For I Am A Side Character - 131: Clash of Thunder and Chance.

“AGGHHH!!!!” Orhisel screamed as a blade went passed his hand. Cutting off the hand which lifted the body of a girl.

As he did, the girl fell back to the pile and what came next was a sudden attack down from the same blade that took his hand.

Before he could even think, Audrey came with her sword and stabbed him straight to his chest. The very force of her power caused him to be carried and crash down to a tree.

*Thud!*

“Khk!” blood came gushing from his mouth as thunder came and paralyzed his body.

As he underwent pain, Audrey remained in silence, watching as the man feel powerless over her attacks.

“Y-you…you must be one of the great and upcoming hunters of the academy…the lightning student. Audrey of the Black Rose Guild.” he said as he turned to her with a blood-lusted gaze.

“…” in turn, Audrey looked to him with a less fury-like expression.

But despite her attempts to incapacitate him, she was blind to the reveal of another enemy.

Out from above, a giant lizard fell before them and attacked her without her taking into consideration of Orhisel’s placement.

With it’s large jaw, it jumped at her and Orhisel, all to the attempt of swallowing them both.

But Audrey moved at the last second. Dodging with her sword pulled out. And in result, the lizard’s jaw went against Orhisel and the tree, breaking the tree in the process and swallowing Orhisel the second the lizard felt something in its jaw.

*THUD!*

“!!” Audrey was shocked by the sight of such a reckless act.

Seeing the lizard start to shake its head as it swallowed everything inside like a snake consuming a prey, it was a gruesome sight. And soon as it finished, it turned its head back to Audrey, looking just as predatory as ever.

‘God…it swallowed it’s own owner…’ Audrey could not believe it….

Soon, the lizard started walking close to Audrey, pacing itself to ready and swallow her as well, but before it could take it’s fifth step, it suddenly stopped and turned bluish in skin.

“!?” Audrey was shocked.

And to her ignorance, the man from whom was swallowed, suddenly bursted out of the lizard’s side like a rat chewing out it’s way from a flesh like cell.

“GwaahhH!!” He screamed as he took yet another fresh breath of air into his lungs.

It was grotesque in every way possible. But to his appearance, in his freedom of escaping the lizard’s digestion, he smiled at them all with such a lunacy of an expression.

“…Ahh, sometimes I can’t control this idiot.” he said as he held the flesh of the lizard’s side.

And to this show of flesh, he turned to the lizard and saw that despite his way of escaping, the lizard was fine in all accounts. And soon enough, the lizard’s injury fixed itself all in but an instant.

“..!?” They were all shocked by the revelation of such a strong regenerative power.

“Now then, since I’m free to use my hands…”

As Orhisel smirked in the show of him raising his hands up, Audrey felt an unnerving amount of distress alone from that action.

This man was dangerous in all accounts.

She had to act on her own instincts. The very way she judge her actions the next second was necessary.

Despite the fact that she did not know what kind of power comes from this person, she alone felt compelled to act in the most irrational way against a terrorist who held the others against their will.

[Lightning Skill: Lightning Step]

As quick as her feet could take her, she ran at a speed she was barely prepared to take action on.

“!?” Orhisel was taken aback by her decision and decided to defend himself again.

In her flash step forward, she crashed to him out of desperation and having no control in the direction of her movement.

Crashing into Orhisel, they both felt the heavy impact against one another. But with Orhisel’s hand raised up for defense, he had enough of a set of thought to do the next action.

‘Pitiful and desperate…’ he thought as a smirk appeared on his face.

Forming his hand in claw like form, he thrusted down on her head which was the closest thing he could see from them crashing against one another.

And to no fault at all, his attack went down on her.

*Thud!*

With the strength of a bastard that was near close to an SS-rank, he should have crushed her head then and there… but out of nowhere, Audrey defended herself out of pure instinct.

With nothing but her sword on her hand, she raised it out of desperation and blocked the attack.

Both his hand and her blade went at each other…

Clashing in only but a moment, and as soon as Audrey felt this, she knew she would soon start to lose in a contest of strength. So she was compelled to act on again.

[Flash te Flash: Charging Cut]

In all but an instant, without any proper preparation from where she stood, she used a skill in the desperation of her moment.

“!?”

And at that use of skill, she pushed herself away from Orhisel and created some space.

“…?” and from her attack, she left his hand bleeding.

As his blood dripped down on the floor, he turned to her. “…You shouldn’t have done that.” he said as his eyes soon turned to her with a murderous gaze.

“!?” bloodlust was directly rained down on her, causing her to shake in fear.

