459 Opening Ceremonies (6)
In a flash of golden light, Cynrik replaced his battle dress with the sleek, tight-fitting golden uniform. With a tug, he then adjusted the sleeves and fingerless gloves before reaching up with both hands, pulling the uniform hood up to cover his head, and turning to face the curtain leading to the Arena.
‘Anyway, after throwing my attack, I sunk back into what I call the Shadow Realm, an alternate reality space that I have access to. And before you complain about me being reckless, my Ravens and I concealed our presence with multiple stealth skills and continuously jumped back and forth unseen.’ Sensing Headmaster Rivia walking up and standing beside him, Cynrik continued his explanation.
‘So unless someone present had a skill similar to the ocular skill Brance and I have, it should be impossible to catch sight of our proper appearance; this can also be applied to any surveillance cameras.’
With a controlled facial expression and exhalation through his nose, Geralt was astonished by Cynrik’s high-level analysis of the situation, his execution, and his calmness and enraged at being called only after the event.
‘Tell me more about these groups you saw.’ After partially calming down enough to think, Headmaster Rivia responded.
‘Military personnel, Government officials, criminals, you name it, and I saw it. There were different squads from each organization; however, I was paying more attention to their power level and the best way to kill them unseen, so I couldn’t get a read on who was from where.’
‘I did, however, keep their corpses and gubb…er, I mean possessions, so we should be able to identify their origin relatively easily when we reach a safe location.’ Correcting himself from saying gubbins as he was used to, Cynrik snorted and equipped his kodachis in their usual positions on his right hip and right shoulder.
‘Fuck, that’s troublesome. It seems some greedy bastards revealed their cards early. Luckily you noticed early enough that you could throw a wrench in their plans. Well, I say that, but I feel like you would have come out on top either way.’ A tired sigh escaped Geralt’s lips as he realized that Rimsfel and Garrison seemed to be flanking the team, one beside Selene and the other beside Kurza as if it were prearranged.
‘And those two? Why do I feel like they are following your orders? They didn’t even look at me and reacted like I see your faction do all the time.’
Cynrik fought back a chuckle, tilted his head toward Geralt, and reached over to pat his shoulder as if the man were an old friend.
‘Well, that, Headmaster, is because when push comes to shove, beta’s fall in line with the commands of their Alpha.’ Unfortunately, Geralt didn’t share even a speck of Cynrik’s sense of humor and angrily brushed off the young man’s hand before shooting him a glare.
‘Kidding; I am only kidding, Headmaster. Since I was the only one coming up with viable plans and could get everyone out of not one but three life-or-death situations, it makes sense that I would have gained the trust of at least Garrison.
‘But…apparently, in the case of Rimsfel, er, how do I say this…it seems he is convinced that Brance is some kind of HolySon, because of his HolyFire Affinity.’
In an instant, Geralt’s reaction changed from anger to confusion, so much so that he even turned to look back at Rimsfel, only to realize the guy was seemingly looking at Brance with stars in his eyes. Unsurprisingly, he was on Brance’s side of the formation.
‘Of for fucks sake, what the hell is going on. Why is my perception of reality radically altered whenever you and your brother are involved?’ Using an aggrieved tone and tilting his face toward the ceiling, Geralt complained.
‘Can’t help you there, Headmaster. If it makes you feel better, my Mom always said she gave up trying to guess the severity of the trouble I would find myself in due to my “rascal” nature after I blew up a toy as a kid. Anywho, in about two seconds, Old Man Saylin will be returning.’
‘Huh? How do you know that? Did he message you or something?’ Pulling his eyes away from the ceiling tile he had been staring blankly at, Geralt looked down at Cynrik only to find the boy tapping his head right beside his eye with his left index finger.
When Geralt examined Cynrik’s eyes in curiosity, he spotted several multi-colored specks of light floating around the young man’s iris, indicating he had his ocular skill active.
Just like Cynrik said, a moment later, yet another spatial tear opened up, and out stepped a horrified Saylin. Instead of waiting for Gabby to teather him to Cynrik with a Psychic connection, Saylin stepped right up to Cynrik, grabbed him by both shoulders, and got his face uncomfortably close to Cynrik’s.
“Boy, how in the fuck did you do what you did.” He asked without breaking eye contact with the younger man in a stunned tone.
But Cynrik didn’t answer immediately and stood there expressionless, waiting for Gabby to connect them. When he felt the strange sensation that resembled a tugging at his hair, only then did Cynrik meet Saylin’s eyes and flash a toothy grin under his hood.
‘Hehe, how bad was it, Old Man? I know my Umbral Tailed Beast Bomb is strong, but I was on the fence about how much damage it could cause to a Tier-5.’ In an unfazed yet slightly chaotically evil voice, Cynrik fought back the urge to laugh his ass off.
When he read Saylin’s body language, he knew his test had been a brilliant success.
‘Cut the shit Cynrik; whatever that skill you used is, the fact that it could put someone like Bentham in such a state is so unfathomable when you realize a Tier-3 existence used it. If anyone else knew you had such a skill, you would be hunted to the ends of Vinestra.’
‘Not only would multiple high-level organizations want to get their hands on it, but some of the evilest beings known to life would hunt you down if not for the opportunity to FORCE YOU INTO HANDING IT OVER!” By the time Saylin reached the end of his statement, he was screaming in fear and awe at what the young man had achieved.
‘Even if such an event occurred, it would be impossible for them to learn it. In addition to requiring an Umbra Affinity and Advanced Grade Fire Affinity, my UTTB requires several factors, such as the ability to split their attention into ten different “channels” to work in the hands of anyone besides myself.’
pA(nD)A no ve1 ‘Aside from the stiff and intrusive requirements held by the UTTB, the one I fired contained over 100k MP.’ In one motion, Cynrik thrust both arms upward, connecting with the soft spot behind Saylin’s elbows, and forcefully removed the man’s hands from his shoulders.
‘I have half a mind to publish my skill, if not to find people as crazy as me, then to find anyone with an Umbra Affinity to trade pointers.’ Cynrik said while tossing Saylin a smirk with his head tilted back.
‘Bullshit, no one can ever know about this skill Cynrik, Bentham is a notorious criminal, known for his cruelty and strength, yet at this moment in time, he has lost both his arms, and I found him with one foot half in the grave. Not even I could put him in such a state with a single attack.
“Hey, Kid, You’re up; get in there, and don’t freak out due to the flashing lights, music, and roaring audience sounds. We have a live feed broadcasting from several hundred Arenas around the continent, so it’s pretty noisy in there.”
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