《Descent of Supreme Void God》 Prelude to Insurrection Part 1 March 14th, 2029. Today is just another day, harsh day. Just like it had always been, i woke up from my sleep, clutching my head. ¡°My head feels funny¡­.¡± I headed to the bathroom, washed my body and all. ¡°Haru, breakfast is ready.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯ll be there in a bit, Asya.¡± I answered as i brushed my teeth by the wash table. I looked into the mirror in front of me, displaying my appearance. I has a long black hair, reaching my shoulder though I is male. Usually i would tie the sides in a ponytail, leaving the back side like it was. my body frame can be considered skinny. Not too tall, 170 cm at most. My face has a bit feminine charm, though i thought it¡¯s not bad. Maybe if he were to dress myself with a skirt and a frilly cloth, I¡¯d be mistaken for a girl? Well I have no such hobbies so no thank you. I headed to the dining room after that. There, I saw Asya in her Maid Mode. She uses her black frilly apron on top of her clothes, her silky black hair tied like a ponytail, but unlike a female athlete¡¯s. It¡¯s more like a housewife¡¯s ponytail to ease movement. She has a very entrancing beauty, calling it god¡¯s gift is by no means an exaggeration. Her body is a bit shorter than me, about the top of her head on the same height as my eyes. But the most important thing is, though she¡¯s only 15, her feminine trait has bloomed spectacularly on her chest, and ass on an exploding size, inviting male¡¯s gaze everywhere. Wondering why she¡¯s in my house so early in the morning? Because she is my childhood friend. ¡°Good grief, Haru always wake up late in the morning¡­.¡± She said as i take my seat, in front of her. ¡°It¡¯s you who always wake up too early¡­.¡± ¡°If Asya weren¡¯t here, what will Haru do about breakfast?¡± ¡°I can always eat toast on the way to school.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a no! Breakfast must be in a balance nutrition value to give Haru proper nourishment!¡± ¡°Are you my mother?¡± i asked her, sighing. ¡°Haru is an idiot.¡± She said, pouting. ¡°Well, though it¡¯s like you just said, you¡¯ve been a big help always coming here. Thanks, Asya.¡± ¡°I-it¡¯s nothing. Asya is Haru¡¯s childhood friend after all.¡± She said, stuttering. Her face is a bit red? Not something dangerous he hopes. As the two finished breakfast, the pair tread their legs to school together, just the two of them. The spring breeze graze my cheek, giving him a nice feeling. The tranquility of the tranquility of the residential area road was very peaceful, I walked as i enjoyed this peaceful atmosphere I¡¯m feeling. ¡°Hehehe, Asya get to walk with Haru to school again¡­.¡± Asya said, seemingly happy about it. ¡°You seemed happy.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± As we reached school, we make their way to the classroom, shoes changed to indoor slippers. Asya-sama! Asya-sama! I would hear that as we passed by people. Of course, that is to be expected. Not only she¡¯s a beauty, she¡¯s also a prodigy in studies and combat. Though her body frame is a bit short, the strength that body carries is frightening. Though when relaxed, she¡¯s a bit of a klutz¡­ which makes her even cuter. No one knows this, but when she¡¯s in panic¡­ her thoughts are in disarray she can¡¯t think properly she can¡¯t solve even a simple problem. Although, she rarely panics in reality. ¡°Today is a good day, right Haru?¡± She asked. ¡°No comment.¡± ¡°Haru is always so cold in school ¡­.why?¡± ¡°I should be the one asking you.¡± He said as both of them enter the classroom, and take my seat. Asya¡¯s seat is right by my right side. ¡°You¡¯re pretty, smart and strong, and you¡¯re popular. Everyone likes hanging around with you. Yet why do you still waste your time with an incompetent and gloomy boy like me..?¡± ¡°Is Asya¡­.. A bother¡­ to Haru..?¡± She asked, a bit of uneasiness appear in her voice, tears gathering in her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s not it. I¡¯m happy that you are here with me. But I don¡¯t want to eat away the blessings you received¡­.if you were to hang around me, you¡ª ¡°Asya doesn¡¯t want it¡­¡± she cut my words. ¡°Asya doesn¡¯t need¡­ such things like that. Asya doesn¡¯t think¡­being with Haru is a waste of time..¡± ¡°I directed our dialogue in a wrong direction in the morning. Sorry. If that¡¯s what you think then you can do as you like.¡± ¡°Yeah, Asya too¡­.¡± Silence permeated the atmosphere around the two, but it¡¯s not an unpleasant one. As he felt time went by, he unintentionally peeked at her beautiful eyes, ensnaring himself in her gaze. ¡°Um, is something wrong, Haru? Haru¡¯s gaze is intense¡­..¡± ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m just appreciating the beauty of your gaze¡­.¡± ¡°Uuuu¡­ Haru, not at school, everyone¡¯s looking¡­¡± ¡°Hn?¡± Come to think of it, the class is silent devoid of sound. But when he turned my view to my classmates, everyone was actually immersing themselves with their own things. Ah well. As the two finished their little chitchat, the bell rang, signaling the start of lesson. We live in a world, where death is always near. Do you want to know why? Because of void dimension disasters. Kingdom of Seyrun, year 1901. It was the beginning of a disaster, when mankind realize how surprisingly weak they are. --Excerpt from history compilation archives-- Year 1901, an unknown disaster occurred at the outskirt of the kingdom, making space distortion and from its very center something resembling a crack in space appeared before it finally covered a huge area approximately within 2km radius in a jet-black dome-shaped barrier. Thousands lives were lost. This disaster, which later be called as "void dimension disaster" occurred again and again in various part of the world, covering various terrains in black dome-shaped barrier. It is not long that only 10 percent of land all over the world remained. Many scientists and researchers all over the world put their fullest effort to analyze the barrier. While it can always be entered from the outside, the inside of the dome-shaped barrier, is a dimension, later to be called void dimension where magical creatures and various beings supposed to exist only in myth which would be called void creatures in the future lurk. Many theories came up in order to reclaim territories covered by the jet-black dome-shaped barrier, but no human was able to make it alive to tell the tale whether the theory proved to be right. Thus-- It is evident that no matter which theory is right, combat strength to survive the encounter with void creatures and then analyze is a necessity. Thus begin the pursuit of power of the remaining mankind, which is the kingdom of Seyrun. And when a certain assault team who has that strength finally appeared, they made the first expedition about the void dimension, came back bringing a discovery, finally brought a great step in mankind''s liberation. Seele core. A magic stone carved from the dead body of a void creature capable of drawing out Mudra imbued weapons, making its wielder have abilities that surpass any weapon mankind had that time. While of course the kind of weapon drawn from the Seele core varies, it is clear as day that the strength it possesses gave mankind a considerable standing against void creatures. Not only that, the assault team, later to be called the thirteen legendary void slayers of Seyrun also proved that the void dimension can be destroyed by killing the being who rules the dimension, Namely the Void king. It was the first step for mankind to reclaim their original world. After finally having a way to learn more, Mankind gradually made researches about the inner energy to use Seele, to finally produce art of magic, later to be called mudra. Mudra, as in this term is defined as supernatural powers originated from the manipulation of inner energy called prana that every living being has. There are various kinds of mudra, but roughly they are divided into 3 main categories. Elemental manipulation, Summoning, support mudra. As time goes on, so does researches and experiments, making more improved armaments in mankind''s arsenal. Little by little, one by one, more void dimensions are destroyed by The Thirteen Legendary Void Slayers of Seyrun, making more developments for mankind''s arsenal and magical civilization. 7 years after Kingdom of Seyrun''s first victory, Raid of the thirteenth void dimension, at the innermost part of dimension. It was reported the void slayer team encountered a unique void king, Whose strength was unpredictable which made six of the thirteen void slayer was killed in action, making only them came back alive, bringing the new Seele and their deceased ex-comrade''s Seeles. These heroes named Felix, Christa, Madrinne, Raynare, Geneviev , Fremy, Lutenberg are granted very mind-numbing rewards and gratitude from the kingdom. Glory, fame. Wealth, swomen. Everything. As these seven were rewarded as such, they are branded the title "Seven heroes of Magnanix Dimension Raid". And then, their techniques and teachings become the main basis for education materials in nurturing void slayers of next generation. While the deceased six, they are recorded in history as the fallen slayers of Magnanix dimension Raid. They are Mithril, Lamia, Baal, Casper, Xavier, and Meldra. The records containing their techniques, and teachings howsoever, remained in this dying world as the same relic as the seven left behind. And so................ 120 years later. That is how¡­ this world had become the way it is right now. As countries began to regain their lost land from the discovery of Seele, they constantly have infinite demand of void slayers, and so other countries outside The Kingdom of Seyrun such as this Far East nation, built schools specialized in nurturing void slayers. Which is this school. Right now, is lesson about mudra. According to what the teacher explained, Mudra is an art of prana manipulation to produce an intentional natural phenomenon desired. For example, by channeling prana to your hand, and chant a certain spell you¡¯ll have fire burning on your hand. Since it¡¯s made of its caster¡¯s prana, it is harmless to the caster to a certain extent out of his tolerance towards his respective resistance against it. Needless to say, if he were to be attacked with fire surpassing his resistance, then he would be burnt. He continue to listen to her explanation, though it doesn¡¯t give him any real benefit. Why? Because he has the lowest rank of overall talent in mudra, and prana output a human should have. Simply put, the rank ranges from F to A, then AA, then AAA, S, SS, and SSS with every minus and plus in every rank, meaning that if it¡¯s plus one is a bit stronger in his or her rank but not stronger than one above her rank, it¡¯s the same way for the minus. When one is at least ranked B-, one is considered able to become an average Void Slayer. Every 1 of 1000, is A rank. It is said that those who reached AAA is already considered hero¡¯s level. A super rare existence. If you are in the domain of S- rank, you¡¯re considered demigod rank. SS- rank, you¡¯re god rank. SSS-, you¡¯re supreme god rank. And I¡¯m¡­. F minus. The greatest failure, most worthless of all. Unable to use mudra and Standard seele. In a world filled with death, I¡¯m considered a burden for having no means to protect myself. As the lesson ended, students began to disperse. And now hell awaits me. Because by that time, Asya would always be called to the student council office, and I¡¯m alone. Which is dangerous. Asya is so beautiful, so graceful, so amazing every boy in the class like her. Seeing a boy, an incompetent and gloomy one at that, so close to her, how would they feel? Yes. Of course they¡¯re envious. And that envy give birth to hatred. And one of them, is the most dangerous of all. Ranked 2nd of our school, Rank AA+, Hyuuga Kouji. ¡°Yo, Haru. Feeling good today?¡± His friends laugh as he said that. ¡°Nothing significant to report.¡± I said in surrendering tone. ¡°You¡¯d better be!¡± he said, throwing the notes I just wrote into a trash can. ¡°Bastard, I already told you to get your hands off of Asya!¡± ¡°I am getting my hands off of her¡­.¡± ¡°Oh, is it? Don¡¯t joke with me.¡± He slapped my head this time. ¡°Haha, he¡¯s chickening out, Hyuuga!¡± ¡°Follow me to the roof, Haru.¡± What follow me, you¡¯re dragging me by the back of my neck¡­. But, even though seeing me being bullied like this, no one helped me. When I look at them, they would always avert their eyes. From then on, the usual thing would always happen. Me being brought to my knees, and beaten till my organs ruptured, healed using mudra, beaten again till I vomit blood, and so on. This is the normal, harsh day that I, Haru go through. Of course, so that Asya doesn¡¯t find out, I was healed like there was no injury at all. This is how I¡¯m being bullied. ¡°Why¡­.is life so unfair¡­..?¡± I muttered to myself as I lie on the hard floor of the roof, my face facing the blue sky. ¡°I¡­. only want to live peacefully¡­.¡± I said to myself, tears falling down to my cheeks. ¡°Dammit¡­¡± I curse my fate. After school. By this time, Asya will be busy with student council work. Even so, she would always insist on going home together with me, so she¡¯d always ask me to accompany her in the student council office. Of course, other members frown upon the sight of me. But since they respect Asya, none say a word. ¡°Haru, would Haru like a cup of tea?¡± Asya asked. And everyone¡¯s glare except Asya¡¯s gentle gaze pierce my soul. ¡°I-I¡¯m fine, Asya. You don¡¯t need to¡­..¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, Asya is very happy doing this for Haru¡­hehehe.¡± Her habit of always referring by name, not ¡°you¡± is¡­. cute. ¡°Asya-sama, we¡¯re in a bit tight schedule, so please refrain from doing things that waste precious time.¡± One of her friend said, scornfully looking at me with disgust. After she said that, the atmosphere froze, like a sudden blizzard came. No, the atmosphere literally froze. ¡°Kanae¡­.. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLY?¡± A girl asked, her tone flat, eyes wide open. She stood on her ground, the edge of the room. Her face looking at the floor, bangs covering her face, give a seemingly mysterious expression. ¡°N-not at all, Ma¡¯am. Please allow me to retract my careless remark just now.¡± ¡°YOU SHOULD.¡± She said, still in her silent angry mode. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t get angry over little things easily, Shiori.¡± Asya reprimanded, which she- ¡°I can¡¯t stand Haru being considered a waste of time.¡± -Shiori, the one who got angry just now, said. As she began to calm down, the atmosphere began to unfreeze¡­.. She¡¯s calm now. ¡°Asya, maybe I really should go home¡­.it¡¯s not like you can¡¯t go home alone, right? Rather, you should go home alone for today.¡± ¡°Eh? Ha-Haru? Why?¡± she asked, confused. ¡°There¡¯s¡­.. Something I need to do at home..¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll accompany you¡ª ¡°Asya-sama¡­. Please consider your actions. We¡¯re about to begin the usual meeting. If the president is absent, then who will lead the discussion?¡± the other student council member called Kaori, said. ¡°Then gather your ideas concerning the topic we are about to discuss in a paper, I¡¯ll come back a bit later. If I¡¯m not here in an hour, you are dismissed.¡± Asya answered. ¡°Asya¡­. It¡¯s okay. Please?¡± I pleaded to her. ¡°Haru? But¡­.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll escort Haru to his home.¡± Shiori said, noticing the unease evident in Asya¡¯s expression. ¡°Eh? Is it okay, Shiori?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Haru is a friend.¡± My chest feels good hearing her said that. Shiori and I walk out of the school, destination is my home. We don¡¯t talk much. Shiori is a relatively quiet person. Even so, she is ranked 3rd of our school, so the slight change of her emotion is something that give everyone except Asya and Kouji unbelievable chill in their spine. She has a moderate posture, not too tall nor too short. She¡¯s neither too fat nor too slim either. Her face is, though Asya is prettier, I can¡¯t say Shiori¡¯s not pretty. Just that, since she seems expressionless at a glance, she¡¯s a bit unpopular with others and only Asya can understand her. Which means, even I don¡¯t understand her. ¡°Shiori¡­. Why, did you defend me that time?¡± ¡°Which time is it?¡± ¡°When Kanae said I¡¯m a waste of time.¡± After being silent for a bit, she said: ¡°Because you¡¯re not a waste of time.¡± ¡°Why do you think so?¡± I asked again, curious. ¡°Because Asya would always smile whenever she¡¯s with you.¡± ¡°Really? She¡¯s popular so she has lots of friends unlike me right? Won¡¯t she smile when she¡¯s with her friends, even if I¡¯m not around?¡± ¡°She does. But¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± ¡°I see no happiness in her smile, whenever you¡¯re not with her.¡± ¡°I¡­. didn¡¯t know that you are that sharp.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a woman¡¯s intuition¡­. Never underestimate it.¡± So she has something called a woman¡¯s intuition too¡­ Wait that¡¯s rude! ¡°I consider myself warned, and I appreciate the warning.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± We reached my house. ¡°Haru.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Asya cherishes you very much.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°So cherish her too.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Taking my silence as an answer, she left. Shiori, I cherish her. I went to my room as I think that. ¡°Finally back here again¡­..¡± I muttered to no one in particular as i enter my room. The outside world is uninteresting¡­. With all its happening only giving burden to my mind. Thinking so, I changed my clothes. Prepared some late lunch. Ate by myself. ¡°Asya¡¯s food truly is a bliss¡­..¡± I said, remembering the delicious taste of her cooking as I compare mine to hers. My handmade food is abomination compared to hers¡­. ¡°That being said¡­¡­¡± I cannot become her strength. I cannot become her support. I cannot do¡­..anything for her. Dammit. I curse my fate for having no strength. After doing all the dishes, I take a quick bath and headed to my workshop. Why do I have a workshop? Because I plan to become a Seele Engineer. These days, Seeles which has the form of crude stones and gems are processed and refined into Seele cores, in various forms with various additional attributes. And the one who makes it all possible, are Seele engineers. Not only that, Seele Engineers are also responsible for giving maintenance and upgrades for Seeles. So it¡¯s a safe, yet profitable job. The development of science is progressing steadily, to understand and analyze the abilities Seeles hold, and determine what uses it can give us. And being an engineer myself, I¡¯ve been wasting my time studying about Seele engineering and physics. That is why, even if I don¡¯t have talent in mudra, I still choose to go to such a school, so that I can still learn Seele Engineering. ¡°Today¡¯s practice, is to shape C ranked ice Seele core, to a B- ranked ice Seele.¡± Truthfully, just changing a Seele core of a certain rank to a Seele of the same rank is difficult, but the result of my determination and practice had finally shown itself. And so, I waste my time in the workshop, till late at night. Alone. Part 2 I wake up from my bed. ¡°Why does my head always feel funny in the morning?¡± I asked to no one, as I make my way to the bathroom. ¡°Haru, Breakfast is ready.¡± As usual, Asya would come and make breakfast in my house early in the morning. I wonder how she get in. Don¡¯t tell me she has a duplicate key. Well it has always been fine so I won¡¯t talk about it. After fulfilling my morning necessities in the bathroom, I have my breakfast with Asya in the dining room, like usual. ¡°Haru, did Haru reach home safely yesterday?¡± She started our conversation. ¡°Of course. You can see that I¡¯m all green, right?¡± ¡°But¡­. Yesterday when we were at the student council office, Asya can feel traces of moderate healing mudra. Haru, Is Haru okay? Asya is worried¡­..¡± she said, leaving her seat and closing her distance to me. ¡°I¡¯m fine. When you¡¯re gone I was sleeping on my seat. Too relaxed, my body fell off the seat back of my head first.¡± ¡°Does it hurt?¡± she asked, patting the back of my head. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can sense the trace of healing mudra right? It¡¯s all gone.¡± ¡°Who healed Haru?¡± ¡°E-eh? The class rep. I think? When I came to, I saw her by my side¡­¡± I said averting my gaze. It¡¯s really hard to lie to her. It¡¯s like I¡¯m tormenting my own heart. But I can¡¯t tell her I¡¯m being bullied because of her, right? She¡¯s silent. Which is bad. And then she returned to her seat, continuing her meal. ¡°I¡¯ve always known, but the meal you make¡­.. is always delicious.¡± I said, to change the subject. ¡°Ehehehe, Is Haru happy?¡± she asked, corners of her lips rose to the max. ¡°Yes, I am.¡± I said, casually. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± She looked at her food, face down. Wait¡­. Her face seems a bit red? But she¡¯s fine right? Today is the start of weekend. And so, no school. In other words, free time. ¡°Asya, do you have any plan today?¡± ¡°Not really¡­. Does Haru want to go somewhere?¡± ¡°I want to go to the graveyard.¡± ¡°Ah, then Asya will get prepared. Asya wants to visit Uncle and Auntie too¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sure papa and mama will be happier if you come along.¡± I said, smiling. We¡¯re not really blood related, but when my parents were still around Asya often came to our house, playing with me. Not long after that, she called my parents Uncle and Auntie. We changed to our casual clothes and make our way to the graveyard. I visit the graveyard once a week. Occasionally, Asya would always follow. There, we give our respects. My parents passed away 3 years ago. There¡¯s nothing surprising about it¡­ They died because of blood loss from void dimension raid. That time, they were a part of void slayers tasked to subjugate the void king. The raid was successful, but they sustained fatal injuries. ¡°Uncle¡­. Auntie¡­.. Asya will always be with Haru¡­. So please watch over us¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± Seeing her finish giving her respects, I start to take cleaning tools to take care of their grave. Asya helps too. After we¡¯re done, both of us go back to my house. There, I enter the living room, watching tv. The televisions in this world are made from E- Ranked Reconnaissance type Seele, one who provides sound and visual information which is modified to receive unique signals from other Seeles of the same type the stations use to provide information. Though science had also developed well, daily necessities still rely on Seeles. After all, because of void dimensions, mankid lost lots of valuable land, giving us scarcity in natural resources and lands to produce resource or energy. Thus the use of Seele which functions with the use of prana is more convenient. The fact that Seeles give impact in daily life like this is an evidence this is the age of Seele. On weekends like this, I would waste my time looking at news, and other shows. Usually, Asya would sit by my side, shoulders touching each other. And today is the same like usual. But, she served tea (which she found somewhere in the kitchen), and some potato chips (which she also found somewhere in the kitchen), and brought them to the table in front of our seat. ¡°Asya, where did you find these?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm? Asya brought it from home.¡± So it didn¡¯t belong to this house¡­.. Well it means free food. ¡°Can i?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± I took a few potato chips and began to chew. Peaceful days like these sure are nice¡­¡­ If only school life wasn¡¯t so hard. Breaking news: Cocytus Void dimension Raid is currently halted. So far, we have received reports of 3 squad members fallen in combat, and 4 incapacitated. The said squad tasked for subjugation is in need of reinforcements, and so under the authority of major, permission to recruit volunteers is granted. Those who would like to volunteer, please gather at the city¡¯s hall at the allocated time. To those who volunteer, there will be rewards from the mayor himself. ¡°The Cocytus Void Dimension Raid¡­.was the one where the mayor¡¯s daughter participated in, right?¡± remembering, I asked. ¡°Yes, Asya thinks so. Does Haru wants to volunteer? Asya will volunteer too then.¡± ¡°No, no¡­. I just wanted to know, and that¡¯s it.¡± I have no reason to jump into the front lines whom even prodigies of this town are having a hard time. ¡°Asya¡­.¡± ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°Will Asya volunteer for the reinforcements?¡± ¡°Asya wants to stay by Haru¡¯s side the most so no.¡± ¡°But the reward is from the mayor himself¡­. And with your above hero-level talent, wouldn¡¯t it be just a walk in the park?¡± ¡°Asya wants to stay by Haru¡¯s side.¡± She said, pouting. This girl¡­.. Truth to be told there¡¯s no way someone with hero level talent won¡¯t be famous. The day such a person is found, the defense department will hurry to scout them right away. And of course, all the more reason for Asya who has above hero-level talent. In our school, the third strongest is Shiori, while Hyuuga Kouji is the second. And the first is¡­ Asya herself. She¡¯s the one even rarer than the world¡¯s 49 AAA Ranked Void Slayer, and S rank. Many times scouts have visited her to recruit, but she always refuse them with the same reason she just refused my suggestion with. The last time I participate in a raid, she killed the void king of the said dimension alone, not longer than half a minute. Added with the time she wasted to march her way from the entrance point, it¡¯s not more than five minutes. Not only she killed the void king, she also rescued the void slayers that had been deemed as doomed. And when she was being questioned why she raided the dimension alone, and very late at that she nonchalantly answered ¡°Because Haru is in danger, so Asya needs to save him!¡±. Are you my mother? When you treat me like that, I feel the urge to cry¡­.. If you¡¯re worried then why did you refuse to partake in the raid from the beginning that time? I know that asking these things won¡¯t help me with anything so I stay silent about it. Days after that, scouts would always come to recruit her but one day she seemingly snapped, hugged my hand and said ¡°Asya wants to be with Haru.¡± In a flat tone. From then on, no one came back. Out of fear of the obvious bloodlust, that is. But their target changed from Asya to me. They thought that if I were to enlist, then Asya would too. They even offered various mind-numbing offers to me, like status and wealth. Of course, I refused all of them. ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll be here together, like always.¡± I said, as I continue to chew her snacks. ¡°Yes, like always.¡± She said as she rested her head on my shoulder. That day, we spend our time peacefully in my house, just the two of us. The flow of time, continuously ticking feels pleasing to my heart as I stay by her side. I cherish this calm sensation in my heart, as I feel the warmth of her tiny, fragile hand as we held our hands. When it¡¯s late, I¡¯ll have to fight with all I had to persuade Asya to go home. After that, I call it a day. Start of the week. As usual, I wake up, go to the bathroom, and have breakfast with Asya and then go to school together. And just like it has always been, Asya is greeted by everyone, while none greeted me. Seeing me continuously being ignored, she frowned for the first time this morning. ¡°Everyone is cold towards Haru¡­ And Haru is cold towards Asya at school¡­.. huft.¡± She said, pouting. ¡°I can¡¯t help it¡­. By talent, Asya and I are worlds apart, so people would assume I¡¯m using some kind of dirty trick to get closer to you¡­..¡± ¡°There are people who assume like that?¡± she asked, her tones lowering a bit. The same time she said that, everyone on the road felt extreme chill was sent to their spine. Including me. Even birds flee for dear life. ¡°I-i¡¯m only speculating, it¡¯s not necessarily true!¡± ¡°¡­..¡± This is bad. ¡°Morning.¡± ¡°Ah, Shiori!¡± as if forgetting our conversation just now, she greeted Shiori who approached us from the back. I¡¯m relieved¡­. Good timing Shiori! ¡°A good day to you, Haru.¡± ¡°Ye-yeah, you too Shiori.¡± ¡°Ehehehe, Shiori and Haru get along well like always¡­.¡± ¡°You seem happy about it, Asya.¡± ¡°Of course¡­. Because Asya never see Haru chat with others than Asya and Shiori at school so Asya is happy everyone get along¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Silent like always, huh¡­ that Shiori. From then on, we chatted and walked together to the classroom, put our bag on our seat and make the usual gathering. When Asya and Shiori are around, everyone would play nice. Only when they are gone, the bullying began. But, since the two of them knew nothing about it, they leave me alone occasionally. I¡¯m grateful if they protect me, but I have no intention of seeking protection from them. I¡¯m still a man, after all. The lesson began as the teacher started the lesson. Right now is math. Even if it¡¯s a school to nurture void slayers, math is still a necessity. Though unlike normal school, the lesson materials are not that advanced. The first 3 hours of everyday lesson is always reserved for common subjects for schools like math, science, and others while the last 2 hours of everyday lesson is for combat practice. This schedule had been designed so as to let the students grow into remarkable void slayers without discarding the necessity of understanding the common knowledge kids their age study. Or so they said. I looked at the school gate. I could see lots of people gather around. Did something happen? ¡°Haru¡­. Asya has a bad feeling about this¡­..¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I assure her, though I¡¯m not sure myself. She sits by my right side, so whispering in the middle of lesson is possible. Though it results in me being glared at by the boys. ¡°I assume¡­ they want to ask for Asya¡¯s help.¡± Shiori said, speculating. Shiori sits in my front, so whispering is possible too. Though she doesn¡¯t talk much, when she talks. Seconds later, I saw them entering the school building. Not long after that, a person knocked the door of our classroom. Shiori is¡­. As sharp as ever. ¡°Please, enter.¡± Said the teacher, a bit perplexed. A person came in. He has a handsome face, tall posture in an elegant knight uniform. His stance even when normally standing looks firm, proof of his training and combat experience. It was obvious that the girls of our class gasped at once. Since he is the renowned fianc¨¦e of mayor¡¯s daughter. And Hyuuga Kouji¡¯s older brother at that. His name is Hyuuga Reiji. ¡°A good day to you, honored instructor and students. Pardon my rudeness for skipping my introduction, but under the authority of mayor, I would like to scout my brother, Hyuuga Kouji, Shinomiya Shiori, Anastasia Nikolaschka, and Kazunari Haru to participate in the task of Dimitri Squad reinforcement which is currently halted and trapped inside Cocytus Void Dimension.¡± In a polite tone, he stated his request to all of us. And I can see Asya avert her gaze, only looking at me. Ah, the usual. ¡°I-I would like to comply with the request!¡± Standing nervously in a grandiose manner, he shouted. He¡¯s fired up about this, huh. That Kouji. ¡°Shinomiya Shiori? Would you like to lend us a hand?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± She¡¯s silent. Which can only mean one thing. ¡°For me, no thanks. I¡¯ll pass.¡± I declared, dispiritedly as he turned his eyes to my direction. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± What? Why is everyone looking at me? ¡°Kazunari Haru, Anastasia Nikolaschka¡­.. Would you please consider lending us a hand?¡± Reiji asked. ¡°Kouji is a minus away from hero level. Why would you need me too?¡± Asya asked. Asya has a habit of referring to herself and others by name. So when she changed it to pronouns¡­.. Means she¡¯s damn pissed. Which explains the intense bloodlust coming from her. ¡°O-Of course Kouji is a big help for us, but getting your help is also a necessity for us. According to our analysis, we- ¡°I don¡¯t need such reports.¡± Asya cut in, flatly. Which gave us more horrifying chill to our spine. ¡°Asya¡­.¡± ¡°Haru, these kinds of people always wants to use us to their advantage at will, Asya doesn¡¯t trust them¡­. Asya doesn¡¯t want to help.¡± ¡°¡­¡­. Kazunari Haru?¡± Hyuuga Reiji asked me. ¡­¡­¡­¡­. ¡°Reiji-sama¡­. Please allow me to refuse.¡± I said, resolutely. I who wave no power, I who have no valor, No bravery, No resolve to take a life, I don¡¯t want such a pathetic me¡­.. Being seen by Asya. ¡°I see. The Mayor has granted access to the two of you, so please whenever you have a change of mind, I beg you to come to our rescue.¡± ¡°A-ah¡­..¡± ¡°Then, please excuse us.¡± After bowing, he and Kouji got out of the room. And after all that interruption, the lesson continued. Break time. The three of us made our gathering to have lunch. This is weird. Asya and Shiori would go to student council office at these times. ¡°Asya and Shiori don¡¯t go to the student council office today?¡± ¡°We want to have our lunch here, with you.¡± Shiori said. ¡°What¡¯s the occasion?¡± I inquired. ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡­.. Asya wants to have lunch with Haru in the classroom¡­ is it a no?¡± Asya asked back. ¡°O-of course it¡¯s fine¡­..¡± As I said that, the boys of our class got out of the classroom, and the girls keep sending me cursing glares. I understand the boys, but what did I do wrong that girls hate me? Well, thinking too much about it won¡¯t help me with anything. I already know from the beginning I have no friends other than these two. Rather than thinking about something which would waste my time and give me no real solution and salvation, I should do what I can for now. Like cherishing these two. My and Asya¡¯s lunch is home made. Of course, Asya herself makes it. Today is mapo doufu. At first this food tastes a bit bad since it got cold already by the time we eat it when Asya served it months ago, but the next day after that I made 2 customized lunch boxes, using leftover Seele core materials in my workshop to add heat preserving feature in it. I can still feel the joy of seeing Asya¡¯s smile that day as she received my handmade lunchboxes. Shiori would bring lunch from home too. But unlike Asya¡¯s and mine, hers feels like rations provided for soldiers in the middle of battlefield. She deliberately chose those kinds of food with the reason of ¡°because it¡¯s meddlesome to cook¡±, ¡°I am content as long as I have energy¡±, and things like that. If food isn¡¯t really a concern for her, I wonder what will make her happy? Seeing her friend like that, Asya would sometime deliberately make more food, and give it to her. Asya¡¯s food is always delicious, so Shiori had no reason to refuse and accept it readily. But that¡¯s how it usually is. Because today, Shiori¡¯s food seemed extravagant unlike her usual lunch. I wonder who made it? If Shiori herself made it¡­.. Wait don¡¯t. That¡¯s rude! ¡°Shiori, your lunch is delicious.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Who made it?¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± She¡¯s silent, only looking at me in the eye. ¡°I made it myself.¡± UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! ¡°E-eh? Haru? What¡¯s wrong?!¡± Asya asked in panic. ¡°N-no, it¡¯s nothing¡­. I just came to know an unbelievable reality¡­.¡± ¡°So you think that I can¡¯t cook.¡± Shiori said, flatly. This is bad¡­.. ¡°I have no argument to help me deny. Forgive me.¡± ¡°Eh? Eh?¡± Asya looked at me, then Shiori repeatedly. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I also got to know how to cook recently. Asya taught me how to.¡± So that¡¯s how it is¡­.. After that, the lunch went on as usual. After school. I went home with Asya as usual. But since I wanted to look for books related to Seeles and mangas, both of us circled around the district. What? Manga is good you know. Those who thinks it is childish entertainment are idiots behind comprehension. ¡°Hehehe, a date with Haru!¡± her mood seemed to say. Though I might be overconfident. Using the free time we had, we took a detour circling around the shopping district. After buying some mangas starring a certain pair of alchemist brothers who lost parts of their bodies to revive their mother from somewhere with Asya, we take a bite in a nearby outdoor eatery. ¡°Haru has a sweet tooth, right? Then let¡¯s eat this caf¨¦¡¯s crepe together!¡± She said, as we decide what to order. ¡°Wait Asya, the price is¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, Asya will pay.¡± ¡°No, no¡­ please don¡¯t.¡± ¡°two crepes please.¡± She said, as the waitress asked us to order. ¡°A-ah¡­ I give up.¡± ¡°Hehehehe¡­.. Obedient Haru is a good Haru!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡­ Asya, you seem happy whenever you have the chance to feed me.¡± ¡°Ehehehe¡­..¡± she laughed, the corners of her lips rose. No matter how many times I see it¡­. Her smile always stole the beat of my heart. Still, always eating her homemade food, and eating this crepe paid by her¡­. I need to grow to become a dependable man. My pride as a man is at stake here¡­.. I don¡¯t want to always be pampered by Asya after all¡­¡­ ¡°Then next time when I have more money, I will buy you something.¡± ¡°Really?!¡± ¡°Yes. Really.¡± ¡°Un!¡± I¡¯m glad that I can see her this happy. Maybe I should buy her more things more frequently¡­. Which means I need to try harder in improving my ability in seele engineering. After circling around long enough to feel tired, we went home using a different route than usual. Of course, because it¡¯s nearer from the shopping district to my house. On the way, I see a large mansion, barred with fancy gate and fences. It was said that the mansion, including the garden and other things is 12.500 m2 wide. It is the Hyuuga mansion. I can see a new room was built recently on top of a flat roof. I don¡¯t understand how the rich thinks, so I don¡¯t want to think too much about it. Evening. After changing her clothes, Asya would come to my house. She doesn¡¯t do anything particularly, she just stay in a vicinity where both of us can see each other. Like now. We¡¯re currently watching tv. And she brought snacks again¡­.. Asya¡¯s phone rang. The phone is made of Seele, with the same concept of tv. Only that, it has two-way communication feature with a display and portable design. ¡°We have your friend.¡± An unknown voice resounded from the phone. And in the screen, Shiori is visible. She¡¯s badly wounded, and tied with a rope. ¡°Who am I speaking to?¡± Asya asked, in rage. ¡°You know nothing about us.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°But we know you very well.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t fulfill our demands, we¡¯ll kill her.