There are moments when a sorcerer pushes their limit especially when in the face of death. Some minority of sorcerers awaken their fullest potential or get a better understanding of their potential which enables them to evolve their prowess. For instance, sorcerers with elemental prowess can evolve into a powerful elemental prowess such as wind manipulation into air manipulation or water manipulation to liquid manipulation which allows them to control more than water itself henceforth the name. This would be a good scenario except Rei fell unconscious due to burnout of mana waste while Rinka could barely stand due to the strain of pushing her limit. The mad theorist was about to finish them off until a familiar shade of blue aura appeared in front of them, the crystal-like spikes piercing through the theorist. Eunji wields a unique katana due to its build with sharp and unique features such as the texture of its handle and accessories.
"You two did well… Let me take care of this…" she muttered as she handed Rei to Rinka and the other sorcerer on duty while she went into her battle stance. Both hands holding firmly at her blade as she held it close while pointing the sharp end at the enemy, her left foot forward while the right foot ready to support her. "Forbidden Blade Art…" she whispered before seemingly disappearing from everyone's sight as the enemy had their left side mauled. "Mythical Crystal Fog" she reappeared behind them as she prepared for another assault while powering up.
"MOTHERFUCKER!!!" The Theorist cried out as they tried to counter or wound her back except the blood they spat out indicated its brutal technique. "Atomic Release: Dismantle" their desperate attempt is futile as the only thing they managed to hit was the floor which was brutally ravaged from something of a blade. "Forbidden Blade Art: Piercing Petals." She thrust her blade in such a quick and brutal manner as the only thing she left behind the aftermath was the multiple gaping hole on the back which made them fall onto their knees. "H-How?" They asked as Eunji prepared for another assault as she held her weapon firmly before chanting out their technique. "Crystal Formation: Hydra's Haul…" Her aura, as cold as the glacier, beauty that represents calmness and elegance, a power that's benevolent yet malevolent as she went to land the finishing blow.
A fury of mana forming multiple serpentine heads appeared from the crystal she marked on their chest as it continuously formed into a serpentine hydra with multiple heads before it ravaged onto the poor theorist now monsterised into what they were trying to get the result of an abomination of an experiment. Eunji watched the way they got mauled as blood splattered around, some limbs got thrashed around as if it was nothing while the rest were torn apart over and over again as the only thing that was left behind was somewhat a body with its head. Keith, who was watching the whole thing by observing from within Rei only grinned and smirked. Satisfied with the results as he uttered a single word.
"Good…"
Eunji felt like she was being watched even though Rinka and the other sorcerer were there with Rei's unconscious body. She couldn't help but be conscious of who was watching her, it was the same sensation she had felt when she was training or writing some reports. She put away those thoughts and feelings since she got more important matters to attend to as she helped Rinka and the other sorcerer carry Rei. Eunji felt a weird sense of déjà vu when using her prowess to stabilise his burn out condition, somehow she managed to get a glimpse of Keith's spiritual energy. Instead of the malevolent aura she was expecting, she had felt the benevolence of the ancient beings' power; wisdom and salvation is what she could describe despite what she knows of the ancient being that's supposed to be evil and disgraceful to sorcery itself. If she was comparing what divine sorcery was it would've been his that was sacred itself. She focused on making Rei stable as she started to feel less of Keith's spiritual energy the moment Rei's spiritual energy was on track to recover his reserves.
"E-Eunji-senpai?" He uttered before coughing as he stood straight while Rinka and the other were helping him. "W-What happened?" He asked while Rinka explained the events as he nodded on each statement. "That's a relief…" Rei expressed before he grunted in pain while getting up as Rinka and the other sorcerers were being careful when aiding him. "Time to put you in the infirmary…" Rinka said in a tone that he didn't expect to hear while Eunji only looked away as if she's scared upon hearing the word infirmary. What was scary from Eri that she had the two sorceresses looking guilty, fearful and dreadful?
His answer immediately got received in the form of an angry nurse with such aura that reeks out fear. Her glowing red eyes only made it worse while his seniors were just looking down in shame. "Are you fucking kidding me?! Of all the things you trained him for! You didn't warn him about the consequences for mana burn out?!" Her voice filled with rage and fury as the three of them shuddered. "Nevermind all that. I'm just glad y'all got it resolved in the end." Her statement made them all calm before she continued. "I need to get some samples from Rei's blood and mana…"Her sudden behaviour made the two sorceresses confused while Rei was curious on why his blood and spiritual energy was needed. "Why do you need his samples?" Eunji asked as she crossed her arms under her chest while her eyes flinched in annoyance when a certain ancient being manifested itself from Rei's cheek to which formed an eye as it stared at her chest before withdrawing back as Rei's cheek became normal.
