Rieren likely would have appreciated Rollo’s interference a lot more if she wasn’t in so much pain from his brother’s last attack.

The agony was Abyss-cursed violent. Rykion’s spear had managed to break through her defences, already worn down after the battle with Essalina Arteroth. His spear had crushed one forearm to nothing, reduced her chest to a bloody mess, and even shattered a quarter of her head.

The sensations alone were wild. Even aside from the sheer pain that was attempting to numb her thoughts to nothing, she was cold in too many places, feeling a strange lightness that would have unbalanced her and made her fall. Her appearance might be monstrous, but her base form was still human.

Balance went a little awry when one lost about a fifth of one’s mass in an instant.

Worst of all, Rieren could feel cold, dry air on her tongue even when she was actively keeping her mouth “closed”. A chunk of her jaw and lower face was simply… gone.

Or, had been. Eternal Beyond had come into play almost immediately after Rykion’s attack had landed, healing up the injuries left by the devastating blow with great speed and efficacy. It took Rieren a moment to realize that it was that healing that Rollo had somehow spotted through the dust, debris, and broken tree bits everywhere.

For, after all, despite the corruption of her perk itself, its regeneration still recreated the human parts first. Only then did the corruption come into play, turning it all monstrous again.

“You saw,” Rieren said, slowly pushing herself up as her injuries healed. For just a moment, her voice was like her old one too. Normal, human. And then it turned monstrous as the corruption reached it. “You saw me.”

As the dust cleared, Rollo’s form emerged from the gloom. He was staring at her with a heavy frown marring his brows. “I did.”

“What is the meaning of this, Rollo?” Rykion said, stomping over to his younger brother. “What are you doing here?”

“I was coming to report on—"

“How dare you interfere in my battle against that thing?”

Rollo’s eyes hardened. “That thing is just another cultivator, brother. Can’t you see?”

Rykion looked past his brother’s shoulder, squinting at Rieren. At first, he was simply angry. Then his eyes widened.

While he was observing Rieren, she found herself enjoying how the two Karlosyne heirs looked so similar, yet were so different in their own ways too. Both shared the light blond hair of their clan as well as the sharp faces and the burnished brown eyes.

But that was where the similarities ended. Rykion was both taller and more powerfully-built, exuding an aura of strength by his mere physical presence. His hair was longer and shinier than his brother’s. Little jewels glinted on the necklace he wore and on his tiny earrings. He clearly paid much more attention to his appearance than Rollo.

“You are human,” Rykion said in slight wonder, though he hadn’t lowered his spears much. “But you are a monster too. Look at that, Rollo. She’s turning into one before our very eyes.”

Rieren looked down. Her forearm had regenerated enough to wrap the skeleton with layers of muscle. Blood vessels continued to grow through it like a million worms digging through the fleshy appendage.

She realized it was supposed to look disgusting, but her mind couldn’t really muster the feeling. It was just… her, in the end.

But Rykion was right. Even though the construction of her body looked at first like it was going to create a normal human arm, she was soon disabused of that notion. At the very base of her reconstructed forearm, where the skin was her pale normal one, Abyss- and Divine-Aspected Essence was twisting it into a different colour again.

Even as her arm regenerated into a human limb, the corruption within Rieren turned it black, little lines of gold running in strange tattoos that formed a pattern she couldn’t fully grasp.

“What happened to you, Rieren?” Rollo asked. “Why are you… like this? What are you, truly?”

Rieren gripped her sword tight. “What I am does not matter. What truly matters is which of us is progressing through to the next round.”

“Correct,” Rykion said. “It seems you know this creature from elsewhere, brother, but unfortunately, I get the impression you aren’t cognizant of its strength. Move aside and let your big brother finish the business.”

Rieren closed her eyes. Rollo wasn’t moving, so she didn’t need to worry about the older Karlosyne launching another attack upon her.

More importantly, she had no interest in fighting him. She was almost at the brazier. There, the scared tournament official was barely holding herself to the same location as before. All Rieren had to do was reach over and submit her token, and her job would be done. She would have made it to the next round.

In fact, she had planned this from the very beginning. There was no point in fighting the Karlosyne heir. All she had to do was manipulate him so that he had redirected her to the brazier’s location himself. Such an easy mark to turn around.

