During the fight, the vampire displayed power so overwhelming I couldn’t help but be impressed. He slayed close to a tenth of my shadow demons, which was impressive considering their number. The attack he used also went so far, I think it left the planet’s atmosphere.
With such power, the only thing that was limiting him was his useless thought process. That chuuni behaviour made it impossible for me to take him seriously.
He made an entire act, expecting me to fall for some dumb pity trap. I used that opportunity to test out a new skill Akira developed on the spot. It was an imperfect combination, so it wasn’t necessarily a skill yet, but after hearing of its effects, we decided to transform it into a skill after today.
Simply put, it was a powerful blast that combined [Dark Element Manipulation] to call forth the dark element, [Turf Domination] to seize absolute control of my surroundings and bend it to my will, [Sea Dragon Rage] to increase all my stats by up 3 times, [Lightning Rod] to call forth lightning from the sky and keep all of it surrounding the attack alone, a condensed [Twilight Zone] around my arm to increase [Gravity]’s power to forcefully create a tiny black hole, [Void Shot] to increase the chances of the vampire losing a significant portion of his body and [Devil Light Manipulation] as the basis of the attack, ensuring a light speed attack.
This was without a doubt, my strongest attack and even I couldn’t estimate how devastating this attack would be. According to the agent, it could possibly destroy a country if not more. I felt a country was too big for an attack of this magnitude, but one thing was confirmed. This would deal significant damage to the vampire.
Just as I was about to release the attack, large translucent hands slammed Julian into a bloody puddle, effectively ending the fight.
‘Huh?’
I tilted my head in confusion and approached the mess on the ground. His body was literal mash potatoes and from the lack of thoughts, I concluded that he really had lost consciousness. Sadly, he still wasn’t dead.
If being squashed to bits like this wasn’t enough to kill him, I doubted I had something that could kill.
<<Alert! Your attack is still ready to be fired!>>
The agent informed me of something I hadn’t focused on. I looked at my palm and the attack really was still charging up. I tried to cancel it, but the attack didn’t cancel.
‘Eh? What’s this?’
‘Aaahh! This shit was too strong. It’s sucking up all our energy!’
Akira yelled inside my head. I glared at him as he was the one to suggest the attack.
‘What do you mean it’s sucking up all our energy?’
‘Um, I mean if we don’t fire it now, we’ll die from energy exhaustion…’
‘But we can’t get weakened from being tired.’
‘The system doesn’t consider this has a lack of stamina. It’s a lack of complete life energy. We need to get rid of this.’
‘H-How ab-about we f-fire it into sp-space! Like t-the vampire d-did.’
Akkun suggested. We all tilted our heads, feeling stupid for not thinking that up in the first place.
<<Doing such is not advised. The consequences will be too grave.>>
‘Ah…’
‘What do you mean?’
<<The continent of Krione is surrounded by an intense mana barrier. The reasons for its existence are… unknown, however it has preserved life for several millennia. Firing your attack would most likely collapse the barrier and the results of doing such could be meaningless or grave.>>
The agent suddenly explained something I’d never heard of or sensed before. I looked up, but couldn’t even see or sense anything odd with the sky.
Still, what if this supposed barrier was protecting the continent from a contagious magic disease that destroyed the other continents? I couldn’t know, now could I.
I wasn’t just going to jeopardise a billion people’s safety for a short-term answer. I thought about several solutions, but none seemed viable enough. After a minute - which was actually an hour in my head – of intense idea making, we came up with nothing and gave up.
‘No!’
‘Code red! Code red! We’re all gonna die!’
‘Mother? Meow~’
The kitten looked at my attack with greedy eyes.
‘Oi, oi, don’t tell me you want to eat this? Hell no.’
I took the blast away from the kitten. In that moment, I had an idea. It was a very stupid sounding idea. So much so that I hated myself for even thinking about it.
‘Jesus, I’m about to eat an energy blast… please allow me to reincarnate in a better life next time should this fail.’
I prayed and swallowed up the attack. I was placing my bets on [World Eater] which should have possessed a wide enough space for me to keep a large number of things.
For a moment, there was no problem. Then the world felt woozy. My head swayed from side to side as the world spun before my eyes.
Before I realised, I was asleep.
***
My eyes opened up to see something over my head. My head was on something soft that felt very nice and this scent it gave off was familiar.
I wanted to keep sleeping here for a bit, but then I noticed something odd. My body shot forward and I took a quick look around.
A white couch, a T.V fixed on the wall, white walls and a tiny centre table standing on a rag.
‘Isn’t this…?’
“Akkun.”
