3rd Person POV
*A few hundred meters away from the fight*
Seong-Ah was observing the fight along with the other proctor. Even though they were far, they could easily see the fight from here by focusing the mana on their eyes. However, the trees were still blocking the way, so they couldn't "fully" observe it.
"Hey Master, I know that the monster appearance was sudden and unexpected, but don't you think we should interfere? These are just cadets..."
"Hmm? Did you forget something? Seems like not working as much as before has made you lazy. Maybe I should increase your work?"
"N-no! Please not that! Please just forget what I just said!" The poor guy instantly shuddered. He didn't want to work to death. He wasn't a masochist!
"Hmm, aside from that, these are cadets. the "Seeds" that will one day become heroes. And if there's one thing that they all have in common, its that they usually awaken their talents when faced with a difficult situation." Seung-Ah explained.
'Ah right... I forgot she was really spartan when it came to trainning...'
*
**
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*At the Fight*
Suho and his teammates were fighting the monsters, but it seemed that the end result was drawing near. The state of the cadets were obvious. They were exhausted.
Some cadets like Suho, Jonghak, Nayun and Yeonga were pushing themselves to keep fighting. The only ones who were in better condition were Rachel and Hajin, Rachel because she just arrived and still had a lot of stamina, and Hajin because he was far from the monster and the tree roots, which were attacking the caddets.
The butterfly monster was flying in the sky, controlling the roots. It hasn't shown any signs of attacking by itself, and has only manipulating the roots to do so.
'wait... there was that too!' Hajin came into realization as if he had remembered something important. 'But if this continues, I don't think everyone would be able to keep fighting. Ugh! I need to make a choise, either I save Rachel who is still capable of fighting or Suho, who is although stronger, but is low on stamina.'
'I think Rachel would be better. She can still fight for some time, and since she has fought with me before, she would be more compatible.' In the end, Hajin chose Rachel. But it definitely wasn't because he wanted to save specifically her...
Please believe him!
Suddenly, the butterfly sappling's body glowed in a purple hue as some particles began to leave its body and soon covered the area. Students who inhaled these particles almost instantly fell asleep.
The dust had the monster's magic mixed in, which had a sleeping effect that could put to sleep any weak-minded target easily. Even the strong minded ones had to be carefull not to let their guard down.
Thus, the only ones who didn't fell asleep were Suho, Rachel and Hajin, who both instantly held their breath when the realized what the dust was, and Hajin because he was far away.
But Suho, who was weakened and out of stamina, couldn't hold long enough and also fell asleep. Now, the only ones awake were Hajin and Rachel.
"Rachel, come here!" Hajin yelled as he focused his [Stigma]'s magic power to create something.
'Anti-Magic Masks' He though, and as if his thoughts had become reality, a pair of two black-coloured masks appeared in his hands.
"What happened?" Rachel asked as she still tried to hold the remaining breath. But even than, she couldn't hold it forever. However, she still had enough to make some moves.
"Wear these, the particles in the air have sleep inducing properties. So anyone who inhales them will fall asleep. It's good that you realized it and held your breath, but that won't last long." Hajin explained as he gave the the mask to Rachel and weared one himself as he shot several Magic strengthened bullets towards the butterfly. But the monster just dodged the attack.
"Ugh! Its too fast, if it keeps flying at that speed, my bullets won't be able to hit it." He exclaimed as he looked around as if trying to find a good spot to shoot. Instantly, he saw a tree that was near the flying monster. It was a perfect place to shoot.
"Rachel, can you buy me some time? I have a way to defeat that monster, but I need you to distract it."
"Sure."
Hajin quickly went for the tree as Rachel went towards the monster, trying to gain all of its attention. Hajin used [teleportation] to appear behind the monster and climed the tree using [parkour].
As soon as he climed, he instantly focused [Stigma] onto the magic bullets to strengthen them even further. Feeling that there was only little magic left, he stopped so to save some mana for emergency. The number of bullets he got was 3.
