I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 64

A week ago.

Arata was in his room cultivating. Other than spending his time training the others, he also spent his time cultivating. His cultivation was broken into 2 parts. One part was adjustment. His Elemental Reservoir was no longer defined, so it was hard to tell where his Energy ended and the Energy around him began. He spent his time familiarizing himself with both his internal Energy and the external Energy that he could utilize.

The other part was another suggestion from King

“With your Elemental Reservoir as it is, you now have access to the Energy around you. But the Energy around you also has access to you. You will become more sensitive to the Energy in the air and around you. If there is a place with a powerful amount of Energy and it passes through you, the Energy may overwhelm you, possibly even kill you. So to prevent an early death, you need to invest some time into your Mental Fortitude.”

Arata was within his “Inner World” and stared back at King with a confused look on his face.

“Mental Fortitude? Like Mental Power?”

King nodded.

“That is what it is based on, but it is quite different. As you know, with one’s Mental Power, it is possible to do Mental Attacks using certain techniques. Your Shadow Awareness ability is a good example. By combining your Mental Power with your Elemental Reservoir and then channelling that Energy into a technique like Shadow Awareness, you are able to connect to the Shadow Realm and unleash some powerful abilities. But the strength of your Shadow Awareness is directly related to your Mental Power.

“Now, your Mental Fortitude is your resistance and defense against oncoming Mental Attacks. Now because of the nature of your Shadow Awareness ability, there has been no reason to build up your Mental Fortitude as you are able to close off and disable Visual and Mental Attacks before they reach you. However, with your Elemental Reservoir as it is, you will not be able to block the environment you are in and the surge of Elements may be to much for you if your Mental Fortitude is too weak.”

Arata slowly processed what he was told. Essentially, his Mental Power was high due to his Mental Attack. But his Mental Fortitude was weak. But by increasing his Mental Fortitude, both his Mental Power and Attack would subsequently rise as well. King also believed that there is a possibility of his Shadow Awareness growing and evolving if he can reach a certain level of Mental Power. So Arata diligently cultivated and worked to raise his strength.

Present Day.

Although Arata didn’t show it, he was extremely drained. Boomer’s explosion had caught him off guard and even though he was able to redirect the Energy, it still took a heavy toll on his Elemental Reservoir. He actually needed to recover for a moment. But to maintain the pride and glory of Class 7, as well as to properly avenge Antioch, Arata wanted and needed to finish this battle first. He would take out the one who had led his class to fight in such a disgusting way. Class 2’s Cassius.

Cassius smirked at Arata. He could tell that Arata was weakened by Boomer’s attack. He cockily walked on stage. He laughed as he looked at Arata.

“You can try to act tough, but I can see that you were clearly affected by Boomer’s little present. He’s such a good boy, doing what he was told.”

Arata’s face turned dark. Using his classmates like tools to use and discard. He hated these kinds of people the most. However, he was right in regards to how he was feeling at the moment. He was not in the best condition because of the explosion. Even though he was able to redirect a large part of the explosion around him, he couldn’t redirect it all. Thankfully, his Dark Cells kicked in and was able to heal him instantly, but that took a toll on his Energy.

But that didn’t matter as he looked at Cassius. This cocky asshole was going to get the beating of a lifetime. Arata got into the Vitality Bestowal stance. Cassius laughed.

“What, nothing to say? No come back?”

Arata stayed silent as he glared at Cassius who continued to taunt and mock.

“Too scared to reply? Just bracing yourself for the inevitable fall of the Heir to the Sato Clan? You and the rest of Class 7 think you are better than the rest of us? We’ll show you who is truly superior.”

Cassius put on a serious face as he got into a fighting stance. The teacher saw that the two boys were ready and raised his hand in the air. A ball of fire flew up and exploded. Cassius ran forward at the signal. Arata stayed in place as he watched Cassius approach him, charging up his Energy as he ran towards Arata.

Cassius, from what Arata observed in his match, had some sort of poisonous or acid type of ability. His Energy eroded and broke down the Energy of his opponents, as well as their weapons, armor etc. It was a powerful and dangerous ability. Arata knew that he would need to be careful while fighting against him. Cassius threw a punch at Arata. Arata could sense the erosive Energy coming from his fists. He decided to test it.

Arata caught Cassius’ fist and activated Vitality Bestowal. Cassius began to grin. Arata quickly realized why as he punched Cassius quickly. Cassius blocked the punch, but was pushed back. Arata felt weaker. Cassius’ Energy had eroded his Energy, dispersing it. Although he had the Void Energy connected to the Energy around him, the Energy within him was still his main source of power, and Cassius’ Energy was able to eat away at it.

Cassius smirked as he looked at Arata’s face.

“Is there something wrong? Feeling a little weak?”

Cassius laughed before running back at Arata. Arata’s face went grim as he began dodging the oncoming attacks. The students from Class 7 knew how Arata fought and the basics of how his powers worked. They had never seen him retreat in this way before, so they knew that he was in trouble. Eamon had pure white eyes as he looked at the battle between Arata and Cassius.

