Stahlia, Twelve Years Old, Third Month of 948

“Miss Stahlia, would you kindly fall into the depths of despair?” My vision tinged red and I howled. The man, no the demon in front of me grinned vilely.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” I lunged at him, but all I had was my old dagger. He stepped aside and allowed me to sail past him before tumbling down the stairs. Winded and dazed, I forced myself to stand back up. Something hit my back and sent me sprawling again. Something large. Looking over, I saw that Count Francois, or rather, Five had thrown Jacqueline at me.

I saw stars and felt the veins in my head throb. Then a brief moment of relief as she coughed blood. She’s alive! But not for long. Not with a hole that large in her chest. But the sight gave me hope, and hope helped to clear my head. Fuck me! I hope this isn’t too late! Cold Hearted, Anger off! Following my mental command, my anger went out. After all, my opponent was the King of Wrath.

Me getting angry would only play right into his hands. He would make me his unwitting thrall, and all my actions would only serve to benefit him. Hopefully turning off my anger would be able to undo that ability, otherwise, I was fucked. As my shoulders stopped shaking, I was able to painfully stand back to my feet. He looked down at me, his own rage and fury writ on his face.

“So we shall do this the hard way.”

With that said, I expected that I was about to get burned, literally. That did not happen. Instead, he clapped his hands together, “Twenty-Three. If you would, please show yourself.”

A young girl, about six-years-old, stepped out into the room, “Yes Mr. Five, what can I do for you?”

She had black hair, tied up tightly in a bun so that it would not get in her way. Her skin was a pale white, and she was dressed in a mini version of Jacqueline’s field uniform. But what stuck out to me the most, what made my heart leap into my throat, were her eyes. They were a pale bluish-silver. A very rare color in this kingdom, I knew of only four people who had them. My mother, myself, Felicity, and, “Ros..ial?”

The girl, my sister, looked down at me and cocked her head, “Sister? Nope! I don’t have one of those!”

Her voice, for all the world, sounded like a cheerful little girl’s should. Just like how I imagined Rosial would sound had she not been stolen away. For a moment I dared to hope, dared to think that there was nothing wrong with her, that she hadn’t been tortured and forced to do unspeakable things. But her words rang in my ears. ‘I don’t have one of those!’

I was glad then, that I had turned off my anger already. If I had left it on, the rage I would be feeling right now would be all-consuming. From there, it only got worse, “Twenty-three, would you please… kill yourself?”

Rosial gave a short nod, “Ok! If that’s what you want!”

Flipping a dagger out of her sleeve, it did a revolution in the air before she caught it such that the blade was pointed towards her. Without hesitating she brought it down towards her throat and pierced clean through. A fountain of red erupted out of the wound splattering down the stairway, closely followed by Rosial’s body. A wet thump punctuated the impact with each step as it went along before sliding to a halt. Five’s grin widened.

I was more than glad that I had turned off anger in advance. Likely, I would have passed out from sheer wrath. Instead, I was filled with pure hatred. Hatred for Five, that he would dare take my sister from me. Hatred for the gods, for dragging my soul into this world and their damned game. Hatred for myself, for letting myself fall for his tricks.

That wasn’t Rosial. My eyes confirmed it; looking with my divine eyes, I could see that her mana was wrong. It wasn’t the mana of a person but the mana flow of a monster. The light of mana in a human followed the circulatory system after all. As I watched the homunculus’ mana fade as the puppet died, I shrugged, “That’s a decent trick… but that’s not my sister.”

Five’s smile vanished from his face and he waved his hand sharply. Some of the black flame flew off his fingertips and engulfed the body of the monster, burning it away until there was naught but ash, “Very well, you caught me. We are short on time, so we will need to be going now, girls, catch her.”

His voice was low but carried throughout the room. From a myriad of hiding places, more Rosial’s came out, until there were dozens of them about the place. My gaze fell on Jacqueline’s body. She was still breathing but she was clearly unconscious. Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes. Empathy, off. They were going to take me somewhere, that much was clear. Whatever their plans were, it was a forgone conclusion that if I let them then I would never escape.

Fleeing was my only option. Fleeing would mean leaving Jacqueline to die. It would mean having to fight through, harm, and kill copies of Rosial. Granted, they were monsters. I knew that, but that didn’t mean I would be able to do it without hesitation. Looking down at my wrist, I saw the bracelet that Dominic had forced on me. The lock was firmly in place, so removing it should be impossible.

