KINETIC

Leo stood up straight, looking directly at the wound he inflicted on the cultist. There was a hole the size of his fist going right through her stomach.

*Ding

A notification sound went off in Leo's head from the system and then it displayed the information in front of him.

[Skills unlocked]

- [Battle Aura]

- [Force Punch]

'I'll check these later' Leo thought as he swiped the notifications away. He knew more or less what the skills were because he had just used/invented them, but he still wanted to see if there was anything extra that the system had to say about them.

The cultist dropped to her knees holding her stomach as the blood continued to pour out the wound. It wasnt the type of wound you could survive, even with a healing ability the odds would probably be slim.

Leo walked towards the cultist at a slow pace. He was quite tired himself and was using this walk to absorb as much energy as possible.

[Energy 1/40]

'I'm glad that last attack worked but I wasn't expecting it to use all my remaining energy. If it hadn't worked I'd be done for... I got lucky this time.' Leo thought with a sigh of relief.

The reason Leo walked towards the cultist at a snails pace was because he absorbed every part of his movement possible, meaning he had tremendous resistance as he moved. Luckily that allowed him to recover some energy before he reached her.

[Energy 4/40]

"It's over, you're not gonna survive with that hole in your stomach. I could end it quickly if you'd like." Leo lifted his fist as he offered his 'assistance'.

She chuckled for a moment before wincing in pain. She looked up at Leo and smiled "You'd be surprised at what I'm able to survive, kid." With a speed that shouldn't be possible considering her injury, she reached out and grabbed Leo by the wrist.

In the next moment Leo felt as though all his strength had disappeared and he felt extremely sluggish. Her hand squeezed tighter around his wrist and the feeling intensified.

[Energy 3/40]

[2/40]

[1/40]

[0/40]

Leo looked at her with a confused expression, not able to understand exactly how she was doing this. His energy depleted so quickly that his body felt as though a hole had appeared inside him.

The cultist stood to her feet, the hole in her stomach healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. As Leo's energy hit 0, the healing stopped and her face contorted in annoyance "Tch! You had almost nothing left... you're really telling me you barely managed to injure me using all your power? How pathetic." She lifted her right leg and swung it towards Leo's head.

He saw the kick coming but his body refused to move. The leg connected and Leo was sent flying through the air. He tried to use Absorb to slow himself down and recover his energy but his skill refused to work.

Leo hit the wooden roofing below him with force, his body rolling for several meters before coming to a stop. No matter what Leo did, his body refused to move.

'I... I can't feel anything. My body, my ability... Nothing!' Leo began panicking. Being unable to move might have been something an attack could have done for a second after impact, but not like this.

Several seconds passed and Leo's body remained unmoving. The cultist walked towards Leo and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up until his feet were off the ground. She then walked towards the edge of the rooftop and held Leo over the edge.

This building was two stories high, only one floor less than the tavern. The cultist looked Leo in the eyes and threw a powerful punch into his stomach.

The fist connected and there was little to no reaction from Leo, only his eyes conveyed that he had felt pain as they widened.

"Good, I thought I was going to have to hurt you more but it seems you're not able resist the paralysis." She squeezed Leo's neck tightly, enjoying the sight of him being unable to breathe.

'Fuck! I still cant move... Dreifus, what do I do!?' Leo's voice sounded desperate. 'I don't know... I'm sorry but I don't even know what she did to you exactly. I don't see a way out of this.' Dreifus replied with a tone of resignation.

"Now that I've got you, all that's left is to bring you back. Although, if I'm not mistaken I promised to take a few of your limbs off while we were fighting." A sadistic grin appeared on the cultists face as she reached towards Leo's arm.

"LEO!!" A shout came from the direction of the tavern. When looking over Leo could see that Cain was leaning out of a hole in the wall.

A wave of relief washed over Leo for several reasons. One of them was that his friends were safe. The second was that they might be able to help him out of this situation.

When looking closly at Cains body, Leo realized he was heavily injured as well. The hope for backup dwindled slightly at that moment.

The cultist looked at the state that Cain was in and seemingly decided he wasn't going to pose a threat. She continued reaching for Leo's arm, grabbing it just above the elbow.

She started pulling his arm slowly. The pain was intense and Leo could feel his bones and ligaments popping and snapping. He knew his arm would be ripped off if this continued.

Suddenly a red beam of energy smashed into the roof below the cultist and she stumbled slightly, the pulling on Leo's arm stopping momentarily.

The cultist looked up at the hole and could now see a woman standing beside Cain. "AAARRGGHH! I'm gonna get in so much trouble for this." The cultist looked at Leo one more time before she punched him in the stomach, sending him off the rooftop and falling to the ground.

Another beam was shot directly at her from the hole in the tavern, but before it could reach her, she turned into mist and vanished.