dirk_grey
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Divine Celebrity 153
🕑 Added 2023-08-26 03:53:01 +0000 UTC“Okay, calm down,” I murmured as I found myself questioning just how long I had been under the rubble.
Far too long … at least for several hours, and that was assuming my disappearance had triggered intense region-wide news to provide me with a lot of Intent. But that didn’t make sense either … as if such a thing happened, the stadium should have been filled with reporters.
And, if such a thing hadn’t happened, days had passed as the System slowly recovered the necessary Intent to repair.
Days that I had spent buried underground, abandoned for dead.
“Something is wrong. Really wrong,” I murmured as I closed my eyes once more, examining my surroundings. The biggest problem, one that I didn’t pay attention to a moment ago … I could sense the presence of magic all around.
It wasn’t as intense as the sudden, suffocating wave that had been triggered when Arthur received the warning about the fallen guardian … but instead, it was an even, calm wave that surrounded me like a blanket, easy to ignore.
“What the fuck had happened,” I asked, but once again, received no answer. So, with a sigh, I started digging myself from the pit I had been buried. Even with my super strength, it was a difficult achievement. I started to dig up slowly but steadily, each second a challenge.
Trying to dig myself out of a grave was hardly the most pleasant experience I had ever encountered. Slowly but steadily, I continued to push upward, pushing the earth away and kicking off larger pieces of rubble.
It took several minutes for me to dig to the surface … and I froze again.
Not because I was in empty ruins of the stadium, which I had been expecting. What I wasn’t expecting was the state of the ruins … overgrown and lush. It showed a lot of time had passed. “Worse, why are those leaves yellow and red?”
All around me, I could see signs of Autumn … and considering it was the middle of the winter just moments ago — or, what was supposed to be moments ago — it made things even worse.
“It has been months,” I muttered, looking around in shock, trying to see any sign of human movement. There weren’t any, and worse, the area around me was covered with wild plants and trees.
With a sigh, I caressed my cheeks, expecting to find a huge beard … but then,, there was nothing. Probably another effect of my Divine Physique, which also accounted for the fact that I didn’t die of hunger.
“Walk now, speculate later,” I murmured as I started walking toward the main campus area, hoping to find some evidence of what had just happened. There was no real benefit of standing in one place and waiting.
However, I didn’t make a point of shouting my presence either. It might help me find someone, but I wasn’t entirely sure that it was a good thing.
Luckily, the intense overgrowth gave me a chance to move fast without being noticed, allowing me to observe my surroundings… And, soon, I noticed the first sign of movement.
A flying beast. An eagle to be exact, flying over me. It wouldn’t have been surprising, if it wasn’t for one problem.
The eagle was huge, with a wingspan that was easily surpassing fifty feet, flying fast enough to rival a plane with a propeller. “Like I didn’t have enough evidence to realize that things had been going badly,” I said, but made sure to stay concealed.
I didn’t know if the huge eagle had anything to do with the absence of humans, but I rather not take the risk.
“It’s time to experiment,” I murmured as I tried to pull some magic from my surroundings. Unlike earlier, I didn’t have a convenient and constant flow of Intent targeting me … indeed, I wasn’t feeling any. It might be about the fact that months had passed and people had forgotten me, or it might be about the constant magic that surrounded me.
Unfortunately, it meant that I lost my personalized, easy-to-use source of magic.
I tried to connect with the energy that surrounded me, but using it directly was much harder than just expanding my senses through my traits.
Only after several attempts, I managed to grab some, but using it was much harder, like the difference between trying to shape clay and water; the latter rejecting the attempts to force compliance easily.
I felt a sense of achievement when I grabbed the first bit, which made the mana that surrounded me move wildly.
A mistake, I realized the moment a doorway of light flickered in front of me. I threw myself behind a door, using the mana I managed to grab as some kind of cloak, with no idea whether it would work or not.
