Curse you Akasha. Aleria swore inside her mind.

She knew she didn’t have much time to prepare. The two parent birds were still in shock, but that wouldn’t last long. There would be no horsing around, these enemies were going to come at them with the wrath of a devil, or rather, the wrath of a suffering mother and father.

With her [Fairy Eyes] Aleria inspected the father bird; she already knew the mother was level 5.

[Forest Kakapo | Lvl 7]

Same level as the snake… so that’s why it didn’t just take the spring. This posed a big problem though. There was no way her fairies would last long against such opponent. Seems like I need more power.

Back when she had taken the dead snake’s Essence, Aleria felt herself level-up and now would be a perfect time to allocate the class-point; every scrap counted in a fight to the death after all.

Time to unlock my [Squire] class. She thought, willing her Status screen open and then distributed the point where she wanted.

[[STATUS - Changed]]

Level: 5->6

Classes:

* Squire:F (1)(new)

* etc (5)

— Strength: 5 -> 6

— Endurance: 7 -> 8

— Dexterity: 20 -> 24

— Agility: 27 -> 28

— Magic: 131 -> 132

— Wisdom: 78 -> 78

— Charisma: 98 -> 99

— Willpower: 37 -> 38

— TOTAL: 402 -> 413

Magic: [Wind Blade:F](new), [Gust:E -> D]

Passives: [Novice Swordsman:F](new), [Chivalry:F+](new)

*[Novice Swordsman:F]: Increases comprehension of sword skills and techniques. Provides a slight increases to the kinetic vision and spatial awareness of the user. (+0.5% to Dexterity)

*[Chivalry:F+]: Increases comprehension of all knight related skills. Provides knowledge on how to speak and act like a knight. Ranks up through performing chivalrous acts. (+1% to Charisma)

Aleria didn’t have the right mindset, to become giddy over the fact that she, once again, traversed the path of knighthood; nor did she have the time as she noticed the bird moving in her peripheral vision.

It launched itself at her with no regard to its normal movement. The big lump of feathers waddled like it had been possessed. In a way, it had. Possessed by soul-crushing grief and a need to kill.

Due to already knowing the bird would attack like a madman, and because she kept a close eye on it, Aleria had more than enough time to dart away, her fairy-wings beating fast.

Despite this, the bird managed to keep up with her. Dammit. She had wanted to try and see if she could get away and link up with the others, but it seemed it was not be. If they could fight as a group, even against two foes, less would die.

And they would die. Aleria wasn’t naive to the fact that their would be casualties. The fairies just weren’t used to combat; they were still green, combat virgins.

How did they even live prior to my arrival? Its as if they were all born yesterday and haven’t learned of the wider Integrated world yet. Aleria began weaving between yellow-green feathers fired by the mother bird like projectiles.

There could be no peace in a world where advancement meant everything. A world where the strong rule over the weak, where the rate of progress equates to the amount of exploitation—both of life and environment—or where great evils are committed simply because.

There could be no peace…

A ruthless squawk and incomprehensible yelling signaled the commencement of combat between her fairies and the father bird. Mournful screams quickly followed.

Aleria couldn’t see what had happened but she could take a good guess. The first casualty. Her back straightened, aura pulsated, grip tightened, eyes narrowed, all while the wind sped up. She became herself, the experienced Tier 6 valkyrie. Confidence oozed out of her pores.

However, this image was marred by an emotionless stare, a stare made by many a war veteran. She was ready for business. And this time when the mother bird neared, instead of dodge, Aleria swept her wind blade in a graceful arc. And as paths crossed, blood spilled.

However, the mother showed no signs pain and despite the blood flowing out of a long gash on it’s chest, the bird stabbed down at her with its iron beak. One time, two times, three times. It didn’t let up. It just kept coming.

Being this close, Aleria could only parry the blows—if it could be called that. Swirling air made up her blade of course, so instead of glance off the weapon, the bird’s beak got repulsed instead. Luckily the bird seems to have forgotten about its other method of attack; otherwise, It’d be a little more difficult.

However, this unconventional method of defense cost far more than she’d like.

System damn it. Why are all these Monsters so ridiculous? They’re low level for crying out loud; It’s irregular! She didn’t have time to contemplate now, but she would later. After all, it wouldn’t do to go in blind if you didn’t need to.

If I can’t take this bird down, then my sister fairies won’t be able to do anything against the other. As was evidenced by a pained shriek of terror before another wave of mournful cries.

Aleria grit her teeth and kept hacking.

It took a dozen cuts and thousands of bloody feathers before the bird’s berserker nature and vitality seemed to slow. Finally! She would now be able to go save whatever remained of her fairies. However, Akasha must enjoy toying with her, as all of said wounds began to close. The spilled blood seemed to be returning from whence it came.

How!? Aleria eyes darted over the surroundings, looking for answers.

There!

At some point during their fight, the pooled blood on the ground had reached the tree and soaked into its roots. Afterward the drops of blood trickled back out and returned, healing the bird in the process. And whatever the blood did, the tree wained.

Blood Magic!? Okay, now I think I know what’s going on.

