Check author note at the end;
….
What is this monstrous power?!
Looking at the bandit's shocked face, Takson felt nothing but disgust. The world was already plagued by demons, yet humans like these still preyed on their own kind. Disgusting.
His grip on his axe tightened. He would show them no mercy.
Crack!
The sound of shattering steel.
Slice!
A spray of blood. The bandit chief's broadsword, and the arm holding it, flew through the air, landing at his feet with a wet thud.
"Guh!!!" The chief fell to his knees, clutching the bleeding stump of his right shoulder.
"Three Spears of the Goddess." Takson had never let go of his holy book. The moment he had disarmed the chief, he had cast his spell.
"Aaargh!" Two pained screams echoed through the chamber. One came from a robed figure in the crowd, a golden spear now protruding from his stomach. The other came from the bandit chief, a spear impaling each of his legs, pinning him to the floor.
The remaining bandits watched in horror. Takson ignored the chief and walked towards the mage. The other men scrambled out of his way, pressing themselves against the walls, trying to make themselves invisible.
"Aaaah! I can't take it anymore!" one of them screamed, making a mad dash for the door. Takson didn't even seem to notice.
But just as the others were about to follow his lead...
Schlick!
A golden spear of light pierced the fleeing man's back. He fell face-first to the floor, his life cut short.
He tried to scream, but with a punctured lung, no sound came out.
The sight broke the remaining bandits. They huddled in the corners, trembling, their bravado completely gone.
Takson, meanwhile, had reached the mage. Just as he approached, he saw the man muttering an incantation.
CRASH!
The wall behind the mage exploded inwards, and a massive, hulking monster charged out, its eyes fixed on Takson.
….
Clink, clink...
Stell was sifting through a mountain of gold coins. Alice sat on a nearby crate, listening to the distant screams from the main cavern, a chill running down her spine.
"Miss Stell," she finally asked, her curiosity overriding her fear, "aren't you worried about Mr. Takson?"
The two of them were so different. It was hard for her to believe this cold, unfeeling being cared at all for her apprentice's safety.
"Affirmative. No safety hazards have been detected."
"Uh... right..." Alice fell silent. The strange, robotic way Stell spoke was impossible to carry a conversation with. But if the "professional" said everything was fine, who was she to argue?
She had no way of knowing what Stell's definition of "fine" actually was.
BOOM!
A sudden, violent tremor shook the entire cave. Alice leaped to her feet in terror.
Stell, however, didn't even flinch. She simply continued her search, completely unconcerned. Seeing her calm demeanor, Alice forced herself to sit back down, her heart still pounding.
She didn't see the faint, strange glow that lit up in Stell's eyes.
….
BOOM, BOOM!
Another series of tremors, stronger this time, shook the cavern. Alice's eyes darted between Stell and the entrance to the storeroom. Stell, however, remained focused on her task, methodically sorting through the piles of loot.
After several minutes, she finally found what she was looking for. Buried beneath a heap of coins and armor was a single, leather-bound book.
She picked it up, wiped the dust from its cover, and immediately began to "read," her fingers flipping through the pages at an impossible speed.
Alice watched, dumbfounded. Can she even see what's on the pages?
BOOM!
This tremor was the strongest yet. The ceiling of the storeroom began to crack, and small pebbles rained down. Just then, a shimmering golden portal opened in the air beside Stell.
"Wh-what's happening?!" Alice shrieked.
Stell glanced at the portal, then went back to her book. "Answer: Do not be alarmed. This is a standard 'Takson return' phenomenon."
"A 'Takson return'... oh!" Alice understood. It was a sign that he was coming back.
A moment later, a figure stumbled out of the portal. But it was not the triumphant return she had expected.
Splat.
The figure, its clothes in tatters, was missing the entire left side of its body. It collapsed to the floor in a heap of mangled flesh. It was Takson.
"WAAAAAH! MR. TAKSON!" Alice screamed, rushing to his side. "What happened to you?!"
She knelt beside him, her hands hovering over the horrific wound, unsure of what to do. His heart... it was gone. And without a heart, a person couldn't live. She could already feel the warmth leaving his body.
She immediately turned to the other person in the room, the one still calmly reading a grimoire.
This is what you call "no safety hazards"?!
"Miss Stell! Help him!" she screamed.
Stell looked up, a flicker of surprise in her processors at the girl's frantic tone. But she showed no concern for Takson's apparent "death."
"Negative," she stated, her voice flat. "Subject 'Takson' is not in any mortal danger."
"..."
Her words stopped Alice cold. She stared at Stell, utterly dumbfounded. How could she be so callous? So unfeeling? Her own apprentice was dead, and she was still just reading that stupid book. Was a grimoire really more important to her than Takson's life?
In that moment, Alice's opinion of Stell plummeted to rock bottom. But she was too afraid to say anything.
And then, as she was silently cursing Stell's inhuman cruelty, a miracle happened.
She watched, her eyes wide with disbelief, as the horrific wound on Takson's body began to... reverse.
Flesh, muscle, and bone knitted themselves back together. A new heart materialized in his chest cavity. Skin grew over the wound, leaving no scar.
In a matter of seconds, he was completely whole again. Even his torn clothes were pristine, as if they had never been touched.
She had just witnessed a resurrection.
The anger and resentment in her heart were instantly replaced by pure, unadulterated shock. Her brain simply couldn't process what she had just seen. She was frozen, rebooting.
"Nngh..."
At that moment, Takson's eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw was Alice's beautiful, tear-streaked face, inches from his own. He was cradled in her arms. He could smell the faint, floral scent of her hair. His recently-rebooted brain, still groggy, made a quick, detached assessment: She's pretty. Not as pretty as Teacher, of course, but still...
A second later, reality came crashing back.
"Where am I... WAAAH!"
With a startled yelp, he scrambled out of her arms, putting a good ten meters between them. The sudden movement snapped Alice out of her stupor.
Just then, Stell finished recording the grimoire in her hands. The spell it contained was highly practical, and she was eager to test it.
"Endo Armament: Activate"
"True Endo: Storage Space"
A massive, glowing magic circle spread across the floor of the storeroom, encompassing everything but the three of them. Takson and Alice watched, mesmerized. A black "hole," no larger than a basketball, appeared on the ceiling above the circle.
And then, every single object in the room, every coin, every weapon, every crate, was lifted into the air and sucked into the hole. In a matter of seconds, the entire storeroom was stripped bare.
Alice, who had already witnessed one miracle today, was no longer capable of surprise. At this point, nothing Stell did could faze her.
Takson, on the other hand, was just happy his teacher had learned a new spell.
With her work finished, Stell turned to her apprentice.
"Query: What was the cause of your failure?"
….
Guys if you like you can read the new fic its kazuma/Aqua x Rezero.
If you want to read 20+ chapters ahead and unpublished fanfics you can check out my patreon or just take a visit.
[P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N]
http://patreon.com/Kazuma_trash
&
you can join my discord server: https://discord.gg/5Y7uZ2kN2Y
Or in short just click in join via invite link in your discord and enter this code: 5Y7uZ2kN2Y