I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 89: The Sun Knight! [Part 2]
[RESURRECTION COMPLETE]
[Deaths: 16]
[New Ability Unlocked: Dragon - F Rank]
[Tough scales, enhanced claws, strength, speed, and durability]
[Points Awarded: +15 Epic Death]
[Available Points: 43]
Kurt’s eyes snapped open and he sucked in air like a man struggling for breath. "Sam!"
His gaze whipped around the chamber in pure panic, searching for her crumpled body, expecting the worst, but then he spotted her. Still kneeling where he’d left her, exhausted but alive, and Kurt’s chest loosened just enough to breathe properly.
Across the chamber, the Sun Knight’s helmeted head tilted slightly. Those empty black sockets stared at Kurt with what could only be described as an expression that said ’I could’ve sworn I killed you.’
Then the confused look shifted into something else entirely. Something that now looked more like ’No matter. I’ll just do it again.’
The knight’s hand moved toward its blade, and Kurt squeezed his face, jaw clenched hard with frustration.
If he was going another round with this golden bastard, he needed to actually do something besides get bloody murdered. The knight had been testing him before, feeling him out like a boxer sizing up an opponent in the first round.
Now? Now it would probably get a whole lot more serious.
Kurt pulled up his stats without hesitation.
[Agility: 44 → 54] (10 points)
[Perception: 43 → 53] (10 points)
[Strength: 43 → 53] (10 points)
[Luck: 35 → 48] (13 points)
The upgrade happened faster than thought itself, power flooding his body in an instant, muscles tightening, reflexes sharpening, and the knight was already moving.
It closed the distance in a single stride, greatsword swinging horizontal in that same testing stroke it’d used before, and Kurt weaved.
The blade sliced through the air inches from his face, close enough to shear off a few strands of hair, and Kurt’s vision flashed red.
[HOST HAS EXPERIENCED NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE]
[+3 Points Awarded]
His hand slammed into the ground immediately, using the leverage to twist his entire body, and his leg whipped around in a brutal kick aimed at the knight’s ribs.
The shield came up.
Clang!
Kurt’s shin hit solid gold, the impact reverberating through his bones, and the knight bashed forward with terrifying speed. Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest, white translucent aura flaring around him like a protective shell, and the shield hit so hard, he went flying.
His back slammed into a stone pillar with enough force to crack it, dust exploding around him, and Kurt grabbed the pillar with both hands. He ripped it free from the ground and hurled the massive column straight at the knight’s face.
The knight’s blade came up in a smooth arc, cleaving the pillar perfectly in half. Both halves parted beside it with surgical precision, crashing to the ground in twin explosions of rubble.
Judging by the sudden shift in its stance, the knight must have noticed the orange glow.
Kurt had charged the pillar before throwing it, kinetic energy humming through every inch of stone, and he grinned wide.
The explosion detonated with a deafening KRA-BOOM!
Fire and force erupted outward, sending the knight’s blade spinning from its grip, smoke billowing across the chamber. The golden armor smoldered, scorch marks streaking across its surface, but when the knight stepped through the smoke, Kurt could see the truth.
Barely a scratch.
The knight surveyed the area, black sockets sweeping left, then right, searching for Kurt’s body in the debris.
By the time it spotted him coming from the side, it was already too late.
Kurt sprinted low, hand stretched forward, bones hardening in his fist as Dragon scales rippled across his knuckles. Each step he took glowed orange, kinetic energy detonating beneath his boots and launching him forward with explosive bursts of speed.
The knight reacted in the nick of time, forearm raised up to block, and Kurt’s fist connected with a thunderous boom!
The force slid the knight backward across the stone floor, its boots carving trenches, and it stretched its free hand toward the spinning blade across the chamber.
The sword flew back like Thor’s hammer being recalled, handle slapping into the knight’s palm, and in one fluid motion, it hurled the weapon like a javelin.
