《My Angelic System》
Chapter 1 A Pale Looking Necklace
"Oh my god, Kye, you''re so embarrassing. Get out of my sight." A young girl said while passing by him in the school corridor.
"Bu-.."
"Shut up, who told you to speak, huh?" Kye tried to say, but the girl just waved her hand and water sshed him.
There were a lot of people in the corridor since it was lunch break, and they all witnessed what happened. And as if it was a daily urrence to see Kye in this state, they all began tough uncontrobly. He was just a level one without any ability, after all, so why would they even care about how a tr*sh would be treated?
Even the professors that were walking in the hallway just passed by the wet Kye, and didn''t even stop their conversations. They just nced for a second before continuing what they were doing.
That is how life was after the war.
When monsters from beyond the space invaded humanity, thetter couldn''t even defend itself. They were too weak, whereas those monsters were like animals, but a hundred times more intelligent and dangerous. They had advanced technology, even more advanced than what humans had. And because of that, in just one day, arge portion of the Earth got destroyed.
They couldn''t even retaliate because the machinery that wasing near their flying fortress where disabled instantly as if they were hacked. Even nuclear bombs didn''t manage to do anything because every time they sent one, it was just being teleported somewhere.
Where?
No one knew. The coordinates of the teleporter were unknown.
Thankfully for the human race though, some people and families came out from the shadows with strong abilities. Some were controlling the elements like air, water, fire, or earth, whereas others were doing different but great things too.
Some of these people shared their knowledge, while others didn''t. They wanted to keep their abilities to themselves, deeming them too precious.
But who could me them? One wave of their hand and entire cities could be transformed to ashes.
So with patience and hard work, humanity managed to push those monsters back, until they signed a treaty of non-attack because if they didn''t, they would have just killed each other.
And because of the war, a lot of people died. However, it was disregarded quickly because humans gain something valuable: Abilities.
Those abilities were then passed down to the younger generation, and as time passes, the old system came back to ce.
A system where the stronger were at the top of the food chain.
And Kye was at the bottom of this food chain.
Orphans, after the war, were regarded as no more than garbage. They were poor, didn''t have any influence, andst but not least, they didn''t have abilities.
Why?
Because abilities cost money. A lot of money. Even the most basics abilities cost a lot of money for an orphan.
So since Kye was no more than garbage in this society, everyone, be it to relieve their stress or because they wanted to, was bullying him. They were able to do that because he was just a poor level one. Someone that didn''t have abilities or a really poor talent.
So after having beenpletely wet, Kye didn''t move for a long time. A lot of students, which were all high-school students, were passing by him, and after seeing the number he had on his watch, they all began tough and continue doing what they were doing.
After some time, the bell rang, indicating that lunch was ending and that it was time for students to go to theirst few sses.
However, Kye didn''t go anywhere. He stood there and his face was looking toward the ground. Tears were flowing down his face.
''Why?'' He thought. ''Why do I need to endure all of these things?! Why does the only thing that I had inherited from my parents is this ne that doesn''t do any sh*t!? Why? Why? Why?''
He thought multiple times of throwing away his ne because of all the emotions that were bottled up inside of him, be he managed to hold back. It was the only thing he had left from his parent, so he needed to act wisely with it and not act based on his emotions.
Kye had suffered a lot since he lost his parents during the war. He was only a middle-school student at that time, and since then, not a single day had passed without receiving any sort of bullying at school. The friends he had before his parents died just vanished after that day, and instead, they turned into his bully.
He managed to hold for a very long time, but today, just one day before school ended and military school begin, he broke. He couldn''t contain any of this sh*t in him anymore. So instead of heading to ss, he decided to go to the house that the military has given him once his parents had died.
The military was once of the strongest force that was protecting Earth. So they naturally needed to defend everyone, even those who were rejected by society. However, this aid was poor, because it just covered the basic expenses a teenager would need to grow properly.
Once Kye got out of his high-school building, a strong gust of wind came upon him. He thought that it was someone that wanted to bully him again, but instead, it was just nature.
"Even nature doesn''t want me to live." He said to himself.
He had around ten minutes of walking toe to his house. It was pretty quick usually since he just ran straight home to not be bitten by other kids. But today, even though there weren''t any students in the street, he was just too tired to run. He didn''t know if it was because of the water the girl had sprinkled him with, or the heavy wind that was making him feel cold to no end, or both, but he didn''t have the strength to run.
"I think I''m going to catch a cold," He said as he saw his apartment block. "How nice, just the day before I go to military school," He continued with sarcasm.
Once in front of his building, he immediately entered it. It was getting colder outside, and he had the impression that he was going to faint any time now. So he just ran up the stairs toe to his apartment''s door and went inside once he was there.
He didn''t even take the time to change his clothes, and instead, he fell on his bed. He entered inside his bed quilt and began to sleep. He was freezing, so the only way was to stay like that. He even took his leg between his arms to warm himself a little.
Though, before he fell asleep, he took his ne between his hands.
"Please, make that my fate change once I will be in the military. I beg you," He asked whoever could hear him with his ne in his hand upon his forehead.
After saying that, he fell asleep.
Since he was sleeping, he didn''t see it. But his ne shined in a golden color that even illuminate his room whereas he was under the quilt of his bed.
After a moment, the light dye down, and slowly, the ne disappeared into tiny golden particles.
[Congrattion, you have been granted the ''Angelic System'']
Chapter 2 The Angelic System
Kye had slept the whole day. He hade home at two p.m yesterday and had slept until seven a.m. He was so tired that he didn''t even remember what happened after he came home.
He was also feeling quite sick, probably because he had caught a cold because of the girl''s water ability and the wind outside, but he didn''t have anything now. It was as if everything he had yesterday was a lie, and that he was beginning a totally new life.
And to begin this new life in a good way, Kye decided to take a shower. It was seven a.m, and the military was supposed toe and pick him up at 8 a.m, so he had all the time to take a shower.
He didn''t need to take any luggage because he didn''t need it. The military was providing them with everything, and since they would be in uniform once there, they didn''t need clothes either.
So he went to the bathroom.
When he entered, he first took his clothes off and looked at himself in the mirror. Kye had clear brown hair that was just a little wavy. He had turquoise blue eyes and a normal-looking face. He wasn''t as ugly as some of his bullies, but he wasn''t handsome either.
Though, he had the impression that he had changed a little.
"Is it I or my hair are a little smoother?"
It wasn''t just his imagination since it was real. His hair was wavier yesterday, whereas now, they had lost a lot of that.
"It''s not like I usually care about them anyway, so there''s no point in me focusing on that." He said and entered the bathtub.
He then took a long bath. He had the time, so he cleaned himself as much as he can.
Though, he remarked something else when he was shampooing himself.
"My skin isn''t as beaten as before too. It''s as if I gain new skin overnight."
Not lingered more about that, he continued his shower, and after thirty minutes or so, he got out. It was so refreshing that he had the impression that all his worries went away.
Not that it was possible anyway. But still, it reassured him thinking that. The military would be something totally new. There wasn''t a lot of information about what they were supposed to do there.
The military was quite secretive about that. It didn''t want to leak any information to the outside world because one, it wasn''t the only big force on Earth, there were also big families. So if the military was sharing their training and other stuff, they would lose their advantage. And even though those big families weren''t based on Earth and instead on others that they had found habitable after the venue of the monsters, they still had a lot of influence on Earth. And second, they didn''t want to leak what they were doing to the enemies. They had indeed signed a peace treaty with the intelligent monsters, but that doesn''t mean that conflictspletely stopped. They were often fighting for lesser monsters that didn''t have any intelligence on the they had found for resources or even materials to craft items.
So they needed to be secretive to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of them, and the allies to know how they proceed.
Peace was only there because there were enough powerhouses on both sides that were preventing each other from attacking. So if the military were to be attacked, the bnce will be distorted and another war would begin.
So aftering out of the bathroom, Kye put some clothes on him and prepared himself something to eat.
He only cooked eggs since he only had that. Not that he would have been able to eat more anyway. His stomach was quite small since he needed to keep living even without much food.
Once the eggs were ready, he put one in his mouth. However, something happens.
The eggs had the taste of dirt, and it was really disgusting. So in the end, he just spit them out from his mouth.
"Howe? I ate eggs yesterday morning, so they shouldn''t have this taste," He was only talking to himself, but something appeared before his eyes.
It was golden in color and looked like a video game system that rich kids would y after school.
[Host has eaten something poisonous.]
[Cleansing process initiated]
"What''s that?" He asked, but this thing didn''t answer. Instead, he just felt good and didn''t have this disgusting taste in his mouth anymore. As if he was cleansed for real.
The alert then disappeared.
"Wait, wait, do go like that," Kye said, but nothing happened. He then tried to visualize this window again, and miraculously, something with numbers appeared in front of him.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Human
Exp: 0/100
HP: 10/10
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10]
"What is that?" He got scared.
This golden window appeared out of thin air. It was strange because numbers were indicating his stats in real life.
He even tried to touch this window, but the only thing that happen was his hand passing through it.
"Does that mean that I''m the only one who can see this?" He then rushed to his bathroom to see it through the mirror, and there was no window reflecting.
"Yes, I''m the only one who can see it," He now got curious about it.
Under the numbers that were showing his supposed to be stats, there were still tabs under it.
He then clicked on the first one, which was the Skill tab.
[Skills:
Skill lock:???
Skill lock:???
Skill lock:???]
"Come on, obviously it would do that. Who saw any level one having skills?" He got angry but quickly calmed. There were still two more tabs to go through.
[Holy shop --> Lock
The host needs to be level 10 to unlock the shop.]
"Obviously, it would have been too easy otherwise."
[Quests:
Main quest
Additional quest]
This tab, unlike the other ones, had two subcategories. So Kye went in order and thought about the main quest category.
[Main quest:
Reach level 10]
"What a pain."
He then went toward the additional quest tab.
[Additional quest:
- Drink a liter of water
Reward: 5 Exp
- Do five push-ups
Reward: 5 Exp]
"That looks far easier," Kye then turned toward the clock. "Wow, it''s already 7:55 a.m, I should try those quests just to be sure that everything is real."
Kye then got on his knees to try to do push-ups. Since his physic was quite poor, he got a hard time doing it.
[Congrattion, you earned 5 Exp]
"It''s real," He almost shouted and then went toward his eating table to take a one-liter water bottle.
He drink it quickly, and the same message as earlier came.
,m "That''s so cool. I don''t know what is this thing, but I''m d I have it," He opened his status tab just to check if the Exp had indeed gone up, and it did.
[Exp: 10/100]
"That''s so cool," Kye said with a lot of joy before hearing his apartment bell.
"The military''s here," A man''s voice came out from behind the door. "Please open the door or I will have to open it by myself."
''It''s already that time?'' Kye thought as he looked at the clock. It was indicating 8:00 am. "They are right on time," He said and then went to the door.
Chapter 3 The Military
Since he was supposed to be taken to the military at around eight am, it was normal for them toe here at that time. So Kye opened the door quickly and saw a giant man.
Kye was only 160 centimeters, so it was quite small for a seventeen years old boy. As for the military man, he was probably 195 centimeters.
There was a huge height difference between them, so Kye''s neck hurt a little because the man was just too tall.
"Hello kid, are you ready?" The man said with a deep and scary voice.
"Y-yes," He answered with a few difficulties.
"Good, then follow me."
Kyeply and closed the door behind him. However, he was quite stressed. It was something new that was going to happen soon, a totally new life, so he was scared of the unknown. And as usual, when he was like this, he put his hand on his parents'' ne.
Though, this time, the only thing he felt was his shirt, not the inheritance from his parent.
"Wait, where is it?" Kye almost shouted and was ready to run back. Albeit, it was impossible.
"We don''t have time for that kid. Either follow me or stay here. It''s your choice."
"Bu-..." Kye was about to say something, but the military''s man look was scary. He didn''t even manage to utter another word, and reluctantlyplied.
''It''s strange though,'' Kye thought while walking down the stairs of his apartment. ''Now that I think about it, I didn''t have it since this morning. Nor in the bathroom when I took off my clothes or when I was doing my push-ups. Is it possible that it just disappear? Where though?'' He continued thinking for a while until he got the answer. ''Does this systeme from the ne? But how? It didn''t do anything for so many years. Is it because I prayed for real for the first time yesterday?''
''Now that I think about it, the system''s shop is called the "Holy shop", so that means that it''s a religious thing?'' He continue thinking until they came in front of a very long bus. There were already teens in it that Kye had never seen in his life. Some were sleeping while others were too excited to think about that.
He then got into it, and after sitting somewhere avable, the bus began to move. However, it wasn''t moving on the ground, but in the air instead.
There was a teleporter in the air that was designed exclusively for the military. So after moving for quite some time in the air, the bus entered the teleportation.
Teleporters were something pretty expensive, so Kye thought it would have been something incredible. Only rich people could walk through teleporters, so it must be quite a unique sensation.
However, what happened wasn''t what he thought.
[External particles are trying to make the host pass out.]
''What? What''s that?'' Kye thought but the system just continued what it was doing.
[Cleansing process is beginning.]
[Host level is too low to cleanse those particles.]
[Host will pass out.]
''Wait, no... What''s happen...?'' Kye thought once more, but his eyelids were too heavy. He didn''t manage to keep them open and in the end, he pass out.
It wasn''t only him though. Every single person, except for the military was slowly passing out one after the other.
Kye was thest teen to pass out. The military''s staff was about to make him pass out by using force, but they didn''t have to. He just fell asleep at the end.
"There are some interesting students this year," One of the men said to his colleague.
"You''re right. The students usually pass out immediately during this teleportation, even those who are used to it. But somested for quite a while. It would be the instructor who would be pleased" The other man answered as the other nodded.
Even though they were using a teleporter, thetter was only used to make the future students pass out, not to teleport anywhere. So they still needed to ride in this bus for a while before even hoping to wake up.
The military was processing like this to not let anyone attack them. It was for safety measures to protect the six bases that were used to train all the students.
Like this, no one would ever know where the bases were, and if they were even on Earth, to begin with. The military was indeed based on Earth, but that didn''t mean that it wasn''t usings to exploit the new resources that they couldn''t find on Earth.
With this, no one knew where the military bases were, apart from the military itself.
So they continue riding for a very long time, and after an eight-hour ride, they finally arrived at their destination.
*p* *p* "Everyone, it''s time to wake up!" The man that took Kye this morning shouted, waking up every single student on the bus
"Huh?" Kye scratched his eyes to be fully awake. "Where are we?" He said to himself in a low voice.
"Everyone, get out of the bus right now!!" The military man shouted once more, and everyone began to hurry.
As for Kye, he still wasn''t fully awake, but he still managed to get out of the bus.
They hadnded on what seemed gray t ground with a lot of fog in the air. They couldn''t see anything strange in it, even if they were to focus for a while, so the students didn''t stay on this matter for long.
[Please be careful, you aren''t exposed to light anymore.]
[If you aren''t exposed to light enough, all your stats will drop from half.]
''What? What is it now? Since when does a system is making someone weaker than he is already?'' He didn''t have time to thought for long because the military continue shouting.
"Listen everyone. I want all of you to walk for five minutes until you will see other students, is that clear!?!"
"Yes sir," Everyone shouted back to show that they were motivated. They were on the military''s ground now, so they needed to act ordingly.
The students then walked for five minutes, and as the military man was saying, they saw other students lining up one behind the other. There were four different lines with four different professors that were supposed to supervise the tests that students were supposed to take.
Strength test, agility test, and an endurance test. All the students needed to pass the three of them, and at the end, they were receiving another watch with a number on it.
''No, not again. I don''t want to live another hell during my stay here,'' Kye thought while going behind someone to wait for his turn. ''I hate this system.''
Chapter 4 The Tests
As the line was decreasing, Kye was approaching more and more toward the test zone. However, every time he was taking a step forward, his anxiety was increasing. Since he now knew that his life in the military would be the same as his life after his parents died, he wondered if it was a good thing for him to evene here in the first ce.
''Why? Why?'' He thought. ''Why do I have to keep enduring these things? I''m tired of all the bullying I''m receiving. I want all of it to end.''
He didn''t remark it, but the more he had those thoughts in his head, the more he bit his lips. And at some point, he felt blood in his mouth and came back to reality.
He then looked toward the ground and took another step. In just five students, it will be his turn.
He didn''t want to do the test, because he knew that his life would be another hell once again.
And as if someone saw his distress, theye to him. He was taller than Kye, 176 centimeters maybe, and had dark purple hair and purple eyes. He was someone who was in the same position as Kye in the lines, but in the one just to his right.
"Excuse me, are you okay?" He asked with a gentle voice. "Your lips are bleeding."
Kye didn''t answer at first. Why would he? This boy would just act the same as the other when he will see his level. So he didn''t see any reason to talk to him.
s, he had asked this for his well-being, so even though he would be a tr*shter, he wasn''t now.
"... Yes, I''m good, thank you for your concern." He finally said after some moment.
"You don''t need to talk that respectfully, you know?" He chuckled a little. "My name is Yugo Pendora by the way"
"Thanks for saying that. I''m Kye Vermillion, d to meet you." He answered, but only looked down. He didn''t face Yugo even once this entire time.
"Pfft, haha, Are you?" He asked whileughing a little. "I mean, I don''t want to be the guy who''s picky about those things, but you didn''t even look at me once since I talked to you."
"So-sorry," Kye lifted his head and look at him. He was quite handsome, unlike him. "I didn''t mean to be rude."
"What I see isn''t rudeness, but fear." He said once he saw his eyes. It was clear that Kye was afraid. Why? He didn''t know. "I won''t do anything to you, even if you''re a low level."
''They all say that at first,'' Kye thought and look back at the ground again. "Su-sure," He then said.
Seeing him like this, Yugo could only pity him. It was clear that he had lived some traumatizing things, and that was why he was acting like that.
However, he couldn''t think about Kye''s situation for long because it was finally his turn and the three others that were in the same position as him, but on the others lines.
Every test was done with four professors and a group of four students. The professors were passing the test to the students one by one, whereas the remaining students were looking at the one who was doing the test.
So in the end, since Kye and Yugo were on the same vertical line, they were in the same group. There was also another boy who looked quite grumpy, and a girl with a bored expression.
The tests that they needed to take were in this order: Strength, Agility, andst but not least, Endurance.
"Okay, you four, follow me." A military woman said and the groupplied. They went somewhere where those who were waiting for their turn couldn''t see them anymore.
After a moment, they finally came to the test area. There were multiple machines and three professors who were discussing on the side.
The woman then stopped suddenly and did a 180 degrees turn. She then said, "We will begin with Ambry Joan. Please step forward."
Ambry was the grumpy boy. He had ck hair and eyes and didn''t have any pretty features, be it on his face or body.
"Age, Seventeen years old. Height, 172 centimeters. Ability, earth. Is it correct?" The woman read out loud her data about him as Ambry answered ''Yes'' every time she said something.
"Good, then, please, we will begin with the test on the left and finish with the one that is on the right."
Ambry then went where the strength test was taking ce.
To test him, they were using something that looked like a punching ball. He needed to punch it as strongly as possible to mark as many points as possible. Of course, everyone could see him, be it his group or the professors.
"Does ability is allowed?" He asked.
"Yes, you can use it in every single test."
"Good," Ambry made a fist and punch them together. Then, rocks began to form around them until they were fully covered by rocks.
He then stepped back a little and ran to take as much momentum as possible. Then, once he was at a good range, he swung his fist and punched the ball. Upon impact, a little ''boom'' was heard.
''Wow, he looks strong,'' Kye thought seeing him.
The numbers above the punching ball that was supposed to evaluate the students'' performance then began to increase. And after a moment, it reached 20 points.
"What? Only 20 points? This is bullsh*t." He didn''t know if it was actually a lot or not, but he just wanted to annoy people, so he shouted as much as he could.
"Please, continue with the next test," The military woman said with a calm tone, not reacting to this rude student.
"Tch," Ambry then went to the next area, where he needed to take the agility test.
For this test, Ambry needed to avoid as many discs as possible. s, he wasn''t as brilliant as thest one since he just got 12 points.
After that, he went to the endurance test, where he needed to run as fast and as long as possible. For this one, he did a little better than thest one because he managed to score 13 points.
"Good, you can now go to your ce. Kathia Volsy, please step forward." Kathia, who was the girl with a bored expression on her face had blue hair and green eyes.
"Age, Seventeen years old. Height, 165 centimeters. Ability, wood. Is it correct?" Kathia also nodded every time she asked a data about her.
She then went to the test area and scored 18 points for the strength test, 15 points for the agility test, and 10 points for the endurance one.
And just before she came back to the group, Yugo said to Kye, "Too bad she''s taller than you, you would have done a great couple together." He joked as Kye''s ears went red.
Seeing that, Yugo chuckled once more and stepped forward since it was his turn.
"Age, Seventeen years old. Height, 177 centimeters. Ability, confidential. Is it correct?" He said ''yes'' at every single data.
Hearing that, Kye was perplexed. He expected to hear an ability, not something confidential. And because of that, his curiosity about Yugo went up from one stage.
Though, Ambry''s constant badments just irritated him. He was looking down on everyone, even when they had good scores. For Kathia for example, he keep saying that she was bad and that she was a b*tch.
Kathia didn''t answer, but it was clear that she was beginning to be irritated.
And when he was thinking about all of that, Yugo had finally finished his test. He got 14 points on each test, and without using his ability even once.
Since Yugo was quite friendly, Kye wanted to congratte him.
"You were aweso-..." He tried to say, but Ambry just pushed him to the side and went to Yugo. He even put his arm around Yugo''s neck.
"Hey, buddy, you did great. How about we hang out together to see some girls after all of this?" When he said that, Kye was rubbing his arms. He had pushed him violently, and it was hurting a little.
Looking at Ambry, Yugo had a disgusted expression on his face. First, he was detestable, and second, he just hurt the one who wanted to genuinely praise him. But he still tried to act as friendly as possible.
"Thanks for the offer, but I must decline," Yugo then put off Ambry''s arm from his neck and went toward Kye. He then asked him. "Are you okay? It must have hurt a lot. First your lips, and now your arms."
"No, it''s okay, thanks to your concern, it''s a lot better now." Kye smiled and looked directly at Yugo''s face. He was really happy that he didn''t do anything with Ambry and went to him instead to ask if he was okay.
However, they couldn''t stay like this any longer because the military woman called for Kye.
"Age, Seventeen years old. Height, 160 centimeters. Ability, none. Is it correct?"
Chapter 5 Kyes Tests
In this type of society, those who didn''t have abilities were seen as disposable people. They were at the bottom of the food chain and were regrly bullied by the strong.
So when the military woman said that Kye didn''t have any ability, the reaction in the students'' group was mixed.
First, there was Kye who gulped down and stepped forward to proceed with his test.
Then, there was Ambry, who began tough and trash talk Kye. He was already doing it before, but for fear that he was someone with strong ability, he hold back himself. But now that he knew that he didn''t have any abilities, he justshed at him. He said that he was the biggest tr*sh he had ever seen and that he should be dead instead of wasting their time.
There was also Kathia. She didn''t say anything, but it was clear that she was surprised. Yugo, who obviously came from an influential family was talking to him as if they were friends. But now that she knew that Kye was just a poor level one, she didn''t understand why Yugo was even batting an eye for him. It was rarely heard of. A high-level talking on friendly terms with a poor level one wasn''t somethingmon.
Andst but not least, there was Yugo. He too was surprised. But he then quickly understood why Kye was like this.
''Is this why he was so afraid of me earlier? And is this why he didn''t say anything even when Ambry was tr*sh talking to him?'' He thought seeing Kye''s back.
"Kye Vermillion, pleasee here," The woman said as Kye did what she told him.
She then put something out of a bag that was on her side. It looks like an orb. An ability orb. And to be more precise, it was the air ability orb. There were what seemed like winds that were dancing inside of it.
Seeing an ability orb in front of him for the first time, Kye got shocked. He didn''t expect to see something as pretty as that. And unconsciously, something was drawing him toward it.
"Kye, would you like to obtain this air ability orb?" The woman asked.
Seeing the orb a little closer, Kye was about to ept, but after a moment, he thought of something. ''Wait, why are they giving me this for free? And isn''t the military ability of predilection the air ability? Does that mean that I would need to stay with them if I have it?''
As Kye thought, the military had indeed the priority over the air ability. It was specialized in this element, so a lot of people in the military have this one. And if one wanted to upgrade its air ability, it needed to join the army because thetter had the monopole over this ability.
And Kye, even though was an orphan for a long time now, had a time with his parents too. And the thing that they had repeated to him multiple times until he knew it by heart was to believe in the principle of equivalent exchange.
Nothing was free in this world, and he knew it very well thanks to his parents. So he didn''t think that the military would give him an ability without asking for anything in return. And since after having an ability, it was impossible to have another one, he decided to not take it.
Sure the air ability was strong, but now that he had a system, he decided to wait for a little.
So after a moment of hesitation, he finally said, "Thank you for your generosity, but I must decline."
"W-wait, what?" Everyone around the military woman said or thought the same thing
"I said that I must decline your offer."
"Why? I mean, are you sure?" She was perplexed, but she needed to continue the test because there were still other students to test after this group.
"Yes, I''m sure of it. And once again, thank you for your generosity," Kye even bowed his head a little.
"Well, it''s normal, so you don''t have to do this," She said, "Anyway, please begin your test now."
Kye nodded and began to head toward the strength area and prepared himself.
He then took as much momentum as he could, and punched the punching ball.
The numbers then began to slowly go up. s, it wasn''t for long because Kye just scored a poor 3 points.
He then went to the agility area, and there, he did a little better than thest test since he had managed to score 5 points.
Last, for the endurance test, he got 4 points.
Seeing his poor result, Kye''s mood was a little down but still went back to the group.
And seeing hime back, Yugo has a smile on his face. In the beginning, he was shocked that Kye didn''t have any ability, but after he had refused the air ability from the military, he was quite proud of him. If he had epted, he would have indeed been chained down for his entire life, and he wouldn''t have been able to discover the world. Also, taking this ability didn''t mean that his bullying would have stopped, so when he didn''t take it, Yugo knew that Kye wasn''t just a bullyable person. He was strong on the inside and just needed to be well surrounded and have a good ability.
So when Kye came back, instead of bullying him like most high-level people, he decided to praise him, "You did great Kye,"
"There''s no need to lie. I did poorpare to you."
"Why are you evenparing yourself to me? Everyone has their quality," Yugo said with a little tap on Kye''s back.
"If you say so..."
While they were discussing, Ambry keep tr*sh talking to Kye. As for Kathia, she stayed by the side, waiting for their results.
And they didn''t have to wait for long because after discussing for a few moments, the military woman came to them.
"Alright everyone," She pped her hands to attract the group''s attention. "Here''s your watch. Keep them well because you will need them in your academic life. And please, follow my colleague, he will guide you to the next area.
After taking and putting his watch on, Kye headed toward where the colleague was. He went alone, but Yugo catch with him quickly.
Thetter looked at him to see his reaction, but Kye just continued walking with a neutral face. However, when he was looking at him, he remarked something.
"Wait Kye, can I see your lips for a second?" He said as both of them stopped for a second.
"W-why, I mean s- sure?" He answered with difficulty. His watch was indicating the number one, whereas Yugo''s watch was indicating the number six.
"Don''t be scared, I won''t do anything. I even want to be your friend, to be honest, so let me check your lips," He didn''t wait for an answer and immediately check them. And when he saw them he was a little shocked. Earlier, Kye''s lips were bleeding, whereas now, they were fully healed.
"Please, stop making those jokes, I know that it won''t be for long."
"Do you want to bet?" They continued their discussion while walking with another military man who was guiding them to a teleporter. Thetter was supposed to teleport them directly to their designated academy. And obviously, since they were a group, the four of them were in the same academy.
"Sure. But I don''t have anything to give to you if you win."
"How about you ept my friendship? Isn''t it a good reward for me?"
"Why? I mean, why do you want to be friends with a level 1. I''m trash, so you being with me will only give us problems, nothing else."
"We can see that once the time wille. For now, let''s just bet." Yugo said, smiling.
"No need, you can do whatever you want," Kye said a little reluctant. He was scared to be Yugo''s punching humanter, but for now, he seems genuine, so he decided to give it a try.
"Yay, please take care of me from now on."
"Sure, you too, take care of me."
"I promise, don''t worry." Yugo finally said and entered the teleporter, followed closely by a smiling Kye.
Chapter 6 The Dormitory
Going through a teleporter was something strange, at least, for Kye. It wasn''t like the one he took when he was on the bus. No, this teleporter was far different.
It was as if his body was dposing in itself and rposing immediately after. It was strange and he didn''t feel any pain. But he was feeling quite dizzy once he came to the other side, that is to say, to the academy city.
The academy was attached to a special city where only those from the military could live. Like this, they would have a home and they would be able to do other work that wasn''t rted to fighting, like helping in the city hospital or a convenience store for example.
The war was traumatizing for a lot of people, so many of them just stopped and wanted to have a normal life where they didn''t need to put their lives on the line.
But before he could admire the futuristic city a little more, Kye needed to catch up with his group. They had already walked a lot when he was daydreaming.
Once he caught up with them, he finally saw the giant academy that was a little further away. It was so grand and magnificent that he almost stopped again. s, Yugo was there this time.
"Kye, be careful, there are people who are walking," He said as he took his arm to not lose him. He looked like a child that was lost, so to not really lose him somewhere, he needed to stay like this.
"Ye-yes, you''re right," He answered and began to walk again. "But do we really need to stay like this?"
"Oh? Are you shy?" Yugo asked with a smug smile, as Kye began to blush a little from his ears. His teasing was too much sometimes. "Haha, okay okay, I stop," Heughed. "But yes, it would be annoying if we were to search for you after."
"I''m sorry," Kye answered as he looked down and continue to be dragged by Yugo.
Hearing him, Yugo understood that what he said was like a high-level that wasining. And he knew that Kye didn''t have the best experience with those people.
"I''m sorry, Kye. I didn''t mean it like this," He let go of his arm. "I just didn''t want you to be lost and have problems with high-level people," Kye didn''t say anything and just decided to walk. It was also a reminder for him to stay at his ce and not to have high hopes just because of someone''s behavior or words.
They then continued to walk. The teleporter was at the very end of the city, so they needed to walk for quite a while. And after Yugo''s remark, Kye didn''t talk anymore. As for Yugo, he was searching for something to make for his error from earlier but didn''t find anything. And in the end, they just walked until they had reached the academy.
"You four, listen carefully because I won''t repeat myself," The military man that had guided them here and didn''t utter a single word during all the walk from the teleporter finally said. "School will begin tomorrow, so you can do whatever you want in the academy or the city until 9 pm, which is the curfew. Is that clear?" He asked as everyone said yes. "Good, check your watch to see the internal procedure of the academy and the number of your room. And you can''t change rooms either, so be good with your roommates. Now you can go," He said as he began to walk toward the teleporter.
The group was then left alone, and Kathia was the first to go. She didn''t want to stay with the group, so she went to the girl dormitory. Ambry too, since he wasn''t wee with Yugo decided to go to his room. He needed to find people that were around his level to beat those who were under them.
So only Kye and Yugo were left in front of the academy''s entrance door. They didn''t say a word to each other, and in the end, Kye just began to walk ahead to go to his dorm room. He wanted to say something, but was he really his friend? Or was he just under the illusion that he was his friend? He didn''t know, so he just decided to take the easy road, that is to say, just doing nothing.
Like this, their friendship wouldn''t evolve and he won''t have needless hope. Though, it would have been the case if both of them were doing this.
"Kye, wait," Yugo said to stop Kye. "I''m sorry for what I said earlier, it wasn''t appropriate."
"Oh no, please don''t be," Kye answered immediately while waving his hands to show that it was nothing. "You didn''t do anything. On the contrary, it was normal for you to say this. You just did that for my well-being, so please don''t be sorry."
"Then, did we make up?" Yugo asked. He knew that Kye only said that because he was shy and didn''t want to have any problems, so he just decided to y d*mb and go with the mood.
"We never fight though,"
"Yay," He put his arm around Kye''s shoulder. "So which one is your room?"
"Let me check," Kye searched with his watch, and after a moment, he find it. "It''s the number 119, how about you?"
"Oh, mine is 119 too. That means that we''re in the same one." He smiled brightly. "I''m so happy, really," They then began to go toward the boys'' dorm.
"Do you think it would only be us?" Kye asked.
"No, it would probably be three. There are too many kids, so it would be easier to fit everyone like this."
"Then I hope we won''t be with Ambry. Our lives will be hard otherwise."
"Yeah, that''s true," Yugo said. "I hate those who think too highly of themselves. So I pray for god to have another kind roommate, like you," Heplimented him, but Yugo just stared at something in mid-air. "Does something happen? Why are you staring nkly like that?"
"Oh, I''m sorry, I just thought of something useless," He said quickly to not show anything. "Anyway, we''re here, room 119."
"Oh yeah, you''re right," Yugo then opened the door after having scanned his watch on the door''s lock.
He entered first, and Kye was behind him, looking at his back; He remembered the message of the system.
[Someone is praying by your side. His likability towards you increases.]
When he saw that out of nowhere, he was quite shocked. He didn''t expect that his system could affect people around him like that. But when he thought a little more about it, he understood that the ''holy'' properties of the system must have yed a role in that.
Though, there was still one problem. In the far future, if the sympathy would go too high, does that means that that person would follow him blindly? He hoped for a no from the bottom of his heart because it would be sad otherwise.
Kye didn''t want mindless zombies, but friends, with consciousness and emotions.
"Kye, why are you standing there?" Yugo pulled him back to reality.
"Oh sorry, I was thinking of how good it was to be in the same room."
,m "It is, right? I''m really d."
As Yugo had said earlier, the room was for three people. And since Ambry went before them and wasn''t here, it means that he wasn''t their third roommate.
The room was rectangr shaped and had enough space to amodate three one-person beds, three desks, and three closets. There was also a bathroom that was attached to the rooms, for easiest ess.
Since Yugo entered the room first, he was the first to pick up his bed. It was the one on the left. And since he wanted Kye to have the one by his side, thetter chose the one in the middle. That means that their other roommates will have the one on the right.
They then put their few belongings, and since it was only 7 pm, they decided to go and visit the city. They wouldn''t have stayed in their room anyway, and since the academy wasn''t avable for now, they only had the city to visit.
So they headed towards the door. And once they opened it, they saw someone standing in front of it who was about to scan his watch to the door''s lock.
This boy was smaller than Yugo but still taller than Kye. He was 169 centimeters and had white hair and gray eyes.
"Hi there," The boy said, "I''m Ven Tigo, but just call me Ven, and nice to meet you guys," Ven smiled brightly and then saw the numbers on Kye''s and Yugo''s watches.
Chapter 7 A New Friend?
"Hi there," The boy said, "I''m Ven Tigo, but just call me Ven, and nice to meet you guys," Ven smiled brightly and then saw the numbers on Kye''s and Yugo''s watches.
"H-hi..." Kye managed to answer, but he saw where Ven''s looks went just a second ago, so he knew how things would be from now on.
"Hi Ven, how are you? Does your journey here was good?"
"Pretty tiring, to be honest. How about you?"
"It was pretty good since I met Kye here," He showed Kye with his hand. "And I''m Yugo Pendora, by the way,"
"Your names are pretty," Ven smiled. "But where were you guys nning to go?"
"We were nning to visit the city until the curfew," Yugo answered. "How about youe with us? It would be great if we could know each other better."
Ven thought for a second, and in the end, he said, "As long as wee back before 9 pm, I''m fine,"
"That''s good, then shall we go?"
"Yup. Let me just put my belongings and we can."
Ven then entered the room for a moment, and since there was only the right bed that was avable, he took this one. He then came back, and the three boys began to head to the city.
Since it was the end of summer, the sun didn''t set yet. But it was near, so they couldn''t stay outside for too long.
Once they arrived, they visited quite a lot of things. Since it was exactly like a normal city, there was all sort of things and ces here. Be it a theater, a park, or even normal shops that people could see, such as clothing shops or furniture shops. There were also restaurants and cafes, s, the boys couldn''t eat yet because the money system of the academy that was supposed to give them ess to a lot of things wasn''t avable yet. It would be only tomorrow when school will begin.
In the military academy, money was limited. The students will receive every day 20$ from the military itself. Though, if the family wanted to, they could send money to their kids for them to do more things such as eating outside the academy''s canteen, or even ying virtual reality.
But for people like Kye, they needed to live with those 20$ and try not to lose them, because yes, students could force others to give them their money. So if they couldn''t defend themselves, they would have an even more hard time during their stay at the academy because they would barely be able to eat.
And since the boys had visited enough and it was already 8:30 pm, they decided to head back to their dorms.
Yugo and Ven had discussed a lot. They got along pretty well and had a lot of things inmon.
Though, during all of their hang out, Kye didn''t open his mouth even once, at least, by himself. Yugo had tried to talk to him, but the former just seems awkward about what was happening. Yugo didn''t know if it was because Ven too was a level 6 student, but since Kye had met him, he didn''t say a word.
Ven too had tried to say something or two, s, when he saw the non-responsive attitude of Kye, he just gave up. He didn''t really care about the levels like Yugo, so he didn''t understand why he was acting like that. Or maybe he was just too shy. Who knows? He didn''t say anything.
However, they were only partially right. Kye was indeed shy, so he wouldn''t have talked a lot. But he was affected by something else too. When he came out of the academy'' building earlier, he received another message from the system.
[You are exposed to the moonlight''s rays, thus, your stats will drop from half.]
And because of that, he was too tired. He only has the strength to walk with the boys, but nothing else. He also managed to answer them from time to time when they were asking him something, but he barely exchanged a few words.
And because of all of that, he just screamed internally. It was clear that they had gone out to know each other better, but since he didn''t say a word, it was as if he was annoyed by their presence.
And it was also clear that Ven wasn''t the guy who pay a lot of attention to the level of a person, so by not saying anything, it was as if he was scared of him.
And well, it wasn''tpletely false, but it wasn''t at the rate of not talking to him at all.
So in the end, they just came back to their dorms, and once indoor, Kye''s stats came back to normal. He was finally okay to talk, but his roommates were now tired and just wanted to sleep. The day had been long, after all, and tomorrow would be a long day too since it was the first day of school, so they needed to rest to recover their forces.
So after everyone had taken a bath, they just slept immediately.
And even though Kye was sad yesterday, he wasn''t now because the night had passed quickly, and he could now talk with his roommates.
But unfortunately for him, it was still quite early, 6:30 am to be more precise, so Yugo and Ven were still asleep. And since sses would only begin at 8 am, he didn''t want to wake them up.
And since he didn''t have anything else to do, he decided to do his additional quest.
[Additional quest:
- Drink a liter of waters
Reward: 5 Exp
- Do five push-ups
Reward: 5 Exp
- Do five sit-ups
Reward: 5 Exp]
Today, he had one more exercise to do. And he was quite d because that means that he would be able to level up faster than he had originally thought. If he had one more exercise every day, he would level up in no time.
So he tried to do them quickly, but even with the little amount he needed to do, he took a while. His body wasn''t made to do sports since he didn''t have any muscles. He was quite skinny, and it was hard to even lift his weight.
But in the end, he still managed to do them and was happy when he saw that his EXP bar was now showing new numbers.
[EXP: 25/100]
And since it was still early, he went to the bathroom to take a long shower. Though, once he reached the mirror of the bathroom and put his clothes off, he was quite shocked.
"Is it I or my body has changed from yesterday?"
It wasn''t only an assumption because it was indeed the case. It wasn''t so apparent, but since Kye knew his body quite well because he got a lot of bruises every day, he remarked any changes that were affecting his body.
"Is it the system?" He said in a low voice since he didn''t want to be heard by anyone when he was thinking about this matter. "I have the impression that it had given me a healthy body. Before, my skin was a little whiter too, whereas now it got more colors," He observed.
"Well, there are more benefits than drawbacks, so why would Iin?" He said as he entered the bathtub.
Since he still needed to eat, he took a shower instead of a bath, and after around twenty minutes, he came out. It was still 7 am, so he had quite a lot of time before sses.
So he put some clothes on him, that is to say, the military school uniform.
The uniform, even though it was from the military wasn''t green and brown like Kye could see in the old films that were realized before the war. On the contrary, it was quite elegant.
It wasposed of a beige shirt with white pants. Sure these colors were quite easy to dirty, but since each student had only uniforms in their closet, it wasn''t really a problem.
So after he dressed uppletely, he decided to go and eat at the canteen. Though, before he could even go, he heard some morning moansing from the right bed.
"Good morning, Ven," Kye greeted him with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"
"Why is there an angel in front of my bed?" Ven said with half-closed eyes.
"Pfft, haha, I''m not an angel, just Kye, your roommate."
"Wait, what did I say?" He suddenly got up from his bed with red ears. He was ashamed of what he had just said.
Chapter 8 The Will To Change
"Good morning, Ven," Kye greeted him with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"
Ven just woke up, so his eyes were half-closed. And because of that, he had the impression that the person who talked to him wasn''t human. "Why is there an angel in front of my bed?"
"Pfft, haha," Kye chuckled. "I''m not an angel, just Kye, your roommate."
Hearing what the angel said, Ven immediately stood up from his bed."Wait, what did I say?" His ears became red. He was ashamed of what he had just said.
"That I was an Angel?" Kye repeated what Ven said.
"I know what I said, you didn''t have to remind me."
"Oh, my bad. I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to anger you," Kye returned to his shy self and just looked down. He wanted to make a good impression, but he failed.
s, it was what he thought.
"No, wait. It wasn''t what I meant," Ven quickly said since Kye seems to have taken what he said the wrong way. "What I meant is that I didn''t want you to tease me about what I said. It was so embarrassing, so please don''t look down like that. It really wasn''t my intention to say that."
"Oh, you don''t have to justify yourself, you know?" Kye answered with a smile. "What you said was totally normal, so you shouldn''t exin yourself like this," He then began to head toward the room''s door. Anyway, I will go now, see youter. And don''t bete okay?" He smiled and then crossed the door.
Ven didn''t have the time to say anything that Kye wasn''t there anymore. He didn''t understand what had happened. Kye looked fine, but Ven could tell that it was just a facade and that he didn''t want to show what he thought or his emotions to him.
"Sh*t, why did I say that? He even greeted me and didn''t avoid me," Ven said to himself. "Why did you have to open your mouth huh? F*ck"
Saying that Yugo began to wake up too. He didn''t understand why Ven was cursing this early in the morning, but after thetter exined what happened, he understood.
"I think it would be hard to befriend him now. And I''m not saying just you, since I too did a mistake yesterday."
After saying that, the boys decided to hurry because Kye was a low level, and he would surely be in trouble if he was alone around that many high levels.
And they were right. Since Kye woke up quite early, he was one of the first who came to the academy canteen. There, the food was free, so he took what was pleasant to his eyes. He then picked a table randomly and began to eat.
But unfortunately for him, his problems were just about to begin.
After a few moments, a group entered the canteen. It was strange to already see some groups because no one was supposed to know each other in the academy since they had separated everyone.
There were a lot of kids, so it wasn''t a problem.
The group then took their food, and since Kye was alone, they decided to disturb him a little. And when they saw that he was just a level 1 tr*sh, they didn''t hold back. They began to beat him up, used abilities on him, and even took his money.
They did a lot of things, and not a single person came to help him.
And in the end, some staff came and bring him to the school hospital.
Everything justst for a few minutes, so when Yugo and Ven came to the canteen, they were surprised to not see him.
Though, when they heard the students gossip, they began to understand what had happened.
And since the group who had beat up Kye was still there, eating peacefully in the corner of the giant canteen, Yugo and Ven decided to show them something funny.
"Excuse me guys, do you have a moment?" Yugo came behind the biggest guy in the group and asked. Thetter then turned around, only to be weed by a punch that seems to bend space to its will.
The big guy then flew away and hit the wall. His face was bleeding.
"What do you think you are doing right now?" One of the members of the group shouted. "Don''t you guys know who we are?" All the group showed their watches, and it was indicating level 3 or 4.
Seeing that, Venughed very hard. "Pfft, HAHAHAHA, you must be kidding me, right?" He said as he too showed his watch. It was indicating level 6 and seeing that all the group understood what type of sh*t they were in.
Ven didn''t wait for them to say anything or even move, he just pushed down the gravity upon them, and they all fell, face first of course.
"Wow, you got the gravity ability? That''s cool," Yugo said with a smile while he walked toward those sh*tty bastards who beat up his friend.
"What are you talking about, bro? Yours is cooler. You have the spatial ability," Ven answered him as Yugo punched all the members one by one.
After a moment, everyone fainted, and people in the canteen were still talking about what had just happened.
"Well, should we go check how Kye is?" Yugo said.
"Sure, let me just grab some sandwiches for him. He must be hungry." Ven answered, and after picking up some food, both of them headed to the hospital.
During this time, Kye was still unconscious in his hospital bed. He wasn''t aware of all the things that happened after he got transported here.
But even though he was still unconscious, he was still thinking of what happened inside of him. Or to be more precise, he was crying in his subconscious.
"I''m tired of all this sh*t," Kye shouted inside of him. Why do I have a system if I can''t even defend myself? Why am I this useless? I want to stand for myself. I want to beat up those who beat me. I want... I want..."
Kye was crying and shouting inside of him, but nothing was happening outside. Though, after a certain moment, he finally woke up.
Only to be greeted by a system message.
[Additional quest: Throw at three punches at one of the members of the group.
Rewards: Instant level up]
''Only now?'' Kye thought with a little bit of disgust. It would have been better if he was to have this quest earlier. "Well, system, if you gave me this, then I must do my best to aplish it.''
As he thought that, he heard someoneing toward him.
"You''re awake? That''s perfect, just 10 minutes before sses begin. I''m d you won''t have to skip the first day," The nurse said with a smile and a gentle voice. She had ck hair and green eyes. And based on the badge that was on her bo*om, Kye could see that her name was Valera Kale.
"How long did I pass out?" Kye asked.
"Only thirty minutes. And to be honest, I''m quite surprised," Valera said. "I only gave you first aid with my ability to not put any burden on your body, and you were supposed to be fully healed and wake up at lunch, but you just needed 30 minutes to fully heal and woke up. And that''s is quite strange since you don''t have any abilities."
Kye didn''t answer at first because he was searching for something to tell her. He knew why he was already healed, but surely, he wouldn''t tell her how.
"I"m used to be beaten up for a while now," Kye said as he came out of the bed.
"Poor kid," She said and patted his head. "I can''t help you much, but if you need to recover or be healed,e here anytime, okay? My door will always be open," She smiled brightly.
Seeing her like that, Kye was a little taken aback. All the adults he had met until now were just abiding by the system, so it was the first time he saw one like this. And in the end, he smiled back and said, "Thank you for your generosity. I should go now." He then headed toward the door.
The moment he was about to open it though, someone opened it for him.
"Kye, you''re here..." Ven said with a smile. Though, he came back to reality quickly. "No, how are you already standing when everyone said that you got beaten up to death?"
"Yeah, we wanted to wee you when you were going to wake up," Yugo who was behind Ven added.
"Oh... well, I''m used to being beaten, so my body, plus the nurse''s first aid were enough to wake me up." He settled with the same thing that he said to the nurse.
Chapter 9 Level Up?
Hearing what Kye said, both Yugo and Ven were kind of sad. They didn''t expect this type of serious answer. And if what he said was true, then that means that Kye must have suffered a lot since his childhood.
So both of them decided to be more mindful of Kye. They had already said once something that wasn''t appropriate, and even though he was always saying that it was nothing and that it was normal, in reality, it wasn''t.
For high-level people, it was just a daily urrence, but for low-level people, it wasn''t something amusing.
"Anyway," Kye continued. "Shall we go? We have less than ten minutes before ss begins," Yugo and Ven nodded, and they headed to their sses.
Ven also proposed to give the sandwiches to Kye, but thetter refused. He didn''t want to throw up again like yesterday. And even though it was only a small possibility that he would throw up, it was still a possibility. So he didn''t want to take any risks.
So they walked until they arrived in one of the ssrooms. And unfortunately for the boys, Kye wasn''t in the same ss as them.
"This is bullsh*t, why aren''t you with us?" Ven cursed
"That''s true, what are we going to do if we find you in the hospital again?" Yugo added. It didn''t make sense that Kye wasn''t with them. And as he said, him not being with them would only multiply the chance of him being at the hospital.
Though, Kye didn''t answer at first. He didn''t know if he should say what he thought, or what he should say to not break any future friendships. He wanted to change and stand for himself, but that didn''t mean that he needed to be rude toward those who were worried for him.
So instead of saying, "Quit saying that. Are we even friends, to begin with for you guys to worry about me?" He said, "Thank you for worrying about me, but I will be fine, you don''t have to be worried about that," And then left without letting them say anything. He still needed to go to his ssroom, after all, and he only got five minutes.
So he ran as fast as possible, and just before the bell rang, he entered the ssroom.
''Pheww, I made it just in time,'' He thought, but he then suddenly heard someone clearing his throat behind him. It was their homeroom teacher. "Oh, I''m sorry sir," He bowed his head and then went to the only seat avable, that is to say, the one in front of the teacher''s desk.
The teacher then went in front of the board and cleared his throat one more time. "Hello everyone, I hope your first day in the military will go well. I''m your homeroom teacher, in Graduf," Their homeroom teacher was a young man, in his mid-twenties. He had pitch-ck hair and brown eyes. "In today''s lessons, we will review the basics things you need to know in the academy. The rules, the sses that you will need to take, andst but not least, what is the purpose of the military. Does anyone have questions?" He asked as someone lifted his hand.
in picked him up, and the boys stood up from his chair to talk. "Why do we have a tr*sh like him in our ss?" He pointed to Kye. "He doesn''t deserve to be here," The boy who talked was one of the boys who had beaten him up this morning. It was the big guy who Yugo punched first. Unlike his friends that had received a heavy beating, he just came out with a broken nose. And the nurse recovered that quickly, so he was still able to attend sses today.
And seeing him, Kye, grimaced a little bit. At least, it was only at the beginning because when he thought back at the mission the system gave to him after he had woken up, he thought that he couldn''t have a better chance to aplish it than to have one of the bullies in his ss.
And once he turned back to the professor, thetter said, "Because we need everyone to make a world."
"Bu-..." The big guy tried to say, but he got interrupted by the professor.
"Please sit now. I already answered your question, "He then looked at the ss and said, "Anyway, let''s begin today''s ss."
After saying that, everyone went silent and in began his lesson.
He first began to make the students read the rules of the academy. It was also on their watch, but to make sure that everyone would have read it at least once, in decided to do that. And the rules were so long and useless to the students'' eyes that they just waited for lunch.
And reading after reading, the bell finally rang, and everyone went out in hurry.
Kye took his time since he didn''t want to be pushed by everyone at the door. Though someone had the same idea as him, and it wasn''t someone who liked him.
No, on the contrary, he had a bone to pick with him.
"Hey you,e with me for a second," The big guy said, and Kyeplied.
It wasn''t that he didn''t know what was awaiting him. No, on the contrary, he knew very well since he had experienced the same thing again and again. But today would be different. He had a mission now, so he nned to defend himself, whereas before, he just got a beating and didn''t do anything.
He didn''t have any will to change before since he thought that the military would resolve everything, but when he saw that he had just drowned in illusions this entire time, he choose to change.
And this change would happen now, after punching this big guy three times.
So they went somewhere quiet, and the guy said, "You, it''s because of you that those level six came to us, right?" He asked as he cracked his hands.
"What are you talking about?" The big guy was taller than Kye. Probably around fifteen centimeters more or so. He was veryrge too.
Kye didn''t know if it was muscles or fatness, but he knew that no matter what, he would win this fight.
"Don''t try to lie because I know that it''s because of you," He then threw a punch, but Kye managed to dodge it at thest second.
The big guy thought that he dodge it only because of his luck, so he sent another punch, but Kye dodge it again, s, at a hair length.
''I''m managing to see his movement. Is it thanks to the system?'' Kye got his hopes high seeing what he managed to do. But this moment of inattention cost him a heavy punch to his face.
[-3 HP]
He flew for a meter or two and then crashed to the ground.
''God, just this punch had done that much damage? And he didn''t even use any ability yet. I need to make it quick,'' He thought as he get up.
"Haha, I knew that it was only luck,'' He walked slowly toward him.
He then threw another punch, but now, Kye was ready. He ducked a little and sent a punch himself.
Itnded right on his nose.
[Punches count: 1/3]
''Yes!'' He was overjoyed, but to not make the same mistakes as earlier, he backed off from a few steps.
"Pfft, do you think that you will beat me with only that?" He went once again toward him.
Kye waited for the right moment, but unfortunately for him, the guy made fainted, and he got punched in the face.
His nose began to bleed.
"Look, that''s how you do it," He said. "Aren''t I nice? I''m even teaching you."
"F*ck off!" He shouted and got up again. This time, he decided to engage, and as if he wanted to show how superior he was, the big guy didn''t do anything and got punched once again.
[Punches count: 2/3]
"Hahaha,e on, try again!" He said, and Kye didn''t wait to think and he went toward him again. He then threw a punch, and he finally leveled up.
[Punches count: 3/3]
[Missionpleted]
[Instant level up]
[You have reached the maximum amount of EXP]
[Would you like to level up?]
Seeing the messages, Kye was d to havepleted the mission.
And now that he had achieved his quest, the time was for escaping, not taking another beating.
"Let me show you how a punch is thrown," He said as his hand began to be surrounded by rocks.
"Sure, show me," Kye said as he began to run as fast as possible. "Thanks for the level up!" The big guy was dumbfounded, and Kye was d because he managed to take some more distance with him that wasn''t negligible.
Chapter 10 Evolution
Since they were outside, Kye rushed as fast as possible inside the academy building. The big guy was also running behind him, but since he had managed to take some advance earlier, he was still far away from him.
Once inside, he bends into the mass, so the big guy lost him. He tried and tried again to find him but to no avail. He wasn''t there anymore.
''I will catch youter little sh*t. We''re in the same ss, so you won''t be able to escape from me.'' The big guy thought as he headed to the canteen to eat. He needed to eat, and so do Kye, so maybe he will have been able to find him too.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn''t there. Instead, he headed to the library. He was sure that the big guy wouldn''te here, so it was the best thing to do.
And since he wasn''t hungry, he decided not to go to the canteen. As long as he didn''t need to eat, he would stay here.
So he took a random book and sat somewhere avable. He also activated a little device that was on the table. That device created a bubble that surrounded Kye. It was blocking any external sounds from entering the bubble and was also preventing any type of sounds he will do to go outside the bubble. Like this, he wouldn''t be disturbed by anyone and he would be able to see what the system gave him earlier.
So he thought back at what he had received, and the system''s golden window appeared in front of him.
[Missionpleted]
[Instant level up]
[You have reached the maximum amount of EXP]
[Would you like to level up?]
''What does that even mean? Of course, I want to level up. As long as I can be stronger, why would I not?'' He thought as he found thest window quite useless. Was there even a need to ask if one wanted to level up or not? Obviously no. Who wouldn''t want to level up?
So he epted to level up, and his earlier thought of a useless notification suddenly changed.
[Host has epted to level up]
[Congrattion, you are now level 2]
[Evolution process is now beginning]
''What? An evolution? Howe?'' His thought was quickly changed by an insane pain. It was as if his body was pierced by a knife. His heart began to beat at a fast rate. His breathing quickened. His organs began to bulge from his body as if they wanted to escape from the pain. Veins began to appear all over his body.
"Arggghghhhhhhh," Kye shouted from the top of his lungs.
The pain he was feeling was too much to bear. He had never felt that much pain, even after having been beaten that many times. It was as if his body was burning and his organs were squished. It was unbearable, but fortunately for him, the pain stop. And it was as if nothing had happened.
For Kye, it was as if the pain hadsted for a year, or even more, but in reality, it onlysted ten minutes. No more. And Since the bubble was preventing any noise froming out, not a single soul had seen him suffering. Some people however saw him gripping the table as if he wanted to rip it, but they quickly shrug it off. They thought he was just excited by the book he was reading.
''W-what the hell did just happen?'' He thought as the system answered him.
[Congrattion, host has sessfully evolved]
[You are now a Half-Angel]
Kye stared at the system screen for a few moments. He had already guessed that his system had some holy property since he was healing at a faster rate than usual, his new body and the golden screens from the system. All of these things were proof that it was something holy or along the lines. But he never expected to be an angelic system. It didn''t make any sense.
Any type of religion had disappeared a long time ago, so why would an angelic system even be there? Though, before he could think about it more, more system screens appear in front of him.
[Your stats has increased]
[Two new skills have been unlocked]
[Angel''s eyes: Level 1]
p [Angel''s eyes: Allow the host to see through lies. New features will be avable once the skill would level up]
[Holy ray: Level 1]
[Holy ray: Allow the host to fire a Holy ray from his hands. The ray has a range of 5 meters. The host must use his holy energy to fire the Holy ray. Every time a ray will be sent, the host will lose 1 HP]
Those skills were awesome, and he wanted to try them immediately, but another screen suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Someone has disrespected heaven by attacking you]
[Prove yourself by killing the one who had faced you]
[You have one day to kill the one who had sinned. If you do not kill, you will be stripped from your duties as an angel, and therefore, you will die.]
Chapter 11 Experimentation
Kye just experienced a mix of a lot of different emotions in ten minutes. He first felt extreme pain because of the evolution process. He was then shocked to find that his system was rted to angels and that he was now a half-angel. Then, thanks to the skills he received, he was extremely happy because it would be thanks to them that he will be able to change his fate. Andst but not least, he now needed to kill someone.
,m "This must be a joke, right?" Kye said to himself out loud. There was the bubble anyway, so no one could hear him. "What do you mean I need to kill him? How would I even do that?" He asked the system, but it didn''t answer him. It didn''t give him any more information than that.
So to check if what the system asked him was real, he decided to check something.
Kye was someone who didn''t have any abilities, so if the skills he had received were working, then it would mean that the system was also able to kill him.
So since he still had a little less than thirty minutes before afternoon sses begin, he needed to go somewhere quiet. And what better ce than the academy rooftop for that?
So he headed there as fast as possible because it would take him quite some time just to head there. And after around ten minutes of running, he was finally there.
*Whooooosshhhhh*
A strong gust of wind came to his face when he opened the rooftop''s door. Thankfully, there wasn''t anyone there, so he was free to do as he pleased.
Though, before using his Holy ray, he decided to check his stats. The system said that his stats have changed after his evolution and since he hadn''t checked them earlier, he did it now.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Half-angel
LvL: 2
Exp: 0/200
HP: 15/15
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Remaining stats to distribute: 1]
''So I''m indeed a Half-angel now. But what''s a Half-angel, to begin with?'' Kye thought. ''I need to search for that the next time I''m going to the library.''
Like most people, Kye only heard of angels, not half-angel. He didn''t even know what it was, and if it was even a real race. It could also just be something from the system, so it might as well not even exist.
''Then, the EXP seems to have doubled. Does that mean that it will double every time?'' He analyzed after seeing his EXP. ''It would be a real pain to levels upter.''
''Anyways, at least my HP had increased. And I mean fortunately because Holy-ray will drop my HP quickly if I use it repeatedly,''
As he thought, his new skill, Holy ray, was costing 1 HP to use. And that means that if he was to use it repeatedly, his HP would just hit 0 sooner orter. And since he didn''t know what would happen if he were to have no more HP, he wanted to use it as less as possible. If the consequences were his death, then it was better to be careful as much as possible. And he didn''t n to die that soon. He wanted to change, not die. And if the cost of him being stronger was him dying, then it would be problematic.
''Well, as for my stats, I think I would improve my agility. If I were to fight, and it''s bound to happen, it would be perfect if I could see the enemies'' movement, and therefore dodge the strike. And I could even throw Holy-ray from a distance. It has a range of five meters, so I''m sure it would be perfect.''
He then put the remaining stats he had to distribute in agility, and he felt a little different. It was as if he was less heavy than a second ago. He didn''t know if it was true or if it was only an impression, but it felt real.
"Well, I think I saw everything I needed to see. Let''s experiment now," Kye said as he prepared himself.
He walked a little to be right on the middle of the rooftops, and once ready, he put his hand in front of him and made a fist with it.
He then thought of activating his Holy ray, and as if knew how to use it since his childhood, his fist began to glow. Not even a second after, a golden light came out of it and made a little boom sound.
[-1 HP]
"Wow, it''s real. I can''t believe it," He eximed as he did it another time.
[-1 HP]
"That''s awesome. I love it," The power he was feeling every time he was activating the Holy ray was something addictive. It was as if his whole body and soul were surrounded by a warm feeling. It was so appeasing that he wanted to do it another time.
But then, reality brought him back to reality.
He suddenly heard someoneing on the rooftops and opening the door.
As if he had done something wrong, he tried to find a hiding spot, but it was toote. Those who came on the rooftop saw him.
"KYE!" One of the boys shouted and ran toward him. "You''re here. We searched you everywhere," The boys were none other than Yugo and Ven. They came to the rooftop after searching Kye at every single ce they could possibly think of.
"We heard that someone was picking a fight with you," Ven added. "Is everything alright?" Yugo and Ven had heard what happened when they went to Kye''s ss. Everyone was talking about the fact that a big guy took him somewhere, and since they have 2 levels of difference, it wasn''t hard to guess what was going to happen.
So when they heard that, the boys began to run everywhere to find Kye. They didn''t want to find him in a hospital bed once again. They did the mistake once, so not a second time.
And when he heard the guys telling him that, Kye touched his face. He hadpletely forgotten that he had taken quite the beating even though he ran away. Though, when he touched it, he didn''t feel anything. Not any bruises or things like that. It was as if he had healed already.
''Ah, yeah that''s true. I''m a half-angel now, so the holy power in my body must have regenerated my face. That''s quite useful, to be honest.''
"You don''t have to worry guys. The moment I saw an opening, I ran away as fast as I could," He said as he activated his angels'' eyes. His eyes glowed a little bit in yellow color, but since it was brow daylight, the boys didn''t see anything. Like this, he would also be able to see if they were genuinely worried about him or if they were just acting everything. Like this, he would be able to think about what to do next with them.
"Thank god. Please, do that every time or call us. We want to help you." Yugo said.
"And we don''t want to see you hurt again or in a hospital bed. It would be strange to hope that for a friend anyway." Ven added
And as if he could feel it, he knew that they were telling the truth. He didn''t know if it was real or not, but he was sure at 100% that they were genuinely concerned about him and wanted to protect him.
"Thank you, guys. It means a lot to me." He said with a bright smile. And as if the boys felt an urge in them, they hugged Kye. "Huh? What are you guys doing?"
"I don''t know. It was something that I wanted to do. I couldn''t help myself."
"Yeah, that''s the same for me. You looked too cute, so I wanted to cherish you." Yugo said.
"Thanks, I think?" Kye didn''t what to say. It was strange for them to do that. But then something just answered him.
[People around you are attracted to your holy energy.]
''What the f*ck is that? Are you kidding my system? Are you ying with their minds and emotions right now?'' He asked but to no avail. The system didn''t answer him. ''God, I didn''t want those types of energy if it was for that purpose. I don''t know if they are themselves or not anymore.
"By the way, Kye," Ven said with a smug smile. "Is it I or you changed from this morning?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don''t know. I have the impression that you''re a little bit more handsome than this morning," Ven admitted. "And your blue eyes are also a lot more brilliant as if they had recovered their lost color. Yeah, you really became more handsome."
"Thank you again, I guess?"
"Your wee, your wee," He smiled and patted Kye''s back.
"Anyway, Kye, can you give us your contact info, please?" Yugo said. "Like this, we would be able tomunicate, and you would be able to tell us if something is happening to you.
"Sure." He nodded and then gave it. It wouldn''t hurt him to do that, and it was also more beneficial for him since he could indeed ask them for help if he was in dire situations. Not that he would now since he had new powers. At least, it was what he thought.
"Well, I think it''s time to go back to sses." Kye finally said. He didn''t get to experiment as much as he wanted, but it would do for now.
Though, he hadpletely forgotten why he hade to the rooftop in the first ce.
His killing quest countdown was still going down.
Chapter 12 Future Classes
As the boys were going down from the rooftop to their ssrooms, the people that they were passing were ncing at them strangely. There was two level six with one level one, after all, so they were bound to attract attention.
And since Kye wasn''t used to that, he couldn''t help himself but look down. And because of that, it entuated this feeling of two high-level students that had found their target.
Though, for Yugo and Ven, they couldn''t care less about what other people could think. However, when they saw how Kye was, they decided to re back menacingly at them so they would stop. And it worked. But Kye was still looking down.
"Kye, why are you looking to the ground like this?" Ven asked.
"Oh, my bad, I didn''t know," Kye answered in hurry. He still didn''t want to look bad in front of his new friends. "It''s just that you guys are my first friend since the day I lost my parents, so it just feels awkward regarding how I should behave with you. Especially when both of you are high-level, and that we''re here, in the academy where the level is really important."
Hearing what he said, the guys felt a little pinched in their hearts. They didn''t expect that Kye, on top of being a low-level, was also an orphan. That means that his bullying was two times worse than normal people''s and that he suffered as much in consequences. So when they heard that, they just felt sad that they were acting like almighty high-level at the beginning with him. Sure it wasn''t at the level of other kids, but it was still at a level that made Kye feels like a low-level without any defense or things like that.
So they just promised themselves to be even kinder than what they were nning.
And after walking for a little while, they finally came in front of Kye''s ss.
The boys wanted to see who was the one who wanted to bully him, but he still wasn''t there, so in the end, they just went to their own ssroom because the break was soon over.
And not even five minutester, the bell rang and their professor came inside the ssroom, where every single of the students was waiting for him.
"Alright everyone, now we will see what type of sses you will need to take during your two years at the military school," in said as he looked at everyone. He could see that one boy was staring at someone in the front row intensely.
"During your two years of studying, you will continue the usual sses that you needed to follow in middle school and high school. Among them, you will have sciences sses such as physics and chemistry, mathematics, and humans biology. Then, you will have the literature sses such as history or even geography. There are a lot of things to know about what happened a long time ago, or even the beast that you will need to visit during your stay as a student here," Saying that the ss began to talk among themselves with much more excitation than when their professor was talking about normal sses.
Almost no one wanted to do the normal jobs that were avable a few centuries ago.
Though, with a p of his foot, the homeroom teacher shut everyone''s mouths.
"Those who don''t want to be expelled from sses shut your mouth," He said with a stern voice. "Anyway, those sses, you will have them for only one hour per week each. Is there any question?"
One of the students raised her hand and the professor authorized her to speak.
"Are we going to have exams regarding those sses?"
"No, but it will affect your overall value regarding what you can do after military sses. No one would want a d*mb monkey, after, right?" He answered as he looked at the ss once again to see if there was any other question. And after seeing that there was no one, he continued his exnation.
"Then, let''s pass into the sses that you like the most, shall we?" He first said. "First, what we call the abilities sses. There, you will learn how to use your ability with more depth and battle with your ability.
"Then, you will have the weapon ss, where you will learn how to fight at close range and more importantly, how to fight with a weapon. And for those who had some prejudice over weapons, let me remind you that a lot of the must-known fighters of Earth were using weapons alongside their ability.
"Anyway, you will need to choose one of those. You can''t choose both because you can''t be at two ces at the same time, right? As for the exams in those sses, your future teachers will exin them to you in detail, but you should at least know that they will not happen on Earth."
Once again, all the ss went into discussions. But this time, the teacher didn''t stop them. It was normal after all, they were still students, and they needed to talk about those types of things since it was basically their future.
And what they were talking was about the exams. If they weren''t taking ce on Earth, then that only means that they would take ce on beasts. And the only possibles oues in beasts was the students fighting beasts.
Kye didn''t speak with anyone, but that doesn''t mean he wasn''t thinking. And the exam topic was stressing him to no end. He knew too that he would need to fight against the beast, but he didn''t even know how to fight, to begin with.
''I need to take the weapon ss. I can''t show that I have some ability when they know that I don''t have any,'' Kye thought. ''I need to improve as much as I can with a weapon to be able to fight even without using my Holy ray."
Since he couldn''t show that he could use some sort of ability, it was as if he didn''t have any. So the weapon ss would give him the means to fight alongside people.
"Now, now," The teacher finally pped his hands after some minutes had passed. "Let''s not forget that we still need to see what is the purpose of the military," He said as the lights of the ssroom went off and a film began.
This film was talking about how the military began to be like this. What happened after the war, andst but not least, how did the military had managed to defend itself against all those intelligent monsters that were attacking them during the war.
Though, it wasn''t only that. The film then showed a human organization that was destroying a lot of things from humanity''s side. They had demonic masks, so they were called by the public, The demonic group. But one knew why they were doing that. Except for the fact that they waged multiples attack against the big group that had the strong ability.
And when Kye saw the second part of the film, a system window appeared in front of him.
[New quest: The demonic group.
Search what is the real purpose of the demonic group.
Reward: Hidden]
''What''s that? Aren''t you tired of giving me missions that are impossible for me to do?'' Kye thought before his eyes went out of their eyeball. ''Wait, wait, wait, didn''t the system ask me to do another quest?'' He checked the old messages and then found them. ''No way, it was real,'' He said to himself as he saw the countdown.
[22:30 hours left to kill the one who had disrespected heaven]
Chapter 13 Questions
Kye hadpletely forgotten the quest he had received after his evolution. He didn''t know if it was because the quest in itself was absurd, or because he still thought that it was a joke, but in the end, the quest was still real.
''What do I do?'' He thought while he was biting his finger. He wasn''t paying any attention to the film anymore because the quest would determine if he would still be able to live or not. ''How should I proceed? Wouldn''t the military know that it''s me if he die? No, would I even be able to beat him in the first ce?''
As he thought, it was good to think of a way to kill him or even try to escape from the military''s attention, but the real question was if he would be able to beat him before even thinking of killing him.
The one who had disrespected heaven was an ability user for a long time now. And his ability was none other than rock. A very powerful ability because it was strong in defense and in attacks. And unlike Kye, he had had the time to familiarize himself with his ability and how to use it, whereas Kye only unlocked his first spell a few hours ago.
''Should I ask Yugo and Ven for help? But would they even help? Wouldn''t they ask me why I need to kill him? Sure it''s the one who had beaten me, but is it necessary to kill him? Won''t they ask me that?''
Even though he wanted to ask them for help, he couldn''t. He had only met them and been friends with them not long ago, so he couldn''t destroy his new friendship because of that.
''No, why would I even need their help?'' He thought. ''I decided to stand for myself now, so why do I want to ask for their help? And would the system even ept if I proceed like that?'' He asked himself. ''No, I can''t risk it. I don''t know anything about the system, so it''s better if I don''t do it like that. I need to do it alone, with my own means and power.''
''Come on Kye, you can do it,'' He encouraged himself, but even he had some big difficulties believing in that. He had sure obtained a spell, but would it be even effective against him? Would he be able to know when to use it to not die?
Since Holy ray was consuming 1 HP every time he was using it, he could be low HP quickly if he didn''t pay attention to his enemy.
One big hit could put him in a difficult situation, and in the middle of a fight, this situation would be disastrous.
So the film the teacher put was still going on. But Kye didn''t pay attention to it anymore. He was trying to make as many fighting scenarios in his head as possible to expect as many situations as possible. But since he had little to no experience in this field, he didn''t know how to do it.
And even if he was able to make scenarios in his head, would he be able to react? He never fought for real since it was only a one-sided fight every time it was happening, so he wouldn''t be able to see the enemy''s movements even if he had nned everything beforehand.
Battle''s experiences couldn''t be surpassed just with theory and strategy. As it was called, experience, so one needed to experience battles to know how to react or even see the enemies'' movement.
Though, there was one silver lining in all of that mess. The fact that he had managed to see his bully''s movement and also dodge some of his hits. Sure he had taken so big fists in his head too, but it was because he was distracted by his emotions, and more particrly with joy.
And it was still when he hadn''t improved his agility through the system. He didn''t know if it would be a significant change or not, but if he was already able to see the movements and dodge them one time out of two, then this single point in agility will greatly help him. Even if it was just a little, help was still help. And every help was wee in situations like this. Especially when the enemy was much more experienced than him.
So sses continued, and even though he had calmed a little, it was still hard to focus. If what he thought would happen, that is to say, the big man woulde to him after ss ended to go somewhere quiet, then that means that he would kill someone this afternoon. And he wasn''t ready for that yet.
He even had a hard time killing an insect, so killing a human was a thousand times, if not a million times harder. There would be blood, and things that would lead to him, so he really wasn''t ready.
''Why do I have to do that? Is it the equivalent exchange that my parents were talking about? I got some abilities and spells, and in exchange, I need to act like an angel and kill those who had offended heaven?'' He had a hard time thinking that. ''What type of sh*t I''m in right now?''
Kye, even though was preparing himself to do the worst, wasn''t ready at all. He was sure that he would experience a mental breakdown after that, but well... Only if he manages to kill the guy. Otherwise, the only one who will be dead would be him.
''No Kye, you need to do it. I don''t know how, but you will be able to do it. Trust yourself, and everything would be alright. I just need to remember that I now have spells and that if I don''t dodge him, I would definitely die, either under his onught or because of Holy ray.''
As he was thinking that, the film ended and the bell announced the end of the school day, and thus, the students were free to do whatever they wanted.
And as he had predicted, the one who had to bully him this morning came.
He pped the table where Kye was sitting and said, "Hey, we need to talk, if you see what I''m talking about," He headed out of the ssroom, followed by a seemingly reluctant Kye and under the eyes of those who still hadn''t gone out of the ssroom.
Chapter 14 The Decisive Fight
The big guy came to where Kye was and then pped his table. "Hey, we need to talk, if you see what I''m talking about," He headed out of the ssroom, followed by a seemingly reluctant Kye.
The big guy was walking ahead, and Kye was following him without saying a word.
They walked for quite a long time, and wherever they were passing people were ncing at them strangely. The high levels with expectation because they knew that it would be a great time for the big guy, while the low levels were pitying Kye because they also knew what would happen to him. Though they were d that it wasn''t them, and not a single soul came to try to protect Kye.
Not that Kye wanted anyway.
If his ''bullying'' was reported the next time, it would only mean that the death door would be closer to him. So it was better to do things now thanter.
He was also d that neither Yugo nor Ven immediately came to his ssroom after the bell had rung. It would onlyplicate things more if they were toe because how would he exin to them what he would do right now?
He won''t be able, right?
So it was really good that they didn''te. And it was also one of the reasons why he hadn''t called them to help him. Sure if they were here, it would be far easier toplete the mission, but then, he would need to exin why he had done this, and above all, there would be witnesses that would see what he would do.
So it was better that he was alone and that nobody came to help him.
And after walking for a while, they finally came somewhere where there wasn''t anybody. They were in what seemed a little forest that was near the academy''s building.
The forest wasn''t too dense, but it didn''t need to be since there wasn''t anybody here. And since they were pretty far from the entrance, there was even less risk to be seen by someone.
"We didn''t finish somethingst time, don''t you think?" The big guy said.
Kye didn''t really know what to say, but in the end, he decided to go the provocative way.
"Did we? I thought I had won our little spar though," He smiled. He had thought that when the film was ying earlier during ss. A fighter who couldn''t keep his calm would always do mistakes in a fight, so the best solution to win was to provoke him as much as possible.
"What did you say?" He shouted. "You tr*sh, I''m going to kill you!!" He rushed toward Kye as his arms began to be enveloped by rocks. Though, he was quite slow. Even slower than this noon.
''It worked. And I can even see his movement clearly,'' He thought with a lot of joy, but quickly calm himself after remembering how he got punched easily because he was distracted.
And in the end, he managed to avoid his first strike and took a few steps back to reposition himself.
"That''s all? I was expecting a little more from a level three, to be honest," Kye provoked him one more time, and the boy couldn''t take it anymore.
It was the first time in his life that he was humiliated like this, and it was no less than a level one who was humiliating him.
"You son of bi*ch, I will fuc*ing kill you!!!"
Hearing him shout like this, Kye was happy. He had managed to provoke him enough to not let him think straight. Though the fact that he had insulted his dead mother of a bi*ch was enough to erase this smile, and instead, let a cold nce on his face.
And when the big guy was once again rushing toward him, Kye finally use his new spell, Holy ray
[-1 HP]
This HP loss would surely put him in a bad situation as time passed, but if he could damage him enough with it, it would be worth the risk.
The golden light headed toward the big guy at a fast speed, and since he was in range and the guy didn''t expect something like that, he got hit in his left shoulder.
"ARGHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed in pain. All the rocks that were in his left arm had felled down, and now, in his left shoulder, there was a medium hole.
He wanted to ask how it was possible. How could a level one could have such a strong ability and stay level one, but Kye didn''t let him.
Thetter rushed toward him quickly when he saw that he got to his knees, and punched him as strongly as possible in the face.
The big guy was sent a little to the back, but not that much. Kye was surely fast, but he didn''t have any strength. Not with a body like his in any case.
And seeing that he didn''t do much, he took once again some steps back.
The big guy was still feeling the pain in his shoulder, but he managed to get up. It was clear that his enemy wasn''t holding back, so that means that he was also ready to kill him. And because of that, he used his strongest spell.
He put his hands on the ground and all the surrounding rock began to float in the air.
"HAHAHA, did you really think you would do any sh*t against me?" He shouted whileughing. "Die you fuc*ing bast*rd," He said as he sent the rocks toward Kye.
Seeing them, Kye got scared.
But he remembered that he wouldn''t be able to do anything or think straight under stress, so he calmed down.
He then quickly observed the situation he was in and only saw one thing to do.
Using as much Holy ray as possible to kill him.
If he didn''t do that, it would be him who would die.
Chapter 15 Bad Timing
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
***
Once sses had ended, Yugo and Ven took their time. Kye wouldn''t suddenly disappear just in a few minutes after all, right?
p And even if he did, he would surely contact them first, right?
So they decided to go slowly to Kye''s ssroom. Though, what they heard in the hallway wasn''t that reassuring.
People were talking about a low level that had been transported with a high level, so it wasn''t hard to know what would happen. But since there wasn''t any physical description of the low level, the boys just thought that it wasn''t Kye.
There were a lot of low-level people in the academy, so Kye couldn''t possibly be the target every time.
Though, when they heard something, they just elerated their walking pace.
They heard from one girl that the low level had beautiful blue eyes and that she would have dated him if he was a high-level student and not a low-level.
But the only thing they remembered from that was that the low lever had beautiful blue eyes, and they only knew Kye with that criteria.
So they rushed toward Kye''s ssroom, only to see that he wasn''t there.
"Excuse me," Yugo said to one of Kye''s ssmates. "Do you perhaps know where the two boys who were fighting during lunch went?"
"Uhm, I think they went outside, and probably toward the forest if they wanted to do something," The girl said with a little bit of fear. She was just level 3 whereas Yugo was level 6. Sure she wasn''t as bullyable as level 1, but a level 6 would be able to make her suffer without even her knowing it, so she just said what she knew in the end.
Without even thanking her, Yugo who was followed by Ven went there.
They hoped with all their heart that nothing had happened to Kye, because if it was the case, it would be hard for them to apologize to him.
They were high-level and were able to protect him. So if Kye was once more in a hospital bed, they wouldn''t know what to do anymore.
***
Kye was surrounded by floating rock. He couldn''t count them because it would only distract him more than anything else, but just with a nce, he could see that there were a lot of rocks.
And strangely enough, these rock looks oddly sharp. He didn''t know if they were naturally sharp or if it was the guy''s ability who did that, but either way, it wasn''t good for him.
He didn''t want to know how much damage he would receive with just one rock, so if all of them were to impale him, he will surely die.
So he tried to analyze the situation as much as possible, but fear was slowly taking over his rationality.
''Come on, why did he need to have such a strong ability?'' He thought in desperation. ''No! I too have something that could go to par with his ability. I just need to aim to a vital and everything will be good.'' He thought as he made a gun-like shape with his hand and put it in front of him to have a better aim.
Earlier he had sent his Holy ray with a fist, and it had done a lot of damage. But doing it like this would probably be better.
The pration would be even stronger, and he just hoped that by doing this, his spell would be as strong as a real gun.
Though, it wasn''t as if the boy would have let him do his things.
All this time, he was gathering the rocks and was controlling them, but once he saw what Kye was doing, he unleashed his spell on him. He would have loved to gather more rock, but since he needed to stay idle when he was using this spell, he would have been an easy target for Kye.
So like this, he would still be able to move and avoid a fatal injury. Thest Holy ray had made him suffer a lot earlier and he didn''t want to live that pain again, so he used his spell even though it wasn''t at its maximum capability.
Though, he was sure that it would have been enough to kill him.
He didn''t know from where he got this golden ray, but at the end of the day, he was still a level 1 with a body of a level 1. So he wouldn''t survive to that many rocks.
Or so he thought.
Kye began to receive rocks, and every time one came to him, it pierced him. He had already numerous holes in his body. It was extremely painful every time a rock was piercing his body and got stuck in it, but he greeted through the pain.
His HP was going down, but he still needed to aim at his bully without fault.
One mistake and everything could be ruined.
So even under the immense pain, he almost didn''t scream in pain because if he did, it would just distract him more than anything.
[Be careful! Your HP is dangerously low.]
[5 HP remaining]
''Tch,'' Kye thought as he finally got a good firing line. ''Holy ray!''
[-1 HP]
[3 HP left]
He didn''t look at thest few messages because all his focus was on the Holy ray.
It was as if he was looking at a slowed film, where he could see everything around him but couldn''t interact with them.
His bully was moving slowly and was trying to avoid his golden ray, but thetter was heading right toward his heart.
It was as if a sniper had aimed at him so much the ray had been aimed goodly. It didn''t look as if it was a simple student who had aimed.
Though, in this slowed world, Kye saw something. It was at the side. He could see two teenagers.
And he recognizes the faces immediately since they were his roommates and his new friends.
Yes, it was Yugo and Ven, and they saw what had happened in the end. Especially when Kye had sent his golden ray.
Chapter 16 Good Friends
The Holy ray came out from Kye''s finger, and it flew right on the guy''s chest. And if we were to be more precise, it went right toward his heart area.
So when the ray pierced his body, thetter just stopped moving.
His heart had stopped beating.
His breathing stopped.
He fell to the ground.
His body was now lifeless.
"KYE!" Ven shouted as he saw what happened at thest moment. He then tried to run toward him.
"DON''T COME!" Kye shouted back. He had aplished the mission, but he didn''t even look at the system''s windows that were showing him his rewards. No, he was now experiencing the aftereffect of killing someone. So his head wasn''t thinking about that at the moment.
And the venue of the boys only entuated things even more. He didn''t want to get caught, but now that they were here, it meant that he failed royally. And just thinking about what would happen next was scaring him even more.
Kye was only a teenager who got bullied all his life, so seeing something like that was already terrible. And when it was him who did it, it was even worse. But when there were witnesses at the crime scene, it was like the world was crushing him.
And because of that, his breathing quickened.
"DON''T COME NEAR ME!!" He shouted once more as his breathing quickened even more.
"Kye, wait, you''re hyperventting," Yugo said with worry. He didn''t know what happened, but it was clear that Kye wasn''t good right now.
Both of the guys weren''t even paying attention to the dead guy and only wanted to help Kye. But thetter was too terrified and couldn''t think straight to see that. For him, they were about to me him and report him to the academy. And if it was to be the case, then he will live a hellish life.
Yugo and Ven tried toe once more toward him, and this time, Kye didn''t say anything.
He just stood there, without moving.
Seeing that, the boys thought he had calmed down, but when they took a closer look, they saw how much Kye was bleeding.
And the reason why Kye wasn''t moving anymore was that he had just fainted.
And this time, Kye too was falling to the ground.
Seeing that, Ven immediately used his ability to reverse gravity to not let Kye fall. There were still a lot of sharp rocks on the ground, so it would only make things harder for him if they were to impale him.
Both of them then rushed toward him and took them in their arms gently. There was a lot of rock in his body and even though thetter was trying to regenerate, it couldn''tpletely because the rocks were blocking a part of the regeneration.
"What the hell did happen here?" Yugo asked whoever could answer him, but those who could weren''t avable right now. One of them had passed out while the other had died. "And why does Kye is in this state?"
"I don''t know man, but we need to bring Kye to the hospital, it''s critical."
"No, we can''t. If we do that, they will know that''s something is suspicious."
"What do you propose then?" Ven asked, pressing him. Kye didn''t look well, so they needed to act fast.
"Look, I don''t know why and how, but Kye''s regeneration is incredibly fast, so just bring him to our room and wait for me. We will try to take the rocks off his body to let it regenerate. So he won''t even need the medic''s healing," Yugo proposed. He had remarked that Kye''s regeneration was fast when his bleeding lips had regenerated in just a few minutes, and his body hadpletely recovered in just thirty minutes whereas it needed multiple hours to do so.
"And how do we cover for this guy?" He showed the dead body with his finger. "The military will surely know that something had happened even if we do our best to cover things up." Ven pointed out. Even if they were to use all things they had at their disposal, the military will still find some clues.
"Can''t we just let him here? There''s no camera in the academy, so they won''t be able to find what happened." Yugo said.
"They won''t need cameras when all his ss gossiped about what happened during lunch and now. And they also know that we were searching for them."
"Then can''t we just say that it wasn''t us? I mean, neither you nor I could make holes like that in his body." Yugo gave an idea. As he said, they didn''t have a high enough mastery in their abilities topact it so much.
"And how about Kye? Won''t they know that he was the one who did that?"
"Kye isn''t supposed to have any abilities. So no, they won''t know anything."
"Then how did he use this golden ray?"
"I don''t know man, we could still ask himter," Yugo said as he get up. "Come on, we gotta go."
Ven also gets up, and together with Yugo, they brought him slowly into their room. Though, they hadn''t forgotten to clean all the blood that was around their fighting ce.
Thanks to the spatial ability of Yugo, they put all red marks in a little pocket dimension. Like this, they won''t know from whom the blood was.
So after around fifteen minutes, they finally came to their rooms.
It was so hard to get there because students were hanging out at every corner of the academy. So they needed to hide every time they saw someone.
Though, in the end, they finally came, and they immediately put Kye on the ground with a lot of cover under and above him. His body was getting cold because of the blood loss.
And they didn''t put him on his bed because it would dirty things even more, so there would be more evidence to clean up.
"What do we do now?" Yugo said. "His body is freezing."
"One of us needs to keep him warm while the other takes off the rocks."
"And how are we supposed to keep him warm, huh?"
"I don''t know, hug him maybe, I don''t see another solution. I will try to take off the rock with my gravity," Ven said. "And prepare another pocket dimension for the rocks."
Hearing the next course of action, Yugo nodded and try to hug Kye to keep him warm. Though, it was quite hard because if he were toe closer to him, he will just drive the rocks into him more, and it would just make him suffer more.
"One-off, still a lot more to go," Ven said as sweat began to drip from his forehead.
A long session of medical care would be ahead of them.
Chapter 17 Kyes Real Identity
Since there were at least thirty rocks in Kye''s body, Ven took a lot of time to take them all off.
Every single rock could affect him badly if he took it the wrong way, so he needed to do it with extra care.
Though, every time he took off one, he could see Kye''s natural regeneration doing an amazing job. It was as if he wasn''t looking at a human being anymore, but another race with powerful regenerative ability.
So every time Yugo and Ven saw that, they were amazed. And thanks to his regeneration ability, everything went well.
Kye''s body was extremely cold at the beginning because of the blood loss. It was as if he was dying slowly but surely.
But every time they took a rock off his body, his body heat went up by a bit. And after almost two hours, they had finally finished, and Kye was as good as new.
He didn''t have any holes in his body anymore because it had regeneratedpletely.
Though, they had taken his clothes off to do a better job. But what they saw when they took them off shocked them even more than anything else.
On his back, there were tiny white-feathers wings.
Seeing that, they thought at the beginning that he was a beast with a human appearance, but they hadn''t seen any beast like that in their lives, so in the end, they just thought that Kye wasn''tpletely human.
But the question was how?
Surely the military would have known it if he wasn''tpletely human, right? They wouldn''t let pass something like that right?
So that only means that Kye experienced something after he came to the military''s ground.
But then, they could only theorize about that. They needed to wait for him to wake up, and for him to be morefortable, they washed him before putting him to bed.
And it was almost nighttime when they werepletely done.
"Man, I really thought that we would have lost him at the beginning," Ven said after lying down on his bed. He was exhausted because of the constant use of his ability.
"Yeah, me too. I didn''t expect him to be that resistant," Yugo answered while taking a little bit of water. "Normal people would have already died from the blood loss."
"But his natural regeneration just saved him. We just did a minimal task by taking the rock off his body; So in the end, it makes me wonder, who is really Kye?" Ven said while having a headache. All of this seems moreplicated than what he was just seeing.
"I really don''t know," Yugo answered honestly. "I just met him a few hours ago before you, so we''re on the same page right now," He then looked toward the sleeping Kye while thinking that."
"Then do you think he is an angel?"
"From where did you get that from?" Yugo chuckled.
"I mean, don''t you think so too?" Ven asked. "The little wings on his back. The fact that he used a golden ray while he''s not supposed to have any ability. His impressive regenerative ability that''s supposed to be an ability in itself. Andst but not least, his sudden handsomeness."
Hearing him, Yugo couldn''t help but agree with him. Everything he had just said was true, and he couldn''t deny it. And once he put everything with the things he knew about angels, it made sense.
"I get where you want toe from, but why thest part?"
"I mean, he wasn''t as handsome as now the first time I met him. He was just average. And I''m sure you can agree with me on this point. But all of sudden, this morning, he suddenly gets more handsome," Ven exined. As he said, it was strange for someone to pass from average to handsome in not even a day.
"So you''re telling me that his handsomeness is a part of him being an angel?"
"Yeah!" Ven agreed immediately. "Aren''t angels supposed to be extremely handsome beings? So that would exin how he get this handsome in such a short amount of time."
"Then does that mean that he became an angel during lunch?" Yugo finally connected all the dots. "But that doesn''t make any sense. Things like that only exist in books and fiction."
"That''s what I''m thinking too. It doesn''t make any sense at all. Except if he had external help, but it doesn''t make sense either. This external person would have been detected by the military."
"Yeah. And in the end, we just discovered one little thing. That Kye is an angel and not a human. But we don''t know anything else."
"You''re right," Ven said with sleepy eyes. "But what are we supposed to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, do we ask him what he is and who he is once he wakes up?"
After thinking for a moment, Yugo finally answered. "I don''t think that''s a good idea."
"And why''s that?"
"Let me ask you this first," Yugo said with a serious tone. "Do you care about Kye enough to be his friend and cover for what he did?"
Hearing that, Ven thinks for a moment. Yugo''s tone was too serious to just be a joke, so he needed to think carefully about that. He couldn''t give a half-a** answer after all.
Did he really want to be his friend? Would he be able to cover for what he did?
"I think yes, definitely," Ven finally said. "I mean, I''m already an aplice in the story by helping him," As he said, he was already in this mess even if he didn''t want to. So he might as well stay like this. "And yes, I want to be his friend. A best friend even. But I just have the impression that it''s Kye who doesn''t want, to be honest. I think he is putting some barriers between him and us."
"Right? That''s what I think too," Yugo nodded before continuing. "Anyway, since you still want to be in this mess, let me tell you why this isn''t a good idea to ask him.
"First, you saw how he reacted when we wanted to help him but he just yelled at us not to. He was scared, and that only means that he can''t trust us yet. So he''s just gonna back off even more if we ask him."
"Fair enough, how about the second point?" Ven said.
"Do you really think he will tell us the truth?" Yugo said. "It''s the same for my first statement too, but if he can''t trust us, it''s because one, we just met yesterday, and two, he got bullied by people since he was little. So he must have big trust issues. I wonder if he isn''t constantly asking himself if we don''t have any hidden agenda by staying with him and wanting to be his friends."
"Arghhh, I hate it that you''re so right," Ven said while hitting his bed with his feet. "So we don''t know anything?"
"Yeah, that''s the best thing to do."
"But won''t he suspect that something if we don''t say anything either?"
"Well, it''s better that he is the one who came at us than the contrary," Yugo said. "And he could as well just think that we didn''t notice anything or that we don''t care. Either way, it will just benefit us since it would just make our friendship stronger, right?"
"Yeah, you''re right," Ven said as he almost slept. "Well, we just need to wait for him to wake up. And don''t forget to wake up early. We can''t let him go alone or he''s going to have problems, be it with the military or high-level kids," He said thesest things before sleeping.
"Yeah, you too," Yugo said as he turned the lights off and began sleeping too.
This first day at the academy had been long and tiring. And a lot of events had passed too.
Chapter 18 A Growing Friendship
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
***
While Yugo and Ven were trying their best to save Kye from dying, thetter was still able to hear them.
From the outside, it looks like he had fainted, and it was the case. But strangely enough, he could still hear everything that was surrounding him.
And thus, from the moment he fainted in the forest.
And at that, time, since he heard what they did, he just felt relieved.
Even though he had used his Angel''s eyes and felt that they were genuine with their emotions about him, he couldn''t help but be scared.
People could see the real face of people around them during difficult situations, and when he fainted, Kye saw how much they wanted to help him.
Fear had taken over him at that time, so he couldn''t help but reject them when he was still awake. But once he fainted and heard how much they wanted to be in the situation to help him, Kye saw that they were ''true friends''.
They wanted to help him even though it could destroy their future. And above all, they had helped him that much even though they had just met a day ago.
So if he still didn''t trust them after all they did for him, it would just be immoral for him.
And they even decided to not pry further into his situation. They had already guessed almost all of it, but they didn''t want confirmation. They knew that he wouldn''t answer them by telling the truth, so they just decided to solidify their friendship to ask him about itter.
And that means a lot to Kye.
They were high levels, so they could ask whatever they wanted from him.
But they didn''t.
And only that means that they really wanted to create something with him instead of a rtionship based on fear.
And Kye was d for that.
He didn''t know if he was to be able to trust someone ever again after his supposed to be friends began to turn into his bullies, and it was especially the case when he saw that there was still a level system in the military.
But now, even though he still didn''t trust them at a hundred percent, it wasn''t so far away from that.
So with a little bit of luck, soon, Kye was sure that he would have some true friends that he would be able to call his best friends.
And so passed the night.
Daytime arrived quickly, and like yesterday, Kye was the first to wake up. It was only 6 am, so he still had a little less than 2 hours to prepare himself for the academy.
And the first thing he did was to do his additional quests.
It was the same as yesterday, only the fact that this time, it was far easier to do them.
''Is it because I''m not a human anymore?'' Kye thought, not feeling tired at all. ''Well, it''s probably better like this,'' He looked at his EXP bar and it was now indicating [15/200].
He then went to the bathroom to take a bath, and when he looked at himself in the mirror, he had indeed changed.
"Pfft, as Ven said, I indeed pass from average to handsome," He chuckled a little while looking at himself. He usually wasn''t praising himself, but now, he couldn''t help but do it.
His face didn''t have any imperfection at all now.
And it was the same with his body. It was still a little bit skinny, but muscles began to appear slowly but surely. He also saw the little white wings on his back. They were pretty but looked quite fragile. So he needed to be careful with them.
So all in all, he had indeed be more handsome in less than a day.
Thanks to what?
His evolution of course. It''s something impossible for normal human beings.
After looking at him a little more, he took a bath, and once again, he felt new. His skin wasn''t like before. More smooth and a little bit clearer.
It was as if impurities were going off from his body.
And after taking his very long bath, it was 7 am, and he finally got out of the bathroom.
"Oh, Kye, you''re already awake?" Yugo said with sleepy eyes. "How is your body, are you feeling ufortable or anything?"
Kye didn''t answer at the beginning and waited for Ven to be awake too. And he didn''t even wait for a second before he got out of his bed too.
"Guys, thank you, really," He bowed his head to show his gratitude. "I would probably not be alive if you didn''t take all the rocks off my body."
"Wait, why are you bowing to us?" Ven said with a sleepy voice. "We didn''t do anything, your body regenerated on its own. No, wait, how do you know what we did?"
"Well, hehe," Kye chuckled. "I was unconscious, but somehow, I heard everything that was happening around me. So I know what you guys talked about and what risk you took to help me."
"That''s pretty... Well anyways, what happened just happen so it can''t be helped," Yugo said as he walked toward the bathroom. "If you want to thank us, just don''t be in situations where you need to put your life on the line, okay?" Ven agreed with him immediately.
Hearing them, Kye almost got into tears, but he kept everything in him. It would be better if he were to smile in a situation like this, and it''s exactly what he did.
And seeing him like this, Ven just blurted out, "I was right yesterday, you''re really an angel."
"Come on Ven, we agreed that we would have said anything yesterday," Yugo said from the bathroom.
"Ah, my bad my bad, you didn''t hear anything Kye, right?"
"Pfft, haha, yeah, but you don''t have to worry guys, I will definitely tell you what happened to me at some point. I just need more time," He smiled once again, and Yugo and Ven did the same.
It was proof that their friendship was growing.
Chapter 19 A Special Sword
While the Yugo and Ven were preparing themselves for today, Kye was finally able to see what the system gave him after aplishing the mission.
[You have shown to the one who had offended Heaven its wrath]
[Heaven wants to reward you for your noble did]
[Would you like to ept Heaven''s reward?]
''What type of question is that? Of course I wan...'' Kye was thinking before remembering how his evolution proceeded. ''Should I really do it? They won''t evolve me again, right?''
He thought and thought again and again, but in the end, he decided to take the rewards. He didn''t know what it could be, but a reward was a reward. So it could only render him stronger.
[Congrattion, Heaven gave you a special sword]
Without even waiting a moment, the reward appeared out of thin air. Fortunately, Yugo was taking a shower while Ven was on the toilet, so no one saw that.
But the sword just came out of nowhere, and if they were here, they would only have even more questions. And it would be hard to talk about it without exining the system.
Though, even with this surprise, Kye couldn''t help but be in awe when he was looking at the sword.
The sword was pretty simple and was onlyposed of two colors. White that was covering most parts of the de and the pommel, and a golden color that was covering the edge of both of them.
the design was simple but really, really pretty.
However, it was quite long, so it wasn''t with his little height that he would be able to wield it. Or at least, he will, but with some difficulties.
But he put all of that aside and try to examine the sword in more detail. And as if the system wanted to answer him, it showed the sword stats.
[Due to the host''s current level, the sword has hidden features and its stats had been lowered to correspond with the host''s capability.
Name: ???
Stats:
Strength: +1
Agility: +1
Stamina: +1
Special effect: ???]
''Well, it seems that I need to level up. But I don''t think it''s with my additional quest that I will go far. It''s only 15 EXP per day, while I need 200 EXP. And it''s only going to go up, so I need to find a way,'' Kye thought. He didn''t think much of the sword stat page because there weren''t a lot of things. Sure his stats were going up, but he didn''t know how much it would affect him during a fight.
And he was more concerned about the sword in itself. Heaven gave him a sword, but he didn''t know anything about swords.
Mastering the sword style wasn''t something one could achieve without effort, but the problem was that he didn''t know from where he needed to begin with. Sure he will have the weapons ss today, but it wasn''t as if he will learn to use the sword that much, right?
While he was thinking that, multiple messages from the system came again.
[Would you like to change the sword''s form?]
''Well, yes?'' Kye thought, and his sword began to shine in golden light before transforming into a middle-finger ring. It was a mix of white and gold colors. ''Nice, I would be able to have it with me wherever I go without people noticing it. That''s pretty cool.''
As he said, it was as if he would have a trump card wherever he will go. Not knowing which weapon he had when he was fighting against people was a big advantage that wasn''t negligible at all.
But it wasn''t the end of it.
[Heavens reward you with a random stats point]
[+1 Stamina]
''This one was free. That''s really nice,'' He thought as he opened his stats page.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Half-angel
Exp: 15/200
HP: 15/15
Strength: 11
Agility: 12
Stamina: 12
Remaining stats to distribute: 0]
''I don''t know if it''s good or not, but I guess that''s a nice start,'' He thought as Yugo went out of the bathroom.
"Kye, are you already ready?" Yugo said as he remarked something. "Oh, where did you get this ring?"
''How in the world did he already see it?'' Kye thought with fake tears, ''It was on my belongings, so I decided to put it. Do you like it?''
"Yeah, it''s quite pretty," He said as he began to put clothes on him.
It was then Ven''s turn to take a shower, and after some time, he had finished too.
At 7:30 am, everyone was finally ready. They had done everything they needed for the day.
And the thing that took the most time after their morning routine was how would Kye act in front of other people. He was thest to have been seen with the big guy, so people or even the military will surely question him about what happened.
And even though Kye said multiple times that he didn''t need to because he already knew what to say, both Yugo and Ven insisted on it. They didn''t want Kye to be in trouble again, so they did their best to help him.
And not once they had mentioned something about themselves.
"Guys, I''m happy that you want to protect me and all, but why don''t you guys think a little bit about yourselves?" Kye said. "I mean, won''t you get into trouble too since you were searching for us yesterday?"
The boys looked at each other, and then Yugo said, "You don''t have to worry about that. The military won''t be able to touch us. At best, they will just warn us, and that is if they manage to find evidence."
"That''s right. We did a pretty good job by destroying any kind of clue. So the only thing they have is the students'' gossip," Ven added.
"Are you sure? Will your family''s influence be enough to protect you against the military?" Kye asked. Even though they were saying that the military was a strong force, so they couldn''t possibly stay without fear.
"Yep, you really don''t have to worry about that. And as I say, the most they would be able to do was to warn us," Yugo said. "And I search for some information about the guy who died. His name is Kord Brat, and based on what I found, he was just a nobody. So there won''t be any problem with a big influence."
Hearing him say that, Kye once again understood how much the weak were seen as tr*sh. If the death of someone wasn''t affecting the high level, then it only means that this society was rotten to its core.
However, sure it was the case, he still wanted to believe in his new friends. They were high levels too, so they had some bad habits, but they were working on them for his well-being.
They wanted to change, so it was the best thing Kye could hope for.
Chapter 20 Annoying Glare
It was around 7:33 when they went off their rooms, and they headed to the canteen immediately. Once there, they sat and began to eat.
Though, Kye didn''t touch anything on his te except water.
"Kye, why aren''t you eating anything. Is it because of yesterday?" Ven asked while drinking his juice.
"No, nothing like that," Kye answered. "It''s just that food doesn''t... attract me as much as before."
"Is it because you''re an ang..." Ven said, but Yugo closed his mouth just before he could continue.
"Ven? Are you sure you remembered what we spoke about yesterday?" He said with a vein appearing in his head.
"I mean... yes, you''re right, I should be more careful. Especially when there are that many people here."
Seeing them, Kye scratched his cheek a little with his finger. It was funny to see that he now had friends with whom he could share something, unlike before. And that was a pleasant feeling.
And as they continue eating, people began to nce at them from time to time, whereas somepletely looked at them. And they paid particr attention to Kye.
And so for two reasons.
The first one, as always, was because of the level difference between Yugo and Ven, with Kye. The former were both high levels, so they were normal to stay together. But Kye was only level one, so it was quite strange to see him smile andugh with high-level people. Some people even asked themselves if it wasn''t a facade and in reality, they were bullying him, but it was only an assumption, so they couldn''t know.
As for the second reason, it was because Kord hadn''t been seen since yesterday. And thest person with whom he had an affair was Kye. So they wanted to know where he was, especially his friends. They wanted to go and beat Kye to have some answers, but there were two people by his side who scared them. After all, Yugo and Ven had sent them to the hospital, so even though they might have been just bullying him, it was just a possibility. It could as be that they were friends, and it would be disastrous if theynded a hand on Kye.
They had experienced it once already yesterday, and they didn''t want to go to the hospital again. So in the end, they just re at them but didn''t do anything.
Yugo and Ven didn''t care about people looking at them. But it wasn''t the case for Kye. He didn''t like being in the middle of the attention, so he tried to make himself as tiny as possible while not alerting his friends. They seems to know a lot about him and how he would react, so he still tried to act normal.
But to no avail.
He hadn''t done it a lot of times, but every time Kye was perplexed or in a situation he didn''t like, he was ying with his hair. And since he was doing it right now, Yugo and Ven knew that it was time to go.
And it was already 7:50 am, so they needed to go to ss anyway.
"Come on Kye, we should go now or we will bete."
"Ah, yeah, sure I''ming."
Before going to their ssroom, Yugo and Ven apanied Kye to his ss first. They didn''t want him to have any problems with people, so it was the best thing they could possibly do.
"Kye, you''re not going anywhere without us, is that clear?" Yugo said.
"Sure mom, I will wait for you," Kye chuckled.
"Kye, I''m serious right now. Don''t joke around.
Hearing that, Kye said, "Okay, I''m sorry, I will wait for you then," Before entering his ssroom.
"Do you think he will stay there without doing anything?" Ven asked as they headed to their ssroom.
"I can only hope for that, but there isn''t a lot of chance for that," Yugo answered with a sad smile. "You had seen it with your own eyes, he managed to win against a level 3 alone. So he would probably think that he would be untouchable for a certain time. So we need to do our best to avoid him getting in trouble."
As he said, when people managed to do something they never did, they feel like they have wings. But this feeling was only an illusion. Human beings couldn''t fly by their own means. So when they tried, they were forced to fall down.
And it was the same now. The adrenaline of fighting and winning could go into Kye''s head, and if they didn''t want him to get into serious trouble or life and death situations, Yugo and Ven needed to watch over him at a certain time.
And it wasn''t as if they didn''t want to. They had a hard time yesterday when they were seeing Kye dying in front of them, so they didn''t want to see him like this again. So if they could help him in any way possible, they would be d to do so.
Though, Kye knew very well how dangerous it could be to feel too full of himself.
He had been punched pretty hard under the adrenaline, and he didn''t forget that feeling yet.
But even with that, it was true that he wanted to fight again.
He even get a sword that came from heaven, so he wanted to know how to use it and fight with it. He was sure that it would be something amazing the moment he will know how to use it at its full potential. So he wanted to level up quickly to see what was its effect.
And the only way he knew to level up was to fight. So even though his friends wanted him to avoid fights and getting into trouble, he didn''t want to.
He won''t be able to stand proudly if he were to stay at a low level all his life. So now that he had the means to fight, he wanted to level up and discover the real world.
But for now, the only thing he was about to discover was an annoying lecture about science.
Almost no one was listening, and so did he.
Kye was only thinking of his next ss, the weapon ss.
He wasn''t seeing himself in the ability ss because he was known as a Kye without ability. So the only option was to go to the weapon ss.
Not that he had a lot of choices now anyway.
Heaven had given him a sword, and if he didn''t go there, it would be hard to use it because he didn''t know anything about swords. So the best option even if he had an ability would still be the weapon ss.
So the first period passed very, very slowly, and lunch finally came. And after that, the real ss would begin.
Chapter 21 A Hero
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
***
As Yugo and Ven wanted, Kye waited for them in his ssroom.
His ssmates were ncing at him often, so Kye just tried his best to get used to it. It was hard because he hated the fact that there were eyes on him. It was as if numerous people were about toe to him and punch him.
He hated that because even the aftereffect of being bullied was hurting, but he now had something to fight with. So he needed to get used to this feeling and fight against it because otherwise, he won''t ever be able to move on.
However, all the res ended once Kye''s friends came into the room.
Since it was beginning to be harder and harder staying there, Kye rushed out of the ssroom and dragged Yugo and Ven with him.
"You guys took so much time I thought I was about to die of boredom."
"Are sure you weren''t dying because of people''s res?" Ven said.
"Why do your eyes are so keen?" Kye said as he rolled his eyes. "You just came for a second and you already know. That''s unfair."
"Well, hehe," Ven rubbed the back of his head before entering the canteen. "Anyways, stop thinking about that and just think of your future. It''s way brighter than before, right?"
"Yeah, I guess you''re right. It''s not as gloomy as before, but not that much brighter either," Kye said with a smile. "But guess that''s already a good start."
"That is a good start," Yugo added. "You can and should lean on us when you need it. You''re not alone anymore." He patted him. The height difference was perfect for that.
"I guess so," He said as they sat down and began to eat.
Like this morning, some people were ncing at them. But lunched passed a lot quicker than breakfast since they talked about a lot more things.
They were nowpletely awake, so it was better.
"By the way, guys, which fighting ss is you taking," Kye asked.
"I''m taking the ability ss since I need it to learn more about my ability and how to use it," Yugo said. The spatial ability was already strong in itself, so there wasn''t a need for a weapon. "What about you Kye?"
"I''m taking the weapon ss. It''s not like I have a real ability anyways. What about you, Ven?" Thetter smile
"I''m going to the weapon ss too," Ven said. "Unlike Yugo, I need a weapon that would help me improve with my gravity ability."
"You''re not splitting because you want to watch over me, right?"
"No, not this time. It''s our own choice," Ven said.
"And to be honest, I would rather go with you in the weapon ss than the ability ss. It would be annoying to be alone." Yugo added. "But I really need to go to this ss. They teach us how to use our ability to the maximum, so I don''t see a better choice for me."
"I''m d if that''s the case then. I would hate myself if you guys are prioritizing me over your future." Kye said. He didn''t want them to not do what they wanted because of him. He would hate himself if it was the case.
"Why?" Ven said. "You''re our friend, so of course, we can do that."
"What do you mean?"
"We can still learn things at home. But it would be hard to see you once military school end," Yugo exined. "So it''s kinda better for us to pass as much time as possible with you."
Hearing them, Kye felt happy. He was d that he had met people like this and that they were now his friends. But he didn''t like how they were thinking. "Guys, I really appreciate what you''re saying, but please, I have things to defend myself. I even have a good weapon, so you really need to worry less about me. I will be able to defend myself if something arose."
"Well, until then, we would stay like that," Yugo said.
"But what do you mean you have a good weapon?" Ven continued. "I don''t see anything."
"You''re looking at the wrong ce,'' Kye said as he raise his middle finger.
"Why are you doing that? What did I do?"
"Loo, at the ring you dum*a**," Yugo chuckled. "It''s his weapon."
"What do you mean it''s his weapon? What could he even do with a ring?"
"Well, you will see it once I will be strong enough to wield it."
"You lost me too now," Yugo said. "Aren''t you already wearing the ring?"
"... Yugo, do you think that I will fight with a ring too?" Kye asked as Yugo nodded. "You are both dum*a**, really," Heughed. "The ring is just a convenient way to move with the sword. But I can''t show you its real form for now. There are just too many people" He added as he stood up. It was soon time for the weapon ss.
"Wait, is it a sword?" Ven said. "But how? No one ever managed to transform a weapon into an object like this one," He was shocked. He knew a lot about beast weapons, but he has never seen anything like that.
"That''s a good question. But to be honest, I don''t know either," Kye said. "It was in my parents'' legacy," What he said was true because, in one way or another, the sword came from the system that came from the ne he received after his parents'' death.
"Do you mind if I study it one day?" Ven asked.
"No, not at all. If it can help you, I would even be d." Kye said as they arrived in front of the weapon ss and Yugo went to his ability ss.
The two boys then entered the ssroom that looked like a stadium. It was so huge that it amodated the 200 plus students easily. There was also a side of the wall that was filled with different weapons.
They then headed toward the bleachers and waited for the teacher toe into the stadium too. And after five minutes or so, she finally came.
The teacher was a tall and thin woman. She had ck hair with stread of white hair and brown eyes. She was in herte forty but still looked young. Andst but not least, she had a beautiful light blue sword.
"Hello everyone, I''m Madison d, but you probably know me all very well anyway, so let''s skip the introduction and pass into the good stuff. Learning how to use a weapon," Madison said with a heart-warming smile.
As she said, everyone knew her quite well. She was one of the heroes of the war against the monsters. She was known for her lethal swing that was killing everything on her path.
She was a strong woman, and she was now teaching the new generation.
Chapter 22 The First Spar With A Weapon
Madison was a good woman. She didn''t care about people''s rank or level and was only focused on who they really were.
Her goal was to win the war against the monsters. She had lost too many things against them, so it wasn''t with some petty conflicts about levels that humanity would win.
And since a lot of bullied people have a lot of potential, it wasn''t by making them want to kill themselves that they were going to win the next war. They needed all the help they needed, and if a single bullied person could help thousands of lives, then they will surely win.
And it was also one of the reasons why she became a teacher. She wanted to tell and show the lost ones that there was still hope in this world where the strong were ruling on the top and were disregarding those on the bottom.
"Alright everyone, as you can see on the big wall over there, there are a lot of weapons. So your first task would be to pick one of them and familiarize yourself with it, is that clear?" Madison said as everyone nodded their heads.
They then all began to go there, but since Kye already knew what weapon he wanted, he waited for a little to be surrounded by fewer people.
So he was waiting in the back alone since Ven also went chose a weapon, and unbeknownst to him, someone sneak behind it.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Argh!!" Kye screamed because the one who said that scared him and fell on his butt. He didn''t know how he didn''t remark that since there weren''t a lot of ways to go behind him.
"Hahaha," Madisonughed. "I''m sorry young boy, I didn''t want you to be scared," She then reach out her hand to help him stand up.
Kye hesitated a little since he too knew about the hero Madison, so if people saw him doing that they would surely target him, but in the end, he epted her hand. He didn''t want to be rude in front of her and preferred to be targeted a hundred times more. At least like this, he would be able to gain EXP.
"Thank you, professor," Kye said once he was on his feet again. "And to answer your earlier question, it''s because I already know which weapon I want."
"Oh? Is it the one on your ring?"
"W-what?" Kye was shocked by that. He didn''t expect her to know about it.
"Oh my bad, it''s probably better that you don''t show it to people, right?" She smiled. "Then go and pick the one that looks like the one in the ring."
"Y-yes," he immediately goes. He didn''t know why people had eyes that show them everything, but it was scary.
So he quickly took his weapon and regrouped with Ven. Thetter had chosen a katana. It was, like all the weapons here, made of beast bones.
"Why did you pick this one, Ven," He showed the katana with his finger.
"It''s because it looks cool and the katana is a very strong weapon. It also synergizes pretty well with my ability."
"That''s good then. I''m sure you will be great with it," Kye said as they waited for everyone else to do their choice. Choosing a weapon among all of the ones present on the wall was really hard. There was a lot of variety and every single one of them had pros and cons.
And as he was waiting for people, Kye thought of something.
''Wait, if the sword the system gave me had a stats window, is it the same for this one?'' He thought as a window appeared in front of him.
[Bone bastard sword:
Stats:
Strength: +1]
''Well, it''s really not the best. I guess nothing can bepared to the one I received from heaven, right?'' He thought seeing the sword''s stat page. It was really poor whenpared to his ring.
Still, it was better than nothing for now. He couldn''t use his ring, and even if he could, it wasn''t as if he would have been able to use it properly. So it was better to get some experience with this one to be immediately good with his real sword.
So they waited and around thirty minutes or soter, everyone was now ready to pass into the next task.
"That''s good. Everyone found what they wanted," Madison said. "But don''t worry, if you don''t feel good with the weapon you have now, you can still change itter. But I advise you to do that quickly because you won''t be able to master onepletely at the end of the year otherwise.
"Anyway, if everyone understood, then let''s do something more serious," She pped her hands with a smile. "Everyone, please chose a partner and fight only by using your weapon. Abilities are not allowed, and it''s the same with real injuries, is it clear?" Everyone nodded. They didn''t want to be caught by someone like her because they wouldn''t pass the best time in their life otherwise.
And since Kye and Ven were sides by side, they decided to spar together.
