Cordelia stared up into the stars. Constellations lined the pitch-black sky, imaginary lines of light connecting them and forming a disorganised yet beautiful picture. There were no clouds to block the sight, leaving the stars bare to her crimson eyes. It dawned on her how close stars seem yet how far away they are in reality.

      Astrologists have observed for centuries how the world above was so unimaginably huge that it was simply outside human comprehension; a world so huge that it was simply impossible to explore it all. And then the stars; spheres of such magnitude and energy that they could shine and expose themselves to us so far away. Yet, even they would die one day. They would die in a burst of colours and passion, but they would die. Temporary. Everything is temporary.

      For some reason, her thoughts wandered back to the trio from the Alemann Republic. She remembered the tightly-knit bond between them, an unbreakable link that would stand until the end of time. Their laughs, smiles and happiness were all that she could think of; it was a deep contrast to Cordelia’s deep red hue of a mindscape. Wherever she stood, she could only bathe in their blood, like a persistent parasite which never let go.

      It stuck and crawled on her skin, making her spine shiver uncontrollably.

      She didn’t know why she was thinking about a heavy topic. Maybe it was about her parents. How they died. When they died. Why they died. No anger or rage showed itself in her cherry irises which glowed in the darkness of the night. Over the years, she had never moved on, the scene replaying itself over and over again and fuelling her seemingly endless hatred. The burning in her chest which had simmered down before would return to the furious firestorm of wrath that it was before. But now, when she thought about the temporary state of life, it was like a bucket of cold water had doused out her flame.

      That’s right. They would die one day. So why am I angry? Why is she angry? Is it because those people took her parents away from her? But that would be selfish. And she can’t be selfish towards her parents. Is it because she can no longer enjoy the presence of her parents? The praises? The family dinners? But then… that would be selfish. And she can’t be selfish towards her parents.

      Selfishness. Greed. It is the root of it all. Even she, who had convinced herself to be conducting this journey of revenge for the selfless purpose of avenging her parents, was still selfish. So, to not be selfish, should she not take revenge? Is that right? Yes, maybe she shoul-

      Boom!

About a mile away, a huge explosion occurred, sending plumes of smoke coiling into the air. It blotted out the brightness of the moon, making Cordelia’s eye’s narrow. Her radical spiral in principles was shattered as her attention was pulled away.

      Likewise, Chloe woke up from the sound and saw the towers of smoke, the dark orange glow unmistakable. Using her abilities, she was able to sense vague emotions and thoughts, something that she used frequently to survive in the palace.

      “Big Sister! Can we go save them?”

Cordelia was surprised by the blonde’s outburst.

“Why?”

Agreeing right now would be detrimental to themselves. There wasn’t any reason for them to aid strangers and would just drain their energy instead. Additionally, she was still recovering and she had no weapon. It would be questionable if she could make a difference in the first place.

      She received a lip bite in return, the girl’s face sour.

“It’s those 3 brothers and sisters.”

Having been around them for a day, Chloe could recognise the trio’s magic signals from anywhere.

“…alright… Let’s go then. But we can’t stay with them after.”

      Cordelia had wanted to make it up the girl, her pleads to stay still fresh in her memory. She carried Chloe in her arms and soared across the trees, her feet only touching the branches for a second before boosting off, momentarily applying Enhancement Magic on her feet each time, a smart way to save mana. It had to be said that instantly casting spells like that and forming the spell circle each time was very hard. Systematic Magic was considered the faster brand of magic, yet Cordelia’s cast speed exceeded normal standards.

      Boom! Bang!

More explosions rustled the forest, disturbing its inhabitants. Cordelia ran faster, hoping to outpace the demonic beasts that were most certainly attracted to the sounds. If there was no hope for a quick rescue, she could only bite her lip and run away; it all depended on whether or not it was a fight between humans and demonic beasts. If it was just humans against humans, it could be difficult to determine who she should save.

As she arrived at the site of the battle, another explosion rocked her world as she almost stumbled on the last branch. Ash and fire were the only things she could see, with clashes of metal against metal being heard behind it. Not enough. There are monsters with metallic weapons too.

      “Chloe, what’s going on?”

Mental Magic was quite a wonder. Chloe had the uncanny ability to sense out presences by brain activity alone and could even tell their emotions to a lesser extent.

“Hate… desperation… anger… sorrow?”

She had done as Cordelia had asked but as soon as she did, a tsunami of emotions and thoughts flooded her head, making it ache and throb.

“It’s definitely people fighting against each other… it’s 3 against 10. We need to save those 3, Big Sister!”

