Jyouji stretched his body, he yawned aloud, feeling invigorated from the nap. Since time was faster there it technically only took him four minutes in the real world.
Despite the short amount of time, he could still feel the gradual changes in his body; his pores were cleansed and the dead skin all over his body were flaking.
Not only that his hair started to fall off as well with new hair cropping up in seconds, "Man I stink, do they not have a bath in here or something?"
"They do, but Chronos never really tells us where exactly. He just sends us there instantly." The boy turned towards the voice and saw a young man with blonde messy hair and a tanned complexion.
A golden halo floated above him; it was a symbol of divinity. The halo was circular and had ten beams shooting from it, with the beams pointing towards the cardinal points being the longest ones.
It resembled a compass, yet similar to a sun. He then came to a stunning realisation, that the man before him was the God of Light and current wielder of the Sun Chariot; Phoebus Apollo.
"The God who usurped the King who bought light to the world." Jyouji stood before the most powerful Child Of Zeus; an infamous God known for many things.
Among them was his temper; he was truly hot headed which fits him well as he was the current rider of the Chariot.
Of course the real sun was out in space; all Apollo did was to distribute the light the sun gave off, evenly spread it across earth and how bright the light should be.
He also had to make sure that the plants were getting enough sunlight for photosynthesis and patch up any problems in the atmosphere.
For example ozone depletion or climate change. But every time he fixed them, humans somehow figured out how destroy his life's work.
In the end he gave up and killed the people responsible every once in a while with cancer and a slew of deadly diseases.
Apollo smiled hearing Jyouji recite his epithet. In fact he was very amused that he knew of them, "Oh? So you know my title as the 'Sun Usurper'?"
The boy nodded, unable to speak in front of this high levelled divine being, "How amusing, looks like this'll be worth my time after all." Apollo now showed an interest compared to his previously bored expression.
"It seems that you're practicing the Lunar Sword Style that Ares created after seeing Artemis use it just once; I do say, it is quite an energy consuming art as it requires one to actively strike heavily with all their might which can strain your body if you were a normal human," Just by taking a glance at the sword beside Jyouji and how he handled it; Apollo instantly deduced what style he was learning.
Of course once having learned the art as well helped in his observations, but regardless of all that it was still quite terrifying for him to know that; Jyouji was especially impressed by it, "So this is a God..." He thought to himself, wondering if he would ever reach that level one day.
Apollo contemplated deeply, wondering what to teach Jyouji, since his interest was ignited it was for sure that he would not back down from earning his favour, "As expected your current body is weak and thin, easily breakable like a twig." Examining closely, Apollo realised that Jyouji's body was abnormal.
"I'll create a technique for you in the same style as those Chinese deities I've met and see if they fit you." The Chinese deities he referred to were immortalised Taoist Masters, the reason he was tailoring a specific method to grow stronger was because of the boy's unique circumstances.
His body was reconstructed by him to withstand immense strain and doused his body in several different energies, including radiation hoping he would mutate.
Unfortunately he did not, but his body became able to develop a unique ability if guided correctly.
What kind of ability? Only he would know, "By the way how are you getting in with you magic studies?" The sun God asked this question not out of curiosity, but out of concern.
After all what if Hecate wooed him into becoming a Wizard? Then they'd have another magic specialist in their midst, and they definitely couldn't have that.
"Ah, it's going well actually. But I haven't learned a single spell yet," Jyouji lamented feeling disappointed, casting spells were what made a mage a mage. If he couldn't do even a single spell then could he even be called a mage at all?
"Hm, if you're worried about not being able to cast a spell then I can help with that." Apollo figured that this was the perfect chance for him.
"No, it's not that. It's that... Hecate never taught me one." Apollo's eyes widened in shock, "What?! She never taught you one? Even if you're just a beginner you would have by now at least learnt how to suppress your magic; that's an easy thing to do!"
Every and any technique related to magic
was considered a spell whether it was suppressing their magic and stopping it
from flowing out wildly, to being able to create balls of fires from their hands.
The magic system was a complicated one; with different styles created to suit the user's needs.
For example there was a certain style of magic that was so complex it was deemed to be at the level of a true Power System.
That style utilises scientific and arithmetic equations combined to perfectly cast spells. Although it requires one to complete the equation first before casting otherwise the spell would be incomplete.
That's why this style was favoured by those that studied Ritual Magics since it accurately timed the spell.
'But for Hecate to not even teach the boy the method to stop his magical energy from going haywire, despite his apparent talent it seems like she couldn't even be bothered with it, sh a waste!' Apollo complained in his mind, but did not pursue the topic any further.
Instead taking advantage of this opportunity, "If she did not teach you, then would you like me to teach you?"
Hearing this Jyouji fervently nodded, excited that he was going to learn a spell so soon. "Then show me your Mana Flow."
"Yes!"
Jyouji closed his eyes and stood still, arms crossed before him. He delved into his subconsciousness and pulled on an invisible thread, he felt as if a switch was connected to the thread and subsequently yanked at it, knowing that it was an important thing despite not knowing exactly what it was.
Once the switch was pulled a flush of energy rushed out from his body, bending light around him; making the energy flow visible to everyone else unbeknownst to him.
The winds clapped against Apollo's cheeks, the intense shockwave intending to repel him, "What in the world?"
As the wind calmed down, the sun God gazed at the monstrosity before him.
A yellow haze of light and mist hung above the boy, enveloping his whole body as he meditated.
The haze stretched outwards before bouncing back, akin to waves on a shore.
He could not see it clearly, but knew that something was forming from the boy's aura.
It was tall and enigmatic, with curved horns on its head, four eyes glaring straight at him, while wings of two different kinds flapped slowly.
On the left was a wing similar to that of bats' and in the other were the extremely familiar bird wings, fanning out like a peacock would.
A long tail whipped at him, passing through his body due to its incorporeal nature. "A manifestation? But how?"
His eyes narrowed as he took a deep breath. Arms to his side, he stomped the ground and with a determined glare he clapped as hard as he could.
As a God he naturally had immense strength. So the shockwave from his clap could be said to be extremely lethal.
Jyouji was thrown backwards, and the mana flow was interrupted. The energy levels in the time dimension diminished as a result.
But to Apollo it was worth it; he could not stand the pressure emitting from that creature anymore.
Sweat rolled down his body, his clothes drenched in his own filth. He had never felt such a dangerous presence before.
It felt like he was standing before a Sin once more, 'Hold on, why am I thinking of the Seven Sins? Moreover, why did that strange aura remind me of them?'
His thoughts were jumbled, he never thought that the young man before him who was merely a Demigod for now, would exceed his expectations and was at the stage where he could form such a terrifying manifestation.
But he could not say all that, he had to hide this from Jyouji; otherwise he'd feel afraid of his own power.
Even then he had to report this to the others, and then thought, 'Is this why Hecate did not teach him a spell?'
He assumed that the witch Goddess had already discovered this fact and did not want him to pursue the path of magic lest he became swallowed by the karmic destiny of all mages.
'If that's the case then this is much more troublesome than I thought.' Apollo had to report this to the others and see what they had to say, in any case he now had a reason to train and protect Jyouji.
Not for the sake of wanting him to become a God, but for him to never become a Cursed one.
'May mankind's evil never swallow him. And I pray that he never strays to that path.'