Ren woke up with the remnants of a pounding migraine, it took a long time for his vision to clear but when it did, Ren noticed that he was laying on the ground next to the sleeping beauty, Olivia.
He did his best to ignore the headache and slowly sat up, taking a look at the bleak surroundings, they had ended up in a vast and barren wasteland. The terrain was rough and the ground was dry, not containing a single plant or animal, in the distance he could make out a wide cliff that spread across the horizon, stretching through his field of view.
From what he had heard, the kingdoms were covered in massive spatial array's that prevented you from crossing them with spatial magic, this meant that they were probably near the Umbrian border.
Ren shielded his eyes from the harsh sun beating down on him, allowing him to find Roxy, who was using a nearby boulder as a seat with a lit tobacco pipe in her hand.
"It's about time one of you dead-weights woke up, I was getting lonely."
Roxy said with a bored expression, not looking the least bit lonely. Ren walked up to her slowly, his body was stiff and he felt like throwing up.
"What was that spell?"
Ren asked weakly, whatever Roxy did was different to the usual blink spell she used, evidenced by the suffering his body went through.
"Oh that. It's the warp spell but it's no use explaining that to you, your tiny brain couldn't handle it."
She said while puffing on her pipe. Ren sighed, he should have expected such a response. His stomach began to growl and he felt sharp pangs of hunger, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since the morning.
"When will Miss Olivia wake up."
Ren asked while rubbing his stomach. Olivia was their cook and with her being out cold, there was no food to sate his hunger.
"How the fuck should I know… forget about your damn stomach you freeloader. Just take a look over there."
Roxy growled, she pointed into the distance. Ren followed her finger, laying eyes on nothing, they were in a barren wasteland after all. Ren gave his master a confused look.
"The fucking cliffs you moron."
Roxy yelled, causing Ren to once again look and see the wide cliffs on the horizon, he had noticed them when he first looked around but he didn't see anything remarkable about them.
"It's actually the walls of a crater. A couple thousand years ago, a giant rock fell from the sky, killing around a third of the population on this continent. The dust kicked up in the impact was sent up into the sky causing a harsh year long winter that killed of more."
Ren had heard this story before it was a well-known folk tale that circulated the kingdom, Ren didn't think there was much to it but since his master had brought it up there must be a reason. Still, he was sceptical of such an outrageous tale.
"How could a rock that big just randomly fall from the sky."
Ren asked, sharing his doubts with Roxy's story.
"Just shut up and listen brat. As I was saying… When the winter ended and the snow melted, the people of Axtel realised that the explosion had dug up rich fertile lands, that brought bountiful harvests. It became the backbone supporting humanity through a time of struggle, soon giving rise to a vast kingdom, the very one we're now leaving."
This time Ren listened patiently, letting Roxy finish. He had no idea why Roxy was telling him all this but it felt like she was about to let him know.
"This world is a shit place and the shit things happen from time to time. The people who live in it are the shittiest of all… but sometimes the prettiest of flowers grow from the biggest piles of shit."
Roxy said while glancing at Olivia, who was starting to show signs of waking up. Ren felt that there was a deeper meaning hidden behind all the cursing, something that was relevant to his situation but he had no idea what she meant.
"Wouldn't a flower that grew from shit, still stink of shit."
Ren said, feeling perplexed by his master's wisdom, no matter how beautiful the flower was, he wouldn't dirty his hands just to pluck it. Roxy creased her brows and Ren saw that she was getting irritated. He immediately tried to placate her.
"I will take your profound words to heart master."
Ren spoke quickly and Roxy sighed, it was just her luck to get such a bone headed disciple, she took one last glance at Olivia, who had just opened her eyes and was staring around in confusion. It seemed like she would have to try something more extreme.
***
"What a bunch of weaklings"
Roxy muttered under her breath, within her line of sight was Olivia, who had dropped to all fours and trying her best not to throw up in front of her audience.
Roxy walked over to Olivia and tapped her forehead. Olivia felt all the nauseating dizziness vanish and her pained expression returned to its usual cheerful self.
"We still have to warp to the Ventian border, you better get used to it because this is the last time i'm gonna waste my energy healing you."
Roxy spoke with an annoyed expression, filling Olivia with dread.
"More of that, my body will give up long before that, it's not possible, it's impossible… unless."
