Chapter 171: The Iris Classes (Part 3)
Zeris’s Cottage, Training Room
Quinn was the only iris wielder in the room who possessed a Myalo power, an iris ability that involves the manipulation of the mind. The most common abilities in this category involve some variation of telekinesis or enhanced intelligence, but the mind is capable of many things.
After scanning the tattoo on his tricep, Quinn briefly reviewed his ‘Override’ ability for the rest. With the group already well versed in what Quinn’s override ability was capable of, Zeris decided to move things along to the following category: Soma, or the manipulation of the body.
“Ember, it’s finally your turn,” says Zeris, tossing her the iris scanner.
Ember catches it, “Bet.”
“Your tattoo is–
“I know where it is.”
Lifting up the bottom of her shirt, a tattoo plastered on Ember’s stomach is revealed. The tattoo displays a picture of multiple gears intertwining and entangling with one another.
‘Name: Tempo Pivot. Category Type: Soma / Body. Description: Upon awakening, the user obtains supersonic hearing far beyond the average human level. Moreover, the user is capable of absorbing various soundwaves to enhance, strengthen, and reinforce their body.’
‘Consequences and limits of this ability include the following: The user’s ears are far more sensitive to noises. Lack of control of this ability can burst the user’s eardrums, diminishing or destroying their general ability to hear. Extreme overuse can also tear apart the user’s muscles, heart, and other vital organs.
“So that’s how you stopped the arrow Cliff shot!” says Sky.
Satisfied with her ability, Ember replies, “Looks like it. It might not be stated, but I think I can enhance certain aspects of my body instead of it all at once. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been fast enough to block that arrow.”
Forest speaks up, “Let’s not forget the time you took on like ten of those mutts all on your own. Did you use your power then, too?”
“I… don’t know. I might’ve, but I’m assuming I had this ability before the trials began, so that’s why I forgot about it. It’s possible my body could’ve been using it instinctively, though. Now that I know I have this ability again, I look forward to seeing how powerful it can be.”
“Yeah, it won’t be long ‘til you can test it out, but I would like to learn about one more Soma ability in this room,” says Zeris, his eyes falling on Armaros.
Giving a curt nod, Armaros extends his hand and asks Ember, “Can I have the scanner?”
The scanner flips through the air to Armaros. After catching it, Armaros takes his shirt off again.
“Really? Why’d you even put the shirt back on the first time if you were just going to take it off again?” asks Alex, eyeing the swirling vortex tattoo Armaros has on his chest.
“I didn’t know Zeris would want to know about my other ability. Plus, if I’m going to show how this ability works too… well, you’ll see.”
“Are you also a dual wielder? Like Quinn?” asks Ember.
Armaros nods and scans his chest tattoo.
‘Name: Rift Flow. Category Type: Soma / Body. Description: A stealth ability, the user must say the two words “Rift Flow” to activate this power. When activated, iris surges through the user, allowing their state of being to be swiftly vaulted into an invisible and intangible state. Additionally, the user’s tattoo will bear a slight glow to it. While in this state, the user can pass through solid objects but is susceptible to liquids. Also, the user can exit the rift flow at any point before eight seconds pass. Once the rift flow has been exited, a cooldown will be enacted. This can be seen in the ring around the vortex star. Acting as a timer or loading bar, the ring will begin to disappear in a counterclockwise rotation while the user is in rift flow. After the user exits, the ring will start to reappear in a clockwise rotation. Once the ring becomes a full circle again, the user can enter rift flow again. Note: it takes twice as long for the ring to regenerate than for it to deplete. If the user uses rift flow for one second, they must wait two seconds before they can re-activate this ability.’
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‘Consequences and limits of this ability include the following: In order to activate rift flow, the user must have their feet planted. Additionally, if the user does not leave the rift flow in eight seconds or less, they will be ruthlessly thrown out of the rift flow without warning. If thrown out, the user’s body will suffer severe internal or external injuries, and their cooldown will last an entire day. Additionally, the user can only enter rift flow a maximum of eight times within an hour. This can be seen through the vortex star, as a branched rod will deteriorate after one use of rift flow. Once an hour has passed, the rod will return to its original state. Attempting to use rift flow more than eight times in an hour will result in significant iris depletion and injury, and the cooldown will be extended to three days. Continuative attempts at this can result in death through a heart attack or stroke.’
“Question, how come both your abilities are so complicated?” asks Ember.
“I don’t know," replies Armaros. "Are you… upset that yours isn’t?”
“No. I just… I mean, with your history as an assassin, your abilities are very… in tune with that duty.”
“You’ll have to ask Stryde about that.”
Forest voices, “Stryde?”
“Don’t worry about ‘em,” says Zeris, gesturing to Armaros. “If you’d do us the honors…”
After a deep breath through his nose, Armaros opens his mouth, a silver aura brimming off his skin as he extends his hand out in front of him.
“Rift flow.”
Clenching his open hand into a fist, his chest tattoo flashes silver before the assassin disappears. Reappearing two seconds later, none of the survivors knew where he had gone.
“Not bad,” says Zeris, staring up at the ceiling along with Kane.
Noticing where the two older guys were looking, the survivors looked upward to see Armaros standing on the ceiling.
“How is he doing that?” asks Alex.
“He has iris channeled into his feet, allowing him to stick to the ceiling,” replies Quinn.
Armaros shouts from above, “Rift flow!”
A few seconds later, he reappeared near everybody again, and they all looked at his illuminated silver tattoo. Just as the ability was described, two of the rods were shriveled up, and the ring was restoring itself in a clockwise motion.
Recalling their fight, Zeris asks, “So, can you use your Kathos realm while in rift flow?”
“Yeah. Since the realm is disconnected from the physical world, I can still use it in rift flow.”
Bobbing his head, Zeris looks back at Kane and jerks his chin, mouthing, ‘See? He’s worth the risk.’
Not giving Zeris any reaction, Kane finally moves for the first time since this lesson began. Boosting himself off the table with his elemental ability, ‘Ventus Surge’, he flies into the sky and activates his second ability.
An ability that falls under the mythic class and the Los category, the manipulation of light.
'Gilded Crusader'.
With a heavily textured, golden armor materializing around Kane’s body, Alex’s brows furrowed.
“Guess I pissed ‘im off,” chuckles Zeris, a helmet swiftly growing to encompass Kane’s head.
With his suit of armor complete, Kane’s eyes, chest, and wrists gleam with a brighter shade of yellow-orange than his golden suit, a hue akin to amber.
Slowly lowering himself back to the ground, Kane hovers before Armaros.
“I told you before that I’m not letting you return to Racafi. And I also told you that I was going to keep you alive because you’re going to help me. But for that to happen, I need to know just how strong you really are.”
“Kane, come on, man. You can do this later.”
“No, I can’t,” sharply says Kane, still looking at Armaros. “After you killed my wife and daughter, and we fought against each other… I don’t think you were fighting at one hundred percent back then. I'm sure you gave it all you had, but something was stopping you from going all out. I want to see… you at your strongest. So show me. Let’s fight. And if you manage to kill me, Zeris will take you home.”
“No, I–” begins Zeris, and Kane’s head whips in his direction. “Yes… I will. I will take him back to Racafi.”
Slowly facing Armaros again, Kane says, “But if I decide you’re too weak, just like you’ve done to so many people in this world… I’ll kill you without a second thought.”