| 12 | Armament

Lenna closed her eyes as a shockwave of mana caused the air to shake, making the B-rank elemental take a step back.

The water around her feet began to freeze, and gales of wind began to swirl around her. Her heart began glowing an icy blue before rapidly spreading across the rest of her veins.

The gusts of wind died down as the glowing began to recede.

Lenna exhaled and slowly opened her eyes. Her irises brightly glowed as she began circulating her mana.

Lenna grinned, "It's time for round three, you watery devil."

Lenna kicked off the ground and appeared before the elemental in an instant.

The elemental similarly moved just as fast with its fist casting a shadow over Lenna as it loomed down on her.

B-rank is an important milestone for a contractor. It is the moment they step into the realm of being a walking cataclysm.

Their physique is several times stronger than before, and their mana pool increases exponentially. On top of that, they also have heightened senses.

However, these benefits pale in comparison to the last one: the relic finally acknowledges its host!

With this acknowledgment... comes an armament.

Beginning to laugh, Lenna exclaimed, "Finally! I've been waiting for this!"

Every rank-up grants some amount of information, be it a technique or knowledge of mana, but the B-rank is special. You only get one piece of information: a name.

"Armament: Sun-Eater!"

A one-handed sword in a black sheath with glowing blue edges appeared at her waist.

She grasped her hand around it and slowly drew the sword.

A menacing, long, straight, one-handed sword slowly made itself present in Lenna's hand.

The sword was cold to the touch, and she could feel herself resonating with it.

Sun-Eater had a handle as black as night with a short, aquamarine chain, seemingly made from ice, extending from the hilt. The blade itself was single-edged and about as long as her arm. The blade was also only a few shades lighter than the handle and was outlined by the same icy material. An intricate engraving of a wolf with its mouth wrapped around a sun was also present on the blade. Interestingly, the engraving was similarly aquamarine, like the chain and blade outline.

Right before the elemental's fist hit her, she swung her sword overhead, diverting the punch.

Boom!

Lenna leaped into the air and planted the sword into the elemental's arm before using it to catapult herself higher.

She opened her palm and clasped a segment of chain that suddenly appeared. Upon grabbing the chain, it began to rapidly link itself with the sword at the segment extending from the handle.

She yanked the chain causing the sword to dislodge and fly into her open hand.

Landing on the elemental's upper arm, she began to slash rapidly with Sun-Eater.

The elemental swung its other arm at her, trying to slap her off.

"Hah!" Lenna planted a foot towards the incoming arm and took a simple sword stance.

"Flash Freeze!"

As the hand was about to hit her, she swung Sun-Eater with enhanced speed toward the hand.

Swoosh! Thud!

The hand, along with a bit of its forearm, was cleaved off cleanly and fell to the ground.

She quickly sheathed Sun-Eater.

Not missing a beat, she created four snow orbs and threw them toward the elemental's face.

"Snap Freeze!"

Crackle Crackle... Kaboom!

The orbs exploded several times in rapid succession, acting like cluster bombs.

The elemental staggered backward.

'It's a good thing I'm still under the effect of that elixir,' thought Lenna.

Taking advantage of its disorientation, she kicked off its arm and brought her blade toward its abdomen.

She rapidly thrust Sun-Eater four times.

"Snow Piercer!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every thrust across its abdomen blew open a hole a meter wide using a small vortex of snow.

She flipped backward and landed on the sandbar gracefully.

Lenna liked the mastered level of Snow Piercer. It let her use it consecutively within a short timeframe and increased her firepower to a whole other level.

Guooooh!!!

The elemental bellowed, making a distorted bestial roar.

Its hand and puncture wounds instantly regenerated.

Looking at the elemental, she sighed in slight annoyance, "I forgot you guys have regeneration. How annoying."

The elemental didn't care what Lenna thought. It flung its arms, causing the six water rings to fly at her in varying paths.

Lenna quickly realized that they weren't just for aesthetic purposes. They were chakrams!

She tightened her grip on the handle.

The water chakrams rapidly spun as they closed in. Lenna did not doubt that they would inflict serious harm if they were to get a clean hit.

As the water rings neared, she planted her feet and brandished her sword.

Clang!

Surprisingly, they were as solid as steel despite being water.

She deflected the water ring and quickly jumped over the next one.

