Futility and despair.
Those two words encompassed her entire existence.
From birth till now, she had yet to even see the light of day.
Stuck in her embryo.
Inhaling.
Exhaling.
Sleeping.
And then-
The pain.
She wondered how much longer this would go on for.
The skies, red.
Her eyes, amber.
The world, vermillion.
Her life, agony.
Sometimes he would come out and inject her with something.
The pain.
Others he would drown her.
The fear.
And at times.
She would eat.
It was disgusting, the taste was vile beyond anything she had ever experienced.
She would also hear him mumble something to himself at times.
Words like 'Ascension'
Or 'Realm Tear'
Others times...
'Devil'
'Abomination'
And the word he focused on the most.
The word he would preach to her as his holy grail.
His messiah.
A word which would bring upon her pain like nothing else she knew.
A word imbued with her hatred.
Her suffering.
'Aranea'
Each time he would mention that word it became worse.
Everything became worse.
She wished for it all to end.
She wished to see the outside world.
Her wishes clashed.
But she just wanted at least one to be granted.
For something to be real.
For someone to save her.
How she prayed day after day.
And prayer...
Prayer was a word he taught her a few years ago.
He told her to pray to their lord and saviour, the one who carried their torch.
'Aranea.'
But it was a fanatical prayer, one imbued with his dreams and fervent delusions.
He taught her, raised her, yet kept her in here.
She wished that he would end it all already; finish his plan.
Drown her.
Just as he drowned beneath his own insanity.
Oh...
She had one more wish.
This 'Aranea'.
Whoever, whatever, they were.
Could they die?
Please?
-----
Aranea sheathed her sword, then, began drawing it out once more.
An inch was revealed again alongside the words [Curse Breaker].
Her devastating Mana violently rushed into the small, revealed edge of her weapon. It churned and compressed, screaming for air as the space within was used up.
The pain in her body was rising.
Her heartbeat was rushing.
Even though everything was being exchanged, even though there should be no physical damage.
Her nose still bled, her mouth still gushed.
Agonising.
The Broken-Winged Giant rushed his fist out at speeds beyond the level a human eye could capture, his Abyssal Power throbbing out alongside it; spewing with decay.
Aranea could capture it coming at a snail's pace with her Agility.
She could also see the vivid fear plunged within those mouldy, greenish-grey eyes of his; they were trying their hardest to repress the instinct to run away.
To abandon their mission.
And his fist would soon collide with her.
But.
"
Like a droplet of water splashing onto a puddle, the ripple and small splashes echoing from the impact were replicated before her eyes.
Just on a grander scale.
His arm split in half vertically, each half veering off to the side as the fist passed 'through' her, or in this case, it passed by her left and right.
The incredible volumes of blood and Abyssal Power slid off her Mana Barriers.
Dropping down into the literal pool-sized pools of blood beneath her, splashing out and rippling off to the walls of the seal and back.
Gazing into those horror-imbued eyes of his, "Can you endure one more?" She sheathed her sword once more.
Then, she unsheathed it.
Again, imbueing it with her vast pool of dangerous Mana.
The atmosphere croaked from her pressure; it groaned endlessly with each grain of Mana flowing through into the sword.
As this happened, those eyes of his began separating.
Not just his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his chest, his crotch-
Everything.
Splatter!
His body split in half from that previous attack, the two halves leaned over to the side and thundered down into the ground, sending waves of blood splashing through the sealed space.
Those horror-etched eyes quivered as tentacles grew out from the two halves, attempting to reattach his body.
An Upper-Medium True Corrupted Giant was frothing in fear as he saw his life draw to an end before his eyes.
And all of this by a 15-year-old girl.
If the world knew of this then it would erupt into chaos.
Before casting her final Spell, Aranea kindly asked him one final thing.
"Any last words?"
It was a cruel question, his mouth, vocal chords, throat and lungs were all severed. He couldn't answer even if he wanted to.
His eyes spasmed as he tried conveying his words.
But Aranea simply sighed, shook her head disappointed, "What a shame."
And cast her Spell.
"
The ground beneath the Giant.
The sky above the giant.
The Abyssal Power drowning the seal.
All of it began collapsing inwardly in the middle of the air.
His flesh ripped and stretched, crushed and powdered; his eyes ground into ash.
The few droplets of remaining ashy snow dissipated into the storm of powdered flesh, Abyssal Power, rock, and decay.
The Broken-Winged Giant was no longer Winged, they ripped off toward the point of
A maelstrom of utter destruction ruptured the battlefield.
Everything was pulled into the singularity of Mana, and then-
Blissful silence.
There remained no traces of Abyssal Power from the Broken-Winged Giant.
His pools of blood no longer stained the earth.
Traces of his existence dissipated from the world.
Her Level instantly jumped to 62, increasing her distributable Stat Points by 2.
Clack-
Sealing her sword, Aranea dazedly glared at the only remaining thing in the seal.
The Realm Tear.
She was nowhere near strong enough to destroy this thing.
Drip.
Her blood drained profusely from her mouth, bubbling out alongside her saliva.
Aranea felt thirsty.
She felt nauseous, dizzy and lightheaded.
Her muscle spasms worsened and her eyes reddened further.
