HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 80: Limit Break

BOOOOOOOMMM!!!

The creature couldn't even make a sound before it was utterly obliterated into nothingness, but the bolt still went on, out of the window, painting the night white for a few seconds.

"...." x3

Three people looked at the scene blankly, dark spots dancing in front of their eyes due to the access brightness just now. The power of the spell was off the charts!

There were a few reasons to explain that. First of all, Axel's magic was already very powerful after getting healed. Second, he had a high affinity with Lightning, one which had only increased ever since he had started his Ninjutsu training with Akiko. And third, he had charged the spell too many times. It's not something that even geniuses like Martina and Akiko can do, since it requires an insane amount of mental strength, something which was Axel's forte.

These were some of the reasons why the spell was so destructive. But, even after that, Axel was still surprised by its might. That was too much power.

At the time of casting, he had felt a peculiar feeling. It was like...he had an unlimited amount of magic, causing him to put in more power than he had predicted. And now, he felt completely drained.

Axel collapsed to his knees, so did Akiko right afterwards. The fight had taken a lot out of both of them.

"Above 5 X'es… it was definitely above that," said Akiko while gasping for breath. [Chains of Hell], a Yin Affinity Forbidden Jutsu which very few Yin users can perform without dying. A spell that could easily hold down dragons. And she couldn't even hold down the creature for more than a few minutes with that spell.

The Demogorgon turned out to be much more powerful than they had anticipated. Just a few moments ago, she had already given up on defeating it, instead considering how to stall it and evacuate everyone. Her thought process had even reached the idea of using the portal which the delegation came from to transport everyone at Hogwarts back to Japan. That's how hopeless the situation was. And then Axel suddenly decides to use some extremely powerful magic, one she had never seen before, to completely annihilate the creature.

'How..?' She wondered.

Martina on the other hand wasn't so surprised by the fact that Axel had managed to save the day once again. She was more surprised by the magic he had just used.

"H-How…? How in the ROB's name did you do that?" She asked Axel, who was lying exhausted on the floor. The spell is only supposed to produce lightning and there's no way it could be charged that many times! Martina's eyes were shining with curiosity as she looked at Axel.

"Don't ask," said Axel distractedly. He had other things on his mind right now which were much more important than answering how he did it. He was currently looking down at his wand which had taken some damage due to the last spell.

'Thanks…and sorry.' he said to the wand through his head.

The wand gave out a weak thrum in response, making him regret even more.

'I'll get you fixed.' He promised.

"—el? Axel?! Are you alright? Ohmygod! you're bleeding from the nose! Exclaimed Martina, bringing him out of his thoughts as she checked his condition.

"I'll live," said Axel with a nod, slowly getting up on shaky feet. "But not my wand," he said, looking at the damaged cherub feather wand in his hand which had accompanied him through many difficulties.

"Oh…may I?" asked Martina, holding out her hand.

Axel hesitantly put his wand in her hand. "Thanks," she said, gingerly holding Axel's wand with both hands as she closely examined it, stroking it a few times.

"Careful," said Axel, a bit apprehensive.

"Don't worry, I know how to handle a wand. I've been doing this since I was a child." Martina said reassuringly.

Meanwhile, Akiko: '.....Do I have a dirty mind?'

Unaware, Martina continued her diagnosis. "Let's see, there's critical damage to the wood, and a slight damage to the core as well, but it can be salvaged. Looks like the power output was too much for it. I can help you fix it," she said, giving it back to Axel.

Axel raised an eyebrow, "You can fix it?" Wandlore was quite a complicated branch of magic. That much, even Axel knew. But she's Martina after all, so it shouldn't come out as much of a surprise.

Before Martina could reply, Akiko got up. "We need to get out of here."

Martina nodded in agreement but Axel had one more thing to do. "Wait a sec."

[Traceless]

Activating the skill, he quickly removed traces of Akiko and Martina from the scene as well, only leaving the rest of the things undisturbed. Let Dumbledore and others do whatever they want with this. He had done his part, the rest, he minded his own business too much to bother.

