Chapter 86: Hero Syndrome
At a corner seat of arena I.
"His spell casting and elemental control is very advance as compared to his age. It felt as if I was watching a veteran having a fight. The only issue being the fight was of a very low rank.
I assume he must have not even used 50% of his spiritual power. Whenever he used certain elements present in the surroundings, apart from the elements being in use, there was not even a slight disturbance in the other ones or in the surrounding in general.
On top of that, it was predicted that the Novius family boy would be winning this year's tournament but he was incapable of entering the top 10,000 let alone being 1st.
The candidates with unique abilities like the Novius family boy, have a very high rate of getting admitted into the academy as well as being in the top 10. This trend has been going on every year.
Each year there are 2 or 3 such candidates and atleast 1 is admitted in the academy. We do not know the reason why certain individuals are born with such ability and we also do not know why these abilities are transferred to the person who kills such individual.
These people are already very rare and if word got out that they possess an unique ability, they have to be on the run for their life constantly. Sigh, the Novius family boy shouldn't have used his abilities so openly. Now we also have another headache, to look after him on top of the Vampire Queen's son."
Emilia was explaining these things to Arya who was seated next to her and sipping on an energy drink from a can.
Emilia's words were carefully listened to by Arya. Arya took another sip of her drink and turned to Emilia, saying
"We appear to have grossly underestimated the son of the Vampire Queen. In any case, it's a good thing. I don't have to continually supervise him, and I can actually teach him more sophisticated stuff."
Arya said seriously and took another sip of her drink. She continued
"Alright, I've got work. Call me during the next match."
Arya got up and kissed Emilia on her cheeks and walked away while waving her hand and yelling
"SEE YA~"
Emilia stood there, embarrassed. She cursed
"Isn't this stinky reptile straight? Why does she keep harassing me, a female lady who has got nothing to do with her."
Sel from the side nudged her glasses and said in a flat tone
"Skinship is very important among bestfriends."
"Who said we are bestfriends?" Emilia said her usual line once again and started bickering with her secretary, Sel, like usual.
.....
Inside a hotel room in Lenz City.
Liam sat cross legged and he was pondering over the things that happened today. From getting beaten in a fight to slapped by his father.
He was a law student who wanted to help people by providing them justice in his previous life and was only 23 when he died due to a car accident but got a second chance and reincarnated into this fantasy world. Later, he got the memories of his predecessor.
From the memories he realised that the humans in this world were used, tortured or killed by creatures from other races. He didn't confirm wether all of this was true or not, his predecessor had only understood this by talking with his various noble friends.
Liam also got to know that his predecessor was poisoned by his own little brother and that was how he died and the current Liam reincarnated. He who wanted to bring justice, felt sad at his predecessor's death and he swore to punish the evil.
After killing his predecessor's little brother, he got three extra affinities. Liam was shocked and he felt that he was the chosen one. After he got that, he started developing Hero syndrome*.
First he killed the people who worked with the predecessor's little brother in the hopes of getting more elemental affinity but with the mask of justice. When he wasn't able to get more, he got pissed but he still didn't stop playing hero.
His Hero syndrome peaked when he killed one Earthling and got his unique ability. He then went on to slaughter any Earthling he could find in the hopes of getting unique ability but the mask of justice stayed on and he convinced himself that he was doing a good deed and he indeed was a hero.
He thought that these people were all criminals who must have done atleast one crime in their life and so he executed them in hopes of providing the much needed judgement. His mental state was turning worse and worse as days went by while slaughtering the Earthlings.
Soon, his Hero syndrome had developed so much that he thought of all the other races as criminals who bring harm upon the Humans. He had long considered himself as a hero and he thought that it was his job to make humanity reign supreme in this vile world with these other filthy creatures.
The only times he acted normally was when he talked with other fellow humans or his family, more precisely, his father. He was afraid of that man as he was too powerful and was at the top of the world. That man, if he got to know that the current Liam wasn't his own Liam, could kill him at any time. Thus, the current Liam never tried to disrespect his father and from the memories of his predecessor, he acted accordingly.
He would occasionally break his facade and show his true self but would quickly compose himself. He had subconsciously made his father as a target to be hunted but only when he himself got stronger. He couldn't find any fault at his father and so he thought that he would wait and see if he does any vile deeds.
He was trying to convince himself that killing his father was a good deed and not that he was afraid of him and didn't want to leave him alive. His Hero syndrome wouldn't let him kill people without reason. So, he waited everyday to find a reason to kill his father but then the entrance test happend.
Liam killed every candidate he found during the fight who were not humans. He thought of it as justice until later he got beaten up by Lith, a Vampire.
He couldn't believe it that he was beaten by somebody of the same age as his and on top of that, he had many unique abilities and a 9 elemental affinity. There was no way a kid, the same age as his could ever beat him. He quickly thought of a reason to cover up his own incompetence. He thought that Lith was cheating with some artifact and that was the reason for him getting beaten up.
