<h4>Chapter 22: Resha Suffers a Major Loss</h4>
"So, one didn''t make it." Instructor Mandu said as he observed the conditions of the students. Bloody, beaten, battered, sporting multiple fractures, they were a mess, "Fragment Disease is no different to a curse."
His gaze then fell on the face of a shocked Resha, one expressing a primal sense of disbelief and fear,pletely flustered. Upon sensing thetter''s condition, hemented in disappointment, "If your mind is weak, it''s just a waste of resources no matter how hard you cultivate."
"You should prepare yourself to be fed to a Pranic Beast, Resha." Shaking his head, Instructor Mandu motioned for the four people to follow him, "We''re runningte. Let''s hurry."
"Yes, Instructor." Vir replied spiritedly as he shot a gaze to his left, seeing Yennda picking himself up, ''He''s a mess. For the time being, he''s not a threat.''
''Grehha acts loud but is very cunning. He avoided all damage altogether and made me do his dirty work. As a result, I am now the prime target of the regressor''s rage.'' He thought and observed Resha, ''This will take him a while toe out of.''
''But most of all,'' Vir turned serious as he stared at the figure of In that brushed past Resha, ''This fucker should be guarded against the most. He''ll get up no matter how many times I beat him down. He needs to be crushed absolutely.''
It all started a few minutes ago. When they had assembled at the training grounds, Vir smiled and asked In about his secret.
"You," In sported a wide smile, "You''re my secret."
Even though it seemed like a taunt, Vir felt something from In''s tone. As a result, while on their way to their dorm, Vir paid a visit to In''s room.
He stared at the trolley In had prepared, "It seems you have something to say to me."
"We''ll be walking through the clouds, just as in the novel." In said seriously.
"I know, and I''m prepared. What of it?" Vir snorted, "Are you begging me to spare you?"
"Nothing of the sort," In shrugged, "If my prediction is correct, fifteen seconds after we enter the clouds, Resha will target me. He''ll attack me from behind to ensure I''m knocked deeper into the clouds and cannot retreat outside."
"So, you''re aware," Vir grinned, "You gained his Skill. You''re obviously the first in his kill list."
"Hence, I''ll present you a chance." In''s eyes revealed a maddening craze, "A chance to offset the only individual before you in the race."
The seven colours all gunned for the cure. Toward that, they made various preparations. If ranked based on their preparations, from first, the order would be Resha, Vir, In, Grehha, Bl, and Yennda.
Orakha was out of the race already.
Vir was second in the race. Therefore, as long as he offsets Resha, given his current condition, he would remain in the lead. There were less than eleven months before the First Major Disaster started. As long as Resha falls hard enough, he wouldn''t be able to reach first.
So, In''s offer aligned with Vir''s best interests.
"What makes you think I wouldn''t sabotage you?" Vir growled.
"Any smart man ranked second will try to sabotage the first-ced individual to be ced first himself." Inughed, "I''m ranked third. I should be the one actively trying to sabotage you, not the other way around."
''Dammit!'' Vir felt intense deja vu. Just the previous night, he sabotaged In using Parute fruits. The deal was too good to refuse and hence, In fell into the trap.
And now, the same was being sprung on him. ''Indeed, this is the best chance to take down Resha by a peg. There aren''t enough variables in future events to harm him. Besides, with his current Prana umtion, he might avoid all those events to focus solely on preparing himself to amodate the cure.''
"Fine, I''m in." Vir sighed and asked, "So, what do you want me to do?"
"Nothing much," In pointed at his trolley, "Leave your Spirit Weapon here. When Resha attacks me, I want you to use the chance to sneak attack him. It will rile him up enough for whatever else you have in store for him."
"That''s it?" Vir frowned, "Won''t you die if you tank a hit from him? Even I''m not sure if I could endure Resha''s attacks. The speed and power of his Spirit Weapon would be on a whole other level."
"That''s up to me." In''s maddening desire red up, "I''ll do everything in my arsenal to survive that."
"If I can''t even do that, then I''m not fit enough to survive and thrive in Sumatra."
…
In the clouds, In copsed to the ground, groaning in pain, ''Fuck, it hurts!''
The bone sphere had mmed into his chest, but the one broken wasn''t his ribs but the armour covering him. It was sloppy work, but after he sent away Vir from his room, Inyered his body with y. On it, he stuck a thinyer of hardened mud.
This created a decently robust enough defence. And when the bone sphere mmed into his chest, it was the hardened mud that cracked, absorbing most of the impact. The yyer dispersed the remaining damage, but it still hurt like hell.
In extended his hand and opened a window along the side of the trolley, pulling out a helmet made out of hardened mud. There were tenyers of it, and sandwiched within was y to hold it together. The y was rolled into straws and spread wide apart.
Thereby, when the bone sphere mmed into the helmet, the hardened mudyers crumbled. Adding onto the y stuck underneath, the produced sound effect somewhat resembled a cracking skull. If not for the clouds and the wind, anyone could easily tell the difference, but it was nned for this exact situation and hence paid off.
As for the blood, In had stuck tiny packets of his blood within the helmet. So, when it cracked, the blood leaked out. Thanks to the medicines Granny Oyo had given him, he could safely extract enough blood without copsing from anemia.
For the final touch, that is to fool Resha''s senses towards Prana, In had just the right ability.
Mystique Bone Art—Spirit Reinforcement!