Qualification – 4

A couple of huge events had taken place during the early stages of the Great Fusion. During that time, the elves had not yet been able to adapt to their new environment, and none of them could even consider the idea that a monster born from the transformation of a human soul could worm its way into their haven. Because they couldn’t prepare for it, the devastation that happened, as a result, was terrible. The most important thing that had happened, however, was not that elves were killed. It was that there were monsters who were able to take over their bodies after destroying their souls.

It was only natural; their abilities were optimized to kill the soul but leave the flesh intact. It would be weird if no elf had their body stolen. The problem was that once the body of an elf was taken over, it became hard to tell them apart from other elves. As time passed, the monsters continued to mutate, slowly losing their memories of when they were human and, eventually, losing their ability to find their partner. But what about the monsters that had succeeded before that had happened?

Elves prided themselves in the purity and nobility of their soul and rejected those who could not keep their souls pure. They couldn’t admit that human souls had been able to overtake the body of an elf. So, doubt had been born. I could believe anyone who hadn’t been with me from the start on the battlefield. Before I went and said it would be nice to meet the other elves, I had to be sure of their identity first. No one could be convinced that the person wearing the face of an elf was truly one.

The elves created this world to protect themselves and, at the same time, become their own worst enemy. No longer could they stand united. There was no need to protect myself from them; these scattered elves bound to this battlefield could not be my enemies. The issue was those who were exempt from it. This gave me pause, as I had been only considering the Rookie’s Battlefield as a new place to train.

“I’ve never seen the Knights of Elakatra before.” Mireina said as she peeled an orange-colored fruit. It was shaped like a triangle and only grew in the elven forests.

“They have a huge fortress here in the battlefield, right?”

“That’s right.” I was playing dumb, and that seemed to be enough to convince Mireina. She didn’t doubt me at all, her sincerity so pure I had to wonder how she survived for so long.

“Or at least, there was one. I wondered at the time why that built it. I wonder if they were expecting an attack. If they did… it would’ve been nice if they told the rest of us.”

“I think that if they warned everyone, they would have panicked and flocked to them. That might’ve interfered with their own survival.”

“That’s not fair, we’re all the same kind, right? If everyone were nice like you, we could all join forces to defeat the monsters.” I chose not to answer her, instead munching on the fruit she had given me as I thought. I thought about those who had perspectives different than that, and those who were high-ranking amongst the elves. How they prepared as if they knew an attack would happen here.

It had been some time since I entered the Rookie’s Battlefield, but I couldn’t be sure how long. I remembered what Rain told me about the ones who were called ‘natives’ by human society. Those who brutally murdered the ones who escaped from the elves of the past and had angered the fallen. They reminded me of the Knights of Elakatra, those who had sworn to protect their own people and yet left them to be killed and scattered.

“It’s a bit scary. Do we have to talk about it?”

“No.” I smiled bitterly and shook my head. If I had more time, I would’ve liked to investigate them further, but it was only recently that I learned of the Knights of Elakatra. I was close to evolving again, too. It would be wiser for me to be content with what I knew and withdraw for now. I didn’t want to risk announcing my presence to these irregulars. After all, a surprise attack would be most effective if I knew of the enemy, and they didn’t know of me.

“Is it today?”“It appears to be starting.” A wind of disaster that would never stop until elves and monsters alike were wiped out, tickled my hair. I had gotten used to it, but I still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. I couldn’t let myself be driven by that feeling, however.

This was the moment when the monsters who strived to destroy the elves’ souls would fuse together with the purpose of destroying all things they encountered. Although I didn’t feel threatened by them, no matter how much they might fuse, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disgusted by them.

“It doesn’t seem like there are any monsters around.”

“Be careful, we don’t know when that’ll change.” Mireina said as she grabbed onto my clothing. I smiled bitterly at her and expanded the range of my detection outward. Her attitude was a bit pitiful, but she wasn’t wrong. When the Wind of Eutinus began to blow through, nothing was certain. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a monster had formed right above my head. But it wasn’t a monster that today’s wind had summoned. It happened in an instant, something strange within my field of detection.

