The sounds of battle, distant and muted, drifted in and out of Amadeus’s hearing as he struggled to open his eyes. The assassin felt as though he was stuck in a dream, with no direct control of his body. There was no feedback from his body as he mentally commanded himself to move his fingers, which was supposed to be the most effortless of all the movements he could make. He willed himself to open his eyes, and after what seemed like an eternity, the darkness began to lift, as light spilled into his sight, starting as a faint horizontal line before gradually widening vertically as Amadeus regained full sight.
However, he would have rather not. Whatever dream this was, Amadeus was filled with horror as the scene of a battle unfolded before his eyes. He was moving at a high speed, the scenery blurring from the constant motion and he could see his own hands raising up his handguns to fire at the armored targets flitting in and out of his vision as they battled. What truly horrified him wasn’t the battle. That he was used to. What horrified him was how he knew he wasn’t in control of his body, as though he was in the back seat of a car that was driving itself, except the car was his body.
“You’ve awakened,” an exhausted voice reverberated in his mind and before he knew it, Amadeus could feel his consciousness being wrung backwards. He wanted to shout out at whoever was doing this to him, but no sound left his throat. The first person view of the battle outside pulled away, until it was no more than a window of motion within a hall of darkness. For a moment, Amadeus felt himself jerk and then when he looked down again, he was looking out through his own eyes again down at his body, clad in his professional attire. This time, he was finally in control of his body as he watched his own fists clench and unclench. Then the voice spoke up again.
“Amadeus Silas Park,” it came from behind him and the assassin immediately spun around to see a partially armored being suspended in mid-air. Dressed in a white long sleeved shirt that was rolled back to the elbow and a pair of black pants, the being was also equipped with multiple armored gear. Black gauntlets covered his hands while a pair of black boots reached up to his knees. Some sort of body armor that left his front empty save for the four straps that reached around his shoulders and waist to keep it in place. And finally, the helmet covering his entire head with two horns jutting out from the side sweeping to the back and a single, triangular eye in the middle of the helmet, glowing with an aquamarine light.
“Bear with me a little, and I will have the time to explain to you,” the being spoke without looking at him. At least that was what Amadeus thought, since he assumed the glowing triangle was the being’s eye. The moment he finished speaking, the two of them exclaimed in pain at the same time, Amadeus growling in pain while the being hissed slightly. Amadeus hastily looked down to his chest, only to find a horizontal line of blood slowly blooming outwards from the wound. His head looked back up again at the being, identifying the same cut across the chest as himself. From there the pieces of the puzzle began to click into place, and as the realization dawned on him, that his body was currently being controlled by this being before him, recent memories began flooding back to him in a torrential rush.
A sense of embarrassment crept over him as he remembered everything. Initially, Amadeus had picked up a job to tail a researcher from a corporation that was believed to have ties to Pergrande, or perhaps originated from Pergrande itself. The researcher had been easy to follow, and after a few hours of following the prey, Amadeus had let his guard down. It was exactly like an idiom he had heard before: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Amadeus had been the mantis stalking his cicada, and when he had dropped his guard, the metaphorical oriole in the form of five men, had caught him in an ambush.
While their individual skills were lacking as Amadeus engaged them in combat, combining close combat with his handguns within the narrow alley, the five of them shone when they worked in a formation, which restrained Amadeus within a few minutes before ultimately knocking him out. After that, the memories came in pieces as he dipped in and out consciousness, remembering being strapped to a chair, remembering sharp spikes of pain in his head, remembering flashes of light and murmuring voices as their owners peered from him behind featureless masks. And then this.
“I will give you back control over your body. You will be using my powers, but I will guide you,” the being said again, the same exhaustion tinging his voice. And just like that, Amadeus was thrown back with the full control of his body. The first thing he noticed was the sudden onslaught of attacks that was being fired in all directions from all directions. Not knowing where he was, the first thing he observed was that he was in the midst of a battle and instinctually, he began to react to the incoming attacks.
