Elaine Elson was the individual pressed unto the ground and beneath the blade of his sword.
Argos and Leonel stood up from the poor guys they had crashed into before offering an apology. They really didn't think that their targets would be fellow students like them.
"Hmm." Noah retracted his blade, standing up before asking with his apathetic expression. "What are you doing here?"
Leonel had to admit he was kind of impressed to see his sworn brother to act so apathetical after doing something as barbaric as slamming a girl into a ground. The guy hadn't even tried to apologize for his actions.
And of course the victim flared up, pointing her finger at Noah. "What are we doing her? What are you doing here?! And how can you be shameless to not bother to offer an apology after the stunt you just pulled?!"
The transmigrator frowned as he glanced at the pointed finger and released a sliver of his bloodlust. "Don't point at me."
Elaine immediately lowered her hands, remembering how much of a monster the boy before her was. Still, wishing not to appear weak, she glanced to the side and pouted while folding her hands.
"Sorry about that." Leonel immediately sought to reduce the tension in the air, pushing Noah to the side and revealing a sincere smile. "Sorry about that. But we four are undergoing a task set by the academy, we didn't know that there would be others who were also undergoing similar tasks."
"You should have been informed of the fact that others were around the Star city borders." A teenager stepped out from the midst of the group of 5. He seemed to be the leader of the group, possessing golden hair and eyes and sporting a very handsome face. And if one looked closely, they would notice that he looked a bit like Leonel. "Long time no see, Leonel."
Leonel's eyes widened in surprise and laughed out loud. "Goddamn, Asher it's you. I heard you got into top 50 right?" He headed close to the golden haired boy and placed his hand over the latter's shoulder. "Guys, this is one of my cousins in the Nolan House, Asher Nolan. We trained together during the Nolan House training camp, known each other for a long while now."
Argos smiled and waved. "Nice to meet you."
Noah and Emery, on the other hand, merely nodded their hands and delved back into their thoughts.
Leonel could only chuckle nervously before focusing back on his cousin. "Don't mind those two. Anyways, Asher, what are you guys here for?"
Asher opened up his Star Record. "We're here to rescue and transport the captives that a group of bandits have taken around this region."
Argos raised his brows. "What a coincidence. We're here to exterminate a group of bandits that have begun terrorizing this region. The bandits could most probably be the same group."
"In that case we can work together." Asher suggested with a smile. "You guys can focus on killing the bandits while we make sure the captives are safe. A win-win."
Leonel paused, contemplating it for a while before ultimately glancing at Noah. The Half-dragon stared at the group, noting the three boys and two girls before speaking. "We don't need to work together, just focus on saving the captives."
"But …" Asher's expression blackened, he had no idea that the 2 ranked student of his year was such an unreasonable person.
"But what?" Noah's bloodlust returned at full power, crippling the entire group with fear, Emilia included. "We'll perform our task, and you'll perform yours. Unless…" His sword slowly left it's sheathe as he glared hard at the golden haired boy. "… You have something else in mind."
Asher fell to the ground, sweating profusely as he felt majority of the bloodlust focus on him. "No… no. Nothing at all."
"Hmm." The transmigrator said nothing else, casting a side way glance at Elaine, causing her to shiver in fright, before leading his group towards their original direction.
Elaine frowned once he left their premises. She stared down at her palm and immersed herself in her thoughts. 'I definitely felt my strength leave me during that fight. This means that my Holy Light Scale had definitely judged that his past has been extremely gruesome. So gruesome that even someone with such bloodlust that can only be acquired by killing at least a thousand individuals. What… kind of past was that?"
Elaine's Battlesoul worked very simply. It was an item type Battlesoul that granted her the light affinity, but its main power was the ability to judge her opponents' karma. Depending on how bad their karma was, she'd receive a portion of their strength.
Normally, this would be a bad thing since that could only take effect if the person had done something considered evil. But this was Maest, where almost everybody who was a Battlesoul master had killed more than one person in their life. And since karma was calculated to the amount of lives impacted by that one death, she still gained enough to gain an upper hand while in battle.
But no Battlesoul was perfect. The Holy Light Scale also had a flaw. It cancelled the karma of whatever evil the person had done if they had a past that was worth taken note of. A past that could turn even the most innocent person into a blood lusting animal.
The Scale hadn't gifted her strength so it was obvious that Noah had suffered a life that could be described as the worst of the worst.
She glanced at his disappearing back and wondered. 'What a mysterious character.' Still, she had goals she strived for in life. Someone like Noah only piqued her interest and curiosity a bit. She wouldn't let it distract her.
So she interrupted her thoughts and glanced at the fear stricken Asher and sighed before moving towards him and offering a hand. After all she knew how he felt, the bloodlust of that boy wasn't something to be scoffed at. "You okay?"
Asher grit his teeth and stood up on his own, staring at Noah's group with intense anger boiling in his eyes. 'You… you'll pay for that!"