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Volume 2: Chapter 37: The Power of 「The Anomaly」IV

  Planet XSQ-1827, Substation 33, Year 16,369 A.I. (5 Weeks After Seraphina’s Awakening)

  I’m drenched in sweat after four hours of Madison’s hellish training. Bruises coat my arms and legs, from the backs of my hands and the sides of my calves all the way to my stomach, breasts, and butt. Even my face has not been spared the brutality of her unending wrath. I’m sure I’ll have black eyes and purple welts when I wake up in the morning.

  More frustratingly, she hasn’t even broken a sweat. Every attack I’ve made has ended in complete failure. She’s faster, she’s stronger, more skilled, more experienced… Do I have anything I can do against her? More importantly, if the difference in our abilities is so greatly in her favor, why am I the one who’s being held up as this great savior for all of humankind? Surely it should be Madison and everyone else who’s strong like she is. Not a weakling like I am.

  “Seraphina!” she says. “Back on your feet! We’re going to continue until you can get one solid blow on me!”

  “But–” I try to interject. This is so ludicrously unfair! I hate it so much!

  “No buts, Seraphina!”

  How dare she talk down to me like I’m a child! It isn’t my fault I was created this way, nor that I haven’t had as much time or experience to learn how to act around others. Heck, it is her fault that I was confined to that room for so long. And now, after being denied this power for all of my life until yesterday, I’m expected to just be stronger than a woman who has all this experience? It is not fair, and I–

  “No, it’s not fair,” Madison says. “But life isn’t fair. There will be times when you will have to face powerful monsters and other sinister forces, both to protect your life as well as the lives of the people you care about. Now Seraphina, back on your feet.”

  I grit my teeth and force myself back to my feet in accordance with my not-very-friendly friend’s direction. The pain is unpleasant, but manageable. And while I will not enjoy how I feel in the morning, most of my wounds are superficial. She is being careful with how she fights me. She is so much more experienced than I am, such that not only can she completely dictate the pace of battle, but she can do so while ensuring that her own attacks avoid my vital areas. My health remains high at just over 84,500, but I certainly feel worse than my statistics indicate.

  As for why I have vital areas in the first place, I think it has to do with everything that goes into making the biological aspects of my body function properly.

  I channel [Ether] into my energy sword, causing it to form a blade that shimmers with golden light. My heart quickens, my will surges, all for the goal of finally landing a solid blow on Madison and getting the hell out of here and onto dinner! Footsteps reverberate along the solid floor of metal and concrete as I rush forward, trying for a simple feint before a pair of slashing attacks.

  All for nothing except another building bruise on my lower jaw.

  “Seraphina! You can’t telegraph your attacks like that! Anyone with a Skill capable of seeing through such a simple ruse is going to know exactly what you’re doing and be prepared well before you even start your attack sequence.”

  “But– Why are you using your Skills? Isn’t that–”

  “An unfair advantage. Yes, it is. But as I am trying to stress, life isn’t fair. The universe isn’t fair. The System sure as shit isn’t fair, and after what we did to create you, you’re about at the top of the System’s shit list. In other words, don’t expect any Skills of your own unless you work like hell for them. And for that reason, we need to push you forward, to learn how to harness the power that you do have! Now, again!”

  I struggle to get back up, expecting exactly the same outcome as last time. Two hundred and thirteen times I’ve attacked Madison, and two hundred and thirteen times I’ve been knocked down. I understand, at least cerebrally, the value of persistence and pushing through adversity. But at a certain point, is it not simply insanity to continue trying the same thing again and again and again, and yet hoping the results will be difficult? Is it not absurd for Madison to expect exactly that from me?

  If anything, she’s coming at me even faster. Her energy blade glows, this time with a deep, soul-sapping black that drains the light around it. Her eyes, normally a warm golden-green, are narrowed, and her face, her snarl, her vicious groan as she approaches me, they all scream murderous intent. I briefly consider appealing to reason, but I know in my heart of hearts that she’s going to hold nothing back this time. If I’m lucky, I’ll survive whatever she does to me. If not…

  No, I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be killed by my friend! I– I want to live! To see everything that lies outside this station, to travel to different worlds, meet new people, and live the life that I want to live! I won’t… I won’t be killed! I will–

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  Planet Earth, Year 1 A.I. (May 2023 C.E., 9 Weeks after System Integration.)

  My body glows, my blonde hair shining a radiant gold, flowing of its own accord. The grass beneath me bends outward, following a wind that my own body exudes. Lindsey’s attack has been completely dispersed, by some energy I have to assume I generated but don’t recall forming. My mechanical arm is likewise glowing, a glamour of gold over its normally silvery-white sheen.

  And more importantly, I’m hovering just off the ground. What in the nine layers of hell is going on here?

  [Error: System anomaly de–]

  The System message turns to static, then flickers out of existence. Again, what in the goddesses’ names is going on here? What sort of power is strong enough to resist the System itself? Is this that hidden power that’s lurking inside of me?

  I pull up my stats to get some sort of gauge for what is going on. And they don’t seem to be giving me more than the lack of information I’m already getting.

