Chapter 113: Blinded by Success
Moon decided to turn his Echo into a doughnut instead of a roundish lump, disregarding the lace of the pendant.
He had no idea if it would pass or not, but it was the decision he made based on the current circumstances he found himself in.
A pendant he must keep safe must stay close to his chest, around his neck. This is where it’s safest, unless he dies, that is.
Though, the pendant didn’t allow his Echo to pass freely at such a crucial spot; it was doom waiting to befall him.
He needed to find a solution somehow, or he might just end up dead or change the way he was using his Echo entirely after starting to feel comfortable with it.
He didn’t want to do either of them; digging a hole in the Echo was more practical from his point of view.
It was the right thing to do.
Thus, he used the round pendant and rubbed it, trying to push it through his Echo.
"PASS THROUGH ALREADY!" he screamed his lungs out, for the process was taking too long...
So long that his arms started to feel numb and his fingers started to lose grip force. Yet, he refused to stop and drop the matter.
He was frustrated after getting beaten by Samuel at the same stats, losing his mind. He wasn’t even free from the tremors running through his body nor the itch of invasive force he had been going through.
He’d suffered for as long as he remembered, followed by the death loop of a trial, and unreasonable pain twice while getting his Death Echo sealed.
And now, his food was stolen by a cute orange cat that nearly killed him and destroyed the facility to take it back.
Still, having the food back didn’t make him feel any better. He knew too well that Mishu was messing with him, just treating him as a toy to relieve his boredom.
He was so mad about everything that started turning back on him again after he started to feel like enjoying life for the first time.
After being admired as a warrior, a strong, undefeatable warrior. He even had underlings now; one of them almost got his head exploded trying to block an attack aimed at him.
He was taking both his pent-up frustration and his concerns regarding the future out on the pendant that became a variable and his own Echo that refused to behave normally.
Every time he closed his eyes and remembered how the now-dead Dave used his Echo, he cursed his luck.
"Uggh, that bastard had a cool Echo," Moon lamented, still trying to dig a hole. "I wanted to do cool shit too."
His hand tightened around his roundish lump of Echo, lamenting, displeased. "Why... dammit?!" He was heartbroken.
He stayed like this for much longer than he even expected himself to be, long enough that he started hearing—
Ding!
Ding!
Notification sounds.
Yet, he ignored them.
He didn’t bother to check if it was a fate alert; he didn’t feel any urgency in the sound, and that may have given him some assurance.
Ding!
One sound after another, even one that sounded unfamiliar to a certain degree... or familiar, but it had been a while since he last heard it.
Ding!
"Dammit, what the fuck do you want, stupid win—"
He looked up at the notifications, yet his eyes fell on one of them the moment his gaze left the Echo and the pendant.
Only one line washed away everything he felt was wrong.
[New Trait Awakened - Arcanist]
He ignored the other messages, all of them, even the one lingering in crimson somewhere within his peripheral vision.
He crawled forward, looking closely.
A deep, twisted chuckle started creeping through his lips.
Moon’s eyes brightened beneath those heavy, swollen eyelids of his. His mouth stretched into a long, hideous smile reaching almost to his ears.
Slow and low chuckles escaped his lips before escalating rapidly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA, I KNEW MOON THE FREE MAN IS NOT A SNITCH HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Moon turned around, extending his hand. His Echo came hastily, placing itself into his hand.
He examined it thoroughly, wherein he found what he was looking for. What he had been trying to do for over a day. What he wanted so badly to settle his grudge and avoid being branded as a snitch.
The perfect circle.
A perfect circle the size of the pendant branded itself on his lump of Echo.
"I knew it would work," Moon said through his laughter and his unreasonable smiles.
Now there came the last hurdle in the process.
He brought his Echo closer to his face. "Now, now, my beautiful flow light, how do you explode?" Moon whispered.
He was afraid of taking his Echo back into his body, lest the circle disappear.
It was a problem he would settle later when the time came; for now, he must use it, twice at least.
Moon held his Echo firmly and closed his eyes.
He tried to sense its state, tangible and intangible.
Switch between them, before he had it float on its own, fall, bounce, and lastly... attach itself to his body, becoming inseparable like how it was in the beginning.
"Gotta ask Chef Ed about that when I see him," he made a mental note, hoping he wouldn’t forget. He still didn’t know how or why it was inseparable and became free during his fight with Samuel yet.
His mind naturally returned to the Echo once again, where he felt something.
A new state he hadn’t felt before.
It was like his Echo could radiate. Or rather, produce radiance and affect the world.
"What a weird feeling!" he exclaimed, and opened his eyes.
He sat down and thought for a moment, for a certain image came to his mind that he couldn’t let go of.
A round, floating mass of light.
The image was there for a moment, a very short one before eluding him.
Moon couldn’t help scratching his head and trying anyway now that the image he was trying to build suddenly disappeared from his mind, and he was unable to reimagine or remember it again.
’Flowing light,’ he whispered in his heart, looking intently at the imprinted circle on his Echo.
Rapidly, the circle started to produce light.
His smile returned, wider, uglier, and more vengeful.
He didn’t avert his gaze, and—
Bang!
"HAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed maniacally through burning, blinded, tearing, and swollen eyes. "IT WORKED! IT WORKED!"
He breathed deeply, slowly, and closed his eyes.
"Showtime, you damn yellow bastard!" he spoke enthusiastically again, letting his eyesight slowly return.
He stood up and first went into the bathroom for a quick shower. He was dusty after running through the rubble.
He avoided the mirror, lest his eyes fall on the paw slap mark again and ruin his mood. Instead, he just closed his eyes as he passed by it and whistled a random melody.
Once he was done, he put on the pendant and dusted his auto-clean shirt before putting it on again.
"Gotta look dashing," he said, still looking as wild as ever, though.
He held his Echo in his hand. "Today, I settle my first grudge as Moon, the free man," he said while suppressing his smiles.
He walked out the door and took a deep breath.
"BIG BROTHER UON, LOOK WHAT I’VE FOUND!" he screamed his lungs out in the middle of Hall 1.