Belial felt the knife go through his stomach, through the throat. His body felt to be burning up, as if he were in a bath of flowing lava.
The torture went on, the methods kept changing, getting more brutal by the second, until everything went black and Belial was surrounded by darkness, confused.
{Conditions fulfilled, Awakening Unique Talent: The Oracle}
[permission to re-collect Divine talent *****]
{Permission denied}
[permission to obtain minimum sub talents]
{Permission granted}
[Confirmed:Acquiring sub talents.]
AppraisalAnalystJournalist
-Extra talent: yellow journalism (pending.)
*condition: Lie 20 times 0 / 20
Autonomous modeDanger sense
"So, where am I now?" he said aloud, his voice trembling with pain.
He stopped for a moment and rubbed his eyes, and he watched a text materialize in front of him, glowing in the otherworldly light. The words said:
[Answer: You are still in your subconscious. I was awoken just by the immediate danger of the stress in your subconscious.]
Bewildered and startled, he asked, "wha-Who are you?"
The text answered,
{Answer: I am- ].
"wait, the pain stopped!" There was realization from Belial, and relief mended him.
[Answer: I neutralized the poison and psychic attack that lay within you, but I'm apologize, I can't remove target the psychological effects. ]
The text replied with an assumption of digital warmth.
Belial's inner chaotic thoughts finally calmed down. "Ah, that sucks. I was hoping you'd have a 'quick fix' button for that too."
[…]
"So, what exactly are you?" Belial asked, his tone fairly dripping with excitement and just a dash of skepticism.
The words materialized before his eyes in response, shining in a bright blue color.
[I am your unique talent, 'The Oracle',
The ethereal glow of the text was pulsating with each word.
Belial's brow arched and, for a moment, his light tone gave way to genuine curiosity. The prospect of any kind of talent manifesting itself as a sentient presence was intriguing.
Unique talent, is it? That's a first, I read before that talents are rare,and a unique one is even rarer.
"So what, you're like a library or something?"
The Oracle was dazzling, as though considering exactly how to phrase its being.
[Answer: I can say that, in a way, I am an artificial intelligence designed to assist and guide one through the challenges one goes through. But unlike the ones you are used to, I stand for a goal much bigger than just algorithms and working out things. I am the collective effort of antique wisdom and energy, designed by the 'nexus' with the purpose to share insights and help awaken you back onto your path.]
Back to my path?
"Well if you know it all then, what did I get hit with?"
Belial asked, his tone curious with just a hint of mischief; he wondered about the nature of the illusionary ability that had him thus trapped.
Oracle, in an indigo blue, retorted,
[Answer: You were under the effect of a spell—an illusionary ability is cast—called the Illusionary Shot. When cast, it plays with the senses of the target and imprisons them in such a complex illusion. Oh, and let me add that I have no ability to dispel this.]
Belial's mischievous grin broadened, piquing with excitement. "Well, well," he chuckled, "It seems it has come to the point that I have to find Whatever is the source of this illusion, doesn't it?"
[Correct. The source of the illusion must be discovered and destroyed in order to break free.] oracle affirmed
Fueled by the newfound knowledge, Belial moved into the darkness with keen senses, every now and then having a reflex to the source of illusion. For every step he made, he felt it was a little bit closer to the uncloaking of the truth, and anticipation and eagerness to break free from this magic were rising.
As Belial had made his way through the gloom, he had finally come across a large chamber containing the massive blue orb. It seemed to pulse with power, beckoning he who entered to its presence, as a wave of excitement ran through Belial at this prescient moment: this was to be the crux, the apex of his quest - this was to be freedom.
Belial let out a flourish of his hand, summing up all his strength against the orb and sending waves of attack toward it. With each hit trying to break the orb and release him from the spell of illusion, the air was filled with crackling raw energy.
The orb quivered under the assault, cracks spider webbing across its surface. Yet, it refused to yield ground, stubbornly clinging in their wake. Belial's careless attitude started to shift, his will supplanting his nonchalant veneer. He couldn't allow this illusion to hold him one instant longer.
"A little more! Come on!" Belial shouted, scarcely able to keep his voice down for all his impatience.
He called upon every last ounce of strength and focused it into one single overwhelming attack. The orb itself shivered beneath the force; then it exploded into a thousand shimmering fragments, releasing Belial from his illusory prison.
Belial gasped, standing over the dissipating remnants of the orb, and his heart raced with triumph. The world around returned to clarity as the oppressive darkness gradually receded. He had overcome the illusion and won.
The glowing words of Oracle appeared before Belial, full of praise.
[Well done master. You have shattered the illusion.]
…
The atmosphere was tense even in the dim lighting of the room as J-02, the experienced operative, rushed in speech toward the small sphere cradled in his palm.
"Boss, I have a slight problem on my hands," he whispered, his voice laced with a hint of concern.
"It's gonna take a little while longer to dispose of the intruder."
At the sound of his voice, the tenor of the room changed, and changed to something dark and sinister. J-02's flesh crawled, and he turned around on instinct. To his amazement, his gaze fell on Belial, a huge form cloaked by some whirlwind of shadows.
Slightly off guard, J-02 mustered himself and answered with some curiosity and guardedness thrown in.
"Back on your feet again, I see,"
he remarked, his voice laced with a tinge of admiration.
"A normal person would go into a comatose state from the first shot of my ability."
Belial grinned, the dark energy around him seemingly to almost throb with evil.
"I saw J-02. I wanted to save my power before I met him, but I can't let things drag on for too long," he muttered to himself, his eyes looking toward J-02 with a flicker of determination.
J-02 was taken aback by the whispered revelation of Belial, making his curiosity find out more. "What is that?" "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll just have to give you a little stronger dose."
