"What do you want?" I said dropping my bag and closing the door behind me.
Shion was leaning on the window staring daggers at me.
If looks could kill I'd be very, very dead.
"If you tell me everything, I won't kill you right here and now." She said as five football sized suns appeared around her.
I could feel the heat coming from the other side of the room.
"Careful or you'll burn the place down." I said which caused two of the suns to burst into golden ornage flames which then swirled around her.
At this rate she really is going to burn the place down.
"Ok." I said sighing. "If you put those suns away, I'll tell you."
Shion did exactly that as the suns and flames disappeared.
"All you need to know is that what you saw at play was my Unique Skill which is also my strongest Skill." I explained while walking past her, heading towards the stairs. "Granted it is a very powerful Skill however I can't use it too often and it is leagues above all my other Skills."
"Why should I believe you?" Shion said stopping at the top of the stairs.
I turned round to face her.
"Sometimes there are miracles, and the truth won't always be the big grandiose thing that you expect it to be." I said before starting to walk again. "I'm just an Ethereal that got lucky, nothing more to it."
"Can you at least explain to me what your Unique Skill does at least." Shion said as I opened my bedroom door and went inside
"I like to keep my special cards close to my chest." I said and closed the door behind me.
"Ok class the day is not over, we have one more lesson, then you can do whatever you want on the campus." Miss Skyline said writing on the chalk board. "Ok we're going to talk about Ethos and it's relation to Ethereals. Can someone briefly explain what Ethos is?
It been 2 hours after the little incident with me and Byron who was now very dead. If I had known that killing wasn't allowed, I would have knocked him out instantly plus I did feel some sort of murderous intent coming from him so that whole thing about him "going easy on me" was false. Anyway, Miss Skyline has told the class to not talk about it with other students who are not from this class but that'll only hold for so long. A Lion Rank that not only beat but killed a Dragon Rank in an instant. That'll draw some attention all right. Why am I so stubborn that I couldn't take just one loss, at least one loss?
Lazuli raised her hand and stood up.
"Ethos, grossly summarised Miss, is the energy that mutated and infused with the forty eight percent of humanity in the year seventeen o'five, creating the first Ethereals. They and all the other Ethereals throughout time were mutated in a way that allows them to produce Ethos from their bodies which would then fuel the Skills that an Ethereal uses."
"Correct Lazuli, you can sit down now." Miss Skyline said. "Now as we all know Ethos isn't as simple as that."
For once I properly listened to what Miss Skyline was saying as the subject of Ethos is something I find interesting.
"From what we know, Ethos seems to bypass most established rules and laws to exist. Except for one rule. Amane what is this one rule?"
I stood up and answered.
"Ethos and anything infused by Ethos cannot be affected in shape, form along with any of its properties in any way. It can only be affected by Ethos itself or things infused with Ethos as well."
Thank you, Amane, could you also further explain this?" Miss Skyline said and I nodded.
"This rule also applies to Ethereals. Because Ethereals are infused with Ethos they can only be affected by Ethos and other Ethereals. You could throw an Ethereal into the sun and they will not even get the slightest bit hurt. However, if a Skill allowed an Ethereal to create a sun that would kill an Ethereal as Skills are fuelled by Ethos and therefore the results/outcomes of said Skill are infused with Ethos as well making it so they can be effective against Ethos, Ethereals and other things infused with Ethos."
"Correct Amane, you can sit down now." Miss Skyline said and continued.
"Everything Amane said was true, but she left out one vital piece of information. Ethereals still age. 99% of Ethereals (unless a Skill they have says otherwise) still bend to the naturally process of ageing. Emphasis on the natural." She said circling the on the board to make it stand out. "Anything that affects the natural process of ageing will not work against an Ethereal as that is no longer a natural process. We talk about this because of the profound effect this had on the first generation of Ethereals. The humans, understandably felt threatened by us as they had literally no way to combat or defend themselves from us. It would have resulted in the extinction of the human species if Viro didn't appear when he did. To further add to this, the unending amount of different Multiverses and Universes out there. We know for a fact that there are other beings out there that have what would be considered to have superhuman abilities from different Universes and Multiverse. Some with powers that dwarf may even the power of Viro Cosmos.
I suddenly felt uneasy. Like there was something watching me or the feeling you get when you know something is behind you. It started out small but then it began to grow. Like a balloon inside me beginning to fill up with air as the uneasiness grew stronger and stronger with every passing second. I was sure of it. I felt a presence that was so powerful and so full of bloodlust that it was almost suffocating. And it was getting closer and closer.
Now, although these beings that are more powerful than Viro Cosmos do exist they-" Miss Skyline began to say.
EVERYOBODY GET DOWN!!!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs before the sound of what was like a sonic boom could be heard before everything collapsed.