Half way through her rebuttal her eyes lit up and she sheepishly glanced over at Ren who was standing next to her. Ren felt shivers run down his spine as Olivia's gaze locked on to him, making Ren slowly back away.
"Where are you going Ren, I think it would be best to stay here."
Olivia said sweetly with a tender expression that was only betrayed by her eyes hungrily staring at the top of his head. Ren continued his retreat, feeling high levels of danger from the girl in front of him.
"I disagree Miss Olivia, I strongly disagree."
Unlike Olivia, Ren hadn't received Roxy's treatment and was still feeling under the weather, with the burden of the Suffer-Ring to boot, there was no escape. Olivia leapt toward Ren like a starved blood wolf, Ren could only give up and accept his fate.
Roxy who was too lazy to interfere, materialised an expensive-looking bottle of whisky into thin air. She opened the bottle, taking in the fragrance before chugging the contents, enjoying the deep rich flavour and letting the sensations on her tongue drown out Ren's cries for help in the background.
Around five minutes later Roxy had just finished her drink and was inspecting the aftermath. Ren was sitting on the ground, staring at the sky with a blank expression, his hair was now a mess and he looked like he had just been through a war.
Olivia on the other hand, was over the moon, there was an award-winning smile on her face as she hummed merrily, looking incredibly satisfied.
***
After a few hours of walking, with night fast approaching, the group finally reached the Umbrian border as shown by the massive, sloping cliffs in front of them.
Ren was taken aback by the sheer scale of the terrain. The cliffs reached into the skies and stretched as far as the eye could see, if what Roxy had said was true and this was a crater caused by a falling rock, then just how massive would that rock have been in the first place.
"We'll make camp here. Brat, you would be wise to get some rest, tomorrow you're scaling that cliff alone. Me and the girl will wait for you at the top."
Roxy didn't wait for Ren's reply and began setting up the campsite, she took out all of Olivia's things. Ren on the other hand was shocked.
"Me… climb that."
He said in disbelief but his words fell on deaf ears, Roxy was throwing some bedding on the ground and Olivia had already made a start on supper. Although Ren still had a lot to say about Roxy's request, he was too hungry to start complaining.
As they were putting the finishing touches on the campsite, Roxy's ears perked up like she heard something and briefly glanced at Olivia.
"This could be interesting."
Roxy mumbled under her breath. Olivia couldn't quite catch what she was saying but noticed Roxy staring at her.
"What did you say?"
Olivia asked curiously.
"I'm taking a piss, I'll be back in a bit"
After saying this, Roxy simply vanished amidst a purple flash of light, leaving Olivia and Ren by their lonesome. Olivia had already gotten used to Roxy's vulgarity by now and chose to ignore it. She had given up on trying to stop her from using colourful language and could only hope that Ren didn't turn out the same way.
Time passed in silence, Olivia knew that Ren didn't like to make small talk, so instead continued preparing dinner. Ren used the time to unsheathe Nightfall and take out a small sharpening stone that he used to maintain the blade. Although Nightfall never seemed to grow dull, Roxy had told him that it was good practice to respect his weapon, especially since it was a gift from her.
Ren started to run the sharpening stone across Nightfall's blade but something caused his ears to perk up and he immediately looked off into the distance.
"What's wrong."
Olivia asked, noticing that Ren's face had become tense and his eyes had narrowed. He suddenly stood up and sheathed Nightfall, keeping a tight grip on its handle.
"I heard footsteps, sounds like multiple people."
Olivia was surprised by Ren's answer, from what she knew, there shouldn't be any others in such a remote area.
"That's weird people don't generally come to this area because of the bandi-"
Olivia's face paled and she stopped mid-sentence, quickly coming to the realisation that the only people out here were bandits and outlaws that had been exiled from the kingdom. There was already a relaxed law on murder, so to be thrown out of the kingdom, you would have to be a real piece of work.
She hanged on to the belief that those footsteps where from a group of travellers like them but alas, her hopes were shattered.
A group of six tall and burly men approached the campsite, armed heavily with an assortment of axes, swords and spears, their faces grimy and their clothes tattered.
The man at the front of the group stood a whole head taller than the rest, he wore a long brown cloak and a black fedora and carried himself with a confidence that only someone who called the shots would possess.
When he saw Ren and Olivia, his eyes lit up with a savage glint and he turned to his men, speaking with a rough, deep voice.
