Chapter 12: Nine.

"Who are you" the voice asked again in a much sterner tone.

The little one almost turned hostile at the man but Raizel gave a pet and communicated with her mentally, her flared up feathers were down once more and her talons hold on Raizel got a bit loose though it was still incredibly firm.

Raizel took a good look at the unknown man crushing his wrists, he was a frail human old man who looked to be in his eighties by normal human ageing process and also seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, the man was of fairly bronze skin and was adorned in dark garments with a hood over his head.

His eyes were a bright green which seemed to be brimming with life, a sharp contrast to the deathly feel his body gave off presenting the image of him being someone who could fall and break at any moment.

But the monstrous power Raizel felt emanating deep inside him told him that image was nothing but an illusion...'Ilusion' he whispered, his eyes gaining a faint glint in them.

"What?"

"What's the purpose of this illusion you've casted on yourself".

The man's eyes widened in surprise but his hold on Raizels wrist became stronger and almost instantly it was crushed, a strange pulse travelled throughout the whole place and at a glance it seemed like everyone and everything had been frozen in time.

The man's eyes flared up with power "What...are you" he asked.

Raizel felt the little one's talons grip become even firmer but she still remained steady, his gaze was on his crushed wrists, there was no expression present even in face of the overwhelming power before him. His mind and body still remembered all too well that he has faced forces infinitely more greater than this and therefore even though he might have fallen to near grass levels it would still take a whole lot more than this to threaten his abnormally strong body and mind.

"A student" he replied in a casual and low tone.

His gaze went down to his wrists again"but do let go of my hand please, it's really a hard thing keeping it from devouring you".

"And that is beside the fact that I too would like to turn you to ashes so let go....now".

Raizels voice took on a deep and nearly draconic feel at the very end, the old man's pupils contracted the moment his eyes fell upon the faint figure of a great serpent-like creature clad in shadows behind Raizel.

It's eyes shone ablaze with golden flames, it's presence utterly evil and suffocating to the point where it felt like he was getting devoured bit by bit. And right in his ears he heard a whisper, the old man let go of his wrist and in an instant almost like it was never there the presence vanished without a trace, Raizel released his claws from his other hand and cut off his arm which surprised the old man as such an act was too unexpected for anyone.

Even the little one was caught offguard by this, almost falling off because her grip was gone for a bit but he caught her and smiled telling her not to worry as he would be fine.

The clothes on Rai's body wriggled and caught onto his dismembered arm then devoured it as Raizel regenerated a new arm in seconds, a small glint shone in the old man's eyes almost like he had just understood something.

'It's like his entire body is a death trap, how peculiar' he thought to himself.

Raizel picked up the two books floating in the air, namely Zero and Infinite. Nine was already in his possession and that was what he planned on reading first, he gave a look at the old man "Why are you here" he asked.

The old man was silent for a few seconds, his gaze on the two books which Rai had kept aside "how do you know of their existence" he looked Raizel in the eye and asked.

He raised a brow confused at the reason such a question would be asked "are they meant to be secret?"

"Yes" replied the old man almost immediately.

"But even more weirder than you knowing that these two exists is the fact you could call out to these books".

Raizel gave a side eye at the books he was referring to "so there was something that restricts it after all, no wonder it took so long to summon".

"You are correct".

He tapped his temple while contemplating something"I wonder why your lips are so loose now, a minute go you were in the mood to kill me... though you would have found it a pointless effort".

The old man raised a brow but heaved a heavy sigh "the reason shall be kept to myself alone".

Rai gave a light shrug and put the thought behind him as he opened to the first page of the book titled;

"NINE".

"What sort of authority do you possess to have been able to call it out".

He turned his left arms palm over and displayed the Omega mark engraved onto it "Probably this" he replied.

The old man grabbed onto his palm almost immediately when he saw the mark "h-h-how in the hell were you given this, not even I possess it" visible amazement was present in his voice along with a tiny hint of envy, but greater than all was the feeling of palpable fear.

Raizel raised a brow "it's just an all-pass, I do not see the reason for such excitement".

Now it was the old man's turn to raise an eyebrow"all pass? Is that what you think this is" he laughed for a few good seconds and looked Raizel straight in the eye.

"What you possess on your palm right now only three beings on this planet do, you're the fourth now and it's much...MUCH greater than just a simple all-pass".

"Right now in the entirety of this world only 12 beings posses that marking and right now you're the thirteenth".

"So what are you exactly, are you affiliated with them? And how long have you had this".

Raizel sighed and dropped his head down while rubbing his temple "Jeez, I came here just to read, not be threatened and asked confusing questions that I'm sure will get even more confusing as they come".

"And I know not about any of the 12 beings you mention, I've only had this engraved some hours ago at most".

