The sun began to rise from behind the horizon, and the cohort led by Astheneia was already prepared to continue their journey onwards in the hellish landscape of the desert.
Taking a step forward, Ira hopped on Adonis's horse.
"What are you doing Ira? You will be riding with me at the front of the group." Astheneia said, her tone warm yet firm.
An expression of confusion appeared on Ira's face for a moment before being washed in clarity.
Hopping off of Adonis's horse, Ira gave him a passive-aggressive look that screamed of agitation.
Repeating the same action she had used to get on Adonis's horse, she hopped on Astheneia's.
It felt far more comfortable than Adonis's—she had also felt more secure, not because the seat itself was secure, but because she was next to Astheneia, an exalted Awakened who had already proved her domineering power to Ira.
With a gentle kick, the mighty steed obeyed the wordless command given by Astheneia, beginning its march northwest.
"Is my mighty steed good enough for you~?" Astheneia said.
Hearing the playful tone in the giant brunette's voice made Ira slightly annoyed.
'Does she not know when to take a situation seriously?!'
Astheneia's relaxed face began to don a light smile. However, it was quickly replaced. Her eyes narrowed onto a specific dune, as if she could see through it with perfect clarity.
She raised her hand, signaling to her Cohort to stop their advance.
The silver-haired girl tilted her head slightly to get a better look at what was up ahead—only to be met with the sight of the barren golden dunes—yet one glance at Astheneia told her that danger was present in the mystical lands of the hellish desert before them.
"Ira, watch carefully. Adonis, prepare the men for confrontation!"
With a quick nod, Adonis began to rally Astheneia's cohort together.
◇
Soon, everyone was with Astheneia. Glancing back at Ira, the giant brunette ordered a third of her men to stay back and protect Ira in case of an ambush.
"After all, I would not want to lose such a talent as yourself.' Astheneia chuckled lightly.
A bright flash of light hit Ira's eyes, and suddenly the weaponless Astheneia now held one in her hand. A simple Rapier, no intricate patterns or an aura of dominance came with it, but something whispered to Ira that it was not a mundane weapon.
Her eyes were besieged with a myriad of flashing lights—each one came from a single person who had been previously unarmed.
Some held katanas, others mallets, and a few held weapons that did not possess a name, or at least ones Ira knew of.
'What is going on..?'
An all-out battle was about to commence, and Ira was the VIP of the entire show.
Another flash of light began to ignite from the people of Astheneia's cohort—only it was different this time. No weapon was summoned, yet the atmosphere grew as sharp as a blade.
'Is this.. "Will"? It must be; the ability to bend the world to your ideas and beliefs!'
The golden sand beneath her began to tremble, nearly causing her to crumble to the ground.
A monstrous worm-like monstrosity lunged out of the golden sand dunes at Astheneia's Cohort.
Its sand-colored body was thick and rough. Armored with skin that looked as durable as steel, the texture of its hide resembled sandpaper. When it opened its maw, hundreds of razor-sharp teeth were revealed, packed tightly in a circular maw. It felt less like an animal and more like the desert itself given hunger and motion—after all, it was a Purge Beast.
Before its destructive mass could collide with the cohort, Astheneia lunged forward. Her speed was in a league of its own compared to her men. In an instant, Astheneia found out the creature's weaknesses.
A single slash turned into two, two became five, and three became ten.
"What is going on..?"
Ira asked one of the soldiers tasked with guarding her.
"That is Astheneia's Soul-Bound weapon. With each slash, the number of slashes doubles. Astheneia can choose where the duplicated slashes appear, which can lead to some pretty cool moments. She is awesome, right?"
Ira nodded gently, amazed by Astheneia's incredible Soul-Bound weapon.
As she watched Astheneia, one of her men was struck by the tail of the monstrosity, sending him flying back. The mere swing caused the man's flesh to be ripped off from the sandpaper-like skin of the worm abomination.
Ira felt her heart stop for a moment; a single thought invaded her mind:
'Are they going to lose?'
No, an average Awakened could defeat an Aberrant Momster due to their superior intelligence, and under the right circumstances, they could even defeat a being of two classes higher.
As of that moment, a dozen of them were ferociously battling only a pathetic Aberrant Fiend.
With a single swing of Astheneia's rapier, a thousand cuts appeared on the abomination.
Ira noticed something:
'They are all.. shallow? Not even comparable to an Awakened..'
Astheneia's speed was well beyond any of her Awakened peers, to the point Ira was incapable of tracking her, yet her physical strength was severely below average for someone of her rank.
'Could she be holding back? That must be the case..'
Ira did not know; she could not even see Astheneia's movements, after all. For all she knew Astheneia could be toying with the abomination—she needed a way—a way to trace the untraceable.
It was obvious how she would do that—Will.
Will was a force that only people of the Awakened rank and above could utilize. A graze that was incapable of harming anything could drop an opponent dead given enough Will infused into the attack.
Will was used for many things, but it was always used to guide, whether it was to guide a blade, a person, or someone to their death—it was always used in a manner that guided something or someone.
Using this, Ira finally understood how she could visually see where Astheneia was moving towards—her will guided her movements, her blade, and her opponent's death; everything was there for Ira to use, and that is what she would do.
Gazing in the general area of Astheneia, she saw two dim flames—one of Enlightenment, the other of Profanity. The Pure flame struck at the creature—yet no marks appeared on the abomination; not because it was too weak, but because it had not been struck down.
In the next moment, however, two thousand cuts appeared on the abomination's body, and then four thousand. The number continued to double.
On the fourteenth strike, something changed. Now, the cuts did not appear all around the abomination's body—rather, they were centered around the neck of the worm abomination.
In an instant, the creature's head was severed from its body; then, a moment later it happened in reality.
The battle had ended with only a single injury. Even with a large party such as this, injuries were not always avoidable—especially against creatures of the higher classes.
◇
Astheneia walked towards Ira, a slightly gloomy expression on her face for a moment, before quickly being replaced by a gentle smile.
"Ira, did you see it? My Will, I mean?"
The silver-haired girl nodded softly.
"So you can see it.. I had thought so. No awakened possesses the ability to see Will directly. People tend to see its effects rather than its source, Ira. You are a very special person, which is why I will ask you once more. Join the Hellguard."
If Ira could, she would; but her time was limited here—this was a trial given by an Oracle, after all.
Wanting to please Astheneia, Ira spoke, "Alright.. I'll join, but only after we slay the Dune Lord." She knew this was a blatant lie, but it was better than disagreeing and possibly losing the protection of Astheneia's cohort.
The giant brunette giggled at Ira's comment. "Well obviously? It would not be very professional to have you join in the middle of a desert."
Glancing over, Ira saw the injured man being carried back to the horse; Astheneia's expression becoming serious once more.
"We will be cutting today's journey short, let us find a suitable place to set up camp."
Astheneia sent a warm smile at Ira, before climbing back on her horse, and outstretching her hand towards her.
"Uh.. give me a second.."
Astheneia nodded her head, turning towards her companions and away from Ira, beginning to converse with them.
Staring at the worm abomination, she thought to herself:
'We might need this if we run out of rations..'
The silver-haired girl walked over to a chunk of the worm abomination and stuffed it inside her bag secretly.
Quickly walking over to where Astheneia was before the giant brunette could notice what she had done, Ira hopped on the mighty steed, where they continued their journey northwest in search of a camp for the night.