3 War under your nose
[Chapter 2]
{0800 hrs.}
A tall, rounded structure of 100sq. feet in diameter with more than 30 floors, practically an eye-catching landmark in this open meadow. Somewhere on the 25th floor, Morgan walked out of the office into the open hallway to see Videl sleeping on the waiting bench on the corridor.
[Poor girl.]
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{0700 hrs.} (kinda like a flashback)
The officials discussed the results of the analysis performed on Videl earlier in the day. Since they couldn't find any reason for her to be targeted in her family background, they could only search her body in case they missed something.
"This person you just brought in is indeed a strange case. From the tests we conducted, we have concluded that she's a death scythe. But there are multiple abnormal things at play here"
"From what we know, there should be only seven. If we include her that makes 8. Even if we ignore this rule, death scythes cannot and would not move without their life counterparts.
Also, she should be releasing such massive amounts of death energy as the '8th death scythe' according to the 7-fold increment with each successive death scythe", an official sitting at the conference table said.
"There's another possibility that she may be the legendary Angel of Death and Destruction", another official added his speculation.
"Highly unlikely. Such a legendary character could cause the world to end with a single thought. 'She' doesn't exactly look like an almighty being", commented another official.
The more Morgana listened to the reports from the analysis performed on Videl, the more confused she became.
"What we can concur is that the abyssal creatures probably wanted to capture her and use her power to their gain as death scythes are the only truly neutral beings in existence upon birth"
"They probably want to use her against humanity hence we cannot let her fall into their hands. Until we can find a solution to this problem, or she has the strength to protect herself, we cannot let her out of our sight."
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{0803 hrs.} (back to normal time)
[How can there possibly be eight death scythes and one without a life counterpart to boot!! Could she be the legendary Angel of Death and Destruction?!]
"Videl wake up. I'm about done here. Let's get moving"
"Umm… *yawn* …what time is it? Is it breakfast yet Mr. Renee? You wouldn't believe what a night I had Mr. Renee, I had the strangest dream and there was this woman and-d…", Videl woke up with a yawn wiping her eyes but stuttered halfway through her speech when she saw exactly the person she was just talking about.
"What are you blabbering on about? Anyways, follow me. Let's go get something to eat first. We'll talk over breakfast. This way."
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An open-air café on the ground floor (first floor) of the office building provided necessities for the workers and visitors in the building. From breakfast all to way to dinner. It was spacious enough to provide for a hundred people at a time.
"How's the food? Heavenly right? That's because they were made using ingredients rich in essence energy"
"The food is fantastic. Best I've ever tasted. But… what's is essence energy? Is it like video game mana or that chi or qi thing?"
"Essence energy is a higher form of energy that goes against the normal order of the world. Mana and qi are more of different states of essence energy, like water and ice or lighting and fire.
Originally, it was impossible to even access this type of energy but due to the circumstances of the world and the previous war, the world opened up to us.
Knowledge that we could only speculate about was practically given to us on a silver platter afterward but not to the whole world though. From a certain perspective, the world improved. But there is a downside. With great power comes great responsibility.
The unlimited access to essence energy also opened the world to the dangers that were hidden from the world by the Supreme Being, the strongest being in existence. Well, he 'was'. As for who 'we' are, you could think of us as soldiers, front liners.
Who or what we fight? That's a bit too much to tell you now but there's a library on the 10th floor containing everything you need to clear your confusion. You should have nearly unrestricted access to the basic aspects of the library so the basics should be available to you. Als…"
*woooooossssh*
Mid-way through the speech, Morgana disappeared in a flash right in front of the dumbfounded Videl, seconds after her mind was blown away by Morgana's explanation.
*boooommmmm*
A loud explosion sounded off just inches behind her and the back of a familiar figure came into view. This figure was none other than Morgana. Currently, Videl felt like she was watching a showdown between superman and wonder woman.
A stranger had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and attacked at open-air café. Morgana clashed with a blurry image over and over again. They moved so fast they practically clashed 100 times a minute whipping up a hurricane.
