AbyssRaven
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Chapter 241: Ellaine Fiero Helvas. [First Draft]
🕑 Added 2021-11-01 22:52:38 +0000 UTCMy whipsword shot forward, whipping its fleshy and metal tendrils around to catch the flying Iracela. She flapped her wings, dodging it using her aerial superiority, but due to the height of the ceiling, she crashed against it even as she avoided my attack. I returned the extended blade and swung it against Francesca, who came at us like a rampaging bear.
“Krah!” she growled from the damage on her face, the pause giving me enough time to activate my [Attack Rune: Blood Bane], causing the blood my blade shed to explode. “Kraaaaaaaa!”
“I’ll hold them up! Get Amelia, Ellaine!” Jonathan stated foolishly. With the number of nobles outside this room, he alone wasn’t enough to hold the room’s entrance when he had so much trouble with a single opponent back in the cellar.
If we were on the ground floor, conjuring up a [Terra Wall] wouldn’t be a problem. But everything was wooden around us, and we had no line-of-sight to a viable place to invoke an earthen magic circle. Earth mages weren’t completely vulnerable in an area without earth or rocks, but our conjured spells didn’t have the usual powerful blocking potential.
“Stand back, Jonathan! Earth Spears!” Two brown magic circles appeared on my hands, creating two large rock spears which shot at the incoming enemy nobles. One lodged itself into the floor, blocking the entrance while the other destroyed the floor outside the room.
They can and will still try to destroy the room wall. We need to hurry—
“Ellaine!” Jonathan called out as his blade intercepted the talon strike of Iracela, moments before I could react to it with [Prediction].
“Helvas!” the warped bird woman roared.
“You endangered my sister and kidnapped Lady Amelia! As an aristocrat of Greenveil, I must cut you down! Soaring Wings!”
Father’s first form, a sword attack where you swing it using a half-moon arc upwards, using both Mana and Stamina as a resource to manipulate the winds to accelerate your trajectory. Even without superhuman jumping power, you would fly up considerably, making it particularly useful against flying enemies.
It was an adaptation to the [Artorian Lionheart Style: Calling Wind], which manipulated the wind to beckon enemies to come closer for a decisive hit. Even if our Helvas style is only a branch off of the real deal, it uses the same foundation as the sword fighting our Founding King adapted from his grandfather, Griffon King Assurfel.
“Kriiiiaaaah!” Iracela cried out, blood spraying from a deep wound on her torso.
Nice!
Just when it looked like we would be able to take down one of the twins, the other shot a giant fireball at us. I narrowly managed to conjure up an [Air Shield] in time to weaken the spell, but, in the end, I still had to activate [Defensive Rune: Auracoil] from my whipsword.
“Ellaine!”
“Sister!”
I heard Amelia’s and Jonathan’s voices, as the mana shield created a bubble around me, blocking the spell but causing a large smokescreen.
“Hahaha! Imagine taking an [Inferno Magic Lv. 1] spell head-on, Ella— What?!”
Interrupting Francesca’s rambling, I shot my whipsword forward. It hit her right at the chest, but the armor she was wearing — mine — completely blocked any damage. I was proud of how strong the armor was, but I cursed that it was in enemy hands right now.
Still, that was enough for me. [Whiplash] created a three-fanged claw on the tip of the sword, which I could use to grab on things. As the tendrils contracted, the claws grabbed onto the breastplate, giving me an anchor point to pull myself closer to Francesca.
Damn you!
With [Claw] materialized on my left hand, I slashed at her head, but she blocked my attack with her arms, using my armor to nullify the damage. As I clicked my tongue, I lashed out with my claw once again when I noticed the scar I made on her face at the start of the battle was gone. Klea’Hatma immediately informed me that Francesca had heightened regeneration.
[“The demonic energy is inside their bodies, running through their blood and cells. Unlike yours, which you conjure up with mana, theirs is more ‘pure.’ They can use those powers freely, but looking at their behavior. It’s clear that ‘Pride’ has already corrupted their minds.]
