The sword Scathach gave Rem was a simple double-edge model. It was just leather-wrapped wooden grip attached to ordinary steel blade sharpened until it glinted murderously at a mere reflection of light. All in all, it was only a well-made blade.

But if you asked Cytortia, in the three seconds which Luxinna Drakokia first wield it, the sword got elevate into something magical.

Scathach's eyes lit on fire. Only Satholia knew what spun inside the badger's head at this point.

Rem knew the strike was coming, making Luxinna snapped at him as part of the plan. Psychological wounds only started healing if the patient acknowledges they existed. But his rhythmically executed plan didn't count the skill behind the sword that about to cleave his head open.

Such was the artistic majesty Luxinna's sword draw. The proficiency behind the blade was only a step below divinity itself. The arc compacted all aspects of speed and footwork neatly into a single grief-fueled motion. She was wild and untamed, but the hours and passion spent to perfect that slash evolved the blade-work into another league. It wasn't perfect. Inexperience and gaps remained, but what imperfection remained only enchanted sword beyond any artificial perfection.

Rem gave up defending. An attempt to eat that attack was nothing less than suicide. His only survival hung on fueling his magical enhancement into full evasion maneuver. 

The elegant sweep barely misses, taking off a few strands of his hair. Rem miserably rolled across the ground before getting up. His soul still trembled as the lantern of demise flashed past his eyes. After using an instant to calm his adrenaline, Rem drew a series of throwing blades from his belt and flung them at Luxinna. He could no longer coast this fight. One more blunder and he would surely die.

Luxinna managed to parry two magically enhanced knife out of the air, but three slipped past her guard and impaled her knee, ankle, and shoulders.

Luxinna grunted from the pain.

It was a moment of distraction that sealed her defeat.

Rem closed in, power filling his body. He slammed his fist into the elf's stomach. Luxinna gasped, her body bending over from the force. Not wasting the opportunity, Rem grabbed the girl's sword-hand. Magic strengthened his muscle as he pried the sword away. Without missing a beat, in a desperate gamble fueled by panic and fear, Rem clenched his free hand into a fist and swung an uppercut right into the unprepared elf's face. The hay-maker sent Luxinna flying up in the air and landed on the ground with a crunch.

Behind him, the sword impaled itself on the ground, signaling the fight's ending.

Rem exhaled. His shoulder slumped in exhaustion.

Then a blonde missile hit him in the face with a punch.

"You brute!" The goddess in green grabbed the boy by the throat and shook the dazed Rem like a pillow. "Who taught you to sucker punch a girl like that? Is that uppercut necessary? You inhuman monster! Deviant! Sadist!"

Meanwhile, Scathach checked on the elf girl.

To the badger surprised, the girl managed to pick herself up. A trail of blood trickled down her lip. Although shaky, her thin, underfed leg was far from giving up.

Scathach looked at the girl.

"You can't win," the badger said.

"Shut up," the elf struggled past the badger. "I have to kill that guy."

"No, you can't," Scathach said. "As flawed as he is, that bastard will win."

"You don't know that," Luxinna gritted her teeth, trying to stumble past Scathach. "I will shove a sword down his mouth! Just wait and see."

"That is possible," Scathach confirmed. "You are way ahead of him in technique, but that's not the point. The point is that you lack desperation." 

The elf stopped moving, and Scathach continued.

"I trained him for only a week. His talent is average at best. It only took me to see your forms to know that your talents surpass his by miles. And I guess you work hard with what little you have too."

Scathach looked at the wide-eyed elf with a sympathetic gaze.

"But Rem has something that makes him downright dangerous: an ideal. Unlike you, who wait for an impossible miracle, Rem fight to prove a point. The type like him will never lay down and accept defeat. In his world, people like him strap a bomb to their chest and blow themselves up to win. You can challenge him to a fight, but that bastard will either die or win. For him, death is preferable to defeat."

The badger looked at the hopeless elf in her eyes.

"Luxinna Drakokia, what is your ideal? That majestic blade-work wasn't born from something shallow. What exactly hones your sword to that degree? You must have one too! The reason for which you stand up! You can live in the past all you want, but the desires in that sword live for the future!"

Luxinna blinked. An image of a little girl stumbling as she tried to copy the family guard come to mind. A drop of tear streaked down her face.

"An ideal..." she whispered blankly.

Suddenly, the earth shook.

The shower of dirt rose into the air as the ground exploded.

...

