The entire area around them was in blazes, fire littered everywhere and smoke covered the sky. Despite the forest being on fire, it wasn't burning the trees nor was the fire spreading, she won't get in trouble for causing a forest fire.
Since Hana is also an Elementalist she has complete control over her flames, they were like an extension of her own will.
She made a fiery Mana slash with her rapier, it went straight to Avoure leaving behind a trail of smoke
Seeing this Avoure smirked then he disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in another spot. "Aren't you tired my dear? Stop this nonsense, submit to me."
Hana replied by pointing her rapier at him. "Blazing Gallant!" Fire formed around the tip then it shot out towards Avoure, it formed into a flaming lance. It's flaming being brighter than the rest, it was more blue colored than regular flames, just glance tells you this thing is deadly.
Blazing Gallant was a technique she has created, where she concentrates all of her flames; condensing into a singular flaming lance.
Avoure teleported. The trees behind him were obliterated from the sheer force of Blazing Gallant. "Dammit!" Hana cursed underneath her breath.
"Please, I'm getting rather tired of this game already," Avoure mockingly yawned, like the entire situation was just one big game to him. She hated that.
"I'd rather die than to submit to you," Hana spread her flames to him, but like every single damn time he teleported. She looked around behind to catch him, yet he wasn't there. She looked around expecting him to appear right next to her. She had her guard up ready to attack.
"Fine then, looks like it's my time to get a little . . . "
Avoure appeared right behind her.
"-!"
"Physical."
Avoure grabbed Hana's face and threw her across the area; she went through several trees before landing on the ground–thankfully just in time she used Mana Reinforcement to strengthen her entire body so it wasn't too bad, still she had felt the pain of her body bursting through the hard trunk of the trees, the wooden stabbing in her delicate skin, and splitters digging deep in her flesh. Her clothes were now ruined thanks to him. "That bastard ruined my clothes . . . "
"How disgraceful my dear, such unbefitting of a noble to look so hideous."
"How ironic coming from you," Hana bit back.
"Tell me Hana, do you know how long our squabble is?"
Narrowing her eyes Hana thinks for a moment before answering, "three minutes why? Too stupid to know."
"In that amount of time your teammates, and especially that filthy commoner you care about are dying."
"What!"
"One of my teammates has an ability to inject a deadly poison, a poison that has a hundreds percent lethality. There isn't any cure and the poison acts fast; right now those dirtbags are probably screaming out in pain, wondering why you aren't there to save them."
Han didn't bother with Avoure, she immediately rushed to where her team was–before she could do anything Avoure reappeared and kicked her so hard, sending her to another tree. Her back bash against the tree, it felt like her back was to explode into pieces. She bit her lips to stop any screams, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her suffer.
"But there is one cure, my teammates himself can choose someone to have the poison disappear. I'll give you a deal, submit to me and make a Sacred Vow with me you'll forever serve me only and in turn I'll order my teammates to spare those dirtbags," Avoure smirked as victory was within his grasp.
Hana's eyes widened, a Sacred Vow is a Mana technique similar to Mana Reinforcement where anyone with an Arcana can learn this technique. This allows a person to make a contract with either himself or with other people, to impose a certain condition or rule they must adhere to and if they break the Sacred Vow.
Two things will happen if someone breaks the Sacred Vow, they'll get a punishment that the one who created the Sacred Vow made – the Punishment must be equal or greater than the rule, or if the person who made the Sacred Vow in the first place didn't make a punishment; the one who broke the Sacred Vow their Arcana will disappear resulting in to be a Manaless human.
"How do I know you're not lying," But somewhere deep inside of her; she knows he isn't bluffing, but still she hopes for the opposite.
"It's also fine you won't believe me, we can continue our meaningless fight."
