The Final Desperation

[Captain Kidd]

Health: 11,600/11,600

Energy: 420/420

Con: 26

Str: 26

Dex: 22

Int: 21

Spc: 17

Skills:

Boss: +9,000 health

Scimitar mastery (Grandmaster)

Blood Berserk: For every liter of blood spilled in the surrounding area, gain +1% damage. Stackable until 100%

No further skills can be read.

 

Seeing the last skill, Genji's eyebrows jumped. Every liter? His eyes drifted to the many bodies on the ground that are bleeding copiously. No doubt about it. That skill has maxed out.

Flashstep

Genji knew the powers of an emperor and burst out with his fastest speed. He appeared next to the throne and slashed at Kidd's head. Feeling the sudden sensation, Kidd's eyes widened, and tried his best to duck. Then he jumped off the throne and quickly rolled forward. With this maneuver, Kidd was able to keep his head, but a large gash appeared on his back.

'Serves you right for being so arrogant.'

Swift movement, Light Weight

Genji didn't let allow Kidd to recover and continued his attacks. Appearing suddenly by his side, Genji swept his blade at the stomach. Kidd was able to stumble back to avoid it, but another cut formed on his stomach. Genji stabbed out with his blade, which Kidd was able to parry after finally drawing his scimitar. The scimitar was a jagged one with many grooves on the side. It was designed to leave nasty wounds on a victim and propel their bleeding. A fitting weapon for someone with the blood curse.

Genji continued to brandish his sword to keep up the pressure and left many small cuts on Kidd. Nothing fatal and he's adapting to his speed. This was not a good sign. Genji jumped back before his swift movement ended and took on a defensive stance. Kidd took this chance to recover himself from the unsteady movements and glared at Genji.

"Your fast. No wonder Drake lost."

"That's a given."

Genji didn't mind talking as his poison had seeped into Kidd's body, the longer he dragged this out for, the better his chances of winning. To avoid giving away any hints, Genji activated Wolf Step and continued his assault. This time, Kidd was easily able to keep up with him and there were multiple instances Genji had to step back to dodge the counterattack.

"You're much better than Drake," Genji said after he jumped back.

"That's a given."

Genji suddenly changed his stance and leaned forward, his muscles ready to burst out with massive strength. Seeing this, Kidd quickly took a defensive stance, but nothing came at him. He looked at Genji as his muscles tensed up to pounce at him, yet Genji still didn't move. They entered a staring contest as Kidd wasn't willing to open a flaw while Genji was simply delaying. They held this position for 30 more seconds until Kidd realized something was off.

Blood seeped out his mouth as his body started feeling numb. Then Genji burst into action and appeared in front of Kidd. Genji launched a series of attacks to force Kidd to continue moving and increase the spread of poison. Little by little, Kidd's movements started slowing down as his body stopped moving the way he wanted. More cuts formed and worsened the problem. 

It was only a matter of time until Kidd was overwhelmed and left an opening, Genji swung at it but held back most of his strength. Turns out this was the correct move as Kidd suddenly accelerated to dodge this strike and launch a counterattack. Genji twisted his body in an extreme way to both dodge the attack and change the trajectory of his swing.

Kidd received a deep cut along his ribs. This was the final straw as his body couldn't keep up with the intense combat and poisons. Genji raised his saber and hacked at Kidd's neck. Yet before it could lop his head off, a blood pike appeared and blocked the attack. A large force was exerted on Genji's arm from the pike and sent him flying backward.

*Kuh-THUNK*

Large cracks appeared on the stone wall as Genji got buried deep. A large mouthful of blood came out and he struggled to pull himself out.

"What the hell was that?"

Genji looked at the blood pike that came from the ground and realized something. The blood in the room has gotten thinner. He looked around to see previous bodies that were bleeding rivers had shriveled up and lost all signs of blood.

"Did he condense that with all the blood?"

Kidd spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth.

"What a potent poison."

"That's a given. How else would I dare fight an emperor?"

"True, but you've met the wrong opponent. You can stop trying to delay for time."

"Oh? You caught on?"

"Let me show you why emperors are to be feared."

Retribution: Blood Manipulation 

Out of nowhere, all of Kidd's wounds stopped bleeding. The remainder of the blood in the room started floating up and gathering around him. The blood pike broke down and joined the floating blobs of blood. A bad feeling appeared inside Genji. Whatever this was, he doesn't want it to finish. 

Swift Movement

*Puchi*

As Genji tried to dash toward Kidd, an orb of blood elongated and pierced him. His eyes widened as more blood spikes shot toward him. The world started to slow down as his eyes rapidly moved to scan the numerous projectiles coming toward him and find a way to dodge them.

"I can't dodge everything."

He quickly determined that. So he settled for the next best thing. Taking the attacks that he needs, he pivoted around to dodge what he can and parried the others. When his perspective returned to normal, he was surrounded by countless spears made from crystalized blood. But before he can relax the blood spikes grew more spikes from the side to bombard him again.

