Blessing of the Seas

Bennett felt a bit unsure of his situation. Before he started, the Professor demanded that he’d only be allowed to use a maximum of 5 seconds of his Blood Dash per fight and anything above that would be considered as him losing. Between that restriction and having to go against Ulayla’s team, which was made up of two Wind Mages, Ulayla, a Tank (as far as he could tell from the large shield the girl held) who was probably an Earth Mage, and a Flame Mage who seemed to be a buffer, he’d have some trouble. Not with them, of course, but Ulayla herself, who he knew was probably stronger than him, even with Blood Claws.

Using Maya in Scythe form is suboptimal… but I can try, I think-

“Hungry.”

Please let me focus.

After a moment, let out a breath and looked up at Ulayla, who waved at him excitedly.

“Remember, if you reach a critical state, you’ll just be teleported out and considered taken out of the fight. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5-”

Bennett tuned out the Professor’s counting and simply held Maya in ready position, still feeling like the way he held her didn’t feel just right. Like he could probably put more strength into a swing if he held her differently…

“2. 1… Start.”

Bennett was immediately assaulted by wind battering from all sides, locking him in position as Ulayla charged at him. For a moment, it was like he was frozen in time watching Ulayla fast approach him. He had a moment of clarity as he moved the Scythe from his side to his shoulder, before swinging it with great force, somehow seeming to cut through the air.

As he swung, he realized he’d never really studied how Maya looked. Instead of the normal Scythe you’d usually use for farming, the blade was made in a way that it was almost like a spear or halberd, but the curve of the blade was almost straight. However, it was even more unlike the typical War Scythe, which had a far shorter blade than Maya did. Maya was far longer, which was compensated by the slightly shorter handle, designed to have more cutting area and was surprisingly lighter as well. The tip was almost pointing at a 45 degree angle, but was just barely too short of it. However, it didn’t stop how effective it was.

He nearly cut directly through Ulayla’s arm, but she had already begun backpedaling at the speed of Maya, so he only cut her shoulder slightly, going directly through her scales.

“Wha-”

He kept on the offensive, using the back of Maya to slice again, pushing her back further, and this went on as she tried to get closer, but he pushed her back with another cut. However, even though he kept cutting her, he was doing less damage than he thought he would be doing, which was a bit confusing.

“Redirect.”

As Maya spoke, he was momentarily confused, giving Ulayla an opening, but he shifted to Blood Claw and barely held her back, having to throw her over his head, using her own speed against her. He then looked at the girl he’d assumed was a Tank.

She’s redirecting damage, isn’t she? He realized, but didn’t get a chance to think too long about it as Ulayla tackled him from behind and smashing him into the ground, bringing him down twenty percent HP.

I’m way too slow, he thought, futilely wrestling with Ulayla as he tossed Flicker’s anchor. He managed to cut into her chest before teleporting behind one of the Wind Mages who were limiting his movement and, albeit a bit reluctantly, punching him in the back of the head, instantly knocking him out as the Tank turned over to him with a panicked look. He shifted Maya back to her Scythe form and slapped the other Wind Mage with the flat of the blade, not doing much damage, but-

Wait, I completely forgot about the Flame Mage- he thought as a searing pain creeped up his back, and he could smell his skin burning.

Bennett barely contained a scream, and swung Maya back at her, managing to open a large gash through her armor and eliciting a scream as blood poured.

Shit.

Bennett grit his teeth, but decided to use Blood Spike to vault off of her, just as her bleeding form disappeared, reminding him that this was training. He noticed that the male Wind Mage was out as well

Geez… Good thing that you're just teleported out if you’re in critical condition. I forgot.

After a moment of moving away from the rest of the team, he watched Ulayla’s annoyed flap of her wings as she glared at him.

“How are you moving like that?” she asked, watching him closely. “I can barely keep track of you. I’m triple your Level as well!”

He couldn’t help but think that her frustrated wing flaps were a bit cute-

No. We are not thinking about this right now. “It’s what happens when you’re constantly chased by random beasts in the woods, like oversized bears. And wolves. And giant bees. Especially the bees.”

