This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

"Guidance."

"Yes?"

"Did you program those health bars to go over a hundred percent?"

My pistols kept on firing even as Lewis shrugged off our attacks like they were nothing, my eyes glued to his health bar despite him literally doing absolutely nothing in terms of attacking us.

"That... shouldn't be possible?" Guidance replied, second-guessing herself while she was in the middle of an attack. "I never intended for those things to go above what they're supposed to display..." Her face scrunched up as she sighed, "Why? Are his values displaying something ridiculous like two hundred percent or something?"

"Lower than that," I replied. "He's at around a hundred and fifty."

And still, he wasn't even bothering to even try and hit us. He was more than content to simply finesse his way out of our attacks, using either his dagger or his sheer tankiness to just shrug off most of what we dished out.

My trigger fingers were starting to cramp as I kept up the pace. Most of the [Moves] I threw out were either blocked with surgical precision, or just tanked using his big guy as some kind of shock absorber. And somehow, I had a feeling that this was just a prelude for something much more devastating.

It was only a good thing that my health seemed to not be going down as quickly as it did before. Wait... What the hell was this?

"[Hematopoiesis]?"

[Hematopoiesis] was pretty crazy with how much regen it could passively give me. Only, it was supposed to only be unlocked for me once I reached level 36? Why the hell was this thing working for me right now?

Never mind that... I had more important things to worry about. For now, I'll just thank my lucky stars that the code seemed to be glitching in my favor for once.

Abusing my currently amped-up regen, I peppered him with more shots than I normally couldn't do. With [Blood Shot], [Iron Spread], and [Hemolysis] constantly coming out of my pistols, I was actually dishing out consistent damage without even dipping down to critically low levels so long as I paced myself.

Man, I can't wait to get [Hematopoiesis] for real then. I could only assume that this was a one-time thing and that it'll fix itself as soon as we were out of combat, so I better make it count.

"Okay, I've seen where your capabilities lie."

[ENEMY HP: 100%]

I raised an eyebrow as another wave of aura rippled throughout his body from head to toe. His health shrank back down to a more reasonable, if still concerning 100% as he then assumed a stance that just screamed that he was about to rip us a new one.

"Here I go."

[Papercut: 21%]

At the cast bar's appearance, a circular orange area lit up around the man, which meant- "Shizu! Get away!"

"Wha-"

[*SLASH!*]

"KHH!"

I winced as Shizu went flying towards the invisible barrier, her backward leap coming out too late as Lewis cut her by her midsection.

"Guidance!"

"On it!"

pαпᵈα-noνɐ1·сoМ Trusting the dev to do the healing, I focused my attention on taking Lewis's aggro away from our melee fighter. I knew I wasn't doing much damage from the start just based on how his attention kept going to Shizu, but with her currently out of the fight, it fell to me to kite this man until our heavy hitter was back on her feet.

"[Blood Shot!]"

Aiming fire, the [Move] did what was intended, which was to grab his attention using the sheer damage the move could dish out. Granted, it still wasn't much compared to any of Shizu's attacks at the moment, it still proved more than enough for our current needs.

"A ranged fighter then," Lewis chuckled as he turned to look at me. "I'll admit that not all ranged fighters can even punch through my guard, but I suppose I'll give you that specific distinction."

[BULK UP: 65%]

I couldn't help but take a deep breath as his cast went off, his bar going up to 150% again before just standing there and simply crossing his arms. He didn't even bother with his dagger anymore, his bearded smile being the only thing on his face as he fully expected himself to just do nothing.

"Well? Show me what you can do."

Okay? "[Blood Screen] [Blood Shot]"

Two [Moves] in rapid succession came out from my lips, my bars fluctuating as I began to go through my combo.

"[Blood Shot] [Iron Spread]"

More shots, each one thicker than the last as they impacted against his gut. His health was down to around 120% now, my attacks somehow doing more damage than what I did earlier.

