It hadn't become easier, she wasn't sure what it was, but the [Mana] in the air wanted to rush inside her and [Turn] her different, it was the concerted effort of her [Heart] that kept it away and made sure she was [Clean].
But it wouldn't work for long, as she kept moving around searching for the [Core], more and more students started to eye her suspiciously. It was quite weird to be honest, since those girls stared at her with a frown on their face, it would be a grim sight if they were dressed as normal and not in such skimpy clothing.
It just made the sight more weird than threatening. As all the girls around just moved around and started to make a circle around her, they all made a stark contrast with her, as she was dressed normally while they barely covered themselves.
But Elizabeth didn't have time to dwell on that, as she moved along the school building, she was trusting her own instincts more than what was around them since she wanted to deal with this and leave this place. So while at first, she had thought the [Core] would be in one of the dormitories or the main building, she ended up gravitating towards...Other place.
Following the [Mana] she ended up walking towards the gym building, specifically, the back of the gym building. Another cliché in this mad world, there she found a throne made of gold with a pair of blonde girls licking a black-haired man's feet.
"Huh? Was it time already?" Said the black-haired man as he kicked one of the girls away, the poor girl landed awkwardly in one of the nearby bushes where her clothes, for some reason, ripped apart exposing her body, and as she tried to untangle herself, more and more skin was showing, "Where is your uniform?"
He leered at her as the girls in the background fell to their knees, she however remained standing as Akira's leer turned into a frown. "Why are you standing in the presence of your [KING]?" He asked, as he did so, he stood and kicked the other girl who had continued licking his feet.
This one he didn't kick as far away, and she stood as fast as possible without even cleaning the blood off her face, as the kick had broken her nose. Instead she carefully laid out Akira's boots in front of him and tied his shoelaces, "So?" Akira demanded of her while a red katana materialized on his right arm, "[KNEEL]!"
And with those words, she felt the whole might of this [World] crash around her, the girls around immediately fell flat on their stomachs and seemed to be about to be crushed.
"No." But Elizabeth withstood the pressure and started pumping more [Mana] within her body, it was like this that she prevented the foreign [Mana] from entering her body and forcing her to follow those directives. "I have not come here to [Kneel] to you Akira...Or should I say [Edward]?"
As she said Akira's former name she felt the mana within the [Soulscape] tremble, and Akira's figure started to...shift. Gone was the man who exposed his chest full of pride. Instead what manifested in place was...Pitiful.
It was the appearance of the most mundane-looking teenager with a bad case of acne and greasy hair, really. It was so..."...Cliché." It was the visual representation of everything she would expect to see in someone who had been bullied at school and had problems standing up for himself. Pitiful? Yes
Understandable? No. Even if he had been a victim, even if he was one day in the wrong, his attitude towards everyone else was proof enough that he was beyond salvation.
"SHUT UP YOU WHORE!" Akira screamed as he grabbed the closest girl and ripped her apart as if she were a balloon, absorbing the mana from her body and reforming his previous self. "There, that is better. Now...Who are you?"
He acted as if nothing had happened, as if refusing to admit reality would be enough to deny his true self, and wasn't that something interesting to see?
Even while exposing her true self since she had almost no control over what happened in this place, she was still [Elizabeth Starbright], she wasn't [Alice] nor [Former Elizabeth], not even [Alexanders].
"I'm [Elizabeth Starbright] of course," She answered as she did a flourish with her hand, as if meeting a king, of course, her movements were full of mockery, "Don't you know me?"
Akira seemed to be confused at that, "No? Either way, you need to use the correct uniform, [Undress] for me." He [Commanded] and she felt the [Mana] in the air try to get a hold of her clothes, as if a thousand small little hands wanted to get a grip on her clothing. She felt them trying to grab at her blouse and fail, then they tried to go for her skirt...only to fail too.
"I refuse," Elizabeth answered as she released a wave of her [Mana], it destroyed the [Mana] that Akira had tried to use to command, and instead she walked towards him. It seemed that he found that pleasant to watch as he sat down on his [Throne] and smirked at her.
"I see, a cocky one are we? I will make you [Beg] for my [Blessing]." He said with the utmost confidence, Elizabeth couldn't help but feel disgusted by it.
Even at this moment, when he had no purchase on her when she had shown that he had no [Hold] over her. Akira still thought of her as nothing more than [Meat]. Nothing more than a [Toy] for his own amusement.
