Emil

  Blood sprayed into the air. The side of Emil’s face flared with agony as another one of Melody’s regular punches landed. Even though they were normal strikes, the attacks were nonetheless devastating. Emil winced, seeing stars. Each punch that arrived felt like he was being bashed with a lump of brick.

  How is she not slowing down?!

  Melody’s stamina confounded him. Despite carelessly throwing out attacks using Mana Arts, she showed no signs of exhaustion. The usual symptoms of Overclock eluded her as she continued to attack without rest. A normal Exalted would have been incapacitated a long time ago.

  Just vast is her mana capacity?!

  He had been hoping to buy time either for help to arrive or to stall until Melody had weakened from Overclock. As the time went on, however, his plan appeared more and more foolish. Help wasn’t coming and Melody’s mana capacity seemed bottomless.

  Another mana-infused punch approached from his periphery. Emil stepped back, trying to create separation. His footing was suddenly stopped as he felt his back against the wall.

  Boom!

  He dove to the floor at the last second as Melody left a massive hole in the wall. The explosive power sent wood and stone flying into the vicinity. Emil shuddered in fear. It wasn’t hard to imagine what would have happened if his head had been on the receiving end of that punch.

  I have to create an opening.

  Bulwark was ineffective. They were on the second floor of the banquet hall. There was no earth for him to manipulate. The usual bag of tricks that he relied on in the Clash of Dawn was unavailable to him. Melody’s relentless pressure also left him no time to activate his Gifts. Even Blaze required a second of inaction to start up.

  Melody pounced.

  Desperate, Emil dragged a wooden cabinet beside him into her path. The furniture exploded into a storm of wooden splinters as she barreled through the makeshift obstacle. In a panic, he continued his futile struggle. Tables, chairs, the couch—any large objects he could found in the area, he shoved all of it behind him to try and slow down Melody’s advance.

  Anything that could buy him a single second.

  But Melody clung onto him like a parasite. She would not relent.

  “Come on, Emil! What’s wrong?!” Her mad cackles rang over the destruction. Her fortified body tore through everything like they were paper. “Stop running! Why are you getting cold feet now?! Let’s keep this dance going!”

  Just as she was about to attack again, a foreign object aimed suddenly entered into Emil’s line of sight. It was aimed at Melody. She stopped in place and leaned back, letting the unexpected projectile fly past her.

  Emil was the first to realize that it was a wooden leg from a table. It came from Aoife. The princess was cowering in the corner of the room. Her arms were outstretched as she had just thrown the item. Her eyes were wide with fear. It must have been horrifying to be the only Ordinary in this room while trapped with two monstrous Exalted.

  Needless to say, her pathetic attempt at an attack was ineffective.

  Still, the unexpected move caused Melody to hesitate. For a brief second, she was distracted, putting a halt to her unstoppable advance.

  Emil seized this moment.

  Blaze surged. His skin flared red as flames burst from his limbs and torso. With his flesh as tinder, the monstrous conflagration snapped into existence. Like a starving beast finally let loose, the ravenous flames raged towards Melody.

  For the first time during this fight, she looked bewildered.

  It was understandable. The student who she had been watching throughout the Clash of Dawn was doing something unthinkable—using a second Gift. She, out of all people, should have been intimately familiar with what he was capable of.

  The distance between them closed. Melody was an inch away. Emil’s flames engulfed the space, threatening to devour her whole.

  He heard a snap.

  Something sharp popped in his ears. He had no time to react. The next thing he knew his vision was filled with blinding azure light.

  Boom!

  A surge of energy violently erupted in front of Melody. A mana explosion. A smaller one, not nearly as destructive as the one that tore down the wall to this room earlier.

  The effect was still devastating as Emil took the blast head-on. He staggered backwards. His flames had been pushed aside. His face was scorched with burns from the explosive mana.

  He forced his scalding eye open despite the pain—just in time to catch Melody in midst of an attack. The girl twisted her body as she carried the momentum of the spin to deliver a vicious kick.

  “Ngh!”

  Emil caught himself airborne until he crashed against the opposite wall. He collapsed flat against the floor. His throat and guts burned. Everything was spinning. Without warning, he puked, coughing up a puddle of blood onto the carpeted floor.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Melody’s footsteps echoed over his ringing ears.

  “Now, that’s a surprise. An Exalted with two Gifts.”

  Get up.

  He couldn’t move despite his desperation.

  Goddammit.

  “A living example of someone who defies common understanding. Was this the secret you tried to hide from Liesel in the finals? It makes sense—a Gift that controlled flames could have definitely countered her Niflheim,” Melody proclaimed with a mad giggle as she crouched beside him, “The boss wanted me to leave no survivors, but—”

  She playfully brushed the side of his forehead. Emil flinched, helpless to resist. The tips of her fingers were caked with coagulated blood.

  “—I’m sure he’ll let it slide just this one time. There’s only one of you after all.”

  Melody stood up and approached the cowering princess. Emil watched as Melody knocked Aoife unconscious.

  N-No!

  He tried to will himself up, but his body would not respond. Melody had left him on the brink of death. His exhaustion from four consecutive days of participating the Clash of Dawn had also finally reared its head. Slowly, Emil felt his consciousness slip.

  The last thing he said was Melody walking towards the exit of the room. Aoife’s unmoving body was draped over her shoulders.

  Anna

  The banquet hall was dead silent.

  A sharp bloodlust pierced the venue, suffocating the attendees of their will to fight. The situation was made worst by the indiscriminate killings done by their captors.