"Please go easy on me, Ven. It''s my first time using a weapon." Kye said as he got into stance. However, one could easily see that he was pretty awkward with the sword.
"Yeah, I will go slowly. You don''t have to worry about that." He got into stance too, and after a few moments, once everyone had found their partner, Madison whistled to announce the beginning of the spar.
Ven immediately rushed toward Kye. Thetter tried to move too, but the former was already thrusting his katana downward toward Kye.
Thankfully, he avoided it at thest moment. He couldn''t help but thank his agility for that.
Ven swung his de another time and was about to attack Kye again, but this time, thetter could see Ven''s movement easily, so instead of dodging, he parried with his own de.
However, Ven had more strength than him, so he was losing this confrontation.
So Kye stepped back, but Ven knew he was about to do that, so he already prepared for the next swing.
And now, even though Kye saw the movement, his body wasn''t fast enough to react, so the katana came to him and stopped right in front of his neck.
"I guess this is my loss," Kye said.
"I guess so, but you''re pretty good with a weapon already," Ven praised him honestly. "I didn''t expect someone that never used any weapons to dodge my strike and even parry it. So you can trust me when I''m saying that you were good."
Hearing that, Kye smiled because he didn''t know if he would have been good or not with the sword the system gave him. It wasn''t because he had chosen this sword that it means that it was the one he would master the most easily. So hearing that he wasn''t as bad as he thought made him feel d.
"Your friend is right. Your movement is still pretty awkward, but you have a great future ahead of yourself. Especially with a bastard sword," Madison added after seeing their spar.
Chapter 23 A New Opponent
"Your movement is still pretty awkward, but you have a great future ahead of yourself. Especially with a bastard sword," Madison added after seeing their spar. She wasn''t the type to praise if it wasn''t necessary, but this little guy with beautiful blue eyes was really interesting in her eyes.
"Thank you, professor," Kye said with a smile a bowed his head. "I will do my best to improve with it."
"That''s good, keep up with this attitude and you will definitely improve," She said as she went away.
Seeing her back, Ven said, "You got pretty lucky. She''s not praising a lot of people usually. But anyway, let''s fight agai-..." He was proposing but got interrupted by someone.
"Do you mind if I take your little friend for a little spar session?" A ck-haired girl with boreal eyes said. She was 170 centimeters tall and had a scythe that was as tall as her.
Seeing her, Kye immediately looked at her watch. It was indicating the number 5. But he then shook his head. It wasn''t with this attitude that he was supposed to change. However, it was still a little bit scary. A level 5 was something pretty high, especially against a level 1.
"Yeah sure, go ahead," Ven said. "I will watch from the side," He didn''t think that Kye would have been able to be bullied here. So he didn''t see any inconvenience in her fighting him. And it would also be a better learning experience for Kye if he were to fight multiple people with multiple fight styles.
"Thank you," She smile and got into stance.
Kye did the same. He was looking directly into her eyes to try to predict her next move.
And seeing that, she smiled and then ran diagonally toward him.
Kye didn''t understand why she ran like this at first, but he understood and prepared himself after seeing how long her weapon was.
And he was right because she took advantage of her weapon length to attack from a safe distance.
Kye, instead of dodging her strike decided to counter-attack. After all, he didn''t want to be the only one defending, so after putting her scythe on the ground, he swung his sword upward.
The strike was about to touch her, but bend backward and hit Kye''s chin with the tip of her feet.
She then came back to her feet and took back her scythe before going back to Kye. But this time, she was heading right to him. It was the perfect moment since he was still destabilized by her move.
So she waved her scythe horizontally and it was supposed to attack him right around his belly area. But his reaction speed surprised her a lot.
The move the girl did wasn''t his expectation, and that was why he got hit. But it didn''t mean that his guard had been lowered for that much.
Instead, he had learned from her move and managed to dodge the strike by ducking. He swung his sword right at her feet, but she jumped right in time.
She then took support on her scythe handle to jump back and took some distance. He was quite impressive for a poor level one.
"That''s good, I''ve seen what I wanted to see," She smiled as she walked toward a baffled Kye. "Let''s say that you got the win, okay?" She then gave her hand for a handshake.
Not knowing what do to, Kye epted since he didn''t want to let her hand alone.
"My name is Lidi by the way,"
"I''m Kye, nice to meet you Lidi,"
p "Likewise," She then took back her scythe and went back to search for someone else.
"Wow, did you know her?" Ven asked aftering back to Kye.
"No, it''s the first time I met her," He then turned toward Ven and asked. "Do you mind if we fight again?"
"No, not at all," Ven smiled as he got ready. Kye''s spar against Lidi was impressive. His reaction speed was really good, and he didn''t get surprised even by a move like the one she did. He just needed to get used to the sword now. "Ready?" Kye nodded.
This time, instead of Ven engaging, Kye wanted to do it. But he got stopped by the system.
[New quest: Defeat your opponent
Reward: Instant level up]
''Come on, how in the world am I supposed to win against Ven? that''s impossible," Kye thought in disbelief, and because of that, he didn''t see that Ven was just in front of him.
"If you''re not engaging, then I will dly do it," He quickly said as he waved his katana downward.
Kye only had a second to dodge, and he tried his best to do it. But a little bit of his hair got cut in the process. ''See? How I am supposed to win?'' He thought and ran toward him.
He waved his sword and Ven blocked him.
*ng* *ng* *ng*
They continued shing their des again and again, but Ven was clearly superior to Kye. So thetter decided to change his tactic.
Even though he was sure that he wouldn''t win, he still wanted to try his best. At least, he will learn some experiences, so it would be perfect even if he didn''t level up now.
So Kye jumped a few times back, and Ven quickly followed him.
But suddenly, the former stopped and rushed back toward Ven.
Thetter got surprised and tried to block him, but barely manage.
Seeing that he got the advantage, Kye didn''t let the joy take over him, nor let his advantage go, so he let go of his weapon and punched Ven in his stomach.
"Argh," Ven was shocked by that. He didn''t expect Kye to use such tactics. But he couldn''t help but be happy to see that too.
Kye would be an amazing opponent once he will grow up.
Since Ven was still holding his stomach because it was still hurting even though Kye didn''t have much strength, Kye took back his weapon and rushed toward him once again.
But since he knew that Ven wouldn''t lose just with that, he put himself in a defensive position while he was running toward him.
And when Ven shed, he was ready to block it.
*ng*
Kye took advantage of the timepse between their swing to jump to the side to avoid Ven''s next sh.
He dodge it and then swung his sword back to him.
The advantage of a bastard sword was that it was still pretty long while being well bnced. So he was at the perfect distance for the tip to touch Ven.
And since his katana wasn''t as long as Kye''s sword, he couldn''t reach him to attack Kye too.
But he still managed to avoid it, and that surprised him.
Ven had more experience with swords fight than him, so he knew that things like that could happen.
And in the end, he managed to close the distance and made a shoulder bump before waving his sword toward his neck.
And he stopped right before shing it.
"I guess this is my win."
Chapter 24 How Dare He?
"I guess this is my win," Ven said with a smile. He was greatly surprised to see how well Kye performed. He did really great thosest two spars. "I would have lost if it wasn''t for my experience. Are you sure that you never used any weapons?"
"Thanks for saying that but yeah, I never used any. I wouldn''t have been bullied otherwise I think."
"Well, you''re damn good then. You should keep your bastard sword," Ven said. "I don''t know your fighting style yet, but the range of the weapon fits you perfectly. And you already seem to use it kinda well, so that''s even better."
As he said, the weapon''s length was perfect to attack from a safe distance. And Kye wanted to master this weapon since he had a special sword with him. So it was really perfect.
"Yes, I think so too," Kye said just before Madison pped her hands to attract everyone''s attention.
"It''s time to change your fighting partner guys," She said with a smile. "It will be good if you could see as many fighting styles as possible."
"Well, I guess this is time for us to go fight someone else."
"Yeah but don''t worry, I will do my best to improve," Kye said as he went to search for someone. And he finds out quickly.
''I just hope you won''t be beaten by someone with bad intentions,'' Ven thought. Not everyone would be as gentle as Lidi, so he needed to be careful of his opponent as much as possible.
Some people could as well beat himpletely without Ven or Yugo knowing, so they needed to be careful too to avoid situations such as the first day.
The one who was Kye''s next opponent was a brown-haired boy with ck eyes. He had a spear as a weapon and had the number 4 on his watch.
''Come on system, why aren''t you giving me a quest now?'' Kye thought as he get into a stance. He also didn''t know why, but this guy gave him an off feeling.
"So our dear Lidi lost against you huh?" The guy said with a haughty voice. "She must have done it on purpose. I can''t see her losing against a tr*sh like you"
"What?" Kye was baffled. He didn''t even know what he had done to receive this insult.
"On top of being a tr*sh, you''re blind too? You''re no more than a nuisance to this world." He added.
Madison then pped her hands to announce the beginning of the spar session, and the boy rushed toward Kye as soon as he heard the p.
[New quest: Defeat your opponent
Someone had disrespected you. Show him that heaven doesn''t grow weakling.
Reward: 50 EXP]
''What the....? Why give me this now?'' Kye thought in disbelief. The quests the system was giving him wereing too randomly.
And because of the sudden window, Kye didn''t manage to see that the boy was just in front of him.
"Eat this you fu*kig dog," Thetter thrust his spear directly toward his face, so if Kye doesn''t dodge this attack, he will surely die.
But thankfully, he dodge it by doing the same movement as Lidi did to him earlier.
''If what you want is me showing Heaven''s wrath, then I will dly do it. As long as you reward me,'' He smiled internally beforeing back to his feet.
Since the boy was off-bnce, Kye rushed toward him. Though, because of the distance separating them, the boy had the time to recover and swung his spear vertically from top to bot.
And seeing the uing attack, Kye stepped to the side before doing a shoulder bump as Ven did to him to destabilize his opponent before shing toward his neck.
Of course, since it was a friendly spar, he stopped just before shing it.
[Congrattion, you won against your opponent]
[+50 EXP]
[EXP: 65/200]
''Nice, I did it,'' Kye thought with a smile before being punched by the guy.
"You fu*ker, how dare you pull such trick upon me?"
"Wha-...?" Kye tried to say but got punched in the face again.
"I will fu*king kill you," He was about to thrust his spear to Kye''s face, but someone interrupted him suddenly.
"What are you doing Bulk?" A girl''s voice resounded in Kye''s and Bulk''s ears.
"Lidi, thank god you''re here," Bulk said. "I wanted to show this tr*sh his ce because he shouldn''t have won against you, but he used underhanded tactics against me. So I wanted to fu*king kill him."
*p*
"First, who told you to step up for me?" Lidi said after pping his face while using her wind ability. There was a big red mark on his face now. "Second, do you think your enemy would care if you were ready or not in a real fight? He won fair and square by learning how to move after having fought me and his friend, so howe he used underhanded tactics, huh?"
Seeing her, Bulk got even angrier and took his spear in his hand.
"You b*tch, I will kill you too," He thrust his spear toward her too, but this time, someone else stopped him. "What now?"
He turned around, only for the gravity around him to crush him until he got on the ground.
"Who do you think you are to put him in such a position, huh?" Ven said as his white hair was up because of the gravity around him. "Do you wanna die or what?"
After standing up and seeing what was happening, Kye got shocked. He didn''t expect to see Ven here so quickly, but above all, to see Lidi too.
"Ven, please stop."
"What? Why should I?" Ven was angry and even talked with this tone to Kye. "He''s bullying you and you want me to stop?"
"Since when did he bully me?" Kye chuckled. "As far as I know, I won our spar."
"Then your broken nose?" He asked, still with an angry tone.
"Is it broken?" Kye touched it to see if there was blood, but there wasn''t anything else. "Well, see? There''s nothing. He didn''t even punch me that hard," He chuckled once again.
,m "Are you sure?" Ven said as the gravity around him began to dye down.
"Yeah I''m totally fine," He said before turning to Lidi. "Thank you too, Lidi. But please, you should be more careful of people like that," He bowed his head a little. "It would eat me from the inside if you have died."
"Hahaha, theseds these days, so funny" Madison suddenly came whileughing. "Do you really think one of you would have died under my watch?" She asked the group with a smile. "Anyway, I think we have some students to send to the nurse. He''s already knocked out."
Hearing that, Kye turned toward Ven, only for thetter to avoid his re.
"Anyways, time to change your fighting partner everyone," Madison said once again before walking away.
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 25 This Is Bad
Everyone continued to fight again and again. They did that until they were all tired.
Some people were fed up doing only spars without ability. It didn''t make any sense to them because if they were to fight for real, they wouldn''t only use their weapon. No, they would use both for maximum efficiency.
But Madison didn''t tell them the reason why she was doing that, and it only fed up them more. They even wanted to question her, but they didn''t in the end. Even though she keep smiling, they were kinda scared of her.
So everyone just kept their mouth shut and continued fighting until the end.
However, for some people, those fights were really good. Especially for those who didn''t have an ''ability'' such as Kye, or were low-level people.
Thanks to that, they managed to fight against the high level on equal ground.
Unfortunately for them, when they won, that only meant that they would be bullied after the ss, so a lot of them made mistakes toward the end to lose.
But some didn''t, and it was the case for Kye.
Thetter fought as well as he could and won a lot of spars. But in the end, he lost more spars than he won.
He didn''t have any experience, so it was quite normal. And above all, he was still awkward with the sword. He wasn''t used to its length nor its weight, so sometimes, he did mistakes that cost him the match.
But it only helped him get stronger.
Kye had an exceptional talent for learning things. Every time he failed something, he managed to correct it a few triester. And every time he saw something useful such as his shoulder bump on Ven or the flexibility Lidi had used against him, he tried to incorporate it into his fighting kit. And even though it wasn''t perfect, those little moves helped him win some spars, so he kept doing them.
Though, sooner orter, he would need to either let go of them or modify them.
Those moves didn''te from him, so he needed to change them ordingly to fit them perfectly to himself and his style.
But for now, it would do just fine. People weren''t experienced enough for that, so it was okay to use them like this for now. And it wasn''t as if he would fight only with his sword alone. He also had his angel''s ability that could help him in dire situations.
So even though he lost quite a lot of times, he was still happy to have new experiences in fighting now.
"Why are you smiling like that Kye?" Ven asked as today''s ss had finallye to an end.
"It''s because I''m happy. I learned so much today that I''m excited about tomorrow''s spars session."
"Oh? Well, that''s a surprise," Ven smiled. "I thought you would have been quite sad after having lost that many times."
"Wait, did you see me?"
"Yeah, of course. I kept looking in your direction to see how you were doing. And even though you need a lot of praise for the first time, you still had a lot to learn."
"Hehe, that''s what I think too. But I still have times, so that''s okay," Kye said as they headed toward Yugo''s ssroom. "I just hope I will be able to learn a lot more things during this year."
After some more time, they finally came to Yugo''s ssroom. And once thetter came out, he was really happy to see them.
"Guys, you don''t know how much I missed you," He smiled. "It was so annoying,"
"Really?" Kye asked. "What did you do?"
"We only saw the basics for an ability. Like how to understand it or how to use it."
"So basically you just listened to theory?" Ven asked as they walked in the hallway. They wanted to hang out a little bit before going to rest.
"Yeah, basically that''s what we did. And what about you guys?"
"We only did spars," Kye said as he smiled. "It was really good, I''m even excited for tomorrow."
"Were you good?"
"He was," Ven answered for Kye. "Even though he lost more times than he won, he had a lot of potentials. And he got pretty good eyes. It''s as if he can see all the movements of his opponent. It''s only his body that can''t always follow them. So he will take time to get used to everything."
"That''s pretty nice. I''m eager to see how you will beter on," Yugo smiled. He was happy to see that Kye had a lot of potentials.
"I just hope I won''t deceive anyone," Kye said as a lot of people were looking at them. But unlike the other times, it was because an adult was following them from behind.
"Kye Vermillion, please follow me," A military man said. He was far taller than Kye, so thetter had some hard time seeing his face.
"Is there a reason?" Yugo asked.
"You can''t possibly take him without a reason right?" Ven added. "We have a lot of ns for this afternoon."
"I''m sorry but this is ssified. However, you don''t have to worry, it would take thirty minutes at best," The man politely said. He didn''t know who were those two boys, but seeing the number on their watch, he could only conclude one thing. That Kye wouldn''t pass the best time of his life.
Too bad it was only an assumption.
"Well, then I guess I will need toply," Kye said with a childish smile. "Please lead the way." He added as the man did as he asked.
They then began to walk and walked. They even changed buildings and pass through multiple teleporters. And in the end, the man brings him in front of a door.
''The principal office? What a joke,'' He thought as the stupidity of his situation. He couldn''t hope for the worst ce to go.
And when Kye was there, Yugo and Ven were now quite worried. They returned to their rooms to be able to talk without any interference or someone eavesdropping on them. The military didn''t have the right to film the student, so it was the best ce since the rooms were soundproof.
"Do you think he won''t get caught?" Ven asked. He was worried sick now.
"I don''t know, we can only hope so," Yugo sat on a chair and thought for a few moments. "How was he today? Did he act abnormally?"
"He acted as always," Ven answered. "But to be honest, it''s not like we know how he usually acts. We just met him a few days ago, and we practically don''t know anything about him."
"Yeah, you''re right. I hope we would be able to learn more about him." Yugo said with an apologetic smile. "Let''s just pray for him to pass without any risk"
Chapter 26 An Interesting Student
While Yugo and Ven were busy being worried about Kye, thetter was just about to enter the principal office.
It was rare from the very first day toe to him, but they had some questions to ask him, and there wasn''t a better person than the principal. He was charismatic and gentle at the same time. So people were quite open in front of him.
So the military man that brought him to the principal''s office knocked on the door, and after a few moments, a voice came out from behind it.
"Come in," The man said, and the big guy by his side open it before letting Kye alone with the principal.
This man was quite old, in his early sixties. He had white hair and a clean beard. As for his body, he wasn''t that big nor too thin. Just between both of them. And the most important thing was his gentle smile.
"Please sit," He said with a kind voice. "You don''t have to be scared of anything since this is just formality."
Hearing that, Kye epted and sat on the couch in front of the principal. And when he stared at his desk, there was a little sphere on top of it.
"This is a lie detector. It''s to see if what you answer me is the truth or not. And it would beep every time you lie." The principal said seeing his look. It was something quite eye-catching for young people, so he immediately knew what he was looking for.
"I understand, but if it''s just formality, is there a need for that?" Kye pointed out. "And I still don''t know why I''m here too,"
"You''re quite an observer, young boy, that''s a good asset when you fight," The principal smiled. "But yes, we need that even though all of that it''s just some formalities. To be honest, I don''t care about what you really did. You''re the one who came out alive whilst you don''t have any abilities. So it only means that you have a lot more potential than a level 3."
"Excuse me if I''m being rude, but you''re talking as if I''ve done something wrong," Kye said with a d*mb expression. "And you just said that I came out alive from something, but I don''t understand what."
"Haha," The principal chuckled. "You''re indeed interesting. Being able to talk like this when the lie detector is active." At the end of his sentence, Kye didn''t even listen to him anymore. Something more interesting appeared in front of him.
[People are praying for your well-being and your protection]
[Heaven shall grant their wish]
''I guess this is Yugo and Ven. I should thank themter.'' Kye thought seeing that.
And when he saw his golden window, he wanted to use his angel''s eyes to see if what the principal was saying was true, but in the end, he decided against it. His eyes would be a dead giveaway that he has some sort of secret ability.
"I don''t understand anything, sir. Would you be able to exin to me, please?" Kye asked. He didn''t know if it was thanks to the system or the boys that the lie detector wasn''t beeping, but in the end, he was happy that it didn''t.
"Yes, I should probably tell you then," He smiled as he put the lie detector away. He already got his answer, so there wasn''t any need for those things anymore. "We found Kord Brat''s body this morning, dead in the forest just behind the academy building. And a lot of people had witnessed that he had some things to settle with you. So you''re probably the only person having been with him before he died."
"So if I understand everything right, you are using me of something with the only proof being what people had witnessed even before he asked me to go somewhere with him?"
"So you indeed went with him somewhere?"
"Yes, it''s not as if I could lie about that since there are indeed a lot of people who had seen me going with him. Especially my ssmates or even the people in the hallway who didn''t even lift a finger to protect me," Kye said with a disgusted voice. It was clear that he wanted help from them, but they didn''te for him. "And in the end, I just followed him until there were enough things to hide for him to not see me anywhere, and then go back to my room because it''s the safest ce in the academy for me when I''m alone. I don''t know when I will be bullied after all."
"Well, then everything is settled. You didn''t do anything and just ran away for your life, so you won''t be sentenced," The principal said before adding something else. "But I will still believe that you did it and you won the fight against him."
"And could I know the reason for that?"
"I don''t know, probably just this old man''s intuition."
"This isn''t the best reason if I have to be honest."
"Well, actually it''s more than that," He smiled seeing his perseverance. "First, Madison told me how a student named Kye was amazing during her training session. Second, the fact that your previous dead blue eyes are now shining like beautiful jewels, plus your body that looks a lot healthier than before. Andst but not least, how you took all of this so lightly just show me that you''re hiding something from me. But since the lie detector didn''t detect anything, I will stay with that until you tell me the answer."
Hearing that, Kye made a weird smile. He first didn''t expect to hear his new teacher praising him again. Then, he didn''t know that his physical changes would be that much eye-catching. Andst, he just wanted to punch the principal intuition. Everyone around him was seeing too many things whereas they didn''t. And it was beginning to frustrate him.
"I don''t know if I should be happy or not hearing that."
"You should be happy of course. Especially for the first one. I know Madison since a long time ago, and she praises people only on rare asions. So that means that she had seen something precious in you," The principal smiled. "But anyway, I won''t hold you anymore. You should go train or rest a little bit with your friend," He then stood up and went to apany Kye to the door.
"Thank you for your time, Sir, and have an amazing day."
"Thank you, Kye, you too have an amazing day," The principal said as he closed the door and went to the window to look outside. The city''s view from his office was beautiful.
"So what do you think?" He asked someone who came out from the corner of the room. She was there from the beginning. "Did you find him interesting?"
"Yes, thank you for that," The person who said that was Madison. "He is a lot more interesting than what I thought. And it''s still only the beginning of his growth I guess. We just need to guide him to the right path and not let him fall to people who want something from him."
"Then should we pay close attention to his friends, Yugo Pendora and Ven Tigo?" The principal still looked outside. "Their family is too big and influential for him, don''t you think?"
"Not really. I will even say that Kye is well surrounded. Yugo and Ven seem to like him a lot and want to protect him as much as possible, so everything should be good."
Chapter 27 A Little Bit Like A Little Brother
Aftering out of the principal office, Kye was once again apanied by the military guy. Thetter apanied him to his room since he needed to go there if he didn''t want to be bullied.
But during all this little trip, people didn''t stop looking at them. They all talked about what Kye could have done, and thetter began to be the new hot topic of the first-year students. Be it for good reasons or bad ones.
Obviously, the bad ones came from people who actually wanted to pass some quality time with him by beating him. It was something satisfactory for them, and since Kye began to be a hot topic, he was the perfect person to bully.
Like this, those people would be able to show their superiority.
But unfortunately for Kye, he still wasn''t used to all these looks he was receiving, so he kept his head down once he entered the academy perimeters.
And once he entered his room, he breathed a breath of fresh air. He could finally calm his mind which was beginning to be a mess.
However, the moment Yugo and Ven heard the door opening, they rushed toward Kye and dragged him onto his bed.
"What happened?" Yugo said.
"Are you safe? They didn''t do anything to you right?" Ven added. "I''m going to beat them if it''s the case."
"Calm down guys," Kye chuckled nervously. "Nothing happened. The principal just asked me some questions with a lie detector, and I answered all of them truthfully."
"Wait, did you tell him that you killed Kord?"
"Well, I just said that I didn''t do anything to this Kord and I just ran away when I saw an opportunity. That''s all. And the lie detector didn''t detect anything since I only told him the truth."
"But... It doesn''t make sense?" Ven said. He didn''t understand why the lie detector didn''t detect his lie. "You killed him, right? We saw it with our own eyes."
"Yes, I ... well I did something to him, but I also run away. It was during lunch, I punched him a few times before running away. He just didn''t ask me when I ran away," He smiled. He was d that he managed to beat the lie detector to its own game.
And hearing that, Yugo and Ven opened their mouths a few times before closing them. But in the end, no sounds were heard. They didn''t expect that from Kye. So they justughed at the stupidity of the situation.
"Well, as long as everything is fine, then that''s good," Ven smiled as he tapped Kye''s back a few times.
"That''s right," Yugo added. "Anyway, we should celebrate that, don''t you think guys?"
"What do you want to do?" Kye asked. He didn''t know if it was a good idea, but it would also be a good thing for him to change what he had in mind and pass a little bit of time with his friends.
"How about we go to the restaurant?" Ven proposed.
"No, we should do a karaoke."
"No, a restaurant,"
"A karaoke!"
"A restaurant!"
"Kye, what do you want to do?" Yugo finally asked. He was about toe to hands with Ven if that continued. All in a friendly way of course.
"How about both?" Kye proposed as they both nodded furiously. "I don''t know if I would be able toe with you guys though. I don''t think I have enough points."
"Well, who asked you to pay?" Ven pointed out.
"I mean..."
"He''s right. We havergely enough points for that, so you don''t have to worry about that."
"But-..." Kye try to say no again, but after seeing their puppy faces, he decided to ept.
It seems that they wanted to pass some time with him. So they began to head to the academy''s city. But once there, something came to Yugo''s mind.
"Wait Ven. We''re the only ones who proposed something but didn''t ask about what Kye wanted."
"That''s your fault dude. You''re making us look bad now."
"Me? It''s because of you. So what do you mean by that?" They once again began to have a conflict, but Kye quickly stopped them.
"I just want to pass time with you guys. That''s all. Nothing is more important for me right now other than that."
And once again, hearing that Yugo and Kye wanted to hug him, but stopped themselves to not being too over-affectionate toward him. He looked like a little brother to them, so they wanted to cherish him and protect him as much as possible. But it would be bad if Kye didn''t like that, so they refrained from doing that.
So they passed the afternoon together. And like a few days ago, Kye looked quite tired. But a lot less than their first day together.
''Is it because I changed from being a human to a half-angel? And because angels are almost perfect beings, they don''t fear light or darkness?'' Kye thought. ''If it''s indeed that, then I''m pretty lucky. I will be able to stay awake during the night too once I will be a full angel.''
Kye didn''t remark that, but hepletely epted his new him. It was as if he had forgotten about his human nature and immediately got used to and epted his new nature as a half-angel.
So after having finished all their activities together, they all came back to their rooms and began to talk all night.
Kye wasn''t tired, probably because he wasn''tpletely human anymore. So he had more resistance toward sleep. But it wasn''t the same for the boys.
They stayed awake all night and were d for that because it was funny, but now that it was 7 am, they finally felt the need to sleep.
"Come on, I don''t want to go to ss. Can''t I sleep a little?" Ven said as he was lying on Kye''sp. Thetter had lost a game, so it was his punishment.
"No you can''t," Kye chuckled and tapped Ven''s forehead a little. "We need to go and learn new things."
"You''re so diligent Kye," Yugo said as his back was against Kye''s one. It was also his other punishment. "I don''t want to go either. That''s annoying, really."
"So you guys don''t want to pass time with me?" Kye said with a sad smile. "I see, that how it is..."
"Wait what?" Yugo straightened his back and stood up.
"You got it all wrong Kye," Ven stood up too. "We want to stay with you."
"Yeah, it will be ten if not a hundred times more annoying without you."
"Haha, I''m joking I''m joking," Kye chuckled a little. "And I too like staying with you. So thank you for being my friend even though I''m still not at your level.
And this time, unlike yesterday, they couldn''t hold back and hugged him. It was too much for them to take his cuteness without doing things like that in return.
"As long as you don''t reject me, I will try to be there for you," Yugo said with a big brother smile.
"Me too. I will try to always be here whenever you need it or not," Ven added.
And hearing them, Kye was once again happy and got reminded how much he was lucky to have friends like this because unlike him, some didn''t and were beaten all the time.
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 28 Another Friend
The days then passed normally. The first period was the one with normal sses. So it was pretty annoying.
During lunch, people were looking even more in Kye''s direction. He hadpletely be the hot topic of the academy. First by beating Bulk, then by having won against Lidi who was the queen of the first year, andst but not least, by being apanied by someone from the military that no one knew where.
Some theorized that he was someone influential but in disguise, others that he was someone closely rted to the military or even that he was an illegitimate son. But no one was even close to the truth.
"It''s quite funny to hear people spouting bullsh*t about you, don''t you think?" Ven asked while they were heading toward the weapon ss. They had let Yugo just a second ago.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Are you still ufortable by all these looks?"
"Yeah, and I don''t think I will be able to get used to it. Especially when it''s not rted to something good. They are either envying me because I''m hanging out with high-level people such as you or want to beat me for whatever reason they had. And either way, it''s not something nice."
"Even if they want to bully you, I''m sure you won''t let yourself be beaten now, right?" Kye nodded. "And if they are unfortunate enough to touch, I or Yugo will surely beat them back to death, you don''t have to be worried about that."
"I don''t know if I should be worried about them or you''re sadistic smile."
"What do you mean? My smile is totally normal," Ven chuckled as they entered the weapon ssroom.
Since they were a few minutes early, they just sat and talked with each other. Some minutester, someone else came into the ssroom and sat by Kye''s side.
Kye didn''t speak with her since he wasn''t a friend or even an acquaintance of her, so he just looked ahead and was waiting for the ss to begin.
It was peaceful until Ven spoke.
"You''re Lidi, right?" Ven asked as she nodded. "Why are you turning around my boy? Are you interested in him?" He put his forearm on Kye''s shoulder while talking from his back to Lidi.
"What will you even do if I am, huh?" She smirked.
"It depends, what are you waiting for from him? Do you wanna bully him or be a friend?"
"Why would I want to bully someone as interesting as him?" Lidi asked as if the answer was obvious.
"I don''t know, because you''re a high levelpared to him?"
"Aren''t you a high level too?"
"Yeah, but I''m his friend."
"And so am I."
"What?" Ven made a weird expression and looked at Kyle in the face. "Since when?"
Lidi put her forearm on Kye''s shoulder and crossed her leg before answering for Kye. "Since now, of course."
Hearing them, Kye was quite perplexed. He didn''t know what to do. Lidi seems to be a good person, but he didn''t know if he would be able to trust her, so he didn''t want to go on with things for nothing.
Though, Ven just burst Kye out from his thought.
"HAHAHAHA," Venughed his a*s off. He even had some difficulties continuing. "You''re so funny. You want to be his friend but don''t even ask if he wants. What is the difference between a bully and you at this point?"
"What? Kye, are we friends?" Lidi asked as she stood up.
Kye once again didn''t know what to do. He didn''t want to answer on a whim, but she also looked like a good person.
And in the end, he just said, "I guess we could be from now on?"
"What?" This time, it was Ven who stood up. "Kye, are you crazy? Will you seriously be her friend? You don''t even know her."
"Did he know you when he first met you though?" Lidi asked.
"I guess she had a point," Kye said with an apologetic smile.
And seeing that, Ven just sat back and said, "I will keep an eye on you. So you better be careful because if you treat him wrongly, you will pay it."
"As I said earlier, there''s no need for me to bully him. He''s too interesting; Not that I''m that type of person anyway," She sat back too, and as if they finished their discussion just in time, Madison came into the ssroom.
"Alright, everyone. For today''s ss, we will continue doing spar. But unlike yesterday, you will fight against two people at the same time," She said. "If we do that it''s just because you won''t always fight just one enemy at a time, so like this, you will at least be prepared a little."
"Can we use our abilities?" A student asked without even waiting for her to ask him to speak.
"No, you need to fight without them too because sooner orter, during a fight, your energy will be depleted. And when this time wille, you will only have your weapon to use."
"This is bullsh*t," A girl said. "We will be dead if we don''t have any energy left anyway, so let''s just do it with them to improve our ability and with a weapon."
hearing her, a lot of people nodded at what she said. It was true. If they didn''t have any energy left to use their abilities, they will die. There wasn''t any use to defend without their ability. And even if they were managing to do it, their enemy would surely still have a little bit of energy, so they won''t be able to defend themselves against an ability user.
"Young miss and to all the people who agreed with her," Madison said with a gentle voice. "If you want to learn more about your abilities, then go to the appropriate ss. I don''t have time to waste with kids like you."
Chapter 29 Vens Title
(AN: Hi~, I know it''s been quite long since Ist updated MAS, but I will continue starting today. If everything goes well, I will release a chapter per day. Hope you look forward to it.)
"Young miss and to all the people who agreed with her," Madison said with a gentle voice. "If you want to learn more about your abilities, then go to the appropriate ss. I don''t have time to waste with kids like you." Madison didn''t wait for them to rebuke her or anything. She just nced coldly toward them to shut their mouths. No one dared to say something else after that.
She then continued. "As I said earlier, times wille when you won''t be able to fight a one versus one battle. The world isn''t noble enough to allow such a thing. Take the monsters for example. If they didn''t know how to fight without their abilities, they would have lost the war because humanity''s greatest asset is its number. So don''t think that you will die once your energy would hit rock bottom. On the contrary, it would be the moment where your opponent will let its guard down. And when it happens, you just have to slice their necks.
"Now I want you to form groups of three. One of you will have to fight two opponents at once until it will be time to rotate. Any big injury will be punished greatly if it''s done on purpose. So don''t try anything fancy."
Everyone got into groups, even those who were low leveled. Of course, the strong stayed with the high-level group up with their peers, while the low levels did the same with their peers.
Kye, Ven, and Lidi decided to stay together. Fighting together was the best way to strengthen a new friendship, so it was the perfect opportunity.
"Who''s going to be alone first?" Lidi asked. "I don''t mind going first if you guys want."
"Well, I guess you can. I''m next then," Ven answered.
"I''mst then," Kye said as he went into stance.
Around ten meters were separating them, and since Lidi was alone, she decided to defend first. It would be hard to fight two opponents at once like this, so it was better to try and seize the openings they will leave when fighting.
Ven was the first to move. He ran straight toward her. Kye immediately followed behind him to give him support, but he didn''t expect to see Lidi aim for him instead of Ven.
Lidi, when she saw Ven rushing toward her knew that she will lose in a battle of strength. And since Ven was the overprotective type, he will surely protect Kye if she were to target him.
And she was right.
Ven turned back and counter the scythe''s de since Kye couldn''t stop it himself. He had built up too much momentum, and he wasn''t experienced enough to stop it like this.
Ven didn''t say anything after blocking the de and continued his advance. He swung his de downward, and Lidi blocked him with her scythe''s handle. Since Ven was too distracted, Lidi take this to her advantage and kicked Ven in the ribs.
Thetter stepped back while Lidi switched target. She went to Kye, swinging her weapon in a grand motion. However, Kye was ready. He didn''t just look from afar, he had tried to assimte her movements.
So when she saw her shoulder tensing up, Kye knew she was going for a great swing.
He rushed as fast as he could into her inner range so that the de couldn''t touch him, thus leaving a giant opening for him to exploit.
Lidi didn''t expect that, but she kept her head cool. So she tried to dodge, but Ven was behind him and in full motion to do a shoulder bump.
"I give up," She said while Kye was swinging his sword. He managed to stop right in time though.
They all calm down and retracted their weapons.
"It''s a good thing that you exploited Ven''s overprotectiveness over me to your advantage at the beginning. You killed his momentum, saving you from fighting him in a battle of strength where you would have been at a disadvantage," Kyemented on the fight after processing everything with a clear head. It was a good exercise to see where they could improve and where they were good.
"It wasn''t good. Imagine that I wouldn''t have protected you," Ven got angry.
"It was because I knew you were going to do this that I god the opportunity to exploit it. Even though you are a great fighter Ven, you let your emotion cloud your judgment."
"Then what should have I done? Just continue rushing without thinking about his well-being?"
"No. If you assessed the situation well earlier, You would have seen that the power I put on my scythe was minimal. Plus the fact that it was only the tip wouldn''t have put him in great danger. At worst he would have healer after resting a little at the infirmary."
"She''s right regarding that," Kye said. "And I won''t be injured that easily, Ven."
"Sorry Kye, I didn''t mean to."
"It''s okay, I know you don''t."
"Well anyway, in the end, I lost the fight," Lidi continued. "Kye forced me to focus only on him, so I didn''t see Vening from behind. And the shoulder bump was a perfect move since there was still a possibility of me dodging a swing."
"I guess Kye isn''t to be underestimated."
"Yeah, he doesn''t have a lot of experience, but his battle awareness is high. So he can easily see what''s the best course of action. Truly interesting," Lidi added.
"I guess I will take that as apliment," Kye smiled shyly.
"It is apliment, sorry if it sounded weird,"
"You are weird, Lidi," Ven added with a smug smile.
"You''ll gonna pay during your fight," Lidi answered with her fist in front of her, ready to punch him.
They soon heard Madison shouting, telling them to rotate the roles.
The group didn''t wait long and immediately did so. Like earlier, ten meters were separating both sides. However, this time, it was the one who was alone, that is to say, Ven, who decided to attack instead of defending himself.
He rushed at his fastest speed toward them, ready to sh whatever will enter inside his swinging range.
Since Lidi had a mid-ranged weapon, Kye decided to confront Ven. The former was ready to counterattack the moment the katana would havee into range, but it never came. Instead, Ven had disappeared from Kye''s vision.
*ng*
It was only when he heard des going against each other that Kye understood that Ven passed through him.
How?
Well, he didn''t know.
Ven just seemed to teleport behind him.
Lidi had a hard time defending since she didn''t expect that either. But as someone who had a decent experience wielding a scythe, she still managed to stop Ven''s onught before regrouping with Kye.
''His sword mastery is far above than I thought,'' Lidi thought, catching her breath. ''His title is indeed perfect for him.''
Even though the military did a pretty good job putting students that didn''t have any rtionship whatsoever together, big families were still worldwide known. And Ven was one of them.
As for the title she thought about, it was a title that suited him greatly.
''The sword prodigy''
Even though he was still a beginner, Ven had a bright future with a sword. And katanas, being his favorite weapon only added more talent to what he already had.
However, she couldn''t think about that for long since Ven was moving once again, though, he had a hard time breathing.
''Is it because of the technique he used earlier? Did it take a toll on his body?'' Kye thought, ready to end this fight as quickly as possible. He couldn''t drag it when Ven looked exhausted.
So he gripped his sword strongly, ready to defend the moment he will swing.
And while Ven was side-swinging, Lidi swung her scythe too, protecting Kye from Ven''s swing, thus, letting him punch Ven in the stomach followed by a swing of his own, stopping just in front of his neck..
"I guess this is my loss," Ven said, sitting and looking to the ground.
***
Add it to the library if you like it.
You can give PS too if you want. We can even set a goal with bonus chaps if MAS is trending ^^.
Chapter 30 Kye鈥檚 Great Eyes
"I guess this is my loss," Ven said, sitting and looking to the ground.
"Are you alright, Ven?" Kye asked, worried by his heavy breathing. "Is it because of your technique? Why did you use it?"
"I''m alright, don''t worry," Ven smiled, catching his breath slowly but surely. "And, yes, even though I didn''t need to use it, I wanted to try and use it. I thought I would have won easily if I used it though. I didn''t expect Lidi to block my attack like this."
"It was pretty had, to be honest," Lidi said. "I never saw thating, and it was almost only by luck that I blocked it. You''re not the sword prodigy for nothing."
"What?! How do you know?" He asked, shocked of hearing that after so long.
"There is just one family that can control gravity and has white hair and gray eyes, you know? And there''s only one sword prodigy. Your siblings got other titles."
"I mean," Ven looked away. "I didn''t expect to hear that again."
"Why?"
"Well, it''s kinda personal, I''m sorry."
"It can''t be helped then," Lidi shrugged. She didn''t expect anything. They just began to talk to each other today, after all, so it would be stranger if he were to tell her what happened;
"Ven are you a sword prodigy?"
"Do I look like it?" Ven asked, with almost sad eyes.
Almost.
"Yes, you''re very strong with a sword. And I''m sure that you''re even stronger with your ability," Kye said excitingly with what looked like sparkles in his eyes.
"Thanks," Ven patted his head. "Anyway, I''m good now, so we can continue our spar."
Madison was just in time when she said to switch roles again.
As always, ten meters was separating them. And this time, Lidi and Ven rushed at the same time.
Kye made a forced smile seeing that. Having to handle both of them at the same time would be more than a hassle. So he readied himself and rush toward them too to kill their momentum, even if it was just a little.
Lidi, with her greater range, spin her scyther rapidly, making Kye focus solely on defense, while Ven was slowly reaching for the close range. He too then swung his sword repetitively. And to make matter worse, Ven only aimed at the opposite of where Lidi was attacking, thus Kye needed to make big moves to protect himself, letting a lot of openings for Ven to exploit.
But strangely enough, Kye didn''t look like he was overwhelmed by those two attacks. No, on the contrary, his eyes were constantly moving to see everything that was happening around him.
He quickly understood that Lidi was spinning her scythe horizontally and not vertically. And Kye decided to exploit that. He ducked down and hit Ven''s leg with his own before going behind him and pushing him right into Lidi''s weapon.
Everything happened so quickly that Ven didn''t even have the time to react, while Lidi managed to retract her scythe at thest moment. She would have surely greatly wounded Ven if she was a momentte.
Kye didn''t stop here. While they were still shocked, he rushed toward them with his sword behind him. Lidi swung her scythe while Ven dodged, but Kye knew that they would have done that.
Lidi seemed to do a lot of light attacks that looked pretty strong at first nce, thus making her opponent stop in their tracks so that they could defend. And he also knew that Ven was cautious in situations like this, so he would have surely dodged.
And they did just that.
Since Ven had distanced himself from his friends, Lidi was now alone, and her stance wasn''t good to either retract her scythe at a moment''s notice or even defend herself. Thus, Kye only had to dodge before bumping into Lidi and pushing his sword toward her heart.
He stopped a few centimeters away from her, before rushing toward Ven. It was now a 1vs1.
Lidi was taken aback by what had happened. She didn''t expect Kye to defeat an opponent while neither she nor Ven had managed to. But with great field vision, he managed to ovee the little experience he had by exploiting his opponents'' reactions.
And she was now happy to see the fight that was about toe. Kye was very talented. But it wasn''t really with a weapon. No, it was in general. Just yesterday, he managed to reproduce her move and Ven''s, thus winning a lot more spar than he would have been able to. Kye was a fast learner, and even though his mastery over swords was still prettycking in general, it was just a question of time before he could surpass even Ven, who was a prodigy in this field.
Kye rushed toward a baffled Ven. But his experience told him that he couldn''t let his guard down. One wrong move, one opening, one opportunity was enough for him to lose. And he was sure that Kye wouldn''t let an opportunity fly under his hands without exploiting it.
So Ven rushed toward him and swung his sword. But he just did a little move, not a big one, surprising Kye greatly. He didn''t expect nor knew that such little movements were possible with a sword.
So he only managed to block his sword narrowly before Ven ducked to aim toward Kye''s leg.
His katana wasn''t very long, so only the tip touched Kye''s leg. But it was enough to injure him.
Kye took a few steps back because of that, but Ven didn''t let him regenerate. He had seen first handly how Kye''s regenerative ability was incredible and efficient, so he couldn''t let Kye the time for that.
Kye on the contrary was destabilized. He didn''t expect to be so much hurt by a small scratch, but it was very real. He could feel his body trying to regenerate, but it would take some time. Time that he didn''t have because Ven was in front of him, ready to swing again.
And the moment he swung, Ven let go of his weapon and punched Kye who was shocked by that.
"Argh," Kye whined in pain and fell to the ground before feeling Ven''s sword upon him.
"I''m sorry Kye, I didn''t mean to hurt you," Ven immediately went to see if Kye was alright. Thetter was holding his stomach because of the pain he felt. Kye''s punch was far stronger than he had expected.
"It''s okay," Kye smiled after Lidi came over too to see his injuries. And seeing his leg already heal baffled her greatly, but she didn''t have the time to ask anything. "I''m already happy enough to fight against you two. I got a lot of experience through this fight."
"Yeah, you seriously surprised me. You exploited every opening we left, and you were pretty damn cool," Ven said excitingly once he saw Kye letting go of his stomach.
"I didn''t expect that to be honest," Lidi said. "You have little to no battle experience, but your field of view is great. So great that you seem to know exactly what happened during a fight."
"What do you mean?" Kye asked, not understanding.
"I''m saying that you''re great. Your eyes too are great. They seem to allow you to see the movements of your opponent very clearly. You even managed to stop my scythe spinning whereas your back was facing me. And we all know how it''s hard to fight well when two enemies continuously push you to a corner. And yet, you exploited the fact that I spun my scythe horizontally to duck and push Ven inside my attack range."
"That''s true. It seriously baffled me. I didn''t expect you to use our own attacks against us," Ven added. "It was a great tactic."
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 31 Worries For The Future
"That''s true. It seriously baffled me. I didn''t expect you to use our own attacks against us," Ven added. "It was a great tactic."
"I only managed to do that because I knew how you guys think," Kye stated. "I saw how Lidi made attacks with small power in it so that people stopped in their tracks. I also knew that you, Ven, were cautious, that''s why I managed to defeat Lidi when you stepped back."
"Well, that''s exactly what we''re saying," Ven smiled. "You have great eyes that allow you to read your opponents easily. And you also know how to process that information, so that''s great. I''m sure that if you had a little more experienced, you would have defeated us easily."
"Are you sure?"
"Well maybe not easily, but you would have been a great opponent. Even more than now."
As Ven said that, the bell announcing the end of the day rang, and Madison let them go. Of course, thetter observed everyone, and she was d that the few students that had picked her interest didn''t deceive her. They had great potential, and as a teacher, she will try her best to guide them onto the right path.
"Lidi, do you want to hang out with us?" Kye asked as they walked through the hallway.
"Are you sure? I don''t want to bother you,"
"You''re already bothering us," Ven said and Kye pped his head gently. Nheless, he still put a hand where Kye had pped him. It hurts!
"No, you''re not. I wouldn''t have asked you if it was the case," Kye said with a smile.
"Fair enough," She smiled back. "Then if you don''t mind, I will bother you,"
"Sure."
They then went to pick up Yugo, and as thetter see a new person in the group, he nced at Ven to see his reaction. Thetter answered him with a nod, and Yugo then smiled.
"Nice to meet you, you can call me Yugo."
"Likewise, I''m Lidi. A new friend of Kye, and also Ven maybe," She chuckled as thetter looked away.
"Haha, don''t be too harsh with him. He''s just a d*mba*s,"
"What?" Ven grows a vein on his head with a smile.
"Hehe, you didn''t hear anything," Yugo chuckled.
Seeing that, Kye had a smile on his face. A few days ago, when he first came to the military ground, he thought that his stay here would have been no different from living in hell. There was still the level system, after all, and as a level 1 without ability, he was at a 100% chance sure that people would have targeted him. However, it wasn''t the case.
First Yugo kindly helped him when he didn''t have to. Then Ven too came and supported him so much that he now became overprotective toward him. And now he had met Lidi too. And even though he didn''t know her well, the fact that she had tried to step up against Bulk to protect him says long about her character. So he was sure to have met good people, and he hoped from the bottom of his heart that nothing unfortunate would happen.
''Hope I don''t jinx myself,'' Kye thought as the group went to the city. They wanted to hang out a lot, and they first went to a restaurant. "Guys, I was wondering, isn''t it better to train instead ofzing around?" Kye asked. "I mean, there will surely be some exam sooner orter, and we need to be prepared for that kind of thing."
"Are you seriously saying that Kye?" Lidi chuckled. "You almost won against me and Ven alone, so do you really think that you need to train?"
"He did what?" Yugo asked with a shocked expression.
Ven then exined to him. "We needed to fight in 1 versus two today in our weapon ss. And Kye managed to defeat Lidi without even cheating. I''m telling you Yugo, he will be stronger than us."
"Is it real?" Kye nodded shyly. "That''s so nice Kye. I''m d that you beat them up," Yugoughed.
"I lost in the end though."
"You still put them in a difficult situation, so that''s already impressive for someone that began training yesterday," Both Ven and Lidi nodded.
"So yeah, you don''t have to worry about that. You''re already strong enough to fend for yourself."
"But it was a spar without ability," Kye reminded them, and all the smiles on their face soon faded away in front of the realization. "So I won''t be able to do much in a situation that implies fighting against someone who had an ability."
"You do have¡" Ven was saying when Yugo suddenly hit his leg from under the table of the restaurant.
"I''m sure you will get an ability sooner orter, so don''t worry," Lidi said with a smile. "You just have to be patient,"
"Yes, you are right," Even though Kye said that with a smile, the three of them could see that Kye was sad. The future was uncertain, and they felt awful not being able to help him. Protecting him against his bully was a good thing, providing a solid friendship and emotional support was good too, but they couldn''t do anything more than that. And they felt bad for that.
Even Lidi felt like this. Sure she just met him yesterday, but strangely enough, she already considered him like a little brother that she needed to protect. It was a strange and nice feeling. But she still felt awful because of that.
"I know what you are thinking guys, but please don''t do this face," Kye said after some time. "You can''t do anything about that, and the fact that you are already here for me it''s more than enough. I would probably have died already if it wasn''t for you guys so I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
''Sh*t, I want to hug him now,'' Ven thought but didn''t do anything. He resisted the urge.
''Why is he so cute? I want to hug him to reassure him,'' Lidi thought too and resisted.
''Kye, you''re going to make my heart cry at this rate,'' This time it was Yugo who thought that.
They all had a different thoughts in their head, but they all resisted the urge tofort and hug him. Instead, they just gave him a genuine smile.
After eating and doing some more activities, it was still 6 pm. However, they decided to go back to the academy. They were all pretty tired, so they wanted to rest a little.
They all went to their rooms, and once Kye saw that Yugo and Ven were asleep, he decided to sneak out and go to a special area in the academy.
''I hope I will be able to y a little bit of VR,'' He thought as he slowly walked toward the dedicated area for VR.
Chapter 32 First Win In VR
Thankfully, there wasn''t anyone who came to Kye for trouble. In fact, there weren''t any high-level people in the hallway. And Kye was d for that. He didn''t have anyone that could have protected him if it was the case. Sure he now had some ability, but he wasn''t experienced enough with it to be able to fight against someone who had their abilities since they were born.
And even if by chance he would win, it was at the stake of exposing his new ability. And he didn''t want that. He was sure that strange people woulde at him if it was the case. And no one knew what they would do to him. He didn''t want to be aboratory rat, so it was really a good thing that no one came to him.
So after entering the VR area, Kye was utterly shocked by all the things in front of him.
There were hundreds and hundreds of big VR capsules that students could use to y whatever game they wanted, but the most famous game was the one where students could fight each other.
It was so famous because they could fight freely without the risk of damaging their opponents for real. Moreover, the matchmaking was so well done that they didn''t fight against people too strong or too weak for them.
So after seeing what types of games were avable, he decided to y this famous game too. ''Real Fight''. The name was pretty simple, but it clearly showed what it was intended for.
After paying a few points to rent the capsule for an hour, Kye went to his designated VR capsule.
''N¡ã488¡ N¡ã488, Ah, here it is,'' Kye then pressed the open button before entering the capsule. The capsule then closed on Kye, and slowly, strange pink water filled it. Kye got scared, but when he saw that the water wasn''t wetting him, he just closed his eyes to not see the process.
Once the water filled the entire capsule, Kye finally entered Real Fight.
Kye was in apletely white space. There wasn''t anything else apart from that. A few secondster, a screen came in front of him.
[Wee to Real Fight, please choose your ability]
''Should I choose an ability?'' Kye thought. ''No, there''s no point in that. It''s not as if I have such abilities, so it''s better to not use such a thing.''
[Please choose a weapon]
Seeing that, Kye smiled and immediately chose the sword he got familiar with.
[Please choose a name]
''Hmm, how about Fallen Angel?''
[Name registered]
''Guess I can''t change it now.''
[Would you like to cover your face?]
This option was avable for those who didn''t want to be recognized. And after weighing the pros and cons, Kye epted. He didn''t want to be recognized by whoever could endanger his life.
"Yes."
A mask suddenly appeared out of thin air. It didn''t have any distinct features. In fact, it was just a white mask with only holes for the eyes. Once Kye put it on himself, the game continued.
[Please choose your section?]
A list appeared in front of him. There were different gaming modes such as 1vs1, 2vs2, and so on, with a rank mode for each of them. There was even a mode where people could fight against monsters.
''I wonder what a monster looks like,'' Kye thought for a few minutes before shrugging this idea away. ''It''s better that I familiarize myself with fight first before moving to monsters.''
So Kye chooses the 1vs1 mode, and after 30 seconds of research, he finally found a fight.
He got teleported into a big ring-like arena with spectators'' seats surrounding it. Kye''s eyes thennded on the opponent in front of him.
It was a giant man, probably 190 centimeters. Red hair and red eyes.
Kye gulped seeing such a student in front of him and then heard the countdown.
[10]
[9]
[8]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start]
The big man immediately sent a fireball to Kye who dodged easily. There were around 20 meters between them, so he had quite a lot of time.
''Tch,'' The red-haired guy clicked his tongue before sending fireballs after fireballs.
Kye dodged them all skillfully while slowly approaching his opponent. When just a few meters were separating them, the big student stomped one of his feet to the ground and a heatwave blew Kye away. Thankfully it didn''t hurt him.
''Seriously, what''s that? I won''t be able to go near him if he uses that every time,'' Kye thought before dodging another fireball. However, this one was a lot faster than the previous one. So much that he dodged it at a hair length.
"Stop dodging you rat and fight like a real man!"The red-haired student shouted as he sent faster fireballs.
''Is he kidding me?'' Kye thought as a vein popped out from his forehead. ''It''s him who doesn''t let me go near him and he has the gut to talk like that?''
Kye now got a little pissed, but not enough to be clouded by that. Instead, he used that to dodge everything instead of going toward his opponent. Everyone has a limited reserve of energy, and it was the same in Real Fight. So he just needed to wait until his opponent would be left without energy.
The big student understood and got furious. And instead of trying to find another n to beat Kye, he just fired even more fireballs. Albeit, he was getting more and more tired.
After two more minutes, the red-haired man sent hisst fireball before falling to his knees. Seeing that, Kye slowly walked toward him. It could as well be a ruse, so he was still cautious.
And he was right because the moment he was near him, the big guy jumped toward him with his palm growing red.
He infused the rest of his energy into his palm to end this fight. Kye had pissed him by dodging everything so easily, so he didn''t care about such a win.
Though, it was only if he indeed won.
Kye knew that something like that could happen, so he just sidestep before sneaking into his opponent''s back and thrusting his de into the student''s heart, dropping his HP to 0.
[Fallen Angel had won this fight]
As this message appeared, both students faded away before teleporting back into the white space.
"Well I got my first win," Kye said, full of joy.
***
(AN: Since we''re almost at 100 PS when I''m writing this chap, I will release another chap today ^^.)
Chapter 33 [Bonus] A Strong Opponent
"Well I got my first win," Kye said, full of joy. But he quickly came back to Earth. "It was possible only because he didn''t know anything apart from his fireball. I would have surely lost if he was using his fire ability more skillfully."
As he said, he only won because his opponent was dumb. He only used fireball, even when he knew that Kye was waiting for him to use all of his energy. So if he was just a little smarter, he would have fought differently.
Nheless, even if he knew that he was still happy. He couldn''t use his ability here, at least from what he thought, so he was very d to win with only his weapon.
[Would you like to search for another match?]
"Hmm, wait a minute," Kye stretched his hand to see if he could actually use his power. He might as well can, but just didn''t know it. And it wasn''t as if he was going to die by using it. Moreover, since he had a mask, no one could recognize him either.
So after thinking of his Holy ray, a golden ray came out from his hand and disappeared after 5 meters.
"I can''t believe it," Kye jumped around with happiness. "I can use my angel''s abilities here."
A lot of scenarios came into his head the moment the ray came out. He could use it as much as he wanted because his HP wasn''t dropping, and most importantly because no one could recognize him.
The white mask covered the entirety of his face, even his hair was covered, so no one could know who he was. And since no one knew he had some abilities in the real world, the chance to be found there was even less. Of course no one except Yugo and Ven, but well, he trusted them.
Kye then immediately search for another fight, and after 15 seconds, he found an opponent.
This time it was a girl. She was 165 centimeters with tinum blond long hair and blue eyes. She had aforting smile on her face. And to add insult to injury, she looked far smarter than his previous opponent.
And unlike earlier, there were also a lot of spectators cheering for her. Kye first got intimidated by her, but he just told to himself that they weren''t in the real life, so there was nothing to be scared of. And while he was thinking that, the people who were about to spectate the fight talked among themselves.
"Have you ever seen this guy?" A girl said.
"No, he looks like a newbie," Someone else answered.
"Look, he took the mask. Does he want to hide his identity?"
"Obviously, he wouldn''t have put it on otherwise."
"Well, Sylvia will win at the end of the day, so who cares about a newbie?" Everyone nodded just before the countdown hit 0.
Sylvia immediately created a water whip with her power. She could see that her opponent had a weapon with him, and even though she wasn''t taking part in the weapon ss, she still knew how to use a weapon or two.
And since his opponent had a bastard sword, a weapon with a long reach like a whip was perfect.
Kye slowly ran toward her while observing her movement. Sylvia could see that too. She winked at Kye before swinging her whip so skillfully toward him that it almost disarmed him.
''She looks stro-..'' Kye was thinking but quickly got interrupted when he saw spears made of watering right at him. He managed to dodge the easiest while parrying the hardest to dodge. All while parrying her whip.
And he couldn''t use his Holy ray because there were still 10 meters separating them.
"The newbie is really strong. Look at how he dodged and parry everything."
"Yeah, I wonder why he''s hiding when he is this strong. Sylvia is known to be ruthless when fighting, but this guy still manages to be on par with her."
"On par? Can''t you see that he can''t do anything?"
The spectators had mixed feelings, but even those that were still cheering at Sylvia at 100% were taken aback by how Kye could move. Sylvia, even though didn''t let Kye do anything apart from dodging and parrying, didn''t manage tond a hit on him either.
And while Kye was protecting himself, he entered the five meters range. He dodged a swing of Sylvia''s whip before stretching his arm and firing his Holy ray.
The ray was very fast, but Sylvia still managed to dodge it. Though, not without stopping her never-ending onught.
Kye took advantage of that and quickly ran toward her. Seeing that, Sylvia erected a water wall to prepare for another attack, but Kye guessed that she would try to protect herself with something like that. She was strong and smart, so she wouldn''t let an opponent approach her without fighting back.
Water spikes even came out from the wall, but they went straight while Kye was on the side of the wall. He side-stepped when he saw water forming on the ground.
Since there wasn''t anything blocking him anymore, Kye swung his sword with one hand while firing a Holy ray with the other. He didn''t want to let any chance for her to survive, so by using two different attacks, Sylvia would have to take at least one of them.
But what Sylvia did shock him.
She decided to dodge the Holy ray, deeming it stronger than the sword, and let Kye pierce her right shoulder. Her HP dropped to half because of such a big wound, but Sylvia didn''t stand idle. She created a sword herself and thrust it onto Kye''s right shoulder. She wanted to aim for his heart, but the pain made her miss.
Both of them had only had half of their HP left.
"You''re stronger than I thought," Sylvia said to destabilize him, but kye didn''t answer. He just shot another holy ray.
Sylvia knew that something like that would happen, so she made water appear right where the ray would hit her. However, she underestimated the power behind it because it still pierced her water protection, followed by her body.
They were both locked into each other swords, but it was clear that one of them was more injured than the other.
Kye was about to shoot another Holy ray to her face this time, but Sylvia made a flying spear that pierce his stomach.
"This fight is insane," The spectators were all baffled.
"Sylvia was still winning a few moments ago, but the guy''s golden ray made her stop."
"Do you guys think it was made by light element?" It was quite fast, so it''s understandable."
"Nheless, he is still strong. Just look at how he side-stepped before the wall was created. He even dodged the spikes thanks to that."
"It was a good idea toe and watch this fight," A few other people nodded.
Kye and Sylvia were still locked onto each other''s weapons, but none of them wanted to give up.
The pain factor, even though was less than in real life, was still pretty decent. It was to make the game even more real.
But even with all the pain, they felt from their attacks, they didn''t give up.
They locked into each other eyes before acting again.
Kye was about to shoot another Holy ray while Sylvia was ready to use all her power to end this fight. But at thest moment, Kye''s palm faced another direction.
***
(AN: Thanks for the 100 PS. It means a lot to me, really^^!)
If you like the novel so far, you can add it to your library, give PS for more bonus chap, or even leave a review for the novel :).
Chapter 34 A Draw
Kye was about to shoot another Holy ray while Sylvia was ready to use all her power to end this fight. But at thest moment, Kye''s palm faced another direction. Instead of aiming for one of Sylvia''s vital points, Kye aimed for the water sword that was blocking him from moving.
*Pheww*
*Ssh*
The water sword soon lost its shape, letting Kye move freely now. The spear in his stomach was long gone now, so nothing hold him anymore.
Sylvia didn''t expect such a thing, so she stopped in her track for a moment. But this single moment almost cost her head.
Kye put his sword off Sylvia''s shoulder and swung it horizontally to cut her head. But since Sylvia wasn''t blocked by anything too, she managed to duck right in time. Not without losing some hair though.
When she ducked, she formed another water sword to try and cut Kye''s leg, but thetter just shot another Holy ray from his palm during the forming process.
"Tch."
Sylvia clicked her tongue seeing that and decided to step back a little, but Kye didn''t let her. He aimed another ray at her, forcing her to protect herself instead of dodging. Water formed around her body and managed to block the ray. Though, it was close to damaging her again. But while she was stopping the ray, Kye took the opportunity she gave him by swinging his sword to her head multiple times.
Sylvia managed to dodge them all, but after each dodge, the uracy of Kye''s swing was getting better and better. So much that after his tenth swing, he managed to scratch her cheek.
''I need to back off,'' Sylvia thought in hurry. ''He''s putting too much pressure on me.''
When Kye was about to swing again, Sylvia made another water wall with spikesing out from it, forcing Kye to jump back a few times. He would have liked to stop the formation as he did earlier, but the water that was forming on the ground was too much, so there wasn''t any point in stopping it since it would just have been a question of time before the wall emerged.
And since he guessed that there would have spikes that wille out of the wall, he stepped back instead of swinging his sword. He couldn''t risk the fight since both of them only had 20% of their max HP. And at this point, any mistake will cost them the fight.
The wall then liquified and all the water came back to Sylvia. Her energy was dangerously low, so she couldn''t form water out of thin air as easily as before. So she needed to use what was already formed.
Around 8 meters were separating them. And both of them were looking into each other''s eyes.
The tension was building.
Everyone kept their breath in.
The spectators didn''t make any noises.
And when the tension was at its highest, Kye rushed again toward Sylvia.
Thetter tried to stop him as soon as possible because she understood that the range of Kye''s ray was around five meters, so she couldn''t let him enter this range. But her opponent was faster than her new-formed whip, and the moment he entered the 5 meters range, he shot two Holy rays.
Sylvia could see that there was a one-second dy between them, so even if she blocked one, she would need to take the second one.
So instead of keeping the distance between them, Sylvia ducked a little to dodge both rays. They flew right above her head. If she was just a little higher, she would have gotten two holes in her head.
She then transformed her whip into a sword of the same length as Kye''s sword and created a spinning spear that was levitating just in front of her when she ran toward him. The spear spun really fast.
Moreover, since a spear had a longer reach than his sword, Kye would have some difficulties reaching her.
But it was what she thought.
The spear was hovering around her stomach area, and even though she had a sword, it would be hard to aim toward the ground when the spear was almost blocking her vision because of how fast it spun.
So Kye shot a Holy ray toward her head and ran while keeping his body under the spear.
Just as he was about to enter the spear''s range, Sylvia lowered her body, thus lowering the spear too. Kye hadn''t expected that, so he tried to stop himself immediately, but it was toote.
The spear spun so fast that his head got cut immediately.
However, he wouldn''t have gone down without a little goodbye gift.
When Kye saw that the spear was following her and knew that he would lose, he let go of his weapon and shot two Holy rays. One with each of his hands. One of the rays was aimed at the sword so that Sylvia wouldn''t be able to block the second ray.
And like this, the second Holy ray made a hole in her head. Thus killing her immediately.
[The fight between ''Sylvia'' and ''Fallen Angel'' has ended as a draw.]
Both fighters had got teleported back into the white waiting room. Sylvia was still taken aback by this fight. It was so intense that she learned a lot from it. And especially that a student like this ''fallen angel'' was present on the military''s ground. And she was now eager to find him.
As for Kye, he sat on what looked like the ground once he teleported back. And even though from the outside, it looked like Kye was just staring into the white space nkly, in reality, he wasn''t. He was actually looking at his system notification.
[VR assimtion finished. It is now possible for the host to gain EXP through the fights in this realm]
He hadn''t expected such a thing. It wasn''t even in real-life here, so he didn''t even expect to be able to use the system here.
''Now that I think about it, I can use my angel''s power here, so I should guess that I could earn EXP too,'' Just as he thought that, another screen came into his view.
But this time, it wasn''t from his system but the game.
[The user named as ''Sylvia would like to add you to her friend list. Do you ept?]
"Is she the girl I just fought?" Kye asked himself as he epted her friend request. He just thought that she did that because they had a great fight. So he didn''t expect the following message.
[Sylvia would like to join your group. Do you ept?]
"Howes?"
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 35 Sylvias Request
[Sylvia would like to join your group. Do you ept?]
"What?" Kye couldn''t help but shout when he saw that. He was surprised to see that a person like Sylvia, who was very strong first added him as a friend in the game, and second that she wanted to join his group. "Should I ept? But what if she knows me? After all, the military has a private server that separates their students from the world server, so this Sylvia is surely in the school, or at least on another base. But what if she''s in this one? What if she knows me?" Kye kept asking those questions himself. He didn''t want to be discovered, especially now that he used his angel''s ability.
While Kye was busy thinking about what to do and what not, Sylvia was watching the fight they had. The fight had been recorded, and it was so intense that there were already a lot of people who saw the video. A lot of them already knew Sylvia since she had already made a name for herself, be it beforeing to the military, or even after. But Kye was a stranger. This Fallen Angel was strong enough to go toe to toe against Sylvia, and the fact that he wore a mask made people''s curiosity skyrocket. They all wanted to know who this Fallen Angel was, and they were ready to watch his future fights.
"I wonder if we''re in the same military or another because I want to meet someone as strong as him. And he didn''t seem like the type to be all high and mighty. He wouldn''t have covered his face if it was the case anyway," Sylvia said to herself while she was waiting for Kye''s answer. "What''s sure is that he is in the weapon ss because I would have seen him otherwise. There''s not any person that could do this light-ray in the ability ss."
Just at this moment, she received Kye''s answer. And she immediately joined him.
Sylvia appeared out of thin air in Kye''s white space. They then stared into each other''s eyes for a few seconds. Sylvia had a smile on her face with her arms behind her, while Kye¡, well he had his mask on.
"Nice to meet you, Fallen Angel, how are you?" Sylvia finally said after some time.
"...I''m fine, thank you," Kye answered. "How about you? Aren''t your ego hurt because you made a draw against a newbie?"
"What? Haha, of course, no," She chuckled. " On the contrary, I''m d to have met someone as strong as you who doesn''t act all high and mighty. It''s quite rare, you know?"
"What''s rare?"
"To find people like you. Nowadays, all the strong people had such a big ego and so much pride that they disregard people''s life. Most of the strong people tend to discriminate against those lower than them, and that''s quite sad, don''t you think?"
p "Aren''t you a high level too?" Kye answered her question with one of his own.
Sylvia would have looked to the sky if there was one right now, nheless, she still looked upward. "I am. But I''m trying my best not to be like them. I do not care about being at a high level or not. All humans live have the same weight. So I can''t disregard their lives," She made a gentle smile. "And that''s why I wanted to add you as a friend. You seemed to be at a high level too. However, you do not act like one of them. You seem to be humble and a good person."
"Do you really think so?"
"Yeah, though I must say. Your username makes me kinda perplex. You seem to be someone good and kind, but you consider yourself a fallen angel. Quite the pretty oxymoron, don''t you think?"
Kye wanted tough a little because there wasn''t any real meaning behind his name. But even so, it seems that Sylvia wanted to believe that. "Well, thanks I guess," Kye answered, not with a defensive voice anymore. "Anyway, why did you want to join my group?"
"Uhm, would you like to do some 2vs2 with me? Or even fight monsters?"Sylvia asked straightforwardly. "I wanted to find someone since long ago, but I never found anyone. Well actually no. I did find people, but they were either full of themselves or big trash. If you see what I mean," She winked as he nodded.
Kye took a look at the time he had left before he needed toe out of the pod. It was indicating twenty minutes left. "Well, I guess I can. But I only have twenty minutes left."
"Yay, thanks," She pped her hands together. "And don''t worry, it''s already enough. And we can still y another time. We''re on each other friend list, after all. So we can contact each other whenever we''re both avable."
"Then what should we go for?" Kye asked. "I never fought against a monster though."
"Don''t worry about that, we can try one now. And a low level if you want."
"That would be great," He said as he made Sylvia the leader of the group. She was more knowledgeable than him on that topic, so it was better for her to lead. "By the way, I have a question."
"Yes, what is it?" Sylvia was setting the environment and the monster they would fight.
"Why didn''t you try to ask for my identity?" Kye asked, looking at her moving her hands in the air to adjust the difficulty.
"Well, first because we don''t know each other enough for me to ask you this. Second, because if you put a mask on, then that means that there''s a reason, and if you do not want to tell me, I won''t force you. And even though I''m curious, I respect your choice and will wait until you will befortable enough to tell me," She answered truthfully. "Of course, you can as well not tell me anything at all, and I won''t say anything to that."
Kye thinks of her words for a little bit. Sylvia seemed to be someone kind enough to not do something that others won''t like. And so, even though she was at a high level. "I see, thank you for saying the truth," Of course, Kye had his Angel''s eyes active when she talk from the very beginning. At least like this, he was sure that Sylvia didn''t lie to him and didn''t have any hidden agenda.
"All set," Sylvia said once she finished setting everything. "We will fight against a Zora. It''s a dog-like monster that can fire bullets of water from its mouth. So be careful of its range attack. Zoras also had great strength, so don''t underestimate it in the close range too. And even though it''s not real-life, fight as if you''re in. Like this, you will be able to progress further." Sylvia warned him and Kye nodded seriously. Those details would help him fight.
Chapter 36 [Bonus] The Zora
Bonus chap for the 150 PS. Once again thank you ^^
***
"Even though Zoras are strong and very resistant, they are very slow," Sylvia added. "So they make the perfect monster for beginners. Not to add that in real life, they make the perfect set of armor for beginners too, so if one day we''re allowed to go and kill them for real, we will be able to craft something good."
Hearing that, Kye smiled a little. He didn''t know if it was only spection, but it was fairly possible that sooner orter, they will need to go and hunt monsters on others. He strongly doubted that they will only stay in the military without getting real fight experience. The weapon ss was good, but no one aimed for their lives. So it was difficult to get experience with sses. On the contrary, if they go on an expedition to a where they will fight monsters, they would be able to get a lot of valuable experience.
"Then if it''s easy, can''t we fight multiple Zoras at the same time?"
"I would advise against this idea," Sylvia said. "Even though they are easy to deal with, we shouldn''t underestimate them. One good hit and we can lose our life. Sure not here, but it would be better to y as if we''re in real life."
"I guess you''re right. Sorry for wasting our time."
"Don''t say that. I''m d to help. And it''s normal to ask such a thing, especially when it''s your first time. So please don''t be sorry," Kye nodded a bit shyly.
''I wonder what he looks like. From his behavior, he looks like he is the cute type," Sylvia thought. ''Hmh well, he will show me if he wants to, so there''s no need for me to bother him with that,''
"Then, should we go?" Sylvia asked as Kye nodded again, but this time, with a lot of determination.
Sylvia then clicked on a few more options before the white space around them changedpletely. It became a big forest with trees that went as high as the eyes could see.
"Be prepared because the monster appears five seconds after wee into a new area," Kye nodded.
As she said, five secondster, a ck dog-like monster materialized a dozen of meters from them. The Zora was big,rge, and very muscr. Its four legs were so big that they were even higher than Kye''s height.
Kye gulped for a second, but the Zora didn''t let him think of anything because it immediately sent numerous bullets of water from its giant mouth. Unlike its low speed, those bullets went at high speed.
Thankfully, Sylvia was faster to react to the monster since she already had some experience in that field. Especially against Zoras. Their water bullet couldn''t do anything against her because she control the water herself thanks to her ability. So when the bullets came in a five meters radius, Sylvia waved her hand and all the water bullets went out of their trajectory.
Sylvia couldn''t make the bullet disappear since she wasn''t strong enough for that. However, it wasn''t hard to alter their trajectory. And that''s exactly what she did.
"Fallen Angel you can go to the frontline. I will cover you from behind, don''t worry."
Technically, Sylvia could defeat the Zora on her own. She knew this monster a lot since she fight it a lot before the military begin. Though, she always had a lot of difficulties killing it because her water wasn''t sharp enough to pierce the Zora''s skin. And it was hard to aim for its weaknesses such as its eyes because its instinct always told the monster to shut them.
That''s why she believed in Kye. His ability seemed very strong and seems to do a lot of damage. Of course, she also wanted to see him get some experience on his own. She wouldn''t be there every time for him, after all, so she needed to get him some fighting experience.
"Okay, let me handle him then," Kye said as he ran toward the Zora. Thetter kept firing water bullets, but Sylvia kept changing their trajectory.
After firing onest bullet, the Zora got fed up and began to run toward them at its full speed. And as they could see, the Zora was very slow. Its body was big, thus slowing his movement down.
And Kye took that into ount when he fired a Holy ray. The Zora was slow, and he didn''t think that he would be able to pierce its skin with neither his sword nor his angel''s ability. So to do as much damage as possible, Kye fired his Holy ray while predicting the monster''s movement.
The Zora, even though had a sharp instinct didn''t see the raying toward its eyes, and since he was sturdy, he didn''t care if the ray would hit its body. And this assumption cost the monster''s right eye.
*rghhhhh!*
The Zora roared in pain, but Kye didn''t finish yet. Since his opponent had now only one eye left, Kye went into the monster''s blind spot, that is to say, its right side.
The Zora didn''t see the humans going into its blind spot because of the pain and the fear of losing its left eye too, so it close its other eye.
Once Kye was on the right side, he kept running until he managed to get behind the monster.
''What is he nning?'' Sylvia thought as he observed him. ''There''s no weakness in a monster''s re¡ Don''t tell me!''
As she understood what Kye was nning, she sucked a cold breath because of his monstrosity.
Kye went behind the monster. And even though one will think that there''s no weakness behind a body, well, they couldn''t be more wrong than that.
The best weakness to exploit because no one ever thought of covering it was the ass hole. There wasn''t any protection there, and because of that, Kye thrust his sword into Zora''s rear.
*Arghhhh*
This time, the monster roared in pain too. But this roar was far more spine-chilling than the previous one.
The Zora, because of its anger turned around, only to find nothing.
Kye went one more time into its blind spot, or more precisely, under its giant body.
And the moment the Zora saw him, he waved his leg to smash him to death.
Sylvia was ready to make a water wall, but Kye just jumped even before the Zora went into motion and pierced its left eye. Blood flowed everywhere with the monster''s cry, but Kye couldn''t care less about it. He just thrust his sword more and more into its eyes until the de pierced the brain.
[You killed a Zora in this realm, + 80 EXP]
***
(AN: If you have any idea that you would like to share about the story or even want to give advice, I''m all ears ^^)
Chapter 37 New Confrontation
[You killed a Zora in this realm, + 80 EXP]
[EXP: 160/200]
''That''s nice, I''m almost at level 3 now. Just one more monster!'' Kye thought excitingly but quickly came back to reality. He took a look at the time he had left to y, and it was indicating 1 minute.
"Congrattion, Fallen Angel, you were amazing during this fight," Sylvia praised him honestly. "But I guess it''s time for you to log off, right?"
"Thank you, Sylvia, I couldn''t have done it without you. You helped me a lot, especially in supporting me as you said earlier. And yes, I need to log off, sorry. I just have a little less than 30 seconds now."
"No worries," Sylvia smiled. "I''m d to have met you, and I really hope we can fight again together."
"Yes, me too," Kye nodded and finally logged off.
***
A few days had passed, and Kye didn''t have a single asion to go to the VR area again. It was as if someone was preventing him from going there. Every time he tried to slip away from the group, thetter always managed to stop him by finding something to do. Kye was happy to spend time with them, but he also wanted to level up more.
Thankfully, he still managed to level up with his daily quest.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Half-angel
LVL: 3
Exp: 35/400
HP: 20/20
Strength: 11
Agility: 13
Stamina: 12
Remaining stats to distribute: 0]
Since he earned 15 EXP per day, he managed to level up after only three days. He also put the stat he earned with his level up into agility. He wanted to be able to move fast so that he could either dodge his opponents'' attacks or get into a close range more easily in the future. However, he will still put stats points into the other as well because he wanted to be as bnced as possible. Every stat changed his performance a lot. Just by increasing his agility by one, Kye could see some differences.
Even Ven who fought him every day in the weapon ss saw that and was quite surprised. It wasn''t possible for a normal human being, but after some thought about this matter, he remembered that Kye wasn''t totally human anymore. So he just shrugged the matter away.
There was also a new student in the weapon ss. People could switch their fighting sses at the beginning since they weren''t seeing anything big so that they could change freely and see what was best suited for them. And this new student was Sylvia.
She knew well how she performed against Fallen Angel, and from her, point of view, the mastery of her ability was already very good. However, her close-rangebat wasn''t good, and she saw that when she fought against him. So she decided to change ss so that she could train in the area she wascking.
And even though she usually used a lot of different weapons during a fight thanks to her mastery over her ability, she decided to stick with the whip in real life. It was what she used the most, and what was best suited for her.
And as the day passed, no big incident happened. They just spend their day like how a normal school would have. Studying, training, and hanging out with their friends.
But this little peace period soon ended when one of the people that hated Kye the most came to him. This person was nonother than Bulk, and he came with a group of high-level students.
"You little piece of shit! ept my duel or I will beat you to death!" Bulk shouted in the middle of the school''s hallway, where a lot of students were passing by and soon stopped in their tracks when they heard themotion.
"And why would he, huh?" Ven came in front of Kye even before he could open his mouth. "He already defeated you fair and square, so scram you fu*ker!"
"Wha¡-?" Bulk tried to say, but one of the students behind him talked in his stead.
"Did Bulk use his ability? No right? Then it wasn''t fair at all. So let him fight you basta*d" This student was 190 centimeters tall and had red hair and eyes. He looked exactly like the student Kye had fought against in the VR. Even his voice was simr.
"Even if he didn''t, Kye had fought while respecting the rules," Lidi opposed them. "And Bulk, it was you who were about to use your ability against him back then. Or are you too dumb to even remember that?"
"Bit*h, say one more word and I will f*ck you here," Bulk said, full of anger. But someone suddenly put a hand on his shoulder.
"There''s no need to fight over such a thing guys," A light purple-haired guy with pink eyes said. He had the number 6 on his watch. "I mean, you could just let them spar while we all watch over them. Like this, you guys can stop Bulk if he tries something funny."
"Hell n-..."
"Let''s do that," Ven was saying, but Kye cut him short. He even stepped forward with determination while saying that. There''s no need for all thismotion, so let''s end this quickly," He then turned around and began to head toward one of the rings that were avable for such asions.
It was a daily thing for students to fight each other, so the military made several rings for them to fight. Of course, there wasn''t any professor to supervise everything.
"Kye, you''re not serious are you?" Ven rushed toward him and said that. "You can''t use your ab-... I mean, you can fight with all your potential, and I don''t want to see you hurt."
"Yes Kye, why are you doing that?" Yugo added as Lidi nodded. They all began to worry for him. Bulk was a level 4 student with an ability that allowed him to move the weapons he had in his hands faster. And Kye was just level 1 without any ability he could use. So it was clear who the winner will be.
"Yes, don''t worry guys. I know what I''m doing."
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 38 Golden Hues
"Yes, don''t worry guys. I know what I''m doing," Kye said with a smile as they all walked toward the west ring.
One ring was positioned on every side of the military. North, south, east, west. And since the weapon and ability ss were close to the west ring, they all went there.
Kye''s friends would have liked to go to another ring to buy more time, thus managing to convince Kye that fighting Bulk wasn''t a good idea, but even with more time, nothing would have changed. As they hang out with him, Yugo, Ven, and Lidi all understood that once Kye had an idea in his head, he wouldn''t let the others stop him.
And this time wasn''t different.
Kye knew what he was doing. He wanted to go there and give up the moment the fight would begin. Like this, everyone should be happy. Bulk and his friend because he would have given up in fear of being beaten by a high-level, and his friends because he wouldn''t get hurt.
''Even if I do that, I don''t think it will solve anything,'' Kye thought as they entered the ring area. It was a close building where neither rain nor wind could enter. The ceiling was very high, and it waspletely made of ss, thus letting the sunlight hit the inside very easily. But even with that, the building was very cool to stay in. ''As far as I know, people like them get even angrier when the one they want to bully through a "loyal" fight gives up. So I don''t know what should I do anymore.''
As he said, it was very rare that people like Bulk will let him go with a hollow victory like the one Kye was going to give him. And things could get even worse if he were to do that. In fact, if he were to do that, Bulk''s friends would probablye to fight too. And obviously, Kye''s friend too wouldn''t let that happen. So a big fight could happen if he were to do that.
"*Sigh* I don''t know what to d-..." Kye was saying to himself in a low voice when he suddenly heard the system notification noise.
[Win the fight.
Reward: instant level up]
''Well at least I know what to do now,'' Kye rolled his eyes as he entered the ring. Bulk did the same on the other side.
"Kye, can''t you just not fight?" Yugo asked. "I don''t want to see you hurt, especially against such an a*sh*ole like him."
"I''m happy for your concern Yugo, but please believe in me," Kye answered with aforting smile. "I know that I''m weak and that you guys had the urge to prevent me from anything that could endanger me, even if it''s just a little, but I can fend for myself, especially in situations like this. Sure I can''t be as holy as I would like, but I still have a decent level with the sword, so please believe in me."
Kye was very happy to have friends such as them. They knew his secret and didn''t change their attitude toward him in the slightest. Even Lidi. Sure she didn''t know that he was an Angel, but he was sure that even if she knew, she would have treated him as well as before.
Not that he will go out of his way to tell her that. That''s why he said "holy". It was a hint for the boys, and they understood immediately. As for Lidi, she just shrugged when she heard that. It didn''t seem to have any real meaning, so she just nodded when Kye said that.
They were indeed being a little too overprotective over him, but they couldn''t help it. So it was good for Kye to remind them of that.
"Do I need to wait for you to f*ck each other or what?" Bulk shouted from the other side of the ring as all his friends except the one with light purpled hairughed. Thetter just rolled his eyes at the remark.
"No, or maybe you want to join us?" Even though it was a remark that Ven could have said, this time, it wasn''t him who said that. No, it was Kye, and all those who were behind him looked at him with shocked eyes. It was the first time they heard him talk like that, not that they disliked it. Even the light purpled-hair guy smirked hearing that.
"You-..." The bulk waspletely red with anger. And instead of saying anything else, he began to run toward Kye at his full speed.
''It''s strange. Is he slower thanst time?'' Kye thought as he unsheathed the weapon he would use in the weapon ss.
*ng*
*Swoosh*
*Cling*
For the first time, Kye wasn''t dodging. Bulk seemed quite slow to him, so he tried to train his parrying. Nheless, he was still careful. Bulk''s ability wasn''t something he could par easily. Sure his body was slow, but his weapon speed wasn''t the same. And the more Bulk made a strike and Kye blocked him, the faster he was getting.
So much so that at some point, Bulk almost made a hole in Kye''s head.
Thankfully though, Kye managed to dodge at thest second. And strangely enough, Bulk speed hadpletely lowered. It was the same as the beginning of the fight.
''I see,'' Kye smirked. ''His ability allow him to go faster and faster after every hit he does. That''s why his hit was so light at the beginning. So his ability is useless if I dodge instead of parrying."
Bulk swung his spear, but this time, instead of parrying with his sword, Kye dodge it. Bulk didn''t think of anything at the beginning, but after Kye kept dodging, he got angry.
"Stop dodging you bast*rd," He swung and swung again, but Kye only dodged with a smirk on his face. It was as if a Kye was dancing with his opponent by dodging every single of his thrust or swing.
Kye had great eyes, and his friends in the weapon ss understood that easily the more they fought him. And those eyes were now extremely useful because he was seeing every single of Bulk''s movement very easily and with a lot of precision. So much that he even managed to predict some of his attacks as time went on.
"He''s clearly ying with him," The light purpled-haired guy said in a low voice with a little smile.
"Did you say something, Enzo?" The red-haired guy asked the purple dude.
"No, don''t worry," Enzo answered him.
*Swoosh*
*Swoosh*
*Swoosh*
Kye kept dodging with a grace that represented the Angel race well, and at some point, he decided to be on the giving side a little. Bulk was clearly inferior to him when he didn''t have his ability with a high level of speed, so there wasn''t any point in keeping this fight continue.
*ng*
Kye pushed Bulk''s spear away before rushing toward him at a far greater speed than Bulk used at the beginning before doing a shoulder bump.
Bulk got destabilized and almost fell, but as someone who had some experience in fighting, he managed to stabilize himself, only to see no one in front of him anymore.
It was as if Kye had just disappeared. But the reality wasn''t as good as he would have liked to think.
Bulk felt a cold de pushing his neck slowly. When he looked behind, he could see that it was Kye, and his blue eyes weren''t as clear as before. It was as if golden hues obscured his eyes. But they soon turned blue again once he put his sword away.
"Now scram. You''re clearly no match for me," Kye said with an authoritative tone and began to walk away.
Chapter 39 Duty
"Now scram. You''re clearly no match for me," Kye said with an authoritative tone as he began to walk away.
Bulk stayed still for a moment before his brain began functioning again. The fact that he had lost was a shock to him. He didn''t expect to lose against an enemy because his ability never failed him. But today wasn''t as every other day he had fought. He had lost. And to make matter worse, he had lost against a level 1.
Against an orphan.
Someone who was rejected by society.
A trash.
It was so humiliating that his brain couldn''t take the shock and stopped functioning for a moment before rage took over him.
"YOU BA*TARD COME HERE!!!!!" Bulk shouted from the top of his lungs and rushed once again toward Kye who was already a safe distance away. He put his spear in front and was ready to pierce Kye''s heart.
But this time, thetter didn''t even have to do anything. He didn''t have to. Kye had fought with the rules they had agreed upon earlier, so the move Bulk just did anger Kye''s friends a lot. And they also all saw that this fight wasn''t fair for Kye since he didn''t have any ability. Yet against all odds, he won the fight.
And now that Bulk did this, it only shows how inferior he was to Kye.
Kye turned toward Bulk, only to see the space around him being distorted, thusshing at him from every direction, wind was crushing his bones while the gravity made him hug the ground and made his own weight increase by a lot.
"How dare you try to attack him when he spared you?!" Ven''s hair was once again upward due to him using his ability, and his voice was filled with anger.
"Kye, are you alright?" Yugo asked as the space around Bulk distorted even more.
"You''re not hurt anywhere, are you?" Lidi added as the wind crushed his bones even more.
"I''m all right guys. But shouldn''t you stop what you''re doing?" He showed Bulk with his finger. "You''re killing him,"
"I won''t stop this time, Kye," Ven said with anger. He remembered when he had to stop attacking Bulk because Kye asked him to. But this time he could have died for real. So he was ready to hurt him enough that Bulk would ask him to kill him.
"Ven," Kye said as he walked and stopped right behind him. He then hugged him from behind as if he was trying to calm a beast, or like a little brother trying to calm down his big brother that was angry because someone bullied his little brother. "I don''t want you to kill someone for such a thing. So please, stop now and let''s hang out, I want to eat something cold" Ven turned around and saw Kye''s smile. He was like a ray of big sunshine.
Ven looked down and said, "I''m sorry. I shouldn''t have talked to you with such a tone," He couldn''t even look at Kye in the eyes anymore.
"Don''t worry about that. I know it wasn''t directed to me," Kye then took Ven by his arm and went away, quickly followed by Yugo and Lidi.
"I should have been the one who did that," Yugo said, a little angry at himself.
"What do you mean?" Kye asked, not understanding what he meant.
"You hugged him," He looked away, ashamed of himself.
"Yes?" Kye still didn''t understand for a few seconds. "Wait are you serious?"
"I should have tried to kill him too," Lidi looked away too.
"I mean, do you all want a hug from me?" Kye asked, not expecting any positive answer. Yet they all nodded. However, there was still a problem.
"Don''t hug them, Kye," Ven said and smirked at both Yugo and Lidi who now wanted to kick him in the a*s. "I''m the only one who is allowed to receive them."
"But they want a hug too," Kye went to Yugo and then Lidi to hug them. He was smaller than both of them, so it really looked like a little brother hugging his big siblings.
[As a future Angel, you must make those around you happy]
[Three people are full of happiness thanks to you]
[+2 strength]
[+1 stamina]
''What''s that now, system?'' Kye made an angry face looking at that, making his friends worry that he didn''t like hugging them. But he quickly reassured them by saying that he liked hugging them a lot with a big smile. ''Do you think I''m some kind of happiness giver or something?''
Since he didn''t get any answer from the system, he just rolled his eyes and checked his status. He was now level 4 thanks to the instant level up, thus increasing his HP pool by 5 like every other level. And since he now had 13 in every stats thanks to his supposed to be a duty as a future Angel, he decided to put the stat point he received with his level up into strength. Being fast was very good, but he also needed to have some strength to really overpower his opponent. At least like this, he would be able to beat an opponent with less attack than he would have needed by just increasing his strength.
''I wonder when I will get a new spell," Kye thought as they went to the restaurant. And Kye finally had enough money to pay for things for himself. Since the beginning, it was always Yugo, Ven, or Lidi who paid for him, and even though they didn''t mind, Kye didn''t like it. So now that he could pay himself, he was quite happy. ''Holy ray is good, but it''s too shy. It would be good to have something that can help me fight even when I''m not inside the VR. Or maybe a utility spell that could help me in crucial moments.
''My natural healing is good since I''m now a half-angel, but a healing spell would be appreciated a lot. And even if I can''t heal myself with it, I can still heal Yugo, Ven, or Lidi when they will need it. So I hope I will get such a spell.''
"Kye, how did you manage to get behind Bulk earlier?" Lidi asked.
"You didn''t see what happened?" Yugo asked her.
"Her eyes are too slim to see anything," Ven smirked seeing that, but quickly apologize when he saw Kye sighing to him.
"So yeah, I actually saw what happened. One moment you were in front of him, and the next moment, you were behind him with your sword at his neck. But what I don''t understand is how he could lose so easily like this. I''m not saying that you''re weak since you won against him, but you just begin to train since a few days ago, whereas I know Bulk for quite some time, and he never lost a spar against someone our age. And even less someone who wasn''t even at his level."
"Hmm, well, to be honest, I used the fact that I angered him to my advantage."
"What do you mean?"
"First is the fact that Bulk seemed to be someone extremely easy to anger, so the taunt I said at the beginning already angered him. Then when we fought, he understood that I knew how his ability worked, so his anger just went to another level. And then since he couldn''tnd a single hit on me, he was just too clouded by anger to think properly, so I just used that to my advantage and bumped into him to destabilize him even further. And at this point, he didn''t even see me sneaking behind him.
Chapter 40 Enzo Laborde
"And this is how I managed to win against him," Kye finished.
"Did you n this from the very beginning? Was it why you were so confident earlier?" Lidi was taken aback by all of Kye''s observations. She knew that he had great eyes, but not to this extent.
"Of course not," Kye chuckled. "To be honest, in the beginning, I wanted to give up the moment the spar would have begun. But then I thought about how people like Bulk would only get angrier when something like this happen, so I decided to fight him. And even me provoking him was just because I wanted to," He smiled.
"That''s my Kye," Ven said, proud of him and Kye.
"''Your Kye''?" Yugo raised an eyebrow. "Since when? He''s mine."
"Guys, don''t let yourself drown in your dream, Kye is mine," Lidi smiled.
"What?" Yugo gets angry.
"What did you say?" Ven stood up from the chair he was sitting on. He then pped the table with his palms. "We should be the one saying this to you."
"Guys calm down, you''re talking as if I''m an object," Kye chuckled, but it was clear that he was a little pissed.
Just a little.
"Sorry," All three of them said at the same time and then continued their day.
While they were hanging out, Enzo, the light purple-haired guy who watched the fight which opposed Kye and Bulk was sitting in his room with his supposed-to-be friends who were kneeling in front of him.
"Who is this guy?" Enzo asked with cold eyes to Bulk and the red-haired guy whose name was Bufl. It was a rare sight to see a level one student fighting so skillfully against someone higher level than him. And it was even rarer for the former to win.
The more a person was high level, the more their body or intelligence was high. It depends on the area their ability focused. But all in all, a high-level person wasn''t only stronger than a low-level person because it have more energy, but because its body or mind was also superior.
That was also one of the reasons low-level people were disregarded so much like that. And orphans even more because they didn''t even have an ability they could rely on. Of course, some of them had abilities because they were born with them, and they sometimes even reached great heights, but it was quite rare.
"W-we don''t know," Bufl answered with a trembling voice.
"You don''t know?" Enzo turned his eyes toward Bulk this time. Thetter felt a shiver down his spine so much Enzo looked cold.
Enzo was acting friendly with people, but he was extremely cold when he wasn''t in the mood. And it was the case right now.
"H-he won against me in the w-weapon ss, so I just wanted to take my revenge," Bulk managed to say, amidst some difficulties.
"And why is he friends with those high-level people when he''s just a poor level one?"
"We don''t know," Bulk said, but the pression Enzo sent to him after he said that just increase to a new scale. "I mean, rumors say that he is friends with them since the very beginning. He is even roommates with the two guys that were with him."
"Oh? How interesting. It''s probably the first time I saw that." The pression upon Bulk and Bufl decreased so much that they could finally look at Enzo''s face. Only to see a gentle smile. But this smile made Enzo even scarier. "That''s good, you can go now," They immediately obeyed before Enzo''s mood changed once again.
Enzo was someone who came from one of the big families who could control time. And he was so influential that he had a room just for himself with a lot more furniture than the rooms which were split for three students. He even had aputer that had ess to some information the military had from every student.
So he went there and searched for Kye''s information.
"A poor boy who lost his parent when he was still just a kid and who got bullied since then because he didn''t even have an ability," Enzo mumbled to himself with his hand on his chin. "And after he came to the military, he refused to take the wind ability they were proposing to him and then managed to be friends with Yugo Pendora and Ven Tigo, who are both thest son of their families which had as much influence than mine.
"Well, it''s even more interesting now. I wonder if they befriended him because they wanted to teach him their family''s ability after recruiting him, or if they just wanted to be friends with him for real," He leaned back on his chair and thought out loud. "Should I try to do like them? I won''t lose anything anyway. And I''m also thest child of the Laborde family, so it''s not like it will influence things that much even if I recruit someone strong enough to beat someone higher level than him without getting hit even once.
"I can also try to make his lifeplicated in the military, but is it really wise? It looks like he has the two sons on the tip of his fingers. He managed to calm Ven down just by saying a few things to him, so it''s clear that he can make me pay what I will do to him tenfold just with the Pendora and Tigo family. And I''m sure that if he indeed joins one of them to learn one of the special abilities our family has, he will still be a good friend to the other and keep in touch with him a lot.
"Then the best thing to do is to probably befriend him like them. Who knows, maybe I can get a valuable ally. And I''m sure that he has a bright future ahead of him. So being his friend won''t harm me in any way. On the contrary, it will with no doubt bring me more benefits than losses.
"But well, I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow. I''m in the same ss as this Yugo anyway, so I will begin by hanging out with him first before making my move to join their little group of friends. And I guess I will need to dissociate myself from those two guys too. Not that I care about them anyway."
While Enzo was searching for all those information, nighttime hade. Kye and his friends all went back to their dorms.
"Guys, I have a question," Kye asked as he looked at the ceiling while lying on his bed.
"Yeah?"
"What is it?"
"I heard that people who were influential enough could have a room on their own. So I wanted to ask why both of you didn''t have a personal room whereas both of you told me that youe from a very influential family."
"Well, we indeede from influential families, but we''re both thest son of our respective families, so our parents don''t really care about us," Ven said.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know about the big families?" Yugo asked.
"I just heard about them, but don''t know why they are so influential," Kye answered truthfully. He never had the chance to see why they were big in the first ce.
"To make things simple, there are four influential families," Yugo began to exin. "There is my family, the Pendora family, who can control space in various ways. Then there is Ven''s family, the Tigo family that can control the gravity to various intensities. There''s the Laborde family which has the time ability, andst but not least, the Viso family which can control the nature. And with the military, there''s a total of five big influences that defended us against the invasion of the monsters back then.
"And apart from the military who choose their ''sessor'' based on the achievement they had through the years of their services, the big families'' sessors depend on the amount of power they have, and of course, which position they had in the family.
"And both of us are thest children of our respective families, so that''s why we don''t have a room for ourselves. We can profit from our family''s influences, but just a little. That''s all."
***
(AN: Thank you guys for all the support you''re providing me. I appreciate it a lot. Really. :)
Some people had sent summoning pens, and even though I''m happy that you did that, I prefer releasing chapters for everyone to read instead of a selected few. So I''m sorry for not releasing bonus chapters like this. However I will try to increase the release rate per day with time, so I won''t forget you, don''t worry. ^^
And sorry for not being able to release more and making you wait like this. :/
Chapter 41 Feelings
"And both of us are thest children of our respective families, so that''s why we don''t have a room for ourselves. We can profit from our family''s influences, but just a little. That''s all," Yugo said. "But to be honest, I''m d I didn''t get a room for myself. I wouldn''t have been able to be friends with you otherwise. And I''m sure it is the same for Ven."
"Yeah, yeah, definitely," Ven nodded multiple times. "I already knew Yugo, you know? But we acted as if we didn''t because first we just met a few times when we were still little, and second because the rtionship the big families have with each other isn''t the best. But since the military is like a new adventure, we decided to do it as if we didn''t meet before at all," Yugo nodded in agreement. "And if I have to say, I don''t think we would have been good friends if you weren''t here."
"Why?" Kye asked, not understanding why. He was quite sad to know that they were almost abandoned by their families but also d that he got the chance to meet both of them. They were both very important to him now. "I mean, you were both very talkative with each other, even during our first hang out."
"Hmm, how should I say..." Ven thought a little before continuing. "I think both of us were reluctant to get along because our families have formatted us so that we kind of despise the other big families. So even if we were to act as if we didn''t know each other, we would still have hidden thoughts toward each other.
"And that''s where youe. If I have to say, you were like a little brother to both of us. The little brother that both of us want to protect from any danger possible. Even if we have to die in the process. Even if we need to go against our families, we would protect you."
"That''s right," Yugo continued. "You are indeed low level, but it wasn''t as if we cared a lot about that. And instead of being scared of us, you acted as if we were already friends, so that''s why we grew closer to each other until this point. Sure you were wary, but you did your best to not show it to us. And even though it could have hurt other people, it didn''t hurt us because we both knew that your life must have been very hard outside of the military.
"And as we got to know you more, we got the feeling that you were like a little brother to us. We even talked about it in private, you know? We weren''t sure of our feelings at the beginning, but after having shared what I thought about you with Ven, we both understood that we wanted you to be happy. And for that, we would do our best. And as this muscle head said earlier," Yugo showed Ven with his finger, popping a little vein on thetter''s forehead. "Even if we had to go against our family, we will still protect you. That''s why we are ruthless with all the people that try to approach you with bad intentions."
"Is- is this why you kept the fact that I was an angel a secret?" Kye asked as tears began to flow down from his eyes. All of this talk just began with his little curiosity, but it ended with an emotional talk.
And when they saw that, both Yugo and Ven went to hug their ''little brother'' tofort him. And at the same time, they were very happy that Kye finally said he was an angel by himself.
"Yes, that''s why," Ven said as he wiped Kye''s tear with his fingers. "Even though we came to learn about it at the beginning of our friendship, we didn''t care about it because we already wanted to help you. We wanted to protect you as your friends, and it wasn''t by saying to everyone that you were a legendary being that would have helped."
"And it was a good thing that we didn''t because we''re now d that you think of us as people that you can lean on," Yugo continued. "And we know that we just met a week ago, but we don''t care about that. Yes, it''s strange to think like that, but I guess some friendships can''t be exined. It is just how we really feel, and hope that you can ept us like this."
Kye kept crying, so much that Yugo and Ven were scared that there was a problem. But it was just Kye being so happy that he couldn''t help but let tears of joy flow from his eyes.
However, even after using his angel''s eyes, and knowing that they were saying the truth, Kye couldn''t help but think that the holy energy that emanated from his body had something to do with the people surrounding him.
''I really hope that their feelings are genuine and that it''s not my energy that influences them to act like this,'' Kye thought before finally saying something. He cried for quite some time, and Yugo and Ven began to worry. "Of course I ept you. If it weren''t for you, I would have probably died already. And if not, the military would have dealt with me, or worse case, made me aboratory rat to see what I really was."
Thankfully he managed to say all of this without stopping or stuttering. He even managed to stop crying. He then lifted his head and hugged them back at the same time. "Thank you for everything you did, and everything that you want to do," He said with a smile before looking at them in the eyes with a serious expression. "However, do not act as if your lives are worth nothing. I don''t want you to give up on your lives just to protect me. And I''m sure that Lidi feels the same, so I should remind her about this too."
"But-..." Both of them tried to say but Kye stopped them.
"Instead of dying for me, let''s fight until the very end together. I''m sure that with Lidi too, no one will be able to stop us," He made a beautiful smile after saying that.
Though, the two boys frowned when they heard that. "Is there a problem?" Kye tilted his head to the side and asked.
"It''s just..." Yugo said. "I don''t mind sharing you with Ven, but is Lidi really important to you?"
"Same for me," Ven added. "I don''t mind either, but Lidi is affiliated with the military, and even though she looks fine on the outside, I just can''t trust her."
"But isn''t Lidi feeling the same ways as you two?" Kye asked. "She too wanted to beat up Bulk when he tried to attack me at the end."
"Yeah that''s true," Yugo said. "But it''s not that."
"Then?"
"We don''t want you to go to other people. We want you to only stay with us..."
"So that we can protect you more," Ven finished for Yugo.
Hearing that, Kye rolled his eyes internally. His energy was clearly affecting them. So to not makes thingsplicated between all his friends, he needed to relieve them in some ways.
"Oh, so it''s what you mean," Kye smiled and yed dumb a little. "Well don''t worry guys. You two are my best friends, whereas Lidi is my friend. And you guys already know a lot of things about me, whereas she doesn''t even know what I really am. So please, don''t reject her. She''s my friend, but you guys are more important to me."
"I guess it will do," Both of them smiled knowing that Kye felt that way toward them.
After a little more chit-chat, they all went to bed. However, Kye had some difficulties sleeping. He couldn''t help but think about him being an angel.
This power brought him a lot of benefits, but he didn''t know how he needed to feel about it regarding his friendships. "Would I be able to control thatter? Maybe once I will be an angel, I will be able to control it. I''m still a half-angel, so maybe I''m not qualified enough to grasp this power yet.
"And I''m sure that I will surely be able to control it once I will be level 10. So I should hurry and level up. I don''t want toe to the point of no return about my friendship with them."
After thinking that, Kye finally managed to sleep. His head was full of worry for the future, but he managed to reinforce his resolve, so everything should be fine soon.
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 42 The Swimming Pool
The next day, they all went to their respective sses. First the theoretical, and in the afternoon, the fighting sses. However, today was special because both the weapon ss and the ability ss joined for a ss together. All the students had to go to the swimming pool area to train there.
And since Kye and his friends ate lunch together, they all went there when they saw on their watches that their ss wasn''t in the habitual room.
"Do you guys know why we had to all regroup there?" Ven asked.
"No, I don''t think any of us know about it," Lidi answered. "However, since both sses join in one and same area, it will be full of people."
"Will you be alright, Kye?" Yugo asked. He knew that Kye wasn''tfortable in a crowded ce. And things will only get worse if this was a surprise exam.
But surely, the military wouldn''t do that, right?
Right?
"I hope so. I can''t say since I don''t think all the first-year students that had to take the fighting sses in the afternoon had ever regrouped in one ce, but I will still try my best," Kye answered after taking a big breath. The fighting sses were split into two. One session in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It was so that the students could train freely without being too disturbed by the crowd.
"At least we''re with each other," Ven said. "So you can still be with one of us no matter what, even if there are so many people that we won''t be able to see each other anymore."
As he said that, Kye looked down as if feeling defeated. It was very hard for him to face this fear, even though he did his best to not be scared of crowded ces anymore.
And when Yugo saw Kye''s look, he clicked his tongue and pped Ven on the head a little, thus reminding him to sometimes shut his mouth so that Kye won''t feel defeated.
They then soon arrived at the swimming pool. It was sorge that even though all the first-year students who had the fighting sses in the afternoon were present, the ce didn''t look crowded at all. On the contrary, they had a lot of space to move freely around. Even the pools were immense. So immense that it looked like monsters wille out of them.
''Sh*t, why didn''t I think of this sooner?'' Kye began to worry once he observed what was around him. So much that Yugo and Ven almost felt it.
Almost.
''A pool means that we had to get inside it to do whatever activities the military want us to do. But I can''t. I have wings on my back, so the moment I take out my shirt, everyone will see them."
As time passes, all the students came. And the professors quickly came out too. Among them, there was Madison, the teacher from the weapon ss, and the one from the ability ss. His name was Azul Viso, he came from one of the four great families. He teaches how to use abilities in the military after thetter had solicited him because of his great mastery over his ability. Like this, he could teach the students how to use their own abilities well by giving various tips. Of course, the Viso family didn''t have any objection since first, Azul wasn''t the sessor, and second, they could reinforce their influence with their teaching in the hope to recruit someone valuable once the students will finish their studying in the military.
Once they had the attention of all the students, Madison began to speak. "Thank you everyone foring in times even after such short notice," She began. "Every year at the military, we organize special training sessions where both fighting sses join each other so that you can first learn how to make what you practiced in your respective sses into action, and second, to train in new environments and different conditions."
Azul continued once Madison took a step back. He thought that men and women weren''t at the same level, no, for him men were superior to women, but he still stayed dignified to not bring shame to his family. "And as you might have all understood, today''s training session and the next few ones will happen here, in an area where you will learn how to fight under the water. Of course, we don''t do that for no reason. During the war, we had a lot of difficulties fighting against intelligent monsters who fought mostly underwater, or in the sky. So be prepared at having a training session in the air sooner than you can think."
"Now now, everyone, please go and change your clothes. And I hope you won''t forget your genre," Madison smiled and sent a shiver to everyone. They all obeyed immediately.
Lidi was the first to go, leaving the boys together.
Ven and Yugo obviously saw how Kye looked toward the ground since even before the professors began to talk. And once thetter exined why they were here, both of them understood why Kye looked down like this.
"Kye, don''t worry, I''m sure that everything will be alright," Ven tried tofort him, but he didn''t know how things could go right in this situation. They will surely have to fight without clothes. And even if they didn''t and had a specialbination to fight underwater, it will surely be something very tight to the body, so his little wings will surely be visible no matter what.
"No, I don''t think things will be alright this time," Kye says after thinking for several minutes. He was just being realistic. However, the look in his eyes didn''t look as if he had lost a war, no instead it looks like he was ready to fight again. "Let''s change first. There''s no point in dying what will eventuallye. And with a little luck, this eventuality won''t even exist."
"Kye wait!" Yugo ran behind him. "I''m sure we can find a solution if we think about it more."
"No, don''t worry about that," Kye answered with a smile. "Humans can''t breathe underwater, so we will surely have something that will help us breathe. A mask is impossible since we need to have our full vision, and so even with a ss to be as realistic as possible, so we will surely have something like a cylinder that will help us breathe. And it will obviously be on our back, so everything should be alright."
Hearing what he said, both of them felt relieved because they got very scared about the consequences that would have fallen upon Kye if people were to discover his wings. And even though some wouldn''t have been afraid, just like them, others wouldn''t, and they would do their best to make Kye appear like a spying from the intelligent monster''s side.
And once they entered the boy''s changing room, they saw that everyone had to put on a ck suit that covered the whole body except the face very tightly with as Kye said, a cylinder that would help them breathe which was positioned in the back.
Kye changed himself once everyone went out and there was only him, Yugo and Ven left. Like this, no one would be able to see him no matter what. So they all changed quickly because the ss will start soon.
They all came out, and since they were thest, a lot of people looked in their direction. And surprisingly enough, Kye didn''t look down. Instead, his eyes looked right ahead of him as if nothing was worrying him.
However, a lot of people blushed a little from their ears once they saw Kye.
Thetter looked as if he was getting more handsome as the days passes. He had grown a little taller, and even his old body was now quite fit. So much that the tight suit fit him perfectly.
A little too much even.
As they walked, Ven couldn''t help butment about Kye as well in a low voice. "Kye I didn''t know that your body changed that much in just a week. You''re getting amazing," Even Yugo couldn''t help but nod in agreement.
But their conversation was soon cut short because once everyone was present, Madison immediately talked. "I want everyone to first got used to moving freely under the water. Only after that will we begin the sparring session."
Obviously, as always, there was always a student who had a question. Madison nodded when she saw that and the girl began to talk. "How will our abilities work if we''re underwater? For example, won''t someone who has the lightning ability electrocute everyone?"
"That''s a very good question," Azul answered in Madison''s stead. He thought of himself as morepetent to exin things. "The water that you all see isn''t normal. It is specially designed so that your abilities can move as if we''re fighting on normal ground," As he said that, someone else raised his hand, making Azul a little pissed. "Isn''t my exnation clear enough?" He looked at the student directly in the eyes in the hope of making him back down but to no avail.
This student was Kye, and when he raised his arm to ask a question, all his friends and Madison smiled.
Chapter 43 Quarrels
This student was Kye, and when he raised his arm to ask a question, all his friends and Madison smiled. "It''s good to be able to fight freely, but how would we fight if we don''t know how real water reacts to what we do? Sure the pressure that we will feel under this water should be the same as the real one, but if I take myrade''s example, won''t the student who has the lightning ability electrocute themselves if they fight underwater because they don''t know how to use it properly in such an environment?" Kye''s question was very good, and if it was a hidden exam, Madison would have given him a lot of points for this remark.
After Kye said that, three people in the crowd couldn''t help but say something that pissed Azul even more.
"Sheesh"
"Sheeeesh"
"Sheeesh"
Those three students were none other than Yugo, Ven, and Enzo. All of them didn''t like the Azul family because they thought too highly of themselves. Azul was the living proof of that. So if they could make him feel stupid even a little bit, they would do so dly. And even more when there was no chance for them to be caught.
And after hearing that, multiple veins popped on Azul''s forehead. Thetter even moved his hand toward Kye, and vines suddenly emerged from under him and began to strangle him.
Feeling what was about to happen, Madison unscythed her sword and pointed it right behind Azul''s neck. "Touch a single more hair of my student, and you''re a dead man."
It wasn''t only Madison who made a move. But the two others weren''t fast enough for that. Yugo and Ven both tried to use their abilities when they saw that something wasing, but the vines were too fast and then too strong for them to cut them or even put them down with their abilities.
So in the end, they could only pray that Madison''s threat was enough to make Azul back down.
"How dare you put your sword on one of the Viso''s neck?" Azul didn''t back down, even the slightest. Making Kye slowly turn purple.
''I- I can''t breathe,'' He managed to thought with a lot of difficulties. Air was not going inside his body anymore, making him almost faint.
Almost.
Madison saw that clearly and swung her sword two times so quickly that no one even saw her swing her sword. And strangely enough, Kye was freed from the vines. They gotpletely cut and fell to the ground.
"Touch a single more hair of one of my students, and I swear upon my name that you and your family won''te out alive unscathed," She said with dead-cold eyes and they put her sword back on its scabbard.
Azul also backed down because he knew how Madison was strong and had a lot of influence. And as she said, his family wouldn''te unscathed from their confrontation. And if this happen, the other big families wouldn''t hesitate to swallow the Azul family.
They all had a silent truce between them. But they wouldn''t hesitate to tear down the others if they had the chance to do so.
When they were still talking, Kye fell to the ground and took a deep breath. There was a purple mark on his neck because of the vines strangling him, but it quickly faded away because of his natural healing.
"Kye are you alright?" Yugo asked with the space around him goingpletely mad. Ven was the same, but instead of space, it was gravity. They wouldn''t let anyone approach him when he was in such a state.
"Should we bring him to the infirmary?" A light purpled hair student said as he ran by his side. Yes, it was none other than Enzo. He was using his time ability to enter the safe zone Yugo and Ven had created for Kye. But he had a lot of difficulties maintaining it because of all the pressure his own barrier felt.
"No, there''s no need *cough*, I''m alright, thank you," Kye said after taking back his breath fully.
"I''m sorry it was my fault," Enzo apologized the moment he saw that he was feeling better. He didn''t know why, but he had the urge to do so. "You wouldn''t have been like this if I didn''t sheeshed him."
"You bast*ard," Ven was about to attack him, but Yugo stopped him right in time.
"We''re in the same boat, Ven. We too did the same. So we''re also sorry," He looked down as Ven did the same, quickly followed by Enzo.
All those around them were shocked to see this scene. It was the first time all of them saw three high-level people be sorry to a level one trash. It was so unbelievable that some of them even took some steps back.
"Please don''t be guys, I''m alright in the end, so there''s no need for you to apologize," Kye answered with one of his beautiful smiles.
Enzo wanted to say something, but when he saw Yugo and Ven looking down without saying anything else, he refrain. ''It''s clear that they are friends. But Kye''s attitude is strange. He should bepletely mad at the fact that he almost died because of us. And even though he''s a friends with them, his life is still more important, so he should have at least yelled at us. Or is it maybe because he''s low level? Or maybe because he is naturally like this?'' Enzo had a lot of thoughtsing and going inside of his head, but he soon had to stop because Madison spoke again.
"Please excuse us from this little scene. Now please, everyone go under the water after you activate your suit breathing function" Everyone did as they were told except for Yugo, Ven, Lidi who came once everyone went to do their training, and Enzo.
"Kye are you sure you don''t want to go to the infirmary?" Lidi asked, sending a murderous re toward Azul with Yugo and Ven. If they had the level to kill him, they would have done so right here and now.
''He even befriended the principal''s daughter?!'' Enzo was now taken aback by that. Yugo and Ven didn''t know who she was since they hadn''t met her before the military, nor searched for her information since they didn''t have ess to those data. But Enzo did. However, he just thought that she was hanging out with Yugo and Ven and that she didn''t care about Kye. But now that he heard that, he was forced to think otherwise.
"Yes, thank you for your concern Lidi. But please, as I said to you guysst night and at you, Lidi at lunch, do not do things that could endanger you in any way. Please."
"How can we do that when you almost died by this bast*rd?" Yugo said with a tone that clearly showed his anger.
"If it wasn''t for Madison, you would have died already. And what would we have to do if it was the case huh?" Ven added.
