East side of Ethereal, Abandoned Premise, 2:45 P.M
Rei was having the worst scenario, his spiritual energy already going down the drain with the amount of output that he had to use to create space between him and the creature in front of him.
"If I use totality right now, it would be worse since that thing won't budge other than using ice manipulation and Haruki's where flames…" He thought to himself before evading its limb at the last second, grazing his cheek for a bit.
Rei immediately sent out flames which burned at least four of its limbs before creating glacier spikes to pin the monster as he ran away to create space despite how desperate it was. There was nothing that he could do to eliminate it especially when his own prowess wasn't working properly.
A simultaneously weakened and normalised output then reserves continued to flick like a dying light as it put him too much at a disadvantage and advantage over his situation.
Rei used the weakened white flames to cover his hands before slapping away the incoming limbs that he managed to swipe off then burn it at the same time. "With the amount of spiritual energy that I can use to put an output like this… I have to assume that I'm at least weakened by half of my original power…" He concluded before using the advantage of creating a large glacier barrier spikes upon feeling his reserves and output return back to its normal state.
Although, it went away once again, making Rei gritted his teeth for such a frustrating ambush and regret for not informing the seniors for a mission especially when a simple mission can immediately turn into a dangerous one.
"I wonder if any of them got out…" Rei thought to himself before using totality and the white flames to boost his agility, power and strength.
Totality for enhanced speed and power while the white flames for more firepower especially when he could use its heat to easily melt through the limbs that managed to grab onto him.
No matter how hard he had fought, it seemed to immediately go downhill when the creature continued to catch up to his pacing which surprised him. After all, some living beings aside from humans such as animals had some sort of intellect that allows them to hunt or get hunted then adapt while understanding basic knowledge of what they are supposed to do.
"This thing…" He uttered, the once calm and composed demeanor that he was keeping not shattered as it was replaced with fear and anxiety, "It has a consciousness of its own?"
Rei immediately started to falter with his approach after finding out that the creature had some sort of intellect that could understand what he was planning. His mind started to forget his main priority, to protect his friends and to buy time for reinforcements to arrive.
His prowess fluctuated yet his control over his spiritual energy was the only thing that kept him going, making accurate outputs and execution to survive against the creature.
"I have to end this so that I can help them!" Rei thought to himself before gathering every ounce of spiritual energy that he had in his reserves, trying to time the moment when he got his full power back rather than risking everything with the weakened state.
His glowing red eyes scanned through every attack pattern that the creature was doing while also checking the timing when he was weakened or returned to full power as he finally found a crack in it.
Rei smirked as the timing and moment aligned itself, "Eat shxt!" He manifested large amounts of glacier spikes upon reaching out with his left hand, the glacier spikes had too many serrated edges as it pierced through the creature which screamed in agony.
While the glacier had managed to pin it for a moment, Rei didn't stop as he closed the same hand tightly, "COMBUST!" he shouted internally as the spikes detonated with white flames which resulted in the creature exploding everywhere.
Every part and flesh scattered throughout the area while he was trying his best to catch his breath after an intense one sided fight that he managed to turn around. "Alright. I have to go now." Rei muttered before he deactivated his prowess, trying to save his reserves as he immediately went on his way to catch up to his friends although he was caught off guard when feeling the same atmosphere.
A single golden yellow eye staring right at him on his left, total confusion in Rei's gaze upon looking back at it. "Wha-" he couldn't even finish his sentence as he was sent back to the wall which Rei went through, debris falling from the impact as it created a large hole due to him.
Ribs broken, his right arm probably dislocated upon impact and then a concussion from how hard he was sent towards the now broken wall. "FXCK!" He coughed out blood, pushing himself up but couldn't bring himself as his body was too exhausted and had sustained so much strain from his injuries.
His pain tolerance was high but having a concussion, broken ribs and a dislocated arm was way out of his league. The only major injuries that he had experienced was during his tyranny and rampage in Sir Ellis Kadoorie High. Sustaining multiple cuts, bruises then a broken hand while having his left leg shot.
The injuries that he had now were too much since he had his prowess deactivated while bleeding internally probably from the ribs or the impact that he had gone through the wall moments ago.
"Damn… How is that thing still alive?" Rei uttered as he watched every part of the supposedly dead creature reattaching itself slowly.
The creature seemed to create a face, a look that Rei had not expected. An expression of a sadistic grin, it's supposedly mouth wide as their sharp teeth reflected with blood from their own injuries.
"Strong…" It muttered, which surprised him as he groaned in pain when the creature picked him up by the leg, blood rushing through his head as Rei struggled to keep himself conscious.
"Me…. Want…. Me want strong…" Rei already knew what it meant, the creature wanting more power from what he assumed was the ancient being that existed within him.
"Is this like the one from the incident from before?" He questioned himself before being caught off guard as the creature had slammed him against another wall, breaking it in the process while Rei sustained another injury, probably a broken back which would leave him paralyzed but couldn't tell since he had a concussion.
He should've been knocked out but Rei still managed to stay conscious which was concerning him a lot since this would be either a sign that he was about to meet death but this time.
He wouldn't be able to avoid it, a flash of memory going through his head. Regret flooding as Rei remembered the times of how he treated Sylvie during his worst moments when he started revealing his prowess, showing his dominance and rage while the magenta haired girl was persistent with trying to help which ended up with them arguing a lot.
Friendship broken yet Sylvie managed to break through his rage and negative atmosphere as she got him help especially with the therapist that her family acquired for him.
Rei wanted to repay her but couldn't find the right timing especially when he was supposedly healing and with the recent timing of his father dying from an accident which caused him to spiral despite the amount of therapy that he attended.
He wanted to travel back in time to fix his mistakes with her, longing for her smile, warmth and laughter of those moments longer than what had actually happened.
"Sylvie…" Rei muttered, finally finding a bit of strength left within him to stand up properly despite how shattered his ribs and the sharp stinging pain that was going all over his nerves.
"Forgive me…" His eyes glowed, activating his prowess as he focused at least landing a hit, hoping for a slight miracle to get out of the situation without having to lose anyone as he landed a punch onto the creature's stomach.
...…
A sorcerer would always have a potential to become better the moment they train and cultivate their prowess and their own control over their own spiritual energy. Some had found ways to implement simple cultures from different countries to train with their prowess and spiritual energy control.
Ninpou, ninja art from Japanese culture which helped them improve their prowess by creating techniques to have better output and execution while having total control of their spiritual energy.
Buddhism, an Indian religion and philosophy that spread around Asia which helped awakeners who believed in their religion to have better control of their spiritual energy control through cultivation and emotional attachments to remove negative emotions when performing risky techniques of their prowess abilities.
Catholicism, a religion for people who worship a god for protection and blessing which helped their mindset to grow their prowess even further than expected from society itself.
Which is why sorcerers and awakeners are highly advised to train and cultivate their prowess and spiritual energy control to a higher degree before professional work.
...…
At this moment, Rei had unlocked something but was something that his body was not used to. A warm feeling and adrenaline immediately doubled up along with what seemed to be yellow sparks with blue orbs that had the Japanese kanji for soul, negative and positive all over the place.
This phenomenon that Rei had achieved is what sorcerers and awakeners in Ethereal call a one in a million chance of understanding the control of spiritual energy or understanding of the soul completely.
'Soul Force'.
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Additional Information…
[Ethereal Gauging Results]
[Name: Rei Nishimura]
[Prowess: Aura Manipulation (6.5) {3.25 weakened}]
[Fifth Year Student, Assault Division]
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