The blade screamed through the air faster than Kurt could process. It punched through his chest, carried his body backward, and pinned him to the wall with a wet thunk.
Blood poured from Kurt’s mouth. He looked down at the blade embedded through his torso, then back at the knight, and managed a bloodstained grin. "You haven’t seen the last of me, mate. Not by a long shot."
His head slumped forward.
[DEATH REGISTERED]
[Deaths: 17]
Sam squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to look away, and the knight walked calmly toward the wall. It gripped the sword’s hilt, yanked it free, and Kurt’s body collapsed to the ground.
The knight stared at Sam for a long moment. Then it turned back to the golden egg and resumed its post, standing perfectly still.
Sam’s voice cracked when she finally spoke. "Why are you doing this?"
The knight didn’t respond.
"What’s with the giant egg?" Sam tried again, desperation bleeding into her tone. "Do you understand me?"
Silence.
***
Twenty minutes crawled by like hours. The knight stood motionless beside the egg, and Sam stayed curled against the far wall, watching Kurt’s corpse for any sign of movement.
Then Kurt gasped awake.
Sam looked knackered, knees drawn up. Yet she raised her head and asked, "Are you okay?!"
Kurt pushed himself to his feet, brushing dust and dried blood from his coat with casual indifference. "Never better, love."
He looked directly at the Sun Knight and raised his arm in challenge. "Just that Goldie here doesn’t have the balls to take me without that fancy shield and sword. Well, do you, Goldie?"
While he spoke, he was already mentally moving through menus, transferring points.
[Agility: 54 → 64] (10 points)
[Strength: 53 → 58] (5 points)
[New Ability Unlocked: Magnetic Field - F Rank]
[Control objects with metallic properties]
Kurt almost laughed. Gold was one of the most conductive metals on the planet, and here this bastard stood wrapped head to toe in it. The System had a sick sense of humor.
The Sun Knight seemed to take his taunt seriously. It dropped both shield and sword with heavy clangs, the weapons hitting the stone floor, and raised its gauntleted fists.
Kurt grinned. "That’s more like it."
Then they charged simultaneously.
The knight’s fist came in fast, a straight jab aimed at Kurt’s jaw, and Kurt slipped it by inches. He countered with a hook to the ribs, bones within his knuckles hardened, but the knight blocked with its elbow.
Who would have thought old sunshine here could fight dirty like that? Kurt definitely heard his hardened bone shatter on impact with its elbow.
Before he could even register the pain, the knight grabbed his face with one massive hand and drove its knee upward into his nose. Cartilage crunched, blood splashed across Kurt’s vision, and he staggered backward.
The knight didn’t let up. It closed the distance, threw a body shot that Kurt barely deflected, then with a swift motion, armor clanking, it raised its leg and unleashed a mighty front push kick, striking Kurt’s chest.
The impact sent Kurt flying backward, he hit the ground rolling, and stopped himself by digging trenches through the floor with his fingers.
Slowly, the knight turned, fists still raised while Kurt spat blood casually, like he hadn’t just taken a brutal beat down. "Right. Round three then."
He activated Dragon, scales spreading across his forearms, claws extending from his fingertips, and rushed forward. Their fists collided mid-charge, and the shockwave rippled outward in a visible distortion of air.
The knight’s other fist came in low as a follow up. Kurt twisted, deflected it with his elbow, and drove his knee upward toward the knight’s midsection.
A single hand moved to the front of its torso, and the knight caught his leg mid-strike, yanked him off balance, and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crater it.
Kurt’s vision went white.
Then the knight’s eye sockets flared with brilliant golden light, and a powerful uni beam of pure solar energy erupted outward.
The heat vaporized everything in their path. Kurt didn’t even have time to scream when the end came.
