Chapter 6: Chapter 6 Demons and Gods.....
The hall was completely silent. There was no morale-boosting battle screams, nor was there a speech about how they needed to beat us in order to realize their dream of seeing a loved one or becoming the strongest in the world.
It wasn't necessary.
All the Regulars, even the failed Regulars and their unfortunate teammates, could see that I was hiding something. And even if they didn't take Lero Ro's words to heart, the feeling of wind brushing against their faces, despite being indoors was definitely something they were wary of.
".... come".
The formless force of nature's power increased and the once strong breeze turned into a billowing gale.
Everyone, including Baam raised their arms to cover their eyes, their gazes focused on the invisible weapon in my hands. The fact that they couldn't see my weapon meant they were at a disadvantage from the start and only increased the ever-growing tension in the room.
I raised an eyebrow and I sent a quick glance over to the other Regulars that passed.
.... At least Laure's awake now I suppose.....
I held back a chuckle when I saw Koon's facial expression finally change. It was one of both fear and awe, which made me feel quite proud of myself if I was being perfectly honest.
The pikachu on the other hand, was still looking at me with a mischievous smile, obviously happy that his excuse for a "fair" Test panned out great for him.
.... I should probably end this soon anyway. Don't want to tire myself out before the Crown Game....
With a small sigh I turn back to the two dozen or so failed Regulars, who have spread themselves out, trying to pin Baam in I in a corner of the cage.
"Mr Bell! What are we going to do? They're going to-".
I pat my fellow Irregular on the shoulder and give him a smile.
"Don't worry about them. Just leave it all to me".
Notwithstanding my immature features and eleven year old body, the Twenty-Fifth Night relaxes and gives me a smile of his own. I was glad he wasn't scared of me. I would be scared of me, knowing what I was going to do.
"Ahh! I can't wait any longer! Let's just get em! Their just kids for crying out loud!".
One of the failed Regulars, one of the teammates of the man Lero Ro threatened raised his E Rank Sword above his head and came charging towards Baam and I. His facial expression one of rage and anger.
I could hear his teammates, as well as a few other failed Regulars call out to the man, trying to call him back but their shouts went unanswered and a small smirk rose at the corners of my mouth.
.... You just couldn't wait, could you?....
By feeling the flow of Shinsoo in the cage, I didn't need my eyes to see how far away my attacker was from me. It was as if the very Shinsoo that coursed throughout the entire Tower was all visible to me. Nothing could hide from this "sixth sense" of mine.
"Damn kid! Looking down on me!".
It was like within a certain radius, I could feel the flow of all the Shinsoo within. As if the area was an extension of myself.
I just looked the failed Regulars directly in the eyes. When our gazes met, there was a slight hitch in his step and I squeezed as hard as I could on my formless weapon, and swung it horizontally, hitting the man square in the ribs.
If that wasn't everything, I concentrated most of my Shinsoo at the point of impact, creating a explosion of wind the moment I made contact, sending the man flying over fifty meters in a parabolic arc, before bouncing once after hitting the ground.
".... don't worry he's not dead".
There was a groan of confirmation from the man's broken body, however it did nothing to relieve the failed Regulars of their fear.
"W-W-What w-was that!".
"Yeah! Ranker! He's cheating right? I mean he must be!".
"It shouldn't be possible for a normal Regular to do something like that!".
"He must be cheating! He must be!".
They all looked towards Lero Ro and his pikachu dots hopefully, praying that he might end my "cheating" ways.
"No".
A single word was all it took to break down their already battered mental defenses, and one of them ran in the opposite direction, trying to get away from me as best as they could.
The key word in that sentence was "try".
"You're not getting away that easily".
Turning my body on an angle and raising my right arm in a throwing position, I kept my lance as loosely held in my hand as possible and threw it at the retreating Regular.
I frowned slightly when I realized that my upper body strength was less than I originally thought and watched from a distance as the formless wind lance hit the Regulars leg and pierced straight through, initiating a loud painful shriek from him.
.... oops....
My face contorts into a guilty, but not remorseful enough to apologize, expression and I dissipate the wind lance and form another in my hand.
"I suggest you duck".
My words were only a tiny margin louder than a whisper, and Baam, who was standing in front of my tilted his head slightly before instantly falling to the ground. Placing both hands on the lance, I focus as much Shinsoo into my weapon, increasing the Myun and Soo along with the intensity of the wind.
Once again, squeezing as tightly as my eleven year old hands could I swung my formless weapon, now extending close to twenty meters, at the remaining 22 people in front of me.
"Wha-!".
"Holy-".
"Damn cheater!".
