Arthur:
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck."
I dove behind another stone wall as another blast of gold and black fire washed over me and my cover. Even with the stonewall taking most of the blast, I had to throw a thin light shield around myself to stop my skin from boiling.
What god-forsaken entity decided to give an already powerful Demigod divine level fire, a legendary sword, and a set of goddamn Sharingan? Cause I swear this was just straight up cheating.
"Come out here and face me you damned Itan-sha!" Izumi roared out at me.
Looking at what was left of my cover and seeing that the wall was now charred and dripping molten stone told me that was something I didn't want to go out and do. Which was fine, I was a ranged attacker anyway.
Grabbing a shotgun from my inventory I decided that there wasn't a chance that I could go easy on this bitch. That meant today was a slug day. Racking it I leaned over the side and found my target readying to hurl another gout of fire at me.
"Eat this bitch."
My gun kicked back with a roar and .600 Nitro slug found itself hauling ass towards the Shinto Demigoddess. It was a round designed to hunt elephants and pierce German steel. I didn't know what the armor she was wearing was made off, but even if it hit and didn't pierce through, it could break some ribs easily from its sheer power. The best part was that it didn't even need to be Celestial Bronze. Demigods were susceptible to both mortal and divine weaponry after all.
Unfortunately, this one possessed eyes that gave her precog. With my own silver eyes, I saw her lock onto the incoming projectile and swiftly move out of the way.
Well shit. That meant light projectiles were out of the question as well since the light I could generate was actually a bit slower than my rune enhanced bullets.
In response, she sent more fire at my position and I put on my lighting speed to move out of the way while throwing my shotgun back into my inventory. Stopping behind a sturdy-looking pillar I activated my equipment slots with a thought and brought out the double revolvers I had assigned to it.
Let's try the quantity over quality approach.
Rolling out of my cover I unloaded both cylinders in her direction.
They were all spot-on shots thanks to my stats and heritage. But once again she locked onto them with her own set of special eyes and what she didn't dodge she simply cut out of the air with her sword or straight up just melted by raising the heat around herself in some kind of heat cloak.
I wouldn't be able to get a shot through to end this quickly. Shame.
Plan B it is then.
Izumi Sato, Lvl: 55
Title: Daughter of Amaterasu
[HP] - 14332/16000
[MP] - 10340/12000
It seemed a bit of my Kirin did in fact get through to her health-wise and it seems using her Sharingan and keeping her heat on was a constant drain on her power.
If I could keep the pressure on her so she kept having to use her Sharingan and magic, then I could just outlast her.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem keen on complying with my plan.
With a war cry, she crossed the distance with a burst of lightning and brought her sword down at me in an Winchester
Wait, lightning? Must be the sword giving her a minor affinity for it. Because I was pretty sure Amaterasu wasn't known for it.
Throwing my revolvers back into my inventory I quickly selected Abyss Watcher and deflected her strike and retaliated with a swing of my own while she was off her balance. Unfortunately, that damn Sharigan proved why it was a complete cheat code again as she brought her blade back up at an odd angle, one that didn't block my strike but caused it to divert enough for her to back off.
Throughout it all, I could feel that heat cloak start to burn my skin. Even at the short distance, she had moved off I could still feel the heat practically radiating off of her.
That precognition was also getting really annoying. Though that exchange wasn't worthless, it did let me glean some information from her. Namely that I was stronger than her. There wasn't much force behind her initial strike compared to mine.
I bet I was naturally faster than her as well. Let's see if I couldn't wear her out some more.
Pulling on the air around me I began manipulating it to give myself my own sort of air cloak. Much like the ones I had used previously to keep rain from getting on me, except this one was much faster as it flowed over my skin like a miniature storm. Hopefully, it would snuff out any fire or heat that came close enough towards me.
Another burst of lightning put me within striking distance again and while I still certainly felt the heat pouring off of her, it was far more tolerable now than before.
Batting away a stab of her own I reared back the Archangel blade and brought it down overhead. It filled me with satisfaction to see her bring up her own sword to try and block it, only for her arms to buckle from the force I had behind mine.
Good, the precog gave her time to react, but that didn't mean she would always be fast enough or strong enough to get away from me unscathed every time.
That set the pace of the battle as we continued to fight with our swords. Every time she tried to use her own limited lighting control to back away, I'd pursue her with my own lightning speed. When she tried to use her Sharingan to predict my moves or to deflect my strikes, I pushed my muscles to the limit to make sure the force of the blows would stagger her anyway.
And whenever she tried to wash me away with a sea of golden and black flames, I summoned shields of light and hurricane levels of wind to block and snuff them out.