Bennett suddenly shook his head and dashed backwards as Ulayla lunged towards him. He retaliated with a few quick slices to her face and arms, barely cutting the scales that had appeared on her forearms, turning her arms into large Draconic claws, almost like his Blood Claws, but stronger, in a way. She dealt a lot of Physical damage instead of his Blood Damage, which was far more damaging. However…

“Why does Bleeding deal that much damage?!” she complained, obviously growing more sluggish as she lost more blood. “Also, how am I losing this much blood?!”

Bennett shrugged at her and used Blood Manipulation, pulling her blood towards him. However, before he could do anything with it, his control of it was ripped away and it was sucked towards Maya, who seemed to absorb it gladly.

“Delicious. More,” she demanded.

He didn’t have the time to be annoyed at her as Ulayla crashed directly into him, dragging him against the ground for an entire second before throwing him directly up, the burns on his back feeling like they were on fire once again. In a moment of desperation, knowing she was about to do something, he pulled out one of his daggers and, using Blood Dash to position himself before throwing it at her. As she dodged and he hit the ground, he used his other dagger, while gritting his teeth, and cut his arm, blood beginning to pour out of his arm. He then used Blood Claw, switched hands Maya was in after quickly sheathing his remaining dagger, then ripped at the ground to launch himself forward.

He completely ignored Ulayla and crashed directly into the remaining Wind Mage, smashed his fist into their head even as a multitude of blades of wind cut into him, but he ignored them even as his HP dropped dangerously. He put up a Blood Shield and Ulayla crashed into it, Maya letting off a pulse of danger as she had sensed. After a moment of her clawing through it, he was able to throw a Bloodbolt at the Tank using only 5%, but it was enough to knock her shield out of place and he used Blood Dash to get close, unsheathing his dagger and stabbing through an opening in the girl’s armor. She shrieked and tried to bash him with her shield, but he grabbed it from her grip and instead slammed it behind him into Ulayla, who had finally gotten through his Shield.

Resummoning Maya, who he hadn’t even realized he’d dismissed, he cut through the Tank’s armor and she teleported out of existence, disqualified. Ulayla had already recovered, and she flapped her wings, trying to get as far back as possible. He used Blood Dash and ran behind her, grabbing her wing and tossing her behind him.

He then sliced backward, struggling slightly to cut through the scales on her chest. She was able to kick Maya off of her and rip her from his grip, throwing her away. He attempted to Blood Dash, but she managed to restrain him by grabbing his wrist and smashing him against the ground. He felt a searing pain in his arm and against his stomach as she kicked him. He had to use Flicker to phase through her and grab Maya again, gritting his teeth.

I’m gonna lose, aren’t I? He thought solemnly, ignoring the pain. She’s just way stronger than I am, along with me being handicapped without Luna’s healing. Damn it.

I might as well keep going.

“Blood. Use it.”

Bennett froze at Maya’s voice, taking a few steps and looking around. There was blood. His, Ulayla’s, the blood of others… He knew he should be taken aback by the idea of using a person’s blood to fight, but, to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. However, the act of causing someone else to bleed…

I should feel revolted. This… isn’t right at all. I’m deliberately slicing people apart to use their blood to feed Maya, and, soon, fight them with. Even when I hunted, I would still feel a bit queasy watching my daggers draw so much blood… but I’m not even remotely disgusted. I even have blood on my uniform. I can feel some of it dripping down my face… It’s Ulayla’s, isn’t it?

He frowned as Ulayla seemed to stagger, but pull herself back up, still ready to fight. “You’re about to collapse, right?”

She growled, but didn’t respond otherwise. Bennett sighed.

Bennett began to use Blood Manipulation.

***

Luna, along with the rest of the team, had already finished their battle with a win, thanks to Mia’s debuffing and Tyreese practically burning their opponents alive by using Mia’s Thorn Field as a fire starter. She was now watching with mild concern as the Blood that Bennett had drawn from his battle began to rise from the grass and seemed to sharpen into many of only what she could describe as thorns. They all pointed at Ulayla and she seemed to panic. However, she didn’t have time to react as Bennett, who was clearly exhausted from moving around everywhere, launched himself at her, the blood thorns blasting into her, one going directly through her wing and another lodging itself in her side, but she managed to avoid the rest. However, she couldn’t avoid Bennett, who grabbed her by the other wing with what looked like a Claw made of blood and smashed her into the ground.

