Nyx descended from the rift regal and imposing, his whole body was way bigger than she thought it would be, and even in this place that turned all the mana to sustain him. The Arena morphed itself to accommodate him, well. Not the arena itself.
It felt as if [The World] was bending the rules of reality to accommodate and make everything easier on Nyx. She wasn't quite sure what to feel about this.
"...WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Akira screamed as he flared his mana into some kind of mist surrounding him.
It looked as if he was being drained quite fast from his [Mana], actually, looking around she noticed that weird barriers had manifested around most of the students as they ran away from the arena.
Agatha was shaking her head at her as she cast half-assed spells at some members of the VIP room who were bleeding from their ears, eyes, nose, and mouth...And she hoped those were the only holes they were bleeding from.
Actually, why were they even being hurt? Was Nyx doing something? She turned to look at him as he proudly looked down on everyone...She felt as if she should be offended by being looked down on by her [Minion], but somehow. She got the feeling that she wasn't being looked down on by him. Even if he was bigger.
Nyx was still her hug pillow, so surely he wouldn't do something as nasty as making those basking under his presence bleed from every orifice on their body because they didn't kneel as soon as they noticed his [Imposing Presence]. No sir.
I mean, look at Rossie and Rena!
They weren't protected by any type of barrier and they were okay!
"[I'm Nyxfyre, the Twilight Dragon of the End.]" Nyx said once more as he turned his attention toward Akira who kept his mana surging, wasn't it tiring to waste that much mana? "[And you, mortal. Should know your manners.]"
Nyx looked so cool!
"You are a merely overgrown lizard, in my time I have slayed plenty of wyvern-" Akira started saying mockingly as he tried to raise [Gram].
"[The folly of men...Let's start easy.]" Nyx's voice rumbled almost like a cat purring as he smiled at Akira, showing his maw full of viciously curved fangs, then without any type of flourish or fanfare he uttered a single word. "[Kneel]"
Then, all the mana that had left the arena came crashing down, focused on a single spot, to her eyes, it was almost as if the mana had turned itself into a single pillar of shining light...That was hammered down atop Akira.
"GAH!" And of course, Akira felt the might of that, she saw the result of her [Appraisal] morph as Akira moved the status around, he first stripped [Intelligence] bare returning it to 10, moving those 90 points towards constitution.
[Intelligence 100 > 10]
[Constitution 56 > 146]
That was good enough for him to not fall flat on his stomach...But not nearly enough as she could see his HP start to trickle down. When he noticed it wasn't good enough he dropped his sword to the floor and tried to raise his arms as if wanting to hold the weight of [The World] on his shoulders.
Next was Dexterity, he stripped it bare too, moving it to [Strength]
[Dexterity 150 > 10]
[Strength 370 > 510]
It wasn't enough as he fell onto one of his knees, she could see his stamina falling down quite fast too, as well as how his hp seemed to start to sink more and more, his muscles were bursting open from the strain he was suffering.
And she couldn't help but feel a smile form on her face. Akira must have noticed that as he then shouted and stripped his Agility of all the points available on it.
[Agility 200 > 10]
[Constitution 146 > 336]
"[You are quite one sturdy Bug.]" Nyx said as he let some black fire be released from his maw, Akira smirked at Nyx as he mustered the strength to answer back.
"You....think....this....will...stop....me....I....will....kill....you....no...matter....how....many....lives....it....takes...." His mouth was full of blood, he must have bitten his tongue at some point while grunting or something. She didn't feel bad at all for him.
If anything she was waiting with anticipation for Nyx's next words. Would he flatten Akira? Would he burn him alive? SHE COULDN'T WAIT!
"[And the BUG has attitude...But well, you did Kneel for me.]" Nyx said as he turned one of his dragon eyes to look at where Rossie was sitting, at this point very few people remained in the arena.
One was Rossie... She was sitting with her feet resting atop Rena's belly, Rossie was looking cute while eating the popcorn and taking a sip from her drink.
Another was Rena, she was resting on the floor, unconscious, but she looked as if she was happily sleeping, so everything was fine with the dog!
At the top of the seating was Michael, whose barrier seemed to be different from the one created for the other students, unlike them, this was his own making. His eyes were shining with magical circles that seemed to change every few seconds, as the runes on them swapped and his pupils went from Rossie to Rena, then to her, then to Akira...And finally towards Agatha.
It seemed that [The Sage] wanted to find the correct formulae to protect himself, as for mana? He was using the one that was hidden away within his [Soulscape] if she was reading the mana wave correctly. Smart man, not using ambient mana for that.
Finally, Agatha and the crazy old man, any other teacher in the VIP seating had left long ago, Agatha didn't seem to be bothered by whatever had caused everyone to run away. And the crazy old man...well, he was crazy, so she didn't think too long about how or why he was okay without a barrier.
