6 - Second Encounter

...There was a time when father and mother rarely left the house unless it was for shopping.

Neither parent did answer as to why they did so but it was possible that he was too young to know the reason. He never asked in fact, he could only ponder in his head the way he would go around asking such question and even then, the happy expression his mother showed was something that caused him to be confused on the occasion.

The two spoke with difficult words he couldn't understand until they laughed and hugged each other. He too was dragged by his father when he was spotted.

What was happening?

Months had gone by and his mother looked to be tired and had been resting more than usual. His father had taken up as a substitute for his mother to cook him food. It was an unusual thing to see, his father sticking around the house more than a few days. Perhaps it was because of his mother's health that was issue which led to the man stopping the boy from disturbing her as much.

"Why is mum tired so much?" He asked a simple question, the man looked up from his own breakfast and coughed in his hand.

The memories was jumbled, he explained something while looking embarrassed or perhaps awkward of the situation given to him, caused by his question.

"Your mother is..." the words was lost to him as to what his father had said. He had long forgotten and was unable to understand what he was talking about.

All he knew was that he couldn't understand the word and such meaning until he noticed his mother's change of appearances months later.

XXX

He opened his eyes before closing it immediately due to the colourful brightness of the area. The sand having a soft texture, there was no pebbles as such so the fact of lying doing on the sand did not cause him any bumps to hinder. He waited for until his eyes adjusted to the light before sitting up and looking around, he was still inside the white scenery of nothingness alongside the golden statue.

How long has he been stuck here, the statue never answered the simplest of question. It felt as if days had passed, yet the scenery never changed, it was never dark, nor was the very atmosphere any different to when he first arrived here.

He had experienced something that he felt bizarre from every little actions he performed inside here, the very feeling of his body getting damaged before healing itself as if never existing. It was the method the statue had presented as a method training Joshua had undertook since arriving here. Attacking, Defending, Healing, and repeat. His body grew fatigue but was recovered due to the orbs and golden aura which scattered across his body by the statue's command. While the usage of his ability in controlling magic continued, he felt a surge of familiarity with it as if the power itself was like breathing.

The usual feeling of hunger was abnormal which continued to grow ever since he entered the tower, when he asked the situation regarding this, he realised that the situation was due to his unconscious usage of magic. "…Thy hunger will increase the more magic is used. Magic is merely another source of energy which tires the body while the necessity of sustenance becomes desirable."

"What happens if I ignore it?"

"…Is it the same as simply lacking less energy to perform at your current peak. Nothing more."

"That's nice."

He had attempted to leave soon after however, his request was replied with silence as with everything else soon after but the consistent of those green orbs which are dropped from the sky when his use of magic was extinguished or depleted, such method soon led to restoring his requirement of his hunger even if the texture and taste disgusted him from consuming it.

There was little change to his improvement to any kind of physical arts performed, while he did not grow in strength or power even with some the ability to use magic to somewhat increase his strength, it did nothing in comparison to the demon's natural strength. And so, he proceeded to another solution of increasing his proficiency of using the sword at his hand.

Working with his flows of magic, he had tried to understand the precise structure of how it worked, it was to merely have a way to see in what he was doing wrong when doing anything else, the idea of shooting a magic ball from his hand was scrapped when the magic fizzled away immediately after leaving several distance from his body.

It was a failure, nothing more. He lacked a variety of understanding of the concept of magic and improving such ability was pointless when he had no further knowledge of the ability to wield magic.

The only magic ability that he could perform was to materialise an object; a crystal panel shaped like a hexagon. A flat two dimensional shape which floated around his hand, he had simply copied the very design and structure of the craft and made more.

The result was for it to have multiplied enough to circle around him and cover him inside a teal circle. Was the design chosen because he thought of it as such, or maybe this type of materialised magic was already created and he had simply manifested the very skill. Either thoughts looked to be plausible.