  Anna stared at the carnage at the center of the banquet hall in disbelief. A pile of gore pooled on the floor. They were the unrecognizable remains of a noble who had been dragged over and hacked into bits.

  Why was the man subjected to such savagery and barbarism? Because he had lost his mind and cursed under his breath at the injustice of being held hostage against his will. A mere utterance of frustration and fear became the reason for his violent death.

  Anna’s stomach churned. She wanted to puke at the sight of disturbing slaughter. But she didn’t dare make a sound, not wanting to be the next victim on the chopping block.

  They’re doing this on purpose.

  They called themselves Vigil, proclaiming their existence to be a harbinger of change that will bring a new light to the rotten kingdom of Ardair.

  Anna could understand their goals to a certain degree. Ardair was a land of corruption where the poor and commonfolk were exploited for the enrichment of the elite class. She saw it over and over again during her times as a merchant apprentice, traveling to the vast parts of the kingdom to peddle the wares of the Seibert Merchant Company. The poverty that she encountered made her realize had opened her eyes to the madness of this kingdom.

  Still, the senseless murder being committed before her eyes was not how she wanted to enact change.

  She had a feeling that Vigil was deliberately trying to buy time. The man at the center of the stage who called himself Aster was examining the venue like a hawk. Any time some semblance of insurgency was detected, he would personally drag the people involved to be a part of the murderous spectacle.

  It was a common tactic to keep a group of hostages obedient—by threatening indiscriminate violence at any moment without warning. It allowed the ones in control to instill an anxious uncertainty so that an organized resistance could not occur.

  What the hell are they planning?

  Anna distracted herself with these meaningless thoughts as she tried to ignore the stench of blood that was beginning to spread.

  Princess Aoife is here. Could she be their target?

  It seemed a bit farfetched that Vigil was here for a princess who had just made their debut. Nonetheless, it was a real possibility. There were a lot of things one could do if they had a member of the royal family under their grasp.

  Emil was with her before this insanity went down. The thought thundered in her head. She winced, praying that they were okay.

  Another commotion began to unfold on the other end of the venue. The next victim had been decided. Aster was dragging them towards the center for slaughter. The heart-wrenching cries of the person echoed across the hall.

  It’s a girl this time.

  Anna raised her head. Her mind instantly went blank.

  It was Charlotte. Her friend was being pulled by the hair as she was dragged across the blood-stained carpets. Tears streamed down her face as she desperately clawed at Aster’s arm, begging for mercy.

  Okay, you bastards. Now you’re crossing the line!

  Indignation swelled in her throat. She clenched her teeth in disgust. This was too much. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t use her Gift—she was not going to cower here and watch her friend get chopped into pieces.

  Anna scanned vicinity, looking for something that could be used as a weapon. The Vigil members closest to her were distracted, gleefully watching the spectacle unfold.

  Her eyes suddenly met Liesel’s.

  The Ice Maiden had the same idea. They were both not going to let their classmates get hacked into pieces without a fight. Liesel was closer towards the center. Anna tried her best to convey her intentions with a mixture of eye movements and subtle head tilts. She had no idea if she got her point across, but time was running out.

  Fuck it, we’ll just improvise.

  Charlotte was pinned in the center of the venue, primed for slaughter as Aster readied his machete.

  Anna mouthed the countdown.

  Three.

  Two.

  One!

  Liesel bolted towards the center. The Vigil members closest to her responded immediately, reaching to hold her back. Anna lunged at the opportunity. She barreled her shoulder into the man’s flank. The man staggered backwards, momentarily caught off guard by the sudden ambush. Anna reached for a wine glass on a nearby table and smashed the edges. The sharp piece of glass in her hands was barely a weapon, but it was better than using her untrained fists.

  Wielding it as a shiv, she aimed at the Vigil member’s neck. The familiar seed of doubt loomed over her head at the last second.

  Goddammit, you coward! Charlotte’s going to die!

  She bit into her lips to silence her hesitation. Her hands moved with intent as she drove the glass into the enemy’s neck. Warm blood trickled down her fingers as the Vigil member squealed in his dying breaths. Her heart thundered to her ears. Anna pushed down the cascade of impulsive thoughts rushing to her head.

  Move! Don’t stop!

  She reached for the dead man’s machete, prying it from the corpse’s body.

  Vigil members were about to swarm her.

  Anna stood her ground, desperately hoping that Liesel got to Charlotte in time.

  Come!

  She forced herself to sneer at the oncoming foes. She took one step forward, swinging at the first enemy in her view.

  The sound of a soothing melody suddenly reached her ears.

  The sweet, alluring voice was enthralling. Anna instantly felt her limbs grow weak. Her mind suddenly dulled. The violent thoughts in her head vanished—replaced by a powerful fixation to sleep. All around her, similar effects were seen in both Vigil and the hostages alike.

  “Sleep, my darlings. Dream of more pleasant times.”

  The airy voice caressed her ears. Anna felt her grip loosened as she dropped the machete. The Vigil members before her had already fallen to the ground, unconscious.

  She refused to give in, however. She had to resist this entrancing lullaby. She couldn’t sleep yet. Not when she wasn’t sure what was happening.

  “It’s okay. I’m Cecilia. I was brought here by the Council. I come with good intentions.”

  The voice echoed gently in her head. The name was strangely familiar.

  Right. There was an Exalted by that name. She was called the Songstress. She was an unaffiliated Exalted who relinquished their Gift to live as an Ordinary.

  In other words, she was likely an ally. At the very least, she wasn’t an enemy.

  Probably.

  With that thought in mind, Anna closed her eyes and surrendered to the blissful melody.