As Yusuke and Misaka battled the red wizard, Clyde selected the Book of Dark Magic from the menu. He had a few others and plenty of extra time.
[Would you like to use Blood Ki to unlock this magic book? Warning, using this Ki poses a risk to your judgment of good and evil or cautiousness. However, you are just inserting a small amount.]
Clyde selected yes. He didn't come all this way just to make a last-minute second-guess. The book shook and burst into knife-shaped particles. They rained on him like needles, plunging into his aura and he just knew.
[Congratulations, you have learned Unknown tier skill: Summon Evil Goddess level 1. Type: evil, dark, deity. Class: *dark epic. Unlock the chains of an ancient dark goddess, binding her to your soul, and forming the contract of familiar and master. To activate this skill, you must first channel stray blood Ki, as you lack any dark affinity whatsoever.]
[Warning. The use of the skill and what could result from it may be detrimental. Maybe there was a reason why the magic book had a blood Ki lock, baka?]
Clyde's blank stare said it all. No. He had to look at it from another angle. This creature would be a familiar with no summon limit…oh who the fuck was he kidding. All he needed now was someone to say,
"What could possibly go wrong?"
He turned to glare at Alice, playing a video clip, Tear hovering over her.
"What?" she said. "Tear was showing me something."
Clyde gave her a skeptical look. She smiled innocently.
"They'll be fine. Now you go back to pulling out random things from your magical dimensional space without explaining anything to we who are not worthy," Tear said.
The young man sighed, then pulled out the book of Blue Ki.
"I'm just using these magic books," Clyde said, casually waving something that had Tear's eyes wide. "Well, this one's actually a Ki book."
"Do you have any idea how much magic books are worth? And Ki books are nearly impossible to find. Where did you get that? And you said books. How many do you have?"
"Tear…" Harumi said.
"What?" Tear said, calming down.
"Why did you say that in front of Airi," Harumi said.
Clyde's glare shifted to a Toru-approved blank.
"She's behind me, isn't she?"
"Her group was patrolling in this area," Harumi said as she calmly walked over to her starry-eyed friend. Airi's aura covered the entire block.
Clyde warped the Ki book back to his inventory. This is why he did everything in private. The red wizard's protest saved him from having to deal with the super druid.
[Your party has entered combat!]
"A magic book! With that, we could produce the funds to save this nation," the red wizard said. "You there, let me talk—"
Misaka took advantage of that opportunity, grabbing his arm, twisting and slamming down the wizard in a spectacular maneuver. Damn! Don't underestimate quiet girls with glasses.
"Good work Misaka. Here come the androids," Clyde said.
"This is too easy," Yusuke said. "I don't like this."
Airi, Kitome in magical girl form, and Ruri was the team in charge of patrolling the area—Clyde ticked that note in his head. They canceled their trip to the palace halfway along the way since the lolis were already in that area.
"Let me go," the red wizard said through clenched teeth. Misaka seemed to intensify the pain, causing him to grunt. Clyde sensed just a faint source of power emitting from her hands…that wasn't magic. Phoenix fire? Quite the interesting topic for a later conversation. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com <a href="https://www.webnovel.com">www.webnovel.com</a> for visiting.
Instead of three androids coming to retrieve the wizard, only one appeared and judging by the tension in the air, he wasn't the only one to sense that something was off.
"Thank you for your assistance," the "android" said. "I will be taking this one off your hands."
"Hold it right there," Kitome said. "You're no fucking android. And they'd rather shut down than thank us."
The not-android grinned, aimed a hand at Kitome, unleashing a fast-moving beam of red magic. A translucent-blue bubble briefly surrounded the magical girl as she strode toward the stunned woman. Kitome laid her out with a single punch. Non-magical brute force. Of course. She was one of the few members of the party, completely oblivious and unperturbed by Chika's anger aura a couple of months back.
"We don't want to hear your story," Clyde said to the red wizard. "The person you've got watching us in the hotel is going to tell us, anyway."
"You're fighting… on the wrong …side," the woman said. Blood drizzled from her nose. Her eyes were already swelling. One hell of a punch to the face, Clyde thought. Ha!
"That's what they all say," Clyde said. "It starts with an ideology and belief. Did you not stop to ever think that the androids you guys constantly destroy are actually alive? The core within generates—"
"That's nonsense!" the red wizard interrupted. "They're machines. And a waste of taxpayer money. Badly needed money—most of the surrounding provinces are lacking in any kind of development."
Clyde sighed.
