Liberation #2

Dodging was not enough. The assassin leaned back and angled to the left, raising both hands to raise a pillar of ice from the floor, but even that was not enough to stop the near-invisible attack. The slice severed the wind where Akiro would have been if he was a second slower.

Shing!

“Fuck–” Akiro stretched both hands to receive the ground, saving himself from falling headfirst into it. Using as much strength as he could muster in his claves, Akiro jumped off the ground even at such an uncomfortable position, and as pressure was released from his palms, he counterattacked with two magic spells.

[ Water-Magic and Dark-Type Magic are synergizing! ] [ ‘Passive Skill: Weapon Master / S’ is influencing your magic! ] [Passive Skill: ‘Language Comprehension’ and ‘Attack Skill: Imbue Curse / E’ is transforming– ]

The otherworlder grit his teeth, glaring at the invisible threat. Boxes only visible to him appeared to view, but as the world moved as directed by time, a lone deity appeared before their chosen in the form nearly implausible for the human eyes to see, but his soul can feel it clear as day.

“It is about time you matured, brat. Did our time apart allow you to deeply reflect in your place amongst the beings of this world?”

To bear the sight of such a form would spell destructive consequences on the human psyche and for this very reason many refuse to believe in ‘gods.’ However this couldn’t be further from the truth, and if gods were to show themselves, the recipient must be that of a powerful entity, or a being chosen by the cosmos burdened to carry the weight of fate itself.

Only these chosen are able to perceive these gods, for if it were anyone else, they would go mad and succumb to the insanity of the divine. Still, the gods are shackled by rules, and can only appear to the chosen in mere glimpses– faint revelations through touch.

The Emissary’s superior slowly walked towards her messenger. The cloak of empty space was dropped over her form, only a silhouette of a beautiful woman could be felt walking through space. She walked slowly, gracefully through reality towards the scene of battle, slowed incredibly slowly that it seemed as though time had stopped.

“I think it’s time for you to understand the fate you truly are responsible for.” She hummed a soft melody, reaching out with a finger to touch the tip of his nose, her voice softening at the last word. “I pray for your journey…son.”

The woman disappeared, returning back to the endless darkness of the unknown, and time resumed as it was intended.

The world’s flow became unhindered and proceeded as before, but the touch of the divine lingered upon her choice. He smiled at the enveloping blanket that washed over him, even at the face of a great adversary. “Strange… I feel… at peace. Words I’ve never ever spoken is appearing in my head–”

[ New Skill has been created!]

“O’ Late night Frost, of the lonely forest, in the Bleak Midwinter, heed my hands– [ Black Frost ]--” His hands departed from the surface of the floor, the two circles mixing colors until they became a gradient of each other. A surge of magic power erupted from the otherworlder, enough magic power to make even one of the kingdom’s finest mages to tremble.

“S-Such p-power–” Keisha gulped, her hands trembling from behind her protective barrier, “H-He needs to die!”

[ With the malleability of water, the chill of the cold, the darkness of shadow, and lack of life, you have fused together two elements! ]

[ You have created the skill: ‘Weave’ / S ] [ You can now create any spell from your elemental affinities, with only your imagination as its limit. ]

“This is Takumi’s innate skill.” Akiro grinned at the text, the spell circles glowing under his hands. Circuits in his brain connected, neurons activating commands that have never been done before as if it always had been there, and so, the hero spoke a word, his body obeyed. “Blizzard”

Ka-Boom!

“What the–” Keisha squinted as a wave of inhibiting wind washed over her. She hadn’t realized, but even behind her barrier, she raised her arms in fear. When she opened her eyes, the magic layer over her was covered by a layer of ice and snow, with icicles pointing away from the origin of the blast.

“You should’ve done your homework, Keisha.” A cocky voice chuckled from the center of the cloud. “I thought you could do better than that.”

The voice made her blood boil, “Akiro!--” She seethed, the layer of ice over her body cracking into pieces. Her anger was no different from a toddler's tantrum in getting caught red-handed.

Prior to their fight, Akiro had forgiven a man and his company of loyal soldiers, and then the head scientist and her guards appeared. The assassin took down the guards in an instant, but was countered by an invisible attack that seemingly came from the magician and her orb. Reality couldn’t be further from the truth, and it was revealed that in the large room with only two people, there were three. The mysterious figure was revealed to be encrusted in a cage of pure ice.

“Who do you think taught him that sword style?” Akiro’s chuckling voice slowly turned mellow, almost soft as he stared at the figure imprisoned in the ice. “...It’s good to see you, Toshi.”

The elusive classmate he had befriended couldn’t reply, not that it inherently could, after all, a skeleton without flesh and soul could only move as directed. It was a true shame, how a smiling boy turned into a puppet. An undead.

[ Name: Teramoto Toshi / Age 18 / Job: Ninja / Sub Job: None ] [ Race: Human- Undead ] [ Lvl 0 ]

Akiro looked at the spacing between them, a faint, sad smile appearing on his face. “Hey… even in d-death you still remember what I taught you–” His voice cracked, the dimples of his face contorting in a pained expression. “What am I even doing… that thing is no longer Toshi.”

Cr–Crack!

“But still, it feels as if he’s stronger now than when he was alive…” Akiro dropped to the ground in a crouch, slamming his right palm onto the floor while reaching behind his back with the other hand. “I suppose that his usual timid personality died that day. O’ Late night Frost, of the lonely forest, in the Bleak Midwinter, heed my hands– [ Black Frost ]--””

Cr-rr-Crack! Crack!

