《Rise of a Scarlet Devil (Regular+Draft Version)》 Prologue: Nine Thousand and One ¡°So, what did you find?¡± He turned around from his desk to see his employer. The man stood in front of the open door, the dim light already present in the room seemed to darken around the man obscuring his features from the world. This man was his boss, the one who gave him funding for all of his work. ¡°Close,¡± he said, replying in an almost servile manner, ¡°out of nearly 3,000¡­¡± His boss slammed a palm against the door crushing it with his sheer might. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for estimations. I hired you for a reason.¡± ¡°¡­Out of 2,937, only 3 subjects showed positive results in the experiment.¡± ¡°The rest?¡± ¡°Roughly 97% ended up dead while 2¡­¡± ¡°Again, I want EXACT numbers. I gave you many chances before but this is it.¡± He paused for a bit, unsure of what would come if he didn¡¯t comply. But knowing his boss, it wasn¡¯t going to be a good ending and as such, he chose his words carefully with his life on the line. He scavenged through the absurd amount of documents scattered throughout the room with the assistance of his [Superior Scholar] and [Eldritch Researcher] skills allowing him to swiftly find the exact papers he needed. He pulled up his glasses for no apparent reason other than to satisfy his own urges and cleared his throat, ready to read off the information that he and his team had spent the past year researching and compiling. ¡°2854 of the subjects died within a minute or an hour of the injection while 83 survived past the eight hour mark. Of those that survived the initial injection, 80 ended up transforming into grotesque shapes on the second. Many of the employees working on those that had transformed ended up dead themselves due to them exploding within a minute of exposure to harm or when they¡¯d die. I had to call in the corps to deal with them and even then we lost 24 researchers and 192 guards. The three that survived showed much more success on the following injections and we¡¯ve diagnosed that they had an abysmally small chance of becoming volatile as the failures did before.¡± ¡°Show me where they are held.¡± ¡°Ah yes, of course. He tucked the binder underneath his arm and walked towards the door. He couldn¡¯t see even a speck of magic emanating from his boss but he knew better than that. The man wielded enough power to devastate entire kingdoms but he spent his days in service to another because of a forced contract. It was tragic but it couldn¡¯t be helped. The two walked along the empty halls of the facility, far hidden away from even the smallest speck of sun. The metal walls denied all attempts of scrying and magical interference but it was quite stuffy as a result. They passed by many doors which led to other sectors which expanded outwards from there but they headed straight ahead ignoring such doors. The occasional researcher appeared and waved a hello at him but the moment they saw the boss, they quickly fled after bowing or saluting. They were the lucky ones. After a half hour of walking, the two men had arrived at their destination. It was the containment facility built to house their successful experiments. It was originally intended to house several hundred of the thousands they had acquired before but the vast majority of the containers lied in dormancy. It was only the three front most ones that actually had guards and researchers standing about. ¡°Pardon me, pardon me. Business coming through.¡± He pushed through the employees with his voice but it was quite unneeded. The boss had parted the small crowd simply by existing. The employees scattered away from the containers and stood there in silence in respect for the boss. ¡°So these are the good ones?¡± the boss asked, his face skeptical at the state of the three children, one female, and two male floating in three separate containers. Each of them was emaciated and could only survive due to the hourly supplements given to them. Of the three, the two males had profane appendages sprouting from their bodies or blackened hide and consumed much more supplements to survive than the female. The container standing in the middle was the biggest of the three and the most secure due to the value of the middle subject. ¡°Yes, they are the only ones who are still alive in the demonification experiment. We¡¯ve tested the current states of their bodies and have concluded the regeneration factor of the Demons are present especially in the middle subject. Their designations from left to right are Subject 9-81, Subject 15-109, and Subject 1-138. We received the female in the ninth batch and the males in the fifteenth and first batches respectively.¡± Each of the containers were placed linearly in the lab, each one holding a potential demon which they could let loose onto the world. ¡°Subject 9-81 on the left had undergone 13 injections and our researchers reported that 29% of her body had crystallized into the catalyst state. Subject 1-138 on the right had undergone 17 injections and already reached the partial transformation stage as evident by the changes in his body, but it sadly wasn¡¯t stable enough to be of use to us. The one in the middle is our best work though. Subject 15-109 only took 5 injections but his body had completely transformed into a Demon with no apparent side effects after years of observation and testing. Currently, he is undergoing the final process of sealing and we expect him to awaken in a matter of weeks, thou-¡° * He stopped after he saw what his boss had done, his mouth was agape and his glasses nearly fell off of his head. The boss just thrust his hand towards the glass and broke it? But it was something that even he couldn¡¯t destroy with his best effort! Similarly, the researchers on the side panicked and tried to find a safe place to hide behind while the guards moved forward against their better judgment. Seeing this, he had to do something. ¡°Halt! Let the boss do as he pleases!¡± But despite hearing his declaration, the guards still moved forwards. Boss still held the boy by the neck with his right hand but a quiet sound could be heard from within his grasp. ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± The boy was already awake? But how? All of his routine reports showed that all of the subjects was unconscious and even his [Truth Seeing Eyes] couldn¡¯t detect it. ¡°You left such a dangerous toy alone? I expected more of you Kreir.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The boss ridiculed him as he tightened his grip around the child¡¯s neck, but oddly enough, the boy didn¡¯t resist. He just dangled there in the air and let the boss suffocate him with his bare hands while giggling with what breath he had left. A dangerous black light escaped from the boy¡¯s eyes but were stifled by the boss¡¯ shadows before they could do any harm. ¡°I¡¯ll be taking this one. You can do what you want with the rest. Those defects you call successes are worth nothing to me but this one will do.¡± The boss bound the boy in his own magic power and began the same ritual he had done on Kreir himself many years ago. An absolute contract capable of binding even deities to it, forbidden knowledge that would instantly earn the right of damnation if any of the major gods learn of it. The boy¡­ the demon resisted as much as it could. Its skin turned black and its form changed. A stable existence of a true demon. The pitch black sclera and glowing blue cornea combined with the aura of suppression emanating from the demon was immense. Every researcher besides Kreir had already collapsed and the guards became more aggravated than before. A smog of black mana tried to contain the demon¡¯s aura but to no avail as the aura was a formless and extraordinary ability. The chains on the demon began to shake and tremble but stayed tight on the ballooning body. ¡°Feisty one aren¡¯t you? You shall become a great weapon.¡± The glass containers began to shatter around the scene. Each and every one of the guards fought with one another, their eyes glowing red with madness. Demonic power and shadows collided in the midst of a ritual which could spell the end of the battle while Kreir simply sat there overlooking the conflict. None of his skills were suited to direct combat but he did have a few advantages that others didn¡¯t. The world slowed around him or to be exact, he sped up his own body. He couldn¡¯t surpass his physical limitations and couldn¡¯t use this for long to avoid detection from any time deities but within the current situation, doing anything else would be foolish. This ability hidden even to the boss and one he held to utmost secrecy regardless of any other factor. Within the now slow world, he observed his entire surroundings. He could see everything moving in a hundredth of a second compared to before. He could see every individual strand of black mana escaping from the boss¡¯ shadows and the slow cruel laughter of the demon within his grasp. The ritual was only at the half mark but nearly half of the boss¡¯ mana was spent on the suppression of the demon and the maintenance of his contract on Kreir. ¡®Is the league of a demon¡¯s soul that lofty? Seems so. Either way, this is my chance.¡¯ Kreir didn¡¯t expect for this chance to come so soon. Even at full power, he had no way to beat the boss unless he were to sacrifice his life as a result and there was no way he would give up on living. His soul was already marked by the gods for exceeding his given lifespan and the moment he decided to reveal himself would be when the Liberators were about to stab him. Kreir decided on it. He hadn¡¯t prepared for years for nothing. He first needed to break the contract using the Prismatic Wyrm¡¯s Tooth then to somehow kill the boss. The last step was the most difficult part of the process as the boss still had mana but it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. The demon itself was apparently a pure strength-type and could easily be handled by his own magic, but he could never begin the plan as he noticed something too late. The rightward container broke from the demon¡¯s aura and the body of Subject 1-138 fell to the ground. At least, that was what Kreir had thought before. Now that he paid closer attention to the body, he could see that it was rapidly inflating even at his current time scale. He could see the boss turning his eyes towards the sudden flux of magic power and Kreir himself came upon a realization from this. He completely forgot about what had happened to those that transformed previously in a lapse of focus caused by his obsession over the contract. At the moment of a demon¡¯s death, they¡¯d explode. ¡°Shi-¡° Everything went to hell. What few containers that hadn¡¯t already been broken were obliterated by the blast. The boss and Subject 15-109 were fine due to the ritual¡¯s casting protection but Kreir himself wasn¡¯t. He had ample time to react but his movements were sluggish in his accelerated perception. All he could do before the demon¡¯s body exploded was form a thin shield around himself that absorbed a majority of the blast. The shield broke from the incoming blast of chaotic mana, eroding away the shield and damaging his own body. His body was flung across the entire room and collided with a wall with a loud crash. He collapsed onto the ground and kept his position. He took too much damage and by a cursory glance at his status, he confirmed that he indeed had only a sliver of his vitality left. The researchers collapsed on the ground and the guards in combat had practically become dust from the explosion and Subject 9-81 was nowhere to be seen. Kreir was severely injured while the boss was practically unharmed. He was put into such a disadvantageous situation by his own negligence. He was nearly dead and he could feel Mortum pulling at his soul. He wasn¡¯t going to let that happen as the moment the gods found out what he had been doing over the past few years, he¡¯d definitely end up with a fate worse than being forcefully becoming a blank slate again by the Liberators. He refrained from leaving the lab in order to protect his work but now it seemed like another would reap the benefits without him. He might be the most powerful man in the world but everything wasn¡¯t going to be easy for the boss, Kreir would make sure of it. He pulled at the inner depths of his soul. The very foundation that gives both life and power while also acting as a shackle for all creation. The gods above might have raised the state of their souls to divine status, but they are bound in the same way as he had for millennia! He, and only he had founded knowledge which exceeded that of the gods. A knowledge that was never known before. ¡°Soul Break.¡± It was his last chance. He¡¯d give up his own life in exchange for this power but if it succeeds, the boss would fail the binding ritual and suffer not only injuries from Kreir but backlash from Subject 15-108 as well. His body rapidly aged as all the energy was absorbed to feed the magic working upon him. Just by looking at the resulting scene alone, one would realize that something devastating was about to unfold. ¡°Kreir!¡± Boss saw what he was doing and color drained from his face. He left no more time for words and accelerated the binding ritual on Subject 15-108. The demon shook and thrashed more violently against the chains encasing it. ¡°Too late.¡± He had already consumed nearly all of the intrinsic energy within his body and now his soul was brimming with power. Though, without a vessel to hold his soul, he¡¯d either be claimed by a higher power or become a wraith to haunt the world forever. He was already sick of being bound for nine thousand years, and today was the day that he¡¯d break free. ¡°I don¡¯t fear you Atrum.¡± The contract which prevented him from speaking of the boss¡¯ name for thousands of years suddenly lashed out of his body towards his soul, the black chains entwined trying to hold the ethereal being back but his magical power at the moment surpassed even the laws of reality. Small cracks appeared on his form first before stringing out all over him. The capacity of energy that his soul could hold was immense but no mortal soul could handle six thousand years of intrinsic energy. ¡°But I do hate you. See you in hell.¡± ¡°You little-¡° His soul exploded at that moment. He could feel the strain on his soul until the very last moment where he felt nothing. He was satisfied with the resulting explosion which probably destroyed everything within a hundred leagues. He had expected the destruction of his soul to end his consciousness but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case as he could still think though without sense. The world was dyed in black and there was nothing for him to do in this emptiness. As such, he simply existed in that void of a world. Thinking. Act 1: Demons Within (1) Act 1: Demons Within (1) Beyond the tall peaks of the Balros mountains stood a lonely war-ravaged land. A place filled with none else than the bodies of friend, foe, ally, enemy, broken hopes, and promises forgotten beneath the bloodied soil. Fresh bodies, clad in armor broken beyond recognition, lie on the ground, ready to join generations of soldiers before them. The cries of agony and the smell of burning flesh permeate the air as a small army saunters westward, victorious after a hard fought battle. It was among the charred, blackened bodies. A small body, broken, cleaved, and burnt to the point of what would be considered inhumane. Dried blood covered the ground around this shape, pooling around fragments of chains and weapons. The dirt had been riled, a recent struggle occurring at the very location just before. Everything was silent. Quiet. Not a single sound could be heard even when one whispered to the man next door. The stillness brought with it beauty. A crimson red flower bloomed amidst the carnage, its petals entwining with one another, a mythical sight to behold. The flower had soaked in the blood of many throughout the countless years, absorbing the strength of ancients and maturing to its final state. This particular flower had sprouted over the broken body, its petals unraveling in a spiral-like fashion to reveal the hidden gem underneath. The scarlet blossom held a small red orb, one that held within it the Crest of Blood. The black inner reverse cross was bordered by red, its colors shimmering in the brilliant scarlet glow. It was then that a dark sinister light had appeared, a mix of shadow and beast began to fight against the scarlet flower. The two forces clashed for days on end, their ethereal auras dimming until there was no more. The beast fell, its corpse dissolving into smoke and the flower withered, the gem left behind liquefied in a puddle on the ground. The two forces raced towards the body, their haste opposing one another to the bitter end. They collided, both seeping into the body in order to take hold of it. It was only then that a bright red light began to shine from where the liquid had entered the body, spreading across the body before the tendrils of darkness could take complete control. Trapped within the body, the shadow tried to escape but only ended up being bound. Moments afterward the red light faded, flickering without life. Everything had become still once again, but the body had changed. A pulse, not one from within the body but one from outside, began to throb in a rhythmic pattern. It was slow at first, nothing more than a slight throb every now and again, but it gradually quickened as time went by. The cycle repeated itself, the air visibly parting as tendrils of crimson light began escaping from the body. The grass around the body began to change. Each blade of grass thickened, veins filled with blood had sprouted out of the leaves, the roots drawing blood from deep within the earth itself. The blackened body within the epicenter of these strange events began to glow, the red glow masking even the most gruesome sights away from the world. Blackened flesh and scorched skin peeled off of the body with every rhythmic beat. Only when the twin moons hung high in the starless sky would the shell fade. From above, the sight of a barren ground surrounding a small island of blood red grass could be seen. A glowing white skeleton floated above the patch of blood grass with a crimson red gem suspended within it. The gem was dim, devoid of any of the previous luster it once had, the Crest of Blood had disappeared entirely, replaced with a small swirling mass of darkness. The volatile mass of darkness seemed to try to escape, burrowing its spires in the red shell encircling it. Thin white cracks began appearing on the sphere but that was only for a moment. The blood grass had finished collecting blood from thousands of leagues away into that one area. The bodies that once littered the battlefield were now nothing more than empty husks. The blood grass exploded, unable to handle the burden of the sudden force. Blood trails streamed towards the orb within the skeleton. The orb hungrily devoured the blood, drowning itself in the ocean of blood as more and more light radiated from the skeleton. The darkness held within was stifled by the rush of power, all resistance now held futile. But it hadn¡¯t given up yet. It still had a chance¡­ The orb had eaten its fill, nearly half of the reservoir of blood had been eaten but the other half remained, submerging the white skeleton in its crimson glory. From blood came flesh, organs and muscles began to form around the skeleton. The heart formed first, it pulsated with every new subsequent addition, entrails had moved into place, lungs moved in and out, and scarlet eyes formed in the hollow eye sockets, swiveling around until they faced forward. The muscles and sinew flowed across the skeleton, covering the white bone and raw organs. Unmarred white skin spread across the flesh, delicate fingers and a slim form appeared. Black hair sprouted from the head, its length reaching no more than the base of the body¡¯s neck. The naked body of a young girl, untouched by the hands of time and tragedy had appeared within the floating mass of blood. Reconstructing the body had consumed half of the remaining blood, however, the remaining blood surrounding the girl¡¯s body had a thickness equal to that of an ancient thousand-year tree. The nearly black blood seeped into the body, refined by the various organs into a brilliant scarlet color that flowed throughout her body. Once the blood refinement ended, the crimson light finally dispersed, flowing back into her body from whence it came. Without the support of the mysterious force, the girl alongside the leftover blood fell to the blood encrusted soil beneath. Only when the twin moons set and the sun rose in the east did the girl open her newly formed eyelids. Revealing her dim lifeless eyes beneath. Her mouth moved but no sound escaped from it. She lied there, unable to speak but able to think. ¡®Who am I?¡¯ She asked herself. She had forgotten who she was. Lost in thought, she moved her head to face the east, towards the sun rising between the distant peaks of the Balros Mountains, covering the sky in a vibrant blaze of orange and yellow. ¡®Pretty.¡¯ She stared at the early daybreak, merely admiring the scene as her mind couldn¡¯t comprehend it. A small smile spread across her face, natural and genuine as it was. She didn¡¯t care about the dead grass nor the pungent smell of death surrounding her. She could only gaze at the rising sun as it flew higher and higher above her. ¡®A nice day to die.¡¯ She stopped. Why had she thought that? Shouldn¡¯t she already be dead? But she is alive now, she was sure of it. She felt her body, the smooth skin she never believed she would have again felt refreshing beneath her dainty fingers. She raised her hands, no longer the malformed mess they were before. Her hands were still clawed, yes, but retractable, appearing as only sharp nails when fully withdrawn. Was she given another chance somehow? She couldn¡¯t tell. The human gods never gave any thought to someone like her. Could it be another race¡¯s god? The questions spread throughout her mind. She couldn¡¯t find the answer. She lacked the ability to. Suddenly, she felt a warmth emanate from deep within her chest. Her pulse accelerated, her body slipped from her control, convulsing around as her mind was pierced by pain. She could remember it. The searing pain of her past. A sharp line of blood followed by the lack of sensation from her bottom half and the weightlessness that came with it. The thousands of knives piercing her body from within and the constant contortions she had gone through. She could remember them. The faces of the ones who did this to her. She remembered it all. Her face contorted at the feelings of betrayal and rage once forgotten rushing back to her. The faces of those she knew twisted by the madness of the world. The screams of her mother as she was burned alive. It was then that the warmth in her chest exploded. The face of a man appearing at the forefront of her thoughts. The golden hair and cold blue eyes stared down at her. She didn¡¯t know who he was but the warmth inside of her told her what he was. The mad howls from the girl shook the very world around her. The blood vaporized in her presence, the scarlet red light danced within her eyes. ¡®Who am I?¡¯ The girl scoffs at her own stupid question. She moved her mouth to speak once more, a cold voice replied to the madness within her. ¡°Who am I? I am the victim.¡± ¡®So what?¡¯ ¡°They will pay¡­ All of them.¡± ¡®You know you cannot win.¡¯ ¡°Then I will wait. They will not know. They will never know.¡± ¡®Then what?¡¯ ¡°I strike. Nothing can stop me. Not even Him.¡± ¡®Very well.¡¯ The once human girl let out an ear piercing laugh, if anyone were to hear it, they would be able to feel their flesh and bone freeze over because of it. A primordial fear within all beings embodied by the voice of a small girl with Scarlet Eyes. Skill [Blood Oath] has been received from ??? Skill [Twisted Fate] has been received from ??? A small blue box appeared within the peripheral of her vision but she ignored it only to laugh more. Her laughter went on for an indeterminable amount of time, echoing throughout the empty field, her madness evident with each and every peal. It was only when the sun had crossed halfway across the sky did her laughter stop. She was hungry. Her thirst grew ever since she woke up but she had ignored it. The pain was obtrusive to her thoughts and her natural instinct was to hunt. She remembered something appearing in the corner of her vision but she cared not for it. She looked around her surroundings scanning every possible inch within range but what she saw left her looking disappointed. The soil had already soaked up the blood changing to a muddy red hue. Not even the vilest of creatures would attempt to consume the muddy mess beneath her and even her own body was caked in the blackish-red blood. The putrid smell of rotten blood filled the air around her. It bothered her so much so that she had to hold her nose shut to think clearly. Just where was she? Her scarlet eyes moved westward to where she could sense the energy of living beings, to be precise, a large encampment of soldiers. They were several days away from her if she were to run at them straight on and most of them were mere fodder for her to devour or so she thought. She tensed her legs and readied herself for a fast hunt, however, just as she was just about to begin her pursuit her body froze. Every hair on her body seemed to stand up as she felt a gaze somewhere around her. Danger. That¡¯s what she felt. Her memories told her that they were related to her target, but her body and told her to flee. To run until she can face them. And run she did. She turned on her heels and ran to the east following the trail littered with broken armor and weaponry littering the ground, yet with no bodies or remains left behind. She didn¡¯t know what happen to them, but she knew it wasn¡¯t good. She increased her pace. She ran through the empty field, fleeing away from the danger, her stomach dangerously grumbling in the meanwhile. She desperately needed to eat but survival came first. She spotted a forest after spending ten minutes on the trail and saw it as shelter from those prying eyes. Just as she made it to the edge of the forest, a strong force knocked her forwards from behind. Her right shoulder collided with a tree before she collapsed onto the ground meekly. A cloud of dust and soil exploded out from where she was an hour ago. The field wiped of any traces of battle, buried underneath the soil for good or pulverized to nothing. She hid behind a small alcove in a tree occasionally peering out to see if anyone was there. She felt life all around her and even life from the tree itself, but there were three large masses on the other side of her tree, ¡ª¡­reporting in. ¡ªDid you find it? ¡ªNo, they must have already been destroyed by the volcanic crag. ¡ªTsk. No confirmation. Check the perimeters for spies. No one must know the result of this battle. Ivecil and Helios must think that they each won the fight. The three cloaked figures were talking just close enough for her to hear their hushed voices, granted, she had to strain her ears to hear a single bit of their conversation. Ivecil? Helios? The names of human kingdoms escaped from their mouths and entered her ears. She tucked herself closer into the little hole in response, desperately lowering her own breathing to prevent them from hearing her. ¡ªThe king won¡¯t like it if some rat managed to escape. Search harder! The three cloaked figures spread out in three directions, luckily none of them were headed her way. She released her breath with a small sigh but one of the cloaked figures peered into the alcove just as she did so. ¡°Wa-!¡± ¡°Shh¡­¡± The cloaked figure clamped their hand over her mouth and looked around for a moment. ¡°Stay quiet. Stay still. Their master wants you dead but mine wants you to live.¡± She struggled to escape the stranger¡¯s grasp but to no avail. Their grip held firm over her mouth. ¡°Flee from Ivecil and the Devis. My master awaits.¡± The stranger let her go then and disappeared into the depths of the forest. The girl gasped to breathe once again but immediately shut her mouth once she felt something to her left. ¡ªHmm? What was that? Another cloaked figure stood north of her current location. They had heard her gasp. They raised their hand into their cloak and brought out a cylindrical handle of some sort. They aimed it downwards and pulled the trigger, a small round penetrated the ground releasing a strange energy throughout the surroundings. ¡ªTiger! Report! The stranger that spoke to her before appeared in front of the cloaked figure, drawn in by the mana pulse. ¡ªTiger reporting in. ¡ªDid you find anything? ¡ªNone at all sir. The cloaked figure and the stranger stood in silence for several minutes before the cloaked figure spoke again. ¡ªSearch this area closely. Something¡¯s off. And call Jackal as well. He needs some proper punishment now that he ignored the signal. ¡ªYes, sir. Something being off was right. She held her breath as the two departed again, vehemently searching the area. The stranger, Tiger they were called, searched around the area where she was hiding. Tiger kept moving around, even checking the tree she was in before moving further away as if ignoring that she was there. She hid for an hour or so before she saw them leave. She left the tree and her stomach grumbled even more than it had before. She looked around at the forest around her, at the plentiful specks of life surround her. She licked her pink lips as fangs protruded from behind her upper and bottom lip. It was time for a feast. She used her ability to sense where her prey was alongside her acute sense of smell and started harvesting them. She killed one and quickly devoured it before moving onto the next. Tracking and killing anything she found with her sharp, retractable claws, repeating the process as she deprived countless small animals of their lives. The amount of satiation she received from eating them was meagre and unsatisfying but it had cleared her thoughts somewhat. She occasionally found a few beasts that she couldn¡¯t handle but fled the moment she felt their strong life energy. She continued like this until the sun set and night came. All the animals and creatures had fallen asleep, their life energy slowing to a halt preventing her from finding them anymore. It was at this time that the nocturnal creatures arose but she would be fine against them. She could easily escape them before they saw her. The brief pause in her hunting spree and partially filled stomach gave her time to think. She had seen something in the corner of her vision earlier but she hadn¡¯t thought anything was strange about it at the time. Now that she looked closer, the blue speck seemed to call to her, enlarging in front of her the moment she focused back onto it. Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eye] has been obtained Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eye] has increased in level (1)
Name Unnamed Age 1 Day Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet) [0/3]
Vitality 14/29 (+.007/s) Mana 82/82 (+.02/s) Mentality 27/29 (+.01/s)
STR 5 INT 16 MND 8
CONThis novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. 6 DEX 9 LUK 1
Ailment: Satisfied, Weakened Status: Normal
Skills Level Proficiency Description
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 2.4% (P) Physical Enhancement I - Increases Vitality by .06% (P) Physical Regeneration I - Increases Vitality Regen by .06% (A) Demon Sense I - Consume Mentality to sense Life Energy
[Keen Sight] 2/10 49.4% (P) Instinct I - Grants minor proficiency in Tracking and Analysis (?) -Locked- (?) -Locked-
[Blood Oath] N/A N/A (S) Blood Crest - 0% Awakening
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A (P) ???
The screen filled her sight with its blue glow and white symbols. She didn¡¯t understand what they meant but could interpret them just fine. ¡®This is me?¡¯ She thought to herself. She contemplated at what those words meant as she never thought she would ever try to define herself. She had always been judged by others but never thought of it herself. Contemplating this new thought, she walked through the dense vegetation until a howl interrupted her thoughts. Rather than a singular howl, there was a series of howls tearing through the gloomy atmosphere of the forest. She looked around and realized where she was. She had accidentally walked into the den of wolves. She had identified this location earlier in the day while the pack was active and sternly avoided it. But now that it was night, the beasts were sleeping, their life energy dim to the point where she couldn¡¯t see them. To be fair, she wasn¡¯t focusing on looking for life energy in the first place due to her being absently minded at the time but she didn¡¯t know that. All she knew was that she woke the sleeping beasts. Within seconds, the pack surrounded her. Growling at the intruder that invaded their territory. A loud howl, more distinct than the one of the others came from her left. She turned in that direction just in time to see the ring of wolves part, revealing a wolf that stood at double the height of the others. It was a Noble Wolf, an evolved version of the normal wolves surrounding it. The Noble Wolf¡¯s fur was clean and shiny in the dim moonlight, incomparable to the dirty matted fur of its followers. Its silver eyes glared at her and hers stared back. The wolves began to move, their ring expanding allowing her to have some breathing room, but immediately after the Noble Wolf let out a low regal snarl before lowering its body toward the ground. Only after a moment did she realize what this meant, she jumped back just as the Noble Wolf dashed forward. Its powerful hind legs kicking up dust as it swung at where she was before. The dangerously sharp claws just barely grazing her midriff, pain flaring up from where the claws had cut her delicate skin. The Noble Wolf was an enemy. She released her claws and ran towards the wolf¡¯s blind spot, striking at what she perceived to be a weak spot thanks to [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] but her claws only glanced off the wolf¡¯s metallic silver fur. She tumbled forwards due to the unexpected momentum and tripped onto the ground. The wolf simply stood there watching her, egging her to get up. It was at this moment that she knew it was out of her league. That it was merely playing with her. She was just a toy in the eyes of the Noble Wolf. Enraged, she got up and lunged at the wolf again. The wolf reacted in kind, pouncing at the girl with its claws ready to strike. Just as the two were about to connect, the voice of a woman rang out from above. ¡°STOP!¡± A whirl of azure fire struck the Noble Wolf on the chest from above, knocking it away from the sheer force to the other side of the encirclement. The Noble Wolf¡¯s pack looked above to spot the intruder, all of them agitated by the woman who harmed their alpha. The woman was fairly young with blonde hair and shimmering emerald eyes. Her long ears seemed out of place as she floated above the clearing out of the pack¡¯s reach. A glowing book was floating just above her right shoulder and a ring of light surrounded her feet. She lifted her left palm towards the wounded Noble Wolf while the floating book emitted a stronger glow as her mouth moved rapidly, forming the verses required to activate the spell within the grimoire. Another stream of azure fire blasted out towards the Noble Wolf. However, the wolf was ready and dodged the incoming attack moments before it landed. It flew past the wolf and hit the ground just a few steps from where she was standing, scorching the earth and burning the plants in the highly concentrated flames. The pack was distracted by the woman so she decided to make a break for it. But the pack wolves weren¡¯t letting her go either. A group of three barred her path while the others growled at the woman currently engaged with their alpha. They moved in on her but before they could attack her, the Noble Wolf let out a small cry. Its wounds were grievous and it had signaled their retreat. The swift Noble Wolf ran with its pack away from their home and away from the intruders. The woman threw a few more balls of azure fire at them but every time a fireball would have struck the Noble Wolf, another wolf would throw themselves in the way to protect it. The wolves had escaped the woman¡¯s range and there was nothing the woman could do. The woman turned around to face her and floated down to take a closer look at her wounds. She had a few injuries here and there. Her right shoulder was bruised from the earlier impact while a deep gash was on her left thigh. The shallow cut on her midriff wasn¡¯t as severe as the others but it warranted attention from the woman as well. ¡°Calm down girl, everything¡¯s going to be alright.¡± The woman spoke to her, the soothing tone lessened the pain slightly but it was suspicious. What was she doing here anyways? She backed up a few steps and readied her hands once again, her nails extending into claws at a moment¡¯s notice. She was ready for a fight if the woman attacked. The woman closed the book that was hovering over her left shoulder and held it between her left arm and chest, raising both arms to signify her peaceful intent. ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight. Come with me, a girl like you shouldn¡¯t be out here.¡± The woman reached her arm out towards the girl but she didn¡¯t accept it. She knew better than to trust a stranger. She lowered her body and slightly extended her claws. She will run. However, the woman did not know this. She merely saw the girl in front of her entering a low stance and bring out sharp weapons from her fingertips. ¡°An assassin?!¡± The woman immediately brought out her grimoire but the very act was seen as hostile by the girl. She planned on running but the woman¡¯s fire would easily catch her. She remembered the scene where the wolves sacrificed themselves to save their leader, she didn¡¯t have such luxuries. One hit and she¡¯d practically be ashes. Instead, she took the initiative. She lunged at the woman the moment the book¡¯s pages started turning. The woman was currently chanting in a low muttered voice and backpedaling as fast as possible with the book in hand. Because of this, the girl caught up to the woman extremely quickly and brought her claw to strike at her vital position. Her heart. Before her claw could hit its mark, the woman leaned her body back slightly to avoid it. The result was that her first clawed strike met nothing but air, but she still had her other hand. She brought down the claw with all her might just as the woman finished her incantation. ¡°Azure Flar-!