[13]

She had already returned to her original carefree self.

Cara entered the room with ease as she stretched her body and her fluffy brown tail wagged behind her in slight content. Her body was stiff and sore, and she felt especially weak. Even if her body had healed, she wouldn't be able to use the power of her bloodline for some time until she had gotten a good sleep. And that was the exact reason she was here.

However, as soon as she walked through the door, a voice called upon her in a slightly worried tone "My Lady, you unchained your bloodline?"

"Oh come on Shelt, don't scold me now. I just rode here on a wyvern, and I got to say, those things are uncomfortable to sit on. I could hardly get any sleep" Cara yawned, disregarded the woman before her, and hurried towards the giant bed at the center of the room.

Shelt, the right hand of the sin of Sloth, a troublesome job to hold. She was truly the one keeping the faction in check and running.

A half-breed, much like Cara, having black cat ears on her neatly well-Kemp's hair that traced down to her shoulders. She wore a proper suit of black and white, in the style of a butler, and the black rimmed glasses on her pointed face served to add a bit more charm to her character.

Truly, she looked like the figure of a well managed and intelligent young woman.

Holding her clipboard in her hands, she stood by the bed site and spoke.

"I've just received word that we've been ordered by the demon lord to scout the closest kingdom in the human realm in preparation for the invasion." Her sigh hung loosely within the room.

Cara covered herself with the bedsheets as she sneered into the warmth, her body instantly concealing within as if she laid upon a cloud.

She gave a small mindless sneer, "only because we are the closest faction to the human realm. Giving me so much unnecessary work."

Then she slowly turned over as her head rested against the fluff that was called a pillow.

"Work that we have to do." The proper right hand gently pushed her glasses up in a mild retort.

However, she was bound to be disappointed as the small sound of quiet breathing reached her ears, causing it to twitch slightly. It seemed the great lord of Sloth, Cara Stone, had already delved into the land of sleep and stopped listening quite a moment ago.

Shelt sighed once more and resigned to her fate.

"I'll go get it done."

Her voice trailed as quietly as possible, and as she left the room, she heard a small 'hmm' through her ears, which caused her to shudder.

"You were awake?" She turned and asked.

"No," Cara answered.

"..."

"..."

"I'll be on my way then." Shelt quietly closed the door, it seemed she had already gotten used to the behavior of this lord of her's.

However, just as she stepped out of the door, she bumped into another troublesome fellow.

"I'll go." The girl spoke as her eyes drilled into her.

"You?" Shelt's brows visibly scrunched as she looked down at the figure before her.

Disorderly black hair that flowed down her back like a raging tide. A simple attire of a white blouse with a black belt, a black skirt, and black knee-high stockings to top it all off. Her aura was brutish at best and she looked every bit a human girl save for her fangs, dangerous nature, and daunting black irises amidst a crimson hue.

"You promised me I could get my revenge." The fangs of the girl flashed as she bared.

"Can you control yourself now, Ashe?" Shelt responded just as so.

The girl didn't answer, she simply brought forth her right hand as it morphed into something more beastly.

"They will pay for what they did to my brother." Her eyes seemed to turn more bloody, Her voice turned more daunting.

"Crow's Nest, I'll eradicate them all."

She was cold, as cold as the killing machine they had designed her strenuously to become. Out of the hundreds sacrificed, she alone survived.

Shelt sighed, she couldn't get out of this, and finally allowed her.

"Alright."

***

The place was desolately black, an endless hue of black. This was where she found herself, faced with another figure.

A girl with black hair that cascaded down her back and desolately gray pupils. She wore a metallic silver armor and held a sword strapped to her waist.

The two stared at the other in silence, each taking the moment to steadily infer the figure.

"You are me."

"You are me."

They each came to the same conclusion

Silence once more, nothingness, no sound of an heartbeat nor of breathing. Not even the flutter of their eyelashes.

