lüziel was shaking his head while stealing the idea of dhstell to take a salad. marth shortly followed thinking that this could taste too bad no matter what. they didn't even need to ask when the firhtuhg started as a little after they finished eating everyone was going towards the same goal. as they followed they ended up in front of an arena not like the one they where before. it was way smaller and only had 1 floor of seats but it also looked way more special. before they could enter where they caught by dhstell who left earlier than them.
„you should just go in there taking any seat. you're seating neighbors could become quite nasty"
„and where else should we go it's not like there would be special seat would there now."
„don't worry i have the perfect spot for us"
while saying that did dhstell look quite devious making lüziel quite uncertain about this. when they went in they took not the path everyone else was taking but instead walked through a door leading to the only part of the seats that was separated.
„you sure should be here. everyone is looking at us and they don't seem happy."
„thats just because where at the empresses seats"
„then we should definitely not be here"
lüziel was grabbed by dhstell before he could go back through the door they came
„this is perfect, just look at those entitled idiots not daring to say something because i have these"
dhstell was pointing at her tails
„but this is still disrespectful to do"
„and why should you care, it's not like this is your world"
„but i would like to be able to get back here without getting attacked"
„do you like hate your own race or why are you so, so… you"
„i take that as a compliment"
when arhkuhv and kamaron entered the arena they both wore the same clothing being wide white pants with words written on them on the sides and a tight red mantle like top that only covered halve the arms with its sleeves. on arhkuhv it looked normal but for kamaron it was a different story as there was a cut out around his butt making it look quite ridiculous seeing hi from behind.
„well i guess it makes sense. you don't really think about it when you can't see that part of the close covered by a tail but somewhere has to be an opening"
dhstell leaned over the railing screaming down
„nice ass kamaron"
he had only 2 words as reply
„fuck you"
but it was not only dhstell who made fun over kamarons looks as there was a lot of chuckling out off the viewer seats. but all of that instantly vanished when arhkuhv spoke up
„this firhtuhg will be fought between arhkuhv and kamaron. in the case that arhkuhv wins will kamaron swear loyalty towards her or the coming 10 years and support her to a reasonable degree. in the case that kamaron wins will he be able to act completely released of laws in riasehc territories. will these therms be accepted by the challenger kamaron?"
„yes, i accept all therms"
„i arhkuhv will also accept. with that the fight will be started now"
as soon as arhkuhv finished did kamron go in a battle stance on all 4 with his 4 tails appearing shining in bright white light. to this reacted his clothing with the letters written on it also giving of a white light. this had everyone surprised more than just a little.
„how is that possible, he is just supposed to be a human?"
„this has to be an illusion skill! there is no other way!"
marth looked around at the surprised faces everywhere
„looking at these reaction you did not lie that this is not normal. if anyone than at least the highest state of authorities should know if something like that exist but these reactions are clear as day"
„just wait till they see how well he will be doing in this fight"
arhkuhv looked at kamarons stance
„quite the aggressive and confident position you take there, i can see your entire back. but what else could you expect from someone of your standing"
arhkuhv now also took her stance but kept standing on 2 feet while for her also 4 extra tails appeared with all 11 also now shining in a bright white. kamaron was the first to act as a burst came particles flung out of his tails covering the area but this was not how marth and lüziel saw it as they just saw him standing there while their surrounding freaked out.
„is something happening i see nothing but everyone goes completely mental"
dhstell turned to lüziel and thought shortly before answering
„makes sense, humans can't see this high of a wave length so to you it's at best just a mirage. i think you should see this so le'me think how to fix this. the best way is probably this."
she placed herself between the two and covered their entire bodies with her tails. for both it felt like an coldness pricing through their bodies but slowly they saw something completely different to what there was before. not only where they fight was but the entire world had changed colors slightly.
