A Novel Concept - A death a day, MC will live anyway!

Kazuki was frustrated: his Wind Concept was useless. The sentinel was unfazed by the wind blades, and even the strongest gusts barely slowed it down. The hoplite warrior knew his Concept had little chance of aiding him against a mighty enemy, but usually, the breathless zone had some impact. Here, the only advantage the wind provided was reducing air resistance for him.

Annoyed by the ineffectiveness of his Concept, the hoplite grimaced as he blocked a vertical strike. The shockwave rippled through his body before it was absorbed by his lower limbs.

Using Micro II to focus his vitality into his legs, Kazuki dodged another attack. He landed a few meters away, hiding a wince. The microfractures in his shins and the light tears in his calves weren’t yet critical, but if left unchecked, they could lead to a fracture or a tear. In high-intensity combat, that meant death.

The sentinel raised its warhammer and charged. Kazuki’s mind, assisted by Knightmare’s AI, broke down his opponent’s movements. One foot forward, a shift in center of mass, and a grip at the base of the heavy weapon’s shaft. No doubt, the enemy was preparing a powerful vertical strike.

Some might have considered it a feint, but Kazuki had studied his opponent. The sentinel was a juggernaut: it possessed insane strength and infinite endurance, but its fighting skills were unexceptional.

In an instant, the hoplite warrior reviewed his options. Should he retreat and risk underestimating the warhammer’s reach, or advance to get inside its guard? Using his physical strength and Knightmare’s thrusters, Kazuki dashed forward.

The heavy melee weapon reached its apex and then came crashing down. Taking advantage of his opponent’s temporary imbalance, Kazuki slipped under the heavy weapon and tackled the sentinel. His shoulder slammed into the stone body with monstrous momentum, sending the sentinel sprawling.

“Always press a winning exchange when you have the chance.” It was one of his maxims when he was the instructor of the Titan classes.

Following his own advice, the hoplite reactivated his armor’s thrusters. Catching up with the sentinel before it hit the ground, he doubled his attack. The tip of his spear struck the stone head with the combined power of his body, his mech, and his Mastery.

The creature hit the ground, creating a crater that widened as Kazuki tripled the attack, initiating a devastating combo. Sparing a downed opponent was not a hoplite habit, and the Champion wanted to win. Deep down, he was tired of seeing his rivals shine. Arnold, Dishnu, and, of course, Priam were monsters, but the Champion refused to be left behind.

Kazuki wanted to prove to the hoplites that they remained a force to be reckoned with, even in this new world. As a Champion, it was his responsibility to lead his people.

Deploying his Supremacies, the warrior struck again. The black stone slab under the sentinel cracked before exploding. The geyser of dust temporarily blinded Knightmare’s photosensitive sensors. When Kazuki’s Domain detected his opponent’s kick, it was too late.

Hurled backward like a rag doll, the multi-ton mech spun before landing heavily. Kazuki grimaced at the sight of the hole in his machine’s chest. Facing him, the sentinel was rising amid a cloud of dust. A flow of glowing aether leaked from the cracks in its face.

A red aura surrounded it, and the instinct Kazuki had honed over decades of combat roared.

“You’re powerful for a Tier 0, but let me show you the pinnacle of Tier 1.”

Purple runes appeared on the sentinel’s surface an instant before it leapt. Kazuki blocked the first blow by instinct and the second by experience. The third pierced his armor like paper, shattering one of his kidneys. Even with his agility, the warrior couldn’t keep up.

Roaring in defiance, the spear master stopped defending to attack. The exchange went poorly for him: where the opponent’s warhammer shattered his chest plate and half a dozen ribs, his spear couldn’t pierce the sentinel’s wrist.

“My attacks should scatter you like a handful of sand. Strange,” murmured the voice of the vengeful spirit.

Kazuki spat blood as he retreated. Without [Titan of Iron], a Merit that lent him the metallic constitution of a Titan, each blow from the warhammer would have reduced him to pulp.

“Sir!”

Kazuki grimaced as Gallad took position beside him, his saber pointed at the sentinel.

“Elaine is taking up position,” his subordinate explained over a secure channel. “Sakura should arrive in a few minutes.”

According to their training, Kazuki and Gallad were close combat masters, Elaine was a sniper, and Sakura a trap specialist and a scout. They only lacked a shield bearer to have the classic hoplite team composition.

“This isn’t a duel anymore?” the sentinel asked telepathically.

Kazuki ignored his opponent. Among the hoplites, only victory mattered.

A bullet struck the sentinel’s ear before Kazuki heard the gunshot; it was the signal. Without hesitation, he dashed forward, Gallad at his side. [Odyssey - Legendary Thrust] targeted the enemy’s fractured face while his subordinate’s saber intercepted the rising warhammer.

Both attacks hit as the sentinel trembled with rage. Kazuki’s spear widened one of the cracks on the stone face, but the saber couldn’t stop the heavy melee weapon. Rather than resist, Gallad went with the swing and leaped at the end of the arc. After almost a hundred meters of flight, he landed in a roll.

