Reborn: Apocalypse

"I believe you are looking at my corpses, no?"

Micheal's words echoed in the air as he stared at the two Necrozarks, sauntering forward. At least, he assumed they were both Necrozarks. It was possible just one of them was.

Despite his rather cavalier attitude, his eyes were full of steel as he crossed gazes with them, his voice fearless.

Around him, the mid-morning light gleamed brightly. Micheal didn't feel anyone watching, though that didn't mean much given all the freakish Abilities and Artifacts that existed.

"Ah, yes. My name is Gobel, a Necrozark user, and this is my lovely wife, Hannah." The middle-aged man, Gobel, responded, giving Micheal a smile that didn't touch his eyes. As the man spoke, the three Morenkai that were crouched moved back to looming behind him, their freakish faces traced on Micheal. The woman remained silent, looking on passively.

"These are your corpses? We found them unattended, which would imply they weren't wanted at all." Gobel continued, motioning at them. The air around the man was intense as he stared at Micheal, the tension palpable.

'Ah. Gobel, the Necrozark. I recognize you now.' Micheal's eyes twitched as old memories resurfaced.

He had heard of this Necrozark user before. Gobel was a well known 2nd Wave Ability user that didn't join any individual group, instead choosing to live on his own with his wife, a regular girl he met in the 2nd Wave. He was considered a bit of a lone ranger, with few allies.

'He's strong enough to survive on his own, mostly because of the undead Morenkai he's controlling. With them at his back, he's at least B Rank. I don't recall ever hearing that he was physically powerful, merely that his servants were all unnaturally strong.' Necrozarks, beyond just controlling dead bodies, were able to temporarily boost the physical capabilities of any of the undead they controlled. They could even tap into the Abilities or powers an undead had, using that to their advantage.

Doing so would badly damage the body of the undead, meaning a replacement would need to be found soon after. This damage could be mitigated by a powerful Soul stat, to some degree, but could not be avoided entirely.

Still, finding more Morenkai was never a problem.

'He's here for the Abnormals.' Micheal instantly realized, smiling internally.

The damage he did to the three Abnormal Morenkai that showed up was pretty severe, but in the eyes of a Necrozark, insignificant. He had made large, clean cuts that could be easily restored in the ritual a Necrozark would perform to bring the dead Morenkai into a state of undeath.

"So, if you are abandoning them, then surely you won't mind if I borrow a few, no?" Gobel interrupted Micheal's reminiscence as he continued, his voice cool.

"Actually, I was planning on using them. I do mind." Micheal cut in, smiling brightly.


"I received an offer from a man known as Tonto to purchase any Abnormal Morenkai I secured. The three I have here are all ones he would be quite pleased to buy."

He blatantly and shamelessly lied.

"What?!" Gobel's calm demeanor shattered as his face grew flush. His wife looked up at him with concern, but still remaining silent.

"Tonto? What is that bastard doing here, encroaching on my gains!" Gobel gnashed his teeth, frustration pouring from his voice.

In the Stardust Cluster, there were only a few Necrozarks. After all, the Ability was rather expensive for this Layer, and few people could manage to reach that large a sum of Points.

None of the Necrozarks got along. All of them coveted the corpses of powerful Abnormal Morenkai. Because of how quickly Morenkai corpses disappeared, Micheal hadn't considered saving any of his previous kills to sell to them.

But, now that one of his Cluster's Necrozarks had delivered himself to him… well… he wouldn't turn the opportunity down.

Thus, he named the only other Necrozark he could remember, a particularly cruel man that lived near the central area and was allied with the Black Flag Pirates.

"What did he offer you? I'll pay well more than he will!" At the mention of one of his rivals, Gobel's mindset shifted slightly. He no longer seemed to see Micheal as predominantly prey, but instead as a way to put one over his fellow Necrozark.

"I'm looking for explosives from the Shop." Micheal's eyes flashed as he heard Gobel's response, instantly going over what he desired and what he figured the Necrozark might have. The most likely answer was either ranged weaponry or explosives.

One of the most effective strategies for a Necrozark was to send in one of their Morenkai with a bomb strapped to their chest. It was a gruesome, but undeniably effective, suicide tactic that was very hard to defend against.

"Considering the value of these three Abnormal Anomalies, Tonto's agreement would cover a payment of 3 Repulsor Grenades and 2 Close Impact Bombs." Micheal's voice echoed softly as he named his price, crossing his arms. At the same time, he laid his hand on his Low-Tier Spatial Ring, preparing himself to withdraw his Steelborn Sword in a split second.

Gobel froze as he heard Micheal's reply, his eyes widening with incredulity.

"3 Repulsor Grenades, I could see as a fair price. But 2 Close Impact Bombs as well!?" Gobel's voice was cutting as he shook his head. His eyes seemed to shift slightly, glancing back at his Morenkai servants behind him and then at the dead corpses all around him. He seemed to make a decision.

"I will give you 3 Repulser Grenades. That is a very fair price, more than Tonto would be willing to pay." As Gobel finished, he snapped one of his fingers.

thud

thud

thud

The three Morenkai all moved forward as one, standing a bit off to the side and in front of the Necrozark. Their huge, hulking frames were intimidating, especially the way they creepily faced Micheal, their bodies frozen.

It likely would've seriously intimidated someone that wasn't Micheal.

"I'm sure you'll accept, yes? You know who I am." Gobel seemed to take it for granted that Micheal would say yes. After all, no matter how powerful a melee fighter was, when facing a Necrozark like him, they would be hard countered. His minions, plus the ability to send them on a suicide attack, put him in a very advantageous spot.

His mindset of Micheal apparently hadn't shifted enough. In the end, an unknown warrior like Micheal would never be able to match up to him, even if Micheal could take out dozens of Morenkai. And, indeed, going by the normal logic of the First Layer, this was true. Micheal's existence was a rather unfair abnormality.

"I refuse." Micheal took several steps forward, his voice calm and steady as he looked Gobel dead in the eye, ignoring the Morenkai. The way Micheal carried himself, the tone of his voice, everything gave off an image of absolute and complete confidence.

Gobel froze, his face twisting. He blinked as he looked at Micheal, his entire body tensing up. His silent wife by his side donned a look of worry on her face, glancing at Micheal.

CHCHKK

In just a split second, a heavy duty IMI Desert Eagle handgun appeared in Gobel's hands, pointed directly at Micheal's head. Micheal didn't flinch as he saw this, continuing to look him in the eye.

"Do you think I can't deal with you just because you killed a few dozen Morenkai and a couple of Abnormals? Do you think that gives you free sway here in the central area?" The middle-aged man's voice was cold as he spoke, his eyes boring into Micheal.

"I don't even need my servants to kill you. If I wanted, I could blow your brains out, here and now." The man's voice was rough as he finished, as if daring Micheal to do something.

Necrozarks typically weren't very strong physically, but the great equalizer from Earth, a gun, could resolve a lot of those issues, at least here on the First Layer where even the strongest superhumans weren't too absurdly powerful.

"I tried to be fair to you, but any man that works with scum like Tonto deserves what they have coming." Gobel continued,

"Give me a single reason why I should lose a bullet in your skull this instant."

Micheal merely smiled,

"Try it."

BANG

Without even a second of hesitation, not taking time to pontificate or brag, Gobel immediately fired the Desert Eagle, aimed directly at Micheal's skull.

WHOOSH

CLANG

"…"

.