Azazel’s POV:
I slowly opened my sleepy eyes and what greeted me was the front gate of the dorm at Magic Institute which I used to go, after I ran away from my family.
I looked around in confusion, “?”
“Is this a nightmare? I haven’t one in a while. Hmm... I can maintain my consciousness. It means this is a lucid dream??”
“Die!!!”
I heard someone scream behind me in a familiar voice while I was analyzing the situation, I turned around to find the source of voice and why is it familiar. Suddenly, young Luther attacked me from behind with a sword. I quickly casted a simple spell.
[Mana Reinforcement]
- Increases physical abilities of user.
*Tang*
I took a step forward and pivoted on my heels then I hit the flat surface of Luther’s sword with my right palm, maintaining my momentum, I rotated and striked Luther’s head with my left elbow.
Luther fell from the impact then slowly got up in disbelief with a dizzy head, “???”
Unable to understand his predicament, I mocked him, “The fighting sense of his dream version has fallen a lot. He really has become a no brainer.”
Luther grabbed his hair and muttered in disbelief, unable to accept the situation, “No brainer? H-how are you here in the past?? Only i should be in the past?? Is this a dream??”
‘Did he go nuts? He seems to be suffering from the emotional distress.’
I, on the other hand, feels my mind calmer and clearer as my emotions died down, my thoughts scattered and I took a deep breath and analyzed the surrounding. The Ambient mana in atmosphere, the exhaustion in my body from using a simple spell. A horrible possibility crossed my mind, the possibility of losing everything I worked so hard for, I felt emotions burning deep inside me. It’s been a while I have felt this emotion and realized that I too am emotionally unstable right now.
‘[Cold Rage] ... If I don’t control it now, I will be swallowed by it. Losing last shred of humanity left inside me by becoming a soulless puppet, driven only by the desire to kill the person who doesn’t exist in this world.’
I saw guards coming at us, before the commotion escalates, I decided to return to my dorm room. A thought crossed my mind to kill the cause of this situation, Luther, but I left him be.
‘Maybe this is just a nightmare, I need more time to understand the situation.’
I left Luther alone in his agony and stepped inside the dorm.
*Click*
I opened my dorm room and looked at nostalgic simple room. I sat in the bed then I covered my ears after I started hearing many hallutionary voices which are giving me an unbearable headache.
‘Kill’ ‘God’ ‘Save’ ‘Me’ ‘Kill me!!’ ‘It’s alright’ ‘Help me’ ‘Hahaha! Isn’t this place lovely?!’ ‘Keep your calm’ ‘Death in solitude’ ‘Death in loneliness’ ‘Never mind’ ‘Despair’ ‘Where am I?’ ‘It hurts’ ‘It’s cold...’ ‘Everything is fine’ ‘I cannot do anything anyway!’ ‘Just lock in’ ‘I pray to devils...’ ‘Beware of what you wish for’ ‘I am bored’ ‘1 sheep, 2 sheep... 186,255,531 sheep...’ ‘If life is short then when will I die?’ ‘Soon’ ‘This place sucks!!’
‘This damn scars! I need to do something! Anything! Think, before it devours my [Cold Rage]!! Sob... Both of them are splitting my head and killing me!’
My traumas, thoughts, everything I have felt or been through in my life, kept raging inside my head like a turbulent sea which made my head spin and felt nauseous to the point that I might die. I tightly clenched my head and desperately glanced all around me to find a way, to save my life. I glanced at the mirror and a thought crossed my mind then I casted the only mental spell that works on me, which is more like a technique than an actual spell.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
[Self Hypnosis]
- Give a mental command to yourself to achieve a certain result.
Most mental spells don’t work on me and I can’t use them either. The fundamentals to learning a mind spell is, having stable mind, which I don’t have because of ‘Scars of the Past’ and sturdy will power to overcome the opponents spells, which I have. It’s still a mystery to me ‘how am I still alive?’ I should have become a mindless creature long ago, how am I maintaining my sanity?
I gave a simple command to myself, “Cry as much as you want, let all the emotions flow out of you.”
I covered my mouth with a cloth near me, so I accidentally don’t slip up important stuff and let extreme emotions ignite within me. My [Cold Rage] calmed down as I let out all the emotions.
*Sob* *Sniff* *Sniff* *Sob* *Creak*
Then I passed out and fell on my bed.