After a moment, Ulayla disappeared, clearly too injured to realistically fight. However, the remaining blood still floated in the air, so it looked like he was still expecting something else to happen. However, he instead lifted his arm, where the claws seemed to liquify and then flow back into his hand forming the blood colored Scythe.

All of the, albeit a small amount, blood then rushed towards the Scythe and it seemed to eat it up greedily. After all the blood was gone, the Scythe seemed to shiver slightly and then, through one of the still bleeding cuts on his body, went inside of him once more, sealing over.

Realizing the fight was definitely over, he shook his head and looked over to Luna. Luna, finally done observing, ran over to him.

How does a person even get this injured without realizing? She thought as she touched him, sensing all of his injuries, including the internal ones, which were by far the worse. He had two broken ribs, a fractured arm, and a few organs were a bit moved around. When did she even hit him that hard?

He looked down at her with a grimace before sitting down. “Oh wow, I’m sure I have a broken rib or two from when she dragged me against the ground. And I’m sure the arm’s from when I was thrown against the ground. I didn’t realize just how strong she is- Ow.”

Bennett groaned in pain as Luna pressed her hand against his ribs, but then sighed as they slowly began to heal as she carefully mended them. After around five minutes of focusing, she let out a breath. He looked at her and patted her on the head, which she wasn’t sure how to react to at first, but relaxed after a moment. She placed her hand on his arm and slowly healed it while he began to watch another fight, which was quickly being resolved.

***

Yelena, despite being originally confident, was not in the greatest of states. She was hardly able to keep up against the team that her and the other members of her team were supposed to be fighting.

She looked over to Juli, who was simply kicking chunks of the ground far larger than it looked like it should have been possible at the opposing team while redirecting attacks with some weird looking portals that didn’t seem to strain her at all. She, in all, seemed uninterested. However, Bastion was getting up close and personal, smashing his claymore into the nearest person.

The reason they were having such problems was because the ones they were fighting were nobles. This was a problem since, well, nobles had a lot of money, which meant it was difficult to deal with them due to the sheer amount of defensive Artifacts and the powerful armor.

I don’t have the Skills to do much of anything here. It’s so frustrating, Yelena thought. It’s unfair that Bennett has so many more than me.

After a few moments of mentally complaining, she tried to focus on the other team, but was a bit disheartened when she saw one of the other two of her team nearly get skewered by a spear, but was clearly damaged enough to disappear.

Damn it. He was our main support. Why wasn’t-

“You don’t even know how to protect your own supports?” the noble who’d eliminated him sneered. “How pathetic.”

Yelena gritted her teeth and gripped her father’s sword (at least according to her mom) tighter. She wanted to dash over to the boy and shove the thing through his chest. However, she held herself back, glancing towards Bennett’s fight, just to see that he was finished, though he looked a bit like he’d broken multiple bones and been dragged around like a doll. He waved at her and then grimaced in pain as Luna, who was sitting on his lap, poked his ribcage. After shaking her head slightly, she looked back at the team she was supposed to be fighting with a glare.

I don’t have that many offensive Skills, nor do I have the talent to make stuff up as I go, like Ben can. However, I can do other things.

She held the small shield that she’d gotten from when they were picking out equipment tighter. Originally, she’d only gotten it to just act as another form of defense. Then, she realized she could attack a Shield Spell to it, which opened up a whole host of possibilities. Namely-

After a moment of debate, she attached a Flame Shield to her shield before using Overwhelming Firepower and launching herself, shield first, into the boy who’d just taunted her, who tried to lift his large shield back up in panic, but instead got a face full of her shield before she swung her sword at his neck, but before it connected, he disappeared, whatever magic being used deeming him defeated. After a split second of feeling triumphant, she used Burst to move away as quickly as she could, but was grabbed by a plant vine, courtesy of the other person who’d been making their fight unnecessarily difficult, another Earth Mage, who was in the plant category, a bit like Mia, from Bennett’s team.

The boy sneered at her, swinging a halberd at her. She let it skid over her shield as she leaned back, slightly panicked. She then, using her now flaming sword, set fire to the vines, which quickly spread. However, the oils on the plant were clearly resistant to that, so she wasn’t able to burn the entirety of it.

