-Eve-

Along the beach, I sat with Hollow. We traveled for a while before she suddenly landed on the ground. She kicked off the sand from her feet and hopped on a rock. There, Hollow perched as she gazed out into the ocean. She reminded me of a seagull now but I held my breath.

“So, are you going to tell me the fragment locations?”

I leaned on the side of the boulder.

“…Yes. There is a total of 3 of them.”

She then looked to the sky.

“As you know, there are 5 major countries. Hamel, Serio, Dela, Celo and, Darc.”

I nodded.

“Yep…and the Forbidden Bird destroyed the Hamel, Serio, and Celo Kingdoms. Now they are overrun by demons. Humans only have control of the Dela and Darc Kingdom’s now.”

Hollow stared at me with listless eyes. It freaked me out a bit, I can’t lie.

“We were in the Dela Kingdom territory…but now we’re nearing Serio Kingdom. Meaning a demon’s stronghold, Eve…”

She rubbed the back of her pale neck.

“The Ruiner who holds dominion of the Wails Fragment in Serio…is a man by the name of Vala, the Wallowing Bane.”

She then held her blade and tapped in along the rock. The noise vibrated over the ocean crashing near us.

“He will be a strong opponent I must face...”

She then leaped off the rock and did something I wasn’t expecting. Hollow landed on top of me and put her sword to my neck. There I lied on the sand as the ocean brushed in.

 

 

“You died when I went to face Exo-3 for the final time, didn’t you?”

“Eh…yeah. That crazy broad, Exo-4 stabbed me in the chest.”

“Have you no mana abilities to sustain yourself?”

I chuckled a tad manically now.

“Hollow, I’m useless at mana.”

She gazed in my eyes as she tilted her head.

“Why?”

“What’s the point of me aiding myself if I’ll come back anyway?”

“Hm…”

She then lifted her blade and before I could react, she stabbed my chest. I jolted in agony as she rolled off me and stood up, watching me suffer.

“What the hell, Hollow?! Gosh, I’m immortal but I still feel pain.”

“Stop sprawling about, pig!”

She then kicked me on the chest, furthering exasperating the pain.

“On this beach, you will learn the law of mana!”

She speared her sword in the sand. My breathing was becoming labored now.

“We are heading to demon territory. Meaning demons will kill you if they want and no punishment will be deemed as they are law…”

The fierce bird paced around me.

“If you are realized to be immortal then there will be troubles ahead for the both of us. I cannot allow you to run about causing havoc for me.”

I clenched my chest hard. That’s when Hollow brought to her knees and grabbed my chest. Heat pulsated from it; fire lit in her hand. The wound pained ever terribly until suddenly…it vanished.

“Huh?”

“I will teach you first aid using mana. That way you can heal deadly wounds.”

“…Hollow…”

“But first you need to learn the law of battle.”

 

 

Hollow held out her blade and put two hands on it. Suddenly, before my eyes, it split into two. They were smaller but resembled that of lightweight swords. That was the power of the blade, gifted by Wails. She then tossed one my way. I caught it…be it sloppily.

“What, you expect me to learn how to fight?”

“No, I don’t. I expect you to understand how I win.”

Hollow circled me, I watched her as she hawked at me.

“Overpowering your foe with your own mana is key to victory!”

She cried as she sparked her blade with mine. She didn’t put too much force into it. No, she wanted me to feel the surge of her mana go through me. This weakened my legs and I fell to the sand.

“When you oppress your foe with mana greater than theirs, they become unbalanced. It’s as if breaking their equilibrium.”

She walked over and held out her hand. I reached for it and she brought me back up.

“Everyone has a breaking point is. The stronger in mana you are, the higher the breaking point. The levels range from E-Rank…like you to EX-rank like me.”

She crossed her arms.

“When you battle you must constantly think about how high of rank the opponent is. Then from there, you overbear them with your mana.”

I chuckled.

“But if I’m an E-Rank loser, what could I do against someone higher than me?”

