Inverse System

Chapter 102 - Priority

Earlier…

"Saphrilla… I really hope you're okay… You should be in good hands with Xenia, so I'm going to trust her. For now, I'm gonna look for that fucking bitch. I'll apologize to you later," Rein thought to himself as he jumped across the buildings, concealing himself from the citizens as the sun set.

When talking with Saphrilla a little earlier, he felt a familiar pulse of energy spark from the royal palace. He knew it was her, his aunt, along with who he could only assume to be the king of Orthlys, Fredric Orthlysia, Chloe's father. He couldn't feel Luther's energy anywhere, but he could easily be masking it by some unknown means, so Rein didn't put his guard down.

He stood atop a building on the inner edges of the city, one that overlooked the lake in which the castle was situated, all 5 road bridges that lead to the castle in view as well. At each entrance and exit between the castle island, security guards would only let people in if they had a permit, so Rein couldn't use the bridges to cross to the castle.

Instead, he opted to use the lake to conceal himself, using the water Spring he copied from Sho to make a small bubble in the water as he walked on the surprisingly shallow lagoon floor. He could see all kinds of aquatic life as he walked through, from small schools of fishes to large salmon that swam across.

He eventually reached the foot of the castle's island, to which he switched to the earth Spring, which he still had copied in his liquid slots. He made a tunnel into the basement of the castle, emerging into the catacombs, with skeletons laying dead in prison cells. Nobody remained down there, the catacombs seeming as though they haven't been used in hundreds of years.

Rein could feel his aunt's presence above him as he snuck up the stairs, which lead to a small, abandoned narrow tunnel, with spider webs along the rocky edges of the dusty path. At the end of that rocky tunnel was a dusty wooden wall, which Rein began approaching as he squeezed through. As Rein put his hands on it, he could feel the space of the large room behind it, the lack of echoing sounds in the spacious area. It was complete silence and he could feel nobody's presence in the room. He pushed the wooden wall, sliding it forward as he emerged into the large, circular room, with book-filled shelves filling the walls, extending to a large glass roof.

It was the palace's library, which he had no time to admire. He swiftly concealed himself once again and snuck into one of the halls connected with the library, in search of the whereabouts of his aunt. He saw maids and butlers bustling through the main hall as he hid on the top of the chandeliers, maneuvering across the small platforms near the ceiling.

As he continued searching through the palace, he had yet to catch any sign of his aunt anywhere. However, that all changed as soon as he got on the palace roof, where there was a large terrace, with lush gardens. That was when he saw her, sitting across from a man on a table, with a teacup in hand.

The two were surrounded by a wall of guards, all dressed in Orthlys royal armor, meaning that this was the new royal guard regimen, after the old earth one was banished. He could only assume the blonde-haired man she sat across was the king, the two smiling at each other as they enjoyed a nice cup of tea. His aunt's smile did not fool Rein, however. He saw through the pleasant facade she erected and could feel the pure evil radiating from her body.

Rein swiftly hid as to not be seen, all the while trying to calm himself down, as to not make any rash movements. He jumped onto a nearby tower without the notice of the guards and waited for an opening.

"I'm so close… I just need an opportunity," he waited patiently for the guard's defenses to falter, to allow him to swiftly and cleanly swoop in and finish the job, without the need of breaking through their defenses.

He needed the guards to look unfocused, yawn, sneeze, anything that would grant him an entry into the circle that they formed. After a while of patient waiting and observation, he suddenly felt one of the guards slip up, the helmet's eye guard falling down on his face for a brief moment. This was Rein's chance. He activated STO and got ready to jump in the split second that the guard was recovering. He saw the path he would take between the bewildered guard, and he couldn't hold in his bloodlust anymore. However, he suddenly felt something reverberate in his mind.

The voice of a girl in pain, crying his name desperately. It was a familiar voice that pierced through his conscience, making him forget everything he was about to do and turn around.

He activated memory flip, allowing him to use Springs from his Spring history freely for 10 minutes. He took the fire Spring along with the inverse of Xenia's Spring and jumped straight to the Echo company building's top floor, using the enhanced physical prowess and the fire to boost him to bulleting speeds. The tremor that it caused as he left the ground shook the very foundations of the palace, alerting all of the guards, the king, and his aunt, as they looked upon the tower Rein was standing on previously, seeing a trail of smoke following the bulleting ball of fire in the sky.

He must've jumped upwards to 700 meters in length as he flew through the atmosphere of the city. From the palace, all the way to the Echo company building, it was quite a miraculous feat.