I expected some kind of monster to step out … which was why it was surprising to see two men stepping out, both dressed in jeans, but a weird style of shirt … and carrying bows.
“Are you sure they sent us the correct location?” one asked, in English.
“How should I know, George. We received the order at the exact same time.”
“No need to be an asshole. Just try to focus. They said they had caught another magical disorder. We just need to make sure it’s not another breach this close to the city. We won’t have time to organize a defense.”
“How about the blockade? Do you think it’ll work?”
“Of course not. It’s just the army. It’ll be completely useless. We just need to make sure there’s no breach.”
“Do you see a giant red door puking out monsters, George,” he asked.
George looked petulant, yet answered with a soft voice. “No,” he said.
“Then, there’s no breach.”
George didn’t look resigned. “Still, we need to be sure. We can’t afford to fail. I don’t want to explain to that arrogant demigod why we have lost another city.”
“Fine,” the other one said and closed his eyes. As much as I wanted to focus on the information they had inevitably revealed, I was more interested in staying hidden. I focused on the small sense of wave that occurred as he spread his mana, using it as some kind of radar.
Luckily, my accidental cloak trick worked against it as well, and it bypassed me easily. “Everything is in order —“ he started, but before he could finish, the giant eagle suddenly dived toward them. “I hate this,” he shouted as he raised his bow, and attacked the eagle.
The moment the arrow left his bow, it turned into a bolt of flame. The eagle dodged it, as well as the following attack, but it was enough to dissuade the beast from attacking. A smart idea considering the lack of alarm the two displayed, treating it more of a pest than an actual threat.
Soon, another blue gate appeared, and they stepped away.
Even when they were gone, I stayed hidden for a while, and when I started moving, I chose to crawl away. No need to be caught until I could get a better understanding.
Their words implied that the city was still in place, and I rather approach it while staying concealed than getting caught by mysterious people with even more mysterious abilities.
Their concern for the safety of the city was a good sign, but their mention of a demigod was not.
Not to mention, even if they were some kind of magical police, that didn’t necessarily mean anything good to me. With no knowledge of what was happening, but with magical abilities, I was aware of just how much of a suspicious target I represented.
And, I had enough life experience to know never to trust law enforcement while looking that suspicious.
I moved forward, but I wasn’t shocked to find every single college building destroyed, some through blunt force, others by fire. Luckily, the buildings weren’t filled with skeletons, meaning they were evacuated in time.
Or, at least, that was what I hoped among all possible alternatives.
I spent two hours carefully walking around, trying to find some kind of evidence of movement, but came empty.
Pity, I thought as I explored some more, trying to find anything other than broken rubble, only to meet with failure. As the sun started to set, I found myself near my dorm … which had been burnt to a crisp. I wanted to search, but after what had happened earlier, I didn’t dare to try using magic.
Just as I started looking for a nook to hide, notifications filled my vision.
[System Repair - Stage II - Complete]
[DIVINE SYSTEM II
Traits: (Divine Body I, Divine Mind I, Divine Aura I)
Domains: (Lust I, Command I, Athletics I)
Acolytes: (Megan(?))
Totem Animals: (Black Tortoise [?])
Intent Pool: 0]
Comments
Dirk Grey
Exactly, that's why I felt the need to leave that warning, as it was implying a full transformation. It's not going to go full dungeon, but there will be some aspects of it nonetheless.
DocteurNS
Thanks! I was actually about to comment that I hoped it stayed more on the side of urban fantasy rather than full reverse isekai magic world. I really like the idea of obtaining power through media fame, via sports, advertisement, or whatever, and I hope the story does not switch to a more generic monster hunting fantasy-ish setting. And from the two strangers' talk of massive red gate spewing out monsters, I guess the world has become similar to some korean webtoons with gates and dungeons popping out and causing mayhem?
Dirk Grey
Just a little reminder. It's not going to suddenly shift to full post-apocalyptic but continue with urban themes ... just with a stronger magical world. I wanted to say that just in case it creates some misleading expectations.