"I need to run some tests since he's too lucky to survive like this…" Eri said before explaining, "The thing with being burned out with mana is that sorcerers may end up crippling themselves with an overloaded essence core which makes it crippled since the mana that may flow through it will not pass." Rei was shocked that he might've gotten himself crippled for it. "However with his situation I'm thinking of two or three possibilities on how he is normal compared to the others that have experienced being burned out with mana. First, It's that the essence core that doesn't exist in his body help him heal naturally with his own spiritual energy to keep him stable until any foreign mana enters his body which acts as a natural selection to recover his burn out by replacing each mana with the foreign one or a mixed one to fill out the empty reserves." That explanation made sense but Eunji needed to know more while the latter were already having a headache with Rinka's distaste for theories and long explanations as she expressed herself with a groan.
"Second, the fallen help him recover through the process with healing techniques that we never know or heard of… maybe techniques that are forbidden or written in history…" Eunji thought for a bit about her statement but didn't express herself as she remembered Keith only keeping him stable and not healing him from what she had experienced when trying to help Rei recover his burned out reserves.
"Third…" The room was filled with intensity and anticipation of Eri's statement. "He has an extra part that helps him heal or things that none of us have ever heard of." She said before pointing at the x-ray she got from Rei's previous assessment that showed his skeletal form, internal organs and mana layout that were missing his essence core due to his prowess in inheritance. What they noticed is the anomaly that was residing on the left side of his chest seemingly looking like a heart.
"This thing that I got on the scan last week got me confused since I've spent a lot of research on every organ, sorcerer biology and every creature that I ever encountered such as elves, werewolves, mutated genes… Rei's anomaly is the first thing that I have ever seen in my entire life…" Her statement put everyone on a chokehold as Eunji started to gather her thoughts on how to proceed with the current situation. She knew that Rei had potential but never about this anomaly that Eri had mentioned. "So, is this thing keeping Rei alive or what?" She asked as Eri only sighed which made their current situation both stressful and difficult to assess. "No clue yet but it's there for a reason that none of us or anyone would understand." Eri answered before she took a couple of pieces of equipment consisting of a syringe, cups, test kits and other items that Rei couldn't recognize except for the other two sorceresses that looked dreadful upon seeing it. "Good luck!" Rinka called as she immediately left the room with Eunji following as she gave him a thumbs up.
Rei could only gulp nervously as he watched the nurse look menacing as she fixed her medical gloves before holding up a syringe and a small bottle that he could assume to store his blood or anything related to him. "Wait… let me go to the bathroom-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Eri spared no mercy. Outside the infirmary, Eunji and Rinka closed their eyes as they gave their condolences to Rei who's currently screaming. "Let me guess. You didn't tell him about her. Didn't you…" Rinka looked at Eunji who just replied back with no shame. "Well… if he's making a reckless decision… might as well let him feel the wrath of the nurse and her craziness…" Rinka shuddered before she nodded at her response. "Fair point. You think he's gonna survive that?" She asked while Eunji answered with a nonchalant tone. "If he survived being a vessel then he definitely can survive that."
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Rei sat with his friends at the cafeteria for dinner as he ate weakly with shaking hands. "Well… We don't call her the white demonic nurse for no reason…" Erika said while looking guilty as if she failed a task to tell Rei about known facts of their school. Hinata could only pat him on the shoulder to reassure him while Haruki gave his condolences by offering him more food. "Take it. You deserve it!" He gave a thumbs up while Rei nodded as he continued to eat all the meals that were being offered to him. They definitely had to offer him lots of food since he had gave so much samples to Eri such as his blood, urine, semen which is surprising to him since he never needed to do that in his whole entire life, and lastly mana output which he did it by pouring out his spiritual energy into a specialised container.
"Thanks y'all…" Rei muttered as he was now energised as he ate the fifth plate of his meal. "Damn… You eat a lot…" Haruki commented as he looked impressed on how much he could eat. "Well… I worked out a lot as well before all this…" He stated as he finished his meal before moving on to the sixth and seventh plate which consisted of a lot of vegetables and meat along with rice. They all looked surprised before Hinata asked. "Really? Then that's impressive…" Rei nodded before finishing both plates as he was now full while Erika just handed him two full glasses of water. "I had to since I don't wanna rely on just using my prowess. And I needed some form of defense and offense despite not being able to copy a prowess in sight when there's trouble." His explanation gave inspiration to the three as they imagined how much it would improve their combat style and intellect if they were in a situation of being unable to use their prowess.