Without pausing for even that limited amount of time, a brilliant blue aura began to build around J-02's fingertips. The energy crackled and arched in resonance both from power and of a certain intention. He balled his hands into tight fists, his eyes glaring unflinchingly into Belial's.
"This time, I shall not back down," J-02 claimed in a firm and resolute voice.
With this spike in aura, he continued to rain down an unforgiving hail of blasts directed at Belial, aiming to just overpower him with their sheer force. But his attacks met unexpected resistance since they were actually deflected by an impenetrable dark dome of energy put up by Belial.
There was mixed frustration and surprise in J-02's face. He hadn't expected Belial's defensive maneuver to be so great. In that very moment, he knew how serious this was going to be. This fight was going to require each and every single drop of skill and force he possessed.
J-02 gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and shifted his stance. A buzz prospered in the room, full of excitement, as two worthy opponents were closely watched in a relentless face-off of wills. Standing amidst the ruins that were already falling through his powers, Belial was in a maelstrom of thought, planning the next move.
"Staying here won't allow me to finish him off quickly. I have to find a quicker way to take him down," he thought to himself, his eyes scouring the area for any advantage he could possibly use to his benefit.
And now that his thoughts seemed to have devoured him, a bright blue text appeared out of nowhere in front of his eyes.
Answer: the creature known as J-02 is a life form that consists of 65% silicone and 35% human. The quickest way to kill him would be to take out his core. Of course, caught off guard by the sudden message Belial payed attention as he digested the information. He nodded.
"No wonder his skin seemed too hard for a normal human"
J-02, his metallic body glittering, taunted Belial from within the impenetrable energy dome.
"So, it looks like you can't attack as long as you're in that dome," he went on, smiling as though that ensured the defensive side of it.
Belial smirked in reply. "That, for certain, is because this boy does not plan on continuing to play defense for much longer," he answered with determination in his voice. Slowly, the dome around J-02 started to vanish, revealing his form, which wasn't so strong either.
J-02 shot forward without any hesitation and opened fire on Belial, releasing a veritable hail of crimson bolts of energy upon his target. By pure instinct and honed reflexes, Belial nimbly and miraculously dodged and deflected each with form, grace, fluidity, and precision.
But there was no heartbeat in Belial's chest. He fought the formidable J-02 on his own account, driven by the most advanced robotic improvements at the moment. And the two swords crashed in midair; the whole background filled with the eruption of metal upon metal. Sparkles flew, and the burnt metal smell in the air had been suffocating.
J-02's mechanical eyes lit with an eerie blue light, frigid and without emotion, as if they stared deep into Belial's very soul.
With every falling stroke, the razor-sharp edge inched closer to absolute perfection, testifying to the effectiveness of the cybernetic infusion. Still, Belial refused to be cowed. He knew that he had strength of his own—an indomitable will and a burning determination to protect that which was dear to him.
But even as J-02 lunged forward, his blade aimed at Belial's heart, Belial swiped sidelong, parrying the attack in a fluid motion. The strength behind J-02's strike sent a jolt of power through Belial's arm, but he held his ground, not yielding to the blow. With a grunt of effort, he surged back, his own strength channeled into a counterstroke.
Blurred movements of fate and power created in the arena, where the two danced: agility and years of training still served Belial. He dodged the extremely fast strikes of J-02. Belial, not to be outdone, summoned a dark, ghostly sword that personified his hax. Smiling, he let loose and met J-02's power stroke for power stroke.
The resulting explosion from their combined forces burst with a shockwave which shattered across the entirety of the building, resonating through its very foundation. Smoke billowed and obscured the sight of the fighters. So fateful were the collisions that their after-effects had become the ominous heaviness of the air.
The dimly lit black and purple haze of Belial's aura swirled in with the dissipating smoke, setting a vague tone. And then the smoke began to clear anew, filling the air with the view of wreckage in its wake. J-02 was in a frozen state against the wall, his eyes opened wide with disbelief as they stared at the dark blade sticking out of his chest. Finally recognizing the fact that defeat was imminent, he mumbled to himself: "How." Belial stood there a few feet away, that iron gaze fixated on J-02's look of bemusement.
"You should never have underestimated me," he gloated in a voice choked with pity.
"Your core was your weakness, you gave up your humanity, and now it is your downfall." J-02 slumped against the wall, weakened but not defeated.
"You may have bested me this time, but remember this, intruder," he whispered, his voice strained. "I am not the only one who seeks to challenge you. There are others who thirst for power and vengeance. You cannot escape your destiny forever." Belial squinted, narrowing his eyes, and it only deepened into resolution.
"And so i will prepare for everything that they will throw into my way," he told himself, his voice ringing anew with resolution. "Whoever will cross my path, I cut them with my blade." With those words hanging in the air, Belial drew his dark sword out of J-02's chest, leaving him to slump to the floor.
As the intense battle had taken its toll on the surroundings, the hallway started to crumble, revealing the vulnerability of the building's structure. Dust filled the air, swirling in chaotic patterns as debris rained down around them. The destruction served as a testament to the immense power unleashed by Belial and J-02. 'Through the wreckage, a small orb rolled and Belial stopped it with his foot. Curious, he'd picked the thing up, immediately recognizing what it was: a communications device used by J-02 to stay in touch with his mysterious "boss". Gleams of determination shot through his eyes as Belial realized the possible insight it could hold.
Belial studied the device, understanding its intricacies, and made a discovery of what it was capable of. A daring plan began to take form in his head when an answer was now in his grasp. Clenching the communication orb in his hand with the same conviction, a lead weight drove him forward.
"I'm coming for you, Kingpin,"
Belial declared, resolute words dripping with a chilling resolve. His words held a double meaning; a threat and a promise.