble outrunning explosions!! I’ll try to take a class at the Y for explosion-running next Tuesday!!!”

    Rikona was taking on TM-B157, who was rearranging the landscapes with his attacks. However, she couldn’t really go all out due to Makoto, who suddenly appeared beside her.

    When she was about to withstand the first attack from the scar-covered gentleman in front, Makoto who thought she was still a bit weakened rushed by her side to render some aid.

    However, when he saw how the combination of rocks, dirt, trees and whatnot were stopped at what seemed to be an invisible wall conjured up by Rikona, he knew his worries were misplaced, at least for the moment.

    “Run farther away damn it! Do you think I would come out here if I couldn’t take care of myself!”

    “Well, excuuuse me for worrying and for not having superpowers! Tch, I tried to be a good person and now I’m running through some godforsaken forest while my two friends are fighting the flash and the hulk! You know what!? F*ck you universe, I blame you!!”

    When Rikona saw that Makoto was finally a safe distance away, she sighed in relief and stopped holding back. She stared ahead and saw TM-B157, who was preparing to let loose another wave.

    She flashed the scar worn lug a sinister smile since she could finally go all out, “Alright, big boy, show momma what you got.”