Kara grabbed the cane at her side and swung at the floor, striking something squishy. The rat barely let out a squeak before its spine was smashed in half. An abnormal amount of Life Force left its corpse.

Kara rose from the couch, feeling even more irritated. There were no Life Force or general skills that controlled animals to this degree, meaning it was likely a class that was able to do this. Considering that classes were gained based on the persona and actions of the individual, a person who thought rats were a useful information gathering tool must have lead a peculiar life.

Oh, and speaking of rats.

The United Ranker’s Guild. She’d killed some of the ones that attacked her forty years ago, but most got away to the other side before she could get her hands on them. The reason behind their ambush wasn’t a mystery—ganging up on those stronger than you was a common enough tactic. It was dishonorable and discouraged by the United Ranker’s guild themselves, but she never once believed those values would hold when their prosperity was in jeopardy. How the ambush was a surprise—the act wasn’t.

Their children will no doubt want to finish the job, if not for revenge, then for their own safety. Most of them they thought she completely perished until last year, when she regained consciousness and left Ascender's End, the spot where she originally died.

Appearing in public was a risk that she had to take. The only thing that could get her out of this predicament was learning what her Life Siren profession had to offer. Unfortunately, singing to the rats and the spiders just won’t do. For professions, gaining the skill was half of it; the other was learning how to use it. The skill’s description was the limit to the power it grants, not the rule. A master blacksmith isn’t just a master blacksmith because of the skills he had. Knowing how to use them effectively was just as if not more important.

Kara left the bedroom. She jumped from the top of the floor, floating down the steps. The doors snapped open, letting her meet the fresh dew of the morning sun. The air was wet, and the bitter chill had diminished into a fresh breeze. A period of calm after a night full of Sentient-created storms and chaos. Remnants of dawn could be seen on the horizon.

At least, that’s what she imagined.

She hummed as she walked, letting her Notes scout ahead. Finding an outpost was a good place to start. She could hardly miss it, considering their useless walls went up to the skies. That’s where most of the fighting will happen, and where Kara needed to be. The more people she could find, the higher chance she had at finding out more about her powers, and whether was any actual hope.

Ha! Hope. What a joke.

A sound from the side caught her attention. The air floated from an opening in between two physical structures—the alleyways, she guessed. A moderately powerful Life Force pulsed from that direction. It was roughly what a pack of Wolves would have.

Kara took a ceremonial breath. This would be a good test. After making sure no one was in earshot, she focused in on her Notes. Just like any other skill, the Notes followed her command to the best of their ability. They created a pathway that extended her senses as they traveled, automatically creating a Siren’s Web. A Note stuck in place every 20 meters. They acted as beacons, connecting the web together. Once in place, the range of her Siren’s Web was set. Her Notes were now able to move freely within it. She sent them forward to study the Life Force signals.

Three humanoids fought against the third. Two others were on the ground, crawling away. A couple more bodies did not move.

The closer she got the clearer the feedback became. The Game wouldn’t let her see their factions until she was in direct line of sight, but the messy black and white ink outline of bodies became sharper. The three males were covered in a murky yellow aura, while the female had a high amount of blue. One was Life Force, while the other was raw Mana.

There were a few others with fading Life Force pulses laying on the ground. A Mage, Shieldman, and Swordsman fought against a heavily armored Shieldman. The entire alleyway was riddled with holes, slashes, and missing chunks. The fight had gone on for at least a minute.

Surprisingly, the one cornered was slowly losing the fight--Kara expected for him to die in the first few seconds, but at least 30 seconds had passed. He didn’t seem to be much physically stronger than them, but his skill with his shield and positioning kept him on the edge. His sword kept the enemy swordsman at bay while his shield defender against the other, preventing them from surrounding him as he stayed on the move. The Mage couldn’t hit him without risking damaging her allies, but she did make retreat impossible.

Still, in the end, he was a fool for not surrendering—no amount of points or equipment were worth losing your life for. Yet despite his madness, the more she watched him desperately struggle for victory, the more she began rooting for the poor guy.

There is just something strangely familiar about someone trying to beat absurd odds.

Each blow he received lowered his Life Armor. A few more and it seemed like it would break. The dents on his equipment also seemed to be on the verge of shattering. Soul Equipment could regenerate, but they were still breakable.

Other than help arriving, there was no realistic way for him to survive. Most of his party seemed to be dead or about to die.

Well, Kara was on her way, but she could hardly be considered help. Depending on the luck of the draw, one of them were going to receive her Song, which still didn’t specify who she was helping.