A neon-pink dagger flew for his chest and without hesitation, Amadeus swung his left hand forward in front of him, his P226 in hand and using it to knock the dagger out of the way. As the dagger was knocked away, his right hand switched places with his left, holding up his other handgun, his HK P30L and began firing away at the assailant who had attacked him with the blade. Amadeus tracked the assailant with his gun, firing bullet after bullet but the rose-haired female fighter clad in armor was too fast. His bullets lagged behind her as she flitted through the battlefield, with Amadeus chasing after her while dodging other attacks.
But his chase was cut short when he was forced to an abrupt stop when a blade of orange energy slashed through the air and ground, a portion of the crackling blade of energy’s bottom half cutting through the ground like butter. The orange energy blade had blocked Amadeus’s sight of the female fighter from earlier and when the blade had moved past his sight, the female had already disappeared, with Amadeus finding himself locking weapons with the one who had fired off the projectile slash. This new combatant was entirely clad in armor as well, covering every part of him. Like the female assailant earlier who fought with a pair of daggers, this new fellow had long flowing white hair as well but instead of twin daggers, he wielded a katana coated in orange plasma.
Amadeus’s first reaction was to raise his handguns to fire at the swordsman but a series of instructions was suddenly conveyed into his mind. The information was new and yet, Amadeus felt like he had known them all his life. With a lack of hesitation, Amadeus tossed the handgun in his right hand into the air and quickly held it in front of him, palm facing outwards at the swordsman lunging at him. The words “Pulse Shot” echoed in his mind, and a blast of lightning shot out of his outstretched hand, colliding with the armored swordsman. The dark blue lightning drew a stark contrast against the swordsman in a suit of armor with highlighted bright orange parts, striking the swordsman in the middle of his chest and sending him flying him backwards.
Behind the helmet that he was currently wearing, though he hadn’t realized it yet, Amadeus’s eyes widened at the ability he had just displayed. But he was given no respite. The sound of movement from behind him prompted him to turn around but he was too slow. A powerful blow smashed into the side of his head, and just before he blacked out from the hit, the only thought that ran through Amadeus’s mind was if it had been a sledgehammer.
When he finally awakened again to a very bad headache, Amadeus quickly looked down at himself and was relieved himself in his own body as he patted himself down. He wanted to attribute what had happened earlier as a dream but it was impossible when he lifted his head up to look at his surroundings. Right now, he was sitting on a bed which was actually nothing but a piece of metal affixed to the smooth ceramic wall. The same ceramic-like white material was used for the walls, floor and ceiling. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, Amadeus forced himself to his feet and ran his fingers along the wall, his face darkening when he discovered that there was not a single seam in the walls.
He tried to Requip his handguns but nothing came to him. Wincing from the headache, Amadeus sat back down heavily on the bed, trying to ease the headache by massaging his temples when a voice suddenly spoke up in his head.
“Amadeus Silas Park,” the weary voice from before called out to him. The moment he heard that voice in his mind, Amadeus stopped whatever he was doing, his hands dropping to his side.
“Who are you?” Amadeus bluntly asked, his voice echoing in the room.
“I will show you,” the voice replied and in the same way that Amadeus’s consciousness was wrung out of his body earlier, it happened again. When the nauseating process was finally over, Amadeus found himself standing in an entirely dark place. He was dressed in his professional attire, what he would wear on his jobs, with a beam of light shining down on him. Standing opposite him, at a height slightly taller than him and equally illuminated by a beam of light, was the same being from before.
“What are you?” Amadeus asked.
“My name is Hermes, a warrior from Zaun, a far-off planet. What you see right now is actually a lingering will, sealed within an artifact that also bears my powers. You have used my powers earlier. Lightning.”
“That doesn’t explain much. What was with that battle earlier? Where are we actually?”
“I.. It would be easier for me to do it telepathically,” Hermes said, the tension in his voice rising as he went silent for a few seconds before a beam of light shot out from his triangular eye in the middle of his head straight into Amadeus’s forehead. The Hidden Blades assassin retreated by one step from the sudden push of energy before all motion in his body stopped as images began playing out in his mind.