How did the Creature get here? Who brought it? What were they playing at? There were a lot of questions in his head, but Axel's head was still throbbing due to the exertion earlier and he already had enough on his plate.

Though, Martina and Akiko had even more questions. How did Axel know the castle was in danger? How did he know that it was a Demogorgon? How did he know exactly what a Demogorgon was? And, how did he do that magic?

So, after they were safely out of the area, the two girls turned to look back at Axel to ask questions, but to no one's surprise, the mysterious boy was nowhere to be found, making Akiko click her tongue and Martina to stomp her foot. The only thing he left was a note tucked in each of their pockets which stated,

"Thanks for the help. I owe you guys one."

Martina crushed the note. "This is so like him…" she said in annoyance, and Akiko could only nod in agreement. Though, both the girls were smiling.

…

After Axel had gotten rid of the girls, only then did he look at the System Notifications he had received.

[New Skill Unlocked]

[Congratulations. You have unlocked the Skill: Limit Break

You can temporarily break past your limits in order to overcome a desperate situation.]

"Son-of-a—!" Axel exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the notification. Previously, he had been too concerned about his damaged wand to pay attention.

So, a new skill! Axel sighed. Now he can understand how the spell was so powerful. And here he thought, he had finally became powerful.

Limit Break. This is a great skill for critical situations. But, it was also quite dangerous. It doesn't give him extra power. The power he is getting is at the expense of damaging his own body. He'll have to use it wisely.

Axel checked the other notifications.

[Congratulations. You have completed the special mission: School in Danger

Rewards:

->Special Skill: Barrier

->Limited Information on Atlantis.

->Approval Rate]

Another Special Skill!

As explained, Arcane Thief is a great class, but it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of skill set. A single class can't have every skill after all. And special skills make up for that. Like now, he has got a barrier skill, something which the Arcane Thief Class does not include. It'll definitely come in handy.

But, Axel's main focus was on the information he had just gotten installed in his head, and as he laid there on the ground, the elation he had been feeling at completing the mission slowly vanished.

Because the limited information he had gotten didn't contain good news. He carefully sifted through the information and his expression grew sombre the more he read.

Here's the jist of it. Atlantis is the oldest magical civilization, much, much older than any other. And as one would expect, it used to be very developed in terms of magical technology. But almost everything was destroyed due to internal warfare thousands of years ago, and Atlantis sank underwater.

The remnants of the Royal Family who had won the war, restarted the civilization, having very little left of the previous glory. They decided to start anew and discarded almost all of the previous advanced magical technology, leaving only a few pieces of the advanced technology which are called Relics. Now, after thousands of years, the opposing side has risen again, trying to take over, and the Royal family is at its weakest right now.

It would seem that the organisation is going to take over Atlantis very soon. And when it does, it's going to start a war against the world using the relics. So, if Axel has to handle the Organization, he has to do it soon, or he'll have another force trying to take over the world.

'Looks like there's no choice,' he thought, slowly picking up his tired body. With his realisations over the past month, he had been having second thoughts about attracting the attention of the Organisation. Why not live in peace for a few more years? Why not train steadily, gather strength and then take it on?

But, with this news, it would seem that he has no choice. He has to take down the Organization quickly, or at least prevent it from taking over Atlantis. So, it would seem that he'll be going with his original plan, attracting its attention and drawing it out. Which means, he can go wild in tomorrow's match. It just so happens that he also had a few bones to pick with a certain pair of clowns who are now going to regret ever bothering him.

….

Feeling quite drained, Axel went back to the Great Hall after changing to find a very anxious Daphne. Axel dragged her to a secluded corner where no one would bother them.

"Merlin's beard, you're bleeding! Are you alright?!" Asked Daphne, frantically checking for injuries.

Axel checked his overexerted body. "I'm fine, just tired."

"What happened? Why did you have to leave so suddenly?" She asked anxiously, sitting right beside him.

Axel shook his head. "You need more Occlumency for that. But everything's fine now," he said, settling into the chair.

