Kiera’s hand blurred as a silver string sliced the air, her dagger— which she stole back from an audacious vampire a while back in the middle of the fight, severed the Death Attributed leader’s head with a swift motion. Her body was littered with countless injuries, black mist rising from the open wounds as the Death Attribute kept Tyrant Regeneration at bay, trying to erase Kiera’s vitality.
The battle was quite lengthy, nearly impossible to win without the power boost she received from killing the twelve archers. But the 15 additional battle stats she received from killing them, or rather 20 if she included the first vampire she killed weren’t the reason she won.
It did give her a slight advantage, however, she triumphed because of her insistence on taking out the regular Vampires first, even at the cost of several injuries. This simple tactic both took out the weaker yet still dangerous pests— helping her concentrate on the Noble Vampires and also strengthened her enough to butcher the former afterward.
She was level 19 now as well, 38 enemies giving far more experience than the 112 of the previous hall.
Briefly checking her status to accurately assess the extent of her growth, Kiera smiled in content.
[Name: Kiera Ashborn
Race: Human (Dimension Crosser)
Gender: Female
Age: 0 (physical age: 10)
Magician Rank: Copper Apprentice Magician Lv.19
Attribute: Tyrannical Lightning
Titles: Voidborne (command ‘Voidborne’ to show details)
General Stats:
Health: 1,217/58,926
Stamina: 442/59,202
Mana: 229/58,926
Battle Stats:
Strength: 427
Dexterity: 428
Agility: 429
Wisdom: 427
General Skills:
Active: {Identify Lv.1}
Passive: {Crafting Lv.1} {Lightning Resistance Lv.15} {Physical Resistance Lv.19} {Pain Resistance Lv.20} {Heat Resistance Lv.17} {Corrosion Resistance Lv.3} {Water Resistance Lv.4} {Slaughter Resistance Lv.6} {Death Resistance Lv.4} {Celestial Weaponry Resistance Lv.1}
Attribute Skills:
Active: {Tyrannical Regeneration Lv.21} {Eye of the Tyrant Lv.4} {Eruption Lv.7} {Destruction Lv.15} {Flashburst Lv.11} {Vanishing Step Lv.17}
Passive: {Tyrannical Lightning Body Lv.7} {Way of the Tyrant Lv.7}]
The status’ interface change was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Probably due to her ever-growing number of skills. She was also pleasantly surprised to see the {Celestial Weaponry Resistance} skill. There were three types of Celestial Weaponry Attributes— Celestial Archery, which governed anything involving archery. Celestial Blade Attribute, which governed everything with a blade, from swords and knives to polearms and axes.
Finally, there was the Celestial Rod Attribute, which governed blunt weapons, from clubs to battle staffs. Kiera was subjected to injuries from all three attributes during the last fight, so the system opted to fuse the three resistances into one skill instead.
Quickly retrieving two ancestral fruits from her inventory, Kiera spent over 30,000 mana points before the wounds remembered to regenerate and then immediately refilled her resources again.
Kiera stared at the two crowned statues while preparing for the vibration to start, only three rows of tile flooring remaining in the middle of the hall. But no matter how many seconds passed, the vibration didn’t come, only silence remained.
Suddenly, a sharp sound of something breaking disturbed the stillness, prompting Kiera to whip her gaze toward the two statues. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the stone breaking, revealing clear pale skin beneath as if the two vampires were trapped inside the stone. Unlike their brethren, who seemed to be the stones themselves.
The two crowned vampires shed the stony prison within seconds. However, even when they were completely free from their shackles, they remained unmoved— gazing at Kiera with their blood-red eyes.
Indeed, they only stared at her from her distance, but the little girl was rooted in her place, her violet eyes widened with indescribable awe as she felt boundless yet ethereal pressure crushing her very soul, a pressure heavier than anything she felt before, far surpassing the hall’s pressure when it vibrated.
Her entire mana pool swirled with restlessness as the now supernaturally enhanced instincts she honed through hundreds of battles screamed for her to run away, telling her the pair of vampires in front of her were apex predators she couldn’t hope to win against.
She strained her core and mana organs, activating identify, only to gasp in shock at the results.
[Light Exalt- Copper Apprentice Magician Lv.19 (Vampire Lord)]
[Ice Exalt- Copper Apprentice Magician Lv.19 (Vampire Lord)]
“They are merely the same level as me, but the pressure!? And are those... Titles?” Kiera thought in bewilderment, how could they cause her entire being to shake with a mere gaze if they were her level. And those titles, it was the first time she saw anyone with a title beside their name.
Suddenly, the man curled up his mouth into a fanged smile before chuckling lightly, much to Kiera’s utter shock.
