Agony

**Agony** is the powersource in **Helltale.** It's born whenever someone experiences a loss or a tragedy. The ones who can use this energy have supernatural abilities.

## Description

### Development

Agony is the a part of your conscience that reflects your true self and will. Everyone has agony, but few people are actually aware of their own. It takes a traumatic experience such as the death of someone they love, the loss of something important, etc.

When they finally get in touch with their agony, they may start to notice unusual things happening when they are emotionally intense. The environment may start to get hotter, electronic devices may go off, their bodies may start to have a different shape, etc. This is the result of involuntary channeling of agony into your environment. The final stage of this is finally listen to the voice of your agony, as it is a self-sufficient part of your conscience that's capable of absorving every detail you live and proccess it entirely. This is the purest version of you that exists independently and autonomously, and such, it can talk to you whenever it pleases.

Once you hit the final stage, you are now capable of channeling your aura into the sensorial world through your current desire. This allows you to interact with either your own body or the environment you live in.

### Properties

Agony can have different aspects and properties that gives it multiple uses. It can interact with the external world, as well as other people's body and mind. Agony is the essence of the human species and each person has their own. They can have different textures and scents, as well as being loud or shy.

Agony has two main aspects that defines most of it's nature, besides the properties: **Perversion and Mastery.** Perversion is related to how selfish and unrighteous you are. It is not related to the moral meaning of perversion, as good and evil has no effect in the treasure's properties. People who have high levels of perversion tend to have a higher output of their agony, and this also results in a more tiring use of energy.

People who have low levels of perversion are often more altruistic and righteous. Their use of Agony is shy and less wasteful and it often results in a lower output of agony.

Mastery is related to how orderly and focused you are. People who have high levels of mastery often have a more precise focuspoint when channeling their energy, whether that would be their bodies or a stream of energy. They are harder to use in short range combat and are better for higher distances / stealth combat.

People who have low levels of mastery are more spontaneous and chaotic, having less control over Agony but a much stronger blow of energy. They will have a wider range when channeling their energy into the environment, meaning they can affect a much broader area. Specially if combined with high perversion, they can fatigue their bodies in mere minutes of use.

## Presence

Asukamis have the ability of reading agony emitted by other Asukamis. The trace of agony is better compared to a scent. It is like a fragance exclusive to each individual, and people can use this "scent" to identify familiar faces, follow traces of agony left by less experienced Asukamis, etc. This is often a good way of tracking criminals, as they do not know how to hide their trace after using it. More experienced Asukamis may be able to use this to detect weakpoints into their foes, such as blindspots, wounds, attack patterns and, in rare cases, even predict their attacks. More experienced Asukamis learned to hide their traces and even imitate certain presences to mislead people.

Since agony is a primitive part of our conscience, it can be used as a tool of fear, although it is not effective against stronger Asukamis. An Akugami can simply strengthen their aura by channeling their agony in around their bodies to make a stronger presence. This method will imitate the scent of death, similar to how concentrated levels of alcohol can result in a dizzy feeling for the ones close enough to smell it. This will instigate a primal urge to survive in the enemy's body, which will make him excrete body fluids in order to make him faster to flee. It will also increase their heart rate, bloodflow and adrenaline levels, putting their body into an overdrive state. Taking advantage of our most powerful nature is very useful when dealing with Asukamis of the bottom of foodchain. Even if it does not trigger their fight or flight response, this *will* stress the enemy enough to have an effect in their performance.

There are a few ways an Akugami can deal with the gap in skill when it comes to agony control. The most obvious way of dealing with someone who relies on agony reading is by shifting to a more sensorial approach. By doing that, they're taking away all the intel your enemy has gathered and forcing him into a close quarter battle, something most users reliant on agony manipulation will not perform well. Another way of dealing with that is by disrupting the flow of agony. You can do that by mixing your normal flow of agony used in attacks with a stronger flow of mundane energy, similar to hiding your voice into a crowd. The enemy will have trouble differenciating the actual source of energy from your attack. Although none of them are flawproof, they will make it a fair fight.

## Wielding agony

The only way you can make use of agony manipulation is by imbuing it with your desire and channeling it into the outer world. It takes practice to learn how to manipulate your energy, but it is a very intuitive process and takes little training. It is comparable to learning how to wield a pencil, since once you learn how to effectively use it, you will hone your coordination with it as you use it.

Agony can also inflict different status on the target, based on your agony's shape. For example, someone with a flaming agony can use it to burn their enemies. Eris especializes on that, since his technique allows him to effectively inflict status on people through the fourth gate.

Different properties of agony makes for different uses, and each person will find a creative way of wielding it. There is no limitations to its use, but everyone will find a comfort zone in one specific area.

## Treasures

Treasure is a gift for people who have experienced a loss recently. It is similar to agony wielding, but it requires less energy for activation and is often more versatile than agony wielding alone.

