Xian V.S. Zeal

-On the Scorched Isle-

--Xian's Perspective--

Zeal launched the tendrils shooting from his back towards me and in retaliation, I flipped out of the way. If I had any chance against him, I needed to concentrate as hard as possible. Zeal was an intimidating opponent without those alien-like tendrils sprouting from his back, but now he could just sit still with his arms crossed and deal damage to me.

The more he shot at me, the more I blocked, but the overwhelming amount could easily overwhelm me. I grabbed ahold of two coming from opposite directions, tied them together, and pulled on them to force Zeal to run toward me. Close range is the only chance I have!

To my surprise, Zeal shot the tendrils straight into my right arm, but luckily, the kinetic energy was transferred to that part of my body, waiting to be used in retaliation. The tendrils caused a sharp, yet dull pain in my arm. A sort of pain that told me what kind of damage they'd cause to me: A piercing one.

I closed the distance by deflecting the tendrils and grabbed hold of one trying to retreat. With that, I used half of the kinetic energy to pull back on Zeal. He was launched with a midair stride toward me, and with the other half of the kinetic energy, I punched him in the face, sending him further back than he initially started.

"So, the next step in evolution, huh? Is that why you have those things on your back? And why isn't your system being corrupted?! You're trying to kill me!" I yelled out to Zeal. He chuckled, wiping the blood from his nose.

"You idiot. Killing doesn't corrupt your system! That was a lie I told you all that you actually ended up believing! I just couldn't have my underlings killing each other or others." Zeal finally admitted.

"How is that possible?! The Corrupt Stone became corrupt because he killed somebody, right?!" I shouted out in confusion. Zeal shook his head, stretching his arms some more before he answered.

"I thought that the White Stone had corrupted his system by exercising his flaw… but that wasn't the case. It's simply because… he was always supposed to. An opportune moment was granted that caused you all to be fooled by the logic that trapped you in the first place: Do not kill, or else your System will be corrupted." He said.

Zeal shot a tendril at my face, but the kinetic absorption hadn't finished its cooldown yet. I took the hit, watching blood spray from my cheek out towards the sky. Maybe it was ignorance that I kept hiding behind, but once that tendril shot into my cheek, I finally realized he was dead serious. We could always kill, but we were told not to because he didn't want any competition…

Just as Zeal shot more tendrils at me, my ability came back and I slammed my foot into the glass floor underneath me, launching shards into the air and cutting the tendrils into tiny bits. They collapsed onto the floor, sprawling in some sort of invisible pain.

"Competition isn't it?! Orion has always had more influence than you, but if he ever killed a White Stone, then that would make him stronger, wouldn't it?!" I asked him. Zeal wouldn't answer any more of my questions at this point, as he unsheathed his Urumi. A sword made from several sharp, whip-like appendages. When he used it as a whip, it inflicted terrifying damage. He first used it against that Corrupt Stone…

"You're really keen on killing me, aren't you?" I asked again. Zeal swung the Urumi at me and just as time slowed down, to the point of milliseconds lasting the same time as regular seconds, I decided that I need to do whatever it takes to win.

The Urumi lacerated the skin on my chest as I pulled open my shirt and I stared down deeply into the slight glimpses of bone that I could see through the cuts. At that moment, my left eye exploded in pain:

[SYSTEM ALERT! YOUR SYSTEM HAS BECOME CORRUPT!]

[System Corruption: Level One]

[User Registered: Xian – White Stone of Scars]

I absorbed the kinetic energy from his next strike while catching all but one of the appendages of his sword. From that point, I used the energy to sever the connections the sword-whip had, leaving only one on his sword. At this point, it was just a whip now.

"To think, such a stupid kid would go so far… and in the right direction." He said. Zeal lifted up his glove to reveal a Red Stone glimmering against the glass on the floor.

"Shouldn't we have gotten the notification?!" I asked, running at him with a punch.

Zeal quickly dodged behind me and held my arm against my back, snapping it while throwing me to the ground. I quickly used my right arm to push him back and the pain of my left arm breaking instantly subsided. When I analyzed it again, it seemed to be in perfect shape.

"Didn't you… break this?" I mumbled. Zeal sheathed his whip and looked towards The Isle.

"It became clear to me that once I visited my master, who I rarely mention, and talked to them about this Corrupt Stone, something was amiss. They have some sort of soft spot for that White Stone killer, to the point where it was odd that you'd care about somebody that much. Almost like… their connection has already been established. Say, don't you think that's weird, Xian?" Zeal asked me.

I only sat in silence. Zeal has obviously lied to me before, there's no real credibility to anything he says anymore, they're all empty lies.

"I think your way of thinking is old. Maybe, just maybe, she's the first person to actually have sympathy for that poor kid. Maybe she feels bad a bunch of thirty-year-old losers like you wants some random teenager dead. Why do you have to jump so far to find justification that supports you, when you ignore simple truths such as that?" I asked, but Zeal didn't break his gaze on the Isle.

"Because I've thought about every intricacy you're spewing out of that ignorant mouth. You don't know my master; they rule with a harsh, iron fist. Leadership that shouldn't be questioned, even for me, as the strongest White Stone. Nobody would simply have sympathy for a weak kid like him. There's a piece to this puzzle that I'm missing." Zeal told me. I sat squinting at the ground, trying to remember what Umbra said to me down on Earth.

"Umbra was the one who helped me reach this place again because you disabled the Transporter. I told her the Corrupt Stone's name and she seemed to think it was somebody else. She said it reminded her of an old friend. Would that help at all?" I asked Zeal, just looking for some sort of answer at all. However, Zeal shook his head.

"I hadn't known that, but that doesn't even connect to the situation at all. Figures, coming from you." He argued. I slammed my foot on the ground walking towards him.

"I'm sick and tired of that damn attitude of yours! You act like you're better than everybody else when you're really not! You're just a stupid, old man." I shouted at him. He smirked and pulled out his weakened Urumi.

"That's because I am better than you." Zeal told me. He slashed it at me and just as we traded beforehand, I absorbed the energy and launched it back at him.