Something was off in the forest. The moment I stepped in, an electric discharge wave went through me. Mom had forgotten to repair the shield she had applied on me, and I felt some pain, making my right arm go numb. Had I not got even the broken shield, I might have passed out since the pain would've probably been greater.
The numbness however went away within 5-7 seconds. A pop-up came in my mind, and opened the screen without my interference. A red exclamation was present over the power "regeneration", and it opened, speaking in my mind :
'Regenerative power upgraded; level - unknown; advantage - absorption of disturbance waves and conversion to mana'.
This was....surprising as the not-very-needed-right-now power upgraded itself through the shockwave, went over to an unknown level, and for an advantage, would convert that wave to mana, increasing my overall level.
I assumed that I was starting from level 1 with the most minimum amount of mana, and all base powers with some still locked, so I didn't bother to check their levels.
Either way, I went deeper into the woods to discover if anything unusual was there. There was a variety of flora, consisting of plants that I had never seen in my homeland, or in the forests of the kingdoms I had gone to. The bushes were at my waist's level, flowers completely full of life, the aroma pungent, yet subtle at the same time. The trees bore fruits that I had never seen.
I plucked a few flowers, making sure that the colour scheme looked smooth and not out of place, and made kind of a necklace. Following that, I climbed up the trees, plucked off a couple of those fruits and put them in a bag I had unconsciously brought with me.
That's when it happened.
I dodged, but I knew I had made a slight miscalculation. A visible streak of light passed me, grazing my cheek, initiating a burning sensation, hitting a tree a couple of feet behind me, obliterating the entire area and generating sparks, which turned into a huge fire. The pain took longer to subside this time, and the healing process didn't take place. I had been wary the entire way, yet was attacked and got hurt even if a little.
"Ah shoot, I missed," a voice came from behind the trees in front of me. I enabled physique enhancer once again, and teleported right behind those trees, believing someone behind them had a tried to shoot me down.
There was no-one.
"You're still a long way from finding me, Osvaldo Thes," the voice came.
Someone teleported right behind me, and a swishing sound came right up, which because of my power I could hear and so I teleported away a little far, only to stop at a little distance to see who and what it was.
A short scythe, but wildly sharp that would've straight up beheaded me, was in the hand of a tall, slim someone in a red-black cloak. Their face was hidden inside the cloak.
"You're sharp, I see. Curious to know who I am?" they asked me.
I should've been scared, being this close to death, right after my entry to a new world, but for some reason I wasn't. It was as if I still retained that passive calm self, which I could hold out till the end. I was indeed curious to know who attacked me, even if I didn't know anyone in this world, but I had other things to tend to.
I teleported over to the flamed parts, and through hydro i.e., water, I began blowing out the fire.
Of course, the attacker would not wait till I finished my work, and attacked me the moment water gushed out of my palms.
"Ignoring me, how sweet," they said.
They came through the air, slashed again, but learning from what happened, I teleported right behind, and said :
~Goodbye~
The scythe broke into pieces so small they turned to dust, and the being sunk in the ground, the pressure of water, and the gravitational pull, the ground in box-like pieces.
However, the force was not enough to kill them, but at least he laid unconscious, blood flowing from underneath.
What had happened was, I imagined gravity which acted on everything on the earth, acting on this one being, which depending on the amount could be powerful enough to flatten anything and everything into nothingness, including a living being. I imagine the process in my mind, and it aws successful in using it. Once again on the screen by itself, information came and spoke -
Special power - gravity; mana used - 50%; mana recovery time - 60 mins; overall level increase - unknown;
'Is there someone inside my head?' I thought.
No answer. I sighed.
I dragged the body away from the mess, so that it didn't burn up with the rest, and then carried on with drenching the area, and the fire finally went out.
Tiredness overtook me, and I sat down, huffing. I had planned to bring along this being to our house and show mom to see if she knew them, but I didn't have a lot of mana left, so I couldn't drag them from here. Additionally, he was bleeding. Yet, I tried something different with this gravity power.
I put my hand on their foot, and imagined them floating to a certain level.
It worked.