¡± The woman never finished the invocation. The girl¡¯s clawed hand pierced the thin membrane of her left eye causing the woman to scream in pain, her body shook and fell as she clutched at her left eye. A golden trefoil amulet fell from her robes, its power unspent and still glittering with power. The girl retreated after she disabled the woman. She didn¡¯t know if the woman had something that would activate if she died, the only thing she knew was that the fire wouldn¡¯t follow her after she ran. She ran in the direction of where the Noble Wolf was. After all, a hunter never misses its mark twice and she knew the Noble Wolf would be after her once it healed. She raised her clawed hands as she ran, both were unmistakably covered in blood. They were still. Had she always been like this or is it the effect of her rebirth? Nothing was clear other than her own weakness. Weak. It was what described her for the past nine years. The word had followed her since she could first remember it. The hushed tones of those around her and the merciless acts they committed. What she needed was a solution and only one solution could fix it. Strength. That was what she needed. Not only was it what she needed to survive, but it was also what she needed to kill the man in her memories. The one who caused all of her pain. The warmth in her chest grew with each passing step, her clawed hands rapidly piercing the hides and shells of anything she found as she followed the tracks of the wolf pack. Her goal wasn¡¯t to escape all pursuit. It wasn¡¯t to lay waste to the world either. It was to survive and kill. To devour. Skill [Demonic Vitality] has activated Mental State is being corroded by an unknown force Skill [Blood Oath] has activated Mental Corrosion has been weakened to Mental Encroachment Warning! It is advised to stabilize Mental State as soon as possible Words rang in her ear for the next few seconds but she didn¡¯t care. Her eyes darkened for a moment as a merciless atmosphere engulfed her. The darkness within her heart was amplified by her undying hatred. She would kill Him. Just as he killed her. Her purpose was revenge and her goal was happiness. She laughed again, her voice shrieking in the darkness of the forest. Her steps steeped in madness, she followed the complex trail the wolves left. The strong smell of singed fur and fresh blood helped her in tracking them as her own [Hunter¡¯s Eye] was still too inept. Not too long after she began running, she found the mortally wounded Noble Wolf lying on the ground. It saw her as she saw it. The wolves in its pack stood on the outskirts of the clearing, watching the final breaths of their king. She smiled at the old friend, a clawed finger moving towards its chest where blood still poured onto the ground. Its own vitality was suitable for a Noble Wolf and especially a requisite for being the alpha of a pack. Although its vitality was high enough to be considered a third tier beast, its primary ability extended only to territory control. Now that its chest was exposed and its body weakened drastically, a person like her could easily pierce its heart. The wolf resigned to its death. It could not fight anymore and it already accepted its defeat. The wolf lied still, its chest pierced by the clawed hands of the girl it had played with not so long ago. The deep silver eyes revealing signs of its own intelligence. *Shik* Her claw passed through the burned fur, its hide softened by the damage. Her hand cut through the soft flesh and pierced the heart. The slow beating of the heart finally ceasing after decades of life. The head of the Noble Wolf slowly slunk to the ground, its eyes closed as it accepted its eternal rest at last. *Thump* The wolves howled towards the sky at the loss of their leader. They howled until day became night and night became day before leaving the forest for good as the Balros forest without its king meant danger for all. The girl didn¡¯t know this, however. Killing the wolf didn¡¯t mean much to her. She recognized the danger within the forest but she will confront it. If her strength wasn¡¯t enough then she couldn¡¯t possibly accomplish her goal. She ran. She ran through the forest killing everything in her path. Whether it be a defenseless animal or a second tier beast, she slaughtered them all. Stronger. Faster. She became one with the carnage that brought her back to life. The darkness within her heart growing with each life she took, every kill resulting in the manifestation of madness in her mind. Only after a few days does her crazed killing spree end. She had taken the lives of many creatures within the forest, her claws had been stained red by the blood but her pale skin remained flawless still. She had reached the eastern boundary of the forest that she loved and hated dearly. During the first few days, various beasts approached her and ended up as nothing more than sustenance for her. But after the first few days, nothing approached her. She would run at them but they would run away faster. It was frustrating to say the least of it. The dreadful aura around her was heavy. She didn¡¯t know it but it was that very aura that caused every creature to flee from her. Of course, she learned to hide her presence and managed to snag a few kills here and there but most of the animals managed to evade her either way. She had traversed over a distance that seemed far in her mind but after seeing the distant mountains before her she realized her own naivety. She wasn¡¯t safe yet. She made sure to hide her tracks within the forest but before her was an open plain filled with rocks and gravel. She didn¡¯t have many places to hide other than the occasional boulder and the sharp stones on the rocky surface glistened in the bright sunlight. She had to find a way around but there wasn¡¯t much she could do. The rocky expanse wrapped all around her blocking her attempts at making any distance from the forest behind her. She lifted her bloody hands into the air gauging the distance from her current position to where she thought the rocky expanse ended, though her vision was simply too low to make any accurate measure. She headed back into the forest and climbed up one of the tallest trees she could find using her claws as tools to latch onto the bark but she just ended up falling to the ground instead. Her claws shredded through the bark when fully extended and her fingers futilely grasped at the rough edges when her claws were retracted. It seemed like her claws weren¡¯t meant for climbing but for cutting through anything they met. ¡°¡­¡± She needed a way up. In fact, she didn¡¯t really need to but she wanted it. Her instincts told her to climb a tree when she couldn¡¯t. She glanced at the field of rocks through the foliage ahead but all she saw was an insurmountable obstacle she would have to face. She was about to leave the forest but stopped the moment she heard a foreign sound. Her footsteps were silenced by the soft dirt below but she could hear a heavy drumming sound towards her left. She hid in a nearby bush by the outskirts of the forest, hidden from plain view by a combination of leaves and branches. In a matter of a minute, she saw the bare chest of a horse leisurely leading a wagon with a cloth draped on its back preventing others from seeing what was inside. There were two men sitting in the front section of the wagon, a weak looking man holding the reigns to the horse and a stocky man holding onto a long stick with metal on one of its sides. A spear according to what the girl knew but it was distinctly different from the typical weapons she saw before. The metal forming the blade had a dark luster and the blade was warped ever so slightly. The unknown weapon could have properties that would be potentially dangerous aside from the usual sharpness that came along with it. She scanned the carriage for other targets but she found none due to the cloth draped over the back. The stocky looking man spoke first, his gruff voice could be heard over the sound of the wagon wheels. ¡°So, how much we getting from this load?¡± ¡°A few silvers at best. Their appearance isn¡¯t pretty but not too shabby either. We¡¯d get more if we could go to a more secluded region like Vareth¡¯s town but Barren will do. It¡¯s more trouble than it¡¯s worth to carry them past Virandi¡¯s land.¡± ¡°But how much though? Three silvers? Didn¡¯t we buy them for two silvers? We¡¯d each get one silver then if we sell at three.¡± ¡°We¡¯d both get fifty coppers dimwit. The only reason why I decided to bring you along was because of our past relations and your own strength. I smell another war in the future and I¡¯m not sticking around for it. We¡¯ll either cross into Helios or into Yveron later on. For now, just keep your mouth shut and follow me. I¡¯ll make sure we get the best end of the bargains.¡± The man, identified as Dimwit to the girl, followed the thin man¡¯s order and shut his mouth from then on. The carriage passed but a light gust of wind just so happened to cause the cloth covering the carriage¡¯s back compartment to lift up just enough for her to see inside. Two females. Beaten and bruised but recognizably alive. They both wore torn rags and had metal chains shackled around their limbs preventing them from moving without making even the slightest bit of noise. The girl saw the chains and an indescribable feeling welled inside of her. They were held in captivity just as she had before. The feeling seeped into her very core, she felt her blood burning from within as this emotion evoked her entire course of action. Wrath. It was the emotion she felt now and before. One that permeated from the unknown heart beating alongside her own. Rich red energy escaped through her pores and her eyes brightened from crimson to scarlet in a matter of moments. She leapt towards the wagon from behind with her claws outstretched and lashing towards the two men on it. The driver¡¯s throat was slit open by five separate lines, blood spewing from the open wounds as the driver grabbed his own throat and coughed for the last moments of his life. The other man, however, managed to react just in time, jumping out of the way just before her claws could reach his neck. He jumped forwards off the cart and raised his right arm back towards the cart only to realize that he only had a singular bloody stump left to raise. At his feet was his fauchard and the rest of his right hand still held onto the very weapon itself. He felt no pain from the wound, only coming onto the realization that it was cut off after a fair portion of his blood had poured onto the ground below. The horse, feeling the complete slack in the reigns, charged forwards unevenly towards the man and trampled him to the ground. The wagon veered out of control as the horse barreled forwards trying to free itself from its restraints. The wagon slammed into a nearby rock allowing the horse to escape its restraints and flee into the open world. The man was lying on the ground after the events clutching what was left of his arm as his entire body began to freeze over due to the lack of blood. His last seconds spent watching a red flash on the horizon. The wagon was tipped over to its side but it didn¡¯t collapse due to the sturdy frame it was built on. The two women freed themselves from the inside of it to see their captor¡¯s bloody throat and his assistant on the ground with his head turned northbound. The two stood up from inside the wagon, the clinking of chains following suit and looked around to find their savior but saw none waiting for them. They looked farther only to see a streak of red light quickly moving away in the distance. They didn¡¯t know what to do and they couldn¡¯t leave either. The chains impaired their movement and leaving would result in them being slain or taken captive again. With the supplies in the wagon, they¡¯d be able to survive for at most a week but their only hope was to have a friendly group find them. The two women continued to stare at the red light, already nothing more than a speck amongst the endless expanse ahead. They prayed towards this light unbeknownst of the girl herself who was fleeing from the scene as fast as possible. The girl fled from the scene. The red energy around her body had thickened into a mist that enveloped her like a veil. She could see through it just fine but the red smog sapped at her strength with each passing moment. Was this the cost of that burst of power from before? Maybe, but she couldn¡¯t stay and find out lest somebody found the wreck. Her reckless decision might have cost her dearly but the appearance of the two women clouded her judgment. The pain she felt wasn¡¯t just physical. She felt mental torment as well. She wanted to eat them but she didn¡¯t want to. Her body screamed at her to eat but she didn¡¯t. The women looked delicious but her instinct yelled at her not to. What should she do? She would only run from them. They did no harm to her so she didn¡¯t harm them. They might end up dying later on but at least they wouldn¡¯t end up like her. Her first priority at the moment was to escape. There was one minor issue preventing her from doing this, however, it was the fact that the red smog surrounding her had changed into an unfathomable darkness. Incomparable pain to what she felt before spread throughout her body as thousands of tiny spears passed through her skin and into her bone. The red core within her center vibrating with every passing day and night. She could only run, her mind and body alike screaming with every step she took. She didn¡¯t want to eat but her desire consumed her. Skill [Demonic Vitality] has unlocked a hidden ability Status [Demonic Interference] has been applied Skill [Blood Oath] has @($!^&#^$*)!%(@#% Ski*) {@+ic *)(!en#*$ (*@# ^)*!&@()*# Warning! Error detected by System#901-T1804962 Repairing¡­ Repair Unsuccessful, forwarding report to Master Her mind was devoured by her own skill. She couldn¡¯t think or move. A dark pressure escaped from her core and into her mind, controlling her body to its pleasure. There was nothing she could do as her body and was held hostage. ¡®Quiet my dear. This will only hurt for a moment.¡¯ The entity within her mind spoke to her. Her body ran faster than ever but at great cost. The entity did not care for her wellbeing, it only desired the body. The muscles obviously exceeding their limits and started rupturing under the extreme strain while regenerating at the same time. Her body came upon an area filled with hundreds of lives, a local town located far in the countryside. Its inhabitants at rest with few guards as no one in their right mind would ever decide their remote location and subpar fields were worthy of attacking. But whatever controlled her body didn¡¯t care. The pain that came with the tearing of muscles and the bloodshed of those she found innocent to her cause pressed down on her mind. But what was worse was how she felt nothing towards it. She was a captive in her own body bearing witness to horrible crimes but felt nothing. She was an empty vessel that only desired strength. She had to be different from Him. No. She was different from him. She feared what she was. But the dark presence within her mind taught her otherwise. The sleeping faces of children and adults slept forever and the blood of thousands lie on her hands. Her body moved stealthily between villages, weaving in and out with no traces other than bloody sheets and red mud left behind. An invisible path of bloodshed and death followed in her wake. The night grew cold, still. Not a single voice or hint of life came from the many villages in the surrounding region. ¡®See now? This is your path.¡¯ She denied it. She didn¡¯t want to harm the innocent. Only Him. ¡®But can¡¯t you see? This is your doing.¡¯ The demon within her mind laughed. The girl looked down at her body and could see the blood dying every inch of it. But something was strange. She realized that she could look down. She had control over her body. ¡®The blood is on your hands. Let¡¯s see what we can make of you.¡¯ Skill [%)@%&@)%$&] has activated Status [Demonic Interference] has been removed ¡®¡­¡¯ The demon was gone but its influence wasn¡¯t. Her body was torn to shreds by what had happened and her mind broken even further. She lurched down the road where her body eventually collapsed in a bloody heap. The shriek of a woman was the last thing she heard before her consciousness faded. --Transition-- A small-time merchant arrived at one of the villages a day later, only to his surprise to find nobody working in the fields. He checked the insides of the houses but could only see red sheets in each of the houses, as if everyone had just vanished. It was only to his delight when he discovered that all the belongings were now considered ¡®ownerless¡¯ and he confiscated anything valuable from the houses and quickly left before others stumbled on this strange happenstance. The village was then found by a group of countryside adventures questing for fame and fortune. The four members of the group only managed to report this piece of news to the nearby Hamon City several days later, which was then quickly relayed to the Imperial capital of Balros. A prosecution force was sent out to the village, but any tracks or clue that might have been left behind had already faded by that time, the only evidence left was the blackish-red sheets and rotten floorboards. They could only speculate the motives of the culprit, but with a lack of knowledge, they were unable to conclude so. But none knew of the true culprit, who was currently collapsed down in a pool of blood hundreds of leagues away to the east on the outskirts of the independent city-state of Viscor. Later investigations revealed that the same disappearance of people happened to nearly fourteen villages within the vicinity of the first case causing an uproar among the upper echelons of Balros. Though none of them cared about the loss of a few villages, many cared about the possibility of it happening to their territories. The ones who did suffer losses to this began to shift blame onto others until a decision was made. The Balros Kingdom will close its borders for times of investigation and raise itsmilitary might for purposes of ¡®defense.¡¯ This decision spearheaded by the soon-to-be Countess Virandi and several of her followers. Many of the other nobles knew of her purpose and secretly agreed with it but withheld from actively supporting it as they themselves didn¡¯t want to incur any harm if the woman¡¯s plan failed. The Balros Kingdom¡¯s hierarchy was mainly a patriarchy and it wasn¡¯t the first time the nobles saw an upstart female noble fail in their endeavors. As of now, both of higher nobles and lesser nobles could only watch from the sidelines as Virandi¡¯s plot fell into place. Disclaimer! Beyond are the Draft Version chapters of the novel! Note: This is not a real chapter. Only a disclaimer warning readers about what comes next. Any chapters following this will be draft chapters. These chapters are rough ones released with constant pace with a few breaks between major acts. Read at your own discretion as these exist as a rough outline of the events in the regular version. Some events may be missing from the draft version and some events may be added in the draft version. Just note that reader interactions will be present in the draft and none in the regular chapters. If you have any issues relating to the length, grammar, and/or structure of the chapters themselves, you can post under draft chapters or here if you so choose. This chapter is placed after Regular chapters and before Draft chapters if you somehow click on this without reading any of the actual chapters. On other cases, I will document changes to the story here for archiving between Regular and Draft chapters.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [1]: Basic changes of the system have been changed. HP -> Vitality MP -> Mana SP -> Mentality WIS -> MND (Mind) Skills now have descriptions The system now has more sentences and warning types to say The system now has an identification description (though irrelevant until later on) [2]: The story will be written in third person limited, occasionally changing perspectives based on the state of events at the given moment. On the end of each regular chapter will be a small section of another perspective (mainly non-miscellaneous events that aren''t long enough to be allocated to an entire chapter). [3]: In the draft version, I barely noted the species of any creatures or persons in the story. This will now be fixed and included in regular chapters. The only cases of me dealing with species of persons is of when I described Irelithe the Wyrd Elf, Isbeth the Halfling, and Ishvalt the Lightning Elemental. [4]: Index Changes. Regular Chapters (Act, Title, Part (ranging from 1 to 9)) Draft Chapter Disclaimer Draft Chapters (Entry Number, Perspective, Title, Part (ranging from i to ii)) ! Added this section to the synopsis area of the Novel¡¯s page. [5]: Skill Name Changes: Hunter''s Eye -> Keen Eye Reading -> Linguistics Reverse Cast -> Reversed Arcana [6]: A placeholder cover has been added (14/04/19) alongside a few other changes to the synopsis and author''s note on the novel''s main page. 0. Renewal Chapter 0: Renewal Beyond the tall peaks of the Balros mountain range lies a charred and war-ravaged land. A place filled with none else than the bodies of friend and foe, broken hopes, and promises forgotten beneath the bloodied soil. Fresh bodies, clad in armor broken beyond recognition, lie on the ground, ready to join generations of soldiers before them. Cries of agony and the smell of burning flesh permeate the air, as a small army saunters away, victorious after a hard fought war. Amidst the charred and blackened bodies lies a small shape, a body broken and cleaved, burned to the point of what many would consider to be inhumane. Fragments of metal akin to links can be seen surrounding the strange mass. The battlefield lies silent around this shape. Quiet. Not a single sound can be heard despite the loud cheering of the soldiers led by cloaked figures steadily moving away. A flower blooms amidst this carnage. Soaked in the blood of many throughout countless years. This flower, crimson in color, lies over one particular blackened corpse. The flower seems to lean over, shedding a single droplet of blood red liquid as if it were a tear upon this blackened corpse. When the liquid touched the body, a beautiful red light began to shine whilst the liquid seeped into the body. Only after a few moments pass does the light dim before disappearing entirely. The body appears to lie dormant, still, devoid of life, yet, something has changed. A pulse, not one within the body but one outside, begins to throb in a rhythmic pattern. Slow at first, but gradually growing with time only to fade once more. The process repeats itself once more moments later, and again later. This cycle continues, time passes, and if one were to view this, they would simply have nothing to say. The grass around the flower and the body begins to change, slowly at first but increasing in mass and speed every time the cycle repeats itself. The blood from the ground seeps through the thin roots of the plants, turning the grass from their once dead state to a deep menacing red. The blackened mass at the epicenter of these strange events begins to glow with a soft light, charred skin and blackened flesh peeling off every rhythmic beat. When the twin moons hang in the sky, overlooking the barren grounds, a patch of bloodied grass and a glowing white skeleton can be seen. Floating within the ribcage of this skeleton was a blood red orb, presumably the liquid from the flower. Under the twin moons does the flower truly bloom, a deep red light spread from the flower, engulfing the entire battlefield in its crimson glory. All at once, the corpses strewn around the battlefield flatten at an alarming rate. A clearly conspicuous stream of blood trails from each corpse towards the blood red orb within the skeleton. The blood is absorbed in vast amounts, hungrily devoured by the orb as more and more light is released from the flower. More corpses are flattened, blood which once trickled toward the orb now rapidly racing to be devoured. Only after the twin moons set does the process finally finish. The once crimson light now shines a brilliant scarlet, retracted towards the flower as it begin to shed its petals. The flower wilts, power expended, scatters into ashes, blown away in a sudden gust. The mysterious flower gone, all that lies left in the once corpse covered field is the body of a single girl. Unmarred white skin and short black hair, the young girl laid amidst the pools of blood leftover from the events that transpired earlier. Only after a while does the girl open her eyes, scarlet and lifeless as they are. Her mouth moving slightly yet no sound comes from it. She lies there, unable to speak, but able to think. ¡®Who am I?¡¯ The girl was confused. She should be dead, never to see that hell ever again. She shouldn¡¯t be alive. She shouldn¡¯t exist. Yet, she is able to think.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡®What a nice sky.¡¯ The twin moons had set but the sun approaches the sky in their place. A deep orange glow can be seen from where she lied, beyond the mountain peaks in the distance. A small smile appears on her face at this sight. ¡®What a nice day to die.¡¯ She ponders as to why she thought that. Shouldn¡¯t she already be dead after all? If so, why is she alive again? She lifts her fingers towards her face, thinking, wondering, yet she cannot find the answer she seeks. Her sharp nails dragging lines across her face, the acute pain waking up her once sleeping brain. She could remember, CAN remember, the burning pain. A sharp pain across her waist followed by the lack of sensation from her bottom half. All she can remember from then was countless piercing knives enveloping her body. Her body begin to shake, before progressing into her body uncontrollably flailing around, splashing blood everywhere. She remembers. The faces of the ones who did this to her. She remembers them all. The rage and feelings of betrayal once forgotten within her bursts out, piercing her very being and engraving her purpose within her mind. The mad howls from the girl shakes the world around her. ¡®Who am I?¡¯ The girl scoffs at her question. A sharp cold voice responds to the madness within her. ¡°Who am I? I am the victim.¡± ¡®So what?¡¯ ¡°They will pay¡­ All of them.¡± ¡®You know you cannot win.¡¯ ¡°Then I will wait. They will not know. They will never know.¡± ¡®Then what?¡¯ ¡°I strike. Nothing can stop me. Not even Him.¡± ¡®Very well.¡¯ The once human girl lets out an ear piercing laugh, causing anyone to hear it to feel their bones and flesh ice over. A primordial fear within all beings embodied by the voice of a small girl with Scarlet Eyes. Skill [Blood Oath] has been received Skill [Twisted Fate] has been received
Name Unnamed Age 1 Day Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 23/26 (+.006/s) MP 47/58 (+.018/s) SP 24/28 (+.009/s)
STR 4 INT 14 WIS 7
CON 5 AGL 6 LUK 1
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 .02%
[Blood Oath] N/A N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
1. Beginnings i Chapter 1: Beginnings i Her laughter went on for an indeterminable amount of time, echoing throughout the empty field, her madness evident with each peal. Only when the sun travelled halfway across the sky does her laughter stop. She was hungry. Her thirst grew ever since she woke up but she had ignored it. Only now when her stomach is painfully hungry does she calm down to think. What was that thing that appeared in her mind earlier? She tried to remember. It looked like a box, with more boxes within those boxes. And within those boxes lied unknown symbols. She knew they meant something but she couldn¡¯t read them after all. She tried to concentrate on that image, but to no avail. Her empty stomach and her own instincts distract her from the mental exercise. She needed to eat. But eat what? The blood around her has already soaked back into the soil, not even the vilest of creatures would consume the blackish-red muddy mess beneath her. Even her own body was caked in the blackish-red blood, disgusting. She stood up and took a closer look at what is around her. Nothing save for a few stalks of dead grass. She could only smell the putrid stench of rotten blood. Inedible. Her own enhanced senses have turned against her. She needed to get rid of this smell else she won¡¯t be able to properly hunt with such a horrible marking following her around. For now she could only bear with it, despite how horrible it actually is. The field she was in was as empty as it was earlier, but upon closer inspection, she could see a heavy trail filled with heavy footsteps mixed with ditches from what would seem to be something that was dragged along on the ground. Her instincts and scattered memory told her that they were dangerous. That she shouldn¡¯t follow that direction. Not now anyways. Turning to the right, she followed the trail littered with broken armor and weaponry littering the ground, yet with no bodies or remains left behind. She didn¡¯t know what happen to them, but she knew it wasn¡¯t good. She increased her pace. She ran through the empty field, fleeing away from the dangerous trail and towards the mountains in the distance, her stomach dangerously grumbling in the meanwhile. After an hour or so of running, the smell which had followed her had weakened, slightly, but weakened nonetheless. Some of the blood that encrusted her skin fell off throughout the run, although a few stubborn flakes remained here and there and within her hair. When the pungent smell of the rotten blood waned, she began to smell other things. Savory, delicious things. She was now near the edge of a forest, and within it were the smells of various creatures ready to be devoured. She knew not of the dangers of such a place, only caring to fill her empty stomach with the flesh and blood of the forest¡¯s inhabitants. She scoured the forest, swiftly tracking and killing anything she found with her sharp retractable nails, or were they claws? It did not matter. Meagre gains and unsatisfying, but the wild game did the job. She could finally think, at least, for a few moments. Nothing too complicated either. As she ran through the forest, she tried to remember what she had seen earlier. The box within her mind. Only after consuming the fiftieth or so critter had she succeeded in recalling the box from before. Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] has been obtained Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] has increased in Level (1)
Name Unnamed Age 1 Day Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 14/29 (+.007/s) MP 82/82 (+.02/s) SP 27/29 (+.01/s)
STR 5 INT 16 WIS 8
CON 6 AGL 9 LUK 1
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 2.4%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] 2/10A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. 49.4%
[Blood Oath] N/A N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
The screen filled with unknown symbols appeared within her mind. She noted the existence of a new line, she still couldn''t read but she could understand what they meant somehow. Not to the point of interpretation of course, closer to that of recognition. ¡°So this is me?¡± Contemplating what she had learned, she stood distracted within one of the few clearings in the dimly lit forest, surrounded by the ancient vegetation. Only when she heard the howls of many creatures does she snap back to reality. She had found herself surrounded by a pack of creatures. Each had dirty matted fur, however the biggest one and presumably their leader stood in front of her, noble silver eyes glaring down at her. The wolf¡¯s underlings began to prowl, moving in a circle around her, enclosing the small girl and their leader in a wide circle. The wolves glare at her. Each gaze dared her to run, knowing full well she cannot. The big wolf in front of her lets out a low but regal snarl before lowering its body towards the ground. Only after a moment does she realize what this meant. She jumped back just before finding a sharp swipe of claws and teeth where she was before. The wolf is an enemy. Anything that gets in her way must be killed. The girl unleashes her claws, running towards the big wolf¡¯s blind spot, striking at what she perceived to be a weak spot. Her strike hits, but to no avail. Her sharp claws only glanced off of the wolf¡¯s metallic fur. Causing her to tumble forward towards the ground. The big wolf took the moment of opportunity, lashing towards her in a fury of fang and claw. ¡°STOP!¡± - A whirl of azure fire hits the wolf king on the side from above. The wolf king¡¯s pack looked up, howling at the unwelcome intruder. An adult woman with long ears floated above the clearing looking down at them. She held a glowing book in her right arm and pointed her left palm at the wolf king still. She muttered under her breath once again before another stream of azure fire blasted out towards the wolf king. However, the wolf king was ready this time, he leapt out of the way moments before the giant fireball hit the ground, scorching the dirt and any surrounding vegetation just a few meters away from the unfortunate girl. How she had ended up there and managed to initiate a duel with a wolf king was left unknown, however, she had a duty to protect and a pest to get rid of. The wolf king howled, followed by the howls of his subjects and began to retreat into the depths of the Balros Forest. The woman hesitated between giving chase or tending to the lone girl. Her consciousness getting the better of her, she floated down towards the girl and began to look over her for wounds. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the girl wasn¡¯t human. She had short pointed ears, and most notably of all, brilliant scarlet eyes, the light left off by them causing her to momentarily freeze in their beauty. As if the world stopped around her, and she¡­ ¡°Glamour!¡± The woman concentrated and managed to dispel the subtle interference with her mind. The girl still stared back but the light emitted from her eyes were no longer visible to the woman. - Confused and startled at the woman¡¯s outcry, the girl readied herself once more for another fight. Her opponent looked weak enough but the strange fire she threw around was dangerous. The girl couldn¡¯t tell, should she fight or should she flee? ¡°Woah there girl! Calm down. I¡¯m not here to fight you- See?¡± The strange woman closed her book and raised her arms, palms faced towards the girl. Remembering how that strange fire came out from those very palms, the girl swerved to avoid the potential attack and rushed towards the edges of the clearing. ¡°Wait!¡± The strange woman suddenly appeared in her path. How did she get there? Wasn¡¯t she behind her? The girl turned and ran away from the obvious danger that was the woman, but she couldn¡¯t evade her. Once again, the woman appeared in front of her, barring her passage out of the clearing. ¡°I told you to wait. If you keep running, I¡¯ll have to capture you and bring you back for interrogation.¡± Clearly annoyed, the woman snapped back at the inhuman girl in front of her. ¡°Now. What will you do? Quietly come with me or be brought back by force?¡± The woman¡¯s declaration struck a chord within the girl. A choice? When did she have a choice in this world? But if she¡¯s on the side of Him, then she¡¯s an Enemy as well. But she did not know, whose side does the woman stand on? ¡°Who do you work for?¡± - A sharp cold voice, unbefitting that of a youthful child, comes from her lips. ¡°Wh- What?¡± The woman takes a half-step back in surprise. The cute child that she had saved had a voice that felt colder than her former master. And that gaze, the gaze that seemed to penetrate deep within her, gazing through her as if she were looking at prey. Only then did the woman notice the dried blood within the girl¡¯s hair and the freshly drawn blood on her fingers. But blood from whom? The woman did not know but there was one thing she did know. The girl in front of her is trouble. Her book flipped open to the page which held her most trusted spell, [Azure Flare], and she began chanting the verses below under her breath once again, gathering her mana in her palm in a vortex of arcane might. The girl reacted the instant her book began to move, claws slashing towards the woman¡¯s eyes. The woman couldn¡¯t react fully in time, she leaned out of the way but she couldn¡¯t avoid the hit. A sharp pain and a yell could be heard from the forest clearing, red blood dripped from the girl¡¯s fingers, no, claws. The woman¡¯s left eye sent searing pain throughout her body, causing her spell to falter before it truly began. Her remaining eye¡¯s vision blurred but she still stood due to sheer force of will. The girl ran from her, away into the depths of the Balros Forest, following the example the wolf king left earlier.
Name Irelithe Age 67 Years Race Elf (Wyrd)
HP 28/72 (+.029/s) MP 57/380 (+.159/s) SP 97/132 (+.104/s)
STR 14 INT 157 WIS 98
CON 22 AGL 18 LUK 32
Current Ailments | Left Eye: Severe Wound | Blindness | Bleeding (-.4 HP/s) State: Dying
Skills Level Proficiency
[Mana Perception] 7/10 3.6%
[Fire Affinity] 9/10 78.2%
[Runic Inscription] 1/10 17.2%
[Reading II] 6/20 42.4%
[House Cleaning II] 2/20 58.9%
2. Beginnings ii Chapter 2: Beginnings ii Weak. That¡¯s all she is. The girl was currently running away from that strange woman. She didn¡¯t pay attention to where she was going either, she just simply ran. She knew that the wound she inflicted on the woman would be fatal, but she wasn¡¯t sure what would happen after. Would she be hunted again? Would she die again? Her mind raced to find a solution, a solution that would not fail her like many have before. The woman was going to die. She needed to run. If she were to be hunted¡­ Then she could only hunt them back. But to do so¡­ She stops in her tracks, the dim lighting from the sun had already faded, stood next to the great trees and dark canopies in the heart of the Balros Forest. She stood there in the dark, confirming what she decided on doing prior. To become stronger. Not only to escape all pursuit. But to accomplish her original goal. Killing Him. Slight madness in her steps, she glances around to the ground where she spotted tracks. These tracks however, carry the scent of urgency and blood. But none of them smell of danger. Grinning, the girl follows these trails to find an old friend. The girl nods towards the mortally wounded wolf, a wide grin plastered across her face. A single clawed finger moving towards the exposed chest of the great wolf of the Balros Forest. The wolf, lying on the ground, resigns to his death, for if he could not fight anymore, he should at least die with his honor intact. *SHIK* The girl pierced the hide and flesh which had been burned by the strange fire, and pierced the heart of the great and once noble beast. *THUMP* The girl retracted her hand, the wolf¡¯s body robbed of its strength finally falling, finding eternal rest at last. The wolf¡¯s pack, which had lost its leader, howled into the night, mourning the loss of their king. They howled until day arrived before departing in search of a new territory, for the Balros Forest without its king meant danger to all. The girl however, did not know this. She left after she heard the satisfying squelch of the wolf¡¯s heart being stabbed and how his body fell to the dirty ground. She would have eaten the wolf¡¯s corpse had it not been for all the burns and dirty fur on it. She recognized the danger within the forest, but she could confront it. No. She will confront it. If she ran from another beast once again, she can never consider herself fit enough to kill Him. The girl ran, and she ran. She killed countless creatures, beasts, and monster as she swept through the Balroz Forest. Stronger, faster, she became one with the carnage that brought her back to life. Her instincts awakening the madness that she had forgotten from the hunger earlier. Only after a few days does her crazed killing spree end. The lives of thousands, although small, were ended by her very claws. She had reached the end of the forest that she loved and hated dearly. However, during those days, no creature would approach her. She had slayed the King and had become the Queen, though, she did not care for such a title. Let the beasts fight for it once more. She must become stronger. The tall peaks of the Balros mountain range could be seen ahead of her, but she could not fly. Even if she did, she would not be able to fly that long. The Balros mountains were gigantic, huge even when she was back at the bloodied field but now that she was closer to them, she realized they were much bigger than she imagined. The peaks reached into the sky, covered in treacherous snow and ice gleaming from afar. She had to find a way around. The rocky infested terrain interrupted her running. She hated it. She was used to dodging the roots of trees and traversing tricky vegetation, but the absurd number of rocks, pebbles, and boulders lying around on the ground made it impossible to not touch one. Sharp jagged edges and smooth slippery surfaces littered the rocky plain, and her only option was to traverse it. Not unless she could go through the mountains, but she couldn¡¯t so she had to make do. She tried to run through, but she instantly slipped on a small stone. She fell flat on her face into the jagged edge of the rocks. Screeching, she pulled herself out and tended to her wounds. Lines of blood trickled down her body as she removed the rocks, noting that although they were sharp, they lacked the ability to be used as a weapon. Only to be used as a deterrent for barefoot (or any) travelers like her. She went to one of the lesser trees in the distance, a mere twig compared to those within the Balroz Forest but it should be fine. She took one of the fallen leaves and fashioned a small wrapping from it tied together with some stalks of dried grass she had picked up along the way. She placed them on her dirty feet, they won¡¯t protect her from much but it would be better than nothing, crude as it is.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. She ran back to the rocky field and began to run. She ran as carefully as she could, one mistake could result in the various rocks to scratch and stab into her skin. An experience she would never want to happen again. After a few minutes of doing this, she got used to it. Avoid the smooth stones and jump over the sharp ones. Simple. She quickened her pace northward, skipping over the stones as day came to night and night came to day. She had to hunt the local population of Burrowers for sustenance. Apparently they were the reason as to why there were so many stones here. Could the stones be something used to defend against invaders such as her? Or were they simply byproducts excreted from them¡­ Giving up on that thought, the girl continued to run until she heard the voices from somewhere nearby. ¡°How much are we getting from this load?¡± A low gruff voice rang out far to her left. The girl immediately hid behind one of the boulders and peeked from around it. The girl could spy a wagon of some sort, led by two chestnut colored horses. Their hooves covered with some kind of metal to prevent injury from the rocks. She would consider it to be a wagon, but the back of it was covered in some kind of cloth. She could see two men riding in the front. A thin one held the reigns while the other held some sort of stick. The girl knew that it was a weapon, but she never saw something like it before. Unlike the processed metal she had seen so many times clashing on the battlefield, but this weapon had some sort of shine to it. A dark metallic luster that draws the eye in. Tipping the long unwieldy stick with a sharp curved blade, designed probably to stab and cut like a sword but with more range. As she considered the potential danger that the weapon posed to her, the two continue to talk as they road down the northward road. ¡°These two were cheap, not pretty but not ugly either. They¡¯d probably sell for a few silver coins but no more than that in the Berran territory.¡± ¡°I¡¯d expected less. A silver coin or so for the both but more than that? 2? 3? Er¡­ 5?¡± The man with the stick raised his free hand and raised fingers, stupendously failing the simplest of calculations. ¡°4 silvers dimwit. I wouldn¡¯t have hired you again if not for your strength and our past relations. Just keep your mouth shut and let me make the negotiations.¡± The man, presumably named Dimwit, stopped talking from then on. The two men quietly passed where the girl hid, the wagon passing soon after as well, but she saw what was behind the cloth if only for a few moments. Two females, average faces and body, dressed in rags with chains attached to their limbs to deter any method of escape. The girl saw the chains, an indescribable feeling welled within her, one she had met once only days before. Wrath. The girl¡¯s eyes glowed scarlet, her body shaking from the energy in her blood. She leapt towards the cart, slitting the neck of the driver, and cutting the wrist of the man with the weird stick before jumping off. The driver couldn¡¯t even react, he slumped over dead in the seat, his partner screaming as blood soaked his leather armor. The weird stick forgotten on the ground, dropped with the hand that held it still attached. The horses, feeling the lack of restraint, charged forward unevenly. The wagon went out of control. The man with one hand fell off the wagon, scarred and stabbed by the innumerable stones, trampled to death by the horses before they freed themselves from the restraints and fled. The wagon had landed on its side, broken on the field but intact enough to not collapse at any given moment. The two women freed themselves from the broken wagon, the clinking of chains following suit. Confused, they looked around to see who their savior was, but all they saw was a red light moving quickly away in the distance.
