22 Accepting Cringe

I finished the brewing of several potions by the time breakfast would be served in the Great Hall. Although my ability at brewing said potions was never in question. These potions were a once in a century discovery but they were not quite miracles. So I did not have to fight the world as I did when I was brewing Fortuna. I could have quite literally made these potions with my eyes closed. Not because I was just that skilled but because I was just that lucky. I was cocky, not stupid. 

[Feminine Penis: For the love of all that is holy please no more.]

[Breast Reduction Is Off The Table: Come on Bro-con Izumi-chan really did not mean it.]

[Likely To Fuck Her Brother: Sucks to suck.]

[Breast Reduction Is Off The Table: Gahhhh why do you have to be like this!]

[Breast Reduction Is Off The Table: Prince-san you have to know that this has gone too far.]

[Feminine Penis: Please I'll do anything I just can't take this.]

[Red-Head Obsessed Prince: I get it truly, I'm willing to back off but I would rather not be stabbed.]

[Likely To Fuck Her Brother: Love you to Prince.]

[Feminine Penis: PLEASE BRO-CON! MY COLLECTION IS ALMOST GONE!]

[Likely To Fuck Her Brother: Fine you big baby. Send me all your points. I don't want Magic Tits trying to worm her way out of her Username.]

[Breast Reduction Is Off The Table: I have done nothing wrong why must you punish me!]

[Likely To Fuck Her Brother: Mostly for my amusement.]

[Feminine Penis: DONE JUST MAKE IT STOP!]

[Breast Reduction Is Off The Table: I want to scream betrayal but I understand Izumi-chan I really do.]

[Likely To Fuck Her Brother: Alright I have forgiven him Mr. Prince.]

[Red-Head Obsessed Prince: Got it!]

It's things like this that really showcase that Ashley can hold a grudge. It's been hours of begging from the Trap but she only changed her mind to be petty. Which was to be expected she was like me after all. I ask Fortuna to stop messing with the Trap and she gives me the same exasperation.

I then examined the potions I just brewed.

The sight of these glowing potions brought a small smile to my face. They were not just pretty to look at the aura around them sang such sweet songs. Songs of overwhelming strength, songs of unimaginable swiftness, songs of stalwart defenses. They sang their songs with such passion but they did not overwhelm each other instead they existed in harmony. These potions would make me well beyond a super soldier. It could bring a tear to the eye.

I took every single one of those potions. I felt raw strength coursing through my veins. I felt every muscle in my body twitch as they tried to react to any and all stimuli. My hair expelled all of the vile oils inhabiting it and softened to a degree unimaginable. All the minor imperfections that bothered me before repaired themselves. My skin was as soft as a baby's bottom but it could resist artillery fire. I was now truly superhuman.

I then drank the Aura potion. As the potion coursed through me a dull grey light started to grow from my skin. It was a minor thing at first but it grew more and more intense.

 I could feel Fortuna's curiosity at the sudden change. Then something happened that shocked even the apathetic me. A grey ghostly hand started to stretch out from my chest it then moved towards my face. As it started to get closer I noticed the dull grey spectral arm had veins of radiant gold coursing through it. Then the hand caressed my face lovingly and I felt that same devoted love hum once more. When exposed to that love I let my guard lower slightly so I could feel all of it in that moment. I then leaned into the ghostly hand.

I needed this. Even as I felt all the conflicting things spiraling in me I knew I needed this moment. I wanted to keep this moment lasting forever but the dull grey light started to grow dimmer. Then the hand was retched back into me. I hated that it would end so soon but I could already feel those bottled emotions rising rapidly so I sealed them. I could feel the utter disappointment emanating from Fortuna.

Objectively I knew what Aura was. It was the soul brought into form. I just never really thought of what that would mean. Fortuna may feel like she stayed in my chest but that was wrong. Her true resting place was my soul. So when I brought forth the shield of my very soul Fortuna used that opportunity to truly interact with me. The only reason she stopped was that my Aura was quickly running out as it could not handle her use. My soul was never meant to be used in such a way. 

I was feeling the after effects of once more drowning in love. Instead of my own, it was from someone else and it tasted ever so sweet. I was on another high but not an overwhelming one. Even if it was just a shadow of those emotions, I honestly did not think there was anything capable of bringing that high down. I know that's completely wrong I was a moody little shit and something was going to piss me off eventually. Odds are the thing that would piss me off was going to be myself. The amount of self-loathing I experienced was something that I have long since accepted. There was really no hiding from that. 