He was very angry when he got convinced with his own accusation which didn't have any evidence and he made a scene in front of the refree and his father.
He hadn't realised it yet but due to the Hero syndrome, his mental state had totally collapsed. He was no longer a normal person but a mentally ill guy. Except in front of his father, he would act like a psychopath everywhere.
Liam nevertheless didn't think he was ill, he continued to study his fight and started to think of ways to hunt more people for unique abilities. Of course, he wouldn't hunt without any reason as his Hero syndrome wouldn't let him.
He opened his eyes and muttered in a low voice
"It's time to enter the underworld."
.....
Abalax Sky Island, Espat.
Lith was currently sitting in the waiting area. He was drinking tea and going through the information regarding his opponent. He got to know the general information given about him. His name, race and family. Lith then opened the phonebook and dialled a number.
.....
Greenville city, Rafflesia.
At the top level of a big pointy tower which was the Witch Headquarters, inside an office, a beautiful black haired lady with heterochromatic red and blue eyes was doing some paperwork.
Buzz!
Her phone buzzed and she looked at who it was that called her. The number was unknown but she still picked it up. Not many people knew her number and it must've been someone with a new number calling her, she thought and picked up.
"Hello?" Hecate said in a neutral voice.
"Miss Hecate, it's me, Lith Evure." Lith said from the other side.
Hecate was bewildered but she composed herself and said
"His highness must not be too polite. Please just call me Hecate. How may I be of service to his highness?"
Lith from the other side of the phone was used to this subservient behaviour of Hecate. She acted this way all the time whenever his mother called her for work. He didn't mind it and said
"Hecate, I need all available details you have about this person. I'll send you his profile after the call. Please send me everything you have regarding him and also keep an eye on him."
"As you wish, your highness. Anything else?" Hecate said in her neutral tone once again.
"Not at the moment. Thankyou for your service. I am hanging up now." Lith said from the other side.
"His highness jests. This is my job. Have a wonderful day, your highness." Hecate said once again in a neutral voice.
Lith hung up and Hecate put her phone down after that. She closed her eyes and a small smile formed on her face.
Though Lith had given her a request, it was more of an order as it came from Clan Evure. Hecate wouldn't consider it as a request. But she was a little happy and smiling right now because the prince, that is, Lith, was so polite and nice to her when requesting things.
Soon Hecate frowned and muttered
"What is this? Why am I behaving like this? Is this what they call Stockholm syndrome? After getting treated indifferently and as a servant, I am said nice things by someone and I feel happy due to that?
Sigh. It is my job to serve her majesty and it doesn't matter if anyone from the royal clan treat me like that. But the prince sure is very polite and he seems nice.
Wait, why do I feel like this is Stockholm syndrome? Ugh. Her majesty treats me indifferently but she never treated me in a wrong way and nor did her highness ever do that. They are good people. But, the prince seems a little more polite and that's it.
Okay, okay, it is not Stockholm syndrome. Alright Hecate, less talk, more work."
Hecate had a small debate with herself. If the other witches or anyone else were to know that Hecate could also have such emotions, they would be pretty shocked by it.
Hecate was a normal person. The reason she didn't show any more emotions than required in front of others was because there was no need to.
She only met other people when she had some work with them. She acted like a professional at that times and when she was alone, she could let loose and not be a professional.
Thus, nobody had seen her debate with herself or show such emotions and they would therefore be shocked.
.....
Lith waited for Hecate to send him the details. He had a lot of time before his next match started.
Chime!
Lith's phone chimed and he got a notification. He looked at it and it was from Hecate. He smiled and said
"She sure is pretty quick."
He looked at the details and after reading it fully, he put his phone in his pocket and closed his eyes to relax.
His opponent, Liam Novius, seemed a big shot but Lith hardly cared. Wether it was a big shot or not, he was a walking treasure of unique abilities and Lith wouldn't miss out on it.
Lith had never killed before in his life but so what? There would always be a first time for everything. He had been trained for years and he realised one fact very well, it was that, the stronger fist ruled.
The world, no matter his previous one or this one, was about survival of the fittest. If Lith could kill Liam, it only meant that Liam was not fit to survive and could've even died at someone else's hand.
He assessed Liam a little and he didn't feel even an ounce of pity for him. That guy was foolish enough to reveal his abilities in just a mere entrance test, who is to say he wouldn't foolishly reveal it in some other place? It was his own fault for doing that in front of Lith. If he hadn't, Lith wouldn't have even bothered with him.
Lith had been taught to always take up opportunities whenever possible and never let them go to waste. An opportunity lied in front of him and Lith wasn't a wastrel. He had understood that he was in a world where it was either kill or be killed.
He would not hesitate to hunt someone else for this reason. In any case, he had set his eyes on Liam and he would chase him until he got his treasure or until Liam died for some stupid reason.
.....
A/N:
*A Hero syndrome is a phenomenon that affects people who desire heroics or recognition by inventing a critical circumstance that they can resolve and then be rewarded for.