Name Unnamed Age 9 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 31/36 (+.01/s) MP 85/85 (+.022/s) SP 3/29 (+.011/s)
STR 10 INT 18 WIS 9
CON 9 AGL 15 LUK 2
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 12.7%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] 2/10 74.9%
[Blood Oath] N/A N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
3I. Half i Chapter 3: Half i The girl had fled into the dark space between the trunks. Gone. A trail of blood left behind after rupturing Irelithe¡¯s left eye. The pain made it difficult to think. She staggered back, collapsing onto her knees only moments after the girl had left. Her left palm clenched her left eye still, slowing the loss of blood for all its worth. Her right hand rifling through the bag hanging on her side, grasping a small vial filled with yellow liquid. She uncorked the vial and threw the viscous liquid on her left eye. She felt the liquid splash against her eye and the area surrounding it. Or rather, she could but now she can¡¯t. A great shock was sent through her system at the loss of sensation and the pain that had muffled her. Though, the paralysis didn¡¯t function long as her elven blood sought to cleanse its owner of the invasive effect. Without a moments rest, Irelithe uncorked another vial, this time filled with a murky red substance that looked closer to that of gel. Pressing the substance against her left eye, she could feel bits and pieces coming back together through her left hand. But she knew. She knew full well that a ruptured eye can never see again. Not even if it were to be healed, the loss of one eye would be crippling to the female spell caster. ¡°DAMN IT ALL!¡± She had only done what¡¯s right and protected a child. But how would she know that such a thing would be a monster in disguise? Her claws teared through her wards and enchantments like paper. Wait. Irelithe reached into her vest and pulled out a golden trefoil pendant with a ruby, sapphire, and emerald slotted in each of the three circles. A diamond lying brilliantly in the center tying the entire shape together. Of the four gems, none of them have lost their light, indicating that none of the wards had even activated. Irelithe thought hard. That thing bypassed all of her defenses. Even the diamond which was supposed to create a barrier when she was attacked didn¡¯t activate. ¡°Tsk.¡± Irelithe paced around the clearing, noticing the footprints left in the dirt westward, toward that strange swamp of blood¡­ ¡°Oh.¡± Irelithe¡¯s face fell. She realized what that thing was. A byproduct of some Demon summoning gone awry? Or did some fool actually manage to open a Gate there? No, the possibility of a Gate appearing now is close to impossible. The mana there was almost sucked dry, but what was the exact connection with that girl? Irelithe could only postulate for now, but first she needed to warn the northern cities. Her beloved grimoire lied on the ground, the pages soaked with her own blood, but it wasn¡¯t something that couldn¡¯t be used. She picked up the book and held it under her arm. She drank some blue liquid out of another vial and sat on a stump with her legs crossed and eye closed. Sure, it wasn¡¯t the best method but it was the best for her. As an Elf she had a closer connection with the mana of the world, and could take it in to increase her own recovery. After a few minutes, she stood up, fully charged with mana to last her for another few hours, or less if she decided to use other magic. The grimoire flipped to a page near the back of the book. Two interweaving circles and various symbols and many small inked margins surrounding it could be seen on this page. Irelithe grabbed a white feather from somewhere and dipped its tip in a tiny jar of blue ink, scribbling the image from the grimoire onto a bracelet on her left arm. She slipped up here and there due to her now uneven sight and abysmal depth perception, but she finished the inscription. A flashing light following the completion of the final symbol. Irelithe placed all her belongings back into her bag and held onto her grimoire tightly. As the circles radiated light, her feet lifted into the air as did the rest of her body and she began flying rapidly northbound towards the nearby Berran territory. She activated all her wards, and although this type of movement was the fastest method she had, it was also the most dangerous and draining of her resources. If she messed up even one stroke of ink in the final design, which wouldn¡¯t be very surprising, she would likely fall towards the ground at high speeds or collide with a wall or tree of some sort and instantly die. [Runic Inscription] wasn¡¯t her specialty, and merely obtaining it was vastly more difficult compared to learning magic for the first time. Especially with the cost of the reagents. A flash of multicolored light could be seen in the distant sky from the Berran territory tonight, rapidly approaching at break neck speeds. A soldier had spotted this light and notified the Baron. The Baron notified all soldiers to rise and to act carefully as possible, for only a powerful or incredibly wealthy mage could have an artifact emitting such a brilliant glow from hundreds of leagues away. Irelithe arrived near the grounds of the Baron¡¯s mansion an hour later, met with the sight of a small army bowing down at her arrival. A short fat man walking towards her followed by faithful stewards. ¡°What can I do for you oh Great Mage?¡± The plump man asked of the deathly pale mage dressed in leather armor. She did not look to be a mage but one glimpse at the bounded tome in her right arm, the glowing runes on the bracelet, and the glowing amulet on her chest convinced him that she should not be messed with. He held his head down and kept his hands cupped in the official ceremonial manner meant for respect amongst those in power, waiting for her response. ¡°Stand, I have urgent news to speak to the Baron about.¡± Irelithe had little time for the silly man¡¯s antics. She needed to move to the next Barony as quickly as possible else it would be far too late. ¡°But miss, h-¡°This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. One of the stewards behind the plump man cried out in response, before being quickly stopped by another steward. The plump man awkwardly coughed before replying in a humble manner. ¡°I am Baruch von Berran, the Baron of this small territory on the outskirts of the Balros Kingdom. What is this news that you have brought me?¡¯ Irelithe was surprised to say the least. That a Baron of the kingdom known for its military strength was actually such an¡­ unimpressive man. His belly was round enough even to put a Balros tree to shame and his soldiers unfit for war evident by their lack of discipline and alertness. Irelithe inwardly scowled at the fat man but she had to do what she had to do. ¡°Southward near the Balros Forests lies a field covered in blood. I suspect that someone had summoned a Demon but failed to subdue it. I¡¯ve encountered a strange girl in the very same forest and it was covered in blood. I am fairly certain that this is the Demon that had escaped earlier, and I¡¯m afraid that very being is making its way here as I speak.¡± ¡°What!?¡± The Baron panicked. His soldiers couldn¡¯t deal with this, he had subverted nearly all the funds from the military into agriculture, though the state of the fields surrounding the barony hadn¡¯t seen much use either. One would wonder where all that gold went but that was not the current issue now. ¡°I can¡¯t deal with that! This noble one requests assistance from your grace to deal with this imminent threat.¡± The Baron tried to convince the mage that she should help them, but she couldn¡¯t stand the man¡¯s poor farce. ¡°Deal with it on your own. I¡¯m only obligated to warn you, I¡¯ll have to warn the other Baronies as well anyway so you better prepare. Now go.¡± She showed a rude gesture to the man before her feet lifted off the ground once more. ¡°Please! I beg of you, have mercy on this poor man! I was never one to fight wars! I just wanted to live a peaceful life away from the others! PLEASE! HELP ME!¡± The man fell onto the ground, bawling. His servants tried their best to move the man away but he was simply too heavy. Most of the soldiers which stood overlooking the exchange held amused expressions, while the more tacit ones held blank faces with difficulty. The sight of a grown man crying on the ground was simply something that wasn¡¯t seen every day. Not to mention how boring it is in the Berran territory as the only visitors were merchants with ill-gotten gains and such. The Baron suddenly held onto the mage¡¯s leg, who, at this very moment, is very annoyed at the man¡¯s actions. ¡°Shoo. I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± Irelithe tried to kick the man away but she couldn¡¯t. His grip held tight around her leg, pulling her down, a glint in his eye. ¡°If I don¡¯t get your help, then why don¡¯t you stay here forever? Guards!¡± The soldiers around the Baron fumbled to get into action. Their poorly maintained armor and weapons pointed towards Irelithe, and the Baron whom she thought was nothing more than a plump useless man managed to pin her down. She struggled against the unwanted assault, but her strength was inferior to the Baron, though, that didn¡¯t mean she had no tricks to get out. She closed her eye and imagined a completely white world, expending nearly all of her remaining mana in one prolonged burst. ¡°[Light]!¡± One of the most basic spells she knew and one of the very few which required nothing else than an image to manifest. An extremely bright light appeared between her face and the Baron¡¯s, blinding everyone around her. The Baron didn¡¯t respond too well as the [Light} practically robbed him of all his senses. His grasp on her slipped and she managed to escape, flying away in a direction she did not know, as the [Light] she summoned has yet to fade. She flew as far as possible away from the Barony, she knew the time on her Inscription was nearly over, had it ended while she was restrained by the man, she would probably have been robbed and sold as a slave. ¡°Not even the mention of a Demon can suppress the Greed of humans.¡± She landed far away, the dark of night enveloping her figure. The golden trefoil pendant hung around her neck, three of its four gems no longer possessing the radiance it had prior, simply hanging around her neck waiting to be filled with mana. Skill [Danger Perception] has been obtained
Name Irelithe Age 67 Years Race Elf (Wyrd)
HP 34/67 (+.026/s) MP 4/384 (+.161s) SP 97/133 (+.105/s)
STR 14 INT 159 WIS 99
CON 19 AGL 18 LUK 32
Current Ailments | Left Eye: Scarred | Blindness
Skills Level Proficiency
[Danger Perception] 1/10 4.6%
[Mana Perception] 7/10 4.2%%
[Fire Affinity] 9/10 78.2%
[Runic Inscription] 1/10 17.4%
[Reading II] 6/20 42.4%
[House Cleaning II] 2/20 58.9%
4I. Half ii Chapter 4: Half ii Irelithe spent the rest of her time moving throughout the northern region, warning the rest of the Barons and Baronesses about the oncoming danger. Some were amicable, and with plenty of military and commercial development worthy of the title, while others were like Baruch, vile and a mass of pure human greed. Their military stagnated and products withheld. The people who were supposed to be protected by the nobles were often exploited for the noble¡¯s own personal gains. Of the six northern territories that Irelithe flew to, only two had a standing militia strong enough to properly defend themselves when the need arises. The other four, while not as weak as Baruch¡¯s was, were still inadequate to handle the impending threat. Irelithe was currently sitting in the main room of a rather large mansion. On the other side of the luxurious table sat a woman and a young man. A female servant walked into the room and served tea before quickly moving towards the wall to stand with the rest of the servants, ready to serve should they be required to. Irelithe only acted seriously when the other party held the same regards towards her. The two nobles that she actually found capable were the Baron of the Hamon territory, Lance, and the Viscountess of the Lanchester territory, Virandi. Virandi wasn¡¯t a fool like the Barons were. As the sole female noble within the northern region, she better not be otherwise she¡¯d only end up as a puppet for the others. She rose her rank of authority by performing well, allowing her own territory which she inherited to flourish into a powerhouse of the northern estates. ¡°Just to make sure, you have absolute certainty that a Demon was summoned and is currently rampaging somewhere?¡± ¡°Does this eye look like an accident to you?¡± Irelithe pointed towards her left eye as she said that lifting a temporary patch which hid it from the world. The wound had been healed using regeneration gel, but the eye itself hadn¡¯t escaped undamaged. A deep gash, though replaced by newly formed skin, could be traced from her left temple across her eye, only ending when nearly reaching the bridge of her nose. Her cornea could be seen visibly split, her eye had become a misty black with no light or indication of sight from it. The Viscountess figuratively jumped in her seat and the Baron to her right held a rather bemused expression. Irelithe put the patch back in its rightful place as the Viscountess reevaluated her. ¡°How can we be sure you got that injury from the Demon?¡± Virandi pointed out shortly after. ¡°And how do we know this isn¡¯t a trap?¡± Virandi knew that the other Barons, except for Lance of course, envied her power. They would commit many atrocities in order to obtain her power, and as a result, Virandi had to be cautious of anything. Especially a traveler bearing news about a Demon which hadn¡¯t appeared in several centuries. ¡°If it were a trap, then why would I be here? Wouldn¡¯t an advisor bearing news be more fitting than an unnamed wanderer like me?¡± Irelithe slammed her fists onto the table. The tea set clattering from the impact. ¡°Listen. There¡¯s a [Demon] on the loose, and if you don¡¯t want a repeat of what happened during the first war, you better act fast.¡± The two ladies continued bickering, even the servants standing by the walls forgot about the existence of a single Baron sitting awkwardly next to Virandi. ¡°Uh¡­ What happened during the first war exactly?¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Lance asked meekly, trapped between the presences of two predators fighting over their territory. ¡°Hm, I forgot you were a newly titled family for a moment.¡± Viscountess Virandi sat back down on her seat, her delicate fingers picking up her cup of tea and sipping for a few moments before speaking again. ¡°During the first war between the Helios and Ivecil Kingdoms, someone managed to open a [Gate] using the lives of thousands of Balros citizens within our capital. A tragic slaughter was all that was.¡± ¡°Thousands?¡± ¡°Indeed, and that wasn¡¯t even the worst of it. Hundreds of the Demon race poured into our world, slaughtering and destroying everything they met. Our mighty empire fell that day, and now we are only a shadow of that glory. The war was put on hold as both sides were threatened by them. They had to retreat otherwise they would be absolutely destroyed.¡± While the two nobles were exchanging their words, Irelithe waited patiently, sipping on the warm tea that was served. The two had actually listened to reason and started mobilizing an anti-demon force within the hour. The group comprised of elites, namely several Knights from both territories, a few priests from the local church and a few odd cloaked men who proclaimed themselves as exorcists. Their task was to investigate the Demon sighting, and to eliminate it should they meet it. The group marched southward on official orders towards the bloody swamp I had mentioned previously. Viscountess Virandi overlooked her city sprawled across the horizon. She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at me, hiding her face behind an ornamental fan. ¡°This better be worth it. I¡¯ve sent my best men and they¡¯d better come back alive.¡± ¡°Anything is worth it to avoid that calamity.¡± ¡°I hope so, otherwise another dark day will come to quench the last remaining flames of our once great empire. Honor the Empire.¡± ¡°Honor the Empire.¡± The three then separated, Lance returned to his own territory leaving the two women behind. Irelithe followed suit and left the Viscountess¡¯ manor, travelling down the cobble paved streets. The various commoners moved around doing their tasks in their everyday lives, unaware of how fate would change because of her at that very moment. But Irelithe didn¡¯t feel the need to be the hero. She resupplied on ink and parchment, as well as various potions at the local apothecary before setting off for her original destination, the independent city of Viscor located too far away from the capital for the Balros King to hold. A place filled with craftsman, and rumored home to the one she needed to find. Irelithe ran out of reagents for her flight inscriptions long ago, she would have had enough to last her a few more weeks but the several botched attempts in her hurry and mainly at fault for her ruined eye had run her supply dry. She could only walk or ride her way there now. So she headed towards the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and settled on a merchant issued escort mission to Viscor. She didn¡¯t care for the pay, all she needed was a ride. The next day, Irelithe and a few others gathered outside of the Lanchester City, she found the recipient of her request standing in front of a rather long line of caravans. He was a stout man, unlike the grubby fat of Baron Baruch, and he held within his hands the acceptance letters with our names and faces. ¡°So all you youngin¡¯s ready for a long haul? We won¡¯t be arriving at Viscor for at least a month if all thing go well. Make sure everythin¡¯s packed and ready to go. We¡¯ll be leaving in a few minutes.¡± Irelithe¡¯s face dropped. She regretted wasting so many precious regents earlier as she reluctantly got onboard the last caravan in the line with the other equally troubled adventurers. -Back at the Viscountess'' Mansion- Shortly after Irelithe had left the estate, a loud clambering sound could be heard from outside the hall from where Virandi sat. The fumbling of doors followed by the rapid pants of a disheveled butler entering the room. "My lady! I have urgent news to report!" The butler cried, exasperated from the long run. Virandi closed her fan and stood up from her seat, walking towards the servant to receive the untimely report. "Tell me else you won''t be seeing another dawn tonight." The butler was sweating profusely on top of her favorite rugs. His body was visibly shaken all over as he gave his lady the dire news. "Our connections have said that the war is over in the southern regions. We can finally make our move!" Virandi took in those words as she moved back to the grand window overlooking her lands. She gazed over the various tiled building and at the greenery beyond. The vast expanse twinkling in her sharp gaze. "The time has come, the Balros Empire will finally be revived. For the Empire!" The maids standing by the walls and the exhausted butler yelled out in unison just as their lady had. "For the Empire!" 5. Change Chapter 5: Change Her body hurt. She ran and ran but she couldn¡¯t escape it. Her very blood screaming at her to kill and devour. She didn¡¯t want to. The two females looked delicious. They truly did, but she didn¡¯t want to eat them. Her body was in pain, incomparable to what she remembered when she first awoke. Thousands of spears, jagged and keen, dug through her skin with every passing moment. She could only run, screaming through day and night, a red light flashing underneath her skin with every step, every beat of her accelerated heart. She didn¡¯t want to eat, but her desire consumed her. Skill [Blood Oath] has @($!^&#^$*)!%(@#% Her mind was devoured by her own Skill. She couldn¡¯t think or move, her body held hostage by an unknown force. Her body ran, faster than what her body should have been capable of. Her body couldn¡¯t handle it, the muscles obviously exceeding their limits and started rupturing under the extreme strain. Blood poured out throughout her body, forming a river of blood trailing behind the mad figure. Her body came upon an area filled with hundreds of lives, a local town located far in the countryside. Its inhabitants at rest with few guards as no one in their right mind would ever decide their remote location and subpar fields were worthy of attacking. But whatever controlled her body didn¡¯t care. A mass of blood moved through the night, slaughtering the villagers in their sleep, dying sheets in red and consuming their bodies before moving to the next. The night grew cold, still. Not a single voice or hint of life came from the village the following morning. A small time merchant arrived at the village a few hours later, only to his surprise to find nobody in the fields. He checked the insides of the houses but could only see red sheets in each of the houses, as if everyone had just vanished. It was only to his delight when he discovered that all the belongings were now considered ¡®ownerless¡¯ as he confiscated anything valuable from the houses and quickly left before others stumbled on his strange happenstance. The village was then found by a group of countryside adventures questing for fame and fortune. The four members of the group only managed to report this piece of news to the nearby Hamon City days later, which was then quickly relayed to the Imperial capital of Balros. A prosecution force was sent out to the village, but any tracks or clue that might have been left behind had already faded at that moment, the only evidence left being the red sheets and rotten floorboards. They could only speculate the motives of the culprit, but with a lack of knowledge they were unable to conclude so. But none knew of the true culprit, who was currently laying down in a pool of blood hundreds of leagues to the east, right on the outskirts of Viscor, City of Craftsman and Commerce. ¡°Oh mother of-!¡± A young woman carrying a basket to gather herbs for her concoctions had found a naked body outside the forest. She knew that no one would ever commit a crime in the city under the watchful eyes of the Watch, but this was simply too much. Leaving a body outside in the open, and fresh too, she could see blood flowing out from the body, spilled out far enough for her to step in it had she not been paying attention to the ground. Only when she saw the slight moving of the chest did she realize it was still alive. She dropped her basket, her herbs spilling out onto the ground soaking in the deep scarlet blood. She ran to the body pulling out a glass from under her robes and quickly poured out what seemed to be a potion from a bottle she pulled from who knows where. The bright red liquid sloshed around the glass as it was put near what seemed to be the mouth of the body. The body tried to resist, but the weak resistance was no match for the Alchemist as she forced the body to drink. Only after a few moments does the blood finally stop pooling around her, visibly at least. The body was still covered in blood and weak from the loss thereof. The [Alchemist] picked her up and carried her back into the city, albeit with shocked looks from the other residents and an attentive glare from all the members of the Watch. Gazing at her from their various posts across the wall and towers. She moved through the endless streets, twisting and turning through them unblocked by the foot traffic due to anyone spotting her quickly moving out of her path. The elderly looked at her dismissively, mothers covering the eyes of their children as they asked about what she carried, and others within her line of trade watched her disapprovingly. She didn¡¯t care, she had a life to save and nothing can stop her. The Alchemist ran into the back room of her own dimly lit shop, carefully laying the body on a table she had just cleared earlier in the morning before grabbing tufts of herbs from the many shelves and potted plants randomly placed about, moving to her worktable covered in glassware and tools. She began throwing the herbs into a mortar and began the grinding them into a fine powder. She grabbed more herbs and other ingredients from her surroundings and started melting them in a vial over a lit flame, letting the heat diffuse over the entire mixture. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water, throwing the powder that she had just grinded earlier and stirred. The clear liquid had turned into bright green color and she started sipping from the glass, clearly enjoying the refreshment she had made. She had always been an oddball, even by the viewpoint of other alchemists. She should teach them a lesson or two about who¡¯s the oddball. Now where was she? Ah! The potion! She took the vial that was left on the fire for a bit too long and splashed the murky brown substance into another bowl of which she started stirring furiously. ¡°Can¡¯t let my precious materials go to waste.¡± She said as a grin appeared on her face. The substance started to solidify within the bowl, the final product being a rather large amount of brown paste. She took the bowl and moved towards the body left on the table. Only after looking closely at the bloody mess of a body does she see that it belonged to a young girl, she assumed that her height would only reach up to her thigh. What could have possibly happened for her to end up in that state? Various thoughts swirled through her mind about her mysterious patient as she started applying the paste onto the girl¡¯s body. The lower portion of her body seemed human at least, but only when she reached the face portion did she see the ears. Though they weren¡¯t uncommon around these parts but a half-elf was still a shocking sight nonetheless. Of course, she didn¡¯t know that her assumptions about the child¡¯s race were wrong but she still smiled regardless. After all the paste had been used, she walked back to the front of the shop before she realized something was amiss. ¡°My herbs!¡± She ran back out of the shop as quickly as she ran in, and started dashing down the streets unburdened. The city¡¯s residence simply moved out of her way as if this were a common daily occurrence, leaving a certain devil alone in the backroom of an apothecary. The girl had only just woken up, her body still in pain and in tatters from what had happened before. All she remembered was the unbearable hunger clawing at her mind, and anything after was left blank. She woke in the unlit room, though she could see perfectly even with the absence of light. She found herself lying on a table covered in some kind of stuff which made her want to itch her body all over. But she couldn¡¯t move. Her body still refused to listen to her commands. The best she could do was twitch a finger but nothing else. Panicked, the girl started to flail about, except without the movement part. She couldn¡¯t move, a prisoner trapped within her own body. Her mind raced to find a reason where there was none until she found her world flipping upside down.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. *CRASH* Her body woke up while she was flailing around and had actually done what she ordered it to, flail around. She fell from the table landing with the top of her head hitting the ground first. Her bottom half whirling around had actually bumped into a shelf with enough force to knock it down. The shelf toppled over on its back, landing on the ground with a loud crash and the clattering of broken glass spreading across the floor. Alarmed voices were audible from the streets and a loud series of footsteps moved towards the closed store. ¡°ISBETH!¡± A large man in both stature and muscle opened the door to the back room. He brought with him a gloriously big stick as a weapon, his eyes squeezing to make out what had happened in the dark room. The dim light from outside poured into the room, allowing him to spot reflected light from the glass shards scattered across the floor. ¡°I swear if you die on me before paying me back, I¡¯ll kill you again!¡± The man charged into the room before tripping over something soft. He fell to the floor and landed with an even louder crash than the shelf before him did. He groaned, turning over to see what he had tripped over. In the dim light, he could see the face of a young girl with scarlet eyes. Her snow white skin shined with an unearthly glow and below¡­ The man covered his eyes at such a shameless sight. There was a naked girl covered in brown goop and blood in the back of Isbeth¡¯s shop. Her tastes were quite¡­ exquisite before but this was taking it much too far. The two awkwardly sat in silence, the girl peering at the odd man before her wondering why he wasn¡¯t attacking her as he did before. Her body tensed prepared for the slightest movement from the man before loud resounding footsteps and an angry voice could be heard from the front of the shop. ¡°ROY! TELL ME NOW WHY YOU DECIDED TO BURST INTO MY SHOP AN- Oh.¡± The Alchemist known as Isbeth stomped into the back room to see the sight of a grown man on his bum with his eyes covered. The girl she had saved before was on the ground as well, her scarlet eyes veering to lock onto hers. ¡°Oh.¡± Isbeth was the kind of person to forget even the most recent things, and she had clearly forgotten what she had in her back room for a moment. She eyed the room to see one of her shelves collapsed on the ground with glass shards glittering in the light. A cunning gleam could be seen in her eyes. ¡°Roy!¡± ¡°Yes Isbeth?¡± ¡°You are lucky that that shelf was only for storage! You better be paying me back for it!¡± Isbeth snapped to the man as he stood back up from the ground. He walked to Isbeth stick in hand, the two could be seen as a rather comical pair as the giant of a man was a full two heads taller than the woman. ¡°First, I didn¡¯t break them. Second, you still owe me for all the goods I lent you.¡± Isbeth made a rather nasty grin as she replied back to the man towering over her. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. You owe me money and I owe you money. Now we¡¯re even.¡± Isbeth walked past the stupefied man and towards the girl lying on the ground, scarlet eyes still staring at them even while they were talking. ¡°Wha- But that¡¯s not how it works!¡± The man said as he turned on his heel, confronting Isbeth once again. Only to be shushed by the Halfling Alchemist. ¡°Quiet, you will disturb my patient.¡± Isbeth reached out a hand towards the girl on the ground, offering her hand to the girl to help her stand. But the girl didn¡¯t know of this and tried backing up, she tried jerking her entire body away from the strange hand but she couldn¡¯t. Her body was still weak and her tensed muscles no better. She fell onto the ground after colliding with the leg of a table in an uncoordinated mess. Her muscles couldn¡¯t move as she told them to, resulting in the rather painful episode she had experienced. ¡°Now now, I¡¯m not here to hurt you. The restoration paste is still in effect so I advise staying still. After you¡¯ve recovered a fair bit I¡¯ll be bathing you alright? Can¡¯t have you covered in blood like that.¡± Isbeth consoled what appeared to be a frightful young girl. Discussing how she would care for the lost child as if she were her own. The man behind her, Roy, watched the scene with a rather disgruntled expression, his eyes wandering anywhere but towards the naked child. ¡°So, where¡¯d you find her?¡± ¡°Outside the gates, you can¡¯t believe the state I found her in. Her entire body was leaking blood, too much blood I¡¯d say. An entire pool of blood formed before I found her. I took her home and now we¡¯re here.¡± Isbeth said as she moved her hands to the young girl¡¯s face, caressing the bloody face before lifting her up and placing her on a cushion on a chair in the corner. The girl¡¯s expression was rather miffed as she wanted to break free but couldn¡¯t. Though, to an outsider¡¯s perspective, the girl looked rather cute despite all the blood and restoration paste caking her body. Of course, it was a sight only Isbeth beheld as Roy still to his best effort avoided the direction the girl was in. ¡°Now, if you excuse me, I have some explaining to do with the Watch. They seemed rather pissed that I dragged a bloody corpse into the city for no apparent reason. How boring those fools are.¡± Isbeth smirked an unnatural grin, Roy sighed at the unladylike display. ¡°Look, it¡¯s your own damn fault that this happened. You should know better than to do this.¡± Isbeth suddenly snapped back around and glared at Roy. ¡°Then are you saying I should¡¯ve just left the dying girl there? If I hadn¡¯t done what I did, I¡¯d practically be a murderer!¡± The two started bickering over the entire situation, blowing it completely out of proportion. The girl in question though simply stared at the two. Her body was in pain but it wasn¡¯t as horrible as it was before. If she had known the cause then maybe she would have been able to prevent it, but she didn¡¯t. She just sat there, watching the two bicker for a while before they both left the shop, leaving her alone again. Forgotten. The only thing she could do was to wait for their eventual return, as a warm feeling she never felt before grew in her chest in the meanwhile.
Name Unnamed Age 11 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 18/45 (+.015/s) MP 96/96 (+.027/s) SP 32/32 (+.015/s)
STR 15 INT 23 WIS 13
CON 13 AGL 24 LUK 3
Current Ailments | Muscles: Torn | Recovering State: Recovering
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 48.4%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] 2/10 87.6%
[%)@%&@)%$&] @)($&%@)%^#(% !*#(%@%#^)%!%
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
6. Insight i Chapter 6: Insight i The girl was bored. She couldn¡¯t move and there was hardly anything of interest in the room. She sat there on the cushions. Left with nothing else to do, she thought about what happened to her in the past few days. She managed to travel further away from the danger but she wasn¡¯t far enough. But wasn¡¯t there something else she should be worried about? Only after a moment of realization does she remember about the existence of that box. She couldn¡¯t read it but she understood the general idea behind it. It defined her. But something within her told her it was different. She focused on visualizing the box¡¯s image within her mind, and as it had before, it popped into existence, this time with more unknown symbols.
Name Unnamed Age 11 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 24/45 (+.015/s) MP 96/96 (+.027/s) SP 32/32 (+.015/s)
STR 15 INT 23 WIS 13
CON 13 AGL 24 LUK 3
Current Ailments | Muscles: Fatigued | Recovering State: Recovering
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 48.5%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] 2/10 87.6%
[*()%^@)$^@] &^%@(#@^!(%! ^%(@^#*!*%^&
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
The symbols in the upper portion of the mass of boxes seemed to be similar to what she remembered, but the boxes below were different. Her consciousness was dragged towards the strange new characters, their visage constantly changing and shifting. Mesmerized, she only then found herself in an empty red world moments later. The world was devoid of anything besides from her own image, a transparent shimmering form similar in construct to her actual body but different. More¡­ Human. She could see everything but her own feet, which were cut off at the calves. No, not cut off, she realized. Her feet were below another surface, one she couldn¡¯t see before as it had the same eerie look as the rest of her surroundings. She lifted her feet, only to find that it was entirely dyed in red. Surprised, she lost her balance and fell, half of her body ending up submerged beneath the red as black thorns grew in a circle around her, surrounding her, trapping her. Black hands grabbed at her from below, pulling her down into the depths of the deep red world. She couldn¡¯t breathe. She tried and failed, her lungs filling with the liquid, and only moments after the liquid entered her mouth did she realize the familiar taste. Blood. She was drowning in blood. The wretched faces of all those she had killed started appearing around her. The animals that she had slain in mass, the faces of the two men she had killed, followed by the hollowed sleeping faces of the villagers that slept forevermore, the children whose faces would never mature. They surrounded her, moving, writhing as if to taunt her. A cold laugh echoed behind her, one that she remembered clearly. The girl spun around in the liquid to see the floating face of a man. Unremarkable from afar but sharp if one looked at it closely. His eyes was looking down at her, his prideful stare set a crushing pressure upon the girl. She tried to resist and she had succeeded. She broke free from his pressure and lashed out with her claws, only, to her surprise and shock, were nothing more than the fragile fingers one would find on any common child.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Foolish.¡± The man¡¯s face said, as the pressure that bore down on her grew exponentially. The girl was crushed by the force, all thought of resistance faded. The last thought she had being one of absolute hatred towards the face as her sight faded into nothingness. Skill [(#*@^$)!$^%] has diverged Skill [@$(!@^%()%] has been removed Skill [Blood Haunt] has been obtained The girl¡¯s body in the dim room went limp. Her scarlet eyes glazed over as her entire body shifted backwards into the back of the chair. Her body simply laid there for hours before Isbeth returned with papers in hand. ¡°What happened here?¡± Isbeth came back to the sight of her patient sprawled across the chair. She set down the documents on a nearby table and started caring for the little girl. Though, the moment before her fingers could touch her patient¡¯s face, the girl jumped. She literally jumped, somersaulted to be more exact. Her body flew through the air and landed behind Isbeth, her back facing towards her. The girl just stood there stiff. Her body had naturally responded but her mind has yet to process it. Isbeth tackled the girl, causing both of them to land on the ground, the girl held within Isbeth¡¯s arms. Only, rather than an embrace the Halfling [Alchemist] was hurriedly looking all over her body. The brown paste covering her body had cracked and was currently peeling off of her body in fragments. ¡°I swear they should have last longer. What went wrong?¡± The Alchemist grabbed one of the hardened fragments and went over to her worktable. Dropping the shard into a glass beaker and started heating it, the fragment melted reverting back to what it had looked like before. The brown paste bubbled in the beaker, streams of dark brown smoke began exiting the funnel and floated in the shop briefly before dissipating, the plant nearing it shriveling slightly. The Alchemist saw this and started scribbling in a small book she had pulled from one of her pockets. ¡°Properties of death. Could it be because of the blood? No, human blood wouldn¡¯t cause such a thing even if mixed in. Elven blood? But other Alchemist have already experimented with it for decades. Could this be because of a unique property?¡± The Alchemist Isbeth looked over at her cute patient, a gleam in her eye that would rightfully earn her the title of ¡®Mad Scientist¡¯ despite no one knowing what that was. She continued writing in the small book as her incessant ramblings and mutterings continued for the lesser half of an hour before the girl¡¯s body finally fell, causing Isbeth to drop her book due to the sudden noise. It was only then that she remembered that she was to care for the child, so she went closer to the body only to find the girl¡¯s scarlet eyes to begin watering. The girl had cried for the first time. She felt no guilt when she took the lives of others so why should she now? The bottled emotions within her started pouring out in unrestrained force. The water from her tears dripped down her cheeks and over her closed lips. Isbeth saw this and started holding the girl in her arms again, this time as a proper embrace. Isbeth held the girl¡¯s head against her chest, the tears streaming down from her eyes seeping into her shirt. The pair had sat there for what seemed like hours, only separating once the girl¡¯s tears had run dry. ¡°Poor girl, wonder what she¡¯s been through.¡± Isbeth held the still girl in her arms, stroking the girl¡¯s hair as she fell asleep, exhausted from the pouring of her emotions. She sat there with the girl¡¯s head resting on her map, afraid that any sudden movements would wake the sleeping child, she sat and tried to her best effort to ignore the uncomfortable stabbing sensations as her legs fell asleep. It was only until after the sun rose in the sky did the girl open her eyes. She saw the face of Isbeth hanging over her. The Halfling¡¯s closed eyes had shadows around them and her fingers were laced in her hair. The girl tried moving away but the sudden change in pressure woke Isbeth as well. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re finally awake. Here, I¡¯ll go prepare some food for us so stay here for a bit.¡± Isbeth tried to stand but her legs were still asleep, causing her to tumble forward a bit arms flailing before she caught her balance. ¡°On second thought, how about we stay here for a bit? I coul- Wait! Come back!¡± The girl fled the shop. She couldn¡¯t stay. She didn¡¯t belong. She ran from the only person that cared for her. The eyes of the Watch locked onto her, and they started moving after her within light emitted by the rising sun. 7. Insight ii Chapter 7: Insight i The citizens of Viscor wandered around the streets doing what they needed. The mothers brought their children to the market, purchasing from a vast variety of fruits and meats freshly prepared for the day¡¯s sale. Craftsman sat within their respective buildings, creating and innovating their craft. On this bustling day occurred a strange sight. A blur of white and red streaked past them followed by the outline of men bearing the crest of the Watch. The two opposing streaks moved aligned, the red blur outpacing the Watch, but could not evade them. Every now and then, the red streak changed course, heading into the many lanes and alleys within Viscor. Despite all the detours, the red streak had a clear goal in mind, to escape. She knew she was followed and she disliked every moment of it. She could tell that they were stronger, and even if they weren¡¯t, she¡¯d likely not want to kill them either. The memories of that horrible bloody world was etched into her. She was afraid of it. She ran as fast as she could, her pace only fast enough for the normal average eye to see a blur. But she knew it wasn¡¯t enough and that the watch were only testing her. She ran and ran, diving through corners and delving through shadows, but even after all of her running, she still felt those eyes on her back. She kept running, only stopping when she realized she reached a dead end. She stopped and so did they, they stood behind her, watching her as she turned around to face them. She saw three men wearing leather armor. Not the crude ones but refined, the leather covered enough to protect and didn¡¯t impair the wearer¡¯s movement in any way. On the right shoulder portion of the armor was the Watch¡¯s crest, a golden eagle caught midflight. Each of them had a weirdly shaped short sword sheathed on their hips. Though, that didn¡¯t mean it was their only weapon. One of the men stepped forward, his right arm outstretched in front of him gesturing to the girl. ¡°Come with us.¡± The girl stood there, trapped in a dead end by the three men. She replied calmly though her eyes which darted around looking for any means for escape betrayed her intentions. ¡°No.¡± The cold voice resounded through the still atmosphere, the tension soon dissolved by the laugh of the man. ¡°Perfect. We needed someone like you.¡± The man stepped forward, closing in on the girl. He had seen her run, though her speed was below the standard for the Watch, but how she had seamlessly moved between the buildings and people without making a single sound. That was the talent that he had been looking for, and judging by how she was dressed, she was probably an orphan as well. He held his arms outstretched to the girl, planning to offer her the best he could offer, at least, until she died that is. The girl stared at the hand unsure of what to do. Nobody had wanted her before. But the man could not be trusted. His hands were abnormally still. The stillness she herself was familiar with. The hands of someone who took lives as if it were inconsequential. The queasiness in her stomach worsened as she thought of how similar they were. The two behind the lead man stood as they had before. Silent, watching. Every time she moved her finger, she could feel a flicker of attention drawn towards it. She couldn¡¯t escape. She could only bide her time and wait for an opportunity, no matter how narrow it was.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Who are you?¡± Conversation was the best way to bide time. Those who think they are in absolute control tend to drop their guards, leading to situations where a slight weakness can mean the downfall of them. But the man wasn¡¯t one of them. He was cautious, befitting of the title of a Watch Captain. He knew the girl¡¯s intentions the moment she uttered those words, another point in favor of having her join them. Though, he didn¡¯t have time for the child¡¯s silly games. ¡°Come with us.¡± This time, the words he uttered bore a pressure of their own. A command. That was what it was. The words directed towards the girl caused her to freeze. An unnatural thought appeared in her head to oblige to the man, but her free will wasn¡¯t something that can easily be influenced. She lashed out at the man, her claws aiming for the man¡¯s heart. But she had stopped. Her claws only a distance away from the man¡¯s chest. Two curved blades had blurred together near her neck, crossing to form a cross. The blades drew blood, had she continued in her movement, she would have had her neck cut clean off. ¡°Nice instincts. Though you lack the ability to follow orders so I¡¯ll have to discipline you afterwards. But it¡¯s not an issue that can¡¯t be fixed with time.¡± The man turned around, his back was exposed but he didn¡¯t care. The girl couldn¡¯t reach him without first being killed by his subordinates. He waited for a few minutes before a panting sound could be heard right outside of the alley. The source of this breathing was Isbeth, she had ran across the entire city looking for the little girl. She only heard from the witnesses later that they had seen her come this way, and lo and behold, there she was, surrounded by the men from the Golden Eagle squadron. She held the papers in her hand, thrusting them in front of her and yelling at the men. ¡°Back off! I¡¯ve already completed the paperwork to become her guardian! She¡¯s already protected by the law. None of you bastards can touch her!¡± The red-faced Halfling exclaimed, waving the documents about as she walked forward. The Watch were a major part of Viscor law, but that doesn¡¯t mean they were omnipotent. Due to an incident occurring years back, a new law was placed preventing the Watch from recruiting children into their ranks without the consent of their guardian. She had to sit in line for hours in order to accomplish this, but as seen by the annoyed expression the Captain had, it was worth it. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go.¡± The Captain of the Golden Eagles, Larc, had wanted to recruit the girl as their personal assassin, but if she was already protected, not even he could do anything about it. He gestured for his subordinates to follow him before disappearing down the alley somewhere. This left the two alone in the alley. The girl saw this as the very opportunity she was looking before and tensed her muscle to jump, but she misjudged the ability the Halfling Alchemist had as Isbeth embraced her once again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I left you alone. Let¡¯s go home together alright?¡± Isbeth held the girl in her arms, thinking that she had been scared of the men chasing after her. She grasped the girl¡¯s hand before realizing something that she might have done something bad. ¡°Let¡¯s give you a proper name later, I can¡¯t just keep calling you ¡®you¡¯ after all.¡± A name. The girl never had one but she wanted one nonetheless. A name to call her own was one that cannot be taken from her. It was something that she yearned for but never actively sought. She followed Isbeth, guided through the streets of Viscor by the kind hands that held hers warmly. Isbeth had tucked the papers regarding her guardianship of the girl in one of her pockets. The front-most bit of slightly wrinkled paper had words near the top, the intricate letters written in Isbeth''s own handwriting spelling out the name Cerise. 8. To Protect i Chapter 8: To Protect i Isbeth and the girl she had named Cerise calmly walked through the streets of Viscor. Unlike before, Isbeth wasn¡¯t in so much of a rush as she occasionally waved her hands towards several shops along the way. They made it halfway back before being confronted by another set of men. Unlike the member of the Golden Eagle, this set of men looked to be more of the ruffian type. Their dirty leather armor had scarring and markings showing that they weren¡¯t some greenhorns, but by the way they moved and acted one can tell that they aren¡¯t the kind to fight hard battles. ¡°Listen here girly. That child over there bumped into one of ours earlier and now we¡¯ve got a problem. My friend here dropped his most precious sword and it had chipped on the ground. So either you pay up or give us the girl.¡± Their leader, a rather large man whose height would even tower over Roy¡¯s stood in front of them. One of the men behind him held up a rather stupidly long sword, battered and chipped throughout the years. Out of habit, the nearby blacksmiths looked at the sword before looking away in disinterest. The sword wasn¡¯t of superior quality in the first place and the so called damages to the blade could easily be seen to be fabricated by the men. Isbeth whose eyes were sharp and used to this treatment looked back at the men. ¡°Back off. My girl won¡¯t even harm a fly and you expect her to be able to push a big dumb brute like your friend over there? And even then, it¡¯s your fault in the first place if you decided to unsheathe a blade in a public place like this. Should I call the Watch on you four? I wonder whose word they¡¯ll trust more, the account of a law-abiding citizen like me or fools like you who¡¯ve only been here for a few days? Now listen here, if you wish to do well in Viscor and avoid the eyes of the Watch, you have to abide by every rule and law. Not even they can go against them and so long as you don¡¯t break any, you should be fine. First off, any actions which can be seen as violent for no justifiable reason will result in you being arrested. Your possessions will be confiscated and kept, while you have to serve time in¡­¡± Isbeth began reciting a long authoritarian speech to the four men. Her oppressive nature finally coming to light. The speech itself lasted for several painfully long minutes before a small unit from the Watch had to break them up. Due to many accounts from the amused onlookers and Isbeth¡¯s own word, the men got off with nothing more than a stern warning against their behavior. They ran away at a moment¡¯s notice swearing to never bother another person again. An odd acidic scent was left in the air as the men left the scene as abruptly as they appeared. Unknown to Isbeth and most of the onlookers, the girl had been staring at the men for a good number of minutes. Her scarlet eyes seemed to gaze deep into their bodies and her creepy silent smile awakened an instinctual desire to flee. The men were deeply frightened by the little girl standing behind the woman they tried to rob from and were very glad that the Watch had let them escape. Anywhere else would be better than to be within that thing¡¯s sight. The girl¡¯s stare could even be felt on their backs as they ran away, which only served as a means to cause them to run faster. Only after a half hour of running and crossing the outer boundary of the city did the pressure cease. They collapsed on the ground outside the city¡¯s gate exhausted, happy to finally escape from that thing. The girl found it exciting. She did feel guilt over killing those that hadn¡¯t done anything but after the episode with the Golden Eagle, she had resolved to face against those that have, including that man in her memories but she¡¯s far too weak for that. The men that had stopped her and Isbeth had blatantly tried to threaten them, so she tried to move forward and cut them apart. But Isbeth blocked her path with her arm and started rattling off a hundred laws and why you shouldn¡¯t commit crimes to the men, so she had to remain content with just staring at them. She only reached the thirtieth law before the Watch broke them up, but the girl had a sudden realization. She could still see the men even through all of the people between them. Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eye] has increased in Level (1) Subskill {Hunter¡¯s Mark} has been obtainedThis story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. She could see a faint orange outline of the men from afar. They scrambled to get away from her before but now they were practically bolting through the streets, screaming at the top of their lungs trying to escape her sight. Isbeth guided her along the streets once more but she had been looking in their direction for several minutes. Isbeth saw this and thought that she was looking at the assorted wares of the weapon shop nearby. ¡°You want to become an adventurer? Trust me, pointy sticks and stabby things don¡¯t solve all problems.¡± The girl shook her head at Isbeth¡¯s sudden statement and pointed her finger in the direction of the fuzzy orange shapes in her vision. ¡°Bad guys. Running there.¡± Isbeth looked in the direction her finger was facing but only saw the most expensive weapon in the shop¡¯s display. Baffled, Isbeth tried to communicate to the girl once more. ¡°Bad guys? All I see is a-¡° Isbeth stopped midsentence. Her eyes went wide as she closely looked at Cerise at her side. She grabbed the girl¡¯s arms and held them straight, their eyes locking together. ¡°Don¡¯t mention this to anyone. We need to go.¡± Isbeth¡¯s usual cheery tone changed to a serious one. She grasped the girl¡¯s arm in a firmer hold and quickly brought her back to the shop, the ¡®Closed¡¯ sign still hanging on the door. She put the girl into a chair in the backroom before pulling one up for herself. Isbeth then spoke to the girl. ¡°Don¡¯t anyone know that you have that skill. If any of the Watch Captains find out about this, I won¡¯t be able to protect you.¡± Isbeth was serious this time. The law protected against the general recruitment of children, but that particular law has a few exception clauses with absurd requirements to be met. One of those many clauses specifies possessing any subskill under the [Hunter¡¯s Eye] skill, a rare skill that only appears in few and leveling it is painstaking. The slowest speed recorded requiring several years just to reach level 2 and the fastest took even half a year. Obtaining a subskill was an even more outrageous occurrence, requiring the skill itself to be used enough in such a way to obtain one. What made Isbeth so clear on what skill the girl had was because of the nature of her eyes. A cross pattern appeared on the center of her pupil and had been spinning for quite some time. The fact that the girl in front of her already possessing a subskill for [Hunter¡¯s Eye] raises doubts and flags within Isbeth¡¯s mind, but desire to protect the girl far outstripped her rational side. Isbeth told the girl not to use that particular skill at all as the very girl in question, Cerise, looked at the boxes for the first time since she woke up.
