Chapter 31: Trial Of Mind

(Chikyu Trivia: Chikyu loves horror games, but he hasn't ever actually been scared by one)

As I woke up, I checked my phone as I usually do every morning to see if I got any important messages overnight. I saw a notice from UA's official group chat that we got two days off of school to rewind from the Sports Festival.

That gave me an idea. Since I had completed the Trial Of Body last night, and since there were now only two of the basic trials remaining, I could complete them over these two days. But I'd have to wait for it to be night once again.

I also decided that I was going to relax during the days. After the trial last night, I'm cautious of the possibility of taking it on and having too little energy left after training.

I spent the entire day just hanging out with Kota and my mom's team after they returned from hero work. As I expected, they did ask about my new appearance, and my fake answer seemed to satisfy them.

I took Kota to the park and played around with him. He had been doing really good with the training whenever he joined me, so I thought he deserved a break and a reward. We spent a few hours there, going back when he said he was ready to.

When night approached and Kota went to bed early, Mom, I, and the rest decided to watch a movie. I was given the duty of searching for which movie we would be watching. We settled on a movie called The Bone Hero. It was about a kid who could manipulate his bones and use them as weapons.

I thought the movie was alright, but I think the decision to make the kid so overpowered and not have him become more powerful when he's at least a teenager was a stupid decision.

After the movie, Mom and the rest went to bed, while I got ready to go do another trial in Mienai. I told the flower the open the entrance and jumped down as I always do, the same little creatures as always catching me and setting me down.

Making my way to Kindan, I sat down on the stone throne I had made as he faced me once again.

"Here to take on another trial, I assume?"

"Yeah."

"Before I direct you to it, may I ask what changes have made themselves present since you've consumed the Zyitkan demon's heart?"

"I feel much stronger in the physical department. I'm stronger, faster, and definitely more durable than I was before. Hell, my strength could pass as a high-tier strength quirk. Not All Might level, but still really good for not being a quirk"

"Interesting. And have you been feeling anything else that could possibly be related to the magical prowess of the Zyitkan's?"

"Not that I can think of. Maybe it'll happen after I get the reward for the Mind trial."

"That is indeed a good possibility. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Follow the trail, just like last time. Best of luck."

Doing as he said and following the neon grey trail on the ground, I eventually came across another entrance identical in structure to the one for the Trial Of Body, but the rune was different.

It was the runic symbol of Mannaz, which resembled multiple things, the mind being one of them.

Entering, the entrance behind me closed, just like last time.

After a while of walking in a straight line, I eventually came across a large rectangular area that resembled an arena.

(Think of the arena that Cell made for the Cell Games. If you don't know what that looks like, here. But instead of the plains, it's obviously underground.)

As I stepped into the arena, a field of dangerous-looking green energy enclosed me inside it. I didn't want to find out what happened if I tried to leave the arena while it was there.

Shortly after the energy enclosed me in, two strange creatures materialized in front of me. The first one was blue and had a long tail, as well as peculiar juts emerging from its arms and back.

(Appearance)

The second one was grey and had tendrils in place of legs. It possessed two bladed hands and two extra hands that were clearly meant for grabbing.

(Appearance)

I decided to be the one to make the first move and sped towards the blue creature, going to punch it multiple times in the chest.

To my surprise, my fist stopped before I could reach it. I was confused for a few seconds but assumed it might have been an ability it had. To make sure if it was something related to the trial, I also went to attack the grey one, but the same thing happened.

After that, I was pretty sure that it had to do with the trial. Maybe I couldn't attack them directly, and I had to come up with strategies on the move that would harm them without me directly attacking them.

I didn't get much time to think on that before both creatures charged at me at incredible speeds. They were just as fast as the last creature I faced during the Trial Of Body. But thanks to the increase I got from eating that demon heart, I can now outspeed that level without needing to use Bo-Bup, so I avoided them as I thought of strategies.

It didn't take long for me to come up with an idea to deal with the grey one, which was the one I was most worried about. I would let it build up as much speed as possible and then trick it into running into one of the spires in the corners of the arena. It was risky, but it would work, and I didn't want to spend too long and end up letting the two creatures catch up to me in speed since I could tell they were slowly but surely getting faster.

Continuing the run for a while and allowing the grey one to speed up unhindered but making sure to keep interrupting the blue one by kicking rubble in its way, it eventually got to a level of speed where I was confident of it being taken out after colliding.

Making my way directly to the spire in the top right corner, I stopped for a single second, allowing the grey creature to come as close as possible. Right before it got to me, I used Bo-Bup and moved out of the way.

The creature slammed into the spire at full force, destroying it as well, making it fall on the creature. It wasn't moving anymore, so I assumed it was done for.

Now to deal with the blue creature. I actually already had a plan for this one, I just wanted to get the grey one out first, since I felt it was the more dangerous one.

I would make the blue one touch the energy field around the arena.

Just like I did with the grey creature, I ran around and let it speed up. Once it reached a level I was confident in making the plan work with, I put my idea into action.

I sped towards the green energy surrounding the arena, the blue creature following in hot pursuit. As I stopped right in front of the energy, I waited for the right moment as the creature came right for me.

When it reached the area I wanted it to, I took psychic hold of the floor of the arena and exploded the part where the creature's feet had just stepped, launching it forward and straight into the energy field.

It was instantly vaporized. No crazy effects, no bizarre sound effects. Just instantaneous disintegration.

Shortly after that, the energy field turned off, and I saw a pedestal rise from one of the tiles of the arena, along with a spherical object on said pedestal. I also noticed that it had a placque just like the one that had the demon heart when I completed the Trial Of Body.

Curious, I read it.

"He who has passed the Trial of Mind has proven himself to be worthy of demonic mental prowess. Consume the demon mind to gain your rightful insight and further continue your journey to true godhood!"

Similar to the last one. So, this object is basically a demon's brain. Looks like I'll be consuming more demon body parts. Oh well, I did all this work, not gonna stop just because the way to get my rightful reward is gross.

(The brain)

Taking hold of the brain, I ate it whole. Once again, I didn't taste anything, but I felt my body changing. This time, I felt the changes occurring in my brain, obviously.

5 minutes later, my brain felt much clearer. Like I had nothing on my mind, but I obviously still did. That definitely meant that my brain capacity was largely increased. I also felt that things were moving a bit slower for me. That probably means that my brain processing speed has increased.

There was another feeling, but I didn't know what it was. If I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the whole "magical prowess" thing.

Second trial. Complete.

(Chikyu Trivia: Chikyu thinks that the most overrated hero is Miruko, and firmly believes that the biggest attribute to her overwhelming popularity is horny people)