Chapter 34: Aftermath (Patreon)

What the actual fuck happened?

Currently, I was laying on my couch in the basement, bloodied to shit, and only alive because of potion abuse. The entire fight with Hanami felt like a blur to me.

All I know is I managed to break some limits there and now I was suffering the consequences.

[Overdriven](24 Hours)

-10000% CE, HP and stamina regenaration rate

- 50% All stats

+ 300% Damage taken

Honestly, this penalty seems quite light in light of the actual storm of bullshit I pulled during the fight. I sustained enough injuries to put me 60 feet under yet I fought unterred.

I don't feel just a sense of relief from besting Hanami. In fact what I feel is more like... A sense of Pride.

With this fight, I have proven that I can do it. I can and already have covered the difference between myself and devils.

I know for a fact that if Rias and her peerage fought Hanami they would lose 95 out of a 100 times.

Yet I won against Hanami. As a human I did it. I don't need to rely on anyone nor do I need to sell my freedom to anyone.

Yes, I barely did it and that was the work of several miracles working together.

But the path is still there.

I can do it.

I even managed to create several actual cursed techniques and technique extensions on the spot.

Fucking hell if I am counting correctly I emptied my total cursed energy reserves 16 times which is enough to quite literally melt my brain. No wonder I went full delusional there.

I somehow managed to defeat Hanami which was 200 levels above me but that is an outlier. That Hanami if I remember correctly is one that hasn't acknowledged its true self and is unaware of the true workings of cursed energy.

He made no effort to use revealing one's hand to gain an advantage and his fighting style was sloppy at best. It also helps that when he got serious I managed to develop corpse explosion which was basically a hard counter against Hanami by disabling his hyper armor and dealing immense fire damage.

But even then... I shouldn't have been able to do that so easily even with my 300 intelligence. Even with the skill difference Hanami with his raw stats should've been able to overwhelm me easily.

I also remember how my senses suddenly expanded. I was able to predict Hanami's enraged moves after that.

Do I... have {Six Eyes}?

No, that shouldn't be possible. My eyes don't work like Six Eyes should. And the system has given me no indication that I have it. If I did have Six Eyes I would have been able to grab Hanami by his ankle bend him over my knees, slap his ass red before mopping the floor with him.

Six Eyes isn't a cheat. It is the cheat.

Ultra-enhanced vast perception.

Supercomputer processing speed and parallel thought processing.

And lastly, cheaty cursed energy efficiency that makes your cursed energy expenditure basically nill. If I had that I could simply spam spells at Hanami relentlessly until he perished.

So no, I don't have Six Eyes but I do have "something" it seems.

Speaking of: I have gotten a lot of upgrades after that Hanami encounter.

[ Extension Technique: Corpse Explosion ]

Cost: 1000CE

You can target any corpse in your range and detonate them, dealing massive amounts of damage depending on the corpse. Deals 30% Fire 30% Necrotic 30% Plague and 10% Blunt damage. Explosions have a chance to inflict withering, disease, and plague.

[ Extension Technique: Shadow Swap ]

Cost: 500CE

Cool down: 5 Minutes

You can swap places with any of your undead, dead or alive as long as you are both within range of your shadow storage.

[ Pain Killer ]

Cost: 100CE

When used on a wound, uses cursed energy to prevent the wound from worsening, dulling pain and lessening impact on combat potential.

And lastly the most ridiculous one.

[Burning Sea]

Cost: 2500CE

An imitation of the spell the Brimstone Witch used to evaporate the entire sea.

Create a ball of brimstone flame that deals massive damage and upon making contact with water, instead of getting weaker gets stronger by up to 300%. Has a small chance to inflict brimstone flames.

I saw firsthand how disgustingly powerful the burning sea was. It may not be the strongest spell but it was its unique trait that made it dangerous.

It is flame that burns water like it is gasoline.

