161 - freezing
*
Glancing from left to right, all that filled my vision was an ugly grey. The stale air numbed my limbs, causing it hard to move. An odd freezing atmosphere shook my innards, warmth became a commodity. Circulating heat with [Demonic energy], I needed to be careful as my unwell body would not bod well with being fried. Reaching a desirable temperature, I stopped activity as a strange toll was affecting my conscious.
It seemed that I could not turn my neck, staring at the boring ceiling had bored me greatly. It was strange... Usually I would have my Vitality regenerated at this point... My natural regeneration was rather slow due to my rather miniscule Vitality value, causing my fighting style to depend on speed blitzing my opponents. A rather fragile glass cannon, anyone could tell this way of fighting wouldn't let me last long. I might have to acquire some items to boost my Vitality stay, so I could at least take a couple hits without dying.
Defeating Gefald, a level 6000 should have yielded a lot of experience. I should probably allocate my stat points. Better safe than never, these things should be organised before any sort of battle occurs. You never know if an enemy would pop out of some corner. Scanning my eyes from left to right, over a small spot, a transparent dark blue screen slides out of thin air. Like a screen door, it slid out. Revealing itself from bottom to top, letters in bold white manifest over the blue screen. This was the status screen:
Name: Lilith
Class: Reaper
Level: 1000 Points: 0
Health: 40 000 000 000/40 000 000 000
Mana: 100 000 000 000/100 000 000 000
Strength: 2 500 000
Vitality: 4 000 000 000
Intelligence: 10 000 000 000
Agility: 22 512 000
Class bonuses:
Str x 100
Int x 50
Agi x 300
Equip:
Authority of Famine vit x 1000
Authority of War int x 1000
Glutonny vit x 500 int x 100
Total stat growth:
Str 1 -> 100
Vit 1 -> 500 000
Int 1 -> 5 000 000
Agi 1 -> 300
Skills:
[Demonic energy]
[Stealth-tier 6]
[Illusion-tier 6]
[Dagger arts-tier 4]
[Sword arts-tier 4]
[Shadow step-tier 4]
[Mana control-tier 5]
[Diamond speed enhancement Ex]
Well, that solves THAT problem. While thinking about my own fragility, new sections of my status had materialised, displaying the fruits of my battle with Gefald. Must be some form of an inheritance system. Did the winner earn the special power of the enemy? If that was so, it would be incredibly difficult for others to acquire this power. Retrieving such a strong power either requires a stronger ability or insurmountable wit. I could barely make it by, by using [demonic energy] and [Diamond speed enhancement Ex].
2 rather strange skills that show up when I needed them. Did that mean the world was that convenient? Freely giving skills when I was in need of a turnaround for the battle. Usually people would gamble on these miracles, however I have a feeling it will never happen again. An intuition, that things shouldn't be this easy.
Rather than conveniently acquiring a 'new' skill, it felt more like I recalled it instead. Akin to a distant memory, forged deeper than the muscle memory in my frail muscles, somewhere in more extreme depth that can not be comprehended. Well this was unfortunate, even after waking up, I'm as good as paralysed. Very troublesome.
Wrapping my eyelids back up, I was about to fall back asleep until a new sensation pricked my left arm. Lifting my lips apart, I summoned my vocal chords to communicate.
"..."
I had a dumb expression on, where it looked as if I was saying "ah." in shock. Except, my voice could not surface for some unknown reason. No matter how much my cheeks went red, nothing would emerge. Strangely enough, my status showed no debuffs. It meant that my body naturally deteriorated. Was it a new disease that targets the vocal chord? Whatever happened, I could not communicate.
The person who had visited me made minimal movement, their footsteps told me they had a relaxed gait. Maybe they have already understood what happened? Most likely, it was a person I was familiar with. Though it didn't help with the fact I couldn't turn my neck. Focusing my will, I concentrated on my skills and mentally activated them.
[Demonic energy]
"Haa~... And you only just recovered your mental state... Not sleeping and only training your skills for a couple months straight was insane... Getting you back to normal was a pain... Well, it was my fault in the first place, sorry. Nee~ How are you feeling right now? "(? -> Cress)
A crestfallen expression fit around her face as she spoke, did something perhaps happened while I was gone? I could vaguely deduce that she was complaining with my deteriorated hearing, ah... She was complaining about that...
The past year... Was rather hazy... After my defeat at Iyori's hand... I holed up in my dormitory room, rarely going out unless it was for food. Cress was strangely tolerant, as if she couldn't risk losing me again, she compromised and juggled taking care of me with her school work. It seemed that I heavily imposed on her. At first it was only walking for extensive period of time, that I couldn't handle. Slowly, stepping outside the door became a nightmare.
In the end, after half a year. Which was worse? I thought to myself. A stupidly convoluted disposition, did I want to go out and serve Cress? Or did I want to listen to her words and succumb to her spoiling? Or should I try my best and live a normal life? The door stood like the gates of hell, yet... Slowly... I could hear her voice. It started with whispers, and finally one day... I had a conversation with it.
***
"What are you doing, holed up in this room like a loser?" (Iyori 'voice')
"..."
"Can't even talk? You give nothing but disappointment. Even I can't take this, I'm going. You stay here and continue being a loser... Since it's easier..." (Iyori)
"..... I'm... Not a loser..."
"... "(Iyori)
As it occurred, even the voice in my head couldn't withstand my patheticness. Was I able to become stronger without going outside? Surely, that... Would be possible.
***
Anyway that year no longer mattered. Did I have a panic attack somewhere in the second half? Training became a religious routine, and after that, obsession. A camera must have been set up while I was engrossed, as they could figure out I didn't indulge in any rest. Maybe it was the large dark eye circles? As things stand, I only recovered a month ago. If things could revert and devolve back into that mess... I wouldn't know. It could or it could not.
My head was empty for about 3 months before recovering, happiness, sadness, pain, grief, embarrassment, awkwardness, excitement, boredom, none of those feelings were there. I was akin to an empty shell and only formed coherent thought at the end of those 3 months. According to Cress, I became more responsive and less like a dead fish. Spending life in constant fear... Or life a dead fish... I wonder which one is more preferable. Even after experiencing those horrible things, they still could not be compared. Neither was better. I choose neither.
"....."
Lifting my dry lips once more, I attempted to talk, and nothing came out.
".... Thank goodness...you're alive..." (Cress)
My shoulders and torso were wrapped in a warm embrace. A pleasant aroma tickled my sense of smell, it felt slightly hindered. But this small stimulation was preferable to staring at the boring grey ceiling.
" I... Cause this. I'm sorry. It seems your soul is quite damage, it's barely hanging onto your body. Only the parts above the neck are actually connected at all... I can barely fix half of it... So we'll need a professional's help"
Damage... To the soul? How did... -did Gefald have spiritual attacks?