Even when she stood within two steps of him, Akira still didn't change his leer at her, even when she stood in front of him, even when she bent over and seized his right hand...
"You still need to lose a few pieces of cl-"Akira started saying, sure as hell of his position, all the while his left hand started to move straight towards her chest.
She knew what he wanted to do, so in an effort to not let him touch a single part of her body "[Gluttony's Maw]" She smiled sweetly as the words left her mouth.
That was good enough for Akira to stop his left hand and look at her stunned, and afterward?
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA̷̢͓̯̭͗̿̒̀̃̿̃͐͘Ä̵̙̳̪̲̦̇̓͘ͅA̴̛̘̞̮̗̫͈̻͓̺̠̔̈́Ą̴̨̨̡̦̫̪͙̣̟͍̞͛̔̒̎A̵̗̮͙͉̟̳̝͑̂̿̂͗͒̚͜͝͝ͅĄ̶͈̗͕͒̈̂̅̽͋̂̓Ă̶̛̭̭̖̖̘̫̙͔̣̙̬̙͙̼̈́̓̀̄̏̔͛̾͊͒͘̚͝Ä̸̡̢̙̬̥̩͈̥̫̙̯̜̫̜́̈́̊̎͝A̵̱͑̈́̈A̸̢̡͚̣̼̣͔̗̬͒͜Ą̸̪̝͎̤̫͕̭͂͒̏́̈͛͒̕͘͝͝͝ͅͅȦ̷͍̤̮̻͍̦̜̳̫͓͙̫̤͐̓̾̾͑̕͜ͅA̶͚̻͑̎̕À̴͖̬̠̜̤͎̙͉́̂̉͐̒̕͠A̴̡̢̨̢̛̛͚̭̝͙͎̲̰̩͈̬͙̐͑̇̈̈́́̅̒̆̆͑̕̚" All hell broke loose as Akira jumped backward with a stump for a right hand and a fountain of blood leaking from it.
The blood morphed from red to black and to red again, she felt the urge to puke as her hand had morphed into a dragon maw and was currently crunching on Akira's right hand, Akira's hand tasted like bile.
And the world around her seemed to finally react after her hostile act against the [Owner] of this place, the girls that had previously been flat on their stomachs on the floor started raising one after the other, all their faces turning hideous as they morphed from gorgeous models to hideous mockeries of harpies.
All screeching at her, "GET HER!" Akira commanded as he tried to stop the bleeding from his hand without success, but Elizabeth didn't mind that, nor did she mind the endless mockeries of girls trying to swarm her.
For she had managed to get what she wanted from this.
Notice:
For doing work apt of a [Hero] and releasing from captivity a damsel in distress, experience awarded.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The title is evolving...
Checking current disposition...
Checking disposition of the one that granted the [Hero] Title...
New stage of the [Awakened] Title awarded.
[Awakened - Brave]
Continue your endeavor to make this world a better place [Hero].
And while it was nice to have a boost to her [Power] she didn't dwell on it too much, instead, she made sure that her prize was still in place in her right hand. And when she saw the shining red marble she smiled and while hugging it close to her chest she turned to look at Akira.
"You will beg the shadows for forgiveness when I'm done with you, but in the end, you will only find what you gave to those you hurt. Nothing." After saying that Elizabeth felt her whole body shift once more, and she sank into the floor as an avalanche of bodies tried to pill atop of her.
But they found nothing, her body changed from flesh to shadows, and in such a form she darted across the floor as Akira kept screaming and with his left hand he tried to summon his katana, only for nothing to appear and instead he stared like an idiot.
When she was far away from the pile of bodies the shadow that was her body rose from the floor and turned into a [Shadow Dragon], this one held the red marble in its maw with care and shot straight to the [Sky].
As she came closer and closer she felt once more the repulsion from the [Mana] within this place, and felt from the marble an [Intent] to return back, she instead held firm to it and slowly and with care injected her own [Mana] into it.
Soothing the chaotic energy within the marble, slowly and with as much care as she could she searched within the marble, she searched and started picking up fragments of [Mana] within.
One by one she piled upon them and built a bridge, but before she was able to finish her bridge she saw that she would arrive at the barrier that delimited the area of the [Soulscape].
So she made the [Shadow Dragon] that currently held her [Mana] swallow the marble and hold it within the core of this body, and focused on what she needed to do right now. So taking a deep breath she intoned "Under my right as the one [Who weaves shadows] I command it," The world around them seemed to turn dark, and the shadows all around them started moving. And even time itself seemed to grind to a halt. "Make way, open the path, sever the barrier that blocks the invaders from entering, and make way to the [Rising Dragon]."
