Expressions are the way we attack. It's just simple Domain Manipulation. What we do is we try to imagine an empty space infront of us. To help us, we usually hold out our hands to give us a physical limit as to where we can imagine that space.
"Got that, Decey?"
"Uh… Yeah-"
A week after the funeral, Heet's been tutoring me whatever she knows about expressions and basically everything. So far, I've only been doing muscle and stamina training, daily jogging for an hour twice, and your usual push-ups. Before getting ready today, I looked at myself in the mirror.
My black hair grew out till my eyes, I should probably fix that later. My nose is still crooked. My fantastic white skin has been tanned 50 shades down. But goddamn, I think I'm 6'1. All that training really came in handy. That's weird, I never noticed I had White eyes.
Everyday from 9-4, we've been training and training. Hopefully we can even attend Zahl Academy. If that's the case, we could even meet Atlas.
Actually, I didn't even see him at the funeral. That's concerning.
He's strong.
Both physically and mentally.
I don't need to worry abou-
Heet steps on my feet.
"Ouch."
"Listen to me when I'm teaching!"
"Yeah I heard you the first time."
I put my hands infront of me, like i was delivering a sermon. Palms facing up, forearms are at a nice angle of 90 degrees with my shoulders.
Now I should imagine any shape.
Hmmm…
Hmmmmmmmm…
New approach, how about I try to draw something with my mind, with my eyes open?
Okay wait this seems to be working.
A simple line segment is what I'll try for.
Ugh…
Even this isn't working.
The image in my head sustained itself for a while but it shattered into pieces the moment I lost focus.
"December, this took me months to learn."
I look up and see Heet sitting down on the grass. This was the same place where-
Yeah-
"Really?"
"This isn't easy at all. I only managed to do it because of my brother."
Oh that's right.
Heet's brother is a 3rd year at Zahl.
She still hasn't told me anything about her.
She'll open up eventually.
That sounds wrong-
"Why are you blushing? We're supposed to practice, silly."
"Well it's hard to concentrate, thanks to you."
Concentration huh?
Yes.
I'm sure it's very difficult, trying to draw a simple line segment.
Oh come on, you know why it's difficult. Besides I'm trying to bring it to life.
Wait..
What if, this is just a mold?
I'm not actually trying to imagine a shape, and then pour in my domain.
It's the opposite..
Once I imagine this mold, I then pour in my domain.
I try this once again.
A horizontal line segment, suspended in between the length of my arms.
I feel seething pain from my palms.
I see sparkles flicker.
Oh my god, it's actually working.
The mold is done.
Now how do I "pour" in my domain?
"I see you're having trouble with this. "
She can't see the black line mold infront of me? It's as if it's just a tear in space, perfectly shaped as a line. She hasn't said anything about it too..Maybe that has to do with seeing other people's domain.
No wait that's what I thought it was, I'm actually able to sense the molds they make.
It was the same case with Atlas, he made a mold surrounding his entire body the first time.
Then maybe…
"Heet, can you try shooting a straight line using your Domain?"
She tilts her head sideways.
"Huh, sure."
She pulls out her arms, and-
Yes, I can see the mold clearly.
Now let me see how she even uses her Domain..
Her entire body is encompasses with a blue layer of something. The texture appears to be like Ice..
It's as if a vacuum funnel has been act ivated. Almost instantly, the Ice thing flows inside the mold.
"Watch out Decey."
She moves her hands in together, as if she's about to clap. A very tiny beam shoots right past my ear. The sound is ethereal. I look behind me and the tree has a noticeable hole inside it.
Heet stands proud at what she's done.
"How did you activate your Domain?"
" Well I really don't know. It's like muscle memory. If I had to describe it, it's basically me turning the tap on."
"That's helpful. Let me try now."
"Hey we're gonna be here all day. It's best you focus on the image training for another 5 minutes. Heyyy you liste"-
I feel something rush inside of me.
It feels very anomalous to that feeling I had.
When I faced Ø.
Let me harness that power now.
I suddenly feel as if I've gained a third arm. I haven't but, I feel like I have gained an additional body part.
What happens if I try to flex it?
Gusts of wind spew, radiating from my direction. Heet almost falls down, but catches herself.
"How the fuck-"
I try to flex it further, like I was stretching my arms out prior to a workout. The gusts kept getting bigger. How about I try to make a fist?
Seething pain from something that doesn't exist in my body travels through my body in a millisecond.
"SHIT."
I don't think I should continue for longer. I found out something. This new analogy, the key to controlling it is training this imaginary muscle.
"DECEY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID?"
I turn to an ecstatic Heet.
"I understand why you said it was muscle memory."
"If everything goes as smooth as this…"
>
"I was going to say it could take two weeks at best…
It's not even the next day-"
>>>
I'll be living with Mr. Crey. Hopefully Dad thinks I'm still attending Zahl. Everyday he's making me do a 10Km jog, 100 sit-ups, 50 push-ups, and… 10 sets of 30 second planks…
No, I will not be discouraged.