He reloaded the magzine with those bullets and assumed a shooting position.
*Bang*
*Bang*
Gun shooting sounds were heard simuntaneoulsy as the bullets hit the buttefly monster. One hit it at the centre of its left wing while one hit the corner of the right one.
The monster, unable to use its wings, started to fall down. But as it was falling, its wings quickly regeneration and it escaped from a slash coming towards its direction.
The monster got angry and let out a war cry. The tree roots became more aggressive and all of them focused on Rachel. A root hit Rachel in the stomach, to which she barely defended, and got shot towards a tree.
She collided with the tree and fell to the ground, still conscious as she was barely able to defend herself on time, but the damange from the collision was too much and she wouldn't be able to fight for a while.
After dealing with Rachel, all the roots quickly shot towards Hajin, who was sitting on the branch of a tree.
'...You got to be kidding me!' Hajin thought in frustration as he shot another bullet towards the monster, but this time, the bullet was blocked by the tree branches surrounding the monster.
Suddenly, Hajin's World became slow, extremely slow. Sensing the danger, [Master Sharpshooter]'s automatic defense function reacted quickly and [Bullet time] was activated.
Quickly realizing his situation, he began to think. 'I don't have any further strengthened magic bullets left, the normal magic bullets won't be able to damage the monster too... I have to find a way.'
His brain gears started to spin at an absurd speed as he began to think of a solution out of this ploblem. Rachel was unable to fight. He had also realized that someone was watching him, other than Seung-Ah and the rest of the proctors of course.
His guess was Boss, who he saw before the exam started. But he couldn't think of a reason as to why Boss would be suddenly interested in him. But he couldn't trust her either, so he needed to be on guard as well. He also couldn't use his other gift because he didn't have the required SP. 50,000 SP was huge, and he didn't even have the tenth of it currently, so obviously, this choice was also out of reach.
[Do you want my help?]
'where?!' Hajin quickly looked around as he thought he had heard someone's distorted voice. There was no one here except him and Rachel, and there also wasn't anything that could transmit sound in this area.
[I'm talking in your head.]
He heard the voice again that answered his question as if reading his mind.
'What do you mean help me? And who are you?' Hajin thought in his head, thinking that the entity could hear him in his mind.
[Straight to the point I see... Well, I'm what you can reffer to as the creator. And I'm talking to you by interferring with the system.] Hajin visibly shoot and tensed up as he heard the voice answer his thoughts again.
How could this entity interfere with the system?! But he soon realized that this was the same being that gave him his gift, the "Creator", the entity that could bypass even the Co-Author. It wouldn't be strange if that being was able to hack the system that the co-author created.
[And by 'helping you', I mean I can allow you to use that skill that you can only use with my permission.] He added.
At first, he couldn't fully understand that answer but soon realized that this being was referring to the [Nothigness Collapse] function of the gift he gave me. According to the system, that power is so destructive that it can shatter reality itself and erase anything, but of course, to keep the balance going, its limitation is that it can only be used by the permission of this being called "Creator".
'...I never thought I would need to use this or seek his permission for it, but I have no choise... after all, beggars can't be choosers'
'...What do you want in return?' Hajin quickly questioned again. He knew that nothing was free in this world, and everything has an ulterior motive behind its happening.
[Oh, as expected of you, straight to the point as always.]
[Well, I don't want much. I just want you to do something that can entertain me. You see, I am completely immortal. This eternal life of mine is getting boring, and I can't kill myself either, I would simply come back if I do that, and so...]
'...So?' Hajin questioned as the tense atmosphere around him increased. He knew that from most of the animes he watched back in his own world, these types of overpowered and immortal beings always had twisted personalities. They would do anything to relieve their bordom.
[I want you to reveal Evandel's Existence to Rachel.]