"A runt and a beauty huh, looks like easy pickings. Kill the runt and leave the girl alive, she's a stunner. I'm sure we'll get a nice reward from the boss if we hand her over."
When the rest of the bandits hear him, cheers broke out, with most of their gazes falling on Olivia's body. Ren's eyes turned cold, he was about to step forward but Olivia beat him to it, getting down on her knees without hesitation.
"Wait, leave Ren out of this, he's just a kid. Just take me I… I won't resist."
Olivia pleaded desperately, her voice was shaky but there wasn't a trace of doubt in her words. Seeing this, the bandits started to laugh but the man in front held up his hand, making them quieten down.
"How brave of you lass, I may not be a good person but killing kids puts a bad taste in my mouth. That said, here in outskirts it's different, the wild is an unforgiving place, killing him now is kindness."
Olivia's face filled with dread and she looked at Ren with wet eyes. The leader started to walk closer, he crouched down and took a good look at Olivia's face.
"You know on closer look you really are pretty, just my type. hmm… I don't mind leaving the runt alive with some food and water… if you help comfort me and my men."
This earned the rowdy cheers of the bandits behind him. Olivia felt disgusted, she looked at the man in front of her whose eyes were filled with lust and bit her lip.
"Do what you want."
She said hatefully, causing the bandits cheers to grow louder. Ren's gaze turned even colder, he had seen enough. Since the start of there encounter Ren had been patiently watching the bandits, using Olivia to stall them, while he evaluated their strength
He had wanted to wait until Olivia had distracted them before making his move but when she had turned to him with tears in her eyes, it made Ren feel a uncomfortable sensation grow within him, right now, that feeling was so unbearable that he could no longer take it
"That won't be necessary. It will take but a moment to deal with these trashes."
Ren walked forward with heavy steps his eyes began glow a deep crimson as his trait activated, a light thud could be heard as the Suffer-Ring dropped on to the ground.
When the bandits heard what Ren had to say they laughed like they had heard the funniest story ever. Ren's face remained unchanged in front of the jeers and laughter and he took a step forward. When Olivia saw what he was doing, her eyes widened and she grabbed his arm, desperately trying to pull him back.
"Wait… please Ren, just forget about me and run"
She pleaded with him in desperation. Ren slowly glanced back at her, his glowing eyes were filled with a coldness that made Olivia freeze up. Ren shoved her away, making Olivia tumble to the ground and he continued walking forwards, without sparing her a second look.
"What can a runt that still reeks of his mother's milk do, huh."
One of the bandits shouted, the leader was laughing so hard that he failed to see Ren grip his blade. Someone at the back of the group finally realised that Ren was armed, they shouted trying to warn the leader but it was drowned out by the laughter of the rest.
Ren took a deep breath and leapt towards the leader with his head down and his sword drawn. Demonstrating his advancements in the lightning stance, he flickered out of view, only to reappear behind the leader, with Nightfall in hand, gleaming dangerously with a malicious light.
All the laughter stopped abruptly, seemingly stuck in the throats of the bandits. An eerie silence followed as the bandits looked on in shock, their eyes following a black fedora wearing head that was falling to the ground, breaking the silence with a loud thud once it hit the floor. A fountain of blood erupted from behind Ren, originating from the headless torso that was still standing, serving as a fear inspiring backdrop that matched beautifully with Ren's glowing irises.
Without the Suffer-Ring, Ren's body felt lighter and more responsive, it was a massive difference for him, having never removed the ring since he started wearing it but Ren wasn't in the right state of mind to realise this.
Olivia was too shocked to even process what had happened but the bandits recovered quickly, they had gone through a fair amount of bloodshed and it would take more than this to faze them, they readied their weapons and charged towards Ren, they were fast… but not fast enough.
Ren remained fearless. With his trait active, following the bandit's movements was far too easy and along with the darkness of night reaching its peak, his shadow magic was at its strongest.
Ren wrapped hands in writhing shadows and placed his palms into the ground. The inky black haze surrounding his hands streamed into the dirt, giving rise to tendrils of shadows that jumped towards the feet of the bandits that were closest.
THUD.
Two of the men that were leading the charge, fell flat on their faces. The other bandits couldn't see the shadows and assumed that the others had just tripped, they quickly stopped to help the others up, forcing them to all group up in a small area.