The sentinel hesitated for a moment before charging at the saber master, recognizing the team’s weak link. Kazuki gave chase while Elaine tried to slow it down with her shots. When the sentinel realized the bullets weren’t powerful enough to harm it, it stopped dodging.

“It’s ignoring my attacks,” the sniper growled over the local channel. “Its eyes and ears are cosmetic; I can’t disorient it.”

Kazuki grimaced at the news. If their glass cannon sniper couldn’t damage the enemy, he was their only source of offense. The Champion arrived just in time to save Gallad from a powerful blow. His subordinate dodged what he could, knowing even the weakest hit would tear him apart. For about thirty seconds, the three warriors improvised a deadly dance, with Kazuki trying to take down the sentinel before it killed his subordinate.

Each strike further damaged his opponent, and the tip of his spear always found a way to widen the existing cracks. The flow of aether escaping from the stone statue increased rapidly, depleting its energy reserves.

It was a race against time the hoplites couldn’t afford to lose.

As Gallad retreated further, the sentinel smashed its warhammer into the ground. Powered by Tier 1, the heavy weapon triggered a small earthquake that unbalanced the hoplite. In an attempt to regain his balance, the saber master stepped into one of the newly opened fissures. His pupils dilated as he realized his mistake.

Time slowed for Kazuki. He could already see the sentinel’s swift and deadly response. By the time his subordinate freed himself, the warhammer would have turned him into paste. Gritting his teeth, the Champion hoplite overclocked his muscles without restraint to divert the sentinel’s attention.

Grabbing the heavy weapon with both hands, the enemy tanked Kazuki’s ultimate to execute a whirlwind strike. The wind displaced by the heavy weapon pushed the Champion back before he could dominate it, while the steel bit into Gallad’s leg. The limb vanished in an explosion of blood and bone.

Freed by the amputation, the saber master threw himself backward, dodging a second strike. A mech descended from the sky, grabbed the hoplite, and took off again. The sentinel threw its warhammer to finish the kill, but Kazuki’s spear intercepted it mid-air.

The two opponents locked eyes as their respective weapons fell back to the ground. Half the stone face was gone, revealing a glowing crystalline structure. Thousands of foreign runes glowed, exchanging energy to allow the creation to move. Far from being an enchanted statue, the sentinel was a robotic and runic creature.

It tilted its head, observing its panting opponent. Blood trickled from Kazuki’s mouth: the overclock he used to save Gallad had cost him dearly.

“If this isn’t a duel, then…”

Kazuki gritted his teeth as two new stone sentinels emerged from the central building. His spear landed beside him, and he grabbed it before taking a defensive stance. With half a dozen broken ribs, a shattered kidney, torn muscles, and a pounding headache, Kazuki smiled.

He had always known his story would be written in blood and sweat.

“Sir, the Sun Shop’s medicines aren’t healing Gallad. Something’s blocking the regeneration.”

Elaine’s mech hovered about three hundred meters above the scene.

“Get him across the rift,” Kazuki ordered.

“But Sir—”

“That’s an order.”

Hoplite discipline was absolute, and Elaine engaged her armor’s thrusters to take Gallad back to Log-a-rhythm before he bled out.

“Without them, you don’t stand a chance.”

Recognizing the same mental voice, Kazuki understood the vengeful spirit identified by the System didn’t possess a sentinel; it controlled them all.

“What I fear isn’t dying; it’s failing to protect my own,” Kazuki declared while communing with his bound mech. “But I shall not falter today.”

[Symbiosis - Knightmare], [Titan of Steel].

The bound mecha fused with Kazuki, inert steel merging with living flesh. His blood began to boil, charged with liquid uranium. His new cells no longer ran on chemical energy but nuclear power. The AI merged with the hoplite’s mind, creating a consciousness running on a quantum processor and possessing an instinct—the best of both worlds.

When Kazuki-Knightmare opened his eyes again, his golden gaze settled on the world with confidence. Unlike his battle against Seth, his bloodline now granted him a fantastic Merit, [Titan of Steel]. The boost was temporary but allowed him to ignore his injuries until the fight's end. Even better, it enabled Kazuki to adopt the physical attributes of a Titan, a mythical and metallic race.

In short, Micro II could now control his steel muscles and artificial nerves.

A drop struck the ground, capturing the attention of the new being. His sensors identified the vital liquid flowing from the warhammer of the first sentinel. Gallad's blood.

The blood of his subordinate.

Kazuki-Knightmare leapt, and his Wind Concept created a tunnel of vacuum ahead. His brutal acceleration caught his opponents off guard, leaving them no time to react. Deploying Dóry, a four-meter spear, Kazuki-Knightmare struck with all the power contained in his pistons, enhanced by his attributes and overclocked by Micro II.

