C38: Working Hard with Talent

Fuck! Such strong pressure!

It felt like my soul was being smothered to death.

In the original story, Agon had another rage moment. Where he would have injured the headmaster and after that another of the Special Rank Exorcists came around to take his place for some time.

The new exorcist would have been more rough-handed than the headmaster. He would suggest Agon was executed, so Yamata No Orochi's soul would die with him.

It was during that time when the cursed blade I was looking for would appear, and a bunch of other shenanigans took place.

Well, that arc wasn't going to happen. That guy messed everything up because of his arrogance. It was political bullshit, where people in power would make things worse for everyone. His actions weakened the exorcist's power for the next arc, which was devastating.

Even with all this pressure, I couldn't help but stare at Yamata No Orochi. Fighting that thing up there I would lose in less than a second.

"Human! You dare enter my domain!" The beast roared, and the whole sea of consciousness shook.

Thankfully I knew a couple of things about handling this. I mostly copied what other characters did in the manga.

But my body refused to move! I couldn't even utter a word!

Despite this not being a physical body, I felt like my heart would burst out of my chest. Even standing up was like I was pushing against a mountain. The difference in physical might was insurmountable.

Maybe I should give up? This whole thing could be dangerous for me too, as I still didn't have the power to handle it.

All my plans could come down, crumbling in the face of absolute power.

I studied some Buddhist scriptures. Since the seal used to seal Yamata No Orochi originated in the Shaolin, reciting certain scriptures would strengthen the seal, while others would have all kinds of effects. People don't know this at these times since the one who sealed Yamata No Orochi the creator of the seal itself died when it was created.

Thankfully a whole week had passed since the training camp incident. "Order: Survive. Deal with this situation."

{Perfect Me!}

Immediately, my view changed from looking through my eyes to seeing my body from a third-person view. Also, the screen was at the corner of my eye. It was something I only saw when my ability was activated.

Name: Kon 

Beast Master 65.9%

 Creator 20.7%

Blaster9.3% 

Warrior 4.1% 

Strength 13/81 

Stamina 12->14/102 

Agility 15/99 

Description: A transmigrated person, a relatively talented youngster, and a trashy exorcist.Danger Rating: (E)

Oh? So it shows the improvements on my stats? That's neat.

"Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens!" It was weird hearing someone speak from my voice and feeling my lips moving on their own.

Was this how it felt to be possessed by a ghost?

I (my body) clasped my hands loud enough that it dispelled all of the incoming evil energy from Yamata No Orochi.

"Aghhhhh!!!" The beast screamed in pain as its body twitched. The seal was harming the creature, and with unimaginable pain, it couldn't hold out its oppressive aura.

Now that I was inside Agon's mind. As a side character, people can't know I went inside someone's mind.

I didn't think the technique would work. It had been a while since I read the Manga, so I don't remember most of the words in the scripture. Only the rough descriptions.

But the library in the Exorcist Academy was old and had hundreds of thousands of books. There were still a couple of books that spoke on forbidden subjects. I just had to know what to look for.

I started the ritual, but as soon as I did, Orochi spoke up.

"You think I can't see what you're doing brat!"

My body was running on autopilot, and its order was to repress Yamata No Orochi. Then to erase Agon's memories. I hoped the latter would work out, as I had never done something before. I could only have faith in my special ability to do the heavy lifting.

"The brat might forget! But I won't!"

Oh? So he already saw through my plan? For a raging beast, Yamata No Orochi was smarter than I had anticipated. I better not do something like this again as he might set up some traps.

Well, from now on I will have to play this and hope all the hypnosis talismans will work as Agon's mind was weakened. After all, I wasn't the only one affected by the beast releasing its crazy aura.

Even if everything worked out, I was still nervous. He was a shounen protagonist. You can never be too sure about them.

***

Agon woke up with a feeling of deja vu. What was he doing?

Oh yeah, going to the doctor.

"You just went and fell asleep out of nowhere. You okay?"

"Where are we?" Agon looked around.

It wasn't a part of the school he could recognize.

"Some hallway in the middle of nowhere. You said it was some kind of shortcut," Kon shrugged and dragged him along.

'Shortcut? That sounded familiar.Wait, why can't I think straight? I must be tired. No, I don't usually feel tired. Also, that demon isn't yelling in my head anymore. So not everything is so bad.'

Yet for some reason, despite everything he felt like something was wrong. As if he was walking with a snake around his neck. What was this feeling?