Daphne couldn't help it, her eyes grew misty as she gripped his hand with both of hers. "I was so scared. I've never seen you so serious before."

Axel didn't shake her off. It was a really close call this time. They had almost lost it due to not being able to damage it. And with its high range, if the creature had reached anywhere near the great hall, it would have sucked hundreds of souls at once.

And at that moment, Axel had thought of only one person in the Great Hall, which had helped him break past his limits. "Thanks," he said looking at the mermaid in front of him, not really explaining everything.

Daphne sighed, "Don't thank me. I couldn't help you make the most of your break. You didn't have that much fun, did you?"

Axel shook his head, "No," he said truthfully. In the first place, he is not even the kind of person who would overly indulge in pleasure.

But, his original purpose wasn't having fun, was it? It had been to find something to fight for once again. Something that'll drive him to not give up in a difficult situation and drive him to give it his all. A reason to work hard. And, at that moment, when he had foreseen the creature breaking out of the chains, he had felt it. He didn't know what it was yet, but it was there. And he intended to explore it. So, tonight wasn't meaningless.

"You did help me," he said, smiling at her. "Just not in the way you wanted."

…

The next day, Axel woke up in the morning feeling quite groggy and tired. His head was still aching from his fight with the Demogorgon.

'Is Halloween here cursed or something?' He thought while groaning. Last year it was something else and this year it's a creature above XXXXX.

Axel dragged himself out of bed. It was early morning and he had some training to do. The break was already over, and though he was interrupted, the main thing was Axel had actually felt annoyed at being interrupted, meaning it was definitely something he had enjoyed.

'Oh, there was a match today as well, right?' He realized while doing his training. So, he warmed up some of his skills which would come in handy today. That was it for his preparations. After that, he leisurely made his way into the Great Hall, only to see a lot of eyes turning towards him.

Patricia, the Captain who looked to be on the verge of pulling her hair out, finally seemed to have hope returned to her eyes as soon as she saw him.

"Where have you been?! I've been trying to find you since last night! You haven't picked up any of my calls, owls can't reach you, and I can't even find your room in the dorms!" She asked in harsh whispers after dragging him aside.

Axel rolled his eyes. "What is so urgent that you're trying to find me like a crazy stalker?" His Magi-mirror is always on silent mode and of course she didn't find his room in the dorms. It's because he has removed his name from the door of his room there, so that no one notices his absence.

"Urgent? We have a match in a few minutes! Is that not urgent enough for you?!"

"So what? I'm still on time. Now let me eat my breakfast," said Axel as he began to leave.

"Breakfast?! You still have time for breakfast?!" Patricia followed him like an angry kitten.

Axel ignored her. "Yeah, I need my energy, don't I?"

Patricia once again almost pulled her hair out of frustration. "So overconfident! You're giving me anxiety," she said, her hands reaching for her pocket.

Axel pushed past her, offering her a potion. "Here."

Patricia checked her pocket where the potion was supposed to be moments ago. "Wait, when did you—?" But Axel had already left behind.

"Just trust me, captain," said Axel as he went to sit beside Daphne.

"What's the news?"

Daphne looked furious, "Not good. I so want to kill those brothers right now."

Photos and clips of the Seeker and the Captain getting splashed in Gryffindor colors were currently making rounds on the Magi-hive and the Slytherin team was getting unceasingly trolled right now. Some might say that it was just paint, but it was not. Two Slytherin representatives get painted into Griffindor colours is extremely humiliating to the whole house and it IS a big deal. And the only reason it was just paint and not something more harmful like their other pranks was because the imps didn't want to get disqualified before the match. Other Slytherins are the witnesses of how vicious those two can really be.

Axel nodded. "The twins will get what's coming for them. Anything else?"

The twins were dead meat, Daphne already knew that. "Don't get into trouble," that's what she was worried about. "And also, my mom and sister are here. Come see them after the match if you can."

"Will do." Axel quickly ate his breakfast and got up, ready to kick some ass.

....

A.N.: Well, it'll finally come in the next chapter. POWERSTONES!!!

Can you read ahead and support me?

Pa /Snollygoster