[North Leighburne]

  Hearing a beep on his communication's device, Ren pulled it out only to have it project a screen in front of him. Elizabeth's face expressed shock before running towards the screen.

  "It can do that?!" Elizabeth said, pushing Ren as she made her way to it.

  Katherine slightly chuckled before reminding Elizabeth that she laughed because Ren fell, not because of her.

  "Geez you're a bigger bitch than me..." Elizabeth scowled.

  Katherine pointed a finger to her lips as she made a "teehee" noise.

  "You betcha~!" Katherine said sarcastically.

  The two glared at each other, making Ren wonder if he was cursed to always be in the middle of Katherine's cat fights. The fallen investigator grimaced, before slowly getting up. Looking at the screen, he witnessed Oliver transforming and fighting an unknown fester.

  "No wonder that guy seemed so confident. His suit looks dumb though..." Elizabeth commented.

  Katherine shrugged, looking at the suit with slight warmness.

  "I for one think it suits him." Katherine retorted.

  As the two women began arguing about suit designs and aesthetics, Ren quickly began checking where the transmission came from. Checking the frequency the communication unit received the feed from, he figured out it was from headquarters itself. That revelation enraged him.

  "Why? He's only just a child..."

  His scarf floating in the wind, the wetness on the ground causing him to sink slightly, and the air despair enveloping the town square. They all didn't matter to Oliver Rand.

  Clenching his fist, he bent forward slightly before running at the Fester at high speeds. As he reached closer to the creature, he propelled himself upwards as his fist coated itself in descent energy.

  "High jump punch of death!" He yelled as he plummeted down.

  Before Oliver could reach the Fester however, it had already appeared behind him. Such monstrous speeds were frightening.

  Feeling the heel of the creature crash into his back, Oliver was shot down into the ground - creating a large crater beneath him. Parts of his armour broke off from the sheer force, though it wasn't that hard to regenerate it back together.

  "At least creating new armour doesn't use up much descent energy... But in any case, this guy's way too strong. It's almost like cheating.... No I should be grateful. If he was even a newborn apocalypse Fester, I'd be dead before I could even say 'AHHHH IS THAT AN APOCALYP-' wait no I wouldn't die saying something as cringey as that... Wait what was I talking about? Oh right the mons-" before he could finish his thought, the Fester rammed its lance deep into him.

  Coughing up blood all over the inside of his helmet, Oliver cursed at the creature.

  "The fuck was that?!" He yelled.

  The creature tilted its head, almost confused by his shock.

  "We are enemies... Did you expect me to go easy on you?" It asked, pushing the lance deeper into him.

  Oliver screamed out in pain, feeling the cold steel of the lance replacing the feeling of his insides. Thinking quickly, he chopped the lance off right between the difference between it and his stomach. The Fester attempted to push it even deeper, however Oliver kicked the creature away with a descent energy filled kick.

  As it was being sent flying away, the Fester clenched its hand - energy warping around the fist. One of the eyes on his wings then closes, causing him to stop midair. Seeing the opportunity, Oliver ran up to the creature - kicking it as hard as he could. However, it didn't budge. In fact... It felt like he was hitting a steel beam that was lodged into the ground.

  "This some kinda bullshit or something?" Oliver complained.

  The creature frowned before opening its hand back up. The eye on its wing closed before it hit Oliver with a spin kick. The force sent Oliver flying, but he was more focused on how much it hurt compared to earlier.

  "How did he get stronger? Does it have an ability that makes it hit harder after preserving something- wait... No. It used the momentum generated from being thrown away, then redirected it to me. What a total monster" Oliver thought, still feeling the pain throughout his entire body.

  As the pain finally cleared up for him to notice his surroundings, he realised that he was heading straight towards a tree. Thinking quickly, he used his scarf to grab onto the tree, pulling it tight so he could stand upright on its side.

  "Well you're not the only one who can use momentum!" Oliver said, filling his legs and feet with descent energy.

  Pulling his scarf to the point of almost tearing it, Oliver jumped off the tree as he let go of his scarf. He was propelled forward like a missile, hitting the Fester before it could even react. On top of that, using his enhanced brain function - he was able to grab the Fester before his feet could touch the ground - slamming it into the ground. It was slightly cathartic after the stunt it pulled on him earlier.

  "Double whammy!" Oliver yelled victoriously.

  However he wasn't finished with his revenge game just yet. Filling his legs with even more descent energy, he crashed into the Fester with incredible force.

  "Triple kill!" Oliver yelled even more passionately than before.

  The civilians looked at Oliver with slight disappointment, wondering if he was trying to save them or play bouncy castle with the Fester's body. Oliver looked at them with a scowl, clearly not happy they ruined his fun time.