Managing to squeeze those words out, Chloe slumped her head on the swordswoman’s back, panting with laboured breaths.

“Stay here then, Chloe. I’ll be back.”

      Ignoring the scorching heat and ash that whipped in her face, Cordelia ran through the inferno without a change in expression. Whenever it was necessary, she pushed through walls of fire with bursts of mana. Cordelia wanted to make this quick; there was no need to prolong this and she only did this to calm down Chloe. After all, saving other examinees like this gave no real advantage to her.

      “Hold on!”

“Eldrich, I’m running out of mana!”

Three familiar voices entered her ears as she tore through another towering wall of flames, only to witness the same three people she had left days ago, outnumbered and outgunned by another group of people. Wounds riddled their tired bodies as blood was spilt freely, their faces going pale from blood loss.

      Eldrich, Abelard, Mareike… Cordelia had still gone unnoticed as they were all in the daze of battle, unaware of their surroundings. It was made worse by the ambient temperature that caused them to be dizzy and discombobulated at times, reaction speeds lagging behind. Each time they breathed, it was like breathing in fire as their lungs burned and heaved in protest.

      However, it wasn’t like they were losing badly. The other side was equally exhausted and weary, their steps more like trudges through the mud. She decided to take this into her own hands, dashing in and picking up her former comrades and running away. She didn’t want to engage in combat so early as it would just irritate her injury.

      Of course, her opponents wouldn’t let go of her so easily. They had committed to this fight and would follow all the way through; otherwise, all the mana and effort expended would be for nothing.

      “Cordelia!”

Eldrich was shocked at the turn of events and tried to wiggle his way out of her grip as he fell out. Mareike was barely conscious at this point while Abelard was injured. Cordelia said nothing to reply, the situation too tense for her too.

      A hastily created Domain spell was erected and Cordelia was now trapped within a box with 10 other examinees out for her blood. She could break it, but that would mean dropping the two in her arms. Eldrich wasn’t enough to defend her and it was already hard enough carrying them all alone but to pick them up again would waste seconds. Valuable seconds.

      Jumping out of the way of a fire lance, she gritted her teeth as the edge of it skimmed by her right side, sending burning pain up her arm. I can’t keep this up much longer. The close combatants were closing in, spells at the ready. I’ll just use that again.

      She threw her last explosion seal right at the moment when her opponents pounced, combusting in their faces and sending them flying away. It bought herself time which she used to break the Domain spell using a Counterspell.

      “I’ll support you from here. Run, Cordelia!”

She widened her eyes at his statement before leaving with a grim face. But there was one factor that she forgot about at that moment as she was panicking.

“Demonic beasts…”

A pack of Hellfire Wolves stood before her, their quadruped legs coiled and ready to leap at any moment.

She was caught in a catch 22. Unless…

“Big Sister!”

How could Chloe stay still after seeing the Alemann triad? Utilising her Mental Magic, she shut down the brain functions of several of the wolves before she staggered, a sign of backlash. Mental Magic is not omnipotent. The brute force attacks that Chloe was using before can be blocked if the target has a stronger will and intelligent demonic beasts were strong in this regard.

Cordelia cursed under her breath, running to her side to catch Chloe who had fallen from the branch… leaving her back open to the wolves. The head honcho, the pack leader, who was substantially larger than his fellow wolves, seized the chance and sprang forth, his maw wide open. Veins of red and orange could be seen trailing across his fur-less body and throat, making it all the more intimidating.

In a twist of fate, the wolf was skewered from below by a spike made from stone, magma-like blood spewing out and melting the ground around it.

“Abelard…”

He was being carried by Cordelia backwards, meaning that he was looking behind her. He may be injured but he wasn’t unconscious yet.

“I’ll leave… the rest to you.”

Or so he should be, but he used the rest of his energy on that last earth spell to defend her. Abelard fell limp in her arms.

The alpha was not yet defeated, only mortally wounded. Sooner or later, the wolf would die of blood loss but that didn’t mean he couldn’t maul them right now in his death throes. Chloe had gone pale as she clutched her head, trying to ease the migraine that ravaged her mind.

“Grab on to my neck!”

“We can’t leave Big Brother Eld…”

She obstinately refused. Eldrich was still back there holding the group off, though he would be trounced any time now.

❈ ❈ ❈ 

vaexis

If this seems a bit rushed, that's because it is. Tbh, I've been having trouble with the Entrance Exam arc due to writer's block. I'm going to try and finish it in 2 more 'full' chapters if possible. It's the reason why my updates have been so sparse these days.

      Have a nice day.