I Hate Being The Protagonist

The whole temple—consisting of three monks currently—gasped in disdain. My indecent comment left them flabbergasted, unable to comprehend how such atrocities can escape an enlightened 12 year old's mouth.

"Take that back, young one!" one of them raises his voice.

The reason for my hostile approach to these buffoons isn't teen angst, although I would be well into my teens if 2 deaths gifted by my nemesis didn't stud my growth. No, the reason for my inhospitality is the value of my life slowly decreasing as it is stomped on by a looping circle of death. I'm thrust back into the moment of my mother's death, which is detrimental for my morale.

Now, I'm left with only one objective in my life: getting rid of the Dreamer. To achieve that goal, I have to go through a lot of people and places, decreasing my tolarance for... everything.

If I die again, these people's memories will be erased as I'm sent back into the past. This uncaring mentality that bloomed inside me might be dangerous, but it is the only thing driving me forward. Besides, once I adapted the careless attitude, my power got exponentially higher.

"I won't take anything back. If you feel like you've got a duty to shut me up or exile me, you'll have to beat me in a fight,"I declare, walking out of the shrine.

"That won't be a problem, young one. You should watch your mouth when addressing an authority that's lived a hundred of your lifetimes."

"I give no respect unless it is earned," I respond, activating my aura.

This was like fighting against my former self, as the monk in front of me almost had the same manapool that I boasted in my previous life. This one was the strongest in the entire temple, so I was expecting a lot from their elder.

"If I beat you, will your elder show up? Does he even care?" I mock, fueling my fists with mana.

"You won't get far enough to see that," the monk responds, taking a battle stance.

More bald-heads exit the temple and surround us, observing our fight. With them is a single girl, with dark brown hair and glasses. She is holding a book and looks to be in her late teens.

As the crowd appears, I make the first move, dashing forward. The monk is surprised by my speed, reacting at the latest possible moment.

His fingers curl into a fist, which he hurls my way, swinging with enough force to shake the grass behind us.

That attack should've destroyed a large portion of the ground, maybe even reached the temple. Instead, it only created wind pressure enough to rustle the grass. It seems this guy has good control over his enhancement magic.

As I throw a roundhouse kick, I feel the mana that's buried into the ground and locked into the air. A lower being couldn't even exist here, as the higher dimensional mana takes up a larger portion of space here, almost making this a higher dimension like Heaven.

"Is this what Heaven would feel like?” I muse, gliding my fingers through empty space.

"No, a higher dimension would be even sturdier than this," the monk notes, "And try to take this fight seriously!" he orders, throwing another punch.

I accept his proposal, landing a solid counter-punch on his abdomen. When my fist landed, no recoil was made. I didn't feel the force repelling or wind pressure being released as our bodies made contact.

[Nullification?] I think to myself.

Can this ordinary monk have a power as strong as nullification? If he does, I wonder how it works...

To test that theory, I jump back, putting distance between us by avoiding another one of his slow swings. To someone at his level, those strikes would be deadly and lightning-fast, but to a being using light magic to aid oneself... Let's just say his moves are predictable to me.

I couldn't move at the speed of light, but my body could be propelled at speeds that ordinarily wouldn't be possible at my strength.

"How did you do that?" I ask him with a need to find out more about his ability.

"You deserve no answer," he snarls.

Fine, let's see how you hold up against this.

I dash forward, my whole body using light magic as fuel for enhancing my speed and power. He couldn't even react as my knuckles dug into his guts, converting all of my kinetic energy into the strike.

Again, my attack was stopped without commotion, as if a toddler hit his father with those soft hands.

After a short moment, everything became clear to me. Blood seeped out of the monk's nose, as well as from his eyes. His veins bulged, his body tensing uncontrollably.

"I see, shock absorption... Sorry to tell you, but you won't be able to stop me with that," I apologize sarcastically.

He tries to grab me, but I react in time, deflecting his arm with my own. A smile curls up my face as another solid punch is sent into the monk's face.

This shock absorption has grown on me, as I adored every hit more and more. This last one was negated just like the last ones, but the physical force made enormous amounts of damage inside this monk's body. He coughed up blood as his respiratory system burst in many places.

