Faded2Fate

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Walking forward in her trance-like state, Seraphina fixed her eyes on the undulating mass before her, the Maggot Prince. The grotesque behemoth creeped her out to no end, with its pale, segmented body glistening with a sickly sheen under the dappled sunlight that filtered through the thick canopy.

Looking at her hand, she frowned when she saw no weapon. Aella always used a weapon, whether a fan or her multitude of swords. Since that was the case, it was only natural for her to use a weapon, too.

Holding her hand out, Seraphina focused on her Mana, mimicking what she saw Aella do to form a weapon. Her inner light, a radiant power from within her, began manifesting in her hand. The flickering light quickly solidified its existence before starting to take shape.

The image of a massive hammer, double the size of her own tiny body. Next, she added on an impenetrable bulwark. Aella’s weapons never seemed to break, so naturally, her own couldn’t either. Along this thought process, the earth began rising to coat her new toy. With a forceful gesture, she coated the light-formed hammer with the world around her, giving it substance and form.

But this wasn’t enough. Something was missing. It didn’t have enough bite to it. As this thought crossed her mind, flames, dark as can be, erupted from her body and engulfed the earthen hammer in a layer of crackling fire.

As her weapon fully formed, the wind restraining the boss monster was released, and it quickly dashed forward while releasing a disgusting roar, trying to consume the little girl whole. In response, Seraphina met him, smashing her hammer downward while mumbling some unintelligible words.

Even Aella, who was listening intently, could make out a few words such as “Please die quickly” and “For my happiness.”

Not thinking much of the girl, the maggot took the hit only to instantly regret it, letting out another scream, this time in agony, before darting backward. The mark left by the hammer was ever-present and noticeable.

A slight smirk appeared on Seraphina’s face as she made her own forward charge, her hammer seeming to gain more power with each second it didn’t strike the maggot, only for her to miscalculate the distance needed for her strike, missing the Maggot Price by mere inches. The creature instantly lunged at her, snapping its jaws in a swift counterattack.

Her eyes widened as she failed to dodge in time. As quickly as she could, she forced a thin sheen of Mana to cover her entire body, which made the maggot’s jaws fail to pierce her, instead sending her flying backward.

Due to this, the maggot gained some confidence in attacking again, only for Seraphina to gesture with her hand, causing the land below them to shift and contort before creating a pillar and sending the maggot into the sky. However, this wasn’t the end, as the trees began to extend outward, suspending the thing.

With a glint of murderous intent, she unfurled her wings from around her body and flew upward, once again hitting the bug with her comically oversized toy hammer, this time sending it down like a meteor striking the earth, the result shockwave threatening to blow the others away if not for Aella and Magnus protecting them.

Landing shortly after in front of Aella, Seraphina gave the younger lady a toothy grin and a peace sign.

“I did it! Did you see Aella? I did it!” She cheered, her charisma stat immediately affecting everyone aside from Aella herself and Blair to varying degrees.

Aimi was noticeably blushing due to how cute Seraphina was; Grayson was somehow forcibly dragged out of his own world of reading and forced to pay attention to her, and Magnus also smiled lightly as if watching his granddaughter getting her first A+.

Blair was going to be proud of her daughter and end it at that, but as she saw Aella’s facial expression, which was a clear sigh of disappointment, Blair narrowed her eyes at the dust cloud.

“Seraphina… You didn’t get any EXP, did you?” Aella questioned with a sigh.

Glancing over at her System, Seraphina shook her head, “No wh-”

She turned around before she finished her sentence and saw the Maggot Prince rushing her down, causing her to block the attack and send it back flying. Unfortunately, her counterattack didn’t land properly, causing next to no damage to the insect.

Speaking of damage, the Maggot Prince was healing fast, even through her flames, which should bring its healing to a near-complete halt.

“Lesson number 2! If you’re trying to kill something, make sure it’s dead before you celebrate!” Aella shouted from behind.

Hearing what she imagined as a reprimand, Seraphina pouted. Her carelessness in getting her scolded by Aella irritated her greatly.

Entering another clash, the battle between Seraphina and the Maggot Prince quickly became a spectacle as Seraphina failed to get any more hits on her opponent. The imbalance of her crude weapon was becoming apparent, and the Maggot Prince had a clear advantage in the jungle, understanding how to move throughout the terrain littered with roots and such, allowing for a surprising agility, darting through the underbrush with an instinctive cunning.

As the battle raged on, Aella watched with great interest, taking notes as she observed not just of Seraphina but of the maggot as well.

“She’s growing impatient. She can’t utilize her abilities to their fullest because she’s putting most of her focus on maintaining that hammer. On the other hand, to think that gross bug could survive two of her full power hits and heal through her eternally burning flames.”

Without the Maggot Prince being able to do any meaningful damage to Seraphina, it became a game of how long it took her to hit the thing again and smash its brain to pieces. It wasn’t like the maggot was the only one adapting, however.

Aella watched as Seraphina slowly but constantly changed her weapon. Its sides became smoother and more controlled as the flow of Mana she used to maintain it lessened. The energy she had been wasting was being reined in during the battle.

Covering her mouth deep in thought, Aella was sure she heard the others around her talking, but she couldn’t properly make out what they were saying over her own thoughts.

‘Insane. Her movements are becoming sharper, and her control is becoming more refined every second. Is the system assisting her? No, it can’t be; I don’t sense the system’s unique signature when granting stats or activating skills. Her talent… Isn’t she comparable to those [Gods from the Void] from legend?’

Calling her a mere genius at this point would be offensive. Without any tutelage, she began creating her own style of fighting and mana utilization in a single battle. If not for Aella’s thousands of years of both practical and theoretical knowledge of combat, she was sure that Seraphina would succeed in passing her up in just a few years.

As that thought continued, Aella failed to restrain her maniacal smile. Luckily, she hid the lower half of her face with her hands. A distorted sense of euphoria was overtaking her.

‘If the Divine Council learns of her existence too early, they’ll no doubt try to brainwash or kill her… Like hell, I’ll let them have their way! Not again! From this moment forward, I formally vow to protect you and your family from any harm that may ever come your way.’

She once again vows to protect someone from the Divine Council for what she has failed to do in the past. Aella wasn’t one to fail twice. But it was still too early to reveal everything.

As little as she cared about hiding her true identity, if Seraphina were to learn of the greater expanse of their universe so soon, it could affect her growth. For now, it was best for her to take things 1 step at a time.

Faded2Fate

A bit on the shorter end. This chapter was deceptively hard for me to write, so that's why. I'm very used to writing characters who are highly skilled in combat, regardless of whether they're strong, like Aella, or weak, like Lucy, the protagonist of my other novel. Writing the inverse of someone who is very strong but extremely unskilled was a fun challenge and I hope the chapter came out alright.