Areyos Orionis' Perspective
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"Rey! Over here!" Yoko shouted from afar, waving her arm.
"Ah, there you are," I said as I joined them.
"Took you long enough. What did he want?" Kaiser asked me.
"He told me that during the exercises, I could either be counted among the Metaryons or the humans, and it would depend on my choice and Klaus'. If Klaus takes the Metaryon team before me during a group trial, I'll have no choice but to join the humans' team."
"Whoa, that sucks! Being stuck with the humans is pretty much a guaranteed loss," Kaiser remarked.
"They can be full of surprises. Or at the very least, useful," I replied.
"Yeah, sure," Kaiser said in a mocking tone.
"Here, I picked up your uniform," Yoko said, handing me the uniform she had just collected.
The Moore Academy uniform consisted of a white jacket with gold trim. The forearms were black, and the academy's golden emblem, which was an upright sword with two pairs of wings, was embroidered on the right shoulder. The boys wore black pants, and the girls wore black skirts.
"I like the uniform," I said as I admired it.
We were walking back through the large city of Baringer when Yoko suggested stopping by a shop because she was feeling a bit hungry.
"Good evening," she said, opening the shop door.
"Hey, is anyone here? Hello?" she called out.
"Don't yell so loud, Yoko," Kaiser said.
"Wait… do you hear that noise?" I asked, heading toward the next room.
"That's not enough, girl. How do you think we're going to take our girls out with so little cash?" yelled a guy who looked a bit older than me.
"I'm sorry, but I had to take care of my grandmother's medical bills. She's very ill, and she's all I have left in the world," the girl said, crying, her eyes shut as if bracing for a blow. She looked about the same age as Yoko, though with less prominent feminine features. She had light brown hair and violet eyes. Sadly, it looked like she had already been hit.
"We don't care about your grandma! We want our money!" he shouted, raising his fist, ready to hit her.
"If I were you, I'd lower that hand," I said.
"Huh? I didn't even hear him come in," one of the thug's friends whispered.
"Oh, and who are you? Her boyfriend or just some guy trying to play hero?" the thug mocked, but then he felt the temperature in the room drop. An intense cold filled his legs. Ice had formed on the floor, forcing the two other guys with him to jump onto the cashier's table, scared their legs would freeze too. I approached the one whose legs were frozen and grabbed him by the neck.
"I-I-I'm sorry! I'll give the money back! I'll give it all back! Please let me go! I'll never come back again!" he begged, handing me the wad of cash.
"Don't worry. You won't be able to come back anyway," I said as I tightened my grip around his neck.
"You know, I'm not a guy who plays the hero. I'm not even a hero. I'm just someone who hates scum like you and doesn't hesitate to punish them when necessary," I said, squeezing his neck even tighter. I pulled him further upward until there was a loud crack at his knees. A horizontal fracture had formed in the middle of his legs, which finally split apart under the upward force I applied from his neck. His two friends looked on in horror as they saw their buddy dangling in the air by his neck, his frozen legs shattered, leaving only the part below the knees stuck on the icy ground. I then gave his friends a cold stare, triggering the same suffocating pressure I had used in class. They collapsed, struggling to catch their breath, consumed by fear. I tossed their friend, who I was still holding, onto them.
"Get out and never come back here, or I won't be so nice next time. You know, legs aren't the only thing that can be torn off…" I said, still maintaining my icy glare.
They scrambled to lift their friend and what was left of his legs, fleeing the shop with indescribable fear on their faces after I removed the ice.
"Are you sure this won't cause us any trouble? What if he files a complaint?" Yoko asked, sounding a bit worried.
"Who would he complain to? What would he say? That he was assaulting a store clerk, and then some guy came in and ripped his legs off by pulling him up by the neck with one hand?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm and disinterest.
"Th-thank you so much. You didn't have to do that," the young girl said.
"Oh, it's nothing. What's your name?" Yoko asked, handing her the money the guys had stolen.
"Thank you... My name is Nia," she said, taking the money.
"Noted, Nia. We've had a long day, and some food wouldn't hurt," Yoko said.
"Take whatever you want. It's on the house," she said, forcing a smile.
"That's kind of you, Nia. I'll take some cupcakes," I said.
"Waffles for me," Kaiser added.
"And I'll have croissants, please," Yoko requested.
"Here you go. Enjoy," Nia said, carefully placing everything into three separate boxes.
"You're sweet. Your grandmother is lucky to have you. Here, this is for you," Kaiser said, handing her 10,000 kera, the international currency.
"10,000 kera?! That's more than enough for my grandmother's medical bills! I can't accept this!" the girl said, shocked.