She thinks for a moment, is she really going to give up her freedom for strangers? She only met Jackson for two days and then Endian for a few hours. By all accounts she should have rejected the offer, it was the common sense thing to do, her life was more important, she was a noble, while they were simply commoners. She was from the Von Yue family, second only to the royal family and the Supreme Heavenly Council, while they were people from families she didn't recognize and in all likelihood weren't that important, they were insignificant in the grand scheme of things. It's like saying do you sacrifice your human right for a couple of rats . . . . is she able to sacrifice Maverick, the only few person who saw her as a regular human being, who didn't try to suck up her, who defended her despite the odds of pissing off another noble, maybe the only person she felt a friendship with.
"Fine, I'll accept your deal, I'll be your wife," She felt like vomiting just saying those words.
"excellen-"
"But! Also while saving them you'll provide Jackson Maverick thirty million Silver, servants, and a guarantee of having a good life, if you agree I'll agree," glaring at Avoure, she won't take the deal if he refuses.
"I truly don't understand why you care for that dirtbag, that's certainly a high price to pay, but fine I accept the terms."
Hana walked over to Avoure, trying to calm her nerves, lingering feelings of regret draped over her. Not at savings Jackson, but this whole entire situation. It isn't fair, she hates it in her very core.
She spotted something in the distance, a black and white blur going fast at them. It was a giant panda and Ayjin was riding it.
"Grab on!" She had her hand out. Hana grabs Ayjin's hand and lifts her up. "That's some good arms." Hana muttered underneath her breath, quite surprised. You wouldn't expect Ayjin to have that kind of strength just looking at her figure. Hana looked back to see Avoure's smirking figure quickly shrinking in the distance, this panda was way faster than she expected.
"Maverick . . . " Hana saw Jackson laying on the panda, seeing the state he's in. His entire skin was drained of his colors, a dark red bulging fleshy lump on his hand, it was covered in red and blue veins looking like it was about to pop at any moment, the disgusting lump was semi transparent so she could see some kind of liquid splashing around in there. If it weren't for the fact Jackson was slowly breathing, she would have assumed he had died.
"W-what happened to him?"
"O-one of those guys did it, a-answer me honestly who they were, why are they attacking us!"
"It's well, it's my fault Maverick is entangled with this mess. Their leader is a noble named Avoure Vin Mae. He's my 'fiancè'."
"So why is he targeting Maverick?"
"Well in his own words, he wants to cut any bad influence on me. In other words he wants to control me, keeping me all to himself."
"So you were right, Jackson's is in danger because of your nobles idiocy, typical nobles," Ayjin muttered that last part underneath her breath.
Hana wanted to refute Ayjin's claims, try to argue with her, but in this instance it's her fault that Jackson was like this, it hurts to admit it, but she was in the wrong. If only Jackson didn't meet her then he would be fine. Tightly gripping her black skirt Hana whispered to Maverick. "I'm sorry . . . "
__________________________________
[PLAYER! PLAYER QUICKEN!]
Everything hurts . . . My entire body, it felt like thousands of tiny sharp needles flowing through my blood, stabbing my flesh, veins, and arteries. I can't even scream as I can't move my mouth to do so, my entire body frozen in place. In a pitch black place . . . Am I dead?
[PLAYER QUICKEN! DON'T LET THE FANGS OF DEATH CLAIM YOU! FIGHT BACK!]
That voice, why does that voice sound so familiar? It was soothing in some way.
[THEE SHALL NOT DIE YET! I HAVEN'T HAD MY WISH FULFILLED!]
. . . . A wish? What wish? . . . It's so familiar, I'm close to remembering it. It's in my grasp . . .
[QUICKEN!]
I . . . I remember . . . Ayjin . . The System . . . Hana . . I remember now.
I'm like this because I was poisoned by one of Avoure's teammates . . . Crap! It still hurts!
Using all my strength I open my eyes. Right in front of me was the System's screen floating – the words WAKE UP was displayed on it. It's blue light illuminating the pitch black area a little bit. Though the light the screen provided wasn't that much, it was enough to see the outlines of rocks, the very humid air, the distant sounds of water drops echoing through here, and I can't see the sky. It's clear I was in some cave.
"What happened? Did I pass out?"