As each word left her mouth, she was more and more sure of the effect her words had upon [The World] they stood, even if she wasn't sure from where they came. "Open the gates and let the lost Knight join the rank of those that dwell in the darkness, open the gate so that she who wields a sword with her Heart may see the light of the day with hope and not with dread." And as if on cue she felt the [Soulscape] tremble as a purple beam hit the outside of the [Soulscape] making a crack in the defenses that held this place.
So turning the form of her [Shadow Dragon] into a spear she shot straight at those cracks. And so, she heard the world break.
----------------------------------------
"DIE, DIE, DIE!!!" Was the first thing Elizabeth heard as her body materialized in the real world once more.
She stood at the far end of the arena, and at the side, she found the fragments of a broken spear "Stabby?" Elizabeth said as she looked closely at those fragments.
She...had used Stabby in her original attack to infiltrate Akira's [Soulscape], but she didn't...She hadn't thought that the spear would be that damaged, it was a construct made from Shadows. So she had assumed the thing would return to normal even if damaged.
"You there buddy?" But then when she was leaving that place...Did she use Stabby again? She had transformed her [Shadow Dragon] form into...a spear made of [Shadows]...She...Did she use [Stabby] as a shell for her escape?
"[Mistress, glad to have our connection back. Are you okay? Did everything go as planned?]" A voice resounded in her mind, it wasn't the voice of her Royal Mages, nor was the voice of Beato. It was...
"DIE FOR MY MISTRESS! I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD AS A PRESENT FOR THIS GLORIOUS DAY!" It sounded almost like the voice of the crazy girl in the background, "THE DAY OF MY RE:BIRTH!"
"Give me a status report, also where is [Stabby]?" She asked into her shadows, mostly towards her Royal Mages.
"[Reporting to Mistress, the plan seems to be going well. Our newly awakened comrade has done an excellent job keeping the target busy. Master Stabby, however...]" The Royal Mage failed to finish the last part of its report.
"[Stabby decided to hide within your shadow after he opened the way into the BUG's Soulscape. He was worried you would need extra help, Mistress. We found his signal for your escape and a message that implied that the barrier was ticker than our predictions, he gave us the coordinates for a point of weakness for us to open a way for you.]" The new girl's voice spoke within her mind.
"But...Stabby is one of my shadow weapons...He is a [Spear]...Granted I joked about him being a...oh..."Elizabeth understood it as soon as she uttered those words. "I gave him a [Soul] too didn't I?"
"[Master Stabby indeed had one too Mistress, most of us under your care have one after our own Awakening, not all of us of course. And even among us, not all are developed enough to speak...And even among us that can speak...]" Her royal mage said and she felt his [Intent].
So she turned her eyes away from Stabby's remains towards the fight.
"[Those of us that can speak do so because of our situation or because of what we did in our previous life allowed ourselves to survive longer. Be it because of the time we joined the ranks under you or the reason we did.]" There what should be a [Doppelganger] was fighting against Akira.
Only...that didn't look like her at all, it was a girl all right, but her hair was purple in color adorned with stars on it, and the clothes she wore were closer to those of a Shintoism priest than of a Magical Girl.
She almost didn't believe it was the same [Doppelganger] she had left, if not because she felt the same intimate connection to the girl's shadow...
"I can summon Stabby back then, he was a [Summon] too then... If he had a [Soul] then he should be a [Minion] too!" Elizabeth wasn't sure why, but she knew this would fail. "No reason why I can't summon a [Minion] back!"
"[Mistress...]" The Royal mage seemed to want to say something. And yet, he stopped speaking.
"[The dead may return as Shadows, but should a Shadow die, we will return to our Haven, you may summon us back. But if enough of our bodies are destroyed...We may not return whole, we may even not return at all. For DEATH can be dangerous even to us who dwell among the darkness.]" The girl spoke in her mind, who was even that girl?
"[If we had all the fragments of Master Stabby...If we had collected them... If our new Maid had been able to spare some efforts...]" The royal mage spoke with regret in his voice.
The new Maid?
"BECOME MY GIFT TO OUR MISTRESS!!!!!" The crazy girl with purple hair screamed in the background as Akira sent a wave of sword energy to her, it hit her in her arm and it got cut, but instead of bleeding it just melted into the shadows and the girl acted as if nothing.
