At another part of the mountainous region meanwhile, a stunning girl stood over the smoking corpse of a moose like creature with long antlers. Her hair as dark as the darkest night, and her striking grey eyes reflecting off the mirror like surface of her matte black sword.
She looked composed, but her face betrayed a certain emotion. Confusion.
Rose was confused about what she had witnessed about an hour earlier when the barrier opened.
'How did he get to the Eta- rank?' she thought puzzled. She clearly sensed Damon's rank earlier was at the Eta- rank which seemed to go against everything she knew. Someone with a kappa ranked physique couldn't and would never be able to go past the kappa rank. That was certain, and an established law.
'Or is it that I sensed wrong?' she questioned herself this time. Yes, that must be it, she had senses wrong. But then again, he did move extremely fast, faster than how a kappa ranked aetherial could ever hope to move, and his mastery of the mirage steps had clearly increased.
'Whatever it really is, I'll find out.' her eyes narrowed. 'Even if I have to speak to him.' she added. But then again, would he even be willing to speak with her?
Rose had always overshadowed her twin since childhood, and she didn't hesitate to show him that she was the better twin.
Whenever they sparred, she dismantled him pretty effortlessly, and was also more talented in academics. But even with all that, they still had a amicable relationship, even though she could tell he was envious of her.
It wasn't until their 16th birthday when they awakened, that everything changed. Rose stopped seeing her twin in the same light. If before he was merely less talented than her, now he was less talented than everyone else.
Maybe because of all that, his lifestyle completely flipped. He who was composed and formal, gradually grew irritable and vulgar. Then gradually moved on to drinks and drugs.
She completely stopped interacting with him, and even when he tried to speak with her, she ignored him. Then came the engagement incident a few months ago when he was exiled. She could see the pleading look in her twin's eyes, as he kept looking at her hoping she would intervene, or at least try to speak in his favour, after all they used to be the closest to each other in the family. But she turned her head away.
So forgive her if she thought taking to Damon would be a chore.
She knew he wouldn't exactly be thrilled to speak with her currently, and even if he does, she would have to get straight to the matter. And that was because, though she had always been better at academics, even she had to admit that her twin was clearly the more clever and more cunning of the two, even with all his vices. Hence her apprehension.
Of course that wasn't going to stop her from trying to find out how he had managed to get past the kappa rank.
She'd find that out in due time.
Just as she thought that, another moose like creature with even longer antlers galloped towards her with staggering speed.
But Rose stayed composed as ever, in fact a serene smile appeared on her lips.
"I've been trying to get my mastery of the Darkfell royal sword style to the grandmaster rank, a little practice material would be appreciated." she muttered.
She didn't move an inch, no she didn't even take a stance, not until the beast came within two meters of her, intending to skewer her with it's antlers.
It was then that her sword hand moved, deceptively fast, so much that most of the spectators didn't even see it's afterimage.
"Third art; Fall." her quiet words seemed to echo in the background as a visual representation of autumn leaves falling from their trees appeared behind her.
Her sword moved in a downward diagonal slash, that cut through the beast's antlers, and divided it's head in one fell swoop.
"Sprut!" A fountain of blood burst out from the disected head of the beast, before it collapsed with a soft thud.
Silence.
The other youths in the area stared dumbstruck at the spectacle. A Theta- ranked beast slaughtered with a single slash. Sure it was on the weaker end of that rank, but it could still effortlessly tear anyone of them apart anytime, any day.
Earlier they had encountered one of these creatures when trying to pass through the mountain groove. It attacked them on instinct, but they didn't even try to fight it, after all they were in a brutal race where only the first one hundred and twenty would qualify. So what business did they have trying to fight some creature.
But the creature wouldn't even allow them to run. It wasn't until the black haired princess reached there that she took it down with a single immolating fire beam.
And to their shock, not even half a minute later, she took out another, this one even stronger than the former.
Was this the power of a highborn? It seemed so stifling that they wondered if they'd ever be able to keep up.
Rose meanwhile couldn't care less about their awe, her gaze was on her status screen.
====Status====
Name: Rose Darkfell
Status: second princess of the Darkfell empire.
Rank : Eta
Strength : Eta
Agility : Eta
Stamina : Eta+
Intelligence : Gamma-
Aether capacity : Eta+
Luck : Delta-
Charm : Alpha
Techniques: Aether reinforcement (Master), Darkfell royal sword style (Master), Mirage steps (Master), Pulse sensing technique (Advanced),.....
Unique physique: Nirvana Phoenix physique (Alpha rank)
–Initial ability: Burning hearth: [Your fire shall immolate all, so long as you have enough aether.]
"Tsk, still not there yet." she hissed. Her mastery was still at 'Master' mastery.
Shelving her disappointment, she decided to continue forward. She had wasted enough time as it is, and she planned to take first place after all. It didn't matter just because some over glorified idiot who got lucky enough to awaken an omega ranked physique was in the race.
Even though information about the Astral Mystic Institute was prevented through the use of aether contracts, there were still some whispers in the human domain about the institute, that your rank in the academy depended on how high you perform.
So what better way to get the highest rank than to outperform everyone else and get first place.
"You better don't cease to qualify.... brother." Rose muttered to herself as she sprinted away from the scene.
-------------------
Three eerily identical figures could be seen assaulting a scorpion like beast the size of a small car.
The scorpion's bladed tail with flexibility like that of a boa constrictor lunged at one of the figures. The figure didn't panic, instead he bent his back, almost parallel to the ground, making the tail swerve past him.
While that happened, the other two identical figures, each holding a crappy sword, flanked the beast.
"Second art; Summer blaze." Their swords flashed a yellow light, an illusive view of a sunlight at its peak appeared behind each of them.
Yellow arcs left their swords in a blazing light, and flashed at the beast. In less than a moment, the arcs met the beast's joints, precisely the places that weren't covered by it's tough exoskeleton, thereby severing it's limbs.
"SHRIEIIIIK!" The beast let out a piercing cry of pure agony and tried to use it's tail to fend off the identical figures, but there was nothing much it could do anymore, it had already been incapacitated.
The beast soon fell in the hands of the three.
----------------
Further ahead, a captivating young man that had no business being that handsome holding a winged cat to his chest, allowed himself a smile.
"Jokes on you Bubbles, I just took out another one. My massage awaits. I don't want to put a cat through labor, but you asked for this one, and then are losing the bet. "
The cat's expression grew comically stunned for a moment, before a sly smile touched it's lips.
"Hmph, I don't believe you." Bubbles snorted. "Prove it." he emphasize.
"What are you saying? their corpses are quiet literally before my eyes as we speak." Damon replied.
"And how do I know you're not lying? Bubbles flew out of Damon's arms. "For all I know you could be lying, and I wouldn't have a way to prove otherwise."
Damon scowled.
"Hold up you little shit, I get what you're trying to do here, but you're aren't slipping your way out of this one."
Bubbles had proposed a bet earlier when they encountered a group of scorpion beasts. Bubbles said that Damon couldn't defeat the beast in less than ten minutes.
Damon hearing that felt insulted, and said that he wouldn't even use his main body. The two agreed on that, with the loser having to massage the winner.
But since time was against them, they had to keep on going. But now Bubbles was suddenly using that as a shield.
"It's true though, you can't prove you killed them, and I can't prove you didn't, so let's just leave it at a that." Bubbles proposed, but the ghost of a sly smile was still edging at his lips.
"This little shit...."
**************
HEY EVERYONE, WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON ROSE?
COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW.
ALSO, DON'T FORGET TO SEND THEM POWER STONES COMING.