'I read the flaw again. Fate recoil?
What kind of misfortune are we talking about, is it just slipping and falling now and again or any random day in my life could turn into an horror story'
Lost in my thoughts I failed to hear the gasps and murmuring that arose In the hall as they noticed my talent or the anger that had started to rise on Abigail's face.
Her eyes became sharper and the corners of her lips kept twitching
I continued with my thoughts process blissfully unaware of the storm raging in Abigail's mind... 'what even are flaws, what extent of damage could these mi...'
Before I could conclude my thoughts,I felt a hand grab my neck and my feet leave the ground. Abigail's face stared closely at my eyes with a look I could only describe as that of a grim reaper.
Her eyes seemed to flare with an energy I didn't understand
"Didn't you hear me, you fuckin lowlife"
I tried to open my mouth, to speak, to cry, to beg, or just to draw some air that had already become scarce in my lungs
All I achieved was to flail my limbs as I tried desperately to escape her grip with no end in sight.
I felt death approaching and I couldn't help but suspect 'is this the misfortune the ability spoke about, isn't it too early to die'
'I haven't even used the ability' I cried at the unfairness of it all.
'I haven't even lived a life.' with no power to fight back I turned to the only weapon no one can take from a man
I cursed it all
I cursed, I cursed Abigail, I cursed myself , I cursed the world, I cursed the school, I cursed the empire, I cursed the nobility, I cursed the system, I cursed my ability even though I didn't know if it played a role in my current predicament
Surprisingly at the door of death I didn't run out of things to curse but what could I do
'Darn it all!'
'Yes I have an EX talent and it's supposed to be a legendary feat, something that happens once In a blue moon but would that mean anything if I didn't live long enough to use it'
Something clicked inside me, an idea, a way out, a chance to escape... I had an EX talent I hadn't used
So I tried activating my talent
I felt a weird energy pass through my body, it originated from somewhere around my chest, or maybe my stomach, I couldn't be too sure as at this point even my thoughts were a blur.
With my novice expertise I directed this energy towards my neck that had been begging for a release. Any thorough expert who might witness this scene would laugh at the wasteful use and poor technique but I didn't care
It gave me a moment of relief where I drew in a quick breath which was just as quickly cut by her hands which tightened. Her jaws clenched so I can only guess she was angry that I dared to resist
Yes I had an EX rank talent, yes I had awakened but I sensed Abigail was still holding back on releasing her full strength and my knowledge on how to use my ability could only be described as pitiful
I didn't even know what my ability could do, the description was too vague, my mana also would not sustain it for long and I was left weaker than I should have been after emptying my mana reserves which was a miserable 1 point
'F*ck…, is this the supposed EX talent'
Looking down I noticed the two students in blue robes who brought the crystal ball trying to pull Abigail hand off me seeming to finally realized that I was in danger all this while but they would have had better luck if they wished the sun would turn ice cold
With us being in a hall full of students and in a school I imagined had very strong teachers I wondered why no one came to remedy the situation
My mind was already wondering if she'd really kill me in front of so many withnesses.
Is she's just bluffing?
... but something about her red empty eyes didn't let me question the validity of her threat
Her vise grip held firm.
"What?… can you finally hear me brat, I thought you were high and mighty"
'wait is she jealous?' a weird thought popped into my head
At this point I could have sworn she was a demon in human clothing, too bad this demon was not in hell, free to roam a world she didn't belong in.
This demon was staring right at me with a red eyes that only further emphasized her devilish beauty and the fatal nature of my predicament. Aside the two students behind her no other person attempted to help me even from the filled hall.
From the corner of my eyes I saw some nobles amongst the crowd smirking, enjoying the show. I tried to remember their face so I could get my revenge later, someday... if I survived this.
Yet at this point my vision was already blurry so I couldn't get a clear look at them, their smirks were magnified in my head, infact I saw same savage smiles on anyone my eye caught a glance of.
I shifted my sights from the crowd to the one person who holds my life in their hands... literally. I couldn't get a word out so I only hoped my eyes could communicate my silent plea.
So close to Abigail I could smell her perfume, maybe I would have appreciated her beauty if we were in any other situation. Would this be the last thing I smell before I...
