Lebih dari panas api atau gemuruh guntur, tekanan ledakan itulah yang mengguncang Lex. Tubuhnya melesat ke udara seperti peluru, berputar dan terbalik seperti senam yang sedang tampil terbaik.
Butuh beberapa detik sebelum Lex yang kewalahan dan pusing menemukan sedikit kejernihan, dan beberapa detik lagi sebelum dia bisa menstabilkan tubuhnya. Dalam sekejap, dia menganalisis kerusakan pada tubuhnya, dan menemukan, sangat terkejut, bahwa punggungnya sama sekali tak terluka. Tidak ada luka tusuk, dan rasa sakitnya hilang total, seolah hanya khayalan.
Tapi selain itu, kondisinya tak prima. Gelombang kejut yang menembus tubuhnya mengguncang Lex hingga ke tulang, dan meski dia besar-besaran tak cedera, kekurangan mencolok dalam rencana formasi itu melukai rasa hormat dirinya lebih dalam.
Memutuskan tak mau mempertaruhkan kesempatan lagi, Lex memutuskan membuang setiap formasi yang direncanakan jika butuh lebih dari 2 detik untuk dibentuk. Tapi sebelum dia bisa menyerang pembunuh, dia harus memastikan mendarat dengan selamat.
Dia membentuk formasi cepat dan kecil untuk segera mengubah jalur, untuk berjaga-jika pembunuh punya rencana di tempat dia akan jatuh, dan segera memperlambat turunannya.
Tapi mengubah arah tak berhasil, karena saat kaki menyentuh lantai, dua rasa sakit menusuk melesat melalui kaki, seolah dia mendarat langsung di atas dua tombak. Meski sudah mengalami hal serupa tadi, Lex tak bisa menahan diri menatap ke bawah dan melihat kaki-kakinya utuh.
Punggungnya berkelik, memperingatkan serangan akan datang, tapi rasa sakit di kaki dan refleks lutut untuk mengeceknya membuang momen berharga, membuat dia tak bisa membalas seperti biasa. Alih-alih itu, dia melompat ke depan dan berguling untuk menjauh.
Tapi saat menoleh kembali, pembunuh tak terlihat.
Lex menyipitkan mata. Sepemulaan serangan itu, kemampuan pembunuh asli dan mematikan. Saat ini Lex paham bahwa setiap kali dia merasakan rasa sakit menusuk, itu palsu dan hanya pengalih perhatian. Tapi dia tak berani mengabaikan rasa sakit sepenuhnya kalau ini umpan, sehingga serangan asli akan datang saat dia terbiasa tidak menanti apa-apa.
Dia juga lumayan terbiasa dengan pembunuh yang menghilang dan konsisten menyerang dari belakang. Tapi itu pun dia tak berani terlalu santai.
Tapi apapun yang dilakukannya, Lex tak akan mengalahkan dia dengan menunggu dia menyerang duluan. Dia cepat merancang rencana dan membentuk formasi yang membuat kabut perlahan berkumpul di tinggi lutut.
Dengan cara itu, dia akan tahu segera saat penyerang mencoba sekali serangan. Dia juga membentuk formasi lain, menggunakan kabut rendah untuk menyembunyikan jebakan. Tapi keberhasilan jebakan bergantung pada apakah pembunuh terus menyerang dari belakang, dan sifat serangannya.
Kalau dia sempat bawa topi pikirannya, dia bisa pakai jebakan lebih kompleks dan kuat, tapi sayang kehidupan tak mengikuti keinginan.
Punggungnya berkelik lagi dan, untuk menyembunyikan keberadaan jebakan, Lex menghindar biasa dan saat menoleh, punggungnya berkelik lagi.
Kali ini serangan terlalu cepat untuk dihindar bahkan dengan peringatan, dan sesuatu memukul punggungnya dengan keras, melemparkannya ke tanah. Serangan itu tak tajam dan menusuk, seperti yang dia duga dari pisau. Sebaliknya, itu gaya tumbal besar, seolah dipukul kantong kacang atau semacamnya.
"Kau tidak apa-apa, idiot!" teriak pembunuh, suaranya penuh kemarahan dan kegembiraan. "Kau tidak apa-apa. Kau sudah mati. Yang tersisa hanya perjuangan terakhirmu."
Meski bingung, Lex memperhatikan sekeliling dan saat melokasi arah suara itu, dia melepaskan bola api lagi. Tapi kali ini tak ada kecelakaan yang menghalangi, dan pembunuh sendiri menghindar dengan mudah.
Tapi saat dia menoleh ke Lex untuk bersuka-suka, dia terkejut melihat pria berkobar-jalan menuju dia. Lex benar-benar membakar diri sendiri!
Ini bukan taktik pengalih. Sebaliknya, Lex bertindak berdasarkan insting. Dia merasakan semacam lendir menempel di tubuhnya di bagian yang dikena tadi, dan lendir itu hidup serta mencoba menembus kulitnya! Dia merasakan bahaya nyata, otentik, bagi nyawanya dari lendir itu.
Tapi informasi dari instingnya kacau dan samar, dia hanya bisa menebak lendir itu hidup, dan tidak akan lepas dari kulitnya sekarang sudah menempel.
Jadi, memanfaatkan ketahanan tubuhnya, Lex membakar diri sendiri pakai formasi.
Tapi itu belum semuanya. Lebih dari rasa sakit, Lex merasakan rasa malu minor karena harus andal membakar diri sendiri. Perasaan malu itu muncul dari rasa bangga baru-baru ini yang menanamkan diri di Lex saat dia mengatasi banyak ujian. Kini rasa bangga itu memicu api jauh lebih terang dari yang menyelimuti tubuhnya, dan memasukkan pikiran Lex ke keadaan overdrive.
Ini mirip rasa 'flow' yang dulu Lex rasakan, tapi jauh lebih besar, dan dengan jauh lebih sedikit batasan. Bukan hanya pikirannya bekerja lebih cepat menyerap semua informasi dari berbagai indera dan insting, dia hampir bisa memecah pikirannya jadi dua. Dia bisa fokuskan sebagian besar perhatian pada tugas tertentu sambil menyisakan sebagian pemikiran untuk tugas terpisah tanpa mengorbankan kualitas.
Lebih dari itu, dorongan proses berpikernya puluhan kali lipat dari saat dia pakai mahkota buatan ras kristal, atau bahkan saat dulu memasuki keadaan flow sebelum memasuki alam Fondasi.
Dorongan ini akan hebat kalau Lex menduganya. Karena Lex tak menduga, dan tertangkap dalam keadaan tak sadar, seluruh energi mental tambahan difokuskan pada kemarahannya pada pembunuh.
Lex menggunakan teknik yang belum pernah dipakai sejak mempelajarinya, Home Sweet Home, dan, dalam ledakan kecepatan yang hampir tak tertangkap, tiba di depan pembunuh dalam sekejap dan menabrak tubuh berkobarnya ke dia!
Terbakar dan dihancurkan, tubuh pembunuh terlempar tapi Lex menangkap kerah kaki, mencegahnya terbang jauh!
Dengan raungan marah Lex menampar tubuhnya ke tanah dan menapakkan kaki berkobar di dada. Dia arahkan formasi ke wajah pembunuh dan melepaskan bola api.
Tapi, saat bola api hendak menyentuh, tanah di bawahnya runtuh, mengungkap lubang tanah, menggeser tubuhnya keluar jalan.
Lex segera menyerap banyak informasi dan cepat menyimpulkan bahwa untuk serangan non-letal, tak ada kecelakaan, tapi begitu dia coba membunuh pembunuh, sesuatu mencegahnya.
Beberapa teori muncul di benaknya, tapi sebelum dia bisa mencobanya, pembunuh mengeluarkan teriakan marah saat tergantung di lubang tanah dan menghilang langsung dari genggamannya.
Lex menyipitkan mata menarik kesimpulan lain. Pembunuh tak jadi tak terlihat tapi benar-benar menghilang, atau teleport ke tempat lain.
Lex membentuk dua formasi lagi, sepenuhnya mengabaikan fakta dia masih berkobar dan lendir yang menempel di bahu telah terbakar habis.
Dua formasi itu butuh 2,4 detik untuk dibentuk, bahkan dalam keadaan overdrive. Tapi, begitu selesai, aliran energi spiritual mulai berputar mengelilingi dia.
