[Exp: 560/10k]
[Your Influence — 'Guardian Mother' — has been activated!]
I felt a sudden surge of energy through my whole body. An armor and crown of gold formed on my body with that message. I opened my hand wide and a spear appeared inside it, which I grabbed and spun, then slammed on the ground.
Dust flowed with the wind from the impact and everyone who was inside the barrier focused on me.
I looked at Rayen and said, "Don't hold any grudges against me, it's just the story of our life. As a puppet of this Order."
With that I charged at him.
***
Grudges? What does it mean? I mean I heard it many times from the mouth of the orphanage owner lady. She said we shouldn't hold onto one.
Everyone said she was very kind. They say she left her own company and created this orphanage, because she was once one of them.
"Don't worry, I won't hold any grudges against you. I'm not planning to lose anyway." I said as I hit the spear's head with my void claw in order to break it. Though it didn't, I saved myself from getting a direct hit.
Elisabeth's hit was strong, several times stronger than the one of Salthas. If she was against the Salthas we fought, then it wouldn't even last a minute.
My void tried to engulf her spear but she spun the void and me in the sky and tossed us away. I slammed on the barrier and felt electricity that shook my whole body.
I threw myself ahead and stared at Elisabeth.
Trangg!
My Presence threw several dark waves inside the barrier, one of them even slashed the ground. I didn't know how to control them, they were just overflowing.
But my Presence got slashed by one of Elisabeth's. Of course it would, her influence was perfect but mine was imperfect.
I turned my head and my gaze dropped on Sia, who was doing something in a window. Then she smiled a bit, like she got something she wanted.
"Look here, Rayen." Elisabeth was in front of me. She looked down at me with an indifferent expression.
Thud!
Her armored foot hit my jaw, blood spilled from my mouth and I fell backward on the ground from the impact.
Then she raised her spear above my heart and said, "I am sorry. It is inevitable."
With that she pushed down the spear with huge force. The ground beneath me cracked from the impact. But surprisingly, I wasn't hurt even a bit.
I looked at my heart and saw my scarf. It was protecting my heart from getting pierced by the spear.
Elisabeth was also shocked by that, but more than that she was shocked by what she was feeling.
"Is this thing alive?" she asked me with a bewildered expression.
"I don't know," I replied. I could see her expression, it was clearly stating that she knew something I didn't.
She jumped back and swung the scarf off from the spear.
(His influence is alive? But how? I could feel the emotions of his scarf. It was trying its best to protect him and was saying...)
("Don't die, Master.")
I could tell Elisabeth was very puzzled. I didn't know the reason, but one thing I knew. I could use this moment.
Whoosh!
I was now behind Elisabeth, extended my claw wide, and was about to hit her, but she blocked it with her spear without even looking back.
[Influence Skill, 'Lonely Void' is activated!]
Void came out from my body and grasped her tightly. This time she tried to resist, but she couldn't. Her power was decreasing slowly.
I thought I would win this fight, but I forgot she wasn't the only one I was fighting.
Slash!
A sword was about to pierce my heart, but I noticed in time and saved my heart. It still tore my arm.
I turned my head and saw Taylor Markson and many other Dreamers who had been fighting among themselves a moment ago, but now they were all charging at me.
"Take this, you fucker!"
"Kill him before he can do anything!"
"Hah, I'm going to take the kill!"
But Taylor threw all of them away like plushies. "Don't you dare even try to touch him. He is my target!"
(What should I do? How can I kill them all at once? But I'm not strong enough. And if I take too long with one, another will get me, just like now. I survived this time, but I won't every time.)
Suddenly, an unexpected window appeared in front of me.
[Ding! Ding!]
[Dreamer "Sia Zeliang" sent you a Private Message via Skill 'Close Communicator'!]
[Rayen, I'm sorry for what I am going to say. But I'm leaving — not like I am letting you die to save myself, but because I can't stop here.]
[I believe that you can defeat them. I know you are strong enough. You know my plan. I'm going to work on it. I will make the Unity Squad, and you will be its first member.]
(Though I never agreed to it.)
[We shall meet again at the place where we first met. So, don't die. And I promise I will have a small team with me when you see me again.]
[Tata!]
So now I have to finish them off and then go back there to meet her?
(No, I shouldn't think about that now. I have to focus on the problem at hand.)
Elisabeth was slowly freeing herself from the void, which was weaker now thanks to Taylor. She held the void itself and, with her strength, lifted me into the sky and threw me forward.
Taylor was completely scared by her strength, but the men watching from afar were cheering for Elisabeth.
***
When I hit the ground, I felt my bones cracking. But I somehow managed to stand, and my Influence started wearing off.
My white eye turned black again, my horn shrunk back, and my hair turned black again. The void that had covered half of my body disappeared into the air.
[Time Limit for using an imperfect Awakening is over!]
Suddenly, I felt a pain heavier than anything I had felt before, maybe the void body had been preventing me from feeling it fully.
I stumbled but didn't stop walking. I was heading toward Elisabeth. She looked confused; She was probably wondering why I was approaching her.
I was now standing in front of her. She didn't attack me because she was puzzled by my move, but she didn't let her guard down. I could see her tight grip on her spear.
I extended my hand. She raised her spear but didn't attack, because my hand wasn't extended to strike her. Instead, I put it above my heart and said, "Heart."
"What?"
"Pierce my heart."
Her body tensed, and that was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to catch her off guard, because there was something I had with me.
I looked down at the windows that had been following me since my imperfect Influence wore off.
[Exp: 500/500]
[You have met the conditions to unlock the perfect awakening of your Influence!]
[Your Influence — 'Void Body' — has been awakened!]
Trangg!
Heavy strings of Presence shot out from my body. They were so strong that even Elisabeth couldn't withstand them. She was thrown back by the strings, just like the others.
"What is this?!" Taylor Markson yelled while holding his sword tightly.
Now my whole body was covered in void. It had taken the form of full-body armor, cladding me like a second skin, with heavy plates on my shoulders and other parts.
My face was completely covered with void. Both my eyes were white. I had two horns on my head, and my hair was completely white again.
That same moonlight-like scarf flowed freely from my neck. It squeezed softly, not to suffocate me, but conveying an emotion I couldn't understand.
"I-if it is your influence, then what was that? That half one?" Elisabeth asked. She was calm, but her voice broke at moments.
"That was imperfect. This one is my perfect influence," I said in a monstrous voice, then put one hand close to my chest, only the first two fingers straight while the other fingers and thumb formed a fist.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
"If you can abandon the quest, then do it."
"Why would we do that?"
"Yes, we want that reward!"
"Fight us, you bastard!"
"I have absolutely no reason to fight you. I don't think killing you all will benefit me in any way other than making me a villain in the eyes of other Dreamers."
I opened my eyes again. Now I could feel every part of my body. I could tell I could move more freely than before.
"If I killed you all, then maybe many strong ones would come to fight me. And I have no interest in making enemies beyond my own capabilities."
My Presence started the assault again. But someone was standing against me, without any trace of fear in their eyes.
"So you still want to fight, Elisabeth?"