"Frenzy!"
As the word echoed in the quiet hall, Austin felt his blood begin to boil, his eyes turning bloodshot red. His muscles started to twitch and expand, and an overwhelming urge to destroy everything surged within him. Astonishingly, his height rose to an imposing two meters.
In the empty hall, with only Alysia present, he focused all his rage on her and unleashed a powerful punch. A punch that could easily create a hole in a wall.
Bam!
Like a force meeting an immovable object, Austin's frightening punch came to an abrupt halt. Surprisingly, it was stopped by Alysia's slender and seemingly fragile hand.
"Oh?" Alysia looks surprised. "Despite having only just gained a Rune Of Pride, you're this strong, huh? I wonder how strong you will be once you complete your morphing phase, but for now, you're still far from enough to injure me."
She pushed her hand, causing Austin to stagger backward. Swiftly, she retaliated with a punch aimed precisely at the fist Austin had used against her.
In an instant, the sensation of his fist bones shattering surged through him, and his arm followed, bending unnaturally.
Austin's body was sent hurtling for dozens of meters before crashing violently into a nearby wall.
Crash!
Bang!
Strangely, Alysia was the one who ended up getting injured. Her fist throbbed with pain, and her back ached as if she had collided with a solid object.
"Aiya, I'm so stupid. I forgot that I now share half of the pain with him," Alysia scolded herself as she shook her hand slightly, trying to relieve herself from the pain.
Shortly after, she watched as Austin crawled out of the hole in the wall, seemingly unaffected by the crash. In a berserk-like state, he appeared oblivious to the pain.
Without hesitation, he assumed a stance and charged at Alysia once again, his eyes clouded with bloodlust.
This time, Alysia decided to change her approach and focused on evading.
As much as she enjoyed giving Austin a beating, she wasn't a masochist who took pleasure in receiving pain!
Surpassing Austin in agility by a significant margin, the entire confrontation felt like a walk in the park for her.
Five minutes later, Austin's bloodlust-filled eyes gradually dimmed, and he finally tumbled to the ground, appearing thoroughly exhausted.
Panting heavily, he muttered, "Pew...Pew... I'm dead tired. My back is killing me, and my arm—damn, is my arm broken?" He looked horrified at his arm, twisted at a terrifying angle.
Crouching beside him, Alysia held her cheeks with her hands, looking adorable. "How's it going? Did you acquire the Wrath Rune?"
"Why can't I remember anything about how my arm got broken?" Austin repeated his question.
"See that hole over there? That's right, you created it with your arm," Alysia explained with a straight face.
"I did that?" Austin asked in shock. He could hardly believe that he now possessed the kind of physique capable of leaving a hole in the wall, even if it cost him a broken arm.
"Hmm," Alysia nodded disinterestedly and asked again. "So, what about the Sin of Wrath? Can you see the Rune Of Wrath in your mind?"
"Right." Austin closed his eyes, attempting to retrace his steps and connect with the Rune of Pride. As he delved into his subconscious, all he could see was the same Rune of Pride, with no new runes beside it.
'Did I fail?' Austin wondered. Finding no signs of another rune going to emerge any soon, he exited his meditation and opened his eyes.
"How did it go?" Alysia asked, her expression serious.
"No luck," Austin replied, shaking his head.
Alysia fell into deep contemplation.
She had expected it. The moment the effect of her ability wore off, she didn't sense any energy transmitted to her, like how when Austin completed the Sin of Pride. That meant the experiment had likely failed.
However, although she had somehow expected a failure in the experiment, she couldn't help but feel disappointed.
'Sure enough, this won't be as easy as I thought. Does external help like my ability not count to be part of his action? Like, is the anger supposed to be natural and not artificial?' Alysia mused.
However, soon after, she slapped her forehead inwardly. 'Did I just feel disappointed even after Austin got his Rune of Pride in under two hours?'
Other Reincarnated Demons could already kneel in rejoicing if they completed one of the sins within a few years. And she, on the other hand, had the audacity to become disappointed after just one failure?
'If other Reincarnated Demons could hear my complaints, they must've wanted to curse me.' Alysia thought amusedly
"You said I was just going to be exhausted after the effect wears off. But how am I supposed to eat now that my arm broke like this?" Austin cried out aggrievedly. He hadn't anticipated the consequences behind Alysia's experiment to be this extreme.
'Sure enough, I shouldn't have trusted her to be the one conducting the experiment. I think the more mature Agatha would have been more suitable for this occasion.' Austin chided himself silently.
"Who told you to go punching walls when you got enraged? It's on you for going to such extremes," Alysia scolded.
"Is it really my doing? I only became angry, not dumb, right?" Austin voiced his suspicion.
"Do you think it's my doing, then?" Alysia held out her hands. "Look at them. They're so skinny. Do you think with these delicate hands, I could create such a hole?"
Austin wanted to roll his eyes at her attempt at self-ridicule, but he was too drained even for that. In the end, he didn't say anything and just expressed impatience. "Then, what should we do next? But before doing anything on your mind, can you heal my arm first? And my back too. You must have some healing spells, right?"
"How about I inject poison into your arm?" Alysia said smilingly.
"What?!"
"Hmph! Are you a fool? Why are you asking such an obvious question? I'm a demon; do you think I can cast healing spells?" Alysia snorted.
"Then who can cast healing spells?" Austin asked.
"A priest," Alysia answered curtly.
"Then bring me to one."
"Are you dumb? Do you want to die? Healing spells are part of Divine Power. Instead of getting your arm healed, your arm would likely end up in ashes. Do you want to become a famous one-armed demon?"
"Haha, of course, I was just joking. Then, get me something else that can bring my arm back to normal. And find something to relieve the pain in my back."
"Are you ordering me now?" Alysia narrowed her eyes.
"I wouldn't dare to. Aih, I've burned through so much of my stamina just talking with you. Please, help me..." Austin said with a hint of desperation. It wasn't an exaggeration this time. He could feel his exhaustion had hit its peak. With the added discomfort of his aching back and the pain from his broken arm, he felt like he could no longer endure it and just wanted to close his eyes immediately.
"You're a man, yet so noisy," Alysia chastised before the air around her suddenly turned solemn. In a profound tone, she chanted, "Weariness!"
Suddenly, Austin felt like he had returned to his family apartment. He found himself on the sofa, watching an episode of Tom and Jerry on the TV.
Seated beside him was Satella, who was still in middle school, dozing off as she leaned against his arm.
In the scorching summer, the fan running, generating a breeze, listening to his sister's steady breathing, he felt the accumulated fatigue from high school's PE finally catching up with him. Unable to force himself to stay awake any longer, he immediately followed his sister's lead and drifted off to sleep.