It was already morning and the trio of Ace, Ray and Ariel were currently in Ace's room, after their encounter with the Iron Beast yesterday and after it ran away, Ace had decided to continue exploring for clues and keep their questions for later.
And here they were, in his room-each having their own questions to ask each other.
"So, how are you so freaking strong, Ray?" Ace asked his unnaturally strong friend who shrugged indifferently, then lingered for a while and spoke.
"I just... had practice, and I trained a lot."
Ace frowned then opened his mouth but remained silent, he hesitated contemplating whether to go deeper into Ray's story or just let it be, at last he sighed.
"Why would you train fighting? And to this extent of mastery?" Ace asked once again prompting Ray to shrug.
"We all have our secrets, but if you really wish to know then I just wanted to kill a few people. Nothing much serious if you ask me."
Ace and Ariel gave a dead pan expression then shuddered at the thought of facing their friend in a death-match, no Ace did not need something like that and he most likely will never need to.
"Well I hope we are not one of the people you want to kill you know, fighting against me or Ace will not be easy." Ariel said with a nervous laugh, Ray raised his eyebrows thinking of the possibility of fighting Ace and Ariel, then a smile crept onto his face sending shivers down both Ace and Ariel's bones.
"Well, that aside. I have a feeling that we will come face that Iron Beast once again today."
Ray looked at Ace and nodded then shrugged.
"It will be great if even both of you joined to fight him alongside me."
Soon, the three humans were in the kitchen eating their sum of delicious food which was kept inside a box. Food would be available for a day or two but after that, they had to make it themselves-and find a way to move the ship in the right direction too.
Ace sighed washing his hands and glanced at the dead body of the chef, it was still there, no one cleaned it after all-and surely none of them wanted to either but the man deserved a proper burial. At the very least they could throw his body into the sea as some form of burial.
They did not know the normal type of burial given to people if they die on a ship surrounded by nothing except water as far as the eye could see.
"Hey, I'm thinking of throwing the chef's body into the ocean tonight as a form of burial."
Ariel raised an eyebrow looking at the man's dead body and lingered for a while.
"Is that how burials in the sea are?"
"I don't know but he's at least the first we can certainly say is dead. So he deserves some sort of burial." Ray who had been silent for all this time stood up and walked over to the dead body, and sighed.
"Before that, let's train, it's good to train ourselves before meeting the beast." Ray said walking out of the room, Ray's eyes lingered on the broken wall and the bright sunlight. He grimaced slightly remembering the unbearable pain he felt yesterday.
"Many people in the deck have suffered and maybe are still suffering, even if we somehow save them-they must have already gone mad." Ray said then walked away leaving Ace and Ariel alone in the kitchen.
Ace was thinking about his mother, then the pain he felt yesterday under the light of the sun, and grit his teeth.
'I will save you no matter what.'
Just as he thought that, the entire ship shook and trembles, Ace's eyes widened as he and Ariel ran outside the room and followed in the direction where Ray had gone to. After ascending the floor, the first thing that welcomed them was Ray's body flying and colliding with them.
Just as soon as Ray fell however he stood back up, his eyes were calm however Ace could see a slight hint of fury in them and strangely, no nervousness or fear in his eyes. Ace was suddenly curious about Ray's past but unfortunately right now they were facing a bigger problem.
The Iron Beast let out a furious roar as it dashed towards them in frightening speed, out of some instinct-A sword suddenly formed in Ace's hands but even before he had a chance to do anything-Ray already shot a few of his Flame Bullets at the fiend forcing it to dodge.
This bought enough time for Ace to take a good look at his sword, it was a long, dark sword with a sleek, slightly curved blade. Thin cracks of glowing blue light run along its surface, giving it an eerie, alive-like glow. The hilt is sharp and claw-like, wrapped around a bright blue crystal at the centre, while faint wisps of energy drift off the blade like smoke.
'What the...'
It seemed like he could really summon a sword but he did not expect the sword to be so ridiculously beautiful and strong looking.
Then, a rune appeared in front of him.
Name:Voidflare Blade
Type: Manifested Sword
Rank: Unknown
Description: This is the first blessing you receive—a blessed sword.
Effect: Increases attack power and allows the user to channel energy through the blade, enhancing each strike.
Ace was momentarily taken back, the sword he received was not the sword he could summon normally, instead it was a new skill. That arose a new question in his mind.
'How do we attain new skills?'
