Haseya was inside a luxurious room, with a tatami mat flooring, sliding paper doors which connected to other rooms, red walls made of maple wood, a small circular table and a wardrobe made of the same type of wood, a few cushions that acted as seats, and massive windows that showcased most of the city.
It had been 2 weeks since the restart of her life, and the Rebirth Hero met the other heroes except Kanbe and the Archer Hero. But she had heard disturbing news, as the destruction of the hut of illegal slavers wouldn't have happened so soon, due to the disappearance of the Wisdom Lord.
‘This is bad. If those two took the Wisdom Lord, that means we can't have him without taking on the second-strongest Sunken Guardian. Wasn't Hiro the one who took him? What happened to him!?’ Haseya thought to herself, while putting on a blue kimono with a white flower pattern, and white socks. The kimono was covering her chest, but it was tight enough to show her cleavage.
As soon as she got changed, Sho entered inside the room without his footwear but clearly worried.
“Let me guess, Hiro is back?” Haseya asked, while taking a deep breath.
“Not only that! His bones! All of them have been pierced! We are restoring him, but he's traumatized!” Sho exclaimed, clearly worried about the Archer Hero.
“Then I know what happened to him. There's only one individual enough daring to attack the Archer Hero that way. Nigredo of the Alchemical saga has struck.” Haseya said calmly, while walking towards the door.
“A Sunken Guardian. Yusu was a danger, but it seems like the others are of the same sort.” Sho said, while biting his lower lip.
“Nigredo is one of the less dangerous ones. But if she was there, Rubedo was there. They have the Wisdom Lord. I never met you in any of my rebirths. So I suppose one of the changes this time is that they took the Wisdom Lord instead of the first team of the Arcane Hero.” Haseya said, while going past Sho.
“We have to recover-” Sho said, before being stopped by Haseya putting a finger on his lips.
“No. If we go after Rubedo, we all are dead. He is the second-strongest Sunken Guardian. You can get an army of level 60’s and they’ll still kick the bucket. Our best option is to find a Regenerator who can take most of his attacks, and even then… It might fail.” Haseya said while being extremely close to Sho, which made the boy blush and go back a bit.
“Park was with Hiro! He is dead!” Sho exclaimed, while blushing, clearly worried.
“Hiro had the perfect counter for Rubedo, and still lost. That's what it means to fight a Sunken Guardian. You need to pile on them so hard that they can't keep going. But if Park, who had killed Nigredo several times in my other lives, died against Rubedo… That means that his Damage Compacting and revival combo failed. Rubedo must have used the Light Absorber bodysuit and unleashed the combo skill known as Single Truth.” Haseya said, pondering about the incident.
“Is that good?” Sho asked with a worried face.
“If we attacked him right away, yes. Single Truth can kill gods in one attack. But in this case, it is merely information that is neither good nor bad.” Haseya said, with a worried face.
“That's troubling. But the hero is coming here.” Sho said, while trying to smile, as a way to calm Haseya.
“Oh yeah, that incident. If this is happening, we must move. Kanbe has died several times in this incident. I can't share you all the details due to the limitations of the Rebirth skill. But it's a terrible thing that he is coming to investigate Donny’s death.” Haseya said while she frowned.
“I suppose you want to hear from Hiro, rather than staying here.” Sho said, with a worried face.
“Indeed. I want to hear the changes in this timeline.” Haseya said, as she started moving while Sho followed her.
As Haseya and Sho got out of the room, they were in a massive hallway filled with the same sort of paper doors that separated the room. While they moved, they saw many elves walking around the house in maid and butler outfits, but they focused on going to the basement of this building.
The basement was a damp and humid place, akin to a medieval dungeon, in which many people wearing lab coats moved around, but Haseya and Sho moved to the room in the northern end of the basement.
Said room was a dark room, dimly lit by a few torches, where there was a human with fair skin, black short spiky hair, black eyes, and a scar on his left cheek. This man was sealed inside a massive iron piece held up by several chains made of steel, which covered all of his torso, as he was resting.
“Hiro. Sorry to wake you up in the recovery steel pod. But we need to talk.” Haseya said with a serious look.
“I know. You wanna know what happened to me. How Nigredo made a wreck out of me. I’d rather not remember, but even my stealth skill didn't work against her.” Hiro said as he looked at Haseya.
“You should have run away the moment you and Park detected Rubedo. Now we lost our best hope to stop the Sunken Guardians. But let us make the most of this hell.” Haseya said while frowning.
“I tried to get Park away, but you know how he is. A Rashak through and through.” Hiro said while frowning.
“And the kids of the king are alive?” Haseya asked.
“Nope. None of them. Single Truth aimed at the hut, they didn't even feel the pain.” Hiro replied with an angry face.
“To be expected. Not even Park can take on the second-strongest Sunken Guardian on his own.” Haseya said coldly.
“And we have to face them?” Hiro asked with a worried face.
“The idea is to not face them. But if needed…” Haseya said while trying to hide her worry.
“We will have to face them. They took the Wisdom Lord. Probably they are hiding him. But why? To have a Lord assisting them? It's not going to help them much.” Sho said, with a worried face.
“Then my information is of use. Holy Stealth worked at first. But later…” Hiro started explaining his encounter with Nigredo.
***
Hiro had gone with Park to retrieve the Wisdom Lord and destroy the illegal smugglers at once, and he had brought a simple leather armor to look like a thug to not be recognized in case of being caught. Using Holy Stealth, Hiro made a thin layer of mana over his armor that reflected light while using his mana sense to locate the Wisdom Lord.
But as he was about to enter, Park jumped through a window to handle the guards. With Damage Compacting and Regenerator, Park wouldn't be damaged badly even if there was a huge level difference.
So Hiro only had to watch the outside for now, but that's when he saw Nigredo and Rubedo. As soon as Hiro laid eyes on both Sunken Guardians, he felt their mana: It was as if an ocean had appeared in front of him, and he didn't carry a boat to survive going through it.