"[You seem awfully prideful from the gifts granted to you...Maybe...]" Nyx finally started to speak, what would be the next one?!?!? "[BREAK]"
*Crystal shatters*
"PFFT" A veritable amount of blood came straight from Akira as his status shifted once more, this time, however, it wasn't as before when he moved them. Instead, his stats point started lowering really fast. Till they settled on more...Normal numbers.
[Strength 510 > 56]
[Agility 10 > 5]
[Dexterity 10 > 5]
[Constitution 336 > 56]
[Intelligence 10 > 5]
[Wisdom 5]
[Charisma 5]
Whatever Nyx had broken it made Akira's status sink way below what he had before, she couldn't even see any extra points lying around...Wasn't this way less than he had before?
He had gone from almost 600 total points to barely 130 or so. Wasn't this...Like three points per level? Those were [Civilian] level...Oh...His status sheet "[Appraisal]" Elizabeth used her skill once more, she could see the results thanks to the previous one that was updating, albeit somewhat glitched results.
So instead she refreshed it once more, she felt the mana rush to her eyes as the skill took hold and sure enough, the result was different from before.
Status
Name: Suzuki Akira
Title: [Hero Trainee]
Passive Titles:
[The one who ran away]
Level: 30
Health: 100%
Mana: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Age: Body 17
Soul: 50 / Degrading
Strength: 56
Constitution: 56
Agility: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 5
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Job: [Student]
Job Skills[9]:
General Skills (9)
Title Skills: (4)
...His job had changed from [Hero] to [Civilian]? Nyx could do that? How?
"What...did...you....do...?" Akira was gasping for air as he was being shoved down the arena floor, she could see how his hands were broken, his legs seemed to be about to be broken too actually.
Nyx however diminished the intensity of whatever he was doing, she could feel more and more of Nyx's mana fade away too... Actually, why was his mana different from the one that the other [Minions] had?
She could feel part of her own [Mana] deep within Nyx's [Core], but most of the outer mana was different, it felt closer to what her own [Mana] was before the advent actually...
"[Nothing much BUG, I just broke the shell you had made outside your SOUL, what let you keep the facade of being a Hero. Unlike my Mistress who is by Divine Right.]" Nyx said as he lowered his maw near Akira's face, "[You are anything but a HERO. And could only hold unto that by the sacrifices made from those that made that SHELL.]"
Nyx said as he clawed at the air above Akira, there he pulled three other fragmented crystals from empty air. A [Blue] sapphire covered in blood and black spots, a [Pink] topaz cracked and whose luster was almost gone. And finally, a [Red] ruby that was almost completely destroyed.
"[What kind of HERO would use those that should be brothers in arms to cover for their WEAKNESS?]" Nyx held the three gems on his claw and then with a quick flick of his wrist he threw them to Agatha. "[These should serve to distract those that wanted to see what this BUG wanted to do. As for whose those fragments are...I don't need to tell you, do I? Nor what would happen to the owners should those fragments reunite with them.]"
Agatha caught the gems in a stasis spell and closed her eyes as if she was thinking.
"Give...them...back...Those...are...[MINE]" Akira tried to say only for his mana to trash within his body as he tried to utter [Idea] but his [Will] wasn't strong enough to withstand the effects of it.
"[Those were meant to be for a HERO, those were meant to be the proof of fealty. The proof of wisdom, of love, of loyalty...And while yours was supposed to be of Power.....]" Nyx left the words trail, "[Well, I guess at least one was correct, even if that gem never materialized.]"
The crystals were meant to be something? Actually, didn't Rossie say that Mama pulled something from her body?
She would need to check on Rena later...
"I...am...a...[H]ero!" Akira grunted as he tried to stand once more, grabbing [Gram] once more, even if he didn't have the agility or dexterity. He still had his [Strength] "I...am...a...chosen...[ONE]!"
Then just as he did the first time they fought, he summoned his [Skills] once more, first the armory, then most of his armor pieces burst apart.
"[No. You aren't.]" Nyx's words were cruel, she almost could see herself pitying Akira.
Almost.
"You are a rapist, a murderer, a bully," Elizabeth said as she summoned to her hand the remaining of Rena's Katana. The sword hadn't regenerated yet, so it was mostly a handle with parts of the blade. "You are a pathetic excuse of a [Human], a psychopath who only thinks about himself."
Elizabeth had started walking toward Akira as she spoke, the black-haired man was barely a threat anymore, really. Any of his victims could probably kill him with a slap, and she could see in real time as the skills on his status sheet disappeared one by one.
