Frankly speaking, reversing the application of something isn't exactly the most astonishing thing someone could come up with. And Ran seemed so proud of himself too; clearly being something he rarely felt. Usually, it might even be one of the first things one might think of, much less mister smarty pants over here. Of course, once again, the issue lies in one's own ingenuity and prowess. Like how Ran wasn't able to keep up the effect because he got a little distraction. Most powerhouses rely on their own use of soul power, coupled with their ability; not the other way around. This is because sigils usually end up being too powerful and thus become their trump cards-a lot like Ran actually.
Waking up from his stupor, Ran looked at the two petals in his. "Uh…" Ran looked at Fluffy for answers to this mystery, only to find her scratching her butt. Being caught in the act, Fluffy actually… didn't mind! My God! You're a girl aren't you?! Please mind your actions when in public. The readers are reading this you know!? I swear, she acts like she's just an animal… sigh. But Ran, on the other hand, just went with the flow and laughed. He couldn't care less so he started playing with the petals. Blowing on them, they would drift away as though leaves flowing with the wind.
"My ability allows me to reflect any damage done to my body and any attack within the radius of my sigil. Who's to say it has to be an enemy's attack." Going along these lines, Ran suddenly stabbed himself in the stomach. "F**k! What is this!? Is this some kind of lottery now? Do you gain pleasure from this, huh, parry!? S**t, if this becomes pachinko then I'm out!" Ran was "keenly" aware of such matters. At least, in public, he did not want to be seen as a masochist. Trying to figure out what went wrong, Ran clenched his teeth and groaned while holding the sword in place. It turned out, he forgot to activate his sigil before stabbing himself! "Oh f**k me! It worked when I fought the pig and Bob and the snake, but it didn't work when it was myself!? Tell me the truth parry-San, do you want me to be an M!? If yes, then be prepared to meet my little friend sword-chan. If no, then stop f**king playing with me!" Snarling, he activated his sigil and a transparent pink barrier appeared In his eyes again.
Once he activated his sigil, he felt odd. He had never fully concentrated on the actual action his ability takes because he was always In the middle of battle. But that odd feeling was truly odd. He felt a sort of energy inside him. It wasn't his soul juice, so what could it be? Ran could come up with one answer. "Kinetic energy. Hmm, interesting indeed." He could feel it burning inside him, pressuring his entire being. "I didn't feel it when it wasn't activated, yet, I feel it now. The immediate presence of it shows the sigil recognizes it as an energy source; that is probably how I'm able to reflect the damage to someone else when the damage is already done." Going along these lines, Ran felt something else. Looking at his right arm, it was still broken this entire time! Yet, even after weeks, he could still feel the raging heat radiating from the arm. The energy from the strike against the wall was still there!
"Before, the sigil would just reflect the attack and it would be just like a mirror; where the damage is in the same place I got hurt without me even thinking. Now that there's no enemy, can I still reflect this stab of mine?" Puking blood, a smile trailed onto his face. The sigil immediately began to shine as its runes started revolving in all directions-overlapping and connecting themselves. The sigil activated, but nothing happened?
Oh s**t! Ran, did you break it!? Come on, I worked so hard to give you that sigil, the ultimate power, and now you just threw it away!? F**k!
"Maybe… I just need to concentrate on something?" A huge question mark hovered over his head as he pondered.
Concentrate? CONCENTRATE!? No s**t, Sherlock! That totally wasn't me screaming cursing 2 lines ago, Haha, I knew that.
As such, Ran scouted the lair. Chancing upon a boulder, he began concentrating on it. The boulder was roughly the same size as Fluffy, 3 meters on all sides. As he focused, nothing happened. He focused even harder this time, gritting his bloodied teeth, but still nothing. "If this is how I die, Fluffy I want you to eat me. No one must know of this! If I become an M to Ann and the others, how will I face them in the future!?" A second later, Ran realized the bulls**t he was spouting and laughed. No one knows of this place, and if I die, I won't see them in the future! But seriously, he focused once again. He gritted his teeth so hard some of his teeth chipped and his eyeballs were bloodshot from the blood vessels popping. Soon, the sigil indeed reacted. Spinning and revolving even faster than before, Ran had a sensation. The fire in his belly was gone! Immediately afterward, a slit 3 inches long split the
surrounding rock. Small cracks stretched outward from the epicenter.
A cold glint flashed passed his eyes. Shouting he said, "BEGONE THOT!". Crash! The small cracks then grew exponentially in size and covered the entire boulder. The rock was covered in large cracks that looked more like gashes made by a beast and the rock could no longer support itself; collapsing and crashing in on itself. "Ugh, finally, it's gone! That arm of mine was starting to get on my nerves! I almost released sword-chan on it." Over the course of the past week the broken arm had become an increasingly hurtful experience. Especially since his physique was utterly destroyed, the itch inside his broken arm had become unbearable; coupled with the fact he found a way to fix it, he released all his inner rage on the arm to the rock.
"Seriously though, parry-san, you almost killed me!" Ran proceeded to look at his left in fear and his right arm in reverence; switching back and forth until he became dizzy. "Ah, who am I kidding. I just need to practice more, that's all, though my eyes might stay like this forever." Resolve glowed in his eyes as a bloody smile crept onto his face.
