Knives and Ghosts

[WAVE TWENTY-NINE HAS BEGUN]

"How much do you girls want to bet that it's a band of Ogres?" Sam asked snarkily

"It's definitely a band of Ogres, I also noticed the pattern" Andre replied

"You're no fun, all we have done, for what feels like years, is kill monsters. We need to add some spice to our lives." she smiled

"Well, we all like girls, so what kind of girls do you like" I responded

"We talk about this everytime anyone of us gets bored, frankly im getting bored of talking about girls" Andre replied with annoyance

"Let's just finish out this wave and get back to playing diamond basketball" Andre implored

"Alright…"Sam and I agreed

The ogres lumbered over with various weapons of destruction. Swords, clubs, axes, maces, the whole nine yards. There were nine of them just clogging up the cave. All of them were at least 8 feet tall, towering over even Andre.

Except weirdly there was no fear, nervousness or even anxiety in our breath. The last twenty waves burned those feelings away. We were sharpened iron, ready to step through the fog of war.

I was no longer the kid I was before. Blood and gore no longer fazed me. It's not that I was a robot, but I was just so used to the whole dance of battle. Waves of battle analysis and level ups changed my entire outlook. My power took major leaps and even Sam agreed that I am the most versatile and powerful of the group. As humble as I can be, I have to agree with her. I can't reach completely stop a moving object yet but I can get 90% with small objects and 20% with large monsters like ogres. So in close combat I am nigh invincible against most monsters, I am just too fast.

But I am not the only one who has improved, however; Sam has become even more lethal than me. She can make her blasts as skinny as a finger. It took her 15 waves and became how we were able to kill so many monsters. Her finger-sized death beams can burn sizzling holes in their hearts and heads. She can also change where she shoots her beams. The urge to call her Cyclops when she first shot beams from her eyes was strong but she also learned to control the intensity of her beams and I didn't want her practicing on me.

Andre has also improved by leaps and bounds. If I am versatile and Sam is lethal then Andre is extremely stable. The diamond allowed him to be our best AOE defense to waves of millions of monsters. His new skill also allowed him to develop a mineral that is resistant to status effects. When he first got it, we practiced with Sam's plasma, and now unless Sam uses high intensity, she can't burn through the diamond. The mineral is also resistant to kinetic shocks and slashes from cutting weapons.

The first ogre came through the diamond swinging its ax with fury. I zipped under its leg and cut its Achilles. It yelled in fury and it went down on one knee. It didn't drop its ax however and swung its death stick at my head. I siphoned KE from its abs and watched the ax slow down slightly. It was enough for me to speed up considerably and dodge the ax, jump and plunge my knife in its throat. It fell back as the blood coated the cave floor. The fighting continued as I went from ogre to ogre, maiming and slowing them down. It was like an arcade game as Sam kept sniping the ogres flooding out of the portal. Andre was just standing, waiting until I needed help or Sam wanted higher ground.

The battle was uneventful until something blurry shot at Sam. I couldn't even see its face or any distinguishing features. Everyone was unprepared as it smacked into her. She went flying as it came after me.

"SAM!" Andre and I yelled

It was barely 4 feet tall but I could feel it was dangerous.

This is the first time we have ever seen anything like this. It must have slipped in with the ogres.

It was on me in seconds, I siphoned KE from its core but it was weirdly able to resist my ability. It slowed down but not as much as others for its size. It was disappointing but I was able to reach its speed after taking KE from the surrounding ogres. It had a tight black tarp covering its body. It's eyes were gray and full of indifference. It swiped at my body and I clumsily dodged.

I'd never met something that was as fast as me.

It pressed on like a viper and swiped again, I dodged but only enough to get a shallow cut on my forearm. A diamond wall shot up in front of me giving me time to compose myself and get ready for round 2.

"THANKS ! HELP SAM!" I yelled to Andre

"I'm TRYING I THINK SHE'S CONCUSSED!"

Before I was able to respond the black blur shot at me dagger first. This time he feinted for my head and I fell for it. A long gash went through my beaten up sweater, and across my chest.

A diamond pillar jumped out the ground and struck the blur giving me time to breathe.

"Thanks! I need you to stall him" I groaned in pain.

"I can try to trap him but he or it is very fast" Andre responded

"Just do it! " I said as I looked at my chest with worry

The blur was slow to get up as Andre trapped it in a makeshift diamond box.

