Blood death destruction.
Inferno raining down from the reality-splitting fight in the sky.
The forsaken child holds its head, looking death straight into its eyes.
The cursed knight, blinded by rage and vengeance.
The anomaly laughing like a maniac while sacrificing his body.
Demon slowly feeding, slowly growing stronger.
Corpses of humans raining down from the sky.
River of blood forming due to the mountain of corpses.
Someone sitting on a throne watching the spectacle silently, judging.
A lone woman standing alone amidst the never-ending darkness.
"Ve-!"
Blood death destruction.
The end is coming, no one can stop it.
"-ra!"
The gods are shivering.
Their end was coming.
And no one was coming to save them.
"VERA!"
Waking up, gasping for air, the first thing Vera saw was her own reflection on the armor of her companion.
She had shoulder-length blonde hair, and her face was hidden behind her white mask.
"Are you alright?!"
Shifting her gaze, Vera saw a woman. Her deep blue eyes and hair made her impossible to not recognize at first glance.
It was Sofia, one of the princesses of the empire and her best friend.
Using her thin arms, Vera weakly sat up, as she replied while looking into Sofia's eyes,
"Yes, I am fine… just had the usual world-ending vision."
"Listen," Sofia spoke, trying to reassure her,
"We know that your visions don't always come true, so all we can do is move forward and try to prevent anything like this happening."
Vera slightly nodded at Sofia while muttering quietly so that just she could hear.
"Thank you."
*****
Taking a deep breath, Zaroth concentrated, extending his arm forward as he closed his fist.
"A dragon," he muttered as he slowly opened his palm.
Slowly, green flames began to appear, ready to be fired.
Zaroth had trained this skill for some time now, plus when he got the time, he meditated with the hope of increasing the number of sparks he had connected to his mana core.
As a result of his hard work, he currently had just a bit less than a hundred sparks, which was a big improvement compared to a week before.
So, as a result, his fireball now should pack more of a punch.
As the green fireball shot forward, it was accompanied by a bolt of lightning that Lily had shot, both of them were aiming at the body of the large bear.
The two spells connected and the body of the bear shuddered as it let out a pained roar.
The majority of the damage was done by Lily's spell, while Zaroth only managed to scratch it, but he didn't expect much to begin with.
As the bear shifted its gaze, searching for the individuals responsible for its pain, it met the eyes of Silverfang, who was running at the bear with full force.
Not far behind him was Zack, with a sword which looked like it was made from blood.
And to his side was Roran, with a few weapons hovering around him with their sharp tips pointed at the bear.
Seeing the danger approaching, the bear rotated its body against the threat and digging its back feet into the ground, it propelled toward their direction.
Raising its left palm, the bear slashed against the wolf, creating a deep injury, but to the bear's surprise, the wolf didn't seem to bleed nor did it seem to care about the pain.
As Silverfang jumped to the palm of the bear and bit it with full force, clearly reluctant to let go.
The next moment, a dagger that was hovering around Roran shot forward and pierced one of the four eyes of the bear.
Zack, being the fastest, managed to position himself close to one of the bear's back legs and slashed with his sword, creating a deep wound, preventing the creature from moving.
Zaroth, who had already positioned himself to the right of the center of the battle, raised his hand again and fired another spell.
Lily, who was positioned on the left side, also did the same.
The bear, not expecting such coordinated attacks, quickly moved its head with its jaws opened toward Roran, while the gem in its forehead shined and sent a lightning bolt toward Silverfang.
Roran just barely managed to dodge the jaws of the bear as he raised his sword and managed to scratch its head.
Silverfang, who had taken the spell attack, couldn't keep his jaws closed and let go of the bear's left paw, freeing it.
Trying to make use of it, the bear tried to attack Roran again, but its body suddenly collapsed on the ground as Zack had managed to slash at its other back leg, making it much harder to move.
Before the bear could react, it felt the sword of Zaroth, who had decided to attack from up close, piercing its side.
And at the same time, Roran used his sword to dig deep into the creature's skull, effectively killing it on the spot.
Everyone collapsed on their knees, exhausted, but with smiles on their faces.
It looked like their hunt had been a success.
*****
Zaroth sighed of relief, they had managed to defeat a Rare monster pretty much unscathed.
While it would be considered impressive for first-year students to accomplish such a task, it was still far from what Zaroth was planning to achieve in the future.
Getting up, he approached the head of the bear where everyone was gathered.
Silverfang was the only one that had been damaged, but considering his nature, it couldn't even be counted as an injury as it didn't seem to bother the wolf much.
Still, Zaroth felt that it was probably time to desummon him and let him rest in his soul.
"Not bad," Roran spoke, clearly impressed by their well-thought-out coordinated attack.
"This is one down, but if we can do it, others would probably be able to do it too… so we must not get comfortable and aim to get as high a score as possible," Zaroth commented.
"Hey, I've been wondering," Lily spoke as she used her dagger to get the gem from the bear's forehead for proof that they had killed it.
"Why do you seem so obsessed with joining and winning the tournament? Even if you have a high-tier blessing, what makes you so confident that you will win, and what would you wish for if you do?"
'I can't tell them that I possess a dragon, nor can I tell them that if I win, Elysia would grant one of my wishes… which is quite literally the only reason I accepted the mission to begin with,'
Zaroth thought as he crossed his arms, lost in thought.
At the end, he shrugged as he answered, "Just a feeling, I guess."