Heretic

"Lizzy! Pull yourself together!"

It was surprising how quickly it all turned to shit after Tom's sorry excuse for a dad had suddenly transformed to some sort of bloodthirsty monster. Although Tom himself was unhurt, that was only because of Lizzy's sacrifice. As she had shoved Tom aside, Lizzy's arm and side were littered with deep cuts and as she had been thrown to the ground she had hit her head and was knocked out cold. Somehow dragging Lizzy to safety in the ensuing pandemonium with the help of Aura and Dan, the trio were now fighting to stabilize Lizzy before she bled out. With only Dan's meagre healing magic at their disposal, Tom was busy staunching the flow of the wounds Dan had yet to get to with Lizzy's cloak which had by now been deeply stained in her own blood.

"WE NEED A HEALER OVER HERE! SHE'S GOING TO DIE!"

With Aura's desperate scream piercing the sound of intense battle going on near them, the group finally got the response they had been desperately waiting for.

"I'm here! How bad-"

Stopping herself mid-sentence as she noticed the patient was Lizzy and how severe her condition was, Anna immediately got to work mending Lizzy's wounds at a speed Dan could never hope to match.

"Urg!- How long was I out for?"

Jolting awake at the same time as Anna was healing her, Tom had to hold Lizzy down as she very much intended to keep fighting.

"Around a minute, but you've lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah, I can see that. But I still have a job to do."

While Lizzy's wounds had been healed, the recovered tissue wasn't nearly as strong as her normal and worse yet, the blood she had lost hadn't returned. But despite all those factors working against her, not to mention the acing pain, Lizzy still easily overpowered Tom as she forced the hand that was holding her down away and got back on her feet in spite of her disciple's protest. Clutching her [catalyst] tightly, Lizzy's characteristic claws made out of ice appeared as she flashed a smile that quickly became oozing with bloodlust.

"This is the first time in a while someone got a good hit in on me, so there's no way I'll let such a transgression go unanswered."

Clenching her now ice-covered fist, Lizzy pressed it against her jaw and cracked her neck before shooting a last glare at her students.

"Don't follow me."

Kicking off the ground and disappearing, the sounds of the nearby fighting turned even more intense. About once a minute, a scream of pain would be cut painstakingly short as an instructor or teacher met their premature end in agony.

It only took 2 of these screams before Tom decided to break Lizzy's direct order.

"I'm going."

"But you could die!"

To Tom's surprise, Aura vehemently objected to his decision and grabbed his hand as he stood up. It was clear even as Aura did her best to hide underneath her large hat that she was scared for her life, remarkably similar to how Tom felt.

"Yeah, I could…"

Glancing down at his hand, Tom noticed how much it was shaking as he admitted there was a reasonable chance he was about to die. Briefly unable to control that shaking, Tom remembered his reliable instructor and clenched his shaking fist around his [catalyst] rapidly increasing the circulation speed of the rapidly recovering mass of mana in his body.

"There's a good chance I am about to die, but I find dying preferable to doing nothing. That monster out there is wrecking this academy and killing the instructors and teachers that transformed me from a living dead just going about my daily life resigned to my fate as a failure into what I am now. I would rather die than just sit here and do nothing and let them be slaughtered… I'm not naive or overconfident enough to believe that I can fight that monster, but I can offer my support which might end up saving lives."

Not bothering to wait for a response, Tom kicked off the ground and left the hiding place beneath the spectator stands. Following the sounds of the fighting, it wasn't long before he spotted the monster which had up until a few minutes ago been his father. Now well over 2 meters tall, the monstrosity had bulked up like a bodybuilder on turbo steroids. Where the skin couldn't keep up with such rapid growth it had stretched and torn while the muscles below had turned black like sot while spikes made out of metal extended out of the monster's back and the top of its head like some sort of twisted perversion of a crown. Still using the relatively rare metal affinity like Sebastian had done before he had transformed into the monstrosity now mindlessly attacking everything around it with a pulse, the glowing red eyes depressed far into the creature malformed skull showed none of the intellect Tom's father had used to build his steadfast and extremely successful political career with.

"Cover!"

