Chapter 3

Throughout the vast desert of Naraka’s outer realm, soft sand scrunched beneath her feet, footprints engraving down with each step. The sun brimmed with intense vitality. It blared its radiant roars down, scorching the cackling sand. Like a striding horse, the short girl’s eyes flickered from place to place and creature to creature. Be it the flying, auburn aquatic beast that flew high in the sun-gleaming skies, dubbed the Sandwater Fish, or the Dogworm that sprouted valiantly from the ground, all were a spectacle.

“Hey Skadi! Isn’t that dogworm super duper~ cute?!” She spun elegantly, hands flailing freely. Eventually she halted, smiling at the person who accompanied her.

“...I wouldn’t be sure about that, Dáina. When pushed, they release powerful farts that can ignite your very being,” he said calmly, relaying the information blankly like an automated golem from the most advanced places on Gehenna.

“....”

“Yes…really—”

“What the heck, that’s even cuter!” Dáina jumped repeatedly, cheeks inches away from turning into vibrant tomatoes.

“Just be careful. I know peace has been brought to Naraka for a year, and it’s why many adventurers come here”—his eyes squeezed closely, jaw clenching—“though beasts still exist, they might not be purities… but beasts are still beasts.”

“...Hmm”—her arms suddenly came over him, pouting. Her bigger companion split her lips, disallowing her to shoot back at his warning.

“Still, I’ll always respect it. Your mother acknowledges how talented you are at studying the ambient flow of energia yet, instead of finding interest in that, your eyes shine like a star when you see some ugly earthworm sprout from the ground. It’s hilarious.”

A heavy, large hand approached the little teenage elf, landing on her shoulder. Skadi’s eyes pulled closely together, a large, toothy grin illustrating itself.

“Skadi.”

“Yes Dáina?”

“This…” she spoke, trembling comically and lunging forward. She placed her head against his incomprehensibly vast torso. “Is the best thing I’ve heard from a 213 centimeter hunk of an elven friend!”

“Hunk…?”

“Yeah, hunk!”

“Alright! Hunk it is then.” The two cheered, laughing amongst each other.

They continued their adventures across the desert eventually coming across a luscious green land. Flowers gleamed vividly in the beautiful fields, with winds swirling past them. They even came across a two-legged slim beast, to which Dáina somehow managed to convince it to give her a ride. Her jaw almost came loose from the exhilarating experience. Unfortunately for Skadi, who was riding behind her, got motion sickness and threw up his contents. Fortunately, Dáina already imagined this happening, knowing their little tour won’t come without a little high-speed action.

“I’ve got many elixirs in stock just for this situation!”

“You little…you knew this would happen, didn’t you?” he huffed, taking the elixir from the blonde-haired elf without a second thought.

Endless laughter filled the air, resounding deeply in the little girl’s chest. Their ride eventually came to a stop, and Dáina had given the beast a nice, soothing treat. It was blue liquid.

It’s only recently that I learned to enhance potions with my energia flow, so I guess now’s a good time to try it. Dáina thought. The creature took the blue liquid, letting its intermingled contents flourish through its system. Its eyes widened, and its maw raised into the sky, roaring loudly.

In a blink, it dashed away at speeds she couldn’t even describe.

“Wow… Skadi did you see that?!”

“...I must say, very impressive. Maybe you should become a beast-tamer.”

She giggled, “Beast-tamer… that sounds awesome! Or what if I awaken a Key Art that has to do with taming and summoning beasts?!”

Skadi looked at her for a bit, his smile subtly creaking.

Key Art… I think about that too. But like most Key Art users, people will start looking at them more so for their power rather than who they actually are. I don’t want you to be some object, Dáina—The splatter of wet scorching sand hissed. The squelching of flesh slammed upon the vicinity like a loud instrument.

Skadi’s thoughts had been abruptly interrupted as she looked off into the distance. Dáina’s eyes quickly followed suit.

What they saw was the head of the beast they encountered. A rain of shining crimson sprayed downward onto the earth.

What… just happened? Skadi’s body shuddered.

The dinosaur ran at a speed it couldn’t fathom doing by itself. It was hindered by nothing, harmonious with the liberating winds it danced through. Its lifeless head skidded across, landing in front of the two.

Dáina’s eyes grew increasingly warmer. Tears flowed down her cheeks, compelling her to sprint forward.

“N-no!”

In just two strides, a burly arm clasped around her shoulder, hoisting her back.

“Stay close to me, Dáina.”

“I-I don’t understand. Why? It was free and then…” She cupped her mouth, shutting her eyes.

A hand came down Dáina’s hair; his calloused hands eventually caressed her face gently.

