First, there was Darius and his idiotic obsession with Class supremacy. Then, there's Katherine, who was led to believe that she would be better off giving up in the face of a seemingly impossible survival mission rather than die trying. Now, I have before me one Celestina; Legendary Lunar Sage, and a victim of racism — Speciesism? Inter-speciesism?

One was dismissable. Two could be chalked up to be a coincidence. But three? Three was a fucking pattern, and I didn't like what I was seeing.

Really, this 'Otherworldly Fantasy' was shaping up to be just as fucked up and complex as my previous 'real' world. But what did I know? All I had were my opinions on what little information I took as facts which I extrapolated from the few people I'd thus far interacted with.

Maybe this world wasn't as fucked up as I imagined it to be. Maybe it was just my poor luck to be placed in situations that highlight the worst of what this world had to offer. But then again, maybe I was totally right in my nascent beliefs that the prevalence of evil transcended humanity and encroached on all things sentient.

I mean, if the people in my first life — the normal and non-magical humans — couldn't even get along with each other, why would things be any better in a world where people can grow up to burn down cities with a wave of their hand? Why 'wouldn't' treachery and deceit be even more commonplace in a world where it was evident that not all men were created equal?

"You're right..." Celestina's eyes shined with a murderous light as she bore down on my form. "You don't know me and you'll never understand what it was like for me. You'll never be more than an ignorant Monster, unaware of the value we place on our family."

Well, she's technically not wrong. In this life, I'd been born alone, with no family to either care about or be supported by. I could also scarcely remember what my family was like in my previous life; my only memories of them being the fact that they existed. But, I wasn't going to let that get in the way of my argument. In fact, I knew just the thing to say to subvert her position… maybe.

I mean, she sure was getting pretty heated.

"Yeah? Well go on then, enlighten this ignorant Monster," I taunted her. "Tell me why anyone should give a shit about the kind of people that would make them believe themselves to be an eyesore or a mutt? With your Class, I'm sure you have some sagely advice that's just beyond little old me."

When she started to somehow calmly hyperventilate and her body grew twitchy, I knew she was just below her breaking point. Any little thing could set her off into an uncontrollable rage, where she might do something she regretted.

Welp, it wouldn't feel right to suddenly try de-escalating the situation. So, I decided to just be done with the situation on my own terms.

"What? Are you mad? Go on, then! Pull the trigger, shoot an arrow at me, or whatever! I'm sure that'll solve all your problems."

"You guys don't have to do this..." Katherine hesitantly added. Thus far she had kept to herself, by now knowing that with our dynamic we were bound to clash and argue at almost every turn. Over the past week, our usual petty arguments were resolved after trading a couple harsh words or jeers at each other.

Bless her soul, the poor thing had no idea how futile her words were this far deep into our conflict. For as terrifyingly decisive as she was against our enemies, she had no clue as to how issues were resolved between allies; or whatever else Celestina was to our group.

"We really don't," I conceded. "But, that doesn't mean we don't want to, yeah?"

I snickered, "She's about ready to blow her lid if she doesn't try to kill me in a couple seconds and I think I'm strong enough to beat her on my own. I've been needing an excuse to challenge her, so why not do this here and now?"

…

The eagle was really asking for it and I was more than willing to give in to the overwhelming feelings I felt in the moment.

He not only dared to judge my people, but he also mocked me personally 'and' challenged my strength? After a week of working together, he should know he doesn't stand a chance, and yet…

"Seriously, let's do it. Just you and me. Katherine can sit this one out; not that I'd need her help, to begin with."

Fine, then. It's your funeral…

I acted just as he finished speaking. A dark, cold, and deathly dim aura infused into my shot as I completed the motion within a tenth of a second.

Boom!

Upon colliding with the ground behind Nova, all that remained were small bits and pieces of my arrow within cratered ground; not the eagle or even a trace of his blood in sight.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't notice you making preparations for that Quick Draw Skill?" Nova taunted.

His light-brown coat of feathers had taken on a silver glow; an obvious sign of being enhanced with Strengthening Magic. With a single flap of his wings, he shot towards me like I'd seen him do to hundreds of Monsters in the past.

That was a big mistake.

I stood my ground and instantly drew another arrow, nocking it before Nova could make it even a third of the way to me from his initial position. The air chilled around me as both my bow and the arrow I had nocked froze over before I released.

As expected, at this distance, the only move he could make was to try incinerating the arrow; even while Empowered, he couldn't dodge. Unfortunately for him, even after the arrow flew through a Tier 4 Fireball, my forethought in covering it in ice paid off as it came out the other side completely intact with traces of ice still stuck to it before it hit Nova.

Ptch!

The arrow impacted and… shattered.

What?!

I knew he had an unnaturally strong body, but this was inconceivable! This one shot had instantly killed hundreds of Greater C Rank Monsters!

"Now you're dropping your focus?" He continued with his taunts. "Get real!" He added as the silver glow of more Strengthening Spells lit up as a result of several rapidly forming Magic Circles.

