[A/N: I kept coming back every hour to see if you guys hit the 125 PS, It was 122 for so long! I won't be able to post it later, I am doing it now. Might not post tmrw as well, Sorry in advance if I don't]
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Four sat in a loose circle beneath the sun, its heat bearing down from directly overhead.
Before anyone could speak, Asher raised a hand. "Before you explain anything, let me say how I found you on top of the statue."
Sunny's ears perked up. He already had a theory—but now he'd get confirmation.
"I heard a scream from the top," Asher admitted.
Sunny sighed.
Of course.
That scream could've shattered rock.
"You must've been close," Nephis said, tilting her head.
"I was," Asher nodded. "I mean… can you blame me? I saw a two-hundred-meter statue and thought, 'what the hell is that?' Curiosity got the better of me."
Nephis accepted the explanation with a slight nod—it was reasonable.
Sunny narrowed his eyes. 'He is hiding something.' His body language said so, Nephis probably saw it as well. Alas, they both didn't judge. They were hiding a fair share of secrets of there own.
After a pause, they proceeded to explain all their abilities to Asher.
"That's all our abilities and memories, Asher. Now it's about time you explain yours," Sunny said, surprisingly calm. Asher nodded in understanding. Of course, he knew more about their aspects than themselves, but he had to play his part.
Asher smiled as he began, "I don't really have affinities to anything in particular. I can, however, think fast, I don't know the amplifier but I can think very fast meaning I can learn very fast as well."
Sunny's jaw practically hit the floor, 'That's fucking cheating!'
"That makes sense on how he progressed in the sword was so fast," Nephis said aloud while nodding in understanding.
Sunny whipped his head towards Nephis, incredulous, "You taught him as well?"
Nephis nodded as he looked at Sunny with a confused expression. "Why else do you think he comes to my room every night?" Sunny's look turned pink as he said in a low voice, "I thought you both did… stuff… together…" Nephis grimaced as Asher turned crimson due to his flaw, his eyes darting to Nephis' outfit again.
"You pervert," Nephis said to Sunny with disgust. That's when Cassie spoke up, her face tinged with pink. "Actually, everyone in the Academy thought the same as Sunny…"
Nephis blinked a few times, then turned to Asher, her cheeks ablaze. "Don't you dare have any 'thoughts' unless you want to die."
That brought Asher crashing back to earth. He cleared his throat, desperately redirecting the conversation. "Ahem! Moving on…"
He pointed to his eyes. "I have some sort of ocular ability. I'm still figuring it out, but I can see soul cores—how bright they are, how many. And I can see really far."
Nephis and Sunny exchanged a glance—surprise etched across their faces.
Nephis and Sunny exchanged astonished glances before turning back to Asher. "That's it right?" Sunny said, his lips dry.
Asher looked into the air, with narrowed eyes, presumably looking at his runes.
[Soul Veil]: Untouched by soul or scream, you walk cloaked in silence, feasting on the fading echoes of your kind made hollow by your very hand.
He lost count at this point. How many times he looked at this attribute window. He finally under stood it. Smacking his lips, he looked front and said deadpan. "I also have a high resistance to soul damage."
Nephis looked at Asher with a shocked expression this time. "How high?" She asked. Asher smiled a bit. "Very high."
That was a lie.
His his narrowed at a phrase. "..Untouched by soul or scream, you walk cloaked in silence..." The first half of the description. He was certain.
[Soul veil] made him immune to any kind of soul attack.
Nephis and Sunny looked at Cassie for confirmation.
Asher's eyes narrowed.
This was precisely why Asher actually told most of his attributes honestly, still downplaying them a bit, but still saying them. The seer was a damned prick.
What Cassie said next, made Asher purse his lips in frustration.
"I-I can't see Asher's attributes," Cassie said as she gulped her saliva.
Asher's expression turned unreadable as he gazed at the ground, deep in thought. He had anticipated this possibility when Cassie first, attempted to "read" his attributes back in the academy. There are only two plausible explanations,' he reasoned silently.
'One, Cassie's ability enables her to peer directly into my soul to perceive attributes, categorizing it as a soul attack. This could suggest that Soul Veil is responsible, acting as a firewall that permits only the spell to enter my soul while keeping other intruders out.' He paused his thinking, looking at Cassie.
'But then there is also my affinity with anomalies which somehow blocks Cassie from viewing my soul. It's sounds like complete bullshit and completely logical at the same time.' Nephis and Sunny also had unreadable expressions on their faces.
"You can't see them, like at all?" Sunny asked, looking at Cassie. Cassie shook her head, "No... When I look at him, all I see is... emptiness. It was the same in the academy as well."
Nephis nodded, "I see.."
She looked at Asher, "Go on."
"Uh... Right. My ability allows me to manipulate the weight of my body. I can also selectively alter the weight of specific body parts while maintaining the overall weight of my body. Additionally, I can adjust the weight of my echoes and memories, though my limit currently is two items at a time."
Nephis gave him a look of acknowledgement as she understood the reason behind Asher's Echo's abnormal speed.
"I see, you made his entire Echo's body light except its legs so that it can move faster."
Asher snapped his finger as he gave Nephis a playful wink. "Bingo!" he exclaimed, while internally adding, 'And I also gave it a little gravitational push from behind, because those monsters were sprinting like they were late for a demon convention.'
Nephis couldn't help but grimace at Asher's wink. Sunny too shuddered.
"Eh? Is my wink really that disturbing?"
"..."
"Yes."
Asher glared at Sunny, "You know what else is disgusting? Sending you shadow to the girls' do—"
Sunny pounced onto Asher, chuckling awkwardly, "Haha... Asher must be quite tired! See, he is blabbering some random stuff. "
He clamped a hand over Asher's mouth.
Instant regret.
His palm met something wet and squishy.
Sunny's eye twitched. 'Mucus?! AGAIN?!' But this time, he didn't let go.
If Asher finished that sentence, his reputation would be irredeemably destroyed.
"Uuuuukh!" Asher flailed helplessly, muffled beneath Sunny's grip.
Nephis watched the struggle, completely deadpan.
Cassie giggled softly at the chaotic noise.
Asher?
He couldn't breathe!
'This is an assassination attempt! Nephis help!'