“We do not need to fight,” Rieren said.

“Are you surrendering your token, then?” Rykion asked. “Not the solution I’d prefer, but since the token is the more important issue, I will grant you your freedom and life should you choose to give it up.”

“Of course, not. Why would I surrender my token? I have already qualified. However,” she added, seeing Rykion preparing to act despite Rollo continuing to block him. “I can tell you how you can get yourself some without too much further trouble.”

Rykion didn’t look impressed. “From one of your fellow monsters?” One corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk, his eyes filled with disdain. “Of course the likes of you would surrender the trust of your comrades. You are, after all, a mere monster.”

More goading. Rieren barely felt a thing, though it did make her thoughts start to spiral a little. Monsters were destructive, rapacious, killers one and all. A reputation well-earned through the actions of their kind all over the Elderlands. Yet, since when had they become known for being disloyal?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Do you want to hear what I have to say?” Rieren asked. “Or do you wish to continue fighting and take your chances with me?”

“Stop pretending like you have any chance of defeating me, Arisen.”

“Brother, please,” Rollo said. He turned to Rieren with an expression she had never thought he would see on his face. “Rieren, enough of this. We do not need to stand as enemies here.”

Rieren shook her head. “We were enemies from long before this, Rollo.”

“What?”

“Ask your brother. Ask him how many he has attempted to kill from far above, indiscriminate of who he struck down.”

Rykion had the audacity to laugh, a little bit of his battle lust turning his eyes sharp with flickers of insanity. “So you were one of them too? When you were still human, I suppose? I would have remembered hitting monsters from the sky above.”

“That’s just how he does things,” Rollo said apologetically. “We were all competitors then, not enemies. We still are. But we need to deal with the monsters first.”

Rieren raised herself to her full height. Her perk had nearly healed her back to tip-top shape. “Which is exactly what I would tell you to do, and how, for you need it. That is what you were here to report, right, Rollo? How the monsters are winning?”

“What?” Rykion turned to his brother. “Is that why you came running to me? You and the rest of them couldn’t handle those beasts by yourself?”

Rieren couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Those beasts are not so easily defeated as you would like to think, Rykion. You may be capable of killing Abyssals and even Aetherians indiscriminately, but what about Arisen?” She smiled. “Arisen like me?”

She didn’t need to elaborate any further. With the conversation lulling to a silence, they could all pay more attention to the battle farther behind them, letting the noise of it infiltrate into their little gathering.

The noise of monsters roaring with greater power than before.

Unable to bear the suspense, Rykion did turn around. He apparently trusted that Rieren wasn’t going to attack his back, or was so arrogant that he was certain she could do little to harm him. Either way, Rieren wasn’t about to take whatever supposed opportunity he threw her way. She was busy paying attention to the slightly distant battle too.

It was just as she had said. Cornered from all sides, with their numbers dwindling, the monsters had truly taken heed of Rieren’s parting words. They had resorted to drawing the true power they held within themselves, conjoining with each other to form Arisen.

Even from their current distance, Rieren caught sight of some of the transformations, blinking in surprise. One of the larger Nebulae had ripped off the head of Fellserpent and replaced its own head with the giant serpent’s one. A void filled with glinting stars was slowly overtaking the serpentine skull.

At another spot, a Blightmane and a Higher Aetherian had combined together to create a lupine creature that glowed pure gold. Its mane looked like a lion’s now, but flowing like liquid concentrated Divine-Aspected Essence.

There were more of them. All forming fantastic permutations with each other, all gaining immense power through the process.

Enough power to begin eradicating the human competitors in turn.

“You have been fighting and killing monster after monster all day,” Rieren said. “But what do you truly have to show for it? A handful of tokens that lets only a few teams qualify for the next round? All too late now. You have no chance. Not against that many Arisen at once.”

Rykion slowly turned around to face her with a thunderous expression. “Are you suggesting you know where the tokens truly are?”

“Of course.”

“And you are willing to reveal it to us? Despite your… monstrous inclinations? Or is this some sort of attempt from you to regain your humanity or some such Abyss-crap?”

