Name: [Priya Synghe]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: E-] <B>
>[Dexterity: E-] <A->
>[Intelligence: E+] <SSS->
>[Endurance: E-] <S->
>[Charisma: E+] <S>
Talents:
>[Melaloon: D-] <SSS->
>>[Abilities: Absorption]
[The flow of energy…]
>>[Abilities: Heal]
[Your synergy with energy is strong…]
>>[Abilities: Passive Absorption]
[The flow of energy…]
>[Unawakened]
>[Unawakened]
—
Name: [Zarek Ashford]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: EEE] <A>
>[Dexterity: EE] <B>
>[Intelligence: E+] <C>
>[Endurance: EE] <B+>
>[Charisma: EEE] <B->
Talents:
>[Temp Duplicate: E+] <B->
>>[Abilities: Mirror]
[The world's matter…]
>[Harmonic Recall: D-] <B+>
>>[Abilities: Echo]
[The echoes of the past…]
>[Empty]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
Notes:
[All that and still no D Class breakthrough. Not sure I'd be able to continue living if I were you]
—
Zarek ignored the system, handing over his Desert Eagle to Priya. They only had one more of these left, but it didn't matter anymore.
The Crimson Rain was still falling, and it would continue until the last of the blood moon was gone.
"Don't worry about me. I'm going to send you into the range of the Hub soon. Once it's ready, press onto the slice with the strongest light."
"The strongest?" Priya looked to the Hub from a distance and then nodded slowly.
"You know what to do?"
Priya took a breath and exhaled. All she had to do was pour everything she had into a single shot. The gun would explode just like before, and her hands would probably end up in an even worse state. But if she did things right, and she didn't miss…
It would all be over in a single strike.
Priya nodded firmly, increasing her grip over her gun. With steady steps, she walked right in. She didn't look back or even to the sides as Zarek cleared the Turned eager to take a piece of her head. There was a sharp sort of determination in her eyes.
…
Zarek stood in silence, watching Priya's back. The moment she entered the range of the Hub, the Turned couldn't seem to get any closer, while Zarek himself seemed to have become a secondary fascination only a few chose to target from time to time… only to fall to his blade.
He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm his heart. He knew that this was the right decision to make, but that didn't mean that he liked it.
If someone was going to be feeding him luck in hopes of tapping him out, then he would simply transfer that luck over to Priya. Because she wasn't the main target, and she also wasn't a Rebirther, the effects this had on the timeline would be limited and it wouldn't affect her future like it would his.
But it would also put her in great danger as well. In fact, there was a very real possibility that whoever was targeting him was doing this on purpose.
'No… I'm thinking too much…'
Getting trapped in a loop of possibilities, trying to decide who would blink first was something that Zarek had learned long ago would never work.
In a situation like this, whoever took the initiative would be the winner. And in this case, he would be the winner.
BOOM!
A rush of wind blew Zarek's hair back, the ponytail he held it in whipping backward in the rushing air. But even now, he didn't dare to open his eyes and check the result.
**
"He saw through me already…"
The light, airy voice of a woman riding on the back of a six-headed dog echoed in the night of the bloody moon. There seemed to be a hint of disappointment in her eyes, but it also came with anticipation.
"He's so good… better than my memories say he is… but I guess this is what everyone experiences. It's impossible to well and truly understand Zarek Ashford until you face him personally. That man's mind… is so fascinating…"
—
[Quest Completed]
[New Role Assigned]
-
[Welcome {Clarice Heimer}]
[You have been granted the Role {F Class Envoy}]
-
[Your journey has begun. Increase your trust with the system to progress further and evolve your Role]
—
Name: [Clarice Heimer]
Role: [Envoy]
—
Clarice rested an elbow on the top of one of her hound's heads, her chin being propped up by her palm. Her other hand absentmindedly scratched another head, staring at the notification screen in interest.
"I only inconvenienced you the slightest bit, and yet I was already granted what took me a half decade before. I wonder… why does the system hate you so much, Zarek Ashford?"
**
Zarek's heart trembled the slightest bit when he felt a feathery light peck on his lips. His eyes shot open at their fastest speed, and when he saw that familiar pair of starry blues staring up at him with a smile that made them bloom all the brighter, the weight that had threatened to sink him to the bottom of an inky abyss vanished.
A laugh left his lips, nervous and slightly shaking, and he took Priya into his arms. He didn't ask her what she got as though it didn't matter in the slightest. All he cared about was the feeling she gave him right now.
"I did it. It was very easy. I don't know why you were so nervous. Look at you." She said these teasing words in a voice that seemed just as fragile as Zarek's state right now.
Logically, Zarek knew that it was a guaranteed success. Priya was a textbook ascendant with the unique ability to gather up a large amount of energy in a single, decisive blow.
Her challenger Turned would be in the E Class just like her, but because of that, it certainly wouldn't be able to deal with a D Class Talent synergizing with Charisma and Intelligence that had both been Limit-broken at the F Class, especially not when additionally bolstered by the sheer amount of Godsfall in the air right now.
So long as Priya didn't hold back and poured every ounce of Godsfall she could into her gun, the battle would be over in a single squeeze of the trigger.
Would it sacrifice the last Godsfall Steel gun they had? Yes. But it would be worth it ten times over.
He knew that they would win. He knew that she would be able to do it. But it had still felt like he was standing on a cliff's edge.
"Let me see your hands," Zarek said after a while.
Priya hesitated, a slight wince of pain on her face. But after a long while, she held them up.
Beaten and bloodied didn't do the scene much justice at all. Her flesh had been torn down to the bone, stringy ligaments singed into place by a cauterizing pulse of energy.
Priya had truly gone all out. She had experienced the pain once already, but she didn't flinch to do it again.
With the Crimson Rain falling, the amount of Godsfall she could pull from the surroundings was orders of magnitude greater than at any other period, and it showed. Her Endurance couldn't keep up at all.
Zarek took another deep breath to calm himself.
"Alright. Show me what you got."
Priya nodded.
—
[Learn Skill {S Class Fallen Cradle}?]
[Yes][No]
—
Zarek's eyes blazed when he saw this. If Priya had had this Skill before, she wouldn't have needed Eumada's help at all.