Kiera_Yanagi

  The bear let out a bone-chilling snarl, its glowing eyes locking onto Yuki with a deadly, predatory intensity. The air around them seemed to warp, thick with malice, as though the entire forest had gone still in anticipation. Its massive cws scraped against the earth, sending a screeching sound through the air that vibrated the ground beneath her feet. The oppressive weight of the creature’s power seeped into her bones, making each breath heavier than the st.

  Yuki’s chest tightened, but she forced herself to stay calm. Gritting her teeth, she fought to suppress the insistent, maddening whispers in her mind.

  "Kill."

  The voice cwed at the edges of her mind, a chorus of malevolent urges threatening to drown out her thoughts. Her fingers twitched involuntarily, and the bck sludge of her void made clothing rippled as if alive, reacting to the growing turmoil.

  Not now. Not here. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms to center herself as she grit her teeth. Yuki knew the void’s influence grew stronger when she was hungry, and she cursed herself for not eating earlier. The cravings were unbearable now, and the voice’s commands grew louder with each passing moment.

  Through sheer willpower, Yuki managed to focus. She’d learned how to limit the void’s influence over time—food helped stabilize her, and when she couldn’t eat, she’d force the energy to manifest outward, giving it a physical out let rather than letting it cw at her sanity like she did when she first manifested. But even that had its limits and it seemed to worsen the more her vigor went down.

  The bear charged suddenly, its massive frame barreling toward her like a battering ram. The ground quaked under its weight, and trees splintered in its path, raining shards of wood around her. Yuki darted to the side, narrowly avoiding its razor-sharp cws that cleaved through the air inches from her face. She rolled, nding in a crouch, and channeled void energy into her hands. With a sharp motion, she formed a jagged nce from the bck sludge that seeped from her skin and thrust it toward the beast’s fnk.

  The bear twisted with unnatural agility, its cws swiping in a deadly arc. Yuki barely managed to bring up her void-forged shield in time. The impact sent her skidding back, the force reverberating through her body. The nce grazed its fur, leaving a shallow wound that hissed and sizzled as void energy ate into its flesh.

  "Kill! Kill!" The void’s voice surged, louder and more demanding than ever. Yuki gritted her teeth, her jaw tight as she tried to drown it out.

  “Shut up!” she growled under her breath. The words were more for herself than the entity within her.

  The bear roared, its glowing eyes narrowing as it began to radiate a dark mist. Tendrils of shadow seeped from its body, writhing like living creatures, and the atmosphere grew heavier with oppressive magic. Without warning, spikes of solid shadow erupted from the ground, surging toward Yuki with deadly precision.

  She reacted instinctively, leaping into the air as the ground beneath her erupted. Void energy poured from her skin, forming a swirling shield that absorbed the brunt of the attack. The spikes smmed against her barrier, each impact sending shockwaves through her. She gritted her teeth, feeling the strain as the void shield began to bend from the constant attacks.

  Not enough. I need more.

  “Void Resonance: Expansion!” she shouted. Her shield shattered outward in a wave of bck liquid, the fragments transforming midair into a wall of jagged spikes that shot toward the bear. It roared in defiance, its cws sshing through the projectiles with brutal efficiency. The spikes that missed embedded themselves in the ground, creating a forest of obsidian-like shards around the battlefield.

  The bear’s eyes glowed brighter, and it let out a deafening roar that sent a pulse of dark energy rippling outward. Yuki staggered as the wave hit her, her muscles seizing painfully as though she’d been struck by an intense cramp. Her body felt heavy, her limbs sluggish, as though she’d just completed a grueling workout. Yuki Grit her teeth before forcing the sludge acting as clothing to turn into a makeshift suit of armor.

  "Kill! Kill them all! Consume. Kill! Devour the Elf! Devour the Bear!"

  The void’s whispers became screams, and Yuki felt her grip on her own mind slipping. She dropped to one knee, her breaths ragged, as the bck sludge covering her body began to writhe uncontrolbly. Her reflection in a nearby puddle of the bck sludge startled her—her violet eyes glowed brighter than ever, and cracks had formed across her porcein skin, leaking the bck void sludge like blood from a wound.

  “No,” she hissed through clenched teeth. She smmed her fist into the ground, forcing herself to focus. “S-shut up.”