"Should I ask my father to kick him from the military?" Lidi asked.
"You can do that?" Yugo and Ven asked at the same time.
"Yes, my father is the principal of this base, so I''m sure that he can help us," Lidi didn''t reveal her identity because she wanted to live a normal life in the military without people sucking on her shoes. After all, she was the daughter of such a strong person.
A principal wasn''t only there to do administrative stuff. They also had to be strong enough to beat whoever could endanger their military base.
"Yes please do so," Ven immediately answered.
"No don''t," Kye immediately said with a lot of seriousness. "I do not want to use your influence to make my life easier, so quit acting like this!"
Chapter 44 Angry Kye
"No don''t," Kye immediately said with a lot of seriousness. "I do not want to use your influence to make my life easier, so quit acting like this!"
"But-..." Lidi, Yugo, and Ven all wanted to continue, but they were all cut short by Kye once again.
"For the love of God, there''s no but in situations like this!" Kye stood up. "Quit putting your lives on the line for me, quit acting as if I always need to be protected by one of you, and quit disregarding people''s life so easily!" He stormed from the mini circle they had made for him before activating his suit and dipped in the water.
Kye''s words were harsh, but he had the feeling that he had to say this. His friends, even though did that for his well-being, didn''t actually see how pressured he was by their actions. They were always ready to put their lives on the line for him, always ready to kill someone who acted rashly toward him. Sure having their protection was a good thing, sure their intentions were good, but he felt as if he was suffocating by their actions.
So even though he surely had hurt them, he wanted them to think a little bit by themselves. And if he wanted them to do so, he needed to either distance himself so that they wouldn''t be affected by his energy as much as now, or level up so that he could control this energy that made his friends act like puppets.
And when they were all about to follow behind him, Madison stopped them. "You guys should think about what he said before going back to him. It is not up to an old hag like me toment on the bounds that link all of you, but what he said was right. So please, think carefully before doing anything," She then slowly walked away to see what the students were up to.
After hearing that, instead of going to train, they all went to the side and sad the long bench avable for them. On the one hand, they wanted to think about what Kye said, but on the other hand, they didn''t want to stay on bad terms with Kye. And in the end, not knowing what to do, they all sat there without saying anything.
As for Enzo, since he didn''t understand anything, he decided to went after Kye once the other three went to the side. He didn''t have anything to do with the other, and it was the best moment for him to befriend Kye.
He couldn''t find this situation happening in front of him twice, so he needed to act when Kye wasn''t in his right mind so that the befriending process would go smoother and easier.
After going underwater, he first got used to moving, and in just five minutes, he almost moved as well as if he was moving on the ground. He then went and searched for Kye, only to see him at the other end of the swimming pool, swimming as if he was a fish.
''I didn''t expect to see him manage to move that easily in such a short amount of time. There''s no one else who can move like him whereas they all went before him inside the water.''
Kye was always a good swimmer. It was probably the only sport he liked back then before the military. However, due to his circumstances, he was always beaten up even before he could even step outside of his school. So he never got the chance to go to a swimming pool a lot. But now that he could and didn''t have to worry about his wings like earlier, he could finally enjoy swimming however he wanted.
So Enzo joined him, only to be greeted by a cold Kye. "What do you want?" After having activated their suit, a little mask that only covered their eyes so that they could see, their nose so that they could breathe, and their mouth so that they could talk freely appeared from their suits.
"Be friend with you," Enzo immediately stated what he wanted.
"Tch, scram," Kye said and turned away. He knew that Enzo was at a high level, but at this point, he didn''t care about it anymore. He had almost died and already got beaten up all his life, so what could go worse than that?
"Kye, wait!" Enzo tried to follow him, but Kye was faster than him underwater. So he had to use his ability to make Kye move slower. "I''m sorry to use my ability like this, but I really want to be friends with you."
"And why would I ept, huh?" Kye asked. He was being pissed more and more now. He loved the water and swimming even more, but Enzo wasn''t letting him swim freely, and even worse, was slowing him down with his time ability.
"Because I''m sure I can be a good friend to you," Enzo didn''t even think about what he would say to that question, he just blurted that the moment he heard the question.
"I don''t want a friend who was on my opponent''s side until yesterday. Or did you already forget that I had to fight Bulk because of you?" Kye got closer to Enzo and slowly began to pressure him. Of course, Enzo was still taller than him, so it was quite a strange sight to see.
"I don''t have anything to do with them anymore," Enzo admitted. "And I did that because I didn''t want things to escte to things we wouldn''t be able to coverter."
"Then did you think about how a level 1 could have won against someone higher level than him?" Kye asked, getting even angrier. It wasn''t in his habit to get angry, and he didn''t know why he was in the first ce. But he just felt like it.
"..." Enzo didn''t manage to answer since even for him it was something impossible. "But in the end, you''re the one who won, right? So everything''s good."
"Oh, then you can beat me to death and force me to be friends with you, right? In the end, we will be friends, and I will still be alive, so go ahead and do it."
Hearing that, Enzo understood how his answer was foolish. Kye was right. The rtionship between a high level and a low level wasn''t something easy, especially for the low level. And Kye knew that very well. He could, at any time, be beaten up to death if the high level wasn''t happy or in the mood. And he will have to still do as if nothing happened because he wouldn''t even be able to say anything nor defend himself if things went wrong for him. And in the worst case, he could as well die when the high level was pissed to no end and wanted to relieve himself by beating someone.
It was something natural in this society, and Kye didn''t want to be associated with such people. He preferred a thousand times being beaten up once than living in the fear of being beaten up to death and having to live with it until whatever would separate them.
"I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to say that," Enzo looked down after he processed everything in his head.
"Now what will you do huh? Beat me or leave me alone?" Kye said, leaving onest ultimatum to Enzo who will be decisive for their future rtionship.
"I won''t beat you, but I won''t leave you alone either. I want to be friends with you, and it''s not by letting you stay in this mood that I will manage to befriend you."
Kye didn''t say anything for a moment and only looked at Enzo coldly, thus building the tension in the air, or rather in the water in this case. Enzo even had the impression that Kye''s eyes were glowing yellow for a second.
And suddenly, Kye smiled and extended his hand. He returned to his usual self. "Nice to meet you, I''m Kye Vermillion, but I''m sure you already did a background check on me. Please take care of me from now on."
Enzo stares nkly at Kye''s hand for a few seconds. He didn''t expect that and was quite taken aback by this sudden turn of even. He was sure that he wouldn''t be able to befriend him at this rate, but Kye just proved him wrong. So he quickly reached out his hand too to not let him alone.
"N-nice to meet you, I''m Enzo Laborde, from one of the big families, just like Yugo and Ven. Please take care of me as well from now on," He introduced himself. "And yeah, I''m sorry to have done a background check, but please understand me too. It is extremely rare to see someone win against someone with such a big gap in levels and to add insult to injury, you didn''t even get hit once. Not to say that you were also friends with such influential people. So it would have been stranger for me not to check your background."
''Haha, yeah I guess so," Kye chuckled. "Anyway, now that we''re friends, care to tell me why you suddenly wanted to befriend me so bad?"
***
(AN: I''m sorry but there will only be one chap for today. However I''m trying to do longer chapters, so I hope it canpensate.) (^v^)
Chapter 45 An Unexpected Fighting Partner
"Well, hum, how should I say that," Enzo looked away. It was hard to look at Kye in the eyes constantly, especially when he was dressed like this. "To be honest at the beginning, I was just curious about you. As I said earlier, you''re someone whose quite strong and is well surrounded. So I had the impression that Yugo and Ven wanted to recruit you into their family at first to teach you their ability, and since you refused the wind ability from the military, there wasn''t a lot of chance for you to go with Lidi.
So I wanted to try and do like them since you had a lot of potentials. But after today''s event, I understood how I was wrong. They all didn''te toward you because of hidden agendas, but because they wanted to be friends with you for real. And when I saw that, I just couldn''t think like how I used to anymore. So instead of approaching you and trying to recruit youter by proposing you the time ability, I think it''s better for me to just be friends with you and create a solid bond. And I know it''s not kind for me to think like that, but being friends with you will bring me more benefits than losses."
"Well, that''s quite interesting..." Kye began to think a little. He didn''t know if his angel''s ability counted as an ability by itself, or if he was just able to use it because he wasn''t totally human anymore. If it was the former case, then there wasn''t anything to do, but if it was thetter, then that means that he would surely be able to learn another ability. Like this, he would be able to use all of his angel''s power, as well as another ability that he will learn.
''If I remember right, everyone in the VR thought that my Holy ray wasing from the light ability. So I can maybe learn that and use both of them freely. But yet again, I don''t know if I will be able to learn an ability or not,'' He thought before saying to Enzo. Of course, he had activated his Angel''s eyes to see if he was saying the truth. And since Enzo wasn''t even looking into his eyes, there weren''t any possibilities to be caught. "At least you''re saying the truth, so that''s enough for me. And it''s not like you''re thinking the way you do anymore, so I''m good," He then began to swim again, only for a vein to pop out from his forehead. "By the way, can you remove your time ability? I would like to swim freely."
"Oh yeah, my bad," Enzo waved his hand, removing his ability. "Can I swim with you?"
"Sure," Kye smiled brightly like he always did when he was happy.
Both of them swam a lot until everyone got used to it. As time passes, Yugo, Ven, and Lidi also went into the water. And obviously, they were fast learners too. Even though they came veryte, they learned how to move freely before a lot of people. And the moment they saw that Kye was with thest son of the Laborde family, they were all pissed.
"Why is this Enzo ying with him whereas he was with Bulk yesterday?" Lidi asked.
"Is he trying to pick up a fight with him?" Yugo said, slowly moving toward them.
"Guys, wait," Ven stopped them before they could do something bad for Kye. "Remember what Kye said? We shouldn''t go and try to pick a fight with Enzo. I don''t want him to yell at me again," The three of them were all down because of what Kye said earlier. And Ven was so touched that he stopped acting on a whim and began to think for real before acting. He didn''t want Kye to distance himself from him like earlier, and if he had to change for that, he will do so dly.
"Yeah you''re right, he told us that so that we can build a better bond between each other, so we shouldn''t act based on our emotion so much as we did," Yugo said after stopping.
"Still, Enzo Laborde isn''t the best of person. Even though he is thest son of his family like both of you, he is still known pretty well for his mood change. His personality changes a lot when that happens, and he bes quite cold, to say the least." Lidi added.
"Then let''s keep an eye on him," Ven said as he swam quickly toward Enzo and Kye.
Thetter seeing them made a little smile,forting them immediately. They would have been extremely sad if Kye was colder toward them now after what had happened earlier.
"You guys finally came," Kye said once they were close enough to hear him.
"Yes," Ven immediately said. "And we''re sorry for what we did earlier, Kye. Please forgive us," They all looked down to show how sad and serious they were.
"Don''t worry about that," He waved his hand. "As long as you''re more careful from now on, everything''s fine. And I''m sorry as well for my earlier behavior. It wasn''t the kind of me to do that."
"Don''t be. What you did was right, you opened our eyes, and we''re all thankful for that," Lidi said before Yugo continued.
"Hum Kye, can we hug each other?" Ven nodded furiously, agreeing with what his friend said. Lidi too quickly followed. As for Enzo, he just looked at them a little weirdly. He didn''t expect to see such strong teens act like this. But on the other hand, he could understand. Kye was someone amazing. Good looking with smooth skin. Cute face and still growing. Beautiful body as well. He was so perfect that he even think of Kye as notpletely human.
Though, he didn''t know what he could be if he wasn''t human.
"Hmm, not now, there are too many people here."
"Thenter?" Ven asked excitingly as Kye nodded.
"Is it possible to have something more?" Lidi asked as the two boys by her side agreed furiously again.
"Hmm, no I''m sorry. A hug is enough for now," He then turned toward Enzo. "Anyway, you surely all know him already, but Enzo is a new friend of mine. So please don''t act rashly with him," Thetter smiled and waved his hand.
"Well as long as he doesn''t do anything to you, we''re all good," Ven said, smiling at Enzo but with cold eyes.
"I''m not here for troubles but to be friend with Kye, so by extension with you guys too," He then turned toward Kye and said. "And I would like to apologize in advance, Kye. I sometimes get quite cold and angry, but I will try my best to stay normal, especially around you."
"That''s goo-..."
"Alright everyone, now pleasee out of the water," Madison said, cutting Kye without even knowing about it.
Everyone did as they were asked to. And thankfully for them, there wasn''t any student who couldn''t move freely under the water anymore. Still, it took them around an hour to get used to this new environment. And it was just moving, not even using their abilities or weapons.
"Now that everyone is ready, we will begin the sparing session. Pleasee one by one and take one of those papers. It will define who you will have to train today. And don''t worry, you are all paired with someone around your level," Madison exined what they have to do next, and they quickly moved.
Everyone took a little paper with a number on it. Everyone got paired with someone outside of the group. Even Enzo. Making all of them a little pissed about the pair they got. And if not for Kye reassuring them, they would have probably made their opponent suffer.
And Kye was paired up with someone he hadn''t expected at all. She had tinum blond long hair and blue eyes. Yes, it was no other than Sylvia, the girl Kye fought with against the Zora in the VR.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I''m Sylvia Viso," She reached out her hand.
''Why did I have to fight against her out of all the people here?'' Kye thought as he reached out his hand too. "I''m Kye Vermillion, nice to meet you as we-..." Kye didn''t finish his sentence because he thought of something. "Wait a minute, if you''re from the Viso family, why do you only use water in VR?"
"Oh? So you knew me already?" She chuckled. "As you might know, nature had different elements. And water is one of them. However, I never trained with it before, so I mostly use water here in the military."
"I see, fair enough then,'' Kye nodded. "Though I still have a question..."
***
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 46 The Big Families
"I see, fair enough then,'' Kye nodded. "Though I still have a question. As you can see, I''m just level 1 whereas you''re level 6. So is it normal for us to spar together?" Madison had said it herself. Everyone was going to have a partner around their level, so he didn''t understand the logic of the professors at this point.
"That''s indeed strange," Sylvia began to thought. "Well I can''t see any reason, so let''s just ask them."
Kye searched for Madison, but she was nowhere to be seen. He didn''t want to go and ask Azul since it was clear that thetter still had a grudge toward him, but without Madison, there wasn''t a thousand option left.
"Sylvia, do you mind asking Sir Azul please?" Kye asked. "I can''t see professor Madison anywhere, and I don''t think he will answer me even if I ask him."
"Yeah, of course, just a second," Sylvia then left his side and went to Azul.
During this time, Kye looked around him, only to see no one. Everyone was already underwater fighting. He could even see some abilitiesing out of the water. ''I guess I will have to work harder so that I can make up for the time I lose here," He then took a look at Sylvia and saw that her face was quite distorted. She even looked angry.
Aftering back, Sylvia looked down and said. "I''m sorry Kye, but it seems that Azul has developed a grudge against you. So much that he wanted me to bully you during this training. That''s why we were together. And since he is higher positioned than me in our family, he thought that I would have to obey him no matter the cost."
''What a b*stard. I knew that he wanted to beat me up, but to use such ns and someone who didn''t have anything to do with the situation to do the dirty work,'' If Kye could spat on the ground because of how disgusted he was, he would have done it without hesitation.
So after making a sad expression, he answered Sylvia. "You said ''he thought'', does that mean that he''s wrong?"
"Although I would have to in normal cases, I won''t do it this time. You''re a student, and you have the right to question the professor when you don''t understand something," She said truthfully. "And if I have to be honest, I think the same way as you. I find it really d*mb to have such water if it doesn''t even affect our ability."
"Thank you then," Kye smiled brightly, making Sylvia relieved that he didn''t hold any grudge and smiled back. "But can I ask onest question?" Sylvia nodded. "You said that he had a higher position than you in your family. What does that mean?"
"I know that you hang out with the threest sons of the other big families, so it will be easier to exin," She began her exnation. "To make things simple, the more you are positioned high in the family, the more resources would be invested into you. And the position is given once you join the family. So it is very hard to change it once they gave it to you.
"For example, Yugo, Ven, and Enzo are all positioned among thest. And even if they have a lot of talent, they still stay at the bottom of thedder of their respective family because it has been defined like this for centuries now. (AN: It''s the way of ranking people in their families that has been defined centuries ago, not the boys'' ranking.)
"And I, even though aren''tst, I''m not among the top either. I''m around the middle, whereas Azul is very close to the top. And in our family, the higher you are, the higher your authority is. So in normal situations, I would have to obey him. But well, who cares about that. He almost made a big blow to the family just because of his pride. So I won''t do anything he orders me to. Not that I would have if he was a better person. It''s not in my nature to bully people, and even less those who had surely suffered almost all their lives like you."
Hearing all of that, Kye smiled a little because first, he understood what the big families were a little more. He was surrounded by the descendant of those big families, so it would have been stranger to not search for information about them. And thanks to everything she said, he understood that at least, even though his friends are from big families, they won''t be able to destroy someone elsepletely because of their influence. So he was relieved to have learned that.
And second, Kye was happy because Sylvia was exactly like how he remembered in the VR. She wasn''t ying a persona. No, far from it. She was true to her convictions and didn''t sway around even if it means that she could get into troubleter.
"Thank you very much for all the information you gave me," Kye made a deep bow to express his gratitude. It was also at the same time to thank her for telling him the truth and that she wouldn''t obey Azul.
"Don''t worry, it''s normal," Sylvia smiled. "And if someone knows how to search, it''s easy information to get."
"Anyway, should we now go?" Kye smiled and asked once theirst discussion was closed.
"Sure," Sylvia smiled back at him and both of them went underwater.
They had a lot of space, so they didn''t need to go far to begin their spar. So after nodding to each other, Kye began to swim to disorientate Sylvia. However, thetter was now in her element. She was focusing on the water aspect of her ability, so she had an advantage in this fight.
Though, to y fair and to train herself, she created her water des instead of using the water around her and sent them toward the swimming Kye while preparing herself at using her new weapon: her whip.
She had changed ss not long ago, so she was now able to have a weapon with her.
''This Kye reminds me of someone,'' Sylvia began to think as she began to wave her whip while sending water des without interruption. She began her never-ending onught. ''His voice, the way he speaks, and his kindness remind me of him. He even has the same type of sword and the way he dodges is also like him.
''But it doesn''t make sense. Fallen Angel is a high-level person, whereas Kye is just level 1. The former also has this light ability whereas Kye didn''t use anything even though exactly five meters are separating us.''
Sylvia could unfortunately not think too long about this because Kye was closing the distance dangerously. He moved so well that he managed to dodge everything, even under that many attacks. Sometimes with so little margin that he almost lost a limb, whereas sometimes with such a big margin that it was clear he had predicted the trajectory of the des or whip.
And a lot of people began to stop fighting to watch their fight. It was very intense and exciting for them to see such a fight underwater.
''It seems that I always have to dodge at the beginning,'' Kye thought as he finallye in range to swing his weapon with a chance to hit her.
However, he still wasn''tpletely used to the pressure of the water, so his swing was a little slower than what he would have hoped, letting Sylvia all the time she wanted to step to the side and swing a water sword toward Kye''s lower abdomen.
He would have a hard time dodging that. And even if he wanted to duck down, he will surely get hit because the sword was moving quickly.
And yet he managed to predict that Sylvia would have aimed here, so he was already going upward even before she began swinging her sword.
''How I would love to use my Holy ray right now,'' Kye thought and clicked his tongue internally before going one more time toward Sylvia.
This time he decided to feint an attack. He had his sword in his right hand. So he moved his body toward the left to make Sylvia think that he would have attacked from this side, but she decided to y it safe and took a step back by creating a water tform under her feet, thus dodging Kye''s right swing by a finger length.
Unlike Kye, she didn''t manage to predict this move, so she dodged at thest moment. Though she still managed to dodge and then waved her hand quickly and ten water des rushed toward Kye at irregr intervals.
Chapter 47 Fallen Angels Identity
Unlike Kye, she didn''t manage to predict this move, so she dodged at thest moment. Though she still managed to dodge, so waved her hand quickly and ten water des rushed toward Kye at irregr intervals.
Kye managed to dodge them all by keeping a cool head, but he still made a mistake. He was too focused on what was happening in front of him. So much that he didn''t see Sylvia''s whiping toward him from the right side.
*Swoosh*
[-5 HP]
The whip targeted his ribs, injuring him in the process. He began to bleed and even his suit had now a big hole.
The swing wasn''t strong in itself. It was the shockwave the whip had released upon the strong impact.
But Kye, instead of backing down decided to rush toward her. If the distance between them were to increase, then he would surely lose this fight because he was already injured. Sure he would heal the wound naturally and quickly, but even that will take time. And it was time that he wasn''t willing to give to Sylvia because she would surely take advantage of that to end him.
And Sylvia seeing that made a small smile while being a little shocked. She didn''t expect to see Kye going toward her even with this injury and another volley of water des going toward him.
''I need to expand my vision,'' Kye thought as he swim toward Sylvia while dodging everything, even the whip that looks like it was bending water under its force. ''I won''t be able to win if I''m too focused on just a simple area. Therger my vision, the better I will be able to predict things.''
Unbeknownst to him, his eyes glowed yellow after thinking that. Sylvia saw that too and she felt a shiver down her spine. Nheless, she still made a water spear that spun around her. The same move she did in the VR. Even though she didn''t stop moving because of the shiver she felt, she still took it into ount and decided to end this fight as fast as possible.
Kye remembered this move very well too. He had underestimated it thest time, but now that he knew how it worked, he was ready to ovee it. So he swam toward Sylvia with his sword ready in his hand.
Sylvia didn''t move yet since she could still attack from a safe distance while keeping her opponent at bay. However, even that seemed to not be enough because Kye was still moving as if he was a fish under the water. He dodged all her swings, and god knows how many times she swung to attack him.
But he still dodged everything. And once she was almost in the spear range, he decided to do quite the bold move.
He threw his sword at her, and since she didn''t see this moveing, she move toote. But unfortunately for Kye, he only scratched her face. However, this single move managed to destabilize Sylvia enough for him to enter the spear''s range without getting hit.
And once Sylvia turned her head toe back to the fight, the only thing she saw was Kye''s punching right toward her face.
*Paww*
Since Kye''s strength was now higher than before, his punch also had much more explosive force. So much that Sylvia was sent flying away, but not without a little surprise for Kye.
*Swoosh*
*Swung*
*Swoosh*
[-10 HP]
Sylvia at thest moment managed to wave her hand and created two water des and swung her whip once. They were so close that Kye couldn''t dodge this, and she was right because he took everything.
He too was sent flying away with his swimming suitpletely torn apart. Thankfully though, it was only the front, not the back, so his wings weren''t visible.
And there were now around twenty meters separating them. Making Kye click his tongue because he was now weaponless and had to swim all the way back toward her while she could already attack her from here.
Sylvia''s nose was bleeding, but she quickly recovered by swinging her whip while moving her free hand to make water projectile. However, she didn''t have to.
"Sylvia, I give up!" Kye shouted so that she could hear him. And it worked because she dissipated all the projectile that was already going toward Kye and retracted her whip.
Kye then swim to pick up his sword and then went toward Sylvia. "Sorry to have to break your nose," Kye looked shyly to the side.
"Don''t worry about that. I should be the one apologizing. Your stomach area is full of cuts because of the damage you took. There''s even blooding out from them.
"It''s okay, it doesn''t hurt anymore."
"Are you sure? Should I take you to the infirmary?" Sylvia''s worry was genuine. All these cuts must have hurt a lot, yet Kye still refused, reassuring her that he was fine. "Though I must say, I''m d of what I did," She made a smug smile.
"What do you mean?"
"I can see your abs as much as I want now. Your body is really amazing. And you''re still growing, so that only means that you''re going to be better with time," She even made gave him a thumb up to say everything was perfect.
"I-I mean," This time, he looked away for real because her remark made him very shy. His ears even turned a little red. "Thanks,"
"Hehe," She chuckled then looked to their surrounding. "Anyway, it seems that our fight had attracted a lot of attention," All the students who had stopped fighting to watch their fight still didn''t recover from what they saw.
First, because the fight was amazing in itself. It was both intense and fluid. Both Kye and Sylvia were moving so well underwater that it looks like they were fighting above ground. Not to say that the way they fought was very good too. Both used different tactics and tried to take advantage of every opening they could find.
Second, because the people who fought had such a big gap in the level that they were all taken aback by how Kye managed to hold his ground even against someone this high level.
"I guess I wouldn''t have been able to do anything if you fought for real," Kye returned to normal and smiled, understanding how far behind he was from high-level people. He was stronger than most students, but those who were high level like his friends were another matter. Sure without their abilities, he could hold his ground, but the moment they begin to use one, it gets so hard that he almost can''t touch them.
"Don''t say that Kye," Sylvia immediately said. "There''s no need for me to not be real, so yes, you indeed wouldn''t have been able to do anything. However, the fact that you managed to hold your ground even with the level difference between us is amazing. No one can do as well as you among all the students here with such a big disadvantage. However I still have a question," Kye nodded and thanked her for herforting words. "Why didn''t you use your ability?"
"Oh, it''s because I don''t have one."
"How did you use your light ray in the VR against me then?" Sylvia only had doubts, no real proof of Kye being Fallen Angel. But she still decided to ask this just to see his reaction. And she wasn''t deceived by it."
"I-I never fought you though," Kye tried to dissipate her doubts, but it only gave her the answer she wanted.
"Don''t worry," She winked. "I won''t say anything to anyone. On the contrary, if you want something from me, don''t hesitate," She then took his hand onto hers. "But can I still ask you something?"
Chapter 48 Vens Caprice
"Don''t worry," She winked. "I won''t say anything to anyone. On the contrary, if you want something from me, don''t hesitate," She then took his hand onto hers. "But can I still ask you something?"
"S-sure," He blushed.
"Can youe back into the VR please?" She looked like a cute cat wanting a pat from her master. "I went every day there, but you were never connected. So please, can you?" She got closer to his face.
"Y-yes I can. I was nning on going there this afternoon. Do you mind if we only hunt monsters? I don''t want other people to recognize me," Kye had dropped the act. Sylvia already knew him, and she looked kind enough to keep his secret. So he decided to trust her in this regard.
,m "Yes of course," She made a radiant smile. "Let''s fight a stronger monster then. The Zora is good, but at some point, it will begin to be easy. Especially now that you seemed to have gotten stronger."
Kye nodded. He weed the idea very well because stronger monsters also mean more EXP. ''I wonder if I will get something when I will be level 5," He thought before being interrupted by one of his friend''s voices.
"KYE, are you alright?" It was Ven. His fighting partner couldn''t fight him anymore, so he decided to search for Kye. Only to see that his suit was torn apart and he has wounds on his stomach area. "Is it this bitc-... I mean her who hurt you?" His hair began to point upward, indicating that the gravity began to change around him.
"Long time no see, Ven," Sylvia smiled while using her real strength to keep up against Ven''s aura.
"You guys know each other?" Kye asked after putting a hand on Ven''s shoulder to calm him down. He then looked at Sylvia so that she put her aura back as well. Even though their aura wasn''t aimed at him, he still felt the pressure. And it was suffocating.
"Yes, we know each other," Ven replied once he lessened his aura. But he still let it active in case Sylvia were to try something funny. "Every once in a while, all the big families join for a little party where all the family members had to attend, and that''s where we met each other. It was the same for Yugo and Enzo. But as I saidst time, we act as if we didn''t know each other."
"That''s right," Sylvia smiled. "Every year, during summer holidays, we all meet up. The adult discusses some important matters while we have to stay together too, as they say, build a rtionship with each other. But we never talk to each other. It''s easier to ignore each other than act friendly. So we only stay together during this event because we''re obliged to," Sylvia exined in more detail the gathering they had to attend.
"Hmm, it''s quite sad," Kye said after thinking for a moment.
"What''s sad?" Both Ven and Sylvia asked at the same time, tilting their heads to the side.
"That you guys never tried to befriend each other," Kye said with a sad smile. "You are all amazing, kind with great personalities. But you all keep your distance because of how your families told you bad things regarding the other big families,"
"Well, I guess it can''t be helped," Ven said.
"Now that I think about it," Sylvia put her hand on her chin to think for a second. "Yugo and Ven, since they hang out with you seem to have grown closer to each other. There''s also Enzo who seems to have taken a liking to you, Kye, so he will surely begin to hang out with you too, so by extension, Yugo and Ven as well. So just thanks to you, you managed to regroup all the big families in a single group."
"It''s because Kye is amazing," Ven said, proud of him that he was one of his first true friends. "He treats us all well without giving up on our caprice. And he is so cute that he looks like a little brother to us. The little brother that we all wanted," Ven had such a warm smile on his face that it was clear that his emotions were genuine.
"T-Thanks," Kye smiled as well and turned toward Sylvia. "Then Sylvia, do you want to hang out with us as well?" He asked, hoping that he can grow closer to her so that he could be her friend, but at the same time so that she would say even less about what he hides from the world.
"Does it also means more VR time with you?" She asked excitingly.
"Yes, I guess so," Kye smiled.
"Wait, since when did you go to the VR area, Kye?"
"It was the other day when you and Yugo were sleeping. I decided to sneak outside the room and go y a little, sorry to not have told you that sooner."
"I don''t mind you going there," Ven looked a bit sad. "Do we... No, do I look so much not trustworthy to you so that you have to wait for us to sleep to go without telling it to us?" He even looked like he was about to cry.
"Don''t say that Ven, you know well that you''re my best friend, you even know everything rted to me," Kye said while looking right in his eyes. "It''s just that I knew that you wouldn''t have let me go alone if I had told you about it. And I didn''t want to bother you with that either. Sorry."
"Does that mean that you''re fed up with me, so much that you went alone?"
"No, of course, n-..." Ven didn''t let him finish and turned away with such a sad expression that it looks he had cried for days.
"Ara~, how cute of him," Sylvia said as Kye rolled his eyes at her before catching Ven.
He then hold his wrist to stop him and said. "Ven, I''m sorry. I swear I won''t do that again," Even after having said that, Ven still didn''t look at Kye. He was looking to the side where people were still fighting.
"Ven, tell me what I have to do so that you can forgive me," Kye said, beginning to be sad as well because of the situation. He didn''t want to be cold with Ven, but if thetter wasn''t trying to do anything to help, then there''s nothing else to do for now.
"You know very well what I mean."
"A hug?"
"It won''t be enough this time,"
"You''re just being greedy, Ven," He turned once again trying to leave. "Okay, okay, I will do what you want. But what can I give you more than a hug?"
"Pat my head and tell me that everything will be alright from now on," His look was full of expectation.
''Guess it can''t be helped,'' Kye thought before doing a big hug to Ven. Thetter was still taller than him by a lot, so Kye''s face was in his chest area. He could even hear Ven''s heartbeat quickly. It seemed full of joy.
He then took a step back before putting his hand on his head and beginning to rub it. "Everything''s alright, Ven. I promise you that from now on, I will tell you instead of hiding it from you."
"Only me, okay? Not Yugo, Lidi, Enzo, or Sylvia," Kye hesitated a little before nodding, making ven''s happiness skyrocket.
[You cheered up someone who was depressed to the max.
+1 Stamina
+1 free stat] (AN: He will get this free stat to put wherever he wants every time someone who is depressed has their happiness to the max thanks to him. And no, there''s no bar to tell how much someone''s happy. It depends on one person to another.)
Kye rolled his eyes internally seeing that. He had the impression that he was now cheering his friends to get stats points. ''Let''s put this free stat in Agility.''
Just as he thought that Ven hugged him at his turn. He was so happy that it was almost an automatism.
Almost.
And unbeknownst to Kye, Ven send a cold re to Sylvia who was looking at them with a smile, before thetter made a middle finger to Ven to answer his re.
"Ven, I can''t breath," Kye managed to say with some difficulty even though his mouth was covered by Ven''s chest.
"Oh, my bad," He immediately let him go. And right at this moment, they heard Madison''s voice.
"Alright everyone, today''s ss hase to an end. I hope to see everyone again tomorrow!"
***
(AN: I opened a discord, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
Chapter 49 Writing Exams
(AN: I opened a discord serv, so you cane and talk about MAS if you want ^^. I will also put it under the synopsis, so you can copy-paste it quickly.)
https://discord.gg/ceD4KzUR
***
The next few days passed in the blink of an eye.
Kye after talking a little more about the VR with his friends managed to convince them that he will be alright, even if he go there alone. So no one had toe with him to protect him or whatsoever. Moreover, he went there with Sylvia, so even though she didn''t have to, she could protect him from those who wanted to pick a fight with him.
Not that she saw the need. Kye managed to go almost toe to toe against her. Sure she wasn''t using her full strength, but she was still level 6, whereas he was only level 1. And for first-year students, being level 6 was the higher someone could go. Being level 7 was quite hard, and most level 6 students managed to increase their rank during their second year in the military.
And since it was almost impossible for a level 6 to pick a fight with a level 1, there wasn''t much chance for that to happen. Not because they didn''t want to, but because it wasn''t worth the hassle. They could kill them with a wave of their hands, so what''s the point of trying to bully a level 1 at this rate?
? So Kye went to the VR area for the next few days. And they managed to kill so many monsters with Sylvia that Kye had almost leveled up.
[EXP 745/800]
He just needed to kill a single more monster, but it will have to wait because something that no one could think of happening happened. It was on thest day of their training in the swimming pool. The professors announced something unexpected.
"In a week, so next Monday, every single first-year student that had taken part in the fighting sses will have an exam," Madison started to exin. "And as you might all know, our exams take ce on others, that is to say, where monsters live in."
She let the students process what she said and let them talk among them for a few minutes before continuing. They were all excited, so they needed to talk among them to decrease what they felt.
"However, this exam will be a group exam. So you will have to be ready for not being with your friends, or those you know and would like to fight with," After having said that, a student raised his arm.
"May I know how the groups will be formed?"
"Yes, I was about to say it," Madison smiled to not scare the student. "Until next week, you will all have to take writing exams. It will go from the subject you''re all supposed to learn during the morning, to more practical things like fighting tactics and so on. Thus, the groups will be formed like this. Four students who get approximately the same grades will be in the same group.
"However, and don''t say that I didn''t warn you. Those who will try to not do well to be with their friends will face severe consequences. It can go from a light punishment if we judge that it wasn''t intentional, to things that you can''t even imagine. So I will say this once.
"Give your all during those writing exams because it will impact your rating during the exams that will take ce in monsterss, and your future once you will leave the military." She said with a convincing look. "Now you can all go. Do not forget to work hard or else, you will regret it in the long run."
Madison and Azul disappeared from the swimming pool after that, leaving all the students scared. No one was studying during the morning ss. Why would they? They live in a world where killing monsters bring more money than an office job. So they all disregard those sses.
However, now that they knew it will also have an impact on their future, they all get scared and swarm outside the swimming pool. Even the high-level students went to study because they didn''t want to be with some low-level trash.
And after discussing a little among them, Kye''s friends'' group too went to study. They were all pissed by how the groups were formed, especially Yugo, Ven, and Lidi, but they couldn''t do anything about it.
''I guess it will be a good training for me if they don''t group me up with anyone whom I''m close to,'' Kye thought as he too began to study as much as he could. He too wasn''t paying much attention to the morning sses. He was more focused on how to fight than to learn about history and such. However, he was still paying enough attention to get an easy time in his studying. He wasn''t sleeping like most students. No, he was listening. Sure with only half his attention, but it was still better than nothing. He at least didn''t have to put an all-nighter to learn everything.
And just like this, the day of the writing exams came. Kye didn''t even manage to level up because of how much he had to study. But he at least had an easy time for the exams.
He managed to learn everything by heart. So much that he was sure to get an almost full score on these exams.
"So, how did the exams go for you guys?" Once they had finished doing all the writing exams and the weekend finally came, everyone decided to hang out together to clear their heads a little. This week was awful for all of them.
"So bad that I won''t be surprised if I get those punishments, even though I gave my all," Ven answered, drinking his beverage in a cozy restaurant.
"Normal I guess," Yugo added. "I managed to answer almost everything, but I don''t think that I will get good grades."
"Same as Yugo," Enzo said. "But I studied so much that my brain isn''t functioning well anymore," He was so tired that he was resting his head on the table.
"Haha, don''t worry, I''m sure it will be alright," Kye patted his head to cheer him up. And it seems to work because he immediately straight up his back and smiled at Kye. "How about your girls? Was it okay?"
"I think I did pretty well, but I still got some difficulties regarding some topics," Lidi smiled as Kye praised her.
"How about you Sylvia?"
"I think I did pretty good as well. But I don''t think I I did well enough to get everything good," She said while ying with her orange juice. "For example, out of a hundred, I think I will get ny or something."
"S*it, your smart," Ven blurted out. "I won''t even get 50."
"Hehe," Sylvia chuckled. "How about you Kye? Do you think you did well on your exam?"
"Well, I don''t want to brag or anything, but I think I will get a perfect score," He looked a little shy when he said that."
Enzo nodded happily hearing him. "As expected of you. I did well by deciding to befriend you."
"Of course, you did well," Lidi added. "Kye is the best. I''m sure he would beat us all if he were to have an ability," Yugo, Ven, and Sylvia made a wry smile hearing that. They were the only ones who knew that Kye wasn''tpletely abilityless. Yet he didn''t have any real ability either, making things a littleplicated.
"Well, haha, I hope I will be able to get one one day," Kye smiled. He was happy to hear that, yet quite sad as well. But he didn''t show it to not worry them.
"My offer is still open, Kye," Enzo said. "If you ever want to learn the time ability of my family, then you can whenever you want. Just ask me and I will teach it to you."
"How about space, Kye?" Yugo asked the moment he got the opportunity. "Just imagine making a portal that you can cross to kill your opponent?"
"Then how about gravity?" This time it was Ven. " You can lessen your weight to move faster or make your opponents heavier. You can even make ck holes when you got a high enough mastery upon space."
"*Sigh* I guess I will propose It too," Sylvia sighed and said. "Nature is avable as well. Just ask and I will teach you all things rted to nature. From creation to destruction," Lidi didn''t say anything since she could only propose the air ability of the military. But since Kye already refuse it, there wasn''t any point in asking again."
"Thank you, everyone," Kye smiled even more brightly. "I''m very touched by what you''re all saying, really. But I won''t be able to answer you now. I still don''t know what ability can go well with my fighting style, and even though all your rare abilities are extremely alluring, I don''t want to decide on a whim. Especially since I won''t be able to change it," He looked down after saying that, thinking that everyone would be angry at him for refusing this rare opportunity.
But they all thought the contrary. They were happy to propose such a thing, and even more to hear Kye take this seriously. An ability was something that would follow him his entire life, so by saying that, they were d that he wouldn''t make a half-a*s decision.
Chapter 50 Supi
Monday finally arrived, making everyone anxious about the result of their writing exams. They all wanted to get nice group members to get good grades during the true exam that would begin today. So all students who took the fighting sses, be it in the morning or the afternoon had toe to one of the gymnasiums that were made to hold a lot of students at once.
And it was only 7:30 am, thus everyone was still sleepy.
After thirty minutes had passed, all the students were finally in the gymnasium, waiting for their professors. However, someone they hadn''t expected to see came too.
There was a lot of professors for those type of exams. Monsters were dangerous, and to make things as safe as possible, a lot of professors were mobilized. Of course, Madison and Azul, but also other professors who were good at fighting. They needed to protect their students if a problem emerged after all.
And the person who came was the ''headmaster'' of this base. "Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a great rest during thosest few days because the next three days will be like a living hell for you," He began to talk. "You will all be sent to the known as ''Supi''. It''s a that is owned by the military, so you shouldn''t meet any intelligent monsters there. However, this is mostly filled with water, and that is why you had to get used to fighting underwater.
"The zone you will have to go to is perfect for first-year students, so you will mostly face low-rank monsters. However, be aware that you will be alone during those three days. Your professors wille to you only if you wish to give up or face a monster so strong that you are unable to fight it. You will also have the ess to the city denied, so do not expect to sleep in afy bed or get hot water to clean yourself. You will be left in the wild and have to kill as many monsters as possible to get as many points as possible.
"And do not forget that you will be in a team, not alone. So you will have to think about yourrade before doing anything. Every action has consequences, and we won''t ept death without a good exnation, is that clear?" He let a glimpse of his killing intent submerging the students to let them know that he was dead serious and wasn''t joking. It was a thing that a student died because of their carelessness or because of monsters but if the cause was the other student in the group, then it waspletely another matter. "Then, I wish you all good luck," He slowly walked outside the gymnasium after having said that.
It was then Madison who step forward to talk. "We''re now going to let you know about your team. As you know, it was based on your result in the writing exams. So don''te and cry to our feet if you don''t like your team," She smiled before continuing. "Once you know your team members, you will have to all go to one of the professors behind me, who will in turn take you to Supi. I wish you all good luck once again. And do not forget that you are a team, so put your pride aside and work well together," She then took a paper where all the teams were present with the members'' names. "Those whom I call, please do as I said earlier.
"John Marble, Maria Viso, Kye Vermillion, and Suha Roll will be the first team. I must also say congrattion on your perfect score on the writing exams. Hope you will do good for this exam too."
''As I expected, it was impossible to be with one of my friends,'' Kye thought as his friends congratte him on the writing exams, before leaving them to go to his team. ''Well, let''s just hope that my teammates aren''t some a*sholes.''
Since the gymnasium was very big and Kye was at the very back, he took around five minutes to join his team. And as expected, they all looked at him with disdain the moment they saw the number on his watch. They all thought that they would be teamed up with other high levels. And they were partially right since there was two level 5, was Maria, a curly ck hair and eyes girl, 165 centimeters tall, and John, a blond hair and blue eyes boy, 178 centimeters tall, and one level 6 was Suha, a 182 centimeters boy who has brown hair and green eyes.
But the fact that a lowly level 1 was in their team already made their mood turn bad.
"Tch, what a sh*tty way to make teams," John rolled his eyes in disgust.
"I hope he won''t slow us down," Suha added.
"Meh, that''s impossible. He''s level 1, so what do you expect from him?" Maria said. And of course, they all said that when Kye was near them so that he could hear them well.
''Guess the next days will be awful,'' Kye thought in annoyance and smiled before saying. "Please take care of me guys," He even extended his hand, only to be left alone. From their eyes, Kye could clearly see that they wouldn''t have hesitated if they could spat on this hand of his.
After Kye retracted his hands, they all went toward one of the professors so that thetter could bring them to Supi. Of course, they wouldn''t go with a spatial ne or slow things like that. No, a teleporter was better suited for things like that. And since it was instantaneous, it was also a lot faster. And in today''s era, everyone used teleporters to go to others. It was much safer and faster.
So after the professor bring them to the teleporter room, he crossed the one for Supi, followed closely by the students.
On the other side, all they could see was blue scenery. They were inside a dome-like city that was located underwater. And this dome allowed them to breathe while protecting them against any type of monster''s attacks. Of course, the city was huge because a lot of people came here. It was a very touristic.
And Kye looked at what was in front of him in awe because it was the first time he saw such beautiful scenery. He could already see some fish outside the dome which was all different from what he could ever expect to see on Earth. Though he couldn''t see any monsters, he guessed that it was quite normal since there wouldn''t be any monsters that were close to the city.
"*Cough* *Cough*," The professor coughed to attract Kye''s attention, making his teammates annoyed. "From now on, you will be left alone. We will only provide you with a single swimming suit, so take care of it.
"After that, you can go wherever you want. You will just have toe back here in three days so that we can bring you back to Earth," He then took a few things from a basket that was near the teleporter point, before giving it to the four students. "Here''s your suit. And good luck," He then went back to Earth to continue his apagnator job.
"Tch, how annoying," Suha said before putting his suit on, quickly followed by the others. "First thing first, who wants to be the leader of the team?" Suha knew that it was important to set rules before going on an expedition. And the first thing to do was to choose a leader.
"You''re the highest level among them, so it should be you," Maria immediately answered, followed by a nod from John.
Suha didn''t even wait to see Kye''s reaction as he continued. "I will be the leader then. Don''t act rashly and follow my everymand. I want to be first in this exam, so don''t slow me down," Suha then nodded to Maria and John, who did the same.
Kye didn''t think anything of that since it seems normal to him for them to do that since they were all high level. But before going, Suha said onest thing. "I don''t know how you managed to get a full score in the writing exams, but it doesn''t mean that you''re strong enough to deal with monsters. So stay in the back and don''t go in the front," Since he was the leader, even if talking with kye disgusted him, he still had to do his best to keep him healthy, at least until thest day. "We will kill all the monsters, so try to follow us when we will move around, understand?"
"Yes," Kye hesitated to smile, but still did anyway. He didn''t want to appear cold to them since it will surely make his situation worse.
Chapter 51 Secret Scheme In The Dark
Once every student went to Supi, the professors soon followed and stayed in their quarters. They wouldn''t help the students if they didn''t ask, but they still stayed in the city so that they could answer anything quickly.
And Azul was currently sitting on a chair in his room. He leaned on it and looked to the ceiling. "You little piece of sh*t. You make me look like a fool in front of everyone, and even got scolded by the family head!" Azul tightened his grip on his chair and almost broke it. "You will pay for that dearly, Kye Vermillion, I can promise you that.
"You don''t even know that I was the one making the teams, so my dear students will make you pay dearly for what you did to me. And I will make sure that you don''te out of this exam alive!"
***
During this time, Kye''s group began to hunt already. They didn''t wait to see which way they should go they immediately went out of the city. Kye tried to stop them so that they could choose a good path to hunt, but his group all cursed at him for slowing them down.
''I don''t even know why I tried to do that,'' Kye thought while his teammates were already fighting monsters. ''It wasn''t as if they would have listened to me in the first ce.''
Kye was quite angry at himself. It wasn''t because of what he tried to do with his team, but because he did so well at the writing exam. If he had tried less hard for them, he could have been in a team where he would have been able to fight, and not stay idle with nothing to do. ''Am I seriously going to wait and do nothing for three whole days?'' Just as he thought that his group killed another monster.
"Hey the level 1,e and take the orbs from the monsters!" John shouted. "You can at least do that right? Or are you too weak to even do such a simple task?"
Each monster, be it intelligent or not, left an orb inside their bodies that could either be used to craft items such as weapons or armor, or even daily life objects. However, since this was an exam, all the orbs that were looted by the students were given to the military, and in exchange, they would give them rewards based on the amount the orbs they managed to bring back amount to. And among those things, there was very rare object such as dimensional rings.
Though, to obtain such a rare object, the students had to do much more than simply kill some low-level monsters.
So Kye didn''t answer him and just went toward the monster''s dead bodies and took the orbs. However, what he did pissed John.
"You dare not even answer me?! Are you looking down on me or what?!" John even punched Kye in the face, making him fly a few meters away, letting go of all the orbs in the process. Thankfully for the group, Maria took them back just in time before they disappeared into the immensity of the sea of this.
''This ba*tard. What did I even do to him to get hit like this?'' Kye slowly got up, ring at him coldly to John while cleaning the blood that wasing from his nose. ''I swear being a low-level suck!''
"What? Do you want to fight me?" John taunted him seeing such a look, before swimming toward him at full speed.
However, he was quickly stopped by a green barriering out of nowhere. "We don''t have time for that, John!" Suha said coldly. "We even almost lost some orbs because of you, so be careful," He then looked at Kye, only to click his tongue immediately after.
"You''re lucky that we don''t have time for you," John said as he swam away with Suha, quickly followed by Maira once she gave the orb back to Kye.
''Lucky my a*s,'' Kye rolled his eyes as he put the orbs in the bag given to him by the military. Everyone could wear this bag, but his group immediately gave it to him since he was the most useless one in the group.
He then joined his group back. He was way faster than them in the water, but he swam slowly to not attract unwanted attention.
However, the moment a few meters were separating them, a monster appeared out of nowhere, immediately heading toward Kye. He was the weaker among all those present, so the shark-like monster immediately headed toward him.
And since it came from behind, no one noticed it. Only at thest moment did Kye feel bloodlusting from behind. So he immediately fasten to dodge the big jaw of the monster that was closing on him at a fast rate.
*Cling*
Kye''s sudden increase in speed saved him from being killed by the shark, and the moment the others heard teeth shing with each other, they all turned around only to see Kye being chased by a shark.
"Since when?" Suha clicked his tongue and use his ability, thus making a green barrier appear between Kye and the shark.
Kye didn''t go at full speed, so the distance separating him from the monster wasn''t much. And even though he wanted to kill the monster, he decided against it since his team will surely take the kill before he could.
''Sylvia killed the monsters multiple times back in the VR, and I never received EXP every time it happened, so it won''t change here,'' He thought as he stopped swimming since the shark was stopped by Suha''s barrier, before being shed by another barrier. ''Abilities are seriously a broken thing. Should I have epted the wind ability from the military?'' Kye began to think as they continued their search for the monsters after harvesting the orb of the shark. ''No, it''s good that I didn''t take it. I would have been chained down by them, and even though Lidi could have helped me, it''s only to a certain extent.
''And there are even more possibilities now than before. There are the abilities of the four great families, and even if I don''t choose them, I''m sure they won''t mind helping me find an ability that could suit me perfectly.''
His group continued fighting until they were too tired to continue, so they decided to search for an area to rest. They used their energy without rest, and it was slowly taking a toll on their bodies. So after searching for ten minutes or so, they found an underwater cave.
Once they made sure that there wasn''t any monster in the cave, they all let their guard down. All but Kye. He didn''t want to be taken by surprise, so he still stood a little aware of his surrounding.
"How many orbs did we manage to harvest?" Suha said once everyone sat on the cave''s ground.
"You killed 18 monsters, so 18 orbs," Kye answered.
"What? Are you sure you didn''t drop some in the process to make the bag easier to carry?" Maria asked, a little annoyed by how few orbs they harvested. She had the impression that she fought for an entire day, whereas in reality, it had only been a three hours.
And even though she said that 18 orbs in three hours were already something incredible. No one could hope to have gotten so many so fast.
"Even if I wanted to, Suha kept an eye on me since the moment I got attacked by the shark. So he would have also seen me dropping them, right?"
However, Maria didn''t like the way he spoke to her, so she stood up and said angrily. "Stop lying you trash!" She even walked toward him while controlling the water around them to make Kye choke. But Suha stopped her by enveloping Kye in a blue barrier.
"He''s right. I didn''t want him to die since it would have surely lessened our points. So I kept an eye on him this whole time," Suha said after Maria looked at him furiously. "And I want you two to stop picking a fight with him. You''re pissing me and annoying me. Not to add that the professors surely keep an eye on us to see how we act, and that would surely impact our points. So stop being childish and rest because the moment our energy is full, we will go and fight again."
Chapter 52 Holy Random Box
"He''s right. I didn''t want him to die since it would have surely lessened our points. So I kept an eye on him this whole time," Suha said after Maria looked at him furiously. "And I want you two to stop picking a fight with him. You''re pissing me and annoying me. Not to add that the professors surely keep an eye on us to see how we act, and that would surely impact our points. So stop being childish and rest because the moment our energy is full, we will go and fight again."
Suha made the tension in the cave go up with what he said. He was strong enough to hold his ground even if Maria and John were to both join hands and try to beat him. But if they were to do so, it would be hard to continue the exam without any other conflicts.
Both of them were tasked to make Kye''s life hard during the exam, and even kill him if possible. Of course not directly. A monster slipping between them who then killed Kye was the best oue for them. However, Suha made things hard for Maria and John. Even though he didn''te from a big family, he still had enough of a background to not shy away from them. So even though Azul had also tasked Suha to do the same thing as Maria and John, it was up to him to decide if he wanted to or not.
Unlike Maria who had to follow Azul''s order and John who owed a big time to the Viso family, Suha didn''t have such things that could force him to do things that he didn''t want to. And he was showing it clearly by opposing them the moment they were trying to attack Kye.
Suha didn''t mind putting Kye in his ce either if he was to disobey his order as the leader of the group, but he didn''t want to create useless conflict. So if he had to take Kye''s side to make things better so that they could keep the first ce, he would do so dly.
Of course not openly, but still enough to make sure that he would die. And Suha, since it was clear to Azul back then that he didn''t want to take part in their secret scheme, didn''t know that they aimed to kill Kye.
So even though he was ready to protect him, he wouldn''t be able to say anything if it was an ''ident'' that killed Kye.
"Tch," Maria and John clicked their tongues as they began to rest for real this time. They didn''t want to mess up their exam either, so even though they would make sure that Kye will see an unfortunate death, they will still try their best to stay first so that they could get as many rewards as possible after the end of the exam.
As for Kye, he smiled and nodded to Suha to show his thanks, only to be answered with a cold re. ''Even thanking people such as them seems to be unnecessary. They will just keep ring at me as if I murdered their whole family,'' Kye thought as he kept his smile on. It truly annoyed him to have to act like this when on the inside, he was clearly dissatisfied with the situation. But what could he do? Even though his angel abilities seem like real abilities, they didn''t show it on his watch. So even if his abilities were strong, people would keep thinking that he was a lowly level 1.
''Now that I think about it, I was wondering if it was really possible for me to get an ability even though I have my angel''s power, but since the energy, I have from being an angel is different from those an ability gives, I think it is possible,'' Kye thought with a lot of excitation. He wasn''t sure of him being able to get an ability, but not anymore since his theory made a lot of sense to him. ''But there''s still a problem. What will I do if after I got an ability, the energy it gave me shes with my angel energy? Won''t it make me unable to use either of them? Or worse, won''t I die because of the energies ravaging my body because they sh?''
While he was full of excitation earlier, he was now worried about getting an ability. Sure it sounds good and powerful, but if it was at the expanse of him dying, then it would surely not be a good idea to get one.
But he quickly dissipated this thought away to focus on what was in front of him. That is to say, the exam. Sure he didn''t have a lot to do, but he couldn''t let his guard down.
Though, while they were resting, Kye couldn''t help but y with the ring that contained his sword. He still had many questions about it, but couldn''t get any answer. His only way to get some was to level up, but he couldn''t do that either for the next few days since his group didn''t let him do anything.
''Should I try to sneak out when they will sleep during the night?'' Kye thought. ''No, there''s no way Suha will let me go, even if he''s half asleep. And even if I manage to sneak out, it''s better to not attract unwanted attention from them. They will surely question me on how I managed to kill a monster while being a level one without ability. Question that I don''t want to answer.''
? While he was thinking about this and that, no words were spoken among the group. It was as if they stayed together only for the sake of the exam, making Kye miss all the sounds his friends were producing when they were hanging out.
''I wonder what they are doing. I don''t think any monsters in this low-level zone will be strong enough to pose a threat to any of them but I can''t help but worry. Still, they will surely have an easier time than me regarding this exam. They can all rule over their groups whether by using their influence or their levels, not that they are the type to do that,'' As he thought that, all his friends, even though we were all far away from the others, felt as if Kye was worried about them, making them all smile at the same time.
''I hope Kye is doing good,'' They all thought at the same time. ''If there''s any god out there, make sure to protect him.''
Unbeknownst to them, their prayer got answered in the form of a system window that appear right in front of Kye''s view.
[Your friends are praying for your well-being from the bottom of their hearts in those difficult times]
[Their prayer should be answered]
Even though Kye was taken aback by the timing of the system window and its message, Kye hoped that it wouldn''t make things difficult for him. ''Please, do not make anything shy.''
And his plea got answered because nothing fancy happened. No golden light came out from his body, no pain changed his body, nor did anything appear out of thin air. Making him extremely relieved.
Still, his system didn''t stop after thest window.
[A holy random box had been granted to you]
[Holy random box: A box that holds a random holy artifact in it. Exclusive to the Angel race]
Kye blinked a few times seeing the box inside the system''s window. It was a white box with a golden color edge with what looked like angel''s wingsing from both sides of it. It has a heavenly look that made Kye even more curious.
However, the box description made him even more curious. ''A holy artifact? Does the sword heaven give me back then also a Holy artifact? Then does that mean that I can have another thing like my sword?'' He began to be excited again, forgetting all his earlier worries. ''As for the race, does that means there are other angels out of there? Or did the system put the word ''race'' because I''m the only one, to not be confused with beasts, which in one way or another, is also a race? Or even the human race?''
Chapter 53 An Unexpected Situation
Just as Kye was about to open the random box through his system, strange noises came from the end of the cave they were resting in.
Hearing that, Suha, Maria, and John all stood up on alert. They had searched earlier if the cave was safe, and they deemed it after exploring it a little. However, they couldn''t go too deep inside since they will surely be lost as time continue. Not to add that light was slowly disappearing the further they go inside the cave.
So they decided to rest right at the entrance. But they didn''t expect to hear such noises. And in such a ce, it could onlye from one entity: a monster.
"We should go," Suha said as he headed toward the exit of the cave. "We rested enough anyway, and I don''t want to face a monster that we don''t know anything about, not to add that it''s not the best ce to fight."
They had rested for about an hour. And it was enough time to replenish all their energypletely. And as Suha said, a cave wasn''t the best ce to fight. It was too narrow, and they could hinder each other easily. And even though a cave allowed them to know from where the monster wille, they won''t be able to do anything if it was a monster too strong for them to handle. They didn''t know its rank, and Suha didn''t want to take any risk. Not to add that fighting in a cave could cause it to crumble on them, thus closing their only exit, or worse, bringing them under rocks.
Maria, John, and Kye all agreed with him and began to head out. But not even after having swum for a hundred meters could they already see a giant whale chasing them.
"How can such a big thing could fit in a fucking cave?" John asked as they all speed up. The whale was clearly not a low-level monster. Maybe a mid-level monster, or even worse, a high-level monster. And they were sure that they couldn''t win against such a monster.
The whale kept chasing them while breaking Suha''s barrier and passing through Maria''s water waves that were supposed to slow it down. John couldn''t do anything since the whale weight too much for his telekinesis ability to work properly.
So since they couldn''t do anything, they all decided to stop using their ability to conserve their energy as much as possible.
"I have an idea," Kye said as they continue swimming.
"Fuck off, we don''t want somethinging from the like of you," Maria cut him short.
"Please tell us what you have in mind, Kye," Suha red at Maria before continuing. "Every idea is weed, especially in such a dire situation."
Kye didn''t say anything for a moment, but he had to repay Suha somehow for being the only person kind enough to not talk to him as if he was trash. "The whale isn''t really fast. As much as us from my observations, meaning that its power either lye in its defense or ability. But since he didn''t use anything until now, I''m leaning toward a great defense," Kye began to exin what he observed from the moment they began to be chased by the giant fish. It was way bigger than a normal whale, making it very scary. "So we can either choose to run away while John increases our swimming speed with his telekinesis ability, or fight the monster by exploiting its weak spots."
All the group didn''t say anything for a while because they were all thinking about what Kye had just said. His observations were correct and easily findable if not for their clouded mind. So even Maria and John who wanted to make his life miserable couldn''t help but curse him for his calmness. As for Suha, since he was the leader, it was upon him to decide whether they will fight the monster or not.
On the one hand, killing such a great monster will surely assure them first ce since the orb that the whale will leave after it dies will bring them a lot of points. But on the other hand, he couldn''t put his teammates'' lives at stake because he wanted to be first in the exam.
"John, do you think you can make us fast enough so that we can escape?" Suha asked seriously, not wanting to waste more time.
"It is possible, but not for long," He answered truthfully. "It''s already hard to control a person, let alone four."
"Then we only have one option left," Suha said with a smile and determine look. "Kye, where are the weak spots you mentioned earlier?" They continue swimming since one moment was enough for the whale to catch up with them
"First, the eyes. Only by blocking its vision will we be able to fight easily," Kye said while thinking. "Then, any type of holes. Be it butt holes or things that don''t have any protection. Aim for these spots, but be careful because you will immediately attract the aggro when you do that. And keep in mind that the whale can surely use some type of abilities, so don''t stay idle for too long or you will surely die on the spot. Don''t forget that even though it surely focuses on defense, its physical strength must be equal to it. So try to attack from a safe distance."
Suha couldn''t help but smile hearing Kye''s n. Even though this situation was surely scary as hell for him, he didn''t look like he had lost his cool. On the contrary, it looks like he was still cold-headed, even in such a dangerous situation where even those who were high level were scared of seeing such a big monster.
''Look at you Suha,'' He thought, looking down on himself. ''You lost your cool the moment a big threat came in front of you, whereas a level 1 had kept its mind clear all along. How do you want to be at the top with such an attitude?''
Once his mind was clear again, Suha began to give orders based on Kye''s observation. "John, you will stay behind and support us however you can. Your ability isn''t suited for this fight. I and Maria will attack from a closer distance to distract the monster, while Kye will be at close range to attack the weak spot."
"What?" Kye was taken aback the moment he heard that he too had to do something.
"You''re faster than us underwater but keep it secret to not arise suspicion. And you''re the only one who has a sharp weapon."
''Why do people keep finding my secrets so easily?'' Kye cursed in his mind before saying. "Even so, my weapon will surely brake the moment I try to attack, even if I aim for one of its weak points."
"Don''t worry about that. I will protect your weapon so that you can attack safely. I and Maria will also do our best to protect you while John increases your speed."
''I wanted to fight to level up, but not in such conditions,'' Suha took his silence for a ''yes'' and ordered everyone to take their positions.
Maria and John were obviously d that Suha made such a n. They indeed wanted to kill the whale, but if they could kill Kye at the same time, they wouldn''t say no. Not to add that it was only Kye who will risk their lives and not them.
Though, what Suha said next made them gulp down bitterly. "If I see either of you making a half-ass job in supporting him, I won''t hesitate to tell the military that you tried to kill him by not helping him,"
"And how will you prove that?"
"By recreating the scene with my ability," Suha''s ability allowed him to make a hard-like construct, so it wasn''t hard for him to recreate such a fight and show it to the military.
Kye had already gone a few moments ago toward the whale, so he couldn''t see his teammate''s reactions. Even if he could see, he wouldn''t be able to change the fact that if it wasn''t now, they would try to kill himter.
Chapter 54 A Deadly Whale
Kye swam toward the big whale which still hadn''t stopped its advance. It was still rushing toward them as fast as it could. Though, the moment she saw that Kye was in front of her, she opened herrge mouth, only for Kye to see razor-like sharp teeth that looked so menacing that he had to gulp down to pull the pression out of himself.
And just when the whale was about to close her mouth on him, thetter managed to swim away just in time. He would have been crushed if he were to stay there. Probably being food.
''Me and my luck,'' Kye clicked his tongue internally. ''How I am meant to fight such a thing when their support will almost be useless. No why did I open my mouth in the first ce?'' He turned around the whale swiftly, and since he managed to take her aggro, the whale now focused on him. ''There''s no need toment now. What''s done is done. I can only fight and survive.''
Since the whale was slower than him because of her immense body, she had difficulties following Kye with her eyes. Though, she could still recognize when the water around her was changing, thus knowing where Kye exactly was. And as Kye predicted earlier, the whale indeed had some sort of ability.
The monster waved its ''tail'', and from it, twenty ice spikes were created before going toward Kye at full speed.
"Tch," He clicked his tongue as he took some distance to dodge things more easily. Though, he didn''t have to because multipleyers of barriers appeared in front of him.
Each ice spike destroyed a barrier, thus destroying the twenty barriers that Suha had put to defend Kye.
Thetter looked at him for a brief moment, only to see Suha smile at him. And even though he didn''t want to, Kye''s lips turned slowly into a smile. And so to not waste Suha''s energy, Kye swam rapidly toward the whale. Thetter waved her tail once more, but Kye used her giant body to take cover. And because she was in the way, she take all the spikes she created.
*Arghhwhwhwh*
The whale screamed in pain, but instead of focusing on that, she redirected her anger toward Kye. But during this short amount of time when she was screaming in pain, Kye saw an opportunity. The spikes were really sharp, thus damaging the whale a lot. So she left a big opening to exploit.
And Kye didn''t wait to exploit it.
He swam at full speed toward the whale with Maria''s and John''s help. She was bending water so that it wouldn''t hinder him, while John was increasing his speed, thus making him swam so fast that in no time he was already in front of one of the monster''s eyes.
And the moment the whale opened them back after processing that pain, Kye thrust his sword into her left eye with Suha''s barrier, thus making the sword''s durability and sharpness increase by a lot.
However, if it was enough to destroy an eye of a high-level monster, then it would have been an easy fight.
Kye felt that his sword didn''t get to dip inside the whale''s eye, so he immediately swam away because he felt the whale was about to move.
His teammates didn''t understand at first why he decided to back down, but when they saw the whale opening its mouth with energy gathering inside it, they all understood that she was about to fire an icyser.
However, what happened next shocked them.
The energy gathering inside its mouth began to form multiples of energy, going up to twenty energy balls.
''This is bad,'' They all thought at the same time. Kye went behind the whale since it was the safer spot, while the other took as much distance as possible. However, the only person aimed by those beams was Kye.
*Phioush*
*Phioum*
*Phioush*
The twenty ice beams were shot and all curved to go toward Kye.
''Do they have a tracking device on them or what?'' Kye thought as he began to move as fast as he can. He even used his Angel''s eyes since the golden color couldn''t be seen by anyone to see if he could see something in those icy beams, but there was nothing. ''Too good to be true," He rolled his eyes as he began to move in every direction.
The ice beams didn''t freeze the water around it, so it never stopped chasing Kye.
"We gotta do something," Suha urgently said once he saw that they weren''t aimed. "He will die at this rate," The beams were closing the distance with Kye after each second.
"What can we even do?" Maria asked as she too looked at the terrifying sight of these twenty ice beams.
"I-..." Suha wanted to do something, but no idea came to his mind.
Kye also saw them from the distance, and he too knew that they wouldn''t be able to do anything against such a strong thing. Unlike the spikes from earlier, those beams looked a lot stronger. So there was no point for Suha in protecting Kye with his ability since it would be useless.
So since he knew he was alone in this mess, he went back toward the whale who seems to have a gigantic smile seeing him. The monster''s sharp teeth could even be seen, making Kye disgusted at such a sight. But he didn''t slow down by it.
Instead, he tried to go even faster. He even felt his little wings trying to move on his back to try and increase his speed. Even if it was just a little. s, they weren''t big enough for that.
As Kye swam closer to the whale, thetter opened its mouth as if she was thinking that Kye was about to kill himself. Though, it was only her thinking. Kye had another idea.
He continued swimming, but instead of entering her mouth, Kye went toward her eyes. He then waited there, and at thest moment, he dodge the twenty beams which all came at the same time.
*Arghhwhwhwh*
The whale whined in pain again. Though, this time, her eyes were gone for real. The eyeball froze after the first ten beams, before being destroyed by the ten others.
Kye, instead of stepping back went toward the monster''s other eyes and thrust his sword in them. Suha was there just in time to improve his sword.
"Makes me another sword," Kye ordered him.
"Wha-???"
"NOW!!" Kye shouted to urge him, not letting Suha finish. And because of that, he immediately formed another sword in Kye''s hand.
Unlike the sword he got from the weapon ss, this one was a lot more durable and sharper. And even though his earlier sword was coated by Suha''s ability, it was only coated, not the real thing. So this one, after thrusting it into the whale''s eyes, went far deeper into the eyeball.
*Arghhwhwhwh*
The monster made a chilling scream because of the loss of its second eye. Never did she expect to suffer such damages against lowly humans. Humans that were far less strong than her. So she waved her tail multiple times, creating a thousand ice spikes. But this time, it wasn''t aimed only at Kye. It was aimed at everyone.
So they all began to swim away for those spikes. Unlike the beams, they didn''t track their target, so dodging them was easier. Though, only if there were few. The amount made them dodge like their death was in front of them. And it wasn''t just an impression since it was real.
But it wasn''t without Kye ordering them once again. He was indeed dodging like them, but he was still focused on the monster. "Suha, make a sword for everyone ande with me!"
''Shit, why didn''t I think about that sooner?" Suha cursed to himself as he did what Kye asked him to do. He never thought of the possibility of all of them using a weapon. They were all taking the ability ss, not the weapon ss. So it never crossed his mind. Not even once.
Chapter 55 You Dare Say I Was Useless?
''Shit, why didn''t I think about that sooner?" Suha cursed to himself as he did what Kye asked him to do. He never thought of the possibility of all of them using a weapon. They were all taking the ability ss, not the weapon ss. So it never crossed his mind. Not even once.
But after he got the sword in his hand, he swam as fast as he could toward Kye to help him.
Maria and John didn''t understand why Suha did as kye asked at the beginning, but once they saw him swimming toward the now blind monster, they decided to do like him.
Kye was already searching for another weak point to exploit and only found one. The ass hole. But his sword wasn''t long enough for him to use it. The whale was too big to be bothered by such a little thrust. Even in the ass.
And only God knows how many times he used this weak point when he was fighting against the monsters in VR. s, none of them were as big as this whale.
So he went back toward the eyes and tried to pierce them again since it was the only way he could damage the monster. But thetter looked as if it went crazy. It moved in every direction, not staying in a single area for more than a second.
And because of that, Kye couldn''t attack it.
"What are you waiting for?" Maria clicked her tongue and asked after they all came to his side.
Kye red at her before answering with aposed face. "We can''t do anything anymore," He even gave his sword back to Suha, thus leaving him weaponless. The real sword that he used to pierce the whale''s second eye broke after thetter used ice to aim for what hurt her, that is to say, the two swords.
"What do you mean?" Suha looked at him with curious eyes. Kye had grown up a lot during this fight inside of him. While before he didn''t care about him because of how useless he was, now he respected him dearly.
"Just look at her," He pointed his finger at the whale. "She became crazy from the moment she lost her sight. And we don''t have enough piercing power to kill her or even bypass her defense. So we might as well leave."
"What? You must be kidding me, right?!" John said with an angry voice to Kye as if he had done something wrong. So he looked at him weirdly, not understanding why he acted like this right now. "You want us to give up after all the hassle we went through? You useless trash! You didn''t even do anything."
Hearing what he said, Kye chuckled a bit. He never thought of his teammates being such daring people. "All the hassled ''WE'' went through?" Kye slowly went toward John with a few golden hues in his eyes. He was pissed by what John dared to say. And thetter, even though didn''t want to back down couldn''t help but take a few steps back. "You were the most useless of us all during this fight. You and Maria didn''t do anything useful during this fight. Yet you dare say that I was useless? Me who dared to face this giant whale for your sorry asses because you didn''t have enough power to escape? Me who pierced her fucking two eyes while taking all the aggro! And yet you dare say I was trash during this fight?" During all this time, Kye kept going toward John and kept pressuring him more and more. So much that if they were on hard ground right now, John would have fallen on his butt.
Kye then looked at Maria too with deadly-cold eyes, sending a shiver down her spine. She didn''t even notice that his eyes turnedpletely yellow for a moment. Though, she felt the pressure he was sending on them just by talking. ''W-why am I scared of him?'' Maria thought after collecting herself. ''He''s just a fucking level 1 trash.''
Suha looked at everything by the side, kind of happy that Kye put them both where they belonged to. As he said, they almost didn''t do anything during this fight. He neither actually. But he at least helped Kye to his best piercing the whale''s eyes by coating his sword or making him a new one.
Last but not least, Kye turned toward Suha. But instead of feeling a shiver down his spine, he felt afortable feeling inside of him. Something calming and soothing. "Thanks, Suha. Even though you still look down on me, you never ceased to help me, and I''m happy to have at least someone like you with me in this team," He even extended his hand, which Suha shook happily.
"Thank you, I guess," He looked at him directly in the eyes, with his lips curving a little into a smile.
"Anyway, what do we do now, leader?" Kye asked while John and Maria slowly went back to themselves. They were still shocked by how Kye could be intimidating, but instead of fearing him, their resolve of wanting to kill him only increased.
''He will pay for his attitude,'' Both of them thought while being ready to listen to Suha.
p "Let''s continue fighting other monsters. We''re all full of energy anyway," Suha said as he then turned toward Kye. "Do you want to fight alongside us?"
"No thanks."
"Why?"
"I have my reasons," It wasn''t that he didn''t want to fight monsters. On the contrary, he wanted to kill some and level up. But he felt something inside him telling him not to. He didn''t know what it was, but he decided to believe in this little voice. He didn''t want to die or be in an unfortunate predicament.
"Well, sure," Suha smiled and began to swim away. The whale could still be seen in the distance, but it was just a harmless opponent from now on. A harmless yet deadly if she were tond a hit on even one of them.
And so they began to fight, rest, fight, rest, and repeat this. After two days, they had killed so many monsters that the bag they used for keeping the monsters'' orbs safe was almost full. On thest day of their exam, they decided to return to the city while killing the monsters that were unfortunate enough to meet their path.
Kye didn''t manage to kill any monster during the rest of the exam. And he was quite sad about that. The thing he felt a few days ago made him worry for nothing since, for two days, nothing big happened.
There was only John and Maria who were still hostile to him, but other than that, he didn''t see nor felt anything. His rtionship with Suha also increased a lot. Thetter seemed a lot kinder to him. Though, Kye only put this reaction to his energy that was corrupting people''s view toward him. So even though he was acting friendly with Suha, it was the bare minimum. He didn''t want to be friends with someone who was looking down on him at the beginning. Especially if he can''t face him.
Suha had proven that he wasn''t a level 6 for nothing. He could make as many constructs as he wanted as long as he had the necessary energy for it. He could also use the form he wanted for his construct. His only problem was his imagination since he was thinking quite straight. But after recalling the things the whale used, he began to be more creative. Though, it was still like baby steps since he mostly used hard-construct in the form of spikes.
That was also why they harvested so many orbs. Suha only had to aim a few spikes at the brain to instantly kill the monsters. And since their skin wasn''t sturdy enough to defend themselves, monsters mostly died without even knowing what had happened or how they died. Only when there were too many monsters did Maria and John help. But since it was rare, they didn''t do much.
Making them curse that they didn''t get any new opportunity to avenge Azul by killing Kye. The whale incident was the perfect opportunity for them to kill Kye. Yet they didn''t take that into ount since they were thinking more about their survival than anything else. But if by miracle such an opportunity was to present itself to their feet again, they wouldn''t hesitate to throw Kye in the mouth of a monster.
Chapter 56 KYE!!!
But if by miracle such an opportunity was to present itself to their feet again, they wouldn''t hesitate to throw Kye in the mouth of a monster. Though at this point, it was only a wishful thought. It was impossible to get such opportunities again, especially now that Suha wasn''t annoyed by Kye''s presence anymore. On the contrary, he seems to have taken a liking to him, or more precisely, his fighting style.
Kye was so observant that it made Suha wonder how in the world he could process all the information he was seeing. They had talked a little about that thest day and the fact that Kye kept observing his surrounding shocked him. It was something incredible because such observations also meant that he had a great vision of what was surrounding him. And for a fighter, having a great vision could save their life.
However, Maria and John couldn''t be more disgusted by their sudden friendship. First because seeing a high level is so nice with a low level made them feel as low as trash, and second because if not for Suha, they would have alreadypleted the mission Azul had given them. And if they were toe back withoutpleting it, they could face severe consequences. Azul was a great fighter and quite high positioned in the family, so his influence wasn''t to be underestimated. On the contrary, he could destroy their lives easily.
However, as if Heavens had heard their plea. Or instead in this case, Hell, something unexpected happens again.
Normal fishes and even some monsters began to fly rapidly in their direction. Though, it wasn''t to attack them. No, far from it. The look on their face didn''t look like one who wanted to fight, but one that was running away for its life to live another day.
Obviously, the group began to swim faster with them as well in fear of what could have caused so many animals and monsters to swim away so rapidly. But what they saw next wasn''t in their expectations.
Hundreds and hundreds of spikes wereing toward them. And it wasn''t a normal spike either. No, it was a spike madepletely by ice.
''Don''t tell me...'' Kye couldn''t finish his thought that aser beam was shot right toward him.
He managed to dodge it at a hair length, thus saving his life. However, what happened next not only shocked Kye but all his group as well.
[- 20 HP]
Kye spat a mouthful of blood because of a sudden blue raying out from the ice beam.
When Kye dodged, the area he was before dodging began to freeze before an ice ray came out from it, piercing his stomach, thus creating a hole in his stomach before sealing it with ice.
"KYE!" Suha shouted as he extended his hand toward him to try and help him, but got stopped by Maria and John.
"We don''t have time to save him," Maria said as she didn''t let Suha go toward Kye with John''s help. Thetter obviously had the time to take the bag full of monster orbs from Kye before helping her. "He''s already dead. Just look at him, he''s not even moving."
"The whale also seems to be faster than thest day, so we need to run away for our lives!"
"But-..." Suha couldn''t even finish that the whale sent another volley of hundred spikes toward them.
As they were dodging everything, both Maria and John couldn''t help but smile internally. It was the perfect opportunity for them to make Kye disappear. And they are doing so by not letting Suha help him. Kye will die even if he had survived this icy ray because he would stay in an area filled with monsters.
While they were being chased by the whale, Kye couldn''t move anymore. He was drifting in the ocean, slowly going deeper and deeper.
When the ray pierced him and ice formed in the big hole in his stomach area, Kye couldn''t move anymore. It was as if he had been frozen by the sudden ice. Ice that unable him to move. And even though Kye wasn''t dead, he wasn''t far from it. Being defenseless and harmless in the middle of an ocean field with monsters roaming everywhere wasn''t the best of situations.
And because of the ice, Kye slowly lost consciousness.
''Ser...iously... me and my luck...'' He managed to think before cking out.
During this time, Suha, Maria, and John managed to go away from the whale. It was as if its only purpose was to kill Kye, before swimming away. Of course, a professor came to them once they reach the border of the city to help them, but the whale was already gone.
And after the professor heard what had happened, he immediately called Madison. Maria and John asked for Azul, but since the professor was working under Madison''s supervision, he still went to her.
Madison didn''t wait a single second when she heard that there was an emergency. She immediately rushed toward Suha, Maria, and John to understand what had fully happened. "Why are you only three?" She asked with a cold voice. She knew that it wasn''t their fault to be attacked by a high-level monster, but they could have at least brought Kye him so that they could have healed him. Not to add that Madison had seen multiple times during her ss that Kye was regenerating quickly. Small wounds were healed in a matter of minutes. So she was sure that he wouldn''t have died for such.
"We almost lost our lives and you''re weing us like this pro-..." Maria didn''t have the chance to finish because Suha cut her short.
"Professor please, you have to save him. He''s still there surrounded by monsters," Suha begged Madison. But even he knew that there wasn''t anything left to do. The hole that was created by the ray was too big for a level 1 person to be alive. A level 6 like him could have been possible, but not Kye.
"Tell me where the whale attacked you, and I will try my best," Suha immediately pointed his finger toward the direction they came from, before being picked by Madison and swimming at high speed toward the area. There were only the two of them. Madison didn''t take Maria and John with her since it was clear that only Suha would help her. "Was it here?" Suha nodded.
Madison brought back Suha to the city beforeing back where the students got attacked earlier. She didn''t want him to be alone where monsters were everywhere while she was searching for Kye. She couldn''t let him die as well. And even though Suha asked to stay, Madison kept being firmly against him.
Once there, Madison swam at high speed and began to go deeper and deeper into the sea. The monstersing at her were all cut in pieces with one sh on each of her swords. So she had an easy trip deep into the ocean. But she couldn''t help but think about Kye. If he had passed out, then she didn''t think that he would still be alive since monsters would have already killed him.
''Why is my ability so damn useless to help people when they need it the most?'' Madison cursed at her uselessness after searching for an hour. She went in every direction, yet she didn''t find him. She even went so deep that she could touch the ground in the sea in this specific area.
If there was one silver lining in all this situation, it would be that Kye wouldn''t die because of the pressure of the water since the ground wasn''t too deep.
Though, the fact that she had lost such a good student made her curse immensely. She couldn''t help but curse at this system as well. There was no doubt that Maria and John thought of saving their asses and didn''t take even a second to look behind them to protect Kye.
The fact that the weak have to suffer made her curse more and more at this system.
"And how am I meant to tell all this to his friend?" Madison said to herself, dejected, once she was back in the city. ''If only my ability wasn''t allowing me to see where to strike to one shot my enemy, but to see what I wanted to find,'' She couldn''t help but think that as well. It was thanks to her ability that humans managed to defend a big part of Earth during the invasion of the monsters. But in such a situation where someone needed her the most, her ability was useless.
Chapter 57 Tell Me This Is A Lie!!
All the groups came one after the other to the city, before being taken back to the military''s base. There were so many students that it was hard to circte in the city for about thirty minutes, but once they all went back, everything became calm again.
They all had to go back to the gymnasium to hand in their bag, followed by a speech from the professors, or more precisely, Madison who was the highest ranked professor here, even higher than Azul.
While everything was being prepared, Yugo, Ven, Lidi, Enzo, and Sylvia all met up. All their groups weren''t too far from each other, and since they didn''t have to stay with their teammates anymore, they all decided to stay together.
"How was your exam guys?" Sylvia asked with a smile.
"It was really nice. It change from the usual spar we do in our fighting ss," Lidi answered and smiled back. "Not to add that monsters, due to their numbers were sometimes harder to deal with than humans."
"That''s right. When there were just two or three monsters, everything was good, but when there was an entire horde, things weren''t as simple," Enzo added his own experience. He would have surely suffered some petty injuries if it wasn''t for his mastery over time.
p "Well, all the monsters we met weren''t that high-leveled," Ven added. "So the only problem was their numbers."
"Yeah, but we weren''t alone, so everything went smoothly. It would have been ten times harder if we were to be alone for this exam," Everyone nodded at Yugo''s remark. As he said, they managed to survive the horde of monsters mostly because they weren''t alone. They would have to do a lot more things if they were alone.
And that was why this exam was a group exam. It was to make students understand that fighting alone wasn''t advised at all. On the contrary, in most situations, fighting alone only meant death. As for the groups where only the high-level fought, they got a pretty hard time and mostly fall behind the other group in terms of the score because they had to rest a lot more than they would have to if everyone had fought.
"I wonder where Kye is thought," Lidi said after some more chit-chat. "He went with three high-level students, so they must have made his exam hard."
"They will pay dearly if anything happened to Kye," Yugo said with a dead-serious tone, quickly followed by a nod from Ven. "So for their own good, I wish he''s safe."
"Well, no need to specte," Lidi said. She still remembered when Kye was fed up with their behavior, so she tried to stay calm, even though it was clear that she too will make pay for Kye''s group if something happened to him. "We''ll see him sooner or-..." Lidi didn''t manage to finish when Madison began to speak.
"I would like to congratte all of you for your hard work," She began to speak. "For most of you, it was your first time fighting against real monsters, and I''m proud to say that most of you had surpassed our expectations.
"The meaning of this exam was for you to understand how important your teammates were. It doesn''t matter if they are low level. It doesn''t matter if their help ys a part only for a second. As long as they contribute, even the most insignificant of help can save your lives.
"So all those who put their teammates to the side because they were either too low level or useless got a hard time during this exam. So I hope that all of you can think carefully about your actions once you will retire to not do the same mistakes the next time an exam will happen.
"And now, here is the score each group managed to get," Madison finished as a giant hologram appeared behind her with all the members of each group with numbers to their side which indicated their total score.
Without surprise, Kye''s group came first with 5,000 points in total, being far ahead of the second which had 2,450 points, which was Yugo''s group, followed by Enzo''s with 2,170, Ven''s with 1,950, Sylvia''s with 1700, and Lidi with 1650. The others were all far behind, with just a few more going over the thousand points.
Since every monster they killed was an ordinary rank monster, each monster orb valued 10 points. Thus indicating how many monsters the top 6 groups managed to kill. But what surprised everyone was how high the first group''s point was. It was as if they spent their whole time fighting without even thinking of resting.
"I would like the first ce group toe to my side," Madison said with a smile as Maria, John, and Suha came to her side. Though, Suha''s head looked down, whereas Maria and John had big smiles on their faces.
Seeing them go toward Madison, Kye''s friends all looked at them with surprise. Not surprised because of the score they get, but because Kye wasn''t among them.
"Where is he?" Ven said with trembling hands.
"He''s alright, right?" Yugo added with a trembling voice.
"H-he must bete," Enzo said to reassure everyone and himself as well, but he too couldn''t help but have a trembling voice."
Though even after a few seconds, Kye didn''te to their side and Madison continued speaking.
"As you can see, our first group had killed a total of 500 ordinary rank monsters based on all the monster orbs we counted," Madison with a proud smile but with a glint of sadness in her eyes. "It''s the first time in history that a group managed to get so many scores during a hunting exam, so I would like everyone to apuse them for their great score,"
Everyone apuded them and praised them for such a feat. They all shouted their names in praise and the three of them became the idol of a lot of first years students. Though, they all seem to have forgotten about Kye.
Everyone except his friends.
Sylvia and Lidi felt their legs weak and fell to the ground. "No, it can''t be," Sylvia said with watery eyes. Kye was like her little brother since the moment he epted to fight with her in the VR, so she didn''t know how to feel when he didn''t appear alongside his teammates.
"He''s alive, right?" Lidi asked the boys with tears flowing down her cheeks, followed by Sylvia who couldn''t contain them anymore.
Yugo, Ven, and Enzo didn''t say anything and only looked at Suha, Maria, and John with fiery eyes. Their hands turned white so much that they tightened their fists, and even their jawline could be seen because of how angry they were. Even their abilities began to slowly emanate from their bodies.
They all considered Kye like a little brother whom they needed to protect. He was cute, acted like a real little brother, and never stopped smiling at them. He was like their little angel. A cute little angel that always beamed with positiveness, even when someone looked down on him or wanted to bully him. Even protecting those people from them because they will have already met the lord of death multiple times if he didn''t stop them. He also never stopped forgiving them when they did something that Kye didn''t like, making all of them like him and cherish him even more.
Madison saw their reaction and was happy to see that Kye has such friends, to not make things too hard for them, she continued. "As you all know, each group wasposed of 4 students each. Though, there are only three students by my side," She began to make everyone realize that there was indeed something missing. "Our first group had met a balena, a whale-type monster that had incredible defense and a very strong ice attribute. And to make things worse, this monster was a special rank monster. A rank that you students still can''t fight," Everyone gasped hearing that. The ranks of the monsters defined their strength. And there was a total of 7 ranks. From bottom to top, ordinary rank, rare rank, special rank, king rank, lord rank, legendary rank, andst but not least, divine rank. And for first-year students, a special rank monster wasn''t even something fathomable so much they were strong. Even some veterans still had difficulties fighting such monsters.
"But despite such differences in strength and Kye being a level one student, he alone faced the bnce. He even managed to destroy its two eyes before running away with his teammates," Madison paused to make everyone realize how big of a feat Kye managed to do. Everyone knew Madison''s reputation, so even though it was hard to take, they all believed her. "However, this very same balena came back today, and while the four of them were trying to escape, Kye got hurt by one of the balena''s abilities, and his teammates didn''t manage to take him back with them..."
***
https://discord.gg/jGRE9ugeyD
Chapter 58 The Truth
"However, this very same balena came back today, and while the four of them were trying to escape, Kye got hurt by one of the balena abilities, and his teammates didn''t manage to take him back with them," Madison looked at Kye''s friends, only to see them all look nkly at her. The boys were still resisting the urge ofshing out at Kye''s teammates, while the girls couldn''t help but cry. "We already deployed a rescue team to search his whereabouts, but to no avail. I personally went there myself, but I couldn''t find him either.
"So I would like to have one minute of silence for Kye Vermillion who had mostly died after being attacked by this balena," Kye was the only student who had died. The others mostly had injuries and were already treated. And even though he was only a level one, everyone agreed to do as Madison said. If what she said was indeed true, then Kye could be seen as the hero of his group. And for a level one to be the star of his group which was filled with high levels, it was something incredible.
Even high levels students who were listening to Madison''s speech couldn''t help but praise Kye for his courage.
So everyone didn''t say anything for a minute.
During this time, Maria and John rolled their eyes, thinking that all this drama was unnecessary. Who cared about such trash? He didn''t do anything from their point of view. He was only some lucky dude who managed to get on their team.
As for Suha, he didn''t raise his head even for a second. From the moment he came back from Supi, to now, his face always looked toward the ground. Even when they had toe to Madison''s side, Suha didn''t raise his head because of how ashamed he was. It was their job to defend Kye. No, it was his job to defend him. Maria and John wouldn''t have helped him anyway.
He was the strongest in the group, and he was proud of it. And yet, Kye has proven himself to be someone who he deemed stronger than himself. He had so much couragepared to him. Suha didn''t even manage to take him back with them whereas he was sure that he could have done so if he had tried a little harder.
''I''m so sorry Kye. It should have been me in your stead,'' Suha thought as memories of his childhood shed back. He was only ten years old at that time, and he went outside to y with his friends to bully someone. Though, when he came back, his house was on fire with firefighters trying to extinguish it. He wouldn''t forget this day since he had lost his two parents.
And to him, this situation was the same. If only he had been nicer to him at the beginning. If only he didn''t act as coldly as he did when they met. Only because he was at a low level. And he couldn''t help but feel dejected by that. Someone who was a minimum dear to him had been lost again. First his parents, and now Kye. They had just met a few days ago. But Kye was always nice to him, even though it was clear that he harbored coldness toward him at the beginning. He even thought about him as a little brother for one second.
Though, now all was gone.
Kye has died. He wasn''t there anymore. He was gone. And Suha won''t get the chance to apologize for his behavior.
The minute of silence had passed and everyone was then dismissed. They could now rest until next week when school will start again. Rest was necessary after three days in a row in the wild.
Though, while everyone went out of the gymnasium, some students stood. Yugo, Ven, Lidi, Enzo, and Sylvia. They hadn''t moved one beat nor did their reactions change. The girls were still crying while the boys'' hands began to bleed because of how tight their grips were. They still couldn''t process that Kye had died. Never had they thought of such a possibility? Not even in their wildest dreams.
How could he die?
What did he do to die?
Wasn''t he just an innocent cute little brother? What did he do for the world to take him away?
And because of that, their hatred and disbelief went to the only student who stayed there as well
Suha.
Thetter guessed that the group was Kye''s friends. They were the only ones with strong reactions among everyone, and an acquaintance wouldn''t cry for an acquaintance. Though, he was greatly surprised to see such a familiar face.
Once Suha''s parents died, he was taken care of by his mom''s best friend who couldn''t leave him alone. And this friend was someone quite high ce in the world. Not at the same rank as the big families, but not that far away. So he met all those present a few times already during some gs organized for the high society.
So he walked slowly toward them, still with his head down, only to be pressured by an immense pull of gravity. He was then slowed down by Enzo, followed by a space prison by Yugo. The girls also looked at him, only to recognize him as well. The boys were too lost to think properly.
So Sylvia made a giant lotus appear under the point where all abilities werebined, before blooming, thus disabling all abilities at once. Though, it consumed quite a lot of energy to remove three abilities at once.
Suha was grateful for her help because he was at a finger''s length to feel his body being crushed by so many strong abilities. And before the boys could turn toward Sylvia and question her about what she just did, thetter stood up and spoke.
"Suha, exin yourself," She asked with a cold tone, making to the boys clear that she was containing herself just enough to not attack Suha as well. "How can someone like you with such strong defensive ability ain''t able to protect someone? Or was it a willing action on your part? Are you the one who killed Kye?" Tears began to flow down again as flowers bloom all around them, all harboring different colors. Red, blue, brown, and so on. All contained an element ready to be released at any time toward Suha.
"P-please Sylvia, don''t do that," Suha knew this ability very well. It was what made her earn the nickname, ''ruthless maiden''. This ability like many others in her arsenal was specialized to make her enemy not catch their breath, even for a moment. And he didn''t want to be the target of such ability. "I swear I tried to help him. He was always kind to me, even when I was clearly cold to him. We even began to chat with each other. But I couldn''t do anything against the balena," Suha spoke very quickly, having a hard time under such pressure. Five people were ready to make him pay if he said something that displeased him. "As professor Madison said, Kye alone fought the balena during the first day. I mostly helped with sharpening his weapon. And after that, I was so impressed that I wanted to know him better. That''s how I began hanging out with him, even though he looked dissatisfied with my interest in him.
"But the moment I tried to help him, my other teammates stopped me and took me with them to flee. And I couldn''t move because of how shocked I was. K-Kye had a b-big hole in his stomach," He had a very hard time saying hisst words. He still couldn''t believe such a thing could happen to such a pure soul.
Hearing all he said, the boys wanted tosh out at him even more. But thankfully for Suha, there was still one sane person among the group.
Sylvia disabled her ability and stated coldly, "Then-... Then is it the fault of your other teammates?"
Suha felt a shiver down his spine and nodded. "Even though they weren''t the ones who killed him, they clearly made his life hard. Even too much. Usually, high-level people don''t care about low levels, exactly how I was at the beginning with Kye. But both of them seemed to harbor extreme hatred toward him.
"And before the exam could begin, professor Azul meet up with me, Maria, and John and asked us to make Kye''s life hard. I refused and left, but they may be, or even surely plotted something else between them."
***
https://discord.gg/jGRE9ugeyD
Chapter 59 Planning
"And before the exam could begin, professor Azul meet up with me, Maria, and John and asked us to make Kye''s life hard. I refused and left, but they maybe, or even surely plotted something between them."
"Maria, you mean Maria Viso?" Sylvia asked with cold eyes as Suha nodded. "Then this John must be from the Marble family, or should I say the dog of my family?" The Marble family, as Sylvia said, could be considered the dogs of the Viso family. They were charged to do all the dirty works of the Viso family so that thetter could appear clean, unlike the other big families that didn''t have such dog-like families under them.
They too had different families or factions under them, but it was mostly branches exterior to the main family. Though, they were still highly respected because they were under the big families, so they naturally has a lot of influence as well.
"I suspected that the Marble family was under yours, but to hear it from the mouth of someone of the Viso family, it just confirmed my suspicions," Enzo said after calming down. He understood that there was no point in venting his anger on Suha since it was clear that he had treated Kye well after the first day together.
"And? What are you going to do with that information? Tell it to the higher up of the Laborde family in the hope to reach greater height?" Sylvia asked with indifference.
"Hell no!" Enzo immediately replied, feeling offended by what she just said. "I''m just surprised, that''s all. And why would I in the first ce? You know very well that the promises of the higher up of our families are worth nothing."
"True," Sylvia calmed down after hearing his logical answer to Enzo. "Sorry for that. My nerves are a bit tense right now."
"Don''t worry about that, we''re all the same," Enzo dismissed her apology and continued. "Though, I won''t let those two unscathed. I don''t care if this b*tch of Maria is from your family or if the Marble family will try something funny. I will avenge Kye no matter what," He said with conviction and a cold voice.
"Don''t worry, I never liked this b*tch as well," Sylvia answered with such honesty that her hatred toward Maria was visible in her tone. "Always looking down on people because she''s from the main branch of the family," She then turned toward Suha and asked, "Did she try to do something funny to Kye?"
Suha nodded immediately after recalling the first day of the exam. "Yes, she would have killed Kye if I didn''t intervene and protected him with a barrier the first day," However, Suha didn''t stop here. "John as well. He had hitten Kye multiple times during the three days because he was displeased with something. And he always did it behind my back, so I never managed to intervene in time."
"Those two!!!" This time, it wasn''t Sylvia and Enzo who spoke, but Yugo and Ven. The ground under Ven had a lot of fissures while the one under Yugo seemed to have disappeared because of how much energy was nowing out of their bodies. "I swear I will kill them," Yugo added.
"No you won''t be able to," This time it was Lidi who spoke. She had finally recovered a little. Though, she could break down at any moment again. "As long as we''re in the military''s base, you won''t be able to do a thing..."
"Are you siding with them now?" Ven asked with such piercing eyes that if they could really pierce, they would have already killed Lidi.
"Of course not, I''m just talking logically," Lidi said. "The problem is that we won''t be able to go on another before long, so we''ll have to do our thing here, and if I can suggest something, I will like to..."
Sylvia stopped her before she could say something else. "Enzo, you have a VIP room or whatever it''s called, right?" Enzo nodded, immediately understanding what she meant by that.
"Let''s continue this conversation in my room, shall we?" They all understood that it wasn''t a matter to be talked about here in the gymnasium where there were cameras everywhere. A student with an invisible ability could listen secretly as well, so they needed to go somewhere else. And what''s more perfect than a room without any cameras in them like the one Enzo was staying in?
So they all walked away in such a cold mood that if their mood could freeze the floor, then they would have already done ice-skating through the floor.
"Hmm guys," Suha said shyly while seeing them going away. "Can Ie with you? I know I only met Kye for three days, but I feel like it''s my fault if he died. And I would like to help you to at least pay the debt I feel inside of me."
Kye''s friends all looked at each other before nodding. Suha seemed to be someone trustful and from what he told them, Kye seemed to have gotten along with him pretty well. And if Kye had made a new friend, then who were they to reject him? They all became friends thanks to him, and they were d because they all get along well. So if Kye wasn''t here in the first ce, they would have all stayed away from each other.
Yugo, Ven, Enzo, and Sylvia wouldn''t have even batted an eye at each other. They all knew each other but didn''t harbor any good feelings either. On the contrary, they wouldn''t have hesitated to take any opportunity that would have made their respective families weaker.
However now, things weren''t like before. They all get the chance to know each other. And even though they began to be friends because of Kye, now even if he wasn''t here anymore, they would still stay friends.
And all that because of Kye.
***
In a dark cave deep underwater where the light was only something dreamable, a strange creature was looking at a young teenager''s naked body. He was quite well built even though it was clear that he was still growing. He had smooth hair and from what the creature had seen when he examined his body, he had beautiful blue eyes with sometimes golden hues shing here and there. Though, the most prominent feature of this little teenager was his little white-feathers wings on his back.
And since it was clear that he was still human despite his wings, the creature had made arge bubble where the young teen was sleeping soundlessly which allowed him to breathe, even without his equipment which was on the creature''sp.
This creature looked like a human, and to be more precise, a beautiful woman. She had long blue hair that went even under her back with some purple strands of hair, as well eyes as deep as the ocean. She had gentle curves which were magnified by her hourss blue dress. Though, instead of normal beige skin, her skin was a little blueish.
She was sitting on her knees on the ground of the cave while sewing this little teen equipment with an even stronger material than what it was crafted that she kept in her pocket dimension. She had a small smile on her face, and even though her body would make any man passing by drool in front of her, she had a gentle smile and a motherly look seeing this little handsome boy.
Though, it was clear that her eyes also contained some hint of curiosity. Unfortunately for her, she had to wait for the boy to wake up. Her bubble had healing andforting properties, so after removing the boy''s ice which was sealing his natural healing, she put it in the bubble and watched him sleep without any care in the world.
Chapter 60 Internal Problems
Back in the boys'' dormitory, Yugo, Ven, Lidi, Enzo, Sylvia, and Suha were all in Enzo''s personal room. It was quite well organized for a boy. A big bed, a little living room at its side with two three-people couches and a table between them, and a gaming set in another corner of the room.
"Please feel as if you''re at home," Enzo said as he gave everyone beverages so that their talk could go more smoothly. They were still mourning Kye''s death, but nheless, they needed to avenge him if they wanted to move on.
However, even though they were slowly epting the fact that Kye had died, deep inside them, they all believed that he didn''t die. Kye was too special to die, and they all knew that. Though, in front of reality, they hadplicated feelings.
But for now, they all had to focus on one single matter: How to avenge Kye.
Sylvia spoke first since she was still the most cold-headed person in the group right now. Yugo and Ven clearly weren''t able to think properly and were more leaned on the side of beating them up until they die, even if they have to destroy all of the academies for that. Enzo, even though looked calm wasn''t in the best mood either. And Sylvia knew as well that Enzo''s mood swings were quite destructive. It could be qualified as a miracle that he hadn''t done anything thest week. All thanks to Kye, but now that he wasn''t here, he wasn''t so different than Yugo and Ven regarding the avenging matter. Maybe even worse. As for Lidi, she needed emotional support, or else she would break down in tears again. Andst but not least, even though Sylvia was the most cold-headed person right now, she too wasn''t far from bursting.
"Let me get this straight," She said, gathering everyone''s attention in the process. "Right now we all have difficulties thinking normally, thus clouding our judgment. However, as Lidi said earlier, we''re in the military''s base, so even though we all want to kill both of them, we can''t," Sylvia looked at Suha to see his reaction since she didn''t know whether he too wanted to kill them or not, and the only answer she got was Suha looking down. He hadn''t met Kye for as long as them. So he didn''t know what to do or how to feel. "And even though our families are all great, we can''t do anything as long as we''re under the military''s supervision or tension will rise until the point of no return.
"So what I suggest is to do our things while respecting the rules they had set," She paused for a moment for everyone to process what she said. "The military has never stopped any fight, and they won''t, even today. So we have to find something rted to that. Lidi you wanted to say something earlier, so can you say it now?"
Lidi nodded before saying, "I don''t have any ns or anything, but if we can''t kill them, then we might as well torture them."
"How can we do that through a spar though?" Sylvia asked, finding the problem immediately. It was hard staying under the rules when they wanted to do such immoral things
Everyone fell silent, not finding any solutions. As Sylvia had said earlier, their thinking process was too disturbed by the sudden news of Kye''s death to think properly and find a proper solution. Though, one of them still managed to think amidst all of his emotions.
Enzo was used to having such a deplorable mood, so he didn''t have a hard time thinking. At least not as much as the others. "There''s no camera in this room, so how about we bring them here?" He said as everyone eyes lit up. "We can do anything we want to them. We just have to be careful not to cut their arm where their watch is, nor kill them or the military will know that something''s wrong."
"What a great idea Enzo," Sylvia and Lidi praised him honestly while the boys smiled in the excitement of what they could do to avenge Kye.
"I will like to suggest that we would surely need a healer so that we can do more things, what do you guys think?" Yugo asked as the other turned toward Sylvia.
p "I guess it''s bad for a good. I won''t be able to make them pay with my ability, but guess my hands will do just fine."
Everyone chatted excitingly as they just needed to lure both Maira and John here, when suddenly a voice stopped them while gathering all the attention toward him, feeling suddenly an immense pressure upon him. "Guys, I don''t know how Kye was with you, but with me, he was always forgiving. No matter what I did or hurting I could have been, he always forgave me. And even though he had difficulties standing Maria''s and John''s bullying, he never swears to take revenge on them," He stopped for a second having difficulty breathing. It was clear what he meant by that, and the group knew it as well, yet they weren''t in the mood to listen to that.
"What do you suggest then?" Ven asked as the pressure upon Suha increased because of his gravity. "Should we just continue our lives like it was before without doing anything for Kye when it''s clear that they died because of them?"
"No, it wasn''t what I me-..."
"What did you mean then?" Yugo and Enzo added pressure on him.
"I- I just," Suha couldn''t even focus to use his ability on him to protect himself because of how suffocated he felt. "I just don''t think that he w-w-would have a-epted su-ch thin-gs," He managed to say while his head began to turn white. He couldn''t even breathe anymore.
"Guys stop it! He can''t breathe anymore," Sylvia immediately said but none of the three boys stopped, making Sylvia curse at her own stupidity. The boys were too hot-headed to think properly, so she immediately used her lotus from earlier to dissipate everything. "I''m really going to faint because of you one day," She said while catching her breath. Suha as well was recovering his breath, and he was happy that Sylvia was kind enough to save him two times today. "Suha, I get what you mean. Kye will surely never want us to do such things. He was too kind-hearted for that, and we all knew it well. But as the boys said, we can''t just sit idle without doing anything. Kye was like a little brother for all of us, so we can''t just let them live without doing anything."
"But is it necessary to go as far as torturing them?" Suha asked even though he was scared of feeling such pressure from the guys again. "If you guys want a healer, then it surely means that you''re ready to cut limbs or other body parts. But would Kye want something like this? Especiallying from his group of trusted friends?"
Everyone felt silent hearing him and began to ponder his words. What he said was definitely true. Kye would never want them to do such things. He never took revenge on anyone who tried to bully him, nor did he harbor any malovent feelings. The only thing he did was to kill a guy at the beginning, but only Yugo and Ven knew about it. But they didn''t know his reasons nor did he ever tell them.
So after thinking about it over and over again, they all looked at each other.
"What do we do then?" Lidi asked, breaking the silence.
"Well, I might have an idea that even during normal circumstances, Kye would just shrug the matter off since he wouldn''t have been able to change the oue anyway," Enzo said a little smile on his face.
***
While they were still discussing, the beautiful woman with blue hair that was sewing Kye''s swimming suit recalled the earlier events.
Chapter 61 A Strange Creature
While Kye''s friends were still discussing, the beautiful woman with blue hair that was sewing Kye''s swimming suit recalled the earlier events.
She was having a meeting with other beings like her through a hologram shape while she sensed someone entering her territory. It surprised her at first because it was very very, very deep underwater and until now, no one had ever entered it.
Since her meeting came to an end, and curious about what being coulde here, she took her real form and immediately swam toward the presence she felt.
Her territory was so big that it was covering all the very deep ocean of the she was residing in, Supi. And whenever a being came into her territory, she would feel it as long as they stay in.
Her real form was so immense that no one could see the end of her body. Her form looked like a mix of an immense Chinese dragon, snake, and crocodile. However, instead of having a body that looked like it came directly out of a nightmare, it looked very charming. She moved with such grace that even her long body seemed beautiful, while her dragon-like head looked feminine, and even though it indeed looked cruel and scary as hell, it was still pretty considering that she still had the same motherly look on her face that she has on her human form.
And since she knew that the being that came into her territory wasn''t anywhere near her strength, she just swam without care toward him. Since she was an aquatic creature, she moved so fast that only a few seconds were needed toe to where she felt the presence, even though hundreds of kilometers were separating her from this ce.
And one couldn''t describe her surprised face when she saw the being in front of her. It was a little boy, at leastpared to her, who she was sure was only eighteen years of age by human standard. He had light brown hair and turquoise eyes. His face was handsome, very handsome, and his body, even though was still growing had a bright future ahead, especially what was under there.
However, it wasn''t his physical appearance that surprised her. No, why would she be surprised by that? She had met so much being until now that it wasn''t so little that would surprise her. While it was true that he was handsome and his body was... good to say the least, she had met much more beings that were as attractive as an incubus.
What truly surprised her was the energy she felt inside this little human''s body, as well as the little things that looks like wings that were clearly visible on his back, at least to her.
''I never thought of seeing an angel again in my entire life,'' She thought, and after some more examinations, she corrected herself. "No, he''s notpletely an angel. His holy energy is flowing uncountably inside his body, making it clear that he can''t control it. And as far as I know, every angel can control it. And because of the abnormal flow, his holy energy is also flowing outside his body, making those around him who have even a little sympathy toward him act friendlier toward him until taking aplete liking to him, be it in a friendly way or loving way. He also doesn''t have enough holy energy, nor does his wings are big enough to consider himself a superior being. Not to add that no one make their wings take this state. They all keep them in their tattoo form when they aren''t in heaven or fighting.''
''How strange, indeed. Does that mean he''s notpletely an angel?'' The woman thought so quickly that not even a second had passed in the outside world. ''But I don''t feel any demonic energy inside him either. Then a human? But there''s no record of any human having ever changed into an angel, not even saint or whatever humans call them who are supposed to be closer to god than other humans. He doesn''t look like a monster either nor does he have a hint of our energy or blood.''
''What is he then?'' After thinking that, she finally snapped back and immediately saved the little boy. She was so surprised to see such a being that she hadn''t even seen the hole filled with ice in his body that was stopping his natural healing. ''He even has the healing of the superior races. Really, how strange,'' She immediately made her bubble to not let the boy heal by himself. He was in a seriously critical state, and self-healing would only make things worse. So by making her bubble, he would be able to heal without any risk thanks to the healing andforting properties of the bubble.
If this boy, who was none other than Kye could have heard all her thought, his brain would have surely short-circuited because of all the information that was still impossible to think for him. He would have never thought that such superior beings as she called them could exist.
There weren''t in a novel for God''s sake!
Since Kye''s condition was now better, he could finally rest without any care in the world. The creature returned to her human form to put Kye''s clothes away so that he could rest morefortably, while also carrying him with her through her bubble to where she lived.
Not even after having crossed her first hundred kilometers, someone, or rather another creature came to her. She kneeled in front of her before saying, "My queen, I''m terribly sorry for my mistake. I let such a despicable human enter your territory. Please, this lowly servant has to be punished."
He said with such a serious tone that his voice didn''t even waver, even when talking about his punishment.
"You don''t have to worry about that. I had taken a liking to this little boy anyway, so it''s good that you didn''t do anything. Not that he would have survived without my intervention," She shrugged the matter off and continued moving hundred of kilometers after hundred of kilometers after every or so seconds.
The guard of her territory looked at her back with great surprise. Never did he expect, not even in his wildest dream that someone could interest her. She was so great and lived for so many years that he never expected that.
***
While the queen of the ocean still waited for Kye to wake up, his group of friends finally agreed on Enzo''s idea. It wasn''t as barbaric as their earlier n, but it wasn''t as satisfactory as their earlier n either.
But for Kye''s memories sake, they all agreed on that.
The n was simple yet difficult to put into action. They all had an influential backgrounds. Four of them came from influential families, while one of them has a military background. And with every their background, it was easy but very easy to make someone''s life difficult without anyone knowing. Even if those people came from big families or were their closer branch, it wouldn''t matter when all the other forces of the human side were pressuring them. Though, it would take time since it wasn''t something easy for them either. They weren''t anyone high, and even though Sylvia was in the same family as Maria and was higher in rank than her, it was still hard, even for her.
However, they were sure that they would still manage to do what they wanted to do. Sure it wasn''t satisfying since they couldn''t make them pay on their own, but it was still enough to make them wish that they would rather than live.
Being disowned by their respective family was worse than death, at least for people like Maria and John.
? ***
https://discord.gg/jGRE9ugeyD
Chapter 62 His Savior
Weeks had passed without having been able to do anything. The group had begun to ept Kye''s death, even though it still hurt them all a lot. They didn''t receive any news, even after Madison had confirmed that a research team had been sent to Supi and had searched every corner of the sea they managed to explore.
So even though they couldn''t ept it, they had to face reality. They all knew that Kye was strong, very strong for a level 1. It was strange, but they all epted this fact and move on. But even with this strange strength, Kye couldn''t possibly survive in the ocean for weeks. Monsters'' meat wasestible, but in the sea without any fire that could be lit, it was impossible to eat. Not to add that there wasn''t any calm water that he could drink.
And even if he could, surviving alone among so many monsters looked impossible for all of them, even though they were all high level. Having to face that many monsters alone with the fear of being eaten alive the moment he let his guard down wasn''t even fathomable for them. And so they epted his death.
It wasn''t because they wanted to, but because they had to face reality. Obviously, they still didn''t ept it, but it was just a deep feeling in their heart now. His death has surpassed this feeling now.
The n they had agreed upon didn''te into friction either. They couldn''t do anything yet because they couldn''t contact their respective family. Only Lidi and Sylvia could do something, but even their effort wasn''t enough. And because of that, the group, and especially the boys were all angry. Enzo''s mood change never stopped since Kye''s death, making those around him feel horrible. He only managed to contain it when he was with everyone since they were his friends. His real friends. As for Yugo and Ven, the hole they felt in their heart grew bigger and bigger every day. The bed between them where Kye slept every night was now empty, making them feel extremely sad. They even sometimes cried because of how useless they felt.
And because of that, they had multiple fights with the girls who still wanted to honor Kye by doing things without shedding a drop of blood, whereas the boys just wanted to make them suffer so much that the hairs of Maria and John would turn white after their torture session.
Though, even between conflicts, they still managed to stay friends.
As for Suha, he didn''t know where his ce was. On the one hand, they all had amon goal, so he wanted to stay with Kye''s friends, but on the other hand, he felt as if he didn''t belong to this group. He didn''t know them much, and even though they all acted kindly to him now that they were sure that he didn''t mean any harm to Kye, they were still distant from him.
And so the days went like this until something, or rather someone appeared from a teleporter that not only the students but also the professors were shocked to see again.
''Wasn''t he dead?'' They all thought when they saw this person. He had changed so much that he was almost unrecognizable.
***
Weeks ago after the woman had recalled the event that led her to save Kye.
She was still sewing Kye''s suit when the former suddenly heard sleepy moansing from inside the bubble. ''It seems our little guest is finally waking up.''
As she said, Kye was slowly waking up. He had slept for more than an entire day, so he made the queen waiting for quite a long time. Though, she wasn''t displeased. This little boy was interesting to examine, both internally and externally, so she didn''t mind looking over him while sewing his equipment. And even though she was sitting on hard ground, it didn''t bother her since she was pretty used to it.
So after some more moans, Kye slowly opened his eyes, only to see that he was in a cave, and to make matter worse, inside what looked like a giant sphere of water.
He began to move crazily as he thought he couldn''t breathe. He didn''t feel his suit being on him since there wasn''t anything pressing any of his body parts, so he thought he was about to drown. However, he quickly understood that his assumption was false, so he calmed down. Only to jump back when his eyesnded on the beauty in front of him.
The shock was so great that he even came out from the sphere and fell butt first on the ground.
"It seems you finally noticed me," Her voice was gentle, yet the way her lips moved seductively made Kye gulp.
"W-who are you?" Kye stood up immediately and transformed his ring into the sword heavens gave him. He was ready to fight if necessary.
"*Chuckle* How cute of you. You want to attack the one who saved you from death with both your sword and little brother? Please chose only one of them," She chuckled softly at such a sight. Kye was like an ant in front of her, and yet his little brother was pretty impressive already. Though, she was pretty surprised to see such a familiar sword.
And hearing that, Kye looked down, only to see what was between his crotchpletely hard. "Wh-what happened?" He blushed and transformed his real sword back into its ring form before hiding the sword in his body. Though, his hands weren''t enough to hide itpletely, so he had to bend down on his knees to hide it. "Since when did it be so big?" Kye mumbled under his breath, head between his knees while hiding it.
"Hahaha, you''re really cute," The woman chuckled more heartedly than earlier, finding all this situation funny. Never did she expect someone with a big sword down there to act as cutely as him. "I''m sorry it''s my fault. It seems that my human form had turned you on," She smiled before standing up.
"H-human form?" He looked up with a red face, only to see the woman''s bosom right in front of his line of sight, making him blush once again, but more hardly than earlier. The woman''s body was seriously no joke.
"Yes, human form," She stops teasing him before manipting the water around to change the interior of the cave. She had perfect control over it, so she didn''t have any difficulties doing such a thing.
And Kye seeing that waspletely shocked. He never heard of anyone being able to do that. And his earlier flushed face now became full of curiosity. "That''s amazing!" The cave transformed into what looked like a house for a little family. There were all necessities. Living room, bedrooms, kitchen, and so on.
"You should first wash up," The woman said kindly, snapping Kye out of his daze. The interior of the house didn''t contain any water since it was used to make the house in the first ce. "You stayed into salty water for too long, and it''s not good for a growing body like yours," She then made appear a body towel and a hair towel, as well as clothes that strangely enough looked like they would fit Kye perfectly.
However, before epting all this, Kye stood up and said with a serious tone. His body had calmed down, and he was sure that he could control it to not act up in front of this beauty again. "Why are you helping me? I don''t think it''s out of the goodness of your heart, right?"
The woman smiled. "How clever. Yes indeed, I have some questions for you that I would like you to answer. I also took a liking to you," Kye immediately hide his body hearing that. "Haha, don''t worry. I''ve seen a lot more beautiful beings than you. Though, no one was as interesting as you," She then pped her fingers, and Kye got teleported into the bathroom. "Now take your shower and we can then talk freely," Her voice resounded into his head before disappearing, leaving him thinking alone while hot water was raining down on him.