  "What ya looking at?!" Oliver yelled at them.

  The civilians froze for a moment - Oliver laughing victoriously.

  "Is that really the person that's gonna save us?" One of the civilians asked, scratching his head.

  "He seems more like a hooligan though..." Another asked in response.

  Oliver heard these accusations, feeling a pang of sadness strike his heart. He lifted up his visor, revealing the mask underneath with big - rather cutesy - bug eyes underneath.

  "How cruel the masses are..." Oliver said with a sarcastic amount of sadness.

  Hearing rubble move behind him, Oliver turned around only to be punched right in the face. Without the added protection of his visor, his helmet broke - leaving one half cracked open. Seeing his enraged eyes, the Fester chuckled.

  "Indeed... The masses are cruel. They revere you - a worthless person who believes selfishness is justice - but shun me for desiring to preserve the world's beauty." The Preservation Fester retorted.

  Oliver glared at the beast, before regenerating his armour and landing a hit on it.

  "Shut it with your shitty monologue!" His fist covered in descent energy.

  As the fist connected, Oliver could feel something strange happen. It felt as if his fist had remained unchanged in strength despite his previous boosting. Looking at the creature's wings - he saw one eye closed.

  "This is seriously cheating… it can preserve other people?!" Oliver's eyes widened.

  Grabbing Oliver's arm, it flung him as far as it could throw - before quickly matching the distance. Slamming Oliver into the ground, the Fester then preserved the state of the debris flying in the air to use as platforms. Jumping off each piece of debris, it strikes Oliver with its six arms over and over and over again. He could feel his armour slowly break off as the immense pain from the attacks overwhelmed his mind. He wasn't even sure if he could stay conscious.

  Using his accelerated mind - he tried to find an opening - however saw not even a single crack to escape from his hellish cage. What he did notice, was that the Fester's wings had three open eyes instead of one. This sparked a plan in his bird brain.

  Using his eye of truth, he looked at the descent energy from his surroundings. Just as he thought, the Fester's technique imbued the object it preserved with descent energy. Checking his descent energy reservoir, he confirmed it to be less than 50%.

  "I guess I get to kill two birds with one stone" Oliver thought to himself, weakly pulling the trigger on his driver.

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  He began consuming the energy imbued within the debris, causing the Fester to lose footing. Oliver also took into account that two of its eyes closed after the energy had been consumed.

  As the Fester fell, Oliver pulled the trigger on his belt once again - activating an execution. The armour plates on his legs began opening up slightly - letting the green descent energy flow out like smoke from an exhaust pipe. Although, instead of just the turquoise green this time, Oliver could see sprinkles of gold in the expelled energy. The sight gave him an idea for an awesome new name.

  "Finisher: Golden finishing ender kick!"

  Crashing through the Fester midair, golden stars sparkled as he went by. It almost seemed like a brush of turquoise and gold painted the sky. Rubbing above his upper lip, Oliver felt victorious.

  "Sheesh, that was cool. I should do more flashy finishers more often" Oliver said to himself, placing a hand on his driver.

  As he was about to take it off, Oliver felt intense pressure coming from behind him. He stopped for a moment, sighing before cautiously turning to the Fester. Seeing the creature stand tall and strong, Oliver cursed himself. Cursed himself for always thinking that fights would be easy.

  "Underestimation is my middle name at this point... Wait no it's Liam... Ugh! Why'd you name me something so weird, Auntie!" Oliver yelled.

  In response to his... Less than satisfactory reaction - the Fester tilted its head.

  "How are you not shocked? I came out unscathed after such a powerful attack, and you only shrug and complain? Are you a monster... Or an idiot?" The preservation Fester grit its teeth.

  Looking at the angered beast, Oliver made a mocking gesture with his hands before taking off a bit of his helmet.

  "What's there to be shocked about? You just preserved yourself. See, even your wings only have three eyes left open. You're acting like I'm meeting Shohei Otani..." Oliver said, smirking.

  The Fester's expression turned from anger to confusion before asking who he was talking about.

  "You don't know Shohei Otani? He's like... The best Baseball player from exalt- oh wait yeah... You're a monster made from descent energy... Damn you should really watch baseball it's dope." Oliver retorted.

  The Fester's look of confusion turned to shock then to anger before creating multiple lances - one for each arm. Pulling his arms back the creature screamed at the man.

  "WHY DOES BASEBALL HAVE TO DO WITH OUR FIGHT?!" It wailed as it began stabbing with the lances.

