♦♦♦

In just a dozen or so minutes, the center of the pristine white training ground had been stained with blue blood. If one looked closely at the ground, small fragments from what could be assumed to be a black exoskeleton were scattered around the area.

At the core of the stained ground were two people: one male humanoid figure with a pair of large white feathered wings on his back and a fair amount of falcon-like body parts, from his beak to the talons that replaced his legs.

Except for a few spots of blue blood on his hands and talons, he appeared utterly detached from his surroundings, his clothes lacking any stains.

Despite being the very cause of the spectacle before everyone’s eyes.

As for the second figure, it was a sorry sight.

Doing her best to avoid falling, she held herself up with one knee on the floor, blue blood dripping onto the now-stained white tiles from her numerous injuries. The areas where her exoskeleton had cracked were especially painful.

Her clothes were in tatters, with many tears showing the equally injured scorpionkin beneath them.

Aliyah’s lungs struggled to draw in air, making her take deep breaths just to stay conscious.

'Of course, it would be like this...'

As mentioned earlier, Aliyah knew this would happen from the start.

So why was it?

'Why do I still feel this much frustration?!'

Aliyah abruptly closed her eyes as though trying to escape reality.

But in the end, that only made her anguish worse, as even within her self-made darkness, the world's one always managed to breach in.

It was in the upper-right corner of her now absent sight, the shining white letters inside a violet box immediately captured her attention, especially the symbol following those letters, a symbol she’d never seen anywhere else but there.

[Status ▼]

Despite berating herself for the decision, Aliyah bit the bullet once more, giving a mental command to the letters, opening her Status.

[Status ►]

[Information ▼]

[Stats ▼]

'All of it, damn it!'

[Status ►]

[Information ►]

[Personal Information ►]

[Name: Aliyah]

[Race: Scorpionkin]

[Gender: Female]

[Age: 15]

[??? ▽]

[Stats ►]

[Body Stats ►]

[Fitness: NE]

[Vitality: F-]

[Senses: NE]

[??? ▽]

There it was, just as she had asked—the display now fully occupying her vision with information about herself, designed never to betray her will.

But that was all it did: never betray, not help in any way.

And just like every other time, nothing in it had changed...

Of course, nothing had changed!

Was she really so foolish as to believe otherwise?!

Aliyah gritted her teeth, and after giving a mental command to fully close her Status, returned to her staring contest with the bird.

'Why is a bastard like this blessed by the System, while I don’t even get scraps!'

'What did he do to deserve this?!'

'What did I NOT do that this scum did to deserve this?!'

Aliyah didn’t think of herself as strong.

Not in the physical sense, of course, but she also didn’t think her mind was particularly capable.

What kept her trying wasn’t some unshakable will, a grand dream, or anything truly remarkable, but only pointless stubbornness and misplaced pride.

She knew that, too.

'So why can’t I just quit?!'

But even with those thoughts in her head, the glare she directed at the falconkin revealed anything but weakness to him, making him just as angry.

With the sound of her blood dripping in the background, Zivas’s voice once again cut through the silence.

“Damned failure, for someone like you to hold on this long... you're setting a very high bar for us beastkins, don’t you think?!”

He wasn’t lying, but while these injuries weren’t truly life-threatening to her—or any other beastkin, due to their above-average Vitality—it was still more than enough to make one pass out.

That’s right, above average. The only stat surpassing "Negligible" that she had was there only because she shared the same kind of advantage as everyone else, not in the manor, not in the nest, but across the whole continent...

Did that F- mean anything then? No, it certainly didn’t...

Still, this kind of pain, whether physical or mental, had accompanied her for years, with the falconkin in front of her being one of the main offenders...

This wouldn’t make her fall.

'Eh!'

So, she spat in his face while he was distracted by the sound of his own voice.

To break but not bend!

Sadly, she couldn’t see her spit hit the falconkin today either, their Senses were truly on a different level, but it was the thought that counted...

Especially when looking at his furious expression, which shifted from the place where her spit had landed to her struggling figure.

'I won’t give you that satisfaction.'

For them, it might only be the cherry on top after having already taken everything from her.

For Aliyah? It was the last bastion of her dignity she was desperately holding onto.

The one thing that fueled her pointless endeavors every single waking moment of her life since that day.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

'If I can’t find it in myself to give in today, then... let’s go all the way!'

She didn’t know anymore what her mother wanted her to fight for. Did she even want her to fight for something in the first place?

Maybe you'll be able to take a few more steps than me in life...

The meaning of that conversation had long since been washed away by the uncaring river of time, but Aliyah was sure of one thing...

'She didn’t want me to bow down to scum like this!'

With her thoughts wrapping up, Aliyah finally found some strength within herself to stand on her own two feet. Her pointed tail dropped low, as she used it to keep herself from falling to the ground.

At the sight of the scorpionkin’s struggle, Zivas laughed in anger, his face twisted in wrath.

“Good! Good! Good! When you go to the afterlife, you can tell the whore that spawned you that you've successfully angered me!”

