Kara’s eyes snapped open.

She grabbed the cane at her side and swung at the floor below her, striking something squishy. The rat did not have enough time to squeak before its spine was smashed in half, the glass bricks under it cracked from the impact.

Staring at its insides as half of her face rested on the pillow, Kara began to think of the rat she did not catch. There was nothing special about him. From the way he moved, from the amount of Life Force that slipped out of his body, Kara could roughly estimate his strength, and it wasn’t anything to notice on a typical walk in the city.

But something about him rung true, almost as if he had some type of high affinity for receiving Kara's Song. And did the odd feeling she felt, was it him being resistant to her, or him having a high affinity with her?

 Kara attempted to recall her memories from that euphoric time, but all she found was a mixture of excitement and frustration, and one status screen that informed her that her Song had failed when he had escaped.

From what she can gather, The Death Siren’s Song requires someone, or something, to be a host, and that rat was a possible contender. If not him, she'll have to find someone else.  

Kara poufed aside a couple of stray hairs from her dry lips. She sat up, another headache throbbing. The insides of her head pushed against her skull, eagerly attempting to escape her as well. With a groan, she left the embrace of her bed, getting her wits together.

A civil war was occurring. Which side which she join? The one that’s winning, obviously. That was an easy one. Should she even join, in the first place, however? All that will happen is that she'll waste her Energy, and that her true level would be revealed. 

She had to take the risk, unfortunately. She needed a crowd to sing to, and not the rats in the walls and the spiders in the corner. Gaining the skills were the first part; the second was actually using them. The Game only granted power, and whatever numerical power it had was a limit to the power, not a guarantee. A person still had to learn how to use the damn thing.

Gathering her stuff and changing into her attire, Kara existed the manor to meet the fresh dew of the morning. The air was wet and the bitter chill had diminished into a fresh breeze, a period of calm after a rough storm.

It was a bit of a shame the rain was gone, as without it her Death Siren's Web had reduced effectiveness. She had to pay extra attention to the way her Notes spread out, to remember where they were and to maintain that connection. 

 Requiring further info, Kara made her way to the nearest outpost. While she wasn’t too familiar with the city of Dlair, she knew that it was divided into three parts. The First District, where the nobility and most powerful few resided, the Second District, from the notably wealthy people to those barely making ends meet, and finally, the Third District, a crime-filled den controlled by its own fabricated underground groups, which held most of the population in this city.

Crystal factories were notoriously dangerous. Only the poorest people risked the disease that comes from breathing in the dust or injury that came with operating the machines. 

The house she was recently at was near the outposts that lead from one district to the other, which was typically common of how the wealth was spread. It did not take long for her to reach the gates. Twenty meters above, soldiers of the kingdom held their arrows at her. “Identify yourself!” one of the guards said, his voice a different variation of a squeak. They all sound like rats.

Probably could not sleep the night with all the explosions and mayhem occurring over the night.

“Kara Aivlys,” she called back. “Lutientient officer of the Third Regiment, First Company.” Tapping the cane against the bricks, Kara waited as the guard fetched someone with slightly bit more substance in his skull. She glanced at the gates, noticing the damage. Someone with a lot of weight beat down on the metal encasing, denting the enchanted wood as well.

Directly below it, on the ground, were four distinct holes. Some type of missiles had pierced through whichever idiot was trying to break down the gates.

“You Kara?” someone noticeably older said above her. It was an old man, donned in full plate armor. He didn't seem like he had much of anything in his head.

Kara looked glanced around her, and upon seeing none else who could possibly be Kara, she turned her head back and nodded. 

“What corner have you been skulking as we fought our asses off?” He said, leaning over the battlement. “Do you have any idea we’ve had to deal with? How do we know you’re who you say you are and not some imposter that will attack us the moment the gates open for your ass?”

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He was being difficult. Probably the only time where had a semblance of control over someone else. Kara glanced around, trying to remember how far away the other gate was. A quick calculation told her that it was too far away, and would cost too much Energy to get to. Quicker than the idea she had in mind. “Are you saying you will not open the gates for an officer of the Third Regiment?” she said, cutting to the point.

The man pulled his head back and then thrust it forward, spitting with surprising accuracy towards her. She sighed, waving her hand in front of her, using one of the most powerful skills in history to repel spit.

The moment it neared where Kara had waved her hand, the spit propelled itself back towards the man in even greater speed. Unable to react in time, the spit struck the middle of his helmet with enough strength to toss him backward. The few guards near were either laughing loudly or were too startled to laugh.

Ignoring the curses being thrown at her, Kara walked towards the gates.