“Greetings, young one, the 11th generation has finally decided to grace the world I assume?” the man spoke, his eerily calm voice brushing against Kiera’s ears albeit his distance from the latter. Seemingly expecting an answer, the man frowned at Kiera’s silence only to smile in understanding a few seconds later. Turning to his silent companion, who might as well remained a statue with her utter immovability, he nodded.
Kiera immediately felt the pressure on her considerably lessen, enough for her to move her fingers effortlessly, but only that.
“Apologies for that,” the man opened his mouth, “we might be of your abysmal rank currently due to your predecessor’s trap, but our level of existence is too high for you to bear.”
“You… Speak? The others didn’t do that, or did they choose not to?” Kiera marveled, the pair’s willingness to speak drawing her attention away from the pressure that weighed on her.
“Of course, the Royal Servants and Royal Guards you fought until now were not real— mere creations of Soul Magic of the higher orders, pseudo-mindless puppets with both artificial and deficient sentience that exists only to assist your growth.” the man explained, the harsher tone of his voice signified that may have been offended by her words.
“As for us, we are actual existences, born from the union of a man and a woman, trapped here to test the inheritors of your Lineage by the Tenth Tyrant. We can converse right now is solely attributed to the rank of our souls, the souls of former Exalts recognized by the system. That is why you feel pressured right now— the results of our efforts to defy this abhorrent prison’s suppression, but we won’t succeed for long. Soon, our instincts, skills, and minds will be suppressed to match your level. Only to be inevitably killed, revived, and be encased in stone until the 12th generation arrives, or it may not if you surpass even the tenth.” the man said, no apparent emotion in his seemingly unshakeable voice, yet threads of sadness and resignation appeared deep in his crimson eyes, inconspicuous among the abyss of ancient experiences.
Kiera thought the man’s surrendered emotions to be unbecoming— he was imprisoned here by her predecessor, Tynan Koriel, for who knew how long, but he held no hatred toward his captor. She didn’t, couldn’t, understand how a man recognized by the system, whatever that entailed, could be so… Weak-willed— her entire being couldn’t comprehend that.
She moved her gaze to the woman, disappointed to see her reaction was similar.
“Do you not hate him?” Kiera asked sincerely, truly curious to understand the pair’s underwhelming emotions and lack of true resistance.
“Foolish girl, he, or rather your Lineage— is the nemesis of our race, a feud cultivated by generations older than us, our hatred cannot be described. But hatred cannot help when faced with absolute power, even if the vile master of that power is dead.” a frigid voice reverberated in the hall before the Light Exalt could answer, the temperature visibly plummeting as even the crimson pool started to solidify. The fact she spoke visibly surprised the man.
Kiera snorted at the denouncing remark, but she had to admit she learned a valuable lesson due to this encounter. When she accepted the inheritance, she thought it was better to be strong and in danger than mediocre and in danger. Yet, as she gazed at the pair of unimaginable but chained beings, as weakened as they were, she understood that being strong wasn’t enough to dictate her life— only being above all gave her that right.
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“I understand, are there any more of you here?” she asked again, noticing the pressure around lessened enough for her to walk, the pair didn’t have a lot of time.
“No, the Three Kings you will meet are all simulated by magic, we are the only ones he truly captured. Unfortunately, we have no more time, I would’ve liked to meet your blade without resistance so I could return to the distracting slumber faster than be subjected to this farce, but this luxury is denied as well.” the man answered, his voice getting weaker and weaker by each word and just as he finished, Kiera could see the profoundness in the pair’s eyes replaced by artificial mockery, their serene expressions contorted with fanged smiles of ridicule, and with their mind faded, so did the pressure shackling her.
Kiera breathed in, bringing herself to a state of pure concentration, she knew the upcoming battle was going to be grueling.
The pair glowed as their auras pressed Kiera like a torrent, Light and Cosmic Ice intertwined, creating a beautiful but deadly display of snow that quickly became a hale of sharp ice blades enhanced by the speed of the Light Attribute.
While not truly moving at light speed due to the power restriction, the blades still moved faster than Kiera’s Vanishing Step even when she used Eruption. The little girl didn’t flatter, using Destruction to melt the ice into ash, the blocking maneuver consuming almost 5,000 mana points.
This brief exchange signified that even with their minds suppressed and memories forcefully forgotten, the pair had an instinctual and deep understanding of each other, a fact that prompted Kiera to let out an irritated sigh.
The mist resulting from the attack subsided, its disappearance giving way for a fist of light to show itself, causing Kiera to immediately duck in surprise, narrowly avoiding the sneak attack.