Name Cerise Age 12 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 47/47 (+.016/s) MP 100/100 (+.027/s) SP 16/34 (+.017/s)
STR 15 INT 25 WIS 15
CON 14 AGL 26 LUK 3
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 51.2%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 .7%
[Blood Haunt] N/A N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
8.5 To Dress (Bonus Interactive) Chapter 8.5: To Dress (Bonus Interactive) The first thing she saw was that there was a change in to top boxes. Not the change as in the numbers which she has learned to recognize, but the changes in spelling of the first box. Instead of seven characters, there was instead six, and each letter except for the ¡®e¡¯ shape was new. Though, it shouldn¡¯t bother her that much. What did bother her was what would happen if she looked towards the bottom again. Flashbacks of those shifting characters and that bloody world sifted through her mind breaking her concentration and bringing her back to reality. ¡°Just because you have a skill doesn¡¯t mean you should use it.¡± Isbeth was still lecturing her about the rights and wrongs of using skills. She didn¡¯t care for it but she had to listen to it otherwise she¡¯d be here for hours. ¡°[Hunter¡¯s Mark] is a blatantly obvious skill. A unique mark will appear in the user¡¯s eye and somewhere on the target¡¯s body, only fading after enough time passes or they escape the detection range which varies with the user. Not only does the skill harm the user but the targets will always know that you are watching them. Do you understand?¡± The girl, Cerise as she is known to the people of Viscor, nodded her head in reply to Isbeth¡¯s question. She understood the implications and weaknesses of [Hunter¡¯s Mark] rather well. It seems like a convenient skill at first glance but the fact that it alerted the enemy wasn¡¯t good. The skill doesn¡¯t blend well with her ambush style of combat. ¡°Good. Now let¡¯s get to eating, but first we need to make you decent.¡± Isbeth just didn¡¯t know what to do with Cerise. She walked to a closet located in the corner of the room and pulled out some old clothes from a box next to it. She held them up towards Cerise judging if they¡¯d fit, repeating this process until she was finally happy with the designs. She set aside three pairs of clothing similar in design, each one with its own unique style. ¡°Pick and choose, if you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll pick one for you.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Isbeth held her hands out over the three child sized garments. The first was a lily white blouse similar to a qipao with a pink floral pattern stretching over the sides, paired with silky shorts that were designed to fit comfortably to the skin. A set of soft shoes were set below and had two golden flowers forming a bright spiral on them. It was rather modest and apparently held high value in the Helios Kingdom. Though Isbeth didn¡¯t see much use to it as it was fit for children, but she couldn¡¯t bear to throw it away and stashed it within her endless boxes only to be dug up years later. The second of the three was a set of more practical clothing. The top was black and sleeveless, though not in the exposing way of more mature pieces. The sleeveless shirt had a collar long enough to cover the mouth and disperse wind if needed. Unlike the shorts of the first set, the long pants offered much more protection and without the frilliness or constraints other articles usually had, followed by leather boots designed to protect the feet. This set Isbeth had obtained from a closing sale without much thought. She had liked the design and thought to give it to her own child as a costume of some sort, sadly she had to shelf it because she never did have a child, which was partly the reason why she decided to raise Cerise as if she were her own daughter. Well, it maybe was the only reason why she decided as such. The third of the three was a simple dress. It lacked the elegance of the first and the practicality of the second but offered a more innocent charm that those two couldn¡¯t capture. It was a pastel blue dress with short white frills at the bottom of the skirt. The shoulders were covered with the fabric and went down before ending halfway to the elbows. The footwear that came along with it were slippers in a sense. They can easily be taken off and are much more durable than ones meant to be worn indoors. Sure, it wouldn¡¯t fit well with Cerise¡¯s scarlet eyes but her pale complexion could make up for it. She hoped at least. She didn¡¯t have much of a backstory for this particular dress as it was one among many but pastel yellow and orange just doesn¡¯t seem right for Cerise. Cerise in question though was looking over the dresses. Her eyes moving across the many folds and patterns of the clothes. She would probably choose the second one since she liked not having her movements broken by the frilly skirts, but she didn¡¯t want to disappoint Isbeth as she seemed to favor the first option more. It looked expensive and probably was but the girl mulled over this decision for several minutes in silence before Isbeth spoke up again. ¡°If you want, I have a fourth option, though I won¡¯t tell you what it is.¡± The proposal of another option stopped Cerise for a bit. She had nearly finished selecting what she had considered to be the best choice for her but this new mysterious article of clothing intrigued her. What should she choose? 9. To Protect ii Chapter 9: To Protect ii ¡°Seems good to me. At least now I know where to look.¡± It was an hour later after Cerise chose what she wanted from the selection Isbeth provided. As expected, Cerise chose the black shirt and pants and donned them after being cleaned by Isbeth. Roy decided to drop by and visit the two during the afternoon after he finished his own work at the smithy. ¡°It is isn¡¯t it? The black goes well with her skin and eyes after all, as expected of my tastes.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you buy this at grandpa Warten¡¯s retirement sale?¡± ¡°Yes, yes I did. Though, I had to choose it out of nearly a hundred other sets of clothing here,¡± Isbeth waves her hand over the multitude of stacked boxes near her own closet. ¡°and in fact, I even had to dig through the shoes bin to find a pair of boots that¡¯d fit her.¡± Isbeth pointed towards a box with pairs of footwear spilling out and scattered on the floor randomly. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. No need to inflate your own ego that much,¡± Roy had let out a soft sigh before placing his attention back onto the girl. ¡°so, what are you going to do with her now? I¡¯d bet that some big fishes would want a beauty like her regardless of the law.¡± The now clothed Cerise looked rather stunning to say the least. Her black hair had grown slightly over the past two weeks and was long enough to reach her shoulders, though Isbeth decided to trim and clean it after seeing the filthy state it was in, reducing its length by a bit to reach the base of her neck. Her white skin practically shined in the dark and the various bright reds in her scarlet eyes seemed to shimmer whenever they moved. Her pink lips were obscured by the collar of the black sleeveless shirt while her rather modest form for a young girl fit the outfit perfectly. She¡¯d be sure to grow up into a true beauty if given time but such a thing would probably cause more problems than not. Isbeth looked at Cerise who now stood clothed looking out the window, attracting the attention of many due to her doll-like appearance. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll get to that problem later. For now, food. Roy, mind covering for me?¡± This time, Roy let out an especially long sigh in response to Isbeth¡¯s rhetorical question. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to huh?¡± ¡°If you want, I can sever the connection between our businesses.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Roy went outside the shop and started shooing the viewers away, of course, Roy didn¡¯t point them in some random direction, he released his merchant¡¯s grin and helped ¡®guide¡¯ them to his own smithy down the street. Meanwhile, Isbeth dragged Cerise to the second floor of her shop which served as her own living space for the time being. The room was sparsely furnished as she mainly operated downstairs, the only notable objects were the bed she slept on and the desk with mountains of papers and books piling around it. She let go of Cerise¡¯s hand and walked towards the desk before sifting through the stacks of paperwork before she found a small slip of parchment between two papers.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Found it, lucky me! This coupon¡¯s still valid!¡± Isbeth pumped the fist holding the slip in the air before turning around and grabbing Cerise once again. She dragged the poor girl who, in her grasp, had a placid expression throughout the trip. They arrived at a nearby building with the pleasant aroma of meat wafting through the gaps in the door. At the smell of meat, Cerise¡¯s attention focused back to reality allowing her to analyze the smell. It didn¡¯t smell bad to be honest, but it didn¡¯t smell that good either. Though, within her two week of life, not counting the short years before, she¡¯d never smelled something so good. Her eyes went wide and her mouth began to salivate just as Isbeth opened the door to the bustling tavern known as the Ram¡¯s Horn. Not many looked up from their meals or their talks with others, but the ones who did stopped what they were doing entirely. What they saw was the oddball [Alchemist] dragging an extremely pretty child alongside her, whose expression seemed to be pleading for help from the witnesses, though, her salivating mouth was hidden underneath her collar. Isbeth strode up to the counter to the Tavern keeper¡¯s dismay and handed her a piece of paper. The Innkeeper, Veronica read the paper which added to her own sense of confusion. ¡°Um. Ma¡¯am? What is this?¡± Veronica held up the slip, written in legible but crude handwriting. ¡°What is it? Obviously a ticket for a good meal.¡± ¡°But, we don¡¯t have coupons here. Whoever gave this to you must have scamme-¡± Isbeth snatched the paper back gave it a closer inspection. Now that she paid closer attention, the handwriting seemed oddly familiar. She slapped her palm against her forehead as she realized where she saw it before. It appeared as if Roy decided to play a little prank on her when she gave the fake coupon to her a few weeks prior to her finding Cerise. Veronica wasn¡¯t in the mood to play with the Halfling though, she had business and she needed to deal with the line gradually forming behind the two girls. ¡°So, if you aren¡¯t paying them could you kindly get out?¡± ¡°Ah sorry, I¡¯ve got it. One lunch set and a kiddie meal please.¡± Isbeth opened a pouch and handed the tavern keeper four silvers and two copper pieces. The tavern keeper confirmed the amount and wrote down some letters on a paper and handed it to one of the waitresses. ¡°You can sit anywhere you¡¯d like, though I advise to stay away from that group over there in the corner. Your meals will arrive in a few minutes so you can wai-¡° ¡°Meat.¡± The girl behind the Halfling spoke for the first time since the two arrived. Her voice rung clear and cold throughout the tavern, instantly hushing the rowdy atmosphere. ¡°I want meat.¡± Cerise spoke again, misunderstanding that her first statement wasn¡¯t heard. She simply wanted some meat to eat so why was everyone so silent? She tilted her head in obvious puzzlement when a couple stood up and left the tavern after coughing at Isbeth. ¡°Did I do something wrong?¡± Her clear voice rung through the building again for the third time. The tavern keeper herself was one of the first to break away from her daze, directing her attention away from the Halfling and towards the child. ¡°No, you haven¡¯t done anything wrong, but could you please inform me about whether you¡¯ve been held against your will or forced to do anything conside-¡° ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Isbeth responded fiercely to Veronica. ¡°It¡¯s just a misunderstanding, right Cerise?¡± The girl in question simply tilted her head back in the other direction, her confusion more evident than before. The smell from the kitchen door captivated her, her thoughts were nothing more than to bite into such a delicious smelling meal. At Cerise¡¯s silence, some men watching the scene burst out into laughter, serving as a spark for several more to. In an instant, the rowdy atmosphere had restored itself in just a few moments. The cheers of men could be heard from down the street and the women were trying their best not to laugh at the [Alchemist]¡¯s expense. Veronica kept glancing between the two, her worries of business already faded with the return of the bustling atmosphere fit for a tavern. But she still had one doubt within her mind. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s just a misunderstanding?¡± Isbeth¡¯s face was flushed with embarrassment, but she still stood firm, or at least, as firm as a Halfling could, for herself. ¡°Absolutely.¡± 10. Preparation i Chapter 10: Preparation i Isbeth could be found in Roy¡¯s smithy later, violently yelling at Roy for his prank. She could cope with being called an oddball but to be accused of such a shameless thing. She couldn¡¯t stand it. Her thin arms were flailing against the Blacksmith, not doing anything more than causing herself to tire. ¡°Look, I didn¡¯t cause this. I thought you threw away that paper weeks ago, and shouldn¡¯t you be blaming that girl you dragged with you?¡± The two looked over to Cerise outside the shop, who was currently crouched in front of a flower with a butterfly on it. ¡°I would but I can¡¯t really have myself blame her. Who knows what she¡¯s been through in the first place anyways. ¡°Not really my problem. You should really train some more. Those weak arms of yours won¡¯t do much good in an actual fight. I think I have a spare dagger lying around though.¡± Roy looked over the Halfling once more, she did look rather thin but not to a ghastly extent. ¡°Waving sticks around isn¡¯t my specialty anyways. I¡¯d like to see a warrior best my acid potions.¡± Isbeth took a vial out of one of her pouches. The clear liquid didn¡¯t seem that deadly, which would be correct in all cases when on its own. Although the liquid itself didn¡¯t melt skin and bone, it did quickly corrode anything made of metal and if paired with one of Isbeth¡¯s more dangerous acids. Well, it wouldn¡¯t end well for the opponent. It was always a bad idea to fight an Alchemist as they specialize in either ruining the lives of their enemies or helping allies with their diverse set of potions, Isbeth being the kind that loves experimenting on melting everything. ¡°I suppose so, just keep those things away from my weapons.¡± As a Blacksmith, Roy can see how useful the potions were, but again, as a Blacksmith, he doesn¡¯t agree with Isbeth bringing them into his shop. He was going to comment more on this but he noticed that something was wrong. Cerise was gone. He ran outside the store but he couldn¡¯t find her. Isbeth followed him only to shortly realize the situation later. She panicked, she wanted to run down the streets to look for her but Roy stopped her. ¡°It won¡¯t do you any good to do that. You only got lucky last time.¡± ¡°I know! But I can¡¯t just do nothing!¡± The Halfling Alchemist was frantic. She¡¯d lost Cerise earlier though she rescued her just in time, but just as Roy had said, it was only through luck that she was found quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll contact Geril, he¡¯s probably got some spell to locate her. For now, you stay put.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Roy grabbed one of his weapons from the store and proceeded to exit, only to be followed by Isbeth. ¡°I¡¯m coming with you. I can¡¯t bear to sit around while Cerise could be out there with who knows what.¡± ¡°Fine, but don¡¯t run off on your own and keep pace with me.¡± Roy began sprinting down the streets, heading towards the residential district. His movement was unhindered as a staggering giant of a man rushing towards you would deter even the most violent of bandits, not to mention the citizens of Viscor. Everyone saw the man and moved out of the way with no hesitation. Only the occasional child got in Roy¡¯s way but he moved aside just enough to maintain his momentum without colliding with anything. He¡¯s long forgotten about Isbeth at this point as he only cared for the destination. Roy traversed a distance that would take a normal person an hour to cross by walking in mere minutes. He reached Geril¡¯s house and opened the door without waiting for an answer. He headed down the hallway and barged into Geril¡¯s study room. What he saw was the very man sitting down at his desk reading a book with a leisurely air. ¡°So, what brought you here Roy?¡± ¡°Problem, Isbeth¡¯s girl went missing. We need you to find her.¡± At the mention of the girl, Geril¡¯s eyebrows arched up slightly. He closed the book he was reading and focused on this interesting tidbit. ¡°Isbeth has a girl now?¡± ¡°Yes, long story but she¡¯s missing. We need your magic.¡± Geril rose from his seat and walked towards one of the walls covered by books. A staggering collection that would put even the most accomplished of collectors to shame. His hand glided over the exquisitely bound tomes before resting on a milky white book. He took the book out of the shelf carefully and started flipping through the pages before stopping on a diamond shaped pattern. ¡°[Mana Trace], a non-attributed tracking spell based on using a person¡¯s unique mana signature to find them. Would this do?¡± Roy looked at the book before saying what he thought. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think we have her signature. She¡¯s never been tested.¡± Grumbling, Geril closed the book and placed it back in its shelf. He moved across the room and picked up another book, this time pulling out a leather-bound book with ivory engravings. He flipped the pages until he found one with the inscription similar to an eye. ¡°[Clairvoyance], although the name is grand its effect is rather small compared to the cost. So long as you have an item with a strong connection to the target, you will be able to see a small bit of their surroundings, though you can only see something you¡¯ve seen previously and the reagents to activate this particular spell is expensive.¡± ¡°No again.¡± ¡°Tsk.¡± Clearly annoyed, Geril placed the book back on the shelf. This time he took out a sheet from his desk and started scribbling on it with red ink. The end result looked like multiple circles intersecting each other combined with several triangles and runes followed by an extremely lengthy incantation. Geril thrust the paper into Roy¡¯s hands before sitting back down at his desk. ¡°That spell is one I¡¯ve developed recently. Use it sparingly. The ink¡¯s good for only five uses at best but it will do. Place something that once was a part of the person you are looking for and activate the spell. Even a dimwit can cast it if they follow the instructions correctly. Now go, I have no time for this.¡± Geril opened his book once again and shooed Roy away. He never did like the guy, but when it comes to magic, he was reputably the best in Viscor. Roy took the sheet of parchment away and found Isbeth sitting outside Geril¡¯s house rubbing her legs.¡± ¡°Finally, did Geril give you something that will work?¡± ¡°Course he did, but do you have anything that was a part of Cerise? Isbeth fumbled through her bag and pulled out a small tuft of black hair. ¡°This will do right?¡± A devious grin spread across her face as she said so. 11. Preparation ii Chapter 11: Preparation ii Roy took out the parchment that Geril gave him and handed it to Isbeth. She took the tuft of hair and placed it in the middle of the inscriptions. The two dumbly looked at the parchment expecting something to happen, it didn¡¯t take long for Isbeth to speak up. ¡°So what happens now?¡± The two weren¡¯t experts in magic and they didn¡¯t have the affinity for it anyways. Geril did say something about even a dimwit being able to activate the spell but the two just dimly stared at the still scene contemplating about what they should do, and yet again, Isbeth being the brighter of the two asked something that ended up hitting straight on the mark. ¡°Don¡¯t we have to read the incantation?¡± Roy realized his mistake and began to read the incantation out loud, squinting his eyes to see through Geril¡¯s small loopy handwriting. ¡°Drop a stick.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± The sheer simplicity of the activation method was staggering when compared to the complicated drawing and high quality reagents, but knowing Geril, it probably wasn¡¯t a joke and was the genuine activation method. Though, his instructions seemed to be like a direct slap to both of their intelligences but now wasn¡¯t the time to worry about that. ¡°Got a stick?¡± Isbeth ruffled through her bags, but all she pulled out were vials of acids and some recovery potions after the incident with Cerise occurred three days ago. She did have some fistfuls of herbs stuffed into one of her bags though, the smell quickly causing the two to block their noses. ¡°Nothing. A blacksmith like you should have some sticks lying around though.¡± Roy lifted his arms, showing to the world that he had no other possessions on him other than his own clothing, the sword he picked up earlier, and a few other essentials. ¡°Unlike you, I don¡¯t carry around random objects.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to do this the hard way.¡± Isbeth took out one of her metal dissolving acids and held her hand out palm up towards Roy. ¡°Give me the sword.¡± Roy looked at the sword, it wasn¡¯t his best work but it was of superior quality compared to the rest. Though, it didn¡¯t serve much use and he only created it as a hobby anyway. The life of a girl should surely outweigh the price of a single sword right? But he will be sure to make Isbeth pay for the sword anyway as he passed the sword over. Isbeth uncorked the vile and splatted the acid over the base of the sword where it reached the guard. She also spread a fair bit over the pommel in order to melt the bit of decoration on it. The acid sizzled and ate away at the metal, a horrid sound and smoke was emitted from the sword as the pieces broke and fell onto the ground. What being left of the sword was a separated blade and a leather wrapped hilt. Isbeth had to get Roy¡¯s help in separating the leather but now they have a proper stick, at least, the best they can find in a city. Roy watched as Isbeth placed the stick on top of the place where the tuft of hair was on the paper and dropped it. The paper lit up with a blinding flash, travelling up the length of the stick and guiding it to drop northward, landing on the ground with an unsatisfying plop. The flashy light was to be expected but that was it? The spell that Geril created himself was nothing more than a glorified dropping of a stick. Roy picked up what remained of his sword and the spell parchment, he looked up only to see Isbeth standing up as well. ¡°Cerise must be that way.¡± Isbeth began running north, running through the streets and going into paths where Roy couldn¡¯t follow due to her lithe frame. Roy opted for a more direct route and headed for the main roads before running. Both of them ran but none of them knew what the future held in store for them. -Cerise¡¯s Perspective- She felt it. She felt death in the air. It was faint at first but it grew with each passing minute. She leapt onto the roof of Roy¡¯s smithy to take a better look. In the far distance over all of the houses and beyond the tall walls, she could see something in the north-west. It was still indistinct and blurry but she could see a tiny speck. Her scarlet eyes shifted in pattern, the cross shaped mark appearing within both eyes, spinning as she enhanced her [Hunter¡¯s Eye] to the maximum. Within her vision was a large dark mass blotting out the green plains behind. They were small, extremely distant, and only visible to those who hold the {Hunter¡¯s Mark} like her or a superior variant. She only recognized this much before a throbbing pain tunneled through her head. She remembered what Isbeth said about how it placed a heavy burden on the user as she slipped and fell from where she was standing. She felt someone catching her as her consciousness faded, being whisked away by the unknown.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°I told you that she was important. She had the Eyes.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, we get it. You were right, she ha- Ah, she¡¯s awake.¡± Cerise woke up about an hour to the familiar voices of Larc and his companions. When she opened her eyes, she saw the faces of the men and few women, all dressed in the standard Watch armor with a Golden Eagle adorning their shoulders. ¡°Join us, we will train you to become the best Assassin. Well, we would¡¯ve had the Northern Balros army not started moving now.¡± ¡°Larc, you should have expected this ages ago. The Viscountess of Lanchester is a fanatic about reviving the Empire. She hates us for separating from them in their times of dire need.¡± A woman behind Larc commented on the events, her words causing the heads of several members of the Golden Eagle to nod their heads. ¡°We need to convene with the other Captains, not mess around with some random girl.¡± ¡°She is not random. She possesses the talent we need for your plans. True we do need to meet with the others in order to discuss this issue but protecting her should remain as high as a priority. This is the Captain¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°Well if you say so.¡± The woman turned back to face the subordinates standing in the room. Specifically pointing at the three youngest of them. The two males and female saluted waiting on their orders from the woman. ¡°You three will guard the girl, the rest of you come with us. We¡¯ve got a battle on our hands.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± ¡°Suppose that¡¯ll do. Hurry up men, we¡¯ve got business to do. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Larc and the woman followed by the group moved out of the building, spreading across the city to prepare for the imminent threat that is the Balros Army. Leaving Cerise alone with the three rookies of the Golden Eagle. A lean man with toned skin walked forward offering his hand to the girl. ¡°So, guess I¡¯ll start first. My name is Adrien and I guess you¡¯ll be the newest rookie now?¡± The man didn¡¯t have the strange sword the other Golden Eagles had, and in fact, they didn¡¯t have the emblem either. Instead, their shoulders had a small bronze tablet with differing amounts of marks on them. Adrien¡¯s plate had three marks, showing that he¡¯s only served in the Golden Eagles for three weeks. Cerise grabbed onto the man¡¯s arm, and to her surprise, she felt strength that didn¡¯t fit with the man¡¯s lean stature. Adrien hoisted Cerise off of the bed only to be hugged by the woman after. ¡°She¡¯s so cute!¡± The brunette woman snuggled the poor girl as she tried to escape the unexpected grapple. But similar to the man, this woman was also stronger than her, resulting in all of her efforts to be in vain. ¡°You should let go of her. Cap¡¯ won¡¯t be happy if he finds the new recruit snuggled to death by you.¡± The last remaining man was sitting in a chair across the room now. He was sitting in an unhealthy posture and was currently propping his spear up on the table so it wouldn¡¯t fall. The woman finally let go of Cerise but still held a longing look in her eyes. ¡°Aw~ My name is Kiena, I finally have a cute girl to work with, it gets rather dreary being surrounded by men, and the only other women I¡¯ve met here were the serious kinds. I don¡¯t get how they can be so stiff, it¡¯s lik-¡° ¡°Shut it Kiena,¡± The man sitting at the table finally propped his spear upright, his attention now focused back on Cerise. ¡°We¡¯re here to protect her. If she gets hurt because of your loud mouth, I won¡¯t be helping you.¡± ¡°Bleh~¡± Kiena stuck her tongue out at the man who was obviously her senior. Her plate had four marks while his six. ¡°Why you!¡± The man stood up from his seat only to be held back down by Adrien. ¡°Calm down you two, why can¡¯t we just be comrades in arms? I¡¯ve always wanted a party of four, adventuring the world and fighting evil.¡± Adrien began spinning tales of heroics and justice, his personality revealing himself as the ignorant villager type A to Cerise¡¯s eyes. The three started complaining about each other''s faults, or rather, the man in the chair did while the other two just made comments about their plans. All of them forgetting about Cerise who was still standing next to the bed. She still felt the after effects of using [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] to the extreme in conjunction with {Hunter'' Mark}, and although her body recovered, her mind hasn¡¯t. She got back onto the comfy soft bed and instantly fell asleep, getting her much desired rest.