Weakened Flashstep

Genji appeared a decent distance away from the conglomeration of blood and took out some potions to smash over his wounds. If this was any other world, he would have opted for his combat injections, but the item was banned by the technology restriction in this world. Yet before he can recover, Kidd reached out toward him with an open hand and clenched hard.

Suddenly, the spikes stabbed inside him expanded outward, forming exponentially more stab wounds inside him. Copious amounts of blood sprayed out his mouth as bites of organs decorated his bloodstream. Thankfully, the potions kicked in at this moment and preserved his life. A sharp pain came from his chest every time he breathed, but Genji's attention was on Kidd right now.

There were streams of murky liquid flowing out of him as massive amounts of blood wrapped around his wounds. 

"He's forcing out the poison."

Genji found himself in a troublesome situation now that his plan had failed. At this moment, Genji considered retreating as he had inflicted enough damage. But as if Kidd knew these thoughts, he swung both of his arms outwards and sent the blood splashing into the walls. Most of the attacks landed around the exits of this place, causing the surrounding stone to collapse and seal the room.

"Just my luck."

Now that the option of retreat had disappeared, Genji prepared himself to fight to the death. Either he would walk out of here alive or Kidd would. There's no in-between. Yet on the bright side, since the stones collapsed, all the blood has splattered beneath them. It would take a while for Kidd to gather them again. If he was able to put up enough pressure, he might be able to stop Kidd from doing so.

"Everything has been decided for me."

Genji disappeared from his position and swung at Kidd's arm in hopes of disabling him. Kidd quickly reacted to pull his hand away, but a bone stuck out after the slash. Kidd pierced his scimitar at Genji, but Genji tilted his body to avoid the fatal points. Then his saber approached Kidd's neck.

Two streams of blood flushed through the air as Kidd stepped back. One from Kidd's adam apple and the other from Genji's chest. A traded injury. Genji continued the series of suicidal exchanges as he tried his best to behead Kidd. This was a ferocious assault that left Kidd taken aback by the lack of care for his own life. One wrong move and Genji will take a fatal wound yet he seems to not care a single bit. Just exchanging wounds every chance he gets in hopes of dealing a harsher wound. And it's working.

'A cornered dog will always bite,' Kidd thought to himself as he used the lost blood to launch his attacks and get some distance.

"You are crazy, but too bad. Everything you have done will now backfire on you."

Kidd pulled his arm inward and made him command. As soon as he did that, Genji felt his wounds start to sting. Blood started leaking rapidly like a popped balloon. Weakness started to kick in, but Genji can't afford to pay attention to it.

[You have been affected by Blood Beckoning. Blood has started to flow out.]

[You will take 5 points of blood damage per second. After 48 seconds, you will perish.]

Genji took out another potion and smashed it on himself. This will be enough to keep his health up for the remainder of the battle, but the status from blood loss remains and the time hasn't increased. Genji knows now. It's not the damage that will kill him, but blood loss. Once the time is up, his body will shut down and he will die. 

Kidd waved his hands again and collected the blood that gushed out of Genji. They gathered above him and crystallized into bullets. Then they shot at him. Genji twisted his body in a frenzy and evaded most of them.

"I need to do something about this. Otherwise, I will end up dead."

The attacks are very fast. So fast that even with his insane dodging, he can't evade them. Because of that, he can't close in on Kidd. If he tries, he would end up skewered.

"Since I can't dodge, how about defense?"

Genji started to think of ways to boost his defense so he can forcibly take the incoming attacks. It doesn't need to last long. Just enough for him to charge through. Yet that's where he hit a bottleneck. So far, all his techniques depend on speed and an unrelenting offense to overwhelm his opponents. There's nothing on defense. In fact, he has no idea what is a good defensive technique. Not the slightest clue.

Genji dodged a blood pike and jumped back. He's seen how much damage these pikes can deal. 

"Think. Why can he control the blood outside of me, but not directly."

This was a big question since Kidd activated his retribution. He's shown a scary control over blood, but he seems to only control blood from open wounds or previously spilled. Why though? If it was Genji, he would have controlled the blood inside the opponent and turned it into spikes, killing them from the inside.

"So he can't? Then what is the basis for this ability?"

Genji injected some more energy into his saber and slashed an incoming attack. His saber cleaved right through the crystalized blood with the sliced part returning to liquid. Seeing this, Genji realized the answer to his question.

"Energy! My energy interferes with his."

Having gotten this answer, Genji knew what he needed to do. He circulated his energy rapidly and formed a small wrapping around his wounds.

"That solves the bleeding, but I still need to end this soon. The coating is draining my pool."

It doesn't help that every time a new wound opens on him, Genji needs to divert part of his attention to patching it up. Kidd realized this and increased his bombardment of attacks, focusing on bleeding him dry.

"I need defense, but how?"

Genji took out another potion bottle to smash his wounds as another crystalized pike pierced him. Kidd has managed to regather a decent amount of blood so his repertoire of attacks has increased again. Genji was slowly getting overwhelmed as the time between attacks shortened and his breathing room decreased. 

