15 Assassin's Apathy

*****

In the living room of the Blade manor, all the Glades and Arthur's parents were sitting on the sofas with worry etched upon their faces. The rooms' atmosphere was tense and the silence was palpable. All were concerned about what had just happened in the fight to Arthur that he would beat up Aaron so badly.

Aaron was quickly healed with a potion. Although his injuries weren't that serious and could be healed with rest and normal medical equipment, but the way Arthur had beat him up, it was no doubt that scars would be left on his face if a potion wasn't used. But thankfully, only a low-rank potion was needed, he was good now and was unconscious.

Aaron's mother, Natasha was only calm right because of two reasons. One, because of her respect of Alice, her best friend and the fact that Aaron was fully healed now without any injuries. Two, deep inside she knew that Arthur hadn't done it intentionally and something must have happened. But if something mentally happened to Aaron and he would fall into a long depression, then Natasha would personally guarantee Arthur's suffering no matter the cause or excuse.

Deep inside, Natasha was also immensely surprised at Arthur as well. His strength was too much for a 7 year old. The real fight between him and Aaron had not even lasted 5 seconds, before Aaron was blasted to the ground without even landing a strike on him. Moreover, he completely destroyed the [Solar Guard] barrier with his [Abyssal Shroud] kick, which was supposed to have been weaker due to [Darkness] being weaker against [Light]!

"What happened back there? Did something bad happen to Arthur?" She calmly inquired.

"I don't know, it's the first time I've seen him like this, he always respects others no matter what and although anti-social on the outside, has never ignored someone's pleads and disregarded them like this," Alice answered with worry. Out of everyone in the room, she was the most worried one about Arthur. As her mother, she always thought of him as a calm, reasonable and gentle boy. It was the first time she was seeing this side of her boy.

Nolan nodded in approval of her words and further added to clarify,

"This is also the first time I've seen him like this, so cold and emotionally unstable. Not in my whole life with him, have I seen him like this that he would completely shut off to my commands."

But even so, just like Natasha, Nolan couldn't help but deep inside be proud of his son's strength as he beat up Aaron. At that moment in the fight, he saw the old man in his son. Although the most reasonable, gentle, calm and pliant person on the outside, but when he was fighting or at war, the man was a literal nuclear force on the battlefield with completely no regards to his opponents' pleads or the commands from him side to stop. Christopher Blade would become a completely changed man on the battlefield, especially when his family was involved. The man put his family above everything else in his life.

"Personally, I don't believe Arthur had done it intentionally. The whole time he was so nice to me and Aaron both, even stopping me from ruining Aaron's mood and he was never, not even for a moment, annoyed or angry with me or Aaron." Sophia interrupted Nolan's thought, with worry in her voice.

All the people sitting were shocked and their eyebrows shot up at Sophia's statement. She used the word "believe" instead of "think", conveying to everyone that even though her brother was injured, she didn't doubt for a moment that Arthur had done it intentionally. And she literally meant it because she found Arthur to be quite interesting and likeable because unlike her brother, Sophia and Arthur had many things in common.

Before anyone one could say anything, the door of the living room opened and Aaron walked in, fully healed like nothing had happened. Natasha quickly embraced her son and Aaron also spoke out in Arthur's favor, even though he had just been beaten to a pulp.

"Yeah, I don't think he hit me for any personal reason or anything. The whole time we were fine even when we went up the stage but as soon as the fight was going to begin, I noticed a change in his whole being."

Alice nodded and then she spoke the biggest of her worries,

"But what do we even do, he won't come out of his room, no matter what. We can't solve the problem until at least we can speak to him."

Silence followed after he statement, but after a minute Aaron decide to come up with a solution,

"Let me and sister Sophia go, I'm sure we can sort it out between us and will open the door."

Sophia also agreed to his solution and decided that she would go to him and try to sort it out with him. Nolan also voiced out his approval of this method,

"Yeah, I think we should let the kids go, sometimes they understand each other better and can sort it out between themselves by their own."

At Nolan's approval, Alice and Natasha also decided to agree that maybe this would work and the kids set off to Arthur's room.