‘…this pressure!? He’s too strong for me alone…’ she thought as she couldn’t take action the moment fear was inflicted into her direction.

Fear out of every other mental show of power, was one of the things that Orhisel was confident on showing to the public. And for Audrey to take it all, it was nothing but painfully a scarring moment. It reminded her of her time when he clashed swords against a certain someone.

With her immobilized from where she stood, this gave Orhisel to finally use his skill. So he raised his hand and showed his power yet again.

[Loser’s Mindset.] he did not showed any hesitance to the use of his ace card of a skill.

And all but immediately, Audrey lost all her energy to stand. From the added fear and a direct attack from this skill, she had lost all will to act.

‘W-what is this?!’ she thought as she couldn’t find it in herself to gather her strength.

Something was blocking her will to fight…to raise her sword…

Having lost her power and strength, she immediately had a thought.

‘Is…is this the reason why they couldn’t fight back against him?’

And soon enough, when she turned to look back at Orhisel, she found him to be smiling creepily.

“I bet that this isn’t all of you…maybe there might still be a few students out in the woods, and maybe some already fell victim to our plans. Nonetheless, most of you are here, and that’s good enough for me.” he said as he fixed himself, clearing his body from the blood and flesh that came along from escaping the body of the giant lizard as well as the blood from his hand.

“What are you planning to do!?” asked Audrey as she looked furious and helpless as to where she was.

“Me and all of our members always look to one direction. The direction of truth.”

“…That doesn’t explain anything!”

“I doubt any of you would understand. You continue to live life as one with the many, not knowing what you are contributing yourself into, while we live life separate but true.”

“…”

“To serve our truth, we must follow through with the plan. Even to such a drastic measure.” and as he continued to praise his answers to those who were bound by his skill, a man suddenly walked up to him as if out of nowhere.

“True to your words as always, Orhisel.” said a man that was carrying two swords wrapped and linked with a chain together. As the swords lay in his back, the man walked to Orhisel with a smile on his face. A face that resembled a warrior’s gleaming expression of both strength and authority.

With eyes as red as blood and hair as white as ash, this man spoke of a threat more dangerous than anything Audrey had ever faced.

“My lord, what are you doing here?!” he asked as he quickly knelled to the man whose presence was like that of a warring beast.

And clear to the show of his worship towards this person, it was clear that this man was more than just a simple terrorist. He showed a different presence altogether from even those of the S-ranked teachers and Guild Leaders.

‘Where did he come from? I’ve never once felt his presence aspproach us…even to this degree.’ thought Sgt. O’riley as even to his highest senses, this man that came from even out his domain of presence was like a ghost in the wind.

Orjay, the fifth fallen seat of the purity cult as well as the second strongest member both physically and magically. He was a man much stronger and more durable than the fallen angel, Agifell. If he could, he can easily take all of the teachers here on his own even without the assist of Orhisel’s skill.

This man, despite his strong presence was nothing like an angel or a fallen. If anything, he simply bore the presence of a human life. But the power bore deep within his core was true and stronger than anything Sgt. O’riley has ever felt before. For once in his life, he felt unsure of his chances against such a person.

“I came because I lost sight of Toru and Casitrix’s presence…what happened?” he asked.

“I…I don’t know my lord. I’ve been tasked to look over to this camp while they were supposed to look over the entire situation and stop any uprising enemy…it’s been a while since I’ve also felt their presence, I am just as curious as you are.” said Orhisel as he spoke with fear towards this man.

“Do you think someone was able to detain them?” asked Orjay as he looked soft to his expression.

“It may be possible th-that the blasphemer is here.”

“…The Blasphemer? How can you tell?”

“I’ve felt a strong presence not long before both Toru’s and Casitrix’s presence were lost. That presence alone was strong enough to be felt even to my location…and the power it carries on it’s reveal was probably on the same level as…yours, my lord.” he said.

“…I see. If that is the case, we must finish our business here Orhisel.” said the man as he slowly approached Audrey with a smile on his face.

“Do you want me to take care of the lives here my lord?”

“Hmm, at best I suggest that we should kill off any witnesses. But think of the consequence that might fall on us if we do take the lives of these men and women. Look, we have families here from strong origins. Audrey Yagami from the great Black rose guild as well as her connections to that of a certain house.”

“You mean the house of shadows?”

”Indeed, its best that we simply avoid any at all action that might lead to gaining their attention anymore than we have already. Killing her might trigger a wave of hate our way that may halt our mission.”

“And what about the others?”