Just as they reached out their hands towards those that had fallen the shadow tendril detonated, spreading darkness and dirt everywhere, hindering their sight and prompting cries of panic and confusion.
"Ignis Lorem"
Ren shouted, the venom in his voice was clear for all to hear. A bright orange streak of fire shot in to the darkness. Robbed of their sight, the bandits who were unlucky enough to be targeted were instantly enveloped in flames, blood curdling screams rang out as more firebolts were fired towards them, the bandits dropped to the ground and rolled around trying to extinguish the fire but the spells continued to rain down on them endlessly.
Ren who was firing blindly into the darkness, didn't relent for even a second, he continued to cast smaller firebolts that were less demanding on his aether. Eventually, the screams stopped and Ren ceased fire, dispersing the shadows, letting him lay eyes on the carnage he had caused.
There were four heavily burnt corpses on the ground a few meters in front of Ren, their charred faces were undistinguishable from each other. Blood slowly seeped through the cracks in their burnt skin and flowed into the scorched earth below them.
Olivia, who had finally regained her wits immeadiately started to retch by virtue of the gory scene in front of her, the sight turned out to be too much for her and she started to throw up. Ren ignored her, staring at the corpses with a perplexed expression, there should have been five bodies but Ren could only count four, not including the headless one behind him.
He meticulously scanned the scene of the slaughter, eventually noticing a small movement in the corner of his eye. He finally located the fifth bandit, who was hiding under one of the corpses. He had used his comrade as a human shield to survive Ren's attacks.
Finding his target, Ren placed his palms together and a dim orange glow began to radiate from his hands. The bandit realised he had been discovered and quickly sprung to his feet, only to kneel down much like Olivia had done before.
"Please spare me great breaker… I was forced to do this… it's the only way I could provide for my family."
The bandit pleaded but Ren remained unfazed, his gaze remained frigid as the orange light in his hands continued to glow brighter.
"Wait, don't kill him, that's enough "
Olivia had stopped being sick and when she saw what Ren was about to do, she ran over to his side while yelling at him. She couldn't bear the thought of Ren taking any more lives, it made her stomach turn worse than the corpses on the ground.
Ren didn't heed Olivia's words, he had promised his master not to make any mistakes when he had fought the Blood Wolf. If Ren spared the bandit, he could run off and bring reinforcements and who knew how strong they would be.
Ren had already made up his mind, he finished his chant and sent a full powered firebolt that hurtled towards the bandit not giving him a chance to react, he was instantly enveloped in flames and screams of agony once again resounded throughout the campsite.
Olivia's face paled the blood curdling screams where too much for her. Ren didn't wait for the background noise to end before turning to Olivia.
"It would be best if you didn't consider people like that human, they are beasts, no different from the animals you kill, cook and eat. All I did was roast them like dinner, a far better death than they deserved."
Ren repeated what he had been told repeatedly back in the Linheart mansion. This was the nail in the coffin for Olivia. Her eyes rolled back and she fainted, falling onto the ground below.
"Brat, your far too green to know what it takes to be human, they may have been shit stains driven by greed and lust but that sounds pretty human to me."
While Ren's words still lingered, Roxy made her entrance, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, she looked over the bloody scene and sighed.
"Was this another test master."
Ren wasn't surprised by Roxy's sudden appearance, the timing of when she left and the bandits attack was too convenient, it was clear this was some sort of scheme.
"It may have been a test, but it wasn't for you, it was for the girl and in case you didn't notice brat, you were the examiner."
Roxy replied but what she had said confused Ren a great deal, Roxy shook her head when she saw the confusion on Ren's face and reluctantly set him straight.
"I want you to think long and hard about what that girl did just now, what it means to you and what you should do now."
Ren felt weird, thinking back on Olivia's selfless actions made him feel warm inside, a feeling he used to get only from his sister. Unlike Emily, Olivia clearly demonstrated that she would lay down her life for his sake and to say he felt nothing would be the biggest lie ever.
Saying that he didn't like Olivia was simply not true, she may have been annoying at times but deep down he always knew that she was a good person. Ren had slowly grown fond of her chipper and bright personality as well as her kindness.
Ren continued to think in silence and Roxy didn't interrupt him. Sometime later, he glanced down at Olivia and spoke softly.
"If this was a test… She passed with flying colours."