Mentor looked at the 6th Squadron.
"This is why you should not have come here without the determination to survive."
Kneeling beside them, he slowly lifted an arm; drip...
Thick droplets splattered on the ground beside him, he fit it back to where it belonged.
Then, Mentor moved on to a leg.
This one was too mangled up; the crushed bones, missing flesh, and parasite feeding on it from the Corruption-
"Haa..."
He didn't even know which one this belonged to.
Placing it aside, he picked up the remnants of an eyeball.
The tears and mud solidified, forming a dirty, waxed layer on the mushed eye.
Was there a way to put this back in...?
One by one, Mentor tried his best to put everything back together.
And behind him, everyone had to watch.
This was a reminder, a reminder of what would happen if they failed; of the reality of war.
Squadron 6 was no more.
All 5 members were killed before the Transportation Array could pick them up. They became too complacent after almost clearing the Corrupteds and then they were ambushed.
Such a small, and silly mistake.
But that small mistake cost them all their lives.
"Remember you idiots, this is the end result of all life. If you don't want this happening to your friends, or to yourself, then get your shit together."
"Understood?"
"Yes, Mentor."
They couldn't muster the willpower to shout those words in front of the dead.
No one here was accustomed to Human death.
Yes, they had plenty of experience hunting Monsters, hunting Beasts, hunting Corrupteds...
But that was one thing and Human death was another.
Aranea looked to Silvia; even that Human-shaped tactical nuke was shaken. The sight of their drawn-out limbs, the missing chunks of flesh and shattered bones.
The parasites that clung to them-
It was horrific.
In the selection test a week ago they didn't get to see corpses, they were transported out whether they died or not; those that died were taken away before the test ended.
The compounding disgust from that test and this one...
It wasn't something easy to handle.
That's why.
...That's why-
"Why are you looking at them like that."
Ah.
Aranea knew exactly what she looked like right now.
Apathetic.
Uncaring.
Dismissive.
It was as though she was looking at a dead ant.
Why would you blink at the sight of a dead ant?
It was the same concept here.
But it's not like Aranea didn't care, she did.
It's just-
"I told you. Take that look off your face." Charles' voice echoed through the field again, finally turning all eyes to Aranea and him.
Stepping up to her, his eyes bore down at the short girl's face. Clenching his fists, the man was truly aggravated at the moment.
It wasn't the same as his decade-long grudge where he could hold it in because of how long it had been; this was different.
This was now.
This was the present.
And his long-standing grudge; her constant rejections of his duels; only fueled the flames of hatred in his heart.
"How have I angered you this time, Charles Von Sildoret."
"No need for this roundabout game of insults that leads us nowhere-"
Pulling out a medallion from his pockets...
A crown sitting above a sun.
That was the image etched into this medallion.
The medallion of the Sildoret Imperial Family.
Clatter!
Throwing it at her feet, the built-up hatred dripped from his eyes, "I challenge you to a duel."
Looking at the Sildoret Medallion, Aranea looked between it and him a couple of times; he patiently awaited her response.
Then, looking at Mentor-
He was gone.
Along with the bodies.
These damn teachers and their disappearing habits.
But she understood why.
They needed to vent; a duel with everyone involved was perfect.
Flicking her index finger, a strand of Mana linked to the Sildoret Medallion and lifted it.
Throwing it back into his pocket, "Fine, I accept."
'The timing should be about right, it's not the same timing as the game but everything is already starting to go slightly off track.'
'...what's one more gonna do?'
"But, instead of one duel, how about we hold two?"
"Two?"
Smirking at the man, "Correct, one now with limitations placed on us, you're tired after the tests just now, and one in the camps of the frontlines with no limitations, how about it?"
Charles smelt something fishy about this offer.
She ignored him for the past 5 days but now she wanted two duels?
'This creature is up to something.'
"Fine, what limitations do you want to set?"
Spreading out three fingers, "We set up three targets behind the opponent, the first to hit their own targets wins. You need to defend the targets behind you while attacking your own targets behind the opponent. Want me to simplify the explanation for you?"
Aranea didn't forget to mock her opponent; the mockery wasn't some sort of grand part of her plan.
...She just always wanted to do something like that in real life.
Let's call it her nerdy passion.
"I agree with those terms."
---
The crowd walked out of the confines of the arena.
Silvia and Savana stood beside each other as members of the same Squadron; Savana noticed that Silvia was very interested in this battle.
"Have you never seen Aranea in action?"
"Not once."
Savana nodded her head slightly and looked to the centre.
Charles and Aranea set up three targets large enough to fit a bucket in them behind each other.
This meant behind Aranea were Charles' targets, and behind Charles were her targets.
This was to increase the difficulty when defending.
Having the targets be made of your Mana with your Mana Signature made it many times easier to hit them. Attacks that locked on and could swerve to hit their target became many times more dangerous with this setup.
"Are you ready, Sildoret?"
