A shockwave pushed out from my body.
"Ugh!" Kia yelped as she was forced away from me, the flames around her body and fingers disappearing. She looked at her hands and hair frantically.
"What the-?" The screens around my body disappeared as well. I drop to the ground, heart racing and sweat rolling down the tips of my hair. What the hell just happened?
A notification chimed, a familiar golden glow appearing in front of me. I raise my head.
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Skill Name: Interference
Skill Rank: B
Skill Type: Activate
Skill Description: Unleashes a blast around the user in a 10-foot radius, pushing away objects and people not in the user's team. Any Activate-Type spells in said radius are Disabled for 2 seconds.
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A new skill, huh? Saved by the goddess again... How many more times do I have to be saved by pure luck or coincidence?
"That's enough." I hear Elena's voice echo, following by the digital warbling of the room changing back to normal. The TV screen from earlier displayed the following words, "Winners: Kia Firaga and Elena Vermilyea!"
"Congratulations on the new skill! I told you there was a purpose in sparring us." She says chuckling. And folding her arms. The orbs above her shoulders disappeared as she walked up to me. They weren't in the radius of [Interference], so it makes sense that they weren't affected.
"Still, wasn't that a bit much? I could've died-" I continue panting as I turn myself around, taking a seat on the floor.
"Nahhh, that's pretty much impossible here!" Kia stated before she nudged my leg with her foot. Looking up at Kia, her jacket transformed back to normal, the color returning to faint black and the sleeves shortening and shrinking. "Before any fatal damage happens, all skills are [Disabled]. That's why I was pretty surprised when you were the one who did it!" Kia laughed heartily.
"There aren't many skills that have the ability to [Disable], so that'll be incredibly useful for you." Elena nodded and picked up a remote on the couch, which I didn't notice earlier. She clicked a button and brought back my skill tree, which seems to have grown subtly in a small area.
"Actually, I saw that [Disable] and [Enrage] were in quotes on the status window. Is there any specific reason for that?" I sit on the couch on the same end I sat earlier, staring at the screen after I got comfortable. Kia walked up from behind me and tapped a water bottle on my shoulder, to which I took and said thanks.
"There is. The words that are underlined are appropriately called "effects," which are statuses caused by different kinds of skills. There are thousands of different effects, but to name a few, there's [Staleness], which decreases the efficiency of a skill slightly after each use, [Poison], which causes the victim to become nauseous and causes them to sustain continuous damage for a certain amount of time, and [Echo], which causes the victim's attacks to launch a weaker one right after. Got it?"
I remain silent, blinking at her. That was... a lot to take in. Well sure, I understood it, but I never knew there were such a variety of these things. Usually I would expect a few like that poison one or something like burning, but I guess it would make sense if there was a bunch of them. Venators haven't even scratched the surface with learning skills. In fact, we're probably less than halfway to knowing all of them despite it already being a long time since the Fissures opened.
"Yeah, I guess I do... [Echo] doesn't seem like a bad effect, though. Does that means there's good ones too?"
"Correct. Neutral effects exist as well, but are more specific because of it. If I had to give you a neutral one, it would be my [Enrage]. It can be in favor of both parties, but I was able to form my kit around it and make it beneficial to me." Elena brushes her hair back and takes the water bottle Kia gave to her.
"By the way! Now that you're refreshed, why not take him on again?" Kia blurts out, tapping my shoulder and pointing at the door. I look over, flinching at who I saw. "What the-?" It was that one mage from earlier who hand his hands pressed up against the door, banging on it to get our attention. That one girl that was with him earlier seemed to have left, probably after he got knocked out.
"Didn't I tell you guys already that I don't want word of my class to get out?" I scratch the side of my head and take a sip of my water.
"Right, but like... No offense or anything, but who would willingly admit to losing to a support class? Y'know what I mean?" Kia shrugs. Well, she does have a good point. I still have the advantage of people keeping true to their beliefs that support classes are incredibly weak. The rally on my passive skills is pretty high right now, too, so I don't think it should be too hard to take him out. Plus, I do have this new skill I can try out... Maybe it's not so much of a bad idea.
I get up and walk to the door. "You got this, Goldie!" Kia yells over at me.
Pushing the door open, the mage steps back and grabs the edge of it, swinging it open. He grabs the collar of my shirt and pushes me against the wall next to the door. "You little shit!" He screams. "Who said you could get help?!" A circle appears underneath the two of us. My eyes widen. A teleportation skill?
The circle raises, creating a blue flow of energy around us. After a couple of seconds, the energy disappears, revealing our surroundings. It looks like he teleported us to an abandoned building outside of the city. Peeking out the broken windows, I can see the city of Polaris off in the distance. We're pretty far, but I think I should be able to get someone to pick me up.
"There he is..." I freeze. That wasn't the mage's voice I just heard. I lifted my head, and to my surprise, Max stood in front of me, along with the mage, the two other people who were in the elevator that day, and along with a more muscular black guy with dread cornrows, who seemed somewhat familiar. He had on a white tank top with cargo pants, with the most standout feature being his nose ring and his golden chain around his neck. He looked me up and down, sizing me up with a single eyebrow raised. Crap... What did I get myself into?
"Good to see you again, punching bag! I just got a new skill. Care to let me test it out?" Max says, cracking his knuckles and brushing back his hair. I have to fight back here. There's no one else to help me like all the times before.
Rolling my shoulders, I ready myself for the fight. "Sure. But only if you let me test out mine." My attention switches back and forth between the other people. The mage who got his spell reflected at him begins to channel lightning between the tips of his fingers. The mana hunter readies one of the magical blades he used to stab me in the elevator with. The rioter wipes his nose as he taps his bat on his shoulder. The last guy, however, doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. Just standing in the back. If that's the case, then hopefully this got a whole lot easier.
As Max lifts his leg to begin his attack, the ground begins to shake and rumble beneath us.
"What?" I mutter under my breath as I hear a chime from the status window.
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A Fissure is opening in your location!
Rank: B
Contents: Chimeras(C Rank), Minotaur(B Rank Elite)
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"A Fissure? Here?" The mage exclaims.
Golden status windows begin to open next to Max and the others.
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Mission Objective
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I raise an eyebrow. Mission objective? This is coming from the Goddess of Alleviation... If that's the case, then...
Another golden panel appears next to the one announcing the Fissure.
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Keep D-Ranked Venators, Max Starr, Orion Bolem, Isaac Arashi, and Zane Volux alive.
Rewards: A C-Rank Item of the representative's choosing (3 choices)
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