"What the fuck are you doing, Mortem?" Clyde said. "You have no right to do this."
Mortem sneered.
"I’ll do whatever I want. And you’ll take it, mortal. You’re overdue for lashes."
"If you think I’m the same weakling from before," Clyde said, "then you’re mistaken."
"Oh? You think you’ve got the vigor to even scratch me, puny human? You really have gotten too big for your britches."
Mortem teleported next to Clyde, but the young man had already flash stepped several feet away.
[You activated tier 2 skill: Neptune’s water edge.]
Mortem seemed surprised when the magic knocked him back.
[Mortem’s HP has dropped to 19,800%]
He laughed.
"Mortal, mortal, you just don’t understand the difference between you and I. Let me show you."
Before Clyde knew it, he found himself flash stepping just to dodge silver energy balls. They melted away meters of ground upon contact.
[Mortem used Divine ball.]
[Mortem activated gold tier skill: Divine Lashes of Punishment.]
Clyde was grazed by one, but the searing agony spiraled him twenty meters from the creature. If time wasn’t frozen, the truck ahead would’ve run him over.
"Truck-Kun," Clyde said. "Not today."
He forced himself to fight the pain and stand. Stand dammit!
[Your HP has dropped to 3%]
"Credit where its due, you lasted quite long, but I’m not satisfied just yet." Mortem grinned, exposing his shark teeth.
<Mortem accessed Red Ki. Mortem channeled Fire whip!>
Clyde dropped to the ground to dodge the giant lash of fire.
[You invoked Mystic wrath.]
"What’s this?" Mortem said. "Never seen…"
[You activated Mystic Lightning.]
Clyde scored a direct hit that actually made the batty asshole howl.
[Weakness uncovered: All Mystic skills x 56]
[CRITICAL. Mortem’s HP has dropped to 16,000% WOW WELL DONE! STUNNED. ONCE MORE.]
"Fucking cool down," Clyde muttered, but he felt excited within.
[You activated Mystic Six Hand Skill.]
<Mortem’s passive activated. Entity aura>
[Your attack was canceled.]
Mortem stood up.
"I see."
[Your HP: 3%]
[Your MP: 43%]
Clyde knew he wouldn’t be able to hold off long much longer. The difference in health and power was just too great. Mortem nodded again to himself.
"You've gotten stronger, but too big in your head if you think you can take on me. Still, I the stress is—" He coughed up blood. "You…why you filthy worm! I will not be humiliated by a mortal. I’ll kill you and your friends. How about that? Beg for your life."
"I’ve had enough of you," Clyde said, his voice tinged with venom. "You’ve thrown me in this world with jack shit, threatened to kill my family, then raised the stakes to blowing up my planet. I WILL FUCKING OBLITERATE YOU."
At that moment, Clyde became one with time and space…. And he roared. His eyes glowed with gold, reflecting the matching aura that surrounded him. A halo hovered above his head, silver and gold in its brilliance.
[You’ve invoked Full Deity Stone Mode.]
[Warning, you can only hold this state for one minute. The strain is severe.]
[Mortem has been paralyzed by your pressure.]
[Mortem has been inflicted with deity blight.]
[Deity blight holds! Mortem cannot damage you.]
[The pressure of this state has negated all of Mortem’s natural barriers and armor.]
<<<You’ve requested to delete Mortem from existence. Doing this will have consequences, as he is your guide. Delete?>>>
Mortem fell to his hands and knees, bowing deeply, trembling. Apparently, he knew the feeling of that prompt.
"I…didn’t know—I didn’t know you—please don’t erase me, my lo—."
Clyde kicked the shit out of him—the punt sent the entity through time and space—five thousand years into the past, and then back to his spot. The young deity could somehow tell. To say Mortem looked defeated afterward was an understatement.
[Mortem HP has dropped to 0.1%]
[Mortem has lost the will to fight.]
[The trauma has made Mortem terrified of you.]
[You cannot enslave Mortem as he already belongs to Venus, the goddess of love and sex.]
[Warning, it is best not to provoke the interests of the other deities until you’ve trained. Remember, you’ve only been exposed to your power for less than 3 weeks. Challenging gods at this time is not advised.]
Clyde allowed the System’s reason to alter his next move. He picked up the near-dead entity.
"Listen here," he said, his voice trembling space and time and even the edges of the multiverses. "Deliver this message to your master and if it isn’t correct, I will do more than just erase you. I’ll make you suffer for an eternity. I’ll personally carry out everything you threatened on my family, you fuck. Do you fucking hear me?" He threw Mortem down. "Tell your master that if she sends you on me again, I’ll make it my mission to find and destroy her. I will also report her for interfering with the stone-viper games."
"Y..yes…great deity," Mortem wheezed, his voice nearly a whimper. Clyde didn’t give him a chance to muster up any kind of dignity.
"Now get out of here before I change my mind."
All happened simultaneously: Mortem vanishing, the resuming of time, and Clyde’s transformation wearing off, mystic wrath only half a second behind Full stone mode.