Working together with the other faculty members still standing, Lizzy rushed in to attack the monster before it gained momentum. Sliding under an attack that came within a hair's breadth from killing her, Lizzy moved mana into her legs and created spikes made out of ice underneath her soles to stop her slide as she launched up and sliced with her claws against the monster's neck and eyes. Sadly Lizzy's attack never reached its intended target as it was blocked by the monster's arm as it shielded its face from harm. Using that same arm as a support, Lizzy kicked off it to open up the distance, but the monstrosity was nothing if not fast.

"Covering!"

This is when one of the other faculty members stepped in, moving a large amount of mana into his staff, the mage summoned a massive stone wall between Lizzy and the monster.

An impressive, but ultimately futile defensive effort.

As the wall cracked, Tom acted entirely instinctively.

"Covering!"

Dashing forward, Tom churned mana into his [catalyst], as he reached Lizzy the monster's fist had already broken through the stone wall at the same time as tendrils made of metal moved to screw Lizzy alive.

(I don't think so!)

Creating a lance around his hand, Tom used to destroy both the tendrils and stone fragments heading towards Lizzy before he used the remains of the stone wall to first break his momentum and then open up the distance again.

"Sige it!"

Although Lizzy briefly sent a deadly glare towards Tom, she continued barking out orders and continued to focus on the task at hand. At Lizzy's command, the surrounding mages started pelting the monster with various different spells, although to very little actual effect.

"Has it always been that ineffective?"

Even lacking live combat experience, Tom could see they were getting nowhere with the long-range attacks.

"Yeah, but we can't get close with just me as the only close-range fighter."

Understanding that arguing with her disciple now would be a wasted effort, Lizzy fully cooperated with Tom while also expecting him to perform at the same level as the other teachers and instructors she was leading.

If Tom couldn't pull his weight, it was better for the battle formation at large that he died as soon as possible so as to not disrupt the group more than necessary.

"I had an [oracle] just before I was attacked, that thing is apparently a [heretic]... As a [saint] I should be effective."

It didn't take more than a split second for Lizzy to realize that Tom's suggestion was not only based on unsubstantiated evidence and outright a bad call.

"Let's do that, follow me and I'll open for you, try to keep up… Cover!"

But as it was the only plan they currently had and a longer engagement would quickly turn disadvantageous, there was no other choice.

"Roger! Cover!"

With both teacher and student employing [strengthening] and trained in the same kind of martial art, the pair had a synergy that looked like it had been trained over years as they closed in on the monster. In reality, the only thing that allowed the two of them to perform that well was a mutual bond of trust in each other.

No longer being suppressed due to fear of friendly fire, the monster howled at Lizzy and Tom as they closed in. Targeting Lizzy who was the closest, the monster sent out a mass of metal tendrils which Lizzy met head-on. Creating spikes underneath her feet again, Lizzy first slid to the side of the tendrils, then cut straight through them with her ice claws as she hardly cut down her momentum and continued forwards. Having fallen behind Lizzy by about 2 steps, Tom was rapidly loading his [catalyst] with mana as he approached the monster through the way his instructor had opened for him, as he closed to within 5 steps of the monster Lizzy peeled off after having deflected another attack. Condensing the mana he was pouring into his [catalyst] even more than it already was, Tom formed his usual lance formation as he closed in on the monster.

(Faster! Denser! I need to end this with a single strike!)

Pouring his feelings as well as an absurd amount of mana into his [catalyst], Tom closed to within just two steps as he leapt into the air, targeting the monster's head for a clean kill. As the barely visible lance started making contact with the monstrosity's head it created a maelstrom of flesh at first, but soon bone shards and chunks of brain matter followed as Tom's lance dug further into his dad's head without a shed of mercy. Eventually, the lance went all the way through the monster's head and Tom did a flip in the air before he landed behind the monster, sliding to a halt as an eerie silence fell over the practice field. Dismissing his lance with a flick of the wrist, Tom made a fatal mistake by lowering his guard with his back turned towards the enemy.

"You gigantic bafforn!"

Turning around just in time to see the swarm of metal tendrils about to turn his body into a surreal art piece, Tom was far too late to block or avoid the attack.

Luckily, he didn't need to.