That ability of his could suck up the force taken from a strike and use it in his next attack. However, when it is overloaded, his body would fail to store the energy inside.

"Poor soul," I feign sorrow.

As his bulky frame hits the ground, an aquatic sound mixed with electricity rings out behind me. I turn around to see the elder walking through the barrier, his thin physique striding towards me. The sunken eyes scan me, meeting my gaze after sizing me up.

"What is it that you search for here?" the elder asks.

"Your attention actually," I respond.

"Well, you've earned it now. How can I be of help?"

The crowd shut themselves up from the cheering and chattering mess they were a minute ago, listening intently to their elder.

I explained my need to find out about his miracle martial arts, which were hailed as perfect.

"Do you need a demonstration?" he asks.

"I couldn't ask for more," I smile, activating my aura.

"I've seen your potential as soon as you disabled the barrier," he praises me before we begin fighting.

As soon as his 'demonstration' began, I got to peer into his manapool. He revealed only a portion, enough to match my own.

"Soul Void Flux"

With those words, his lecture started. As the unconscious monk previously titled me, I had become a learner in this man's temple.

An effect similar to gravity magic condensed around his open palms. As he swiftly made parabolic and circular motions with his arms, any previous weakpoints of his were closed up. A perfect defensive maneuver, made to block any attack. Let's try it out.

I attack him straightforwardly, aiming for his head with light infused fists. As soon as they reached a specific distance from him, his hand moved almost instinctively, deflecting my attack. After the quick reaction time disarmed my attack, his other palm appeared on my chest. An unexpected force repelled me back, knocking the air out of my lungs.

"Damn..." I whisper, gasping for air.

As I try using magic, my body shakes. It appears some sort of disruption effect has taken place, rendering me unable to use magic as effectively. If another one of his strikes lands, I won't be able to use magic at all.

To use the same movement spells I've been exercising throughout my fights here, I had to spend about three times more mana.

The elder walked slowly, blue and purple light dancing around his hands. I could feel the magic he used, but it was too complicated to try and decast. Besides, I had to be in contact with it for long enough, which this fight hadn't allowed me yet.

I dashed for my right side, moving out of harm's way. As the elder turned around, I used a long ranged spell, firing a beam of light magic forward.

He reacted to my casting speed, placing his hands where the light beam would strike. Once it hit, the light was dispersed completely, reverting back to atmospheric mana.

That spell was no joke, as it could level half a city in Holdanis. If it was cast somewhere outside of Eviansis, where higher dimensional mana wasn't as prominent, it could incinerate a mountain chain.

"Interesting," I note, trying to dodge his next attack.

His martial arts magic or whatever pulls me towards him, creating a strong gravitational field between us. I can do it, I can dispel his magic.

As I start to nick at the magic formation that allows gravity to work the way it does, the elder appears in front of me, placing both of his palms on my chest.

"Troublesome, you are," he inverts his sentence like some kind of wise teacher.

"This is bull-"

I was cut off by a repellent force driving me into the temple's barrier. I create a strong ripple throughout the blurry membrane, falling unconscious immediately.

-

By the time I woke up, the elder was gone, returning to his desert shrine to meditate and wait for new 'learners'.

I was lying on a soft mattress, taken care off by the only girl in this temple.

"Ouch, my head," I grumbled.

"Careful, your spirit is still shaken," the girl warns.

"My spirit? Ah, that's right, the old fool called it 'Soul Void Flux'. Did he touch my soul?" I ask.

"No, don't worry. He only divided your spirit from your magic to throw your symbiotic state off."

I sat upright, stretching my neck.

"You know a lot about magic."

"Only about his martial arts since he taught me personally. I can't use it though, as my mana reserves are critically low and my magic is weak," she sulks.

"Shame... so you know all about it but can't actually put it into practice?"

"Right on the money. It doesn't bother me that much honestly, as I can guide others to learn it."

"Don't tell me you teach these monks how to fight," I laugh at the irony.

"Unfortunately, that's true," she confirms, chuckling alongside me.