A throne room lay in the heart of a grand, perhaps forgotten palace. The air was heavy with a melancholic stillness, a silence that was only broken as a young girl with resplendent hair awoke and shot up from one of the two thrones.
In a fit of uncontrollable pain, her body rag-dolled onto the floor as she started coughing up blood, only being able to recover her wits after several minutes of laying on the ground.
Slowly standing, she looked around. The walls around her towered with an imposing vigor, draped with legends past and myths that had yet to be created. The walls of this land had dulled with age, yet these art pieces were as bright and colorful as they could be. It was as if they were painted just yesterday.
Despite the pain she was just in, Luminastra couldn’t help but chuckle. She was half expecting to lose that fight, but she couldn’t imagine it would be because Aella had managed to decipher so much of her ability so quickly.
“Truly… She’s a monster… I was intentionally using my weakest abilities, yet she still managed to get an idea of how my [Essence Script] worked… Even if she wasn’t entirely correct, that’s just horrifying.”
Dim light filtered through stained glass windows, casting the room in a surreal, colorful gloom. Dust motes danced in the slivers of light, twirling in an eternal ballet of decay and beauty as Luminastra shuffled around, healing her injuries with mana.
Turning back to the thrones, a man in his late twenties was resting in much the same way that she was. His face was deformed. Black crystals that looked almost like fish eggs covered half of it.
“I have no idea why she wasn’t there in the past, but with her, I might just be able to save you this time, brother. In this run, I’ll make it to R’lyeh in time and save you. And then your wish to protect this world will be realized. I promise.”
Although she spoke to this man she claimed was her brother, he did not reply, just as she expected.
“Echo. The stage is set for you. I’m excited to see what you can do in the coming months during the [Second Great Calamity!]
…
“Did this bitch just drop an item?” Aella questioned as Luminastra’s body vanished.
Walking up to where her corpse once was, Aella was greeted by two things. The first, a titleless leather-back book. The second is a portal that leads who knows where.
As she examined the two things, her eyes twitched as no notification about her gaining experience or killing Luminastra appeared.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE I ALMOST LOST TO A CLONE!” She shouted in irritation, stomping her foot into the ground so hard that it cracked.
As mad as she was, she couldn’t help but admit that she got played. Clones inherently can only have a certain percentage of the original’s power, but the thought of fighting a fake never crossed her mind, thanks to Visiogon being very real.
“Status.”
=
Aella Rossi | Foxin | Adolescent Dragon
Title: Speedrunner | Achievement Points: 2200
EXP: 214,027 | Level: 55 | Stat Points: 0 | Skill Points 19
Dragon Slots: 1 used, 1 remaining
Dragon Core: Auilanthros Stormweaver | Rank: 3
Health: 14,123/79,500 | Mana: 7,777/155,000 | Stamina 9,561/18,999
Traits: 3 Tails | Whirlwind Maestra
Dragon Skills: [Dragon’s Breath] | [Electricity Manipulation] | [Water Manipulation] | [Wrath] | [Infusion]
Personal Skills: [Foxfire LV 3] | [Transformation LV 3] | [Charm LV 2] | [Blessing LV 1] | [Curse LV 1] | [Appraisal LV 1] | [Whirlwind Maestra LV 2] | [Advent Compass LV 1] | [Shared Consciousness LV 1] | [Mana Synthesis LV 1] | [Meister of Mana LV 1] | [Void Ancestor Art LV 1]
STR: 265 | DEX: 230 | SPI: 310 | AGI: 250 | MND: 85 | CHA: 170
=
Seeing her unchanged status only made her frown grow.
‘Ah, whatever! It was my fault for playing around so much. I’ll acknowledge that I had fun, Luminastra. I wonder how our next interaction will go.’
“Now then. What kind of trap did you set for me with this book?”
As she probed the book with her mana, it quickly became apparent that something was off with this book that Luminastra left behind as her spoils. Thanks to [Sylpheed’s Whisper], effects such as possession and mind control don’t affect Aella, so she was quite curious about what trick that girl was trying to pull.
Not to mention the notification about something entering her and being neutralized by Sylpheed earlier during the battle. She had much to do.