Indeed, 10,000 kera was a huge amount just for medical expenses. To put it in perspective, a whole house in Baringer cost around 8,000 kera.
"I insist. Take it," Kaiser said with a charming smile.
"I don't know how to thank you," she said, tears welling in her eyes.
"A smile would be more than enough," Kaiser replied, wiping away one of her tears with his finger.
"You're all so kind," she said, wiping away her other tear, smiling.
"That's a communication crystal, right?" Yoko asked, pointing to a small crystal sphere.
"Yes, that's right," Nia confirmed.
"You can call us if you ever have any problems," Yoko said, pointing her ring's magic crystal at the sphere, creating a magical communication link between the two objects.
"Thank you so much. Come by every day. I'll always have something ready for you to eat," the store clerk said, her joy renewed.
"We'll take you up on that," I said as I turned to leave.
We left the shop. Yoko's multifunctional ring also served as a dimensional bag. It could store things and had the capacity of a very large bag.
"Where did you get your dimensional ring?" I asked.
"It belonged to my sister."
"It's super handy," I replied.
"I know," she said with a smile, her eyes closed.
We were talking about the long day we'd just had until we arrived at Yoko's house. We dropped her off, saying hello to Mr. and Mrs. Belserion on the way, and then continued our walk towards the manor.
We had a lot of questions for Barrios. So, after taking off our leather jackets and sneakers in our rooms, we went to rest in the living room. I was lying down with my legs crossed on the long three-seater couch, my head resting on a pillow near the armrest, and the cupcake box balanced on my stomach. Kaiser brought some grape juice and sat down on the two-seater couch, his feet up on the table.
"So, you've been a Devas all along? Dad knew but never bothered to tell you. Who knows why," said Kaiser before taking a bite of his waffle.
"Strange, right? And you had a special eye, but he never mentioned that either," I added.
"Yeah, not to mention chakra, which is an entire energy system we've never tapped into. Can you imagine the level we'd be at right now? He really owes us some answers," Kaiser said.
"And you'll get them," said a voice behind me. It was Barrios.
"I think it's time I reveal part of the story. The rest will come to you on its own in due time," he added. He then sat down in the third armchair, a single-seater, and poured himself some wine that was already in the middle of the table, right next to a gold box we hadn't really paid attention to at first. I sat up properly, getting focused for the conversation that was about to follow.
"Go ahead, ask me any questions you want. I'll decide if I'll answer or not, as not everything should be said right now."
"Okay. What's the Kengan?" Kaiser asked.
"The eye you almost killed your classmate with?" Barrios said teasingly.
"H-how do you know about that?" Kaiser asked, surprised.
"Gold came by earlier to ask me questions about you two. He gave me a report of today's events."
"Ahh, that's why he was late to the office. He was twenty minutes behind," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Twenty minutes? Can't imagine how bored you were," Kaiser said.
"I was with Erina. She kept me occupied," I said indifferently.
"What do you mean by 'occupied'?" he asked, giving me a suspicious look.
"Let's focus on the Kengan first, shall we?"
"We'll talk about it later," Kaiser said, crossing his arms.
"Seems like your first day was quite interesting," Barrios said with a slight smile.
"Don't mind him," I said, smiling awkwardly.
"Anyway, I'll explain what the Kengan is. First of all, the Kengan is what we call a Dōkō, an eye power. The Dōkō was invented by Thaleus Sendaris."
"The legend!? No wonder it's so powerful if it's a Dōkō," Kaiser exclaimed.
"Wow… you never told us what really happened to him," I said.
"It's not the right time yet. But I'll tell you everything if you pass the Prodigy Exam."
"When we pass the Prodigy Exam," Kaiser said, emphasizing the "when" instead of "if," as Barrios had implied a chance of failure.
"Alright, when you pass the Prodigy Exam," Barrios conceded with a proud smile.
"The Kengan allows you to materialize a blade's attack on a target just by looking at it in real-time. Like this, for example," he said, activating his Kengan while looking at the waffle Kaiser had just picked up. A bright golden line flashed horizontally through his glowing red eye, and the waffle was sliced in half after a light passed across it horizontally.
"Whoa! That's OP! Just by looking at it," Kaiser said, amazed.
"You can bet there's a catch," Barrios replied.
"Of course," Kaiser answered.
"Can you remind me what determines the effectiveness of a technique?" Barrios asked.
"The energy used and the nature of the technique," Kaiser answered.
"Exactly. So, what do you think the nature of this technique is?"
"Well, since it's not elemental, it must be a psychic technique," I responded.
"Correct. In fact, psychic techniques were Thaleus' favorites," Barrios said, seemingly lost in nostalgia as he gently swirled the wine in his glass.
"And I'm guessing the energy used to power this technique is chakra?" I deduced.
"That's right," Barrios confirmed, looking at me.
"But that still doesn't explain how to survive this technique," Kaiser said, confused.
"I'm getting to that. Psychic techniques draw their power from a particular stat, which is—"
"The psyche, of course!" I interrupted suddenly.
"Ah, right," Kaiser said.
"Looks like you're paying attention in class," Barrios said.
"We learned today that the psyche serves as both an energy reserve for psychic and spiritual techniques and as a natural defense against opposing psychic techniques," I explained.
"You little genius," Kaiser said, tossing one of the couch cushions at me.
"That's correct. Given your intelligence, you should have already understood how to stop the Kengan's slashing gaze," Barrios said with a proud smile.
"You just need the psychic defense in the area targeted by the gaze to be stronger than the psychic energy used to slash," Kaiser stated.
"Exactly," Barrios said, showing us his forearm.
"I want you to try slashing my arm," Barrios asked.
"What?! Are you sure?" we both asked at the same time.
"Relax and focus. Once you feel the chakra coursing through your eyes, it means your Kengan is activated. You just have to look at where you want to slash and decide how you want to cut," he said, resting his cheek on his left hand while showing us his right forearm, with his hand pointing upward.
"Don't come crying about the pain afterward; you asked for this," Kaiser said, closing his eyes. He opened them, and a red glow appeared in his eyes. His irises turned red with a golden line of light encircling the pupil—it was indeed the Kengan, the eye that had allowed him to slash Corvus' wing.
"Kengan!!" he said firmly, and a golden line slashed diagonally across his iris. At that moment, a beam of light crossed the surface of Barrios' arm diagonally too.
"Huh?!… Uh… nothing happened," I said, examining the arm.
"Your psychic defense, I assume," Kaiser said, looking Barrios in the eye.
"Exactly. It's way too high for you to do any damage, even with all your psyche."
Indeed, Kaiser had put almost all his usable psyche into that attack, as any more and he might've passed out.
"But you didn't focus your psyche on your arm," Kaiser noted.
" Why do you say that?" I asked, confused.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure how, but… I can see his energy systems and even his aura," Kaiser said.
"What!!? Wait, are you serious??" I exclaimed.
"I'm serious. I can see his psychic aura concentrated on his left fist. He barely left anything on his right arm," he said, frustrated.
"I wasn't going to give you the honor of making me use 2% of my power, son, ha ha ha," Barrios said mockingly.
"Grrr, whatever. I understand how it works now," Kaiser said with the same exasperated tone.
"The Kengan is probably vast; I haven't had time to explore all of it either. Thaleus' sacrifice marked the end of the war against the demons, so he never had the chance to explain all the features he embedded in eye. I only know that the technique you just used is called Teiken, not Kengan, as you were shouting."
"Wait, what?" Kaiser asked.
"Well, when Thaleus created the pupils, he ensured that all the Sendaris, Mendoris, and Kaltaris lineages would have them. But he didn't have time to explain how they worked before he had to go intercept enemy reinforcements. Meanwhile, I had to return to Baringer, which was also under attack. Thanks to this pupil, I was able to eliminate our invaders before they even knew what hit them. Maybe you'll discover all the abilities of this pupil because one thing's for sure: Thaleus never did things halfway… He was a true genius, the kind you only see once every thousand years," he said, looking at the picture on the wall.
"Three bloodlines given an invaluable power. No wonder the world has been at peace for so long," I said.
"Haha, that might be true. But you know what they say: we don't make war, but we prepare for it," Barrios said, rubbing his cheek with his finger.
"So, what are the other Dōkō like?" I asked.
"Well, I have no idea; you'll likely discover that for yourselves."
"Something's bothering me. The Dōkō use chakra as an energy system, but there's a certain Klaus Varray who also uses chakra. How is that possible if he's not part of the three bloodlines that received the Dōkō?" Kaiser asked.
"Gold informed me about this. The explanation lies in the fact that he's a Devas. Before you ask what a Devas is, they're humans with potential beyond that of ordinary mortals, capable of mastering any energy system and using multiple chi natures simultaneously. Unlike humans, who can have many natures but use only one at a time, Devas can wield several. Klaus likely assimilated chakra from someone. Devas are often extremely powerful, especially due to their ability to use what's called the fusion gift," Barrios explained.
"The fusion gift? How does it work?" I asked.
"Well, watch," he said, looking at the waffle Kaiser was about to take. He created a yellow spark between his thumb and middle finger and snapped. The spark struck the waffle, petrifying it instantly.
"Whoa! That's incredible!" we exclaimed in unison, amazed.
