ALL NOVEL Chapter 81: The Hyped chapter
Nyctophagia POV
The announcer looked at the spectators for today's show. It was a rag-tag group of kids trying to get their [Skills] under control, some had the [Hunger] in their eyes. They craved recognition... They craved [Vengance] against a world that despised them.
Some on the other spectrum craved [Hope], the idea that they could strive for something better than the hand they had been given, they had ideas of how coming here could get them [Fixed]. Of course that was a misrecognition that he would crush right now.
"[First let's get something out of the way.]" He said while one of the tendrils of shadows in his back pulled a screen from the ceiling. "[We will not take away anyone's Skill. If you came to get another try at triggering. Leave.]" A few of the spectators deflated at that.
Among the ones that didn't seem to mind that was a girl who looked way too similar to [Echidna], a girl that was called [Alice] according to Nyctoxis. He was half convinced that the girl was the hidden daughter of [Echidna], if nothing she stood among the crowd as most kept their distance from her.
He could almost taste the sweet aroma from her [Shadows], maybe [Echidna] wouldn't mind if he took a bite out of her?
*Grrr*
Ups, it seemed that was a no.
The stingy [Warden] hidden in his shadow grumbled and remembered him to continue. "[Now most organizations say here something along the lines of: The [Hero] association knows what we do, if you come to try and bring us down...blablablabla.]" He loved this part. "[We aren't like most, and no Hero wannabe would come here unless they had to.]" His audience grumbled at this.
They knew it too, no one came to [Echidna] unless they needed to. They were the [Tainted], no one wanted to interact with them. Why they even despised the idea of living near them unless someone in their family was [Tainted]...Or they needed to hide from the powers to be.
"[Now if you want to work as a Hero or Magical Girl after getting your skill or contract fixed...That is your prerogative, we will not hold it against you. The service to clean the taint is expensive if you aren't one of ours...But the first five years are free so you can focus on that.]" Some seemed surprised at this, they always did.
He wasn't sure why [Echidna] bothered to get them five years free...No one lasted one year as a [Justice Wannabe] while [Tainted], their need to come get the [Taint] clean with [Echidna] made sure no one would take them seriously. And if they even had the power to get to high tiers?
Well the [Saintsworths] had their own way to deal with the [Taint], not that it was as effective...And while they claimed that they would have been able to deal with [The Stygian Bane] if they had been around... [Echidna] claimed otherwise. And he would listen to his boss over the [Corpos].
"[So with that out of the way...We welcome you to your Induction into our ranks if. You are free to leave at any point during this...But if I was you...I would stay.]" He said while walking out of the stage, he would love to sit in the spectator's area, but the [Warden] in his shadow would grumble, so he settled to see the spectacle from the [VIP] area with the other lieutenants.
Elizabeth POV
The black-masked man finally left the stage, he gave her the creeps and she didn't want to see him more than needed, she could almost swear that he was salivating every time she felt the mask turn to the area she was seated at.
Something about his [Shadow] seemed...[Wrong].
So when he left and joined the other four people in one of the balconies that would usually be used by [VIP] she let out a sigh of relief, she couldn't feel many different [Shadows] around besides those four and a fifth behind the stage. Most of those around her were... Muted.
The shadows reacted weirdly around them as if their skill wanted to act but were being suppressed. She didn't feel the suppression anymore, but she also needed to ward herself against other shadows wanting to infiltrate into her [Shadow Essence]. So she was half a mind of asking for another red bracelet.
She didn't have much time for her musing since the lights focused on the stage once more while a song started playing in the background. It was almost orchestral...
A cloud of white smoke started coming into the stage while fires started going around the stage, they didn't seem to burn the stage as if the shadows stopped it from combusting.
And as the music started the curtain was raised showing a woman sitting on a throne at the top of an ornamented stair, as it started gaining momentum more and more beams of light started showing illuminating figures at the sides of the stairs, they looked like the statues of different monsters from the mythological era.
Each statue was illuminated when the chorus in the music said a name, first it started with deities and ancient heroes... As the song got momentum and the beams of light started getting higher in the stairs it started giving names she recognized.