"Hahaha. You're getting slow enchantress. And still a fun sucker", a thundering chortle boomed with the end of the fantasy-like battle as the figure of the attacker came into view.
A huge body of about 3 meters, a massive and strong build and a strangely handsome face (cause she thinks giants should be ugly or not-so-handsome). Looking around, Videl noticed that barely anyone around reacted as if used to such spectacle.
"I'm not slow, I was taking it easy on you. Why do you insist on scaring the newbies in this way Brandon?", the disgruntled voice of Morgana came in right after as she also reappeared where she sat previously without even a hair out of place.
"It is tradition enchantress. If I don't do it, the others will. Who knows, they may be setting up a trap as we speak", whilst speaking, the 'giant' walked closer, shrinking with every step and an evil smirk on his devilishly handsome face. Videl unconsciously blushed looking at the shrunken giant of about 180cm.
Morgana sighed in exasperation as she introduced Videl, "What tradition? Stop making things up. This is Videl, the new death scythe. Videl, Brandon, Brandon, Videl".
"Pleasure to meet you, sir. Brandon", befitting her mature status of mind, Videl brought her embarrassment under control and answered as normal as possible.
"Sir.? I'm not that old miss Videl, I'm only about 3-5 years older than you are. And enchantress what do you mean by a death scythe, I thought there could only be 7 of them"
"What's a death scythe, Morgana?", Videl asked almost immediately as Brandon.
"A death scythe is what we call an agent of 'darkness' and not darkness as in evil but the only existing entity before the beginning of time itself. Said to exist at the same time as the Supreme Being. The Darkness that existed with the Light before time itself.
From what we know, there can only be 7 death scythes serving the death angel existing in one instance of time. We think you're the 8th and your existence goes against the norm we know of. It even stumped the superiors upon reading the reports of the analysis of her body.
Brandon, do me a favor and take Videl to the library to expand her horizons. Show her around and get her up to speed. I still have to report the situation in city X to have a neutralization squad dispatched. I'll see you later Videl". Morgana answered both questions simultaneously and vanished again directly from the café after leaving instructions.
"This lady is very careless. *sigh* Alright miss Videl this way to the library", Brandon gave a rueful smile and led the way upstairs to the library. For as long as he'd known Morgana, she was what you could call a lazy bone.
"Please, call me Videl Mr. Brandon".
"Sure, if you'll call me Brandon…just Brandon".
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{2000 hrs.}
[12 hours reading in the library? Damn, does she want to swallow the level 0 library?]
For 12 hours the desk in front of Videl had been stacked with a lot of books ranging from history to current affairs then magic. She read nearly every book a level 0 access pass would allow.
The library granted 10 different access levels including level 0 which was the lowest level pass given to 'newbies' and visitors with no real power in the tower. Brandon felt a headache coming.
From what she had read so far, Videl could understand the general situation. There were to major head towers, Defenders and Hunters. She was currently in the Hunters' tower. The 'soldiers' Morgana was referring to were Hunters and Defenders. They were always in constant war with the 'enemies of humanity'.
The so-called 'enemies of humanity' were different existing races. They were the Devils, Undead or Abyssal creatures, Titans, Vampires, Trolls, Ogres, goblins and many more.
It was a millennia-old war that went as far back as 'The Fall'. It only got worse about 5000 years ago when man pushed a child to the edge.
The story around this child wasn't particularly clear but what could be gleaned from the little known was that he unintentionally opened up the avenue for essence energy.
'The Fall' happened before the beginning of life on earth when the Archangel Lucifer rebelled and was cast out of the heavenly realm.
14 realms exist out of which 13 were created by the Supreme Being. Realms 1 and 2 were known as the heavenly realms, 3 to 10 as the racial realms and 11 to 13 as the Abyssal realms commonly known as the 3 layers of hell.
