Chương 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..." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances 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. But before she realized it, the ground below her had grown almost completely dark. When she drew closer, she realized it was not total darkness, because within it glimmered points of light like stars in the night sky. Unlike real stars, however, these did not remain still.

Every so often, one would burst in a flash of brilliance, streak forward like a beam of light, and slam into something hidden within the darkness with a metallic crash.

"Impressive, isn't it? I've never seen anyone last that long against Selene, other than me, of course... I'm jealous!" Vilkie's blood ran cold. Floating beside her was a tall man with fiery hair who seemed to shine with a light of his own.

"Helux, of the Celestial Conclave..." I flew too close! I'm such an idiot! I'm going to die! Vilkie immediately wheeled her pegasus around. Her animal-like Eidolon let out a sharp neigh and beat its white wings with all its might.

"The poor thing went pale. Lucky for her, I already got bored of bullying the weak, not that I ever enjoyed it in the first place... Mm?" Helux was about to turn his attention back to the duel, but something in the direction of Vilkie's retreat caught his eye.

"Looks like I can have some entertainment too, after all."

"Let me ask you something. Why are you so interested in becoming a god? Was being an immortal demigod from a powerful family not enough?" Nerez stifled a yawn behind one hand. He was leaning back against the trunk of a tree, right where the forest met the plain, and he could not keep the drowsiness from creeping up on him.

"You're awfully calm for someone in the middle of a battle royale..." Aren remarked with a smile, gazing up at the sky where Vilkie had disappeared.

"Being nervous wouldn't help me at all."

"I don't think that's something you can really control, haha."

"It's habit. Even you, with less than two hundred years on the battlefield, don't seem particularly shaken."

"You say that as if you didn't know I'm actually pretty nervous," Aren admitted, his smile still in place.

"Not showing it is the first step... but well? Are you going to answer my question?"

"Because of my ambition, of course."

"... Ambition? Don't you have some kind of tragic backstory? Some desire to rebel against the established order of the world, or something like that?"

"Just as humans walk because they have legs, and birds fly because they have wings, it is in the nature of divine beings to want to dominate," Aren explained, lowering his gaze to Nerez.

"We are not much more than animals, don't you think?"

"So it's an endless cycle, then? To be honest, I'm already rather tired of those..." Nerez replied, resting his hands behind his head.

"Besides, I think even animals settle down once they've claimed a territory large enough."

"Of course even gods can settle down, but it takes a god powerful enough standing above them..."

"A supreme god? You said something like that before."

"Exactly. A god who seems like an impregnable wall and quiets everyone else's thirst for power. In other words, a god capable of being crowned the overgod of his world."

"So that old man really was that powerful... well, his titles did make it pretty clear." Nerez closed his eyes for a moment.

"Still, if I've learned anything, it's that generalizing is a bad idea. I think you, in particular, enjoy going around conquering domains. It isn't for nothing that the reflection of your soul is a sword."

"I won't deny it," Aren replied, starting to laugh.

"I might've been lumping all gods into my own category as an excuse."

"That's what I like to hear. You should always keep a... critical... eye... on yourself... Aren!"

"I know!" A concentrated ray of light crashed down on them, and the explosion that followed incinerated the entire area where they had been standing.