155 Chat (Take a stand fool!)

Ayase had a goal to strive for now. One that she could spend the rest of her life working on and not getting results but at least fate was in her hands here. It was not like I was planning on leaving her to flounder all by herself forever.

I was going to nudge her and brainstorm with the girl to get her on the right path as a Teacher should. Still, this is not the time for that. Currently she needed to experiment and she needed to follow this path blindly for a little while at least.

She was going to start working on her Father immediately but I convinced her against that for now. The beginning stage of this process was going to be filled with sacrifice. Either on her own part or on the part of the person she is working on. Knowing who she was as a person she would not sacrifice her Father in any way.

So she needed some subjects to work on. If she tried to find someone to support her cause I was sure she would be able to do so. The rich but weak would no doubt want to fund a project that might end up with them having the power that lorded over them. Sure, they might require that the project was highly confidential as they did not want the process slipping out of their fingertips but that was something Ayase needed as well.

If she found the right sponsor she might even be able to live a relatively wealthy lifestyle with her Father. The issue is that not every person can recognize her worth. They are only tempted by short-term gain and want only themselves to be powerful instead of using the process as a tool to gain more.

There is a reason that the tale of killing the golden goose is so prominent after all and humans are prone to follow patterns even if they are poor ones.

He could leave her alone on that front and she would find a way but it was safer for her if he provided the things she needed. Collecting money was ridiculously easy as Fortuna provided endlessly when he needed it.

So resources were guaranteed. Next, he needed a location that would avoid the prying eyes of the world around them. He could do something with his Device but it was far more effective to use his own magic here. There was a whole MacGuffin spell in Harry Potter that would provide him exactly what he needed. The Fidelius spell would ensure that not a single soul in this world would find what he was trying to hide.

Well maybe the Despardos but there were so very little of those and he was not planning on making big waves so they should be fine.

So he had resources, location, and equipment that would allow her to experiment to her heart’s content but he needed one final thing. Subjects, acquiring a Blazer to experiment on was difficult as they were monitored by the government at large but he could work around it.

Like he said he could even make her Father a Blazer right this instant if she wanted him to. So turning expendable fodder into prime lab rats for her was perfectly reasonable. He also had to gather some regular people as they were the subjects she wanted to enhance but that was equally easy.

Finding people that simply would not be missed was not exactly a hard thing. Hell, disregarding his magical abilities money would be able to provide people like that with no problem. Still, there was no need to leave a trail like that so he used his magic for the most part.

When he mentioned human experimentation with her, for a brief moment, he thought Ayase would cave. She was just a girl in high school, after all; putting that sort of burden on her shoulders would be….bad. He really should not have worried too hard about it. While she was a kind girl at heart, she was also completely and utterly ruthless in her pursuits.

She was the type of person to sacrifice every single part of her to get what she wanted and that did not stop with just her. So while human experimentation was disdainful to the girl she would follow through on it for the the simple fact that she had to.

She was going to change this twisted world after all.

Again I found it kind of odd that he met another black-haired girl who was willing to cross any line in the sand if it meant getting what she wanted but maybe that was more on him than her. She had only fallen into that level of ruthless determination once he built that fire in her. Before she was willing to do quite a lot but she was conflicted with the idea of Justice and fair competition that her Father truly believed in. It was only as she tore herself apart to gain strength that the last vestige of hesitance was removed from her.

Well, she is not too similar to Ashley. That girl took joy in the carnage she unleashed and she would tear an enemy apart with a bloodthirsty smile. Ayase on the other hand would kill with cold determination and only take joy in vengeance and it was nothing like the childish joy in Ashley.

Similar but so very different. He was unsure if Ashley would respect the ruthless nature of Ayase or call her a wet blanket for not reveling in the chaos that people like them embody. 

Well, eventually the two would meet. Ayase was his student after all and he was not planning on leaving her all alone when this mission ended. Either he invited her to the Chat Group instead of Stella or he visited every once and a while to talk to the girl.

For now, he needed to concentrate on the changing world around him. Ikki was technically no longer in the running to win the tournament and that had lasting consequences.

The determination to tear himself apart to reach that never ending goal in front of him was gone with the wind. Now Ikki was more akin to the walking dead as he went about his day in an almost drunken haze. Even the grudgefilled man was better than this pathetic display but Ikki really was fragile when you hit the deep parts of his character.

He has none of the confidence from defeating the Blazer with the strongest potential nor does he have the emotional bonds that would pull him out of the darkness. All he currently had was a sister who could do nothing but worry for him as she did not have the pure belief that he needed to get out of his funk.

The girl loved him with all her heart but she did not believe in his dream. Not for a moment and that was something both Ikki and his Sister knew without a shred of doubt.

He wanted to just ignore the fucking guy as he was really being a pain in his ass but despite not beliving in him his sister was not planning on giving up on him.

So she started dragging people into the mess to try to solve it. Which led to her begging me to try to change his mind. I could not believe that she was doing so but she really was not going to back down in the face of my doubt.

Such a strange creature that girl was. I figured it was alright to ignore the dumbass but Ikki did represent a unique opportunity. While he was living a life of sorrow and was acting more like the living dead he had a spark at the end of that fight that caught my interest.

