"Oh, look, a Wyvern, looks like the little girlie got some friend to help her." One of them spoke, and a snort came from them as she looked confident.
Interrupting their banter. "Hm, Seems like Helel wasn’t lying. So far, what’s your name then?" Caelus asked. Tilting his head.
"Why should we tell a commoner like you?" The other girl replied.
Caelus sighed. But he noticed something: she didn’t say masses like those from the Tianyun Empire, so they definitely weren’t from there, nor from the Crimson Moon Empire, which would’ve been worse with the name.
"You aren’t from any of the Empires I know of, but it doesn’t matter, just tell your name, and I’ll tell you mine. How do you determine a Commoner, as you call them anyway?" Caelus spoke.
[Caelusss, do you want a reward for winning this? Of course, with the limitations you want to keep :3]
"...Sure, just don’t make it way too powerful." Caelus sighed, replying to Aphro in his mind.
"By how much they’re worth, a viscount is normally worth five hundred gold pieces, and a Princess or Emperor is five thousand gold bars from small empires! Of course, it’s with how much you have." The first girl replied. A smug expression. "Let me guess, you barely even have ten gold pieces-"
"Two thousand eight hundred," Caelus replied. "Gold bars." A pause. "Is that enough?"
The person who had been speaking stopped for a second. "How do we know you’re telling the truth, huh?" About to continue speaking, the other girl stopped her, covering her mouth. Instead, she thought more about it, more on... "...No, someone lying about having that much is absurd, it’s too much gold for them to bet on that. But they could be bluffing... Can’t believe I’m going to say this."
"The name is Astrea Mortheval; meanwhile, she is Nemesis," Astrea spoke, her voice calmer than usual.
"What the hell, Astrea!" Nemesis shouted, annoyed that their name had been given so easily.
"Well, at least you gave your names. I’m Caelus." He found it amusing how Nemesis reacted, but it was expected. Though Astrea reacted differently, she also had a last name.
"Well, let’s go back to what we were doing. Get out of our way and let us get to that little brat." Astrea spoke once more, with visible annoyance, veins standing out too.
"Someone’s already mad? Wow, I didn’t know your patience was that thin." Caelus chuckled, noticing they were about to move. Caelus pulled his hand back and rushed down at his top speed, reaching Nemesis right before she got ready to move. His scaled hand grabbed her head, the warmth of his palm against her skin. His hand held her head as a barrage of Rends flew out, cutting her face and launching her back due to his grip not being too tight.
[New Mission - Defeat the Nobles from the Sky Temple - Of the Tianyun Sect with only Rend, Rupture, and Horizon Step!]
[Reward - 10,000 Gold, Creation Essence x2 (Refilling the Vase)!]
[Time Limit - None]
No time limit, so he could go as long as he liked, but also had to make sure he finished the fight quickly, noticing Astrea about to attack, her mouth opening. Silence was finally broken.
"Realm Shift!" Her voice rang out, and Mana surged toward Caelus. His body froze instantly. For a moment, he felt trapped in his spiritual body rather than his physical one. For a split second, he was there, and the next, he wasn’t. A punch right at his face, sending him flying back!
Skidding to a stop with the dirt under him piling up behind to help stop. "Literature Path? First time fighting one. This’ll be an experience."
Caelus smiled, Nemesis rose from the rubble already, and her face healed, showing pure fury. At a moment’s notice, she rushed towards him, punching at his chest, right where his stomach was.
Moving his hand, Caelus was about to block by moving his hand down, only for that block to be a feint, causing Nemesis to stop herself mid movement.
"Impressive!" Caelus’s eyes widened in surprise, his leg swinging up as he spun and kicked her from the side, sending her to the right, though she stopped herself in a split second.
Without speaking, Caelus pointed his finger towards Nemesis, and his other one towards Astrea, sending out multiple slashes, Rend, each one using the dense Mana that he got at Virtuoso, so it wouldn’t be ineffective this time.
Both of them moved to the left to dodge, seeing their movements reminded him of a street fighter. "Though these two are way better at fighting than those from the old world." Caelus knew that already, since they’d have experience since Childhood. Finally, he rushed over to Astrea, who spoke once more.
"SUSPENDED GRAVITY!"
Her voice louder as the air above him forced him to stop his place, yet only then did she notice that Rend moved as well, following her, as it targeted its opponent, not just go to its weakest point, "unless they dodged it and it went past, it would still go for them."
Nemesis, on the other hand, grabbed one of the Rend and threw it right towards Caelus, hitting him with his own technique. The Suspended Gravity ran out as Caelus could finally move once more.
"Well, I’ll have to end this now," Caelus spoke, straightening himself. The surrounding area turned red except for Helel, Astrea, and Nemesis.
Caelus heard music coming from Helel; though it moved in slow motion, it reached Astrea and made her body react when she moved, causing it to be incredibly painful.
Reaching her. Caelus pointed a finger at her arm. "Rupture."
Space cracked like ice, hit by a large rock, blasting Astrea away and sending her flying across the entire pathway in less than a second.
