CHAPTER 15: SYSTEM SKILL UNLOCKED: [PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY]

She stalked towards me, the purple aura of her power still crackling faintly around her hands. The shock had hardened into intense suspicion. "What," she said, her voice a low, dangerous command, "was that?"

I couldn’t help but enjoy this moment. Just a little. The look in her eyes behind that kitsune mask—it was priceless. The high-and-mighty Natalia Kuzmina, perfect Hunter prodigy, completely blindsided by the useless Zero she’d written off years ago.

But I needed to play this right. This was the performance that would rewrite our entire dynamic.

"I... I don’t..." I stared at my palm, flexing my fingers like I was seeing them for the first time.

The System chimed in my head with its usual sarcastic tone: [Initiating Acting Sequence: ’Confused Late Bloomer.’ Break a leg, Scumbag.]

"Are you going to explain yourself?" Natalia demanded, taking another step toward me. She was trying to intimidate me with her height advantage on the raised section of rock. Classic power move. "Since when can you shoot fire?"

I let my legs wobble slightly and leaned against the rust-colored wall, sliding down until I was half-sitting. Perfect picture of a man in shock.

"I don’t know," I whispered, making my voice ragged. "For weeks now, every time I pushed myself during workouts, I felt this... this heat in my gut. A pressure building up." I looked up at her, eyes wide with manufactured wonder. "I just... I saw that thing about to attack you, and I pushed. I didn’t even think."

Natalia crossed her arms, her body language still screaming skepticism. "You expect me to believe you suddenly manifested an Aspect at eighteen? That’s not how it works."

"Then how do you explain what just happened?" I snapped, letting genuine frustration color my tone. "You think I’ve been hiding fire powers for years just for fun? While everyone called me a useless Zero?"

Her eyes narrowed behind her mask. "Late manifestations are extremely rare."

"Rare doesn’t mean impossible," I countered, pushing myself back to my feet with effort. "Why do you think I’ve been killing myself with training? I felt something... changing. I thought I was going crazy."

I watched her face—what little I could see of it—as she processed this. The wheels were turning behind those violet eyes. The story was plausible enough. Aspects typically manifest in childhood, but there were documented cases of late bloomers, especially under extreme stress.

"Show me again," she commanded.

I hesitated. "I’m not sure I can. It just... happened."

"Try."

I made a show of concentrating, staring at my palm. I focused on the Ember ability, but deliberately held back, letting only the tiniest flicker of flame appear before it sputtered out.

"See?" I said, feigning disappointment and exhaustion. "I can’t control it."

Natalia was quiet for a long moment. The chamber around us felt suddenly oppressive, the bioluminescent fungi casting strange shadows across her mask.

"All this time," she finally said, her voice softer now, "you were trying to trigger a manifestation?"

I nodded, putting on my best vulnerable face. "I read that physical stress can sometimes awaken dormant abilities. The odds were slim, but..." I shrugged helplessly. "What else could I do? I was a Zero. Nobody wanted me around. My own stepsister could barely stand to look at me."

That last part was a calculated jab, and I saw it hit home. Her shoulders tensed slightly.

"Why didn’t you tell anyone?" she asked.

"Tell them what? That the fat, useless Satori thought he might have an Aspect? Who would believe me? I needed proof first." I gestured at the dead Acid-Spitter. "Guess I got it."

She started pacing, her boots crunching on the rocky ground. "This changes everything. If you really have an Aspect—"

"Maybe I can actually make something of myself."

The purple aura around her hands had completely faded now. Her anger was gone, replaced by that analytical look she got when faced with a complex problem.

"We need to test you," she said finally. "Under controlled conditions."

"After we finish the job," I replied, standing straighter now. "We’re in the middle of a Gate, remember? With monsters that shouldn’t be here."

This reminder snapped her back to our current predicament. "Right." She looked around the chamber with fresh wariness. "This was supposed to be an E-Rank Gate. There shouldn’t be Acid-Spitters or ambush tactics."

"Someone screwed up the classification," I said. "Or lied about it."

Natalia knelt to examine the dead Rust-Mite again, careful to avoid the acid still seeping from its ruptured sac. "Rust-Mites are typically E-Rank, but this specialized variant... this is D-Rank material."

"Should we abort?"

"No," she said firmly, rising to her feet. "We can handle it. I just need to be more careful. No more assumptions."

"And if we run into something worse than Acid-Spitters?"

She turned to me, and I could practically feel her reassessing me through that mask. For the first time, she was looking at me not as dead weight, but as a potential asset.

"Then I guess we’ll find out what else you can do," she said.

We moved deeper into the tunnel system, more cautiously now. Natalia still took point, but she kept me closer, no longer insisting on the five-meter gap. The tunnels gradually widened, the rust-colored walls giving way to a more cavernous space dotted with strange, crystalline formations that glowed with a dull red light.

"These are Core fragments," Natalia whispered, gesturing to the crystals. "Monster cores form from the ambient energy in Gates. These are like... byproducts. Worth money on their own."

I nodded, filing away the information. "Want me to collect some?"

She considered it. "Not yet. Let’s focus on the objective first."

As we progressed, I noticed a change in Natalia’s behavior toward me. The condescension was gone, replaced by something closer to... professional courtesy. It was still cold, still distant, but the contempt had evaporated.

[Seduction Progress: 35%] the System announced in my head. [Target perception altered. Primary view has shifted from "Disgusting Leech" to "Mysterious Potential."]

I suppressed a smirk behind my oni mask. Phase one of my plan was working better than expected.

The tunnel opened into a massive chamber, easily a hundred meters across. The ceiling soared above us, lost in darkness. What caught our attention, though, was the structure at the center—a massive mound of crystallized secretions and compacted earth, roughly dome-shaped and riddled with holes.

"The nest," Natalia breathed.

We crouched behind a large rock formation at the chamber’s edge. From our vantage point, we could see dozens of Rust-Mites moving around the nest, carrying chunks of crystal and unidentifiable materials.

"I count at least thirty on the surface," I murmured. "Probably more inside."

Natalia nodded. "And the Nest Mother will be in the central chamber." She pointed to a larger opening near the top of the mound. "That’s our target."

"What’s the plan? You can’t take on all of them at once."

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then she turned to me.

"Can you do it again?" she asked. "The fire?"

I flexed my hand. "Maybe. If I concentrate hard enough. Why?"

"Fire is effective against Rust-Mites. Their carapace is flammable." She pointed to several spots around the chamber. "Those stalactites contain mineral oil. If you could ignite them..."

I followed her gaze. The stalactites she indicated were dripping with a viscous substance that pooled on the ground below. If those caught fire...

"A distraction," I said, catching on. "While they deal with the fire, we make a run for the central entrance."

She nodded. "Exactly."

"I’ll try."

I concentrated, focusing on the Ember ability. This time, I didn’t hold back. A flame blossomed in my palm, bright and hot. Natalia’s eyes widened behind her mask.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded, tensing to spring. "On three. One... two... three!"