'...Huh?' Hajin's brain short-circuited, and he stopped thinking. After some time, which seems like an eternity, he recovered from his shock and his expressionless face almost broke. Imaginary Sweats began to form on his face as he shuddered to ask.
'W-w-what... why would you want that...?' He barely managed to ask, barely holding the urge to shout at the being that he had asked an impossible request. What would happen if all of England came after his life?! Was that so entertaining?!
[Exaclty what I said. I want you to reveal Evandel's Existence once she haches. And don't worry, I'm not asking you to reveal it to the whole world, just Rachel would be enough. Although I don't mind if you do the prior as well...]
[As for the second part, Its because it'll be entertaining. You see, I decided to observe this universe and story out of boredom. But soon, I got interested in the development of the future senario. When I saw Rachel and Evandel, I wanted these two to interact with each other more, but seeing that you didn't have any plan of doing it any soon, I decided to intervene.]
[Therefore, I have this request for you. If you do it, I'll give you permission to use this skill, just for once of course. Even I don't want this world to be destroyed.]
'...' Hajin began to think. Evandel's Existence being kept hidden was crucial to the development of the plot. And if she is revealed now, it will cause major chaos and plot changes that would change the gears of fate. Thus, he'll loose one of his biggest advantage in this story, that is, knowing the future.
He thought that he could introduce Evandel as his relative or something, but quickly abandoned the thought as he realized that since Evandel had Rachel's blood, she would be very similar or almost an exact mini version of Rachel.
But before his thoughts could continue, he was interupted from his stupor when he heard the being say the next sentence, which completely stopped this thought process.
[Oh, and I want you to reveal the truth. Meaning, Rachel should know that she is Evandel's mother. If you want to clear misunderstandings, you can also tell her that she's a fairy, not born from normal means.]
'... this just got more complicated. Well, if I also reveal that she's a fairy, maybe the misunderstanidng would lessen, but I don't know if she would keep it a secret or not.' Hajin thought but quickly denied it thinking 'that won't happen. Rachel isn't the type to tell someone's secrets to anyone. And so far, she has kept secret everything I have asked her too...'
'Ugh, do I even have a choice?'
[Given your situation, of course not.]
'Fine, I'll do it. But what about the others that are observing this scene from afar. I don't want them to know as well.'
[Don't worry about that. This area is covered in a think fog that was generated from the monster's body. Even if you kill the monster, it will remain for quite a while. Of course, the recoil from the ability will be huge and will cause huge damage, and that's not something that can be kept hidden.]
'...Well, the recoil is the least of my worries. I decided to reveal myself in the spotlight anyways, I just don't want some major characters of the story to die, especially in the early parts of the story.'
[That's good. Than, I should start the process.]
'is there a process involved?'
[Of course, I can't allow this skill to act too much, so I'll keep the power output to 1%. This would be enough to do the job and not destroy the planet and go on a rampage, hopefully.]
Sweats started to drip from Hajin's face and his body shook as he heard the last part 'I don't like the last part... Why is there a "Hopefully" at the end?!' He shouted in his mind, he didn't like the tone of that sentense one bit. It just proved how dangerous that energy is.
[Well, looks like your time is up.]
Hajin looked around and realized that the time was returning to its normal flow. [Bullet time] had reached its end.
'How do I even use the power?' Hajin asked, he had no way of knowing how the skill worked. It had a very complex system of its own.
[Just think of the skill and imagine it being coated on your bullet and gun.] The being answered.
'Okay...' The roots had come dangerously close. They were less than 10 meters away from Hajin. But that time was enough.
Hajin began doing the process according to what the being said, and soon felt something leave his body and cover the gun and the bullet inside it. It was a super dense and dark purple, almost black coloured energy that had a negative and extremely dangerous feeling to it.
Hajin than focused the mana remaining in [Stigma] to strengthen the gun's durability and aimed at the head of the Butterfly monster that was flying towards him along with the tree roots.
He held his breath and pulled the trigger...
BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
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Word Count : 2434