[AFFIRMATIVE, AFTER THINE CONSCIOUS FADED AWAY, THINE COMPANIONS PUT THOU HERE TO KEEP THEE SAFE, THEY ART KILLINGS DEMONS TO GET SUMMON BACK]
Ok I get it, since we're deep inside the forest It'll probably be hard to call for help, and that bastard Avoure and his crew are probably hunting us right now. The best bet is to finish the exam and return to the academy safely.
I waited at the cave for a couple of minutes, not doing much because This can't move my body, well it isn't exactly frozen; more like it's several times harder to move my body parts. Like my body parts weigh more than normal . . . Crap it still feels painful, the sensation of needles piercing my arteries and veins. In the corner of my vision I can see the giant fleshy lump; the source of my suffering. It had somehow grown even more big and disgusting – its size similar to half a basketball. It had now a dark brown color, way more darker than my skin. Red and blue veins are visible and large, at least the same size as my pinky finger. The lump was semi-transparent so I could see the liquid in there.
[THOU TIS LUCKY TO BE ALIVE]
"What do you mean?"
[IF IT WE'RE NOT FOR I INFLUENCE, THEE WOULD HAVE SUCCUMBED TO THE JAWS OF DARKNESS]
"How did you save me?" I am curious to how exactly the System saved me.
[IN ORDER FOR FOR THINE BODY TO PROPERLY ADAPT TO MY POWER I HAD CHANGES THY BODY TO FIT MY POWER]
"Wait, so you changed my body! I don't feel different." I looked at both hands. I don't feel anything strange or anything.
[TIS THE REASON I BELIEVE THOU IS ALIVE]
"So if you can do that, does that mean you can heal me?"
[UNFORTUNATELY NO, UNLESS THOU FANCY TO BECOME A TRULY HIDEOUS BEAST]
"Well that sucks . . . Guess I have to wait here then."
A few minutes passed, and I simply laid there waiting. The only thing that entertained me was the echoes of the water dripping, my mind wandering off. Pondering different things to stave off the boredom. Nothing else to do except to check the inventory screen.
Summoning it and looking over the entire thing, checking my stats and skills.
__________________________________
[Name: Jackson Maverick]
Level: 29
Title: Incel|Loser
[STATS]
Points: 0
Strength: 48
Speed: 46
Defense: 29
Mana: 14
Calamity Point : 100
[SKILLS]
---
---
---
-Critical Strike-
-Mana Reinforcement-
[QUEST]
[SHOP]
________________________________
It was strange to see how seemingly strong I become, yet I'm a burden for others. It was practically useless – these numbers meant nothing when my foes are ten times stronger than mine.
I couldn't help, but sigh. Cursing my own weakness. If I hadn't this weakness I could contribute something to the team, helping them out there and protecting them. Yet I'm here stuck in this cave – nothing but a burden . . . I hate it.
It was always like this, even back in my world. The many times I was picked on, getting bullied and beaten up by the world. I was a weak boy, I wasn't gifted at anything except for being weak. Even back then I always kept relying on someone to defend me: my older adopted Silvia, she was my guardian, a bright shining light in absolute darkness, I'd described her as the perfect heroine, the word protector reincarnated. She's always there trying to defend me in any way she could.
Yet it was because of that I hated myself, I was supposed to be a man, I was the one who should be protecting my loved ones, and supporting them. But it seems like fate had a different plan for me, stuck. Cursed with this weakness of mine . . . I hate it . . . I hate it . . . I hate it!
[Calamity Point: 99]
[Calamity Point: 98]
[Calamity Point: 97]
[Calamity Point: 96]
[Calamity point: 95]
After being transported into this world there was a small part inside, a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe I can be useful for once, maybe I can protect my loved ones – every day that hope grew as my knowledge of this world and the System grew. But arriving at this academy shattered that delusional hope of strength. Seemingly every conflict I have someone was always there to help me. It was as if nothing had changed, I was still useless.
I was walking down a road of stagnation, maybe forever doomed to walk the path of a loser. I don't want that fate! I want to be someone to stand on their own, to be just like Silvia a beacon of hope to others. Damn it!