Name Cerise Age 13 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 47/47 (+.016/s) MP 101/101 (+.027/s) SP 4/35 (+.018/s)
STR 15 INT 25 WIS 16
CON 14 AGL 27 LUK 3
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 51.3%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 1.4%
[Blood Haunt] N/A N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
12. The Art i Chapter 12: The Art i She woke up an hour later to the loud crisps sounds of wood striking wood. The two men in the room were currently sparring with wooden versions of their weapons and were constantly trying to take ground from the other. Adrien wielded his sword clumsily as he failed to parry the spearman¡¯s blow, causing him to take a heavy hit to his waist. ¡°See what I mean? All talk but no skill. I don¡¯t understand how you got selected in the first place.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Adrien rushed at the man, but the man simply moved behind him and shoved him towards the table. Adrien couldn¡¯t stop his momentum and ended up crashing into the table. A loud crack could be heard from outside the room as the table splintered into pieces due to Adrien¡¯s uncanny strength. ¡°You¡¯d be better off as a brawler. Drop the sword boy. You have no talent.¡± The man placed the spear back into its spot on the weapon rack before taking his seat, unafraid of Adrien¡¯s retaliation. Kiena went down to the downed boy and consoled him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Frid¡¯s always been like this. He may be a jerk but he knows what¡¯s best for people.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the jerk?¡± ¡°Nobody Frid. Keep doing what you were doing.¡± The spearman, Frid, slouched in his chair even more at Kiena¡¯s word. ¡°If you say so. And just to mention, the girl¡¯s awake now.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Kiena immediately stood up and moved towards a table, completely forgetting about Adrien for the moment. She picked up a bronze tablet from the table and handed it to Cerise. ¡°Congratulations on becoming one of us! Hope you manage to stick around to becoming a full member though. Also, what¡¯s your name?¡± Cerise looked at the sheet of metal before moving her sight to the bubbly human. She was rather fair skinned and her navy blue robes designated her role within the group. Her long brown hair was currently tied into a ponytail and her bright orange eyes were sparkling, expecting an answer from the young girl on the bed. But Cerise didn¡¯t trust the girl in front of her. She was too cheerful. Her bright smile practically blinded Cerise. She kept her mouth shut as her silent stare couldn¡¯t even phase Kiena. ¡°C¡¯mon. Speak a bit will you? Just a teensy bit?¡± Kiena¡¯s face kept coming closer to Cerise¡¯s. It got to the point where their noses were just about touching when the door to the room slammed open. ¡°What in Tavroth¡¯s name is going on here?¡± A scholarly man walked into the room to find a muscular man kneeling on the ground next to a broken table clenching his stomach, a lanky man nearly breaking his spine on a chair, and two girls with their faces held together staring into each other¡¯s eyes. The man heard the commotion from across the building and ran as fast as he could, but the sheer absurdity of the situation left him dumbfounded. He pointed to the three probationary members and the girl on the bed. ¡°You, you, you, and maybe you. I expect an explanation otherwise you all will notice of your dismissal.¡± Frid was the first to answer as he had nothing better to do. ¡°Adrien and I got into a small spar, nothing else happened other than a table breaking, sir.¡± The man swerved his head to meet Adrien¡¯s eyes. ¡°Is this true?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°And what of the two over there?¡± Frid rolled his eyes at the expected question, smirking all the while.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Kiena simply wanted to know how the girl¡¯s lips tasted, that¡¯s all.¡± Kiena abruptly removed herself from anywhere near Cerise¡¯s face after hearing Frid¡¯s remark, her face visibly flushing red with embarrassment. The scholarly man simply glanced at her face before accepting Frid¡¯s concession as truth. ¡°I¡¯ll accept that this incident is nothing more than an accident. The captain will still receive news of this in a report but for now,¡± The man pointed only at Cerise this time. ¡°You, come with me.¡± His tone was impassive, but his eyes indicated absolute obedience. ¡°Why?¡± For the first time, Cerise spoke. Her voice regaining its once cold ring. The effect wasn¡¯t as dramatic as it was in the tavern but it held pressure unlike before. ¡°Do not ask questions. Someone important wants to see you.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Cerise said once again. The man didn¡¯t get frustrated though, his patience far exceeding that of others due to the teachings he received. ¡°No questions. This is the last warning.¡± The man emanated a profound aura, one that seemed to crush Cerise¡¯s soul. She recognized this power. It was the same as the one in her memories. Her rage enveloped her once more, though, something seemed different. Her eyes radiated a light, but unlike before, the beautiful scarlet was replaced with a deep crimson. Apparitions that only could see appeared from the shadows as her entire world was dyed red once again. ¡®Join us¡¯ They seemed to say. They followed her around. Their killer. The girl began to scream. Clawing at her cheeks as blood dripped from her eyes. Kiena ran to grasp the girl. Chanting, bright blue droplets of water started to float around the girl, flowing and twisting into bubbles which drifted towards Cerise¡¯s bloody eyes. Heavy and light footsteps could be heard storming into the room as the figures of Roy and Isbeth appeared. Their eyes widened at the sight of Cerise¡¯s bloody state. ¡°What did you do to her!¡± Roy immediately slammed the scholarly man against the wall, his fist raised to deliver a punch, but before he did the force from the man held him in place. ¡°Nothing. I had nothing to do with the state she¡¯s in now. I suspect someone placed a curse on her, though I¡¯ve never heard of one which causes bleeding from the eyes. Interesting.¡± The man inspected the girl, uncaring for the man behind him. Kiena¡¯s magic was currently healing her eyes, but they kept bleeding nonetheless. Between the painful screeches and the brief moment of respite when a bubble landed on her eye, he could see them. The eyes that glared at him with hatred. He had not met the girl before so why was she so angry with him? Could it be because of his Aura? The man retracted his Aura as a test to see whether his hypothesis was correct and indeed it was. The moment his Aura was back in his body, the light in the girl¡¯s eyes dimmed. She was still bleeding yes but she was no longer screaming and shrieking in pain. Only letting out small gasps every now and then. ¡°Interesting. So her body has a volatile reaction to Aura. This needs further testing.¡± The scholar concluded as such. The girl was an interesting specimen to him now. One that held value so to speak. If his Aura caused such a violent reaction in the girl, then if he found out why, he would be able to exploit this in future battles. He didn¡¯t know that his entire conclusion was simply a misunderstanding though. Cerise wanted to kill him, but something happened to stop her. She could still feel the presence of the ones she killed but could no longer see them as her eyes were covered with blood and water. The endless cycle of pain continuing throughout the whole healing process with Kiena muttering encouragement to the young girl on her lap. However, just as he retracted his Aura, he realized one important detail that he had dismissed earlier, ducking under the sweeping fist of the heavily muscled man behind him. The man let his Aura run rampant, as the screams of the girl resumed traction. He formed a claw like gesture in the air, an invisible force holding Roy suspended in the air. ¡°Let me go you bastard!¡± Roy struck at the invisible fist. Swinging blow after blow but to no avail. ¡°Calm down boy. I mean her no harm, but so long as you keep fighting me, she will experience more pain.¡± The man retracted his Aura back into his body once again, keeping it just beneath the surface of his skin ready to spring out if the man tried another assault. But Roy was smart, he understood the cause of Cerise¡¯s pain the second time, and wisely stepped down. ¡°Good. Water Mage, you better keep healing that girl even if your Mana runs out.¡± The man walked towards the crying Cerise. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t!¡± Isbeth who was standing by the wall during the two¡¯s fight stood between Cerise and the man. Her arms and legs held out forming an ¡®X¡¯ at the man. ¡°Stand down Isbeth!¡± Roy yelled at her. ¡°We can¡¯t win against him.¡± Roy held his head down in shame. It was the first time he was bested in a fight. He could push off a few spells but whatever that man had, he had nothing against. ¡°But-¡° ¡°No buts. We cannot win. He won¡¯t harm Cerise if he¡¯s a man of his word. Isbeth glanced back at Cerise before finally stepping away. She wanted to do something but she knew she couldn¡¯t do anything. The man continued his stride towards the girl, moving his left hand to check the girl¡¯s condition. ¡°She will live thanks to the Mage¡¯s healing, but she¡¯s heavily wounded. Tsk. Larc won¡¯t be happy about this.¡± The man finally decided to introduce himself to the other six people in the room. He didn¡¯t like flaunting titles but it was necessary to move things along. ¡°I am known as Xuan. I¡¯ve seemed to upon a troubling time and wish to offer my assistance to my old friend Larc. Speaking of Larc, he is currently waiting for me to bring the girl to him. You,¡± He points his finger towards Roy. ¡°If you care so much about this girl, carry her and follow me while the Mage administers treatment.¡± He left through the door in three quick strides before peering his head back into the room again. ¡°Come along now, Larc is waiting.¡± 13. The Art ii Chapter 13: The Art ii It was a strange sight indeed. A man was followed down the halls by an odd attachment. A toned man was holding a girl in black clothing, her eyes covered in blood and body limp. The girl was continually cared for by a Water Mage while another woman, shorter than the other two, merely looked on worried about what would happen. The back of the scholarly man in her sight. The group trailed into the main reception room of the Watch¡¯s northern base, nearly empty except for the few bored workers watching them. By one of the many tables in the corner sat Larc on a luxurious couch. He was currently waving his gloved hand towards Xuan calling him over. Across from him sat a robed figure reading some sort of scroll as he waited. ¡°Hey Xuan! Brought company haven¡¯t you?¡± Xuan approached Larc in a leisurely fashion, his once long strides shortening into soft steps. ¡°Of course, though something happened with the girl, it should be fine now.¡± Xuan sat down across from the strange man, noting the runes written on the scroll he was reading. ¡°And who¡¯s this? Someone you met?¡± Larc nodded his head at Xuan¡¯s question. ¡°He¡¯s here to test the girl¡¯s aptitude. I¡¯ll be off then, the Balros Army approaches by the minute. Handle the girl carefully, she¡¯s a slippery one.¡± Larc left the room afterwards, heading back to do whatever a Captain does prior to combat. This leaves the two men sitting on the table alone with the three standing guests. ¡°Lay the girl down on the table. Then you may sit wherever else you like. Let us experts handle this.¡± Xuan granted brief orders to the three, Isbeth didn¡¯t want to leave the girl but Roy flashed a look at her indicating otherwise. They willingly obliged to the orders, Kiena went back to her duties while Roy and Isbeth decided to watch the process at a nearby table. ¡°Good, how¡¯s her state?¡± Xuan asked to the man, his skills laid in combat and practice, not in injuries caused by anything other than his own Aura. The robed figure brought out another scroll inscribed in rich pink ink and placed it above the girl. He whispered some words unheard to even Xuan¡¯s own senses, and the scroll began to emanate a soft white glow encasing the girl. Both blood and filth rose from the girl¡¯s body, coalescing in a black ball above the scroll. With the mess cleared, the girl finally opened her eyes, seeing through the darkness caused by the man¡¯s hood. She saw the face of an old man, white haired and wrinkled through age beyond belief. The old man didn¡¯t seem like a threat to her, but every drop of blood in her body told her to run and hide. When the man reached to touch her arm, she flinched away causing the man¡¯s hand to stop in place. ¡°She seems rather healthy to me. Lively at that. I¡¯ve never seen such a clear flow of Mana before.¡± The man¡¯s grey eyes were following some sort of pattern within Cerise¡¯s body. With each second that passed, his gaze became sharper, seeing through all forms of creation as it tracked the mana moving throughout the girl¡¯s body. ¡°She has the aptitude to become a great Mage. ¡®Tis but a shame that I can¡¯t teach her as my remaining life is too short compared to her many years.¡± The man took out a small crystal from the inner folding of his robes, thrusting the object into the girl¡¯s hand. ¡°Channel your mana into that crystal. The resulting glow will indicate your control over your mana, and here, this book will serve you well.¡± He also handed her a thick book, the pages filled with scribbles and details regarding various shapes and runes rather than the chaos that is a grimoire. The Beginner¡¯s Guide to Introductory Magic and mana crystal were held by the girl, followed by a blank stare directed to the man. ¡°I bid you farewell. I hope that you can become the morning star of the next generation of Mages.¡± The man ran, faster than what his seemingly frail body could. His steps filled with excitement and anticipation for the future. This excitement caused him to forget the rather important detail of leaving behind his name, as he rapidly made pace to record the strange anomaly that is Cerise. Xuan watched the eccentric grandpa leave, knowing full well that he wouldn¡¯t die within the near future. Jyles was a famous Arch Mage who is known for being over 200 years old. His swift steps and childish demeanor betrayed his elderly appearance. Xuan sighed as his this important figure left the building. His gaze wandered back to the girl again, her hands still holding onto the gifts granted to her. ¡°You should start reading that if you wish to be useful to the Golden Eagles. You are fast but you aren¡¯t fit for the assault section. Larc didn¡¯t want you as a scout either so he decided on-¡° The girl heard what the seated man said, but his words fell on deaf ears, as the girl¡¯s attention stopped on one word. ¡°Read?¡± The girl recognized the word as a luxury she couldn¡¯t obtain, similar to a name. But unlike before, she had a name now, so why couldn¡¯t she learn to read? A burning desire sparked within her but her rationality attempted to stifle it. She should focus on becoming stronger to escape what haunts her. But she also recognized the unusual strength of that old man and the one seated near her. Though she hated his power, it was one she desired. ¡°Will reading make me stronger?¡¯Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. She said, interrupting Xuan once again. A feverish gleam appeared in her eyes as she looked at the book in her hands. The blood in her body began to accelerate, the cross mark appearing in her eyes once more, only to be stopped by Xuan¡¯s hand covering her eyes. The unexpected contact caused her to fall over on the table. Dropping book and crystal alike as she tried to maintain her balance. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t use that. A mere nine year old girl¡¯s body can¡¯t handle such strain.¡± He lifted his hand from her eyes. ¡°I can however, teach you how to control it.¡± His own eyes bore a triple spiral, each curving around his pupil to form a triangle like shape. The pattern spun much more slowly than Cerise¡¯s, and maintained itself for much longer. Though, Cerise¡¯s blood became agitated at this. Her own eyes began to emit a crimson light as it had before. Xuan saw this and stopped his own {Hunter¡¯s Mark}, noting how the girl¡¯s eyes dimmed in response. ¡°Interesting. So any application of Aura will trigger your reaction?¡± His face suddenly approached without her knowing. His fingers carefully opening her eyes for a closer inspection. He raised a finger and pointed at her right iris, injecting a small controlled amount of Aura over his finger. This sparked a violent reaction from the girl. The injected eye carrying the speck of Aura began to rapidly bleed. The pain was greater than what it had been before. Her body collapsed to the floor, her vision half clouded by red. The Aura invaded her, conflicting with her will. Her blood moved to defend her, the Aura held still by her own. Power and pain enveloped her. The last thing she heard were two voices in her head. The emotionless voice she had heard countless times before, and another which she had not heard from for weeks. The voice seemed cold and distant, but it was close at the same time. A voice which was hers, but was not. Skill [Hunter¡¯s Eye] has been sealed by an unknown factor (1) Skill [Blood Haunt] has been sealed by an unknown factor (1) Skill [Blood Haunt] has resisted ... Skill [Blood Haunt] has been modified by an unknown factor (2) Skill [Blood Haunt] has been changed to [Blood Bound] ¡®Do not forget your purpose, I will not allow you to disappoint me again.¡¯
Name Cerise Age 14 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 14/47 (+.016/s) MP 101/101 (+.027/s) SP 9/35 (+.018/s)
STR 15 INT 25 WIS 16
CON 14 AGL 27 LUK 2
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 52.1%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Blood Bound] 0/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
-Roy''s Perspective- Roy acted immediately the moment the blood began to flow. He charged towards the man with an enraged roar, tackling the man into the ground. Though, he found himself holding Cerise as the man had moved back to his seat during the brief contact. ¡°She seems to hold a skill which causes that reaction. I¡¯ve confirmed it just then but the strength in her body rapidly exploded. I¡¯d like to do other tests but you two won¡¯t be letting me correct?¡± Isbeth was holding a vial of acid, trivial to the man as he could simply redirect the trajectory of it. Roy held the girl protectively in his arms, blood occasionally staining his clothing. ¡°We¡¯re going now. Isbeth, come with me to Helios.¡± Roy decided on leaving the scene, to flee from the war with Balros. ¡°Going where? The officials already closed off all mode of transportation. We¡¯re stuck here until the war is over. It hasn¡¯t been announced yet but some of the brighter residents have already found out.¡± Xuan revealed this piece of information that the two weren¡¯t privy to, as well as a word of warning to the two. ¡°Larc left behind a small group of guards to prevent the girl from leaving and to protect her. She¡¯s staying here whether you wish it or not.¡± Roy smirked at Xuan¡¯s statement. ¡°What guards?¡± The complete absence of any armed forces within their vicinity settled Roy¡¯s confidence. He couldn¡¯t best the man in a fight but he was confident in his speed. Xuan could tell what the man was thinking. Not because of some mystical premonition but through keen observation of the man''s slight movements. His fingers clenched and knees bent, he appeared to be ready to run at any moment. ¡°If you think you can run then you will greatly be mistaken. I won¡¯t be the one to stop you but they will.¡± Xuan gestured towards the various exits of the room, his actions didn¡¯t seem to matter much but Roy caught on quickly. Larc would never let his prized recruit leave his control. He had to have left some kind of precaution against her escape. Roy looked around the room, he knew there was someone watching him, but he could see nothing. The Shadowless? Or are they the Night''s Hand? In either case, both groups would possess stealth and combat capabilities surpassing Roy''s. He couldn''t do anything. ¡°For now, just stay put. The Watch of Viscor will easily win the war, I have full confidence in them.¡± Xuan leaned back on the sofa, his words could never be less correct. 14V. Viscor v Balros i Chapter 14: Viscor v Balros i -Larc¡¯s Perspective- Larc walked into the central building housing the main framework of Viscor¡¯s laws and discussion. He moved down the hallways to a room guarded by an entire unit of Knights, each occasionally patrolling the area in search of intruders. He showed his Golden Eagle badge to them and they let him pass. He passed through the door to find a room with only one table and eight chairs, each positioned to match the eight cardinal directions. Of the eight seats, only five were filled around the table with a large map of the local area located at the center of the table. Many colored pawns representing each of the seven people were placed on the map as the five Captains proposed their strategies. Larc was the last of the Captains to enter the room, most of their eyes briefly meeting his before going back to discussion. Only one of them had their eyes locked onto him. A woman in full black gear named Zetea, Captain of the Night¡¯s Hand. She called Larc over to the table. ¡°Welcome back, we just started working on the actual battle plan. ¡°Mind telling me what I missed?¡± Larc took his place at the table fluidly, his position being on the northern end right between Zetea and Geril, Captain of the Pneuma Spire. Geril was rather inclusive and only few know of his true name and identity. Larc never understood Mages, and he especially wasn¡¯t privy to information about Wizards other than their incessant desire for knowledge. ¡°Roughly 10,000 soldiers are marching towards us from the West. The Shadowless reported the sighting of three Noble flags, but we have confirmed that there were no Knights in their forces. We suspect that this is merely a bait to analyze our strength or in the worst case, a detachment force from an even larger army.¡± Larc took in the information quite calmly considering how dire the situation is. Viscor was a city full of craftsman, so they have a plethora of high quality weapons and various different types of aids. But despite this, those weapons and tools are commonly sold to anyone able to throw money at the crafters. ¡°Have we checked our exports yet? Check any logs regarding the sale of anything to the western Balros Kingdom.¡± Zetea shook her head. ¡°No. We had a rocky relationship with Balros from the very beginning so we didn¡¯t have many commercial connections with them. A few merchants might have come and gone with our wares but we can¡¯t control them. The only massive shipments we found were two to Helios Capital and a few others to other small territories.¡± ¡°Can you two stop yapping about our commerce and focus on the war at hand?¡± A burly man across the table was scowling at Larc and Zetea. He was Grivon, Captain of the Iron Boar. His personality was the polar opposite of Larc¡¯s, and he cares for nothing other than fighting. He was honorable to the extent of conducting warfare but his manners towards his comrades doesn¡¯t earn him any favors. ¡°And while you¡¯re at it, Geril! Quit reading that book! I can see it from here!¡± Geril closed the book he held under the table, clearly irked by Grivon¡¯s loud voice. He instead pulled out a sheet of parchment from somewhere and started scribbling with a black feather. Within seconds he drew a perfect replica of the map on the table, and in addition, he added various markings in different ink, the arrows and circles showing his own proposed tactics for the battle. Each color representing each of the Captain¡¯s forces, with his own color being in iris colored ink. Geril set the paper in the middle of the table before quickly reopening his book to the page he last left on. His paper was then picked up by a red haired woman to his right. She was Pyra, Captain of the Crimson Dawn. She was a Fire Mage who viewed the world as a playground to burn. She was only restrained by her counterpart who was currently across the table, Selen, Captain of the Empyrean Sanctum. Pyra inspected the paper. On the paper were five different circles with different colors of ink indicating their roles in the upcoming battle. ¡°So Larc, Grivon, and I will act as the spearhead while half of Zetea¡¯s forces will strike them from behind. And before that, we distribute Selen¡¯s Healers and a few of Larc¡¯s Guardians across the vanguard and the city? But where does Hashan come into play?¡± Geril raised his head to look at Pyra, his eyes sharp and calculating.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Hashan¡¯s group is already busy scouting and relaying information. The Shadowless aren¡¯t a combat group. If I were you, I¡¯d worry more about the state of your mana than what they do.¡± Grivon had somehow managed to raise his voice even further as his words became blares to the other Captains. ¡°Why do I have to be with Larc? My Iron Axe doesn¡¯t need the help of others to win war.¡± ¡°I specifically put you with Larc so that you don¡¯t cause trouble. The last time you went on a little excursion you cost us thousands of soldiers. The vanguard is filled primarily with your Warriors anyways. The Guardians without Larc will move throughout the city to ensure none of the citizens are harmed or taken during the battle. Any more questions?¡± None of the five (other than Grivon of course) had any objections towards Geril¡¯s proposed plans. He was the best of them when it came to strategies. But there was a slight problem which Selen then pointed out. ¡°But what happens if this 10,000 strong army was a detachment?¡± The grim idea caused the Captains to become serious. The prospects that the army was a detachment from a bigger army was slim, but if that were the case, then an absolute conquest was inevitable. Geril closed his book for good this time, his words representing the most accurate scenario possible from Selen¡¯s question. ¡°If it were just a bait from Virandi, then we will be fine for the time being. But if it were a small detachment and an even larger army is marching our way from somewhere else¡­ Then we are in big trouble. If Viscor falls, the Balros Kingdom will gain a large amount of resources, and who knows how fast they will sweep the continent then.¡± Grivon slammed his fist against the table. Knocking down some of the pawns from the table. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just attack them first? Soldiers like ¡®em won¡¯t stand a chance against us!¡± Grivon¡¯s voice could be heard from outside the room, causing some of the guards to get the wrong idea and barge in weapons out. But they weren¡¯t the guards. Masked men in black cloaks entered the room with knives. They sprung towards Selen, their intent obvious. Grivon, who was seated closest to the entrance intercepted the first man. His giant broadsword locking the man¡¯s stilettos in place. ¡°Protect Selen!¡± Grivon shouted as the man locked in-place freed himself from his lock by dropping his daggers. He brought out two more daggers, sharper and more compact than the ones before. He threw the knives towards Grivon before evading the strikes that followed. The throwing knives didn¡¯t manage to pierce the man¡¯s skin, bouncing harmlessly off due to the effects of Grivon¡¯s [Steel Skin] skill. While this happened, the other man was rushing toward Selen with his dagger in hand before he was intercepted by an explosion of flame in his path. He stopped to avoid the scorching flames and glanced towards his left where the now standing Pyra was. Pyra was holding a specially crafted staff in her hand. It looked like a black metal spear instead of a staff due to the blade tipping its top end, but the glowing red Fire Quartz imbedded in the bottom of the head connecting it to the rod. The inscribed runes flashed red on the blade, causing flames to travel in its wake with each swing. Pyra channeled more Mana into the spear, the runes regulating her Mana and the formula in the Fire Quartz creating the flame. She shot them from the blade towards the man, the scorching flames just barely touching the man as he evaded the best he could. Selen had already retreated behind Larc as he unsheathed the longsword from his belt. A golden light enveloped Larc¡¯s longsword as he swung thrice, the energy concentrated in the edge of the blade releasing in three arcs. The sword waves slicing through air towards the man, causing grievous wounds in the man¡¯s body, falling over and bleeding without rest. ¡°Take this!¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Meanwhile, Grivon cleaved through his target¡¯s weapons and body, his blade causing a bloody mess as it embedded itself in the man¡¯s chest. He drew his sword back as the man collapsed on the ground. ¡°Dammit Grivon, we could¡¯ve taken the man as a hostage. You just had to run him through didn¡¯t you?¡± Pyra complained at the man¡¯s act of bloodshed. ¡°Selen, close this guy¡¯s wounds for me.¡± Pyra pointed towards the guy struck by Larc¡¯s [Golden Light], but before Selen received the opportunity to, a crunch was heard from his mouth and the man began frothing, his black beady eyes becoming white. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t.¡± A beautiful light began to surge from Selen¡¯s ivory cane, surrounding the frothing man as the healing magic did its work. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect to poison yourself to death in front of a Saint like me did you?¡± Selen smiled, her grin unnatural on her own pretty face. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you are cared for. Nice and happy.¡± The man was trained to resist torture, but the sadistic tone in the Saint¡¯s voice caused him to feel fear for the second time in his life. The first to his exceedingly cruel instructor, and the second to this kind looking young woman with a horrific smile on her face. He scrambled to get away from the girl, but she brought out a jagged butcher¡¯s knife and cut his arms and legs off, staunching the flow of blood with that divine light of hers. She robbed him of his ability to move, and then she robbed his ability see. The man, Vincent, was terrified. He who was used to the night has never experienced such a situation before. His orders were relatively simple, but he never expected that his target this time to be such a horrifying monster. The unfaltering sound of a knife entering a body followed by the screams of a man caused four of the five other Captains present in the room to close their eyes and hearts at the brutal display. The divine flash of light streamed out of Selen with each stab, healing the man and closing his wounds, only to be followed by another deep thrust of the knife. The blood spilling from his wounds had covered her white garbs and hands, dying them a rich red.Her face had twisted deeper and deeper into delight with each passing moment, as his screams rang out for what seemed to be an eternity. 15V. Viscor v Balros ii Chapter 15: Viscor v Balros ii ¡°Selen, that¡¯s enough.¡± Larc set his hand on the Saint¡¯s shoulder. She stopped mid-swing and looked back at Larc. His resolute face reflected back into her amber eyes. ¡°Fine.¡± Selen set the bloody knife down on the table and walked away soaked in the man¡¯s blood. She sat down on her seat after using a simple cleaning scroll courtesy of Geril. She looked back down at her handiwork left on the ground. The assassin¡¯s body was nothing more than a mangled mess ridden with deep cuts and gashes, laying on top of a pool of dried blood and tears. He was still alive, yes. But he probably won¡¯t be able to harm another person now. He was broken. A toy which Selen wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy anymore. Something she had discarded for others to use. Pyra was the first to reach out towards the man. ¡°Who sent you?¡± She asked to the broken man, laying in the pool of his own blood and tears. He yelped at the sudden question, stuttering out the long awaited answers which they all have been seeking. His words were incoherent, but the six captains understood very well what they meant. Pyra wasn¡¯t shocked by the man¡¯s confession. She put the man to rest by planting the blade of her spear into his throat and burning him alive. It wasn¡¯t as brutal as Selen¡¯s treatment and it ensured a quick death, but the man couldn¡¯t even scream from the pain as his throat was already destroyed. The fact that the duo of assassins could penetrate their defenses and make their way here without being noises could only mean one thing to Pyra. ¡°General Riven huh¡­ Damn. Looks like the peaceful days are over now. Geril finally closed his book, his tone serious and his words quiet. ¡°Careful, names hold power.¡± Geril¡¯s eyes moved towards the map. He placed a black pawn in the middle of the depiction of their city. ¡°This is our location.¡± Geril then opened a pouch and sprinkled sand across the city. ¡°And this is the area we might lose today. Riven is cautious. He is guaranteed to plant more spies and assassins even if the first pair had succeeded.¡± Geril paused, his eyes darting to the northern wall of the room. ¡°There¡¯s a disturbance in the Mana near your base Larc. I suspect something happened there. We need to move. Now.¡± The six captains nodded their heads together. They grabbed all their gear in the room and headed out of the Central Hall. The six stood there fully equipped, the streets were unerringly empty even at the busiest time of the day. Geril saw this and immediately understood what had happened. ¡°Larc, Selen, Pyra, you three head north and find out what that disturbance was. Grivon, Zetea, you will follow me.¡± ¡°Got that.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± ¡°All ready.¡± ¡°I shall comply.¡± All six of them agreed with Geril¡¯s impromptu plan. The six captains separated into two groups, each heading in opposite directions. The streets were empty allowing them easy passage, but worried them at the same time. Larc arrived at the Golden Eagles¡¯ building just a minute later, he carried Selen in his arms in a princess carry. He set the small girl down as Pyra arrived just seconds later through a flight spell. ¡°Still faster than me huh.¡± ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for that.¡± Larc drew his sword, the brilliant white blade had a dazzling gleam, the golden energy forming around the sword lighting the way. Pyra held her fire spear while Selen held her ivory cane, the three moved into the building with their senses on high alert. Instead of the bloody scene they were expecting, they came upon Larc¡¯s friend lounging around on one of the sofas. Xuan was fully expectant of their visit from the moment they released their presences outside the doors.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Hey Larc!¡± ¡°Xuan! What happened?¡± Xuan¡¯s eyebrows shot up the moment he saw their weapons, armed and ready for attack. ¡°Wait, are we under attack already?¡± Xuan jumped up from the sofa, his fists causing echoes in the air as ripples shot towards five different locations. Blurs moved from those areas, revealing six men in similar clothing to the assassins Larc had seen earlier. One of the men fled the scene followed by Xuan, the remaining five dashed towards the three civilians in the room. Larc recognized two of them, the girl which he had recruited and the Halfling woman that tried to defend her. The big man raised his arms to defend the girl while the woman raised vials of liquid that Larc can only presume to be poison. ¡°No!¡± Larc released the light from his sword, the mana surging through his entire body and condensing in the tip of his longsword. He released [Golden Light] in a singular sweeping arc, the beautiful crescent only managed to hit two of them. Their bodies cleaved into half by the wave of energy. The big man tackled the Halfling into the ground, but his efforts only protected the woman. The golden wave passed through his shoulder, and to his astonishment, he was unharmed. ¡°My [Golden Light] doesn¡¯t harm those I consider allies! Fight with all your might! [Guardian¡¯s Halo]! A deep yellow light shone around Roy¡¯s body, forming into the vague shape of heavy plated armor; his body coursing with power. He roared, charging at one of the three remaining men. The man backed off, knowing his weapons couldn¡¯t pierce the man¡¯s magically enhanced skin. He retreated around the room and instead headed towards the next easiest target, the girl wearing deep red robes. But he had been blocked by a red haired woman, her black spear spewing forth spirals of flame at the man. The two began their engagement, neither giving up on the other as knives and flame flew around the room. The remaining two assassins were still inbound for the two girls. Roy was charging back but he ran too far in his lack of thought. A knife brushed past Isbeth¡¯s shoulder, cutting her skin. She screamed in pain, her attention focusing on her arm. The wound was shallow but it was enough to kill if the blade was poisoned. Blood began dripping down her arm, but something seemed off. The air around Isbeth grew heavy with bloodlust. To be more exact, the air around the collapsed girl. -Cerise¡¯s Perspective- She could hear the sounds of battle. The clashing of metal against metal. Her mind was a mess. She wanted to run, to flee far away where nothing would hurt her, but at the same time, she wanted to join them. To fight. She simply lied there on the ground. Her consciousness drifting around in an endless dark expanse. She was in a daze. Trapped between waking up or staying in this peaceful world, but something had woken her up. The scream of one she held dear. Isbeth. Her body strangely didn¡¯t react, but her mind did. The blood which once beckoned her to kill had fallen into a lull, her desire to kill was finally her own. Her eyes flipped open, her body whirling into the upright position. She extended her claws and leapt towards her prey as she had many time before. The men couldn¡¯t avoid it. They hadn¡¯t expected the motionless doll on the ground to suddenly attack them like this. Her claws glanced off of the men¡¯s armor, but not without causing small wounds. Red gashes spurted from underneath the light chainmail, the men confused as to what had taken place. Skill [Rendering Strike] has been obtained She landed on the ground with a twirl, immediately attacking the men again in the same spot that she had struck before. They were prepared this time, raising their stilettos to intercept the blow. But the same bizarre situation had occurred again. Her claws were currently locked by their daggers, but the same red gashes still appeared. She kicked out, sweeping the men off their feet. Their daggers piercing into her skin but she didn¡¯t care. They hurt Isbeth! She slammed her clawed hand into the first man¡¯s head, shattering his skull with a satisfying crunch. The other man wasn¡¯t as lucky as his partner¡¯s brain matter flew into his mouth causing him to puke. The sinister devil in front of him raised a clawed finger in a gesture. ¡®Come at me.¡¯ She seemed to say. His eyes widened at the provocation but it was too late. Somehow glass shattered on the back of his neck. He couldn¡¯t feel his neck anymore, and in fact, he couldn¡¯t feel anything anymore. The acid bit deep into his skin, noxious fumes began to emit from the man¡¯s body as he collapsed. His head melted clean off of his body, dropping down onto the ground with a heavy impact. The last dredges of terror engraved on the man¡¯s face as his brain began to shut down due to the lack of blood. ¡°Cerise?¡± Isbeth could finally see the girl in full view. Her Scarlet Eyes glowed and her fingers were tipped in sharp bloody claws. The black collar had covered her mouth but if it were visible, she would be able to see the short fangs protruding past her lips. ¡°I am free.¡± The girl said. Her decision finally her own. But before she could continue, a deafening explosion shook the building. Rubble began to fall as the building started to collapse. A rather large piece of rubble fell just above Isbeth¡¯s head but a golden light intervened. ¡°Get out of here!¡± Larc yelled at Roy, Isbeth, and Cerise. His [Golden Light] formed into a dome of light protecting the trio, but judging by the sweat forming on his face, he couldn¡¯t hold it for long. Roy grabbed Cerise and Isbeth, and ran out after Pyra and Selen. Larc was still in the building, barely moving. The last struggles of a desperate man as the world caved in around him. ¡°No! Larc!¡± Selen tried to rush into the fallen mess, desperately hoping he was still alive, but Pyra stopped her. ¡°He¡¯s gone. Just give up on him. That was a Tier 5 [Explosion] spell, get moving unless you want Larc¡¯s sacrifice to be in vain!¡± Pyra grabbed Selen, holding her with her left arm. The small Saint couldn¡¯t do anything but hit Pyra with her fists dealing no damage whatsoever. Pyra then glanced at the Roy, Isbeth, and Cerise which Larc gave his life to save. ¡°You three, I hope this better be worth it.¡± The group ran, escaping the city, fleeing from the calamity that would follow. Only days later was this reported to many important figures spread across the continent. The entire city of Viscor had been completely demolished by several [Meteor] spells within days of the first bombardment. Strangely enough, barely any traces of the Death Element prevalent with mass destruction or genocides were found in the surrounding Mana. No one knew where the residents had gone, but one by one, each power began to make their moves. The war had only just begun and Viscor was only the first of many casualties. Where this group had gone was unknown to many, but they lived. They ran towards the east, towards Helios, land of the Shining Capital. 16I. Calm Before the Storm i Chapter 16: Calm Before the Storm i ¡°Stop the wagons! Big trouble ahead!¡± It was only near the end of the journey did the line of caravans stop. Alarmed, the rest of the adventurers left their respective carts prepared for any threat that appeared, but what met their eyes left their mouths ajar. Their destination, Viscor, was now a series of desolate craters completely out of place with the surrounding landscape. A large encampment was located westward of the craters, three noble flags were planted in the center, waving their colors high claiming control of the desolate terrain. A small band of men were approaching them, waving the ocean blue flag of Balros. Irelithe hid and waited, peering through a crack in the walls. ¡°Halt, this area is now under the control of Viscountess Virandi of Balros. State your intentions for passing. Resistance will not be tolerated.¡± A man in silver armor rode his war steed forward, his hands held onto a black mythril lance shining with a sinister gleam. The merchant leader, Warren, approached the armed men. His body was tense but his voice was cooperative. ¡°I am a mere merchant from Lanchester peddling my wares across the continent. Behind me are the mercenaries I hired to protect me, and in the wagon are various spices and equipment I planned to sell along the way. The man in silver armor pointed his free hand towards the wagons, gesturing for their search and eventually their seizure. Warren was frantic, he spent a good deal of his fortune on this expedition and now these men were taking away his goods for nothing. ¡°Uhm, Sirs?¡± The man in silver armor looked back at the stout man in front of him. ¡°I¡¯m protected by the Merchant¡¯s Coalition you see, if I rep-¡° The black lance raised towards Warren¡¯s neck, only stopping before drawing blood. ¡°Report what? We are merely confiscating rations for war. In return we will guarantee your lives.¡± His smile was rotten. His eyes laughed at the man¡¯s fate. He was bewitched by this enjoyment until the last moment. His head caved in by a sudden jet of flame from behind one of the wagons. The sounds of unsheathing swords rang out as the armored men circled the wagon where the fire had come from. They drew closer and closer, the well trained steps moving forward with no pause or break between. Irelithe had done something again in her recklessness. She pulled out a scroll she had prepared during the first days of the trip. It was a simple spell, but it was extremely useful for circumstances like this. She poured her Mana into the scroll and prepared for the worst, cupping her ears and closing her eyes as the scroll began to brighten and whirl on the floorboards of the wagon. One of the men had detected the activation of magic. The formula appearing in his head a second after, realizing what will happen soon. ¡°It¡¯s a [Flash]!