The first half of the twenty two or so failed Regulars fall instantly to the swipe of the concentrated wind lance. Many of them tried to push back against the weapon, but found the wind moving around their Swords and Needles and striking the body directly.
My wind moved as if it was alive. Striking silently and unseen, yet with the force of being hit by a car. It didn't matter if you were behind a shield, parrying with a weapon or countering with your own attack.
The "wind" couldn't be stopped. It just adapted.
People fell onto each other. Shouted at each other. Blamed their teammates who had gotten them into this situation.
It turned from a semi-unified front, to utter chaos in the cage.
"Mr Bell....".
"Hmm? Yes Baam?".
The young man was looking down at the wind lance in my left with wide eyes and reached out his hand to touch the weapon but recoiled at the speeds the wind was accelerating at. Even with Baam's Shinsoo resistance, he would still be injured by the effects of the element, not the Shinsoo itself.
Like being burnt by fire or being shocked by lightning.
"That's impressive Mr Bell. Although I don't think you should injure them. It would be bad if you accidentally killed someone and was kicked out of the Test".
I nodded. His words did have reason after all. If I killed someone, even by accident, it wouldn't look good on me or Lero Ro.
And I didn't want to attract anymore attention from the Test Administrators than I already have.
"Yeah I probably shouldn't. I'll just use my Baang from now on".
Releasing my weapon and letting it naturally dissipate, I focused on my mental image of the world in my palm and a small fist-sized tornado of green wind formed directly above my head.
"What! He can create a proper Baang! How's that even-".
Koon's voice rang out through the hall as he pressed his face against the Shinsoo veil. It wasn't just him though.
Hatsu, Anak, Rak, Leesoo, Parakewl, Yung Changsoo, Hong Chunhwa and even Phonsekal Laure were all looking at me as if I was some sort of monster. Even Lero Ro's mouth opened a little, obviously surprised at seeing my single Baang.
And I fucking reveled in it.
"Shoot".
I pointed my arm at the closest Regular and the fist sized tornado of green wind exploded outwards, shooting towards them. It wasn't like the wind needle I had created during the First Test, but rather a much longer version of it, looking closer to my Shinsoo quality without the length or invisibility of the lance.
The moment the miniature wind lance hit him, instead of being impaled in the chest the weapon exploded, and the force of the wind directed towards the unsuspecting Regular.
To say that the destructive power of my single Baang was toned down as a little of an understatement. Normally, it should've pierced straight through their body, like it did with the other Regular's leg. This one however, while lacking in the piercing power the previous one had, definitely made up for it in explosive power.
While maybe not having as much as an effect on those with High Shinsoo Resistance like Baam or Anak, for these failed Regulars, it was more than enough.
"Ahh!".
"He's a monster!".
"Help us!".
"What part of this is fair exactly!".
".... how dangerous. This kid is a freak at manipulating Shinsoo. His only fault is that he's never received formal training.... I guess we lucked out a little there....".
Laure muttered something, but his teammates and several of the surrounding Regulars picked up on it.
"Excuse me, Mr Laure, but what do you mean by formal training? The kid can already use a Baang and even manifested it as something as unique as wind, isn't that good enough?".
Sunwoo Nare, a short blonde haired girl with matching yellow eyes batted her eyes at the sleepy man and looked up at him with a innocent expression. Obviously hoping to seduce the Eurasia Family member.
He gave the pretty blonde girl a glance before noticing the increasing number of stares he was getting from the other Regulars, who were all hoping to hear a weakness of the "monster" in front of them.
"....*sigh*. The kid is good that is for certain. Being able to create a fully manifested Baang and also his Shinsoo Quality from such a low Floor is one in a million for most Regulars. He's got a good grasp on control as he hasn't killed anyone yet, and his power isn't anything to scoff at either".
The Regular with a hole in his leg can to everyone's mind and they cringed slightly at the pain of having your leg impaled.
"But it's so unrefined. All his attacks lack technique and variety making him a little more than a one trick pony. Sure, the invisible part may be hard to counter considering you don't know the speed, dimensions or timing of his attack, but excluding that, he has a plethora of weaknesses".
The sleepy head yawned loudly before continuing.
"First of all, he's still a child, meaning that his physical abilities are weak compared to any other Regular. Although I wouldn't take my chances with this as strengthening the body with Shinsoo is something a kid as talented as this wouldn't find hard to pick up. Second of all is his-".
"Pride. It's his pride right?".
A voice interrupted Laure and he sent a glance over to the blue haired man and nodded. Koon Aguero Agnis, stepped forward with an extremely large crocodile trailing behind him. His expression thoughtful and his eyes narrowed
"I've got a younger cousin similar to this kid. If there's anything I know about young kids with power, it's that all of them have a pride about them that can't be wavered. And he does. Although the Ranker forced him to participate, the fact of the matter is he still fell for his provocations. And the third thing is-".
