Ascenders Rift

Chapter 64: Emilia's Class, Balraz's Death

[Emilia Goldsmith]

[Race - Human | State - Stage 1 Ascender]

[Class - Spirit Archer | ??? Tier Class - 1st Blessing (+1 stat and +1 spirit per Level)]

[Total Stat increase +4 stats per Level (Blessings + Average Stat Increase)]

[Title - ??? Chosen]

[Level - 1]

[Next Level - 1000EXP]

[Total EXP - 17]

[Health - 200]

[Spirit Power - 18 ( +6 Spirit Heart + (+1)Class Stat Boost + (+5)NSB)]

[Strength - 9]

[Vitality - 10]

[Agility - 9]

[Talent:]

[Spirit Heart (+6 Spirit per level)]

[Spirit Blessing - A blessing of an inherited spiritual being, any of this kind shall be able to increase the limits of their class by one Tier.]

[Skills:]

[Passive - Spirit Assist - If you call for it, the powers of nature will merge with one's soul and body, giving one stat a certain degree of stat boost based on mastery.]

[Spirit Bow A bow formed from the spirits of nature and one's spiritual power, it deals damage based on the amount of channeled Spiritual Power as well as the strength used to draw its string.]

[Spirit????? : Sealed]

As Evan saw Emilia's stats, he couldn't help but sigh as he thought to himself, "Out of all the prodigies I've seen, never has there been one who was capable of using Spiritual Power to assist their physical abilities directly. In fact, it can only be used as a separate medium either by controlling things in the environment or materializing as an assistive object. Much like my Void Blade..."

Upon thinking here, Evan recalled his Void Blade as he shook his head and pondered, "My Void Blade is just like a sword, it will deal damage based on the amount of Spiritual Power I've channeled to create it. However, if I want to use my Spiritual Power to boost my stats, it won't work, for that is only achievable with Battle Energy. If anything, my Spiritual Power, like many others, can only do what my class is based around, which is essentially the manipulation of space..."

As Evan thought here, he pointed his finger forward, causing the space to make a slight ripple due to his Spiritual Power. However, nothing much changed as he didn't do anything more.

Evan shook his head and looked at Emilia again as he spoke softly, "This talent of yours must have truly frightened them all. The question now was only what would they have possibly gained by killing you? Is it to prevent a potential threat, or could there be something more that I don't understand?"

As Evan said this, he wanted to ponder more, but it was at this time. The battle with Balraz was about to enter its final act. With a loud bang, Joe and Balraz separated once again after a fierce collision with their shield and mace.

Joe smashed into another tree, spitting up a bit of blood as Balraz slid across the ground for a few feet distance. His eyes blood red as he glared at Joe and sneered, "Haha, foolish human, your strength is far too inferior to face me in direct combat. Now allow me to send you to your death! Mace Smasher!"

As Balraz yelled, it flourished his mace in the air as his eyes sinisterly glowed. His muscles swelled as he lunged from the ground towards Fatty Joe and slammed the mace towards his head.

Joe, who had only now slid down from the trunk of the tree, looked at the incoming mace with dread, he quickly lifted the shield to block it as he shouted, "Shit! What are you guys doing? Hurry up and help!"

The mace was only a short distance away from Joe's upraised shield, and based on the screeching noise, one could easily tell that if this mace were to hit the shield, it wouldn't be able to resist the impact.

Fatty Joe felt despair as if he could feel the menacing look on the now obscured eyes of Balraz. Yet, it was at this moment; he heard the shout of his dearest sister.

"Leave my brother alone, you evil beast!" As Emilia's voice sounded, a bright ray of golden white light shot from her location.

If one looked carefully, they would see an almost translucent arrow. It broke through the air creating a beam that traveled towards the airborne Balraz.

"Tsk! Pesky human girl, once I kill him, I deal with you next," Balraz said with a mean look, his mace which was about to smash Joe's shield veered towards the transparent arrow and collided with it.

Bang! Following a shockwave, Balraz eyes widen in shock as his arm which held the mace was pull backward. The force from the arrow had managed to repel him by a few meters distance.

"This... how can such a flimsy human have such power in her arrows? Wait, that power, I'm certain of it. How can she have so much Spirit Power?" Balraz exclaimed, having sensed the might behind the arrow. He lifted the arm holding the mace before him, noticing that it had grown a bit numb.

While Balraz was distracted, Emilia looked at Fatty Joe and shouted, "Brother now!"

Joe, having recovered from his previous surprise and predicament, quickly reacted by charging towards Balraz as if he was prepared to use his mass to tackle him to death.

"You big fool, this fatty will smash you to death!" Fatty Joe shouted in his mind while gritting his teeth, recalling his previous near-death moment.