[“Pride? Not Envy?!”]
[“Yeah. You better settle this battle quickly, Ellaine. Not just because your body is using up mana too quickly even with my help, but you probably need to tell Hestia and the others that there is a second demonkin in the city.”]
Not only did I have to worry about arcane corruption, but now this? This fight was not becoming easier for me. Both Francesca and Iracela were regenerating from their wounds, while we had no healing at all. There was also the crowd of nobles outside the room, trying to break through the walls and rocks. I had to hurry.
Morphing [Claws] away on my left arm, I armored it up completely with [Musclesmass], before skirting under Francesca’s vision as I began slashing her legs by double-handing my sword. With knowledge of my own armor, I knew exactly where to hit the gaps.
Her transformation not only gave her a larger stature as well as more strength, but that was meaningless before my weapon. Prodigious size alone does not dissuade the strikes of a dwarven-made blade! Every blood drop I managed to shed activated a rune on my whipsword — Defense Ripper — and weakened her Vitality and Wisdom more and more.
“Damn you, Greenbump!” She shouted as she slammed her feathered arm down, missing me by a split second, only to crack the floor.
Seeing this opening, I landed a heavy punch into her sides. She flinched and gasped for air, before I landed a jumping kick into her stomach. Weakening her defenses did the trick.
[Musclesmass] gave me slightly more defense through the muscles, but its primary use was the massive increase in Strength. My punches and kicks were stronger. Usually, I could only activate it around my arms, but with Klea’Hatma helping out, I could spread the effect throughout my body, for the cost of even more mana to maintain it.
As I heard Jonathan and Iracela struggling in the background, I jumped onto Francesca who was laying on the ground. I stomped down on one of her arms and began removing a few of the armor’s clasps. When Francesca tried to stop me, I aimed my sword at her neck, forcing her to grab the blade.
My [Musclemass] versus her inhuman strength, which would win?
Meaningless.
My sword was a whipsword with [Whiplash] applied on it, it could extend itself, even in this position.
“The moment any of this comes to light, you and the rest of your supporters will be executed.”
“H-Hold on, Lady Ellaine! Please, I can—”
“The moment you made up your mind to kill my brother and me, you should have been aware of the chance of your own death, Francesca!” The tendrils from [Whiplash] extended themselves, biting into Francesca’s throat with the three-fanged claw. I could feel some resistance from her skin, but this fight would end in a—
“Sister!” That wasn’t Jonathan’s voice, it was Iracela’s. My [Prediction] warned me of a dangerous attack coming from behind me, so I reflexively turned my head around, only for Francesca to grab my leg standing on her arm and yank me off her arm. She then reached up to attempt to tear the tendril off her throat with her now free hand.
Shit! Air Sh—
“— of sharp winds. Wind Slash!”
As I was about to invoke a spell to protect myself, a gust of wind slashed Iracela’s back, stopping her attack. I had to dodge Iracela’s incoming body check, ducking under it to give Francesca a strong punch into her head, forcing her to let go of the tendril and my leg. When I raised my head, I realized Amelia was the one who had helped me.
“Thank you, Amelia!”
“N-No need for thanks!” Amelia called out, her lower face still covered in her nose blood.
“Now to end this— What?!”
“Slowpoke! Take this!” The grimoire Francesca dropped after I gave her that jump kick was in her hand again, and when the pages began to flutter, earth, wind, water, and fire magic rained out from, blasting me at point-blank.
“Yairgh!”
<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Water Resistance Lv. 7] [Wind Resistance Lv. 6] gained>
I flew off from Francesca, only to be caught by Jonathan. As I groaned from the damage I received, Jonathan warned me to use my runes again, as the she-fiend was about to use her grimoire again. As the spells flew towards us, I cast [Air Shield] around Amelia and brother while I activated [Auracoil] around myself.
Grimoires and seals were frowned upon by proper mages, but they allowed someone to cast the stored spell as rapidly as if they had [Chant Revocation Lv. 10]. A great tool for a battle, as Francesca was locking us down with them right now.
