---
An unknown amount of time ago…
"Y-you royalist scum! You're really gonna make me use it huh…" A panicked and hoarse male voice said as his entourage was being slaughtered by foes on all sides.
The owner of the voice, a purple haired individual with a slender build put his hands together before screaming commands at his subordinates "MY KIN! Buy me 2 minutes and the royalist dogs will meet their maker. BLOOD TO THE HEATHENS!!"
"Kill the fuckers!" Voices from amongst the battlefield chimed in support for their leader.
"The government falls today my brothers!"
"Squad 2 switch to laser-edge weaponry and engage the enemies to the north and east in melee combat!"
"Blood to the heathens!"
Within seconds high pitch sounds of laser-edge swords, shields and spears colliding could be heard, followed by hundreds of gunshots and explosions from advance plasma guns and combat drones.
Amongst the chaos, magic of various shapes and sizes could be seen; one armed skeletons were dragging people underground, walls of flame and frost were colliding whilst deafening thunder crashed all around.
Undoubtedly, the most visible piece of magic was the spell being cast by the rebel forces leader. His hands were formed into a praying stance resulting in purple worm-like appendages were spreading through the air.
"Don't let him finish casting, Matt use Guidance of Gadina, NOW!!" Among the bloodshed a figure could be seen moving at high velocity, nimbly and gracefully avoiding every attack and projectile aimed his way.
His shoulder-length chestnut coloured hair fluttered in the wind whilst his deep and firm voice echoed throughout the battlefield.
"Dean, I'm breaching the front perimeter and carrying the payload right to Zirkof's face, he isn't leaving this place alive." The chestnut coloured individual said as his eyes focused on the purple-coloured magical circles appearing around the purple haired man located in the middle on the enemies formation.
"What?! Del you fucking idiot, count Zirkof is charging the damned WRATH spell!" A panicked voice added through the headset on the chestnut haired individual.
"If the charges get in contact with the surrounding mana discharge they would blow up at a moment's notice... Get the hell back now!" But Dean's worries were lost on Delvin who activated the buff he received earlier.
[Guidance of Gadina has been invoked]
[All stats doubled]
[Mana core capacity doubled]
[After 30 seconds have elapsed your body will receive the "Asleep" debuff for 2 minutes]
[Receiving damage 'Critical' damage would remove the "Asleep" debuff]
"HRRRGGHHH!" Delvin's voiced thundered throughout the debris and destruction, causing a brief moment of respite for all combatants involved as everyone, including Zirkof, turned their sights towards the green-glowing man in the centre of the battle.
'Truly the most broken B-tier spell, it never ceases to amaze me.' Dean muttered to himself seeing the green smoke evaporating from his skin. Turning his eye towards the Count, Del saw him in the middle of the rebel's formation. 'You think you're safe huh.' Delvin chuckled slightly, he always loved surprising his enemies and their ideas of safety. Nowhere was safe on a battlefield.
The raw mana from Dean's skill coursed from his Stage 3 Mana core into his channels, filling Del with the power of Gadina, the supposed Life Goddess in Nothian mythology. But religious discourse was for after the fight was won, and with a bout of willpower he guided the mana to the soles of his feet while summoning his spear.
The next few events happened in split seconds, and all future recollections of the happenings were labelled as 'inaccurate' or 'falsified'.
From the place where the thundering voice echoed, green smoke was released in a 360 degree direction, blinding everyone in a 500 meter radius.
From the green smoke emerged a man whose body was riddled with veins filled by green blood, his spear already in a down-swinging motion.
The man accelerated forward, towards the heart of the opposition while the spear had almost reached the half way point of its trajectory.
As quick as the wind, the man closed the distance between the leader of the rebel army and himself. His spear nearly connecting with the count's head.
But the attack never reached its mark.
Milliseconds before spear connected to flesh, mana connected to mana. The explosive charges located in Delvin's inventory were forcibly activated by the purple rope-like appendages coming from the Count's spell which resulted in a blast of catastrophic proportions.
---
'After that they found the upper part of my body 15 km from the blast site, luckily I reached the S-ranking so my mind survived the blast, but my heart didn't…' Delvin thought whilst pondering on the events that happened 2 years ago.
'The blast killed everyone in a 5 km radius… both Matt and the Count alongside thousands of others perished because I wanted to kill Zirkof with my own hands… I should've listened to Dean.' Del's mind was clouded by regret and if he could rewind time, he would most surely act differently.
The 5th member of their team, Matt, was found 18 km from the epicentre of the explosion, his body was fine except a hole in the upper-left torso area which took his heart and lungs. Matt was a B-ranked individual and he couldn't survive such wounds, but Matt's death gave a certain team of scientists an idea.
Dean, Maya and his sister proceeded to brake all known codes of ethics and morality when they decided to use untested alien technology in the form of the MERI supercomputer.
Using MERI's infinite computing power, Del's inner realm was transferred to Matt's in a gruelling and time-intensive operation of nanometric proportions.
This undertaking was successful, resulting in Delvin waking up to his puddle-like form and toddler-level intelligence; it was also because of this operation's success that the team synthesized a small metallic, hourglass shaped item which was now integrated with the centre of Del's mana core and served as a bridge between his inner realm and core.
Del's thoughts were interrupted as he felt a sudden jolt throughout his puddle body, catapulting him into the pitch-black surroundings,.
*WHOOSH*
"Aaaaaah!" Del screamed.
"Wait, I can scream now?" Dean said weakly as he looked around a room filled with computer monitors, cables and metal pipes. 'Wait, i can also see?'
"DEL! You're awake!" A female voice screamed behind him, and before he knew it he was on the floor being hugged by his sister.
Still shocked from the sudden shift of his very state of being, Del didn't know how to react so he simply hugged her before being smothered by Dean and Maya's bear hugs too.
"G-guys, it's good to be back but you're suffocating me." He didn't want to tell them how his feelings of affection and belonging were distorted during his stay in the abyss, the abyss only allowed for negative emotions after all.
The group got off him, allowing him to look around the room a bit more. Del located several other people rushing through a series of doors which were placed in corners of what appeared to be hexagonal-shaped room, he didn't recognize any of them but they all cheered for his return and Del could only answer with a weak smile.
Chrissy was still clinging to his shoulder and bawling her eyes out while Del was surrounded by the many researchers of this facility.
The sounds of handshakes and congratulations were blocked out by a sharp drilling voice deep within Del's consciousness which forced him to drop to his knees, much to the worry of everyone in the room.
[System functions non-operational]
[Essence reserves at 0.4%]
[Fatigue levels: Critical!]
[Forcing shut down of Host]
[Shutting down in 5]
"Wait, what.. I don't want to go shut down. What's happening." Everyone panicked when they heard these word, Chrissy pulled out some scanning device but before she could get a full read on Del's vitals signs he collapsed.
If Delvin was still awake he would have seen some very ominous messages.
[Concealment breached]
[Location compromised]
[Advising immediate relocation of Host]