  Drawing on every ounce of her willpower, Yuki channeled the void energy into her surroundings. The bck sludge poured from her cracks, spreading across the ground like a living tide. Spikes erupted from the void, forming walls and barriers that encased her in a fortress of her own making. As the bear charged again, Yuki transformed the sludge into a massive nce and hurled it with all her strength.

  The bear’s cws glowed with shadow energy as it swiped at the nce mid-flight, shattering it into fragments. But Yuki was already moving. She summoned dozens of void tendrils that shed out, wrapping around the bear’s legs and pulling it off bance. As it stumbled, she unleashed a barrage of shadow bullets, each one crackling with void energy, that hammered into its side.

  The beast roared in rage, and its body began to shift. Shadow magic enveloped its paws, enhancing its strikes with a devastating aura. It lunged, smashing through Yuki’s void walls with ease and smming a cw into her shield. The impact sent her flying, and she hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust.

  This isn’t enough.

  Yuki’s vision blurred as she pushed herself up. Her body screamed in protest, but she activated her ultimate skills: [Infernal TI], [Celestial TI], and [Hero TI].

  Heat surged through her veins, igniting every fiber of her being. Her muscles expanded, her form growing rger and more imposing as fmes erupted around her. Her void armor crackled, tendrils of bck energy shing out violently as they cshed with the holy light of her celestial skill. A radiant golden aura formed around her, shaping itself into armor that burned the void sludge wherever it touched. The conflicting energies sent smoke rising from her body, but Yuki didn’t falter.

  Her nce reformed, now infused with the combined power of her skills. It glowed with a fiery brilliance, the void energy within it tempered by the holy and infernal forces coursing through her. Her body, now towering at over two meters, radiated an overwhelming presence, her violet eyes bzing with determination.

  The bear roared, sensing the shift in power. It lunged with renewed ferocity, its cws sshing in a deadly flurry. But Yuki met it head-on. She blocked its strikes with her shield, which now radiated a fiery light, and countered with devastating blows from her nce. The ground shook with each csh, the battlefield a chaotic maelstrom of shadows, fire, and light.

  The bear’s shadowy form began to falter, its movements becoming erratic as Yuki’s attacks tore through its defenses. She combined her skills into a final, devastating strike.

  “Void Lance Holy Burst!” she roared, thrusting her nce forward.

  The weapon pierced the bear’s chest, the combined energies of void, holy, and infernal magic exploding outward in a blinding fsh. The bear let out one st, guttural roar before colpsing. Its body disintegrated into shadowy remnants that scattered into the wind, leaving only silence in its wake.

  Yuki stood motionless, her chest heaving as she tried to steady her ragged breathing. The battlefield was in ruins, scorched earth and shattered trees bearing witness to the intensity of their fight. Her body trembled as the combined energies of her skills began to fade, leaving her with the familiar exhaustion of overexertion.

  New POV

  The atmosphere in The Crooked Branch tavern buzzed with the familiar sounds of ughter, clinking mugs, and the occasional cheer from nearby tables. Lirien sat at the far corner of the room with her party, her fingers wrapped around a tankard of ale that was still mostly full, her eyes drifting over the lively crowd. The fire in the hearth crackled softly, casting warm light across the room, but the mood at their table was what truly lit the air.

  “Second-Ascension, baby!” Arvek, their boisterous leader, hollered with a wide grin that could probably stretch across the entire room. He raised his tankard high, nearly spilling its contents as he sloshed it around with glee. His shaggy dark hair fell into his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, arms thrown out wide like he was conquering the world. “I told you all we’d make it! The Azure Bdes are on the rise!”

  Maelis, ever the sharp-tongued rogue, smirked from the opposite side of the table, her fingers idly spinning a dagger on the wooden surface. Her eyes gleamed with mischief as she tilted her head toward Arvek, her voice dripping with pyful sarcasm. “Yeah, don’t get too ahead of yourself, fearless leader. You nearly got us all killed st week when you decided to charge that Stonehorn unarmed.”

  “Oh, c’mon! I had a pn!” Arvek protested, mock indignation cing his voice. He gnced around at the table, his grin widening. “And it worked, didn’t it?”

  “It worked because I patched you up afterward,” Priya, their calm and collected priest, chimed in from across the table. She leaned in slightly, her white-blonde hair cascading over her shoulder as she gave Arvek a pointed look. “You’ve got the tactical foresight of a drunk squirrel.”