As she turned the corner, Kara understood what had happened. The lone knight had the helm of the Anima hovering about his head—just like the other three. His was blue, however, while theirs were a disgusting purple. There was no point in surrendering. They wanted to kill him, not get his points or equipment. Hired ones, probably. Killing a promising ranker before they become powerful a common tactic among rival families. This was probably what was happening here—the fact they were still having trouble beating him likely meant they launched a surprise attack. They got his teammates, and as the tank he was the last to go.

Kara calmly recalled all her Notes, canceling her web. She was going to deal with this differently.

“Unknown Enemy!” The Mage yelled, turning towards her. “4th Rank Fire Bolts!” Everyone immediately jumped back to survey the situation. Four balls of flames formed beside her. It took her another second to condense the flames into balls of highly concentrated fire the size of a fist. Concentrating the fire Mana increased the skill’s stability, preventing a Kinetic Blast from detonating them early.

“It’s The Silent Mage!” the Swordsman yelled. “Retreat!”

The Mage launched the fireballs with a motion of her staff. Each different one turned into a bolt as they zig-zagged towards Kara. “I can take her,” she said, calling another set of 4th Rank Fire Bolts and a 3rd rank Fire Ram. Fire Mana began gathering in front of the mage. By the time the bolts reached Kara those skills, her channel would have finished.

For a Wolf, it was an overwhelming amount of attacks. With the support of her two allies, they might give a new Tiger a run for their money.

Kara pointed her cane at the Mage, firing a 5th Rank Black Hole. It was a gravity skill that pulled in mana and physical objects towards it. After a duration the Black Hole would explode, causing its total suction power to double for two seconds. That meant any additional power that was added from other skills would also double.

Kara The Defier: ??? > Tiger*

A black dot pulled the dust in the alleyway towards it as it went forward, gaining size and power as it traveled. With the 5th rank Black Sphere the Fire Bolts would have changed direction, striking the walls, but by itself it was not powerful enough to send Fire Bolts straight back at the enemy Mage.

Third Movement: Deviation, Kara whispered. It was the second class skill Kara was able to use. Using one Equilibrium she was able to change the momentum of all non-organic objects towards the direction she chose. Four invisible dots shot forward, striking the Fire Bolt just as the Black Hole passed in between them. The direction of her Deviation was the Mage.

Combined with the suction force of the Black Hole, the four balls curved around, passing each other as they followed the black sphere back towards the enemy mage.

The Mage did not have enough time to yell—she immediately canceled her skills and yelled a 4th Rank Kinetic Shield at the same time that she jumped up with the help of a 3rd Rank Kinetic Boost.

Fourth Movement: Amplification, Kara cast on the Black Hole. It was the last class skill Kara was able to use in her condition. It was simple, but powerful. It increased the effects or speed of a non-organic object by up 50%. In this case, Kara chose to increase the suction power of the Black Hole. When it exploded below the Mage, the skill’s suction power doubled.

The Mage was yanked from the air and fell straight into the Black Hole.

Black Hole has dealt 186 Tearing damage to Mage’s Shield.

Fire Bolt has dealt 120 Fire damage to Mage’s Shield.

Fire Bolt has dealt 94 Fire damage to Mage’s Shield, and dealt 26 Fire damage to Mage’s HP.

Fire Bolt has dealt 119 Fire damage to Mage’s HP.

Fire Bolt has dealt 120 Fire damage to Mage’s HP.

Fire Bolt has dealt 32 Burning damage to Mage’s HP…

It was not enough to kill the Mage, but the residual flames began to burn her alive. The moment the Black Hole’s duration ran out, the Mage cast 2nd Rank Kinetic Burst, causing a wave of Kinetic Mana to explode from her, removing all the flames instantly, and then getting hit by Kara’s 4th Rank Fire Ram. It dragged her a couple meters back before blowing apart her body.

For a moment, the only sound that remained was Kara’s footsteps as she walked towards them.

“3rd Rank Priority Target!” The Shieldsman yelled. He charged forward, an extra burst of Life Force covering him. He cut half the distance between them in two quick steps. The swordsman ran a moment after him but was stopped in place by the third human.

“4th Rank Kinetic Arrows,” Kara said. Five blue balls formed on her side.

The shieldsman brought his shield up. He didn’t plan on dodging, and typically he wouldn’t need to. Assuming he was around level 50, he could have up to 100 Constitution. That meant a thousand HP plus 100 Armor, not including any other skill. If he had a 4th Rank Life Force Shield unlocked, then he would gain 40% of his Maximum HP as an extra shield, giving him a net total of 1400 HP and Shield.