'I'm so fucking tired.' The urge to rest battered her. She barely resisted and kept herself collected.
At least, as collected as she could be.
Her Mana Reservoir was running low but all it took was two taps on her Status Screen and her Mana increased from 74 to 76.
Although her Mana Reservoir increased in capacity, her Mana was only restored to its previous capacity.
The Status Screen wasn't magic, it wouldn't recover your HP and MP to max every time you levelled up or whatever.
This was good enough though, she could perform better because her Mana Reservoir wasn't the only thing that increased.
Her 7-Stars' Mana density was drastically increased.
Meaning her Mana was more potent, more powerful.
Next, Aranea lowered herself to the ground in front of the Realm Tear.
Taking a couple of steps towards it she could feel it rejecting her, this was an exit after all, not an entrance.
But that wasn't good enough to stop her.
Cutting through the resistance with her Mana, she took more steps at it.
Its purple hue lit up her visage.
Another few steps.
Until finally, she stood a step away from the Realm Tear.
From Revshika.
From:
-The Drowned-
-----
Moglit's greatsword swept through the wall of Corrupted Orcs like a hurricane, a brush of red painted the cave walls, dying it a shade darker.
Every movement he made would scratch into the caves' walls, he had to hold back his strength and movements or else he risked collapsing the cave.
A lightning spear thundered by him, turning a Corrupted Hound into a dead Corrupted Hound; the smell of sizzling, decayed flesh wafted out from its corpse.
Lucas used his Divine Magic to thwart the decay, if it reached them then, even though it would be a slow process, the weak decay would eventually wipe them of all strength and kill them.
Aria stood beside him and protected him from any Corrupted Monsters that made it past their frontline.
She was too exhausted from the prolonged fight to tank at the front.
Initially, she ignored it and continued fighting but Lucas forced her to pull back.
Yun still had some left in his tank so his figure repeatedly disappeared and reappeared amid the horde.
The messy fight was slowly coming to an end.
A pile of corpses walled off the majority of the path, making it easier to defend and the waves of Monsters became smaller and smaller.
"Hold on a bit longer, I can sense the Corruption fading away!" Lucas reaffirmed them, keeping their motivation and drive going.
Wiping out another small group Corrupted, Moglit took a step back.
A pillar of lightning rumbled down the path, killing off the Corrupted he had weakened.
Charles had other Magics but lightning was the best in this scenario, earth could block off their vision, fire would burn up the oxygen and smoke up the cave, ice would make the ground slippery, water would make movement more difficult for his squadmates.
Lightning was still the best.
Another 15 minutes passed by.
Eventually, the Corrupted Monsters stopped attacking.
The Dungeon Breakout was over.
They were safe, for now.
Plopping down to the ground, Aria spread out her arms with deep, difficult breaths, she was the most exhausted of them all.
Yun was next, holding no decorum, he dropped down beside her.
Charles remained standing to hold the few strands of dignity he still had and Moglit was unperturbed, tired, but unperturbed; Moglit did the least in this fight.
Lucas began rejuvenating them and recovering their wounds with his Healing Magic, Divine Power was best for it.
Going through them one by one, he finally had the opportunity to rest.
Resting down, he was about to relax his mind but something caught his eye.
Something purple.
Something decaying.
Something...
Putrid.
He knew exactly what it was from his years of training in the Imperial Clergy before he left them due to personal circumstances.
"G-guys." His shaky voice broke the breathing and coughing coming from his squadmates.
"What, ya golden boy?"
Lucas pointed his quivering hand at the opening he saw in the distance.
At what covered the opening.
At what he felt dragging his body.
"R-Realm- Realm Tear."
Those words brought question marks to Aria's head but Charles and Moglit both lifted their faces with horror.
They looked at what he pointed at.
And lo and behold.
A Realm Tear pulsating with violet hues quaintly beckoned them.
Charles Von Sildoret felt his world falling apart.
A Realm Tear wasn't something he could, they could, survive. He knew it all too well.
Moglit the Berserker wondered if his path would truly end here.
He wasn't ready to die, not like this.
He may be a Berserker, but Berserker or not he had his dreams, his goals, and a family he cared for.
Suddenly.
Squirm~
The violet hues concentrated toward them, dragging their bodies towards it.
Yun tried slicing the violet light but it was useless, he tried escaping, but it was useless.
Lucas used his Divine Power to combat it but it was a fruitless endeavour, his Divine Power was simply too weak.
Aria was too weak to fight against it, her body tumbled across the ground as she was pulled.
And Charles and Moglit accepted the pull, staring into it with anger.
Anger at their misfortune.
Arriving at its core, the Realm Tear kindly pulled them in with swaying violet hues.
And, as they disappeared into it one by one, the Realm Tear grew smaller.
The moment Yun, the one furthest away entered-
Zip!
The Realm Tear collapsed, disappearing from the world.
-----
September 12th, Aranea entered the Fragmented World, Revshika.
September 14th, the 2nd Squadron entered the Fragmented World, Revshika.
September 30th, the 1st Squadron entered the Fragmented World, Revshika.
Opening their eyes.
The 1st and 2nd Squadron met each other at the same moment in time.
And Aranea was nowhere to be found.