Every once in a while, we'd both strike each other's flesh. She learned quickly that my white Nemean jacket was practically sword proof, so instead, she found purchase between my face and legs. But it didn't matter much. Even though I was losing health with every hit, the shallow cuts I endured healed.
Her body was more armored comparatively, but whatever it was couldn't quite stand up to par to the Holy Steel of Abyss Watcher. Combined with the gaps of thinner chain mail and cloth between the pieces of the armor, her arms, torso, and legs were littered with bleeding slashes and although they weren't deep, I could tell the bleeding was taking its toll on her.
The Soul Tear enchantment wasn't doing her any favors either. Each shallow cut tore a pained gasp from her and caused her next movements to be even slower.
My tactic was working.
Izumi Sato, Lvl: 55
Title: Daughter of Amaterasu
[HP] - 11052/16000
[MP] - 9897/12000
I was slowly draining her.
And she knew it as well.
"ENOUGH!" She screamed and something about her began changing.
At first, I couldn't tell what she was doing, until I saw those swirling tomeos and pupils begin to connect and take on a different shape.
Oh hell no. There was no way I was going to be fighting that.
Her eyes finished their transformation and three curved black lines followed by an elongated tomeo each now spun in her golden orbs.
My own eyes found hers and suddenly I could feel something try to worm its way into my mind before the game repelled it.
!
Mental intrusion blocked.
"So you weren't lying about being immune to mental attacks." She said, "You must've trained your mind extremely well to be able to resist such attacks with no effort. Especially one from eyes such as these. Truly impressive."
I snorted, those eyes were definitely bullshit.
As if to prove my point, golden energy suddenly sprang to life and began forming into armor around her.
Dread formed in the bottom of my gut.
My mind raced for something that I could possibly use to nullify those eyes. What I wouldn't do for tear gas or a flashbang right now.
Wait a minute. Flashbangs. I could create half of what a flashbang was by myself. Hopefully, this would work, or else I was seriously about to get my ass handed to me.
I flooded my body with lightning once again and rushed straight at her.
She hadn't expected that, nor was she able to keep up with my own burst of speed, which granted me enough of a distraction to bat her sword away as I bull-rushed her and grappled her to the ground. It also disrupted her concentration as the half-formed energy avatar dissipated on impact.
We wrestled as we both tried to gain leverage, she had a slight advantage at first considering she now had two hands-frees while I was still holding my sword with one, but I took advantage of an opening and socked her in the side of the head. I felt a little bit of bone crack underneath and her head snapped to the side.
Using my superior strength and weight, I held her down as I took advantage of my punch to gain the leverage I needed. Even as I felt her heat cloak intensify and begin to char my skin despite the air shield I had been holding. I could already feel the flesh on my hands begin to crack and cook.
Locking eyes with her again I gave her an apologetic smile, "Sorry about this sweetheart." I said before I pulled on the light inside of my body and unleashed it along with Abyss Watcher amplifying it with its blessing.
My MP bar dropped dangerously while my body and the surrounding area were drowned in blinding bright white light. I'm sure to the outside world it looked like someone had just replicated the flash of a nuclear bomb.
A sharp burning sensation under my skin and my MP bar flashing dangerously low had cut out the technique before I completely drained myself dry. If she'd somehow still could see despite this, I'd have to use what little I had in the tank to getaway.
It was then a blood-curdling scream caught up to my ears and a wave of intense heat blasted me off the girl.
Crashing into stone and dirt I rolled to a stop and slumped down. Letting my regeneration kick in to ease the pain of my burns and reset my eyes. Despite the fact I had them closed, the light had been so intense that even I was seeing spots in them.
Once my vision had returned to normal, I took stock of the situation.
My health bar was sitting low, but nowhere near as low as my MP was sitting. But that was fine because I didn't think I'd need it any longer.
Looking over at my opponent. I saw her lying in the center of a newly formed ring of molten stone, moaning in pain and clutching her eyes.
Picking myself up, I made my way over to her prone form and hit her with an observe.
Izumi Sato, Lvl: 55
Title: Daughter of Amaterasu
[HP] - 3570/16000
[MP] - 1230/12000
Status: Blind
Oh, uh I didn't mean to permanently blind her…
I heard her muttering something in Japanese. I could understand some of it. My high intelligence stat was for more than just powering my mana after all. It let me overcome my dyslexia and let me learn faster. Intelligence was a nifty thing like that. Thus I'd been learning some Mandarin, Spanish, and Japanese as of late.
I was no expert in it. Not even remotely. But I could kinda pick up on what she was saying.
"It hurts so much. Why is it so dark? Help me mother…"
I felt my heartstrings tug in a way I didn't like. I don't know whether it was that damn Protector of Maidens' perk or just some of the morality and empathy that Percy and Annabeth had rubbed off on me flaring up, but I wasn't a fan.