“I don’t know. All I know is that…we don’t know what we’re dealing with—”

Her tongue had been temporarily caught in the roof of her mouth, her body no longer under her own control. Their bodies were ragdolled, being pulled at tremendous speeds. One moment, they saw the beast’s head roll to their feet; the next, they were standing in front of three people.

Two of them were women. They wore green trousers and tops that didn’t try to hide much. Their grins were insistent, like they were stitched permanently onto their faces.

In the middle was a man, slightly shorter than Skadi and much leaner. Even so, the deep azure scales that slithered through his stature emitted a different intensity.

Daina fell to her knees. Curly blonde hair scattered wildly, and her teeth clattered together. That tremble only grew exponentially with every swipe of the air the Dragon-kin’s tail made.

Skadi immediately pulled Dáina close into his chest. His brows kissed tightly, his left hand reaching for the hilt of his grey halberd.

Sweat leaked out of his pores. He didn’t want to say anything since there was no reason to.

“I have a question. Have ya seen the Titan Slayer around?”

“No… we haven’t.”

He must be referring to the ‘true hero’, Vanya. The one that gave peace across this land for an entire year and counting.

Skadi tightened her grip on her halberd.

“Ah… really? That’s a shame. Truly.”

“Yes… we don’t have the answer you seek, so please let us go.”

His eastern-styled dark blue hakama, etched with an insignia, swayed in the wind. The request fell upon the azure-scaled dragon-kin; however, it was just that, a request. The ladies chuckled, leaning at his sides.

“Nah, I can’t. Those pointy ears. And you being nobility. You’ll of course be going nowhere.”

“What?” Skadi’s mouth slightly raised on one side, his eyelids peeling open.

“I’m not repeating myself. You’re comin—”

Skadi’s halberd emanated a soft hue before it smashed the ground, tempestuously dragging a cluster of rocks and debris to flow forward. Concurrently, his hand wrapped around Dáina, using the strength in his legs to propel him backwards.

All he saw was dust and smoke covering the trio. Hope enveloped him, wanting at least one rock to smash into one of their skulls; that fruitless thought evaporated along with the dust that cleared away. The Azure-scaled man remained unmoving, scoffing at their desperation. An almost spherical shape manifested around him. The edges liquefied, moving smoothly and seamlessly.

Little by little, the scaled man’s face started to change. His nostrils flared momentarily, and blue spiky hair stood on end; his steel-like body tensed, appearing to vibrate and razor, sharp teeth peeked underneath his sealed-tight lips.

“Good… good. I can feel it, the liquids in your body feel fast and powerful!”

A hand extended towards Skadi, who still held Dáina. What was he about to do? This didn’t seem normal.

A key arts user—

Skadi’s grip on Dáina ripped in two. Skadi’s body hurled upward through the air, becoming a sheer giant streak that flung across the skies. The air parted under his mass as he travelled through the land. He could hear nothing besides the ferocious roar of the thunderous winds that drummed pig-headedly against his eardrums.

It felt foreign. He struggled to keep up with this new sensation; hands and legs flailed with no coordination or thought. All that remained was the will to orient himself and fight. His grip on the halberd tightened, veins streaking across his arms like lightning.

I have to get back to Dáina!

Heaps of rock and sand exploded upward. Smoke and dust rippled like an unruly water wave. His spine compressed, his collarbone clicked, and his armour choked under the impact.

Everything faded to black, then snapped back to Skadi.

“Brilliant! You’re different to those who fell so easily to this power. You have no Key Art, no insane lineage, just raw grit and determination.”

Even my own father... with his disgusting hands died pathetically to this power. Yet those bastards in the Imperial Ryūjin thought to imprison me?! They could’ve at least seen how artistically I killed my father! The azure-scaled man thought.

His wrist flickered, and what ensued was an endless onslaught.

The large elf’s body zipped from location to location, leaving crater upon crater in his wake; his ragdolled body left blood trailing behind his form. Every collision against the earth only made his bones sing in an awful, sickening scrunch.

Revolting silence befell Dáina. She couldn’t budge. Her widened eyes froze. The messy twists of hair intermingled, and the irking dryness clung to her lips. Her statue-like fingers could only grab onto the uneven ground below her feet, digging in so hard that sanguine ichor dripped out.

She could only squeeze tightly, anchoring herself somehow, someway.

But that anchor was just sand. The ground had no value. It was simply a place for her to crawl on pathetically. Her useless, weak arms reached to grab nothing except the thin veil of air.

“Dáina…”

Silence. The body of her friend lay motionless in the distance. She could barely make out his body from afar. All she knew was that he lay amongst a sea of blood and tattered, undulated pieces of steel armour and weaponry.

“P-please stand up.”