She used Burst again, this time landing next to Bastion, who slammed down his claymore on the shield of someone who she could only assume was a Tank, something she could possibly deal with. She went around and Bastion, seeing what she was doing, decided to grab the shield itself, trying to rip it from the girl’s arms.

Yelena then shoved her sword into the Tank, successfully eliminating them, but not without her noticing another one of their teammates was eliminated by a thorn being launched into his arm. She heard their other Earth Mage curse, but managed to throw back a huge wave of large rocks which Juli seemed to notice and added on to as the boy disappeared, but not without nearly disabling the opposing Earth Mage. She watched as Juli took the chance and, with a kick that even Bennett wouldn’t want to try and block, she eliminated him.

Two left, an Air support and the guy who’d been causing us the most trouble. The Water Mage, who I’m pretty sure is in Luna’s Water class.

The boy looked both bored and tired at the same time, which she could relate to, at least the tired part. He was effectively her hard counter, but she also countered him, so, after their first encounter, they both realized it would be useless to fight one another.

He sighed. “Sorry about them, though I don’t really care. They’re all assholes in their own way.”

“And you’re different?” Juli huffed, uncharacteristically snapping back.

“Yes. I’m a bigger asshole.”

Yelena heard Bastion let out a muffled snort, clearly trying to not laugh. He’s so cute sometimes. But I shouldn’t be thinking about that. Firstly, Bennett would simply be unimpressed, but I’ve seen him looking at Ulayla strangely sometimes… though that’s probably him trying to understand her deal with him. She’s strangely attached to him and Luna.

Plus, there’s no way he doesn’t like her, even slightly. He sure doesn’t stop her from doing her weird things. Wait, I’m supposed to be fighting someone.

She looked over to the boy and frowned. “What is that even supposed to mean? How do you even-”

She was interrupted by a thin stream of water and a pain exploding in her side. She moved as quickly as she could, trying to lift her shield in defense.

What the-!

After that, the remaining five went completely on the offense, but it was nearly impossible to get too close without being blasted by a jet of water strong enough to cut through Juli’s rocks. This went on for a minute, nobody seeming to be able to get the upper hand, and the buffs from their support were beginning to wear off, which only really increased their damage and decreased Skill/Spell cooldowns.

But then, unbeknownst to them, the opposing Air Mage had somehow gotten behind them as they were focused on the Water Mage, who was able to ward off Juli’s attacks with relative ease and was too fast to be caught by Bastion or Yelena.

Then Bastion was taken out, which effectively spelled their doom. Only Juli and Yelena were left, and both in bad shape, especially Juli, who was covered in lines of blood and was dripping wet, preferring hand to hand combat instead of being at a range, though she definitely didn’t look the part. The only reason she wasn’t cut to shreds was because of her weird portals, which she used to redirect the water streams, which she could hold up nearly six pairs of at once, not visibly strained in the least.

It all went downhill from there, where Juli somehow managed to take down the Air Mage but was horribly battered, but still functioning.

How the hell is she still standing? Her stomach is practically ripped open! Yelena thought, watching the horned girl breathing hard. Juli then looked at her, seeming very annoyed before she muttered something under her breath, looking back at the boy.

“It’s on you now. I’m literally on the brink of death right now, since apparently this idiot System doesn’t understand that if I run out of Mana- er MP, I’ll just die on the spot. You better channel some inner ‘Bennett bullshit’ and develop some unnecessarily powerful Skill or something. I forfeit.” She then disappeared.

What is Mana, and she’ll just die if she runs out of MP? Does she, like, run on MP or something? …Does she only have MP? Yelena mentally mused, before shaking her head. Whatever, she’s right though. I want to win, and the only way to do that is to somehow do a Bennett and get some overpowered Skill that trivializes this fight.

She glared at the now mildly interested boyy, who watched her, waiting for her to act again.

I’m completely beaten! What can I possibly do in this situation?! Even if I could do something, I still wouldn’t win.

Yelena gritted her teeth as the boy shrugged. “You could just forfeit too. It’d save me the trouble. Not that I’m gaining anything out of this. Same with everyone here. I don’t get the point of fighting so hard.”

“Some people don’t like to lose,” Yelena snapped. “I’m one of those people.”

