Chapter 97: Vector Dominion

’Damn it!’

Adam would have been a fool not to use the full force of his created skills.

He had been gripped by extreme fear when the explosive round hurled his car off the road. His first instinct had been to escape as fast as possible.

Moreover, the rapid beating of his heart did not help matters. He had to take control over his body processes to slow down his racing heart. Only then did he calm down enough to think through his situation.

’Perception Overdrive.’

Without hesitation, he called upon one of his newly created skills. The world seemed to slow down in his vision as the skill drastically accelerated his sensory processing and cognitive responses.

’Some bastard really wants me dead!’

Feelings of dread quickly evolved into rising anger. Whoever his enemies were had gone too far. Then again, expecting those after him to play by his considerations was naive to begin with. This was the last time he underestimated how far those people would go.

’If I don’t start fighting back, this will never end!’

Kicking the deformed door off its hinges, Adam utilised two more skills, turning invisible while a water clone masked as a bleeding and injured version of himself stepped out to throw the assassins off.

Quietly slipping out next, Adam looked in the direction where the shot came from. His unique sight pierced through the darkness and distance, locking onto the sniper’s form.

’Third realm.’

As soon as the observation was made, he turned to the second one, who was swiftly approaching through the fields at incredible speed. Taking a moment, he made a decision. He could quietly escape while the assassins killed the water clone.

’No...’ Adam shot down that thought. ’Fighting back starts now. I already have the skills at hand. And I need a first-hand encounter to know just how long I can stand against a third realm. But taking on two would be too much, even for him.’

This much he knew.

His best bet was to take that sniper by surprise, take him out and then make his escape. The second assassin drove their sword into the water clone with ruthless efficiency, slowly pushing it in.

Hardening his determination, he turned and locked eyes on the sniper again. With a thought, several skills came alive, exponentially boosting his physical prowess to a whole new level.

Blood Ignition.

Skeletal Reinforcement.

Predictive Sequence.

Vector Dominion.

[Vector Dominion (active): allows the user to perceive and manipulate the vectors of forces within their surroundings. By altering the direction, magnitude, and point of application of force, the user can control momentum, acceleration, friction, impact, and trajectory.]

Tapping into his system storage, he pulled out a tactical tang dao, a blade he had taken from his master’s collection. The blade was a Tier 2 weapon capable of cutting even those at the fourth realm.

’It’s now or never!’

The water clone was about to collapse. He could not delay anymore. Stacking several skills at once was eating into his Spark reserves at an alarming rate.

With a thought, invisibility came off and Digital Veil came alive. He made sure to cover all his bases, as he wouldn’t want any surveillance recording his actions.

Adam took off with a seamless bang, closing the one-kilometre distance almost instantaneously, appearing before the sniper like a ghost.

Assuming an extremely low stance, he slashed at the sniper from left to right, the blade parallel to the ground. The tactical tang dao cut a seamless arc through the air, its edge passing so quickly that it barely produced a sound.

Anyone below the Third Realm would have missed it entirely.

Predictive Sequence calculated the most probable response based on how the sniper reacted to his sudden appearance, reading every subtle movement the assassin made.

The sniper reacted just as fast, raising his rifle to block the sudden blade gleaming towards his head.

’Gotcha!’

Adam’s eyes gleamed as he manipulated the frictional force between the sniper’s boot and the ground, orchestrating what could only be described as an improbable event.

The sniper slipped just as he planted a foot to root himself, falling forward. Simultaneously, Adam and his black, gleaming blade underwent a trajectory change that should have been impossible.

It was a movement that seemed to defy every conventional principle of motion.

Almost as if his feet smoothly slid across the uneven ground while carrying every ounce of his existing momentum and inertia, Adam veered to the sniper’s left. The tactical blade followed the altered trajectory, cleanly slicing through the sniper’s torso.

"No!!"

Completing the impossible motion, Adam slid past the sniper and spun, taking in the result of his hard work. The sniper continued to fall forward as blood gushed out like a fountain.

The look in the sniper’s eyes at that defining moment was something that burned into his memory. He had claimed his very first life without an ounce of hesitation. His eyes shifted, locking onto the second assassin who was fast approaching.

’I’m done here.’ Adam thought with a hardened gaze, swinging the blade to shake off the blood.

His Spark reserves were rapidly depleting, and the strain from stacking so many skills was mounting. Without a second thought, he swiftly took off and disappeared in the direction he had been heading.

The entire sequence of events from the moment he dashed toward the sniper to cleanly cutting through his torso took no more than three seconds. That was how terrifying Vector Dominion was.

Adam looked over his shoulder but did not see the second assassin. Even so, his heart continued to beat despite his active blood control. The rush of adrenaline during that brief encounter had been intense.

Reaching the commercial area within the academy, Adam spotted a dark alley and changed trajectory. He swiftly cut off his high-speed run, staggering several steps before dropping to one knee.

"Ugh."

A groan escaped his lips moments after he deactivated all his skills. His body was exhausted, but the physical fatigue was nothing compared to the splitting pain inside his skull.

"Fucking hell."

Stacking so many skills had pushed his mind to its limits. Every pulse of his heartbeat sent another wave of pain through his head.

Vector Dominion was powerful, but it was too draining. He hadn’t merely been moving quickly; he had constantly been performing complex calculations while keeping Predictive Sequence and Perception Overdrive active.

That was processing an absurd amount of information in a very short time.

Vital Pulse roared to life, sending a refreshing feeling through his body. But it was not enough. The mental strain was just too much.

’I need to evolve faster.’

======

Super Gift. Anyone?

This is what I call peak!