Amadeus floated above a glorious world, not much different from Earthland, as a spectre as he watched through Hermes’s memories in fast forward mode. The first thing that he saw was the world that Hermes had came from, a world ruled by a select group of beings who held enormous powers within their grasp, a god race. They could bend the forces of nature to their will, and with this power, they ruled over the mass of powerless. The memories continued playing back at a rapid pace, showing Amadeus how the powerful beings discovered a portal that could bring them to other worlds. With his discovery, the powerful beings was split into two factions, with one faction calling themselves the Rulers desiring to travel to other worlds to conquer and rule over them as how they had ruled over their own world while the other group, called the Watchers merely wanted to use the portal to watch over the other worlds as guardians instead of conquerors.
The disagreement between the two factions eventually turned into a civil war, tearing their own world apart as the Rulers and Watchers led armies against each other. It was a drawn-out war over the control of the portal, a deadlock until one eventful battle where a core group of Rulers managed to sneak through the portal by distracting the Watchers with a ploy. Amadeus watched as Hermes leapt through the portal with the other Rulers into an Earthland from a thousand years ago, subsequently being followed by a ragtag band of Watchers. It was never a fair battle, and as the Watchers were on the cusp of defeat, Hermes suddenly revealed himself as a double agent, pledging his loyalty to the Watchers instead and turning upon the Rulers.
However, his assistance to the Watchers would do nothing to turn the tide of the battle. Without hesitation, Hermes cast a forbidden spell of epic proportions that ate away at the physical bodies of both Rulers and Watchers and trapping their souls within their respective regalia that came in the form of weapons and armors. Amadeus watched as Hermes finally disintegrated, his soul sealed within his armor and then he was brought back to the dark space where he stood in front of Hermes.
“That still doesn’t explain much regarding how we are in this situation. I get that you guys died, but what does that have to do with everything that’s happening now?”
“Three months ago, a researcher accidentally stumbled upon our artifacts. After unearthing the artifacts, the researchers eventually discovered the latent powers hidden within the artifacts. Their research led them to reason that the powers within our regalia could be harnessed, and it took them even more experiments that claimed the lives of many mages before they realized that there was a certain level of compatibility required between the mage and the regalia for the powers to be utilized. They were unable to find the logic behind the compatibility issue, but they did formulate a way to scan mages to see if they were compatible. Their search for a mage to use my powers led them to you. The battle you just fought earlier is one of the many simulations that the researchers put the test subjects through, analyzing the level of compatibility as well as how much power they are able to draw out,” Hermes replied. As he spoke, he stumbled forward onto one knee, barely stopping himself from collapsing to the ground by pushing against the ground with his left fist.
Amadeus reacted instantly, bending down to help the being up but Hermes stopped him with his other hand.
“What you see right now is merely a portion of my soul, a weakened version. And sending you through my memories took a toll on me. I will be alright after I rest,” Hermes replied, his chest heaving heavily as he maintained his position on the ground before he finally stood back up.
“So does that mean, the others using the artifacts are also communicating with the lingering wills of the Rulers and Watchers within the artifacts?” Amadeus asked as he began to digest the information.
“For now, no. I’m the first to awaken, as it was my sealing spell. However, the more the test subjects synchronize with the artifacts, the quicker the lingering wills of the others will awaken. I know that this is true for the Rulers, but when I performed the sealing spell, the souls of the other Watchers were already weak to begin with and I’m unclear if they would be able to reawaken. However, even without awakening, the mage utilizing the regalia would still be able to harness their powers albeit at a lesser degree,” Hermes said solemnly.
“And after telling me all these, what is your agenda. I don’t suppose that you are just doing this as a tutorial to how to use your powers,” Amadeus asked as he folded his arms in front of his chest.