"Fuck! These crystal spears are so annoying. Not only are they hard-"

At that moment, an epiphany hit him. Since he found the crystals so annoying, can't he do the same? The more he thought about it, the more feasible the thought became. With this new thought process, his energy took on a new property. One of solids and reinforcement. The patch over his wounds solidified and sealed the flesh. Yet because of his inexperience, the other coverings faded, resulting in a sudden stream of blood leaving his body.

[You have experienced severe bleeding. You took 147 bleeding damage. You will perish in 12 seconds.]

"Don't have time."

Genji activated swift movement and started dashing toward Kidd. He crystallized his torso and arms, brought his left arm up to protect his head, and began to plow through the obstacles between them. With each hit, he lost more and more blood. With each hit, his remaining time jumped down.

-30

8 seconds

-20

6 seconds

-98

2 seconds

Genji burst out in front of Kidd with a torn body and bleeding all over. His legs have become mangled from the dash. There were many scratches that revealed bones. His equipment had reached the point of breaking and his healing effects have worn off. Genji pulled back his saber and swung hard.

Sensing this was the last burst, Kidd swung his scimitar to block this. As long as he can block this, the blood behind Genji will tear him apart. And this isn't a hard parry. He's stopped attacks much faster than this from Genji.

"It's my win."

But suddenly, things took a turn. Genji concentrated all the energy crystallization on his left arm and punched at the incoming scimitar.

*SNAP-CRUNCH*

Genji's arm twisted behind him at an uncanny angle. There were multiple bending points on the arm. Far more than the joints on his arm. A large pain hit him, but Geni didn't regret this. Due to this sacrifice, the scimitar was delayed slightly. A small delay, but it was enough. Genji's saber glided past the weapon and sent Kidd's head flying.

Then without hesitation, Genji threw [Jaguar] down and reached inside his storage for a potion. He smashed it on his wounds and reached for another one. This time, it wasn't a healing one, but a stimulant. One that will strain his body immensely in his current state, but he doesn't care. He popped the cork off and chugged it. Bitter, but it will allow his body to move, for now.

The reason behind this was that he was in enemy territory. He might have killed the strongest person on the island, but there are still many goons. If he collapses right now, he will end up dead. What's the point of killing an enemy if you end up dead afterward? Might as well escape and stay in bed for a while. At least he will still be alive.

"I will name that technique Solid Core in your memory. You were a powerful opponent, Kidd."

 

[You have slain: Captain Kidd]

[Your maximum energy has increased by 15]

[You have triggered the response mechanism: Emperors' Wariness]

[Emperors' Wariness]

Description: You have killed an emperor of the seas. The other emperors have sensed the disappearance of their fellow competitors and have become wary of the powers you possessed. Since you are a member of The Flying Dutchman, Vanderdecken is not worried about you. Yet because of this, the other two emperors see The Flying Dutchman as a threat and have formed an alliance to deal with the crew.

[You have obtained: Bloody Scimitar]

[Bloody Scimitar]

Rating: Epic (Quasi-legendary)

Attack: 30

Durability: 119/160

Requirements: 18 Dex, 15 str

Effects:

Bloody Cleave (Active): Consume half of your health points and deal (amount * 2) as damage. 12-hour cooldown

Blood Letting (Passive): Wounds dealt by this weapon will bleed more. Apply 1 bleeding damage per second.

Blood Shield (Active): Use all the surrounding blood to form a shield. The more blood, the stronger the defense. 24-hour cooldown.

 

Genji picked up [Jaguar] and took out a horn. 

*Bababurrrrrr*

This was the retreat signal that they agreed upon. No matter what, they will leave in twenty minutes. Genji walked over to the collapsed rocks and started climbing. Over the course of the intense battle, more damage has been inflicted on the walls, with the majority of it being concentrated on the ceiling. When he got to the top, he took out a large hammer and slammed it on the area with the most cracks.

One hit, two hits, three hits. The wall broke to reveal a hole big enough for Genji to fit through. He took out some rope to climb down with and made his way to the ship. Twenty minutes later, a severely injured Cobra limped over to Genji. Genji nodded at him and found a spot to sleep. The stimulant was about to wear off so he might as well take the initiative.

"I'll leave the return trip to you."

With those words, Genji fainted.

"Oye oye, Enigma?"

Cobra started panicking when Genji stopped responding. He's injured all over and there's a lot of dried blood on him so it was reasonable to believe he had died.

"He's fine. he had over-exhausted his stamina, but those wounds are not a problem," the ship doctor told Cobra after examining Genji.

"Really? Those wounds look nasty."

"Yes. It's strange. If it was any normal person, they would have died multiple times over, but his vitality is very strong. There's also a mysterious medicine that's helping him heal. I don't know where he got such miraculous medicine, but I will need some time to pluck out the shards of glass sticking out of him. Oh and correct his arm. That thing's severely fractured and dislocated. It's a miracle that he's able to bear with the pain."

"Then I will leave him to you. If you do a good job, I might let you join the main crew."

This made the doctor perk up.

"Really sir?"

"Of course. I promise on my name."

Hearing Cobra's guarantee, the doctor slapped his chest.

"Leave it to me. I promise this sir will feel as good as new."