¡± A blinding light and an ear-splitting sound erupted from the wagon. Half the men lost their footing, the other half staggered by the sudden assault on their senses. Irelithe used this chance to fight back. She rushed out of the wagon throwing azure spirals of flame at a few of them. They chased after her but not without difficulty. The other mercenaries were blinded as well but recovered faster than the armored men due to several advantageous factors. Their location and their stats trained through actual combat. They charged the men, attacking with their assembly of different weapons and magic. Even the glimpse of a black lance could be seen amongst the many weapons. But the mage tracked down Irelithe. He sent lightning javelins at Irelithe every few seconds or so, only missing by at most a metre at a time. She sent her own attacks back but he merely blocked them with a cage of lightning surrounding his body. ¡°You won¡¯t be escaping today after killing Steve!¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The man raised his left hand, the entire cage of lightning condensing into a single destructive stream of lightning. Irelithe had to admit, he got her good. She could evade the lightning javelins before but this one was different. No matter how well she moved under the effects of [Fleetfoot], this particular attack followed here. Veering towards her with reckless rage. The lightning approached her but before it touched her, a pure red light radiated from Irelithe forming a protective shield around her. The ruby on her pendant heating up as the Mana she had stored was used to block the lightning. However, it didn¡¯t work. The lightning pierced through the ruby¡¯s ward before colliding with the sapphire¡¯s. And even then, to Irelithe¡¯s dismay, the lightning also smashed through the blue shield before finally fading. ¡°Oh? That¡¯s a fancy artifact you got there!¡± The Lightning Mage was even more excited now at the prospect of getting his hands on her trefoil pendant. He amplified his yellow lightning, the static electricity even reaching Irelithe causing her skin to sting. ¡°You can block one of my Lightning Bursts, but can you handle this?¡± His lightning changed. Solidifying into a roughly humanoid shape twice the size of the man. Irelithe knew what it was. It was something that had been banned by the Wizard¡¯s Tower for years. ¡°Fool! You fused with an Elemental?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what all the others said before they died!¡± The man cackled, his lightning forming a direct link with the primordial being behind him. Yellow runes spread across his skin, the sclera of his eyes turning black, and his voice split into two. His transformation causing even the sky to change as black thunderheads began to form. The distant thunder calling the attention of many. He raised his right arm, a bolt of jet black lightning forming into a spear as long as the man was tall. ¡°Now DIE!¡± Just as he was about to throw the spear, a pressure dug into his arm. He dropped the spear and looked down at his arm. He watched it twist, the finger like shapes snapped his arm clean off. Black blood began spilling out of the wound. His enraged eyes looked in the direction of the one who maimed him. ¡°This plane has no place for things like you.¡± Xuan stood defiantly between Irelithe and the mad man. His arm held in front of him holding onto nothing. He raised his other fist and thrust forwards towards the man, an invisible force crushing his entire body into a black mess. But it wasn¡¯t over. The lightning surged once more. The man which they had thought had died rose from the black blood. His body was entirely lightning now, pure undiluted energy. No longer alive or dead. He laughed a long gruesome laugh. The twin voices echoing with his combined insanity. ¡°I should thank you for helping me complete this form.¡± Xuan just stood there¡­ waiting. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to bow down at my new power? I am happy enough to even take you two as servants.¡± ¡°You still don¡¯t understand do you?¡± Xuan had seen this happen many times before, and never had the outcome been remotely different. ¡°What is there to understand? I am tr- The lightning man began screaming, the harsh gut wrenching screams seemed to gnaw away at Irelithe¡¯s sanity. ¡°You can feel it now can¡¯t you? The Elemental is consuming your soul as we speak. Do you understand now why the Tower banned it?¡± The lightning man couldn¡¯t respond. His mind had shut down long ago with his soul devoured. His body was now an empty shell to be used by the Elemental. ¡°I... Am... Ishvalt... As... Per... The... Contract... You... Will... Live...¡± The man turned Elemental pointed towards Irelithe, her mind nearly snapping under the extreme pressure just from its words alone. ¡°But... She... Will... Die...¡± Xuan wasn¡¯t going to allow that though. ¡°She¡¯s under my protection now. According to the contract, she will live, no?¡± The Elemental Ishvalt remained silent for an undeterminable amount of time. ¡°The... King... Approves...¡± The Elemental Ishvalt shot upwards towards the rumbling clouds above. With its exit, the pressure on Irelithe lessened, her heart racing due to the difference in power between the two. Xuan looked down at the dainty Elf he had saved, his expression neither lustful nor greedy. ¡°Look, you saw something you shouldn¡¯t have and now you have to be with me. I don¡¯t care if you die but-¡± Xuan paused as the woman looked into his eyes. Her shimmering emerald eye betraying her heritage. She was a rare one indeed! It made him feel better about abandoning that Devil but finding a Wyrd Elf was definitely a stroke of luck. He thanked Tavroth for his blessings before revising the words he were about to say. ¡°Actually, on second thought, come with me. I¡¯ll protect you so long as you don¡¯t cause a hassle.¡± Irelithe saw his gaze, how he had paused when their eyes locked. She wasn¡¯t na?ve enough to believe the man had fallen in love with her at first sight, but she knew the man wanted something from her. She shuffled slightly, moving to stuff her trefoil pendant deeper underneath the singed robes she now wore. She waited a few moments as if debating on whether or not to accept his offer. ¡°What do I get out of this?¡± The man standing gallantly on the slightly raised ground ever so slightly chuckled. His mouth moved and harsh words came out, but Irelithe didn¡¯t hear any of it. Instead, Irelithe heard the man¡¯s voice in her head. ¡°You don¡¯t really have a choice. Come with me or else. Ishtar is watching us right now, look see?¡± The man pointed to the sky, the dark gray thunderheads still floating in the sky. ¡°It¡¯s still watching, don¡¯t resist. If for even an instant it thinks that you refuse my protection, it will strike you with lightning far beyond what that crazed mage had.¡± Irelithe really did have no choice. She would either die or live depending on her answer, and she obviously needed to be alive to find that blacksmith. ¡°Fine. I will join you.¡± The one eyed Wyrd Elf accepted Xuan¡¯s proposal, the dark clouds dispersed revealing the bright cloudless sky that had been there an hour before. Xuan and Irelithe were now bound by fate (or as long as Xuan¡¯s curiosity in her lineage lasted rather). ¡°Then we will leave. I have some things to do but bringing along a girl like you should be fine.¡± ¡°One. My name is Irelithe. Two. Where are we going?¡± Xuan¡¯s face contorted into a creepy smile at Irelithe¡¯s somewhat innocent question. ¡°I have no idea!¡± 17I. Calm Before the Storm ii Chapter 17: Calm Before the Storm ii Irelithe and the man, Xuan he calmed himself, left the scene by literally just walking away. Irelithe did feel a bit bad for Warren and the other adventurers but she prioritized herself first. Though, thinking back on it, Xuan held her life in his hands. ¡°So do you know where we are going?¡± Irelithe asked Xuan again, their footsteps muffled by the soft soil on the mountain trail. They had been traveling like this for the past few days. Xuan had pretty much destroyed anything that crossed their paths with his invisible power which gave Irelithe plenty of time to recharge her artifacts. ¡°I told you before haven¡¯t I? We¡¯re just going to get a lay of the land.¡± ¡°And you expect us to climb a mountain just for that?¡± Xuan gave Irelithe a small shrug before continuing on. Irelithe stood there frustrated before begrudgingly following behind. They were currently halfway up the trail of the tallest mountain of the Balros Mountain range. Irelithe could even spy the baronies and Lanchester from where she was, though, the awe she felt right now couldn¡¯t compare to when she was flying. Speaking off¡­ ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just fly all the way to the top?¡± ¡°I could, but that doesn¡¯t mean I will.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Xuan stopped on the path causing Irelithe to bump into him slightly. He turned around slowly, visible displeasure splattered across his face. ¡°Are you a child? Just how many questions are you going to ask?¡± He began telling Irelithe off. Sure, she was technically a child by Elven standards but his mocking tone seemed to tug on Irelithe¡¯s strings a bit too much. ¡°I never asked to be saved okay? You¡¯re the one that did this all on your own.¡± Xuan let out an exasperated sigh, his right hand holding onto the bridge of his nose. ¡°Do you even know what you are?¡± The abrupt personal question struck Irelithe hard, she didn¡¯t know how to respond so she did the next best thing. ¡°Your Mothe-¡° Xuan silenced her with a finger. Her mouth closed before she could finish her sentence. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you a trick. Open your status.¡± Irelithe refused of course. The man probably had some kind of reading spell similar to how he had send those words into her thoughts. She waited sending a flood of mental curses and insults to the man in front of her. ¡°All you¡¯re doing is just proving how juvenile you are.¡± Xuan obviously wasn¡¯t amused by her thoughts judging by his now scowling expression. ¡°Do you realize just how rare variants are? Think about it. How many times have people pointed you out for your eyes or for your value?¡± His words mesmerized her. A queer sensation spread through her as she unwillingly recalled the past she had wanted to forget. The days she spent running until she met her Master, followed by his unduly passing decades later. But that wasn¡¯t all, she had let her guard down. An excruciating pain split her mind through her memories, shattering her mental landscape. She was alone now trapped without the sensation of her body. She could see, but couldn¡¯t at the same time. The mana which she had only faintly felt before now surrounded her, obscuring everything in the prismatic array of colors. It was warm. She wanted to stay there forever. Skill [Mana Perception] has Evolved into [Mana Comprehension] A feat has been performed! Epic Skill Evolution (+20 INT, +10 LUK) 1/3 Requirements have been met for Advancement ¡®Good, you did have the talent after all.¡¯ Xuan¡¯s voice echoed around her. She didn¡¯t have time to react. She was suddenly ejected out of the warm space and back into her own body, her eyes snapping open to see Xuan sitting on a rock in front of her. ¡°So, how did it feel to separate from your body? Not many Elves get to experience what you just went through.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Tsk. Even more questions, though I guess you have the right after that. What you just saw was a brief glimpse of the world, or at least, that¡¯s what you saw right?¡± Irelithe shook her head, her entire body felt light and the iridescent Mana seemed to entwine with her breathing. But she couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡°Open your status now. You should see some changes now that I Awakened you.¡±
Name Irelithe Age 67 Years Race Elf (Wyrd) [1/3]
HP 70/74 (+.03s) MP 451/477 (+.202s) SP 54/138 (+.112/s)
STR 15 INT 200 (MAX) WIS 106
CON 23 AGL 27 LUK 43
Current Ailments | Left Eye: Scarred | Blindness
Skills Level Proficiency
[Mana Comprehension] 1/50 .4%
[Danger Perception] 1/10 14.9%
[Fire Affinity] 9/10 78.7%
[Runic Inscription] 1/10 39.7%
[Reading II] 6/20 43.1%
[House Cleaning II] 2/20If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 58.9%
Irelithe looked at her own status, but she had forgotten something very important. ¡°Stop!¡± She yelled out towards the mind reader. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you reading my mind?¡± Xuan understood her argument but dismissed it casually, not forgetting to tease the girl of course. ¡°Unless you willingly show me, I can¡¯t see it. Are you?¡± ¡°No!¡± Irelithe looked over her Status again, ascertained that her privacy won¡¯t be infringed by the man. She saw the unusual text next to her Race, then the MAX label by her INT stat, and finally the absurd maximum level for her new skill. Irelithe glanced back at Xuan but something felt different. He was still sitting on the rock, but unlike everywhere else, the area where the man sat was completely devoid of Mana. Even his body lacked Mana! All living beings should at least have some degree of Mana within them but the man had none! His entire existence violated the teachings of her Master. Xuan noticed her gaze scanning his body. Her shifting emerald eyes focusing on his chest where his heart was for a brief moment. ¡°That¡¯s a high tier skill for you. Works wonders doesn¡¯t it? Do you now understand what makes me different from the rest?¡± He didn¡¯t know what exact changes Irelithe went through but it probably had to do with truth sight judging by her actions. The Wyrd Elf was an interesting existence. They should have gone extinct during the first war but here she is. Living, breathing, and as ignorant as a country farmer. ¡°The real purpose of this trek was to bring you to a Mana rich area, preferably away from any forms of¡­ pollution.¡± As he spoke, he looked downward from the mountain side, his dark brown eyes reaching far into the distance locking onto a large city. One that Irelithe had been in two weeks prior. A woman in green velvet walked to a window and opened it. Their eyes met and she flashed a haughty smile before moving on through the mansion. Xuan mumbled as he had the bad luck of meeting eyes with her. ¡°Never liked her anyways.¡± ¡°Who now? Irelithe was now contemplating what had happened. She had been saved from an Elemental by this man and this very same man had given her a gift that she couldn¡¯t even possibly repay with her life. ¡°Never mind. Let¡¯s get going now. I doubt this place will see peace for a while.¡± Xuan grabbed Irelithe by the waist and held her in princess carry. Her face redder than it ever was before. ¡°Hold tight. Things will get a little bumpy.¡± The once invisible Aura exploded out of Xuan surrounding his body. Irelithe could physically feel the change in the man¡¯s body. The muscles hardening and bursting with unrestrained energy. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t I get any say in this?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Xuan jumped from the mountain with Irelithe held in his arms. She clung onto the man for her dear life as the two plummeted from high above, rapidly flying away from the mansion which was currently quiet despite the war. --Back At Virandi¡¯s Mansion¡ª She strode down the hall of her mansion, her dress dragging along the carpet she loved to take care of so much. She felt a watchful gaze from her left and decided to open the window nearby to see where it had come from. She couldn¡¯t see whoever was watching her but she could see herself as if she were the one looking from afar. She watched herself smile and leave the vision. Seconds afterward the connection cutting as she returned back to her normal vision, the effects of [Mirror Sight] ending. ¡°Interesting, so they¡¯re on Mount Phal huh? Better report this to the lady.¡± She entered Virandi¡¯s sitting room, two Virandis met face to face. The sitting Virandi waited, staring at the Virandi that had entered the room all the while. Her tea set down on the table forgotten. ¡°Apologies my lady.¡± The woman¡¯s image blurred, becoming that of a beautiful woman with short hazel hair and violet eyes. Wearing the usual maid¡¯s dress given out to all of Virandi¡¯s female servants. ¡°What is it Rudere? Do you have something for me?¡± ¡°There were some rats on Mount Phal earlier. They seem to have run though, scurrying about as they all do.¡± Virandi picked up her tea once more, taking a sip before replying to her head maid. ¡°Take care of them for me, this war of mine has brought me many rather¡­unpleasant letters,¡± She pointed towards her desks, a short neat stack of envelopes sat on the desk, unopened and unperturbed. ¡°Do what you want, I have no time to play games with a mere few stragglers. Rudere bowed towards her lady with upmost respect held in every movement and word. ¡°At your service my lady.¡± The head maid left quickly after receiving Viscountess Virandi¡¯s approval, a mirage appearing shifting her appearance once again. She took on the appearance of the girl she spotted in that person¡¯s vision. She didn¡¯t know her name but the distinctive emerald green eyes should be easy to find. That is, if that person had been in the area recently. 18. Towards Safety i Chapter 18: Towards Safety i It had only been a few hours since then. Isbeth, Roy, Cerise, Selen, and Pyra had seen the giant rocks falling from the sky. [Meteor], a Tier 5 spell capable of leveling entire battlefields through the shockwaves generated. There were three of them flying towards Viscor, the Balros Army retreating in their direction rapidly. From Pyra¡¯s observation, the scouts should arrive in about ten minutes so she had to act fast. ¡°Gather around me!¡± Pyra shouted towards the three and held Selen closer to her. She dragged the five behind a conveniently placed boulder and ripped open a scroll that she had pulled out of her bag. A thin translucent bubble began forming around the party of five obscuring them from sight. Pyra hurriedly placed a few rocks with glowing blue sigils in a circular formation around them before whispering a few words to the rest. ¡°Stay still, they can¡¯t see or hear us but if even a foot is outside then we¡¯ll be in trouble.¡± Roy didn¡¯t buy it though. ¡°What makes you so sure that they won¡¯t find us?¡± ¡°If you want, I can kick you out and have you fight them.¡± Roy couldn¡¯t argue against Pyra. He knew she was right, he couldn¡¯t win against them alone. A man against an army? Only an idiot or some kind of Hero would fight against them alone. However, there was just that kind of idiot in their party. Cerise struggled to escape Roy¡¯s hold but ultimately failed. She hadn¡¯t eaten in days and her hunger had overpowered her rationality. ¡°Calm the girl down! If she gets out there, we all die!¡± Cerise¡¯s sharp claws dug into Roy¡¯s arms. They didn¡¯t pierce the skin. She put more force into her claws, and yet, the man¡¯s skin blocked all her attempts at getting free. Pyra raised her brows at this revelation. ¡°What¡¯s a blacksmith like you doing with [Bronze Skin]?¡± ¡°Shut up and help me will you?¡± ¡°Ah right.¡± Cerise was furiously trying to kick her way free now. ¡°Roy! Let me go!¡± Isbeth exclaimed, her voice filled with haste and panic. Roy dropped Isbeth onto the ground and shifted Cerise to his center, both arms wrapped around the girl preventing her escape. Isbeth rummaged through her bags before pulling out a small maroon bead. She pulled down Cerise¡¯s collar and threw the bead into Cerise¡¯s mouth. The strange pill dissolved in the girl¡¯s mouth and she stopped struggling. Cerise closed her mouth, a tasteless liquid was trickling down her throat. It was strangely filling despite practically having no substance. Her hunger abated, she simply stared back at Isbeth who was currently shrugging. ¡°Do you like it? It¡¯s something I created for emergencies, sorry for the lack of taste.¡± ¡°Can you two stop talking? They¡¯re almost here!¡± During their little struggle, the Balros Army had approached three minutes earlier than Pyra had expected. They were a little ways away but keen ears do wonders for finding trouble. They sped past where the five were hiding, the cacophony of voices and heavy footsteps rushing to escape. The five held their tongues for those short five minutes. The entire army of 10,000 passing by none the wiser to where they were. It was at that point where the first [Meteor] landed in Viscor. The following shockwave blasting dust and dirt in clouds. The searing heat being felt even behind the wards Pyra set up. ¡°Brace for impact!¡± Pyra yelled amidst the chaos, her voice only being heard from within the bubble as the deafening winds drowned out all noise outside. The second [Meteor] landed besides the first, the impact leveling another big chunk of the city. And then the third. The three [Meteor] spells destroyed everything. Selen closed her eyes knowing it wouldn¡¯t do much about the predicament. The Balros Army weren¡¯t that lucky either. They didn¡¯t have the protection that Pyra had set up, thus, half of their forces were blown away in the shockwaves despite their heavy armor. The five could spot some areas where there were still soldiers standing, either with a Mage to cast a defensive spell or behind the cover of terrain like they had. ¡°Damn. They still survived.¡± Pyra wasn¡¯t pleased but wasn¡¯t displeased either. Half of that army, nearly 5,000 of them were wiped out by the blasts. But who had enough Mana to spare for three [Meteor] spells in the first place? Those things take several tens of thousands just to cast one!Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Selen who was quiet for quite some time finally spoke. ¡°We should take this chance to take them down. They¡¯re still weakened.¡± Pyra vetoed the idea. ¡°No. Five of us can¡¯t compare to 5,000. Plus they have a plethora of Mages. Keep hiding. Halfling or whatever your name is, pass around some of those pills, we¡¯ll be here for a while.¡± Isbeth gave Roy one of her sustenance pills and popped one into her own mouth. She even gave one to Selen who held it cautiously in her hand, but when it came to Pyra¡¯s turn she didn¡¯t give any. ¡°My name¡¯s Isbeth, call me that or I won¡¯t give you one.¡± Isbeth was rather petty to the upstart woman. She disliked being called anything other than her own name. ¡°Fine, fine. Isbeth, could you give me one of those pills?¡± ¡°I could.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Just kidding, let bygones be bygones I guess.¡± Isbeth handed the taller woman one of the orange pills. She was petty but not to the point of being a total jerk about it. ¡°I only have a bag left of these so we can last for a few days.¡± The five of them waited for the remnants of the Balros Army to regroup and flee. Roy leaned against the boulder while the others stood around. Pyra took out a small brown pouch and put her spear inside of it. Noticing this, Isbeth decided to bring it up as a topic of conversation. ¡°Is that a spatial enchantment?¡± ¡°I can store an entire person in here. The weight doesn¡¯t change though.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Can you let me see it for a bit?¡± ¡°No, my precious.¡± Pyra tucked the bag away beneath her robes and took out a lightweight staff instead, swinging the bladeless weapon against an invisible enemy for her daily routine. The others opted for more passive activities, Isbeth sorting her supplies, Roy doing stationary excercise, and Cerise and Selen simply sitting watching the soldiers move about forming ranks. This continued for nearly five hours before the Balros Army finally left. But unlike their predictions, the Balros Army marched towards the remains of Viscor, leaving their escape route much safer to travel on. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re in luck today! C¡¯mon, we need to get out of here. Shame about the [Oscillation Barrier] though.¡± Pyra deactivated her wards and stored the magic stones back into her bag. She swapped her staff for her spear before departing with Selen. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you three will be doing but me and Selen will try to meet up with Hashan. Don¡¯t die otherwise I¡¯ll kill you for making Larc¡¯s sacrifice pointless. Bye.¡± Pyra and Selen floated in the air for a moments before Pyra rocketed away. ¡°Sorry about Pyra, she cares a lot for others around her so forgiv-¡° ¡°Selen!¡± Pyra was back and grabbed Selen by the arm. Both flew away this time leaving the three standing there dumbly. Roy spoke up first. ¡°To Helios then?¡± Isbeth nodded. ¡°Helios it is. But first let¡¯s loot some gear shall we?¡± Isbeth eyed the heaps of bodies on the ground, unfortunate enough to suffer heavy impacts or impaled by dropped weapons. Their armor was wrecked but they ought to have some money on them right? Isbeth and Roy both had a sparkle in their eyes, they moved quickly sorting out usable weapons and armor, occasionally finding valuables such as a ring or a potion. They couldn¡¯t carry much but they should do them well for a few days. Cerise sat on the rock watching the two zooming around picking up what seemed to be bits of metal and glass? She wasn¡¯t sure but there was something that changed within her after she ate that pill. She checked the boxes again but as she couldn¡¯t read, she couldn''t even understand a bit of it, but the thought of checking them calmed her somehow.
Name Cerise Age 16 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 53/53 (+.018/s) MP 105/105 (+.03/s) SP 34/37 (+.021/s)
STR 15 INT 26 WIS 19
CON 18 AGL 27 LUK 2
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed (96%)
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 58.9%
[Rendering Claw] 1/20 3%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Blood Bound] 0/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
19. Towards Safety ii Chapter 19: Towards Safety ii As she read the strange characters again, she recognized patterns. She could see similar shapes and curves throughout the boxes. She focused on those figures, the shapes sharpened in her mind, the letters and numbers which eluded her so many times before had become recognized by her. She no longer saw them as random lines but as letters. She couldn¡¯t read still but she at least knew that there was a pattern, and with that, she could solve them. The epiphany caused a great deal of shock to the girl, she sat there staring at the boxes, trying to decipher the text. She compared the current board of stats to ones she had seen days before. The change was subtle but present, either that or she remembered incorrectly. Roy and Isbeth had finished looting what was left behind, finding few valuables they could carry. Isbeth waved to Cerise but Cerise didn¡¯t respond. She walked closer to Cerise and waved her hand again, this time just in front of her face. Cerise still didn¡¯t respond, her attention had been focused on her memories instead. Isbeth turned around as if to ask Roy what to do but all she got in return was a shrug. Roy walked up to the girl and carried her with one arm in a fireman¡¯s carry. Cerise was held with her legs facing forward and her upper body held over Roy¡¯s shoulder. Roy and Isbeth began walking eastward towards the Balros Mountains separating the former Balros Empire¡¯s territory from the Helios Kingdom. Although they were named after the Balros Empire, the entrances through the Balros Mountains were actually strategically held by the Helios Kingdom. Usually during times of war, no one is able to go through these small gaps but Roy and Isbeth had a way around. Crafters from Viscor are highly sought after for their skills. Simply having a Blacksmith to provide weapons and armor in a war dramatically increases the combat power of a unit, and at that, an Alchemist capable of producing acids that melt through solid metal armor would be extremely valuable for both offensive and defensive stratagem. Both Roy and Isbeth were prepared to sell their services for a hefty price as well as a home in Helios. In the meantime, Cerise was still sifting through her memories looking for words. She had long since figured out the basic structure of the letters with her 26 INT but her understanding had been limited due to the lack of access to proper words. She had counted 22 different letters and 10 different numbers, or that¡¯s what she assumed they were as they had different placements compared to the letters and far less in amount. She could loosely tell that the special brackets and the like were some sort of separators? She wasn¡¯t sure. Her limited vocabulary kept her from completely understanding the series of boxes and words. She instinctively understood that those numbers affected her in some way. STR related to her muscles¡¯ capability and movements, INT related to her thought processes, WIS related to her mind, CON related to her health, AGI related to her speed, and LUK was most mysterious of all. How he knew all this was left uncertain but as she doesn¡¯t understand how the numbers work, she could only guess which stats were better than others. Moving on, the strange line and double circles truly confused her. Was it an indicator of some sort? It was present only in the final column and that middle box. Were they related to numbers somehow? Her thoughts continued in such a repeated cycle until a cold voice interrupted her thoughts. Skill [Lesser Reading] has been obtained A feat has been achieved! Self-Taught (+1 INT, +1 LUK) ¡®!¡¯ A surge of information flowed into her brain. She understood what the letters were, and as it turned out, there were actually 26 letters, not 22. She counted the numbers correctly and now she knew their ordering. She could pronounce the names of the letters and numbers now but actual words? She had to try at least. A new box had appeared right below another, spelling out Lesser Reading. She said the words out unconsciously, butchering both words as the language, for some complicated reason, didn¡¯t have phonic pronunciations. ¡°Lehsor¡­ Riahdin?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Isbeth heard the girl¡¯s quiet voice with her keen ears. She could recognize it as Lesser Reading but the pronunciation seemed rough. Wait. Reading? ¡°Roy! Look at this!¡± ¡°What is it?¡¯ Isbeth pointed towards the girl currently over his shoulder. She took out an oddly familiar book and held it out to Cerise. ¡°Can you try reading this for me?¡± Cerise didn¡¯t think Isbeth would hear her. Her scarlet eyes looked over the book, the fancy silver letters she had mistaken as markings earlier made sense to her. Her thirst for knowledge caused her to do as Isbeth asked, butchering the words completely. ¡°Thi behjinors guyd to intodutori mahgic?¡± None of the words were familiar to her. She became confused. What did they mean? Her thoughts stopped when she felt the arm holding her slacken, letting her land nimbly onto the ground. She came face-to-face with a slack-jawed Roy and Isbeth squealing in delight like a child she saw once on the streets of Viscor. ¡°See! Cerise is so cute!¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t any child be capable of at least this much?¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Well, before she sounded kind of cold y¡¯know? But that innocent way of speaking is adorable!¡± The two debated over Cerise¡¯s words. The girl in question though became even more confused as her name kept appearing in their discussion. ¡°Did I do something wrong?¡± Her voice properly pronounced those words as she had answered them many times in the past. Roy however, noticed a strong contradiction between her botched attempt at reading and her current clear pronunciation. ¡°Hold on. So you can¡¯t read but you can talk just fine?¡± ¡°Nn.¡± ¡°Then can you tell me what year it is?¡± The question that Roy gave her was one she couldn¡¯t answer. Not just because of her ignorance of the current date, but because of the fact that she didn¡¯t know what ¡®year¡¯ meant. Her vocabulary extended only to questions she heard in the past and a few snippets of conversations, nothing more. She shook her head causing Isbeth to take the girl into her arms. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure you can read by the time we arrive. Roy, mind carrying the bags for me?¡± Roy stopped for a moment, looking at the bags Isbeth carried and the ones he himself had. He scratched his head before softly sighing. Roy accepted the heavy load and slung them across his back and waist, even holding some with his hands. ¡°Why does it feel like I¡¯m a father now¡­¡± ¡°Shut up and take it like a man. Anyways, see here?¡± Isbeth took out a paper and some ink and started writing letters down. She then drew several crude figures of animals above the words and pointed to them with her fingers, explaining what they were and how they were spelled. ¡°See this? It¡¯s a cat, C-A-T. This one¡¯s a dog, D-O-G. The one here is a wolf, W-O-L-F. And thi- Uh.¡± The image of the wolf evoked a feeling of deep regret within Cerise, one which gradually surfaced on her face as Isbeth spelled out the word. Thinking that the image she drew caused this, Isbeth quickly scribbled them out and decided to make a lighthearted joke to lift Cerise¡¯s mood. She drew a four legged mammal with a large chest and sections inked in. A three letter word written underneath the well-endowed creature. ¡°Look Cerise!¡± She pointed vigorously towards the drawing. ¡°This is a cow. Touch the cow. Do it now.¡± The joke held no value towards Cerise, nor did it mean anything to Roy. Even Isbeth didn¡¯t know why she had decided on it in the first place. She was stupid. She could have chosen anything else to do but she just had to choose to make that joke? It was completely random and one which only she would understand. The poorly constructed joke didn¡¯t cause Cerise to laugh but it had distracted Roy just enough for him to slip and fall under the massive weight of their spoils. The loud yelling and the following impact broke Cerise away from her despondence. Isbeth awkwardly helped Roy up only to be greeted with a few of the lighter bags being shoved towards her. ¡°Take these. You can carry at least this much and still teach the girl properly right?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Isbeth resumed teaching Cerise basic words, however, she completely avoided the topic of animals now after their previous incident and instead talked about common words such as colors. The topics covered went over a wide range of words starting from the most basic of words such as ¡®I¡¯ and more complicated one such as ¡®Hydrochlorothiazide Lisinopril¡¯ which Cerise couldn¡¯t even remember how to spell such a word even with the letters written out on a sheet in front of her. Nor did she know how Isbeth knew of it in the first place, merely receiving a reply of it being an Alchemist¡¯s secret. But thanks to the lessons, Cerise got another message which she was happy to receive. Skill [Lesser Reading] has leveled up (1)
Name Cerise Age 16 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 53/53 (+.018/s) MP 112/112 (+.034/s) SP 38/38 (+.032/s)
STR 15 INT 30 WIS 21
CON 18 AGL 27 LUK 4
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed (96%)
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 59%
[Rendering Claw] 1/20 3%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Lesser Reading] 2/5 .1%
[Blood Bound] 0/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
The three continued along the southern path towards the first checkpoint through the Balros Mountains as swift shadows began dancing across the continent, bringing news of the destruction of Viscor and the loss of nearly 5,000 units to Virandi. The remainders of the Balros Army that once planned to occupy the city were now forced to settle down temporarily just west of what used to be Viscor. They secured their positions and waited for further orders, unaware that their two of their original targets had managed to slip past them unnoticed. 20. Border i Chapter 20: Border i They had arrived a week later, during that time Cerise¡¯s [Lesser Reading] skill had nearly reached level 5. Her knowledge and vocabulary had increased significantly allowing her to hold basic conversations, though her literary skills lagged far behind in comparison. As evidenced by her poor writing, she could read though but not to a much larger margin. Behind the small village which served as a resting place for travelers was a thick marble wall topped with holes for archers, posts for mages, and a wide sturdy door to serve as an entryway. Instead of the solid plate armor of the Balros Army, the guards posted at the checkpoint wore mostly chainmail and some leather armor. Practical and inexpensive. There was one thing that they weren¡¯t expecting though. Thanks to the devastation of Viscor, many local villages and larger settlements started evacuating either southward or eastward like they had. The border village was flooded with people, elderly, adults, and children alike. The guards were working in overtime to calm the chaos and had closed access to the border for the time being. In the sea of people, there was one particular cluster near the gate which was louder and more packed than the rest. Roy, Isbeth, and Cerise made their way through practically parting the sea thanks to Roy¡¯s intimidating stature. They made their way through to the front and saw a man struggling against three guards. His two female companions stood behind him trying to convince a woman to let him go. The leader of the two females was a tall woman with almond colored hair. Her rich magenta eyes and shapely body drawing in the gazes of men from the crowd. ¡°Please just let us through, we¡¯re only passing by quickly. I promise there will be no trouble.¡± Her voice was enchanting to say the least of it, carrying an immaculate charm that no man can resist, but such a voice held no sway over the guard captain in front of her. ¡°Listen, I don¡¯t care what you do while you¡¯re here but nobody can just waltz right in and grope my butt. I¡¯m taking this man and bringing him into temporary detainment. Move him boys.¡± The female guard captain ordered the three guards holding the black haired youth to follow her. The youth¡¯s struggling becoming more desperate by the second. ¡°Let me go! I¡¯m a Hero!¡± He yelled at the woman who he had offended, his words causing swarms of whispers and looks by the crowd of onlookers. The guard captain looked down at the man held by her subordinates. He had rough leather armor that didn¡¯t fit him and a short sword sheathed by his waist. She judged him as just a fool that didn¡¯t understand the weight that those words carried. ¡°If you are a Hero, then why are you running away from the war? Us guards are already swamped with work by the borders and yet a Hero like you is avoiding the battle? It would be much better if we kick you back out to the frontlines so you can show us your divine power, right?¡± The black haired youth became agitated by her obvious taunts, his words became filled with doubtful reason as he refuted against her claims. ¡°I am only a level 1 Hero, I need to gather companions and find a Holy Sword before I fight the Maou. Let me through unless you want the blood of innoce-.¡± Isbeth let out an audible gasp at the mention of the word Maou which seemed to be foreign compared to the rest of her sentence. The black haired youth glanced towards the source of the sound and spotted Roy, Isbeth, and Cerise, mainly because the area around them was cleared by Roy¡¯s size. He saw Roy and mistook him for another Hero as he also had a Harem following him around. Though he wouldn¡¯t question the man¡¯s tastes as both appeared to be little girls. ¡°Hey! Fellow Hero! Help me out here will you?¡± Roy let out a scowl of displeasure. How did he end up included in this bizarre situation? ¡°You there. Are you an associate of this man?¡± The guard captain asked Roy, her words causing the eyes of onlookers to swerve towards Roy. ¡°Never seen ¡®em before in my life.¡± ¡°Hold on! We met before right? We slayed an orc together by Verne a few days ago!¡± ¡°Never been by Verne in my life.¡± ¡°Wha-¡° The guard captain seemed fed up by the youth¡¯s constant attempts at saving himself. She rightfully had the ability to detain him but she¡¯d need a few witnesses involved in the case to testify against the man. Even she couldn¡¯t just incriminate someone and get away with it. She would if she were working for Balros but Helios has standards to uphold. ¡°Enough you two. I assume you are here to cross to Helios as well?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°We currently aren¡¯t allowing access through the checkpoint but I¡¯ll sort out your papers later if you help me testify against this man. Now¡­ I¡¯ll have to take care of a troublesome fellow now. She eyed the youth still being held by her subordinates, but under her watchful gaze the man¡¯s body blurred and accelerated away. He sped past and brought his companions with him, leaving behind words which infuriated the guard captain to the limit. ¡°Your butt was nice! See you again!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do but get that man back here right now! And get his companions too! I¡¯ll make sure they¡¯re all beheaded!¡± The three guards saw the man¡¯s speed, and honestly, they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up even if they tried their best. But orders were orders and they ran after the man, their speed not even being half of what his was. The guards woman stomped away, the loud thumps being heard even by those not in the crowd of people. Every time she heard someone laugh or smile of the sort, she looked over them and they immediately stop in terror. ¡°No one here has seen or heard anything today. If I catch wind of anyone spreading false words, I¡¯ll detain you.¡± She left that message behind before disappearing behind a small service door in the wall. The crowd dispersed, afraid of the consequences that would befall them if they had stayed leaving only Roy, Isbeth, and Cerise standing alone in front of the gate. They awkwardly stood there with their plans impeded by the checkpoint¡¯s shutdown. Isbeth was, as usual, the first to break the ice. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Roy looked back at the border village, the various accommodations built to accommodate a large number of people for cases like this. ¡°I guess we can rest for a bit. Get some proper food too, I¡¯m getting sick of those pills.¡± ¡°What kind of symptoms? I¡¯m sure I weeded out all the side effect-.¡± Roy playfully hit Isbeth on the top of the head stopping her from finishing her sentence. ¡°Expression Isbeth. Not literal.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The odd trio moved down the lanes, their packed bags attracting attention from the unsavory sort. With one well timed grunt from Roy or a stare from Cerise, those types of people fled knowing better than to try to steal from them and get caught. ¡°The security out here is much less than the checkpoint isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What did you expect? The guards have to deal with all the refugees and have no time for a few pickpockets.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± ¡°Ah, here we go.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. They were right outside of a small smithy located on the outskirts of the border village. A young man was currently hitting a heated bit of metal with a hammer. Roy watched the man with expert eyes but he saw no potential at all in the young blacksmith. Each swing was inconsistent, always hitting the bar without rhythm and all he was doing was simply hitting the bar with all his might. They watched the man for a few minutes more before someone else arrived. ¡°Need somethin¡¯?¡± A tall man, though not as tall as Roy, appeared behind him. His muscles were well toned and his hands were heavily callused. Roy could recognize a fellow blacksmith when he saw one. ¡°Mind if I borrow your forge for a bit? Lost mine to a big rock a week ago.¡± ¡°Ah, Blacksmith from Viscor? Sure sure, after my son finishes of course. Don¡¯t see why he¡¯s so infatuated with following in my footsteps but I let him be. Name¡¯s Balgruth if you need me.¡± The man walked into the house besides the smithy and closed the door behind him. ¡°Heard you talking to my father, wasn¡¯t so bad was it?¡± The young man had finished hammering the lump of metal into a bar. The ingot itself was probably in one of the worst possible qualities possible. The impurities causing the ingot to be brittle and incapable of being used in actual forging. Yet the man was still confident, he stood up and threw the failure into a corner filled with countless others. ¡°I¡¯ll be with my father for a bit, don¡¯t wreck the forge alright? Ina doesn¡¯t like it when travelers damage the resident¡¯s homes.¡± ¡°Ina?¡± ¡°She¡¯s the guard captain, good luck with your work.¡± The young man left them, entering the house just as Balgruth did earlier. Roy stretched his arms and pulled out his own blacksmith¡¯s hammer, heating up the furnace once again with the bellows. ¡°Guess it can¡¯t be helped then. You two stand back a bit, it¡¯s about to get hot.¡± He pulled out the bags and started pouring the various bits of metal and rings into a large crucible. He had separated the types of metals before and only focused on extracting iron from steel. He moved the crucible into the furnace allowing the steel to melt in the furnace very slowly. He melted the mix of iron and carbon and removed the excess slag. The steel had been fully melted and now came the casting. The blacksmith had plenty of ingot casts but many weren¡¯t cleaned. To reduce impurities, Roy had to check each individual cast with {Blacksmith¡¯s Observation} and the liquid metal itself, comparing which ones would work the best. He poured the liquid steel out into the eighteen casts he had found suitable and let them harden before quenching them in water and proceeding to hammer them one at a time. His {Blacksmith¡¯s Insight} allowing him to see where to strike and [Blacksmith¡¯s Heart] allowing his strikes to hit without missing a beat. Combined with his own shifting weight techniques, the impurities of the metal were driven out in much larger droves than when the original armor and weapons were forged. ¡°So this is a Viscor Blacksmith. I might learn a thing or two just by watching your companion.¡± ¡®!¡¯ Balgruth had silently exited the house and was standing beside Isbeth and Cerise watching Roy work. His mind was filled with the constant rhythm of Roy¡¯s hammer and how he expertly moved his weight across his body to amplify his strikes. Roy¡¯s ability far exceeded his own allowing even an old timer like him to learn for the first time in years. Isbeth remained silent, she hadn¡¯t seen Roy work many times but she had viewed his works. She knew he was above the norm for a Viscor Blacksmith but Balgruth didn¡¯t. Roy was technically a Master within reach of the realm of Artisans but she wasn¡¯t going to expose his secrets now. Soon after Roy reached the ninth did the door open again, the young man walking out entranced by the sounds of clashing metal. ¡°Father, is he really that good?¡± ¡°Yes Turnel, this stranger¡¯s a better Blacksmith than even my mentor. Watch and listen carefully. You¡¯ll need it if you want to become a proper Blacksmith. The young man, Turnel, watched intently. His gaze following the movement of Roy¡¯s hands but his attention was ill placed. The true technique lied in Roy¡¯s feet, shifting his weight with each swing onto the forge, each impact shaping the casted steel into a more perfect form. Three of the four people present watched Roy intently, but a fourth was currently sitting on a stool reading a book. Cerise was reading The Beginner¡¯s Guide to Introductory Magic. The words danced in her head fumbling around and twisting together. She couldn¡¯t make much sense of them even with her enhanced vocabulary. ¡®Magic is based off of Mana, the energy that exists within this world and all living beings. Each race has a special method to draw Mana from their surroundings and is limited by their own Status, never exceeding said limit.¡¯ Just these two sentences alone had caused Cerise to be stuck for an hour. The grammar used in this sentence was simply too complicated for Cerise to understand. However, reading the sentence over and over was extremely beneficial to Cerise¡¯s skill. Skill [Lesser Reading] has leveled up (1) Requirements to Rank Up [Lesser Reading] has been met (3/3) Skill [Lesser Reading] has Ranked Up to [Reading] Rank Up Bonus (+2 INT, +1 LUK)