“Destroy all the regalia, and this facility. Before the souls of the Rulers within the regalia can awaken. I don’t know how it will be once they fully awaken, but I strongly believe that their aim will remain the same. Total conquest of your world,” Hermes replied as he took a step forward.
“How do I do that? Right now, my physical body is trapped in a white box, with no exit. And I don’t have my magic,” Amadeus replied with a sigh as he recalled his predicament.
“The materials used to hold you restrain your powers but not mine. I will lend you my powers,” Hermes replied stoically, with Amadeus nodding once before he was pushed out of the dark space and back into his body.
-----
Amadeus stood on a cliff that looked over the research facility, or what was left of it. As what Hermes had promised, he had been able to access the Watcher’s power through Take Over magic, allowing him access to all of Hermes’s abilities. Escape had been an easy task and with his own skills, Amadeus had completely sabotaged the facility, barely a twinge of guilt as he killed those who had stood in his way. The other test subjects bonded to the regalia of the dormant Rulers and Watchers had provided no resistance, all of them held within their cells, the powers that they could obtain on their own, merely a drop in the bucket.
Fire raged across the facility, with explosions blooming one after another irregularly.
“Thank you… Amadeus,” the exhausted voice of Hermes spoke up in his mind. “For now, I will entrust my regalia and my powers to you. Use them… as you see fit. I need to rest….”
Hermes’s voice dissipated from Amadeus’s mind as abruptly as he had spoken up.
“Hermes? Are you still there? Hermes!” Amadeus shouted out loud, despite the conversation being held in his mind. There was no response, as though the Watcher had never existed at all. But it hadn’t been a hallucination on Amadeus’s part. The young man looked downwards at his hands, palm facing upwards, clad in armored gloves. On his legs, black armored boots that reached up to his knees. On his back, an armor that protected his entire back, held in place by two clasps on his shoulder and two by his side. His front was appeared unprotected, but in actuality, he was protected by a layer of transparent energy. And on his head, the same helmet that Hermes had worn. A silver helmet with a triangular eye in the middle, glowing with a blue light and two horns sweeping back from the side of the helmet. The Watcher’s soul may have disappeared, but he hadn’t gone back on his words. Amadeus was in control of the regalia of a god.
[3120 words]
[1000 words for B-rank exam]
[2000 words for secondary magic]
However, he would have rather not. Whatever dream this was, Amadeus was filled with horror as the scene of a battle unfolded before his eyes. He was moving at a high speed, the scenery blurring from the constant motion and he could see his own hands raising up his handguns to fire at the armored targets flitting in and out of his vision as they battled. What truly horrified him wasn’t the battle. That he was used to. What horrified him was how he knew he wasn’t in control of his body, as though he was in the back seat of a car that was driving itself, except the car was his body.
“You’ve awakened,” an exhausted voice reverberated in his mind and before he knew it, Amadeus could feel his consciousness being wrung backwards. He wanted to shout out at whoever was doing this to him, but no sound left his throat. The first person view of the battle outside pulled away, until it was no more than a window of motion within a hall of darkness. For a moment, Amadeus felt himself jerk and then when he looked down again, he was looking out through his own eyes again down at his body, clad in his professional attire. This time, he was finally in control of his body as he watched his own fists clench and unclench. Then the voice spoke up again.
“Amadeus Silas Park,” it came from behind him and the assassin immediately spun around to see a partially armored being suspended in mid-air. Dressed in a white long sleeved shirt that was rolled back to the elbow and a pair of black pants, the being was also equipped with multiple armored gear. Black gauntlets covered his hands while a pair of black boots reached up to his knees. Some sort of body armor that left his front empty save for the four straps that reached around his shoulders and waist to keep it in place. And finally, the helmet covering his entire head with two horns jutting out from the side sweeping to the back and a single, triangular eye in the middle of the helmet, glowing with an aquamarine light.