The voice… Akane’s voice called out that childish nickname she came up for me. I looked at her. She still had her dark hair and her eyes looked surprised.
“Akane?”
My voice sounded stupid.
“Where am I? Wasn’t I just fighting some vampire dude?”
I got off the couch and held my head. It hurt a bit and the world spun around me, forcing me to fall right back into the couch.
“Geez. You fell down the stairs and hit your head, yet you’re still trying to move? Sit down.”
She ordered, but I didn’t like the fact that I was back in this place. I tried to get up again, but she forced me down and placed my head on her laps once more.
“Mou, just stay down.”
She pouted, looking down on me from above. I couldn’t focus on her flushed face because of the two peaks hanging above me. Instead, I chose to close my eyes for a bit to let the headache die down.
While I was trying to get better, Akane started talking.
“So, Akkun. I went through your laptop…”
“Mhm?”
“And, I found… your, um, your secret folder.”
She found my secret folder?
Normally I’d be embarrassed, but I wasn’t now. This was simply an illusion created in my head by some random wicked higher being elsewhere. I had my suspicions that it was the system master, but since there was currently no way for me to find out, I guess you could say I couldn’t care less.
“Akkun?”
She called my name. I ignored her.
It was because of my headache. Not because I was embarrassed or something. I definitely, totally, absolutely, couldn’t ever be embarrassed in an illusion.
“I guess he ended up falling asleep again… sigh.”
She sounded depressed or relieved. I couldn’t tell at the end. I just kept my eyes shut, waiting for my headache to die down.
“Well, I guess what I wanted to say was, since we’re best friends, we don’t need to hide things from each other. I-I’m into that stuff too, so t-there’s no need to be e-embarrassed around me.”
‘Oi, oi, don’t say that when you’re stammering.’
“God… when will I ever get the courage to tell him… look at me stammering to his unconscious body.”
She continued muttering to herself.
“He’d probably stop talking to me if he knew. I’d look awful in his eyes.”
‘The hell are you on about?’
I creaked my eyes open slowly, trying to peek at her facial expression. It was weird. It looked like a happy face, but it was hiding sadness.
‘What’s going on? Akane’s never made that kind of face before.’
While I was thinking, another voice came through. It was my little sister’s high-pitched voice.
“Onee-san, I’m back. I got a lot of candy on the way.”
She was talking to Mitsuki as she jumped up on the couch, landing on my legs.
“What? Nii-san is still sleeping? He really must have hit his head. Ne, ne, think he’ll finally get common sense?”
‘Why must you always insult me?’
I cried in pain. My younger sister could only ever torture me when she thought I wasn’t aware. Unfortunately, I was always aware.
“Your legs must be aching. Just put him on a pillow, I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”
“No, that’s ok. I like putting his head on my laps.”
‘Akane!’
“Well, whatever. I’ll start preparing lunch.”
She got off my legs and went into the kitchen. Afterwards, the place remained quiet for a bit. It got me thinking about what actually happened that day.
The truth was… I already knew about it. I’d just been asked – well, bribed in a sense – to coerce her into being a good Christian girl by her parents. They thought influence from her best friend would be enough to keep her away from such things, since they didn’t know I myself was into such things.
Still, I did as they asked. I tried my best to ensure she steered clear of those things. I got a sudden realisation. Something didn’t feel right about it, but at the same time, I was willing to throw my best friend under the bus to enjoy myself.
Maybe, I really was the cause of Akane’s sudden drastic change in character. Her hair dye, multiple piercings, and secret tattoo on her back. I was starting to get this feeling that something I did had a role to play with her huge transformation.
DING!
[You have figured it out]
A sudden screen popped up in front of me.
‘What? I figured what out?’
[Quest: Find out the cause of Akane’s drastic change
Description: It’s the day before Akane suddenly went incognito before school. All you know is that she came to school in the new year with red hair, dressed like a gyaru and was more outgoing and vulgar.
Time Limit: Before midnight
Rewards: ~
Punishment: Your soul will be destroyed]
I sat up immediately and opened my eyes wide and clear, hoping that whatever the hell I saw was just a really bad nightmare.
Sadly, there was a blue screen in front of me. I read through its contents quickly and carefully. I rubbed my eyes over and over again, but the message never disappeared.
“What the hell is this?”
The comment flew out of my mouth like lightning. Akane, who was just watching T.V yelped in surprise. I looked at her with wide eyes.
“Akkun?”
I jumped up from the couch and ran up to my room. I slammed the door shut and took out my phone. The time was 3:47 pm. I still had about 8 hours till the timer ran out.
But… what in the hell was this sudden life-threatening quest that popped up and why was it showing up now?
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