¡± ¡­¡­.. Too late. The reason Asya asked his identity is not because she needs to know. It¡¯s to buy time to track the trace of prana from the signal between their communication device. And the reason I said too late¡­ Is because she¡¯s already gone, soundlessly. To kick their sorry asses. But¡­ they said they knew us very well¡­.. Doesn¡¯t that mean, they also prepared the necessary plan if Asya¡¯s after them? I heard the sound of window breaking. The steps of someone infiltrating the house. Eight seconds after that, I lost my consciousness. Part 3 ¡°Ugh¡­¡­¡± My head hurts. ¡°What happened?¡± My sight gradually came back. I can see a bit now. ¡°¡­¡­¡­..¡± I¡¯m in a room. Maybe about 3 x 3 x 3 meters? There¡¯s only a single lantern as lighting. I can see they are considerate enough to give me a room with air conditioner. I sit in a chair, my hands and feet tied with rope. I try to break free, but it was useless. It¡¯s too strong for me. I am positioned facing the door. ¡°¡­¡­ Asya¡­¡­¡± I¡¯m afraid. What did I do wrong? Why am I in this predicament? What do I need to do to get out of here? If Asya were to be threatened because of me¡­¡­ If something happened to Asya¡­.. ¡°Ugh¡­..uuuuuu!!!!!!¡± I forcibly try to break the rope. It¡¯s useless. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± I can¡¯t¡­.. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit! BAM! The door was kicked from the outside, and opened with a bang. ¡°So you¡¯ve woken up. Hello there, boy.¡± Said a man, coming into the room. Hello there, boy? That was one creepy greeting coming from a filthy guy like you! His facial feature was horrific, to the point like it rivals a ghost costume. No, his face is literally horrific. And I didn¡¯t make this judgment because I¡¯m afraid, though I am indeed afraid. ¡°Wh-who are you?¡± ¡°I wonder who we are¡­¡­ right guys?¡± ¡°Yeah right!!! Hahahahaha!¡± his friends laughed as he said that. This atmosphere¡­.. This is the same like when Kouji and his friends bullied me! Which means¡­.. I don¡¯t know any of them. But I¡¯m familiar with this atmosphere. So the safest thing to do to protect my life and pride is¡­.. Act afraid, while pretending to say i know nothing. Yes, this much is fine. I need to do this calmly¡­.. Or so I think!!!! I¡¯m trembling like hell! ¡°Wh-wh-what do yo-you want with me?¡± I said, stuttering. ¡°Hey boys, he asked what we want from him!¡± ¡°Hahahahaha!¡± Dammit, I can¡¯t stop trembling every time I hear their laugh¡­.. ¡°Try to stay alive as long as you can, boy.¡± ¡°E-eh?¡± I was hit with a straight in the face. ¡°Akh!¡± ¡°Hahahaha! That¡¯s how it is!¡± I was hit again, many times. Straights to the face, ribs, solar plexus shoulder, hooks to the temple, and kicks to my shin. Damn that hurts¡­.. The room was dark, and no light can pierce through, so my sense of time is a bit¡­.. Shit. I can¡¯t see very well, thanks to the hook to the temple¡­.. ¡°Uhk¡­¡­.¡± I stayed tied to the rope, face down. ¡°That was one good thing.¡± Said the man who hit me. ¡°Now answer me, boy.¡± Hu¡­.huh¡­? I¡­.can¡¯t hear you very well¡­.. My ears¡­.. seemed like ringing¡­..? ¡°Akh!!!¡± I was splashed with hot water¡­. Maybe he thought that I lost consciousness¡­.. ¡°U,ugh¡­.gahk!¡± Blood spilled from my mouth¡­. My organs are ruptured. It hurts¡­.. ¡°Hey, should we give him more?¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t do that Aniki. He¡¯s damn weak, so if you give him more he¡¯ll die. Then we can¡¯t use her...¡± ¡°You¡¯re right¡­. Then let¡¯s send her a picture of him! But before that¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°What is her weakness?¡± ¡°Hu.. huh?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make me repeat myself, boy.¡± ¡°I-i-i don¡¯t know I swear! I have never seen Asya go all out, and I myself am not very adept in combat so I can¡¯t analyze her! Surely you guys who kidnapped me knew that fact!¡± ¡°Hm¡­. He¡¯s got a point. Well!¡± I was hit again after a brief silence. Darn it. The bone constructing the upper part of my cheek feels like fractured¡­. ¡°Hey, get a phone. She should have realized the picture we sent to her was a diversion.¡± ¡­¡­ What happened¡­? I can¡¯t see very well¡­¡­ My hearing is also temporarily disabled¡­. It looks like someone fetched something¡­. Is that¡­. A phone¡­? ¡°The Seele ready?¡± ¡°Yes boss.¡± ¡­¡­.. ¡°Hello beauty.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Cat got your tongue?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Hehehehehe¡­.. I like that serious look of yours¡­.. Now do as I say. Your lover¡¯s life is in my hands¡­ if you fulfill my demands, I might decide to spare him¡­..¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Participate in the Dimitri squad reinforcement. Just to be sure, we¡¯ll bring him inside the dimension too.¡­. If you don¡¯t hurry, I can¡¯t guarantee his safety, ya know?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°You have time till tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, enter the dimension from point X12 Y43 Z5 alone. The ransom for your boyfriend¡¯s life is the Void King¡¯s Seele core. That is all.¡± Asya¡¯s POV ------ ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± I must not cry¡­. I must not cry! What happened when I was gone? The man calling me just now sent me a picture of Haru, beaten up and covered in blood¡­. I am worried¡­. Uuuuu¡­.. ¡°Asya, he¡¯s alive. They plan to use you, so if he died then there¡¯s no use in kidnapping him in the first place.¡± ¡°Bu¡­. But¡­ Shiori¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± She said, resolutely. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°I know that you¡¯re very worried, I¡¯m worried about him as well. But only worrying won¡¯t help. We need to think of a solution calmly.¡± ¡°But¡­. How?¡± I asked, in confusion. ¡°Let¡¯s gather our information and analyze them first. Asya, when you received a call that told you I was kidnapped, did you check the prana trace scattering around the vicinity before you leave?¡± ¡°Asya did¡­ and Asya sensed no one¡­.¡± ¡°Then that means they have a way, be it mudra or Seele that covers their prana traces even from an S ranked like you. And when you tried to search my location, did you check the prana trace around the location?¡± ¡°Yes, Asya did¡­.¡± ¡°Can you describe me what you sensed?¡± ¡°It felt like Shiori¡¯s really there¡­. And when Asya analyzed further, Shiori is indeed in a position where Shiori sat and tied firmly with something¡­.¡± ¡°That means they also have a way to fake prana traces as well, to the extent of faking one¡¯s color of prana too¡­.. And since we sensed no mudra used around us, it is safe to assume that they are using a certain Seele to pull off this trick.¡± ¡°What do we do Shiori? If we stay like this, Haru will¡­.¡± ¡°I know. But hurrying and then making wrong steps is also not an option, so calm down.¡± ¡°Uuu¡­..¡± I know¡­.. But I¡¯m still worried¡­. ¡°That man said they¡¯ll bring Haru to the void dimension. That means he has a way to enter the dimension, which means he has obtained access to use military tools, legally or not. Asya, if this is true we¡¯ll have to assume that he¡¯s a man who¡¯s a void slayer and he has connections to criminal organizations.¡± ¡°But¡­isn¡¯t that still insufficient to reveal his identity?¡± ¡°Yeah, but from what I thought up till now, there are possibilities which gives us leads to finding out his identity.¡± ¡°Eh? Such as?¡± I asked, confused. ¡°But before that, we¡¯ll need to use a different method of searching. If mudra and prana related ways are unusable, then we¡¯ll have to use another means.¡± ¡°But, how?¡± ¡°Asya, do you know where Haru would put his results of practice?¡± ¡°Ah, that Asya knows!¡± We headed to Haru¡¯s workshop. There, we found many Seeles in place neatly. Haru¡­¡­ ¡°Asya, let¡¯s look for reconnaissance type and surveillance type mudra first. I don¡¯t know the extent of his skill in this, but it shouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that he has some skill in this.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± We searched and searched every nook and cranny of Haru¡¯s workshop. There, Shiori found some plain white masks. There¡¯s a closed hollow in the mouth part. Haru, how do you use this¡­? ¡°This is it.¡± ¡°This is what?¡± I asked. ¡°This is what we need.¡± ¡°This is what we need?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­ Shiori¡­.. I don¡¯t understand the way you think¡­.. ¡°Shiori¡­. please explain?¡± ¡°Asya, before that, please calm yourself down.¡± ¡°E-eh?¡± ¡°The enemy had already known that when you¡¯re panicking you can¡¯t solve even a simple problem, means that either you have been stalked for a long time, or¡­..¡± ¡°Or¡­?¡± ¡°He¡¯s someone we know well.¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± This is surprising¡­.. ¡°So please calm down. With your mind in disarray like this, you¡¯re playing right in their hands.¡± ¡°U, un¡­.¡± I inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled again. Focus, and¡­.. Yes. I¡¯ve regained my composure. ¡°That¡¯s better.¡± Shiori said. ¡°Then, what is the plan Shiori revised?¡± ¡°By speculating that they covered their prana trace using trace camouflaging, I assume¡­. They can¡¯t use it many times, and for a long time.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°3 things. Firstly, if they use it for a long time, they will leave trace and proof by creating prana trace disruption. You see, when you told me what you sensed and come after me, I felt slight disturbance by prana within vicinity. This will give us hints, which makes using that device for a short time is a must. I¡¯m sorry, but because you¡¯re very fast, your S ranked ability is taken advantage of this time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Asya already knows they are cunning the same time Asya knew Haru was kidnapped.¡± Wow, Shiori is right. I can understand her better when I¡¯m calm¡­.. ¡°Then I¡¯ll continue. The reason they can¡¯t use it for a long time is also because of them. They told you they will bring Haru inside the Void dimension, right? Which means either they have found a way to intrude without the military noticing, which is risky even if they use that camouflaging Seele because sooner or later the military will notice the disturbance, or they have access to military.¡± ¡°But how does that connect with each other?¡± ¡°They have the necessity to hide it from the military too. Of course, this is only under the assumption that the military is not working together with them.¡± ¡°What if they are the military?¡± ¡°That¡¯s also worth considering. But if they really are, then what would be the point of hinting us that they will bring Haru to the void dimension?¡± ¡°But¡­. what if it¡¯s a psychological trick that takes advantage of the assumption that a culprit won¡¯t leave a trace hinting his pursuer?¡± ¡°If that is the case then there¡¯s no need to send Hyuuga Reiji to us. That¡¯s no psychological trick, that¡¯s suicide flag.¡± ¡°¡­¡­ But then, that¡¯s not enough reasons, right?¡± ¡°Yes, and the final reason is Haru himself.¡± ¡°Eh? Haru?¡± ¡°Yes. Firstly, they must have known that we recognize Haru¡¯s prana color, so they would try to hide his color from our detection the best they could. It means, the same time they captured Haru, the device will always be hidden around Haru¡¯s vicinity at all cost, to hide the culprit and their accomplices.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°And secondly, if my assumption that it¡¯s a device is true, then they must never let Haru get wind of its mechanism even a bit.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± ¡°Asya, Haru is a gloomy and incompetent boy. But when it comes to Seeles, he¡¯s as sharp as a human can go. And though he¡¯s not sharper than us, he can read prana traces well despite being F ranked. If he finds out their mechanism, then it is not possible for him to make countermeasure for that Seele and its next version and the Seele derived from the same tree diagram. You of all people should know this the best, right?¡± ¡°¡­¡­ But that doesn¡¯t give us any solution to saving Haru!¡± ¡°Still, that gives us plenty.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°They had already known that they must use it in a short time, which means they must ensure there are not even a slight disturbance in the device. Asya you tell me. Where do you think is the best for devices manipulating prana traces by signals is used?¡± ¡°U, um¡­..high places?¡± ¡°Yes. And where is the nearest highest place around here?¡± ¡­¡­¡­ ¡°Impossible.¡± ¡°No, it is highly possible.¡± Shiori said, resolutely. Continuing, ¡°Asya¡­. Hyuuga Kouji is a possible accomplice of the culprit.¡± ¡°Eh? Kouji¡¯s only a possible culprit accomplice?¡± ¡°There is no evidence to prove our hypothesis. Even so, the nearest highest place where they can use their device the best is the roof of Kouji¡¯s mansion. If I¡¯m not wrong, that mansion has a single room recently built on the roof. And, it is a fact that they know you very well. It can only mean that either they have been stalking you for a long time, which is unlikely even if they use that device because of the reasons I just explained, or they¡¯re in a place where they can observe you nearby without rising any suspicion, which is possible. And that leads to Kouji being a culprit accomplice.¡± ¡°But couldn¡¯t anyone from our school do that?¡± ¡°Of course anyone can, if they have connections to both criminal organization and military. And, this plan of theirs was executed swiftly with precision, so I think they have experts in this field, which means the one leading them has a fair amount of influence to gather them all which leads me to suspecting the minus away from hero level Kouji. The kidnapper might not be Kouji himself, but that doesn¡¯t mean Kouji is innocent.¡± ¡°But then¡­. I understand if it¡¯s Reiji-san, but what does it benefit Kouji-san by doing this?¡± ¡°I can imagine a few things, but let us move under the assumption their objective is to use your strength for their purposes.¡± ¡°Okay¡­.¡± ¡°And now is the plan to rescue Haru.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Since Haru¡¯s position is hidden with the prana camouflaging device, it is no use to find him by following his prana trace. He told you to enter the void dimension, and get to point X12 Y45 Z5, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡­ Normally, void kings reside near or in the center of the void dimension which is point X0 Y0 Zx right?¡± ¡°Yeah. The coordinate points are always numbered 90 for every pointer with plus and minus, that means the position you are asked to be in is a bit to south east of the whole void dimension and five coordinate points above ground level.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I can search every nook and cranny of the void dimension in five minutes at full speed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°They know how frightening your ability is, so I¡¯m saying that this position you are tasked to has some relation to their plan. Of course, this is no more than wishful thinking.¡± ¡°Eh? Connection?¡± ¡°Yes. They said they will bring Haru inside the dimension, so pinpointing his approximate location doesn¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°O-okay¡­¡­¡± ¡°By revising with the thought that they had analyze you through and through, it should be safe to assume that they not only use a Seele that can hide him, but hide him in a confined space that you will surely never find out.¡± ¡°Um¡­. Does Shiori know where would that be?¡± ¡°Underground.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying, they will hide Haru in a Z-x point. And knowing your thorough personality, they will try to choose a place where it¡¯s underground, but an obvious plain on ground level.¡± ¡°Why, would they- ¡°You have overwhelming agility, firepower, prana capacity and perception, and killer instinct so even if they try to hide him on ground level and cover his prana trace with the Seele you¡¯ll find out soon enough by circling around the dimension and checking every possible locations Haru might be confined. If they hide him under a building or within a forest, traces of their digging would remain. Even if they tried to cover it, the movement of void creatures around will tell us that something is hidden underground. After all, they knew void creatures give you no hindrance at all no matter how strong it is, so they must make multiple layered plans to ensure their probability of success.¡± ¡°But then, if they hide him under a plain, won¡¯t void creatures gather above them just the same?¡± ¡°Not if they are under a plain where lots of corpses were scattered all over the place, and the entrance is sealed from below using earth mudra.¡± ¡°Ah¡­.¡± ¡°Void slayer teams has a tactic of luring the creatures into positions to their advantage. If they can¡¯t get a higher ground, they will choose plain since there will be no chance of ambush or unnoticed reinforcements. And, by taking advantage of the corpses scattered around, traces of earth mudra being used will be fairly concealed. Even if other void creatures gather around detecting them, they will always give us false assumption that they want to eat their kin¡¯s corpse.¡± ¡°Bu-but¡­ If they can hide him under a building, cover the entrance with earth mudra, and then destroy the building into rubbles won¡¯t they achieve the same thing?¡± ¡°Then that¡¯ll make it more suspicious because the military have the data of progress of the Dimitri squad. If the data of their battle didn¡¯t say they destroyed a building, yet a building is destroyed won¡¯t it make a hint? If it¡¯s just corpses of void creatures lay everywhere, one can assume they went into a heated confrontation and killed each other. Of course this is also under the assumption that the military, or a fraction of military is not working together with them. Of course, that is of course under the assumption that there is indeed a building inside a Void Dimension.¡± ¡°I¡­. I see¡­¡± ¡°And so, I will explain the steps we need to take to save Haru.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°This is where Haru¡¯s result of practice comes in.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°According to the manual, these masks here is a shape shifting mask. By inserting a part of the thing we want to shape shift, the ability will be active for about fifteen minutes. I will change into you, and you¡¯ll change into another person.¡± ¡°Wh-what for?¡± ¡°Decoy, and infiltration. Before they kidnapped Haru, they must have ensured that you have gone a fairly distance, while in the middle of prana disturbance. This is possible either by a person with sniper-like sight, or they have an outstanding ¡°eye¡±. By shape shifting, we can fool them if the ¡°eye¡± uses sniper-like sight, and if the ¡°eye¡± detects by prana trace, we can conceal our prana trace. I¡¯ll change into you so that the mission looks like it¡¯s commencing along their plan, while you sneak around stealthily and infiltrate. They told you to begin marching from coordinate X12 Y45 Z5, right? It should be safe to assume that they had deployed a spy that will monitor your movements, so this deceit is also meant for them. The person you¡¯ll change into, has a relation to our second step.¡± ¡°Wh-what¡¯s the second step?¡± Shiori is amazing¡­. I didn¡¯t know she¡¯s this sharp! ¡°Fool, and sabotage the military.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡°E¡ªEH?¡± ¡°¡°I said, fool and sabotage the military. The plan for that, is to first obtain a part of Hyuuga Reiji-san. Hair or blood should do it.¡± ¡°Wa-wait a minute, Shiori. Why Reiji-san?¡± We¡¯ll need a cover that doesn¡¯t give us any hindrance on clearance of the operation. And, if his brother were to appear, I¡¯m sure he and his friends will be cautious not to leak any information, and also to draw their weapons.¡± ¡°But, Reiji-san is not a bad person, and Asya thinks that---- ¡°Then you¡¯d rather let Haru be done in like what we just saw again?¡± ¡°U,uu¡­¡­¡± This is hard¡­¡­ please forgive us Reiji-san. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Asya. It¡¯s not like I planned to do this the hard way.¡± ¡°Okay, Asya will join this operation.¡± I said, resolutely. ¡°The operation will commence 6 hours from now on. It¡¯s close to midnight, so we will need to sleep first.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± That night, we slept in Shiori¡¯s room. Part 4 ¡°¡­¡­..¡± I wake up from my sleep. I don¡¯t know what time it is right now. I¡¯m also too tired to forcibly move my tied body. Asya and Shiori hasn¡¯t come to my rescue yet? This is pathetic. I can only wait for them¡­.. Isn¡¯t there supposed to be something I can do? And by the way, how did they pull off this blackmailing anyway? ¡°¡­¡­..¡± Wait. If I analyze it calmly enough, then there might be something I can do. They have the nerve and means to capture me even with Asya nearby by using diversion against Asya¡¯s S ranked overall ability. ¡°A Seele that can even deceive a demigod level void slayer¡­..¡± And by kidnapping me, they will always try to hide me from her using that Seele. Meaning that the Seele will be active around me all the time. ¡°Hm¡­.. This is difficult¡­..¡± This plan of theirs is thoroughly planned. Meaning they must have been spying on us for a long time. If they have thoroughly analyzed us, they must have known about my specialty in Seele engineering. Meaning, though it¡¯s around me, it¡¯s hidden. If I can figure out its mechanism, there¡¯s a possibility that I can escape from here. Asya and Shiori should have made a plan. Asya is strong and relatively invincible from a tactical point of view, but whenever something happens to me, she would always fall into a state of panic and her ability would drop by far. But Shiori is different. She¡¯s silent and though she¡¯s not stronger than Asya and Kouji, she has sharp comprehension and analysis capability, making her a strong piece from a strategic point of view. It¡¯s safe to assume both of them had made a plan for my rescue. And the only thing hindering them and me might be¡­.. The combat units of the kidnappers. The place where I¡¯m confined right now. And that deceiving Seele. The combat units are nothing to Asya, so I can let her take care of it. The place where I¡¯m confined¡­. I can¡¯t figure it out. But If Asya and Shiori had made a plan, then they should have figured out if not exact, my possible location currently or later. The last is, that Seele. I need to remember the moments before they kidnapped me. Asya rushed to Shiori because she felt the prana trace of them and Shiori. And if they can deceive her like that, it means the Seele they are using works like a¡­ ¡°Broadcasting system.¡± They use prana signal broadcasting system to make a prana trace fabrication, while erasing their own prana trace. Roughly, I¡¯ve figured out the first part of information needed to find out their Seele¡¯s mechanism. Now should be the origin of that Seele. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± Asya is an S ranked void slayer, although still a student. Meaning, demigod level. If the Seele they used can deceive even her, it is safe to assume that the Seele was obtained from killing a certain deity of deceit. Creatures and Kings of void dimensions, are somewhat related to myth and lore of the area where the void dimension manifested. This is why the Cocytus Void dimension is difficult to conquer. After all, it has no relation to Far East lore, a rare one. ¡°¡­¡­¡­.¡± A deity of deceit. Is that all there is to it? If I assume they are trying to make Asya conquer Cocytus Void Dimension¡­. Then that means this void dimension has given them a purpose, or relation to their purpose. Then either way, it is safe to assume that their deceiving Seele came from the same lore of this Void Dimension, which is Greek mythology. There are possibilities that the seele might come from a deity other than Greek mythology, but that¡¯s only a meager possibility. The more famous one myth is, the more frequent that myth become the source of creature inside the dimension. In Roman mythology there is a deity of deceit named Fraus, and Mohini in Hindu. But connecting the situation right now, the possible identity of the enemy towards Roman mythology doesn¡¯t sound too convincing. By this reason, Fraus is out. And so is Mohini who came from Hindu mythology. This is why I enforce the suspicion that the seele come from Greek mythology. Even if they are indeed from another myth, the fact it¡¯s from a deity of deceit doesn¡¯t change. ¡°I see¡­¡­¡± I muttered yet again, inaudibly. Apate Aletheia. According to what I recall, that deity was the personification of deceit, and truth. If they really had their hands on Seeles from those deities, or combine them together to function as one, they can not only fabricate fake reality but also affect the truth of reality itself to a certain extent. A very fraudulent enemy with overwhelmingly fraudulent Seele. And if they really obtained it, then they must have someone among them who literally defeated this very personification of deceit and truth. Meaning, a very fraudulent enemy to the point of defeating the personification of deceit and truth. ¡°Dammit.¡± I spat out inaudibly. Still, I must not stop now, after figuring out this much. I know that the Seele might be retrieved from Apate Aletheia, I know the general line of their power, but the main mechanism had not been found yet. How does that Seele works? How did it create detailed reality fabrication, though not on a large scale? If my assumption that says it generally works like a broadcasting system, then I can imagine it being a portable signal transmitter. But then since it¡¯s a Seele, guessing about its shape might not be beneficial at all. There are cases where a sword shaped Seele shoots a concentrated fire ball. Just because it¡¯s a sword, doesn¡¯t mean it can be used to slash. The same goes for this Seele. I need to analyze the events unfolded in front of me when I was kidnapped. They not only used the fraudulent Seele to make fabricated prana trace of Shiori, but to conceal their prana trace as well. But it¡¯s not like I can neither see nor hear them when they captured me. Meaning, there are limitations even to their fraud. And I need to figure that out. Or on another point of view, there are still tricks they haven¡¯t used yet. And I will need to find that out too. Either way, this is because I haven¡¯t figured out the main mechanism of Apate Aletheia. Dammit. To understand its mechanism, let¡¯s make an estimation of how Asya was deceived. Her sight is extraordinary, so I don¡¯t think optical deceit was used. Using vocal deceit is unthinkable. I can¡¯t make sure if Shiori is okay. That leads me to two conclusions. The first is that Apate Aletheia¡¯s deceit ability is to cover prana trace, and fake it. That way, when asya left me she¡¯ll chase after Shiori with the assumption that she¡¯s in danger while the reality is unknown, and they covered their and my prana trace when they infiltrated then captured me. That¡¯s the logical theory I can make under the assumption from what I know. But using another point of view, my other conclusion will be¡­.. ¡°Complete manipulation of reality perception and comprehension.¡± I muttered again, inaudibly. The Seele uses neither Optical nor Vocal Illusion, nor Prana Trace Camouflage. It¡¯s Asya¡¯s sense of perception and comprehension of reality itself that had been tampered. Simply put, it¡¯s like a nerve hacker. Apate Aletheia not only have the power of deceit, but the power to control reality too. I should assume that they can not only cover and fake prana trace, or manipulate perception and comprehension at will but that Seele can also fabricate a desired reality. But such skill cannot be done without a person with enormous amount of prana, and the Seele though the core is from a deity Void King, must be processed by a very skilled Seele engineer so that the potential can be brought to its max. And by looking at their reluctance to use it many times and only used it at the nick of time to capture me with such limits, it means they want to keep it hidden, as their trump card till the day come when the suitable void slayer for using Apate Aletheia appears for their cause. It means, Apate Aletheia cannot be used to its full potential, and many times. If until now the military hadn¡¯t made a single move to rescue me, it means that they also erased their trace from the military. After all, I am an important piece to making favorable relationship with Asya to them. Meaning, when they deceived Asya and capture me, they also used Apate Aletheia¡¯s power to secure a safe situation, devoid of witness. If that is the case, then the latter assumption of mechanism would be more accurate? After all, what¡¯s the use of faking and covering trace if you are visually or vocally witnessed by unwanted pedestrian when infiltrating a minor¡¯s house and abducted him? Even if you killed the witnesses their family and friends would notice them missing and Security Department or even the military under the order of terrorist attack using Seeles subjugation will move to investigate. Even if the scale of prana trace camouflaging skill of Apate Aletheia falls under the category of AOE, then won¡¯t it create a big prana disturbance in the air? That¡¯ll give away the existence of such a Seele. Even if the military will need time to finally figure it out, they will already be aware of Apate Aletheia. And the time of my capture is not that late yet. This is another mystery needing answer. Why did they capture me that time when I¡¯m together with Asya? If they wanted to deceive Asya with Apate Aletheia anyway, they can do it when all of us are asleep. That way, they can have better chance at capturing me, and they won¡¯t have to worry about unwanted witness. I have no possible answer for this. I have too little information so I can only put it on hold. But just in case¡­. If the reason they captured me at a time seemingly slightly disadvantageous for them was related to the effectiveness and efficiency of their plan and or Apate Aletheia¡¯s mechanism, then it¡¯s a big flaw if I can¡¯t figure it out. I digressed. With all my assumptions and estimations, I¡¯ve figured out a few strategic weaknesses. The fact that Apate Aletheia is not at full potential. The necessity to hide it from outsiders, whoever they are. The fact that they have no void slayer capable enough to use that reality perception and comprehension manipulation of Apate Aletheia. Let¡¯s analyze them. The reason it is not at full potential might be because it had not been given proper maintenance or appraised by a very capable Seele Engineer, but also because it¡¯s hard to use it. The Reality Perception and Comprehension Manipulation ability of Apate aletheia doesn¡¯t fall under the category of AOE, or used in that manner because of the reason I explained just now, so it must be a linear type of ability. Meaning, just to make sure I could be successfully captured, they must use Apate Aletheia in a multiple targeting manner. In order to use that, they need the ability of an extraordinary ¡°eye¡±. In other words, if the user himself is not the ¡°eye¡±, then he¡¯ll have to have the ¡°eye¡± stay by his side all the time. In other words, as long as one can conceal one¡¯s own prana trace then one won¡¯t be spotted by the ¡°eye¡±. And when the image of Shiori¡¯s predicament reached us, Though Asya was furious, I was able to keep my calm to a certain extent. Meaning, when Asya is letting out intense bloodlust and prana trace, my almost nonexistent prana trace was masked even further, making their attempt to manipulate my reality perception and comprehension failed. That¡¯s why I was able to hear and see them when they captured me. Though in the end I can¡¯t figure their identity out just from that. One flaw of their plan found. Wait. Now that I remember it, the men who captured me had a peculiar trait. Yeah¡­¡­ ¡°Those necks.¡± I spat out, inaudibly. There¡¯s a tattoo, no it¡¯s more like an insignia, unique to them on the left side of their neck. When I regroup with Asya and Shiori, I¡¯ll tell them about this. Maybe Shiori would know who we¡¯re dealing with. I digressed again. I still have no plan. The plan to release myself from these bounds. The plan to ensure my survival when I am released from these bounds. The plan to interfere with Apate Aletheia. And the plan to escape from here. Currently, I am bound to this room with a room and chair. My legs and hands are immobile. I need to analyze my weakness. When my overall rank of talent in mudra and prana capacity was examined, it was found that I have no channel inside my body that connects my mind and soul. Mudra is an art of magic to create a desired natural phenomenon. The mechanism is to imagine the form of mudra, and by chanting the imagination will be relayed to the soul which is the purification and amplification factor of prana output and then the mudra is casted, and Seele¡¯s peculiar ability is used. Prana itself is a dormant spiritual energy, in other words ethereal. To convert ethereal substance to corporeal substance, purification and amplification by another ethereal substance, which is the soul is needed. If the purification doesn¡¯t occur, then the prana won¡¯t convert to the desired corporeal substance, in other words mudra won¡¯t be casted. There are cases where one doesn¡¯t need to chant, but the output is tremendous. It¡¯s because the connection of the mind and soul and the soul itself is so clear that chanting is not even needed in the first place. Since my mind have no connection to my soul, it¡¯s not even a case where my prana¡¯s not amplified. My prana itself is impure, thus unable to convert into corporeal substance. That is why I can¡¯t use mudra and Seele. But, wait a minute. I am unable to use mudra and Seele. The question is, why must I use mudra and Seele? If only for its convenience, mudra is indeed convenient. But it¡¯s not like Mudra and Seele are the only alternative I have to fight. Yeah. I should reverse my way of thinking. If Mudra is an art of magic to create a desired corporeal natural phenomenon, from the imagination of the mind and prana purification and output amplification of the soul, Then right here, and right now¡­.. I will create an art to destroy natural phenomenon, from the imagination of the mind and impure prana within me. ¡°Hm¡­.¡± Prana affects reality. By purifying and amplifying it through the connections of the mind and soul, mudra is casted. But even though prana itself is not purified and amplified, it can still affect reality. Prana trace and Apate Aletheia¡¯s ability is the proof of the statement though in ethereal form, prana can affect reality by taking another form of ethereal substances. It¡¯s just that, mankind had been doing it the complex way. I will begin the experiment by channeling my prana to my tied limbs, and injected it to the chair and ropes. I imagined the ropes and chair destroyed to molecular level as I inject my impure prana to the chair and the ropes. Nothing happened. ¡°This is difficult.¡± Destroying matter to molecular level cannot be done with impure prana, Huh. Let¡¯s revise the theory. For impure prana to convert into corporeal substance, purification by the soul is needed. In other words, as long as it¡¯s not corporeal, it should be possible to use impure prana. ¡°Heh.¡± I see, so that¡¯s it! I don¡¯t need to destroy the chair and ropes. I just need to eliminate the force which construct the molecular structure of chair and rope itself! There is a reason why an element would take on solid, liquid, or gaseous form. It¡¯s because of the intermolecular bond and characteristic of each form. If I were to erase it, then¡­¡­.. ¡°Success.¡± I could see the chair and rope disintegrate into dust. But it gave me fatigue. ¡°I need more practice for this¡­¡­¡± If my estimation is correct, then I can only use it eleven times a day. With that one just now, ten times left. I stick my ears to the door. I can hear two people chatting. They are laughing. Judging by the direction of the voice, one of them is sitting frog legged on the floor. What should I do? If I were to disintegrate the walls and the doors, I will be spotted and direct combat will ensue. Wait, why must I get out through the door? I need to analyze the room again. The room has air conditioner, so it¡¯s a bit comfortable here. But, right now¡¯s not summer and yet it¡¯s on. If my assumption is correct, Either the whole building is airtight, or we are underground. I doubt they¡¯d kidnap and torture a hostage in a luxurious mansion. Yeah, air conditioner is needed in this room because it is airtight. If even the room to imprison hostages has an air conditioner, then it is safe to assume every room in this building have air conditioner installed. Then it is safe to assume that the whole building is airtight. And the whole building is airtight, because it is underground. After all, imprisoning me in a space mansion on the moon doesn¡¯t even count as a joke. ¡°I see¡­.¡± If the building is underground, it safe to assume that I¡¯m far from the surface. Even assuming that I¡¯m at the lowest level is safe. Their opponent is an S ranked void slayer, so I¡¯m assuming this underground prison is fortified. If so, then this building has a complex structure. To break out from an underground jail¡­¡­ I need to secure an escape route. And a source of prana. For that, I will need to reach the control room of this building. Let¡¯s ask the guards in front of my room then. But I need to experiment one more time. Can I disintegrate molecules shielded by another molecules without disintegrating the other molecules? Prana trace can be felt even if you are in an enclosed space, so I can assume prana can permeate through matter. I touched the floor. I injected my prana to the floor where the chair was positioned. I imagine that the intermolecular bond of matter 1 millimeter below the surface of the floor is erased. Done. There¡¯s no damage done to the surface of the floor. But if I were to hit it¡­ The surface cracks. ¡°Success.¡± I touched the wall where I estimate the guards are positioned on the other side. I did the same as I experimented. I disintegrated the first guard, and the limbs and vocal chords of the other. I imagined the part of the hand till the elbow was disintegrated. And while I¡¯m at it, I disintegrated the locks of the door. I stepped outside of my room. Damn, the stench of blood made me want to puke though. ¡°Where is the control room?¡± I threatened. The crippled guard tremblingly pointed with the remaining of his disintegrated limb. This is a chance to experiment. Prana is an inner energy every living being has. It is produced from the prana source point located below the navel. And the source point is ethereal, not corporeal. I inject my prana upon contact with his body. I destroyed the prana channel, channeling the source point and every part of his body. And I imagined the prana I injected merged and assimilated with his prana source. And as if taking it back, I guided it back to my source. ¡°Success.