Rieren licked her lips and looked down for a moment. She was betraying the trust the monsters had placed upon her. After all, she had told them she would clear the way for their charge to the brazier. Rieren certainly hadn’t done that.

Instead, she was handing victory over to their enemies. To her enemies now, according to certain arguments.

But then, she had never asked for the monsters to begin following her, to start worshipping her as some deity incarnate. As their fated saviour. They had done it by themselves. Rieren wasn’t responsible for any of them. Any trust they had placed upon her was their own mistake. She hadn’t even manipulated them into doing so. Not truly.

All she had done was take advantage of their faith to assist them as much as herself in her direct charge through the battlefield.

Rieren shook her head. Why was she even bothering to justify her actions to anyone, even herself? She felt nothing for them. Emotions didn’t even work right in her new body, thanks to how the corruption had twisted her brain. It had to just be her circulating thoughts, ceaselessly spinning like they always did.

She almost laughed. For all that the new Essence could remap her emotions, it could not truly affect the untamable roil of her innermost thoughts.

“What will it be?” Rykion asked.

Rieren looked up. “The ones holding back from the fighting should be the ones you target. They are the ones holding the majority of the tokens.”

“There aren’t enough of them for anyone to hold back,” Rollo said. “I saw. All the monsters were engaged. Almost every single one.”

“Then find the ones who are engaging in battles that give the monsters the greatest advantage. Look for the Arisen who are acting in groups, who are seeking to overwhelm the hum—the cultivators, and take them out. You understand what I am saying, yes?”

Rykion nodded, if with a bit of reluctance. “You are insinuating that the ones holding the tokens have been holding back from the fighting all this time. That would explain no matter who many we killed, we never received enough tokens. It would seem their goal is to withhold the tokens from reaching us rather than safeguarding their own qualification.”

Rieren realized that was true enough. She herself had told them not to give up the tokens no matter what.

“Let’s go, brother,” Rollo said. “We need to go take down the Arisen, fast.”

Rykion hesitated. His eyes met Rieren’s, a slow ferocious grin working out onto his face. “What do you identify as… I don’t even know your name yet.”

“Rieren Vallorne,” Rieren said. “I identify as Rieren Vallorne.”

“Is that so? Not monster, not human, just… something else.”

Rollo looked like he was on the verge of bodily grabbing his elder sibling and dragging him away. “Brother. Come on.”

“No, Rollo. You go ahead, warn the rest. I have unfinished business here. We cannot take the words of this unidentifiable creature to heart. You will probe to see if it speaks the truth. If it does, report back to me and I will consider our deal’s terms met. But fail, and I will eradicate this creature no matter how close it stands to the brazier.”

That earned a distinct squeak from the poor tournament official lady.

Rollo didn’t move, looking mightily conflicted. “Brother…”

“Go.”

Rieren couldn’t blame her friend for his reluctance. Rykion was not the kind of person one left a potential enemy alone with. She was certain that, once Rollo was gone, the elder Karlosyne would not wait long before deciding that her words were fake. And then he would attack.

Arrogant though he was, he wasn’t so foolish to think that they truly desperately needed his presence in the ongoing battle. There were some other cultivators at least as powerful as him, if not even stronger. Rieren knew it just as well.

Rollo sighed, then turned to leave. But before he was gone for good, Rieren pulled out the Comm Shell from her torn robes. She threw it at Rollo. “Call Amalyse for me, please.”

He fumbled with the strange device. It didn’t take him long to figure out it was supposed to work. Rieren suspected he had used it or some other variant before. Amalyse wasn’t difficult to reach either. Rollo quickly told her what had gone on, his eyes on Rieren all the while, before cutting off the call and returning the Comm Shell to its original owner.

“You think distracting your friends from the battle they need to attend will benefit you in any way?” Rykion asked.

“Not simply my friends,” Rieren said. “My teammates.”

Rykion frowned. He looked caught, unsure if he ought to attack or not. Now that he had figured Rieren had been human once, he must have realized her other team members had to be either humans as well, or people who had turned into monsters just like her.

Going by the call Rieren had Rollo make, it was more likely the former. A fact soon proven when both Amalyse and Kalvia arrived.