Whatever it was. Agon knew he shouldn't be going to the doctor. The last thing he wanted was for people to know that he had a demonic voice saying things in his head. "I -I think I just need some sleep."

"Whatever you say," Kon walked in front and guided him.

Didn't Kon say that he was led here? How come he's taking the lead as if he knew the way?

Agon shook his head. He was never a big thinker. Punching problems always was easier than trying to use your head.

Somehow, Agon arrived at his own dorm room with Kon's help and immediately felt like falling asleep. However, it was barely past midday.

The last thing he saw was Kon's smiley face looking down at him. "Don't worry about anything."

As he leaned down, the gleam on his glasses disappeared with no light to reflect off them. Finally, Agon got a good look into his eyes.

Dark, cold, like a bottomless abyss. But one blink later and those eyes were back to normal.. The friendly smile on Kon's face was so wide that it forced his eyes shut.

Was it all an illusion?

…

The next day came by, and Agon woke up. He had sweat all over his sheets, and after a quick shower, he was ready to go out. But looking at the clock, it was only six in the morning.

'What happened yesterday?'

Agon tried to remember, but all he remembered was walking to his dorm room alone and falling asleep. There was nothing. "Weird, I'm usually pretty energetic… Wait! I missed my training yesterday!!!"

He rushed out of his dorm room and into the training ground.

'The only advantage I have against those more talented than me is that I work harder! Missing even one day of training is unacceptable!'

Though the place was called a training ground, it was an old colosseum. Agon didn't know why this was here. Maybe back in the day, Exorcists liked their tournaments? Well, you would ask someone who was more interested in history.

When Agon arrived at the training grounds, he stopped at the entrance.

A classmate with long dark hair and ashy white skin was standing on a floating mirror. He had a hard time balancing himself.

Sei, the most talented person in the world was training too? Well, this was something, that's for sure.

Agon leaned on the wall and slid down. "Well, screw me. Here I thought talented people were lazy. This bastard is here even earlier than me."

Hard work wins when talent doesn't work hard. What if talent works even harder than hard work? What chance did the hard worker stand?

"Can you go and weep somewhere else?" A sweet voice said.

It came from the silver-haired Anika. She had a cruel look in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Agon didn't dare meet her gaze. He was sweating nervously.

"Training, but having someone creep around here is unsettling," she took a look into the training grounds and hid behind the walls. "Damn it! What the hell is that bastard doing here? He trains this early? Why use a wide-space training room? He isn't a Blaster. Why the hell would he need such a big space?"

She bit her nails while seemingly thinking hard. Then an evil-looking smirk made its way onto her face. "How about you distract the bastard, and then we can both use the training grounds."

"Why would I do that?"

"Jeez, have you ever heard of being a gentleman? How do you expect people to like you if you act like a bastard?" She looked at him as if he was stupid.

'Gentlemen? You mean errand boy?' Agon thought. Yet he still followed her orders. It was too early in the morning to start an argument.

As he approached Sei, the talented exorcist turned toward Agon and stared for a couple of seconds before going back to training. He flew around using the back of his mirror as a foothold.

Right, he should distract this guy somehow. How would someone go about that? Agon didn't even know anything about Sei. Trying to distract the classmate wasn't going to be easy. "Hey, Sei. How're you doing?"

'Well, that was awkward!' Agon scratched the back of his neck and tried to laugh to lighten the mood.

Sei stopped flying and turned toward him. Agon cleared his throat and looked his classmate in the eye as a sign of trust. "You can't fold paper more than seven times. That's a fun fact."

Sei didn't have any reaction at first and then shook his head. "You're about as smart as you're talented."

Why did everyone that was talented have to be so mean?

"Hey, you're not saying that after the ass whipping I gave you during the training camp, are you?" Agon puffed his chest. Sure it might have been only a temporary boost, but he still had the upper hand in the fight. However, he didn't remember most of the battle.

"You're proud of something that isn't yours? Even a blind man could tell that the power you released last time was filled with so much malice that it was demonic." Sei jumped up and the mirror turned; he sank into the mirror's surface.

"If you're so proud of someone else's power. Then you will never be able to reach anywhere. If we fight again, I'm confident in defeating you even if you use that power again." Sei spoke with confidence, and a smile came to his face.

Mirrors sprouted all around. Creating a maze of reflection.

Countless faces looked at him, and Agon found it a bit scary. He swore a couple of those faces were smiling.

"""I have someone I want to surpass. That someone isn't you."""

All the faces in the mirror spoke at the same time.

'What the feck?!'