I looked at my chest as the blood dribbled out of my chest. I had always wanted to try this out but I never really needed to. I carefully started to siphon the KE out of my blood. It started slowing down by 30%. I didn't know how long it would take to clot but around wave 4 we found out there is accelerated healing in the cave by a small degree. You won't regrow a head but cuts and bruises heal after a couple hours.

The slow-release of my blood allowed the clotting to do its job. It wasn't healing but I did not need to siphon any more KE.

"Awww fuck, what just happened?!" Sam groaned as she held her head

"this black blur just crashed into you and sliced me across the chest," I responded

"Where is it now?" Sam uttered warily

"We got a problem guys!" Andre yelled

"I think it can phase through my diamond, I trapped it but it's going through the walls!"

The black blur appeared right behind me and tried to stab my back but reflexively I siphoned some KE and like we had done many times, Sam shot a plasma beam for its head. It jerked and only lost its hand as it scurried into the darkness. I didn't notice how dark the cave was until now.

"I think it's making the shadows bigger, and it only seems to be going for me," I said

We stood warily back to back waiting for the speed demon to strike again. A black streak shot at Andre, he wasn't as fast so the knife buried itself into his thigh

"AaAagGghHhh!" Andre doubled over his leg. Our eyes were still looking around for the blur but we looked worriedly over at Andre.

"Bro are you okay!"

"Yea it hurts but I'm not bleeding too much, we just gotta kill it so I can heal."

The blur zipped toward Sam but a diamond wall obstructed it, so it phased through the wall, I was surprised but Sam wasn't as she shot a destructive beam at the ghost. It dodged and went after Andre again. I tried to siphon some KE but I missed it. My ability didn't lock on to the ghost, and it was getting faster. It zipped at Andre, knife out, ready for the kill. All I could think to do was to help Andre get faster. I had never tried but I worked just like how I made myself faster. I funneled KE into his head and neck just fast enough to avoid a certain death blow to the head. A long deep gash went along Andre's nose. I could kinda see inside his sinuses.

"Aaauaghh" Andre gurgled as he went down.

The blur did not stop as he went straight for Sam. She was only able to shoot out one beam as the blur went for her legs. With my KE her kick whiffed but picked up some wind with its ferocity. The blur dodged and sliced her leg up as she started to go down. Before the blur was able to finish her I jumped behind it with my knife out. Like it read my mind it swung its knife backhand and scraped across my eye and face backhand.

"FUUUUU-" I yelled in agony

The pain was SEARING and growing with every second. But I knew what I needed to do

As soon as it landed I used all my energy to siphon kinetic energy from its entire body. KE siphon usually doesn't cost anything with my level but if I siphon too much then it takes energy to literally, take energy.

But I don't care

For the first time in a long time, I used my hands and started to siphon KE from the blur. Like I'm squeezing a large balloon in my hands, I grip the air with pain and fervor. For the first time, I can see that the blur is humanoid with four fingers and a jagged dagger.

It is writhing around like I'm tying a slow rope around its neck.

I need more

MORE!

"How do you LIKE THIS YOU FUCK" I grunted

I press even deeper as I take all kinetic energy out of its body. From its heart to its lungs, to even the blood flowing through the capillaries in its eye.

ALL OF IT…WILL…

STOP.

BZZZT

A thick beam of fury burst out of Sam's mouth as the blur was disintegrated. Not even the metal of its dagger was left.

"Ugh, that's sneaky fuck *cough*" Sam whispered in pain.

We all ended up on the ground huffing and puffing.

"Hey, you have any energy to slow my bleeding down?" Andre groaned

"Nah I used it to slow the ghost down"

"Fuck, it's getting hard to breathe" Andre coughed

"it's been a great ride with you guys, sucks it gotta end like this"

We laid around each other in a crooked circle. All of us out of breath and bleeding severely from many places. The cave was not as dark as before but the mood made the cave feel just as dark. No one spoke, just the sound of coughs and groans did all the communication. I always saw this phenomenon happening to Army guys, once you go through battle with someone, they are family. I don't know how long we have been in this hell hole but this snarky Plasmablaster and quiet Diamondhead have become my brother and sister.

Damn life as the OP MC is not as rewarding as I had hoped. Just dying on the floor of a cave.

My right eye was just... gone. I couldn't see through it at all. The blood dripped down my face, like the tears of a delivery guy just trying to make due.

[THE TWELVE HAS BEEN SELECTED]

[PREPARE FOR STASIS AND TRANSPORTATION]