Execution…
This was a fate reserved for criminals who have committed grave sins and needed to be put down for their crimes. What determines a crime, though? Of course, that is the ruler of the land that a person lives in.
In the land of Mordheim, execution was about to take place, not in a cell, not in a stadium, and not in a professional manner. In a simple forest, covered in snow, a man was sprawled out on the ground. Several Spell Blades all stood, their heads cast down, and in front of the man was a mighty warrior.
His name was Wolf. A powerful Spell Sword who had personally attacked the nation of Rossum and even battled the almighty Feng and lived to tell about it.
"Itsuki. Do you know why you're suffering right now?" Wolf asked casually, and he brought his katana down, pressing the tip of it into Itsuki's back.
Itsuki howled as his flesh was torn and his body was pierced. That was the third sword that had been forced into him, two poking out of his sides. The snow he lay in was stained red, and he felt his life force start to vanish.
Grunts and groans poured out of Itsuki's mouth. His mask had been torn from him and shattered into two pieces. His robes were cut up, revealing dozens of scars along his body, and his flesh was starting to turn blue from how cold he was.
Wolf looked down at him and then held his arm out to the crowd of onlookers. One of the Spell Blades unsheathed their katana and gave the blade to Wolf. He gripped it, aimed it at another section of Itsuki's back, and drove it in.
Itsuki screamed again, and more of his blood began to leak. "You're suffering because you failed." Wolf took another offered blade. "Those who serve the Emperor are not allowed to fail. Those who do fail will suffer. This is a reminder. Not to you; you're of course going to die. Instead, it's a reminder to those who worked under you." Wolf looked up and stared at the Spell Swords. They all flinched and looked away. "Remember what happens here—this man. Itsuki failed. The rest of you are unable to suffer, for if you suffer, it means that you also have failed." Wolf glanced back down at the dying man. "Kneel. Raise your head."
Itsuki's body shook, but he obeyed and managed to get to his knees slowly. He lifted his head up and exposed his throat. "F-For the Emperor. For the greatest Shogun. May his mercy follow me into the next—"
Wolf swung his sword down, and he split Itsuki in two right down the middle before he could even finish his prayer. He then lazily dropped the sword he borrowed and turned his back on the corpse. "Clean that mess up. Tell the rest of our land that the great Rhino died honorably at the hands of Rossum bastards. Itsuki's friends will fight harder if they think he went out like a hero." Wolf began to walk off. "White, follow."
In the crowd of Spell Swords, a man stood. He wore black robes and a bamboo hat. His mask was a blank one that was perfectly white and only had two holes for his eyes. A pair of katanas rested on his belt. One was his, and the other was the late Itsuki's. In his hands, he clutched the shattered remains of a rhino's mask. His arms shook, but he followed after Wolf, but not before gently placing the rhino's mask next to Itsuki's remains.
"Sir, you wanted to see me." White walked after Wolf, making sure to keep his distance.
Wolf hummed and didn't bother to turn around. "Now that Itsuki is dead, you're in charge of his team. Three Spell Swords will be put under you. Long Nose, Blank, and Goat. We have a mission for the four of you."
"A-Already?"
Wolf paused and slowly tilted his head as he turned to look back at White. "Is that an issue?"
"N-No, sir." White bowed and dropped to his knee. "We serve as the blades of the Emperor. Name the mission, and it shall be done. On my honor."
Wolf lazily gazed down at the man. His wolf-looking mask completely blocked his face. "Itsuki failed to discover where Feng went. I injured the great Blood Serpent, and yet because of Itsuki's shortcomings, he allowed that beast to get away. Now, only the Almighty would know where he ran off to." He turned around and reached into his robes and pulled out a long black pipe. He tilted his mask off and then began blowing on the pipe. "Failure will result in suffering. You're not allowed to suffer, and therefore you're not allowed to fail. Itsuki failed. Itsuki suffered. Understand."
"Y-Yes, sir."
"Good." Wolf blew out a ring of smoke. "A dungeon will be opening soon in the next few days. Thorn has sensed it and deemed it so. We want you to enter it. Bring back something good. In fact, don't come back until you have something."
White's fists clenched tightly, but he nodded his head. "As it is commanded, so we shall."
***
That event, that exchange with Wolf, had been a few days ago. When the dungeon opened, White took his small team, and they used the power of his illusion school specialty to enter the dungeon cloaked. Unfortunately, even sneaking through the dungeon, the entire place was a maze, and by the time they did figure out where the vault was, someone else had beaten them to it.