The magic ability was called; [Shield], a simple name and gave enough explanation as to what the ability was meant to do. Yet Joshua decided the ability could do more than just protect him even if it was the only thing such ability could do in his hand. And so, he decided to call it [Barrier]. It sounded better to him and the subconscious of the boy had fully imprinted the very idea of thoughts when casting the very skill.

It looked as though that when a spell had been learnt and has been performed. The very mind has created the very formula of the spell in order for it to be used for later purposes. It was probably another reason as to why the knowledge of sorcerer having used many types of magic without forgetting any of it. They were imprinted to the mind in order for them to cast the spell without creating the very basis of the casting process once more.

He had no understanding of the creation of the shield and so, he had to start from the basis with melding the energy unto something simple before having started creating the very formula.

However, the success rate all followed the same pattern. And that was using parts of the ability he had received, the barrier skill which was the most basics of the basics for magicians but to him, it was the only thing he had which allowed him to prevent those gruesome injuries to have hit him at all.

He was still stuck in the void dimension, the shadow on the ground showed something was in the air, hovering. The area was invisible but the slight wave of distorted air showed the general area of the golden statue.

No, the statue said it herself, it was called the Divinity Statue.

It was tiresome to move his arm, his muscles screaming for rest but he knew the moment he did so would the aftermath soon happen. There was no reason to worry since the muscle pain would heal in this place until he left.

The areas which was surrounded with demons stood around him in a circle. Some sands were present but they were minimum to the amount that covered his surroundings.

"...Not understanding thou limits will always prove to cause failure..."

So that was the reason his head was pulsing. The pain was nauseous and distracting from focusing at a single thing at a time. Before he knew it, he threw up blood. His eyes watering while he kneeled on both knees. The taste of metal present to his dry lips.

He was shocked at the droplets of tears in his eyes was mucky and thick, he wiped it away to realise that it too was blood leaking out from his eye sockets.

"…This too comes with the very risk of overusing more than what thy body could truly handle."

That wasn't helping, he wanted to argue but the feeling of something building up once more arose and he spat out more blood.

"Protecting..." Joshua panted out with a grim expression to his face. The sweat which was on his face dripping off his face to the floor. "What's the point of having this power to protect when I can't even use it properly."

"...The power bestowed is used by many from the will and belief."

"And I don't have that?"

XXX

The statue said nothing else, the boy was an anomaly. He had it, there was no fault and yet the world disagrees with him. He is someone which contradicts the paths of humanity as of this current time.

The very ability was useless to remember and was long forgotten. Yet the boy, knew different with minimum keys given. The construction of the barrier the boy created was to protect himself from damage as well as reduce the amount he would have received from a severe attack.

However, the idea to implement the spiritual energy along with the little ability of the barrier was unconsciously applied, allowing more density to the fist of his attack. The created barrier was to be constructed with the ideal of indestructible.

It will improve the more it's used, it will become natural to him and that was something the statue was predicting. If only to make sure the boy can handle everything that is thrown to him.

How dreadful, to see a child so young. Having lost many things, he pushed on. There were others yet they could only grovel and weep unlike the boy.

The anger he holds is something which is beyond his body. If demons were powered from human fear and blood. Then was it anger that fuelled humans to become stronger in certain burst.

Humans were just a fickle beings to behold yet interesting to watch as well.

XXX

The statue's radiance scattered, spreading around the boy.

The coughing was slowing stopping as well as the pulsing of his head. The demons which was spread out disappeared like dust as they did like they appeared. "Does thou remember what you shall heed?"

The boy brought himself up. The sword which was to the side was collected and placed back to the sheath.

"The act providing power wasn't meant for us. I should take listen to your words, right?"

"...Indeed. A fair warning, the power thy possess is diluted with fury. Only when one is truly resolved with acceptance of thyself would true power be fully revealed to thee."

XXX

He whipped his head back before looking at the area. He was where he let off. The statue near to the side while the sword he held still touching the statue.

'The power thy possess is diluted with fury.' Looking at his hand, a small glow of green aura swerved around his hand. What did diluted mean? He didn't know. The statue spoke as if related to his spiritual energy.

