Chapter 173: Mythic Abilities
Deciding their fight is over, Kane heals Armaros with his mythic ability before his armor disappears. While the two guys wait for the others to return to the training room, Armaros voices a question.
“You’re keeping me alive so you can use me, but there have to be better, more reliable options you can recruit instead of me. Why waste your efforts keeping me alive?”
“What makes you think doing all of this is a waste?”
“You said I was a broken toy. Even kids wouldn’t look twice at one.”
“Toys serve a purpose. Only once they’re broken, do people find other uses for them.”
“Or they throw them away like trash,” says the assassin, and Kane looks at him. “I’m only just starting to think about this stuff, but how can you even look at me after what I’ve done?”
“I… wish I could say that I couldn’t. But, that’s not true, and I hate myself because I don’t hate you nearly as much as I should. You killed the love of my life and my friend’s little girl, who I swore to protect. Yet, when I looked at you, there wasn’t much rage boiling in me. And it’s still like that today.”
Armaros says nothing, and Kane continues, “Is it because I didn’t love Marissa as much as I thought I did? Or is it because I’m also a murderer, and I don’t have the right to feel that way? I honestly don’t know.”
“What’s driving you to fight against Divine then? I thought you and Zeris hated her–”
“I do. I loathe her way more than you. That’s why I’m so damn confused.”
Walking into the training room with the survivors behind him, Zeris immediately voices, “What the f*ck, Kane?! How the f*ck am I supposed to fix these holes?!”
“You’re not. Get over it,” replies Kane.
“Tch,” Zeris shakes his head. “F*cking hell, if anybody from Saneth shows up–”
Kane cuts in, “You’ll brag about how powerful your sector’s survivors are.”
Clicking his tongue, Zeris’s head judders back and forth, “Alright. You want to show ‘em our mythic abilities now?”
“Did you guys not just watch our fight?”
“You know what I mean,” bluntly says Zeris, not having the tolerance to put up with any shit.
Kane sighs, “Make us invisible, at least.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
Activating Liraz realm, Zeris makes the two of them disappear to the eyes of the survivors. As Zeris pulls Kane’s shirt all the way up to his shoulders, a large, articulate, detailed design of a downward mace tethered into a shield is on the general’s upper back.
Once Zeris scans it, he makes them visible to the survivors again.
“So, you guys are allowed to know where our tattoos are… which is really where our iris cores are… which, if stolen from us, a third of our lives vanish… but we can’t know where yours are,” says Ember.
“Yeah, that’s right,” says Zeris, Ember rolling her eyes. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, the government actually scanned your bodies and revealed where your tattoos are to me before the trials started. So… I already knew, and so does the government.”
“That’s… you know what, nevermind,” says Ember.
“So, the government doesn’t know about your tattoos?” asks Sky.
“They know about two of mine, but not my Kadil ability,” says Zeris, nudging Kane. “They know about Kane’s, though. Actually the whole world knows he’s a Los wielder.”
“They don’t know where it is on my body,” Kane quickly cuts in. “And it’s staying that way.”
“You guys don’t trust us at all… do you?” asks Forest.
Zeris starts, “Trust is earned–”
“Yeah, that goes both ways,” interrupts Ember.
Zeris meets her gaze, but Kane expresses, “We’ll tell you when we believe you should know. Right now, is there any reason to?”
Scoffing, Ember looks around the room in disbelief, “Damn. Screw us, I guess. You two aren’t even giving us… a little, just, something to work with!”
“We’re teaching you about iris. You know how your ability works now,” says Zeris, his brows knitted.
“Yeah, because this is shit you have to tell us! You’ve f*cking told us that you want us to join a civil war in a couple months, and I can’t even tell if you both even… care about our damn lives! One of you actually tried to kill us multiple times only a few days ago! And the other is so distant and… focused on his son and Armaros that the rest of us don’t even exist to you! They’re the only reason you’re here, Kane! And you're talking about trust like now… all of a sudden, we’re on your side! No! I don’t have a f*cking clue what’s going on! I’m just trying to stay alive! I don’t trust either of you as far as I can throw you, so if not for everybody, at least give me something to work with! Only thing going for you both right now is that you… haven’t killed me? And sure, that’s something! But holy shit, that’s a low-ass standard!”
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Her speech over, Ember looks around the room, and various reactions are displayed.
Breaking the silence, Zeris says, “It’ll take time. I knew it would. I just… hope one day you can see that we’re with you.”
One side of her mouth twitching, Ember replies, “Fine. Yeah, sure. Carry on with… whatever the f*ck you want to do.”
Looking down at the scanner, Zeris clicks a button, and information about Kane’s ability appears.
‘Name: Gilded Crusader. Category Type: Los / Light. Description: A mythic ability, the user can manifest a golden armor that encases their body to protect themselves. This armor is nearly indestructible, offering super strength, amplified speed, and rapid healing/regeneration abilities. Additionally, Gilded Crusader can materialize weaponry of identical golden substance to the manifested armor.’
“Straightforward for a mythic ability,” notes Quinn.
‘Consequences and limits of this ability include: The armor created by Gilded Crusader can easily be broken by the same material. For example, if an armored hand touches the armored leg, the armor on both the hand and leg will crack or break, depending on the force. If broken, the armor takes at least twenty seconds before restoring itself to its original state. If a weapon is generated, an excess amount of iris will be required to achieve this feat. Overuse of iris can result in injuries, internal organ damage, and death.’
“Really straightforward. I thought the mythic class would be the most complicated,” says Forest.
