Her mana is so large, she had the power to alter necromancy itself, that she successfully removed her submissive state and deciphered the magic that binds her soul to mine. Adelram's remark echoes through Vanessa's head as she struggles to sleep. Kris is already sleeping soundly on the bed in the previous room, and with only one person that can lie on it, Adelram had to rent two more for all of them to get a bed to sleep on, giving them the chance to rest well. But it clearly isn't the case for Vanessa, as she continues to stare at the wooden ceiling while pondering. She was able to alter sir Adelram's necromancy... Then, she must have some form of magic to find my parents. She placed her left arm on her forehead as she sighs, while trying to think of a way to confirm Anastasia's limit and to how she can ask for help. "[Status]." She mumbles, and a translucent, small blue screen appears in front of her.
⸢ DIMITRI, Vanessa Holderim
Age: 23 - Female
Level - 44
MP: 100/125 (+0.025/sec)
Stats:
STR - 28 MAG - 45
DEF - 31 MDEF - 36
AGI - 25 INT - 47
Class: Support/Mage
Element: Light
Status: Tired
New skill: [High Heal]
⸥
Oh... I didn't even know I levelled up. Vanessa stares at the new skill she had obtained while she rises from her bed, the cold air made her shiver slightly as she tossed her blanket to the side of the bed, revealing a dark blue nightgown that only extends until her thighs. The bed lies on the left corner of the room, while the window stands on the right, so the moonlight shines far from the bed. Vanessa stands up and steps forward to sit on the wooden desk chair basking from the light of the moon, exposing her skin and giving a light glow. Then she slouches and sighs, This skill won't even help me in my search for my parents. Even with a lot of things she's thinking of, seeing the silent street and the candlelight in the houses from the window calms her mind, she sighs again with how she wished everything would go back to how it once was. The place is so tranquil, she had completely forgotten that she still has her status open.
"Wow, those numbers are so low." Anastasia suddenly broke the silence, with her head leaning on Vanessa's right shoulder, staring at the blue screen. She's not even bothered that she's inside Vanessa's room, in the middle of the night.
"Kyaaaa-!!" Vanessa yelps as she falls down from the desk chair, making a loud thud, giving her a light concussion. She quickly stands up, fixes her nightgown, and asks, "What are you doing here?! Why did you look at my status?!" Looking back at the screen and realising it's still visible, she shakes her head in dismay, "[Status]!"
"It's fine! What's the point of telling it to anyone? I doubt that people would go heads over heels on you." Anastasia replied with a twisted grin on her face, "Besides, I'm already dead! It has no use for me." And starts laughing. But Vanessa grimaced and stayed quiet, while going back to the bed, giving the wooden chair for Anastasia to sit on. "Well, you're strong enough to alter necromancy, a little bit more and you could go back on breathing with us again." Vanessa answers as she watches Anastasia sit, but for her to remain silent is slightly giving Vanessa chills.
Vanessa's eyes locked with Anastasia, and noticed that her grin disappeared, "It doesn't work that way honey." Anastasia replied, "All my years left being alive, I was searching for a way to immortality, be it alchemy or magic. But alas," She sighs and looks away from Vanessa, feeling a bit ashamed now that she's recalling what she did during the time she was alive, "once you die, you die. Resurrection is not magic, it's something only the gods can do."
Vanessa remains silent, she doesn't know what to say now that she has proven her point about her information being leaked. She also realised that they're talking about her limits and knowledge about magic, so now's the best time to say it to Anastasia. "If you were already on your way to obtain immortality, then uhhh~~" Vanessa suddenly got nervous halfway, and Anastasia saw how she's fiddling with her fingers and avoiding eye contact. "I'm sure that you have at least some form of magic for finding people, right?"
Anastasia was impressed that she managed to continue, so she puts her hand on her chin as she tries to remember all the spells she had obtained through the years. "Something tells me that you are looking for something, or maybe someone." She leans forward and whispers, "Don't just stare at me like some creep, answer me."
