Chapter 190: The aberrant, the [Outlier]
Whoosh
The chair flew straight for Imari. The heavy chair spun while moving in the air.
Imari couldn"t react in time, she was still processing Noah"s victory against a superhuman. She stood there like a deer in front of headlights, watching as the chair came crashing down on her.
Imari closed her eyes reflexively when somebody chanted.
"Blaze."
A brilliant and regal red light filled the auditorium.
Bang
Next, a gunshot greeted everybody"s ears.
A dark bullet traced a beautiful trail in the air as it went to intercept the chair.
Spwosh
The chair got disintegrated by that bullet.
Imari raised her arms to block the incoming shockwaves. She slowly opened her eyes to look at the gunner.
Noah was holding a weapon he had no business wielding.
Fwoosh
Because he just summoned his Blaze, his gun is still burning with the flames of Blaze. Only after a short while did the flames die down to reveal his firearm.
It"s not a cold weapon like a spear, it"s a pistol.
The gun is about as long as a semi-automatic pistol but it had a cylinder for bullets. The design of the gun made it obvious that this gun was modified for power.
The revolver had white circuitry lines on it. Noah held firmly onto his blazing gun so it was clear to everyone here who averted the crisis.
However, the crowd forgot about the chair and Imari forgot about her averted danger.
"A gun?"
Imari and the other students gasped too.
Normally, Blaze manifests in the form of cold weapons of simplistic design. Manifestation of simple human souls shouldn"t normally give birth to hot and complex weapons like a handgun.
Noah also knew about this so he lowered his gun and placed it behind him.
Sakuya saw his gun and she made her comment.
"It seems you"re an irregular."
An exception.
One beyond normal limits, an outlier.
Those who stray from normality, an aberrant.
He possessed an otherwise impossible Blaze.
Noah is an outlier.
Noah nodded as his gun turned into wisps of flames that dematerialized.
Noah didn"t stay any longer than he needed. Under the escort of a silent crowd, he slowly walked out of the auditorium.
However, three individuals looked at him with looks unlike that of the awed crowd. They were dealing with their own complex emotions.
Sakuya is the first one.
Next, a youth with brown hair standing in a certain corner.
Lastly, the silver-haired girl with doll-like beauty.
Exiting the a.s.sembly hall, Noah raised his hand while frowning under the beautiful Sakura-strewn sky.
Sakuya mentioned that Blaze can only harm someone mentally, it shouldn"t have been able to harm physical objects.
But, Daisuke"s bra.s.s knuckles shattered a bunch of chairs. Noah"s revolver also blew a chair to smithereens. Both Blaze clearly destroyed physical objects.
If his Blaze can destroy a chair then it should be able to harm another human, right?
Sakuya said that a Blaze can only hurt someone mentally.
Clearly, that was a lie, right?
Noah shook his head.
Sakuya wouldn"t lie with something one can easily test.
If the students sparred then they would find out soon enough whether Sakuya lied or not.
Noah feels like Sakuya is speaking in half-truths.
There is something else about the Blaze she"s not revealing.
At least, Noah can feel the absorbed arming sword and revolver had changed.
Noah can"t place his fingers on what exactly changed but his revolver experienced a slight modification in appearance.
It had white circuitry lines.
Plus, Noah doesn"t have to fill up his revolver with bullets.
He can turn his mental energy into bullets like his soul-manifest gun. In other words, he can keep firing his handgun as long as he had energy to spare.
This made up for the tiny magazine capacity before Blazification.
Naturally, his revolver also came with another weakness.
Noah bitterly laughed at his trembling arm.
"I almost forgot about the increased recoil and weight after enhancement. Looks like one would need a certain amount of strength to wield this."
Noah almost dislocated his arm with his enhanced revolver, his human-level strength was barely enough to keep his skin intact.
Noah wanted to depart when a voice called out to him.
Imari came running after Noah. He turned around just in time to see her stopping in front of Noah. She stared at Noah while not saying anything.
"What?"
Noah chuckled when he saw Imari"s conflicted look.
"Don"t you have an enrollment exam to attend?"
"The chairman said you forfeited so I won by default."
Imari lowered her head. Her eyes had weak glimmers when she raised her head again.
"You gave up because of me, right?"
Noah subconsciously wanted to shake his head. He dispelled his thoughts after seeing Imari"s serious look. He sighed.
"Does it matter whether that was the reason?"
"It might not be important to you but it"s important to me."
Imari inhaled deeply while putting on a steely look.
"I have something I must do no matter what. Hence, I will stay!"
"Yeah?"
Noah shrugged.
"Mission accomplished, no?"
"Only because it came at someone else"s expense."
Imari sounded crestfallen.
"You are taking it well but I cannot overlook this."
"Then keep your head held high."
Noah rubbed her head when he saw her anguished look.
"Otherwise you"re going to make my effort go to waste, don"t you think so?"
Imari opened and closed her mouth. Finally, she smiled brightly.
"Sorry. Also, thank you very much."
"Ah."
Noah nodded while beaming back.
"Keep up the good work."
He ended the conversation there.
Another voice interrupted them.
"Could you please spare me some time? I would like to talk with you."
The girl in black gothic lolita clothes came out of the auditorium.