Clyde collapsed into blackness, the fading call of his friends briefly touching his ear. Despite the unconsciousness, all of his contracts held just as strong, perhaps even stronger now that the young man allowed his body to sink into the pits of rest.
[Volume 3.] Episode 22 (Part 1): Vampires are the Ultimate Edge.
Friday. Week 3. Month 1. Year 1. Season: Autumn.
The annoying buzzing of his alarm forced Clyde to awake. He noticed in his head, a new feature: the disable option. Tempting, but he’d leave it for now. It’s perfect for skipping school on important matters.
The number of delayed prompts awaited him, including the retrieved Omen’s sphere from Maki. How did it absorb into him without his consent? He’d get to them later.
Chika sat next to him, nonchalant, studying. He heard the soft breathing of Alice and of course felt her holding onto his arm.
"She lets me in and goes back to sleep," Chika said. "And here I thought we were starting to become friends a little."
Clyde chuckled.
"She’s a morning person only when she wants to be."
Alice’s peaceful sleeping was just too cute. Clyde didn’t want to disturb it, but the Academy’s strict law demanded them. Well, she could get just a few minutes while he received an update on the world around him.
"So what happened after I bit the dust," Clyde said.
"Well, after you passed out of nowhere—you shouldn’t exhaust yourself by the way," Chika said, placing her hand on his forehead. She stole a kiss. "Dad exposed Maki’s family, managed to get them demoted from their higher places, some even fired, one jailed. Surprisingly, the only honest person in that mess of a family is the mother. Well, as honest as one can be for them. She runs her own business and has no hands on the law. Maki’s entire fan club was arrested, many claiming that she told them only to scare Alice not to actually do anything. As if I’ll believe that nonsense—no matter how much she claims it. And speaking of her, Yuki’s pretty much her warden now, has her dressed from head to toe in maid gear. Tells her when to bathe, eat, and work. When Naomi came over, that beatdown was so painful to watch that Harumi broke it apart and healed Maki. Naomi wanted to thank you, but Yuki refused to let you be disturbed. I swear I can still hear Maki’s crying, which sounded like enjoyment if you asked me." She chuckled. "Can’t say she didn’t
have it coming to her. Fortunately for you, Tear talked to Naomi about all of the stone-viper stuff and caught her up, so no need to tire yourself with it."
Alice was awake now, peering back at Clyde with incredible pink eyes. Not that Chika’s grey was less alluring. She snuggled into him.
"I don’t feel like attending classes," Alice said. "It’s too easy."
Clyde noticed that she was wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. Chika gave them her own Toru-approved blank stare.
"We’ve got class," Chika said. "And then moving day. Get up."
[Your letter from the vampires has arrived. You will meet with them for introductions among the lower born. To speak with Kiko, you must have permission from her mistress. The mistress has received permission to contact outsiders from both the vampire princess and vampire prince. After introductions, you will be taken to speak with Kiko. This invitation is for your entire party. Harumi’s presence is required, or you will instantly fail the quest and be killed. It is wise not to tell them what you are, as they are very weak to holy and purity elements.]
After Clyde and Alice showered and washed up—the young man somehow pulling off a clever swipe of hand to get the demoness’s toothpaste—they joined the others in the dining room, dressed in crisply ironed school uniforms. Clyde gave Yuki a suspicious glare, but she smiled innocently. When no one was looking, she stole a kiss. The young man faked a cough when the others looked, hiding the face of a man caught off guard.
Maki’s face lit up when he looked at her.
"How’d your parents take you suddenly moving out?" he asked.
"They didn’t care," she said.
"Ah," Clyde said. "Then as a part of your atonement, you will be required to see them at least once a month while we’re in town." She grimaced, giving him the desired result. He wasn’t going to waste his time trying to change people, but a prisoner is a prisoner. His rules. "Yuki will remain your…supervisor, until you’re with me. I shouldn’t expect any problems, right?" Maki nodded. "Good. I’ll make good use of your powers and teachings. Maybe after you’ve served something like a prison sentence, I’ll let you go, but right now Maki, real talk, you’re dangerous. You should be prison—and whether you gave the order or not, it still falls on you. But don’t worry, Yuki will teach you humility. She will make you feel displeasure, fix you, mend you from your obsessions. Whatever. You will have to earn your freedoms back."
"What?" Maki said.
"That’s right," Clyde said. "Like the prisoners, no mall, no going off on your own, no doing your own thing. And it goes without saying that if you try to tell the authorities against the contract’s wishes, you’ll die." He made that up, but it had the desired effect. She nodded, seeming content with her fate. The young man hoped Yuki would do her worse. "Not that I believe you’d try something so stupid."
A knock on the door brought in Natalia, Melody, and Tear.
"Gooood morning," Natalia dove into Alice’s bosom. The loli took one second to look up and stick her tongue out at Clyde before snuggling back into the demoness.
Clyde’s eye twitched.
"You brat," he said. "I was going to finally reveal where Alice stash number three is located for your hard work—"
Natalia flew into the young man.
"Pleeeaseee tell, I’m—" Alice pinched her cheeks. "Soowwwyy."
"Morning," Tear said. Natalia made her way over to Harumi to pour out her crocodile tears and snuggle into her chest.
