(AN: Unedited)
Exactly when the ceiling of the academy's coliseum had exploded, I, who had collided against a wall after being kicked at my chest by Vinny, was nearly buried under the rubble.
But the humongous hand above, that was controlling my body, moved down as if to crush me, as Isha zoomed towards me to protect me before the debris piled up over us, and my vision was dyed in darkness.
With a blink, I regained my sight and noticed that the humongous hand that controlled my body was protecting us, with the palm placed in a tomb like manner, as Isha who had zoomed towards me to protect me, laid beneath me with a small smile on her face.
"Hi." She said, with a cute, innocent smile on her face. I was on top of her, supporting myself with my arms and legs, making sure I wasn't falling on her, the thought of her being stronger than the current me didn't flash in my mind for a brief second, as I continued to "protect" her from being buried under the hard debris.
Realizing that both of us were being protected by the palm, and that she was far stronger than me, I slumped on top of her with a sigh before biting her nose,
"Ack.... What was that for?" Isha grumbled in a whisper, as I noticed few smudges of blood on her nose, where I bit her, and realised that the blood I had coughed out earlier was still there, so licking the corners of my lips with my wet tongue, I thought of spitting it out aside, but due the space between was small, I swallowed it, though I could feel the dust on my tongue, it wasn't like I hadn't eaten anything mudded before, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
"You are supposed to be the one protecting me." I whispered back, as I thought of putting back the broadswords in my hands into my inventory and the swords dematerialised, complying to my will.
"It's useless to do that when I know that you would instinctively try to protect me, so if I'm beneath you, you would try to do something so that I wouldn't get hurt while you still have the strength to face off against the unprecedented situations that you assume that will follow after." Isha explained in a whisper. Happy that she understood well enough about me, I hugged her after a brief struggle, I felt our weights on my forearms and knuckles, they hurt, but her warmth made it worth the pain.
"Not that I don't want to stay like this, but shouldn't we get out?" Isha asked as she played with my hair, these are the small gestures that make everything worth it.
"Haaa...." I sighed in her neck after inhaling her scent, deeply, which prompted a soft giggle from Isha.
"I have to, something is happening outside and a lot of strong monsters are spawning, I can level up a lot and try to reach the max level, so that the seals are lifted off." I mumbled lazily, though I hear enough reasons to get out and fight, gain exp, and level up, I didn't want to get off from the position I was in right now.
At that affirmation, thoughts about "me," disappeared, as the thoughts about my original self began to fill my mind, the thoughts of what he had gone through just to experience what I was experiencing again, no, that was too far fetched, he didn't even want to experience what I was experiencing, he would have been content with just being near her, and I was sure of that.
A person, who experienced every "ugly" thing the world and the gods had to offer just to be with the person he lived once again, not for a while lifetime, but just for a while, only to find out that his past, future, and present was being lived by another person with his loved one. Just the thought of the roles reversing made my soul shudder, and I, who was the "another person," wasn't even cherishing the moment I could have, taking advantage of my original self's efforts while also taking Isha for granted..... I don't want to say granted, but I couldn't really find another appropriate word.
"I love you." I mumbled out what I had in mind.
"I love you too." Isha said in a heartbeat, as I felt her heartbeat skip a beat before beginning to beat violently.
"Oi, do not listen to what I'm about to say to Isha." I said to my original self, whom I assumed to be hearing and seeing everything.
'Alright, only for this once.' And received a confirmation from him, second later.
"Isha, I....."
*
I continued to hug Isha, as I ignored Tchort's rambles, since I had received my original self's knowledge about Charlie, I wasn't curious about his dragonoid form or things accordingly.
[The "neutral" are revolting.]
.....
.....
[According to the will of the creator.]
"This.....seems familiar....." I mumbled in a whisper, with a frown, gazing at the series of system notifications. I had a deja vu when I saw the series of notification, but I couldn't really remember how I know about them.
"That's the final setting or so Eunomia says. What will happen now?" Isha asked in a whisper.
"Nothing much. I'll level up, reach max level, undo the seals on myself, and hunt down the gods." I replied, and rose back up with the intention to get out of here, because I will have to do the "necessary" things now.
BOOOMMM-!!!
With the loud boom, the debris that the palm guarded us from drifted slightly, making it slightly easier for me to lift it off. I hid my presence, I hadn't covered myself in mana to hide my presence, but I had erased the presence of my physical self, which was the new "enlightenment" I gained recently.
My mind dazed whenever the marionette took control, but now that I was conscious of its existence, I could feel that it was abiding by my will, meaning I had to the ability to "control" my own body and exert far more terrifying outburst than I had previously,
And with an abrupt flash of realization,
'25%' I muttered in my mind, controlling and manipulating my stats, but to no avail.
'As I thought.... The marionette title is my stat control technique, but far more efficient and refined than my crude way....' I thought but still frowned, when I used stat control, I controlled my stats, not my body, even though the stats are related to my body, I don't like how a mere skill or a title was able to control my actions.
'I gave up on my mana because it felt like somebody else was controlling my fate, now it's my body.....' I muttered with a sigh, inwardly.
Lifting off the debris, whose sounds merged with the other sounds of the similarly falling debris, understanding that I hadn't been discovered, I walked towards Tchort, whose back as facing me.
'Shotgun.' I commanded and the mechanical prosthetic seeming forearm turned visible, subtly liquidized as it squirmed on my forearm before a finger sized barrel and muzzle materialized from the liquidized prosthetic.
Though the barrel and the muzzle seemed smaller than required, the power packed was stronger than how they were when used separately.
"It seems like you have nothing more to show." Tchort's mumble sounded as he began to slam Charlie's body back and forth mercilessly, even though I was walking towards him, neither did he nor did Grace, Neal, Reynolds, and another woman notice me, even though the latter were looking at his direction.
"How-" Tchort mumbled as I placed the "shotgun's" muzzle on his back, exactly where he had his beating vampire heart.
"Boring." I whispered in Tchort's ear, and
"Burst." I mumbled, using my shotgun's ability, due to which Tchort's bloody feel on the ground with a head-sized gaping hole in his abdomen. Since I knew he wouldn't die just from that,
'AR, handguns, pistol, machine gun.' I muttered inwardly, as five more barrels and muzzles materialized around my forearm. Though I tried my best, I couldn't hold back the urge, and
"Happy Diwali." I mumbled and tonnes and tonnes of aether bullets were fired, making hundreds of holes in Tchort's slumped down body.
Gathering very last bit of my miniature aether reservoir, I concentrated it on my right leg, which I raised before stepping on Tchort's head.
"An Elephant's Stampede." I mumbled and with an unbelievable amount pressure surrounding my leg, I crushed Tchort's head together with my foot.
CRACK-!!
'I should get stronger before I use it again, I can't believe even my own feet got crushed due to the pressure that bore over my leg.' I muttered inwardly, but before the pain receptors signalled my brain, my leg had already healed.
"You shouldn't do things like that against old acquaintance, hehehe~" Tchort's sinister voice resounded throughout his domain, though I knew that he was nearly impossible to defeat in his own domain, I didn't shy away from a life and death battle, and as Tchort had said previously, I like my matches gory and challenging, and even more so, in a situation like this, where I am weaker than them, while they are overwhelmingly powerful than me.
"Don't die on me so easily." Tchort and I mumbled in unison as the former zoomed at me after materializing out of thin air.
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