Slowly, the tension left my muscles. The adrenaline that had kept me standing after the massacre dissipated, giving way to a deep, heavy fatigue that permeated every fiber of my body. Strangely, I welcomed it. Although I was still lost in this subterranean nightmare, any moment of calm was a respite. A moment to think.
The battle... The images returned to my mind. The lone rat, the group that followed. Could I have done better? Faster? With less risk? Yes, probably. But another, darker question gnawed at me: Why? Why that almost instinctive violence? Why... did I enjoy the carnage? The feeling of satisfaction watching life extinguish in the eyes of those creatures... it was disturbing, alien, and yet, undeniably mine in that moment.
As I reflected, a wave of understanding, cold and clear, surged from within me, as if the kings fused in my chest were answering my unspoken doubt. Emotions. I remembered the fragmented information: the black king enhanced negative emotions – the anger, hatred, thirst for vengeance I felt... and perhaps, that dark pleasure. The white king, conversely, amplified the positive – the forced calm, the determination to survive. And balance, that state of cold lucidity, was an option, but it required my conscious will to maintain it, especially when emotions threatened to overflow. It wasn't mind control; it wasn't brainwashing me. It was a tool, one I would have to learn to use. At least, part of me was still me.
My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed a slight itch on my hand. I lowered it from my floating lap and observed it in the light of my crown. The scrape I got falling during the chase... was almost healed. The skin looked pink, new. As I watched, fascinated, I felt a warm tingle emanating from the area, and the skin seemed to knit itself together before my eyes, closing the last vestiges of the wound. Another wave of understanding: white energy, the "positive" energy, accelerated healing. Could it actively heal? Or did it just speed up the natural process? I didn't know for sure, but it was an undeniable advantage.
I leaned back again on the floating board, feeling its firm, rubbery texture. What now? The only viable route seemed to be continuing down that dark ramp. Maybe I'd find a real exit. Maybe I'd find the nest of those rats, the black portal they emerged from. The thought of vengeance still burned, an ember beneath the layer of exhaustion. It was my only option, my only purpose right now.
I rested like that, floating in silence, for what felt like about thirty minutes. I focused on the energy within me, feeling the reserve slowly replenish, like a constant drip. When I sensed it was full again, or nearly so, I sat up. It was time to move.
I stood up on the board and mentally commanded it to descend with me down the ramp. This time, I proceeded with much more caution. I consciously tried to deactivate the state of balance; I needed to feel, needed to be alert to my instincts, even if it meant dealing with rage or fear.
I descended approximately a hundred meters more, the silence broken only by the soft hum of my crown and the distant echo of my own floating steps. Then, I heard them again. Scratches, sharp squeals, the unmistakable sound of a multitude of... those things.
I stopped instantly. With a thought, I reduced the intensity of my crown's light until it was almost out. The black energy structure was barely distinguishable now, a deeper blackness than the cave's own darkness. I crouched low on the board, now moving close to the ground, trying not to make the slightest noise.
I advanced a few more meters, cautiously peering around a bend in the passage. And what I saw chilled my blood.
The ramp opened into an immense cavern, much larger than the previous one. And it was infested. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of giant rats swarmed the rocky floor, moving, squealing, gnawing on bones scattered everywhere. In the center of the cavern, on a kind of raised platform of dark rock, like a grotesque altar or stage, rested a monstrous rat. If the others were two meters long, this one easily reached eight. It was enormous, with darker, thicker fur, and red eyes that shone with a malignant, cruel intelligence, watching over its horde.
I remained paralyzed, hidden in the shadows of the entrance, my heart pounding against my ribs. The thirst for vengeance screamed within me, but the sight of that multitude, of that giant rat king, silenced it with a dose of raw terror. Attacking them now, alone, would be suicide. As much as I hated to admit it, as much as I wanted to launch myself forward and feel that dark satisfaction again, I wasn't stupid. I needed a plan. I needed more power, or a different way to use it.
With extreme care, I retraced my steps, ordering the board to float silently backward, until I reached the upper chamber again, the one with the inert white portal and the remains of my first battle.
I was safer here, for now. I sat back down on the board, my mind racing. Fighting that horde was impossible in my current state. I needed something... different. Something more potent than the Dark Drill, or perhaps something that could affect many at once. My options were limited. My only tools were those energies, white and black, channeled through the kings in my chest.
I extended both hands. In the left, I formed the sphere of ethereal white light. In the right, the sphere of absorbing darkness. I observed them. Before, an intuition had given me answers about them. Would it work again?
"What exactly does the white energy do?" I asked aloud, feeling a bit foolish talking to myself in the silent cave.
The answer didn't come in words, but as a flow of direct understanding in my mind, an intuitive certainty. *Positive*. White energy manifested... positive concepts? Healing, protection, repulsion, accelerated growth... Everything constructive, preserving, or defensive.
I looked at the black sphere. "And you? Negative energy?"
The same sensation, but opposite. *Negative*. Destruction, control, attraction, decay... Everything aggressive, dominating, or destructive. The Dark Drill was just a basic application of that destructive force and control over the energy "gas."
Positive and Negative. Like the poles of a magnet, like yin and yang. I had read so many stories, watched so many animes, analyzed the abilities of so many characters... Now it was my turn. I had to take advantage of it. Both energies act like a controllable gas... what can I do with that?
I thought. Combine them? I tried bringing the spheres closer. As soon as they neared, I felt a force violently repelling them, like trying to push two magnets together by the same pole. I couldn't fuse them directly.