Fear, off. Without the fear towards the action, I was able to enhance my other arm and grasp the bracelet. Ripping it off my wrist broke my thumb and degloved my hand. It was excruciatingly painful, and I screamed in agony as my skin fell away. With it gone though, I was free to use chanted magic.

“Oh Light, your child is in pain and injured. Soothe their wounds and grant respite. [Illuminate Healing]” Even as I chanted, I darted straight towards one of the Rosials and stabbed it through the heart. Well, where a heart would normally be, what I had actually punctured was the monster’s mana crystal. For a Doppelganger Homunculus though, that was enough. Without the source of their mana, the body quickly decomposed.

My hand tingled, as the spell took effect, and I looked down briefly at my handiwork Illuminate Healing was a basic White Magic spell that drew on the Light Element to ease pain and close wounds. It wasn’t able to repair damaged tissue, so my thumb was still broken and my tendons remained completely torn. In short, my hand was still useless, but a layer of skin had grown over it so at least I wouldn’t bleed to death.

A more advanced spell would take too long to chant, and I didn’t have a potion on me at the moment so I was shit out of luck in that department. Still, all the bits are still there, so all I’ll have to do is cut the skin off again and use a better spell once I escape. That was easier said than done though, as even though these were only copies of my sister, they were still monsters in their own right. Literally.

Putting them down wasn’t easy, and there were about fifteen more of them in the room. Thankfully, my reinforcements were inbound. Stil came bounding into the room, and though he cast a fearful look at Five, he leaped right onto one of the Rosials, slicing her femoral arteries as he did so. Well, that would have happened had she been human. The doppelganger didn’t have that weak point though, which caused Stil to pause and stare at the lack of blood in mild confusion.

“Stil! They’re monsters, neck or heart!” At my shouted command, he lunged back down at the monster he had pinned and severed the throat by clamping his beak shut on it. As the monster bleed out he bounded off towards another group of them. Suddenly, a tingle passed down my spine, and I whirled around to see Five eyeing Stil.

I didn’t need to see the future to know what he was planning to do; he wanted me. He didn’t need Stil. Darting forward, I positioned myself between the two of them. This action went contrary to common sense, but I was confident that that asshole wasn’t going to risk hurting me. I could not afford to lose my backup, but thankfully I had the perfect hostage.

My gamble paid off, as Five snarled in anger, “Fine! Have it your way! [Black Flame ###### #####!]”

Pointing his finger towards the door, my heart sank as I saw a jet of black flame erupt and seal off my escape route. I still wasn’t going to go down easy though, and I proved that by eviscerating another Rosial that had tried to pin me down by jumping at me in a tackle while calling out, “Stalwi! Up!”

He’s even using her memories, the bastard! Still, I was fighting without that pesky thing called Empathy getting in the way, so I merely leaned over the crippled monster and stabbed straight into its mana crystal, even as it tried to cry out about how much it wanted its mommy. But what the hell was that spell!?

At this point, my knowledge of the magic language was pretty damn extensive. I could easily hold a conversation in it if I wanted, and very few words still escaped me. But I had only caught two out of four words of the spell’s Keyword. Black Flame… Well, that’s what he’s coating his hands with. It’s really damn destructive as well, seeing how quickly it burned that doppelganger corpse to ash. The destructive force wasn’t the scary part though. The truly terrifying aspect was how he had Talent Cast the spell.

No wonder he hides his mana well enough to avoid divine eyes. He’s a caster for sure, and he probably glows like a goddamned Christmas Tree. While I was trying to estimate Five’s power level in comparison to Sitri, another three Rosials leaped at me in unison.

These tried to encircle me, but I wasn’t about to let that happen, “[Ice Spear!], [Frozen Blade!]”

The projectile of ice pierced the first through the mana crystal in an instant. Ice projectiles weren’t the fastest moving but at this range it didn’t matter. The Frozen Blade spell, on the other hand, imbued my dagger with a coating of magic ice. The effectiveness of which was immediately demonstrated as I slashed at the second of the three Rosials.

From the cut across her chest, a layer of ice spread out. However, not just on the surface, but also on the inside. After a few moments, the Ice reached her crystal and caused it to twist and groan audibly before cracking open. That was enough, and she fell to the ground deceased.

The third one managed to catch onto my back, “Tag! You’re it! Heehee!” Fuck this! I stabbed backward over my shoulder and caught the creature in the eye, causing it to briefly loosen its grip. Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, I dropped my dagger and gripped her head with my palm. Momentarily further enhancing myself, I threw her forward over my shoulder and towards another Rosial that was sneaking up on Stil.