There was no answer, no reply back to the delusional girl.

“You’re the only person who cares about me. No one else. They all just care about my magic, my energia control, and my talent! I hate it… I hate it. I hate it!”

It went on and on. It was a phrase she could only repeat that used the deepest amount of rage inside her.

A noise occurred. A grunt. A large, rasping breath that sounded like someone had woken from a decade's sleep. He had risen, slowly. It was a drive, an undomesticated instinct to protect what was closest to her. Wild black hair had covered half of his face, and the other half had been a near-disfigured mess, placated with hollowed openings that sizzled with squirted blood.

His chest puffed and caved in to a degree that seemed exaggerated, but it was the only way for him to take a step.

Such a sight had tugged at something in the dragon-kin’s chest. Was it love? Respect?

His eyes had lit up, his mouth opening slightly.

“...Astounding,” he’d clap his hands, admiring her effort, awe-struck by what he had witnessed. “I don’t believe it.”

Skadi dragged his halberd toward the ground with a deafening impact; energia poured into his blow. Sand flung up, causing small craters of sand beneath his feet and sending an unremitting shockwave crawling across the space.

Hunk, that’s what she called me. I’m a hunk! A strong man!

He carried on through the flying dust and debris, traversing the area like a natural disaster.

Dáina called me strong because I see the truth in others. I never really realised it myself. With every broken stride through the cloudy, near-indecipherable storm, he started to understand himself better… and the world around him.

Dáina couldn’t really see what was happening on the battlefield. Dust and debris covered her vision, too. Still, it didn’t mean she could just sit here and look hopeless. She realised that the dragon-kin had a Key Art, but overall, was a lazy, lacklustre combatant who believed merely waving and flicking his wrist was enough to do the job.

You’ll regret messing with us! Dáina screamed in her mind, clenching her fist.

The Dragon-kin’s eyes swayed left to right, and up and down, expecting that behemoth of a man to come out at any moment.

I immediately understood the first time I hit the ground. His key art involves manipulating liquids. I don’t know if it’s liquids overall, or just the liquids inside living things! But what I do know is that he has to look at me to do it!

Skadi knew that the first time she caused dust to erupt in the air in the initial stages of the fight, the Dragon-Kin didn’t attack and erected a barrier to protect themselves.

I’m guessing you used your own body fluids to defend yourself then.

The dragon-kin then clasped his hands together, ejecting blood to explode linearly. As the blood shot out, it mixed and mingled, taking the putrid, irritating dust and debris that flew around the battlefield. There, he expected the half-dead large Elf charging forward.

What he least expected was the previously downed, hopeless girl–

DING!

His man-jewels received an energy-infused punch from Dáina. Her teeth gritted tight, sapping in intense breaths that only fuelled her ever-rising power into the blow. She drilled deeper with her fist, she didn’t care whether he’d continue his family or not in the future. The azure dragon’s eyes went white, his posture hunched forward, and above him, the halberd shone under the luminance of the sun.

Without a doubt, it had now descended upon his skull.

“You messed with the wrong elves!” the behemoth roared.

The splatter of blood poured downward onto the ground. It wasn’t the blood of the azure dragon. The two ladies at his side were pulled upward and swelled until they exploded like balloons. Their flesh sludged across the area, their imploding crimson serving as a cushion to soften the halberd strike.

Even so… the strike still dragged past downward with intensity, nearly reaching the azure dragon’s face, until it did, slashing him across his face.

But not enough to end his life. In that instant, his fingers snapped, blood bubbling within Skadi’s arm that held the halberd, and imploded it into pieces. A pained scream uttered from him, just as the azure-scaled lizard directed his arm downward, plummeting Skadi into the ground with a devastating crack.

The girl who dared to strike him that way; his hand reached outward, no longer excited. No longer interested. Just a man who was now irritated beyond comprehension.

Her left arm swelled until it shattered completely into a bloody mess. What escaped Dáina wasn’t a scream, it wasn’t a cry; it was complicated anguish—something between shock, sorrow, and despair uncomfortably thrown into one basket.

The azure man blinked multiple times in quick succession. For a moment, wanting to understand what made a girl scream that way. He watched her writhe across the ground uncontrollably, her mouth ceaselessly open, and her limbs flailing in such a discordant frequency.

Then… she went silent. Her arm dropped flat, and her breathing slowed.

“Sh*t, did I overdo it? Well, they did piss me off.”

The azure dragon walked closer. His hands extended, not touching, but feeling their blood flow.

“Nope, lucky me. They’re still alive. I guess I’ll regulate their life force for now.”

He gave both of them a potion before lifting and bringing them to his nearby cart.

“Hopefully I can come across that Vanya woman soon.”