The Weapon Genius: Anything I Hold Can Kill-Chapter 41: The Spark That Won’t Die
Jin squinted at the notification, blinking blood out of his eyes.
"...What?" he rasped.
Potential clash?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He glanced at Joon, who was now upright, his hands still shaking, his fingers sparking — but the electricity wouldn't die this time.
It just lingered.
Like it was waiting.
Like it was growing.
Joon coughed, wiped the blood off his mouth, and stared down at his hands.
He could feel it.
The pressure building.
The power underneath his skin.
Like he was standing on the edge of something.
Like he just needed to step over.
"I'm not done yet," he rasped, his eyes blazing, and he clenched his fists, the lightning rippling outward like a heartbeat.
Jin dragged himself upright, swallowed the blood, and tightened his grip on the staff.
He didn't understand what was happening.
But if Joon was still standing —
They still had a chance.
Joon's body burned.
But it wasn't the same as before.
The pain was still there, crawling under his skin like fire ants, but the lightning felt different — like it wasn't just surging outward anymore.
It was lingering.
Like it was waiting for something.
He stumbled upright, his legs barely holding him, the electricity flickering weakly around his hands.
But every time the sparks rippled, he felt a pulse of strength.
Like the power itself was keeping him alive.
Like it was refusing to let him fall.
The Qī Shā snarled, its jagged limbs snapping back into place, and it lunged forward, its bone shard arm stabbing toward Jin's chest.
Joon moved without thinking.
He threw himself forward, tackling Jin aside, and the creature's blade grazed his shoulder, searing black as it passed through.
The wound burned, but Joon ignored it.
He planted his feet, thrust his hand forward, and fired an arc shot point-blank into the Qī Shā's ribs.
BOOM.
The shockwave exploded, black ichor sizzling, and the creature staggered, its body convulsing as the electricity crawled through it.
Joon grinned, exhilaration flooding through him —
Until the pain hit back.
Joon's chest exploded with agony.
It felt like the shockwave had bounced back, punching through his ribs with the same force he'd hit the Qī Shā with.
He collapsed, gasping, his hands twitching.
The feedback was worse this time.
It was like the creature had adapted, and every time he hit it, it was waiting to hit him back harder.
Jin scrambled over, dragging Joon behind a half-broken pillar, his face ashen.
"You can't keep doing this," Jin muttered, blood dripping down his chin.
"It's tearing you apart."
Joon panted, the electricity still flickering around his fingers, even though his body screamed at him to stop.
He clenched his fists, blinking through the pain, his mind racing.
What if...
What if he could flip it around?
If the creature made him feel the pain it should've felt —
Maybe he could make it feel his pain too.
Maybe he could force the lightning through himself, and the feedback would reverse.
Like a circuit loop.
He coughed out blood, his chest heaving, and he almost laughed.
"This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever done," Joon muttered, his voice hoarse.
Jin froze, gripping the staff tighter.
"Joon — what are you doing?"
Joon didn't answer.
He just slammed his gloves together, forcing the electricity inward, letting the lightning coil inside him, crackling through his veins.
It was like shoving a live wire through his nerves.
His muscles seized.
His lungs locked up.
His heart thundered against his ribs.
But the feedback didn't come.
The Qī Shā didn't react.
Instead, the pain changed.
The lightning didn't lash out.
It started to cycle.
It looped through his body, flowing faster, growing tighter, like he'd plugged himself into a battery.
The pain didn't fade, but it didn't crush him either.
It just kept moving.
Like the lightning itself was trying to stay alive.
Joon gasped, blinking through the static haze, and he saw it.
The Qī Shā twitched, its body knitting itself back together, but it wasn't looking at Jin or Seul.
It was staring at him.
Its head tilted, the Face of Suffering contorted into something almost... hungry.
Like it was waiting for him to hit it again.
And that's when Joon realized.
Jin had cracked the creature's skull with the staff, hard enough to splinter bone — but he didn't react to the feedback at all.
Seul had shattered its leg, making it crumple, but she didn't feel anything either.
He was the only one hurting.
Because he was the one attacking the most.
It wasn't random feedback.
It was targeted.
It was like the Qī Shā was fixated on him.
Like it wanted his pain the most.
Joon's eyes widened.
"...Oh," Joon muttered, coughing out a weak laugh.
Jin stiffened, gripping the staff tighter.
"Oh? Oh what?!"
Joon grinned, even as he spit blood onto the ground.
