Episode 1 – Prologue (1/2)

Episode 1 – Prologue

People are not born equal

Soence and status froht spend their entire lives helplessly chasing what they had been denied from the start

Kiel, as born as a non-ic, had becoe

But Kiel, as he was noas no longer the same

The old Kiel had died Even now, he re silence of his heart clearly

He was now so else

This was clearly evident in the way he ju to avoid a strea at hiles Kiel put several reflective barriers up to ward off the daggers However, they were enchanted with a high-level piercing e of their velocity from external sources

They would collide with his barriers, the spell on the daggers causing strong waves of interference with his own spells, shattering the barriers in a single hit The i away from him, however, the rest of them would continue on their path of destruction

Kiel didn’t have enough tier, lare venoe who attacked them for no apparent reason Was it pre dangerous? Kiel didn't have the time to ponder over it

All he could do was respond quickly with low-level spells, such as the weak barriers he was currently casting, which were quick and easy to put up Unfortunately, he could not put enough barriers up to stop all of the daggers Even he, as great a e as he was, couldn't create hundreds of barriers in a span of few short seconds He doubted even Elaru herself would be able to do sonitude

Kiel swore under his breath as a dagger whizzed past his head leaving a stinging shallow cut on his cheek in its wake The searing hot blood puh his veins took his already superb reflexes to the next level when he was faced with the question of life and death

Kiel's eyes briefly glanced towards the other side of the ancient, decaying hall, his eyes searching for Elaru He orried that she would be in a worse condition than hiet her own hting and enjoying the rush For the sae she was taking in the process

However, Kiel's worries were misplaced

Elaru didn't have a single scratch on her - just a few cuts on her clothes, which didn't reach her skin Unlike hie, Elaru alht into ether, it left an i to expire at any moment; like the next battle would be her last

Only by disregarding appearances and concentrating on the pure and simple truth, would one realize that Elaru was a coe, it was because she deeoal Her h they appeared reckless, were precise and planned, comparable to the flawless actions of a well-calibrated machine

Kiel let out a quiet ”Tsk” Sheoutperformed by her

She had become the determinant of his worth The one he could compare himself with The one who motivated him to exceed his own limits

His rival

He had to become better Faster Superior

Elaru dished out spells and avoided daggers with such speed and precision that one would think she could stop ti blades hissed as they fell down on her like rain, reflecting soft rays of light onto her long carmine red hair Her ponytail flailed around like it had a life of its own It was ethereally shi+ning in the darkness of the ruins as if it was glowing Which gave that last push to the beauty of her playful dance into otherworldly realms

Kiel was a high rankingspeed were both quite incredible Elaru, on the other hand was on an entirely different level

Kiel swore again, his brief raze his skin

I don’t have tiht

Unlike her, he was on the defensive Keeping hi deal in itself Besides, it's not like she shared his senti the situation

She laughed, her lips spread in an eerie and wide, yet sorin In the midst of battle here Elaru felt the most alive

Kiel's mind was filled with possibilities How to defend, avoid and destroy All the facts gathered inside his hts

Each dagger was enchanted with three different ic spells Acceleration, which allowed it to fly around swiftly, Piercing, which negated outside atteer, and Protection which rendered atteless

There were a few hundred of theh-level spells cast on it

Sustaining that e This ree of autonoe hie prepared the mana days beforehand, maybe even weeks Whichthe theers were no threat to a e of his level

Can't defend…

Unable to avoid…

All that was left was to destroy them before they destroyed him

He s the source of their mana was easy Especially since they needed a lot of it to sustain them

He spread his ic of the daggers Hundreds of s a presence to the intangible ers around him

He raised his arms in front of his face to protect it just in case he couldn't shoot all of the daggers down before they reached hiear, but his head was bare

With an icy teh his eyes, he started his offense

Dozens of high-density mana bolts spiraled and separated from his aura, mashed into existence with the sole purpose of destruction Silently they honed in on the daggers

With incredible speed, achievable only through the lack of eted mana crystals

The show ofbehind his eyes Magic rained down on him When his bolts collided with the crystals, a s a shower of beautifulsolid h their targets taking out ers with one well-aimed mana bolt

The air was crackling with glowing fireworks Daggers shi+ned like silver stars, glittering brightly just before theirand turning into nothing more than useless scraps of metal

His ic was beautiful He could tell that ic, but he still craved her approval, the adh her eyes down to the depths of his core Unfortunately, she didn't even spare one look at him It was as if he wasn't there at all

There was still a ind of weaponry in the air around Kiel He had h of thenificantly Despite that, blinded by the fireworks, he almost suffered a severe injury He jumped backwards just in ti hih

He swore for not being as adept at evasion as Elaru was

However, the cut orth it, he had lowered the nuers around hi the next batch now

Just as Kiel was about to launch his finishi+ng blow, the daggers stopped ed their direction of movement away from Kiel

In that short moment, a brief sense of achieveers to avoid their destruction!

Until a potent thought flashed across hisall others - Elaru!

His eyes quickly darted towards her, confir his suspicions

The daggers weren't retreating