"Goddammit," I muttered and made my way next to her. I tried to roll her over to get a better look at her, but she must've still been conscious of the fact that her enemy was still near because she started flailing and I felt heat begging to rise.
So I clocked her straight in the temple and she dropped like a bag of potatoes.
I'd make a great doctor.
Grabbing a vial of Nectar from my inventory I opened her eyelids and winced at the burned corneas that stared back at me. Shaking my head I applied a couple of drops to each of her eyes.
"Hope this works."
Thankfully the drops of divine liquid seemed to work their magic. Slowly I saw the discolored and burned corneas carefully knit themselves together. Satisfied once I saw the natural crimson of her eyes begin to return I closed both of them and laid her back on the ground
Izumi Sato, Lvl: 55
Title: Daughter of Amaterasu
[HP] - 3570 /16000
[MP] - 1230/12000
Status: Temporarily Blindness [2:35]
I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the counter begin to tick down. She'd still be scraped up, bruised, and bleeding. But at least she wouldn't lose her sight. A fleeting thought crossed my mind of stealing her eyes for those Sharingan. But while I was an asshole, I wasn't some organ thief.
So walking away from her I made my way over and picked up my prize.
The Fate look-alike heavenly sword was a true beauty to behold. Its blade was made of a gleaming Onyx that seemed to be covered in glowing ancient script. The handle meanwhile seemed to be crafted of some sort of jade or other precious material that ended with a pommel of an eastern dragon's head.
Time to see what this baby can do.
!
Legendary weapon unlocked!
Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi: Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven: A legendary sword pulled from the body of Yamata-no-Orochi by Susanoo once the Storm God slew the Evil Dragon. It was later gifted to his sister Amaterasu who then would give it to her descendants, where it was then renamed Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. They say its true power can only be unlocked by the blessing of the Queen.
- DMG is dependent on STR and DEX stats along with any modifiers you or the blade may have.
- 100% bonus to piercing due to enchantments
- 100% reinforcement due to enchantments
- 100% sharpness due to enchantments
- 100% damage towards dragons
- Elemental channeling
- Bladed Weapon Transformation
- Portal Travel (Focus your mind and energy and you'll be able to cut a hole through dimensions to reach your desired destination.)
- Blessing of the Storm God (Atmokinesis and all sub-related skills cost only ⅕ of their usual cost and inflict 3x damage when the blade is wielded. All subcategories of Atmokinesis unlocked if not already.)
Warning: Be precise on where you want to go when using the travel function. Loss of concentration can send you elsewhere. The destination can also vary in the amount of mana needed to use this function.
!
New skill unlocked: Hydrokinesis
Hydrokinesis, Lvl (1): An ability that allows you to manipulate water.
- 60 MP per minute
- "They say water is the element of change. Your enemies over there are living. Why not use this to go change that?"
I almost choked looking at everything that this blade could do. Holy goddamn shit.
A couple of things were similar to Abyss Watcher, but those seemed standard for legendary weapons. The extra damage against dragons was the first thing different and kinda cool, but that was small game compared to everything else. I could shapeshift this thing and basically fast travel by cutting through dimensions?
Heh, that sounded familiar.
And that storm god blessing, my god….
Summoning a Chidori with the blade in hand, my MP bar barely dipped.
Cadius could have the dumb Archangel blade for all I cared. The soul tear be damned.
!
You've unlocked a new power due to this item, legacy status, and having all of its subcategories.
!
New skill unlocked: Atmokinesis
Atmokinesis, Lvl (1): An ability that allows you to manipulate the atmosphere.
- 10000 MP per minute
- "The power of storms rages within you. For even the most seasoned of magical users no matter the species, taming the atmosphere is an almost impossible feat. Only the Divine have ever truly mastered this power. Luckily for you, the blood of gods permanents your very DNA."
Reading over my newest ability had me almost choke on my own spit. Ten thousand per minute? That was more than my entire reserve! What the hell game? Why was every other ability so low compared to this one?
!
This ability lets you manipulate the atmosphere itself. It's primordial in nature. Of course, it costs more than the basic elements.
"Sounds like something you should put in the tutorial or label." I said sarcastically, "Reminds me of you telling me that I couldn't use normal magic after I had already picked the Greek pantheon."
Fine.
!
System Update Downloading: Updating naming functions and tutorial
The system will be down momentarily while the update takes place.
System Reboot: 2:00 Min.
My HUD that let me constantly see things like my health bar and mana winked out of existence and something inside of me felt like it… shutdown? It was the best way to describe the sensation that happened.
For the first time in almost two years, my vision and body seemed to be clear of the system.
