*Clash* – Two moonlit blades clash with each other and the balance is set in between. But they don't stop just because of that tie, for the battle has just begun. Stepping forth by his left foot, Yahra suddenly flicks his sword upward, also opening up an open space right in front of the opponent. Different from that golden-haired guy, Yahra doesn't catch him at first yet thrust that left fist forward.
*Thud* – Slower than Yahra for one pace, the stranger had to block that strike instead of parrying. And that moment is just too generous for Yahra to catch the blade mid-air and slash it down as the death penalty.
*Clash* – Unfortunately, the blades meet each other again, for Lional has parried it right in the hair's breadth. Despite his shaking right arm, he still launches a kick to force Yahra to move backward one step. And by that drawn gap, he can get back the proactivity by redirecting that kick into a strong step forth – twisting himself to the left for a full-swung slash from the right side.
*Clash* – However, it would only be possible if he could really do it faster. Via a swift flick, by setting his blade under Lional's, Yahra could redirect that slash upward with a much less powerful move.
*Thud* – Driving a left hook straight at Lional's ribs, Yahra brutally grabs them straight with his five fingers. A quick throw, Yahra follows up with a fast dashing slash aiming directly toward that flying target.
*Splash* – Despite the fact Lional has already used his sword to block the slash, there's still somehow a deep wound almost splitting from the left shoulder to right hip. At this point, they're both far away from Alan's boat. Such a better place to actually fight.
*Fsh* – Bursting Ignite to recover himself quickly, Lional was the first one to touch the ground. Within a step, he dashed backward while Yahra's slamming down with another lethal strike. Faking by a parry movement, Lional then quickly turns back since Yahra's already aimed for his back at the start.
*Splash* – Unfortunately, Lional still wasn't able to block that strike even with his prediction. Yahra is faster, fast enough to stay at another level compared to the prince himself.
Letting the blood flow, he doesn't even care about the wounds, "Why have you been closing your eyes since the start?"
Yes, that's right. Yahra at the start has always been keeping his eyelids closed for some reason. At this level, sensing movements by Aura and five senses is just a common work. Yet, in this case, it's nothing but disrespect to the opponent.
"Should I feel offended?" – The prince asks.
"You're not strong enough. You aren't ready for the power of these two eyes in a death battle." – Without any hesitation, Yahra gives him no mercy.
"We'll see then."
*Splash* – Within another step, it's the third time that Yahra speed blitzed Lional, and those moments are even within seven seconds including the dialogue. The gap between them is just too overwhelming. No matter how fast Lional was, his opponent just simply became faster than him just in a step.
"So pathetic." – Yahra speaks up.
*Splash* – Another slash has been launched, "If you haven't unlocked the secret power of that gem blade, you aren't able to be considered as a challenger. You are a creep, no more, nor less."
"As you wish." – Determined by that declaration, it's been a while that Lional hasn't used these moves for their nature. Those blades aren't called "Gem Blades" just for fun. Each of them was forged by a legendary smith, for different materials, they have their own unique power sealed inside the blades. Rokugatsu means "sixth" and "green" via homophony. It's the sixth blade in the collection, empowered by moonlight during *Ethereal Night centuries ago.
*Ethereal Night: When two moons accompany perfectly in the sky, the gate to the world of dream will appear.
And in this event, the moons are synchronized with the light cyan light – standing for the magical appearance, enchantments and the illusional miracles. Yet, after exactly fifty years since the fifth blade had been forged, that legend started forging the sixth blade. For the miracle that's even more unbelievable in that era – Aetherium. There's no record these days that actually tells people what happened back then, yet, they are still aware of the hidden power inside that blade.
To mention about the number six, there are six hidden moves sealed inside that blade of emerald night. Primordially, the legendary smith didn't carve any of these into the blades he forged. For more context, the first masters of these gem blades were those who left these treasures to the next generations.
Six-Moon Sword Art – First Move:
"Moonbeam." – After sheathing the blade, he draws it at the maximum speed to throw a moonlight slash forward. This move focuses on nothing but speed, attack speed and accuracy.
*Bling* – Yahra tried to parry it, yet got fooled by his own eyes. At the moment the moonlight was deflected away, the true blade had already come close to an inch right in front of his pharynx. Dodging it in a hair's breadth, Yahra steps back on his right foot, just to throw a counterstrike immediately after that.
Six-Moon Sword Art – Second Move:
"Half-Moon Cleave." – Lowering his knees and spreading his legs, Lional instantly dodges the strike and gets into a low stance. Following his movement, a semicircular arc-shaped slash has been thrown out to those two legs of Yahra.
And because it's a strike performed in Lional's low stance, Yahra only needed to jump up slightly to dodge the entire attack with ease. Then driving the strike upside down, Yahra aims straight to that head of the target. Theoretically, if Lional chooses to reply with another slash right now, it will never be fast enough to parry the strike or damage the opponent. Yet, he still has the second slash hidden.
*Clash* – The second move allows him to throw two same slashes with different angles and phase shifts that's adjustable based on the user. That's why there's an open space right in front of Lional, for he didn't move a finger to parry but head on attacking instead. The true lethality is that it can't be realized by Sight nor Zone – a true hidden blade itself.
*Splash* – For the first time, Yahra has gotten a wound in this fight. As he said, Lional has already become strong enough to be his opponent at the second move. This isn't the consequence of being off guard, Yahra was truly surpassed within those slashes.
"Your subjectivity will kill you if this continues." – Lional warns his own opponent.
"It just can't." – Approaching with a sheathed katana in a reverse grip and a normal stance for drawing out the blade, Yahra swiftly pushes the katana and the sheath forth.
*Clash* – Parrying the counterstrike of Lional, the blade is now set diagonal, higher on the left side. As predicted, Lional saw him draw out the katana, but he's instantly distracted by that left hand movement. Instead of holding the blade, Yahra flipped it by the left fingers mid-air, then moved his hand even faster than the sword. Until the sword hilt was held again, he grabbed it normally.
*Splash* – Faster than anything, even Lional couldn't react to that speed, Yahra has again drawn a deep wound on that body of the prince. In a sword fight, arms, hands, torso, eyes and legs movements are the signals for the opponents to predict the next moves of one sword user. Instead of using the word "distracted," we should use "too focusing" instead in that case. For the strange left hand movement, Lional chose to focus on it instead of the general movements of Yahra. Consequently, by lowering his stance by stepping forth one and buckling the knees, Lional was left no chance to react.
Non-stop, Yahra again dropped his sword mid-air, letting it rotate once by the previous inertia made by a small finger touch. He aimed the sheath perfectly to put the katana back on the cover again. And by synchronizing his two arm movements at once, he thrust the weapon straight into Lional's solar plexus – sending him flying away as lightning tore across the air. If you wonder which these attacks are, just don't bother them. They are only included in Yahra's freestyle movements. Which means Lional isn't worthy for the first move of Yahra's sword art.
"You can flee."
"I deny." – Grabbing Rokugatsu while standing up, Lional has used his secret power from now on. Flowing around himself is the crystalized cyan Aura covered by light yellow sparks, this is the blessing of heaven – another kind of Holy Aura.
"Holy Candidate, seems like you are the third prince of that empire." – Yahra still doesn't open his eyes, but the evidence that the katana was drawn out at the point no one knows is just enough to show his evaluation to this swordsman.
"You are just mean, at least tell me your title." – Grumbling in the pain through all his body, Lional rushes straight toward Yahra for the second phase of their battle.
*Clash* – Their blades again cut on each other, letting the moonlight bent to curves madly devastating everything around. It's nothing but a synchronization of two blades that have the same moonlit based power, yet, each thin light curve right here can split a mountain directly into two pieces. However, Lional chose not to use his Holy Aura anymore in this fight; he wants to win as a swordsman.
*Bling* – A moonbeam is thrown straight at Yahra's head without any mercy. Lional follows up with a semicircular arc-shaped slash covered by the white moonlit light. They are obviously the first two moves of six-moon sword art. However, they aren't that hard to predict. As what he did previously, Yahra again dodged the piercing strike and a full swing by two small movements. And now the rest is only the hidden slash following right after that second swing.
Obvious under daylight, the only reason for Zone unable to track that hidden slash is it's hidden by Veil at high-level. The phase shift is indeed adjustable, but the goal isn't delaying the strike, but to focus on hiding it even deeper. To counter this kind of attack is really easy if Sight is trained to the same level, or the natural reflex is just good enough to react immediately when it's revealed.
Back then, I already explained how Veil hid the attack in two ways. The first one is just stabilizing the Aura flows to deceive the Zone, the second one is directly putting it into a temporary layer of space. And this second version has to reveal the strike, as same as putting it back to the general space, to damage the targets. And that window between himself getting damaged and the strike getting revealed isn't zero second.
*Clash* – Which means the strike is counterable and predictable; he has parried it.
"Try this one!" – Six Moon Sword Arts: the third move is a combination of one hundred and eight different slashes. It has no order to perform, just straight up to the exact amount of strikes while having immovability. Whenever those slashes are continuously thrown, the user will become faster until everything's done.
*Clash* – At first, Yahra surely overwhelmed Lional just via two quick blade clashes. Yet, the slashes that the prince made just didn't evaporate, they were painted in the air as barriers. Yahra instantly moved around him to find the blind spot, but in vain since the attacks were perfect three hundred and sixty degrees around Lional. The more slashes, the faster he is – isolating himself out of the strikes from Yahra.
*Bling* – The fourth move of the same sword art allows him to bloom flowers over those one hundred and eight slashes. They spread out in the shape of petals and swiftly cut Yahra into pieces.
*Fshh~* – Yet, right in front of Lional, that opponent only stays still, until everything's over without a wound left over his body. That is the SS tier regeneration, a far gap away from Liona's S high-tier one. If you wonder what the difference is, one can regenerate the whole body from half with high speed and one is only able to recover cut limbs in order and almost instantly. By that, the wounds were also healed right after they're made.
"Is that your Sword Mastery? Or it belongs to the first Rokugatsu user?" – Yahra asks as a sword master.
"Surely not mine, I'm trying to find one too." – Lional's aware of the gap between them right now. Based on strength and speed, he has lost. Based on technique, he also lost even previously. And based on Sword Mastery, he hasn't found his at this point. Meanwhile Yahra's still holding back at the start; his eyes haven't opened up for a single moment since then.
"Then you won't last long enough for my sword art, you can leave. Killing a royal member of an empire is unnecessary." – Unsheathing his sword, Yahra's going to leave.
Meanwhile, Lional is still standing up with his Rokugatsu, "I still have one more slash to throw."
"No need, I've already known it. A slash that closes you and an opponent into a temporary layer of space, shown as a 2D plane. Then a slash cuts from outside the layer, a reproduction of a higher-dimensional slash." – Yahra only wants to see how far Lional can go and he already has the answer. The only missing move he wants to admire is the sixth one, but it seems like Lional hasn't reached that level.
"Wait! I'm not done yet!" – Still being stubborn, Lional doesn't want to lose like this. He at least wants an answer, about the sword art, Sword Mastery, title or just a performance of the higher stage than his.
*Splash* – "I told you we were done. Your blade doesn't impress me."
Lional falls down with a deep slash cuts from his left shoulder down to the right hip, while Yahra's getting to the floating boat far away. And the fight ended just as quickly as how it was started, by a slash only.
"Hey, how close are we to the Cala empire now?" – Jump scaring Alan's team real quick, Yahra's back to his trip.
"Yo, wait, it's just half a minute, isn't it?" – Alan wonders why it's so fast.
"When the fight of two swordsmen happens, it either ends with a slash or lasts forever. Of course, if we count special powers, the fight will surely be lengthened." – Nonchalantly, Yahra again steps on the boat's nose for the fresh air.
Leo speaks up, "Half an hour, we'll get there soon."
"Alright, I'll get off right before that." – Yahra obviously doesn't want his bounty to affect these three hunters at all, but it seems like he just overthinks it.
"Don't worry, your bounty isn't available across the league, you are safe outside of Terania." – Pyan steps forth.
"Oh really?"
Until they are close to each other, he says, "I want to ask about the Sword Mastery."
Yahra touches his sword, "Fine, if you can impress me, I'll draw this blade of mine."
Cala Empire, at the center, Para's House restaurant.
"Do you have a reservation?" – A fine woman in a black suit asks Alan as a receptionist. At the same time, her fingers are already on the category button. By this action, she can verify the customers thrice faster.
Alan shows the black golden card, "Table of three."
It only takes her three movements to finish verification then enable the V.VIP room number three for Alan the people.
"Your V.VIP room is number three, please go to the third floor, at the right corner." – She slightly bows her head down a bit and gives a hand sign, telling Alan's team to go up the staircase and follow the guide.
They entered the room, they sat down and they behaved as normal. After all, being alive and continuing this journey is just enough for them. It might sound simple, yet at the age of youth like this, man's heart is really simple.
Alan offers, "Next time If I can get another mystical flame, I'll prepare a feast like this."
Within a smile, "Of course since you'll need me and Leo to back up that time."
"Indeed."
And when the dishes are served, their meals are already. Just like that, simple and nothing but food, this is how hunters live their lives.
In another dimension, which is like the singularity Kura and his friends entered, Yahra is nonchalantly walking through the moonlit forest. This is a hidden nine-grade rift collapsed by the arrival of a calamity dungeon break nearby – turning itself into an undefined singularity. This is the place he accidentally entered before, under the hunt of the Terania Empire.
"You are the same as the day we met." – He slowly approaches the stone, which's especially enchanted under moonlight from the sky.
"I'm back…" – He looks at it, with the slight regret hidden at the bottom of two eyes. He speaks with a mixture of happiness, nostalgia and a bit of sadness.
If only I were…
If for what? Nonsense. He touches the stone, slightly caressing.
"You know what, Idene? As you said, it's impossible to revive one individual without Holy Aura. And even with it, your existence was soon bound to this singularity." – Yahra slightly sits right next to the moonlit giant stone; he lies on it.
"How pathetic I am. Leaving you back to loneliness for my stubbornness. If there was a second chance, I'd rather stay with you until that day." – Taking out a big gourd with heavenly alcohol inside, he drinks it after pouring a big cup full right in front of the stone.
"You told me about the sapphire oceans, I saw it. It indeed exceeds! – Yahra after running out of Terania, he enrolled and graduated from Cala Empire in the same year as Rudolf. Then he landed to Phelatust via Lajun – the East Gate.
"Then I crossed over it to land straight at the first zone of south-east Phelatust. That place is not for humans as you said." – He laughs in the silence around, enjoying the peace while alone with the missing partner.
He drinks the second sip, "I caught a lot of sapphire-oceanic creatures. This time I don't agree with you, the sapphire squid is bad as hell. Sapphire salmons taste better, I promise."
"You can't imagine it. I met a swordsman cursed with demons at that place. That was the first time I acknowledged how it should be by matching with blades. He's strong, but I didn't lose by the way. All thanks to your lessons." – He starts yapping to the air again, looking upward, he immerses in both memories and moonlight.
"I then got back to Aegista to guard the north gate of Niliphon, against the Great Dead Forest. For around two years, I again know that I'm not even that strong. I couldn't kill them actually, yet instead destroying their physical existence." – Flexing the achievements, he shares with the stone. Admitting the weakness, he also shares with it, as if that stone is the only thing that matters in his life.
"So I had to ask for help. That guy's called Rudolf, he's crazily strong with Holy Aura. Not only killing anomalies by purifying them, he can also seal all the anomalous singularities just by hitting them broken from the spatial plane of the world." – His eyes again burn the fighting spirit, he wonders what will change if they both have a fight at this point. One and a half years ago was the second draw in his life, between fists and blade.
"You told me about demons and I actually found and made a contract with one. Honestly, he's quite unusual since the goal is all around slaughtering demonic creatures on the overworld and anomalies from singularities." – He shows the sigil on his right arm, the demonic runes.
"I wonder if I should guard or just hunt demonic creatures right now. What do you think?" – He drinks half of the gourd already. Silently, nothing replies him.
Doesn't matter. He continues drinking the alcohol.
"I used the crows to steal the crafting recipe of your favorite perfume two years ago. That's the first thing I used that ability for. But don't be mad at me, that kind of perfume stopped being sold a decade ago. Which means you will have to ask for my help since I burnt all its copies to ashes already." – He takes out a small and well-designed glass bottle filled with shiny pink and half-transparent liquid. That's the unique perfume called "Love of the Moon," which was best sold centuries ago at Bakodan.
He slightly puts it right next to the stone, "Come and get it if you want."
Nothing replies him…
Doesn't matter. For the liquid inside the cup has evaporated in the air, he refills it fully again.
I, I, I and I – starting with stories and ending with the follow of other stories over and over, Yahra keeps talking all alone under moonlight. He tries to find someone, but also avoids her because of the confusion inside his heart. He hopes someone will respond to his speeches, yet he isn't ready for it. Being lonely like this seems isn't that bad for him at the current time. At least he can slowly waver from regret by time. Until that day comes, he will "accompany" her in every moment. But he doesn't know that, at the place he refuses to look at, there's always a silhouette waiting for him.
Switching side, let's see what Rudolf is doing at the Great Dead Forest. Oh, he is eliminating over hundred of singularities and anomalous rifts with his Holy Aura. No wonder, if one and a half years ago he could draw with Yahra, this kind of power is reasonable. The new waves of young hunters and knights are also sent there for help. Of course national hunters and diamond knights are also here to take care of their squads.
Rudolf doesn't order them to do anything, he wants to see how strange people contact and team up when they are ordered to do the same goal. Indeed, after two hours of negotiation, the first building is done already. Their strategy is really simple, building three different walls of bricks, trenches and layers of stakes to split the area into three zones. The brick walls are dense and high enough, connected by towers which are for placing radars. Trenches are set in between the walls and zig-zag spike layers for traps and drainage points. Each zone is split to many smaller zones with one command post and ten affiliated squads. They gather right behind the brick wall a gap of fifty meters, saving space for smaller traps, information net, inner exits and inner halls.
Each zone is half a kilometer away from each other, so obviously their strategy is about sending troops from zone three and two to zone one. If the first zone fails, they move back to the second zone, then the third one. The air zone and underground zone are also well controlled, so no anomaly can sneak into their place. Moreover, there are many illusions of bloody swords set as a wall between zone one and two. Those are all works of Yahra before, he can't surely control this two-thousand-kilometer long and one-thousand-kilometer wide dead forest. So he drew a line at almost half of the forest to check movement and automatically damage the anomalies. At least buying enough time for him to arrive.
For more information about terrains, Silver Stream is the border between Arezal and Niliphon, which means the branch of Holy Knight Council held by Aetheria is right behind those walls over half a thousand kilometers. She expanded the size of the branch since the team was split, ten times bigger up to now. In other words, she indeed explored a part of the Gray, Blue and White zones at the same time – expanding the Green zone further away from the Silver Stream.
*Clap* – "Good, good, more than my expectation."
Rudolf stands right in front of all the leaders, "I'll leave the rest for you all. Don't worry, there's a teleportation gate that I can use anywhere and anytime. I'll do a daily check, now you can do what you want."
Time's up, he needs to do another thing right now since Yuurei is again going to destroy the balance directly. Within a step, he disappears with light speed via Aura Shifting Technique. Heading straight to the Tower of Mages before everything becomes worse.
Oh my god, don't do something dumb to force the Saint to appear. He prays inside silently.
At Rudolf's destination, Yuurei is already pissed off since his lover's application has been denied for a random holy candidate who also applies for the same thing. The issue is that the candidate submitted the application a day after his lover, yet somehow still got the priority since she is a "candidate" of the Saint's Crown.
"Sir, we are sorry but Hellane's application was canceled since she isn't talented enough for this." – The head-mage announces.
"Hah, your requirements are 135% for all element sensitivity in standard, she has 142% for it. The peak must exceed 160%, she has 165% for it. About the education level, she has already finished all the courses required this year, currently studying higher for pre-courses transferable to this tower." – Yuurei surprisingly takes out a portfolio and chooses to deal with them in peace first. If Rudolf were here at the start, he would've been surprised by this action since the "Yuurei" he knows always tear everything apart first.
"That's not the issue, we can choose who to invest in after all."
"Only available since one of those requirements isn't met or the applicant is in the waiting list of two." – Yuurei is at the edge of his sanity already.
He's already mad, "Hellane isn't in any kind of those cases."
"Isn't it clear? I'm the Holy Candidate, she's only a commoner. Even though she applied first, I still have priority since my portfolio is better." – The candidate has revealed herself. She has long yellow hair, a fascinating look and the behavior of a superior.
If you doubt what she said, you just didn't hear it wrong. The true background of Yuurei's lover, Hellane, is the third and the youngest princess of the Cala Empire. Yet she refused to use that serfage, instead she wants to get some achievements as a commoner herself. She's researched well and done everything to exclude her application from being denied by this kind of class disparity. Yet, it seems like she was so naive, that she believed in the rules of the Tower of Mages. It makes sense since they choose the Holy Candidate to invest to make their organization stronger in future. Even if Fumi failed to be a Saint, she would be able to reach the Sage level after all.
"You are–"
He releases the pressure of his Aura, the technique that's been forgotten for too long – Hex, "–dead!"
*Whirr* – All seven Tusks here, umbral mages, are directly threatened by fear. This isn't the disgusting feeling when you see a cockroach, it's actually the inner fear they get overwhelmed by while facing Yuurei – the fear hax and illusion. To get rid of this effect, the targets must have Hex at the first layer to negate that pressure.
*Crush!* – No matter if they have Hex first layer or not, both their arms are being twisted and broken right after that. This is the second layer of Hex – applying physical damage directly to the targets. But don't worry, it can be resisted and negated with the same level of Hex or a strong enough protection.
Because the part that they have to worry about is the third layer. It can release itself without a sound or signal in the visual. If the targets don't have the same level of Hex or special ability to sense something similar, they won't be able to know if they're attacked or not. This layer doesn't apply physical interaction, but removes five senses instead. Moreover, the longer the targets are being affected by this, the lower their sanity will be. However, they won't need to worry anymore, since the fourth layer will crush their soul into fragments.
*Fsh* – Stopping him right at that moment, Rudolf finally arrived. He swiftly balanced the pressure in the room while curing the wounds of those mages.
Whispering, "Ey, are you deadass? You want to kill that candidate and force the Saint to hunt you down right after?"
"Taking her eyes away won't kill her."
"Think about Hellane, you idiot. Even if everything goes well here, would Hellane be safe under the watch of them in the towers?" – Rudolf keeps persuading, he is going all out just to stop this maniac getting mad.
"Right, now how can I both kill them all and keep Hellane away from the danger?" – After a second of brain working, Yuurei comes up with an absolutely important question.
"You are hopeless. Bet, let me deal with them legally." – Rudolf finally realizes he can't expect anything from this guy, which he should be able to think about at first.
Heavily breathing in and out aside, all the Tusks are trembling beneath the echoes of the previous pressure. Indeed, they are no longer being applied the fear effect on, nor pushed down. Yet none of them can stand up right now, that's the paralyzing effect – just a small bonus of the overwhelming Hex at the first layer. They all know how strong that Hex was to their core, without a doubt. To apply the fear hax and instant physical damage on them, Tusks, Yuurei must be able to overwhelm them massively. And with the paralyzing effect on all bodies like this, Yuurei must exceed the layer four already.
Fifth layer! None of them say a word, but all of them know the issue at this point. They won't stand a chance beneath that guy for all the spells would be canceled right before they could be casted.
"Legally? Hah, don't make me laugh." – Fumi clowns on Rudolf for being so spineless.
"Do you know that freak is an anomaly?" – She asks Rudolf with a merciless glance. For the first rule for the Holy Candidates, showing no sympathy to non-life creatures, which Rudolf has violated.
"You talk too much, Fumi. If you want this Aegista stroke with another Calamity as three centuries ago, go ahead." – Threatening her with the first four layers of Hex, Rudolf pins her knees down onto the ground. Which Yuurei couldn't do since the holy protection was in the way. Yet, Rudolf has the much stronger holy power compared to that cocky girl in general, how unfortunate.
Breathing in struggles, she also releases Hex at three layers to resist half of the effects from Rudolf. Fumi heavily stands up with a shining spear in her right hand, ready for a fight. Her Holy Aura also spreads out as a massive avatar. Obviously, her fighting style is focusing on strength and brutal force for the major.
"Pa-the-tic." – Glancing straight at her, Rudolf only releases a small and dense block of Holy Aura on his right fist. For that should be enough, she wouldn't be killed just by one hit.
So this is the legitimacy you said huh, Rudolf? Standing aside, Yuurei is learning a new thing. For the next time, he will behave with this kind of legitimacy.
*Foom* – Touching the staff on the surface of the space, a guest stops all their actions. She has pigtail hair, with the color of pink, and that old wooden staff is too iconic. She's Loye, the Stellar Grand Sage of Wisdom.
"Oh boy, I've heard the issue. I don't think that one day I can see you choose force instead of words, Rudolf Hynovise." – She slightly smiles, this is rare.
"Stellar Grand Sage." – Putting the hand on the heart, Rudolf bows his head down for a bit. This is the short way to greet the Grand Sage, exclusive for the Holy Candidates only.
"You are Yuurei, right?" – Moving to right in front of him without a trace, she asks.
"Yes, my honor, Grand Sage." – Even though he sounds way formal this time, that smile is still on a whim. Don't underestimate this guy, for a decade he served in the Cala Royal Palace as the royal guard, the personal butler and the private encyclopedia exclusively belongs to Hellane only. Unfortunately, all that resource is for his lover, not others. But it doesn't mean Yuurei is always rude, he is just reckless to his core.
"You are special, even I can't see through your fate. Looks like him, a vessel." – It reminds Loye about Yozu, the vessel of conceptual entity.
He smiles and points to Fumi, "Don't you want to purify me, like that chick?"
"Wh–"
Right in front of her, before that line could be finished, Rudolf has blocked her way. That speed was insanely fast; even she couldn't catch a trace. Putting two fingers on her right shoulder, he warns her to stand still not to interrupt Loye.
Loye shakes her head, "I don't care. You have the thing called 'love' inside. That's enough."
"Eh? I thought humans like you hate anomalous existence like me the most." – Yuurei takes a deep look at Loye.
"If only they threaten humans. As I said, your love strings bound you and that girl closer than you think. If you crashed out and caused calamity on this land again, it'd be reasonable." – She shakes her head again, so nonchalant.
"You are strange." – He evaluates.
"Normal thing when you live long enough." – She smiles. Then she touches the spatial surface to form a box isolating them out of the room. She has a secret deal with Yuurei about Hellane, another investment.
*Smack* – Hitting Rudolf's hand away, Fumi drives a knee kick into his solar plexus to start their fight. Unfortunately, Rudolf parried it just right before the second move could be made. He again controls the Holy Aura into the right fist just to smash her avatar broken and knocks her out within a strike only. That's not a wank by the way, her belly was hit to indent deeply and all the Aura veins were also forcefully disabled just by a strike.
*Ugh* – Slowly losing control on her two legs, Fumi tries to stand up yet in vain. Shaking terribly, her body falls down like a fallen statue.
"I don't know why you all chose this chick instead of Hellane, perhaps her Holy Candidate condition? Whatever, bad choice." – Rudolf stands right in front of the head-mage of the Tusks.
He looks straight at her, "About the secret experiments of this Tower, I don't want to make a mess. What do you think?"
Catching the threat, she knows what to do, "I'll call them back."
"Wise choice." – Leaving within a step, Rudolf heads straight to the Cala Academy. Honestly, he doesn't need to worry about Hellane's safety since she's even much stronger than Fumi with her true power. But if she revealed it right now, her plan would absolutely be over.
*Whirr* – All of a sudden, he tracks a crazily strong pressure afar to the west, where the Terania Empire exists. That can be sensed even from the other dimension.
"Is that… the legend." – Opening his eyes wide, Rudolf can't believe that one day he can witness that legend directly. Records wrote about a legend of a female sword saint that died half a millennium ago on this land. She held the power that can shake a corner of the firmament and earth just by a sword swing. Even the border between dimensions meant nothing to her, up to the far away sky, down on the blazing hell, nowhere she could lay that blade onto.
In the undefined singularity, Yahra sensed the shaking. He slightly let that hand out just to feel everything's shaking. He knew it, he knew this day would come soon. Two years of trying for nothing's working out, all of nonsense. He couldn't keep this place permanent after all what he'd done, how pathetic. He laid on that stone again, losing in his thoughts, all alone.
"Silly Yahra." – She smiled and she touched his shoulders gently. She slightly gave him a hug around the neck, leaning onto his back.
The first tear dropped itself, for Yahra'd already recognized her. He also touched those hands back, tremblingly cuddling her spiritual form. Yes, she died and existed as a spiritual creature bound to this singularity, who had been waiting for Yahra for two years without a reproach.
"Idene…"
"Don't be sad, Yahra. I'm happy to be a part of your journey. This is not the end." – She whispered into his ears with the sweet voice as ever, so familiar.
"I know…"
She smiles again, "You know what to do right?"
"I… I." – He stopped, he still wanted this moment to last for longer, even just a second.
"Be brave, we will meet again. I promise you we will meet again. If I'm a bird, I'll fly to you. If I'm a cat, I'll run to you. If I have that fortune to be a human again." – She dropped the sentence right here.
She kissed him for the last time, "Please let me be the first one to say the words of love to you. Please let me save it for the next time we meet, Yahra."
"I agreed." – Even though the heart inside was beating strongly with the selfishness, his left hand had already touched the glowing sword in the instinct.
When the rock fell down and broke itself, the sword had pleaded itself to Yahra. This was the last gift that Idene gave to him, the final lesson, the message of "goodbye" and the promise to meet again.
"You… are still hasty as ever." – The smile has finally come back to his face. This will be the new chapter of his life before getting married with Idene on her next reincarnation.
"I can wait for you until I die. You won't be able to run from me Idene, I'll find you in the afterlife if you try to escape from these hands." – He grabs that sword, he picks it up and sheathes it with a fine runic white fabric.
And that's how the massive pressure was released straight out of the broken singularity, spreading into the general space. At the moment he gets back to Aurorize, all the marshals, grand marshals, Holy Candidates and sword saints nearby have already surrounded him. They admire that sword's pressure and presence. This is the rare footage of a legendary inheritance.
"What did you do mate?" – Rushing down from the sky, right next to Yahra, Rudolf kicks in.
"Just a secret meeting with my partner. Look, we made a promise already." – Yahra shows the delicate sword that he just got.
"A promise?"
He smiles, "Yes, even on her next reincarnation or I'll find her in the after life, I'll marry her."
"Okay, that's your love story, I don't have any idea but are you sure you can live long enough for that?" – Rudolf glances at all the people around with the hidden meaning. It seems like they are going to fight some of them, especially the Holy Candidates and sword saints.
Laughing, he draws the blade out, "If they are worth my blade."
*Clack* – At the same time, over twenty individuals have touched their weapons. Which means it's going to be a slaughter.
Rudolf also releases his Holy Aura outside. He estimates the opponents, unfortunately the biggest opponent of his is also here.
He then whispers, "Split them into small groups or an individual. I'll try to smash some of them at first, then jump the rest with you."
Whispering, Yahra replies, "Leave the corpse with blood, I'll use them."
"Bet."
"Don't talk too big, little guy." – Rushing forth with two blades drawn, the Sword Saint of Haschla swiftly attacks Rudolf without mercy. He dances with the blades fluently as if they are oneself only, causing Rudolf some troubles in reading the movements. Those two legs don't move normally, sometimes they step forth, sometimes they lean to other directions – making the entire body of that sword saint stagger chaotically with no order. He's called Gargan, who's known for the unpredictable sword style with the sword mastery of drunkenness simulation. Whenever he's still drinking alcohol, his movements remain the same chaos rules.
*Clack* – Rudolf thinks outside of the box. Instead of reading the blade's trajectory, he stopped them all with his left hand. That action opens up a space for his right fist to land straight at that defenseless solar plexus – knocking that man out of consciousness. For more context, that hit works as the one he threw toward Fumi previously. It only cancels the operation of Aura veins and abuses the backlash to negate opponents temporarily. This is the warning, if this meaningless fight ended without a blood drop, it would be great.
*Vsh* – Two Holy Candidates take that chance to surpass hi–
"Where are you going?" – Instantly dashing backward, even faster than them, he catches them all with his two hands.
*Crumble!* – Throwing them straight down onto the ground, Rudolf actually did use a lot of force at that move. Consequently, even with the protection of blessings and Holy Aura, those two are buried straight down a kilometer to the ground – leaving there a massive crater with dust and ashes.
If you wonder how strong that strike was, just know that a standard level of a Holy Candidate is equal to Tusk, an Umbral Mage works directly below a Sage, with only three exceptions that have already surpassed that tier themselves. And one of them is Rudolf, which means all of these seven guys have to deal with a Sage-level opponent with Holy Aura and heavenly blessings.
"He hasn't even used the Ability yet. If you can't deal with him with all your powers and a serious manner, get lost." – All of a sudden, one of them steps forward and drops a warning.
He leisurely approaches Rudolf without any awareness, "You know that Rudolf, our powers counter each other's. I'm not interested in fighting you, but that guy instead. So stay out of my way."
*Whirr* – The four layers of Hex have been released from both Holy Candidates, they instantly dominate the field just by that pressure. Rudolf this time has already taken out the green sigil on the right arm – his hidden power. This action already shows how high he estimates that opponent. To be one of the most dangerous opponents of Rudolf, that Holy Candidate surely has the same kind of power – a red sigil on the left arm.
He also reveals it against Rudolf's, "Don't think that I can't kill you, Rudolf. I've found a new weapon to split you into craps."
He slightly and confidently walks through Rudolf as if that Sage-level opponent isn't a threat to him. In the hair's breadth, Rudolf unleashes a crazy power toward Exane exclusively. That is the last warning to that Holy Candidate before the winds flow.
"Oh, it seems like you've already found it." – Stopping right after, Exane changes his mind totally. He wants to test how strong Rudolf is currently, for the next ritual is going to be next month.
*Whirr* – At the same time, their Aura and Holy Aura spread out at the signal, causing the terrain around them to be crushed to various pieces and blocks of material. And those sword saints are now aware of the level of this fight. They have also locked in with full power. All in or nothing, they all chose the rewards among risks.
*Fsh* – Rudolf throws a sharp slash toward Exane, which is dodged easily right after. The destruction isn't that impressive, it only blows away some blocks of rock. For the same thing, Exane also throws a slash directly to Rudolf with his left arm, which is now reshaped with an attached blade.
*Whirr* – Due to that attack being a close range one, Rudolf only has to use a strong and concentrated wind blow to hit Exane's body – causing him to miss the strike. Taking that advantage, Rudolf also approaches with a swift hand swipe toward that head.
*Smack* – Parrying it right in the hair's breath, Exane catches that wrist of Rudolf; he's trying to throw the opponent down yet gets countered by a direct kick into the belly.
They both moved backward five meters each, drawing a distance in between for the next rush. Interrupting them, three sword saints jump Rudolf with their ultimate sword moves. The first one is Sword Saint of Terania, who pleaded loyalty toward the empire totally, he's attacking with starlight power. The second one is another Sword Saint of Terania, his sword mastery is related to the winds. And the one is Gargan, he is just trying to take revenge.
The rest two are also blocking Exane's way, they have to team up to remove at least one of these two Holy Candidates first, then it'll be a free for all massacre later. Unfortunately, if the strikes are deadly and not being performed by a Holy Candidate, none of these ultimate moves can bypass the heavenly blessings whenever they are still about SS low tier to high tier like this. Of course, two of them are instantly taken down by Rudolf again by the winds crushing down. Gargan has the most luck among them, in the same day, he gets attacked in the same spot and in the same way. However, this time the wind even cuts his veins badly before shooting him away as a bullet.
At the same time, Exane has already taken down the roadblocks, again ready for their fight. Rushing forth, Exane is the first one to start the second phase of this battle with another slash directly from his arm. Rudolf surely doesn't want to touch that arm directly with his on-going strike, so he uses the left arm instead. And that action was too inconvenient for him, since the left foot of Exane was already placed on that fist. He unusually twists himself to perform a back heel high kick toward the head of Rudolf.
*Swish* – Rudolf dodges that move by lowering down his head to the right side. He also grabs that left shoulder and the right hip of Exane, throwing him down to the ground. But at the moment he didn't realize, his opponent had already escaped and left his outer cloak floating in Rudolf's hands.
*Smack* – Assaulting from aside, Exane drives a kick toward that head and shoots his opponent away as a bullet. Even before that, the winds had started flowing toward Rudolf even before that kick was thrown. It's Rudolf, he is concentrating all the wind around into the right fist. That action also moves Exane close to him, right inside the attack range.
Immediately, Exane scrolls the space around via Aura Shifting Technique to drag him backward, escaping the fist of Rudolf. How unlucky he is, for the space is also bent at the start, trapping him inside this prison of winds. Imagine space is surfaces, glasses, blocks and rubbers at the same time. That's the best way I can describe with examples already. Via that move, the space is bent crazily around Rudolf, causing them to overlay each other continuously. So now tell me, which kind of spatial strike that we haven't seen for quite a long time?
*Crack* – Space Breaker! His fist powerfully crushes all those spatial layers into fragments, bursting the entire impact into the space itself. For a reminder, Space Breaker bypasses protection in general and even bypasses durability when the target is hit directly just like Exane right now.
I will save some information about these sigils until the ritual of Holy Candidates later. But I can tell that Sigil is the compressed file of data from higher life forms, such as Powers or Virtues, downloaded straight into the human body. Accompanying with Sigils are Glyphs, the key for the chosen ones access to their gifted power via the Sigils. And the Glyph of Exane is "Cassa" – which stands for the nullification.
That's also why he could survive beneath the collapse of spatial layers via Rudolf's fist. At least Cassa had nullified all the damage from the winds before that punch hit Exane at the solar plexus. That move actually saved his life once since the power Rudolf holds isn't as harmless as how it looks. However, the most important thing is up to now, Exane or the rest of the Holy Candidates haven't known Rudolf's Glyph yet. With a performance like this, Exane has already set this opponent to the first priority of the hunting list.
Leaving him no space to breath, Rudolf has already approached from behind with a hand slash straight to the spine. It's close, Exane somehow still reacted in time just to dodge that strike despite the fact his body was indeed injured from the space collapse before. But it doesn't matter since Rudolf again stands right behind his opponent at the point no one knows.
"If you had used all your power at the start, this trick wouldn't work." – Rudolf puts his right hand on that left shoulder.
"However, you just didn't do that." – The death sentence has been declared.
*Whirr* – Roaring in madness, the winds brutally flow straight toward Exane at the center and cut him continuously as countless blades. This is one of the techniques that Rudolf prefers using, for the high damage over time and the controllable destruction. At this level of fighting, there's no longer the consistent destructive capacity along with the attack potency, the more concentrated the strikes are, the more powerful they are. That's also the explanation for the deadly slash he threw before only cutting some material blocks into pieces.
"If you can't escape from that pearl, just get back to where you belong." – Rudolf takes down two sword saints of Terania in convenience at the same time he says. It's time for him to jump the rest–
"Oh, I thought they would cause you trouble." – It seems like he doesn't need to help Yahra anymore, for all the enemies have been slayed except two Holy Candidates who dare to face that monster.
"Heavenly blessings are annoying." – Complaining aside, Yahra is still trying to eliminate these two chicks to make this world clear.
"Chill chill, chill out. You can't bypass their protection just by force."
"Is there anyway else?" – Yahra withdraws his katana.
"Either being a Demi-God or being blessed by heaven." – Rudolf shakes his head. He has no idea how a blessed human can be killed without blessing, that's interesting.
Packing everything up, Yahra looks straight at the whirlwind prison, "Isn't it unnecessary? That brat is just a clone."
"I know, I haven't used my trump card either." – Rudolf flicks his fingers and the wind orb evaporates, revealing nothing inside. As Yahra said, that Holy Candidate is a clone and this fight is nothing but a warning to Rudolf.
"Ey, wake up." – Kicking two Holy Candidates on the ground, Yahra starts his extortion job.
"I told you we're only here to observe! We didn't try to sneak attack you." – The first one says everything he has to say. Even though being hit by a stranger for just observing an event is enough to prepare himself for being robbed later, he still wants to seek kindness.
"Oh, I thought you two are strong enough to do such a thing like that." – Rudolf realizes these two dudes, for they are his fellow companions. Indeed he was quite surprised when he saw they fought Yahra, for their characteristics aren't usually like that. Yet, to think again about it, Rudolf also realizes that he didn't see them fight Yahra. Instead, they were being attacked.
"This is awkward. Yahra, are you sure that they were trying to attack you?" – Rudolf looks at his friend.
Pausing for a little bit, "Not sure."
"Help me, Rudolf! This freak is unreasonable." – Screaming and throwing tantrums on the ground, he won't let this one slide.
*Clack* – However, everything instantly becomes silent when Yahra touches his sword, how magical it is. He also removes the seals on those dudes within a slash. If you wonder which kind of seals he used. Don't worry, you aren't supposed to know about them right now. The story after is nothing too special, so let's get back to courses and lessons at the academy at this point. And of course, none of those two dudes wanted Yahra to make up for all their damages.
"This is the ore that I want to tell you." – Revealing a sparkling raw ore with greenish tints at three different layers, Talia introduces Kitane.
"This one!" – He knows what it is. The unique product that's only created in the specifically closed area with restricted conditions of mana. It's known for the ability of evaporating into the air while still able to return fully. Gilgite, the ore and the winds itself.
"I know that it's out of your budget, so I offer a contract instead of your money." – Talia reveals more ores aside, they are all locked and displayed inside a box of enhanced glasses.
"I need resources to rebuild my clan, and I alone can't do that. Will you help me?" – He takes out a contract.
"So it's like working for a company?" – Asking is asking, Kitane's hands are on that document already.
"Of course."
"Done." – Fast as light, that swordsman signs the contract without any consideration. As an exchange student, having a job with a company in the Cala Empire just helps him stay there for more than just because of the education system.
Duplicating the documents, he gives one to Kitane, "Without a single second of hesitation."
"Ye ye why not? I'd rather die than get back to that place, you know."
"C'mon dude, is it that bad?" – For the first time ever, Talia witnesses a guy who hates his old town so much.
"Nah, it's only bad when I have to face my family."
"Why? Isn't a family supposed to be a happy place?"
"Got you bro, but not always it works like that. They lost a genius for a mistake, my elder brother died just to protect his family, and now all their wrath curses me for not dying instead." – Kitane seems like doesn't want to mention his "family" too much. Talia now gets why Kitane does everything just to have a good portfolio. He has to stay here, otherwise that family will piss him off directly again.
"So this contract is a good thing, you know. I love this place, at least I don't need to remind myself of having a terrible place called home." – He slightly touches the ore with his mana flows to check the compatibility. Surprisingly he and the ore synchronize even stronger than expected.
"That's a good sign, now I'll authorize these things to the forge of my maternal clan. Hopefully it'll be done in a month." – Talia leads his friend to the living room. They've done everything they need in this hidden cabinet already.
"A month?" – Kitane knows that a good sword takes time to make, however a month is too much.
"Runes, hidden technologies and advanced design. I'll cheat for you an epic item with all functions and even the extra ones as a true legendary sword. Don't worry, it won't consume as much energy as you think, whenever you lock the extra functions." – Talia sways the blueprint on his right hand.
"Stand proud, for this sword is especially designed by me." – He sounds so proud of it. This is the best design he's ever made. The name will be authorized to Kitane after it's done forging, but this project is named Blue Winds at the start. I wonder what it looks like in the future.
"Oh hoo~ sounds hype enough." – Taking out an undefined old chain with a length of two meters. Kitane got this one from a black merchant for his two months of wages.
"I think the forge will know what to do. Put this on the sword's base." – He hands it to Talia.
"You changed your fighting style?"
"Ye, I think I've found a better one for my sword. You know that, I don't want to lose at that test." – Kitane makes an action of spinning something with his straight index finger, foreshadowing what he'll do to win. And at the same time, Talia also realizes it. It seems like he has to change some features in the blueprint at this point.
*Vsh – Clash* – As soon as they step out of the cabinet, an assault strike is launched straight to Talia. It's sharp and clear, with the intent of a killer. It seems like someone has bought Talia's head on the mission board of The Eclipsed Moon. Parrying that strike, Kitane knocks the assassin backward within a swing. Via that clash, he can determine the strength gap between them isn't that strong. If he isn't blitzed by that guy, Kitane will win.
Throwing three projectiles forward, the assassin assaults again with another strike, "Good one, I didn't think that he had a body guard even in this private place."
Deflecting the first projectile, Kitane blocks the slash while catching the rest, "I'm not his body guard by the way. And who even are you?"
*Clash* – Two more slashes are thrown and parried mid-air, the assassin steps back swiftly with a deep wound on the right arm. Kitane just stands there with a glowing katana on hands, because he knows that he wins already.
"So you let this guy in just to test me?" – He looks at Talia.
"Indeed, use this guy for your strongest attack right now. I'd like to see it."
"Bet, but it takes me a while to charge up. So I'll show you one of my new techniques instead." – He rushes forth and forces the assassin to block the strike as the only option left. He also charges the Flying Slash move into the blade, but instead of releasing it, he keeps it along with the sword. This action will enhance his basic slashes a part, and of course they're weaker compared to a full released strike.
Now he's going to the good part, "Burst!"
*Bang* – Concentrating the energy into the only spot under his left hand, which is touching the sword spine, Kitane detonates it as a bomb. This technique directs the energy forward, so he won't be able to damage himself. That strike was lethal, even the assassin was blown half right after.
"Genius and aggressive. Is this your new sword style?" – Talia knows that he's bet it right, all on Kitane, let it ride.
"When I've tried enough basic sword styles, I come up with this unusual one. Don't forget to make my new sword a long and big one. I need it heavy enough to swing."
"I'll make you a big sword then, do you want the blade skewed to one side or balance both sides?" – Talia is sketching the new blueprint already. This is his working style, sketching the scraps then combining them later. According to him, it's easier to deal with complicated designs this way.
"Make it only lighter than a greatsword."
"Got you."
"Uh, but don't you do anything with that guy? The assassin." – Pointing to the precariously struggling inhuman nature on the ground, Kitane wonders what will happen to that assassin. For the reason why he calls that guy an inhuman nature, it's all because of his true existence. That assassin is a half-chimera with the human part taking the majority of the combination, with the rest made of three different monsters.
Flicking his fingers, that assassin is sealed up inside a formation, "Don't worry, he will pay for his deeds. But that's not for now. Let's go, they are waiting."
Shrouding his shoulders, Kitane also says nothing but follows Talia out of the company. As usual, this is the weekend, which means they will hang out until night today.
"Uhh, I wasn't told about this." – There are five more girls at today's party, which Talia had no announcement about , just as he said.
"Oh c'mon, are you shy?" – Wrapping his arm over Tali's shoulders, Celior mocks.
"Ah sheesh, if there are more people, at least the host like me should've got a message related to. I made the plan for us, not for the girls. Are they going to enjoy the same things as us?" – Telling how irresponsible Celior is, Talia uses his brain at maximum output just to find if there's any alternative to balance the party's schedule.
"Aight bet, I think we should not do monster hunting. Let them decide where to go at the end." – This is the best one he has made. He has no idea if the girls like sweeping dungeons or not.
"Sounds great, and we can split at the end if you all don't want to wait for us." – One of the girls spoke up. She is Celior's younger sister, who begged him to invite her and her friends into this party.
"Don't worry, you are the guests, we know what we shouldn't do." – A swift elbow strike into Celior's left side, Talia greets these five new members as a host. At the same time, Celior's sister, Elyne, also responds with a handshake. After all the social work, they head on to the orchestra concert at the west of the center of the Cala Empire. Today is the day for the Golden Wings album to be played at that stadium, and that's why Talia loves it. It's not a noble show so of course food and drinks don't matter, however, they aren't supposed to get full there. The second one is the main dishes in the VIP room of Para's House restaurant. Honestly, he chose this place because of the soup.
How nostalgic. He smiles.
"What's so fun there?" – Elyne is staring right at Talia with the most obvious look possible. Coughing aside, Celior reminds his sister not to be so "aggressive" the first time they meet. Yes, it seems like someone is trying to weave the dodder.
"Not really, just a quick nostalgia." – Talia just smiles, he refuses to say more.
After the meal, it's nine already. The boys say nothing about beating the monsters at this point, they let the girls choose what to do next. And of course, shopping is the most obvious option.
Waiting outside of the shop, Talia slightly puts his hands into the pockets where an emerald necklace is placed. He looks up to the sky, lets the winds flow through and immerses in the night.
It's cold already.
"What are you seeking for? Tonight is starless." – Celior wakes him up.
*Haha* – A perfunctory smile, "Don't you forget it? Tomorrow is the same day when I lost my family."
Celior is shocked, he thought this dude forgot him already, "You remember me?"
"What are you talking about? We used to play around years ago, didn't we?" – Talia never forgot it, the childhood with these two friends.
He continues, "Is Elyne trying to surprise me later? What are you two trying to do?"
Laughing hard while holding it back aside, "She's trying to flirt with you."
"Be serious bro, your senses of humor now get to another level?" – At that point, Talia doesn't think that much. He still has the mindset that they are still friends. Yet, that's why later he'll be deceived into a love story with himself being the main character – to the point he can't return.
In the dressing room, the girls are testing the new clothes as ever. The gala dinner for freshmen is going to be next week, that's why they are all here. Yue, the one with the medium-length light yellow hair, turns around with her new black dress.
"Lovely, that suits you." – Chirin ties up her cyan hair to reveal the open back. Standing right behind her is Sakame, she is helping her friend dress. She is an ordinary girl with long black hair, which is Kitane's type.
"I'll ask Talia then." – Leaving the room, Elyne heads toward Talia to show him this blue rose evening gown. To be honest, those blue roses on her left shoulder to the right hip really paint over her beauty another layer of beauty. Combining with that face and body, if Elyne was a poison, she would be lethal enough to lead the deluded ones to the false paradise without a way to escape.
"How do I look?" – She asks Talia.
"Great, but silver may suit you more." – Talia gives out his honest take.
Slightly pouting, "You think so?"
"Seriously, silver or violet will accompany you well. And blue may only be the secondary color on your dress. What do you think about gentiana?" – Talia asks.
"If you say so." – She lifts the skirt and moves.
After she returns to the dress room, Celior just asks him why he pretended to forget Elyna. Talia only smiles, "Didn't you say she's trying to surprise me? I'll do the same thing, don't sell me before that day."
"Alright alright, it sounds pretty funny I believe."
"Do you think so?" – He starts being unable to hold back the laugh.
"Don't forget to tease her then."
"Definitely I will do it." – Talia says it like his entire life is only for that moment.
Jeez, that guy really forgot me? Blue is definitely his favorite color, this dress is especially prepared for him. How dare… Silently sulking yet obviously showing it outside, the rest of the girls know that she's failed.
Whispering, "Did he really…?"
"Ye, he has no clue who I am. He should be able to recognize me when I dress like that." – In fact, Elyne has secretly changed her major dress color to blue when they were playing together. All for Talia, but now that effort doesn't make any sense, she is sulking, sulking and super sulking!