Usually, when people sense danger, their first instincts is to stay away from it.

Nox, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten that instincts back in the rift alongside a bit of his sanity.

Because, you usually wouldn't want to be anywhere close to a mask that had the chance of turning you into an Eclipsed, no matter how different it looked.

But he was on the verge of fully putting on the faceless mask, without a second thought.

Well, he did hesitate for a while but his curiosity won over and he slowly moved the mask towards his face.

"You're not going to try to take over my body, are you?" He asked just before he fully covered his face, the SE pathways now fully visible to him.

As if a response to his question, the mask suddenly closed the distance, latching itself to his face and refusing to come off.

In panic, Nox tried clawing it off, but it refused to budge. It almost seemed like the mask was stuck to his skin....which it was.

His panic lasted for a while, before he calmed down and realized that nothing else was happening.

Apart from the fact that it was stuck to his face, he didn't feel any type of malevolent or umbra energy filling him.

Rather, he felt....warm?

He felt his SE smoothly flowing through him and that bit of restriction he felt was gone..no, not gone, it felt surprised, almost completely.

He lifted his hand towards his face and realized two things, one, even though the mask was without a hole for eyes, he could see just fine, and two, he wasn't in the academy uniform anymore.

Instead, he now wore a gray combat suit, its fabric unfamiliar yet oddly comfortable against his skin.

It hugged his frame perfectly, flexible where it needed to be and reinforced around the forearms, and legs with dark metallic plating etched in some type of runes.

Nox flexed his fingers and smiled at the feeling, it felt as if he was beaming with power right now, and yet, at the same time, it was restrained.

His hair fell into his vision for a split second and he froze, he hadn't cut it yet, instead, he tied it behind him, some messy strands fell to his face.

Unlike his usual black, what he saw was white hair, one he didn't remember having.

He walked around the abandoned warehouse, until he stumbled upon a shard of reflective glass.

Nox crouched a bit to see his reflected self on it.

What he saw was a boy with grey feature less mask and hair that was completely white, which surprised him.

"So you can alter appearances too," he murmured, referring to the mask on his face, before going back to stare at his reflection.

"If I walk out like this," he added slowly, "no one will know it's me."

And he was right, though, he would pull a lot more unwanted attention towards himself, no one would suspect that it was Nox.

Thanks to his SE within the mask, he could finally feel what the mask could do, or rather, most of what it was capable of.

The mask could completely disguise ones appearance, exactly as that man had wanted.

It could also erase his presence, disguise his SE and even change his voice, he'd be like a completely different person to anyone who saw him.

The mask was the wet dream of students in the stealth division.

The mask could do more, much more, but only if he fed it continuously. The deeper he relied on it, the more it would synchronize with his SE and the more he'd discover what it was capable of.

Nox stood up straight, an idea forming within his mind. There were a couple things he wanted to try out, but there was no way he'd let people know his secret....which even he didn't know.

Apart from the headmistress, no one else knew that he was capable of using his SE without a core or even the fact that he could create SE constructs.

This mask just presented the perfect opportunity to try it out, without risking getting discovered.

"If I'm going to use you," he murmured, stepping forward, "then I might as well see what kind of trouble you can get me into."

He walked out the abandoned warehouse, and the moment he reached the door, he silently teleported away.

***

Nox reappeared next close to another secluded spot in the academy when he realized that he had nowhere to try his abilities out.

He could try the Academy's training room, but he currently had no proof that he was a student, he didn't have his uniform on and he sure as hell wouldn't show his ID.

That'll just make the point of the mask useless.

But there was one more place he could think of.....

Outside the barrier.

Though, that sounded dangerous, it wasn't like he was going to stray too far from the barrier....right?

Right?!

Nox teleported again, making sure to stay out of sight until he was successfully out of the academy.

He teleported up a high building and watched the city below.

He hadn't even gotten a chance to tour it properly, save for the time where they had come out for supplies for the test.

Though, he had been distracted by candy then...maybe he should get some right now?

He shook his head and focused on his goal, which was to get out of the city and try out what he could do with his SE.

Nox crouched at the edge of the building, the artificial wind tugging lightly at his white hair as he stared down at the city.

From up here, everything looked… small.

"Alright," he muttered, more to himself than the mask. "Let's see if you're worth the trouble."

Without hesitation he stepped off the edge but there was no falling sensation.

Instead, he world folded and space bent in on itself with a soft, almost imperceptible golden light, and Nox reappeared several kilometers away, standing atop a barren ridge just outside the city's outer perimeter.

He turned around and spotted the city's golden barrier behind him in surprise this was a lot father than he had ever done before.

Slowly, he turned to the wasteland, it was the first time in a long while since he had seen it, and he wouldn't say he missed it, not one bit.

He outstretched his hand and it started producing a subtle glow before it finally took shape.

A few seconds later, a sword was in his hand and he smiled, "this is a lot faster than before."

He felt the sword's weight before sighing, "let's find out what I can do, shall we."

***

If there was one thing Nox had learnt during the one month in the rift, it was that his luck was shit.

While having fun with using his SE without a solar tech, he had drifted a bit too far into the wasteland and encountered tier 3 Eclipsed.

Now normally, he would be confident enough to deal with a tier 3 Eclipsed....a single one that is.

Right now, before him, were multiple tier three hound-like Eclipsed and beside them was a solar jeep that was overturned, probably from their attack.

Nox was sure people were stuck in it, hence what he sensed which makes him approach... something which he instantly regretted.

The three Eclipsed turned their attention from the jeep to him.

"You three wouldn't mind if I said I was just passing, right," he muttered.

Instead of an answer, one of the Eclipsed lunged towards him, "I guess not."

Just before it could reach him, he teleported away, causing the creature to swipe at thin air.

Nox reappeared a few meters away, boots skidding slightly against the cracked ground as dust kicked up around him.

The Eclipsed let out a distorted howl, as their prey suddenly disappeared.

"…Right," Nox muttered. "Forgot you guys don't do conversations."

Normally, Eclipsed were hypersensitive to SE, especially Solar Energy. They hunted it like sharks smelled blood. Yet now, their movements weren't frenzied, they were cautious and confused.

Until he spoke up and they realized where his position was again.

"I guess it really does hide my presence," he said and the Eclipsed immediately locked on his position.

"Alright then, come at me."

The first Eclipsed lunged towards him again, but this time, he didn't teleport away, instead he took a pose with his sword, ready for the approaching Eclipsed.

The Eclipsed's head separated from its body in a clean arc, golden flames erupting from the wound as the corpse collapsed mid-lunge.

The other two froze for just a fraction of a second.

Nox exhaled slowly.

"That… would've taken me way longer before."

The second hound recovered first, leaping high with terrifying force, shadow and claws crashing down toward him. Nox bent his knees and vanished, reappearing directly above it.

He brought his foot down.

A construct formed instantly beneath his heel, a compressed slab of SE detonating on impact.

The hound was slammed into the ground with a thunderous crack, its body cratering the earth as the golden flames erratically ate at it.

The third Eclipsed hesitated.

It took a step back.

"You could retreat now, or end up like your friends," Nox told the Eclipsed, "your choice."

The hound snapped out of its fear and bolted, disappearing into the wasteland with a shrill howl.

Nox let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"…Not bad."

He turned his attention back to the overturned solar jeep. The metal frame was dented badly, claw marks raked across its sides, but the Engine was still humming faintly.

Slowly, he approached it, wondering if the people within really were still alive.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.