Clenching his hand, the aura evaporated and so did the warm feeling which grew of use of it.

He had never realised it however, whatever that shaped core did to him. The feeling inside his body was more...different, the warmth felt as though it was ever present, as if telling the boy the energy was proving it's existence within him.

The warmth was spread around inside the body. He had just not noticed it properly enough with the scenario placed upon him inside the dimension.

The feeling wasn't unusual to the body and felt adapted if he didn't notice it immediately. Was this truly his power to begin with? Who was he kidding, none of this power was earned but received.

Bringing the sword back, he returned it back to his sheath before checking his body. The pain he received inside the dimension felt real, or maybe it was all in his head.

Something related to the nervous system in action perhaps. It was talked about during school with the people who were wearing school uniforms. They would probably know what diluted means as well.

Stepping back in front of the statue, he proceeded onwards in the area. The pedestal which was in the centre towards each of the three coloured door.

"Passing one trial still shows lacking"

"Passing two trials expands horizon."

"Passing all trials unlocks your full potential."

Joshua wondered what the trials would be like, however he wasn't expecting anything. The image of the three gems already set in the statue's slot was probably already solved, meaning that who took the item completed all of the three trials.

Did that mean the item itself was the potential, or was it more of a riddle that was just different in demon terms.

He didn't know, demons was always vastly different to humans in the first place. Either way, the trials was meant for a demon, not for a human like him.

"There's no point then..." Deciding to not go ahead, he returned back to the statue which had the three gems embedded, passing by the golden statue which showed no source of interacting once more.

The memories of the battle he had showed him something that the boy now understood well. Even if he obtained skills and ability to defeat others. It would be useless if there was no time to ready them and be surrounded with no clear areas to retreat.

He was small so the space was made quickly enough by going between their legs and such. But that too was his own disadvantage against heavier and stronger demons.

The boy had to remember what he had told himself to do before entering the tower. Before even encountering the statue and that lady as well. He needed to be cautious, getting angry was only good if he could maintain it properly with control, something he didn't have a leash in.

He walked towards the wreckage with new resolves to his every steps. Grabbing the hilt, allowing the blue aura to form the thin sharp blade.

His hand clenched the hilt tightly. The air moving in a wave around his very arm before fiery of green glow started to soon appear with light flickers.

Nearing the weapon to his chest, the blade aimed upwards, the green aura grew as the boy closed his eyes.

He concentrated for that warm energy he had felt not to long ago.

The small two dimensional hexagons, the size so small that it looked to only be seen as a molecule. There were only few but those amounts flared out the aura of teal which swayed around his fist as if the flames was trying to melt his very skins.

The feeling of the warmth grew hot, it flowed slowly to the blade, before increasing in speed.

The separate strands of aura soon started merging together, combining. Joshua had thought of using the durability of the [Barrier] to other concepts rather than just defending him, and this such method in what he was currently doing was one of them.

It was not meant for that purpose and yet, it was what his mind made up. His imagination was coming into play into believing that he could sue the magic ability to something like this.

The image was nothing cool like a superhero would have. Flashy was something he had dreamed when he watched something a hero had in the movie and he dressed up like them.

No. This was real, flashy moves wasn't something he can waste and he understood that the moves they use can never be a good idea when everything was perfect.

The concentrated speed, accuracy and momentum was all performed. He didn't have that, he was only capable to the amount of what he learnt and nothing else.

The aura which swelled the blue blade brighten, encasing the blade with the a green glow. The noise sounded as if it was flared by an oven cooker when turned on.

Opening his eyes, the form which was left was that of the blade growing into that of a large claymore in a way. The green hexagons forming such thing. It's design was left to be more than what was desired, it didn't look fancy, the weapon looked too big for his size.

The weapons looked to have grown into that of something that was similar to a claymore the slight curve of the blade followed the original construct of the blue blade.

It was 170cm long but the weight was not present towards him.

No...he was lying to himself. The shaking of his feet was becoming unsettling. He was unable to hold the weapon properly with one hand, maybe even with two hands he would even struggle.

