BXBX NOVEL Chapter 48: A Compliment.
"Eris get back!" Dina aimed her hands at Sol and made a pyramid with her fingers.
[Magic combination: Pulsar]
"Let\'s see you block this!"
The atmosphere vibrated, and Sol looked around at her with his eyes wide in surprise when the magic took form, he grabbed Eris and tossed her toward the captains and then kicked Han who had fallen unconscious out of the way and rushed over to Dina, arching her back over his leg and taking a knee under her as he grabbed her hands and aimed them skyward, averting his eye as he and her were both capsuled in white light.
Argom shook, and the skies trembled as Dina unleashed an attack that could have had catastrophic consequences had it been aimed horizontally.
The daylight darkened and the light of the sun dimmed because of a star-like beam of light that shot into the air, cleaving a hole in the very atmosphere that caused the sky to roar as it forcefully slammed shut like the gates of armageddon.
Eris had her ears covered, along with everyone else, and Sol remained in his nelt position with Dina over his leg looking toward the sky with a trickle of sweat running down his cheek, and Dina laid across his leg staring at the sky too shocked to react yet.
"What in the heavens was that?" Arla asked, peeking an eye open as the roaring winds and chaotic sounds slowly died down.
"Are you okay?" Sol asked her, and she slowly looked at him with her hands shaking. "Answer me."
"Ah-yes!" Dina stuttered for a response, and Sol smiled and helped her to her feet. "But..." She looked at her stats.
[Mana: 11\\\\80,000]
"I can\'t cast another spell... So, I guess that means I forefeit...?" She asked, and Sol nodded and gestured to everyone else who was staring at her with alien expressions ranging from shock and horror to utter disbelief.
"Then all that remains is Eris and Usami..." Sol turned his back to Dina, looking at the spear hero, but she still had her face hidden in her legs and her hands covering her ears.
"I give up... I give up... I can\'t fight you," She mumbled, slowly looking up at him as he approached her.
"Get up, stand and fight." Sol ordered her, but as she tried, her legs have out and she fell to her hands again and hugged herself.
"We lose," Eris sighed on her approach, parring Dina\'s shoulder with a nod of respect and then turning to Usami and extending her hand to her. "It\'s over, Usami, we lost." She declared, and with that a system window appeared before them.
[The Heroes have forefeit the duel, Sol Vestic stands the champion]
"Bruce is okay, get up," Sol lowered Eris\'s hand and stood before Usami, but she was still afraid to move.
"But I-"
"Stand up!" Sol snapped at her, causing the magic in his body to violently tremble and escape him like winds. "If you can\'t even stomach the thought of your friend dying then you can hang up any dream of being hero, nobody asked you, it was never a choice, your opinion has never mattered, if you can\'t stand now how will you ever stand after this?!" Sol balled his fists and stared down at her.
"He has the heart and attitude of a commander," Idria commented.
"On your feet!" Sol snapped again, and like a soldier, Usami arose and stood straight with tears rolling down her reddened cheeks.
"Even in the best formations, there can be friendly fire, what matters is that you never stop fighting," Sol dropped his hand heavily on her shoulder. "Sara was right after all; Han makes a good leader, but you don\'t listen at all." He stated.
"Dina casts dangerous area of effect spells that can easily catch and kill her teammates, you are even more careless than she is throwing those spears as if everyone before you is an enemy, and Bruce is of the impression that being the tanker makes him invincible, you all lack an understanding of each other, even though you have trained side by side for two months, you still don\'t know the person you call a fellow hero." Sol shook his head.
"How do we fix that?" Eris asked while Dina slowly approached them.
"The hell if I know, I\'ve never been a hero," Sol scoffed and looked to the sky again, and then at Dina. "Don\'t ever use that skill again, unless it\'s a last resort, you could have killed everyone for miles in that direction." He pointed to where he was standing earlier.
"Miles..." Dina slowly repeated the word, staring at the ring of forming clouds in the sky. "I\'m not sure what I did, though." She confessed, and Sol nodded and crossed his arm.
