CHAPTER 123.

There was a notification.

[You have defeated a [Lightblessed Mage. Lvl. 328].]

For defeating an enemy 135 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.

There was horrid cracking.

There was darkness.

And finally, there was light.

Amber awoke in a coughing fit, one with a lot of blood and pain. Her body immediately used the 2nd Rank of Recovery of Curses, doubling the healing she was going through, as well as pushing her Essence to restore her body. Her core had immediately gotten close to a third to its next level up from the “kill”, which was useful for the potential battles that were about to come. As for level ups? She had gotten two levels from it.

[You have reached level 193. 10 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

She convulsed, before she threw up pieces of bone and metal, and finally, she groaned taking in her surroundings. The first thing she saw was a leg and an arm, familiar rings on the arm⁠— it was hers. Her eyes widened for a moment but quickly realized that she had already healed. Though her heart skipped a beat as she saw the ruination in the surroundings.

And finally, her memories fully returned, and the first thing she remembered was:

Frei is in danger.

Amber quickly took back her artifacts and then hurried up, wobbling, her Essence was full now; probably from the kill. Even if she was no longer fatigued, she still felt tense. She almost died from that after all. However, Amber didn’t linger on that too much, instead she hurried.

She quickly got back all of her possessions, including Arkara’s Staff which was buried into a rock wall⁠— the staff itself; surprisingly was in pristine condition. Amber didn’t understand how its repair mechanism worked, but she was glad that it had survived the blast. And then she paused.

“Aveline? Remmel?”

They too were in the explosion, doesn’t that mean that they⁠—

“We’re fine,” a hoarse voice replied, coughing.

Amber turned only to see a bloodied Remmel and an intact but terrified Aveline. Which made Amber feel relieved, but a moment later she once again remembered her priority. If the Archbishop was to be trusted, Frei was in danger.

And big danger.

Imprisoned, severely weakened, dog’s death… She remembered everything he had said. It was bad. Amber rushed towards where the teleportation circle was, but…

“It’s gone…”

Nothing remained of the ground, let alone the circle. Aveline and Remmel arrived a moment later, and while she felt insensitive for what she was about to do, she felt obligated to do so. She bit her lip.

“Help me find Frei…”

Frei had offered unwavering loyalty to her, and saved her life before.

Now, it was Amber’s turn.

* * *

Frei groaned.

Her eyelids felt heavy and her entire body was trembling with pain.

How long was I out?

Her mind was a bit of a blur, she remembered coming to make amends, trying to talk, getting into an argument, sleeping and⁠— waking up in the basement of the house. They had called it an intervention, they had said it was to make her see reality, to leave that organization. But no matter how she expressed that she indeed wanted to do that, it fell on deaf ears.

After all, when a lot of the information that you could offer was forbidden there wasn’t much to go off. But even then, they tried to convince her, and when she failed to provide more proof the beatings started, the torture started. She was quite resilient so she didn’t care, but it did hurt emotionally, how couldn’t it?

She remembered what her fathers and mothers had asked of her.

* * *

Frei stared up sitting on the dinner table, her legs dangling from the chair that was too tall for her. And before her, surrounding her, was her family. Her adoptive family. Two female mages and three warriors. It had been the first time she experienced warmth in years, and after being around with them for half a decade she made sure to express it, and yet no matter how she voiced it out they remained adamant of one thing.

“But listen Frei, you still have distant family,” the warrior in front of her said, his name was Alders.

Frei argued. “No, you all are my parents!”

At that, one of the female mages laughed. Her name was Zia. “You’re a rebel as always, Frei.”

“But⁠—”

“No buts, what Alders wants to say is that, our wish is for you to reconnect with your family too. They don’t need to replace what you’ve lost or… us,” she said hesitantly.

Frei hesitated, her round face looking down at the table.

“I don’t want to lose y’all…”

Alders smiled. “You won’t if you promise us.”

“Really?!”

“Yep.”

* * *

She really had tried, but even before she had become a criminal their relationship was lukewarm at best. It was clear that they didn’t want her around, but still, she had tried back then, and even tried now. This time more than ever, inspired by her companion.

“And look where it fucking got me,” she spat, her voice sandy like the desert.

And then a sigh left her. Frei was bothered. She was bothered that one of the few requests she had received from her fathers and mothers was so difficult.

She coughed. “So much for resolving my own problems and shit.”