The weight became too unbearable that the weapon would have smacked him from  above his head. His eyes widened as his arms started to tremble with the little strength he had to hold on to it.

His hand started to become moist as did the grip of the weapon. Joshua quickly leaped back while letting go of the weapon.

Watching the hilt make impact with the ground while the blade fell towards the pathway.

The loud crack and dust soon appeared blocking his vision from what occurred. He covered his eyes with his arm. Grunting while some pebbled had came close, hitting his arm.

The pain was though reduced with the barrier which cloaked his body. It had still hurt his body which only meant the skill was not fully used properly.

He still needed more understanding to this ability. The constant heal was applied to him when he practice using the energy, but outside there was nothing to heal him but himself. He still needed to be cautious as always he reminded himself.

The dust had soon subsided, allowing him to see the clear action of the weapon which he had dropped.

He looked in pure disbelief as the result which was left was for the wreckage to split in the centre before falling to the sides when the impact of the weapon had touched the ground. The recoil hurting his arm but not worse than the blockage and such which was scattered from his sight.

The cracked created was something that he can slip through. His small body gave him leverage to do so, thought the constant contact from what he carried did caused him to be hindered for a second.

He looked to the weapon was well stuck on the door. Nothing which showed of it being loose or willing to leave its place. The now claymore looking weapon's green glow looked to be blinking, the aura dimming ever so slightly.

Grabbing a hold of the hilt of the weapon. The aura evaporated instantly and the rush of the energy was soon felt. It was a different feeling, the energy he had used seemed to have been absorbed inside his body, but only a few while the remains was lost and forgotten.

The blue glow soon arose once more before disappearing when he had placed the weapon back to the sheath.

His magic energy can be recovered with a moment of rest from what the information was accessible to his mind. Although his hunger would increase, it wasn't something that would cause him any harm if he resisted such temptation from eating the green orbs.

He was glad to thoroughly understand a breathing pattern when moving, though quite roughly. It settled his use of constant depletion of stamina since didn't allow him to continue on for long. But when did he really stop at this point, a moment of break was always a disaster ready to happen in this place.

The matter at hand was that things have changed even worse than before. The image of the blue devil looking down at him while it stood there menacingly.

Walking further up will have demons stronger and perhaps smarter than what he had faced before. Maybe the [Barrier] was in fact a blessing as well as a curse.

He can protect himself from harm and others, yet who can he protect with the ones he wanted to no longer alive. A skill which only reminds him of his failure to do anything in fear.

His emotion started to build up with sorrow once again before replaced with anger. The memories of the arm he had lost, the girl possessed demon who stabbed him playing in his mind.

The statue said in a way to control himself but, how can he when everything was only building his hate for everything.

Joshua looked at the door which was now free from its shackles while the ground was left with a slight scorch to where the strike had ended.

The results was good enough. He can now walk further ahead.

XXX

The king climb was something she couldn't make a single mistake in. The launcher she carried with her was used as a foothold, she was glad to have armed herself with a grappling hook pistol. Now that she thought about it, she should have given this to the boy rather than a simple rope with a hook at the end.

How pathetic of her, a small boy with a simple grappling hook with his strength won't be able to utilise it well with only one arm at that. An idiotic decision but, it was a given in a way as well.

She had hopes for the boy to be still alive, but she wasn't actually expecting anything around here when demons swarmed everywhere. The boy was probably killed by a demon which had spotted him.

It was a shame that he died so young then, but at the very least. The boy's torment and suffering was ended and he could now rest peacefully.

?!

She narrowed her eyes, her ears twitching when noticing the slight sounds of footsteps. Whoever it was, the sound was coming close to the edge slowly.

The sound of steps was light. There was no sense of danger yet she did not bring her lose her wariness to the unknown.

she brought out her gun, aiming directly at the presence which was nearing her direction.

Her eyes focused on the hilt of a weapon. An unearthly blue glow coming from it which only indicated to her that this presence was just another demon. She should be quiet and let it go if they didn't notice her yet.

