The Princess walked closer toward the two humans that had appeared out of nowhere. As she approached, the wound she had sustained—the ghastly tear across her left side that had been steadily dripping blood, suddenly stopped bleeding.
The flesh turned discretely blue and then froze. A chunk of ice replaced the mangled tissue entirely, sealing the injury.
’Wh... what?’
Ishiki stared with wide eyes.
’This is... unfair.’
But the transformation wasn’t finished.
The ice didn’t just seal the wound, it merged with her skin and then melted to reveal new flesh, that showed no evidence of ever being injured.
Within seconds, the Princess’s side was completely healed. Perfect ivory skin could be seen, where moments ago there had been torn meat and flowing blood.
’How is any of this fair?’
The thought arrived with bitter resentment.
The princess had a Mythical Title, so the skill too must have been relatively powerful that was a given. But a skill so offensive and even providing, self healing?
That was a complete cheat.
And that too when Ishiki also had a Mythical Title and had a skill that didn’t have a use. At least not up until now. And he had no idea if he would live long enough to find out how his skill worked.
The comparison Stung.
These philosophical concerns aside, the current pressing matter demanded attention. The Princess was heading toward him with very... resentful expression on her face.
"He... hello? Do you remember me? I am-"
Before he could speak another word, she pushed herself forward gracefully—no, not gracefully. That was Explosively. Covering the distance in a single heartbeat with speed that transcended normal human capacity.
’Shit!’
Ishiki gritted his teeth and shoved Alex sideways—getting the pale man out of the impact zone.
He summoned the Curved Bone to his aid with a mental command. As soon as the pale sword manifested itself into reality, something struck it.
CRACK!
A thunderous impact rattled Ishiki’s entire body. His vision blurred from the sheer kinetic force transmitted through his weapon.
’Damn It! How is she so strong?’
Somewhere between closing distance and striking, the Princess had created a goddamn sword of frost from thin air. Being so relatively close to the chilling beauty, Ishiki felt an unsatiable cold biting at his skin.
"Are... Are you a Demon?"
That was all the princess whispered, or maybe it was all Ishiki could hear before he was sent flying and crashing into a house.
"Aghh!"
Ishiki gasped and choked.
"You... you are the demoness!"
Ishiki grunted as he pushed himself up after the gruesome crash. Luckily, he wasn’t heavy enough and the princess was not at her peak, that there was no damage done to the house.
"Are you a Demon impersonating as a Human?" The princess’s voice echoed through the empty clearing.
’Well... isn’t that too straight? Why would a goddamn demon say, yes?’
"Excuse me, are you demonic entity?" "Why yes, thank you for asking! Would you like to schedule my execution now or later?"
’Is that how the convo should go?’
"What?... We are not Demons, We are hu-" Alex tried to speak as he pushed himself up, but a sword suddenly appeared in front of his neck.
"Who told you to speak?"
It was another one of the twelve people who had survived and reached the clearing. The Player’s voice carried flat hostility.
"Screw it, It wasn’t supposed to go like this." Ishiki thought.
The princess frowned and narrowed her eyes even more. "What... was not supposed to go like this? You are a demon after all."
’Oh.’
’Oh no.’
Ishiki looked at her in bewilderment. ’Holy... I said that aloud?’
"No, no... I mean, Its not like that. I am Ishiki Senju. I was in your relief camp." Ishiki blurted out, dropping his weapon down.
The Curved Bone disappeared into motes of light before touching the ground. The Princess stopped mid-stride and looked at the weapon disappearing besides Ishiki.
Then she gave Ishiki another look and bowed down, generously. "My apologies for attacking you earlier. If that weapon was actually a Vestige, then you indeed are a human."
Ishiki gave her a weird look, he wanted to say a lot but he gulped it all in. ’Didn’t she see the sword manifest itself earlier?’
Well, not like he was going to stay on that. He let out a heavy sigh of relief. At least, that went smoothly without him breaking any bones.
’That’s something, isn’t it.’
Soon, the tense atmosphere that had developed around the group of strangers and the two strangers, dissipated within seconds.
The Princess, however, didn’t have it so good. After apologizing to Ishiki, she fell to one knee and then passed out just like that.
The Crimson Night was over.
And just like every cycle before, the flames rimming the moon were devoured by beautiful pale celestial body that drowned the world in eerie, cold light.
Ishiki sat silently atop a house’s roof, looking at the silver moon with grim expression. He had once again, missed the moment the change happened.
From the last two weeks Ishiki had been trying to witness how exactly did the moon’s interchange happened, but for some reason he had missed it every single time.
’Damn it. Why can’t I remember it at the right time?’
He sighed and laid down carefully. The cold wind brushed against his cloths, bringing with it smell of blood and something more gruesome—decay, perhaps or digestive fluids. Hard to distinguish when everything stank of death.
Deep inside the Crimson Canopy, some very ghastly things were moving and preying upon their own kin or maybe on the other species, who knew what those beasts were up to?
The princess was still unconscious, and Ishiki had a full stomach after so long thanks to her. Well, that was the first time he had tried monster meat and it had turned out just normal.
They’d managed to establish good standing with the twelve survivors. At least Alex had, his healing skill made him immediately valuable person.
Ishiki was useless to them by comparison. He had no healing capabilities, no obviously powerful abilities and no utility that made him advantageous.
’Whatever.’
He would have also gained such interest if he had a healing skill of course. Healers were valuable people at the end.
’Huh, Why am I thinking about that? Its useless unless you can use it on yourself. The princess’s skill sure is something else. But guess that healing takes too much toll on her.’
Looking at the silver moon with a somber expression, Ishiki once again found himself thinking about futile things and his mysterious Exclusive skill.
’Wait... Have I ever even checked my Exclusive skill?’
That was when it hit him.
When he focused on different things there would be a new window describing everything related to that particular part, and up until now. Ishiki had somehow never thought about looking at his main skill.
’Fool... i am such a Fool.’
Without wasting another moment, Ishiki summoned his System screen and focused on his Exclusive Skill [Soul Archive]
Just as he thought, another window bloomed in front of him and this one... was different from all else.