A chilling wind and painful grumbles were the only things that disturbed the oddly calm environment. Mehr was sitting calmly and listening to the answers that the poor hostage provided.

“Is that all?” Mehr asked.

“Yes.” One of them replied weakly, “I’ve told you all I knew. The directions that all the prominent people are taking in this trial, as well as the sort of powers they had shown. I have given the best knowledge available to me.”

Mehr took a moment before getting up and walking up to the other person that was still laying down with a wooden staff jammed in his mouth. Mehr grabbed the staff and pulled it out slowly, and gave the other person some time to breathe. The poor child of nobility coughed violently while gasping with relief. He tried to move but his body’s condition betrayed his intentions. Both of his shoulders were crushed and bones were protruding out of his flesh. And yet, his mouth remained as sharp as ever.

“You fucking peasant!” The noble child roared as soon as he got some control over his breath. He was looking at Mehr with hateful eyes that seemed ready to rip apart all of the flesh on Mehr’s body. However, Mehr looked calmly and questioned the other person.

“Do you have any information regarding other participants?”

“You will die the most painful death imaginable.” The noble child hissed in a cold tone.

Mehr chuckled while looking at the pitiful state of the person. He put the wooden staff over his shoulder as he asked, “What is your name?”

The noble child kept staring at Mehr with his venomous eyes and answered, “Marcus of the House Gauras. Remember this name well, peasant.”

“Sure,” Mehr said curtly and jammed the staff in Marcus’ throat again. However, this time he pushed down with force. It didn’t take much of his strength to puncture Marcus’ throat with the blunt staff. The other person was watching this entire scenario while shivering in fear. He looked at Mehr’s indifferent eyes and the blood flying around his face. He looked at the desecrated corpse of Marcus that had started to turn into specks of light and slowly gulped his saliva. He was sweating profusely, imagining his end, when something attracted his and Mehr’s attention.

Boom.

A loud noise came from the distance and Mehr turned towards its direction. He noticed the dark smoke and burning trees in the distance.

“You didn’t tell me that there was someone who could create explosions.” Mehr’s voice became cold as he looked into the distance.

“I didn’t know about it, I swear.” The aspirant shivered as he heard Mehr’s voice. He had started to imagine all sorts of terrifying scenarios before calming his mind and looking at the scale of the battle in the distance, “It looks like a group is fighting. Only Lady Woodrow has a group this large.”

“I see.” Mehr said as he wiped off the blood from his face, “You can withdraw.”

The aspirant turned into specks of light and Mehr looked towards the explosions in the distance. He stopped for a moment and thought about going to save Hope, but decided against it.

‘It’s just a trial. It's not like she’ll actually die, and I barely even know her.’ Mehr thought as he started moving towards the hill.

****

“Haah Haah, How?” A meek voice was heard from one of the several injured people on the ground. Many of their comrades had already perished and soon it would be their turn to withdraw, that is if the lady they followed withdrew. The lady that the near-death people on the ground followed, Hope Woodrow, was struggling to stand up while wiping away the blood from her face. Alas, the blood flew like a constant stream unhindered. Her nose was smashed in, one of her eyes was bleeding profusely, and the flesh from her sides had been carved out, and yet, she struggled to get up one more time while looking at the perpetrator of this tragedy.

The girl in shabby clothes was staring them down while taking deep breaths. Her already tattered clothes were ripped in places and her left hand was mangled beyond recognition. Yet she never showed a single expression of weakness and pain, and only a cold auster remained on her serene face.

“What is your name?” The girl in shabby clothes asked Hope. Her cold eyes were noticing every minute movement that her enemies might make.

“Fuck you, bitch.” Hope replied furiously.

“It is quite intriguing how we turn into what we hate the most when things don’t remain in our control. Your language so resembles the so-called filthy commoners.” The girl replied matter-of-factly. She had noticed that several eyes were watching this fight from a distance, and yet none of them approached her even after she was tired. She had decided to end things quickly to create some time for rest in case of any unforeseen variables.

Well, from the perspective of the bystanders, they had no choice but to stay away from the short scuffle. They had seen a single girl utterly decimating a group of people on her own and she had only lost a single arm in the process. In their eyes, she was a calamity that they had to stay away from at all cost.

The girl in the shabby clothes flicked her right hand to kill the remaining people when suddenly, a mana strike stopped her attack. She was very extremely surprised at the precision with which she was attacked. She looked in the direction from which the mana projectile came, and noticed a boy approaching her.

‘Someone with experience?’ She thought.

The boy soon came close and said loudly while approaching her, “They have already lost, haven’t they? You should let them withdraw at the very least.”

“And you are?” The girl in the tattered clothes asked. She noticed that the boy had innocence in his voice as he smiled and voiced his thoughts. His eyes were kind as he looked at her and he showed genuine concern towards the injured people.

“Just give me a moment please.” The boy, Sirius, crouched down beside Hope and other people and, applied mana to their wounds, “I’m sorry. I’m still not very good with healing arts. It will help with your pain though.”

“You should conserve your stamina,” Hope said weakly, still reeling from the shock that Sirius had seen her in this debilitating state. Not only had she shown a weak side of her, but she was also bogging him down.

“I’ll be fine. You should withdraw now. Continuing will not only be harmful to you but also your friends.” Sirius said while looking at her injured followers. Hope looked behind her, at the few of her followers that were still alive. They had fought with her and never turned their backs or slowed their steps down. Even now, they only waited for her orders. She understood that they were following her because of their families. However, they still stayed.

Hope looked down at her hands, which were covered in blood and dirt, devoid of their pompous beauty, and sighed, “Let’s withdraw.”

With those two words, several people turned into specks of lights and disappeared away.

The girl in the tattered clothes was still watching all of this while applying mana to her mangled hand. She watched as Sirius stood up and turned towards her.

“Thank you for not attacking me. Do you need help as well?” Sirius asked in his familiar chirpy tone.

The girl in tattered clothes tilted her head in surprise as she asked, “You’re not going to attack me?”

“Why would I attack you?” Sirius asked.

“Weren’t those people your friends?” She asked.

“Not really. I barely knew them.” Sirius replied while smiling.

“Then why would you waste your stamina helping out people you barely know? That is extremely foolish.”

Sirius laughed as he listened to the girl’s words, “Well, why aren’t you attacking me?”

“I never attack first.” The girl replied curtly, “What is your name?”

“Sirius Frye.”

The girl in tattered clothes raised her brows. Her eyes changed as she scrutinized Sirius’ appearance. The girl’s eyes travelled everywhere, from Sirius’ hair to the sword he had on his side.

“Oh, you’re the Heir of Frye that everyone has been talking about. I had imagined you to be a giant with logs for hands, and massive horns, if rumours are anything to go by. You look quite normal.”

Sirius scratched the back of his head and laughed shyly. The girl in tattered clothes turned around and started walking towards the hill while saying, “Well, Heir of Frye. It was good to meet you.”

“It was good to meet you too, Miss…?”

“Adhara.” The girl answered back.