She was at a disadvantage from down here but so was the demon if they can only fight at close range. That is if the fear of falling from this distance was something demons had inside them as well.

The presence looked to have stopped its motion and as doing so, the head was looming over to maybe perhaps have noticed her presence. How though was the question.

*Bang!*

She pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet impact near the slight clothed flesh only for it to have hit some sort of bulletproof glass. The sound it gave out wasn't the same as such but it was the only way to describe it.

The result was a sphere being revealed around the being, rotating at a constant pace. The crack from the action of her gun being fixed a few seconds before shrinking to coat the body of the being.

Her eyes widening when looking at the presence closer, she had thought him to be dead long ago now. How was he alive, how did he get here? There was many questions she wanted to ask but one of them would be something she would guess would not be answered.

The boy looked down with narrowed eyes of his own while pulling out his gun to point downwards. No doubt due to the fact of being attacked first, and the boy was only responding back with his own retaliation.

It was only by luck that the boy was unable to utilise a gun properly and as such missed her direction miles away.

He looked surprised when he noticing the teen girl to have been stuck, her launcher being used as a place for her to not fall and stand on.

She showed no slight expression to her face from what she had done previously, however she started sweating to what she had done this time around, knowing that she nearly killed the same human boy again due to her own 'cautious' state.

She had almost killed the child twice. As if reading her mind, the boy spoke dryly at her, "I really do have to be more careful about who I know in here..." he sounded angry and she had no reason to deny his fury to what she did.

She didn't say anything but watch the sphere which had a slight glow coat his whole body.

It was weird looking at it but not unusual. Demons were capable of magic which also gave them the edge against humans who didn't know how to fight back, but that did not mean Humans were unable to do so as well, it was only the fact that the most common known method was...inhumane.

By that, it related to sacrificing your beloved just like that 'Man' did. However, even she could tell the boy did no such thing. No human to be inside this forsaken tower except for probably herself if she was to exclude the boy.

It had to have been recent since her first encounter with him showed no signs of the unnatural signs of him able to be wielded it in the first place, that was certain.

He must have achieve it purely from a strange method though unknown to many. It was hard to actually believe that she would see a human boy be the first to have achieved such things.

"Help me out, Kid?" She asked the boy who didn't lose his gaze on her though she took it as a plus when the boy placed his gun back to the holster; the gun she gave it would seem.

"Fine..."

She watched him step back from the edge causing her to no longer see him from her view before a rope was thrown to the side, reaching near her.

She had to wonder as to how he would pull her up with the difference of gravity between them.

She was heavier than him meaning that she had more weight to be carried which the boy lacked. "You have to make sure it's stuck in place, okay?!"

"I know!" She nodded to the boy which was idiotic if the boy couldn't see her do so in his direction. After a few minutes, she was given the go ahead to start climbing.

Wrapping the rope around her waist. She can only trust that the boy had something which can hold her without losing grip. Returning her hook shot back to place as well as getting ready to lose her footing on her launcher, she braced herself to see the work of gravity.

After a few minutes, she noticed no strain as such from her weight and took it as the initiative to start climbing. The launcher soon pulled from its perch of the wall and was tightly returned to her back.

Her hand now free, she gripped the rope before placing her foot on the tower. Climbing it with every few steps. The distance wasn't that far from where she previously started after the encounter with the white haired demon but alas, she soon arrived to the space which the boy was at.

The rope was attached to the blue weapon. It looked to have changed colour slightly to a lighter shade to that nearing cyan. It was larger and similar in size with the launcher itself. The ground which the weapon stabbed was cracked but was stationed and unmoving.

How did it get so big in the first place? Was it a devil arm perhaps, that couldn't be possible, could it?

She untied herself while the boy did the same to the hilt of the weapon, spectating with amazement as the cyan weapon diminished into a simple blue glow before that too disappeared when he returned it back to the sheath.