Chapter 63 The Truth Behind The Scene
While showering, Kye couldn''t help but recall the woman''s words. ''What did she mean by other beings? She''s clearly not human based on her skin color, or maybe it''s just her heart beating less faster? And if she''s not, does that mean that she''s a monster? If that''s the case, I won''t be able to do anything against her. Intelligent monsters are those who invaded Earth, so how can I escape such a powerful being?'' His thought began to go from rational to paranoid thought. He could indeed do nothing against her, but thinking about that when she had clearly saved his life was a little absurd. ''Though, why did she take a liking to me? I don''t have anything special. Or maybe she knows a little about angels? Maybe I can get answers from her as well? Won''t I be able to know what I am?'' Now, Kye felt excited because the answers he sought were probably just in front of him.
As he washed every part of his body, he couldn''t help but look down at his little sword. He gulped down hardly thinking that it wasn''t possible that his thing which was so little became so big. And while he thought about that, the woman''s body came into his mind for a fraction of a second, jolting his mind, and his thing in the process. ''Guess I will have to take care of that," Kye sighed deeply as his hands washed rapidly his body.
About thirty minutester, after feeling refreshed, having dried his hair and put clean clothes on him, Kye came out with a refreshed face and a smile.
He then saw the woman and blushed slightly before sitting opposite to her with only a table separating them. There was tea, as well as snacks on it, making Kye feel reassured that this monster didn''t seem to want to kill him. She would have already done so if she wanted to anyway. Or even do nothing and let him die with the ice inside his body.
So Kye took his ss and began to drink it. It was delicious.
"Did you take good care of yourself?" She smiled.
"*Pshhhhht*" Kye spat all the tea he had in his mouth at the woman. Though, thankfully for her, her mastery over water saved her from the hot tea. Not that it would have affected her much anyway. "W-what do you mean?" He blushed from his ears.
"You''re still in my territory, so I know very well what you did," Kye coughed a few times hearing that before quickly trying to change the topic.
"A-anyway, can I know your name? And what you are exactly? Based on your skin color, I don''t think you''re human, are you? Are you a ¡ monster then?"
"Hehe, what do you think?" She looked at him with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
"I do think that you are an intelligent monster. Those who attack Earth and killed my parents," Kye''s hand tighten on his cup of tea. "But if you are, then why did you save me? It doesn''t make sense since I''m still human, so you would have killed me. So I really don''t understand."
"Hmm, how interesting. You''re not as dumb as those angels or as cunning as those demon, really interesting."
"What? Angels and demon?"
"Hehe, I will tell you everything, don''t worry," She smiled at him before continuing. "Have you ever heard of the legendeary creature know as Leviathan?" Kye nodded his head. It was a mythical creature with a serpentine body which lived underwater. He had read about it once in a book, and it was the only details he remembered about such creature. "Well, I''m the daughter of the first Leviathan. So you can either call me Leviathan, or by my real name, Aria. Both are good to me."
Kye''s brain already stopped working just by her first answer. A leviathan? The mythical creature that he only knew as legend or mythology? Such a creature that was so strong that it could waver the destiny of Earth?
"D-do you mean that I''m in front of a mythical creature now?" Kye looked at her directly in her eyes. Fear was clearly visible in his eyes, yet Aria praised him for his courage of looking at her in the eyes even after knowing her identity.
"Yes, that''s right. For obvious reason, I won''t show you my real form since it will be too much for this little house, or even for you to take," Kye nodded slowly, with shaking hands. "Don''t be scared. I really mean no harm. On the contrary, you''re here as my guest, and as long as you''re in my territory, no intelligent monster will touch a hair of yours."
"T-thank you," He looked at her directly to say that since even though it was still scary to know such a being existed, he still felt gratitude toward her. "Though, can I ask you a question?" Aria nodded. "If someone likeyou exist, does that mean that other legendary creature such as phoenixes, dragons, or even griffons exist as well?"
"Yes, they all exist and all have their different characteristics," Kye gulped down to swallow the hard reality he was living in. He was happy to be able to kill some monsters, but it seems that it was just baby steps in front of such powerful monsters. "And to continue, those who attacked your home were our parents. All the mythical creatures that you know and can possibly think of exist, and they all have offsprings.
"What do you mean by your parents attacked Earth?"
"Do you know about angels and demons?" Aria asked to be able to continue, not expecting Kye''s answer.
"I know that I''m an angel, but what about them?"
"You seriously don''t know?" Aria looked dumbfoundedly at him who shook his head.
"I''m even more curious about who you are now," She sighed before exining. "You''re not the only angel out there. There are a lot of angels, and demons as well, both living in their respective realms, so Heavens and Hell respectively. And they are both very powerful races, so powerful that they look down on us, intelligent monsters which is also a race on its own. And while we, offsprings of mythical creatures don''t care about that, our parents are too old to think like us. So they waged war on the humans to show their superiority over the angels and demons, only to be repelled by them.
"So even though it''s indeed our race who attacked you, please don''t make us all viins. We told our parents that all of that was in vain, yet parents are parents. They don''t care about the youngster''s opinion and only think theirs is the truth."
Hearing the real story of the war between humans and monsters, Kye couldn''t help but stare nkly at Aria. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times, not finding any words. While it was already hard to take that there were superior beings such as angels and demons out there who were hiding, it was harder to think that not every monster was bad.
Monsters were scary, and no humans could say otherwise. Strong and terrifying being that killed so many people that it was hard to count everything. Yet, Aria had proved to him that they weren''t all like that. The proof was that he was still alive and chatting with her right now.
So after several minutes of silence, Kye finally opened his mouth again, amidst some difficulties. "So there''s a part of the monsters who are kind while the other isn''t. And two races that were unknown to a human actually exist?"
"Yes, you can put it that way. While you can consider the monster society like the human society with good monsters and bad monsters, angels and demons'' only interest is each other. Both of them had waved multiple wars to each other without care of either of our two races. And even though some of us are as strong as the most high-ranked angels or demons, those two races are too prideful to understand. And while our youngsters don''t care about who is strong or not and only want to enjoy life, our parents aren''t the same and want to prove to everyone their worth, and so they began by invading Earth, only to be stopped because of humans numbers and surprise abilities."
"I-I see," Kye went deep in thought again. If he were to say all of that to the military and big families, they will surely take him as an idiot or think he was associated with the demonic group. "Then does that mean that the demonic group is in reality demons?"
"Yes, that''s right. Though, they too were surprised by humans'' power, so they have difficulties creating mayhem among their ranks."
***
https://discord.gg/jGRE9ugeyD
Chapter 64 Earths State Before And After The War
"Yes, that''s right. Though, they too were surprised by humans'' power, so they have difficulties creating mayhem among their ranks," Aria paused a moment so that Kye could continue listening to her. "And angels are also present among humans."
[Quest: The demonic group
You get closer to the truth due to the information you gain.]
Kye looked nkly in the middle of the air, making Aria curious about what he was thinking. If Kye had, to be honest, he hadpletely forgotten about this mission he had received during the first few days of military school. The rewards were hidden, and it wasn''t as if he couldplete it since even for the military and the big families, the demonic group was still a mystery. So how could he, a student and a low-level one at that could manage to find their goal? It was impossible for Kye, so he had just forgotten about it since there wasn''t any point in pondering about this mission.
So he was taken aback by this sudden message when he saw it. But as to not rm Aria, he quickly continued. "How? Don''t their wings are a dead giveaway that they aren''t humans?"
"Haha, of course not. They couldn''t be called strong if they couldn''t hide their powers as well. And to be honest, it still shocks me that you don''t know about that."
"What do you mean?"
"Even though you have holy energy and wings that are as small as a newborn, it''s clear that you weren''t born as an angel. Your parents would have taught you everything if it was the case. And if they were angels, they wouldn''t have fought the intelligent monsters since they would have already known how strong they were."
"H-how did you know?" Kye didn''t see any point in lying since it was as clear as crystal that Aria already knew that he was an angel.
"Well, I can see the energy in your body being unstable and escaping from your body as if you can''t control it, which with you probably already faced some consequences."
"You mean my friends acting strangely?" Aria nodded. "Tch, I knew that it have something to do with my energy," Kye''s eyes then looked at Aria''s. "Can you teach me how to control it? And how to hide my wings as well?"
"Hmm, should I?" Even though Aria wasn''t an angel, she was old enough to have frequented all types of people, angels and demons included. So she knew a thing or two regarding that. "How about you answer some questions of mine first?" She asked kindly to not force Kye.
"Sure. You answered so many of my questions and even told me the truth behind the invasion of monsters on Earth. And to be honest, if I see things objectively and ain''t clouded by my hatred toward them, I would say that it was a good thing that they invaded Earth."
"Oh? Howe?" Aria pushed her questions toter since what Kye told her picked her interest.
"Well, before the monsters had invaded Earth, at least from what is written in history books, Humans were about to begin a new war between each other. The old big countries such as USA or Russia were having conflicts, and it was just a matter of time before they destroyed the or all living beings on it. They had developed so many deadly weapons that only one button was enough to destroy a country," Kye exined. "And it was at this time that monsters came. And right in times. They destroyed a big portion of Earth, thus makingpletely new countries with new borders, as well as diminishing the human poption by a lot. But at least, all countries allied, and under the powers of their abilities moved together for one and same goal. Though, now a new problem arises."
"Dividing the countries again?"
"No. Earth, even though is the home of everyone is actually mostly under military supervision. The big families that had protected Earth greatlye there only for events and such. They are all on news now. So the power of the different old countries got assembled into the military, while the big families expanded their influences on others while keeping a fraction of their influence on Earth because no matter what, it''s their home."
Aria smiled hearing Kye. He was human, at least from her assumptions, but he acted more wisely than a lot of them. And he was still quite young, meaning that he has a bright future ahead of him. "I see your point, and I can''t help but agree. Destroying a by consuming its resources it''s something extremely hard and time-consuming, meaning that what you did was very dangerous. So maybe it was a good thing for monsters to attack Earth."
"Yeah, but nheless, new problems arise," Kye pointed out. "Now, the society is ruled by the strong while the weak are seen as trash and better dead than alive. And unfortunately, I was one of them before I became an angel."
,m "Well, I can''t say much since the monster society had already been like that, except for the fact that we always protected our kind, no matter their strength," Aria said making Kye smile apologetically, almost making him want to have grown up in such society, so with monsters. "But anyway, care to exin how you be an angel? Please understand my surprise. I''m millennia old, yet I never saw any human or even monsters ascend to angelhood or demonhood. You''re the first.
"Really?" Kye asked with his eyes wide open and Aria nodded. "Well, when my parents died when I was still a child, they left behind a ne for me to inherit. I didn''t think of anything since there was no use for it. But the day before I went into the military, I was tired of my life, so I prayed to God to have a better life. And the next day, I slowly began to change. It was nothing serious at the beginning. Just being more handsome, with smoother skin and hair and more shining eyes. But as time passes, what seems like Heaven asked me to kill someone who had disrespected them. And after killing him while almost dying in the process if not for my friend, I became what is known as a Half-Angel."
"You''re what?" Aria asked with surprise in her eyes. Even though Kye''s story was surprising, she didn''t see any point for him to lie to her now that the tension had lessened, so she believed him. But when he heard Half angel, she was just too shocked since there were no such ranks among angels.
"A half-Angel?"
"I mean, I understand that, but how?"
"I''m not sure either, to be honest. But from my theory, it''s probably because I was a human and needed time to adapt and be a real angel. So I guess it''s just a question of time before I be a full angel?"
"I guess it''s a possibility," Aria thought for a moment about his words before continuing. "You mentioned heavens earlier, what did you mean by that?"
Since Kye, even though trusted Aria didn''t want to talk about his system, he made another lie close to the truth. After all, the closer a lie was close to the truth, the more believable it was. "Ites in the form of dreams, or hallucination? Like, it''s either when I sleep or wide awake. It''s like I know and had to do what it asks me. And of course, if I manage to seed, then the heavens rewarded me, and if I don''t, then a penalty. For example, I received the death penalty once, and it was horrible to think that I could die at any moment."
Chapter 65 Lightbringer
"And of course, if I manage to seed, then heavens rewarded me, and if I don''t, then a penalty. For example, I received the death penalty once, and it was horrible to think that I could die if I didn''t seed."
Aria squinted her eyes a little. She knew that angels could enter people''s dreams, but she was also sure that Kye was an anomaly and that Heavens didn''t even know he existed. ''Is he hiding something from me? What he said looks like the truth though. But yet again, it''s not like we met for too long for him to trust mepletely. So I guess he''s hiding some part. I''m sure he''s still seeing me as a monster anyway. "Then does that mean you received your sword as a reward?" It was one of the questions she wanted to know the most. She knew this sword well since it was a fallen angel that resided in hell who was the possessor of this sword. Yet this little boy possessed it now.
"You mean that?" He summoned his sword and put it on the table as Aria nodded. "Yes, that''s right. Though I don''t know anything about it."
"Do you mind if I inspect it?"
"Not at all, go ahead," Aria took the sword in her hand and made a small wound on her finger with it. "Are you insane?!" Kye stood up and was about to take back the sword so that Aria couldn''t harm her anymore, but thetter just dodged him and reassured him.
"Don''t worry, it''s just to verify a little theory of mine," Aria said as Kye had difficulties believing her. And as if she knew his thought, she said, "Don''t worry, I''m not a masochist, hehe," She then focused back on the sword while Kye was left blushing a little and then sat back.
If Aria had cut herself with the sword was to see if her blood resonated with the sword. After all, her blood had special properties that allowed her to see what couldn''t be seen if it came into contact.
So after closing her eyes to focus, she appeared in what looked like a ck space where only the sword was visible in front of her. It was the only thing that made light around. Though, it was wrapped in chains. So much that she couldn''t even see the appearance of the sword. ''It seems that the sword''s power is sealed. Hmm, then it''s probably because the sword in its full state is too strong for Kye. Well, Lightbringer isn''t the calmest of the sword, so I guess that''s normal.''
She then opened her eyes and couldn''t help but think. ''It''s strange though. Thest time I saw him was twenty years ago, and he still had Lightbringer with him. And since then, no war between heavens and hell had broke, so Heavens couldn''t possibly receive his sword. And the seal, even though is mostly done with holy energy also has a tint of demonic energy. Well, I can only guess for now, so I will have to wait for Kye to tell me himself once he will know about it.''
"Did you find something?" Kye asked, eyes full of curiosity.
"Nothing that would weigh much for you right now, so don''t let me cloud your mind," She smiled and handed back his sword. Kye wanted to press the matter to know what she saw, but it was clear that she wouldn''t say more, so he just change his sword to his ring form. "Anyway, thanks for answering my questions," She smiled and then saw Kye hesitating. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, I don''t want to sound rude, but do you mind if I stay with you for the time being?" He looked down, not daring to meet her eyes.
"What do you mean."
"I guess it has only been a day or two since I was almost killed, and if the military still didn''t find me, then they will probably think I''m dead. And even though I''m sad for my friends that will think that I''m dead, I can''t find a better opportunity to get stronger. I''m in the monster territory, and I''m sure I can be a real angel if I kill some monsters."
Aria''s eyes looked angry as she asked Kye. "You want to kill those in my territory? Does my kindness has blinded you?"
Kye felt immense pressure upon him, yet he didn''t back down. "N-no. I mean yes. I''m sorry for that, but it''s the best opportunity for me to get stronger," The pressure upon him increased tenfold, making him almost breathless. This beautiful woman looked so terrifying right now that Kye almost forgot about her being a kind being.
Almost.
"HAHA," Aria chuckled as she retreated the pressure she put upon Kye. "Don''t worry, I was just messing with you. To be honest, I don''t mind if you kill. It''s thew of the fittest, so if you''re stronger, then you will survive. However, I will advise you against fighting those here."
"What do you mean?"
"My territory is deep into the sea of this where no one has ess. Only intelligent aquatic monsters cane here. The mindless one stays above. And obviously, they are far more fit for your level than those here who are all intelligent monsters. And I really don''t care about the mindless one. Though the intelligent, it''s another problem. But you won''t kill them if I ask you to, right?"
"Yes, of course. If they are under your protection, and you who had been so kind to me until now, why would I attack them?"
"Good. Really I like you even more now," Kye blushed slightly.
"But how did Ie here if only intelligent aquatic monsters can? And is this the reason why the military didn''t find me?"
"Yes, it''s because of that. As for how you came here, I guess it''s because you like the water so much," Kye looked at her strangely, not seeing the point with what he liked and that. "You are clearly not a monster, and even less an aquatic being. Yet you managed toe here without anyone''s invitation. So that only means that you like the water so much that you managed to bypass the barrier hiding this ce from humans and mindless beings."
"Is it even possible?"
"Yes, although it never happened in my territory, it happened to another one, so that''s possible."
"I see, that''s quite interesting then. Never did I think that it could save my life," Kye said before remembering something. He immediately pulled it out of his system and put it on the table?"
"What is it? It has holy energy, but how did you get that in the first ce?"
"From what I know, it''s a holy random box, and I received it after my friends prayed for my well-being three or four days ago."
"Oh?" It picked Aria''s interest. "It''s the first time I saw such a thing. Does that mean you will get something rted to angels?"
"Yes, I guess that''s right," He couldn''t tell her that it was written in the box''s description, so he just answered like this. "Do you mind if I open it here?"
"Go ahead," She smiled as Kye nodded.
He followed the system instruction and began to pour his holy energy into the box. Thetter lets a blinding light out of the box, and after it died down, the box disappeared, leaving something on the table.
"Oh? Well, I didn''t expect that. Ain''t every angel got one naturally?" Aria asked at no one in particr, but Kye still shrugged.
He then took the object in his hand and read its description...
Chapter 66 A Sealed Halo
"Oh? Well, I didn''t expect that. Ain''t every angel got one naturally?" Aria asked at no one in particr, but Kye still shrugged.
He then took the object. It was a beautiful halo and golden in color. He then read its description.
[Due to the host''s current level, the halo has hidden features and its stats had been lowered to match the host''s capability.
Name: ???
Stats:
Strength: +1
Agility: +1
Stamina: +1
Special effects: ???]
Seeing the halo in his hand and its description, Kye couldn''t help but remember his sword. Both seem to have the same effect so far. An increase of his overall stats by 1 since he was still too low levels, while its special effects were hidden as well. And Kye couldn''t help but wonder this time. ''Are all the objects I''m gonna get be like this? Those that means it''s like a growing object that will get stronger as I am getting stronger?'' He thought with enthusiasm. ''I want to level up even more now!''
He hadn''t managed to level up for a long time now. He couldn''t go to the VR section since the writing exams came into ce, and couldn''t level up here since he didn''t manage to kill any monsters. Not to add that he would have got into trouble if Suha, Maria, and John had seen his real capabilities. Maria and John were already hostile toward him, so they would have surely done something even worse than Kye could possibly imagine.
''But it doesn''t matter now. I''m alone, and I don''t have the military watch either, so everyone thinks I''m dead. I will try to level up as much as possible before returning. I don''t want to let everyone think I''m dead for too long. They are surely all very sad, especially if my holy energy still affects them.''
Aria watched Kye without saying anything. His smile was enough for her to understand how happy he was. And since he was deep in thought, she let him be. Though, she didn''t know why he was so happy about such a thing. After all, all halos were the same and didn''t have any special abilities. ''That only confirmed the fact that he wasn''t aware of the existence of other beings. All his life he must have thought that there were only humans and monsters in this universe. And when he slowly became an angel, he must have thought that he was alone in this mess. I guess the fact that he couldn''t control his energy was a good thing. He managed to stay pure thanks to his friends that seems like they protected him. He isn''t tainted by heavens either, so I guess it''s a good thing.''
Aria couldn''t help but have a radiant and genuine smile on her face. Kye looked like a baby who opened his first ever present at Christmas. He looked so happy and pure that even her mood was affected by it.
"Kye, do you mind if I inspect this as well?" Aria snapped him out after five minutes of revery.
"Yes, of course, you can," He replied with a beautiful smile.
''His smile is dangerous,'' Aria thought as she took the halo.
She did the same thing as earlier. She dropped a drop of blood on the halo, tainting it red a little before being golden in color again. And this surprised her greatly. Though, she had never seen such a thing, so she just went into the other realm and inspected it.
This time, instead of a ck space, it was a white and blinding space, making Aria''s eyes squinting a little. It was clear that this halo was filled with pure holy energy. Even stronger than normal holy energy. ''How can he get something so precious?'' She then approached the halo in the middle of the realm which was heavily chained like the sword and was shocked by it. ''How can it be sealed as well? And this time by the darkest demonic energy I''ve seen?'' Aria widened her eyes in shock. To seal demonic items, holy energy was needed. And to seal holy items, demonic energy was necessary. However, both energies which sealed the respective items were so pure and dark that they could only belong to far superior beings, even superior to normal angels and demons.
''It''s clear that this halo isn''t the one every angel has,'' Aria began to think. ''Although it has the same appearance, if one knows how to inspect it, then it would be easy to see that this halo is far superior to any other. However, its power is also sealed like the sword, meaning that its power is far too great for Kye at the moment.
''Then those that means that both seals will slowly be lessened as he gets stronger? But it takes centuries to ascend in both angel and demon rank, so will he have the time? Especially when our parents are this mad?'' Aria couldn''t stay longer here since it was draining her energy at a rapid state. And once she came back, she saw Kye still smiling like a child. ''He looks so innocent. I hope he won''t be tainted by any race,'' She smiled internally before giving it back to Kye.
Thetter put it above his head and waited for a notification to appear, but even after several seconds, still, nothing appeared. So he asked Aria. "Is it normal that I can''t change its form like my sword?"
"Pfft, yes it''s normal," Aria chuckled at his expression filled with annoyance. "A halo shows that you''re an angel, so no one can hide it."
"But aren''t wings hidable?"
"Yes it is, but halos arent," Aria said. "Wings are part of your body, so once you can control the energy inside your body, you would be able to hide them. However, halos are made only by holy energy, and no angel can hide them.
"How did angels manage to mend between humans then?"
"Even though they don''t hide their halos, they can put them wherever they want. Though, everyone keeps them on their head since it''s a pride for them to have such a thing?"
"I- I see," Kye looked down. But won''t the military know that I''m strange if they see it? After all, I''m sure that angels have a very high position in society. And I don''t want to confront them now. I''m not strong enough for that."
Aria went deep in thought. On the one hand, she didn''t really care about humans. So she couldn''t really understand his worry. But on the other hand, she knew very well that Kye couldn''t defend himself against the military that was one of the strongest forces of humanity, as well as the angels who will surely try to understand such a strange being. Not to add demons that will surely hint him down since he''s an anomaly. Very few demons didn''t fight with angels and the same for thetter. It was those who didn''t see any point in fighting and preferred keeping the bnce stable to not let the world be destroyed. Though, it was a very small minority, so therge majority always wanted to fight the other to show their superiority.
"I may have a solution, but you will have to prove to me that you''re worthy of such a power."
"M-may I know what power you are talking about?" The atmosphere became serious and heavy, showing how important it was for Aria.
"It''s something that I found during my journey a very long time ago when I was still young. However, as a monster, I can''t learn such a power. Only humans can."
"Do you mean...?" Kye sucked a cold breath as Aria nodded.
"That''s right, it''s ..."
Chapter 67 Wings Growth
"It''s something that I found during my journey a very long time ago when I was still young. However, as a monster, I can''t learn such a power. Only humans can."
"Do you mean...?" Kye sucked a cold breath as Aria nodded.
"That''s right, it''s an ability orb."
"But-..." Kye looked down. "You already saved my life, exin to me a lot of things, and now you want to give me an ability orb?" Aria was shocked when she saw Kye with tears in his eyes. A little boy with such a big spear was crying? For real? Was it even possible?
"Don''t cry Kye," She smiled to reassure him. "I don''t have any use for it anyway nor do I have any close rtive among humans. So why would I not?"
"B-but, how would I-I be able to repay your kindness?" Kye kept looking down because he was feeling awful to receive so much while not giving anything in return.
"Hmm, that''s a good question," Aria thought for a moment before continuing. "How abouting here to keep mepany now and then?"
"W-what?"
"You will be surprised at how boring a long life is. Especially when you already discovered almost a lot of things," She began to exin her reason. "People tend to attach wisdom to dragons, but even though it''s half the truth, it''s notplete either. All beings who live a long life have a lot of wisdom to share. But once you know a lot of things, even that gets boring.
"However, meeting you today was probably the most interesting thing that happened for as long as I can remember. My next words can appear rash, Kye, but you''re an anomaly. An interesting anomaly that I''m sure no one ever saw in their life. However, instead of keeping you in a cell to study you, I prefer being close to you. A long-time rtionship is far better than you harboring hatred for me. Especially if you achieve greater things in your lifeter."
Hearing all of that, Kye couldn''t help but think. "Is my holy energy also affecting you?" He even almost stops crying.
Almost.
"Haha, of course, no. I''m immune to holy energy with low purity in it. It''s the same for demonic energy. It''s just my genuine feeling," After letting Kye think a little, Aria continued. "So, will you ept?"
Kye began to think deeply. On the one hand, the ability Aria would give him must be strong since it was able to hide Holy energy. But on the other hand, there was also his friends'' ability. Every single one of them was strong. And he couldn''t refute that if he were to learn one of them, he will get incredibly stronger. However, choosing one also means refusing the other, which could create conflicts among his group of friends. And Kye didn''t want that. So after almost five minutes had passed, Kye finally said with conviction.
"Can you tell me more about the ability you''re talking about? As well as how you discovered it and what do I have to do to learn it?"
"Sure," Aria smiled seeing the resolve and the determination in his eyes. "I discovered this ability in the ruin of an ancient civilization. No one knew about it. Not even my parents. Though, maybe even ancient beings than them would know. As for the ability, from what I can observe, I would say that it''s rted to space, or most precisely, astral things. So stars and all the things inside space.
"As for the thing you have to do to learn it, I would like you to learn it once you be a real Angel. I don''t know anything about this ability, and I don''t want you to die because of something that could have gone wrong. So as a superior being, your body will surely be able to control such energy and not crumble under it."
Kye squinted his eyes hearing her. This ability was aplete mystery. No one knew how to use it, nor what it could really do. It could either be something extremely strong, even stronger than the abilities of the four big families, or something mediocre. It was a gamble. A gamble that Kye was willing to take. He was sure that if what Aria said was true, then the astral ability would be extremely strong.
Though, he will have to learn everything on his own since he won''t have any model to learn of.
"Then please, let me go and fight monsters," Kye stood up with determination once he weighed the pros and cons. "Also, tell me how I can enter the barrier without the intelligent monsters killing me."
"Come here little boy," Aria smirked as Kye reluctantly walked toward her. She then pulled his shirt out, making his top naked.
"W-what are you doing?" Kye put his arm on him to try and protect himself.
"Pff, don''t worry, I won''t do anything suspicious," She pulled his arm away and put her hand on his chest. "Not bad. You''re still pretty skinny, but muscles began to form well,"
"Wh-...? Arghhhh!!!" Kye wanted to exim his surprise hearing her but got assaulted by a pain he didn''t felt in a long time. It was as if his blood was burning inside his body and wanted toe out. It made him scream and shout at the top of his lungs to try and alleviate the pain.
However, the pain didn''t dye down and just continue assaulting his body without rest. Thankfully, after two seconds that seemed like decencies to Kye, the pain went away.
Kye was now lying on the ground with half-opened eyes. "W-what did you do to me?" He tried to get up, only to fall again.
"I gave you a friend seal. You will be able to enter my territory without any issues, and other intelligent monsters will also let you go without a fight. It''s the same for other King and Queens of other territories. They will surely be friendlier toward you if they sense my friend seal," She smiled as Kye cursed internally at her kindness.
She seriously wanted to beat her up right now, but couldn''t anyway. So after getting on his knees, he checked his chest. There was a little engraving on it. It has a long aquatic snake as its form. Before he could get up, he heard a noiseing from behind him.
*Kewkew*
*Kewkew*
"Seems like a new day had begun. You should probably sleep and go fight once morninges. Monsters are fiercer at night after all."
Kye nodded, but before going, he decided to do his daily quest. He only needed 10 EXP to be level 5, so he did it under Aria''s strange look.
Even though Kye couldn''t level up by killing monsters during the exam, he still did his daily quest while the others were sleeping. Thus, in three days, he managed to get 3 times 15 EXP.
So after finishing two of them, he finally got a notification in front of him.
[Congrattion, you are now level 5]
[Beginning of the wings growth]
Kye still felt the pain inside his body. It had already been a minute since then, but it still hurt him. However, he didn''t expect to feel another type of pain just after that.
"Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
"Kye are you okay?" Aria asked with a lot of worries, surprised to see him in pain again. A seal''s pain happened only once, so she didn''t understand what was happening now. Until she saw something on his back changing.
Chapter 68 Who Are You, Kye?
"Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"
"Kye?!" Aria looked at him shouting and crying in pain in surprise. "What happened?" She immediately went to the ground to see if something happened to his body.
Kye kept crying as his back was itching and felt as if millions of knives were piercing the root of his wings. His forehead was on the ground while he was hugging himself to alleviate the pain. However, the only thing he did was damage his body. He kept scratching his ribs over and over until his body began to bleed.
However, even this pain couldn''t bepared to the one he was feeling on his back.
Aria saw that and put him inside her bubble, only to pop out the moment Kye was fully in. "What?" She eximed in surprise. Never in her life had she seen such a thing happening, especially with someone who was still too weak to even see her real appearance. She tried to do other things as well, but no matter what, the water she was using either evaporated the moment it touched his body, or another urrence that wasn''t described by words. ''How can such a thing happen? His holy energy is still too weak to be able to interact with my water,'' The only time something close to this happened was when she was fighting against superior angels or demons, and even when fighting them, it wasn''t this degree.
Kye''s wings kept twitching and expanding very slowly. His face was drenched in sweat while his voice began to be sour because of how much he had shouted. Even his eyes were now red because of how much he cried. However, it was only the beginning, as the pain in his back didn''t dwell down. On the contrary, it just increased.
Kye, at this point, wasn''t far from passing out. However, amidst all this pain, he still manage to think of the future, and it reinforced his resolve. The pain didn''t dwell down because of that, but he at least managed to not faint. He didn''t know if he would die if such a thing happened, so he tried to maintain even the slightest part of his consciousness.
And after five hours, the pain finally stopped and Kye fell to the ground. His chest, even though was facing the ground kept going up and down. His eyes were almost closed and couldn''t even see his system. And once he was sure that nothing more could happen to him, he finally fainted.
Aria had watched the whole process, and only shock could be seen on her face. Not much could surprise her since she had already seen and experienced many things. Yet in a single day, Kye managed to surprise her four times. First because of who he was. And now because of three other reasons.
The first reason was that angel''s wings were growing naturally, and once they became an adult, their wings were fully developed. However, Kye''s wings didn''t undergo such a thing. No, far from it. His wings went from their baby state to their adult state. Now on his back were two giant wings that were even bigger than his body. And Kye was now 170 centimeters, so it easily showed how long and big they were. And even so, his wings looked bigger than most angels. It was even close to higher angels.
The second reason was because of his determination. The growth of his wings hadsted for five long hours that for Kye must have been like millennia of pain. Yet, even though he was crying, shouting, and hurting himself over and over, he kept his eyes open. They were filled with determination and the will to move further. And for someone so young who probably still didn''t have a longsted goal, it was impressive.
As for thest reason which surprise her as much as who Kye was, it was for the holy energy that escaped from his body. Even though now, Kye''s holy energy had returned to normal, his earlier holy energy looked stronger than even the strongest of angels she knew. Which seemed impossible. How could such a thing happen? Kye wasn''t even fully an angel yet. And even so, he managed to send a shiver down Aria''s spine when she saw how her water couldn''t do anything to him, be it to help him or hurt him.
''First Lightbringer which even if it''s sealed is still in his hand. Then the halo which seemed like a normal one at first sight, but seemed to have deep secrets behind it. Both objects are also heavily sealed by the purest of holy energy I''ve ever seen, and the darkest demonic energy I''ve seen as well. Andst but not least. Wings which are bigger and stronger than most even though you''re still not a real angel?'' Aria frowned as she put Kye in a bubble that washed every corner of his body and healed his eyes, damaged vocal cords, and ribs as well before putting him in afy bed. ''Who are you, Kye?'' Aria couldn''t help but thought as she looked at his face filled with calmness. He looked like a cute little angel right now, far contrasting with his earlier appearance and his bone-chilling scream.''*Sigh*, I guess only time will tell. It''s as clear as crystal that even him don''t know anything about himself. So I''ll have to wait until he knows more about himself as well.
Aria then left Kye to rest and went to attend another meeting with her.
During this time, Kye slept peacefully until he felt something on his nose. He pped it, only to shout in pain and surprise, thus waking up immediately. "What''s that?" He said with sleepy eyes, only to slowly see white feathers in front of him. "No seriously, what''s that?" He reached to touch it, only to feel the ce he touched resonate with his back where his wings were rooted strangely. So he stood up and went in front of the mirror, only to be shocked. "S-since when did they be that big?" Kye couldn''t believe his eyes and had to rub them multiple times. He felt as if he was still dreaming. Though, after two minutes and his eyes beginning to ache because of how many times he rubbed them, he had to ept reality.
Since the sudden growth of his wings must have something to do with his system, he opened it and saw multiple windows appearing at once.
[Wings growth has ended]
[For them to grow again, you will need to evolve and reach new ranks]
[Passive skill: Flight: As long as you have enough stamina, your wings will allow you to fly wherever you want. The speed at which you will fly will depend on your agility, while their hardness will depend on your strength.]
"I-Is... Can I fly?" Even though he now had his wings for quite some time, he never thought of the possibility of flying one day. It looks like a dream.
So he immediately tried to p his wings, only to make them move strangely. Thankfully the room had very little furniture, otherwise, he would have destroyed everything already. "It''s hard. I can''t even p them normally. And since it''s a passive skill, I still need to get used to it. I can''t just activate them and deactivate them at will."
While moving his wings, he also looked at his status. He also put the stat point he received once he leveled up into his stamina. Like this, once he would be able to fly, he will be able to do so for a long time.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Half-Angel
Level: 5
EXP: 5/1600
HP: 30/30
Strength: 13 (+1) (+1) (AN: those two +1 are the stats that the sword and the halo give respectively. It''s the same thing for Agility and Stamina. So total STR=15 / AGI=15 / STA=16)
Agility: 13 (+1) (+1)
Stamina: 14 (+1) (+1)
Remaining stats to distribute: 0
Spells: Holy ray; Angel''s eyes
Passive spells: Flight]
Chapter 69 Back To The Sea
"Oh? You''re finally awake Kye?" Aria said as she came into his room after hearing some noises while she was preparing breakfast for him. He wasn''tpletely an angel yet, so he still needed to eat and drink, even if it was only a little bit. "And you still don''t have any clothes on you. Do you perhaps like being naked?" She made a smug grin as Kye looked away shyly with a red face. He tried to use his wings to hide his body but to no avail. He wasn''t used to them yet.
"G-good morning, Aria," He went to the closet and began to put some clothes on him. Though, because of his wings, he couldn''t put anything for the upper part of his body, so he''ll have to do with only his lower part.
"Morning?" She chuckled. "It''s already the afternoon. You slept for 15 hours or so."
"Huh?" Kye was surprised since he never slept that much in his life. Be it before the military because of the pain he felt every time he moves, or now because his friends always wanted to hang out. "Then do I have to wait until tomorrow to go and fight?"
"Pfft, of course not. Just eat a little and I will bring you above," She said before turning serious. "Though, you must be careful. You can''t hide your wings as long as you''re not a real angel, so if a person sees you, you will have to fend for yourself."
Kye pondered her words for a moment before replying with such determination that it made her smile. "I will be careful, and if I see someone, I will run away as fast as possible. I don''t think that there is someone faster than me underwater anyway," He smiled confidently.
"Oh? Well still be careful," She said as she turned away toward the living room. "And before I forget, you also have your halo, so be careful with that as well."
Kye nodded and thanked her because he hadpletely forgotten about it. He then tried to put it in different ces on his body, but it didn''t fit since it was quiterge. So with no solution, he ced it as close to his head as possible, even under his hair.
And Kye was quite happy with the result since the halo was almost not visible anymore.
Almost.
If a person knew how to look, then they will see it without any problem. The halo was made of such a light that it was almost blinding. So it made a strange effect when put under his hair. Though, it only added something more to his charm. Something almost holy.
So he went to eat just a very little bit before Aria handed him his suit. "Although it would have been good if my friend seal could make you breathe underwater, it can''t. At least for now," Kye paused for a second at herst words but had to continue to listen since she didn''t finish speaking. "So you will still have to use your suit until your friend seal evolves. I sewed it with stronger material, so you don''t have to worry about it tearing apart. I also made two holes so that your wings can pass through them."
"Thank you for helping me, Aria," He almost wanted to cry but managed to put his tears away. "Though, I don''t think I will be able to put the suit on me with my wings."
"Don''t worry about that and just put it on," Kye nodded and slowly enter his suit. And to his surprise, his wings shrink to enter the two holes before taking the earlier and majestic form. "Angels'' and demons'' wings aren''t normal wings. They are almost an entity on their own. For example, when someone will put clothes on them, if there are holesrge enough, then the wings will shrink in size and enter them to facilitate things. It''s the same thing when you will put your suit away."
"That''s so cool!!" Kye eximed with shining eyes. "I won''t be bothered by them thanks to that, hehe," He was so happy that if he could fly, he would have done so already. It was a big worry for him. Such big wings would hinder him more than anything. And staying shirtless wasn''t to his liking. So a big weight was pulled off his shoulders right now.
"I''m d you like it," Aria smiled before pping her hands, teleporting Kye immediately to the border of her territory with her. If some guars were to see him with his wings, even if he had her friend seal, it wouldn''t change much since they would take Kye as an enemy. "Anyways, I''ll leave you here. You just have to continue going upward until you will see the difference between here and there," As she said, there was a big difference between her territory and the upper part of Supi''s sea. Where they were now was quite dark, to say the least. Though, thanks to their improved vision, intelligent creature, or even Kye thanks to him not beingpletely human anymore could see in the dark. As for the upper part of the sea, since the sun''s rays and the moon''s rays were reflecting on it, it was more clearer and visible than here.
"Do I have to return here every time nightes?" Kye asked as he looked around him to remember his surrounding.
"It''s up to you. You cane here every time you''re tired. I wille and take you the moment I sense you in my territory, or will send you someone if I''m busy," She replied. "Though, I will say that you shoulde back only when you''re too tired to continue and need a safe ce to rest, or either when you finally be an angel. However, be aware that to be a full angel, it takes most of the angels a century, so it will take a very very long time before you be one."
"I see, I wille back when I will need it then. And thank you for telling me this, I will be more careful thanks to that," Kye said with a smile, but in the back of his head, he couldn''t help but don''t understand how people could take a century to be a real angel. Was it that hard for a newborn to be an angel and finally began their duty? Kye couldn''t think of this possibility since he was sure that he would be an angel once he will reach level 10, so in 5 levels.
After saying goodbye, Kye finally swam away. He tried to use his wings as well when he was swimming, but it was as if using two new limbs, so he had to learn things from scratch, like a baby that was learning how to take its first steps.
Kye didn''t meet any monster for about thirty minutes. The time it took him to go from Aria''s territory to slowly reach the light. He could finally see normal fishes swimming, as well as some monster in the distance.
He continued swimming until he could find a lone monster. He didn''t want to take a group of monsters head-on since it would surely mean death for him. He was indeed quite strong, but it was better to be cautious than sorryter.
Though, he didn''t have to search for long because a small-looking ck shark swam at full speed toward him.
And it was alone.
"Come," Kye mumbled to himself as his sword appeared in his hand. He didn''t rush toward the shark since there wasn''t any need. On the contrary, he just needed to dodge the shark before shing his neck.
And he did just that.
Blood sshed everywhere. Though, thankfully, since he was underwater, no blood tainted him.
"Yes!" He eximed as he saw the EXP he earned.
[You killed an ordinary rank ck shark, +150 EXP]
Chapter 70 New Source Of EXP
He didn''t even get the time to collect the shark''s orb when two more ck sharks came toward him. This time, however, both of them were faster, making things moreplicated.
One of the sharks went to bite him, which thetter managed to dodge right in time, though, the other shark was ready for that, and when it saw that Kye left an opening, it swam toward him with razor-sharp teeth.
Kye managed to see the second shark from the corner of his eyes and spun on himself, thus dodging the bite. He then immediately went to attack it, only for the first shark toe biting him again.
Kye dodged and took some distance. ''It''s harder than I thought. They are covering for the other as if they trust their backpletely,'' Kye thought with a smile. ''But if they think that I only have my sword.''
p Kye swam toward them with only one sharking toward him while the other kept its distance to attack the moment it saw an opening. However, this time, when Kye was within a 5 meters distance from the shark, he used his Holy ray, which hit the shark right on its jaw.
*Arghyghyg*
[-1 HP]
The ck shark got distracted by the pain, letting Kye ample time to swing his sword two times skillfully to cut the shark. ''This sword is so sharp, I can''t believe it,'' He thought with excitement.
[You killed an ordinary rank ck shark, +150 EXP]
The still-living shark was surprised by this sudden ray and got angry when it saw itspanion dying under its very eyes. So it charged toward Kye without thinking. And this time, since it would only be a waste of HP to use his Holy ray, he waited before dodging the shark''s bite, followed by three shes, thus cutting it sessfully.
[You killed an ordinary rank ck shark, +150 EXP]
"Pheww, it was harder than I thought," Kye said to himself as he took the two orbs of those two sharks, before swimming toward the first he had killed earlier to harvest its orb as well. "I harvest the orb, but I don''t have anywhere to stock them, nor do I have any use for them now," After thinking for a moment, he decided to let go of the monster''s orb. He did it with a heavy heart since it was free to loot, but it couldn''t be helped at this rate.
And he had two reasons for that.
First, because he didn''t have a bag like a few days ago. He could carry a few with him but until where? He would have a harder time fighting with some orbs in one arm. Not to add that he was sure that he would have to face stronger enemies that wouldn''t be as easy as those ordinary rank ck sharks.
As for the second reason, it was precise because of that that he throw the orbs away. It was true that once he wille back to the military, he would be able to forge items with them. But he would be far stronger than he was now, so those low-rank orbs wouldn''t be as great as those he could get in the future. For example, if he could get a rare rank monster''s orb, or if we''re a little more crazy and lucky, a special rank monster''s orb, then he would be far stronger and get far more benefits than with an ordinary rank orb.
So after letting go of the three orbs on him, Kye went away from this area since there weren''t any more sharksing toward him.
Not even five hundred meters away from his previous position, he found three sharks fighting what looked like a strange monster. It looked like a dog, but instead of its limbs and paw, it had strange tentacles. Four to be more precise, and all of them ended with a sharp de.
''Those sharks won''t have any chance of winning against this strange dog. One strike of thetter equals four shes, while the sharks, even though are superior, are still inferior to their tentacles," Kye didn''t take more time to think and rushed toward them. The three sharks have their back exposed to Kye, while the strange dog was too focused on those sharks. So Kye swam toward the one on the left, and once he was five meters away from it, he used his holy ray.
[-1 HP]
Since Kye was still swimming while the ray was heading toward the shark, thetter didn''t even have the time to cry in pain that it was already dead by Kye''s sword. Underwater, Kye was almost as fast as his ray, so by the time the pain rushed to the shark''s brain, it was already dead.
[You killed an ordinary rank ck shark, +150 EXP]
The two other sharks got surprised by that and were furious, but this feeling only made them meet their doom. Kye swam toward the one in the middle while the strange dog shed the right one four times rapidly.
[You killed an ordinary rank ck shark, +150 EXP]
''Two out of three is already good,'' Kye thought as he stepped back to not let the dog attack him. And he did well because the moment it killed the shark on the right, the strange dog swung its tentacles toward him.
While it was in motion to retract its tentacles, Kye activated his angel''s eyes. He didn''t know if it would be useful, but it wasn''t as if it consume anything, so he decided to use them as much as possible. Who knows? Maybe he would be able to discern which sh is real and which isn''t.
So Kye swam toward the dog in a defensive position to be ready to parry the tentacles.
*Feww*
*Pshin*
*Feww*
*Pshin*
Kye managed to parry all the shes, though, he was surprised by the strength of each blow. He had the impression that each swing carried the weight of a 50kg bag. So he felt his arms get numb a little because of that. The dog then retracted back its tentacles before shing again.
This time Kye managed to dodge two of them while parrying another and getting hit by thest.
''Sh*t, it hurt like hell," Kye cursed internally as he could feel his left arm regenerate rapidly. Thankfully the cut wasn''t too deep, otherwise, his left arm would have been useless for quite a long time. Time that he wasn''t willing to lose.
So Kye stepped back as the dog retracted its tentacles once again as well. Seems like I found something. I just need to test my theory to be sure.
Kye began swimming, but instead of going toward his opponent, he circle it. The dog, swung hisgs-like de multiple times, every time dodging them more easily and easily. Kye was beginning to see the pattern behind each sh, and he couldn''t help but feel that his angel''s eyes had to do something with it. Though it was neither the time to think about that nor he could focus on that since he had to test his theory.
Kye kept swimming around the strange dog while thetter kept swinging its four legs, before retracting them to swing them again just after that.
''Seems like I was right," Kye smiled as this time, he stop swimming around the monster and rushed toward it. With the adrenaline, he didn''t even sense his wings pping a little. Though, it was still too small of a p to be considered like a real wings'' p.
Chapter 71 Again?
''Seems like I was right," Kye smiled as this time, he stop swimming around the monster and rushed toward it. With the adrenaline, he didn''t even sense his wings pping a little. Though, it was still too small of a p to be considered like a real wings'' p.
Sensing danger, the strange dog swung its four legs one after the other. Unfortunately for it, Kye managed to dodge two of them while he parried the other two. ''Now he''s going to retract them and...''
*Swing*
The strange dog''s head got separated from its body with blood apanying it, thus dying after this one single swing of Kye''s sword.
[You killed an ordinary rank Tentadog, +300 EXP]
''Haha, yes I did it,'' Kye thought with joy as he looked at his EXP bar.
[EXP: 1055/1600]
''At this rate, if my theory is correct, I will be a real angel far sooner than I expected. Haha,'' He chuckled because of how happy he was internal. As he said, at this rate, it was only a matter of time before he could be an angel and learn the astral ability that Aria had told him about. ''I''m so excited to have a long-lost ability. Sure it would be hard since I won''t know anything about it nor there is any record about it, but I''m sure that I will be able to do a great thing with it. And if Aria''s correct, I would even be able to hide my halo with it. Though I still don''t know how I trust her. She had a lot of wisdom, after all. So she must know things that I don''t."
Kye then continues fighting monsters after monsters. He found another group of five ck sharks, making him level up, as well as two more Tentadog. Though, as he killed hisst enemy, he saw the surroundings being darker. As he look up, he could see some moonlight rays entering the water, giving it a strange glow.
''I should probably search somewhere to rest for the time being,'' Kye thought as he began to swim. ''Food and water won''t be a problem since I don''t need much of them. Though, my stamina isn''t the same. I thought that I had pretty high stamina after increasing it so much, but it seems that a few hours of swimming and fighting made me more tired than I had expected. And I increased my agility after my level up instead of my stamina. *Sigh*. Guess it''s still good. The faster I am, the faster I will be able to kill my opponent. And my stamina is already pretty high, so I need to keep things bnced. There''s no point in having one of my stats much higher than the rest so I guess it was the right choice.''
As he was thinking, he finally found arge cave where he could rest for a few hours. His angel side increased his regeneration, but it didn''t regenerate his exhaustion or his mental state. So no matter what, he needed to rest if he wanted to continue fightingter without doing any mistakes. After all, the more he swam, the stronger the monsters seemed to be.
Earlier while he was searching for a ce to rest, he could see in the distance strange monsters. There were still ck sharks and Tentadogs, but it seems to be other stronger monsters as well. And he didn''t want to go there without being at his fullest.
He also kept his angel''s eyes active all along to see if something was wrong somewhere. He didn''t want to be chased by another balena, after all, so he kept them active, even though he didn''t know if it was very useful or not. The description of the spell only told him that he could know what was the truth or not, but that was all. So it may have other features that he didn''t know about. So he needed to keep it active to see the full ability of his angel''s eyes.
So after resting for about two hours based on his internal clock, Kye finally began hunting again. Though, as if life liked to y funny tricks on him, he suddenly heard strange noises from the end of the cave. ''I swear the caves on this are cursed,'' Kye thought as he swam at full speed, leaving the cave far behind.
A few secondster, a giant snake came out of it. It looked like it was a veryrge and long snake. Ten meters long and three meters wide. ''I don''t want to fight this sh*t right now, I''m not strong enough!!'' Kye screamed internally and swam as fast as he could toward the monsters he saw earlier before finding his resting ce. However, as if the giant snake knew that Kye was its prime target, it swam at full speed toward him.
''It''s fast,'' Kye couldn''t swim further away because the snake had caught up with him in a matter of a minute. It was so fast that even though Kye had already a head start, he had to stop and defend, or else, he would have surely died.
*ng*
The snake tried to bite Kye with all its strength to kill him with one strike, but thetter managed to block the sharp teeth with his sword. The confrontationsted for several seconds before both of them backed down. The snake because it was now wary of him, and Kye rested his arms a little. He was sure that the snake in front of him wasn''t an ordinary rank. Its speed and strength were a dead giveaway, so he needed to act with cautiousness. Not to add that the pressioning from the snake''s body was far heavier and scary than the ck sharks and the tentadogs.
So after recovering his calm, Kye decided to give his all. It was clear that he wouldn''t be able to escape from this opponent because it was faster than him. So if he couldn''t escape, he could only fight it.
[New quest]
[Kill your opponent.
Reward: Instant level up]
"What?" Kye eximed since he didn''t expect to see the system giving him a quest right now. "For the love of god, stop doing that system," Kye mumbled to himself. Though, since he didn''t have much time to think, he needed to act fast. So he went toward the snake.
He swam toward it, with once again an unknown p of his wings that made his speed burst for a moment. Though, Kye was too focused on his opponent to notice it. But it wasn''t the same thing for the snake. It was surprised by this sudden burst in speed and didn''t manage to react to Kye''s swing.
*ng*
The sword, even though was very strong, wasn''t at its full potential yet. So instead of piercing the snake''s scale, Kye''s sword bumped into it. ''Sh*t, even its defense is high,'' Kye, even though was surprised, didn''t let this feeling overwhelm him and swung his once again, but this time, in an area that was softer than the snake''s scale.
*Crighhehhehh*
The snake cried in pain as its left eye was pierced by the sword.
Chapter 72 Danger Of Dying
,m The snake cried in pain as its left eye was pierced by the sword. And since Kye knew that once strong monsters were furious, they would usually make a move that could easily cost his life. So he managed to back down right in time because if he didn''t, he would have been killed by the sudden swing of the snake''s tail.
But even though he managed to dodge this, the snake''s next move wasn''t to his expectation.
*Pshhhhh*
A violent and strong green smoke came out from the snake''s mouth, which spread to the surrounding at record speed. And since Kye didn''t get the chance to go away since it was too sudden, he got hit by the smoke and was now in the middle of it.
[You''re surrounded by poison smoke]
[Poison had entered your body]
[Stamina is higher than 15]
[The poison doesn''t have any effect due to the host''s high stamina]
[Poison nullified]
''Well, that was unexpected,'' Kye thought as he tried to swim toward the edge of the poison smoke to take the snake by surprise. ''It seems like stamina also has other uses than fighting during a longer period. Though, I''m lucky to have my sword and halo since I wouldn''t have had enough stat points otherwise. And I guess the poison isn''t too strong, otherwise, I would have needed much more stamina.''
The snake clearly thought that Kye was now dead because until now, not a single opponent managed to resist its poison. It was its strongest move and its most deadly one. Who could resist a deadly poison up this close to its caster? No one right? Nheless, it hadn''t expected to lose an eye during this fight. It was so unexpected that the snake was still furious.
However, as if it was only the beginning of a nightmare, the snake felt another excruciating paining from an area that he never expected. He had already lost his left eye, so losing his right eye came as a great shock, apanied by such a pain that its body shrunk and moved all around as if it became a mindless monster.
*Crighhehhehh*
Kye looked at the giant snake without knowing what to do. On the one hand, it was the perfect asion to flee since the situation he was in was the same as with the balena a few days ago, but on the other hand, he also wanted to kill the snake since he didn''t think that he would be able to fight against it again, especially if he were to flee.
Sure Kye had managed to go this far only because the snake underestimated him, and now, the former was paying the consequences. However, there wasn''t much to do now since its scale was way too hard for his sword to pierce him, and both its eyes were now shut, making it impossible for Kye to injure his opponent.
Though, before fleeing, Kye decided to try onest thing. Maybe with a little bit of luck, his holy ray will manage to pierce the snake''s eyes again, even though they were now shut. Its eyes were still the softest point of its body, even with scales on them. It would be hard to close and open them in normal circumstances if they were as hard as those on its body, after all.
The snake was still moving crazily all around as if it had lost its mind. So after observing it for a bit, Kye swam toward him, and once he was in a five-meter range and was sure that he would be able to hit the eyes, he pointed both hands toward them and shot two holy rays.
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
Both rays flew quickly toward the eyes, and to Kye''s great surprise, they pierced its eyes even though they were close and had a hard scale on them.
*Crighhehhehhehhehheehhh*
The rays didn''t go deep enough to touch the brain to kill the snake. Nheless, it still injured the snake even more greatly than earlier. A holy ray was a concentrated ray of holy energy, and even though it wasn''t made of the light element, it was still burning the opponent and inflicted great pain. And it was even more true when the rays were injuring the inside and not the inside. It made the blood boil because of such foreign energy entering the body as well as destroying the inside slowly because holy energy wasn''t something normal. At least for brainless monsters.
So after backing down again because the snake became even more furious than earlier and moved even more mindlessly, Kye went for another volley of Holy rays.
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
Kye kept repeating the process again and again. The snake was losing a great amount of blood because every time Kye fired rays, the holes that were earlier its eyes kept expanding. And because of the loss, its movement became slower as time passes until it looked like it moved as fast as a snail. So this time, since Kye was sure that the snake wouldn''t be able to attack him from a sudden movement of its body because it became too slow for it, he swam toward it, ready to end the snake.
However, just as he came closer to the snake, thetter sensed him and suddenly opened its mouth to swallow Kye. However, instead of panicking, Kye had a smile on his face. It was the dumbest move that the snake could have done, so he let himself enter its mouth.
Unlike the exterior of its body, the interior was a lot softer, so Kye took his sword in his hand and was ready to kill the snake for good by piercing the upper part of its jaw so that he could reach the brain. Though, he didn''t expect to see a green substance quickly fill its jaw.
He didn''t care much about it and was about to injure the snake, however, the text messages of the system surprised him too much.
[You''re surrounded by a poisonous substance]
[Poison had entered your body]
[Stamina is lower than 17]
[The poison is affecting your body]
[-1 HP every two seconds]
''Sh*t Sh*t Sh*t,'' Kye cursed as he saw the notifications and his HP bar going down slowly. He had used a total of 20 Holy rays earlier, so he only had 15 HP left since he had a total of 35 after having reached level 6. So he only had a little less than thirty seconds left before his HP hit 0. He didn''t know what would happen if it was to happen, but he didn''t want to discover it either.
So he quickly tightened his grip on his sword and began to sh fiercely. The fear of dying was slowly submerging him, making him act under it. Though, he still managed to sh fast enough to injure the snake greatly while slowly reaching its brain.
[5 HP left]
[Your HP is dangerously low]
[The emergency protocol will begin once HP reaches 0]
Kye couldn''t care less about such notifications and kept shing relentlessly. ''Here it is!'' He eximed once he saw what he wanted to destroy earlier.
Chapter 73 Black Feathers
''Here it is!'' Kye eximed once he saw the snake''s brain. He was so happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel that he pierced the brain without remorse.
[2 HP left]
''Come on die already!!!'' Kye thought as he kept thrusting his sword deeper into the brain.
[1 HP left]
[You killed a rare rank seanake]
[Questpleted]
[Instant level up]
[+ 1 free stat]
Kye immediately put this 1 free stat into his stamina with such a speed that it even surprised him.
[Host''s stamina has reached 17]
[The poison in your body is nullified]
[Be careful, your HP is dangerously low]
All those notifications, instead of the usual golden color were shing in red as if to show how important and dangerous the situation he was in was. Though Kye was so happy to have killed this seanake that he didn''t care about those notifications and immediately went out of the snake''s mouth.
The blood that stained him washed quickly, making him feel refreshed. ''I can''t believe I did it. I managed to kill a rare rank monster alone,'' Kye was so happy that even his wings were pping a little, exactly like a dog''s tail when it was happy. However, what he saw next shocked him greatly.
Since his wings were big, he could easily see them. And when they pped a little, Kye was so shocked to see some ck feathers in his wings that his brain stopped working for a moment, even though he knew how dangerous it was to stay idle in the middle of such a dangerous ce.
''W-why are some of my feathers ck? And an ominous ck at that? They were so pretty earlier. Completely white,'' He then searched for the notifications he received to read them since he didn''t have the time earlier, and stumbled on one that made him a little perplexed.
[The emergency protocol will begin once HP reaches 0]
''What does that mean? Is this why my feathers became ck? But there''s still a lot of them which are white,'' As he observed his ck feathers, he could see that some which were earlier pitch ck were now turning into a gray color, indicating that they were returning to their earlier white color slowly. Since the notification talked about his HP, he checked them, and he was even more surprised to see that as his HP was regenerating, his feathers were slowly bing white again. ''It- It''s strange. I don''t feel any different now, and even earlier when they became ck. But maybe it doesn''t have anything to do with my strength? Or maybe it is? Arghh I don''t know,'' Kye thought as a ck shark approached him, which Kye killed immediately with a single holy ray that pierced its brain because of how defenselessly he swam toward him.
''I guess I can only theorize for now. It''s not like I will purposely let my HP hit 0 just to see this emergency protocol,'' He then thought about something else. ''By the way, system, didn''t I basically lose all my hardly acquired EXP because of your quest? Give them back to your demon,'' He cursed the system because even though he was happy to have leveled up instantly, he was also quite down to have lost almost a thousand EXP because of the quest. ''*Sigh* I guess in the end I still earned much more EXP this way than if I didn''t get the quest.
''And what''s up with this ridiculous amount of EXP needed to level up again?'' He shouted internally to not attract attention after seeing that he had to obtain 6,400 EXP to level up. ''It will take too much time if I only kill ck sharks and tentadogs. But rare rank monsters aren''t easy either. Or maybe it was this snake that was particrly hard? After all, the ck sharks and tentadogs have the same rank, but thetter gives me more EXP than the former.
''Yeah, that must be it. I will try to search some rare rank monsters as well or I''m going to take an eternity to level up,'' Kye was conscious that it would take time to reach level 10 and be a real angel. However, if there was any angel out there who were to hear him, they would have already killed him because of what he thought right now. He could be an angel by just killing monsters for a few days, whereas the angels in the heavens needed sometimes centuries to perform their duty as an angel, thus being recognized as real angels.
Though, since he was alone and nobody could hear his thought, he didn''t have such problems or enemies that would want his life because of his thought
So after resting for a while to recover his lost HP, while killing some ordinary rank monsters since they didn''t want to let him rest in peace, he finally went in search of other monsters to hunt and kill them.
He searched for quite a time without finding any other rare rank monster. So much that he could see the first rays of the suning through the surface of Supi''s sea. He even managed to level up again just by killing low-rank monsters. As for his free stat, he decided to keep it for now. He didn''t know if a situation that looked like his fight with the giant snake could happen again, so it was better to keep his free stats in case of emergency.
Just as he killed another monster, Kye received another notification from his system.
[Your friends are praying for you]
p [+1 Strength]
''Seriously? Should I y dead a little longer?'' Kye immediately regretted what he thought. He was so ashamed that he wanted to enter a hole right now. ''What type of person am I? They all think I''m dead and must all be sad, and I''m thinking about such a thing,'' His eyes even became wet a little. ''Yugo and Ven must feel quite alone now in our room. They were always teasing me or wanted to y with me, be it to video games or more spicy games. Enzo''s mood must be bad right now. He told me about his issues so that I could forgive him if he did something bad. And he seemed to have gotten better after staying with me. But now....'' Tears couldn''t help but flow from his eyes as he shed another ck shark. It became a lot easier now that he has more strength. ''Sylvia must feel alone now that she can''t y VR with me. I hope she didn''t pierce another''s person ass like thest time,'' He chuckled a little. ''And Lidi probably just staying in her room without doing much. She always wanted to hang out and do some shopping with me. But now...'' There were even more tears flowing down now that he remembered all those good memories.
''No Kye, instead of thinking about that, go and kill monsters so that you cane back sooner to their side,'' He looked ahead with conviction as he felt a stronger pressureing from a monster a kilometer away. "Please guys, wait for me," He said as he swam toward the monster that was without a doubt a rare rank monster.
***
Kye was right regarding his friends because they all felt like how he described them. However, they all suddenly smiled at the same time as if something in their heart relieved them.
Chapter 74 A Humanoid Turtle
"Please guys, wait for me," He said as he swam toward the monster that was without a doubt a rare rank monster.
The monster looked like a humanoid turtle, making Kye suck a cold breath seeing it. Humanoid monsters were far stronger than normal monsters, mostly due to the fact that they weren''t as dumb as them. They didn''t have enough intelligence to speak or create a n, at least when they are low rank, but have enough intelligence to know how to fight without underestimating their opponents. And the closer Kye got to the monster, the stronger the impression he felt.
''I don''t think that''s a rare rank monster. The pressure I''m feeling right now is way more oppressive than any monsters I met until now, even more than this whale and the snake,'' Kye thought as he stopped swimming and slowly went back on his track. He didn''t mind fighting stronger opponents because it was the only way to improve. The more closely he will get to death during a fight, the more he will learn and improve because he will fight using everything he could.
However, there was a limit to that. There wasn''t any point in fighting if he knew that he will face his doom. The humanoid turtle seemed far stronger than what he could even imagine, so it was better for him to flee while he could.
Though, as ifdy luck didn''t like his cute and handsome face, the humanoid turtle sensed him and began to swim at full speed toward him. ''Seriously, me and my lu-...'' Kye didn''t finish his words because of how taken aback he was.
There were more than a hundred meters between Kye and the humanoid turtle. However, while Kye''s speed was extraordinary underwater while not being an aquatic being, the humanoid turtle''s speed was... slow.
It was so slow that Kye was sure he could escape from such a monster without any issues. ''Should I fight it?'' He had all the time he wanted to think since the humanoid turtle was as slow as a ¡ turtle. ''But even if it''s slow, it probably has a special ability like the whale and the snake. And I''m sure that it has a very high defense as well. So it''s going to be hard to kill it,'' Kye kept thinking while keeping a very safe distance between him and the monster. He didn''t know what could happen, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
Though, after thinking for another five minutes while weighing the pros and cons, Kye finally took his decision.
''I guess I will fight it. I'' can use my superior speed t attack some unprotected area. Though, I will have to aim well because its shell covers almost all of his back. So I would need to be careful when I will be close to it,'' He then swam toward it because if he were to wait for the monster toe, the night woulde.
So after manifesting his sword in his hand, Kye swam toward the turtle with cautiousness. And as if he predicted such a thing, the turtle move its right hand slowly when it saw Kyeing.
*Peww*
A sudden burst of water hit Kye from his left, making him fly almost fifty meters away.
[-8 HP]
''Arghh, what was that?'' As Aria said, his suit had been improved so well that it didn''t get damaged. However, he could still feel his skin burning under it. '' SH*T IT HURTS LIKE HELL!!''
Even though he was regenerating quickly, feeling his skin burning isn''t the best of feelings. ''Calm down Kye,'' He took arge breath to recover his mind before thinking about what had happened. ''It waved its hand when around ten meters was separating us, and the burning water hit me when I was at around five meters away from it.
''So that means that it''s either the attack that''s damn slow, or like a trap that activates the moment I''m near it.''
Kye decided to go back once he was fully regenerated, only to be sent away again by the same attack.
[-8 HP]
''It hurts,'' He could still feel his skin burning and regenerating again. ''And I will soon reach 0 if this continues,'' This time, he went again but stopped once he saw the humanoid turtle waving its hand. And as if he was right earlier, nothing happened. ''It looks like it''s a trap. And since the turtle isn''t moving either, it seems that it doesn''t differentiate allies from foes.''
And as they were doing a staring contest, Kye suddenly got an idea. His eyes turned yellow, indicating that he had activated his angel''s eyes. And as if a new world had appeared in front of him, he was now able to see the traps.
''How can there be 10 traps if it only waved its hand once?'' Kye counted all the traps quickly before stepping back a little. ''And it seems I was right. All the traps are in a five-meter radius of their current position.'' Now that Kye could see what made him lose sixteen HP, he could finally fight with more ease and navigate through the traps without triggering any of them.
Seeing that, the turtle got furious, and this time, it waved its left hand. And as if it was the beginning of a nightmare for Kye, the ten traps began to slowly move toward him. ''Curse youdy luck!'' He made an internal middle finger before dodging the iing tras with ease. ''At least they are still slow.''
p Kye kept navigating through the traps while the humanoid turtle kept waving both hands like a mad man in the hope to hit him again. However, since they were all slow while kye''s seed almost looked divine inparison, none touched him, even after ten minutes had passed.
''Now the time to pass at the offensive,'' Kye smiled as he swam toward the turtle while dodging the traps thanks to his Angel''s eyes. And sensing danger, the monster shell moved to the front, leaving its back exposed. ''Seriously why are monsters so strange?'' He thought as his sword bumped after hitting the hard shell.
Thetter then moved back to the turtle''s back so it could move with more ease. However, it was surprising to see a golden raying right toward its head.
*Ploup*
The turtle entered its head inside its body to dodge the ray. However, even before having the time to put his head back to the surface, it suddenly lost any type of connection with its right arm.
*Kshiiiiiiiii*
''You may have a hard shell, but it only covers one side of your body,'' Kye thought as he heard the turtle''s cry of pain. ''And without your right arm, you won''t be able to injure me anymore,'' Kye had a wide grin on his face as he kept shing the turtle''s body.
Thetter moved its shell back and forth. However, Kye was still faster, so he shed his opponent with such ease that it was almost scary.
[You killed a rare rank human turtle, +3,000 EXP]
"Yes!!!" Kye shouted in joy as he saw the lifeless body of the human turtle descend into the depth of the sea. "I managed to kill a rare rank monster with ease," Kye was so happy that he didn''t even notice the system window at first. However, after some moment, and after having read its content, Kye was so shocked that he stopped breathing for a second.
Chapter 75 A Humanoid Fish
However, after some moment, and after having read its content, Kye was so shocked that he stopped breathing for a second.
[Angel''s eyes have leveled up to level 2]
[Angel''s eyes: Level 2]
[Angel''s eyes: Allow the host to see through lies and see what is hidden voluntarily from its sight. New features will be avable as the skill will level up]
Kye hadn''t expected to see such a piece of great news at all. His Angel''s eyes, even though he didn''t use them a lot because seeing through lies didn''t help him in any way when fighting, was still useful, especially when he wanted to see if someone was lying to him or not.
However, since he went hunting monsters after Aria''s help, he kept using it. And it helped him a lot during thest fight because without it, he would have kept hitting the invisible traps, and eventually, his HP would have reached 0.
But now that his Angel''s eyes leveled up, he would be able to use it a lot more often. The new feature which is just unlocked right now is a lot morebat-rted than the previous effect. And if he were, to be honest, the first effect of Angel''s eyes was almost like a passive skill, whereas now, he would be able to defend himself against invisible forces and use it like an active skill.
"I''m excited again now. I want to fight," He said to himself with a big smile as his earlier exhaustion seemed to have melted away. He didn''t search long before finding other monsters. Though, they weren''t really strong. Some ck sharks, tentadogs, and other ordinary rank monsters that he killed easily with one good Holy ray or one swing of his sword. And he killed all of them while having his Angel''s eyes active at all times.
? Though, they weren''t of any use. He killed so many of them that he managed to level up, at the expanse of a few days of hunting. And during those few days, even though he used his newly upgraded Angel''s eyes all the time, since the enemies weren''t strong enough nor does they could attack with invisible things, they were useless.
''Seriously, why does it have to be that useless?'' Kye''s few days prior excitement had now changed with annoyance. ''And why isn''t there any strong monster? Ain''t the deeper I went, the stronger the opponent? Tch!'' He couldn''t help but click his tongue as he yed another weak monster.
It was getting more and more annoying. And with all the EXP he had to get to level up, he was sure that it would take at least a week to reach level 9, and another one and a half, or even two weeks to reach level 10. ''And why am I so sure that I will be an angel when I will reach level 10? The system ain''t telling me anything, it''s just my own theory. *Sigh* At this rate, I will see the other in a month or two. I hope they won''t get furious once they will see me again.''
As he swam aimlessly to find another monster, his spine shivered as if something was about to attack him.
*ng*
Kye managed to parry right in time with his sword. Though, he still got propelled far away. ''What''s up with this strength?'' He tried to look ahead, only to see nothing. ''Didn''t I got attacked by a monster?'' Kye raised an eyebrow as he saw the water distorting to his left side.
*Psheww*
This time, instead of parrying, Kye dodged right in time. But at a finger length. What was attacking him was so fast and strong that one good hit would with no doubt crush his bones or even stop his breathing.
As Kye tried to see what was attacking him, he once again found nothing. Even with his natural great sight, he couldn''t see anything. So he immediately used his Angel''s eyes, only to see a punching right toward his face.
''Sh*t,'' He managed to protect himself with his sword but was once again sent flying away by the strength behind the punch.
Kye didn''t let himself be destabilized and looked at his earlier position. And unlike the other times, he could now see clearly a humanoid fish. It had a fish''s head, a human body, and a strange-looking tail. ''Another humanoid monster?'' Kye was surprised to see another one since it was supposed to be extremely rare to find some. Though it had already been five days since hisst encounter, but it was as if he had forgotten about it.
And strangely enough, the system gave him another quest.
[Kill your opponent.
Reward: Instant level up]
''Tch, seriously, again? Do you want me to die or stay alive?'' Kye clicked his tongue.
However, he couldn''t think more about the matter because the humanoid fish disappeared from its position to appear right by Kye''s side. Thetter did what looked like a side step but underwater before riposting with a holy ray.
And to Kye''s surprise, instead of disappearing again, the monster protected himself by crossing his arms in an X shape. The former didn''t wait long after his ray collided with the monster''s arm to sh his sword, but this time, he disappeared again and appeared behind him.
''What was that?'' Kye thought as he dodged at a hair length this time. The humanoid fish didn''t stop there and continued punching him at a fast speed, but Kye was answering his onught by dodging everything. Though, it was clear that it was hard.
''Let me use my two free stats,'' He thought as his Agility went from 14 to 16. And immediately thanks to this upgrade, he managed to see the humanoid fish''s movements a lot clearer and dodge with much more ease.
The monster was surprised to see that, so he appeared behind Kye once again, only to be hit by a sudden Holy raying out of nowhere. However, unlike the fish expectation, even though its skin was very hard and sturdy, there was still a little hole in his stomach with blooding out from it.
Kye was about to sh his sword as well since the fish was quite shocked. However, the next moment, he was sent flying again, but this time with a broken hand.
[-20 HP]
"Arghhh, it hurt," Tears almost fell down from his eyes.
Almost.
Among the pain he was currently feeling, he greeted his teeth and was thankful that it wasn''t the hand with which he was using his sword, but his right hand. Though, it was hard to be thankful when his left hand was still hurting like hell. And the fact that his bone was regenerating made things even more difficult because it added more pain than anything else. Healing a bone this fast wasn''t easy, and the process was surely not smooth. So Kye greeted his teeth and looked ahead where the humanoid fish disappeared once again.
Thanks to his Angel''s eyes, he could see the distortion inside the water, so he knew where his opponent would appear next. So he swung his de to his left with all the momentum he could muster at the moment.
''Got you!''
Chapter 76 An Annoying But Strong Ability
''Got you!''
Unlike his expectation, Kye didn''t end the humanoid fish with this swing. No, far from it. Instead, thetter managed to block his sword, albeit sustaining some injuries, before punching him in the stomach.
Kye dodged before doing a side kick to his opponent''s ribs. The fish got hit this time since it didn''t expect such a quick move from Kye but didn''t stay on the matter for long and swung his tail, attacking Kye''s ribs as well.
[-10 HP]
Both of them took a step back before looking at each other directly in the eyes. The humanoid fish didn''t have any regenerative ability, so the arm he used to block Kye''s sword was now injured andpletely disabled. Some of his ribs were broken as well, slowing it down a little because of it.
As for Kye, his ribs were broken as well. And he had a lot more broken ribs than his opponent since thetter has clearly more strength than him. However, thanks to his natural regeneration, his ribs were slowly regenerating, and he will soon be as good as new. His broken hand was also almost fully regenerated, so if the fight was to drag on, then he will surely win because he kept regenerating, unlike his opponent that was slowly but surely being exhausted.
Though, seeing his HP decreasing quickly like this didn''t ease Kye in the slightest. On the contrary, he was beginning to slowly lose his cool, and in such a fight where he was fighting such a strong opponent, it wasn''t the best thing. It could even cost him his life, so he took a deep breath before looking ahead with determination.
The humanoid fish then teleported again, and Kye could once again see the distortion in the water just in front of him. But this time, instead of attacking immediately, he decided to parry the fish''s first few punches before doing a move that helped him win a lot of his spar during the weapon ss.
He made a shoulder bump to destabilize the humanoid fish. After every time what looked like teleportation, the humanoid fish couldn''t do it again for a few seconds. So Kye took that into ount after observing it happen a few times to do this move.
A shoulder bump, even though was quite a simple move, was actually quite dangerous to perform because it left Kye open to a lot of attacks. However, since he parried his opponent''s attacks before doing it, everything should have been okay.
Though, he hadpletely forgotten that his opponent had a tail. So the humanoid fish wrapped his tail around Kye''s feet before throwing him away. ''Sh*t!'' Kye eximed as he was sent flying away. It was hard to stop himself because the fish sent him with a lot of strength. And if thetter were to teleport behind him and punch him, adding to all the momentum he was creating, then he will with no doubt die.
And as if the humanoid fish thought about the same thing as him, it teleported a few meters away and began to take momentum to punch Kye. Thetter was rushing toward him head-on without any means of stopping.
"No no no no no no!!!" Kye repeated again and again as he tried his hardest to stop his movements. And when he was just a meter away from the humanoid fish, as if his body acted on his own, his wings pped one and big time and stopped himpletely.
The wings made such a p that it pressured the water and even hit the humanoid fish, making it fly a little away.
Kye was d that such a thing happened, however, he was so happy that he forgot that he was still fighting, and so the fish teleported behind him again.
But even though he had forgotten about that, his instinct told him to duck, and he did just that, thus dodging his opponent''s strikes. He then turned around and kicked the fish''s leg, breaking it in the process.
*Crichhhhh*
The monster''s mind got jolted by the sudden pain and didn''t see Kye swing his sword toward its leg, thus decapitating it.
The fish cried in pain again as it lost one of its limbs. And with one arm already disabled, it only had one arm remaining to fight. And as a humanoid monster with a little bit of intelligence, the monster decided to flee.
It couldn''t do anything against Kye anymore. And since it didn''t want to die, it teleported away.
However, Kye saw thating. He knew that a humanoid monster wasn''t ur normal monster, so it was natural that its instinct would tell it to flee. So he began to swim toward the direction the water was disturbed even before the fish teleported. And this time, thanks to the earlier situation, he managed to p his wings a little.
It wasn''t as gracious as the bird of heavens, but it was enough to improve his speed a little to catch up with his opponent before it could teleport away again.
So with all the speed, he managed to get, he swung his sword downward and cut the humanoid fish from head to toe.
It wouldn''t have been possible in normal circumstances, but he had so much momentum that it cut through its hard scale easily.
[Questpleted]
[Instant level up]
[Congattion, you are now level 9]
[+1 free stats point]
Blood had sshed on him like a fountain after he killed the humanoid fish. However, the blood couldn''t disgust him right now because he was way too happy for that. He had managed to kill such a strong and unpredictable monster whilepleting a quest at the same time which made him level up instantly.
Sure when he saw the 51,200 EXP needed to level up again, he sucked a cold breath and his mood got swayed a little. But nheless, it was still great. With a little bit of luck, he would manage to get another instant level-up quest, which will finally make him reach level 10.
And even if he didn''t get one, it wasn''t as if time was pressing him in any way. It was true that he wanted to see his friends again and reassure them that he didn''t die. But he wouldn''t get such a chance again. So he wanted to make use of it to its fullest.
So even if it would take several weeks or even a month to level up, it wouldn''t matter because nothing was pressing him. He could kill almost all the monsters around him with ease now. So it was only a question of time before he could finally reach one of his goals and the first quest he ever got.
So after strengthening his resolve, Kye smiled and began hunting monsters again.
It didn''t matter which monster came to him because they were all weak. Unlike the humanoid fish, the humanoid turtle, the giant snake, or even the giant whale which all exuviated such a big impression that it was almost hard to breathe in their presence, the low-rank monsters that came to him were all weak. So even after a few days of hunting, he hardly got 10,000 EXP.
Chapter 77 They Were My Real Parents, Right?
So even after a few days of hunting, he hardly got 10,000 EXP. ''Why is it so hard to find rare rank monsters and higher?!'' Kye thought with impatience as he just killed another ordinary rank turtle. ''No, why is it so hard to level up without an instant level up reward? It''s annoying.
''And why do I have to be hungry now?'' He looked dejected at the thought of having to go back and forth between Aria''s territory and here to y more monsters. However, it wasn''t as if he could do something about it, so he reluctantly began to go deeper into the sea.
He killed all the monsters that came to him with either a holy ray when they were a little far from him or a swing of his sword when they were too close to him. And not a single monster managed to scratch him during this time.
''I wonder how in the world I didn''t die back then,'' Kye thought as he continued going deeper. ''I waspletely defenseless since I couldn''t even move a single finger, and seeing the number of monsters attacking me right now, it should have been the same back then. And yet I stayed alive and managed to enter Aria''s territory before she healed mepletely.
''It''s quite strange actually. I''m sure the search team the military probably sent to find me went quite deep into the sea as well, and they surely had to fight a lot of monsters to pass through and continue searching. Whereas not a single soul even scratched me,'' He began to think about the matter more and more, slowly giving him a headache.
''Is it because the whale''s energy was inside my body? Or maybe because it was colliding with my holy energy? Or maybe thetter came out from my body and scared all the monsters surrounding me?'' Kye kept making new theories without end. ''Or... is it heaven that protected me through the system? No, it doesn''t make sense either.
''The system came from the ne I got after my parents'' death. It was the sole thing I inherited from them, and as far as I know, they don''t have any rtionship with angels or demons. They were normal humans. Not that I could have differentiated a human from an angel or demon anyway. But still, I''m sure at a hundred percent that they were humans and didn''t have any connection with those two races.
''They wouldn''t have gone to fight monsters if they had since they would have known their strength. So...'' Kye paused for a moment because he just thought about something that made him extremely sad, even making his eyes watery. ''W-were they actually my parents? They were, right? Mom gave birth to me, right? Right?'' Even though he was asking those questions, no one could really answer them as probably no one in the universe probably knew about their answers.
''Because how in the world did they manage to get this ne in the first ce? No, how in the world am I bing an angel? Aria said it herself. There was no record of any human bing a higher being. Yet I''m slowly changing and bing an angel,'' Tears couldn''t help but flow from his eyes now. If what he thought was true, then all his life was actually a lie all along. All the memories he still had with his parents, the joy he felt when he was still a kid, the sadness when his parents punished him, and all those other emotions that made him who he was today. All of it could be a lie and only what he hoped to be and wished.
''N-no, not everything is false,'' He wiped his tears away. Though, his eyes were clearly red now. ''All the memories I had are true and will still stay true. And I may as well be wrong and both of them are really my parents. As for the ne, they probably buy it thinking it was just a pale-looking ne.
''Yeah, I''m sure it''s that,'' Unbeknownst to him, he already entered Aria''s territory. He thought for such a long time that he even forgot that he killed another volley of 15 ordinary rank monsters.
And as he was still wiping his tears away, something or rather someone appeared in front of him. ''Ah, that''s right. Aria told me that if she couldn''te and get me, then she would send someone else in her stead.
The intelligent monster that came to get him was a woman around 165 centimeters. She had shoulder-length ck hair, and from what Kye could see, she was blind because she kept her eyes shut. She also has a smooth skin and little but cute curves.
However, he couldn''t inspect her for long because something unexpected happened.
[New quest.
Escape from this person.
Reward: +40,000 EXP]
''What''s that?'' Kye thought, perplexed about seeing such a thing now. He usually received quests where he needed to kill his opponent to instantly level up. However, this quest was asking him to escape this person as if she was dangerous. ''Isn''t she one of Aria''s subordinates? Why would she act hostile toward me? I even have her friend seal, so it doesn''t make any sense. Or maybe it''s because she''s way too strong for me, so instead of trying to fight her, I need to flee? But yet again, why would she show hostility toward me?''
However, just as he thought about that, a spike which was made of ice suddenly his stomach.
[-10 HP]
"What?" Kye shouted in pain as he didn''t understand how such a thing could happen. His eyes immediately glowed yellow, indicating that he had used his angel''s eyes, only to see a myriad of spells that was about to be fired at him. ''''Sh*t why are you attacking me?" Kye shouted as he began to swim all around like he had gone crazy to dodge all those spikes that looked like they were made of ice.
"How impudent. You dare ask why?"
"Yes, I''m asking," He answered as he began to swim away from her. And strangely enough, this woman swam at the same speed as him, thus always making a safe distance between them where Kye kept dodging the ice spikes, andter, the iceser.
"You disgusting human!!!" The woman roared in anger. "You took my sight away from me, yet you dare ask why I''m attacking you? Even though you have our queen''s blessing, she won''t care if someone like you dies!"
"What? I never met you!" Kye retorted back. "And are you crazy? Going against your queen''s order!"
"She won''t care about the death of someone like you!!" This time, a strange flower fully made of ice bloomed behind her and enveloped her bodypletely.
Kye took this as his chance to escape and swam as fast as he could, even pping his wings a little because things were clearly not going well for him. And as he was swimming away, he suddenly thought of a specific monster that he fought against days ago when he still wasn''t even level 5.
Chapter 78 Taunts
Kye took this as his chance to escape and swam as fast as he could, even pping his wings a little because things were clearly not going well for him. And as he was swimming away, he suddenly thought of a specific monster that he fought against days ago when he still wasn''t even level 5. ''Could it be that she''s the big whale of back then?'' Kye thought as the blooming flower was quickly finishing to envelop her. ''Yeah, she must be. There''s no other monster that had stayed alive besides her after having her eyes pierced.
''And that''s also her who almost killed me,'' Strangely enough, now Kye didn''t want to flee anymore. No, instead, he wanted to beat her up until she died and take revenge. He had almost died if not for Aria''s timely saving, and now that he saw this whale again, he wanted to kill her, and at the same time, get an insane amount of EXP.
However, there was one thing that made him think two times before acting. ''The system made a quest so that I would escape from her because, in its eyes, she''s probably too strong for me. I''m sure the system thinks that I won''t be able to even let scratch her body, but what if I manage to do it? What if I manage to kill her? Would I still receive the quest''s reward, or would I earn something even greater than the 40,000 EXP? Or maybe since I didn''t escape from her, the system won''t reward me?'' As this thought, the now human whale came out from the flower with what looked like abat dress.
Thebat dress was blue with what looked like white scales. It covered the entirety of her body, even her head, except for the joint to let her move freely, and the eyes so that she could see. Not that she could see a lot anyway.
She also had what looked like a spear made of ice. ''Seems like I really won''t be able to scratch her,'' Kye thought as the human whale swam toward him.
However, her speed seemed to have increased by half, thus quickly catching up with Kye. "Seriously leave me alone!!" Kye shouted as he stopped swimming and took his sword in his hands, ready to fight. There wasn''t any point in escaping anymore since it was clear that she would have caught up with him in a few seconds. And even though the system thought that he wouldn''t be able to do anything, he still believed in himself. The whale was fast, but Kye could still follow its movement. She wasn''t as fast as the giant snake fromst time, for example, so he was sure that he would at least be able to defend against her until someone woulde and help him.
However, his first sh with her made him think otherwise. Her speed was high, but not that much either since it was easy for Kye to follow her movements. And it was, even more, the case with his angel''s eyes active since he could see some fluctuation in the water which indicated that a spell was about to be fired. However, her strength was apletely different matter.
It was much higher than her speed, so much that during their first sh, the water around them got pushed back.
''*Argh*, I feel like my bones were crushed by a giant,'' Kye groaned in pain as he immediately open his status page and put his reaming free stat into strength, thus having now 15 stat points in strength.
They then made a second sh, and it was now a little more bearable than earlier. Though, the difference in strength still looked abysmal. So instead of making his sword dance uselessly with her spear, he decided to dodge instead of parrying her strikes.
*Swoosh*
The woman swung her spear horizontally, which Kye dodged by ducking. Though, he didn''t attack yet because he was sure that she would do something else. And he was right because ice spikes came toward him.
He dodged them by spuning on himself before making what looked like a side step underwater to dodge a vertical strike of her spear.
"Stop moving and fight like a real man!" The whale shouted at him seeing all her attempts to end him fail.
"Pff, are we angry?" Kye decided to taunt her because if it worked, then his chance ofing out from this spar alive would be higher since she wouldn''t think cold headly. "You can even kill such a pitiful and harmless human? Oh my bad, this little human pierced your two eyes, haha."
Hearing such fool wordsing out of his mouth, the woman shed like a crazy person. She at the same time waved ice spikes after ice spikes, plus all the iceser she could muster, thus indicating that Kye''s little taunt had worked perfectly.
He kept dodging while sometimes sustaining injuries due to the numerous ice spell. So he made sure to dodge all her spear''s strikes because if he were to be hit by one of them, he would surely die. His bones have indeed been a little crushed earlier after their two shes, and he wasn''t willing to see what could happen to him if he wasn''t able to defend or par the strike.
Though, thanks to his natural regenerative ability, those injuries were quickly healed. Not a single spike managed to slow down his regeneration, even when the area waspletely frozen.
And sensing that at this rate, she would never be able to end this lowly human, the woman got even angrier and new ice spells began to be fired toward Kye.
Binding vines made of ice, ice flowers that fired hundred and hundred of tiny spikes, or giant ice boulders. The woman rained down everything on Kye.
Thetter this time, obviously couldn''t dodge everything. He used his holy ray to destroy some vines, his sword to parry some spikes while dodging the spear''s strike, and the giant boulders. However, there were just too many things to take care of and be cautious of.
There was just one time when Kye needed to dodge endlessly, and it was againt Sylvia when they spared together. However, even she wasn''t at the level of this whale.
So he kept sustaining more and more injuries as time passes, slowly getting his HP at a dangerous level and getting some of his wings'' feathers ck. Though, he didn''t even see those things because his mind was way too focused on staying alive by all means. And it wasn''t by getting distracted that he would manage to do that.
And while Kye''s life was at death''s doors, a lot of intelligent monsters began to move toward and spectate the fight.
They all knew who Kye was now because the news that their queen had taken a liking to someone had spread very fast. However, no one tried to help him because it was obvious that their new fellow intelligent aquatic monster, aka, the whale, wanted to kill Kye. And no matter what, they cared more about their kind than for this little human who at first nce, didn''t look very interesting.
***
While Kye and the whale were fighting and the other intelligent monsters had made a ring-like arena to watch them, Aria was in another meeting of hers. Though, she couldn''t help but think about where was Kye right now since it shouldn''t have taken that much time for the whale to get him to Aria''s domain.
Chapter 79 1 HP
[-2 HP]
[10 HP left]
[Your HP is dangerously low. Be careful or the emergency process will begin]
After getting injured so many times, notifications like these kept popping in his sight like flies on a summer day. They kept warning him to be careful. However, he didn''t have the time to think about it nor was he willing to think about it. He put all his soul, body, and brain cells into this fight to stay alive.
One moment of distraction will put him in such a difficult situation that death wouldn''t be an option anymore, but a certitude. But since he didn''t want to die yet because he had still so many things to discover, Kye put his all into staying alive.
Albeit, it was harder than one could possibly think.
The armor that the human whale used improved her overall stats by a very great margin, making Kye feel like he was fighting against a giant with incredibly scary stats. And it wasn''t all. Even after firing so many spells, again and again, she wasn''t tired and kept firing them as if she had an infinite pool of energy. The spear she was using didn''t help things at all because strangely enough, she was extremely deadly with it.
Kye was sure that this whale gain her intelligence not too long ago, thus being able to get a human-like form. However, she was so skillful with her spear that it made it impossible for Kye to even got to close range with her.
His earlier wish of fighting her to get a greater reward was now turning back against him like a bee that never know its master.
Kye got so used to winning and killing his opponents easily, or with some difficulty, but still winning in the end that hepletely forgot that it wasn''t good to underestimate his foes. And he was now paying it dearly because even though he tried his best to stay alive and dodge a lot of the whale''s attack skillfully, making all the spectators'' eyes open widely because they never thought that this little human could do such a thing, it wasn''t enough because he wasn''t strong enough to fight against such a strong foe.
He even managed to improve his mastery over his wings greatly during this fight. So much that he could now more or less fly if he were in an open area above water. And it was thanks to them that he managed to dodge even more of her attacks because he gained a lot more maneuverability thanks to them.
There wasn''t any doubt that without them, he would have already died long ago. And he was also very grateful that his stats were so even because, without them, he wouldn''t have been able to move either fast enough or defend with his wings because of hisck of strength. Not to add the stamina that yed a big role in their survivability because without it, his wings would have already been too damaged to heal in his current state.
"Won''t you die already?" She said as she swung her spear like a mad woman.
"Leave me alone you bit*h!!" Kye didn''t care about being mindful of his words anymore because he needed to evacuate the build-up tension, even if it was just a tiny bit. So he kept cursing her with all the names that crossed his head at the moment. And it was sessful because it made his mind a little clearer.
But not enough to dodge an ice spikeing right after he dodged the spear.
[-2 HP]
[8 HP left]
[Your HP is dangerously low. Be careful or the emergency process will begin]
Kye greeted his teeth as the system''s red window kept telling him the same thing over and over again and tried to thrust his sword toward the joint in her armor between her leg, only to be repelled by an icy vine, followed by another ice spike.
Kye dodged it followed by the spears thrust as well. ''It seems like she''s getting tired as well!'' Kye eximed and smiled internally seeing such great news. The more his opponent would tire out, the more easily will he be able to dodge.
So he kept his head high and continued dodging. He lost 4 more HP until he finally managed to dodge everything that came after that.
The whale was getting slower, but Kye as well. He didn''t have unlimited stamina, and even though it was already high, he too was getting slower.
However, unlike his opponent, he didn''t have a big armor covering his whole body weighing on him, thus slowing him down even more. So even though he was getting slower as well, it wasn''t as much as his opponent.
And if she were to put off the armor, then it would be Kye''s turn to beat her up and show who was superior because she would surely be a lot slower than him at this point.
However, to his surprise, she disabled her armor, only for the same blooming flower from earlier to appear.
"You leave me no choice!" The human whale stated coldly as she raised her arm toward the ''sky''. "I will end you with this final attack."
''Does she think we''re in a game''s cinematic or something?'' Kye chuckled a little, relieving the tension a little bit, making his mind even clearer. ''I won''t let you do whatever you''re preparing, bit*h!''
Kye''s next move was risky, to say the least.
He only had 4 HP left, but still used two Holy rays, making his HP drop again.
[-2 HP]
[2 HP left]
[Your HP is dangerously low. Be careful or the emergency process will begin]
However, thanks to them, he managed to hit the whale which was still preparing her attack by aiming toward the middle of her stomach and her neck. At least like this, she would either have to change her actual positionpletely, thus canceling her ''big move'', or take one of the rays.
But once again, to his surprise, the whale exceeded all of his expectations.
Instead of dodging one of them, the human whale took both of the rays'' head-ons.
Her stomach got pierced from one side to the other while her neck began to bleed. She spat a mouthful of blood and groaned in pain, but still bear through it toplete her final move.
"You won''t kill me with such a thing!" She shouted and kept her arm high to make what looked like a giant seed made only with ice.
Kye didn''t think about her words for even a millisecond that he sent another holy ray to her neck, leaving him with only 1 HP and getting now a lot of his white feathers ck, before pping his wings with great force to rush to her side in just one second. He knew very well that what he was doing right now was extremely risky because even a light tap would probably make his HP reach 0. And even though there was this emergency process, he didn''t want to discover what it was in reality.
*Phushhh*
Chapter 80 Arias Meeting
*Phushhh*
After pping his wings once but with great strength, Kye managed to cross the distance between him and his opponent instantly. Though he was a little bit surprised by his sudden burst in speed, the grip on his sword wasn''t exactly the best.
And because of that, instead of piercing her heart, he only managed to scratch her left arm a little.
The whale groaned in pain a little but didn''t stop her casting for such. On the contrary, thanks to thisst second of casting, she had finished creating her giant seed. "Die you lowly huma-..." As she was saying that, the big seed began to slowly bloom into a big flower.
But to her and everyone''s surprise, the soon-to-be great icy flower was shattered in million pieces. And as if it was only the beginning of a nightmare, things became even worse for her.
All the surrounding area suddenly became darker as if the water was tainted by a ck aura.
Those who were on the edge of the makeshift ring they had made could see a serpentine body circling all of them with sometimes what looked like a light that surely came from the eyes of the monster.
Kye sensing and seeing that felt breathless. It was as if his lungs didn''t take any air from his suit anymore. The pression he felt upon him was so much that even his face began to lose its color. However, his misery soon ended because a giant sphere of water enveloped him, slowly regenerating him as well.
He could see his HP bar slowly going up as well as his wounds slowly closing.
"Who dares attack the one that harbors my seal?" An extremely cold and menacing voice spread to everyone''s ears, sending shivers down their spine. Everyone was affected, even the human whale. However, Kye was protected by this and could only watch in awe as he saw everyone getting on one knee with their face looking down.
***
Earlier, when Aria was busy worrying about Kye''s whereabouts, someone shook her of her very. "Aria? Why are you so out of here thosest few days?" An incredibly handsome man that looked like he was in his early twenties asked as he raised his me color eyebrow. His hair was also the same color as well as his eyes which were as fiery as a me. "I know that our meetings are boring, but still. You look as if you''re gonna die."
"Thanks for worrying, Ras," Aria smiled through the hologram that was projecting her body. "I''m just a little bit worried about a ¡ friend I guess," Aria didn''t know if her rtionship with Kye was at this level or if they were still just acquaintances. But she still decided to use it since knowing Kye a little bit, he would surely consider her already as such.
"W-what did you say?" Ras stood up from his seat with such a speed that if it was a normal chair, then it would have already broken into hundreds of pieces.
"That I''m worried?"
"No, after that!"
"About a friend?" Aria raised an eyebrow, not understanding why Ras was so shocked.
"Since when did you have another friend besides me?" Ras asked with a ''hurt'' expression on his face. "Is it this bit*h of a griffon? Or this old dragon?" His hair even began to spark a little.
"Calm down Ras, it''s none of them. It''s not even a monster, to be honest."
"What?" He was even more surprised now. "I-is it an angel? Or a demon? Or don''t tell me... a human?" His eyes became so wide that Aria chuckled a little because Ras'' face became funnier by the second. He was so expressive that it changed from the other impassible being.
"Well, what should I say?" Aria paused a moment, letting the tension build up a little. There was only her and Ras in the meeting currently since the other went for a little break and would soon be back. And seeing Ras'' expression, she couldn''t help butugh. "Haha, well let''s be a little bit serious, shall we?" She smiled. "He''s a human, but also an angel as well. He also has Lightbringer which is sealed by the purest Holy energy I''ve ever seen in my life, as well as a halo which is sealed by the darkest demonic energy I''ve ever seen..." Aria was about to continue but got stopped by Ras.
"What do you mean by that? Is he a Nephilim? But no it can''t be since it wouldn''t exin the fact that he has Lightbringer, nor a sealed halo," Ras didn''t even doubt Aria for a second because he knew that her skills were top-notch. So her inspection of this new friend of her and his artifacts was without a doubt true. "Are you sure he''s normal?"
"I''ve never said he was normal though," She chuckled before continuing. "And you are right, he isn''t a Nephilim. From what he told me, and I''m sure he told me the truth, he was still a human a few weeks ago and only is a half-angel now. Which is very strange since there wasn''t any record of such things. Surely he would have be a Nephilim if it was the case, but no, he''s a half-angel," Ras listened to her with such a curiosity that he forgot his earlier worries.
"And what is stranger is that he didn''t get his halo naturally. His wings also grew from their infant state to their adult state in front of my eyes whereas he wasn''t even an angel yet. Which makes me wonder who he is."
"He is without a doubt an anomaly," Aria was d that this voice didn''te from Ras'' mouth because their rtionship wouldn''t have been the same anymore if it were to be so. "He needs to be dealt with quickly or will disrupt the order," The man who spoke looked quite old but was still handsome. He had venomous green hair as well as a cunning look that was entuated by his eyes emerald color.
"What do you mean by an anomaly, Chris?" Ras got angry because he didn''t like this old man one bit. "He''s a precious gem that needs to be cared for. He will without a doubt change the order of this world."
"How foolish from you, Ras!" Chris''s words looked like they harbored poison. "He will bring doom upon this world, not bring any benefit."
"And how are you so sure about that?" A beauty that looked like she was around Aria''s age asked Chris. She has golden silver hair and an otherwordly pretty face. But unlike Aria who looked like a gorgeous woman with everythings right in ce, this woman was more on the cute side with more humble curves. However, she didn''t shy away in terms of beauty Aria since they were both the same in this regard. "I''m sure that Aria didn''t take interest in him for no reason, right?" She looked toward her with a friendly smile. They didn''t get along on a lot of topics but were still decent friends that understood each other.
"That''s right, Ama. It was only out of curiosity at the beginning, but I slowly grow fond of him as I talked with him more. So much that I even gave him a seal-..."
Chapter 81 Arias Wrath
"That''s right, Ama. It was only out of curiosity at the beginning, but I slowly grow fond of him as I talked with him more. So much that I even gave him a friend seal."
"You did what?" Ras, Chris, and Ama all voiced out at the same time. Giving a friend seal wasn''t somethingmon, even among monsters. And it was much rarer to give one to another race, be it humans, angels, or demons.
"Aria, are you sure what you did was a wise decision?" Ama asked with twitching eyebrows. "A friend seal isn''t just a mark to let people know that they are rted to you."
"I agree with her," Ras said. "Especially when it''s your seal. If he managed to keep it and make it grow, he will be able to move and breathe underwater, exactly like a fish. And since there''s water in every single ofs, even in mine, it will give him a considerable advantage."
"I know that very well, you don''t have to worry about that," Aria smiled as the uneasiness in her heart began to grow. Kye still hadn''te, making her slowly fear the worse. "As I said, it was only out of curiosity at the beginning. However, it is as clear as water that he will achieve great things in the future, so making a longsting rtionship with him is the best idea. Not to add that he isn''t all and mighty, or even full of himself like almost all humans, angels, and demons. He knows how to repay kindness with even more kindness, and fury with doom. He even had a lot of difficulties epting my help and some gifts of mine."
"*Sigh*, guess it can''t be helped. I will need to meet him to judge his character on my own," Ama wasn''t opposing Aria anymore since she managed to convince her, even if it was a little. So she stayed neutral in this situation.
"Aria, can Ie to your domain?" Ras asked excitingly. Unlike the others who were cunning and thought too much, he was more short-headed. "I want to meet him right now."
"What a disgusting decision," Chris said with eyes soothing venom. He couldn''t do anything to Kye anymore because he had Aria''s friend seal. So attacking him will be no different from attacking Aria. And two mythical beings fighting wasn''t the best of things.
"We should see how things will go before thinking rashly, Chris," This time, it was a handsome ck-haired man with purple eyes who said that. He also looked in his twenties.
"Thank you, Wis," Aria thanked the ck-haired man before continuing. "Ras, you can do whatever you want, but don''t present yourself in your Pheonix form as he won''t be able to handle it ye..." Ras couldn''t enjoy Aria''s answer thetter immediately stood up with what looked like the biggest frown she ever had on her face.
"What''s wrong?" Wis asked. Aria was most of the time collected, so seeing such an expression on her face made him worried as well. Not much could make their expression change, so it surprised him greatly.
"I have to leave now," Aria said in an urgent tone as she moved so fast that not even afterimages remained behind her.
"Aria wait-..." Ras shouted, but to no avail. "I''ll go as well!"
"*Sigh*, those short-headed youngsters," Chris said as he shook his head.
Ama paid her no mean and turned toward Wis. "I hope nothing important happened. It''s notmon for her to have such expression.
"I hope as well. But everything should be alright. We are almost all invincible in our territory. Not to add that Ras also went there. And since both of them can''t do a thing against a variable, then it will change the order even more greatly than Aria''s new friend."
"*Sigh*, I hate it when you are so right."
***
Aria immediately took her real form and swam in an instant toward where she could feel Kye''s life force getting thinner by the seconds. However, even with her otherwordly speed, she still needed a little bit of time to reach where Kye where.
She wouldn''t have done anything if it happened outside of her territory. But since it happened inside, it only means that it was those under her that made something to him. And if Kye was to die because of her carelessness, she would have a hard time epting it.
p So she swam as fast as she could, while the ocean was quickly darkening because of her aura.
Once she arrived there, she saw a lot of her subordinates who made a ring-like shape arena with Kye and the newly intelligent whale fighting. However, things looked dire for Kye because the giant icy seed was about to kill him in a second.
So Aria shattered it with a thought before putting Kye in her bubble to heal him. His life rested on a single thread, so she needed to act fact.
"Who dares attack the one who harbors my seal?" An extremely cold and menacing voice spread to everyone''s ears, sending shivers down their spine. Everyone was affected, even the human whale. However, Kye was protected by this and could only watch in awe as he saw everyone getting on one knee with their face looking down.
Kye then looked up, only to see a giant serpentine body hovering upon him. "A-Aria, is that you?" Even though he didn''t feel Aria''s pressure, just looking at her scary yet elegant serpentine body made his voice quiver.
"Yes, it is me," Aria didn''t make a mind link because she wanted everyone to hear that her rtionship with Kye wasn''t a normal one. "Now, answer me before I kill all of you. Who dared attack the one who harbors my seal?"
The whale didn''t wait even a moment to answer because she was to dy things, her punishment will surely be worse than she could think. "I-It is me, m-my queen bu- but-..."
"Silence!" Aria didn''t let her finish as it would be useless. Her punishment wouldn''t be lessened one bit. "You dare attack my friend cunningly after his long expedition. You not only ashamed me because I promised him that nothing would happen to him in my territory, but you also ashamed everyone in my territory because you made them look like intelligent monsters that can''t even follow orders and recognize friends to foes."
"M-my quee-..."
"Silence!" Aria''s voice was filled with so much anger that even those who didn''te to see the fight earlier began to slowly move toward where they were to see what was happening while kneeling. They didn''t know what made their queen so angry, but it couldn''t be something good.
She then turned toward all those who watched the fight without putting an end to it. "As for all of you, don''t think that you wille out of this situation unscathed. You couldn''t even stop a fight where my friend was about to die so don''t thi-..." This time, it was Aria who got stopped by someone. And it made everyone so shocked that they all sucked a cold breath.
Chapter 82 Kyes Kindness
No one expected to see their queen being stopped while mid-talking by this winged human. It shocked them so much that they all sucked a cold breath. They even looked at Kye with pity in their eyes so much that they were sure he would be beheaded, even though he was supposed to be Aria''s friend.
"A-Aria, please don''t do anything to them," Kye managed to say after he muster the will do to so. Aria''s real form was so intimidating that just looking at her made him scared to no end. And at the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder about the future. A future where he would surely fight such strong monsters to continue leveling up.
"And why would I?" Aria raised what looked like her eyebrow. "They are supposed to be my subordinates, yet couldn''t even protect you from death. You wouldn''t even be here if I didn''te in time to save you. And yet you want me to let them unscathed?" She couldn''t help but feel perplexed seeing the begging expression on his face. It didn''t match his cute yet handsome face.
"Y-yes, please. Even though they could have helped me or stopped the fight, I can''t me them for something I brought upon myself."
"What do you mean by you brought upon yourself?"
"This whale," Kye showed the woman he was fighting still a minute prior with his finger. "I fought her when she still didn''t have any intelligence. I pierced her two eyes at that time, and that is surely why she wanted to take revenge by killing me."
Aria squinted her eyes when she heard that. She wasn''t surprised by the story behind this situation since she couldn''t care less about it. However, what surprised her was that Kye fought against the whale when he was even less strong than he was now. Sure the whale had improved a lot since then since she had gained intelligence, but still.
And it only made Aria smile internally knowing that trusting Kye with something as important as a friend seal wasn''t a bad decision. On the contrary, it was probably one of the best she could have made.
"Then I will spare the spectators since you asked me so," Ariapiled for his earlier request. "However, I won''t let her go just like this."
"I never asked you to do so," Kye said with a serious tone and determination shining in his eyes. "She was ready to take my life, and even though I would like to think I''m someone with goodwill, I won''t let someone who aimed for my life live peacefully," Kye''s statement made Aria surprised a little, yet she knew that sooner orter, Kye would be like this. The kind with his friends, yet ruthless with his fies. "So please, let me kill her myself."
Kye asked this out of nowhere. He knew that what he asked was risky since the whale could still kill him the moment he tried to do the same. However, he was under Aria''s watch right now, so if she couldn''t protect him, no one could.
Moreover, he still hadn''t forgotten his earlier quest. He didn''t receive the 40,000 EXP points, even though it was clear that she wouldn''t be able to harm him anymore. And this only reinforced his resolve to kill her instead of waiting for the quest''s reward. He was sure that if he were to kill her, he would not only get the 40,000 EXP but probably another valuable thing that he would be able to use sooner orter.
"Would you be able to kill someone with a human appearance?" Aria didn''t doubt Kye''s ability in taking someone else''s life. However, even though he wasn''t fully human anymore, he grew up as one, meaning that taking someone''s life wasn''t an easy feat. Especially for someone like Kye who still hadn''t bathed in blood and flesh yet.
"Yes, I will be able to take her life," He said with a resolute voice. "I know it will be hard now that I can think clearly, but if I do not get used to it now, I will have toter anyway. So I might as well get used to it now."
He indeed killed someone in the past. But he wasn''t in his right mind at that time. He was too scared to die because of his quest''s penalty or die because of his carelessness. Not to add that theter situations that came after he had killed his bully made him forget about him.
However, he still knew that he had killed someone. Just not how he reacted.
During their entire conversation, not only were the spectators got shocked by how Kye was talking to their queen, but also those who came after to greet her. Not to add that without this little boy who vouched for them, they would have probably faced severe consequences that they couldn''t even fathom.
Aria was a kind ruler, but she was probably the most ruthless one as well. So no one wanted to face her wrath.
And because of that, everyone began to see Kye in a new light.
Everyone except the whale.
She was biting her lips so hard that she bled from it. However, she couldn''t care less about it. She didn''t manage to take her revenge for what Kye has done to her, nor could she ept the fact that she would be killed by him. She was gifted with intelligence a few days ago. And even though she was extremely happy because of that, deep down, she couldn''t help but curse Kye because she couldn''t observe the world freely.
So once she saw that he was the guest that her new queen wanted her to bring to her, she couldn''t help but be drowned in the rage and anger he felt toward him and decided to attack him. Aria had promised to heal herter once she wouldn''t be busy anymore, so, in one way, she could have just let go of her lingering feelings. But when she saw Kye, the diminished me re-heated up, giving her new vigor and determination that just wanted to see Kye dead.
And yet, everything failed her. She wouldn''t get her eyes back, nor was she able to take revenge. On the contrary, the one she wanted to kill was the one who was about to kill her. ''How ironic. It seems that strength isn''t the only thing important in life,'' As still a normal monster not long ago, it was normal for the whale to think like that.
And she was right because strength was indeed nothing in such situations.
So Aria transformed back to her humanoid form to not make Kye faint the moment he will step out of the water sphere. Thetter then took his sword in his hand and take a look at his HP bar.
[10/55 HP]
Seeing that, he smiled because he at least wouldn''t die from a simple hit. And so after that, he red at the whale coldly, as if he was ready to give the whale her judgment.
Aria seeing that couldn''t help but think of someone, especially since Kye has the same sword.
Chapter 83 Kyes Likeness
Aria seeing that couldn''t help but think of someone, especially since Kye has the same sword as him. ''Why does he looks like his younger version so much?'' She thought as she was looking at Kye from the back. He was slowly moving toward the kneeling whale. ''He doesn''t have the same hair color nor eye colors, but his behavior is almost the same. Gentle with friends and ruthless with foes. It''s exactly like him.
''And even though it could just be a coincidence, I don''t think that it''s one. He is as determined as him and ready to give his all to get stronger and protect those who he held dear to his friends. The only difference with him is that Kye is still too kind, even to those that could have harmed him in the future, whereas he never let someone that could endanger his life in the future life.
''But that''s probably a good thing. I don''t know how he is rted to him, but Lightbringer easily tells that he is close, even though Kye doesn''t know about it. He would never let his sword to someone else.
''Then his gentle and kind side surelyes from his mom. Though, I don''t think it has anything to do with his human parents. Maybe she is an angel? But he is now a demon. And the chance to get offspring between an angel and a demon is extremely low. So now that it''s not even something fathomable.
''But what if? What if Kye is the descendant of an extremely powerful angel and an extremely powerful demon? There''s a very low possibility, but that''s the only exnation for the sealed state of Lightbringer and his halo which is not your typical halo.
''*Sigh* I guess only the future will tell us about it. I don''t know how he could still be a human if his parents aren''t, but we never know. Maybe in the future, he will slowly acquire demonic energy. I just hope he won''t suffer from it because holy and demonic energy doesn''t bide well together. Though, it''s not like Kye is your typical angel either. So who knows? Everything''s possible.''
Her thought process was so fast that Kye just arrived in front of the whale. Thetter stared at her coldly, sending a shiver down her spine. If a stare could pierce someone''s soul, then she would have already died.
The whale, even though couldn''t ept her death was obliged to. She couldn''t do anything, especially now that probably every monster in Aria''s territory will see her as an enemy and Kye as a friend. Not to add that he had protected them, even though it was clear that they were hostile to him since the beginning.
However, she couldn''t do anything about it. She went against her queen''s order, and that was the only oue of disobeying it. Though, she had difficulties epting dying at the hands of the one she wanted to kill.
Nheless, she couldn''t do anything now, so she just lowered her head and waited for her time toe. It wasn''t as if Kye would suddenly decide to save her, after all. It was reflecting in his eyes that he wouldn''t show mercy.
And just like this, she saw her body kneeling but upside down as if her head had been decapitated. And it was exactly what happened.
Kye cut her head to give her a painless death. He indeed wanted to kill her, but he wasn''t monstrous enough to torture her with pain. He was neither ready to do that, yet, nor was he willing to.
She was a bravebatant, and he wanted to give her a clean death, even though he knew he was weaker than her in every aspect.
And once her body and head began to drift apart, Kye received his system notifications.
[You killed a special rank Balena, +15,000 EXP]
[Questpleted]
[Rewards are being re-calcted due to the host managing to kill his predator]
[Please wait]
Kye was a little perplexed seeing that because he expected the reward of the quest toe immediately. However, while it seems simple to give the EXP rewarded or even make him level up instantly, it seems to be another matter when ites to more physical rewards like his sword and halo for example.
Nheless, in the corner of his mind, he couldn''t help but smile. After all, if he were to indeed be an angel when he would reach level 10, then he was sure at a hundred percent that he would have to bear excruciating pain because his body would change.
As Aria saidst time, the holy energy inside his body wasn''t stable, so just he would surely suffer because of that. Then his body would surely change as well to be able to store more power.
Though, it was only his theory for now. He could as well don''t suffer at all, which he wasn''t very confident about that since the system seemed to like making him suffer. ''I just hope my holy sword won''t get bigger,'' He blushed from his ears thinking that.
While he was thinking and staring at the air nkly from an outside point of view, Aria dismissed everyone. However, not without a warning. If something like this was to happen again, they wouldn''te out of it alive. Hearing that, everyone took a liking to Kye because without him, even though they wouldn''t have died, they would have surely lost a limb or two, or maybe even worse.
So once everyone was gone, Aria slowly approached Kye from behind who was still looking nkly in mid-air. "Are you alright Kye?"
"Uh? Oh yeah, why wouldn''t I be?" He smiled.
"I mean, you still killed someone with a human form. Isn''t it a little bit traumatizing?"
Kye thinks for a moment before answering. "It is a little. But I need to get used to it anyway. I''m sure thatter, monsters won''t be my only enemies. Humans would probably be even more scary and cunning than them," Kye couldn''t tell her that he couldn''t care less about his action because of the system''s notification. If he were to bepletely honest, then he had forgotten about what he did the moment the first window appeared in his retina.
"*Sigh*. Seriously, even a child has to worry about his potential enemies. The world has changed too much."
"What do you mean a child?" Kye pouted. Though, he looked cuter than anything. "I''m a grown-up man."
"Haha, yeah that''s true that''s true," Aria chuckled lightly hearing him and seeing his expression. "It''s true that your holy sword could have a tale on its own."
"Wh-..." Kye didn''t even get the chance to blush and hide his body part where his holy sword resides in that he felt an immense pressure upon him. It was as if Aria had taken her Leviathan form. It made him breathless, slowly losing the color on his face.
However, Aria was still by his side. But with a visible frown on her face. She even clicked her tongue in pure annoyance at what was happening.
"What''s happ-ening?" Kye managed to say, amidst a lot of difficulties.
Chapter 84 Ras Coming
"What''s happ-ening?" Kye managed to say, amidst a lot of difficulties.
Hearing that, Aria immediately went in front of Kye to cover him from the immense pressure that wasing toward them. And thankfully for him, he managed to recover his breath, though, just a little bit. But it was enough for him to at least recover the colors of his face.
Suddenly, the water around them began to increase in heat. It wasn''t noticeable at the beginning, but as time passes, it became more and more apparent. And while it wasn''t affecting Aria, it was another story for Kye.
Thetter sure had suffered way more during his transformation from human to half-angel, or even during his wings growth. But now it was as if someone was torturing him. The hot water couldn''t touch him thanks to his improved suit that covered his whole body, but it didn''t change the fact that he could still feel it. It was as if he was in a burning sauna. It was annoying and slowly began to weaken him.
A little bit of heat was good. But too much wasn''t. And he was experiencing the effects of it now. It was as if he was about to pass out. If not for Aria''s timely water sphere, he would have without a doubt cked out.
"What are you doing here, Ras?" Aria clicked her tongue as she spread her voice through the water so that Ras could hear her annoyance.
Thetter flew faster toward her hearing that. "I thought you were in danger. Where''s your enemy?" He looked around, only to see no one.
Kye, seeing him was so shocked that he once again couldn''t breathe. But this time, it wasn''t because he had forgotten, but exactly like earlier with Aria''s real form. The pressure and the majesticity that was emanating from this Pheonix was way too grand, thus making it difficult for him to breathe.
