Superstar

For a few minutes, everything just continued without a problem. Queen and Cera were fighting the creatures on the right side, most of them weakened by Queens attribute, while Ragna continued linking the Creatures on the left side together, before killing all of them at the same time.

Ragna had gotten addicted to the feeling he felt when his Cores were filled with Blood, the large amount that came with killing so many Creatures at the same time.

But of course, things were about to change ... for the worse

Slowly, the dormant beasts died out and more awakened ones came. Since they had the same rank as Queen, they didn't get weaker in front of her.

They still didn't have any real and fatal problems, but things had already gotten worse. Ragna now had to hit the Creatures multiple times before they did, not allowing him to kill all in one shot, but because of the connection between all, it was still rather easy.

His ability really made him the perfect candidate when it came to fighting against Nightmare Creatures.

Ragna's movements were a red, raging blur, his hand darting out to mark all the gruesome monsters in his way. Each touch made him more satisfied, knowing that the death of all of them was soon to come.

He was like a storm, dashing through the Creatures and dodging their bites, claws and headbuts.

As he marked the last one, he channeled his augmentation from his body towards his sword, before thrusting it inside one of the monsters. All the creatures cried out in pain but didn't fall yet, clinging to their lifes. He dodged to the side and used the panic of a different monster to chop off its head, killing everyone on the spot.

More notifications bombarded him, as his cores got filled even more with the blood of the dead creatures.

He now had a little while to rest, only a few Creatures on the street right now, Queen and Cera taking care of them.

Around 10 minutes had passed since the start of the gate, meaning that there was still a lot left till the government forces arrived for help.

'9 more minutes ... still so much to go'

Two more minutes passed with Ragna just waiting and catching his breath. Because he had killed so many creatures at once, it took a while till the next arrived. But there weren't much more left, making it easy for Cera and Queen to kill them.

But suddenly, a ripple went through the street, as something large and ominous stepped out of the gate.

'So the gate guardian also finally decided to grace us with their presence.'

The air seemed to thicken as the dark silhouette made its way out of the gate, a 6 meter tall beast looming over them. It had thick, brown fur and two heads standing on top of his bulky body, which was dominating Ragnas whole view.

Both heads had a large snout, large yellow eyes and two horns coming out from the sides.

The large Creature also had four arms, using them to wield two swords.

'That ugly bastard is definitely from the fallen Rank. I hope his class isn't that high tho. Lets see how strong you are.'

Ragna jumped off the debris he waited on and cleaned the blood from his sword by splashing it on the ground.

The large creature growled while looking at Ragna, but it was interrupted by the pain it felt in its leg, as Queen had thrusted her sword into it. Tho, it had done pretty much close to none damage, as the Creatures sword blurred through the air and hit Queen, throwing her back and making her crash into a house.

Queen seemed to be disoriented and her armor was slightly damaged, but it didn't seem like he had to recall her back into his sea of Soul yet. He gave Queen the command wait a bit and strike in the right moment.

(Cera, protect my back.)

He augmented his legs and tore through the air, his speed higher than any other awakened could reach, except if their Aspect specialized on speed, of course.

But suddenly, he felt himself slow down, as the ground under him got muddy, stopping his movements. And then, the ground got hard again, making his legs get stuck underground.

He looked up at the creature and smiled weakly.

'This is bad.'

He then felt one of his free fists smash into his body, throwing him into the air, pulling a chunk of ground with him. His body spun freely in the air, unable to gain back control. His ribcage felt crushed and he coughed up a lot of blood.

The Nightmare Creature jumped up into the air, raising one of it's swords, close to cutting Ragnas body in half. Thankfully, Cera had shot out a turret of blood, throwing the Nightmare Creature off enough to make it unable to hit him.

As he landed on the ground, he felt a few more bones break. Since the i pact was kinda hard, the stone around his feet broke, making him able to move again.

'Shit, that hurt. Didn't expect him to fucking change the ground under me.'