She used Overwhelming Firepower, flying towards the boy before the boy before he could react. She got off two flaming slashes before she used Burst to get out of the way of what she just assumed was some sort of water cannon.

For a few long seconds, they had a quick exchange when, eventually, Overwhelming Firepower ended.

Shit. I wasn’t paying attention-

Before she could finish the thought, she was suddenly covered in a layer of rushing water which prevented her from moving in any meaningful way, while trying to force its way down her throat.

Wha- shit. Shit, shit, shit, what am I supposed to do?! Just sit here and drown? She thought. I don’t want to lose like that! That’s the worst way to go out! I… I need to evaporate the water. But I can’t generate the heat to do that! I have to though!

Burn… I need to burn.

She forced herself to burn her MP, trying to turn it into fire, but it was just extinguished.

Hotter! Come on!

Yelena shoved even more MP into nothingness, trying to create a flame to evaporate to water, but she knew her HP was starting to go down, and rather quickly, if she said so herself. As panic began to overcome her, she ran out of MP… then something snapped in her.

BURN!

Suddenly, a fire hotter than anything she could ever imagine burst from her skin, evaporating the water around her and scorching the soaked ground around her.

___

You gained a new Skill!

NEW! Hellfire - Level 1

Hellfire (Burn)

(Active)

By Sacrificing 10% HP, you create a spark of Hellfire within you, converting all Flame Damage into Hellfire Damage, which deals (Skill Level * 40)% more damage while burning 800% hotter. During the Hellfire state, you will Heal from any Hellfire Char damage will heal you for the amount of damage dealt*. All MP costs for Flame Skills and Spells are decreased by (Skill Level * 6)% and cooldowns are decreased by 50% and your MP regen is increased by (Skill Level * 10)%. When Hellfire State ends, you will be put in a weakened state for 10 minutes, taking 75% more damage.

(Passive)

When dealing Hellfire Damage, you will apply Hellfire Char to opponents, which deals minor damage per second. Every time Hellfire Char is applied, its damage increases by 1%, no cap. When applied, it decreases Opponent’s Hellfire Resistance by 0.5%, stacking 20 times. Additionally, you can spend 1% HP to convert any Flame Skill that is used into a Hellfire Skill, even when not in Hellfire state.

Duration : Base - 120 seconds. When activating Hellfire, you can spend up to 20% more HP to increase the duration by 10 seconds per 1% HP.

Cooldown : 20 minutes, starting from the end of the duration.

Some Skills have been given additional effects!

Overwhelming Firepower

During Hellfire State, Overwhelming Firepower’s cooldown is reduced to 10 seconds and can stack up to 5 times, as well as the duration being tied to Hellfire State. At max stacks, the damage gain is additionally increased by 150%.

Flame Armor

While in Hellfire State, all attributes of Flame Armor are doubled.

New Class options have opened to you! Reach Level 10 to choose Class.

___

Yelena didn’t bother to read any of what the new Skill said at the moment, and instead focused on the boy in front of her, who, to her pleasure, looked horrified at the dark red flames burning on her Skin, which took a bit of focus to not turn all of her clothing to ash, which would have definitely been worse than losing.

Dang… I don’t have a ranged Flame Skill… Wait. I have Bolt.

She lifted a hand and shot off a Bolt infused with Hellfire, somehow having just enough MP to use it. The shot of MP blasted towards the boy burning everything around it as it shot through the air. He tried to extinguish it, but the water he produced just evaporated. Then the Bolt hit him, incinerating half his shirt and immediately causing him to disappear.

Huh… Can I cancel this Skill?

As she thought it, the flames immediately disappeared and she fell to the ground, darkness encroaching at the sides of her vision. Then somebody lifted her off the ground and she froze.

“Up you go,” she heard her brother mutter. “Let’s get you over to Luna.”

Then she was out like a flame being blown out.

***

It was safe to say, Bennett was in a state of panic, but, if you looked at his face, you wouldn’t be able to tell. However, Luna could tell he was severely worried for his sister as he brought her over to Luna.

Luna didn’t question it as she went over his sister’s body to see how much was wrong to find that, interestingly enough, there wasn’t much to mention… other than the gaping cut in her side that she had to immediately heal.