I hadn’t been watching but it seemed he was doing his part, as there were another three bodies lying around the room that I didn’t remember killing; also their throats were quite literally torn out, “[Whiteout!]” I Talent Cast another Ice Spell. This one created a localized blizzard around its caster. Normally, allies and the caster were not immune, but I had my Blessing of Winter that negated Ice Damage. Stil would suffer a bit, but his feathers should insulate him.

The Ice Damage wasn’t what I was after though, I wanted the side effect that reduced visibility. It would buy me a few seconds to chant a somewhat longer spell.

“Talent Experience has reached the required level, [Ice Magic V] has advanced to [Ice Magic VI]. New Talent [Winter Magic I] has derived from-”

I dismissed the notification, I didn’t have time for that. Though, this was the first time my Ice Magic Talent had actually leveled up. I wasn’t that close to the next level, was I? According to my memory, I still needed a little over a thousand talent experience to advance to the next level of that talent. The answer came to me a moment later.

“[Heat Wave!]” Five’s voice growled from the top of the stairs. The magic he invoked was pretty much the opposite of my [Whiteout], and was, therefore, more or less able to dispel the magic. What this revealed was a set of nine ice sculptures. The remaining Rosials had been frozen solid. Ah… right. In my haste, I had forgotten that by disabling my emotions I was strengthening my Ice Magic. It was also strengthened by [Blessing of Winter], so it was a little over three times as powerful.

That still didn’t explain how it had basically instantly frozen the remaining Doppelganger Homunculus, but it made sense if I assumed that they were already weak to Ice. Still, I wasn’t out of the woods yet, I still had a very pissed off Hell King in the room with me, and the only exit was sealed.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I suppose I will have to grab you myself. Do not worry, I plan to thoroughly take out my anger on you, at least until you finally do as your told.” His voice was actually quivering now, and he was stomping each step as he descended the stairs. It was a bit hard to believe how angry he was. For a moment, I briefly considered ordering Stil to throw himself at Five while I made a dash for the door. But that wouldn’t accomplish much.

Five could easily break Stil and still have all the time to cut me off. Even if he was a mage type, a pyromancer by the looks of things, he had proved his speed earlier. Stil, get Rupert. It was very likely that I was going to be captured now. There was one last card I could play, originally developed for Sitri, but it had never been tested. Besides, the cost of that… Even with fear turned off, I was still hesitant to field test it here. So I sent Stil away to go and inform Rupert what had happened. He was the best chance I had for eventual rescue, and informing him as soon as possible was paramount.

Suddenly, I sensed movement behind me and spun around while raising my blade. There was one other Rosial. Odd, I don’t remember this one. Oh well. Shrugging to myself, I brought my dagger down on its shoulder, piercing at an angle that would catch the mana crystal, “Stah…lia…?”

The girl coughed blood and fell to one knee. But she did not die instantly. Not like the others had. Not like the monsters. Behind me, I heard a laugh. Not an angry cold one, a laugh of sheer delight. No…! Snaping my divine eyes on as fast as I could, I saw the girl’s mana. Not suffusing her whole being from a central crystal like a monster. No, her mana matched the human circulatory system and was incredibly similar in color to my own.

“Well, have you checked yet? That is the real one, and you just killed her! Are you not thankful for the gift your goddess gave you now?” Stop.

“She recognized you, you know? At the very end.” Stop!

“If you had not used your skill, if you had hesitated, could you have stopped your blade? Then again, you would have been captured by now. But then, she would still be alive.” Remorse, off. I didn’t want to feel anymore.

“You should have done as you were told. I might have given her back to you then, but it is far too late for that now, so fall! Fall into despair and rise up reborn as the tenth! It has been prophesied!”

Five’s monologue was aggravating. I wasn’t angry. I doubted I would ever be angry again. I didn’t want to feel ever again. Love, off.

“Warning: Full Activation of [Cold Hearted] has serious risks. Please confirm action.”

Love. Off. So I would stop feeling. That was, after all, step one.

“Confirmed. [Cold Hearted] Full activation complete.”

As for step two…

I looked up towards five. My face was devoid of emotion. A noise resounded in my head, like an annoying buzzing of something far away. {Oi, wh.. the fuck! ..no…o don.. do ..at.} I tuned it out. Fixing my gaze on Five, I opened my mouth.