****

Right now, Arthur was sitting on his bed along with Hades trying to figure out what had just happened to him back there. After leaving the grounds, he had immediately come to his room and locked it to try to give himself some solitude to calm himself and his mental mind. As soon as he saw the devilish grin on Aaron back there he lost control of himself.

But it was not rage, Arthur had never been the one to lose his emotions and especially in rage, except for when the things he cared about were hurt. Even as an assassin, he always kept his emotions in control not just because of his job but he learned early that emotions would only be the death of him. Rather, he tried to be reasonable, calm and patient which were his valuable qualities in his previous life not just as an assassin but as a simple man in the society as well.

This was pure emotionlessness and it was like another person had just taken control of him that would always prioritize his goals and ambitions before anything, even his own safety. He didn't know what had happened before suddenly, an idea popped up that might just show the reason for his earlier fight.

'[Status]' He called in his mind

Instantly, like always, a blue holographic window materialized in front of his eyes,

_____________________

Name: Arthur Blade

Class: [Swordsman]

Title: -

Age: 7 years

Stigmata: Darkness, Death (unmanifested)

Stigmata Affinities: Darkness(Deity) Death(Deity)

Stigmata Talent: Empyreal

Stigmata Rank: Novice (N)

Guardianus: Hades

Weapon Art: [Blade Sword Art: Proficiency 0.1%]

Stigmatical Skills: [Abyssal Shroud] [Umbral Veil] [Spectral Steps] [Obsidian Screen] [Nightfall Blind]

Skills: - >>> [Assassin's Apathy]

Pandemonium of the Olympians: [5 Years]

_____________________

 Arthur's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked at his skills tab. Though he expected that whatever had happened to him might be found in his [Status] screen, he never expected it to be a skill that was messing with him!

Skills and Spells have a fundamental difference in Luminastra. Spells are abilities that are created by a Fahr himself using his own abilities to use his stigmata and utilize it in different aspects using your own thinking and creativeness. Spells never appeared in your [Status] screen unlike Skills which had a proper tab in the [Status] screen. Skills are the abilities that are gained through a skill scroll by clearing a Labyrinth or bought from auctions or people who are willing to sell them. Skills could also be formed based on a persons life memories, actions, personality or experiences. Some Skills also required no mana but had a certain cooldown to them due to which that skill could not be used again. 

And from the name of the skill, Arthur realized that it must have been gained through his previous life experiences. But what was intriguing was that why now? Why was this skill not in his [Status] from the start when he had reincarnated. But he had no clues to this and so Arthur could only shrug and look at the skill's information,

'[Assassin's Apathy]'

Instantly, a smaller window materialized in front of him showcasing the skill and its use

_____________________

Skill Name: Assassin's Apathy

Skill Rank: Grandmaster+

Skill Description:

Forged from the life and memories of a ruthless assassin. Clears all emotions of the user leaving nothing but pure apathy behind. During the use of the skill, the users' mind prioritizes the goal's accomplishment and forgoes the user's safety and other priorities. At the time of use, all skills are 30% enhanced and in addition to this, mana capacity and and mana power are also enhanced to allow for better rational thinking and decision making.

Skill Cooldown: 6 Hours

______________________

Arthur almost leaped from his bed upon seeing the skills' rank. It was a [Grandmaster+] rank! The uses of the skill were also astonishing. Though the cooldown was long, but the abilities were far more valuable and profiting for the exchange of a 6 hour cooldown only. The only more downsides were that the skill would prioritize his goal than his safety until the goal was accomplished and this could be troublesome. But overall, it was a great skill that could be used in tight moments to have a boost in his strength.

Hades also seemed to agree with the skill as he spoke in Arthur's head,

[This is a good skill.]

Arthur nodded in approval but before he could contemplate further, a knock was heard on the door and Sophia's voice came through,

"Hey Arthur. It's me and Aaron, and I hope we can talk to you if you don't mind."

For a moment silence reigned, but then Arthur released a big sigh and now that he had calmed down, he was ready to face them and explain his excuse for losing his control. Then he stood up and walked to the door,

"Coming."

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Hello! Author here. Just wanted to tell that the Bonus chapter might be a little late and will be published late night due to some reasons. Thank you for your cooperation and hope you enjoy :) :>