We were pushed onto the defense, which gave Iracela the time she needed to regenerate her wounds and the young nobles, unfortunately, the time to finish breaking through the wall, creating space for them to enter the room. Both twins smirked when they saw reinforcements coming in.
“Good! What took you so long?” Iracela asked.
“We apologize, my ladies. The walls in this house are harder than we thought. We couldn’t use too much strength, otherwise we risk breaking the ceiling.”
“Enough. That doesn’t matter now! Prepare yourselves. Once that Greenbump’s mana is used up, strike at her! Kill both Helvas brats!”
Francesca was right. The longer I maintained [Auracoil] and my demonic powers, the more I used up my mana. I could already feel signs of arcane corruption affecting me, so keeping this up wasn’t viable.
Thankfully, I was patient enough to leave insurance behind for these situations. Another rune on my sword lit up — it was Blood Bane, once again.
“What?! Kyaaaaah!”
The blood I shed from her throat and legs exploded, knocking her down to her knees while she tried to stop the bleeding from her throat. I used this moment to use [Piercing Shot], shooting my whipsword forward like an arrow to grab her grimoire, pulling it to me. I threw it to Amelia.
“Help us for a moment, Amelia! We can’t escape just yet!”
I then activated [Gale Steps], closing the distance between a noble and myself in an instant to slash at him with [Claw], materialized once again from my left arm. As blood sprayed from his torso, I used the whip part of my whipsword to strike down the other nobles inside the room.
None of the swordsmen were able to come close while I used earth and wind magic to block the attacks from the mages. Jonathan used his own [Gale Steps] to close in on the mages, and Amelia gave him cover fire from Iracela.
While the three of us performed our counterattack, something distasteful happened when my whipsword sliced somebody in its whip storm.
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]’s Job [Whipsword Fighter] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 3]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
Aside from the fact that these nobles were low-leveled, I actually killed one of them during the chaos. I mean, it was impossible to hold back when all of them were trying to kill me, and justice would have sentenced them to death anyway. Still, most of them were acquaintances from the academy, even if I never really got along with them, so I was loath to slay them out of hand.
[“Too much sympathy won’t do you any good, dear. They want you dead. You die, they’ll be happy. Simple as that. Reciprocate it. Hestia, Saori, Tasianna, and Grimnir would do the same,”] Klea’Hatma advised, urging me to know how to differentiate rivals from actual enemies.
[“I know. I’m sorry for that moment of weakness.”]
I put more strength into my sword arm, swinging with even more power and precision.
“Ugggarrrgh!”
“Eiiiiiek! Noooo…”
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]’s Job [Whipsword Fighter] has risen from [Level 3] to [Level 6]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
From the walls to the ceiling, everything inside this room was getting destroyed, and with every death, the young nobles became even more deranged. At first, they mourned the two young lords I slew, blaming me for their deaths and saying the Goddess wouldn’t forgive me for what I had done.
When I killed my third, none of them even gave her dying moment a piece of their attention. Francesca and Iracela drove them at us, telling them they were superior with their blessing of the Goddess and that they were in the right for all of this. Even Jonathan’s hand was forced.
“D-Dammit. D-Did I—”
“Brother, this isn’t the time to question yourself! Self-defense! This is self-defense! Tell yourself that!”
From his ill complexion, this seemed to have been brother’s first human kill. Saori’s students, especially Tamae-chan, told me the same thing when I had to kill those fire cultists. It was then that I understood why opposing factions must vilify each other to make fighting easier on their minds.
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]’s Job [Whipsword Fighter] has risen from [Level 6] to [Level 10]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
“I-I’m out of offensive spells, Ellaine!” Amelia called, informing me she only had healing spells left.
“Concentrate on Jonathan! He needs healing more!”
As the fighting continued, Jonathan and I became increasingly wounded. With my spells and whipsword, keeping people and damage away from me was easy, but Jonathan didn’t have these options. His spell casting was slow and his armor was neither enchanted nor runed up. I had to save him a couple of times.