It felt kinda weird honestly.
"I wonder…" I muttered and pulled on the energetic sensation underneath my skin.
Light sprung to life just as easily as it normally did. Which wasn't a surprise, that was Artemis domain and I was her son. Dismissing the light I tried to pull on my lightning. It sprung to life with a crack of power and arced around me, but it felt different.
I realized why when not a moment later exhaustion hit me like a truck. Staggering back I cut off the flow and steadied myself.
"Alright, that's kind of interesting. So when the system shuts down, the Gamer's Body doesn't work since I actually got hit with physical exhaustion and it didn't instantly start regenerating." I muttered.
Summoning a bit of air next, the same thing happened.
Huh, so elements I wasn't technically born with seem to take a higher toll on my body than my natural ones.
The system was more broken than I thought.
I paused my thoughts as a realization hit me. If Gamer's Body didn't work, then Gamer's Mind didn't either. It meant I was incredibly vulnerable right now…
I needed to get the fuck out of here.
It was only my luck that that line of thought came a bit too late.
The air around me seemed to screech with the shrill sound of something coming towards me. Had the system still been turned on, Danger Sense would have warned me about it well in advance.
I didn't have that luxury right now and as I twisted out the way at the last second, pain unlike I had ever felt before erupted in my left hand as some kind of twisting air blast streaked through it.
Stumbling, I stabbed my new divine blade into the ground to right myself and brought up my other hand to summon a light wall.
Only instead of a hand, a bloody stump came up instead.
Oh, that's why it hurts like hell.
… and without Gamer's Body, it wasn't currently regenerating.
The snap of air displacement via high-speed travel cracked through the destroyed shrine and suddenly I was surrounded by at least a hundred different people and monsters.
Didn't know they called for help.
"Surrender now." One of them called out.
After I destroyed one of their holy sites and knocked out a bunch of their fellow Demigods? Yeah right.
Taking advantage of my sword's blessing, I channeled as much lightning as I could into my speed and some more into the blade itself and used my one good hand to swing it in an Winchester Blue energy sparked off of the black blade as it carved its way through the space in front of me.
The drain of energy left me nearly dead on my feet, but it worked well enough. The space in front of me was sheared open and replaced by a glowing portal of blue energy.
It was a testament to how tired I was and how much I depended on the system, that when something fast and heavy slammed into me from behind, I couldn't even dredge up the energy to try to dodge it or stand my ground...
It was only as we both went through the portal that I realized I hadn't exactly focused on a place to go to.
Whoops.
Lucifuge Academy:
"Greta you need to eat." Sarah urged from the seat next to her, "You can't keep eating just little bites of food during meals."
Crimson eyes colder than the final circle of hell narrowed at her brunette friend, "I don't feel like it."
Jack snorted from across the table, "You haven't felt like much of anything in more than a year. Well other than getting into fights and acting like a bigger bitch than usual."
"Jack!" Kazuto said and shot him a look of his own, "Don't be an asshole."
"Of fuck off, we all miss Arthur." Jack rolled his eyes, "Doesn't mean she has to act like a frigid bitch because of it."
"You might want to shut up Jack." Shiva warned as she brushed her green hair away from her food, "I'd like to not have to unfreeze your ass before 5th period."
Even though he took notice of the ice that was starting to spread across the table, Jack continued undeterred, "Look Greta I get it you miss him. We all do. But you heard what his brother said and what the Raum Heiress has told us. He's a Greek Demigod and he has amnesia. Not only is he literally out of our jurisdiction, but it's possible he doesn't even have the slightest memory of us."
Greta leveled a glare at him, "He'll remember us. He has too."
Leaning back, Jack crossed his arms in an unimpressed gesture, "Yeah well I suppose we'll see if we even ever get to see him again. Wouldn't count on it though. Professor Jackdaw says the Olympians are incredibly territorial about the entirety of the American Hemisphere and they're in contention for being the strongest gods in the world. Good luck trying to find him without someone there willing to summon you."
Kazuto grinned, "So you're saying there's a chance."
"Technically yes. But it's just as likely as him falling out of the sky."
Snap
Their and everyone else's attention in the meal hall was taken as a jagged portal opened above them. There was silence for a moment as it simply hovered above before it spat out two figures. One was a giant blue muscled monster with fangs and a simple loincloth as clothing and the other was a strawberry blonde with a snow-white jacket.
They both smashed into the academy's floor with such force that the very stone it was made of cracked and splintered. Yet neither seemed to be bothered by it as they both continued to fight each other.
It was once they were at ground level did three things become apparent about the person in white.
One: He was missing a hand. A bloody stump of mangled flesh jutted out of the sleeve of his jacket.
