37 Invasion.
Alex was currently at the old field that had been used previously to fight the shadow. It was the best place offhand to practice and till remain nearby in case of an emergency.
The next couple days he was pretty much on his own, the kids had normal classes and some minor combat orientated studies sprinkled it. It won't be until two days later that they would be going on a little field trip to a place to practice rescue missions. From how it had been described, it was basically a theme park that focused on different types of rescue. Land slides, floods, fires, earthquakes ect.
It was a good time to practice his own magecraft in the meantime.
He had set up a bounded field in the middle of the area. It was already leagues above what he had been doing previously after he sat down and figured out what he was doing wrong.
Well, he had a general idea. He knew that just trying to brute force it was not the correct path, but he didn't have a good direction to go before. It was as if he was trying to kick a ball and just kept adding power into each kick without focusing on technique. He simply did not know how to apply the correct technique previously and could only opt to go as hard as possible.
But now, his bounded fields were actually listed and he was getting better as time went on.
There were three 'main' ways to apply a bounded field that the guide explained. The most common one was what he was doing right now, simply having himself act as the focal point and deploying it while giving a constant stream of prana to maintain its effects.
The other two which he had yet to touch upon were more permanent in nature, they were to use runes to bind a bounded field to an area drawing power in from the surroundings or create a mystic code to bind a bounded field to itself and act as a generator. The guide had mentioned that there were many other ways to go about getting similar effects, these were just the most common and basic.
While Alex maintained the field and was doing his best to supply the steady stream of prana, he was also practicing with his reinforcement.
He held his practice blade in one hand as he swung it a few dozen times while his arm was reinforced and quickly switched to the other. In that moment he would deactivate reinforcement on that arm and switch it to the other.
This helped him get a sense of how quickly he could activate it in combat while also getting a feel for his increased stats while it was active. It was at the most basic point that he could call it combat ready. While he did have to take a moment to go through the process, he could do it now without harming himself, though that was mostly restricted to his arms and legs. At the moment, a full body reinforcement was still beyond him.
The effort to maintain reinforcement was basically only regulated by his concentration, the actual drain on his magical reserves was miniscule compared to the activation of a noble phantasm.
It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that once reinforcement was mastered, he could keep it up forever without any major drawbacks.
There was just one issue he had right now, or rather one potential issue. He honestly did not know how reinforcement would react to using his mana burst. An initial guess is that they would not interfere with one another as he now had enough experience with both to get a feel separately.
Mana burst did something similar to reinforcement, albeit on a much higher scale and for a limited duration. It also operated on seemingly a higher conceptual level. Most likely because it came from the dragon core that was a higher existence.
He wouldn't test it now, it could be potentially volatile and he would rather have less of a burden to be under when he used it. He was already kind of pushing the boundaries of how he should be acting when known enemies are lurking about.
He could always deactivate reinforcement to mana burst in a hurry. It was easier to cut off the stream of prana that activated reinforcement than to guide the magical energy through his body.
After a few more minutes, Alex finally cut off the supply of prana and removed the bounded field and cancelled his reinforcement.
The practice hadn't been overly arduous but it got him to sweat a bit, though he made sure not to over exert himself and still be combat ready. Even his reservers were still relatively high. For the hours he maintained the bounded field and reinforcement, he was still above 90%.
He sat down to rest for a few minutes as he took out his tablet to see his progress.
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Alexander Penn (Arthur Pendragon)
Strength [ B- ]
Endurance [ B- ]
Agility [ C ]
Mana [ B-]
Will [ C ]
Luck [ C ]
Passive Skills:
- Magic Resistance [ C ]
- Riding [ B ]
- Charisma [ C ]
- Instinct [ C+ ]
Personal Skills:
- Mana Burst
- Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King (Requires Invisible Air)
- Transfer
- Reinforcement [ C+ ]
- Bounded Fields [ D ]
Equipment:
- A King's Armor [ C ]
- Noble Phantasms
o Excalibur [Anti-Fortress] C – EX
o Invisible Air [Anti-Unit] C
o Rule Breaker [Anti-Magecraft] C
o Gate of Babylon [Anti-Unit] E-EX
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"Not bad." He said as he eyed the tablet.