He wasn't going to go anywhere, not with those stats, not without his [Skills]. The only remaining were:
Skills
Job
General
Titles
1. I’m Justice: X
2. Hero’s Armory
3. Unlimited Stamina: 25
4. Swordsmanship: 10
5. Hand-to-hand combat: 15
6. Martial Arts: 25
7. Agility Enhancement: 10
8. Strength Enhancement: 10
9. Spell Skill - Restriction Chains: 25
10. Spell Skill - Shift NA
1. Identify:15
2. Privacy: 10
3. Quick thinking: 3
4. Parkour: 10
5. Camouflage: 40
6. Body Fluid Manipulation: 100
7. Slaver: X
8. Slave Mark Owner: X
9. Soul Tampering: X
10.
* Heroic Party: 5
* Leadership: NA
* Camouflage Skill: 100
* Heroic Charisma: NA
Hand-to-hand combat and parkour huh. So the rest were things he got from his [Hero] status?
Then what? He had tried to learn how to fight and escape? That was...cute...Not.
"You are scum, the worst, there may be a [God] in some universe that could find it within his heart to forgive everything you have done," Elizabeth said as she toyed with the broken sword, Akira's face was funny, it was like he didn't quite understand what was happening.
As if this was a dream. The gall of the manchild to think that this was a bad dream.
"But that [God] isn't here, and if they are they can complain to me in the afterworld, but at this moment." She said as she raised the remains of the sword and sunk it into Akira's chest.
She felt a sudden spike of mana within the body of Akira as his [Shift] worked hard to prevent the damage from reflecting into his body. It was meaningless as a simple flare of her mana was all it took to break it, and since her hand was still on the handle of the sword when the [Shift] broke...
"I...what?" Akira said as he raised his hand to the handle of the sword, then raised his hand to eye level to see blood on it. "How...?"
It pissed her so much, "*crash*" So she punched him in the abdomen, just like he had done to her previously, and as he had done to her, Akira was sent flying crashing into the arena floor.
"[Mistress, this seems to be my limit. The mana Mother had granted to my descend upon the mortal world is ending, unless I return to her embrace I will not get more. Do you wish me to go and try to get more?]" Nyx asked her, who was Nyx's mother anyway?
She never heard Nyx mention or speak to anyone using that title, but it could grant him this kind of power...She was tempted to say yes..."No, that is fine. I like your hug-pillow form more. Just go and speak with Beato and Aura while I finish this." She instead said as Nyx's form started to melt.
It was but mere moments before he turned into his small form, "[As you wish Mistress. We will prepare the audience chamber for your victory speech. Should you need our help call for us, those that dwell within the Shadows will always be there for you.]" And with those words he left.
"I...I...will...die?" Akira said as if questioning it, then started laughing. "Right! There was that option, If I can't win...I only need to restart everything!"
...No....NO!
"COME! Divine Right!" He screamed to the heavens as she felt the pitifully low amount of mana within Akira to start rushing towards his [Soulscape]. "[Unique Skill: Regressor]!"
And without waiting a second or hesitating, she morphed the nearest [Shadow] into spikes that went straight toward Akira. She heard Agatha scream something at the back but paid no attention.
The [Witch] barely had any mana left, so she couldn't stop her even if she tried. She didn't want to know if that stupid skill would work or not. If it worked...
Would this [World] remain? Would the [World] reset to the past?
If it remained all was good, she didn't care for what happened in other parallel worlds, she would feel bad for her reflection there, and would definitely worry for that [World]'s Rossie.
But so long [Her Rossie] was safe, she didn't mind what other version Rossie did.
But...Should her consciousness travel back in time...Or worse...should Rossie travel back with [Akira]...Yeah, she didn't want that!
"...what?" So when Akira's voice resounded once more, she wasn't sure if she was happy or not.
Akira was impaled by her shadow spears and he was probably (definitely) going to die.
"Why?" Akira said once more, "[Activate]!"
She felt his mana once more start to rush towards his [Soulscape] only this time she used her [Shadows] to rush into his mana circuit and scramble the whole thing.
"GAH!" He screamed as more blood poured out of his mouth, his veins started to turn red and show on his body, his face's skin was starting to take a sickly pale appearance his eyes started to turn red. Was this from the mana circuits in his eye bursting as her mana was trashing within Akira's mana circuit?
It looked awfully familiar to, "What did you do you bitch?!?!? Did you [Taint] my mana with your filthy [Skill]?!?!?" Awfully familiar looking yes, almost like how the [Tainted] looked.
"YOU CAN'T STOP A TRUE HERO FROM HIS CALLING!" Akira said as she felt Akira break parts of his [Soulscape] and throw those parts within the [Core] of his [Self] "[DIVINE UNIQUE SKILL: REGRESSOR]!"
He chanted as his whole body started to shine in red and black light, she felt the [Authority] over her mana stripped away as [Something] washed her mana away.