The battle energy in his body overflowed as he felt an abundance of stamina and power. As he exhaled, a few bits of brownish steam came out of his mouth as his body had vague hints of brownish lights over it.

His fat condensed by a section as his muscles grew a bit more prominent, each of his steps now seeming no different from a raging elephant charging through the fields as it faced its foe.

Swish! In moments, he had arrived before the somewhat dazed Balraz with his shield resting against both of his arms when he jumped and smashed towards him with his shoulder.

Balraz, who had only now recovered, looked at Fatty Joe with disdain, "You think you have what it takes! I'll show you that your hope is nothing!"

As Balraz shouted this, his arm swelled as his muscles grew more prominent when he drew back his arm and brandished his mace by swinging around a few times. Having gathered all of his power in the mace, he struck it violently towards Joe's shield with a savage expression as he shouted, "MACE SMASHER!"

Swoosh! The currents of air around the two seemed to be in disorder, but this didn't last as they collided quickly.

BANG! A sound much like an explosion resounded, but unlike what one would expect, no one was blown away by the other as they were now locked in a clash striving to push back the other.

Although Joe was much weaker than Balraz, the momentum from his charge and the intuitive release of his complete Battle Energy, was enough to balance their attacks.

Still, though it was such, it was a scenario that wouldn't last forever as though Balraz lacked Battle Energy, his full-on brute power was more than enough to crush Joe in piles of flesh and broken bones.

Creakkk! The goblin shield that Joe held was now being torn apart by Balraz's mace. As Joe saw this, his face sunk when he gritted his teeth and thought, "Darn! What's taking her so long? I don't think I can last forever against this kind of brute."

Balraz seemed to have noticed Joe's expression; his face showed a mean look when he licked his snout and spoke, "Haha, human, don't worry, I'll make sure to break not only your bones but your spirit..."

Balraz was about to make another attack, but it was at this time, his senses which were still focused on Emilia went off in alarm. Quickly, he pulled his torso backward and used his foot to kick Joe away.

As this happened, another semi-transparent arrow flew directly in the position his head used to reside before it crashed into a nearby rock.

Boom! The boulder exploded into a rain of debris that showered over that area, some of the dust even spread towards the location of their battle.

Fatty Joe, who has kicked away, spat out a chunk of blood as he fell on his back, the shield that was now barely useable had soon after smashed onto the ground by his side.

"Brother!" Emilia seeing this was anxious, she wanted to rush over towards him, but as she took a step forward, she felt to her knee and grasp her head in pain as she started to pant heavily.

"Ah this what's happening?" Emilia said while in pain.

Balraz who had only recovered to standing posture looked at this in glee, he smirked and dashed towards Emilia with his mace raised above his head.

"Foolish human girl, your spiritual power is astounding, but with no control and proper usage, you are nothing but prey in the end. Prepare to d..." Balraz spoke in excitement, but before he could finish his words, there was a change.

Pu-chi! The sound of a blade piercing flesh resounded, it was unknown when, but Layla had appeared directly above Balraz with her knife deeply punched into his large neck.

"Cough! You... you..." Balraz wanted to say something, but the blood in his throat prevented him, Layla's eyes shone in a vague purple light when she grabbed the handle of her long knife and sliced it towards the side.

Shing! With a cutting sound, the knife swept from the center of Balraz's neck, towards the side, easily cutting away half of his neck.

Layla, in this one swift motion, jumped from Balraz body and fell onto the ground. Balraz dropped his mace and used one of his hands to grip his bleeding neck, he angrily glared at Layla, but as he felt his life fading away, he didn't try to attack her.

"I was foolish, why didn't I stick to the words of the leader and call aid upon sight of these wretched humans? Darn, now I'll die in this place, such a foolish death!" Balraz thought to himself, he had now fallen to his knees, and his sights were growing darker by the second.

He opened his mouth and struggled to speak, "I... I won't die... like this..."

As he managed to say these words, he reached for the signal flare in his pouch, but as he did this, Evan, who had been idling on the tree, promptly acted.

Swish! Like a blurry shade, Evan quickly arrived in front of Balraz. He made a snatching motion and promptly took the flare away from Balraz's hand.

As Balraz saw his last hope faded away from an unknown human, his eyes shone with regret and unwillingness as his consciousness faded into darkness.

Thud! The corpse laid silently on the ground as a pool of blood had slowly formed around it. Evan nodded as he saw this, he glanced at the somewhat pale-faced Layla, the injured Fatty Joe that was laying on his back and then onto Emilia who was grasping her head in pain when he spoke, "The test is complete, you have all passed, with a solid, B-"