„so you choose to spread your power to combat someone who you can't win against in a fight of raw strength but do your really think this could harm me"
around arhkuhv appeared a barrier rapidly expanding. when it reached the particles they all had something like electric impulses sent between the making a net but those connections quickly broke. kamaron had to jump far aside to get out of the way of the approaching wall making a spike appear in front of him on which the part of the wall that barely could reach him broke. he quickly responded to that by spinning around fast before throwing the spike at arhkuhv. she blocked it of with a small but precise shield while running at him and stomping on the ground letting a spike shoot out of the ground at kamaron. he did not waist any time barely dodging it while covering it it something like glitter. arhkuhv instantly realized what he was doing releasing the spike before making a wall that trapped kamaron between wall of the arena to one side arhkuhv before him and this wall next to him shaping a cone leaving no exit.
„this looks so insane! how is this fair that rakte have this!"
marth was looking halve exited halve terrified at what happened
„the real question would be how it shapes up to other attacks. anything can look strong if only compared to equally strong things"
dhstell was chuckling a bit
„it's not unbeatable but live is unfair., we simply have one of the best body parts i all of existence. on equal level you can easily break through this with experience but it is still as if you would move through jelly"
„jelly? this looks to me more deadly than jelly"
„it's an accumulation of particles in the air forming a solid through forces controlled by the tail which under stress will break leaving behind a thick mass from all the particles left behind. of cause on their level it's more like a zrohd wall hitting you."
marth didn't even bother to ask what zrohd was as he could assume that it was meant as something really hard
„so it is broken"
„in our world thats just what you have to expect so not really"
kamaron gaze swept from left to right before he decided to run straight forward at arhkuhv. she stopped him by finishing of his prison before closing in all walls. a huge explosion and dust cloud hid if it worked but the audience seemed to be convinced that the fight was over cheering for the empress and booing the human. arhkuhv tried to see what was going on in the dust could while taking a few steps back just to out of sheer luck dodge a chain of particles exploding with electricity shooting past her followed by a blood covered arrow flying directly behind it but moved over slightly to the right to be aimed at her heart. she was able to stop it before it pierced her but it was followed by a second at hear head.
„enough! this foolery stoops now"
she sashed the second one to the ground with her hand now standing in the exact same position kamaron started the fight in. her tails started to furiously move around and the area filled with a mist. this pressed the dust away revealing kamaron who had the backside of his arms and ripped open as if someone cut away his skin cleanly with a knife. the mist made it hard for him to move so he had to counter by making a mist of his own that was barely large enough to cover him but that was already the end of the fight.the first attack of arhkuhv was spikes shooting through kamarons mist like he was in an iron maiden he himself made. the second was when he got pressed to the ground in his state of needing all his power to not get hit with the mist from above thickening immensely. having no other option left he released his shield getting pierced by multiple spiked that appeared so close to his skin that evading was impossible. they didn't pierce deep but the damage amassed quickly. in a final attack he created a whirlwind of electricity that then used the mist around him to carry over to arhkuhv who with her final act shut this last act of resistance by concentrating the entire mist around kamaron.
the fight was over the winner arhkuhv!
„what mad man would drop his only guard in that situation. no one would have taken this as good as you as no one would dare do the correct choice to take the damage instead of giving up all hope to win"
arhkuhv walked over to kamaron who was lying on the ground
„i won!"
„what?"
„i made you go all out. you could have won at some point probably but i pushed you enough to make you show what you really had to offer"
arhkuhv sat down next to him laughing while tending to his wounds
„in that case i guess i have lost. in the end was this just a bit playing around. how long could i survive in a real fight against you. without any skills and outclassed by a 1000 times you still could keep up through raw strength and wits"
a group of medics came to look after arhkuhv but she just shug them of
„you should rather care about the person who is actually hurt or do you not take pride in your mastery. who would i be if i can't even take a few scratches"
„but empress these are more serious"
„do i need to repeat myself!"
they turned to kamaron and looked after his wounds
„wen't a bit far there didn't you. that was enough power to kill anyone who watch this with the exception of me"
dhstell was walking up to them after she jumped down from the viewer ranks
„and you couldn't bare to see your husband hurt having to run over here right when the fight ended"
the only response dhstell had was to hiss at arhkuhv. marth and lüziel who took the stairs down finally reached the arena entrance.