All of Hiro’s senses were telling him to either snipe them, or run away. As Hiro shot at Rubedo, he saw both of them talking right before Park came out of the house after dealing with some thugs.
The Archer Hero had only one choice if the sniping had failed, and it was to run away until Park killed them both. So he used Holy Agility to increase his speed, alongside a few thunder spells, to run away as fast as he could.
Nigredo simply followed him while using several purple cubes that she used as stepping stones to jump and follow the hero closely, while a couple of cubes were besides the hero. It was clear that the Sunken Guardian was used to stealth users, and that she wasn't going to let him escape.
Once the enhancements caused by the magic were gone, Hiro was quickly caught by Nigredo. The cat beastkin had tackled him, and ensured that he received numerous hits while falling from a tree, which had taken out the stealth skill he was using.
“Got you, Archer Hero. What a sneaky guy, trying to make us think that WhiteWhale’s auto aim skill had a competitor. But sorry, we are here now. So… We are taking the Wisdom Lord. You are not interesting to me. So not a good thing for a new Sunken Guardian. Also, you are low level, but you have stat stealing if I am right. Probably have been stealing the agility stats of the goblins” Nigredo said while on top of the Archer Hero.
“You already know where the Wisdom Lord is. But we haven't shared the info outside the castle. How?” Hiro said, unable to believe that Nigredo could just read his stats.
“Hm. I am a cat. I do love playing with mice. And you lot are like little mouses coming to annoy me. So I will play with you, until you understand one fact: When the Von Aegilards are around, you must know to stay out of the good ones. So, I will be taking care of that Wisdom Lord. I hope he's a cutie!” Nigredo said while putting her weight on Hiro’s torso, slowly breaking the ribs, as she smirked.
Hiro quickly teleported away from Nigredo, and grabbed an arrow, while trying to withstand the pain. As he shot at Nigredo, the purple cubes floated around her and created a forcefield around the Sunken Guardian. As the arrow struck the barrier, it exploded into many pieces, while the arrow just rebounded away from the barrier.
“Counter Force Prism. A good mana operation. All attacks you do against it will be nullified, as the barrier will absorb the kinetic energy and deliver it back to the weapon that hits it. I am so nice, teaching a cutie about very basic things!” Nigredo said, while several more purple cubes floated around Hiro, and shot many lasers around his limbs and body.
“Gagh!” That was the only sound that came out of Hiro's mouth, while Nigredo smiled widely and walked away.
“I can't kill the heroes, so don't worry, you should be able to get rescued. Or teleport to a good location to get healed up. But remember: Don't go against the Von Aegilards, or I’ll have to finish the job.” Nigredo said while smirking at Hiro.
Hiro could only groan and try to use his skills to go back into a city, in order to get healed, as his bones had been pierced. But he knew that he was outgunned and outmatched in this fight, and that he had to survive to inform the other heroes.
***
Haseya nodded, while listening carefully to Hiro’s explanation, a bit surprised by the change in the events she was aware of. It was a massive difference between what she had experienced in the past lives, as if her last death had messed up all the timelines and destroyed them, because the Sunken Guardians wouldn’t be that active until Evan was back.
And then she heard a laughter from the shadows, as if someone was in that place listening the entire time, and saw who she thought to be Evan back in the body he used when he created Grandine. As Sho went towards the source of that sound, he fell asleep instantly, as a purple wave of mana went towards Sho from Evan’s left hand.
“Evan? You shouldn’t be here yet. Did things change this much?” Haseya said, as she summoned her sword.
“Oh, come on. Don’t call me by that name. I hate it. I will explain it easily for you. Evan’s actions back in the godslayer era, they were so important that they created a highest rank devil. You know, gods and devils can be born through concepts. It’s extremely rare, but it still happened. Call me Van.” Van said, as he walked towards Haseya.
“One more change to this timeline. But then that means that Evan won’t end up as he did.” Haseya said as she smirked.
“Oh, don’t worry. I follow my own concepts, I am not that old to deviate from that. I follow the wicked balance that the status quo fails to keep. Many believe in me, so it’ll be hard to kill me. Well, unless the one who made me unwittingly appears and burns me to nothing.” Van said, while he looked at Haseya in the eyes.
“Why are you here?” Haseya asked, glaring at Van.
“To ask a cooperation. I kill the Sunken Guardian, and you make a contract with me to be able to join the hero party. The Sunken Guardians will break the balance I strive to keep. So I have no other choice than to erase them, and then face Evan himself.” Van said, while smirking.
“Sounds good, but I know your ilk too well. I am not doing that contract. As I am sure that one way or another, Evan will destroy you.” Haseya said, as she swung her sword once while mana covered it and slashed Van diagonally. The slash was powerful enough to separate the devil in two pieces, but it was clear that it didn’t hurt the devil itself.
“Oh, what a shame. Using Core Cleave to force me to leave, how cruel. Well, whatever. I can always wait.” Van said, before dissipating as if he was sand, while smirking at Haseya.
“We should reinforce this place. If this Van entered, then who knows if a Sunken Guardian is listening to us.” Haseya said as she frowned.
“We could work with them to kill the dark lord. And killing Van seems to be possible. Because I never heard of high ranking devils. That means that the knights of Zerax can kill them.” Hiro said, as he looked scared of what had just happened.
“No. They can’t. In Inferno, the underworld, there are demons and devils. They aren’t like the average demon. They never die, unless you use a lot of holy mana or something that inherently destroys their soul, and their resistance to what could destroy them increases depending on what they are. Demons can still be killed with what the knights, exorcists, and clerics can bring. Even low ranking devils can be felled, as they have a concept that is inherent to them but killing them will just eliminate their influence over said concept. But mid ranking devils are as strong as the strongest clerics, and taking them out would lead to massive losses, and high alongside highest rank devils take so much damage and have such power that they are equals to gods.” Haseya explained calmly.