“Who are you two?” An elf appeared out of thin air in front of us—a beautiful woman dressed in pure white cloth and wearing a red muffler. I had encountered several elves since I had been visiting the Rookie’s Battlefield, but this one felt different. The other ones I met felt… insecure. They couldn’t trust us, and we couldn’t trust them. But this one felt more solid, confident. She exuded strength, and I was convinced she had to be one of the Knights of Elakatra. Mireina stood next to me, trembling, unable to respond.

“It’s nice to meet another one of our kind.”

“Our kind? I don’t consider myself the same as you.” She frowned, lifting her sword to point it right at me.

“For me, kin refers to Elnim, leader of Elakatra, and my comrades.” I couldn’t help but wonder why a member of the Knights of Elakatra was appearing in front of us here, freely identifying herself. I had too many questions to even begin.

“Well, did you kill the monsters around here?”

“I have heard that they have been a problem lately.” She exuded confidence.

“But I have no need to explain our plans to you. If something gets in our way, we will remove it. That is all.”

“Even one of your own kind?”

“You are not one of my kind.” At that moment, I was everywhere, using Ubiquitous to jump around. She readied her sword and her mana, aiming for when I would reappear near her.

Blood splashed through the air. Black smoke snapped at her left arm, trying to bite into it. She resisted it, fighting against my mana, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop my power of Predation if I could wrest control from her. Her magic was increasing rapidly, the taste of her arm bitter and unappetizing. I was shocked by how strong she seemed to be, but equally excited at how strong I could become by devouring her.

“You…!” She pushed her body away from me, shouting.

“You were going to try and kill us, weren’t you?” I floated around her, extinguishing the magic she tried to shoot at me.“Run away before you get caught in this, Mireina.”

“But!” I didn’t have time to listen to her response, a rapier flashing out toward my neck at incredible speed. I couldn’t properly block it but was able to deflect its course at the last second.

“Get off my arm!” I ignored her as I increased the mana in the smoke that was attached to her left arm, pulling at it roughly. She gritted her teeth as she tried to break free from it, unable to stop me from breaking it. It was too tough for me to get through, but I could at least disable it for now.

“I can’t use my communication magic!”

“Were you trying to kill us?” My attention was drawn away from her, unable to ignore the Wind of Eutinus now. The wind that broke the will of a monster and made it do strange things. Who made it?

“Mireina, run away!”

“I can’t!” I ground my teeth, noticing the distorted smile of this woman who was standing against me.

“Come now, can’t you save this lovey-dovey business until later?” Her rapier flashed out again, shots of magic energy flying out with it. I struggled to stop the attack with my own sword, wondering if I could keep this up and protect Mireina. I continued to search this opponent for some sort of gap in her defenses as our swords collided, raising my detection to the max. It was hard to get a read on her, however, and her combat skills were equally matched with my own. There were no visible gaps in her defense, and each attack was heavy hitting. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up.

Only

No, I didn’t even know if I could escape, much less Mireina. I didn’t really like the idea of protecting her, but she wasn’t the type to give up and run away just because it was hard. Why should I be? And, more than that, the gaze of this woman before us, looking at us as if we weren’t even living creatures in her estimation, annoyed me.

“What do you want?”

“I have nothing to tell you. Die.” A huge coffin of ice slammed into me, coming into contact with the flames I barely raised in time. Hot and cold collided, water vapor billowing out. Through the mist of vapor, her rapier flew out once more, blocked by my greatsword. I needed to figure out a way to force through an opponent with such complete defenses, to change this situation entirely.

There was a way, the idea exploding into my mind suddenly. I opened my mouth, activating a familiar skill.

“Kiaaaaaaaaah!” A strange sound emitted from my throat, one that not even monsters could produce with their vocal cords. Just listening to it disturbed the balance of one’s body and damaged the mind. It was disastrous for those who couldn’t avoid or resist it. Madness noise. It could only mean one thing here.

“You!” I smiled at her as I hurled forward with the greatsword, capitalizing on her confusion. I created several traps in the air with Lunatic Trickster, blocking her magic attacks with explosions.

[Ohhhhhh!]

Monsters were beginning to flock toward us, a large amount proportional to the sound of my Madness noise.