„are you all right?"
„that was amazing!"
„the dichotomy of ke. one cares for the well being while the others praises the efforts."
arhkuhv turned towards them
„do not frighten he will be healed within a few hours"
before they could continuo their talk someone came running through the entrance
„empress you have to come. the human girl she is… you have to see for yourself!"
„calm down. what is the problem?"
„i don't know we have never seen something like this"
„take care of hime i while be going to look after this issue. you 3 should come with me"
she pointed at dhstell, marth and lüziel and signed them to follow her. they where brought to the hospital of the palace. inside they where led to the room in which rina was, who for marth and lüziel looked mostly normal but they could see that something was wrong from dhstells and arhkuhvs reaction. arhkuhv together with dhstell waited outside of the room leaving only marth and lüziel to enter. when they entered rina noticed them and attempted to stand up but fell out of her bed instead.
„is everything fine, you don't feel bad or anything"
lüziel jumped towards her to catch her but was way too far away to actually reach her. rina herself was able to catch her fall with her arms but they broke away from the impact. she then arduously pushed herself up before answering.
„i don't feel well but i can handle myself. my head is hurting a lot and i feel so weak."
„going from what we where told that isn't surprising. for all that matters you probably should be dead so just feeling unwell is the best case scenario"
„we can leave that for later. first comes rinas well being. don't say that she should be dead how would you react to that"
„i'm ok, you don't have to worry lüziel. the doctors already told me that it is a miracle that i am alive. even if i don't understand what happened i understand that it was something bad. it was as if i was dragged into darkness that teared and squished me. i was afraid but i felt someone holding me tightly not letting me alone"
„and you sure you're fine. that sounds like something no one should experience"
„i'm fine i'm didn't you promise to have more trust into me"
while those three where having a reunion did dhstells and arhkuhvs discussion go a different direction
„i can't let that thing sty here. it is to dangerous whatever it may be. in the end i am the empress and i can only go so far with favors"
„to my dismiss i have to agree to the stance you're taking but give us at least long enough for her to walk on her own again. if something happens there are 3 high rankers here and at the moment i don't see it as a big threat for us"
„and what if we can subdue it. i have to think for more than just myself. a fight with something like that could end up cause a lot of casualties. this is where i draw the line"
„just one fucking day ok. how much can really happen in that time"
„i give you until the end of this day at best i don't want to have that thing here during night time"
„why are you so fucking stubborn. if it really comes to it then i could freeze this entire stupid palace. this thing feels familiar so what if i can make it no longer be feel able at the very least. that should suffice"
„i can reevaluate the situation at the evening for now your time is set for when the sun hits the horizon"
„i need kamaron for this. i need a second person to look at this before doing something"
„where are you going?"
„are you really implying that he would just pretend ill and get carried to this hospital. he barely took any damage, i know him better than you"
dhstell stomped out of the hospital in the search of kamaron while arhkuhv stayed to keep an eye on ‚it'. what she saw was on the one side just a normal group of 3 friends but what she also saw was a dense aura surrounding the girl that emitted a feeling of pure destruction like she never had felt in her entire live. dhstell found kamaron trying to get away from the doctors who tried their best to make him rest. when he saw dhstell he run over to her in a speed that made it look like he vanished where the doctors where and appeared before dhstell out of their eyes. but this little stunt was not a good idea as out of the numerous wounds he had spewed blood.
„let's go somewhere that isn't here. these guys are relentless"
„you should at least not go overboard or you will eternally be remembered as the strongest person that died to a paper cut. anyways i need your help, the girl has shown some ‚weird properties'"
„what is that supposed to mean"
„just look at her yourself. i have a bad feeling about this"
when they return to the hospital they saw marth and lüziel come out as they where ordered to give rina a bit of rest.
„kamaron, how can you walk so casually after being impaled and skinned alive?"