A sword getting unsheathed.
"What was that?"
[WHAT TIS?]
Something changed for a split second, or was it my imagination . . . No, something definitely did happen, but now it was normal again.
[THY FEEL THE PRESENCE OF ENEMIES?]
"No it's not, I think something changed inside of me." I think it was my weight . . . Yeah that's what changed I'm sure of it, my weight felt like a tiny bit lighter, small, but enough of a change I noticed it. The labels the question what caused the change.
All I did was get angry, but I doubt that's the cause. Maybe it was my Mental Trigger, I subconsciously triggered it from my anger. "I think I triggered something."
[WHAT DOTH THEE MEAN BY THAT?]
"When I accidentally activate my Metal Trigger just a split second and my body feels lighter."
[TIS QUITE STRANGE, PERHAPS MANA MIGHT BE AT PLAY]
"You might be right."
I activated my Mental Trigger again. Small bits of Mana course through my body – there it is again! I feel it! Body was lighter than before and the pain of those needles piercing my flesh was slowly subsiding. But it wasn't like that pain was fully gone and it was still quite hard to move even an arm. Still this was something to make a note off.
"Hey System, have any ideas what's happening?"
[I MAY HAVE A GUESS TO THIS PHENOMENON. IT MAY BE BECAUSE THINE MANA IN THINE BLOOD IS SUBSIDING THE VENOM EFFECTS]
Interesting so the Mana is lessening the venom effect. I wonder if it's because that's the nature of Mana or something else? I asked the System that.
[IT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE THE MANA IN THINE BODY RECOGNIZES THE VENOM AS NOT APART OF THE BODY AND DESTROYS IT]
"Well if that's the case then why was Ayjin and me heavily affected by the venom then?"
[THE AMOUNT OF VENOM BEING DESTROYED WAS SO LITTLE IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE]
"Well what about if Increased the amount of Mana in me using Mana Reinforcement?"
[MAYBE THAT COULD WORK, TRY IT]
I used Mana Reinforcement, I saw the lines signifying it appears on my arm – again! I felt my body getting lighter, and the sensation of needles piercing my flesh slowly getting lessen. Now it was still pretty painful, but it's because of that agony I recognize it getting lessened.
"It's working, but not enough," I keep pouring Mana into my arms, sure the venom's effects were getting lessened, but it wasn't enough; I still can't move nor the stabbing sensation disappeared.
"It isn't working, what should I do?"
[MAYBE THOU SHOULD CHANGES THE SHAPE OF THINE MANA TO EFFECTIVELY DESTROY THE TOXINS]
"it's possible to change the shape of Mana?! How the hell does that work?"
[AFFIRMATIVE, MANA IS LIKE CLAY. ABLE TO MEND AND REDEFINED ITS SHAPE, THAT'S THE FUNDAMENTAL CORE OF ARCANA, USING MANA TO SHAPE THE WORLD AROUND YOU]
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"
[JUST LIKE THINE MENTAL TRIGGER, IN ORDER TO CHANGE YOUR THE SHAPE OF YOUR MANA THY MUST CONCENTRATE, IMAGINE THE SHAPE OF YOUR MANA]
"Ok . . . What kind of shape do I make?"
[A DIAMOND WILL SUFFICE AND DOTH IT IN THE ARM THAT'S AFFECTED]
"Ok then . . . "
I concentrated in my body, I imagined a bucket of water slowly filling up a diamond-shaped mold. Making sure not to pour too fast and overflow, it took roughly about two minutes. I think it's finished then I imagined a sword being unsheathed.
My arm was in pure agony!
I scream in pain, looking to see giant crystals bursting through my arms – blood splattered all over me. "What the hell!"
[RELEASE THINE MANA QUICK!]
