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“Kill...” Aera muttered to no one in particular. This was all in her mind ever since she started her slaughter in the bar. She thought it would subside since the subjects of her hatred were eliminated but unfortunately, that was not the reality. Instead, the wrath within her was as strong as ever. She felt prejudice towards anyone who came into her sights.

There was an old couple. They led a happy life judging by the smile they had for each other. Going by their rough hands, they lived a hard but honest life. The old couple were just strolling on the forest road paved by fallen leaves when Aera chanced upon them in her wandering. She was trying to avoid people but of all places, she met this particular old couple. Blood was all over her and wrath was apparent on her expression, those she knew. Yet, the old couple approached her, offering their hand to help.

Still, in the face of her indiscriminate wrath, the old couple was no different than the ones who wronged her.

“Are you hurt, missy?” the old lady asked while taking small steps towards her.

Aera bared her growl against the couple. It was all she could do to warn them.

“It’s alright little lass. We just want to help.” Yet, the old man wasn’t fazed and kept on approaching.

“Leave me alone...” Aera managed to say.

“But you’re hurt. That’s a lot of blood.”

“Not… my… blood,” Aera strung her words out slowly.

Still, the old couple did not heed her warning. They kept on approaching her.

The anger inside of Aera was brimming, screaming to be let out on the couple in front of her. She held it back by remembering the words of a passing priestess. She couldn’t remember the priestess' face but she remembered her words and her teachings. The priestess had taught her much about tolerance. At that time, Aera gave not much thought to the priestess’ word and treated it like the ramblings and lectures of any other adult. Now, she was never more thankful for the priestess. She donned herself in the priestess’ garbs in hopes that it would somehow help in restraining her unbridled wrath. The garbs were the priestess show of gratitude for allowing her to take shelter.

The priestess’ teaching alleviated some of the hatred lurking in Aera’s heart. Remembering the happy times she spent with her departed mother, the wrath began to die down.

“Lassie, we meant you no harm. Let us help, alright?” the old man said.

Aera, with all her will, displayed a smile. “I’ll be fine alone, old man. Nothing good will come out of helping me.” She wondered if smiling did wonders as the hatred had stopped brimming. It was still there but it was no longer screaming.

“Missy, are you in some kind of trouble?” the old lady asked.

Aera nodded. As much as she loved to, she wasn’t able to kill all of Marduk’s men in the town she had just left. She wagered they had probably finished preparing by now and was currently right on her tail. “If they see you with me, you’ll be in trouble.”

“But we can’t leave you alone. What will happen to you then?”

“I have foreseen this coming. The moment I accepted the goddess’ assistance, there was no longer any hope for me.”

The couple did not understand Aera but they were at least able to figure she had raised the ire of some very bad men.

“Leave me be… I’ll be fine,” Aera said and began to walk away.

But the old couple would not relent. They just weren't those sort of people. As they moved to stop Aera’s leave, two shadows came in between Aera and the old couple.

The blaze within Aera flared up immediately and she was already swinging her fist before she had known.

The breeze rose like the storm and Aera’s fist met a wall of wind. Now that she laid her sights on the two individuals who appeared out of nowhere, she could discern they were Fae. Precisely, an Elf and a Dryad. It was obvious to Aera they were here for her but she didn’t know why. She leapt away from the two Fae but the earth beneath her feet erupted, trapping her feet.

“Humans, get out of here now if you value your lives,” Nivia said sternly to the old couple.

As kind as they were, the stories they had constantly heard about the Faerie-kin was enough to drive them away. They all knew the risk of angering the Faerie-kin. They wanted to help Aera but they were merely of common birth. They could do nothing to oppose a Fae.

“Calm your heart, human. We are not your enemies. Your hostility is uncalled for.”

“Silence wench!” Aera shouted.

Nivia and Lilian were shocked with their eyes wide open. Aera was in priestess garbs, so they expected some degree of tranquillity in her conduct. She also had a face that oozed off serenity but that shout contorted her tranquil appearance drastically.

But after that shout, calmness returned to her face. “You expect me to calm down after you made your appearance out of thin air without any warning?”

“That’s because we sensed a great deal of hate in your heart towards the old couple,” Nivia explained. “The Spirits avoid you. We couldn’t just sit by and just leave it up to the whims of fate.”

“That was awfully kind of you and highly unexpected of you.”

“Because I’m a Fae?”

“What other reason could there be for it to be unexpected? And you trapped me in this spell of yours.”

Lilian eyed Aera curiously. The human before her was overflowing with wrath but she looked calm enough to most people of her inner emotions.

“You were attacking us. You expect us to just let ourselves be hit?” Nivia questioned.

“I had hoped that would be the turns of events,” Aera answered. “No loss found.”

“Nivia, are you sure she would be of assistance to our cause?” Lilian asked, directing a dubious gaze at Aera.

“She had the resolve and strength.”

“But I fear we would have our throats slit in our sleep.”

“You wish for me to join your party of two?” Aera asked with raised brows. “Fae’s humour is so strange.”

“This is not a jest,” Nivia said. “We are hunting down the same ilk of people you are hunting.”

“I see. You seek Marduk.”