„oh that that was nothing i had worse"
„that is still no reason to just ignore you're injuries"
„why is everyone pretending like i am in life threatening danger. to change subject how was rina. she doesn't have any problems can't feel body part or something like that"
„everything is perfectly fine. just give her a few days and she will jump around like normal"
„i wouldn't call it everything fine if someone has a headache and weakness lüziel"
„i trust in her abilities to never go down for long periods of time"
„that sounds like nothing relevant is left. i probably don't even need to ask but what about her curse. it was the reason why she got into this in the first place"
„i completely forgot. i need to check her"
„what was that about trusting her ability to recover. they wont let you in when they just kicked us out"
„it's nice that you care so much about her but this curse is purely reactive so nothing will happen while she is here"
kamaron sent lüziel away ensuring that everything will be ok with marth following him before entering
„so that is the problem"
he already felt it from the outside but now that he came close it became more apparent an aura that was vaguely familiar to him
„it is not complete but she dragged something wis here from the beyond. the question is simply what. the only thing there is the origin of all live so why does this feel so familiar"
„you shouldn't get hung up on the irrelevant. arhkuhv gives us till noon so we either fix this or go"
kamaron opened the door and proceeded to shut at rina
„come with us and don't pretend like you couldn't. i know you can. you may be able to fool those children but not us"
rinas expression changed quickly from that of surprise to a mischievous grin
„do you know who i am"
„just get out of there and come. i don't want people to her this"
she stood up and when she did the cloud surrounding her thickened around her legs making them stop shacking completely. they took a back door to get out to not have to engage with the staff and then they went to a place covered from prying eyes.
„it's good that you followed without any questions that makes it easier for me to do this"
kamaron turned at rina and grabbed her throat picking her up while strangling her
„and now leave. i don't care what or who you are but i can make your life hell. this body can heal bu that is not true for an existence that is nothing more but a soul."
he threw her against a tree and rina was gasping for air before answering
„you say that you would do that but i feel that you care for this woman so do you really think you can harm her. can you really do something when i do this"
rina was making an attempt to jump at kamaron but unlike the fog surrounding her did her body froze in place before she could attack
„who thought that that girls inability to harm others would be this helpful. this body is not yours and it will act according to its own believes. you cannot overcome this barrier in your current state"
dhstell trapped the fog within a barrier like the ones arhkuhv used. it tried to escape but could break through
„your lucky that i can't do this the entire day or this problem would have been solved right now"
„what is more interesting is that movement and how it acts. i can't put my finger on it but have seen that before. WHO ARE YOU!"
„i am not aware of my name or being. all i am and all i was is the one i am now. floating through nothingness getting caught by a whim of fate. i do not harbor ill will towards this girl she is merely a necessary sacrifice"
„and you think we will simply let you do that. GET OUT."
as if called by kamaron did the curse on rinas body react. first it engulfed the entire body in a script longs forgotten followed by them lighting up. this let dhstell drop her prison and she together with kamaron both recoil in a defensive stance. the fog surrounding rina got completely absorbed by the scriptures. it was just for a moment but they could see someone else inside rinas eyes looking at them before the thing haunting rina coiled in pain
„what is this, what is happening. stop dragging me back there. leave me alone!"
the fog tried to fight bac kand momentarily it gained the upper hand but wherever the fog started to to amass it was simply countered by more scriptures tying it down
„what is happening. i have never seen something like this"
„how should i know. for most of our live we where together so if you don't know it i also don't know it. but if i had to guess it would be that the curse reacted to the dive in a never before seen way. it is already rare enough to find someone who knows it exist in the first place"
it took a bit of fighting but the fight between the curse and the fog ended by the entirety of the fog being vanquished. after that all the words on rinas body retracted to her back. when kamaron inspected it he saw a circle imprinted into her body consisting of 2 rings. the inner was filled with an indecipherable mash while the outer was forming a complicated lock of bolts gears and other mechanisms like a puzzle searching for someone to solve it.
„this was something. she is right now asleep so we have to wait but despite the time limit not being up the curse is gone and evolved to this"
„it's probably because a dive and has similar properties but who cares problem solved it doesn't look like there are any side effects for now"
they brought the sleeping rina back to her bed before explaining to the empress who decided that she can stay here for as long as they kept a close eye on her. on the next day did kamaron visit her to check on the curses state.
