My Shard Bearer System - Elias's Legacy
Chapter 123: A running Sprint

Chapter 123: A running Sprint

The Announcer spread his arms.

"There you have it. One built to break you open. One built to take everything you throw—and give it back."

He smiled as the arena began to shift beneath them.

"Let’s begin."

The platform solidified beneath their feet—glass-paneled stone with dark seams running like veins through the surface. The sky overhead was pale gray, flat and silent, as if the world held its breath.

Ravel didn’t move.

Camber adjusted his stance slightly—weight low, hands loose. Bairn hovered just behind him, arms curled like thick rope, soft limbs flexing in slow motion.

A single tone rang across the space.

The fight began.

Ravel stepped forward. Just a step—sharp, grounded.

Then the vertebrae moved.

One segment spun wide, breaking orbit, its edge catching the light as it drifted past Camber’s left shoulder. The rest of the ring followed, re-aligning with quiet, fluid shifts.

Camber didn’t flinch. He circled to the side, slow, deliberate. His Ikona mirrored the arc, one hand widening as if bracing for contact.

A second passed. Then Ravel struck.

His body snapped forward—torso twisting mid-run, arm winding in a strange diagonal like a joint had come unhinged. The angle should’ve been off. It wasn’t.

Camber dipped low. Bairn surged in front—shield expanding. The blow landed full-force into the outer layer of that soft, translucent barrier.

No impact sound.

Just a low hum, followed by a recoil snap as the force bled backward and vanished.

Camber rose again.

Ravel was already behind him.

Elias blinked. "Did he—?"

Kikaru’s eyes narrowed. "Reactive Twist. He rotated mid-stride."

One vertebra shot forward.

Camber shifted, but too late. The bone clipped his shoulder—latched.

It stuck like a hooked spike, half-embedded into muscle. No blood, just tension. His arm dropped an inch.

Then it twitched.

The limb jerked outward—fingers flexing without command. Camber didn’t react. His weight shifted again, and he adjusted with his other arm, eyes locked, still breathing evenly.

Ravel’s footwork was tighter now. No circling—just angles.

Another feint. Then Vessel Drag.

A short snap of red thread flicked from his palm, catching Camber mid-step.

His right leg staggered—ankle dragging half a second behind his weight.

Bairn surged forward again. A blunt arm struck the ground beside Camber, pulsing. A soft thud followed—a directed burst of pressure.

Ravel skidded back, one boot grinding into the floor to hold balance.

Elias leaned forward. "That was stored force. From the last hit."

"Yup," Kikaru muttered.

The vertebra on Camber’s shoulder pulsed red.

Then detonated.

He stumbled forward, breath escaping, that whole side of his body seizing once.

The next strike came with no windup—just Ravel pivoting on his heel, fist swinging horizontally with the kind of clean, mechanic precision that didn’t waste movement.

Camber didn’t block.

He leaned backward, letting the blow pass just inches from his face. No twitch. No flinch. Just fluid readjustment. The floor whispered beneath his boots.

The bone ring behind Ravel adjusted again. Two vertebrae lifted from their path, drifting in a loose, deliberate arc behind Camber’s back.

Ravel didn’t follow the missed punch with another. He let his arm drop, then shifted his weight forward—just enough to mask the change.

One vertebra snapped downward.

It struck for the base of Camber’s neck, silent and fast.

Bairn caught it mid-fall.

One of the Ikona’s three arms unfolded upward like it had been waiting, thick fingers closing around the spike as it struck. No sound—just a faint shimmer as the energy coating the vertebra burned off against that strange, soft surface.

Ravel didn’t blink. He was already moving.

His next step came diagonally—foot landing where Camber’s center line should’ve been, fist already coming up from a lower angle.

Camber twisted, redirecting his body into a half-step that rolled with the movement rather than resist it. The strike clipped his ribs, but didn’t land clean.

Still—enough impact to store.

Bairn inhaled.

Not with lungs. Not with air. Its chest cavity expanded just slightly, almost imperceptibly—like the damage passed through Camber and settled in the Ikona instead.

Two vertebrae peeled away from Ravel’s orbit. They floated outward—slow, deliberate—then shot forward with the speed of thrown daggers. No shine. No warning.

Camber slipped to his right. The first spike missed, carving the air beside his neck. The second grazed his bicep and split the fabric clean. Blood opened in a fine red line down his arm. He didn’t flinch.

Ravel moved. No flourish. No buildup. Just three steps and a rotation—shoulder lowering, elbow tight, the twist of his torso unnatural.

Camber tried to counter the angle. He was too slow.

The uppercut slammed into his chin and lifted him half off the ground. His teeth clicked. His jaw snapped sideways. His head rocked back as his legs lost structure beneath him.

Before he could fall, another vertebra struck low.

It hit the back of his left knee and forced it to fold inward. Camber crashed down awkwardly, knee bouncing, shoulder nearly dislocating as his body collapsed uneven.

Bairn shifted to intercept, but a separate spike clipped the Ikona in the chest. It didn’t stop to react. It simply folded the hit into its mass—but the soft glow inside it dulled for the first time.

Ravel advanced.

A knee came up fast and buried into Camber’s ribs. Bone cracked. He gagged, blood spilling between his teeth.

Then the tether fired.

Red energy snapped out from Ravel’s palm and latched just above Camber’s collarbone. The delay hit like a wrench behind the skin. His arm lagged, shoulder out of sequence. His fingers twitched violently against the floor as the signal stuttered through his body.

The first punch landed on his temple.

The second smashed into his jaw.

The third split the inside of his lip and made the rest of him go limp.

Camber’s hand scraped the stone. He pushed with his palm—just once—just enough to activate the stored force buried in his chest.

Recoil Sync.

The shockwave exploded upward through the floor, struck Ravel clean in the torso, and staggered him for the first time.