"Here comes the real androids, ready to arrest you for destruction of property, causing a disturbance, use of violence and all of that other good stuff. But…." Clyde held up a finger, eyeing the man in a way that seemed sympathetic.. The wizard gazed at him intensely, waiting for his next words, breath probably held. "Do you have any good shopping recommendations?"
With hope drained from his eyes, the wizard laid his head back down. The young man silently chuckled. He always wanted to try the anti-climatic question.
"We could go shop for meat," Ruri said, skittering to Clyde, snuggling into him. Her tail wagged cheerfully. Alice barged in between them.
"Watch it," she warned. "I'll hang you upside-down on a tree by the tail."
"You can try," Ruri said, grinning evilly. The young man somehow felt an electrical tension between the two.
The real androids thankfully arrived. Like usual, they wordlessly cuff the intruders with anti-magic handcuffs and hauled them away toward hovering police cars.
"I hope we're close to cleaning these fuckers up," Clyde said.
"I need a drink," Airi said. "And answers to my questions."
"Let's go back to the hotel for now," Clyde said. "We'll call it a day. I agree with Yusuke. This is too easy."
"And when it's too easy, something else is happening in the background," Kitome said. "Go figure." She folded her arms.
Clyde's phone rang.
"I swear, if this is Asu…" he paused, surprised that Natalia dialed him up. The only people she called were Alice and Tear. He lightly tapped the green accept button display on his phone. Kitome made an offhanded comment about the strange model that he used.
"Natalia, what's up? This is definitely a surprise."
"Onii-chan, I have something to tell you," Natalia said, her voice uneasy.
"Go ahead," Clyde replied.
Natalia explained her encounter, which froze the young man's blood. And then she revealed her intentions.
"She won't attack us anymore," the loli continued. "I've planted…a seed of hope and doubt to backfire on her master. I've also cast a series of hidden spells that will lead her to being an asset…Well, if I'm being honest, a tool for Team Stone. Okay, a tool for me. I'm sorry I did this without your consent."
"Don't worry about it. Just meet us back at the hotel," Clyde said. "I'm going to need some time to process that."
"You really shouldn't underestimate us," the terrorist woman said over her shoulder, then laughed. One of the androids smacked her. "Ow, that hurt, you bucket of bolts. We're only scouts and barely trained grunts. You haven't met the real deal yet. You'll pay for messing with us—ow!"
"Shut up," the android police snapped as she removed her hand. "Impersonating an officer of the law will add more niceties to your punishment, criminal scum."
Clyde gave the officer a thumbs up. He stood, allowing Natalia's words to soak in once more. Just who was Dire? Who did she work for? Her appearance felt so random, then she left with a carefree smile on her face, although one would have to be cruel or dumb to not see the unstableness deep within that blue-eyed gaze. She eliminated an elder dragon with just one attack.
Even though she didn't attack today, Clyde wasn't sure if leaving someone so dangerous to roam about was a good idea. Natalia no doubt knew after facing her at full strength. The young man shuddered. Whatever spells the evil loli-witch did without getting noticed must be goddess-tier shit. Maybe more powerful. She didn't try to hide what she did. Wait a fucking minute.
Natalia didn't have healing powers. His eyes widened. Naoko and Nina were a part of her group—team brats. That meant even the ancient entity, who should've ruthlessly attacked and killed Dire, believed in the witch's plan. He silently shuddered again.
Whoever turned out to be Dire's master was sure as shit going to have a rude awakening.
**
A City in Alon…
Terrance finished his epic massage, causing a woman to let out an orgasmic sigh of relief.
"The cleansing massage is done. The spirit that terrorize you shall never be a problem again. And for being such a good customer, I'm going to cut you a break. Fifty percent off. So instead of two thousand dollars like I first proposed, it will only be one."
The blonde woman smiled widely, eagerly handing over the money.
"Thank you so much!"
After she left the dark man's shop, Terrance counted the money again before tossing half of it into his heavily armored safe. Life was just too easy, reeling in those superstitious suckers. He solved their issues with logic, mundane methods and made bank from it. What morons. There was no such thing as ghosts, ghouls, and fairies.
That crazy old man who kept telling Terrance that he awoke special abilities was a known nutcase. Mediums on TV used the Forer Effect to trick saps into believing in their slimy words. All they have to do is act out the dramatics. Cash! Astrology capturing the minds of the gullible. Terrance couldn't let those con artists hog all the money.
As he took a piss in the small, paying-customers only bathroom, the man pondered on his next big scheme. Something to haul in enough money to get him into a decent house.