Vanessa suddenly feels obligated to answer now that Anastasia's leaning in front of her, so she shrugs it off and simply answers, "Well, you really are a creep. No one just enters someone's room." She looks away again with her hands crossed and stands up to lean on the wooden table standing below the window. Her muffled sigh and her lowered shoulder made Anastasia stand up, patting her hand on her right shoulder.
"I'm just kidding! Hehe~" Anastasia replied with a big smile on her face, clearly trying to lighten the mood, while Vanessa did not move one bit, "You don't have to answer me if it's something only you must know." And she lets go of Vanessa's shoulder and steps back a bit, "I'll just go outside and look at the vicinity." She turns around and starts walking away.
Anastasia suddenly feels something slowly wrapping around her stomach, and hears Vanessa snivelling, pressing her face on her back. "W-will you p-pl-please?" At Vanessa's final attempt to make a request, she breaks down and starts sobbing like a child. Anastasia quickly faces Vanessa and hugs her tightly, "Shhhh, we'll find them soon." She starts stroking her back, trying to comfort her. It didn't take long before Vanessa calmed down, and she felt relieved that she finally found a shoulder she can lean on, even if it's temporary. Anastasia slightly pushed her away and smiled, "Now that you're okay," Vanessa was dumbfounded at how Anastasia grabs her shoulders and smiles weakly at her, "Huh-"
"[Slumber]." Anastasia's eyes glowed lightly as she quickly casts a spell that puts Vanessa to sleep, and carefully catches her to prevent her from getting any minor wounds or bruises on her fall. Heavy for a healthy woman, ugh~ She couldn't get the proper way to carry her without waking her up, so to make things easier, she casts the same spell she used on Kris earlier this afternoon. "Damn, you are one heavy girl," and proceeds to tap her forehead, "[Anti-gravity]."
Vanessa slowly floats away from the cold wooden floors while Anastasia walks away from her, she then reaches the door leading outside and waves her hand to control the spell casted on Vanessa. She makes sure that there's not a single sound when she puts her on the bed, "Goodnight, Vanessa." Her smile disappeared the moment she closed the door and faced the other way. A purple pentagram slowly glows out of the ground where Anastasia is standing, making the hallway dimly light up. It's time for me to do my job. "[Teleport]."
Anastasia lands on the guild hall's roof with one of her legs, then steps her other foot down, regaining her balance. And noticing that it's one of the tallest structures in the town, she's delighted that she's able to see all of the town's corners, which will help her with the night job she was entrusted to do. "Although I can't see the streets from far away..." She told herself, and decided to leap from roof to roof, to see anything suspicious that could harm her master.
"HELP!!!-"
She suddenly heard a scream on her second leap, and while she's mid air, she saw a woman covered with dirt being held with two hands by a man. Anastasia suddenly locked eyes with the woman, some of the strands of her long black hair sticking on her face due to the sweat so she can barely describe the rest of the woman's face. She wouldn't have to intervene, but she knows that it'll leave a bad taste in her mouth, even with the fact that they are nothing and would pose no harm against her master after all. So after her feet touched the other roof, she jumped off and landed a few metres away from the two. "Hey!" She interrupts the man who just raised his hand against the woman, his palm is almost as big as the woman's head, so she's sure that it'll leave more than just a bruise, "What are you doing?" She nonchalantly asks, as if she had done this a thousand times, and proceeds to hold the man's hand.
With the man flustered from his hand being held, he instinctively yelled, "NOW!!" And the woman he's holding quickly stands up from her place and stabs Anastasia below her chest, creating a squelch that echoes through the alley. It was too late for Anastasia to react, however she didn't falter and remained standing. The woman flinched in realisation that the knife did nothing to her. She looks up to see her face, and chills run down her spine, as Anastasia is quietly staring back. The woman bursts out laughing with another realisation that it wasn't flesh that she felt during the stab, even it made the same sound.