“Hmm, as long as their familial background does not cause a problem in the future, I don’t care. Spare those who may seem important while those that do not, end them well.”

As he said this, Orhisel smiled at the opportunity.

By being given the permission to take action, he smiled at the thought of massacring the entirety of the people here.

As of how the plan went, by any means of obtaining the elvish blood which was contained towards both the Miller Brothers, knowing that one of them had already been, Orhisel no longer had any intentions in keeping an eye to an of the unwanted lives here at the base camp.

“Settle the matter here Orhisel and return to the church at once.” said Orjay as he started walking to the forest.

“What about you my lord?” asked Orhisel.

“I shall settle the matter with a certain blasphemer.” as he said this, he took another step and disappeared from their sight altogether as if a ghost in the wind.

And from this, Orhisel rejoiced in the chance of finally taking the lives of the innocent.

As he walked past by Audrey, he turned to the many corpses that were unconscious.

“Now then, from the last I remembered, this was the life whom I was supposed to take before I was interrupted” he said as he held the life of Jessica on his hands.

“But given the order of my lord, I should spare those who may seem to cause an issue in the future…so, from what I know, she is the daughter of the influential family, the Young family…knowing this, she is…safe.” as he assumed her identity, he gave mercy and threw her unconscious body to the side and decided to pick up another unconscious body.

“Hmm, now this seems like a nice one.” as he picked up another body from the pile Audrey could only listen with her back turned as one by one, Orhisel slowly picked the fates of the student’s lives.

The teachers wanted to act and fight back, but all they could manage was a step forward.

“Stop this at once!” shouted Miss Fien, the class advisor for Class A as she struggled to watch the children lay there like wasted meat.

“…” but to her attempts, she was only ignored by a man that enjoying his time picking the right lives to slaughter.

“We have to do something! Now!” said Ms. Sera as she couldn’t take anymore of her helplessness.

But in truth, there was nothing they could do…

This mysterious power of his was something that they had no information on. They were clueless on how to take action on it.

No one was capable of withstanding such a mysterious power…or at least, that was what Orhisel thought.

***

‘Hnn~’ slowly but surely, for some reason, I didn’t want to wake up.

I feel so comfortable sleeping here forever.

By why does it feel so hard to sleep right now…

Something doesn’t feel right…

Maybe if I just wake up right now, I could find Soril sleeping right next to me and I could take that as an advantage and cuddle with him all night long…

Right, maybe I should do that.

‘Hmm?’

For some reason, I can’t wake up…

Come on, time’s wasting.

I need to wake up!

Wake up…

Wake up!

WAKE UP!!

“!?” I opened my eyes and for some reason, my face was down on the dirt.

…God, why does my head feel so heavy right now?

Why does my ears hurt?

…I feel like giving up.

God, where am I?

As looked around while on the dirt, I noticed that in front of me, we were in some sort of forest.

‘Ah right…the camp. Our school was doing a camp event. But why am I here on the dirt? Why can’t I get up? Why do I feel so lazy right now?’

Soon, with enough strength I was able to turn my head to the other side.

And by my surprise, I saw my friends….

‘Why…why are they unconscious?’

As I asked myself this, I soon turned to see the face of a person who was the cause of my predicament.

The man in the brown robe…

‘Ah…I remember everything.’

I don’t know how I fell asleep, but I can tell that he’s the source of all of this…

As I kept looking for any more source of information, I saw the teachers and the guild leaders…

‘Why aren’t they doing anything?’

‘Is it because they can’t? Is this the reason why we’re all like this?’

‘They look like they want to move, but they can’t…their struggling.’

‘…if that is the case, I need to act before something worse happens.’

***

Out of her knowledge, she did not know the current situation. She did not know why the teachers or the guild leaders couldn’t move from where they stood…but she could.

And all of it was because of her passive skill, the Adaptive heart. Where although she could not fully adapt in a physical manner, she can adapt through their skills and fight better knowing that she had adapted to a certain degree.

And as of this moment, she had adapted to the Loser’s mindset without her knowing.

Although she may be struggling, she was the only one who could move against Orhisel’s skill. So she had to think strategically against his schemes.

‘Think…what can I do? I’m too weak to do anything…what do I have at the moment that could ultimately flip this entire situation.’

As she thought hard, she then remembered a certain item that would surely help in this situation.

‘That’s right…the chain artifact.’

By her pocket, she was keeping hold of the artifact without the enemy knowing.

If she used it right, she can easily flip against the situation.

‘Think…what can I do right now with this portal that can easily fix this situation.’