His reinforcement was at [ C+ ] Rank which means he did get better with it and his bounded fields are at [ D ]. Though truthfully, he doesn't expect his bounded fields to get much higher compared to reinforcement. He read ahead a bit in the guide about bounded fields and it becomes much harder to progress after a certain point. He didn't have the time to devote months into the craft to progress.
Though there will probably be opportunities in the future to progress in that craft. He was sure to run into magic users in the future who would be able to understand it better than he and offer guidance.
He was happy with his progress though. Bounded fields provided quite a bit of utility outside of combat situations that could not be overlooked. And his reinforcement was an obvious boon.
If he had to compare his reinforcement to a status update, it would probably be around 20-25% of a single upgrade. And that was only at its current state where he could only reinforce his arms and legs. That's not to say that if he got more proficient he could reinforce himself to a higher strenght, it was more like each action he performed required use that extended past his arms or legs. When he swung his sword, he would need to twist his hips, and use muscles in his back. And since those weren't reinforced yet, it limited the overall effectiveness. Once he could get it to extend throughout his body the boost would probably be closer to 40%.
It may seem negligible in the long wrong, but a regular human using reinforcement means being able to shatter a large stone with a single punch. This upgrade was worth the effort he was putting into it.
He looked over the status again, this time at his equipment.
It was a bit odd that his armor was listed as [ C ] rank yet wasn't a noble phantasm. It was technically more of a mystic code that had been heavily amplified by his own legend and that mystery added onto its own power.
Though it was understandable to some extent, his armor wasn't anything too special in his old days, it was just 'armor' whereas something like invisible air made people gock at such a sight even if it was around the same quality.
"I could probably turn my armor into a noble Phantasm with some points….." He mumbled. The possibility was there, frankly it was harder to find things he couldn't do with points than could.
Noble phantasma had a certain 'weight' behind them. A conceptual Authority that contributed to their power. Even though his armor was 'ranked' as a [ C ] It would always lose out to a corresponding noble phantasm of the same rank. Hell, that shadow from a couple months ago had been able to punch a small hole in it.
That wasn't to say his armor was weak, it was still a decent mystic code in its own right that Merlin had tinkered with previously. It just only had the residual mystery of his own legend to somewhat make it stronger than its normal materials.
It would be something to look into later on, along with some other items.
"Is it greedy to want to acquire several more noble phantasms?" He asked out loud.
His Sheath, Spear, Dagger...and his other sword that had been broken. He wished to reacquire all of them at some point. Beyond the sentimental value that he heavily attached to them, they were very strong for what they did. Well, except for Caliburn. It was a very strong blade in its own right, but he mostly wanted that for the sentimental value. He missed that blade dearly and wanted it at his side again.
There were also some other noble phantasms that weren't his that he was eyeing, but those were too far off for him to worry about for now.
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After the mini-vacation, Alex had been called back as the group were getting ready to depart to the location for the rescue missions.
The kids were loading up on a bus as Eraser Head waived him over.
They all loaded up on the bus as headed out. The kids got into a discussion about their quirks while Alex and Eraser Head were sitting up front.
"So, whats on the agenda today?" He asked his hero partner.
"Got a specialist to teach the brats about using their quirks in rescue operations." The hero replied.
"This should be their first non-combat assignment, yeah?" Alex asked.
"Not counting the tests at the start then yeah. Not every job that heroes get involved in are combat situations nor are they places that one can usually just brute-force their way through with powerful quirks."
"Makes sense." Alex replied.
The ride over was peaceful and went by pretty quickly, they were only about a 20 minute drive away.
The area outside was a gigantic dome that completely that was completely enclosed minus a large double door at the front.
It's sheer size could put sports stadiums to shame.
"Wow, you guys really spare no expense….." Alex couldn't help but admire as they walked inside.
Though it could probably be expected at the advent of quirks. Sports and other competitions had become almost nonexistent in the modern era. What was the point of watching a normal person run laps around a track when people like All Might can break the sound barrier?
No, Heroes had become the entertainment and replaced that. It was one of the main reasons they had facilities like this place. More often than not, the heroes of this world cared more for their popularity than their work.
As they walked inside they were greeted by another hero waiting that would be overseeing this fieldtrip.
Alex had met him a couple times in the past. He was a teacher at the school but he spent quite a bit of his time away helping with rescue operations. He mostly dealt with hands on learning activities where he provided his expertise to the students to learn how to handle disasters.