Two: They were wielding a divine-level sword. The wicked black blade with golden etchings was putting out power that everyone within several miles couldn't possibly miss even if they weren't paying attention.
And three: At least for the people that knew him, the young man wore the face of a missing student.
"Arthur!?" Greta gasped.
Jack meanwhile starred in absolute disbelief, "Huh… too late to wish for a bunch of gold and strippers as well?"
Michelle:
Seeing her little brother for the first time in almost two years should have made her happy. Instead her stress and worry only shot through the roof when she saw her brother and some sort of large monster fall through the portal that had suddenly opened above the cafeteria. Then it doubled upon seeing that Arthur was missing a hand.
That boy was going to give her gray hairs before she was even 20!
Watching Arthur get slammed into a pillar with enough force to crack it and then get up only after a few moments looking like he was already healing did ease some of her worries though. It meant he wasn't as fragile as he had been years ago.
It seemed that his time spent with the Greeks had taken his non-existent power and combat abilities and greatly increased them. Those had been her initial thoughts, she didn't realize how wrong she was until only moments later.
The cloak of lightning that had suddenly sprung forth around her brother had flooded the entire place with the scent of ozone and momentarily stunned her energy senses. With his display of stamina and durability, she had thought that Arthur had clawed his way up to around Mid Class strength. But the power that he called forth and the intensity of it, but all the High-Class students in the school that she knew of to shame.
It wasn't Ultimate Class power, but she was certain that only those somewhat near it could match it.
Then in a burst of speed that she couldn't even trace and with strength that left the floor underneath shattered with every step, Arthur flew both himself and the beast through the window and into the courtyard below.
The cafeteria meanwhile was left in stunned silence. The younger kids and some of the older students that had panicked finally peeked out from behind their stronger friends or from underneath their tables. The rest were mostly stunned in silence.
She barely noticed a certain group of younger years booking it for the doors. Knowing where they were headed to, she made to follow them, only to stop as the school itself seemed to shake. Looking out of the now shattered window Michelle saw that the once clear weather had been replaced by a violent thunderstorm out of nowhere.
Besides the impossibly suddenness of the storm, she knew it couldn't be natural. Satan Beelzebub had a whole system designed to monitor and change the weather as needed over most Underworld cities. They rarely got them and when they did they were nowhere near as intense.
"Is that a dragon?" One of her friends asked.
There was that too. Storms generally didn't have giant lightning dragon form from them either.
A sneaking suspicion told her that her little brother was responsible for this. If so, then maybe Ultimate Class wasn't that far off of a possibility.
From Low Class to Ultimate in under 2 years…
"What the hell do the Greeks feed their demigods?" She muttered as she turned and made her way down to the courtyard as well.
Arthur:
I barely registered the impact of being slammed into a pillar as a fog seemed to descend over my vision. Everything, since I had been tackled into the portal, had been a blur. Whatever had done it had seemed to like using my face as a punching bag while we fell.
Shit… is this what a concussion feels like without super healing?
"G-gaaame." I slurred out as I tried to focus on the rapidly approaching tower of muscle that was rushing after my fallen form, "H-hoow lllon-ger unti-l systeum bac up?"
!
The system will be down momentarily while the update takes place.
System Reboot: 0:00 Min.
Update Complete!
The system is now fully rebooted!
My brain burned inside of my skull while something seemed to snap back into place and the blurred vision and slowed thoughts disappeared. Even the pain in my hand seemed to ebb away as Gamer's Body worked overtime to reverse the damages.
Out of the corners of my eye, I noticed we seemed to have fallen inside some sort of cafeteria during mealtime.
I frowned. I'd have to move this fight elsewhere, I wasn't going to get a bunch of kids killed when I started throwing around magic and bullets.
My bastardized lighting cloak roared to life around me, more powerful and less costly than ever because of the divine blade now in my position. With the world slowing down to the speed of molasses I hit the beast with an observe.
Oni, Lvl:62
It should have been obvious. Classical demonic face with horns from Japanese mythology, blue skin, and almost larger than a minotaur. I definitely would need magic and bullets to kill it, but again not around teens and children.
Looking around I saw a large paned glass window that let natural light into the cafeteria directly behind the beast. Good, hopefully, it dropped onto some kind of rooftop or open courtyard.
Pushing myself up I charged as much lighting as I possibly could into my speed and forced the air in front of me to vacuum itself around for minimal resistance. The tiled stone underneath me splintered and I rocketed forward...
Blue boy hadn't expected me to recover or react as fast as I had, because he did nothing to stop me while I paid him back for the tackle he had blindsided me with. Smashing into his chest with the force of a canon, my blade easily pierced straight through him while the force of my tackle lifted him off his feet and shot us forward towards the window.