“You damned wench, you dare attack me?” he yelled, though this time he made sure to keep most of his body behind the stone.

“Attack? What do you mean? Could you please elaborate?” Kara said as she neared the gates, a smile making its way onto her face. 

“Y-You!” he began, but then stopped. An even wider smile made it on his face, showing off the three teeth lift in his mouth. “The gates won’t be opened for the likes of you! Enjoy getting screwed by the rebels you dirty dog.”

That was an interesting detail. It seemed the rebels won control over Second District. Maybe she should switch sides and slaughter all of them. “Keep them closed, just like your mouth please,” she said as she placed tapped her cane against the gates.

“Senile bitch,” he said, elbowing the guard next to him. When he noticed how startled the guard looked, however, he turned back to see Kara place one foot against the gate, taking a step, and then another, and then another. Silence dawned as she walked up the gates, the only sound being heard being her shoes hitting the steel and her cane bouncing off of it.

“F-f-fire at her! She is trying to break through!” He yelled, his entire body shaking. He had seen what high-level magicians were capable of, but for some strange odd reason, he thought normal bows and arrows would do something against her.

The men around him pointed their bows at her, though they remained hesitant to fire. “Shoot! Shoot I said, shoot!” he yelled even further, pushing and spitting at the men around him. There were about five of them on top, with another standing too far behind. He did not aim his bow at her.

One arrow was released. It missed by wide breath, but it encouraged the other guards to let go of their strings. Three arrows missed her completely, while the two raced towards her. She did not mind. Kara welcomed arrows with open arms. They were the easiest to dodge. Not because it did not require skill, but because it required the tiniest bit of energy at the right angles to throw them off course. 

Some of the arrows were Life Force infused, and that made it more difficult, but the amount and quality were inferior to Kara's power. 

Kara pointed with her cane, directing her energy as she used the Second Movement, Deviation, to tap into the Kinetic energy of the arrow. She nudged the arrows from their feathers, letting them fly off course but close enough for their cool breeze to reach her face. 

“You scoundrels! Can’t you aim?! It’s just one woman! Hit her! Hit her! Wyren, fire you beastie scum, why are you just watching us? Fire! Fire!” The guards, utterly confused, let more arrows fly at her, all missing her by a few inches. As each arrow inexplicably turned away from her, the men grew scared and stiff. One of them even dropped his bow and ran away.

He was the second smartest person up there. Someone that could walk on walls and that could change the direction of high-speed moving arrows at close distance without even flicking their hands could probably do much, much worse things. 

On one hand, Kara felt entirely smug about everything. On the other, they were barely level 70. She was bullying newbies. She felt slightly guilty about that, but as her foot went above the battlement and she released the gravity field, the guilt all but vanished, and was replaced by common satisfaction

. Her face did not show it, and neither was it obvious in the way she moved past the frozen men, all but ignoring their presence, but it truly felt good to feel powerful, even if it was but an act.

Her Energy was less than 50%, now, and she could barely keep up with fixing her body. She could do little if all of them charged her.  Already the pressure had pulled the muscle on her left arm, and two of her ribs were cracked. The bones in her knees separated into tiny shards that bled her skin, and just about every other joint in her body screamed as they rubbed against each other, their ligaments already dried away.

All of that required Energy, and she could not simply let it burst. Any damage to the body was damage to her Energy regeneration and channeling. 

Yet she still glanced back at the old man, wondering whether she would take it further. She could order him to jump off, and that if he did not she would do worse things to him. He might do it, and Kara would laugh all day, but he also might not, and a fight which Kara could not win might ensue.

Choices choices, she thought, playing the idea in her mind. Was it worth the risk? Probably not. Would she love to do it? Certainly. It made her feel alive, to have death stare her in the eyes, but after her recent faliure, she was reluctant to mess around.

Just as she was about to turn, Kara noticed one man, the one who did not fire his arrows at her, wave his hands with a smile at her. He was a Vandran, with a lithe body under his cloak and green fur. Kara did not need to use Grasping Eyes on him to know that he was the one whose arrows dug through the cement ground.

Mediocre, at best, but still a respectful challenge for her even if she was well rested. The way he became emboldened, it also seems that he possessed some type of Scouting ability, otherwise she doubted that doltish face would have appeared. He might have realized that her large amount of Energy was easily drained. It was a good one, too, if it was able to give him intel on her without alerting her.

Probably didn't give him that much, then. He didn't need to die.

 With a shrug, Kara resumed walking, roughly knowing where the commander’s camp was from the sheer amount of Life Force spreading.

This time, she took the stairs.