"[Rude! I'm busy keeping the BUG occupied while our Mistress worked, how was I supposed to collect Master Stabby's remains at the same time!]" She was busy keeping Akira busy? But wasn't..."[Besides, I tried doing that! I knew Mistress liked Master Stabby! But half of his remains got swallowed by the BUG, Master Stabby redirected the barrier I sent his way towards our Mistress!]" The voice spoke in a rush.
Barrier? She was surprised that she hadn't suffered damage when entering or exiting the [Soulscape], granted she had been somewhat eroded when inside, but even that hadn't been as extreme as she had thought. So there had been a [Barrier] cast on her?
By that girl?
Who was that girl?
"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked to the mysterious girl, "And how did you manage to cast such a complex spell?"
"[Glad you asked Mistress!]" The girl answered, she could almost hear the smile on her face... And she could also see it, as the purple-haired girl was smiling while waving at her with her remaining arm. "[As you guessed I'm the Shadow Dragon that got assigned to be your Doppelganger, and as you heard from the naggy Dragon Mage. I also awakened when you granted me this mission. For the success of it, it was deemed by the Dragon Council that a more advanced Mind would be needed.]"
The what now?
"[The council picked me since my Soul was mostly in one piece even after that year of degradation, and since I was willing to serve they nurtured me and allowed me to swap places with other of our brethren. So when you asked for a Dragon Minion to control this body. I was ready to serve.]" The girl spoke as more and more of her body was hit with attacks from Akira.
She was smiling even while in pieces.
"Finally you are dead you fucking whore." Akira spat as he took a few seconds to recover his breath. "Made me work a sweat to get you, and do you know how hard is it to keep your torso intact after severing legs and arms?"
Elizabeth couldn't believe it, even while doing something so barbaric, Akira only thought of her [Doppelganger] as a meat sleeve?
"What the heck happened to you? I liked you when your hair was blonde, did your face change too? You looked better before, also why the hell did your boobs turn smaller?" Akira examined her [Doppelganger] and when he found those changes he kicked her against a wall.
"HAHAHAHAHA, you will regret not taking your chance...But before you do anything, Mistress, you may want to secure your wins. It seems the Bug hasn't noticed." Her doppelganger said as she felt her sink into the shadow haven. A new beacon of light shone as a star fell from the sky. It didn't crash into her [Soulscape], instead, it landed gently and the form of the purple-haired girl materialized at the door of the apartment she shared with Rossie.
For a second she feared that the girl would attack Rossie, she had, after all, been killed by Rossie before.
Instead of attacking the [Soulscape] or doing anything, the girl walked inside and started cleaning the place. The small Rossie within just looked at her and did nothing, letting the purple-haired girl do her thing.
But after making sure neither attacked the other, Elizabeth turned her attention to the real world where Akira stood staring like an idiot at the spot that the purple girl had been before.
And to her right hand, where a red marble rested in place, "You are very dumb aren't you Edward?" Elizabeth said with a mocking tone.
Akira quickly turned towards her voice as Elizabeth played with the red marble, "Who told you that name?" Akira demanded of her and when he saw the red marble, he quickly threw the gauntlet of his right hand and examined a bracer he had there. It had four holes in it, and right now only one gem was in place.
A white gem and the other spots were red, blue, and pink. Bellow them at the side was the beginnings of a new opening, one yellow in color.
"Where did you get that?" Akira asked as he injected [Mana] into the bracer, she felt a tug on the marble but her [Mana] was already suffusing the starved marble. "Give it back."
Elizabeth couldn't help the smile forming on her face, and while she was aware that there were plenty of ways to do what she was about to do, somehow she understood that the only way to do it right would make all the difference.
"Nope, this is mine now ♪~" And so she took the marble and swallowed it in one go.
She had many things to deal with right now, first was the return of Aurelia Vitelius, who somehow had transformed into one of her [Shadow Minions] and took possession of one of her [Doppelgangers] (THAT SKILL WAS CURSED!).
Secondly was Akira, she actually needed to kill him or maim his soul so badly that he wouldn't be able to invoke his [Regressor] skill.
And third, she needed to momentarily [Link] to Rena so Akira couldn't keep getting boosts from Rena's stats and skills.
She had too many things to deal with right now!
Notice:
Heroic Party level up 1>2
New [Heroic Party] member: Watanabe Rena, The Sword Saint
".......Dang it."