Close quarters combat began between the Tyrannical Lightning Inheritor and the disgraced Light Exalt. Their forms blurred, unbothered by the limited space they could fight on.
Kiera tilted her head, avoiding a fist before raising her palm to stop a wheel kick, her body slightly shifting to the side due to the impact. Grasping the man's heel tightly, Kiera prepared to throw him into the crimson fissure below, but her attempt was interrupted by a rain of ice blades hurling from behind.
Kiera didn't forget about the other opponent in the room and reluctantly released the man, proceeding to reappear a few dozen meters away. She charged again, Destruction aiming to shatter the man’s skull, only to be stopped by multiple layers of ice walls.
A veil of mist blocked her vision before a sudden ray of light scattered, the kick hitting Kiera square in her stomach. Her body folded as she coughed an arrow of blood, tainting the Light Exalt’s aristocratic pants.
Blasted away like a broken kite in the spring’s wind, the little girl’s face twisted in pain even her Lv.20 Pain Resistance couldn’t negate as the heat of light ravaged her insides, the spot where she had been kicked the color of charcoal.
Her expression twisted even further where she noticed an immense ice spear hurling toward her, its size multiple times her own. She aimed her fist upwards, unleashing Destruction into the air, the force propelling her down.
Narrowly avoiding the spear, Kiera braced herself to meet the floor and slightly twisted her body in a way only her back’s right side would be impacted. Her shoulder blade immediately shattered upon collision before she immediately began rolling to save her spine from the momentum, only stopping when she was near the exit.
With her mana disarrayed, body a mess, and Eruption forcibly canceled, it was no wonder Kiera yelled “fuck!” when she saw the ice spear shattering, becoming hundreds of ice blades that dropped right toward her.
Kiera immediately assumed fetal on her back, clasping her forearms to shield her head, and waited. Sickening crunches resounded as the ice blades tore through her skin like hot knives through butter and stopped halfway into her bones, the crystal clear ice dyed by spurting blood.
Her hands slumped to the side as she coughed more blood, the liquid smearing her supple skin. Kiera was thoroughly, utterly, and completely thrashed around in this exchange.
She was just prepared to stand up as a brilliant light suddenly strained her eyes— the silhouette of a shoe barely apparent because of it.
Kiera’s eyes widened as she rolled to the side again, a burst of scorching light singing her violet hair. She sprung to her feet, hissing at the pain of the blade digging deeper into her bone due to the sharp movement.
Activating Eruption, Kiera stimulated her mana to close the wounds, the ice melting under the Tyrannical Lightning’s temperature.
“Goddamn this is annoying,” Kiera blurted, her words betraying the wide grin on her face. The little girl came to a conclusion at that moment— the fight was fun, the feeling of danger exhilarating and the difficulty of it only contributed to her excitement.
However, their cooperation was too flawless for Kiera to defend herself, much less land any decisive hit. There was also the man's deadliness in close-combat. She naturally suppressed his attribute just by using her own, but his superior hand-to-hand combat skills were enough to compensate.
And with the woman's long-range attacks, Kiera was sure to be outmatched as the fight progressed. The only way to keep the woman’s long-range skills in check was to attempt to engage them both in close-quarters at the same time.
It was only an experiment— if she deemed it impossible, she would immediately pull back.
Ignoring the man, Kiera’s body vanished like a lightning bolt, appearing in front of a woman with a fist already traveling toward the latter’s abdomen.
A wall of ice instantly rose from the ground, blocking her fist while a kick of light aimed to spear her spine from behind. Using Destruction, she shattered the wall and leg-swept the woman, ducking the kick as a result.
Stepping behind the woman, Kiera stood with her back to the exit’s imposing doors. This way, the vampire pair wouldn’t be able to attack her from the front and behind simultaneously.
This tactic wasn’t anywhere near flawless, however— it made her susceptible to flanking and also sacrificed her freedom to dodge backward.
A silverish-violet light streak severed the air as Kiera aimed her dagger toward the woman’s spine, Destruction charging at the blade’s tip.
CRACK
Another ice wall sprung from the ground, instantly shattering upon contact but succeeding in exponentially reducing the attack’s power and deviated it off course, the dagger plunging in the woman’s shoulder blade instead.
Kiera was about to follow with another strike, only to halt upon seeing dozens of crescent light blades were coming her way. Her hand turned into a lightning haze, quickly shattering the spears with Flashburst, watching as the woman was surrounded by a golden glow, the hole in her back visibly closing.
“He can heal…Of course he can heal, he is Light Attributed!” Kiera muttered in irritation— she now knew who of the pair she should truly kill first.