The TV in his main room flipped to some breaking news. Apparently the biggest con artists of all time, Team Stone, were stopping the terrorist problem in the capital city. Yeah right. They were probably getting paid behind the scenes to look like heroes. Where were they when a Cyclone-storm wreaked havoc on the entire nation, knocking out power, killing thousands, and leaving thousands more homeless? There wasn't talk of humanitarian work from them. And the shitty media hid the mythical monster attacks, which were just thugs dressed up in stupid costumes, looting and killing people in gruesome ways.
The terrorists in the capital city were only like two percent correct about the Alonian economy. The rest of their claims were simply ideologic bullshit. The cities were just fine. The mayors chose to stick to modern technology to save on costs. Most of the qualified people capable of handling advance technology and the mystical quantum core bullshit—Terrance sure as shit didn't believe in magic—lived in the capital city.
Some people tried too damn hard to deny reality, manipulating the masses. Those people pissed the man off more than anything.
When he closed up the shop for the day, Terrance hopped onto his motorcycle, preparing to speed off when someone stepped into view.
"Ah, I thought I felt a strong presence somewhere," a man with…freakishly glowing purple eyes said. Long black hair, a ridiculous black cloak, with a white shirt. He even had a sword sheathed on his back.
"Great, another edge lord cosplayer," Terrance said, annoyed. "Look, I keep telling you people that there is no such thing as magic, powers, whatever. You're not special, you're just some dude. Get back to reality already, fuck."
He was about to kick the stand and drive off when the man…simply appeared right in front of him. Terrance yelped, falling backward.
"What in the fuck… I must be tired and seeing shit," Terrance said.
The purple-eyed man chuckled.
"The only one that strayed from reality is you. So Terrance, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Aunder and I've got an offer for you."
"Fuck off man, I'm not taking any shit from some Fantasy-Wars reject," Terrance said. "And I certainly don't swing that way."
Aunder laughed.
"My student made me these things called business cards. Here, take it. When you're ready to be brought back into reality and to aim for something much greater than yourself and the pathetic world you're disgusted with, call that number." Aunder showed off a smartphone. "She even followed my orders and got me a phone."
Aunder turned around and literally vanished, leaving Terrance sitting there with widened eyes, heart pounding.
"What the fuck was that," he said softly. "What the fuck…I need to get the fuck out of here."
He rushed to his motorcycle, speeding off with the hope of drinking away this encounter. What Terrance didn't do was throw away the business card…
As Yusuke and Misaka battled the red wizard, Clyde selected the Book of Dark Magic from the menu. He had a few others and plenty of extra time.
[Would you like to use Blood Ki to unlock this magic book? Warning, using this Ki poses a risk to your judgment of good and evil or cautiousness. However, you are just inserting a small amount.]
Clyde selected yes. He didn't come all this way just to make a last-minute second-guess. The book shook and burst into knife-shaped particles. They rained on him like needles, plunging into his aura and he just knew.
[Congratulations, you have learned Unknown tier skill: Summon Evil Goddess level 1. Type: evil, dark, deity. Class: *dark epic. Unlock the chains of an ancient dark goddess, binding her to your soul, and forming the contract of familiar and master. To activate this skill, you must first channel stray blood Ki, as you lack any dark affinity whatsoever.]
[Warning. The use of the skill and what could result from it may be detrimental. Maybe there was a reason why the magic book had a blood Ki lock, baka?]
Clyde's blank stare said it all. No. He had to look at it from another angle. This creature would be a familiar with no summon limit…oh who the fuck was he kidding. All he needed now was someone to say,
"What could possibly go wrong?"
He turned to glare at Alice, playing a video clip, Tear hovering over her.
"What?" she said. "Tear was showing me something."
Clyde gave her a skeptical look. She smiled innocently.
"They'll be fine. Now you go back to pulling out random things from your magical dimensional space without explaining anything to we who are not worthy," Tear said.
The young man sighed, then pulled out the book of Blue Ki.
"I'm just using these magic books," Clyde said, casually waving something that had Tear's eyes wide. "Well, this one's actually a Ki book."
"Do you have any idea how much magic books are worth? And Ki books are nearly impossible to find. Where did you get that? And you said books. How many do you have?"
"Tear…" Harumi said.
"What?" Tear said, calming down.
"Why did you say that in front of Airi," Harumi said.
Clyde's glare shifted to a Toru-approved blank.
"She's behind me, isn't she?"
"Her group was patrolling in this area," Harumi said as she calmly walked over to her starry-eyed friend. Airi's aura covered the entire block.
Clyde warped the Ki book back to his inventory. This is why he did everything in private. The red wizard's protest saved him from having to deal with the super druid.
[Your party has entered combat!]
