Chapter 15: System Skill Unlocked: [Plausible Deniability]
She stalked towards , the purple aura of her power still crackling faintly around her hands. The shock had hardened into intense suspicion. "What," she said, her voice a low, dangerous command, "was that?"
I couldn’t help but enjoy this mont. Just a little. The look in her eyes behind that kitsune mask—it was priceless. The high-and-mighty Natalia Kuzmina, perfect Hunter prodigy, completely blindsided by the useless Zero she’d written off years ago.
But I needed to play this right. This was the performance that would rewrite our entire dynamic.
"I... I don’t..." I stared at my palm, flexing my fingers like I was seeing them for the first ti.
The System chid in my head with its usual sarcastic tone: [Initiating Acting Sequence: ’Confused Late Bloor.’ Break a leg, Scumbag.]
"Are you going to explain yourself?" Natalia demanded, taking another step toward . She was trying to intimidate
with her height advantage on the raised section of rock. Classic power move. "Since when can you shoot fire?"
I let my legs wobble slightly and leaned against the rust-colored wall, sliding down until I was half-sitting. Perfect picture of a man in shock.
"I don’t know," I whispered, making my voice ragged. "For weeks now, every ti I pushed myself during workouts, I felt this... this heat in my gut. A pressure building up." I looked up at her, eyes wide with manufactured wonder. "I just... I saw that thing about to attack you, and I pushed. I didn’t even think."
Natalia crossed her arms, her body language still screaming skepticism. "You expect
to believe you suddenly manifested an Aspect at eighteen? That’s not how it works."
"Then how do you explain what just happened?" I snapped, letting genuine frustration color my tone. "You think I’ve been hiding fire powers for years just for fun? While everyone called
a useless Zero?"
Her eyes narrowed behind her mask. "Late manifestations are extrely rare."
"Rare doesn’t an impossible," I countered, pushing myself back to my feet with effort. "Why do you think I’ve been killing myself with training? I felt sothing... changing. I thought I was going crazy."
I watched her face—what little I could see of it—as she processed this. The wheels were turning behind those violet eyes. The story was plausible enough. Aspects typically manifest in childhood, but there were docunted cases of late bloors, especially under extre stress.
"Show
again," she commanded.
I hesitated. "I’m not sure I can. It just... happened."
"Try."
I made a show of concentrating, staring at my palm. I focused on the Ember ability, but deliberately held back, letting only the tiniest flicker of fla appear before it sputtered out.
"See?" I said, feigning disappointnt and exhaustion. "I can’t control it."
Natalia was quiet for a long mont. The chamber around us felt suddenly oppressive, the bioluminescent fungi casting strange shadows across her mask.
"All this ti," she finally said, her voice softer now, "you were trying to trigger a manifestation?"
I nodded, putting on my best vulnerable face. "I read that physical stress can sotis awaken dormant abilities. The odds were slim, but..." I shrugged helplessly. "What else could I do? I was a Zero. Nobody wanted
around. My own stepsister could barely stand to look at ."
That last part was a calculated jab, and I saw it hit ho. Her shoulders tensed slightly.
"Why didn’t you tell anyone?" she asked.
"Tell them what? That the fat, useless Satori thought he might have an Aspect? Who would believe ? I needed proof first." I gestured at the dead Acid-Spitter. "Guess I got it."
She started pacing, her boots crunching on the rocky ground. "This changes everything. If you really have an Aspect—"
"Maybe I can actually make sothing of myself."
The purple aura around her hands had completely faded now. Her anger was gone, replaced by that analytical look she got when faced with a complex problem.
"We need to test you," she said finally. "Under controlled conditions."
"After we finish the job," I replied, standing straighter now. "We’re in the middle of a Gate, rember? With monsters that shouldn’t be here."
This reminder snapped her back to our current predicant. "Right." She looked around the chamber with fresh wariness. "This was supposed to be an E-Rank Gate. There shouldn’t be Acid-Spitters or ambush tactics."
"Soone screwed up the classification," I said. "Or lied about it."
Natalia knelt to examine the dead Rust-Mite again, careful to avoid the acid still seeping from its ruptured sac. "Rust-Mites are typically E-Rank, but this specialized variant... this is D-Rank material."
"Should we abort?"
"No," she said firmly, rising to her feet. "We can handle it. I just need to be more careful. No more assumptions."
"And if we run into sothing worse than Acid-Spitters?"
She turned to , and I could practically feel her reassessing
through that mask. For the first ti, she was looking at
not as dead weight, but as a potential asset.
"Then I guess we’ll find out what else you can do," she said.
We moved deeper into the tunnel system, more cautiously now. Natalia still took point, but she kept
closer, no longer insisting on the five-ter gap. The tunnels gradually widened, the rust-colored walls giving way to a more cavernous space dotted with strange, crystalline formations that glowed with a dull red light.
"These are Core fragnts," Natalia whispered, gesturing to the crystals. "Monster cores form from the ambient energy in Gates. These are like... byproducts. Worth money on their own."
I nodded, filing away the information. "Want
to collect so?"
She considered it. "Not yet. Let’s focus on the objective first."
As we progressed, I noticed a change in Natalia’s behavior toward . The condescension was gone, replaced by sothing closer to... professional courtesy. It was still cold, still distant, but the contempt had evaporated.
[Seduction Progress: 35%] the System announced in my head. [Target perception altered. Primary view has shifted from "Disgusting Leech" to "Mysterious Potential."]
I suppressed a smirk behind my oni mask. Phase one of my plan was working better than expected.
The tunnel opened into a massive chamber, easily a hundred ters across. The ceiling soared above us, lost in darkness. What caught our attention, though, was the structure at the center—a massive mound of crystallized secretions and compacted earth, roughly do-shaped and riddled with holes.
"The nest," Natalia breathed.
We crouched behind a large rock formation at the chamber’s edge. From our vantage point, we could see dozens of Rust-Mites moving around the nest, carrying chunks of crystal and unidentifiable materials.
"I count at least thirty on the surface," I murmured. "Probably more inside."
Natalia nodded. "And the Nest Mother will be in the central chamber." She pointed to a larger opening near the top of the mound. "That’s our target."
"What’s the plan? You can’t take on all of them at once."
She was quiet for a mont, thinking. Then she turned to .
"Can you do it again?" she asked. "The fire?"
I flexed my hand. "Maybe. If I concentrate hard enough. Why?"
"Fire is effective against Rust-Mites. Their carapace is flammable." She pointed to several spots around the chamber. "Those stalactites contain mineral oil. If you could ignite them..."
I followed her gaze. The stalactites she indicated were dripping with a viscous substance that pooled on the ground below. If those caught fire...
"A distraction," I said, catching on. "While they deal with the fire, we make a run for the central entrance."
She nodded. "Exactly."
"I’ll try."
I concentrated, focusing on the Ember ability. This ti, I didn’t hold back. A fla blossod in my palm, bright and hot. Natalia’s eyes widened behind her mask.
"Ready?" I asked.
She nodded, tensing to spring. "On three. One... two... three!"
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