As his flurry of rage propelled him into the top floor, he could see that the windows of the building were affected by a Spring, which he was able to invert as he crashed into the wall, decimating the windows and the metal doors in a flaming hurricane, causing tremors to be sent into the ground under them, the sound of an explosion echoing through the rest of the city.

The wall he inverted was being boosted in physical fortification, while its mental defenses were diminished.

However, when he inverted it, its mental fortification was increased, which was completely useless for inanimate objects, and its physical fortification was diminished, allowing him to break through with ease.

However, with the rage he felt boiling within him, he felt as though he could've broken through even without inverting the wall. His hair was still black, his red eyes vibrating as flames burnt out of his mouth, trails of fire flowing out of his back, following him as he moved.

"What the hell?!" Ginald shrieked as he saw the flaming man glimmering in front of the orange sunset, his red eyes highlighted in a piercing glow.

"Rein…" Saphrilla uttered, on the verge of tears.

Rein didn't say anything. He was overcome with anger at the scene he saw, making him instantly jump up, using Xenia's inverted Spring, moving at untraceable speed, ramming a fire-infused kick into the man's face, sending him flying into the back wall, denting it through the fortification.

Ginald's face was bloody, teeth falling out as the smoke cleared from his visage.

"I-impossible! He hurt me through my fortification?!" He yelled as he spat out blood.

Rein stood there menacingly, then took a look at the weary Xenia, trying her hardest to resist putting the slave chain on the girl under her, despite her blue, broken arm. Rein grabbed the chain around her neck and crushed it in his fist, freeing her from the bind. She instantly lost all power and collapsed, falling into Rein's arms as he picked the unconscious girl up, setting her down on the couch.

"Thank you, Xenia," he uttered before hearing ruffling from behind him, the man having picked up a shard glass, pinning Saphrilla to the ground with the shard to her neck.

"Hahaha!! You may be able to hurt me slightly, but it is nowhere near enough to kill me! Now surrender, or your precious little girl dies!" He laughed, then before he knew it, he felt a palm on his face, slamming him into the back wall at light speeds.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you, you fucking sicko. Nobody hurts my little sister and lives," he looked at him with his demon red eyes, instilling extreme fright into the man's body.

"Aahaha! And how are you going to do that?! Your full power strikes barely eve—" he suddenly stopped talking, like a ball of spit was caught in his throat, halting his speech and making him sweat profusely.

"What just happened..? My fortification… It's gone! What did you—" once again, he abruptly stopped talking, this time as he spat out blood from a knee to the stomach, Rein letting go of his head as he dropped to the ground in pain.

"How does that feel? You haven't felt pain in a while, have you? Oh, that just makes this all the sweeter," Rein smiled maliciously at the squirming man, who looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

"No, please… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… Just please don't hurt me…" He begged, to which Rein grabbed his arm.

"Oh, what was it you did to Xenia? Care to remind me?" He asked, making the man choke on air in fear.

Rein began twisting his arm slowly, Ginald screaming in pain as he felt the joints crack, slowly and painfully.

"How about we do both hands? You know, buy one get one free," Rein laughed as he grabbed his other hand and did the same thing with it, the pain being inflicted on him bringing him to the brink of consciousness, to which Rein stopped.

"Oh no you don't. You don't get to fall asleep just yet. You've gotta answer for the shit you've done," Rein said as Saphrilla stood back up and walked in front of the man Rein was toying with and looked at him with a hateful glare.

"What did you do to my mother. Tell me everything you know before your pitiful life comes to an end," she threatened as Ginald hyperventilated, a feeling of deep despair washing over him as she uttered those words.

"Haah… Haha… If you're going to kill me anyway, why would I tell you anything..? And even if you were to let me live, I would never do something against my lady's will..!" He sternly stated through his pain, to which Rein laughed.

"You talk big for someone who was just groveling."

"Rein, if you would, could you break his helmet, please? Also, release your inversion and invert my Spring for a brief moment," Saphrilla asked, to which Rein complied.

He took the helmet off of Ginalds head and destroyed it, making Ginald's tears flow even faster as he watched his most prized possession decimate. He suddenly felt his fortification return to him, however, that did him nothing in the situation he was in, his arms still broken, and his face still bloody.

Though, without his helmet, he felt as though his mind was exposed, vulnerable, and could be taken control of with ease. Rein inverted Saphrilla's Spring, turning it from physical control of objects, also known as telekinesis, to mental control, also known as psychokinesis.

"You may not want to inform us through your own will, but that can easily be circumvented. The human mind is a fragile item," Saphrilla stated as she activated her inverted Spring, taking control of Ginald's mind.

"Now, tell me everything you know about my mother," she commanded, to which his eyes turned gray, losing all control of his mind, abiding by the girl's orders, beginning to recount the story.