EnroItzal

Once again, I'm late, despite setting an alarm. Took a nap and slept right through it. Anyways, hears the new chapter. Also, big shoutout and thanks to my newest patron; Genericfuton

Velrin Corvas - Human: Westerion

Age: 19 | Level: 23 | Status: None

Might: 11 | Arcane: 22 | Finesse: 20

Magic Arts
Abyss Magic Lv. 3

Combat Arts
Sword Art Lv. 5 | Dual Blade Art Lv. 3 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 5 | Bow Art Lv. 3

Erin was impressed by Velrin’s stats, she admitted it in her heart. The overall values of her abilities and skills were unarguably better than her twin brother's. Erin thought this to be sort of ironic considering they were twins. Aside from being impressed, Erin also felt a sense of sympathy. Velrin was level twenty-three at the age of nineteen. She had Abyss Magic. These facts alone spoke volumes of her hardship and suffering.

But right now, sympathy was to be cast aside if she truly wished to gauge Velrin’s strength.

Silence took over as dark energy gathered around Velrin. The gallery was ill at ease but not surprised, Erin took this as an indication that everyone here knew about Velrin’s Abyss Magic. The more shocking part to Erin was that Velrin’s Abyss Magic was a level higher than her brother’s at level three.

Erin wielded her saber with both hands as she lowered herself into a battle stance. She took a defensive posture on the beckon of her instinct. Her Sixth Sense wasn’t shouting but she did feel it whispering in her mind, cautioning her to be wary of Velrin’s Abyss Magic.

“Lady, I advise against you using your main weapon. It will be a shame if such a nice sword gets corroded.”

“Corroded?”

“Are you familiar with Abyss Magic?”

“I must say I’m not.”

“Here’s a simple advice against Abyss Magic, don’t take it with your blade, always evade it.”

Heeding Velrin’s advice and Sixth Sense’s warning, Erin sheathed her saber and drew her other sword, the rusty iron sword she bought yesterday. The edges were dulled beyond any probability of leaving a scratch on a person’s skin but the weight and balance were still excellent. “This will do,” Erin surmised.

“So, shall we start,” Velrin said and unclasped her cloak from her shoulders, revealing the skin-tight garbs underneath. There was a pair of swords sheathed behind her waist. She drew them and got into an offensive posture.

Erin hid her disappointment when she glanced towards a certain place. The undulation was much too modest, only a little less modest than Lyra. But it’s only a matter of course for such a figure if she was wearing such a garb.

Velrin pointed one of her swords at Erin. The dark energy congregated at the tip of her sword.

“Oh...” Erin muttered before diving out of the way.

The ball of dark energy shot out from the tip. There was no explosion as it hit the empty ground. It just razed everything in its path, corroding everything it touches into nothing. The destructive capability was high but not as brazen as Lightning Magic or Fire Magic.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“If I don’t show you the prime of my abilities and my conviction, how else can I elevate your evaluation of me?” Velrin said and shot out another dark energy bolt.

Erin dodged the bolt, known as Abyss Magic: Aura Shot, and brought her sword up to guard against a blow from Velrin who had closed the gap between them as she was avoiding the deadly projectile.

“Aura Shot but of Abyss Magic variant. So such a thing is possible, interesting,” Erin mused to herself.

Velrin proceeded to land blows after blows without giving Erin the opportunity to catch a breath. Although Erin was cornered, that was only in hindsight. Velrin was good with swords but her technique wasn’t even as refined as Nivia’s. Once Erin deemed she had seen enough, she began to parry the blows. The confidence in Velrin’s face began to collapse.

[Sixth Sense activated. Danger detected.]

Erin widened her eyes.

At the same time, Velrin kicked her feet up, throwing a slice of dark energy at Erin. The dark projectile missed its target but took a few strands of Erin’s hair.

With her feet still in the air from the last kick, she stomped on the ground with all her might. The ground cracked with dark energy and spikes erupted from the ground, seeking its way towards Erin.

“You are fucking with me!” Erin yelled in her heart and jumped into the air. But the danger wasn’t over yet. She was immediately greeted with two Aura Shots of dark purplish color. Erin clicked her tongue and used Essence Flare to burn away the Aura Shots before they could reach her.

She landed back on the ground and cast a piercing glare at Velrin. “You are really trying to kill me.”

“I’m just showing you how much conviction I have. If you can’t even best me, I have no reason to follow you into a place that mirrors hell.”

“You have a point… but—” Erin blurred from Velrin’s view and reappeared less than five feet in front of her. “You won’t last if I get serious.”