Sure I was capable of bouncing back from those mood swings. It does not stop the fact that they happened. I have grown rather accustomed to distracting myself with Flights of Fancy. If I'm always doing something I don't have to think about the lows. I don't have to think about the outcome of my decisions. I don't have to face the reality that is trying to overwhelm me.

So busy work. Crafting potions for no other reason than to be better than I was before. Making plans for scenarios that will never happen. Spending days at a time writing out equations so I can make a simple jynx. That is what I did to avoid thinking about what I did not want to. The issue I am now facing is all of those things are just so darn easy now. I'm running out of things to run away with.

It's not a real problem. There is always going to be something to do. I just got a blade that could cut adamantium. I needed to know how to use it effectively if I wanted to ever be a big player. I should also learn how to control the output from the rife part of Star Burster Star Blaster blowing up islands is well and fine but what if I want to just blow up one annoying fuck? I also now had a soul force field that needed extensive training. If I pushed hard enough with that I could get a new superpower. Which would lead to even more things to do. See I had plenty on my plate already. There is no need to think about anything else.

In fact, there was another thing I could be doing now that I was back in this god forsaken place. The Room of Requirement is filled with countless items. Sure most of it is going to be straight trash but there is merit in taking all of it. Not to mention I had to find the Diadem to destroy the Horcrux. So I should loot the entirety of that room. That was always in the plan but I had to postpone it because it was a lot. Now I had an inventory that would accelerate the looting process. 

Reaching the room was not really difficult. The vast majority of students are probably in the Great Hall eating at the moment. So I did not need to avoid the bustling student body. I of course was still wearing the Death Cloak but I would still need to not get bumped into. So the student body not being here was actually rather helpful.

The Room Of Hidden Things is the same cluttered mess that I saw last time. Sure I looted a fair amount since the last time but it still felt like an endless expanse of random junk. The pile of socks shall now be mine! Glory to the inventory! It is a blessing upon all of us murder hobos. It was a jest before but I am actually now a murder hobo. I was fully planning on murdering someone and I don't really have a place I was willing to call home. So for all intents and purposes, I am a murder hobo. Not something I ever expected to become a reality but what can you do?

Regardless of my newfound status. I managed to loot the rest of the room incredibly quickly. I'm not actually sure what I picked up half of the time but it's in my inventory now. One day I will sort whatever junk I have in there but for now, it will sit there until I need it. I did not physically see the Diadem so I don't actually know where it is. I would have to scroll through page after page of random junk in my inventory to find it. I just did not have the mental fortitude to do that right now. I wonder if the Diadem being in a pocket dimension is far enough to negate the effects of it being a Horcrux? 

I did plan on destroying every single last bit of that bastard's soul if only because he would never leave me alone. Not after what I have been showcasing. So the thought of my inventory being capable of stopping a Horcrux from anchoring Tommy Boy's sou was an interesting thought. Just not one I had any plans on finding out. However, I did want to figure out how to separate the scrap of soul from it. The Diadem is not a sacred gear but it is still an artifact that is well worth use. Maybe not my use but I felt better at collecting another magical artifact.

Was I supposed to abandon every single magical knick-knack that I found infected with soul herpes? Knowing how screwed up the multiverse is I would have to destroy a lot of things I find. It would suck to trash the Boosted Gear because Draig was a little bitch that got his soul sealed. That is an entirely different breed of soul std but it still fits the category. So finding out a method to soul scrub artifacts is a must even if I had no plans on scrubbing off Draig. He has been through enough already. That poor poor dragon will forever be associated with titties because of Issei. He might eventually respect his partner but it does not change the humiliation he was going to experience.

I don't have the Boosted Gear so the point is moot but knowing my luck I will get it eventually. If only because I too want to have shiny dragon armor that yells at my foes. The ability the Boosted Gear offers is also rather good. Doubling your power every ten seconds is crazy. Issei still got his ass beat far too much with such op nonsense. For someone with such a crazy power, he had to pull a lot of power-ups out of his ass. He was a Shonen protagonist so I can't really put the blame on him. On the other hand, he was a boob obsessed moron whose only redeeming trait was he was kind. So fuck that guy.