  With Oliver's agility, he was easily able to dodge the attacks - even making some space between the two with a back flip. Putting his helmet back on, Oliver watched from a distance as the Fester began looking for him - the creature's blind rage causing its hunting abilities to be impaired.

  "So the preservation ability doesn't have a time limit - or at least if it does, it takes a really long time to go away - so stalling isn't really an option. Hmm... There must be a weakness to it. One caveat..." Then he realised it. "No wonder he started off with a territory..." Oliver thought to himself, flicking his thumb over his cheek.

  The Fester finally found Oliver, charging him down like a bull. Knowing that he couldn't damage it, Oliver dodged out of the way and ran as fast as he could. Observing what Oliver was doing - it noticed he was heading towards the direction of his dagger that was lodged into the ground. Smirking, the creature intercepted his attack. However with his quick thinking skills, Oliver used his scarf to pull the dagger out of the ground and into the air.

  As the dagger slowly fell from the sky, Oliver tried to reach out to it, but the Fester preserved its state - trapping it into the sky. Feeling victorious, the Fester triumphantly turned to the investigator with smirk. Instead however, Oliver began running away from the scene.

  "What a cowardly way to fight... Children like you should-" but before it could use its preservation ability on itself - it stopped after realising it had only two charges left.

  Realising the situation Oliver put it in, the Preservation Fester grew even more enraged. Grinding its teeth into each other - so hard that some sparks flew from its mouth - it began chasing after the damned investigator.

  As Oliver expected, without preserving the momentum of its body, it was no faster than a super class - And for Oliver who could run at 50km an hour in his suit... Out running it was a breeze. Compared to the Fester, he was practically a blur. A blur that hit like a truck. Appearing right in front of the Fester, he landed a strong hit filled with descent energy. The force was not enough to send it flying back - which was exactly what the investigator wanted. He continued to hit and attack the Fester, using his agility and speed to dodge and weave through the creature's attacks - despite its number advantage.

  "Damn, you're so slow. Are you sure you're even a disaster class?" Oliver mocked.

  This enraged the Fester, impaling all of its Lance's towards Oliver. He quickly jumped out of the way however - not one of the weapons even grazing him armour.

  High up in the air, Oliver grabbed onto his floating dagger with his scarf. Swinging towards it, he dangled right under the tip. Looking down at the drop beneath him, his hands trembled a bit. Looking back up at the dagger however, he steeled his nerves. Placing his finger on his driver's trigger, he activated the consumption function - which produced an unintended result. Not only did the descent energy imbued into it get absorbed... The entire attachment unit was absorbed into his driver. His scarf unfurled as he began plummeting to the ground.

  "SHITTTTTT" Oliver yelled trying to desperately find something to swing onto.

  Seeing the investigator fall, the Fester took the opportunity with glee. Moving right under where Oliver would fall, it angled its six lances at him - effectively creating a spike trap.

  Falling further and further downward, Oliver crossed his arms in X pattern - in an attempt to protect his face.

  "I just wanted to do a cool move!" Oliver yelled out.

  As if listening to his cries, Oliver's driver began blinking for a moment before the faux-mouth opened up, spitting out his dagger. His eyes widened for a moment, as if realising something.

  "So that's what she was talking about..."

  He quickly grabbed the weapon using his scarf, pushing against the handle of the dagger with his sole.

  "Special move: Surprise dagger kick stab"

  As the dagger came in contact with wall of lances - they began cracking. With the added force and momentum from Oliver's descent - the hard metal-like flesh weapons began to crack and eventually shatter as if they were rock. His path of destruction as he reached the Fester's body - the preservation it had used creating an impenetrable defence. It almost seemed like the Fester's victory, however Oliver noticed the pained expression on the Fester's face.

  Jumping off its body, Oliver landed quite a distance away. He took off his helmet temporarily, wiping the sweat off his cheek. Looking at the Fester, Oliver took a deep breath.

  "Okay let's do this. I gotta be a full on bastard this time... It's show time." He said flipping up his dagger and catching it so the blade points towards his body.

  Dashing towards the Fester he began attacking it from all sides. His attacks were relentless, not letting the creature even think. All it could feel was the pain of his blade hitting its skin. Despite now wounds being left in the skin - the monster could feel the gushing, gorey, gruesome wounds. Its twisted form of preservation biting him in the back. The Fester couldn't take it anymore.

  His used his ability to preserve the dagger once again - leaving it floating in the air as Oliver went for an attack. He quickly countered with an overhead swing, causing even more pain to the Fester. Grinning, Oliver felt satisfied. Not because he hurt the Fester, but because his final suspicion was confirmed after the Fester specifically chose to preserve his dagger instead of him. For some reason, preserving a living creature more than once had a caveat. A caveat Oliver could take advantage of.