Tubuhnya yang berkobar bertindak seperti batu api, menyalakan energi menjadi tornado api yang mulai meluaskan jangkauan, cepat membakar semua yang tersentuh.
Serangan ini akan mengungkap keterbatasan teleportasi pembunuh jika ada. Nah, itu tak bisa sepenuhnya menguji batas kemampuannya, tapi Lex akan menghapusnya satu-satu.
Dalam beberapa saat tornado telah menyebar ke separuh tanah terlihat dan terus membesar ketika, tiba-tiba dan tanpa peringatan, meteor berkobar jatuh dari langit!
Meteor menghantam tanah jauh dari Lex, menyebabkan ledakan masif yang mengejutkan bahkan Lex. Dia cepat men-deploy Talk to the Hand, menggunakan kedua tangannya memblokir dampak benturan tornado api dan meteor!
Retak terbentuk di perisai tak terlihat, tapi akhirnya bertahan hingga kekuatan ledakan lewat, meninggalkan pemandangan layak kiamat. Hanya dua lahan kecil yang tak terkena - satu di belakang perisai Lex, dan satu lagi, nyaman terhalang batu besar yang menonjol ke tanah.
Di balik batu itu berdiri pembunuh, terengah-engah dan kesakitan. Meski telinga berdenging, pembunuh sempat mendengar suara kecil. Saat menoleh ke atas menyelidiki, dia melihat Lex berkobar, menatap ke bawah dari atas batu, seperti Raja yang hendak menghukum seseorang mati.
More than the heat of the flame or the roar of thunder, it was the pressure of the explosion that rocked Lex. His body shot up into the air like a bullet, spinning and flipping like a gymnast giving his best performance.
It took a few seconds before the overwhelmed and dizzy Lex found a few moments of clarity, and a few seconds more before he was able to stabilize his body. In a heartbeat, he analyzed the damage to his body, and discovered, to his great surprise, that his back was completely unharmed. There was no stab wound, and the pain had completely disappeared, as if it was only his mind.
Other than that, though, he was not in his best state. The shockwave that passed through his body had rattled Lex to his bones, and though he was largely unhurt, the blatant flaw in his array plan hurt him more.
Deciding not to take any more chances, Lex decided to scrap every array he planned on using that would take more than 2 seconds to form. But before he could do anything to attack the murderer, he had to ensure he landed safely.
He formed quick and small arrays to immediately change his trajectory, in case the murderer had something planned for him where he would fall, and immediately slowed down his descent.
But changing the direction did not work, for the moment he landed on the floor, two stabbing pains shot up through his feet, as if he had landed straight into two pikes. Despite the experience from earlier, Lex couldn't help but look down to see that his feet were completely unharmed.
His back tingled, warning of an impending attack, but the pain in his feet and his knee-jerk reaction to investigate them wasted precious moments, making it so he couldn't retaliate like usual. Instead, he leaped forward and fell into a roll to get some distance.
But when he turned back, the murderer was not in sight.
Lex narrowed his eyes. As amateurish as he was in his attacks, the murderer wielded abilities that were genuine and quite lethal. By now Lex had understood that whenever he felt piercing pain, it was fake and served just as a distraction. But he dared not completely ignore the pain in case this was a feint, so that a real attack would follow when he learnt to expect nothing.
He had also somewhat gotten used to the murderer disappearing and consistently attacking from behind him. But even that he dared not get too comfortable with either.
But no matter what he did, Lex would not overcome him by waiting for him to attack first. He thought up a plan quickly and formed an array that caused fog to slowly accumulate at the knee level.
This way, he'd be able to determine as soon as the attacker attempted a single attack. He also formed another array, using the low level fog to hide a trap. But the effectiveness of the trap would depend on if the murderer continued to attack from the back, and the nature of the attack.
If he had managed to bring his thinking cap with him, he would have been able to use more complex and powerful traps, but alas life does not follow one's wishes.
His back tingled once again and, to hide the existence of the trap, Lex dodged normally and just as he turned around to look, his back tingled again.
This time the attack was too fast for him to dodge even with the warning, and something slammed into his back, throwing him onto the ground. The attack was not sharp and piercing, like he had been expecting from the knife. Instead, it was a large blunt force, as if he had been hit by a beanbag or something.
