My Trash Talent Is Actually OP!

Nova kept glancing between Sinnett and Asher. The tension between them was thicker now, and it didn't seem like anyone was joking.

Asher exhaled and stepped back to think, but Sinnett's words kept getting to him, and it was annoying.

The fact he even knew about his abilities was another annoying thing, and it was frustrating that he had no idea how Sinnett knew.

Heaving a sigh, he muttered, "Elena, come out."

The air around him turned cold, then a shadow materialized beside him and turned to Elena with her massive sword.

However, this time she wasn't invisible to others' eyes, even Nova could see her, and Asher's mother as well.

Sinnett didn't even flinch. He knew, of course. He just smiled. "Finally," he said. "I was starting to wonder when she would show up."

Nova placed herself on the fence, to keep herself further away from what they were doing.

Elena tilted her head slowly. She studied Sinnett, then shifted her gaze to Asher. "Enemy?"

Asher didn't answer. He wasn't sure where to place Sinnett. He couldn't deny they were friends, but Sinnett was becoming too provocative that he wondered if he wasn't just a nemesis.

But she stepped forward anyway, moving proudly before him.

Sinnett stretched. "Two on one now? That's quite bold."

Asher didn't respond. He was done playing. If Sinnett knew this much, hiding was pointless. And if worse came to worse, and if he lost it, he would end up using Nova and Ria too.

Elena finally moved first. She vanished and reappeared behind Sinnett. Her blades were already in hand, and she swung her sword, a clean arc for his back and missed.

Her sword passed right through him.

Sinnett's body shimmered like smoke, and he slowly faded until he was just a transparent body.

Asher's eyes narrowed. "Phase…"

Sinnett grinned. "Told you I was special, hehe."

Elena kept slashing, teleporting in rapid bursts, but nothing touched him. Each strike passed through like he was made of mist.

And he just kept walking forward, with an annoyingly calm expression on his face.

Then, the blue system screen appeared in front of Asher.

---

Task Complete: "Raid and Endurance."

Bonus Unlocked: Shadow Phase — Opposite Polarity.

You may now phase your body into shadow form. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

Bonus Effect: Shadow Anchor — Contact with phased entities becomes possible.

---

Asher didn't hesitate or even wait for a second. He initially thought the system was copying Sinnett's ability, but he cared less. He activated it.

His body shimmered. Shadows wrapped around his skin, blending his presence into the environment but black compared to Sinnett.

Sinnett's smirk finally fell, instantly replaced with a grin. "Impressive."

Elena reappeared beside Asher. "I can't touch him at all."

Asher nodded and said, "Doesn't matter." He vanished and reappeared right in front of Sinnett.

This time, when he threw his fists, his hand connected with Sinnett's jaw, turning his head sideways, and he was actually bleeding from the lip now.

Asher didn't wait. He threw another blow, then a knee to the ribs, a hard elbow jab to Sinnett's temple that got him seeing stars.

He was grabbing Sinnett even while phased. His new ability bypassed Sinnett's intangibility, and it felt good to see that Sinnett could actually be touched in such a state.

Sinnett laughed through the hits. He staggered, but he didn't fall. "You figured it out... good. Now we're really fighting." And he wasn't bluffing.

Sinnett stopped taking hits. He stepped forward with a smile, slowly approaching Asher, and it got a scoff from him.

A dagger then appeared in Asher's hand. From the raid, the one he barely used, and it had been given to him, stored in his inventory.

He held it tight and drove it forward without thinking.

He pushed Sinnett's arm to the side and stabbed him in the shoulder, making sure to avoid any vital spots, he just wanted him to feel pain.

And he did. Sinnett's grin fell almost immediately. His silver eyes dropped to his bleeding shoulder, and he watched as Asher shoved him away and waited.

But then, instead of a laugh as usual, Sinnett's silver eyes turned black, something not normal. He reached for the blade and immediately felt the burn, letting out a hiss.

Then something changed.

His dreadlocks started to move, without him controlling them. Or maybe he did, but he was in too much pain to actually know.