Clyde nodded at both the succubus and trickster. He told them about the contract and his reasons why. Neither seemed to care. Melody just wanted her father to be put in his place. She learned her lesson from power abuse. He should too.
Classes passed by in an uneventful way. The cold autumn air didn’t make things better. Some of the teachers took pleasure in their sick sense of humor by setting their air conditioners to below freezing.
Clyde took the time to view the prompts and his stats.
[For defeating Maki, possessed by a notorious demon trickster god, you have been awarded 800, 000 EXP, $400,000 and 50 free points. Total free points: 145.]
[Congratulations, you have reached levels 64 and 65! Stats increased.]
[You have sent a warning to Venus. Only time will tell if she took this well or not.]
[You have earned the title Entity Destroyer. Besting an entity isn’t a walk in the park. You have proven yourself time and time again when it comes to doing the impossible.]
After classes, the party wasted no time getting started with their overdue moving arrangements. Yuki made sure Maki sweat.
Clyde’s character sheet. You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Clyde.
Level: 65
Type: Main character/ Stone. Mystic.
HP: 100% (+10%)
MP: 100% (+30%)
Ki: 100%
Attack: 110 (+30)
Defense: 112 (+16)
Speed: 134
Luck: 124
Will: 132
Intellect: 136
Form: 1/1.
Special: Tier 1 skill: Omen’s Desolation. [Does almighty, spiritual, and sound damage. Chance to cause hopelessness and despair. Triple, super-severe damage against entities, deities, spirits, and darkness-type enemies.]
Special Abilities:
Flash Step: Briefly move at the speed of light. A high, speed stat will increase the critical chance of any attack combined with this ability.
Acrobatics: able to run and jump swiftly. Can leap from building to building.
Mystic senses: whether in or out of battle, you will be connected to nature and its spirits. Unknown benefits. Ability to sense abnormalities.
Skill Fusion- legendary special ability- combine skills and see what happens. You could unleash death on your foes! [Can be very draining to your MP. Use when you must.]
Jump. You can warp to area you’ve been to or picture in your mind. You can also open and close portals, but not create them. You can also warp with a party.
Titles:
The Man Who Shatters the Balance. Reckless Abandonment. Man of the Impossible. Millionaire and Again. Slave driver. Entity Destroyer.
Hidden stats revealed:
Special Defense: 116
Paranoia: <varies>
Charisma: 124
Composure: 122
Evasion: 104
Reputation: level 3- you may be worth listening to.
Endurance: 144
Regeneration: 27.
Haggling: 14.
Ki:
[Life: 1. Lightning: 1. Heart: 1.]
[ Strength is at 1. Passion is at 1. Energy is at 1.]
[Soul is at 1. Command is at 1. Radiance is at 1.]
Ki-based skills: none.
Ki-based ultimate attack: none.
Misc:
Free points: 145.
Wanted rep Harpy clan: 5/5.
Omen’s spheres (some call them orbs): 4.
Skills:
- Athlete: 10% bonus to speed and Will. [Passive].
- Mystic Calm: 100% resistant to fear, despair, discomfort, and shock. [Mystic Passive.]
-Hostile Detection 5: detects hostiles within a certain range of you. Detects enemy information. [Passive]. Can now see weakness. Can now see resistances.
-Heart Protection 5: you’re 53% less affected by unwanted mental magic or skills from enemies. You gain a 41% bonus to your ability to convince others to do anything that would protect their hearts. 46% chance to break from any magic or charismatic hold. [Passive].
- Secret sword and martial arts combination. Random unknown increases to speed, defense, and will during battle. Chance to critical increases by 2%. [Passive].
- Crafting 5: enables you to craft items using everyday objects. Complicated unlocked. [Passive].
- Dagger combat 4: does physical damage. Enables dagger combat. Chance to critical at 13% [Passive].
-knife throwing 4: does physical damage. Enables knife combat. Chance to stun a
t 13% [Passive].
Trap Detection 2. You will be warned by the system automatically on things your mind would consider a trap. Your will stats dictate this! [Passive]. Range: 10 meters.
Party loyalty: Your party will know if you’re in danger and need help. A boost of stats will be provided to anyone who’s able to provide you assistance.
Unarmed attacks:
-Roundhouse kick. [Attack] – does physical damage. Change of knockdown at 5%.
-Mystic punch/kicks. [Attacks]- does physical and spiritual damage. Chance of stun at 1%. 50% stun if catching enemy by surprise.
Sword attacks:
-Precise Slash 6. [Attack] – does physical damage. Chance of critical at 31%
-Deep Slash 6. [Attack]- does physical damage. Chance to cause bleeding at 29%. Chance to stun at 7%.
-Spirit Slash 6. [Attack] – does physical and spiritual damage. Chance to cause dizziness at 17%. Chance to cause spiritual blight at 27%.
-Shatter Strike 3. [Attack]- does physical and fire damage. Chance to break barriers at 12%.
-Tier 3 skill: Sound Slash [Attack]- does physical and sound damage. Chance to cause deaf at 1%.
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #3 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 18