I Reject Quests

Rewen eyes flickered. 'System, use [2x Power Spike].'

Freestyle Knights Combat!

*Swish*

He sprinted off towards X.

[2x Power Spike] only lasts for two minutes - 120 seconds. That also means that he only has two minutes to end the fight. The scene where he hasn't yet defeated X yet is… a scenario he doesn't want to even imagine. 

Like a violent wind, Rewen closed the distance between him and X within a second.

He was going all-out. 

This was the speed of a Peak Rank 3 Mage. It has to be known that a person having an average stat of 10 has a maximum speed of 1 km/min. Stat increase follows simple math. Therefore, a person having an average stat of 100 has a maximum stat of 10 km/min.

The speed was out of the world, at least that's what it seemed for Denny.

She could only see a faint silhouette. 

'How… in the world… where is he?'

After the incident with Ruby, she always thought that her cousin's strength was unreal. She occasionally talked to him about the matter but he always somehow managed to dismiss the matter. Eventually, she stopped probing.

Everybody had their own secrets. She had her own. 

However, that doesn't mean that her speculation had stopped. No matter how deeply she thought, she would either reach a wild and highly unlikely guess or a vague one. Thus, she concluded that the increase in his strength has something to do with his interference. That's all she could speculate.

She then tried to speculate his strength and had a safe bet with the conclusion that - Rewen could handle Rank 2 Mages, maybe not many at once. 

Her conclusion was actually on point, in the case that Rewen only used [Freestyle Knights Combat]. 

But the current speed he was displaying was in no way even nearly comparable to the speculation she had in her mind. 

X stood at his position like a stone. Only when Rewen got close to him did he raise his eyebrows. 'With his posture, he looks like he is going to strike a kick... but knowing him… let's try this.' He moved a step back.

Rewen had no change in expression. His slightly lifted leg touched the ground as his other leg went forward. As soon as he took a step forward, he again lifted the other leg seemingly preparing for a kick.

X gave a small smile which Rewen didn't understand until the moment he saw a fist approaching his face. 

*Pah*

Having his face making direct contact with the fist, he flew off to a distance but managed to barely keep standing. Rewen's expression turned solemn as blood streaked down from the corner of his lips. 

Although Denny didn't know what had happened as her vision wasn't able to properly keep track of what was happening, she saw the outcome and her heart tightened. 'Could it be that Rewen's strength isn't up to par with X's?'

Rewen saw X smiling and immediately figured that the latter had figured his attack patterns.

Under normal conditions, he would have dodged with some difficulty but it should be known that he isn't the best of conditions and could only bring about sixty percent of his total strength. 

Under normal conditions, he also wouldn't be pushed back like this. Unlike his usual 'three-layered series of moves', he could barely do a 'two-layered series of moves' because of his current mental condition. As much as he is acting tough on the outside, his mental state was in a serious condition. 

Every step he took, every movement he made, and every breath he took all had a serious impact on him.

He could stop and think for a while before approaching X to fight him but he was in a shortage of time.

'120 seconds… no, 115 seconds… whatever… Argh…' By the end of his sentence, he lost his composure and the headache attacked him again. 

Clutching his head, he fell to his knees. 

Denny got confused at the sudden development.

Even X had a strange look on his face. 

"Ah, I see. Even though I kept track of you, there's one thing I neglected - you are a victim of interference. Your tough act stops when interference comes up, isn't that right? Well, good enough for me."

X said, before slowly walking to him.

Denny anxiously shouted. "Rewen! Stand up! He is coming!"

Since his mind was consumed by pain, Rewen couldn't hear clearly what X had just said but he knew that it wasn't anything good. He sensed the incoming danger and tried to gain control over the pain. 'Why… is the headache… still there…?'

This was the first time he had the headache for this long and the time interval between having the headaches was too small.

Usually, it goes away in under five minutes.

The headache attacked him when he reached the academy, then it attacked him again while conversing with the young doctor, and on his way to reach B.C. Market, the headache got amplified.

Rewen didn't know the cause of it. 

With great difficulty, he raised his head to see a figure in black approaching him. His vision was blurry and therefore, he couldn't properly make out the figure's face but he didn't think twice to conclude that the man approaching him was none other than X.

'I… need… to get up…'

He mustered every single strength he had left and tried to stand up on two feet.

He failed and fell on his knees.

A chuckle reached his ears.

"It's not every day I see a person this miserable." 

Before he could get the chance to raise his head and look at the speaker, his hair was grabbed and his upper body was easily controlled by another person. He had exhausted all his strength and had nothing left. It was due to the result of him masking the enormous pain he felt with his high endurance.

*Pah*

"Kuh!"

He was kicked on his lower abdomen. 

He was thrown at a distance of a few meters. Laying flat on the ground, he coughed blood.

'...I have… to do… something… somehow… let's see… wait, I could try… this out. ' Even though his senses were weak, Rewen didn't lose his rationality. 

Denny's eyes went red. She had lost all hope of getting out of this alive. At the same time, she also felt sad for her cousin. Everything he was going through was essentially to save her. Her opinion of him changed a great deal. 

X walked to Rewen and kicked him again.

*Pah*

*Pah*

*Pah*

"Cough!" Rewen coughed a mouthful of mouth. 

X's eyes were unfeeling. "Do you know why I'm not killing you?"

*Pah*

"It's because you have the "Touchable Sense Water". Even if I take it from you, I suspect I can't do anything with it. You know very well that I can't do anything even if I get a hold of it, don't you?" X didn't give him a chance to reply and grabbed his right hand which had the wristband connected to "Touchable Sense Water" and snatched it.

He gave a single glance before looking at the bloodied figure. "As expected, there is no switch."

Right now, both X and Rewen were in a deadlock. 

"Touchable Sense Water" is usually activated by one's 'will'. When it's separated from the person it is attached to, it can no longer be activated by one's will. To deal with this situation, there's always an emergency 'switch' attached to it. The switch has a single function - it can turn off every ongoing operation inside "Touchable Sense Water" which is or is to be performed right now or sometime in the future.

And there is only one ongoing operation that is stored to be performed in the near future, which is, blasting off the explosive inside Luciana.

It must be known that the switch can never perform the operation. It can only terminate the future operations to be performed. However, there's a catch.

Destroying the "Touchable Sense Water" would not only not terminate the future operations, it would also immediately perform the operations. 

X searched for the emergency switch but it wasn't there. There were some markings that indicated that the switch was removed but then, it doesn't make sense. 

"Touchable Sense Water" is a product of New Age Mechanics and is made from the laws revolving around mana. It is nearly impossible for a device made from the laws involving mana to be modified. Of course, it doesn't mean that the device can't be broken or deconstructed but it simply means that - "The moment the original purpose of the New Age Mechanics is altered, New Age Mechanics would stop working."

Therefore, it's impossible for "Touchable Sense Water" to continue working if the switch was removed.

"You used a [Distributor], right?" X grimly smiled, looking at the bloodied young man. Crouching, he brought his face closer to his. "Why don't you tell me your secrets?" 

Rewen directly looked at his eyes and found his head spinning. A while later, his crimson iris suddenly turned black and a dark smile appeared on his face. 

"You don't want to know."