"Why are you laughing like that?" Anastasia asks, and throws the man she's holding like a pebble, she didn't even exert any strength to have him flying. The effortless throw made the woman flinch, and the sudden bones she heard cracking which follows a loud groan in pain leaves her trembling in fear, putting her in a slight trance and a strong regret of what they were doing. Anastasia strokes the woman's chin, and asks, "Is having nothing to eat be the reason why you must stain your hands with blood?"
"I-i, I... I have a debt to settle!" The woman exclaims, "I don't have anything left! So please! Please have mercy, I'll... I'll do anything! I swear!" tears start rolling down her face, and Anastasia notices that her trembling worsens. So she looked at her eyes and asked, "Anything?" She carefully let's go of her hand that's pressing down on the woman's cheek, while waiting for a response.
"Yes! Anything!" The woman instantly replied, you can see her purple eyes glimmer in hope as she wishes Anastasia would let her go, and she did. But now that she's seeing her grin as she steps back, almost as if saying her last wishes.
"What's your name?" Anastasia politely asks with an innocent smile, she didn't even turn around to face the man, she simply waves her hand to where he's lying down and casts, "[Enhance - Gravity]", a black circle with the spells drawn upon it appears on top of the man. Just as the man was about to wake up, the sudden surge of gravity crushed him. His scream of pain halts midway as blood splatters and paints the walls of the alley, including the woman's face before she can get to reply. Her hopeful eyes start to dim, and her smile disappears, although she still answers Anastasia's question, "I'm... Delaine, and I will become a slave if I fail to pay off my debt."
"My name's Anastasia, and I might as well make you one before they do, Delaine- urghkk!" Anastasia suddenly felt a strong mana consumption nearby, I can feel it, teleportation magic. She starts to hear Delaine panting, she turns around and sees her sweating profusely while choking as she gasps for air. The magical pressure's the one that'll kill her! Anastasia holds Delaine's shoulder to prevent her from falling. "I'm... I'm sorry for..." She gasps one last time before her eyes start tearing up, "I tr-ied, kill... ing, you."
"Shhhh," Anastasia places her finger on Delaine's lips, "Save that for later, for now close your eyes- Let thy Kingdom welcome another soul." and waves her hand below Delaine and silently casts, [Kingdom - Gate]. Then black mist starts to swallow Delaine, she's too lost in thought for her to realise what's going on, with her eyes half closed and her vision starts to blur, she simply closes her eyes as a final tear drips. With her knowing she has no power to fight, she doesn't have a choice but to entrust Anastasia on this one.
As the mist disperses, Anastasia turns around and looks up to see a strong mana trail of the spell. She narrows her eyes to observe where the origin of the spell is and why it must cause a mana depletion from the environment. From... No, now's not the time to guess, I need to see what fell from the sky. "[Fly]." With a simple command, her body starts floating from the alley's bloodstained ground. She looks up to go higher, and glides towards the spell, it didn't take long for her to reach the place. "It seems like... eh?" One of Anastasia's eyebrows rose and her eyes dilated to see two people lying on the ground, with the man wearing their peculiar clothes made her remind of a remnant of her past, "a crest, from Agonalefter." Anastasia tells to herself as she stares down and roams around the vicinity to see if there are people observing the two. "[Pandora's Eyes]." She had to cast a spell just to make sure that there really is no one, and with a confirming nod she descends from the air, thankfully, everyone's asleep. The click from her shoes against the rock tiles almost echoed on the street, it almost made her worried that each step she makes may wake someone up.
Upon inspection, there were some rocks on the man's right eye, and told herself, it must have been from where they were. She kneels down and inspects his face up close, her eyes narrowed as the rocks aren't just dust, they're embedded on his snow white face. She shuffles the man's silver hair and notices that he seems troubled by something, tightening his arms to the beastwoman he's embracing, it's as if he's protecting the girl from something. I'd be giving my master a burden if I were to take two more people. She sighs as she feels bad about leaving the in the middle of the street, yet alone in front of a cathedral. They might be treated as heretics if I were to leave them here, [Anti-gravity]. She waves her hand on the two and they begin floating from the ground, but the man doesn't let go of the beastwoman, and instead holds her tighter, making her bunny ears straighten and wakes up.