***
1 Month After The Collapse:
During the last 2 weeks or so, Ranny boi continued to train. His body had recovered a bit from the physical training and therapy; which consisted of exercises and forcing Fluffy to knead and massage his body with her entire body. I mean, what else is she good for, since her legs are still broken. While receiving the "treatment" Ran suddenly received a package of inspiration. "Ah! Fluffy stop, PLEASE!" Fluffy was actually quite enjoying herself. Hearing him screaming and his bones creaking in displeasure brought a sort of satisfaction to her. With her legs broken, she could do nothing but laze around all day and she had even gained a significant amount of wait. Staying like this was like torture to her, so torturing him removed all her sorrows like a drain. "Meor, meor." As if, is what she said. "Wait, ah! If I can heal your legs, will you stop?" This time, her ears perked up. What's this you say!? You could've healed me this whole time and, yet, you kept this from me-the Mighty Fluffy!?
Creak! "Ahhh! Okay, okay, just get off me!" Reluctantly, Fluffy then got off him. "Meor, meor meor!" I demand that you heal me this instant, hmph! Ran activated his sigil and began to focus onto Fluffy's legs. Feeling around, he could feel the energy still lingering inside her legs. The energy was much more significant than his former broken arm and stab wound. Concentrating on the arm, he tried to reflect it to the nearby wall and the wall began to slowly crack and chip apart; though it went no further. Instantly, over 80% of his energy vanished and he began to wheeze and cough! One has to know that to fix his stab wound and broken arm, he had also wasted about 80% of his total capacity! And this was when it had doubled over the past two weeks. Training one's own concentration and focus will, in turn, stimulate the soul. Training your focus and training your soul are basically the same thing! By now, he was reaching the equivalent of a peak rank 9s capacity and it was still rising! Nonetheless this technique is something to use sparingly.
Slumped on the ground, Fluffy felt the pain in her two legs shift and then disappear. Standing on all fours, she felt incomparably slow. Taking the first step, she almost slipped from the numbness that pervaded her limbs. Looking at the extremely slow and fat feline, Ran could not help but poke her. His slim finger was simply engulfed by the skin and fat as it almost completely disappeared. Sensing the mischief he was causing her, she snarled, but upon looking into his eyes, she could only find gentleness and relief. Slouching her neck, she slowly, step by step, stumped over to Ran and nuzzled against him.
With Fluffy licking his dry face, Ran seemed to quite enjoy the attention he was getting. Being away from Ann, who was always there with and for him, and his family and friends, Ran was currently a bit homesick; and being stuck in a cave on top of that had really put some weight on his shoulders. Training was just a way for him to distract himself from the more pressing matters at hand.
"Mom and Dad are missing, presumably in hiding… I hope. Dad is a top rank 4 expert, so he should be fine, Mom on the other hand… sigh. I could hope she's with him." Anger rose from his heart as he found out his home was destroyed and his family torn apart, but he knew it was all useless! The only way was to get:
"Stronger! And stronger! The strongest!" Rans eyes flickered with a red-pink energy as he slowly rested upon Fluffy; "healing" her had really sapped him of his energy and rest is always the best medicine. Falling asleep, Ran was greeted with the same scene he was getting for the past week. In front of him was a raging city that was literally on fire and melting. Melting Buildings slumped over and encased the surrounding citizens, showing their terrified and pained expressions. One of them was even his friend from some of the compulsory classes he had taken. Everyone was running away from shadows as they were hacked into pieces with blood splashing across Rans face. Widening his eyes in shock, a parent stood up against a shadow while holding their baby away from the bad men. Of course this didn't last long as the mothers head was decapitated and the child cried.
The head flew all the way to Rans feet and looking into the eyes of the mother, he could see the hatred and loathing she had felt before her death. Inexplicably, though, he had a nagging feeling that that gaze of rage of sorrow wasn't meant for the shadow men, but for him. "This is all your fault! If you weren't born, my baby wouldn't have died to them! He could've lived a happy life, but look what you've done to my baby! Oh my baby!" The cries of the mother could be heard inside Rans head, as If she was screaming directly into his ears.
Silently crying, he couldn't find the words to refute her, as his body tightened and choked him. His throat was so closed, it bruised itself and started bleeding. As the tears fell down his cheek and into the ground below his feet, he felt something. A rumble. Spurt! A tiny spout of water escaped through a crack in the ground and started to puddle around him. Soon though, more and bigger cracks presented themselves throughout the entire city with Ran being the epicenter. Boom! Geysers, both big and small, erupted from the cracks and flooded the city. The city, as it filled with water, started to turn blurry in his vision.
After a while, nothing. There was nothing left except water and him. He had been here before! This was the exact same ocean he had been to in the past. Looking around, he noticed something. He was bleeding, specifically from his mouth. What was weirder was that his ears heard something.
Swish swish. Turning his head in all directions, he still couldn't find where that damn swish sound came from. Except, in the distance, he did see a glint. In fact many glints. Many, many glints! Thousands of glints! Scales, that's what they are and they were reflecting the sun rays that penetrated the ocean.
The fishes are coming, the fishes are coming!