Feeling out other people’s levels was weird. Despite the System existing, there were no numbers above people’s heads to conveniently spell out how strong they were. It was all more like a gut feeling. It was an intrinsic knowledge in the back of one’s head, sourceless and hard to put into words. When someone looked at a skyscraper, they knew it was ‘tall’, but figuring out the exact number of floors required either an annoying amount of counting or a good point of comparison.
Levels were a bit like that. Dennis could confidently say when someone was super weak, or a bit weaker than him, or more or less the same, or a bit stronger, or hella strong… Most people were ‘super weak’. Almost all of them. When one was on top of a skyscraper, it was hard to say if the building below had three floors or five – it was just small. In the same vein, Dennis had no idea if the ‘super weak’ people he encountered were level one, three, or heck maybe even five or something. His magical senses had a hard time sniffing out people’s levels for some reason.
Actually, he was pretty sure he could guess the reason. While El’el’s theory of world creation was a bit sus, her talks about Divinity and Concepts explained quite a lot. To understand ‘meaning’ was a universal rule, and theoretically that was what allowed him to be able to feel what skills did and even guess their name from observation. But ‘level’ wasn’t a Concept, at least not in the same way as Heroic Dash was for example. It was basically just a measure of accumulated Divinity, and Divinity on its own was supposedly flavorless and lacked ‘meaning’, making it harder to feel.
In short, that was his theory for why it was so hard for him to guess people’s levels now. He was just too strong, and magical senses were a thing tuned for distinguishing ‘flavor’, while exp was more or less flavorless.
He was pretty sure he was right.
Of course, he could just ask El'el for confirmation.
Or…
Or he could just assume that he was right and avoid social interaction.
Wasn’t a hard choice. Free will was doing great things for him.
The Sydney woman seemed to have finished listening to what Mark was telling her, and was steadily walking toward him. Didn’t concern herself with petty things like ‘crowd navigation’, and the guards were practically jumping out of her way as she approached him in a straight line like a missile, their expressions nervous yet deferential. She didn’t even glance at them, her gaze locked on him like she had an inbuilt target-lock feature, straight from a Souls-like game. It made him feel like he was a boss fight, but not in a way that made him feel strong. More like, it felt like he was a boss-fight approached by a persistent player with no equipment and a club. He knew he was stronger. He could one-shot her. His magical senses were telling him that she was insignificant compared to him, like everyone else was. Not a threat.
His fighting talent said ‘danger’. There was something about her that made him tense, despite the feeling of magical superiority.
After all, the High Authority felt like an untouchable god in terms of levels, and it didn’t really work out for the dude.
Dennis wasn’t sure if the woman even blinked. She was, undeniably, the strongest person he had seen since his fight with the High Authority. Definitely the strongest human he knew, if he didn’t count himself. Stronger than Mark and Lily, who both felt about the same, so that would put her level in double digits. How the fuck she had managed to grind so much without the cheat of fighting a literal army and idle leveling was the mystery of the century.
But the levels weren’t the problem. Dennis didn’t care about anyone’s level. It was the feeling of danger.
Sydney wasn’t strong because she had a high level. She had a high level because she was strong.
She stopped right in front of him, just an arm’s reach away. Didn’t say anything, just stood there like a statue, seemingly trying to burn a hole in him with her gaze.
Dennis didn’t really care or react, lazily studying her back.
In the back of his mind he noted that their surroundings got really quiet. There were no conversations around them anymore, not even an awkward cough. It was like the world held its breath.
None of them moved.
He still couldn’t quite understand where the feeling of danger was coming from. Sydney was plain-looking, and didn’t have any weapons. He wondered if maybe she was a brawler-type, but her stance was wrong. She didn’t have a stance, she just stood like a normal person. She wasn’t visibly fit beyond what was normal, no excessive muscles or anything, just some auntie. Unlike how it was with Jack, who clearly had some sort of ‘pointy’ skill that Dennis could feel when it was aimed at him, Sydney didn’t give off any vibes like that. It was making him a bit anxious, something inside of him was wary of her, but he couldn’t see any attack vectors. It left his fighting instincts confused. He was somewhat aware that he was getting halfway into his fighting mode, but for the first time he wasn’t sure how to fight someone. Just like one part of him warned him of danger, another one just couldn’t get it.
Mary sneezed.
Slowly, they both looked at her.
“Ah, s-sorry!” she said, smiling at them sheepishly while gripping her staff a bit harder than needed to. “I, uh– please don’t mind me.”
Sydney glanced back at him.
“How do you know you’re not controlled?” she asked in an utterly bored voice.
“I’m what?”
“Controlled.” She nodded in Lily’s direction. The girl stiffened. “By her. Are you aware of the instances when it happened? Do you think you’re under control right now? What has she made you do so far?” The woman talked as if Lily wasn’t even there. ‘Dismissive’ seemed to describe her well. Lots of dismissing was going on.
Dennis narrowed his eyes. He really didn’t like her tone. The questions themselves weren’t actually malicious. Hell, they were good questions that he probably should’ve asked himself, if he gave a fuck. But it was this attitude… Like Lily wasn't even a person standing nearby, but a thing to be accounted for and managed.
Was it weird, to be offended on account of another person?
Yes, it was hella weird. Dennis couldn’t remember it happening even a single time. Still, the feeling was there. He could panic again that he was having new weird urges, or he could roll with it and do whatever he felt like. The choice wasn’t so simple this time, but free will knew a way.
