Chapter 157: Reflections

Chapter 157: Reflections

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Reflections

It took me a few seconds to recover enough MP to start reactivating my skills and move again, at which point I rose with a sensation likewell. Like I was tearing my way out of my skin. The Gamer's Body being what it was, there were no actual signs of this, but it still hurt like a bitch and the damage took a big chunk out of my health, if one that was easily healed. Despite that, I didn't relax until all of my usual defenses were in place, feeling terrifyingly exposed without it.

Yeah, I could admit it. I had been terrified, even I'd been able to calmly put that fear aside thanks to the Gamer's Mind. I wasn't used to beingvulnerable anymore, because I made a point to be prepared for pretty much everything that could be thrown my way. I scanned my surroundings with a multitude of senses and across the breadth of a spectrum most people could only imagine. I hardened my skin and strengthened my body until I could shrug off bombs and tear apart an army as needed. I enhanced my speed until I could dodge between bullets and even if I had only a moment to react, I warped time around me enough to make moments drag on and on. And behind all those persistent effects, I had a well of power I was prepared to draw upon at a moment's notice, ready to drive my power to even greater heights of even level cities.

Did I consider myself invincible? Of course notI was smart enough to know my limits and Remnant had a long, long history that showed, in great detail, that people can die, no matter how much they believed otherwise. But I had options; I could notice a threat and react to it, even if only by escaping. It had been quite a while since I'd found myself in a position where I couldn't do anything.

If I'd done that in the middle of a fightif I'd tried to do that somewhere else and someone noticed and took advantage of it

I closed my eyes and was relieved to find that it did absolutely nothing to hinder my vision.

"Sorry, Adam," I said aloud, reaching up to grasp his hands. "An experiment of mine went awry."

Adam frowned at me but let go of my shirt and I caught myself in midair before I could fall back.

"A warning would have been nice," He replied after a moment.

Yeah, I thought, it would have been.

"Sorry," I said again. "I honestly had no idea that would happen."

And didn't that sting. I was used to my skills leaving out details about how they worked in practice, but that had beenwell, something else. Similar, in a way, to when I contracted an Elemental, though thankfully it hadn't knocked me out. Being forced to sleep for six hours would have been a colossal waste of time, a much longer-lived danger, and just generally inconvenient. Granted, I wouldn't have been aware of the dangers or drawbacks while I slept, but I wasn't sure if that made sleeping better or worse.Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

"Speaking of which," I continued slowly. "What did happen?"

Adam twitched at that, searching my face.

"You" He sounded shocked and disbelieving as he spoke and had to stop for a minute to get it under control. When he spoke again, his voice was tightly controlled, which just emphasized how worried he must have been. "You don't know?"

I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head.

"What just happened drained all my power," I admitted. "My senses turned off and everything."

"Was that why you didn't" Adam gestured at me.

"Move?" I asked. "No, that was one of my skills. I told you about it, didn't I? How the Adamant Serpent's Skin worked? When I ran out of power to fuel it with, it basically turned me into a statue. I couldn't even open my eyes."

"Ah," Adam said, nodding in understanding. "Might be a good idea to turn that one off if you do this again."

"Mhm," I agreed. I'd still be tremendously weakened but at least I'd still be able to move. It was better than nothing. "So what happened?"

"Well," Adam considered. "It took me a few seconds to notice anything was wrong, due to how weird you normally are, but I it was a little bit odd when you started glowing."

I winced.

"Yeah, I thought I saw that, before I went blind," I said. "Through my eyes, right?"

"At first, yeah. But then the rest of you began glowing, too," He replied. "And not like the usual Aura glowyou were glowing inside, bright enough that I could see it through your skin."

"Damn," I groaned. "How bright? Could someone have seen?"

"Possibly," He answered after a moment of thought. "I was more worried about how you didn't answer when I asked you what was happening. I thought you were ignoring me at first, but when I realized you'd turned into a spotlight out in the open, I thought I should check to make sure you were okay. You usually do stuff like this in Naraka."

What?

I paused for a moment to contemplate it. A Fire Elemental like Suryasta probably couldthe nature of the flames might make it more expensive as they tried to consume the Aura he used to maintain a body and exert his power, but Elementals definitely weren't 'mundane'. They also weren't something many people had access to, though, so the more likely alternatives were the usage of Semblances or Dust. The former were too varied to make any real generalities, but the laterRed Dust might be able to control the flames until they burnt out, perhaps, and various others could theoretically hinder it. Would summoned or created water snuff out the flames?

Pondering that for a moment, I raised hand and waved it in an absent circle. As I did, streamers of water began to follow the path of fingers, droplets running down the steel of my gauntlets as it poured from the openings. As I dropped my hand, the water fell with it and began to pool at my feet, the strength of the flow strengthening by the second until a small waterfall began to spill over the edge of the building I was upon. Xihai flowed into it as it went, guiding and shaping the flow as it swept over the flames and tried to coral them.

Manju (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

The flowing tide jewelan ancient art passed down from one of the ancient Desert Kings to gather water even while lost among the sands. This skill allows the user to gather water by changing the nature of their Aura to attract it. With this ability, it's possible to draw up underground streams, pull moisture from the air, or even draw rivers towards the user. With greater effort, it is even possible to create water by pulling the moisture from one's own flesh and restoring it with Aura.