"Covering!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a sword covered in flames cut down the metal tendrils as Tom managed to distance himself from the monster that was surprisingly still very much alive and kicking.

"Get down!"

Recognizing the voice immediately, Tom didn't hesitate to drop to the ground just as a hail of blades made out of air passed right over his head. Hitting the monster all over its body, the blades cut deeply into its flesh and made the creature roar out in pain, even as its head lacked the top part of its skull.

"Don't go get yourself killed after acting so high and mighty!"

"Yeah, yeah sorry Aura, I'll make sure to do better next time so thanks for the cover. Also thanks for the assistance Dan, you just saved my life."

Having retreated to a safe distance, Tom thanked his thrusted allies which had just saved his hide while keeping his eyes firmly on the monster. There was no way Tom was going to make the same mistake again, at least not so soon after the first time anyway.

"Think nothing of it, let's kill this thing!"

"A-as long as you understand, don't make me worry about you so much morron!"

Regrouping with Lizzy as the faculty pinned down the monster again by lobbing spells at it, it was clear from her tone alone that she was not happy.

"Well, I honestly expected that would be effective…"

"Yeah, tell me about it. What now?"

Facing a seemingly immortal hostile would normally be cause for concern, but as Lizzy had faced such an issue more times than she would like to admit or even care about, she already had a solution ready.

"Pick it apart until it can't move anymore, then figure out how to kill it. That or just bury it somewhere in the wilderness…"

"Roger, I'll open for you with Dan, take a leg or something."

While Dan and Tom quickly accepted Lizzy's new directives, Aura was a little more put off by them.

"... Why does it sound like you've buried some immortal thing in the wilderness before?"

In response to Aura's question, Lizzy put on a smug smile as she re-summoned her ice claws as she started counting the steps between herself and Tom.

"That's because I have, multiple times in fact~ Be sure to cover for me now!"

Setting off in a sprint without waiting for a response, Lizzy left a very flustered Aura behind.

"What the hell is wrong with you woman!?"

While Dan and Tom rushed the monster something strange started happening to it. The sparse tendrils and spikes on its back started rapidly multiplying all over its body. As the various spikes and tendrils priced through the monster's body it continued roaring in pain, but at the same time, the monster was smiling.

(!!!-)

"GET DOWN!"

Realizing what was happening last second, Tom slid to a stop and pushed Dan down which was behind him, at the same time Tom recklessly loaded his [catalyst] and created a zone of greatly increased gravity between himself, Dan and the monster. Seconds later, the monster's tendrils and spikes were launched, sending a hail of shrapnel and spikes launching in all directions. The effect of the attack was as quick as it was outright brutally effective. While Tom's rapidly constructed barrier was effective for Dan who was further away from the epicentre than Tom, Tom himself had his left thigh pierced halfway by a spike, stopping short at the bone but nevertheless hurting a shitton.

He was one of the people who got off the lightest.

While most of the other mages had also realized what was going on at the last second, few of them had time enough to formulate a proper defence and were either heavily injured, dying or already dead. Aura was the only mage who had managed to prepare a proper defence in time as she had not only realized something was happening but also blindly thrust Tom as a teammate and therefore reacted instantly to his warning.

"FUCK!"

Cursing loudly to somehow alleviate his pain, Tom's vision briefly went white as he clenched his fists hard enough for his nails to draw blood in his palms. Without [Pain resistance], Tom would have straight up passed out, but with the skill, he somehow managed to pull it together as he got up on his uninjured leg.

"TOM, MOVE!"

A second after Tom had saved Dan, it was Dan's turn to save Tom as he dragged Tom out of the way of the monster's fist which left a deep crater in the ground where Tom had just stood. Wrapping Tom's hand around his shoulder, Dan retreated with the monster right on their tail.

"AURA!"

"On it already!"

With the monstrosity hot on Tom and Dan's tail with them having no way of fighting back at the moment, Dan screamed out to Aura for support, luckily she was already on it.

Along with someone else.

"COVER!"

"H-hii! Covering!"