For as aggravating as his words were, he was right in condemning my momentary lapse in focus. Now, I didn't even have enough time to go for another arrow; a physical one, that is.

As a Lunar Sage, however, I could pull on the darkness of the world in a localized environment. I willed for the shadows of all matter around me, organic or otherwise, to congeal into a black mass with the form of an arrow which was countless times easier, and faster, to nock.

It wasn't easy, especially not with my hesitance to call upon or even train my Class Skills, but despite all that, I managed to release another arrow before Nova could reach me. This one, doing what the other two couldn't and drew blood. Yet despite the hole in his wing, Nova wasn't slowed down at all.

"I win," he snickered just before bashing his body against mine, bloodied-wing first.

Crash!

The ground underneath me caved in as I resisted his attack, with a long trail of dirt being carved through the path I had been forced back through. Still, I came out mostly unscathed as chilling darkness covered my shoulder and spread halfway across my body as my defense.

'Counter him. Kill him,' a voice urged me and I obeyed.

Hand wreathed in black smoke, I grabbed his neck. I would have instantly snapped it if not for the fact that he was suddenly set ablaze such that his fires penetrated through the darkness that covered me and scorched my hands.

"Did you just try to kill me?!" He asked after backing away about ten paces from me.

I did... And it disgusted me.

This accursed Class… There was a reason I hated it. The side effects were getting worse. This time I'd barely even used three Skills and already I was losing control of myself.

As much as Nova antagonized me, as much as his previous words had infuriated me, I'd never intended to kill him. Teach him a lesson, put him in his place, hurt him a little… Sure; but, not end his life.

'No! He must die for what he's done! He must die before you lose!' The voice within demanded and while I might have been prepared now to resist it, I couldn't in the face of dozens of low-tier Fire Magic Spells instantly cast all around me.

As far as I could tell, I had turned this into a fight to the death. So, I had to give in to being influenced as a cost of using my Class Skills or risk losing it all.

…

Has she fucking gone insane?

This was supposed to be a… Well, not so much a friendly fight, but a fight to release some pent-up frustration. I expected one or both of us to get a little scuffed up, but it would stop before anyone attempted a killing move; a fact that she should have known when I decided to Bash into her and not cut her to pieces with a Peck or a Swipe of my claws.

I thought she'd been playing the same game after using that new move to shoot an arrow of darkness into my wing and not risk hitting my organs by aiming at my center mass. But then, she tried to snap my neck!

In retrospect, now that I'm watching her form get devoured by potent dark and 'negative' energies, I should have known that her judgment would be compromised after she started using Class Skills. The details of what it meant to be a Lunar Sage eluded me, but the description I received from my bloodline memories had pretty blatant hints.

"...Entities of sin, they are legendary human warriors that embody the philosophy of Yin. Only one can exist at a time, their existence has been theorized to be a long-running curse. Their power is as terrible as its cost..."

Entity of sin, embodies Yin, cursed existence, power with a terrible cost… And yet I wondered if she had gone insane.

Welp, if she hadn't lost it when she tried to snap my neck, she certainly had now.

Instead of being half covered in halfhearted negativity, she was literally wearing solid armor made of the real deal. All the Tier 3 augmented Fireballs I had cast around her had all extinguished before making it within a meter of her; a feat all the more impressive with all the improvements I'd made to my Fire Incarnate and Understanding of Fire Skills as of late.

Death…

The world around her started to die in much the same manner a shockwave would expand, with the grass underneath her wilting and fading before turning to ash. The trees, the rocks, the very ground itself falling victim to entropy as all began to rapidly decay.

Danger!

Fast, so terribly fast that I missed it while I was paying attention to the death of the world around her, Celestina rushed up before me with a mass of darkness in her hands.

I reacted instinctively, a kick up with my claws extended to block whatever it was she had tried to swing at me.

Clink!

The high-pitched squeal of metal striking metal came with the horrifying realization that even after all my enhancements, I had taken a loss in this exchange.

[Life 94% → 92%]

It was absurd to see that despite our strength being roughly equal, the corroding effects of the darkness in her makeshift sword-like weapon was cutting through my Reinforced, Empowered, Fire Incarnate form. Once my body was set ablaze I became a whole 50% stronger than I was without it and that was before factoring in what my Understanding of Fire did to boost that transformation!

Not to mention, the element of Fire should be counter to the Yin which Celestina currently 'embodied.' It shouldn't trump it, but it should cancel some of her effects. It just goes to show how radical a Lunar Sage's power can be when they let loose.

Oh well, if all I currently had wasn't enough, that just meant I needed to keep going, right?

I kicked off from her deathly dark sword and began an ascent as I charged up a Tier 5 Fire Augment Spell. It was only recently that I had finally reached the cusp of being able to cast Magic of this level, thus it would take a couple seconds to fully manifest.