"I think I get it," he rasped.
He glanced at Seul, who was cradling her arm, her breathing ragged, and then back at Jin, who was barely staying upright.
And he made a choice.
If the creature wanted him the most —
Then he'd give it exactly what it wanted.
He'd take the feedback.
All of it.
He'd soak up the pain.
If it meant they'd survive this fight.
"Jin," Joon muttered, bracing himself as he felt the lightning coil tighter inside him.
"Hit it. Don't worry about me."
Jin's brow furrowed.
"What are you talking about?"
Joon wiped the blood off his face, lightning dancing across his knuckles, and he smiled.
"I'm saying..." he rasped, stepping toward the Qī Shā, the static building around him like a storm.
"...I can take it."
The Qī Shā shuddered, its body vibrating with anticipation, and it lunged for him, its bone blades splitting apart, trying to skewer him from every angle —
Joon charged straight in, his fists crackling.
He'd carry the pain.
They just had to kill this thing before it killed him first.
oon staggered forward, his lungs burning, the electricity still flickering around his fingers.
His whole body felt like it was melting from the inside out.
But he could feel it now.
The way the lightning looped through him — not just hitting once and fading, but cycling, growing tighter, sharper, like the current was waiting to be released.
He just didn't know how.
The Qī Shā twitched, its body trembling, its flesh writhing like it was trying to hold itself together.
But it wasn't retreating.
It was crawling toward him, dragging itself across the cracked pavement, its jaw unhinged, its voice a wet, gurgling rasp.
"DON'T HOLD BACK," it whispered, the words slipping out like a prayer.
"HURT ME. BREAK ME."
Joon's pulse thundered.
He tried to fire another arc shot, but the electricity just crackled around his hands, refusing to leave.
Like it was building up, waiting to burst.
Like it wanted more.
Joon's legs buckled, and he dropped to a knee, panting, his fingers curling into the ground.
The static rippled through his bones, his skin humming, and he gritted his teeth, trying to force it out —
But it didn't work.
The lightning just kept surging inside him, circling like a storm with no exit.
He slammed his fists into the dirt, frustrated, desperate, his heart hammering.
"Why won't it go?" he rasped, voice cracking.
"Why won't it—"
And then he froze.
Because he suddenly understood.
The lightning wasn't refusing to leave.
It was waiting for direction.
He'd been trying to fire it out like a bullet, but maybe...
Maybe he didn't have to shoot it at all.
Maybe he could just let it flow.
Like a live wire.
Constant. Unrelenting.
Joon lifted his shaking hands, fingers spread wide, and he breathed in sharply, feeling the current coil tighter.
"Okay," he muttered.
"Let's try something else stupid."
Joon closed his eyes.
He didn't try to fire the lightning.
He just tried to let it move through him.
To guide it, not force it.
And the second he stopped fighting it —
It poured out of him.
ZZZZZAAAKK.
The electricity didn't explode.
It streamed.
Like a continuous flow, wrapping around his arms and stretching outward, snaking through the air in a constant, crackling arc.
It wasn't a blast anymore.
It was a flood.
"HOLY SHIT," Joon gasped, staring at the electricity crawling out of him like living threads.
The current looped through his body, and every time it left, it came back, surging through his chest, amplifying as it cycled again.
It was like he'd turned himself into a circuit.
A conduit.
A human lightning rod.
And the Qī Shā noticed.
The creature froze, its head snapping up, its teeth clattering with excitement.
"YES," it rasped, its voice dripping with anticipation.
"YES, YES, YES."
It crawled faster, its limbs breaking with every step, but it didn't care.
It was starving.
It could feel the power.
It wanted the pain.
Joon's heart slammed against his ribs, but he didn't back down.
He just stood his ground, the lightning rippling around him, and he grinned through the blood.
"You want more?" he muttered, his voice low, dangerous.
"Fine. Let me light you up."
He swung his arm, and the stream of electricity whipped out, latching onto the Qī Shā like a living chain.
The creature convulsed, its body spasming, black ichor bubbling out of its mouth — but it just started laughing again.
"YES," it shrieked.
"BURN ME. MAKE ME FEEL."
Joon gritted his teeth, the pain swelling, but he held on.
He could handle it now.
He could carry it.
He just had to last long enough for Jin and Seul to finish this thing off.
Jin blinked, watching the stream of electricity pour out of Joon like a constant flow, the crackling arcs snaking around the creature's limbs.