"Now leave me be so I may read in peace" Raizel smiled and requested, growing more and more weary of this as the seconds went by.

The old man closed his eyes and took a heaved "fine, I shall leave you be for now".

"But I ask of you to not be careless in displaying that marking, I just get the feeling you're someone who cares about very little and know very little or consequences".

Raizel looked from his book"then your feelings would be correct" he confirmed and went back to his reading.

The old man sighed "we'll talk more later" and in the next moment he was gone leaving Raizel to his peace once more. The little one called out to him and he scoffed softly "yeah, I am not very fond of him either, but do not worry about him little one, he means no harm for now".

Now ready to absorb himself in reading, Raizel began doing so while the little rested on his shoulders and seemingly reading as he was too but he knew that to be inaccurate.

"NINE"

Underneath it was the diagram of mine orbs placed in a circular formation and it's classification.

Ability:– Nine.

Rank:–Undefined.

Place of manifestation:– No set point.

Nine, known as the ability with no set rank due to It's much too unpredictable nature, known as the ability with the potential to be the most terrifying of all if it ever manifests a certain way. But so far lady luck has not been kind to any of it's awakeners in achieving such a state, but the day it perhaps achieves half of it would be a most terrifying and glorious of days.

The ability known as Nine once awakened grants the user nine tennis ball sized orbs, in each of these orbs are nine different other abilities thereby earning it it's name as the ability referred to as Nine. It cannot be understated just how much of an unfair ability it truly is, calling it unfair alone seems too much of an understatement already.

The abilities in each orb are random but never repeating, each ability also must be studied and mastered one by one lest they remain stagnant and dependent on the great but unrefined and unpolished growth received by it's user ascending into a new level. Even far greater training must be underwent before the user is also able to use two or more orbs simultaneously in battle, but til this very moment the best any user has achieved was the use of four orbs simultaneously.

With how much of an unfair ability it is, this restriction amongst the few others is one of the greatest justices that can be done to it.

Note:- Though the abilities are indeed chosen at random it still has an order to it, for example if a Mutant with low potential awakens the power of Nine then they would have a circle of random abilities chosen from low-mid level abilities. But if the Mutant is of a High potential, then their circle of random abilities would come only from a bowl of high-level ones.

As there have been no user of supreme or omega potential then there is no accurate information regarding them, but following the pattern if a user is to awaken the power of Nine as either of these two then their circle of random abilities is sure to come from only that of the Mythical and Mythical god level abilities.

Properties of the Orb:–

The orb is quite a unique thing, normally weighing ten tons without any interference from the user and it can grow or shrink to incredible sizes. It could become as big as a two storey building and small as a grain of rice, both at the maximum of their capabilities.

The orb's maximum weight is constantly just four times beyond what the users physical capabilities can affect, while it's durability is usually about ten times greater or just a little bit more than what the users physical body and bio-aura provides combined.

'Now this is interesting, will have to confirm if it takes my other forms into consideration when it comes to my physical limit, along with that of my toughness also".

Other than the orbs containing nine different abilities, there exists other affinities it possesses by nature. One being the fact that they are almost immune to sensory, to the point where even a lot of Dao practitioners with a low cultivation cannot feel them also.

It is also the only known ability with this sort of high level immunity, not even the "Ghost" ability could achieve this level of immunity to sensory.

Another natural affinity of the orb is that they do not possess a distance limit from the user, from anywhere or at any point in the world they can be used, even if the space they reside in is completely different to it's user's making it even more of an unfair ability.

'That is quite the useful property'.

They can also share a visual and mental link with the user which shows them every last thing in a mile radius of the orbs position therefore increasing both their combat potential by multiple folds and also drastically improves a lot of other aspects concerning the user.

'Truly useful, since there are places in this world my senses cannot reach then perhaps this could help me circumvent that problem'.

And another property of the orb is that it can teleport the user to it's location or it can be teleported back to the user at any moment they wish.

The final and most important property of the orb is the very important aspect referred to as sacrifice, the user has a number of four trials that they may use to detonate an orb and get the chance to spin the wheel of luck and acquire a new ability if they find themselves unsatisfied with the one that resides in it at that moment.

Once detonated, it takes a total of four days for a new orb to be generated and for a new ability to be given.

Limitations and drawbacks of the Orb:–

-The teleportation effect might be be rendered ineffective when either it's user or the orb itself is an area with anti-teleportation technology or spells.

-The orb is unable to change it's shape in any way or form other than it's size and weight.

-The visual link takes a heavy toll on the users mental limits and can cause a brain overload the first time the link is established, it is also not a feasible thing to go beyond three visual links unless perhaps the user is either of supreme or omega potential.