Her anger only rose as if she realized I sniffed her, looking at me like I was a pervert and her grip tightened. This wasn't the darn flaw's fault, it was me signing my death certificate.
if there was any doubts before that she'd kill me without a second thought.... I let them go... The doubts, my hopes, dreams, my thoughts...there slipped away as my grasp of reality became more distorted
My eyes moved back to the crowd of students. The others in the hall were kids like me who were yet to awaken, they were all too scared to act, also I had feeling no one in here was willing to risk their lives for me.
'Aren't they any heroic fools' I cursed
I have been hanging like this for a while, my flailing hands had stopped, too weak to continue.
Her tight grip had cut the flow of blood from my heart to my brain. The absence of blood flow to my head was already making me too dizzy to form coherent thoughts.
In my final moments, I saw a rather blury silhouette walked calmly towards the stage. His steps screamed confidence but his catwalk prolonged my suffering.
A hand touched Abigail shoulder from behind her.
For a moment her eyes were dazed and then a look of realization flashed across her face as she blinked furiously
With that simple touch she let me go.
From my suspended state, I fell… hard!.
Finally escaping the breathless state but instead of catching my breath I was desperately crawling away from the mad girl who almost ended my existence. Only after putting sufficient distance between us did I finally catch my breath.
Coughing wildly.
"I've never seen anyone crawl so fast, you must really want to live"
I looked at the newly arrived man who seemed to have just appeared out of thin air, observing him closely, he was very tall, had blond hair, blue eyes and perfectly white teeth, he looked like the ideal main character of any novel. He wore a casual turtle neck green shirt and rather short pants. He was Master Green who I saw at the gate on entry.
His statement of me really wanting to live made me realize he was probably as crazy as Abigail.
He turned to Abigail
"Princess, how many time have I warned you to control your anger, you guiding this occasion is already punishment for your behavior the other day but you still haven't learnt"
Abigail head was lowered showing how sorry she was
In my mind I was overjoyed 'yes, punish her… wait did he just say princess'
then I remembered how close we had been a moment ago when she grabbed me by the neck and pulled me closer. My face gained a red hue, I had never been so close to a girl much less a princess
He turned to me sharply
"What are you thinking, scoundrel?" His eyes were not so kind anymore. He seemed angrier about the way I looked at the princess than about that she almost cut my fragile life short in front of all these witnesses. She gets a literal pat on her back and some words of caution while I get this.
'Would they have killed everyone to have no witnesses. Who knows what goes on in the minds of crazy people' I thought
With her being from the royal family, I'm sure there could silence everyone here
"Come with me" He didn't wait for a response, just started walking.
Noticing that Abigail was staring at me with calm eyes that I found creepy, I hurried after Master Green leaving the hall behind me. I felt some stares as I made my exit
After I left all attention shifted to the princess. Their expression were a mixture of fear and shock, murmuring echoed in the background.
Meanwhile I was busy following Mr Green, he didn't turn back once, just kept making sharp turns now and again believing that I was still following him.
At some point I spoke.
"Where are we going?"
He continued walking ignoring my question and just I thought we would only walk in silence
"You will probably become someone high up in society… you must forgive the princess, what she did is not her fault"
'Not her fault, not her fault, not her fault', I had so much anger in me but I didn't show it, it would be stupid showing animosity towards her with my position as a commoner
"She is my princess, my life belongs to her. I wouldn't dare hold anything against her" I lied blatantly
"You don't have to lie to me, I can tell you are very angry, my talent is related to emotions"
'So that's how he calmed the princess, since he already knows that I'm angry I might as well show it'
." What nonsense do you mean it's not her fault, if you had been a second slower, I would not be in this world"
" I doubt that, I presumed you could have survived at least a minute and 18 seconds more" said master Green as if that would make me feel better
Is he crazy or something. No! No! He's definitely crazy
Now I confirmed that all this while I was being strangled Green was probably somewhere in the hall watching for his amusement. I remembered how calmly he walked, not in any rush to save me.
"Abigail's flaw exposes her to unexpected moments of anger" he paused "she's a good kid once you get to know her"
"Yeah right, that is not happening…"
'flaw or no flaw I'm not going anywhere near that psycho bitch'
"by the way what are flaws" I subdued my anger trying to learn something from all this madness
He started walking again and just when I thought he wouldn't answer he opened his mouth to speak
"How do I put it" he scratched his head "Flaws are the universe way to…em…correct mistakes or rather… to correct abnormalities