A smaller Faceless with a green shirt lunged at him first, with another one trailing closely behind. A pair of razor-sharp claws shot out at Reko.
Reko's heart thumped loudly in his chest, yet his vision was crystal clear. He felt his newly enhanced senses slightly slow down the usually swift movements of the Faceless. The claws coming at him still seemed like a blur, but he could see them, although barely.
Reko ducked under the incoming claws, leaving its face right open. His arm, bursting with essence, shot up into an uppercut. His fist connected, and a slight pain permeated his right hand. Fighting bare-handed still wasn't optimal, even if he was a pseudo-Gifted.
Before the humanoid could regain its bearings, Reko's left foot shot out into a sudden push-kick. The Faceless was sent reeling into its companion, who was about to pounce on Reko from a blind spot.
There was a moment of pause. The first Faceless seemed to have taken some damage, but nowhere near enough to go down yet.
'Faster and tougher than usual.'
These Faceless seemed stronger than the ones on the higher floors. He assumed that they had grown slightly stronger from spending time in the Essence-rich lower floors.
The two Voidbeasts separated from one another and shot at Reko from the front and left side. Blocking two attacks was impossible, so he dodged backwards to the right. He felt his eyes shoot open and the world come to a halt.
Reko got a bad premonition.
'The last one!?'
He'd already begun to dodge backwards when he realised his blunder. Reko sensed a shadow looming over him for a split second before a strong impact came down on his already injured back. Immediately, pain shot through his body as he felt himself flying through the air.
Reko was flung back over desks and sofas, landing behind one of the latter. His back groaned. He had to force himself to get up. He only had a few moments before one of the smaller ones would show up. He was currently out of the humanoids' view, hidden by the sofa, so he quickly fished out one of Ash's Hedgehogs from the small pouch.
'Gotta even the odds a bit.'
Only a moment had passed since Reko landed, but he could hear something running up to him from the front of the sofa. He swung himself up and threw the Hedgehog in the direction of the Faceless before ducking back down.
It was a couple of meters away, and seeing the strange projectile heading straight for its face, unaware of the Hedgehog's nature, it tried to swipe the flying object away with its claws. At the moment of impact-
BANG!
A loud explosion rang out in the hall, followed by a cloud of smoke - nearby sofas and desks were flung over. Reko's sofa got flung as well. His ears rang a bit, but he was fine otherwise.
Left with no cover, Reko took a glance at the area the Hedgehog should've landed. Through the smoke, he saw the charred figure of the Faceless, barely clinging to life. It was incapacitated for the moment, lying on the floor.
'One down.'
He wasn't sure where the biggest one was, but he assumed it was approaching for another sneak attack, so Reko immediately ran towards the fallen enemy. It was unlikely the strongest of the bunch would be near the explosion.
Reko ran through the thick smoke, coughing. Soon, he reached the fallen Faceless. It was trying to claw its way towards him. Reko still felt nothing about an Ability appearing, so he raised his foot and brought it down on the weakened Voidbeast's skull. Dark crimson splattered over his boots and clothes, but he paid it no mind.
Suddenly, Reko felt the smoke shift from his side, as a blur shot at him. He was still focused on the now-dead Faceless, so he was late to react. Five deep cuts appeared across Reko's chest, followed by a burst of crimson. Reko's mind screamed in agony.
'Shit!'
Unprepared, Reko was thrown off balance, and before he could stabilise himself, he felt a gash appear on his leg. Another wave of pain shot through his body.
After balancing himself, he leapt back. In front of him was the other, smaller Faceless, its claws now laced in scarlet.
Reko felt his chest throbbing and his leg giving out slightly. His wounds were beginning to pile up along with his mistakes. He needed to solve this quickly. Forcing down his surge of emotions and pain, Reko cleared his mind. He had to play this perfectly. He wasn't in a state to make the opening move, so he planted his feet firmly on the ground and waited for the creature to charge.
The smoke was dissipating quickly. He needed to deal with the weaker Faceless before the strongest and sneakiest of the bunch showed up.
'I need to try something risky.'
The creature charged at him with lightning speed, aiming to rip off his face. Reko leaned his torso to the side, and the creature's claws flew right past his nose. Before the humanoid could retract its elongated arm, Reko grasped it with all his speed and might. The humanoid couldn't even form a thought before Reko pulled down his arm with tremendous force, sending the Faceless face-first into the ground.
Reko fell onto the Faceless's body, somewhat pinning its arms down with his knees.
There was no need to think. His plan had worked.
He began pummeling its non-existent face with a barrage of fists. There was no damage at first. However, soon his fists tore through the creature's skin, covering his face in dark splatter. The humanoid tried resisting by scratching Reko, but it was futile. He swatted its claws back down whenever it tried to attack and then continued his barrage.