His Hero name was 'Space Hero 13'.
He had a few words with Eraser Head before he started to talk to the students.
"Wasn't All might supposed to be here?" Alex asked the tired hero.
"The idiot went out 'heroing' and tired himself out."
"Sounds like him." Alex replied.
The hero just snorted in response.
"Luckily we have a back up plan-" Eraser Head didn't finish he sentence before his attention was turned elsewhere.
Alex also noticed it immediately as he too focused on what was happening.
At the base of the stairs a black portal opened up and dozens of figures were walking out.
"Villains…" Eraser head said.
"YOU LOT STAY BACK, THIS IS NOT PART OF THE LESSON."
"Alex and 13, protect the students." He said as he met Alex's eyes.
Alex just nodded as the hero leapt into action.
The portal that brought them hear appeared to be a person, or more specifically their quirk. The person looked eerily similar to a 'shadow' but it's presence was unmistakably not one of those creatures.
"What do we do?"
"Are those really villians?"
"Do we go help the teacher?"
The kids started to panic slightly as a few of them were also ready to join in the battle.
"Eraser Header can handle this, I need to get you all to safety." 13 said as he lead the group back towards the exit.
A moment later a large shadow erupted in front of them covering the exit. It was the person who teleported the villains here in the first place.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He said.
"Greetings, we originally came here to engage with Mr. 'symbol of justice' yet he isn't here and we even went through the trouble of stealing a schedule from your school. Was there a change in plans at the last minute?"
As he finished speaking, two of the students jumped at him as they brandished their quirks. It was Bakugo throwing out explosions and the other was Eijiro Kirishima who had a 'hardening' quirk. It allowed him to harden and sharper his body.
The villain responded by shooting out its shadow like body to envelop the two, but before he could grab them, a chain launched forward, wrapped around them, and dragged them back.
They all looked back to see the origin.
There were two golden rippls on either side of Alex, each with a chain sticking out as they unwrapped from the kids and retracted inside.
"And who might you be?" The villain asked.
"Just a teaching Assistant" Alex replied with a smile. "From the looks of it, you have to touch someone with your fog-like body for your quirk to take effect, were you planning on separating the group?"
"You are correct but...can you stop me?" He asked as his body exploded out in all directions.
Alex sighed, it would be simple to kill the man. While he was 'covered' in that fog/shadow like substance he had a true body hidden away in there. A simple activation of Gae Bolg would kill him easily....but he was playing by 'their' rules.
Alex waived his hand and a dozen ripples opened that revealed protruding blades. A moment later they all fired at the black mass, destroying sections of it.
The villain retreated back a few yards as he looked on.
His quirk hid his expression, but it wasn't hard to guess that he was a bit shocked at what happened.
"Hey 13, if I make an opening can you get everyone out of here?" Alex whispered as he stood beside the hero.
"What do you have in mind?" The hero asked.
"I'm...going to scare him to put it simply." Alex replied.
"I'll wait for your opening then." The hero replied after a moment.
Alex nodded as he opened another portal, he wouldn't use this to kill him...but he didn't know that.
It was a read spear that landed in his hand.
He slowly walked towards the villain as he channeled prana into the demonic weapon.
It was dripping with bloodlust as it's presence weighed down on everyone present. Even Eraser Head took a moment to glance up to them.
"Did you know? I'm not a hero." Alex said as he stared at the villain, his own aura flaring up along with the demonic spear in his hand.
"What...is that?" The villain managed ask. The amount of bloodlust it radiated was palpable
"It's a nifty little spear, any cuts caused by it's blade won't heal except by normal means. That mean's no healing quirks, no advance technology, only your body to rely on the natural healing process." Alex stated as he drew closer.
The villain didn't answer as he continue to inch closer.
"But you see, that's not the best part. It has another ability, when I thrust forward with it, the nature of causality will be reversed. It will seek out your heart, because your heart had already been pierced."
"So I'm curious...….can your quirk stand up to my spear that can bend the laws of reality?" As he finished his last sentence, the power of the spear exploded out. The bloodlust that was dripping before was but all consuming.
To his credit, the villain didn't scream or shout. He quickly pulled his fog-like body back to himself and teleported away.
