Chapter 02: "You're so foolish, darling."

"It feels so damn satisfying..." He muttered under his breath. His lips curled into a smile as he continued, "Now then, should I spice things up a bit?"

He stretched his right hand onward which was drenched in the blood falling from the sky. Soon enough, a green Magic Circle that was neither too huge nor too small with mystical patterns on it, appeared inward his hand.

Shortly after, another Magic Circle appeared on the ground, however, it was considerably larger than the previous one. Furthermore, unlike the other one, it was rotating, albeit slowly.

[You're using 'Recollection Summoning']

[Please specify the entity you wish to summon.]

Glancing at the azure transparent panels in front of his eyes, Amon's grin grew wider as he mumbled, "Summon Micheal Storm."

[Summoning Micheal Storm: Confirm? (200 mana will be consumed)]

"Yes."

'What exactly is he doing?' Aella pondered inwardly, being befuddled by the apparition of a Magic Circle.

It was a given fact that Magic Circles were generally infrequent and not that well-known among hunters since most hunters relied on the system to get things done rather than comprehending how to use mana effectively and become adept in it.

After all, who wanted to squander their lives learning something that the system could do instantaneously and at an age where they could easily get killed by dungeon monsters?

Even so, that did not imply that all hunters were the same. Some hunters who'd prodigious talent from an early age were able to learn mana with ease as if they'd known about the subject since infancy.

It was right at that moment that the ground's Magic Circle glistened like a glossy mirror, obstructing both of their lines of sight for almost an instant. They averted their gaze from the glaring light.

The light slowly dimmed after quite a while as they turned their heads toward the entity in the middle of the now almost non-existent Magic Circle.

An average-looking red-haired teenager with his eyes shut and his body motionless came into view. He appeared to be somewhere between the ages of 15 and 17.

As he opened his eyes, his body, notably his hands, began to move abruptly in order to touch his face. Two emerald-green eyes similar to that of Aella revealed themselves at that relevant time.

Upon meeting his gaze, Aella immediately squinted her eyes.

That face, those eyes, that aura. There was no denying it.

It was her brother, Micheal.

She immediately rubbed her eyes three to four times and even pinched her cheek so as to see whether she was seeing things or not. She did, however, experience a slight and sudden pain, the pain when pinched.

Stream of tears immediately ran down her cheeks upon realizing that she wasn't seeing things.

Her dead brother had unbelievably came back to life.

"Brother..." She cried out as she dashed toward the figure, arms outstretched to embrace him.

That, however, was a mistake. A blunder that led to her ultimate demise.

Just as she was going to embrace him, to savor the sensation she hadn't had in months, to savor that one moment of bliss, she was deceived, betrayed by her trust.

"Power Bestowal, Skill Bestowal, Weapon Bestowal," Amon muttered out in that precise instant with his right hand (which slowly emitted a green glow) put forward toward Micheal.

Simultaneously, a shabby yet sharp-looking brown dagger abruptly emerged on Micheal's hand, stabbing through Aella's waist even before she could embrace him.

The attack was swift and sudden. The blade sliced into her waist's left side and slowly up toward her heart. However, the blade missed her heart only by a hair's width, saving her in the spur of the moment.

Aella's body went into shock right away. It wasn't until a second or two before she could feel her senses as she looked down at her bloodied waist. It was just then that she realized that she'd been stabbed moreover by her own brother.

"Argh! W-why?" As a throbbing agony and a searing sensation flooded over Aella's body, she couldn't help but cry out. She gasped, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.

'Why did he stab me? Moreover, how did I even end up getting injured?'

[You've been poisoned]

[Your HP will now continue to decrease by 1 every second]

[Your stats have decreased by 30℅]

Aella gritted her teeth in exasperation as she looked at the translucent panels. Her stats had all dropped by 80%, putting her at a very disadvantageous position. There was no way out of this scenario, moreover, there was even an active debuff, reducing her health by one point every second.

Generally, S-ranks had monstrous stats; their stats spread was reasonably high, making each of them almost entities who were unable to get injured by normal people unless that person attacking was wielding a Peak Mythical-grade weapon or a Legendary-grade weapon.

Though normal humans could wield Mythical-grade or Legendary-grade weapons, due to their lack of stats they couldn't damage an S-rank that gravely or would either miss it. Additionally, they even had a possibility of dying, for their bodies weren't capable enough to withstand the weapon's immense power.

Micheal would undoubtedly die shortly after that unexpected attack — or so she assumed.

