Path to Victory
'The best way to win this spar fair and square, without getting into the limelight!'
[A new path has been set!]
[Next Path: Throw the sword at Caesar in the next 7 seconds.]
Huh?
Damm! This is risky, but it is worth it, I guess. As the countdown in my mind hit zero, I immediately mustered as much strength as possible and threw the sword at Caesar. This caused both Caesar and Irina to pause, as my move was extremely unexpected no matter what, and in fact, Caesar was caught off guard so much that he didn't even dodge and the wooden sword hit him straight in the face, causing him to stagger in pain, while Irina stood frozen. Looking at the scene with wide eyes.
[Next Path: Dash towards Irina and kick her right below her left lung, and immediately swing your left hand in a backward motion.]
There is no time to think; as soon as the path got updated, I did exactly as it said, as the distance between us was less than 5 feet, so it wasn't exactly hard to cover the distance in approximately 2 seconds; however, this time Irina had already recovered enough focus to look at me, who was rushing at her.
However, her actions were rather clumsy considering the quick time events were too much for her to handle, which is exactly what I needed. I lunged my right foot just below her left lung with my maximum power and forced the air from her lungs out, which in turn activated her gag reflex and caused her to spit out saliva. These thunderous events were enough to completely break her stance, and the katana flew out of her hand, which was caught by me as I swung my left hand backwards.
Well, what else was there? The match was over, and I pointed her own sword right at her neck.
Irina was clearly shocked and confused at what just happened. She looked at me with a mix of fear and surprise, realizing that she had just been defeated by a single move. Caesar was still recovering from the blow to his face, and he didn't seem to know how to react either.
I took a deep breath and decided to speak up: "I'm sorry I had to do that, but I needed to win this spar. I hope you can forgive me."
Irina slowly got up, rubbing her side where I had kicked her, and picked up her katana, which I dropped. She looked at me for a moment, and then a small smile appeared on her face. "You're really something. I never expected that kind of move from you. I'm impressed."
I let out a sigh of relief, feeling the tension in the air dissipate. "Thank you, I guess."
"But, meh! You still cheated in a way, but that doesn't change the fact that you won. I won't lose next time, remember that." she said with a pout as she pointed her sword at me.
Caesar finally managed to speak up, his voice slightly muffled due to the pain in his face. "You sly brat, Freed. You really had me going there for a minute." He barked as he rubbed his head and then turned to Irina and added, "And you, my dear, you still have a lot to learn about combat. But don't worry; with time and practice, you'll get there."
Irina could only nod in response. She had never seen anything like what just happened before, and she was still both amazed and a little shocked by the new guy who had just beaten her so easily.
"Still, you have won this fair and square, as deception is a fair tactic in war, so here is your prize, and Irina, as the loser, you will still have to face the penalty. Now go to your dorm room, and as for Freed, you follow me; I will show you your room." Caesar while throwing the black key at me. Irina meanwhile walked away with a sullen face as if nobody would want to be put on toilet cleaning duty, and that too for a week. *Sigh* Now I slightly feel bad for her, but it was a necessary sacrifice.
"Do you know what that dagger is?" Caesar asked with a smile, knowing that I most likely wouldn't have any idea about it—at least that is what he thought. While I, being the naive kid, asked with a curious face regarding what it is.
"It's called Black Key; it was an instrument developed by the church back in the 1800s, though it is commonly said that the prototype of this weapon was actually made by "God" himself, and he armed the church with weapons called Black Keys, which back in the day were the primary weapons used by the exorcists to fight against evil. As time passed on, humans figured out how to replicate the weapon and mass-produce it with the help of angels. Though the mass-produced version wasn't as strong as the ones made by the "God", they still were something as even a mass-produced black key is more powerful than a light blade due to the fact that it is a conceptual weapon; it's something precious, so don't lose it," Caesar explained with a smile as he showed me my dorm room.
"From tomorrow onwards your formal training will start; assemble at the main hall at 8 a.m." Caesar walked away without waiting for my reply. I looked at his back and sighed; this man is definitely strange.
I opened the dorm room and saw that it was a small, cramped room. The size of the room would be around 100 square feet, which would be considered the bare minimum for an adult to live in, but for a ten-year-old, it was spacious enough to be comfortable within it. The bed was made of solid steel, and the mattress was soft enough. A small study table was kept at the side of the bed, and an oil lamp was lit on the table, which was bright enough to light up the room.
It was a strange feeling, to see an oil lamp used as a main light source in a modern era, though I understand it's the year 2001, so some places might still be old-school, but still using oil lamps is a bit much, but again, considering this is the Vatican and especially the supernatural side of the Vatican, there isn't much to expect.