“Bear with me a little, and I will have the time to explain to you,” the being spoke without looking at him. At least that was what Amadeus thought, since he assumed the glowing triangle was the being’s eye. The moment he finished speaking, the two of them exclaimed in pain at the same time, Amadeus growling in pain while the being hissed slightly. Amadeus hastily looked down to his chest, only to find a horizontal line of blood slowly blooming outwards from the wound. His head looked back up again at the being, identifying the same cut across the chest as himself. From there the pieces of the puzzle began to click into place, and as the realization dawned on him, that his body was currently being controlled by this being before him, recent memories began flooding back to him in a torrential rush.
A sense of embarrassment crept over him as he remembered everything. Initially, Amadeus had picked up a job to tail a researcher from a corporation that was believed to have ties to Pergrande, or perhaps originated from Pergrande itself. The researcher had been easy to follow, and after a few hours of following the prey, Amadeus had let his guard down. It was exactly like an idiom he had heard before: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Amadeus had been the mantis stalking his cicada, and when he had dropped his guard, the metaphorical oriole in the form of five men, had caught him in an ambush.
While their individual skills were lacking as Amadeus engaged them in combat, combining close combat with his handguns within the narrow alley, the five of them shone when they worked in a formation, which restrained Amadeus within a few minutes before ultimately knocking him out. After that, the memories came in pieces as he dipped in and out consciousness, remembering being strapped to a chair, remembering sharp spikes of pain in his head, remembering flashes of light and murmuring voices as their owners peered from him behind featureless masks. And then this.
“I will give you back control over your body. You will be using my powers, but I will guide you,” the being said again, the same exhaustion tinging his voice. And just like that, Amadeus was thrown back with the full control of his body. The first thing he noticed was the sudden onslaught of attacks that was being fired in all directions from all directions. Not knowing where he was, the first thing he observed was that he was in the midst of a battle and instinctually, he began to react to the incoming attacks.
A neon-pink dagger flew for his chest and without hesitation, Amadeus swung his left hand forward in front of him, his P226 in hand and using it to knock the dagger out of the way. As the dagger was knocked away, his right hand switched places with his left, holding up his other handgun, his HK P30L and began firing away at the assailant who had attacked him with the blade. Amadeus tracked the assailant with his gun, firing bullet after bullet but the rose-haired female fighter clad in armor was too fast. His bullets lagged behind her as she flitted through the battlefield, with Amadeus chasing after her while dodging other attacks.
But his chase was cut short when he was forced to an abrupt stop when a blade of orange energy slashed through the air and ground, a portion of the crackling blade of energy’s bottom half cutting through the ground like butter. The orange energy blade had blocked Amadeus’s sight of the female fighter from earlier and when the blade had moved past his sight, the female had already disappeared, with Amadeus finding himself locking weapons with the one who had fired off the projectile slash. This new combatant was entirely clad in armor as well, covering every part of him. Like the female assailant earlier who fought with a pair of daggers, this new fellow had long flowing white hair as well but instead of twin daggers, he wielded a katana coated in orange plasma.
Amadeus’s first reaction was to raise his handguns to fire at the swordsman but a series of instructions was suddenly conveyed into his mind. The information was new and yet, Amadeus felt like he had known them all his life. With a lack of hesitation, Amadeus tossed the handgun in his right hand into the air and quickly held it in front of him, palm facing outwards at the swordsman lunging at him. The words “Pulse Shot” echoed in his mind, and a blast of lightning shot out of his outstretched hand, colliding with the armored swordsman. The dark blue lightning drew a stark contrast against the swordsman in a suit of armor with highlighted bright orange parts, striking the swordsman in the middle of his chest and sending him flying him backwards.
Behind the helmet that he was currently wearing, though he hadn’t realized it yet, Amadeus’s eyes widened at the ability he had just displayed. But he was given no respite. The sound of movement from behind him prompted him to turn around but he was too slow. A powerful blow smashed into the side of his head, and just before he blacked out from the hit, the only thought that ran through Amadeus’s mind was if it had been a sledgehammer.