"Those are fallen [Hero]'s names..." Mumbled Alice, the statues with [Hero]'s names had similitudes to those fallen heroes, as if they honored their memories. Perhaps the same design or style...
But some of those she had seen while researching [The Stygian Bane], as names of heroes that tried to fight and contain the darkest episode of humanity. Soon enough the light would get to the woman at the top and in the moment it came to her she finally heard the name of the person she had come here to see.
"[Echidna - The Mother of Monsters.]" And so the woman stood from the throne, she started walking down the stairs...And...The statues...Followed her, each one morphing and fusing into a mass of living shadows that took a facsimile look as if the maw of a dragon.
She didn't notice when or how but she was tied to the seating by dark tendrils that had grown from the floor. And on the stage, the stairs had melted and joined the amorphous mass of dragon maws, Alice idly wondered if Nyx would one day grow to that size...Or if its shadow dragons could manage that if she got enough power.
She got pulled out of the reverie when the woman started speaking "Sorry about that, but I was told that my [Skill] needed to be used so you all could get the point across." It was...A beautiful voice. It was as if the angels had come down and blessed that woman with a sweet motherly tone.
It was...Perfect.
The woman made a gesture with her hand and all the monsters growled at them before sinking into the shadows...She could swear one of them licked its lips while looking at her...Why is everyone here weirdos that wanted to eat her?!?
"As you all may have guessed, we have a way of controlling [The Taint]. Mostly by infusing a special [Skill] into these." Said the woman while showing a red bracelet.
"These allow the wearers to control their [Taint] by having the inbuilt skill deal with the corrupted mana." She...Didn't need those anymore then?
"Of course, there is a limit to these bracelets and you [Will] need to come for a cleansing from time to time, depending on your attrition rate while using skills and your mentality." The woman said while throwing the bracelet into the air and a blur jumped from her shadow into one of the walls where it turned into a shadow once again.
So no one would get that particular bracelet.
"These are meant to be silver once worn by someone, if you see it in a red color then it means that you are being affected by the [Taint] continuously, so return to the nearest base. At red, the bracelet will not provide guidance unless it's about to burst to make it easier to withhold the stress." That...Was bad, so the one she used was at full capacity the whole time?
"So...Any questions?" Said the woman waiting for someone from the spectators to raise questions.
No one did, they all were focused on looking at the wall where the bracelet had flown.
So she had to bite the bullet...Why had she done it....
"Will those bracelets be up only for those who will work with your organization?" Said Alice after raising her hand, no sense waiting for them to tell her to go for it if no one else was raising their hand.
The woman turned to her and instead of admonishing her just smiled. "No, you all will receive one of these and that will be linked to you. We will have to take the one you have and sync the information to the new one..." She said while pointing backward to some people who were hanging near the door but didn't want to leave.
They all at once glared her way but didn't say anything, a few of them recognized her as the girl that had made the shadows around them tremble after all.
"...So if you want to leave you are free to do so. You will get a bracelet at the exit, there at reception State what you will need them for, Civilian grades will give you lower priority at the cleaning pods, but they will be free to use, the bracelet will tell you when one is open and that will be your option if you wish to use them. On the other hand, while high-grade ones will grant you priority for five years on the cleaning pods... After that period of time, you will need to pay for the use of cleaning pods. Since the high-grade ones are designed for rigorous use of your [Skill] or [Mana] we do need to get money off this." Said the woman while waiting for the people to leave. Some did leave, of course, but more than half of those that had hidden his faces with masks, helmets, or hoodies with scarfs did.
Very few of those that didn't hide their face decided to stay, of those...Most didn't hide their face because their [Skills] made it too obvious who they were, sometimes...When one [Triggers] the [Skill] decides that it needs extra help to use its power.
In those situations the powered ends with modifications to their body, an example could be how a flyer with a weak [Core] would end with wings in its back... Or with hidden channels in its body to generate and use as jets for flying.
How maybe someone could produce a chemical in their hands to generate a bio flamethrower...
Or how some ended with horns or demonic appearance, those that stood behind were mostly in that category...And Alice.