"What are you talking about? An enemy? In my territory?"
"Wasn''t it for that reason that you leave the meeting in a hurry?" He still kept his Pheonix form while talking. Making Aria click her tongue.
"Take your humanoid form already!"
"Huh? Why? What if the enemy appears suddenly?"
"Ras!" Aria only said his name, but Ras felt a shiver down his spine. The veins bulging on her forehead clearly showed that she was getting angry. So after gulping down, Ras took his human form, finally seeing a big sphere of water behind Aria.
Kye feeling that he could breathe normally again looked up, only to see a handsome man. While he was handsome as well, this man in front of him looked otherwordly.
"Who is he?" Ras asked, his interest having been drawn toward what looked like an angel but not so much at the same time.
"The one that I took interest in, and the one you almost kill by your presence."
"What? I didn''t do anything," Ras felt hurt hearing that. Though, his face was saying otherwise. He was d that he managed to meet the one that picked Aria''s interest this soon.
"Didn''t I tell you that he couldn''t bear our real form yet?"
"Did you?" Aria was seriously about to attack him. "I''m kidding I''m kidding," He quickly said to not get hurt by Aria. "Anyways. May I know your name, little ¡ angel?"
Kye was reluctant at first. It was clear that this man was as strong as Aria, and to add insult to injury, he had almost killed him with his presence alone. However, Aria seemed to know him well, and from what he was saying, he didn''t look like someone that would make him his enemy. On the contrary, he looked like he was acting friendly.
So Kye stepped out of the sphere, feeling once again a grand pressure upon him. Aria looked at Ras with a menacing re, but this time, thetter didn''t budge, making Aria understand that he wanted to test Kye.
And it made Aria smile because Ras would be here for a surprise. "I''m Kye Vermillion. I''m not an angel yet. But I''m sure it''s just a matter of minutes before I be one for real."
Ras didn''t have the time to be a little taken aback by how confident he was and how he looked like the pressure upon him didn''t affect him at all that Aria spoke in his stead.
"What do you mean by a matter of minute?"
"Well, I guess it''s like a gut feeling?" Kye lied through his teeth since he couldn''t tell about his system. "I can feel like I will be an angel very soon."
Aria didn''t wait a minute to make them all head directly to her domain. T didn''t take very long since Aria and Ras were both extremely fast. Aria also made a house likest time so that they could talk with more ease. Once there, Ras asked a question.
"Kye, are you sure that you will be an angel?" He didn''t speak with formalities, not that he was the type to talk like that in the first ce.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"It''s because usually, normal angels are considered true angels only when they begin their duty as an angel. And it usually takes decades if not centuries to be a true angel. Whereas as far as I know, it hadn''t been long since you''ve changed and be a half-angel. So it just seems strange to me that you can be an angel in such a short amount of time."
Aria also thought the same as Ras. She didn''t underestimate his talent, but even then, it was hard to believe that such a thing could happen. Never just a fast person born, but it seems that everything has a beginning sooner orter, at least from what Kye had said.
"Well... to be honest, I don''t know what is the duty that you are talking about, but I''m sure that I will be a real angel soon."
"Then if you''re so sure," Aria said as she waved her hand. "I didn''t manage to help youst time because your energy waspletely blocking my interference, but maybe if we''re anticipating things a little, you won''t feel as much pain asst time."
"Didn''t the process to be an angel very fast and painless?" Ras asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"In theory, yes," Aria said as tendrils or waters slowly began to move around Kye. "But Kye isn''t your normal being. So it''s better to be safe than sorry."
And just as she said that Kye received his system''s notification.
Chapter 85 Demonic Energy?!?!
"In theory, yes," Aria said as tendrils or waters slowly began to move around Kye. "But Kye isn''t your normal being. So it''s better to be safe than sorry."
And just as she said that Kye received his system''s notification.
[Reward has been calcted]
[Heavenly disguise: Allow one of the user''s items to take the form it would like. However, the stats given by the item would be sealed as long as the item isn''t in its real form.]
[Main quest reward: + 40,000 EXP]
The heavenly disguise appeared in front of him out of nowhere, making Aria and Ras wary. However, when they saw that it was just a strange-looking gum, their wariness dyed down a little. Though, they still didn''t understand how something could appear out of thin air, especially since Kye didn''t have a personal space where he could store things.
But their eyes couldn''t examine the strange gum for too long because their attention got drawn elsewhere.
"Arggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Kye screamed at the top of his lungs, sending a shiver down Aria''s and Ras'' spine. They didn''t expect such a thing to happen since he was perfectly alright still a moment ago.
But things didn''t end here.
The tendrils of water that were made by Aria tried to enter contact with Kye''s body to alleviate his pain. However, exactly likest time when she was trying to help him with his wings, Kye''s energy blow them away.
"Again?!"
"What do you mean by again?"
"His energy doesn''t allow any type of interference, be it friendly or foes."
Ras made a green fire appear on top of his right hand to see if what Aria was saying was true. A Pheonix could be reborn from its ashes, so they had an exceptional regenerative ability, so surely he would be able to help Aria since thetter wasn''t specialized in this field.
And Ras was very confident as well because his supporting abilities always work. But everything had to have a beginning sooner orter.
The green me enveloped Kye''s body, only to be repelled by even more force than Aria''s tendrils of water. It shocked him to no end, only to be drawn back to reality because of Kye''s continuous scream.
"Why? Why does my me didn''t work?" He asked between two of his scream.
"As I said earlier, Kye isn''t your typical being," Aria answered with a lot of worries. Kye was quickly destroying his vocal cords with how much he was screaming in pain right now. "It seems that every time he will change, he had to suffer a lot of pain-..." Aria didn''t manage to finish because what she saw made her suck a cold breath.
Kye began to cough inscrutably, with every time a mouthful of blood escaping from it. But it wasn''t the end. Blood came out from all his orifices. His eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and even his rear. And strangely enough, the blood that wasing out was boiling. The little pool of blood that was forming under him kept bulbing because of how hot his blood was right now.
Suddenly, Kye spits another mouthful of blood. But unlike earlier, there was much more blood. Even what looks like some organs and muscles.
"Is he losing his life?" Ras asked, worrying a lot for Kye. Blood was already a lot, but if other things were necessary for his body to work that were spit out, then things didn''t bode well.
"No, take a look inside of his body," She said as Kye began vomiting his internal organs as well as some muscles. "His holy energy destroys his weak organs and muscles before slowly creating new ones. His body is getting stronger by the second, but as everything has a price in this world, he had to suffer excruciating pain to get that."
Ras nodded his head when he saw that, only to stop the motion once he saw something else. "Wait, what''s this energy? Is it... demonic energy?"
"What?" Aria looked again, only to see a tiny pool of ck color''s energy. In the bottom part of his body. It wasn''t evenparable to the amount of holy energy that Kye had right now, but it was still there. Little and almost unnoticeable. But still there. "How is it possible? Holy energy and demonic energy are supposed to fight against each other. And it''s, even more, the case inside someone''s body, destroying it because they can''t live together.
"And yet here both energies seemed to be in peace. The holy energy can crush the demonic energy in a second, but it leaves it alone instead."
"Wait take a look," Ras stopped her. "The demonic energy seemed to blend with the holy energy."
"I-Is it camouging itself inside it?" Aria couldn''t believe her eyes. The ck energypletely disappeared. But instead of going away, it stayed inside Kye''s body and fuse with it. "How is it possible?"
While they were discussing, Kye''s body kept changing. His blood kept boiling inside of his body, his organs kepting out in a tiny bit. The same applied to his muscles as well. And there were even what looked like tiny parts of bonesing out as well. However, it wasn''t only the internal part of his body that was changing.
Since his old internal body was now almost free, it let ce to the new part. New bones were more strong and sturdy. New muscles that were stronger and healthier, as well as a new skin that was slowly changing. Even his wings'' feathers looked greater, while the overall appearance looked more majestic
His old skin was piled off his body to be reced by a new one, free from all impurities. Even his hair got a change. They were a lot healthier than before.
However, this process wasn''t the easy one. It hurt him like hell when everything wasing out of his body. But it hurt two times more when things were being recreated. Sure his body was getting stronger and at the same time his holy energy greater, but it made him hurt a lot more.
So much that Kye clenched all the parts of his body to try to alleviate the pain. Likest time, he was trying to hurt himself to forget the pain he was feeling, but it didn''t change one bit because it seems that it was getting worse and worse as the seconds pass.
Aria and Ras watched all the process, and even though they were very, very old, they never saw such a gruesome scene appear in front of them. It looked even worse than any torture they could have possibly used until now or knew about. It was as if Kye was experiencing destruction and creation one after the other.
And yet, even through all this pain, Kye didn''t faint. He was enduring through the process. Sure he was screaming until even his throat began to bleed. Sure he was in pain. Sure he was under a lot of pressure. Sure he felt as if it was better to die. But he didn''t give up.
Chapter 86 Shaken Realms
Sure he felt as if it was better to die. But he didn''t give up. He kept his head high. And even with his eyes that looked like he had given up on life, he still had as much vigor as when he was alright, if not even more.
And seeing that, Aria was proud of him. Hours had passed but Kye didn''t let the pain consume him. He could have as well died if he had fainted, even for a second. She even had a smile on her face. A motherly smile. It was as if she was a mother who was proud of his son for his courage and determination.
As for Ras, even though he had a pained expression on his face because even he was hurt when looking at Kye''s condition, in reality, he was thrilled and excited. He knew very well that Kye wasn''t anywhere near his strength, but he was still excited to know someone like him. It was clear that Kye''s future was bright, and if he could nurture this future, even a little, he would dly do so.
"Aria can I give him a friend seal as well?"
"Why are you even asking me?" She smiled hearing that. She knew that sooner orter, Ras would have given Kye his seal, but she didn''t expect it this soon. "Just don''t add more pain upon him now since he won''t be able to withstand it. His life was weighing on a thread for hours now, so don''t be the nail that will push him away."
"Yes, don''t worry!" His earlier expression now had a smile on his handsome face. Deep down, he was a little scared that Aria wouldn''t let anyone else give him a friend seal. But he worried for nothing because Aria would never have done that. Such a thought didn''t even cross her mind.
She was ready to teach Kye as many things as she could. And if others could do so as well, then she would be d. Especiallying from Ras.
Kye now had wings, and it was hard to learn everything on his own. And as a phoenix, Ras will with no doubt be able to teach him a thing or two. He could even teach him how to manipte his energy so that it could have a more beneficial effect since his mes had much more use than just burning and healing itself.
And just as she thought that Kye stopped screaming. Aria and Ras looked at each other before looking toward Kye. Only to see him fall face first on the ground. Thankfully for him, Aria managed to make a soft water tform which made Kyend on it.
Not that it would have hurt him a lot in the first ce. Kye''s body was now a lot more stronger and resistant than before, so it wasn''t a gentle fall that would have damaged him.
"Is it over?" Ras asked seeing the new Kye. While he was probably only around 170 centimeters earlier, he was now around 185. He also looked way more handsome than before. Otherworldly, exactly like Ras. His face also looked more mature, but it still majority conserved its cute side.
"Seems like it," Aria nodded as she clean the giant pool of blood in a matter of a second before slowly putting Kye on afy bed.
She and Ras looked at his sleep soundlessly, almost as if he hadpletely forgotten about his earlier pain.
"Why does he look more cute than handsome?" Ras asked after a minute of silence.
"Pfft, hahaha," Aria chuckled hearing his remark. She hadn''t expected that one bit. "Leave him be. There are already too many handsome guys in this world. A few cute boys won''t hurt anyone."
"Hmm, fair enough," Ras chuckled as well before both of them went away.
***
Once Kye''s suffering hade to an end, different people in different realms had different expressions on their faces.
On the higher level of heaven, a beautiful woman, prettier than any other being in the world had a smile on her face.
"Does something happen?" A man that looked like her servant asked.
"Nothing much. Just the beginning of a new era," She even had a motherly smile on her beautiful face.
***
A few lower levels in heaven, what looked like an angel council had a frown on their face.
"Why does his seat light up again?" A woman asked. She wasn''t as pretty as the other woman, but as an angel, she was still superior to your normal beings.
"It is strange," An old but handsome man said. "His seat light up for only a second before it dyes down into nothingness the moment after.
"Does that mean that he wille back?" Someone else asked.
"I do not think so. He had fallen long ago and is infertile. So no one would be able to take his seat.
"But what if someone does?" A young woman asked.
"Then we won''t be able to do anything," A man who was seating at the end of the table asked. "This seat belongs to him, and it is in heavens rules that no one can oppose someone''s rightful seat in our heavenly council."
"What do you mean by that, Scribe?" A fat angel asked. "He is the demon himself. How can he or his nonexistent descendant could take his seat back?"
The man known as Scribe looked at him and smile. "It is neither you nor I who made the rules. They had been made long long ago, even before our grandparents were born, and they can not be changed, no matter if everyone opposes it or not."
"But can we let him take back his seat?" A young angel that looked in his fourteen, but who is in reality very old asked.
"We''re assuming things for nothing," A woman that looked in her forties answered. "His seat only lit up for a second before dying down. So it might as well just be an error. There''s no need in staying on that matter longer."
"But-..." The young man tried to say but got interrupted by the scribe.
"Let''s continue today''s meeting, shall we?"
***
In the deepest part of hell, the man that the angel''s council was talking about was present. And he couldn''t help but smile like a proud father.
"Does something happen, my king?" A handsome demon with light blue hair asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Asmodeus," Even though he said that, he still had his smile on his face. A smile that didn''t want to go.
''You finally began your evolution, Kye,'' He thought with excitement as the day he was waiting for now almost two decades was slowly but surely getting closer.
***
While both realms were shaken by this sudden phenomenon, Kye who was the center of the talks was still sleeping soundlessly, without a care in the world. Not that he could have imagined what was awaiting him in the future.
Chapter 87 Uncertain Future
While both realms were shaken by this sudden phenomenon, Kye who was the center of the talks was still sleeping soundlessly, without a care in the world. Not that he could have imagined what was awaiting him in the future.
Hours passed and Kye still didn''t wake up. It made Aria and Ras worried a little, but After remembering how much he had suffered earlier, they think of it as something normal.
On the contrary, it would have been stranger for him to be already alright and ready to kick some as*es.
And it put them more at ease when they knew that it was natural for him to sleep. His body had undergone a lot of changes, be it internally or externally. He had changed so much that it was as if he was unrecognizable. Maybe even his Friends would have a hard time recognizing him.
So for his body to get used to all those changes, the most natural process was for him to sleep.
"Still, isn''t he sleeping too much?" Ras asked Aria who was sipping her tea without a care in the world. "I''m worried he is in aa."
"Why are you so worried?" She asked calmly.
"Are you not?" H¨¦ raised an eyebrow
"Not even a little," She sipped her tea again. " Kye is strong. And I Know that what he had to endure to be an Angel was a strange process and a very very painful one. However, we both Saw how determined he was. The look in his eyes had not given up nor was it one who was ready to be consumed by his pain.
"On the contrary, it was determined to move on and wouldn''t give up under any pr¨¦texte. Just look how much he suffered. Not even I, and I''m sure that not even you have ever suffered as much as him.
"And he had already suffered something alike before h¨¦ went hunting unintelligent Monsters."
"I understand that he''s strong and determined, but still," He said as he looked down. "And what do you mean a by something alike? Is he a masochist or what?"
"Hell no!" She immediately said. Just look at his cute face, do you really think he''s that type of man?" Ras shook his head quickly. "Anyways. I saved him a week ago or something. And at this time, his wings were still like a newborn Angel. The tiny and cute wings. However, in front of me and through a very hard and painful process, his wings grew to what you know now."
"Are you serious?!" Ras eximed.
"Yes, very," Aria nodded. "Sure the pain he felt at that time was without a doubt not as strong as the one he felt earlier. His body wasn''t destroying itself before creating New limbs After all. It was just growing New parts in his body. But even with that, he didn''t give up.
"So even After experiencing that much pain without the glint in his eyes dying even a little, why are you still worried? Kye is strong. Very strong. And I''m sure that sooner orter, h¨¦ will be as strong as us if not even more," She smiled saying that.
However, Ras'' expression wasn''t the same as hers. H¨¦ waspletely shocked by her statement.
He and all the Monsters Aria was referring to were very strong and ancient beings. A New Angel couldn''t even bepared to neither their years of being alive nor to their experiences. And yet, Aria was confident that Kye would surpass them all.
However, After some more time, Ras'' shocked expression turned into a smile. He still had a few difficulties imagining that. But he too began to slowly think that it was possible. H¨¦ had very good eyes to judge people, and it never failed him until now. And even Aria assured him that, and he knew Also very well that she wasn''t the type to joke with those types of things.
So with a smile, he agreed with Aria''s statement and looked toward the future.
An uncertain future where Kye would surely be at the center of the attention.
***
Kye slept for two whole days. Aria and Ras got worried since they thought he would have woken up the day After he had to evolve, but in the end, they couldn''t do anything, so they just waited.
The moment he woke up, Kye could already see changes.
His view was a lot clearer than before. Where before h¨¦ could see clearly something at a hundred meters, now h¨¦ was sure that it had doubled if not even tripled.
H¨¦ then stood up from his bed and went to the bathroom, only to be shocked by what he Saw.
Kye slept naked because Aria and Ras decided it was morefortable for him. But it wasn''t what shocked him.
His Holy sword didn''t change, so he was d for that. But it couldn''t be said the same for his body and face.
His face was now a lot more mature than before. H¨¦ was more handsome, his jawline was more visible and his hair was as pretty and smooth as silk. Though he still kept his cuteness, so it was the most important thing.
As for his body, it was a lot bigger than before. H¨¦ was sure he grew up for about ten centimeters, and his little chiseled but Small muscles were now bigger, but still perfectly fit for him. H¨¦ didn''t have the body of a child anymore but more of a teen who was growing well.
"And Say I was as skinny as a spaghetti a few months ago!" Kye said to his r¨¦flexion in the mirror with a shocked expression but also a Big smile.
Where other boys his age would think of getting girls thanks to his New beauty and handsomeness, he was thinking of how he would fight with his New body of his.
"Even my wings seem harder and stronger!"
Chapter 88 A New Status
"Even my wings seem harder and stronger!" Kye said with excitement in his voice as he unbeknostly pped his wings a little. It wasn''t perfect. It was even far from it. But it was a very good beginning.
So after taking a quick shower and putting clothes on him, Kye went into the other room, only to see no one. "Where are they?" He mumbled to himself before sitting down on what looked like a couch.
He waited for about fifteen minutes before lying down. If no one were toe, he might as well take a look at his status. And the moment he opened it, he was greatly happy with the changes.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Angel
Level: 7
EXP: 11,450/12,800
HP: 90/90
Strength: 15 (+3) (+3)
Agility: 16 (+3) (+3)
Stamina: 15 (+3) (+3)
Remaining stats to distribute: 8
Spells: Holy ray; Angel''s eyes (LvL 2); Holy control; Purify
Passive spells: Flight]
[Holy ray: Level 1]
[Holy ray: Allow the host to fire a Holy ray from his hands. The ray has a range of 10 meters. The host must use his holy energy to fire the Holy ray.]
[Holy control: Level 1]
[The host can control the holy energy in his body to either attack, strengthen his body, or defend.]
[Purify: Level1]
[Purify: Allow the host to purify any low-level foreign substances from one''s internal or external body.]
[Due to the host''s current level, the sword has hidden features and its stats had been lowered to correspond with the host''s capability.
Name: Lightbringer
Stats:
Strength: +3
Agility: +3
Stamina: +3
Special effect: Unbreakable; ???]
[Unbreakable: Lightbringer can''t be destroyed by any means]
[Due to the host''s current level, the halo has hidden features and its stats had been lowered to match the host''s capability.
Name: Eden
Stats:
Strength: +3
Agility: +3
Stamina: +3
Special effects: Holiness; ??? ]
[Holiness: When the halo is above the head, allow the host to control his holy energy more easily]
First, what shocked him the most was the fact that he began once again from level 1 after his evolution. He thought that after evolving, he would have continued with levels 11, 12, 13, and so on, but it seems that it wasn''t the case. And if what he was thinking was right, then he would need an astronomical amount of EXP to continue level up after reaching level 10, because surely, this time, he would need to go higher than level 10.
''I need to fight a lot of strong opponents to get those instant level-up quests,'' Kye thought with a determined smile.
It was the easiest way to level up, so he naturally thought about it. Sure it would be hard to fight a stronger opponent than him since there would be a great risk for him to die, but he was ready to take this risk. He wanted to continue and get stronger until he would be able to live without being scared of losing his life, getting bullied, or even losing one of his friends.
Then he was d that he had finally be an angel. It took him a long time, and he was really happy to be fully one. Though, if other angels were to hear him, they would surely choke him in the next minute because Kye became an angel so fast that it would be normal to be jealous of him.
But we don''t really care about them right now. Or at least not yet.
There was also his max HP which increase a lot. He was only getting +5 HP after each level up, but since afterpleting thest quest he got +40,000 EXP, he had leveled up a lot, thus his HP skyrocketed through the sky and was now a lot more resistant than before. And Kye was so happy by that that he couldn''t help but have a big smile stered on his face. He couldn''t help but think to the future when he will be able to tank a lot of strikes while still having his HP high.
Then the fact that his pieces of equipment were now giving him +3 stats each. He hadn''t expected such a big increase in his stats. Overall, he got +9 stats points per equipment, so +18 stats in total, and it was a big improvement in his stats that made him happy once again.
''But won''t I be too strong if things continue like this?'' Kye thought to himself with a grin. "I can feel it. My body is far stronger than before. And is it the reason why my wings are better as well? Yeah, that''s right. The description said that my wings were getting better as my stats were increasing. So it must be why.''
However, that wasn''t the end. Since he was now stronger, the hidden features of both his equipment got revealed a little. It wasn''t a lot, but both of them looked strong.
Lightbringer''s spell, [Unbreakable] wasn''t something fancy nor something that could finish a fight the moment he used it. However, an unbreakable sword was probably better than anything else. A sword, when used a lot, and it was the case for Kye, would slowly break itself. And if Kye''s main weapon were to break in the middle of a fight, then it would mean death to him. And if it wasn''t death, it could be a deadly injury that he would either won''t be able to heal from or an injury that he would take days to heal from. So an unbreakable sword was one of the best gifts or rather spell he could have asked for.
As for his halo''s spell, even though he still didn''t know how he could control the holy energy in his body, he was sure that it would help him a lot. And he was sure that it would be something exceptionally great at the beginning because learning something from scratch wasn''t something very easy. His wings were proof of it, so he was happy to get a spell that would help him a lot in the early stage of learning this new energy.
Chapter 89 Heavenly Disguise
His wings were proof of it, so he was happy to get a spell that would help him a lot in the early stage of learning this new energy.
As he thought about his halo, he remembered something else. ''Wasn''t one of my rewards from thest quest something that could help me hide something?'' He thought as what he was thinking appeared in front of him.
He looked at it before his system showed him the description.
[Heavenly disguise: Allow one of the user''s items to take the form it would like. However, the stats given by the item would be sealed as long as the item isn''t in its real form.]
"Yes, that''s it!" Kye almost shouted when he finished reading that. "I will be able to hide my halo thanks to that! And I can just deactivate it when I will fight to regain all the stats point it gives me!" Kye was so excited that he didn''t even notice that the heavenly disguise went to his face and enveloped his halo. It stayed a few moments like this and then Kye understood that he needed to think of shape so that his halo could be reshaped.
"Hmm, what could be good?" Kye thought out loud before finding what he wanted.
The holy disguise then got tinier and tinier until it shape into what looked like an earring. It was a single ear earring that had a long shape. Well a long shape for an earring, not anything else. It was gray in color.
"Well, that''s perfect, I am all now good," He eximed with a smile. It was worrying him a lot to know that people would have been able to see his halo. It would have been a dead giveaway about his identity, so he was happy to not have to worry about it anymore.
Then, there was also his Holy ray. Even though it looked like there weren''t a lot of differences from before, in reality, there was one big and major new thing. He didn''t need to use his HP anymore to fire Holy rays and only his Holy energy. He didn''t know what form it had and how it would impact him if he were to use it continuously during a fight, but surely it wasn''t as simple as the description was implying.
He still didn''t know what effect his holy energy could have on him when he will use it a lot. And surely using his Hoy ray will decrease what Holy energy he had inside of his body, so he will have to be careful about using it.
In a sense, it was less scary because his HP would stop decreasing, but in another, it was scarier because he didn''t know what effect his Holy energy could have on him. ''Well whatever, there''s no need for me to think about it now. We will see it in due time when it will happen. Not now."
It was better to not worry about it because he will only get more worried as time passes.
Andst but not least, he got two new spells. [Purify] looked like the perfect supportive spell. Being able to purify any low-level substance from someone''s body will help him save his friends against any poisons or whatever alike. For example, if he were to re-fight the giant snake fromst time and still didn''t have enough stamina, he would be able to use this spell and stay alive. It didn''t look strong now since it was only low leveled substances, butter when he will be able to level up it, he was sure that it would be extremely strong.
It was just a crazy idea that came to his mind, but maybe when it will be at the max level, he could even purify someone''s existence, thus killing it instantly. Though, it would only be beings that would be lower in terms of power than him.
And then [Holy control]. It was probably the thing that would carry him a lotter on. His halo will help him learn how to use this new and foreign energy now, and without a doubt, it would be extremely strongter on. Sure he didn''t know what shape it had right now nor how it had to be used, but if it was just a tiny bit like elemental ability, then he would be able to shape his holy energy in whatever shape he wanted. He could probably even coat his sword with holy energy and use it to cut through things more easily.
''I don''t know why, but it looks like I will have a lot more possibilities in my kitter on,'' Kye only thought to the good sides after seeing his status page, not the bad things that could happen once someone had great powers.
But how could he know about that? He was still taking baby steps toward what would be a very long and tiring journey.
But anyway. He decided to close his status page because his work was finished with it. He didn''t use his free stats points because he didn''t know what could happenter on. It was still better to keep them in reserve to use when he will need them.
And since it was a certitude that it would have to fight stronger and stronger enemies as time passes, it was better to keep them to use them once he would be in dire situations.
And his equipment was now enough in terms of increase of stats because it increased them greatly. Not to add that his body also looked like a totally new body with new powers. So there wasn''t any need for Kye to use his free stats points for now.
? And the moment he closed his status page, he heard noisesing out from the exterior of Aria''s house.
"Do you think Kye finally woke up?" Ras asked with excitement. He wanted to talk with Kye so much that he couldn''t even focus during their meetings.
"Oh? Didn''t I tell you?" Aria asked as she walked indoors calmly. "He woke up around an hour ago."
"Tch,e on Aria. We''re not in my territory, so how would I know?" Ras clicked his tongue and pouted handsomely.
Chapter 90 A Different Point Of View
"Tch,e on Aria. We''re not in my territory, so how would I know?" Ras clicked his tongue and pouted handsomely.
"Haha," She chuckled as she saw Kye smiling at them. He had indeed changed a lot. He still kept his cuteness though, which made Aria d.
"Wee~"
"Kye! You''re finally awake!" Ras said loudly and went to check his body.
"Is something wrong?" Kye asked Aria.
"No, not at all. He was just worried sick about you," Aria exined. "You didn''t wake up for two days, and he was wondering if you were in aa."
"Come on Aria, you don''t have to tell him that, do you?" He had a funny expression on his face, making Kyeugh lightly.
"Thank you for your concern, sir Ras," Kye smiled brightly at him, making him wonder if it was normal to be handsome and cute at the same time. He was already a ma before, but now it was as if he had be a ck hole attracting everyone around him. Boys because he looked and acted like a little brother, and girls because he looked otherwordly. "But I''m as good as ever now. I can feel that my body had changed. And I''m very happy about it. "I will be able to fight more easily and more efficiently now thanks to all those changes," He smiled again.
"That''s great! I''m excited to see how you will growter on," He smiled back. "However my little boy," H¨¦ squinted his eyes, and his smile faded. "Why did you call me Sir? Do I look old? Or don''t you like me? Am I scary? Aren''t I handsome? Or is it because I don''t look friendly? Was the first impression you got from me bad? How can I make up for this? Should I gift you something? What should I giv-..." Ras kept talking without taking a breath, slowly getting closer to Kye''s face. Thetter was leaning back and wanted to talk, but Ras kept leaning forth while asking questions After questions.
But thankfully for Kye, Aria stopped him. "Ras, you''ll scare him at this rate."
"But-..." Ras stopped after seeing Aria''s re. He then looks down, acting as if he got teary.
"Sir Ras... No Ras, please don''t be sad. I didn''t mean it this way," Kye immediately said when he saw Ras acting this way.
"*Sigh*" Aria sighed when seeing the scene behold in front of her.
"Got you !" Ras raised his head and smiled at Kye, who blushed in embarrassment.
"I-... I-..." Kye even hide his face with his arms because of how embarrassed he was.
"Don''t hide, cute boy," Ras kept teasing him, making Aria sigh once again.
After a few more minutes of teasing, Ras finally calmed down. H¨¦ even had to sit on his knees because of Aria. She got annoyed by his behavior and had to punish him somehow. She even asked herself who was the child between Kye and Ras.
And after things calmed down a little more, Aria finally asked. "So, how do you feel now? I can tell by your now calm holy energy that you became a real angel and not some half-breed."
"Hmm, as I said earlier, I''m feeling very well. It''s as if a new type of oxygen is filling my lungs. I don''t know how to describe it, but it''s really great!" Kye said with stars in his eyes, making both mythical creatures smile.
Kye was so open with his feelings that he never thought about hiding them, not even once. And it made them happy because he wasn''t cunning instead, he was genuine about everything.
"Then you truly became one," Ras said. "Every angel is like this. Strong and as if the air they breathe is something different that we can''t breathe."
"Really? Then does that mean I''m strange?"
"Not at all," Ras answered. "It''s because once the air you breath enter your body, thetter began to slowly transform into holy energy, making you feel stronger and better as well," Kye smiled hearing that. "It''s the same things for demons as well. The air they breathe is transformed into demonic energy as time passes."
"Does that mean I can have unlimited holy energy? And what does demonic energy feels like?"
Hearing Kye''s second question, both Aria and Ras couldn''t help but think about the tiny bit of demonic energy that was inside him when he was suffering the other day. Though, nothing was apparent on their face. "No, you can''t have unlimited Holy energy. It''s just that you will be able to recover over time more easily," Aria answered. "As for your second question, those who had demonic energy say the same things as an angel."
Ras looked at Aria to see if she would have asked about Kye''s demonic energy, but even after a few seconds, she didn''t say anything. So he decided to do the same as her.
"Hmm, it looks like angels and demons are quite simr actually," Kye mumbled to himself in a low voice, but Aria''s and Ras'' superior hearing caught what he said.
"What do you mean by simr?" Ras asked.
"Well, from what I know from books and religions and all the things that are rted to those, angels and demons are two sides of the same coin," Kye exined. "Angels are supposed to be kind and righteous. They help people and treat them well. As for demons, they are the exact opposite. They are cunning and try to make people do bad things like robbery or murder. However, from what I learned since I came here, angels and demons are the same in one way or another. It''s the same for the monsters actually. There are good angels, demons, and monsters, as well as bad ones. Exactly like the humans.
"And since humans don''t know about angels and demons at all, what I know from humans'' culture ispletely false, so I shouldn''t judge them based on that."
Chapter 91 Old Bielief
"And since humans don''t know about angels and demons at all, what I know from humans'' culture ispletely false, so I shouldn''t judge them based on that."
"Well this is a pretty interesting point of view," Ras squinted his eyes and smiled. He knew a bit about how Angels and d¨¦mons were Seen by humanity. The former was good and righteous while thetter was dangerous and ruthless.
And while it''s true to some extent, it is also greatly false.
It is pretty funny actually. Humans were categorizing such great races into categories whereas some Angels were without a doubt more ruthless than some demons, while some demons were surely more kind than some Angels.
But they were categorizing them in such categories because they didn''t know a thing about them.
The little they knew was deformed to no end so that it could be spread to the rest of humanity through the years. However, now that Time has evolved and people''s beliefs changed, their hearts and souls were now just thinking that as some old religious things without depth in it.
Though even if they knew something about those races, they would still be blinded by their little Minds, thus still categorizing them in those boxes.
It is a natural process. Humans have to ssify things to feel either better or safe. Otherwise, how could they evenprehend those two great races without peeing their pants? It wouldn''t have even been possible to breathe in front of them because of how great they were.
And here was Kye. H¨¦ had grown up with a human mentality but was now slowly changing.
H¨¦ didn''t believe that there was one race that was good and the other was bad.
Sure they had to keep the order as if everything that surrounded them were passing a test. However, it didn''t mean that d¨¦mons were obligatorily evil. A lot of them were, but some were even more kind than Angels.
And the same applied to Angels as well. They were two races that lived a very long time, thus having multiple g¨¦n¨¦ration live AT the same time. And because of that, the New youngsters were blinded by the belief of the elderly.
"Do you think so?" Kye asked as he tilted his head to the side.
"Yes, of course. You Know, probably everyone in the world is stigmatized with a good side, and the other is evil," Ras answered.
"What do you mean?"
"What he means is that it''s very hard for any race to think the way you just thought" Aria exined in Ras''s stead. "Everyone thinks that Angels are kind while d¨¦mons are evil. This is the case since the very beginning of this world. And while it is true to some extent, it is notpletely the case either."
Kye tilted his head once again. H¨¦ understood what they meant, but didn''t understand why they were thinking like this.
And as if Ras knew how to read his mind, he opened his mouth to exin. "Let''s take the old religious families for example. The parents were religious because their parents were, which in turn were as well because their parents were as well. So in the current g¨¦n¨¦ration of this family, the children would be religious just because their parents are, not because they searched for it and decided to go this way of their own will.
? "And this is the same for every race. They only believe in what their predecessor taught them without searching about it on their own. So they stay with this mindset and pass it to the next g¨¦n¨¦rations, Never questioning what they learned. Thus the New g¨¦n¨¦rations all think the same thing."
"And it is not only the good of Angels and evils of d¨¦mons," Aria added. "It is like this since the beginning of the world as well, and in every single race. Humans, Monsters, Angels, and even d¨¦mons. Everyone thinks like this and only a few question themselves."
"And what does it have to do with me?" Kye asked, still not understanding where they wanted toe with what they were saying.
"We''re just d that you aren''t like everyone else" Ras smiled. "You were still a human, and humans are the race that thinks like this the most. Yet you manage to go past what you thought and believed, to think with more rity"
Hearing that, Kye smiled unbeknownst. He didn''t takepliments well, and it was easily Seen on his face right now. "Thanks, I guess."
"No need to thank us," Aria waved her hand and smiled. "But anyway, let''s talk about more serious things now," Her eyes went serious.
"Yes?"
"You evolved way faster than I thought. A little suspicious if I have to say, but that just makes you more interesting," As she said, it was suspicious for him to be an Angel this fast. It take years for most, but only took a month at most for him. "It also shows how talented you are, and I''m happy to have decided to go give you what I promised you."
"You mean the ability orb?" Kye smiled in excitement.
"Yes. However, we need to ask you something first."
"Yes?"
"Would you like to get my Friend seal as well?" Ras asked with a kind smile.
Kye was a little Taken aback by what he asked. H¨¦ was thinking of something like a vow to not teach this ability to anyone or something like this. But in the end, he thought of nothing.
"Can I first Know what a Friend seal does?" Kye asked After calming his excited Heart down. It took him a few seconds, but nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary.
"A Friend seal, as its name implies, is a seal that will show to people that you are someone we care for. It''s a seal that every monster can get once they reach a high enough power. Though, their seal isn''t as strong as those from the mythical Monsters."
"What do you mean?"
"First because it''s hard to be strong enough to get seals. Second, because our status isn''t the same at all. There are just a few of us, while there''s an Infinity of normal Monsters."
Chapter 92 Types Of Seal
"First because it''s hard to be strong enough to get seals. Second, because our status isn''t the same at all. There are just a few of us, while there''s an Infinity of normal Monsters. You might have already guessed, but the number of Leviathans could be counted with a human''s hand. The same applies to all the other beasts. Pheonixes, Dragons, Griffon and so on. We are very few, so it''s normal that our seals are stronger."
"Well you exined who could give seals in generals, but not their ssifications nor what they do," Kye pointed out after thinking for a moment.
Hearing that, Ras take a look at Aria and sent her a mind link. ''Should we tell him what they do?''
''While we''re at it, we might as well tell everything,'' Aria answered calmly to Ras before responding to Kye. "There are four seals. The first one is the Submission seal. This seal allows someone to mark a lot of people, thus creating its own territory while expanding it over time as long as there are more people under the submission seal. This seal also allows us to see the next seal, which is the Enemy seal. As its name implies, this allows you to mark someone else as your enemy. And this person would have a hard time entering your territory, and even less fight inside of it. Then you have the acquaintance seal. This seal is the one that is used to mark those you trust a little more than those under the submission seal, but not enough for the friend seal. For example, a lot of us, mythical beasts mark as acquaintances with other mythical beasts. As for the friend seal, it is the less used of all. To be honest it is only used when you trust someone enough to give a part of your power to this person. A power that this person would be able to use against you if you''re not careful. Though, this situation is very rare because, until the time the friend seal evolves to give you real power, a lot of time passes. Enough time to trust the other fully."
"Does that mean that I will get a portion of your power?" Kye asked with wide-open eyes. He didn''t expect that the friend seal was so valuable in reality. "Does that mean I would be able to control water? And fire if I get Ras'' friend seal?"
"Yes, that''s right," Ras answered with a little too much excitation. "Although every person will develop our power differently, you will still be able to use something along the line."
Kye stared nkly at them for a moment. Aria and Ras thought for a moment that he didn''t say anything because he was too grateful, but the reality was very different. "I''m sorry but I can''t!"
"What?"
"What?"
Both of them said at the same time. Although Aria should have expected such an answer, she just didn''t think that Kye was still too kind to ept a gift like this. However, Ras didn''t know Kye enough to know that.
So with a sad tone, he said. "Does that mean that you don''t wanna be my friend?"
"What?" This time it was Kye''s turn to be shocked. "Of course, I want to be. But I can''t ept such a great thing. Both of you want to give me so much while I don''t have anything to give you back. To be honest, if I knew, I wouldn''t have epted Aria''s friend seal either. But I guess it can''t be taken back now," He looked down.
"Indeed, I can''t take it back," Aria said. "However Kye. You do know that it is impolite to refuse someone''s gift, right?" She tried to help Ras a little. In reality, they wouldn''t gain anything by helping him that much. However, the future was filled with mystery, so if one person could be strong in the future, it will be with no doubt, Kye. And even though she was probably the only one thinking like this right now because Ras was a much more straightforward person, it didn''t change the fact that their friend seals would help him during great battles in the distant future. So it was in their best interest for all of them that Kye get Ras'' seal as well.
Though, she couldn''t say her thoughts since it wasn''t the main topic right now.
"It''s not that I don''t want," Kye said, almost giving up. What Aria said was the killing blow for someone like him. Ras was someone very kind, and he didn''t want to make him sad or angry. "It''s just that I don''t think it''s good for me to receive things without never giving anything back in return."
"Do you seriously want to repay me?" Ras asked with a sigh as Kye nodded. "Then be my boyfriend."
"What?" Kye eximed as Aria pped Ras''s head hard.
"Why did you do that?" Ras asked with what looked like small tearsing out of his eyes
"He''s straight, you dumbass," Aria red at him as if she was looking at a dumb monkey. "He got hard after seeing me for the first time," She sighed as well.
"I''m straight as well. And a great guy too!"
"That''s not the question!"
After some more quarrels between both of them, kye felt as if he had to stop them. He was the center of the talk, but couldn''t say anything.
"Please, listen to me," Kye said after mustering enough courage. Both of them looked at him fiercely. "E- even though I am very honored by your proposition, Ras, I can''t ept, I''m sorry."
"Does that mean that you already have another boyfriend?" His eyes were filled with what looked like a me. "And does that mean you''ll still refuse my friend seal?"
"I don''t have any boyfriend. I''m still single, and I will ept your friend seal even if I can''t give you anything back in return."
"Yay! It worked," Ras eximed with a big smile. "And sorry for making you think I was gay or bi."
"What do you mean?" Kye asked with a forced smile.
"I''m straight as well. But this little scene was just to make you ept my seal," He smiled brightly. "My tongue even slipped by saying I was straight for a moment. But thankfully it seems that you didn''t notice because of how shocked you were, hehe."
Chapter 93 A Thankful Boy
,m Kye didn''t say anything for a moment. He even turned toward Aria, only for her to turn her head away, acting like a little obvious girl. And in the end, Kye only sighed at the sight. They tricked him so well that he didn''t even notice. Their quarrel looked so real that he never thought of it being faked. "Then let''s get it over with quickly," Kye said to Ras who nodded his head.
Thetter put one of his hands on Kye''s right shoulder before slowly creating the seal. Like before, Kye felt as if his interior was burning. The pain was unbearable as time passes. But unlikest time, he managed to scream a lot less.
He didn''t know if it was because he was now an angel, and thus he was more resistant to pain than before because the process was a lot easier. Nheless, it still hurt him internally a lot, and he was tired of having to experience pain every time just to either evolve or get a new type of power.
''I hope I won''t have to suffer when I will learn the astral ability. Otherwise, I swear I will punch something,'' He thought as he wiped his tears of pain. He then looked at his right shoulder. There was now what looked like a Pheonix tattoo on it. ''It''s pretty.''
"Oh, by the way, Kye," Aria pulled him out of his thought. "Where''s your halo?"
"That''s right, didn''t you have a halo?" Ras added. "As far as I know, a halo still needs to be somewhat visible."
Kye looked at them for a moment before answering. It seems like his heavenly disguise worked very well, even against such strong creatures. "There''s no need for me to lie since you surely saw what I got out of thin airst time," Both Aria and Ras nodded. Kye then switched his new earing into his halo form. His halo was now above his head, exactly like how they remembered. "The strange-looking gum or slime, whatever you''ll call it, allow me to change the shape of an object of my choice. And I decided to use it on my halo since it was my main concern earlier.
"Aria told me that I could hide my wings once I will be able to control my holy energy, so it was the perfect asion for me to hide my halo," As he said, he just had to learn how to control his holy energy to change his wings into a tatoo form. So his halo would have been the only giveaway to his angelic identity.
Kye then changed his halo back into its earring form. "That''s impressing," Aria said with her eyes a little open in shock. "I never saw such a thing. Even after meeting so many angels. Even the strongest that I saw back then didn''t have such a thing to hide their halo."
"That''s right. A halo is supposed to be what represents an angel. It''s the same for the horns of a demon. It is what made them angels and demons respectively, and it is the source of their pride. Yet you managed to hide it, and seem to not care at all about the pride you get from your halo."
"Well, it''s not as if I care a lot about that," Kye answered truthfully. "I''ll rather stay alive than be aboratory rat or be discovered and pointed out as a monster that will kill humans at any moment''s notice. I''m not strong enough to stay alive with my power against strong people, so it''s better like this."
"Fair enough,'' Ras said with a smile. He was happy to know that Kye wasn''t the type of dying like a fool just because he wanted to show off. He was cold-headed and thought a lot before doing something. And just thanks to that, Ras was sure that Kye would manage to live a long life. Sure a problematic life, but a long life.
"Anyways, we should begin your training," Aria said as she pped her hand.
"Will I learn the astral ability now?"
"No, not yet. We''ll do things in order," Aria smiled. "You''ll first learn how to control your holy energy as it is the most important thing right now, then how to hide your wings. To be honest, you''ll probably be able to do it instantly after you learn how to use your holy energy," Kye nodded earnestly with a lot of anticipation. He was excited to learn about all these things. No matter how much time would pass, he would learn and use them fully during fights. He couldn''t wait but begin his training now.
"After that, you will learn how to use your wings. So how to fly, how to defend with them, and how to use it when you fight to gain momentum or speed."
"How though? It''s like they are new limbs. I tried a lot when I was alone, but it takes a lot of time," Kye was now thinking about when he will be able toe back to his friends. But Aria quickly pulled him out of his thought.
"We have Ras. He is an extremely good teacher, and as a Pheonix, he knows how to use his wings very well."
"That''s right. It will also be me who will help you learn how to use your holy energy since a Pheonix''s energy is the closest to those of angels. It doesn''t have the same properties, but the basic is the same," Ras also showed his wings while keeping his human form. He p them a few times to show Kye that he wasn''t lying."
Kye seeing them almost got teary. He was so happy to have met such great people that he didn''t know how to repay them.
"Did I do something wrong?" Ras asked Aria, feeling a little bit guilty.
"No, not this time," Aria smiled like a mother when she saw Kye''s tears. "He''s just thankful and doesn''t know how to repay us," Kye nodded his head, making both of them smile again.
Kye, unlike other youngsters that they had met during their lives, was very grateful. He didn''t want to take things from them without paying them back. Even when they were doing that out of the goddess of their heart. And they were very d that he was like this because an ungrateful brat always dies miserably.
Chapter 94 Ras Gift
Kye, unlike other youngsters that they had met during their lives, was very grateful. He didn''t want to take things from them without paying them back. Even when they were doing that out of the goddess of their heart. And they were very d that he was like this because an ungrateful brat always dies miserably. And since both of them liked Kye quite a bit already, they didn''t want such a fate to behold upon him. They probably wouldn''t cry if he were to die since they were didn''t met for long, but they will still be sad.
And the only reason for that is because Kye''s personality is very likable. Even without his angel''s energy interfering, it was easy for people to appreciate him if they were to surpass their beliefs regarding levels. That is also why he had now so many friends. Sure his energy yed a big part in that regard since they liked him way faster than in normal situations. Nheless, it would have only been a matter of time.
And it was the same here. Aria and Ras were way too strong to be affected by his low-level holy energy. Yet they both took quite the liking toward him because his personality allowed such a thing.
"I''m sorry, I have the impression that I''m a crybaby," Kye said wiping his tears.
"You don''t need to apologize," Ras smiled gently. "And you know what? This situation made me remember something," He said as Kye looked toward him. "I once had a disciple. However, he never treated me as his master. He learned what I teach him and took everything I gave him or gifted him for granted. And you know what''s the funnier? He never even thank me once. Even after his apprentissage has ended.
"And unfortunately, this disciple of mine never knew how to be grateful, and as he took everything for granted, he got killed by one of his supposed-to-be best friends."
"What does it have to do with me?" Kye asked curiously, eager to learn more about Ras.
"I just find it funny. He was my disciple, but never acted like one, whereas you are my friend and are very grateful toward me, even for the tiniest of thing I''m giving you, but act like my disciple."
Hearing this story again, Aria smiled apologetically. Ras told her this story once already. They are close friends, so he had opened up to her back in the time. And she knew how it hurt him to know that his disciple died. He was already quite hurt by the fact that he was an ungrateful brat, but it hurt him, even more, when he learned about his death. Sure it would usually be the opposite, but Ras was acting like a father to his disciple. A father that was probably too kind, but who loved his disciple a lot.
So when he heard about his disciple''s death, Ras just felt as if he had lost his soul. And he stayed like this for decades. Thankfully, time heals all wounds, so his pain slowly diminished over time. And it was at that time that he told his story to Aria. And as far as she knew, he didn''t tell anyone else.
Yet today he had told it to Kye. Sure it was just a summary of what happened, but he still said it. So it only meant that Ras cared about Kye.
"I''m sorry for what happened," Kye looked down, not knowing what to say.
"I didn''t say that for you to be sorry for me," Ras waved his hand with a smile. "I''m just saying that because I now care about you. I know it''s strange since you met me for fewer days than Aria, but I''m just happy to have met someone kind and grateful like you," he put his hands behind his face and looked to the ceiling. "There aren''t a lot of youngsters like you nowadays. Everyone takes what they have for granted and never thinks of really being grateful to those who gave them what they have. Some say ''thank you, but it''s clear that it''s not sincere. Though, from what I''m seeing about you, you''re the exact opposite of them. You''re very kind, probably even too much. However, you also know when you need to be ruthless, so that''s a very good trait.
"If you ever need anything, Kye, I will do my best to help you," Ras put his hand on his heart and a mix of red and orange color feathers appeared between his fingers. "Here, take it. It''s a token of our friendship. I hope you will be able to keep it with you wherever you will go."
Kye took the feather in his hand, and couldn''t help but flinch a little at the heat. The feather was really hot. However, he couldn''t examine it for long since his system showed him its description.
[Feather of the Pheonix prince:
This feather has been given to you by the Pheonix prince, Ras.
Effects:
Allow you to find Ras whenever you want by following the direction of the tip of the feather.
It will help you increase the friend seal Ras has given to you more easily.]
While Kye was reading what the system was showing him, Aria couldn''t help but create a mental link with Ras. ''Are you sure about this?'' A Pheonix''s feather was one of the rarest resources among mythical monsters. It was very useful to either craft strong items or even consumable. However, its real use was when a Pheonix has given his friend seal to someone. If this person possed a feather from the Pheonix who gave them the seal, they would be able to evolve it a lot faster than usual.
''Yes, I''m sure,'' Ras answered. ''There''s no doubt that Kye will soon be the center of attention. Just look at the demonic energy back then. If he continues evolving, this demonic energy could stop being dormant and be visible. And at this time, he would need to be able to protect himself."
Chapter 95 Training
''Yes, I''m sure,'' Ras answered. ''There''s no doubt that Kye will soon be the center of attention. Just look at the demonic energy back then. If he continues evolving, this demonic energy could stop being dormant and be visible. And at this time, he would need to be able to protect himself.''
''*Sigh*, I feel like I have to give him something as well now,'' Aria said.
''I don''t think such a thought would even cross his brain,'' Ras said confidently. ''He is grateful for everything you did to him, so if he were to ask more, I think he wouldn''t be himself anymore. And you will give him an ability anyway, so there''s no need for you to give something again.''
''I guess you''re right,'' She sighed with a smile. Ras was slowly understanding Kye''s personality.
"Is it alright for me to have such a great thing?" Kye asked after reading fully the description of the feather. It was greater than what he imagined. It wasn''t anything fancy, but the fact that his friend seal will evolve faster also meant that he would be able to use fire sooner. And it was already incredible and couldn''t ask for more. Though, he still needed to ask if it was alright for him to have such a thing with him.
"Of course," Ras smiled."As I said earlier, it''s to show you my sincerity. You''re the fifth person who got my friend seal, and the third one to receive one of my feathers. So keep it with you until the end, okay?"
Hearing that, Kye got teary again. He was so grateful that it wasing naturally. However, to not be disrespectful, he kept them, albeit with some difficulties. "Thank you, Ras. I will cherish this gift until I leave this world," He smiled brightly. So brightly that it was as if his beauty has increased by ten.
"That''s good, I''m d you didn''t refuse it."
"It would just be disrespectful from me at this point," Kye answered. "I still don''t know how to repay you two, but one day, I will surely find a way," He put his hand on his heart to show his sincerity.
Aria and Ras wanted to say that it was okay and he didn''t need to pressure himself since they were both good, but in the end, they decided against it. They understood that whatever they would say, Kye would still try to repay their kindness. So they gave up and just decided to smile to show their appreciation for his gesture.
"Anyways," Aria gathered their attention. "It''s time to begin your training, Kye," She smiled. But strangely enough, Kye could see some hint of sadism in her smile. And it made him shiver a little. "As I said earlier, you''ll first learn how to control your holy energy, then how to hide your wings and how to use your wings. However, you''ll do all of that while fighting."
"Fighting? Against who?"
"Guess who?"
"Not you, right?" He asked both of them as they only smiled. And this time, the earlier shiver was increased by tenfolds. "I won''t be able to do anything against you though," He tried to reason with them, but it was futile at this point.
"Don''t worry about that," Ras said with a smile. "It''s not as if we''re going to fight for real. It''s just so you''ll get a real fighting experience while using every single thing that you have in your kit. You need to be able to use everything. So once you will be able to use even a tiny bit of your Holy energy, we will begin sparring."
Hearing that, Kye gulped down. He didn''t want to fight them. They were both so strong and intimidating that just the thought of fighting them was scaring him. However, it was necessary. As Ras said, it was important to use every single thing in his kit so that he coulde out victorious from a fight.
He knew that he was always doing the same thing during a fight. Sure he didn''t have much power back then when he was still fighting in the military, or even when he was fighting monsters, but he could have tried to innovate. So at least by sparring against them, he would be able to learn a lot of things. He didn''t know how hard it would be, but he was at least sure that it would be hard enough for him to spat mouthfuls of blood, and wish to die instead of continuing sparring.
Though, if he were toe out of this training with his sanity still alright, he was sure that he would increase his prowess by leaps and bounds. If he could even just learn a tiny bit of their fighting style, then he would be able to be a lot more diversified when fighting.
"Then what do I need to do?"
Ras smiled hearing the conviction in Kye''s voice. He thought he would have tried to dissuade them a little more, but he seemedpletely wrong. And since he was the one who will be responsible for a big part of his training, he was happy. ''Seems like I got a new disciple for the time being,'' He thought. The death of his old disciple still hurts him, but it wasn''t to the point of hindering his life anymore. That was why he didn''t mind giving all these things to Kye.
"Aria can you make a big training room?" Ras asked.
In someone''s domain, they had control over everything. A domain was like their home, so they could shapeshift it at will. And Aria didn''t say anything and only began to reshape her domain so that it could suit Kye''s training.
The ''house'' they were in began to slowly expand. The living room got bigger and bigger until a new set of doors appeared on one side of it. "The right one is where you will find the training room. The left one is the resting room. As for the middle one, this is the meditation room. It will be perfect when you will have to train your new energy."
Chapter 96 Meditation
"The right one is where you will find the training room. The left one is the recovery room. As for the middle one, this is the meditation room. It will be perfect when you will have to train your new energy."
Hearing her, Kye got even more excited. He wanted to learn the astral ability as well, but it seems it would have to wait. So he turned toward Ras and asked. "We''ll first go with the meditation room, right?" He nodded his head. "Then shall we begin?"
"Sure," Ras smiled as they both walked toward the middle door.
Aria looked at their back until they closed the door behind them. She then went to manage her territory.
As for the boys, they were shocked. Well actually, it was more Kye who was shocked. Ras was expecting such a thinging from Aria.
The room they were in was just a normal room without any furniture. There wasn''t even anything on the ground. However, what shocked Kye is that the room seemed to be filled with something. So Kye turned toward Ras to get some exnation, and as if he knew what he wanted to know, thetter answered him.
"The energy you''re feeling right now is an artificial one. It doesn''t seem like it, but Aria has a great thirst for knowledge. So she studied a lot about angels or even demons'' energy. And even though she couldn''t replicate their energies perfectly, it isrge enough to help you increase your mastery over your holy energy by leaps and bounds."
Hearing his exnation, Kye got even more respect for Aria. She was even greater than what he thought. "Then Ras, what should I call you from now on? Master? Teacher? Or just Ras?" He asked genuinely.
"However you want, it doesn''t matter, to be honest."
"Then I''ll go with master since I''m your new disciple for the time being," He smiled before heading to the center of the room. He then sat down in a lotus position.
''I guess he doesn''t know the meaning between a master-disciple rtionship among monsters. *Sigh* guess we''re just going to keep it this way,'' Ras thought with a sad smile. But it quickly faded away and got reced by a serious expression.
"Then what do I need to do first, master?"
"Close your eyes and focus on the center of your body."
Kye did as he was told and began to focus his attention above his navel. It was supposed to be where the center of one''s body was situated. And after some moment that look like only a few minutes for him, but an hour for Ras, he began to see a ball of golden energy. It look so pure and calm that it made Kye rx.
Ras could see from Kye''s face that he had finally seen his holy energy. His eyes were closed, but his eyebrows were a dead giveaway regarding that. "Now try to interact with it."
Kye didn''t nod or moved his body to not lose his focus. He only did as he was asked.
Ras could see from the exterior that Kye was trying to take a portion of the ball of holy energy to try first with it. "Don''t do that. You have to interact with it as a whole or else you will either lose what you take to experiment forever or suffer a bacsh."
Kye immediately stopped what he was doing and began to move the ball of energy this time. It was hard, but after a few tries, Kye finally managed to move it freely around his stomach area.
"Now you will have to spread the energy across your entire body. But instead of taking a portion of the ball to put it all around your body, I want you to expand the ball slowly so that it could cover his entire body.
Kye did so, but this time, it was far harder. It was as if he was trying to expand an already stretched stic. It took him a lot of time, and he sweat so much that a small pool of sweat was slowly forming under him.
Though, Ras was impressed. He didn''t express it since he didn''t want to distract Kye, but thetter was fast at learning how to control his energy. Just for the first stage, angels were taking at least a week. But Kye managed to do it after only an hour. It was the same for the second. He took several hours, butpared to the other of his kind, he was lighting fast.
The third stage was one of the hardest stages. Covering his entire internal body with his energy was one of the most difficult things he could do, especially when he only began to learn how to control his holy energy now.
Ras wouldn''t have told to Kye to do that if he didn''t show such talent. But since he was a fast learner, he decided to try. He thought that for this stage, he would at least take a few days since even some great beings couldn''t cover their internal body. It was very very hard to do so. But those who managed to do it have their internal body as hard as steel. And this hardness could increase as their control over their energies increased.
However, Ras could only be shocked when he saw that covering his whole internal body only took Kye ten hours. Sure they were in a room where controlling energies were easier, but still. This speed was scary, even for him.
''How do things go?'' Aria asked through a mind link, pulling Ras out of his thoughts. ''You are here for almost a day now, shouldn''t Kye rest a little?''
''Aria, Kye is a monster,'' He said with an excited voice. Seeing his disciple learn so fast was indeed scary, but it was thrilling as well.
''A monster? Like us? What do you mean-...''
Ras cut her short and talked. ''I''ll exinter. I''m gonna make Kye rest for now,'' He close their mind link and told Kye that their training had finished for today.
Chapter 97 Theres Nothing Left To Do
"Kye, let''s wrap things up for today," Ras said with an exciting voice, and thetter tilted his head to the side.
"Why? Didn''t we juste an hour or two ago? I can still train? Kye asked genuinely. His body was stiff and tension was slowly building all around his body, but he could continue for a few hours.
"For you, it only seems like a few hours had passed, but in reality, almost an entire day passed."
"What?"
"And resting is also part of your training," Ras didn''t even care about what Kye said and continued. "I''m sure you can still go on like this since you now have a high endurance because you became an angel, but you will only suffer more if you do so."
"Then what should I do?"
"Go to the resting room and rest there. We will continue your training only when I will deem your body ready again, are we clear?"
"Yes master," Kye quickly said before walking rapidly toward the door. He also immediately entered the other door, which was the resting room.
Immediately after closing the door, Kye could feel that the atmosphere inside this room was far different than the meditation room. Where thetter was helping him control his energy more easily, this room made his body and mind feel rxed, as if he had just entered afy bed and was ready to sleep. Though, he decided to take a shower first since he was drenched in sweat. And there was a separate door that indicated ''bathroom''.
While Kye was busy resting, Ras went back to the living room and waited for Aria to finish her business. She took a break earlier and decided to create a mental link with him, but she had to go back to work.
So he waited for about two hours before Aria finally came back. "So what did you mean that ''Kye is a monster?" She immediately asked what was on her mind for hours now.
"I''m not meaning it literally," Ras didn''t keep the suspense and answered truthfully. "There''s no way he''s a monster like us or those in our territories. What I mean by him being a monster is that he learns things insanely fast!"
Aria sighed in relief hearing that. "I''m d it''s just that. Things would have gotten very difficult with other mythical monsters. You seriously don''t know how much you scared me on this right now."
"Hehe, sorry for that," Ras scratched the back of his head. "But it was amazing."
"Care to exin with more details?"
Ras nodded before exining everything he asked him to do. From the first stage of his training to thest one he did before resting. He alsopared him to other angels so that Aria could understand why he was so surprised.
But he didn''t have to make theparison since she already knew how hard it was to control holy energy or even demonic energy. She sure wasn''t good with teaching, but in terms of knowledge, she was just behind dragons. So she expected Kye to finish all of his training after around a year or something along those lines, but it seems she waspletely mistaken.
"This would probably be even greater than what it could have been if he were to be a monster," Aria said in a low voice, but Ras still picked up what she said.
"What do you mean? Isn''t it great?" He tilted his head to the side.
"I would say yes and no," She exined. "Yes because he will be able to defend himself sooner than we thought. However, also no because I''m sure that those old people, be it monsters, angels, demons, or even humans, would try to kill such an anomaly. And their will is going to be reinforced if they discover their talent at learning things.
"They will surely try to recruit him first, but once they will say that they can''t do that, they will try to eliminate him. And unfortunately, that''s how creatures in this world are. If they can''t get something, then no one can."
Ras immediately understood what she wanted to say by this. "Then we need to hide him."
"The question is how," Aria said. "We both know that he won''t stay here forever. He wants to go back to his friends, and we can''t stop him if it''s what he wants. And judging by his learning speed, he would probably go back in less than a month."
"Then can''t we give him equipment or an artifact that can hide him?"
"An equipment won''t be of any use against stronger enemies. As for an artifact, I don''t have any. There is one thing that could help, but it''s unfortunately as rare as your feathers."
"Chris'' scale?" Aria nodded.
Chris was the one who was opposed to Kye staying alive when Aria first told the other during her meeting about him. His real form was a giant snake. Just being near him meant death since his surrounding was filled with toxic or corrosive fog, substances, or atoms. As for his scale effect, it would just be the perfect solution to their problems.
"Chris''s race is undetectable thanks to their scales," Aria exined just in case Ras forgot about it. "It hides their power, but also the energy that can be seen by others. But knowing his shitty behavior, he would never ept."
"Can''t we ask him for a favor? I''m sure he won''t mind if it''s me or you who ask."
"First, he hates both of us the most, so it''s very less likely for him to ept a request from us. And second, I advise against it." Aria said with a sigh. "I''m sure that he would ask for something impossible in return."
"What should we do then?"
After thinking for a moment, Aria finally opened her mouth, though, with a bitter taste. "We can''t do anything. We should let Kye live his life for now. I''m sure there''s still no one who noticed him. And until the time they would, he will be strong enough to fend for himself."
Chapter 98 Fighting Against Ras
After thinking for a moment, Aria finally opened her mouth, though, with a bitter taste. "We can''t do anything. We should let Kye live his life for now. I''m sure there''s still no one who noticed him. And until the time they would, he will be strong enough to fend for himself. At least I hope."
After talking some more, both of them went back to their upation. Aria had to attend some meetings regarding her territory. As for Ras, it could be said that he was on vacation since he wasn''t in his territory right now.
So he just waited for Kye to wake up.
After around ten more hours, Kye finally opened the door of the resting room. It seems that he was more exhausted than he thought. "Hi~" Kye greeted Ras with sleepy eyes.
"Did you rest well?" Kye nodded his head as he rubbed his eyes. "Then are you ready to continue your training?"
This time, Kye forced his eyes open and said with a determined voice. "Yes!"
"Good."
Ras stood up from his seat and gestured for Kye to go to the training room.
Kye nodded his head and went there, but he still asked. "Ain''t we continuing where we stopped yesterday?"
He was sure that he would have to fight Ras in the training room, and even though he wanted to, deep down, he was a little bit afraid. So if he could dy the time where he would have to fight him, he would dly do so.
"We''re going to put into practice what you learned yesterday."
Ras exined.
"But I still can''t do anything with my energy right now."
"Can''t you already coat your internal body with your holy energy?" Ras raised an eyebrow.
"Yes I can, but I don''t see any utility in a real fight."
Ras smirked hearing that. Kye was indeed strong for his age, but he was still too innocent. "Let me teach you something important," Kye nodded. "In this world, the external body of a strong opponent is sometimes so hard that you will have a lot of difficulties damaging it. And when that happens, people resort to doing internal damage.
"And as you know, people tend to protect their external body more since it''s what is in contact with your opponent. However, if you get an internal attack, you will surely lose immediately, even if your external body is as hard as a diamond.
"That is why what you learned yesterday is of the utmost importance. So during our fighting session, you will try to keep the coating of your internal body activated at all times. Is that clear?"
"Yes!"
Kye smiled after he heard Ras''s exnation. He had never thought that people could be so sly to use such tactics, but deep down, he couldn''t help but agree with them. If it was the only way possible to kill an unkible enemy, then he too would use such tricks. Though, he still didn''t have anything like this in his kit. But in the future, he seriously hoped to have something like this.
"Then, are you ready?"
Kye nodded and transformed his ring and earing into their real forms.
The moment Ras saw that he waspletely ready, he rushed toward him. However, from Kye''s point of view, he got the impression that he teleported in front of him. And because of that, he couldn''t parry the punch that was going toward his stomach.
*Pieww*
*Arghh*
Kye flew backward and had his breath cut for a second. He didn''t expect Ras to still have that much strength, even when he had lowered it to match his level.
''Shit, it hurt!'' Kye gets up on his feet, only to see Ras about to kick him in the ribs.
Kye tried to block it with his sword, but he wasn''t fast enough, so he flew leftward.
He once again had his breathing cut for a second. Each of Ras'' blows was so strong that he felt his internal body scream in pain. ''Shit, I forgot to coat my body!'' Kye immediately focused to expand his holy energy over his entire body, but Ras didn''t let him do as he wanted.
He wouldn''t just stay idle and wait for him. In a real fight, his enemy wouldn''t let him do what he wanted, so he once again ''teleported'' and was about to punch his face. But this time, Kye managed to dodge at a hair length. Though, his punch still carried such great force that his cheek got cut.
But thanks to him being an angel, it quickly healed. And Kye could feel that his internal coating also helped him close his wound.
Ras smiled seeing that because thanks to this action, Kye managed to coat his entire body. And it only meant that his strike will now be less effective to Kye.
So he rushed toward him once again, but this time, Kye wasn''t as lucky as earlier, so he got punched in the stomach.
He flew backward like earlier. But unlike earlier, his breathing wasn''t cut. On the contrary, he was still fine. ''Seems like cutting my breathing was intentional. It was so that I realize that coating my body was extremely useful.''
Kye couldn''t think for long since he knew that Ras would once again rush toward him. So in anticipation, he threw a Holy ray and swung his sword horizontally.
To his surprise, the holy ray was bigger and looked stronger than when he was a half-angel. And it made Kye smile.
And as expected, Ras rushed and was now in front of him with the Holy ray in front of his and Lightbringer about to cut him.
But to his surprise, two red wings came out from his back and protected him from both attacks.
The holy ray was ineffective, and his sword bounce back upon contact.
Kye didn''t move because of the shock, thus he got punched in the face and flew backward once again.
Chapter 99 Anger
Kye didn''t move because of the shock, thus he got punched in the face and flew backward once again.
While flying, he tried to use his wings to get his bnce back, but ras was too fast and was already kneeing him in the stomach.
This time, his internal coating didn''t help him in any way because he couldn''t breathe once again.
Ras stopped his onught for a moment and look at Kye writhing in pain and clenching his stomach with tears in his eyes. "You''re pretty weak."
He then slowly walked toward him.
However, hearing what Ras said, Kye stopped thinking for a moment, as if his head turned nk. He didn''t expect to hear such a thing, especiallying from Ras. He was so supportive of him, and Kye liked this about him.
But he just didn''t expect what he just said. If he managed toe this far, it was partially thanks to his friends. Without them, he wouldn''t have as much confidence as he has now. They helped him a lot in this regard. They also helped him learn how to fight. So by saying such a thing, Kye had the impression that Ras was mocking all of them.
Kye then stood up slowly, and when Ras saw his look, he smiled. Kye''s eyes were filled with killing intent. And unlike the other times, it was Kye who rushed toward him.
Ras could see Kye''s movements. He was fast for someone at his level, but not for him. So he dodged all of his strikes easily. "Use your wings to get faster!" Ras said dodging Lightbringer.
Kye greeted his teeth because he still didn''t know how to use them properly. The training session that Aria had borated for him was turned upside down. He was supposed to fight Ras when he would be ready. Yet he was fighting him already.
However, his anger helped him p his wings, albeit Kye didn''t notice because he was too focused on attacking Ras.
Thetter smiled when he saw Kye pping his wings, but he still punched him in the stomach while protecting himself with his wing against Lightbringer.
Kye flew away once again but managed to stop himself in mid-air. He turned his head to the back, only to see his wings pping. Though, it was just enough for him to stay just a few centimeters above the ground. Nheless, he still smiled brightly because he finally managed to fly a little.
It was like a dreaming true.
But this dream shattered when Ras punched him in the face.
*Arghh*
"Don''t lower your guard in the middle of a fight!" Ras said with a cold voice to Kye.
Ras then let Kye stand up again and waited for him to attack. However, Kye waited for a few moments before rushing with the help of his wings toward Ras. He was now a lot faster thanks to them.
Ras was about to stop Kye''s sword with his wings once again before kicking him in the leg. However, he could feel that this strike was far stronger than the others he made earlier. So instead of parrying, he dodged the sword and kicked him.
Kye expected such an oue, so he moved his holy energy toward his leg, which managed to protect him from losing his bnce.
And sensing what Kye did, Ras had a smile on his face. "Good, you managed to do all the things I wanted you to learn today."
He even stopped fighting. "That''s very good. You now know that there''s no need to spread your energy over your whole body and that it''s better to locate it in the area where your opponent will strike."
Kye looked at him for a moment without letting his guard down and then said. "Does that mean we''ll stop this spar?"
"Hell no!" He rushed toward Kye once again, but this time, more fiercely.
Kye could feel in Ras'' strikes that they were far stronger than earlier and greeted his teeth. "Only by fighting will you be able to improve," Ras said. "Use your eyes, I heard they were exceptional!"
He kept giving him advice while making him suffer. In a sense, Kye was learning by experiencing pain. And even though Kye kept healing himself, he could feel his whole body shaking. Even his regeneration slowed down. It was how much energy he needed to keep healing himself.
Even his internal coating was getting thinner and thinner, even though he only used it to protect himself in designated areas.
And they fought like this until Kye couldn''t take it anymore and fell to the ground of exhaustion. Ras slowly approached him and looked at him. "You can''t fight anymore?"
Kye didn''t even have the force to answer and only shook his head a little bit.
"Good," Ras smiled. "It means you gave your all, I''m proud of you!" He even patted his head and then took him on his back to bring him to the resting room.
"I didn''t feel like I improved though."
Kye said after mustering enough strength to talk. His earlier anger also died down when he understood that Ras only provoked him so that he could continue fighting and not give up when facing a tough situation.
"Maybe you didn''t notice it, but you improved a lot. You''re a fast learner, that''s for sure."
He chuckled.
However, Ras could feel that Kye wasn''t convinced, so he began to exin how much he changed from the beginning of their sparring session to the end. Be it his time reaction, reading his opponent''s movements, or predicting its next move. "You even managed to fly almost freely around the end. So be proud of yourself!"
Kye nodded with sleepy eyes and then fell asleep when Ras put him on his bed inside the resting area.
Ras could see how tired he was from his face. Kye even had some bruises around his body because he couldn''t heal himself anymore. The former also noticed that toward the end, some of Kye''s feathers slowly became ck, as if he was about to fall. But now that he could see them turning white again, he just shrugs his earlier thought. "You''re really special, Kye."
He said as he left the room.
Chapter 100 The Time Has Come
Time flew by fast.
Kye kept training with Ras, and sometimes, with Aria as well. And if he were, to be honest, he preferred training with Ras a hundred times more over Aria. The former, even though was ruthless with him when they were fighting, was still letting him fight or parry his attack.
Aria, however, even though was just using a small part of her real strength, still felt overwhelmed. She was also giving him tips, but he just had so many difficulties applying them because he just couldn''t do anything against her.
Ras tried to tell her multiple times that Kye wouldn''t learn anything if he were to continue like this, but she just couldn''t help it. She was bad at teaching people. So in the end, Kye was looking forward to his sparring session with Ras, but it wasn''t the same for Aria.
Nheless, he still managed to improve by leaps and bounds. He understood that he couldn''t do anything against Aria since she never managed to adapt her strength well to him, so he just tried to observe her movements as much as possible during their spars. Thus, he managed to formte some new moves and tested them with Ras when the opportunity arose.
Thetter was impressed by how Kye could pull something out of his training with Aria, while thetter was proud of him.
Of course, she didn''t forget to p Ras'' head as well for suchments.
Kye also managed to control his holy energy enough to hide his wingspletely (AN: check the discord if you want to see what they look like now.) They were now in their tattoo form. And even though he didn''t like the tattoos, it was still better than being discovered and chased down.
Thanks to Ras, he also learned how to fly. He was a lot more skillful than when he flew for the first time during their first spar. He could now fly around as he wished. However, flying used a lot of his stamina, so fighting while flying wasn''t really possible right now. And even though he knew how to fly, it was nowhere near Ras'' level, nor at a winged being level. Nheless, he could still fly, so it was the most important thing.
Also, since he could now control his holy energy to a decent level, he could use it to protect his external body as well to defend himself. It helped him a lot when fighting Ras and Aria because, without it, he would have surely fainted because of the pain multiple times.
And it wasn''t the end.
He also applied his holy energy to his sword, making it a lot sharper and stronger. He could also use it without applying to anything. For example, he could use his holy energy to create a sharp ball of holy energy that could even cut rocks.
Thanks to all his sparring sessions, he also managed to level up Holy ray to level 2. It now had a ten-meter range and looked a lot stronger. And since his control over his holy energy increased, he could also make his rays a little bit stronger or weaker, but not by much. However, the most important thing was that thanks to his control, he could change the trajectory of his ray. He could only do it once per ray, but it was already strong enough to catch someone off guard and kill it instantly if the ray was strong enough to pierce the head or heart.
And just like this, almost a month had passed, and it was finally the day Kye was looking forward to the most. The day he had finished all his other training. The day he will learn an ability.
The astral ability.
"Is it finally the day?" Aria asked as Kye nodded excitingly. They were all around a table. "Time flew way too fast."
She sighed.
"I know right?" Ras said with a sad smile. "Kye will go in a few days."
Kye smiled hearing that. He had passed a good time with them. Sure it was hard and was annoyed by the pain he felt, but both of them were amazing people.
Or rather monsters.
"I will do my best to visit the both of you, I promise."
He said with a radiant smile. His holiness shone through his face. It was almost otherwordly.
Almost.
"Thanks, I will wait for you then."
Aria said.
"Me too. Don''t forget me, okay?" Ras added.
"How could I?" Kye chuckled. "I suffered so much because of you two that I can''t forget both of you, even if I wanted to."
Aria and Ras chuckled hearing that.
"Anyways, shall we begin?" Aria asked as both men nodded.
Aria then pulls an orb from her dimensional space. The orb was almost pitch ck. If it wasn''t for the numerous but tiny little dots that looked like stars, one could think that someone painted the orb in ck.
"Is it the ability orb you retrieved a millennium ago?" Ras asked.
"You still remember?"
"A millennium? Kye repeated in shock. He knew they were old, but not that much.
"Yes, I remember. You asked everyone if they knew about such a thing, but even the ancient dragons couldn''t answer you. It was quite pitiful if I have to say for them. Dragons are proud of their wisdom, but even them couldn''t answer you."
Ras remembered with a mocking smile.
"That''s right. That is why Kye. I''ll ask you onest time. Are you sure to want to learn an ability that is off the record and that no one remembers seeing or studying?"
Kye was silent for a moment. On the one hand, he wanted to learn it immediately because he thought about a lot of things in anticipation. But on the other hand, as Aria said, this ability was aplete mystery.
If even dragons didn''t know about it, then probably no one could.
Or so he thought.
Chapter 101 The Cosmic Ability
(AN: I changed the name of the astral ability to cosmic ability. It will still do the same things, but I just thought that cosmic was more fit for what I had in my head.) :)
***
Kye took some more moments to think, but in the end, he already knew the answer deep inside of him.
"Please, I would like to learn this ability." He said with conviction. "I''m sure that it will be a great ability. And even if it''s not, I would make it great."
Aria smiled and then handed the ability orb over to Kye. Thetter, the moment he touched it, saw a system screen appear in front of his eyes.
[Ability orb detected]
[Would you like to learn the Cosmic ability?]
Kye got even more excited when he saw that. And without an ounce of hesitation, he agreed to learn the Cosmic ability.
The moment he thought that the orb cracked and let dark energy with what looked like stars inside of ite out. The energy then dances around Kye for a moment before entering his body.
The process shocked Aria and Ras greatly because as far as they knew, never such a thing happened when a human tried to learn an ability. But at this point, they knew and epted the fact that Kye shouldn''t be judged by simple and normal means. So they just shrugged the matter away.
As for Kye, he didn''t even react to the energy entering his body since he was busy with the system''s alert.
[Cosmic ability is being assimted into the Host''s body]
[10%]
[23%]
[47%]
¡
¡
[Cosmic ability has been fully assimted into Host''s body]
[Would you like to see a description of the ability?]
Kye epted immediately once again. He didn''t expect to get a description of his new ability, but it could only help him, so without hesitation, he answered yes.
[The outer space is filled withs, stars, ck holes and so much more. And as someone who now possesses the Astral ability, everything will be under your control. The Host can create, shape, and manipte astral energy to attack, kill, destroy, support, heal, or defend. However, when using this ability, the energy consumption would be great.]
Just as he thought since the moment Aria talked about this ability, the Cosmic ability was amazing. Being able to control what is inside outer space felt grand and extraordinary at the same time. He couldn''t help but be excited and wanted to test it right now.
Still, before continuing further, he decided to check his status.
[Status:
Host''s name: Kye Vermillion
Race: Angel
Level: 7
Ability: Cosmic
Energy: 100/100
EXP: 11,650/12,800
HP: 90/90
Strength: 15 (+3) (+3)
Agility: 16 (+3) (+3)
Stamina: 15 (+3) (+3)
Remaining stats to distribute: 8
Spells: Holy ray (LvL 2); Angel''s eyes (LvL 2); Holy control; Purify
Passive spells: Flight]
His status didn''t change much in a month. It was normal since he only trained. So obviously, the two new lines that were now in his status caught his eye immediately.
He now had a new line showing which ability he had, and how much energy he has as well.
''I guess the only way to get more energy is to train my ability. Though if it''s not the case, I don''t know what I will do. It was said in the description that the energy consumption was great, so if I can''t get more energy, I''m sure that I will hit 0 with only two or three moves.''
As Kye thought, it was the greatest problem that he could currently face with his ability, apart from training it, of course. Without energy, he won''t be able to go far with it, even if it was a very strong ability.
''I guess like this it''s well bnced. It would have been way too broken if there wasn''t such a downside.''
Kye thought.
Aria and Ras let Kye think alone for a while. They didn''t want to disturb him when it was clear on his face that he was excited. Even more than a month ago when they announced to him that he would train with them.
Still, after ten minutes of silence, Ras finally decided to speak.
"So? How is it? Do you feel like there are some changes in your body?"
"Yes, I can feel like there''s second energy that''s flowing inside my body alongside my holy energy now. Although faintpared to my holy energy, it''s still there."
Kye had gotten a great grasp of his holy energy, so it was easy for him to see that there was something more inside of him now. Though, he seriously had a poor amount of energy inside of him.
''I guess that I would probably be level 2 now if I had one of the military''s watch.''
Kye thought.
The level written on the watches was defined by the amount of energy one had inside their body. So obviously having just so much energy, he wouldn''t be at a high level.
Yet.
"That''s good," Aria said. "Usually people don''t even feel their ability''s energy at the beginning. So if you can already feel it, then it only means that your growth will be extraordinary."
"Are you sure? It feels like it will take some time to even get more energy."
Kye expressed his doubt. He couldn''t help it since he was quite worried about his energy.
"Yes, trust me in this one," She smiled. "And even if it takes time, that''s normal. Why do you think that a lot of humans of your age are still low-level by the military''s standard? It''s because it takes a lot of time to nurture your energy. Only truly exceptional individual manages to be at a decent level at your age, and I''m sure you will be one of them."
Kye smiled hearing that and thanked her for her insight. Aria was sure bad at teaching, but she knew a lot of things. So Kye could trust what she was saying without a doubt.
"Then what should we do now?" Ras asked.
"What do you mean?" Kye asked back.
"Your training hade to an end, and you now have your ability. However, neither I nor Aria will be of great help to nurture your energy and ability."
Chapter 102 Farwell
"Your training hade to an end, and you now have your ability as well. However, neither I nor Aria will be of great help to nurture your energy and ability. It is a special energy that only humans possessed, and even though we have the theory, we don''t know how to improve it.
"My only guess will be to train it like your holy energy. Since both are energies, it should work. But still, take this with a grain of salt. It''s only a theory, so it might as well not work, or be as effective as what humans usually use to train their abilities."
Kye didn''t say anything for a while. He was thinking about what do to next. Should he go back now to the military? Or should he still train here with Ras and Aria? Because if he were to go now, he wouldn''t get such a big opportunity ever again. An opportunity where he could train as much as he wanted thus progressing a lot. Being in terms of levels, skills, or even battle experience.
And Aria and Ras didn''t say anything either. They wouldn''t mind staying with Kye for a little while longer since they had now grown ustomed to each other. It was also good to have someone else to talk to. For a long time, both of them were bored and only talk with other mythical beasts. But since they met Kye, their long and never-ending life got a little funnier.
It didn''t seem like much from the inside, but it gave them a breath of fresh air. A breath that was very much needed because they felt like suffocating as times went by.
"I..." Kye only managed to say this sole word before closing his mouth for another five minutes. Thankfully, neither Aria nor Ras pressed him. So once he mustered enough courage, he opened his mouth again. "I would like to return if you don''t mind. I am very grateful for all the things both of you offered me, and I seriously don''t know how to repay you, but I have my friends waiting for me. They still think that I''m dead. And it has been almost two months now that they think so. And I can''t make them wait anymore."
He said all of that without looking at them. He only looked down, not daring to meet their eyes. He was scared to see their reaction since, in his mind, they would surely be discontent with his decision.
But unlike what he thought, both of them smiled at him. It was as if a mother and a father were listening to their son and epting his choices. And it moved his heart so much that tears dropped from his eyes.
"We respect your choices, Kye, you don''t have to be scared of what we think of you," Ras said. "On the contrary, we''re happy that you think about your friend and not only about you. It only means that you have a great heart and that it aches to know that your friends must still suffer from your loss."
"That''s right. It also confirmed our choice of trusting you. We''re happy to have met you and helped you grow. And even though we''re not expecting anything in return, we know that you''ll at least be grateful for what you got from us. And that''s more than enough for old people like us."
Instead of making Kye less teary, what they said only made tears flow even more. He was so grateful to have met them, trained with them, and spent some time with them that he couldn''t help but cry.
After around ten more minutes where only crying sounds could be heard, Kye finally calmed down with red and puffy eyes.
Aria couldn''t help but chuckle at such a sight. "You became more handsome after you became an angel, but you''re still cuter. And those red eyes make you strangely even cuter."
"T-thanks, I guess."
Kye smiled wryly.
After some more chit-chat, they finally decided to say goodbye to Kye. Of course, they apany him to the city since they couldn''t open a teleportation gate to the military. Sure they were strong, but even that was out of their limit.
"Kye, don''t forget us, okay?" Aria said with a smile.
"I will never," He bowed down 90¡ã to show them his gratitude, which they only answered with a smile.
"I will wait for you Kye," Ras said. "Where I live has been named Neb by humans. So once you''ll be strong enough, don''t forget you visit me."
"I will for sure," He smiled brightly. "Thank you once again both of you."
Since it felt quiteme to say goodbye like this, Kye decided to hug them as well. He didn''t have any ulterior motive, and Aria and Ras knew that well. So they returned the hug one after the other.
And after both of them patted his head, Kye finally went toward the military''s staff that was in front of the teleportation gate.
"I''ll miss him," Aria said which Ras agreed to fully. He too will miss such a cute boy very much. During his stay, Kye looked like a son and a little brother, so their bond grew a lot. He even tried to help Aria with her territory when he wasn''t too tired.
***
Sunday, The military''s base.
Ven, Yugo, Enzo, Lidi, and Sylvia were in front of the tombstone with the written ''Kye Vermillion'' on it. They decided to make it to the forest near the building to pray for Kye. They came here weekly and were still hurt to know that such a cute little brother would never smile at them ever again.
After they returned to the building, they couldn''t help but see the military''s staff running back and forth.
"Did something happen?" Ven asked his friends, which none of them could answer since they didn''t know.
So Sylvia decided to ask one of the students that were around, and her answer shocked the group greatly.
Chapter 103 Reunion
"Mhm, excuse me," Sylvia stopped an average-looking girl. An extra in the story. "Do you perhaps know what happened and why does the staff running back and forth?"
The girl immediately knew who they were, so she answered in a hurry before running away.
"Is she serious?" Lidi was the first to react, snapping everyone from their daze. "There''s only one person who disappeared and was left dead!" Tears of joy slowly dripped from her eyes.
"Does that mean that Kye came back... alive?" Enzo asked his friends as everyone turned toward him.
They then all nodded their heads and went toward where the guards were running.
However, they were soon blocked by a crowd of students.
"Why are there so many students on a Sunday?"
Yugo and Ven said out loud and clicked their tongue at the same time. Though it wasn''t as if they could go past the students with ease, so they just stood at the very back of the crowd.
Still, they could hear what they were talking about, and it only confirmed their guess that the person that came back was their long-lost friend. Kye.
The group even saw some of the professors. Madison and Azul were the most noticeable. And while the former had a small smile on her face, thetter had a distorted face.
Both of them knew that there was only one student who disappeared, Kye Vermillion. And Madison couldn''t help but feel grateful for the miracle that left him alive. As for Azul, he couldn''t help but curse it. If Kye were to say that it was his fault, even if he wouldn''t be credible to the adults, he could still get sanctioned by the military. But what made him fear the most was the wrath of the Viso family.
He could face severe consequences even if what Kye said was false. And that was only because he would have tarnished the reputation of the Viso family.
So he hoped from the bottom of his heart that the person who came back wasn''t Kye.
However, hopes were just wishful dreams.
So once he saw Kye, his heart sank to his stomach.
"Kye, is that you?" Madison asked as she rushed toward him in a hurry.
"Ah, long time no see, professor."
Kye waved his hand with a smile.
Seeing Kye who changed so much, Madison got a hard time believing that it was him. But the staff''s thorough inspection forced her to believe that it was him. They had the same fingerprint and DNA, so it was enough of proof to believe that it was Kye.
"How?" Madison couldn''t help but ask. "How are you still alive? I searched for you a lot, and even the others searched for your whereabouts, but we couldn''t find you. Not even a single trace of you was found. So how?"
Madison bombarded him with questions that all the people present have on their minds. There were other professors since theing of a lost student was an important matter, but also students who couldn''t help but stare at Kye nkly. His otherwordly look stopped their thought process. Even male students stood there in a daze.
"I guess I just got lucky."
Kye didn''t say more than that. He didn''t prepare any lie. Not that he wanted to say anything about the matter. He didn''t know who he could trust anymore, so he didn''t want to give any information.
And there wasn''t any need to say that he managed to survive even after a hole was made in his body by the whale since it wasn''t something possible. No one could have treated his wounds. And such a big hole wasn''t something treatable in the first ce.
At least those who didn''t possess a strong enough healing ability.
After some more questions, Kye was finally left alone, at least by the professors. There was still a crowd of students in front of him that stood in a daze.
And looking at them, he was a little intimidated. There were so many people that he gulped down. But after strengthening his resolve, he began to walk forward.
And as if Moses was parting the sea in two, the students left Kye to walk past them. Everyone except a group of high-level students.
However, this group wasn''t here to search for problems with him. And Kye knew them very well. They were his friends.
Yugo, Ven, Lidi, Enzo, and Sylvia looked at him without saying anything.
They were so shocked to see their dead friend that it was as if their brain was short-circuited.
"Hum, hey guys, it''s been a while."
Kye smiled timidly and waved his hand. He was a few meters away from them.
But the moment they heard his now a little bit more mature voice, they all snapped back, and the girls were the first to act.
Lidi and Sylvia couldn''t help but cry and rush toward Kye to hug him.
Kye was taken aback and almost fell, but he managed to stabilize himself and hug them back.
"Is it really you? Kye? You''re still alive?"
"Yeah, it''s been a while."
Kye answered with a gentle voice and let the girls cry to their heart''s content.
While before Kye was smaller than both of the girls, it wasn''t the case anymore. He was far taller than before, being almost the same height as the other boys in their friend groups.
Kye then look up and saw the boys walking slowly toward him. They also have their doubt about this cute man''s identity, but the closer they got to him, the more their suspicion went away.
"Kye?"
A single word came out of Ven''s mouth.
"Yeah, it''s me."
He smiled.
"Is it really you?" Enzo added
"Yep, your cute Lil bro, hehe."
He chuckled a little. But what happened next shocked him greatly as well.
The three boys rushed toward him and hugged him as well. However, two people were okay, but five was too much. So after a few seconds, he fell to the ground, followed by all of his friends.
"I''m so d you''re alive, Kye!" Yugo said while tears of happiness flowed from his eyes.
Chapter 104 Explanation
"So..." Kye said but quickly stopped. They came to Enzo''s VIP room. It became their meeting spot after Kye had died. Or rather disappeared. "How are you guys?"
Earlier, they all cried to different degrees because happiness filled their mind. However, now that they had calmed down, they all stare at him furiously. He even had the impression that he was being judged.
"We would have been better if you would have shown a sign."
Lidi said as everyone agreed.
"I''m sorry, but I didn''t have any means ofmunication. I also lost my watch, so it was impossible to trace me. Even the military didn''t manage to find me."
There was a localization tracker inside of the watch, so the military could find a student whenever they wanted. But once Kye lost his watch, they couldn''t do anything anymore regarding his whereabouts.
So they assumed he had died.
"And where were you?" Enzo asked, with his arms crossed. It looks like his mood would change at a moment''s notice. Kye could even see a vein bulging on his forehead.
However, Kye couldn''t answer this question, so he remained silent, making the other angry as well.
"Why are you so secretive, Kye?" Sylvia was probably the only calm person in the group. She didn''t care about what he was doing during those few months. She was just d and felt relieved that he was alive. Though, the others were her friends as well. So she didn''t want to let them down. So she asked this question.
And Kye flinched when he heard that. It looked like their friendship could be broken at a moment''s notice if he didn''t say anything, and he didn''t want that in the slightest. It was the first time he had so many trustful friends, and he didn''t want to lose this friendship.
"I..." However, what he wanted was different from what his mouth could say. It felt extremely hard to continue.
"If it could relieve you a little, we all know that you''re some sort of angel, Kye."
Sylvia said with a smile.
But Kye''s mind turned nk when he heard that. His mouth was slightly open, showing how shocked he was.
He was sure that only Yugo and Ven knew about it, but it seems that everyone knew now. What happened? Why did they know about it? Was there anyone else besides them who knew? Would he be captured and be an experiment on?
All these questions were going back and forth in his troubled mind.
And his silence only made the other sure of his angelness.
Sylvia, as if could read his mind continued. "It''s Yugo and Ven who said it a few weeks ago. We all had our suspicion about your incredible regenerative ability or even your sudden handsomeness, or rather cuteness, but we just couldn''t find an answer. And since you were supposed to be dead, they decided to tell us who you was.
"And contrary to what you can think, we didn''t reject you. On the contrary, we felt bad for you because you had to suffer this burden alone. However, we were sad to not learn such an important thing about you by your mouth."
Kye turned toward Yugo and Ven with eyes filled with questions, but they just dodged his gaze. And in the end, Kye only sighed. It wasn''t their fault to have told them who he was. And as Sylvia said, since he was supposed to be dead, there wasn''t any harm for them knowing who he was.
Though, Kye felt like he needed to give a proper exnation to his friends. So after a few minutes, Kye finally began to exin who he was.
"As you said, I''m indeed an angel. Well, actually, I was only a Half-Angel when we were still together. I only became a real angel when I was alone and could train."
He stood up and put his top off.
"W-w-wait, what are you doing?" Lidi and Sylvia stuttered and averted their gaze when they saw what he was doing. They also blushed in embarrassment.
"I need to show you some evidence so that you can trust me, right?" Kye smiled as he turned around. The girls slowly looked back at him, and with the boys, were all shocked to see two big tattoos on his back. They were shaped like wings.
He then channeled his holy energy inside of his body and his wings popped out like magic. "As you can see, I have wings, but since they are way too big and could be easily seen, I have to hide them."
He then turned around and saw their shocked expression. They all knew that he was indeed an angel, but knowing and seeing from their own eyes were two different things. The boys were truly shocked by his gigantic and beautiful wings that they couldn''t say anything, while the girlspletely forgot that he was topless.
"As an angel, I also have a halo."
His single ear earing took its real form and became a beautiful halo, making everyone''s jaw drop to the ground. It seems like they even forgot how to blink because of how shocked they were.
Kye didn''t say anything for a while and just decided to hide his wings and halo again. He also put his shirt back and sat on the couch. He then waited for his friends to say something. But even after ten minutes, they were still silent.
"Hum guys, are you okay?" Kye finally asked. He couldn''t take this silence anymore. It was killing him and needed to know if they would still ept him.
And he still had other things to tell, so he needed them to focus.
Needless to say that in this state, they wouldn''t even hear him.
However, contrary to what Kye expected, there was still no answer. So in the end, Kye only decided to wait again so that the shock could dwell down a little bit. And during this time, he thought about his ability.
Chapter 105 Acceptance
However, contrary to what Kye expected, there was still no answer. So in the end, Kye only decided to wait again so that the shock could dwell down a little bit. And during this time, he thought about his ability.
''I wonder what I can currently do with this cosmic ability of mine. I should have tried to use it when I was still on Supi, what a dumb move, really.'' Kye thought with an internal sigh. ''Maybe I can try to make some sort of cosmic arrow? Or would it be just a shooting star? Well, a shooting star would be quite strong, so it''s probably good if I can make one with what little energy I have.''
Kye couldn''t think more about his ability because his friends had finally snapped back to reality.
"When did your wings get that big?" Ven asked. He still remembered Kye''s tiny and cute little wings very well.
"They transformed on their own once I was strong enough to endure the process."
"Was it painful?" Enzo asked. His earlier mood change went back to normal thanks to Kye.
"Yeah, it was. It hurt so much that I fainted the moment the pain disappeared."
Everyone only looked at him with apologetic eyes. They didn''t know how painful it must have been, but if it was enough to make Kye faint, then they could only gulp down to his will. They were sure that if he were to sumb to the pain, he could have as well die. So they all thanked heaven that Kye was still alive.
[People are grateful because you are alive.
+1 stat point in all areas]
''Well, that was unexpected.''
Kye thought before continuing where he needed to stop his story earlier. He was now used to getting the system''s window at unexpected moments, so it didn''t phase him anymore.
"Anyways, should we continue?"
"There''s still other things?" Lidi asked in shock.
"Yes, but it''s not as good as you can expect."
They wouldn''t have thought of anything if Kye had a normal expression on his face right now. But he, strangely enough, looked like he was quite sad.
"Ain''t you guys surprised that we became friends so fast?" Kye said, dropping what he could think at the first bomb. He hoped that they would still stay friends even after what he would sayter.
"I was curious at the beginning," Enzo answered. "It just looked strange to me that you could befriend Yugo, Ven, and Lidi in just a few days and weeks. I mean, your friendships looked so good to be true that it was strange. Especially since you were level one back then. But after spending a few hours with you, I understood why the bond linking you was so strong. So in the end, I didn''t think much once we were a friend."
As Enzo said, it was indeed strange that they became friends so fast. Sylvia thought the same as well. But like Enzo, she quickly understood that Kye wasn''t the normal guy and that it looked normal to befriend so fast with him.
But it seems that their assumption was false since Kye smiled sadly at them.
"Well, to be honest, it wasn''t normal at all." Kye looked them directly in the eyes. He wanted to tell them the truth. "As I said earlier, I was only a Half-Angel when we met. And at that time, my holy energy wasn''t controlled and ran away, be it inside of my body or outside. And this holy energy makes people around me act more friendly toward me the moment they have just a little sympathy toward me. And since I couldn''t control it back then, this is one of the reasons that we became friends so fast.
"Of course, I''m not saying that everything we lived together was a lie. No, far from it. The moments we spent together were the best I could have lived in my entire life. So even if you don''t want to stay friends with me, at least know that I''m thankful for all the moments we spent together."
This came like a bomb. No one expected such a thing, and no one managed to form even a word with their mouth. They didn''t know what to think, nor did they know how to react to what Kye told them.
He told them that what they lived together were memories he would never forget, but how about them?
Were their feelings false all along?
Would they have be friends if not for Kye''s holy energy?
Would they have stayed with Kye if not for this?
Neither they nor Kye did know the answer to those questions.
And because of that, thetter looks down to hide his teary eyes. He didn''t want them to feel bad for him because of his feelings, so avoiding their dumbfounded look was the best solution.
And a long silence descended upon the room for about five minutes.
And thankfully for Kye, Sylvia was the first to answer him.
"Kye... I don''t know if what I felt was true or not anymore. But I don''t really care at this point. I know how you are, and I should even be thankful for your... holy energy. If not for it, I don''t think I would have lived so many fun moments with you. So let''s go have funter."
Kye got the courage to look up, only to see Sylvia''s beautiful smile. He then couldn''t hold back his tears anymore and they flowed down. He was so happy that at least one of his friends was okay with it that he couldn''t control them anymore.
And one after the other, they all said that it was alright. Everyone except one person.
One of Kye''s best friends.
It seems like he was way more sensitive to this topic than the other and only looked down. However, Kye could see his hands forming first. His palm was getting whiter because of his finger. Though, Kye couldn''t say anything since it wasn''t his fault.
It wasn''t Ven''s fault, but his.
Chapter 106 The Holy Shop
Weeks passed, and nothing much happened. Everything came back to how it was before he was left ''dead'' by the military. Lessons had begun once again for him. The weapon ss continued. Exactly like before.
He also got a new watch, and as he thought when he was still on Supi, he was now level 2. Obviously, he had to reveal that he got an ability since it wasn''t possible to rank up otherwise. Though, he didn''t show anything since he couldn''t use it yet.
He went several times to the principal office as well. It was to talk about how he lived in Supi for that long with such a big injury, and how did he manage to get his ability. For both questions, Kye only said that as he was going deeper and deeper, he found a chest. He managed to open it narrowly and saw two things in it. A bottle with a red liquid in it, and an ability orb. He drank the bottle the moment he discovered it, and miraculously, his wounds closed at a speed visible to the naked eye. So he guessed that it was a healing potion of some sort. As for the ability orb, he decided to learn it because, without a doubt, it would have increased his chance to survive by a lot.
The principal didn''t believe in him at first. But after several meetings and even using the lie detector, he finally had to believe in what Kye said. The lie detector didn''t detect any lies, so Kye could only have said the truth.
During this time, he also checked several times the holy shop he unlocked when he became an angel. He hadpletely forgotten about it and only remembered a few days ago.
The shop was pretty strange at first. There were a lot of different items in it, but it was only consumable. So mostly potions like healing potions, energy recovery potions, strength potions, and so on. There were also pills that could improve Kye''s stats definitively, but the price wasn''t something he could just brush off.
First, the price wasn''t in human currency, but something named holy deed. And currently, he only had 64 holy deeds. As for how he earned them, it was when he was doing something good. For example, helping someone when they were hurt gave him 10 holy deeds. When someone was thanking him for whatever reasons, he earned 2 holy deeds. In short, he needed to do good actions to earn holy deeds. However, it took him a long time to even get those 64 holy deeds.
And for the record, a low-grade healing potion cost 200 holy deeds, while a high-grade healing potions cost 10,000 holy deeds. However, what was more surprising was the price of the pills. One pill cost 50,000 holy deeds.
Just thinking about this amount made him dizzy.
But he continued his life like it was. He was kind to those that were kind to him, and even more ruthless to those that looked at him like trash.
Kye also hung out with his friends a lot to make up for the lost time. However, Ven only came from time to time, saying that he needed to train.
The other seemed to believe in what he said, but Kye wasn''t as dense as before. He knew why Ven wasn''t hanging out with him anymore. But he couldn''t say anything. Ven was here for him since the beginning alongside Yugo. But the former seemed to haven''t liked the fact that his friends could have been a lie all along, so he slowly began to avoid him.
For example, Ven wasn''t sparring with Kye anymore during weapon sses. He also avoided him like the gue and only stayed with him when they were all hanging out together. He was also avoiding eye contact.
Though, Kye stood silent to all those clear signs. However, it pained him a lot knowing that his best friend was acting like this.
''I guess it can''t be helped.'' Kye thought while he was walking alone in the academy hallway. ''Now that I think about it, I didn''t see the two guys who left me when the balena attacked me since I came back. It would be good to see them again. I need to teach them a lesson or two.
''Hum, well actually I don''t think it will solve anything. I mean, I will still make them pay, but it''s clear that it''s not them who was behind the ''assassination''. I don''t think that the balena would havee to us during normal circumstances because we were near the city. So it must have been someone strong enough to attack the balena to me.
''But the question is who. And if this person indeed had the strength to attract such a strong creature, then how I am meant to beat his ass up?''
As he was thinking, he suddenly see a group of students making a circle. He slowly approached them since if he were to be of any help, he could earn a little bit of holy deeds, but the moment he saw who was inside the circle, a smile appeared on his face.
Inside the circle were two people. The first one was a level 3 girl. She didn''t look that much oustanding, so Kye just look at her who was sobbing on the ground.
What attracted his attention was the one who was standing while ring at the girl furiously. She was level 6, and Kye knew who this person was.
She was Maria, the girl who was in his group when they were on Supi, and the one who made her life hard as hell when they were together.
"You piece of trash, how dare you oppose me!" Maria said to the sobbing girl while activating her ability. She was ready to attack the defenseless girl at any time now.
''Well, I guess it''s my time to shine!'' Kye smiled as he quickly entered the circle of students.
Chapter 107 Paying Back
Roots formed above the ground and quickly rushed toward the pale-looking girl. They lifted her in the air while restraining herpletely. The root also stretched her body a lot and a cracking sound could be heard in the hallway.
The students forming the circle all took a step back when they heard the crying sound and screaming of the poor girl.
However, there was one student who wasn''t scared and quickly rushed toward the scene and cut all the roots with a sword that appeared out of nowhere.
This boy looked magnificent and very kind. "You over there, take her to the infirmary."
The boy who was obviously Kye ordered one of the students, and she did as she was told immediately.
"You!!!" Maria gritted her teeth when she saw Kye.
"Long time no see, Maria." Kye faked a smile. "How have you been?"
"Don''t talk as if we''re friends!" Maria rearranged the roots around her and was ready to attack Kye. "And why don''t you mind your own business? I was teaching her a lesson you fucker."
"I didn''t know that killing someone was a meaning to teach them a lesson." Tension was building in the air. The students around took once again a few steps back. They could even almost see sparks forming between the both of them. "Or maybe you wanted to teach me a lesson back then as well?"
Maria stiffened when she heard that. Did he know something? Would he report it to the principal or other professors? She was thinking hastily but quickly recovered herposure. ''No, I have Azul covering my back, so I don''t risk anything.''
However, even a little change in Maria''s expression didn''t escape Kye''s sharp eyes. "Seems like I hit the bull''s head."
"W-what do you mean?"
"Oh? You''re even stuttering now?" Kye chuckled provocatively.
"You son of a bitch!" Maria yelled. She couldn''t take such an insult from trash like him. So she didn''t hesitate to swing the roots that were forming since earlier toward Kye.
The people witnessing the scene closed their eyes because they didn''t want to see someone else suffering. But the only thing they could hear was the roots shing against the ground.
So they opened their eyes, only to see Maria panting ferociously, and Kye smiling in the middle of all the roots without even a scratch on his body or clothes.
"You''re pretty slow," Kye said as he slowly walked toward Maria. Thetter waved her hand rashly and another set of roots swung towards Kye, but he only swung his sword a few times and all the roots were once again cut.
It was so impressive that everyone''s jaw dropped to the ground. They even took a look at his level several times, but the only thing they could see was low level, which impressed them greatly because Maria was level 6, so it was strange that Kye could be so imposing with such a big difference in their levels.
But it seems that what they were witnessing was very much real.
"I don''t even know why I was so scared of you back then." Kye sighed as he approached Maria. "I should''ve fought back when you were bullying me."
"You lowly trash, don''te near me!" Maria stepped back and still waved her hand tomand her roots, but they were all cut down by Kye.
Thetter then got a little bored and rushed toward Maria with his sword against her throat. "You''re lucky that we''re in the military''s territory right now. I wouldn''t have been so kind if we were elsewhere."
He said with cold eyes.
It looked so cold that Maria got a chill running down her spine. Kye''s eyes looked as if they didn''t harbor any emotions anymore, and it scared her greatly.
"Well anyways, I guess I should go now." Kye smiled and the atmosphere around them went back to normal. "Bye~, see you another time~."
Maria looked at Kye''s back, and once she couldn''t see him anymore, her legs felt weak. She didn''t expect to get so pressured by him that she felt as if she was facing an adult. ''What did he endure when he was away to feel so threatening?'' Maria thought, scared about what would have happened if this situation were to happen outside the military.
So without hesitation, she stood up and went toward the professor''s office.
**
''It seems that my training was better than I expected.'' Kye thought with a smile as he was walking in the hallway. ''I didn''t expect to beat her so easily. Sure she didn''t give her all and only used her roots to attack, but still. They felt so slow that I could predict their movement without issues.
''But well, I guess it''s normal. Compared to Ras'' speed or Aria''s speed, Maria''s attacks were much much more slower. Guess that being beaten up so much was beneficial in the end.''
As he thought that, he remembered his time with his two masters. It was a hard time but also one of the greatest memories he had now. However, he couldn''t feel down so much, so he decided to go and train his ability. He still didn''t know how to use it properly even after so many times had passed.
He thought multiple times of ways of using it, but never really got the chance to test his theories. His friends wouldn''t let him train and wanted to hang out with him to make up for the lost time.
''I should talk with Ven as well. I don''t want him to stay cold with me. He was my second friend, and he''s still precious to me.''
Kye set up his next course of action. It was hurting him a lot to see Ven avoiding him so much. And as his best friend, Kye didn''t want to stay on such terms with him. He wanted tough and y with him again, like the old times.
But for now, it would have to wait since he needed to train his ability.
Chapter 108 How Does She Knows?
Azul''s personal office
"Azul, do you understand what I''m saying?!" Maria yelled to Azul who was looking at her with bored eyes.
"Why are you screaming, Maria?" He smiled. Though, his smile looked as if he was hiding something.
"Because you seem to don''t give a shit about what happened!" She pped the table separating the both of them. "He humiliated me! He needs to pay for it!"
"He will, do not worry about it."
"How?"
"Even though I''m surprised that he''s still alive, and his sudden power boost, he''s still no more than small fry. We''re from the Viso family, do not forget that. We have powers, while he has nothing. We have money, while he''s trash. We have connections that can ruin his life, while he can''t even touch the slightest of our hair. So it''s just a question of time before we''ll get rid of him."
Maria didn''t say anything for a moment. Hearing what Azul said made her smile, and his nonchnt attitude made her confident that what he was saying was true.
"Good, I''ll be waiting for him to cry for help then."
Maria said with a bright mood before going out of Azul''s office.
***
A week had passed and Kye felt like his understanding of his ability had greatly improved. He could now do a few things like cosmic arrows or cosmic rift which open two small portals which are connected. Though, the portals aren''t anywhere big enough to let someone through them. At best, only a hand could go into it.
However, the biggest problem of the ability is indeed its high energy consumption. Around ten arrows were enough to consume all his energy. As for the astral rift, a pair of the portals was enough to consume two third of his energy. No need to say that he couldn''t use his ability for long. So he focused on trying to improve his max energy. He asked for help from his friends, which they dly epted, but their training method was... poor.
In reality, he was sure that it was one of the best training methods that mankind has, butpared to what Ras taught him, it felt quitecking.
He also tried to ask Ven, but he always avoided him, saying that he was busy.
Kye tried to talk with him numerous times as well, but it was hard to even exchange more than five words. Nheless, he didn''t give up. He was going toward Ven the moment he saw him and always tried to talk with him.
It was clear that Ven was ufortable, but he did it nheless. He was ufortable as well at the start of their friendship, and Yugo and Ven knew it, but it wasn''t as if they stopped trying to befriend him for that much. So Kye decided to do the same, and as time passes, it looked like things were a little bit better than what it was. Though, not from much. They still had a long way to go.
Kye could have used his holy energy to befriend Ven once again, but he felt as if he would betray him if he were to do so. He would try his best to have the same rtionship as before, but if it wouldn''t work, then he couldn''t help it.
He could only try his best.
During this totally normal week, he also had the impression that certain people were following him. It could probably just be an impression, but his eyes didn''t fail him until now. And it wasn''t just one or two. It was a lot of different people. However, only two people seem... special.
The first one was a girl. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was extremely pretty, almost too much to be normal, and she was following him almost everywhere for whatever reasons.
''She''s not in love with me, right?''
Kye thought but quickly pushed this thought away.
The second was a boy. He has dark hair and green eyes and was also way more handsome than him, but no one seemed to bat an eye for him either. And he too was following him wherever he was going.
And strangely enough, the pretty girl and the handsome boy seemed to know each other because they shed several times with each other.
But what worried Kye was that both of them never tried toe near him, talk with him. Not that they needed to in the first ce. But it was still strange for them to observe him and not talk to him.
,m Both of them were also level 5, and from what Kye could pick when they were fighting in his presence, the girl could somewhat control the weather, and the boy could somewhat control all the basic elements.
Both of them seemed really strong, and if possible, Kye didn''t want to be near them for obvious reasons.
Though life seemed to want its way, so while he was walking the hallway of the academy alone in the search for Ven, the girl suddenly popped up in front of him after a crossway.
Kye tried to avoid her, but the girl seemed to want otherwise.
"Hello, do you mind if we talk for a moment?"
Kye looked into her eyes and replied. "Why would I? I don''t know who you are. Or do you want to bully me as well?" He tried to make her feel bad, but she didn''t bat an eye.
"I don''t n on bullying you, but you should follow me. It''s for your own safety."
"What do you mean by safety?" Kye tilted his head to the side. I can protect myself. And if I can''t, then it will just help me improve."
"It''s not what I mean," She asked her head. "It''s for your safety as someone superior to humans."
Kye cked out for a moment. He stopped thinking and a handful of questions entered his mind. As for the most worrying question, it was: Does she know that I''m an angel?
Chapter 109 A Strange Boy
Kye stood silent for quite a while and let the girl talk for the time being. He was still trying to think of a way to escape this situation, but he wasn''t good at finding such ways. So in the end, he asked. "What do you mean by superior to a human? I''m a human too, and a low-level one at that. So how could I be superior to people?"
He tried to feign ignorance, but it looked harder than it seems since the girl didn''t seem to believe in what he was saying.
"Come on Kye, don''t y dumb. I can''t say some words since we''re in the open right now, but I know your real identity."
The pretty girl couldn''t say a lot of things since they were in the middle of the hallway, and if someone were to hear them, it could lead to some unfortunate consequences. That was why she asked to go somewhere where they could talk freely.
But as Kye was feigning ignorance, the girl seemed to get a little upset.
"Why are you trying so hard to stitch out words from my mouth? I don''t know anything. I don''t even know you either, so stop bothering me."
Kye said as he turned and walked away.
The girl, not wanting to leave him alone gripped his wrist. However, what happened next sent a chill down her spine.
When she hold onto Kye''s wrist, thetter looked back at her. But instead of a normal look, Kye''s eyes were filled with annoyance. It was as if a lion was looking down on a mouse. There were even golden hues in his eyes. And because of that, she unbeknownst let go of his wrist.
Kye didn''t think much about what happened and why the girl in front of him stiffened so much, but he couldn''t care less since he found Ven entering one of the military''s training rooms. He quickly ran there, only to be stopped mid-way by someone else.
"Hi hi~, how are you, Kye? Do you mind if we talk for a second?"
The boy who said that was so handsome that Kye had difficulties knowing if it was even human-like. He looked strangely seductive as well. However, since he knew that this boy was following for quite some days now, it wasn''t good to be fixed on such a thing.
"First, how do you know my name? And second, who are you?"
Kye''s questions weren''t off, so he was sure that the boy in front of him wouldn''t suspect that he was suspecting him.
"Well, you''re pretty well-known, you know~? So it''s normal that I know your name," He said with a smile that looked too otherwordly to be normal. "And you can call me Leo, that''s my name."
Kye looked at him suspiciously but just sighed in the end. "So? What do you want, Leo?"
Thetter made a mischievous smile when he heard his question. "You do know what I want~, little angel~."
He said thest part with an inaudible voice, but Kye heard him very well. And like earlier, he was once again wondering how in the world this guy could know who he was. Though, he quickly calmed down and asked with a fake flushed face and stuttered.
"I-I don''t know what you''re t-talking about. And why did you call me an angel?"
His act looked perfect as the boy in front of him seemed to havepletely believed in him. He had such a dumbfounded face that Kye had difficulties keeping his flushed face and notughing.
"You must be kidding me, right?" He asked with a wry smile.
"What do you mean?" Kye asked innocently.
The boy looked him in the eyes while thinking. ''It''s strange. I''m sure that I sensed holy energyst time, and the faint trace lead me to him, so I''m sure it''s not the other bitch. But he seems to not know about it, which is just too strange. Doesn''t he know that he''s an angel? Or maybe he isn''t one? But how did I sense his energy then?''
As Kye had guessed a little, Leo wasn''t human. He had a special trait that allowed him to sense people''s energies easily. So the moment Kye used a tiny bit of his energy, he knew that he wasn''t normal. So he followed him to know more about him. But he was just dumbfounded when Kye looked like he didn''t even know who he was.
But since he couldn''t do anything about it now, he just gave up and decided to observe him a little more before reporting it to the higher of his race.
"I see... Well, I guess I bothered you for nothing," He smiled. "Anyways thank you for your time. I''ll go now." He bowed his head a little and went away.
Kye looked at his back for a moment, relieved that he had escaped this ''interrogatory'' without any issue. He then decided to move since it would have been suspicious if he were to look too long to Leo''s back.
''Ah right, where''s Ven again?'' He thought as he remembered that Ven went training. ''Isn''t he training too much? He was the one who always wanted to hang out and never wanted to train. But here he is now, training without rest.''
Kye thought as he was observing Ven from afar. He could see him fight against a training dummy at the hardest level. No need to say that Ven was losing easily. The training dummy was so fast that Ven could only dodge a few times at skin length, or parry its attack while sustaining injuries because of the strength behind each of the dummy''s strikes.
However, he seems to have improved a lot. His mastery over gravity seemed to have reached another realm, while his physical abilities had improved a lot.
''I guess Ven''s title is fit for him.'' Kye thought as he sat and observed Ven training. He didn''t want to bother him, so he decided to wait for him to finish his training.
Chapter 110 Fighting Against The Training Dummy
Ven walked in the hallway alone, not knowing what to do. Since Kye came back, his rtionship with the other had deteriorated as well. It wasn''t noticeable at first, but as time passes, he was hanging out with them less, and they understood that something wasn''t good with Ven.
Yugo, since he was the closest to him asked him what happened, but Ven decided to fake ignorance. The only thing he said was that he wanted to be stronger to protect Kye by himself. Thanks to that, the others didn''t ask anything else since they thought that what he was doing was good. They couldn''t hang out every time, after all. So they began to train a little during their own free time as well.
However, Ven just felt bad for saying that.