When he finally awakened again to a very bad headache, Amadeus quickly looked down at himself and was relieved himself in his own body as he patted himself down. He wanted to attribute what had happened earlier as a dream but it was impossible when he lifted his head up to look at his surroundings. Right now, he was sitting on a bed which was actually nothing but a piece of metal affixed to the smooth ceramic wall. The same ceramic-like white material was used for the walls, floor and ceiling. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, Amadeus forced himself to his feet and ran his fingers along the wall, his face darkening when he discovered that there was not a single seam in the walls.
He tried to Requip his handguns but nothing came to him. Wincing from the headache, Amadeus sat back down heavily on the bed, trying to ease the headache by massaging his temples when a voice suddenly spoke up in his head.
“Amadeus Silas Park,” the weary voice from before called out to him. The moment he heard that voice in his mind, Amadeus stopped whatever he was doing, his hands dropping to his side.
“Who are you?” Amadeus bluntly asked, his voice echoing in the room.
“I will show you,” the voice replied and in the same way that Amadeus’s consciousness was wrung out of his body earlier, it happened again. When the nauseating process was finally over, Amadeus found himself standing in an entirely dark place. He was dressed in his professional attire, what he would wear on his jobs, with a beam of light shining down on him. Standing opposite him, at a height slightly taller than him and equally illuminated by a beam of light, was the same being from before.
“What are you?” Amadeus asked.
“My name is Hermes, a warrior from Zaun, a far-off planet. What you see right now is actually a lingering will, sealed within an artifact that also bears my powers. You have used my powers earlier. Lightning.”
“That doesn’t explain much. What was with that battle earlier? Where are we actually?”
“I.. It would be easier for me to do it telepathically,” Hermes said, the tension in his voice rising as he went silent for a few seconds before a beam of light shot out from his triangular eye in the middle of his head straight into Amadeus’s forehead. The Hidden Blades assassin retreated by one step from the sudden push of energy before all motion in his body stopped as images began playing out in his mind.
Amadeus floated above a glorious world, not much different from Earthland, as a spectre as he watched through Hermes’s memories in fast forward mode. The first thing that he saw was the world that Hermes had came from, a world ruled by a select group of beings who held enormous powers within their grasp, a god race. They could bend the forces of nature to their will, and with this power, they ruled over the mass of powerless. The memories continued playing back at a rapid pace, showing Amadeus how the powerful beings discovered a portal that could bring them to other worlds. With his discovery, the powerful beings was split into two factions, with one faction calling themselves the Rulers desiring to travel to other worlds to conquer and rule over them as how they had ruled over their own world while the other group, called the Watchers merely wanted to use the portal to watch over the other worlds as guardians instead of conquerors.
The disagreement between the two factions eventually turned into a civil war, tearing their own world apart as the Rulers and Watchers led armies against each other. It was a drawn-out war over the control of the portal, a deadlock until one eventful battle where a core group of Rulers managed to sneak through the portal by distracting the Watchers with a ploy. Amadeus watched as Hermes leapt through the portal with the other Rulers into an Earthland from a thousand years ago, subsequently being followed by a ragtag band of Watchers. It was never a fair battle, and as the Watchers were on the cusp of defeat, Hermes suddenly revealed himself as a double agent, pledging his loyalty to the Watchers instead and turning upon the Rulers.
However, his assistance to the Watchers would do nothing to turn the tide of the battle. Without hesitation, Hermes cast a forbidden spell of epic proportions that ate away at the physical bodies of both Rulers and Watchers and trapping their souls within their respective regalia that came in the form of weapons and armors. Amadeus watched as Hermes finally disintegrated, his soul sealed within his armor and then he was brought back to the dark space where he stood in front of Hermes.
“That still doesn’t explain much regarding how we are in this situation. I get that you guys died, but what does that have to do with everything that’s happening now?”