The smashing of glass and sunlight greeted us as we went out into the open air, and I noticed we were quite a few stories up from the ground beneath us.
Perfect.
Using my now cheapened air control once again, I flung us around and pushed towards the ground at Mach speeds. During which the Oni seemed to get its bearing back and I felt a bone-shattering punch smash into my ribs.
Something wet and crimson forced itself up through my throat, but it was bearable now that my pain reduction skill and healing were back in effect. In retaliation, I pumped more power into the lightning cloaked around my body, which had the neat bonus of shocking the ever-living shit out of the monster below me.
It was short-lived however as we hit the ground seconds later.
The impact rattled both of us, but I took the moment of distraction to build tension in my legs and use the Oni's chest as a springboard. Carrying myself and my sword away.
Landing a few dozen feet away I looked down at my shredded hand. Bone was slowly building itself back from where it had been cut off and the flesh was stitching itself back together along with it, but it wasn't going anywhere near fast enough for me to use immediately.
Alright so never mind my earlier thought. Guns were off the table. But magic was still possible even with my nearly depleted MP pool. But that was fine, I had a little trick up my sleeve that I had stupidly forgotten about until recently.
Another testament to how much I could just rush into things without paying full attention, but better late than never.
Stabbing my sword into the ground I reached into my inventory with my good hand and pulled out a vile of amber liquid.
Nectar (Consumable Item)
- 1.5X HP Regen for a Demigod for 1 hour.
- Restores ⅓ of the MP pool and quadruples MP recharge rate for a Demigod for 1 hour.
From what I'd observed Ambrosia and Nectar did the opposite of each other. Ambrosia gave far better healing stats while Nectar instead focused on recharging magic. But both still could do a lesser version of the other.
Popping the cork off and taking the shot, I licked my lips as it went down my throat smoothly. Still tasted like my favorite half lemonade and half tea mix. God bless that golfing son of bitch wherever he may lay for popularizing that drink.
!
Nectar consumed!
You have two more consumptions of Nectar or Ambrosia remaining for the next 24 hours before possible death occurs.
It did have kind of a drawback though. Mainly the fact I could only use it three times a day safely. Taking anymore would possibly incinerate me from the inside out. But it was so potent that its little drawback was rather negligible. If I was ever in a situation where I needed more than three times a day, I was probably fucked anyway.
The feeling of my mana surging back up to decent levels and it rapidly recharging with the buff put a grin on my face. Picking my sword back up, I called upon my newest ability.
Without Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi I wouldn't be able to use this currently. Thankfully that sweet storm god blessing would do most of the heavy lifting for me.
Focusing on shaping my Atmokinesis was a little difficult. My spine tingled from the lightning, my lungs puffed furiously as they shaped air, and just like Percy described my gut tugged with my new control over water. Atmokinesis was a combination of all three and the atmosphere fought me every step of the way as I tried to control it.
But by gods was it worth it.
It was small compared to most and almost entirely localized in the few miles around this school, but I couldn't keep the grin off my face as my first thunderstorm formed in what was previously a clear sunny sky. The now dark gray sky rumbled with thunder and wind as the rain began pouring down steadily upon us.
"Now let's try this again." I said as I raised my sword up to the heavens and shaped the masses of lighting that crackled overhead, "Kirin!"
My azure dragon roared through the sky with more power than it ever had before.
The downed Oni, which was still trying to recover from being stabbed and slammed into the ground, never stood a chance.
A light shield formed around me as the Kirin surged towards the ground and vaporized just about everything in the courtyard but me. Before when I had unleashed an underpowered Kirin on the Shinto Demigods, my shield had still cracked from the sheer intensity. Now that there was no reason to hold back and my power had just gotten a sharp increase from my new blade, I actually had to divert mana to keep my light shield stable as it threatened to break. My MP almost bottomed out from pouring more power into the shield, but my increased MP regen barely kept me above zero.
Even despite my shield, I felt my eardrums burst from the shockwave of the attack and felt the heat wash over my exposed skin. Yet despite that, I couldn't keep a small grin from etching itself onto my face. Now, this was what my Kirin was supposed to be!
Finally when the attack did end and the dust settled, what was left of the courtyard was revealed to me.
That small grin transformed into a large one at the sight of a deep crater with nothing in it but molten slag where the Oni had been. The rest of the courtyard hadn't faired much better, with what little foliage that had survived being currently on fire and the rest reduced to ash.
I could appreciate it, but I'm sure whoever ran the school probably wouldn't. So it was time for me to skedaddle.
Pouring energy into my blade again, this time I made sure to visualize the camp.
Before I could make my portal something or more like someone decided to interrupt me.
"Arthur!" A voice called out.