‘Maybe I can use this artifact to move everyone out of here?…No, that’s to risky. There’s too many people here. And there’s no time. Whatever he’s doing, he’s separating everyone for some reason.’

From the side, she could see that Orhisel was separating the valuable bodies from the invaluable one’s, but she did not know why.

Orhisel loved to kill them all of them at the same time. It’s like going to a grocery store and finding a bundle item for sale. One just simply can’t resist. To him, he can imagine just how much torture he could inflict to the zealots before him once he separates them well enough. Already, he’s separated 4 people.

So without knowing, soon she won’t have time to save everyone.

‘Since I can’t move them away, maybe I can move him away…but how can I do that? There’s no way of ever pushing him into a portal without force…if only there was a way to do that…’

As she thought hard, all of sudden, she remembered something back on her old elementary days.

‘Wait, that’s right…I can do that instead!’

This elementary level of a fact was all she needed to fix the problem.

Now, the only problem was how to distract him from everything else on the moment she would make do with her plan. Thankfully, she didn’t have to do anything.

One particular person was doing it all.

“You speak of truth, your entire cult is based on truth…so tell us, what exact truth do you have to justify all the things that your doing right now!?” shouted Conner as he glared at Orhisel with such contempt.

“Hmm, well now that’s an interesting question.” said Orhisel as he turned to Conner with a grin.

“…”

“For one thing, your God has already set things in motion. As if a line that will never be disrupted. That in of itself as a mistake. God should not have any sort of control over our own fates.”

“!?”

“What we plan to do is go against such fault…its what we usually call a fight against destiny, per say.”

“And what does killing the innocent have to do with that?”

“Everything. Your involvement in this life is a sin against our cause…and once we complete every plan created by our leader, surely in the end, our fates will change.”

“Ha! That’s a bullshit of a logic. If what you said was right, then what do you call the very essence of a man’s own will of choosing?”

“Do you mean free will? Free Will is nothing but an illusion crafted by God. He’s an almighty being capable of doing anything, especially putting on the illusion that you are in control of your own actions.”

“If that is the case, do you think that you are in control of your own actions at this moment? Is all your elaborate plan not a part of his plan in action?”

“Hmph, unlike you, we go with the leader’s plan all to its end and more to that, our actions simply go against his will in every turn. To not follow in the commandments laid out by God is one of the ways that we go against his own plans.”

“Are you saying you sided with the demons?” asked Sgt. O’riley as he looked with a furrowed brow.

“Ha, of course. What else is there to worship if one plans to go against god?!”

“That’s blasphemy!!” said one of the teachers.

“It a cult, what else would you expect from them?”

As the adults and all of those unconscious were arguing with Orhisel, this gave Jessica the chance to take action in her plan.

“WE ARE THE TRUTH! ANYTHING AGAINST OUR ORDEAL IS A FRONT AGAINST OUR CAUSE. GOD IS A SINNER AND SO ARE YOU ALL!”

To his ramblings, out to his back, a portal appeared and with it came a suction so powerful, that it instantly pulled Orhisel straight in with any problems.

“!?”

He tried to escape, but the source of this suction was so powerful that it made him struggle even with his own strength.

“W-what is this?! Who is doing this!!?”

And soon, his arm got sucked in.

‘Its cold!?’ he could feel the other side of the portal cold…all to a point of freezing.

But he didn’t give up, he thought of cutting up his arm, but before his could, Jessica, with all her strength, threw her own sword at him.

It was one of the twin swords she owned when she conquered the dungeon with Soril.

In her efforts to throw her sword, it didn’t take much to go to Orhisel’s direction. Applied with the suction of the portal, the sword came flying in and stabbed Orhisel in the thigh.

“What the!?” because of it’s sharpness, it easily cut into his legs. He didn’t even see this coming.

Once it did, Orhisel started to lose the match between him and the portal.

“N-no!!!!” he screamed and tried to struggle with all his might, but it didn’t take long when soon after, he was sucked in.

As his body was completely sucked in, Jessica quickly turned off the portal. Once she did, everyone that was unconscious and conscious, regained their strengths.

“!?”

“!!?”

“My strength, it’s back!” said one of the guild leaders.

Everyone cheered and so did Jessica.

“You..how did you wake up from his skill?” asked Conner to Jessica.

Because unlike everyone who lost consciousness, she was the only one to regain her strength enough to even move against Orhisel and his skill. She gained enough strength to even throw one of her swords.

“I…I don’t know.” she said.

“Where did you send him?” asked Conner.

“…Space.”