While she was in the air, she swung her blade downwards and diverted the next one into the sandbar, sending up a plume of water and sand.

Kaspwoosh!

To her surprise, the water chakram continued along the ground before returning to the air. It was like they had a mind of their own!

As she was dancing a dangerous dance of dodging and deflecting the chakrams, the elemental suddenly appeared and joined the fray.

It brought its hand crashing down towards Lenna.

She quickly backflipped and parried another of the chakrams before swinging Sun-Eater and slicing off its hand.

Unfortunately, it almost instantly regenerated.

"Tsk," Lenna clicked her tongue.

Clang!

Diverting another one, she sent it toward the elemental.

Lenna expected the chakram to slice the elemental, but it wasn't stupid enough to let that happen.

The elemental caught the chakram and pivoted its foot before sending it back at her.

She quickly glanced around and saw that two more were also coming at her.

Lenna jumped into the air, easily avoiding the three-point attack.

Suddenly, two more chakrams swung back around while she was still in the air!

"A bait? You'll have to do better than that!"

She twisted her body parallel to the ground, narrowly slipping between them but getting a few strands of hair cut.

The attack didn't end there, though.

The water splashed as the elemental leaped above Lenna and brought its hands together overhead.

The elemental swung its hands down in a flash.

She hurriedly brought Sun-Eater out in front of her to take the brunt of the attack.

Lenna turned into a blur before crashing into the dry part of the sandbar.

Booom!!

"Huakkh!" Lenna coughed up blood from the impact.

'That much damage even though I blocked it?!?'

Her internal organs were a mess. If a normal person were to receive that attack, they would have died instantly. She shuddered internally, thinking about what would have happened if she had taken it head-on.

The elemental shook the ground as it landed.

It raised its hands and recalled the six chakrams to its arms.

Lenna planted Sun-Eater in the sandbar and got up shakily, using her sword as support.

Off from the side, Krom frowned. He could tell that she would inevitably lose.

Lenna had been consistently on the defensive, barely getting any attacks in, and her ability only lessened from her injuries.

Elementals were superior to contractors in almost every way, and the difference only got larger as the ranks got higher.

The elemental threw a chakram at Lenna.

She pulled her sword from the ground and quickly blocked it, but the impact knocked her backward.

The elemental threw another one.

While on the ground still, she hurriedly rolled out of the way, barely avoiding it.

The chakram returned to the elemental's hand.

It steadily took more steps forward, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. The elemental abruptly looked around and noticed that the one watching it had disappeared!

Krom suddenly appeared next to Lenna at a speed untraceable for the other two.

The one who the elemental thought was weak turned out to be the real threat! It quickly responded and threw the chakram in hand at the new threat.

Lenna shouted, "Watch out!"

The chakram cleaved through the air, leaving an afterimage in its wake.

Krom smirked.

Right as the water chakram was in front of him, it abruptly stopped, followed by a rush of air.

Krom caught the chakram between his thumb and first two fingers, which had each petrified into the green crystal.

He tossed it haphazardly to the side and sighed, "It's a pity I can only use an inferior version of my technique without manifesting my relic."

Krom glanced at Lenna and said, "As it stands now, you won't be able to win. Your relic may have accepted you, but your armament hasn't."

Sun-Eater, like most armaments, had its own "will" that Lenna would need to accept if she wanted to bring out its abilities.

Upon accepting the condition, the user would be able to feed mana-stones to the armament and release its latent abilities.

The only exception to this was the first ability of the armament. The contractor would be able to use it from the get-go with but a thought. In Lenna's case, it was the chain she had summoned.

Lenna asked, "How do I get it to accept me?"

Krom looked at Lenna's relic intently, "You should feel a type of resonation or understanding with your armament, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, what does that mean?"

"That is the connection you share with your armament. The stronger the feeling, the higher your compatibility you have with it," responded Krom.

Continuing, he said, "All you need to do is focus on the feeling of the bond you share."

"Okay." Lenna grinned, "When I come back, I'm gonna beat that elemental's ass!"

Krom gave her a thumbs up, "Alright, I'll look forward to it."

Lenna closed her eyes, deep in concentration.

After about a minute, she suddenly went limp.

Her consciousness was now inside the armament.

It was time for Lenna to meet a big bad wolf.