The pillar of ice imprisoning the undead exploded into shards, heavy chunks of ice falling down with loud thuds. The bits and pieces that exploded from them slowly slid away onto a layer of ice that had grown on the floor. “Frozen Lake”

Keisha looked at her feet, the pristine white marble tiles had been transformed. A layer of Ice had grown atop the marble, with a curtain of darkness underneath it. It was no different from standing in the middle of a frozen lagoon whose depth couldn’t be determined due to the lack of light. “When did he–” The head scientist looked up at the summoned undead skeleton. “Kill him!”

The skeleton nodded slightly at her command, and thrusted the katana onto the ground. Slowly, the undead minion raised its elbows, and brought together its hands and fingers. The bones creaked against one another, cartiledge and other tissue no longer there to aid the movements. His mouth moved, but there were no lips to read, or voice to listen into, so Akiro could only watch from his protected vantage point further from him.

“This space is now cursed, and the closer they get to me, the worse the penalty gets.” Akiro looked at the frozen ground, the darkest spot below his feet, but as he looked towards them the gradient grew lighter. “So he’s going to attack me from a distance. It seems that my lessons weren’t wasted.”

“You think I’d let you cast that?!” The assassin gathered magic into his right hand, before punching outward with it, sending a burst of magic power. Blam!

The undead ninja disappeared a hair before the burst of power landed, the orb of blue magic striking in front of the head scientist harmlessly. Akiro frowned, “So that’s it? This fight is going to take much more time than I thought.”

Magic, a powerful, easily used resource. It can be utilized by anybody in theory, but some are more attuned to it than others. The gap between these two groups are so large that the innate ability to utilize magic is talent. Magic is a strange power that flows through the body, aided by the subconscious to collect, to transform, and then to project. This process is commonly assisted by the conscious part of the brain through speech– language– but speech-less casting is also possible with the subconscious burdened more. Some minds are capable of speechless casting, more so than others, that is their talent.

But if that was the rule, how do magic sigils, circles, formations work? What do these three have in common for them to work outside of that natural law? Language. Speech was not required for magic to work, but a medium in which they can flow, collect, transform, and project. What appeared before the assassin was nothing short of Toshio’s greatest talent, his original skill, his greatest trump card.

“--The ability to cast without sound, form, mind, or circle.” Akiro crouched down and leaned to the right, a deep blue burst of heat passing by the side of his head, the smell of singed hair greeting his nose. From the corner of his eye, the assassin glanced at the right fist of bone.

Akiro pushed the ground and jumped back to the left to dodge another burst of flame from the ninja’s other fist. “Your ‘Hand-Seals’ are annoying and terrifying as always.” The assassin huffed, “But don’t forget, I taught you everything you needed to know.”

The undead minion looked down through its empty sockets, the assassin’s left hand shining with a spell. “Quick, quiet– is what I do best.” Akiro grinned. The skeleton immediately kicked the hand away, letting the blast explode behind him.

Blam!

“I lied.” The assassin grinned, the sound of chains clicking coming from his right hand. The minion looked at its right leg, the only thing supporting him because his feet and two fists were stretched out, and the chain that wrapped around it. “Rest now, for real this time.”

The minion brought down his left leg as Akiro tugged on his right, allowing him not to fall completely off balance. Toshio punched out with his fists again, letting out a burst of flame bigger and much more powerful than the first two.

The assassin ducked down as he partially spun clockwise, kicking out at the apex of his turn, pulling the skeleton in at the same time. Crack!

The sound of empty bones was strange to him, the body he had just struck lacked much structure and weight, but the calculated blow to the skeleton’s sternum was enough to ease its spirit. The skeleton was launched back a few feet into the air and into the wall, before it crashed into the ground. Thud! Crash!

However, way beyond his grave, the skeleton lurched and shivered to pick itself up again, and Akiro exasperatedly waved his hand to seal it in place. The chill air that surrounded the skeleton slowly forced itself into each individual bone, shattering them into miniscule pieces as a block of ice encased it again.

“Isn’t it sad?” He asked aloud, almost to no one but himself. “Being forced to fight after your death, denied eternal rest in the fate that is determined to you? I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in the boundary between this life and the next, but I know for sure that Toshi’ doesn't deserve that fate.”

'Toshio was brought up around people with disabilities, mutes, the blind, the rest-- and he ingrained into himself ways to make them feel normal, healthy, and able-bodied. He's a kind soul that would always whine about life, from the lowliest of goblins to the most murderous of monsters. He valued life in a way I could only learn to understand."

"He dosen't deserve this, he didn't deserve to die by my hands because of circumstance, He deserved to die of old age... And now I'm staring at his corpse, because I was not strong enough to stop that demon."

The assassin turned to the head scientist with a level stare, “I swear, that when I kill you, you won’t be able to feel the release of the afterlife– heaven, or hell.”

"I know for a fact that there will be no pearly gates for me when I die, so I don't think I'll be able to see him again. I was his leader, his teacher, his friend, and I failed at the most crucial momment because I was weak."

Keisha scoffed, “You, preach to me about the afterlife? Heaven or hell, why does it matter? If it can’t be proven, then it doesn't exist!”

"That is the responsibility of the strong, the lesson I spent months of my life repenting for. I paid my penance, and so I will have my revenge."

“Atheist, I see…” Akiro hummed, crossing the distance between them in a blink of an eye. Whoosh!

The head scientist flinched, her shoulders trembling as she stepped back. “H-How–”

Akiro looked at her as she backed away, “Ignorant fool.” He rolled his eyes, toshio’s sword in hand, “Summon your next champion, but choose wisely, because once I defeat him… you die.”