Contradictory to what she expected, Micheal stood unscathed.

He didn't die.

Instead, he was ready once again to strike her with the same vigor as earlier.

'But how?'

[You've selected [Arachne's Stingers](Legendary-grade) as a weapon for 'Weapon Bestowal'.]

[You've used Power and Skill Bestowal on your Summon.]

[You've temporarily bestowed your summon 80 stats each for 20 minutes.]

[You've temporarily bestowed 3 of your skills, [Levitate], [Enhanced Agility], and [Deoxygenation] to your summon.]

[The stats of your summon has changed ——

<Name: Micheal Storm

Race: Human (Dead)

HP: 90 (10+80)

STR: 97 (7+80+10)

AGI: 109 (9+80+20)

INT: 86(6+80)

MP: 1,112(0+12x86+80)*

PER: 82(2+80)>

«Skills»

<Levitate (Active)>

—A skill that the user can use at his or her discretion.

—Allows the user to fly by 5-6 feet above the user's standing point.

—1 mana every second is consumed.

<Enhanced Agility>

—This skill allows the user to smoothly move from one movement to the next, efficiently evade assaults, quickly swing from things, dash, jump over buildings, and perform a variety of other acrobatic, and athletic maneuvers with hardly any effort.

—When this skill is active, the user's agility increases by 5%

—3 mana per second is consumed.

<Deoxygenation>

—A skill that allows the user to remove oxygen from the target's surrounding environment, causing the target's breathing organisms to choke and possibly die.

—3 mana every second is consumed.]

"Hmm, quite fine, I must say," Amon muttered with his hand placed on his chin. He smirked broadly as he observed Aella and Micheal beginning to fight.

"The real fun starts now...I should have brought some popcorn with me."

"W-who are you?" Aella yelled at Micheal, her insides burning. Her breathing became quite rapid, as a feeling of breathlessness kicked in.

'This can't possibly be Micheal. I've known him for the longest, he isn't like that to attack his own sister plus he isn't that strong to endure the immense power of the dagger.'

Micheal, however, instead of responding dashed toward her with the dagger in his right hand.

He was swift and unpredictable in his approach.

'He's fast!'

Once Aella realized Micheal's speed was no inferior to hers and was only a few meters away, she attempted to dodge to the left by moving backwards by 3-4 metres.

But, that pitiful effort was soon proved useless; she came to an abrupt halt because she couldn't breathe anymore as though someone sucked all the air around her. At that particular moment, Micheal aimed the dagger at her heart, closing the distance between them.

Suddenly—

*Boom*

Micheal's body flew backward, followed by a garish explosion. Flames raged everywhere.

His body soared in the air.

However, instead of collapsing to the ground, his body levitated just as he was about to fall and saved him on the spot.

Immediately after, using his legs as a center of gravity, Micheal propelled his body utilizing [Levitate], right toward the area where the explosion happened at a rate of knots, blowing off the dead bodies on the ground in the meantime.

A figure of an injured female soon emerged from the explosion area before both Micheal's and Amon's eyes. Aella's injury had exacerbated over time, heck she couldn't even stand properly. As a further matter, the attack just now had drained her of all her remaining mana.

There was no such way in which she could win against Micheal, forget about Amon who was practically impossible for her to defeat.

A little more and then...Aella could be defeated easily.

It was right at that moment that Micheal came into Aella's view, as he grabbed her throat instantaneously and stabbed straight into her heart, shocking her immediately.

"W-what?" She managed to mutter out in the end, her eyes bulging in incredulity. She wanted to yell for help, to scream her pain and anguish to the world, but she couldn't obtain any volume.

With teary eyes, her vision progressively faded as she glanced toward the figure who had stabbed her, causing her eventual destruction.

Her death was brought about by none other than her own brother.

Such irony!

She then peered at Amon, who had a sardonic smile on his face that indicated his ultimate triumph, in the final moments of her existence. He'd won. He'd won without having to fight.

It was as if just seeing that smile told her, "You're so foolish, darling."

Micheal removed the dagger from her chest, as her breathing completely ceased and her vision completely faded.

She'd died.

*Thump*

The lifeless wounded body of Aella dropped to the ground.

And, that was how Aella Storm, who was known by numerous titles such as 'The Explosion Witch', 'The Holy Dame', 'Area 20's 3rd S-rank', and 'Minerva' died.

————

*Here, 1 point of INT = 12 MP