My Scumbag System Chapter 477: Return to Sender, with Interest

Reyna’s countenance shifted through a spectrum of striking hues.

Utter disbelief.

A stark refusal to accept.

Blazing fury.

"Very well. No lightning will be employed."

With a sharp gesture, she disbanded all her summoned constructs, the electrical figures dissipating into faint arcs of light. Subsequently, she advanced towards me. This was to be a direct physical confrontation, devoid of any supernatural Aspect. It was a contest of sheer physicality, speed, and the raw, fundamental principles of combat for someone trained since childhood.

Her agility was astounding.

Beyond human levels.

Her initial strike aimed for my face, and I barely managed to erect a defensive posture in time. The force of the impact sent tremors through my entire frame. Her follow-up punch bypassed my guard, striking my ribs precisely where they were still recovering from prior injuries.

An intense, white-hot agony surged through my chest.

I faltered, stumbling backward.

She capitalized on my momentary lapse with a spinning kick, a blow that would have certainly beheaded me had I not managed to evade it with a swift duck. The rush of displaced air grazed the top of my head. I retaliated, swinging my bat in a wide, sweeping motion.

She executed a backward flip, narrowly avoiding the trajectory of my swing by mere inches, and landed in a flawless three-point fighting stance.

"That’s better."

"Thank you. I’ve been putting in the work."

"It’s still not sufficient."

She resumed her assault, this time unleashing a rapid succession of strikes. A jab, a cross, a hook, an uppercut, followed by a spinning elbow, and culminating in a knee strike. Every technique was executed with textbook precision, ingrained into her muscle memory through countless hours of rigorous training under elite coaches.

I parried the blows I could intercept. Absorbed the impact of those I couldn't. All the while, my Kinetic Absorption ability processed every hit, fueling the steady increase of my stats.

The exchange of blows felt protracted, stretching into what seemed like hours, though in reality, it was likely mere minutes. She possessed a clear technical superiority in every facet of combat. Her form was immaculate. Her timing was impeccable. Each strike landed precisely where she intended it to.

However, my strength had now significantly increased.

My concealed statistics versus her legitimate A-Rank training regimen.

And the gap between us was rapidly diminishing.

"You possess more resilience than your appearance suggests," she conceded, her breathing growing heavier. Sweat clung to her crimson hair, plastering it to her forehead, and her pristine combat attire was marred by both dust and scorch marks from our forceful collisions.

"You chatter far too much."

I initiated the Shade Cloak ability.

My physical form dissolved into the surrounding shadows. A single second of intangibility was all I needed to slip past her defenses, reappearing directly behind her, my bat already descending in a powerful arc aimed at her kidney.

By some means, she anticipated my move. Twisting in mid-air, she brought up a palm crackling with potent electricity. The bolt struck my chest at point-blank range.

My Lightning Rod ability absorbed it effortlessly, much like water being drunk.

The entire electrical discharge was absorbed without even the slightest residual sensation.

Then, I unleashed it.

All the accumulated electrical energy I had stored since the commencement of our engagement. Every marionette she had previously controlled. Every bolt she had fired. Every spark she had conjured. I redirected it all through my palm, concentrating it into a powerful beam that illuminated the entire arena with blinding intensity.

The concentrated lightning struck Reyna squarely in the chest, propelling her off her feet and sending her hurtling backward across the sandy terrain.

She landed heavily on the ground. Subsequently rolled, then struggled to a kneeling position, wisps of smoke emanating from her damaged combat suit.

The roar of the crowd surged, reaching a deafening crescendo.

Yet, a smile graced her lips.

A genuine smile, despite a trickle of blood emerging from the corner of her mouth.

"Now, this is becoming interesting."

She rose unsteadily, visible currents of electricity arcing around her body. Her emerald eyes blazed with an authentic spark of excitement.

"Reveal your true capabilities, Stray Dog."

A palpable shift occurred in the atmosphere.

The ambient temperature sharply increased. The sand beneath our feet began to vibrate ominously. And it became starkly clear to me that Reyna, too, had been holding back her full power.

All this time.

She had been toying with me, gauging my limits, observing my potential.

Now, the true battle was poised to commence.

Nel's voice cut through the tension, a note of urgent warning.

Reyna’s Aspect erupted outward, manifesting as a tempest of crimson lightning that transformed the entire arena into a chaotic warzone. No longer mere marionettes. No longer simple electrical bolts. This was a complete manifestation of her formidable power, electricity pouring from her very being as if she had become a living conduit.

The Volt Marionettes she now summoned were not rudimentary puppets.