The realm on which earth existed was called the planetary realm and was the 9th realm. As for the number of races in existence, well they were categorized instead of counted as there were simply too many. 3 categories existed, intellectuals, beasts, and enemy-of-races.
The intellectual races were those races that had intelligence as humans, the beasts were those that relied purely on instincts (kinda like animals) and the enemy-of-races were, of course, those acknowledged as the enemy of races.
That was the summary of history, general knowledge, and current affairs. There weren't many current affairs though. There were also multiple books about multiple races and beasts of a wide variety.
Fortunately, Videl had an abnormal photographic memory hence after reading nearly 70 books in a little over 12 hours, she stored about 90% of every book to memory not to mention unbelievable reading speed.
Videl had read nearly everything available to her in the library. One more trip and she felt she could have every book accessible stored to memory, not to brag but, she was that smart.
There weren't that many, to begin with as a level 0 access pass had few topics to delve into anyways.
"Ugh…My eyes are irritable now. It's been a long time since I read so many books in one sitting. How long have I been here anyway…uh oh, there's a clock over there?
Hmmm, 12 hours, a little lesser than I expected but not too shabby. I should go get dinner"
[Hmm where's senior Brandon]
"Oh, Videl you finished for the day? Let's go get dinner and talk things through. I'll explain everything that confuses you there", Brandon spotted Videl walking out of the library and figured she was about done with reading for the day or maybe just hungry (praying for the former).
Videl walked out into Brandon waiting for her right outside the library, "Please lead the way seni… I mean Brandon. I'm sorry, I can't get quite used to just calling you by your first name".
[Whatever]
"You'll get used to it soon. Shall we?"
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{2030 hrs.}
"…so that about sums it up. Enchantress, or Morgana if you will, says she can't make it today. You'll be in my care until tomorrow. I'll get you a place to stay for the night or you could stay with me, kidding.
As for the matter of your cultivation, I'll help you on your starting point but the rest will be up to you"
"I don't mind where I stay… I mean with you or in a hotel you see I've lived with a man for 2 years now. He was more of a father figure". It wasn't that Videl was naïve, it was just that these people had power and she wouldn't waste her time to fight a futile battle. Besides, the only person she 'knew' here had left her in his care anyways.
"Hmmm well, that saves me some cash, no problem. Nice to meet you roommate. Back to business. When it comes to cultivation, it's more of essence energy absorption and assimilation to open up meridians in the body.
The body has 99 meridians and the body itself if the 100th or 1st meridian. Therefore, before you can start cultivation, you'll have to open the body to essence energy first. The method to do this, I'll explain tomorrow when you start.
You already read about this but I'll go over it to help explain it. There are 5 different natures of essence energy; elemental, magic, sword aura and Physical prowess (strength & speed).
Each energy nature using a different form of the essence energy namely mana and qi. Enchantress' power leans more towards magic, elemental and physical prowess. I'm more of a physical prowess type Hunter.
Essence energy is also graded into mortal, earthly and heavenly grades. Each grade naturally has its limits to which power rank a person could grow. Limit doesn't necessarily mean the end of one's path to absolute strength.
Assuming progressing from one rank to another for a mortal grade Hunter takes an effort of 5, an earthly grade hunter an effort of 3 and that of a heavenly grade Hunter that of 2, once the energy grade reaches its limit, it just becomes harder for them to progress demanding more effort.
All in all, there are 15 major power ranks and each with their subdivisions. Once you start 'cultivating' you'll better understand these concepts. I'll pay for the bill and we'll leave to my place soon"
The more Videl listened, the more fascinated she became. The world was basically like a wuxia fantasy or some video game with only a tiny bit of difference.
Training to obtain absolute strength was the goal of those main characters in those novels or the purpose of gaming. She even wondered if she was in a story or not. (Of course, I wouldn't tell her anyway (-_-))
[Shit. My cell phone is still on the silent setting. June is going to kill me and the old man will think I'm missing. 28 missed calls from my Old man and June. I'll have to call them this evening before bed else they'll get worried. But what do I tell them?]