Everything was black and dark. I could feel the weight of heavy bricks and concrete on the top of my back. I quickly activated Spectre and I, what only could be described as swam, up through the bricks and rubble until I saw daylight. My body became solid again as I witnessed my classmates use their numerous Skills to emerge from the rubble. I looked around and realised that it wasn't just the class or even the school. What looked to be the entire city was reduced to rubble and ash.
"What the hell just happened?" I murmured summoning up heat from Solar Magic to burn up the debris that was covering my uniform.
"Amane!"
I turned to where I heard to voice and saw a girl calling out the Lion Rank's name.
I think her name was… Lazuli.
"Amane where are you?"
The ground beside her suddenly erupted as if a mine went off and the Lion Rank landed in front of Lazuli before shaking his head and brushing his hair to get rid of the ash and debris.
"You two, ok?" I said running up to them as more and more students appeared from the rubble. In the distance you could see children and their parents emerging as well with Miss Skyline helping others out.
Amane was rolling her shoulder as if she had just done a workout and was stretching out her muscles.
"We're Ethereals" He said cracking his neck. "Even a mountain falling on us wouldn't leave a single scratch."
Lazuli and looked at each other before shrugging our shoulders.
He wasn't wrong.
"Even so this is going to take a long time to rebuild." I said as we all let the scene sink in. The city that the school was in had been reduced to rubble in an instant. What could only be described as something out of a post-apocalyptic movie could be seen in all directions, the number of buildings that even resembled their original state being one that you could count on your hand. Dust and ash filled the air and sky like volcanic ash and partially blocked out the sun. "Not to mention parts of some buildings in the city were infused with Ethos. We may have a few injured or casualties on our hands."
What could have done this?" Lazuli said wide eyed.
"He did." Amane said calmly, a drop sweat trickling down his head as he pointed up in the sky behind him.
What sounded like a sonic boom suddenly could be heard and the dust and clouds were blasted away revealing a bright blue sky and a figure floating way up in it. The figure descended from the sky and the closer they got the clearer it became how powerful they were and what they looked like. It was a man who looked like he was in his twenties with two green eyes and a third blue eye in the centre of his forehead which could be seen as his black hair was floating and waving around as if it was underwater. A halo that looked like it was made of lightning could also be seen behind his back which crackled with green sparks of electricity. He stopped descending only when he was just floating a few inches above the ground and surveyed the apocalyptic scene while looking down on the people as if they were ants. He grinned a sinister looking smile as glowing aura covered his body whilst also sending off great gusts of wind.
"Look at all of you." He said with a voice sounding like it was being implanted directly into my head. I saw that all others seemed to be experiencing the same thing judging by the look of surprise and confusion on their faces. Amane seemed to look particularly distressed even though it looked like nothing more than a slight narrowing of his eyes.
"So confused," He said with a soothing voice even though it gave the opposite effect. "And also, so afraid. But colour me surprised, I counted about ten million in your city and yet I still sense nine million life forms. Congratulations you are the first to survive me entering your Reality."
"Who the hell are you and what are talking about
The voice sounded angry but also slightly calm as well.
I turned to see that it was Miss Skyline. She looked furious but in a way that was like when someone broke a jigsaw puzzle you spent weeks on or a ruined a meal you put your all in to cook.
"Name's Carrion." He said as he suddenly appeared behind Miss Skyline with a cocky smile, his feet still just a few inches above the ground. "But you can call me god or whatever name you have for a supreme being above all others."
"In that case we would call you Viro Cosmos." I said as golden orange flames flickered around me like an aura.
"That's cute." He said, now appearing in front of me. "You and those flames surrounding your body, cool party trick. What can you do destroy a whole planet, maybe even a solar system?"
I immediately felt the power coming from him. I don't know how I didn't feel it before. It was like a divine being was staring directly into my soul with his just presence alone easily snuffing out the flames surrounding me as well as make me collapse to my knees. Carrion stared at me like I was an insect.
"Let me guess, this Viro guy is your god. News flash people." He said floating a few feet away with everyone backing away, giving Carrion a good couple of meters of distance between them and him. "I'm kinda your new god now."
I could tell this Carrion person was many things but a liar. I don't know why but I could just tell and seemingly everyone else could as well as they all displayed similar reactions to the horrified look on my face with Lazuli collapsing onto her hands and knees before throwing up next to me.
"I've been travelling to throughout the cosmos visiting every Reality that I came across. This is the first time when billions haven't died from me entering one. So, give yourself a round of applause." He said nonchalantly as if he was talking about what he did over the weekend.
This can't be happening. How can someone this powerful even exist?!
Panic began to engulf me. It threatened to reduce me into a screaming mess so long as this continued. It ate away at my finger and toes. Then my hands and feet, then my arms and legs, slowly consuming my entire being until it was nothing but fear.
A mix of the surprised expressions that I could see out of the corner of my eye along with a huge gust of wind caused me to raise my head. As I slowly looked up I saw it. Behind Carrion was a black and red portal opening, throwing up dust in the process with what looked like red sparks and electricity crackling around its edges.