Volume 1 Chapter 1: Part 4.5: Fates Changing

Pressure.

After Irene got the hero skill, he felt a sudden enormous pressure. 

It just made him want to prove himself even more. How would he be able to stand beside Irene if he ever gets horrible skills? Having her support his whole life will turn him into a couch potato. 

"Onyx, you are so popular. It seems your fans hope you will get some good ones." Hearing how the crowd cheered Onyx on, the head priest realizes Onyx's fame.

"Heh. I just need to get something that won't disappoint my fans." Onyx makes a strained expression as he says this.

Changing the subject, Onyx praises, "Gramps, you guys really clean this place up so well." 

Usually, the church would be covered by dusk in some areas. 

However, today the whole area's spotless, completely devoided of any dust speck. 

"Of course. The grand priest came over today. How could we let our church be this dirty? Also, act more respectfully when you meet him as well." The grand priest is one level higher than him. 

When the two arrived, a man was standing there, waiting for them. Unlike the high priest, dressed in black ceremonial robes, the grand priest's robes are black and white, with different jewels around the collar. 

"What took you guys so long?" There was so much irritation in his voice and face. Taking a look at Onyx, "Is this the last kid?" 

"No, grand priest. There are so many more kids that need to be checked." The high priest shakes his head at how impatient the grand priest acted.

"Tsk Tsk! Would you hurry up then! I have other important things to do." The grand priest shows Onyx the orb, "Quickly put your hand onto the orb and let's get this over with!" With the birth of the new hero, he will need to report it back to the Holy Land immediately.

Is this really how a grand priest would act? Even if Irene is a hero, there should still be proper etiquette when doing things like this. 

The high priest shakes his head and turns to Onyx, "Onyx, you just need to put your hand onto the orb and let your mind go at peace. Don't overthink it, and don't worry about anything."

"Ok." Placing his hand onto the orb, Onyx prays, Please let me get something good. As of right now, he is hoping that he doesn't get something that will make Lily and Wyatt depressed. 

"...." A few minutes have passed after Onyx has placed his hand on it. Did I get something weird? Why is nobody speaking?

When Onyx opened his eyes, he could see the two priests making weird expressions. 

What's wrong with them? Onyx looks down on the orb, and he finally realizes why the two of them were flabbergasted. The skills he got are;

The hero of darkness - EX Rank

The hero of the sword - EX Rank

Perception - EX

What in the world? Never did he expect that he would get a hero skill! Much less 2! 

Turning his head to the priests again, Onyx hears the head priest shrieking, "Oh my god! Our village gave birth to another hero!"

Just having Irene alone is enough for him to be over the moon. But this time, with Onyx becoming one too, his joy goes beyond the heavens. 

"Umm, gramps? Where does the EX rank stand in the ranking? Is it good?" 

The head priest quickly explains, "Onyx, EX rank is the highest rank any skill can go up to."

When Onyx heard that, he felt like he was getting pranked, "Are you sure EX rank is the highest-ranking? You're not playing with me, right?" 

"Yes. I'm not lying to you." The head priest nods his head. He was never more sure in his life now. 

When Onyx hears that, he clenches his fist extremely tight. 

"Yes!!!" He raises his fists as he shouts out in excitement. He didn't care much about the skills. Losing Irene to Finn was out the window now! That's why Onyx was happy. 

As the two were excited about what had happened, they didn't notice the look the grand priest had on his face,

This cannot be!

...

After getting his skills checked, Onyx and the high priest walked out of the church. Onyx told the priest before that he didn't need to walk him out like that. However, the priest thought otherwise. With the hero skills, it changes the power dynamic. 

Instead of always treating Onyx like a grandson, he treated him as a superior being. The hero skills have that much influence.

As the two walked out of the church, he could hear people shouting! 

Onyx's instincts kick in. He understood something had happened. 

"Move out of the way."Quickly pushing people away, Onyx realizes what's the problem.

Wyatt was crying while pointing at Finn. But that wasn't the main problem. Irene was holding Lily in her arms, and the child was bleeding! Onyx continues to push away people getting to Irene,

"What happened?!" Onyx didn't do anything else as he carried Lily. There was blood coming out of her mouth. Bruises covered her arms and knees.

Irene turns to Onyx with tears in her eyes, "That bastard hit Lily because she only defended you from what he said." As she says this, she glares daggers at Finn. 

..

A few minutes prior, after Onyx went into the church,

"Pretty boy is going to get trash skills. I can't wait for him to come out!" Finn continues to talk badly behind Onyx. But the people didn't care about what he said. 

The only person that took offense to that was Lily. It prompted Lily to defend her big brother. She walked up to Finn before Irene could realize it. 

"Don't talk about my brother like that!" As she says this, she punches Finn's leg.

"How dare you!" Out of anger, Finn slaps her face with all his might!

The knight was now standing in between Irene and Finn's group. Finn scoffs, "So what? She was the one who started it. If she can't take the pain, she shouldn't be talking down to the great me." When the people heard that, they couldn't believe how petty he was. 

However, Finn continued to act smug even with the people giving him dirty looks. It didn't matter if Lily was a little girl. She has the same blood as Onyx. His hate for him transferred over to his kin.

The head priest went closer to Lily, "Let me heal her." A light blue magical circle appears on his hand, "Water aurora." The water wraps around Lily's body, and the bruises and cuts on her body disappear, cleansed by the water. 

The magic the high priest cast was the high-rank water magic water aurora. He's one of the only people in the village who has a high ranking skill. As Lily was being healed, Onyx looked over to Finn. 

From the expression on his face, everybody couldn't help but shiver in fear.

"Big brother... Lily....is fine." With the effects of the healing magic, Lily woke up. And she woke up to see that Onyx was ready to beat Finn up. Feeling the pain from what happened before, she's scared that her big brother will get hurt when he fights him. 

"..." Onyx didn't know what to say to that. But he pats her head and smiles, "Don't worry. Your big brother is going to take revenge for you. Trust me."

"Take revenge? You're nothing more than just a loser. How could you defeat the great me!" With the strength he gained from the ax mastery skill, he knows nobody would be able to beat him in strength. 

Onyx ignores him as he continues to walk closer to him. The knight stops him, "Don't try to throw your life away, child. It was my fault that your sister got injured. I will be the one to deal with him." 

Finn has gone too far. If he knew how to use his skills, he would have killed the girl.' The knight found himself lucky that the girl didn't die. It was a mistake on his part not to react fast enough to block Lily from Finn. 

Never did he expect Finn would attack a child too. 

The knight understands the anger Onyx has. However, he felt the difference in class was too great. His ax mastery just gave Finn a tremendous advantage.

But Onyx continues to move towards Finn, ignoring the knight. From Onyx's expression, the crowd could tell it was about to go down. However, they doubt Onyx would be able to do anything to him. 

Finn scoffs, "What? Wanna-"

Before Finn could say more about it, Onyx punches him right into the chest! Nobody could react to it because the force and impact were tremendous!  

Finn flew several feet away from where he stood and slammed right into a tree, breaking it in half!

"..."