Origin Seeker

Chapter 75: Torn Apart

Dream stood there for a bit reveling in the awesome design of his body.

He had always been aware of its design and the materials used. But this really was the first time he understood its capabilities. Being able to take on 50 caliber bullets with just his skin and muscles was a ridiculous concept no matter how he looked at it. But actually feeling it and seeing it for himself began to change that.

He finally knew why his guns became ineffective against monsters at a certain point and why it took enchanting and building his own to be able to really dominate his enemies. Mana was just that powerful of an enhancement. And everything on the planet was built and designed around mana. So naturally, everything here would be better in every way. It put him at a serious disadvantage, but now, that disadvantage was reduced.

He now has a body that surpasses anything you could find on this planet. Back on Earth, it would be a technological and biological marvel. Something like him had never been realized even though humanity has been pursuing a better human form for centuries. 

And the thing was, his body still wasn't quite finished.

"You said my neurons still need to finish constructing themselves?"

Dream turned to Sophia.

[They need to finish reconstructing themselves. One of the big flaws of neurons is the fact that they work through chemical communications and electrical impulses. I decided to change this of course, and convert them to purely electrical communications. This eliminates the delay of your reactions and reflexes. Although mana had already been assisting the neurons through your agility stat, a fundamental change was still needed.]

"Alright. So why do they need to reconstruct?"

[Because it was too dangerous to do it manually. Throughout the process of making your body, your brain was never touched, and each piece of your body was taken out and replaced one by one. It was a very slow process, but it was safe. But I couldn't do even that with your brain. It's the gateway to your soul, and if I tried to modify it myself, there's the possibility of you dying. So instead, I opted to have your own body do it itself. Your DNA is now programmed to swap out the neurons with a silver substitute, which is the most electrically conductive material there is.]

"How long will it take?"

[It won't be too much longer. Your entire body's neurons are basically finished converting. It just has to climb the rest of the spinal cord and then it'll begin converting your brain once it passes into the skull. Once it does, it'll take about a week for the process to finish.]

"And I'll operate normally during that time?"

[Honestly, I was planning to ask you if you wanted to knock out for that week. I'm not sure what the effects would be, and sleeping would keep you safe.]

"I mean I have no problem with knocking out. A week of sleep might do me some good."

[Ok. Then we'll do that. But until then, you've got someone to fight.]

Sophia pointed back at the copy. Dream looked at it and sighed.

"*sigh* Fine. So, is this thing going to be stronger than me?"

Dream walked over and squared up with it, getting his mind in the game. 

[It's a copy of you, but yes, it'll be quite a bit stronger and faster. It also can't be destroyed, unlike you who will get injured and will only regenerate normally. Both of you will have access to your magic and weapons. Oh, and you can 'die'. In the form of everything going dark.]

"...I'm going to regret this, but alright."

Dream brought out his railgun, as did the copy. 

[You need to think of this as real life. Everything will be the same as if it were out there. Although the point of this whole thing is to basically destroy your body, it won't do you any good to just let it.]

"Ya. That's what's gonna suck. Give us the go."

Dream's heart began beating faster in anticipation. He knew that this thing would kick his ass, but he was still looking forward to being able to unleash everything he had. Nothing was off-limits here.

[Fighters ready...]

The copy of Dream stared right back at him with it's atrophied eyes. Right then, Dream felt it had become alive. It was no longer just some test dummy, but a real threat.

[...Fight!]

*Dsh* 

*Dsh*

Both Dream's fired at the same time. Or what seemed like the same time. The copy, as a result of its faster speed, was able to go off the shot first.

*Crunch*

"Ahh..."

Dream was pushed back a couple of steps from the shot. He looked down at his chest which was hit by the shot.

'...It actually hit the bone...'

*Dsh*

*Ting!*

As Dream was realizing the power of his railgun, another shot came from the copy. This shot was straight for the head, and produced a loud sound as it deflected off his skull. His head was also jerked back and whiplashed. He might've broken his neck if it were the previous body.

Though it caught him off guard, Dream quickly snapped back into it. As his head was still being jerked back by the force, he raised his arm with the railgun and fired a volley as the copy.

*Ds-Ds-Ds-Ds-Ds*

Several shots were fired and all of them hit the copy. Though since they weren't as powerful as they were in rapid succession, they didn't debilitate the copy and were stopped. At this time, the copy decided to begin moving. Dream noticed and reoriented himself.

"...Guess we can't just trade shots all day."

The copy began to rapidly close distance between itself and Dream. And both, as if thinking the same thing, equipped their armor.

Not even a second later the copy had reached him and they each went to grab the other. Though since the copy was still faster and stronger, it not only grabbed Dream before he could retaliate, but picked him and drove him into the ground. 

After it slammed Dream onto the metal floor, it brought back out its railgun. Dream also finally ejected an arm blade so he could retaliate and shot it straight for the copy.

*Tring!*

The blade hit the armor and dug into the plates, but didn't pierce it. Dream finally understood the toughness of his armor against the blades, though in this moment he wasn't at all happy.