"Nows your chance 13." Alex said as he withdrew the spear back into the gate.
The kids were looking a little worse for wear. While the effects of the spear weren't exactly targeted at them, it wasn't something they should have experienced before. That amount of bloodlust and killing intent can leave a mark.
The hero quickly ushered the students out of the building as they escaped, though Alex didn't follow.
He was glad that worked, frankly that guy's quirk would be a pain to deal with without killing. Teleporters themselves were a pain in the ass, but adding on the fact that it was hard to discern where his true body lay in that shadowy fog made it even more difficult.
Regardless, he would go help Eraser head.
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Eraser Head had engaged them immediately as they appeared. There were probably over a hundred in total, but he specialized in one vs many combat.
He used their numbers against them, their lack of team work or any kind of coordination became his strength.
He managed to defeat a good portion of them until the 'heavy' hitters finally made a move. There were two of them.
One with these weird hand-like mechanisms all over him and the other was a strange looking creature that was hulking in stature.
After a few exchanges with the 'handsy' one, Eraser head was able to determine his quirk was something akin to decomposition. Getting touched by him would be disastrous. The other one though...he was just pure brute strength that could potentially match All might. It was a bad match up for the quirk-erasing hero.
"Two on one isn't very fair, how about I take the big guy?" A voice called out from behind him.
"Hoh, did you finish up on your end?" Eraser Head asked with a smile.
"Kids are safe, 13 evacuated them." Alex replied.
"What about the cannon fodder?" the hero asked.
There was still a good portion of villians that hadn't been put down yet around them.
Alex just smiled as he summoned his invisible air.
"Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King."
The winds shot out in all directions. He held back a lot in the activation as to not kill anyone but those people were still blown away.
Eraser head was fine as he was next to Alex at the focal point.
The one with the hands all over him was held in place by the large creature that stood beside him.
Alex stared at his chosen foe, but something…..unnerved him.
"I don't think that thing is alive."
"I'll trust your judgement, do what you need to." The hero said.
As he finished, The hero charged at the smaller of the two villians.
"Noumu" The villain called out.
At his command the hulking monstrosity moved to intercept but was suddenly blown into a nearby wall.
Alex stood at the point of impact. "Sorry, but he's going to be my dance partner."
The villain narrowed his eyes at Alex before finally speaking. "Noumu….kill him."
At his command a figure shot out from the debris and launched itself towards Alex.
He brought invisible air up to intercept the blow as a fist collided with the wind blade. The surroundings were pushed away at the force and Alex was pushed back a bit.
"Okay, he's pretty strong probably just below my physical strength." Alex muttered.
He opened up a few portals had shot some nameless noble phantasms at the creature. They tore through his flesh with ease but then something occurred. It's flesh started to mend itself at a high speed.
"Regeneration too, that's annoying."
It was starting to mimic the fight against that shadow the other day.
Alex quickly activated invisible air behind him, propelling him forward at an uncatchable speed as he sent his armor-clad knee into the creature's abdomen.
The creature only staggered back a few steps before he countered with a punch. Alex ducked and sliced upwards with his blade, cutting the arm off.
It quickly regenerated but it came him a moment to consider what happened.
It clearly had someone way to mitigate blunt force damage. Maybe some kind of shock absorption? Regardless, it would seem that this creature is very durable, he would have to take out some of his special armaments.
As he took out a familiar yellow spear from the gate, something odd occurred.
A sense of foreboding, his instincts were screaming at him to be cautious.
The space above the creature shattered. A hole of emptiness opened up and something smashed down into the ground.
A clump of black, a mass of something that writhed and pulsated as it reformed into something somewhat resembling a humanoid.
Everyone in the area stopped what they were doing. Eraser head and his opponent also stopped to look at the intruder.
It's features were indistinguishable, except for its eyes. It had three eyes, the third was right above its left. A moment later it's 'body' launched forward and latched onto Nouma. The villain did not put up any struggle what-so-ever as it had not capacity to think anymore. It was no different than dead.
The villain began to warp, change into something even more vile than it was previously. The familiar third eye sprouted from the creature's new face. A dark-shadow like cloak blanketed its entire being. A scythe-like blade protruded from its left forearm.
Then it did something that sent a chill down Alex's back, something he would probably never forget.
It smiled.
