The fight began in a flash as a large orb of slime formed above the Slob's body. With a swift gesture of its arm, the orb howled toward me.
My plan was simple. I wasn't planning on fighting the drifter Headon yet. First, my saints had to do their job so I could properly gauge his strength.
'Even those with overwhelming strength can still lose,' I thought, commanding Gobo to move first.
He was the weakest out of the three, but that didn't mean his ability was weak. With my awakening, he too had received some power-ups.
Gobo moved stealthily toward the drifter, his hands coated with cold white ice. He slipped from one shadow to another, trying his best to avoid a direct clash with the monster.
Dodging the orb that was about to hit me, Gobo finally slipped out from the narrow shadow between two cathedral chairs and sent his fist flying toward the drifter.
Faint traces of ice formed on the drifter's body, which cemented my initial reasoning. The drifter wasn't darkness, it just looked like it.
But even then, the attack did little to nothing to harm the drifter, but I never expected more.
The ice magic fizzled out as I caught sight of Gobo, who was slowly being pulled into the drifter's body.
I immediately called his shadow back, stopping his dismissal midway so that he was just a few steps away from the drifter.
This time, Gobo formed three ice shards over his head while summoning the hunter dagger vestige. He immediately imbued it with mana, which made the silver blade turn pale white.
The next clash carried a subtle shockwave as the ice shards crashed into the drifter, making its slime-like body wobble slightly.
I raised my arm like some sort of commander and sent Shiki into the fight.
My massive saint materialized instantly and ran toward Gobo. His steps were so heavy that even I, his master, couldn't help but feel the weight.
He threw his hand back while activating the Rage talent, the same talent I had refused to take. And since my saints were connected to me, the only emotion needed to fuel the talent was from me.
His already massive form grew even larger, twice my size, and his eyes turned light purple, glowing with mana. Clairvoyance activated as his fist flew forward in a jab.
The Slob first rippled slightly, as if the force had been absorbed, before slamming its fist into Shiki. But he didn't flinch, as though the force of the blow was nonexistent.
He was my tank, after all. The rounds of attacks only intensified, as Gobo snuck behind them and sent his ice-coated dagger into the drifter's back.
The monster shrieked as the dagger pierced its slimy mass. That moment of disorientation gave Shiki the chance to slam the drifter into the wall.
But it was still a Sequence Seven drifter. Even though, for some reason, it felt weaker. Maybe I had gotten stronger, or the creature was just weaker. I didn't know. But I wasn't going to let this opportunity go.
My two saints moved with domineering force as they crushed the debris formed by the drifter's clash with the wall by the first door.
The once-dark room had been illuminated by the crimson moon. The darkness that once surrounded the drifter seemed to diminish, as if its source of power had been drawn out from it.
I let out a pleased smile. The drifter seemed to curse as it moved toward the approaching Shiki, who didn't have enough time to react.
A single swing of its arm was all it took to throw Shiki off balance. Gobo's face was painted with confusion as the smoke slowly settled. The drifter's arm moved again, this time a black aura ignited in the air.
I grimaced with pain as the recoil of the attack struck me. The pain of having my mana stolen from me in an attempt to heal the saints struck me like a chord.
I bit my lips down as I summoned the two saints back. If I got hurt now, I would miss the chance to get a new saint. That was the main reason I stayed back.
The condition for Shadow of Dominion read: as long as I overpowered the opponent or something like that. But it never said my saints getting beat counted as me getting beat.
The same applied with the logic of Fifth-Time where my saints could move when I used it, but I couldn't if Gumiho used it.
Using the extra knowledge I had learned through practice and error, I wrapped my body with Shiki and Gobo, which, according to my testing, increased my strength up to two times.
Initially, I thought my body would glow a little after warping shadows around myself, but strangely enough, nothing changed except my stats.
I summoned Gumiho to stand behind me as I moved deliberately toward the drifter.
The potholes and thinning air were proof that a battle had occurred. The slight breeze made both my hair and overcoat sway slightly.
My gaze was cold. I had long prepared myself for this kind of fight. Maybe I did it to look badass, who knew.
With a single leap, I moved toward the drifter. Its body wobbled as it shot out its arm, seemingly to crash into my gut.
My vision was sharp as the system chimed in my head.
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE TALENT: CLAIRVOYANCE]
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE TALENT: ALABASTER ICE]
[YOUR TALENT: INFINITE ADAPTABILITY IS RESONATING WITH YOU]
I took in a deep, heavy breath as I formed six ice shards that immediately changed the temperature of the cathedral.
We were in a desert, but the coldness I felt from the hall was worse than winter. But it was my magic, so I wasn't that affected, though I couldn't say the same for the drifter.
I had to win by all means.
The drifter, seeing me dodge his attack effortlessly, frowned as I raised my arms to command the shards to fall.
In an instant, the drifter created orbs to counter my talent. I shifted steps back as the ice shattered into fragments.
The next orb moved at an impressive speed, though it wasn't something I couldn't dodge.
