Due to the wars of the great human superpowers, they have a dire need for resources. They obtain these resources by annexing neighboring countries, taking them from non-human territories such as the beastmen or the elves, or through, to a lesser extent, tribute. The only reason why our country was not invaded yet was simply a lack of desired resources and our geography. We are awfully close to the Forsaken One's territory. This is why we have such a large number of fortresses on one side of the country. If one of the empires conquers us, they would be adjacent to the territory as well and shoulder the responsibility of being one of the first countries invaded if the Fourth Calamity War begins. The other reason is that we are not worth attacking. We have nothing that the empires desire enough to offset the disadvantages. This is why we have to be very careful to not attract too much attention. This is why we have forbidden mining deeper in the mountain ranges. If we are to stumble upon a vein of precious ore like, Gods forbid, adamantium, our country will be invaded in a heartbeat. That is why I cannot approve of your proposal.

- The king to his daughter's proposal for increasing the kingdom's economy by utilizing the mountain's resources

A knee to the face followed by a backhand sent the victim 20 meters flying into the dirt. This was how badly Descal was beating the shit out of Sheela. With Sheela no longer able to use magic, Descal had free-reign in pummeling her to the ground.

However, Sheela was still able to put up quite a fight considering that she was still able to avoid fatal attacks. Descal has already missed over 30 earth spikes as well as multiple ice and clay bullets. She was constantly dodging Descal's ranged attacks that he gave up trying to hit her with spells and focused on beating her with close combat. Yes, Descal could have done spells that chased Sheela like a homing spell, but those required chants, and she still had magic warded armor.

However, Sheela was still able to fight back with her staff until Descal broke her guard when she swung too far allowing Descal to grab the staff, pull her towards him, and kick her in the knee with enough force that her leg bent the wrong way.

Sheela collapsed from the sudden loss of support from her legs, and while she was falling Descal was going to plunge a blade straight through her throat until her armor started glowing. In a fantasy world, when things glow, something was going to happen.

Immediately, Descal disengaged and jumped back in time to avoid the worst effects of the incoming explosion. The worst he got was a couple of singes.

"Tch. She suicided."

Descal waited for the dust to clear; however, when he heard bones cracking and some mumbling, he immediately went back on guard sending out small mana waves to pinpoint what made that sound. It came from where Sheela blew up. Descal needed a clearer line of sight so he caused a pressure change creating a wind that blew away most of the dust.

Sheela was still alive despite exploding. Her leg was back in position with some sort of ice splint made from magic. However, the most baffling to Descal was that her leather armor was gone, replaced with the all too famous "bikini armor".

"If you are trying to give me a boner, it's not working." (Descal)

"My...eyes... are up here." (Sheela)

With those words, she took off a ring on her finger, and the mana levels surged from her causing the mana around her to congregate. Descal felt his stomach drop as the waves of energy radiating from Sheela came crashing down on him. Descal's entropy spell was useless against opponents of a certain power level due to those individuals having such a powerful presence that mana automatically regains its high energy state. Judging from Sheela's mana levels alone, she was easily an adamantium.

"Shit."

Descal had another extremely dangerous weak point. Once he activates the diamond and unseals his mana, he is unable to unseal more of his mana unless he reapplies the seal, wait for the cooldown, and redo the process. In other words, he was stuck with Mythril rank power against an opponent who was one rank higher than him. The word shit summed up Descal's situation quite well.

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Gold. For some reason, many sentient beings crave this metal. It is hard to get because it is usually found in mountains in which monsters infest both the surface and the inside. It is simply astonishing how much blood has been and will be spilled over gold.

The noble house of Ariston was an old and respected family with a rich history of honor and charity. They fought nobly against the waves of Forsaken ones during the Calamity War and helped the commoners endure through the famines from the aftermath of the War. In addition, the house of Ariston regularly sent out hunting patrols to reduce bandits and monster numbers making the lands a bit safer for the farmers and merchants helping the economy. The current 40-year-old lord was a kind and powerful man who understood the balance of humility and pride. Sheela was a proud member and happy daughter of the lord of the Ariston House.

Sheela was only 10 when her family received reports of a massive gold vein in one of the mountains. It was a mountain with a tense political situation because three noble families, including her family, had a claim to it. While her family was contemplating the best way to handle this new bit of information, some began to take a more violent approach.

"Assassins! To arms!"

"My lady, you must flee!"

"Do not worry about me and go!"

With a burning mansion behind her, she fled. She continued galloping into the mountain roads until her horse collapsed from exhaustion. Dragging her bruised body, the child soon spotted a small shack in the mountainside...

"Eat up kid."

Standing over her was a man who looked about the same age as her father with a wild nest of black hair. He had brown eyes with the sharp look that her father had when he left with his patrols. He was dressed quite casually in a plain cotton shirt and pants and a leather vest.

"Who are you?"

"The owner of this humble shack. I don't appreciate you just falling unconscious on my porch."

"Sorry."

"Wanna talk about why you are all alone with a dead horse?"

"...I want my mommy and daddy."

"It's alright. There, there. Everything's gonna be alright. Here. Drink this. It's a nice tea. One of my favorites actually. It calms nerves."

"I want to go home."

"You aren't going anywhere looking like that. *knock* Hold on. I'll get this. You just stay in this bed and rest."

The man stood up, and Sheela saw that the man was missing a leg. In its place was an old rickety wooden artificial one. Sheela couldn't help, but walk over to the door and eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Any survivors?"

"None. Those damn assassins were very thorough with their job. If it wasn't for you tipping me off that this was a possible murder attempt, I would have thought it was a simple freak monster attack or something. However, I found this in the ashes."

"*Sniff.* Damn this is Veridin Ignis. A key component to massive fire spells."

"Yeah. No way in hell that monsters would be carrying around a jar of this stuff and Lord Ariston doesn't like this stuff because of well you know."

"... How's the political situation of this?"

"An uproar. Everybody in our land is freaking out over the Lord's death, and the capital has yet to make a move. However, numerous nobles have been making moves to try and take some part of our land."

"How long do I have to take care of Illex's daughter?"

"Don't know. However, we should keep her hidden for now. I'll try to see if I can make use of some of my connections to see if anyone is willing to adopt her or something."

"Okay. C'mon in. Want some tea before you... Kid. How much did you hear?"

"Is everyone dead?"

"Oh, gods. Kid. Look at me. Death isn't easy. It is definitely something that someone your age should never deal with. Your father was a great man, one of the best men I have ever worked under. Your mother too was an amazing woman. Just know that you have the blood of two amazing people and that you are never alone. Those memories of your family keep them close to your heart so that they never really die. Those familial bonds will always stay with you."

"Why? Why?"

"I can't answer that. Nobody can."

"You want me to just go or..."

"No. You stay here and help me deal with this crying kid."

Nobody moved, and all the man could do was simply hold onto the girl until she fell asleep.

"Poor girl. She must have been very exhausted."

"Uggh. I don't want to deal with this shit."

"She came and collapsed on your porch, and thank gods she did. Nobody else can take care of her."

"You do understand that one of the reasons I refused to marry was because I didn't want kids right?"

"I thought it was because the girl you loved didn't fall in love with you but that harem bastard."

"Shut it, Jimmy. I just managed to forget about him."

"Well, I need to collect more info. I'll come back in about a week."

There was no reply as the man tucked Sheela into bed.

The next day at dawn before the sun even came up, Sheela woke up to the smell of bacon.

"Oh good, you're up. Eat up fast. I want to show you something."

Sheela simply did as she was told almost like a golem. There was no bounce and no purpose in her steps. Her once bright blue eyes were now a dull blue.

"C'mon. I want to be there on time. You know what. I'll just carry you. Grab on."

The forest opened up to a beautiful cliffside that had a magnificent view. The wind softly blew as the sun was slowly rising over the horizon.

"I wanted to show you this sunrise. It's a stunning sight, isn't it? How the sun rises like that and how it shines it light over the land your father ruled over. Simply breathtaking."

He looked down at Sheela and realizing that she wasn't going to speak, he kept on going with his monologue.

"I always liked to go up here when I felt down. When I fought with your father in those skirmishes, we lost a good amount of friends. Every time someone died, I personally went to each family to offer my condolences. I endured their tears, their outrage, and their denial. I ended up turning to alcohol to stifle the pain. Your father noticed this, and he took me to this cliff. He showed me this wonderful sight. We didn't talk much. When it was time to go, he only told me this: No matter what happens, the sun will always come up."

Sheela only stayed quiet. The man only knew that Sheela was listening was because tears began pooling around her eyes.

"I guess what he wanted to tell me was that no matter how bad things get, we can still pull through and shine through whatever darkness surrounds us. Just like that sun. I know things must be very... difficult for you right now, but I am positive you can endure it. I just want you to know that."

Sheela's tears began streaming down like a waterfall. However, no sound came from her. It was a silent cry. The man merely took a glance at the tears and looked back at the rising sun.

"Teach me how to fight."

"Excuse me?"

"You're Belisarius Ferrone. Father loved to talk about you in his war stories when he tucked me into bed. A powerful close combat sorcerer. Teach me, please."

"Clever."

"I saw your staff in the cabin. I remember seeing a picture of the staff in one of the portraits in our mansion. You look older though."

"Why do you want to fight?"

"I want to find the person who did this."

"Revenge? Revenge won't bring your family back. Revenge doesn't bring anyone back. I say this from personal experience."

"I know. But, it just hurts so much."

"Why don't we wait a week? Calm yourself before making a decision."

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It took Sheela four years to find out the truth. The monster-riddled mountain never had any gold. It took another two years to find out that her family was bait. It took one more year before she connected the dots. However, she never could find any proof. So, she waited. Now three years later, she has her chance. However, there is an infuriating obstacle in front of her.

Sheela finally managed to grab Descal, kicked him in the stomach, and grabbed his head when it bent forward in pain. Ruthlessly, she began kneeing him in the face.

"Why! SMACK. Won't! SMACK. You! CRACK. Die!"

Finished caving his face in, she threw his body into the tree...

[Fifty Chains: Ice Spear]

and proceeded to nail Descal's body to the tree with five inch thick icicles. However, Descal merely began regenerating his body back to normal and broke the icicles. Descal's ability to regenerate was infuriating to Sheela since it resulted in a stalemate once more. Sheela was about to chant another spell; however, he quickly closed the distanced and stabbed Sheela in the stomach or tried to. It failed to penetrate the ice armor that Sheela had equipped. In truth, Sheela was not wearing bikini armor in a sense because she had three layers of water/ice magic armor around her. However, water and ice tend to be see-through giving the illusion of bikini armor.

"This is quite infuriating."

"It's worse for me. Getting hit a million times is not fun."

"You surviving those hits is infuriating. Just die."

"Can't."

"Why to buy time for that bitch to escape? Too bad for you, I have reinforcements coming soon. We should be able to cut off her escape route."

"As if. You won't have reinforcements soon."

"Enough. Just die!"

Sheela once again prepared to ram her staff into Descal's chest; however, he dodged it and tried to follow up with a wide swing. It was wide enough for Sheela to counter the attack by blowing off Descal's arm with the staff. Descal once more tried to attack with his other arm only for it to meet the same fate. Sheela kicked Descal down and prepared to slam her staff onto Descal's throat.

"Would blowing off your head kill you?"

"I don't know. Will it?"

"I shall have the pleasure of testing it myself."

Sheela took a step back and stared at the body regrowing the head once more. Watching the regeneration more closely, she noticed a strong resemblance to the homunculus that existed in alchemist labs, and the homunculus in the labs had a core...

She wasted no time in smashing the body in numerous locations turning it into a bloody mulch until her staff made a small clink, indicating the core. Tearing it out, Sheela looked at the corrupted pearl for a couple seconds before attempting to crush it. As soon as a crack appeared on the pearl, everything seemed to freeze for Sheela.

A soft wind blew through the field. It was a warm and soft wind that was characteristic of spring. However, the wind did not have such an atmosphere. Sheela felt her heart gripped with something, and cold sweat began forming on her forehead. Fear. Why is she feeling fear now of all times?

Wait. There were two shadows. That doesn't make sense. Sheela was the only thing standing in the field right now, and they were quite a distance from the castle. So why is there another shadow... something was behind Sheela. It was becoming bigger.

Did she dare look? Did she dare turn around? Should she simply run? Never. She had enough running for a lifetime. She would stand her ground no matter how foolish it was. She had reached adamantium by powering through opponent after opponent. Through sheer willpower, she managed to succeed in numerous trials. She gained this strength for the day that she could take her revenge. She was so close. SO CLOSE. A few more steps. Until that bitches head was in her hands, she will not run. Sheela whirled around ready to plunge her staff into whatever was behind her, and she felt nothing make contact with her staff.

Sheela whirled around to come face to face with what was behind her. She screamed, and blood splattered.