“But then, that we never heard of them is weird. Shouldn’t we be informed or at least suffered something due to them?” Hiro said, as he frowned.
“Because there are two reasons. First: They have their own world to rule, where sinners go when they die. Second: In this world, they get weakened vastly and need either a contract or accepting even harsher conditions to come here. In fact, I think that Van won’t be coming to this world any time soon. After all, they only come when they can get some sort of benefit. But I never heard of him, which is rare. I should have heard of him sooner or later due to my skills.” Haseya said, while going near Sho, as she looked at Sho’s sleeping face.
“Oh, I see. I suppose your skills gives you lots of information. I still need to be briefed over your capabilities. But then, we can rest easy.” Hiro said, relieved to hear what he had heard.
“Yeah. Nonetheless, we should prepare to avoid intrusions. I will carry Sho to his room, as it seems he is under a sleeping curse. Those never stick eternally.” Haseya said, while grabbing Sho.
“I’ll just hang in here. Literally. It’s not like I can do more after Nigredo’s attack.” Hiro said calmly.
Haseya chuckled for a moment, before grabbing Sho to carry him to his room, while Hiro just looked at both leaving as he couldn’t move nor look anywhere else. With Sho knocked out, Haseya had to be careful to not get all the guards involved until Rei came back.
‘Rei seems like one of those succubi teens who enjoy eating more than learning, but truth be told: She’s a genius. A terrifying one. She doesn’t reach Evan’s level, but she’s… Dangerously close to it. And she is aware of it, but hides it so well. I just hope she never reaches his level, after all… That much knowledge is akin to a curse. But she’s of assistance now, so might as well have her doing her own thing. And hope she doesn’t reach that point.’ Haseya thought to herself while carrying Sho, as memories flooded her mind.
***
Rei was in Andving, walking to a small hut in the outskirts of the capital city. The hut was small, with a straw roof, made of stones perfectly aligned and connected through small iron bars. The hut’s insides were empty, but Rin knew this was just a place for meetings without prying eyes.
“Hello? I came as you asked. I hope I haven’t arrived too early.” Rei said while looking around.
As Rei looked around, she noticed something was wrong as she felt like someone was watching her. But even then, she couldn’t see anyone around or notice anyone in the area until the source of her uneasy feelings appeared. A young boy with long red hair, tanned skin, with blue eyes, who was wearing silver glasses, a white shirt, red pants, and red combat boots. This young boy was wielding a long staff made of silver with a ruby encrusted on the silvery top end of the staff, and was looking at Rei as he was in front of her.
“You couldn’t sense me. Heh. I still got it.” The boy said while smirking.
“An illusionist. All illusion users tend to be secretive and never attempt to take the spotlight. Why are you here?” Rei said, as she looked clearly flustered by the surprise given by the boy.
“That’s because we are prone to get assaulted if we show ourselves too much. Nonetheless, I have to talk with you. The investigation about the death of that boy, Donny. You better stop it. The one behind it is danger, even for the heroes. It’s best to call it a heart attack and drop the charge of the other noble death onto him. If you somehow catch his ankle, either you’ll lose the wrist of the hand that grabbed him… Or die. In fact, I am sure that the king doesn’t desire you to fulfill the quest. Just to find a bogus answer, and call it a day.” The boy said, as he became serious while looking at Rei.
“So you know who did it? Tell us, so we can make sure he receives punishment for his acts.” Rei said, as she glared at the boy.
“Moriarty. I investigated, with illusions, to get the answers out of someone who had been paid by Moriarty to clean up the mess.” The boy replied, while Rei paled as she heard the answer.
“Moriarty… I heard of him. But he only gets involved in noble assassination. And has very strict rules for his contracts. I don’t know said rules-” Rei said, as her legs quivered.
“Stop right there. If you try to find out who he is, you might end up dead. The amount of people he’s killed that has tried that is in the thousands already. All of them ended up triggering his alarms, and even if you slightly trigger it… Yep. No loose ends, that’s his policy.” The boy said calmly.
“Sheesh, how cutting. But nonetheless, he has to pay for his actions.” Rei said, as she smiled at the boy.
“He killed the killer of Rayne Lefeleim. It was just a job of revenge. I don't know who the client is.” The boy said, as he looked tired.
“Okay. But that doesn't mean he had to kill Donny. But who are you? As you said, no one should be able to find out that much info without being killed.” Rei said, as she frowned at the boy.
“Falco. That's my name.” Falco said as he smirked at Rei, while the glasses were shining.
“The grand illusionist!? Known to even trick Evan!?” Rei asked as her eyes were wide open.
“Yeah. By the way, have you done any modeling job? You look great without clothes.” Falco said as he smirked.
Rei blushed brightly, before covering herself, as she was flustered due to Falco’s words. Falco simply laughed softly, while enjoying the view.
“Pervert!” Rei exclaimed as she blushed brightly.
“Yes, I am. Good thing I brought the refraction glasses. A good unique item made by a boy of culture. Shame that Moriarty destroyed the rest of the set. It would have been so useful to take out the clothes. Nonetheless, this should be a proper warning. Be careful of any and all ranked godslayers. They all have specific equipment to suit their own build. Alas, I shall have to leave.” Falco said, while leaving the hut, as he smirked.
Rei simply blushed brightly, but made sure to remember Falco’s words as they sounded important, as she waited for a while to ensure that Falco wouldn’t peek on her once more. As Falco moved away, he saw a bunch of leather armored thugs, who were covering their faces with hoods, surrounding a young girl who was wearing rags.
Falco didn’t even look at the thugs, but focused on the young girl, as he was used to seeing thugs like that working as taxmen. But the girl got his interest, somehow, as she had red hair, golden eyes, fair skin, a seemingly frail body but quite bountiful for a girl, and was around ten years old. But what truly got his interest was the fact that the girl had an outstanding mana control, as her mana didn’t leak out at all, and her mana was like a massive ocean.
