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Part Twenty-Three

Essence manipulation.

As the name implies, it is the ability to control and manipulate essence. No one could really get essence under their complete control. Just like a bullet, you could pull the trigger and watch the round go forward, but you had no control over its exact course. If a strong enough force came by, the bullet would drift away from its original path. The same could happen with essence.

Isabel was under pressure from Matthew’s gravity at first. However, she redirected the gravity to a new target.

Since Matthew was the one supplying this ability with his own essence, she didn’t lose much. He was fundamentally harming himself. The more he kept feeding his ability; the more pressure would be put on himself.

Isabel's ability had a fatal weakness. He could just stop using his EXO ability, and she would no longer be able to manipulate it.

That would mean those two would have a fight with their weapons instead. EXO abilities would be useless in front of her meaning it was no longer about who would have the superior EXO rank or control. It was all about their physical abilities.

Matthew’s quick thinking, caused him to figure out what happened. He knew she did not have the same ability as him so how could she control gravity? She used some sort of ability to redirect the flow of his attack.

He merely stopped supplying his ability making the pressure around him decrease.

He would no longer be able to control gravity in front of her.

“I've-”

Isabel started to move as she shot her silver revolver.

Matthew gripped his Kusarigama tighter; he quickly moved to the left. His left-hand grip loosened up a tad bit as he was now holding onto the chain attached to the Kusarigama.

“Now that was rude, don’t you think?”

Swiftly he threw the sickle in her direction.

Isabel didn’t even flinch as she shot her a bullet that collided with the oncoming attack.

“Not at all.”

The sickle flew back, but it did not fall to the ground. It instead hovered in the air as it flew backwards. Matthew used the momentum in which the sickle was flying back to his advantage. He swung the sickle over his head before throwing it once again.

Isabel did the same thing and shot a bullet.

Matthew did not waste any time as he rushed towards her. The sickle flew back into his hand as he was charging and Isabel started shooting in his direction.

Matthew might not be able to use his gravity to attack her, but he could use a small amount to change the direction at which her bullets were going. Once again he threw his kusarigama at her, this time she dodged it as she quickly reloaded her revolver.

He threw the other sickle at her while she was dodging and reloading.

“Throwing away your weapon in the middle of a fight? Don’t tell me you’re giving up already?”

Matthew grinned and slammed his palm onto the ground.

“Nope!”

Isabel suddenly felt her body become lighter. She slowly lifted up off of the ground and floated in the air.

She did not have the same control over her body as she once had. On the ground she could quickly move her body to her will, now she could not. Isabel did not have the ability to fly. She found it hard to even move. There was nothing to step on that would propel her forward or let her skilfully dodge. In the air, she was a sitting duck to any attack.

“Go on, use your ability.”

Matthew told her as he floated in the air along with her.

This was something he has not shown yet in any fight. He was planning on saving it, but he could no longer do that.

Zero Gravity. It cost him more than half of the essence in his body to use this skill. If he used it on a single person, he wouldn’t even bother to care about the amount. But this kind was different; it covered the entire area.

She could manipulate the essence all she wanted, but how would she reverse it on him? He was already in the air.

“You’re still forgetting; you have no weapon. Neither one of us can attack, and you can only maintain this ability for so long. You are just dragging this out.”

Isabel’s bullet would just float in the air because of this ability. They were both away from each other so how would they attack?

“I think you are forgetting; I control gravity. Do you really think I would throw away my weapons?”

Isabel realized what he meant as she turned her head. His Kusarigama was behind her floating in the air. In her eyes, it looked like a twin-headed snake that found its prey.

Matthew made a pulling motion with his hand, and the two sickles flew in his direction. The only thing between them was Isabel, who was a perfect target.

Clenching her teeth, her golden eyes looked at the incoming attack. She manipulated the essence within the weapon, making the attack that was going straight drift to the right.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked back in the direction Matthew was at only to find he vanished.

Then it hit her. She played right into Matthew's hand. Already having a hard time controlling her body that was in the air she turned her attention to his weapons. She made a mistake, taking her eyes off her opponent.

She was not able to move as she pleased in zero gravity, but for someone who controlled gravity as if it was second nature, they would have no problem moving around.

The right side of her body was hit, causing her to be sent flying.

The instant before she was hit the gravity around her returned to normal, making her weightless body suddenly feel the weight of her body again. With the gravitational pull of the earth, she was going to fall to the ground.

Instead, she was hit by Matthews attack instead.

In zero gravity the attack would not hurt as much, but since the gravity turned back normal, she would feel the full force of the attack.