I did what the System told me, as fast as they suddenly appeared, it disappeared in an instant. But the pain was still there, it hurt more than the poison. I couldn't help, but scream in pain, tightly clutching my arm."It hurts . . . So much . . . "
[TRY IT AGAIN, THIS TIME DO IT SLOWLY AND WITH LITTLE MANA, CONCENTRATE IN MAKING THINE MANA SMALLER, IMAGINED IT AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME SMALLER]
I did what the System told me, imagining the shape again, the shape of a diamond. But this time much smaller, smaller than an ant, more tiny than that. About the same size as a red blood cell.
I used Mana Reinforcement again, maybe this time it won't – agony filled an entire arm, I writhe in pain all the while screaming from the feeling of the Mana slicing through the flesh, it was like ants crawling inside my veins, constantly biting and tearing off it.
Amidst this agony I felt something, I was getting lighter; my skin was getting its colors back; the pain I was feeling earlier, that one the venom caused was dissipating, nothing more but a phantom pain. The giant flesh lump is getting smaller and smaller.
[THOU HAST THE STRENGTH, FIGHT ON! DON'T GIVE IN]
Seeing those words by the System, it lit a fire to keep pushing. I struggle against the pain, feeling it consuming my entire body. I cried out in pain.
That disgusting flesh lump was finally gone, going back into my arm.
[RELEASE THINE MANA!]
I released my Mana – the pain was gone, the agony disappeared. "Thank god it's gone . . . " I laid there on the cold hard floor of the cave just appreciating to not feel the pain.
[THANK ME NOT SOME FRAUD]
"Yeah, thank you too."
I slowly got up, using the walls as support because of the venom it was hard to move my legs. So I had to have some support for it getting back up. Pushing myself from the wall, steadily I gain some semblance of balance. "Hey System, do you know when the other will be back?"
[LIKELY A FEW HOURS LATER]
I pulled up my quest screen, there were several quests on it, but I looked for the one that's the shortest to complete; I picked a monster slaying quest. "I'll level up a bit before those two come back."
Another screen appears, the one showing where the quest is. Thankfully it wasn't far so about a short distance – unlike last time where it was across the city.
[I HAVE SOMETHING TO INQUIRE ABOUT]
"Sure what is it?"
[WHY DIDN'T THOU SIMPLE BOUGHT POTIONS FROM THE SHOP?]
"Well It'll be a hassle and quite expensive to keep buying potions in the middle of fighting, also I'll use the potions to save my allies."
[I SEE . . . ]
[ALSO I WANNA SAY THANK THOU]
"For what?"
[THOU HAST BEEN THE FIRST PERSON TO THANK ME FOR A VERY LONG TIME]
"No problem," I walked to where the quest is.
________________________________
Hana set the giant floating skull ablaze, though she doubts it'll do any meaningful damage to it.
"Shadow Fang attacked!" From her side the shadow wolf jumps and begins to ravage the giant skull, Digging its fangs deep in the demon's bones.
The giant skull tried to Shake to wolf off, but the black beast was tightly gripping it like its life depended on it.
"I summon Driller!" Ayjin shouted, her shadow expand and outburst a giant worm like creature, it had a segmented shell covering its body similar to a centipede, on the tip of its head were four protruding iron blades and in the middle of its face was a giant maw with rows of spiked teeth.
The worm creature digs deep underground and comes back out underneath the Demon, its four blades rotating at high speed. It pierces the Demon, it screams in pain as the worm digs through it until it finally died falling to the ground. Both of Ayjin's summons dissolved back in Ayjin's shadow.
"That's our nineteenth Demon so far," She looks at Hana, glaring at her. "Typically of a noble to be useless."
Hana wanted so badly to argue with her, but how can she argue something when it's true, she truly is useless here.
"Come on." Ayjin said, both girls wander off to find their next Demon to kill.
Amidst the bushes next to them something lurks, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
__________________________________
[Name: Jackson Maverick]
Level: 29
Title: Incel|Loser
[STATS]
Points: 0
Strength: 48
Speed: 46
Defense: 29
Mana: 14
Calamity Point : 100
[SKILLS]
---
---
---
-Critical Strike-
-Mana Reinforcement-
[QUEST]
[SHOP]
________________________________