“I seek the one who is responsible for enslaving my kind.”

“Then you seek Marduk.”

“We share a common goal then but neither of us can accomplish it without the help of one another. What say you, human?”

Aera laughed, mockingly.

“You found my words humourous, human?”

“How did you come to the conclusion that I am insufficient by my own strength?”

“How? You were running from your pursuers. If you’re strong, then why do you run?”

Aera continued to laugh. “You misunderstood my circumstances, Fae. I ran not because I lacked the strength to eliminate them… I ran because I do not wish to incur any collateral.” As soon as she finished her sentence, she broke free of the earth magic spell as if it was frail glass.

Vines suddenly erupted from the ground and entangled themselves around Aera’s arms.

“Nivia, this person is too dangerous to be called an ally. Her power feels extremely unnatural. It does not resonate with her original essence.”

Nivia clicked her tongue and drew her swords. “We did not come here to fight.”

“You shouldn’t have come into my path. You should have left me alone!” Aera roared and tore herself free from the vines. She quickly leapt away from the earth before another wave of rock slabs entrapped her.

They were in the middle of a forest in Sephrodia’s Valley. The valley was vast, around twice the size of Maven’s Creek. Even if they were to shout at the top of their lungs, chances would be low that someone would hear them. But that couldn’t be said for Aera’s pursuers. If they fight, it would surely reveal Aera’s location. She didn’t want that but the wrath within her dictated her to fight and kill.

“Why can’t you leave me alone!?” Aera shouted, picking up a log from nearby and threw it at the two. The log was thrice her size and many times her weight.

“Great Spirits!” Lilian gasped. “Such strength!”

Nivia grabbed the Dryad’s arm and tossed themselves out of the log’s way.

“My gratitude, Nivia.”

“Just stay behind me. You’re not adept at moving around on a battlefield.”

“That’s why I have you, Nivia.”

Nivia ignored her remark. “She might be levels higher than us or she had strengthening magic.”

“Although I can’t see the Mana flow in her, I don’t feel any irregularities with her Mana flow. But this is curious… She doesn’t seem to be using magic.”

As they had such an exchange, Aera had picked up a large boulder and tossed it like it weighed nothing.

Nivia quick-cast a Wind Magic spell and destroyed the boulder into small fragments. “Then what manner of power is this?”

“Hmm… the Spirits avoid her but they don’t leave her. They’re just hovering around her. They don’t shun her.”

“Leave. Me. Be!!” Aera roared and threw another large piece of boulder at the two.

“With the mystery that she is—” Lilian raised her hand and stopped the boulder, literally. The huge rock was now merely floating in the air. “She is too dangerous to be left about.”

“She is not our concern… but I agree. She could become a problem in the future. And judging by her temperament, she could potentially compromise our cause.”

Aera charged at the two, her fist raised and her eyes dyed a bloodshot red.

Lilian threw the boulder back at Aera but it shattered frailly against her fist.

Nivia carried Lilian into her arms and leapt from branches to branches of the trees. Aera’s fist fell on the tree behind where the two Fae had stood, turning the trunk into splinters.

“She’s a problem but not one we can solve,” Nivia said. “We have wasted much of our time here.”

“We just leave her be?”

“We have to. Considering our position, we can’t kill her and we have no way of stopping her. The only thing we can do is to run.”

“I’m in agreement with your conjecture, Nivia.”

“You want to run now!? Like I’ll let you!!” Aera sprang from the ground and straight to the trees like an arrow.

“Oh dear, her strength is truly unprecedented,” Lilian remarked.

“There are plenty of ways to deal with her type,” Nivia said and produced a ball of light in her palm, a Light Drop.

“Oh? What do you intend to do?”

“A trick I learned from a dear friend.”

“Ah, the Fox-kin, isn’t it?”

Nivia refused to retort and focused on Aera who was already closing on them. She charged the Light Drop with Mana before lightly tossing it towards Aera’s way.

The Light Drop did not even register in Aera’s eyes as she didn’t perceive it as a threat, but she should have. The Light Drop, brimming with Mana, exploded into a blinding radiance. To Aera who did not bother covering her sights, felt the full brunt of the radiance. She cried and fell to the ground. She flailed and tossed around like an infant crying for milk but she was crying due to the intense flash that assaulted her eyes.

When the agony had subsided and her vision recovered, the two Fae were nowhere to be seen or found. Aera yelled into the air before hammering her fists down onto the ground to vent her frustration.

She froze. Her eyes stay wide-open. She brought her hands close to her face. They were trembling and so were her shoulders.

“What am I becoming…?” she asked herself, hoping for an answer. “How deep will I fall...” She dwelled on her memories, the time a Goddess answered her despair. She accepted the Divine’s help without hesitation. Now, she wondered if it was worth it. She wondered if she would even remember the reason for all this violence.

However, her sentiment departed when the sounds of a dozen footsteps entered her ears. Upon realization, she grinned. Her wrath once again took hold of her. She stood her ground, waiting for her pursuers to come.

“I will fall as deep as I need to. It doesn’t matter if I forget. All it matters is that these sons of bitches met their end, miserably.”