Chapter 12: Starlit Darkness

On a desolate plain adorned by little more than a pair of trees, three figures watched one another without a word. The whisper of the breeze through the grass was the only thing breaking the silence.

That standoff did not last long, however. In the end, the redhead was the first to speak.

“I was following the sound of the explosions. I assume you two are the source.”

“And we were following the sound of screams and dying moans,” the tall man with fiery hair replied, crossing his arms and flashing a broad smile.

“I was just walking. I wasn’t particularly following anything,” the silver-eyed girl added with a smile.

The girl with twintails as red as blood lifted the spear she had been carrying over her shoulder and leveled it at the two before her.

“Now that we’ve all found each other, there’s no point in wasting time on empty words. In this challenge, when paths cross, there are only two possible outcomes: to prevail or to fall.”

“Straight to the point, huh?” The man spread his arms and settled into a fighting stance. “I like the way you think. Something tells me I’ll have to summon my Eidolon right from the start…”

“It seems you two are the same kind. All you think about is fighting… But, Helux, this one is mine.”

“What?! That’s not fair. This one actually looks like a real fight. I don’t want to keep bullying the weak anymore…”

“Taking turns? Weren’t you cowards supposed to be fighting as a faction? If you want to have any chance at all, you’d better come at me together.”

“You seem awfully confident, Cerys, the Crimson Calamity,” Selene observed, stepping forward.

“Crimson Calamity?! I’ve heard of her! Don’t be like that, Selene, let me fight, please! Just a little, okay?”

“No.”

“You know me? I don’t remember ever facing you before,” Cerys remarked, angling her spear so it pointed at Selene alone. “Though, if we had, you wouldn’t even be here.”

“I’d heard of you before, but I only saw your face this morning, after the scene you caused.”

Selene brought her hands together, and light began to gather between them. When she parted them again, a slender sword, resembling a rapier, had taken shape.

While Cerys’s spear bore a skull at the base of its blade, the guard of Selene’s sword displayed a crescent moon.

“Mm? I sense a little anger in your eyes,” Cerys mused, tilting her head. “Are you related, or something, to that clown who challenged me to a duel?”

“Anger? I don’t make room for emotions that basic… Though I admit I felt a bit annoyed when you almost lunged at my entertainment.”

With a quick motion, Selene took hold of the sword levitating before her and aimed it at Cerys.

“Entertainment? What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, what are you talking about, Selene?” Helux asked, scratching his head. “This morning I was telling you about my different training routines. I admit they’re pretty entertaining, and far more interesting than old Zorovan’s speeches, but nobody threw themselves at us…”

The author’s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Helux, why don’t you go count clouds somewhere?”

“All right, all right, she’s all yours, but only this once…”

“Tch. I don’t know what you have against me, but it doesn’t matter,” Cerys said. “What happens now would be the same either way.”

“I have nothing against you. It’s simply that your existence is becoming a slight nuisance to me,” Selene replied with a faint smile.

“What a coincidence. I think the same of every candidate in this ridiculous challenge,” Cerys shot back with a lopsided smile.

Without another word, both vanished from where they stood and reappeared in the middle of a clash of steel. The crash was so violent it sent dust billowing up from the ground.

***

“Why is the night below me…?”

Vilkie had been flying in a straight line for a while, so it was time to change course and trace a scouting perimeter around the area where Aren and Nerez were waiting for her.