As the impact of the orb spread through the hall, my overcoat flew up behind me, momentarily obstructing my vision, though only slightly.
A large hole had formed where the orb landed, and the chairs were slowly melting. Before I knew it, a spark of light formed on the wood the chair was made of, igniting a fire in the hall.
The monster grinned. Only then did I notice it was somewhat intelligent.
"You will be a real problem if kept alive," I mumbled.
If the drifter was already thinking of using fire to counter my ice, it was very dangerous.
But my talent wasn't just normal ice. In fact, the rise in temperature helped me a lot. And with the aid of the Regulator vestige, my surrounding temperature reached over 300°C. By using my talent, I reduced the temperature by 200% while condensing all this within my area, so I wouldn't extinguish the flames.
The drifter crawled toward me, leaving trails of slime behind with each meter. I had already gotten a good grasp of its ability, which was acid manipulation.
It wasn't that difficult to beat. I strode toward it, forming icicles with each step. As I dashed, jagged ice formed on the ground.
Although ice enveloped the center of the cathedral, not once did it slip past it. The background still burned with the blackish-red acidic flames.
If I didn't have this talent, I would have long died trying to fend off the corrosive burning smoke from the shimmering chairs.
I picked up the hunting dagger vestige, which looked more like a sword that was broken. I sent mana into it, making the surroundings turn white in color.
The five ice shards still orbited my head as if I was the center of their small universe. It looked a little like a halo, though it formed from my neck to the middle of my head in a round circle.
I sent the first shard flying while forming another to replace it. The shard had grown even larger as the drifter struggled to barely dodge it. The shard grazed the Slob, thick black blood dripping onto the shattered floor.
Debris flew in the air as the rest of the shards crashed to the ground. The smell in the air was unfamiliar. I wasn't sure if it was ice, dust, or even acid I was smelling anymore.
The drifter raised a stone and hurled it toward me, which I dodged rather easily.
It was time to end it... this prolonged fight.
-------
(JUST OUTSIDE THE CATHEDRAL: AMY'S POV)
Ever since I entered the so-called Nefertari dungeon, I had been trying to find my team, Kai especially.
I didn't know why the academy had sent us to such a dangerous place, but my intuition told me this was the work of another organization.
I was the daughter of one of the most powerful Awakened, so I had seen a lot in life, but even I couldn't explain the sight before me.
After my first night in this hellhole and finding out that staying past a certain time meant instant death, I quickly changed my schedule.
But today, I was running late. Since I had fought a Sequence Eight drifter, I thought I was done for until I saw a large gothic cathedral.
Two figures fought within it, one a human and the other a monster.
"Amy doesn't get it, isn't Kai weak?" I questioned myself.
My gaze was fixed on Kai and the drifter, who was barely holding on to its life. The fight was majestic, but I couldn't help but feel something welling up inside me. It wasn't rivalry or jealousy, but something else entirely...
The dust that had clouded the cathedral had long dispersed, leaving behind only the figure who looked ethereal with a sharp jawline and a beautiful face—and the drifter that was filled with holes.
At first, I approached Kai with ill intent, he felt like the only person who would help me at that time. But after the entrance exam, I couldn't stop thinking about him. Was it his face or body features? I didn't think so.
He wasn't overwhelmingly strong, neither was he from a noble family, but he still played on repeat in my head.
Though at times he felt distant, perhaps because he was in another class, but the sight of him illuminated faintly by the crimson moon made me realize—I had fallen for him.
The emotion wasn't something I could push back or call a crush, because I genuinely liked him. Even my absurd possessive nature had kicked in.
He moved with grace as he stabbed the drifter's weak point precisely; sometimes even my eyes couldn't follow his movements.
His stance was firm, and with just a broken sword—barely worthy of being called a spirit-grade vestige he dominated the drifter. It was beautiful.
The drifter's slimy arm rose with black orbs of slime, it tried desperately to strike the alabaster figure, but nothing worked.
Rubble, debris, and dust flew in all directions. The ground itself had long split. The air was thin as shards of ice flew in all directions—six large shards, particularly, orbited Kai.
His light purple hair seemed to dance with the shimmering chairs in the cathedral, his matching eyes that shone brightly due to mana—felt as though they were seeing a world beyond my perception.
He moved like lightning, I doubted even lightning could reach such speeds, as he clothed the jagged blade in soft white ice.
Each counterattack the creature made seemed to just bounce off, like his body and mana were constantly adapting to both his surroundings and the monster's attacks.
It was scary, to say the least.
The drifter growled, and with a face devoid of expression, he drove the blade into the creature—time itself seemed to freeze, as crystals of ice formed on the encompassing darkness of the drifter.
I felt as though my breath had been stolen away from me. Even in the chaos, I felt my face burn deep red—he then whispered something barely audible to the dying monster.
Maybe if I was closer to him... just one step closer, I could stand by his side. But was I even worthy?
The emotion in me stirred up even further—I could tell that it was at a point of no return.
"Amelia Vanguard," I muttered, a smile finding itself on my lips.