‘Even some teachers in Flosais still leak a bit of unusable mana, and normally that unusable mana is the energy the body can’t take in. Mages, due to their skills and training in mana control, can avoid losing mana. Practitioners and martial artists are the same, because they cultivate their body and so it doesn’t leak out any. Stealth types never leak it, thanks to their stealth boosts. But if she’s a helpless girl, with rags, and of that age… She must be a level one with no training. Maybe some sort of magician training, as some masters dislike the idea of even giving clothes to young disciples that can flop at any time. But if she was trained, she’d be untouched by the taxmen. They know better than to mess with a magician that can have a disciple going around. After all, unless you are a godslayer, all mages of certain status do take disciples. The godslayers hate disciples, because most of our grunts did stupid shit while exploring places and ended up being trapped in vents. That said, we are not in the godslayer era and this girl is getting my interest… Wouldn’t it be fun to be the first in something that isn’t befriending dryads? Yeah, but Moriarty would get angry…’ Falco thought to himself, while looking at the girl.
As Falco was considering the idea of getting the girl as her disciple, the taxmen pushed her to the ground roughly. The girl fell to the ground, but was kicked in the stomach when she tried to get up, as the seeming leader of the taxmen took off his hood showing a bald head, black eyes, elven ears, a dagger scar just below his right eye, with nasty teeth, and an unkempt beard.
“Hey, girl, you didn’t pay the taxes this month. I know you are a flower girl, so you should be selling lots of flowers during these days. You know, many people are in celebration due to the appearance of the hero. Are you trying to avoid the law?” The leading taxman said, as he kicked the girl once more in the stomach.
“I couldn’t sell flowers last week, and I am poor! I barely get enough money to survive a week! Give me one day, I will pay back as soon as I sell enough flowers!” The girl exclaimed, as she cried due to the pain.
“Not going to wait that long, not for a human! You will be placed in a nice bar to pay off the debt, as an escort! This is why poor commoners should be executed if they don’t pay taxes! Brazen enough to say she can’t pay! She should have studied!” The leading taxman exclaimed, frowning due to the girl’s refusal to pay the taxes.
The last words, and the situation, made Falco tremble and quiver. His old trauma was resurfacing, as a poor bachelor who couldn’t get a job and was poor, and he was feeling a massive headache. Right now, he desired two things: To go drinking in a good maid café, and to not be disturbed.
But his body did something different, as mana leaked out of his body and the taxmen started smelling like if they were being burned. And that was the truth, as Falco had used an illusion spell that made their brains imagine that they were being roasted. Due to that, the mana that leaked from their bodies went inside the body and started roasting them from the inside out.
“Hey, boss, aren’t you smelling something funny here?” One of the taxmen said, while trying to find out why there was suddenly the smell of roasted pig.
“Yeah, you are right. I feel a bit warm.” The leading taxman said, trying to find out who was cooking in that area. ‘No one should be cooking here, any damage to the forest is forbidden by law.’ The leading taxman thought to himself.
“I don’t feel so good, sir.” Another of the taxmen said, before combusting spontaneously.
The other taxmen started combusting, while screaming in pain due to the sudden combustion, and Falco started scratching his neck nervously while sweating. As Falco was panicking due to his trauma, a pure white orb came out of the body and floated towards the burning taxmen.
“Man, you all are stupid. Triggering Falco, who can use illusions as good as mine, just for a few coins. As Evan would say: You were stupid, so don’t ask why you are burning. That said… He could have killed you in a less interesting way. Nonetheless, the trauma from his past life on Earth is still there. Working so hard to finish college, only to be ignored for no reason as he was trying to get a job, and ending up with no job even if he kept studying and preparing himself to find any job. That made you too greedy, and too focused on having money and influence, Falco.” The orb said, with a jovial tone, as he floated back to Falco.
“I… don’t want… to be reminded.. of that shitty life… Study lots, and you’ll get a good job. Fuck that! Fuck it all! I busted my ass studying, only to be ignored! Fucking liars, you all need to burn for that bullshit!” Falco exclaimed, as tears came out of his eyes, while he even made a few wounds on his neck due to his scratching.
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“Yeah, you are in that frenzied state. Shit. Girl, I need you to help me. Otherwise, Falco might kill himself due to the trauma. In his left pocket, there’s a cylindrical thing with a red button and a needle in the lower end. That’s an injector, filled with something that will calm Falco. Usually he’s followed by a few sorcerers, and a dark mage, due to his trauma relapsing and causing this. But since he didn’t want to get Moriarty to hear of his warnings to the heroes, he snuck out without his retinue. And I have a clear rule to not possess armors worn by men. Last time, it was… An experience.” The orb said, as it floated around Falco.
The girl was terribly scared, as she saw the man roasting the taxmen from the inside out, but simply nodded and did as told. As she grabbed the injector, she looked a bit surprised due to the strange shape of the item, and injected Falco’s neck with it. After a few seconds, Falco felt calm and stopped scratching his neck.
“Good, you are out of the panic attack. You’ll have to heal yourself, but you should get that trauma out of your head. Getting a mentalist to do so should be ideal.” The orb said, with a calm tone.
“Thanks, Oz. I suppose you told the girl to help me out… So I am thankful for the assistance, miss. I thought it’d be safe to go alone.” Falco said, as he took a deep breath, and summoned a vial of a red liquid and drank its contents. After drinking the red liquid, his wounds disappeared as if they never happened.
“You better be thankful! After all, you were considering whether to get her as an apprentice or not!” Oz exclaimed, clearly excited about said possibility.
“Well… If you would have me as a disciple, I’d be elated. But I must ask one thing: Why?” The girl said, still scared from Falco’s panic moment. ‘It’s not like I am that special after all… I am just an orphan girl who sells flowers.’ The girl thought to herself.
“Why if not? You have talent. Your mana control is absurd, and your mana pool is massive. You don’t leak mana at all!” Oz said, clearly happy to answer the girl’s question.