That includes moisture too. It is a flame that leaves behind a desert in its path. Even though blurred I can remember how normally, due to it being a lush forest it shouldn't have burned that much. But after experiencing the burning sea the ground was almost sand the trees were charcoal.

Against a water magic user like Sona, this spell is obscenely strong. In fact, I am certain that if I had to fight Sona right now I would dominate her. She primarily relies on water magic and burning sea hard counters that.

But for now, with how I have exhausted myself, I dont see myself being good enough to fight properly for at least a week even without my debuff.

Besides, my army is completely gone besides Fido.

Well, it's not like I have emergencies looming over me. Ratnere is dealt with, Asia is good for now, Kokabiel won't be here for a LONG time. Riser isn't my problem. I can just take it slow for now and stabilize my newfound influx of abilities and revelations.

Speaking off there are still more things I have to go through.

Firstly the perk I earned by beating Hanami and presumably absorbing a portion of him.

[Photosynthesis]

All regeneration is increased by 2x when exposed to sunlight.

This perk alone has just made my regeneration tolerable. That wasn't an amount that could simply be ignored. Not to mention I think this will have a very good synergy with my other skills.

I also have the remainder of Hanami's soul inside the grimoire that I can spend. It was ranked a high grade soul which is equal to 10 middle rank or 1000 lower rank.

Along with that, I had 5 gacha tokens a skill book from enemies, and everything in between.

The skill was:

[Dash]

Cost: 10CE/s

Temporarily increases movement speed by 10%

A good skill that I can find plenty of use for. In fact, if I can level this up further and the speed reaches high enough levels it might be overpowered. Plus I can maintain it with my CE regen

Now though it was time to face my fears once more and roll gacha.

[Companion Card: Wiz]

Wait, that's huge. Wiz is incredibly strong and knows a lot of magic from what I remember. If I manage to summon her and somehow bind her to myself I can get a large boost in power and have a general for my undead army.

I need to do some research on that though.

[ Frost Pain ]

One of the four treasures of the Lizardmen, it is said that it was made from ice extracted from the Great Lake when it froze for the first time. Frost Pain is able to exude a frosty white mist through the user's command over it.

Options:

1: Frost pain deals additional frost damage with every hit and has a chance to inflict chill and frostbite.

2: Grants the user increased frost resistance (50%)

3: Skill: Icy Bust

Charges: 3/3 (Recovers every 8 hours)

When activated releases a burst of ice that deals heavy damage and inflicts freezing.

Alright, the system is being scarily nice. This weapon seems like it will be my main weapon for the foreseeable future.

[Template Card: Skeleton Demon]

Minimum Level: 50

Cost: 2

The evolution of the average skeleton. An all-rounder grunt with human-like intelligence and exceptional durability along with an affinity for physical activities.

Whelp, it seems like I have also found the backbone of my army. These guys are both all-rounders and intelligent. Capable of performing labor and any other menial activity. Looking over their stats they don't seem to be chumps either.

Is the system refunding me for the Hanami fiasco or something?

If so I am profoundly grateful.

[Kanaeda's Bike]

A futuristic, high-tech motorcycle belonging to Kanaeda from Akira.

Is this because I am named Akira? If so that is hilarious.

Alright, the last one. I am definitely not getting a gambling addiction.

[ Scenario Card: Assasination ]

Transports you to the scenario of: Assassination order

Description:

There is a hit order placed on your head and an expert assassin has taken the job. Your goal is to survive for 24 hours against Toji Fushiguro in Tokyo City.

Yep, I am not touching that with a 50-foot pole until I am at least level 200. I know how much of a monster that man is and I do not want to be placed in his sights.

But I am still immensely grateful for these gacha drops lord RNGesus. But now I just want to relax I bit.

All work and no play makes one go dull.

I did not get a second chance at life just to waste it by doing nothing but grinding. Relaxing is also an important part of training. I think I deserve some slice-of-life chapter after what I went through right?

Right!?