Saying so, the falconkin raised his right wing and—for the first time since the start of her public beating—began making use of what actually made the chasm between a Mortal and even the weakest of Scions impossible to cross.

“「Sever the Body and Mind, Split the Heavens and Earth, Head my call...」”

As Zivas’s chanting echoed across the clearing, the golden aura he had shown off earlier appeared again, this time only on his right wing. It shone much more brightly than before, its form unstable and currently lacking definitive shape.

“「Sword!」”

Hearing the falconkin’s chanting come to an end, Aliyah prepared herself, mustering what meager strength remained within her to raise her guard. Her gaze now fully focused on the falconkin, whose right wing was now encased in a blade-shaped golden light that more than doubled its original wingspan.

And this time, Aliyah saw all of it.

The moment when Zivas dashed toward her.

The moment when his now longer and sharper wing reached her range.

And even the absurdly fast swing of that sword-like wing toward her neck.

It was faster than any attack she had ever received from the falcon.

Yet she saw it clearly, step by step, as if the movement was being carefully taught to her rather than executed with the intent to take her life.

But what told Aliyah the reality of the situation, what made it clear which of her impressions was reality and which was fiction, was her inability to move away from the blade that was slowly approaching her. It was so fast she didn’t even have the time to close her eyes.

Death.

'To think it would happen like this…'

Not in any dramatic fashion, but merely because she pissed off the bird a tad bit too much...

Her mother was still nowhere to be found...

She had never managed to see the world outside the nest...

And she never paid back Sir Wael!

“「-ad my call...」” x2

Two voices abruptly interrupted her final musings.

“「Eye!」”

Zivas’s eyes abruptly moved away from her, toward her left, seemingly against his control, causing the falconkin’s blade to go off course and barely miss her body at the last instant.

“「Reflection!」”

The lingering slash released from the blade cut through the air, still going strong for a dozen meters. But before it could harm anyone observing, an equally sharp, large, and fast golden slash appeared in front of it and clashed with it.

In the end, the impact between the two perfectly canceled both attacks, their only remnant being a strong gust of wind that moved the hair of everyone present.

“To think she could get so much under your skin. I should take notes!”

“This is embarrassing, Zivas of Isebel.”

The male and female voices resounded in the ears of everyone present.

The features of the two made it easy to distinguish their heritage.

But races aside, the two were people that Aliyah knew fairly well.

'So today I got only a taste of it, huh...'

The first was Amar, a medium-skinned male snakekin with an equal ratio of human and snake features, much like Aliyah herself. Unlike the more muscular falconkin, his build was much more slender, and despite lacking a tail—replaced by human legs—his glistening brown scales and dark red eyes, featuring vertical slit pupils, couldn’t hide the young man’s heritage.

Unlike the falconkin, his choice of clothing, while still high grade, wasn’t at all overbearing. It consisted only of a black set of garments.

As for the second, her name was Luvian, a female chameleonkin. The only indication of her being a beastkin was her humanoid body, but unlike the others, hers was almost completely chameleon-like, with no point where human-like skin and other body parts perfectly mirrored human ones. The only exception was her green face, which had some human-like yellow eyes and mouth with dark green lips.

While the chameleonkin’s current skin color was on the light green side, no one present could be sure whether that was her true skin color or not.

As for her choice of clothing, much differently from the other two, hers was a well-cured epitome of nobility—a silk gown that matched various tonalities of green and yellow to form an attire neither overbearing nor servile.

The two had respectively landed on the left and right side of Zivas. One pointing her tail at the falconkin’s neck, while the other was holding the top of Zivas’s right wing in place with his left arm, staring straight into his eyes.

As the two began addressing the actions of their supposed associate, the aftermath from the two slashes’ impact reached the now four leading actors at the center of the scene. But except for Aliyah, none of the people at the center seemed bothered by it, treating it as a mere breeze.

“I didn’t think you could be this bold, despite knowing each other for so long. I’ve severely underestimated you, Zivas,” began Amar, his shoulder-length red hair blowing to the right in the wind. His tone was aimed purely at mocking its receiver, with his snake-like tongue moving erratically outside his mouth.

More veins appeared on the top of the falconkin’s head.

“I must say, you’re behaving as if it isn’t the scorpion who is running out of time. This is unbecoming for someone of our stature. Don’t embarrass us in front of the Underdwellers,” added Luvian, who—unlike the snakekin—had no hair on her head to be blown around by the strong wind. One thing to note, however, was how her thin tail remained completely unmoved by it, still pointed directly at the falconkin’s neck.

Her words were purely methodical, lacking any personal feeling, as if she had no investment in the current sequence of events. Her tone was one purely aimed at expressing an objective observation rather than debating the falcon on the nature of his actions.

But that objectivity wasn’t something Zivas wished to agree on.

“This shameful creature has already lived long enough! There’s no reason to—” But as quickly as he began explaining his reasoning, Amar shut it down with one sentence, making the strength the falconkin had still been putting into his right wing promptly disappear.

