Chapter 170: The Iris Classes (Part 2)
Zeris’s Cottage: Training Room
As Zeris lifts Armaros’s shirt to scan his tattoo, a labyrinth of scars is revealed on the assassin’s bronze-toned back. Some were old, others faded, and a few still had this raging crimson; the sight spoke volumes to everybody in the room. A graveyard of memories carved into his flesh, Zeris selfishly tries to take off Armaros’s shirt.
Letting him, Armaros raises his arms for a moment. Walking around to the front of the assassin with shirt in hand, a similar cruel sight befell Zeris, Armaros’s entire upper body a weathered map of suffering and endurance. His other tattoo was at the center of his chest: a swirling vortex with eight symmetrical, pointed rods to create a detailed star-like appearance. Surrounding that star is a singular circle layer with an articulate, layered design. Recalling some of his own experiences, Zeris considers how Armaros must feel about these scars, and he keeps his mouth shut.
Handing the shirt back to the assassin as Zeris circles Armaros again, he holds the scanner just above the center of Armaros’s back. The only part of his back unscathed, a small tattoo of a fragmented butterfly rests.
The scanner light soon turns green, and data panels whoosh up into the air.
‘Name: Kathos (aka Shattered Mirror). Category Type: Resu / Realm. Description: A mirror manifests beside the user that must be shattered by the user. Once shattered, Kathos becomes a small pocket realm that can disappear and reappear at locations and times the user desires. This pocket realm can absorb attacks, and the user can enter and exit the pocket realm when needed. This includes only reaching inside with an arm. Inside Kathos is a realm of glass that can be forged by the user into any item required, and the glass is harmless to the user. If another individual tries to wield anything from inside the Kathos realm, the glass creations will reject them. Additionally, suppose the user’s entire body ever enters inside Kathos. In that case, they can only exit the pocket realm within a twenty-meter radius in the real world.’
“Pretty crazy ability you got,” says Zeris, his eyes transferring to the neighboring panel.
‘Consequences and limits of this ability include the following. Maintaining the Kathos realm requires significant iris. Once shattered, the mirror must be materialized consistently. Failure to meet the two-minute countdown will disable access to Kathos for one hour. Additionally, if the user enters the Kathos realm, they must exit within fifteen seconds. Failure to do so will result in lost control over the realm. Until the user exits, they will be violently attacked by the Kathos realm, the glass now harmful to the user. This can result in death. The mirror can be destroyed by external attacks. If destroyed, the mirror can not be regenerated for two hours. Furthermore, if the user’s entire body has entered the Kathos realm, they can not reenter for 120 seconds. Trying to reenter the Kathos realm before the cooldown is up can result in death.’
“You spoke about it before, but this is what your ability officially does. How many rules are there?” asks Ember. “There weren’t this many for the elemental and particle abilities.”
“Besides the mythic class, realm abilities always have the most complicated descriptions,” answers Quinn. “These conditions shouldn’t be any surprise either; this ability can be incredibly powerful.”
“And perfect for assassinations,” says Forest, eyeing an unmoving Armaros, who has also turned around to read the panels.
Staring at Armaros’s wounded body, Hazel was stunned at just how much Armaros had been through while Alex’s eyes dodged him as much as possible, not wanting to give him any sympathy.
“Would you… like to see how it works?” asks Armaros. “Like… the full extent of what I can do now?”
“Yeah, I was about to ask that,” says Zeris.
The assassin nods, “You should all probably take a step back.”
A silver aura flickers off his body while everybody moves back besides Zeris and Kane. A large mirror suddenly appears next to Armaros. Balling his hand into a fist, the assassin smashes the mirror to activate the Kathos realm, the glass shards falling a few feet before him. Jumping inside, the mirror disappears, and a second later, it reappears a few feet away, and Armaros walks back out with a glass sword.
“Wow,” says Hazel with a hidden smile.
Walking over to Zeris and keeping the sword facing away from everybody, Armaros asks, “Would you like to try to use the sword?”
Zeris grins, “Why the hell not?”
Slowly placing the sword on the ground and taking a few steps back, Armaros says, “Just so you don’t have to worry about me killing you.”
“Yeah, that’s preferred,” chuckles Zeris, kneeling and holding his hand out to the sword.
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As his hand nears the sword, an invisible barrier prevents Zeris from physically touching the sword.
“Just like it was described,” notes Zeris, standing back up as the sword vanishes.
“So Armaros, if nobody could ever touch the glass from the Kathos realm, couldn’t you just make armor from head to toe and be untouchable?” asks Quinn as Armaros puts his shirt back on.
“I could, but I couldn’t maintain it very long. Bringing anything from the Kathos realm requires a lot of iris, and the longer it’s in our world, the more iris I have to expend. Also, the larger the object, the more difficult it is to maintain its shape in our reality.”