“Ah, but I never trained for it…” The girl said, as she tilted her head, not believing what they were saying.
“That’s the unfair thing of talent. Many mages attempt it, but never reach that level. But you arrived without any sort of effort. It is unfair, but life is unfair. Nonetheless, I would happily have you as my disciple.” Falco said, as he cleaned his face with a napkin.
“Can you promise one thing? I just ask that you don’t drop me when all my effort and talent end up being useless.” The girl said with a determined face.
“I do promise that. After all, a disciple of mine being useless is a thing that will never happen. And I think you are not going to be useless.” Falco said while smiling.
“Oh, how cute. You are going to make me barf.” A voice that Falco could easily recognize said, from behind a few trees laid outside the city.
“Moriarty. How did you know I was here?” Falco said, as he scowled.
As Falco said it, Moriarty came out but in a disguised form. He was wearing his usual equipment, but he had changed into a dark elf with golden eyes and a sturdy frame.
“You may think that Rei is smart enough to prevent being tracked by me. But I am smarter than you two combined. Pay a few maids to inform one of my associates, then I don’t have to even move out with a disguise. I just need to wake up, talk to my associates, and I am tracking you without anyone knowing.” Moriarty said as he smirked.
“I forgot you got that title because you were the greatest criminal mastermind of all the godslayers. Why are you here? To kill Rei?” Falco said, as he sighed, while the girl hid behind Falco.
“At first, I was considering whether to do so. If I was going to be hunted by the world, at least I would take the life of the heroes. If the world fucks me over, I might do the same for the world. But then I decided to let her live. In case she becomes a problem, I can kill that support in no time nonetheless. I may not be the best assassin of all the godslayers, but my special skills can kill anyone if I use them well.” Moriarty said, as he kept his smirk.
“Yes, just your style after all. You and Evan are two peas in a pod.” Falco said, as his grip on the staff got stronger.
“Eh, he’d be more of the sort of: Capturing the heroes, or making them my allies. At least, trying to do so. He hates fighting when he doesn’t win anything of true value. Just like his Sunken Guardians captured the Wisdom Lord.” Moriarty said, as he tilted his head, while looking at the girl.
“Well, but they don’t move unless it’s in the benefit of the Von Aegilards. So, what benefit there is for capturing the Wisdom Lord? For Evan, that boy would be just a reckless issue. Wisdom Lords are known for their capability to steal any magician’s spell variations by seeing it once.” Falco said, as he was deep in thought. ‘Evan would never do such a reckless action. He must be still living on Earth. Fucking brat, I hope he dies a million times. We worked together quite well back then, but we both are too different to work together. Unless… Oh, I see your plan. You hide yourself at first, having the Wisdom Lord going around parading as you. Then when Vizgard and the others try to kill you, you ambush them and loot them after killing them. You’ll have lots of Sunken Guardian candidates, plus enough items to make us cry.’ Falco thought to himself.
“Well, the benefit is simple. What if Evan can just have the Wisdom Lord as an ally? After all, the Wisdom Lord was taken as a slave in Elstivia. So, it would fit in his process to free him and have him stay with the Sunken Guardians. The fights against them would teach the Wisdom Lord untold amount of spells, and he could hide himself while the Wisdom Lord acts as a companion. I think that this time, it would be better to keep a close eye and avoid angering Evan.” Moriarty said calmly.
“Yeah, and end up being once more led by him? Not on my watch. I’ll plan my own insurance away from Evan, in Flosais. Now, if you don’t mind me: I have a disciple to guide, and you have some other businesses to attend to. After all, Kanbe Tokugawa is going to arrive to the docks soon. The ship voyage must have been long for him, if they got him in a ship. But I will not be disturbed. That’s all on you, Moriarty.” Falco said, as he guided the girl away from Moriarty, while Oz disappeared.
“Good choice of words. I don’t want to fight you alone. You could mess my mind, but I think you’ll have your own share of issues soon. But hopefully, your disciple is worth those issues. You killed taxmen. I may be able to stand against the Magic Corp, but I don’t go against the taxes for a good reason. And that is that these bastards are like cockroaches, there’s no end to them once you get their scorn. To not talk about how annoyed sir Katas will be due to your actions.” Moriarty said calmly, letting Falco walk away, as he smirked.
Falco simply scoffed, as he walked away with the girl, while Moriarty simply looked around and kept a close eye on Rei as she was walking back into the city. It was a rather boring assignment, but he had to ensure that Rei wasn’t pulling something different before he got some moles inside the residence of the hero that could keep an eye on the heroes. Without counting the fact that he would get to see the rumored hero, without having to use his normal face, if he was enough lucky.
Hiro Status
Race: Human.
Gender: Male
Age: 17 years old
Height: 1 meter and 60 centimeters.
Likes: Hunting, ramen made with meat from his own hunts, taking care of his bow and arrows, loyal people, helping Rei, helping the poor people, donating, strawberries.
Dislikes: Anything related with Namika, sweet buns, corruption, Dark Lords, darkness.
Level: 1
STATS:
HP: 20000/20000
MP: 15000/15000
STR: 100
VIT: 100
INT: 100
DEX: 100
AGI: 100
Magic affinity: None.
Skill affinity: Archer, Hunter, Archer Hero, Seeker, Advanced Recon, Assault Scout, Craftsman, Ninja, Assassin, Enhancer.
Job: Assistant Hero.
Special skills:
Blessings of Zerax: The user gets 100 status point in strength, intelligence, and agility.
Defiler of Balance: The user is unable to acquire normal special skills, but can acquire a 1% of the enemy’s highest stat after killing them dishonorably.
Skills:
Archer Hero (Master):
Heroic Sight: The user’s accuracy with bows is increased a 20%, and all the bow related skills gain holy element.
Heroic Power: The user gains a 20% increase in all status when the user is facing a dark enemy.
Rejection of Darkness: The user cannot use dark skills but his damage to dark enemies will increase an 80%.