¡± I can feel impure prana flow into me. I disabled my new art. I tried it again, this time without body contact. Success. This experiment had given me precious understanding of facts. The fact that this technique of mine can be used in a ranged manner. And that I can not only destroy an ethereal substance, but also manipulate it to a certain extent. ¡°Magnificent¡±. This art is the exact opposite of mudra which uses prana to create a desired natural phenomenon by converting it to corporeal substance. This art is using prana to manipulate ethereal substance. I can¡¯t call this with any proper name, since it¡¯s still incomplete. There are lots of theories I have come up that I haven¡¯t tried because I have no time. And the last thing, is that it can affect prana source. If it can affect prana source, I can use it to upgrade my own prana source! I injected prana to my own prana source. Prana source is an ethereal substance. It has no exact form. So I imagined it being compressed. And the circulation of prana production accelerated. And the prana channel connecting the source to every part of my body expand to withstand the increased amount of prana. I can¡¯t say it failed. But the improvement is little. Well I can take my time in this experiment while I absorbs people¡¯s prana. Besides, the amount of prana used to upgrade my own specs just now was little. I tried upgrading my prana source and, production channel again as I sucked him dry. ¡°Hmmm¡­..¡± I can feel the growth as the man went limp. Yes! This is it! With this, I had found a way to secure lost prana. But I can¡¯t get carried away. I must act with caution. And this scene in front of me is undeniable proof that I¡¯ve escaped. If they have people patrol or report periodically, then that¡¯s my time limit. I should assume that I only have a minute limit to find Apate Aletheia and steal it, or tamper with it. Part 5 Still at the same level as my confinement room. I have yet to find neither Apate Aletheia nor this building¡¯s structure. Where the hell is this building constructed? I¡¯m currently in front of the emergency exit door. The alarm signaling my breakout had already activated. The same time it activated, I erased my prana trace so that the ¡°eye¡± with Apate Aletheia won¡¯t manipulate me. I¡¯m currently under pursuit. But they hadn¡¯t reached this level yet. Judging by how the alarm was activated, it seemed that the control room officer above detected no report coming from officers of this floor. In one of the guard¡¯s body which I sucked dry to evolve myself, I found a handheld device. Looks like it¡¯s a portable Visual and Vocal Communication Seele. What to do? If I were to aim for the elevator, they¡¯ll attack me when I exit the elevator. Should I use the emergency exit? But it¡¯s not only an enclosed space, there are no places to hide at all. And they¡¯d also assume that I would get out from there. That leaves me only one choice. Use the surrounding here in this floor, and suck them dry. Though I did think that, I¡¯m trembling. This is the first time I¡¯m in a life threatening predicament, where neither Asya nor Shiori is around. I need to control myself. This is survival of the fittest, and self defense. And also, this is to protect Asya. The only reason I¡¯m alive is because they want to use Asya like they please. I won¡¯t let them. I won¡¯t let them! Hopefully, just incapacitating their motoric nerve system is enough. Nerve System is corporeal because it works with the existence of its organs and bioelectricity. What I¡¯m aiming is that bioelectricity. Because bioelectricity is ethereal, I can erase it. The idea of controlling bioelectricity thus controlling a person came to mind, but I have no time for experimenting. I have sucked about 14 people dry. That¡¯s all I could find in this floor. After sucking everyone on this floor dry, I looked for healing seeles and healed myself. Luckily they are not conceited enough to rely on mudra for healing. After all, before I woke up I was hit many times and sustained injuries. By using it once, all my wounds were almost healed. I also found some rations I can eat and some mineral water I can carry in a small belt pouch. Nice. If my analysis wasn¡¯t wrong, right now I can use Negative mudra fairly like moving my own hand, formed from the imagination of my mind. Although in direct combat, I won¡¯t last any longer than 2 minutes. I think 2 minutes is enough to beat them at once. But that¡¯s considering they use no tactic and attack head on. That¡¯s why I aimed at the emergency exit. There are no visual monitoring devices installed on the ceiling. I can safely assume that I am visually undetected. And now is where I execute my plan. My goal in intercepting them is to incapacitate, evolve, reduce their manpower, and slowly fleeing. I have no need to confront head on. Stealth is better. So as I reached this place I use my art to erase the light reflection, and sound vibration coming from me. My prana is visible to the naked eye in the form of black miasma of annihilation. When I erased light reflection, that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m transparent, because the light and reflections that was supposed to travel to the walls, floors and other things is still blocked by my body. From other¡¯s point of view, it might look like a black wriggling something is walking in front of them. Though they can¡¯t recognize my form, they can detect the abnormality. That¡¯s why I destroyed all the lights on this level. This place is a one way corridor. I have no ground to retreat behind me. Their men will surround me from the front. And they came. 1, 2 , 4¡­¡­.. 8 people. No, I could sense prana coming from the elevator corridor, so I must assume that they have backup team on standby. By the way, I didn¡¯t forget to erase my prana trace. Using this newfound ability I have, it¡¯s even easier and more effective. They are 4 meters from me. I crawled like a lizard towards them. They noticed nothing. I injected my prana not to them but the whole dark space, covering them. This way, they are under my negative mudra¡¯s mercy. I erased their bioelectricity. As I hold them down incapacitated like this, I used my art and sucked them dry. Success. I spent about three and half a minute to suck them dry. My body¡¯s overflowing with prana. I need to spend it to evolve. And so I ran to the front door of emergency exit. Sat there. And, using prana I just absorbed, I evolved my prana source point. I need to do this calmly, yet as fast as possible. Because during evolution sequence, I cannot use another negative mudra. Which means, prana trace can be detected. I sensed them moving to this place. I can sense 5 of them. But their prana is more powerful than the eight just now so it¡¯s safe to assume that they are stronger. No matter. I¡¯m nearly done spending absorbed prana to evolve by the time they will be on the same corridor as I am, so I¡¯ll just project my prana, concentrated them to a ball so the jet black miasma of annihilation will expand, and annihilate any kinds of ethereal substance. I did as I planned. It cost me a considerable amount of prana, so I will need to catch my breath and rest for a bit. They died. More accurately, disintegrated to cellular levels, and flew in the corridor. But my art produce neither momentum nor force, right? Why did their remains fly? Wait a minute. Wow, so my art can erase gravity too? That¡¯s one precious data. I¡¯ll remember it. All right. I got a super brilliant idea to escape from here. But that¡¯s after I had dealt with Apate Aletheia. I need to find it as soon as possible, while I can still crawl under the ¡°eye¡± of Apate Aletheia. And for now, I need to recover my depleted prana while hiding. I detected no prana trace movement. It¡¯s fine. As I think so like that¡­¡­ I saw something moving in the corridor, and that something fired an ice sword straight at me out of blue. I immediately evaded out of fear. Who is that? I can¡¯t feel his prana trace at all! ¡°You¡¯ve got us, bastard!¡± Damn, that was the voice of the person who beat me! He charged at me at full speed. I reflexively create a barrier of negative mudra between us, and erased gravity enveloped by the barrier. When he was caught by my anti gravity, I erased his bioelectricity. I can see him going limp in the air. But that was a mistake. I was hit with an earth bullet coming from him on my solar plexus immediately. ¡°Dammit, voiceless incantation¡­¡­.¡± I spat out. How did he discern my position and aimed an earth bullet to my belly while incapacitated? Most likely he aimed at me using prana detection. I am a noob after all. Slight nervousness caused me to be careless. As I fell on my knees, he fixed his stance, took a step forward and kicked me in the face. I fell on my back, my face facing the ceiling. He shot my legs with an earth bullet. With a bam, my legs was crushed, or so it was supposed to happen. ¡°What?! What trickery is this you bastard!!¡± It¡¯s nothing special. I only nulled the momentum of your earth bullet, a skill derived from the foundation of my art. Though it was a desperate measure. I shot ten jet-black spears made of impure prana. I can¡¯t see him, but from the sound of his steps, he¡¯s dodging three dimensionally! This is bad. He¡¯s not stupid. We¡¯re underground, so he won¡¯t use large scale mudra of the earth and fire system. In this enclosed space, AOE is a no. And more than that, he¡¯s also adept in hiding his own prana trace. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I¡¯ve succeeded subjugating the others by attacking them stealthily. In direct combat, my senses are too dull to catch up with him, which means I only have one chance. I ran to the emergency exit. I dare not take my eyes of him, so I ran backwards. He shot ice spears towards me. Mudra? I deployed active inertia canceller in his direction as I ran backwards. The ice stayed in the air, and when I had retreated, leaving the ice spears out of my active inertia canceller¡¯s range it dropped down on the ground. But, he used a tactic, exceeded my estimations. He used a large scale mudra, [Tidal Wave] in this enclosed space! It doesn¡¯t matter if I use active inertia canceller. By the time I¡¯m out of prana I¡¯ll drown! Fine, I¡¯ll teach you another trick! Water is a type of liquid. It will only stay liquid in a suitable temperature. And temperature will always be affected by heat. Heat is a macroscopic manifestation of microscopic motions of molecules and particles through diffused exchange of kinetic and potential atomic energy. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll annihilate. I fired my prana covering the space in front of me all the way to his direction. As the jet-black miasma came into contact with water, the water froze into ice, sticking with all the parts on every angle of the corridor. With this, I created a barricade. If he heats the ice, oxygen will run out. If he unfreezes the ice, the water will submerge him. If he vaporizes the ice, he¡¯ll be in for a self-made dangerous sauna. I think he won¡¯t drown, but he¡¯ll be slowed by his own mudra. That¡¯s if he¡¯s not frozen like the water. I entered the emergency exit stairs. Locked the door, and made my way to the upper levels while hopping, using anti gravity on my body. The structure of the stairs is glued to the wall, encircling the space all the way. While I hopped upstairs, I disintegrated the parts connecting the stairs and walls for five turns of ascension. With a rumbling noise, the stairs crumbled and fell on the exit door. This way, he¡¯ll have a hard time to chase me. I desperately looked for plans to escape while erasing my prana trace. With such a commotion, there¡¯s no way the ¡±eye¡± equipped with Apate Aletheia won¡¯t notice. My prana is at 10% left from being depleted¡­¡­ I arrived at the ground level door. It was made to face upwards, the bottom part of the door directing to the west. I can sense prana trace of about 32 people with Seele out in the open encircling the door, distance is about 10 meters. From how thin it can be felt, I think they¡¯re trying to conceal their own prana trace. But concealing it till it can¡¯t be felt from this distance is impossible, except that man. I can safely assume that man is the ace. This is bad. What to do? My prana¡¯s almost depleted¡­. Wait. Though only a minute or two, I have escaped from the man below. They have more men, so they gain more advantage when assaulting me in this enclosed place. After all, there are no places to hide. Maybe they misunderstood that I¡¯m somehow able to fight, though not to the extent Shiori and Asya? No, that¡¯s not it. They are wary of this unique ability of mine. With how they think of me, and my current condition, this is a stalemate. The person below haven¡¯t made his move to intercept from the depth of this exit. I can assume he¡¯s going to regroup with the people outside through the elevator. The people outside are holding to their positions, waiting for that man to regroup with them. If that man were to regroup, this place will be stormed and I¡¯ll be captured again. What to do? Direct combat is a no. I have no experience in direct combat except the one I had just now with that man. Even if I use active inertia canceller to charge my way through, I can¡¯t guarantee that I can hold on till I can escape far enough to lose from their pursuit. By the time that alarm was activated, the option of escaping without annihilating every single one of them is already impossible with my current strength. If I stay still like this, that man will regroup and I¡¯ll be captured. Not noticing this is a big mistake. ¡°Damn, if only there are other path I can take here¡­.¡± I spat out that offhand comment. ...........Wait. Wait a minute! If there are no other path, I just have to make one with the remaining prana I have! But this is dangerous¡­. Fine. I can ambush them better this way. Still, in order to succeed this plan, I need to examine the type of soil this underground building is encircled with. I disintegrated the wall below the ground level. I could see soil. It¡¯s dry, and hard. Basically a wasteland though not to the extent of it being a desert. I see¡­. This country is a fertile island. If the soil doesn¡¯t match, then I can assume I¡¯m on another country, or I¡¯m inside a void dimension. Either way, I won¡¯t have to worry about death by cave in. I descended one stair turn. As I descended, I tore the stairs I passed and drop them quietly using anti gravity. If I¡¯m guessing that the direction of the door to the outside is west, then I¡¯m facing wall west too. I tapped the wall with my hands. I injected my prana and erase the intramolecular bonds of the soil behind the wall to make a cubic room of 2 x 2 x 2 meters. This way, the soil will be disintegrated to subatomic level. Still, as expected making a room and with more detailed disintegration tired me out considerably. I projected my prana to cut the wall squarely and lifted it with anti gravity as the air got in. I pulled it out, hold it with one hand, and got into the hole. I put the torn wall in its place again. This room is 2 x 2 x 2 meters. In other words, 8 cubic meters. The amount of air is limited, so I disintegrated the soil above me all the way to the ground to make an air hole. I can no longer use any negative mudra except erasing my prana trace because of lack of prana. But this way, I can stay still and replenish my prana. I opened the rations I picked from the storage room below. The emergency exit is dark, so unless they bring flashlights with them the trace of disintegration on the wall won¡¯t be spotted so easily. I wolfed the rations like never been before. Damn I¡¯m hungry. And thirsty. This way, I created a situation where both side is at a stalemate, and when the opponent take the initiative, they will be at a disadvantage. If they wait, they will also be at a disadvantage. In other words, everything except taking the initiative is advantageous to me. If they were to recklessly inspect the emergency exit anyway or blast it away with mudra anyway, I can use my art to dig my way up to ground level. The possibility of Shiori and Asya coming also exists. And by making this much commotion, I have pretty much given them valuable hints at where I¡¯m supposed to be. Just that, I¡¯m concerned about the ¡°eye¡± with Apate Aletheia. If their reality perception and comprehension is manipulated, then there¡¯s a chance I will have to incapacitate an allied demigod-level fighter. Rather than facing such a fate, I should incapacitate the ¡°eye¡± with Apate Aletheia. But, how? I keep on thinking like that as I wolfed down more rations and water. I should wait here for tactical and strategic advantage while making backup plans. This is what I had planned by the time I decided to take refuge here. Let¡¯s gather all the data I obtained and analyzed them first. The fact that either this place is on another country, or inside a void dimension. The fact that the ¡°eye¡± had neither appeared nor made any noticeable movements despite the critical crisis of me breaking out. The fact that the rest of guards except the man who tortured me carefully keep awareness of me. If this is another country, I¡¯m doomed unless Asya and Shiori come to my rescue. Even if I happen to escape, I have no idea which way leads to home. I have no resources, so I will have to hunt by myself for food and other life necessities, if there are any. But if this is inside a void dimension, then it is safe to assume Asya and Shiori will come to help. If they do come to help, then my role right now is to replenish my strength and create a diversion to give them advantage no matter how small it is in combat. And for that, I need to analyze the surrounding. Is there any void creatures around here? I can¡¯t get a nice enough reading of the situation up above other than what I had already known. The ¡°eye¡± with Apate Aletheia had not made any noticeable movement. This is the more important issue now. In other words, using normal means of tracing and finding a person won¡¯t be of use. Even if I erased my prana trace, the movements of his comrade will tell my position even though vaguely. In other words, even the ¡°eye¡± had already known that I¡¯m inside the emergency exit. Only because I¡¯m completely erasing my prana trace using negative mudra, I haven¡¯t been found out and manipulated by him. I need to make plans to counter two possibilities. If the ¡°eye¡± isn¡¯t here then I should prioritize escape, which is currently ongoing. If the ¡°eye¡± is here, then I¡¯ll start with analysis. It had been about 30 minutes from the time I¡¯m out of hostage room, so it should safe to assume everyone had already known about me trying to break out. Well, that¡¯s natural. But the eye had not made any noticeable movement. It could be that he¡¯s in a safe position around me, which is hidden among the 32 people. If that is the case, I will use an AOE attack using the ethereal annihilation attribute of my prana from the middle of their circle formation after replenishing enough prana. But if there is another alternative where I will need to use fewer prana and more unnoticeable, that¡¯ll be helpful. I should make the AOE attack is a plan A for escaping. As I was thinking that, I heard a big explosion. Part 6 9 HOURS BEFORE EXPLOSION Asya¡¯s POV ----- After having prepared ourselves, we knocked the military camp¡¯s door stationed near the void dimension. When it was known it was us who came, the faces of void slayers instantly cheered up. I have no intention to help you guys¡­.. ¡°Where is Hyuuga Reiji-san?¡± Shiori asked in a flat tone. ¡°He¡¯s currently inside the mayor¡¯s dwelling, calming the mayor down¡­¡± said a young male void slayer in front of us. ¡°Thank you for the information.¡± ¡°A-ah, likewise¡­.¡± What was the blushing for, soldier-san¡­ We immediately headed to the mayor¡¯s dwelling like he said. There, we were welcomed by the many maids and butlers of this mansion, and were brought inside the guest room. A little later, the mayor and Reiji-san came into the room to welcome us. ¡°It is an honor for you to visit, Anastasia-san, Shiori-san.¡± ¡°No, mayor. The honor is ours. Apparently, we have a change of mind, but still we have a condition we want you to fulfill.¡± Shiori said, straight to the point. ¡°Oh, what will it be?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Shiori is¡­silent? ¡°The first will be some strands of your hair, Reiji-san.¡± ¡±¡±¡±Eh?¡±¡±¡± Everyone except Shiori was dumbfounded by the unexpected request. Shiori that was too straight forward! ¡°What are you doing? I want it now.¡± Unaffected, Shiori said in a resolute tone. ¡°A-ah, alright¡­..¡± obviously confused, he pulled some strands of his hair and gave it to Shiori. ¡°Not enough. I need your bodily fluid too.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± ¡°What kind of prank is this?¡± his face seemed to say. You¡­. ¡°Should I take this silence as refusal?¡± ¡°O-of course not, ma¡¯am.¡± And then as if it had been prepared beforehand, Shiori pulled out an empty bottle and filled it with his blood. ¡°Um, will that be all?¡± confused too, the mayor asked. A little later, she sat back on her seat. ¡°Secondly, I want you guys to lend us your help should you see that both of us and Haru are in a somehow unfavorable situation.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that will happen, but you have my words as the representative of this town¡¯s military.¡± Reiji-san said. ¡°And thirdly¡­¡­¡± Shiori is¡­. Silent, but her eyes are still glaring at the mayor and Reiji-san. The mayor and Reiji-san fell silent too, waiting for Shiori to state her conditions. ¡°Unrestricted clearance and access of intel regarding the operation, the foes, everything.¡± Hearing Shiori¡¯s unexpected condition, both the mayor and Reiji-san looked at each other while I looked at Shiori. ¡°If it¡¯s only that much then of course¡­ rather isn¡¯t it natural?¡± Reiji-san butted in. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Just as she said that, the atmosphere froze from the overwhelming killing intent coming from Shiori. Seemingly a bit affected, ¡°What is our blunder that made us lose your trust?¡± Reiji-san asked. ¡°Your timing in recruiting us.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Yesterday, you came to our classroom and said you wanted to recruit me, Asya, Haru, and Kouji, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I did¡­.¡± ¡°You of all people knew that Kouji has overwhelming talent, so why did you only recruit him yesterday?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t deny that Kouji is a prodigy, but even so he¡¯s still raw and inexperienced as a void slayer, so I would like to wait for his mind to mature and have him on a safer raid than this one.¡± ¡°Yes, I have already guessed that too. But if you are in the same team as him, won¡¯t it be easier to cover his openings?¡± ¡°What are you trying to imply, Shiori-san?¡± Reiji-san asked, his eyes narrowed a bit. ¡°I¡¯m trying to imply that from both tactical and strategic point of view, it should be easy and beneficial for the military to hasten the maturity of Kouji as a void slayer, since it has been hard for you guys to persuade us to join your cause yet you didn¡¯t do that even though there were occasions where less dangerous void dimension raid presented before Cocytus. And unlike us, Kouji bears no particular dislike towards the military, so it should be safe to assume that he won¡¯t deny missions you gave him to a certain extent.¡± ¡°All right. Assuming that your implication is right, then will you tell me the connection between this and the commencing raid right now?¡± ¡°The point of suspicion existed either within you guys, or Kouji himself.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°The first is, if my assumption that you deliberately did this is on the mark, then all the more reason I can¡¯t trust you, and the more I require unrestricted clearance of all intel you have. If it is otherwise, then I want you to spy on Kouji. If there was an occasion where you offered him a mission, I want to know every single details of reasons and circumstances why he accepted or refused the mission and how the mission progressed.¡± ¡°¡­.. Then is there a second point?¡± ¡°No, but still i want to know the military¡¯s real objective in every raid whether you recruited Kouji or not.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine if we go through the legal procedure and tell you all that, but will you tell me what uses do these and your request of unrestricted clearance of intel have to both of you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I judged it is worthy to trust you.¡± ¡°Then will you tell me what will you do if we can¡¯t comply with your request?¡± ¡°Then I and Asya will conclude the military¡¯s untrustworthy, and declare war to you. You have the numerical advantage, but you should know how much of that will hold us in an all-out war. Needless to say, we have the resolve to face the risks of our actions.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Wow, Shiori¡¯s scary¡­.. But it¡¯s not like I will hesitate if I were to wage war against the military. ¡°Then, please give us time to consider.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe, I have that much time. It¡¯s now, or never¡­.. Reiji-san, Mayor.¡± She said resolutely, her gaze sharp. ¡°Mayor¡­.. What do you think¡­?¡± ¡°Military affairs are outside of my jurisdiction being a mayor myself, but at least I can hasten the procedure to request what you wished for to the upper echelon of the military, Shiori-san. Will that be enough?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you two hours.¡± ¡°Wh-what? Requesting something like this in two hours is¡ª ¡°Your problem, not ours. You can¡¯t give us what you want, we declare war. That¡¯s it for our visit today. Needless to say, I want all of this off the record. Lastly, I want Reiji-san alone to visit my house exactly two and a quarter hours later for confirmation of the request.¡± Feeling done with the two of them, Shiori stood up, and headed to the door with me following suit. Though I thought that the negotiation was indeed successful, I can see no delight or anything from her. I wonder why¡­.. ¡°Shiori, what was that for?¡± I asked as we reached Shiori¡¯s house and made it to the living room. ¡°False alarm.¡± She answered while urging me to sit. ¡°Eh?¡± sitting on the sofa herself, she then said: ¡°I¡¯ll tell you my motive in two possibilities. First, if the military is working together with the kidnapper, then the ultimatum just now was to declare that I have found out about your trick, and whether it had been found out or not, sooner or later you will face the consequences. Second, if the military is not working together with them, it is to inform them that they had let something slip out of their watch, and endangered us.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ but if they figured out we guessed right, won¡¯t it be harder to infiltrate?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s the opposite.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°If the reality was according to my first assumption, then it will be necessary for the military to contact and inform the people of Haru¡¯s confinement place and indeed, they will be more cautious towards us.¡± ¡°Then¡­.¡± ¡°That is why they will absolutely try to monitor your every movement. After all, there is no more trusted observer than those who are suspicious and wary of you.¡± ¡°So the reason Shiori did that was to increase the spy monitoring Asya¡¯s movement which Shiori will cover by changing into Asya, thus leaving the surveillance an opening for Asya to infiltrate?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. And with the necessary item for the transformation collected, we can start the operation. Yesterday, you brought the possibility of psychological trick, right? This is what I call psychological trick.¡± ¡°What if they had figured out that Haru had made shape-shifting Seele?¡± ¡°They will have to ask Haru about it, or they will have to peep his Seele manufacturing records. But I doubt they did that. I don¡¯t think that being an F ranked himself, his ability is so interesting to others. And if they want to peep his Seele manufacturing records, they will have to infiltrate the house which require them to use that Seele that deceived you. The merit is unknown, while the risk is obvious. I don¡¯t think they will go that far.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°And if the reality was according to my second assumption, then they will try to observe us, and Haru. Eventually, it will be known that Haru had been kidnapped. That is why every single thing I said just now was trust and trust. That is also why I requested the second condition.¡± ¡°A, ah¡­ So that¡¯s how it is....¡± ¡°And lastly, I specifically ordered Reiji-san to come here for confirmation of the request so that we can use him too.¡± ¡°But wasn¡¯t Asya supposed to change into him?¡± ¡°That plan¡¯s not discarded. It¡¯s for another thing.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see. Just do what I tell you to for now.¡± A little later, at the requested time Reiji-san was asked to come for confirmation. He came and stood in front of the door, and rang the doorbell. Anticipating this, I hurried to and opened the door, and urged him to get inside. ¡°I thought that just relaying the confirmation was enough, so what is the occasion?¡± a bit confused, he asked. ¡°Well, there are still things we wanted to discuss with Reiji-san alone.¡± ¡°What if I don¡¯t want to hear it?¡± ¡°Then Asya will make sure to cripple your limbs so that Reiji-san will live on, in an unsightly sight. We ourselves are cornered here, so don¡¯t try anything funny in our territory.¡± ¡°¡­¡­..¡± We reached the living room. Maybe since I said that I would go to such length to have him listen to us, he gave no resistance and willingly entered. After having him sit, Shiori came inside from another room. ¡°I have the formal written letter of approval of your requests. Here is the thing.¡± He said as he threw a sealed letter towards her. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± After reading it, Shiori then went silent again. And then, ¡°Thank you for your cooperation, Reiji-san.¡± ¡°Ah, likewise.¡± ¡°I wanted to discuss this with you, but since there was the mayor that time I need to make an opportunity like this. For that, I and Asya apologize.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine already so get to the point.¡± ¡°Haru is missing.¡± ¡°Wait¡­..What?¡± From there on, Shiori started to tell him lots of things regarding our hypothesis of the case. The details of events unfolded during the incident. The speculation of a criminal organization moving in the shadow of this town. The speculation of Kouji wrapped up as a possible culprit accomplice. The speculation of where Haru might be. And finally the solution to rescue Haru from them. ¡°How could this be¡­.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve gathered so far. This also explains our behavior at the mayor¡¯s mansion and our requests.¡± ¡°I see¡­.. If you have already made a plan, then this conversation is made to ensure the success of the execution, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad that Reiji-san caught on so quickly. Though, my request this time is simple. I want you to lend your strength to us for this.¡± ¡°Is that request affecting the relationship the military is trying to build with you?¡± ¡°Not at all. This is a personal wish.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± Shiori¡­ to make a personal wish for Haru¡­. Thank you¡­.. ¡°What¡¯s in it for me?¡± ¡°A favor.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Consider me owing you a favor. And later you can come to me to collect it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡± ¡°Shiori, can¡¯t Asya just- ¡°No Asya, I told you if possible I don¡¯t want to do this the hard way¡­.¡± Shiori said, cutting me. After a brief silence, Reiji-san--- ¡°Fine. I¡¯m in.¡±¡ªanswered. ¡°Thank you, Reiji-san.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I have a choice, right? If he dies, you two will lose one important motive in partaking in military activities which needs you two so much.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s my role?¡± ¡°Asya, what do you think?¡± ¡°From a tactical point of view, Asya thinks it will be better to move with a linear formation, with me in the front, Reiji-san in the middle and Shiori in the back. Asya will be the main role in intercepting any kinds of situation we will meet, Reiji-san will provide backup for what Asya will be lacking, and Shiori will provide long range support for infiltrating and for retreating and securing escape routes after extracting Haru.¡± ¡°Nice enough, no complaints from me.¡± ¡°Okay, the formation is formed. When do we depart?¡± ¡°Asya thinks that it¡¯ll be best if we rest for four hours and use an hour to have a bite of rations, and an hour for preparation at the first half and then begin departure, reaching the desired location by the end of the last half.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. Reiji-san can use one of the rooms in this house.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Departure. Shiori entered the void dimension, in a way that dropped her to point X12 Y45 Z5. The kidnappers wanted me to go inside alone, so as a diversion she will change into me and pretend to look for clues in areas we thought impossible for Haru to be in. Shiori thought that by acting to look for him, it will increase their wariness towards her, thus making a larger opening in their net. 10 minutes later, I entered anonymously with Reiji-san, me changed into Reiji-san while Reiji-san changed into Shiori. We deliberately did this so that the enemy will have wrong information about us, thus giving us room for surprise attacks using techniques unbefitting of our outer characters. After walking for about 15 minutes north-northwest from point X-30 Y15 Z10, a dry plain was in sight. The plain was just as Shiori speculated. It was full of void creature¡¯s corpses lying everywhere. In the middle of it, both of us can see people circling around something, their Seele out in the open. ¡°Asya-san, I sensed 32 people there circling around something. Maybe it was the entrance to the underground prison Haru is in?¡± ¡°No, Asya sensed 2 more. One is going up steadily just fine, but the other one¡¯s prana trace is too thin¡­. No it¡¯s almost nonexistent like it¡¯s erased. The thing Asya felt is maybe the prana he used to cover his prana trace. Could that be the deceiving Seele user?¡± ¡°Or, he could be Haru¡­.. Though I have nothing to base it on. What¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°If their situation is normal, then they should be putting their all not to let anyone outside finds out about them, which means right now a certain disturbances had occurred from within. I think that we should attack. What does Reiji-san think?¡± ¡°Nice enough for me.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll use AOE mudra in 20 seconds and charge in 10 seconds after the mudra is done. Reiji-san will charge in 5 seconds later after me.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t we do it together?¡± ¡°So that if they were to have a certain countermeasure against ambush, you can still keep your presence out of their minds.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°¡­¡­. [Burning Hell].¡± As I cast mudra, an orb of fire gathered in my hand less than half a second and drew an arc, landing in the middle of their circle and exploded. The surrounding area became scorched earth instantly upon contact. I could see them burn to ash. As I confirm their death, ¡°Asya-san, watch out!¡± Reiji-san pulled me out of my position as he shouted, and¡­ A long range shot penetrated his sides forcing him on his knees, and then fall powerlessly. ¡°Reiji-san! .... Reiji-san!¡± The wound left a burn mark¡­. Is it mudra? But I didn¡¯t sense any prana trace beside them! This is bad. That deceiving Seele user is here! I pulled him to a safe location, a cave 500 meters west away from the previous location. I lost sight of the plain as I retreat, and casted healing mudra right away. Please, make it! ¡°Th-there was¡­ a person¡ª ¡°Asya knows already so please refrain from talking!¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it¡­.. The shooter was¡­. Most likely¡­.. Kouji.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± That¡¯s one of his most prized technique, [Lightning Spear]. It travels at lightning speed, and The no prana trace and no mudra array casting is its most annoying point about it¡­¡± ¡°Asya understands, Reiji-san so please rest well here!¡± I said, flustered as I stand up to pursue him. ¡°Please wait, Asya-san.¡± Grabbing my hand, he pleaded. ¡°What do you mean wait? He¡¯s going to get away!¡± ¡°I know, so please hear me out.¡± ¡­¡­¡­. This is bad. I need to calm down. ¡°Okay. So what is it?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t kill him. There are things I want to ask him, I beg of you¡­.¡± ¡°¡­¡­. Reiji-san, displaying mercy in battle isn¡¯t my style¡­. But I¡¯ll at least try so please rest assured.¡± ¡°Yes, thank you¡­.¡± He said, as he closed his eyes. The enemy knows that I¡¯m easy to fall into a state of carelessness by seeing a comrade getting hurt, that¡¯s why he deliberately aimed at me. If I was hit, he¡¯ll use that opening and if Reiji-san was hit, he¡¯ll use my moment of carelessness. What thoughtful ambush. If you guys are actually my ally, I would have praised you for that. Which means, this time it will be their real attack. Will it be a frontal or a flank? ¡°Hm¡­¡­.¡± Terrain layout grasped. Detection¡­.. I can¡¯t sense him. ¡°!¡± I twisted my neck, and jump in a barrel roll manner to the left in reflex, evading five lightning spears which melted the insides of the cave as it clashed with earth. As I land my feet, a big thunder beam is arcing towards me. Hmph. You¡¯re underestimating me, Kouji! ¡°[Divine Interruption]¡± As I cast the mudra, a barrier of prana covered my front, and I expanded to cover all of the cave¡¯s entrances. The beam collided with the barrier and a blinding flash of light flashed. Luckily, I was in time to cast [Blind] of the debuff support system, shielding my eyes from the flash. As the collision ended, I dispelled the debuff mudra. Cave-in is fine and all since I can just blast my way through, but he¡¯ll gain territorial advantage which must be prevented. ¡°¡­¡­ [Macropyre]¡± I cast an everlasting, wide linear mudra of the fire system outside the entrance and fired it in a sweeping manner, razing the whole area in flames. This way, he¡¯ll need to retreat at least 250 meters, and then¡ª ¡°[Berserker Gale]!¡± Enraging the wind with mudra, I cast a mudra firing 157 orbs of wind, continuously cutting space within 5 meters radius while spreading above the everlasting flame razing the red hot land. The collisions of wind blades creates cutting sounds and momentum, blasting the space. I dispersed the orbs, created a formation and made it move circling around its axis to cut through all the hidden space unburnt by [Macropyre]. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± My instinct told me I haven¡¯t killed him. But he was at least wounded and then retreated. That means from the beginning, he already sniped me from a very far away position, no less than 200 meters. I went back to Reiji-san. Though I was able to heal his wounds, with this Reiji-san will be immobilized for combat. I need to control the wind orbs to surround this place making a perimeter. ¡°Reiji-san, I have created a perimeter with [Berserker Gale] so please rest for now. I will head out for a bit.¡± ¡°[Berserker Gale]?! A-ah, alright.¡± He seems surprised? I hope he¡¯s okay. I went out of the cave, and marched my way straight to outside the area burnt by [Macropyre]. ¡°Hmm¡­¡­.¡± I can¡¯t sense him again. What¡¯s this? Is this that deceiving Seele¡¯s ability? This means I have two opponents to face right now. Annoying. One is a sharpshooter one is a trickster. What kind of battle is this? ¡°If that¡¯s how you want it, then fine! I¡¯ll just kill you like I always do!¡± enraged, I shouted to no one in particular. ¡°Haaa.... Haaaa....¡± As I regulate my breathing, I concentrate and--- [Flashover] ---casted a high rank AOE fire mudra in the space 20 meter above the ground 520 meters north away from me, obliterating everything in a fiery explosion within 500 meters radius. ¡°Fuu¡­¡­¡± One more time. [Flashover] This time, I casted the mudra 520 meters south away from me, obliterating everything. By exploding the area in the north and south with [Flashover], and making a perimeter in my west with [Berserker Gale], if they are still alive, their only path of retreat is to the east, where Reiji-san was shot. Since Haru is in that direction, I will need to fight with Seele instead of mudra. ¡°Serve upon me, Adrammelech!¡± As I call the name of my Seele, a gigantic torrent jet black flame formed from thin air and swirled, gathering in my arm forming a jet black sword. As the jet black flame fluttered in the air, the surrounding was burnt to the point it¡¯s slowly changing into magma. ¡°Here I go!¡± I charged full speed ahead destroying and burning the ground as I stepped on it. In no time at all, I reached the plain where Reiji-san was shot. The shape shifting Seele is still active. I¡¯m still shapeshifting as Shiori. ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t Shiori-san. I see that today is a special occasion since you used Asya-san¡¯s Seele?¡± as I trace my sight to the owner of that voice, I see the sharpshooter exactly as Reiji-san guessed. His clothes are in tatters, I can see burn marks in his visible skin. I see, so even though it¡¯s not fatal, I was able to wound him to this extend. ¡°Shut it. Kouji, surrender without a fight, and I won¡¯t pursue this matter any further.¡± As I threatened him, I extended Adrammelech¡¯s burning aura¡¯s range. ¡°Well, actually¡­ I would rather be happier if you¡¯d like to pursue this matter further with me?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Exactly as I say, Shiori-san.¡± ¡­¡­. ¡°So I take it you¡¯re not backing down without a fight.¡± ¡°And so do you, right?¡± Silence permeated the space. A brief moment later, Kouji made a huge retreat, while shooting 13 lightning spears towards me simultaneously. Facing this, I jumped in a barrel roll manner to the right, and side stepped while twisting my body to evade the remaining lightning spears. Noticing his attacks as the start of the fight, I immediately wrap my body with prana for defense. The distance is about 38 meters. ¡°Impale him, Adrammelech!¡± As I call the name of my Seele, I made a fiery slash of black flame, burning the ground 75 meters ahead. He wasn¡¯t surprised when I drew Adrammelech? Either he had already made plans to deal with me, or our strategy has been read. This is bad. Anticipating that he might have evaded, I made horizontal slash waist height with the same output as the previous. Countering this, Kouji let out a huge amount of prana burst boosting his mudra to the limit to defend my slash while retreating. ¡°Hmph. You won¡¯t get anywhere with me if all you do is retreat!¡± The same time I took my third step towards him, ¡°!!!¡± The ground exploded upon touch with my feet. I was able to jump at the last moment, but my feet got burnt a bit. No matter, my movement won¡¯t be hindered by this much. While still in the air, I fired a barrage of 3 meters radius fireballs at maximum output, numbering 54 shots. ¡°Hua!!¡± As black fireballs rained upon him, he dodged by paper-thin margin, but eventually his movements become slower, and with a bam I got a clean hit. A second after I confirmed that¡­ ¡°Ugh!¡± I reflexively parried 3 lightning spears arcing from behind, and as I stepped to the side, he shot a huge lightning beam towards me. Absolutely having zero prediction of this, I reflexively burst a huge amount of prana to invoke [Divine intervention], positioning it in front of me. [Divine intervention] is a one directional barrier mudra with strong resilience. For it to have a dent¡­.. Where does this power come from?! I slanted the barrier as to let the beam¡¯s firepower pass through while securing myself. ¡°This is¡­..¡± I was gradually pushed back as the huge beam collided with my barrier, And after being pushed a few meters, the ground where I stood collapsed, suddenly becoming a hole. ¡°A pitfall trap!¡± As gravity made its effort to pull me to the pit, I reflexively shot fiery mudra-made compressed air in a jet manner and propelled myself up, while-- ---a lighning orb 15 meters above me shined and released a huge strike, forcefully sending me falling to the 15 meters deep pit. ¡°Urgh¡­¡± As I got up and fix my stances, I noticed the damage I took from that attack just now was considerable. Wait. What¡¯s this shiny thing on the pit¡¯s wall? ¡°Crud! [Soar]!¡± As soon as I noticed the shiny thing on the wall was mudra pattern of the water system, I jumped with all my might. The mudra pattern, as I expected, let out streams of water instantly filling the pit up with water. Just when I think it was about time to counter, The water in the pit suddenly accelerated, forming shockwaves of high pressure water blades and bullets and roared its way to me from below. Having no countermeasure for this, the high pressure water blade wounded my legs considerably, and I was thrown out of balance midair due to its momentum, causing me to spin in a chaotic manner which caused me to reveal more space for the attacks to wound me. The momentum¡¯s accuracy was extraordinary that it hit every part of my body. And as if all of that wasn¡¯t enough, Kouji leaped from his initial position¡ªbefore the pit--- and tried to stab me with a lightning spear in hand, accurately aiming at the heart. ¡°I won¡¯t let you!¡± Although very difficult, I was able to perform an emergency acrobatic maneuver and parried it. But, the spear still grazed my flank considerably. Noticing this is my chance, I immediately kicked Kouji out of reflex, Only to be responded with a fireball from behind him. ¡°Aaakh!¡± I was thrown again, this time out of the pit, and landed roughly. What was that? Was the one I kicked a clone? I don¡¯t understand it! ¡°Ugh!¡± As I tried to stand up, I felt pain from my legs. This is bad, my legs had been critically injured¡­ ¡°Adrammelech!¡± I slashed the ground, forming a wall of black flame, ¡°[Earth Lance]!¡± And propelled myself using the ground as a spring, and when I¡¯m midair, ¡°[Soar]!¡± I raised the height of my position using mudra. While I¡¯m out of his range for a brawl, I thought about how to handle him. In battles, be it one on one or groups, there are three aspects one must always give undivided attention. That is the sky, the earth, and the men. The sky means timing of action, the earth means position, and the men means teamwork in group battles and technique and personal capabilities in solo battles. From the exchange just now, it is obvious that though I¡¯m at an advantage for having better specs and defense against his attacks, I can¡¯t guess his tactic which involved his and my position with perfect timing. Because of that, I can¡¯t even land a single counter. No. even my counter was predicted, and he used it to its fullest extent. ¡°What to do?¡± I keep thinking as I healed my injuries, mainly my legs with mudra. If assuming him taunting me to a one on one duel is preferred, then he should have also assumed that when his land ambushes fail, or somehow broken, he will also have made a plan where he¡¯ll be able to strike me midair. ¡°A pity. If he displayed this ability at school, I might be beaten already¡­ not that there¡¯s anything I can do about it if that were the case¡­..¡± I digressed. Should I use it, after all? If possible, I don¡¯t want to reveal my trump card too often. While thinking so, Kouji had already made a leap, a Seele in hand. It shone with bright luster, conveying its divinity for all to see. ¡°I see, so that¡¯s the Storm God Susano¡¯o¡¯s divine sword [Kusanagi]¡­¡­¡± I have no room to think about showing my trump card or not. ¡°Adrammelech, devour.¡± As I gave the order, Adrammelech immediately burst into a haze of black flame, and engulfed my body. Black flame swirling around my body, I then focus my prana to my utmost limit to fulfil the needed output for this technique while Kouji keep coming to deliver his attacks. And just as Kouji was about to deliver it, My body immediately exploded, forming a black supernova in the sky. And from that explosion, completes the fusion of me and Adrammelech. The jet black flame engulfed and wrapped my entire being with a dark flame full body armor. The armor was not a thick, instead it was a light armor worn for war maidens in this land. Still, since this is the result of fusion between me and Adrammelech, the armor was covered in black miasma, sinister aura permeating the air around us. I start charging. A few minutes later, I crushed Kouji¡¯s every trap and captured him. Part 7 After bringing the unconscious Kouji to the cave, I tended to Reiji-san at once, and helped him sit on the ground. He was still writhing in pain, but the major wounds had already closed up so I think it¡¯s fine. The cave was 20 meters deep, a space of 6 tatami mat was present for all to use, so I put Reiji-san on one corner and Kouji on the other. Just a countermeasure if he somehow launched a desperate attack. After all, he had no hesitation in shooting us with the intent to kill. ¡°U,urgh¡­¡± His eyes seemingly shivering, Kouji slowly woke up. His painful expression is obvious for all to see, I must have hit him too hard. Well, you reap what you sow. ¡°Feeling like talking yet?¡± ¡°Hmph. I guess I am no match for you in a lone battle no matter what tactics I use, Asya-san.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah. You should¡¯ve known that already so stop muttering useless chatter now. Who ordered you?¡± ¡°Do you really think that I will tell you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not really the case actually, you know. I was willing to give you a choice.¡± ¡°Hahahaha, to choose between my life and my pride?¡± ¡°No. it is whether you would be willing to die after you talk, or to die without talking.¡± As I said that, my anger surged from the depth of my abdomen, burning my whole body with rage. ¡°¡­.. Wait Asya-san.¡± Feeling the authenticity of my bloodlust, Reiji-san spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should kill him whether he talks or not.¡± That was one good suggestion, but¡­.. ¡°No matter what you say Reiji-san, it is a fact that he¡¯s in cahoots with the guys who kidnapped Haru, and he attacked both of us with the intent to kill, and without hesitation no less. I have no room to grant him mercy just because he¡¯s your little brother.¡± He felt like a bit enduring some kind of pain¡­ Ah. My rage is boiling and my prana is unconsciously heating up the air around us. ¡°That¡¯s a bit regretful if you said you have no room to grant him mercy, but what if what he¡¯s going to say is not everything he knows? Like he¡¯s telling the answer of your question, but then at the same time leading you to a certain trap he¡¯s laid? After all, he dared to face you alone knowing the difference in specs. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a coincidence. We should assume that from the beginning of his ambush, he had already made plans to face the possible situation he might encounter. After having shot me down, he lured you to where Haru might be, right? Do you really think that¡¯s a coincidence? He must¡¯ve lured you to a place where you won¡¯t nuke him. The only thing he missed was the fact that you¡¯re Asya, not Shiori. If not, wouldn¡¯t his plan succeed? We should assume he has a card he can use were he to be captured like this.¡± ¡°That was a good point¡­.¡± As I accepted his suggestion, I turned to look at Kouji¡¯s face and saw him grimacing. ¡°Your ideas are praiseworthy, Reiji-san. Asya can see Kouji¡¯s face saying ¡°it was spot on!¡±.¡± What a good luck for you Kouji. You get to earn yourself a grave dug by your own hand. ¡°I am unworthy of your praises.¡± ¡­¡­.. I feel, something is strange? ¡°What¡¯s with this manner of speaking? Reiji-san seems strange.¡± ¡°It is my policy to be polite and return the debt to my life benefactor. And since you are one of them, I had to act in this manner.¡± He answered me with a resolute face, showing no lies hidden within his words. ¡°Well, if Reiji-san says so¡­. Now back to the point. So, how does Reiji-san thinks we should deal with Kouji?¡± ¡°I think I know how to deal with that, Asya.¡± And when I asked him how, Reiji-san replied- eh? That voice just now wasn¡¯t Reiji-san¡¯s¡­. Could it be?! ¡°HARU!!!!¡± I immediately jumped and hugged him who¡¯s standing at the entrance with a bitter smile tightly, yet tenderly. Haru came back¡­. I can hug him again¡­ I can touch him again¡­ He¡¯s here! Within my reach! I¡¯m so happy he¡¯s okay¡­.. Haru¡¯s POV----- ¡°Asya was happy Haru¡¯s alright¡­..¡± ¡°Ahaha, my bad. Not only making you worry so much, it seems I am still too far from being able to protect myself without you.¡± While burying her face and letting out sniffing sound in my chest, I stroked her back with my left hand, and the back of her head with my right. ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­. Asya doesn¡¯t mind a weak Haru¡­. Asya wants to apologize, for letting Haru get kidnapped¡­.Asya¡¯s very sorry¡­.. uuuu¡­..¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, really. Rather, I really want to thank you for saving me again. I will cherish and this life you saved so please, don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m still alive and kicking, and I will never leave you alone.¡± ¡°Un!¡± After relieving Asya of her worries, I scanned the whole interior of this cave. ¡°Reiji-san, was it? I sensed you had a tough time just before the fight began but still you helped Asya. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Quite cherished, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I have nothing to say regarding that.¡± The three of us then laughed together. ¡°Mou, Haru is so dense¡­ There¡¯s no way a woman, especially Asya would go to this length to save--- ¡°I am aware, Asya. But right now, I am still unworthy of you yet. So please will you give me a chance and wait?¡± ¡°Un!¡± An instant answer, huh. ¡°This is the one sentence I¡¯ve been waiting for! I am so happy Haru noticed my feelings!¡± Her face seemed to say. Seeing such a beautiful smile, I can¡¯t help but be mesmerized by it, urging me to hug her tighter. Well, I¡¯m also happy that I¡¯d get a girl like Asya, so I need to answer her expectations from now on. Let¡¯s try a bit harder and put more effort in life. Yep. Still there¡¯s one person who doesn¡¯t enjoy the easygoing atmosphere around us. Yup. It¡¯s Kouji. ¡°Now that Asya thinks about it, Does Haru know any idea how to handle him?¡± ¡°Nope. But I ran across valuable information along the way here.¡± ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how we¡¯re going to do this¡­Then Haru-san, would you tell us what you found?¡± ¡°Okay. Firstly, the culprit, or at least his companion has a peculiar mark. It¡¯s this insignia on the left side of their neck.¡± As I explained my first point, I drew the insignia I saw with a finger on the ground. Heh. I didn¡¯t miss the look on your face when I drew this insignia, Kouji. ¡°I have no idea about this, but the military or the police department has records regarding criminals who has this trait or cases which people with this trait are involved. From there, we can identify which groups they belong to and perform a swift sweep, rendering them immobilized. But to do this, I will be burdening you again. Asya, will you help me?¡± ¡°Of course! Asya will never say no to whatever Haru Requests!¡± ¡°Okay. Continuing on, my second point is about the Deceiving Seele. I will call it Apate Aletheia from now on. Simply speaking, I think it works by choosing a target and creating a connection to its target¡¯s nerve system and insert the desired comprehension of reality. So it¡¯s not really an illusion type Seele, but a Nerve Hacker Seele, a rare type. Even so, I think it works in a linear manner so if he wants to hack the nerves of multiple people, he¡¯ll have to do with multiple targeting, which is difficult in a team battle. Not to mention the high specs of the user needed to use it. So as long as you move with a three-man tag team like us, I think everything is fine. The tactic to face it would be to focus on monitoring our prana flow, inward or outward. If you constantly and deliberately monitoring it consciously I think that you should be able to sense and intercept the prana it shoots to invade our nerve system accordingly.¡± ¡±Amazing, this detailed analysis in just a moment of witness¡­..¡± ¡°As expected of Haru!¡± Feeling proud of my achievements as if it was her own, he hugged me tightly and brushed my cheek with hers. I returned the hug, and after releasing each other I hold her hand. Of course, while explaining everything I didn¡¯t miss the look on Kouji¡¯s face. Everything was bingo. That¡¯s what you get for underestimating a certain F ranked void slayer apprentice, Kouji. Not that he is dangerous, but he can be annoying in his own way. We have the upper hand for now. ¡°The problem is, though we have the upper hand, everything is not over yet. And so there¡¯s nothing we can do but fight. Asya, Reiji-san, how about it?¡± ¡°Un!¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have any other choice now that I have come this far, do i¡­.¡± ¡°Sorry, Reiji-san.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t want to have bad personal relationship with both of you¡­. Just that¡­ Be sure to help me when I am in need later okay?¡± ¡°Granted. Asya will comply Reiji-san¡¯s request once.¡± Once, huh? Asya is stingy¡­.. Well no matter. That depends on how Reiji-san will persuade Asya later. ¡°Then, I will proceed to deal with Kouji.¡± ¡°Haru, you¡¯re not going to kill him, aren¡¯t you?¡± Hearing me saying dealing with Kouji, Reiji-san immediately put himself between me and him. ¡°Nope. I have no intention to kill. Just that I found a way to immobilize a remarkable void slayer while strengthening myself along the way here.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Both Asya and Reiji-san can¡¯t hide their surprise. ¡°Well, the theory behind it is a bit long to explain and I have no guarantee that both Asya and Reiji-san will be able to do it like me, since I¡¯m different from you guys. Still, once again I can guarantee that I won¡¯t kill him. So will you let me, Reiji-san? Of course, critical injuries are also a no.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡­¡± Having being persuaded, he stepped aside, allowing me to face Kouji. Silently without word, I absorbed Kouji¡¯s prana until he¡¯s powerless and about to faint. ¡°Hm¡­. Reiji-san is against killing Kouji, right?¡± ¡°Although it¡¯s a bit disturbing to you guys, yes. He¡¯s my little brother after all. If possible, I want him to be judged by the law of our country. If the law judged him to be executed I will accept it of course. I have no intention to babysit him.¡± ¡°Then we should bring him to one of the military¡¯s base and tell them everything regarding Kouji and the intel I just explained.¡± After saying my suggestion to Reiji-san, I then moved my attention to Kouji. ¡°Kouji, I have no hard feelings towards everything you had done to me at school. But, it is a fact that I must do what I can in every opportunity to survive in this situation. Grudge is an unnecessary burden at present later on, so if you ever get out of this situation later, I want you to never show your face in front of me again.¡± After saying what I wanted to say, we moved to drag him to the military base nearby. ¡°Now what do we have to do?¡± since I just joined the team, I need to know what kind of plan Asya and Reiji-san had come up with. ¡°Ah, we need to regroup with Shiori first after this. She¡¯s acting as Asya using shape-shifting Seele when we departed to distract their attention.¡± Both Reiji-san and I turned our eyes to Asya, only seeing her closing her eyes. ¡°Asya knows where Shiori is.¡± Ah, so she was tracking Shiori by prana trace. How reliable. ¡°Then Asya, how do we plan to move out?¡± ¡°From a tactical point of view, Asya¡¯s and Reiji-san¡¯s role isn¡¯t changing much. The problem is, before regrouping, we need to deliver Haru to a safe location first. Kouji-san?¡± ¡°I think that bringing him is fine. Asya-san had already beaten Kouji, and he¡¯s now immobilized by Haru. If we take this chance to bring Haru along, we can have him strengthen himself along the way. All things considered, he has a sharp flexible mind, so maybe he will come to understand things we don¡¯t or notice crucial hints we overlook.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Asya is wavering, whether to bring me along or leave me out of this. ¡°Asya, I am grateful that you¡¯re worried about me, but I think following you along is better. After all, we have no lead on the Apate Aletheia¡¯s user. Even if you take me to the military and asked them to guard me, there is no guarantee when we separate our enemy won¡¯t capture me again. He might not use Apate Aletheia since it¡¯s not a matching weapon against many, but there¡¯s also no guarantee he will not use it and he¡¯ll come alone. Apate Aletheia can only be used by a person with high specs as a void slayer, I doubt the military has enough manpower and skill to confront someone who¡¯s able to pull a trick on you. If that happens, the enemy will have the upper hand again, and there¡¯s no guarantee we can overturn the situation like now.¡± ¡°¡­.. Still, Asya has a bad feeling about this¡­¡­¡± As she said that while looking down, I lifted her face, took a step closing our distance till almost kissing, and hold her cheeks with both of my hand. ¡°I will do my best to be a man worthy of you. I will become stronger, and do everything I can so that I won¡¯t be a burden.¡± I looked into her eyes with the gentlest eyes I can make, and said that. ¡°And so Asya, for now¡­ Will you protect me?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± A resolute, decisive answer right away. How reliable. As I let Asya go, I noticed Reiji-san looking at us. No, looking at me, precisely. ¡°Both of you cherish each other. I pray that your feelings persevere till death do you apart.¡± ¡°A-ah¡­ thank you.¡± Both of us stuttered and answered at almost the same time. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± This is a bit embarrassing¡­. I can feel my face burning red hot. ¡°Ahem. let¡¯s move on.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Noticing me trying to hide my embarrassment, Reiji-san immediately nodded with laughing eyes and started treading his steps. ¡°By the way, when Asya was fighting with Kouji, Haru is below of that plain, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, that is so¡­. Damn.¡± ¡°Is there something you forgot?¡± as Reiji-san carried Kouji in piggyback style, he asked me. ¡°Well, one of the guys stationed to confine me there was a skilled man, he was able to use no-invocation mudra, and I wasn¡¯t able to kill him¡­ that time I was able to escape because of the narrow underground space preventing him from using his power fully, but I can¡¯t be so sure if he enters the battle with his comrades. After all, he¡¯s able to conceal his mudra to the extent I can¡¯t sense him.¡± ¡°Any characteristics Haru can tell?¡± ¡°I can only say he has one creepy face. Utterly horrific, sending chills down my spine.¡± ¡°Hnnn¡­..¡± With a hum, Asya posed a thinking pose. Adorable. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll think about how to face him when that happens. For now, let¡¯s just bring Kouji to the military, and regroup with Shiori.¡± Reiji-san said so as Asya pondered about it. Well, in a way, that is true, Reiji-san. But you know that you can never be too careful in battles, right? ¡°Asya understands. Then when something does happen, Asya will engage while Reiji-san cover Haru as top priority, and Asya when the opportunity arises.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± Well I guess I have no need to reprimand them. I forgot that they are more experienced in combat than me. I forgot the capability of my comrades and chickened out. Sorry. ¡°Oh yeah Haru-san¡­ you did say that you¡¯ve found your own original technique, right? Would you explain what kind of technique it is? Or its function in battles?¡± ¡°Well, where do I start I wonder¡­.¡± Nevertheless, I started a monologue about this new technique of mine. How it acts with a different fundamental idea from mudra. How it works, and what kinds of use. ¡°Well, there are lots of theories I haven¡¯t proven its accuracy yet, since I invented it in the nick of time to escape. But at least with this I¡¯m not entirely powerless forever¡­¡± ¡°Weak Haru is fine¡­. But Strong Haru is admirable!¡± ¡°Thanks, Asya.¡± As I said my thanks, I patted her head, resulting the cutest smile in the world appeared in her face. ¡°Hn¡­. Then Haru, if everything is alright, Haru can be the support of our three-man team. The formation will be Asya as the front liner, Reiji-san as Asya¡¯s support, and Haru can fill the hole Haru thinks necessary as the opportunity arises. How about it?¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± ¡°Much appreciated.¡± Reiji-san and I agreed readily to her suggestions. Yosh. For now, I¡¯m the jack of all trades of this team. Thief in RPG¡¯s term. Uhehehehehe. ¡°Oh yeah, Haru-san¡­ you were confined in that underground facility, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Were you hit? Are the injuries need immediate treatment?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Indeed I was hit, but when I began my escape, I found healing scrolls in the control room at the lowest floor. I guess I should count myself lucky that they didn¡¯t rely on healing mudras much.¡± As I said that, I felt like my body became lighter, my treated injuries disappeared like it was never there, and my lost stamina was replenished while my body was surrounded by light. Ah, this is¡­. ¡°Injuries must never be hidden, if not treated as soon as possible, it will hinder movement in ensuing battle. And, Haru¡¯s well-being is Asya¡¯s constant concern¡­..¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t tell you about it, Asya.¡± ¡°Un.¡± From there we talked about various things from what were the faces Asya make when I was captured, my shameful past Asya recounted as payback, and Reiji-san¡¯s first love¡­ Very relaxed considering we¡¯re in the middle of a void dimension. ¡°There they are!¡± Seeing the military base first among us, Asya began to kick the ground as hard as possible to report them about the situation we had encountered. But even though I said that she saw it, I can¡¯t see anything in my sight. ¡°Haru-san, we should make haste and catch up to her.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± We kicked the ground with our feet as hard as we can to reach the base. Two minutes later, I could see it. There were people in it. Maybe 20-30 people at the entrance, I guess? Asya is currently talking with them. The guys seemed like they had a perplexed and regretful expression¡­. Though I might be reading too much into it. I wonder what had happened? ¡°Asya?¡± Asking for information of current situation, I called her name as a simple gesture for the said action. ¡°Haru¡­. Asya had reported that Kouji is a culprit accomplice that kidnapped Haru, and asked the military to bring Kouji to martial court¡­.¡± As she explained that, painful, and regretful expression surfaced in her face too. ¡°Then that¡¯s good, isn¡¯t it¡­?¡± I see no reason why you of all people would be perplexed by such a thing¡­. ¡°But, when Asya asked about Shiori¡­. The officer said Shiori was captured by Kouji¡¯s comrades, and they demand hostage exchange.¡± Ah. This pattern again? Part 8 ¡°What must Asya do, Haru? Because of Asya¡ª ¡±¡±¡±It¡¯s not your fault.¡±¡±¡± Both of us said the same words as Asya started to blame herself. ¡°Sorry Reiji-san, even though you finally reunited with your fianc¨¦ again, I can¡¯t bring myself to show you a happy expression¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, Haru-san.¡± Reiji-san answered, ¡°Yeah, compared to us your friend¡¯s situation is more dire after all.¡± Agreeing with her fianc¨¦, the mayor¡¯s daughter called Iori patted my head with a gentle smile. Although saying she¡¯s a beauty is not wrong, calling her cute is actually more correct. But not only that, with that huge chest, not even one bit inferior to Asya¡¯s¡­.. I understand why Reiji-san likes her¡­.. But upon noticing an intense killing intent from a certain someone, ¡°Ara, how popular. Ufufufufu.¡± Iori laughed it off jokingly, and hide behind Reiji-san. ¡°Haru-san, what now?¡± with a puffing cheek, Asya snorted away with ¡°hmph!¡± as Reiji-san asked me. I urged Asya and Reiji-san with hand gestures to form a circle for discussion. ¡°Let me ask you guys some questions first. What was the assignment Shiori took?¡± ¡°Shiori told Asya that she¡¯ll disguise herself as Asya, and lure the attention so that Asya can infiltrate Haru¡¯s confinement facility easier along with Reiji-san. But, Shiori didn¡¯t give any details at what Shiori will do regarding how that will be done¡­.¡± ¡°I see. Then, soldier-san. Do you have any records regarding where she was last spotted?¡± ¡°Yes. The last time, she was located at point X50 Y2 Z20, and hostiles requested hostage exchange at point X20 Y7 Z0¡­.¡± ¡°If she was captured we should assume hostiles has Asya-level fighter or even higher. It will be possible if he was the deceiving Seele user, or the the user himself crawl under his shadow like it had always been. For now,let¡¯s use the formation like Asya set before, but I will be acting as the Apate Aletheia¡¯s jammer. Just in case, Reiji-san and Asya must stay close to me if my theory in combating Apate Aletheia proved wrong. If I give no signal to continue, both of you must retreat as soon as possible as you see fit.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± ¡°And Iori-san?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°It will be in your best interest to cover our retreat path. Our main objective is to rescue Shiori and capture the enemy, but if somehow we think it¡¯s too hard then please help us in retreating. Of course, that is not to leave you guys as cannon fodder, but to add your and your comrade¡¯s strength into combat. If that is still too hard, then there will be sacrifice to save many, but that¡¯s a last resort.¡± ¡°I got it.¡± ¡°How many do you think can sortie right now?¡± ¡°Including myself, about 20 B-rank void slayers, formed into 5 four-man team.¡± ¡°Haru, wait. We have the general strategy, but how will we--- ¡°And that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to say right now, Asya.¡± ¡°O-okay¡­¡± ¡°Now, the plan will be like this.¡± As I said so, I began to explain the details of our operation will be. ¡°Quite nice, Asya thinks.¡± ¡°Well, not bad if it¡¯s not considering the risk to all of us.¡± ¡°Iori-san?¡± ¡°This is a very elaborate plan. Of course, we are ready.¡± Iori-san answered with vigor, impressed. ¡°Then let¡¯s go with this plan, and this for backup.¡± With our determination set, we started to move. Cocytus Void Dimension, coordinate point X20 Y7 Z0. The silhouette of a certain girl met the dimension¡¯s light substituting sun¡¯s ray, as she was dragged out of a certain cave bound with a certain mudra. The girl had a moderate posture, not too tall nor too short. She¡¯s neither too fat nor too slim either. The proportion of her feminine traits are balanced, which won¡¯t rouse men¡¯s carnal desire at a glance. But even though she¡¯s bound, the beauty she holds which is like a western doll modeling a teenager girl, showed no sign of declining as she properly uphold her demeanor with pride, not yielding to her enemies who bound her. Behind her is¡­. A man. One of slender posture, with a creepy vibe adorning his face, he walked behind the girl as if escorting a prisoner who¡¯s going to be executed with a pair of twin scythes in his hands. The twin scythes was covered with a purplish-pale miasma, signifying the dreadfulness the twin scythes hold. The girl looked straight to her front, which is another plain. The cave was located at the foot of a hill whose top is the place where the Void king is believed to reside. While the hill is not very high, the void king and his minion above has the territorial advantage, so unless one has a splendid amount of skill in flight mudra, one won¡¯t get through. After all, climbing a cliff to invade is a big disadvantage to the attackers. ¡°Hmph. Even though we have the upper hand now, why bother using this roundabout way?¡± The man asked to no one. Since the girl knows nothing about what he¡¯s talking about, she fell silent, not letting out even a single sound. Because she knows, there¡¯s no telling what he¡¯ll do when he¡¯s irritated. Or so she thinks. ¡°Everything was necessary to defeat her, Paul. That woman, Anastasia Nikolaschka is no joke. Beating Kouji who moved according to my instructions and tactics, we should assume that the same way won¡¯t work twice and she will have already prepared countermeasures for our plans which she can see through.¡± A masculine voice, resounded from within the cave. From there, comes out a man. The creepy man felt a chill went down his spine as the owner of that voice made his way towards him. He has a tall, well-built posture, with a western sword sheathed in his waist. His face is handsome, one would wonder whether he is a sculpture that came to life. His hair is a gorgeous silky blond, possibly charming every women who came across him with all that charming appearance. His left hand, though, was covered with a glove. The glove has a unique design and pattern adorning it, also with a certain symbol carved in the backhand part¡¯s surface signifying its rarity and might. With a thud, the feet which was adorned with a pair of greaves stomped the ground, signaling the end of his steps. ¡°I got it sir, it was just harmless chatter during self-mumbling.¡± ¡°Self-mumbling? You really have quite the hobby, Paul.¡± The blond man chuckled as he said that, in a dignified manner fitting a noble. ¡°That¡¯s not really the case, sir.¡± ¡°Is that so? Well all you need to do for now is obey my orders, and I will give you the reward I promised if you don¡¯t disappoint me.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± The man affirmed his obedience clearly, shown with his demeanor. ¡°Let¡¯s just follow this man. I will make countermeasures in case he betrays me.¡± ¡°Though rash and reckless, I can still use him for my plan. Well, I can just kill him should he be a hindrance.¡± As the creepy man¡ªPaul and the handsome man spoke their respective remarks in their minds, they began to trot with the girl between them. ¡°By the way sir, I have said this already, but how will I deal with the previous hostage?¡± ¡°Hm, Kazunari Haru, was it? He was a very dependable piece, but him being snatched away from us means he¡¯ll pose a threat somehow. Don¡¯t worry, the role I gave you doesn¡¯t change. If he does come here, I will make proper countermeasures.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± The man smiled as he heard his answer. ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡± Said the man, as he saw the silhouette of four people appeared in front of him. Three men and a woman. One of the two was a pretty boy with a skinny posture, with his black hair which was supposed to be hanging up to his shoulder tied in a ponytail. The other was a handsome, well-built man. He treaded his legs with his companions full of caution. He was dragging along a person both the man and Paul know too well, Kouji. The last is the woman. She was a god sent beauty with her enchanting body, caution and slight frustration are evident on her face. ¡°Shiori!¡± The woman screamed as she saw the bound girl¡ªShiori. Not now¡­ I need to stick to the plan¡­ Just as she called her friend the creepy man¡ªPaul stepped to Shiori¡¯s front, covering his hostage. ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡± She muttered as she saw Paul. ¡°Is he someone you know, Asya?¡± ¡°Asya doesn¡¯t know him, But Asya knows of him.¡± ¡°Haru-san, he¡¯s a wanted criminal responsible for kidnapping and killing civilians for the past 4 months. It was only a few days ago he was suspected as a culprit, and all the cases connected to one person so it was a shocking development.¡± ¡°By the way, he was the strong enemy I told you about.¡± ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll be cautious.¡± Sensing it¡¯s time to cut to the chase, the handsome man started to speak. ¡°I am honored that you¡¯d consider my request as something unable to be ignored.¡± ¡°What sophistry. After kidnapping my comrade, you dare say such things?¡± As Asya took a few steps to the front, Burning Aura covered her surrounding razing nearby soil blazing red. ¡°Everything was a plan.¡± The man answered as he closed his eyes halfway. ¡°You do know that all is fair in war, right Miss Anastasia?¡± ¡°So you are Apate Aletheia¡¯s user.¡± Realizing that Asya¡¯ll rampage if left alone, Haru cut in and changed the subject. The man widened his eyes towards Haru¡¯s words. ¡°Not only hindering my plans, you also discerned my Seele¡¯s name¡­ I am impressed. I see that the rumors I heard about you three weren¡¯t wrong.¡± ¡°Then I assume you have gathered intel regarding all of us...¡± Reiji-san cut in. ¡°Quite a bit.¡± The man chuckled as he said that. ¡°What are you saying? Of course I would¡¯ve done that before anything.¡± His face seemed to say. ¡°Well then, how about we cut to the main point?¡± ¡°Not so fast. You haven¡¯t given us your name yet.¡± Asya forcefully inquired, not letting the conversation stray from her objective. The man chuckled again. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you have the knack for finding out your foe¡¯s name over anything.¡± ¡°What can I say? I need to write a name for your tombstone to bury you under it the next time we meet.¡± The man chuckled even louder. ¡°That was one hell of a problem, in its own way.