Finally, the girl gave a calming smile and stretched her right hand outward. There wasn't much of an emotion on her face, yet, she exuded her own definite feel.

Maria was taken aback for a moment then, she too, showed a calming smile as she grasped that hand with her own.

It was coarse, rough, and she could see the scars that covered those once petite and pretty hands of hers.

They both leaned into each other's embrace as a soft voice entered into Maria's ears.

"Till we meet again."

A small and tired voice uttered amidst the silence.

Light began to descend onto the desolate place as a part of Maria's memory awakened.

She saw her old self with a knife in hand and crouched in tears. The knife digging into her as she scarred and disfigured her own face. A burning pain mixed with an unending grief.

It was all to protect her body at that time.

***

She awoke with an audacious headache. Struggling slightly to open her eyes and her body ached with faint pain. She could hear hazy voices through her ears that went undiscernable.

Slowly, ever so slow, her eyes fully opened as her pinkish irises dawned on the texts in front of her.

[Name: Maria Springfield

Strength: A

Speed: A

Mana: A

Skills: Ruler's Soul (U) Swordsmanship (D+)

Overall: S-]

She was glad the rank of her swordsmanship had increased to D+.

However, something more pressing caught her eyes The skill <Ruler's Soul> was burning in a faint golden light, it was impossible not to catch her attention.

She focused her sight on those words.

[Ruler's Soul:

<Racial Talent> Able to see the Sacred Text of a living being that is of the same race as yourself.

<Ruler's Path> Your eyes blaze a golden light, you are able to see any hidden entities/living being.

<My Own Will> Grants immunity to all mind or emotional altering effects.

<Armament> A ruler needs to be prepared for any situation. Gains the sword 'Radiant Blade' and armor set 'Radiant Armor' that can be summoned and recovered at any time.]

[Radiant Blade: A weapon gifted by the highest being in the universe. A blade that allows the owner the ability to manifest and control weapons of holy light where the quantity is based on the rank of mana and the power is based on the strength rank.]

[Radiant Armor: A Armor Set gifted by the highest being in the universe. While wearing; allows the ability to instant cast magic. Defensive property is based on strength rank.]

The powers that mysterious figure who named himself 'God' had finally been revealed, and so had the reason for why she could come out on top against an assassin.

She looked in silence before a voice entered into her ears.

"Maria!"

She forced herself to grudgingly sit amidst the bed as her head looked towards the short red-haired boy by her side.

"Arthur?"

The face of her 15-year-old brother was anything but a smile, and although he was short, he had been endowed with an aura of maturity that went against his usually joking ways.

"Where am I? How long was I asleep?" She asked.

"We are still within the manor of the Duke and you've been asleep since yesterday afternoon, its currently morning. You passed out due to exhausting all your mana." A soft but monotonous voice reached her ears.

Maria looked over at Ais to see the guard, and although her face still remained expressionless, there was something new in her eyes. For a moment, she saw a different type of look flash through her eyes. However, Maria couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was so she chose to remain silent.

"Why are you here?" She finally asked her older brother as her body stood to get out of the bed.

"Father asked me to come check up on you and to bring you back if there was any problem at all. He couldn't come himself, being occupied with keeping the kingdom in order with the growing unease brought by the red star." He spoke with a small smile.

"Red Star?" Maria asked.

To this time, she still couldn't figure out the significance of the blazing ball she had viewed in the sky.

"Yes, the demon lord has awakened. All the major holders of power have been summoned for a hearing, even the Duke of Kent."

"However, don't worry about that for now. We have a more pressing issue at hand." He finished as he tossed an item towards her.

Maria quickly caught the item and looked it over. It was a simple badge of white and endowed on its surface was the figure of a shadowy crow with its wings spread as if it was about to take flight.

"What's this?" She asked.

"The only item we found on the man that tried to assassinate you. A badge belonging to Crow's Nest." Ais spoke up.

"Crow's Nest?"

"An Assassin's Guild." She Explained.