“How about you go and fuck yourself with your weird questions instead of bothering me?” he free-willed right back at her. “Your face looks stupid and I bet no one loves you.” It was always important to end a statement with a personal insult to establish dominance. A personal touch added gravitas.
Her eyes widened slightly, more in confusion than outrage. The mask of boredom wasn’t so easily pierced. If anything, she just seemed slightly more curious. A tough opponent.
If he stood still, his left leg would be broken.
Dennis didn’t stand still. While ninety-nine percent of his power was locked behind his buff, he was still, supposedly, the most talented fighter in the universe.
A moment later Muramasa flashed through the space where her neck had just been. Sydney tilted her head a bit to the back, allowing the blade to pass just an inch from her skin.
“Reactive instead of active,” he heard her muttering under her breath. “Where’s the superspeed?”
One motion transformed into another, and his sword was already moving to stab her chest. He was fast, though without the buff the speed was only just slightly superhuman. She was fast, but not anywhere in another realm. Just a few spare points in Dex was his guess.
She dodged.
Not because she was that much faster. She dodged through skill. Like a normal person. Just moved away from the blade and didn’t let it hit her. He had never seen anyone dodge like that, if he didn’t count himself. Just don’t get hit. She understood that principle.
It was amazing.
He kept trying to stab her. She kept dodging, moving at relatively the same speed, maybe just slightly faster than him. She didn’t try to counterattack, despite him tentatively giving her a few false openings to see how she would react. She didn’t get baited.
Then he gave her an opening from which he wouldn’t be able to counterattack her counterattack. He’d defend himself, of course, but it was just a free shot for her. No sense in not making it, right?
She just smiled slightly when he did that. Acknowledging his proposal but refusing to answer.
Dennis was fascinated. This was the closest thing to a fight he had in his life. A proper one at least, in a way a fight was supposed to look like, skill against skill. Sydney was good. More than just good, amazing. She understood his intentions, could read his plans, his flow, and she had an answer.
They moved through the street like two leaves dancing in the wind. There were some distractions in the background shouting, running somewhere, raising their guns and lowering them. He didn’t pay them any mind. They weren’t part of the fight yet. He’d know if they were.
A part of him thought that the whole situation was a bit weird. Despite Kriya warning him about the ‘attack’ that would break his leg, it didn’t actually happen. Technically, he was the one who actually initiated the fight. And Sydney fought weirdly. Not in terms of skill–though that was also a thing, of course–but in a way that she didn’t fight back. He was ready to bet that she was actually enjoying his assault. He knew he was.
It was a bit sad that he’d win in seventeen moves. She was good, but a bit predictable.
And also, there was no way some fighting talent was all that she had. Not with her level. And her first and only attack, the one that didn’t happen, he was sure that it wasn’t supposed to be entirely physical. With the way she moved, she was good, but there was no way she would’ve been able to actually harm him. Which meant a Skill, one she was going to use at first but didn’t use now.
She was holding back. Which, duh, of course she was, without his buff he was basically a very stabby level three.
Eight moves left before the killing blow. He was kinda doubting that he’d land it, but that was fine. Kriya would warn him about sudden surprises.
They were basically dancing. Dennis loved every second of it.
He wondered why no one tried to interfere yet.
Four moves.
Quite a large area around them was empty of people. They were watching from the sidelines. He saw Mary arguing about something with Mark, her staff rising high in the air. Lily was biting her lip, feeling on the edge of doing something drastic but holding herself back. El’el watched him like a hawk, clearly fascinated with his cool-ass moves, but not really alarmed.
Two moves.
Sydney was smiling, any trace of boredom gone from her face. It wasn’t manic. Didn’t look like battle lust. If anything, she seemed almost kind. There was a sort of anticipation in her, like when a tired person was going home knowing that their friends were making a secret birthday party for them. A mix of fondness and exasperation.
Dennis swiped his sword upward, trying to cut off her arm. She dodged, but a pothole nearby made her footing a bit awkward. He slammed her with a shoulder, making her lose balance.
As she was falling, the blade descended. Checkmate.
Her smile was brilliant, when he didn’t kill her. The blade stopped just above her chest. He was waiting until the last moment for her to use her skill, or what she had planned. For sudden lasers, or explosions, or whatever bullshit power that made her the strongest human he ever saw. For Kriya to scream at him in warning.
Nothing like that happened. If he didn’t stop his sword, he would’ve killed her. He was sure of it. The only thing that stopped him was himself.
Heroes didn’t kill people for being rude. And, well… It felt wrong.
Sydney was panting slightly, clearly a bit out of breath. He could see a few droplets of sweat on her forehead. She seemed a bit out of place, sitting with her ass on the asphalt.
“Well,” she huffed, shifting her eyes from the blade to look at Lily. He followed her gaze. The girl looked mortified, clearly on the brink of doing something drastic. Still, she didn’t. “I think you’re not controlling him. And I think you two are stable enough to be let in, seeing that no one is dead or puppeteered yet. With supervision, of course. You know, actually, I just decided that you guys are gonna live with me. You’ll like it, I’ve got a whole mansion for myself. It has two pools and a jacuzzi.”
Dennis sighed, and pulled away the blade.
AN: Lol, I’m now officially diagnosed with adhd. That explains a lot. A lot a lot. I think I’m happy about it. There’s this sense of… relief, I guess? Things finally make sense.
Also, the urge to write Dennis yelling “I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella!” was immense, but I have triumphed over it.