Velrin stomped the ground and erupted dark spikes around her.

Erin clad her tails with Essence Flare and spun gracefully, disintegrating the spikes that threatened to decay her very being.

Velrin seized this window and thrust her swords at Erin as soon as her spinning came to a stop, but Erin stopped her swords using her tails, clad in Arcane Armor, as a shield.

This time, Velrin clicked her tongue and drew back away from Erin.

Erin followed her and unleashed a flurry of attacks at Velrin. The Corvas twin managed to receive and parry every single strike but it wasn’t something she could continue doing. Her strength, speed, and technique were no match against Erin’s. She understood Erin was just being lenient. That fact irked her to no end. She managed to trap Erin’s swing with the crossguard of her blades. She stomped the ground again and the ground shook with dark energy brimming from the cracks forming.

Erin murmured something and stomped her foot too. The dark energy seeping out from the cracks was dissipated by cyan flames also brimming in between the cracks. “Huh, what do you know, it works for me too.”

Velrin pushed Erin away from the blade lock and sheathed her swords. She splayed out her hands and a big magic circle of dark purplish color manifested in front of her palms. Javelins of the same color slowly emerged from the circle.

“Velrin! What are you doing? Are you insane!?” shouted Edmund from the sidelines. The others also began to yell at her to stop.

The markings on Velrin’s face spread slightly, Erin noticed. “Is that some sort of backlash from using Abyss Magic?”

“My bad, lady. I shouldn’t have held back against you,” Velrin said, a deviant smile crept up on her face.

Erin threw flames of Essence Flare at the circle but the flames died out before it could burn away the whole circle. “Too large to be burned… huh...”

“Witness the power of the abyss,” Velrin said and a flurry of javelins shot out from the circle.

Erin twisted her body a little and spread her tails apart, and that was all it took for her to evade the javelins. However, when she glanced back over her shoulders, the damages the javelins caused were nothing to jest about. It was also fortunate that no one was behind her.

Velrin laughed. “There’s more, lady.” Another set of javelins emerged from the persisting magic circle.

Erin sighed and dash straight at Velrin. Everyone gasped at her action with widened eyes, including Velrin herself. Erin clad her fist with Arcane Armor and Essence Flare.

Just as the javelins of darkness were about to be launched from the magic circle, Erin shattered it with a straight punch. A louder gasp from the audience ensued.

“Whoa, that was too close.”

Velrin dropped her jaws and slowly stumbled back away from Erin. Her eyes affixed to the Fox-kin in breathless amazement.

“Now I understand how you’re able to survive an encounter with the Razor Grizzly. Lord Hegan struck gold by hiring you as his guard. The applications of your skills aren’t bad and your technique is good. However, your reliance on your Abyss Magic is a little too much. What happens if your opponent is immune to Abyss Magic, what then?”

“There’s not a whole lot of monsters who are immune to Abyss Magic.”

“That’s not a zero, Velrin. And it’s The Singularity we’re going into. There’s no telling what kind of monsters we will be facing. You need a contingency plan. Do you have one?”

“My brain and my trusty blades.”

“Evidently, they’re not so trusty considering it failed to pierce my Arcane Armor.”

“You’re a Fae. It only stands to reason your spells will be strong.”

Erin sighed. “That is beside the point. If I was being serious and if I was wielding my main sword, you would have died.”

Velrin remained silent to those words.

“Well, anyone else would like to try?” Erin asked as she looked around.

The others only gave each other glances. No one stepped forward.

Erin sighed, again. “How about this? All of you who have yet to step forward, come at me at the same time.”

The gallery went into an outcry. Insults were thrown.

“The results are already obvious if it’s an individual fight but mayhaps the lot of you are able to impress me with your teamwork?”

“What’s the catch?” asked one of them.

“No catch. Come at me with all you got.”

“What if we hurt you? Badly.”

“Then I will say congratulations but we can talk about that once that bridge is crossed. As it stands, none of you here are capable of giving me a single scratch.”

The outcry became louder.

“Less rabbling, you lot. Just come at me.”

“You sure about this?” Velrin asked.

“Not really but… I am curious about my own limits. So, let’s do this.”

“You heard the Fae. Charge!” With one of them as the impetus, the rest followed, each brandishing their own weapon of choice at the Fox-kin.

****

Erin was a little worried about her victory prospects but those worries revealed themselves to be needless in the end. None of the children were able to land so much as a scratch on Erin. Their individual power wasn’t something to be underestimated neither was their teamwork but nevertheless, they couldn’t triumph over Erin and the Fox-kin herself knew why.