I haven't finished one year in Zahl, and I already dropped out. It looks bad but, I get to train with one of the Realm's greatest.
Totally worth it.
"Sir…I finished…one set….of all…*huff*.."
"Good, you know why I'm making you do all of this?"
"I've honestly been rolling with it for a week."
"Atlas, using Functions and Domains isn't everything. Physical combat is something I rate higher than the actual use of Functions."
That's actually really smart.
You wouldn't be restricted by a lack of Domain, since you cannot increase the capacity. We can always improve our physique and our CQB.
"Atlas, I have done some work behind the scenes. Your Function is incredible. The amount of adaptability it provides will give you an edge against many people, me included. But, for what I have in planned, you have to work even harder."
"So far I can only use Ln(x) as an impenetrable shield. It exponentially slows down any attack that comes my way, which gives me the chance to either block it or completely dodge it."
" I know"
The moment he says that, he instantly throws his sword at me. It stops dead centre between my eyes. I grab it with my fingers.
"Was that meant to do anything Sir?"
I attempt to slash him-
Wait wait, the ground feels weird.
I try taking one step forward.
WAIT-
I fall into a 3 feet ditch.
"Now what will you do, Atlas?"
"Alright you got me", with my hands up in surrender.
Crey grabs my hand and lifts me up out of the ditch.
"This is one of your many weaknesses. At face value, yes, you are already defensively overwhelming but, you have limited Domain. It will 100% leave you with tunnel vision. You'll get overconfident. Besides, you have no way to attack."
When it comes to Functions, one can gain a certain affinity towards a particular part of Domain Manipulation. Someone with addition or multiplication could be really good at releasing the maximum output of their Domain. In the case of Atlas, he cannot exude his Domain efficiently at all. If his max was 10 points, he could only use 1 point. Hence Atlas cannot be proficient in Expressions entirely.
His shield only works because for the lower values of ln(x), that's how the graph is shaped.
" What do you suggest me to do Crey?"
Crey dusts off the dirt on his chest plate.
"We need to make you undergo a transformation."
"What…?"
"As you learnt in Zahl, when you are under great pressure, you will undergo a transformation. Right now, your graph can be useful if it's flipped. But that's impossible. If we can make you transform from x to 1/x, the property of your Function can give you the best offense."
This is too much to handle.
Only in life or death situations do people undergo transformations. Sir wants me to do that right now. God I wonder what he's going to make me do..
"So I'm sorry Atlas, like I said, everything I teach is practically taught."
As he says that, he shoves me onto the ground, that prick..
I hit the ground.
Ouch…
Wait, this feels different..
I open my eyes, and I see pure chaos.
An endless canyon is Infront of me, and I am at the bottom of it. Everything is black and grey. No other color exists. Where am I?
In the distance, I hear bloodcurdling screams.
Probably shouldn't scream- who was that. I would be baiting myself to the potential enemy.
I slowly approach the sound, navigating through the rocky terrain. I see something in the distance, wait…It saw me…
I turned my back towards the big boulder, using it as a cover.
I cannot panic.
This is a life or death situation.
I try to peek but a flash of air hits me. Covering my eyes from this dust, I retreat back to my boulder cover.
But, something is Infront of me…
What is that..?
It looks absolutely hideous. It looks to be a sort of an insect. A grasshopper? But it looks humanoid, its legs are completely armored in scales that rival dragons, and its face. Ugh.
The way its twitching is so gross. I can hear the flesh grinding everytime he shifts his body.
He turns towards me and launches himself at me. I roll out of the way. I look behind, and the boulder has been decimated. You shall be remembered…
I let out my Shield, a slow hum, echoing the valley . He throws a punch, only that I noticed after his fist lost virtually all of its velocity. He's stuck like that for another four seconds. I go ahead and get a piece of that boulder and slam its arm multiple times.
Splatters of white blood hover over me as I repeatedly break his arm. The creature began to scream and shiver in pain. I did not stop. The boulder broke just as I brought it down on it one last time, its arm snapping from the main body. I quickly grab another rock, but I notice the blood floating Infront of me slowly started dripping.
I've at least 10% left.
Okay let's do some quick thinking.
Instead of using it all over me, how about I just use it to reinforce my block? That would help sustain my Domain Levels.
Now only problem is, I need to be able to react faster. He is too fast for me. Sir Crey taught me the whole boosting your body using your domain but that would just drain it even more.
The creature suddenly hits me with a barrage. I somehow blocked some of them but one of the hooks caught my throat.
I collapse immediately. I can't breathe. It hurts so much. I just puked blood and now I'm spinning. I feel super nauseous right now.
The creature seems to show no remorse. It gets one of the pieces of rock and-
No, please don't..
I try crawling away but it slams my left arm with that rock.
The pain is too much..
I cannot move my left arm anymore..
It's completely crushed to the bone..
The creature brought another rock. This time, making sure it would land on my face. This is the end huh?
I'm sorry Mom, I couldn't do shit against a simple monster…
I'm sorry…
>>>
Transformation~~~~
X——>1/X
『 Completed 』