"That's a great idea." A nonchalant tone appeared behind Rei which the other three got started as they gave space to them. "But then most sorcerers nowadays are too ignorant to believe in physical combat when we have prowess to use which I found amusing and stupid to keep relying on one thing." Eunji said before she gestures for the three to relax. "It's nice to see you well, Rei. Compared to when I barely arrived at the scene, you were almost on Death's door if it weren't for Rinka, I and Keith's mana keeping you stable." Rei looked confused for a second before he responded. "Keith? He did?" He said in confusion before a mouth manifested on his cheek which started Haruki while Hinata looked in awe and Erika looked disgusted. "As if I'm dying because of my reckless vessel being a complete fucking idiot to throw themselves in danger itself." He sounded mad while Eunji scoffed. "So, what would you prefer for him to do? Just leave them to die?" Keith laughed before manifesting an eye which showed his golden yellow orbs along with its fox-like slit pupils. "I would like that although he could've done something better than that." Eunji and Rei looked confused while the others were just trying not to say something to disturb them. "Fucking dumbass. What I'm saying is don't just head into danger without a better plan than dying on the spot." Each word filled with a mocking tone as Rei felt disheartened while Eunji raised an eyebrow towards his statement as if she was trying to read him but couldn't.
The other three comforted Rei as Keith withdrew himself from the conversation while Eunji pinched the bridge of her nose, obviously stressed on the fact that Rei almost died then the situation that's happening for the past few weeks. It felt as if someone was testing their patience and limit since most of what she had encountered nowadays are a group of high ranked rogue sorcerers or a slightly higher ranked than what she can deal with especially when Rei and Keith appeared. She pushed those thoughts away as she told Rei about the current state of actions they needed to do before they all get a break since an important event is coming up for Kamigami Academy.
"After a couple of your statements to include in the report then signing some paperwork. You're good to go for a break although for the coming week there will be the sorcery tournament." Eunji said while Rei looked for the other for explanation. "Oh… it's like a one on one fighting match if that's basic enough for you. We focus on using every arsenal from what we learned then apply it in the tournament." Erika's explanation made Rei sighed. "Damn. Another fight again… At least it ain't a life threat-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Haruki chimed in. "The seniors or staff that aren't keen on having you are probably gonna try butchering the match by fixing them to make you fight people that you can't deal with. Ultimately… a natural occurrence of death and accident." The group sighed as Eunji got stressed out. "For fuck sake… I forgot about that… I have to tell the headmaster about it or else everyone's one for Rei… Why can't they understand that killing Rei is just unnecessary since the 'Fallen' will just go to another vessel but this time they'll be able to control it without restrictions…" Rei sighed along with his friends while Eunji waved at them as she left to do her own thing.
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Rei finally had a good rest for a couple of days after he gave his statement and signed paperwork to his senior before calling the day off. There was one thing he wanted to test before heading off to rest.
"If my aura is similar to mana waves here…" he muttered as he channeled his spiritual energy. "Then I should be able to learn a few tricks here and there…" His mana leaked out around him as it started to form a shape. It was close to shaping a claw when he reached out but it didn't work as he returned to his previous state.
He breathed heavily as he wiped his sweat. Thinking about all of the possibilities on what went wrong and how to improve from it. He started writing down on his old notebook that he kept ever since he first awakened his prowess. His lack of spiritual energy reserves to form what he wanted to do although it would be proven wrong after realising that he could hold up to two god-tier prowess such as Rinka's blood manipulation and David's barrier while amplifying on barrier while slightly increasing the base power for blood manipulation despite being his level slightly lower than Rinka. He went on to his second attempt of research after borrowing a couple of books from the library that specialises in prowess and spiritual energy ranging from practices and theories. He discovered something about himself since he's been using his spiritual energy instinctively before trying to process the output which is the reason why he felt so drained afterwards. Once he understood the fundamentals of his prowess again from previous usage and experiences, he decided to meditate once again like his first outing as an active sorcerer after that day of witnessing Eunji take a life from someone.