His knuckles creaked from pain, his arms hurt from the stray scratches, and his whole figure was drenched in dark crimson. With aching muscles, Reko came to a stop.
The creature was dead. Its empty visage was no more - it was entirely smashed in and painted a dark red.
It had only been a couple of seconds, but it seemed to stretch for an eternity. Reko didn't have the luxury of catching his breath, so he quickly stood up. He was covered in blood from head to toe, not sure of how much of it was his.
The smoke had already dissipated, and Reko spotted the biggest Faceless standing a couple of meters away. It was seemingly observing the young man before him. It had already long noticed Reko, but chose to let him finish the other Faceless.
'Is it toying with me? No, doesn't feel like it. It's not underestimating me.'
Seeing the bloodied young man, the Voidbeast got into a battle-ready position, reaching its fists near its eyes.
'Respect? Its intelligent?'
Reko didn't question any further and simply lowered his stance. He wasn't sure how he could beat this one in his current state.
As he was nervously debating his issue, Reko felt something deep within him slowly welling up. It felt deeply connected to his very being, like the essence of his existence. The Essence within Reko converged, transforming into something new. Reko felt something being born within him as he fell into a trance, feeling the changes within himself.
His body felt warm, and a wave of calm washed over him. The pain from his injuries disappeared as well. Once something finished forming within him, it felt similar to the rest of the Essence within his body, with some key differences. It felt more...connected with him.
Suddenly, Reko began to feel very tired. Not due to blood loss, but similar to how he had felt for the past week before passing out. This time, however, he didn't feel despair. He felt an instinct, coming from so deep within himself it felt like the very cornerstone of his existence.
Without thinking, Reko raised his left arm towards the Faceless and calmly snapped his fingers. He felt all the exhaustion wash away from his body as he became a bit more energised.
The name [Dream Wave] popped into his mind. He knew that was the name of his newly found Ability.
The sneaky humanoid was looking at the scene, seemingly confused. Before it could make a move, the powerful Faceless felt all its energy being whisked away. If it had eyelids, it would've been tempted to shut them. Instead, the creature's head and body began to slowly fall forward as if drifting to sleep.
Before the Voidbeast could regain its bearings, Reko snapped out of his trance and noticing the falling creature, he untied the pouch on his belt. He hurled the pouch of explosives at the tumbling Faceless.
Reko quickly shot away as best as he could with his injured leg. He made it a couple of meters away before the pouch connected with the Voidbeast's face, which had shot up a moment before impact. Having snapped out of his dizzy spell, the Faceless was already too late. It simply stared at the pouch in front of its face and didn't resist.
Reko heard the explosion behind him, and a scorching heat reached his back, sending him flying. The explosion was larger than anything he'd seen before. The whole hall was covered in smoke and shrapnel from the Hedgehogs. Reko himself was covered in freshly formed gashes from flying rubble and burn marks.
But he was alive. He'd done it. He figured out his Ability!
Reko was in no mood to celebrate, though. All the fatigue of the battle hit him all at once after the adrenaline wore off. He was hurting all over, and he could barely move.
His muscles ached, and he was gasping for air.
His clothes were torn and covered in ash and blood.
The world seemed to spin as Reko stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure if it was the blood loss, the explosion or his newly found Ability's aftereffect. Maybe it was all of it.
Reko lay on his back for a couple of minutes, on the verge of unconsciousness. His new physique seemed to be doing him one last favour today and keeping him from passing out.
Reko stumbled to his feet after gathering his strength and began moving. He still needed to confirm his kill. The air was still thick with smoke, so Reko covered his face with his torn sleeve.
Soon, Reko stood in front of the powerful Faceless. It was still alive somehow. Its whole upper half was completely pitch black and charred, with chunks of its face missing. It was reeling on the ground in agony.
Reko felt sorry for the Voidbeast. For whatever reason, it hadn't killed Reko while he was dealing with its comrade and let him have a fighting chance. He wasn't sure why, but regardless, he felt he should quickly put it out of its misery, since he would be dead if the creature hadn't waited.
Reko limped over to the creature and gave it a long stare. It seemed to have sensed him, and it lessened its writhing, seemingly knowing its end was near. The Voidbeast felt oddly human. It seemed to have values and awareness.
Reko raised his foot. After a bit of hesitation, Reko muttered to the fallen Diver.
"Sweet dreams."
He flung his foot down in one swift motion into the creature's crumbling skull. He sighed and gave a downcast look at the pile of char.
"Poor soul. Maybe even death isn't an escape from this hell."