She kind of regretted it. In all honesty, she wished she had her fathers and mothers to turn to, but given they were no longer around, she was truly alone. And maybe that’s what had pushed her so hard to focus on finding out more about what the land of stars was⁠— she didn’t really know, and right now it didn’t matter.

Still, how much longer did she have to be there? Amber’s operation should have happened, or be close to happening. She wanted to be there in case anything popped up, but unfortunately that didn’t seem to be possible.

At the same time⁠…

Frei grunted, forcing her arms and black chains rattled.

She was bound.

Her limbs were burning with the irritation of the magical chains. At this point, she had long been drained of her mana and the chains prevented her from regenerating it or even using mana, so she was essentially useless. For a mage, mana was everything.

Still, she kept on trying to wiggle her way out, she was done here. Soon her irritated and dried skin began to bleed, but she didn’t care. She wanted to leave. She hadn’t eaten anything for two weeks, let alone had fucking water. Her throat was as dry as the damn desert and she felt deadly ill. There was nothing for her to achieve here⁠.

Coming here had been a waste of time⁠—

And the door opened.

Frei looked up as a familiar face greeted her. It was a burly elven man with sideburns, his gaze was sharpened and he looked rough. His level of course⁠— was lower than hers. It was her uncle, and the man that had probably put the most effort into getting her to see “reason”. His name was Ronan.

“Can you let me out?” Frei asked, looking up. “I’ve got something to attend to.”

“Have you decided to change your ways and stop that obsession of yours?” he asked.

She took a breath, “As I’ve told you before, I plan on leaving the scary terrorist organization that is the council, but it’s not as easy as it seems. As far as my dreams? No, I cannot give up. And I’ve told you that I found out a way to not become a wanted criminal over it.”

“Yet, you cannot tell me anything, you do realize how this is unproductive, right?”

“I’ve told you as much before.” She closed her eyes.

The man immediately frowned. “Do you think this is some sick joke? Do you take pleasure in being beaten?”

“Of fucking ‘course not,” Frei cursed.

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“I knew it was a mistake to not beat all those mercenary ideals out of you, it was a mistake to not immediately scour the land to find you to do your father justice. Now you’ve turned into whatever you are.” He stepped forward. “Deluded and upholding the values of a bunch of hooligans.”

A vein immediately popped on her head. “Don’t fuckin’ call ‘em that⁠—”

And she was slapped. The loud bang resounded through the room.

“Shut up, it’s been over one-twenty years and you’re still the damn same!” he bellowed. “They’ve been dead all this time and you cling to them.”

She bit her lip. “And what’s wrong with that? It’s not like you raised me, it’s not like my father raised me. You don’t even understand me so what makes you think you know what my best interest is?”

That seemed to piss Ronan off as he stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar, the chains on the chair rattling as she was pulled forward. And at that moment, a loud explosion resounded.

Both of them looked up and Frei was dropped down, her chair wobbling before falling to the side as she grunted, and Ronan left sprinting up the stairs.

“Inconsiderate fuck⁠—”

And a scream interrupted her grumble, Frei tensed as she heard the sounds of battle upstairs. At first there was just the sound of metal breaking, of spells being thrown as the mana above was disturbed, but soon enough it turned into horrid screams of pain. Into the audible sound of bones snapping, and Frei immediately became nervous like never before.

What’s happening?

She immediately began to get up with her chair, wiggling and rotating as she tried to get up by any manner possible. This situation was something she didn’t have control over⁠— and a situation she desperately wished to have some semblance of control in.

She managed to get up and immediately slammed the chair into the back wall, cracking it⁠— then she took a few panting breaths before charging yet again and breaking it completely. The chains on her feet became undone, but the same couldn’t be said about the ones around her arms.

Still, it was enough for her to have some semblance of control over mana. She immediately rushed to the door and right outside she saw her possessions, mainly her storage rings which she hurriedly put on as she heard screams upstairs. Then she rushed.

She didn’t know what was happening, but she had to find out soon, because if it was what she was thinking about⁠—

Blood splattered down the stairs and Frei gasped as she sprinted up, and the first thing she saw was the blood covered hallway wall, and then⁠— an elf came into view, being slammed against the backwall.

Frei blinked, he was familiar, and his face was filled with fear.

“Uncle?” It was the exact same man that had tortured her and right now⁠—

He turned, bloodied and bruised.

“Frei, run! Save yourself!”