A group of Arcane Knights that were part of the Pantheon guild. Attacking them would have been foolish. Pantheon was a mighty guild, and he recognized the Knight known as Sky. She was a Title Knight. A powerful one also.
His illusion had hidden the exit, and so the group from Pantheon didn't know that this dungeon connected to the Mordehim kingdom. That was the one saving grace. They failed.
His team and he were going to die. This would be a fact if they returned to Mordheim. They couldn't just escape to Esteria either, because Mordheim had their families, who would suffer on their behalf if they tried to escape and flee. They failed to get the vault, and the boss of this dungeon was also dead, as were all the monsters. Their only hope was to wait for a new monster to enter the dungeon and forcefully turn into the boss monster; then they could at least bring that back.
If it were a good one, Thorn would be amused since he could keep boss monsters as pets, and he might decide to spare them.
That was when Lady Luck smiled their way. At the entrance to the dungeon, he spotted a rare sight indeed. Ken Yuan. One of the old monster's children. A person Wolf personally wanted for himself so he'd have a weapon against Rossum. If they could get her, then they'd all be safe until their next mission!
She had two teammates, and there had been two others, one of whom was a full-fledged Knight from what he could tell, but that was fine. He and Long Nose could use Core Mask, and Blank and Goat had their own tricks up their sleeves. They could win. One-on-one, he was confident enough.
It might not even come to fighting. If Ken Yuan was willing to come with him, then he could bring her and leave the other Knights alone. Worst case, he'd just kill her. Wolf wouldn't be too mad since they could still use her corpse. It'd be better to also kill the other Knights and take their bodies as well, though, if he did have no choice but to kill her.
And so, the plan was simple. He'd bring Ken Yuan to him using his magic. While he did that, Blank and Goat would block the only two ways to the room he was in, and Long Nose would go out to confront the actual Knight. If Ken Yuan agreed to come with them, they'd bring her along alive and safe and leave her teammates alone. If she refused, then she'd die, and they'd take her corpse and the corpses of her team.
This plan would work.
They'd be alive.
He'd make sure his team didn't suffer. He'd keep them safe for Itsuki. That was his mission. He wanted his team to be safe and to live to see another day! And so he couldn't afford to lose!
And then his plan all went up in flames, quite literally, when Ken Yuan fused with her flame spirit and entered a form significantly beyond what should have been possible. She stood, fire dripping down her arms and a cocky smirk on her face.
"So, judging by your look, I'd say you realized that you're fucked?" Ken asked casually, and she cracked her knuckles.
White regained his composure, and his hands grew tighter around the handles of his swords. His barrier surrounded him, keeping him safe and preventing his metal blades from melting. "I'll admit. This little power-up caught me off guard. Sadly for you, I can sense mana. Your energy is strong, but still nowhere near the strength of a proper Arcane Knight. The reports of you being a Squire seem to be true. You're nothing more than a slightly more impressive Squire."
"You say that, and yet you're hiding in your barrier." Ken snickered. "What's wrong? Is the heat too much for you?"
This was Yujin's actual trump card. His overall power was far less than most, but by taking in all his energy, she could form a wave of heat around herself that was hot enough to reduce a person to ash in only a few moments. Of course, using this power was something she rarely got to do since it'd hurt those around her, and so, she'd only bring out this full strength when she was alone with someone who needed to die.
Sort of like now.
"Does your arrogance know no end?" White growled and raised his blades. One was shattered, and the other one was partially melted, but with his magic, they'd be able to slice just fine. "Row Psychic Cutter!" His energy shaped and melted along his blades, turning into a sharp edge of pure mana and even molding over the broken sword. A regular Morheim blade was already able to slice through nearly anything. Now, his sword could slice through even those blades. "Die!" He used Mana Step and appeared in front of Ken.
The difference between them was truly night and day. In terms of power, a Squire was about a one or a two. A Knight would be a five or a six. A Title Knight was a nine or ten. A vice captain was a fifteen or sixteen. Lastly, a captain was fifty or higher. He was a solid eight or nine. Ken Yuan was at best a three or four. She was stronger than a squire should have been but weaker than an Arcane Knight.
He was faster than her, stronger than her, more durable than her, had more mana than her, had more experience than her, and had a trump card hidden up his sleeve!
And so, it wasn't shocking that he instantly impaled her on his blades, driving them both into her chest. Yes, indeed, he was stronger in all ways that counted. There was just one issue, though.