After Dream's failed attempt at cutting the copy, it had finished bringing its gun up and pointed it at Dream's stomach. The railgun fired.

*Dsh!*

*CRACK*

The bullet was high powered and punched straight through the armor and into Dream's body. It bypassed the skin easily and also went through the muscles. It was only after it tried to punch through the back that the bullet was finally stopped by his back muscles.

After getting a hole in his stomach, Dream went and grabbed the arm of the copy. He also put up his leg to try and kick the copy off of him. But as he tried to raise his leg, it went and drove its fist into Dream's thigh, shoving it away. 

After punching Dream's thigh, it then grabbed his arm and put its knee on Dream's neck. Then, it twisted Dream's elbow, making it so that he couldn't use his arm properly.

This all happened in only a second or two. Dream wasn't able to react fast enough to the barrage of organized and purposeful attacks. The knee on his neck and twisted arm also severely limited his mobility.

After the copy twisted Dream's arm, it once again brought out the railgun with its free hand. Dream saw this and grabbed the gun with his untwisted arm. Though when this happened, the copy just shot a high powered round into the arm that was disturbing it. 

*DSH*

The bullet came and severed most of the muscles around the shoulder and bicep. It limply fell to the floor, not listening to Dream's commands to move.

After the shot was fired, Dream threw up his leg at the copy's head. The copy let go of the railgun and grabbed the leg. It then twisted the leg at the knee, not breaking it, but incapacitating it. Then, the railgun which should have fallen to the floor began aiming itself at the leg, and fired.

*DSH*

Another high powered round came out and went straight for Dream's knee. It punched through the armor and not only destroyed the joint, but even came out the other side. Dream lost control over his lower leg.

At this point, Dream began to panic. He lost an arm and now a leg. He was quickly running out of options to fight this copy. It was just moving too fast for him. He did one thing, and the copy did two.

The copy wasn't done after it shot the knee though. After the joint was destroyed, it let go of Dream's remaining arm. The arm untwisted and he regained control. Immediately, he brought out his own railgun and moved it towards the copy, but the copy didn't mind him and focused its attention on Dreams knee that it shot moments ago.

After it let go of his arm, the copy moved and grabbed the shot knee. Then, it drove its hand into the hole created by the bullet and tore the segments apart.

*RIP*

"..."

Dream froze a bit after seeing his own leg in the hands of the copy. White blood splattered everywhere as the limbs were taken apart. 

Although Dream didn't feel pain, he could still feel the limb being torn. And this was when he found that it still felt extremely uncomfortable. Not only was the sound disturbing, but the fact that he was being mangled like this left a certain mental wound. 

Dream has had his fair share of brutal killings. But he was always the one delivering pain and death, and it was also against the monsters. Other than when he had almost been killed by that bear, he had never been torn apart or subject to this kind of brutality. But now, he was the one being torn apart. Literally.

After tearing off his limb, the copy didn't hesitate to move on. It grabbed the railgun that Dream failed to fire and destroyed it in its hands. Then, it moved and flipped Dream on his stomach, facing down. Dream tried to stop it, but he failed to since he couldn't use his arm, not to mention his leg.

After flipping him over, the copy grabbed Dream's limp arm. It placed its foot on his shoulder and drove its hand into the destroyed armor and flesh of his arm. Then, after grabbing the actual bone, pulled.

*RIP*

Dream's arm was ripped off at the shoulder. The copy tossed the arm next do Dream's head, as if to let him see it. Dream looked and could see the white blood pouring out as well as the mithril bone and black nanotube muscle. 

Seeing this inspired even more dread. And as an almost instinctual reaction to defend himself, Dream exploded out with his mana.

"Get off me!"

*Boom!*

*Thud*

The copy was hurled several dozen meters away after Dream used magic. He relaxed a bit after getting a little room to breathe. He raised himself up with magic and stood on his remaining leg. He then looked over at his shoulder stump.

"...It's weird not having all my limbs."

[See what I mean about not needing pain to let you know about getting hurt? The amount of pain you would have experienced would only have incapacitated your mind and you wouldn't have been able to react like you did, especially since your body is many times more sensitive than before.]

"I guess. Though it still wasn't a good feeling."

[There's a balance between panic and objective thinking that lets you react optimally. At least until you further understand your own body. When you master yourself and everything you can do, the panic will disappear. You're making progress right now, but you're not there yet.]

"Right..."

Dream looked down at his limbs that were still bleeding on the floor.

[Another thing you should learn is that losing limbs isn't as bad as you think. Your body is designed to use anything as a limb. You could take out some titanium right now and build yourself an arm or a leg and attach it to the stump. Or a better option, reattach the limbs that were torn off.]

Dream nodded and activated his magic. The limbs on the floor floated up and placed themselves back where they belong. The connections were made and he could control them again.

"How long would it take to heal?"

