I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 28

Arata was in agony. He could feel the fibres in his muscles being torn a part, strand by strand, healing itself over instantaneously and then be torn a part again. It was excruciatingly painful. Because of how he had been trained as Elemental Affinity, unlike with other people, he had no inclinations or leaning either way. His Father and Akimitsu, the Angel of Light, had trained him carefully, ridding him of all impurities of both the Elements of Dark and Holy. And then, with Arata’s discovery of the Void through the strange shadowy man, Arata was a pure slate, a complete, pure Non-Elemental.

With a normal person, even if you don’t use the Holy or Dark Element, the dormant Energy within you would be triggered by the Yin and Yang Sphere. But Arata had been cleansed of these through his training. This meant that there was no tip in the balance. So neither Element could gain the upper hand and they would just continue to clash against each other within Arata, neither of them being able to destroy the other.

Teacher Takuma had noticed this as time went on and she became curious.

‘Surely, as the son of the Angrl of Death, the Darkness within him should have already defeated the Light, or at the very least have an upper hand. Yet, the Energies within him to be completely equal and balanced. How?”

Even Akari had a confused look on her face. She understood the Yin and Yang Sphere well so she knew that by this time there should have been a tip in favor of one of the Element’s. But there was nothing.

Arata wasn’t able to think about these things as he was busy being overwhelmed by the immense pain that was wreaking havoc through his body. Ryouma wasn’t doing any better.

Ryouma felt like his entire body was melting. He had reached such a ridiculous temperature that he felt like he was swimming in lava. His temperature continued to climb a little bit more before reaching a stop. After a few minutes, his temperature stopped rising and stayed in place, at a temperature that Ryouma was having trouble bearing. Teacher Takuma observed Ryouma quickly.

“Ryouma’s temperature has stopped climbing. If I’m not mistaken, this is roughly the temperature ofnthe lava that the Volcanic Turtle lives in. Tallis, would you please explain to the class what will be happening next within Young Ryouma?”

Tallis seemed to be sweating as his were wide open, fixated on Ryouma and Arata.

“Now that his body temperature has reached a level that the blood is comfortable in, it will now seep into his blood and circulate through him, strengthening his blood and his muscles. However, although the high temperatures are extremely painful for a person, the blood surging through a persons veins are even more painful. It is said that it is equivalent to scorching hot lava running through your veins, savagely burning your blood vessels. Many do not survive this part.”

The class collectively gasped at Tallis’ explanation. Was Teacher Takuma really trying to kill Ryouma just for coming to class late? They all shuddered in fear, many making mental notes to never be late to anything. Ever.

Ryouma felt a numbing sensation for a moment. He could no longer feel the heat and had temporary reprieve. And then he felt a painful surge in his heart. Almost as if his heart had exploded, there was a scorching pain in his chest. Then it began to spread. It was as if the heat had caused his entire body to become extremely sensitive as he could literally feel this scorching pain in his chest make it’s way through his veins. Slowly spreading through him. From his chest, then his stomach, down his arms to his hands, he could even feel the burning sensation down to his fingertips. Down his legs and feet. It burned a path through every part of him.

He could feel this lava like blood flow up his neck into his head. The temperature before was painful enough as it was, but this was something completely different. It was worse. Before it was similar to swimming in lava with how hot it was. Now the lava was within him. It was burning and tearing at him from the inside out.

Akari went wide eyed as she noticed Ryouma’s skin start to change. It had gone a bright red before but now it was going darker. Cracks over his skin began to appear, cracking all over his body. As his skin turned black, the cracks glowed with red. His skin began to look more and more like molten rock, his skin was now charcoal black and, although he couldn’t move and he made no sound, it was clear that he was in a lot of pain.

Teacher Takuma gestured towards.

“He has reached what is known as the Cocoon phase of his Tempering. What is a Cocoon phase, Miss Ise?”

Akari stood up.

“The Cocoon phase is a period of time during certain types of Tempering where the person undergoes a transformative change in response to the Tempering. During this time, the person is unable to move until the source of the Tempering has been fully contained and/or depleted. Although Cocoon phases are extremely beneficial, they are also dangerous as they leave the person vulnerable for a period of time. Cocoon phases can range from an hour or so to several hundred years depending on the strength and power of the Tempering.”

Teacher Takuma nodded at the textbook answer as Akari sat down.

“Correct. Now, with the potency of the Volcanic Blood and the current power of Ryouma, we can estimate his Tempering to come to an end in roughly 4-5 hours, assuming it doesn’t kill him of course. Now to Arata, who can tell me what is happening with him at the moment?”

Tallis put up his hand with a look of curiosity.

“No Element has taken charge so they are continuing to rage within him. If no Element takes an upper hand, it is possible that it will continue until his body is completely destroyed. Teacher Takuma, I’m 85% sure that Arata is going to die.”

Teacher Takuma looked to Arata briefly before her eyes went wide in shock. His analysis was indeed correct. Neither the Holy Energy, nor the Dark Energy had weakened in any way. They were still equal and were continuing to rip through Arata’s body in full force. It was violently wrecking his body, shredding it to pieces.