Ken Yuan was utterly batshit insane.
"Row Flame Feel!" White's eyes widened, and suddenly his swords stopped moving in Ken's body. His blades were lodged inside of her heart and bones, coming out of her back, and yet she barely blinked and just used a healing spell, mending the bone over them and getting them stuck inside of her. His blades were sharp enough to cut through anything, but as he was slicing, her injured body was healing over them! "Row Flame Bolt!" Ken fired her spell! Bolt was a widespread spell that would send whatever the magic type was out in a 'bolt' of power to strike. Ken blasted hers out of the bottom of her elbow and rammed her palm directly into the stomach of White.
Red gushed out of the bottom of his mask, and the barrier around him cracked. He was thrown off his feet and went flying straight into one of the massive cubes, denting it. The swords finally dripped out of Ken's body, and he held them once more. His vision blurred, and he struggled to see as he stared at the monster before him.
She wasn't anywhere near as strong as he was, but she had almost no regard for the state of her body. Healing magic wasn't something that could be easily spammed under normal circumstances, and using it the way she was shouldn't have been possible. She'd need Hyper Regeneration, and it'd have to be several tiers above the normal. Likely E3 or even E4. Just how absurd was her healing now that she had merged with that spirit?
"Row Flame Bolt!" This time Ken fired them out of her feet. The flames poured out, and she boosted herself forward at insane speeds. White ripped himself out of the crater and used Mana Step to get away just in time. Ken rammed her knees into the spot he had been, hard enough to shatter her legs. "Row Flame Feel!" There was a sickening snap as her legs popped back into place, and she rammed her hands into a massive stone cube. "Row Flame Bolt!" Fire poured out of her legs and elbows, twisting and breaking her body, but her hands didn't let go of the cube, and it began to get dragged across the floor, kicking up a wave of sparks, and then she did a complete turn with it and actually managed to throw the massive thing.
"Vil Psychic Giant!" From behind White, a green energy began to swirl into existence, forming into the shape of a large giant, clad in glowing green samurai armor. He stood at thirty feet tall and had his own sword. He brought the blade down as hard as he could and split the massive cube in two. Then the giant swung his sword again, slicing through more of the cubes. The blunt part of the blade hit Ken, and she was flung backwards. Her head collided with a cube and snapped, tilting to the side, and her body rolled across the floor, breaking more and more, before she collapsed in a heap.
White breathed heavily but then let out a sigh and sheathed his blade. The giant he summoned faded away.
"One attack. That was all it took to kill her and put her down. Even with regeneration, there is only so much she can—"
The sound of bones snapping filled the air, and Ken's broken body smashed a fist into the ground as her snapped neck shoved itself back into place. "Row Flame Feel!" Her injuries began to fade and vanish.
White stumbled back in horror as her body recovered. More fire gushed down her body, and her clothes started to sizzle. She kept that same smirk on her face, and her eyes glared back at him with an intense red heat.
"W-What the fuck are you!" White yelled.
"A very pissed off woman!" Ken shattered the ground as she ran forward. "Row Flame Slicer!" The fire swirled around her claws, and she jutted forward on all fours and took a swipe at White. He dodged the strike, using his speed to outmaneuver her easily. He brought his sword down, but she twisted herself around and kicked out at him. His blade cut into her shoulder, and her foot jammed into his side. "Row Flame Bolt!" The fire shot through White's body, blasting a small hole into his side, and he stumbled back.
"R-Row Psychic Mend!" His energy slammed into his side, and the wound struggled to heal and seal closed. "V-Vil Psychic Mend!" Finally, he managed to heal the wound forcefully, but it took a chunk of his mana. His eyes glared back at the snarling face of Ken.
It made no sense. He was struggling to heal himself while she spammed her healing spells out like she had unlimited mana. Restoration-based spells were already the most costly of all magic. How could she do this?
Well, that was because when Ken Yuan was in this form, she had some unique traits that worked very well together with her standard abilities.
Loved By Spirits: Grade S+ was a trait that made it so that all positive effects of spells used on her from a spirit would be greatly amplified. This means that if a spirit were to use a healing spell on her, its power would be boosted severalfold. Row-level healing spells would be treated as if they were Vil or low Ril spells when used on her, but only if they were done at the hands of a spirit. While merged, she counted as a spirit, and so, all spells she used on herself would qualify.