“Three months ago, a researcher accidentally stumbled upon our artifacts. After unearthing the artifacts, the researchers eventually discovered the latent powers hidden within the artifacts. Their research led them to reason that the powers within our regalia could be harnessed, and it took them even more experiments that claimed the lives of many mages before they realized that there was a certain level of compatibility required between the mage and the regalia for the powers to be utilized. They were unable to find the logic behind the compatibility issue, but they did formulate a way to scan mages to see if they were compatible. Their search for a mage to use my powers led them to you. The battle you just fought earlier is one of the many simulations that the researchers put the test subjects through, analyzing the level of compatibility as well as how much power they are able to draw out,” Hermes replied. As he spoke, he stumbled forward onto one knee, barely stopping himself from collapsing to the ground by pushing against the ground with his left fist.
Amadeus reacted instantly, bending down to help the being up but Hermes stopped him with his other hand.
“What you see right now is merely a portion of my soul, a weakened version. And sending you through my memories took a toll on me. I will be alright after I rest,” Hermes replied, his chest heaving heavily as he maintained his position on the ground before he finally stood back up.
“So does that mean, the others using the artifacts are also communicating with the lingering wills of the Rulers and Watchers within the artifacts?” Amadeus asked as he began to digest the information.
“For now, no. I’m the first to awaken, as it was my sealing spell. However, the more the test subjects synchronize with the artifacts, the quicker the lingering wills of the others will awaken. I know that this is true for the Rulers, but when I performed the sealing spell, the souls of the other Watchers were already weak to begin with and I’m unclear if they would be able to reawaken. However, even without awakening, the mage utilizing the regalia would still be able to harness their powers albeit at a lesser degree,” Hermes said solemnly.
“And after telling me all these, what is your agenda. I don’t suppose that you are just doing this as a tutorial to how to use your powers,” Amadeus asked as he folded his arms in front of his chest.
“Destroy all the regalia, and this facility. Before the souls of the Rulers within the regalia can awaken. I don’t know how it will be once they fully awaken, but I strongly believe that their aim will remain the same. Total conquest of your world,” Hermes replied as he took a step forward.
“How do I do that? Right now, my physical body is trapped in a white box, with no exit. And I don’t have my magic,” Amadeus replied with a sigh as he recalled his predicament.
“The materials used to hold you restrain your powers but not mine. I will lend you my powers,” Hermes replied stoically, with Amadeus nodding once before he was pushed out of the dark space and back into his body.
-----
Amadeus stood on a cliff that looked over the research facility, or what was left of it. As what Hermes had promised, he had been able to access the Watcher’s power through Take Over magic, allowing him access to all of Hermes’s abilities. Escape had been an easy task and with his own skills, Amadeus had completely sabotaged the facility, barely a twinge of guilt as he killed those who had stood in his way. The other test subjects bonded to the regalia of the dormant Rulers and Watchers had provided no resistance, all of them held within their cells, the powers that they could obtain on their own, merely a drop in the bucket.
Fire raged across the facility, with explosions blooming one after another irregularly.
“Thank you… Amadeus,” the exhausted voice of Hermes spoke up in his mind. “For now, I will entrust my regalia and my powers to you. Use them… as you see fit. I need to rest….”
Hermes’s voice dissipated from Amadeus’s mind as abruptly as he had spoken up.
“Hermes? Are you still there? Hermes!” Amadeus shouted out loud, despite the conversation being held in his mind. There was no response, as though the Watcher had never existed at all. But it hadn’t been a hallucination on Amadeus’s part. The young man looked downwards at his hands, palm facing upwards, clad in armored gloves. On his legs, black armored boots that reached up to his knees. On his back, an armor that protected his entire back, held in place by two clasps on his shoulder and two by his side. His front was appeared unprotected, but in actuality, he was protected by a layer of transparent energy. And on his head, the same helmet that Hermes had worn. A silver helmet with a triangular eye in the middle, glowing with a blue light and two horns sweeping back from the side of the helmet. The Watcher’s soul may have disappeared, but he hadn’t gone back on his words. Amadeus was in control of the regalia of a god.
[3120 words]
[1000 words for B-rank exam]
[2000 words for secondary magic]