Each 4th Rank Kinetic Arrow dealt around 150 Pierce Damage at close range with 80 Armor Penetration, meaning in total each Kinetic Arrow would deal 130. She would need at least 10 arrows to deal significant damage.

Critical Hit! Damage +50%!

You have dealt 230 Blunt damage to Shieldman Shield.

Critical Hit! Damage +50%!

You have dealt 64 Blunt damage to Shieldman Shield and 91 to HP.

Critical Hit! Damage +50%!

You have dealt 234 Blunt damage to Shieldman HP.

Critical Hit! Damage +50%!

You have dealt 232 Blunt damage to Shieldman HP.

Critical Hit! Damage +50%!

You have dealt 230 Blunt damage to Shieldman HP.

Why would the Silent Mage bother to speak out loud her skills? Before they struck his shield, each 5th Rank Kinetic Bolt zig-zagged past his shield and struck his head. Any hits to the neck, head, lungs, and heart were all automatic crits. With the Five resounding booms on the shieldman’s skull, a stun effect was guaranteed.

He fell to the ground and rolled towards Kara. She swung her hand, using 6th Rank Kinetic Claw. A blue hand twice his size swiped him aside. He broke through four walls before he died, taking 310 damage.

Kara The Defier: Tiger > Dragon*

“I surrender,” the swordsman calmly said, tossing aside his weapon. He kneeled and pressed his forehead against the ground. “Mercy.”

It froze Kara in place. She tilted her head, genuinely unsure of what she heard. She stepped past the third human. She crouched, leaning her head towards him. “Mercy?” she whispered, speaking the word with wonder. “Mercy,” she said again, rolling the word in her tongue. It was a strange word to hear. “For who?”

He barely moved an inch with his before a 6th rank Gravity Field forced him to prostrate. It pressed him and the ground down. A crater started forming as he began to squish. She blocked both his screams and the damage notifications as she fed the skill mana.

She looked to the side, where the two bodies fell. One was scorched, while the other was decapitated. The Mage and the Archer died instantly.

Mercy, he said, right in front of their bodies. She didn’t need to try hard before remembering what it felt like to have venom instead of blood run through her veins. Where was the mercy in that? What type of mercy would someone who did that deserve?

“Hey,” someone by her side said. “It’s over.”

Kara snapped towards him. “You want me to let this filth go-"

“He’s gone,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “He’s…are you okay? Did you know Ten and Lenna?”

Kara focused back in. All that was left below her was a small iron ball the size of a pebble.

The skin on her face had peeled off, revealing the lair of pure Mana beneath. Either one of her bones must have broken, causing her mana to leak, or the Life Force shell she had woven around her Soul was widening. The mana turned into a white flame when it touched the air. It was harmless until a stray thought ignited it into a different mana form. Fire would turn her into flames, Kinetic into a bomb, and Gravity into a black hole. Any of those would eradicate her body and the block. “No,” said replied, dousing the flames and reforming her skin. She looked inward to find the problem. “Just venting.”

“I’m glad,” he said, and walked back to their bodies. He straightened the mage’s body, placing her hands on her stomach rather than stuck raised towards the sky. He stopped when he looked from the archer’s body to his head. Kara couldn’t see his face, but she did hear the cry he stifled.

Kara walked towards it, doing what he could not. She picked up the head and stitched it back to the archer’s body with Life Force.

She stepped back as he quietly kneeled next to them. He placed his sword and shield on the side.

My condolences, Kara thought, though she didn’t say it. The words wouldn’t come out. They wouldn’t change anything.

What did I feel like when it happened to me? Kara thought, recalling her emotions. It came to her easily. “I apologize for taking away your chance at revenge,” she said. Her temper got the best of her. She should have left one for him.

He turned towards her, the eyebrows under his helm pressing together. “Revenge? No…no, that’s not it,” he said, each word quieter than the last.

“Not it? What do you mean?” Kara asked. He neither moved nor responded. It made Kara want to use her Notes to know what he was feeling, but better judgment held. It wasn’t right to him. She checked the vicinity for any stalkers instead.

When she didn’t find anyone, she fully turned her attention back to her body. A few bones fractured and the Life Force Seal around her Soul was leaking 20 mana a second, dropping her to sub thousand mana points. Fixing the seal only required more Life Force and a minute at most, but removing the bone fragments from her blood was going to take quite some time.

After doing some quick first-aid kit on her body, Kara decided to leave the stranger to himself. He neither took his sword and shield to hunt for the ones responsible nor did he destroy the area around him in rage.

She didn’t understand. What was he going to do?