The strike slipped beneath the warhammer of the first sentinel and exploded its left arm in a cloud of stone and crystal dust. The sentinel roared, bringing down its melee weapon.

The warhammer collided with Kazuki-Knightmare's forearm, producing a clear ringing sound. A light dent appeared on the bodywork. A blow that would have once shattered flesh and bone barely dented the metal.

Surprised, the sentinel froze, and Kazuki-Knightmare punished its hesitation with a left hook. The stone body flew fifty meters before crashing into the central building. Before it could rise, a spear, faster than sound, impaled it against the wall like an insect on a pin.

Agreeing with his doubtful instinct, Kazuki-Knightmare flared his nuclear reactor and dashed. The wind accompanied him, increasing his speed and slowing the two remaining sentinels following him. In a split second, he reached the decapitated sentinel, tore his spear from the wall, and raised it high.

“[Odyssey - Coup de Grâce].”

Overclocking his metallic muscles and gathering Spear Mastery II, Kazuki-Knightmare unleashed the most powerful attack at his disposal. His spear struck the sentinel’s torso, pierced the stone skin, broke the crystalline structure beneath, and shattered its core.

The shockwave shook the ruins.

When a gust of wind dispersed the dust cloud, part of the plaza and wall had vanished. Nothing remained of the sentinel, annihilated along with Dóry.

Deprived of his spear, Kazuki-Knightmare walked to the abandoned warhammer. He picked it up, weighed it in his hand, then, satisfied, turned to two shocked opponents.

His face was impassive, but his eyes smiled. His struggle, his commitment, and the blood of his enemies were fusing, forming a truth that resonated with his soul.

A Concept was beginning to take shape, and Kazuki was determined to feed it with all the necessary blood.

Seated atop a volcano barely peeking above the water, Esmée gazed north, poised to intervene. There, near the fault line, Kazuki fought. Though the last to arrive in Elysium, the hoplite was far from the weakest. Each portal of the Impossible Tutorial was a single-use thing. For the leader of an army and protector of his race, it must have been a bitter pill to swallow, knowing he condemned part of his unit by crossing through.

The weight of that sacrifice had hung heavy on him, his early days in this new universe far from impressive. But time healed most wounds. True to his Title, the Hoplite Champion was rising, ready to fight for his people.

One thing was undeniable: Kazuki knew how to battle, his mastery of weapons elevated to an art form. Among his rivals, only the Judge matched him in weapon proficiency—though could one really compare an immortal to a forty-year-old being?

Wielding a warhammer, Kazuki toyed with his enemies, shattering their limbs without killing them. Better yet, he did so in a way that the sentinels were none the wiser. Soon, they would shut down, unable to detonate their cores, and the warrior would take them back to Rose for analysis.

Perhaps this was what Esmée respected most about her rival. Far from being governed by belligerent instincts, the hoplite warrior was, above all, a strategist with a tactical vision.

As the battle progressed, the sentinels' situation looked grim. The golem controller finally lost patience and went all in.

One construct sacrificed itself to immobilize Kazuki’s legs while the second attacked. The young Titan decapitated the first with a swing of his warhammer, then dropped the heavy weapon. Pivoting, he blocked the strike with his left hand, then mimicked a leaf with his right. A precise and decisive thrust pierced the sentinel’s core, effortlessly passing through its monstrous constitution.

Seeing Kazuki no longer needed her, Esmée deactivated her skill, frowning. At the end of the fight and for a moment, [Spoiler] had perceived Kazuki's arm as a spear. There was only one reason why her scrying skill could have made such an error...

“That should be impossible, a Tier 0 soul can’t be that close to Mastery III…”

The world trembled, interrupting the princess's thoughts. She sprang to her feet, her eyes darting to the depths below. Priam, refusing to let his rival bask in all the glory, had triggered the volcano’s eruption.

Something must have irked the First enough to make him forget the princess's presence.

“What a boor,” Esmée smiled.

Kazuki's status: (Average value for a Hoplite male before integration: PHY 23 / MEN 18 / META 0)

PHYSICAL:

Strength 1107

Constitution 852

Agility 1081

Vitality 811

Perception 845

MENTAL:

Vivacity 591

Dexterity 591

Memory 580

Willpower 592

Charisma 311

META:

Meta-affinity 184

Meta-focus 152

Meta-endurance 352

Meta-perception 160

Meta-chance 79

Meta-authority 180

Potential: 10 763

Tier 0

Race: Titan Hoplite (Tier 1)

Bloodline:

Titan - Purity < 1%

Concepts:

Wind (T0) - Harmony

? (T1) - Awakening

Suprematies:

Micro II

Spear Mastery II

Domain I

[Symbiose - Knightmare] - Active.

[Tribulation]: Four Tribulations are coming.

Time: 1 day 9 hours 13 minutes 22 seconds.

Your Soul Baptism is due.

Time limit: 69 days 15 hours 34 minutes 12 seconds.