"AGYAAA!!!-" The beastwoman takes out an old hunter knife and starts swinging. Anastasia laughed seeing the beastwoman's robe flailing with her while floating mid-air. Soon after, the beastwoman's realises what she's doing and stop, her ears drop as her face blushes in shame.
"I don't know what your name is, but you shouldn't be sleeping in front of a cathedral, unless you want to be marked as heretics, [Spatial Augmentation - Storage]." Anastasia shoves her arm in a floating black mist that appeared beside her, and takes out holding a huge sleeping bag enough for the two to sleep in. "This sleeping bag used to be owned by my vanguard friend, he doesn't need it anymore so, here, go find a place where people won't see you." She waits until the beastwoman takes the bag.
"My name is Lapine..." The beastwoman replies, she looks down and chuckles nervously to see that she's still floating, "And uhhh, I'd like to get down please." She quickly hugs the man floating beside her in case the spell goes off without warning.
"That's a pretty name." With a wave of Anastasia's hand, they slowly go down on the ground, making sure that the man Lapine is holding won't have to be disturbed from his slumber. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you, Ms. Lapine, I hope we'll meet again, [Teleport]."
"Please wait!! I haven't asked why your whole body is black and what your name is!-" Lapine quickly covers her face from the bright purple light, and with her knowing that the woman will be gone once the light dims, she sighs. I really wish we could meet again. She thought, as she began to gently lay the man down so that she could prepare their place to sleep. But with nowhere to stay, she decided to set the huge sleeping bag on the alley beside the cathedral, out of plain sight. Luckily, there's no one accompanying them in the alley, so she knows that both of them could sleep soundly at least just this night. After placing the man inside the sleeping bag, she wriggles in to lie down beside him, and smiles gently, thinking about what that woman did, thank you, black mage. She told herself, and slowly closed her eyes that were staring at the clear night sky.
It didn't take long for the sun to rise once again, and the dim light began to shine through each roof in the town. People quickly fill in the empty streets to start their businesses, and open their shops. With the noise outside, Adelram quickly wakes up, with his half conscious mind as gets out from bed. He looks at the mirror and the first thing he notices is his messy hair, so he begins to fix his hair and cleans his face, making sure that he'll look presentable for the eyes of everyone. "[Cleanse]." He casts a simple spell on himself and feels the warm magic that removes any dirt in his body. Now that everything is cleaned, he turns to his left and sees his bag lying on the floor just beside the door.
"Anastasia." With Adelram's waving hand, a pitch black circle big enough for him to fit appears in front of him. And smoke starts to disperse out of the circle with some traces of magic within, followed by a black hat and a smiling face slowly rising to greet Adelram. Anastasia bows lightly and waits for his command. "How's the night?" He sits back to the bed and crosses his legs with high expectations.
"For starters, nothing happened last night." Anastasia looks at him and smiles, "Although... Two people appeared in the town out of nowhere." She sits down beside Adelram, and shrugs off the thought, leaving Adelram smiling in curiosity. "Well? Continue." With a simple command like that, Anastasia sighs due to the fact that she didn't get the reaction she wants, and continues speaking, "Also, this... [Kingdom - Gate]." She waves her hand and black mist starts to emanate from the ceiling, and Delaine falls down.
Adelram remained silent to observe Delaine, but he's ready to pull his shortsword against her if she did something suspicious. And with her waking up from the pain of the impact, Delaine rubs the back of her head to alleviate the pain, and she slowly opens her eyes, "Where am I?" she asks, turning her head to look around and realise that the sun had already risen. She starts panicking the moment she remembers that today is the final day of her debt, "N-no! Today... today is my-" Adelram takes out his blade and points it on Delaine's neck to shut her up, he looks genuinely surprised that she's more affected by her debt than being in front of a man she doesn't know. "Why did you take her? Who is this?" he asks, but Delaine knows it's not a question for her to answer, but to the black mage as she turns her head to see her smiling.