Erin stared at the children who were slumping on the ground, gathering their breaths. “I think I see the problem in all of you.”

“Oh yeah? And what would that be?” asked Edmund who was in worse shape than before. He had tried to sneak an attack on Erin but the Fox-kin caught him and gave him a good smacking, which was why he was lying on his belly instead of his posterior.

“Your over-reliance on your levels.”

Everyone blinked in confusion.

“Level is not everything. The growth of your mind and instincts are independent of your level. You have failed to lay a scratch on me because of your level dependence. You expect your level to be some sort of miraculous tool that will grant you wishes. You can have the sharpest blade in your hands but it will be worthless to you if you don’t know how to swing a sword.”

Edmund scoffed. “Tell that to the upper stratum of criminal organizations. Levels are everything to them. You can have the brightest mind but they will choose the most idiotic person in the room for simply having the highest level.”

“But we’re not making a criminal organization here, we’re going into The Singularity. High levels without the brains to complement it will yield a result no different than going into that place under-leveled. I believe my abilities are just barely enough to survive the dangers of The Singularity. If none of you here can even hurt me, how will you fare in The Singularity?”

Every one of them clicked their tongue in a self-deprecating manner.

“In conclusion, none of you here are ready.”

“Is that it? What about my brother? What about the pardon?” Velrin asked.

Erin smiled wryly. “You are mistaken, Velrin. I’m not the one granting your pardon. I’m merely the advocate. The court’s pardon is an exchange. Your service for this town in exchange for your freedom. They won’t grant you your pardon if you can give nothing in exchange.”

“So this all for nothing?” Edmund asked.

“I wouldn’t say that. Who knows, get stronger, and you might enlist your service with a pardon as your reward.”

The children began to whisper among themselves.

“Speaking of which, what about you, Velrin?” Erin questioned. “You don’t sound particularly concerned about your own name. Did Lord Hegan somehow pardoned you?”

“My crimes are not pardoned but as long as I’m under Lord Hegan’s employment, I am considered free of all implications.”

Erin raised an eyebrow. “How did he manage that?”

Velrin rubbed her fingers.

“Ah, of course.” Erin shrugged. “I assumed you have already made the same request to your employer?”

“Yes, I had but my brother committed a grave crime. The Ruvans are involved in the implication of my brother and they are certainly not swayed by gold.”

“Figures…” Erin sighed in her heart. A tinge of sorrow touched her heart. She saw the potential in all of them and she saw their convictions, and also their desperation. They hated their current way of life and they were giving their all. However, the results they produced were subpar. Erin wanted to help them but there was only so much she could do.

Soon, the time for them to take their leave had come. They all their lives and jobs to return to. Everyone left the place with downhearted gazes. It pained Erin to see those eyes but there was nothing she could do at the moment. She could vouch for them, persuade the court using her status, but in the end, the one passing the verdict was the court itself, not her. She didn’t think the court would be so generous to pardon them all, even though they were just children, without any benefits to gain from the act.

What’s more, Erin had her own problems to deal with. She believed one has no right to meddle in others’ problems if one can barely take care of their own problems.

“So much for peaceful sailing...”

Erin was about to make her return too when a familiar scent drifted into her nose. The pungent scent that had made her on alert during her journey from Green Scar to Maven’s Creek. She drew her saber and went into her stance. She glanced around, making sure all of the children had left. She surveyed her surroundings but nothing came into sight. Her nose, however, was picking the pungent scent clearly.

It was strange. She knew who it was and what they were capable of and liable to do. However, her Sixth Sense gave her no warning.

“I know you’re there. Show yourself!” Erin said out loud.

From behind the trunk of a tree near the riverbank on the other side, Kane stepped into the sunlight from the shade. His current appearance was a far cry from the last time Erin had seen him. He looked as if he had aged twenty years and his body was riddled all over with the Magic Relay rods. Blood wasn’t trickling from anywhere on his body but scars were abundant. Upon a closer look, his body was smeared in blood but it was long dried-up.

“What the fuck happened to him….?”

Erin quickly appraised him and found that he was still alive and his race remained human, although there was Enthralled beside his Alive status. His level was now twenty-five but the only skills he had was a level five Brawler, a level three Body Strengthening, and a level three Iron Skin.

“Today… I will have my revenge, Vixen!” Kane shouted in a hollow voice, his nails extending into claws.