Before Ayase ended the fight decidedly it looked like he was going to crack. That the chains of fate holding him down were moments away from dissolving. Meaning Ikki had reached the threshold of reaching beyond the mortal realm here and all he needed was that final push to get to that stage.

Getting the boy a powerup was not really my business but it kind of was since I was also interested in that power up. Using my Alpha Stigmata to see the birth of a Despardo should tell me quite a lot about the transformation.

While being able to build my Mana core endlessly did not interest me as I was already capable of doing so the other aspects of the transformation did draw my attention. The ability to fight against Fate was a extremely difficult skills to grasp and it was almost in my lap already. Converting my body from a physical thing and more an embodiment of Magic itself was also rather interesting.

Sure that transformation ran the risk of losing his sense of self and turning into a true demon but he was confident his Alpha Stigma would be able to get a handle on that. He was not going to stumble on a path blindly never knowing when his feet would step over the ledge. No, with his eyes he would be see exactly where that path led and how to master the principles around it.

So it was in his best interest to help the dick head even if he did not want to. The issue was how was he going to go about doing that. I did not really want to spend a vast amount of time building back up that puddle of a human being Ikki had become.

I looked over at the guy as he looked over at the teacher of our class with dull lifeless eyes. The flash of concern that used to flash in those eyes when Sensei spat out blood was gone and burried. A man too lost in his despair not even willing to spend a second caring about the people around him.

I let out a sigh but figured I should bet on the spark that lit up this boy’s chest once upon the time. As the class was dismissed her approached the boy who was looking off into the distance. His sister was going to take him to his dorm but she paused as she caught sight of me approaching him.

She honestly did not expect much from asking me to help her but if I was willing to do something she was not going to get in the way of that. Surely anything was better than the state her brother was currently in.

“So that’s it? One set back and you give up on everything? You are even giving up on yourself?” I asked with a frown on my face. I could see my words irritated him for a moment but it was drowned in the despair he was feeling so Ikki looked down at his desk with a quiver running through his body. Remaining silent as he did not have anything else in him.

“Is this really who you are Ikki Kurogane? A child who in the face of the cruel world runs? Someone who hides away from his own pain? A fool who can not even muster the will to chase after the dream that drove him?” I spat out question after question trying to rile him up. I could tell that each question stirred up the dead water living in his chest.

He wanted to scream and shout but the boy who chased after an ideal dream had long since lost his voice. So it was no longer so easy to do anything.

“Oni-chan.” Shizuku went to defend her brother but froze as I glared at her. This was not the time to coddle the boy. That was not something that would help him and it was certainly not something he wanted. She still tried to muster the will to defend him in the face of my glare but my Mana held her down.

That action seemed to spark something in the boy as he finally looked up at me a small glare building on his face as he looked at me who was hurting his sister.

“What? Have a problem with this? I’m just speaking the truth and I don’t need your sister to come coddle you because you are too weak to accept it.” I spat out as I glared at him in return. He gritted his teeth and finally responded.

“What else am I supposed to do?” He questioned quietly looking away from me again. The spark of anger in his chest fading as the words left him. The dull gaze back as if simply saying those words took everything from him.

I laugh in the face of such a dull question. Like this stupid tournament really was the world to him.

“What? I know of you. The Worst One is what they call you and in this moment that really is the most accurate title for someone like you.” I spoke out viciously and Ikki seemed to sink into himself as if my words slapped him.

His sister gasped and she took a step forward despite my Mana weighing on her. The look in her eyes was no longer so frail. She was in a full blown rage and even if she could not do a thing she still threw everything she had to attack me for that.

I wanted to let out a sigh but I needed to finish this role. So I increased my Mana and had her knee’s buckle as she was forcefully put on her knees.

Again that seemed to be a driving point as Ikki stood up despite being under the same pressure. A snarl dancing across his lips his Device out to spilt me in half. I catch the blade between my fingers and give him a distainful look.

“What? Finally willing to fight for something? You are such a fucking fool. Sure, you might lose your qualification to become a Magic Knight but is that really what you wanted? No, I can tell you want to be strong over anything else. Strong enough that the world can no longer deny you. STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT WHAT YOU HOLD DEAR!” I shout at his snarling face. That seemed to hit a cord with the boy as the anger dancing in his eyes gave way to a spark of life. For a moment he was confused over his own feelings.

Was blinding rage important here or did that spark mean something to him?

“If this world is unfair to someone like you than simply become strong enough that you can spit on the unfair rules binding you. You can’t become a Magic Knight because they never give you a chance? Become so god damn strong they don’t have a choice!? You can’t join the tournament because of one lost fight than defeat every single person in this school leaving them no choice but to pick you! STRUGLE, FIGHT, AND BLEED FOR WHAT YOU WANT IKKI KUROGANE!” I snarled into his face and finally let go of the Mana I was forcing down their throat.

His sister took a long breath as she was finally able to breath again. Ikki clutched his sword as he let out a bitter laugh that morphed almost hysterically. Finally he bowed towards my back as I left the room.

“I will, I am Ikki Kurogane and I will prove that I am not A Worthless One!” He yelled out from his bow before he recovered and went to go help his sister with some light finally dancing in his eyes.