The battle resumed as the Ice Exalt showed she didn’t lack in the department of close combat neither, pressing Kiera with a flurry of icy blades, fists, and kicks. The little girl’s figure left afterimages as she sidestepped, ducked, and blocked the efforts of the two Vampire Lords— her own efforts concentrated more on the Light Exalt.
Suddenly, the aura around him changed as his right leg shone with dazzling light, the brilliant, ethereal gold triggering Kiera’s sense of danger. Immediately when the vampire raised his leg, Kiera raised her own and locked his movement by placing her foot on the joint connecting his shin and ankle.
She spun, delivering a wheel kick, her leg able to reach his head due to the small height increase she received by stepping on his raised leg. Alas, just as her Flashburst-enhanced counter kick was about to hit his temple, Kiera felt a chill running down her spine— a literal chill.
She somersaulted, avoiding an immense ice spear by a hair’s breadth, sighing in light exasperation when she noticed the woman somehow exploited the brief exchange to farther the distance.
The previous stalemate returned as Kiera did her best to injure the Light Exalt while half her power was used to keep an overly annoying pair of sharp snow tornados at bay, her dress now barely capable of doing its task.
Blocking a fist of light, Kiera tightened her palm around it, mustering all of her strength to hurl the man backward.
Lightning and ice clashed as Kiera used Destruction to scatter the snow tornados, the entire section of the hall blocked by a sea of mist as a result.
Inside, Kiera jumped and kicked the exit door, propelling herself through the mist and toward the man, her Eruption-coated body akin to a lightning bolt.
She crushed into his chest, a thunderous crack resounding from his rib cage before the two repeatedly rolled on the ground. Remembering the third law of motion, an idea popped up in Kiera’s mind.
She suppressed a grin and just when it was the man’s turn to kiss the ground with his back she stopped his body in its tracks before continuing to roll by herself.
CRACK
An even more sickening crack resounded as the leftover momentum was trapped in the Light Exalt’s body, unable to scatter because of the man’s sudden pause— ravaging his insides.
Kiera instantly vanished from her spot, appearing on the man’s torso before plunging her blade straight into his brain, killing him.
[Copper Apprentice Lv.19 (Vampire Lord) defeated, EXP received]
[You defeated a creature of a Primal ranked bloodline, EXP bonus received]
[You defeated the disgraced Light Exalt, a former Exalt of Grandemyr, for defeating a paramount being, EXP bonus received]
[Level up! {Copper Apprentice Magician Lv.20}, +5 for all battle stats]
Kiera smiled in triumph and whipped her gaze to the woman, who was unperturbed by her companion. The Ice Exalt raised her hands, a forest of thorny, blue vines expanding toward Kiera.
Kiera weaved through the vines, destroying the ones she couldn't avoid and upon reaching the Ice Exalt, she engaged with what she knew best.
Blades of metal and ice clashed as the combatants danced a deadly dance, the enemy's blood smeared on their artistic faces with each exchange. One's wounds were constantly regenerating and the other's closed with stitches of ice.
Kiera's was already weakened, her reserves on the verge of emptying, her condition even worse than the Ice Exalt, whose own reserves were conserved by her supporting role during most of the battle.
So, the little girl had no luxury to drag this out for long. Gritting her teeth, she waited for the vampire to stab, stepping toward the blade upon the latter doing so, letting it puncture her shoulder.
With the blade stuck in her bone, Kiera moved to grasp the vampire's arm. Grasping her wrist with her left hand and placing her forearm on the Exalt's elbow, she bent her arm to the wrong side.
A blood-curling scream escaped the vampire's mouth before Kiera swept her legs and placed her hand on her forehead, causing the woman to fall headfirst on the floor, and with a spine-shivering crack, her brains flowed out from her head.
[Copper Apprentice Lv.19 (Vampire Lord) defeated, EXP received]
[You defeated a creature of a Primal ranked bloodline, EXP bonus received]
[You defeated the disgraced Ice Exalt, a former Exalt of Grandemyr, for defeating a paramount being, EXP bonus received]
[Error! EXP cannot be granted until individual {Kiera Ashborn} undergoes Mana Circulation]
Kiera fell on her butt, calming her ragged breathing while a triumphant smile adorned her tired face.
"That was hard," Kiera spoke weakly, sighing in relief when the row she was on was safe, watching as the other two fell down. "Without this handicap, I wouldn't be so humiliated at the beginning…"
Suddenly, her unfocused eyes sharpened, the violet orbs settling on the two huge statues which started glowing with an eerie crimson light before their heads suddenly shattered, and the weirdest scenery Kiera witnessed in this world began.
A rain of Blood Demons erupted from the shattered heads, somehow flying toward the exhausted girl, a nefarious grin on their face.
"Shi-"