  [Current Stats: [Strength]: ??? (25 +???); [Speed]: ??? (25 +???); [Vitality]: ??? (63 +???); [Mind]: ??? (85 +???)]

  My jaw drops. Three digits of increase to each of my stats, I have to assume. My [Strength] and [Speed] each multiplied by at least a factor of five. My [Ether] is shooting up rapidly… Judging by the rate of increase, my [Mind] stat has to be close to five hundred. Absolutely astounding.

  [System anomaly detected. Error… Error… System reset for [Seraphina Mortensen] in 00:00:52]

  Damnit all. I– That better not be getting reset all the way back to Level 1. If it is, I swear to every god and goddess out there that I will murder something. That’s for then. For now, I need to test this anomalous power before it runs out.

  I charge forward at Lindsey once more. Her eyes widen for a split second as she tries to raise her hands to block. But she’s moving so slowly now, like she’s been covered in a thick slurry of molasses. Already I can identify three different ways to pierce through her battle stance. She’s limping ever so slightly, her right foot not quite a hundred percent healed after her surgeries. A small bit of tightness in her neck. And a small inaccuracy in her posture, allowing me to score a solid hit right beneath her left armpit.

  But I’m not interested in going for a critical wound. Just something to demonstrate what this state is capable of. And I see the perfect way to do so. I rush forward, feinting a jab directly at her face. By the time Lindsey raises her hand to try to block, I’ve already spun around her defenses and am able to elbow her in the back of the chest.

  She again dodges, though this time it is because I allow it. I try to invoke [Bullet Time] to accelerate myself further, but it fails. My [Ether Bullet Barrage] likewise fails. I’m unable to charge a [Flash of Insight]. I presume that while I’m in the Anomalous state, fighting outside of the parameters dictated to me by the System, I’m unable to access any System-granted Skills. However, Manifestation still avails me, and if anything, it seems far easier than before.

  I channel the glyphs of [Strength] and [Impulse] together, feeling the force they generate building in my arms. I dare not strike at Lindsey directly; even if she can dodge the attack, there’s no telling how much damage it would do. If this really does have two or three hundred points of effective [Strength] behind it, I shan’t expect she’ll survive more than a glancing blow. But– An idea springs to mind.

  Her kick toward me is like a blow through water. Clumsy, uncoordinated, devoid of all its momentum. I consider simply tanking the blow, my [Vitality] reinforcing my defenses to the point where I might not take any damage from it whatsoever. But I can’t neglect the potential that she has some sort of [Venom Strike] Skill either. If what I’ve heard about Level 32 is correct, there might be class upgrades at that point.

  As for what those entail, no one has been particularly forthcoming, so I have to consider all options.

  Instead, I weave my way around the tepid flurry of attacks, break through her line of defense, and then launch a single forceful blow right between her neck and shoulders. My fist moves so fast it shreds through her hair without giving it a chance to bend out of the way— I’ll have to apologize for that later. And in the wake of my attack, a tree about fifty yards away is utterly shredded, the force of my attack like an air cannon that pulverizes the first thing it comes in contact with.

  Lindsey looks at me with a mix of awe and fear. It’s not difficult to see why. By all accounts, I am a monster. Even though I’ve already told her that I’m not human, that I’ve had a past life as a cyborg in a futuristic universe, there’s a difference between hearing me say so and seeing it— experiencing it— firsthand.

  I am more scared of what Chloe thinks of me. Is she afraid of me, does she fear me now that we all know what I am? I turn toward where she was before, half-expecting her to have run off in a panic. But no, she’s there, standing, watching, smiling at me with those beautiful shining golden-brown eyes that mesmerize me to no end. How I so want to get lost in them all day!

  I feel a certain impulse deep within the core of my being, near but not quite overlapping my [Ether] core and, after a bit of effort, allow that flood of anomalous violet energy through my veins to subside, replaced by the ordinary teal of my [Ether].

  [System… ERR! System reset completed. Parameters for [Seraphina Mortensen] reset to proper values.]

  I breathe a sigh of relief at seeing that I’ve at least not been reset back to level one. I drift back to the ground as my power slips away. As soon as my toes touch solid earth, my legs feel wobbly, as though I’m balancing my body on two rods of gelatin and my utter lack of faith. But Lindsey catches me before I can faceplant into the dirt, much as I might deserve such a humiliation as recompense for what I did to her moments earlier.

  “I guess you weren’t kidding about the power of… What did you call it? 「The Anomaly」?”

  I nod. “Sorry about your hair. I guess I don’t know my own strength.”

  Lindsey laughs just as Chloe arrives to hug and chastise me in equal measure. As I suffer through my well-earned chewing out by my girlfriend, a glitched out System notification appears, as though something is attempting to fight against the System itself.

  [Y?o?u? ?h?a?v?e? ?g?a?i?n?e?d? ?t?h?e? ?ERR U?n?i?q?u?e? ?T?r?a?i?t?:? ?S?e?r?a?p?h?i?n?a? ?O?v?e?r?l?i?m?i?t?]

  Project Seraphina. No breaks though; Chapter 38 tomorrow. Please consider following or favoriting if you haven't already done so. It really means a lot and helps ensure that the story is seen by a wider audience.

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