Neophyte Nexus VI

Noah Alfonso was a character I created to bring comedy into the story, though he was antagonizing Lux because girls were flocking to him. But, in the end, he was the only one who lived longer together with Lux in a world where humanity had perished.

He'd bring joy in a world of nothing, the only source of Lux's sanity after losing all his comrades and friends.

Although, it would be long to see the better of him… for now, he was still irrelevant to the story.

'Unless I interfered, that is…'

On the stage, two students faced each other. One maintained a stoic, deadpan expression, while the other exhibited flamboyant agility, evading the whip blade's swings with ease.

Despite Noah's seemingly irrelevant role in the story, his fighting prowess was not to be underestimated.

He skillfully dodged each of Ember's whip blade strikes, effortlessly juggling his spear with playful finesse.

As for the whip blade itself, while it had appeared impressive during Ember's earlier practice, its limitations were becoming apparent. Noah's mobility outmatched the whip blade's reach, making it ineffective in this fight.

Observing Ember's unchanged expression, a slight grin escaped me.

"Now, what will you do?"

Crackle! The fire ignited, enveloping the blade of Ember's weapon in flames.

"Wow!"

Upon closer inspection, it appeared more like a whip flame than a whip blade now.

It was not only me who was in awe, the audience, and even Noah who fought as her opponent too.

When I look at them, Noah was seemingly saying something to Ember.

Upon seeing him wink, I more or less could guess what he was saying, probably thing like, 'Whoa, not only does your face capture my heart, but your flame also seems to ignite my passion for you.'

Don't ask me where I knew that because it was obviously his pickup line for every girl he saw. I just adjusted the last few lines to match the subject he was trying to flirt to.

Then, the battle continued…

With the whip flame in Ember's hand, the fight had decidedly shifted in her favor. The flames on her weapon traced the blade swing with fierce, almost sentient movements as if the flame itself had a mind of its own.

Noah's earlier playful demeanor had faded, replaced by a sense of urgency as he struggled to keep up with Ember's relentless attacks.

Despite wielding a spear, a weapon that offered some defensive advantage, Noah found himself on the back foot.

Ember's flame was unlike anything he probably had ever encountered, moving unpredictably and catching him off guard. Her movements were calculated and swift and her flame seemed to dance effortlessly around his defenses, singeing his clothes and pushing him to the brink.

As the fight wore on, the audience was captivated by Ember's skillful manipulation of the whip flame.

The heat radiating from the blazing whip created an aura of danger and excitement, while Noah's spear clashes with the fiery whip seemed increasingly desperate and futile.

Then, Ember's whip blade covered in flame whirled upwards, coiling like a dragon, leaving me and the audience in awe.

"Oh, damn…"

I was impressed, also the audience, and even the host who usually stayed silent in a fight reflexively shouted into his mic.

"OH MY!! WHAT IS THAT?! A DRAGON?!!"

Just as the host said, Ember's flame at the end of her blade shifted wildly, taking on the shape of a dragon's head.

The crowd gasped in awe, and cheers followed after that.

Starting with a small burst of fire from the dragon's head, then the fire that resembled the dragon's head devoured Noah.

At that moment, people were surprised. If someone was engulfed in flame like that, surely they would die, right?

But, they need not worry. As stated by Nuria in one of her interviews that I found in the internet just now; her granddaughter, Ember's flame power was the same as her. The flame that if the user had high mastery over it, they could control all of the fire's aspect such as heat and flame control.

If that statement by Nuria was true, then those flames could be harmless.

Though without the information I got, the flame wouldn't kill Noah because why would she kill him? It was an act of crime if she was to do that. Moreover, if she was really going to kill him, the match would have been stopped by Nuria herself.

After what seemingly ten seconds, the flame disappeared into the thin air, revealing Noah who was sitting on the ground dumbfoundedly.

He was fine, there was no visible burn or any physical injuries, though there might be some mental damage.

With that, the host announced the winner of the match.

"As expected of the granddaughter of the War Goddess herself!"

As the host said those lines, I could see Ember clicking her tongue.

"I hereby announce the winner of Neophyte Nexus round 7! Ember Crimson!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, filling out the arena.

Despite my doubt of her uncertainty about Ember's existence, I couldn't help but admit her prowess.

I thought that, maybe, with her existence which I had no knowledge about it. Altering the ending, and probably preventing the demon's invasion completely wouldn't be impossible.

After all, if there was a young Nuria that existed, I'd be glad to have her by my side. The potential she had too, might surpass Nuria Crimson herself.

'If Nuria Crimson is the War Goddess. Then, Ember Crimson could be the War Goddess II!"

Sorry for my naming sense, I just had no idea what to call her because it was still too early to give her a nickname.

But, didn't War Goddess II sound cool? Or maybe War Goddess 2.0!

As I was trapped in my 'giving people nicknames' world, a shadow was looming in my head, covering me from the light.

"Huh?"

There was a pair of shoes in my vision which was looking at the floor. When I traced it upward, Ember was standing in front of me, with a never-changing expression, still that deadpan and cold face.

"Oh. Do you need something from me?"

"Take this."

Looking at her hand, there was a crescent-shaped earring gently lying on her palm.

Though I was confused and wondering why she gave me this, I picked the earring from her anyway.

"That will protect you from a mental-based attack."

Mental-based attack… was a type of attack or skill that was hard to prevent. It affected the mind or mental state of the target.

Unlike the physical attack which could be defended by either dodging, blocking, etc. the mental-based attack was impossible to defend unless with a skill or having a resilient mental state.

Though it was strong, it could be useless when used against a high-ranking Enhanced as most of them had a resilient mental state. That was the case if it was a normal mental-based attack, but what if there existed a higher rank of that attack type?

Obviously, it would overwhelm even those high-ranking Enhanced with great mental state.

In fact, because mental-based attacks were stronger than physical ones, the chance of someone possessing it was very low, like 1:100000000.

Unless, of course, for the demons. All of them had at least one type of mental-based attack.

Putting that aside, why did Ember give me this out of the blue? And what did she mean by this would protect me from a mental-based attack?

I wouldn't mind if we knew each other, but we were complete strangers. Hell, we had never even talked before, so why?

'Why would you give me this?'

She stared at me for a moment before walking passed me. One step, two steps, and in her third step, she paused and spoke in a low voice that could be heard only by me.

"The demons."

"!!!"

My heart skipped a beat as soon as I heard the word 'demon'. Moreover, it was coming from the very character I did not know about.

As surprised as I was, I didn't make it obvious to her or everyone watching us from the bleachers. I tried to stay calm, enjoying the clean air.

Ember was already disappeared into the tunnels, and with that, I couldn't question her anymore about what she just said.

A demon? Here? In the Neophyte Nexus? There was no way it was true…

Recalling everything that had happened since I came here, I shook my head.

'Sh!t…stop thinking about the original story…'

Yeah, the only thing I needed to do was to ignore the storyline. I did not need to remember everything and hope that the world would proceed the same as I remembered.

Just use it as a reference, as a piece of information, and as knowledge, but don't follow it blindly.

"Huu…"

Looking at the earring in my palm, I was left confused.

The earring had a shape of a crescent, and in the middle of it was a little star. I didn't know about the material used for this earring, it was dark and sturdy…

"What am I supposed to do with this earring?"

Judging by her personality, Ember might want to have it back after this match so I put it inside my chest pocket.

Hearing the host announce my name, I walked up to the stage.

"Rank 911 of the first-year student, Zio Varrez! Please come to the stage!"