Right now he was dying. Frei felt a chill come down her spine, unpleasant memories rushing in as she backed off, and a moment later he was punched. His face caved into the wall and his body went limp.

Frei gasped, and immediately backed off, as she looked up and a shadow loomed over the hallway. And then, she saw a woman, her arms covered by bloodied bandages, her braided raven hair shining against the dim lighting, and her cloak white like the moon.

And her eyes widened, for she recognized where she was from as she immediately paled, having no mana or anything meaningful to deal with an opponent of her level.

[Lightblessed Enlightened Healer [Legacy Branch of Savage Brawling]. Lvl. 315]

The woman grinned, her face barely visible and her blue eyes shone like a predator’s as her grin twisted into a maniacal one.

“What a nice expression for someone who is about to die.”

And Frei swallowed, readying herself to run for her life.

* * *

Amber frowned looking around, right now they were at the bottom of the Sacred Forest, where the farms and mines were. At the bottom of the plateau. They had so far managed to get a lead with one of Remmel’s contacts, but right now it was still a very vague area.

Aveline was busy using spells to try to locate her companion, whereas Amber was thinking about what to do.

She fidgeted at the storage ring she had gotten from the Archbishop, it had survived the explosion and been found by Remmel, which he gave her. Though aside from taking a quick look inside, she didn’t do anything else with it because there were more pressing matters at hand.

Amber continued to think as a frown settled on her face, and finally, she decided to do the only thing she could do.

Prepare to fight the Archbishop.

She had struggled a lot these past few fights; they had all been unexpected and against opponents much stronger than her. While now the latter had yet to change, the former was different. And it would allow her to get a much better outcome than all the previous battles.

Plus, she was quite confident in being able to put up an actual fight this time around, even if her methods were underhanded.

Amber grinned looking down at the storage ring on her hand and at the flashing notification before her.

[New Core Skill or Legacy Branch Skill! For reaching level 190 as a Cursed Inexorable Berserker who bears the Legacy Branch of Crimson Nexus you have been offered a new Core Skill option or a new Legacy Branch Skill.

You may see both options before choosing.]

And so, Amber prepared herself, while the search continued.

* * *

Frei immediately backed off and the woman pounced. She tried to back off skillfully, but her stats were so poor that it came across as almost simply leaning back. And then she was roughly grabbed by the arm and flung towards the exit to the hallway, hitting the wooden wall.

She broke through it as her entire body flared with pain, her head spun as she hit a couch, bleeding all over it. She groaned. She didn’t have any mana to use, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use her storage ring.

The woman from the Saints of Truth broke the wall with her hands, walking into the room calmly.

“I heard you were an amazing adversary, but turns out you’re made of glass.”

Frei panted. “Fuck off.”

“Sharp tongue for someone as weak as you.” She chuckled.

Frei battled against the pain she was feeling, the only thing she had going for her was the fact that the healer seemed to be more than willing to play with her. And so, the first thing she did was take a health potion and a mana potion that would barely do anything for her from her ring.

“You got a lot of spine for doing that in front of me, but maybe you’ve given up,” she said before shrugging. “And to be honest I’m bored already.”

“Oh really? Tired of playing with little poor me?” Frei mocked, grinning. “I really thought you’d make me scream⁠—”

And Frei was punched, multiple ribs breaking as she blasted through the wall. She nearly blacked out, her measly 100 points in Vitality not doing her any favors. She hit the ground rolling and the healer immediately appeared as Frei pushed her senses and lifted her hand.

Repulse⁠—

She coughed up blood and sent the healer flying. Her bones were cracking and her body was threatening to shut down, so she quickly drank another health potion as she groaned from the immediate recoil. She couldn’t exactly avoid the curse without mana either.

Frei took out her white staff and raised it as the member of the Saints of Truth arrived, and she barely blocked the attack as her muscles cracked. She stumbled back as she dug into her ring more.

“Why are ya so desperate to kill me anyways?” Frei asked between breaths as she took out a red stone.

She injected a minuscule amount of mana into it and chalked it as it began to glow.

“Because of⁠—”

The stone exploded and the woman burst right through it with minor injuries that basically vanished as she was throwing her punch.

“⁠— revenge, that’s why.”

Frei managed to brace herself as she dropped her staff, one of her arms breaking as she blasted through the last wall of the building and landed on shallow water for farming. She coughed, her stomach churning and then a moment later she began to throw up blood as her organs tried to heal themselves.