"Either way, you should home and perfect it, but never use it as anything other than a last resort." Sol took a peek at Dina\'s window.
[Name: Dina Levina
Race: Human
Level: 75 (+20)
Title: Hero
Skills: Master of all trades (subject is capable of learning any and all spells, and creating new spells with just the foresight and knowledge required to manipulate the surrounding mana)
Class: Mage
Buffs: Gifted +20 Levels
Blessing: Heroes\' blessing, Queen\'s blessing, Late bloomer (subject gains knowledge and battle experience passively during fights)
Curse: None (new)
Special: Fission (untested), Pulsar (new), Transcendent knowledge, (Subject is unconsciously simulating fusion between ancient magic and modern technology to create terrifying new techniques, penalty for creation is mana drain).]
"Interesting." Sol stared at the last four categories with intrigue. "You turned out to be their ace," He nodded at her.
"Impressive, Dina, you should focus on increasing the density and count of your mana so you can become untouchable on the battlefield." He gave her a complementary headpat and smiled; within just a few minutes she had completely surpassed everyone present aside from him, he recognised her strength.
"Huh?" Dina stared at Sol with reddened cheeks after being praised and complimented, and then even given advice.
[Activating instantaneous teleportation.
Activating divinity.]
"Well, I\'m gonna go collect Ikaris then!" Sol\'s teacher-esque mood was washed away by his usual playful personality as he smiled at everyone and vanished in a flash of light and electricity.
"He said I was interesting..." Dina stared at Eris, holding her head.
"Right..." Eris chuckled nervously and looked around at the state of the training grounds; Dina\'s last attack had stripped and torn away at everything, and her previous ones had left massive holes all over the place.
"Scary is more accurate," Eris chuckled.
[I... Forefeit] Renia folded her arms and slightly lowered her head, her body was bruised almost beyond recognition, black blood dripped from her eyes and the corners of her mouth, and opposite of her, Ikaris Stood unscathed with a smile, also slightly lowering her head out of respect.
[You fight well, Renia] Ikaris smiled and then took a step to the side just as Sol appeared right where she was a second prior. [Master!] She exclaimed excitedly and tackled Sol to the ground like a child.
"Whoa there!" Sol held her shoulders, she was taller than he was in this form, slightly bigger overall, and her divinity for him was almost blinding as she had just finished fighting another god in a friendly bout. "How did it go?" Sol asked, looking around at Renia and observing several other gods that had personally showed up to observe, Among which the only one he recognised was Dr\'ul.
[Everything is perfect, master, it was fun utilizing my power in such a way] Ikaris fluttered her tall ears and pressed her cheek against his chest almost purring against him as he raised her shrinking form like a bride.
Everyone else would strongly disagree though, Ikaris hadn\'t moved an inch since arriving there until he showed up, she simply stood stationary and bullied Renia with terrifying power until the goddess of chaos gave in and called it, she was too overwhelming for any of them to ever call it a fight.
[Sol] Renia regarded him with a wave, standing upright and taking a breath while he looked around at the surrounding destruction from their \'friendly\' battle, it looked far worse than any battlefield he\'d ever witnessed.
"Where are we anyway?" Sol asked, and Ikaris pointed upward. "Ah!" He exclaimed amazed when he saw a massive planet above them, it was Arkadia, they were on the smallest of the three moons.
"This little moon has an atmosphere of its own, it is very convenient for the gods who wish to not destroy the heavens, apparently this is ground zero for divine battles," Ikaris smiled against him while he held her.
"Impressive, Earth\'s moon can\'t do the same," He scoffed.
"Master," Ikaris opened her eyes again while the gods slowly left one after the other, until only Renia and Dr\'ul remained watching their interaction with intrigue; the Ikaris from just moments ago was nowhere to be seen, she completely suppressed all divinity within herself within seconds and submitted to his presence.
"Hm?"
"Have you entirely rejected the idea of becoming a god?"