Before Hayley's eyes, the young teenager ran weaponless, straight up to a humanoid monster towering four meters tall. Its muscles bulged, causing ripples to flow over the creature's orange skin as it lifted a massive, spiked club, preparing to strike. An instant later, the club began its descent from the sky, falling on the boy at a diagonal angle.
Even when facing such a mighty beast, the teen exuded an aura of utter confidence. This feeling caused Hayley not to intervene despite the seriousness of the situation. Moreover, she would be lying if she said she wasn't the slightest bit curious about what made the boy special enough for an archangel to be interested in him.
However, this feeling only lasted a split second, as in the next, the boy's upper half exploded into a mist of blood, staining the orcs club in a deep shade of crimson.
Hayley had seen countless bloodbaths in her short life. In fact, every human on the battlefield had. To get where they were, they had fought in numerous battles. The ones that were not adjusted to the carnage had died long ago or cowered away in seclusion. But those past experiences could not prepare her for the shock and guilt.
"Why didn't I teleport him away?" The question ricocheted around her mind, causing her to almost fall to several drifting attacks from other battles.
These doubtful thoughts only came to a pause when the blood mist cleared.
"What the hell is happening?"
Despite the dreadful direct hit, the boy's mangled corpse remained standing. Only his legs, part of his torso, and chest connecting to a single arm remained. One might assume that the remnant of his body would have been sent flying after such a blunt attack. However, for this to be the case, his body would first need to absorb the hit in some capacity. Unfortunately, his body was simply too fragile. Every inch the club touched immediately crumbled under the force. Still, this information was unrelated, as his corpse was not what caught Hayley's attention. Instead, it was his remaining hand. Veins bulged as they pressed up against his lean muscles. The boy's hand noticeably clutched the orc's wrist as what was left of his body was lifted into the air. His underdeveloped muscles on his arms popped as his nails desperately tried to dig into the leather skin of the monster.
"Is he really still moving? That's not possible!"
Hayley could not help but think of a skink that had dropped its tail after being grabbed by a bird. However, this comparison was obviously not solid as the boy's vital organs ceased to exist. Hell, even his head had been reduced to mist.
With an amused expression of a child, the hideous orc lifted what was left of Terran into the air with his free hand as it began to swing him around like a new toy. Yet, this only lasted for a few seconds as it appeared the orc's attention span was deficient. Finally, thoroughly entertained, the orc lifted its' snack up to its mouth, ready to eat what was left of the boy.
Unfortunately for the orc, it could not get this far as a sharp pain originated from its neck, and blood began to fill its throat. Its hands desperately grasped at its neck, but they could do nothing to stop the flow of blood as the damage was already done.
Hayley had seen many gory scenes in her short lifetime. However, they could not compare to what she had just witnessed. As the boy was lifted towards the orc's mouth, his intestines began to wriggle around as if they were a ball of snakes. Blood, bones, and organs formed out of nothing. They twisted together as his missing torso patched itself in under a second. His body regenerated at an unbelievable speed, completing his lost chest and quickly forming an arm. It was at this point that the body was passing the beast's exposed neck. Despite missing its head, the body contorted as it positioned the stump of its arm against the naked neck of the humanoid monster.
This was the moment when blood sprayed. Air could only get out of the way when the boy's bones formed, and the neck of the creature was no exception. As the regeneration powered by an S-ranked blessing fought over the supremacy of space, the neck of the orc could not compete, and it was punctured.
A wave of blood covered the still headless body of Terran as he pulled his fully formed arm out of the neck of the beast.
Surprised and in pain, the orc dropped its snack as it clutched its bleeding neck. Deep gurgling noises filled the air around its body, but no one was paying attention as the sound was drowned out by the raging battle. That is, all except for one silver-haired girl.
Not a second later, a skull with a blank face grew out of the headless body before facial features were quickly sculpted.
Terran lay on the ground while shaking his head in disappointment. Contrarily, a wide sadistic grin occupied his face.
"This fighting style will not do," was all he could think. While it had worked once, its drawbacks were glaring. For starters, he could do nothing to multiple opponents, much less an army like they were fighting. Moreover, even if it was one-on-one, there would not be much of a fight if the enemy was intelligent and knew his single new trick.
While he was scrutinizing his tactics in his mind, his emotions were quite the opposite. Adrenalin pumped through his newly formed veins and brought with them an emotion that he had never experienced. This was the first time he was having fun. While finding out he had a future, meeting Sophie and recently Oliver had been fulfilling. They were not the same. It was the fun one experienced when finding a sport or video game they enjoyed. Fun that only originated from competition. Only, in this case, it was a little more extreme.
The second his regeneration finished; a minuscule light flashed in his retina.
"Has my system finally decided to make an appearance?"
[1/100]
Even with the small number popping up, the system interface would not show itself.
"What a shame, Jonnies claws might have proven useful in this situation, not to mention all the S ranked blessings that are ripe for picking. Does this mean I have to kill one hundred of these monsters to complete the trial?"
Standing up, Terran scanned around for his next victim.
Hayley stared at the young teen strolling through the anarchy of war as if it was his backyard. Had he not been dead a second ago? Lightly slapping her cheeks, Hayley cleared her mind. She had seen countless blessings in action; what was one more? Then, without a second thought, she teleported in front of Terran's path.
"Let me take you to safety! While you may think you're invincible, once your mana runs out you won't be able to revive. It's better you save your mana for when you need it rather than throwing it away on a few weak monsters."
Seeing the beauty in front of him and hearing her words, Terran frowned slightly. Nonetheless, his frown quickly morphed into a friendly smile.
"Ah, it seems I got ahead of myself and forgot to properly thank you, Miss Hayley, for helping me escape that birdcage. I was really cramped in there. However, you don't have to worry about my safety."
Hayley could not help but laugh inwardly. It was not because of something funny Terran said, but because of the sad reality. Even while drenched in blood with death in the air, Terran maintained a nonchalant attitude. Unfortunately, this was all too common with the blessed on this battlefield. Most had been fighting for their lives since childhood, and it was one of only a few ways to cope. However, the fact that it was common did not take away from the sad sight of someone supposed to be in school adopting such a mentality.
Hayley decided to drop her persuasion because there was no worry in the boy's expression even after learning that he was walking a path toward his death. After all, arguing would only get them both killed.
Instead, she put on a friendly smile. "What's your name?"
"Terran."
"Good luck to you then Terran. If you run into too much trouble, yell my name and I'll try to help if I can."
"I guess I'll be relying on you then."
Without a second thought, Terran turned towards something that had caught his eye earlier, happy to continue his work.
For a second, a tiny flash of worry had manifested in his mind when Hayley had told him that his healing would stop working after he ran out of mana. While he understood the gist of this sentence, he questioned its accuracy. This was because his recovery had never stopped throughout the two years in the wasteland. It was essential to know that the wasteland was parched of world energy. Typically, if one wanted to use their blessing in the wasteland, they would first need to rest in the Oasis. Sophie had mentioned this fact when talking about her blessing. Fortunately, her blessing took a considerably small amount of world energy, allowing her to go on long trips.
While Terran was not entirely confident that Hayley's advice did not apply to him. He was sure that this was as good a place as any to test his theory. Here he could not die, unlike the real world. Then again, he was not entirely sure if he could die there either.