"You are nothing, idiot!" the murderer yelled, his voice filled with both anger and jubilation. "You are nothing. You are dead. All that remains is your final struggle."
Even disoriented, Lex was paying attention to his surroundings and the moment he located the direction the sound was coming from he fired off another fireball. But this time no accident happened to block the attack, and the murderer himself dodged it easily.
Yet when he turned to Lex to gloat, he was startled to find a flaming man walking his way. Lex had actually lit himself on fire!
This was not a diversionary tactic. Instead, Lex was acting off of his instincts. He felt that some kind of goo had latched onto his body where he had been hit earlier, and the goo was alive and trying to penetrate his skin! He felt actual, genuine danger for his life from the goo.
But the information provided by his instincts was jumbled and vague, he could only determine that the goo was alive, and that it would not come off his skin easily now that it had latched on.
So, taking advantage of his body's toughness, Lex lit himself on fire using an array.
But that was not all. More than pain, Lex felt a minor sense of humiliation at having to rely on having to light himself on fire. This feeling of humiliation came from a recent sense of pride that had planted itself in Lex as he overcame so many trials. Now this pride was fueling a flame much brighter than the one covering his body, and it sent Lex's mind into a state of overdrive.
It was similar to the sense of 'flow' that Lex used to get, but much greater, and with far fewer restrictions. Not only did his mind work faster to absorb all the information his various senses and instincts were providing him, he could almost split his mind into two. He could focus a majority of his attention on a certain task while leaving a portion of his thoughts to focus on a separate task without compromising the quality of work.
Moreover, the boost in his thought process was dozens of times greater than when he used the crown made by the crystal race, or even when he used to enter the state of flow before he entered the Foundation realm.
This boost would have been great if Lex had anticipated it. Since Lex did not anticipate it, and was caught in the state unaware, all his extra mental energy was focused on his anger at the murderer.
Lex used the technique he hadn't used a single time since he learnt it, Home Sweet Home, and, in a burst of speed, barely comprehensible, arrived before the murder in the blink of an eye and slammed his burning body right into him!
Burned and crushed, the murderer's body was flung away but Lex caught his ankle, keeping him from flying away!
With a furious bellowing roar Lex slammed his body into the ground and put his flaming foot on his chest. He aimed his array at the murderer's face and launched a flame ball at him.
But, just as the flame ball was about to hit him, the ground beneath him collapsed, revealing a sinkhole, moving his body out of the way.
Lex immediately absorbed a lot of information and quickly drew the conclusion that for nonlethal attacks, there would be no accidents, but as soon as he tried to kill the murderer, something would prevent it.
A few theories propped into his mind, but before he could try them out, the murderer let out an angry yelp as he dangled over the sinkhole and disappeared right from within his hand.
Lex squinted his eyes as he drew another conclusion. The murderer was not turning invisible but disappearing entirely, or teleporting somewhere else.
Lex formed two more arrays, entirely ignoring the fact that he was still on fire and the goo that had latched onto his shoulder had been completely burnt off by now.
The two arrays took him 2.4 seconds to form, even in his overdrive state. But, once they were completed a surge of spiritual energy started flowing around him, spinning in a circle.
His burning body acted like a flint, and lit up the energy into a fiery tornado that began expanding outwards, quickly burning everything it touched.
This attack would reveal the limitations of the murderers teleportation if there were any. Well, it could not entirely test the limitation of his ability, but Lex would eliminate them one by one.
In only a few moments the tornado had spread across half the visible land and continued to grow when, spontaneously and without warning, a burning meteor fell from the sky!
The meteor crashed into the ground some distance from Lex, causing a massive explosion that startled even Lex. He quickly deployed Talk to the Hand, using both his hands to block the aftermath of the clash between the fiery tornado and meteor!
Cracks formed in the invisible shield, but it ultimately held until the force of the explosion passed, leaving in its wake a site fit for armageddon. Only two small patches of land seemed unharmed - one behind Lex's shield, and another, conveniently blocked by a massive rock that jutted into the ground.
Behind that rock stood the murderer, panting and in pain. Though his ears were ringing, the murderer managed to hear a small sound. When he looked up to investigate he saw a flaming Lex, looking down at him from the top of the rock, like a King about to sentence one to death.
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