Akari went wide eyed as she noticed a change in Arata’s skin color, Teacher Takuma noticed this to. His skin seemed to become distorted slightly. Parts of Arata’s skin began to turn black while other parts turned white. These parts of the skin seemed to spread and move around as if it were alive. When the black and the white parts met, they seemed to clash and push on each other.

Akari ran on stage with anxious eyes. She looked closely at the Arata’s skin before looking at Teacher Takuma in shock.

“His body is attempting an Elemental Balance.”

Teacher Takuma suddenly understood what was going on as she quickly scanned Arata’s body. After a few seconds, she confirmed Akari’s suspicions.

“I don’t whether he is lucky or cursed.”

One of the students called out.

“Teacher Takuma, what is an Elemental Balance?”

Teacher Takuma looked grim.

“Class Representative, explain to the class as you go back to your seat.”

Akari for some reason didn’t want to obey and stay here by Arata’s side, but she knew that it would not be an appropriate thing for her to do. Running on stage in the first place was something she shouldn’t have done, yet she impulsively did for some reason. She stood and made her way back to her seat, she stopped in front of her desk and looked to the class.

“An Elemental Balance is an extremely rare occurrence which takes place when someone goes through a dual Element based Tempering and has a perfectly equal amount of each Element. When this rare situation happens, the body may reach a state known as Elemental Balance. When this happens, it can only end one of two ways. 1: The Elements reach a point of perfect division, separating perfectly down the middle of the person and dispersing evenly on each side of that person. Or 2…”

Akari turned to look at Arata with a pained expression.

“The two Elements continue to clash until they break through the body and burst out of it. Killing the person instantly. There is a higher chance for the second option.”

One of the students spoke up.

“How high of a chance?”

Teacher Takuma continued to look at Arata grimly.

“I believe our school records, since its founding, have stated 124 cases where a student underwent Elemental Balance. All 124 students ended up the same way. Those are his chances.”

The class all looked at Arata with horrified expressions. Although there were some grudges because of what had happened the day before and Arata’s arrogance, they were still kids and wouldn’t go as far as wanting him dead. In their eyes, after learning who he was, they had already begun to see him as a part Class 7.

Arata could hear everything that was being said. He already knew this all but hearing it scared him. Even with all the pain he was going through, that sense fear still lingered over him. There was no use in trying to contain the Energy himself as he couldn’t control any piece of his own body. The pain was becoming unbearable for him at this point and he was barely able to keep consciousness if this level of pain was to persist.

“Relax your mind. If your mind is calm, your body will follow suit.”

Arata got frustrated. It was that stupid shadowy guy.

‘Now really isn’t the time for your crap. How do you expect me to relax?’

Arata was barely able to think straight in this pain and even angrily replying to the stupid shadow guy was hard enough. Plus, how was his body going to follow suit when he wasn’t in control of his body.

“Your mind can feel the chaos in your body. If you can reach a calm state of mind, perhaps your body will feel it as well, responding in kind.”

Arata thought that this crazy voice was absolutely mental. He had no clue about what he was talking about. Another wave a pain surged through Arata making him internally scream. This wasn’t getting any better.

Arata had nothing better planned, so after another moment of excruciating torture, he decided to try out.

‘Whatever, I’m screwed if I do nothing.’

Arata concentrated as hard as he could, which wasn’t easy with the waves of pain bombarding every fibre of his being.

“Relax. Cam your mind, little one.”

Arata focused. He thought back to a time of Tempering when he was younger and his Father pushed him to a point of intense pain and he couldn’t move at all. His Father said to count backwards from 100 and focus on those numbers. So he did his best to ignore the ridiculous amounts of pain as he just counted backwards from 100.

99. 98. 97. 96.

He thought of every number. What it looked like, the shape of the numbers. The sound of it when said aloud

83. 82. 81. 80.

He continued to count. Using all his willpower to focus on the numbers and not the pain.

61. 60. 59. 58

He noticed the timing of his counting. Like a ticking of a clock.

44. 43. 42. 41.

Everything seemed to fade out around him as he whole world became centered around these numbers.

17. 16. 15. 14.

His mind settled down. He had no room for other thoughts anymore.

4. 3. 2. 1.

Arata opened his eyes. He recognized this place. It was the dark space where he met the shadowy man.

“Shadowy man? Surely you can think up something better than that.”

Arata turned around to see the man under a dark veil.

“Well you haven’t really given me a name to call you.”

The man chuckled.

“It has been so long that I have forgotten my true name. But the others have always referred to me as King.”

Arata gave the man a droll look.

“King? Really? You get people to call you King? That’s a bit much, ya know?”

The man chuckled.

“It is a bit early, but I think it is better to do this now.”

The man seemed to glow as he chanted something in a strange language that Arata had never heard before. The veil seemed to burn up in the light, Arata had to shield his eyes from the light. When the light disappeared, standing before him was a tall man. Although he wasn’t old, he wasn’t exactly young either. He had some grey in his long black hair yet he still looked quite handsome and he had a regal and noble nature to him.

Arata went wide eyed as he saw what the man was wearing. He was wearing a black and red armor and a golden crown on his head. His eyes had a red tinge to them. Arata pointed at the man, shaking in shock.

“Y-You!”