[If it's only like what just happened and we actively assist to reattach the limb, then maybe several minutes. The dangerous scenario is if the limb is destroyed completely or we lose it. Like if a monster eats your arm and digests it. We would need to reconstruct it gradually and unless we had more mithril, would need to use another substitute.]

"So don't go losing limbs is what I'm hearing."

[Pretty much. Other than that, even totally shattered bones will heal in minutes and even faster with our help. You could have your heart destroyed and you would still be fine. So unless you go getting your head chopped off and destroyed, you don't run the risk of dying.]

"Fantastic."

[One more thing. You can operate your limbs even if they're detached. It would need magic, but still.]

"Neat."

[Well then, breaks over. By the way, your copy was going pretty easy on you.]

"That was supposed to be easy?! What the hell is hard?!"

[Time to find out.]

When she said that, Dream could sense movement from the copy several dozen meters away. He snapped back into it.

The copy went and raised its railgun, firing right at Dream's chest.

*Dsh*

*Crunch*

The bullet hit him square in the chest, and this time it was enchanted.

Dream's eyes went wide when he realized what was happening. This was the bullet to pull liquids to it, and his blood quickly began surging to the bullet.

Luckily, Dream understood the magic and began to counter it. He just had to do the opposite of the bullet and it would cancel it out. So he did, and his blood began calming down. But soon a problem became apparent. 

If he were to engage someone in this kind of way, it would end up becoming mana vs mana. The one with the most amount of mana would tire the other out by countering their magic. So if an enemy knew the counter to his bullets and had more mana than him, then he would need to change tactics. 

But currently, he was against an enemy that probably had unlimited mana. If he was going to do anything worthwhile, it had to be through burst damage. 

While Dream was concentrating on countering the bullet, the copy rapidly closed distance. Dream noticed and took out some bullets as his own gun was wrecked. He enchanted them and launched them.

The copy dodged most of the bullets but two still hit it. The enchantment to pull in all solids activated, but the copy just countered it. There was no effect and it kept getting closer.

Soon, the copy was right up in his face. Dream got low and threw out a punch loaded with mana. The copy reacted and just grabbed his hand, crushing it.

*Crunch*

"*grunt*"

Dream cringed at the super weird feeling, but he didn't stop fighting. He activated his magic and began trying to tear the copy apart from the inside, throwing loads of mana at it.

This was met with quick resistance by the copy. His magic was easily countered. And while he took the time to use magic, the copy continued to fight physically.

It grabbed the currently healing shoulder of Dream and ripped it back off. Then, it grabbed Dream's neck and slammed him to the floor again, all while countering Dream's magic.

After they went to the floor, the copy tore off his leg again. Then, it raised its railgun and fired into his other shoulder that hadn't been injured.

*Dsh*

*Crack*

The bullet tore through his ligaments and came out the other side. The copy quickly threw its hand inside the wound and grabbed the bone, ripping that arm off. Then, it repeated the process with Dream's hip where his leg was attached. He could only watch the copy, not being able to react.

*Dsh*

*Rip!*

"N-No..."

It tore into his muscles and ripped off the whole leg. Dream panicked once more and began utilizing every drop of mana he had to do anything to the copy, but the copy just countered everything he tried to do. He couldn't push the copy off of him since his limbs were all gone, nor tear the copy apart with his dwindling mana. He could do nothing. Like his mana was useless. 

Dream laid there, now totally limbless, just staring into the atrophied eyes of the copy. He suddenly felt much more terrified of it than any other enemy throughout his life. He received a new trauma. He was unable to fight back, and unable to prevent himself from being torn apart. He could only lay there, a torso and head, and watch himself be mangled.

The copy didn't stop at tearing off his limbs though. It activated its magic and began shattering the torn-off limbs, making sure Dream couldn't use them again. Then, it aimed the railgun at Dream's chest.

*Dsh*

*Dsh* 

*Dsh*

*Crack!*

It fired several high powered shots into his chest, eventually cracking the plate of bone under his muscles. Then, it pushed its hands into the wound, tearing up the muscle and exposing the bone plate. It raised its fist.

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

*Shatter!*

It pounded into his bone with ungodly amounts of force and actually shattered the bone. It tore the bone fragments up and threw its hand inside, grabbing something.

"Argh! You piece of shit!"

*Rip!*

Dream spat a curse as the copy ripped out his heart. The heart was a device shaped similarly to a regular one. Then, the copy crushed the heart.

After that, the copy stood up. Dream just laid there, looking like a corpse that had gone through a botched autopsy. The copy grabbed its railgun and took aim at Dream's head.

"...Just fucking kill me then."

*DSH!*

*CRACK*

A bullet was fired at the highest power the railgun could deliver. Though it took a second to charge, it delivered devastating damage. And it went straight for Dream's forehead, cracking it. Considering the forehead was the toughest part of the skull, this meant that the bullet was truly powerful. 

Dream's senses were dazed as the brain was responsible for them. But he still had his now weak mana sense, and he soon sensed the gun charging up again. 

*DSH!*

And everything went black.

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