Turning around I saw a white-haired missile streaking towards me from the entrance of the school. Which had me squint in confusion at the approaching young teen. Did I know this chick?
Scratch that. Did I know anyone outside of the people at camp and few divine beings?
"Hel- oof!" I grunted as she slammed into me.
For a second I thought I was getting attacked again and tensed, ready to take her head off with a twitch of my blade. Only instead of a knife being slipped between my ribs, her arms were wrapped around my chest.
Was I being hugged? Why was I being hugged?
"I knew you'd come back eventually. I knew it!" She mumbled into my chest.
It took a few seconds for my brain to catch up to the situation at hand and put together what was happening. When it did I released a sigh.
Glancing up at the sky which was slowly clearing out my dissipating storm, I saw glimpses of a purplish sky above the clouds. Looking down, I looked at the name of the girl that was currently hugging me.
Greta Lucifuge, Lvl: 38
Oh hell, I was in Hell!
Which meant that this chick and the other people I could see approaching us probably knew who I was. That was just… wonderful. Amnesia excuse, don't fail me now.
"Arthur my man, how's it been?" A young man named Jack greeted me.
I gave him a blank stare.
He apparently caught on because the smile dropped from his face and he sighed, "You have no idea who we are, do you?"
"Not even a little." I shrugged, "Amnesia tends to do that to you. Do you all know me?"
"We did. Though last time we saw you, you were a brunette and not a strawberry blonde. Nor was your tan as deep as it is now." He said as he looked me over, "You're also way taller and your eyes are silver instead of blue. Sheesh, puberty did one hell of a job with you."
"The hair and eyes are actually natural." I admitted, "My mother hid those traits so people wouldn't figure out who's child I was. As for my height, that's just the perks of being a Demigod."
And taller I was. I knew that that much, but I never really noticed just how insanely tall I was for my age since the only people my age I interacted with were other Demigods who also grew as fast as I did.
I'd recently grown another inch over the past month, putting me at a solid 5' 8". About average mortal height for an adult. But looking at the 13 and 14-year-olds in front of me, the tallest of them was still almost a foot shorter or maybe a little less.
The pressure around my chest loosened and the Lucifuge girl partially unattached herself from me. Looking down I saw that tears had slightly welled up in the corner of her eyes and looked ready to spill above her trembling lip.
I hid a cringe at the sight. Jesus, it looked like I killed her puppy and then strung it upright in front of her.
"You really don't remember us?" She whimpered, "You don't remember me?"
"Sorry." I said as I reached out and patted her snow-white hair, "But no I don't."
I didn't exactly know where to take the conversation after that, especially when this Greta girl looked like she was about to start bawling her eyes out, but thankfully a beautifully cheerful and familiar voice served as a nice distraction.
"Arthur Winchester! You get your butt to the nurse right now!"
Looking over I saw a young woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes approaching me with a look that promised pain if I argued.
Moving away from Greta I let a smile come to my face, "Well if it isn't my favorite sister! How's it been, Michelle?"
Michelle however was undeterred by my light tone and without missing a beat grabbed my ear and began dragging me.
"Hey cut it out, sis!"
My struggles to escape her grip were for not. Which confused me. I was strong enough to punch through steel and concrete, how couldn't I even budge her grip?
"We'll catch up later. Nurse now." She said while trying to tug my ear from my skull.
"Ow ow ow, but my hand's fine! I literally have regeneration, you can see it healing!"
"I can still see bone, Arthur. Plus you have blood leaking from your mouth and ears and… why do you smell like charred flesh?"
"Uh that monster slugged me in the ribs hard enough to break them, that attack burst my eardrums, and I got into a fight earlier with someone who was searing my flesh off." I said as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "But everything's mostly healed."
"-"
If anything, I swore the grip on my ear tightened. I let out a sigh, consigned to my fate.
Several dozen diagnostic spells flashed in succession around me. They'd been going for a couple of minutes now and I was starting to get really bored. Apparently, they were all designed to check a specific part of my body rather thoroughly. To ensure that I was in perfect health.
Though I could have just told you that on my own.
The school nurse/doctor finally canceled the magic circles that were scanning and nodded. She was seemingly satisfied with what she found, "Your brother is in perfect health Miss. Winchester In fact, I dare say he's beyond perfect health, even for someone with supernatural blood."
Michelle arched an eyebrow at that, "Beyond perfect health?"
"Even with our magic and supernatural durability, Devils can still sustain and build up permanent injuries or even simply die of very old age. Most Angels, Fallen, and any other supernatural being are no different." The nurse rattled off, "Scar tissue can build up and certain bodily functions can no longer function as they did at their prime. It's why the Phenex family and their tears they sell hold so much sway."