"I'll teach you all you need to know about ninjutsu and the fusion gift over the weekend," Barrios said, ignoring Kaiser's bewilderment as to why his waffles were always targeted.
"I have one last question. Why didn't you ever tell me that my last name is Orionis?" I asked.
"Your mother has enemies, enemies with highly advanced psychic abilities that could have read your thoughts and discovered that you are an Orionis if you had this name in mind."
"I understand," I said calmly, sighing.
"Anyway, I have something for you," he said, pushing a golden box toward us.
"I haven't given you anything for the start of the year yet, so here you go..."
We opened the small, octagonal golden box. Inside were two rings, each with a crystal at the center. One was silver with a blue crystal, and the other was gold with a red crystal.
"Whoa, they're so beautiful! Thank you so much, you're the best!" we said in unison.
"I'll take the gold one," Kaiser said, grabbing it quickly.
"I think the silver one is better; I'll take it," I said.
"These are multifunctional rings. You can communicate with them, take pictures or videos, record sounds, and exchange them with each other. You can also store things inside. Don't worry; the space is vast. The gold one belonged to me when I was still an adventurer. The silver one belonged to Thaleus. I forged them both," Barrios said.
"Thaleus'? That's a good sign. I'll do everything I can to surpass him," I said enthusiastically.
"You'd better keep training, father, because I'll surpass you sooner than you think," Kaiser added.
"I'm proud of you both," Barrios said with a proud smile.
"Hey, there's a weapon in the ring," Kaiser said, activating his ring. The crystal glowed, and a golden axe with a dragon's claw holding a red orb at the end materialized.
"Wow! This axe is stunning!" Kaiser said, impressed by its design.
"That's the axe I used during my adventures. I thought I'd lost it," Barrios said, surprised.
"Maybe there's something interesting in yours too, Areyos," Barrios said to me.
Indeed, there were around 80,000 kera, a journal, a sheathed saber, a sword, and eight small silver blades, similar to ninja kunai but slimmer.
"So we have a journal, a sword, a saber, and eight blades with quite an interesting design," I said.
"The Blades of Chaos," Barrios said, his eyes widening.
"What are those?" I asked.
"They were Thaleus' second-favorite weapon. Enemies would freak out at the sight of them. Athlana once asked him to get rid of them because he was too violent with them," Barrios explained.
"Too violent? How did he use them?" Kaiser asked.
"Thaleus' fighting style went beyond what could be taught. No one can teach you how to fight like him. He was unpredictable. While I mastered martial arts to perfection, he mastered fighting to perfection without ever repeating the same move against an opponent. His combos were out of the ordinary, making him the best in combat. He had achieved what he called 'the warrior's freedom,'" Barrios explained, reminiscing.
"No matter his style, I'll fight my own way with these," I said, gazing at the Blades of Chaos.
"And the sword?" I asked.
"He bought it at a high price at an auction on the black market because he thought it looked cool, as he put it," Barrios replied.
"The black market? That's not very legal," Kaiser said indifferently.
"Haha, you're right, but Thaleus wasn't what you'd call a law-abiding citizen. He walked by his own rules," Barrios laughed as well.
"I see. And the saber?" I asked.
"You won't be able to unsheathe it. It was Thaleus' main weapon. This blade traumatized hundreds of millions of opponents. But only those with a very high psychic level or its creator could unsheathe it. This saber is what created the Great Ravine to the east of the kingdom," he said, extending his hand. I handed him the saber. He unsheathed it and then gave it to me. It was a long saber with a black blade that had a bluish sheen and was cold to the touch.
"Did you unsheathe it because your psyche is high enough or because you're the creator of the weapon?" I asked, examining the blade.
"Because I'm the creator. As far as I know, only one other person has a psyche high enough to unsheathe this blade. Athlana Orionis…your mother," Barrios said seriously.
"Wow, no wonder your psyche is so strong, Rey, with a mother like that," Kaiser said, tossing another pillow at me.
"Haha, yes, she has the highest psyche I know of."
"I'll keep the saber. One day, I'll be able to unsheathe it," I said, placing it back in its sheath.
"These weapons contain special powers. I'll restrict them for now; otherwise, you'll attract too much attention from bounty hunters or worse, dangers you can't yet face. The abilities will awaken gradually as you grow stronger, until you reach the Awakening," Barrios said, manifesting a golden aura on the weapons he had created, sealing their powers.
"The Awakening? What's that?" I asked.
"Not today; you've learned enough for now. I'll tell you everything once you pass the Prodigy Exam," he said, standing up.
"Goodnight, my sons. I have a mission early tomorrow. I'll be back by the weekend."
"Goodnight, father," we said, before heading to bed ourselves.
To be continued…