Cyrus looked at the ring and seeing the holographic images appear and vanish from Lyra Stone's attack. He realized that she had seen him do something that revealed his powers. But he was unsure of what she saw or how much. Could she tell he was stronger than a conman Standard just by looking at him, Cyrus just couldn't tell. He tried to build a reason in his head, a response to the situation but was pushed in my Miles.
"Come on kid, we don't got all day to play innocent." Cyrus stumbled in and kept himself from falling over. Which Cyrus was unsure as to how strong Miles actually was. Because something about him screamed hidden strength. Miles closed and locked the door behind him as a red light turned on telling him the door was locked.
Lyra walked over and placed a hand on Cyrus' shoulder making him look at her, "Our job as observers is to evaluate what power you have. We already know you were once a Standard. But you went into the Tear didn't you? So you must have come out with something that changed you." Miles stepped forward and nodded.
"Yeah even the head boss was curious as to how you survived the Chaos Rift that wiped out your team. So I am eager to see what you can do, plus the boss will be happy to have my report this time instead of me goofing off." Lyra scowled him for his lax behavior but sighed as she returned her eyes to Cyrus.
"Just be honest with us and show us what you can do. It doesn't have to be much, just something." She sounded a little soft on Cyrus, but he wasn't sure if it was genuine or meant to mislead him. For the moment he felt her hand leave his shoulder as she stepped over to her weapon. "Show us what you obtained in the Tear and we will call it a day."
Cyrus had to stop and think for a moment, 'What is it that I can show them? What powers are common to obtain from Chaos Tears? I mean, most Tears actually cause the most change from the amount of Chaos Energy coursing through a human's body. It naturally makes some people's abilities stronger, while others don't feel any different. It was a dilemma that he had to figure out before they were to think of a way to force him.
'Do I show my Shackle Powers? Do I show magic? Summoning? Ahhh what to do!?' That is when Cyrus got a whisper in his head from Thane.
'Show them your Shackle, it is the only thing that is visible and you actually have a good reason as to why you don't show any signs of your "Crisis Beast" problem. For your body doesn't take Chaos Energy like normal humans do. Your shackle contains it all until you reached a weakened state and the shackle breaks to unleash your true power.' He provided a point that did make sense, but how to explain the other aspects in rational thought.
He held out the shackle on his right arm, "When my squad died and I defeated the boss of the Rift, I managed to obtain the power of being Shackled. It's a weird ability that restricts my own power." Lyra and Miles looked at the shackle, interested in it as he said it restricted his power.
"Well that sounds kind of dumb, aren't powers meant to increase your chances of survival, not hinder them?" Miles complained, "I mean," he said quickly as Lyra gave him a angry look, "why don't you show us what you got." Cyrus took a deep breath and walked over to the ring. It was large and filled out a good space of the room allowing for easy visibility for spectators. Miles walked over to a seat just a few away from his sister as to not get to close to her monstrous fists.
Once Cyrus stepped into the ring, the sensor that detected his presence began to calculated his skills. A red light began to scan him from the ground to his head, "New combatant, starting at level 4." Mile and Lyra's eyes widened at the same time, Cyrus was a unsure of what level 4 was as holograms of 3 Ravagers appeared. These four armed creatures were fast and deadly killing machines that were on record during the first couple years when the Chaos Rifts began to open. Having sharp 3 fingered hands, long reach, and the obvious trait of having four limbs made it hard for most anyone to dodge or counter.
Cyrus decided to keep his weapons holstered, using his Enhance (Focus) skill for better reaction time. He could see claws coming at him in slow motion, his speed was able to keep up and out pace the swings of the Ravagers. Twelve limbs of sharp claws came at him as he weaved through each of their attacks and dodged them with some difficulty. For attacking was an option, he knew that they were just holograms so he wouldn't actually take damage. So he wanted to see how long he could keep up with the Ravagers.
This was while Lyra and Miles were watching him, shocked at the speed of his movements and just narrowly dodging the attacks of the holograms. Lyra was more attuned to her ability and was able to see he had activated the Standard's ability of Enhancing themselves. But she knew that Cyrus was more focused and his acute perception that allowed him to dodge the attacks. The thought of him just using the ability itself should have made the system start at level 0 for just a Standard. But it jumped to level 4 which was no easy feat for even Beta Tier individuals.
Miles on the other hand was surprised and had a smile on his face, typing away on his phone that he had pulled out to document what he was seeing. He wasn't even looking at the phone as he typed, for he just knew where the keys were on his phone having spend ages on it just texting his friends. What he could see was a young man performing a feat no Standard could do as a young adult his age. It was beyond his expectations which he was going to stop the system when it had started at the level 4 difficulty, but he just watched Cyrus own it.
Cyrus finally went for striking the Ravagers while countering in the swings of the attacks. One after the other in a blur of motion, Cyrus had countered each Ravager that made them vanish. As the particles faded away the computer announced that Cyrus Reinhard was able to advance to the next stage. Though he didn't feel winded at all, he knew that Lyra had been watching him carefully, while Miles just seemed enthralled by his movements.
"Lyra you saw him do that right? No Standard could do something like that at Level 4." Miles pointed out, typing on his phone still as he asked, "How are you able to move so fast and dodge accurately?"
"My mentor taught me how to better use my Enhance ability," Cyrus started, not exactly hiding the fact his mentor taught him. "He said that he used to be a Standard and would be doubted him for being one. So he developed a method of using a more reformed, but draining form of the Enhance ability. It allows me to focus on a certain aspect of my body to preform better than an average Standard." Miles was writing it down and looked back up again.
"Who was your mentor? Where is he now?" Cyrus thought for a moment, he hadn't seen his mentor leave but he did get a message years ago that he was going to leave his dojo and go on a trip to find a new way to improve himself. Miles patiently waited for his response on who this mysterious Standard man was.
"Ryu Hiromashi, from the country of Japan before it was devastated by a Chaos Tear going out of control back in 2043. He was one of the first Standards that utilized martial training to improve the Standard ability." Cyrus recounted his years training with Ryu at an early age, for his had good relations with Ryu back when he lived in the states. He never knew his parents, but Ryu did not let that distract Cyrus from training. Instead he remembered how brutal it was training his body and mind to better use the skill. "He left about 5 years before I joined Fenrir 2 years ago, around 2076 then. Currently, I don't know where he is or what he is doing."
Miles seemed squint then nod returning to typing away on his phone. That is when Lyra spoke up, "But why would the system start you on such a high difficulty for a Standard to handle? Tell us what exactly happened to have the computer set such a level on you." She wasn't being aggressive towards Cyrus, but was trying to figure out what his power was. No Standard she had ever heard of was that fast or had that kind of reaction speed. She wanted to know his secret.
"Well, as I said the Shackle reduces my sta- uh... body's strengths by half when its on. So using the Enhance skill I am able to bypass the reduction for only a minute. It takes up my Chaos Energy though so I can't do it forever. Though Ryu could for hours at a time, for a Standard it was quite impressive." Ryu almost gave away that he had stats, which Lyra seemed to eye him for fixing his words.
'What would happen to you if was off?' Lyra thought, wondering what exactly was he hiding from them. 'What was this Shackle that appeared on him after he went into that Rift?' Lyra stood and walked into the ring and stood next to Cyrus. He seemed to back up and wait for her to say something. Though she just stood there and looked him over again, no weapon in her hands, just her and him in the ring. "Cyrus I want you to show me what happens when you take damage and have the shackle removed."
Cyrus got nervous, "Uh I... I wouldn't want that to happen ma'am. For it doesn't look pretty as to what happens." That was just what gave Lyra enough to do what she had to do. If he was going to refuse it, then she was going to bring it out of him. She had gotten close to him not as just a way to get damage on him, but to make it less obvious as to what she was going to do. In the blink of an eye, Cyrus felt a stinging sensation in his gut as he was shot backwards out of the ring.
Miles stood from his from his seat and looked at Cyrus then to his sister, "What did you do that for?" But as he asked, Lyra seemed to gasp cause Miles to turn to what she was reacting to. That is when he saw Cyrus on the floor, covered in rubble, his hair standing on end like an anime character from a TV series from the early 2,000's. The tips covered in purple light, his right arm covered in the same glowing light up to his elbow, and his right eye looking like a wolf's eye except a very energetic purple color. Cyrus had entered his Unshackled form from one attack that Lyra dealt.
[HP: 4/48]
Cyrus opened his eyes and saw the message and looked at his body. Turning his gaze to Lyra and Miles, their faces in shock as to what he looked like. Before he could even speak Cyrus saw Lyra walk over to him with a look of confused curiosity. It wasn't hatred, fear, or even that of death he was looking at. She stood only a meter away from him, her hand in the gesture of a gun. He could sense energy spiraling around her index and middle finger. She looked down at him and asked, "What are you?"