It wasn''t that he didn''t like Kye anymore. On the contrary, he was still considering him like a little brother. And the fact that Kye slowly went out of hisfort zone to talk to him who was purposely acting cold toward him made him smile internally.
But he couldn''t help but think that his feelings weren''tpletely true. Kye had told them that since he now could control his energy, it wouldn''t affect them anymore. But Ven couldn''t help but think otherwise.
The blow he felt when Kye had told them the truth already pained him a lot. So he didn''t want to experience that again. He trusted Kye a lot. But he didn''t know if what he felt was true or not anymore. So he decided to distance himself from him, even though it was paining him even more.
But it was necessary since he needed time to think.
So Ven headed to the training room. Once there, he set up the training dummy at the highest level. He knew that he couldn''t do anything against them, but he wasn''t in the mood for anything else. So to clear his head, he wanted to bepletely immersed in the fight.
Once the dummy activated, it rushed toward Ven at full speed. Thetter already fought with this level of difficulty a few times already, so he knew that the dummy was fast. But it was still surprising him to see how fast it was.
Once the dummy was close enough, it swung its wooden sword.
Ven tried to block it with his katana, but the momentum it carried made Ven slide backward. And the dummy didn''t let Ven recuperate since it rushed toward him even before he could recover his bnce back.
? Ven tried to dodge this time, but when he saw the sword moving way too fast, he tried to block it instead. But like earlier, he got pushed back. The dummy once again rushed toward him, but this time, Ven decided to use his ability.
He lessened the gravity of his body to move faster and see the movement of the training dummy more easily, before blocking it.
But this time, instead of being pushed back, Ven stood where he was when he blocked the sword.
It was only possible because he increased the gravity of his body at the perfect time.
And without any moment to rest, the dummy kicked him in the stomach.
"Shit!" Ven cursed out loud as he tried to dodge the training dummy''s strikes. Thanks to his improved speed, he managed to dodge them, but at a skin length. It was so close that he could feel his skin getting hotter, even though the sword never touched him.
The fight continued like this for a long period. Ven tried to use his gravity to the fullest by either slowing down the dummy, or increasing his own speed, but he couldn''t do anything. He waspletely overpowered.
So he decided to give up to think a little about what happened.
''It''s clear that my control over the gravity has improved. But I''m still using it too straightforwardly. I need help to improve my ability, but I don''t wanna ask the others for what they learn in the ability ss.''
Ven had more pride than once could think, so he didn''t see himself asking anything from them. Even though he was close to them it just didn''t feel right to ask.
In the middle of his thought, he suddenly heard footstepsing from behind him. He nced back, only to see the one he didn''t expect to see.
"Hey Ven, how are you?" Kye smiled as he bend on his knees to be at Ven''s eye level.
Thetter looked at his eyes for an unknown period, before finally answering. Though, with a monotone voice and an expressionless face. "Good and you?"
"I guess I''m fine as well," Kye smiled again, making Ven sigh internally. He wanted to pat his head but stopped himself quickly. Thankfully for him, Kye spoke again. "I saw your fight against the dummy."
"You were watching me?" There was finally a change of expression on his face. He was surprised, to say the least.
"Hmhm," Kye nodded his head. "I saw you earlier in the hallway, and wanted to hang out with you, but I got held back by some people. Then when I came into the training room, I saw you fight the dummy. And it impressed me how strong you were. The dummy was so fast that even I had a hard time seeing its movement, yet you always managed to parry its attack."
Ven looked away to not let Kye see his face. He was weak topliment.
"Your mastery over gravity seemed to have improved a lot as well. So much that I''m sure you''re the strongest student out there."
"*Cough cough*" Ven coughed when he heard Kye''sst words. It was the final blow.
"T-thanks, I guess. ¡ But anyways, did youe here to train as well?"
"Nope, I just wanted to talk to you. And I''m fine with watching you as well. I can learn a lot just by watching."
"Then if you don''t mind, could you..."
Chapter 111 Thank You, Kye
"Then if you don''t mind, could you help me with something?"
In normal circumstances, Ven wouldn''t have asked Kye to help him. But after almost two months had passed since he came back to ''life'', and all the efforts he poured into befriending him again, he felt that it would be him in the wrong if he were to continue acting cold.
Sure Kye''s holy energy wasn''t the best thing from his point of view, but now that he didn''t use it unconsciously anymore, it just showed how real his feelings were.
So he decided to take a gamble.
As for Kye, when he heard that, he answered with so much excitement that it felt as if he was waiting for something like this to happen. "Yes. I''ll do whatever you want!" Ven could even see stars in Kye''s eyes.
"Whatever?" Ven asked just to be sure with a sly smile but quickly brushed his thought away.
"Hmhm." Kye nodded. "As long as it''s in my capacity, I''ll do whatever I can to help you."
"You don''t have to be so excited, really, I just need some ideas regarding my ability, that''s all."
"Still, even if it''s a small thing, I''m still happy that you ask for help from me. I heard you asked the other for help, and even though I know why you didn''t ask for mine, I was still sad."
Kye looked down, and Ven didn''t say anything. He just scratched the back of his head awkwardly. But thankfully for him, Kye quickly changed the topic.
"But anyway, it''s all old stories now. You just asked for my help, so I''m more than happy."
Ven nodded with his lips curling up a little and continued. "So you must have seen when I was fighting, but my use of gravity is too linear. Actually, I never trained my ability before. When I was home, I was only training in close quarters with a katana, and never thought of using my gravity. And I can''t help but curse my old self for not learning it because it seems that I can''t improve without it."
Ven''s childhood had passed with training. But he didn''t train his ability even once. He only trained with his sword, and that''s one of the reasons he got a title when he was still only a child. Though, as he grew up, he fall behind the others because he didn''t control his ability well enough. It was just average. Butpared to those of the same status as him, he was far behind. Though, as a battle genius, Ven still won almost every single of his spar.
However, now that he saw how weak he was without a great understanding of his ability, he felt like he needed to change that. And that''s why he asked for help. Though, it has proven useless until now.
They all had their own problem regarding their abilities, so they weren''t of much help nor could they since every ability worked differently.
So Kye was hisst resort. But he didn''t expect much either from him since he didn''t have an ability until a few months ago.
"So what do you search exactly?"
Kye asked and Ven started thinking for a few minutes.
"If possible, something that doesn''t have anything with increasing my speed or whatsoever. I already know how to do all of that, so I don''t really need things like that. So if possible, something like a spell that could be used at long range."
Kye nodded and started thinking for a few minutes as well. There weren''t many things he could think of currently, but he still tried his best. "Do you have enough energy to do big things?"
"I have a lot of energy, so don''t worry about that. But what do you mean by big things? Like big moves that could clutch a fight?"
"Yeah, that''s what I''m talking about. I have two ideas in mind at the moment."
Ven''s eyes sparkled when he heard that. His hope reached high and he expected Kye''s answer eagerly.
Thetter smiled seeing him and continued. "My first guess would be something where you could either pull someone toward you with gravity or pull this person off you so that you can breathe. Like this, the person would be caught off guard and you would be able to either do a big strike, or breath so that you can think of a n. Of course, you can also throw someone in the air and make them spin, but you''ll have to manage your energy well since I guess it will be pretty consuming."
Ven''s face was filled with excitement and wanted to hug Kye for giving him such ideas, but he restrained himself since he didn''t finish speaking yet.
"As for my second idea, I guess it''s a little more harder to do. Basically, you create a gravitational orb and ce it behind someone. This orb will attract your opponent in his center of gravity and crush its bones the stronger the orb is. I don''t really know how it can work, but I leave this part to you."
Ven did well to not bother Kye when he was talking because the second idea was even greater than the first one. It could be so useful that he was sure to make up for his non-experience very fast.
"Kye...." Ven looked down, making Kye worry. Though, he worried for nothing. "Thank you so much, you don''t know how much I needed help." He even hugged him, startling Kye a little. Though, he was used to it, so he hugged him back gently.
"I can''t breath, Ven..."
"Oh my bad, I''m sorry. I was just so excited that I didn''t control my strength."
He scratched the back of his head and smile brightly. He was so happy now that it was even hard to stay put without doing anything.
"Well, I''m d to be of help." Kye smiled back. "Now I guess I''ll leave you alone so that you can train."
Chapter 112 Training The Cosmic Ability
"Well, I''m d to be of help." Kye smiled back. "Now I guess I''ll leave you alone so that you can train."
"Huh? You don''t want to stay and watch me?"
"I do want to watch you train and train myself at the same time, but I don''t want to make you ufortable..."
Ven looked his friend in the eyes for a few seconds before answering. "It''s okay, you can stay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, you''re the one who gave me the ideas, so it''s the least I can do, right?" He turned his head to the side so that Kye couldn''t see his expression.
And seeing that, Kye chuckled and epted to stay.
And so began Ven''s training.
He first tried to do Kye''s first idea, but it seemed harder than it looked. It was easy to press gravity upon someone so that they will be crushed by their own increased weighed, but it was a lot harder to use gravity on the sides or upward. But Ven felt so happy that things could go wellter that he didn''t even think for a second about his failure.
He then tried Kye''s second idea. And this one was... impossible, to say the least. Ven''s control over gravity was good, but not good enough to create a gravity ball that would bend everything around it. So he assumed that he first needed to know how to attract or repulse someone with his gravity so that he will gain some understanding of his ability, before trying to do this second move.
And since Ven trained for several hours, Kye didn''t only watch him. He decided to train his cosmic ability as well. And obviously, since he couldn''tst long when he was using it, he decided to try and increase his energy.
Since he got his ability, Kye managed to increase it only once, going from 100 to 150. He was happy from the boost, but it still wasn''t much. And it increased when he was resting after having used all of his energy a few days ago. So he guessed that he needed to use his ability as much as possible to increase it, but it seems way too slow of a way, so today, he decided to meditate like he was doing with Ras to control his holy energy back then.
He sat on the ground and took a lotus position. He then started to focus on his energy and tried to control it inside of his body.
However, he didn''t expect it to move so freely. It was so easy that it even seemed strange. And since it was easy, he didn''t expect his energy to increase by the slightest. So he tried to move the ability outside of his body, and that''s when he met difficulties.
His cosmic energy stopped just beforeing out from his body. Even after so many tries, Kye couldn''t make it came out, so he gave up after an unknown amount of time.
And since he didn''t have anything else to do, he started to meditate and focused on his energy to try and expand it.
He didn''t move it. He just tried to make itrger, bigger, and wider. It was hard, but he had the impression that he was getting somewhere.
He continued like this for a few hours, and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the system''s windows.
[Your understanding of your cosmic ability has increased]
[+100 energy]
[Energy: 250/250]
"Yes, I did it!" Kye shouted in excitement before feeling falling backward from the exhaustion.
He didn''t notice it earlier since he was too focused on the system, but he was drenched in sweat, his breathing was rough and heavy, and his body felt sore all over. ''Seems like I overtrained.''
He thought as he tried to move his head around to find Ven, only to find him still training. He too was drenched in sweat. So much so that his body was visible under his wet clothes. And seeing him train so hard, Kye smiled.
''Seems like he had better stamina than me. Should I improve it as well? I have 8 free stats to distribute, after all.'' This thought crosses his head, but he quickly shrugs it away. He wanted to use them when he really needed them, not now just because of hispetitive spirit.
So he closed his eyes to rest, and slowly fell asleep.
***
When he woke up, Kye could feel like he was getting carried by someone. He could feel someone''s back on his head and jumping on his back every time the one who was carrying him took a step forward.
"Are you awake?"
"Is this you, Ven?" Kye asked after recognizing his voice.
"Yeah, it''s me. Why did you fall asleep? You should''ve gone back if you were sleepy. Or did you want to watch me that bad?"
He sneered when he asked that, but the answer he got was quite serious.
"I got motivated when I watch you train so hard, so I decided to train as well. But I slept from exhaustion. I''m sorry."
Ven didn''t say anything for a few seconds. He didn''t expect Kye to apologize. So he now understood that he was probably as hurt as him after how he acted for the past few months.
"What are you apologizing for? It''s not as if you did something bad."
"Yeah, but I kept bothering you. I know that you don''t want to hang out with me anymore, but I''m still going toward you and bothering you. Even now, you''re carrying me, so you must be angry with me. I''m sorry."
He hide his face on Ven''s back, and thetter could feel his back slowly getting wet again.
"Wait you''re crying?" When he didn''t hear any answer, he put Kye down and looked at his face.
Well, it would be better to say that he tried, since the moment he was put down, Kye entered their dorm room, leaving Ven in front of it, baffled by what had just happened
Chapter 113 Another Exam
A week had passed since then and everything was now like before. Kye and Ven make up, and everyone began to hang out once again with each other. Though, they all trained a lot more than before.
For example, before their first exam, no one was training for real. They only learned things during their respective fighting sses, but that was all.
On the other hand, they were now training at least three times a week on their own. Be it training their abilities, or even their knowledge about fighting. It didn''t matter. As long as it was more or less close to the fighting, each one of them was trying to learn so that they could improve themselves.
And thanks to that, they all managed to score first ce during fighting sses, or special assignments that were rted to fighting.
Almost no one was training, so it wasn''t that hard.
However, after the announcement of a second exam, a lot of students began training as well, and quickly, the immense gymnasium that could fit hundreds and hundreds of students was almost full.
During this time, the two people that were following Kye didn''t give up. Though, now that he knew their motives behind talking to him, he was a lot more cautious.
The only time he used his holy energy since he came back was to show his wings to his friends. So they must have sensed something at this time.
? But even after not using it for so long, they both kept fighting against each other, which with time, began to annoy him greatly. He couldn''t tell them to screw off since he didn''t have any concrete evidence, but they were bothering him even though they didn''t ask him anything since then.
He didn''t know why he felt like this, but it just felt annoying to be followed by mysterious people. The fact that they were almost sure of his real identity stressed him a lot as well. And in all honesty, being under such stress wasn''t good for his mental health.
His strangely big imagination made him worry to no end, and since he didn''t know what they wanted from him, he had difficulties sleeping the night.
Sure he didn''t need to sleep since he was now an angel, but since it was a habit from his previous human self, it became one of his hobbies. A hobby that he couldn''t enjoy anymore because of those two people.
But thankfully, the day of the exam finally came, making his worries disappear a little.
There was still the theoretical exam first, which Kye felt like it was easier thanst time. Thus he decided to answer some answers wrong to not be with people who would behave like his previous teammates for the practical exam.
Suha was the only one who was ''kind'' to him, and he was even sorry for what he couldn''t do when he saw him again a few weeks ago, but Kye still felt like he could have acted kinder sooner. So he didn''t want to be with such a person either.
However, the people he was with were... well he didn''t expect them in the slightest.
He failed a part of his exam on purpose, but his score was still pretty high. So when he saw Ven in his team, he was happy. But he was more surprised than anything else.
Ven was a genius. But not in the theoretical field of things. He was a genius at fighting. But only at fighting. So when Kye saw that Ven scored 80/100 on the exam, he was so shocked that he was wondering if the Ven who was in his team was the real Ven. His friend who was dumb enough to almost expose him at the very beginning of their rtionship.
Though, if it was only him, then things would have been okay.
His two other teammates were students he didn''t know by name. But he knew their faces very well.
The first one was a boy. Too handsome to be normal. He has dark hair and green eyes and was also way more handsome than him, but no one seemed to bat an eye for him either.His name was Leo Vandra, and he was the one who kept following him secretly since he came back. The one who knew he was an angel.
As for the second person, she too knew he was an angel, at least he thought so. She was the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and was extremely pretty, almost too much to be normal. She''s also the one who followed him alongside Leo, and her name was Elisa Sandanomi
Basically, his team wasposed of him, his best friend, Ven, and two people he wasn''tfortable with. Just thinking about it was already giving him a headache.
But thankfully for him, this exam wasn''t on another but on the military base itself.
"If everyone is with their group, please listen to me!" Madison shouted, making all the chatting between groups disappear. "Unlike the previous exam, this one will happen in the base, or more precisely, in an arena.
"We deemed thest exam too dangerous, and we needed time to adjust a few things, so this exam, which is an exception, will happen here under the eyes of everyone, is that clear?"
"Yes Ma''am!" Everyone shouted at the same time.
"Good, now how the exam will be held." She continued with a smile. "This exam will be a tournament. As you might have already understood, each team will fight until only the best of the best will remain. As for the rating of the exam, it will be based on your ranks and your individual contribution during your fights. So don''t lose hope even though you''re ranked at the very bottom.
"Now, ss is dismissed for the rest of the week. Train with your teammates and learn how to fight alongside them. The exam will begin next Monday, so be prepared and don''t ck off during this week. It''s the moment for you to shine before the first-semester exam!"
Chapter 114 Introducing
"So hum... nice to meet you guys, I guess?" Kye said to his teammates with an awkward smile.
After Madison gave them their week off and let them do whatever they wanted to do, the group decided to reserve a training room to first get to know each other, and second to train as much as they could. Those rooms were far tinier than the big training room they were using during their fighting sses, but it was more than enough for only four people.
However, the atmosphere in the group was... awkward, to say the least. For example, when they were heading toward the training room, only Kye and Ven talked to each other. As for Elisa and Leo, both of them seemed to keep their distance.
Ven didn''t see it since he wasn''t paying attention, but since Kye was aware of their presence everywhere he was going now, he could naturally see that both of them were as far from each other as they could. They weren''t even to talk with him or Ven either. It was as if they didn''t care about the exam in the first ce.
So after seeing no response from Leo and Elisa, Kye decided to continue talking. "Let''s begin with the presentation, shall we?" He asked as they all nodded. "So let me go first. My name is Kye, I''m pretty decent with a sword, so I''ll fight in the front lines. As for my ability, I don''t think it will be of much use since I still don''t know how to use it properly."
Everyone nodded at his introduction.
"My name is Ven, I''m using a katana and my ability is gravity. Nice to meet you all."
''Seriously, that''s all?'' Kye''s eyebrows twitched a little at his friend''s behavior but just turned toward the other two.
"I guess I''ll go next," Leo said nonchntly. "My name''s Leo. I don''t use any weapon. As for my ability, let''s say that I specialized in illusion."
Not long after, it was thest person in the group who introduced herself, but at least with a smile. "As for me, I''m Elisa. I don''t use a weapon either, and I can control the weather to some extent."
"Great!" Kye pped his hands. "Now let''s try to see how we can fight alongside each other to win thispetition and get good marks on the exam."
"Do we seriously have to train? Can''t we just go there next week and fight alone?" Leo asked.
"No, we can''t." Kye shook his head. "Thest exam was pretty clear. The teams that worked together were on the top, while the team where only the strong were fighting were positionedst. The warning she gave at the end of her speech was very clear as well. Only by training together for a certain period will we be able to win and get good marks."
"I guess you''re right," Leo said with a sigh. ''I guess if I want to know what humans are hiding, I''ll need to score high.''
If people were to know what he was thinking, they will surely be rmed by his choice of words. But thankfully for him, no one could do such a thing in the group.
Though, he wasn''t the only one thinking that since Elisa thought the same as him.
The group then decided to brainstorm their ideas. They were all saying what they had in mind to find good ideas they could use during their training.
And in the end, after one hour of brainstorming, they found three important points.
First, the exam was indeed like a teampetition, but Madison never said that they will necessarily fight in a team. So they had to train in groups of two, and one against the other as well just in case. It would add more work to their training, but it was necessary.
Second, since they had two close-range fighters and two long-range fighters, they decided that Ven and Kye would fight in the front, while Leo will support them with his illusion from the middle, and Elisa will support everyone from the back by striking at the right moment.
Third, since Leo''s ability was pretty useful, he will also be in charge of distracting the long-range fighter of the opposite team. It didn''t matter how. As long as they couldn''t help their friends, Kye, Ven, and Elisa will surely be able to win against their enemies.
And since it was still pretty early in the morning, they decided to train together until noon. However, they never expected it to be so hard to fight alongside someone else.
They were all strong enough to fight alone. That''s why they didn''t meet this difficulty when they were on Supi against monsters during their first exams. The monsters were all pretty weak, so it was easy fighting them alone.
However now that they needed to coordinate their moves, and above all, not hinder one another, they felt as if it was impossible.
Leo and Elisa were always fighting against each other because both of them seemed to want to annoy each other. And even Kye and Ven were starting a staring contest but quickly sighed and shook their heads at their behavior after that.
Since they were friends, none of them wanted to fight the other for a petty reason.
And that is how went their first day of training. Needless to say that it was awful.
Kye and Ven decided to go to a nearby cafe to rest while trying to identify what went wrong. Though, they always got the same conclusion.
"It was quite hard at the beginning, but we both quickly managed to work together," Ven said. "But those two bastards just seemed like they wanted to make our lives hard."
"Don''t say that, Ven. I know that they were irritating, but they are still our teammates. And even though we couldn''t do anything with them, we at least managed to work well together, so that''s better than nothing."
"*Sigh* I guess you''re right."
Chapter 115 Theory
"Don''t say that, Ven. I know that they were irritating, but they are still our teammates. And even though we couldn''t do anything with them, we at least managed to work well together, so that''s better than nothing."
"*Sigh* I guess you''re right."
"Oh, by the way, Ven, I wanted to ask you. How in the world did you manage to score this high in the theory exam?"
"What do you mean?" He tilted his head to the side.
"I don''t mean to say that you''re dumb, but you''re not the brightest either when ites to theory. So I was just shocked to see that you managed to get such a high score. Especially when I could see that you were training way more than learning your lessons."
"I didn''t know that you thought so low of me..."
"Nah, I''m just surprised, that''s all. Why would I even think lowly of you? You''re one of the best people I''ve met."
"Good," Ven finally harbored a smile on his face and answered Kye''s earlier question. "I just did what you told me back then. That if I were to listen during sses, I will be able to learn a lot easier the topics. So I did just that, and learning was ten times easier. That''s how I got such a high score.
"But how about you? You got a perfect scorest time and now you got just a little bit more than me."
"Well... I answered some questions wrong on purpose. I didn''t want to be in a team where I will be looked down on every time. And I didn''t want what happenedst time to happen again."
"What do you mean by what happenedst time?"
Kye looked at Ven''s eyes for a few minutes without saying anything. It was stressing Ven, but Kye was debating whether he should tell him his theory or not. But in the end, he decided to tell him. He was his best friend, so surely nothing bad would happen by telling him that.
"You don''t think that the balena which attacked my team was only a coincidence, right?" Ven''s eyes were telling him to continue. "Just think of it like this. We all know that there are no monsters near the city in Supi, and yet the balena came very close to the former as if it was attracted by something.
"And to add insult to the injury, the balena only attacked me before going away. It didn''t chase the rest of my team."
Kye paused for a moment to let the information be processed by Ven''s brain. It wasn''t something easy to take, after all.
"So you think that there''s someone who did everything from the back?" Ven tightened his fist unconsciously.
"Yeah, and I do think that I know who did it."
"Maria and John?"
"You know them?"
"Yeah, I know them. We wanted to make them suffer because we were sure that they were the ones who did what happened to you, but we stopped before beginning anything."
"Why?" Kye tilted his head. He was happy that his friends wanted to take revenge for him but didn''t understand why they stopped mid-way.
"Because we all agreed that it wouldn''t have been something that you would have liked. You were always kind and forgiving, so we decided to let them go." Ven looked at Kye in the eyes when he said that. Though, he didn''t understand his expression. He looked baffled. "Kye are you okay?"
"Y-yeah... It''s just that I never thought I was such a pushover."
"You''re not a pushover, you were just kind, and we didn''t want to tarnish the image we had of you by taking vengeance."
"Well... I mean..." Kye was at a loss for words. So he calmed himself before finally finding the right words. "You know, I was indeed kind with people, but it was a matter of life and death. I could have died if not for... I mean I could have died if I didn''t find the potion in the ocean." Kye was trusting Ven a lot, but he didn''t want to reveal Aria''s and Ras'' existence to anyone. It wasn''t a secret that he could share. "Maria and John could have helped me, yet they didn''t and only ran away, leaving me dying and drifting apart in the ocean."
"So you mean that you want to beat them up?" Ven''s voice was excited.
"Yeah, I want. I probably won''t mind going a little further, but since we''re watched here, I can''t do much. I beat Mariast time, but I still couldn''t do much."
"Then can I help you? And I''m sure Yugo and the other would like it as well."
"I..." Kye paused mid-sentence to think a little. On the one hand, getting the help of all his friends would be more than great since it will be easier, but on the other hand, it was clear that there was someone behind Maria and John that he couldn''t touch. So he didn''t want to put them in danger. "Are you sure? Even though there''s almost a hundred percent chance that there''s someone big behind Maria and John?"
"Are you talking about Azul?" Kye nodded with a shocked expression. "Haha, don''t worry we already knew it as well. That''s also the reason we didn''t manage to ruin their lives either. But I''m sure that it can change with you."
"Thanks for saying that Ven, but even I can''t do anything." He smiled brightly. Ven was still like how he remembered, so Kye was more than happy. "Azul is an adult, so he''s very strong. Not to add that he''s from Sylvia''s family. And even though I''m not sure how things work in the big families, I''m sure that he''s a rank higher than you guys. So we won''t be able to do a thing to him."
"Then let''s just see him as the final boss."
"What? Final boss? What are you talking about?" Kye asked.
"Yeah, final boss... "
Chapter 116 His Highness
"Then let''s just see him as the final boss."
"What? Final boss? What are you talking about? Did you y some RPG game at the VR section of the military" Kye asked.
"Yeah final boss," Ven answered with a big smile. "We don''t necessarily have to go against Azul now. We''re not strong enough for that, so there''s no need to bother with him. But instead, we can just try and go to Maria and John. Especially during the exam. We can try to beat them as hard as we can while staying under the rules of the exam. The other will agree to it for sure. So what do you think?"
Kye didn''t say a thing for a while. He was thinking about what his friend just said, and in the end, he couldn''t help but feel dumb because he didn''t think about it sooner. So with a small smile, he answered. "You can be pretty smart when you want, don''t you?"
"You can be pretty cute when you want as well, don''t you?" He smirked. He knew that Kye would answer something like that since even he himself felt smart after thinking about this. And since he knew that Kye tookpliments quite hard, he decided to tease him a little.
"D-don''t say that!" He looked away.
"Haha, you didn''t change in the slightest."
"You-..."
Ven only sucked his tongue beforeughing.
***
In a VIP room, an otherwordly-looking boy sat on his couch angrily.
"This bitch of Elisa! She''s always interrupting my ns." The handsome boy, who was none other than Leo shouted. "I can''t even observe this Kye and see if he''s really an angel or not. Arghh seriously this situation sucks. Why do I have to stay with those lowly humans in the first ce? And why are there even angels here in the first ce as well? Did they send Elisa to spy on them like me?
"Argh whatever seriously, I don''t care." He said as he rested his head on the back of his couch.
However, his rest was short because he heard a special noise.
This noise came from under his king-size bed.
Leo rushed toward his bed as fast as he could and took what looked like a briefcase. He opened it, and immediately, a hologram appeared.
"Leo Vandra!"
"Yes, it is me,mander. What can I do for you today?" Leo kneeled and show respect to his superior.
The man who appeared on the hologram was quite handsome as well, but not anywhere near Leo. Though, unlike Leo, themander had two big horns on each side of his head.
"A special mission arrived from his highness!" Themander said with a firm voice.
"What? You mean Sir Asmodeus?" Leo began to sweat. Never in his life did he believe that he would one day receive a mission from one of the princes of the demon realm.
"No, it came from the king himself!"
"What?!" This time, Leo was utterly shocked. The king, who was none other than lucifer would give him a mission? For real?"
"I don''t know anything else, so I''ll leave you with his highness. However, do not forget to be respectful, is that clear?!"
"Yes,mander!" Leo answered with a firm voice.
"Good. Now please be ready!"
Leo could see that themander was manipting something from the other side of the hologram. And once he finished, the hologram of themander disappeared and got reced by the king of the demon realm.
He was even more handsome than him, even though he was an incubus and was known as one of the most beautiful being in the world alongside its female counterpart, the subus.
"Leo Vandra!" The king of the demon realm has ck hair and ck eyes. It looked like if one were to look at him in the eyes, they will stare at the abyss itself.
"Yes, your highness!" Leo didn''t even dare to look at him. Even though they weren''t in front of each other, he could feel immense pressure upon him. So he didn''t dare to look at Lucifer directly.
"Is there someone named Kye Vermillion in the academy you are currently in?"
Leo''s eyes widen when he heard this name. A lot of questions were in his head right now. But the most important one was ''how does the king know about such a lowly being?''
"Yes your highness, there is indeed someone who is named like this. I was investigating him because I felt like he possessed Holy energy, but he seems to be aware that something is happening. So I didn''t see him use any holy energy for more than a month now. But may I know how his highness knows about him?"
"Kye Vermillion is my son, so I expect you to treat him well!"
"Y-yes your highness," Leo answered automatically. He didn''t expect this answer, thus his brain short-circuited for more than a few seconds.
"Good. I also want you to assist him in any way he needs. But don''t act suspicious or I''ll deal with you personally."
"Yes, I must do what you ordered me, your highness."
"Last but not least, he doesn''t know about his origin, so do not tell him anything either. He''s not ready to know about it yet."
"Yes, I will do as you ask."
"Good, that''s all for now. I will contact you again." Without saying anymore, Lucifer closed the call, relieving Leo tremendously.
When the former was giving his order, Leo could feel more pressure pressing down on him. It was even hard to breathe at the end, but thankfully, he managed to answer without wavering much.
"Argh, it''s even worse than I thought. Kye is an angel, but also the son of his highness. We''re not in a novel for god-damn sake." Leo sat on his butt after closing the briefcase. He was mentally exhausted. "And how can he be an angel and a demon at the same time? It doesn''t make any sense!"
Chapter 117 Sudden Change Of Behavior
While Leo was busy thinking about Kye and his real identity, something simr happened somewhere else.
Elisa, who had just finished her call with the angel''s council was dumbfounded as well.
She was called by the council unexpectedly, and what was even more surprising was that they asked her about Kye.
She naturally told them what she knew about him, and the council asked her to treat him well and do whatever it takes to put him at ease. She of course asked them what was the reason for this, but the council didn''t answer her and just ended the call with a warning.
"If Kye Vermillion isn''t happy, you''ll be the one facing the consequences!" This sentence was still ying inside her head.
She didn''t understand how someone as weak as him could be in high regard to the council and their old members.
There was no record of the council ever asking an agent such a thing, so it only means that it came from someone even higher than those who were part of the council.
"Seriously, who are you, Kye?" Elisa and Leo told to themselves at the same time even though they weren''t in the same room.
***
The next morning, Kye, Ven, Leo, and Elisa all gathered in the same training room as yesterday.
"Kye, I have something to tell you..." Leo said as he looked down.
"Me too, can you please hear me out?" Elisa looked down as well.
"Yeah? What''s up? Why are you looking down like this?" Kye tilted his head and Ven observed the situation from behind
Leo and Elisa looked at each other. Their eyes were filled with anger when they were looking at each other, but they only shrugged off this feeling since they had something more important to take care of.
"Since I asked first, let me speak first, your high... I mean Kye."
"Sure?" Kye stopped for a moment when Leo changed his words in the middle of his sentence but decided to forget about it. It could as well just be slippery.
"I would like to apologize for yesterday. My behavior wasn''t appropriate, and I promise that I''ll do my best to assist you."
"Argh, you were faster than me..." Elisa sighed. "I too would like to apologize, Kye. You put so much effort into trying to form a bond between us, but I just messed up everything."
Kye looked at them without saying anything, making both of them tense up. Leo was scared because he thought he had said something he shouldn''t have said to his new highness, while Elisa was scared because of the council and Leo''s reaction.
Demons had a lot of pride, and they rarely bowed to someone else. They only do so to someone stronger than them or the princes or king of the demon realm. So seeing him like this made her worry to no end.
"Why are you only apologizing to him?" Ven chimed in. "I was also bothered, you know."
"Yeah, I''m sorry," Elisa said, quickly followed by Leo. Ven was one of Kye''s closest friends. So they both thought that they needed to be kind to him as well if they wanted to get closer to Kye.
"It''s okay guys. Thank you for apologizing. And let''s just stop messing around from now on, okay?" Kye said with a smile, which both of them answered in kind.
Ven looked at both of them suspiciously but only put the matter aside for now. Their behavior change was way too sudden to be normal. And Ven was sure that Kye wasn''t using his energy to befriend them. So the situation only looked suspicious to him.
"Then shall we begin?" Kye asked as everyone nodded their head in agreement.
Unlike yesterday, the training was a lot easier. Kye and Ven improved their synchronization a bit, while Leo and Sylvia stopped quarreling about trivial matters.
It was clear that there was still a lot of tension between them, but they mostly kept everything inside for group harmony.
Or so Kye thought.
Neither Elisa nor Leo cared about the group. They just wanted to appear good to Kye to know why he was so special. Elisa still didn''t understand why Kye needed to be treated well. As for Leo, he had a hard time believing that Kye was his highness'' son. It still didn''t make sense that a demon could be an angel. And the other way around as well.
Just thinking about it made his head spin, so he just decided to do as Lucifer told him to do. He will try his best to be kind to Kye and enter his inner circle to protect him if necessary.
Though, he naturally felt like it would be hard when he felt like his back was being pierced by to pair of eyes that belong to Ven.
Elisa felt the same as well and couldn''t help but be surprised at the amount of pressure a lowly human could exert.
The more they were staying among this lowly race, the more they felt strange and that something was wrong with them. They were far stronger than what both races thought and needed to know how it was possible. Surely it couldn''t only be because of those abilities, right?
So getting closer to Kye just added to their first mission. The mission that made them go to the military was to find the truth about humans.
"Okay guys, I think we did well for today." Kye pped his hand and smiled as everyone dropped to the ground, exhausted.
"Do we have to train that much?" Elisa asked. They had trained since this morning without a single pause. And it was now 4 p.m.
"I''m hungryyyyy~," Leo said, dragging his words
"Then let''s go to a restaurant. We need to eat if we want to stay in top condition for the exam, after all."
''But it''s not that type of hunger...'' Leo thought before shaking his head to dismiss those impure thoughts.
''He knows that there''s no need for us to eat, so why does he want to eat?'' Elisa had a strange look on her face but decided to tag along to try and get closer to Kye. The same applied to Leo.
Chapter 118 Its So Gooood
"Howe it''s so good?" Elisa asked with a blissful expression. She had a hand over her cheek while chewing. "I''ve never eaten something good in my life before."
''She must be kidding me, right?'' Leo thought as he took a mouthful of his dish. "Oh, my king, how in the world it''s so good?" In the end, he had the same expression as Elisa.
After having trained, the group came to a restaurant in the military''s city. Kye and Ven were used toing here, so they took their usual dishes. But Leo and Elisa were reluctant to take anything. However, to not act strange in front of Kye, they decided to take the same as them.
Once the dishes came, they didn''t really want to eat them. Why should they? After all, as superior beings, they didn''t have the need to eat anything. They felt like it was only something humans should do.
But this thought quickly disappeared the moment their first spoon entered their mouth.
They never needed to eat, so they never ate anything. But never in their lives did they think that human food was this good.
It was so good that they finished all their meals in only five minutes.
"You guys are acting as if you never ate anything during your whole life. Are you sure you guys are normal?" Ven asked while savoring his dish.
Unlike them, he was used to those types of vors in his mouth, so he ate without much thought.
"Haha, leave them be, Ven. It''s rare to see people like them who eat so fast that they almost choke while eating."
Kye knew that the two students in front of him weren''t humans. So he knew that as ''superior'' beings, they never ate in their lives. So their reactions were normal for him.
Even now that he became an angel and didn''t have the need to eat anything, he still liked eating human food because it was more than delicious. And it was also a habit to eat multiples time a day, or even eat snacks. So he still enjoyed his time even though he was now free to eat or not.
"Hum hum," Leo cleared his throat as he looked to the side to not meet the scary eyes of Ven and the gentle eyes of his highness. "I''m sorry. It''s just that I usually don''t eat much because it gives me a stomachache, but this time it was so good that Ipletely forgot about that."
"Y-yeah, it was the same for me," Elisa said as well. "I think that I never ate something so good in my life before."
"Haha, that''s good to hear," Kye smiled. "You guys should take a dessert. I advide this restaurant tiramisu. It''s really good."
"Yes? Yes, let me order it then!" Elisa''s eyes sparkled with stars as she heard Kye''s rmendation.
"I-I will wait for you to finish first. It will be disrespectful of me to eat without you." He said to both Kye and Ven, but thetter felt as if he was only talking to Kye.
"I w-will wait as well then..." Elisa immediately corrected herself when she heard Leo''s remark.
"It''s okay, really. I usually eat slowly, so you don''t need to wait for us."
"R-really?" Leo asked as he swallowed his saliva. His highness was so kind that it made him feel strange deep inside of him. All the demons he knew were usually short-headed and loved to fight for even the slightest of things. However, Kye wasn''t like this. He only fought when it was necessary and was always kind to him. No, not just him. With everyone in general except those who bullied people.
"Yes of course. And you don''t have to ask for my permission. It''s not as if I can order you around."
''I''m sure you will in the future.'' Both Leo and Elisa thought at the same time before ordering their tiramisu.
Leo thought that because he knew Kye''s real status. As for Elisa, it wouldn''t take even the most dumbass to see that Kye wasn''t a normal angel. Attracting so much attention when he was still so young was quite rare, so she believed that Kye would be someone greatter on in his life.
After having eaten, Leo and Elisa excused themselves first since they had something to do. Kye and Ven didn''t say much and only stayed at the restaurant to chill a little.
"So... did you tell the other what we talked about yesterday?" Kye asked while drinking a cold drink which almost froze his brain.
"You mean our ''revenge''?" Ven asked back as Kye nodded his head. "I only had the chance to tell it to Yugo yesterday when you were taking your shower. I still didn''t ask the others since I haven''t seen them yet.
"Hmm, I see I see. Should we call them over then? It''s been a while since thest time we all hung out together."
"Sure." Ven smiled as both of them began to talk in their group chat to ask who was avable toe to the restaurant they were in.
And unsurprisingly, they all agreed toe.
"Oh Enzo, you came fast~" Kye waved his hand when he saw Enzoing over.
"I was near here, so I came immediately when I saw your message."
"Hehe, that''s nice..." Kye smiled at Enzo, but it quickly faded away when he saw him scratching his neck. It was the thing he was always doing when he wasn''t in the mood. "What happened Enzo? You''re in bad moon again."
"How do you know?" Enzo''s eyes widen a little in surprise.
"You always scratch the back of your neck when you''re in bad mood."
"Really?" Ven asked Kye who nodded.
"Yeah, didn''t you remark it before?"
"No, I usually don''t see those types of things."
"Well anyways~, do you want to talk about it Enzo?"
"It''s just that I feel that you never hang out with me..."
Chapter 119 "I Dont Want To Be Merciful To Those Kinds Of Jerks"
"Well anyways~, do you want to talk about it Enzo?"
Enzo looked at Kye for a moment without saying anything. But after a minute, he finally mustered the courage to tell him what was weighing on his heart. "It''s just that I feel like you never hang out with me. You always y with Sylvia at the VR, hang out with Lidi after your fighting ss, stay with Ven between every ss, and y with Yugo in your room. As for me, we never do anything at all. I wouldn''t even have seen you this week if it wasn''t for the exam the other day.
"I know that I look like a child and act like a child, but I feel like I''m left aside, even though I''m sure you''re not doing that on purpose..."
Kye and Ven stayed silent for an unknown amount of time.
Ven had the impression that Enzo was really acting like a child. He didn''t know if Kye''s holy energy was still affecting him or not, but from what he told him, it wasn''t the case anymore. So it was only a caprice from Enzo''s side. And it wasn''t as if Kye had to hang out with him either every time. They were already friends, so he couldn''t force him to do that.
However, Kye''s train of thought waspletely different from Ven''s.
Unlike him, he seriously thought that he had done something bad. He thought that everything was good between him and his friend, but it looked like he was wrong. ''Now that I think about it since I came back, I only focused on befriending Ven again and must have let the other alone. And Enzo must be the one I left the most alone.
''Seriously Kye, are you a dumbass or what? Why did you do that to him? He even said it, if it wasn''t for the exam, we wouldn''t even have seen each other. Arghh what a dumbass, I swear!''
Kye thought with a frown but quickly changed his expression because Enzo will surely think that his frown was rted to his behavior, whereas it wasn''t the case at all.
"I''m sorry, Enzo. It wasn''t my intention at all."
"..." Enzo didn''t say anything and only turned around and was ready to leave.
"W-wait Enzo, don''t go!" Kye stood up from his seat and hurried toward Enzo. "I''m sorry. I promise I''m not going to do the same mistake ever again."
"And how can I know that you''re telling me the truth?" Enzo answered coldly.
"I don''t know what the future holds for us, but what I''m sure of is that I''ll try my best to satisfy you as well," Kye said in a hurry. "I know that I left you alone thosest few weeks, so please, forgive me."
Enzo looked Kye in the eyes without saying anything. He still wanted to go and be left alone. However, Kye''s next words pained him way too much. Not to add the tears which were flowing down his beautiful blue eyes.
"Please stay..." Kye said with a low voice and tears were already on his cheeks. He wasn''t even daring to look at Enzo anymore.
"*Sigh* Seriously I feel like an asshole now." Enzo sighed and patted Kye''s head before going back to sit next to Kye.
"Does that mean you''re staying?"
"Yeah, and sorry for making you cry. It wasn''t my intention..."
"It''s okay. It''s my fault anyways..."
Ven in all this story looked at them annoyingly. He felt as if Enzo was acting way too childish, even making Kye cry for him. If it was him, he would have punched himself for having done such a bad thing to his best friend.
''*Sigh* I seriously need to be careful with my behavior.'' Ven thought internally.
The boys chatted while waiting for the others.
Approximately fifteen minutester, everyone was there and they all ate happily. They all talked about the iing exam and how their teams were annoying. They wouldn''t listen to anything or be really weak, even when they actually wanted to work hard.
The grouping system was made really badly from their point of view. Sure the military wanted to give more chances to those who were working on everything that they needed to learn, but still. Everyone couldn''t be good at fighting. Yet the military was ''forcing'' almost everyone to fight.
And after calming down a little bit, Kye finally asked what he wanted.
"Guys, I wanted to meet with all of you today because I have something important to tell you." Kye attracted their attention.
"Did you get a girlfriend?" Lidi asked as a vein looked like it pop out out of nowhere on her forehead.
"Who is she?" Sylvia asked with the same expression.
"Or is it a boyfriend?" Ven decided to tease Kye by ying along with the girls.
"Nah, I''m not with anyone, you don''t have to worry about that. And Ven, you know what I want to talk about already, so stop messing around." He sighed as he saw Ven stick his tongue like a child and Yugo p his head kindly.
"Thank god." Sylvia and Lidi sighed in relief. They wouldn''t let their little brother be with someone unworthy of his angelness.
"Anyways... The reason why I wanted to meet with everyone was that I heard from Ven the other day that you all wanted to take revenge for my death, but didn''t because you wanted to respect my forgiving self."
Everyone''s expression turned serious and they stopped joking when they heard that. It wasn''t aughable matter after all, so they needed to be as serious as they could.
"And I wanted to thank you for your decision, but still, let''s take revenge. I''m not a pushover, and those two bastards need to be put in their ces, don''t you guys agree? I would have died if it wasn''t for my luck. And I don''t want to be merciful to those kinds of jerks."
Chapter 120 Azuls Appearence
"And I wanted to thank you for your decision, but still, let''s take revenge. I''m not a pushover, and those two bastards need to be put in their ces, don''t you guys agree? I would have died if it wasn''t for my luck. And I don''t want to be merciful to those kinds of jerks."
"It would be really good if we can do such a thing," Sylvia said. "But Azul is hindering us a lot. I investigated him a little through our family''s data, and he''s not the kindest of guy. He won''t hesitate to abuse the authority that he has to order people around ore unscathed from great deals. The only reason he still didn''t approach you yet, Kye, was because professor Madison kept an eye on him. But it''s only a question of time since she can''t be everywhere at the same time."
"Then are we going to stay put and not do anything once again?" Enzo asked with a slightly angry tone. Being near Kye was calming him. It was as if his presence alone was soothing.
"Hell no!" Kye answered in Sylvia''s stead. We can''t do anything to Azul, but we can do something to those two jerks. The military never stops a fight, even when one side looks dead. And it would be the same in this situation as well."
"Then are we just going to pick fights with them every day or so?" Lidi asked.
"No, our intention will be way too obvious if we do that," Kye answered. "The easiest way to do what we want to do will be to do it during the exam. But we still need to be careful. I''m not asking you guys to throw your grades over the window. Prioritize your grades over that."
"But it might be the only way for us to do it without drawbacks." Ven chimed in.
"No, we''ll still have a lot of asions, don''t worry."
"Do you mean during future exams?" Yugo asked.
"Yes, even though it will be harder, it will still be a possibility. But even if there''s no exam, we can still pick a fight with them in the hallway when we see them. As I said earlier, the military won''t stop us since they deem it necessary for our growth. So we can do it every few days or so. They will only think of a petty grudge between students."
"Still, Azul will surely make it hard for us. So we need to be careful."
"You''re worrying way too much, Sylvia," Enzo said. "And it won''t be funny if there''s not some risk, right? If it were to be too easy, we wouldn''t like what we''re going to do, after all."
"I agree with Enzo," Ven added. "And it''s just a matter of time until we deal with Az-..." Kye put his hand in front of Ven''s mouth to shut him up.
Ven didn''t understand why he did that, but when he saw his expression, he decided to stay put.
Kye also signed everyone to stop talking about what they were talking about, before showing his back.
Everyone looks behind Kye, only to see Azul at the next table. They all opened their mouth in shock before acting as if nothing happened.
Azul on the other hand was looking at them suspiciously. But since he was sitting far away from their table, he didn''t have any proof whatsoever. He couldn''t hear them. Though, he still noticed when they began to talk quietly as if they got caught by someone.
''This Kye is here as well...'' Azul thought while eating. ''How in the world did he manage to befriend so many influential people? I didn''t notice it before, but he''s a friend with the children of the big families, and also with the military. Does he have something to ckmail them? No, it doesn''t make sense. He doesn''t have any means to have anything to ckmail them, nor is it possible to have things on all of them.
''Even if they aren''t high on thedder of their respective families, they are still part of the family. And all the information of each member of each family is very well kept. So how in the world can he hang out with all of them? It doesn''t make any sense.
''I knew it. I went too easy on him. He is someone dangerous. If he managed to befriend everyone so fast, it''s only a matter of time before he manages to do something big. Even though they are low ranks in their respective family, with the power of each family, there''s a risk that he can get very high.
''It''s not a matter that I can handle alone anymore.'' He smirked devilishly. ''I need to inform the Viso family before things go too big. And at the same time, I''m sure that he will pay dearly for humiliating me so much back then.''
Azul''s grudge against Kye still hadn''t died down. He still remembers clearly how humiliated he felt in front of all the students and the great hero Madison when they first began their training underwater. And no matter what, he just couldn''t forget it. It was too big of a deal for him, and as someone who lived at the highest of the food chain for as long as he could remember, he couldn''t stand to be humiliated that much.
And thinking that only made his grudge for him lit up again. He could feel his blood boil inside of him right now and would love to make Kye suffer right this instant.
s, he couldn''t do it now since there would be way too many witnesses.
Fights between students were okay, but a professor who was beating a student wasn''t allowed under any circumstances. It wasn''t a matter of growth anymore, but immorality.
So if the people around him were to report it, he will without a doubt be punished heavily by his family. And dishonoring his family was what he wanted the least. So he restrained himself as much as he could.
Chapter 121 Start Of The Little Plan
While Azul was observing them from behind, the group of friends all talked inaudibly. They didn''t want to be caught, and even less by one of the people involved in their conversations.
"When did hee here?" Yugo asked the question that everyone had in their minds."
"He just came," Kye answered with a low voice. "I don''t know why, but it seems that he wanted to eat outside today."
"Seriously it doesn''t make sense. Why would hee here out of all the ces avable?" Lidi frowned.
"Exactly, it''s as if he followed us?" Sylvia added.
"Come on guys, let''s not be paranoid. And why would we be surprised to see our professor here? It''s not as if we''ve done something wrong, right?" Kye smiled and acted as well as he could. Though, the other could see easily that his eyebrows twitched ever so slightly. He was almost wless.
Almost.
"Yeah, you''re right," Enzo added. "We didn''t do anything wrong in the first ce. So everything''s good."
"Wait for a minute guys," Ven said excitingly, drawing the attention of all of his friends. "If he''s here, then can''t we go and mess with the others?"
"It''s almost curfew time tough." Yugo was d that Vene up with this idea, but it would be hard to do it since they would have to go back to their dorm in an hour and a half.
"No, I think we can do something," Sylvia said the moment she recalled something. "I try to search for information about those two. And Mar... I mean the girl always takes a walk in the forest near the academy at this hour. So it''s seriously the perfect time."
Ven gave a thumb up to Sylvia before looking to Kye. But it wasn''t just him, everyone looked at Kye and waited for his approval.
Kye felt like it was strange for them to do such a thing. He never thought that something like this would ever happen. But he liked it a little bit deep down. If they wanted his approval before doing something, then it meant that they were trusting him a lot.
And it warmed his heart knowing that.
"Then let''s go," Everyone was rejoicing after hearing that. But it wasn''t the end. "But there''s no need for the six of us to go together. So it''s better if only two of us go."
"Then I want to go," Enzo said with determination.
"Nope, you''ll stay with me. So it''s between the four of you." Kye stopped Enzo before looking at the two girls and his two best friends.
"Why can''t I go as well?" Enzo frowned.
"We''re going to hang out together until curfew."
Enzo looked at Kye before smiling brightly. "Okay, I won''t go."
The remaining four stared at their exchange in awe but just shrugged it off. They all knew that Enzo was left apart from the other, so they were happy to know that Kye will spend a little bit of time with him.
"So who wants to go?" Sylvia asked as she crossed her fingers nervously.
"I want to go." Yugo immediately said with a lot of determination.
Ven and Lidi looked at each other before sighing. Yugo would go, and it was clear that Sylvia wanted to go as well. She only acted like this when she really wanted something, and it was quite rare for her to want something.
So they decided to pass the chance and let both of them go.
"Are you guys sure?" Sylvia asked. She wanted to go, but if her friends wanted to go as well, then she wouldn''t hesitate to let them go in her stead.
"Yes we''re sure, don''t worry. And we can still go another time, so everything''s good, right Lidi."
"Yep, don''t worry Sylvia. Just don''t forget to beat her up badly, okay? Otherwise, I''m the one who''ll beat her up."
"Haha, yes don''t worry. And thank you, guys." She smiled softly at her friends. She was happy that she managed to meet such people. Even though she knew them since she was little, it wasn''t as if they were friends. But now, thanks to Kye, they all gathered together happily.
"Well, it''s settled then. I''ll go with Enzo to do some things," Kye smiled and stood up. "Good luck guys, and try to not draw too much attention, okay?"
"Yes, thanks for worrying about us." Yugo smiled at his best friend.
"And good luck with your date as well~," Lidi said with a cunning smile. Sylvia thought the same thing, so she gave her a thumbs up.
"It''s not a date..." Kye shook his head and asked Enzo to stand up as well. "We''re just hanging out a little that''s all."
"Thiste at night, uh?" Sylvia had the same expression as Lidi.
However, Yugo and Ven were clearly dissatisfied with their statement. But didn''t say anything.
"Come on girls, you know that I''m straight, right?"
"Yeah yeah, we know," Lidi answered. "But still, it''s funny to ship you with the guys."
"I know right?" Sylvia chuckled. "Your cute self with one of those three handsome boys. It''s so funny to imagine all the things you can possibly do together."
"Arghh whatever... I can''t win this argument." Kye decided to give up and left the restaurant, followed by Enzo.
Yugo and Sylvia decided to go as well since they will be toote if they were to goter.
As for Ven and Lidi, they decided to hang out with each other as well. They didn''t want to go back to their dorm yet, so they decided to do some shopping.
Well, it was more Lidi who wanted to do shopping, Ven just decided to tag along.
"Are girls into those types of things?" Ven asked while Lidi was choosing clothes to try.
"What do you mean?"
"Shipping boys with each other."
"Yeah, it''s funny. Though is just some kind of joke. So there''s nothing serious in it."
Chapter 122 Getting Revenge
*Ruffles* *Ruffles*
"Arghe on, what''s up with all those leaves today?!" Maira roared angrily as she pushed away what was bothering her with her ability. "Everything is because of this shitty Kye. Since he humiliated me, no one takes me seriously anymore."
As she said, since the day she lost against Kye and he left her ''alive'', no one was taking her seriously anymore. Even though she went easy on him, she still lost in the end. And because of that, her friends were always mocking her to have lost against a level 2. Even low levels began to think that they stood a chance against her.
Too bad they all finished at the hospital.
"It doesn''t make sense. Even though I went easy on him, it''s impossible for him to win against me." She said to herself. "I fought against higher level people than him, and yet they all lost. I went easy on them as well, but they couldn''t stand a chance against me. So how in the world could he beat me that much? I didn''t even manage to scratch himst time.
"No actually his presence alone doesn''t make sense. At the time, he fought the balena alone. We didn''t do anything to help him, yet he managed to stay alive and even pierce its two eyes. And he was only a level 1 at that time. So how in the world can he be this strong when he''s just trash? Did he dope himself? Or was it something else? Is he not human? But he looks too much like a human to be a monster.
"Argh, my head seriously. Why am I even thinking of that when even Azul didn''t manage to get any info on him? But seriously what is he? He''s way too strong for trash. Or did he follow a special training sort? Is he an illegitimate child from one of the big families and thus he has amazing growth potential? But no even that doesn''t make sen-..."
Maria couldn''t finish speaking her thought because she felt the eyes on her. And instinctively, she waved her hands and roots rushed toward a bush before transforming into sharp spikes.
The roots empaled the bush, but nothing happened. There wasn''t the red color that she wanted to see. After all, who dared to watch her?
But since nothing happened, she just rolled her eyes before continuing to walk.
Though, this feeling of being under someone''s watch couldn''t go away.
She started to take right turns and left turns, but there were still these feelings. And since it was already dark, she couldn''t seem to see who was watching her.
"Juste out already and state your business for the love of god."
"What a crazy bitch, seriously..." A feminine voice came out from behind Maria, and there, thetter saw someone she knew very well.
"Sylvia! How dare you call me a bitch!"
"It''s the truth though. You attacked a bush which did nothing wrong. What would have happened if we were behind it, huh?"
"The Pendora family as well? Do you want to wage war between our two families?" Even though it was dark, there was still enough light for her to see the two people in front of her.
"War? Come on, Maria, I knew that you were dumb, but not to this extent." Sylvia chuckled. "We''re inside the military, and here you can''t abuse of your authority. And should I remind you that fighting each other is allowed here? We''re not doing anything wrong, right Yugo?"
"Yep, that''s right. Nothing''s wrong in a little friendly spar, right?"
Maria looked at them furiously. If she could kill them this instant, she wouldn''t hesitate to do so. s, she knew that this fight was lost in advance. Sylvia was known to be stronger than her, but if she were to ally herself with Yugo, then she couldn''t do anything.
So the only remaining solution was to run.
And she did just that.
But the two friends were ready for such an oue, so they already made a little n between themselves.
Yugo immediately used his ability to iste the space Maria was in. Though, since this move consume a lot of energy, Sylvia needed to do something as well. So she created a vine dome so that nobody could watch them.
"You bastard, what did I do to you for you to gang up on me, huh?"
"What you did do? Seriously what a cheesy viin line."
Yugo chuckled before answering with a menacing tone. "If you want to know why then it''s because you almost killed our little brother because of your tricks you bitch!"
***
After Kye and Enzo left the restaurant, both of them walked down the still busy street with drinks in their hands. It was so good that Kye''s delighted expression made Enzo happy to no end.
''He''s really cute when he has this expression on his face. I wonder if I were to have a little brother if he would have been like him...''
"So what should we do, Enzo? Do you have any ideas?"
"I''m not sure. It was so sudden that I couldn''t prepare for anything, to be honest. And we already ate, so I don''t know.
"Then how about we have some fun?"
"Where though?"
"Hmm, I heard that there''s a new amusement park that opened not long ago. My ssmates kept talking about it. So do you want to apany me there?" He asked with puppy eyes.
"Well, how can I refuse when you''re asking it so nicely," Enzo answered, but his thought was slightly different. ''Seriously his expression, he''s way too cute!''
And so they headed toward the amusement park.
However, while they were walking, Enzo saw someone he didn''t expect to see. Someone that he hated deeply.
"Kye, I''m sorry but can we go to the amusement park another time?"
"Why, did something happen?"
"There''s this bastard here, so wouldn''t it be better to have fun with him instead?"
Kye looked toward where Enzo was pointing and saw who he was talking about. "Great idea, it''s better than the park, to be honest."
Chapter 123 A Despicable Person
"Hey Ven, do you think this will suit me?" Lidi showed him a sky blue oversize hoodie.
"Yeah, it looks good."
"Okay I''ll buy it then~" Lidi went to buy her clothes after a long time of choosing which clothes will suit her the best.
''Seriously I thought that I was about to die.'' Ven thought with a long sigh. He didn''t expect going shopping with a girl to be this tiring. He couldn''t help but think that when he was hanging out with Kye, it was a lot funnier. Even when they were buying clothes, it was a lot more funnier.
Maybe it was because Kye was fast and didn''t take thirty minutes to choose between two hoodies like Lidi, or maybe it was because they were having a lot of fun when they were hanging out, but it seriously felt better with him.
And unlike when he was with Kye, now Ven waspletely drained of energy. Still, as he waited for Lidi to finish buying her clothes, Ven''s eyes catch something near the cash register.
''I wonder if Kye would like it and wear this.'' Ven thought as he took a single ear earring in his hand. He noticed that Kye liked wearing a ring for a long time, and a single ear earring since he came back. So he felt that this ck earring will suit him perfectly. And since it was sold alone, Kye could wear it on his other ear.
"Excuse me can I buy this?" He asked the woman who was working here and nodded.
"Oh? Who are you buying this for? A girlfriend?" Lidi teased him a little bit when she saw Vening by her side to buy the earring.
"Shut it Lidi, you know that I''m not in a rtionship." Even though his words were harsh, he had a gentle smile on his face.
"Oh~, I see, I see. It''s for Kye isn''t it?"
"H-how did you know?" Ven stuttered after he buy the present.
"Well, I just felt like it. We all love Kye like a little brother, but you boys are way more overprotective than me and Sylvia. To be honest, I wonder why it''s the case, but I still like it that you want to cherish him as much as possible." She exined as they came out of the store. "And Kye is the only one of the boys in our friends that wear essories. So who would you buy it for if not for him? A single earring at that.."
"Was it that obvious?" Ven looked to the side, ashamed of being so transparent.
"Pfft, don''t worry, you''re not alone in that. Enzo wanted to hang out with Kye a lot but didn''t dare to say so. So I''m sure he was more than happy when Kye told him they would go spend the rest of the night together.
"Yugo as well is like this. You may not have noticed it, but he always handles things in the ''dark''. Every time someone tries toe close to Kye, he''s the one who''s stopping them. He''s like his guardian. Not that he''ll need it much though. But still, he''s very protective.
"As for you, you''re the one he hangs out the most with. You guys are always together whenever I saw you. It''s quite strange actually. Are you guys doing things in secret~?" She teased him again. "You''re hiding it pretty well huh? I didn''t see any mark on Kye''s body~."
"W-what are you talking about, Lidi?" Ven was happy when he heard that Kye was hanging out with him the most. But he didn''t expect Lidi to assume such a thing. So he blushed and stuttered without even noticing it. "Are you out of your mind? Why would I do that to Kye? He''s my best friend, not my boyfriend or whatever."
"Oh~? But I didn''t say anything though. You''re assuming things on your own~." She kept teasing him. His reactions were just amazing and she had a hard time holding back herugh. "You''re quite naughty, Ven. Thinking of Ven like this~."
"Shut it, Lidi!" His face waspletely red. "And stop teasing me, it''s not fun at all..." Ven''s expression made a 180¡ã when he saw the person in front of him. He was blushing earlier, and his expression became as cold as ice in an instant.
"Why is this bastard here?" Lidi asked Ven in a low voice. She had the same expression as his friend.
The person they were referring to was Azul. The street was still busy even though curfew was around the corner, but it was clear that Azul wanted something from them. It was so clear that he even stopped walking and looked at them from a few meters away.
"Ven and Lidi, huh? How nice to see you here."
The two friends didn''t answer and only clutch their jaws in anger. They were disgusted by how friendly he was acting and tried to calm themselves as much as possible to not do something that they might regretter.
"What''s with that expression? You''re looking at me as if I''ve done something wrong."
"Oh because you didn''t?" Lidi asked while trying to control her voice.
"Did I? I''m not sure, to be honest. I''m getting old, and my memories can sometimes y some tricks. Care to exin to me what I did?"
"You-...!"
"Lidi calms down," Ven said with just almost an inaudible voice. He was restraining himself a lot to not attack this son of a b*tch in front of him. "He''s just messing with us, so let''s not enter into his game."
"Come on, you''re not funny. Students at your age would have already tried to attack me. Why are you two so cold-headed, huh?"
"Because your intentions are way too obvious," Lidi answered shortly before walking with Ven toward the academy.
Just before going though, Ven said onest thing to Azul.
"Just you wait. Your time wille as well..."
Chapter 124 Know Your Place
Just before going though, Ven said onest thing to Azul.
"Just you wait. Your time wille as well."
"My time wille? Pfft hahaha, how funny," Azulughed out loud, attracting some people''s attention. "I wonder what someone who''s at the very bottom of his family can do to me. Seriously how funny."
Ven didn''t answer and only gritted his teeth. He knew very well that it would be hard, and considering his rank in his family, he wouldn''t be able to go anywhere near Azul. But still, he believed that one day, the opportunity woulde.
He didn''t know why, but he felt that as long as he would follow Kye, he would be able to achieve his dreams.
And unbeknownst to him, his expression loosened uppletely after thinking about that. And Lidi was happy about that. She was scared that Ven wouldn''t be able to control himself anymore.
As someone who has more privileges than others thanks to her status in the military, she knew what Azul was talking about.
In each of the big four families, it was really hard to climb up thedder since everyone was skillful and had a lot of connections.
It wasn''t enough to have power, one needed awork as well.
After all, a leader without followers will only lead itself to its downfall.
And since Ven never had any interest in creating hiswork, he was destined to stay at the bottom of his family. Of course, there were exceptions, but that''s it. There were only exceptions, and it was hard to be among them.
For example, the current leader of the Laborde family, which is Enzo''s family, was one of those exceptions. The leader was so strong and had so much knowledge that no one could think of dethroning him.
After all, it was benefiting them as well.
***
"Kye, I''m sorry but can we go to the amusement park another time?"
"Why, did something happen?"
"There''s this bastard here, so wouldn''t it be better to have fun with him instead?"
Kye looked toward where Enzo was pointing and saw who he was talking about. "Great idea. Yugo and Sylvia would make Maria cry a little, while the both of us can make John beg."
"I didn''t know you were that... revengeful." Enzo looked at him for a second.
"Well when you''re at death''s door, you can''t stay the same as before, right?"
"Yeah, guess you''re right."
Both of them walked slowly toward him to not attract too much attention.
John was currently with a girl and both of them seemed to go back from a hotel toward their dorm. Kye clicked his tongue when he thought about what they did but quickly shook his head. The girl seemed to have done it willingly, so he couldn''t be angry because of that.
"John''s ability made it so that he can increase the speed of whoever he wants, so he will surely try to escape as fast as possible once he will understand what would happen," Kye said.
"Then I just have to slow him, right?"
"Yup."
Enzo was perfect to fight someone like John. Thanks to his time ability, he could slow down his opponents to either attack back or let his ally attack for him. The time ability was one of the greatest supportive ones, but also a great ability to use as offense once someone had enough mastery over it.
Though, like space and gravity, the time needed to be used carefully because the drawbacks of those three abilities could be extremely big.
But Enzo wasn''t at this level yet, so everything will go smoothly for now.
Kye then asked Enzo to hide a little at the back to not scare John away.
And once Kye was sure that they were both ready, and that there weren''t any people around them anymore, he called out for John.
"Hey John~, long time no see." Kye''s voice sounded cheerful, almost as if he was talking to a long-lost friend.
John turned around to face him before a wide grin appeared on his face. "You, go back on your own!" He ordered the girl by his side, and thetter quickly did as she was told. "It''s been a long time, indeed. How have you been? Still as trashy as ever?" He tried taunting him, not knowing that it was useless.
"Well, in the end, you were the one pissing your pants when we saw the balena back then." Kye chuckled as the angry John rushed at full speed toward Kye.
Kye was a little taken aback by John''s speed, but quickly smiled when he saw him slowing down drastically.
"What?! What happened?" John shouted angrily. Never has such a thing happened in his life with his ability.
"Well if you can''t go faster, then you''re a trash as well, right?" Enzo chuckled as he walked toward Kye slowly. "This is what happens when you mess with the wrong person. Daring to kill my Lil bro, pfft, how funny. You really thought you wille out of this unscathed?" Enzo asked while chuckling. He waited for this moment for so long, and finally being able to repay them was more than great.
John wasn''t dumb, so he knew what will happen next, so he tried to run away. Albeit, very slowly.
Enzo didn''t go all out immediately, so he could still slow him down even more if he wanted to. And he did just that. John was now moving as slowly as a snail.
''Is this the difference between high levels?'' John thought. ''No, is this the difference between someone who has a connection and someone who doesn''t?'' John was now scared and was only an inch away from pissing his pants.
The otherworldly look of Kye and the terrifying gaze of Enzo made him scared to no end. Especially now that he was even weaker than the trash he likes bullying so much.
He was now the one being bullied, and never in his life did he think it was possible, especially when he had an ally such as Maria.
Chapter 125 Two Easy Fights
"Stop right this instant or you''ll pay for it, you bastard!" Maria ordered Yugo and Sylvia while dodging their unusually slow attacks.
"Pfft, seriously what will you be able to do?" Sylvia chuckled while sending a slow wind de. "We''re from the same family. You can''t interfere in the Pendora family either. You can''t do a thing to us, Maria, just ept it."
"No, I swear it on my name that you two and all your friends will pay for it!"
"How funny Maria," Yugo was watching them from the side and attacked only from time to time. "You''re the one who attacked us first. Yet you''re the one being angry. Don''t be delusional you bitch!"
This time Yugo decided to participate in the one-sided fight as well. He moved his hand once, and the space around Maria copsed.
Still, he didn''t use much force because he wanted to enjoy this moment a little bit more.
"Arghhhhh!" Maria could feel her skin burn and whined in pain. The explosions weren''t very strong. But there were a lot of them. So it was probably worse than one big explosion. "Please stop, I beg you." She even started to cry.
She couldn''t defend herself either because first, Sylvia kept bothering and hindering her, so it was impossible to make a barrier to protect herself, and second, she couldn''t see where the space was copsing. So she was forced to endure this immense pain.
The pain of feeling every single of her cells being burned made her mind weak and stopped acting all and mighty, which surprised both friends a little bit. They weren''t used to attacking another human beings that much, so they didn''t know if they could continue much.
Still, Yugo and Sylvia strengthened their resolve and kept attacking her.
Sylvia as well began to use everything that she could. She had the whip from her weapon ss on her, so she didn''t hesitate to use it with her versatile ability.
Roots, fire, water, wind, earth. Every element which Sylvia could control at this moment were used, alongside space attacks that were ruthless and almost invisible.
As for Maria, she could only cry in pain at all those attacks inside this vines-like prison. It hurt her so much that the only thing she wanted was for this misery toe to an end. She never felt so much pain in her life before, and she wasn''t used to that at all.
"Please stop, stop, it hurt so much, stop I beg you!" Maria said among all the attacks she received. But it onlynded on deaf people.
Not that they were hearing her among all those attacks. There were way too many explosions and firework-like attacks for them to hear her.
And they continued to do so until they didn''t hear Maria scream anymore.
They wanted to take revenge on her because of what she did, but they didn''t want to take her life. Not that they could do so in the first ce. They weren''t prepared for that yet. They were still teenagers, after all. It wasn''t something they could do so easily.
''I wonder how Kye managed to kill this guy at the beginning of the year.'' Yugo thought for a moment, but quickly stopped when he saw Maria on the ground, lying in a pool of blood.
"She didn''t die, did she?" Sylvia asked Yugo who went to check her pulse.
"No, she''s still alive. She only fainted because of the pain."
"Should we bring her to the infirmary?"
"Should we? I mean, she still needs to be alive if we want to make her pay, right?"
"Yeah, and at this rate, she''ll die before tomorrow."
"Guess you''re right," Yugo nodded. "Can you make an earth tform to carry her? I don''t want to have her blood on me, you know?"
"Sure," Sylvia answered as the earth under Maria began to float in the air and carried her.
"Your ability is more useful than I thought."
"Well, yours is more devastating, to be honest. She cried so much at the beginning that a chill ran down my spine. It was scary and I''m d I''m your ally."
"Hehe, thanks I guess." Yugo scratched the back of his head. "But still. You''re so versatile with your ability that it amazes me sometimes."
"I guess that''s why we''re among the big families," Sylvia said. "All of our abilities are one of the strongest that are known by humanity. That''s why they gave us this title. So that''s normal that every single one of our abilities is strong, don''t you think?"
"Yeah, that''s true that''s true. Well, guess that I''m d we''re friends as well. Fighting against you must be a pain. You can do so many things that it would be horrible to fight against you."
"Hehe."
***
"No, go away you bastard!" John shouted from the top of his lungs so that people coulde and help him while running. Well running, it was too big of a word for his current speed.
Kye and Enzo were faster than him even when they were walking.
"Don''t go away, we''ll just y a little, don''t worry." Kye smiled as he sent a cosmic arrow to John''s back.
*Pheww*
The arrow flew quickly.
Upon contact, John''s uniform burned into ashes, which make Kye and Enzo open their mouth in awe. Kye didn''t expect such a thing to happen since he never actually tried to hit a target with his ability.
But that wasn''t the end. Once John''s uniform burned, the cosmic arrow formed once again before attacking him once again.
"Arghh stop please arghhhhhh-..." The arrow burned John''s back until it becamepletely ck. The former cried and screamed in pain before he fainted because of the pain.
"Holy god what was that?" Kye expressed his amazement after seeing John lying on the ground.
"K-Kye, were you the one who did that?" Enzo looked at his friend with a little bit of fear.
Chapter 126 Seriously, An "M"?
"Holy god what was that?" Kye expressed his amazement after seeing John lying on the ground.
"K-Kye, were you the one who did that?" Enzo looked at his friend with a little tint of fear. He didn''t know that he had such a grudge against them to burn thempletely.
"N-no, I mean yes, but I didn''t expect that," Kye exined to his scared friend. "I trained a lot, but I didn''t know that it could do such a thing. I didn''t expect it to have so much power."
"What do you mean you didn''t know?"
"Literally, I didn''t know. I never expected the arrow to have such effects, nor did thought it could re-form on its own. Sure I throw it to him, but I didn''t know it would have hurt him that much."
"*Sigh*, seriously, you''re stronger than I expected."
"Well... Anyways, is he alive?"
"Yeah, he''s still breathing and his pulse is still present, so you don''t have to worry."
"Thank god. I didn''t want to have the blood of another person on my hands."
Enzo didn''t expect this answer, so he just looked at Kye''s back without saying anything. He was a little shocked about what he did and his statement, but it wasn''t as if he could do something about it. On the contrary, he was d that Kye was his dearest friend, and that he didn''t try to bully him much before when they were still strangers. Who knows what will have happened to him if he were to go against him and people who possessed great abilities?
He didn''t really want to think of the possibility since he was sure it would have been a torture. "Thank god I''m your friend."
Kye turned toward him and didn''t know why Enzo said that. "I''m sorry Enzo, I swear it wasn''t my intention to do that. I wouldn''t have attacked him like this if I knew." He even looked to the ground, not daring to make eye contact with him.
His rtionship with him just improved a few hours ago, so he didn''t want to go back to the point of no return.
"It''s okay, Kye. Don''t worry too much about it. I was just a little surprised, that''s all. And there''s no harm in you being strong, right? On the contrary, it''s very good. Like this, I would be able to sleep knowing that I can protect yourself.
"Really?" Kye still looked toward the ground.
"Yeah, don''t worry." Enzo decided to pat his head since at this rate, he didn''t know of a better way to make Kye feels better.
And like magic, Kye indeed felt better since he started smiling again.
The boys then headed to the infirmary to treat John. His burns were very deep, and they didn''t want him to die... yet.
***
"Are you serious?" Ven pped the wall he was leaning on. They were taking a break from their morning training. Leo and Elisa stayed by themselves, while Kye and Ven stayed together.
So when Ven learned what happened yesterday, he was angry with himself. "Seriously why didn''t Ie with you? I would have beat him to death if I were there."
"Well, I burned him to death, so I guess everything''s good, right?" Ven only looked at him and didn''t say anything. "Anyways, why did you do with Lidi? Shopping, right?"
"Yeah, it was awful. I don''t understand how can she spend so much time to chose clothes. It''s the total opposite of you. You''re so fast that I wonder if you even looked at them before choosing. And yet your style is always top notch."
"Well, thanks I guess." Kye scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, by the way." Ven pulled out something from his pocket. "I''ve got a present for you, hope you''ll like it."
"What is it?" Kye took it in his hands and tried to examine the present.
"I felt like it would suit you," Ven said in all honesty. "You only have one earring, so I feel like your other ear feels a little bit alone."
"Wow, thank you, Ven. I didn''t expect that." Kye made his usual bright smile, making Ven''s mood brighten. "Seriously it looks great. But I need to pierce my ear now."
"Oh, we can go to the store after we finish training..." Ven stopped what he was saying because of Kye. Thetter took the earring''s sharp side and plunged it into his ear. "K-Kye, what the heck are you doing?"
Ven shouted when he saw blood dripping from his ear. He even attracted the attention of Leo and Elisa.
"You''re high-... I mean Kye, are you alright?"
"Kye, what happened? Is it Ven who attacked you?" She sent a menacing re to Ven, who replied in kind.
"Why are you guys making such a big fuss?" Kye tilted his head to the side. "I just pierced my ear, that''s all. And look, it already healed."
The three of them looked at him with puzzled expressions. His answer was so unexpected that they thought that Kye had weird fetishes.
"K-Kye, you''re not an M, right?" Ven asked and wanted him to deny it profoundly."
"What are you talking about? And what''s an ''M''?" Kye asked innocently as he checked his earring description at the same time.
Though, he couldn''t read the description yet because of Leo''s exnation.
"An ''M'' stand for ''Masochist''. It''s people who feel sexual pleasure when they feel pain." Leo exined with a straight face while Ven and Elisa looked at him seriously. "I met some in my life, and they are seriously not the greatest. They are... weird. It''s not pleasant to do things with them."
Kye looked at them even more seriously than they were. And with a long sigh, he answered their question. "Guys..." He built up the tension. "I feel offended by what you thought of me. Seriously how can I feel pleasure through pain? Do you seriously see me like this?"
"No, it wasn''t what we meant, but still. Piercing your ear like this as if it''s nothing..."
Chapter 127 A Superior Beings Thought
AN: Hello everyone, I''m sorry to say that but I''ll stop writing for a while. I don''t know when I will write again, but I don''t think it''ll be anytime soon. School''s taking all my Time.
I''m sorry :(
***
Kye looked at them even more seriously than they were. And with a long sigh, he answered their question. "Guys..." He built up the tension. "I feel offended by what you thought of me. Seriously how can I feel pleasure through pain. Do you seriously see me like this?"
"No, it wasn''t what we meant, but still. Piercing your ear like this as if it''s nothing. You don''t have some secret fetishes, are you?" Ven asked once again, just to be sure.
"No, I don''t have any weird fetishes. I don''t even understand how such people could exist. Feeling pleasure through pain, seriously." Kye shook his head in despair. He was d that he didn''t like such things.
Not that he ever tested such a thing.
"Oh, by the way, Kye," Ven said one Leo and Elisa went a little further away. "I met Azul yesterday with Lidi."
Kye looked him in the eyes with a worried expression before checking his body to see if there were any scars.
"W-what are you doing?" Ven asked as he felt ticklish by Kye''s touch.
"Checking for any possible scars. I know that you probably didn''t manage to control yourself. And the poor Lidi, she must have to watch you take a beating as well."
"W-wait, what do you take me for?"
"A valuable friend but who''s too short-headed."
"Do you see me like this?" Ven holds onto Kye''s hand to stop him from tickling him. He was breathless.
"I mean, isn''t it true? You were always the one putting yourself first to beat people, while Yugo wanted to do things a little more smoothly."
"I-..." Ven couldn''t deny that since it was the truth. "But still, I didn''t take a beating at all."
"Did you seriously didn''t fought him?"
"Why didn''t you ask if I won?" He asked with a sad expression.
"Because I know that even though you''re very strong for a teenager, you''re still no match to an adult."
"I don''t know if I should be happy or sad about what you said." He sighed aq Kye only smiled, making a vein bulge on Ven''s forehead. "Anyways, yeah I didn''t fight him. And you know, Lidi had as much fighting spirit as me. We would have fought together if needed to be."
"For real?" Kye asked as Ven nodded. "Seems like Lidi is a short-headed person as well. Seriously why did both of you go together then?"
"My point exactly. I should have gone with you and made this John pay."
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Kye rolled his eyes as the vein on Ven''s forehead got bigger. It was fun for the former to tease him. After all, he couldn''t be the only one being teased, right? "So did you guys talk with him? Or did you just pass by without doing anything?"
"No, we talked a little bit. And from what I understood, Azul knows that we''re mad at him and that we want him to pay. But he''s not taking us seriously at all. He sees us as children who would never be able to lift a finger against him."
"For real?" Kye chuckled a little as Ven raised an eyebrow seeing his reaction.
"What''s so funny?"
"Well, it''s just funny to see him act all and mighty. I''m sure he will be surprised when he will win in pain under our feet."
Ven didn''t say anything for a few seconds and only looked at his best friend as if he had met someonepletely different. "Kye I think you indeed got some fetishes while you were gone."
"What do you mean?" This time it was Kye who raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you seem to like seeing people in pain. I know it''s for revenge and all, but you seem to want them to suffer a lot."
"Isn''t it normal? I mean, I almost died because of them, so I find it natural to repay in the kind."
"Yeah, guess you''re right. Sorry."
The two boys continued talking, but Kye was focused on something else. There was still the system''s window which was opened earlier. Maybe he was paying attention for nothing, but he still wanted to take a look at it.
[Demonic earring:
This earring was in the possession of a demonic being but got lost during a very old war. It will awaken only when it will be in contact with demonic energy. Once on the ear, it''s impossible to remove it apart from some circumstances.]
''Seriously?'' Kye looked at Ven with a puzzled expression. He didn''t know whether he should be happy or surprised by such items. Ven had gifted him something so valuable that it even amazed him. Sure he didn''t know about it, but still.
"Is there something on my face?" Ven asked. Kye was looking at him for quite some time now.
"Ah, no, I''m sorry." Kye looked back to the system screen. ''Well guess it will never awaken then. I don''t have demonic energy but holy energy. And I''ll have to keep it until I die I guess. Thank god it''s pretty.
"It would have been hard to keep it otherwise. Just imagining having to cut my ear to remove it makes me shudder. It could regrow thanks to my natural regeneration, but the other might seriously consider wether I''m a Masochist or not.''
***
On the other hand, in heaven, a beautiful woman was watching Kye. She could see another angel near him, as well as a demon.
"Seriously, this council. Can''t they leave humans alone? And why is there an angel near my son? Can''t they leave him alone as well? And why does he have so many essories? Is he hanging out with scums?
"And why does he have a demonic earring as well? Are they doing that on purpose? It''s still too early for him to discover his true self. Does Lucifer want him to die or what? Why didn''t he retrieve this earring?
"Argh, seriously I should have done things on my own."
Chapter 128 A New Professor
Finally, the day of the exam hase. Thest week was only filled with training, and nothing else. However, this training taught them a lot, so they were all d to have trained together. After all, they could have been put in a shitty group with shitty people.
Even Leo and Elisa who didn''t see the point in training at the beginning felt grateful toward Kye because of how much he wanted to do well in the exam.
Humans had a different way of training than Angels and Demons. While thetter was stronger and could endure harsh training, the former was less resistant, and so their training had to be adjusted. However, the quality of their training didn''t drop in the slightest. On the contrary, it was way more efficient than what Angels and Demons were doing.
They knew how a body worked, and so they trained ordingly. They didn''t train too much because it could have negative consequences on their bodies, nor did they forget to rest to be at their top the next days.
As for those so-called superior beings, they only trained like a beast. They were so used to be stronger than others and were so full of themselves that they forgot how to train well.
So Leo and Elisa were happy to havee among the human race because alongside their missions, they could learn a lot from them as well, and the most important thing that they learned was to be humble.
Unfortunately, not everyone could share their happiness.
Kye and his friends were delighted when they could take a glimpse of their revenge on Maria and John the other day. However, almost a week passed, and they didn''t see them again.
It could be normal in an academy where there were so many students. But they didn''t believe in that in the slightest.
They went multiple times to the ce where Maria used to walk before curfew. But they didn''t see her again. John as well seemed to have disappeared.
It was as if they were staying in their rooms all day. And since the ss was suspended for the week, they could stay as long as they wanted to in their room.
But the silver lining in this situation was that They couldn''t train in the slightest for the exam.
Not that they would have trained a lot in the first ce. They were so full of themselves that they wouldn''t even dare to train. Especially if they were teamed with trash.
And in reality, their teams were good. They weren''t the highest level, but they didn''t have any low levels either. However, it wasn''t enough for Maria and John. For them, they had to be with the cream of the cream. So they would have skipped training no matter what with the team they were in.
There was also Azul in the lot. Since that day, he was sending a deadly re at them as if they had done something bad.
But in the end, they just yed with the rules. It wasn''t as if they had done something bad. Just a little spar between students couldn''t lead to anything. There were fights every day. So it was apletely normal thing to do.
And so did the week pass. And the D-day came. The day of the exam.
But strangely enough, it wasn''t Madison who did the presentation of the tournament, but a beautiful woman. Silky blond hair and jewel-like blue eyes. She was so beautiful that all the boys opened their jaws in awe.
They were used to Madison''s beautiful appearance, but this woman was breathtaking. She was so beautiful that everyone was in a daze.
"Hello everyone, my name is Tarica, I''m a new teacher here, and I will help you from now on with your training because your professor Madison will have to go away for a while. And thus I''ll take on her duty starting today.
"I''ve heard that you all have an exam this whole week. It''s a tournament like an exam, right?" She asked the person behind her, who was none other than Azul.
Thetter didn''t know why, but he had the impression that Tarica had a great grudge against her. He didn''t understand why since he just met her today, but he was sure of his feeling.
"Yes, that''s right. They are all with their teams right now."
"That''s good. You are all so diligent. I''m proud of all of you" She smiled slightly, making everyone gasp in shock because of her beauty. "Then let me exin a little bit how the tournament will proceed.
"As you might all know, a tournament is quite easy to understand. Two teams will fight each other. The winner will go to the next stage, while the loser will have to wait for the next tournament. The first tournament will gather all the winner of their fights, until thest team stand. As for the second tournament, it will gather all those who lost in the first tournament, and there, a second winner will be chosen, who will have the opportunity to fight the winning team on thest day of the exam.
"You don''t have to worry about your grades either. Even if you lose in the first round of the first tournament, and the same thing happens during the second tournament, you will still be able to get good grades, as long as your teamwork is good or even your decision-making.
"Do not forget that your purpose in this exam isn''t that you came out first. It''s to see how well you will do in a team. So do not act rashly, or your grades will be affected more or less heavily. Don''t forget either that it''s important to be fair, and not cheat. Not that you''ll manage to do it on my watch."
Tarica smiled. But it seemed way colder than the one she did earlier. Everyone present felt a chill run down their spine.
But those who felt the most threatened were those surrounding Kye. And while everyone shudders, Kye felt a strange feeling inside of him. As if something dormant was slowly waking up.
Chapter 129 The Tournament Ladder
''Why does it looks like I''ve seen her somewhere?'' Kye thought while Tarica continued exining the rules of the exam. ''But I can''t remember where at all. Was it when I was young and my parents were still around? No, I don''t think it''s possible. Not that I would remember that time in the first ce. It''s been so long.''
Even though he knew he would be able to remember anything about that time, the warm feeling inside of him didn''t go away. It was as if he had just seen someone he had long ago forgotten, and thus couldn''t remember this person.
But he couldn''t focus on this feeling for long because Tarica once again gathered everyone''s attention.
"Now, this is the most interesting part. In a few moments, a giant screen will appear with all the teams that you''ll have to fight for the first round. Do not forget that multiple fights will happen at the same time, for the attention-seeker, don''t be mad if there are not too many people who are watching you. Don''t forget either that fatal injuries are prohibited, as well as any type of torture. Such action can disqualify you and only you. It will also give you aplete 0 on your grades. So be careful, alright?" She pped her hands with a smile before a giant screen appeared behind her as she mentioned earlier.
This screen disyed the usualpetition-like rounds with the teams'' names written at the foremost left and right of the screen
Chatter started to spread over the room, making it extremely loud. Each member talked with the other, trying to find some strategies to use against their opponents once they saw who they were fighting against.
''Seems like the only way to fight against Maria will be to go to thest round, considering she''ll be able to go this far as well. As for John, he''s not far away from my team, so there''s a chance that we can fight him soon.''
"Hey Kye, did you see who''s in our pool?" Ven''s finger pointed toward John''s name.
"Yeah, we can fight him if we got the chance. But we still need to win for that."
"You don''t have to worry about that, Kye," Elisa said with a big smile. "I''ll do my best to protect you."
"Me too. I''ll make you win for sure."
"Hehe, thank you, guys," Kye chuckled and smiled at all his teammates. "Still, we''ll have to win our first fight to get a good score on the exam."
"Yeah, you''re right," Ven said. "Does any of you knows what ability the opposite team has?"
Everyone looked at who they will fightter. They were at the very end of their pool, so it will take some time before their turn coulde.
Their opponents were all level 5. Sara Jikas. The second member was Sokus Hufnan. Then there was Urin Jori andst but not least, Trieul Sas. They were all girls who seemed to be a very bnced team.
All in all, their team was very bnced. Butpared to them, they were nowhere near enough. Kye''s team could even be ssified as overpowered. They were all high levels, except for Kye. But since he was quite the anomaly, no one on the team thought that he was low-level. Not that they would in the first ce. Ven was his friend, while the other two thought of him as someone incredible.
"I''m sorry, I don''t know any of them," Elisa said. There were so many students that it was impossible to know everyone, even those who were at high levels.
"Me neither. But I don''t think we need to know their ability," Leo said with confidence. "I know it''s not the smartest thing to judge people based on their levels, but we''re not the usual high levels either. Ven is one of the strongest, while I know I can hold my ground easily, same for Elisa. As for Kye..."
"I''m just weak, right?" Kye asked as Ven sent a deadly re to Leo who felt like a bodyguard was looking at him. The demon-like bodyguard. Those who he knew well.
"N-no, you''re high-... I mean Kye," Leo almost kneeled in front of him. He almost disrespected him with his earlier statement. "You''re considered low-level, but I don''t understand why in the slightest. You''re so strong that even though you''ll lose against Ven, you''ll still hold your ground and maybe even hurt him. You''re probably one of the strongest people I''ve seen, and it''s only a matter of time until you get stronger. You even got such a strong ability, and you only took your baby steps with it. So no, you''re not anywhere near being weak. You are strong, Kye. I''m sorry if you misunderstood me."
"Pfft, hahaha" Elisa chuckled as this time, it was Leo who red at her with killing intent. "I didn''t expect you to make a presentation of Kye''s potential."
"It''s not a presentation. I only said the truth, that''s all."
"Haha, you''re funny guys," Kye chuckled with them as everyone was looking at them. While they were all worried about who they would fight, Kye''s group was allughing. "And thank you for saying that, Leo. I''ll try to do my best to not deceive you in the future."
''Well, it''s not like I''ll be able to say anything even if you do bad. I''ll get my head off my body if I do so. Still, I''m sure you''ll do well in the future, your highness.'' Leo thought with a smile, making Elisa wonder if he went nuts.
"Now now everyone, please head toward the arena and wait inside your room," Tarica said with a smile. "You''ll be called once your turn wille, so wait patiently. And no, you can''t stay outside of your room, so no need to ask. Our schedule will be tight, so we can''t lose time finding you.
"Now, please let''s go."
Chapter 130 A Strong Healer
"Group A1 and A2, B1 and B2, C1 and C2, please move forward." A man''s voice resounded inside of the arena, and all those who were in the spectators seat cheered for the iing team.
"I thought we would have been bored all day by staying in our dedicated room, but seems like it would be interesting." A girl with light-blue hair said. She was by Kye''s side and was talking to her teammates. Kye took a look at her watch to see her level and saw the number ''6'' on it. "You got a problem?" The girl raised an eyebrow when she saw Kye.
"No, not at all." He quickly averted his gaze and looked toward the arena.
''Seriously when will things change? My watch shows the number 3 now, but people keep picking up fights with me. I have the impression that nothing had changed even after having gotten an ability. Does the system we''re living it at fault, or people''s mentality?''
Kye sighed internally as he thought that. When he was still at a low level, he thought that it was normal for high levels to bully those under them. But now that he was slowly getting stronger and getting higher level, he had the impression that seems weren''t as simple as this, and that it wasn''t people''s fault, but the way they learned to live.
Society told them since their childhood that the only way to survive in this world was to get stronger. And as one gets stronger, they see other as trash, and thus they started bullying people and felt great about it. They felt a great feeling because they felt stronger every time they stomped on someone.
So Kye didn''t know if the problemy in the people who lived in this society or the society in itself which teaches people those values.
"Woaaaaahhhhh!"
"Goooddddd luck Samy!"
"Yugo you''re the best!"
Kye''s thought got interrupted by the students'' loud cheer. And as he focused a little bit on the arena, he could see one of his friends. Yugo to be more precise. He was with three other people. Three girls to be more precise. One of them has fiery red hair and orange eyes. Another one has ck hair and blue eyes, while thest one had pink hair and a cute face.
Their name was respectively, Saya, Kohim, and Solu, and the three of them were level 5.
"What a great team he''s in. This lucky bastard." Kye could hear the girl by his side say with a grin. He didn''t know why, but he has the impression that she knew Yugo.
On the opposite side of Yugo''s team were four male students. A ck hair and eyes boy named Samy was level 6, a blond hair and blue eyes boy named Chris who was level 5, a blue hair and hazel eyes boy who was also level 6, and his name was Isis, and thest boy who was level 1 and has brown hair and eyes, his name was Graval.
"What an exciting first fight. We have on both sides two very strong teams." The man who called the teams earlier shouted once again, heating the audience''s hype. "On one side we have the great member of the Pendora family, while on the other end of the arena, we have the Salva''s family descendant. The greatest supportive family that mankind has ever known. Their great healing ability is known to even heal the deadliest wound."
"WOAHHHH!"
"Let''s goooooooo!"
''Seems like the presenter makes a great job in hyping the audience.''
"Now, if everyone''s ready, please be prepared because we''ll start in a few seconds."
"3," The presenter said.
"2" The audience yelled with him.
"1" Everyone shouted in excitement. This event was sure an exam, but it was also a way to relieve people''s stress. The program at the military academy wasn''t easy, so events like this were needed to make the student''s stress go down.
"Begin."
Yugo''s group was the first to act. Two opposite elements suddenly appeared out of nowhere and danced together. It was Saya''s and Kohim''s abilities. Fire and water. But that wasn''t all. Solu also activated her ability. And suddenly, both water and fire expanded in size until they became big enough that they looked like two giant houses.
Seeing that, the opposite team reacted in the kind. Samy activated his darkness ability and shot two spears made of pure darkness toward the two big houses made purely of elements. Chril who was on his side knew that he needed to distract Yugo or else the two big attacks will disqualify him in an instant. So he transformed his body into lightning and shot toward Yugo.
But he was already a step toote, even though he was as fast as lightning.
Yugo intercepted him mid-way and isted him in another space. Chril tried to destroy it, but nothing happened. It was as if the space element of Yugopletely erased his lightning ability.
Yugo then created two gates with his ability. One for the two spears and the other in the isted space Chril was in.
Darkness was a destructive power, but a very slow one as well. So it was easy to stop it.
The fire and the water element slowly stabilized and the girls made their moves toward their enemies. s, because of their size, it was extremely slow. Even slower than Sam''s darkness ability.
"Chril be careful!" Samy shouted when he saw a dimensional gate open in the confined space Chril was in.
"Guess it was easier than I thought. But well, what can you do with a level 1..." The girl by Kye''s side said with a haughty tone, but her smile quickly disappeared when she saw that all the ability disappeared inside the arena.
"Do you guys seriously think that I''ll let you beat my teammates so easily?" Isis smiled as he pped his hands, and every single ability inside the arena disappeared, be it his teammates'' ability or his opponent''s.
Chapter 131 Isis Increadible Ability
The spectators looked at what happened below them in awe. Everything suddenly disappeared as if nothing happened earlier. It was as if times turned back. But the Laborde family wasn''t present in this fight, so it couldn''t be what had happened.
"Do you guys seriously think that I''ll let you beat my teammates so easily?" Isis smiled as if nothing happened. "I can do much more than healing, guys."
Yugo didn''t say anything since he knew that Isis'' reputation wasn''t something ordinary. He was the only one in his incredible family who could do that. He didn''t only study how to heal with his ability, but he also tried to use it offensively. And what he just did was one of his secret techniques. A technique where he could make all that matterse back to their primate state.
Healing wasn''t just closing a wound. It was much more vast than that.
Healing''s purpose was to create something new that could rece the old and unhealthy things. So by especially using his ability, Isis could rece all matters by creating them again from scratch, before making them disappear.
It was a unique way of using a supportive ability. But that is what gave him the right to be the descendant of his family. He was a prodigy among prodigies.
And fighting against such an unorthodox opponent wasn''t something easy.
"Well, it''s been a long time since I fought someone strong." Yugo smiled as he stretched. He then told his allies to calm down and that he would take care of Isis, so their job was to take care of the other.
"You''re so full of yourself." Isis shook his head as he walked forward. Yugo did the same. "Do not think that it''s because of an unusual ability that you can win against me."
"I should be the one saying that to you. You''re the closest person to reach the creative ability, but you''re also far away from reaching it."
"What do you even know about the creation ability, you bastard!" Isis shouted, clearly showing that he got angry at Yugo''s statement.
"Surely a lot more than you. I witnessed it with my own eyes when the creative ability user was fighting against the destruction ability user. It was so great that you can''t even fathom it. So don''t be delusional and stay at healing people. It''s your job, so leave the front to those like me."
Yugo smirked, making Isis fum in anger. He had enough of his taunt, so he attacked him immediately.
And Yugo''s smirk widen when he saw that Isis got provoked so easily. However, it had to quickly go away because even though the offensive side of Isis'' healing ability wasn''t the greatest, it was by far the most original. So Yugo needed to focus as much as he could to not lose this confrontation.
Yugo instantly sealed himself into another space to avoid being hit by Isis''s reverse attack. He didn''t want to get younger by being hit by his attacks, so the best way to avoid fast attacks was to defend himself.
And it worked perfectly because Isis'' attacks pass through Yugo, who created two big portals to redirect Isis''s attacks toward himself.
"You think I''ll be affected by my attacks?" Isis rays came in contact with him, but nothing happened. "How foolish-..." Isis acted all high and mighty but got blown away when the portal behind him self-destructed.
Copsing space on itself was one of Yugo''s oldest tricks, so he knew how to do it with just a thought. And since Isis wasn''tpletely focused on the fight because of his earlier provocation, it was the perfect moment to do it.
"You bastard! I swear I''ll beat you up!" Isis shouted as he healed himself. Yugo clicked his tongue seeing that and immediately tried to seal away Isis''s healing, but thetter erased his ability once again, making it useless.
''This fight gonna be annoying.'' Yugo thought in annoyance, but he knew that Isis couldn''t continue like this for long. Healing himself and using his ability offensively used a lot of energy, so with just a little bit more effort.
"Yugo be careful!" Solu shouted from the top of her lungs when she saw Chril rushing at full speed toward Yugo.
The three girls and the three boys were fighting each other since earlier, and surprisingly enough, the fight was at a stalemate.
Even though the boys had a level one in their team, they still hold their ground very well. So the moment they saw an opportunity to take down the strongest, they took the chance.
But thanks to Solu''s shout, Yugo reacted in time, and not kindly at all.
The greatest defense was the attack. So instead of protecting himself, Yugo copsed the space around him multiple times. He did it so much that Chril couldn''t even be seen anymore in all those explosions. It was as if he had been engulfed in a deadly bomb mine.
Yugo didn''t stop and continued attacking Chril without even looking in his direction. His attention was focused on Isis, and Isis only. He knew that the lightning boy wouldn''t be able to survive this onught of copsing space, so he needed to focus on him.
But once again, Isis surprised him.
Thetter pped his hands, and from them, blinding green light spread to all directions, be it toward allies or foes.
The green light made all abilities disappear once again, but that wasn''t all. It also heal all those Isis wanted. So Chril who was lying on the ground covered in blood, Samy who was panting because of the three versus two, and Graval who looked like he was at death''s door suddenly healed and recovered from their wounds, be it physically or mentally.
And this trick once again heated the spectators, and they all cheered for Isis''s great trick.
s, using such a great technique had a huge cost. So even though Chril, Samy, and Graval were now at full force, Isis had fainted.
The strongest opponent was now out of the fight.
Chapter 132 Parents Talk
"Professors, students, and spectators, we all witness an amazing first fight. One of the strongest students was fighting against the best healer of this academy. Yet what can defend can do against such a strong power!"
*Cheer* *Cheer* *Cheer*
The audience was in an uproar after the first fight came to an end. They all witnessed something amazing. Yugo''s amazing space ability was enough to beat all his opponents. Albeit, he still needed his teammates to win. He had used a lot of energy after almost killing Chril. So without them, he would have surely been the one who would have lost.
Yet, Yugo felt a bad aftertaste in his mouth. He didn''t know if it was because of Isis''st move, but he felt like his victory wouldn''t bring him as many points as the opposite team.
The exam was about teamwork, and Isis did an amazing job in stalling time for his teammates by fighting Yugo alone and saving them multiple times. Especially Chril. They would have lost a lot sooner if it wasn''t for him.
And so the first fight came to an end. An amazing fight that left a bad aftertaste for some, and a good one for others.
***
"Tarica, are you kidding me!" A handsome man shouted in Tarica''s mind.
"Calm down honey, I didn''t do anything wrong." She answered through their mind link.
"What do you mean you didn''t? I was supposed to be the first who would have met him, not you."
"Come on, Lucifer. He doesn''t even know who I am. Not even other angel spies know of my identity. I''m way too high in the hierarchy for them to know anyway."
"Still... At this rate, he would nevere to the demon realm if you show him too many good sides of heaven." Lucifer pouted angrily, which made Tarica chuckle.
"Don''t worry about that, honey. Heaven is rotting more and more because of this damn council. I''m sure you''re even more righteous than them now."
"Why? Did something happen, again?"
"Yeah... The council thinks that they are allowed to do anything because of their status. Not even the scribe can stop them at this point. They are way too rotten for that."
"Must be hard then."
"Yes, but that''s not the problem."
Lucifer looked at his wife for her to continue, but Tarica looked like she wanted to make the suspense grow bigger.
"Come on Tarica, don''t make me wait."
"Yes yes, sorry honey. Your expression is just priceless~" Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Anyways. The problem we got is that the council knows that there''s an anomaly among the humans."
"Do you mean..."
"Yes. That''s what you think. One of the spies they sent discovered an anomaly. And this anomaly is our deer, Kye. They asked this spy to watch over him and see how things evolve. And what annoys me is that this spy is in Kye''s group during his exam. Seriously what a pain..."
Lucifer didn''t answer as if he just cut the mind link they had between them, but Tarica knew very well why he wasn''t giving any answer. "Calm down honey. You don''t have to barge into human society or even heaven for such a thing. I''ll deal with it."
"... Is it the reason why you descended to Earth?" Lucifer asked after a few minutes had passed. He managed to calm down only because his trusted half was there. If Tarica wasn''t beside Kye at the moment, he would have surely gone and killed the angels'' council or even destroyed the academy Kye was in.
"Partly, yes. I need to try and protect him. It''s the time where he''s the most vulnerable, and I don''t think I will have much time to meet him in the future because of work."
"What the other reason, then?"
"... He had some girl friends. And I want to see their eligibility..."
"What? He''s already in a rtionship? How fast." Tarica and Lucifer weren''t talking to each other face to face, but the former could feel that thetter had a smirk on his face.
"Don''t smile you dick head. And no, he''s not in a rtionship yet. He just has friends which are girls. That''s all. I would have already killed them if it was the case."
"Gosh, you''re worse than me."
"What do you mean? Do you think I''ll let my only son hang out with sluts or trashes?"
"Well... He can hang out with whomever he wants. He''s free to do whatever he wants as well. We weren''t here for him during his whole life, so I don''t think we can mandle too much in it. I don''t think we can even force him to ept us as his real parents."
"But... We needed to do that for him to survive..." Tarica''s mood dropped rock bottom. She didn''t like talking about this. Albeit she needed to right now.
"Yes, I know that as well, dear. But it doesn''t change the fact that we sent him off to humans so that he could live. So we shouldn''t expect much from him." Lucifer sighed heavily as it was paining his heart. "Though, it doesn''t mean that we can''t support him to the best of our abilities and watch over him. He may not see us as his parents, but we''ll always see him as our one and only son."
"... I didn''t know you could be so thoughtful."
"Well, I''m trying to improve for him..."
"What a good dad." Tarica smiled tenderly. "Anyways I''ll have to go. Kye''s fight is about to start in a few minutes."
"Can you record it? I want to see how he''s fighting."
"Didn''t you observe him already?"
"I couldn''t do much or they would have sensed me. So please..." Lucifer begged Tarica as she finally agreed.
"It will be hard for him though. He doesn''t have an ability, and he can''t use holy power either."
"Don''t worry, my son isn''t that weak!" Lucifer said with a proud voice before Tarica cut the mind link.
Chapter 133 Kyes Team Fight
"Ladies and gentlemen, yet another fight will start soon with one of the big families!" The audience roared in excitement. First Yugo and now another one? Was it their lucky day? "On the right side, we have Ven, the star of the group, Leo, Elisa, and Kye. Their opponent will be none other than a group of four level five, Sara, Sokus, Urin, Trieul."
Kye''s opponents were all girls. Sara has the wind ability and had shown an extraordinary talent with it since the moment the military gave it to her. Sokus had a supportive ability which increases the speed of who she wanted to be. Be it her allies or enemies. Urin had a strength-increasing ability and was fighting with a ymore. As for Trieul, she had the earth''s ability and a giant shield as a weapon.
Both teams looked at each other with ill intent. The group of girls especially red at Elisa because she was surrounded by three handsome boys. Ven was stunning, Kye was cute, and Leo was breathtaking. So they wanted to tear her apart.
Though, instead of being scared, Elisa looked at them mockingly. She never expected such a situation to happen, but if she could take advantage of it to make Kye win and make him d, then she will do her best to provoc them.
And it worked extremely well because the girls'' expressions turned grim.
"Well guess we''re already gonna win." Ven smiled in anticipation. Making them hot-headed will help them win easily.
"Now that both teams are ready, we can start the fight!"
"3"
"2"
"1"
"Start!"
*Whoahhhhh*
The spectators yelled as they saw Ven and Kye rush toward the girls.
Trieul was the first to react to them and erected two walls made of the earth which created only a single path for Ven and Kye to take. Sokus then increased the speed of all her teammates before Sara used her air ability and sent air des to the boys, while Urin rushed toward the boys to intercept them.
However, they didn''t expect to see both boys disappear suddenly. They were all confused and looked everywhere to see where they were, but could only find Leo and Elisa smiling at them from afar.
Elisa then created a giant rainy cloud before the rain started to pour on everyone.
And as if they were tricked by magic, Kye and Ven reappeared behind Sokus before pinning her to the ground, which kicked her out of the match instantly. If it was a real fight right now, she would already be dead.
And since she wasn''t taking part in the fight anymore, the speed-increasing boost was taken off her teammates as well.
The rain then started to pour more and more and quickly, Trieul earth''s ability was rendered useless. Every time she tried to use her ability, it instantly turned into mud, rendering her useless as well. She could only defend herself and her allies with her giant shield.
However, the biggest problem of this team was their low speed. Sokus was here to remedy that because she could increase the speed of Trieul and Urin who both have great strength. But now that Sokus was out of the fight, they almost couldn''t do anything anymore.
And that was the main reason why she was taken down first.
At the start of the fight, Kye and Ven never immediately rushed toward the opposite team. It was just an illusion made by Leo, while he used another one to hide the both of them until they reached their target.
From the outside, it looked as if the girls werepletely dumb because they didn''t see their prime enemies, but from their point of view, it wasn''t that simple.
As an incubus, Leo had a strong mastery over illusions. And so he didn''t need to trick everyone. And that''s exactly why the spectators had the impression that nothing strange happened because he only tricked his enemies.
On paper, it was easier because he didn''t need to put a lot of people under an illusion, so he''s supposed to use far less energy than what was needed, but in reality, it was far harder to do that because he was messing with a few people''s perceptions for real.
If he were to fool the audience, then he could do so, but it will be far easier to break the illusion. On the contrary, if he were to fool with a few people''s perceptions, he could do so at apletely different level, and the illusion would be almost unbreakable.
Only those with an amazingly strong mind could break free from the illusion. But young humans who lived in thefort of their homes for almost two decades weren''t anywhere near this level, so it was easy to fool them that much.
And in the end, the fight finished like this. Once the support was taken down, the three others fell like dominos.
This fight where one of the great families was fighting wasn''t as thrilling as the one Yugo did earlier in the day, but this fight showed how teamwork was more important than individual strength.
And although the audience didn''t cheer as much, they were still happy to have witnessed this fight.
Tarica on the other hand was delighted by this fight. Her son fought so well that it even impressed her. After all, he wasn''t supposed to have learned anything grand since he came to the military. She knew that he stayed a time with monsters under the sea, but she didn''t know what he did there.
She also recorded the fight for her husband, who was proud of how he fought. There was still a lot of mistake in his posture, but Kye seemed to use Lightbringer well. His trusted sword wasn''t the easiest one to use, but since its power was sealed, Kye could use it freely and learn how to use it the way it needed to.
Though, in the future, things may not bepletely ck and white.
Chapter 134 Constellations
"Yugo!" a light blue-haired girl shouted from afar. It was lunch break before the second round of fights in the pool. "I missed you so much~."
Yugo was with the others, waiting for their lunch at the canteen. When he turned around to see who was shouting his name, tworge watermelons pped his face. "How have you been?" She hugged him tightly, choking him with herrge breasts.
Kye looked at the situation from the side and remembered the girl. She hadmented on Yugo''s fight earlier in the morning. She was pretty, that''s for sure, but she also seemed to have quite the personality. She was a high level as well, so he didn''t really want to associate himself with someone like her.
However, Kye could see that his best friend''s face was losing color, so he decided to step in.
"Excuse me, can you please stop what you''re doing? He can''t breathe because of your breasts."
"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "What do you want, you shitty level 3? You have a problem with me hugging my fianc¨¦?"
"Your what?"
"Fianc¨¦?"
"Yugo, you bastard, since when?" Kye, Lidi, and Ven said, respectively. They were all shocked by her statement and took a step back.
"Gaya, stop messing around already." Sylvia shook her head and sighed.
"Yugo has already rejected you a hundred times now. Why do you keep pestering him with that?" Enzo added.
"You guys know her?" Kye asked, and they both nodded.
"Shees from a branch family of the Pendora family, and they''ve known each other since childhood." Sylvia exined, letting Enzo continue.
"From what we understand, Gaya has developed some romantic feelings for him. But Yugo has always rejected her. To be honest, it was so funny that Iughed a lot when it happened when we were still kids."
"Come on, who got rejected?" Gaya said as she took a step back to let Yugo breathe. "He always epted my advances, so don''t make false assumptions."
"I never did, Gaya. Leave me alone already."
"Oh? Why are you acting like this in front of your friends? You don''t want them to know me?"
"Shut up, Gaya. You know very well how I don''t like you. Quit assuming things on your own and just go away."
"Why are you saying that?" Gaya said with teary eyes. However, Kye activated his angel''s eyes and could clearly understand that what she was saying was all false. There wasn''t an ounce of truth in her statement from earlier. "I''ll tear up if you say that."
"Cry then." Yugo turned around, but Gaya wasn''t ready to let him go. She tried to pull his sleeve to stop him from going away, but Kye intercepted her arm.
And as he did that, Gaya''s expression made a 180¡ã turn. Where she had a sad face earlier when talking, she now looked angry, as if someone had just humiliated her.
"How dare you-"
"Just leave him alone," Kye cut her short. "He doesn''t like you, so stop chasing after him. He''ll never ept you if you act like this anyway."
"You-..." Gaya gritted her teeth and activated her ability.
Constetions suddenly appeared around her and slowly took shape. She only summoned two of them, as it was already taxing to do that.
And two people suddenly appeared by her side. One looked like a humanoid man scorpion, while the other looked like a beautiful female mermaid. Both of them looked down on Kye and were waiting for the order of their master.
"Gaya, you-..." Yugo shouted when he sensed the energy Gaya was releasing, but he didn''t have time to finish before she gave her order.
"Beat him up!" she stated coldly. However, what happened next shocked not only her, but everyone around the scene, whether they were Kye''s friends or spectators.
The handsome scorpion-man and the beautiful mermaid didn''t do anything. On the contrary, they kneeled in front of Kye, who looked at them with a puzzled expression.
"Your highness, we''re sorry for our inappropriate behavior. We should have greeted you sooner."
"What?" Kye and Gaya said at the same time. While Kye was shocked, Gaya was scared. It was the first time such a thing had happened in her whole life.
"Kill him already!" Gaya yelled at the top of her lungs, but the two constetions just ignored her. They kept kneeling and looked at Kye with smiles on their faces as if they saw someone they had been missing for a decade, or maybe even longer.
"Who are you?" Kye asked after collecting his thoughts. He didn''t understand what was currently happening, but he knew for sure that it wasn''t normal. The look on Gaya''s face said it all.
"We''re part of the Twelve Great Constetions," the beautiful mermaid said. "And our duty is to serve the one who can manipte what people can''t understand. In other words, what you would call outer space or the cosmic space."
Kye looked at them as if he didn''t understand a thing of what they were saying. But in reality, he was just thinking as hard as he could. His brain was working at full capacity to understand this situation.
And after a few moments of silence, he finally managed to grasp what they were talking about.
"Is this what you were talking about?" Kye asked as he created a very small ck hole. It was the next thing he had been working on recently, but it was proving to be difficult to make it bigger than a baby''s thumb.
"Yes, that''s it," both constetions nodded.
However, the surprises didn''t end there. Now it was his friends'' turn to be amazed.
"Kye, you can make a ck hole?" Ven asked, clearly the most surprised in the group.
"Nope."
"But-¡" Ven began to protest but decided to let it go for the moment.
"You two, go back now!" Gaya shouted as the both of them disappeared. "You son of a bitch, just you wait. I''ll make you pay!"
The crowd slowly went away as well, minding their own business, leaving the group of friends alone once again.
"Does someone know what just happened?" Surprisingly, it wasn''t one of the others who asked this, but Kye himself, the one who was supposed to have the answers.
"Do you mean that you don''t know what happened?" Enzo asked for confirmation, and Kye nodded.
? "Yeah. How could I even understand what happened? I don''t even know this girl, much less those two entities." Kye had never paid any attention to fields like outer space. It was like another dimension to him, so how could he even know about constetions?
It was only because he had received his cosmic ability that he had slowly started searching for information about this topic. But he had never once thought that constetions were real. They were only stars to him, and nothing more.
''Now that I think about it, I can do anything that''s rted to outer space, right?''
"Well, I guess it''s normal that you don''t know about what happened," Sylvia exined with a sigh. All this situation had given her quite the headache. Gaya wasn''t someone who was very kind, so just having her around for five minutes was annoying. "Gaya is known for her very rare ability, which is to call upon the manifestation of the twelve constetions. So the constetions we just saw were Aquarius and Scorpio. They are the only constetions she has, since the others are with the head of the family and his trusted allies."
"Does that mean that if someone is strong enough, they can call upon all twelve constetions at the same time?"
"In theory, yes," Enzo continued for Sylvia, "but the energy consumption would be way too big to even think about doing that. Because it''s one thing to call upon the constetions, but it''s another to keep them in our world with their astral form."
Kye nodded as he smiled internally. "Then do you know why those two constetions bowed to me, even though their master was Gaya?"
"Well, how could we possibly know that?" Yugo chuckled. "I''m sure that it''s the first time in Gaya''s entire family tree that such a thing has happened."
Everyone chuckled as they agreed with what Yugo had said.
"Still, I think that it''s something usible actually," Sylvia theorized. "Constetions have feelings of their own. They are like humans and wish to be treated kindly, especially by the person who calls upon them to fight for them. But as you all saw, Gaya isn''t the kindest type. So if they had even a slight reason to go somewhere else, I''m sure they would do so without remorse."
"Still, isn''t the constetion and the one who calls them linked by a contract where only death can separate them?" Enzo asked as the whole group turned their heads toward Kye.
"What are you guys taking me for right now?" He shook his head with a sigh. "I''m not a murderer, you know? And why would I even want to rob her of her constetions?"
"Because they think you''re their king?" Lidi said as everyone agreed with her. "They bowed down and called you ''your highness''. So shouldn''t you free them from their oppressor? Isn''t it your duty as their king?"
"Why are you guys even nodding to what she''s saying?" Kye asked when he saw everyone nodding their heads in unison. He felt a bit strange hearing all of that. "And what nonsense is that? I''m no one''s king, nor do I have any duty to save anyone except you guys."
"Ohhh, how cute~" Ven patted his head with a proud smile. "But still, they clearly reacted to your cosmic ability, so I don''t think you can brush this matter off forever. One day, you''ll have to take every constetion under you, I guess."
"You too, Ven?" He looked at them surprised. "I told you I can''t be anyone''s king. And it''s not an ability that''ll make my thoughts change."
"Well, maybe not now, but as time passes, you''ll have to make choices." Enzo said with a smile. "And at that time, I''ll be here to support you."
"Come on, Enzo, I was the one who wanted to say that!" Yugo clicked his tongue, and so did everyone. Enzo just stole what they wanted to say since earlier.
"Well, thanks, I guess." Kye chuckled. "I''m d I''m friends with all of you guys."
"And so are we~."
He was once again reminded how lucky he was to have supportive friends.
***
The day continued normally after that without any odd thing. Both pools finished fighting their first few matches, and tomorrow would be the start of the secondpetition-like exam.
Kye''s group all managed to watch Gaya''s fight, and they could easily see that she was angry. She was shouting and yelling atrocious words to her constetion so that they could walk on their opponent.
Both Aquarius and Scorpioplied without saying anything, but it was also clear as crystal water that they were annoyed to have such a master.
