Chat 157 (Luck? More like Fate)

I really don't know how to feel about the changes going on with Ikki. He was no longer a walking dead since I managed to talk some spirit back into the boy, but he was not back to how he was a week ago. He certainly threw himself back into training, considering the injuries I caught on him almost constantly, but that was to be expected.

No one wanted to be weak, and the kid was undoubtedly taught that lesson harshly. His whole goal was to be the strongest Magic Knight, so training harshly only made sense.

No, the difference in his behavior stemmed from how he was acting about it. Gone was the gloomy and glaring boy who thought the whole world was against him. Gone was the insecure boy who faced the world with a false sense of calm. Now, he was sunshine and determined eyes that spoke of how far he was willing to go for what he wanted.

All in all, he looked like what a protagonist was supposed to be. The only thing that bothered me about him was the kid was no longer glaring at me in his free time. In fact, the kid was basically looking at me with sparkling eyes that disturbed me.

I knew that his attitude was likely to change in regard to me, considering what I did for the kid, but this was a bit much. I honestly believed him treating me more like a rival that he was determined to defeat was going to happen, but his eyes looked more like a fanboy, and it was baffling.

He still cast longing looks at Stella, but now there was no longer this sense of her not returning his affection as someone else's problem. He knew why she did not like him, and he was determined to change for her.

So the kid was well on his way to being someone respectable, but it still felt odd when the boy looked at me like I had all the truths in the world. I mean, I did as far as this world was concerned, but he did not know that.

Whatever, I was just going to ignore this for the most part; it was not like he was disturbing my day with his actions. His feelings in regard to me were his problem, not mine, so I just had to ignore him, even if it felt odd that his eyes bore into me sometimes during class.

The other aspects of my life were more pressing. Stella upping her seduction was killing me. The girl was too fucking bold for her own good. I was spending most of my time avoiding her, even if I treated her like a friend.

It was not like she was giving me much choice in that regard. The last time I visited our shared Dorm, she was pretty much nude, with whipped cream covering the spicy bits. I only learned later on that she had pasties underneath the whipped cream, but that was not exactly a saving grace. She was pretty much-presenting everything at that moment.

I could still recall the shy and red look on her face as I opened up the door. She may be bold beyond measure, but this was a bit too much for her. The problem was she was not getting the results she wanted, but she knew that her actions were leading somewhere, so she kept escalating.

After that incident, I spent the vast majority of my time not at the Dorm. Stella had been throwing pouts my way over that fact, but she knew why I was doing it. It was not like I absolutely needed to be in the Dorm.

Sure, there was a policy about roommates being assigned for our growth and all that jazz, but it was nearly impossible to actually enforce. I could spend almost all my time out of the Dorm in the name of training, and the Director could only talk to me to get me to bond with Stella.

Honestly, in Cannon, the whole mess with Ikki and Stella's roommate situation was convoluted and frankly baffling. Sure, they had to be roommates, but that did not mean they had to spend all their time in the same fucking room. Stella could have rented a hotel room and lived off-campus for the most part.

Sure, it would make it a pain in the ass to attend classes, but it was far better than rooming with a guy she wanted no part with. It was only her pride that held her back from that option. She saw that room as hers, and she was willing to kick Ikki to the curb to claim it. Ikki, on the other hand, could not afford other accommodations as his family did not support him, so he had to live in that Dorm. So the whole mess could only turn out that way because of who was involved.

The same could be said about my current situation, but I was more than willing to be off campus to sleep. I could teleport to campus whenever I wished, after all, so time constraints were not really an issue. I also did not really need to spend time attending these classes as they were pretty much worthless to me.

I could learn the knowledge basis that these classes taught from the minds of the teachers. Hell, the content was simple enough that such actions were not really needed. The only interesting subject was device development, but his Alpha Stigma was a cheat in that regard, so it was not needed.

Since I was spending so much time avoiding Stella, I was ironically bonding even harder with Ayase. I needed to be somewhere, after all, and hanging out with my Student as she researched was a decent place to be.

She was rather focused on her research, but that was expected. That did not mean we did not chat, as she needed someone to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of. Sure, the actual experimentations involved her ripping and tearing subjects apart with her Device, but I could guide her to paths I felt held promise.

So she appreciated having me around, if only for the intellectual stimulation. It also made acquiring more test subjects quicker and smoother for her.

Again, I had to applaud her sheer ruthlessness when she was given a goal. I figured her experimentations would be a bit more light, but she was diving head first into everything with zero regard to what would happen to her subjects. So, she needed me to collect people at an alarming rate.

Then again, the people that I gathered for her might have been the issue. I was mainly bringing people that I thought she would have no problems maiming and killing. Not just undesirables but the vilest of society. Rapists, murderers, and sadists are not people in bad positions doing what they must for money but people who enjoy the carnage they inflict.

I figured bringing such people to her would ease any sense of guilt that might have built in her, so I made sure she knew their history when I sent them over to her. That might have been a mistake, as she was killing them with reckless abandon.

Which was not really a demerit when you thought about it. Sure, I had to go about collecting more victims for her to experiment on, but if there was one thing the world lacked, it was not monsters wearing the flesh of man.

Her lethal experimentation also produced results as she was able to expand her own Mana Core with her results. It was a slow process that required delicate control over her Mana to get the result she wanted. That control was born from fifty lives exploding in piles of gore as their mana core ruptured and burst in their bodies.

She could have probably passed by with nearly half of those deaths not being listed, but she wanted the process to be perfect before she tried it on herself. This meant that she needed to know precisely how things could go wrong and how different bodies reacted to specific triggers.

So now she is expanding her Mana Core daily. Again, it was not even a percent increase in Capacity, but it was growth, and that was something only the Desperados of this world could accomplish.

I knew the process, and I had mastered it with the Alpha Stigma, so I knew she could refine it to a far better state, but she was working on that. She had a subject that she was keeping sedated as she expanded his core, trying to see if her technique had a limit as she did not want to burst like all of her subjects.

I could tell her that there was no limit, but this was her job. She needed to finish up the minor bits herself if she wanted to change the very fate of this world.

A heavy burden but one she picked up all by herself. An action that brought a smile to my face even if the results were built on the blood and bodies of thousands.

I was a bit too pragmatic for my own good. Actually, calling this pragmatic was a bit of a stretch as their sacrifice was not really needed. I could provide the method she required with a snap of my fingers, and the only reason I held back was because of her own state of mind. To give her the tools she needed to unravel this world at the seams.

I was sure that if Ayase knew exactly how easy it would be for me to give her these methods, she might not forgive me, but this was her work. I did not want to treat her as a damsel in distress who needed me for everything, even if that would be what she wanted.

I simply could not do that after seeing that determination in her eyes as she gazed off into the distant sunrise.

So, I never planned on telling her the pointless nature of what I was putting her through. Not just because she would hate me for it afterward but because I did not want her to feel that her actions were worthless.

It was honestly a rather ridiculous thought process, but I had never been a rational thinker. Too prone to acting on my feelings and not thinking about how this would feel for someone else. I only really cared for those I held dear, and I was willing to sacrifice the entire world if it meant they would be even marginally happier.

I let out a sigh and figured this meant Ayase was off the table for the Chat Group. She would learn the ugly truth if she joined after all.

Beyond the experimentations with Ayase, I was finally making progress in the tournament. 

I was kind of getting a reputation from my actions and the spotless winning streak that I had going on for me. There were only a few people who shared that treat, and all of them were monsters in the eyes of the people of this school.

The so-called strongest in the school, the Raikiri herself, Touka Toudou. Stella was the girl with the strongest potential and a girl who had a reputation for sheer brutal force throughout this selection tournament. Kanata Totokuarar is a girl known for a different sort of brutality as she painted the ring red with the blood of her opponents.

Those three girls and I were the only people with spotless streaks, and unlike the rest of the lot, I was rather mysterious. No one could really put a finger on what I was doing in my fights. Most of the time, I was just beating my opponent with sheer force, but I had showcased odd things like a sudden bolt of lightning from the sky or me healing my opponent if they were in a bad state.

In comparison, the moves the other girls were making were clear. Even if Stella's dragonification was not really drawing the sort of attention it should be.

Ayase should have been on that list as well since my Student had evolved past this school, but after she got her revenge, she did not concern herself too much about the tournament. So, she missed a match when one of her experiments was reaching a critical point.

That had to sting Ikki a bit, as the girl who beat him did not really care about winning the tournament in the first place.

As I looked over the records of battles on my PDA, I could not help but think Ikki was overreacting at one fucking lost match. The school had to send seven candidates to the festival, and there were only four people with a spotless record, and that would change if any of us met each other.

Stella could crush the other two, and the less said about me, the better. So Ikki would still be in this race if they kept winning. Again, it would be difficult if he met Stella or me, but he should be able to do it, considering the growth he has experienced.

Then again, the Raikiri would be a difficult opponent for him currently, but he had time to face her. Sadly, the same could not be said for his Sister.

She also had a spotless record, but as I looked down at the arena, I knew she was going to lose. Shizuka was an okay Blazer, but the Raikiri was well beyond her currently, as speed really is the name of the game when it came to fights.

Well, ignoring fate manipulators, but that was just reaching the top and expecting the rules to stay the same.

At the current level of the SchoolSchool, speed should be the only deciding factor if you ignore me, my Student, and Stella ....So maybe not the total game changer I thought it would be, but the three of us were true monsters.

Sure enough, Shizuka made a decent effort at defeating her opponent, but Touka swung out her sword at blinding speeds and bisected her foe.

Shizuku had a devastated look on her face as she passed out, but that was life. Not every fight could be won. 

Honestly, as I looked over the giant fucking Ice Berg struck in the middle of the arena, I couldn't help but think Shizuku missed the point of her Device as well. Which is fucking baffling as her Device was not as abstract as Stella's or Ayase's. Shizuku could create and manipulate water as she pleased.

Now, if she could only manipulate the water she created, that would be a bit limiting but not terrible. She clearly had control over the temperature of her water, so she could create a freezing mist that could devastate a whole area as she flash-froze something or flipped it on its head and created a boiling mist that cooked her opponent alive.

Moves like that were a bit much for a schoolyard brawl as they were lethal moves, but they would have won her this fight. If she did not have the control to do that, she could flood the arena with so much vapor that every breath Touka breathed would be mouthfuls of water, effectively drowning her opponent.

Honestly, these people had to stop reaching for flashing displays of force when their abilities were so much more.

Shizuku was being taken away from the arena as she passed out from that final blow, so I went down to check up on her. I did not really like Ikki, but I felt his Sister was an okay person, even if she was a part of the Wincest team.

So, I was going to offer to heal her when I got to the infirmary. She should be up pretty soon, even without my actions, as she was only hit with the illusory form of Touka's Device. So she was just suffering from Mana Exhaustion as her Mana was drained trying to defend against that move.

Which was something the Infirmary was more than capable of handling. However, I still felt better about offering my help even if it was not needed.

So I arrived in the room rather quickly, only to be beaten by Ikki and Alice. Both of them seemed a bit startled that someone had entered the room, as they were not expecting anyone else but were relaxed when they caught sight of me.

"Hey, figured I might as well speed up her recovery," I said a little awkwardly, as I was still not sure how to handle this duo. Ikki threw me a thankful look, and Alice seemed more amused by this turn of events than anything else.

I took out my device and changed the odds of her recovering within a certain time frame. Once I finished, I gave the two an awkward look as they were looking at me expectantly.

"Right, she should be up in about a minute; figured she would want some privacy after that defeat. She seemed rather torn about it. So take good care of her Ikki-san. God knows how much care she throws at you." I spoke out quickly, making a hasty retreat.

Ikki had a complicated look on his face as he took in my words, but Alice nodded along as if they agreed with my words and everything they had.

As I was retreating out of the building, I found myself bumping into someone, which shocked me. No one should be able to bump this hard into me, considering Fortuna's eye on me, but as I caught sight of what was happening before me, I knew why they could.

I gave a flat look at Touka as she had fallen in front of me from bumping so hard into me. She was kneeling on the floor, looking for her glasses desperately, and her panties were shown off as her skirt had flipped from her fall.

What the fuck, Fortuna? Are you bringing me lucky pervert moments now as well? I thought I was baffled enough only to be more confused by the outrage and confusion being thrown at me from Fortuna. So this scene was shocking to her, too?

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Probably going to write another chapter in 4 hours