Chapter 35 - Yooma and Chains

The spell Kotori was casting was slightly different. She knew that [mana buff] would individually raise the stats of the uses but what would happen if she tried to direct it.

Kotori has done some experimentation to find that she could direct the kind of buff she wished to receive at the cost of other stats. It wasn't a 1:1 mana conversion but she could in theory put all her mana into agility or defense. In this instance she put all her points into agility.

Kotori was the type to play speedy characters in MMOs and thus always tried to max out her agility stats. She was a strong subscriber of the "best defense is not getting hit" School of thought.

Sato Kotori

Race: [Human] Age: 9

HP: 50 (+25!)

Mana: 1/25

Agility: 57 (+40!)

Strength: 36 (+25!)

Defense: 35 (+25!)

Karma: -100,009,534

Skills: [Magic Musician], [Hunter], [Desire of Monte Cristo](Removed)

Traits: [Spirit Seer], [Monte Cristo]

She leaped forward, to try and punch Yooma.

She felt her fist smack into his face with a satisfying "smack!"

Or at least that was what was supposed to happen.

Instead, Yooma gracefully leaped out of the way and Kotori's punch sailed past him.

He hit her with the shaft of his magic knife.

Kotori gasped as pain spread from her side.

[What!?!]

Kotori had yet to face someone who was able to dodge her max speed hit

"Status" She quickly shouted

Yooma

Race: [Human] Age: 26

HP: 124

Mana: 50

Agility: 86

Strength: 75

Defense: 42

Karma: [N/A]

Skills: [Sword Smith]

Traits: [Pawn]

[That's too high!]

Kotori was no stranger to fighting people with her stats than her. But that was limited to dumb beasts and monsters. Against a real human, she wouldn't be able to try any cheap tactics.

While she was in the middle of thought, Yooma quickly beat down Kotori and she was knocked to the ground in a daze

She gasped in pain this was the first time she had been hit in such a manner.

Amelie leaped into action Yooma flicked his wrist and Amelie noticing she wasn't going to be able to dodge in time and managed to at least slide out of the way. She wasn't unscathed though and a long gash laid across her left arm.

She gripped it obviously in a lot of pain. Gritting her teeth she tried once again to desperately slash Yooma.

He also struck her down in the same way he struck down Kotori.

Shun and Anya looked terrified. They had expected a simple mission and now they were in a life and death situation that neither of them had predicted.

Yooma glanced at them immediately ascertaining that they weren't a threat.

Kotori's vision faded as away as she saw the figure of Yooma's figure approaching her.

.

.

.

Kotori awoke

She tried to move her arms and they were bound.

She looked around to find herself in an inky cloudy darkness that seemed to stretch onward for several miles.

She desperately struggled and called out to no avail.

Looking around she noticed something rather weird.

She didn't feel anything.

Despite her movements, there was a distinct lack of "feeling".

It didn't feel quite real.

Her body itself wasn't quite real either. It was a cloudy image that almost made her look like a ghost. Incidentally. This body wasn't very well developed and simply looked like a human-shaped blob.

She examined the chains that held her in place and saw that they were made of light. She seemed to be attached to stone pillars.

Figures moved in the distance, they spoke in low muffled murmurs. It didn't make much sense and wasn't something she could discern. Next to her were two small glimmering animal-shaped lights, they were unmoving and simply gave off a steady glow, but somehow their presence seemed to assure Kotori.

She struggled again. The chain despite being made of light clacked and sounded exactly like metal would.

A figure appeared in front of her.

This time with full visibility. Enough that Kotori could fully grasp what she was looking at.

The figure was the form of a beautiful woman. Almost ethereal, her platinum blonde hair, perfect pale skin and delicate features betrayed an almost otherworldly figure. Like a raging tide hidden by human skin. The feeling was very familiar, Kotori had felt the same way when she first met Gabriel in the afterlife. Although this woman's auro was an order of magnitude stronger than Gabriels.

The woman looked at Kotori and the lights next to her and chortled.

"How silly"

Kotori was baffled

"Who are you"

Kotori's voice was echoey and quite garbled

She ignored Kotori

Walking closer she caressed Kotori's face.

"Cute"

She said, licking her lips. Giving off the air of a trained predator.

Kotori instinctively pulled back.

The woman's beauty twisted into an expression of sadness. Her expression suddenly turned so pitiful that Kotori instinctively said "sorry" in response even though it was a perfectly normal response.

It was truly quite a shift. The woman's face although inhuman. Seemed perfectly able to capture the hearts of those that watched it.

She perked up.

"Do well" she said

Giving Kotori a pat on the head before walking off and disappearing into the murky darkness.

Kotori suddenly felt herself being pulled.

Mentally, it seemed, she was not meant to be here.

Her consciousness drifted and her vision faded to black again.