novelraw Chapter 219: She Cried
Chapter 219: She Cried
No, Ignotus’s humanity had long since corroded.
His memories were witness to that, and now, Eris was too.
Sitting on his lap was a... crow? Yes. It was a crow.
Its eyes were a bright, deadly red, similar to Eris’s.
"Calamity!"
Indeed, this was Eris, only in another form.
Learning from what happened with their little hostage situation, she assumed a flying form.
It’d give anyone who wished to target Her a much harder time, and it gave Her much greater autonomy.
She’d never let that happen again!
Neither would Ignotus.
"Hm, what is it?"
He petted Her little head.
"Have you noticed something?"
Eris nodded towards his heart.
’It stopped.’
Ignotus’s eyes trembled a little.
"I..."
He sighed and closed them shut.
Quieting his mind, he went deep in his Soul.
There, in the white space, above Eris, he saw the cracked sky.
That wasn’t new, of course, but what was new was the fact that its healing had paused.
"I expected this... but not this early."
He glanced at the beautiful Goddess next to him.
"Can I not heal myself?"
She revealed a sad smile.
"...no. I can help maintain this state, but I can’t fix it."
"Ah, yes. The Laws~."
Eris nodded at him.
"More than that, it’s too delicate. You need someone or something specialized for this."
Ignotus looked down and began to comb through his memories.
Many came and went, rumors as numerous as his hair.
Until eventually, one remained, one that revealed—
"You must ask them for a God’s Tear."
Ignotus’s head snapped back to Eris.
It seemed that they both reached the same conclusion.
Because yes, in his past life, word of this incredible teardrop of life came about.
"I must win."
That only reinforced his need for victory.
He couldn’t fail again! This was life or death!
Blinking his eyes open, he returned to the real world.
Ding!
And once there, a blue screen materialized before his eyes.
—
╔════════════╗
║QUEST UPDATED!║
╚════════════╝
[Objective: WIN!]
—
There was no arguing with that, was there~?
No, there wasn’t, and neither was the hype for Rosa.
"STUDENT CHIEF!"
"STUDENT CHIEF!"
"STUDENT CHIEF!"
The crowd was still roaring for her clinical dismantling of Nora. The energy in the Colosseum was feverish.
Lothar, floating high above, spun around and waved wildly.
"A terrifying display! But we must move on! The bracket waits for no one! And our next match? Oh, this is a personal one, folks!"
The projections shifted, showing two familiar faces.
"In the right corner! He is the shield that hits back! The Ice Knight! Ulv of House Calamity! Guard to Lord Lykos! The Stranger’s Second Sword!"
Ulv walked out, looking like a moving mountain of ice and fur. He banged his sword against his new tower shield, a rhythmic CLANG-CLANG that silenced his side of the arena.
"And in the left corner! She is the wind that cuts! The birdfolk’s pride! Aurelia of House Trade, daughter of Magnus!"
Aurelia walked out, her whip coiled at her hip, her expression calculating.
"These two are friends! They are rivals! They fought to a standstill in the entrance duel! But today? There are no ties in the Colosseum! Only winners and losers!"
Ulv and Aurelia stood ten meters apart.
"No tie today."
Ulv grunted, and Aurelia nodded.
"Agreed. I won’t let my father down."
He lowered his stance.
"House Lord Magnus is a merchant; I am a guard. We deal in different currencies."
"BEGIN!"
Using [Air Dash], Aurelia moved instantly.
Exploding from her starting position, she blurred to the left. She knew better than to go head-to-head with a tank. To win this, she needed to poke, harass, and bleed him out.
Crack!
She snapped her whip and conjured a crescent of compressed air that tore through the arena, aiming for Ulv’s exposed flank.
With [Glacial Glide], ice formed beneath Ulv’s boots, and he drifted sideways, letting the wind slash pass harmlessly by his shoulder.
"Too slow."
He raised his free hand.
Four massive spears of ice materialized and shot toward Aurelia.
"Zephyr Mirage."
Unfazed, Aurelia split into three.
With loud whooshes! The lances hit two of the Aurelias, causing them to burst into harmless puffs of air. The real Aurelia appeared above Ulv, gravity seemingly forgetting she existed.
She cracked her whip downward, and the air exploded right above Ulv’s head!
BOOM.
The shockwave slammed Ulv into the ground.
Despite his body being covered by his tower shield, his [Frostforged Body] armor cracked, spiderwebs appearing on the ice plating.
Aurelia was already preparing a follow-up, but Ulv didn’t stay down.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He roared, slamming his shield into the sand.