  “Squirrels are pretty smart,” Jorn, the massive tank, interjected, leaning back in his chair with a zy grin on his face. His rge shield was propped against the wall behind him, a constant reminder of his unyielding presence. “But hey, we’re alive, aren’t we? That’s what counts.”

  Lirien couldn’t suppress a faint smile at their bickering, the banter both familiar and comforting. It was the sound of family, of a team that had been through more than their fair share of scrapes and battles. She knew better than to interrupt—this was their moment, and she appreciated the sense of camaraderie they’d built.

  They had started as an unlikely crew—each of them with their own quirks and motives, drawn together by a shared need to survive. Now, months ter, they were something close to a family. It was a bond forged in the heat of battle, in ughter and tears, and in the quieter moments like these.

  But still, as their voices rose in cheer and jest, Lirien’s thoughts wandered. Second-tier. It was an achievement, yes, but it also meant bigger risks, harder foes, and even more dangerous quests. Her gaze flickered over her companions—Arvek’s boundless enthusiasm, Maelis’s sharp wit, Jorn’s stalwart loyalty, and Priya’s quiet resolve. They were her strength, her anchor in this chaotic world, but they were also vulnerable, like all of them. She sighed quietly, focusing on her tankard and letting the weight of her concerns slide down her throat with a slow sip of ale.

  Arvek’s booming voice brought her back to the present. “Alright, enough of the reminiscing, my loyal team!” He smmed his mug down on the table, sending a ripple of foam spshing over the edge. “Tomorrow, we pick our first tier 2 quest. We’re not just any old adventurers anymore. We’re The Azure Bdes now, baby!”

  He leaned forward, eyes gleaming with the kind of excitement only he could muster. The rest of the party leaned in as well, listening intently. “We’ve got a reputation to build, and tomorrow, we make it count. We’re going to be legends.”

  The others nodded enthusiastically, their excitement palpable in the warm glow of the tavern. Maelis raised an eyebrow, fshing Arvek a wink. “Just don’t pn any more ‘unarmed’ charges, yeah? Wouldn’t want to have to carry you back in a healer’s pouch next time.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Arvek shot back with a mock pout, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve learned my lesson... mostly.”

  “Mostly?” Priya muttered under her breath, her lips curling into a wry smile. She tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow at Arvek. “You know, I’m still not sure you fully understand the concept of ‘tactics.’”

  “Rex,” Arvek said with a grin, spreading his arms wide. “Tomorrow, I’ll be tactical. I’ll be smart. I’ll—”

  “Charge a Stonehorn unarmed again?” Maelis finished for him, her tone dry.

  Arvek put a hand over his heart, feigning deep offense. “Ouch. You wound me.”

  Jorn chuckled loudly, raising his own tankard. The sound of it clinking against the others echoed through the tavern. “Tomorrow’s going to be an adventure, that’s for sure. Let’s make it one for the books. You know, the ones we’ll write after we survive.”

  Priya nodded, her usually calm demeanor breaking into a rare, soft smile. “We’ll be ready. I trust you all.”

  Lirien took another slow sip, her eyes drifting back to Arvek, who was already enthusiastically talking about what their next quest could be. She admired his energy, even if part of her thought it was a bit... excessive at times. But Arvek’s confidence was infectious. When he believed something, it wasn’t hard for others to follow. She’d seen it work time and time again.

  Her gaze lingered on him for just a moment longer, a small flicker of something—perhaps worry—fshing through her eyes before it was gone. “We’ll be ready,” she echoed softly, though her words were a bit quieter than the others.

  Arvek leaned back, a mischievous gleam appearing in his eyes. “Tomorrow we pick our first tier 2 quest, and we’re going to crush it. After all, what’s the worst that can happen?”

  The others ughed, raising their mugs in a toast to Arvek’s confident decration. The joviality spread quickly, and the air grew warm with their camaraderie, wrapping around them like a comforting bnket.

  But Lirien couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling in her chest. She knew how quickly things could spiral out of control. She stared at Arvek, watching him speak with all the fire of someone who didn’t yet know what they were up against.

  There’s always a ‘worst.’

  For a split second, Lirien felt like the weight of the world rested on her shoulders. But she quickly pushed the thought aside. This was their moment. They had earned it.

  She smiled softly at Arvek, letting the warmth of the tavern and the buzz of their conversation settle over her. It would be fine. Tomorrow would come, and they would face whatever came with it—together.

  Though, deep down, she couldn’t have known how bad things could go.