Idly grabbing for the book, her eyes narrowed at the notification.
|<You have obtained the [Records of the Seer’s journey!] Due to its nature as a spiritual item, it has been stored in your soul!>|
|<Notice: A foreign object has entered your system!>|
|<Notice: The Foreign existence has been neutralized due to the existence of a transcendent existence that resides in your body!>|
|<Notice: [Sylpheed’s Whisper] can only partially neutralize the effects of this item due to being mostly sealed.>|
The book vanished in her hands as Aella felt another change occur in her inner world. That was the third time in this battle alone. She wanted to check what it was, but returning to the others was more important now… And the only way to possibly return to the others was through the suspiciously placed portal.
Aella really played into her hands this time. She was lucky that Luminastra had no intentions of pursuing revenge, but she’d probably find a way out, even if that young cult leader did.
Taking a deep breath, Aella jumped through the portal, appearing on the other side, which was the spot that she had left. Before she had the time to examine her surroundings, a familiar deafening roar assaulted her senses.
“No rest for the wicked, huh? System; how much time is left on the pill effects?” She asked, turning her attention to the sky.
|<00:9:23>|
‘Shit. My stamina is already too close to half. I won’t be able to deal with the backlash if I enter a [Berserk] state.’
There, up in the sky, a dragon clad in black scales that eclipsed the sun fought viciously against three other draconic foes… Losing horrendously against the onslaught of the Knowledge dragon, Sagefeather.
Despite how he couldn’t do anything to the opposing forces, he fought on as if his life depended on it.
“Speaking of going berserk… WHY THE HELL IS SERAPHINA IN A BERSERK STATE?” Aella shouted, rushing over to the others who hadn’t seen her return until now.
Magnus stood there, holding Seraphina down with his shadow.
“Aella? You’re back! What happened to you?” Grayson questioned.
Looking at her bloodied and damaged clothing, Aella shook her head, “Forget about me. What happened? Why did Seraphina go crazy? She shouldn’t be this unstable when she’s so far from becoming a [Demon Lord].”
“Aella… The moment you vanished, she started screaming and tried attacking. If Mr. Magnus had not quickly subdued her, she might have hurt herself. What should we do?” Blair explained, worry painted across her face.
“After I left? I was the catalyst for this?”
As that realization came to Aella, her mind went blank. This didn’t make sense. It didn’t make any sense, no matter how much she thought about it!
She’s known Seraphina for a couple of weeks, but that’s not enough time for a genuine attachment to be born. Not one strong enough for her to go berserk from Aella vanishing. Even more so because Aella was careful to appear unbeatable in front of the young girl.
Even if that connection was strong enough, Seraphina shouldn’t have had any reason to worry about her.
‘Obsession? Is it because she’s young, or perhaps a side effect from being a [Demon Lord Candidate] that I didn’t know about? Is it perhaps all 3? Damn it. What do I do? If I had my 5th tail, I could easily snap her out of this. Do I knock her out? No, that might damage her sanity permanently. I can’t even more properly thanks to the effects of the Lunar Berserker pill…’
Her mind raced, and panic laced Aella’s face for the first time in this life. It was so bad that even the kids were able to notice.
“Okay, no, this is fine. Totally fine. Aimi, is your Dragon capable of regenerating stamina or Mana?” She inferred, deciding the best course of action.
Aimi was taken aback for a few moments when Aella asked the question but nodded.
"I...It's not that good, but Hoshi can regenerate both HP and MP every minute."
'No stamina regeneration... Figured as much. This certainly wasn't the reason I created that back door, but I suppose it's coming in handy sooner than I expected.' Aella sighed inwardly
"Okay. Listen. Aimi focuses everything on my recovery, Magnus holds Seraphina down and doesn't let her hurt herself, everyone else... Run as far away as possible. If you have time while running, make sure nobody gets close. Dealing with the aftermath of this is going to be tedious." Aella commanded, her hand starting to glow as she concentrated on her Mana.
“Eh? Why do we need to back up so far? Aella, what are you about to do?”
Sighing at Blair’s question, she approached Magnus and looked at him.
“You sure about this?” Magnus questioned, having a vague idea of what she was planning.
“Obviously.” Aella shrugged calmly, “And to answer your question, Blair. What do you think? Something really stupid because the day I make a smart decision is the day the sun burns out.”
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the chapter
tftc
In a fit of uncontrollable pain, her body rag-dolled onto the floor as she started coughing up blood, only being able to recover her wits after several minutes of laying on the ground.
Relatable.
“Did this bit*h just drop an item?” Aella questioned as Luminastra’s body vanished.
lol