Their old one was kind, and they could still remember how strong she was, even though the flow of time had erased most of their memories. Whereas now, their new master was no more than trash in their eyes. She couldn''t defend herself without them, nor could she actually fight without them. She didn''t have a weapon to fight with or even use to defend herself.
No need to say that they were even disgusted with themselves for treating such a person as their master.
However, now their grim days came to an end. Someone with their old master''s ability appeared right in front of their eyes, and so they were waiting for him to break their contract with Gaya and form a new one with him.
After all, no ordinary person could master the cosmic ability, even if it was just a little bit.
Chapter 135 Zaionistazer
The students continued to fight against each other with a lot of teamwork to achieve good grades for the exam. Not everyone was as extraordinary as Kye and his group, but the students were content with good grades because they guaranteed a good future. Unfortunately, for them, this would make them ordinary people for the rest of their lives.
That was how the second day of thepetition started. The first day had stopped around 3 p.m. to allow people to rest a little bit. As there were too many students in the academy, there was no need to rush things.
As a result, there were no interesting fights, at least not as thrilling as those from the first day when numerous famous people fought against each other with extraordinary abilities. And so the third day of thepetition started.
However, things didn''t go as nned.
Everything came to a halt when someone was found dead right before the students could fight again.
"Do you know what happened?" asked one student.
"Did something happen?" asked another.
"You guys don''t know?" asked a third.
Students started talking among themselves while the teachers held a meeting after making thepetition halt.
"How can something like this happen!?" Azul mmed his hand on the table in front of him. Even though the person who died wasn''t close to him in any way, she was still part of the Viso family. "Who killed Maria!"
His tone made it look like he wasn''t asking anymore but wasmanding others to tell him the answer.
"Please, calm down, Sir Azul. You might know that we wouldn''t hold this meeting if we already knew who the culprit was," Tarica answered calmly. She was used to such meetings, so it wouldn''t be a small human who would make her shiver.
"How dare you speak so informally to me, you bitch!" Azul was about to use his ability but was stopped by Tarica''s smile.
Her smile was genuine, but her closed eyes emitted so much killing intent that he almost wet his pants.
"How in the world could she emit so much killing intent without even looking straight at me?" he wondered.
"Azul, please calm down," the headmaster asked him this time. The headmaster wasn''t a pushover, so if Azul didn''t calm down right now, he knew that things would be worse for him. "We''re holding this meeting to know who killed Maria Viso, not to quarrel between each other."
Azul reluctantly calmed down, but his fists were still tightly clenched. The headmaster continued speaking, "We have gathered some evidence and have some leads, but we need to investigate further to confirm who the culprit is. Until then, we will have to put thepetition on hold."
"The only question is for how long?" Tarica continued as the headmaster nodded in agreement. "We all know that it''s not wise to keep this atmosphere, knowing that students may already be specting among themselves. And it won''t be far-fetched to say that they probably already know who died."
"What do you suggest, then?" Azul asked with an angry tone
"To calm the students first and then hide the body. None of the students have seen the body yet, so not a single one of them knows that it''s a monster that killed this little girl."
"What?"
"A monster?"
"Are you kidding me?"
The meeting went into an uproar as everyone started talking among themselves, with fear slowly oveing them. Even the headmaster was surprised by Tarica''s statement.
"I knew you were not the brightest, but I didn''t expect this level of idiocy," Azul chuckled as he looked at the headmaster to confirm his words. However, the headmaster had a serious face. After all, Tarica looked like someone who had a lot of experience in this field. He had never heard of her during the war, but he knew that she must have had a very good reason to hide during the war, or at least, not fight on the frontline.
"Would you please exin why you think it''s a monster, Miss Tarica?" The headmaster asked her after everyone had calmed down a bit.
"I knew that humans were slow, but I didn''t expect this level of ignorance," Tarica sighed as she stood up. She then pped her hands, and a golden screen appeared out of thin air.
"As you can see, this is Maria Viso''s dead body." The screen showed exactly what Tarica had said. It was Maria''s naked body with wounds all over her body. "You can see wounds all over her body as if she had been tortured by someone. However, most of them are self-inflicted wounds."
"What do you mean?" The headmaster asked, looking at Azul to help calm him down.
"The wounds on her shoulders were caused by herself." The screen zoomed in on her shoulders before going to her hands. "You can see here that her fingers, and more precisely, her nails are torn because of how much she scratched herself. She did it so much that she opened many wounds on both shoulders, leading to excessive bleeding."
"Unfortunately for her, it was only the beginning of her pain. While we can assume that those wounds are self-inflicted because of trauma, we can''t say the same for other wounds." The screen then went to show her ears. Inside them, a transparent liquid could be seen.
"This liquid isn''t visible with the naked eye under normal circumstances, but only by changing theposition of a few gadgets could it be seen." She exined. "Now tell me, do you think this is body fluid?" She looked at everyone to see if there was an answer, but no one knew. After all, they had never heard of or seen such body fluids. Not even the doctor who was present in the meeting.
"So, as you may have concluded, no, it''s not body fluid." A swipe of her hand made a new screen appear. "This microscopic bug, or should I call it a monster, is called Zaionistazer." Everyone gasped upon hearing this. After all, they had never heard of insect-like monsters. "For those who are curious, it''s a new type of monster that appeared not too long ago, only three years ago to be more precise, so it''s normal if you''ve never heard of it."
The chatter spread once again among the people present in the meeting. But unlike earlier, their tone was far worse.
"Are monsters evolving?" a teacher asked.
"We''ve been at peace for approximately a decade now, but they''re still trying to attack us?" Another teacher was scared.
"What should we do..."
"Now now everyone please stay with me." Tarica''s smile made everyone''s expression loosen up a little. "I know it''s hard to believe, but even we find it not too long ago on another."
"Can you tell us more details about this monster?" The headmaster asked with an even more serious face than earlier.
"Absolutely. The Zaionistazer was first discovered when people started mutting themselves for no apparent reason. To be more specific, there wasn''t any type of trauma to cause such things. Apletely sane man for example would be mentally ill the moment the Zaionistazer secreted its fluid into someone." She exined in such a way that it was very easy to understand. "And as you might have noticed, the Zaionistazer is so small that we can''t see it, unless we''re very cautious about such microscopic things."
"And so once someone is infected by this monster, the only oue is their death because of self-muttion."
"And how do you know that, huh?" Azul scuffed. "You just came a few days ago and bring foreign information like this. Do you think any of us will believe in you?"
Everyone agreed and nodded their head when they heard Azul''s statement. As he said, there was no concrete proof.
"If so, please y with a Zaionistazer for a bit. We''ll see if this is real or not." Tarica snap her fingers and a jar appeared out of thin air and fell on Azul''s hands.
At first nce, it seems like the jar was empty, but if one were to look a little bit more closely, one would easily see that there was something inside of it.
"Is this the Zaionistazer that killed Maria?"
"How can such small things kill a human?"
"It''s sometimes the tiniest things that are the most dangerous, remember that." She rolled her eyes at the teachers who shut their mouths immediately. "While you guys are enjoying peace, the monsters are preparing for another war. It might be in ten years, twenty years, or even tomorrow, but if things go like this, you''ll be the one to die for unknown reasons."
The headmaster thought carefully about all the information he got from Tarica. She was truly like an angel who came to save them at the right moment. Without her, all the military would have probably died already.
"I''m grateful for all the things you have done for us, miss Tarica. All the information you provided to us will be rewarded greatly, I''ll make sure of that, you can rest assured." He looked at Tarica who didn''t answer as she knew that he wanted to continue to say something else. "But I''ll still ask for another favor..." The fact that the headmaster of this base was asking for a favor, and not ordered Tarica showed how great thetter was in the first ce.
"I''m listening to you, headmaster, but I can''t guarantee you anything."
The headmaster nodded and took a deep breath. "Could you please inspect everyone on this base and eradicate all the Zaionistazer, please?"
Tarica smiled as she had another idea in mind.
Chapter 136 Operation : Scanning Process
The headmaster took a deep breath. "Could you please inspect everyone on this base and eradicate all the Zaionistazer, please?"
Tarica smiled for a moment, building up the tension, thus making everyone anxious. No one knew Tarica a lot. She came out of nowhere ad didn''t mingle with her colleagues a lot. It wouldn''t be surprising to say that it was as if she was still new, even though it has been a while since she has been here.
So no one knew what she could possibly think, not even the headmaster. Though, they worried for nothing.
"I can indeed do so, headmaster..."
"Thank you ver-..." Tarica cut the headmaster short, finally stating what she had in mind since earlier.
"However it is better if the students ovee this ordeal alone."
"What? Are you crazy? Do you want to spread the rumor that Maria is dead?" Azul raised his voice, showing clearly his hostility toward her.
"What tells you this rumor is groundless and not already spread among them?" Tarica looked directly into his eyes, not backing down from him. She then turned to the headmaster, leaving the angry Azul alone. "Headmaster, you must have seen how some students are brilliant with their abilities, right?"
He nodded his head alongside the other teachers as well. The students this year were already really strong. However, there was still one big question left. How could they possibly hope that students would do all of this?
"I know what you''re thinking about: how could we make it so that the students help check on everyone? Well, it''s simple. We should reward those who help, and I''m sure they wouldn''tin anymore. It''s the same principle as with a donkey; it will move forward if you put a carrot in front of it. As long as we reward them, they will help us."
The meeting room remained silent for a while, leading Tarica to believe that they would agree with her idea. After all, several students were likely to be sessful in this operation. One of them was Isis, whose abilities even surprised Tarica. However, the most important person to Tarica in this situation was her son, Kye. She knew that as an angel, Kye should have mastered the purification spell. Therefore, by helping everyone, it would be an easy way for him to earn great rewards.
"I understand what you say, Tarica. However, we don''t have an infinite amount of rewards. So it would be quite hard to do so, especially if we take into ount the reward we will give to you for all the precious information you gave to us."
"Who agreed on the fact that I wanted rewards in the first ce?" Everyone was taken aback by her statement. "I don''t need any reward. I already have all the things that I need, so don''t worry. Instead, you should give it to the students to motivate them. And won''t it be a better situation? Everything will be settled while boosting the students'' confidence in each other."
Tarica smiled brightly when she pped her hand after she said all of that, letting the other mistake her intentions. They thought that she was doing that for humanity, whereas it couldn''t be further from the truth. After all, she did that only for her son to get stronger and better in the future. It was a good opportunity for him to improve, and as her mother, she wanted to help him, even if he wouldn''t know that it was her who helped him.
***
After the meeting, the military moved quickly and canceled thepetition entirely for safety reasons. The headmaster reported everything to his superior, including the name of their benefactor, who was none other than Tarica.
Things went so far that even a lieutenant, who was hierarchically superior to the headmaster, came to personally thank Tarica. Despite her own abilities, Tarica remained humble, knowing that Lieutenant Charles was known for his shapeshifting ability, which had helped him greatly during the war. Tarica''s humble attitude pleased him greatly, which annoyed her as she suspected his hidden intention.
During his visit, Lieutenant Charles also met with some students, specifically those who would participate in the checking operations to help boost their confidence.
All the students capable of helping in this operation were called forward and were thanked by the lieutenant. They were mostly those with support abilities.
And even though those students mostlyck self-confidence, they were happy to have someone like Isis among them because everyone knew how well he performed during the first match of the tournament. And having him among them was like an omen.
And as such, everyone stood close to him, trying their best to earn his favor. And the one in the middle of that felt mighty because of that. After all, he was still young, so having all those followers felt like a dream to him, even though he was destined to lead his family in the future.
And because of that, Kye was left alone.
However, it wasn''t only because of that.
Kye was a fighter, not a healer or someone who could help in this operation in any way. So even though he was handsome and would usually attract a lot of attention, he now was alone. No one came to him because he was like a foreigner.
Though, even he didn''t understand why he was there.
''Seriously why am I here though? I can get that the teacher wants me to help in this operation as it is very important, but how am I supposed to help?'' Tarica was indeed the one who rmended Kye to help in this operation. And as a great benefactor in all this ordeal, the lieutenant and the headmaster agreed without a word.
And while the lieutenant was still asking himself what Kye was doing in an environment where only people with supportive abilities were needed, the headmaster didn''t think the same at all.
He still remembered well the warning of the old teacher Madison.
Kye was someone with a bright future ahead of him, and it seems like Tarica has seen it as well. After all, Kye must hide more secrets than the headmaster could possibly hope to discover with a lie detector.
However, deep down, he felt like one day, it would be toote for Kye.
He knew that things weren''t done or said for nothing in life, especially when used. He hadn''te to this position for anything, after all. So he knew when there was something hidden from him. Unfortunately, he didn''t have any concrete proof.
So he could only hope for Kye to grow well in a healthy environment, or the monsters wouldn''t be the only ones humanity would have to be scared of.
***
While the headmaster was thinking and discussing the next n of action with lieutenant Charles, the scanning process almost started.
All the students assigned were here. Among the more than 5,000 students in the military, only twenty-two students could help. Needless to say that they had a long way to go until they could check for everyone.
After all, even though they knew they had to search for special substances and foreign organisms in their ssmates'' bodies, they didn''t know how to proceed.
Not that they could in the first ce.
Those 22 students were the only ones who knew what had really happened. They had indeed been briefed about what they had to search for, and above all, the real cause of all this mess.
No need to say that the moment the students understood that they had to deal with a monster, they all got scared, except for two students.
All the chosen students were those who never approached the frontline, so they of course became afraid the moment they knew what they had to deal with.
So once the operation started, they all started to freak out.
As for the two students who kept theirposures, they were obviously Isis and Kye. The former was because of the confidence he had in his abilities, while thetter was because he had already fought with a lot of monsters beforeing back to the military. So it wouldn''t be those little bugs who''ll scare him.
Though, he still didn''t know how he would be of any help.
"What are you thinking so hard about, Kye?" Isis said sarcastically, causing those who followed him to chuckle as well. "You can''t find your friend anymore, so you''re scared?" Isis clearly holds a grudge against Yugo and despises all those who are friendly with him. "That''s right. What can someone like you even do in the first ce? You''re still a low-level person who got lucky by befriending the right people."
Kye looked at Isis and all those surrounding him. They all looked at him with eyes filled with disgust, reminding him of old times.
Instead of getting angry, he only smiled gently, almost making people fall for him.
"I''m sorry if I''m a hindrance to you, Mr. Isis. I promise to do my best not to let you down."
The people were all taken aback and wanted to refute him, especially Isis. They were going to tell him that he would be useless in this operation and that he was only a brute who knew how to fight. But when he looked at Kye''s shining blue eyes, he fell silent and only gulped back his words.
''Why can''t I say anything back?'' Isis thought to himself. ''It''s as if I''ve lost myposure and my grudge against Yugo and those around him...''
Kye only smiled at him, making Isis feel even worse.
Chapter 137 Isis Suspicion
The 22 students were in a grand room to let them have their own space. They were also all separated by white sheets to not be disturbed by the others.
And so the first 22 patients came in. They were nervous as this situation happened so fast that they weren''t prepared at all.
But they quickly ran toward them once they saw those who could help them. After all, if they were indeed infected, they were the only ones who could help them. However, one patient was even more nervous when she saw who was treating her.
"I refuse to be treated by him." The girl said to a staff who was surprised for a moment.
Kye looked at her watch and saw the number 5. He thought it was normal. After all, she was a high-level student but had to be treated by someone who wasn''t in the support field at all. Still, he asked, "May I know why you don''t want to be treated by me?"
"Do you seriously ask?" She raised an eyebrow as if the answer was obvious. "As far as I know, you don''t have a supportive ability or anything rted to this. How do you even n to heal me if I''m infected then? I don''t n on dying because of someone like you."
She hit the bull''s eyes as even Kye had difficulty knowing if he could do it. Nheless, he still decided to try. After all, he wouldn''t die even if he failed to heal her.
"Can you give me your hand for a moment? I''d still like to try and heal you if possible." The girl looked at him with wary eyes, but in the end, she reluctantly gave her hand.
It wasn''t because she wanted to, but rather because the guard whom shein to earlier didn''t even bother answering her. Clearly showing that he couldn''t care less about the situation.
Once Kye took her hands in his, a system message popped up in front of him.
[A strange substance has been detected.]
[Would you like to destroy the substance using ''Purify'' LvL 1 and pull out the parasite from the body?]
[Yes/No]
Kye''s lips curved up as he saw those messages. He had almost forgotten about this spell as he had rarely used it before. It has the power to clean strange substances to a certain degree. But since the system said it would destroy the substance, he guessed that the spell was stronger than the description let him understand.
[Yes]
Kye agreed to use the spell, and light suddenly came out from his hand, surprising both the girl and the staff.
"W-what are you doing to me?" The girl shouted as she attracted people''s attention even though no one could see what was happening except for the light.
Kye didn''t say anything and continued to use the spell.
[5%]
[34%]
[67%]
[100%]
Once it reached 100%, the light started to dim down. However, to everyone''s surprise, something appeared in Kye''s hand.
"A-a monster!" The girl shouted as she rushed out of the room, leaving Kye to sigh and the staff perplexed.
''Is it the monster secreting this substance? It is so tiny that it''s impressive to know that it can kill people so easily. I guess I''m lucky to be unaffected by those things thanks to my angel''s body.''
Kye then turned to the staff who was looking at the small insect moving slowly in Kye''s hand. It tried to create its substance, only to be destroyed the moment it came in contact with Kye''s body. "Can you bring a few big jars?" Kye asked. "We might get a lot of monsters to study after all of this will end."
The staff was shocked by Kye''s calmness as even he was cautious against such a new monster. He had a lot more experience than Kye, yet was more scared than him.
"Y-yes I will bring them right away."
After a while, the guard came back with a few jars and another student to let Kye check him. Thetter put the Zaionistazer in a jar before helping the other student.
Thankfully, this patient didn''t say anything and remained silent during the treatment. Nevertheless, he was still surprised by how fast Kye was at cleansing him.
This continued for a while until all the students took a break except for Kye. They were now all used to cleaning the substance but were still quickly exhausted. And unlike Kye, they couldn''t make the monstere out as well. They just destroyed everything suspicious in the patient''s body to heal them.
No need to say that Kye was more efficient than all of them, and by arge margin. Even Isis had a hard time catching up with him. Kye was so fast at cleansing people that it almost seemed surreal.
"Is he even human?" The resting students talk among themselves while Kye was still working.
"I don''t have any energy left to use my ability, yet he''s still continuing. And he helped a lot more people than me."
"I know right? I probably only helped 10 students after an hour, but he''s probably in his fifties now."
"Fifty? Are you serious?" Isis asked in surprise. Even he could only heal around 30 students after an hour. Yet he was at fifty?
"It''s just a guess. But look at how peoplee and go so fast. And he always pulls the monsters out to study themter. Look at all of them in the jar. It disgusts me."
Isis couldn''t care about how he was feeling and was only looking at Kye in awe. He was wondering how someone could be good at fighting while being so good at supporting people with supportive abilities as well.
''But wasn''t he supposed to have the cosmic ability or something? They why is there always a golden light when he''s using his ability to cleanse people?'' Isis wondered. He saw Kye use his cosmic ability a few times, but it was always dark blue or purple, not golden. ''Or is it something else? But it''s impossible, right?''
Isis started to be suspicious of Kye, why thetter didn''t even know he was being watched by the whole group.
Chapter 138 Sparks
''I don''t understand. Why is everyone infected already?'' Kye thought while he was cleansing people. ''There hadn''t been a single person who hadn''t been infected since the beginning of the operation. Did they manage to multiply by themselves in such a short amount of time? Or were they all dispatched simultaneously, and thus had all the time they wanted to infect everyone?''
The amount of zaionistazer was indeed not something normal. After all, they were noticed not so long ago of the existence of such monsters and immediately prepared themselves to eradicate them. And yet all the students were already infected.
''No, I shouldn''t think like this.'' Kye thought as he put another monster in the jar. ''They must have been there for a long time. Then does that mean that there''s a traitor in the military? It wouldn''t make sense that those little insects came here on their own. But it wouldn''t make sense either that the military hadn''t spotted any monsters bringing them.''
''Then it only means that there is a traitor among the staff. Or... Argh, I don''t know anymore. There are so many possibilities. It could be humans, monsters, angels, or even demons for all I know.'' He started to get a headache because of all the thinking.
He could think as much as he wanted, but in the end, he couldn''t find any answers. And even if he did, it wasn''t as if he could change anything. In this situation, he should focus on what he could do instead of what he couldn''t.
''Argh seriously, why am I so dumb?'' Kye sighed as he looked at all the monsters in the jar. ''I could earn so much EXP if I were to kill all those monsters. I''m sure I''ll be able to at least gain 2 levels.''
He looked at the guard by his side before shaking his head. He shouldn''t kill all the monsters he had collected now. They would be useful to humans as they''ll have plenty of things to study thanks to all the monsters Kye got them. ''But still, there are almost 50 zaionistazer in the jar already, so killing a few won''t be a problem, right?''
As he thought that, Kye decided to change his approach a bit. "Excuse me," Kye called the guard. "I don''t think I''ll be able to make the monsterse out from the body anymore."
"Oh, it''s alright. You should rest for now. You did way much more than the others." He smiled brightly as even he was surprised by how diligently Kye worked.
"No, it''s not what I meant." Kye shook his head. The guard has misunderstood him. "I can still go on and cleanse people. But I''ll have to kill the monsters as I''m using too much energy to make theme out while cleansing the student and keeping the monsters alive."
It was of course a lie. It didn''t matter to Kye as he could still make theme out as he wished. But if he wanted to earn EXP, he needed to lie a little. And he wouldn''t stop what he was doing for nothing in the world. It was a good asion to train his holy power and increase his mastery over it.
''Did I be a training freak?'' Kye thought as the guard finally replied to him.
"Oh, I see what you mean now." He nodded his head. "Of course, you don''t have to worry about that. The priority in this operation is to save everyone, studying the monsterses after. And you already provided us with plenty of samples, so please don''t worry about such a thing."
"Yes, thank you." Kye smiled brightly at the guard. Thetter was quite nice to him, thus he was d as it changed from what happened usually.
''I guess that my increased level has changed a few things in the end.'' It was hard to believe as people were still ''bullying'' him. But it was much less than before.
And it gave him a little bit of hope as previously, he had a hard time even believing in people. Whereas now, he had a lot of friends and wasn''t alone anymore.
"I guess things truly changed."
"What did change?" Yugo who was the one being treated asked.
"Huh?" Kye didn''t expect to think out loud.
"Seriously you were so deep in thought that you didn''t even see your friending. I''m hurt." Yugo jokingly made a pained expression. But he didn''t expect to see Kye hug him the moment he said that. "W-what are you doing?"
"I missed you guys, obviously. I''m starting to get tired of continuously using my holy power." Kye said thest part quietly as Yugo nodded.
"Yeah, it''s good to see you again."
[300 EXP had been earned for killing a Zaionistazer]
"You don''t know how worried I was to not see you guysing." Kye said with a sad expression. He couldn''t care less about the sweet EXP, nor all the people he saved. To him, his friends were more important than anything else. And not seeing them being treated started to worry him.
After all, they started the operation for quite a while now, and a lot of students had been cleansed already.
"Thanks for worrying for us," Yugo smiled. It reminded him of the old times. "But none of us have any symptoms for now, so you don''t worry too much, okay?" Yugo started to get worried as Kye wasn''t raising his head.
"Still... Can''t you guys make your way here immediately? You may have been lucky toe here now, but what about the others?"
As Yugo saw the deep worry in Kye''s eyes, the former felt a little bad. He couldn''t do anything as he wasn''t part of the operation.
"Can''t you make a portal to bring them here?" Kye asked, worrying deeply.
"I''m sorry to say this, but it''ll be seen as an act of aggression if he were to do so." The guard butt in, making Kye click his tongue.
"Would it be seen as an offense if I were to quit my post then?" Kye turned and looked at the guard dead in the eyes. He couldn''t care less about the EXP he would get right now. The only thing he had in his head was his friends, and nothing else.
"Kye please calm down." Yugo tried to calm Kye down but it looks like thetter didn''t want to.
"Yes, it will be seen as a great offense as even the lieutenant has met you in person. It would even be seen as an act of treason. So don''t act rashly." The guard had his hand on the pommel of his sword as he was ready to sh with Kye.
Both of them looked at each other. Yugo could even see sparks appearing between them as if something bad would happen if no one stopped them.
"Treason?" Kye chuckled. "And me who thought that you were different from others. Guess I was wrong." His blue eyes started to glow yellow as the guard felt a shiver down his spine.
''W-why am I scared?'' He instinctively took a step back. ''He''s just a student. A poor student.''
Chapter 139 A Mothers Advice
Yugo could clearly sense the atmosphere around him change. It was as if Kye was changing his surrounding by his power alone. ''And isn''t there something mowing on his back? A monster? No, his wings?'' The moment Yugo came to this conclusion, he knew he had to stop his friend, or else his biggest secret will be revealed to everyone.
"Kye please wait," Yugo said. "Please calm down."
"Why would I calm down when I can''t even save my friends, huh?" Kye looked at Yugo with a fiery gaze, almost scaring him.
Almost.
The other students who were taking a break earlier started to hear themotion and quickly rushed over to it.
The first one toe was Isis, and he was greatly surprised to see the scene beholding in front of him. ''What the...? What is this pressure? Is iting from the guard? No, is Kye seriously challenging his guard? Is he serious? And is Yugo seriously sweating? Is it because of Kye?''
A lot of thought came across his head, but he knew that things wouldn''t be great if themotion were to get bigger.
"Kye, what''s happen-"
"Shut up Isis." Kye cut him short, his eyes still glowing yellow.
As the tension was rising, both the guard and Kye went into stance. The guard was seriously hesitating to fight against Kye as he was feeling an unknown fearing from inside of him. As for Kye, he was still weighing the pros and cons.
As the guard said earlier, if he were to go against the military, he''ll be charged with treason, and either be sent to prison or worse, be killed. And the problem was that he won''t be able to escape if he were to do so.
He didn''t know how to escape from here. And even if he did, he wouldn''t know on which he willnd.
He could be lucky and teleport on the Ras was living in, or even Aria''s, but the odds weren''t in his favor. Not to talk about his friend whom he didn''t want to abandon.
''I-I have to act now.'' Kye thought. But right before he was about to change his ring into his trusted sword, a voice came from behind.
"What''s happening here?" The voice belonged to a woman. It was the woman who made Kye feel like he found someone dear to him.
Yes, it''s Tarica who came right in time.
"Care to exin?" She looked at Yugo.
"Huh? Me?" He pointed to himself as if he didn''t expect to be picked out of everyone.
"You''re the friend of my so *cough* of the most talented healer here. So I want to hear it from your mouth."
Yugo hesitated for a moment, but he knew he couldn''t keep Tarica in the dark. He felt something simr to Kye in her. It was as if the space around her was the same as Kye, but a million times more intriguing. And so he took a deep breath and began to exin the situation to her.
"Kye wants to take care of our friends first as he is deeply worried about them. He wants to treat them first, even though it''ll means that some people won''t be able to be saved as our friends will take their turns. And as such, the guard opposed him, and a sh is about to start between the two of them." Yugo mixed the story a little in the hope that Tarica would take his friend''s side. After all, he didn''t want to see his friends die either.
Tarica nodded, her expression softening as she looked at Kye. "I see. Kye, I understand how you feel. But please, don''t take any rash actions. Going against the military will be extremely troublesome for youter on in your life." She then turned to Yugo and said, "You have the spatial ability, correct? Bring them here by creating two gates."
Kye looked at Tarica in disbelief. He didn''t expect her to support him, especially since she was a high-ranking member of the academy. But her words gave him hope.
"Thank you, professor." Kye said, his eyes returning to their normal color as he bowed his head a little. He was so grateful to her for finding an easy way to his problem that he felt dumb for not getting this idea earlier.
Tarica smiled at him before turning to the guard. "As for you, I don''t want any trouble. Please let us handle this matter in a peaceful manner." Even though she asked with a smile, the guard felt like a dagger was pressing against his throat. It was how much pressure he felt from her smile alone.
The guard hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Very well. But if you try to do anything illegal, I will have to report it to my superiors."
Tarica nodded in understanding before turning to the group of students who had gathered around them. "Alright, everyone, let''s get back to your work. You won''t let Kye do all the work, right?"
The tension in the air dissipated, and everyone slowly went back to their training. Yugo let out a sigh of relief, grateful that the situation didn''t escte any further, and quickly made a portal to take his friends here.
While Yugo was bringing them here, Kye walked up to Tarica, a sense of gratitude in his heart. "Thank you so much for understanding, teacher. You see, my friends are the first people who supported me in my life. And I don''t want to lose them no matter what. I wouldn''t mind going to hell and bringing them back here if I had to." He said this while looking at her directly in the eyes, making Tarica see how true his words were.
But she felt bad hearing those words. She would have done anything to stay with her child, but if she were to do so at that time, Kye would have surely died. After all, no one knows about Kye''s real identity apart from her, her husband, and a few very trusted servants.
And to keep him alive, she had to leave him to his humans'' parents who treated him well, but unfortunately died and let him suffer alone.
"Don''t worry, Kye. I understand your feeling." She smiled at him so beautifully that it was breathtaking. "You need to be surrounded by the people you love in your life if you want to live to the fullest. However, I should still give you one piece of advice."
"Yes? What is it?"
"I know that you care deeply for them and would die for them, but be careful about what you do." She then looked away as she saw her son''s friendsing one after another. Kye quickly followed her gaze. "A true friend is like a bird in flight - they soar with you through the skies, but if you try to clip their wings, they will fly away. They are also like a mirror that reflects your ws and imperfections, yet still shows you the beauty within. A powerful friendship is one built on mutual trust and respect, where each person is free to be themselves and pursue their own path, but always has a supportive friend by their side. Please take the time to think about this to not let them drive away from you." She looked back at her son with a lovely smile before going back to her work.
Chapter 140 A Threat Beyond The Sky
Kye looked at Tarica''s back, intrigued by her words. He didn''t know how he should process her words currently.
On the one hand, who was even Tarica to say such things to him? Why would a stranger would give him such advice in the first ce? But on the other hand, he couldn''t shake the feeling he felt deep inside of him when he was talking to her.
It was strange, to say the least.
He stood there for a moment, deep in thought, before finally shaking his head and turning to join his friends. Still, he made a mental note. While Tarica may be a stranger to him, her words were filled with goodwill. So he''ll try to keep those words somewhere in his mind as he didn''t want to be a lone bird in the future.
"Kye, are you okay?" Yugo was the first toe back to him, and Kye just answered him with a smile.
"Kye it''s been such a long time." Lidi smiled alongside the others as Kye chuckled.
"We just saw each other this morning. Still, I missed you guys."
While they were having a nice time on their own, the other students looked at them enviously. It was such a strange group.
All the students from powerful families joined around a single student. A poor student who looked like he didn''t have anything to call his own.
Yet, despite the big families being in constant conflict with each other, the new generation still stood there, smiling andughing as if they couldn''t care less about the world.
But the one who was the most curious was none other than Isis. He still didn''t understand how such a thing was possible. Surely Kye must have bribed them all to stay by his side, right? Yet it wasn''t feeling right. Kye didn''t look like the type to do such things. Sure he was scary earlier, but it was clear that he was a good-natured person.
But what surprised him the most was the behavior of Yugo, Ven, Sylvia, and Enzo. He knew the four of them since he was little. They were all full of pride, especially Yugo. He was a genius since he was little, and so he was looking down on everyone. Yet here he was, smiling as if his old self haspletely disappeared.
''Sigh, I should just focus on the matter in front of me.'' Isis thought as he was cleaning other students. They still had a long way to go to cure everyone.
***
On a distant, some beings were gathered around a table. They all had human appearances, but their distinctive features clearly showed that they weren''t normal humans. Red hair, reptilian eyes, wings on the back, a tail...
It was so many features that showed that those humans were real monsters.
"Insect queen, how are the new monsters you created?" A deep voice resounded around the room. The woman who spoke had long white hair and looked like she was the head of this reunion. She looked quite old as well.
The insect queen has a strange look on her face. She looked both happy and furious.
"The zaionistazer is a sess. They are almost invisible and always kill their target if they have the time."
"Then why do you look like you want to kill someone?"
"It''s because the few thousands we sent started dying. I don''t know how, but it looks like humans discovered a way to kill them." She mmed the table in front of her, but it didn''t break. Even with so much strength, the table didn''t even have a scratch. It was how sturdy it was.
"Then what are you waiting for to kill all humans there? Surely you don''t expect that our truce is still valid, right?"
"Of course not. I would have already sent my army if I could."
"Then?" Another voice chimed in. "What are you waiting for?"
"I would have already done it if I could, sea king." The insect queen sighed in annoyance. "But there are troublesome beings in the base we sent our monsters."
"What do you mean?" The sea king asked.
"My Zaionistazer transmitted to me what they experienced. It was definitely holy power."
"What?"
"Holy power?"
"What are the angels doing over there?"
Multiple voices expressed their discontent. They were all surprised and angered by this new piece of information. Why was there someone with holy power among humans?
"Is it a high-ranked angel?" The monster with white hair asked, calming everyone.
"No. From what I sensed and saw, it is just a low-ranked angel. His holy power isn''t that strong. He probably only has enough strength to kill those low-ranked insects." The insect queen said. An angel was problematic, but a low-ranked one wasn''t that hard to kill.
"Then why haven''t you taken care of it yet?" The monster with red hair asked.
"It''s because they have powerful humans protecting them. They are from different families, but they all seem to be close to each other."
"So, they are working together?" The monster with wings on his back asked.
"Yes. And I can''t sense any malice from them. They are just trying to protect their own."
The room fell silent. They knew what it meant. If humans could work together, they would be an even bigger threat to them.
"We need to do something about this," the monster with a tail spoke up.
"Agreed. We can''t let them continue to grow in strength," the sea king added.
The sea king narrowed his eyes. "If that''s the case, why don''t we just send our own forces to deal with this angel?"
"That''s easier said than done," the insect queen retorted. "We don''t know the full extent of their capabilities. It could be a trap."
The others nodded in agreement. They had been at war with the angels for centuries, and they knew not to underestimate their enemies. Even a low-ranked angel could pose a threat if they were caught off guard.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked the monster with the red hair.
The insect queen thought for a moment before responding. "I''ll send some of my strongest monsters to investigate. They''ll gather information on the angel and report back to us. From there, we''ll decide on the best course of action."
The others nodded in agreement. It was a sound n, and it would give them more information on their enemies. They knew that they had to tread carefully, for they didn''t want to provoke a full-blown war with the angels just yet.
The meeting continued, with the monsters discussing various ns to deal with the humans and their protectors. But little did they know, there was one human among them who possessed more power than they could have ever imagined. And his protectors would do anything to keep him safe.
***
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Kye and his friends were heading back to their dorms after this long and tiring day. They had been discussing the events of the day and making ns for the weekend.
"Hey, Kye, have you decided what you want to do this weekend?" asked Yugo.
Kye shook his head. "Not yet. I was thinking of exploring the city a bit more. Maybe check out some of the local shops and cafes."
"Sounds like a good idea," said Ven. "I heard there''s a new cafe that just opened up downtown. We could check that out."
Sylvia nodded in agreement. "And maybe we could go shopping too. I need to buy some new clothes for the uing ball."
Enzo rolled his eyes. "Of course, you do. You always need new clothes."
Sylvia yfully smacked him on the arm. "Shut up, Enzo. You know you love my fashion sense."
Kye chuckled at their banter. It was good to have friends who could make himugh and forget about his troubles, even if it was just for a little while.
As they neared their dorms, they noticed amotion near the entrance. Several students gathered around, looking agitated.
"What''s going on?" asked Yugo.
One of the students turned to them. "The infection suddenly became more dangerous and more prominent. The school has quarantined all the affected students, but they''re saying that it''s spreading fast."
Kye felt a sense of unease settles in his stomach. He had a bad feeling about this.
Chapter 141 Symbols
''Why is it spreading now? Did something happen?'' Kye thought in hurry. He couldn''t understand how the monsters became stronger so suddenly. ''Is it because the monsters sensed that something was wrong, thus they are acting more rashly? But they shouldn''t be intelligent monsters, right? Or is there someone behind them?''
He looked at the surrounding and saw a young boy wriggling in pain on the ground.
"Kye help him, please." Sylvia was the first toe back to her sense and asked Kye for help.
Kye rushed towards the boy and knelt beside him. The boy was clutching his stomach and moaning in agony. Kye gently lifted the boy''s shirt and saw deep w marks on his abdomen. He had seen simr injuries before but not as severe as this.
Some of the students he healed during the day had some scratching marks because of themselves. But now it looked as if the w marks wereing from the inside.
Kye quickly realized that something was wrong. The monsters had never attacked humans with such ferocity before. They usually kept to themselves and only infected them slowly, but it looked like they went rampant now.
''But how such tiny parasites managed to make such big marks?'' He thought as he started purifying the boy''s body. His holy power illuminated the area, killing the monster instantly.
[500 EXP has been earned]
''500? Wasn''t it 300 earlier? Did they really be stronger?''
Kye didn''t stop using purify on the boy. Even though the monster died, he needed to stop the hemorrhage.
Everyone looked at him in awe. It was as if an angel has blessed Kye. The golden color continued spreading around, slowly healing the boy whose expression started to be better as time passed.
Kye was relieved when the boy''s injuries started to heal. However, his mind was still racing with questions. He knew that the monsters'' sudden aggression was not normal, and he needed to find out what was causing it.
As he finished healing the boy, Kye stood up and surveyed the area. The monsters seemed to be everywhere. If all the monsters started to go on a rampage, then it would cause grave consequences. Many would, without a doubt, die.
"Yugo, go and bring the teacher here, it''s urgent." Kye ordered him.
"What? Why?"
"Don''t ask and trust me, please." Kye asked with a calmer tone, making Yugo nod his head before using his ability to go faster.
"Lidi, make the airflow in the area. We need to let people breathe fresh air."
"Okay."
"Enzo and Ven, bring me as many students as possible, please. I''ll start healing them."
"Roger." Both of them felt the urgency in his voice and agreed immediately.
"And Sylvia, please check on the students as well and clean their injuries with your water, please."
Sylvia nodded and quickly went to help the other students who were injured.
Kye started moving toward the other students, using his holy power to purify their bodies and heal their wounds. He could feel the monsters'' presence inside their bodies the more he healed the students, whereas he couldn''t earlier. It only meant one thing. They were now strong enough for him to feel their presence, but he knew he had to focus on saving as many people as possible before trying to find the root cause of the monsters'' sudden increase in strength.
As he moved from one student to another, Kye noticed something new again.
Some of the students had strange symbols on their bodies that seemed to be glowing faintly. It was the first time he had seen such symbols on humans.
''What are these symbols? Are they rted to the monsters?'' Kye wondered.
He made a mental note to investigate this furtherter on. But for now, he had to focus on healing the students and finding a solution to the monsters'' sudden increase in strength.
Kye could feel his energy draining as he continued to heal the injured students, but he didn''t stop. He couldn''t stop until he was sure that everyone was safe. It was his good-natured talking as he didn''t want to see people die because of the monsters. Even though he didn''t know most of them, he just couldn''t bring himself to abandon them as more and more students started to whine in pain.
Thankfully for him, a teacher arrived thanks to Yugo''s wrapping gate. And even more fortunately, it was Tarica who came. "What''s happening, Kye?" Tarica asked the moment she saw him with a pale face.
Kye turned toward her and smiled in delight. "Teacher, you''re here." He stood up, but stumbled as he saved many students already and started to fall.
Tarica moved so quickly toward him that it looked like she went faster than light and managed to catch Kye. "Why are you so pale? Did you use all of your energy?" She asked urgently.
"Yes, something like this." He smiled before quickly briefing her about the situation. Tarica listened carefully and immediately took action.
"Kye''s friend,e here right now," She ordered them, and as if their bodies moved on their own, they all ran toward her. "Bring Kye away from this mess, I''ll deal with this situation." Before they could even answer, 6 spheres of light appeared out of thin air and stay by Kye and the other''s side. "Those spheres will protect you from any type of virus. Now go and stay in one room only."
She didn''t wait for their answers and Tarica immediately went organizing the students and instructing them on what to do. The students saved by Kye earlier did as they were told. They were so surprised and in awe of Kye''s powers that they followed Tarica''s instructions without question.
As they were heading to a safer area, Kye''s mind continued to race with questions. He couldn''t shake off the feeling that there was something more going on with the sudden increase in the monsters'' strength and the appearance of strange symbols on the students'' bodies.
Kye knew he needed to find answers to these questions if he wanted to prevent any more harm froming to the students and the people of the city. He was determined to get to the bottom of this and stop the monsters from spreading any further.
As they reached their room, Kye''s friends helped him to a bed to rest. Kye was exhausted from using his powers so much to heal so many people, but his mind was still racing with questions.
"What''s happening, Kye?" Enzo asked, looking worried.
"I don''t know. I''ve never seen the monsters act this way before. It''s like they suddenly became more intelligent and aggressive." Kye replied, still trying to make sense of the situation.
"Could it be because of the symbols on the students'' bodies?" Ven suggested.
"Did you see it as well?" Not only Ven nodded, but the others as well. "I don''t really know. I''ve never seen anything like that before either." Kye said, feeling frustrated.
"What are you going to do?" Sylvia asked, looking at him with concern. Knowing Kye''s character, she knew that she wouldn''t stay idle in this situation.
"I''m going to investigate. I need to find out what''s causing this and put a stop to it." Kye said, determination in his voice.
"But you''re exhausted, Kye. You need to rest." Lidi said, looking worried. Everyone thought the same thing as her.
"I know, but I can''t rest until I know that everyone is safe," Kye said, sitting up on the bed. "I need to find out what''s causing this and stop it before it''s toote."
Chapter 142 The Lower Realms
Kye''s friends knew that he was right, but they also knew that he needed to rest. They exchanged worried nces, unsure of how to convince Kye to take a break.
"Kye, you''re not going to be much help if you''re too exhausted to think straight," Enzo said, his voice gentle but firm. "You need to rest and regain your strength before you can do anything."
Kye hesitated, his determination warring with his fatigue. He knew Enzo was right, but he didn''t want to let his friends down or risk anyone getting hurt while he rested.
"I''ll be okay," Kye insisted, trying to get up from the bed. But his friends gently pushed him back down, refusing to let him go.
"No, Kye, you won''t be okay," Ven said, his voice equally gentle but just as firm. "You''ve done so much already. You need to take care of yourself now."
Sylvia nodded in agreement, adding her own voice to the chorus. "We''ll help you, Kye. We''ll figure this out together. But you need to rest first."
Kye hesitated for a moment longer, but the weight of his exhaustion finally caught up with him. He sank back onto the bed, his eyes closing as he gave in to sleep.
His friends watched over him, grateful that they had managed to convince him to rest. They knew that there was still much to be done, but they also knew that they couldn''t do it without Kye''s help. And they were determined to do whatever it took to make sure that he was ready to face whatever challengesy ahead.
For the next few hours, Kye slept soundly while his friends kept watch over him. They discussed the situation, trying toe up with a n for how to investigate the strange symbols and the monsters'' sudden increase in strength.
As they talked, they realized that they needed more information. They needed to know where the symbols came from, what they meant, and how they were rted to the monsters'' behavior.
"We need to find someone who knows more about these symbols," Sylvia said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group. "Someone who can tell us what they mean and where they came from."
"But who?" Lidi asked, her voice filled with frustration. "We don''t know anyone who would have that kind of knowledge."
Enzo thought for a moment before speaking up. "What about Professor Tarica? She might not be an expert in such topics, but she is by far the most resourceful teacher that I saw so far." In fact, they didn''t know her much. She came out of nowhere but looked like she was always here to help. And she seemed to have great insight as well, so it was maybe not a really bad idea.
The others nodded in agreement, realizing that Enzo might be right. They decided to seek out professor Tarica and see if she could shed some light on the situation. Kye has woken up as well, so after briefing him on the situation a little, they all went out of the room.
As they left the room, they saw that the situation outside had calmed down somewhat. The monsters were no longer going rampant, and the students were huddled together in small groups, talking quietly amongst themselves.
The group quickly tried to find Tarica, but no matter where they searched for her, they couldn''t find her.
Kye decided to ask the students for her whereabouts as they might know something, but he didn''t expect their reactions.
"Look it''s him." The students started eximing with bright faces.
"Wow, he''s so handsome."
"I''m so grateful, Kye, you saved my life earlier." Someone took Kye''s hand between his and thanked him.
"I-it''s okay." Kye could only smile before his friends came to rescue him.
"Everyone listen up, it''s important." Sylvia attracted their attention as they all fell silent. "We are searching for professor Tarica''s whereabout. Do you guys know something?"
The students exchanged uncertain nces, unsure of how to respond. After a moment of hesitation, one of them finally spoke up.
"I think I saw her heading towards the old library earlier," the student said, her voice tentative. "But I''m not sure if she''s still there."
The group thanked the student and hurried towards the old library, hoping that Tarica was still there. As they entered the library, they noticed that it was eerily quiet. The shelves were lined with ancient books, and the only sounds were the soft shuffling of pages as the group searched for Tarica.
But as they searched, they began to realize that Tarica was nowhere to be found. The group split up, each searching a different section of the library, but all of them came up empty-handed.
"Where could she have gone?" Lidi asked, her voice filled with worry. "She must have left some kind of clue behind, right?"
But no matter how hard they looked, they couldn''t find any clues. It was as if Tarica had disappeared into thin air.
As time passed, the group grew increasingly worried. They knew that they needed Tarica''s help to solve the mystery of the symbols and the monsters, but without her, they were at a loss.
Kye''s fatigue had started to wear off, and he was bing restless. He felt like he needed to do something, anything, to find Tarica and get to the bottom of the situation.
"We can''t just give up," Kye said, his voice filled with determination. "We have to keep looking. There must be some clue that we missed."
His friends nodded in agreement, knowing that they couldn''t give up now. They resumed their search, scouring the library once again for any sign of Tarica.
But as the hours ticked by, their search became increasingly desperate. They were running out of ideas, and Kye could feel his hope beginning to fade.
Just when they were about to give up, they heard a faint noiseing from one of the back rooms of the library. They cautiously made their way toward the noise, their hearts pounding in their chests.
As they entered the room, they came face to face with something unexpected.
***
''Shit, why do they need my supervision now out of nowhere?'' Tarica thought as she walked down the beautiful and clean hallway. It was so grand that it looked otherwordly.
But it was a pretty normal sight in heaven.
''I treated everyone in the school and killed all the Zaionistazer, but those symbols meant that the Insect queen was going to act soon. And Kye might be in danger. Yet if I were to stay there, those old angels will know that I went to Earth for a reason.'' She thought with a sigh. She might be one of the strongest being in heaven, yet she wouldn''t be able to stop the whole council by herself. After all, even she needed to obey a certain set of rules.
Tarica continued to ponder her predicament as she made her way to the meeting room where the council was waiting for her. She couldn''t shake the feeling that something was off, that there was some ulterior motive behind their sudden request for her presence.
As she entered the room, she was greeted by a group of stern-looking angels, each one more intimidating than thest. They all seemed to be waiting for her to take a seat at the table, but as soon as she did, one of them spoke up.
"Tarica, we have a problem," the angel began. "There''s been a disturbance in one of the lower realms, and we need someone to investigate it. We believe that your unique set of skills makes you the perfect candidate for the job."
Tarica felt a knot form in her stomach. She knew that the lower realms were not to be taken lightly and that any disturbance there could have serious consequences. She also knew that if she epted this mission, she would be stuck in heaven for a while, unable to return to Earth and help Kye.
But she had no choice. She couldn''t refuse the council''s request, not without risking her status as one of the most powerful beings in heaven.
"What happened exactly?" Tarica asked, annoyance clearly visible in her voice.
The angel cleared his throat before continuing. "There have been reports of demons and other dark entities causing chaos in the lower realms. We don''t know what their end goal is, but we cannot allow this to continue. We need someone to investigate the situation and put a stop to it before it''s toote."
Tarica nodded slowly, already thinking of the possible dangers that awaited her. The lower realms were a dangerous ce, full of unknown creatures and unpredictable magic. It was not a task to be taken lightly.
"I understand," she said finally, steeling herself for what was toe. "I will ept this mission and do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the lower realms." While her lover was the king of hell, it didn''t mean that he has control over all demons who were going rampant. And such demons were way too strong for normal angels to fight against them.
As for the unknown creatures, Tarica already got a headache.
The council seemed pleased with her answer, but Tarica couldn''t help but feel a twinge of regret. She knew that this mission would keep her away from Kye and her life on Earth for an undetermined amount of time.
''It''s as if they called me because they knew I was up to something at Earth. Do they know something? Should I increase the security around Kye? But I can''t ask angels to do it.
Chapter 143 A Dangerous Foe
As they entered the room, they came face to face with something unexpected.
It had arge body and wasn''t something resembling a human. On the contrary, it didn''t even look like a human.
It had arge green body and two wings on its back. However, those wings weren''t like the one Kye has. It wasn''t angel''s wings, but a bug''s wings instead.
"What is this?" Lidi was the first to ask. Unfortunately for the group, her trembling voice attracted the monster''s attention.
*Kiakiakiakia*
The giant bug screamed at us and unfolded its razor-like arms. It was threatening them madly.
"Everyone run!" Kye said the moment he saw the bug screaming. It wasn''t something they could fight head-on.
Yugo was the first to react to Kye''s warning. He made a warp gate and transported everyone outside of the room.
*Boom*
The wall of the room exploded under the bug''s sheer force. If Yugo was even a secondte, they would have all died.
"Scary..." Ven said with fear in his eyes. It was the first time he felt so helpless in front of an opponent. His legs were even shaking.
But it wasn''t only him. Everyone was shaking. Sylvia, Lidi, Yugo, and Enzo. All of them were shaking in fear.
Except for Kye.
It wasn''t that he wasn''t scared. On the contrary, he was. But he encountered more threatening beings, and this bug wasn''tparable to them.
''I need to do something or everyone will die.'' Kye thought quickly. The giant bug was marching slowly toward them. It liked the fear in their eyes. It was a delightful feeling to be the predator.
Kye kept thinking, but he couldn''t seem to find any ways to survive. He looked at his party members before looking back at the mighty bug in front of them.
He gulped down and said to his friends. "Everyone flee and call a teacher. I''ll buy you as much time as possible."
His voice allowed them to wake up, but he didn''t expect their reaction since their lives were at stake.
"What are you talking about, Kye?" Enzo said, clearing his mind. "We are together in this. Did you really think we would let you die?"
"..." Kye couldn''t say anything and kept his mouth shut. He couldn''t guarantee his survival if he were to fight alone.
He didn''t want to put his friends in danger just because of his own recklessness. But he couldn''t deny the feeling of gratitude he felt towards his friends.
However, their conversation was cut short when the giant bug charged toward them.
"Get behind me!" Kye shouted as he pulled out his sword. He didn''t know if it was going to work, but he had to try. He took a deep breath and charged toward the bug.
ng
The sound of metal shing echoed in the room as Kye''s sword made contact with the bug''s arm. The bug''s arm was tough, and it didn''t even leave a scratch on it.
The bug retaliated by swinging its other arm, and Kye barely dodged it. He knew that he couldn''t keep this up for long. He needed a n.
''I can''t stop hiding indefinitely.'' Kye thought quickly as he dodged the bug''s swing.
''System, increase my agility by 5 points, strength by 2 points, and stamina by 2 points.'' It wasn''t the time to keep his stats point when he had to deal with such a situation.
And the moment his stats went up, Kye disappeared.
"Where did he go?" Sylvia asked. They were all so entangled in their fights that they forgot that they should help Kye. However, his sudden disappearance shocked all of them.
Then, the next moment, he reappeared beside the monster.
"Did he teleport?" Ven asked in shock.
"No, he just increased his speed."
While his friends where in a daze, Kye swung Lightbringer to the bug''s side and managed tond a hit. However, its exoskeleton was harder than he thought.
"Kurgh"
Kye spat a mouthful of blood after being kicked by the bug''s leg. The kick was so strong that Kye flew to the ceiling.
*Kiakiakiakia*
The monsterughed as he was readying itself to kill Kye. He was in the air, so he couldn''t dodge his next attack.
Or so he thought.
Suddenly, Kye let his holy power flow in his wings, and two magnificent wings appeared on his back, tearing his uniform back. A halo also appeared above his head.
"No, why did he do that?" Yugo asked. "The military will know his identity.
"Shit we need to help." Sylvia cursed as Root appeared all around the library and swarmed toward the monster. "Enzo and Lidi, increase Kye''s speed. Yugo and Ver, help me slow the bug."
Everyone nodded their head and started to act. The monster started cutting the roots while Kye was pping his great wings in the air. Feathers were falling to the ground, and Kye looked down on the scene below him. His friends, even though wanted to help him, were all pushed back by the monster.
"They should have escaped earlier." Kye said under his breath before flying toward the monster.
Unfortunately, right before being hit, the monster blocked Kye''s sword. They exchanged look before both of them stepped back. The look in the monster''s eyes had changed. While earlier he wanted to y with them, he was now being serious.
[A new quest had been received]
[Kill the monster.
Reward: Instant level up]
Now things were starting to get serious.
"Everyone go back now. That''s an order!" Kye shouted and flew toward the monster.
His friends were all panting and still wanted to help. But if they were to do so, they would just hinder Kye.
''Seriously why can''t I help him?'' Yugo asked himself, biting his lips.
''I can''t do anything against it...'' Ver thought as he watched the fight unfold.
They all felt a sense of helplessness. They were all calling themselves great people, but they couldn''t even help their friend in the current situation. They were all so weak in front of such monster that they all felt frustrated.
"Guys please, go now!" Kye woke them up and asked them once again. This time, it couldn''t be helped and they all reluctantly go. They would just hinder Kye if this continues.
Now that he was alone, Kye could finally breath in relieve. At least he was sure that all of his friends would live.
*Swoosh*
*ng*
The monster seemed to get faster as Kye felt his hands go numb after blocking the strike. Even with all of his stats improved, it was still hard to face such a strong opponent.
Kye could sense that the battle was about to get even more intense. The monster''s movements were more calcted, and its attacks were faster and stronger. Kye knew that he had to up his game if he wanted to survive.
Kye charged toward the monster, his wings pping powerfully behind him. He summoned all of his strength and delivered a powerful strike to the monster''s side. This time, the strikended with more force, and the monster recoiled in pain.
But it was not over yet. The monster quickly regained itsposure and charged toward Kye, its arms outstretched, ready to strike. Kye leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding the monster''s attack.
Hended on the ground and swung his sword at the monster''s legs, but the monster was too quick, and it dodged the attack.
*Kiakiriiii*
The monster screamed and was about to strike Kye back, but thetter delivered a series of rapid strikes. If a normal person were to watch this scene, they would only see blur because of how fast they were. But if they focused a little bit more, they could easily see that the monster deflected them all effortlessly.
As the battle wore on, Kye could feel his energy waning. He was starting to tire, and the monster showed no signs of slowing down. He needed to end this quickly.
Kye took a deep breath and summoned all of his strength. He leaped into the air, his wings beating powerfully behind him, and delivered a powerful strike to the monster''s chest. The strikended with a loud thud, and the monster staggered backward, its eyes wide with shock.
Kye didn''t give the monster a chance to recover. He quickly followed up with another strike, and then another. The monster tried to defend itself, but Kye''s strikes were almost as powerful as his. With a final blow, Kye sent the monster flying across the room, where it crashed into a shelve, books dumping on him.
Kye stood there, panting heavily. He thought he had finally killed it, but there was no notification. The monster even started crawling back.
As the monster slowly got back up, Kye could still see its body battered and bruised. However, he wasn''t in perfect shape either. He too was bleeding heavily, and his HP was now quite low.
But neither of them gave up.
With a loud roar, the monster charged toward Kye once again. And right before Kye could block it, he froze in ce, thus being hit by the bug''s kick.
Kye groan in pain as he flew across the room. Coughing a mouthful of blood at the same time. Like the monster earlier, he too was buried under books.
The bug stared at the books with a delighted expression. This fight was hard, but it would finally be over.
s, its happiness was cut short as a red light suddenly came out from under the books. It was a hot light. So hot that the monster could feel its body get hotter.
Chapter 144 An Horrible Invasion
The red light started to get brighter, and in an instant, all the books covering Kye were burned down.
"What''s that?"
The light came from under Kye''s shirt. It was glowing and it looks like a symbol started to appear on it.
*Kiaaaaargh*
The monster seems to whin in pain as tried to hide away from the light. Kye could see it behind shelves as he was trying to get farther away from the light.
''No, I can''t leave it alone!'' He readied himself and decided to think about the lightter on. He couldn''t let the monster escape or more people would die without a doubt.
Kye started to chase after the monster, his heart racing with adrenaline. The light seemed to make him more vigorous.
He could hear the creature''s heavy footsteps echoing through the aisles as it tried to escape from him. Kye was determined to catch it, no matter what.
As he ran through the library, Kye noticed that the monster was leaving a trail of destruction in its way. Books were ripped from shelves and tossed aside, and furniture was overturned in its path. It was clear that the creature couldn''t care anymore about what was around it and wanted only one thing: escape from the light Kye''s body was emanating.
Kye caught sight of the monster up ahead, its back turned towards him as it tried to escape through a window on the ceiling. Kye pped his wings and quickly came behind the monster. He knew that he had to act fast. Kye pulled out Lightbringer and swung it toward the monster, determined to take it down.
The monster turned around just in time to see Kyeing at it with his magnificent sword. It let out a deafening roar and lunged toward him, its razor-sharp ws bared.
Kye dodged the monster''s attack and shed at it with his sword. Strangely enough, the red light swirled around the de and me started to burn the bug.
*Kiaarrghhhhhh*
The monster roared in pain and cut its shoulder before the mes could go further. However, while he did so, Kye''s de made contact with the creature''s other arm, causing it to let out a pained howl. The light moved once again and started to burn the bug again.
Nheless, Kye didn''t stop there. He lunged forward again and again, each time striking the monster with his sword. The creature tried to fight back fiercely, but Kye refused to give up. He was determined to defeat it, no matter the cost.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kyended a final blow on the monster. The creature let out a final scream before copsing onto the ground, motionless.
Kye stood there for a moment, panting heavily, Lightbringer still in his hand, covered with green blood. He had done it. He had defeated the monster.
[The quest has been aplished]
[Instant level up]
Kye was now level 10 again. He thought he would have to undergo another transformation, but thankfully it didn''t happen.
Once his head was cleared a little, he lifted up his shirt and saw the symbol on his chest shining. It was the symbol of a phoenix. The friend seal Ras gave him when he met him with Aria.
''Did I unlock the fire attribute of Ras?'' Kye thought in shock. He never expected it to be so quick, yet it awakened itself when he needed it the most. If this burning fire wasn''t present, he wouldn''t have been able to cut down the monster.
"I should thank him for the next time I see him." Kye smiled as he remembered the kind Ras.
As he was about to retract his wings and get back to his human self, he suddenly heard noisesing down from the broken window.
He flew toward it, and the scene unfolding in front of his eyes was disastrous.
Monsters.
There were hundreds of monsters like the one he had fought just a moment ago killing the other students. The fire started to spread in the building because the monster destroyed part of it. He could see blood on the concrete and people fighting the monsters.
''No don''t tell me..." Kye rushed outside the library and flew as fast as he could.
He had sent his friends to search for help earlier. But if the situation outside was worse than here, then they were in greater danger. "Please tell me they are alive." He prayed as he take right and left turns to go outside the building.
His eyes kept scanning the hallways to try and find them, but he could only see the students'' shocked faces as they saw him.
However, he couldn''t care less about them right now. Even if he had to reveal his identity, he wouldn''t mind as he needed to find his friends as quickly as possible.
ye flew faster and faster, his heart pounding with fear and worry for his friends. He could hear the sounds of battle in the distance, and he knew that he had to get there as soon as possible.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kye reached the entrance of the building. However, he had the impression his eyes were tricking him.
He didn''t find his friends yet, however, there were so many dead students on the ground that his heart pound loudly.
"W-what happened?" He said under his breath, and as if to answer him, the same giant bug from earlier flew toward him and tried to attack him.
Kye looked at it briefly before cutting its body in two with a single sh embodied by Ras'' friend''s seal.
[10,000 EXP earned]
The message of the system couldn''t reach his ears as Kye started to get anxious. He knew his friends were strong, but deep down, he felt like there was a problem. Earlier when they flew after his order, they were all exhausted.
And if they were to fight under such a state, then they would...
Kye couldn''t believe in what he was thinking and didn''t want to finish his sentence.
"Please help me!"
Kye was brought out of his thought as a girl was being chased by another type of insect. It had a giant body and eight giant legs.
Kye gulped down seeing such a disgusting spider but still went to protect the girl.
He flew down toward the spider and managed to cut off its two front legs.
*Hiahhhhhhhh*
The giant spider growled in pain and stared at Kye with bloodshot eyes. It was ready to rush toward him when Kye suddenly threw a cosmic arrow toward the monster.
Thetter was surprised and thought it was a normal arrow and didn''t try to dodge it, yet the moment it was touched by the arrow, it was torn apart and burnt down into ashes
[12,000 EXP earned]
Once Kye received the notification, he turned around to face the crying girl he had just saved.
"Do you know what happened?" Kye asked her in a hurried voice, but the girl was too in awe to answer. She was blinded by the angel''s beauty in front of her. She was so blinded that she fainted.
"Useless." Kye said under his breath before taking the girl and evacuating to a safer area. He then returned back but was met with an even fiercer situation.
"Why are we so pushed back by the monsters?" Kye stared at the field. Since he was in the sky, he had a clear view of what was happening around them. The military''s staff was being pushed back, and if it continue this way, it was only a matter of time before their side will lose.
*Phew*
Suddenly, Kye''s ears rang loudly as he felt an ominous feeling.
The moment he turned around, he could see a spear flying straight at him. It was so fast that it traveled the distance quickly.
Even though Kye managed to see the spear in time, he didn''t have the speed to block it. It came so quickly that it was frightening.
So frightening that the spear was already in front of Kye''s face.
At this moment, numerous thoughts traveled through Kye''s head.
Who attacked him? Was it strong? Would he win against such a being? Would he even survive the spearing at him? Would he...? Would he...?
And at that moment, Kye''s vision waspletely covered.
Chapter 145 Archangel Uriel
And at that moment, Kye closed his eyes and didn''t see the blue light in front of him.
He braced himself for impact, but he felt nothing. It was as if nothing came to aim for his life in the first ce. When he re-opened his eyes, he could see water covering the spear and stopping it in its tracks.
''What''s that? Is it Sylvia?'' Kye quickly thought as she was the only person capable of using water. Yet she wasn''t strong enough to stop such a life-threatening spear. So it couldn''t be her.
And suddenly, the spear shone bright and went back from where it came. Kye looked at it with closed eyes and quickly followed behind it. He didn''t know who this spear belonged to, but if it was thrown at him with such a strong force, he needed to take care of this person as quickly as possible.
Kye''s heart was pounding in his chest as he flew through the dense forest, trying to catch up to the spear of this mysterious assant who hadunched the attack at him. He couldn''t help but wonder who could be behind such an aggressive attack. Was it a monster, seeking to aim for his life? But why? Or perhaps a dangerous individual who had a personal grudge against him? But he couldn''t recall such a person.
As he flew, Kye''s mind raced with questions and fears, but he pushed them aside and focused on his mission. He knew that he had to find the person responsible for the attack before they could strike again. And he didn''t want to let this person or monster alone as it could severely threaten his friends'' lives.
After several minutes of intense flying, Kye emerged from the forest and found himself standing in a wide-open clearing. In the distance, he could see a figure standing with its back to him, holding a spear in its hand.
And as he thought earlier, it wasn''t a human but a monster. Almost 3 meters tall with its exoskeleton clearly visible under the heavy muscles of this beetle-like monster.
Kye''s heart fell down into his stomach as he realized that he had finally caught up to his attacker. However, the aura behind this monster wasn''t something he could face right now. The monster looked way too strong and fierce.
''Was it the right choice bying here?'' He thought with a tint of fear.
"So it is you." The beetle-like monster turned around to face him. "The one who angered the queen."
From this sentence alone, Kye understood a lot of things. First, even though this monster had a very hostile aura, it was a monster he could cope with, but with a lot of difficulties as this monster was still stronger than he could possibly face.
And the second, which was also the most important fact, was the dangerous faction of the monsters that Aria told him about a while ago. This faction wasposed of old monsters, yet extremely powerful ones. And since the monster in front of him was a ''bug'', it only meant that the one attacking them for a while now with the zaionistazer, and now with this invasion was an insect queen from what he said.
However, knowing this fact wouldn''t help much either.
"A general of the insect queen, is it?" Kye smirked. He didn''t believe his own words, yet it was better toe out as confident than scared in front of such a strong monster. "Perhaps the weakest one as those above you wouldn''te down to such a shabby ce." Kye even pped his wings to look more confident.
Yet it had the reverse effect.
"Look at this small angel trying to sound confident. You''re no more than one of the so many disposable angels."
"Is that so?" Kye looked aloof. "It''s the archangel Uriel who will be furious at your words."
The monster took a step back in fear. If Kye has to be honest, he took a big gamble here. He didn''t know if the archangel Uriel really existed or not, yet he has to take it no matter what. He knew he will have to face the monster, so if he could use someone else''s reputation, he will dly do so.
And since the monster reacted to his words, he knew that Uriel was indeed an existing angel.
[The archangel Uriel heard you call her name]
[The archangel Uriel is puzzled to see an unknown angel call her]
''Shit. I attracted some unwanted attention.'' Kye swore with a sigh. He didn''t know what the future will look like now that some angels knew of him.
Nheless, Uriel was a high-ranking angel, so he was sure she wouldn''t act in a whim.
The beetle-like monster didn''t seem impressed by Kye''s words, but it did seem to be hesitating a little bit. Kye took this as an opportunity and charged toward the monster first, his wings pping fiercely. He knew he had to strike quickly before the monster could fully react. If he were to take advantage of this situation, then he could deal a heavy blow from the beginning.
However, things didn''t go as nned because the monster recovered quickly and swung its spear towards Kye, but thetter was able to dodge it easily, flying up and circling around the monster. Kye''s sword was shining red in his hand, ready to devour the insect entirely. And as such, he flew towards the monster again, his sword glowing with power.
The monster swung its spear again, but Kye parried it with his sword, sparks flying as the two weapons shed. Kye could feel the immense strength behind the monster''s attack, but he refused to back down. He knew he had to keep pressing the attack, otherwise, he would be at a disadvantage.
"Not bad. But you''re still too weak." The monster seemed to smile as he kicked Kye in the air, sending him flying away.
But it wasn''t the end of this.
The beetle-like monster followed behind Kye to continue his onught. But thankfully, due to thetter''s proficiency over his wings, he managed to get control over himself and parry his opponent''s attack.
The two of them continued to exchange blows, their weapons shing loudly in the clearing. Kye''s heart was racing as he fought, his mind focused solely on defeating the as fast as possible to go and help his friends next. He couldn''t stay here for long or else, he didn''t know what could happen to them.
However, suddenly, the monster let out a deafening roar and charged toward Kye with incredible speed. Kye barely managed to dodge the attack, but the monster''s spear grazed his arm, leaving a deep cut.
Kye retreated, and it was then he got new messages from the system.
[New quest issued]
[Kill your opponent.
Reward: Instant level up.
Failure: Death]
However, it didn''t end there because another flow of messages poured down on him from an unexpected being.
[The archangel Uriel is impressed by your movements]
[The archangel Uriel wonders about your identity]
''Seriously? I don''t know whether I should be happy right now by her attention, or sad because of the monster''s increasing strength.
Chapter 146 Fighting Against The Beetle-Like Monster
Kye knew that he couldn''t dwell long in his thought and rushed toward the monster.
As the sh of the weapons echoed through the clearing, Kye realized that this was going to be a long and tough fight. The beetle-like monster was strong and durable, but Kye was fast and agile. The two opponents circled each other, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Kye darted forward, his wings pping furiously as he shed his sword toward the monster''s head. But thetter was ready and blocked the attack with its spear. The impact was so powerful that Kye was thrown back, tumbling across the ground before finallying to a stop.
Kye quickly got up, his eyes focused on the monster. He knew he had to be more careful and precise with his attacks. He couldn''t afford to waste any energy or take any unnecessary risks.
? The beetle-like monster charged toward Kye, its spear held high. Kye dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. He then flew upwards, his wings propelling him higher and higher until he was almost touching the treetops.
From above, Kye could see the monster searching for him, its eyes scanning the area for any sign of movement. Kye took this opportunity to gather his energy and focus his mind. He closed his eyes for a moment, took deep breaths, and then opened them again, his sword glowing with a bright red aura.
He charged towards the monster again, his sword aimed for its weak point. The monster swung its spear, but Kye flew right under the attack and shed his sword across its chest. The monster roared in pain, but it wasn''t enough to take it down. The beetle-like monster swung its arms, trying to hit Kye, but he was too fast and agile.
Kye flew around the monster, dodging its attacks and striking whenever he could. His sword glowed with energy, and each strike left a trail of red light behind it. The monster was weakening, but it was still dangerous.
Suddenly, the monster''s wounds began to regenerate, its carapace healing itself rapidly. Kye gritted his teeth in frustration, realizing that this fight was far from over.
The beetle-like monster let out a deafening roar, its eyes now glowing with a fierce red light. Kye knew that he was in for a tough battle, but he refused to give up. He circled the monster, watching for any sign of weakness, but the monster seemed to be invincible.
''Shit I don''t have enough power to take it down with one strike.'' Kye was right. He was indeed fast and gave him a great advantage over this fight as he was sure he would have already died if it wasn''t for that, but he couldn''t end this fight either because he didn''t have enough strength.
He thought that maybe it will be a good idea to use Ras'' power again, but he doubted it would have any effect.
It was at this moment Kye got a new idea.
Kye flew towards the monster again, his sword glowing darker than. This time, he used his own power and not someone else''s.
He indeed coated his sword with his cosmic ability. He didn''t know if it would have a good effect, but he still needed to try. After all, cosmic ability was a very destructive power.
He aimed for its head, hoping tond a decisive blow. But the monster was ready, and it swung its spear toward Kye, who barely managed to dodge in time before retracting back again.
[Archangel Uriel wonders why you aren''t using your angel ability.]
''Angel ability? What is she talking about? My holy power won''t have any effect on the monster right now.'' Kye looked at the sky, thinking that Uriel was likely to look back at him, but right at this moment, he felt the beetle-like monster jump toward him to attack him again.
Kye quickly snapped out of his thoughts, narrowly avoiding the monster''s attack. He flew around it, trying to create some distance between them, but the monster was relentless, following him wherever he went.
Kye knew he had to act fast. He try to concentrate his energy and focused his mind, calling upon his holy energy. Suddenly, his sword began to glow with a bright golden light, and his wings grew bigger and stronger. However, using so much holy energy was taking a toll on his body.
The monster looked confused and startled by the sudden change in Kye''s power. It hesitated for a moment, giving Kye the perfect opportunity to strike.
With a powerful swoop, Kye charged toward the monster, his sword held high. He aimed for the monster''s head, hoping tond a decisive blow. However, the monster swung its spear to stop Kye again.
But against all odds, it wasn''t Kye who got pushed back, but the monster instead.
"How?" The monster was shocked as it shed its weapon again with Kye''s sword, but it was the same.
But unfortunately for Kye, he couldn''t continue like this and slowed down the flux of holy energy in his body, taking him back to his previous state.
It wasn''t that he didn''t want to continue with this power, but it was just that he couldn''t. If he indeed continued like this, he would die of exhaustion rather than because of his opponent.
The beetle-like monster seemed to sense that Kye was weakening and seized the opportunity to strike. It swung its spear, aiming for Kye''s head, but this time, Kye didn''t manage to dodge and the spear pierced his arm.
"Arghhhh"
Kye groaned in pain before flying back to think a little. Thankfully, the monster didn''t follow him and looked tired as well.
Kye''s body was beginning to ache from the exertion, but he refused to give up. No, rather, he couldn''t give up. He thought back to his friends who might wait for him, motivating him again.
The monster flew again Kye and swung its spear, but Kye was too fast. He flew right above the attack and sliced his sword across the monster''s chest, leaving a deep cut. The monster roared in pain, but it wasn''t enough to take it down.
Kyended on the ground, his wings resting a little behind him. He took a few steps back, watching the monster closely. He knew that he had to find another way to defeat it. He looked at his sword, which was now glowing with a faint blue light.
He realized that he had another power he could use. He raised his sword once again, his eyes glowing with determination. He focused his mind and summoned the water that protected him earlier. Aria''s power was by no means weak, and he knew that with it, he might find a way to win.
Suddenly, a torrent of water shot out of the ground, hitting the monster with incredible force. The monster stumbled backward, drenched and disoriented.
Kye flew towards the monster again, taking the opportunity to raise his sword high. He aimed for its head, hoping to end the fight once and for all. But the monster was quick enough to dodge the attack and even counterattack him.
Kye spun in the air, his wings pping furiously as he tried to regain his bnce. The monster swung its spear, but Kye dodged to the side, flying around the monster once again.
He knew that he couldn''t keep this up forever.
[Archangel Uriel is annoyed by your weak power.]
"Shut up!" Kye shouted in the air as he couldn''t care less about what Uriel was thinking about him right now.
Kye clutched his wounded arm as he tried toe up with a new n. He knew he couldn''t let his guard down, even for a moment if he wanted to win this fight. He needed to find a way to weaken the monster''s healing ability andnd a final blow.
As he flew higher into the sky, Kye decided to use all of his strength to end this fight. It was a gamble as he didn''t know if it would work, but he had to do something as this fight continued for too long.
The beetle-like monster understood Kye''s intention and decided to do the same. It has been a long time since it had such a thrilling fight, so it could at least answer his opponent''sst will by showing him how different they were.
Kye started to concentrate to mix all of the power inside him into his de. If it was a normal sword, it would have probably crumbled under the pressure of the opposite power clenching with each other, but he knew that Lightbringer wasn''t a normal sword. Thus, thetter epted his holy power, his cosmic ability, Aria''s power, as well as Ras'' power.
The four powers were roaring at each other as they started to stabilize into the sword. The power behind it was so strong that gales of winds appeared around the battlefield.
[Archangel Uriel is impressed by the different powers you used.]
[Archangel Uriel is looking closely at your sword.]
[Archangel Uriel is shocked by the sword you have in your hand.]
''Why is everyone shocked with my sword? Is it that special?'' Kye thought before shaking his head. He looked at his opponent.
On the other side, the monster focused its power on its spear as it created the same reaction as Kye.
Violent winds spread into the battlefield while Kye looked at the monster on the ground from the air.
It would be theirst sh.
The decisive sh.
Chapter 147 Panic
As their energies were growing stronger, the winds started to go wild more and more. It almost looked like a tornado would form if it continue.
And after a while of staring into each other''s eyes, they both flew toward the other with killing intent to its fullest. They shed in mid-air.
*Sparks*
*Sparks*
There was so much force with this single sh that sparks flew all over the ce.
Kye could hear Lightbringer cry with excitement. He didn''t know if it was an impression or not, but he almost felt as if the sword was alive. Nevertheless, he couldn''t dwell for too long on that matter as he was slowly getting pushed back by the monster''s spear.
"Arghh!" Kye gritted his teeth as he started to feel his hands go numb.
Kye seriously didn''t understand how he could lose this confrontation. He has so many powers imbued in his sword, yet he couldn''t win.
How was it even possible?
The beetle-like monster started pressing down on him more and more. The monster has such a wide grin on its face that a chill ran down Kye''s spine.
But Kye refused to give up. He gathered all of his strength and pushed back with all of his might, causing a shockwave to ripple out in all directions.
The winds grew stronger and more violent, whipping Kye''s hair around his face as he gritted his teeth and pushed back against the monster.
For a moment, it seemed like they were evenly matched, the twobatants locked in a struggle for dominance. But then the monster''s grin widened even further, and Kye felt a sudden surge of fear.
He knew that he was in trouble.
The monster raised its spear high, and Kye braced himself for the worst. But then, something unexpected happened.
It was as if time slowed down.
''Do you need my strength?'' A voice resounded into Kye''s head. It was as if someone was using telepathy.
''Who are you?''
''My identity isn''t important right now. If I don''t help you, you will die by this low-ranked monster.''
''Low-ranked monster? Is he kidding me? It''s not a low-ranked monster at all.'' Kye thought in outrage, but after seeing the spear being swung down toward him, he shook his thought away.
As such, Kye hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether he could trust this mysterious voice. But then he realized that he had nothing to lose. He nodded his head, and the voice spoke again.
''Close your eyes and focus on my energy. Let it flow through you.''
Kye took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing himself to be enveloped by the energy that he felt radiating from the voice. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. It was warm andforting, yet powerful and awe-inspiring. But if he were to focus more, he felt as if this energy could swallow him in one well swoop if he wasn''t careful.
Though, he still felt his own energy surge in response, and he opened his eyes to see the monster staring at him in disbelief while swinging its spear. Now that it was in motion, it couldn''t stop anymore.
Kye grinned, feeling confident for the first time in the fight. He swung his sword faster than the monster could swing its spear and unleashed a flurry of attacks that left the monster reeling.
The two of them traded blows back and forth, the sound of shing metal ringing out across the battlefield. However, it was now clear who had the advantage in this confrontation. Kye even felt a sense of exhration coursing through his veins, fueled by the power that he had been granted.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Finally, with a mighty roar, Kye struck the monster down, sending it crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
However, as he didn''t get the ''kill notification'', he flew rapidly behind the monster and stabbed the ground where it was supposed to havended earlier.
Thankfully, he could feel Lightbringer tear through the monster''s flesh. Because of all the damage it has sustained since the beginning, its exoskeleton was as potent, so Kye''s sword continue tearing it apart.
And right before Kye couldnd the final blow, the beetle-like monster said onest thing.
"You will regret this, puppet of angels and demons!"
Kye felt a chill run down his spine hearing this but still swung his sword nheless.
[You have cleared the quest]
[Instant level up granted]
He had finally killed the most threatening opponent for him and his friends.
Kye let out a sigh of relief, feeling the tension and the adrenaline in his body slowly dissipate. He looked down at the fallen monster, wondering what the creature had meant by itsst words. But he shook the thought away, realizing that he couldn''t dwell on it for too long.
He turned to look at his surroundings, realizing that the winds had finally died down. The sky was no longer dark and gloomy, but peaceful instead. It was as if the battle had cleared the air, bringing a sense of peace to thend.
Kye smiled, feeling a sense of pride in what he had aplished. He had faced his fears ande out on top. He had surely saved his friends and protected the military from a dangerous threat.
As he sheathed his sword, Kye felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He realized that he had been so caught up in the fight that he had forgotten just how tired he was.
But he also felt a sense of aplishment, knowing that he had done something important. He had proven to himself that he was strong, brave, and capable of oveing any obstacle that came his way.
With a deep breath, Kye closed his eyes and took a moment to savor the victory. He knew that there would be more challenges ahead, but he felt ready to face them.
However, now wasn''t the time to savor his victory as his mind was still preupied with another matter.
His friends'' well-being.
Thus, he flew back as quickly as possible toward where he came from initially.
As Kye started to make his way back to his friends, he couldn''t help but think about the voice that had spoken to him during the battle. Who was it? And what did it want from him?
Kye knew that he couldn''t ignore the voice, but he also knew that he couldn''t just blindly trust it either. He would have to be careful and vignt.
But for now, Kye was just happy to be alive and to have sessfullypleted the mission. He knew that there would be more challenges in the future, but for now, he was content to bask in the glow of his victory.
However, what he saw next was unexpected.
Once he finally came back, he could only see destion in front of him. It was as if the monsters had killed everyone. He could see blood everywhere, flesh everywhere, and internal organs everywhere as well.
It was as if doom had descended on the military and thetter abandoned all the people living in it.
"Please tell me they are still alive."
Kye began to feel depressed as his heart started racing faster. He flew around quickly, not caring about the remaining monsters that were roaming aimlessly around. He needed to find his friends again.
However, he soone to realize that they were nowhere to be seen. He searched the battlefield, calling out their names, but there was no response.
Panic started to set in as Kye''s mind raced with thoughts of what could have happened to them. He started to lose his grip on reality, his thoughts spiraling out of control.
"What happened to them? Did they get hurt? Did they run away?" Kye thought to himself. He couldn''t help but feel responsible as he was the one asking them to leave the first battle.
He tried to calm himself down, but his mind was clouded with worry and fear. He couldn''t think straight, and he couldn''t focus on anything else but finding his friends.
Kye started to fly towards the building. He had only searched outside for now, so ha was hoping that they had taken shelter there. As he flew, his mind was consumed with thoughts of what could have happened to his friends.
"What if they were captured by the enemy? What if they were hurt and couldn''t call out to me? What if they were dead?"
The possibilities were endless, and Kye''s imagination was running wild. He felt like he was going to lose his mind.
As he entered the school building, Kye frantically searched every corner, every ssroom, every room, even those closed to students. However, there wasn''t anyone in sight. Not even students or teachers. There wasn''t anyone alive. They were all dead corpses lying on the ground. The monsters inside the building were even eating the corpsed
Kye''s desperation grew as the minutes passed by. He searched everywhere, even in the girls'' dorm, but there was no sign of his friends. He then went to search in the teachers'' offices and mmed down every door because they were all shut, but there was still no one. Not even a single soul.
In the end, Kye copsed to the ground. He felt exhausted and defeated. Tears streamed down his face as he realized that he had lost his friends. He couldn''t imagine life without them, and the thought of never seeing them again was too much to bear.
Chapter 148 A Talking Sword
As time passes, Kye managed to stop crying. However, his eyes were void of life. He killed all the monsters he came across, not caring anymore whether he was seen by someone.
His friends had disappeared, and he couldn''t see himself living without them now.
The military was void of people as well. Not a single person was here. It was as if no one had existed in the first ce.
So Kye killed monsters, then killed some more, until he cleared all the monsters were dead.
''What should I do, now?'' Kye looked up at the sun that was slowly rising. He spent the whole night fighting and didn''t even see the time passing.
He stood in the middle of corpses of humans and monsters for a while, not moving an inch. He waited and waited again, in the hope someone woulde and find him, but no one came. He was all alone, exactly like before the military started.
His old memories started flowing into his head again, corrupting his mind slowly. Rage came back because of his old self and despair followed suit because he had lost those dear to him.
Kye''s mind was a chaotic mess. He was confused, lost, and didn''t know what to do. He felt like he had nothing left to live for. The emptiness inside him was eating him alive.
His heart was heavy with the weight of his grief. He remembered the days when he used tough and have fun with his friends, but now those memories only brought him pain. He wished he could turn back time and relive those moments again.
The world around Kye was silent, and the only sounds were the wind blowing through the trees and the asional rustle of leaves. He felt like he was thest person alive, and that thought scared him.
He knew he had to find a way to move forward, but he didn''t know how. He felt like he was stuck in a never-ending cycle of sadness and despair. The more he thought about it, the more hopeless he felt.
Kye knew that he couldn''t stay in that state forever. He had to find a way to get back to his old self, to the person he used to be. But he didn''t know where to start. The road ahead of him seemed long and daunting yet terrifying.
As he stood there, lost in his thoughts, Kye heard someone''s voice. He didn''t think of listening to it at first as it looked like a dream, but as the voice became louder and louder, he felt drawn toward it.
''Wake up!'' The voice shouted from inside of him.
''...''
''I agreed to be bestowed to you because you were strong-willed, not because you were a crybaby, so wake up you damn fool.''
''You''re the one who helped me earlier. Who are you?''
''Is it what''s important right now?'' The voice kept talking in an irritated voice. ''Are you an idiot or what?''
''Why are you even insulting me? And answer my question! Who the hell are you?'' Kye started to get angry as well as he asked the voice menacingly.
? ''Ahhh, now that''s a speech that I like.'' If the voice was a person, then now it would without a doubt be grinning. ''I am the trusted ally of his majesty. The great Li-...''
''Cut the crap and answer that damn question.''
"Sigh, those youngsters these days, never respecting their elders.'' The voice sighed before finally revealing its identity. ''I''m your sword you jerk. The one you''re using without skills for the longest time now.''
''...'' Kye didn''t find anything to answer.
''Are you seriously his majesty''s son? You''re too talentless to be his offspring. Yet he still says it''s you. But you''re too damn soft.''
''Why am I getting roasted by a mere sword? And who''s this damn majesty? And why would I be his son, huh?''
''Why aren''t believing in me huh?''
''Would you believe a talking sword talking to you?'' Kye''s voice was filled with sarcasm.
''You brat! Respect your elders!'' Lightbringer''s voice was in turn filled with frustration. ''I swear you''re lucky to be the prince or else I wouldn''t even havee to you.''
''And here we go again. Since when have I be a prince? And my parents are already dead you damn sword, so stop talking nonsense already.''
''You''re a prince since the moment you were born you dummy. And I''m not talking about your adoptive parents.''
''My adoptive parents? Talk nicely of them or I''ll destroy you.'' Even though deep down, Kye knew that the people he thought of as his parents weren''t actually his real parents, they were still those who took care of him until they have to go. They were those who made him of today. The kind Kye. So hearing such words made him angry even though he knew that it might be the truth.
''That''s why I don''t like brats like you. You are so stubborn that you can''t even see the reality of things. His highness was mu-...''
''His highness this and his highness that! Screw this fucking highness and leave me alone already.'' Kye shouted in his mind and made his sword revert back to its ring form to shut it down.
''Do you think you''ll stop me by doing that?'' The swordughed as if it couldn''t read the room.
''Shut up!'' Kye shouted as he took off the ring and threw it away. However, the ring just bounces on the ground beforeing back to his finger.
''Hey calm down now, I''m sorry for what I said.''
''...''
''Nheless, it''s true.''
''You-...'' Kye didn''t know what to say anymore as he stared at the ring in disbelief. ''Seriously what do you want?'' He sighed.
''I wanted to wake you up. I can''t stand seeing you in this state. You were always standing tall and strong-willed, yet now you''re just pitiful. Do you think your friends would want to see you in this state?''
Kye felt depressed at the mention of his friends. He was getting better thanks to the quarrel with the sword, but now that he mentioned that... ''How do you know how my friends would have wanted to see me? I''m all alone now. There''s no one anymore, exactly like in the past.'' Tears started falling down his cheeks again.
''You brat!'' He snarled at him. ''I was here since the beginning. I know everything that happened since the moment you got me, yet you dare to say such things?''
Kye didn''t say anything as he didn''t expect Lightbringer to say so many things, yet he only said the truth, so he couldn''t me his trusted sword. ''And what am I supposed to do, then? It''s not as if I have any purpose if my friends have disappeared, right? And if you know me, then you should know that, right?''
''I know how much you cared about them. I know how much you hold them dear to your heart. However, Kye, life is simpler than you might think. You might be alone now, but in reality, you are still surrounded by numerous people who are only waiting for you to meet them.'' The sword started to talk with a voice full of wisdom as if it have lived for a considerable amount of time. ''What you think is the end is actually only the beginning. You might be alone now, Kye, but the person you are now is making people drawn to you, and so, no matter what. Those are the qualities of a prince as well, Kye. Even though it''s still too early to tell you more, know that you will meet countlesspanions during your journey, so don''t stop now or you might regret it.''
Kye pondered on those words. He really didn''t know what to do anymore. He knew Lightbringer was right, yet it was hard to move forward. It was hard to brush over this matter so quickly, yet he had to do it.
''I...'' Kye took a deep breath before strengthening his resolve. ''I don''t know if I''ll be able to do much in my state, but I''ll try my best to carry my life.''
''Yes, that''s the spirit.'' The sword''s voice was filled with happiness.
''But what''s up with the prince this and prince that since earlier? Am I really a prince?''
Chapter 149 Kyes Real Identity
The sword hesitated for a moment before responding. ''Prince? I''m not sure what you mean, Kye. I only mentioned that you possess the qualities of a prince, such as strength, resilience, and leadership.'' He now started to avoid the topicpletely. ''It''s not umon for individuals with these qualities to bepared to princes in literature and stories.''
Kye furrowed his brows, unsure if he believed Lightbringer''s exnation. He had never thought of himself as a prince, nor did he think he had the qualities of one. But now that he thought about it, there was someone else who always slipped his tongue when addressing him first. It was Leo. He was always referring to him as ''your highness'', before correcting himself.
''I can see that you aren''t believing me.'' Lighbringer said with a sigh.
''If you know it, then why aren''t telling me the truth?'' Kye asked.
Lightbringer hesitated for a moment before responding, choosing his words carefully. "Kye, the truth is not always what we want to hear, but I will tell you what I know nheless. You see, there is a prophecy that speaks of a prince who will rise up and lead the people to victory in the face of great adversity. Many believe that you are that prince."
Kye''s eyes widened in surprise. "A prophecy? Me?"
"Yes," Lightbringer replied. "It is said that this prince will possess great strength, courage, and leadership abilities and that he will unite the people against amon enemy. Many have seen these qualities in you, Kye. And that is why you have beenpared to a prince."
Kye was still struggling toprehend what he was hearing. "But who is thismon enemy?"
"That is not known," Lightbringer admitted. "But there are those who believe that it ising and that you are the only one who can stop it. That is why it is important for you to embrace your true identity and fulfill your destiny as this prince."
Kye was silent for a moment, lost in thought. He had always felt that there was something missing in his life, something he was meant to do. Could it be that this was it? Could he really be the one to save his people?
However, he quickly finds a loophole in the story Lightbringer was telling him.
''You f*cking geezer, tell me the truth already!'' He shouted in his mind. ''Stop spouting nonsense! Didn''t you say his majesty or whatsoever earlier? That you were his sword but came to me nheless?''
''Why are you brat so persistent?!''
''Why do you keep lying? You''re truly a demon!''
''...''
This time, it was Lightbringer to keep its mouth shut.
''Don''t tell me...?'' Kye started to guess a few things. He didn''t need to have great knowledge to fill in the missing points. ''The king you''re referring to, is it the fallen angel, Lucifer?''
''W-what? N-no? H-how did you ce to this conclusion?'' The sword started to stutter.
''You''re a special sword, and there''s no king in heaven.'' Kye exined. ''Then it only leaves hell, which is ruled by the fallen angel, right? And ''Lightbringer'', isn''t it his sword? Then were you his sword? But why were you gifted to me then? Or is it from him? Is it a gift? Am I really his son? But how? I''m not even a demon.'' He asked so many questions that Lightbringer''s mind started to hurt.
''Okay okay, I got it, I''ll tell you, just shut up, please.'' Even though Kye stopped asking, it wasn''t willingly as he still had many more questions in his mind. ''Yes, you are the son of the fallen angel, Lucifer. I can''t tell you the details, but you are indeed the prince of hell, okay? Do you understand?''
Kye was in shock, his mind racing as he tried to process what he had just heard. He was the son of Lucifer, the fallen angel, and the prince of hell. It was a lot to take in.
''But why was I born a human and lived on Earth?'' Kye asked, his confusion deepening.
''I cannot say for certain,'' Lightbringer replied. ''But some believe that it was to protect you from those who would seek to harm you, or to prepare you for the role that you were destined to y.''
Kye was still struggling to ept his new reality. He had always felt like he didn''t quite fit in, but he never could have imagined that he was the son of the devil. He wondered what it meant for his future and the fate of the people he cared about even though they weren''t here anymore.
''And who''s my mom, then? Is she the demon queen? But why am I an angel then?''
''I, unfortunately, can''t answer all of your questions now, but the only thing I can tell you is that your mom isn''t a demon, and that''s the reason why you aren''t a demon yourself. At least, not yet.''
''And what am I supposed to do, now? Will I be the target of people? And if I''m really his son, then won''t Archangel Uriel want my head?''
''You don''t have to worry about Uriel. She is a very peculiar angel. And I''m sure she''s only interested in you now because she saw you holding me when fighting the beetle-like monster.'' Lightbringer exined as it relieved Kye greatly. Still, there was onest question remains. ''As for what you should do, it is up to you to decide. Unlike what you might think, you are free, Kye. You are not bound by your status and can do whatever you want. It is you who need to choose your path, and I would be here to help you until the end.''
''Thanks, but aren''t you my da-... Lucifer''s sword?'' Kye asked, perplexed as he didn''t know why he has this sword considering it wasn''t his.
''I was previously his sword, that is true. However, I''m now yours, and it won''t change, so you don''t have to worry.''
''I...see. Thank you, I guess.'' Kye looked up at the sky, his head filled with thought.
Lightbringer watched Kye silently, sensing the turmoil within him. It was understandable. Learning that one was the son of the devil was not an easy thing to ept. It was a lot to take in, and Kye needed time to process everything.
''Kye, there is something I must warn you about.'' Lightbringer spoke, breaking the silence.
''What is it?'' Kye asked, turning his attention back to the sword.
''There are those who will seek to use your identity against you. They will want to exploit your status as the son of Lucifer for their own gain. You must be careful of who you trust.'' Lightbringer warned.
''Didn''t you say earlier that there were still a lot of people to meet and to care about?'' He chuckled lightly as his mood has gotten a little bit better.
''It is not the same, Kye!'' Unlike him, Lightbringer''s voice was filled with urgency. ''There are very few people who know your real identity for now, and they are all trusted people who vowed their loyalty. However, in the near future, more people will get to know that you are someone insanely important. Your dad isn''t someone normal, and so is your mother. And this put a giant target over your head, do you understand?!''
''Yeah, yeah, whatever.''
''You brat! Listen to your elders seriously when they are talking to you! Do you take this matter as a joke?''
''No, I''m not. It''s just that you said those who know my identity have the obligation to make a vow of some sort, meaning that those people are powerful to be told such a great secret. By extension, it also means that they are my allies and that they will protect me, or at least, their reputation will make people aiming for my life think twice before making a move.''
Lightbringer didn''t expect Kye to have thought so far ahead already; Truly befitting the prince of hell, he thought. ''Still, you must be careful and increase your strength. That''s why you can''t stay here grieving for your friends who are all most likely alive. You would have found their dead bodies already otherwise.''
''Now that you mention it, it''s true that there are a lot fewer bodies than it was supposed to be. But then, where are they?'' Kye asked as hope starteding back into his eyes.
Chapter 150 A New Land
Lightbringer nodded in agreement. ''That''s what we need to find out. But we need to be cautious. The forces that took them could be powerful and dangerous.''
Kye nodded solemnly, understanding the gravity of the situation. He knew that he needed to be careful and not let his emotions get the best of him. He had to stay strong and focused, for himself and for his friends.
''I will do whatever it takes to find them.'' Kye said, determination in his voice.
Lightbringer smiled faintly. ''I know you will, Kye. And I will be here to guide you along the way.''
Kye felt a surge of gratitude towards Lightbringer. He knew that he couldn''t do this alone and that he needed all the help he could get.
''Thank you, Lightbringer.'' Kye said, smiling brightly even though there wasn''t anyone who could receive this smile.
''You''re wee, Kye. Now, let''s get moving.'' Lightbringer said, determination visible in its voice.
''Yes. But where should we go? Where should we start?''
''It''s not I who should tell you this. Don''t forget that someone like you need to take their decisions most of the time alone.'' Lightbringer advised him, reminding Kye once again that he was a prince.
''Then there is no point in staying here.'' Kye said as he started moving. ''The military is dead now, at least this one, so we should go somewhere else.''
''Yes, that''s the spirit!''
Kye then started to walk somewhere. It didn''t take him long as he was extremely fast thanks to his wings.
Indeed now that he didn''t need to hide anymore, he could do things a lot more easily without caring about who could see him.
And so he went toward the teleportation room. If he needed to get somewhere, it was the fastest way.
Thankfully once he was there, everything was still intact. ''Guess the monsters only managed to attack the building slightly enough to make everyone flee.'' Kye thought as he started setting coordinates into the strange board.
It was also very easy to do it, so even though Kye had no prior knowledge about using such machines, he still managed to set the he wanted to go to.
''Do you really want to go to this?'' Lightbringer asked. ''If my memories are right, there are only high-level people and monsters there. They aren''t things you can fight against, you know?''
''It''s alright. I can still find a party that can help me grow. And I have someone to meet there, you see.''
''Argh, yeah I remember. He lived on that, didn''t he?'' Kye could sense that Lightbringer was rolling his eyes even though he wasn''t supposed to have eyes in the first ce. ''I don''t like him.''
''Why? He''s so nice. He even trained me. Sure it was a living hell, but I still improved a lot thanks to him.''
''He''s not nice at all. I just don''t like him, that''s all.''
''Argh, sure you geezer. You''re boring.'' Kye chuckled as he crossed the portal while Lightbringer was busy rambling as always.
***
As he crossed the portal, Kye could see people walking left and right on a sunny day. On the far horizon, he could see a giant volcano with dark smoke being released by them and creating giant ck cloud.
"Oyy, just move already." An annoyed voice came from behind.
"Ah, yes I''m sorry." Kye bowed his head before moving away. He had of course put back his wings and halo back beforeing here as it would create quite an uproar if he were to show himself as an angel.
''Well now that I came here, where should I go?'' Kye asked Lightbringer as thetter took time to think.
''Based on my knowledge, there are several guilds and factions on this that are known for taking in new adventurers and helping them grow,'' Lightbringer replied. ''Perhaps you could start by finding one of those and see if they are willing to take you in?''
''That sounds like a good idea,'' Kye nodded. ''But do you happen to have any information on where I can find these guilds or factions?''
''I don''t have that information on hand, but there are a few options," Lightbringer said. "You could try asking the locals, or you could look for a directory or bulletin board that lists the guilds and factions in the area.''
Indeed even though the four big families were the greatest factions, there were still a lot of people creating their own guilds or factions, and some even managed to get to a pretty decent level.
''Alright, I''ll start by asking around then,'' Kye said, before setting off in the direction of a group of people chatting nearby. "Excuse me, do any of you happen to know of any guilds or factions that take in new adventurers on this?"
The group of people turned to Kye, eyeing him up and down before one of them spoke up. "Depends on what you''re looking for, kid. There are a lot of guilds and factions out here, but not all of them are worth your time."
Kye nodded, understanding that he needed to be careful with his choices. "I''m looking for a group that can help me grow stronger."
The person who had spoken up nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if that''s what you''re looking for, I''d rmend checking out the Irond Guild. They''re a pretty powerful group with a lot of resources and connections. They''re always looking for new recruits, so you might have a shot at getting in with them."
"Well Irond is a good guild, but I wouldn''t advise you to go there," A woman who was part of the group as well spoke. "They are indeed strong, but their methods are sometimes questionable."
"Where should I go then?" Kye asked as he was now confused.
"Well, there are a lot of different guilds and factions on this, each with its own goals and specialties." Another man answered Kye''s question. "For example, if you''re looking for abat-focused guild, the Blood Knights are a good choice," he said. "They''re one of the strongest guilds on the, and they specialize in training warriors. Though they are a little too focused on chivalry and codes of honor."
Kye considered this for a moment. He knew that he needed to get stronger quickly, but he wasn''t sure if he wanted to join a guild that was focused solely onbat. "Are there any other options?" he asked.
The man thought for a moment. "Well, there''s the Silver Sages as well," he said. "They''re a mage guild, but they also have a lot of knowledge about the different creatures and environments on the. Though looking at you, you don''t look like a mage."
"Indeed, I mostly fight in close-quarter or as a support as I can heal pretty decently as well."
"Maybe then the Holy Church is the greatest choice for you." The woman from earlier said. "They aren''t focused on specific things like close-quarterbatants or mages but rather take kind-hearted people. So you might as well just give it a shot there." She smiled to reassure Kye.
Kye nodded, considering this option as well. "Thank you," he said. "Do you know where I can find either of these guilds?"
The man pointed in the direction of a nearby city. "The Blood Knights have their headquarters in that city," he said. "And the Silver Sages have a research facility on the outskirts of town. As for the Holy Church, they are in the city as well. You can''t miss it as the church is quite a popr destination for tourists."
Kye thanked the man and set off toward the city, feeling hopeful that he would be able to find a guild that could help him grow rapidly, meaning that he''ll be able to find his friends quickly. And if he were to get the resources of a strong guild, then it would speed up his research even further.
Not talking about his acquaintance, of course. Though, he was sure he''ll be able to find him near the volcano at the far end of his view.
And as he walked, he couldn''t help but think about the different factions and guilds on this, and which ones were truly the greatest. It seemed that everyone had their own opinions, and Kye wasn''t sure who to believe. All he knew was that he needed to get stronger, and he would do whatever it takes to make that happen.
Though, a guild caught his attention more than the others.
Chapter 151 The Head Priest
It was the Holy Church. As he walked closer to the city, he couldn''t help but notice the magnificent church building standing tall among the other buildings. It was indeed a popr destination for tourists, but there was something else that caught Kye''s attention.
There was an air of peace and serenity that surrounded the church, and Kye felt drawn to it. He had never been a religious person, but there was something about this ce that made him feel like he belonged.
As he entered the church, he was greeted by a kind-looking priest who weed him warmly. Kye exined his reason for being there, and the priest listened intently. After a few moments of silence, the priest spoke.
"My son, it seems that fate has brought you here for a reason. We believe that everyone has a purpose in life, and perhaps yours is to join us and serve the Lord."
"Lord? What do you mean?"
Kye asked, curious to learn more about this deity the priest was referring to.
The priest smiled gently and began to exin, "The Lord, my son, is our Creator and the Almighty God. He is the source of all goodness and the light that guides us through life. We believe that He has a n for each of us, and it is our duty to follow that n to the best of our abilities."
"He created the world and everything in it, including us humans. He loves us unconditionally and wants us to live in harmony with each other and with the natural world. He has given us free will to make our own choices, but with that free willes responsibility. We must use it wisely and strive to do what is right and just."
Kye listened intently as the priest spoke, but he couldn''t help but feel dubitative of the priest''s words. While he appreciated the priest''s kindness and weing demeanor, he couldn''t help but wonder if there was more to the story.
"Father, I appreciate your kind words, but I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical. I mean, how can we know for sure that there is a God and that He has a n for us?" Kye asked, voicing his concerns. He already knew that there were angels and demons, and obviously, a higher god that rule over all of them.
However, he couldn''t understand how this church could be so sure about what they were talking about. It was almost as if there was something fishy underneath the table.
The priest nodded thoughtfully, understanding Kye''s hesitation. "It is understandable to have doubts, my son. Faith is not something that can be proven or measured, but rather it is a belief that we hold in our hearts. We believe that God exists and that He loves us, but ultimately it is up to each individual to decide for themselves what they believe."
Kye pondered the priest''s words, still unsure of what to believe. While he appreciated the sense of peace andfort that the church offered, he couldn''t help but wonder if there was something more.
The priest thought that Kye was thinking actively and smiled benevolently, but it couldn''t be farther from the truth as Kye was just discussing with Lightbringer.
''What do you think?''
''It''s strange for them to act like this in this day and age where religion is now a far-fetched concept.''
''Indeed,'' Kye agreed with Lightbringer''s assessment. ''But at the same time, there''s something about this ce that feels... different. I can''t quite put my finger on it.''
Lightbringer hummed thoughtfully. ''Perhaps it is the energy of the ce, or maybe there is something more to this church than meets the eye. And... I can almost feel holy energy here.''
Kye nodded in agreement, feeling a sense of unease creeping up on him. He wasn''t sure if it was his own doubts or something else entirely, but he knew that he needed to investigate further before making any decisions.
"Father, I appreciate your kind words, but I think I need some time to think things over. I''m not quite sure if I''m ready to make anymitments just yet." Kye said, offering a polite smile to the priest.
The priest nodded understandingly. "Of course, my son. Take all the time you need. We are always here if you need us."
Kye thanked the priest and made his way out of the church, deep in thought. He already knew that he would join the holy church as he wanted to know more about who was managing this church, but he still decided to wait a bit to show themtter than he was sure of his choice.
During this time, he walked around the church to see what people were doing.
As Kye walked around the church, he couldn''t help but notice the intricate architecture and beautiful stained ss windows that adorned the building. The church seemed to be a testament to the skill and craftsmanship of the people who built it.
He also observed that the church was bustling with activity. People wereing and going, some to attend services, and others to seek sce or guidance from the priests. The church also had a small caf?? that served refreshments, and a gift shop where visitors could buy religious items and souvenirs.
Kye noticed that the church also had a rich history. A few priests he listened to had mentioned that the church had been standing for over a century and had survived wars and natural disasters. The church had also been a center for various religious and cultural events over the years, which added to its importance as a touristic destination.
Kye couldn''t deny the fact that the church had a certain charm and allure to it. Even if someone was not religious, they could appreciate the beauty and historical significance of the church. The church also offered a peaceful retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city, a ce where visitors could reflect and find inner peace.
As Kye continued to walk around the church, he felt a sense of calm wash over him. The peaceful atmosphere and beautiful surroundings had a calming effect on him, and he felt grateful to have stumbled upon this hidden gem. However, this gem was also unsettling him. He was more and more convinced of his feeling the more he was staying here.
There was something very fishy around here.
Nheless, Kye went back to the first priest he met.
However, on his way, Kye couldn''t help but notice a small room tucked away in a corner of the building. It seemed to be a private room, and he could see a few people going in and out of it.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Kye decided to investigate. He walked towards the room and noticed that there was a sign on the door that read "Private Room - Meetings with the Church Leader Only."
Kye took a deep breath and knocked on the door, unsure of what to expect. After a few moments, the door opened, and he was greeted by a tall, imposing figure dressed in priestly robes.
But what surprised him the most was his handsome face. He was so handsome that even Kye almost paled in front of him.
Almost.
"Can I help you?" The church leader said. He has dazzling blond hair and emerald eyes. His figure was oozing with confidence. However, what surprised Kye the most was the holy energy he could feeling from the man in front of him.
"Uh-uhm," Kye started to stutter as he didn''t expect to see another angel here. "I am here to join the holy church, and I figured that I shoulde to the head priest if I wanted to join you."
Just before the head priest could open his mouth, a priest came running from behind Kye. "Head priest, I apologize to have left someonees near your office." The sweating priest apologized to the head priest before looking at Kye with a scared smile.
''Indeed, there''s something fishy.''
"It''s alright. This little man here wanted to join us, and he came to the right ce," The head priest said as he made the priest go back in his track. Once he went away, he continued. "Please enter. It would be disrespectful of me if I were to let my guest stand like this, right?"
Kye only smiled at the head priest before entering the room.
The room was gently decorated with a clean desk and sofas when guests wereing here. After Kye was gestured to make himselffortable, he sat on the sofas.
However, the actions of the head priest were strange. Instead of sitting down as well, he closed the curtain and locked the door. He even made a barrier that looked like it would block any sounds.
Kye''s heart started to race as he realized that something was definitely not right. The calm and peaceful atmosphere he felt earlier had disappeared, and a sense of unease settled in his gut.
"Why did you do that?" Kye asked, his voice trembling slightly.
The head priest turned to him with a smile that didn''t reach his eyes. "I apologize if I''ve made you feel ufortable, but I have a confession to make."
Kye''s anxiety started to spike, and he felt a knot form in his stomach. He had a feeling that this confession wasn''t going to be good.
"I am not what I seem," the head priest continued. "But I guess you already know about it, right?"
Chapter 152 Archangel Michael
Kye feigned ignorance and shook his head. "I''m sorry, I don''t understand what you mean."
The head priest chuckled softly. "Don''t y dumb, my dear. You can sense the holy energying from me, can''t you? You know that I''m not human."
Kye''s eyes widened in surprise. He knew that the head priest was more than he appeared, but he didn''t expect him to reveal his true nature so easily. Yet he needed to act like this because he didn''t want to reveal his identity yet.
As Lightbringer told him beforeing to this, if people were to know about his identity, then things will be harder from now on. Thus, he still needed to feign ignorance.
"I-I didn''t know," Kye stammered, trying to keep hisposure. "But are angels real? I thought they were forgotten since religion isn''t something really spread now."
The head priest smiled. "Oh, my dear Kye. Angels are as real as you and me. We may not be as visible or widely epted as we once were, but our existence is still very much a reality."
The head priest made it clear that he knew about Kye''s identity, and thetter decided to not y dumb anymore. If he could see his holy energy inside of him, then it was clear that the head priest could see his energy as well.
"What do you want?" Kye''s eyes changed from surprise to extremely serious. He was almost threatening.
Though, the head priest only chuckled. "Haha, you''re funny, Kye. Trying to feign ignorance in front of me."
As he spoke, the head priest''s form began to shimmer and change. His blonde hair grew longer and his eyes became brighter. His figure also became more imposing even though it didn''t change at all. And more importantly, he went from a middle-aged man to a handsome young man.
Kye''s jaw dropped in shock as he watched the head priest transform into a magnificent being of light and power. He couldn''t believe his eyes. Was it what a real angel looked like? He couldn''t help but be amazed in front of such a being.
"I am not just an angel, Kye. I am an archangel," the being spoke with a voice that rumbled like thunder, yet it was also soothing him. "And my name is Michael." Michael''s eyes gleamed as he looked down at Kye, waiting for his reaction.
[Archangel Uriel is shocked to see one of her fellow archangels again after such a long time.]
''Seriously another archangel? And what''s up with Uriel? Why is she still watching me?'' Kye thought.
''Be careful of Michael especially when he is using his power. He is the one who weighs someone''s faith and righteousness.'' Lightbringer told him quickly.
''As far as I know, I am more than kind and try my best to help people, so it should be alright.''
''Still, be careful!''
"Now that you know of my appearance, isn''t it proper respect to show yours as well?" Michael asked with a smile as he sat down, his multiple wings retracting behind him to not hinder him.
Kye looked at him in awe as he hesitated for a moment. Nheless, he still stood up as Michael didn''t look like a threat right now.
And as such, Kye''s wings tore through his shirt, and his halo went above his head as well. His blue eyes were glowing with yellow light and his holiness was showing through his entire being, even though he was still a low-rank angel.
Michael looked a little surprised at Kye''s appearance. His wings were really great, and the power he was emanating was also too much for his rank. His halo also shone brightly, almost as much as his.
"Interesting."
Michael''s voice was filled with curiosity as he examined Kye''s appearance. "You are quite the unique one, Kye. Your power and aura are strong for a low-rank angel. I can sense that you have great potential within you."
Kye felt a sense of pride and excitement at Michael''s words. He didn''t want to be happy by that, but having an archangel recognize his potential was something else entirely.
"Thank yo-..." Kye tried to say, but was quickly cut short by Michael.
"However, you are also very strange."
"What do you mean?" Kye took a step back as Lightbringer advised him to slowly retreat.
"You see, it is almost impossible to deceive my eyes. And while you were transforming, I could clearly see demonic energy." A shiver went down Kye''s spine. "And yet now I can''t feel it anymore. How strange, indeed."
Michael''s smile had vanished, reced by a more serious expression. Kye could sense a dangerous auraing from him, and his instincts told him to run away as fast as he could. However, he knew that he couldn''t just leave without any exnation.
"Demonic energy?" Kye asked, trying to sound confused. "I don''t understand what you mean. I have no connection to demons." Unfortunately for him, Michael wasn''t someone he could trick.
Michael stood up and walked towards Kye, his wings extending to their full length. Kye could feel the pressure of Michael''s power as he stood before him, and he struggled to maintain hisposure.
"You shouldn''t lie, Kye," Michael said, his voice low and menacing. "I clearly sensed the taint of darkness on you earlier. It was faint, but it was definitely there."
Kye was at a loss for words. He didn''t know how Michael could sense his connection to demons, but he knew that he couldn''t deny it anymore. He took a step back, hoping to put some distance between himself and Michael.
"I... I don''t know what you''re talking about," Kye said, his voice shaking slightly. "I have never had any connection to demons. I wasn''t even aware of the existence of other angels and demons until now."
Michael''s eyes narrowed as he stared at Kye, his wings pping gently behind him. "And yet another lie. I can sense Uriel''s gaze on you."
[Archangel Uriel is huffing in annoyance.]
Kye could feel the weight of Michael''s gaze on him, and he knew that he was in deep trouble.
"You cannot deceive me, Kye," Michael said, his voice now filled with anger. "I can see the darkness that surrounds you, and I will not allow it to spread any further."
Kye was now backing away slowly, trying to find a way out of this situation. He knew that he couldn''t take on an archangel, especially one as powerful as Michael.
"I... I didn''t mean to..." Kye stuttered, trying to find the right words to say. His eyes started to get watery despite him.
Michael raised his hand, and Kye could feel a surge of energying from it. He knew that he was in trouble, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. His arms covered his face.
He waited and waited again, but the pain never came.
Indeed, instead of attacking him, Michael ced his hand on Kye''s forehead. "Why are you crying?" Michael asked in a gentle voice as if nothing happened. "Did I scare you that much? I''m sorry, okay? Don''t cry."
He even squatted toe to Kye''s eyes level.
Thetter looked at him as tears flowed down his face, his eyes puffy and red, demanding an exnation.
"Don''t worry, I won''t attack you for such a tiny thing. The demonic energy isn''t even present anymore in you as if itpletely disappeared, so why would I even harm you?"
Michael smiled like a big brother, and Kye stood there in awe. He didn''t know what to think anymore.
[Archangel Uriel is reprimanding archangel Michael''s behavior.]
"Still, it surprise me that you attracted Uriel''s attention. She isn''t your typical angel, you know? You must have really interested her for her to watch over you."
Kye didn''t respond as he didn''t even know what to answer. All of this was too much for him.
Michael understood Kye''s confusion and decided to exin. "You see, Kye, Uriel is an archangel known for her ability to bring truth and wisdom to those who seek it. She must have sensed something in you that piqued her interest. Perhaps it''s your potential or something else entirely." He said.
"Anyway, you came here to join the holy church, right?" Michael asked as he went back to his human form. "I won''t let you go easily even though you''re a fellow angel. You will still have to do the entrance exam. Though, I''m sure you''ll do with flying scores."
Chapter 153 A Bizarre Woman
As Kye was led to a waiting room, he and Lightbringer couldn''t help but feel as if all their strength has left their bodies.
While Lightbringer knew archangel Michael, he never got the chance to talk to him, so he never expected him to be that childish.
Once they came there, Kye sat on the chair alongside other people as well. There were around 10 people who probably wanted to join the church as well, and they all looked more or less strong.
As Kye was waiting in the room, he couldn''t help but talk with Lightbringer about how relieved he was that Michael didn''t harm him. ''I thought for sure we were going to be in trouble. It shocked me so much that I cried without knowing it.'' Kye said with a nervous chuckle.
''I know what you mean,'' Lightbringer replied with a sigh of relief. ''Michael has always been a bit unpredictable, but I never expected him to act like that. I guess you''re lucky that Uriel was watching you as well. It might be one of the reasons why he didn''t attack you. He must have been really curious about how he never heard of you.''
''What do you mean?''
''You see, every single angel is recorded in heaven to know about their deeds and their whereabouts in moments of need. And Michael is one of the few angels who have ess to those data. However, as you''re not your typical angel, Michael couldn''t know who you were, thus he must have been even more intrigued by you.''
''But I don''t think it''s the reason he left me alive?'' Kye asked. ''After all, from his point of view, I''m no different than an anomaly.''
Lightbringer nodded, understanding Kye''s concern. "Yes, that''s true. But maybe he sensed something in you that made him pause. Maybe he sensed potential or saw something that he couldn''t quite put his finger on. Michael is known to be unpredictable, and sometimes, he acts on instinct."