There was also Amelia. With her as our goal, if they took Amelia back, we would lose our momentum. Jonathan and I were thinning the crowd out, to the point we probably could escape if we just could cripple or kill the twins. They were the only ones with superhuman regeneration.
Aargh, this damn headache! I shouldn’t have drunk all the dragorade.
[“Reduce your Mana and Stamina usage, Ellaine. Turn off the third ability. Keep up [Musclesmass] for defense and [Whiplash] for your sword.”]
I was down to half Mana and my Health was falling slowly thanks to numerous glancing hits. But my biggest issue was my Stamina, which I had almost depleted with all the dodging, demonic attacks, and handling my whipsword. I was tiring myself out.
“Uuuuargh!”
“Jonathan! Hu— Shit! Dammit, out of my way!”
Francesca found an opening to land a punch on Jonathan, shattering his breastplate and driving him through the wall into a neighboring room. As I was preoccupied with keeping Amelia safe from the enemy nobles, Francesca tore the wall down, cackling as she slowly walked over to Jonathan.
“Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan. You should have stayed silent and just let us take care of your sister. Out of your sight, out of your mind, right? You could have been one of Lord Charleslyt’s knights, just as he planned to do for Iracela and I… But no, you were being—”
“Shut up already!” Jonathan shouted as he forced himself up, coughing up blood as he struggled to stand. Raising his sword, Jonathan resumed the stance our father taught us. “You’re a traitor of the kingdom. Just prepare to face real justice after this!”
“Idiot…”
No! Wind Blast! Whiplash!
A mighty blast of wind threw the nobles approaching me, giving me enough time to materialize[Whiplash] on my left arm, throwing the tendrils at Francesca’s head, harassing and distracting her from hurting Jonathan. I then moved closer to the outer wall, using my whipsword to slice and dice it, before kicking the wall open.
Bedrock Blades!
With the street in sight, two large brown magic circles were invoked on them, materializing large earthen blades. They descended down, slicing the building like butter. The walls and ceilings collapsed, everything was falling apart.
I retreated my whiplash before throwing it out again, this time threading the arm through the falling rubble to grab Jonathan, pulling him towards me, just before Francesca tried to crush him.
“Pavise!” The physical-resistant defensive rune [Pavise] began to conjure up a mana shield as I [Gale Steps] over to Amelia, hugging her and Jonathan, protecting them from the collapsing building.
“Damn you, Helvas!”
“Big sister, help me!”
I ignored their death cries. I didn’t care about them. I did something reckless, and I was just content I managed to save both Jonathan and Amelia in time.
Collapsing the building didn’t give me any more Divine System messages, making me question if any of them had died. I hoped so. Even the floor collapsed underneath us. They might be strong with the demonkin powers, but their levels were still around mine before I joined Hestia. They couldn’t be too sturdy.
“Jonathan, there are healing spells in this grimoire. Ellaine, help me take his armor off. We need to heal him,” Amelia said as we ignored the outside of this mana barrier and began treating Jonathan’s wounds.
When the noise finally subsided, the three of us cast [Earthen Wall] to push the rubble away from us, freeing the way. As I deactivated the [Pavise] rune, we walked out of the rubble, standing on top of the piles of this destroyed building. We looked around, but we couldn’t find any of the nobles.
“D-Did we manage to survive that?” Jonathan asked, completely out of breath.
“Maybe?” I wasn’t so sure. I still kept my demonic powers up just in case, as my [Enhanced Enemy Sense] noticed a few signals.
[“Argh, Ellaine, shut down that third ability! Why are you being so reckless with my powers?!”]
[“Huh? Klea? Are you alright? You don’t sound too good.”]
[“Did you forget I’m just a piece of mana inside your spell rings? I have my limits, dear, very significant limits compared to my former self. I can lend you my powers, but doing stuff like helping you control multiple powers at once is exhausting,”] Klea’Hatma complained.