"[Hemolysis]"

Aiming my [Manifest], the two pistols spurted out a stream of concentrated blood right at him. A part of me thought about aiming the pressurized jet just a bit lower, but I just couldn't find myself doing it just yet. As a man, I couldn't do it even to an enemy... Well, maybe if I was desperate, but now wasn't that time.

[ENEMY HP: 99%]

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[*whoosh!*]

I haven't even managed to blink when Lewis suddenly disappeared from right in front of me. And based on how frantically looking around yielded nothing, I could only assume that he was right behind me rearing up for an attack.

"You have the power, but not the skill."

[*THUD!*]

"NGGH!!"

Feeling his massive fist land straight on my spine, I almost thought I wasn't going to walk again by the time I landed smack dab onto the invisible barrier. My vision blurred for a split second before clearing up again, my sight quickly taking note of how Shizu and Guidance were gasping at the view that was me rolling onto the ground.

"Y-You'll pay for that!"

[HP: 67]

[MP: 149]

Slowly, I picked myself back up, my muted sense thankfully dulling all pain as I heard Shizu's war cry echo in my ears. Looking at my bars, I was running pretty low in a lot of things, my [Hematopoiesis] doing little in terms of regen due to the way that it worked. From what I could recall, the regen it gave me was based on current [HP], so if I was low, I wouldn't get the same amount of regen than if I was topped off.

"I've seen enough of you, miss."

[PAPERCUT: 47%]

[*SLASH*]

I could only watch as again, Shizu went flying right towards the invisible wall. Only, the princess wasn't done in the slightest as she twirled in the air, letting her feet touch the wall in order to springboard herself right back into the fight.

"[SHOT PUT]!"

[*THUD!*]

"I see. You still have more left in you then," Lewis casually smiled, looking more like a proud grandfather as opposed to an enemy. "In that case..."

[FIRE BLADE: 22%]

"Shizu!" I warned her, hoping that the princess would actually heed me this time instead of being greedy. "Get your leg out of his dagger!"

"No! Just a little bit further!"

Seeing the stubborn princess forcing herself through the cast, I forced myself back up just as Guidance gave me a much-needed pick-me-up heal. "Guidance!"

"Yeah!"

"Careful now, miss."

[*HISS!!!!*]

"ARGHH!!!!"

Shizu cry of pain almost made me bolt as Guidance and I sprinted until we were both back in range of the man clashing against Shizu. Aiming my pistols at both Shizu and Lewis respectively, I peppered them both with damaging and healing shots alike, the dev doing the same beside me as she spammed [Medica] after [Medica] just to keep Shizu's plummeting health afloat.

"Shizu, get out of there!" Guidance yelled out.

"No! I can feel him starting to give!" Shizu yelled out through the pain. "My leg can take it!"

[ENEMY HP: 88%]

Hearing her stubborn callout, I gave Guidance a glance, only to see that our healer was practically gritting her teeth with how many [Moves] she was throwing at our wayward melee friend. Lewis himself seemed to be enjoying himself in all of this, however. Even as his feet began to skid against Shizu's [Move], he still stood his guard, his dagger hissing as the smell of burnt flesh began to permeate the small arena.

"Moriya!" Shizu cried out. "Ignore me! Hit him!"

My eyes widened. "On it!"

Stopping my supportive healing, I aimed both pistols at Lewis as I hoped that Guidance could heal our princess on her own. Focusing, I gave a small glance at my health before almost prepping myself with a [Blood Screen].

I only had a few shots in me before I went back down to below sustainable levels, but it was better than doing nothing. "[Blood Shot]! [Blood Shot]! [Blood Shot]!"

Three shots rang out, all of them hitting the mark as Lewis's health dropped down to around fifty percent. And while I could've used [Hemolysis], my current [HP] which was now currently sitting at below a hundred, wouldn't have stood a chance against the constant drain the [Move] would give me. It wasn't written on the description when I first saw it, but I quickly noticed that each use of [Hemolysis] almost cost me ten percent of my total health per use. And that's-

"Enough!"

[COMBAT COMPLETED]

....What?

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