[DEATH REGISTERED]
[Deaths: 18]
***
[RESURRECTION COMPLETE]
[New Ability Unlocked: Solar Energy Absorption - F Rank]
[Absorb and convert solar energy and radiation into strength]
[Points Awarded: +15 - Epic Death]
Kurt stood up slowly, rubbing his jaw, and dumped points into his stats without hesitation. Agility needed another bump if he was going to keep up with this golden bastard’s speed. Strength could use reinforcement too, given how many times his bones had snapped like dry twigs.
[Agility: 64 → 69] (5 points)
[Strength: 58 → 68] (10 points)
Better. Not great, but better.
The knight was already moving, closing the distance with terrifying speed, and Kurt met it head-on. They traded blows in a brutal exchange, fists and elbows and knees colliding with bone-rattling force.
Kurt threw a jab. The knight weaved left. Kurt followed with a cross. The knight ducked under it and drove a fist into Kurt’s gut.
Air exploded from Kurt’s lungs. He brought both arms up to block the follow-up, but the knight spun into a vicious kick that caught him in the ribs and sent him hurtling across the chamber.
Kurt hit the ground rolling, momentum carrying him dangerously close to the chamber’s edge, and the knight was already sprinting after him. It leaped high, both legs extended and coming down in a devastating, brutal double stomp.
Kurt couldn’t dodge in time.
The knight’s boots slammed into his chest with the force of a descending meteorite, driving him straight through the stone floor, hundreds of meters deep.
The impact detonated outward in a thunderous BOOM, dust clouds billowing across the chamber, and when the smoke cleared, there was a massive crater where Kurt had been standing.
At the bottom of it lay his corpse.
[DEATH REGISTERED]
[Deaths: 19]
***
The knight was patient. Methodical. With each exchange, it began picking up on the pattern. Every twenty minutes like clockwork, Kurt would resurrect, charge back in, and get absolutely demolished.
But something else was happening too.
The knight wasn’t just killing him. It was anticipating each resurrection now, positioning itself perfectly, adjusting its tactics, and worst of all?
It looked like it was enjoying this. To be fair, Kurt found trading blows with Goldie enjoyable as well.
By death twenty-four, Kurt had burned through one hundred and eight points, distributed across stats. Along the way, he’d unlocked six more abilities, each earned through a different excruciating demise, and he pulled up his updated information with grim satisfaction.
[RESURRECTION SYSTEM - LEVEL 2]
[Name: Kurt Manchester]
[Deaths: 24]
[Near-Deaths: 18]
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 69 → 93 (24 points)
Agility: 68 → 94 (26 points)
Perception: 53 → 84 (31 points)
Luck: 48 → 75 (27 points)
[Available Points: 0]
[NEW ABILITIES UNLOCKED]
[Decay - F Rank] - Host’s direct touch breaks down matter (→ E: 5 points)
[Intangibility - F Rank] - Host can ghost through solid objects (→ E: 5 points)
[Sonic Scream - F Rank] - Self Explanatory (→ E: 5 points)
[Negative Zero - F Rank] - Host can warp mass and quantity (→ E: 5 points)
[Duplicate - F Rank] - Host can create one perfect, independent copy (→ E: 5 points)
[Magma - F Rank] - Host has command over lava and earth (→ E: 5 points)
[NOTICE: One more death to System Level Up]
Kurt stared at the list floating in his vision, then grinned through split lips and broken teeth. "Alright, Goldie," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Let’s make that round nine? Or is it eleven? I lost count."
"Come on, Kurt..." Sam whispered, strength slowly returning to her exhausted body. "Don’t you dare lose now."
He rushed forward, and the knight mirrored him perfectly, both of them charging across the chamber like missiles.
Their forearms collided mid-sprint.
And the shockwave detonated outward, cracking stone beneath their feet, rippling across the chamber walls, and for the first time since this fight started, the Sun Knight actually slid backward.
Just an inch. But it was enough, and Kurt’s grin widened into something feral. "There we go." He activated magnetic field, and the knight’s armor began to shift with the struggle.