I would be better off training with Star Burster Star Blaster as it was also a Longnius. Sure it did not offer the same sort of nonsense that Boost was but the sheer destruction it could inflict was massive. You don't earn a name like Star Burster Star Blaster without being a fucking menace. Sacred Gears also evolved with the user's determination so eventually Star Burster Star Blaster would dunk on the Boosted Gear. I wonder what they would call me in the DxD verse. Issei was called the Red Dragon Emperor because of the Boosted Gear. I also had a Longnius so I should also have a badass title. I probably would not have one as Star Burster Star Blaster was not even a Longnius yet in Rias' dimension. So my dreams of being called Sovereign of The Celestial Abyss were not going to happen.

God, I was just as bad at naming things as Azazel and Minato. To be fair to myself finding a cool sounding name related to stars is hard. Fuck you it might be cringe as fuck but being The Sovereign of The Celestial Abyss is fucking badass. You can't boo me I'm fucking right! Ashley would agree with me, right? I mean we have a shit ton in common so surely she would see the truth right? Who am I kidding I'm cringe I was just going to have to accept that.

Being cringe hurt my pride but it was soothed by my newfound superhuman abilities. Society might deem my behavior childish and awkward but I could throw hands with The Avengers. It would have to be the MCU Avengers but my point still stands.

I was going to have to have to figure out my limits and how to control my new found heights. I don't want to hug someone and break their backs I'm not Bane. I did have a place to test that. Now that I have emptied The Room Of Hidden Things I could use The Room Of Recquirments. So I did just that and imagined a room that could test the sheer physicality I was not capable of.

The room looked like a stereotypical gym. Which would be rather normal in any other setting but we are at an ancient magical castle. So the modern looking gym was fucking jarring. The room must have drawn this out of my subconscious as there was no way The Founders knew what a modern gym looked like. It was not something I really thought about but it made sense.

Whatever the castle being able to read my mind was not something that really bothered me. I had other things to do like testing my lethality. There was a row of dummies that looked rather life like. They were almost impossible to tell the difference between them and any other random human. The only way I could tell the difference was the empty glass like look in all of their eyes. To be honest, it was rather disturbing to look at but it fit my needs perfectly so I was not going to be too bothered about it.

I stepped towards one of the empty dolls. Did I pick the one I did because it was close or was it because it vaguely resembled Potter? I think my level of petty has been well established by now so I don't even need to answer that.

I threw a moderate punch towards its face. I was expecting the head to move slightly. I even expected that I might not have controlled my strength too well and knocked the dummy over. I did not expect for my punch to knock its head clean off. Well, it was not exactly clean as blood gushed out of the torn open neck and covered me.

I could only blink at the gory scene. I knew I wanted a realistic test dummy but did the room really need to be this realistic? Well, it did make a rather potent deterrent to punching holes into people.

I just wished that the Potter-like dummy was not my first. I would have done a lot worse if I knew that this was going to happen. Oh well you win some you lose some. I could always come back and ask for the Room to provide Potter dummies. Better yet I could knock Potter's head clean off the next time I see him. No, that was a far too quick death for the tosser. I would also traumatize a lot of children if I did it in the castle.

At least the Room was able to prove my fears of becoming Bane. I was not even trying in that punch and the head just popped off. If I really threw a punch would the dummy be nothing more than a mist of blood? God Superman was right I lived in a world of tissue paper now. Granted I was nowhere near his level but the sentiment still fit. It did mean instead of breaking someone's back like Bane I was likely to give them the Gojo treatment.

So back to practice, I don't want to bifurcate everyone I want to hug. If I was hugging someone then I certainly liked them a fair bit so I did not want to put them through that. 

Luckily enough for me, one of my potions gave me a rather good control of my body. I just did not have a sense of how much was too much before. Although I should have assumed even light force was scary when my peak was well within the tons mark.

Once I had control of my strength I put myself through the paces. Seeing exactly how much I could lift. How fast I could move. How good my reaction speed was now. How good were my other senses. All the tests I could think of from the top of my head.

Once I had the results I had to say I was fucking scary now. Sure I would get curb stomped in DC or Marvel but here in Harry Potter land. Well, they might as well crown me a fucking god.

[The first group task has now been released please select participants.]

This might as well happen.