Horizon Step finished as he turned towards Nemesis, who finally saw that Astrea was gone, or at least sent flying. Knowing she wasn’t dead, Nemesis decided it wasn’t worth the fight. Disappearing towards the last place, she saw Astrea’s Mana Signature.
Dusting his hands, Caelus felt satisfied. Looking at Helel, who quickly ran towards him, unable to control her speed, she sped by, slowing just barely, only for gravity to betray her and cause her to fall flat into the water, since the pathway was next to a beach.
"You okay, Helel?" Caelus spoke, his voice amplified by the Mana he used just in case she couldn’t hear him, since they were a fair distance apart, even if it felt close due to the insane speed he could move now. Thinking about it, only a month or two ago, he wouldn’t even have believed Rend was possible.
Getting up, Helel looked at Caelus, acting as if she didn’t get splashed by water. Only to get bitten in the leg by the same blubbery creature from earlier, still not knowing what it is. "Yeahhh!!! Don’t worry, I’m completely fine- OW!"
Helel jumped slightly, grabbing her leg as she moved away. Though it healed quickly, it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt her.
"Okay, now come back, make sure not to disturb them again." Caelus chuckled. As Helel walked over, he looked down, noticing she looked very different from how humans did. "Are you a Human or...?"
"Uhm- No, I’m not. From what the Tianyun Sect calls me, I’m a Fallen? I’m asking them, and they just don’t answer." Helel’s voice was wavering, like she was holding something back.
"...Fallen, huh?"
[Mission Complete]
[Rewards - 10,000 Gold Bars, 2 Creation Essence]
[Ooooh, one of the Fallen, they’re rare, and a powerful species, all I’ll say for right now.]
"Rare, well, that doesn’t matter... But, I guess I could get her to come with me." Caelus looked up, then back at Helel, examining her white hair, just like Nyx’s, though Helel’s was a bit more platinum. And her eyes are a reddish orange. "Well, you look cooler than most people I’ve met, you wanna go to the Tianyun Empire so you don’t have to deal with them... Or?"
"No-No, it’s fine, I’ll go back to the Sect, since my Elder brother is there," Helel replied, somewhat surprised by what Caelus said.
"Ah, then that’s fine. Apologies for asking that." Caelus sighed. He’d forgotten to even ask if she had siblings. "Next time I meet someone new, I’ll want to take in that he’d ask if they have family."
"Well. Bye, I’m going to have a spar with someone else now, so I’ll be here at the beach if you want to meet me again. Usually, every three days, I come here just to rest." Caelus spoke, seeing Helel nod. She waved bye to him and ran back in the direction she had come from, somewhere he hadn’t gone yet.
Finally, he was left with at least some room to breathe, having to make a new technique and also fight off two ’bullies’ he’d have some fun with in a spar. Though he hoped he’d win, he didn’t assume it. It would be too pretentious to do so.
"Oh shit, is that Yun Li? No, another fight, absolutely not." Caelus looked ahead, noticing Yun Li walking towards him, wanting to face him again, with Caelus not wanting to deal with it a single bit and disappearing with his Teleportation to the Empire, specifically the Mage’s training area, where he saw Minerva.
"Ah, Minerva, you’re here," Caelus replied. He’d been looking for her for a bit.
"Yes? What do you need, Caelus?" She opened her eyes, getting up from the bench as she began stretching.
"I’d like to have a Spar, since you’re the only person in the same Realm as me, and the only person I haven’t seen fight." Caelus’s mouth twitched up, a smile on his face.
"Ah, well, I wouldn’t mind, but this Arena is way too small; the Arena outside was fixed after the Undead Invasion," Minerva replied, her hand moving and grabbing Caelus’s shoulder as both of them got transported over there. It felt different from the normal Teleportation because it took about half a second longer.
"Oh, a different type of Teleportation? Fun, well, it’s really empty right now, though I guess that’s expected since an Invasion happened." Caelus spoke, seeing it empty, not even ants on the concrete, although there weren’t any pathways to cross, and it was hard for them to get up there in the first place.
"Mmmm, why am I thinking so much about ants? This is a fight I’m going into." Caelus realized and felt a little confused, mostly at himself for noticing that detail and fixating on it.
"You okay, Caelus? You seem like you’re daydreaming." Minerva replied, her hand moving in front of his face as she tried to get his attention.
"Oh- Sorry about that, Minerva. I sometimes fixate on stuff I see while just looking around, but it doesn’t help with enhanced vision." Caelus replied, being genuine.
"Huh... Well, it makes sense, I get distracted by small stuff too, not much difference in some stuff I see." Minerva replied, a small smile creeping up on her face.
"Any rules, or should we do none and just fight raw?" Caelus replied as they both got onto the Arena; the wind lightly brushed his face, causing his hair to flow in the air.
"No rules, either way, the rules are mostly to limit one side, not both. Anyway, it’s usually done for the higher realm versus the lower realm."
"I’ll keep that in mind." Caelus, in fact, did not keep it in mind.
[...Saving Information]
Minerva walked away from Caelus, reaching a moderate distance where both of them could hear each other while also not being too close that their speed would make it unfair for either side. They agreed to lower their speed by at least ten times so it would be easier to attack and move around.
"Alright. Let’s begin then, Caelus."