Deep within the Fritz Forest, Erika and David along with their guild members are closing in on their destination.
"Erika! Stick with us, you're too advanced!" David shouted.
"Ah. Sorr–"
Erika's sharp sense made her stop as if someone is going to stop them, which is about right.
The mastermind finally comes out of hiding and welcomes them with open arms. Although he seems quite irritated. It was none other than Celaeno, holding his staff.
"Greetings, hunters of Telmaris, or should I say…West Zennovia."
'He seems like he knows something about us, but that's suspicious. How does he have access to information like that?'
David thought to himself as he drew his falchion. Erika on the other hand looks towards their members to make sure that they're all ready when a battle commences. After making sure, she draws her dagger from her belt and places it forward.
'Damned Heimer and his goons! They are nowhere to be found! They should be the one holding off these lowly hunters!'
"Well, looks like you barbarians are not fond of a friendly welcome. Very well, I myself needed some volunteers for my new experiments anyway."
Erika then notices that they are surrounded by Celaeno's men.
"Everyone, look for each other's backs. We'll make it all somehow."
Meanwhile–
"-this time, no more escaping."
Jaina and Fiona dash in opposite directions, although Ajax's only focus is on Jaina who is now on her way towards him, baring her daggers to finally finish him off.
"Come on! Who said anything about escaping!?"
Ajax throws his whirling spear to distract Fiona as he meets Jaina head on, only using the one sword he has left with.
"The heat of battle, the joy of the hunt. Those are the things that keep me going despite the pain! After all–!"
As the two clash once again, a faint sense of being suppressed, as if being wrapped around by a snake, assaults Jaina. For someone who represents a serpent and to be able to feel the way she strikes her foes, makes Jaina feel bewildered and somewhat frightened.
'Are my senses playing against me!? Why does it feel like he's the one taking advantage of my own unique skill!?'
Frustrated, Jaina viciously swings both the red and golden dagger towards Ajax. However, as if he's still improving, Ajax becomes more agile than he was before and successfully evades every slash Jaina delivers.
'This…how?'
As Ajax was about to return the favor, Fiona interrupts-
"Jaina!"
She places herself at Ajax's blindspot, covering her sword with a mystifying greenish glow. She then thrusts the blade, but then–
Ajax smirks as the blade gets close. Several arrows from the ground near them quickly get launched towards their location while he slides to the right direction in order to dodge.
'He still has those!?'
Fiona immediately changes her stance and does a sweeping slash which converts the magic within her sword into a whirlwind.
CLANK!
While Fiona deflects the arrows, Jaina manages to stave off the whirling spear, although she puts quite an effort to do so.
"D-Daggers are not really meant to block something with a length four times its size…"
"Now that's better."
Ajax commented, looking down on them atop of a small tree.
"You two should just stick like that and I will have an easier time dealing with you both at the same time."
He puts his hands up, making his spear return to his hands. He then crouches and rests the spear on top of his shoulder.
"If I were you I'd call for backup now. Since I have grown way stronger than I was before you met me for the first time."
Jaina's brows furrow.
"What are you talking about? It's just been a couple of hours since we have engaged in battle. More importantly–"
Using her foot as a strong propeller, Jaina disappears from her position. As if she just teleported, Jaina reappeared in front of Ajax, ready to throw daggers.
"-who said we're finished!?"
"That's more like it!"
Ajax reacts adeptly by thrusting the spear on his hand forward despite Jaina's speed. But then, she keeps up and slams the spear down using the rust dagger. A gust of wind then enables Jaina to keep herself afloat, enabling her to do a consecutive set of actions despite midair-
"Haaaaaah!!!"
She is using her red dagger as the main point of attack so that even just a scratch, it will deal more damage towards Ajax. Her rust dagger is focused on clashing on the Ajax's weapon to wear it down and shatter it once it reaches the limit.
With every second that passes, the movement of the two just keeps on getting difficult to follow, making Fiona struggle to keep up. She shows a downcast expression as she thinks to herself that she won't be able to help further. She can't just go in without interrupting the focus of the other, and her worry is that Jaina will be the one to be out of focus once Fiona interrupts.
"I-I'm really hopeless…"
"DON'T SAY SUCH THINGS!"
A loud voice stirred Fiona's lingering, despondent thoughts. She looks at Jaina who seems to be the one who shouted those words while still keeping up with Ajax. Jaina finds a chance and kicks Ajax's spear to jump and propel herself away from him in order to catch a little breath while also talking things out with Fiona.
"Remember what I said when we first met, Fiona? I don't know who you are back then, what I just saw is a noble woman who keeps swinging her sword as if she's running out of time."
"Hey, hey! We're in the middle of a bloody death match here!"
Ajax splits his spear into two and launches himself towards Jaina, reaching her position in just a matter of seconds.
"Don't you spoil my fun!!"
"Tch!"
Jaina braces herself and engages with a rapid exchange of slashes with Ajax once again. Their blades continuously clashing against each other creating sparks every second. Ajax does not seem to care much about the rust dagger hitting his spear.
"What you said…when we first met?"
Fiona reminisces about the time when she's still a noble of Verspala. Despite being of a noble bloodline the Cormelia family have nourished a generation of swordmasters. However, it is in their tradition that the women of their lineage are to be kept as political image while the men are trained to be the next generation's swordmaster.
At this time Fiona was only eight years old and had a twin brother who was planned to be trained at a young age to wield the sword. Her twin brother however, had no knack of talent in terms of fighting, instead, he is more interested and passionate about politics and governance. Fiona, on the other hand, is not just smart but also has the heart of a duelist perfect for a swordsman. The siblings have a delicate relationship, uncommon from a noble family.