Our usual relationship was Klea’Hatma would mold my mana into her demonic powers, and I would use them. What we did today was as if Hestia had made her parallel minds control two of her spells, enabling them to reach their prime effectiveness. While Hestia’s parallel minds were supported by the System, Klea’Hatma’s support wasn’t. In fact, from how she worded it before I allowed her to do so, the Goddess would frown at me.
[“Ahhhh, ignore them. Ignore that armor of yours. Let’s just go, Ellaine. I need to rest.”]
Agreed.
“Ellaine. Lord Jonathan. Could you two finally explain to me what is going on around here?” Amelia asked. The only one who isn’t out of breath.
“Don’t worry,” I assured Amelia. “We’ll explain everything, but we need to meet up with our pare—”
[Prediction]? Why is it— Kouff! … Huh?
I felt something go through me. Something sharp, something cold, but at the same time, it felt as if I was touched by the soothing warmth of a white grace. But… for some reason, I could feel something else. My body was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t register it.
<[Bleeding (Minor)] inflicted on [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]>
But that was when my eyes noticed something was in front of me. Gold and silver. It was armor, and not a simple one like Jonathan’s silver one, but it was decorated with accessories, fit to serve as an icon in a battle. It was perfect for a noble.
<[Bleeding (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]>
But what creeped me out were the black, fleshy bits seeping out from the armor’s crevices, wiggling around like small creatures. Some looked like tentacles while others—
“Ooopruaaaah!!!”
I now knew what my mind wasn’t registering.
It was pain. A lot of pain.
<[Bleeding (Major)] inflicted on [Human, Ellaine Fiero Helvas]>
“Uruuuuuuaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeghhhhhhhh! Uuuuuuugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”
““ELLAINE!!!””
“How dare you destroy the house I rented. Who gave you the right to make such a decision? You have desecrated this Glorious One’s possession with your filth and blood, wretch!”
“Kkrriiiiiagh! LET GO! LET GO!”
[Absolute Pain Tolerance] work! Work! Why am I feeling so much pain! Tolerate! Tolerate! Tolerate! Stop this pain, PLEASE! Wooooork!
The pain grew and grew. My organs, ripped apart and now bleeding internally. They screamed and screamed, their message only now coming in large quantities. The shrieks escaping my voice were the natural explosion of all of this.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Blood. Blood. Blood. Sharp. Sharp. Sharp.
Something was sticking inside my stomach. My hands tried to pull it out, reflexively, but all they could do was cause me even more pain. I screamed to the sky, gagging on my own warm blood, crying out in prayer for all of this to stop.
“Charleslyt! Let go of my— OOOF! URRRGHHH!”
A light appeared, followed by the loud thud of somebody being flung away and landing on a rocky location.
“You disappoint me, Jonathan. I had thought you worthy of becoming my page. You were foolish to ignore my gift, a gift given to me by the Goddess! To betray me, is to betray the church and the Goddess herself! You stand before a Champion of Aurena, you heretic!”
“Kriiiiagaaaaghaaaaa! Let me go! Let me go…”
[“Ellaine! Ellaine! Stay with me! Push yourself out from the blade now! Your Health, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! Aurena! Release my power now! Come on! You are letting this girl die this time! I can’t stop him with my energy reserves! Release the rest of the powers of that skill!”]
“Ellaine! Noooooo! Lord Charleslyt, please, let her go! Let her go! Please, noooo, don’t let her die!” I could hear somebody, but my mind couldn’t register who it belonged to.
“… I am sorry, my dear Amelia. But these two dared to betray a Champion of the Goddess. For that, they deserve death. As the future Grand Duke of Economic Affairs and the one to destroy every enemy of the Goddess, I cannot be the same wretch that I was before. I am—”
My arms felt weak. Numb. I was seeing things in two. Fatigue. Lethargic.
In the next moment, the cold sharp piece inside my stomach withdrew itself, and from then, warm liquid began to spray from my body. It was like a pond, no, it looked like a fountain to me.
