The night was still young, the funeral was over. A soft, still, warm air blew through the forest next to the special church house.
Woosh.
A calming breeze. The wind's melody lifted the leaves and loose branches, dancing in the air.
Lyrei sat along the lake. The moonlight bounced around the lake, a soft ray of moonshine striking her face. Illuminating it gracefully, like the luster of a pearl.
She kicked her feet in the water, playing around, splashing. A few seconds passed, and she abruptly stopped.
Being that the funeral occurred in the capital, the inns nearby were packed to the brim, with some people having to share rooms. The town wasn't completely quiet.
Something about that background noise, that small chatter, was calming to the ear. Subtle, but present.
"Haah…"
Lyrei let out a heavy breath of air. She felt that her feelings were complex. She didn't know how to feel.
— Am I feeling anything at all?
Being brought into a situation that would invoke heavy feelings in anyone, but not feeling anything at all. At least, not feel the negative sad emotions that she expected to feel.
She squinted, looking far at the huge lake. It was pretty big.
A flying fish zipped through the water.
"Woah.."
— It's the first time I've ever seen one.
It was obscured by the water it splashed into the air, but you could roughly tell what it was. Though, instead of soaring out of the air every so often, and diving back for a breath of air, it instead glided on the water.
Closer… and closer. Lyrei could feel the soft sprinkles of water coming into contact with her skin.
— Wait.
— That's not a-
With it clear and close, its shape could be recognized. A short elven boy, bearing a striking resemblance to the saint.
Her pale skin, icy blue, and sharp eyes, all glowed so elegantly on the boy's face.
The saint's younger brother! Back for revenge-
Slsh!
He swung his blade, indiscriminately, but fast.
Cutting through the water in front of him.
If it was the old Lyrei, her head would have been cut clean off. But she saw through the attack.
Quickly, she ducked.
— There's no use in trying to turn this fight to my advantage. He knows. And I have to kill him.
Nym landed, sliding through the dry dirt, a cloud of smoke rising into the air.
Lyrei turned around quickly.
[Cast: Apostle Of Hell]
The horns erected.
"That's your true form? You psychopath." Nym spat. He shook the water off his blade before his body surged forward.
Instinctively, her forearms rose to block the strike.
Ksh!
The blade dug into her skin.
Screaming was not the most optimal move. She clenched her jaw, baring the pain.
Her toughened skin allowed the sword to only barely dig in, around a few centimeters deep.
Nym let go of the sword, kicking into her chest.
The force sent her into the air
Boom!
at a speed so fast, that the sound barrier was broken.
Although she may have been powerful, her skills could never overcome Nym's. The elf man had trained for all of his 200 years of life.
-
Lyrei slammed into the side of a mountain.
"Gyaa!"
She let her voice out in agony, the pain rippling through her body. Being a strike to the spine, she could feel the true, pure pain at every corner of her body.
It was the first time… she had ever been hit so hard.
She panted. The injury on her forearm had healed, and the pain started to subside. There was still a lingering fear of pain, however.
She swallowed it down.
Nym was coming. From a distance, Lyrei could see his figure.
The dot was starting to become larger and larger.
— … Think… He's more skilled than me… physically, he's stronger. What can I possibly do?
Her arms shook slightly, lost in thought and fear.
The [Apostle of Hell] strengthened her mana, and her elven heritage increased the mana she already had.
[Cast: Demonic Saint Art, Inferno Spikes]
She slammed her right palm into the rough surface of the mountain. The large mountain she had perched on began to shake.
She quickly dashed away, into the nearby forest on the other side of the mountain, away from the town.
Unable to change directions, Nym landed on the mountain's crater, left by Lyrei.
Rumble!
Large spikes of black, hot mana, stuck out of the mountain, coming from the inside. They stretched the inside of the mountain, destroying its structure.
The spikes retracted.
The sudden retraction causes the mountain to lose all the structure it had before, becoming unstable. It shook, and rumbled.
"Damn it!" Nym yelled out, jumping off the mountain.
Smoke and dust started to fill the air, as the mountain was soon to collapse.
[Cast: Stone Pillars]
The mountain was wrapped by pillars of stone that etched themselves onto the mountain, securing it into place. It was relatively easy since the mountain had been hollowed out.