Chapter 12: 12. Armor
The black mana swirled around Jack's sweaty and bloody body. The connection with his minions grew ever stronger as it coalesced into a massive ball of pure black mana, so dark it ate all the light around. It looked like the void itself was waiting before him as he stared deep into its centre. From within he could sense a feeling of pure animalistic rage and destruction, but also comfort. A sense of home, community and self sacrifice.
Bit by bit, the black mana shifted and detached until it had split off into 8 different sections. One by one the mana sections drifted towards his limbs, torso and head.
As soon as the black mana grazed his legs in the slightest, it latched on and began to solidify. Forming from the mana were entirely black leg pieces of chitinous armour that looked denser than steel. The calf pieces had spikes at the top that covered Jack's knees without being able to hinder his movement by hitting the pieces of armour that protected his quads.
His trainers shredded into non existence the instant the mana touched them, and were swiftly replaced by boots that forced him onto the tip of his toes. To Jack, they reminded him of high heeled boots with two sharp claws at the front and without the heel to support his weight, rather, the connection to the calf pieces enabled him to stay upright with no strain whatsoever. Weirdly, his feet felt extremely comfortable despite being dragged to the bottom of his armoured boots.
The mana slowly crept upwards, destroying his trousers as it went, until it reached his hips where it formed proper armoured legs. The only part of Jack's lower body that could now be considered vulnerable were the backs of his knees as they were the only part not protected.
The mana continued to latch onto different parts of his body as he watched with great fascination. His shirt was torn to pieces as the black mana carried on its transformation of his body into a weapon of destruction. His spine was traced with a spiked line of armour, mimicking the grooves of the actual bone, from which, a sort of skeletal outline of his torso was made as the mana crept round his body and made all of his weakest points invulnerable to anything weaker than the exoskeleton. His stomach was covered with miniscule dark plates that not only were just as durable as every other part of his armour, but allowed him the luxury of flexibility other armour could not produce.
From his the pauldron on his right arm grey a long spike that he knew could penetrate through skin and muscle alike. His biceps were barely covered, but his forearms became monstrosities. Jagged plates akin to a rose bush lined his forearms making them impossible to hold without accruing any damage. From his fingers grew longs claws that seemed sharper than steel, his weapons for slaughtering beasts. His hands were completely covered in the dark plates that encompassed the rest of his body, but they also had sharp points on them in order to inflict as much damage as possible.
Finally finished with his body, the black mana turned chitinous material attached itself to his face. Rather than covering his entire face, the chitinous armour connected to the spine plates and formed a sort of neck brace for him. His entire neck was covered in the material, making his throat completely imperviable to damage without breaking the chitin.
From the final two segments of mana, antennae were formed connected to his head. With the antennae on his head, he looked like an insect made man. From the antennae, Jack could feel how the wind subtly shifted as he moved, the vibrations from Mike's heart, and even a sense of the way that gravity was affecting him. It was strange. With the way that the antennae expanded his senses, he felt akin to a blind person being given sight. He was aware of every movement around him within a 20 metre radius, almost as if he was omniscient.
But this was almost too much to bare. Every time he would momentarily shift positions to check out his new armour, his brain would almost overload with information. But with every passing second, the sensations became more and more manageable, almost enjoyable.
Not only were his senses expanded beyond what he thought possible, but he felt a massive increase in strength. His muscles were rippling with intense sensations as he flexed and unflexed. Jack knew that the skill would double his strength, but he didn't think it would be this noticeable.
A grin rose on his face, not just because he looked awesome, but also as he pondered just how strong he could become. Whilst he had always dreamed of fighting back against the Abyssal Beasts, now that it was becoming so much more real it was simply too exciting.
"Jack, how do you feel?" Mike asked as he observed the ant-like soldier in front of him.
"Strong, really strong" Jack called back.
Within a moment, barely being able to sense it through his antennae, Mike appeared before him and struck out with a fist. It held a fraction of Mike's true power, and yet it was more than enough to completely obliterate Jack in his normal form. However, Jack knew it was coming. He barely had a fraction of a second to respond to the attack, and in that moment he raised his clawed arms to block.
The punch reached his arms and Jack's entire body pulsed with the vibrations. An ant's armour is good at mitigating damage by transferring it all over the chitin, but this punch was too strong, too focused on a singular point.
Like a bullet from a gun, Jack shot backwards through the arena. Pieces of shattered chitinous armour were left in his wake as he slammed into the wall of the arena. Being made from the strongest metal known to man, Mithril, the wall took no damage whatsoever from Jack's body slamming against it. But Jack was not so fortunate.
His entire armour shook and rattled as it broke apart from the impact, the only pieces remaining on his body were his boots and antennae, the only parts that hadn't either received the punch or been slammed into the wall. Blood seeped from a wound on Jack's head, but his eyes were full of resilience.
"See, not that strong" Mike called out as he sauntered towards his fallen victim. "Remember, you may get some skills that are cool or strong, but there is always someone stronger."
"Fuck you Mike" Jack spat back. Blood had formed in his mouth and he was forced to spit it out. Anger spilled out of him from every pore as he stared at the behemoth of a man casually moving towards him.
"Remember Icarus, never fly too close to the sun, that will kill you" Mike said matter of factly. "Icarus should be your mentor, your teacher, whatever you want to call it. It doesn't matter what you call it actually, but the message is the same. There will always be something stronger, and they won't wait for you to be prepared before they strike"
"Is that why you fuckin hit me?" Jack said through a scowl. Though not at the same level as when he faced the Abyssal beast previously, his anger was still rising at being utterly humiliated and beaten.
"Of course, I won't hit you for no reason. If there is one thing I will beat into- teach you, it is that you are not strong. Not yet at least." Mike replied with a sadistic grin on his face.
"Either way, fuck you" Jack said as he stood up, blood dripping down his face. His blood matted hair clung to his forehead as he stood, but he did not care. Jack couldn't beat nor even hurt Mike, but he didn't care, he just wanted to hit him.
"OOOooooOOOO looks like you still got some learning to do".
Mike grinned.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone