He had no time to dodge the last javelin...

...

Adam's black broadsword was met by Brand's large navy blue shield.

Brand pushed the weapon away so he could make way for a counter-attack.

As he thrust his sword, it had hit not Adam, but someone else, who had thrown themself in front of the blade.

A pitch-black humanoid creature. Soon, there were dozens of them, as if summoned from thin air.

"Attack him." Adam commanded.

He had summoned dozens of such pitch-black creatures and sent them to attack Brand.

The pitch-black creatures carried weapons and armor made of pure black metal.

Like Adam's armor, black gas floated up from them.

Meanwhile, Chameleon was hidden, observing the battle.

He saw Adam hide himself behind his army while Brand cleaved through them.

Turning into a dragon, Chameleon took a deep breath.

Adam noticed right away that the shapeshifter planned to interfere, but before he could attack the dragon, Brand opened his palm and aimed at him.

Small, sentient flaming skulls with green colored fire flew out of it and searched for hostile targets, attaching to them and exploding on touch.

Many had gotten on Adam, exploding repeatedly on top of his armor and making him fall to the ground.

Having finished charging, Chameleon breathed out a huge spray of fire from his mouth, burning every creature on the way.

Brand ran towards Adam while Chameleon distracted the creatures.

As Adam was about to get up, Brand grabbed him by the collar and punched his face.

But Adam's face turned into a pitch-black gas as the fist connected. He then tried to travel inside Brand's nostrils.

Before he could succeed, however, Brand's eyes glowed in a bright green color. Then, bright green light could be seen trying to come out of his mouth as well, and from the inside of his skin you could see it glow green as well.

It all happened instantly, as Brand's face turned into pure, bright green light, letting out heat but no flames.

'Elementals.'

Adam stopped before he could burn himself, then went back into his armor and punched Brand's face.

A large part of Brand's face flew away, the material falling on the ground. It looked like a semiliquid substance.

It burned the grass on touch and illuminated the area around it.

It also slightly melted Adam's gauntlet. Before he could punch again, however, Chameleon had appeared again, turning from mosquito into a human with zebra legs, kicking Adam away.

Brand's shiny bright green head regenerated itself. An elemental's advantage is that they can always produce more of their own body, which is wholly made of the same element.

The semiliquid that had fallen on the ground was already making a hole on the floor, melting anything it touched.

Chameleon commented, "My regeneration is working overtime just for staying around you. Are you going to stay in your original form?"

Brand replied, "It's just the head. Also, this whole place will soon become poisonous if I leave this here."

Brand approached the part of him that had fallen on the ground. He took his gauntlet off and touched the substance, absorbing it.

Chameleon and Brand looked at Adam, whose body had hit a tree. He was getting up.

Brand commented, "We won't be able to kill him."

Then, he asked Chameleon, "You know what to do?"

"He'll resent me for the rest of his life, though."

"Do it. We'll think about the aftermath later."

Brand began to run away.

Adam got up, saying irritatedly, "Chameleon, stay out of this."

"Sorry man. Don't struggle, I still wanna be able to give you back to your sister in one piece."

"Chameleon!!"

Adam screamed and summoned dozens more of those pitch-black creatures.

Chameleon disappeared in the air, having turned into a dragonfly.

Adam had a frightened and irritated expression on his face as he quickly looked around. The creatures looked around with him.

It all happened in an instant.

A massive whale had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the forest, breaking and throwing away every tree and flying animal in the way of its body, as it had expanded instantly from a tiny dragonfly into a giant sea creature.

The whale quickly closed its mouth as it bit into everything in front of it, even biting through the ground. Everything on its way was now inside the whale.

Including Adam.

Then, the whale disappeared.

Brand looked at the crater in front of him. Soon, a dragonfly appeared by his side and suddenly transformed into a tall, muscular man in skintight shorts.

The armored man asked, "How is he?"

"Alive. He's probably saying all sorts of things about my mom right now, though."

"Do like I asked you before. Convince Eliana. Meanwhile, I'll warn Leo of the possibility that his mom is coming back. That way, we can be prepared for the case it really happens."

"You got it, boss."

"I'm not your boss anymore, Chameleon. That's how things became like this."

Brand left as he said his final piece.

...

Monica couldn't sleep. Her chin was rested on her arms as she looked out of the window.

The dormitory she was in could hold two people. Her roommate, a blond girl with wavy hair, slept peacefully on the side.

If I advanced my Mind attribute more, I'd be able to hear what she's thinking...

The lamp posts illuminated the academy's grounds in a white light that allowed you to see clearly in the night.

It was really late in the night, so no one could be seen outside.

Monica's room was dark. No lights were turned on.

She opened her palm, producing water from thin air and swirling it into a sphere.

Placing it in her mouth, she swallowed it.

Getting up from her chair, she went to the dormitory's door and opened it.

Checking from one side to the other, she saw no one. She left.

As she walked the corridors of the female dormitories, she eventually found the stairs.

She stood there. For a while.

Mind reading is tougher than I expected. No matter how hard I push, her mind doesn't let me in.

She shook her head, then began to walk back to her room.

"Why didn't you go down?"

A whispering wind passed by her ears.

She spoke loudly, "Wha, what!? Who are you? Where are you!? I'm sorry!!"

She looked around, wide-eyed. But couldn't see anyone.

"I'm Erik's friend."

"Oh."

She smiled.

Monica said more quietly, "Hi friend! What's your name?"

There was no answer.

"Why didn't you go down?"

The voice asked again.

She replied, quietly, "Oh! Because I wanted to know if this curfew thing was real. But I'm scared, what if I get caught?"

So that's what she was thinking. A simple thought, yet I couldn't access it.

She put her hand on her chin, then asked, "Hey, can you help me?"

The voice answered.

"Goodbye."

She was stunned.

"What? Hey, hey! Voice? Hello!?"

...

"Wake up, young master."

A feminine voice spoke close to my ears, so I felt her warm breath. I sat up in my bed.

I asked her, "Where's big sister Lin, maid?"

The maid looked at me with a kind smile, replying, "Good morning, young master. She asked me to wake you up around this time. Your breakfast is here."

She put a tray of fruit salad in front of me, on top of a small table.

Fruit salad...

Then, a commotion could be heard outside.

"What is going on out there? Please stay here, young master." the maid said her piece, then left.

I left Artificial Sloth to eat the salad.

Sight Voyage.

...

Servants, guards and children were running in the direction of the palace's entrance.

On the open area, a large object could be seen on the ground.

What is this insanity.

The guards approached the object with their weapons pointed at it.

In the distance, hidden from view, there was a hooded woman.

Peeking at her face, one would recognize her as the seer employed by the empress' faction.

"This is the best way I can repay you, Vicky. Rest in peace."

You maniac. What am I supposed to do with this?

She left, skillfully moving amid the crowd. She soon found her way out through the gate while everyone was distracted.

Inside the object, you'd see materials one could sometimes see in the labs.

Connecting the dots, one would discover this was a bomb.

Calling it a powerful bomb would be putting it lightly. Very lightly.

Where did you even get a nuke from? How did you carry it here??

The common person wouldn't recognize what it was. Those that worked in the labs would only have a small chance of hearing about it, much less see one.

Not even mom knows what this is. I need to think of something.

Soon, someone shouted.

"It's a gift from the gods!"

The rest of the crowd replied in agreeance. An unknown object had suddenly been sent to them from who knows where.

It was a common way for the gods to present gifts to their favored.

One of the concubines at the scene shouted.

"Bring it inside! We shall present it to his majesty!"

Soon, the guards began to grab it in order to carry it.

"Be careful with it! That's a divine artifact you guys are carrying! What if you damage it!?"

The concubine angrily berated the brutes, who then began to slowly lift the heavy artifact up.

As long as they're careful with it, I probably won't have to do much.

...

On a private arena, a man in professor attire showed a little boy around.

Grant said, "No one will bother us here. I don't have classes until next week, so we'll train here in the meantime."

He approached a weapon stand, then picked up a sword.

Grant handed it to Erik, "Here."

"Are we going to fight?"

Grant smiled. He replied, "Not today. You still need to sort your footing. Stand there."

He pointed at a spot on the floor of the arena. Erik went to it.

The professor spoke, "First, you need to understand something. Footwork is very important, even in a magic battle."

"But most mages can fly."

"Yes. But you're not a mage, are you? And so, you need to learn how to move on the ground."

Grant shot a coin at Erik. It hit his shoulder with great speed.

"Ouch!" Erik took the hit with his body and was forced to step backward.

The noise of the coin falling on the ground could be heard.

Grant explained, "See? You stepped backward because otherwise you'd have fallen. But instead of taking the hit, you could also have dodged."

Erik looked at him, asking, "So I should have dodged?"

"It's generally the better option, unless you have tough armor. Then you can block the hit with it and move for a counter-attack instead."

"Oh."

Grant began to explain the importance of stances, "With the right stance, you can use the muscles on your legs more efficiently as you need to move less in order to achieve more."

"What do you mean?"

"Dodging can be done without much movement. If you have to run and leap in order to dodge, you're wasting precious stamina. Instead, those that specialize in dodging focus more on minor movements, like tilting their head to the side or twisting their body in a direction."

"What does that have to do with foot technique?"

"Here, try this stance."

Grant helped Erik adjust his legs on the ground.

He then said, "Get down once you see the coin coming, then focus on getting back up as quickly as possible."

"Alright."

Grant shot a coin at him. Erik got down and stood up once more.

The boy commented with enthusiasm, "What! It was so quick! I hardly put any effort on getting down and getting back up!"

"Right? I'll be teaching you about lots of stances created throughout history, and you'll learn how to switch between them in order to achieve what you want in a battle."

"But what if they throw a boulder at me? I can't dodge that."

"First you need to learn how to dodge small things. We'll move to the big ones later."

"Got it!"

Grant began to teach Erik all manners of moving on the ground, testing him after each lesson.

Balance, dodging and standing up after a fall were the contents of his lesson for the most part.

The sun illuminated in through the upper windows on the walls, heating the floor of the arena.

...

"Monica, did you see my pen? It was right here on top of the page..." said an academy student, who seemed to be looking for something.

Monica replied, "Oh, I took it. I forgot to give it back. Here, thanks."

She handed her classmate a pen.

The student said loudly, "What? You took it!? Without asking me!??"

"It was for something quick, it has a different color than mine so I used it to circle something."

"Yeah, but it's still my pen! You stole it!"

"No I didn't, I borrowed it!"

"To borrow it you have to ask for it!"

Monica's eyes began to turn moist, saying, "I'm so sorry..."

"I... di..n'...k..."

I finally got something. I must keep improving.

Monica's mind was unprotected since her emotions were in disarray.

The girl looked at her.

She said, "What, you're crying for this? No, wait..."

She looked at Monica, who was sobbing.

The student sighed, "Seriously..."

She caressed Monica's hair.

"Don't cry, I'm not mad at you anymore, see? You came from the slums so I understand this must have been normal for you, but here we're more civilized, alright? We have to ask if we want something."

Monica didn't seem to have noticed the girl's mocking tone and said, "Sorry. I'll ask from now on."

"Good."

Monica wiped her eyes with her shirt. Soon, the bell rung. The students began to leave for recess.

I've got a long way to go.

...

On the throne room, the crowd kneeled as the Spearhand couple approached their thrones.

Sitting down, servants came to fill the glasses that rested on the cup holders present at each throne's right arms.

Then, the gate opened once more. Guards came through it, carrying a large, grand-looking object, while a maiden in a beautiful, silky red dress led the group.

Lowering the object on the red carpet, the guards proceeded to kneel as the concubine also did so.

I checked all over it. It's not remote controlled.

"This humble one greets your majesties. May all-"

"What is this, Dalia?"

The emperor interrupted the concubine's greeting with a question.

She stopped, then got up and began to speak.

"The gods have blessed your supreme palace with a gift. I have retrieved it and now I present it."

"Where did it appear from?"

"The front of the palace, by the entrance, your majesty."

"What is the artifact?"

"We do not know, your majesty."

Then, the empress spoke.

"Heed my order. The royal battlemages are to study this artifact together. Once its use has been discovered, it shall be used for the benefit of the Human Empire. Do not neglect a gift the gods have bestowed upon this world."

Mom will have to work on it?

Once the empress finished her piece, the emperor spoke.

"Your initiative in retrieving the artifact undamaged will be rewarded. The royal battlemages will take it from here, dismissed."

"I will be forever grateful, your majesty. Your majesties, this humble one is taking her leave."

Concubine Dalia replied, then left along with her guards.

Soon, the royal battlemages began to transport it deeper into the palace, towards the research tower.

What did the seer mean by dropping this nuke into the palace? Does she mean harm, or has another goal in mind?

...

Chameleon arrived at a decrepit building. It seemed to be an abandoned church.

I've never been in this place before. How did it escape me?

The sky was covered by clouds. They hid the sun and it seemed like it was about to rain.

There were puddles of water around. The sharp fences around the perimeter were wet.

Heading inside, Chameleon looked around.

The windows' glasses were broken. They looked sharp and wet, looking like rain had fallen on them.

Below the windows was the wet reflective ground. The church's chairs were full of cobwebs and broken.

The chandelier at the center of the ceiling was the only one that looked undamaged. No cobwebs were visible on them.

The walls were black. The chairs were dark brown.

Chameleon approached the piano on the corner. There, a young woman sat.

Her hair was white, but her eyebrows and eyelashes were black. Her skin looked pale. She wore a black dress and wore no shoes.

She had her eyes closed. It seemed she was sleeping.

Chameleon caressed the top of her hair, patting it softly.

A feminine ghostly voice spoke, "Don't disturb her."

The ghost woman from two days ago came out of the piano.

He replied, "I wasn't planning to."

Chameleon had a smile on his face as he looked at the sleeping girl.

The ghost crossed her arms and asked, "Why did you come back?"

Chameleon looked at her and replied, "Brand asked me to come back."

"And you listened? Are you still his little puppy dog? Huh?"

The ghost had an annoyed look as she mocked him.

Brand spoke calmly, "My business is with Eliana. Can you leave?"

"No. Who knows what tricks you'll influence her with?"

"Please, Cider. Can you leave?"

"..."

The ghost kept staring at him. Then, she rolled her eyes and left through the wall.

The man looked at the wall that Cider had just left from.

Then, he passed the back of his index finger across the girl's eyelashes, softly and without touching the skin.

Feeling something on her eye, the girl's lashes showed some movement, before her eyes half-opened.

She looked at him. Suddenly, Chameleon's point of view changed quickly as her arms moved to his neck, carrying him up to the air and then smashing him against the piano.

The girl's eyes were pitch-black. Eight eyes could be seen on her face, close to each other, but only two were open.

Chameleon looked at the gloss on them, with a smile.

He greeted the woman, "Good morning, missy."

"Why did you come back, Gabriel?"

"I missed you. Is that a good answer?"

She sighed.

The woman, who now had a large black spider's body from the waist down, spoke, "I can sense that's not the whole truth, but since you didn't lie, I'll forgive you."

She took her hand off his neck and moved away from him, her various legs audibly tapping the flooring.

He got down from the piano.

"Do I get a reward for being an honest boy?" Chameleon, or Gabriel, asked the large half-spider, half-human monster girl in front of him.

The lower half of her body had turned into a massive spider's.

Despite being such a tall man, Gabriel's forehead could only reach the girl's belly button in her original form.

She asked, "I'm in the middle of a very rare break right now. What do you want?"

"Brand said that if Vanity comes back, there won't be any warning before a war occurs."

The girl's expression changed into one of surprise, genuinely not expecting his answer.

She asked, "What war? Alright, first, why are you hanging out with your old leader? I only heard bad things about him."

Gabriel frowned, replying, "The things you heard were all lies made by those who wanted his position. The point is that Vanity is not just psycho, she's insane. She'd kill her own son if he refused to give her the throne."

"You mean Leo? Leo is Vanity's son?"

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

"No... Is it really that serious? These people have been keeping me in the dark about everything!"

Where do I know a Leo... Oh, Leo Frost?

Leo was the king of the North. Officially, however, he was the governor of the Frostmason state.

Governor Leo is a monster?

He looked at her, saying, "Hey, don't worry. You still have me, right? Oh, by the way, Carla tried to have Brand assassinated. They sent Adam."

"Would that even work? As far as I know, elementals are immortal."

"Adam knew Brand's secret Fate, but I happened to be in the scene so we didn't give him any time to succeed. Before he could use his creatures to form a successful story, I ate him."

She was at a loss for words, "Huh?"

Gabriel patted his belly.

"Haha!" the girl began to laugh loudly, all her eyes turning into crescents as she hugged her stomach.

He grinned as he watched her.

To kill an elemental, you had to know their secret Fate. For that, you needed someone with the Divination attribute or who had any ability that could see a person's true future.

An elemental's future diverges from the fated one from birth, since they're not human. However, if there's ever a point in their life that resembles the occurrences moments before their death in their original human Fate, they also die in reality.

Once she stopped, she looked at him with a smile and sighed.

She said, "Alright, I'll trust you. But if they're willing to assassinate Brand for trying to stop Vanity's ascension, they could target you too. Maybe even me."

"That's why we'll need allies. Our group alone won't be enough, but Brand is already on the way to talk with Leo. With the North on our side, our chances won't be zero. The problem will be Carla."

"I'll think of something. Hah, I have more work to do now."

She looked at the window. It was darkening. She seemed to be thinking of something.

After a while, she looked back at him, "Gabriel, you can enter the human territory without being detected by their trackers. They're hiding information from me so I need you to go and meet with Carla herself. It won't be easy to find her, who knows what her disguise is now, so gather information on the way as well."

"So my job will be to discover why Carla is trying to start a war?"

"If you can stop her, even better. If not, preparations are going to be made here."

He looked at the half-spider, half-girl worriedly.

He asked with a bitter smile, "Can't you just stay away? If a war really happens, we could just leave this continent."

A bitter smile showed on her face as well.

She replied, "I'm a leader, Gabriel. The entirety of the monster population is counting on me making the right decisions."

"You are right. You don't have to explain yourself to me. I'll take the job."

She smiled at him, watching as he walked around her and went in the direction of the entrance of the church.

She told him, "Stay safe, alright? Return to me with life."

He looked back at her, walking backwards.

His reply was, "What, is undead out of the question? You could have me all for yourself then."

"I find you more useful when you're not obeying me because you're compelled to. You listen to me because of respect."

He waved at her. She waved back, but noticing how unbecoming of a leader it looked, she put her arm back down, a faint blush seen on her face.

He chuckled at the scene.

He muttered, "It's because your voice is the theme song of my life. Eliana."

He left with a smile on his face.

...

Erik dodged a fist to his face.

It was already night time, but the crystals were lighting up the room of the arena.

Grant threw another punch. Once again, Erik twisted his body to the side, changing the position of one of his feet.

Suddenly, using the momentum of his twist, Erik rotated with a foot connected to the ground while the other one flew in the air.

However, Erik fell to the ground. Grant had pushed him.

The professor explained, "You tried to give me a rotating kick, but your connection to the ground was unstable and the kick wasn't fast enough, so a quick push from me threw you to the ground. You still got a long way to go."

He offered Erik a hand. Erik took it and was lifted up.

Grant continued, "Still, this is only the first day, and you're no longer that boy who knew nothing of the basics."

He went to the weapon stand.

He picked up a bag and said, "Now, the final test of the day. This time, you could get seriously hurt if you fail, so pay attention."

Opening the bag through the zipper, javelins were revealed.

Continuing, "They'll throw all sorts of deadly spells at you. We'll be simulating that."

He picked up a javelin.

Then, he approached Erik, "Here, take it. Touch the blade."

Erik touched the blade slightly. His finger became hurt right away.

Grant then summoned a ball of wind from his palm.

Activating the key words in his mind, Erik's bracelet became a gauntlet. He used it to absorb the magic from the ball of wind.

Erik felt a small increase in vigor, using it to heal his small wound. Then, the gauntlet became a bracelet again.

Grant spoke, "We won't be healing you again. For the next five hours, you'll have to deal with the consequences of every wound. If you die..."

He stared at Erik with a serious expression. Erik gulped.

The professor continued, "Then you were simply not fated to get your revenge. I'll put a nice message on your tombstone and move on with my life."

Erik looked at Grant with a similarly serious expression.

The boy said seriously, "I'm read-"

Before Erik could finish those words, a javelin had almost fallen on top of his feet, but he luckily dodged it by instinct.

Soon, Grant had shot another javelin. It would have almost pierced Erik's cheek if he had not tilted his head on time.

One javelin after another was thrown at Erik, who dodged how he had learned to, but soon, the throws increased in speed.

Grant, an Air attribute mage, could easily pick the javelins up without having to touch them, then shoot them at Erik at any speed.

Five minutes later, Erik had finally messed up and gotten his arm grazed by a javelin.

Another minute later, Erik dodged two javelins but got slashed by a third one on the shoulder.

Suddenly, six javelins were flying towards Erik.

He needed to last five hours. It had only been 9 minutes and he had already gotten hurt.

He dodged three successfully and was grazed by the fourth.

The fifth one forced him to crouch.

But the sixth one that came right after was already right in front of his face.

He had no time to dodge the last javelin...