『BALANCE BREAKER』A Tensura X Spellslinger Crossover

Chapter 9: I can, therefore I will.

I think it's safe to say that my life has spiraled out of control.

As a Jan'Tep initiate, there was already a predetermined template – or templates – that served as a frame on which my fleeting moments as a living being would take form.

The first, and more desirable one went as such; take the trials, earn a mage's name, go on to either become a renown Lord Magus or a warmage or one of the numerous classifications my pretentious people cooked up within the confines of their tradition-burdened minds.

This was one path, which constituted an acceptable ending, regardless of the presence of prestige. Point is, most Jan'Tep would be satisfied just to achieve the bare minimum of said path.

Then there was the other path, one laden with such revulsion and despair – from no small contribution of the riders of the more favorable path – that those who ended up on it wished with all their being that they could turn back and try again. The absence of the clan exclusive (as far as they were aware) resource that we called magic was the sole distinguishing factor between the glad and the sad.

Now where do I find myself? A safe answer from any person who hadn't been blessed, or cursed…both work under different contexts, by Rimuru Tempest's acquaintance would be; ‘Oh, Kellen? He's probably gonna be a Sha'Tep.’

And there would be no arguments or logical problems.

But here I am, not on either of the aforementioned paths. Here, walking through deserted woods with my sister's unconscious and disrespected body in my arms and an evolved species of what I recognised as a Nekhek on my shoulders, I tread a third path.

Completely ignoring the ideal future of a Jan'Tep mage and the despised end as a Sha'Tep servant, I find myself heading towards a destination that I wasn't sure was predetermined or not.

“Quit brooding kid, I can feel all your doom and gloom from over here.” Said Nekhek piped up, his temper swelling from being inflicted with my admittedly depressing emotions through the weird bond we now shared.

But I couldn't help it, everything just felt out of my control.

A verifiable evidence of this was the fact that I wasn't freaking out from being in such close proximity to an animal that was said to be the ally of the evil and nefarious Mahdek.

[Confirmed. Conditions set for partial activation of Unique skill [Heretic] have been bypassed. A subskill will be made available.]

There it was again. The voice that deemed it necessary to announce all changes within my soul made its presence known.

Even now, my feeble human mind was burdened with the awe inducing cadence of its unfeeling declarations.

I shook my dazed state off as I paid closer attention to its words.

‘Bypassed’, not ‘met’. This was some suspicious wording.

I suspected that Rimuru was pleased with the current developments and thought it fit to reward me. The thought of a being grand enough to be recognised as a ‘higher will’ by the entity I knew as the Voice of the world was daunting.

I decided to leave pondering such lofty matters to those of comparable status, delving into my soul to examine what exactly had changed about the alien and unnerving mass of magicules that was called a unique skill.

[Discerning eye] – Grants the ability to accurately evaluate and, to some extent, manipulate the quantities of any living being’s negative emotions.

That was the information I could glean.

It seems the skill would be activated through the eye graced by the Shadowblack’s mark of damnation, a rather suspicious fact, all things considered. Though as I am, I couldn't see the point of fanning flames long blazing. This skill wouldn't be very useful…