There was no way for a Level 5 Unnamed bird would have so many different skills and abilities—except a rare Mutated Monster. What are the odds of me running one of these? To Aleria, it was more proof of outside interference. It seemed to be a theme is this new life. Better get used to that.

For now she had to counteract this vitality sharing ability. If I can kill it in one—

A loud splash and a pulse of world energy, followed by a third mournful cry, interrupted her planning.

Did a fairy just get smacked into the spring? Aleria glanced into the churning maelstrom with cold calculation. Another one dead. There was no saving anyone who fell into pure world energy after all, especially not at this level.

However, concern took over from her analytical mindset when she realized who had gotten unlucky.

Green.

The little fairy flailed around in the churning maelstrom of World Energy as her being itself dissolved under the strain of raw power. Her long green hair splayed out everywhere, hiding her face from view. Aleria was thankful for that; she didn’t know what she’d do if she had to see the poor girl’s terror.

Even then, Aleria felt helpless; and she hated that. She never wanted to feel like this ever again. This was a feeling all too familiar to her; associated with her poor childhood in an orphanage.

Red overtook her vision as rage possessed her. Her body moved on its own with machine-like precision. And her mind blanked as she ignored everything, including a sudden ding which rang deep in her subconscious.

When she came to, her enemy had been eviscerated. All that was left were tiny ribbons of flesh covered in a pile of bloody feathers. The heroic and noble part of her mind recoiled at the sight. I let it take over…

Green could no longer be seen, likely swallowed, and there were only two fairies left fighting the father bird—Miia and a bow-fairy.

Aleria gasped, horrified. How long—

—She didn’t get time to think. Green-yellow feathers rocketed their way through the air, cutting a visible trail. The two fairies scrambled to dodge, likely having done it many times before, however, the death of its mate had enraged the monster even more than egg-fall had. And unlike the mother bird, it seemed to understand its full arsenal, as while they moved, so too, did it.

Its wings lit up with the gentle sky-blue of the Air Element, covering the entire limb and even extending it out further. Then, with blinding speed, it took flight.

The last unnamed fairy didn’t even realize what happened as it got ripped in half. The bird cawed, satisfied at another kill; Miia let out an enraged scream, and charged recklessly; Aleria just stared.

I should’ve just come here alone. She kicked herself with self-doubt. In her mind she saw hundreds, thousands, millions of humans dying all around her, powerless to do anything. Small fairies began to overlap with the images of humans, eventually over taking them.

Is this life going to go the same way as my previous one, even before I can do anything?

Aleria shook her head. No! I will not allow it! Turmoil fled her mind and confidence returned.

“Blow!~” She chanted, launching herself into battle. Just in time too, as Miia had gotten so lost in combat—angry at seeing her sisters dying again so soon after they lost their homes—that she wasn’t going to be able to dodge a blow in time.

Aleria deflected the killing beak with a grunt, the strike felt much heavier than the mother birds’, far from what she expected.

[Forest Kakapo | Lvl 8]

So that’s why— Aleria’s eyes tightened and she felt herself slipping into her previous murderous state. —It leveled from killing my sisters…

As the fight between them began, it became clear which of the birds had more combat experienced and that was without the added ability to fly. She could barely keep up with it to land any hits and when she did, it used feathery projectiles to dissuade her approach.

Their dance continued on and on until Miia began to tire. She’d admirably lasted this long but now that they had taken to the sky—playing what amounted to tag—her energy drained quick.

Aleria was just about to tell her to take this chance to retreat into the passage, when it happened.

The bird used this gap in her thoughts and Miia’s tiredness to strike. It swooped down toward Miia before Aleria had a chance to intercept.

I can’t do anything! Aleria panicked. Was she going to those her last sister?

It was then that an unlikely source entered the fray.

Tree roots shot force through the void, twisting around the bird, binding it in place. It struggled around in the air, trying to break free. Any feathers still flying, fell to the ground as the monster panicked.

Aleria wasn’t going to question this anomaly, not when this may be her only chance to end the bird before she was the only fairies remaining. How would I even show myself if that happened.

With this in mind, she launched herself—for what felt like the hundredth time—and swung at the bird’s unexposed neck.

When her mind processed the sounds of flesh being sliced and life-blood gushing out, Aleria finally relaxed.

But it was not to be, as she once again went on high alert. The roots of the tree dropped the bird’s corpse unceremoniously into the mana-spring, before they themselves dove into the whirlpool.

What are they doing? Could tree’s suicide?

However, when they dragged something ashore, Aleria didn’t care if they were, trees could have their privacy.

“Green!” “Mii~!” Both surviving fairies shouted, running over the supposedly lost fairy. It was a miracle. Nobody should be able to survive that long drenched in World Energy.

Aleria placed her fingers on Green’s throat. “Unconscious,” she said, as a bright smile lit up her face.

“Miia~ mii~ mii~!” Miia danced around, joyous over how a fairy survived. She had seen so much death that being proven wrong once had such a massive effect.

Aleria’s stared into the maelstrom. I hope she hasn’t been Mutated…