“Are you acting against the young master's wishes?”

The phrase was said so quietly that even Aliyah wasn’t sure she had heard the snake’s words properly. But the speed at which the falconkin ceased his resistance suggested she had heard that sentence clearly, despite the sound of wind still blowing in her ears.

And it was because she heard it well that she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a laugh, making the snakekin’s gaze now focus on her.

“What? Did a brush with death make you lose what little sense remained in your mind?” As the gusts of wind gradually ceased to blow in her ears, Aliyah managed to hear Amar’s completely unamused question regarding her behavior.

She smiled, the blue blood dripping from her mouth onto the stained floor not bothering her in the slightest.

“You're acting pretty innocent for being the one who told Birdy what to say to me today when he got backed into a corner by my words, isn’t that right? Did I hit the nail on the head?” Aliyah asked between a few coughs of blood, making the toll speaking took on her mind show as little as possible by maintaining her smile.

Much unlike the muscle-brained falcon though, the snakekin didn’t so much as twitch before answering her query.

“For you to believe that… Is your view of yourself that low, or is your opinion of me that high? I might as well not answer the question, since both a positive and negative answer would be equally embarrassing for you to bear. I hope you'll appreciate my kindness.” Amar responded between a few now amused chuckles, turning his gaze back to Zivas midway through his speech.

‘Figures the bastard wouldn’t show an opening, but—’

Just as Aliyah was thinking about what else to say, her musing was interrupted by the other new entry of today’s performance.

“Aliyah of None, every moment you waste speaking about unimportant matters is more resources the House of Leonidas wastes on your recovery,” said the chameleonkin, her face completely blank. She didn’t wait a moment before also berating the serpent.

“Amar of Zahara, if you want to entertain yourself with the scorpion, do so only after giving her what you’re always entrusted to.”

The chameleon’s words made the snakekin’s smile strain slightly, but he adjusted himself quickly enough that his loss of composure might as well have been an illusion.

But although Aliyah didn’t miss it, as much as talking to the falconkin assured her that every broken bone in her body mirrored a crack in his ego, and losing to the snakekin only fed into her desire to beat him... Battling with words against Luvian, was only akin to punching air, as none of her words would ever reach the noble chameleonkin, having her decide to drop the matter there.

“Right, right.” Amar answered while scratching the back of his head. Both he and Luvian had now stopped holding the falcon in place, and Zivas unexpectedly didn’t even deign to give a glance to the person he had just beaten or to those who had stopped him from going any further.

Silently, he spread his white wings—now both covered by larger golden blade projections, albeit smaller than when it had been on one wing—and flew away from the group.

‘It seems the protagonist couldn’t even bother to make an appearance today, huh? Fine by me.’ thought Aliyah, frowning at the snakekin, who was now searching through his pockets for something that she could easily guess.

Finally finding what he had been looking for, Amar was quick to notice the expression on Aliyah’s face, and dreading another comment from his chameleon associate, he said the one thing he was sure could always keep the scorpionkin in check.

“Are you giving up?”

Aliyah froze.

He knew her too well.

Maybe even more than she knew herself...

She didn’t have the strength of Zivas, nor was she in a high position like Luvian, and she certainly wasn’t an amazing person capable of thinking of any turnaround for her situation like Amar...

But at her core, Aliyah was still something.

She was alive.

And...

As long as you're alive, the possibilities are endless.

It was a line she had been told long ago—was it her mother? Someone else? She didn’t know the answer to that and many other questions.

But she agreed with that phrase.

That was why she was still here, beaten to a pulp every single day under the gazes of dozens of people.

Treated like dirt by individuals dozens of times better and stronger than her.

And kept alive every single day despite each time getting closer and closer to her limit...

Even after it all, despite the chances of anything good happening in this life being abysmally low, she was still willing to play the deranged game of these people as long as the fire in her heart still burned!

And so, like the days, weeks, months, and years before this moment...

Aliyah extended yet again her hand toward her abusers.

“Dream on! Give me the damn pill and let’s call it a day!” said the scorpionkin, letting out a self-deprecating laugh.

Hearing those words, Amar turned his back on Aliyah, not showing his reaction to her words, and began walking away, followed by Luvian. But just as it seemed he had ignored the scorpion’s request, a small round white pill, no larger than a thumb, appeared on her hand out of nowhere.

‘The bastard just had to show off his powers again before leaving,’ Aliyah thought as she popped the pill into her bloodied mouth with no hesitation. Immediately, at a speed visible to the naked eye, her wounds—from her flesh to even her exoskeleton—were stitching themselves back up, visibly releasing a slight amount of steam into the air.

Naturally, the process wasn’t painless, but she had experienced this too many times to let it bother her now.

And just like all the other days, the leading actors carried on with their show uninterrupted, at the pace they preferred, with nothing unforeseen stepping onto the stage.

And all the spectators, following the unspoken rules, only commented from a distance, never thinking of becoming that unforeseen.

But Aliyah knew, at the very least, that not everyone was like this.

♢♢♢