"Perfect!" Said the Echidna measuring those who decided to stay. "Know that if you wish to leave we will do everything in our power to make your civilian life as comfortable as possible.
One of those that stood behind just grunted at that, the guy was almost three meters tall, and she somehow doubted that he would be able to live a normal civilian life.
"That includes you big boy, there are plenty of construction firms that would love to have you, and if they don't we at [The Hydra's Fang] do have a construction firm for our more...Extreme works." Added Echidna, making the guy look away meekly.
Alice couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the interaction, it was as if Echidna was a mother chastising their kids.
"Now with that out of the way follow me." Said the woman while smiling and maybe she was imagining things, but she could swear that Echidna had winked her way.
Did she know who she was?
Impossible, her skill should be perfect.
She trusted it since it was based on her [Shadows]... Granted it wasn't one [Shadow Based] before, but now that it was suffused with her [Shadow Essence] it was closer to her and she could [Feel it].
They walked for a few minutes while Echidna continued speaking about the advantages of working for her as if they had options. Most of these that decided to stay either had a too obvious [Skill] or they had a dangerous [Skill] that they wished to keep under control.
After finishing their walk they arrived at an underground arena, they had taken a few elevators and walked across a few hallways where they could see some rooms with cristal walls that allowed them to see inside. In those powereds used their skills in different ways, most failed at simple tasks too.
"We will test your skills against a dummy here, it's like the testing you would get at one of the schools for metahumans. But since you all have some degree of [Taint] we will go one at the time." And there Echidna pointed to her.
"You will go first [Alice] since we know you managed to get into a school, just show us what you got. Don't worry, if your [Skill] acts up we will deal with it." And like that, she got put in the spotlight.
Well, she did need to impress [Echidna] to make her stay easier here so it was good for her anyway...
"Sure, it isn't that amazing but here I go." Said the black-haired girl while taking a step forward, most of those near her gave way and walked away to one of the walls.
Cowards.
"How hard do I go at the thing?" Asked the girl while taking out the hoodie and tying it up at her waist, she made an example of stretching to make time and to [Feel] her shadow. No new influences in it, so she was good for now.
"We will need to use it later, so just show activation of the [Skill] and a simple [Attack]." Said the woman while putting herself between her and the other attendees.
Was she protecting them? From her?
"As long as you are fine with only that..." Said the black-haired girl trying to not think too much about it.
She felt...Envy, somehow she was annoyed at Echidna for showing favoritism towards the other attendees when she was here. Helping her.
A quick look into her [Shadows] found no influence, so this was on her huh. Did she have a Mommy issue now too?
"First activation...I...Don't really know how to make an example of this." Said the girl while pointing down at her shadow. "They just like to listen to me after all...[Pike]." And after saying so the handle of a type of spear came from the ground.
She raised it and soon enough a shadow pike was in her hand. "Now usually I would use swords as my main weapon and these would pop up as obstacles or traps...But since this is a show..." Said the girl while playing with the pike as if it was weightless.
"Tei!" And after some flourishing, she threw the spear at the dummy.
The spear gained speed and shot straight at the dummy, if it was a living being it would be impaled through the heart and nailed into the floor. Of course, she wouldn't do something so vicious against a live target...
Unless said living target was named Akira...Or was trying to take advantage of [her Rossie].
"Huh?" Said the girl after the last train of thought.
"Perfect activation and no evidence of [Taint]." Said Echidna while clapping. She went on to say how Alice had previously used one of the red bracelets and gone through decontamination.
Singing praises to her newfound control of the skill and use of the right amount of force to neutralize a target, she went on and on about how since the weapon was made of shadows it made it easier to control mid-flight and so on.
But she was busy thinking about something else, she had referred to her friend as [Hers] and didn't think too much about it. Granted Rossie was a precious friend for her, the first that took a spot in her heart as a true friend.
But she was...Possessive?
Why?
Since when?
When did she start thinking about her friend as [Hers]... She really needed to deal with her blonde [Dumb] side, it was promising to be a headache. Perhaps she would need to visit Alexanders again...Only now she would need to do so as [Alice].
With some luck, they would get them good training at this [Induction].