Bearer Of The Title Of Ken: Grade C- was a trait that made it so all her stats would be slightly increased when fused with a spirit. It was made for the first state, where she held a Spirit's Core inside of her, but it also worked in her full merger, where she tangled her Lines with Yujin. This trait caused her Loved By Spirits trait to evolve from S+ to E1.
Lastly, she possessed two other powerful traits that would only be active when she was fully fused with Yujin and in her Spirit Beast form.
Hyper Regeneration: Grade E1 allowed her to use mana to recover her wounded body. It was further boosted by Bearer Of The Title Of Ken, making it work even better, and since it counted as Spirit Magic, Loved By Spirits, it caused the healing effect to grow even better.
Survivor: Grade E1 was her final trait that made this combo so powerful. It was a straightforward trait. It caused all healing effects that were used on her to be greatly boosted, and all healing spells would have the cost of using them greatly reduced as well. Of course, it was also boosted by her Bearer Of The Title Of Ken trait.
So, to put it simply, Hyper Regeneration healed her at fast speeds, which were then boosted by Survivor and Loved By Spirits, which were then further increased by Bearer Of The Title Of Ken.
She was able to massively regenerate so long as she had mana and all healing spells had their cost reduced, allowing her to spam them at a reduced cost while their effect would be significantly amplified on her.
With Yujin, she was made to heal and keep on healing. This is why the system was confused and marked her down in the role of Support. It assumed she'd be a great healer, but she was greedy and simply wanted to use all her heals on herself to not die. Even the basic Flame Feel spell was monstrous in her hands and could repair all damage done to her.
White growled and dodged another swipe from Ken. He sliced out with both his swords and attempted to tear her head clean off, but Ken ducked under the swipe.
It was true that White had more mana than Ken Yuan, and thus, if this fight were to turn into an endurance match, he should naturally win out, as Ken would eventually run out of mana and be unable to heal. This outcome was actually possible at the start of the match; however, unaware of her powers, White did not plan for it and thus missed his chance.
Mana was tied to the body. The more injured the body was, the less mana a mage would have and the slower their mana would recover. Ken's body was in excellent condition, uninjured. It was true she was burning through mana rapidly by spamming her healing spells and recovering, but her mana was also slowly recovering every time she dodged or didn't use a spell.
Meanwhile, White had allowed himself to be hit by several powerful attacks. Though the damage he took wasn't as severe, thanks to his barrier and natural durability, the injuries lowered his overall mana output and regeneration. On top of that, he possessed the Hyper Regeneration trait himself, which was further eating away at his mana to heal his damaged body. Hyper Regeneration, under most circumstances, couldn't recover damaged organs or even broken bones, but it could mend them. This came at the cost of mana, however.
He had also used various Vil-level spells, which further cut into his supply of mana. Now, if he wanted to win, there was only one thing he could do. He'd just have to end the fight and hit Ken Yuan so hard she wouldn't be able to recover or heal.
Ken launched toward White and sliced down with her claws, but suddenly, there was a shift in the air. White's mask changed. A dark aura appeared around him, and his shadow seemed to advance and grow. His mask became pure black, and a black flame coated both his swords. The room became ice cold, and Ken's eyes went wide.
"Row Psychic-Wood Tree." White formed his swords together into the shape of an X.
Blood flowed down Ken's body, and jagged holes formed along her sides, back, and stomach, as branches formed out of solid wood and psychic energy jutted their way out of her body. It was like an entire tree was now growing inside of her.
White let out a sigh of relief when he saw her body grow still as jagged branches tore through her back, arms, legs, and chest. With a single use of Core Mask, he was able to win.
Core Mask was truly a strong power. It could only be used by those with Mask Cores, and it allowed them to mask themselves to the world. When they did this, chaotic mana would form around them, creating an aura of pure black, and they were able to tap into the power of someone else.
In this case, his Core Mask was based on his teacher. The man who trained him had wood magic, and so, when he put his Core Mask on, he hid himself away from the world and masked his energy, using a mask of his mentor to make the world think he was his teacher. This allowed him to not only gain access to his mentor's wood magic but also all the spells and schools of magic his teacher had.
Core Masks were truly a gift. Not even the Lord of Order, the being who determined how mana operated, could see them while this mask was on.
Ken couldn't move, as her entire body was stuck in place from the dozens of wooden spikes that went through her. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as White sliced out with both his swords.
"Die."
And in an instant, Ken felt the metal reach her neck, and her head was sliced clean off her body…