"[DIVINE UNIQUE SKILL: TRANSMIGATOR]!" Elizabeth was still reeling from the shock of how Akira had managed to wrestle himself free from the chains she had used.
Who in his sane mind would crack their own [Soul] to escape!?!?
"FUSE AND BRING ME A SECOND CHANCE!" Akira however didn't stop, and instead did...whatever insanity he was doing. "[GODLY SKILL: SPICA'S JUMP]!"
And in a last burst of light Akira.... disappeared.
"What?" Elizabeth quickly scanned the arena and found nothing. Every trace of Akira's presence, his blood, his shattered weapons stuck on the walls, [Gram]. Everything that had been Akira was gone.
Instead, what remained on the spot he had been before was a single black diamond. "Spread around, search every shadow, every place. FIND AKIRA." She commanded and from her shadows, all her [Scouts] darted jumping from shadow to shadow.
She could feel the mental map updating in real-time as they traveled from place to place.
"Elizabeth...What is that? Where is Akira?" Agatha said finally getting to the arena, turning towards the [Witch] she found her staring at her with a weary gaze.
"I have no idea...But he should be [Dead]. I stabbed his [Heart], crashed his [Will]. And then wounded his [Soul] beyond what a mortal could survive...." She answered truthfully, granted the last bit hadn't been her, but him doing it. "As for this...I think...It's what remains of Akira's Skill after Nyx broke that [Shell] he spoke of."
The [Diamond] felt like foreign Mana, not like the mana that was on the atmosphere, or the mana a [Mage] cultivated and made its own. But...Different.
"...We will mark him as if he used an artifact to run away after your [Summon] showed evidence of tampering with other people's soul fragments. With some luck we can convince the council that he was using fragments of soul to affect people..." Agatha said as she summoned the gems again.
Hovering the gem that probably represented Rossie and placing her in front of her. "I probably only need one...Do you want to give this one to Rossaline? And the other to Rena now that we have evidence, we are only going to need one."
Did she want to?
"No, if Rossie or Rena want theirs they can ask you for it. I will not make them do anything. I don't think Rossie or Rena have good memories stored there." She was sure they didn't, if that thing had the memories of their lives in Aetheria...Yeah, she wouldn't touch that if she could. "Actually, don't offer to Michael his one either...Unless you want to give him PTSD that is."
"...I will not ask how you know what he has...But fine, we will try to check the contents on our end before deciding." Agatha then sighed and turned to her once more. "Congrats on passing the end-of-term test...You can leave now and tell the other students to return...Take Miss Watanabe and Miss Singh with you...And try to not stay at the campus for vacations...I will be busy dealing with the fallout of this, so I will not be able to protect you."
...She what?
She had been protecting her? How?
She hadn't even needed to be protected...oh..."You were stopping people from messing around us?" Elizabeth asked the [Witch] who nodded at her.
...right...She did wonder a few times why no one was bothering her while practicing and grinding levels, so that was why huh...And if Agatha was going to be busy...And she didn't have the protection from the status she had before from Papa and Mama...
Oh...
"Rossie!" She screamed at her girlfriend as she teleported beside her, "Did you prepare our luggage?"
"All ready at the wardrobe why?" Rossie answered while offering her a drink, the same one she had been drinking.
Indirect kiss? LOOD!
THIS GIRL WAS TOO LOOD!
She still took a sip, and maybe lick a little the drinking straw...BUT ONLY A LITTLE!
"Okay, we need to go. I will take all we had at the apartment...And Rena's apartment, we are moving our schedule!" She said as the shadow dragon still in their apartment started moving everything to her [Inventory - Garage]. And the one at Akira & Rena's apartment did the same with...Well, there weren't many things around that looked useful in a normal society.
So she only took the underwear(That was normal) and the uniform of the red-haired girl. "I will teleport us to the teleportation station, from there we can go to your parent's house."
Rossie took a second to take it all in, was she going to complain? To say anything? To tell her this was rushed?
"Okay then." She did nothing of the sort, "Let me just...[Healing]+[Amp]+[Renewal]+[Euphoria]+[Equalize]= [Wake up], wake up the dog."
"Right, wake up the d-" Rossie her always cute girlfriend almost got her to also say the Rena was a dog, she wasn't a thing, she was the pe--- SHE WAS A HUMAN GIRL THAT WAS A VICTIM!
"No time, we will explain on the way." She didn't wait for Rossie's response nor to see if Rena woke up, instead, she covered them all in shadows and teleported away from the MPI.
...She didn't have time to think, mostly because if she stopped to think, she would notice where they were going...
They were going to the Singh Manor...To meet with Rossie's parents...
Surely nothing could go wrong there, right?
She had dealt (Mostly) with the most important problem!
Surely everything would go fine now!