Ascension Of The Failed Mage

Noir panted as he appeared in his room. Immediately he entered, he slumped on his bed.

"No! No! No! No! No!" His aggravated voice echoed across his room.

The look of annoyance and frustration on his face made it incredibly obvious how terrible he felt.

"Why did it have to activate at that time? Why did it have to activate at all? Because of this, 'Deification' is now further from reach."

His voice slowed down, and he sighed, tired of everything thus far.

"Even these memories and this anger I feel will soon fade away. The effects of [REBOUND] will soon end, anyway. And then what I'll remember is that somehow I managed to pull through and win. And It'll be so believable that I would not doubt it." Noir murmured.

"I may forget most of everything else... But I won't forget my purpose. I will save you... @#$%^"

As Noir lay on his bed, he felt dizzy, and so he fell into a slumber, unsure of when next he would wake up.

As he was unconscious, Noir's hazy memories began to fade away. The effects of [REBOUND] were ending, and so within moments, he would revert to how he was prior to his transformation.

Noir didn't want to let them go... He had regained his personality, but he was losing his memories again.

The memories which explained the reason behind his drive to help people, his attraction to Ciara, his weaker self, his obsession with 'Deification', and many more... they would soon vanish.

All this was caused by [REBOUND].

[REBOUND], a special condition placed on Noir, restricting him to the utmost limit, made Noir the weakest he could possibly be and stripped him of most of his abilities.

Even though Noir had recovered a lot of missing memories, all of which were fading away, he still didn't know how this condition was placed on him... or who placed it on him.

What he knew, however, was that he needed it for 'Deification'. All the abilities which were being kept away... They were for the cause.

"I need it... to save her..." Noir kept hearing that ring in his head.

His memories were getting hazy at this point. He could not remember much of anything.

The 'Other' Noir which had dealt with Trevor was one of Noir's original self. [REBOUND] divided all his selves separately, making him possess only one, instead of parallel selves. His thought processing, Code usage, Null ability, and even combat ability were all hindered due to this.

Noir couldn't understand at this point.

"If my enemy is H.E.L.I.X. and I need to defeat them, how can I do that with this unfair disadvantage?"

This puzzle remained unsolved.

"Why?" He asked into the void, but nothing responded.

Could it have been the Doctor who put the system in him, a means of guarantee in case he escaped? Did other members of the project also have similar conditions placed on them?

'No!' He thought, at the very least.

"I remember everything concerning my past with H.E.L.I.X. I know I would have known if there was something wrong with my body."

"Besides, magic doesn't work on me... So what else could have caused this?"

Things were getting clearer and clearer to him. But he didn't want to believe his conclusion. It was unbelievable, even for him.

"It's... CODE?!" Noir realized.

This meant it wasn't anyone else who placed [REBOUND] on him, but he did to himself.

When? At what point? And finally... WHY?

"I-I did this... to myself?" Noir was in total confusion in the darkness of his subconscious.

Suddenly, he felt a pull. Light began to pierce the darkness. This meant only one thing.

"I'm waking up. No, not now..." Noir said with apprehension.

He knew, that if he woke up at that moment, he would lose the memories and answers he had just found out.

The big mystery behind a lot of things... And he would be oblivious of it.

However, there was nothing he could do. In this state of subconsciousness he was in, he was powerless.

But if he could just push one thing, using the last bit of his power... So that when he woke, he would at least figure out the truth eventually.

"I know what to do." Noir's subconscious mind rang, before fading into the darkness.

The memories all faded, everything reset to the way it was. And then, the light arrived. It enveloped everything, and then from the whiteness, came colors of various kinds, then a blurry image of mixed colors and intelligible shapes. This showed one thing.

He had woken up.

*

*

*

Noir woke up from his sleep with a pain in his head, similar to a hangover. He looked around his room and tried remembering how he got there.

As he was ruminating, a thought popped into his head.

"Status Window" Noir stated reflexively.

And then he saw it.

Going through his Status Information, initially, he saw it looking the same. Then he decided to check [See More Information]

Under his [Physical Status] he saw the usual things that were there. All his stats matched.

Looking at his Attack, Defense, and others, he could not find anything wrong with them.

But, Noir couldn't shake off the feeling of uncertainty he was having.

After furthering his observation, he saw the cause of the uncertainty. It was something he was seeing for the first time, or so he was bound to think.

- Status Condition: [REBOUND]

- Status Effect: Sealing and Limiting all abilities to the absolute state. Certain conditions must be met before each of the seals are lifted, and only temporarily. [Conditions for lifting the seals and limiters are unavailable.]

"What is the meaning of this...? What's [REBOUND]? I don't understand" Noir muttered in a panicky and anxious tone.

At this point, he was still feeling tired and pained, plus it was late. In order to relieve his pain, and to ensure he had enough strength to properly investigate the mysterious status condition, he decided to rest.

And so, Noir slept.