Light Blessing: All skills with the holy element will be a 35% stronger.
Outstanding Hero: The user has more damage as less HP has left.
Enhanced recovery: The user can regenerate a 20% faster.
Holy Aim: Active, 40 MP. The user uses mana to guide the arrows to a specific spot on the body of the user. Said arrows can’t be poisoned ones, as the holy mana does purify the poison.
Holy Steps: Active, 60 MP. The user uses mana to quickly relocate at a speed two times higher than the user’s agility. Since mana reinforces the body, the user won’t receive damage even if the speed becomes far more than what the body can take. That said, this doesn’t increase the reflexes of the user.
Holy Mind: Active, 70 MP. The user uses mana to reinforce their brain for an hour, increasing two-fold their capacity to learn and ability to react.
Holy Shot: Active, 10 MP. The user can shoot an arrow, or several of them (each shot costs 10 MP), filled with holy mana. This purifies all effects caused by dark type skills that are around the impact area, and if it hits someone… It damages them with holy mana but purifies them of all ailments caused by dark mana.
Holy Stealth: Active, 40 MP/minute. The user cloaks themselves with holy mana that reflects light accordingly, while allowing the eyes to see properly. This skill blocks all smell and visual track that could be left by the user, but does leave a mana signal that can be tracked by very keen enemies with specific skill trees. Warning: Using it for behaviors unworthy of a hero will result in divine punishment.
Holy Providence Shot: Active, 200 MP. The user shoots an arrow, filled with mana, to a location. The arrow will release a powerful explosion of mana, dealing massive holy damage to anything in the surrounding 200 meters area.
Holy Teleport: Active, 350 MP. The user teleports away to any area they can see, and heals them a 10% of their missing health.
Blessed Arrow: Active, 100 MP. The user can shoot an arrow, or several of them (each shot costs 100 MP), filled with holy mana. This purifies all effects caused by dark type skills that are around the impact area, and if it hits someone… It damages them with holy mana, unless they are allies, and weakens their focus vastly as it fills their head with a sense of tranquility. If it hits an ally, heals them a 50% of their missing health, purifies them, and regrow any missing limb. Warning: This skill can’t be used only when in combat.
Blessed Return: Active, all the user’s remaining mana. The user can use this skill to teleport him and a group of at most 20 people to the nearest city (if they are in a city, that city doesn’t count) in the range (counted in kilometers) equal to the user’s remaining mana. Warning: This skill can only be used in combat, and when the Archer Hero has less than 75% total HP. Cowards will receive divine punishment. Pinnacle skill.
Archer skills (Master):
Eagle eyes: Passive. Allows the user to aim better than usual.
Steady hands: Passive. The hands of the user will never tremble as long as they hold a bow.
Quick aim: Passive. The user requires less time to aim.
Mastery over the bow: Passive. If the user uses a bow, the critical damage doubles and the accuracy increases a 25%.
Fast shot: Active, 2 MP. The user shoots a fast arrow that cannot be deflected.
Impact shot: Active, 5 MP. The user shoots an arrow that will knock back the enemy.
Arrow barrage: Active, 10 MP. The user shoots a lot of arrows against anything that is in front of the user.
Rapid fire: Active, 25 MP. The user shoots 5 arrows fast but loses a small amount of accuracy.
Archer mark: Active, 5 MP. The user marks a target and every time the user aims at the target his/her accuracy will increase a 25%.
Countershot: Active, 1 Mp. The user is capable of grabbing an arrow shot by another archer and shot it to someone else.
Long range shot: Active, 70 MP. The range of the user’s next shot is doubled. Can be combined with other Archer skills.
Sniping arrow: Active, 150 MP. The next shot of the user will hit the head, or the known critical area, of the target and deal massive critical damage.
Storm’s arrow: Active, 200 MP. A special shot that spins using mana, doubling the perforation power of the arrow and increases the power of the shot. There’s a high chance of breaking the arrow that is used for this shot. Pinnacle skill.
Falco Status:
Race: Heavenly Human.
Gender: Male
Age: 16 years old
Height: 1 meter and 50 centimeters.
Likes: Taking care of his business, maids, cat girls, peeking, rumors, money, sweets, freedom, loyal people, godslayers, being with his comrades.
Dislikes: Evan’s wit, corruption, slavers, having to deal with Arusha, Zerax, Moriarty, Anri, archmages, nobles, wasting money.
Level: 60
STATS:
HP: 50000/50000
MP: 30000/30000
STR: 1
VIT: 400
INT: 600
DEX: 600
AGI: 600
Magic affinity: Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Restoration, Holy, Offensive, Projectile, Stealth.
Skill affinity: Illusionist, Wizard, Archmage, Researcher, Charmer, Scholar, Trickster, Survivalist, Master Scribe, Alchemist.
Titles: Grand godslayer, the greatest illusionist of all time, Dryad’s hero, He who transcended humanity.
Job: Teacher in Flosais’s Magic Academy, assessor.
Special skills:
Holy Transcendence: The user acquires 1000 status points that can be placed in different stats, for the achievement of transcending humanity as a divine soul, at the cost of losing any affinity towards dark skill trees like Necromancer.
Transcendent Mind: The user acquires the capacity to learn magic types faster than the rest, for the achievement of transcending humanity as a magician.
Enlightenment: The user is capable of noticing the godly interferences, and can detect even the slightest sliver of godly mana.
Illusive reality: If the target of an illusion made by the user believes it is reality, the target’s mana will make it a reality.
Elusive reality: If the user uses an illusion that affects an area, this illusion will be two times stronger than it should be. If the user hides themselves in an illusion, they won’t be detectable if they use any stealth type magic or skill.
Mana resupply: Active, 0 MP. The user recovers an 80% of the total mana the user has used in the last hour. Only works once every day.
Super Perception: The user’s perception abilities double in terms of effectivity, and enhances the processing speed of the user.
Guardian: Since the acquisition of this skill, a special entity known as a Guardian lives within the user. This Guardian changes depending on the type of person who owns it.