He stood up, his breath heavy, as he looked up at the large Nightmare Creature again. Even though pain overtook him, his smile only widened.

'I'll kill you with my hands, i swear I will.'

***

'Ahhh .. what will I do now ? I always just followed Ragna and Celeste but now their gone ... hmm, maybe ill just visit my family first.

But their graves are pretty far away. And I got no money for a taxi ... maybe I should just walk.'

And so, Layla took off, from the Academy and went towards the city.

The large buildings towered over her and the air felt pretty fresh, not like the air she had known for almost her entire life.

'The big city live feels so ... different.'

She continued walking around for a while, feeling very out of place, but soon someone had approached her.

It was a bizarre looking guy, wearing hot pink pants, a dark green jacket and many accessories. He had stylish and long blonde hair and his build was overall pretty lanky. And as he talked, a high pitched voice had entered her ears.

"Hello, young beauty. I couldn't look away from you. You look like a dying star, oh so beatiful. Have you ever thought about working as a model ?"

"... eh ?"

This was definitely not what Layla had expected to happen. She stood still for a while and went through the pros and cons. She really needed money and this would've been her first job. But it would also take a lot of her time. But since she didn't really have a lot to do, especially since her friends were not with her right now, it was okay.

She looked at her reflection in a nearby car and twirled her hair with a finger.

'The awakening did indeed make me more beatiful ... but am I enough ? People always just called me outskirt rat but my skin was always really pale and flawless.'

"H-how high is the payment ?"

As the weird guy named the amount, Layla's jaw dropped.

'M-my mother didn't even make close to that much in a month and I can make that much with each photoshoot ? Damn, that offer is enticing.'

"How and when do I start ?"

The man clapped his hands, before yelling out in a louder tone than needed.

"Ah, wonderful ! Such eagerness ! The studio isn't far from where, just a few blocks down the street. We can go right now if you have time. We'll do a test shoot and show the world your face. By the way, whats your name ?"

"Ah, im L-Layla."

The idea of going with a stranger didn't seem nice, but she didn't feel anything from the guy, meaning that he wasn't a user of the spell. And if things got bad, Layla could always use her new ability of illusions to deceive them and run away.

She nodded.

"Alright, lead the way, mister."

While following the bizarre guy, she made a mental note of how to get to the studio, for future reference.

Just a few minutes later, they had arrived at the studio, which was tucked away in what seemed to be a trendy and colorful part of the city.

As they stepped inside, Layla saw many really beatiful people, most minding their own business with a small team.

Suddenly, the guy made their presence known with a loud yell, the attention making Layla blush slightly out of embarrassment.

"Meet Layla, our newest star. I can feel that she'll make it big."

He then pulled her with him, walking towards an elevator. They seemed to be going up a few floors. As they stepped outside, Layla saw a tall and really handsome guy in front of a fully white wall, multiple cameras on him as a team of 6 people photographed the guy.

"It seems like there's a shooting going on right now, let's wait a bit."

Layla and the guy who had scouted her, which name was Mr. Kael, had talked for around 30 minutes, till the photoshoot had ended. As the team stopped photographing the tall guy, Mr Kale walked towards them, leaving Layla alone.

Since the photoshoot was done, the guy who had just been photographed, approached Layla with a warm smile.

"I've never seen you here before, are you knew ?", he said with a gentle voice.

"Uhm, yes. I just got scouted by Mr Kael. I-im Layla, and you ?"

The tall mans eyes widened slightly, before he began to chuckle.

"I really need to humble myself. Of course, not everyone knows me. My name is Kai."

——-Author's Notes——-

Words: 1643

Another chapter done !

I hope the subplot with Layla working as a model and meeting kai isn't boring. I did this to make the world feel a little bit more livelier and so I can add filler chapters if im stuck at continuing the story. I also decided to soon introduce the main cast of the real novel, hence why Kai appeared.

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