"Eraser head, you need to leave now. This is no longer you're fight." Alex said as his eyes never left the creature.
The hero was stunned for a moment, not processing what was going on as his opponent was now walking towards the creature.
"….Noumu? Whats going on Noumu I told you to-" He didn't finish his sentence as the creature slapped him away. His figured disappeared into one of the rescue areas at the far side of the facility.
"GO" Alex yelled as he charged towards the creature.
He would have no time to watch over the hero. This wasn't like any of the previous shadows he'd fought before. This was definitely the strong one, the intermediate shadow as his boss had called it.
There was no way to tell what kind of strength this creature was now wielding since he took over Noumu's body. He would have to be careful.
With Gae Buidhe in his hand, he thrust the spear forward.
The yellow rose of mortality, it was an anti-immortal weapon in a sense. It negated healing factors so it was a good weapon against this creature.
The creature swung his scythe-blade down at the same time, if a bit faster. If Alex continue this thrust, he would be on the losing end of the exchange. Instead, he tilted the back of the spear up to intercept the blow.
His body shuddered at the weight behind the blade.
The creature's physical strength was higher than his now by several levels. It's speed was probably higher as well.
Instead of continuing to shoulder the weight, he allowed the blade to slide of as he shifted his body and used the momentum to spin around, the back of the spear being sent to collide with the creature's face.
It knocked the shadow back slightly as he followed up with a spin to the spear to turn it around as the spear head came flying up from underneath the creature.
The shadow jumped back to avoid the blow, though a small line of blood was left in the air after the exchange as the spear dripped ever so slightly.
It was just a small cut on its face, nothing exceptional.
Given the moment to breath, Alex pushed his reinforcement through his limbs, any bit would help right now.
At the last exchange he was able to deduce a few things about the creature. It's strength and speed were most definitely above his, but it's technique was nonexistent.
He could work with this, though he wasn't sure if his enemy noticed this as well. It did well to jump back to avoid damage, so maybe it has enough experience to know its own flaws.
In this stand off, he noticed something happening in the surroundings. A black fog started to grab all the unconscious villains that were still around and teleport them away.
That meant, he didn't have to worry about the surroundings.
A couple hundred golden portals open up in the area, it was almost like a solid wall of gold as they all had weapons point out.
He began to rain down noble phantasms onto the creature, incorporating an immortal killer every so often to try to take it off guard, though by how the shadow he slayed previously acted, they have some kind of instinct towards danger.
The normal weapons wouldn't do much, the regenerative abilities of Noumu would heal him right up and he didn't know if regeneration was an innate ability to shadows.
Even if it didn't, the quirk that provided regeneration had to have some kind of limit. It had to draw it's power from somewhere inside the creature's body.
As the onslaught of noble phantasm came to an end, the creature stood there, defiantly.
It had wounds but they began to heal once again, though a discernible eye would notice at a slower rate.
With spear in one hand, he took out another weapon from the gate. The blue crystal sword he used before and he charged once again.
The slight increase in speed and strength might be enough to give it a surprise.
It met his spear with its own blade as Alex swung the sword in his left hand towards the creature.
The ice that followed in its wake erupted into a large hand that caught the blade. The creature's right arm began to freeze at the touch. He abandoned both weapons as he proceeded to bring out a third.
Another spear that he used earlier.
"GAE BOLG" He roared as he thrust the spear forward.
The reverse of causality causing it to pierce towards the creature's heart.
The red beam-like energy shot forth and collided with its' heart. The shadow let out a screech as it ripped out it's frozen arm and swung it towards Alex's chest.
The force of the punch breaking the sound barrier as it collided with his armor. He was sent flying back, off his feet, and into the nearby wall.
He pulled himself up from the rubble that formed at the impact. His knees a little wobbly as he took a moment to steady himself. His armor had shattered at the blow. The point of impact was left with a hole as cracks formed from its epicenter.
He could feel several broken ribs, and that probably wasn't even the worst of it. He coughed up blood as he was trying his best to steady his breathing.
No doubt his attack also did damage to the creature in some capacity. Though he honestly didn't know if it was a good trade. It was possible he only damaged the body that was playing host to the shadow.
Alex looked at his foe who was looking back at him. He was trying to read it's expression, was it amused?