"He's lack of injuring fatally".
Another voice entered the fray and drew all eyes from the Regulars.
And average looking man, with tanned skin and freckles accompanied with a handsome black haired young man and a short green girl with a tail stood before all the other Regulars, their unified presence commanding a certain respect.
"He hasn't killed anyone yet. Almost everyone else here would put down their opponent or even cripple them in some instances. Just as blue over their said before, he's just a kid. The concept of "killing", while not foreign to him, doesn't sit well with him. He won't purposely injure anybody".
Leesoo met the eyes of the two 10 Family members, ignoring the rising of his neck hairs and remembering the teammates that have his back.
"Yep. I wouldn't be surprised if the kid was a descendant of the 10 Families. The Eurasia Family in particular".
The minor glare that Laura gave Leesoo didn't go unnoticed by him, nor the other Regulars. The freckled man was taking small jabs at the Great Family, one for producing a bastard, which was frowned inside the Tower, and two, for having a descendant stronger than some of the "named" family members.
"The Koon Family is also a possibility".
Lero Ro casually threw out a statement as he watched Bell send another failed Regular flying, knocking the man out instantly when his head collided with the cold hard concrete.
"The Koon Family Head, Koon Eduan is famed as the "God of Spear". His Shinsoo Quality is that of a spear, while Mr Invidia's is that of a Lance. Granted, this is just conjecture, but the similarity still remains".
The slightly nostalgic expression on Blue Turtles face was all the disgraced Koon Family member had to say about the matter. He himself while possessing the Koon Family name and blood, was also a disgraced member, having been abandoned and lost the right to wear his Family Crest.
"That's all well and good, but need I remind you that the kid has teammates?".
Yung Changsoo and Hwa Ryun stepped forward, the former more so than the latter. He had an arrogant expression on his face, and sneered a little at the other Regulars.
"All your talks and your little schemes are really starting to get on my nerves. It's as if your completely forgetting that the competition has teams of three?".
Despite the arrogant and presumptuous tone Changsoo was using, the three leading the conversation furrowed their brows slightly and looked at the swordsman and the masked woman with an appraising look.
The four groups stared off at each other before a loud clap interrupted them and Lero Ro appeared in the center of their circle, a carefree expression on his face.
Most of the Regulars flinched at the Ranker's sudden appearance, but the members of the four groups were surprised, but showed no visible change in his instant movement.
"Now, now everybody. I know I'm the cause of everyone's sudden aggression, but tone it down a little. The Make-Up-Test is about to end".
He gestured to his cage of Shinsoo and everyone noted that their was only three people left standing inside.
A nameless failed Regular, Baam and myself.
The woman in front of me fell backwards and landed on her butt, looking up at me with fear in her eyes. Her body shaking and a line of tears and snot trailing down her face. Her physical appearance was definitely able to turn heads, even with the tears coming from her eyes.
But I wavered slightly when my eyes met hers.
I was slightly taken back by that "look". That "look" made me feel a sinking feeling in my stomach, as if I had done something wrong. As if I had just just slaughtered everybody she had ever cared about.
Fear, horror, trepidation, terror, despair.
She was looking at me as if I was a-.
"Demon.... you're a Demon! A freak of nature! A monster!".
Her words were like a jagged dagger and I clenched my fist and held back my retort.
"How else can you explain it! His powers?! His strength!? Even his name is that of a Demons! Everything about him is evil! Pure evil! He doesn't show any remorse for his actions! He doesn't show any fear! He's just a-!".
The woman couldn't finish as I shot a wind lance at her stomach, knocking her back a few meters, causing the woman to cough and wheeze heavily.
And then I hit her again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
The woman's limbs had most definitely being broken, and it was definitely possible that she fainted due to the shock, if the lack of screaming said, or didn't say anything.
I didn't spare the random Regular another glance and just turned around whispering to myself. Trying to calm my anger.
".... a demon.... I'm not a demon.... I'm not....".
Passing by Baam, I didn't notice the weird look he gave me and I just passed through the Shinsoo veil, ignoring the wide berth the other Regulars gave me and walked straight over to Yung Changsoo and Hwa Ryun.
"Hey kid! You sure kicked ass in there! Now all the other's will think twice about messing with us!".
I give Changsoo a nod and I walk away to the exit, mindlessly following my teammate. My focus directed at the words of that Regular and the constant "reminder" that it tells me.
The only thing I didn't notice however, was the ever-growing smirk behind Hwa Ryun's mask as she trailed behind me, her thoughts unknown to everyone but her.
.... The path has been started. The coming of a new God is almost at hand....
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone