Chapter 3: Azure Steel Shadow
Su Xiao stood still, holding [Dragon-Slaying Flash] in hand, the arena utterly silent.
"Gulp."
The sound of a difficult swallow broke the silence of the field.
Xiluo Luo stared at Su Xiao's back, her big, sparkling eyes practically gleaming. Clearly, she had recognized Su Xiao.
At this moment, above Su Xiao's head, Xiluo Luo had already automatically added several tags in her mind: 'Tough Guy,' 'Super Carry,' 'Big Shot'...
Xiluo Luo suddenly felt a bit of regret. If she had known Su Xiao was this strong, she should have asked for his number earlier, so she could pay a hefty sum to have him carry her through difficult derivative worlds in the future.
"Who are you, and how did you get here?"
The excitement on Lizard's face was gone. His eyes were locked onto Su Xiao as his kagune quickly emerged, wrapping around one of his arms.
Lizard's kagune was a scale kagune, with the kakuhou located near his kidneys. Scale kagune ghouls had extremely strong regenerative abilities, characterized by powerful attack power but weaker defense.
There were four types of kagune: feather, scale, armor, and tail. Each had its own strengths and weaknesses, with no fixed form, taking shape based on the ghoul's imagination.
At this moment, the appearance of Lizard's kagune was formed according to his imagination and combat habits.
"Who am I? Hmm~, you can call me Bai Ye. Your kagune is nice; I'll take it."
Su Xiao activated the Shadow of Law Destruction and, for the first time, turned on [Azure Steel Shadow]. His mana immediately dropped by 2 points and continued to decrease at a rate of 2 points per minute.
After activating [Azure Steel Shadow], he felt a certain energy within him being awakened—that was his mana.
The mana circulated through his body, undergoing some wondrous transformation, and formed a new type of energy.
This energy first traveled through his arm, then spread to the [Dragon-Slaying Flash] in his hand. The surface of [Dragon-Slaying Flash] was suddenly coated in a layer of blue light. If observed closely, one could even see faint blue-white arcs of electricity dancing on it.
That wasn't lightning, but a new energy formed after the mana was converted through some kind of power. This was also the core of [Azure Steel Shadow].
[Azure Steel Shadow] was a state-based active skill. After Su Xiao activated it, it consumed 2 mana points per minute. That didn't sound like much, but if he fought continuously for an hour, it would consume 120 mana points. Fortunately, he currently had 153 mana points, enough to sustain it.
The advantage of having ample mana was evident, giving him the ability to fight for extended periods.
After activating [Azure Steel Shadow], each of Su Xiao's attacks would burn 10 mana points from the enemy.
That didn't seem like much, but if he landed several slashes, the mana consumed would be fatal.
Imagine this: Su Xiao and his enemy fight fiercely, preparing to unleash their ultimate moves against each other, only for the enemy to suddenly realize they have no mana left. How utterly despairing would that be?
Moreover, [Azure Steel Shadow] didn't just consume the enemy's mana; it also dealt an equal amount of true damage.
Su Xiao had once asked Reincarnation Paradise what true damage was.
Reincarnation Paradise's answer was: damage that ignores everything. Even if the enemy's defense was incredibly strong, they would still be wounded by his slash.
Su Xiao rolled his shoulders, took off his shirt, and bared his upper body.
He had a habit when fighting: he liked to take off his shirt. It made his perception sharper—maybe it was just an illusion, but it was his habit.
With 13 points in strength, 13 points in agility, and 12 points in intelligence, Su Xiao wanted to test what kind of combat power these attributes could provide.
Don't think intelligence was useless in melee combat. Increasing intelligence not only boosted spell damage and mana but also enhanced perception, which was a great help in close-quarters fighting.
"Well then, I'll use you to test it out. You look thick-skinned, so you probably won't be cut to pieces easily."
Su Xiao stomped hard on the ground and rushed toward Lizard. With 13 points in agility, his speed surpassed everyone present.
Lizard only felt a blur before his eyes, and Su Xiao's face was already right in front of him, along with a long blade glowing with azure light slashing toward his neck.
This slash was extremely cunning. Genshiro's teachings had greatly improved Su Xiao's swordsmanship.
Holding the blade with both hands, Su Xiao's slash was about to strike Lizard's neck. Although ghouls had incredible regenerative abilities, they would still die if their heads were cut off.
In this critical moment, Lizard let out a roar. Blocking with his arm was too late, but his kagune was close to his neck and quickly wrapped around it.
"Pfft."
The sound of a blade cutting into flesh came, but no blood appeared.
Su Xiao's slash cut into Lizard's kagune. Scale kagune wasn't known for its defense, and Su Xiao severed it immediately.
The face under Lizard's mask twisted in pain. What kind of cutting power was this? If he wasn't mistaken, the other party was using an ordinary weapon, not a koukaku made from kagune.
Run, he had to run immediately. The human in front of him was too strong. Even an SS-class ghoul would be chopped into minced meat.
Just as Lizard was about to retreat, he suddenly felt an intense pain at the wound on his kagune, and then some energy inside him was being burned—his Rc cells.
As the Rc cells burned, Lizard felt an unprecedented agony.
Even with his endurance, he couldn't help but let out a scream. The true damage from the mana burn had taken effect.
The [Azure Steel Shadow] Su Xiao had mastered, literally meant to burn the enemy's mana. But what about creatures like ghouls that had no mana?
The answer was to burn other energies. The principle of [Azure Steel Shadow] was that Su Xiao consumed his mana to form a special energy.
This special energy attached to his weapon. After Su Xiao attacked an enemy in melee, the special energy would invade the enemy's body, triggering a devouring annihilation reaction with the energy inside them, ultimately achieving the effect of burning mana.
If the enemy had no mana, the special energy would choose to devour and annihilate other energies, such as Rc cells, chakra, reiatsu, etc.
Compared to mana, [Azure Steel Shadow] had a slightly lower annihilation rate for other energies, dropping from the original 10 points to around 7 to 9 points.
The feeling of having one's internal energy burned was certainly unpleasant. Compared to the true damage caused, that intense pain had a greater impact on combat.
The skill description for [Azure Steel Shadow] was: After activating (Azure Steel Shadow), each melee attack will consume 10 mana points from the enemy and deal an equal amount of true damage. The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn.
Previously, Su Xiao hadn't paid much attention to the "intense pain" part, but now, looking at Lizard's expression, he understood that the feeling was far from pleasant.
As Lizard screamed, Su Xiao's second slash had already arrived.
The blade cut through the air, making a terrifying whine. The sharp edge parted the air, creating a shockwave.
"Pfft."
An arm and half an ear flew up simultaneously. Su Xiao's second slash was also aimed at Lizard's head.
But Lizard sacrificed an arm, blocking [Dragon-Slaying Flash] for an instant, then sharply tilted his head to avoid decapitation.
In just two slashes, Lizard was half-dead. His kagune was severed, his broken arm lay on the ground, and his combat power had dropped by at least fifty percent.
The beautiful Rize, upon seeing this, felt her scalp tingle. She inwardly wailed, were humans from Ward 20 all this strong?
Without using a koukaku, he could directly confront a ghoul? No, what was happening wasn't a confrontation; it was one-sided slaughter.
Rize's first thought was also to flee, but a pair of sharp eyes had already coldly fixed on her.
"Where do you think you're going? Kamishiro Rize."