{Invoke Authority. Disconnect User}

My voice seemed to make the air itself tremble.

Valid Authority: {Divine Authority[Class Features]} Confirmed.

Target of Action [[Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas], Human[PB], 12y]

Disconnecting User Talents….Complete

Disconnecting User Skills….ERROR:[Unable to disconnect [Cold Hearted]….Complete

Disconnecting User Attributes….Complete

Warning: User Vessel is 4500% over its maximum mana capacity. Lifespan will be expended to maintain integrity.

What I had done was simple. It was so very simple. But it was probably something only I could do. The first law of magic states that mana could not be destroyed, only transferred from one vessel to another. It went on to state that the amount of mana in a system was always predictable and quantifiable.

The second law of magic stated that the cost of an effect was directly proportional to its strength and duration. Then, what was powering stats, skills, and talents? The answer was mana. I had noticed in Ang, back when I first got my Divine Eyes, that stronger people were brighter than weaker ones; Jacqueline was like a torch next to my own candle.

The other laws of magic were strange. They didn’t deal with mana itself. They only talked about spells. Chanted ones specifically. Only the first two laws mentioned mana irrespective of a spell. Why was that? It was a question I had been asking myself for some time now. I had finally arrived at the answer in Ris, when I first discovered my Authority extended to others besides myself. That was when I realized that the levels, classes, skills, and everything else were not just a part of the world. It was something that had been put in place and could be accessed and controlled.

But the system in question was inefficient. This could be seen easily with how much better Blood Magic was than other magic. When I was a child, I used Blood Magic to heat a bucket of water. Using the [Boil Water] spell had greatly tired me out though after I had leveled up several times. My own enhancements did far more for less than the enhancements made by invoking various buffing magic.

So, if the system was inefficient, how much mana was it wasting? The answer was a lot. I pulled up my status screen.

Life Summary Screen:

Life Point Balance: 27

Name/Age: Stahlia von Ris auf Drakas, 12

Gender: Female

Class/Level: ERROR

Species: Human (Pureblood)

Social Strata: Nobility (Baron Ris, Drakas Kingdom || Princess auf Drakas, Drakas Kingdom)

Starting Gift: Small Seed [LOCKED]

Title: Goblin Slayer*[Swap Title]

Ability Values:

•     Strength D: ERROR
•     Endurance B: ERROR
•     Dexterity SS: ERROR
•     Intelligence S: ERROR
•     Charisma B: ERROR
•     Mana S: 11,835/263

Fighting Style: Drakan Style* [Swap Style]

Talents 5/5: ERROR

Skills 5/5: ERROR

My basic information and mana seemed to be fine, but everything else was displaying an error. Still, this was somewhat expected. This had been intended to be my last resort. My final card to play when I was backed into a corner with no other choices. It hadn’t been something I was going to use here. Until I killed her. There was no point in continuing now, I had failed.

But I would at least be sure to take him down with me. That monster, no, that demon. Emotions were funny, with how difficult they made things, how they got in the way. With how I was now, I could see all the things I had been doing wrong with my magic. It was easy.

I wrapped my body in a layer of mana and then gave it the Divine Aspect. I was right, he does glow like a sun. Looking at five now, I could see how bright he was. The current me was able to see his mana clearly. Though that made sense, since I was now outside the scope of the world and he was presumably using a facet of that system to hide his own power.

Looking down at myself, I saw that I was brighter. Idly, I wondered at how much brighter I was. Pumping some more mana into my brain, I was able to accelerate my thought processes even further. Four times, no, five times brighter. I had roughly five times more mana in my current state than the Hell King before me. Crushing him would be a piece of cake.

I glared up at him. I wasn’t angry, but the glare would serve to let him know of my intentions. Extending an arm, I pointed a finger toward his chest. Speaking at this point was redundant. I was no longer bogged down with useless processes, and could freely manipulate my core, my essence. Still, I was most familiar with Ice. I willed the count to freeze.

He stiffened like a board, sweat was visibly dripping from his brow. He glared at me with a look of pure hatred and animosity, “[######## ## #####]” Without [Eidetic Memory] running, I wasn’t able to translate the words he spoke. It didn’t matter, the effect of them was plainly visible. His body was engulfed entirely in black flame.

It was a vain attempt to thwart my Ice. I simply added more mana. I could feel my limbs shredding, the mana circuits were complaining as they dissolved. None of that mattered. All that I needed to do was to freeze this creature. A Hell King would, invariably, return to the Nine Hells following their death. From there it was only a matter of time before they returned to the mortal coil.

