I quickly set up an Ether-negating barrier over the alley, ducking as one of the people surrounding me flung a dagger at me, narrowly avoiding it. It's likely that all their weapons have been coated in poison, a single hit might be all it takes to kill me. This is bad...including the woman who'd tricked me, there's eight of them surrounding me right now. The odds are heavily stacked against me, I have absolutely no margin of error here..."How troublesome, it would seem as though we can't use our Magic," Remarked one of them, as they circled around me."It's not a problem. This is just a minor inconvenience, it's no great obstacle.""You know, I'm starting to feel kinda insulted!" I snapped, forming a ring of Ether around me before rapidly expanding it outwards towards them while narrowing and sharpening the edges of the ring.Some of them managed to duck under it, while the rest sprang above it to dodge the attack, several knives coming flying in towards me from multiple directions
Point-of-View: Lilac Lero———————————————————————————"Damn it, I miss To," I sighed irritably, feeling restless and impatient."Yes, I know, you've been saying that every single day, multiple times a day, for the last month. I'm sure he'll be back soon, try thinking about something else in the meantime," Responded Iris as she gave me a pat on the head."Don't patronize me, you stupid gorilla...""...just this once, I'll let that slide. But only once, got it?"Yeah, whatever. Today's the 15th of August, 505 PA, and we were currently on our way to the capital, Rosnoir City. There had been an immense spike in the number of Monsters around the capital, attacking around the outskirts of the city. Which is very unusual behavior for Monsters, they tend to dislike hunting in unfamiliar territory. Though, from what we've heard, they're not hunting, they're just attacking and killing without really eating the people they kill. Which is even more unusual and unnatural for Monsters. Even smal
"Too slow. Come on, I know that you can do a lot better than that," Remarked Ifeus, before firing a telekinetic blast at me.I quickly countered with an Ether-negating wave, before firing a barrage of swirling Ether spheres at him. As my projectiles closed in on him, he vanished from sight, before I stiffened as I sensed him reappearing behind me.I began to fire out a shockwave of Ether from my body, before I found myself falling as he swept at my legs with his right foot, tripping me over. My left shoulder hit the ground with a painful thud, as I let out a weary groan..."Come on, man, give me a break...I haven't eaten anything in almost two full days now, and you only let me sleep for like two hours last night. I can't fight like this, I'm completely drained," I complained as I tried to catch my breath, my stomach rumbling and my vision blurring."Oh, don't worry...I'll let you have some food and a bit more sleep tonight. But there's still a few hours before night time, so we're no
Point-of-View: Lilac Lero ———————————————————————————"Thank you for coming, we really appreciate the assistance," Smiled the Guildmaster of the Praepotentia Guild, a grateful look on his face."Don't mention it, we're all on the same side here, so it's only natural that we help each other out when necessary," Replied Iris politely. "Yes, of course, I completely agree."Hah, yeah right. Pretty sure this guy used to mock our Guild in the not so distant past, guess him showing genuine gratitude like this despite his previous attitude towards us means that the situation here must be pretty dire.After Sapphire wiped out all the Monsters around the capital in the direction we'd come from, we entered the city and made our way to the Praepotentia Guild. We came across a Goblin on the way in, I used Forced Tame on it to confirm that these Monsters are being controlled by someone with the same Class as me. We then arrived at the Guild shortly after, and there were a lot of people here, wit
Point-of-View: Iris Lero———————————————————————————"Damn it, there's just no end to them!" I snapped, as I slashed off a Monster's head with my sword, before rapidly extending the blade towards a Monster barreling in towards me from the right, piercing through the top of its head and splitting its skull open as I swung my blade up while continuing to extend it out.I then whipped my arm across, the blade slicing across several flying Monsters and bringing them down, before I began to spin around as I sensed a Monster springing up behind me.As I turned around, a massive blast of flames came shooting towards the Monster from its left, eliciting a deafening roar of pain from it as the flames enveloped it and set it ablaze, its agonized roars soon fading as it got burnt to a crisp."I know you probably had that under control, but you're welcome regardless," Grinned Rex, beads of sweat running down the sides of his face, before firing out a scorching wave of flames from his mouth at a g
Point-of-View: Iris Lero———————————————————————————I began to point my blade at the Dragon as it raised its arm up, before I lowered my weapon in surprise, as the Dragon... "No, wait-...!" Began Lilac, before abruptly trailing off as the Dragon plunged its claws into its own throat, killing itself.Blood gushed out of its neck as its body went limp and collapsed onto the ground, sending tremors across the area as blood poured out of the deep gash in its neck, pooling around its head."Wow, uh...that was hardcore. Wasn't expecting that from you, Lilac," Remarked Rex in surprise."N-no, I...that wasn't me. I linked with the Dragon using Thought Communication and managed to free it from the control it was under, I was going to set it free after that. It was in a frenzy and immensely enraged, even though I managed to establish a telepathic link with it, I couldn't get it to listen to me. I think it thought that I was going to take control of it instead of letting it go, and it chose t
Huh...? What's going on? Everything's dark, and I...I feel so drained and worn out. I can't even open my eyes... Wait, who...who am I? I...I can't remember. I can't remember anything. My head, it...it feels so foggy and cloudy... . . . . "...-42 and subject 43. You're up next."Huh? Whose voice is that? A memory? But it's unclear, I can't see anything-... . . . . . Huh? Is this a different memory now? It's unclear again, everything's so blurry...but I can just about, vaguely, hear what's being said to me in the memory... "You defiant little-...! Cooperate or die, we can make good use of your corpses if you prefer!"I...I don't remember this, but it...it feels familiar, the emotions welling up and taking over my senses, they feel so...so painfully familiar. I can feel a sense of immense fear and blinding rage surging inside me... . . . . . "It's no use, the result is a failure after all...how frustrating, we were so close too!"Another different memory. I-I can feel
"That...that sounds like a fake name. Is that a fake name? It's a fake name, isn't it? Yeah, it's definitely a fake name. What's my real name?" I frowned suspiciously. "What? No, that's your name, I swear," He responded with a shake of his head, firmly meeting my gaze with an earnest look in his eyes.Hm, I don't think he's lying this time...I mean, if he was capable of lying this effectively, I wouldn't have caught on to his initial lies to begin with. And since he's refused to tell me about my past, there's no reason for him to lie about my name, he could've just refused to tell me if he didn't want me to know what it is. But, seriously? That's my name? Topaz Oriole...it sounds kinda, I don't know, pretentious? Like, overly unusual or rare names feel sort of...gauche. "So, I take it you aren't going to explain anything to me?" I inquired, as I glanced at the man warily...he said his name was Ifeus, right? "Oh, not at all, I'll answer any questions you may have. Well, besides any