¡± the man said, ¡°Nice to meet you. I hail by the name Radiath Draigg. You can call me whatever.¡± The man elegantly bowed like aristocrats introducing themselves as he named himself in front of them. ¡°This operation of yours is a big one. Who is backing you?¡± ¡°I wonder who that is¡­¡­¡± As Asya tried to dig deeper intel about his collaborator, with a shrug Draigg just played it off with a vague answer. ¡°Asya, we can find out about that next time. Shiori is top priority now.¡± ¡°Fine¡­¡­¡± Heeding Haru¡¯s words, she took a step back. ¡°Then, we¡¯ll release Shiori the same time you release Kouji. To make it safe and no falsification, the hostages will walk slowly. How¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± It¡¯s according to plan. After a short brief, the hostages--- Shiori and Kouji were released of their bounds, and started to walk slowly to their respective comrades. If the hostage walks slowly during exchange, target the moment when the two pass shoulder by shoulder. Step by step, Kouji and Shiori walked to their respective allies. And as Kouji and Shiori passed each other, ¡°Guaaaa!¡± An electric current flowed into Kouji¡¯s body, electrocuting him as he screamed in agony, rendering him paralyzed. It was a mudra activation sequence unique to Kouji, which had been imitated by Asya and set with delayed cast. Responding to the success of the first step, Haru immediately charged with Asya to cover Shiori, and Reiji with a dash aimed at Paul, a scarlet katana-shaped Seele in hand. ¡°Heaaa!!¡± Responding to the situation, Draigg immediately charged to the front, starting to exchange blows with Asya with his sword tightly gripped in his hand.. Just as that was about to happen, When he¡¯s going for a brawl, snipe. But him being an expert in detecting prana, limits us in delivering the decisive firepower to incapacitate him, so---- As Asya rammed his body, rendering his balance disturbed, immediately a shot from the flank, originating from 250 meters away was shot, aimed at the ground where he¡¯s standing, and rendering him of his focus. It was only an instant, but--- When he¡¯s off balance, Asya will aim for the escape route he might take should he retreat with his unbalanced stance, and Haru will deliver the killing blow. Just as Haru was about to deliver the killing blow with his peculiar skill, following up after Asya¡ª Contrary to expectation, Draigg escaped the binding, unsteadily moving to Asya¡¯s predicted line of fire, and parried the bullet. But that is also within expectation. Should he escape while parrying the bullet, blow him off with a strong linear-type attack mudra. But should the enemy parried the bullet, then Linear-type attack mudra will pose no real threat either. So the choice of attack will be-- ¡°[Macropyre]!¡± A line of everlasting flame tore and raze the ground, burning everything in its wake. At the same time [Macropyre] is cast, Asya will engage Draigg while Haru assist Reiji. The first squad will retrieve Shiori and cover our escape route should the plan fail, the second and third squad will pin Draigg together in close combat. The fourth squad will assist Reiji and Haru, while the fifth squad will join the battle with long range support. Starting with the first squad stationed 100 meters behind, they immediately moved and retrieved Shiori, and retreated soon after. The same time the first squad moved, the respective squads in charge of assisting the combatants started moving to enter the battleground from the flank. Even so, assume hostiles have discovered our numbers from the beginning. If he¡¯s calling allies, intercept. If he didn¡¯t do that, then--- 70 meters before reinforcements reached their respective battlefield. Flailing his glove-covered hand towards the sky, using no chant at all, Draigg--- ¡°[Berserker Gale]!¡± Invoked Asya¡¯s prided mudra. ¡°I won¡¯t let you!¡± Haru will intercept the mudra. Unlike other AOE mudras, [Berserker Gale] gives the user a necessity to sustain and control it. For example, when one uses fire, before the fire itself reached the target, the fire would need to be sustained by pouring prana into it. Should elements which can disrupt its sustenance, like velocity or the like appeared then more prana needs to be injected. This is why [Berserker Gale] is one of the hardest mudra of the wind system. Even so, when dealing with such mudra, Just aim for the user, disrupt its sequence, and with a fwoosh it¡¯s cancelled. With a slight surprise drawn all over his face, Draigg stared at Haru who disrupted the mudra invocation. Noticing the opening, Asya¡ª The mudra disruptor disrupts all mudra within a certain radius. So the next step is¡ª Unsheathed [Adrammelech] clad in jet-black flame, and slashed at Draigg. The effect of Haru¡¯s technique was apparent, seeing even the black flames had its temperature lowered by far. If it were normal flames, it might not come into existence in the first place. But that was enough. Towards Draigg who has no means of defense using prana, a slash is all she needs--- ***** A minute before the slash. Reiji who unsheathed his scarlet katana-shaped Seele [Merazakura] confronted Paul, clashing his sword with the twin purple scythe. The intense brawl between the two renowned void slayers in each respective side continued, clashes of their weapons become the rhythm and their respective maneuver become the dance of the opera known as their battle. Reiji using his katana as a weapon, logically gains the advantage of range over the twin scythes. This provides more chances for Reiji to strike first, and to make the slashes hit the enemy. And his weapon being a sword itself, gave him more ways to attack than his enemy who uses twin scythe. But Paul being an expert in his own way, parried each speedy maneuver of Reiji¡¯s and countered with exquisite timing and accuracy, forming a deadlock between the two of them. It¡¯s not long that both of them had gone to a stalemate, looking at each other. The role Haru gave to Reiji was nothing complicated, just to kill or at least incapacitate him for ease of fatal blow delivery. Haru had already pointed the crucial facts that his enemy¡ªPaul, has the ability to invoke mudra without chant, and that was what makes Haru think he¡¯s not someone to overlook. But as the battle goes on, Reiji understood one thing. The fact that he¡¯s not using mudra while in close combat means, he¡¯s still at the level where he needs to use all his concentration to invoke mudra without chant in the middle of progressing intense battle, be it close range or whatever. If he¡¯s using his seele already, high chances are accurate that he might not be able to use mudra, like how he attempted to prevent Haru from escaping. Of course, there¡¯s also the possibility he might have planned to make me to have this assumption¡­¡­¡­ Thinking so, Reiji leaped erasing the distance to 2 meters in an instant. At that place, he raised his concentration, perceiving every little information he received with five senses, and raised his heartbeat to an astounding rate. With an instant burst of prana, he activated his signature move. [Demonic enchant: Baalskra] With his Seele in hand, he intentionally made his prana channel overflow with his prana, resulting in short interval of physical power up. Using a mudra which doesn¡¯t fall under the three basics mudra, with a blast of his prana he sent dust and stones flying away from him, striking slight fear in Paul¡¯s heart. ¡°Haaah!¡± Rotating himself while charging, Reiji unleashed a slash, stronger than ever to cut Paul¡¯s Seele and his entire being into two. A moment late in responding, Paul hurriedly parried the strike, resulting in him blown away a fair distance. In midair, Paul rotated his body and with an acrobatic maneuver he tried to fix his stance. But noticing what he¡¯s trying to do, Reiji didn¡¯t let him and dashed with a huge burst of prana-- ¡°[Hiryuu Kaen]!¡± --he unleashed a slash, accompanied with scarlet flame of his seele to cut Paul once and for all. The strike was so strong, Paul¡¯s seele was thrown out of his hand as he parried Reiji¡¯s strike. Noticing Paul has no weapon in his hands, Reiji immediately followed up with a diagonal slash to Paul¡¯s shoulder. Paul being an experienced fighter himself, immediately retreated and got off with a huge, yet shallow diagonal cut on his body. Predicting that Reiji might not let him escape, he casted [Tidal Wave] in panic to buy time while retreating his thrown seele. But to no avail, Reiji easily cut the tidal wave while vaporing it instantly with his slash, giving almost no time for Paul at all. ¡°Are you for real!!¡± Having only five steps away from Reiji, Paul swung his hands as he casted various offensive mudras, as he retreated to where his weapons flew towards the charging Reiji. But as he retreated, he felt that reinforcements aiding Reiji is only fifty meters away, and started to shoot offensive mudras towards him from behind. Crud, I¡¯m sandwiched! At the same time he felt he¡¯s finished, he sensed Draigg casted [Berserker Gale], nulled by Haru¡¯s peculiar mudra. Time to counterattack! Unexpected to everyone surrounding him, Paul abandoned Reiji and suddenly charged at the reinforcements as he casted [Tidal Wave]. As the sudden surge of water made its way towards them, they frantically countered with [Saint Interruption], a defensive mudra of the support system only to meet Paul¡¯s next move as he concentrated, giving intense pressure towards the water forming a small water ball, raise its temperature suddenly and blast their barrier with directed steam explosion. Seeing such a scene, Reiji spare no effort to chase after Paul¡¯s back, when suddenly¡­ As he charged, he noticed that all the reinforcements that was supposed to support Haru and Asya, and the long range support team are no longer functioning¡­. Wait. Draigg is facing off with Asya and Haru, Paul is in front of me, then who is-- ¡°Crud!¡± Noticing it a bit too late, he turned his body around only to be stabbed in the heart by a sword. Violently coughing up enormous amount of blood, he touched the blade stabbing his heart, ¡°I see¡­. So everything¡­. Is already¡­..within your plan¡­.¡± With darkening vision, he stared at the one who stabbed him in the back. Part 9 The strike, which Haru and Asya were sure to kill was calmly and effortlessly dodged in a hair¡¯s breadth by Draigg, followed with a ram of his shoulder to break the pair¡¯s offense. Haru being the mastermind of the whole operation started to notice the anomaly in their formation as he sensed long range supports team ceased its firing, and the reinforcement¡¯s prana covering their retreat path can no longer be detected, evident of something unknown to him happened and cutting their retreat. And as he battled Draigg while using hit and run tactic, he analyzed the situation, which made him sure there is something happened unknown to him to the formation. And, the most unexpected happened in front of their eyes, as the two of them felt the last dim of Reiji¡¯s prana, whose heart was pierced by a person who was the least suspicious to commit such an act. ¡°Shiori??!!¡± Upon Reiji¡¯s fall, the vanishing prana from his body dissipated bit by bit, finally disappearing for eternity gave Haru and Asya an indescribable shock. Only by that time did the two realized, that the long range support team which is led by Iori, and the others responsible for combat support had already been done in by someone. And that someone, can only be the one who killed everyone including Reiji, the two¡¯s best friend---Shiori. But, noticing such a thing, and being shocked while in front of Draigg, is a fatal mistake. In a blink of an eye, Draigg charged at the startled Haru at full strength, decisive in trying to land the killing blow once and for all with his downward diagonal swing of his sword. Haru being a pathetic excuse of a void slayer for almost his entire life is absolutely oblivious to his moves and can only wait for death. But having been constantly protecting Haru for all her life, Asya by reflex covered for him and parried Draigg¡¯s slash clumsily, proof of her being careless due to shock. Just before the two blades of Adrammelech and the unknown western sword started to clash, the slash Draigg unleashed disappeared, and appeared aiming for her from the other side. Shocked beyond belief, Asya moved her hands, fixed her posture and aimed to parry his slash, with the hilt¡¯s edge of her sword. Slightly surprised with Asya¡¯s godlike precision and reflex in the middle of a fight, with a fluid and flowing movement as Draigg¡¯s second slash clashed with Asya¡¯s sword hilt, it disappeared again and appeared aiming for her throat, horizontally bringing death with it from the other side again. Isn¡¯t this the swallow strike! And he used a western sword instead of katana and nodachi at that! The swallow strike¡ªor more famously recognized as tsubamegaeshi is a triple strike seemingly attacking at the same time; a seemingly impossible strike, invented by a certain swordsman of legend, Sasaki Kojiro as he attempted to kill a swift-flying swallow with his sword. Finally opposing the very technique firsthand herself, she finally understood the danger it represents as she parried again, for the third time unable to even break Draigg¡¯s offense. Heavy sound of sword clash rang out, as Asya parried Draigg¡¯s last slash--- his supposedly last strike. But unexpected even to her, Draigg stepped to the front, and as his blade stood still with her sword--- he nulled his strength in the sword and attacked Asya¡¯s face with the hilt of his sword. Perfectly having his hit went in, he immediately slashed again towards Asya, not allowing her to even fix her stance. ¡°Haru, fall back!¡± Hearing her frantic scream of concern for his well-being, wasting no single second Haru immediately fell back, running to the escape path he devised in the operation briefing with everyone before. Noticing the disadvantageous situation upon her, she unreservedly used her secret move, and with a blast of enormous amount of prana and black flame covering her entire body into a full body armor she charged at Draigg, going all out. But seemingly anticipating this very moment, Draigg¡¯s glove covering his left hand shone with right emerald light, and turned him into an afterimage at the most exact and perfect timing possible not only to avoid Asya¡¯s onslaught but charged past her, and leaped towards Haru. Haru being shocked and finally revealing all possible openings while running with his back towards him, Draigg spared no single second and thrust his sword as swift as possible aiming for his heart from his back. I¡¯m¡­ going to die here? Only those words comes to mind, as Draigg¡¯s western sword mercilessly, coldly and ruthlessly thrust his heart, intending to end his life once and for all. A sound of despair, rang out from Haru¡¯s stabbed chest as Draigg¡¯s sword pierced the heart, creating a gaping hole in the chest. ¡°HARUUUUU!!!!!¡± Being thrown to the side as she watched her beloved stabbed at the heart, Asya frantically charged with fury towards Draigg whose sword is firmly planted in Haru¡¯s chest. But carefully being on guard, Draig calmly pulled his sword and parried her strike. ¡°WHAT DID HARU EVER DO TO YOU!!!¡± Sparing no effort to strike him down for eternity, she called forth Adrammelech¡¯s flame to her maximum output, and slashed at Draigg¡¯s direction, paving a linear area of eternal burn in its wake. Tremendous fire razed the surrounding, burning everything to ash. But already expecting such moves from her Draigg immediately evaded with huge steps to the side, unharmed by her attack. ¡°[Divine Interruption!]¡± Thinking that he will chase to the end if left alone, Asya trapped Draigg inside a barrier of mudra of the highest rank. The yellowish transparent barrier of mudra trapped Draigg, not letting even a dent form in its surface as Draigg attacked it with full strength. Asya with her fastest speed immediately grabbed Haru¡¯s nearly dead body and fled the scene, sparing no single second and effort, casting [Divine Healing]--- the highest rank of healing mudra to heal his wound. ¡°It didn¡¯t heal?!¡± Knowing her highest rank healing mudra has been nulled, she put her maximum effort of bringing Haru to retreat. But as if God demands death to the two of them, a pair of man and girl---- the living Paul and treacherous Shiori blocked her retreat. The shock Asya received was indescribable as she saw the blood trail clinging to Shiori¡¯s very being and sword seele, proof of her stabbing Reiji to death and killing everyone. ¡°I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOU TWO!!!¡± In a fit of rage, Asya blasted her way with her greatest prana output. Facing a fiery strike not even a god can withstand, the two could only evade to the side and simultaneously flank her at the same time at full strength as Asya tried to run past them. ¡°Kill, [Thanatos]!¡± ¡°Sever, [Zantou Namakura]!¡± As the two unleashed full power of their respective Seeles, purple and cyan miasma of prana covered their Seeles and attacked Asya. Even Asya will have to spare no effort shielding herself from the two¡¯s strongest attack. They even thought this moment thoroughly! But disappointing the two, Asya reflexively created two [Saint Interruption], a barrier mudra second only to [Divine interruption] and slanted it to redirect the two¡¯s strike¡¯s momentum, and--- [Kyou Kaen!] Raised a burning wall of flame to cut the two¡¯s chase and ran with all her might to the outside of the void dimension. ¡°Asya, cough* cough*---- ¡°Haru, speak no more, I beg of you!¡± Haru¡¯s life force whittled away second by second as Asya brought him farther from the battle scene, at the fastest speed possible. Every drop of his blood made Asya¡¯s expression grim, as even she knew that Haru won¡¯t make it by the time the two got outside of the dimension. A minute of fleeing later, she finally lost the two¡¯s chase as she looked around the place where the two were currently at. The two arrived at the edge of a canyon, whose distance with the other canyon in front of it would be about 25 meters. Since it was Asya it was actually a simple feat to soar treading the air to walk past the canyon. However, noticing Haru doesn¡¯t have much time left for immediate treatment, she spread her prana to make fake trails as if she used [Soar] to fly past the canyon and got down with Haru to the dark abyss. ¡°Asya, i¡­.. i¡­..cough!¡± ¡°¡­¡­. Haru.¡± Noticing the serious expression Asya rarely displayed, Haru immediately widened his eyes. Please don¡¯t do this. ¡°Meeting Haru, and staying by Haru¡¯s side¡­. Has always been Asya¡¯s greatest happiness.¡± ¡°Asya, please don¡¯t---- ¡°The wound inflicted by his sword has a curse of healing intervention, and so your heart, backbone and chest can never be healed again.¡± ¡°No, Asya. No!¡± ¡°But, the curse will only affect the part where the blade touched. It will not affect any healing treatments at other place in your body, so¡­..¡± ¡°ASYA, NO!¡± With a swift chop to his head, she made the energy of her chop to interfere with his very consciousness, rendering him in a comatose state. ¡°A¡­sya¡­.¡± He called her name as she made a fiery flame, aiming at his own chest. With a swift movement without any hesitation, she carved the wound inflicted by Draigg¡¯s sword to make a new wound, and attempted to heal it. ¡°Figures, the healing power would be diminished to this extent¡­ but at least the curse¡¯s effect was interfered in some way.¡± Noticing the healing speed won¡¯t recover his heart due to the curse¡¯s interference, she unreservedly thrust her own chest, carved the organs and every parts Haru¡¯s chest had lost, and transplanted them all without any single slight mistake. The movements of her hands as she directly opened her chest and gouged out her heart, vertebrae and sternum was flawless without hesitation and wavering, signifying the unparalleled willpower she had to save him no matter the cost. After having finished the treatment, with a gaping hole in her chest she pounced at his chest to revive his heart, and used her last drops of prana to accelerate the blood synthesis in his body to recover the lost blood. His face gradually recovered its color, and vitality was apparently visible in his feeble body although somewhat weak. ¡°the last, would be the curse¡­¡­ Haru, I¡­¡± As she breathed the few last breaths of her life, she kissed him on the lips and then threw him into the river, carrying him towards beyond the horizon¡­¡­. ¡°Live on¡­.. for me¡­.¡± Only the quiet murmur of the girl resounded in the abyss, as her body limply laid on the ground, unmoving¡­¡­ Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 1 Cocytus Void Dimension, Coordinate Point X20 Y7 Z0. The handsome man--- Radiath Draigg exhaled huge breath as he finally freed himself from the imprisonment of [Divine Interruption] casted by Asya to pin him. Beads of sweat rained down his cheek as he refocused his attention again towards the operation. His two companion had already been in front of him as he took huge breath, waiting for him to regain his composure. ¡°So a Demigod level void slayer can do that to you even after all that preparation¡­.¡± Muttered Draigg to no one in particular, firmly accepting the dread one have to face when dealing with Asya. ¡°Yes. And not only that, although we won the battle, we have lost the match.¡± Exclaimed Shiori, frowning as she brought the limp dead body of Anastasia towards him. ¡°Her heart was¡­ gone?!¡± his calm demeanor slightly dimmed as he realized that everything he had been preparing, from capturing and intentionally freeing Haru, and making a fake capture of Shiori was all for naught. Anastasia Nikolaschka is a girl blessed with the Terminus Flame Body; a type of divine body which gives birth to the ancient flame of myth, the Black Terminus Flame. The said flame is said to have its bearers, with their mortal bodies, burnt many mythical gods from time immemorial when it matures. Their bodies will have great growth of prana from early infant phase, and then starts to produce the black Terminus Flame when they neared the start of adolescence. In the moment of its reappearance, the area surrounding them will immediately burn to ashes in black flame, signifying the grand revival of the god-killing inherent ability of a divine body. Six years ago, Radiath Draigg, as a greenhorn lower tier void king slayer witnessed the moment of its grand revival in a certain void dimension, when the little girl rescued an apprentice kid, who later became known as Kazunari Haru from the clutches of the void king in less than half a minute. When he witnessed it, he immediately feel tremendously elated because the Terminus Flame needs a period of 50 years when it reaches maturity, becoming an authentic legendary god slaying ability. After some more researches, he figured that the source of the Terminus Flame lies in its bearer¡¯s heart; the place where the life vein which is the vital point of prana purification is located. The truth is, the impure prana the bearer has will be purified by his soul which contains the essence of the Black Terminus Flame. After the purification and amplification, the said impure prana will automatically be realized as an entity others defined as the Black Terminus Flame. And all of that, happened inside the bearer¡¯s life vein. Thus, even if one were to refine the heart and integrate the essence contained within, it will never be as strong as the authentic Black Terminus Flame. Even so, as one of the god-killing inherent ability, how could it not raise any desire and longing of those who figured it out? Thus the reason behind Draigg¡¯s action. ¡°Unfortunately for you, Draigg¡­. But the main reason of our failure this time is because you aimed at his heart instead of beheading him.¡± Exclaimed Shiori, blaming the failure upon him with a calm tone. ¡°But, what was I supposed to do?! I didn¡¯t know that she would have the resolve to gouge out her own heart for him!¡± Relented Draigg with a frantic expression, trace of calmness evidently disappeared from his face. However, ignoring his reasoning, Shiori then immediately dashed towards him with her maximum speed, and then stabbed him in the heart with her seele. ¡°This stab was the one which made our operation fail, right? I return it to you!¡± raged Shiori in a flat tone, her fury however was evident in her words. Her overbearing demeanor and ruthless behavior taught Paul of the cruel fact at that instant as he watched the last wisp of Draigg¡¯s life dimmed, till nothing was left. So the real perpetrator of this whole operation was not this man, but it was actually the girl, whom I had taken as a hostage¡­.. Fear creeped its way into Paul¡¯s spine as he recalled all the misbehavior he committed towards her while she was his hostage. He breathed big, long breath of cool air as he said with a humble, and slightly fearful tone: ¡°Miss, I have been assuming our position too wrongly, and cannot recognize miss as the mastermind. I beseech miss to grant this one her mercy and forgive me.¡± Shiori went silent for a bit as she casted her gaze towards him for a moment, till she said shortly after: ¡°Although you yourself had many place where you have wronged, and not sharp enough, your devotion towards the tasks you have been entrusted with gained my interest and appreciation. If you really intend to apologize, then from now on you must become my hands and legs, and do what I tell you to do.¡± Said Shiori in a firm tone, not allowing any refusal. ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°Of course, I intend to give you the appropriate treatment, as long as you do not disappoint me severely like that man earlier. With your aptitude, reaching the level Draigg was at should only be a matter of time, if you receive my pointers. How about it?¡± A carrot and a stick. Naturally, as the person who personally killed Apate Aletheia and obtained a seele refined from its core, Shiori understands this principle. ¡°And, what kind of appropriate treatment, are you going to give me?¡± asked Paul hesitantly. He had seen with his own eyes as Radiath Draigg, a man, whom he¡¯s not very sure to easily kill if he were to fight him, easily died by her hands. So, it had to be said that his reaction is very obvious and rational. ¡°Resources to increase the overall quantity of your prana, and many skills outside the known three main system of mudra to advance your fighting capabilities. I also intend to give you the sufficient protection you might need in case somehow you unintentionally meet a grave trouble. I will not, however, help you if you look for it yourself.¡± Answered Shiori, curtly. ¡°¡­..¡± Paul went into deep thought for a moment, and then asked another question: ¡°What do you intend to have me do?¡± ¡°Just follow my orders without question and failure. Regarding the orders, just describe it as something like what you and Draigg had been doing before. Not something too different and far too much out of your expertise, right? It shouldn¡¯t be too hard for you.¡± ¡°¡­¡­ fine. Even if I refuse, you would have me killed, anyway. I accept.¡± With a shrug, Paul readily consented, helplessness evident in his demeanor. ¡°A smart decision, I see.¡± A satisfied smile filled her face as she nodded lightly towards Paul¡¯s affirmative response. She then walked towards Draigg¡¯s corpse, and then with no ripples of emotion appearing in her person she burnt his dead body till only ash was left. After having deliberately terminating Draigg¡¯s remains, Shiori then proceeded to retrieve the still perfect glove seele, which is exactly the deceiving seele, Apate Aletheia. ¡°Disappointing¡­. Even with this state-of-the-art seele and my help, he can only manage to deceive and fend her off that far¡­.only to fail in the end.¡± Complained Shiori, as she let out a long sigh. ¡°That girl, and the boy too¡­. Both of them were extraordinary. Does missy have any special grievances with them?¡± Paul abruptly asked as he wondered about the cause of this whole incident. ¡°Those two were¡­. Haha, you can say they were my friends.¡± With a slight laugh, she answered just like that, like it was nothing important to her at all. And with that little response, Paul immediately understood¡­. The nature of this woman, is really not simple at all! Treating people whom she called as friends as a target to exploit with schemes, to the extent of killing too¡­. With that vicious nature, and her capabilities¡­. I must never get on her bad side, thought Paul. ¡°It must have been a very deep grievance then, for missy to personally act and put so much effort to such an extent. However, since at least one of them died, I express my congratulations towards missy¡¯s fortune.¡± Said Paul, in attempt to comfort her from the failure the two suffered. ¡°No, there was nothing like that at all.¡± Shiori said as she turned her face towards Paul and faintly smiled, and then continued: ¡°Both Haru, and Asya were very good people. If I had the chance to choose, I might like to preserve both of their life too. However, since their life has a very great relation to my objectives, I could do nothing but aimed at them with all I had to accomplish my mission.¡± Explained Shiori, in a flat tone. A girl gifted with the talent to pull the trigger, and kill regardless of her feelings, and at such a young age at that¡­. Paul discovered more and more frightening points about his new superior. ¡°And what is that objective missy is talking about?¡± asked Paul, out of curiosity. ¡°Fufufu, you don¡¯t need to know just yet.¡± Answered Shiori in a joking manner, ones she never show whenever she¡¯s around Asya and Haru. ¡°Then, might missy mind if I ask another question?¡± asked Paul one more time, hint of confusion appeared in his voice and face. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°If missy had the killing ability to kill Draigg in one strike, then since missy had always been near the targets, without relying on those deliberate plans and deceptions to such degree missy should be able to kill the two successfully, right?¡± said Paul, trying to confirm. ¡°Oh, so you at least have the needed intelligence to comprehend that, while Draigg couldn¡¯t. You have my praise.¡± Shiori then continued: ¡°but there are two crucial things you have overlooked, which is the biggest reason why I have always suspected that simple deception or direct confrontation will result in failure. And even with all that deliberate deception, and the current fighting capabilities we have, the only thing we have achieved is killing a few rookies and prodigies of this country¡¯s military, right?¡± ¡°¡­.. I have misspoken. I beg missy to indulge me.¡± Said Paul, humbly. ¡°It is fine¡­. The first thing is, you and Draigg had always been underestimating Asya too much. Even if she¡¯s a klutz when panicked, just a random reflexive counter was enough to burn a large area till no life can survive¡­ her will to protect Haru, can be said to be stronger than her survival instinct¡­. Which is why that is the first reason this operation ended in failure.¡± Explained Shiori. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Paul pondered about what his superior said as he went into a moment of silence. True¡­. Neither I nor Draigg expected that that girl would give us this much resistance, even if that boy and missy didn¡¯t help her¡­ If missy didn¡¯t try to prevent her from randomly burning every nook and cranny of this void dimension, then both of us will be burnt till nothing was left without realizing who had attacked us with what intentions. ¡°Regarding the second reason, you will have to contribute more for me to let you know that.¡± Said Shiori in an ice cold tone. Paul pondered her words in silence, as Shiori then immediately ordered him to retrieve the sword Draigg had been using, and then have him go outside the Void Dimension, to prepare himself and rendezvous with her at a certain place. When she was finally alone in the gloomy space of Cocytus Void Dimension, a tinge of regret surged in her heart, as she failed to simultaneously kill the two. ¡°Crud. This way, all my preparations are wasted¡­. Not only will I have to start from square one, this time it will be a bit harder¡­.now that Haru¡¯s wary of me¡­..¡± As Shiori lamented, she looked down on her bloodied hands, stained with the blood of the military forces she had killed before. She then turned her gaze towards the gloomy sky, the illusory roof of the Void Dimension. I have failed big time¡­¡­ She reached her hand towards a pendant hanging on her neck. As she opened the lid, displaying the picture contained within, she heaved a long sigh as she regretfully lamented¡­ ¡°Wait for me, father¡­.. I will surely kill and terminate Kazunari Haru with the Terminus Flame, and save the world from the apocalypse hidden inside him.¡± Her bloodied clothes fluttered in the fierce wind as she then leaped rocks over rocks, and continued till she¡¯s covered a great distance from where she initially stood till she¡¯s out of the Void Dimension. She then walked in a calm manner as she went past many void slayers from military while she pondered her next move to gather the necessary pieces to kill Haru with the Terminus Flame. ¡°Hmph, forget it. Before anything, I need to gain a supreme standing in the military and covertly gathered the many treasures scattered about in this plane¡­ before I have my way to burn him with the Terminus Flame.¡± She then used her seele to conceal her presence and then flickered through the crowd as she headed towards the rendezvous point with Paul. As her enchanting figure tore through the wind with her graceful leaps while putting her utmost effort to suppress the sense of failure swelling up in her heart. Her sigh drowned in the silent night, none can figure out the meaning hidden inside. ¡°Missy.¡± Paul took the initiative to greet her as she reached the rendezvous point, which is her own house to plan the next move. ¡°I suppose your name was Paul, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright. Firstly, Haru is missing, and Asya had been confirmed to be dead. This, will be what I report when I faced the military. Those who knew that I am the mastermind of the incident are all dead, except you. But at the same time, from what I heard before, the military already has you in their sight so for now you will be my covert agent, moving to accomplish the mission I give in the shadows. Understand?¡± ¡°Roger that, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Now, I will lead you to a place where you can steadily increase your battle prowess, and sharpen your battle instinct. Consider yourself to have become the most wanted criminal; never let your guard down at all times since should someone can make a relation between you and me, I will never hesitate to kill you.¡± Shiori gravely reminded him of what was already obvious, as if he¡¯s actually new to this kind of situation which slightly surprised, and annoyed him a bit. However, since she is indeed her superior, what can he say? ¡°Okay, Miss. It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t gone through this kind of situation before¡­.¡± Said Paul helplessly, as he tried to calm his seemingly frantic superior. ¡°Paul¡­..¡± Shiori called out to him in a flat tone, as she turned her solemn gaze towards the bewildered him. ¡°Y,yes?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make me waste my resources on a stupid corpse.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.. Roger, ma¡¯am.¡± He immediately straightened his posture in respect and fear as he curtly answered her firm warning. He then realized that that Radiath Draigg who was so strong he couldn¡¯t hold his own against him was killed by her own hands. If she nurtured him and then killed him herself, then she certainly did waste her resources on a corpse. Immediately, he realized the gravity of the situation he was in and sharpened his mind to its peak. ¡°Um, Miss Shiori?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Asked Shiori back. ¡°What will you be doing while I train then?¡± ¡°I will make the groundwork for our next operation.¡± ¡°And the objective is¡­?¡± ¡°You will know when it is time for you to move. For now, head to this location I highlighted in this map stealthily. Mark my words; don¡¯t make me waste my resources on a stupid corpse.¡± Her eyes solemnly stared at Paul as she reminded him once again, sending shivers deep into his marrow. She then waved her hand and brought a device from her spatial ring. ¡°Use this Seele and input this coordinates along with this code to contact me when you reached the destination. Your training will then begin after I regroup with you. Until then, you will have to train your survival instinct there. The current you right now, is too weak to participate in my battlefield.¡± She briefly said so as Paul received the seele Shiori offered him. After taking the seele, Paul briefly bid his farewell to Shiori and then departed full speed. Shiori, alone as she had always been, started thinking. The river in which she found Asya¡¯s corpse leads to another world, to the realm beyond the Void Dimension. With this implication, it is obviously obvious that Void Dimension not only provide a way for beings of The Void to conjure a dimension in this world, but beings of this world are also capable of using the Void Dimension to make a somewhat forceful entry to the realm beyond the Void Dimension as well. Of course, this means that Shiori has some leeway to chase Haru to the realm beyond the Void Dimension. However, clever as she was, she was never a rash and reckless person. Thus came the reason why she will postpone chasing Haru for now and focus and gaining the strength and reinforcement she would need in order to cover her blind spot should she attempt to chase. After all, everything that lies in the realm beyond the Void Dimension was completely unknown to anyone of this world, albeit her knowing of the terminus flame was indeed a bit unique. ¡°Tankers, swift killers, nukers, healers, carriers¡­.. I have so much to prepare. Hm, maybe I should let the military have a glimpse of the Legendary Thirteen Magnanix Void Slayer¡¯s relic and obtain some opportunities.¡± She rummed through the insides of her spatial ring, and pulled out a communication device. Although it was indeed a communication device, it was indeed different from Seele, as the core material which is the seele core was not used to make this peculiar device. ¡°Senior Sister, it¡¯s me.¡± Greeted Shiori, unable to hide her sense of failure. ¡°Oh, Shiori? It has been a while. Have something finally gotten in your way?¡± The person across the conversation guessed in a rarely seen surprise as she finally identified the caller. ¡°The operation failed, the key and the target ran away. Not only would This Junior need to start from square one, the target had become wary of me. This Junior request some assistance from the Kingdom of Seyrun to dispatch the Celestial Dragon Squad and aid me in raiding the scattered Void Dimensions in this lands to obtain some opportunities.¡± ¡°¡­..