Absolutely overflowing with bloodlust and pure, unadulterated rage, Lizzy moved faster than Tom had ever seen her do before as Aura pestered the monster with spells and gradually opened the separation between it and Dan carrying Tom. Passing by in a flash akin to a blur,

It was only as Lizzy created a single greatsword made out of ice and sliced one of the monster's arms clean off at the shoulder that Tom noticed the trail of blood Lizzy had left behind as she rushed past.

With no ability to create large scale spells or defences, it was only Lizzy's quick thinking and split-second decision making which had saved her life when the monster pelted the surroundings with spikes.

Although she had survived, it had cost her.

Sacrificing an arm to protect her head and neck, Lizzy had lost half her fingers on her left arm as numerous spikes had also jammed themselves halfway through her upper and lower arm. The rest of Lizzy's body had also suffered heavy damage, along with hits to the gut, Lizzy had also been hit in the legs multiple times, but those spikes were now missing, replaced with large wounds covered in ice and severely frostbitten.

Scraping her massive broadsword more akin to a cleaver the size of a person along the ground to come to a halt, Lizzy looked more like a raging bull than anything else as she howled another command to Aura.

"COVER!"

"Covering!"

Charging again, Tom had somehow hoped Lizzy could keep up the same kind of speed as her first, but that proved naive as she had slowed down enough for the monster to managed and block her attack the second time around. The reason why Lizzy was rapidly slowing down was clear, she was not only critically injured, she was a walking corpse, purely driven by sheer force of will akin to a fire of her very soul.

"Lizzy!"

Ripping out the spike in his own calf, Tom challenged some of the same energy as his instructor was giving off as he ran over to her.

"Don't try and stop me! We're killing this thing, nothing else matters!"

Thinking her student was trying to stop her, Lizzy snarled at Tom, but the moment she saw her students expression, a faint smile appeared on her warped face as she briefly snapped out of her kill rage.

"Get me moving and that's exactly what we're doing."

Quickly understanding what Tom was hinting at, Lizzy flash froze his wound as Tom placed a hand on her shoulder, quietly muttering something to himself before turning his head halfway toward Dan and Aura.

"COVER!"

""Covering!""

The first one to move was Dan as his sword lit itself ablaze, then Lizzy charged, still holding the broadsword sized cleaver with her only working arm. Finally, Tom moved, putting every single ounce of mana not used to forcefully maintain his consciousness and [strengthening] into his [catalyst], as he did the engraved monster core cracked at the extreme surge of mana.

But it held together.

"HEY UGLY!"

Having covered his sword in a fire that condensed to form a flame akin to that coming out of a bunsen burner, Dan roared to get the monster's attention as he closed to well within its strike range.

(COME ON!)

Ready to crush him with its sole remaining arm, the monster's massive fist bore down on Dan from the top, as it did Dan made no attempt at evasion, at least not until the very, very last second.

Collapsing his stance, the monster's approaching fist was immediately hit with a maelstrom of wind blades that sliced deeply into its flesh, revealing bone underneath as the air became filled with chunks of corrupted meat. Now underneath the monster's fist, Dan had closed to within melee range, getting back on his feet he immediately jumped as his sword made a single cut inside the monster's armpit. A split second later, Lizzy had finally closed to within effective range. Making complete use of her swordsmanship skill she had sworn she would never use again, Lizzy finished what Dan had started and exploited the weakness he had created to its fullest, severing the monstrosity's second arm.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Summoning all his remaining strength, every single ounce of mana as his lance spell which would normally only be a meter long formed, already destructive enough to rip apart the sleeve of his uniform and cut deeply into his own arm as the maelstrom of gravitational waves formed fluctuations extreme enough to pulverize bedrock on an atomic level. Jumping towards the monster with his lance which now extended well over 5 meters it shredded everything in its path for the few seconds the spell existed.

As the lance had made it through the chest of the monster and hollowed it out like an apple cored with a .50 cal slug, Tom's [catalyst] finally failed and shattered.

[MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM: HERETIC VANQUISHED. CONTROL CORE CONFIRMED OFFLINE…

BLESSING SAINT(S) IN AREA…

DONE, BLESSING(S) ADDED, TITLE(S) ADDED.

RELAYING INFORMATION TO ADMINISTRATORS…

DONE, BESTOWING ADDITIONAL BLESSING(S).

DONE, END OF REPORT.]