  Hitting the ground beneath him, he created a storm of dust to cloud the Fester's vision. As the Fester was busy trying to get rid of the dust, it heard Oliver absorbing the descent energy from his dagger. It immediately put up a defensive front - not wanting to be barraged with attacks once more. However Oliver didn't care for its pleas as he came in rushing. Slicing, punching, kicking. He did anything to inflict pain on the Fester. It was pure torture. What worth is there to an impenetrable body if pain could still affect you. It had to find a way out of this loop of pain.

  Its hands covered in energy - the creature clenched tightly, causing the weapon to halt once more. This didn't deter Oliver however as he punched the creature one last time.

  "I don't need a weapon to hurt you dumbass!" The fist crashed through the Fester like 8 ton truck.

  Being flung back, it fell to the ground, desperately trying to get up. However Oliver wasn't done. Kicking its head in, Oliver began laughing. Repeatedly he began stomping on the creature, using it to get all his aggression out.

  "That's for hurting my sister!" Kick. "That's for stabbing me in the gut!" Kick. "That's for hurting all these innocent people!" Kick.

  To the Fester, Oliver seemed like a monster. His wide grin. The red tear lines running down from his cheeks. His right glowing turquoise eye illuminating his crazed expression. It terrified the creature beyond belief. Like many Festers before it... The Preservation Fester became prey. And when prey are hunted. They lose all rationality.

  Grinding its teeth, it reached its arms out before screaming at the man.

  "Get away from me!" The creature shouted, using its preservation power to freeze Oliver in place.

  Locked in place, Oliver felt a strange feeling of helplessness. Though he wasn't scared in the slightest.

  The creature's reserved look slowly faded as it began laughing from relief. It looked at Oliver with a victorious grin, before seeing the two daggers floating midair.

  "Why are there tw-" but before it could finish its thought, it exploded in blood.

  All the eyes on its wings opened up as the wounds it had accumulated came back in an instant - it's purple blood coating the floor with its disgusting presence. The Fester gasped before beginning to hyperventilated.

  "H- how? I should've had enough charges. A second living preserve only costs 2... Why...? Why was I punished?!" The Fester yelled, causing more blood to escape from its mouth.

  Oliver who had been freed from his temporary shackles, picked up his two daggers before slamming them together. He looked down at the Fester before staring at it with disgusted pity.

  "You should really keep a cool head. You might not even realise you're out of moves" Oliver said, blowing on the dagger.

  Looking at the man, it clenched the soft soil beneath it.

  "How... What kind of tricks did you play? Where did that second dagger come from." The Fester asked weakly.

  Looking at the blade Oliver shrugged.

  "It can split - that's the effect it has. Simple as that. I learned it when it was absorbed into my driver... Although I think Ms. Cecilia was talking about it back then but I was too excited... I do that a lot actually. I get too giddy and completely tune out everything else. You know that actually reminds me of one time..." Oliver continued to ramble on about ridiculous topics that - the longer it went on - strayed away from the original topic.

  It was... Infuriating. The Fester knew exactly why Oliver was doing it. Why, he had the option to do it. Because he won. In the battle, he was the victor, and it was the loser. That fact was not only humiliating, but downright disrespectful.

  As its rage became closer and closer to something more akin to hatred, the Fester gained one last wind. One last chance to get its revenge. It gained one last desire to punish the pathetic human in front of it that dared to challenge the order of the world. It must preserve world order. It must preserve the position of Festers. As the predator of humanity.

  Lunging one more time at Oliver, it struck him with so much force that it sent the investigator flying backwards.

  As he crashed into the ground unceremoniously - half of his helmet broke off, causing his skin to scrape against the floor. The pain made Oliver scream - that singular action giving the Fester the opportunity to deal its final attack. To deal justice on a man writhing in taboo.

  All five of its eyes opened thanks to the penalty it was given earlier, however it didn't need any more preserves. It only needs one. It only needed to preserve Oliver's pain.

  In an instant, Oliver was hit with a constant - unending pain that went throughout his entire body. It was like an annoying itch dialed up to eleven. The pain was neverending, it was eternal, it was torture. No matter how many times he tried to get rid of the pain, it remained. No amount of screaming, writhing or healing would make it go away.

  As his mind desperately tried to think of ways to get rid of the pain, he remembered how the rocks from earlier fell down after he had absorbed the descent energy from them. His hands trembling, he desperately clung onto the trigger of his driver.

  "N- no... I just have to absorb the energy... I just have to-"

  [ERROR. ENERGY SOURCE IS LOCATED IN HOST. UNABLE TO ABSORB]

  Those words were the same as hearing your death sentence.