“Is she going to be okay? Is there anything serious? How long is she-”

Luna interrupted him by sending him feelings of reassurance and comfort, like he would sometimes do to her without realizing it. He stopped talking and sat down on the grass next to his sister, who seemed to realize he was there, even in her sleep, and pulled her head onto his lap.

With a sigh, he looked over to the scorched area that Yelena had made, which stretched nearly forty feet in width. “Geez… I really didn’t expect that. It’s like she became a firestorm or something.”

No. That was Hellfire, something that even I’m wary of, if just a little bit. It’s the only thing that could ever actually do something to me, since it’s so hard to deal with. How in the nine circles of hell did she develop that? What type of family dynamic is this?

Bennett gave Luna a strange look as he felt her confusion and she shook her head as she looked over the rest of Yelena before deeming her okay. She also double checked Bennett, just to be safe.

Huh. His skin is unusually… hard. Not sure how else to describe it. But I think it’s fine. Never seen something like this before.

Not even two seconds of thinking this thought, she frowned. Wait, I’m at least in the hundred billions years old and I’ve never seen this before? I’ve watched universes be born and die, seen more people in my lifetime and created more people in my lifetime than should be possible and I’ve never seen something like this? That can’t be right. How long has it been since I’ve been sealed?

___

Current Time Sealed : 1.972 billion years

___

Oh, thanks. I needed that so much. Just how much has changed, then?

Unsurprisingly, she got no answer. After shaking her head, she looked up at Bennett, who was watching his sister closely. Luna scooted closer to him and they sat in silence for nearly ten minutes until, eventually, Tyreese popped back into existence, in the same place he was eliminated, along with a large bag of something. Jennifer also popped back in existence, as she was eliminated also, but not holding anything. The Professor was immediately looming over them, but Tyreese looked slightly indifferent, clearly not intimidated by him.

“Hi, sir. You’re not so scary anymore, after meeting the head nurse, who’s very angry with you, by the way. Dunno how Bennett is still even half alive. She said you forgot this.”

Tyreese held the bag to him and the Professor looked genuinely confused. Then Tyreese blinked as if remembering something.

“She also wants to know who nearly sliced the Dragonborn’s, or Ulayla’s, in half. She says, and I quote, ‘If I find the person who did this, I’ll-’ Then she muttered a few things I didn’t exactly catch, but it was ominous, to say the least.”

Bennett coughed, looking very glad he hadn’t gone to the infirmary.

***

Half an hour later, Bennett found himself with a strange looking amulet around his neck and an annoyed Professor muttering to himself after explaining that, with the amulets, it would simulate being hurt without actually being hurt. For example, if someone were to slice at your arm like they were cutting it off, you wouldn’t be able to move your arm afterwards, but it would still be there, as it should be. Of course, this was a major downside to Bennett, but he he might have had a way to still deal the same damage as before, thanks to Coagulation and Maya, who’d, thanks to Ulayla’s blood, had reached Level 2, and unlocked a weapon Skill, which probably was the reason he’d felt slightly light headed for the past thirty minutes.

___

Maya has reached Weapon Level 2!

Maya has unlocked The New Weapon Skill : Blood Bank!

Weapon Skill : Blood Bank - Level 2

Maya can store up a base 75% of the Blood in your body, which can be used for Skills that require blood or be used to alleviate blood loss. This also increases your Blood production by (Weapon Level * 40)%. Her capacity increases by 25% per her Level. (Current : 125%). For every 4% she is not carrying, you gain a (Weapon Level * 1.5) damage increase. Additionally, blood from others can also be used in Blood Bank, but it costs MP depending on Blood Rarity. Increases Flat Bleed Application chance by 30% for Maya.

Progress to next Level - 5%

To progress Level, feed Maya vast quantities of blood, or rarer types of blood.

___

Maya, can you stop for now? I kinda need some blood to actually fight.

She seemed to think about it for a moment, but then denied him. He frowned.

“Why do you act like a stubborn child, damn it?” he muttered, cutting his arm and summoning Maya.

The Scythe slid out of his arm and he glared at her. “I swear to you, I’m going to let you sit on that stand the rest of time immemorial if you don’t listen to me when I ask for something simple.

“Blood… good.”

“You just-!”