¡± hearing the unexpected situation in which her beloved and proud junior sister who has a sharp intuition and mind failed, She silently gasped in surprise. Her mind, however, immediately calmed down as she replied:¡± Shiori, you do understand that the Celestial Dragon Corps are the elite of the elite, a squad who will only move under the direct order of the Queen. Do you understand the gravity of the matter, and the importance of this squad to our Kingdom?¡± the caller curtly asked, a hint of surprise and solemnity evidently appeared in her domineering tone. ¡°Junior Sister understand the gravity of the matter, and the importance of the squad to our kingdom. However, Junior Sister also understand that the target which had always been dormant will be wary sooner or later, thus begin the race of time in pursuit of power. This Junior believes that, if Junior proceeds in this pace, Junior sister will be left in the dust, and eventually be killed by the target. It would be fine if the target only killed this junior, but knowing his curious and somehow dangerous temper and sharply honed intuition and mind, if he can somehow find the relation between This Junior and the Kingdom, Then The kingdom will surely face a calamity sooner or later.¡± Explained Shiori, as she pleaded towards the opposite person she was speaking---- which is her senior sister, the Queen of Seyrun herself. ¡°¡­.¡± She then went silent as she pondered for a bit, and them answered: ¡°I understand the situation. Of the thirteen experts of the Celestial Dragon Squad, five of them will accompany you amassing strength. Will that be enough?¡± ¡°¡­¡­.Will do. I thank Senior Sister for the benevolent consideration.¡± Shiori answered. However, in her mind, she was actually complaining, though a bit. If she were to obtain three, no¡­.. two more members of the Celestial Dragon Squad, all the blind spots she will need to cover will be perfectly fortified. This way, the efficiency and the speed of her pace will be greatly increased. Of course, it doesn¡¯t mean that having five is not complacently assuring too. With that, Shiori builds the groundwork for her next operation. Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 2 The peck of a bird, pecking its beak while it occasionally sing brought me to my senses as I drifted from the deep darkness inside my mind. A roof made of leaves conjoined together in a fixed manner, supported by hardwood as a pillar in each corner and bamboo sticks cut into thin pieces as its wall appeared in my vision as I try to recognize my surroundings. I felt the nerves spread inside my body. I could feel every single organ, and limbs doing fine. Everything was functioning well. ¡°Asya¡­..¡± Of course, without exception, so was the heart. I remembered the sword which stabbed my heart as I run away with all I had. The pain I felt as this feeble life fade away, as helpless as I was to do anything about it. The grief Asya had as she broke through the barricade they conjured to bring me to safety. The resolute gaze and determination in her eyes as Asya muttered her last words to me. The hit she landed on me to knock me out of consciousness. ¡°U¡­uuuu¡­.uuuu¡­¡­¡± My cries stained the serene morning as my chest was burning with deep sadness and grief. My nose repeatedly snots and snots along my cries, as my tears ran down my cheek uncontrollably. As helpless as I was¡­¡­ As weak as I was¡­¡­ I realized that, in this turbulent world, filled with chaos, suffering, and carnage¡­.. I was only a speck of dust, who would disappear. It was like this back then, and it was even more so like this right now. Even though she had always dispelled me of my loneliness. Even though she had always smiled only for me. Even though her heart had always longed for me. Why didn¡¯t I, despite how I lived, considered that I had become such a heavy burden¡­..that Asya would willingly trade her life for mine? Why have I never thought that there are people stronger than Asya? Why didn¡¯t I decide to chase for power, no matter the circumstances I have in this feeble life? My carelessness¡­. My ignorance¡­.. My weakness¡­ All of it¡­. Killed Asya. ¡°AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!¡± I immediately went on a fit of rage, fury and hatred burning in my heart. I rushed towards the door, exiting the hut in a frantic manner as I run, as if trying to distinguish the fire burning my body as my heart was severely stricken with grief. It was not known how far had I ran, till I reached the wilderness in this foreign land. I punched a tree with my weak fist, one by one as blood gradually dripped off my knuckles. Although it was so, I neither relented nor decreased the barrage of fists I threw, as my fists became even more erratic, and stronger as seconds by seconds passed by. The wilderness was a dangerous land. It was because it was a land where the law of the jungle, which is the survival of the fittest, had absolute authority with no one ever trampling it. Thus as my screams and wails resounded in the wide wilderness, beasts in the form of wolf came and surrounded me. It was indeed, a pack of wolf, each towering about 70 to 80 centimeters high. Outside the Void Dimension, it will indeed become a terrifying pack of hunters in the wild. ¡°AHHHH!!!!¡± With a shout filled with cold killing intent, I dashed towards one wolf and immediately pinned it with my crotch after jumping above it, and gouged out its eyes with my bare hands before finally twisting its neck all in two seconds. The remaining wolves however were smart, and upon my vulnerable position as I twisted its brethren¡¯s neck, a wolf jumped out from my behind, accurately aiming my neck from my blind spot. My body, strengthened with a few more than a dozen human¡¯s absorbed prana immediately reacted in response to the ambush as I immediately slightly stepped back while lowering my body to evade its jaws, and fiercely stabbed my hand diagonally upwards, towards its abdomen as I turned around. The scarlet blood ran through my hand as it poured down, dripping incessantly as it stained the ground blood red. My hand twitched a bit, a sting accompanied it in my fingers as it was the first time I actually used my bare hands to stab. It didn¡¯t, however, stop my rampage. Three wolves jumped towards me, simultaneously aiming towards my neck, thigh and shoulder from different angles. Their coordination was praiseworthy as being beasts themselves, their target was accurate and sealed off my escape routes. I didn¡¯t, however, care about some stupid escape routes. With a thump, I fiercely kicked the ground as I dashed and caught a charging wolf¡¯s head in my front while breaking through the circle, crudely dragging it on the ground in my charge. In front of me, I saw five wolves readied themselves to flank me in the routes they predicted. I used the wolf in my hand like a hammer and hit them all as I swung it crazily while I ran. Upon reaching the optimal position, I then analyzed everything in my field of vision as I turned around and twisted the wolf¡¯s neck in my grasp. With a cracking sound, its neck broke and its body went limp, never to move again. Twelve wolves remaining. Trees with hard trunks approximately at every 20 meters square. No weapon on both side. Enemies incapable of using peculiar moves. No surprise attacks. However, being wolves themselves, they always had the chance to call for allies using its howl. I need to massacre all of them as swift as possible. The twelve remaining wolves charged at me as I stand by in position. I then stepped back and took advantage of the tree behind me to jump by kicking it and propelled myself above, making the wolves charged the hard and solid trunks with their heads. Their charges were unexpectedly accurate and domineering, it actually left dents on the solid hard trunk. With my falling momentum, I lowered my upper body as I fell and with a twist of my waist, I spun my body in a barrel roll manner as I thrusted my hand, and accurately tore deep through the last charging wolf¡¯s throat from the side like it was tofu as my hand continued to arc. In order to get a better position, I immediately jumped after landing to my front, and gained a three meters distance from the crouching wolves as they tried to get up after their collision with the trunks. The remaining eleven then slightly retreated and gained some ground to charge as I readied my stance for another kill. However, I didn¡¯t wait for them to jump and instead charged as I threw my body low, nearly grazing the ground in my charge and swiftly twisted my waist as I rammed the next wolf¡¯s neck ten o¡¯clock my front with my hand stab. I deliberately continued to kick the ground and jumped even after my hand was rooted to its neck, as I evaded a wolf¡¯s bite aiming my feet. In my descent, I stomped the said wolf¡¯s back with all I had, and directly broke its spine as a cracking sound loudly resounded in the field of carnage I was in. Nine remaining. I threw the wolf corpse dangling with me as my hand was still rooted in its throat to startle them, and proceeded to crazily charge towards the next wolf two o¡¯clock my position. While maintaining the speed of my charge albeit having only 2 meters to accumulate speed, I spun my whole body to accumulate a tremendous amount of angular momentum and then side stabbed the wolf¡¯s neck from the left side. Unexpectedly, the wolf swiftly reacted in reflex by jumping slightly diagonal to the left, avoiding my hand stab. But I didn¡¯t stop. I didn¡¯t decrease the strength I exerted in my stab while it arced through empty air, and with my whole body I made another spin thus maintaining the angular momentum added with the charge, without breaking the speed. I then lowered my body and swiftly hand stabbed upwards right through its neck as blood dripped incessantly on my face. I didn¡¯t falter for even a split second and retracted my hand. Without turning my waist, my bloodied hand arced through empty air, and caught the wolf¡¯s neck from my right with my grip. With my fingers, I fiercely clawed its throat till it tore in a split second while keep advancing forward, leaving the remaining seven wolves 7 and 8 o¡¯clock my front. I kept track of my breath as I ran, and fiercely clawed the trunks in front of me as I jumped and climbed the tree. I then positioned myself in a comfortable spot as I sat on a branch 3 meters high from the ground. Shortly, the wolves surrounded the tree I was sitting on. I then regulated my unsteady breathing as I huffed the air in my lungs. Pathetic. It was no wonder Draigg stabbed me with ease. It was no wonder Asya had to sacrifice her life just to save this puny life. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Even though this body had somehow been reinforced with the prana I absorbed before, it was still insufficient to hold my own ground against a pack of wolves? I then try to project my negative mudra. However, upon projecting it, I realized that even though I can still feel the prana flowing inside of me, I can¡¯t make it move like I wanted it to. It¡¯s like my prana went on automatic mode and proceeded to keep its stoic stance inside my body. This is frustrating¡­. I barely have any battle experience so there might be too many unnecessary moves in my attacks, defense and evasions which mean upon stamina exhaustion, I can only battle for a limited time. Although my body¡¯s performance had slightly improved compared to before, and my prana detection ability is still kicking, there are too many restriction I cannot overcome while relying on my bare handed brawl instinct. No wonder void slayers relied heavily on their seeles, so this is how they felt in combat without weapons. Heh. In this world, no strength means no safety, no comfort, and no dignity. If that is so! ¡°Just you wait, Shiori. The next time we meet, I hope you had already polished your bloody neck to be as smooth as possible!¡± I shouted in my heart as I stared at the wolves viciously, while licking my lips in crazy excitement. I steadied my breath as I feel my new heart beat crazily while surges of hot energy seeped deep into my bones, reinforcing the marrows in every part of my body. The unknown surging energy was fierce yet gentle, torturing yet delighting as my marrow became purer through the cleansing, and my bones hardening through its reinforcing. Not long after, I sensed the urge to vomit, and then a great amount of black blood was vomited from my mouth, spraying the wolves below. It agitated their appetite, making them drool. As I spat the last lump of black blood from my gut, I realized that not only my body became stronger, but my senses become keener as well. As I went into a state of absolute silence and tranquility, I can perceive the very feeble sound of calm wind grazing a leaf 20 meters away. I can also hear the excited heartbeat of the wolves below me as I concentrated my hearing towards the said sound. The light I perceived with my eyes became more vivid, it actually sent a bit pain to my temple for a second until my photoreceptor senses adapted to the new resolution of the world. My vitality was renewed with vigor as I felt every corners of my body overflowing with energy, my heart beat stronger and slower while I felt the blood flowing in my veins become thicker. ¡°Is this because of Asya¡¯s heart?¡± Although I still had yet to understand the reason behind my impure prana acting stoic, I can still relate that my body¡¯s enforcement was due to Asya¡¯s heart. After all, the energies flowing from the heart can never be more familiar to me. After the delighting experience, I jumped off the branch I was sitting on, accurately aiming my descent to squash a wolf¡¯s spine. Another pitiful cracking sound resounded in the air as I stomped my feet with all I had, turning the wolf¡¯s back into a bloody pulp. With renewed bloodlust, I swiftly charged full speed towards the next wolf on my left and punched its head. Without resistance, my punch continued to arc in the air as its head was crushed and splattered on the ground. Realizing more than half of its brethren had been killed, the wolves began to show eminent fear and swiftly retreated back into the woods. I have yet to adapt to this new body of mine, so I didn¡¯t deliberately chased them as I steadied my breath. The beat of my new heart feels so nice, it revitalized my being with its beat as I feel the overflowing energy circulating in my body. ¡°!!!!!¡± I immediately dashed three meters forward and turned my body as I feel a presence silently observing me from the bushes. From the looks of it, whoever he was, it was reasonable for me to assume that he had already been observing the battle from the beginning. Not someone I can contend at present. ¡°I can feel you behind me. Will you show yourself?¡± I asked towards no one in particular as I readied my awareness towards the unknown person spying my battle earlier. With a long smooth breath, I exhale the air in my lungs as I focus my mind to concentrate in receiving every single movement, no matter how small. ¡°Amazing perception!¡± said a person in low praise as he got out of the bush where he was hiding. However, I can only see the bushes moving like something was passing through it, yet no person came out. A second later, the space three meters in front of me blurred as something, or someone came into being as my sight caught visual contact of him. Wait, it was a girl¡­¡­ She was¡­a cute girl. Her side silk-like black hair adorned with a simple, yet cute hairclip, displaying her ear is very entrancing. Just looking at her long eye lashed jet black eyes was enough for me to guess that she is a woman of many men¡¯s dream. That sharp nose and chin, makes it even more of a perfect face. Her body straightly stood in front of me as I can feel her pleasing fragrance carried its delighting sensations to my olfactory senses. Her clothing was simple, one made for going out in the wilds which doesn¡¯t restrict her movements. It still somehow though, revealed her perfectly balanced bodily curve and revealed her skin from half her thigh till below. Exquisitely toned beauty, I must say. That shining azure snow crest-shaped earring hanging in her left ear however¡­. was one bad news. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck fiercely stood up as I sensed the dread it profoundly hid while keeping my guard at its peak. Sensing my acute caution, she immediately said in a leisurely manner: ¡°You can be at ease. I have no intention to do any harm to you.¡± Her solemn gaze swept all over my body, as if trying to analyze every happening occurring inside. ¡°Then will you tell me why you were sneaking around behind my back?¡± I asked in an interrogative manner. ¡°Oh? Don¡¯t be so skeptical. For your information, I was the one who dragged you out of the river and tended your wounds. So this is how you repay your savior?¡± asked the woman, a hint of helplessness slightly appeared in her tone as she squinted her beautiful eyes. ¡°¡­¡­¡± I rolled my eyes as I listened to her playful tone. ¡°Is that so? Then I appreciate the help. Still, that doesn¡¯t make it acceptable for you to sneak around behind me so I would like to ask for your explanation.¡± ¡°¡­¡­. You have a strong sense of wariness towards strangers do you?¡± she asked, a bit surprised towards my suspecting attitude. ¡°That is not your concern.¡± I answered flatly, as to prevent her from diverting the topic. ¡°Haaaaaah¡­¡­¡± she lowered her gaze as she shook her head left and right. ¡°Fine, I was just curious towards the screams and wails I heard in this wilderness, only to find you being surrounded by wolves. I was planning to save you from the crisis, but seeing the bloodthirsty glint in your eyes, I decided to stay my hand and carry on observing until you discovered me.¡± She widened her palm and faced it to my direction, as if saying that she really had no intention to make things difficult for me. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± I intensely stared at that pair of protracted hands in front of me. That is definitely a pair of hands who had killed humans before. Or so I thought. After all, it gave a very different feeling than my hands. ¡°Fine, I will believe you for now. If there is something I can do to pay this favor, as long as it¡¯s not something against my basic principle and not something impossible to accomplish I will do whatever I can to fulfill your request.¡± I said in a flat tone as I directed my gaze once again towards her eyes. ¡°Is that so? Then I¡¯ll be troubling you when that time comes.¡± Answered her, as a pleasing smile adorned her cute face. I can¡¯t afford to take joy in seeing her smile though¡­.. ¡°Let me take the initiative. My name is Kazunari Haru, you can call me Haru if you like. You are?¡± ¡°My name is Annie Reiz. I live in a martial arts academy not far from here.¡± ¡°I come from the land of the Far East, and a moment before I drifted to this place I was thrown into a river inside a Void Dimension. Would you happen to know where this place is?¡± ¡°This area is the Clea wilderness, north of Eyrie city of the Grand Assirean Empire. When I was strolling around the river, I found you were carried away by the rapids so I immediately took you out of the water. As for how you got here, I have no idea. Ah, what do you mean by Void Dimension, anyway? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± She didn¡¯t know about Void Dimension? ¡°Wait. In this place you spoke of, there is nothing like Void Dimensions?¡± I asked in doubt. ¡°That¡¯s the first time I heard such a term. I don¡¯t know about other empires, but at least in this empire from the times of its founding, there¡¯s no such thing as Void Dimensions.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­..¡± Void Dimensions are a global-scale calamity, and it had been at least 120 years since its first emergences. If this plane does not know about Void Dimension, then I can safely assume that this is a different world. ¡­¡­¡­. Seriously? Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 3 I stared at the vast sky above in a daze as I tried to process the new information I just received. It was actually another world¡­ or at least another dimension which have the connection with the world I was in. and that connection, is the Void Dimension. Should I consider that Void Dimensions are gateways for us earth residents to reach this plane? But then how does people of this plane reach earth then? Ugh¡­. It seems sooner or later I will have to research about this. But, this gave me one advantage. If shiori were to found Asya¡¯s body and she had yet to reach me even after all this time, that means she had not figured out that I would be drifted in this place. This give me the sufficient opportunity and time to gather enough strength to contend with her. But, even after everything that happened, I can¡¯t help but think that everyone¡¯s battle prowess I had seen are not their all-out attacks. After all, the enemies had made it so that it would be a swift decisive battle, one where both sides cannot drag the battle any longer than necessary. Since that is so, there was no need to use each combatant¡¯s strongest attack. Just use the most effective moves to accomplish the operation and then retreat as fast as possible. Well, pondering about this won¡¯t help except the fact that I will have to renew the value I hold in judging Shiori¡¯s strength. Hm¡­. If that is so, I should also count about the possibilities that she might bring another group of insanely strong people aiding her the next time I see her. The road in front is still a long way. If that is the case, I have a grave need to seek strength more than before. Hm¡­.. Nice idea. ¡°Miss Annie?¡± ¡°Annie is fine.¡± ¡°Annie, can I trouble you to take me into that martial arts academy you spoke of?¡± She frowned. ¡°You want to enter the academy?¡± ¡°Is it impossible?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that it¡¯s impossible, but not only the entrance exam is 6 months away, the exam itself was difficult. Although your battle instinct was not bad judging from how you fight, we martial artist have a certain degree of standard in measuring our strength as we train in the way of martial path. And, it doesn¡¯t seem like you had any experiences in it at all. I don¡¯t mean to pour cold water on top of your head, but honestly¡­.. It¡¯s already a good thing should you live on with your body intact if you participate in the entrance exam.¡± Annie said as her brows joined into a monobrow, showing her difficult assent. But¡­.. hm, 6 months¡­¡­ I scan the wilderness. The sky. The ground below. The wilderness is full of unknown things. The sky¡­ doesn¡¯t seem like it will give me a hellish life for at least these three months. The ground below¡­¡­. Fertile enough. It means should I wander, eventually I will find a suitable place to rest and gather rations. Alright. With this conditions, I should have the sufficient time to gather all the life-saving tools I would need, and the sufficient strength to enter the academy should I participate in the exam. ¡°Alright. I will prepare myself for when that time comes.¡± I shortly replied to express my readiness. ¡°Are you seriously out of your mind? Listen. The prerequisites a person must have in order to participate the entrance exam is at least the sixth layer of altered body! Usually people who wanted to reach this stage train themselves hard from the early age of 12 to their late months when they reach the age of 18! And that pace is already considered a rare genius which had been supplemented with various elixirs to push their growth to its utmost limit!¡± ¡°Although you are indeed a bit taller than most people, from your face, I can clearly determine that you are 15 years old at present, and at that age you only barely broke through the first layer of altered body in the middle of your fight with those wolves! Even if you train all day long¡­.. I cannot guarantee your safety.¡± ¡°I understand your point.¡± I nodded my head as I accepted her explanation. ¡°But Annie, I am not an ungrateful person, so at least before I pay your favor back and some more things other than that, I plan to reassure my life and treasure this life you saved. And more importantly, I didn¡¯t decide to seek strength without a certain goal. So whether you would be willing to introduce me to the academy or not, I will still make some efforts to do so.¡± Hearing my answer, her eyebrows frowned yet again, and then sighed helplessly. ¡°Who am I kidding with. After all, you and I know barely know each other so it is normal that my words have no weight on your mind. If you really want to do it that way, then have it your way. Don¡¯t rant to me the next time we meet because I haven¡¯t warned you okay.¡± ¡°Annie doesn¡¯t need to worry about this; how could I rant about not being warned by such a kind and cute girl like you? If that really happened, not only would I be disgracing your concern, even I would hold myself in contempt.¡± I said in a flat tone, conveying the certainty I emphasize in my words. ¡°Hmph. Glib tongued.¡± Responded Annie as she turned her face away. I wonder if I said something wrong? I don¡¯t think that I am that glib tongued of a person. Ah well. ¡°If you really intend to pave your way on martial path, then you should at least have a cultivation technique. In this world, the most important of all is cultivation techniques! Because it is the only thing that will bring you to a broader road of martial path.¡± ¡°With enough cultivation, you will be able to cultivate various kinds of martial arts, the various profound laws scattered in this vast world. With that said, here. Try your best to comprehend what is the content inside this profound array tablet. Depending on your talent, the comprehension you attain will determine the depth and speed of your training.¡± My eyes grew wide at the offer. ¡°Is it really fine? I troubled you too much.¡± I frowned in hesitation whether to accept or not. ¡°You don¡¯t have to think too much of it. Saving you was already troublesome, tending your wounds for seven days was also troublesome, so troubling myself with just this is nothing troublesome.¡± Said Annie as she closed her eyes midway. ¡°Wait, what is this about seven days tending my wounds?¡± ¡°You were unconscious for seven days straight. It was lucky of me to bring some profound energy restoring pellet and some low grade healing potions beforehand, so it was easier of me to maintain your failing metabolism and other bodily system, while gradually closing all your wounds.¡± ¡°I have sinned¡­..¡± ¡°Hmph, sure you do! I have troubled myself for someone I don¡¯t even know, but then the first thing you do was showing your caution towards me!¡± ¡°Ah, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. I understand that my behavior before offended you, but it was all done for my survival. Please understand.¡± ¡°Hmph, I know already! Will you take this tablet or not?¡± If she has said that much already, there is no way I can refuse. ¡°Then, with pleasure.¡± I reached out my hand and firmly grabbed the tablet she offered. The corners of my mouth twitched into a faint smile as I sensed the information contained inside this tablet. I see¡­. People of this plane doesn¡¯t use seele from seele cores but instead they trained their prana to unsurmountable heights nothing can threaten them? That is a nice way of thinking. ¡°Annie, what do you plan to do from now on?¡± ¡°Hm, let¡¯s see¡­.. I was originally on an expedition to look for things in this wilderness, but my progress was halted since I decided to take care of you so I want to continue my expedition. Ah, you can¡¯t follow me okay. It¡¯s a delicate yet dangerous thing.¡± ¡°Is that so? What a pity. In that case, I wish Annie good luck. Um, can I use the shack you built for my residence? I have nowhere to rest after all.¡± ¡°Suit yourself.¡± After bidding farewell, she immediately leaped deep into the vast wilderness, leaving me with nothing but the wind. Ah well, it¡¯s not like she didn¡¯t really leave me here with nothing after all. I rushed back to the shack in my fastest speed while dragging the corpses of the wolves I just killed and then sit inside as I tried to comprehend the information contained in this tablet. ¡°Hmm¡­? Wait, this is!¡± Gaaaah! She left me with a tablet containing knowledge about cultivation techniques. But she didn¡¯t mention it was written here in the native language of this plane! I can¡¯t comprehend it now can I! Wait. From the beginning, I already took the initiative to talk to her, and I used my native language to talk to her from beginning to end. Has she already figured out that I am not a person of this plane? If that is so, how did she figure it out? And then how is she able to comprehend my spoken language? ¡°¡­¡­.. Interesting, Annie.¡± Looks like, I have so many things to ask her the next time we meet. But that is that, and this is this! Ugh¡­¡­ Looks like I will have to try to learn this on my own. In that case, sooner or later I must go to the gathering of humans in this plane. Of course, if the dominant intelligent life form in this plane is humans. Rain poured this wilderness as I looked up to see the sky out of melancholy. Ah, tears of the sky¡­. I felt like tears were about to appear in my own eyes as well. Hm¡­. After silently pondering for a bit, I decided that it can be put off for a little time. Right now, I should refine the prana inside these wolves and gather the meat so that I can have rations! Nuohohoho, the simple life in the wilds! The survival of the fittest! viva la vida senorita! Here I come! ¡­.. The hell, who am I kidding with? Am I so lonely that I began to joke by myself? Probably yeah. Yes I am. Ah, whatever. I laid my hand on top of a corpse and then focused my mind as I injected my prana. I carefully controlled my prana as it undulated inside the corpse, wriggling all the way to its prana source. Success. Although it is a bit disturbing that I cannot use negative mudra for now, it seems that I can still use it to absorb prana that belongs to other beings. I then directed it to the prana source point of the corpse, and then integrate my prana with it. Moments later, I retracted the prana I injected, along with all the prana stored inside its source. My body feels reinvigorated as I feel the power flow into my body. Hm? ¡°!!!!¡± I feel my body burns in intense purgatory as I gasped for breath while rolling on the ground. My hand flail all over the place it can reach as I try to relieve myself of the burning feeling inside my body. This energy actually gives such a heavy burden to my body!! Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.I can feel it burns my flesh¡­. No, accurately, it¡¯s burning the prana veins inside my body! Theoretically speaking, prana flows from the source to every single inches of the body through the veins scattered all over the body. The limbs, the head, neck, torso, it was practically scattered everywhere, making an infrastructure that supports prana based motions like mudra and the like. Put in simpler terms, just imagine it like the body is a robot, while the prana veins is the cable that distributes the power to move it. It works more complicatedly when one tries to cast mudra but generally, skipping the process when one cast mudra, that is how it is. But just because I can understand this much, it doesn¡¯t relieve me of this pain! Gaaaaaaahh!!!!!!! I continued to roll on the dirty ground, writhing in agony as I tried to endure the burning torture this foreign prana pressed onto me. But, as I writhe in agony on the ground, I feel a surge of warm energy coming from my chest. Accurately, from the heart. It undulated like heartbeat in my chest, and then slowly but comfortably circled around my prana veins. The foreign prana I received from the absorption was finally subdued by this strange energy coming from my heart, and then it gradually seeped deep into my marrows, enforcing my veins. ¡°Ah, so that is how it is.¡± I lightly muttered as I comprehended the happening in my body just now as I try to calm my breathing. Using a mathematics analogy, if a human¡¯s prana is symbolized with the variable X, and the body Y, and the soul Z, a void creature¡¯s prana is P while its body is Q and its soul R. A totally different entity between the two sides. Even so, there is still harmony between X and Y and Z, and between P and Q and R. of course, it is because the two resides in the same shell from birth. Depending on the quality and stability of equilibrium of harmony between the three variables will the result of one¡¯s talent in prana usage differs. Although there are rare cases like mine where the equilibrium of harmony between the three variables is distorted, it can be roughly generalized that way. In my case, although the harmony between my prana and my body with my soul is nil, it seems my soul had no distinctive reaction I can spot as my prana and body merges with this foreign prana which is not suitable for me in the first place. That is the reason why I was writhing in agony just now. Because in the infrastructure where the equilibrium of harmony between X, Y, and Z, a foreign variable that is P which has no harmony with the three or maybe two variables (excluding my soul since there is no reaction whatsoever) entered and tried to merge, which incites the reaction. However, what about that warm energy surging from Asya¡¯s heart? I wonder if Asya¡¯s heart had a certain mystery in it. Or rather, does it relate with Shiori¡¯s objective? If that is so, then I will guard it with all I have. Even if I were to die, I will make sure to destroy my heart in my last breath. Stop. In this delighting moment, I think I shouldn¡¯t stain it with thoughts of wariness, hatred and revenge towards Shiori. As I breathe the fresh air around me, I focused myself to throw away this thought and concentrated again towards the reality in front of me. I proceeded to absorb all the prana residing inside the remaining corpse as my heart was dancing in happiness. Although it didn¡¯t increase my overall prana quantity, it strengthens my prana veins and parts of my body as it seeped deep into my marrows. No. maybe it¡¯s not strengthening my body, it helps my body build the ability to adapt with this foreign prana. Although it is indeed painful in the process, the sensation I feel when it¡¯s done was¡­¡­ heavenly. Well, how much improvement I gained will eventually be shown when I fight with void creatures again. Hmm¡­. From this experiment, I can conclude one thing. If you were to absorb prana from human corpses, you will only get prana and nothing more. Since their mudras, and their battle prowess are not linked to the prana they have. But void creatures are different. They are capable of using peculiar moves and tricks that belongs only to them because their unique prana had been processed in such a way by their body somehow, which then creates a certain phenomenon they then use in combat or other situations. For example, the wolves just now. Although with my body that time, I was able to cope with their encirclement, it doesn¡¯t mean they are not fast. Rather, for an animal that big, it was actually amazing that an animal can have that much stamina to move their body that agile. And not only that, from the way they move, it can be concluded they have, one way or the other, a method of communication. It can stem from their adaptability in hunting in packs, or they might have things like telepathy. But both possibilities are not my concern right now so it is fine not to think about it too much. This much, i can conclude from absorbing their raw prana directly. The next is eating their flesh. I reached out the meat I front of me and take a bite to see how my body reacted. ¡°Uuuuu!¡± Freaking hard, this meat!!! After struggling to have one mouthful, I finally chewed crazily on the meat in my mouth. Ugh, how nasty¡­.. My palm tightly clenched the meat as I try to forcibly chew and swallow this raw meat smearing with blood. I gritted my teeth as I try to forcibly suppress the urge to vomit swelling in my gut. After having swallowed the first bite, I continued to chew another mouthful of meat, still smearing with blood. The blood odor sharply stings my enhanced olfactory senses, but I ignored that disgusting sensation as I proceed to eat. After a few mouthful, I feel the sensation that my gut is full of meat and blood. I stopped eating after swallowing the last mouthful inside my mouth, and rested easy while I let my stomach digest the food. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡°!!!!!!!¡± As expected. It hurts! I once again writhe in agony as I roll on the ground, enduring the sensation of my insides being devoured by something. The devouring sensation spreads from my gut, slowly but surely as my body corrodes from the inside bit by bit till it reached every corners of my body. Even I cannot withstand the pain of every inches of my insides being corroded to this extent. However, I still tried to cling hard onto my last wisp of consciousness as I lay limply on the ground, staying still like a log. If someone were to see the state I am in right now, they might get the impression that I am currently on my last breath. Well, they are not wrong. In this round of digestion, I¡¯m not sensing any surge of energy from my heart. Could it be that it doesn¡¯t react to this phenomenon? No, it is reacting. But instead of repelling this devouring sensation, it is more accurate to say that Asya¡¯s heart gives me the necessary life force to withstand this corrosion. If that is so, I can only grit my teeth in endurance as I fight to cling onto my consciousness as it dimmed again and again. It feels like I¡¯m being eaten by the darkness I feel in my consciousness. 15 minutes passed. 