Cytortia and Rem got tossed to the side as the ground flipped over itself. The goddess landed dazed and confused. As for Rem, he was still gathering himself from the hay-maker.

Pieces of earth large enough to crush a man flew up into the air as cracks rippled across the ground. The soil groaned, rebelling against gravity in plumes and choking the air with a cloud of dust.

The badger somersaulted across the air and landed the Back Mercy. She tapped the van twice. The van fold, shrinking into a portable black disk in a cascading movement of alloy. Scathach looked for Luxinna and groaned. The elf had already run away.

Then a deep guttural roar grabbed the three's attention.

From the ground, emerged a worm the color of blood. Its counter-rotating teeth whirled in the sound that made chainsaw looked cute in comparison. A forest of purple tentacles burst from the worm beast's chitin-cladded back. A putrid, acidic liquid dripped from the slimy limbs as the worm screeched in a thunderous roar that shook everything standing.

The abomination of nature rose to the height of a Ferris Wheel and looked directly at the two dolts lying on the ground.

Cytortia's face twitched as both the worm's presence and the stench hit her with the speed of a truck. The goddess courageous stood, trembled, and shouted her war cry.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIEEEEEEE!"

Then she ran. Her arms waved high, tears of fear gushing as she fled cowardly, praying an unceasing string of pleas for any miracles that might listen. Her speed somehow surpassed even Luxinna. Without a doubt, mortal dangers were excellent catalysts for a future Olympic athlete. 

The worm ignored her and turned toward Rem. The boy studied the creature and briefly considered the prospect of getting a braver friend in his next life.

The worm growled and spewed out a waterfall of steaming green acid.

 Before Rem had the chance to list his life's regret, a brown animal rushed between him and the flood of death on all four.

Scathach erected a barrier of red light against the liquid-dousing. A massive explosion of acrid steam ensued. The badger grimaced and erupted in smoke, filling the air with a charcoal mist and smell of burnt rose.

A lean figure emerged before Rem.

"You go after those idiots," the figure's voice was way more feminine than a badger. However, despite its feminine charm, the tone of the voice resembled sparkling water inside a meat grinder. "I will handle this."

"So that is your true form."

A woman with brown hair resembled honey badger's fur stood in front of him. Despite being no taller than 1.6m, the woman made up for her size with a rock-punk fashion of plated blouse, spiked biker jacket, and a black jean.

She gestured at Rem to move before summoning several spears, which impaled itself into the ground as a makeshift barricade.

That moment Rem ran to the hill, leaving Scathath to go to war with the tentacles.

...

Unknown to Rem, Cytortia was an expert at running away. She ran at the speed that could dumbstruck a fully grown cheetah. Her years of living under a thumb of maniac seniors honed her raw marathon-power to the point even a nymph fleeing from love-struck god would bite the dust.

"Aunty Artio! The giant earthworm will eat me! Help! Master! I am sorry for being a hassle, but I don't want to be ground into- ack!"

The blonde goddess yelled the same message over before tripping and wheeling comedically in the air before impaling the ground at high speed. Her body continued to somersault across the dirt a few more times before stopping with a crash.

She twitched twice before getting up. She briefly held back her tears, but she let it all out as she ran.

"It hurt! Help me!!!!!! Ack!"

The girl managed to stumble a few more times, but the goddess of clumsy girls would surely protect her...maybe.

Hopefully, she will be okay.

...

Although she was much slower, Luxinna was no slouch at strategic retreat either.

Three years hunting in the forest did not go in vain for the malnourish girl. The elf agilely leaped over the root of a massive tree. Her footsteps flew across the moss-covered branch as she scrambled away from the disaster zone. Tears streamed down her eyes.

What exactly pushed you to practice your sword-form like that?

In the cover of massive canopies rising to the sky, the girl's feet glided across the ground. She continued running away from a phantom of grief that slowly caught up to her. Her shabby and worn clothing fluttered as she vaulted over another root and landed in a shower of grasses. 

Spores of light around provided her some comfort but didn't fill the void.

You must have one too! The reason for which you stand up. 

The voice of a badger echoed in her ears.

She finally stopped and cracked her fist against a tree. Blood diffused from her knuckles from the recoil.

In that despair, the chilling air of the forest draped comfortably around her body like a heavenly embrace.

Why am I so frustrated?

Luxinna asked herself, but only an image of a girl kneeling in front of the beautiful waterfall came to mind. That pristine place where a twelve-years-old cried her heart out until a cheerful voice calmed her mind, ensuring her that a brighter tomorrow existed.

