The sun had risen once more behind the horizon, bringing with it a golden entrancement of warmth and content.
Of course, it did not last long. The Fallen Terror had cast its shadow across the world, drowning out the heavenly light of the sun.
Its ferocious battle with the Prince of Dawn continued far above the skies, and away from Ira.
The Aberrant Tyrant who had established its domain across the ruins of Fort Delta had disappeared, leaving the cohort on their journey towards Cammie and Kaine's party.
Yet, they could not continue it. They were completely and utterly exhausted, both mentally and physically. Bariealla seemed to be the most mentally well; she specialized in long-term combat, so it only made sense.
Ira, on the other hand, was the most physically capable at that moment. Her echo ability and several powerful attributes aided her greatly. Along with that, her reserves of Realm Thread recovered at an astonishing speed.
The young girl needed strength, more than enough to kill an abomination of the Demon class—she needed to be mighty enough to strike down even the likes of a Tyrant.
The world was ever changing, and she could not afford to be left behind. Realm Gates had begun popping up more and more frequently, and humanity would soon become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Purge Beasts that would assault the walls of the Forts.
'This entire damn situation is proof of that!'
The Oracle had made it very evident that the war against both Purge Beasts and humanity was coming to a point where even a slight imbalance between the factions could spell the doom of the other.
Ira only needed to make sure that humanity would be the one to survive—she only had to make sure that she would live to see another day; the only way to do that was to grow in strength, slay her benighted self, overcome the Reverberant, and complete the other two trials required to become a Crowned and a Sage.
She crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and focused all her efforts on the formation of her mist.
The young girl was left to her thoughts, and so she began to think.
'Will I be the one in a thousand to gain an attribute through a stressful situation? Well, given my doomed attribute and the Oracle's efforts to keep me alive, it is most likely. Perhaps the attribute I will gain will be in the distant future, or in a few days.'
Attributes were a very versatile thing to have. Some granted extra functions to one's Echo ability, while others acted as an echo ability in itself. Although rare, some attributes like her Mistborne and Divine Shard granted complete immunity to certain types of damage.
It was absurd that Ira possessed two attributes capable of making her immune to a certain type of damage.
There were only four known ways to damage a person, the first being physically, and the most common.
The second was mentally, which was the most insidious of them all—not because it could make someone strong enough to slay a mighty foe, but because of how versatile it could be.
Beings who dealt in the mind could hex a person, enslave them, drive them mad, or even force them to betray a person they loved dearly.
The third was to the soul. The soul was one of, if not the most important part of a person's being. Soul damage was the second rarest, and also the most difficult to recover from. 'I don't think I know of a person who has an Echo ability or Attribute that could directly cause the destruction of a soul.'
The final, and most damaging of them all was corruption. Only beings of the Frenzied Flame were capable of corrupting others, at least that is what was known.
'Corruption… A force that could only be suppressed, rather than destroyed.'
Perhaps a being did exist that could destroy corruption, but they were far and wide, and practically a conspiracy theory for most.
◇
Her gaze began to trace the skies, where the battle between Luminious and the Fallen Terror was taking place.
Then, her mind wandered towards the amusing idea of what Andrisson's ability could be. Perhaps he could conjure waves of fire to set his opponents ablaze? Perhaps he could conjure up a barrier to protect himself.
Perhaps his ability was not even related to combat.
Well, Ira already knew what it was—even if the details surrounding it were vague. Luminious had permitted Andrisson to use Serpent, which could only mean two things, the first being that he could summon a serpent to fight for him, akin to a shikigami in nature.
The second, and far more interesting one, is that he himself could transform into a serpent.
Whatever the case was, Andrisson and Luminious seemed to possess some sort of unique relationship.
At the start of the battle, Andrisson seemed to know Luminious on a more personal level—yet they greeted each other as if that had been the first time they met. It did not make sense for them to act that way
Worrying about matters that did not bother her would only bring stress, and so she left it be. At the same time, she had finished her formation of mist.
'Every time I complete this routine of mine, I cannot help but notice the subtle, yet very defined difference in power.'
The leap in strength may not have sent her to a level at which no Dormant could compare, but eventually that would be the case.
A dreamy voice spoke, piercing the silence.
"I need a shower. The first thing I am going to do when we reach Fort Delta is find a clean pair of clothes, take a long shower, and sleep." Bariealla said.
Ira chuckled quietly to herself. "Have you never gotten dirty on a mission? You nobles and your need for cleanliness—not like I don't prioritize hygiene…'
A shiver of embarrassment went up her spine, her face scrunching together in discontent.
Avian, Bell, and Ellendore had been left to their own devices.
Avian had continued to hum a soft melody; Bell had begun to rest his head on Ellendore's lap, and Ellendore herself was running her hands through her lover's hair.
Ira only rolled her eyes in jealousy at the duo lovers.
"W-well then, Avian. Time to put you to use."
The girl with her heterochromia eyes abruptly stopped her humming, face dripping with confusion as her eyes rapidly blinked
"What?"
Ira snickered with malicious intent at Avian's confused expression.
"We can't have y-you not contributing to the party, now can we? How about you conjure up s-some of that poison you have stored in your eye?"
Avian began to fidget with her thumbs, as if trying to come up with an excuse.
"W-well… Wait a minute, Bell hasn't contributed anything either!?' She spouted out.
Bariealla interrupted before Ira could speak, "But we need you and your echo ability. The only thing we ask is for you to lather our Soul-Bound weapons in your poison, or any other weaponry we have on ourselves."
Bari spoke with both elegance and dominance, making it hard to refuse her call.
That is how it seemed to Ira.
In the end, Avian hesitantly did as told.