But... what if I don't fuse them directly? What if I force them to coexist? I remembered reading about opposing particles, about forces in unstable equilibrium. A crazy idea emerged.
I kept the spheres separate, one in each hand. I concentrated intensely. I imagined the white sphere spinning on itself, clockwise. At the same time, I imagined the black sphere spinning counter-clockwise. I felt the tension, the resistance of the opposing energies forced to move in proximity. Then, slowly, I began to bring my hands closer, maintaining the contrary rotations.
The spheres vibrated. I felt the energy within me draining at a steady rate. The white and black lights began to mix at the interface between them, not merging, but swirling around each other in a furious dance. I continued bringing them closer, forcing the spin, compressing them.
And then it happened. The two spheres collapsed inward, imploding silently. Where there were two before, now floated a single, smaller sphere, barely half the original size. It was a grayish, opaque color, but it vibrated with a contained energy that made the hair on my arms stand on end. It seemed... unstable.
It wasn't too difficult to create, but it consumed a good amount of energy. I needed to test its power. Carefully, using my will, I pushed the gray sphere towards the nearest cave wall.
As soon as the sphere touched the rock... *BOOM!*
A muffled blast echoed in the cave, followed by the sound of pulverizing rock. I backed away instinctively. Where the sphere had hit, there was now a perfectly spherical crater, about three meters in diameter, as if an invisible ball had torn a chunk out of the wall. The destructive power was immense, much greater than the Dark Drill's.
I looked at the crater, then my empty hand, then the crater again. A genuine smile, this time of amazement and not dark satisfaction, spread across my face. Incredible.
"Gotta call this something," I murmured. I thought about the duality, the opposing energies forced together. "Polaris." Yes, that sounded good. Even if it wasn't very original, who cared?
I created a Polaris sphere again. This time it was easier, faster, and I noticed the energy cost was lower. 5%? Much more efficient than the Drill, and clearly more powerful. Maybe my first technique was inefficient because it was improvised.
Now, I needed something else. Defense and maybe mobility. I already knew white energy could heal and repel. Could I create armor or body reinforcement? I remembered anime characters covering themselves in energy.
I focused on the white energy. I drew it from within me and spread it out, visualizing it covering my entire body like a second skin. At first, it was a translucent mist, but I kept pouring energy until a visible layer, ethereal and bright white, completely enveloped me. It looked as if I'd been dusted with luminous flour.
Okay, now to test it. I tried running. I didn't feel faster. I tried lifting a piece of debris from the Polaris crater. I didn't feel stronger. So, what's this for?
Just then, a small piece of rock, dislodged from the ceiling by the previous explosion, fell towards my head. I closed my eyes instinctively, bracing for the impact. I felt it, but it didn't hurt. It was like a soft touch. I opened my eyes. The stone had bounced off and fallen to the side. I touched my head, looking for any injury. Nothing.
Hardness? Resistance? I thought, searching for the word. Or was it the repulsion I felt before? To test it, I grabbed a smaller stone from the ground and deliberately hit myself on the shoulder covered by the white energy. The stone bounced off before making real contact, as if my shoulder were a magnet repelling it. That was it! A repulsive barrier acting as armor.
"I'll call it... Positive Mantle," I decided.
Curiosity piqued. If white (Positive) energy repelled and protected, what would black (Negative) do? I dispelled the Positive Mantle and repeated the process with dark energy. My body was covered in a black, opaque layer that seemed to absorb light. The effect was immediate and strange. I didn't feel harder, but I did feel a kind of... pull. As if my body had become a magnet, faintly attracting things around me.
I reached a hand towards the same piece of debris I'd tried to lift earlier. Without touching it, I felt it being drawn towards my hand, floating clumsily until I grabbed it. It wasn't telekinesis, it was... magnetic attraction, but applied to everything. A "Negative Mantle."
A new idea struck. If the Negative Mantle attracted, could I use the Positive Mantle to consciously repel? I switched again. Dispelled the black, activated the white. I concentrated on the debris in my hand and willed it away. It worked! The debris shot out of my hand as if pushed by an invisible force. I played with it for a moment, attracting it (without a mantle) and repelling it with the Positive Mantle, fascinated by the possibilities.
Defense, ranged attack... Good. I had more tools now. I was ready. Or almost. I prepared to return to the ramp, steeling myself to face that horde, to seek my vengeance.
Just as I was about to order the board forward, it gently bumped my back. Not hard, just a firm nudge. I turned, puzzled. The board floated there, motionless.
"What's wrong?" I asked, though I didn't expect an answer.
I waited a moment. Nothing. I shrugged and turned again to leave. Another nudge, a bit more insistent this time.
"Hey!" I was starting to get annoyed. Something wasn't right. I inspected the cave again. Nothing out of place. Was it something about me? I checked my body. Didn't see anything weird.
A third nudge. This time, I felt a faint transmission of... intent? Information? Directly into my mind, similar to how I received the data about the kings, but much weaker, almost inaudible. It was just sensations, blurry images of my internal energy flickering like a light about to go out.
My energy.
I looked inside myself, focusing on that internal reserve. 15%. Shit. With the excitement of creating the new techniques, the Polaris test, the mantles... I hadn't realized how much I'd spent. I was dangerously low. Going to face thousands of rats like this was even surer suicide.
I looked at the board. "Sorry," I muttered aloud, feeling stupid but grateful. "You're right. We need to rest."
As if understanding me, the board descended gently to knee height. I sighed and let myself fall onto it again. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to be patient. I had to wait. Wait for my energy to recover before I could get out of here. Before I could claim my vengeance.