Her leg guides her toward her destination.

Maybe her answer was still waiting for her.

...

Ways behind those two were Rem.

Unlike the earlier duo, Rem's motto was never panic. Even if his heart was going ballistic, he had to pretend everything is under control by any means.

Means such as checking inventory.

"Swizz-army knife, compass, uncharged telephone, and twenty pounds," Rem looked at his pocket.

It was hopeless.

"I can't catch them up for sure," Rem whispered to himself.

That was the moment the worse motivational speaker ever visited.

'Maybe Luxinna already got done in,' a familiar brown hair boy peeked at him from behind a tree. 'Cytortia has the cure with her, doesn't she? So I guess Paracis Corrupter can't get her at the moment. But Lux-"

A throwing knife hit his face and continue to impale the trees behind him like he wasn't there.

The younger Rem guffawed.

'I am an illusion, you idiot,' the boy taunted. 'You can't do anything to me in the real world! You self-loathing, jobless-'

Rem ignored him and ran.

He was a terrible runner. One could say that watching a three-legged dog running away from a bus was better than seeing Remus Breaker fumbling toward his goal on foot.

...

Back at the starting point, an epic battle raged.

Scathach twirled a spear in her hand, cutting apart any tentacles in her range. In one fluid motion, she snatched another spear from the ground and started rotating both weapons at a tremendous speed as a makeshift shield. Scathach moved around with her spinning barriers with like a circus performer. She danced, nimbly circling away from the shower of caustic green acid while slicing creepy tentacles coming after her body.

Unable to pierce her defense, the worm opened its maw and charged at Scathach with its mouth wide open and its gross counter-rotating teeth spinning like the world's largest meatgrinder.

 Scathach timed the worm's attack with anticipation.

She waited for the golden opportunity before throwing her spear into its mouth and leaped on the worm's exposed back as it dove into the previous location. The brunette warrior ran along its infested spine, cutting the purple flailing tentacles down with each step before launching steam of fire on its back for good measure. As a testament to her skill, not a single black fluid landed on her body in that minute of exchange.

Scathach sprang away from the beast, pirouetting twice in the air as she reached the apex of her jump.

Below her, the worm squealed as the fire licked its skin. Its putrid tentacles laid on the ground, spewing black fluid after her carnage.

Scathach flashed a toothy grin, whirling her spear and taking aim. Her magic surged, surrounding the spear in condensed mana and glowing runes.

With a yelled, the warrior threw at the spear worm at speed clocking at Mach 5.

"[Land of Shadow Spear Art: Manic Impact]!"

The attack landed true obliterating the worm, crushing its fresh, and snapping its chitin as if someone dropped a mountain size anvil on the back. The impact's pressure slice the monster in half, sending acidic blood splashing everywhere.

Yet, the worm did not die. The severely injured corrupted let out a roar of pain; its body glowed red-hot.

"Sorry, I know about your self-destruct," Scathach grinned with joy as she floated in the air. "[Delay Spell: Explosion]."

Inside the worm's stomach, the spear Scathach threw into its mouth early in the clash exploded in a wave of fire. The explosion tore the beast inside-out, finally killing it and drenching the area in a sea of acidic blood.

A newly summoned spear impaled the acid-soaked mud, followed by a woman landing on the spear's hilt without ever touching the acidic ground.

"Creepy little thing," Scathach said in disgust. "To think the Paracis got something like that... Well, at least it made a good appetizer."

Suddenly, something easily comparable to the worm in size exploded behind her, waving its tentacle and three serpentine head.

"Good grief," Scathach mused. "To think that it also took over a hydra. Sorry kid, this will take some time."

...

"What is this?" said Luxinna in disbelief.

Once upon the time, this place was a waterfall of serene beauty. Spores of light would float in the air like a band of rejoicing fairy. Beautiful flowers grew on it bank like the earth's blessing. Chalk-white stones would pave the bank of the crystal-clear spring in an image of a paradise. The water vapor from the waterfall would float in the air, turning it into a comforting mist.

But now one large pulsating bud sat on the waterfall. The once clear liquid was now a bubbling poisonous green. A forest of purple tentacles emerging from toxic pool now encroached the pristine white bank. The flowers had long died with this sanctuary beauty.

Luxinna choke as the toxic spores filled her lung.

The Paracis Corrupter screeched with joy as a group of polluted tendrils struck Luxinna.