-Guardian Activation: Cost, 0 MP. The user can summon the guardian he/she has to help him/her and use the powers of the guardian.
-Guardian Equip: Cost, 50 MP/second. The user can fuse themselves with the guardian they own, and fuse both status into one single being.
Guardian owned by Falco: Ozymaias. This guardian is one of the two sons of the Guardian King, the weaker of the two brothers. He has untold talent for using illusion magic and make it reality, shapeshifting, and can possess bodies and items. His talent for magic is great, but he looks down on himself due to the effort his brother, Izran does. His true form is not known for mortals, as only a user that can understand and trust him can unleash it. It’s said that if his true form is fully unleashed, he can be a close range fighter too.
Skills:
Wizard (Master):
Wizard's blessing: The user's magic skills are a 20% stronger.
Grand Magician's Regeneration: The mana regeneration base speed becomes 100 MP/second instead of 1MP/minute.
Wizard Channeling: The casting speed of the user's spells doubles.
Wizard Extra Chanting: The user can cast two times the amount of spells they should be able to.
Mana Bolt: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots a bolt made of mana, which can go through physical defenses but deals a rather small amount of damage. It can get stopped by barriers made by mana or by anti-magic fields.
Heavy Mana Bolt: Active, 10 MP. The user shoots a reinforced mana bolt that goes through physical defenses and deals a moderate amount of damage. It can pierce barriers.
Mana Decoy: Active, 25 MP. The user can leave a decoy made of mana, that is a foul mimicry of life, and gets eliminated rather quickly.
Mana Sound: Active, 100 MP. The user creates a clear sound in an area that is 300 meters away from the user. This sound acts as a diversion to lure the enemies away from the user.
Homing mana bolts: Active, 50 MP. The user can leave small clumps of mana that will be turned into mana bolts. These bolts will follow and try to hit anyone who gets in an area of 50 meters near the clump of mana. The bolts won't deal much damage, but these bolts slow down those they hit.
Enhanced Flesh: Active, 1000 MP. The user can enhance their body to block physical attacks easily and run fast for a moderate amount of time.
Mana Reparation: Active, 5000 MP. The user can repair any item to its optimal state.
Trickster (Master):
Drilled dodging: The user can dodge attacks faster, and their speed is a 10% higher than average.
Tricking is magic: The user’s mana control, magic power, and mana pool is enhanced a 20%.
Acrobat: The user movement is fully optimized, and so their stealth and speed is enhanced a 25%.
Quick Phasing: When the user is going to touch an ally, they can phase through them to avoid colliding.
Trick Dodge: Active, 10 MP. A quick translocation of 5 meters of range, that can only be activated when being attacked. It can leave a mark if used alongside Mark Creation or Trickster Bomb.
Mark Creation: Active, 5 MP. The user can place a magic mark on the ground/air that is under the feet of the user. This mark can have beneficial effects or negative effects like: Healing, boosting physical/magical capabilities, binding a target to the ground for a small amount of time, poisoning a target, blinding a target.
Foul Trick: Active, 20 MP. The user can swap positions with an ally, if the ally allows it, or an enemy. Can be combined with Mark Creation.
Trickster Bomb: Active, 25 MP. The user can leave under his feet a mine that will explode upon touch. While the damage caused by this explosion is no bigger than a firecracker, it can disorient a target.
Trickster’s Dash: Active, 50 MP. The user can dash linearly, in any linear trajectory the user sees, even midair.
Slow Flow: Active, 60 MP. The user can use it while dodging an attack. Implants a moderate amount of mana inside a target, which makes the target becomes slightly slower for a moderate amount of time.
Arcane Dodge: Active, 200 MP. Pinnacle skill. It can only be used while dodging. After a successful perfect dodge, which is when the user dodges an attack that should hit them by inches, the user can cast any spell immediately (it still costs mana).
Scholar (Master):
Fast reading: Passive. Allows the user to read quickly any document and understand it.
Deeper Understanding: Passive. The user can understand things that most people wouldn't understand easily.
Percipience: Passive. Allows the user to grasp anything that happens around him, and to understand even better the things they are focused on.
Recitation: Passive. The user can recite anything they have understood without any problem. Pinnacle skill.
Researcher (Master):
Researcher Mind: Passive. The user is more resistant to mental fatigue.
Greater Logic: Passive. The user is more prone to detect things that normally no one would detect.
Avid Research: Passive. The user can research several things at the same time.
Parallel Thought: Passive. The user can think in several things at the same time.
Research Analysis: Active, 6 MP. The user can analyze items or phenomena that they don't understand, and find a logical explanation about how they are done.
Hypothesis: Active, 1 MP. The user can do hypothesis over several things, simulate how they would work out, and find out if they are closer to the correct answer or not.
Replication: Active, 100 MP. The user can replicate things they fully understand. Doesn't work on phenomena.
Archmage(Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Magic Acquirement: After absorbing enough mana cores, the user can learn a new magic type (as long as it is one of their known affinities).
Deep Understanding of Magic: The user understands easily how to manipulate mana, making their mana control far better than before.
Mana Charge: Active, 0 MP. The user remains immobile, but absorbs mana that can't be used normally and re-energizes it with his own mana. Can't be used when the user is out of mana.
Magic Dispersion: Active, 150 MP (for minor class spells, increases exponentially if it's adept or master level). The user uses their own mana to interfere with a spell they know of.
Restoration Magic (Master):
Quick Heal: Active, 5 MP. The user releases holy mana particles that heal small wounds.
Close Wounds: Active, 10 MP. The user uses holy magic to close the wounds of the target, which heals the ailment known as bleeding. Doesn’t work on grievous wounds.
Antitoxin: Active, 10 MP. The user uses raw mana to take out the poison elements in the targets body. This cleanses the target from all kinds of poison.
Heal Boost: Active, 15 MP. The user concentrates the holy mana in their body, making the next healing spell heal twice the amount it should heal.
