The System

CH: 106 - Chaos (XX).

    "This situation is just... ridiculous," Tetsu said, lowering into a lazy fighting stance.

"An intruder without a map. Despicable."

"Talk about infiltration and killing one more time." Tetsu's face turned grim. "And I will kill you."

"Insolence."

Krovath wanted to move, but his left leg refused his command. The momentum broke, and by releasing the Rune on the left leg at the right moment, Krovath tripped.

Having already witnessed such tactics, Krovath activates the defensive arrays, and the jacket swells like an airbag, cushioning his fall. Krovath smiles and looks ahead, ready to throw a taunt at his opponent, but his smile fades as Tetsu has already moved from the previous position and now sits on top of him, the axe head leaning against his neck.

"Pull the door close, open it, and do not move until I say so," Tetsu leans the axe closer. "That is if you value your head." He checks for any apparatus around Krovath's neck, not wanting to be left fighting with a head on spider legs. "If the jacket, or any part of your body, so much as jerks," the sharp edge of the axe slices through the barrier, drawing a bead of blood before it even reaches his neck.

"Oops!" Tetsu tilts the blade back. "How sharp are these darn axes?" The blade absorbs the blood and grows sharper, a thin red tint adding to the charcoal-black blade's edge. "Not sharp enough! Noted."

Krovath moves the tiles around. Reality breaks into various screens, the room breaking and reforming as the exit moves closer. A section of the wall opened into a familiar hallway, and Tetsu stood up, the axe blade extending, to keep the threat alive. Tetsu marks the hallway and uses Terrafarer to step straight into the hallway.

"You fool," Krovath smirked. "Stay forever—"

*!Crack!*

Tetsu slams the axe into the wall. Instead of running, he turns into a mad bull, destroying every wall in the vicinity.

Krovath morphs the room again, summoning Tetsu back into the control room. "How did you figure it out so fast?"

"Because the door kept moving."

Krovath morphed the room into two sections, one where he stayed and the other bent in an impossible loop to trap Tetsu.

"Did you stop and consider if I moved the room away from you?" Krovath challenged.

Tetsu's glare softened, realization dawning upon him. "Haha-ha-ah never thought of it in that context."

"How dunce are you?" Krovath taunted.

"Says the guy who keeps pushing me to kill him."

"Don't you worry... This will all be over before you understand what happened."

"Why? Planning to kill yourself because I didn't comply?"

"What? No! Die...!" Krovath took a massive breath, breathing in the entire room's oxygen. His body swelled up like a balloon.

"You suicidal maniac. If you want to die, then die. Why do you want me to join you?"

"No! Yo... u Dun... ce," Krovath spoke between intakes, losing air with every word. "D...i.e." He bellowed, his voice bouncing off the walls and magnifying.

The closed box somehow trapped the noise within it, the voice amplifying and turning into a tangible attack, burrowing into Tetsu's very being. Tetsu curled up into a ball to reduce the effect, yet the voice hammered at him from all directions. Unlucky for Krovath, Tetsu had other means to move and attack.