Name Cerise Age 23 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet)
HP 60/60 (+.024/s) MP 166/166 (+.062/s) SP 50/50 (+.038/s)
STR 16 INT 58 WIS 36
CON 22 AGL 30 LUK 7
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed (96%)
Skills Level Proficiency
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 64.1%
[Rendering Claw] 1/20 3%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Reading] 1/10 .01%
[Blood Bound] 0/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
And again, another stream of information flowed into her head. But unlike the last time which seemed like a trickle, the amount of information she received this time was like a rampaging river trying to invade her mind. She fell over on the stool causing Isbeth to hurriedly pick her up and hold her in her arms. She saw the girl was uninjured and the book lying on the ground made it clear what had happened. Cerise had finally obtained the [Reading] skill. Isbeth set Cerise back onto her stool and gave her back her book after dusting off the covers briefly. Cerise deftly took the book from Isbeth¡¯s hands and started reading the first two sentences again. She could tell that the effects of the [Reading] skill were working, the floating words combined together forming a proper flow in Cerise¡¯s head. She understood why those little dots and lines existed in a sentence and how words are structured and stitched together. Her vocabulary was still a bit lacking but she could work on that later. She continued onto the rest of the paragraph which described Mana itself. By the time Roy had finished purifying the eighteenth ingot, Cerise had finished the first chapter of the book. Her mind was filled to the brim of knowledge about Mana, artificial knowledge at best since half of the terms and methodology she didn¡¯t know of. But she opened the second chapter and got excited for the first time in weeks. The chapter would seem boring to most aspiring mages but to Cerise it was the beginning of a pathway filled with knowledge and strength. The chapter itself was labeled ¡®You can be a Wizard too!¡¯ filled with Level 0 Spells that practically anyone is able to perform. 21. Border ii Chapter 21: Border ii The first spell was rather basic, descriptive at best since there was no special formula or inscription common with other spells. It was the [Light] spell that Cerise struggled with. Every time she gathered her Mana and released it, nothing more than a wisp of red Mana emerged from her fingertip rather than the ball of light it was supposed to be. ¡°Still can¡¯t do it? The Mana techniques in that book should work.¡± Isbeth turned the pages back to one of the earlier pages, filled with the various methods to increase one¡¯s control over their mana. ¡°Try working on your foundations for now, I gave up on it since I¡¯m an Alchemist but you should be able to learn magic considering that you¡¯re a Hal¡­¡± Isbeth stopped for a moment after she realized she didn¡¯t really know Cerise¡¯s race. The claws Cerise had were unusual, not impossible for a Half-Elf to have since they receive a Mark of the Wyld at birth, but the lack of fur or scales on her hands says otherwise about it. She could be a variant but that isn¡¯t likely either. What other races have claws? Demons are out of the question as their bodies don¡¯t possess blood. She could be a Beastkin but in that case she wouldn¡¯t lack all the other traits. She could belong to an obscure race that Isbeth didn¡¯t know about and that was likely the case. The bigger issue here is that the Mana techniques designed for the nine common races aren¡¯t compatible with Cerise. She would still be able to use spells if she tried hard enough but she¡¯d have to perfectly control her Mana to perform them in the first place, and that¡¯s not even accounting for her elemental affinity. Isbeth kept contemplating ways for Cerise to use magic, but her thoughts were interrupted by the very girl in front of her. A flame appeared above her finger, not the usual orange or yellow flames but a cherry red one. The flame simply floated, the unearthly glow and cold it radiated was unlike any other flame magical or not. As the flame was held above her finger, she felt her hand become numb. It was small at first but kept growing as her numbness spread. Her blood went cold for a moment, her pulse stopping. Her heart had become still after the numbness reached it. The dim blood red orb in her chest began pulsing in the heart¡¯s place. Restarting her pulse and allowing her to come back from the brink of death once more. Innate Skill [Blood Flame] has been obtained 1/3 Requirements have been met for Advancement Skill [Blood Bound] has increased in level (1) ¡®Never use that flame again. More importantly, flee. They have locked onto your location as they have mine. I will not let my precious weapon die without accomplishing anything.¡¯ The numbness faded after the voices spoke in her head. She felt something was wrong. The voice which was once harsh towards her warned her to run. The urgency apparent by the foreboding she felt. She glanced up. There was no rock or giant meteor there, but black clouds had gathered from the west. The thunderheads rumbling from high above. ¡°Roy! Look at this!¡± Isbeth had spotted the clouds just after Cerise looked up. She called over Roy who was currently cleaning up Balgruth¡¯s. The three Blacksmiths left the cover of the smithy and witnessed the sight above, Balgruth being the first to speak. ¡°That¡¯s a bad omen if I ever seen one. You youngins better start moving, bring Turnel with you.¡± ¡°But father!¡± ¡°Hush child. I swore I will be by your mother¡¯s grave. If I die then so be it. Now go. I fear the worst has yet to pass.¡± Turnel stood on the fine line between staying with his father or following his wishes. Roy had already begun running, carrying Isbeth and Cerise in his arms, the steel ingots left behind stacked in the smithy. It was then that Turnel made his decision. ¡°Let us forge till the very end.¡± ¡°You finally sound like a true Blacksmith my boy.¡± The father and son began working. Their hands firm and hearts calm. They worked on creating a masterpiece together which would become famous across the world, but that story would be for another time as the thunder and lightning fell around the border village. A man of lightning emerged from a lightning bolt that landed in the center of the village. His black eyes swerved around analyzing the faces of the many Humans and occasional Halflings in the crowd. They began running for their lives, fleeing in all directions. A few armed men had approached, surrounding the lightning man with metal weapons and armor.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Foolish¡­¡± Ishvalt¡¯s orders prevented himself from harming those uninvolved. A light spark passed through the men as they fell over, their bodies unable to move. Ishvalt continued eastward towards where the mountains lay but before it made it far, a rumbling from below interrupted the elemental. The earth cracked and splintered, a woman made of compressed soil and stone emerged from those cracks. ¡°Leave Lightning Elemental. The Earth King does not welcome the likes of you.¡± ¡°I¡­ Am¡­ Here¡­ Under¡­ The¡­ Lightning¡­ King¡¯s¡­ Command¡­¡± ¡°Lightning King or not, you cannot invade other King¡¯s territories. Leave else we will make you.¡± More earthen women appeared from the ground, their formation surrounding the Lightning Elemental. Ishvalt was a high Elemental but his power was diminished due to the lack of Lightning and use of a Vessel. In its true form, Ishvalt had the ability to contend with the most powerful Elementals but in the Physical Realm, it was only as powerful as one of these middle Elementals. ¡°The¡­ Lightning¡­ King¡­ And¡­ The¡­ Fire¡­ King¡­ Will¡­ Not¡­ Forget¡­ This¡­¡± Ishvalt left as quickly as it had arrived. The blur of lightning ascended to the skies and left, leaving only the clouds left. The Earth Elementals fell back into the ground and left, their protection didn¡¯t extend to saving the lives of the mortals that lived on their territory. Lightning struck, fires and smoke formed. Lives were lost and chaos ensued. Ina ordered for a quick evacuation, saving those she could while watching the village she grew up in burn. She saw the Hero from earlier slipping through in a cloak but she didn¡¯t care. She¡¯d be foolish to let hundreds die just to get back at him. ¡°Quickly now! Call over anyone that knows Water magic! Guards! Find anyone trapped behind the flames and bring them out!¡± Ina spotted the tall man carrying the Halfling and girl. ¡°You three, could you help us? We need all the help we can get.¡± Roy ran past, his words were rude but reasonable to Ina. ¡°Can¡¯t, bye!¡± By coincidence or not, black lightning surged towards where Roy was but bounced off of an invisible screen. The walls were warded against any projectile attacks but as with all wards, there was a breaking point. The black lightning returned again stronger and struck at the screen, shattering the ward and flying towards Roy only to be stopped by a wall made of earth. The two forces competed and the defenders won through the elemental advantage they hold. Ishvalt brimmed with fury at their interference but couldn¡¯t do anything but stay in the clouds. Roy ran far beyond Ishvalt¡¯s range amongst the swarms of people unaware of what just happened and in his place stood a high Earth Elemental. Her gaze affixed on the clouds, or rather, on Ishvalt. ¡°Imprudent Elemental, directing your own lightning towards the sacred grounds of our King. Let it be known that you broke the primordial oath between the Kings. Sisters, behold to the day that marks the beginning of the Fall of Lightning.¡± Ina and several other guards had watched this scene. The legendary elementals of the Balros Mountain had protected that man? Who was he? The elementals spoke but she couldn¡¯t understand them, but there was one thing she knew, their words weren¡¯t good. The Elementals dispersed, the dirt and soil which made up their bodies falling into mounds on the ground. She could feel the rumbling deep within her bones as an entire mountain started changing in front of her eyes. The greatest mountain of Balros, whose height even doubled that of the more western Mount Phal stood on feet. Feet! The mountain had become a golem somehow. Its hand moved to swat away at the clouds, even flattening the ground below due to the sheer pressure and colossal force. The following tidal wave of dirt completely extinguished all fires in the village, settling down only when reaching the warded wall that forms the checkpoint. The mountain chased after the fleeing storm westward, leaving expressions of bewilderment on the faces of Ina and the rest of those fortunate enough to not die. Ina fell to her knees, her tough exterior broken by her tears. The majority of the village had been burned and mostly submerged, but it could be rebuilt. The southern area was mostly undamaged but the northern end was flattened entirely. The once infertile land was now filled with rich dirt. Maybe it was a blessing or maybe it was a coincidence but she had gained a new skill in the following aftermath. Maybe she could rebuild anew. She could hear the voices of the earth speaking to her, granting her mental strength and hope. The once sleeping Elementals emerged and offered her guidance. The Maiden of Earth had been selected for this era, and will remain active until the greater stages of the Balros War. Stories would be told of Ina¡¯s actions but that wouldn¡¯t be mentioned until a far distant time in the future. The Earth Elementals, and slowly afterwards, other Elementals appeared to the masses. They mainly formed contracts with the pure causing a rise in Elementalists across the world, and for those that are wicked of heart, they would end up becoming a vessel to be used. The Tower had a mess to take care of as these Elementalists grew in power, eventually branching off into another group, the Order of Elementals. For the time being, a certain man was heavily panting a hundred leagues away. Roy had reached his limit for the day. His body ached from the excessive exertion caused from smithing and running in a single hour. They were currently in a large plain which separated the Balros Mountain from the Helios Kingdom. Technically they were in the Helios Kingdom but only on the furthest outreaches of it. Roy leaned against a tree, winded and spent. Isbeth and Cerise were set down prior and were currently assessing the situation. They had left most of their bags behind in the border village, only having their clothes and whatever they personally held for the time being. The ingots which they had Roy painstakingly smelt were left behind as well alongside the other spoils they had acquired. Isbeth let out a long groan at the loss of their valuables before cheering herself up with other facts. ¡°We made it through the border easily I guess. Let¡¯s rest a bit before moving on.¡± Roy was still winded but had recovered enough breath to speak a few words. ¡°You mean I rest while you play with Cerise?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± 22. Mage Apprentice? i Chapter 22: Mage Apprentice? i It had now been two weeks since they fled from Viscor and nobody knows what sort of battles have already taken place in the meantime. They had seen some armies moving along the road, forcing anyone to get out of their way or join them in the conflict. Barely anyone had chosen the latter option as they were all fleeing from the war in the first place. Some asked for supplies, others for food, a majority asked for safe passage but none were answered by the army. A few of the lower ranked soldiers tried to help out but were scolded before they could do anything. The higher officers just sent a messenger back to the capital for a rescue force but by the time it arrives most of the escapees will starve or die of some other cause. The only one truly affected by any of this was Isbeth. Isbeth wanted to share what little sustenance pills she had left but Roy decided against it saying that they should prioritize themselves first. Looking at the gaunt lifeless faces tore at Isbeth¡¯s heart but she knew Roy was right. Her hand tightening around Cerise¡¯s as a form of comfort to distract herself from the terrible image around her. The trio reached their destination, a small town located several hundred leagues away from the Balros Mountains. It was a town that heavily focused on gathering herbs and hunting to survive as the land to their north held lush forests and wildlife suitable for consumption. It was a typical village found in many places, more suited to the old ways of life rather than the newer forms introduced with magic and faith. A small shrine dedicated to Vera, Goddess of the Hunt, existed by the town¡¯s largest building, presumably the baron¡¯s home. Roy, of course, attracted attention the moment he walked into the village. They weren¡¯t overly cautious of travelers or refugees since news of the war spread. In fact, it was still quite peaceful due to their trust in the Helios Kingdom¡¯s ability to defend. The Balros Mountains act as a natural wall preventing easy passage to and from the Helios Kingdom, and the fact that the soldiers are all adequately armed and trained provides comfort as well. Sure, the Ivecil Kingdom might have won a small skirmish a month ago but it was simply that, a skirmish. As such, the members of the town were wary of the giant man but weren¡¯t cautious to the point of blocking his passage. A Halfling was currently chatting up a storm with the residents, unusual to see one in Helios but that would be the normal case if not for the war. ¡°So do you sell any dried food? Oh, and do you have any Shivertail roots or Uris herbs?¡± Isbeth was currently going around asking people if they had preserved foods. If they didn¡¯t, she would ask if they had the materials required for her to create the satiation pills. It turns out that they had plenty of Uris herbs, a type of plant commonly found as if it were a weed in forests. On the other hand, they barely had any Shivertail roots, the only ones she could find were exorbitantly priced at 58 silvers a stalk here compared to Viscor¡¯s 7 silvers a stalk. Must be Helios¡¯ warmer climate and this village¡¯s southern location causing it. Guess she¡¯ll have to head north to find some Shivertails then. For the time being, Isbeth restocked on a few herbs that were sold much cheaper here than Viscor. Her [Alchemy] and [Synthesis] skills were starting to stagnate so she needed something new to experiment with in order to start leveling them up again. Roy chose to drop by the local tavern to see if he could find any information. Leaving Cerise alone with Isbeth to wander the dirt paths. Cerise found a nice place to sit and tore out that book again. The mana pathways within her own body were completely different compared to the common Neutral alignments found in most living beings. Rather than moving through different channels in her body, her Mana seemed to naturally move throughout her blood. The book described methods of manipulating Bana by focusing these channels to close and open at will but Cerise could just move it freely. The main difference, however, is that she lacked the ability to manifest magic outside of her body. She was currently practicing keeping her Mana outside of her body in various shapes. Despite the numerous failures, she kept trying countless times. To an outside observer, she was sitting there staring at her upheld finger with a frown on her face. To ones with a keener eye, they would see Mana constantly shifting around the girl, swirling and spiraling every time a small jet of Mana escaped her body. She refined this technique over the past week, if she couldn¡¯t keep the Mana still in the air around her, why shouldn¡¯t she try to keep it moving? The centripetal force kept the Mana from dispersing and allowed her to summon forth a small [Light]. Of course, maybe because of the centripetal force or her own actions, the magic itself didn¡¯t emit light but absorbed it. Seeing the area where she successfully casted magic for the first time darken, she assumed that she had casted a regular [Light] and carried on with her experimentation. She also received a rather dubious skill as a result though. Skill [Reverse Cast] has been obtained A feat has been performed! First Skill Owner (+5 LUK) The magic went entirely unnoticed by those around her. This particular hunting village relied mainly on physical strength or wit. The darkened area was faint, only visible to those with superb eyesight like Cerise or someone with a specialized skill. Cerise went to check her status, knowing full well what each word went as Isbeth¡¯s tutoring over the past week moved onto the topic of how this world worked.
Name Cerise Age 30 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet) [1/3]
HP 67/67 (+.27/s) MP 202/202 (+.077/s) SP 63/63 (+.056/s)
STR 20 INT 73 WIS 54
CON 25 AGL 41You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. LUK 14
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed (78%)
Skills Level Proficiency
[Blood Flame] 1/25 .1%
[Demonic Vitality] 1/10 71.3%
[Reverse Cast] 1/25 .2%
[Rendering Claw] 1/20 5.9%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Reading] 2/10 14%
[Blood Bound] 1/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
The [Reverse Cast] skill had something to do with the dark [Light] she had created. It was fairly obvious what the skill did by simply looking at its name. She attempted the next spell in the book, one that she also failed with many times before. It was the [Spark] spell which created a small jolt of electricity or so it said. She tried casting the magic using the same centripetal technique she had used earlier but the spell still failed. The [Reverse Cast] skill didn¡¯t activate as she had hoped. She moved onto the next and the next, but every time it failed for reasons unknown to her. The only other successes she had was with the [Cool] and [Heat] spell, each acting opposite of what it was supposed to accomplish. It seemed as if the spell she cast must have an opposite in order to active the skill. She flipped forward a few pages and found the Level 1 [Darken] spell. It was much more complicated than the [Light] spell and required an inscription. Sure, it was just a circle with a triangle inside of it but it was an inscription nonetheless. Cerise got up from her sitting position and started transcribing the image onto the ground with a stick she found nearby. She struggled forming the perfect circle using the stick and to her surprise, Isbeth had come back with a bag filled with green and maroon plants. ¡°Hmm? Did you finish the Level 0 spells already?¡± Isbeth had stumbled upon Cerise drawing on the ground with a stick. There were several crossed out ovals in the dirt where Cerise had been. Her trail extending a couple of steps at best. ¡°Here, use this instead. I don¡¯t have any magical ink but normal ink should do.¡± Isbeth passed her a small slip of parchment and an equally sized feather to Cerise. Her small dexterous hands nimbly picking up the quill and jotted down the figure within the book. She still made mistakes now and then but after three tries she succeeded in forming a near perfect replica of the inscription circle. How this circle related to casting the spell was unknown but was generally accepted as the common way according to the book. She spread her dark red mana into the paper following the grooves formed by the tip of the quill, visually supported by the black ink. Once her mana formed the shape it required, the magic was ready to be activated. The [Darken] spell was successfully cast, it had a much more powerful effect compared to her reversed [Light], a shroud of darkness covered her entire body, or to be more exact, the Dark Element did. She ceased the flow of mana and tried applying the centripetal flow once again. The spell activated but it was still darkness surrounding her. Her [Reverse Cast] still didn¡¯t trigger. She deactivated the spell again and tried casting it without the inscription, forming the same shape with her pure Mana. The dark red light condensed in the air before collapsing on itself due to its own instability. Cerise frowned. Her centripetal technique which she assumed to be the answer to her magic problems turned out to not be the answer she sought. Once again, she tried casting the [Light] spell within her mind, without the whole centripetal technique she had been attempting with a flipped image of what the book provided. The spell failed which she had expected but this time it was different. The Mana left her body in wisps but it curled naturally towards her left hand holding the paper. A thought ran through her mind as she started ejecting more and more Mana from her body, the red hue visible to even a normal person¡¯s eyes. The Mana gathered just above the white skin on the back of her left hand, forming into the very shape she had constantly been trying to form in her mind. It was a blood-red cross that held an ethereal beauty, stretching from the base of her hand to the base of her middle finger. She received another skill this time, with words that she never heard of before. Skill [Runic Inscription ¨C Aerial Type] has been obtained The moment she heard those words, the blood-red cross started eating away the rest of her Mana. She ceased the flow but it continued devouring the ambient Mana instead, growing in size and decreasing in translucency. The cross had eventually solidified on the back of her left hand and emitted a field of darkness discernable only to Cerise¡¯s eyes. She manipulated the field to extend outward and it had. The spherical mass expanded and contorted in the direction Cerise willed it to. She genuinely smiled out of delight thanks to the mysterious power she had acquired, but her thoughts were interrupted by the loud disorderly footsteps and heavy breathing behind her. She and Isbeth turned in the direction of the noise to see a young man in navy blue robes, his short chopped hair glistening with sweat. He seemed to be of the magic sort as he carried a bag and a staff topped with some sort of jewel. He stopped just in front of the two girls, his breathing still heavy and his expression excited. He pointed a shaking finger towards Cerise¡¯s left hand, where the blood red cross floated radiating a dreadful aura. ¡°Mind¡­ *huff* if I can¡­ become your apprentice?¡± The young man said, clearly misunderstanding the pale girl as some sort of immortal loli vampire mage of unimaginable power? 23T. Mage Apprentice? ii Chapter 23: Mage Apprentice? ii The man¡¯s name was Tsuru, he had come from a distant land and found himself in this fantastical world moments after leaving his house for the first time in years. The first thing he did of course was trying to learn magic. He had managed to find himself a master to learn from but the wizened grandpa didn¡¯t suit his tastes. He was a good teacher though as his [Water Affinity] skill had reached level 7 within months of training, a so called ¡®prodigy¡¯ so to speak. However, all good things came to an end, his master had disappeared a month ago and he had been searching for a new one since. He travelled far to the south and ended up in what seemed to be an Amazon like place. Only able to keep himself alive by either hitching a ride with the locals or defending himself from beasts with his magic. In one of the passing towns, he caught wind of the beginnings of a war. Afraid he would be conscripted due to his own magical prowess, he fled to the east through Guzzler¡¯s Gorge, an unmanned route filled with Tier 3 dangers. He barely made it through by sheer luck, and spent another few weeks travelling to the capital only to find out that Helios was preparing to join the war as well. He left the capital soon after to avoid detection and ended up in the middle of nowhere somehow. His supplies had run dry and his body malnourished. Magic was the furthest thing on his mind. As a person who had never starved before in his life, the current emptiness in his stomach hurt much more. However, all of this faded once he saw a scene from far away. A beautiful red light captured his attention, the Mana changed shape and formed a familiar shape to him. She was the one he was looking for. A master of magic that isn¡¯t an old man with an absurdly long white beard. He couldn¡¯t see much but that was to be expected, she seemed to be using a Darkness spell on a level that he couldn¡¯t even fathom. The area she pointed at had been covered in complete darkness, it was darker than the [Darken] spell and even the Level 3 [Dark Shroud] spell. If Tsuru didn¡¯t know better, he would have mistaken it for the Level 4 [Dark World] spell. The strange red mana combined with the floating rune on her hand convinced him that the girl was much more than she seemed. She either used Ancient Magic or a different kind of magic he wasn¡¯t aware of. Thus, he decided to learn from her to further his own goals, but first, he needed to get there. His stick thin body which once leaned on his staff was now brimming with vigor. The thought of acquiring a unique skill let his gamer instincts run wild. Sure, his body wasn¡¯t in any condition to run as it did now but it helped ease his mind away from the hunger. ¡°Mind¡­ *huff* if I can¡­ become your apprentice?¡± Tsuru asked the girl in front of him. The red cross on the back of her left hand dispersing alongside the black void caused by it. The fact that it had been canceled by her will alone showed her mastery in the craft, he never once thought that the ambient mana had simply run dry and it collapsed on itself as a result.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The girl looked at him disapprovingly, at least, that¡¯s what he thought. She was silent, unspeaking, and cold. Just as expected from a vampire loli. Her pale skin and blood red eyes fitting with his image of a user of ancient magic. ¡°Who are you and are you tailing Cerise?¡± A plain looking girl was standing beside the vampire loli. She looked to be just a few years older than the girl herself but Tsuru knew looks were deceiving. The woman was a Halfling, nothing special either. She looked completely mundane in every aspect aside from her tangled hair. The one thing he got from her question was the girl¡¯s name. Cerise. Coincident or not, that was a word he himself was familiar with. Cerise was French for Cherry, and how miraculous was it for the vampire in front of him to be named a color of red? He caught his breath for a moment, ignoring the Isbeth¡¯s protective look and directly asking the girl again. ¡°Cerise, I want to become your apprentice so please teach me well.¡± He placed his left hand on his chest in a ceremonial gesture from a manga he had read last year. He forgot the name of it but it had something to do with giants? Whatever. The main thing is that the girl finally responded. Her head wobbling from side to side. Unexpectedly, the girl fell over, caught by the Halfling¡¯s arms before she even hit the ground. ¡°Sure is a trend for you to pass out huh?¡± The Halfling held the girl tightly in her arms, her footsteps drawing away from Tsuru by the second. She paused for a bit after taking no more than five steps, gazing back at him. ¡°Come on, Roy won¡¯t mind if we have one more mouth to feed after all. You look like you need it the most.¡± Tsuru didn¡¯t really want to go with her but to learn magic from Cerise, he decided to go. He resolved to follow them but his foot gave way. His body was frail before but the malnourishment had weakened him further. His bit of running earlier had a severe impact on his body causing him to fall onto his bottom. ¡°Ah, first have one of these.¡± The Halfling handed him a brownish pill. It was composed of Uris herbs and a substitute for the Shivertail roots, the Rockroot petal. Isbeth didn¡¯t want to try it herself so it was convenient for her to find someone else to feed it to. Tsuru gulped down the pill knowing no better, his hunger was filled but a violent feeling started spreading up his throat. He started vomiting, various bits of leaves, mushrooms, and even chunks of fish started spewing out, a puddle of bile and chunks forming on the ground. Despite the awful stench and the taste left in his mouth, Tsuru could feel his Mana moving around much more quickly than before. That pill might have been some kind of spirit medicine capable of purifying the body. Was she a pill cultivator? He looked over the Halfling again, her garbs were common as were her eyes. Was she a hidden master? But why would she be here out in the boonies? His worldview became a whole lot more complex than before. His thoughts even blocking out the words Isbeth was saying. Before he knew it, she had left with Cerise and entered a large wooden building, loud cheers and a rowdy atmosphere could be heard from within. Tsuru knew it was an Adventurer¡¯s Guild branch, one that he had avoided since any shove or accident from those adventurers could cause him serious injuries. But the girl was in there and he wasn¡¯t going to give up on learning new magic. Just as he walked up to the door, he was stopped by a large axe wielding man, a well-armed adventuring party waving their hands in their faces behind him. ¡°Listen buddy, you better clean up before coming here. I don¡¯t advise bringing that stench into a room filled with sensitive noses.¡± The man and his motley group entered the building, leaving the vomit-covered mage on the street questioning his own smell. ¡°I don¡¯t smell that bad do I?¡± 24. Rebirth (End of the Act 1 Chapters) Chapter 24: Rebirth The last thing Cerise heard was the word ¡®apprentice¡¯ before slipping back into that red world. She was on the surface once again, the scarlet sky met with the blood red liquid in a horizon. The liquid was clear without ripple unlike the turbulence Cerise had seen before. In front of her was a body, a body shriveled to the point where it can only be defined as a silhouette that lacked all distinctive features. It spoke to her, the very same voice that she had heard when she was first born, yet it was foreign to her. ¡®Come to mother sweetheart.¡¯ It said, a withered arm reaching out towards Cerise¡¯s face, but before it had made contact, the blood red cross appeared on her face once again, flashing with its scarlet light and resonating with the world of blood that made up Cerise¡¯s consciousness. The cross gathered blood to form a body, the appearance of an old man far beyond his prime appeared between Cerise and the husk. ¡°Begone demon, this child is mine.¡± The husk shrieked an awful laugh. It hunched over, its body writhing from underneath the skin, shifting and deforming. The gruesome transformation lasted what seemed like minutes. During that time, Cerise received a notification she had never seen before. Warning! SP has dropped below 0 for a prolonged period of time Status [Mental Corruption] has been gained Skill [Twisted Fate] has been activated ¡®The words of the forgotten lies unheard¡¯ This went far beyond her capability to understand, maybe she couldn¡¯t understand at all. The creature¡¯s body broke and scattered, only to reform again. WIS has permanently decreased by a total of 5 due to [Mental Corruption] The mass of conjoined flesh, tentacles, and the eyeless heads that seemed to stare at her broke away at her sanity. It danced in her terror, growing and swelling as her mind continued to further estrange from the mortal world. WIS has permanently decreased by a total of 10 due to [Mental Corruption] ¡®Kusk!¡¯ The mass was penetrated by several spears of blood from below, its wounds leaked something different from Mana, a black substance similar to smoke yet it was not. Nightmare. A force kept it from being broken by the countless spears penetrating its body, leaking Nightmare all the while. The blood sea became dyed in the Nightmare, an Abyss where she couldn¡¯t escape from. The man standing in front of her held her closely. His cold dead hands chilling even her bones to the marrow, but her blood. Her blood could feel it. She could feel a connection to the man. He pointed at the demon with his right index and middle fingers, chains of blood emerged from the blood sea, trapping the demon in the link. WIS has permanently decreased by a total of 15 due to [Mental Corruption] However, the chains which held onto the demon also shot towards the man causing him to drop Cerise into the endless expanse below. The demon laughed again, its voice echoing out in the blood red world. ¡®Not even a god can stop me! She will be mine, some way or another!¡¯ ¡°Even so, I am her guardian. A minor demon like you can never take her away from me. The man was familiar. His golden hair and sea blue eyes looked like the man in Cerise¡¯s memories, but she knew they were different. The man looked down at the still falling Cerise, leaving her with words that didn¡¯t fit with his image, a gap in space appearing beneath Cerise. ¡°Flee child, for if you die then I will never get my revenge. This soul fragment can¡¯t tie down this demon for longer than a year at best. Either become strong or find me. I will be waiting¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. His words struck Cerise deeply. Her purpose hadn¡¯t been her own? But what now? A strange force knocked her away from the hole followed by the hollow laugh of the demon. The man rushed to save her but the chains held him down. She fell into the Abyss below. She stayed there for an eternity. No matter how hard she wanted to leave, she¡¯d only end up back where she started. Maybe she actually managed to move somewhat, but she couldn¡¯t tell. The Nightmare that surrounded her prevented her from knowing. WIS has permanently decreased by a total of 20 due to [Mental Corruption] She felt strange, giddy even. The voices she heard only moments ago no longer mattered to her. The black Nightmare kept her from caring. ¡®Wasn¡¯t this what I felt at that time?¡¯ It was. It was the same feeling that she felt when she was brought back. The Nightmare. She felt it before. Skill [Demonic Vitality] has increased in Level (1) Max SP has permanently decreased by a total of 5 due to [Demonic Vitality] The skill which had painfully increased slowly before had leveled up before Cerise¡¯s eyes. She felt a connection to the Nightmare now, it became stronger as more time passed. She burst out into an unceasing fit of laughter. Her mind had already collapsed, giving into the primal desires originating from the Nightmare. Maybe she could kill them all. But who was them? At this thought, she stopped her maniacal giggles. She didn¡¯t actually remember anyone. Only herself. Skill [Twisted Fate] has been activated ¡®The path of the forgotten leads to the unknown¡¯ She collected herself. Her twisted mind constantly seeking a definition for what she was. She remembered her first years. Her mother had taken care of her alone in a dark room. The velvet on the walls faded and full of dust. She was crying. No more than a mere toddler at that point. ¡°There there child. Everything will be alright.¡± The woman took care of her, embracing her loved child to the last moments. A tall lean man walked into the room followed by lines of armored men. ¡°Burn the witch!¡± Cerise¡¯s eyes started tearing up. Mother and daughter were separated at that point. She knew nothing of what was to happen as she was too young, but now she knew what the words meant. She was taken to an underground place in a sack. Her body too weak to even resist. She was thrown into a cage alongside other infants and toddlers. Each one injected with a needle filled with black sticky liquid. She could remember the pain. It burned through her body as it did with every other child. All of their flesh ended up either mutated or deformed, swelling in size before bursting in a pile of black blood and wriggling flesh. She herself was only one of three to survive the experiment. It wasn¡¯t through special genetics or a special circumstance at all. It was just plain dumb luck. It wasn¡¯t good fortune however. The men started performing more horrific experiments on her and the other two. She didn¡¯t know what they went through but she knew it was just as bad. Entire limbs were cut off with jagged rusted blades, the joints were then burned by a fire before they forcibly try to reattach them. Her screams went unheard throughout the entire procedure. Her body severed and reattached backwards, her bones grinded and then replaced, even her entire head was crushed before regenerating just as it was before. These practices went on and on for years until she no longer thought. She only wanted to die, to escape from the pain. A broken doll to be used for nefarious purposes at only the age of four. Her memories had stopped then. They didn¡¯t hurt her. Not anymore. The Nightmare already changed her moral values. It had been slowly corrupting her before but now it accelerated, leaving only her bloodlust left. The Nightmare didn¡¯t allow remorse. Its only purpose was to devour all. Skill [Demonic Vitality] has changed to [Vitality of Nightm¡­ Process Interrupted Skill [Blood Bound] has increased in Level (1) Conclusion 404 :/ Skill [Demonic Vitality] does not exist Purging The voices rang out in her head, but mid-sentence it had stopped and was continued again. Only, this time, it read out in a completely different manner than she had wanted. How dare this person revoke her right to be a demon? Immediately afterwards, red chains burst out from the darkness. They coiled around her arms and ankles keeping her from moving. She lashed out trying to escape but the chains simply held her tighter. She couldn¡¯t move. The chains rose towards the surface, pulling her out of the dark Abyss. The moment she was above the surface, her mind became clearer. The dark thoughts which permeated her entire being couldn¡¯t exist in the golden light above. The man was nearly transparent now, his body standing over the corpse of the demon. The blood ocean had irreversibly become an Abyss in Cerise¡¯s soul but the demon was no more. The man pulled her back, his ghostly hand barely keeping her up through the blood chains. ¡°You are more important than you think. Leave. This portion of my soul won¡¯t last long.¡± Golden ichor spilled from his corporeal body. It was only a mere fraction of his true soul but it held enough power to slay a minor demon, yet, it came at a price. He couldn¡¯t protect the girl forever. ¡°Gods, Demons, and the Primordial will soon clash due to my brother. You must find him before it too late. Go!¡± The man used the last vestiges of power in his soul to create another gap. He threw Cerise through it and she found herself in her own body. The blood red orb within her chest now half black. She considered the man¡¯s words. She wasn¡¯t obliged to follow them, but if the demon she saw was only the beginning then there was worse to come. Skill [Twisted Fate] has activated ¡®The voice of the forgotten is truth¡¯ 25(T). Unbreakable Holy Sword Chapter 25: Unbreakable Holy Sword To say that she was awake would be a massive misinterpretation. The first thing she felt when she left the blood sea was the heat. She felt fatigued, weakened to the point of being unable to leave the damp bed. Just what had been happening to her body while she was in that world? She checked her status to confirm if there was anything wrong, she knew she had lost something but the drastic changes in numbers still surprised her.
