The sun began to rise over the distant horizon, the world illuminated in its almighty power. Shades of golden light were displayed on the walls of crumbling buildings. Not only that, but the rays of light that struck down from the skies had grown far more powerful.
The sound of choked gurgling awoke the party, their eyes glimmered with paranoia and worry. What they saw shook them ever so slightly.
Ira, Champion of Hope, was strangling a Strayed Beast to death?
As the life left its body, another fragment entered her soul.
'That is twenty-seven… So much work to gain fragments. Two entire days and I've only gained nineteen.' Her eyes rolled back in exasperation.
"Ira, maybe just split it into two so we don't have to hear it gurgling while we try to sleep?" One of the girls, whose name was Ellendore, or Ellen for short.
Ira only spared her a glance, annoyed by the slow progression at which she was gaining fragments. 'You just want me to alert all the Purge Beasts in a three-kilometer radius that humans are nearby?' She thought.
Over the course of those two days, they had learned many valuable lessons. Ira thought Ellen should have known by now that silencing your opponent was the best course of action. Perhaps it would have gone faster if she had slit its throat instead. In the end, she did not really care what Ellen had said.
Bariealla's gaze centered on Ira, "Well, since we are already awake, we might as well continue our journey towards Cammie and Kaine. There is just no way for six Dormants to slay an Aberrant Demon by themselves." She said, her body glistening with sweat as the heat from the sun pelted her.
It had been quite cold a few days ago, but now the sun had begun to beat down on them, exhausting their bodies of all the water they had inside them.
"It's weird… I-Is it not? Nowhere in the world does a 'climate' exist anymore. Everything keeps changing, and I am starting to think we are being left behind by it." She said, her silver hair moving with the wind.
Bariealla only nodded gently. No words needed to be said.
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Rubble rolled as they walked, their feet kicking it up occasionally. Only the sound of whistling wind interrupted the silence—that and the sound of rays of light slamming into buildings kilometers away.
A deep breath from Bariealla was the only noise they had made in the past hour.
"This air is horrid, yet I cannot help but breathe deeply every so often. Is that not weird, you all?"
Avian responded first, "Nah, not really. But I do have a question of my own. Why are you and Ira so strong compared to us? You both were capable of taking on a Demon together, and Ira over there has apparently slain both a Demon and a Monster at the same time." A momentary pause occurred as Avian thought of what she should say next.
"We had only barely lived against a single Demon, and we only won simply because the Demon had taken the brunt of the ball of flame. We could quite literally smell its cooked flesh in the air. I question how we had survived that encounter, and the only thing that comes to my mind is sheer luck."
Ira blushed slightly at the compliment. As long as she was never called talented she would gratefully take any compliment.
Bariealla spoke once more, "Perhaps it is because I was awakened by a Pure Awakening Crystal? That may play a factor, along with my ability to make most battles one of endurance, which I just so happen to specialize in. I do not know what Ira was awakened with, but she is this strong because of her own resolve and willpower."
Bari glanced at Ira, signaling it was her turn to speak.
"I-I do not know the quality of the a-Awakeing Crystal used to awaken me was, but Bariealla is right… Perhaps maybe because of my Echo ability, too…"
Ira silently laughed at herself. Without her Echo ability, she was only a mundane human; her Echo was everything now that she had awakened into a Dormant.
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As they continued their march towards Cammie and Kaine's party, they decided to come up with a plan to overcome the Aberrant Demon as a "just in case" plan, as they might encounter an Aberrant Demon before they reach Cammie and Kaine.
"Well, I will use every last drop of my Realm Thread to create my Spirit Slashes, and hopefully the Aberrant Demon would use up all its Realm Thread before the ten-minute mark on my ability is reached. Finally, you would slay the beast in one final blow. Is that good enough?"
Ira nodded, her voice quiet as usual. "I did not know your ability was named Spirit Slash? Perhaps you told me in the past, but my memory is not the best. I was also extremely hungry and tired then."
Her memory of that time was quite foggy. 'I had either just recovered from the soul damage to my, well, soul—or I had still been recovering from it.'
Bariealla only chuckled quietly before responding, "I did tell you. I told you when we were on our way to Fort Echo. Cammie was the one who brought up what our echo abilities are. "
Licking the dried blood off her lips, she began to speak once more; her voice dreamy as it once had been. "I am actually pretty jealous of you two. It must be amazing having Echo abilities that enhance your body; I only have ranged slashes that cut off the flow of Realm thread, along with a single attribute that only prevents my own Realm Thread from being disrupted."
Ira was not used to Bariealla speaking in such long-winded sentences, but it was still nice to have someone to speak with—especially if that person had such a lovely voice.
Kicking a piece of rubble away, Bariealla spoke again. "Did you really kill an Aberrant Demon only a few days after awakening? I mean, you struggle with killing a Strayed Demon. Not only that, but you had also said you 'aided' in the death of a Fallen Beast, meaning there were other people. And to me, a Fallen Beast being killed is worthy of being broadcast across the entire world, yet I never saw it."
Ira's white face turned slightly red with embarrassment. She had told herself she would never tell them that she had help as to avoid looking like some sort of lying narcissistic person such as Kaine—but here she was, about to tell Bariealla the entire story.
"Well… I did kill the Aberrant Demon, but that was with the help of an Awakened Beast. She had held its mouth open while I used alcohol and fire to set its internal body aflame. Now that I am thinking about it, I probably came up with the idea to do it because the Awakened Beast had told me, 'Not even Awakened are immune to the elements'." She paused, taking in a deep breath. The world around them had turned a wonderful shade of gold, making the scene feel slightly intimate even if it was not supposed to.
The embarrassment faded as she spoke. There truly was no need to even feel such a thing. What she had accomplished, with help or not, was still an amazing feat that most—if not all of humanity could never dare to accomplish.
"Now as for the Fallen Beast… First off, I was inside a trial bestowed upon me by an Oracle, and in that trial an awakened man had been defeated by his Reverberant, becoming a Fallen abomination. No one knew except me, since I have the special ability to see the Will of abominations and humans alike. The same Awakened Beast I had talked about had slain it—but only after we poisoned it with flesh-eating parasites, wounded it with a stab to the heart, and overcame its intelligence with cunning tactics."
Bariealla paused, taking a moment to absorb what Ira had just said.
It was a large amount of information to take in, after all. She had just learned that an Oracle, a supposed human, had been capable of giving a Trial which she had thought only Resonance was capable of doing.
One question arose in her mind, "Why had the Oracle come to see you?"
Ira's mouth was left agape, her expression one of shock and deep consideration. Should she tell Bariealla the truth with others only a couple of meters away? What benefit would she gain from doing so?
'Do… Do I even need a benefit..? Well, they are companions after all, and I feel like I can trust her.'
The real question she had, though, was whether or not she knew for certain that Bariealla would not betray her—and if she for some reason did, would Ira be willing to kill her?
She would think about that later, "I'll tell you one day, Bari."
Now was not the time to be giving secrets; they were in the middle of a war zone, after all.