"...Hoo- Ready."
Veils of Mana began drifting out of the two Mages.
Standing in this situation, Aranea felt it once more.
The surrealness of her circumstances; her existence as an in-game character; what she truly was.
Charles Von Sildoret stood opposing her.
The man was about to try his hardest to win this bout, whether it be to satisfy his anger at her or wipe that nonchalant look off her face.
Aranea was tempted.
Tempted to break the veil of lies; break the surface tension of the rationality drowning the darkness.
Reveal it all.
Imagine how satisfying it would be.
How Cursed it would be.
It was just an intrusive thought, nothing serious.
At the end of it all, Aranea was just like the rest of them.
Human.
At least she wanted to be.
Because the truth is.
Staring at the sparks of lightning drowning the sky in front of her; at Charles' flickering green hair maddeningly swaying in the wind.
The hatred will never end.
The lies will never end.
The pain will never end.
Even when they tried to reach the corners of her mind; slip into her consciousness; and break into her Humanity.
It never ended.
That's why she couldn't lose.
Conjuring up hundreds of icicles into the air, Aranea already found the route to win this fight.
But she wasn't talking about losing the fight.
Lifting her hand ceremoniously, the icicles blasted a path through the air; lowering the temperature of the field down to the negatives instantaneously.
It was overpowering.
Even as Charles conjured Earth Walls.
Even as Charles created layers of Fire Balls between each wall to dampen the icicles.
Even as he fought to repay the decade-old grudge.
Not once did Aranea truly look at him.
Her mind was preoccupied.
'I can't.'
She couldn't.
Never.
Not if she wanted to repay her sins.
She couldn't-
BANG!
Silvia's sword disintegrated the icicles down into pure, unowned veils of Mana.
'Oh.'
Her bluish-silver hair fluttered with the wind as her body gracefully danced amongst the icicles, one after another her scarlet Aura plunged itself into their crystallized bodies.
And one after another they were destroyed.
Silvia was angry.
She could see it in her eyes.
But Aranea didn't know why.
'I probably wasn't paying enough attention and did something bad.'
It would make sense.
She made quite a few of these mistakes in the past 3 years.
She'd grown used to it.
Silvia's sword was carved with beautiful, intricate engravings upon its blade.
In fact, she could see them quite clearly currently.
Because that very same sword-
Schwing-!
-split the air in two; it grew larger.
Clearer.
It was almost in her face.
'Why am I being attacked?'
Aranea didn't really know either.
'I did something really bad then?'
But it's fine.
Right guys?
Guys?
Right...?
Ri-
Hey.
Guys?
...
...
...
Guys...
Are you...
Are you listening?
Can you...
...hear me?
...Are you-
Ignoring?
¿ǝɯ ɓuıɹouɓI
Me?
Hoo...
Deep breaths...
It's fine.
There's no problem.
The darkness will never eat me.
The lies will never break me.
The truth will never reveal itself.
The Curses will never break free.
Does that make you feel better?
...
It does...?
Good.
That makes me happy.
Very happy.
I should Level up some more, shouldn't I?
I'm a bit too weak to do all that right now, I know.
And don't worry.
I won't.
Not in my past life.
Nor this one.
I will never lose-
My way.
-----
SWISH-!
Silvia's sword split the air; the noise of the sound barrier crackling whipped across the field.
'She dodged it?'
Readjusting her grip, her scarlet Aura drowned her sword with a vibrating, chainsaw-like film; swiping it down-
Silvia instantly redirected her sword to the left.
BANG!
Dirt spilt into the air as the earth beneath them rumbled; a path rapidly carved itself dozens of metres in length as a miniature ravine formed itself.
And right beside the sword.
Thud-
Aranea's unconscious body lay.
Silvia cautiously glared at the girl.
Just moments ago, if she hadn't gotten involved, then Charles, Charles would have-
Clearing her mind, she looked at the girl's heavily sweating face.
She didn't look to be in the best of conditions.
'What happened just now?'
Everything was going as they planned, attack the targets and not each other.
And Aranea had won; she broke all three targets just seconds after the duel began.
It was a one-sided annihilation.
So why?
Why did she then redirect all the icicles at Charles?
Then pass out right after?
[Dangerous. Cripple?]
Silvia decided against it for now.
[Crippling is safer.]
No, not now.
This girl...
Something was very off about her.
She just couldn't wrap her head around what exactly.
Rustle...
Those strands of black and white hair shuffled slightly with the aid of the wind.
Only Silvia-
Silvia noticed the oddity.
There was no wind.
Ba-dump.
Her heart palpitated.
Ba-dump.
An odd, unusual feeling entered her heart.
Ba-dump.
But.
Slither~
Silvia couldn't feel it.
Silvia couldn't see it.
Silvia couldn't hear it.
These words that etched themselves into the centre of her heart.
These words that didn't belong to her.
[...Honey?]