He tried to use that same method while meditating, he could feel his spiritual energy flowing throughout his body more smoothly than before. While in the middle of his meditation, he started to think about Sylvie's prowess from how much he had experienced it with her when she used it during the time he pretended to be a 'blank'. Then another thought came to mind as he remembered how beautiful Eunji's prowess is, from seeing the string to crystal and then the crystalised techniques. He was envious of them since he needed to rely on active ones to be able to make one himself. Crystals and strings started to form around him while the scenery was beginning to fade into greyscale along with some glowing time clocks and gears. The red aura he emitted started to form some blue hue while some turned into a slight hue of purple although most of what he had emitted are blue in colour.
He opened his eyes and saw the results. The crystals formed into a beautiful form while glowing a blue hue and some were in red hue, the same goes with the strings that were floating around him while some were connected to each crystals or manifested from the sides to connect from one other or just manifesting generally. What surprised him the most is when seeing the greyscale surroundings since he never tried using it nor tried copying it from her quietly before ever since he pretended to be powerless from her back then before revealing his actual status. He tried to touch the crystal and strings but it faded immediately as everything started to shatter as he felt the drawbacks. Sudden cramps, headaches and nausea hit him as he tried to recover himself from such consequences. "Fuck… How didn't I have a burn out there?" He muttered as he quickly went to drink a cup of water as he gulped it down in one go. He started to wonder where it went wrong but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt a weird sensation, he thought it was from his heart but it wasn't since something was beating somewhere else.
It was on the side of the x-ray he had seen from Eri's scans that she had done during his examination after the incident with the insane theorist. Each beat, becoming harder and harder yet he felt easy and lulling? It was a soothing sensation which he wanted to feel uncomfortable with yet he couldn't stop but be at ease when his reserves were being filled up from what he had exerted earlier. This strange anomaly in his body somehow felt easing and tranquil from what he had experienced in his entire life. If this anomaly was with him from the beginning then why haven't it showed itself before when he was out of reserves during his middle school year nor during his first signs of inheriting his prowess? It was a mystery yet he can't find any answers to himself as he wondered if it's related to being born from a unique parents that consisted of a 'blank' and a god-tier user. Although that theory would be out the window after discovering more cases about late-bloomers with the same thing as him except for the anomaly. Was Keith the reason for its anomaly ever since he first incarnated? He will never know the answer since if he tried asking him, then most replies would either be sarcastic, that's both a yes or a no… Maybe a hint, a half ass statement.
"Fuck…" he groaned as he suddenly started to have a headache. "Maybe I should stop overthinking about it then just try each method now to maintain what I've achieved…"
He noted down what he wanted to test ever since he discovered a new part of his prowess. The manifestation of the prowess and techniques he had witnessed was a part of how he had unveiled what he just did. His thoughts went on to try another method to control that new aspect. Instead of trying out a high-tier or god-tier prowess, he instead tried low-tier or mid-tier ones as he managed to manifest Erika's water manipulation and Hinata's wind control. He noticed the output being unstable from how it was slightly decaying itself slowly while still being able to control it. The wind dissipated while the water evaporated as he noticed his control diminishing quickly the moment he couldn't hold on anymore. His other theory he made before going to execute the method proved him right with the anomaly. It only worked whenever he's in a critical condition whether it was a near death experience or a massive burnout from mana reserves although it didn't summarise how he had developed such a high pain tolerance since his passive is to sense any active or inactive prowess while having the slight benefits of being able to get a reading of one's level of their prowess.
He soon felt the same soothing and sensational feeling as his mana reserves were starting to be filled again from the burnout although he wasn't sure why the output pushed him so much until he realised something about himself. He was only able to use others' prowess through his mimicry technique and understanding of the prowess itself. That could be the reason why he was not able to copy such complex and difficult prowess or barely able to copy a level higher than his due to the amount of mana reserves and output he has to consider within his level. Now with no prowess to copy and yet able to mimic one through remembering how it worked is what confirmed his thoughts after the countless trials and errors along with the anomaly that benefited his recovery process. He was sure that he needed more understanding of one's prowess to be able to mimic it properly while being able to use its power and control.
The anomaly within him only grew more soothing and calmer. It was strange yet a good thing that it helped him through such experiences such as burnouts and near death ones. Anomalies are something he still needed to look out for since its origins and usage are still unknown. From an unknown perspective, if it showed good results then it's a matter of time until people start abusing it to gain benefits. However, if it shows negative results then it's a matter of time when people start exterminating it or trying to perfect it til it all falls down.
Which is the same exact reason why Rei is both comfortable and uncomfortable with it.
The fact is that he will never know how it would benefit him or hurt him.
An anomaly of a kind.