Zeris says, “It is. Remember, these are just general descriptions of what Kane’s ability is capable of. There’s a lot more it can do than what you just read.”
“And what about yours?” asks Alex. “By process of elimination, you must have a Kadil ability.”
“I do,” says Zeris, thinking about what Ember said before tossing the scanner to Kane.
Deactivating his realm, Zeris pulls up his sleeves and reveals two similar tattoos on the backs of his forearms. Moving his arms to where his fists are going in opposite directions, Zeris lines up his forearms next to one another on the same plane, one in front of the other. Together, the aligned tattoos create a complete, singular tattoo design consisting of three different weapons, two of which are connected by chains. The central upright weapon is a double-sided, bladed weapon: a swallow. The other two weapons are daggers with sharp edges that diagonally cross over the swallow from either side.
“I’ve never seen that before… two different tattoo locations for one gemcore,” says Quinn, astounded. “Which arm is your gemcore really located on?”
“Okay, not even trying to be a dick here, but that’s kind of the whole point of the tattoo. You don’t know, and neither will any person I encounter in the future.”
“So, having a tattoo like that is uncommon?” asks Sky.
“Oh, extremely,” answers Quinn, still eyeing Zeris’s tattoos as the trial runner's arms fall back to his side. “Like the rest of ours, an iris core always resides below the tattoo. But since he has two tattoos, in theory… his iris core should be located at either one, or… it might even be split? I don’t know; the gemcore could just be in a completely different area of his body altogether. Kadil abilities are known for being deceiving. If anything, just chalk this up as another hidden perk of being a mythic wielder.”
The scanner turns green, and Zeris’s ability information pops up.
‘Name: Dikai Daggers. Category Type: Kadil / Darkness. Description: The user can conjure chains with daggers at the end. These chained daggers can work separately and together. If separate, a dagger is allocated to each arm of the user, chains offering the user mobility control over where the daggers are directed or used in combat. The chains can also be minorly controlled from a distance by the user, such as a slight change in direction when projected. If the user wishes to merge the daggers, the chains will disappear, and the two daggers shall combine to create a *swallow*: a twin-bladed staff with a handle connecting the two lethal ends. If an iris wielder is struck by Dikai Daggers, their iris will begin to decay much quicker from the point of contact. If a non-iris wielder is struck, no essence of decay will occur.’
‘Consequences and limits of this ability. The user is not immune to the existence of the Dikai Daggers. These paired sets of weapons are just as dangerous to the user as to everybody else. Using the separated chained daggers requires precise iris control in both arms. Insufficient control will cause the daggers to dematerialize and go on cooldown before reactivation. Overuse of iris can result in injuries, internal organ damage, and death.’
“Interesting. Kane’s ability is mainly defensive, while Zeris’s is purely offensive,” says Quinn.
Slightly offended, Zeris notes, “Hey, I can use my daggers to defend myself.”
“And the general belief that Los abilities have healing traits, and Kadil abilities involve some kind of decay is also true with their powers,” says Armaros.
“General belief?” voices Hazel.
Looking at her, Quinn says, “Yeah, even though iris abilities have been around for a couple decades now, there’s still so little known about the mythic class. Or maybe the right term would be… confirmed? There have been many rumors, and one of the most popular is, as Armaros stated.”
“Ahhh, okay,” she mumbles under her breath, her eyes falling on Armaros.
Activating his Dikai Daggers, multiple shades of purple spark around Zeris’s hands. Two daggers fall into his hands, kinkling chains leaking out of his hands and grazing the hard floor. Casting one dagger out, Zeris yanks on the chain connecting to it, and the dagger retracts to his hand. Then, bringing both his daggers together, they merge into a singular weapon, and the chains disappear. After spinning the swallow around a few times for everybody to see, the weapon disappears.
“It’s… they look a lot cooler in action,” says Zeris, awkwardly looking around at everybody’s straight-faced reactions. “Now that you’ve all seen abilities from each category, we can get started on training. Kane, you still taking Armaros?”
“Yeah, he’s with me.”
“Wait,” says Forest, raising a hand. “What about me, Sky, and Hazel? We aren’t iris wielders.”
Zeris chuckles, “My bad. I feel like I should clarify that only a small percentage of the population are actually iris wielders. Most aren’t. This training isn’t only for iris wielders, but non-wielders too. Hazel did a few levels of it during stage one, and you saw how much stronger she got in just a few days.”
“No, I actually didn’t but… against an iris wielder, we’re helpless. What can we do against a guy who can shoot fire out of his fingertips or teleport on a whim?”
Zeris opens his mouth to answer, but Hazel beats him to it this time, “They might be wielders, but they’re still human, just like us. No matter how many powers you have, you can never mitigate all of the human body’s weaknesses. And who says we can’t be iris wielders?”
“What? We don’t have an iris core,” says Forest. “Science says we aren’t.”
Hazel grins and looks back at Zeris, who nods.
Clicking a few buttons on his watch, a loud whirring noise rumbles as the lights in the room dim. Multiple floorboards suddenly drop open, metal clanging echoing through the room. Large racks and trays of weapons then appear, rising from beneath the ground.
Hazel declares, “We might not have an iris core, but Zeris told me iris takes many forms in our world. And he’s right. These weapons are imbued with iris, and with effort, they’ll help us non-wielders start covering some ground.”
*Swallow*: I described it above, but here's a general idea of how one might look lol. Obviously Zeris's looks different Swallow Weapon [https://i.postimg.cc/5NmnFX3T/swallow-weapon.jpg]