I expected attacks, more darkness, death, or iced arrows being sent my way as I bid my time to form my Spell. But Celestina did none of that. It seemed that like me, she was preparing for something big…

From around half a kilometer up in the sky, I watched with morbid fascination as she pulled in all the death and decay which she had caused and began to form another arrow on her bow. After a second, the arrow fully formed, but she just kept pulling in dark energies, concentrating them such that her bow began to exude smoky darkness, the same as her arrow and armor.

Then she started mouthing something I couldn't quite hear just as my Spell finally formed.

…

"Stay your hand or I'll end you next," I growled, seething at the human's futile attempts to restrain me with Earth Magic of all things.

"No! You two are going too far! One of you will really die if you don't stop now!" Her contemptible whining made me want to redirect my aim at her and be done with the annoyance. Alas, the eagle was a greater threat; a higher priority.

"Fine. Be that way… I'll kill you all soon enough," I vowed.

"Wh— What the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted as tried to launch Earth Pillars at me from beyond the range of my domain. Naturally, the moment they crossed the threshold, they began to decay as all things would. The only thing her actions accomplished was to feed me more material to derive deathly energies from.

"Heh," I chuckled something quite dark as I venomously spat, "I'm not sure, but it must have been something quite fierce to think that I've tolerated both of your existence for this long!"

"You… You don't really mean that, right?! I thought we were friends!"

Friends? What kind of deluded idiot would ever think themselves to be friends with 'me?' Others were just a burden on my soul. I didn't need them. 'I do not want them.'

Fortunately, the time to be fully rid of them once more was fast approaching. The eagle was making his way back down to me with one of those precious dive bombs of his.

That's right, just get a little bit closer. Close enough for dodging to be impossible and your death will be guaranteed!

"Tch," I clicked my tongue as fractions of a second passed and his speed continued to accelerate. I guess with all that time it spent up there, while I was being annoyed by the human, he must have cast more than just a Tier 5 Fire Augment on himself.

No matter. His movements were still well within my ability to follow...

Until he released a truly massive fireball that completely blocked out my vision and managed to survive its expedited flight through my domain to reach me. The fireball didn't so much as warm me up as my armor erased its effects before they could reach me, but it did buy the damn eagle the chance to hit me one final time.

Milliseconds before our final exchange, his eyes met mine and he… he smirked? He dared to be playful at a time like this?!

Then die!

I release my arrow, point-blank at his body, with enough ice, dark, and death energies to kill off Standard B Rank Monster. Yet, the eagle defended against it in a way that could have only come from a decisive, if suicidal, maniac.

Dozens of rings of Tier 3 Fire Augment Spells instantly formed in the path my arrow would have to take to hit Nova. All utterly failed in blocking the arrow and they barely even managed to slow it down or sap even a fraction of the energy within it. But, that was still enough for the eagle to move out of the way and avoid being critically injured.

Boom!

Only the lower right part of his body was grazed before the arrow vanished off into the distance and tunneled into the side of a mountain.

No!

I knew I was in for a world of hurt when Nova crashed into me claws first and managed to drive them through my armor to hold himself upon my shoulders.

Crack!

The sadistic bastard appeared to want to torture me as he grasped whiled retracting his talons to merely break my arms at the shoulder joint and not outright kill me as he currently could.

"Shit… I hope this works," he said before the world turned white before my eyes and I lost all my senses.

…

"D-did you kill her?" Katherine was shaking like a leaf in the middle of a hurricane as she asked me.

"Nope," I might have sounded a little 'too' cheerful because I was.

I'd just taken down a Legendary Class all by myself, after all. I mean, she was far from realizing the true potential of her Class, she probably didn't have much experience using or controlling her powers, and she was super easy to read when she got as mad as she did; but any win against a legend was a win I'd accept with grace… and a bit of snark, perhaps.

"But," I sighed, "I did have to break her arms and totally drain what remained of her Mana and physical stamina to break her out of that psychotic trance. Even after all that, she still needed to be Sanctified and now I'm totally spent."

I was more tired now than I thought I'd ever been. But I guess that was better than the alternative. Looking over to the wound that had taken two Tier 4 Sanctification and three Tier 4 Self Heals to just barely close, it wasn't hard to imagine what would have happened if her final attack on me managed to land a direct hit.

"Could you raise a shelter for us, please? I doubt we'll go out to train any time soon," I asked and Katherine instantly complied.

About an hour later, after I'd gained the strength to finish healing both of us and flew to scope out the extent of a Greater C Ranked Lunar Sage's presumed greatest attack, I felt a chill run down my spine at the sight of the poor mountain that bore the brunt of said attack.

It looked like a meteor had hit the mountain from the side and then disintegrated into a mass of pure death energies. A massive twenty-meter-wide, fifty-meter long trench had formed on the mountain and for hundreds of meters beyond the point of contact, I could spot several Monsters that could have been rated up to Standard C Rank, all dead without physical wounds.

Without all those power-ups I'd have been dead a hundred times over.