Chapter 1335: Beginning In The Flames
Chapter 1335: Beginning In The Flames
"You know, I'll get a few opponents to fight soon and just like she did to me, I'll refuse to share," Grim said. The bitterness in his voice was practically naked. He and the Stark Troops trailed behind the five women as they marched towards the burning town.
Wordlessly, Nigerra, Franceesta, Porria, the fourth woman, Aizel, and Yuyui had decided to begin their battle amidst the conflagration. Grim imagined that such an odd decision had to do with the chiming of the bell of a temple. All five of these women had a relationship with an unholy sort of temple themselves, so perhaps, beginning their conflict amidst the chimes of one that was built to be proper and sacred, would give their battle a solemn meaning.
But it was not Grim's style. Yuyui was the poetic one. She had been a bard before entering Skullius' service. Her opponents, given that they viewed killing as a righteous act in their own macabre reasoning, suggested that they appreciated art too.
"Women are so complicated," Grim scoffed and he snapped his fingers behind him. "Ruge, make me a chair, will you?"
A scrawny, large-nosed troop behind Grim sighed.
"I thought you were going to be on your guard, sir. Whatever happens, more enemies will be flocking here as a result of the battle. I feel like our luck is about to run out with swarms of mediocre opponents," Ruge said and went on to form a large, comfy chair made of clear ice behind Grim. He was a formidable Ice Mage.
Grim sat down and folded his arms. The orange flames highlighted his face and left a strange collection of dark shadows in its contours.
"I'm counting on it. There's twelve members of this cult of evil women. I'm sure the rest of them are here, and they might show up once Yuyui begins fighting. I hope they are just as strong as those four," he said, an unnatural grin on his face.
"You look ugly with that grin, sir," Ruge said.
"You look ugly with that nose."
Within the burning town, Yuyui spared glances at the charred corpses, noting the young victims Grim had told her he had smelled. She had sympathy for them, but it was drowned by her focus on the enemies.
Yuyui was strangely excited. None of the Unlimited Stars had gotten a chance to prove themselves, to validate the strength they earned through the Impossible Task yet. This was one major reason why Yuyui wanted to fight and kill these women. She recognised and acknowledged that for now, it had little to do with righteous reason.
Yuyui had manged to kill 3,764 doubles during her Impossible Task. It was impressive - more than triple the standard her master had set - but Yuyui didn't think it so grand after learning how many of their doubles Kintar and Pherdanta had killed.
The Commander of the Stark Troops had killed 8,009 while the True Myth Mage had slaughtered a staggering 14,876.
None of the other Unlimited came close to those figures. Yuyui knew Grim was eager to fight, just like her, because the gap between him and just Pherdanta was massive, not to mention Kintar.
Yuyui clicked her tongue just thinking about it.
The only way to complete the Impossible Task - as everyone figured while fighting bitterly back then was to evolve physically, mentally, spiritually and even emotionally dozens of times past your own limits. Yuyui couldn't imagine just how many monstrous evolutions someone like Kintar experienced to kill that many of herself.
'Maybe that's why she's so weird,' she thought in passing.
The five had finally reached the burning temple letting out the gloomy chime, and they stopped. The noise from it seemed to fade slightly as time passed, but it was loud still.
Porria, Franceesta and Aizel spread out, surrounding Yuyui and Nigerra in a large triangle. The long-faced woman stood roughly fifteen meters away from Yuyui. The blaze masked most of her face in deep shadow, but her soft smile was clear.
'They are not prideful types,' Yuyui analysed. 'They are all going to fight me at once. They intend to crush me thoroughly,' Her eyes remained fixed on Nigerra. She reflected on another statement this woman had used to mock her.
'The fact that you'd resort to asking about leaders and hierarchy spells just how much men have poisoned you.'
As much as Yuyui wanted to rebut, she had to acknowledge that these women had a code and truth that they obeyed diligently, just like the Stark-Soul Order.
Yuyui wanted to make them break it. To her, this had just become a battle to validate the worth of the Stark-Soul Order over the Order of the Trodden Rose through a physical contest... in addition to the self-serving goal Yuyui already had, of course.
The bell chimed once.
"Shall we begin then? I hope you will not object to taking us all on at once," Nigerra said softly. She might have been whispering her love to a mate. The bell chimed twice.
But before Yuyui could retort, she noticed a change in the woman's eyes. Nigerra blinked and both her pupils and irises were replaced by purple arrows pointing downward!
'The Eye of Moving!' Yuyui thought, and readied herself.
However...
"That pretty boy and your minions seem to be looking forward to watching an exciting battle," Porria said as she stabbed her double-bladed sword into the ground. She then joined her free hands together in an odd gesture as gold quality mana exploded forth from her. "I'm thinking they should have a thrilling view, in that case."
The bell chimed thrice.
...!!!
"Majestic Territory Expulsion..."
The Territory whipped out in a cascade of Nitros faster than any Yuyui had ever seen!
It devoured the town and several dozen kilometres beyond it in less than a fraction of a blink!Nôv(el)B\\jnn
As its Imaginary GeoScape formed rapidly, Porria's voice came after she had long called the
Territory's name.
"...Rosen Apocalypse."
But Yuyui had reacted quickly enough. Nitros bathed her in a huge wobbly blanket to shield her from the Territory's Primary effects, whatever they would be.
"Good!" Franceesta cried joyfully as her dirty blonde hair flew everywhere around her head. "I was worried you'd be dead already, slow to defend against Porr's Territory!" She seemed to bulk up even further.
Yuyui's hands rose before in a stance. She was ready.
However, right then, she noticed something horrifying on her armour. Arrows that pointed at her hands, feet and head had appeared, and they guaranteed that the first hit she took wasn't
pretty.