Treasures often give the Akugami the edge in battle. A good Akugami wielder will use their energy to completent their Treasure's strengths. A good combination of Treasure and agony manipulation can be hard to beat, as they often are more flexible than when separated.

Treasures can make multiple things, but they cannot be changed nor removed, unless they are not fitting anymore. An example of someone with a non fitting treasure is Eris Di Lycidas. He has Perfect Reflex and the Tesseract, two very prestiged Treasures that also make up for a powerful reactive approach. Eventually, Eris gives up on Perfect Reflex as a way of growing his agony's output, since it does not fit his personality anymore.

Although Treasures will use agony as a fuel, it is a much smaller portion than simply channeling it into a sensorial path. Some Treasures even work by reducing your agony usage or simply amplifying your agony regeneration

## Running out of fuel

When someone uses too much agony, things get complicated. There are multiple steps before someone run out completely. The first thing they will notice is a loss in performance in battle. They will feel more tired and pain will be intensified. This happens when agony is around 30% of its total capacity. Things start to get worse from here on.

Eventually, the Akugami will start to feel stressed. This will affect their psychological in battle, which will make it harder for them to make quick decisions and think properly. They may start to feel anxious and lose focus in battle.

When an Akugami is at their edge, they will start to halucinate and then black out completely. If they black out, their bodies will get into a comma state due to the overdrive in their nervous system. They'll wake up when their bodies have recovered from all the stress in using agony restlessly.

Experienced Asukamis have a better agony conservation, for they are aware of the danger of running out completely. They have lower rates of waste, better self-awareness in terms of agony capacity and also more flexible means to fight than relying solely in their agony manipulation. They use tools for fighting and some even handicap their agony output so they have a longer duration in battle.

## Contracts

When two Asukamis form a contract, the universe recognises them as a single entity. This allows the user to apply his treasure's effects into their partner. A good example is when Eris formed a contract with the entire city to move them into another plane, so they become invulnerable, making it safe for them to remain at the city while he fights the invasors.

There are different types of contracts, each with its own particularity. The most common one is when both parties agree on trusting each other for a limited amount of time. This kind of contract can end by either one of the parties betraying the other, which leads them into a punishment state, or when the time runs out. The punishment can vary, but the most common is removing the user's agony and treasure, either definitely or permanently.

Another kind of contract is the involuntary contract. It forms when two parties bond together and trust each other willingly. This contract is not limited by a time period, and is only broken when one of the parties abandon their partner. Even after death, both sides are still connected. There are no drawbacks for this contract.

## Instincts

Each human is born with the following necessities: Reproduction, socializing and self-preservation. They are natural instincts that affect our agony. an Akugami is capable of imbuing their instinct within their agony for different results.

### Sexual: Intensity

Each human has the natural desire to reproduce. It is often related to intensity and connection. When someone imbue the sexual instinct within their agony, it results in a very destructive aura that is often used to amplify their attacks and physical prowess.

### Social: Blending in

Everyone must belong to a social group. This comes from the fear of being left alone, as in the begginings of the human race, being rejected by your group meant death. When you imbue this instinct in your agony, you end up with a lesser aura that can be used to reduce the waste of agony, which will help you to last longer in a fight, while maintaining most of your destructive output.

### Self-preservation: Protection

Everyone fear death. In order to survive, one must gather enough resources to live a prosperous life. This instinct is often used to deflect attacks, in exchange of your movement. You become more resiliant to both physical and agony attacks, but you end up less agile. Your output of agony and treasure usage remains the same.

## Mass destruction

When someone survives a disaster, such as tsunamis, volcanic activities, or earthquakes, they are given all the agony from the dead. The difference between a disaster survivor and a common Akugami, is that agony produced within their own bodies more often than not results in a psychic nature. They are less mentally stable and may have melancholic and suicidal tendencies, while natural disasters' survivors are not affected by this. They also have a much larger concentration of agony, as well as a stronger treasure.

### ~~Pacifist~~

~~Pacifists are the weakest class among Asukamis. They often do not have a treasure and also have low levels of agony.~~

### ~~Prodigy~~

~~Prodigies may have a treasure, but it is uncommon. They usually rely on physical prowess or agony wielding.~~

### ~~Champion~~

~~Champions are well-suited for most hunts, as they have better levels of agony, as well as commonly having a treasure.~~

### ~~Deity~~

~~Deities are among the most powerful Asukamis. They are autonomous and versatiles. The only hunt they are not suited for, is the following grade.~~

### ~~Natural disaster~~

~~Natural disasters are the pinacle of Asukamis. They are insane fighters, capable of bringing the end of human race in less than 24h. Natural disasters are only allowed to fight inside a different plane, and alone, otherwise they may hurt their own allies.~~

## Trivia

* Agony is heavily based on Jujutsu Kaisen cursed energy and Shin Megami Tensei persona system;
* Most properties were created after observing people's preferences for entertainment;
* When two Asukamis marry each other, they form an involuntary contract;

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