The hilt of the weapon she had given him was there as well as the kitchen knife he previously had but looked to have changed colour. It was bloody she could tell, when looking at it closer, the slight sharpness was crooked and becoming dull with constant use without any care.

It confused her as to how that could happen unless the boy had dealt with several demons or had merely recklessly used it for other purposes.

Imagining the young boy using just a knife and a gun was quite surprising to actually think as something capable.

She watched the boy sigh in relief when noticing that some of the aura had went back to his arm while the rest left with the air to be forgotten. Sitting down, the boy brought out a glass star shaped object which contained green fluids.

Interesting. That was actually a vitality potion created by using demons to recover from damages. It was apparently a texture only demons could enjoy the taste of but, looking at the boy, the slight disgusted look he gave showed explanation of the difference between the taste of a demon and human.

There was no sense of suspicion to the view of the aura playing out as a trick in the mind of her head. She had experienced enough supernatural throughout her life as of now to know that anything can occur.

Looking at the sphere which rotated around the boy. 'Including seeing a human using magic of some sort.' Nevertheless, the question that came up towards the situation was as to how he was able to get such power in a matter of few hours from when they last saw each other. But knowing the boy and from her not so friendly reaction to his appearance, she wouldn't be getting any possible answers from him.

Well that too was fine, she didn't really want to prolong her thoughts towards the boy, that too related to the human like demon with the red jacket.

Still, she watched the boy cough out some blood before drinking the same green fluid once again. No matter how indifferent she felt towards anyone of this situation. He was still a child with no where else to escape with demons surrounding the whole city, along with the tower that's responsible for such as mess as well.

"Hey...you alright kid?"

The question caused the boy to look at her as she showed a somewhat worried expression. Joshua didn't feel alright at all, even with the dispensable green liquid which reduced the pain and eased him. His insides continued to shake as if having a conscious of its own, the core must have been the very reason behind this since the pain was originating from there since the beginning. "Y-Yeah..." subtle, the answer didn't show any real proof of him being fine but she was aware to not press on, the two had different purposes coming here to begin with.

XXX

The child didn't know at the time while using his power consistently, he was eating up his reserves. Everything had a source, as would a car requires petrol oil to start the engine, the same could be said for magic as well.

XXX

The light rest had helped him and yet the aching feeling he had at his core was continued with its shaking although lessened. Joshua sneaked a glance at the teen girl. The boy didn't know what to say to the teen besides him other than being less fatigued than him.

Maybe it was the physique difference between the two but even so, surely she didn't come upon here first with no scratches at all. That was impossible right? No. With the way she holds herself, she's definitely experienced enough to take care of any situations with any type of ammunition she has stocked up somewhere.

'Guess I should move now.' Deciding so, he stood up getting the teen's attention as he turned away to have her see his back. Pulling the sword away from where he had stabbed the ground before sheathing it back to place.

"Hold up a sec." Joshua halted and looked back at the girl, she seemed to have been looking through something from her belt pockets. Was he getting a replacement for the bayonet? Didn't seem like it as there was no reason to place one there in the first place.

He raised a brow when she revealed a gun which had a grappling hook at the muzzle.

!!

Walking towards her quickly, he looked at the item before looking at her directly again. "An upgrade for the rope I gave before." It was definitely an upgrade but it was suspicious to give something this useful if there wasn't something she wanted.

"What do you want?"

She shook her head and only pointed at the rope he had, glancing at it, he widened his eyes noticing the hook being broken along with the rope nearly losing some strands enough to be pulled.

"A replacement for that, it'll be more useful since...you know." She glanced at his left limbless part which he nodded to, though it annoyed him just remembering it. "Before you even ask, I have mine already with this," parting the launcher she had which had the bayonet showed it's use for more than just stabbing others.

"Thank you." He thanked her and she looked surprised at the action but brushed it away immediately, at least the kid had some manners. "Take care, Gun Girl..." Taking the item from her and place it on an now empty holster, he walked away towards the next door to his right which was made out of wood, the metal design parallel from two sides.

"...Gun Girl huh"