She moved to hand me back my white jacket, which she had been nice enough to clean the blood and ash off with a bit of magic, "Yet for how active your brother apparently is, and even from his recent battle, there are no signs of any of that. He has quite literally healed back to 100% function. Not even the slightest bit of scar tissue remains where his hand was cut off nor bruise from where his ribs were shattered."
Stepping back she looked at a set of records she had pulled out early upon my arrival, "And looking at his former records indicates his body has grown massively in size in only a short amount of time. To say nothing about how large his magic capacity has also grown in the same time frame. Yet there is still no sign of damage. You said this is normal for those of… godly or divine descent? Correct Mr. Winchester?"
"Well, the growth is." I shrugged, "My regeneration is kinda specific to just me though."
The nurse snorted, "Well frankly I'm quite jealous Mr. Winchester You've certainly hit the genetic lottery. You're free to go as well, considering there's nothing wrong with you."
Jumping off the examination table I gave her a nod of appreciation before heading towards the door with my sister in tow, "Told you I was fine."
Blue eyes rolled in amusement, "Well excuse me for being worried at the sight of my bruised and crippled little brother."
I raised an eyebrow and gestured at the fact that even my nose was above her hairline, "Not so little anymore."
A giggle escaped her as we continued our way down the hallway, "You may be taller, but you're still only 13. Plus you haven't quite filled out yet. You're still skinny as a whip."
I huffed at the jab, "It's not my fault I'm growing so fast that I outpace any gains I make. Every time I add more muscle mass to myself I shoot up in height again."
It was pretty annoying. It was all I could do to keep ingesting as much meat, vegetables, and various sources of protein as I could to keep up with my height. Annabeth even once joked that she didn't know how the camp was able to feed Percy and I, much less hundreds of other growing Demigods as well.
"I know you just got here and all but I want to know, how long are you staying for?" She shifted topics.
"Oh?" I asked slightly surprised, "And here I thought you'd try to make me stay down here or try to get me to come back to school."
Michelle shook her head, "I'd love for you too. But let's not kid ourselves brother, I'm the only person you remember and even then it's only faintly. You have nothing to tie you down here and you have stuff going on in your own pantheon from what I've been told. Plus I saw you in action earlier. I couldn't make you stay even if I wanted."
I hummed in agreement, "I won't be staying long. You're right about the fact I have stuff to do back home, but that doesn't mean I have to straight-up disappear again entirely."
Michelle was a sweetheart and I was technically her brother now. Considering I was probably in this life for the long haul, might as well actually get now some of my family right?
Wherever it normally fucked off to when I didn't interact with it, I swear I could hear the system laughing at me. I'd come full circle from trying to ditch this family to actively promising one of them that I'd visit.
Though I still thought it was highly suspect that I landed here of all places when I had no destination in mind at all. Stupid system pushing the stupid DXD biblical arc. Couldn't a guy just play his PJO storyline in peace?
"Really!?" She gasped as her eyes lit up in excitement.
I held back a groan at the accidental use of overwhelming cuteness that my bubbly sister seemed to have in spades. There was definitely no way I could just do a complete disappearing act now.
Why did adorable blondes I just couldn't say no to keep popping up into my life?
"I told you that I was going to be giving Cadius the family sword right? Well, I told him I'd give it to him around Christmas and that's only a week and a half away. So I guess I can stay around and go home with you for Christmas break." I said before thinking about it, "Wait, do you guys even celebrate the holidays down here?"
I should have plenty of free time. With Bianca and Nico already at camp, there was no reason for Annabeth to be kidnapped while fighting that principal dude, which meant they had no bait to lure my mom into a trap. My actions should have invalidated the events of the 3rd book from ever happening.
"We kind of do! While it used to be mostly an Angel thing, there are so many reincarnated humans down here now late December has been designated as a holiday season by the Satans!" Michelle happily explained, "Though most don't call it Christmas or even celebrate like Christians do. It's pretty much just been rolled into a winter festival. A time to relax, drink, and spend time with family."
Interesting. Though I did have questions about these Satans. I now knew that this was a mixed universe with DXD unfortunately. But the info book I had received from my mother mentioned that the OG Lucifer and Satan (two separate beings apparently) were both still alive. There was also mention of a King and Queen of the underworld.
I must be missing some kind of context, because if the four who were the Satan's in the show are still Satans here, then who was holding the true power?
Well, I guess I was inside a school. I'm sure they had an up-to-date library and I could always just find some sort of Geopolitical teacher to ask.
Or maybe I could just call and annoy Uriel to explain it to me.
"Well, then it sounds like a plan. By the way, do you know where Gwen Raum is? There's some information that I asked for that I need."
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