Kye listened intently to Lightbringer''s words, feeling a glimmer of hope within him. Maybe there was a chance that he could prove himself to Michael and the other angels. Maybe he could show them that he was more than just an anomaly. However, his guilty conscience couldn''t forget that he was the son of the king of hell and that he wasn''t supposed to be part of the angels.
Yet he had already interacted with two archangels, who were one of the greatest angels out there.
It was a strange feeling for Kye, being in the presence of such powerful beings. He couldn''t help but feel small and insignificant inparison. He wondered if he could ever truly be epted by the angels, or if he would always be an outsider.
As he sat there, lost in thought, the other people in the room began to whisper amongst themselves. Kye could hear snippets of their conversations - some of them were discussing their own encounters with Michael, while others were specting on what the church was really like.
One woman caught Kye''s attention. She looked to be in her early twenties, with bright green eyes and curly red hair. She was dressed in a simple white gown, and she held a rosary in her hand. Kye couldn''t help but notice how serene she looked, despite the nervous energy in the room.
After a few minutes, a door opened, and a young man in a suit stepped into the room. "Good morning, everyone," he said with a smile. "I''m Father Martin, and I''m here to answer any questions you might have about the church."
"What can you give us to help us grow stronger?" Someone asked, breaking the silence.
Father Martin smiled warmly, his eyes scanning the room. "Strengthes from within," he replied, his voice steady and confident. "But our church can help guide you towards that inner strength. Through our teachings and practices, you can find peace, purpose, and a deeper connection to the divine."
''It seems like they all have been indoctrinated by Michael''s righteousness.'' Kye thought after hearing Martin''s answer.
"Cut the bullshit already. What resources can you give us? What type of weapon? Do you guys even know how to fight?" Someone else asked, making Martin''s smile falter for a moment.
"While our philosophy is through self-enlightenment and most of the time, anti-violence, it would be hard to ept such rascals."
The two men started to get angry and got up, walking threateningly toward Martin.
Thetter didn''t move and only looked at them.please visit
Kye looked at all of this from behind, a little bored. He was tired of people acting like this but just decided to let it go as his mind was still busy thinking about his confrontation with Michael.
"Aren''t you going to stop them?" The woman who picked his interest earlier asked him.
Kye looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "I don''t think I''ll need to intervene. The holy church wouldn''t be one of the greatest factions on this if they were defeated by such little flies."
"I see, disregarding someone''s life and qualifying them of flies. How interesting..." She said with a smile. Kye looked at her asking for more exnations, but she stopped talking and just looked ahead.
''Seriously why are people so strange here?'' He thought as he looked ahead as well, only to see the two angry men on the ground, foaming out of their mouths. ''Well, that was quicker than I thought.''
"So," Father Martin started speaking again. "We have a lot of resources and we might give you a lot if you are proven to be strong and efficient. However, you first need to take the entrance exam. After all, we can''t just ept anyone, could we?"
As Father Martin finished his sentence, Kye''s heart sank a little. He had hoped that he would be able to skip the entrance exam, but it seemed that he would have to go through it like everyone else.
"What does the entrance exam involve?" Kye asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Father Martin smiled again, "It''s nothing too difficult, just a few simple tests to gauge your physical and mental abilities. We need to ensure that those who join our church are capable of upholding our values and contributing to our cause."
Kye nodded, feeling a little relieved. He was a little tired of those values stuff, but nheless, he had expected the entrance exam to be much more challenging, considering the reputation of the church. But still, he couldn''t help but feel a little nervous.
"When does the entrance exam take ce?" He asked, hoping to get some rity.
Father Martin checked his watch, "In about an hour. We''ll need to prepare the exam area and get everything ready. In the meantime, please make yourselvesfortable and try to rx."
With that, Father Martin left the room, leaving the group to their own devices.
Kye looked around the room, noticing that most of the people there looked anxious and worried. Some of them were praying silently, while others were pacing around the room.
The woman with curly red hair caught Kye''s attention again. She seemed to be in a deep state of meditation, her eyes closed, and her breathing slow and steady.
Kye couldn''t help but feel a little strange looking at her. He didn''t why he felt like this, but one thing was for sure, this woman''s aura wasn''t something totally normal. It made his mind at peace, but at the same time nervous.
As the time for the entrance exam drew closer, Kye took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He knew that this was a crucial moment for him, and he couldn''t afford to mess it up. He closed his eyes and began to visualize his strengths, focusing on his agility and his ability to think on his feet.
He didn''t know what the entrance exam would entail, but he was determined to give it his all and prove himself worthy of joining the church.
Finally, the door opened, and a young man in a white coat entered the room. "It''s time for the entrance exam. Please follow me." He said, his voice brisk and efficient.
Kye stood up, feeling a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He was ready for whatever challengesy ahead, and he was determined to emerge victorious as he needed to grow stronger quickly to find his friends again.
Chapter 154 Going Against The Rules
?
The entrance exam has only one test to do. s, it wasn''t an easy one either.
Indeed, the participants only needed to fight against a monster. Something that all of them did already at least once in their lives.
However, the monster they had to fight was a specific monster only present on this. It was a rare creature that people rarely saw, thus the holy church organized a big event so that people could see their entrance exams.
The entrance exam was held in a massive arena in the city''s heart. The arena was specially designed to host events of this scale, with tiered seating that could amodate thousands of spectators.
The arena was packed with people of all types. There were so many people that it almost seemed impossible to gather that many in one ce. There were even different guilds that weren''t affiliated by any type with the holy church because of how well thetter advertised the event. After all, seeing a rare monster wasn''t somethingmon.
The arena was also adorned with banners and gs, each one representing different guilds. The air was thick with the smell of roasting meats and the sound of merchants hawking their wares.
At the center of the arena was arge circr tform, surrounded by a moat filled with water. The tform was made of polished stone, etched with intricate patterns and symbols that glowed in the sunlight.
The spectators were cheering in anticipation of what would happen, and quickly, their wait was rewarded.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience," The presenter said as the audience cheer grew louder. "And without further ado, here''s what our participants will have to face, Pheonixes!"
*Wouahhhh*
*Wahhhh*
The people screamed so much that it looked like the ground was shaking. And then suddenly, the ground of the arena split into two, and monsters in cages came out.
In those cages were phoenixes. There were six to be more precise, one for all of the participants. They were all grown-up phoenixes, however, they weren''t adults yet. After all, if they were to be so, the people capturing them wouldn''t have been able to do so in the first ce.
And those legendary birds mmed their bodies against the cages, but nothing managed to destroy them.
And as if to not make them wait further, the participants all came to the arena one after the other. Kye, the red-hair woman, as well as the other participants.
And the moment Kye saw the monsters, his heart skipped a bit.
''Pheonixes? Do we have to fight against phoenixes?'' He thought to himself as people were all excited. He too would have been excited by such a sight if he didn''t know more, s, he had a friend who was a phoenix. ''Did Ras allow it? It can''t be, right? He''s not the type to send his kin to death like this.''
And as if they could hear his mind, Kye got an answer.
''Please help us, oh you who got the blessing of the king.'' A feminine voice resounded into Kye''s head. Thetter looked at the phoenixes, and he could see how helpless they were.
''What happened?'' Kye tried to ask back, but he, unfortunately, got no answers to his question.
''Please help us.'' Another voice came in.
''I don''t want to die.''
''We can''t revive yet. We are not adults yet.''
...
...
It wasn''t only one or two voices that Kye could hear, but numerous. He heard all of the phoenixes'' voices and their pleas for help.
''What should I do, now?'' Kye questioned himself as he looked around, trying to find a way. Unfortunately, he couldn''t find ways to save them.
There were way too many people in here, be it the spectators who wanted to see the phoenixes in action or even important individuals who were without a doubt very strong and who could stop him easily.
''Seriously what should I do?''
Thankfully for Kye though, he wasn''t alone. ''Kye listen to me,'' Lightbringer said. ''A prince must protect his people. Even though they aren''t under you, and you don''t have any obligations toply with the duties of a prince, they are still under a dear friend of yours. So chose wisely.''
Lightbringer''s words made a lot of sense. Even though as he said, he didn''t have to uphold the values a prince had to follow, he nheless couldn''t turn a blind eye. After all, he couldn''t forget all the things Ras has done for him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please listen to the exnation of the test now." The presenter said to get the attention of everyone. "The rules are simple. Each participant will be given a cage with a phoenix inside. Their task will be to defeat the phoenix and retrieve the phoenix feather that''s inside. The first person to retrieve the feather wins and will hold a better position at the Holy Church!"
The presenter paused for a moment to let the rules sink in before continuing. "But be warned, these phoenixes are not your average creatures. They have been specially bred and trained to be more challenging than usual. So, use all your skills and abilities to defeat them."
The crowd erupted in cheers as the presenter finished exining the rules. Kye looked at his cage, and he could see the phoenix inside looking back at him with fearful eyes. He knew that he couldn''t bring himself to harm the creature, even if it meant failing the entrance exam.
He decided to take a risk and go against the rules.
Kye had made a decision, and he knew that it would cost him his chances of passing the entrance exam. But he didn''t care. He had chosen to do what was right, even if it meant going against the rules. And at that moment, he felt like a true prince, someone who would always prioritize the welfare of others over his own desires, even though he had never lived like this in the first ce.
Chapter 155 Freeing The Phoenixes
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Kye stood there, staring at the phoenix in the cage, wondering how he could possibly free it without causing harm to the creature or being caught by the examiners. His mind raced as he considered his options, trying toe up with a n that would allow him to save the phoenix without getting disqualified from the entrance exam.
As he pondered, Kye felt a growing sense of unease. He realized that he couldn''t stand by and watch as the phoenix suffered, trapped in its cage. He knew he had to take action, even if it meant facing adversity. Especially now that the test will start in a few moments.
And unfortunately for him, the presenter continued. "And noww, let''s start!"
"Woahhhhh!"
The crowd cheered once more as the phoenixes were all released from their cages, and the participants rushed toward them.
They started using their abilities, but most of them were close-quarterbatants. And since the phoenixes were all in the air, the participants couldn''t even attack them.
And Kye felt relieved by this fact because he still didn''t know what to do. He would have to go all out if he wanted to save the phoenixes but at the stake of revealing his identity.
Yet what other choices did he have?
He knew that revealing his identity will lead him to greater dangers. Yet he needed to do it.
And so his wings pierced his clothes yet again, and his halo appeared above him. "If thingse to worse, I''ll just say it''s my ability." He muttered to himself as he flipped his wings to propulse himself in the air.
"Look, he''s like an angel."
"What a pretty ability!"
"He''s so handsome."
People were amazed by this new ability as it looked amazing. It was the first time they saw such a thing.
Though, Kye couldn''t care less as he just pped his wings to get higher.
''Please break our cors.''
The phoenixes'' voice resounded in his head.
Kye looked at the other participants who were all on the ground, shouting about the unfairness of the situation. However, Kye''s gazended on the red-haired woman. She was smiling at him.
"Tch, it''s as if she knew it already." He clicked his tongue before turning his eyes back to the phoenixes.
And it was at this moment that he felt something wasn''t right.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it wouldn''t be funny if our dear participants can''t hunt down those majestic creatures, right?"
And right at this moment, he pressed a button.
*Bzz*
*Bzzt*
The cors on their necks suddenly shone brightly before electrocuting all of them.
"Shit no." Kye flew toward the falling phoenixes, but he couldn''t do anything as the electricity kept moving on their bodies wildly.
Kye gritted his teeth as he watched the phoenixes suffer in agony. He tried to use his powers to calm them down, but it was no use. The electricity was too strong, and it was clear that the examiners had designed the cors to prevent anyone from freeing the phoenixes.
Kye felt helpless as he watched the phoenixes fall to the ground, their mes flickering weakly. He knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to save them.
But how could he do it without getting caught by the examiners?
As he flew closer to the phoenixes, Kye noticed that the red-haired woman was staring at him intently. There was something in her eyes that made him uneasy, but he couldn''t quite put his finger on it.
He decided to take a risk and fly closer to her.
"Hey, do you know anything about these cors?" Kye asked, trying to sound casual.
The woman''s smile widened, and she leaned in closer to him. "Why do you ask?"
"I just... I want to help the phoenixes, you know? But I don''t want to get caught and disqualified."
The woman chuckled. "You''re a brave one, aren''t you? But I''m afraid I can''t help you. The cors are designed to prevent anyone from interfering with the exam."
Kye felt a surge of anger and frustration. He had to do something, but he didn''t know what. He looked around, trying toe up with a n.
And then he saw it.
One of the phoenixes had fallen to the ground, but its mes were still burning brightly. And at that moment, Kye realized that the mes could be used to disable the cors and free the phoenixes.
And thus, Lightbringer took its real form. He knew that Michael was watching him from somewhere and would undoubtedly know about this sword, but he couldn''t care less right now.
Ras'' mark shone brightly on him, and mes coated his sword.
The phoenixes cried as they sensed their king''s power, and looked as if power wereing back to them.
And right before Kye could move, the system chimed in.
[New quest avable]
[Save all the phoenixes and bring them back to their king
Reward: The help of the Phoenix king + Two instant levels up
Failure: Death]
''Are you kidding me!?'' Kye wanted to find the one who made this system and knock them back in their right mind. It started to annoy him greatly.
Unfortunately for him, he didn''t have the time to think about such things. The other participants started fighting against the phoenixes in a bloody battle.
The participants were clearly on the losing side, yet it was clear that the phoenixes weren''t fairing that much better.
One participant, a tall and muscr man, charged towards a phoenix with brute force. He swung his sword wildly, but the phoenix evaded his attacks effortlessly. The man''s frustration grew with each missed strike, and he became reckless. He charged at the phoenix once more, leaving himself wide open for a counter-attack. The phoenix took advantage of the opening and shot a st of fire at the man, knocking him back several feet.
Another participant, a young woman with short ck hair, relied on her agility to dodge the phoenix''s attacks. She darted around the creature, striking at it with quick jabs and kicks. The phoenix struggled to keep up with her movements, but it managed to catch her with a st of fire. The woman''s clothes caught on fire, and she panicked. She rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the mes, but the phoenix seized the opportunity to attack her. It swooped down and pecked at her head, causing her to scream in pain.
Kye watched the battles with a heavy heart. He knew that he couldn''t let the phoenixes suffer any longer. He had to act fast and save them all.
''Won''t you try to save the humans as well?'' Lightbringer asked right before he could move.
''Hell no, they are in the wrong.''
''You would have done the same if you didn''t have any rtion with Ras, you know?''
Kye stood there, holding his sword and watching the chaos unfold before him. He felt torn between his desire to help the phoenixes and his fear of being caught by the examiners. As the battle continued, Kye became more and more indecisive about what to do next.
On the one hand, he knew that he had the power to save the phoenixes and end the battle. On the other hand, he didn''t want to risk getting disqualified from the exam and losing his chance to be a hunter.
Kye''s mind was racing as he watched the participants struggling to fight against the phoenixes. He knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to save them, but he couldn''t decide on the best course of action.
The phoenixes were clearly winning this battle, yet they needed to be saved. As for the humans, did they need to die?
In the end, Kye shook his head and flew toward one of the phoenixes, slicing his sword toward its throat.
The cor was cut in an instant, and Kye flew toward another phoenix. And he continued like this until he destroyed all the cors.
"Participant number 8, Kye, what is the meaning of this?" It wasn''t the examiner''s voice that came in, but someone far more terrifying. Yes, it was Michael''s voice that resounded all over the ce, shutting everyone in an instant. "Why did you free the phoenixes we captured with so much hardship?"
Kye looked intently at him, a shiver running down his back. He still vividly remembered what happened earlier in the day, and it gave him cold sweat.
"I..."
Chapter 156 A Bad Turn Of Events
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Participant number 8, Kye, what is the meaning of this? It wasn''t the examiner''s voice that came in, but someone far more terrifying. Yes, it was Michael''s voice that resounded all over the ce, shutting everyone in an instant. Why did you free the phoenixes we captured with so much hardship?
Kye looked intently at him, a shiver running down his back. He still vividly remembered what happened earlier in the day, and it gave him cold sweat.
"I..." Kye looked at Michael, fear clearly visible in his eyes after freeing thest Phoenix.
Michael''s piercing gaze seemed to bore into Kye''s soul as if searching for answers within him. The room grew tense as everyone awaited Kye''s response.
"I had to," Kye stammered, his voice quivering. "I couldn''t stand to see them locked up like that, trapped and suffering. They are my friends!" Kye stood firm while the Phoenixes started escaping. Thankfully it was an open arena, so they didn''t have any difficulties to do so.
So Kye still needed to buy some time.
"You...!" Michael''s eyes were filled with fury. "Everyone, we are updating the rules of the entrance exam," His voice echoed like thunder. "You must capture participant Kye Vermillion alive. Everyone who does so will be epted into our guild!"
The spectators once again went into an uproar at the sudden turn of events. They screamed in joy as if they went mad.
''I screwed up!'' Kye started panicking. ''I screwed up I screwed up I screwed up! How am I meant to get out of here, huh?''
Thankfully, thest Phoenix finally went away, meaning that he had managed to free them all. s, it was at the expanse of his own life, most likely.
Nheless, Kye didn''t understand why Michael, who could fly, didn''t stop the phoenixes from escaping. After all, as a high-grade angel, he was probably one of the strongest being in the whole world, so it wouldn''t have been hard for him to capture them back, right?
Though, Kye couldn''t dwell on this matter for long as he was attacked by his fellow participants.
If he were, to be honest, Kye wouldn''t have any difficulties fending them off. After all, even the fastest one of them couldn''tpare to his speed. But he didn''t want to injure them. After all, it wasn''t their fault if Michael made new rules, but it was his. It wouldn''t be just for him to attack them.
"Guess I don''t have any other choices." He mumbled under his breath before soaring into the sky, his angel''s wings propelling him further and further.
All the participants drew on a breath before looking at Michael. After all, not a single one of them could fly, meaning that they wouldn''t be able to attack him.
However, what Michael did next not only surprised the participants, but Kye as well. After all, everything happened so fast that Enzo could only think again when he touched the ground.
Indeed Michael, who was a very strong angel, released a golden ray - one that was way bigger than what Kye could do - directly toward Kye''s wings, which incapacitated his ability to fly.
And it was only after touching the ground that Kye screamed in pain.
Blood was dripping from the two big holes in his wings, staining the ground beneath him. Kye writhed in agony, his voice a tortured cry that echoed through the arena. The spectators fell into stunned silence, their cheers and jeers silenced by the gruesome sight before them.
Michael''s face remained cold and unyielding, his eyes locked onto Kye''s writhing form. His expression betrayed no remorse. The other participants, realizing that they were now faced with a helpless Kye, hesitated, uncertain of how to proceed.
Kye''s vision blurred with pain and tears as he struggled toe to terms with the shocking turn of events. He had expected consequences for his actions, but this level of cruelty was beyond anything he had anticipated. The excruciating pain in his wings made it nearly impossible to think, let alone mount any form of defense.
But the most surprising thing for Kye was that his wings weren''t healing at all, as if something were stopping them. Sure it would take time for them to heal, but still, there wasn''t even a tiny advance.
Meaning that he wouldn''t be able to flee anymore through the sky.
''Did I make the right choice?'' Kye thought as tears were still dripping from his eyes. The wounds hurt him like hell, but he still needed to fight. He didn''t want to die yet. Especially not at the hand of such an Angel.
Thankfully Michael didn''t do anything else. However, seeing that, the participants rushed once again toward him.
Well everyone except for the red-hair woman.
Nheless, his hands were full, and he couldn''t care about others right now.
The abilities of the other participants weren''t that strong. They were problematic, but not burdensome enough to make Kye give up.
Unfortunately, it would have been true if they fought alone. Now that he was facing four people at the same time, things were far more difficult than he had previously expected. The man with immense strength pressured him into a corner, while the woman with great speed attacked him relentlessly.
As for the other two, once could coat his sword in lightning, while the other could manipte the ground beneath them.
All in all, they made a pretty good synergy. It was enough to make Kye question his previous actions.
''No, it''s not the time to think about this!'' He resolved himself. ''They would have died if I didn''t help them, and I didn''t want to see Ras sad because of his fellow Phoenixes dying.''
As blows rained down upon him, Kye''s body bore the brunt of the attacks. His wings, incapacitated and unable to heal, added to his vulnerability. Pain shot through him with every strike, but he gritted his teeth and fought on. He couldn''t afford to give up, not when he had risked so much for the sake of the phoenixes.
The participants fought with determination, driven by the promise of eptance into the Church. It was clear that they saw Kye as a threat, someone who had disrupted the established order of the entrance exam. They were willing to do whatever it took to capture him.
Kye''s thoughts raced amidst the chaos of the battle. He knew he couldn''t match their strength, speed, or elemental abilities head-on. However, it was hard in this chaos as he couldn''t think straight. Be it the never-ending assault, or the pain caused by his wings. It was starting to drive him insane.
As the woman with incredible speed closed in for another attack, Kye narrowly dodged her strike, his instincts taking over. His mind raced, searching for any advantage he could exploit. Then, he noticed a pattern in their attacks. The man with immense strength was always guarding the others, and they coordinated their attacks with his movements.
***
AN: Hi there, hope you''re doing well. It''s been a long time since Ist wrote this novel, but I decided to try again. I''m not sure how things will progress from now on, nor if I''ll be able to write for a long time, but I''ll do my best to not stop again ^^
Chapter 157 Escape
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Kye realized that if he could break their coordination, he might have a chance to escape or at least hold them off long enough for something to change. And being resilient was one of Kye''s strengths, after all, so gathering his strength, he focused on the ground beneath him.
The participant who could manipte the ground was using it to immobilize Kye, but thetter had more than a few tricks in his arsenal. Coating his sword with water through Aria''s seal he started to sh to the ground while dodging the multiple strikesing at him.
It didn''t take long for Kye to achieve what he had wanted. The ground beneath him was now a watery quagmire, rendering the earth maniptor''s abilities useless. Regaining his speed now that nothing hindered his footing, Kye dashed toward the big guy who had been guarding the others.
With a flurry of well-timed strikes, Kye''s sword, Lightbringer, became an extension of his will. It sliced through the flesh of his opponent like a hot knife through butter. Blood sprayed, and agonized cries filled the arena. Kye had incapacitated the man without causing any fatal injuries, a testament to his reluctance to harm his fellow participants more than necessary.
Nheless, he still did him enough to incapacitate himpletely for the fight.
Stepping back from his fallen opponent, Kye scanned the faces of the other participants. Fear had reced their initial aggression. They had seen his speed and his ability to turn the tide of the battle. For a moment, they hesitated, unsure of how to proceed without their strongest fighter.
Kye''s chest heaved with exhaustion, but he knew he couldn''t afford to rest. He was still vulnerable with his wings injured, and Michael''smand to capture him alive remained in effect. Gathering what remained of his strength, Kye pped his wings.
The pain it was causing him was unimaginable. Every time he pped his wings, a jolt that almost paralyzed his mind came.
''K-Kye stop. An angel isn''t supposed to fly with damaged wings!''
''Shut up!'' Kye shouted in his mind. ''I don''t care about what happens, I just want to get out of here.
Although it still pained him greatly, he continued to p his wings, slowly soaring higher and higher.
[Your HP is dangerously low.]
''Damn SHUT UP!''
It was only through sheer willpower that he was still able to fly. So being distracted, be it from Lightbringer, or the system, wasn''t weed right now.
As Kye gained altitude, he nced back at the arena onest time. The remaining participants, despite their fear, were regrouping, realizing that Kye''s damaged wings made him a vulnerable target. Michael, too, watched from below, his expression unreadable but determined.
At this moment, both angels made eye contact. Kye got a shiver down his spine, expecting Michael to stop him once again, but to his surprise, nothing happened. He just let him go.
In the end, Kye could only fly away. As far away as he could. He didn''t know why Michael let him go, nor did he want to know the reason. But still.
He was an anomaly, and Michael knew that very well. So letting him go might have been a calcted decision. Kye couldn''t dwell on it now though; he had to focus on escaping and regaining his strength.
As Kye soared higher into the sky, the pain in his damaged wings remained constant, a relentless reminder that he shouldn''t have trusted Michael in the first ce.
Nheless, he refused to let it deter him. The winds whipped around him as he pushed through the sky, putting distance between himself and the arena.
Hours passed, and exhaustion began to catch up with Kye. He had to find a safe ce to rest and recover, away from the prying eyes of Michael and his followers. His thoughts turned to Ras, but he doubted that he was even here, on this right now. After all, he wouldn''t have let his kin be captured otherwise, right?
So in the end, he could only rest where he was right now. Far away from the city. In the middle of the wilderness. Thankfully he found a cave nearby, but he didn''t know if he would be able to stay there for long. After all, the scent of his blood was bound to attract monsters here.
But still, he couldn''t continue anymore. His body was burning, and the system kept telling him that his HP was low.
If he didn''t rest now, he might as well die, or at least not have any HP anymore, which would surely lead him to death.
In the end, sitting on the cold ground a little away from the entrance of the cave, he finally let himself rx.
In the rtive safety of the cave, Kye''s trembling body began to settle as he slumped against the cool, damp wall. His wings were throbbing with pain, and he could feel the slow trickle of blood from the wounds.
He knew he couldn''t rest for long, and the tension in his body refused to subside entirely. Every rustle of leaves or distant sound sent his senses on high alert. The wilderness outside was a harsh and unforgiving ce, and Kye was well aware that he was far from safe.
Especially since this ce was filled with high-ranked monsters. Sure Kye was strong and had a lot of tricks that could help him win a fight, but still, he didn''t want to try the impossible right now. He didn''t want to die, for god''s sake, so he wanted to y the cautious card.
And what was worse was that he couldn''t even retract his wings since they were injured, so he was forced to endure the never-ending pain.
[Archangel Uriel pities you.]
"Shut up, Uriel." Kye groaned back between two breaths.
[Archangel Uriel says that she will teach a lesson to Archangel Michael.]
"Yeah yeah sure do what you want."
With the safety of the cave offering a brief respite, Kye''s thoughts once again turned to Ras and the fate of the now-freed phoenixes. He didn''t understand how they got captured in the first ce. Surely such legendary creatures as these Phoenixes wouldn''t be captured so easily, right? Or maybe the Church was hiding something?
"Well they have an Archangel, so surely there are other angels as well, that must be the reason why."
His mind continued racing with thoughts, his next course of action, and his own limitations. It was clear that he needed rest, but he also needed a n. The wilderness was vast and unpredictable, but it also held the answers he sought.
As Kye''s thoughts churned, the sensation of being watched settled over him. Instinctively, his muscles tensed, and he scanned the dim interior of the cave. But there was no one there, at least not that he could see.
[Archangel Uriel senses a presence nearby.]
"Uriel, now is really not the time," Kye muttered, his voice tinged with frustration. He wasn''t sure if Uriel''s warning was genuine or just another manifestation of the archangel''s concern.
''Why is she even helping me?''
Despite his exhaustion and his doubt, Kye slowly stood up, wincing at the pain in his wings. He peered into the shadows, his senses on high alert. The cave''s entrance was still visible, and the pale moonlight provided some illumination. But there was no sign of movement nor enough light for someone to see. Except for Kye, of course, as he could see perfectly fine.
As Kye remained on guard, a soft rustling reached his ears. It was almost imperceptible, but in his heightened state, he caught it. Slowly, he reached for Lightbringer, his fingers wrapping around the hilt.
"Who''s there?" he called out, his voice echoing in the cavern.
Silence followed, broken only by the soft drip of water from the cave''s ceiling. Kye''s heart raced, and he was torn between staying and investigating or fleeing while he still had the chance. The potential danger,bined with his exhaustion, made the decision a difficult one.
Then, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was a woman, d in earth-toned clothing that blended seamlessly with the surroundings. Her eyes bore a mix of curiosity and wariness as they met Kye''s.
And what struck Kye the most was her red and curly hair.
"You''re injured," she said, her voice calm and measured.
Kye''s grip on Lightbringer tightened, but he didn''t lower the sword. "What do you want?"
Chapter 158 Confrontation
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There weren''t a lot of red-haired women around here. Even though he came to this not even a day ago, the only red-haired woman he had met was the one who also took the test with him during the day.
However, the reason why he was so wary of her at the moment was only because of the timing of hering. After all, he came here by air with the help of his wings, meaning that he could go faster than someone who went on foot.
Yet she was here shortly after him? It didn''t make any sense.
As such, Kye''s thoughts swirled even more as he struggled to reconcile the odd timing of the woman''s arrival with the circumstances that had led him here. The more he pondered, the more the pieces seemed to elude him, like a puzzle with missing parts. He had been flying at a slow speed, sure, but unless the woman had some kind of extraordinary ability or assistance, she shouldn''t have caught up with him so quickly.
Which only made the woman even more mysterious than she already was.
"Why are you here? And how did you find me?" Kye demanded, his sword in his hand, ready to strike her.
The red-haired woman held up her hands in a gesture of non-aggression. Her eyes remained fixed on Kye, and there was an air of calmness about her that contrasted sharply with his tense posture.
"I mean you no harm," She answered, her voice gentle and soothing. "Oh, you who has the blessing of the King."
Kye''s grip on Lightbringer didn''t waver, but he listened closely. Although he had an idea of what she was talking about, it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Who''s your king?" Enzo demanded, his voice still as sharp as earlier.
The red-haired woman seemed unfazed by Kye''s caution and the sharpness of his questions. Instead, she smiled softly, as if she knew something he didn''t.
"Our king is the me itself," she replied, her gaze still steady on Kye. "The one who nurtures and sustains all life on this. I am under hismand, a servant of his majesty, and I sensed your arrival because you bear the mark of the King in your very being."
"Cut the crap already and tell me his name!" He already knew who she was referring to, yet he still wanted the name of her king.
"You may know him as Ras, the King of the Phoenixes."
"And what do you want from me?" To the woman''s surprise, Kye''s attitude didn''t change in the slightest, even after hearing his friend''s name.
And because of that, she lost herposure for a second.
And this second was enough for Kye, to make a move.
In that split second when the red-haired woman''sposure faltered, Kye lunged forward with astonishing speed. His sword, Lightbringer, sliced through the air with deadly intent, aimed at the woman''s midsection.
But she wasn''t as defenseless as she appeared. Her instinct kicked in at the right moment, and with a graceful movement, she sidestepped his attack, her reflexes lightning-fast. Her hand, wreathed in mes, shot out to intercept Kye''s strike, creating a shower of sparks and a wave of scorching heat.
Their weapons shed, and the cavern filled with the sh of elements ¨C fire against light, power against power. The red-haired woman''s eyes zed with intensity, and Kye could feel the oppressive heat emanating from her.
"You misunderstand," she hissed, her voice now tinged with an edge of anger. "I don''t want to harm you, but I won''t let you harm me either."
Their locked weapons created a standoff that seemed poised to erupt into a battle of titans. Kye''s wings red behind him, and his resolve remained unbroken. He hade too far and faced too many challenges to trust someone simply because they mentioned Ras'' name.
"Talk," Kye demanded through gritted teeth, his muscles straining against the fiery resistance of his opponent. He already struggled for the whole day, and here he was fighting again. "Tell me why you''re here and what you want from me. And if I don''t like your answers, this won''t end well for you."
His sword slowly changed its attribute, changing from his holy power to Aria''s water, countering directly the woman''s fire.
The sh between their elemental powers created a sizzling tension in the cavern, the temperature rising with each passing second. Kye''s sword, now infused with Aria''s water, hissed and steamed as it met the mes generated by the red-haired woman. The scalding heat met the cooling touch of water, causing steam to billow and swirl around them.
The red-haired woman''s eyes flickered with surprise as Kye''s countermeasure neutralized her mes, and she stepped back, breaking their deadlock. The air was heavy with the aftermath of their sh, and both of them were breathing heavily from the exertion.
"I am here to help you," the woman admitted, her anger subsiding into a more measured tone. "I was supposed to save the captured Phoenixes, but when I saw you, I wanted to see why our King had chosen you. However, I never expected you to risk your life in front of the master of the Holy Church."
"And who are you to save those Phoenixes?" Kye asked once again, his eyes burning with holy energy, almost changing the colors of his eyes.
"I am a Phoenix myself," She admitted after a short pause. Taking several steps back, the woman slowly changed her figure, transforming into a fiery-red bird with a dancing me as her plumage. "Did I earn your trust, now?" She asked, looking him directly in the eyes.
Kye didn''t answer immediately and only looked at her for a long while. Lightbringer was still coated with deadly water, meaning that his guard was still up.
"I can hel-..." Before the woman - or rather the Phoenix - could continue her phrase, Kye moved again.
However, instead of moving toward the Phoenix, he just fell to the ground, face first, his energypletely depleted.
He fainted.
Chapter 159 Two Sides Of The Same Coin
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Kye''s senses were overwhelmed as he slowly came to consciousness in this blindingly bright and unfamiliar realm. His first instinct was to shield his eyes, but even with his eyelids tightly shut, the relentless radiance seeped through, causing his head to throb with pain.
He tried to move, but his limbs felt heavy as if they were submerged in water. Panic began to w at the edges of his mind as he struggled to make sense of this disorienting situation. Where was he? How had he ended up here?
With great effort, Kye managed to pry his eyes open just a fraction, allowing his vision to adjust gradually to the intensity of the light. As the blurriness receded, he realized that he was lying on a smooth, featureless surface that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions. There was no horizon, no discerniblendmarks, only an infinite expanse of brilliant white.
The air around him felt strangely weightless,cking the normal sensation of gravity that tethered him to the world he knew.
Fear and confusion continued to surge within him, but Kye forced himself to remain calm. He needed to think, to assess his situation, and to find a way out of this bewildering ce.
"Where the heck am I?" Kye expected to get an answer from Lightbringer, or even a sneer, but nothing came, even after a while.
It was only at this moment that he noticed that he didn''t have anything on him, except his clothes, of course.
His sword, his halo, his earrings. Everything disappeared. He only had his beautiful white wings with him. And even they, strangely enough, havepletely healed. There wasn''t even a stain of red on them. His blood that had dried had disappeared as well.
"Argh I hate it now. Where am I?"
And right at this moment, a feeling of dread washed over him. It was so overwhelming that he felt as if his heart had gone down into his stomach before going back to its ce.
Thus, Kye could only start to run. As he nced back, he could see something ck. It was so fast that a great part of the bright realm he was in turned pitch ck as if darkness hadpletely taken over.
Kye''s heart raced as he propelled himself forward, his wings carrying him swiftly through the ever-brightndscape. The oppressive sense of dread pursued him like a relentless shadow, and he couldn''t shake the feeling that whatever lurked behind him was an imminent threat.
His breaths came in ragged gasps as he pushed himself to fly faster. Panic gnawed at him, urging him to flee from this encroaching darkness, to find sanctuary and answers beyond it.
"Shit shit shite on Kye go faster!"
But as he flew on, the oppressive feeling intensified. The world around him began to distort, the very fabric of the realm warping and contorting. His surroundings, once smooth and featureless, now twisted into grotesque shapes and forms, as if they were reflecting his growing fear.
The darkness closed in, threatening to consume him, and Kye knew he couldn''t outrun it forever. With a surge of determination, he decided to change tactics. Instead of fleeing blindly, he would confront this looming threat head-on.
Kye turned in mid-air, his white wings beating against the disorienting surroundings.
And right when the darkness was about to devour him, something unexpected happened.
It stopped right in front of him as if scared to go swallow his body.
Kye took a step back, and so the darkness took a step forth.
He then took a step forth, and so the darkness took a step back.
"W-what''s happening here?" Kye could only stutter in fear. The dread he felt came from this very darkness in front of him, but even with that, thetter didn''t go past him.
As he was about to open his mouth again to speak, the darkness in front of him started to shake before something like a hole appeared.
And after a few seconds, something came out from this hole, or rather someone.
While Kye was standing on the bright side of this realm, the individual in front of him was standing on the dark side of it.
"H-how?"
Kye could only say this after seeing the person.
It wasn''t any of his friends, nor anyone from the academy. It wasn''t his parents either, or the people he knew before he came to the military.
No.
It was him.
Kye looked at Kye.
Both of them had the same feature.
Both of them had the same eyes and hair.
The same clothes.
The only thing that changed was the wings.
Kye on the bright side had pure white wings, while Kye on the dark side had pitch-ck wings.
The two Kyes stared at each other across the dividing line between brightness and darkness, their eyes locked in a bewildering and unsettling confrontation. The revtion that he was facing a doppelganger of himself, identical in every way except for the color of their wings, sent a shiver down Kye''s spine.
"Who are you?" Kye demanded, his voice trembling with a mixture of fear and confusion. He couldn''tprehend how there could be another version of himself standing there, one seemingly aligned with the encroaching darkness.
The dark-winged Kye regarded his counterpart with an enigmatic expression, his eyes holding a depth of knowledge and secrets. His voice, when he finally spoke, was an eerie echo of Kye''s own.
"I am you, and you are me," he replied cryptically, his words reverberating in the surreal space between them. "We are two sides of the same coin, reflections of each other."
Kye''s mind raced, trying to make sense of this paradox. The realm they were in, the blinding light and consuming darkness, the duality of their existence¡ªit all defied logic and reason.
"No, cut the crap and answer me!" Kye''s voice did a 360¡ã turn as he was now determined instead of scared like earlier. Whoever it was in front of him, or whoever it was that pulled this prank on him would pay the prize.
Chapter 160 Loneliness And Despair
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The dark-winged Kye met his counterpart''s newfound determination with a slow, unsettling smile. His eyes bore into Kye''s with an intensity that seemed to pierce through the very fabric of his being.
"Very well," he said, his voice still echoing with an eerie familiarity. "I am the part of you that you deny, that you fear. I am your doubts, your insecurities, your darkness."
Kye''s brows furrowed as he listened to the enigmatic words. The dark-winged version of himself seemed to be speaking in riddles, and it frustrated him.
"You''re not making any sense," Kye snapped, his patience wearing thin. "I want answers, not riddles."
"Hahaha," Kye''s counterpartughed out loud maniacally before having a mischievous smile stered on his face. "You want answers? Sure, I''ll give you some."
To Kye''s surprise, the ck-winged Kye advanced toward him, the darkness following suit.
Unconsciously, Kye stepped back as his counterpart walked toward him.
"While you''re filled to the brim with holy power, I am filled with unholy power. Take a look at our wings, they arepletely different and give offpletely different vibes."
As he took a look, Kye could indeed see how different they were. While his pristine white wings were soothing and looked gentle, his counterpart''s wings were eerie and menacing.
And now that he took a closer look, Kye couldn''t tear his eyes away from the stark contrast between their wings. It was as if the two versions of himself were representations of opposing forces, light and darkness, good and evil, locked in a strange and unsettling dance.
The dark-winged Kye circled around his counterpart slowly, his unsettling smile never leaving his face. His eyes glinted with a mixture of amusement and something far more sinister.
"You see, Kye, it is only a question of time before I take over, so I wanted you to know me beforehand," He approached Kye from the back, whispering in his ear. "I want you to fear me!"
Kye shivered as the dark-winged version of himself whispered those chilling words into his ear. The sinister presence behind him felt all too real, and he could sense the malevolence radiating from his doppelganger.
"No," Kye said firmly, his voiceced with defiance. He couldn''t allow this darkness to consume him, to take control. He had fought too hard, faced too many challenges, to let it all be for naught. He couldn''t let this malevolent Kye meet his friends.
They were all too precious for them to meet such a person.
The dark-winged Kye chuckled darkly. "Such determination. But you can''t deny me forever, Kye. I am a part of you, and I will always be here, lurking in the shadows of your soul."
With those words, the dark-winged Kye retreated, his form gradually dissolving into the encroaching darkness that surrounded them. The oppressive presence began to recede, and Kye felt a rush of relief as the blinding light returned, banishing the darkness.
He was alone once more in the bright and featureless realm, but the encounter with his dark counterpart left a lingering unease. He couldn''t simply ignore this part of himself, as much as he wanted to.
Kye closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart.
***
Kye opened his eyes wide as his body jolted back into reality. He was covered in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest as hey there, trying to catch his breath. The vivid and unsettling encounter with his dark counterpart in that surreal realm still echoed in his mind, leaving him shaken and disoriented.
The cave around him was dimly lit, the faint glow of a nearby fire casting long shadows across the walls. He recognized the familiar surroundings, making his heart feel at ease for a moment.
''Would you shut up, Lightbringer?'' Kye said, his tone filled with annoyance.
Even though he had just opened his eyes again, Lightbringer kept bothering him.
Sure it wanted to know if he was feeling alright, but still, he wasn''t in the mood right now.
Kye''s frustration with Lightbringer''s incessant questions gnawed at him as he tried to regain hisposure. He knew the sword''s inquiries came from a ce of concern, but in this moment, he needed space to process the strange encounter he had just experienced.
With a heavy sigh, Kye reached for the sword, its hilt still warm from the recent battle. He held it up, examining the intricate design etched into the de, trying to steady his racing thoughts.
"I''m fine," he finally replied to Lightbringer''s unspoken inquiry, his tone softer this time. "Just... just give me a moment, alright?"
The sword seemed to acquiesce, its presence no longer pressing against Kye''s mind. He set Lightbringer aside, leaning it against a nearby rock, and took another deep breath to steady himself.
The memory of the surreal realm and his encounter with the dark-winged version of himself still lingered, vivid and unsettling. He couldn''t dismiss it as a mere dream, not when the emotions it had stirred within him felt so real.
Kye knew he needed answers, but he had no idea where to begin. Sure he could ask Lightbringer, but he doubted that even he would have answers. After all, the sword would either be forbidden from speaking or just be as clueless as he was.
''Argh, I don''t know what to do anymore...'' Kye thought as he massaged his eyes with his palms. He was so lost at the moment that he was on the verge of crying. ''Why did you guys leave without me? Did I do something wrong? I''m sorry so pleasee back...''
The fact that he still didn''t know if his friends were alive or not was eating him on the inside.
Was it the reason why he saw his dark counterpart?
He didn''t know.
In the end, he could only stay like this for a while, in the silence the cave offered him?
''No, I can''t give in to despair,'' Kye thought, his determination slowly resurfacing. He couldn''t allow himself to be consumed by fear and uncertainty. His friends might still be out there, waiting for him to rescue them.
''Lightbringer, how long has it been since I was out?'' Kye asked as he stood up. He could feel his wings having almostpletely healed already, so he must have been out for a while.
Although the ''dream'' he had was rather short, it seemed like time had flowed differently in reality.
''You were out for three whole days!'' Lightbringer finally said, his voice urgent and worried. ''Do you know how worried I was? I thought that you died out there. If it weren''t for your crazy regeneration, you would have died already. Please don''t do such a thing. What will I do if you''re not here, huh?''
Kye winced as he realized he had been unconscious for three days straight. He hadn''t expected his encounter in that surreal realm to have taken up so much time. Sure maybe a day had passed, but three? He could understand now why Lightbringer was so worried.
''I''m sorry, Lightbringer," Kye said, his voice filled with remorse. "I didn''t mean to worry you like that. But it seems like I was way too tired and needed some rest.''
Chapter 161 A Ray Of Hope
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Lightbringer''s tone softened, and there was a hint of understanding in its response. "I know, Kye. I just wish you would confide in me more, so we can face these challenges together."
Kye nodded, realizing that Lightbringer was right. He had a tendency to shoulder his burdens alone, and it wasn''t always for the best.
But well, what could he do? He didn''t like to burden people with his worries, and Lightbringer wasn''t an exception.
"I promise, Lightbringer, I''ll try to be more open with you," he said as sincerely as possible. "We''re a team, after all."
The sword seemed to brighten at Kye''s words, and its presence in his mind felt reassuring rather than intrusive. It was good to have Lightbringer back on his side, especially when he had so many unanswered questions and uncertainties ahead.
''Anyway, where did the woman, or rather the Phoenix, go?'' Kye asked. ''Surely she didn''t leave me alone, did she?''
Lightbringer responded with a hint of amusement, its mental presence bing more conversational. ''Oh, she didn''t leave, Kye. She''s been keeping watch over you. After all, you two had quite the battle, and it seems she felt responsible for your well-being.''
Kye blinked in surprise. He hadn''t expected the Phoenix to stick around, given their adversarial encounter. But then again, they had formed a sort of connection during their battle, and maybe there was more to her than met the eye.
''Well, I guess that''s... unexpected,'' Kye admitted, a touch of awkwardness in his voice. ''I suppose I should thank her for watching over me.''
As Kye stepped out of the cave and into the fading light of day, he saw the Phoenix sitting on a rock not far away. She looked up as he approached, her fiery red hair glowing in the sunlight.
"You''re awake," she said simply, her expression unreadable.
Kye nodded, feeling a mixture of gratitude and curiosity. "Yeah, thanks for... you know, not leaving me behind."
Phoenix''s lips curved into a small smile, and Kye found himself momentarily captivated by the contrast between her fiery appearance and the warmth in her expression.
"Well you''re someone chosen by our King, it would be disrespectful of me to leave you in such a state, right?" She said before standing up and bowing down. "I would also like to apologize for my misbehavior. You were already hurt, and I just made things worse for you."
Kye was taken aback by the Phoenix''s sudden disy of respect and apology. He hadn''t expected her to be so formal, given their earlier interactions. Her change in demeanor added anotheryer ofplexity to her character, and he couldn''t help but feel a growing sense of intrigue about her.
He was already curious about her the moment he first saw her, and he understood why as she was a Phoenix, but it seems that he still wasn''t a good judge of character as he still couldn''t understand her behavior.
"No need to bow," Kye said, feeling a bit awkward. "And, well, apologies epted. We were both caught up in the heat of battle. It wasn''t right for me to attack you either. It''s just that... I was wary of everyone because of... you know... what happened in the church."
"Still, I should have shown you my respect earlier and not tested you while you were in danger." She said while keeping her head down.
Kye appreciated the Phoenix''s willingness to take responsibility for her actions, even though she was under no obligation to do so. Her humility and the sincerity in her words were starting to chip away at his initial wariness.
"Anyway, sir...?"
"Just call me Kye."
"Understood," She nodded. "Kye, what brings you to Neb? I know that it is not my ce to ask, but shouldn''t you be on Earth, at the moment?"
"Well things happened on Earth, you see," Kye''s expression started to go sour. "I didn''t know what to do nor where to go. My friends all disappeared out of thin air. I don''t even know if they died or not. And... I thought that Ras could maybe help me, if he''s not too busy, of course. I don''t mind waiting for him."
The Phoenix listened intently to Kye''s exnation, her fiery eyes showing a hint of empathy. The turmoil and uncertainty he was facing were apparent in his words, and she could sense the weight of his worries.
"I see," she said, her voice softening. "It sounds like you''re going through a difficult time. The disappearance of your friends must be weighing heavily on your heart."
Kye nodded, his shoulders slumping as he recalled the events on Earth. "Yeah, it''s been tough. But I can''t give up on them. They mean everything to me."
The Phoenix''s gaze held a flicker of understanding. "I can''t promise that I know where your friends are, nor if our king would be able to help you, but I can at least offer you my assistance. If you don''t mind, you coulde to our territory?"
Kye''s eyes widened in surprise. He hadn''t expected such a generous offer from someone he had initially considered an adversary.
"You''d do that for me?" He asked, his voice tinged with gratitude.
"Of course. It is only normal for a friend of our king to be treated as such," Kye''s eyes started to shine after hearing her words. "However, there is a problem." And then, Kye''s expression almost did a 360¡ã turn. "Our king isn''t on Neb, at the moment. It will take some time for him toe back, so you will have to wait for him."
Kye nodded, his expression turning back to normal as he sighed in relief. "It''s okay. I don''t mind waiting. Although I need his assistance, I can''t force him to abandon his work to help me. He''s a busy person, I mean Phoenix, after all.
"Thank you for your understanding, Kye," She smiled. "I now understand why you posses our King''s friend seal. You saved our kin, and you''re so kind. It''s admirable to still find humans like you."
Chapter 162 Reminiscence Of The Past
Although Kye had agreed to travel with the Pheonix, it was easier said than done. Indeed from what she told him, the ce where she and he kin stayed was far away from any human settlement in Neb.
It was almost a non-explored zone.
"How did they capture the Phoenixes, then?" Kye asked. "I mean surely they would have had a hard time if they were to attack you guys in your home, right?"
"Yes, that is true," She nodded while the both of them were flying in the sky to go faster. While they were sometimes interrupted by flying monsters, they were easy to work as the Phoenix and Kye were formidable fighters. And while Kye wasn''t strong enough to kill high-level monsters, he was still resilient enough to help hispanion. "However, from what I was told, those brats were captured because they had shown their form in one of the human settlements. And willingly at that." It was clear that her voice was filled with anger from their foolishness.
Kye couldn''t help but shake his head at the revtion. It seemed that the captured Phoenixes had not only shown themselves to humans but had done so willingly, a move that he found perplexing and risky.
"Willingly?" Kye repeated, his voice tinged with disbelief. "That''s... surprising. Why would they do that? It sounds incredibly dangerous."
Phoenix let out a frustrated sigh. "They were drawn by the allure of humans, their culture, and their world. They thought that by revealing themselves, they could forge connections, maybe even friendships with humans. They believed that humans could understand and appreciate the beauty of our kind. It was a foolish and naive hope, but they were willing to take the risk."
"If I remember things right, they told me that they were quite young, right? So maybe their curiosity got the better of them?"
The Phoenix nodded, her fiery plumage rustling as she flew beside Kye. "Yes, they are indeed young and full of curiosity. That curiosity often leads them to explore and engage with the world around them. They wanted to experience the human world and perhaps findmon ground with them. It''s a trait of our kind, the desire to connect and share our beauty with others. But this is not an excuse to be captured and put all of their kin in danger. There is little to no information about mythical creatures like us, so things could have been worse than it was," She continued with a sigh. "Thankfully we heard of it before things could degenerate. And even if we didn''t, I guess we were lucky that you would have been here to save them."
Kye listened attentively to the Phoenix''s exnation, nodding in understanding. He could see how the young Phoenixes'' curiosity and optimism had led them down a risky path.
"You''re right," Kye said, his voice filled with empathy. "Their intentions were likely pure, but humans are too vile," He said before thinking to himself. ''And probably a few other beings as well.''
"And I''m d I could be of help. I couldn''t stand by and let my friend''s people suffer. No one deserves to be taken advantage of or treated unfairly. And it was just a natural thing to do, so you don''t have to worry about that."
As they continued their journey through the unexplorednds of Neb, the world around them seemed to grow more mysterious and enchanting with every passing moment. Strange and wondrous creatures flitted through the skies and lurked in the ground below. The air was thick with the scents of exotic nts, and thendscape shifted from lush forests to towering rock formations that reached toward the sky.
Kye couldn''t help but feel a sense of awe at the breathtaking beauty of this world, even as he remained vignt for any potential threats. Even though Earth was one of the prettiests from what he had seen in the books, he couldn''t help but marvel at the sight of all those differentndscapes.
Their journey was not without its share of perils. From treacherous weather conditions to encounters with formidable creatures, Kye and the Phoenix relied on theirbined strength and skills to navigate through the unknown. They fought side by side, their camaraderie growing stronger with each trial they faced together.
Amidst their travels, Kye took the opportunity to learn more about the Phoenix''s world. He listened intently as she shared stories of her kind, their history, and their connection to the natural forces that shaped Neb. He marveled at the depth of their culture and the intricate bnce they maintained with their environment.
The Phoenix, in turn, was equally curious about Kye''s world. While she could just go and explore the human settlements on her own, there were too many risks at hand. Moreover, it wasn''t the same as talking with someone who almost lived two decades among humans. So she asked him about his experiences as a human, the challenges he had faced, and the friendships he had formed.
Through their conversations, the Phoenix could easily understand how much Kye loved his friends. After all, it was mostly thanks to them that he came out of his shell. He was sure that he would have already died multiple times if it weren''t for Yugo and Ven as well.
Kye also shared stories of his friends with the Phoenix, recounting their adventures, their quirks, and the deep bonds they shared. He spoke of Yugo''s unwavering friendship and his knack for finding humor in even the direst situations. He described Ven''s determination and how his presence seemed to light up any room he entered. He also told her more about Enzo, Sylvia, andstly Lidi. He missed them so much that he even shed a few tears when talking about them.
"You have wonderful friends, Kye," the Phoenix said with a smile. "It''s clear that they mean a great deal to you."
Kye nodded, a fond smile gracing his lips. "They do. We''ve been through so much together, and they''ve always been there for me, even when I was struggling so much that I even considered ending my life..."
Chapter 163 Worries
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The days passed by, and Kye continued his journey with the Phoenix, whose name was Rae. Together, they navigated the uncharted territories of Neb, facing various challenges along the way. It became evident to Kye that Rae was not only a formidable warrior but also a wise and knowledgeable guide.
Well, maybe it was because it was her home, but still, it was amazing.
As they approached the sanctuary of the Phoenixes, hidden amidst Neb''s breathtaking natural wonders, Kye couldn''t help but reflect on the incredible journey they had undertaken. He had never expected toe in just a few days. It would have surely taken him weeks, if not months if he were to be alone. And now he had just a day of traveling before finally meeting Ras, or at least soon enough.
"Rae," Kye said during the evening as they rested by a crystal-clear stream, the stars of Neb illuminating the night sky. "I want to thank you for everything. Without you, I wouldn''t have made it this far. Your guidance, your friendship... it means more to me than I can express."
Rae''s fiery plumage shimmered in the moonlight as she turned to Kye, her eyes filled with warmth. "Kye, the honor is mine. You''ve shown great courage andpassion throughout this journey. Your dedication to your friends and your unwavering spirit inspire me. I''m great to have met you." She made a beautiful smile.
Right before Kye could answer her, a notification from the system came.
[You have aplished a quest]
[Two instant level-up granted]
''Oh that''s true, I still had this quest going on," He smiled when he saw that he was now level 18. ''It had taken me so long, but I''m soon level 20." Indeed while he was only level 13 before starting traveling with Rae, he had leveled up three times thanks to all the beasts they had encountered.
Kye asked if he couldnd the finishing blow, and Rae dly epted. Thus it was easy for Kye to level up a lot, especially since all the monsters they encountered were of a high grade, granting him a shit ton of experience.
''I wonder if I''ll get another race when I''ll get to level 20?'' Kye started to think deeply. ''Well I don''t really know what''s above an angel, but surely I''ll get stronger, right? I just hope it won''t hurt likest time.'' He could still vividly remember the pain he had to endure just to go from half-angel to an angel. It was the old times when everything wasn''t thatplicated.
But now that he thought about it again, he started to get scared. He still remembered his dark self as much as he remembered the pain he had to go through when evolving.
''"It''s just a matter of time". What did he mean by that?'' Kye''s expression turned grim. ''Is it possible that the more I will evolve, the harder it would be for me to control myself?'' Kye could only think so far before hearing Lightbringer''s voice.
''Why''s the long face?'' Kye looked at the ring on his finger. ''Did something happen?''
''I just...'' Kye still hesitated if he should tell him the truth, but in the end, he decided to share one of his other worries with him. Still, this worry was intricately rted to the one with his dark self. ''I just remembered what Michael said back then. I didn''t only have holy power in me when I transformed into an Angel, but I also had demonic energy. Do you think... I''ll start to be a demon the more I ascend, or I mean the more I evolve?''
Lightbringer took some time before being able to form an answer. ''You know, Kye, I already told you that your parents aren''t normal, right?'' Kye nodded mentally. ''While it may be possible to make offspring through two different races, it is harder the stronger they get. And do you know why?''
''No, I don''t.''
''Because if the energy within the parents passes onto the baby, it will devour the offspring from the inside. That is why it''s usually impossible for two strong beings of different races to make a child.''
''Then...'' Kye''s voice started to quiver. ''How... how was I born?''
''I... can''t tell you yet, but don''t be afraid, Kye. I know what you think about demonic energy since you grew up with this mindset of good and evil. But there''s no need to worry. Moreover, your system is made for you to go the path of ascendance and be a real and strong angel, not a demon. So if I were you, I wouldn''t worry too much.''
''But... what if my personality starts to split because of this? What if I get mean with those around me? What if I lose my friend.''
''Kye! You''re the kindest person I''ve ever seen, do you really think you can be vile?''
''But what if... It''s not about my intentions, Lightbringer?'' Kye spoke softly, his voice filled with apprehension. ''What if these energies have a mind of their own? What if they start to influence me in ways I can''t control?''
Lightbringer offered a thoughtful response, its mental presence a reassuring presence in Kye''s mind. ''Kye, I understand your concerns, and it''s natural to fear the unknown. But remember, you are not alone in this. You have allies who are here to support you, like me and Ras. There is Aria as well who wouldn''t hesitate tond a hand. Your parents are also watching over you. And even if you were to face internal struggles, your inherent goodness and the strength of your spirit will guide you back to the path of light."
Kye''s anxiety began to ease as he absorbed Lightbringer''s words of encouragement. "You''re right, Lightbringer. I can''t let fear hold me back. I''vee this far because I''ve always believed in doing what''s right, even when it''s hard."
Still, despite his words, Kye''s mind was still full of worries.
Chapter 164 The Home Of The Phoenixes
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After another day of traveling, Kye and Rae finally arrived at their destination. It was a giant volcano, stretching for kilometers and kilometers. However, instead of being a ck mountain, it was fiery red as if the ground was made of mes. The volcano''s peak, shrouded in a perpetual cloud of smoke and ash, reached up toward the sky like an enormous, smoldering tower.
"Wee to our sanctuary," Rae said, her voice tinged with a mixture of pride and nostalgia. "This is where my kin have lived for generations, hidden away from the prying eyes of the outside world."
Kye was awestruck by the sight before him. The volcandscape was both beautiful and terrifying. Lava flowed in molten rivers down the slopes, casting an eerie, red glow across the surroundings. The ground beneath their feet felt warm to the touch, and the air was thick with the scent of sulfur. Yet everything was still too pretty for Kye to be scared.
"It''s... incredible," Kye whispered, his eyes wide as he took in the breathtaking view. "I''ve never seen anything like it."
Rae nodded, her fiery plumage ruffling with a sense of homing. "It''s a ce of great beauty and danger, a reflection of our nature as Phoenixes. Come, we must make our way to the heart of the volcano, where my kin reside."
"Will I be able to enter? I mean, won''t I burn?"
"No, don''t worry, Kye," Rae answered while flying toward the volcano. "You posses the King''s seal, so nothing can happen to you in his territory.
As they ventured deeper into the volcanic terrain, Kye noticed that the ground was marked with intricate patterns and symbols, all etched into the fiery red rock. They seemed to glow faintly, emanating a mystical energy.
"What are these symbols?" Kye asked, intrigued by the enigmatic markings.
Rae exined, "These are ancient runes, passed down through generations. They serve as both protection and guidance for our sanctuary. Each symbol represents a different aspect of our culture and history. It''s a way for us to connect with our past and maintain the sanctity of this ce."
Kye nodded in understanding. He felt in awe at all the markings. Combined with the scenery, it almost gave a supernatural vibe to the ce.
Kye continued to follow Rae as they delved deeper into the heart of the volcano. The journey was both thrilling and surreal, surrounded by the glow of ancient runes and the rumbling power of the earth beneath them. He couldn''t help but keep his mouth wide open because of the surprise.
''Is it even possible to win the war against the monsters?'' Kye started to think as they delved deeper into the volcano. ''I mean, even the strongest people in humanity would have a hard time fighting against Ras'' parents, right? What about Aria''s parents? Will we be able to win this war?''
In the end, even though his primary objective was to find friends and reunite with his friends, he couldn''t help but think about the far future where he would have to fight against such creatures. Just the thought of it made him quite dizzy.
As they continued deeper, the air grew hotter and thicker. The glow of the runes intensified, casting intricate patterns of light on the rocky walls. It was as if the very earth around them pulsed with an otherworldly power.
Thankfully Ras'' friend seal activated, allowing him to not be bothered by the heat at all.
Rae led Kye through awork of tunnels and chambers, each more awe-inspiring than thest. They passed by pools of moltenva, their fiery reflections dancing across the walls.
The path eventually led them to a massive chamber, and Kye''s breath caught in his throat as he stepped inside. The chamber was like a cathedral of fire, with towering pirs of volcanic rock and a ceiling that seemed to stretch to infinity. In the center of the chamber, a pool of moltenva glowed with an otherworldly intensity.
Rae gracefully descended toward the pool, and Kye followed suit, albeit with a lot of hesitation. It took a lot of willpower to enter theva.
As they approached, he noticed that the pool held an almost hypnotic allure, its fiery depths swirling with a mesmerizing dance of colors. It was a sight that held both beauty and danger in perfect bnce.
"This is the heart of our sanctuary," Rae exined. "Theva pool is a source of power and renewal for our kin. It''s where we undergo the process of rebirth, emerging from the mes as newborn Phoenixes."
Kye watched in awe as a few Phoenixes, their plumage ame with vibrant colors, descended gracefully into the molten pool. They disappeared beneath the surface, and momentster, their forms emerged anew, radiant and vibrant, as if they had been reborn.
And when they came out of theva, they noticed Rae, and a ... human.
"Rae, why did you bring a human here?" A voice suddenly thundered around them.
Kye, sensing the anger in the voice, immediately weaved Lightbringer into its sword form before going into stance.
"There''s no need for this, Kye. They will die if they attack you, anyway."
"How dar-..." The voice thundered again but was quickly cut off by Rae''s voice.
"Can''t you see he bore the seal of our king? Are you that dumb, Moil? Do you want to die by the hand of our king for touching his friend?" Rae''s voice spread far and wide, making every single Phoenix in the sanctuary wake up.
And even though there were just a few, it was still a sight to behold to see so many Phoenix in one ce.
"W-what?"
"Is it him?"
"But why does he have holy energy in him?"
"What? Holy energy?"
"Is he an angel?"
"But he looks like a human!"
A lot of voices started to echo through the ce while Kye continued looking in awe. And suddenly, 6 rather small Phoenixes in terms of sizeunched at him.
Chapter 165 A New Bound
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A lot of voices started to echo through the ce while Kye continued looking in awe. And suddenly, 6 rather small Phoenixes in terms of sizeunched at him. However, there wasn''t any ill intention in their moves, so Kye let them be while he was still observing the surroundings.
"Thank you, sir. We would have died without you."
"I''m forever grateful, sir!"
"*Cries*"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"How can I repay you, sir?"
"*Cries*"
Kye was taken aback by the sudden transformation of the small Phoenixes into human forms. They clung to him with a mix of relief and gratitude, their voices a cacophony of emotions. Four boys and two girls surrounded him, overwhelming him with their expressions of thanks.
Tears flowed freely from some of their eyes, and Kye found himself in a heartwarming but slightly chaotic situation. He tried to maintain his bnce as their enthusiastic hugs threatened to push him to the ground.
"There''s no need to thank me like this, really." Kye managed to say with a warm smile, his own eyes glistening with a mixture of emotions. "I couldn''t leave you in danger when you guys are my friend''s people. We''re all in this together." A beautiful smile appeared on his face, mesmerizing everyone for a moment.
The six Phoenixes graduallyposed themselves, wiping away their tears and trying to regain theirposure. They exchanged nces, their gratitude evident in their eyes.
One of the boys spoke up, his voice filled with sincerity. "Sir, you''ve shown us incredible kindness. We are in your debt. If there''s ever anything we can do for you, please don''t hesitate to ask."
Kye''s heart swelled with warmth as he looked at each of them with a smile, their earnest expressions touching him deeply. "Thank you all, but there''s no need for you to repay me. Your friendship is more than enough."
Rae, who had been observing the touching scene, chimed in. "Kye is a true friend of our king. He''s journeyed far to ensure your safety. It''s a testament to the bond that''s forming between our people."
''Well in the end the system helped me make my decision, but well, they don''t need to know that, do they?'' Kye thought to himself, a smile still stered on his face. "Don''t worry guys. I just did what needed to be done."
While they were discussing happily, the other Phoenixes slowly started joining them. They were reluctant at first as it had been a long time since they had seen a ''human'', but after seeing Kye''s kindness, they slowly opened up to him.
While they were discussing happily, the other Phoenixes slowly started joining them. They were reluctant at first as it had been a long time since they had seen a ''human'', but after seeing Kye''s kindness, they slowly opened up to him.
Kye found himself surrounded by a growing group of Phoenixes, all eager to express their gratitude and curiosity. They asked him about his world, his journey, and his connection with their king, Ras.
As Kye shared stories of his adventures and the friendship he had forged with Ras, the Phoenixes listened with rapt attention. It seemed that the bond between him and Ras had be a source of hope and inspiration for their people, and they were eager to learn more about the world beyond their fiery sanctuary.
Rae, who had been observing the interactions, felt a sense of pride in her chest. She had brought Kye here, and now he was forging connections with her kin, strengthening the ties between their two worlds.
As the day continued, Kye and the Phoenixes talked andughed together. Kye learned about their culture, their history, and their way of life. He was fascinated by their close connection to the elements and their deep respect for the natural world.
As the sun began to set, casting a warm, reddish glow across the volcandscape, Kye couldn''t help but feel a sense of belonging. It was as if he had found another family, another group of friends who weed him with open arms.
Rae approached him, her fiery plumage shimmering in the fading light. "Kye, it''s gettingte. We should find a ce for you to rest. You must be tired from your journey."
Kye nodded, realizing that the day had indeed been long and eventful. "Thank you, Rae. I appreciate everything you''ve done for me."
Rae smiled warmly. "It''s my pleasure, Kye. You''re not just a friend of Ras; you''re a friend of our people now. Come, I''ll show you where you can rest."
***
As Ras hadn''t returned from his tasks the next day, Kye decided to ask a few Phoenix for their help.
It wasn''t to search for his friends as he doubted that they would have the answer. He even doubted Ras would have an answer. But he needed help with something else.
Indeed by awakening Ras'' friend seal, he was able to control fire. But the problem was that he didn''t have any prior knowledge about fire nor how it was supposed to be used. It was a little like his cosmic ability. There was no record of it, so he waspletely lost.
And he couldn''t stay here without doing anything either. He knew that many threats were waiting for him, and he would only be a fool if he didn''t try to get stronger with every opportunities he had.
The younger Phoenixes eagerly agreed to assist, but the elders still showed some reluctance.
Kye gathered with the group of young Phoenixes, who were full of curiosity and enthusiasm. Their fiery plumage shimmered in the daylight, giving them an otherworldly and radiant appearance.
One of the young Phoenixes, a girl with vibrant red feathers, stepped forward. "Kye, we''re eager to help you learn the ways of fire. It''s a fundamental element for our kind, and we can share our knowledge with you."
Kye appreciated their willingness to assist him. "Thank you all. I''m grateful for your help. I want to understand fire, to control it, and to use it responsibly."
Chapter 166 How To Weave Fire
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Kye deeply appreciated the young Phoenixes'' willingness to help him learn the ways of fire. As they gathered in a circle, Kye expressed his gratitude, saying, "Thank you all. I''m truly grateful for your assistance. Though, I don''t just want to control fire; I want to understand its essence and use it responsibly."
The young Phoenixes nodded in agreement, understanding the importance of Kye''s words. The girl with vibrant red feathers, who seemed to be the most knowledgeable among them, stepped forward to begin the lesson.
"Fire is not just a destructive force, Kye. It''s a primal element, a symbol of both creation and destruction. To truly master it, you must respect its power and understand its nature."
She extended her hand, and a small me flickered to life in her palm. As the mes danced, she continued, "Fire is born from thebustion of fuel, typically abination of oxygen, heat, and abustible material. But it''s more than just chemical reactions; it''s a dance of energy."
Kye watched the mes intently, captivated by their movements. They moved in her palm as if they had a conscience of their own.
Until now, he had always associated fire with destruction, but now he was beginning to see its beauty andplexity.
The young Phoenix continued her exnation, "There are three primaryponents to fire: heat, fuel, and oxygen. Heat initiates thebustion process, fuel sustains it, and oxygen allows it to burn. Understanding how these elements interact is crucial to controlling fire. After all, even though we can manifest it easily, you need to understand its essence if you truly wish to use it to its full potential." She said with a serious face.
She gently waved her hand, and the me in her palm transformed into a small, controlled fireball, hovering above her hand without burning it. "To control fire, you must learn to manipte theseponents. You can increase the heat to intensify the mes or reduce it to tame them."
Kye absorbed the information, realizing that fire control was a delicate bnce of these factors. "So, it''s like a dance," he said, "a dance of heat, fuel, and oxygen."
The young Phoenix nodded, impressed by Kye''s insight. "Exactly, Kye. And like any dance, it requires practice and finesse. You must also respect the element and the environment in which it exists. After all, it would be hard to make fire in the middle of the sea, right?"
She demonstrated how to shape fire into various forms, creating intricate patterns and symbols in the air. "Fire can be a tool for creation as well. It can forge metal, purify water, and provide warmth and light. But it''s essential to use it responsibly and never let it be uncontroble." She then transformed the fire for it to be extremely hot and vtile to prove her point.
Kye observed in awe as the young Phoenix manipted the mes, transforming them from a controlled, gentle dance to a wild, vtile disy of raw power. It was a stark reminder of the potential destruction that fire held within it despite its beauty.
He nodded in understanding, fully grasping the significance of responsible fire control. "I see," Kye said, his voice filled with reverence. "Fire can be both the bringer and the destroyer. It''s a force of nature that demands respect and responsibility."
The young Phoenix smiled at Kye''s words, appreciating his deepening understanding. "Exactly, Kye. With great poweres great responsibility, right? So to be a master of fire, you must not only understand its essence but also your own intentions when using it."
She allowed the vtile mes to return to their controlled state, and the fireball once again hovered serenely above her hand. "Now, let''s continue. To truly harness the power of fire, you must learn to control its intensity. It''s not about overpowering it but guiding it with precision."
Kye watched closely as she demonstrated various techniques for controlling the heat of the mes. She showed him how to create focused, concentrated fire for tasks like forging, and how to produce a steady, controlled me for illumination. Each movement was deliberate and graceful, like a choreographed dance.
"I have a question though," Kye asked as he watched everything curiously. How do you guys use fire? I mean, what is your purpose when using it? I know that you guys can revive, but from what I understand, it''s because of how you control fire, and not something to do with your race, right? Is it possible for you guys to tell me more about it?"
As Kye was talking, the expression of the group started to shift in difort. While Kye''s insight was incredible as he understood everything really fast, they didn''t know if they were allowed to share such secrets.
Of course, it didn''t escape Kye''s eyes, but he kept smiling nheless. He wouldn''t be mad if they couldn''t teach him more. They had done a lot already for him.
"We appreciate your curiosity, Kye, and your respect for our ways. However, some aspects of our use of fire are considered sacred and closely guarded secrets within our culture. It''s not that we don''t trust you, but these traditions have been passed down through generations and are reserved for our kind. So we will need his majesty''s approval before revealing more. And since he''s not here at the moment..." She looked down.
Kye nodded in understanding, his warm smile unwavering. "Ipletely respect that, and I appreciate your honesty. You''ve already taught me so much about fire, and I''m grateful for that."
The young Phoenix''s tension eased as she saw Kye''s understanding. "Thank you, Kye. We''re d you''re receptive to our teachings. If there''s anything else you''d like to learn or any other questions you have, please feel free to ask. It''s the least we can do after helping us so much."
Kye appreciated their willingness to share what they could and decided to shift the conversation to a more general topic. "Well then, perhaps you could tell me more about your culture and way of life? I''m eager to learn about your people and your connection to this incredible ce."
The young Phoenixes smiled, relieved to move to a less sensitive subject. Another Phoenix decided to speak now that the topic was more to his domain. "Of course, Kye. Our culture is deeply intertwined with the elements, especially fire. We believe in living in harmony with the natural world, and we consider this volcano to be a sacred ce, a source of both life and transformation. This is where we''re born, and where we will die."
As she spoke, other Phoenixes began to chime in, sharing stories of their daily lives, traditions, and the significance of their bond with fire. They spoke of their reverence for the volcano and their role in maintaining the bnce of the sanctuary.
Kye listened intently, absorbing the rich tapestry of their culture. He could sense the deep connection they had with the elements and their profound respect for the world around them.
As the conversation continued, the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the volcandscape into darkness, illuminated only by the soft glow of theva flows. Kye realized that he had gained not only knowledge about fire for his future training but also a deeper appreciation for the Phoenixes and their way of life. And it truly fascinated him.
Chapter 167 Ras Is Back
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The days passed and changed into weeks, and Kye immersed himself in the intricate art of weaving fire. Under the patient guidance of the young Phoenixes, he delved deeper into the secrets of this ancient technique. It was a practice that required not only precision but also a profound connection to the element of fire itself.
Needless to say, it was really hard. After all, Kye only unlocked his powers a few days ago. Moreover, he was still at the beginning of Ras'' friend seal. Meaning that he still needed to unlock more power to be able to use fire as efficiently as Phoenixes.
And it had proven to be harder than Kye thought.
His understanding of fire had led him to explore its various aspects. Coating his weapon with fire was a straightforward task, but he knew it was merely scratching the surface of what was possible. To truly harness the potential of fire, he needed to delve deeper into the essence of the element.
Kye practiced diligently, honing his control over the mes with each passing day. He focused on precision, trying to manipte the fire''s intensity and shape with finesse. It was a challenging endeavor, one that required both mental and emotional discipline.
But thankfully it was two things that Kye had a lot. Moreover, all this training allowed him to think about other things, allowing him to bear with the fact that he still didn''t know if his friends were alive or not.
Nheless, the young Phoenixes continued to guide him, offering valuable insights and techniques. They emphasized the importance of patience and understanding the element''s responses to his emotions and intentions. Kye realized that his own inner state yed a crucial role in shaping the mes. Indeed the angry he was, the more his mes would be uncontroble, while the more at ease he was, the more gentle his mes would be.
And thus, one day, as he sat in meditation, he had a breakthrough. He found that by attuning his emotions and intentions to the essence of fire, he could achieve a level of control he hadn''t thought possible. The mes responded with a newfound grace, dancing and weaving with ethereal beauty.
Excited by this discovery, Kye couldn''t wait to share it with his friends. The young Phoenixes gathered around him, intrigued by his progress. He demonstrated his newfound ability, creating intricate patterns and shapes with the mes, all while maintaining perfect control.
The girl with vibrant red feathers nodded in approval. "You''re starting to grasp the deeper connection between your emotions and fire, Kye. It''s not just about controlling the element; it''s about bing one with it."
Kye smiled, feeling a sense of aplishment and satisfaction. "I''m grateful for your guidance and patience. I still have much to learn, but I can feel the progress."
And then suddenly, the world around them darkened. Kye thought for a moment that an enemy was approaching, but when he looked around him, Kye could only see everyone kneeling on the ground.
''The heck is happening?'' Kye thought quickly as he summoned Lightbringer in his hands. He didn''t know why everyone was kneeling, but surely they didn''t do that out of pure will. So it must be someone strong enough to press heavily on everyone.
Everyone except him...
''Maybe it''s not an enemy, Kye, but Ras,'' Lightbringer said. ''Otherwise, why would they all do that? And you can''t feel any tension in their face, rather they all seem happy.''
And right when Lightbringer finished talking, a magnificent creature descended inside of the volcano.
No, the creature would be an understatement.
What descended was a noble bird so great that one couldn''t help but be in awe of its presence.
Looking at that, Kye gulped down and took a step back. Thankfully the giant bird hadn''t noticed him yet, so if he were lucky, he would be able to get out of here in time.
''We need to get out of-...'' While he was talking, Kye felt two eyesnd on him. When he looked up, the giant red bird looked directly at him... with surprise on its face.
Kye took another step back. Even though he didn''t want to admit it, he was scared of this giant bird. He doubted that it could be Ras as thetter wasn''t giving such vibes.
And yet after another step back, he felt someone''s body press against his.
"KYE IS THAT REALLY YOU?" A man''s voice entered Kye''s ears. He couldn''t even look up because his face was deep in the chest of the man.
He even had difficulties breathing because of how hard he was hugging him.
Kye, still feeling bewildered by the sudden turn of events and the awe-inspiring presence of the giant bird, was startled when a man''s voice filled the air. It was a voice filled with excitement and disbelief, and Kye couldn''t see the face of the person behind it as they were locked in a tight embrace.
Unable to breathe properly due to the tight hug, Kye managed to wheeze out, "Ras is... is that you?" The realization struck him that the majestic, giant bird before him might indeed be his friend, Ras, in his Phoenix state. The surprise and awe he had felt moments ago now mixed with a sense of hope and uncertainty.
The man who held Kye in the tight embrace finally loosened his grip, allowing Kye to catch his breath. As Kye looked up, he saw the face of someone he had missed dearly¡ªRas, one of his dearest friends.
"Yes it''s me you dummy," Ras chuckled as he patted Kye''s head gently. "If I knew you were here, I would havee back sooner."
However, before Ras could continue, tears started flowing down on Kye''s face. He was in such a happy state that tears flowed on their own out of his eyes and his body moved on its own to hug Ras again.
Ras, understanding the depth of Kye''s emotions, returned the hug with warmth and sincerity. He whispered soothing words to his friend, letting him know that he was safe and that their friendship remained as strong as ever. And above all, that he was here to help him
Chapter 168 Deep Anger
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"By the way, why are you here, Kye?" Ras asked once they went to his quarter. They were in his private ce, so they could talk more at ease.
Kye settled into afortable seat, still feeling a mix of wonder and relief at their reunion. He looked at Ras, his expression thoughtful.
"To be honest," Kye began, "The academy I was at got attacked by the monsters. And while I was fighting, I lost all of my friends..." Ras'' eyes widened after hearing Kye.
"Wait, did they die? No, what type of monsters attacked your academy?"
"No, of course not, they didn''t die, I think," Kye answered truthfully although he was a little taken aback by Ras'' expression. "And we were... attacked by some insect monsters." Thinking back, Kye started to get angry again. He had lost all of his friends because of this attack. He didn''t know if he should me himself in this situation forcking greatly in terms of power, or the monsters for their attacks.
Ras listened attentively to Kye''s story, his fiery gaze unwavering as he absorbed the details. He could sense the pain and frustration in Kye''s words, and it stirred a deep sense of empathy within him.
"Then you came here to ask for help to find your friends, right?"
"Yes... And I''m sorry for that. I feel like I''m always using you. Instead ofing and spending time with you, I''m trying to use you..." Kye couldn''t even meet Ras'' eyes as he kept looking down.
"Nah, don''t worry about that," Ras smiled and patted Kye''s head. "Of course, you''lle to me when you need help with your problems. I''m your friend, after all, right? And Aria is too busy, she wouldn''t have been able to help you for a while."
As Kye heard those warm words, he couldn''t help but smile in relief. Sure Ras was his friend, and friends were ready to help each other out in times of need. But Ras had already done so much for him. So much that he felt bad asking for more.
Even when he said that it was alright, it was still hard for Kye, so hearing those words warmed his heart and pushed his worries away.
"I... I''m so grateful, Ras," Kye smiled warmly and sincerely to his friend. "I''m so d you''re my friend."
Ras''s smile grew wider, and he ruffled Kye''s hair affectionately. "The feeling is mutual, Kye. I''m d you''re my friend too. We''re in this together. Though I would have hoped to see you cry again, I guess you grew up since thest time we were together." He joked with a brotherly smile.
Kye''s worries began to dissipate as he felt the genuine bond between him and Ras. He knew that he could always rely on his friend''s support no matter what, and he was forever grateful for that.
"But," Ras continued, his expression bing more serious. "While I may be able to locate your friends, you may have a hard time going to them."
"Why?" Kye''s expression turned sad immediately as if he had learnt about the death of his friends. "Is there a problem? Am I too weak? Or is it too dangerous? Then can''t youe with me?"
Ras sighed before shaking his head. "It''s not this, Kye. You''re already strong enough for someone your age. You already have a lot of responsibilities that you shouldn''t worry about during your youth. So you don''t have to worry aboutcking anywhere."
"Then?"
"It''s just that there is a possibility that it won''t be safe for you."
"But why? Surely if they went somewhere, it would be on a where the human race has a lot of strongholds, right?"
"That might be the case, but at the same time, we can''t be so sure either," Ras started to weave his hands in the air as if he were moving screens around. "Look, you told me that the monsters that attacked your school were a bunch of insects, right?"
"Correct."
"Well, those insects were most likely controlled by the ''Insect Queen'', the mother of one of my friends."
"You mean... Those who waged war against humans?" Kye''s expression shifted from sadness to anger after Ras nodded his head. "These bastards. They first took away my family, and now they want to kill my friends?" His voice was a low grumble, filled with deep anger. Even the air around him started to get heavy. His wings came out on their own and started to darken at a visible pace. "I''ll kill them! I''ll kill them all!
Ras, witnessing that, was taken aback a great deal. Sure he knew that Kye was special and that he wasn''t a normal angel. The demonic energy inside of him told him everything. Yet he didn''t expect his holy energy to be reced by this very demonic energy. Especially so quickly. It was so quick that Kye''s pristine white wings already turned grey, and they started to get darker by the second.
And the only words Kye had in his mouth were: "I''ll kill them all!"
In the end, Ras had moved toward Kye, and with one swift hit at the back of his head, he made him faint.
"Rest a little, Kye," Kye''s wings started to get back to their usual color. "You must be tired by all of this." Ras said as he caught Kye in his arms as he fell unconscious in Ras'' arms. He gently cradled his friend, looking down at him with a mix of worry and understanding. He knew that Kye''s anger and frustration were entirely justified, but allowing the demonic energy to take control wouldn''t help anyone. Especially since Kye wasn''t even aware of his situation, let alone how to control it.
Carefully, Rasid Kye down on afortable surface and ced a hand on his forehead. A soft, warm light emanated from his palm, soothing Kye''s turbulent emotions and easing the demonic influence. Kye''s breathing became calm and steady as the darkness lifted from his wings, returning them to their usual pristine white.
Ras sat beside Kye, watching over him as he rested. He knew that Kye had been through a great deal of emotional turmoil, and it was essential for him to find bnce before they could proceed with their ns.
"I''ll need to take a look at this with Aria. She knows more about energies than me." Ras said to himself as he looked at his friends sleeping soundlessly.
Chapter 169 Critical Condition
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As Ras left Kye''s side to let him rest, he quickly went to his office before calling Aria. After a few minutes, she answered, her face clearly showing deep annoyance for Ras.
"What do you want chicken?" She asked while looking over some documents, her sses emphasizing her jewel-like blue eyes.
"I need your help lizard." Ras answered as he himself was looking over a few documents. Although he was busy with Kye, he still had to look over a few things as it had been a long time since he was at home.
Aria''s eyebrow twitched as she heard how Ras called her, but quickly calmed down after seeing how serious Ras'' face was. "What happened? There are a few things that will require my help, especially since you''re so stubborn usually."
"Sigh, well I wish I could have done this on my own, but I can''t," He sighed before putting the documents down to look at Aria directly in the eyes. "It''s about Kye."
"What?" Aria''s voice was filled with shock. "Kye? Is he with you?" However, it quickly died down after seeing Ras'' serious expression. Usually, Ras would have made fun of Aria because Kye came to him and not her, but since he did not, it must have meant that there was something more serious in ce. "What happened for you to be so serious."
Ras sighed again before exining things from the start. "Kye came to Neb after he lost all of his friends. They aren''t dead, from what he said, but he doesn''t know their whereabouts either."
"And what could have caused that? Surely they didn''t go away because they were annoyed with him, right?" Aria asked.
"No, they were attacked by Insect Monsters, meaning that our parents are slowly starting their operations."
Aria''s expression grew even more serious than it was already. "Those old fuckers. Can''t they stay put? What''s so great about attacking them?!" After calming down, Aria spoke again. "Anyway, if you want to help him find his friends, you''ll need Ama''s help, she is the greatest in this area."
"That''s what I was nning to do. I''ll go with him to look for her, just in case so that she won''t be able to try anything funny."
"Good. But there must be something else, right? Surely you didn''t call me for this."
"No," Ras became serious again. "Kye... you remember when you told me that he has demonic energy in him, right?" Aria nodded. "Well, the tiny bit of demonic energy started to take over his holy energy when he got angry. Even his wings were starting to get ck as if he was bing a fallen angel."
"What?!" Aria stood up. As someone who knew a lot about energies, she knew that it wasn''t something normal.
Ras nodded gravely. "It happened when he got extremely angry about the Insect Monsters. The air around him started to get heavier, and his emotions were out of control. I had to knock him out temporarily to bring him back to his senses."
Aria paced back and forth, deep in thought. She knew the implications of what Ras had just described were significant. The coexistence of holy and demonic energies within someone was a rare and potentially dangerous condition. If not properly managed, it could lead to aplete loss of control and a descent into darkness.
"Ras, this is more serious than I thought," she said, her voice tinged with concern. "The intery between holy and demonic energies can be unpredictable and vtile. And it''s not something possible with such a tiny amount of demonic energy. Heck, he has 99,9% of holy energy and only 0,01% of demonic energy. It''s impossible for such a thing to happen."
Ras nodded, his worry deepening. "I know it''s not supposed to be possible, Aria, but it happened. His wings turned ck, and I could feel the overwhelming darkness emanating from him. It was as if he was on the verge of losing himself to it. And that''s why I called you. You''re better than me in this area. The only thing I could do was knock him out. But even this will be useless when I won''t be here. It''s too dangerous to leave him alone when we don''t know what will happen if he falls."
Aria''s sharp analytical mind was already working through the possibilities. "There''s no known precedent for this," she muttered to herself. "Such a tiny fraction of demonic energy shouldn''t be able to exert that much influence. It''s almost as if..."
She trailed off, lost in thought. Her eyes widened as a realization struck her. "Ras, there''s something we''re missing here. It''s not just about the amount of demonic energy. There''s something unique about Kye''s situation, something we don''t fully understand yet."
Ras nodded in agreement. "That''s what I feared. We can''t afford to underestimate this. Kye is our friend, and I won''t let him be consumed by darkness." Aria nodded.
"I''ming right away," Aria said as she started to get ready. "I need to look into this with my own two eyes.
"What do you mean you''lle? You''re busy as it is," Ras stopped her. "You can''t just stop what you''re doing."
"What do you mean I can''t? I don''t care about this, Kye is more important. He''s as much your friend as he is for me. I don''t want to take any risk in this matter."
Ras couldn''t help but smile at Aria''s determination. Despite her often prickly demeanor, she had a strong sense of loyalty and friendship, especially when it came to those she cared about.
"Alright," Ras said with gratitude in his voice. "We''ll be in my quarters. I''ll exin everything in detail when you get here. Thanks, Aria."
Aria nodded and ended the call, already making preparations to leave her work behind temporarily. She knew that unraveling the mysteries surrounding Kye''s condition was paramount, not only for his well-being but potentially for the safety of everyone around him.
Back in Ras''s quarters, Kye began to stir from his unconscious state. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked around, feeling a bit disoriented.
"Ras?" Kye mumbled, trying to remember what had happened, but his eyes widened when he noticed that he was alone in the room.
Chapter 170 Possesed Yet Again
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As Kye continued to call out for Ras, his frustration and confusion deepened. He couldn''t understand why Ras, who had been so supportive and caring just moments ago, was suddenly unresponsive and disappeared from his side. His emotions churned within him, and a faint shadow seemed to flicker across his eyes.
His wings came out on their own again, but this time, they were already grey instead of white.
''Kye! Calm down!''
''Shut up Lightbringer! I didn''t ask for you!'' Kye''s voice was authoritative, surprising Lightbringer a great deal.
Kye''s steps were heavy as he moved toward the door, his mind clouded by a growing darkness within him. Even his eyes which were a beautiful blue started to have a red hue inside of them.
Outside the room, Aria juste to Ras'' quarter and was talking about Kye when suddenly, she felt an oppressive auraing from somewhere.
"Where''s Kye?!" Aria immediately moved, followed by Ras. Thetter knew that she wouldn''t change the topic so abruptly if it wasn''t for something important.
"Follow me." The two of them moved quickly, and not even 10 secondster, they arrived at where Kye was supposed to be asleep.
"W-what''s that?" Ras asked Aria as his eyes widened slightly. "Is iting from Kye?"
"I''m scared to admit that things are moreplicated than it seems."
Right before they could turn the doorknob, someone came out of the room. It was Kye, but different from what they remembered.
His halo had cracks on it, while his wings darkened by the seconds. As for his cute blue eyes, they turned sharp and menacing.
"Kye!" Aria immediately called out for Kye as thetter looked at her.
"...Aria?" Kye blinked, disoriented as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. He stared at Aria and Ras with his familiar blue eyes, his wings and halo returning to their normal, pristine state. The oppressive aura that had surrounded him dissipated like a passing storm.
Aria and Ras exchanged relieved nces. It seemed that Kye had managed to wrest control from the darkness that had threatened to consume him. But the questions remained. What was happening to him? Why was this darkness within him emerging, and what triggered it?
"Kye," Ras spoke, his voice filled with concern. "Are you alright? What just happened?"
Kye rubbed his temples, his expression a mixture of confusion and distress. "I... I don''t know? What are you talking about? Oh... why are my wings here? Weren''t they inside? It''s the same for my halo... how strange."
Kye''s confusion deepened as he looked at his own wings and halo, as if seeing them for the first time. His fingers gently traced the intricate patterns of his halo, and he extended his wings experimentally, watching the feathers shimmer in the light.
Aria and Ras exchanged concerned nces. Something was undoubtedly amiss, and they couldn''t ignore the fact that Kye seemed to have no memory of his own actions during the episodes of darkness.
"Kye," Ras began cautiously, "we were just discussing something important. Do you remember anything about feeling... different?"
Kye frowned, trying to recall the events that had unfolded. "I... I remember feeling angry and frustrated like something was taking control of me. But it''s all a blur."
Aria stepped closer, her analytical mind at work. "It''s like you were possessed, Kye. Like there''s another presence within you."
Kye''s eyes widened in rm as he processed their words. "Possessed? But how? By what? Aren''t I supposed to be immune to such things? I mean, I''m an angel, so surely such things can''t happen to me, right?"
as exchanged a concerned look with Aria before replying. "Kye, while it''s true that angels are less susceptible to possession and malevolent forces, nothing is entirely immune in this universe. Even angels can face unique challenges or encounters."
Aria nodded in agreement. "And remember, you have a rarebination of holy and demonic energies within you. That might be a factor we need to consider."
Kye''s unease grew as he grappled with this unsettling revtion. "So, you''re saying that this darkness could be rted to my... unique energyposition?"
"It''s a possibility," Ras admitted. "But we won''t know for sure until we investigate further. Our top priority is to understand what''s happening to you and find a way to help."
Kye took a deep breath, not quite liking the oue. "How about my friends? I came here to find them in the first ce. I don''t really care about what''s happening to me as long as I can find them again."
"Don''t worry, Kye. I''m already working on it," Ras said truthfully with a smile. "But you need to remember that if you were to get into this state again with your friends, you could potentially hurt them."
"Hurt... them?"
"Yes. It''s too dangerous for you to move on your own right now. You''re forbidden to go anywhere as long as we don''t find a solution to your problem!" Aria said with an authoritative tone, enabling Kye to answer.
Suddenly, Kye remembered something. It was when he fainted in the cave. The dream he had there, or rather a nightmare. ''No, it can''t be!'' His eyes widen slightly. ''Is it him who''s trying to possess me?''
As Kye''s memory of the nightmare resurfaced, a chilling thought gnawed at the edges of his mind. Could the malevolent presence from that dream be the same force now attempting to possess him? His eyes widened in realization, and a shiver ran down his spine.
"I think... I think it might be the same presence from that dream," Kye admitted, his voice quivering with uncertainty. "A few weeks ago, I had a dream where I met someone like me." He said, looking directly into Ras and Aria''s eyes. "This... this person had the same features as me. Same hair, body, eyes, wings, halo. The only different things were that his wings were dark, and his presence was ominous."
Chapter 171 The Truth
?
Ras and Aria exchanged a concerned nce, absorbing Kye''s words. A dream where Kye had encountered a sinister version of himself, marked by dark wings and an ominous presence ¨C it was a revtion that sent chills down their spines as well.
Ras and Aria exchanged a deep, concerned nce as Kye revealed the details of his dream. A chilling sensation settled in the room, and it was clear that they were all beginning to grasp the sinister implications of the situation.
"Someone like you, with dark wings and an ominous presence," Ras murmured, his brow furrowing. "That aligns disturbingly well with what''s been happening to you."
Aria nodded, her analytical mind already processing the information. "It could be that this entity from your dream is the source of the darkness that''s been trying to take control of you. But why? What does it want with you, Kye?"
Kye''s voice quivered as he spoke and looked down, "I-is it because my dad is a demon and my mother an angel?" Kye knew that Ras and Aria could be trusted, so he didn''t really mind telling them the truth. He was just... scared of the implication that what he said could have.
Ras and Aria exchanged another nce, this time one of understanding. They had suspected this might be the case, given Kye''s unique energyposition, but hearing it directly from him confirmed their suspicions.
"It''s possible," Ras said gently, cing a reassuring hand on Kye''s shoulder. "Your dual heritage, the mixing of angelic and demonic bloodlines, could be a factor in what''s happening to you. It might exin why you''re so different from other angels or demons. But Kye, you''re not an abomination. You''re a unique individual, and your existence alone challenges the beliefs of both sides."
"B-but... why am I like this then?" Kye''s eyes started to get watery. "Why can''t I either be an angel or a demon? Why must I have those two energies? I''m scared, Ras, Aria. I''m scared of hurting you or my other friends."
As tears rolled down the ground, Ras and Aria couldn''t help but feel a deep sense of empathy for Kye. They knew that this was a heavy burden for their young friend to bear, and it was entirely understandable that he would have such concerns.
Ras knelt beside Kye, offering aforting embrace. "Kye, it''s not your fault. You were born this way, and it doesn''t make you any less of a person. Your unique heritage is a part of who you are, and it doesn''t define your actions or choices. We''ve seen the goodness in you, the kindness and bravery. That''s what matters."
Aria joined them, her voice was soft but resolute. "And as for the two energies, perhaps there''s a reason you possess both. Maybe you''re meant to bridge the gap between angels and demons, to show that coexistence is possible. We''ll help you learn to control and bnce these energies. You won''t hurt us, Kye, because we won''t let you face this alone."
Kye slowly wiped away his tears, feeling a renewed sense of determination. He looked at Ras and Aria with gratitude. "Thank you, both of you. I''m so lucky to have friends like you." He said with a husky voice.
Ras smiled, ruffling Kye''s hair affectionately. "And we''re lucky to have you, Kye. We''ll face whatever challengese our way together, and we''ll protect each other."
Aria nodded in agreement. "Now, let''s focus on finding your friends and dealing with that entity from your dream. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we''re up to the task. But first thing first, go and take a shower, Kye. It will help you feel better." She smiled kindly, which Kye nodded before going.
Once he was out of their watch, Aria turned to Ras with a grave expression. "Things are worse than I had expected."
"Yeah, it only confirmed your suspicions."
"Sigh. I don''t understand. It''s supposed to be impossible to conceive a child with such strong different energies, and yet here he is."
"What''s worse is that the demonic energying out from him is... too oppressive. I''ve only met one person like this, and it was when I was a child."
"You''re talking about Lucifer?" Aria asked as Ras nodded. "Could he be his father? But then, for Kye to be an angel, it only meant that his mother was equally strong or else he would have be a demon."
"That is most likely the case," Ras sat down to rx a little. All of this matter was more nerve-wracking than he had expected. "Lightbringer must have been a gift from his father, while his halo must have been a gift from her mother."
Aria leaned against a nearby wall, deep in thought. "If that''s the case, it means Kye''s parents must have had a verypelling reason to keep their gifts sealed within him. It''s not a decision they would have taken lightly. Perhaps they foresaw the potential consequences of him possessing both holy and demonic energies."
Ras nodded. "And it also exins the entity in his dream, the one that seems to want to possess him. It could just be his demonic side that tries to take control of the body."
Aria''s eyes narrowed as she considered this possibility. "That could be a usible exnation. If Kye''s demonic side is trying to assert dominance, it might have been held in check by the seal ced on him. But now, with his emotions running high and the circumstances he''s facing, it could be attempting to break free."
Ras tapped his fingers pensively. "So, our task is not only to uncover the secrets of his parents but also to find a way to strengthen the seal within him. We can''t let his demonic side take control."
Aria pushed herself off the wall, determination in her gaze. "We''ll need to delve into ancient texts, consult experts, and maybe even seek out angels and demons. Sigh just the thought of dealing with them is making tiring me."
Ras nodded with a sigh on his own. "And we can''t let Kye know about this yet. He''s already burdened with so much. We''ll protect him, no matter what."
Chapter 172 Rage And Anger
As Kye stood under the warm cascading water, he allowed his thoughts to drift. The events of the past few days had left him feeling more bewildered and uncertain than ever before. The revtion about his unique energyposition, the mysterious entity from his dream, and the potential danger he posed to those around him weighed heavily on his mind.
He ran a hand through his wet hair, letting the water wash away the sweat and grime of the day. The rhythmic sound of the shower served as a soothing backdrop to his contemtion.
''Am I a danger to others?'' Kye wondered. He couldn''t shake the fear that his existence, with its dual nature of holy and demonic energies, was a ticking time bomb. The thought of harming those he cared about was unbearable. ''Or am I too weak to control both energies? Do I need to evolve again?''
The steam-filled bathroom seemed to close in around him as Kye pondered these unsettling questions. He knew that his current state of being was unlike anything ever recorded. An angelic-demonic hybrid, with powers he couldn''t fullyprehend, let alone control.
Kye''s hand clenched into a fist as he turned off the shower, the sound of running water abruptly silenced. Droplets dripped from his hair and rolled down his chiseled chest as he stepped out onto the bathroom tiles.
''Couldn''t I have normal parents like everyone else?'' He clenched his fist more and more, turning his palm white.
''Kye, even though it''s understandable that you think like this,'' Lightbringer chimed in to calm Kye. ''Your parents sacrificed a lot to have you.''
''Did they?'' Kye snarled at Lightbringer. ''Where are they, then? What are they doing? They''re just making my life harder than anything else!'' He would have yelled if Lightbringer was in front of him right now.
Kye''s frustration and anger boiled over, and he couldn''t help but vent his emotions. He felt like a pawn in some grand, inexplicable game, and the absence of his parents weighed heavily on him.
''Kye, I understand your anger,'' Lightbringer said in a soothing tone. ''But there are a lot of reasons for their absence. You can''t me them for not being with you as they are doing their best for you in their own way.''
''I-... I know. But I can''t help it!'' Kye punched a wall to vent out his anger. The sound of Kye''s fist hitting the wall reverberated through the room. He stood there for a moment, his knuckles throbbing from the impact. Lightbringer could sense the torment and fear that churned within him. ''I''m scared, Lightbringer. I''m scared of myself now. I''m scared of hurting my friends. I know that I''m stronger than them. Can you imagine if my demonic self takes control over me, and he hurts them? Can you imagine that!''
''I understand your fear, Kye,'' Lightbringer replied solemnly. ''But remember, your friends care about you deeply. They''ve seen you at your best, and they''ll stand by you at your worst. You''re not alone in this struggle.''
''But I''m clearly not myself when this happens,'' Kye muttered, his voice filled with frustration. He paced back and forth in his room, his thoughts racing. ''I need to understand what triggers these episodes. Is it anger, frustration, or something else entirely?''
Lightbringer floated beside him, aforting presence. ''We''ll figure it out together, Kye. We won''t let this darkness control you. And please, don''tin about your parents. As I said earlier, they are doing a lot for you. Sure they aren''t directly with you and can''t help you, but that doesn''t mean they aren''t watching over you. Trust me, Kye, they love you a lot.''
Kye stood there for several minutes. While he would have liked to prove him otherwise, he couldn''t as Lightbringer most likely knew more than him in that regard. Nheless, it was also true that they weren''t here when he needed them the most.
However, more problems would most likely arise if he were to meet his parents. After all, Uriel was somehow always watching over him, even though she had been silent for a while. So if she were to see an angel in par in terms of ranks as the king of hell, then things would get really problematic for him.
But still, it would have been nice to feel a parent''s warmth during such times. He had lost his adopted ones a while ago, and although he wouldn''t feel very good to consider two new individuals as his parents, it would be a lie to say that he would hate it.
As Kye contemted his unique situation and the absence of his parents, he couldn''t help but feel a mixture of emotions. His anger had subsided, reced by a deep sense of longing and vulnerability. He missed the warmth of a parental figure in his life, someone who could guide him through the challenges he faced.
Lightbringer continued to hover nearby, offering silent support. It was clear that the sword genuinely cared for Kye and was determined to help him navigate hisplex existence, even though it most likely knew everything about him.
Kye finally sighed and turned to face Lightbringer. "I appreciate your help, Lightbringer. I know you''re trying to help me understand and control my powers, but it''s hard. Sometimes I feel like I''m fighting a battle on two fronts, one against my own nature and the other against the unknown forces that seem to be watching me. So I''m sorry for being so harsh to you. I know that you want to help me, so please forgive me, Lightbringer."
Lightbringer nodded in understanding. "Don''t worry, Kye. I know how hard it is for you. It''s a daunting journey, but remember that you''re not alone. Look around you. There are Aria and Ras who are trying their best to help you despite them being busy. And even though your parents are not here physically, their love and sacrifice for you are real. Trust in that love, and it will give you strength."
Chapter 173 Serious Talk
?
Ras and Aria were walking down a corridor when they heard a cracking noiseing from one of the rooms. They briefly looked at each other before sighing. The only person who was here apart from them was Kye. So with heavy steps, they slowly walked toward his room.
"Kye, is everything okay?" Ras asked, but no response came. After a while, he decided to open the door slowly, only to see Kye standing in the middle of the room, deep in thought.
"Sigh, Kye, you know that you''re naked, right?" Aria shook her head with a profound sigh.
Kye slowly lifted his head, seeing both of his friends standing in front of the door. He then looked at his body, then at his friends, then his body again.
"W-why didn''t you knock first?" Kye turned around showing his butt to his friends while his face turnedpletely red. He was so embarrassed at the moment that he wanted to dig up a hole before entering it.
"We did, but you were just so focused that you probably didn''t hear us," Ras chuckled after seeing Kye''s reaction. "And why did you punch the wall so hard? You got us worried here you dummy."
"I-I''m sorry, but... can you guys get out for a while?" Kye stuttered while looking to the ground, still ashamed of himself.
Ras and Aria exchanged amused nces, realizing the extent of Kye''s embarrassment. Aria couldn''t help but tease him gently, "Well, we''ve seen you in some pretty strange situations before, but this one takes the cake."
Kye''s face turned an even deeper shade of red, and he covered himself with his hands, feeling utterly exposed. "Please, guys, just give me a moment to get dressed. I''m so embarrassed right now that I want to die."
With a shared understanding of their friend''s predicament, Ras and Aria made a hasty exit from Kye''s room, closing the door behind them. They leaned against the opposite wall, trying to stifle theirughter.
"Well, that was unexpected," Aria said with a mischievous grin. "Who knew Kye was such a modest guy?"
"He''s always getting into the weirdest situations, isn''t he?" Aria whispered to Ras, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
Ras grinned in agreement. "That''s Kye for you, always keeping us on our toes."
Inside his room, Kye let out a deep sigh of relief as he quickly got dressed. The embarrassment of the situation still burned brightly on his cheeks, but he knew he had to face his friends. Taking a few moments topose himself, he straightened his clothes and opened the door once more.
Ras and Aria greeted him with yful smirks, theirughter barely contained. Kye rolled his eyes, his embarrassment gradually giving way to amusement. "Alright, go ahead,ugh it up. But I promise I have a good reason for all this."
Aria winked at him. "We''re all ears, Kye. What could possibly be so important that you forgot to put on clothes?"
Kye cleared his throat and gestured for them to sit on the couch in his room. "It''s just... I''m scared. You know, I''ve been thinking while showering. I can''t control anything I''m doing when I''m... you know... filled with demonic energy, so what will happen to my friends if I hurt them? I mean, I''m stronger than them, so I''m scared of hurting them..."
Ras and Aria exchanged concerned nces, realizing the depth of Kye''s fear and insecurity. It was a side of him they hadn''t seen before, vulnerable and unsure. Aria ced aforting hand on Kye''s shoulder and spoke gently, "Kye, we understand your concerns, but you''re not alone in this. We''re here for you, and we''ll find a way to help you control your powers."
Kye looked at them with a smile before saying. "Actually, I might know how to solve a part of this problem."
"You do?" Ras asked with surprise clearly visible on his face.
"Yes, I think..." He said before looking at Aria. "Do you remember, Aria, when I went from a half-angel to an angel?"
"Yes, I do. It was the first time I''ve witnessed someone being in such pain. Normally when an angel bes a true angel, they never suffer. So it was a first, to say the least." Aria exined. "But what about it?"
"Well..." Kye looked toward the ground. "I might be able to evolve soon and be whates after an angel. And maybe... I''ll be able to control the other side of me a little bit more?"
Aria was a little taken aback, processing Kye''s revtion. The idea of Kye evolving beyond his current state was intriguing and offered a glimmer of hope in their quest to help him gain control over his unique powers.
Aria leaned forward, her curiosity piqued. "Kye, that''s fascinating. But how do you know you can evolve further? After all, it''s really hard to be an archangel."
Kye nodded, understanding Aria''s skepticism. After all, it wasn''t as if he could exin what was the system when even he didn''t know what it was, right? "I can''t say for sure, but these recurring dreams I''ve been having suggest that there''s more to my potential than I realize. In these dreams, I''ve encountered beings of immense power who seem to believe in my ability to evolve further." He lied through his teeth. Although he disliked doing such a thing, he couldn''t help it as he really didn''t know how to exin the system to his friends.
Even though they would believe him, it was still hard to talk about such things.
Ras added, "It''s notpletely unprecedented. We''ve already seen you undergo a significant transformation from a half-angel to a full angel. And we already know that you''re special. Really special, even. So it''s a good bet if I have to say."
Aria considered Kye''s words carefully. "If there''s even a chance that you can gain better control over your powers through this evolution, it''s worth exploring. But how do we go about it? Do you have any guidance from these beings in your dreams?"
Chapter 174 How to evolve
Chapter 174 How to evolve
Kye furrowed his brow, trying his best toe up with a usible exnation. And god knew he wasn''t a good liar. "They haven''t given me direct instructions per se, but they''ve shown me glimpses of something. It was like, I think, something to do with fighting monsters? Like the more monsters I''ll fight, the closer I''ll be to my evolution. Though it''s only my interpretation. I can bepletely wrong."
Aria and Ras exchanged thoughtful nces, considering Kye''s interpretation of his dreams. The idea of fighting monsters to trigger an evolution was both intriguing and challenging. It seemed like a strange path to follow, but it also offered a glimmer of hope.
Aria spoke first, her voice filled with determination. "If that''s what your dreams are hinting at, Kye, then we should take it seriously. However, there is a problem. I doubt that you''re strong enough to kill any monsters here in Neb. At least not alone or while sustaining a lot of damage. So one of us might have to go with you to ensure your safety when you fight and when you will evolve."
Kye nodded, understanding Aria''s concern. However, while it was indeed hard for him to fight any monsters on this at the moment as he was still too weak, he still wanted to go alone. After all, what better training than to be on the brink of death before winning? ''I might have a screw lose...''
"Thanks for your concern, Aria, but I don''t want to bother any of you right now," Kye said. "While I know that it will be hard, I still need to go alone to get stronger. I won''t go far if you guys babysit me, right?" He chuckled. "And you have a lot to do on your side already. I''m sure that finding any information about my state would already be hard enough, so you really don''t need to worry about me at the moment."
Aria and Ras exchanged nces, clearly torn between their concern for Kye''s safety and their respect for his decision. While they knew that Kye was strong, it was still dangerous for him to be alone when he was clearly weaker than any monsters on the.
"Kye, we understand your determination," Ras spoke up with a touch of hesitation. "But it''s too dangerous, even for you. It''s not about babysitting, it''s about supporting you and ensuring your safety."
"But-..." Kye tried to say, but he was quickly shut down by Ras.
"There''s no but, Kye. I''lle with you while Aria will search for more information. She has a greater reach than I in this anyway, so I''ll be useless to her."
Kye looked at Ras, a mix of gratitude and concern in his eyes. He knew Ras was determined to support him, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that he was putting his friend in an unnecessary situation. "Ras, I appreciate your willingness toe with me, but I don''t want to force you. I''m sure you''re already busy as it is, there''s no point in you doinging with me."
"What do you mean there''s no point?" Ras'' eyes twitched. "Can''t I spend some time with my friend? God, I didn''t know you wanted to push me away so badly."
Seeing this, Aria sighed as she knew what Ras was doing. Kye was weak to those words, and the look on his face said it all. He couldn''t refute him anymore.
"Sigh if you think like this I can''t stop you then."
Ras smirked in victory, having sessfully yed the emotional card. He pped Kye on the shoulder with a friendly grin. "That''s settled then. We''re in this together, buddy. And don''t worry about me being busy. You''re more important than some paperwork, and even then I''ll make the time."
Aria chuckled, shaking her head at their antics. "You two are something else. But seriously, Kye, we''re here because we want to help you as friends, not because we want something from you." She patted his head. "So stop being so down, okay?"
Kye nodded his head with a blush, which almost made both Aria and Ras burst outughing. They had a hard time keeping their mouth shut. "I''ll try my best."
With the matter settled and a n in ce, Kye, Ras, and Aria began to prepare for the challenges thaty ahead. They knew that their journey would be fraught with danger, but they also had each other''s unwavering support and determination to see it through.
As they gathered their gear and made final arrangements, Kye couldn''t help but feel a sense of gratitude for his friends. They had stood by him through thick and thin, and now, they were embarking on a quest to help him control his powers.
With renewed determination and a hint of excitement, Kye looked at Ras and Aria and said, "Thank you, both of you, for being here for me. I really don''t know what I would have be if it wasn''t for the both of you."
"Ohe on, Kye, you''ll make us cry if you continue."
"But I swear, I don''t know what I would have done if not for your help."
Ras pped Kye on the back, his voice filled with yfulness and a hint of amusement. "Well then if you''re grateful, how about a kiss?"
*p*
"Aria why did you p me!?" Ras had tears forming in his eyes.
"Stop teasing him. You know he''ll do anything to repay us, so stop your dumb request. And we''re here to support him, not to make fun of him."
Ras rubbed his stinging back and chuckled. "Alright, alright, I deserved that. No more teasing, I promise."
Kye couldn''t help butugh at their interactions, grateful for the lighthearted moments amidst the seriousness of the situation. He was really scared of the future at the moment, but maybe with such friends, things would get different.
Their friendship had always been a source of strength for him, but it was even more the case now than ever.
Chapter 175 Celestial Hierarchy
Chapter 175 Celestial Hierarchy
Aria, feeling that her presence might be more helpful on her home, made the difficult decision to return. She knew that her resources and connections there could aid in their mission to help Kye, and she wanted to explore every avenue to gather information about his condition and potential evolution.
Before her departure, Aria looked at Kye and Ras, a sense of determination in her eyes. "I''ll head back to my and start digging for any information rted to your situation, Kye. We need all the knowledge we can get. And I''ll keep in touch regrly, so don''t worry."
Kye nodded, understanding the importance of her mission. "Thank you, Aria. Your help means a lot to me. And be careful, okay? It might be dangerous."
Aria looked at Kye with a small smile. "I''m the one who''s supposed to say that to you, Kye, you know that, right?" She chuckled. "And I''m quite strong, so you don''t have to worry about me."
"I know that you''re strong, but still. I''m scared that I might put you guys in danger because my condition isn''t normal!"
Ras put a reassuring hand on Kye''s shoulder. "Kye, we''ve faced our fair share of danger in the past. Aria and I are stronger than you can possibly think, so no matter what happens, we''ll always be ready. Aria will be fine, and so will we."
Kye drew a deep breath, trying to findfort in his friends'' words. He knew they were right, that they had faced danger far greater than he could imagine before, but the fear of the unknown still gnawed at him. Aria''s task was crucial to their n, but it was hard not to worry.
"I understand," Kye finally said, a mix of gratitude and concern in his eyes. "Just... promise me you''ll prioritize your well-being over mine. I don''t want to lose any of you because of me."
Aria and Ras exchanged a brief nce before sighing. Even though they knew that Kye couldn''t force them to follow what he had said, they knew that it would pain him a great deal if they were to go against such a heartful request.
In the end, Aria nodded, her expression softening with understanding. "I promise, Kye. Your safety is important to us, but I''ll do my best to ensure mine too."
Ras echoed her sentiments, giving Kye''s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You''re not alone in this, buddy. We''re in this together, no matter where we are. Aria will gather information, I''ll be your support here, and you''ll train and evolve. We''ll meet our goals and keep each other safe."
With a nod of agreement, Kye felt a sense of reassurance wash over him. While he knew that both Aria and Ras were really stubborn when it came to him, he was d that they decided to agree with what he asked.
And just like this, after a few more conversations, Aria finally departed, leaving Ras and Kye alone.
"Kye, I want to do something," Ras suddenly said as Kye looked up to him curiously. "Can I eat you?"
"Eh?" Kye blushed as he knew what Ras meant. "Stop teasing me!" And just like Aria, he pped him on his back.
"Ouch, why do you guys love hitting me so much?" Ras chuckled as he saw Kye''s expression. It was so easy to tease him that Ras couldn''t help himself, even when things were serious.
Kye chuckled despite himself, feeling a bit more at ease with Ras''s yful banter. "Maybe because you deserve it sometimes, Ras."
Ras grinned, his usual mischievousness returning. "Fair enough. But anyway, we have a lot to do on our end as well. Aria''s gone to gather information, and I''m here to help you train and evolve into an Archangel. So we can''t let her down."
Kye nodded with determination. "I won''t. However, I have a question..."
"Ask away, I''m all ears."
"Is there something else after an Archangel?" He asked curiously. "I mean, I''ve seen Archangel Michael before, and Archangel Uriel has been watching me for a while now. So I was wondering if there was anything above the Archangel rank."
Ras pondered for a moment, his brow furrowing as he considered Kye''s question. "Well, Kye, things are actually a bit moreplex than you might think. To answer your question, yes, there are a lot of ranks, and Archangel is just one of the lowest order of angels. However, they are by no means weak. On the contrary, they are so strong that they could kill you in an instant if they wanted to."
"But the fact that you already attracted the attention of two archangels is quite problematic, Kye."
"How so?" He asked after a moment, processing the information Ras provided.
"The thing is that you''re an anomaly, Kye. You know this as much as me," Kye nodded. "This means that you weren''t born in heaven, thus you''re not registered as one of the celestial beings. In fact, your situation is unheard of."
"So, what does this all mean, Ras?" Kye asked, his voice tinged with a mix of curiosity and apprehension.
Ras let out a sigh, trying to find the right words to convey theplexity of the situation. "It means, Kye, that you''re operating in uncharted territory. You''re not bound by the same rules and hierarchies as the celestial beings. You''re like a wild card, and that''s both a strength and a vulnerability."
Kye nodded slowly, beginning to grasp the magnitude of his uniqueness. "I see. So, because I''m not officially part of the celestial hierarchy, I don''t have their protection or recognition?"
Ras nodded in agreement. "Exactly. And that makes you a target. Other celestial beings might see you as a potential threat or a source of power to exploit. As for Archangel Uriel, she''s most likely curious about you and still hasn''t decided what to do with you. Surely she must have seen when you lost control over yourself. So things might be a bit hectic for you at the moment."
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