Mind Heal: Active, 15 MP. The user heals the mind of the user, taking out debuffs like fear and paranoia, and restores a suitable amount of health. Also helps with mental damage.
Regeneration: Active, 30 MP. The user uses mana to boost the regenerative power of the target to regenerate body parts. Also works to close grievous wounds, but it may still fail.
Chained Heal: Active, 25 MP. The user uses mana to heal a target, and if another ally is near the healed target… They also get healed.
Focused Heal: Active, 40 MP. The user uses holy mana to focus the healing power, and leaves remains of said healing power that will double the effectiveness of the next healing spell.
Restoration Wave: Active, 200 MP. The user uses holy mana to create a wave of healing magic that heals those that are 200 meters around the user. Pinnacle spell.
Projectile Magic (Master):
Speeding Projectile: Active, 10 MP. The user can enhance the speed of a projectile that is located around 20 meters of the user, to increase the perforation power of said item. It can be used for throwing items left on the ground, and shoot them at quick speed.
Trajectory Relocation: Active, 5 MP. The user can redirect the trajectory of any projectile in a range of 20 meters. The capacity of redirection depends on the intelligence of the user, and how much kinetic power the projectile has left.
Projectile Repel: Active, 20 MP. Can only be used right before being hit by a projectile. The user casts a thin film made of mana in the area where they are going to be hit, which repels the projectile attack and makes it bounce off from the user, to protect themselves from the impact.
Mana Projectile: Active, 40 MP. The user makes a projectile made of raw mana, and shoots it at a target. It can be affected by projectile manipulation spells.
Javelin Projectile: Active, 60 MP. The user can either make a javelin of mana, or have an item that looks like a javelin, and throw it at a target at the speed of a bullet.
Catapult Boost: Active, 100 MP. The user can manipulate any projectile, adding an arching trajectory to it, and manipulate the gravity pull during the entire trajectory.
Vector Manipulation: Active, 200 MP/Minute. The user can manipulate the vectors of any projectile, as long as they are not living beings (that doesn’t mean you can’t manipulate the vectors of any falling clothing). Pinnacle skill.
Stealth Magic (Master):
Presence Interference: Active, 1 MP/Minute. The user cloaks themselves or a target with an aura made of mana that makes those that look at the target to not truly notice them.
Cognition Interference: Active, 5 MP/Minute. The user cloaks themselves or a target with an aura made of mana that ensures that no one can recognize them.
Vibration Erasure: Active, 10 MP/Minute. The user creates a bubble around themselves made of mana, which blocks all the vibrations that come out from their body (or from the interaction of the body with a surface) and turns the vibrations into mana. Warning: People that can detect mana will find out the usage of this spell easily.
Electromagnetic Cloaking: Active, 25 MP/Minute. The user creates a bubble around themselves made of mana, which absorbs all the electromagnetic signals that could detect the target and turns them into mana. This doesn’t block sunlight, nor moonlight, so usage of stealth equipment or Presence Interference and Cognition Interference is recommended.
Mana Interference: Active, 30 MP/Minute. The user cloaks themselves or a target with an aura made of mana that absorbs all mana that is used to detect targets.
Light Interference: Active, 50 MP/Minute. The user creates a bubble around themselves made of mana, which modifies the light that touches the bubble and refracts it to avoid being detected. It’ll still allow the user to see as mana will just refract the light.
Stealth Aura: Active, 120 MP. The user uses mana inside their brain to allow them to perceive small details that will tell them exactly where the people will look. This has a time limit of 30 minutes. Pinnacle skill.
Water Magic (Master):
Water ball: Active, 2 MP. The user throws a ball made of water.
Water wave: Active, 4 MP. The water rises up and strikes the enemy. Can push an enemy far from the user.
Water Cannon: Active, 20 MP. The user shoots high pressure water from his/her hands.
Water Prison: Active, 25 MP. The user traps the enemy in a water ball that acts as a cage. If not used carefully it can drown the enemy.
Water Tidal wave: Active, 40 MP. The water surrounding the user will rise and spin around the user, cutting anyone who gets close.
Aqua Lair: Active, 50 MP. The water makes a dome that allows the user to defense himself/herself against some attacks or go through water without ending soaked. Also traps air inside.
Downpour: Active, 100 MP. The user can create a cloud that will make a rain all across the area, but the water can be turned into several projectiles while falling. Also, the rain can be used to cast other water spells against the opponent. Pinnacle spell.
Water’s blessing: Pinnacle spell, 0 MP. The user can add the water element to any other spell.
Illusionist (Master):
Elusive Mind: The user is immune to mental attacks, and can't be analyzed unless it's full analysis or Appraiser skills.
Suggestive Mind: The user's illusions can make someone believe a specific thing for a while.
Unknowable Mana: No one can eyeball how much mana the user has.
Illusive Aim: The user can aim to several targets at once, with a slight manipulation of their mana.
Minor Illusion: Active, 60 MP. The user can mold mana to make illusions that can't move, nor speak, to surprise their enemies.
Mental Suggestion: Active, 120 MP. The user can create an illusion within a target’s mind. This can have all sorts of effects on the target, depending on how good the illusion is.
Illusion Dodge: Active, 90 MP. The user can switch places with an illusion to dodge an attack.
Amplified Illusion: Active, 120 MP. The user can mold mana to make several copies of an illusion, and spreading in a 500 meters area.
Adept Illusion: Active, 80 MP. The user can mold mana to make illusions that can move, but not speak, to surprise their enemies.
Mental Illusion: Active, 240 MP. The user can implant an illusion within a target’s mind, which must be made using Adept Illusion, Minor Illusion, or Greater Illusion.
Greater Illusion: Active, 160 MP. The user can create an illusion that can move and talk, to surprise their enemies.
Perfect Illusion: Active, 320 MP. The user can create an illusion that can move, talk, wield weapons, and interact with items and people. Pinnacle skill.