"A magic book! With that, we could produce the funds to save this nation," the red wizard said. "You there, let me talk—"
Misaka took advantage of that opportunity, grabbing his arm, twisting and slamming down the wizard in a spectacular maneuver. Damn! Don't underestimate quiet girls with glasses.
"Good work Misaka. Here come the androids," Clyde said.
"This is too easy," Yusuke said. "I don't like this."
Airi, Kitome in magical girl form, and Ruri was the team in charge of patrolling the area—Clyde ticked that note in his head. They canceled their trip to the palace halfway along the way since the lolis were already in that area.
"Let me go," the red wizard said through clenched teeth. Misaka seemed to intensify the pain, causing him to grunt. Clyde sensed just a faint source of power emitting from her hands…that wasn't magic. Phoenix fire? Quite the interesting topic for a later conversation. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com <a href="https://www.webnovel.com">www.webnovel.com</a> for visiting.
Instead of three androids coming to retrieve the wizard, only one appeared and judging by the tension in the air, he wasn't the only one to sense that something was off.
"Thank you for your assistance," the "android" said. "I will be taking this one off your hands."
"Hold it right there," Kitome said. "You're no fucking android. And they'd rather shut down than thank us."
The not-android grinned, aimed a hand at Kitome, unleashing a fast-moving beam of red magic. A translucent-blue bubble briefly surrounded the magical girl as she strode toward the stunned woman. Kitome laid her out with a single punch. Non-magical brute force. Of course. She was one of the few members of the party, completely oblivious and unperturbed by Chika's anger aura a couple of months back.
"We don't want to hear your story," Clyde said to the red wizard. "The person you've got watching us in the hotel is going to tell us, anyway."
"You're fighting… on the wrong …side," the woman said. Blood drizzled from her nose. Her eyes were already swelling. One hell of a punch to the face, Clyde thought. Ha!
"That's what they all say," Clyde said. "It starts with an ideology and belief. Did you not stop to ever think that the androids you guys constantly destroy are actually alive? The core within generates—"
"That's nonsense!" the red wizard interrupted. "They're machines. And a waste of taxpayer money. Badly needed money—most of the surrounding provinces are lacking in any kind of development."
Clyde sighed.
"Here comes the real androids, ready to arrest you for destruction of property, causing a disturbance, use of violence and all of that other good stuff. But…." Clyde held up a finger, eyeing the man in a way that seemed sympathetic.. The wizard gazed at him intensely, waiting for his next words, breath probably held. "Do you have any good shopping recommendations?"
With hope drained from his eyes, the wizard laid his head back down. The young man silently chuckled. He always wanted to try the anti-climatic question.
"We could go shop for meat," Ruri said, skittering to Clyde, snuggling into him. Her tail wagged cheerfully. Alice barged in between them.
"Watch it," she warned. "I'll hang you upside-down on a tree by the tail."
"You can try," Ruri said, grinning evilly. The young man somehow felt an electrical tension between the two.
The real androids thankfully arrived. Like usual, they wordlessly cuff the intruders with anti-magic handcuffs and hauled them away toward hovering police cars.
"I hope we're close to cleaning these fuckers up," Clyde said.
"I need a drink," Airi said. "And answers to my questions."
"Let's go back to the hotel for now," Clyde said. "We'll call it a day. I agree with Yusuke. This is too easy."
"And when it's too easy, something else is happening in the background," Kitome said. "Go figure." She folded her arms.
Clyde's phone rang.
"I swear, if this is Asu…" he paused, surprised that Natalia dialed him up. The only people she called were Alice and Tear. He lightly tapped the green accept button display on his phone. Kitome made an offhanded comment about the strange model that he used.
"Natalia, what's up? This is definitely a surprise."
"Onii-chan, I have something to tell you," Natalia said, her voice uneasy.
"Go ahead," Clyde replied.
Natalia explained her encounter, which froze the young man's blood. And then she revealed her intentions.
"She won't attack us anymore," the loli continued. "I've planted…a seed of hope and doubt to backfire on her master. I've also cast a series of hidden spells that will lead her to being an asset…Well, if I'm being honest, a tool for Team Stone. Okay, a tool for me. I'm sorry I did this without your consent."
"Don't worry about it. Just meet us back at the hotel," Clyde said. "I'm going to need some time to process that."
"You really shouldn't underestimate us," the terrorist woman said over her shoulder, then laughed. One of the androids smacked her. "Ow, that hurt, you bucket of bolts. We're only scouts and barely trained grunts. You haven't met the real deal yet. You'll pay for messing with us—ow!"