„have you looked in a mirror recently"
„i was the entire time in my bed. i couldn't even i wanned to"
„you may should do that as you no longer have marking here"
he was pointing at the back of his neck
„here take this"
he gave her a pocket mirror which she used to look at her neck and after seeing that it was normal again she pulled down on he clothe to see that even further down nothing was left
„it is gone, where did it go to?"
„you should look at your stats. there you can see if it really is gone"
rina opened the menu and then clicked on the stats menu. before her appeared a yellow screen with lots of information about her
Rina Hestion
Race: Human (Grintß) Age: 19
Gender: Female
Height: 1,69 m Weight: 58,95 kg
Act 3 Clear Progression: 999 480 cp
Affiliation: NaNBank: 1281 tallon
Achievement cleared: 5 List
Skills Owned: 2 List (New Skill)
„i don't see anything"
„that simply means there is nothing. down here would be something if you had any curse, illness or other things like that. But you do have a new skill. that's probably what became out of the curse"
„but he said it would be 1 year. now it is only less than 1 year. he lied to me"
kamaron sight
„let's just say unpredictable events happened. but you should look at it it will probably be special based on what happened to you"
When rina clicked on the list button the skill list filled with 2 skill opened. the first king of nature as to be expected but the second was not there before
Dive (Under Evolution)
Class:
Description: Shackled in the depth is a power only for those who don't fear death. Will you find
yourself or will you be replaced by your other self.
Growth: Hearth Core, Platonic Ring
when seeing this kamaron had immediately one though
‚it has a description that should not be the case. these skills are always unique and the description is purely based on ones experience. other self was that the person from yesterday?'
„i don't like this. i so't understand what this means"
„well it is a unique skill so it's yours to figure out what this means"
„but i want to know now"
„just because you want it doesn't change the facts. so can you walk or is that to much for you right now"
rina stood up proudly with shaking legs as to proof what she was saying
„i can now walk again. i'm all back to normal"
„and now say that to your legs with a straight face. if you can walk you should to get faster back normal just don't overdo it. lüziel and marth will visit you anyways soon, you can go with them"
the first person to enter after kamaron was a nurse who brought rina some food and something to drink. rina who had yet to realize how different the food where made some interesting faces when biting into her food and kept pushing of eating it long enough for lüziel and marth to come in before she was finished.
looks like i'm not the only one who doesn't like the food here"
marth saw the halve eaten food next to rina
„lüziel! look look i have this now"
„what are you talking about, you can't just start a conversation like that"
„kamaron said that my curse is gone and now i have this"
she showed them the new skill she acquired
„so what does it do, this isn't a helpful description"
„i don't know"
„so it's basically as if you didn't had it can't do much with something you don't know what it is"
marth was leaning back trying to think about the depiction
„shackled inside you… loosing to your other self… sounds like something that would take longs to do something going after common tropes. another self so like dissociative identity disorder or what"
„well whatever that is it's great that your back to normal. now i no longer have to fear something happening to you when something happens to someone else"
„so you did all this time purposefully choose easy missions. i told you i want to care for myself"
„and after all the effort he put into it you not noticing. you should be thanking him"
marth grabbed a hand of both trying to force them to hand shake
„so whats next. we can now go all out exploring i want to see as many things as possible. before we came here everything was just boring and normal but now look outside, the grass is fricking red"
„rina is still not fully recovered so we need to wait a bit more"
„i told you i can handle myself. i'm fine look"
she stood up walking a bit around
„i also want to have fun. all i saw is a boring hospital. i'm bored"
rina was pouting wile talking
„fresh air is supposed to help with healing so…"
„yeay it's time to explore"
after rina put on her normal cloth they exited the hospital just for the moment they stepped outside a purple window popping up
Special Mission Rescue cleared
Achievement: 0/0
Reward: 1 000 cp
Icarus Wings unlocked
Clear Progression: 999 480 cp - 1 000 cp
„the fuck"