Name Cerise Age 34 Days Race Lesser Devil (Scarlet) [1/3]
HP 24/64 (+.026/s) MP 202/202 (+.085/s) SP 23/46 (-5) (+.04/s)
STR 21 INT 81 WIS 38 (-20)
CON 25 AGL 43 LUK 15
Current Ailments | [Hunter¡¯s Eyes] Sealed (64%) | Mental Corruption (-20 WIS; -5 SP)
Skills Level Proficiency
[Blood Flame] 1/25 .1%
[Reverse Cast] 1/25 4.5%
[Rendering Claw] 1/20 5.9%
[Hunter¡¯s Eyes] {Hunter¡¯s Mark} 3/10 3.9%
[Reading] 2/10 18.2%
[Blood Bound] 2/5 N/A
[Twisted Fate] N/A N/A
Her WIS went down from 54 to 38. The math didn¡¯t seem right in her head but she could only explain it as her gaining WIS when talking to that man. The most important thing was the loss of a skill. It had accompanied her since day 1, and probably had been in a dormant state prior too if her memories hadn¡¯t been tampered with. She hadn¡¯t paid attention before but the black liquid in her memories was eerily similar to Nightmare. Just what kind of experiments were they pulling in the first place? The answers she received only caused more questions, her thoughts only ceasing after a cold wet cloth was placed on her forehead. Cerise opened her eyes to Isbeth¡¯s worried face, deep shadows surrounding her eyes. Cerise had been collapsed for four days. During the first day she had seemed fine, perfectly healthy, but on the second day her body went cold. Not like the symptoms of being sick like she was used to but a coldness that spread across the room. Frost had formed on the bed where it had come into contact with the chilling air. Isbeth could only do her best to produce warmth potions from the nearby herbs and feed them to her. Despite Isbeth¡¯s best efforts, Cerise¡¯s body just kept becoming colder, even the reddish liquid of the warmth potions froze when it came into contact with the mist forming from Cerise¡¯s body. On the fourth day everything changed. Cerise¡¯s body was melting through the ice encasing her, the water soaking the bed and the floor boards of the room. After all the ice had melted, the heat only grew more intense, evaporating even the water in the air. Isbeth tried the opposite of whatever she had been doing the day before, but she lacked Shivertails. It¡¯s always the Shivertails! She had to make do by wetting a cloth and draping it over Cerise¡¯s forehead, changing the rag every few minutes. She had been doing this for the past half hour until Cerise finally opened her eyes. They were ¨Chow should she put it-, different. Her eyes were darker than before, the beautiful scarlet replaced by a deeper ruby. It might have been a side effect from consuming seventeen glasses of warmth potions but only time will tell. ¡°Are you well now?¡± Isbeth asked, her voice filled with concern and hope. Cerise simply sat there in the bed, her snow white skin temporarily replaced by a pinkish-red hue due to the excessive heating of her blood. How would she know if she was well? The man that appeared within the blood world gave her a mission and a warning. She had much to think about but now was not the time. Her blood was boiling, she could feel her blood cells rupturing through the wild bursts of mana. She quickly activated the [Cool] spell and the [Heat] spell simultaneously. The [Heat] spell was combined with her [Reverse Cast] to help expel the excess heat into her surroundings and when used in conjunction with the [Cool] spell, it practically allowed her to release heat at double the rate of a normal mage.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Isbeth felt the wave of heat, incomparable to what it had been before. Cerise had been gathering heat for two full days and nights, and she¡¯s trying to release it all now? It would be an utter disaster. The wave of heat could even be felt through the walls. The water evaporated even faster in Cerise¡¯s presence, the room was covered in suffocating steam. Isbeth had to act fast, she opened the window and shouted at Cerise. ¡°Send it out there!¡± Cerise directed all of her attention towards the open window. Heat loved balance, and if the entire room was as hot as it can handle, then where was the next possible place for it to escape to? The answer lied outside. The blast of cold air brought the heat up, the cold and hot air met and a mini wind storm took place in the tiny room. Cerise blasted all the heat out of her body outside, the sudden gusts causing the residents of the small hunting village to cause a ruckus. They had gone out of their way to provide shelter to a sickly girl and her companions and now they were being attacked by them? What kind of morally twisted act is this? The men and woman grabbed their weapons and stormed the building, but they couldn¡¯t get far before the heat waves hit them. They stumbled back against the countless gales and torrents of wind blasting from the window. A few sneaky ones managed to get around the blasts of wind but only after a few moments inside the building did they have to run out, their leather clad bodies utterly soaked with sweat and water. The winds blowing from the little window abated after a few more minutes. The villagers could see through the window a completely stark naked girl covered in sweat and panting. Her hands were outstretched towards the window, her palms held perpendicular to each other as if she had fired off a laser or blue dragon. It was a rather comical scene if not for the collapsed thatched buildings and the devastation left after the storm¡¯s wake. Moments after, the girl¡¯s Halfling companion wrapped a bedsheet around the girl, pulled her back into the room, and then closed what was left of the broken window. The villagers sat there confused as to what just happened. A little girl just destroyed a big chunk of the village on her own? A few of the braver ones stood up and moved towards the building only to slip on the ice on the ground. Heads swerved to find the other newcomer standing in front of the door blocking their passage. He held his staff in one hand and a small object in the other. ¡°Come at me, I have the unbreakable sword!¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be, Excaliblunt!?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± Tsuru swung his Nokia forwards causing the villagers to scatter. They didn¡¯t know that the phone was nothing more than a brick but the unknown object was way more fearful than his staff. He froze the water on the ground and gathered the water in the air. The steam gathered around his body forming a protective layer and the ice serving as deterrents for ground movement. ¡°Haha! I didn¡¯t reach level 23 on Divinity for nothing!¡± ¡°What does that even mean!?¡± Tsuru smashed a man¡¯s arm with the Nokia, breaking through the flimsy metal plating and managing to crack bone. He tried following up with a whack of his staff but decided against it after looking at the precious mana stone. ¡°Oi, you gonna help me!?¡± Tsuru called over to a man walking towards the building unperturbed by the violence going on. Roy simply just walked past and into the house leaving Tsuru alone to fend for himself. ¡°Damn, I guess this super mage will take care of everything.¡± A sneaky thief tried attacking him from behind. Tsuru didn¡¯t even see the man but trying to enter his mist completely nullified any act of stealth possible. He waved the Nokia around singing a small tune as he bashed the mighty and the deft easily. The pills that pill master gave him truly did the job. His breath smelled like vomit but he could feel energy in his muscles. Just as he was about to praise the Halfling¡¯s concoctions, a severe pain rocked through the bottom of his right foot. His mist wards faded as his concentration faltered, a face filled with fear and doom appearing on Tsuru¡¯s face. ¡°Muscle cramp!¡± He dropped onto the frozen ground, clutching at his boots as he tried to take them off. He had pulled his abductor digiti minimi muscle during the fight, the name might be funny but the pain he felt at the time wasn¡¯t. Had the villagers not been downed by the legendary Nokia, he would have been hauled off by now, but like he, all of them were on the frozen earth clutching at their muscles and somewhat cracked bones. It took him five minutes to sort out the cramps. He slowly shuffled into the building where Roy and Isbeth sat around a bed with Cerise in it. Her skin tone had whitened a bit, a flush of pink occasionally appearing whenever her heart pumped blood. ¡°So you are telling me she exploded everything outside?¡± Roy was questioning Isbeth about what had happened while he was away. ¡°Yeah! Everything went boom! You saw right?¡± ¡°Yes, I saw. Collapsed a few buildings, I could hear it from the other side o-¡± ¡°Hello!¡± Tsuru interrupted the two, he stumbled in using his staff as a crutch. It was a dismal sight for the proud man but it was necessary. ¡°Ho. Thought you¡¯d finish with them three minutes ago. One got your leg?¡± ¡°No! I pulled a muscle! And why didn¡¯t you help me?¡± To say that Tsuru wasn¡¯t mad would be an understatement. To say that he was boiling hot would also be too much when compared to Cerise. He was simply furious. Roy didn¡¯t even help him, he just walked past Tsuru! Roy pointed towards the strange object still clutched in Tsuru¡¯s free hand. ¡°Can¡¯t say much about it since you have that. I never seen work like it.¡± ¡®The Nokia was definitely too advanced for the blacksmith,¡¯ Tsuru thought, ¡®after all, this Nokia had been handed down in my family for generations. No way would a person in this world recognize it!¡¯ ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll forgive you, but only if you get the girl teach me magic already.¡± Isbeth stood up from her seat and shoved her hand into her bag. She took out a book with silver letters engraved on it and gave it to Tsuru. Tsuru held the book, A Beginner¡¯s Guide to Introductory Magic, his expression readily revealing his expression. ¡°Am I a joke to you?¡± 26. Whats the Difference? Chapter 26: What¡¯s the Difference? Cerise watched Isbeth and the man bicker. She was currently lying on the bed covered in the bed sheets. It had appeared that she had released too much heat from her body which nearly killed her. Granted, [Blood Bound] did go up a level but from all the times it had increased in level before made her think. Why does it keep leveling up? She wasn¡¯t dumb enough to not be able to figure that out. Every time it leveled up, she¡¯d be in a state of apparent or near death. The first time was when she first used the [Blood Flame]. She felt the numbness creep up to her heart before [Blood Bound] triggered. The second time occurred around the time when her body froze without her awareness, and the third was just moments before. Her body was shivering from the intense cold, she had used all her Mana in that dual burst of [Cool] and Reverse [Heat], leaving her with nothing but a pile of blankets and doses of medicine to ward off the aftereffects. If her math is correct, then she only has two chances from [Blood Bound] left before something happens. And what about [Twisted Fate]? It had activated 3 times but there was no changes to the status window, which means there was something different about it. Most skills had an activation requirement, sometimes it required Mana like her [Blood Flame] or [Rendering Claw], sometimes a condition like [Reverse Cast] and probably [Blood Bound], so what was [Twisted Fate]''s? The hollow voice once again repeated those words in her mind, each syllable perfectly blending yet twisting in some way. She could remember the words but she couldn¡¯t at the same time. Something about the not knowing and truth? But the two concepts were opposite of each other. The riddles and questions kept her from feeling the cold that invaded even her bones. It seemed that Isbeth and the man had come to an agreement in the meanwhile, both shaking hands in a gesture that both Cerise and Roy didn¡¯t quite understand. The book returned to Isbeth¡¯s bag and the man¡¯s Nokia to his. The man sat at the table while Isbeth came back to care for Cerise. The poor girl was shivering underneath the thick bundles of blankets. She had taken off the clothes earlier when she finished thawing, the wet black clothing now handing outside on a wooden pole she found in the house. ¡°So when will she be able to get up?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. She¡¯s cold, not deathly cold but cold enough to stop her from making any moves for a few days.¡± Isbeth¡¯s hand went over her head, the deathly pale skin sucking away at her own body warmth by the second. Roy stood up from his chair beside the bed and walked towards the man. ¡°Tsuki or whatever your name was, if the girl can cast Level 1 spells, you can too.¡± The man simply humphed at Roy, crossing his arms while slouching in the chair. ¡°Tsuru. And there¡¯s a difference between an Elemental Mage and a Spellcaster like her.¡± ¡°Alright. So what can you do that she can¡¯t?¡± ¡°Firstly, Elemental Mages are those who manipulate Mana in its purest form.¡± Tsuru raised his staff, a small cone of frost forming just above the shining jewel. ¡°She on the other hand, makes use of runes to cast magic. I didn¡¯t realize that until I saw the book that Isbeth gave me. I don¡¯t have much use for runes as I can¡¯t read this world¡¯s¡­¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Tsuru stopped mid-sentence, his words cut off by Isbeth¡¯s stare from behind Roy¡¯s shoulders. Tsuru cleared his throat, continuing on as if nothing happened. ¡°Anyways¡­ What I meant to say was that she¡¯s a Wizard and I¡¯m an Elemental Mage. Specifically of the Water attribute and I lack any means to warm her up. Unlearned people often mistake Mages as Wizards and vice versa just because of the fact that Wizards never leave their damned rooms. Got it?¡± Roy accepted Tsuki¡¯s words. So that meant Geril was a Wizard? Wait a moment¡­ ¡°Tsuki.¡± ¡°Tsuru.¡± ¡°Whatever, do you know if anyone made it out of Viscor a month ago?¡± Tsuru shrugged. How would he know? He¡¯d never been to a place called Viscor. ¡°If you want information, why don¡¯t you go to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡± Roy slammed his fist on the table. ¡°Nothing¡­ Why would you want to know about that place anyways?¡± ¡°Just who are you? Any normal person would have heard of Viscor before.¡± Roy¡¯s words questioned Tsuru in the same manner that Hello Work lady spoke to him causing Tsuru to start a verbal debate with Roy. The two men threw questions back at each other for a few more minutes until Isbeth intervened. ¡°Leave the room or stop the pointless babble. I don¡¯t mind if you two chat but Cerise needs peace and quiet.¡± The two men shut their mouths. Isbeth held the brownish pills in her hand as if to threaten them. Tsuru was fine with filling his stomach when needed but pointless vomiting can lead to severe dehydration. Roy knew what they did and was completely fine with shutting up. ¡°Good. Now discuss something worthwhile.¡± Isbeth returned to Cerise who was still thinking about her skills. Judging by how [Hunter¡¯s Eye]¡¯s seal had been weakening for the past month, she¡¯d say it would be take about two months more. Which leaves ten months left until the man¡¯s words finally take hold. Her original goal was revenge but she had learned since then. Her target was that man¡¯s brother (?) and he apparently was going to start a great war between Gods, Demons, and Primordials, and somehow she had to stop it. The injected memories gave her only tiny pieces of information about her target, the main one being his appearance and voice followed by his strength. Other than that, she knew nothing. How frustrating. Should she just flee far to the East? But the man¡¯s grave tone indicated that this wouldn¡¯t be so easy. She knew she could trust Isbeth and Roy but what about that man? He didn¡¯t seem trustworthy. She had recovered enough Mana to warm herself to stable temperatures but her body was weak still. The only action she could do at the moment was speak. Even if she wouldn¡¯t tell the man everything, she would still take advantage of him for his magic. ¡°Mmmph?¡± Her voice was muffled by the bundles of woolen blankets on her. Isbeth removed the blankets around Cerise¡¯s mouth allowing her to speak without being drowned out. She spoke out again, her voice still quiet but discernable. ¡°Teach me?¡± She eyed the man¡¯s staff causing Isbeth and Roy to slap their foreheads realizing what Cerise wanted. ¡°You what?¡± Tsuru held his staff carefully, afraid that the girl would somehow shoot lasers out of her rich ruby eyes. ¡°Teach me magic.¡± Cerise tried again, unable to take ¡®No¡¯ as an answer. Tsuru caught on quickly but he shut her down afterwards. ¡°I don¡¯t know your attribute, even if I did you would have to learn on your own unless you have Water like me which I highly doubt by what you did earlier.¡± ¡°Teach me magic.¡± Cerise needed to become more powerful otherwise she wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. Before Tsuru could dispute her claim, Isbeth¡¯s voice came from in front of the shattered window. ¡°Uhh... I don¡¯t know about you but another crowd is forming outside. Roy?¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Roy left the room afterwards, leaving the discussion of magic to the three of them. He¡¯d rather destress by hitting some heads anyways. Or he could make some money by selling custom weaponry. A twinkle appeared in his eyes as he walked outside of the building with his arms outstretched in a majestic pose. However, the twinkle died down after a man who was apparently the chief of the village handed him a piece of paper with a plethora of numbers written on it. The man pointed towards the destroyed buildings and back at the temporary housing meant for visitors. He flashed a money symbol towards Roy. Roy gulped. ¡°Mind if I help repairing the buildings instead?¡± The chief of the village nodded at his reply. The big sturdy man seemed fit enough to carry the heavy wood and tools. Roy was dragged away from the building towards the construction area where he was forced to carry lumber and stone all day. He regretted not staying inside but he never liked debt. He had forgotten the destruction Cerise caused so he worked for the rest of the week, the red numbers decreasing as he tirelessly labored. He should get Isbeth to compensate him for this somehow. But at least he received a new skill as a result. 27. Magic, Spells, and Runes i Chapter 27: Magic, Spells, and Runes i The week passed really quickly. During that time Isbeth had perfected the Uris herb and Rockroot combination to not causing vomiting and Cerise had learned a few more spells as well. Though, [Shock Dispersion] had an opposite with [Reverse Cast], the resulting reverse spell actually hurt Cerise instead. After having her arm convulse around for a few seconds, Cerise sealed that combination away swearing never to use it again and moved onto the next with the worried face of Isbeth looming over her. Actually, hadn¡¯t she been spending too much focus on the book? Tsuru had told her what she¡¯d been doing wasn¡¯t true magic but she never listened. He couldn¡¯t teach her magic so his words held no weight for her. It wasn¡¯t only til now that she realized he was right. The spells didn¡¯t hold the freedom and flexibility of magic. Not only did the spells become more complex in preparation, the resulting effect didn¡¯t change according to the user¡¯s will. The only exception being that blood red cross she had used a week ago. Cerise stared at her left hand expecting for something to happen. She instructed her Mana to flow out of her body just as she had before but the Mana didn¡¯t converge this time. It just floated in the air, completely out of her control. She couldn¡¯t even feel the connection like she did when it was in her body. The red Mana she released was foreign to her. Wait, hadn¡¯t she used magic before? Unintentionally but she had used magic. The [Blood Flame] was her first successful use of magic but it was a deadly one. She tried channeling her Mana into her left hand but before it reached where she wanted, it was absorbed by the magic circle for [Heat] and casted the spell. Is the reason why Mages and Wizards are incompatible due to this? The circles draw in Mana from the user¡¯s body preventing the flow of Mana to go anywhere else. It was useful for lower classes but it didn¡¯t possess the freedom that magic does. The [Heat] was constant, reducing her own body temperature to emit a field of warmth in front of her hand. She retracted her Mana and the spell remained active for a second at best before faltering due to the lack of fuel. She wiped away the circle and channeled her Mana again and had succeeded in doing so. Her fingers were clad in the red mana as her [Rendering Claws] activated. No wonder she hadn¡¯t been successful in using it before. The damned circles leached and blocked her Mana flow! Cerise immediately wiped away the two other circles on her body, [Reduce Weight] and [Cool]. After the last smudge of the ink was removed, she felt revitalized. Her Mana no longer avoided those spots and started flowing in full complete form. Skill [Mana Circulation] has been obtained Skill [Reverse Cast] has merged with [Mana Circulation] A feat has been performed! Unique Skill [Dual Polarity ¨C Mana Diffusion] has been obtained Her Mana changed. The Mana spread across her body from her blood. She felt the Mana seep into every single cell strengthening them even further. However, she felt the strongest flow at the soles of her feet and at the top of her head. She felt faster and stronger. The Mana flowed throughout her, free and unbound within her body. ¡°So you finally realized huh?¡± Tsuru had been watching the girl the entire time. Well, in fact, he only started watching her after she wiped away the first magic circle. By the time Cerise had removed the last circle, he could feel her Mana which seemed weak at first actually flow with boundless energy. He had assumed that she wouldn¡¯t be suited to be a Mage due to the weak motion of her Mana but now¡­ It was simply untapped potential. Isbeth had told him that she was suited to be a Mage but he didn¡¯t believe her.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Cerise turned around to face Tsuru. She pulled down the collar masking her mouth and spoke words for the first time in a week. ¡°Teach me.¡± Her quiet voice was now filled with confidence and curiosity. Just how stronger would she become from now on? She was excited. Tsuru happily obliged. His nose elongating as he spoke. ¡°This mighty Mage will assist you with whatever you please so long as it is within my own sphere of influence. Firstly, we need to check if you can control your Mana properly.¡± He waved his hand in the air letting a stream of Mana trail behind forming a pleasant blue arc in the air. ¡°Try doing what I just did¡­¡± He paused mid-sentence after seeing what Cerise just accomplished. She had only moved a finger yet an arc of red Mana had formed from one hand to the other. She vibrated the string of Mana causing it to jump about between her hands. She gradually increased the energy to the point where the Mana collapsed on itself. Tsuru could have sworn that he saw a rainbow form just before the red Mana¡¯s dissipation. Tsuru coughed while covering his mouth as he tried to recover from his spellbound appearance. ¡°Now¡­ Let¡¯s move onto the next step. Elemental affinity. I don¡¯t really have any method to tell what yours is so you¡¯re on your own now.¡± Tsuru had planned to teach the girl how to manipulate her Mana for the next week or so since the average learning time is about a month. But how would he know that she would instantly be able to manipulate her Mana? To be fair, he had seen her cast spells earlier but he thought that she merely used a Catalyst to move her Mana. This fact slightly annoyed Tsuru as even he, the prodigy, took a full day to learn how to wield his Mana. Now he had to help her find her elemental affinity which is the hardest thing to find out. If he were to judge by the standards of his old world, he would say she was a Dark type judging by her demeanor but she could also be an Ice type. Who knows? He needed an excuse to get out of it so he made one. Cerise was rather upset though. She had finally gotten the man to teach her but he taught her nothing. She created more arcs, twisting the lines and strings around her in the manner she had previously. Her centripetal technique was fully displayed at that moment. The Mana threads entwined with one another, strengthening the binding power they possessed. Eventually, a thick red rope had coiled around Tsuru preventing him from escaping. The red Mana itself drawing from Tsuru¡¯s own Mana to strengthen it. After expending nearly 200 Mana, a lightheaded feeling struck Cerise causing her construct to collapse in place. The threads unraveled and dispersed in the air. A thick red veil covered the entire dimensions of that room. Skill [Null Affinity] has been obtained Cerise checked her status and saw that she only had 7 MP left. She had already run through about 196 MP in that short period of time? But when she looked at her status again, not only was [Reverse Cast] replaced by [Dual Polarity ¨C Mana Diffusion], there was an additional box at the top of the rest of the skills labeled ¡®[Null Affinity].¡¯ What was that? No seriously, what was that? Cerise stood dumbstruck at the words. According to what she knew, ¡®Null¡¯ should mean something along the lines of ¡®Zero¡¯ right? Then the reason why her Mana possessed the neutral alignment was because of her [Null] affinity? Then what about [Dual Polarity ¨C Mana Diffusion]? How did her affinity affect it? In fact, what did affinity do to her Mana? She lacked the answers but someone had them. Cerise crouched down to move her face closer to his and asked another question. ¡°What does Null mean?¡± ¡°¡­Null what?¡± ¡°Null Affinity.¡± ¡°You mean you have no affinity? That¡¯s because you still need to obtain the skill for it.¡± ¡°Null. Affinity.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Tsuru himself didn¡¯t know what Cerise was talking about. According to his master, Mana existed everywhere. Each person¡¯s Mana is unique and is tied to a certain element. He had heard of abnormal elements such as River, Mountain, and Sky affinities from legends but even if they were weird, they were still affinities. He never heard of a case of someone having no affinity at all, at least, he didn¡¯t learn of one. He traced back his memory to the countless books his master had at one point before disappearing, his mind wandered amongst the ancient pages and smell of dust only to be stopped by Cerise pulling on his robes. ¡°Magic.¡± She pointed back to the staff that Tsuru dropped on the ground clearly wanting to use it herself. ¡°No.¡± Tsuru grabbed his staff lifting it upwards at a height double that of Cerise¡¯s own. He didn¡¯t know the properties of Cerise¡¯s Mana. His staff was designed for a Water Mage and not anything else. He didn¡¯t know whether Cerise¡¯s Mana is compatible with all elements or incompatible with them all. The only thing he knew was that Cerise was an oddity, having Mana rivaling that of his Master¡¯s yet possessing the appearance of a young girl. He dismissed Isbeth¡¯s remarks about her being normal and decided to act more cautiously. Even if the girl meant no harm, Tsuru won¡¯t risk the integrity of his artifacts. Instead, he pulled out a small blue crystal that he had kept from his first apprentice days. It was the Mana Gauge, a tool created by the Tower to shine when in contact with Mana and used to measure a person¡¯s own MP. Granted, they can just say the maximum amount of MP they had but that isn¡¯t an entirely accurate depiction of their Mana since each person has a unique amount of MP. ¡®Never trust the status,¡¯ was what his master said and he took it to heart, ¡®though it might be useful, don¡¯t blindly put your faith in it.¡¯ He handed the Mana Gauge to Cerise and a bright blue light began to emanate the moment the tips of her fingers touched it. The light surpassed Tsuru¡¯s own brilliance and flooded the room in azure. 28. Magic, Spells, and Runes ii Chapter 28: Magic, Spells, and Runes ii The gauge let out an incredible light. One which caused Cerise to instinctively close her eyes and throw the stone away from her. The stone hit the wall with a loud thud before falling to the ground. It was still glowing but the light dimmed with time. ¡®That¡¯s a problem.¡¯ Cerise wasn¡¯t able to control her own Mana. She could bend it to her will and even mold it into different shapes but preventing it from flowing out? She simply lacked the control. Maybe it was due to her lack of training or maybe because of her [Dual Polarity ¨C Mana Diffusion]. Her Mana was flowing on the inside and outside of her. She could literally breathe foreign Mana and use it as her own. As such, the moment her Mana infused skin came into contact with the stone, it immediately absorbed the free flowing Mana and blinded everyone with azure light. Even now she could see the faint shimmer of red on top of her skin. It wasn¡¯t very obvious but a keen enough eye would spot it. She eyed the Mana Gauge still on the ground, the azure light it emitted had dimmed down to a mere luster. She shot arcs of red mana towards it which were absorbed by the stone, the azure light brightening up once more. ¡°Hey! Stop that!¡± She was stopped by Tsuru however as he didn¡¯t want to go blind. He grabbed the stone and stuffed it back into his bag. He took out a small iron ball instead and set it on the table. ¡°Now, lift this with your Mana for at least a minute. If it falls, you have to restart.¡± Cerise didn¡¯t understand the pointless tasks Tsuru made her do. She¡¯d rather just learn to do magic now than lift a ball. Tsuru saw this and grunted disapprovingly. ¡°You need to learn how to control your Mana. Just because you have a lot of it doesn¡¯t mean you are strong.¡± Tsuru demonstrated his control over his mana. Bluish mana escaped from his staff that adhered to the surface of the iron ball. It twirled around it lifting the ball up into the air. ¡°It looks simple but it¡¯s harder than it seems. You need to expel Mana from your body and maintain it while also creating the necessary lift to keep the ball afloat. Granted you won¡¯t know what lift is but imagine a bird flying. Keep the ball up is all you need to know. Now then, I¡¯ll go see if Roy is finished sorting out your¡­ debts.¡± He grabbed his staff and his bags before turning to Isbeth who was currently sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. Papers with complex diagrams and a small alchemy setup was placed on the desk. ¡°Isbeth, watch over the girl for now. I¡¯ll also you need a month¡¯s worth of those pills in exchange for my services. Preferably the ones that won¡¯t cause others to view me unfavorably.¡± ¡°Mm. You didn¡¯t do much but fine.¡± She had finalized the recipe for the Satiation Pills with the substitute Rockroot petals but she still needed to work out a few kinks in the production process. Namely, the toxic waste left behind due to the weak poisons in said petals. In the earlier designs, she ignorantly left the weak poison in which was the ¡®root¡¯ of the vomiting problem. Isbeth didn¡¯t know what to do with the waste and had it piled up on a metal sheet on the desk. The goopy purple substance would cause serious issues when it came in contact with the body but has no other threat than that. The finished Satiation Pill (v1.2.4) was a lighter brown than the murky brown it had been before. It had less potency than the original she developed with Shivertail roots but it was much cheaper to create in comparison.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She frowned as she looked back at the steps of production, her inner scientist prodding her to experiment more. Cerise continued to stare at the iron ball on the table. She shot some Mana at it but it just bounced right off. Confused, she looked closer at the ball but found nothing out of the ordinary. The sizzle of Cerise¡¯s Mana attracted Isbeth¡¯s attention to the table. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a mage¡¯s ball. A little toy used by western guilds to test applicants. Iron rejects Mana so you shouldn¡¯t throw Mana at it. Don¡¯t know what that guy wanted you to do with it other than make it float but you should be able to figure it out eventually.¡± Isbeth turned back to her work leaving Cerise to grumble in her own thoughts. Magic was something that children dreamed of and wished to have. From what her mother told her, fairies danced around and dragons flew about the land. A man with a shiny sword had even formed his own kingdom because of magic. So what was she doing wrong? She tried applying her centripetal technique once again but the red Mana merely skimmed off the iron surface. She looked at her hands and saw her sharp nails. Maybe she could pierce the ball. She released another Mana string once again, however, this time it was short and thin. She ran the thread over the ball but the Mana dispersed as it came in contact with the ball. She tried again but this time she weaved multiple strings together. This time the mana thread didn¡¯t disperse when it came in contact but it didn¡¯t do much either. She had increased the thickness of the thread but reduced the cutting power as a result. Frustrated, she threw the ball as she did with the Mana Gauge before but the moment it hit the wall with a thud, she realized something. The ball was solid. Pure iron. It wasn¡¯t tempered like the steel and pig iron she was used to. An absolute purity incapable of being formed by any metal. And even then, she had thrown it with enough force to dent the wall yet the ball was undamaged. Perfectly spherical and clean. She lifted the ball closer to her eyes. Thin grooves were travelling in a distinct pattern on the ball. Small enough to evade even her eyes if she wasn¡¯t looking carefully. She released a small trickle of Mana and sure enough, the Mana followed the line of the grooves spiraling outwards. The Mana simply dispersed across the surface of the sphere before dissipating due to the insufficient density. The iron ball itself didn¡¯t absorb any of the Mana. It instead dispersed it like her own skill¡­ Wait. Didn¡¯t Tsuru¡¯s Mana stick to the ball? She released her Mana to coat the ball. At first, a bit of Mana was lost thanks to the grooves but eventually she coated the ball with enough Mana for the grooves to be rendered ineffective. Though, just because they were ineffective didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t have some other impact. The Mana still followed the grooves but it didn¡¯t dissipate like before. Instead, her Mana moved without her control. Cerise tried to bring her Mana back under her control but it was too late. In a single second, the red sphere encasing the Iron ball fell apart leaving Cerise panting on the ground. ¡°See how difficult it is? I¡¯d rather mess with atomic bonds than that.¡± Isbeth had heard her panting and turned around to see the girl collapsed on the ground. The iron ball that had destroyed the hopes of many aspiring mages rolling on the ground next to her. The process was mentally taxing. Cerise could understand why this was set as the standard. It seemed that Tsuru really did know his stuff, even if he wasn¡¯t a good mentor. Cerise had a new goal, well, her old goal didn¡¯t change. She still needed to find that man¡¯s brother but now she could see physical representation of a pathway forward. The book was poking out of Isbeth¡¯s bag but Cerise didn¡¯t need that anymore. If she could manage to lift the ball for a minute, she could probably be taught more. Excited and without further ado, she tried to coat the iron ball once again but before she could do so, a voice rang in her head and she keeled over onto the floorboards. Her mana had turned from a scarlet red to a dark crimson in a matter of moments. She ceased the flow but the damage was already done. Warning! MP and SP have fallen to critical levels [Blood Bound] has activated. HP will be used as a substitute Warning! HP has fallen to critical levels [Twisted Fate] has activated. ¡®Must I say this again? Fine¡­ The untold truth is wisdom.¡¯ She had run out of both Mana and SP judging by the series of messages in her head, and she had hurt herself in her haste. Stupid. But the echoing voice spoke to her again. And it had a sassy tone this time? She couldn¡¯t move her body so she just lied there waiting for her SP to recover. Isbeth¡¯s worried face shadowed over hers once again but she couldn¡¯t do anything. All she can do is wait. 29I. The Helios Capital, Celeste i Chapter 29: The Helios Capital, Celeste i ¡°So we''re leaving now?¡± Irelithe had accompanied Xuan for a month now and her opinion of him grew with each passing day. What did he call it again? Aura? Either way, he was strong. Every time they were stopped by a group of bandits, thieves, or even the local wildlife, Xuan just stood there¡­ menacingly. All he did was make a few hand gestures and the opposition simply fell apart. It was completely unlike the typical battles that Irelithe had seen over the years. Granted, she didn¡¯t leave her master¡¯s place a whole lot but she spied on plenty of fights during her flights. Rather than a contest of speed, strength, and magic, it was just a complete one sided domination. Xuan didn¡¯t kill the people that got in his way. No, he did something even worse. He let go the ones that were worthless to him and took the ones with high bounties. By the time we arrived at any of the towns scattered across the region, we stopped by the local Bounty Hunter Association and turned in the men for several silvers a piece. Xuan took the heavy bag filled to the brim with silver pieces and gave some of them to her. He put the bag of silvers into a black metal ring on his left hand where it shrunk into it like a fluid. He even passed her a small eye patch to wear since he noticed everyone staring at her where ever she went. Her left eye had lost its light but the shimmering emerald iris still remained, simply staring at whatever was in front of her instead of being in sync with her right eye. This caused a rather terrifying effect as one eye gazed into your soul while the other at your body. Once she donned the eyepatch, she received a few quizzical glances but nothing more than that. Then the two continued on like this for the rest of the month until they arrived at the foothills surrounding the Helios Capital. The city was gigantic, they couldn¡¯t see much but from what Irelithe saw, she knew it would be a wealthy place. First off, the majority of the city was hidden behind tall white walls. There were gates every now and then but they were sparse yet not too rare. Unobscured by the tall walls were soaring spires of the cathedrals and a large blue tower surrounded by a spherical shield of mana. It was one of the branches of the Tower, the organization that her master belonged to and the dream of any aspiring mages and wizards. Even Irelithe wanted to join their ranks but she hadn¡¯t actually ranked up her [Fire Affinity] yet. She can¡¯t even reveal the fact that she has [Mana Comprehension] either since Xuan told her not to and for good reason. It was an epic grade skill that very few actually possess. She had asked Xuan why she was able to get it so easily but he spoke to her with a grave tone. ¡®What I did would be highly lethal for anyone but you. Not just anyone is capable of surviving after having their spirit literally separated from their body for more than an hour.¡¯ His words at that time held a mixed meaning to Irelithe. How was she an exception? And if he knew it was lethal then why didn¡¯t he warn her? She grew slightly irritated at this but there wasn¡¯t much she could do but follow him. The foothills surrounding the city was relatively safe if you don¡¯t count the occasional horned rabbit. Even at this time, Irelithe could see wagons moving in and out of the city for commerce. They had arrived at the western city gates only to find an extremely long line. Xuan should be able to pass with his status but contrary to Irelithe¡¯s expectations, they got in the long winding line squashed between wagons and travelers. Most of them were only here for a little bit, the so called Adventurers that Irelithe usually portrayed herself to be. Others were simple villagers hoping for a rich city life and even the occasional refugee from the devastated Viscor. There were no merchants as they went through a separate gate for large scale inspections. It only took half an hour before Xuan and Irelithe were at the front of the line, coming face to face with a disgruntled looking man clad in white armor. ¡°Over here.¡± A small voice came from his side where they could spot a small Halfling sitting in an equally small table. The Halfling was half of Irelithe¡¯s own height and wore round rimmed glasses. His hands were holding onto a quill and he started scribbling on a sheet of parchment. When he got to one of the empty fields, he looked up at Xuan and asked him some questions. ¡°Reason for visiting?¡± ¡°Passing through.¡± ¡°Duration of stay?¡± ¡°A week give or take.¡± ¡°Identity?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Monk of the Qiyan School.¡± ¡°Companion?¡± ¡°A refugee I picked up from Viscor.¡± ¡°Hey¡­¡± Xuan casually shushed Irelithe with a finger before proceeding to speak into her mind. ¡®Follow the story. I¡¯d rather not mention that you were chased by an elemental and raise questions about my own strength which would lead to more trouble than its worth.¡¯ And thus, Irelithe decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the procedures. Ten minutes later, the man finished compiling their information all the way back to their grandfathers and their occupations. ¡°Alright. You can stay for a week, if you wish to stay further please go to the main office and get an extended bill passed. Just take care not to commit any crimes as the death penalty is legal here. Have a good day. Next!¡± The man in white armor let them pass through the gate, it was surprisingly easy despite having to stand for several hours. They had arrived during the morning but now it was nearly noon. She glanced back at the people sitting comfortably in their carriages in envy, her green eyes flashing momentarily. ¡°Come on. We¡¯re heading to the Wizard¡¯s Tower.¡± Xuan urged her to stay focused and so she did. She didn¡¯t know his reason for being in a hurry but she had learned not to ask too many questions over the course of the past month. The streets were crowded with people going about their business. The foot traffic even exceeding the liveliness of Virandi¡¯s city. The looming Wizard¡¯s Tower was just ahead but they were stopped when they heard a loud yell down the street. ¡°That¡¯s her!¡± A man in travel worn clothing was currently running at Irelithe with his right fist clenched behind him ready to strike. The man was chased by what seemed to be his wife and a couple guards but they couldn¡¯t keep up. The man thrusted his fist forwards at Irelithe¡¯s face but Xuan stopped him in his tracks with his own fist. The insurmountable wall that is Xuan prevented the man from budging even a meter from his current position, his fist tightly held by Xuan¡¯s. If the target of the man¡¯s assault wasn¡¯t Irelithe, then she might have imagined a few hearts and a rosy atmosphere at the moment. ¡°Why are you raising your hand at my companion?¡± Xuan asked the man in front of him. He loosened his grip causing the man to stumble back a few steps at the unexpected release. He rubbed his sore fist as he glared at Irelithe. ¡°She was the one who murdered my son a month ago. Never thought I¡¯d see those green eyes here again.¡± The man raised his voice once more, yelling out to the guards behind him and to the spectators around them. ¡°Look! What kind of justice is this? You won¡¯t help out a few starved refugees from the war but you harbor a murderer like her!?¡± He thrust a finger towards Irelithe who was as astounded as she appeared. Her blank face drew in more attention and murmurs began to spread amongst the crowd. The man continued spouting insults and ramblings until he was taken away by the guards. His wife seemed angry about him causing a scene and scolded him while accompanying the guards to testify in his defense. One of the guards left the part and approached Irelithe, or rather, Xuan. The guard in question had bronze gilded armor in comparison to the others and had a small golden lion badge on the right side of his breastplate. Apparently this was one of the ¡°Sorry about that. Some of the refugees tend to be a bit crazy. For now I¡¯d say he would receive a small fine and a short detainment but we could either increase the punishments if you wish to testify. That is, if your concerns are valid. Either way, before we can fully judge the man, we¡¯d have to confirm if your companion has committed any crimes within the past few months.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± The man brought out a grey sphere the size of a child¡¯s head. He held it on top of his gauntleted hand and brought it forward towards Irelithe. ¡°Place your hand on this and state what you¡¯ve done during the past month. The orb will detect if you intentionally leave anything out or falsify any information. Begin.¡± Irelithe placed her palm onto the orb and began recounting the events starting from her travels towards Viscor but was interrupted by a red light flashing from the orb. The guard looked intently into Irelithe¡¯s right eye to see if she was hiding anything important but judging from her puzzled expression it wasn¡¯t anything incriminating. Not yet anyways. ¡°What were you doing before going to Viscor? And how long ago was it?¡± ¡°Ehm. I reported a sighting of a Demon in the Balros Forests. A small naked girl with unkempt black hair and glowing red eyes. She was covered in blood and her claws took my left eye before fleeing.¡± She lifted the eyepatch to reveal the scarred surface of her skin and the lifeless eyes behind. She placed the eyepatch back into its proper place with a nod from the guard and continued recounting her tale. When she reached the part with the Balros Army¡¯s assault she was halted by the guard. ¡°I see. Those damned fools. Should have known that Balros have started making their move again. Did you see any flags there?¡± ¡°A green one with a tree on it, a red one with a horse, and a yellow one with wheat.¡± Xuan replied calmly to the guard who was now fumbling with this sword. ¡°I see. The man earlier said you had razed their entire village a week after the incident. You have an alibi for that?¡± Xuan moved Irelithe¡¯s hand away from the orb and set his own in her place. ¡°Yes, we were heading to Helios from then on after escaping a bit of trouble. We have been doing so for the entirety of last month.¡± Irelithe knew that Xuan was purposefully hiding information but the orb didn¡¯t light up when he mentioned ¡®incident.¡¯ The guard took back the orb and called over a scribe to his side. ¡°This scribe here has recorded the entirety of our friendly interrogation. This document will work just as well as a proper testimony in person. You two will probably be found innocent but do you wish to harshen the perpetrator¡¯s punishment?¡± The guard asked Irelithe this time, sure that she was innocent and she actually was. Irelithe didn¡¯t know what lookalike was going around causing issues but it wasn¡¯t her problem. She didn¡¯t want the man to suffer so she asked that they could waver his sentence. The guard looked confused for a moment before laughing and walking away. Saying things such as the naivety of youth being refreshing. The scribe followed suite leaving Xuan and Irelithe alone in the middle of the street. It almost seemed like nothing had happened since the crowd started flowing once again. Xuan looked up and saw that the sun had nearly reached its apex. ¡°Damn.¡± He picked up Irelithe in a princess carry and started dashing down the streets. The rare screams of an elf could be heard for half an hour that day.