1 MP per liter of water summoned.

10 MP and 100 HP per liter of water created.

I held up the pressure for several seconds, feeling my hand dry until it seemed like it was crumbling to sand. In that time, I summoned several thousand liters of water from my skin, healing all the while as I fueled it. And yet, even as it washed over the flames and surrounded them completely, they didn't so much as flicker. Instead, the surrounding water began to boil as the flames blazes higher and feed from the traces of Aura within them, flowing through them until they seemed like rivers of fire. Even Xihai, no more than a spiritual presence within the water, became a target as the flames feed from her power.

After a moment, I recalled my Elemental and let the water fall to the streets were it continued to boil and steam. It seemed safe to say that even water created unnaturally wouldn't suffice, because the fact remained that the flames wouldn't be put out simply by being doused. Rather than be pleased by that, however, I was a bit concerned by it. Granted, I didn't have any real intention of using something this indiscriminant on human targetsand if I did, I'd certainly stay nearby to handle the cleanupbut the knowledge that the flames could go out of control so easily was still a bit worrying. Unlikely as it was, if something happened

Worse still, a number of Grimm could likely resist it. Many of them were durable enough to simply endure burning alive until the flames returned to normal. A direct hit from the spear form of the attack would kill most things, but the resulting flames were more of a threat to other humans, whose Aura could be turned against them and consumed. Even if the rate of consumption wasn't very large yet, an attack like this could very easily strike hundreds of people at a time and without someone capable of resisting the effects, most would be doomed to slowly burn to death. Against the soulless monsters that filled the world

I sighed slightly and extended a hand towards them, preparing myself to put them out. But just before I called Suryasta to make the attempt, a thought struck me and I paused before checking on Adam. He was behind my now and far from the line of fire, so I contemplated it for a moment longer before smiling.

Why not, I thought a moment before I gather light into my hand. The night darkened as Lux Aeterna sprang to life, every source of illumination drawn into the mighty stream of power, from the stars above to the flames below. For a moment, the world was pitch-black but for the attack itself, but when the light returned, the flames of Agneyastra were gone.

As was, uh, pretty much everything else in front of me. There was a path of destruction through the city that ended in a melted mountainside that had been cratered and slagged by the blast. Admittedly, I was fairly close to the edge of the city anyway, butwow.

I frowned down at my hand, flexing my fingers absently. It hadn't taken anywhere near as much energy this time, thanks to the cost reduction from Totality and the damage increase I'd gotten from that same skill partially explained the increase in power, but not entirely. My eyes were good enough that just by looking at the after math I could say that it was more than four times as powerful as any of the ones I'd hit the Leviathan with, and even the power it had drawn from Agneyastra didn't explain that difference. Which must mean

Ah.

Gevurah (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

The Severity that brings judgment; the throne of strength and the seat of fire. Though it is brother to Love and Mercy, Gevurah is the power that gives one the strength to enforce their will on the world. In the end, it is the will to act and overcome ones enemies that allows for the existence of Mercy, instead of mere surrender. This ability represents the heightened presence of Gevurah within the soul of the user and through its strength, gives them the power to both protect and destroy.

100% increase to the effectiveness of all skills that assist or create attacks, as well as all skills that directly reduce the power of an opponent.

100% increase to experience gained by all such skills.

I whistled slightly under my breath. That would do it, I supposeand between this and Totality, the strength of all my Elemental attacks had just gone way, way up. I suppose it wasn't really all that surprising, remembering how much my power grew every time I hit the benchmark of one of my skills, but still. With an increase like that

Gevurah had pretty much doubled the power of every attack skill I had. Yesod had done the same to many of my passive skills, including pretty much all the 'normal' skills I had like Sword Mastery and the stuff I'd nabbed with Psychometry. Tiferet gave me the power to create new and powerful abilities, or would once I improved a few more of my skills. And now that I was looking for it, I could feel the other changes in the skills I'd recently reactivated. I was vastly stronger now then I'd been even just this morning and I was starting to learn how much. I'd need to go over the rest of my new skills now that I wasn't worried about freaking out but I'd grown a great deal. I'd come a long, long way from where I'd been.

So how much longer until I was ready? It was hard to say when I didn't even really know what I was trying to get ready for. I was preparing as best I could for a threat I couldn't even risk identifying directly. I knew I was making progress, but towards what?

I'd have to find out eventually, I knew. I'd decided already that I'd return to Vale eventually, probably at the end of the semester. But before I did that, returning to face the threats I couldn't confirm, there was something I could do.

Jericho Falls might have the answers I sought. It was a place that had chewed up and spat out the better part of a hundred Hunters.

But I was special. And I had friends in some pretty damn high places that'd have my back if I tried. If I scoped it out before hand, made plans, and prepared, I might be able to manage. If not now, then soon; I'd thought to myself beforehand that the hundreds were something else. When my level was a hundredwhen I could face down the beasts across the Sea of Monsters and winperhaps I'd be ready.

In the end, I guess there was no way to know except to find out. The world was fucked up, it apparently had something to do with me, and I needed to know why before I figured I whose ass I was going to have to kick to fix things. I'd be ready by then, because I'd make sure I was.

And I knew a good place to start.

Taking a deep breath, I began to summon my Light Elemental.