I leaned against the railing of Norphie's underground training hall watching Naelle and Iserra spar. Their movements were precise and wild at the same time, using basic martial arts. They had been at it for thirty minutes. I hadn't said a word. Just watched and thought.
It's been… what, almost five months since I came to Altera Earth on Valentine's Day?
It feels longer.
Back then, I could barely understand how Flux worked here. Everything was foreign. The air, the frequencies, even the way Xana pulsed beneath the surface of the skin. Now, I am an Ennèa, Ninth Category of the Third Awakening, a God-touched Fluxer. Not bad for a newcomer in a world that eats its own prodigies.
I exhaled slowly, watching Iserra's biological weapons, her curved beetle like blades, nearly graze Naelle's arm. She laughed, ducked, and flipped over her. My eyes caught their motion, but my mind wasn't really on them anymore.
Ever since I came to their world, the Hidden God and the Goddess of Elements decided to get involved. It's said the Hidden God marks those he finds interesting, but the Goddess doesn't choose easily. Yet here I am, still wondering if their "gift" was a blessing or a curse. The Hidden God blessed me when I died in that hallway.
My Concept Flux has three capabilities: Absorption, Corrosion, and Sealing.
Absorption came first. My black crystal tendrils could drain a being's Xana. And it felt good. Too good. Then came Corrosion, the dark half of the same coin. If I wanted to, I could let my Flux run rampant through another's body, tearing through their system, turning them into Fluviums. Sealing is the most precise of the three. I could wrap those tendrils around someone and trap them. I haven't used it yet but I have an idea of how to do it.
But all that power came with one fatal limitation. I can only use the full potential of my Concept Flux when I'm dying.
When my heart's barely beating, when my blood's running cold or when my mind starts to unravel that's when the Flux wakes up. It shields me and fights for me. It becomes an unstoppable defense that won't let me die. If I don't claw my way back to control, it will take over permanently, protecting a body that no longer thinks or feels.
I tapped the crown on my head lightly. Embedded within it were three Class 9 Fluvehearts, all from the Frostclave Stag we for on the Fluve Field incident back in Reversa. Those hearts now throbbed in unison with my Flux, amplifying it, giving my Concept the kind of density that even seasoned Awakened avoided facing.
The sound of steel snapped me back. Naelle had dropped low, swept Iserra's legs and slammed her into the training floor. Iserra grunted, twisted, and used her Xana to stand back up.
For my relics...
Faceless Identity is my ticket to my debut as the leader of the Null Handmaidens. The mask's efficiency is at Ninety-nine point nine percent. The only being who could probably see through it would be a god or a drunk Norphie.
Speaking of, I adjusted my collar. My outfit today was casual or it looked casual. It's a simple black shirt, pants and shoes. But in reality, it was all made from Igniferous Edge, my five-star weapon.
Igniferous Edge is ridiculous. It was a morphing relic that could turn into any outfit or form I imagined. Formal wear, armor, even casual training clothes, all while granting me a permanent 50% damage reduction. I could probably stand in an inferno and just complain about the heat. I'd tested it before. It's as unfair as it sounds.
My Atomicus Structure was something else entirely. It currently had only one of the six Fluvehearts embedded: the Lucaren Fluveheart. Lucaren had been a lecturer who wanted to end the main cast so I turned him into a Fluvium instead. His Fluveheart now powered Atomicus, increasing the tensile strength of my strings.
Then there was the Infinity Flask, another absurd relic. It looked like a simple flask. It could store any liquid infinitely. Right now, it held ten liters of water, half a liter of coffee, and wine too.
My boots, Soundless Nautica, let me walk without a single sound. Not even the Flux sensors could detect me when I used them properly. And the air. walk function is an absolute blessing. Nothing beats standing thirty meters above the ground, suspended in silence, watching your enemies panic because they can't hear or sense you.
Down below, Naelle shouted, "Master, you're spacing out again! Thinking about your tragic backstory?"
"Thinking about your weak stance, actually."
"Excuse me?"
"Your right knee collapses inward when you parry. You're going to break it one day."
Iserra laughed. Naelle lunged at her immediately. I chuckled, then rested my head back against the pillar.
Back to my own development, I also had the Void element, which sat between nothing and everything. I can manipulate it now. The Void bends under my will, becomes tangible when I command and intangible when I release. It's like molding absence itself into form, like shaping smoke into a blade.
Currently I have six mechanisms of it. I can make a Void Dome (a hemispherical barrier formed that can block sound and disorient senses), Void Strings (forming strings and needles made of void), Void Beam, Void Blast, Void Protection (covering myself with void all over my body) and Void Creation. (forming simple constructs using void)
And then there's Neveolus, a Primal Synsiline Treasure unlike anything I've ever touched. The system didn't warn me about what it would do. It just merged with me when I stabbed myself. Neveolus only has two functions, but they're more than enough to rewrite what I am.
One, it adapts any weapon I hold to whatever energy or ability I infuse into it. When that awakened, my Lucaren Fluveheart's potential skyrocketed and my Atomicus Structure reformed itself, since it is connected with my strings. Every string of my being became stronger and sharper. The second function, though… that's what changed everything.
Neveolus made my strings compatible with the Void.
Before this, they couldn't handle such an unstable element. The Void would have eaten through them, tearing them apart from the inside out. I could only make Void Strings but now, I can channel it. I can infuse the Void into my strings, or even weave entire new ones made purely of it.
The mutations is another thing I obtained.
I can summon the thorned tendrils without even calling on my Concept Flux now. They crawl from my back and arms on instinct. I use them for Absorption and Corrosion, and—though no one knows this yet except for the Null Handmaidens—they can heal me too. The tendrils absorb, devour, and rebuild what's broken.
I don't like using them. Not in public of course. If someone connects the dots between Phasnovterich and the assassin leader of the Null Handmaidens, everything falls apart.
As Phasnovterich, I have to use my Concept Flux and mutations. As assassin leader, I only have to use my Void element, my strings otherwise people would know who I am.
And to make things worse, there's the Archeon of Bondage which is a gift, or maybe a curse, from the Hidden God. Not even Enheduanna knows what it does. Every time I try to probe it, the world around me distorts. The system refuses to give data and my body feels like it's on the verge of collapsing.
So I've left it alone for now.
I've become powerful and frighteningly so. My Flux, my Void, my mutations, my weapons, mutations and relics... they all show the same truth. I am far stronger than the storyline Phasnovterich. But I'm also buried under layers of secrecy, deception, and half-truths which i want.
That's when I got something from my Masquerade Tablet.