Chương 12: Shade Creature

"I was gone for like two minutes," the Seer sighed heavily. His eyes widened as he noted the blood spraying out from the leader's throat. He gestured for the healer to come over.

"Urm, Miss Wyrn, would you mind your sword?" Liesel weighed the likelihood of the leader trying to kill her the moment she gave him space and her chance of evading it. They were close to zero.

"Why don't you subdue your beast first?" The Seer reluctantly settled his hand over the leader's shoulder, and she withdrew her sword. She wouldn't say she had any chance of winning against him in another confrontation. He was probably stronger than the Rand Company's captain. There was very little chance that he'd be caught off guard once again. But she felt she had created enough deterrence that unless his life was at risk, he'd consider taking another shot at her. The healer went to work.

She settled back in her seat and wiped the blood from the sword's edge. Fortunately, there was still no negative effect from being cut. At least, she didn't see one. Now everyone was staring at her again, uncomfortable, but for the opposite reason.

"Did she go too far?" the Seer asked the Ascendants. Some of them nodded, but most remained silent.

"At least, we have a sure-shot answer that you are indeed suitable to be the vice leader."

"I don't know if I should be part of it," Liesel said. She had no intention of staying behind, of course. If she did, she'd have left Kurvam in need of a healer's assistance for weeks.

"Why? This is good team bonding. No one's here to find a bedmate. So long as we all are on the same page about our goal, this changes nothing, right?" the Seer asked the hall, and some of them nodded.

"Not to mention, this was going to be a thorn unless addressed, and you have. No one should have any problem, right?" The Seer particularly looked at the leader, who was wiping the blood off his clothes. He shook his head.

"I underestimated... Miss Wyrn's strength." That was a true statement, with enough venom to kill a dragon. Was he angry that he was defeated by someone he called a worm, or that he had to acknowledge it? The Seer kept staring at him.

"I am sorry for my rudeness," Kurvam Vera uttered, and she could feel the malice boiling beneath his calm facade. If pushed any further, he might just try to kill the Seer. That would not be a pleasant experience for him. Liesel shrugged. She wasn't particularly bothered by his attempt to establish his dominance as the leader. The hierarchy of strength was always going to be established, for they were not a naturally formed group.

Having attended the academy, she was keenly aware that being perceived as the bottom of the rung was very unpleasant. It was like a permission slip for everyone to mess with her. And she'd rather be at the top of that hierarchy. After some back and forth with the Seer, Liesel settled on going back. He seemed to understand he was going to raise her fee slightly, but Liesel didn't mention it vocally in the presence of others.

It would be another half an hour of waiting for the sake of their leader to get his bearings right.

"How do you move so fast?" another warrior in the group asked. His name was Sarkot. Liesel shrugged.

"With some practice." He seemed about her age, if a little younger. She didn't know for sure. They were making their way to their carriages right now.

"Even with practice, it's unlike anything I have seen. It's like you can channel Materiality instantly." He sounded genuinely curious.

"I am not sure I am actually doing anything that impressive," Liesel said. She didn't explain her method, and he didn't ask either, even if that seemed to be his goal. Most people used enforcement from the root, like it was growing out from the core, instead of simply channeling Materiality throughout their body and then enforcing it for a brief moment to boost their strength only when necessary.

Of course, because of how little Materiality Liesel had, she had to predict which areas she might have to use Materiality in and then spread it only to those sections. It could be developed further, Liesel believed, once she had more Materiality and a better material sense to predict her opponent's move.

Liesel opened the window of her room. They were up in the sky, closer to the clouds than the ground. She could see the faint outline of the Shade Creature. It seemed like she was watching the night sky that roiled and stretched with each flap of the wing as if it had become one tangible thing. The Seer had a pact with a summoner who was steering the creature towards the Ruins. Even a glimpse of the Shade Creature gave her a pounding headache.

It was something that Liesel couldn't see without damaging her cognizance to some extent. Some forces begged to question reality as you had known it, and a Shade Creature was among those things. It had been summoned after they entered a base, which was a round, wooden building. There was a room for each person and a hall for dining and planning. It was impressively big, even bigger than the Rand Company's headquarters—though that was due to the unimaginable density of Inceptius.