-The orb is especially vulnerable to psychic and all other mental attacks most of the time, only very rarely has the hand of luck favoured few individuals whom were instead blessed with an orb that is equally as defensive against those sort of those attacks.

-The mental link creates a very exploitable loophole whereby mental attacks may be used through the orb itself to physically affect the user and if they aren't enough to stop or bear it, then the consequences could be quite destructive.

-Once damaged they do not regenerate from it.

-Any destruction of the orb that occurs outside the special detonation willed by the user will lead to a total loss of the orb.

-If all orbs are destroyed in some unfortunate event, the user would find themselves forever powerless.

'Hm, seems I need to find a way to plan around that if such an event occurs'.

Raizel closed the book for a moment and decided to release his Mutant ability, the realisation had hit him that he hadn't used or even checked it out since he awoke them some hours ago.

Having established his mental link with it Raizel immediately summoned the orbs, before him were nine pitch black orbs with what seemed to be an engraved great serpent wrapping around it which was certainly not normal considering what he had read here.

'Not exactly surprised but... still a bit weird'.

But what really forced Raizel to raise a brow was the abilities he instinctively felt and knew were in each of these orbs.

'Now that...is quite nice'.

'It's logical, I'm something above a god-level genius and also someone possessing five universes of power'.

'My existence at it's very core is abnormal and meant to defy creation itself, this is my normal'.

He released the orbs which disappeared into nothing and went back to his reading, having finished this page the next page was a full profiled list of every known user of the ability known as Nine.

A most interesting of facts was that there really was not a single one with either supreme or omega potential as had been stated earlier by the note, the highest he could find out of a hundred and sixty eight users were three who were of High Mutant potential which was a step below a Supreme Mutant.

'I guess this is the greatest balance that could have brought to the Mutant world when such an ability like this exists'.

'Or....was the greatest balance, now it has been absolutely eviscerated by my existence alone'.

Raizel chuckled softly and turned to the next page which were just some moving pictures of users and their ability of Nine in action.

'Hmm, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that for dedicated pages and actual moments to be used the individuals must be of supreme and omega potential, this too might apply to the other two universes of power'.

'Classism, how expected'.

He smiled and closed the book then looked to the other two floating besides him 'tomorrow is another day' he decided and then released them.

Raizel still had the other two paths to visit but also decided to put that off till tomorrow 'forgive me little one, I haven't really been showing you anything exciting yet' he giggled.

The little one rubbed her head against his cheek not seeming to mind how the day had been going, he smiled 'thank you for bearing with me, I'll make it up to you soon don't worry' he rubbed her head.

Raizel levitated out of his area and began moving towards the exit, he realised he hadn't seen what was outside the library as he had been summoned into it from the get go so for now that was his new desire. But the moment he got to it he paused as did everything and everyone around him also, then in the next moment he was gone but everything still remained frozen.

He found himself in a small but warm and comfy room with a fireside and two chairs opposite each other, Raizel realised that this room was not normal because his senses were totally unable to penetrate through it and so therefore he would be teleporting blind if he attempted to do so right now.

He also felt something suppressing his power though it was not sealed and he could feel the little one was a bit anxious but he calmed her and continued assessing his surroundings, Raizel could tell he would still be able to teleport around on the inside but something was wrong with the space here.

"For what purpose do you create such an unsavoury hostage situation I wonder".

A ripple in space occurred before him and from it stepped out a man, he was handsome beyond words and had long silvery hair reaching down to his waist, a skin like that of pure bronze laced with gold spots, ears like that of an elf and his eyes, so green and full of life.

The little one flared her feathers up at the unknown guest but same as always Raizel had calmed her down.

"Do forgive my rudeness, but this was necessary precaution to take in order to get you to sit still and listen".

Raizel scoffed "Heh, you are far greater than I, for what reason could I possibly not comply ".

The man sighed '"your sarcasm does not elude me as I know you do not fear me in the slightest".

"And that is because I have the power to defeat you" he smiled.

"But ascending to the level required to do so would backfire heavily on me in the long run, I haven't even begun laying my foundations yet ".

The man smiled, he instinctively could tell that Raizel was not bluffing in the slightest and based on all he had uncovered in the short time he had left it solidified his words even more.

But that attitude of his reminded him of someone else in particular, she too could make the most outlandish of statements and yet even more outlandish was the fact she would always be able to back it up without fail 'Yes.....without fail...heh'.

Raizel could see a glaring hint of sadness in the man's eyes and in his smile, curiously wondering what suddenly brought about the solemnity in him he asked. And the reply he had received from him was the most expected, which was of course he should not worry about it.

"Do please take a seat, we have much to talk about" requested the man as he went on to take a seat.

Raizel also walked forward and gracefully took a seat, mentally preparing himself already for the probable long conversation ahead of him.

EnD.