A couple of hours passed as Neraxis was hard at work, dismantling the tree and throwing its pieces behind the target dummies.
He managed to build a little shed to house all the trash currently present in the backyard, of course, with the help of Evangeline.
She was rather persistent about him calling her that. She also got mad when he referred to her as a sword.
It was a miracle that she managed to calm down. It took a solid 20 minutes until she ran out of energy and decided to drink some of his blood. The amount was not too great either—something that would restore itself within hours.
But during that time, he was able to talk to her a little—in a sense, get to know her.
At the same time, he wanted to find out what happened to his system and why it had turned red, to which she simply responded with:
[Oh, I like the color red. Blue is no good.]
Like all the things Evangeline had said to date, they never failed to make him speechless.
However, she wasn't that bad—just a bit too energetic.
[Don't place that there. Look, give me.]
As Evangeline said that, she stabbed a log through the middle, flew it upwards, and dropped it onto the rest of the logs.
But, to no one's surprise, due to the sudden shift in weight, the entire structure collapsed, followed by the shed, rendering his efforts to build it worthless.
On second thought, she is a bit clumsy too... Neraxis let out a sigh and walked over to the shed, beginning to fix it all over again.
In just a few minutes of tinkering, it was finished. The yard looked great as per usual, and now they even had a little shed to store wood.
Evangeline had swept up the dust earlier, so except for a few bruises, everything else was the same. He decided to tell his parents that the dummies were defective. No way would they believe someone like him could destroy them.
Of course, if they didn't ask, he wouldn't bring it up. It was a terrible excuse, and he knew it.
Now that everything was finished and he'd gotten his daily workout in, it was time to check his status screen, which, like before, was completely red.
+-----+
Status, made pretty by Evangeline.
Name: Neraxis Valen
Stigmata: [Fragment of Calamity {???}]
Age: 16
--Stats:
Rank: G -> G+
Strength: G- -> G
Agility: G -> G+
Stamina: G -> G+
Intelligence: F- -> F
Mana capacity: G+ -> F-
--Secondary Stats:
Luck: G -> G-
Charm: D- -> C-
--Skills:
[Eve of Ruin {G}] *
[Swordsmanship {G}]
+-----+
His stats had increased drastically, and his main skill had become highlighted with a star. However, the most eye-catching part was the very top of the status and the fact that another option appeared—the stigmata.
Since he was still viewing the status screen, the tattoo-like sword on his wrist began glowing a clear red.
It didn't take a genius to realize it was the so-called stigmata.
However, Neraxis was still unsure of what it did. It seemed like a skill, but at the same time, not quite it.
Therefore, he decided to speak up. Evangeline had her moment of fun; now it was time for answers.
"I think it's time we have a little chat, don't you think? Tell me what a stigmata is and the other things you promised. Oh, and also, remove that... thing from the top of my status," he said, as the 'made pretty by Evangeline' text was throwing him off.
[Awh... do you really hate it? Fine. I will get rid of that,] she said, and immediately, the text returned to normal.
Immediately after that, the sword floated down onto Neraxis's lap and calmed down. After a moment of silence, Evangeline once again spoke up, her usual playfulness gone.
[The stigmata is me. I am a part of you now, and I can lend you my powers. For now, I take the form of a sword as most of my strength has dissipated. However, over time, it will return.] She paused before continuing,
[As you get stronger, so do I. But besides that... I don't really know how I ended up here. The last couple of days are blank. All I can remember is falling from the sky and eventually landing in your yard.]
"...When exactly did you fall into my yard?" Neraxis questioned as an ominous feeling began welling up inside his chest.
[Hmm? Yesterday, I believe. That was the first time I sensed your mana while you were inside your room. However, you soon left. I even thought I had imagined it until you finally came back and picked me up.]
Did she arrive at the same time I came back? There's no way. He thought, furrowing his brows. Was it possible that the two of them were somehow connected?
However, before he could ask any more questions, the sword suddenly floated out of his lap, did a few circles in the sky, and finally disappeared into thin air.
With that, she left him with a few words: [If you need something, just call out my name in your mind. You don't have to always talk out loud; helps with maintaining secrecy, you know?]
The moment she finished her sentence, he could see the red energy flowing straight into the stigmata on his wrist, and once again, the silence resumed.
"You are an odd one..." Neraxis exclaimed and got up. It was time to head back into his home to rest for a moment before he would go back to train again.
His goal was reaching F- in at least one physical stat. It required much more effort than jumping through G rank, as he did that pretty effortlessly.
Just as he turned around and prepared to head back inside, he noticed Elara standing by the side, glaring at him before stating, "You look like crap. You do know we own a shower, right?"
Her sarcastic remark was shrugged off as Neraxis went past her and into the house. He was unsure when she'd come back, but it couldn't have been long ago, or he'd be getting bombarded with questions about the strange sword by now.
But since everything seemed normal, he went up to take a quick shower and change clothes before heading back downstairs for some food.
However, as he was enjoying his little break, Elara stormed back into the room with an expression filled with horror, as though she had seen a ghost.
Neraxis immediately got on guard and glanced at the stigmata. Evangeline, you can use mana, right? Are there any intruders around?
[Yes, and no. I don't think she's scared per se, more like... startled by what she had seen? Perhaps?] she replied innocently.
Hmm... that doesn't sound good.
"You... You..." Elara finally began speaking up, her voice in a stutter, seemingly failing to find the right words to say.
He put on a small yet warm smile as he tilted his head and spoke, "What's wrong, sis?"
However, in the moment where he blinked, she walked up to him and smacked him over the head before grabbing his shoulders with both her hands and letting out a patient sigh.
"Neraxis."
"Yes?"
"You were 'training' with those target dummies, correct?" Elara asked, her expression unreadable.
Neraxis flinched at those words and began rambling, "Oh... those. Yeah, I did, but they seemed to have some sort of defect. Collapsing in a single hit was a bit disappointing."
However, his words went on deaf ears as Elara continued, "So you were training with them? Do you know how much they are worth?"
"...A lot?" he answered hesitatingly.
"One of them is worth a normal household's monthly salary, and you 'accidentally' broke how many again?"
"13..." Neraxis answered with a sigh. He really messed up this time. He thought they were just pieces of junk his family threw out.
Elara listened and finally let go of his shoulders before sending a straight kick directly at his stomach, to which he merely sidestepped.
She was strong, but her fighting style was not refined. Dodging her was child's play if he really tried.
"Look, Elara, I will earn enough money to replace them. Just give me a few wee—" His words were interrupted as she interjected.
"No, it's fine. We are rich," she remarked before adding with an angry pout, "You destroyed the only ones I customized for myself! Don't you have your own!?"
As her words dawned upon him, Neraxis immediately understood what she meant.
The electricity-infused puppets were the only ones he trained with and, for the most part, the only ones he attacked. Perhaps he was unlucky, but he didn't notice the uncustomized bunch, which apparently belonged to him.
Elara walked up to him and side-kicked him in the abdomen. This time, however, he did not dodge. Instead, he accepted his fate.
"Guhh," Neraxis exclaimed as all the air seemingly left his lungs, and he crouched down onto the ground. The kick was much more powerful than he expected.
"I will be taking your target dummies for myself since you destroyed mine. You can use the ones in your academy or whatever," she added and began walking back to the yard, leaving him all alone lying on the ground.
This little interaction really made him think:
Aren't I supposed to be the big brother here?