They were instruments of destruction.

Possessing humanoid forms sculpted from raw destructive energy, each one crackled with a voltage sufficient to power a small city block. They moved in perfect synchronicity with her, extensions of her will, and their coordinated assaults resembled the fluid motion of a single, unified organism rather than independent constructs.

I evaded the initial onslaught. It was a near thing. The guidance of Arrows, a protective ability, directed my movements, compelling a sharp left turn when logic dictated a right, forcing me into a low crouch when instinct urged a jump.

However, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

A lightning-wrought fist impacted my shoulder. Agonizing pain erupted. While Kinetic Absorption managed to convert the sheer force, the electrical component itself inflicted a searing burn, permeating my combat suit and leaving a smoldering crater in the fabric.

Another strike landed. My thigh. Another agonizing burn.

Yet another. My back. I was forced to one knee.

The roar of the spectators intensified, reaching a fever pitch.

I caught the sound of Natalia screaming my name from somewhere amidst the stands. Her raw terror resonated through Sovereign’s Mandate, a chilling spike of fear transmitted across our established bond.

Reyna advanced towards me, walking through the self-generated storm of her power, electricity dancing across her skin, her eyes radiating an intense, supernatural glow.

"You put up a commendable fight. Exceeding my expectations, quite frankly." She loomed over me, gazing down with an expression that might have held a sliver of respect. "However, this is where your journey concludes."

"Not yet."

I managed to rise to my feet.

My legs felt unsteady, my arms trembled uncontrollably. Blood trickled from my nose, a memento from one of her constructs that had grazed me. Yet, I forced myself to stand, for yielding was simply not an option.

Reyna’s countenance contorted into frustration. "Why do you persist in this futile struggle?"

"Because I’m too dense to comprehend defeat."

I lifted my bat, channeling every residual spark of electricity stored within me, activating the Return to Sender function of Lightning Rod. The immense power I had gathered since the commencement of this battle—from every marionette, every crackling bolt, every stray spark—was now coalescing into a singular, concentrated point.

Then, with a surge of will, I unleashed it all in a single, devastating discharge.

The resulting detonation of lightning that erupted from my position was nothing short of cataclysmic. A towering column of unadulterated electrical fury ascended directly into the rapidly darkening heavens, bathing the entirety of the island in an intense, stark white luminescence.

Reyna’s carefully crafted storm dissolved into nothingness.

Her intricate marionettes were reduced to fragments.

The electromagnetic pulse emanating from my retaliatory strike swept across the combat arena like a colossal shockwave, instantly scrambling and disabling every electronic device within a two-hundred-meter radius. Cameras went dead. The scoreboard flickered and succumbed. Even the auxiliary emergency lighting systems sputtered and died, plunging the area into gloom.

And amidst the sudden, profound darkness, illuminated only by the fading embers of the electrical afterglow, I charged forward.

Reyna had barely enough time to brace herself, to summon her defenses, before I was upon her. My bat collided violently with her hastily conjured ice-construct shield—wait, ice? Since when did she possess the ability to wield—

The shield imploded under the force of the impact.

My subsequent blow struck her shoulder, violently spinning her around. She attempted to create some measure of distance, but I was already closing the gap, matching her every movement. The accumulated buffs I possessed rendered me swift enough to keep pace with someone trained by S-Rank combatants.

We exchanged a furious flurry of blows within the enveloping darkness. Fist against fist. No supernatural Aspects. No cunning stratagems. It was simply two combatants who had irrevocably pushed past their perceived limits, fueled by sheer, unadulterated animosity.

She landed a brutal uppercut that sent jarring vibrations through my skull. I retaliated with a powerful body shot that elicited a pained cough of blood from her.

She executed a swift leg sweep, attempting to bring me down. I countered by pulling her down with me.

We crashed onto the sandy ground together, our struggle escalating into a desperate grapple. Her nails raked across my face as I desperately sought leverage for a counter-throw.

"You are utterly insane!"

"Most likely!"

Just then, the backup generators roared to life, flooding the arena once more with harsh, unforgiving white light.

We disengaged, rolling to our feet in near unison, both of us bleeding, breathing raggedly, and sporting wide, savage grins that bordered on madness.

The presiding referee glanced between us, his hesitation evident, clearly torn between intervening to halt the contest or allowing us to continue until one of us was no longer standing.

Reyna swiped a trickle of blood from her split lip. "Again."

"Yeah."

We surged towards each other once more, and the very foundations of the Crucible Arena seemed to tremble under the sheer intensity of our renewed collision.