“You disappoint me!”

The woman kicked. Frei’s ribs broke in a single moment as she blacked out, and her consciousness didn’t come back until she crashed against a rock. Her entire body felt warm, she was so weak, so damn powerless, just like that time…

* * *

“Stop!” she cried.

Green fires burned around her as the tree she had called home fell apart. The screams of agony of her biological family ringing in her ears as an exalted god floated in the distance. One that turned towards her.

“Don’t kill them all!”

And the god, appeared before her as flames manifested in front of his palm, aiming for her as it attempted to end her.

* * *

Yet I don’t fucking want that.

Frei cursed inwardly as she reached into her ring once more. Coughing and on the verge of blacking out.

“Any last words?” the healer appeared.

Frei chuckled. “Did you know that before I came, Darkness magic was considered a useless thing with no future?”

It was a funny memory. She remembered she stayed in the lab all day messing with her mana nature and trying to make solid objects to carve runes into. Trying to figure out how to de-stabilize its complex yet solid structure.

And that’s when she made a discovery that immediately got her in trouble.

The mage stomped down on her as her shoulder was pulverized, her leaking blood spilling into the water.

“I don’t care⁠—”

“Yet after I came, it suddenly got re-evaluated as much more complex than they ever thought,” she continued in spite of the pain, taking out a black rock with her still mobile hand. “I mean look at this thing, it looks so stable and yet as soon as I put mana into it.”

She injected her mana and the healer paused mid punch⁠— and the rock exploded.

The member from the Saints of Truth was blasted away with a loud explosion of darkness, and Frei slowly stood up unharmed by it. Then, she took out another potion of the highest grade and downed it in one go, her bones immediately snapping back together, and a loud groan left her in pain. She could only consume about three more potions before the kickback got too bad.

But she didn’t stop there as she took out two more rocks. They were leftover experiments from her academy days, volatile little things that she kept⁠ for no particular reason other than the fact that she was a hoarder. She even had a piece of Amber’s armor. Right now, she was resolved to fight for her life.

Frei threw another rock as the healer dodged it, and she was blasted back as Frei tried to remove her chains but to no avail, and then, the healer appeared next to her.

“You’re so annoying!”

She punched and Frei blocked with the rock, smirking and then⁠— a flash of light came. An equally powerful blast of white hit her and sent her flying into some crops, hitting the ground. Her attack had been deflected.

Frei immediately raised her hand to use her ring and it was grabbed and then broken, she screamed as her arm was twisted right off, her flesh tearing as it was thrown away with the rings.

“No more tricks.”

Frei tried to raise her other hand and it was stomped, being broken.

“No more struggle.”

The healer grabbed her arm and pulled. Her shoulder dislocated and she screamed like never before as her other limb was torn right off.

“No more relying on hidden catalysts for spells.”

She was grabbed by the throat and then flung.

“And no more running.”

Frei immediately went back into the house, breaking into the living room as she fought to stay conscious and the first thing she saw was… blood. Then a head.

Her eyes widened, as she saw more and more, they were all family members. And they were all dead.

The healer of the Saints of Truth appeared and grabbed her from the back of her head, pulling her hair as she stared at the surroundings.

“You’re the last one,” she said coldly.

Frei’s eyes trembled, repeating after her. “The last one?”

“Yes, the last. And soon, you will die too.”

Frei was dropped onto the ground and she was flipped with a simple small kick, her mind reeling from memories of the past. And the woman in front of her raised her foot as Frei struggled to process.

She was the last one.

The last Lasren.

If I die here, then i’ll never find out what happened to us⁠—

I’ll never find out about the world of stars.

And at that moment, she teared up as she began to feel despair. She gritted her teeth and tried to move only to find her body unresponsive. None of this was fair. Life had never been fair to her.

But even then, she wanted to live.

She gritted her teeth as the woman raised her foot, and at that moment Frei realized that she truly was done.

That this was her end.

Yet she faced it with brave eyes, not wanting her final moment to be this.

The member of the Saints of Truth grinned.

“Goodbye, Dark Reaper.”

She stomped⁠— and a figure appeared looming next to her and kicked.

The level 300 healer was blasted away through the walls with a loud bang, and landed before her. Frei’s eyes widened as she recognized the lightly glowing figure.

“Sorry, I’m late,” she said, taking out a potion to give her.

It was Amber.

And she had come to save her.