“— Charleslyt Louis Equevanna, the greatest Champion to be. The glorious sun of the Goddess! … And this shall be my first step towards that goal.”
“NOOOOO! PLEASE, NOOOOOOOOOOO! STOOOOOOP!”
A sharp pain.
… The world was rotating and rotating and rotating. I felt a sting around my neck, and in the next moment, a headache. Thudding. Thudding. Thudding. My vision rolled and rolled and rolled. I saw rocks, I saw the bright sun in the sky, I saw… a headless body.
Ah…
“ELLAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!”
When my vision finally stopped rolling around, I heard a loud thud and scream from behind me. I couldn’t see what it was. I thought I would feel pain. I thought I could feel something else, but to my surprise, my memories began to surface.
I made my decision to renounce my birthright due to my lack of self-esteem. I saw my first meeting with Hestia, where I realized how interesting of a person she was. She didn’t like me at the start, but somehow, we became friends.
I saw my decision to rebel against Mother and my choice to become part of Aurora. I saw myself fighting alongside Tamae-chan and the others against all those Danterno cultists. I saw myself in my new armor, made by Master Grimnir. I saw myself rebelling against not only Hestia’s but also Goddess Aurena’s decision, believing Klea’Hatma was my chance to become worthy of Aurora, if only I could control her. Was it right or wrong, I didn’t know.
I saw myself speaking up against Father, telling him what I wanted. I saw myself standing up against my former bullies, the Chezaic twins. I saw myself getting my whipsword and training with it, becoming better and better, to the point I could help the others fight against those geisenlargs. I saw myself…
… I saw myself rescuing Amelia once again… but that was only a dream.
I-I don’t want to die. I… there is so much I still wanted to do. So much. Hestia, brother, father, mother, I still have to make you prou…
…
…
…
… Crack.
Comments
Diego Rossi
Hmm, wait a moment: - 2 person died at the same time (Helaine and Klea’Hatma!); - 1 amulet thar raise the dead; - Helaine is the weakest member of Aurora by a wide margin. Someone is getting a merge?
Trust me.
Kale Daley
Ugh, I really don't know how I feel about this arc. From how quickly things are escalating I truly don't understand how Hestia is supposed to make any meaningful difference in a conflict with such powerful foes. They also seem to be smart, achieving an assault on a kingdom's capital with very minimal forces while playing politics in the background to remove most of it's most able defenders. I'm sure this would have been worse if Aurora hadn't stymied the Grimgarian assualt and Davison's shenanigans. This all comes together to make it seem silly that an organization powerful enough to enact the downfall of a kingdom from the shadows would have even the slightest problem taking care of a couple of relatively green B ranks. Only time will tell I suppose. I'll trust you know where this is heading, as you haven't steered us wrong so far dear author. Can't wait to see the Hestia and Saori's fights. Also Tassiana showing some good old fashioned fey wrath. Looking forward to the next few chapters eagerly.
Jordan Parodi-Light
Never said you didn't like her, just that she was "only" human
Diego Rossi
Her auto-resurrection amulet will get her back. After all, it is a Chekhov's gun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun Why give it to her if she will never use it? Helaine problem is that she is the weaker member of the party.
Diego Rossi
I saw my decision to rebel against mother and to choose to become and Aurora. -> I saw my decision to rebel against mother and to choose to become A MEMBRE OF Aurora.
Aclys
I dont read it as hate for the character at all, more that she has a real tendency to get hit from behind by stuff she's really not ready to handle. That said, Owwie. And I guess we will soon find out whether Louis the pretender of pride (or is it envy?) Can stand up to a demonkin(or demon?) of Lust (at least I'm not seeing many other ways for Elaine to come back from this one). Also: Great chapter!
Noooo, I love her! I'm just being really harsh on her, uhm, tough love, I guess?
Jordan Parodi-Light
I think it's less a hate, but more a dislike for her being just a human on the team
Morg535
Author you really seem to hate Ellaine