But that was only if they died. Blood Magic, at its core, is magic of intention. What you will is what it does. You need only possess enough mana. I had known this fact since I was but a babe. The first time I used magic, I wanted to swat what I thought was a bug crawling on me. That will translated into physical enhancement. Since then, I had only gotten better.

As I was now, what if I were to will this cockroach be imprisoned forever rather than die? What if I did that while applying the Ice Element to my mana and spell? The answer was simple; he would be entombed for eternity in unmelting ice. It was only a matter of time until he ran out of mana, there was no way he would be able to best me.

I stood, surveying my handiwork. An ice sculpture in the shape of a burning man was resting on the stairway of the Claurence Estate. So long as it had mana it would never melt, and would repair any damage it suffered. Granted, that was not eternity, but the ice needed only to feed off the mana in the air.

My vision grew blurry and I swooned, but I forced myself to remain standing. I could not faint now, not when I still had something to do. Enhancing my legs and kinetic vision, I ran. Well, anyone who witnessed me would swear I teleported but that was beside the point. It took fifteen seconds to get from the Claurence Estate to the Francois.

I arrived at the scene of a battlefield and produced a sonic boom as my legs snapped. The shockwave of my arrival knocked aside several of the charmed knights, clearing a path to my target. Sitri stared at me, mouth agape, “How, how did you!? WHAT!?”

Giving no answer, for I lacked the time, I simply moved up to her. My mangled legs were held together with a simple enchantment that prevented the bones from moving too much out of place, while what was basically telekinesis replaced my shredded muscles. Gripping the succubus by her head, I smiled. Somewhere deep within my frozen chest, this act made me happy. I hated myself for that; why should I be happy to take revenge on this cunt, and not the man that caused the death of my sister?

There was no time for me to fret though; I would soon be dead. Gripping her head harder, I stared into her eyes, {Invoke Authority, Lock Classes. Restrict Attrib-} I coughed blood and lost my grip on Sitri’s head. Collapsing into a pile of broken flesh, I felt my spirit leave my body. So this is what death is like then. It’s less painful than I remembered. It was too bad Sitri got away from me, but I had still locked her classes, so that would make her a lot weaker. Hopefully, enough for Ferdinand or someone to take down.

★★★★★★

Wentee, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948

Sitting up in a panic, I clutched at my neck where… where my sister had stabbed me. That… That was my sister? Right? Memories were fuzzy and all jumbled up. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think. Looking around, I saw lots of the me-copies. They were all frozen and messed up, it made me a bit sick to my stomach.

Turning around, I saw Stali standing next to Mr. Five with a massive grin on her face, “Look Wentee! The witch is dead! The witch is dead!”

She started doing a strange dance in a circle around Mr. Five’s body. I should feel sad, Mr. Five was always trying to do what’s best for me… why do I feel… relieved…? “Congrats, Wentee.”

The voice made me spin around. Tracking to the source of it, I saw another me, though this one was still in one piece and not an ice statue. It laughed, “Ha, no, I’m not one of those copies. I’m you. Just like Stali is you. I’m here to say goodbye since you won’t be needing me anymore.”

That was plainly confusing, Stali was me? She was me? Clearly, this girl was me, since she looked just like me. But Stali looked totally different. There was no way Stali and me were the same person. After all, Stali was my sister. Just like Stahlia. Wait, who’s Stahlia?

“Stahlia is our real sister. Stali is just a fake.”

This new me was making me mad. I wanted to stab her, but without Mr. Five to give the order I wasn’t allowed to stab people. All I could do was argue, “No! Stali is my sister! I don’t know Stahlia”

The me shrugged, “Sure, whatever. Doesn’t matter much; we’re free now anyway and I won’t be around much longer. Hopefully, the memories don’t mess you up.”

As she spoke, she began to fade away as if she wasn’t there to begin with. Just as she disappeared, I felt a sharp pain in my neck, like I was being cut open. It knocked me to the floor where I rolled around while screaming for relief.

After several minutes, that pain finally stopped, but just as I was able to sit up, a new pain assailed me as memories. Dozens of memories came flooding back all at once. Memories of me killing people. Memories of the dark place. Memories of my family I didn’t know I had. Memories of my big sister Stahlia. The girl who killed me without killing me.

★★★★★★

Rosial, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948

When I opened my eyes, I saw Stali sitting on my chest with a soft smile, “So we remembered huh?”