Perfect timing. That was what Rein needed to master when using Void element in her swordsmanship.
[ If you mess up, your blade will explode. If that happens, the Royal Guard observer will know that there is more to your Ability. ] Ciel warned
[ The more pressure there is, the less likely I am to mess something up. I don't intend to ruin our plans just for some basic practice. ] Rein replied, showing no sense of nervousness
Unsheathing her katana, Rein prepared to strike at the upcoming Twisted Ant. The near 1 metre in length Feral Ants were right behind it. Luckily, the Forsakened Ants didn't have the sense to send in the Feral Ants first to weaken their target.
Once the Twisted Ant was close enough, Rein preemptively dodged to the side, before lightly slashing its thorax.
The Twisted Ant was moving too quickly, making it so that it had no way of avoiding the incoming attack.
Still, the attack it received wasn't deep at all. It was just a small stratch…
However, that scratch was all Rein needed. The moment the katana's blade touched the Twisted Ants flesh, she instantly infused the blade with Void element before dispersing it into the flesh.
She had gotten the timing correctly.
The Twisted Ant was now in a state of frenzy. The Void element that entered its body was not enough to kill it, and didn't hit any vital organ.
Still, it was enough to make the Twisted Ant completely crazy.
[ Nice. Go and kill your little minions. ] Rein thought with satisfaction
The Twisted Ant no longer knew who was friend or foe.
It blindly attacked and charged around in circles, crushing a few Feral Ants in the process.
Seeing this, the Feral Ants all surrounded the Twisted Ant and started devouring it alive.
By the time the madness was over, there were only 14 heavily damaged Feral Ants remaining. They had killed the Twisted Ant.
[ Maybe you showed a bit too much strength… even if you aren't using your full power. ] Ciel said
[ Well, I didn't think it'd be this effective to make them attack each other… ]
[ I'll deal with the rest of them while showing some weakness. ] Rein said, acting like she was about to collapse
She anyways didn't have enough Void element in her Soul Core to kill the remaining Feral Ants.
Still, she had enough Spirit Essence to not be in any trouble. Using Void element correctly took much less Spirit Essence than before.
[ Might as well take your time with this. ] Ciel suggested
[ Alright. ]
She had shown she was capable of fighting Forsakened at range and close combat, but lasting any longer would make her look too strong.
She sheathed her katana and started moving away from the Feral Ants. She slowly killed the chasing Feral Ants one by one, moving slower with every new death.
Like that, she stalled time for long enough to seem extremely weakened to her observers.
After around two hours of running around, the rest of the Feral Ants had died.
She didn't want to take too long to collect the Forsaken Cores, as another batch of Forsakened could show up at any time.
She waited for a minute to catch her breath before starting to butcher the corpses.
Eventually, everything was done, with Rein now having 53 Silver worth of Forsaken Cores in her bag.
She then cleaned all the blood off herself once again, and was now ready to move back to the Floren Kingdom.
It was already late evening.
[ I'm gonna wait here a bit longer. It may seem strange if I'm already ready to go back. ]
[ Alright. ] Ciel replied
She went towards a nearby tree and rested her back against it for a few minutes, closing her eyes.
Even though she was ready to go back to the Floren Kingdom, she was actually quite tired. A few minutes of rest wouldn't hurt.
[ Sorry to disturb, but the guy who followed you from the Scouts Guild is making a move. ] Ciel informed
[ As expected. He's probably here to rob me. ]
[ He didn't put in any effort of his own, but wants to steal my hard work. These people exist everywhere. ] Rein sighed inwardly
There was a chance that the observer from the Royal Guards wouldn't even try to save her and leave her to die. Who knew what his orders were.
He was also incompetent enough to not realize that there was someone else observing Rein.
She didn't want to leave her life in the hands of a stranger like that while acting oblivious.
[ Alright. We're gonna follow the original plan in case this happened. ] Rein said mentally with her eyes closed
[ Okay. I'm ready. ] Ciel agreed
At some point, she was holding the Starlight Lantern in her right hand.
Ciel had already entered the Soul World a while back and told the Starlight Lantern about the plan in case he was summoned.
If he was summoned in the left hand, it meant that the plan had been changed. But the duo had gone for their original one.
Just like he arrived, the Starlight Lantern suddenly disappeared with a faint spark of light.
Rein continued to keep her eyes closed as if nothing had just happened for another minute.
[ The Starlight Lantern should be done by now. The other guy is close behind you right now. ] Ciel warned
[ Okay. ] Rein replied
She suddenly got up from the tree and stretched her arms with a yawn.
Her back was still to the man approaching, as if she had no idea he was there.
[ He just hesitated for a moment before deciding to continue forward. You don't need to do anything else now. ] Ciel said
Rein continued acting her part of pure ignorance.
Ciel soon could see the man approaching Rein with his own eyes instead of just sensing him.
He had short black hair, black eyes, and looked to be around his mid twenties, standing at 5'7" in height while being slightly plump.
The man was wearing a robe which camouflaged him with the surroundings, and his steps didn't make any noise. He had all the necessary qualities for an assassin.
The man, named Tom, was holding a short dagger in his hand. He had done something like this plenty of times. This time would be no different.
The young girl in front of him was completely oblivious to his presence. Tom thought of the easily earned money he was about to get.
He raised his dagger, and aimed for the girl's heart from behind. He wouldn't just rob her, but planned to kill her as well. Leaving even a slight chance of being caught didn't suit him.
However, before the dagger could reach her heart, an unknown arm strangely emerged from her back, holding Tom's hand with the dagger in place.
'What?' Tom thought with a horrified expression
Before he could react, another arm emerged from the young girl's back, holding a katana.
Tom couldn't even move properly because of the hand that was still tightly holding onto his wrist.
While watching in utter terror, the second arm ruthlessly cut off Tom's head, stopping the scream that was about to be heard.
In his last seconds, Tom saw the two strange arms on the girls back disappear in an instant as if they never existed.
'I was too foolish. I went after a monster…'
Those were his last regretful thoughts before his frightening demise.
A few seconds after Tom's beheaded body fell to the ground, it suddenly vanished. His entire body, including his head and blood had disappeared, as if they had never existed.
Ciel had used Soul Transfer to clean up the mess. The corpse would be disposed of later, but Ciel could get his first Soul Core.
There was no sign that a battle had just taken place here, and Rein looked as if she was completely oblivious to what had just happened.
Not that it was really a battle. Ciel and Rein were able to manifest parts of their body when in shadow merged form.
This surprise attack made them win this fight without any trouble.
[ Let's wait for the Starlight Lantern to return. You should wait by the tree as if the last minute never happened. ] Ciel suggested
Rein agreed with Ciel's idea and did as said.
.
.
Theo was a newly recruited member of the Royal Guards.
He had short blonde hair, was 5'8" in height, and had sparkling green eyes. He was 20 years old.
Recently, he had been given the mission to observe a girl that had a connection with a highly wanted criminal.
She had done nothing wrong, but just because she was associated with him in the past, she needed to have an eye kept on her.
As one of his first missions, Theo didn't want to mess this up, and constantly kept an eye on the girl called Rein. He wouldn't let anything get past his sight.
So far, there was nothing suspicious that Rein had done. Still, with him now following her into the Tempest Plains, he could see that she wasn't a helpless girl.
She was quite strong in fact. Though, it seemed that her Ability took a heavy toll on her.
After watching her fight and defeat all the Forsakened, Theo saw her go to rest under the shade of a tree.
He himself was observing her while sitting on a distant tree.
Theo had an Ability that let him camouflage, especially in green surroundings. This was also enhanced by the B3 Artifact, Stealth Ring which he possessed.
He was confident that no one could notice him, even in an empty place like the Tempest Plains.
'I wonder how long she'll need to rest for…' He thought to himself
She had gotten a good amount of Forsaken Cores to make her enough money, and was probably going to head back to the Floren Kingdom after her rest.
While getting tired of waiting, Theo suddenly saw something strange.
A spark of light dashed across his peripheral vision.
A second later, a majestic, regular sized black cat was sitting on the tree branch next to him.
The black cat's smooth coat had a ton of tiny specks of light on it, as if its coat was a vast and grand starry night sky.
The next thing he knew, Theo woke up with a yawn.
Rein, the girl he was keeping an eye on, was still seemingly asleep under the distant tree.
'Was I so bored that I fell asleep and started dreaming? I can't already mess up my missions.' Theo thought, getting his mind back in shape
What just happened was too inexplicable to be reality. He also wasn't sleeping much recently, so it wasn't entirely impossible to fall asleep, especially when so bored.
'I'm lucky she didn't move while I was sleeping. I'll be more careful from now on.' He thought with self improvement in mind