"Shut up," the android police snapped as she removed her hand. "Impersonating an officer of the law will add more niceties to your punishment, criminal scum."
Clyde gave the officer a thumbs up. He stood, allowing Natalia's words to soak in once more. Just who was Dire? Who did she work for? Her appearance felt so random, then she left with a carefree smile on her face, although one would have to be cruel or dumb to not see the unstableness deep within that blue-eyed gaze. She eliminated an elder dragon with just one attack.
Even though she didn't attack today, Clyde wasn't sure if leaving someone so dangerous to roam about was a good idea. Natalia no doubt knew after facing her at full strength. The young man shuddered. Whatever spells the evil loli-witch did without getting noticed must be goddess-tier shit. Maybe more powerful. She didn't try to hide what she did. Wait a fucking minute.
Natalia didn't have healing powers. His eyes widened. Naoko and Nina were a part of her group—team brats. That meant even the ancient entity, who should've ruthlessly attacked and killed Dire, believed in the witch's plan. He silently shuddered again.
Whoever turned out to be Dire's master was sure as shit going to have a rude awakening.
**
A City in Alon…
Terrance finished his epic massage, causing a woman to let out an orgasmic sigh of relief.
"The cleansing massage is done. The spirit that terrorize you shall never be a problem again. And for being such a good customer, I'm going to cut you a break. Fifty percent off. So instead of two thousand dollars like I first proposed, it will only be one."
The blonde woman smiled widely, eagerly handing over the money.
"Thank you so much!"
After she left the dark man's shop, Terrance counted the money again before tossing half of it into his heavily armored safe. Life was just too easy, reeling in those superstitious suckers. He solved their issues with logic, mundane methods and made bank from it. What morons. There was no such thing as ghosts, ghouls, and fairies.
That crazy old man who kept telling Terrance that he awoke special abilities was a known nutcase. Mediums on TV used the Forer Effect to trick saps into believing in their slimy words. All they have to do is act out the dramatics. Cash! Astrology capturing the minds of the gullible. Terrance couldn't let those con artists hog all the money.
As he took a piss in the small, paying-customers only bathroom, the man pondered on his next big scheme. Something to haul in enough money to get him into a decent house.
The TV in his main room flipped to some breaking news. Apparently the biggest con artists of all time, Team Stone, were stopping the terrorist problem in the capital city. Yeah right. They were probably getting paid behind the scenes to look like heroes. Where were they when a Cyclone-storm wreaked havoc on the entire nation, knocking out power, killing thousands, and leaving thousands more homeless? There wasn't talk of humanitarian work from them. And the shitty media hid the mythical monster attacks, which were just thugs dressed up in stupid costumes, looting and killing people in gruesome ways.
The terrorists in the capital city were only like two percent correct about the Alonian economy. The rest of their claims were simply ideologic bullshit. The cities were just fine. The mayors chose to stick to modern technology to save on costs. Most of the qualified people capable of handling advance technology and the mystical quantum core bullshit—Terrance sure as shit didn't believe in magic—lived in the capital city.
Some people tried too damn hard to deny reality, manipulating the masses. Those people pissed the man off more than anything.
When he closed up the shop for the day, Terrance hopped onto his motorcycle, preparing to speed off when someone stepped into view.
"Ah, I thought I felt a strong presence somewhere," a man with…freakishly glowing purple eyes said. Long black hair, a ridiculous black cloak, with a white shirt. He even had a sword sheathed on his back.
"Great, another edge lord cosplayer," Terrance said, annoyed. "Look, I keep telling you people that there is no such thing as magic, powers, whatever. You're not special, you're just some dude. Get back to reality already, fuck."
He was about to kick the stand and drive off when the man…simply appeared right in front of him. Terrance yelped, falling backward.
"What in the fuck… I must be tired and seeing shit," Terrance said.
The purple-eyed man chuckled.
"The only one that strayed from reality is you. So Terrance, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Aunder and I've got an offer for you."
"Fuck off man, I'm not taking any shit from some Fantasy-Wars reject," Terrance said. "And I certainly don't swing that way."
Aunder laughed.
"My student made me these things called business cards. Here, take it. When you're ready to be brought back into reality and to aim for something much greater than yourself and the pathetic world you're disgusted with, call that number." Aunder showed off a smartphone. "She even followed my orders and got me a phone."
Aunder turned around and literally vanished, leaving Terrance sitting there with widened eyes, heart pounding.
"What the fuck was that," he said softly. "What the fuck…I need to get the fuck out of here."
He rushed to his motorcycle, speeding off with the hope of drinking away this encounter. What Terrance didn't do was throw away the business card…