One of them whipped around, yanked the dagger from his shoulder, and tossed it when it started to burn his hair.

Another lashed forward and coiled around Asher's neck, lifting him into the air. He gasped, kicked his legs, and tried to move, but to no avail.

And the others watched in anticipation. Asher's mother was held in place by Alya, who told her they knew what they were doing, even Sinnett, who had already lost his mind.

Asher managed to voice out, "Elena."

She immediately left her spot and charged at Sinnett. Instead, he didn't move. Another loc came from behind him and wrapped around her entire body, then with one squeeze, it snapped her neck.

Her body dissolved into ashes instead of fading, and the blue system screen appeared again.

---

MP Drained: 35%

Soul-Link Severed: Elena banished. Cooldown: 12 hours.

---

Asher's vision was starting to blur, but he was confused. How could she be banished by just a simple snap? She wasn't supposed to be banished, just dismissed.

Sinnett now pulled him closer. His locs moved slowly behind him after they had successfully broken the hair band he used.

Blood was pumping slowly out of his shoulder, yet that smile came back.

"Now that," Sinnett whispered, "was satisfying."

"I was actually terrified for a moment, but since I can still kill souls, it's quite exciting, you know? Just one snap and your entire army, your bonds made with the dragons, will be severed and they would die too including Nova and Ria."

At the mention of her name, Asher's amber eyes glowed faintly. The white around his eyes darkened, with visible blood-orange veins running through them.

He looked down at Sinnett, barely breathing, and he wasn't even thinking right. He was enraged, so much that he didn't even care if he ordered Nova to attack him.

But then there was something else in Sinnett's eyes too. Not pain or rage like before, but curiosity and confusion.

Because he hadn't expected Asher to adapt or counter his attacks.

He hadn't expected him to phase like he would.

Hadn't expected him to drive that dagger in with intent to kill, which was expected, but at the same time... unexpected.

And Asher hadn't expected Sinnett to take it all and still be smiling, like some crazy maniac.

They were both breathing hard now. One suspended mid-air, the other grounded but soaked in blood.

Two likely monsters, and neither fully sure what the other really was, not like they were actually monsters, but Alya and Hannah, Asher's mother, both thought the same.

Nova sat, watching with bored eyes, but she was shocked.

Behind her, Asher's mother came out of the building, with her hand over her mouth in horror, while Alya moved behind her but stopped when she got to Nova's side and crossed her arms, silently watching the show.

The lock around Asher's neck loosened slightly when Sinnett spotted Hannah.

Then the system screen appeared again:

____

> Passive Trait Unlocked: Relentless Soul

When a bonded soul is destroyed, gain +15% STR and +15% AGI for 60 seconds.

Passive duration remaining: 59s.

____

The system screen faded as Asher's limbs twitched in midair. The soul-link was severed, and for some reason, it weakened and hurt him like an attack maybe it was one of the consequences.

Then came the sound of footsteps. He barely noticed at first, but Sinnett did. The locks holding Asher paused, the grip loosening just slightly.

"Asher Morgan!"

The voice wasn't Nova's, nor Alya's. It was cold, sharp, and unmistakably his mother's, which was a first.

Asher's blurred vision cleared just enough to see her storming forward, and Sinnett picked that moment to drop him.

Her face was pale with fury, not her sickness. Her hands were trembling, but not from fear. No, she looked furious.

Before Sinnett could even speak, a sharp crack echoed.

Asher's face jerked sideways as her palm connected with his cheek, and for a second, the whole world stopped.

She turned to Sinnett and struck him too. Just as hard. Maybe harder.

Sinnett flinched, not from pain, but from pure shock. He blinked twice, then grinned. "Ouch..."

"Kneel. Both of you," she snapped.

Neither dared disobey. Even Nova flinched at the tone. Alya stayed silent, eyes wide as her mother took control of the chaos with nothing, it was like she had her own abilities.

Asher and Sinnett knelt, side by side, bloodied, bruised, and out of breath. His mother stood in front of them like a judge about to pronounce sentence.

"What in the gods' names was that?!"