“Impure. His Energy and personality is equally corruptive. Arata may have some trouble with this one.”

Cassius continued to laugh gleefully as he continued to attack the retreating Arata. Arata knew that he was not going to defeat Cassius through his usual methods. His Energy was too dangerous for him to fight against using Vitality Bestowal or Gluttonous Cloud. He was thinking rapidly as he fought and finally had an idea for how he could defeat Cassius. He wasn’t sure if it would work, or if he could pull it off, but he couldn’t think of any other way to deal with this corrosive Energy.

He grimaced as he finally caught a punch from Cassius. Arata absorbed the Energy made from Cassius movements and momentum, freezing Cassius in place. However, his Energy couldn’t be absorbed as it began to corrode and destroy the Energy in Arata’s Elemental Reservoir. Arata closed his eyes as he began to concentrate.

Cassius grinned in delight as he watched Arata struggle. He could sense that his Energy was slowly depleting and he would have no more Energy left. Meaning that he would be easy to finish off. Maybe even cripple. Arata focused as he sensed the Energy within him disappear. He felt King stir within him as his Elemental Reservoir reached a point of being almost empty.

“Now, Arata!”

Arata opened his eyes. They were completely black as he activated Shadow Awareness. Cassius was caught completely off guard as he had arrogantly thought that his victory was assured. There was a sudden surge of Energy from within Arata. The entire Arena felt a piece of their Energy being sucked towards Arata, like he was a powerful black hole. This large amount of Energy rushed through Arata. There was also a large amount of Light and Dark Energy that was swirling in and around Arata. Arata began to speak, his voice came across distorted.

“I am nothing and everything. The Void can create, destroy and reflect. All is null. Null is all.”

Cassius went wide eyed as he felt a deep fear within him as he looked at Arata. He felt a stinging pain in his head. Arata brought his other hand up and placed it on Cassius head.

“The Void is both cage and freedom. Defense and attack. Strength and weakness.”

The power around Arata circulated rapidly, forcibly circulating within Cassius. He realized that he couldn’t connect or feel his Elemental Reservoir. His cut off from it completely. Arata continued to speak in this strange manner, his voice still sounding distorted.

“Energy is dictated by the Void. Emotion is dictated by the Void. The heart is dictated by the Void. All senses are dictated by the Void.”

Cassius began to feel that he was being cut off from his body as Energy continued to flow around and through Arata and into Cassius. He was becoming terrified as Arata had become completely calm and emotionless. It was as if he were possessed. Arata’s power and Energy felt far more powerful than it had felt previously. Cassius saw a dark glow in Arata’s eyes.

“May it all become nothing. Hollow in its entirety. Empty. Void.”

Everything suddenly went black. Cassius couldn’t see anything. He seemed to be floating in darkness. He tried to shout, but no sound could be heard. He tried to move, but he couldn’t feel his body. He couldn’t feel, smell, taste, see or hear anything. It was just darkness. No, it was more than that. It was a complete empty nothingness that he was drowning in. Yet he couldn’t even feel like he was drowning as he couldn’t properly feel anything. There was just nothing.

Arata blinked and his eyes became normal. He looked at Cassius. His eyes were empty and emotionless. He seemed to be completely out of it. Arata let go of him and he instantly collapsed on the ground like a rock. He was breathing, but that was it. His eyes were glazed over. He was hollow. Arata glanced over to the teacher in charge. The teacher in charge recovered from his stupor as he announced the winner.

“Winner of the First Year’s Individual Tournament is Class 7’s Arata.”

Vice Principal Zhang appeared on stage over Cassius. He scanned him briefly before looking at Arata stunned.

“His body and Elemental Reservoir is fine. Everything is perfectly normal, he isn’t even slightly injured. But I can sense that he is empty. Like he isn’t within his body. What did you do to him?”

The students and teachers were stunned when they heard this. He is empty? What did that mean?

The students began to whisper to each other as they waited for Arata’s response. Arata looked at Cassius. This was the first time he had used this ability. Just like King had predicted, after improving his Mental Fortitude, his Shadow Awareness evolved, creating a fusion attack with his Void Energy. The Mental Void. He gave a simple explanation to the Vice Principal.

“I have created a cage within his mind. Cutting him off from his senses, his powers, his body. Everything. I have even locked away some of his thoughts. He is currently in a world of nothing. Unable to think, feel or do anything. Trapped in a Mental Void. He is locked in a cage that he can’t get out.”

As Arata turned to walk away, Vice Principal Zhang’s face went serious as he stood up. He understood that he was still alive, but this cage was a strong ability that he would not be able to reverse himself without damaging Cassius’ brain. The only one that could open the cage was the one who made the cage. Vice Principal Zhang spoke to Arata.

“You have won. The battle is over. You may unlock the cage now.”

Arata looked over to the rest of Class 7. He looked at Antioch who was still being healed by Teva. Arata felt a surge of anger hit him again as he looked at Antioch’s injuries. He shrugged as he continued to walk off the stage, replying to Vice Principal Zhang as he left.

“Can’t. I lost the key.”