A Shade Creature could phase through the physical world. So it would dive into the ground after finding a spot for the base to sit on. As they were a hastily put-together team, they were not going to storm the Tomb on day one and hope to survive. Today, their goal would be to secure the base by erecting a barrier around it. The pair of mages would be responsible for it, Liesel imagined. The Necropolis was two hours away. She imagined they'd discuss a plan of action once they were close.

A puff of smoke appeared in front of Liesel's eyes, who was leaning against the windowsill.

"You shouldn't—" Before Liesel could finish her words, the spirit manifested in front of her, outside the window. And the strong wind blew Auram away. Liesel leaned forward, but couldn't see the spirit anywhere. Her intrusive thoughts won, though. She cast a glance down at the mass of the night sky manifested as a creature. Her heart started pounding. A part of her wanted to reach down and touch the Shade Creature. Another felt that if she dared mess with it, she'd be sucked into the infinite sky.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. She pulled herself back and closed the window. It was a moment after that she realized she was not breathing. Drawing Materiality into her fingers, she slapped her chest, pushing the Materiality. Even her own Materiality coursing through her body as an invader paralyzed her, but the shock allowed her to gasp for breath. She slowly crumbled onto the floor, leaning against the wall.

Her face was covered in sweat, and her chest was ringing in pain. Auram teleported back to her side.

"Whoa. You are moving fast..." Auram's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Liesel croaked. She wiped the sweat off her face.

"I am fine."

"How did you even get hurt?" Liesel climbed back to her feet and settled on her bed as she explained about the shade creature.

"Guess that's just a human thing," Auram uttered with a frown.

"Probably," Liesel nodded.

"Did you do it?" Auram grinned. Liesel also felt a small relief. That was one part done. Now, if she could find the Soulheart, then she could start rebuilding her mutilated soul. She was surprised Auram didn't bring up her fight with Kurvam Vera. It could be that Auram missed it, and if so, Liesel didn't think there was any point in telling her.

"Did you discover anything you want?"

"Yeah... well, sort of," Auram's expression tightened.

"If there's something you can give me, it's a promise you will not do anything reckless like bashing in other people's skulls with your sword. You could be imprisoned for that. And trust me, I know how miserable that is."

"He's not a civilian," Liesel said.

"Standards for Ascendants are different, and I am weaker than him, so he'd have to humiliate himself before the tribunal to make his case."

"You were going to kill him!" Auram glared.

"You underestimate how tenacious an Ascendant's soul is," Liesel shrugged, gesturing at Auram to keep her voice quiet. Not that she cared about others hearing their conversation, so long as they didn't know it was a spirit.

"His soul should be fully developed. If I were to open his neck, he'd still have dozens of minutes to heal. And a capable enough healer can revive him from his severed neck. So he was not at risk." Auram huffed and vanished from the air. Liesel blinked. She could see Auram's point of view, who didn't seem to understand their society. Unless Kurvam was a relative of the Seer, she wouldn't be convicted even if she had killed him. Liesel couldn't feel more justified in her actions.

"Maybe you are a spirit to understand it. But when someone threatens with violence, it initiates the formation of a hierarchy. At that moment, the power is still manifesting, nebulous and unclaimed. Either you can take that power for yourself, or let it fall into the hands of another. The violence itself is not the problem, Auram. The perception of weakness, and the environment it foments, is what I'd rather avoid, even if it feels as though my reaction was disproportionate and unnecessary violence.

I did not initiate it." She heard a knock on the door.

"Who were you talking to?" The mage asked as she strolled in, looking for the culprit. She was probably the youngest one joining the expedition. Her mage robe seemed nice, enough so that Liesel felt the girl might belong to an Ascendant Clan.

"Do you need something?" Liesel asked, leaving the door open as a gesture that the mage was invited to leave.

"Just wanted to talk." The mage settled on the bed.

"I am Fiya."

"Liesel," Liesel said in the most impassive tone she could muster.

"Am I bothering you?" the mage tilted her head.