"Her name's Delaine, master." Anastasia replies, "I see her potential in magic, and the determination in her eyes that I have not found in years. So I think it is best to take her in, however..." She slowly turns her head to Delaine with a disgusted look and a long frown, "She has a debt to pay off."
Delaine looks back at the man who's pointing the sword against her, and realises what was going on, if he's the black mage's master, then for sure he would be stronger than her! So she drops her head to the ground and begs, "Please... help me from the debt. I'll do anything, anything as long as I don't get killed." Her eyes start to moisten to hear how desperate she is to cling on to her life, even if she knows that she won't get any help whatsoever.
"What?" Adelram throws his blade and turns into mist, "Why should we help you? Who are you to seek help from us?" Adelram stands up from the bed and passes through Delaine, reaching to the other end of the room without batting an eye. "[Spatial Augmentation - Storage]" Adelram casts, as black circle forms beside him, he takes the bag that's lying beside the door which he prepared last night and throws it in. He turns around and looks at the woman, who's in tears like a child who broke her toy. Why would Anastasia drag someone into this? Yet alone pay for her debt. He sighs while looking at Anastasia with disappointed eyes, but she's looking back shrugging as if it's not her problem.
"I'm pretty sure you know what you're getting into if you'd be asking for help from someone like me." Adelram looks at Delaine's purple eyes that suddenly shines with hope mixed with worry. "Would you mind showing me your status?" Adelram asks firmly, clearly telling her that she's not in a position to refuse. But Delaine just delays the inevitable, as she looks at Anastasia first only to receive a nod with a smile, telling her that it's okay to show it. So she sighs, and chants, "[Status]."
⸢ MAERDRYM, Delaine Bleu
Omvias Empire
Age: 22 - Female
Level - 24
MP: 75/75 (+0.010/sec)
Stats:
STR - 19 MAG - 32
DEF - 35 MDEF - 37
AGI - 23 INT - 26
Class: Battlemage
Element: Dark
Status: Confused, Scared
⸥
"A battlemage, however..." Adelram is speechless seeing various potential in her class, even after seeing that they are of the same element. However, his eyes clouded with anger seeing what he thought he wouldn't see in the place he's standing on, which made him take his shortsword once more, and point it at Delaine, "Tell me one reason not to kill you right here, RIGHT NOW?!" He didn't care even if Delaine was already backing off from fear, and he started seeing flashes of the bloody sight of his home getting burned eleven years ago. The guilt starts crawling up to his back as he remembers the faces of his friends, their eyes filled with fear as their bodies get cold. Tears start rolling down Adelram's face as he remembers what the one who he calls mother, lying motionless with mud on her face, only meant that she had her attempt to run away. He dropped his sword and he fell on his knees, as he remembers everything as if it just happened yesterday.
Delaine noticed how she's shivering from Adelram's anger, and how immense the pressure is in the room, like what she experienced before she passed out, at the same time it feels different from what she felt last night. There's something wrong with... him. She looks at Anastasia to see if she knows something, but she only sees her kneeling down, with her eyes empty, grieving with the man in front of them. "I uh, I don't know what the empire did to you... But, b-believe me when I say I'm different."
Delaine fell on all fours the moment she felt a strong beat that pulsated through her body, not this again... why can't I breathe!? She thought as she slams the ground. But before she passes out, she at least wants to see Adelram, if what she said somehow got through him. So the moment she lifts her head up, she sees all the disarrayed energy around him are now in sync, as if she's looking at a beautiful black tree that stands above all, Adelram's dying hatred reignites. The chaos in his darkness, now a still, empty void. "You're different?" Adelram's question snaps her back to reality, and she passes out.