“So that’s why you fought me with daggers. Not bad… it's incredibly versatile,” says Zeris, nodding. “Okay, before we move on to the internal class, I should show you all a second iteration of a realm ability.”
“What do you mean?” asks Forest.
“There are two main types of realms. The realms that are compatible with our reality and those that aren’t. The Kathos realm is a pocket realm that can’t be merged with our world, so I’m about to show you all a realm that is.”
Dragging the top of his shirt down to reveal a tattoo on his left pec, Zeris stares at it momentarily as he takes a deep breath. The tattoo consisted of the back of a hand with an eye resting across the thumb and pinkie fingers. After scanning it, panels appear in accordance with his ability.
‘Name: Liraz (Clandestine). Category Type: Resu / Realm. Description: The user can create a spherical realm around them that can manipulate the five senses of anybody inside. For example, this can allow the user to go invisible or morph their appearance into anything they choose to others trapped inside. Additionally, those outside the realm cannot see what is going on inside the realm.’
"So that's how you made yourself look like that hideous monster," says Quinn, almost annoyed.
Zeris suddenly transforms, striking fear into Sky and Hazel, "You mean this?"
Ember shakes her head, "You're f*cked up man."
Changing back, Zeris laughs as everybody checks out the downsides to his ability.
‘Consequences and limits of this ability include the following. The Clandestine realm requires significant iris, and unless the user physically changes the environment, no hallucinations will remain permanent. The realm is also locked to only one volume size when activated, and the distance the realm covers can not be adjusted further. The more people inside the realm when activated, the more difficult it is for the user to control each individual’s senses. Furthermore, if the user is unable to expend the necessary amount of iris needed to maintain the realm, their own senses can become wildly disproportionate, and hallucinations may occur. Overuse of iris can result in injury or death.’
Hazel voices, “Why do they all possibly result in death?”
“Because while iris can provide many benefits and cool powers, it can be incredibly dangerous if not properly managed,” replies Zeris, a purple aura wrapping around his body. “Normally, the way I activate my realm is way more subtle, but I want you all to see how these types of realms work.”
A wave of purple aura shoots out around him in all directions to the borders of the large training room.
“And my realm is now up. Do you all see the purple around us?” asks Zeris, manipulating even the non-iris wielders in the room to see the border of his realm.
As everybody looks around the room, a dome purple barrier surrounds them.
“That’s the maximum space my ability reaches, and since my ability is spherical,” says Zeris, his voice being thrown from behind the group nowhere near where he's standing. “The other half of my ability is technically below us.”
“Kinda sick,” says Ember, her voice thunderous although she spoke normally.
Earning himself a stern glare from Ember, Zeris silently chuckles as he disappears. Manipulating everybody’s sight, he creates ten other clones of himself around them.
“So I can do stuff like this,” says Zeris, his voice thrown from the top of the dome.
All his hallucinated clones become mist and dissipate while Zeris jumps into the air and starts flying around.
“And this.”
“But you’re not actually flying. That’s just you messing with our senses,” says Sky.
“Correct,” voices Zeris, reappearing behind them as his image in the air disappears. “But it looked real, didn’t it?”
“So, is there a way to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not?” asks Alex as Armaros’s Kathos realm reappears and vanishes again.
Zeris’s eyes transfer to Armaros, as does everybody else’s, “Yep, and… why’d you do that?”
“I thought we were going to train soon, so I have to keep reactivating Kathos, or it goes on cooldown.”
“Ah, I can see how that can be annoying,” says Zeris, moving on without thinking much of it. “Anyway, as for my realm, it’s pretty easy once you figure out the trick.”
“Your unique trace of iris always reveals the original you…” says Quinn, waiting until Zeris nods. “But you can only determine that if you saw Zeris’s iris trace before he activates his realm.”
“Bingo. No matter how many illusions, hallucinations, or how much I toy with their senses, I’m using my iris to accomplish those feats. No clone is ever exactly like the original. So if my opponent or anybody else inside my realm knows my iris trace, they’ll be able to spot the real me in the realm, even if I make it look like I’ve gone invisible.”
As Zeris deactivates his realm, Ember says, “So if we were outside the perimeter there, we couldn’t have seen or heard anything that happened inside?”
“Yep. It would’ve looked like nobody was even here.”
Ember pursues her lips and nods with fascination.
“So, yeah. Those are the two types. As for the physical realms like mine, there’s a border or limit to how far they expand. And for otherworldly realms like Armaros’s, they’re normally better suited for more creative fights but can often be destroyed and even a hindrance at times.”
Looking around, Forest says, “I think… I think we get it. Do you— you understand?”
Nobody disagrees, and Zeris claps his hands, rubbing them together, “Alright, next up is the internal class. And we’ll start with the easier category. Myalo, or the mind. Quinn, you’re up again.”