BXBX NOVEL Chapter 189: Press Conference
\'Look at him ignoring me.\'
Shaking his head, Neo followed behind him.
The stage lights and hundreds of camera flashes instantly assaulted his eyes.
He frowned slightly, his eyes taking a few seconds to adjust.
The stage was wide and empty with only Neo and Henry on it.
There was a few meters of gap below the stage and the seating area.
The guards and the butler stood in the gap.
Henry wore a microphone to enhance the volume of his voice.
He gave a ceremonial speech – without any curses, much to Neo\'s surprise – before he reached the main topic.
"Today, we, the Hargraves Corporation, are launching a new weapon series \'The Soul Weapons.\'
"We\'ll give a short demonstration before we get down to the selling points of the new weapon series."
A few crew members arrived on the stage with ten thick metal blocks and a few swords.
They left after placing the metal blocks and the weapons on the ground.
Henry walked up to the metal blocks.
He patted them.
"45% purity adamantium.
"It can tank up to a hit from 125 Strength Stat and is almost immune to common elements like Elementary-mastery fire, ice, and lightning.
"These things here have the same defenses as a peak Grade 3 Mythic monster that has its stats geared towards constitution."
He picked up the sword and tapped its blade.
"It\'s a standard blade made by our company for Grade 5~Grade 4 Mythic Demigods."
Henry slashed the adamantium metal block with the sword.
"As you can see, an unawakened like me cannot put a scratch on it.
"The Mythic Demigods will be able to damage the metal blocks if they attack it instead of me.
"However, even they would find it difficult to destroy the blocks."
Henry placed the sword on top of the metal block.
He stood beside Neo and placed a hand over his shoulder.
He spoke to the audience,
"Today\'s demonstrator will be my brother, Neo Hargraves.
"I\'m sure many of you know about him. He has been quite famous for doing some vigilante stuff."
The reporters chuckled.
"No, I\'m being honest here.
"His actions, no matter how correct, were illegal. Quite a few media stations are painting him in an \'antagonist\' light.
"Calling him names, calling him evil, since he uses dark elements.
"But look at him now. Does he look like a villain?
"No, he looks like he has seen a ghost because I haven\'t cursed in the past fifteen minutes."
The chuckles grew louder.
Henry smiled.
Neo could tell Henry was enjoying his job.
"And that\'s what he is. A normal highschooler who entered the Academy through his hard work and became the Divine Ruler."
Henry was satisfied with the result of his digressive talk.
He stood away from Neo and spoke,
"Neo, what are your current masteries in your primary elements?"
"…Adept, both."
Neo wanted to roll his eyes.
No one told him he was the demonstrator.
"That\'s awesome. It\'s rare to see anyone with such high mastery in Death and Darkness.
"I\'m sure it took a lot of hard work on your part?"
"…It did."
Neo pursed his lips.
He could tell Henry was shaping his public image.
"That\'s incredible.
"Now, can you create an Aura Blade? An \'actual Aura Blade,\' of course."
Neo nodded.
Although he hadn\'t made a proper Aura Blade before, it wasn\'t hard with his mastery.
He held his fists together as if he was holding an invisible sword.
The Divine Energy in his core churned.
Red lightning crackled around his arms.
It condensed and condensed until it was turned into the shape of a sword.
A rush of emotion appeared within his head.
Obitus started to sulk.
Neo conveyed to his sword spirit he was holding \'another weapon\' just for a moment.
"Make a complete Aura Blade with both of your elements," Henry spoke.
Neo frowned, but he complied.
Black flames materialized around him.
They covered his Aura Blade.
The flames compressed until they looked like cold metal.
The red lightning peaked through the surface of the sword at random intervals, giving the sword an illusion of red lightning moving within it.
Darkness for strengthening the blade and allowing the sword to block attacks.
Death to increase the damage.
Neo used two elements together to compensate for their weakness.
His Aura Blade looked similar to Obitus.
Obitus\' emotions flared.
Happiness, jealousy.
Neo found it hard to maintain the Aura Blade.
Although the Aura Blade was small, it was deadlier than the giant swords he used to attack the Necromancer.
The audience started to sweat.
Their pupils dilated and their heartbeats quickened.
They could sense the powerful Death within Neo\'s hand.
He could kill all of them with a flick of his hand.
"There is no need to worry," Henry spoke up. "Proper safety measures have been prepared for the demonstration."
He motioned towards the butler who was standing below the stage.
"Sir Sebastian V Roche is standing guard. I\'m sure all of you know him.
"He is a living legend.
"I\'ll refrain from boasting about him since the demonstration isn\'t related to Sir Sebastian.
"But this should be enough for all of you.
"With Sir Sebastian here, you\'ll be safe even if a God Clan attacked the press conference right now."
Henry continued,
"You can enjoy the demonstration without any worry.
"Now, Neo, please attack the adamantium blocks."
Neo nodded.
He walked up to the first adamantium block and slashed.
His Aura Blade passed through it like a knife cutting through butter.
The top half of the adamantium block slid off the cleanly cleaved surface.
Henry clapped.
"A marvelous demonstration."
He turned to the audience.
"We\'ve seen Neo\'s performance with his Aura Blade.
"It\'s exemplary, but as you can see, it\'s taxing for him to maintain the Aura Blade."
He snapped his fingers.
A giant holographic screen appeared in the air.
It contained basic information about Aura Blades.
"Aura Blades, while powerful, are too draining.
"Almost any Demigods who can use them, don\'t use them.
"The ratio of output to Divine Energy consumption for Aura Blades isn\'t worth it, or so the demigods say.
"This is why they use weapons and coat – or superimpose, if I were to use a more technical analogy – the Aura Blade on their weapon.
"The output is almost the same, and the Divine Energy consumption is reduced by half."
Henry continued to explain pros and cons of Aura Blades.
He clarified why demigods used their weapons to create an Aura Blade instead of creating an Aura Blade out of thin air.
"This sword…."
Henry picked the standard sword that was brought to the stage.