"No..." Liesel shook her head. She settled on the stool by the window, feeling like a guest in her own room.

"How did you do it?" The mage's eyes glimmered with intent.

"What did I do?" Liesel asked, though she could guess what a mage might be interested in.

"That Materiality... enforcement," Fiya said as if that was a facade, and her eyes were proud to have caught it.

"It does not follow the principles." Liesel chuckled.

"What does a mage know about martial techniques?"

"Enough to feel when something doesn't add up. You don't have the foundation to support the power and speed with which your strikes land."

"A bit of practice does wonders. And if there is a secret, why would I share it with a stranger?"

"Well, Kurvam is going to get you killed one way or another, and if you want someone on your side, you should be begging to tell me," Fiya smiled proudly.

"You're right," Liesel leaned against the backrest, looking out the window. She'd need to take care of Kurvam before he did something outrageous.

"Do you think if someone falls into the Shade Beast, they die? Or do they fall perpetually between the realms?"

"You can't be serious."

"Of course not," Liesel narrowed her eyes at the mage.

"Are you worried about something?"

"Well, it's my first job, and this is not what I signed up for. I was supposed to experience actual combat. Instead, I have to worry about which one of you will stab the other first, and either way, the expedition team will pay the price with their life." Liesel wouldn't say she didn't feel somewhat responsible for her worry. That might be true for the other inexperienced Ascendants as well.

"Don't worry, Fiya. Survival and duty are the higher priorities. Whatever animosity there is between him and me, it will not affect our responsibilities. On some level, you can say he was worried about my lack of strength, and that led him to act recklessly, which makes him as committed to the expedition as anyone could hope from a leader." Those kinds of assurances did little to ease anyone's tension, but Liesel lacked a better consolation.

"And this is the most fortunate kind of experience you can earn. Learning to survive despite your superior's lack of care for it."

"That doesn't make it better," The mage whispered. Liesel could feel the worry behind the impassive and somewhat confidant mask that was taught to the young mage.

"If we make it out alive, I will show you my method of Materiality Enforcement," Liesel grinned.

"So try your best to survive."

"Really?" Fiya asked, very much with the wonder not any different than Auram's.

"Yeah," Liesel nodded. She didn't mind sharing, as it was not much of a secret. She believed anyone with little Materiality and a willingness to learn could learn it. Those with power to spare seldom had the keenness to make it efficient.

"Why not now?"

"Then," Liesel grinned, "you will not have any reason to watch my back."

Three hours later, the Shade Beast dove into the ground, leaving them to fend for themselves in the middle of demon-infested ruins. They had a long and rather purposeless meeting about their plan of action. Liesel found it tiring that she was ignored as if she were not even present. Of course, their leader would not settle for anything less than the most petulant ways of acting. Fiya kept glancing her way in worry because, as the second in command, Liesel should have been given the chance to give her input.

For the most part, except for Kurvam, no one said much. In the end, he settled on a rather adequate plan of action. He was going to take the Warder and hunt down any strong demons in the vicinity. They had an Observer Archetype, Farki Jan, on the team who could locate the demons. So he would point them in the right direction. Since Liesel and others were not given any orders, they would stay around the base. At least, that had been the initial understanding.

Upon landing, the Observer located three spots with demons that needed to be stopped, at a distance and in opposite directions. The current expedition had twelve members, of whom the mages, the healer, and the Observer had to stay at the base. They would also need at least two close-combatants in case a demon sneaked upon them. So there were only four left. They had to engage the demons in the distance because erecting a ward was a long process, and it was easy to disrupt.

And not to mention, if one of them sneaked past them, the mages would be dead.

"We go two and two?" the spear woman asked.

"Would that be enough?" Sarkot asked. He seemed somewhat worried. Liesel looked at the Observer.

"Is there a single monster?" The tall, bald man's expression tightened slightly. He probably had no clue where to put her in terms of strength.

"It's not weak," he said, gesturing to the southwest.

"Then, I will see to it."

"Are you sure?" Spearwoman asked. Liesel shrugged. Beyond anything, she was itching to try her new skill, and she'd prefer to be alone.