chsdbacks Fight
Fight
Although Esdeath felt like she had spent more than half an hour personally going through Alaxmi's life events, in reality, barely a few seconds had passed. The experience had been intense and time-defying, making her lose all sense of the actual world around her for a second, Like a numbness.Seeing Esdeath staring intently at her own palm, Maruti stopped walking and approached her with confusion. "What happened? Did you look inside? What did you see?" Her voice was filled with curiosity and a touch of worry.
"Not really, it was something else. It seems I got something," Esdeath replied, feeling a strange new energy flowing through her. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it felt like she had received some kind of power or blessing.
She immediately focused her will, and her status screen appeared before her eyes. Just as she had expected, there was something new listed there.
Esdeath squinted her eyes at the weird skill name that had no description at all. It seemed incomplete and nonsensical.
"Hmmm... it doesn't look like something I could receive from Jeanne... So it must be Alaxmi. Maybe because she is also a constellation, she could kind of penetrate my system and give me a fragment of her power like a skill. But since I'm not her incarnation, the name and description of the skill are all messed up," Esdeath thought to herself, trying to piece together what had happened. This seemed like the most logical explanation for what she was experiencing.
"Are you trying to play statue–statue right now?" Maruti said with an exaggerated sigh, breaking Esdeath's concentration.
"My bad, I was looking at what I got. It's not something we should test on ourselves. Let's see if we can find some test subjects," Esdeath replied, a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes.
****
They continued their journey once again, following the same rule they had established: they would only walk until midnight, find some shelter to sleep, and then continue from morning onwards.
As they walked through the vast endless desert, the crystal spikes became more and more common. There were much bigger and thicker ones, while their numbers multiplied as well. The landscape was gradually changing around them.
Soon enough, they arrived at an area where the cactus-like crystal spikes were so numerous that it looked like a whole forest made of them. It was difficult to see far ahead because of how dense they were. They were big enough that many people could easily hide behind them.
At the same time, the temperature dropped very low. Cold winds blew through the crystal forest like a snowstorm, causing even Maruti to shudder a little despite her resilience.
"Fuck this environment," Maruti cursed, hugging herself tightly to preserve body heat.
"It's a good thing, actually. We haven't encountered any monsters or beasts. They must have hidden or gone into slumber because of this bone-shattering cold," Esdeath replied, her feet sinking into sand covered with a layer of ice, forcing her to drag them with each step.
"Yeah yeah... miss genius," Maruti replied in a mocking tone, though her voice trembled slightly from the cold.
Esdeath didn't say anything, just rolled her eyes and continued moving forward through the challenging terrain.
They continued their journey for a few more minutes. It was getting closer to midnight, and because of the sudden drop in temperature and the snowstorm, the sand was becoming harder and harder to walk on.
But after a while, Esdeath got a new idea.
"Let's just use these crystal spikes as trees and jump around from one to another," she suggested.
"Yes! I was going to say the same thing!" Maruti answered excitedly, her face lighting up at the prospect of an easier way to travel.
The plan worked quite well. Although a layer of ice had formed on those crystal spikes, making it harder to grip or balance on them, they were both Awakened, and no mere Awakened at that.
They jumped from one spike to another flawlessly, covering distance very fast. Their movements were precise and practiced, making the difficult terrain look easy.
But as they were on their way, something caught Esdeath's keen eyes, and she stopped immediately, taking cover behind one of the crystal spikes.
Maruti saw her sudden movement and immediately took cover beside her as well. "What now?" she asked in a hushed whisper.
Esdeath only smiled wickedly, "Nothing much. We just got our test subjects."
Maruti tilted her head a little and then peeked out from behind the crystal spike. Finally, she saw that at some distance, there were some sand shifts and small hurricanes. It was definitely a dangerous area where even they both would hesitate to go.
But on the outskirts of it, there was a small caravan of humans.
There were about twenty or so slaves working tirelessly. Some were lifting buckets full of essence stones and putting them inside a particular carriage, while others were sent to retrieve essence stones from those sand shifts and hurricanes.
The scene of them working in the cold wind with barely anything to wear on their weak, bony bodies made them look quite pitiful, creating a feeling in anyone who saw them of wanting to save them from this miserable life.
Anyone—except the likes of Esdeath and Maruti. They wouldn't give a shit.
"Hmm... so we are gonna kill them and steal their hard work, right?" Maruti asked, looking at the caravan with a predatory gleam in her eyes.
There were two small wooden carriages. Guarding them were only four awakened, but even they were probably Rank C awakened at best. They couldn't hold a candle to Maruti or Esdeath.
And around eight mundane humans wearing armor, most likely they were working under those four as additional security.
"Be a little patient, will you?" Esdeath cut off her thinking, her voice calm and measured.
"Let's get a little closer. I wanna try something," Esdeath said, a mysterious smile playing on her lips.
The four awakeneds were only rank C, but the way they were acting, constantly monitoring the surroundings, they were most likely to be the investigative type. Their movements were practiced, their eyes scanning every shadow.
Although Esdeath did have full confidence in her stealth ability, she didn't want to test her luck and kept some distance.
"This much is good enough," Esdeath said, hiding behind yet another crystal spike. The crystal's surface was cold against her back.
She peeked out and raised her hand forward, touching her index finger to the thumb of her other hand, while the index finger of that hand's other hand touched its thumb, making a rectangle shape with her fingers.
It felt like she was about to click a photo of them. Her red, eerie light reflected from the rectangle shape, casting an ominous glow on her face.
Esdeath: "......."
She just stood there for a few seconds, thinking something flashy would happen but nothing. There was literally nothing. No sound, no light, no indication that anything had changed.
"Did something happen?" Maruti asked with confusion, her brow furrowed.
"I guess so... I'm not sure," Esdeath replies in a low whisper, feeling a little confused herself. The skill was unlike anything she had encountered before.
Maruti was again about to make some mocking comment but then her gaze landed far away on something else.
"Another group of humans?" she said, pointing towards them with a curious expression.
Esdeath turned to look in the same direction. Her keen eyes clearly saw through the snowstorm, piercing the veil of wind and ice.
They weren't humans but actually a group of demons. The way they were moving, they had yet to realize that there was a human caravan there stealing essence stones. Their focus was on the dangerous area ahead.
"To encounter a group of demons in this vast desert? How unlucky," Esdeath smirked, but then a realization hit her.
"Wait, unlucky?... Is it just a coincidence or because of me?" Esdeath thought to herself.
But she immediately shook her head, not thinking much about it. Whatever the case, the situation clearly benefited them. The timing was too perfect to question.
"They are a group of demons, most likely with the same purpose as those humans. Hehehe... let them fight. It'll only make our work easier," Esdeath said, her voice filled with anticipation.
Maruti chuckled lightly as well, understanding the opportunity that had presented itself.
They both started closing the distance as well, moving silently from one crystal spike to another. At the same time, those demons spotted the human caravan, as did the humans.
But instead of fighting blindly, both groups immediately took cover. A few seconds later, the fight started.