30 minutes passed. After about an hour passed, the corrosion finally started to quiet down and then completely stopped after having passed another 10 minutes. I breathe cool air as I recalled the peril I had just overcome. That was painful¡­.. And dangerous¡­ However, I can feel the results directly in my body after regaining my focus. I can feel my body overflowing with strength, incomparable to before. But my body felt like it was forged just to withstand this overflowing strength, which then gives me this comfortable feeling like I had just been reborn again. In human bodies, there is this concept termed as super compensation. It is a phenomenon where the muscle is burdened under great pressure after rigorous training or motion that it tore the muscle apart. Moments later, this torn muscles will be rebuilt to adapt and withstand the weight it burdened with before, thus bringing improvements in bodily performance. However, normally speaking it only happens gradually and normally takes 2 to 3 days for one round of super compensation to complete. Of course there is also the method of intentionally ignoring this recovery period within the super compensation round to achieve greater results, but that¡¯s not the main point so I will skip on that part. So from that notion, I can conclude that it¡¯s not necessarily lethal to eat this meat, but I can conclude that without sufficient preparation, eating this on a whim can result in death. After all, the super compensation just now was too dangerous and painful¡­.. Of course, excluding the quality of the meat aside, the prana that was inside the meat and the meat itself were foreign things that humans simply cannot consume. After all, like my explanation earlier, unlike normal meats, void creature meats bathe in prana from the moment they were born. Thus consuming them would give a substantial shock to the stability of equilibrium of harmony between the three variables. Thus this occurrence is within reason. The important thing is, my body is being altered in ways that would inherit a bit of their abilities as I absorb their prana. Excluding my overall leap in strength and stamina, I can feel my body being invigorated with power. Especially, my eyes, ears, and jaws. Wolves have good sights and hearing, and added with my previous marrow cleansing, I can feel the prana I just absorbed fused with the said parts of my body and enhance it. Moments later, my hearing becomes even sharper as the sound of gentle breeze grazing the trees and leaves around me becomes clearer, while the light I perceive with my eyes become even more vivid as my eyes scanned the wilderness with renewed details and resolution in my eyes. I feel that my jaws are brimming with power as I feel the prana seeped into my jaws.I try to open and close my mouth. Hmmm¡­.. It does indeed get stronger too. Shit. What is this? Is this prana wants me to live like the wolves and rely on the strength of my jaws or something? Well, having more strength in my jaws is nothing unbeneficial so I¡¯m not worried about it. Rather, I think it will help me very much¡­ After all, I am currently living in this vast wilderness. That means I will have to eat lots of things, be it hard or soft. Having stronger jaws is an advantage. Rather, it helps me eating more of their flesh! Nuohohohoho. With this, I gained another way to improve my body. All right. From now on, I will begin to gather these meats from those wolves and devour them. After making sure I can nonchalantly withstand the super compensation I will face from eating their meats I will then change my prey. The wilderness is vast. There is no shortage of preys! Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 4 ¡°Stupid.¡± I said so to myself who got carried away by a moment¡¯s happiness. Although right now I¡¯m no longer starving, I still need to secure a water source first. After all, although my body has greatly improved from before, I¡¯m still incapable of sustaining life without the support of food and water. I immediately strolled around the shack as I try to find a very high tree in my surrounding. I walked in glee as I feel my body becoming lighter and more nimble while my hearing and sight becomes sharper. After circling around for 10 minutes, I spotted a 30 meters high tree 800 meters away southeast from my position. Without further dallying, immediately strode towards the tall tree in my sight. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Approximately about 100 meters away from the shack. I braced myself and put my guard as I little by little approached the tree. The wilderness is strangely silent as I tread my feet in this green forest. Only the gentle breeze grazing the nearby bushes and my cheek was heard in this calm nature. However, the hairs on my neck stood up fiercely even though right now, I¡¯m still about 700 meters away from the tree. I tread my legs even softer with more caution as I proceeded towards the tree. Upon assuming that I might be in for a dogfight, I began to observe the surroundings. The trees around me are big, but they¡¯re not dense like what I assume a wilderness should be. Just like the area where I fought the pack of wolves before, its density is about a fairly thick tree about three people adjoined hands thick in every 20 meters square. Although for a park it might be dense, but for a wilderness this is fairly spacious. In other words, every tree is evenly divided with a distance of four and five meters in the horizontal and vertical side. Not only that, the trees are fairly tall too. The average is about 50 meters tall, and even the shortest is about 70 meters in front of me, about 35 meters tall. I wonder if this wilderness is manmade. After, the placement of these trees are so neat and uniform. Ah well. This means, three dimensional maneuver is possible as long as my feet have the necessary jumping strength to afford it. The density of the leaves above me can be considered good, it gives me a cool feeling despite being poured by the sun¡¯s ray in this bright noon. This means stamina consumption will not be affected by weather. Well, no matter the case, I intend to proceed with the most stamina-efficient movements so my initial plan will not be changed. ¡°Wait. What is that?¡± While pointing my gaze towards my above 2 o¡¯clock my position, I spotted something like a bird¡¯s nest. Although it might be a bit far, about 400 meters away from where I stood, I can feel traces of prana coming from there. Is that maybe a nest of a bird-type void creature? And it¡¯s fairly big for me to notice it right away from this distance despite being blocked by the surrounding trees in my sight. I should take note of that bird nest in my mind carefully. ¡°Amazing. I never thought my visual sensitivity has improved to this extent.¡± However, feeling amazed was feeling amazed. I then concentrate my awareness to sense whatever my prana sensing can detect. ¡°¡­..¡± There are prana undulations originating from the trees starting 50 meters in front of me, and beneath the ground level 20 meters in front of me. Hm¡­. ¡°!!!¡± It was this many! Calm down, Haru. Should you make sudden movements, they might be alerted sooner, and you¡¯ll be in for a long chase with the void creatures pack. I inhale slowly as I focus my mind on my breath, to empty my mind of unnecessary thought. After exhaling, and a few rounds of respiration I began to analyze using prana detection towards the prana undulation beneath the ground before me. How many exactly was it? ¡°¡­¡­..¡± I can confirm that from the undulations, their bodies was just a bit bigger than the wolves I just fought before. However, if they are underground, I will have to think about their overwhelming advantage in using the terrain in combat. Yeah, that would be a problem. I began to probe again to confirm their numbers as I realized that my thought began to digress. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Twenty. Twenty five. Thirty? I see. This number might not do much against another pack of void creatures, but against a single big target four times or even six times bigger than their own they might indeed hold a significant advantage. As soon as their prey is killed, a festa will begin as they eat their corpse, huh. Moreover, from the way they buried themselves, their formation will immediately be formed as soon as they come out of the ground. And from the undulations I felt, I figured that their individual strength are not too far below me. In a one on one fight, I might be able to come out victorious, but should I be trapped inside their encirclement, I¡¯m done for. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Sigma pattern from all four directions? You gotta be kidding me. And this formation was clearly made to suppress the target when the stepped into the very center of their encirclement. Not only that. Five makes the sigma pattern, while the remaining four positioned themselves behind the formation and the other four covered the space between the formations. Wait. The last two have a larger prana undulations than the others. Their positions are also buried deeper below the rest. Should I assume they are like the bosses? No, I think it might be more correct to say that they are the king and the queen. Just how advanced can their intelligence be? This is far too amazing compared to the void creatures I have seen before. Hm, I wonder if eating their flesh or absorbing their prana will allow me to obtain a trace of their intelligence or battle instinct. After all, just from this alone, I can determine that they are fairly experienced in encirclement tactics. This tactic rely heavily on timing, positioning, and unity in movements between one another. Ah well, I can worry about that later. Right now, what should I do? Is there any way I can retreat and make a roundabout route to reach that tree? Although fighting them will be a pain, and the merit I would gain from their prana and flesh might not outweigh the risk I would have to face, it¡¯s not like killing them is impossible. Just that, having the safest route and saving my strength only for facing crisis is a fundamental reason one must abide by in this wilderness, especially when one has no backup like me. However, retreating or not is the problem here. Because right now, I can feel with my prana sensing that they are already keeping their guard at the ready, and their undivided attention had been pointed towards me. I¡¯ve been spotted already, and they had already marked me as their food. In other words, should I try to flee too far from their formation, there is always the possibility that they will commence and all-out attack before I even got the chance to gain distance. Which means, no choice but to fight. If that is so, I¡¯ll take you guys on! Knowing their burrowing habit, I should move with the thought that they have a way to sense the happening in the surroundings with vibrations and prana. If I were to make a sudden movements, it will immediately alert them. Although I¡¯m not right in the middle of their formation yet, I should not get carried away and deluded myself into thinking that they won¡¯t have any other formation or engagement tactics that might prove deadly. Should I claw my way to the branches above me again? As soon as I think that, I reminded myself of the bird nest I took notice of before. If I were to climb my way too abruptly, I might alert those birds who originated from that nest above. After all, although the leaves above me is not that dense I can¡¯t get a proper lighting in this time of the day, it doesn¡¯t give me a perfect visual for keeping out for aerial ambushes. This means, the cautious one will have the last laugh. Let me see how skilled you guys are in battle. Hm¡­. Alright. Firstly, I clawed the tree¡¯s trunk in my right and climbed my way up to its branches 7 meters above ground. I specifically chose this branch and tree because I can reach the center of their encirclement through the routes that is available that starts from this tree. I then jumped from branches to branches till I find the optimal position I desired for the first phase of this cold war. After positioning myself just above the center of their encirclement, I struck the branch in front of my toes till it fell on the ground. With a crack, my powerful downward chop immediately crushed the branch as it fell to the ground, carrying a significant momentum in its path. Whether you can sense the surroundings from vibrations or not, and whether you can differentiate the vibrations or not will be revealed by this experiment! With a loud thud sound, the falling branch made contact with the ground. However, as I wait for the void creatures lurking below to come out, they are not the slightest bit provoked by it. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°They can differentiate vibrations of walking steps and the fall of a branch? That is way too skilled.¡± I praised my enemy in a soft muttering in amazement as I began to make another move to give me any advantages in this battle. How did they do that? Is that because of their instinctive combat awareness, or a certain inherent skill that is unique to them? Their formations extend to about forty meters long in each side. This means the range of their encirclement covers about 1600 meters square. Although I am just above the center of their formation, I can still sense no signs of them moving out of their burrow. Noticing the fact that they are calm enemies, I began to start the second round of analysis based on prana detection. I began to project a soft wave of prana from my body to every directions. Prana is an ethereal substances, and it has a different property from sound waves which relies on air to travel so it can go through while permeating solid substances like the ground and the like. After covering the exact same range as their formation, I began to decrease the perception range while using my utmost effort to increase its precision to its utmost limit. My brain felt like it was fried in an oven while it wriggles like a worm exposed in sunlight as I proceed to continue in this manner. But the pain I am suffering right now is still within my range of tolerance, so I didn¡¯t fall of the branch I¡¯m sitting on. After all, compared to the supercompensation and marrow cleansing I had gone through, this is nothing. After a series of painful reconnaissance, I finally have the highest precision I can reach right now while covering the whole pack of these void creatures. Firstly, I will analyze the morphology. I can sense their body having the form of a bipedal¡­? But the nails I can feel from their hands were¡­. A bit longer than usual. No, with that form, it can only be termed as claws. And it¡¯s a long three claws in the middle with two short ones on the sides. All in all, their body is not that tall, and they can be considered as fairly thin. I see, a body made for assassination, and ambush. No wonder this is their fighting style. Just that, the shape of their heads are like¡­¡­ I don¡¯t know? A beak? it¡¯s round on the base but then it extends forward like a beak. Hmmm¡­. Are they like moles or something? Maybe they are. I see, they have a similar appearance with a certain ninja youth who can transform into a mole beast from that playstation game. This is the only thing I can pick up in this situation. After all, although I¡¯m sharp enough to analyze their bodily structure, I can¡¯t analyze the flow and attribute of their prana that can give me a rough guess of what tricks they might use with my current ability. The path to becoming a supreme existence is indeed, still so far away. I see. My enemies are experts in ambush, and their starting moves are sudden attacks after clawing out of their burrows. They can also differentiate the vibrations of an object falling on the ground inside their formation, and a living being walking right into their trap. This wilderness is filled with wild void creatures. And most of them have prana flowing inside their bodies. Thus I can safely assume that they differentiate with prana sensing, like me. After all, using hearing to accomplish such a feat can be considered godly as fuck. And from what I know, most animals that have the ability to dig burrows doesn¡¯t have the specialty in that kind of aspect with superior senses. If that is how they want to do this, I will respond in kind with my own way of combat. I jumped from branches to branches while moving from trees to trees as I try to find the optimal spot to lure a few of them while not alerting all of them at the same time. This is the time for a divide and conquer tactic. Their formations are formed like ¡Æ with five personnel manning every key angles. The one in the back were in charge of lookout outside the formation. That will be the one I will aggro. I will project a prana wave, as if a living being stepped on top of its head. After the previous super compensation I can finally project my prana like usual. Although the fact that I can¡¯t conjure my negative mudra was a bit disturbing since I still haven¡¯t figured out the missing piece in my theory in negative mudra, I can still condense my prana like it was a profound energy from a certain character in a ninja manga where he used a ball of condensed chakra strengthened with inner omnidirectional rotation to unleash a strong attack of destruction. After condensing them however, I didn¡¯t give omnidirectional rotation towards the prana inside. I tore a small branch a bit above my head and threw my condensed ball of prana to the ground as I made it float on the ground at the same time, to fake the impression that I was descending from where I am standing. Unexpectedly, the plan succeeded and the six moles finally crawled out of their burrows at the same time! What timing! I immediately put my utmost effort to retreat and attract them to lengthen the distance between them and the backup in their pack. I know that running on the ground while retreating will allow them to reach me faster since they are a pack of assassins specialized in killing on ground, so I jumped from trunks to trunks like a camel cricket jumping from one place to another as I kick the trees in my left and right. Leaves grazed my body as I proceed in my leaps. The retreat is going smooth, I gain a distance of 30¡­. 50¡­.. 70 meters right away. Although I am leaping from tree to tree to keep my distance from their claw¡¯s reach, I know for a fact that leaping from tree to tree like this give me lesser speed needed to brush them off. Although since I have no intention of brushing off their pursuit in the first place, it was rather fine this way. And as I float midair while retreating¡­ I felt a tingling sensation of danger on my back. ¡°!!!!¡± Rather than leaping to another tree diagonally in front of me, I clawed the tree to ascend and gain height to avoid this dangerous sensation. Just as I did that, the tree where I was supposed to kick next after this one was slashed with three strong and lethal shockwaves, as if a very sharp saber lacerated the tree. ¡°!!!¡± They can use their prana to conjure a sharp shockwave attack! It¡¯s like they are firing wind claws! You cheaters! Since when can Bak*ryu use G*tsuga Ten*hou Claw Version! This is bad. After gaining a bit higher than before, I immediately leaped again from the trunk of this tree I¡¯m clawing on, and instead of leaping to a trunk, I leaped to a branch to get a more stable footing. Moreover, should they try to use that move just now, I¡¯m sure the branches I¡¯m standing on will fall onto them. That way, I can make them think I put up a clever and cowardly fight with them. Noticing the intention behind my actions, they immediately use their claws to conjure the wind claws while aiming to get their positions on my flank as they began to jump and leaped from branches to branches just like I do. Holy fuck, their coordination are superb! And not only that, the way they react to my counters are also effective and efficient! I then began to descend from the branches and use the tree trunks on my sides for cover against the wind claws. However, since they are surrounding me, I can¡¯t stay hidden in one tree trunk so I moved here and there using the trunks to take the wind claws. And all of a sudden, all of them stopped attacking from this distance after seven rounds of their wind claws failed to graze my skin. And only at this time, I can finally grasp the complete form of their body. Their body was just like how my analysis explained earlier. However, my analysis before didn¡¯t detect the quills protruding on their backs. And as they stand while surrounding me, I noticed that¡­ Their quills are glowing with pulsating light, as if blood is flowing within. However, I can deduce that it is actually prana. Which means¡­. ¡°!!!!!¡± I immediately threw my body below and literally kissed the ground with my front in order to avoid the range of their attack. The flying quills arced its way above me as I stay kissing the ground in evasion. The piercing sounds of air being torn resounded clearly in my enhanced senses of hearing as I let it pass¡­.. And hit one mole after another in its wake. However, that thought was too na?ve, since their split second firing sequence and timing was too accurate and simultaneous, and was fired from the perfect distance to allow them attain maximum casualties while making the attack harmless enough with their agility to dodge it like me. Amazing. Looks like for a little while, I will have to make do by drinking blood in substitution of water. Interesting enemies make significant improvement! Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 5 While I literally kissed the ground to evade their quills, it was done purely by reflex, and there is no preparation whatsoever for the next move I would have taken. However, these mole beasts are different. Not only their agility provides the sufficient performance to dodge their own quills like it was nothing, their body was also forged to hunt while keeping their stances low, as if they are sweeping the ground with their bodies and claws. And that is why, I am a step too late to move compared to them. After they dodged their own quills by a hair¡¯s breadth, they immediately adjusted their posture while charging towards me like an arrow. Their steps were light, as if their muscles are made of feather while their bones are made of dry wood as they gained the most advantageous position to surround me. Their claws radiate a vicious glint as they slashed the empty air, sending wind claws towards me from the back, front, left and right of my position. Upon facing their well-coordinated attacks, I immediately gathered all the strength I can muster towards my feet as I wildly kicked the ground and jumped my way above, reaching the wide and open space in the air. Even the trees in my surrounding was below me as I looked at the vast horizon in my front. I felt that my prana was significantly drained, as I feel a momentary feeling of limpness as I tore the air with my body. However, that doesn¡¯t mean I can relax. After all, my body has not been tempered enough to withstand the falling momentum I would receive upon landing! Human¡¯s brain are made to automatically process lots of information at the same time in real time. Since the thing I need the most is a plan, I willed as I cut all unnecessary calculation and thought my brain processed. My mind immediately reached its peak of concentrated state as my ascending speed gradually diminished, while feeling that the time goes slowly as the wind graze my whole body, reminding me of the impending doom I will face. The colors and light I perceive with my eyes dimmed in less than a blink of an eye till my eyes only catch the pitch black space, as I forcibly willed my mind to cut my visual senses. However, I can still feel that this is not yet enough. I willed my mind, and cut all the senses in my body to accelerate the thinking process of my brain in order to come up with a solution. Prana is an ethereal substance, which originates from its source inside a human¡¯s body. Whenever one wishes to conjure a mudra to create a phenomenon one desired, the prana would have to be purified and then amplified by the strength and quality of their soul, and then with a certain activation sequence the conjuring of the phenomenon will come into being. However, the theory I hypothesized when I created negative mudra had proven that prana can affect reality, albeit still as an ethereal substance. Although I am unable to comprehend why my negative mudra which destroys ethereal substances scattered in space is unable to be used, I can still conclude from the jump I just made that the prana in my body takes the form of pure energy, without any kinds of characteristics. And as I willed, the prana changed into surplus kinetic force which propels my jump, thus reaching this frightening height. If only by moving it with my will to my feet and then it changes into kinetic force, then can I move it with my will to the air outside my body to inject it with kinetic force, thus moving it as I wish? In less than a hundredth of a second, I restored the senses in my body as I try to experiment and find conclusion from this theory. As I moved the prana with my will outside my body and injected it towards the air grazing my body in my fall from below, I observed the result of what I did. Failure. No levitation was produced to decrease the momentum in the initiation of my flight as I lose all the ascension speed I had from the jump. Revise the theory. Where is the error? My descent is starting to speed up, positioning myself 98 meters above ground. The gravity¡­. Doesn¡¯t differ much from the one on my homeland world, so I can still calculate it with the same as always. In other words¡­¡­ about 4 seconds till I reach the ground. I once again cut all unnecessary subconscious calculations and thoughts as I focus all my mental strength in revising a new theory to make use of my flexible yet inflexible prana to resolve the crisis I am facing. If by injecting prana to a certain part of my body would somehow boost the performance of the said part, I can do the same with all my limbs, giving it a boost in performance. With the reckless energy gathering effort I just made before jumping, I was able to reach about 101 meters above ground in one jump. Of course, the price was about 45% of my total prana. Thus the momentary feeling of limpness struck me hard. How about gathering a bit more than what I previously used to jump in order to withstand the falling momentum? No no no. While it might be possible should I try to strengthen the overall endurance of all parts of my body, the shock would travel everywhere and give me a momentary paralysis. By that time, those wind claws will surely lacerate my whole being into paper shreds. What should I do? ¡°¡­¡­¡± 2,98 seconds to ground impact. Floating is impossible. Taking the momentum is a no go. Then¡­. How about this? Instead of injecting prana to the rampant air surrounding me as I fall once again, I concentrated to feel the wind. The first experiment was a total failure since I tried to create a kinetic force which propels me upwards, decreasing the momentum I will have to face. But everything in this world, be it moving or unmoving objects, contains force. The silent rocks by the riverbed, the fleeting dance of a leaf being blown by the wind, the gravity and even the gentlest wind. Everything contains a certain amount of force, which makes the nature moves naturally, as if following a certain law. The certain law that when one moves, all will be affected no matter how slight it is. However, my instinct tells me that although I am beginning to touch the surface understanding of something deep and profound, I find that it will take too much time for me to comprehend it. At least, to the point where I can use it to get out of this predicament that I am currently facing. My body keeps falling in ever increasing speed as I try to make my thoughts think in another perspective. The wind grazing my body was getting fiercer as the sound I perceive in my ears getting louder, reminding me of the impending doom I am about to face should I take the falling momentum of my jump head on like I hypothesized earlier. What to do? Conjuring levitation force is impossible. Taking the falling momentum head on is a no go. But other than the two, I still don¡¯t have enough knowledge to make another groundbreaking ideas. The jump just now was indeed, the undisputable fact that I am undoubtedly a combat novice. However, just as I think more and more, a strong gust of wind blew me and slanted my descending vector, changing my landing spot which was the very spot where I jumped off to a tree, with its thick branches and leaves. Oh shit. I readied myself to face the fall and the scratches that comes with it as the sound of wind finally disappeared from my ears, replacing it was the dull sound of my body falling while breaking the branches as they slowed down my fall. Luckily, the tree was tall, so I got lots of branches to break my meagerly built falling momentum. At the last second of my estimated time of contact with the ground, I had already restored my balance and then leaped again from branch to branch to create some distance with the moles. The enemy had already been divided. Now it is time to conquer. The first to strike have the advantage! Although I can¡¯t really say that I had that advantage to begin with. My feet fiercely kicked the branch I was on as I raised my altitude by jumping off to a higher branch. However, I altered a bit of my jumping trajectory slightly. This way, it will not let me stand on the branch, but my head will clash with it instead. One unexpected strike to suddenly kill. A moment before my head meets the branch, I flipped my body upside down using acrobatic moves which involves the movements from my waist, back and legs, positioning my head below my leg while my leg meets the branch. I softly placed my legs upside down, cancelling my colliding force with the bottom part of the branch as I kicked it back, gaining a sudden acceleration supplemented by gravity as I jumped my way towards a mole diagonally below me. I rotated my body again, my head back to the top as I advance midair. Being completely unaware of this move, the mole only managed to react by stopping his advance and raised his claw to blow me off. But its claws were just simply too late as my kick landed fiercely on its head, and planted myself on the branch below me. I can feel the gray matter of the mole beneath my feet as I moved again, jumping from branch to branch while evading the various skilled attacks of the moles. I begin to think while evading and taking cover from their wind claws. The tactic I used just now was good, since it managed to kill one of them. If I were to continue in this manner, then I will be able to kill all of them while preserving my life. But there is one flaw in this tactic, which is the exhaustion of stamina. I just can¡¯t imagine myself being able to hold out until all of them are killed. There is also the fact that the jump before depleted 45% of my total prana reserves. What to do? I lowered my upper body as I evade a wave of wind claw from my left. In my lowered posture, a mole in my right clawed downwards with its claws, clad in sharp wind as it arced to slice Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.my head. I kicked the ground to my front and arrived just below its arm as I parried its claw by blocking the arm with my hand. In that state, my other hand rushed its way to the mole¡¯s abdomen, as it pierced the backbone and disabled its mobility for good. However, the first mole who attacked me with wind claws from the left moved at the same time my hand pierced its comrade, exactly to rob me of my escape with its horizontal sweep to my neck. I didn¡¯t however, try to escape its claws. I turned my body as I positioned myself behind the mole I pierced as I used it as a meat shield while keeping my head lower, as its claws sweep immediately sliced the mole¡¯s head off like tofu. By the time blood splattered from its severed neck, my hand had already been pulled out. I kicked the headless corpse to disrupt its focus as I immediately pierced its neck and directly tore through with my right hand while my left blocked the inner side of its elbow and stopped the advance of its claw towards me. That¡¯s three. Which means, three more to go. Faint sounds of footsteps rang in my surrounding as the remaining moles positioned themselves to perfectly execute a killing move simultaneously in my still position. Their silhouettes, however, was incomparably fast I can¡¯t catch them with my eyes. Hm¡­¡­ Should I assume this is due to them moving so close while at maximum speed? Excellent bodily control indeed. However, they didn¡¯t give me the time to even to think of countermeasure as I felt a chill on my back. In a flash, I kissed the ground again, dodging the horizontal sweep of a claw while all my four limbs propelled my body as I jump back in a somersault manner to dodge the incoming claw aiming towards my head while retreating about three meters. In my back flipping motion, my legs kicked the tree behind me midair as I suddenly jumped 2o¡¯clock my position and stabbed with a spear hand in the space in front of me. My hand tore through the torso of a mole moving in high speed as it tried to keep its encirclement. It seems this one deliberately keep circling me while the other two attacked to keep me from escaping, but that moment of carelessness when its comrade attacked made it face a fatal setback as I killed it in an instant. My hand tore through its torso from the left side and perfectly pierced its solar plexus. I immediately rotated my body, changing the position of its body and mine so that I can use it a meat shield. Indeed, a claw immediately lacerated the body, and continuing through to where my hand was planted. So they finally chose the tactic of neutralizing my combat ability and then killing me, rather than an instant kill attack. As I pulled out my planted hand in a flash, my other had arced its way and with a stab, tore through its neck without a hitch. I then kicked the headless body of a mole to my front as a diversion and drop my body with my back on the ground to evade a vertical claw attack from behind me. Surely enough, the chill I felt from my back came to me like a sword slash; even after dropping my body, the mole had already predicted that I would dodge in this manner so it also threw its torso lower to extend its range, catching me in its grasp. I, however, didn¡¯t let him claw my face. My hand readied itself and with a fist, stroke its wrist. Out of reflex, in that strange position rotated using my other hand as a pole and swept a low kick to attack its balance. Unexpectedly, towards my surprise, the mole anticipated this move of mine and jumped low enough to barely evade my sweeping leg, and sent its claws again stabbing towards me in its brief descent. Holy shit. I moved my hand reflexively and parried its stab in my still awkwardly low posture while moving my body to maximize the parrying effect my hand provided. I immediately kicked the ground and jumped towards my front and thrusted the neck of the mole as I evaded a wind claw attack from my behind! However, the aim was a bit wider than before, and the mole behind me also predicted that I would move in this manner so although my left leg wasn¡¯t severed completely, the muscles were torn apart. With this, my mobility can no longer keep up with this last mole. Crud. Unable to react in time, my abrupt jump roughly crashed my back on a tree. A cough was let out of my mouth as I can¡¯t help the violent crash I suffered in my reckless dodging attempt. The mole, however, didn¡¯t give me a chance. It immediately charged and with a thrust, tore the space towards my heart. A chill can¡¯t help but flow through every single pores of my body as I feel the impending demise as I was still in my unprepared posture, incapable to dodge or parry anymore. In this most dangerous situation, I used the least movement to miss my vital points from being damaged by facing my body sideways while I stepped towards my front, and stabbed with a spear hand towards its heart. My hand can feel the heat and pulse it can only find in its heart as it bleed, and then fall for eternity, unmoving. My chest, however, was badly grazed the bones could actually be seen clearly with naked eye. I fell on the ground as my wounded feet finally failed to support my body. With a thud, my body landed on the dirty ground, my nose smeared with the natural odor of the earth. This is bad. With my mobility lowered, I can¡¯t dodge and move if another creature decides to attack me. My only way out is to force the mysterious healing force inside my body when I ate those wolves meat and while going through the super compensation process, rely on the chance that the wound on my leg might be healed. My sore fingers and nails dug the ground as I crawled bit by bit towards the nearest meat in front of me, which is the last mole I killed. Damn, since I had always and only been using my spear hand to kill, my fingers are starting to hurt a lot now¡­.. Even so, I resisted the pain on my fingers as I forcefully ripped the thigh meat of the mole. I opened my mouth and with a huge bite, I wolfed down the raw meat with great difficulty as I swallow it down. It all goes in¡­.. I focused my mind to ignore the nauseating sensation that makes me want to puke and vomit all the meat and continued to rip more meat. I chewed big mouthfuls as I eagerly anticipated the awaited moment when the healing power from Asya¡¯s heart activate. Surely enough, by the time I almost finished all the meat I can immediately eat from the first mole, the pain immediately crashed onto my senses like a broken dam, bringing with a surge of unbearable pain in an instant and continued on and on to corrode my every being as I writhe on the ground, enduring the agony I expected. Uuu¡­. It¡¯s much more heavier than when I eat the meat of those wolves¡­.. The corrosion persisted for about three quarters of an hour when it finally began to die down slowly and then perished completely when an hour had finally passed. All the time, the surge of warm healing energy from Asya¡¯s Heart had always been flowing non-stop inside my body, revitalizing my being while refining, tempering, and purifying the state of my body at the same time. I immediately turned my eyes and check. Surely enough, the wound on my leg had been healed. With this, my body should be able to last longer in fights like before! I could feel that the surrounding around me becoming more vivid and clearer yet again as my senses had been tempered more, sharper than before. The flow of wind felt so delightful, as my skin perceive every stroke the breeze brought in its calming dance. The flow of prana inside my body was very oppressive, like a water tank overloaded with water, about to burst out. A little bit more painful if compared to the super compensation from before, but not something I can¡¯t handle. However, unable to handle and not handling is a different thing altogether. I guided the palpitating flow of prana towards the center its source point, and willed to revitalize and evolve like I had done before when I was imprisoned. ¡°¡­¡­¡­.¡± My wrath sears the heavens of my heart as I remember that incident. Calm down. Burning your own heart with fury and wrath at these kinds of time brings you nothing but demerits! I immediately focused my mind to quell my anger and then continued to guide the rampant prana towards the source, and then after a brief moment, I can feel the source point burst with stronger prana. It was more vigorous and thicker, and the amount was simply incomparable to that of before. So this is how it feels to break through. However, I can feel that this flow, although very rapid and thick, there is a sensation that tells me this state is not stable just yet. With this in mind, I immediately absorbed the residual prana from the prana source inside the remaining corpse of the mole. After a whole lot of tempering and a series of pain towards my prana veins, I can feel the prana veins inside my body becoming stronger and sturdier, it can allow more prana to flow faster with more quality and half the time and effort. I felt like being reborn, as I unrestrainedly enjoyed the delighting feeling of freshness and vigor I felt in my meridians as I breathe in and played with the prana flow which has gotten faster and thicker. Bits by bit, the information of the wind claw implanted itself inside my head and after a few seconds passed, along with a shattering pain on my brain I finally understood the concept of the wind claws these moles used. This pace is good, I think. With that, I began my first short seclusive training in the woods after gathering the other corpses as I spent my time to stabilize the sudden breakthrough of my strength. Author''s Note: Thank you for reading this little work of mine, although i am still a novice i really appreciate your attention for this work! Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 6 The warm ray of the morning sun revitalized me in my wake as I open my eyes from deep sleep. I inhale the fresh air of the wilderness with vigor as I try to stretch my muscles a bit, immediately perishing the sluggish state of just waking up and stared at the bright and clear infinity. ¡°It has been two days since the battle¡­..¡± I muttered to myself as I gathered my focus and analyze the surroundings as I advanced towards the first safe checkpoints, which is the place where Annie left me with since I need some water. The six moles were indeed useful. In these two days, consecutively eating their meats strengthened my body by many times compared to before. After stabilizing the surge of energy from the first breakthrough, I continued to ravish the remaining of their remains, and made another two breakthroughs before finally stabilizing the energy surge. Needless to say, I didn¡¯t forget to absorb their prana, making my meridians and prana veins stronger as well. The sensation was just too great, absorbing their energy provided me with the extraordinary feeling of being alive more and more. With this, according the scale Annie mentioned, my base strength should be around the altered body 4th layer. She did say that in order to participate in that whatever martial academy exam, I would need to at least be in the altered body 6th layer, excluding whether you are actually able to pass the exam with that level of strength or not. Well, I have no idea what they are trying to test, but if it is a martial arts academy, then the exam material can be predicted and actually, no surprises included in it. In any cases, I predicted that by the time I consumed and refined the rest of the moles in that place, I should be able to barely reach the 7th layer of altered body, or even make a new breakthrough to the 8th layer. I also comprehended the wind claw perfectly, I can fire it in the same manner like the moles. However I didn¡¯t stop at that. Indeed, using my fingers, I can make five wind claws and lacerated a tree trunks the size of a meter radius it left five deep laceration marks. However, when I tried to conjure a single wind claw with a sweep of sword hand, the force was enough to cut the tree in half in one attack. Feeling unsatisfied with just that, I then conjured a wind claw using a roundhouse kick. The wind claw cut through more than five trees and finally stopped after nearly lacerating the twelfth tree in half. Of course, although the firepower was seemingly satisfying, I musn¡¯t forget that the nature of this attack is a slash. Against trees which has no prana defense to begin with, it might look amazing but if I were to casually use it and unknowingly provoke a creature I cannot handle, I would be courting my own death. Not to mention, using this attack to kill enemies in one attack would prove to be difficult. Although I still have so many theories on how to improve the usage of wind claws in order to face the various situations in battle, I can no longer hold the craving feeling towards water as I have been away from the river for two days straight. Thus explain my slightly sullen mood. I immediately sunk myself in the river as I bathe, washing away the pungent smell of blood lingering on my clothes and body. In the process, I drank the fresh river water with my hands in glee. After satisfying my primary needs with the river water and dried my clothes, I advanced to the tallest tree I wanted to go before. My feet treaded on the ground as I steadily advanced to the tallest tree, and slowly but surely delivering me to the place where the rest of the moles were keeping their formations. My prana perception was getting stronger and stronger than before, I can exactly distinct the respective aura emanating from each of their bodies from the riverbed. However, I tried to conceal the improvement of my senses from these moles proficient in assassinations and stepped on to the 50 meters distance from their formation like before. However, unlike last time they didn¡¯t give me the chance to think and immediately burrowed out of the ground before advancing themselves towards me, aiming for my death. I, however, didn¡¯t let myself be killed by these guys. In an instant, I conjured a wind claw with my roundhouse kick, suddenly cutting four moles at the forefront in half. In utter panic and havoc, the moles behind tried to evade with their astounding bodily control before being heavily injured while profusely bleeding. Twenty moles left to kill. Even the moles who was the origin of this skill was instantly stunned, and the battlefield came to a standstill. I, however, didn¡¯t just stay silent in my position. I kicked the ground and advanced towards the mole in my front, and conjured a stabbing wind claw with my spear hand, piercing the neck of the mole as it died in that instant. Massive amount of blood gushed out of the wound, staining the ground red as the pungent stench slowly but surely permeated the surrounding air. As the mole¡¯s neck was pierced, I swept my hand to the side and with that, its head rolled off the ground. I see, so by maintaining the activation sequence of this wind claw, I can actually use it as an actual invisible sharp weapon than just firing it off like these moles. Upon hearing the sound of their comrade¡¯s head meeting the dirt, the moles began to frontally attack me with all they had. At that moment, they simultaneously brandished their wind claws, as I feel prana turbulence from their hands as it made sizzling sounds. The situation had completely gone into a dog fight, one little me versus nineteen moles, two of them being the alpha and beta. Not that I would mind though, with the current performance I have now. I conjured the wind claw and maintained the activation sequence in my hands as I made my move and charged forward deep into their formation. Although when I said formation, it was already in shambles. The moles immediately engaged themselves in close combat with me, brandishing the wind claws at close range to ascertain my death in a single strike. The Alpha and Beta, however, maintained a certain distance and observed from a nearby tree branch as both stood still, unmoving. Upon reaching just 5 meters in front of me, the nearest 9 moles immediately dispersed using their supreme bodily control and encircled me from the front, left and right; three in each direction. ¡®In this distance, they will not conjure a wind claw when their comrades are in line of fire.¡¯ I thought as such as I spun my body and immediately to my front while clawing the mole with my wind claws, in attempt to break off the encirclement. As I maintained my charging speed, I spun my body like a top while keeping the wind claw solidified at all times as I chopped off two moles into bloody shreds. Pieces of flesh flew all over the place, as my spin pressed their momentum and kept them from attacking. I however, didn¡¯t fall to this trick of theirs. I used the angular momentum of my spin as I turned my face back towards the moles behind me as I conjured a sweeping wind claw kick towards them. Since it was actually their plan from the beginning, they had also conjured their respective wind claws, two being conjured straightly vertically, one horizontally, while the rest were conjured diagonally. My intuition told me that this full powered wind claw kick will not breach through their wind claws, and so I pierced the air with my arms as I conjured another three stabbing wind claws and shot them towards the moles. Boom! The shockwave of my wind claw kick clashed head on with the moles wind claws, as it lacerated the air and blasted into palpitating, wild sharp wind prana at the impact point. The stabbing wind claws, on the other hand, traveled through the chaotic sharp wind prana and tore through three necks of the moles. Sixteen moles left. From the remaining six in front of me, three dispersed and gained a distance while the other three brandished their claws, as they clashed with me in close combat. One charged at me head on while thrusting its claws in a low posture, attempting to stab my body and kill me in one hit. The other stepped slightly to the rear and clawed the air, creating an X pattern as it conjured a wind claw, aiming to lacerate my head while at the same time sealing off my escape route. Sure enough, since the distance was too short, although I could still predict their actions due to being able to sense and read the prana flow inside their body, my speed and agility couldn¡¯t help me get out of the situation. Since that is so¡­. I will use brute force to retaliate! I lowered my posture a bit and gathered significant amount of prana towards my legs, as I then kicked with both legs straightly upwards, directly slicing the thrusting mole in half while at the same time, as it went through, collided with the X-shaped wind claws before finally triumphing over as if meeting no resistance and continued on to arc far behind the moles. In this upside down posture of mine, the two moles which retreated before immediately conjured three wind claws each, as they ripped the air towards me, ensuring my death. I rotated my body midair with acrobatic motion as I conjured solidified wind claws in my hands as I received them and parried each strikes. My hand felt the throbbing sensation those wind claws gave as sparks of sharp wind prana rattled wildly around me, overbearing the air with its might. I took advantage of the momentum contained within each of these wind claw and retreated slightly after fixing my posture as I felt cold intuition behind me, as if being stared by an extremely deadly snake. In an instant, I immediately jumped upwards and stepped onto tree branch after tree branch, evading the attack from behind me. The moles immediately gave chase, hot on my tail as I began advancing to the alpha, brandishing my wind claw into one sturdy blade of wind. Noticing me aiming at it, the alpha and beta immediately conjured their wind claws and fired it towards me in a rapid fire manner; a single half of a second could actually give them the time to fire 8 wind claws. This is bad. I gathered all the prana inside of me and sent it towards my legs as I kicked the branch in full power. The branch immediately fell off, unable to withstand the force from my legs as I flew far, leaving them behind. Holy shit. Although the altitude I gained the same height as before, I depleted almost 30% of my total prana reserves¡­. I am indeed still a novice. Time and time again, I underestimated my opponent. This time, although I can still a bigger guarantee that I will be able to kill all of them including the alpha and beta, it looks like I will have to pay a certain price, or somehow I have a new insight to resolve this situation¡­. ¡°¡­¡­.¡± Hm. With this body that had digested flesh, blood and prana of the mole, I gained a significant amount of control towards wind through the interference of nature with my prana. Not only that, my muscles and bones were also tempered to match the battle style of the moles too. Is that the limit of the gains I attained from this? The rumbling sounds of air reverberated in my ears as I relaxed all my body and mind, only to feel the wind. Every matter in the universe have force. Be it moving or, standing by in position, force is contained within. This is what I learned from feeling the wind. However, the wind is never staying silent, because it is the most subtle existence among all matter that one can find in this world. Thus, every single action will affect the wind. And with just a sweep of their hand, these moles can actually conjure a killing move capable of instantly lacerating the victim without leaving a single evidence that can lead the others that it did the deed. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The question is¡­.. How will I use the wind with my current specs to kill all of them smoothly? I conjured my prana as thin as possible like the wind, allowing them to permeate and collect information on the concept of wind. However, the time I had was simply not enough to completely grasp the concept of wind. And at the same time, the moles had not ceased chasing me on my tail. At the same time, if I were to make rash movements just to evade, then I will surely be the one who gets tired first. But if I were to keep attacking, with the blunder I did just before, I won¡¯t last till all of them died either. ¡°Eh¡­?¡± Wait. In the instance I permeated my prana to comprehend the concept of wind, I could somehow perceive the movements of wind in my surrounding. And as I willed, the wind propelled me upwards, slowing my descending speed as if I was a light feather blown by the gentle breeze. ¡°!!!¡± Calm down, Haru. With the range I have now, it will only serve to give me sharper detection of my surroundings, I am still incapable of using the wind to kill them. However, this feeling of having my prana influencing the wind¡­. Was one big breakthrough I can¡¯t just ignore. I keep pouring my prana towards the surrounding air around me at the same time as I tried to feel the wind as I probed, trying to comprehend the concept of wind itself. ¡°¡­..¡± The sizzling sounds of air brushing my body in my fall kept ringing in my ear as my fall increased in speed again, losing the propulsion the wind gave me before. With a thought, I repeated what I did with the wind using my prana in my mind, and tried to initiate the same phenomenon using the same step I accidentally made. Sure enough, the descending speed once again decreased, as I felt my body being slightly propelled by the wind, allowing me to fly for longer time. Although when I said fly, it was only floating left and right with approximately a meter per second falling speed. ¡°Amazing¡­.. I stumbled upon something functioning nearly similar to [Soar]¡­.¡± With this unintentional invention, it will bolster my mobility in battles by far, since jumping from tree to tree just with my legs consumed stamina very much while using the concept of wind to tread lightly like this, although there are still urgency and room for improvements, cost far less energy than just jumping. Even if I were to go full speed, I can save more stamina to cover more distance if I were to move while using this concept of the wind. However, this discovery doesn¡¯t give me additional top speed. At least, not yet. This concept of wind give a tremendous to my acceleration and efficiency in energy consumption in every movement. In other words, not suitable for shaking off tails, but matches the needs of a close combat expert. My lips grinned from ear to ear as I felt the exciting sensation creeping in my chest. I channeled prana towards my legs as I stomped the air while using the concept of wind, sending me back towards the alpha and beta behind me. The wind surrounding my arms coalesced as I solidified it, shaping it to wind claws as I descend full speed towards the alpha and beta. Sure enough, being the alpha and beta of the moles they are keen enough to sense my sudden counterattack in a moment¡¯s notice as they slightly moved their body sideways using their supreme bodily control, avoiding my charge just like that. I, however, had already predicted such an outcome. In that split moment as I passed through the alpha and beta, I slashed the empty air in their direction without looking back as the wind flickered with sharp lacerations, slicing off bits of flesh from their bodies. Crud. Although my aim was still precisely directed towards their vitals, their reflex was still commendable enough to allow them to parry this unexpected attack of mine. Blood profusely gushed out from their arms, signifying the fact that my wind claws just now cut through their arteries. Not to mention, some of them also lacerated their abdomen, making the alpha and beta writhe in pain as they fell back, trying to gain some distance. I kept my advance forward, leaving the alpha and beta behind me as I propelled myself with the concept of wind to the moles behind the two. With a thought, I fiercely slashed the empty air before me in my charge as a streak of wind claw streaked the space, slicing a mole 12 meters away in half. Fifteen moles remaining. The alpha and beta, realizing that not only they had been injured but also had their lackeys killed under their nose were angry, as the chilling sensation I got from my back began to frighteningly intensify, as if my body was being thrown into a frozen lake naked, devoid of any heat. Shockwaves of wind claws was rapidly fired towards my back, sounds of air being ripped clearly rung in the surroundings as they not only aimed for my body, but also the possible escape routes I will take should I take the option to evade. With this much strength put inside this wave of wind claws, even I will not have the necessary might to clash with it head on, which leaves me with evading as the only option. Using the improved reflex I gained from eating their brethren¡¯s flesh, I evaded to the side while stepped the concept of wind to the maximum limit I can reach as I flickered midair and conjured a sword hand sweep of wind claw to divert the trajectory slightly towards the opposite direction I evaded. I still have slightly more than 60% of my total prana reserves. After having analyzed my condition, I spinned while gaining additional angular momentum with the concept of wind as I rapidly conjured tens of wind claws, scattering towards every direction. It was as if a blade tornado had just appeared out of nowhere as my spin became faster as seconds by seconds passed. I can feel the diminishing prana of eleven moles gradually faded into nothingness in the middle of my spin as I finally decided to stop this move, and flew upwards to gain some safety. With that, 4 moles remaining excluding the Alpha and Beta. My head however, was in a tandem mess. Ugh, using high speed spins to conjure storms of wind claws was a great idea in itself, but I should have realized the shortcoming that would follow which was the dizziness currently rampaging inside my head¡­.. The moles, however, didn¡¯t let me take a breather. In their anguish, all of them clawed the atmosphere as a wave of myriad wind claws arced towards me from below. There is nothing like attacking while sealing escape routes, just pure killing blades of wind towards me! At that brief moment where I have no footing, while taking advantage of the wind using the concept I comprehended I threw myself to my behind as fierce as possible to evade the raging wave of wind claws in my panic. The wind claws arced through upwards as if trying to lacerate the azure sky, as it passed through the empty space I was at before. I let the wind blow my body in my retreat as I wait for the dizziness in my head to calm down. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to keep using the concept of wind to maintain the retreating and falling speed at an optimal degree to maintain my safety in this cooldown period. From the prana I perceived using my detection, I can feel the moles are not moving uniformly and fierce as before. It seems to me that the moles were in a state of hesitation, whether to continue their pursuit or retreat and keep their little life. However, the alpha and beta faltered for a moment before sprinting full speed ahead towards me. They had offended me dearly, and they knew that the next time we cross path, it will be their doom. Their actions gave me that kind of impression. Well, it¡¯s not actually wrong. After all, their flesh and prana hold so much benefits I can enjoy. After a brief moment of floating midair, my head immediately calmed down and I engaged myself again in battle with these moles. One last rounds before I devour all of you! I manipulated the vector of my advance as I charged towards them from above. My being was like the peregrine falcon, descending with peerless speed to hunt the prey in one fell swoop! In my descend, my eyes became increasingly solemn as a wind claw grew out of my wrist, and with the most optimal movements, stabbed through the silhouette of the alpha in my front. The alpha dodged to the side while at the same time clawing its with wind claw towards me as I passed through. I have already sensed that attack with my senses, so I was able to conjure a wind claw in my wrist and parried. However, bits of its sharp wind wounded my arm, and lacerated a portion of my flesh. Upon comprehending the threshold of the concept, my movements became smoother and consume less energy even when I make erratic movements that seems sharp. However, that is not the only thing I gained. Because due to that same reason, I have less openings between changing movements and direction! My right hand swept the space between me and the alpha as a sword wind conjured and lacerated its way towards its abdomen, finally killing the apha in half. Blood splattered all around it, as I fiercely kicked the ground and charged my way towards the beta before me. Seeing the dead body of the alpha, the beta finally became scared ad turned tail as it fled from my advance. I fired wind stakes using the same concept of wind claws and tore its ankle, rendering it immobile for good. With a kick I jumped into the air and my hand swept empty air as a wind claw slashed the mole¡¯s skull in half, directly killing it. Two remaining. However, upon noticing that the two leaders the followed had been killed easily they immediately turned tail and run for their life. Hm, I think I should let them be. Not to mention they were far behind the alpha and beta to begin with, they are no longer worth the effort to kill. This way, they would be able to procreate, and give me more prey to hunt later on. Although that might be unrealistic since my life is so trifle and I would always be dancing around with death due to my grudge and grievance with Shiori. I turned my gaze towards the sky. It was still bright. However, my gut said that it will rain soon enough. I am fine in the rain, but if that is the case the corpse will enter a faster state of decay. With that thought in mind, I picked up the mutilated corpses of the alpha and beta and hurriedly ran to the shack Annie gave me. After briefly securing the spot for the corpse by making a new shack just like the one Annie made, I put them down, and gather more of the moles corpse. An hour later, all the dead bodies of the moles had been gathered. It is time to feast. Encounter With The Azure - The Sharpening Fangs Part 7 I stood by the corpses of the moles, including the alpha and beta as I pondered my situation for a moment. ¡°¡­¡­¡± No doubt, my growth recently had been smooth, although it was a bit painful. But, recalling the fact the way I broke through heavily depended on the burning vitality from Asya¡¯s heart, I don¡¯t think my way of growing ad breaking through is the common one people would take. Would humans or practitioners in this world use these materials for medicine or nutrients, refine it firstly to remove all the harmful substances and reduce the backlash before finally consuming it? ¡°High possibility this speculation is true.¡± I said so to myself, as I slowly dropped my body as I sat on the fertile soil. Thinking along this train of thought, the most imminent issue would be whether my way of breaking through solidly consolidate the foundation of my growth or not. However, after remembering the fact that my body was also being strengthened as I consumed the moles flesh before, I then began to think that it might be fine in its own way too. However, it might be a good idea to try out some new ideas that popped out in my head right now¡­. Without much thinking, I immediately tore the arm muscle of a mole in front of me. Even though my grip and arm strength had already reached a level where tearing muscles easily, it could be said that the moles have a very strong body despite its size and a very sturdy compressed muscles. With a ripping sound of flesh in my hand, I then opened my mouth and chewed the raw flesh, dripping with blood using my teeth vigorously. Every bits of flesh ruptured in my mouth as I forcibly tried to swallow it down, filling my gut with an indescribable feeling of grotesqueness. ¡°¡­¡­¡± One second passed another, the first mole¡¯s flesh was devoured completely, entering my stomach. I then felt a rampaging wave of savageness in my gut, rumbling and wreaking havoc as if trying to erode my being from the inside. As the feeling of my insides being ravaged by this unknown substance flared wantonly, I focused my mind in the midst of this agony to direct the pain, which signals the tempering energy towards every parts of my body evenly so as to assure myself that there is no weak spot that hadn¡¯t been developed in my body. The pain continued to torment me only for a short half of a quarter hour before finally subsiding quickly. ¡°It hurts less than before¡­..¡± I sat myself up and began to analyze my condition. There is no significant growth like before. It seems that my prana source point and body had already grown enough that savage energies and various substances from the mole can no longer enhance it. I then proceeded to absorbed the lingering prana inside its body, all the way till I sucked in the meridians. It felt like my hand absorbed a net of feeble and fragile fibers, and it felt so transparent as if the slightest lack of attention will let my hand lose control of it. ¡°Hm¡­?¡± Wait¡­. Meridians? This sensation I felt in my hand was new, and it excited my curious heart. With a thought, I focused my mind to its peak and carefully guided the meridians of the mole slowly, as if pulling a net made of thin and fragile spider silk. Slowly¡­¡­. carefully¡­¡­ observe every little motion and change¡­¡­ without a single mistake¡­¡­ However, as the fragile and transparent net of meridians touched my arms, cracks appeared on its illustrious lusters and the meridians immediately shattered inside the body into pieces, along with my excitement and focus. ¡°¡­¡­¡± What is going on here? I fixed my sitting posture as I began to think of this mystery. When did it explode? When the meridians I pulled touched my hand. Why was it pulled in the first place? After pondering for a moment, I can think of two possible answers. The first is that my attack had already struck it hard enough when it was alive, that not only the body was heavily injured, the meridians had sustained damage too, making it easier to pull. I can deduce this answer and then determine this answer was possible by thinking along the imagination that if a body was the container of energy, the dantian was the source point of energy, then the meridians or sometimes I also referred it as prana veins were the channel where energy flows to every parts of body. As the body which is the container becomes damaged, the inner structures within the body which is the meridians and dantian will also sustain a certain amount of damage, depending on the kind of attack it suffered. Even though the kind of attack method the body suffered would make differences towards the damage the meridians and dantian, there is always a margin that can be used to calculate the changes that occurred within them after a certain amount of damage had piled up in parts of the body, each parts with different coefficient. And when the heavily damaged body of the mole had its prana absorbed by me, the already breaking body with frail solid and ethereal structure had already become tattered. And with my absorbing force becoming even stronger every time my strength grows, it was pulled along with the prana I tried to absorb. Although there are still unsolved mysteries and unanswered question in regards to this hypothesis, I can still fairly calculate that it is not that very far off the mark. The second is that because my absorbing ability had improved, allowing me to absorb the meridians itself. It is said that long before the creation of cosmos, the universe was just a substance of highly compressed energy. After an unknown amount of time it exploded, and from then on the leftover energy mixed, collided, and fused with one another, finally resulting in the birth of various particles and substance. After a long period of time, under the guidance of fate, particles gather one pace at a time, forming masses of gas. After a long period of time, as the said gas become compressed due to the gravity its core emitted, nuclear fusion reaction occurred, finally giving birth to stars. After that, using nearly the same process but with different results, came out the planets and so on and so on. After a long period of time, somewhere in this very universe, life sprouted out from the dirty waters, filled with microscopic organism and so on and so on the theory of life goes. But what I am trying to say is not this theory that explain the possible origins of life. I am trying to say that everything in this world, originated from the condensation of energy. In other words, Heavenly Prana. If, my hypothesis is following this way of thinking, then the universe is a condensation of Heavenly Prana. If, my hypothesis is still following this way of thinking, then the event where the meridians were absorbed when I tried to absorb prana remains in the mole¡¯s corpse means somehow, an ethereal substances like the meridians is also a condensation of prana. And if, my hypothesis is still following this way of thinking, then the fact that the meridians were pulled by my prana absorption means my prana can somehow directly consume an ethereal substances which was a condensation of prana. If that is so, Then ethereal substances can also be considered as nourishment for me. However, the previous absorption left me with failure in devouring the attracted meridians. I began to empty the prana remains from the first mole, and then after relishing myself with the invigorated feeling the absorbed prana gave me, I proceeded to the second mole. I strained all my six senses to the absolute limit and probe for any changes and happenings as I slowly and carefully absorb the prana remains on this body. Second by second passed unhurriedly, as bits of prana surge entered my body, nourishing my meridians yet again with vitality. I kept my focus at its highest as I slowly absorb the prana, waiting for the prana remains to dry up. A short moment after, the prana had been completely dried up, leaving only the fragile meridians waiting for me to absorb. This is the moment of truth. Now, reveal thy secret before me! I shouted as such in my mind as I powered my absorption skill, slowly removing the meridians of its attachments to the body in every important points of the body. 10 points, 17 points¡­.. I kept removing the meridians, which was as frail as a spider web from the important points of the moles as I poured my undivided attention towards it. Not long after, all the attachments of the meridians have been removed. This way, all the attachments have been removed, and all hindrance should have vanished. I then gradually make an attracting motion with my prana as I kneaded the meridians which were like spider silk like rolling a string of threads, collecting it in a stick so as to let be neat. Strands of meridians slowly gathered into a ball of woven threads, and silently occupied my hand as it began to touch the most outer skin of my palm. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I then carefully controlled the ball of meridians into strings again as I let it enter my meridians and slowly guide it to every inches of meridians in my body. After having completed all of that, I began to merge it. It felt slightly painful. But little by little, I can feel some changes in my meridians. Like a river being dug, it made my meridians as if it became deeper and more robust. The feeling was as if I am becoming more capable of channeling more prana with more intensity and speed. The circulation felt more refreshing and unperturbed, as I revolve prana while observing the changes in my body. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Using my senses, I could feel that my meridians have a small changes in its attribute too. It was as if the prana that originates from the source is being colored by something new as it revolves around my body, passing through the newly forged meridians. ¡°¡­?¡± Could it be that, my meridians obtained an attribute based on what it devoured? Never heard of someone encountering this phenomenon before. Although that being said, none of what happened around me before can fully be explained though. At least, for now. After having finished consuming the meridians I absorbed, I began to continue to eat the corpses while absorbing the prana, consuming the meridians. After 2 more corpses, the process was even more easier. Rather than eating poisonous meats like before, it felt like eating uncooked rice. Hard, and a bit disturbing to the innards. But still incomparable to the agony that made me writhe before. 4 hours later, all the meat I could eat and the prana and meridians I can absorb had been cleaned, not even an ounce of it remaining. I could feel the palpitating sensation in my stomach as it refined the meats I just devoured, into raw vitality as it nourished my blood and marrow, strengthening the foundation of my body. However, even after all this, I can¡¯t feel the feeling of breaking through, unlike before. After drinking gulps of water, Asya¡¯s heart which had been dormant for a while finally let out warm current of energy, as it surged into the meridians and nourished my body along with the refined vitality and prana I gained from the corpses. The two foreign energies met and slowly but surely blended and merged into my being as one, forging me with strength. ¡°Ah, how refreshing¡­¡± My body stays at 4th layer of altered body. Not sure what kind of level were above the altered body, though. However, the road is still long. I can just take things steadily. With this thought in mind, I treaded my legs towards the tallest tree I had my sight on before, little by little while at the same time, carefully observing my surroundings. My heart was filled with joy and glee as I felt the strength in my body had once again soared leaps and bounds desite not having any breakthrough. This means, the foundation of my strength had become stronger! However, that didn¡¯t diminish my wariness. After all, one can never be too careful in the wilds. Especially, when one is by oneself like me. Moments later, I climbed the tree as I kicked its branch while clawing it with my hands, and finally got a good look of my surrounding for the surrounding 100 kilometers radius around me. Hm? This tree was only 250 meters tall at most, if not less than 300 meters tall. Should I contribute this visual acuity because of my sight? The greenery filled my eyes with refreshing light as I scanned every angle with great detail. From this, I could gain some information that would prove important for my survival here. Like how Annie said earlier, this wilderness is indeed north of a city called Eyrie city of the grand Assirean Empire. This, I could verify from the faint smokes rising into the sky from the left direction from where my shadow protruded. Since the day was still early, the sun was still on the east side, meaning the shadow will always lean to the west side. Obviously. However, if the faint smokes the society let out was this much, does this mean that the residents of this world is in the era of charcoal and gunpowder? No use in speculating this much. When I get there I will naturally learn everything I need to know. The north of my position¡­¡­ seems vague. About 70 kilometers away, white clouds covered the sky as if a soft and fluffy blanket covering a baby in his sleep. No need to think through so much, I can safely deduce that from there laid a winter plain of some sort. Not an environment I can contend for now, so I will have to put off the idea of exploring that place. The east of my position¡­. Lays a towering mountain. No, I think it should be a valley. However, the shape of the valley was a bit weird. Rather than having an upturned V shape, the valley domineeringly stood above the ground like a sword, as if daring to pierce the sky and rend the earth with its might. Hell, I¡¯m being a bit poetic. Of course, that is not the only thing I got from observing this valley. Although I am already this far from the valley, the aura of the valley, as if being brought along by the flow of the wind, grazed my body in smooth touch. Yet the whispers of darkness heavily ignited the suppressed rage, wrath and vengeance I hold in my heart. For a quarter of an hour, I silently stood on my position as I focused my mind to resist the whispers of darkness that amplified the suppressed feelings in my heart and clouded my clear and serene mind. By the time I regained my former calm and serenity, the aura of the valley that gave me the chills before as if approving me of my worth suddenly became a cooling yet warm wave, a warm embrace holding my body with the gentleness of Mother Nature. Hell, I¡¯m being poetic again! ¡°¡­¡­.¡± The society lying in wait in my south was a good place to visit. But this valley in the east of my position, gave me a different impression whatsoever. Could it be that the dangerous yet delicate matter that Annie mentioned before had something to do with this valley? If yes, then with the current strength I possess, I don¡¯t think I can keep my life from anything that comes out from whatever hidden spots around that valley. If no, then I would also not choose to go there now since there are so many things I need to learn and earn from the society that deeply planted its root in this world. I vanquished all unnecessary thought and turned my attention towards the west of my position. 50 kilometers of my position, it was¡­.. A beach. Precisely, it was a bay. Even from this far, I can vaguely catch the sight of its beautiful senery, and the freshness of the sea water despite having a harbor which would make it like a road in land for humans. A location which held many merchants, peddlers, outsiders, shops, and most importantly¡­ Inns. A perfect place for an outsider of this world like me to blend in. And that is my arcadia. Simply put, ¡°North is a winter plain. East is a mysterious valley. South is a city, west is a harbor.¡± For a starting point, I got a good one. The city holds the center of civilization of this region, so I might be able to find things like the martial academy Annie mentioned before. I can also observe the happening in this region, or even in this country should I take the right move in gathering information. But as for buying and selling, and most importantly learning all the habits, etiquette and all the common sense this world use, my choice for starters would be the harbor in my west. After all, outsiders come and go from harbors, making the residents would automatically have a more open minded way of thinking and less suspecting. Well, at least not suspecting someone who is clearly harmless. This way, I can just blend in as an outsider with outsiders from outside this land, which is not lying at all while at the same time fulfilling all my needs. Okay, that would be my destination for now.