"Who Are You?"

Chapter 145 : "Who Are You?"

"It's been a while since I've been out. I really should get out more." The young man remarked as he glanced down at the breadth of the woodlands below him. He was so high up that all was easy to view beneath his gaze. He took in the sight, one that was therapeutic to him, before smiling broadly and descending from the sky.

He landed neatly, despite the rate at which he fell from the sky, causing a gentle rush of air pressure to radiate outwards from the place of his descent. The cloaked man then placed his hands behind his back and began to walk -- as if he didn't have anywhere in particular to be.

He seemed keenly aware of everything as he moved. The sunlight against his skin, the sound of various creatures in the distance even the building of energy which caused the veil to ripple--

"What. The. Fuck. Is. That?" He blurted out loud as he gazed upwards into the distance. For anyone else there would be nothing but a clear blue sky present -- but for him a visible ripple rolled across the sky.

He sighed deeply, before muttering.

"Fuck me."

The man then stepped forth--just a single step and he was gone. Rather than transported he'd moved several hundreds of steps in a split second. This he repeated dozens of times as he passed the city of Gardenia and quickly proceeded towards the cause of the disturbance.

"Hmm. I can't see inside here since she's not using it anymore. Oh well. When in Rome.." He said as he placed his hand against the fused shard. The crystals on the outside seemed incredibly fragile. The entire left half of the fused opening was beginning to crumble away. He inspected this for the briefest of moments before he was gone again.

He stepped inside of the shard world and gazed around. With a wave of his hand the dense miasma receded and he moved once more, his steps like a flash as he traversed the interior of the shard realm.

"This is such a fucking bother." He whispered to himself as he drew nearer to the disturbance. The sight before him was quite dire, even he had to admit. An Imp, a Dragon-kin and a Spirit Mage.

*This sounds like the start of a bad joke.* He thought, and the idea pleased him. Causing him to smile. Further along were several downed people, a Scribe, a Succubus and --

"Oh. There she is." He remarked as his senses lingered across a half dead Runemaster.

"But...what the heck is this supposed to be?" He said as he lifted his hand up to his chin in thought. He'd already slowed time, it took but a quarter step to draw closer. A kitsune desperately trying to defeat a foe that would outclass even her.

He inhaled sharply as he inspected the monstrosity just several centimeters away from her.

"No. Seriously...what the fuck is this?" He remarked. He used his sight to view the unseen, realizing that the creature had a highly unusual composition. Inside of it was a core. A shard core.

"That's..definitely cheating. Just… wow." He remarked.

After a moment of thought he glanced around, as if looking for something. In the distance he noticed someone -- perhaps? He got closer to find it was a dragon. And he chuckled.

"You're supposed to be a Behemoth. How did you even get into this sorry state?" He bent over and pressed his fingertip against the injured demon's head. The demon-kin's wounds immediately mended themselves, broken bones, internal injuries and all.

"Let's see. What else? Hmm. Well since I'm getting a little crazy--might as well help her out too."

He moved back towards the kitsune and ran the tip of his finger along her blade. The blue flames there began to take on a two tone color-- red mingled within the blue.

"I guess that should do it. Well, let's see." He said as he floated upwards so that he could watch the next few moments unfold. He snapped his fingers and waited, arms folded as he hovered in the air several dozen meters above the battle.

"Nioce." He muttered as the kitsune cleaved her way to victory.

*Damn. She's good. Maybe I should recruit her. The other one isn't so great...* He thought as he glanced down at a particular body-shaped mass of black tendrils. In the split second he looked away, a strange energy began to fill the atmosphere. Then-- light.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold the fuck up." He said as he snapped his fingers once more. Time froze again and he floated downwards, landing right next to the Kitsune.

"This thing should be toast. What is this?" He asked, as if anyone could hear him to answer. "This" referred to the explosive light that defied even his time compression technique. Rather than stop completely, the blast inched forward ever so slowly pushing back against time itself.

He watched with rapt fascination as the light grew in intensity, as well as strength. The core pieces were now completely consumed -- caught up in the growing blast.

"Well .... What am I supposed to do with this?" He said , seemingly as he agonized over the decision. His time compression would not last much longer, in fact if he was right--

"It's feeding off my energy. That's...troublesome."

After a few more seconds he finally decided on a course of action.

"I can't believe she came up with something like this. She must really, really hate me." He replied, then with a snap of his fingers time began to move once again. He clenched the reddish light in both hands and squeezed, forcing it to retract in size. The light was so bright, so blinding that anyone who gazed upon it would be rendered unable to process sensory information -- that is everyone but him.

"...." He could feel the pulsing energy within his palms, struggling to detonate despite his efforts to snuff it out. This annoyed him, the thought that there existed something that could surpass his raw strength.

"Fine. You want to play bitch? Let's play." He growled as a thick aura of pure white energy began to cloak his body. His eyes turned stark white as both he and the reddish light orb floated upwards into the sky.

He whispered words a dozen at most, causing an unseen veil to fold in on itself and come to his aid. The transparent "veil" wrapped around the orb of light, containing it. Now that the threat was contained he fixed it's position in the sky and appeared on the ground once more. He gazed up at the orb of light, which at this point resembled a tiny star making its home on Adventia's skyline.

"Obsidian Well." He murmured as he lifted his hand upwards, causing a tiny black hole to appear within the center of the light mass. He watched with both annoyance and intrigue as light still escaped.

"She's...really...really mad.." He mused to himself as he watched the orb of light explode. The veil expanded, straining to contain the power pushing against it. Finally, when it could take no more it bursted, causing the remnants of the blast to shower outwards in all directions.

He then lifted both hands and bowed his head,causing several shockwaves of energy to emanate from his body. These shockwaves rose to meet the violent explosion, cancelling them out skillfully to avoid the consequences of certain death for anyone not like him.

Finally, just moments before the brilliant red light began to fade, he took his leave. From afar he watched as the shard world folded in on itself, the cores that powered it having been destroyed.