During Richard Eno's life, one of the Originals and ex-vampire kings as well as the past tenth leader, the vampire had done a lot of research into a number of things. Every vampire was different, choosing to spend their life following different pursuits.
For Richard, he was fascinated by everything to do with how the world worked, how everything worked, and just in case anything happened to him, he made sure that none of his research and information would be lost.
In the end, it was all passed on to Logan, and he could do as he wished with that information. In the vast amount of knowledge, one of the things that were researched was beast armour.
They held great power, made from the crystals in the beast's body, the source of everything, but there were similarities with the universe's powers just like that with the armour and the active skills, and that was balance.
Richard actually knew more about the balances than most, and that was because of his ability. Equivalent exchange was all about balancing. Giving something and getting something in return.
In the end, all great powers had a type of drawback. If they were incredibly strong, maybe there was a limited time of use. If it granted a person great power, then perhaps it would need a great body to use it as well.
Sometimes, rather than a drawback in the skill itself, it might need a high requirement for one to use the armour. However, there have also been cases where just due to the rarity of the crystals used, the balance had already been made. The requirement for getting the armour in the first place was hard enough, which is why so many armours like that just wouldn't exist.
In this battle, for Jack, as strong as his energy shield was, allowing him to block the hyperspeed attacks from Stark, it had to have some type of balance. Would constant attacks drain the energy? Was there a limited amount of time for it to be used, or did it significantly drain energy from the user?
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn Stark's case, he was using the special active skill in his armour, and it was now going beyond what it should have been capable of, going beyond its use for him. Instantly, he could feel the power being drained from his body.
He felt incredibly thirsty and hungry almost immediately, and he wasn't sure, but it was as if his armour was eating his body away.
"What is happening?" Stark said to himself. He needed to desperately move, though. The armour seemed to have power, power that was also surging through his body.
It was as if a flash of power would enter him and be taken away at the same time.
"Move... move my legs!!"
Stark could see the group of Dalki and ability users coming toward him, but due to the energy drain effect, he was unable to move his legs.
"I'm going to die at this rate... If I don't move... I need to move. Maybe I need to time it right, when the energy is flowing into me, rather than being taken out."
The thing was, Stark was unable to control when the energy was coming in and out. There were times where he would feel enhanced or incredibly weak.
"I just have to move!" Stark forced his body, no matter how weak he felt, taking a step in the sand. It was much slower than he was before, before using the active skill.
The Dalki were fast, and so were the attacks, making Stark wonder if it was all a mistake, until a burst of energy went through the armour. He could feel it bursting through every fibre of his muscles down to his toes.
The bottom of the armour lit up with a red lingering glow, spiralling around both of the legs on the outside, and before Stark knew it, he had burst through right to the other side.
To his left and right, there were two large mounds of sand that weren't there before, and the view in front of him revealed the wall of the large Marpo Cruise ship. But he was in the centre of the strange sand resort before…
Turning his head, it was only then that he had a realisation of what had just happened. As a Penswi, not only were they fast, but their brains could process information faster as well. It was what allowed him to still be able to fight when travelling at incredibly fast speeds.
When using the Nitro accelerate, there were times where Stark found it a little bit difficult to see exactly what he was doing, but most of the time, it was alright. Only this time, he had no clue.
It was almost as if he had teleported to the other side. He might have even thought that was the case if it weren't for the large trail left behind. The mounds of sand weren't just next to him, but the sand had been split all across from where he was.
There was a trail left behind from where he had run forward, and that wasn't the only part. The Dalki and the humans that were ready to pounce on Stark, all of them had been blasted away through the large desert in completely different places.
The Dalki was the first to get up, the outside of his skin bleeding. It looked almost as if someone had ripped off part of the scales on his body.
"It hurts!" the Dalki shouted. "What was that... his legs, they were covered in a red mist, and when he accelerated forward, all that power just escaped and hit us all."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmJack hadn't seen Stark; his eyes were unable to keep up. But he did see all of the others blasted away just from the force that Stark made from running. Whatever it was that Stark had suddenly used, it was stronger and faster than the power of the armour from before.
"If... he creates an attack... with that speed, and he hits me straight on... I don't think my energy shield is going to last."
Jack turned around, looking at Stark. He looked like a man who only had a few seconds to live. His breathing was incredibly heavy, and he could barely keep his eyes open. One of them was flickering, while the other was half closed.
"You're going to die doing this!!!" Jack shouted, and for the first time, he had stuttered slightly trying to get his words out. "Is it really worth it? I can give you anything you want. I won't attack the Penswi. I'll leave you alone, or you can join us, and we can work something out!"
Stark managed to pull a smile, hearing Jack practically begging. "And what of all the Penswi that have already died? How do I even know you will have kept your word?" Stark replied.
Honestly, Stark wouldn't have even considered engaging in conversation, but he was waiting, waiting for the armour to stop draining him of power and give him another surge.
"Why do you think people follow me? It's because they know I keep my word. If people followed a leader that they didn't trust, then everything would eventually fall apart, so you can trust me."
Stark lifted up his hands, unable to make a fist due to how damaged they were. "Okay... but there is only one thing that I want from you."
The energy was rising through his body once more, and not wasting time, he ran straight ahead, throwing out his fist right at the energy shield. It instantly crashed into it, turning into nothing but particles.
Stark's arm was hardly hanging on, and the attack had mangled his arm so badly that part of it had gone flying off, ripped from his body and landing far off in the sand.
"Take your powers away from the Dalki! Or the next arm is going through your head!" Stark shouted.