A ripple of frost expanded in a perfect circle. Aurelia, who was about to land for a combo, realized too late that the ground was now a trap.
Boom!
She blasted wind from her boots to stay airborne, but the cold slowed her reaction, frost beginning to creep up her legs.
Ulv charged, skating across the ice he had just created, moving faster than a man his size had any right to, and swung his massive sword at her.
Aurelia barely parried with a condensed wind shield.
CLANG.
She was sent flying back, skidding across the sand, her arms shaking from the impact.
’He’s stronger...’
Aurelia grit her teeth.
’He’s been training with Ignotus too much.’
She looked up at the VIP box where her father, Magnus, sat. The Trade Lord of the Third Stratum. He expected perfection, expected his daughter to be the sharpest blade in the room.
"I can’t lose."
She stood up, and her Divinity flared.
’Gryphon’s Ascent.’
Wind gathered around her shoulders, shimmering around her wings. Feathers rippled out along her arms. Her hair brightened, her nails sharpened, and her silhouette grew sharper and more regal.
Aurelia had just broken an unspoken rule.
She used her Synaxis and partially transformed.
Ulv solemnly saw the transformation and nodded.
"Good."
The air temperature dropped.
Ulv’s fur thickened, the gray strands bleaching toward pale blue. Frost ran over his limbs, and his posture rose, muscle layering on visibly, while the plates of ice all over his body began to thicken as well, turning him into a walking glacier.
His breath came out in clouds of white mist.
They clashed again.
It was a blur of Elements. Aurelia was everywhere—a tornado of slashes and detonations. Ulv was the eye of the storm—taking hits, regenerating his armor, and throwing heavy counters.
Aurelia was winning the war of attrition.
She was faster, allowing her to chip him down.
Ulv was linear, he charged, he bashed, he froze.
The wolf was a guard. He protected; he wouldn’t trick.
That was Aurelia’s analysis of him.
And so, staying back, she saw him winding up once more.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Ulv roared, pulling his sword back for a massive, overhead cleave.
His Divinity spiked, forming his strongest attack yet.
A telegraphed, duel-ending smash.
’Predictable!’
Aurelia prepared her counter.
She would [Air Dash] under his arm, strike at his now exposed side, and detonate a pocket right into his lungs.
It would end the match.
That was what she did.
Committing to the dodge, she dashed forward.
And then Ulv... vanished from her sight.
A glacial wall took his place.
This glacial wall wasn’t alone.
Two came alongside it, one to its left and the other to its right, nearly trapping her in.
Aurelia could’ve stepped back or flown away from whatever this attack was, but she saw Ulv reflected in the walls to the side.
She saw exactly where he was attacking her from and prepared herself to face him. Jumping high and readying her bladed whip.
Though this sudden and unexpected move had confused her, she wasn’t going to panic.
’I got you.’
The moment his reflection disappeared, she struck with her whip, anticipating his arrival.
Boom!
Yet she hit nothing, as Ulv wasn’t there.
And no, he didn’t come at her from the other direction.
The wolf directly tore through the middle wall with his shield, flying up to bash into her.
...his reflection was a trick.
A lie created by subtle changes in the ice.
Aurelia’s golden eyes widened.
’Since when?!’
Since when did the straightforward, honor-bound guard learn to trick?
Since when did the tank learn to be a rogue?
’Ignotus...’
The realization hit her a split second before the pain did.
Ulv and his shield were upon her.
"Sorry."
He slammed the flat of the tower shield into her with incredible force.
The sound was sickening as Aurelia was launched across the arena like a rag doll.
She hit the stone wall with a bone-jarring CRUNCH, sticking there for a second before sliding down to the sand.
Gasping, she began to cough up blood.
Her vision swam as she tried to stand as she tried to summon the wind.
But her Divinity was scattered, and her body screamed in agony.
She looked up.
Ulv was skating toward her.
His sword was raised, ready to deliver the final blow if she stood.
Aurelia looked at him for a very long moment...
She saw the change.
Indeed, he wasn’t just a wall for Lykos to hide behind.
He had evolved now, becoming more of a warrior.
Meanwhile, she had stayed the same. She had relied on her speed, her tricks, and her assumption that she was the smart one and he was the dumb one.
Arrogance was her downfall.
She had missed the fact that he could grow too.
"I..."
Tears welled up in her eyes, not from the pain but from the shame.
"I surrender."
Lothar screamed something about an upset.
The crowd cheered for the Ice Knight.
Aurelia slumped against the wall.
She buried her face in her knees.
"Ah."
And right there, in the middle of the Colosseum, the merchant’s daughter cried.