The hole in its chest was being covered up, but it wasn't regeneration. The black substance that formed a cloak over the creature merely covered it up, indicating that the damage was not healable. There was at least some good news that came out of that exchange.
The creature's physical prowess should have been lowered somewhat if it's heart is no longer beating.
Alex forced himself steady as he brought forth invisible air and began to unravel it. He knew his own blade best.
It's holy light shined brightly as he once again engaged his foe.
He swung his blade and it was met with his opponents. Both of them blurred as each went for a strike
Though the creature was being pushed back slightly. A few cuts here and there a small wound every so often.
It wasn't noticeable at first. A deflect here, a riposte there. A side step at a crucial moment. Small gains leading to accumulated damage on the creature's body. It still was relying on its brute strength and speed while Alex was minimizing his movements and responding with overwhelming technique. He took advantage of small openings when possible and never let the creature retaliate.
He noticed as the fight continued that none of the wounds were healing anymore.
The heart was probably the origin of the healing quirk. Or that the body was truly dead at this point and so his quirk was no longer functioning. He could tell that it's speed and strength dropped a bit but was still above his own.
At a pivotal moment, he saw an opening. He quickly cut off his reinforcement and used a [Mana burst] to knock away the creature's blade hand.
With the opening, he recentered himself as he swung Excalibur down at the creature.
Just as the blade was about to collide, the shadow that was wrapped around the villain suddenly shifted as it leapt backwards. The swing finished as it sliced Noumu in half but as he brought the blade down, several tendrils of black energy short forth at him.
He tried his best to dodge or block with his blade, only one getting past his defense as it was about to pierce his eye. He quickly brought his left hand up as it pierced through his palm. He clutched down as to not let it go any further before using Excalibur with one hand to chop off the extended tendril.
The piece that was lodged inside his hand dissolved as it was disconnected from the shadow but the wound was still present. His left hand would be not much use for the remainder of the fight.
But his opponent also lost it's trump card.
Now was the matter of what the shadow would do. How would it attack him? Would it used it's range to wear him down, or maybe take on a humanoid form and let it's core be exposed to fight him like the last one?
He still had options to continue fighting either way, his prana was above half still.
Of all the scenario's that Alex was going through in his head, it did something completely beyond his expectations.
It's 'arms' short out off to the side and did something strange. Space 'broke' as it continued on only to stop and retract backwards bringing with it two more entities.
Two more shadows were sitting in wait as they were battling.
Alex was dumbfounded....as it threw the other two shadows at him and suddenly shot back into the air and escaped through its own tear in space it created previously before it closed up.
The other two shadows appeared to be just as stunned as he was at the whole situation.
But he had no time to think about it right now, he had to take care of these lest they escape as well.
He dismissed Excalibur, he couldn't activate it's ability without the use of his left hand. His best chance was to finish these two off quick, they were much weaker than the intermediate one, probably about the same as the one from the other day, maybe even weaker.
Alex took out a blade he wasn't too fond of as it reminded him too much of his Caliburn. It also had an obscene prana cost to activate, but it was the best use at the moment.
He held the blade up as he swung it down with one arm.
"Merodach."
A cleansing light shot out at one of the shadows as the other shot back towards the rip in space.
The blade had a similar effect as Caliburn but on a higher level as it was the original. And Caliburn's effect was similar to Excalibur as it was the 'prototype' for Excalibur. It essentially released a beam of light same as the aforementioned blades.
He wouldn't give this last shadow the chance to escape.
A large ripple opened up infront of where the tear in space was and a giant-jagged blade came forth. It's edge searing as it swung out from the ripple at the shadow.
"Sul-Sagana"
Flames erupted in its wake as it collided with the hysterical creature.
The black writhing mess was burnt to ashes in the wake of the divine construct. The flames covered a large area at the mere swing of the blade.
As he confirmed the kill, he collapsed down to the ground and dismissed any wayward weapon back into the gate.
His hand was bleeding profusely, and he could feel his chest aching in pain.
This was the most beaten up he'd gotten in a long time and he didn't even manage to finish off his foe. He felt something ding from withing his tablet as he took it out to check.
It indicated his mission was finished and he could choose to return now or in 12 hours.
"Theres nothing here for me and I'm in pain. No point in staying any longer." He sighed as he pressed to return.
His body began to dissipate as he finally disappeared from that world for good.