However, fortunately, the window was quite big and provided enough air for the room to be well-ventilated; at least I won't feel hot or suffocated.
As I lay on the bed and finally had some time to think of all that had happened, It still feels unreal getting transported to a fantasy world like this, and the bad part is I know very little about this world; it was the first time I regretted not finishing a cringe anime like High School DxD. If only I had more information...
Speaking of information, I didn't look into my power properly, did I?
'So whatever you are that guides me, are you there?' I asked while suppressing my urge to feel stupid about it.
[Yes.]
"I see, so what exactly are you?"
[I'm the ego of your ability, "Path to Victory."]
"Can you explain a bit more in detail?"
[You are the current user of "Path to Victory."]
[The user is capable of choosing from a certain pathway of choices, a number which will ensure the highest likelihood of making them victorious in any kind of outcome.]
[The user's power supplies them with whatever steps they need to take at the task they visualize, whether leading, governing, planning, combat, communicating, utilizing psychological manipulation, inventing, etc., or even flat-out controlling the environment through the use of super-powered pawns.]
[The user merely has to pick their conceptual desire and will find the series of steps required to attain their path to victory.]
[Though there are four absolute limitations on this.]
[1. Individuals capable of directly resisting the path to victory or by proxy (divine protection or intervention, reality wrapping, beings beyond the concept of fate) cannot be affected directly in the sequence of steps.
[Hint: The user can, however, make a hypothetical model based on the resistance and use that model in a hypothetical scenario to solve the problem.]
[2. If a task is absolutely impossible, no matter what plan or path one could use, it is still impossible. For example, user cannot simply make objects appear out of thin air or warp reality.]
[Hint: As long as there is even a minuscule chance of success, a path can be created.]
[3. Due to the nature of the ability, once it has been activated it may be unable to be deactivated until the path has been reached. And you may activate only one path at a time; stacking up the different paths is not possible.]
[Hint: Paths with similar or the same nature or goals will be automatically stacked together to provide a more efficient path for the user.]
[4. Users of this power may lose once or multiple times on their path to victory.]
[Hint: sometimes failure is the road to victory.]
I see that even though it is an overpowered ability, the limitation still scales this ability within a sensible range. But I guess I know my next path.
"But what should I call you?"
[You can call me Victory.]
'So victory is not the only thing to say right, as you also had that observing feature?'
[Yes, that's an auxiliary feature I developed on my own. It's called "analysis," and that ability allows me to directly access information from Akashic records. As you grow stronger, I can develop more auxiliary abilities since my growth is directly tied to yours.]
'I see. So can you show some kind of status of mine so that I can scale my current status with the supernatural world?'
[Yes, I can.]
{Status}
Name: Freed Sellzen
Health (Hp): 100% (This cannot be fully estimated. Depending on how severe the injury is, the value varies.
Strength: 6. (Related to attack power.)
Agility: 5. (Related to movement and attack speed)
Vitality: 20. (Related to defence, abnormal status resistance, and health.)
Intelligence: 18. (Related to magic attacks and perception.)
Mana: 180. (Intelligence*10; The rate of mana recovery is 18 points per minute.)
Remark: The standard of an adult male is 5 points, and luck is one point.
{Traits}
[Psychopath] --> [Cold Blooded] You possess a complete lack of empathy. Increased resistance to mental and physical attacks. Your critical thinking has drastically increased.
[Artificial Human] --> [Artificial Human (Perfect)] You were born in a laboratory rather than a womb to be the ideal human. But now that you've reached the point where you've become an embodiment of perfection, you no longer have any of humanity's flaws. Unlocks a new trait [Combat Prodigy].
[Combat Prodigy] --> [Martial Arts Master] You are unusually talented at fighting. All combat-related skill gains are 40% easier. unlocks the skill Combat Precognition.
{Unique Skills}
[Preservance] Increases the recovery rate of the user's stamina, mana, healing, etc. The recovery rate is increased by a factor of 5.
[Heroic Blood (Siegfried)] You are related to the legendary Germanic hero Siegfried. You passively gain [Dragon Race: Hatred] and a dragon-slaying multiplier. Grants you two random combat skills passively at the apprentice level. Grants you? when you?
[Mythical Blood (???) {Mutated}] Currently locked. ?, ?, ?.
{Skills}
[Sword Proficiency (Novice) --> (Apprentice)] Your swordsmanship is considerably skilled.
[Marksman Proficiency (Novice) --> (Apprentice)] You know the basics of how to use ranged weapons.
[Combat Precognition (Novice)] You can read the patterns of your opponents' attacks and occasionally predict their next move.
Well, that's pretty neat!
~~~END~~~