Hollow then gnashed swords with me again causing me to tatter back.

“Then you make them overbear themselves. That way they’ll break their own equilibrium. Like I did with Exo-4.”

I knocked back again.

“But how can I possibly do that?”

I swung back; Hollow held her ground as we clashed.

“For someone as weak as you…you feed them your mana.”

“Hm?”

“You, Eve, make them become unbalanced by overbearing them with too much mana!”

Hollow cried as she pushed back.

“Right now, I set myself to a max limit of mana. You need to force your mana into me and overbear me with it.”

With that, I pushed forwards. Hollow…the ever-powerful Hollow stumbled backward. Not because she wasn’t focused…no she was unbalanced by mana.

“Huh?”

She landed on her feet and fixed her stance.

“Of course, I only allowed myself to be unbalanced to teach you this.”

She held out her hand and brought my sword back into hers.

“Everyone has a mana breaking point. Once you realize that you aim to break them. The only two methods to break them are these…”

 

“1 – Overbear them with your own mana.”

"Or.."

“2 – Draw mana into them, forcing them to unbalance themselves.”

 

The bird held out her hand, causing the blade in mine to vanish and reappear in hers. I never saw a weapon like hers before.

“Once you understand this Eve, you’ll realize that even the weakest of mana can take on the strongest of users.”

Hollow reached out her hand.

“Now there are four elements of Mana. Fire, Frost, Earth, and Wind. By birth, we are blessed with one of these. Only by extraordinary power can we use elements outside our blessed one.”

Hollow lights her fire mana in her hand, mirroring the burning determination in her eyes.

“I am blessed by fire. What are you, Eve?”

I chuckled…but it wasn’t funny…

“I… don’t know, Hollow.”

"How do you not know what you were gifted at birth?"

"I... was taught that it was useless for me..."

Bitterness filled my mouth. How I hated...the past.

Hollow didn’t say a word. She just moved to me and held my head in her hands.

“Your mana is faint…like you barely belong in this world. It’s a little...unnatural, Eve…”

Her stoic expression gazed at me but in her eyes, I could feel something warm.

“But you hold the element mana Wind.”

“I do?”

“Meaning you can excel at healing mana…”

I laugh quietly.

“I’m no good at that stuff, Hollow.”

“Then get good.”

Hollow then jabbed her blade in my chest again. I flailed around like a fish as I cried out in pain. That shit hurt and I was so fed up with her doing it.

“Damn it, Hollow!”

“Focus all your mana to your chest. Cry out to your forgotten god and ask her to help you learn!”

“Cry out to Ave? That’s rich!”

I snorted. She wasn’t going to save me.

“Then if you lost all hope in your god…cry out to yourself. Have faith in something else you’ll never channel the mana you need to stop your wound.”

She paced about like a bird searching for food. As she scolded, her hips swung about. Hollow had never been this adamant about anything since I met her. She always seemed to be in her own world…why was she suddenly so focused on me being able to…protect myself?

I coughed blood. She didn’t say anything, nor did she look at me with pity. It’s like…

 

Hollow had hope for me…

Nobody has ever…

…Had hope for someone as useless as me.

 

“Help!”

I cried. Not to Ave…not to Hollow…but to me. The only person I could rely on...

“Help!”

I cried as the mana focused on my chest. My body felt cold because of the breeze that circled around me. The pain was unbearable.

“Focus, Eve! Your mana is escaping!”

Hollow cried out, causing me to redirect my mana...back to my chest.

“Arrg…come on…help!”

I cried when suddenly a burst of mana hit the infected part. The pain began to cease as I closed my eyes. Feeling my skin, the area was bumpy, but the pain was minimal. That was the first time…I successfully used mana correctly.

“You need work. So, we’ll continue this exercise until you get it, Eve.”

“No…I think I got-“

Suddenly that weapon pierced my chest again. This pain was terrible. Just let me die…

“Again! Channel that mana, Eve!”

This bird…will be the actual death of me.