One day while she's getting trained to speak in front of an audience, a very upsetting news reached her. Her twin brother has unfortunately met his end inside a dungeon while his trainer came back with a lost limb. The family was devastated for a while but then accepted it and moved on after just a couple of days as it turned out that the wife of the family head was pregnant, bearing another twin: male and female. The family just forgot that her twin brother existed by then.
Fiona, however, was distraught still. The image of her twin brother asking for help inside a dungeon was planted into her mind. At first, she only finds their tradition unjust, but now, she loathes it. And since a new male child will be born, she cannot fathom the fact that this certain child will be forced against his own will and meet the same fate as his twin brother.
She secretly practiced her swordsmanship with the help of her twin brother's trainer who was full of guilt, blaming himself for the death of Fiona's brother. This is his form of atonement: to assist Fiona into changing the ways of their family through showing them that the responsibility of someone does not just fall into the category of gender, but to the path of what that certain person wants to be. Although that was easier said than done. After all, it will take years for someone to master the sword, with the exception of those who are born with either natural or monstrous talent. Fiona falls under none of those categories as she indeed has a knack in wielding the sword as well as the heart of a duelist, but that's just it.
Few years have passed since she tried every opportunity she had to pursue her family many times, but all of it failed. After all, she hasn't become a fully developed swordmaster yet. She tirelessly swings her sword, practicing every form their family had developed, not minding the fatigue she's currently experiencing. The only thing that is keeping her up is the image of her beloved twin brother.
"Haaaah…haaah…I have to do it…to become…a swordmaster!"
She hadn't noticed it yet, but she's being observed by someone who seems interested in her. Not because of talent and title, but because of the heavy burden she swings along with her sword. The hunter then walks closely and speaks with her–
"You're too rough on yourself, but you have the spirit. My name is Jaina, a hunter. May I know yours, milady?"
"....."
"Fiona…dun Cormelia…"
In Fiona's perspective, what reflected in the eyes of the hunter in front of her was not of petty criticism or biased judgement from a hunter to a noble like her. It was pure admiration. It's as if some of her ill emotions disappeared after making contact with her.
"You have good eyes. I believe you already are capable of being a swordmaster. You know, I would gladly invite you to join my wonderful guild, but I guess you have something you needed to prove first."
With that, Jaina turns around whilst waving. Fiona looks at her shaking hands, seemingly thinking things through.
'What am I…even doing…'
There, she had a sudden realization. She's not being pursued to focus on politics anymore, rather, it's as if she does not exist within her family. Knowing that a replacement already existed for her, she was already deemed unnecessary to give attention to. To add, in the perspective of the Cormelia family head, Fiona's career ended along with the death of her twin brother. And so, there wasn't even a point trying anymore. But in respect for his twin brother, she has to do something that will have an impact with their on-going family tradition.
A day has passed.
"....."
"We meet again. Sooner than I had expected though."
She met with Jaina while she was preparing for a dungeon raid with her guild members. A young man then peeked from Jaina's shoulder, who is David back in his younger days. Erika was not a member yet as Fiona was the one who enlisted her.
"You said I was already capable of being a swordmaster…even though I, myself, cannot feel it. And you sound so sure…"
Jaina chuckles after her statement. Fiona flinches as a response.
"You said you cannot feel it yourself hm? Then it seems like the part of being a swordmaster truly lives within you."
"What is the meaning of that?"
"My father was a swordmaster himself. He always said something along the lines of: no swordmaster or every master of their profession admits that they are one openly."
"....." Fiona did not give a response. Seeing this, Jaina chuckles once again.
"Well then, seeing you here means that…your mind has opened up to something."
"Yes." Fiona clenches her fist and places it on her chest.
"Please give me a chance to redeem– no, to prove myself."
"Hm? You don't need to prove anything to me my dear."
"No." Fiona's eyes became sharp as a sword. It's as if she has dedicated herself onto something new and her passion has returned which Jaina finds beautiful.
"I want to prove myself to the family that abandoned me. To live on as a person, and leave a mark for myself and my twin brother…that even our short generation existed."
A little smile forms on Jaina's lips. She then taps Fiona's shoulder and nods.
"That's the spirit I was talking about. I hereby name you one of us, I am the leader of our humble guild– [Shadow Core]."
"[Shadow Core]..."
As Jaina nods she asks Fiona a question.
"So am I going to be hunted by the Cormelia family with you joining us? It might be seen as kidnapping after all."
'Wait, shouldn't you be asking that first before accepting her…?' David thought.
Fiona shakes her head.
"I have already been forgotten by them…as well as my twin brother. Hence, my objective."
"To be remembered, huh. Then that also means–" ← Jaina
"-I will not leave my family name. I will continue to be a Cormelia, so that once they have heard of me. They shall remember that I existed, and my twin brother…Erik."
In the middle of their ceaseless exchange of slashes, Ajax gains a moment of upper hand and slips what is supposed to be a vital hit.
"HAAAAAAH!!"
Jaina's eyes widened as she noticed it too late.
"Crap–"
Although as soon as the blade of Ajax's spear almost pierced a side of Jaina's body, a gust of wind broke his spear in half– or what seems to be a gust.
"What the–!?"
"Fiona?"
It was not a wind, but a blade of a sword itself, seemingly imitating the wind itself. Fiona's eyes are unbelievably sharp as of the moment as if she's in the zone of her own world.
Jaina's eyes widened in surprise after witnessing Fiona's form.
"This feeling…it feels like–"
"-an awakening of an Attribute Skill!"
Ajax knows since it feels the same back when he obtained his attribute skill: