Loud screeches and howling of unsightly beats filled up the slums. The loud thumping of the bigger ones, that crushed the small Mabeasts without a care. They all had their eyes fixed on the centre, more specifically, on the man emiting such a dense miasma that made the Mabeasts become blind and feral creatures filled up with loathing and agitation.
They rushed from all corners of the Slums, surrounding the group of 4 rather strange individuals.
SWISH SLASH!
The woman in the blood red gown tore through the swarm of the Mabeasts with relative ease, burning even the souls of those disgusting abominations to cinders.
Her Yang sword made absolutely no noise and it slashed their flesh with such fluidity that the action could've been considered as "waving through the air".
" Hah!" She swung her sword in a brilliant arc that send pure white flames all around her, taking down more than fifty all by her lonesome.
The flames did not persist as she dispersed them with a single thought.
At the moment, it wasn't the beasts that she considered to be a hinderance, but mana consumption was her biggest foe.
She had already used the sword for a considerable time against the Bowel Hunter and by mana consumption being her foe, she did not mean that her mana was nearly depleted, in fact she retains more than half of her reserve as she hadn't done much against the Bowel Hunter.
As soon as the flames dispersed, they charged at once again. Priscilla was about to charge in again before she halted abruptly and jumped back.
BAAHMM!!
The ground she previously stood on was destroyed like cake by the giant leg of a pig like beast.
"Wappigs..." Priscilla muttered as she looked at the behemoth in the name of a pig in front of her. These species are stated to have skin as tough as rock, hence the name Rock pigs were also given to them.
"Tis only as durable as a meager rock, nothing that mineself cannot cut." Her lips curled into an arrogant smile as she raised her sword up once and prepared to swing at the pig with the intention to slice it's head vertically apart.
Before she could–Shlingg!–her attacked was deflected by the paw of yet another one of the several Guiltylowes she had slain.
"GRYAHH!!!" The half-wolf half-lion beast screamed at Priscilla with bloodlust radiating from its very being.
"What a distasteful sight." Before she could regain her posture, two snow-white arms as thick as the trunks of a tree came hurling down on head.
"Ul Huma!"
"Little Shadow! SPIKE EM BASTARDS!!!"
Two huge icicles peirced both of the Snow Blight's arms and it's head and a pitch black shadow, that materialised from beneath Priscilla's heels peirced the Wappig right in the between the eyes, which caused it to fall limp on the floor with a heavy thump.
Priscilla's eyes briefly looked at the trio that had been providing her cover ever since the battle started. She appreciated such actions which spared her the loss of her beloved ornaments. As they would've sacrificed themselves were Priscilla to be struck with a fatal blow.
Readjusting her focus she sprinted towards the Guiltylowe who couldn't even process when his head had been seperated from its frame.
Looking at Priscilla and Emilia doing majority of the work, Merlin felt a huge blow to his pride. Being a man he is being protected by the ones he should've been protecting. But engaging in direct combat would be certain death for his inexperienced self.
So he'll have to do what he can the best.
His eyes roamed around the battlefield restlessly. The beasts were not smart, he had already stated that fact before but he's repeating that again as that is the pedsatal for any of his plan to work.
"Emilia, get ready..."
"Hm! Although I don't know if such a foolish plan would work but I will try to place my trust in you Merlin."
"Ah, you're much more cruel than you look."
"Cruel...?"
"Leave it. Oi! Old man! You still alive?"
BRASH!!
The old man in question turned around towards Merlin. He had just crush a Wolgarms head who had gotten too close.
"Hah...hahhhh....Still pumpin...you gonna start now?" He had asked while wiping of the blood that had splattered on his face.
"Yup, Priscilla did a great job at gathering the bosses"
"? 'bos–sus'? What does that mean Merlin?" Emilia asked him with confusion as she wiped the sweat falling down her face with her sleeve.
"Don't mind me. Ahem!" He drew in a large amounts of air before–"PRIS-CI-LLA!!! DRAW EM BACK HERE!"
The loud shout was heard clearly by Priscilla as she looked back at the group from the corner of her eye. Her smile widened as she grasped the reason for the call.
Her majestic red sword disappeared into thin air as a she grabbed the sides of her gown and started running towards the group with deliberate slowness, to get the attention of as many Mabeasts as possible.
"Yeah come on! Come on!"
"You needn't shout like that commoner! Thou look worse than a failing jester, fool."
She jumped over a few Mabeasts and sometimes straight up kicked their head off their head off some unfortunate ones.
Merlin's mouth shut down in embarrassment as she approached closer and closer until she reached them.
"Emilia!"
"Got it! Hup!" Releasing a huge amount of her mana, she transformed them into an icy cold wave that spread all across the floor of the slum outside the loothouse, forming a compact layer of ice around them which made it extremely difficult for the mabeasts to maintain their balance.
Dhum!
Bam!
"Gwar!"
Sounds of the slipping Mabeasts echoed everywhere as they continued sliding towards the group at very high speeds.
"Ice Barrier!" Screamed Merlin.
"Hip-hip- HAH!" Again she released a huge amount of mana,but this time it was alot more controlled and intentional. Manipulating the mana with a near perfect control, a huge dome of extremely thick and compact ice formed around the group.
Inside they could only watch through the barely translucent ice dome as soon became dyed in red. The ground shaked with maximum amplitude as countless Mabeasts collided with the dome as they were shreded to pieces one after the another without a stop.
After a few seconds—
"Remove the ice layer on the ground outside." Merlin said with a confidence smile as he looked towards Emilia who was barely holding on.
"Y-yes.." She let out a sigh of relief as her knees gave up.
"The ice layer is released Merlin-san." She said with a weak voice. Her expression soon turned into a pout. "Mooh! That was a reaaaaally risky plan you know? You just suggested me such a complex structure all of a sudden! What if I hadn't been able to do it?!"
"Ah geez, I knew you could that's I proposed this."
"Hk! That still doesn't answer my question!"
She put her hands on her hip and turned away from him with a 'hmph!', showcasing her dissatisfaction with his answer.
He couldn't help but chuckle at her cute reactions.
"Oi kid...what the hell did ya do?..." Rom looked around at the down that was glowing red as the rays of the beautiful moon entered the blood covering the dome.
"Hmm. I ought to praise the two of you for your good work. Tis a splendid service." Priscilla exclaimed as she pulled out her fancy fan, putting it in front of her mouth.
"Woah...i wonder if the sun will rise from the west today."
"Don't let this single praise cloud your head commoner. Although that head is quite better than it looks. That's right! You'll be my new jester from today onwards." She shut her fan and pointed it towards Merlin.
"First decide whether you want to insult or compliment someone!"
"–? Why of course I had intended on complimenting you. Shall myself write it down on a note to get it your sometimes pleasant head?"
"Oi cut it out you two! And kid, tell me what the hell was that about?! This ain't just no simple dome ain't it?"
"Hah! 100 points Old man! Indeed it isn't just a hemisphere." Merlin folded both his hands and he explained the true nature of what the plan exactly entailed. "After all, no simple dome would be smothered with one meter long spikes on every possible corners." His smile grew slightly darker as he closed his left eye. "That alone. should've taken out a near about of a hundred or two."
"Hah? Kid that ain't even remotely close to enough for us to relax! What about the rest of em?! You wasted so much of her mana for this?!" Rom's voice became more and more impatient as he continued speaking.
Merlin's smile did not fade as he simply turned away from Rom.
"Don't ignore me yo–! "
"Seems like my estimation of you was off mark, gutter relic." Priscilla said with indifference as she fanned herself.
"What do you mean by–?"
"What do you think the beasts will do when they slip and accidentally hit each other's head?" She spoke with one eye closed, a habit she had picked up from her elder brother.
".... they'd tear each other apart." Rom spoke as realization hit him.
It wasn't a plan to just eliminate a few hundred of the mabeasts, it was a plan to utilize the lack of thought in Mabeasts and use it create discord in between them.
It was an extremely effective plan that he could not find much flaws in.
He again looked towards Merlin, but this time it wasn't a look of irritation.
While everyone had come to a conclusion of their own, Merlin was sweating profusely. He hadn't at all planned that discord or whatever part, it just happened.
"Hah~"
My luck really comes in handy in the most random situations ever.
He turned towards Emilia who had started to regain her stamina and spoke to her with a smile. "It wouldn't have been possible without you, thanks Milli. You did great." He spoke to her with tenderness, the sort that one would use when talking with someone close, maybe a friend?
Maybe I would've known if I ever had one to begin with, but maybe....
"Milli..?" Emilia repeated the name with which Merlin had just associated her with.
"It's a nickname. One which you give to a friend."
"A friend, me? B-but...I'm a half elf you know." She said as she clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, avoiding Merlin's gaze.
"Half elf or something doesn't matter. We're comrades that have been in a life and death situation together, so I think that is enough qualifications to become someone's friend!"
His voice did not carry a hint of forced formality. Merlin believed every word he had spoken just now. He had a gist of why she would doubt his words, the reason being that she was a half elf, holding prejudice towards them should be the most obvious thing to do in the eyes of the people of this.
But why should Merlin give a care about that? Those racists can go ahead and shove their complaints up their asses.
"..." Emilia could only look at the man–or the boy, in front of her in astounded silence. Ever since she had been released by Puck from that ice, all feelings she had ever received from people were either indifference or just unfiltered hate. So having someone refer to her as a "friend" even before she had ever been referred to as a "person" was strange.
Merlin turned away from her, his face still adorned with an everlasting grin that just added more positive points to his looks. The outside wall of the dome has been completely and utterly painted in the crimson blood of the beasts. Even now he could feel the slight tremors that reverberated through the ground as the Mabeasts collided with the dome one after another until after a few moments it finally subsided.
"Now phase two beings." He murmured in a low tone.
***
In the space outside the dome, the bodies of the Mabeasts were piled up upon each other like firewoods.
The larger ones crushed the bodies of the smaller beasts like they were just a pile of rotten tomatoes.
Among the huge mountain of both alive and dead Mabeasts, a Guiltylowe was lying on top of a Wappig. The half-lion beast's mind was still spinning. Still in its state of confusion, it slammed it's giant paw on the surface to snap itself out of that confused state.
Just when it did, it was unaware of what it was laying on, and so, it's paw pierced staring through the Wappigs eyes and even cracked the skull around that eye.
Unable to bear the pain, the pig let out a loud guttural scream of agony and ire.
It shaked it's body in order to make the Guiltylowe drop down from it, but it just stepped on several other beasts that layed near or underneath the pig. One of them happened to be a snowblight, who was lying right beside the it, had his right arm squshed by the rampaging beast.
"GREAAAAOOOO!!!!!" It slammed it's remaining arm on his chest repeatedly like the drum of declaration. With its single arm, it grabbed the pig by its hindleg and used all it's remaining strength to raise the pig into the earth and slam it with enough force to embed it into the earth.
This action only caused more Mabeasts to get squashed and tossed around.
The focus of their anger had been shifted towards each other. And so commenced the bloodbath of the fiends.
***
"–and that is how it should go like" Merlin slowly put his hand down which he had been using to emphasize the supposed details of what should be going on outside.
"Ah, finally this rattling dumbass shuts up..." Rom said in a tired tone.
"Guh! That's harsh."
"But it is true Merlin, you were going on for quite long." Before Merlin could even recover from the first blow, Emilia also added one of hers as if it were a tip.
"GAH! Don't get infection by this fossils virus Milli!"
"Um, I don't what a "vai-rus" means but I'm sure that i am totally healthy."
"Heh! See that kid. Even the elf knows. " Rom spoke in a delighted tone of victory.
"Curse you both."
Rom burst out in an loud laughter while Emilia simply chuckled with her palm pressed to her mouth.
Priscilla looked at the stupid conversation with boredom but the commoner has truly earned her attention tonight. Not only can he think up such plans in such a tense situation but he also doesn't have any sort of malice towards the half-wit. A jester is the most fitting stature he may have to be able to stand beside her.
"Ah and also, thank you alot too Priscilla." He turned towards her and bowed at a 90° angle to show his gratitude. "Without you, we would've all been dead meat by now."
She continued to look at him for a while before shutting her fan. "You're celebrating victory too early, fool. Just because this space is safe doesn't mean victory."
"Eh?"
"The lady's right, kid. The elf lady, keep powering the dome or we might get doomed." Rom's scary eyes squinted as he looked at Emilia. "Ya' can keep this up for long right?"
"Uh well...it is quite difficult but I think I can manage."
"See? It's an okay situation right now."
"Be not so foolish at time when it is to be avoided. Mineself thinks she phrased it well enough for even a narrow mind such as yourself could understand."
Looking that Merlin still wasn't able to understand her meaning, she let out a small sigh. "Victory still isn't decided yet. There are factors that might've remained unknown to us until this moment. Or maybe the eyes might divert to us instead."
"...I see. You mean outside factors or a fail in the plan, hm?"
"Yes, although you were a bit too slow to earn any praise from this goddess."
"Ugh, I can't with your ego sometimes."
"The jester doesn't have a choice to complaint."
"I did not agree to that yet!"
"It's only a matter of time, I shall wait patiently before you decide to throw yourself at this goddess's foot. The world was made for mineself's entertainment after all."
Priscilla turned away from him after that, content with the conversation.
Merlin's hand ruffled his hair in frustration. He was still tired from the hectic day. Not to mention, he was also super low on mana too, so he sank to the ground, legs folding loosely beneath him, his head resting against his palm.
His cape spilled around his shoulders and pooled over the earth like a quiet, weary shadow.
Well what a first day, don't think it can even worse than this, and not to mention I've already...well, died. Hah! Crazy don't you think?
He thought to himself as he looked down at the shadow that his head was casting on his lap, within that dim shadow, was a jet black blob of slime with a singular tiny white dot on its supposed "head", that had risen up from within his shadow.
He had also figured out just before he had Priscilla with that disgusting pig. It seemed to obey his command diligently, like a pet of some sort.
It squirmed a little and made a very low "Chyun~" noise. Although the noise seemed meaningless, Merlin was able to understand it. Well not exactly the kind of understand on a language level, but he was able to understand the meaning or more importantly the emotions of the shadow. It was agreeing with his words.
Nonetheless, it was cute so he'll accept it.
Hey little shadow...wait, calling you that feels strange. Okay then, once this is over I shall provide you with a name!
Hearing it's master's thoughts, the shadow jiggled back and forth letting out a purr like noise in delight.
"What's that sound Merlin? Are you hungry?" Emilia asked him while she looked over his shoulder to where he was looking. "Ah so it's your shadow. Ehehe, so cute~" She tried to touch it with her finger before the shadow backed up and let out a shriek as if warning her to not touch it.
"Ah, don't mind this guy–" "Skriiii!!" "–oh, girl, I meant. She's a little shy."
"Hm, I understand. That just makes it even more adorable." Emilia smiled gently. She had been there when the shadow had first jumped out of Merlin's shadow onto his shoulder.
"I still wonder what it is. Is she a yin spirit? But it has a form soooooooooo...it must be a full spirit right?"
"Ah, about that..."
"Lady, the kid doesn't even knows what a spirit is. But he sure got some freaky magic stuff on himself all the time. Creepy."
"HEY I CAN HEAR YOU CLEARLY YOU OLD FUCK!"
Priscilla didn't care. But her gaze did narrow a little for once. "The rumbling outside is subsiding." She said, which killed all the conversations that had been going on.
It was true, the rattling those beasts have been causing is starting to fade away. That's not good.
"Hey, shadow, can squeeze outside and check the situation once?"
"Chyun!" It boobed it's jelly like head several times before it vanished into the ground. Utilising the shadow that the dome was casting under the moonlight, it was able to reach outside.
There what it saw was several beasts with bloody mouth sniffing the air and then turing towards the ice structure.
Loud growling filled the air as all the Mabeasts simultaneously charged towards them.
Seeing this, the shadow slime let out a loud squeal as it hurriedly sank back into the shadow before again emerging on Merlin's lap once again.
"Chyun! Chyu-chyu-chyuuuuuunn!!" It let out a sequence of it's squeals to inform Merlin of the danger coming towards them.
"Wh-wha?" His voice stuttered. As he got up on his foot again, his pants and cape dirtied from the dust on the ground.
"What did she say Merlin?!" Emilia closed in on him, trying to get him to say what the black shadow had spoken.
"The plan–The plan failed, they are charging in..."
"Chyu!" She climbed her way up to his shoulder.
CRACK
A snow blight had ripped off several of the spikes that surrounded the ice dome. The sudden force also caused the ice walls to start to crack.
"Krugh!" Emilia grunted aa she used more and more mana to rebuild and restore the spikes and walls that were being destroyed repeatedly by the ravaging Mabeasts outside.
"I-I won't be ab-able to...Hk!" Emilia's voice quivered as she the ice started to cracks and tiny fragments of it started returning to it's original state, in its mana form.
"The structure wont last long! What do we do now kid?!" Rom's grip on his club tightened as he scrunched his face, his expression turning even uglier than it already was.
Merlin just blankly stared at the cracking walls of ice, as they started fade into tiny specs of glowing lights. Soon the wall would collapse under the force of the barrage by the mabeasts. They'll overwhelm them easily.
He looked at Emilia. She was still exerting herself to her maximum possible limit. She was struggling but she hasn't given up.
He looked at Rom. He was gripping the iron spiked club with both his hands, which were slightly trembling, as if he knew what would eventually wind up happening. He was scared but he hasn't given up.
He looked at Priscilla. She had resummoned her sword and stood with a posture that showed not a hint of weakness. She would not succumb to something as unsightly as fear or despair. If she had to go, it should in a manner that displayed her pride to everyone so, she hasn't given up.
He redirected his gaze from them towards his own trembling hand which had conjured up a small pocket knife without him even realizing that he had done something like that. His mind spiralled, the creation of the knife had used up all of his remain mana.
You've done it once...why not again? A voice whispered into his ears. How could he forget that voice. Ahaha, what a dumbass.
Keep it straiiiiggttt...yup! Just like that! Now with that, at least you can something. Don't you think? Next time will be better. It's voice was convincing, too convincing to sound real, but that is all that Merlin–no, the only thing Arv can do is listen to it like a good and hard working slave. That's what he is after all. After all, if he listened, it wont be as painful as being chewed...alive.
Before he could further indulge himself in his internal conflict, a harsh yet aluring voice snaped him out of it.
"You should feel proud of yourself commoner. You've proven a Goddess such as mineself wrong." Priscilla's words stopped his movements. He did not look at her but still spoke in a heavy and low voice. "W-why?"
"Why you ask? Hm? Because this goddess has never been wrong. She helped yours pitiful self because mineself thought you had potential. And thats where you should feel proud, you've proved that point to be a miscalculation on my part."
"––Hk!"
"Priscilla-san! Why are being so mean to him all of a sudden?! This is not the time!"
"The elf lady's right. Even if he did somethin bad, deal with it after we don't die here!"
"Hm? You imbeciles dare teach this goddess about what should be done? What a preposterous thing to do. Why don't you ask this commoner here what he's doing, holding a knife and facing it towards himself." Priscilla let out a low chuckle as if it were the most hilarious situation she'd ever encountered. The boy who had been acting so brave and confident loses his mask the instant things turn bad. All she could now see was the face of a hopeless and maniacal fool who felt as if dying would do him good.
"Come on commoner, what are you waiting for? Do it." Her exhilarated face soon transitioned into a scowl quick. "What now? Loosing motivation?"
Merlin just kept looking at his hand. They were trembling. He would have struck his neck several times by this moment, but each time his brain sent the signal to initate the action, for some reason, his hands protested against the signal with all its might.
Tch, it's just one thing and you cant even do that, maybe the sight of them being killed would please you hm~? Pathetic waste of space. The voice uttered those words, lacking even an ounce of sympathy for Merlin. It kept of speaking with the sole reason to detoriate and bash down Merlin's mental state till it breaks and gives in to the path of the perfect future.
"Doesn't have a strong mind nor a strong body and can't even proceed with the choices you make. You disgust me, your kind makes my blood boil with the urge to slay down a pig such as you."
Having said her part, Priscilla now completely disregarded the very existence of the otherworlder, also know as Arv. Merlin was a well structured mask meant to hide the true and ugly face of Arv Shaw, a coward to the truest sense. Ah, she wasn't insulting the mask, Merlin, but the person behind the mask, him.
Her words had wounded Merlin to his very core, stealing away any form of ember to continue, left within him.
"Chyun~?" The black slime nudged his cheek, she had been sensing his emotions that were spiraling into a mess with a rapid pace.
Along with his resolve, the walls of ice also crumbled down, as Emilia was rendered incapable of spending any more mana than she already has.
It was a full moon tonight, it sure does looks beautiful.
In his final moments, he felt the world slowing down. Soon they would all be crushed down by the weights of the beasts. This can be prevented, yeah, next time...for sure.
His eyes looked sideways at the shadow perched on his shoulder. It was impossible to quite tell his exact shape if the outlines were ignore, because it was genuinely that dark, it seemed like it ate away any form of light that fell upon it, almost like the night sky...ah that's what it was reminding me of. That tiny white dot on it's...face? Reminded him of a star, all alone in a vast scary and dark sky. Hm, Stella would a fitting name wouldn't it~? Ahhh, although I'm sorry, I can't name you that in this life, next time definitely. Definitely.
Merlin has given up.
Because giving up is all I can do. Now all I have do is, die. That way...i can–
Before he closed his eyes, he could see a shooting star in the sky. Should he make a wish? Maybe in a fantasy world like this, it can actually happen.
A wish...I-I dont want to die...
'I see, in that case consider your wish fulfilled.'
A voice filled the head of eveyone present.
In less than a blink of an eye, before the paws could even reach them, before the destroyed and suspended ice block could fall, that "star" fell on the ground with a blindingly bright red light.
Before the shockwaves of the landing could even begin to propagate, the "star" wrapped "it's" arms around Emilia and Priscilla, pulling them close and harmlessly slammed Merlin and Rom into the ground to fix them all into place.
BOOOMM!!!!!
The blast of the landing sent humongous shockwaves throughout the slums, evicerating any Mabeasts in a 100 meter radius from "it", sending ginormous clouds high in the air, one that could be visible from anywhere in the Capital.
As soon as the smoke disappeared, "it" carefully released both of the girls in "it's" arms and spoke with a sweet yet robotic voice.
"Lady Emilia, Lady Priscilla, are you both unhurt?" "It" asked to the both of them.
"Y-yes, we are, just a little exhauste–wait. Aren't you–?!" Emilia gasped.
"Well aren't you a bit too early? Astrea." Said Priscilla
"I offer my apologies for my tardiness." "It" bowed deeply to the both of them.
"I-its g-good that ya came...to save our...asses but can y-ya get off us?" Rom, whose face had been embedded into the earth spoke with a quivering voice, on the verge of passing out.
"Ah. I apologize for my rudeness." "It" spoke before quickly moving a few steps away from both the men.
Merlin wasn't any better than Rom, arguably he was in a much worse condition than him. He was nearly depleted of mana, his mental state was not good and his body was aching all over from muscle strain and a headache.
Stella had already retracted back into the shadow before the "star" could even land.
Speaking of the "star". Merlin slowly lifted his head up from the ground, to get a look at the one who has saved hi-them. His consciousness hanging by a thin thread which could break at any moment now.
The "star" in the question was a young girl, who looked like a 18 or 19 year old. A girl in a Knight's uniform, a pristine looking sword, sheathed and hanging from her side.
Her red hair, tied into a ponytail, waved in the air like a cracking scarlet fire. Contrary to her flaming red hair, her eyes, although empty looking gave off the feeling of an ocean. An ocean of pure and cold water. Her skin just as flawless, made all her features stand out even more.
She was a beauty that would put even the Greek goddess to shame.
His eyelids repeatedly fluttered as he looked around one last time, at the devastated area.
Hah! So the shooting stars here do grant wishes...to an extraordinary level I'd say...to grant such an angel for us. Thank you God.
And with that thought, Merlin let the exhaustion take over him. His eyelids shut close as he drifted off into a well deserved slumber.
[Mission—Save Emilia]
[Status—Pending]
[Analyzing status...]
[Awaiting updates...]
[Status—Completed successfully]
[Reward ready for collection]
******
Author's notes:-
Phew! I really went overboard with 5033 words for my return eh?
Well whatever
I'm seeing some problems with the pacing. I tried to fix it through the 2nd half. Let's see how it's received.
Spelling or minor gramatic mistakes are bound to happen, there's only so much a lone student like me can do. And I don't wanna rely on ai so...
Anyways, 1 more chapter and arc 1 ends.
Until next time, Ciao!