He was in the air, separated from the earth's gravitational field, but my mana level was just too low for me to even sustain it for a couple of seconds, and so both of us dropped to the ground, them unconscious, me huffing even more.
Leaves fell from trees, the tender aroma still there, though with a slight burnt smell as well. I wanted to lay down, and rest for a couple of minutes to retrieve my mana, and then go back home with this being, but I suspected that I would probably go to sleep, or the enemy would suddenly get up to kill me, or someone else would come to get them and kill me, or mom would come and take both of us away. So I sat for a couple of minutes, caught my breath, and took in the surroundings. Quite a significant part was completely finished off, but then it wasn't a very small forest, so I could go ahead, grab something edible, replenish some energy and then head back home.
I stood up, brushed off the leaves and stuff, then grabbed some fruits from the trees. I didn't know whether they were edible or not, so I opened my screen, and searched for an 'identify' or some similar option. There was an option named *search*, which I clicked on, and it opened up something like a camera. I put up each fruit against the screen, and it gave the details about each and every one of them. Some could apparently be even used for natural single-use weapons, which would be usable once they would have more energy in them than the one using those.
I ate a couple of the edible ones, those which I wanted to save for later got absorbed into the screen and I dunno went where, but my mana did increase significantly, so I could probably make the being float, and carry them through the air to home.
I went back to them, and used 'gravity negate' (that's what I named this power), without any problem, and headed out.
"Your guts are more than your height, taking one of our key members away," someone spoke into my ear.
I whirled around, to see another someone in the same getup take the floater in their arms.
Before I could use teleport, they snapped their fingers, and I flew back at an outrageous speed, breaking into a couple of trees, the pain increasing with each hit, and finally hit one last tree, falling on my knees, my back in intense pain, mouth full of blood.
Teleport was an incredibly quick power, and the process not very much noticeable, yet they were able to counter it with such a powerful attack, with just a snap.
I could black out any moment, but I had to get home if only by myself.
But the enemy had other plans.
Surprisingly though, they removed the cloak partly just enough to reveal their face.
Golden-white hair, dual earrings, a nose piercing. I wouldn't say she was ugly, but she wasn't really attractive as well, so a neutral.
In a soft and smooth motion, she put her comrade on the ground, then got up and made a circle with her right palm.
I was trapped. The circle she made with her palm became a transparent orb in which I was in.
The electric discharges that I had got on entering this forest; they were there in that circular cage, and they straight on hit me in each of my body parts. The shield I had was almost broken, and I couldn't hold out any longer.
I became a ball myself, closed my eyes, concentrating all the mana I had left, aiming to break through this orb and if possible, hit the enemy who stood a couple of feet away with a full-range expanded beam. My body was screaming with pain, but just a little more time I needed.
An emergency pop-up came to my mind, stating -
"Shield break in 15 seconds; impact could kill if not taken care of"
I had close to no time, but if I would go down, it won't happen with me in such a pathetic state.
"50% mana concentrated"
"Shield break in 8 seconds"
Just a little more.
"80% mana concentrated"
"Shield break in 5 seconds"
Almost there.
"100% mana concentrated; shield break in motion"
I cupped both my palms outwards, and in one scream, let it all out.
The orb broke, my shield shattered, its pieces visible, flowing out into the beam, straight to the enemy at the speed of sound, hitting them head-on.
It stopped.
The energy beam had practically obliterated the entire path it went through, the orb dissipated into particles which went away in the air.
I would've smiled, only if she hadn't been still standing in front.
There was a translucent blue shield protecting both of them, though it shattered into particles as well. The unconscious enemy didn't look hurt, though it looked like the lady did take some damage.
Yet she clapped, putting me into despair.
"Looks like you still had something in you," she said. "However, I cannot allow you to stay in here any longer. The prophecy has referred to one human, powerful enough to befall the entire legacy of the multiversal demons, as well as us 'pikans'."
She materialised right in front of me. She showed me her right palm, which lit up violet, just like the violet-purple orbs which I had seen come from Samael in the previous world, referring to destruction.
"Goodbye Osvaldo, Son of Theresa."
"Sorry, mom," I thought.
I blacked out, relieved that I at least put in my all before going away.
This time, no tears came.