Surge to Victory

The tense standoff between Adam and Raum lasted for several seconds, and in those few seconds, it seemed like time slowed down. Adam felt the rush of adrenaline and magic flowing through his veins, and his senses dialed up, making the leaves falling from trees around him seem to float down in slow motion.

Adam knew that any mistake right now would lead to his death. That much was obvious just from sensing how much mana Raum had, how thick of a black and red aura it formed around her. All his newly superhuman senses were zoned in on Raum, and everything else almost shut off.

Through all of this, Adam felt warmth beating in his heart. Heat that made him want to face the danger in front of him, heat that was drawn to danger and fighting. Instinctively, Adam could tell there was hidden power inside of him, bubbling up and boiling, and all he needed to do for it to come crashing out was to face danger.

Raum broke this deadlock by drawing various spikes, shooting them towards Adam in a volley.

Adam was ready for this. He sprinted to the side, jumping to evade the spikes, though one did graze his leg, gouging out a cut in his calf. He ignored that and sprinted his way to Raum at a speed far faster than what any Olympic athlete could muster up.

All he had to do was get close to her. Just one touch, and she would go down from the Lust Gene pheromones that Adam gave off.

But Raum made that difficult.

She drew up huge X-shaped patterns almost as large as she was, and they shot out while rotating like shuriken. These ones, Adam felt far more danger from because they were more densely packed with mana. His instincts screamed at him to dodge, and he did so, swerving from side to side and even flipping over one with acrobatic agility he never knew he had in him.

Raum was right. Adam really was compatible with Leila's blood, and it had fused with him near perfectly. He felt almost zero awkwardness with his new strength and speed, as if it had been part of him for years.

The enormous cross shaped projectiles dug into the dirt of the Meadow behind Adam with heavy crashes, jutting out of the dirt as if to mark out makeshift graves with tombstones.

Adam landed on his feet with a smile on his face, amazed at how much faster, coordinated, and stronger his body was. He was way beyond the abilities of any world class athlete at this point, and he still had more powers he had not experimented with yet.

Notably, the skill known as (Surge). He briefly remembered the skill from the status screen of his <Power Matrix>, and information about the skill flowed back into his head.

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[Surge]

Type: Active

Rank: E

A skill possessed by all inhuman kind that regulate mana through their cores. When activated, it is possible surge a mana throughout the body, heavily enhancing its physical capabilities.

At the rank of E, it is possible to temporarily add +5 to the strength, agility, and vitality stats at maximum output.

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With this, Adam realized that his powers functioned by mentally calling them up, and so he willed (Surge) to activate. His black aura of mana flickered more intensely, thickening and seemingly flowing into his skin, coloring his veins a pulsating, bulging black.

Like this, with his blazing red eyes flashing, his serrated horns jutting from his head, his fanged mouth agape, and his black veined muscles pulsing, he looked positively monstrous.

And he felt strong.

With this, Adam could enhance his physical stats consistently or temporarily maximize the output to double his stats for short bursts. He recalled his stats:

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Stats:

Strength - 10 (15)

Agility - 8 (13)

Vitality - 12 (17)

Mana - 5

Luck: - 1

() = Surge Bonuses

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Adam was dramatically stronger, faster, and tougher now, though this would be temporary. He felt his muscles aching already and his bone screaking from the strain of (Surge), but worse than that, he felt a sense of light-headedness rising in his head: a sign of a lack of mana, it seemed.

Adam's mana stat was definitely the lowest he had, probably because he had never been capable of any magic before, and in the future, he would have to work on this.

"(Surge), is it?" said Raum as he adjusted her glasses and watched Adam's body. She yawned. "Boring. Any lowly demon or monster can utilize (Surge). It is an almost universal racial ability.

Unless you show me Shadow Magic that is a prerequisite to even being recognized as a Royal, I simply cannot acknowledge you as worthy of taking the princess's hand."

She scribbled a few lines and shot them forwards with a flick of her wrist. The lines were simple, but they were packed with enough magical energy that they acted like lasers that would cut anything they passed through.

Adam played what was an advanced game of limbo, bending back to dodge a line aimed to slice off his head. He jumped to evade one meant to cut off his legs. Then he leaped in between two lines meant to cut both his legs and head off.

"You have highly impressive control over a newly turned body, not to mention that even retaining your sanity after turning from weak human to demon is already a rather notable feat in of itself" said Raum.

She stopped her attacks to write down in her notepad, and Adam abused this chance to charge forwards, using (Surge) at max output. He sped forwards as fast as a car on the highway, closing the gap between himself and Raum in a second.

Adam had no reservations about punching Raum, because he was a firm believer in equality, and if this was a male demon trying to kill him, then yeah, you bet he would have punched him.

Also, in the off chance that Adam's Lust Gene pheromones did not work, then he wanted to atleast put some damage down on Raum.

Raum blocked Adam's fist by grabbing it by the wrist with her own hand. Her pale skin was lined with bulging black colored veins. She was using (Surge) too, and her output was even higher than Adam's, evidently notable by the raging swirls of black mana rotating around her arms in chaotic spirals.

Adam gritted his teeth as he pushed forward with all his might, his feet gouging out chunks into the dirt, but Raum held him back with one hand with a unfazed expression.

"Your talent is undeniable, and your growth rate is remarkable. I would dare to say you are a one in a hundred, no, one in a five hundred year prodigy. But that is not enough to be worthy of the princess. Come back in another one hundred years when you have matured," Raum prepared to strike back with a fist of her own, but she blinked in surprise as her nose twitched.

Raum immediately pushed Adam away, and he was sent flying several meters back before he flipped in the air and landed gracefully on his feet.

"W-what is this?" said Raum as she started to breathe heavily, her pale cheeks growing flushed. Her normally calm and serious expression had turned sloppy, her eyes wide with surprise. She tried to right her glasses, but her hands were noticeably shaky and clumsy.

She was getting drunk off of Adam's Lust Gene pheromones.

Raum collapsed to a knee, panting. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of her dress shirt, revealing a surprisingly ample bosom, and panted heavily.

"I...I feel so hot," said Raum, the red of her flush highly noticeable against her pale skin.

"Ahahaha! Looks like you can't handle my darling!" said Leila triumphantly with crossed arms from higher up the Meadow slope where she was watching with a bird's eye view. Even though she was so far away, though, her voice projected loud and clear, tinged with haughtiness befitting a princess.

"Not that I would ever let you truly taste him, but if even I, daughter to the Queen of Lust herself, have difficulty with him, then you, a demon that has never known even the slightest touch of lust, stand no chance at all!"

Leila put a hand to her mouth and laughed with all the poise of a proud princess, arching her head back as the peals of her laughter echoed through the air clearly like they were projected from a megaphone.

As she laughed, Raum grimaced, her cheeks turning even redder from not only Adam's pheromones, but sheer embarrassment from being laughed at. Evidently, it seemed that despite being a thousand something year old royal demon, she was not used to being laughed at at all.

Leila's smugness was infectious, and Adam himself crossed his arms and smiled down at Raum, the royal demon who before had acted so calm and mighty.

"So, what was this about worthiness, hm?" said Adam.