Chapter 345: 345 - Those who die, And those who remain
"Wait, Noah," Lilith calledout as he suddenly accelerated amidst the smoke.
"I gotta check it," he tought back, as he used pyakugan to try and figure what was happening. He could notice a bit of a thing happening inside the store, but wasn"t so sure what.
"But Noah, what if there are more monsters?" Lilith voiced her worries, but was quckly shut down by him.
"If there are any, we just have to kill them."
Lilith was left baffled, especially since he"d not known how to deal with them a second ago. But she could see his brazenness stemmed from wory, as Carlos and Maggie were inside the store, and had already fought at least one of the monsters.
"Maggie?!" he called out loudly, as he arrived at the front of the store. The tables were all thrown around, the few customers that had been inside all packed under the side counter, as two people stood guard, waiting for more monsters to come. "Maggie," Noah called once again as he entered. Towards the back where they were staring, a gaping hole had gotten blown through the wall. From what he could see, the monster had broken in through there, and both her and Carlos had chased it off. This time, the girl quickly turned towards him, and ran to grab his hand. Without a single word, she emotionlessly turned around, taking him inside.
Noah was confused, but let her pull him, and at the back, he saw Al"s hair while she looked at someone on the groud, "s.h.i.t..." he thought,as he realized she was helping somebody and the sound of her crying slowly became audible, over the loud screaming on the street.
"Old man," Noah called him out, as he slowly made his way forward, and down, crouching next to the girl. As soon as he did so, his eyes met with hers, and he started to cast [Healing Flames]. A gouging slash stretched across the man"s chest and stomach. It alone was not life threatening despite how bad it looked, but him already being weak and old, plus the venom from the monster"s claws made his conditonfar more dangerous, and Noah could see his breath softening.
But as soon as he tried to use the flames, the man"s hands stopped him, as he shook his head from side to side, "Leave me be, kid," he said, as the girl loudly protested. Noah just stared at him without emotion on his face, despite the turmoil inside him. "You know, I"ve already lived too long. To think I would leave to see the day Blessed would stand up to protect me, and that you and that frail girl would be a pair of them..." he mulled over to himself, before looking up at Noah, and putting a hand on his chest. "I"m sorry, boy. I was wrong about Blessed. At least, you, your sister, and that friend are actual decent people," he told him, forcing himself to continue, as he flnched from the pain.
"No! You can"t let him die! You can help him, can"t you?" Al turned towards him, shaking Noah"s shoulder as she refused to accept.But Noah"s eyes were still emotionless, as he and the oldman exchanged looks.
"Noah, take good care of this place, and take care of Al, this place is hers now. Don"t let my legacy die, you punks," he sad while leakinga pained moan, the blood flowing from his wound starting to look darker and sandy.
"I hope you go to h.e.l.l, old man. So we can meet again some day," Noah told the dying man with a wry chuckle, as he saw the man smile and cough blood.
"WHY ARE YOU LETTING HIM DIE?!" The woman grabbed him by the shoulder, her eyes bulging as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"A man has the right to chose when and how to die. I"m not taking that away from him," Noah answered, putting his hand over the old man"s eyes, seeing his breathing stop.
"No! That can"t be! He is, he was..."
Hearing the woman he"d worked for all these years plea and drop to the ground on her knees, sobbing, Noah questioned for a second whether he"d made the right choice. But the voice of a demon whispered into his mind, "Humans have a bad time accepting death, but it comes to all... Too bad I couldn"t meet him properly."
Lilith"s voice, to him, was both comfort and validation, letting him trust what he did, and turn to the girl, hugging her.
Seeing Al, a person he had never once seen show weakness sob on his chest, Noah realized somethinghe still hadn"t about the old man. Despite being a cranky and generally mean person to his employees, both in his case and hers, he always had their back, and was a loved person.
"And he left everything to this girl. He really saw her as his daughter," Noah thought, as his eyes wandered behind the girl, to see Maggie watching them from afar, holding herself from crying. And as his eyes met hers, she turned away,running back to where Carlos was.
"It probably hurts her to see this girl lose him. Make sure to talk to her later," Lilith told him, making him aware of his sister"s feelings, which were not all perfect right now.
"I"ll take care of that too..." he answered the snake, while comforting the girl, whose sobbing was slowly dying down.