Bennett felt somebody pull on his shirt and he looked down at Luna, who was giving him a strange look while holding the amulet she had been given, unsure of what to do with it. He gave her a small smile before bending down.

“You’re supposed to put it around your neck like mine. Is it too big or something?”

She shook her head before trying to put it around her head, the chain being too short to fit. He sighed as she held it out to him again.

“Here, turn around.”

He unclamped the amulet’s chain before lifting her hair and wrapping it around her neck and clamping it together again. She seemed surprised before letting out a huff, annoyed at herself. He stood up as she glared at the amulet, looking like she wanted to throw it into a fire pit. He laughed at her before patting her head. She let out another huff and pulled lightly at the thing.

I should just get her a necklace, if only to annoy her, but that’d be a bit rude.

He then looked over to Tyreese, who was giving him a smug look.

“What?”

Tyreese shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Lying.”

I know that, Maya. Calm down. And are you ready to listen to me now?

“No.”

“Yep, an annoying child,” he muttered, glaring at Maya again. Luna looked up at him strangely and he stabbed the end of the Scythe into the ground before simply leaving her there, walking away from her.

She then went liquid and pounced at him, wrapping herself around his arm, squeezing it.

“Ow,” he said, monotone. “That definitely hurts- OW!”

He yelled at Maya as she pricked his arm with numerous tiny spikes of blood as Tyreese roared in laughter the entire time.

~~~

Eventually, it was time for the second fight and, in a turn of fate, he and his team were the last ones there, along with Ulayla’s team, though without Ulaya. He’d never gotten to talk to his sister about what had happened with her.

Damn it. I’m going to have to write an entire apology to Ulayla. I didn’t think I hurt her that bad.

One of Ulaya’s team, the tank, glared at him from across the field, and it made him slightly uncomfortable, and he felt as if his gut was writhing in discomfort. Then he realized that Maya was moving his intestines around like she was playing with them.

Stop that. That’s really uncomfortable, He told Maya. Thankfully, she stopped, but he still felt mildly uncomfortable fighting his own team.

Tyreese, from the other side, raised his hand. “Can we just forfeit now? We’ve already lost.”

Mia smacked him over the head with her spear, as usual and he complained while Jennifer looked a bit uncomfortable. Luna, however, watched him for a few moments, obviously confused. He gave her a wave before letting out a breath as their Professor began to count down.

As he counted, Bennett summoned Maya, ignoring Tyreese’s complaints.

“-3, 2, 1, start.”

Crap, I wasn’t ready-

He deflected the spear that nearly stabbed him through the head and swung back before Mia could react, but he knew that even though he hit her, he didn’t apply Coagulation.

It’s only a 36% chance, so understandable. Wait, a Blood Bolt is guaranteed, right?

He threw a Blood Bolt, but-

“Okay, seriously? It’s so damn slow!” He complained at the projectile that even Tyreese could dodge-

Tyreese, not paying attention, got hit by the Blood Bolt. Bennett mildly debated standing there in bafflement, but decided against it, instead summoning Blood Claws and using some of the stored blood from Maya as a sort of propulsion, launching himself towards, knowing he’d probably regret it, Luna, who was probably a foundation for the entire team. As he expected, he noticed one of Luna’s tentacles whipping towards him as she split into three.

Wait, this one isn’t real. The one on the left is, He thought as the two other Luna’s went around him to get behind him. He pretended not to notice, but, as Luna got into place, he surprised her, which was quite evident on her copy’s expression, by disengaging, turning Maya back into her Scythe form, and slashing across Luna’s torso.

Luna, who’d already started panicking, was already moving back, wary of him already. However, he’d applied Coagulation, so that was one step done-

No, Luna can cleanse it. I have to press on.

Bennett, ignoring the stream of Lava that nearly hit him, used nearly 25% HP to launch a Bloodbolt at Luna, who didn’t have any time to dodge. She was hit head on, and he could tell she was completely out of the fight.

Well… I guess the rest of this fight is going to be easy enough.

***

After her very much embarrassing show against Bennett, who she’d completely forgotten could tell the difference between her copies, which had completely caught her off guard. He’d pretended that he didn’t realize she was trying to get behind him, which was so obvious if she’d thought to read his emotions.