“...”
I slowly opened my wet eyes and looked at the clock, I have been asleep for two hours, but I am still inside my dorm room. I glanced at mirror and despair was clearly visible in my eyes as it is not a nightmare, or maybe I haven’t woken up yet?
I washed my face, sat on my study table, and began to prepare for the worst possibility. If it’s a dream then no problem, but if not, I need to understand how it happened? And what consequences it would lead to?
‘The last thing I remember was everyone fainting before me...’
“Maybe it happened because of ‘Stone of Time’? Our consciousness must have been affected by that skill. Am I trapped here for good? But the problem is that scholar demon who fainted before me.”
‘Who knew it would be a damn area of effect skill? Luther wouldn’t have used it otherwise, much less around a demon. ‘
“I would be a fool to trust that demon scholar. He knows me the most among demons, I would be happy if he killed me, but he would most probably make me a puppet then dominate the whole world. He knew I am priceless when alive and will use my ideas as he pleases.”
I checked the items I had when I arrived at Magic Institute to check the resources I can currently use.
[Magic Institute Identification Batch] (Useless)
- Used for student identification.
- Make resources accessible based on the rank.
“It’s useless. Using it to access the resources will only increase my trouble.”
[Family Identification Insignia] (Dangerous)
- Make request with the help of family name.
“I wouldn’t use it even if I have to become a puppet. I left that family to not get in ‘family troubles’.”
Magic Institute was the best choice in the past to get away from the hands of my family which was all around the world because they cannot take rash actions when I am a nameless student.
“Where did I put it? I remember buying artifacts which cost me all my money... Ah! Found it!”
[Spell Cards * 10] (Useful)
- Can store the one spell per card.
- The probability of storing a spell depends on the understanding of that spell.
It has diverse way of uses, but it can be used in battle with my understanding of different spells. I can even use it to dodge the unavoidable spells as long as I ‘understand’ that spell.
“As expected of cards I used all my pocket money to get. I am glad I made that difficult choice. Ugh! I remembered that I was poor in this time period... Ugh! I need a medicine. I am emotionally stable but only for a moment. Sigh... It must be the side effect of that damn stone.”
I used the spell [Insight] on me to analyze if my traits are still same or not.
[Insight]
- Analyze the internal condition of body which is undetectable.
‘Atleast, my inherent traits are the same.’
[Mana Deficiency]
- Maximum storage capacity of mana in body drops to 20%.
I started later than others because of my [Mana Deficiency]. While others had 100 mana, I only had 20 mana and the difference only increased as time passed by, if others had 1000 mana, I had 200 mana.
‘I need to cure it fast but it’s cure is not in the Magic Institute. Even after war, I only had half of the amount of mana compared to what Luther had, I was heavily reliant on artifacts.’
[Tit for Tat]
- If ‘Target’ deals a fatal damage to user, it reflects back the damage to ‘Target’ and vice versa.
- Only one target can be selected at a time.
- Activation condition: Activates after taking the damage to select the ‘Target’. After one hour, if either party deals the fatal damage other then he will be affected.
It’s a double edge sword which I have kept hidden from everyone even the scholar demon doesn’t know about it. Activating it is tricky, as I have to take little damage to activate it and be alive for one hour. Even after one hour, I must force my ‘Target’ to deal a killing blow on me but I cannot harm the ‘Target’, otherwise all my hard work will be useless.
“It’s best for maintaining the status quo.”
*Click*
I stand up and sneakily headed for the restricted section of the lab, it’s easy for me as I used to sneakily come here a lot in the past, during my student days. I stealthily opened the lab by manipulating my mana to input the mana signature which acts as it’s key.
After entering the lab, I quickly collected the ingredients for making my medicine but in a way that their absence wouldn’t be easily noticeable for the Instructors.
“I need to make it strong enough or else it will not affect me.”
*Click*
In few minutes, I prepared three flasks of potions and one pill to numb my mind which I hide it in my molar, then I returned to my room and sat on the side of my bed.
‘If Sabin tried to capture me then I will try to survive for one hour against him by becoming mindless and I will set predetermined answers if I ever encounter him to buy myself sometime.’
*Gulp* *Gulp*
‘This is the best choice I can think of, for now.’
I emptied the flask and closed my eyes and slept on my bed.