"By the way, since when are you a sobbing woman magnet? I"m starting to think you are cursed with making them feel like s.h.i.t," the snake teased him, trying to take his mind away from Al, so she could avoid him being asked to dinner by yet another girl, since she would already have to deal with a pink haired healer. If Noah knew this was what was in her mind at such a time, he would"ve questioned her sanity.
Soon, Noah stood up, holding Al by the shoulders, so she could stand up. but as he did so, Maggies voice called him out. "There"s more of them coming! We need your help," she said aloud, before running back to Carlos, Noah and Al nodding at each other, before they let go of each other, with Noah taking a deep breath, and furrowing his brows, as he checked something out.
[User: Noah Stern
Cash: $157,186,590 [16.457.812 Bound]
Level: 05, 15,352/16,000 exp
HP: 32/34
Strength: 72.7
Agility: 79.9
Stamina: 47.3
Mana: 48.4
Skills:
(h.e.l.l Flames Lv 04, 12,203/12,500 exp: A technique that consists in summoning the flames of h.e.l.l itself. The flames of h.e.l.l did not differ from normal flames, but after cleansing so many sins and so many sinners, they became the most powerful flame, having already burned the G.o.d of flames himself, making him beg Lucifer to put out those flames before he died. To increase the power of the flames of h.e.l.l skill, the user must burn sins or sinners.
After absorbing the "a.s.set Weaponization" skill, it"s now possible to condensate flames into the shape of weapons and manipulate them in the same way as flames.
[Fireball] [Fire Blade] [Fire Shield] [Fire Manipulation] [Fire Claws] [Ode to Joy] [Healing Flames])
(h.e.l.l Tunneling Lv 0[3], 1,489/1,500 exp: A technique that consists of opening a tunnel to h.e.l.l and exiting somewhere else in a fraction of a second. The greater the distance, the more energy expended.
Pyakugan: After reaching Lv 02, the user learned to reduce the cost of each teleport, in addition to speed. As the user used the ability to move spatially so much, the user partially received a spatial perception even with eyes closed.)
(h.e.l.l"s Contract Lv MAX: Only limited by the user"s limitation, the skill can develop a contract that binds both parties to comply with everything required in the contract.
After absorbing the "Blood Control" ability, it is now possible to force the target to accept contracts, as long as the user burns 100% of the target"s blood.
For 30 minutes, the target will be required to follow all the commands defined in the contract. After 30 minutes, the target will die.]
(h.e.l.l"s Summon Lv 03 1,406/100,000 exp: Skill used by great demons to summon armies of artificial inferior imps. Imps life is limited based on energy spent. The more energy, the longer the imp will last. Part of experience gained for killing monsters by imps, even without Lucifer"s command, will go to Lucifer.
Lucifer once created an army of over 1,000,000 imps in the snap of his fingers because of the large amount of mana he possessed, in addition to the high skill level.
After ascending to level 03, the limit of imps the user can summon has grown following the calculations of the legions. Under the rulership of a Great Lord, the armies are able to grow as Units, and be commanded as groups, with a hierarchy and powers matchign it.
Currently available imps: 63[5]/128[8].)
(Devil Form Lv 01: 1,954/3,000 exp: Lucifer was born as an angel, but he needed to be the personification of evil to meet the requirements G.o.d had set for him to "Be the personification of evil." With the beautiful appearance that Lucifer had, no one would fear him, so thinking about it, Lucifer decided to create a form where he would be truly evil, a form that would not only invoke fear in people, but also increase Lucifer"s strength greatly by consuming many flames of h.e.l.l.
After absorbing the "a.s.set Weaponization" skill, it"s also possible to manifest some of Lucifer"s tools for a short period.
The user will transform into Lucifer"s "Personification of Evil" image and stats will be increased by 20%.)]
(Edge Mastery Lv 01: 894/10,000 exp: Lucifer is able to absorb the skill of sinners and rule over them as the ruler of all h.e.l.l. You can create a Mana Edge that can cut through anything less ethereal than it. The edge"s power and efficiency is dependant on the Edge of the Blade used and the mana infused. After failing to cut, cannot be used until will is sharpened.)
(Impenetrable Selfless Bastion Lv 01: 0/25,000 exp: Lucifer is able to absorb the skill of sinners and rule over them as the ruler of all h.e.l.l. Through the will to defend others, your shield is impenetrable and unstopable. Depends of selflessness behind the use. Takes an incredible amount of willpower.)