She sat there, annoyed with herself before deciding to watch Bennett’s sister, who was, again, effectively a ball of Hellfire. She seemed to be able to constantly use some Skill that launched her towards opponents and wreathed her sword in Hellfire. Between watching Yelena and Bennett, who was basically just bullying Jessica, who was trying to run away from him while Mia and Tyreese simply stood there, looking completely defeated as Bennett eventually caught up to Jessica, who immediately appeared next to Luna before Bennett rushed the other two, who, all things considered, put up a mildly decent fight before they were eliminated.

Afterwards, when Bennett ran over to them, Luna, who was still a bit frustrated with herself, ignored his apology until he somehow pulled out a tart from only the gods knew where that wasn’t burnt from his last fight. She snatched it out of his hand and shoved it into her mouth as he produced a second one from somewhere.

She let him lift her up and she took the other one by a tentacle, adjusting herself until she was comfortable.

On the other hand, Tyreese glared at Bennett. “You could’ve gone slightly easier on us. Maybe we could have developed some cool Skills like you and Madam hellfire over there.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Mia said. “I’m pretty sure they have some sort of latent Development Skill in their blood, which explains their fast growth. It’s most common in nobles though…”

Bennett shrugged. “By technicality, we are nobles, but not necessarily recognised as such.”

Tyreese looked at Bennett in complete and utter befuddlement, while Jennifer looked taken about. Mia however, nodded slightly.

“You’re noble?! Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Cause I didn’t know until I came to the Academy,” he said, shrugging.

Luna finished off her tart Tyreese kept asking questions.

Huh. Does that make me a noble by default as well?

***

“Is there a reason we’re here right now? More specifically, me?” Melony asked tiredly, staring down at her hometown from above. “I may or may not have a class to teach.”

“I thought you’d have been tired of your classes already,” The Headmaster responded. “Plus, didn’t you want to check up on your little clinic?”

“I hired someone to take care of it, so I’m sure it’s fine. Doesn’t explain why we’re here though.”

“Because the traces of the God you mentioned leads here.”

…What? There is no way he’s actually investigating a God. He only brought me here because I’m peak Archon! This little-

She sighed. “So? Why does this concern me?”

“You have information, do you not?” The Headmaster responded.

“Uh huh. And I also have the ability to turn you into a block of ice.”

“What is your obsession with putting people in ice blocks?”

Melony shrugged. “Same reason my son likes cooking. It’s fun.”

The Headmaster stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head in defeat, most likely. She sighed before looking down to her little clinic she’d grown attached to. After years upon years of just killing and killing to get to where she was, just sitting down and trying to keep people alive gave her a new view of life in of itself.

“I honestly don’t get the point of you frantically searching for some random God that probably doesn’t even care about you,” she reasoned. “If a God wants to hide, then they’re going to hide from you. You won’t find them and I guarantee that.”

The Headmaster shook his head again. “If this is a rogue God, everyone could be in danger, not just us. We have no clue how powerful they are, or if they wish us harm.”

“If they wished us harm, I’m sure we’d already be destroyed.” But if my theory is correct, then the only thing keeping them from completely destroying us is just their own attachment to a certain someone.

Honestly, I just want to eat a good meal and go back to bed. Doing all of this is far too tiring.

Melony sighed and stared up at the sky.

*Somewhere???*

“What do you mean the chains broke?” The [Data Lost] exclaimed, waving her hands frantically. “Do you have any idea of what that means?”

“No?” The childlike woman said. “I already told you that I was just wasting energy keeping them together and there was nothing within my Memory bank that said I should keep it together. I’m sure Mother won’t be angry, though.”

“Mother- whatever,” The [Data Lost] sighed. “Your ‘Mother’ will be very much displeased. She might just decommission you and replace you with a far stricter System. Your creator is one of the three largest Systems as of now, and even has you, who’s been given a far larger area than any Starting System would ever get or even be allowed to control.”

“...I don’t understand. It’s just a few chains. What could possibly go wrong?”

The [Data Lost] grit her teeth. “What you just released is the biggest threat to every System in every layer of the Universe.”

***

Luna sneezed as Bennett and Yelena excitedly talked to one another after class. Bennett looked down at her as she continued eating the last tart Bennett had given her before shrugging and talking to his sister again, Luna on his lap.

Hm. Was somebody talking about me?