The Qī Shā's body smoked, its flesh splitting apart, but it wasn't dying.
It was thriving.
The pain was making it stronger.
But it was also distracting it.
It was so fixated on the suffering —
It wasn't even guarding itself anymore.
Jin tightened his grip on the staff, his knuckles white.
"Seul," he muttered.
"Can you still move?"
Seul dragged herself up, her gloves slick with blood, her chest heaving, and she nodded, wiping her face.
"I'm good," she panted, voice shaky.
"What's the plan?"
Jin cracked his neck, adjusting his stance, and he spun the staff once, feeling the weight settle in his hands.
"Joon holds it down," Jin muttered.
"We crush it."
Seul's lip curled into a feral grin.
"Hell yeah," she whispered, pulling her gloves tighter.
Jin exhaled, his muscles screaming, but he forced himself to move.
Because if Joon was willing to suffer to keep them alive —
They owed it to him to finish this fight.
Jin launched forward, the staff spinning in his hands, every muscle screaming as he closed the distance.
The Qī Shā convulsed, its body splitting open, bone shards jutting out like jagged spikes, but it didn't even look at him.
It just shuddered, its face twisted in ecstasy, the blasters' electricity surging through its flesh like a drug it couldn't get enough of.
"YES," the creature rasped, its voice warped, echoing like it was splitting apart.
"BURN ME. BREAK ME."
Joon's arms shook, his muscles tearing, but he didn't stop firing.
Because he could feel it.
The power building.
The limit shattering.
Something inside him was cracking open.
Like he was on the edge of something —
And all he had to do was step over.
Joon's vision blurred, his body locking up, but he kept firing.
The blasters hissed, the electricity warping, and his gloves cracked — the metal splitting apart as the system flared to life.
[Joon Kim has clashed with his limits — and shattered them.]
Status Updating...
All injuries have been healed.
Skill Evolution in Progress...]
Joon gasped, his lungs filling like he'd just come back to life.
The pain vanished.
The ache dissolved.
He felt stronger.
Sharper.
Like his body had been rewired for this exact moment.
The gloves fell apart, disintegrating into shimmering particles — and then reforming around his hands as sleek, metallic blasters, the energy coils surging with electricity.
The system's voice echoed in his mind.
Skill Evolved: Arc Shot → Arc Conduit
New Weapon Acquired: Dual Arc Blasters
Joon stared at his hands, his fingers trembling as the electricity flowed freely — no resistance, no overload, just pure control.
He looked at the Qī Shā, its jaw unhinging, the creature still begging for more.
Joon's lip curled.
"Okay," he muttered.
"Let's see how much you can take."
[Joon Kim's Status Updated]
Rank: #1,912
Title: Unassigned
Class: Unassigned
Strength: A+
Agility: S
Endurance: A+
Perception: A+
Intelligence: B-
Willpower: A+
Potential: S+
Jin staggered, blinking at the notification, his chest heaving.
His mind spun.
S+ potential.
Joon's potential had been A+ since the system announced their stats.
But now?
Jin wiped the blood off his face, his fingers shaking.
"How the hell does this system even work?" he muttered.
The Qī Shā dragged itself forward, its body fused to the ground, half its face melted off, the bone jutting out like a jagged crown.
"YOU CAN'T KILL ME," it whispered, voice cracking.
"I'VE NEVER FELT TRUE PAIN."
Joon exhaled slowly, lifting the blasters, the light intensifying, and his fingers curled tighter around the triggers.
"Good," he muttered.
"Then let me be the first."
The blasters hummed, the energy coils spinning faster, and Joon could feel the storm in his veins.
The stream wasn't a weapon anymore.
It was an extension of himself.
The lightning surged —
And he fired everything he had.
The blast ripped through the Qī Shā, a continuous beam of raw destruction, vaporizing flesh, shattering bone, and tearing the monster apart piece by piece —
Until it was nothing.
Just ash.
The plaza went silent.
Joon collapsed to one knee, panting, his chest heaving, but his body whole.
Jin leaned against the staff, wiping sweat and blood off his face, his lungs burning.
Seul spat onto the ground, rolling her shoulder, and glanced at the pile of ash where the Face of Suffering used to be.
"Is it... over?" she whispered.
Jin narrowed his eyes.
And then the system notification flashed —
[The Face of Suffering Has Been Destroyed]
[Initiating Phase: The Face of Honor]