But he did not have time to ponder at this question as he saw the Iron Beast aiming a punch at his friend, Ray was moments away from receiving a crushing blow from the Iron Beast, the beast was too close to try and dodge and moreover the fiend was ridiculously fast-faster than yesterday.
Gritting as he brought his hands up, flames surrounded his hands as he grimaced blocking the punch of the fiend with his two arms as he flew back. It seemed that for some reason, Ray immediately deactivated the flame domain.
Now however the fiend was free of his overpowered friend and was now rushing towards the two others.
"Move!" Ariel snapped.
Ariel grunted as a dagger formed in his hands which he threw at the fiend and expectedly the fiend dodged it.
Ace dashed front, he did not know how to even swing a sword but this sword fit in his hands perfectly, as if it was made for him-and again, it was a blessing so obviously the blade was suitable for him.
Ace saw the Beast come closer and grimaced then out of desperation swung his blade in front of him putting all his force behind it and in a awkward moment, Ray watched in a dead pan expression as Ace swung his sword with the Beast still a metre away from his reach and awkwardly lost his balance and fell on the floor.
The strong teenager shrugged.
Ace was only saved by the fiend due to a sudden flame arrow hitting the side of the fiend, using the precious time, he picked himself and ran towards Ray who was standing with his bow, the next arrow already launched hitting the beast in the head.
Suddenly Ariel lunged at the beast from where Ace was standing a few moments ago, Ariel was fast and with Ray continuously firing arrows at the beast, Ariel easily dodged a sword slash then blocked the next slash with his venomous sword blocking another slash.
The Venomous was a black blade with faint dark green hues running along its surface. A toxic aura constantly surrounds it, releasing a subtle, poisonous presence. Watching the blade however, Ace felt as if the blade was beautiful and elegant.
Ariel tapped the beast's armour—then leapt back. A second later, dark veins spread across the metal, the beast then tried to attack Ariel but staggered losing its balance and form and thus could not block Ray's next arrow to its head.
"Ace, Go!" Ray commanded, Ace hesitated only for a moment then dashed front, a second sword appearing and floating around him-The beast looked at him and raised its sword to slash but staggered again but still managed to attack Ace.
The floating blade shot forward, intercepting the attack with a sharp clash. as Ace ducked under the sword and immediately jumped up with all his might dodging a backward slash.
Ray was suddenly there, with his inhuman speed, he wrapped flames around his body, the beast turned and with a swing of its arm-Ace was sent flying but still landed on his feet a couple metres away.
He dodged another slash and grabbed the floating sword mid-air. Flames surged into the blade, coating it in blazing light.
Then he thrust the sword into the Iron Beast, the blade easily went through its armour and sank itself in the fiend's flesh as blood splattered on Ray's hand.
Ray deactivated the flame domain, let go of the sword and jumped back barely dodging the hand of the beast.
"…It's not done." Ray said.
The blade embedded in its chest began to tremble, Ace grimaced watching the blade, he had a current of questions in his head but threw them aside for now. He dismissed the floating sword.
Then something not at all normal happened.
"What is it doing…?"
The towering frame shrank.
Three meters…Two…
In a second, the towering beast was no more and in its place was a humanoid figure clad in iron armour, each and every part of it-not even a crack or opening.
'How will he move freely in that armour.'
And in its hand was a perfectly shaped blade.
"…You've got to be kidding me," Ariel muttered.
The thing moved, and disappeared... and appeared in front of Ray and punched his gut. The Beast was fast, too fast-it looked almost teleporting, and even Ray seemed surprised. Ace summoned the Floating blade once again, and strained his eyes trying to catch the beast's movements.
In the next second, Ariel was thrown back and the beast was right beside him-if it was not for the floating blade, the beast would have definitely punch a hole through his head.
The floating blade had a mind and soul of its own and hence unlike him knew perfectly how to fight, as it protected and fought, Ace saw a opening when the sword stalled the beast into a block.
Gripping the Voidflare sword tighter, he rushed forward and caught the blade with two hands and aimed the tip of the sword forward towards the beast-at the last moment the beast sidestepped his awkward stab and ducked under the floating blade's slash as it jumped back.
It looked around itself, and saw all three humans on their feet.
Ariel summoned his sword again as he slowly walked towards the beast. Ray was the most injured of the three, blood was seeping from his gut from underneath his clothes, and he spat a bit of blood.
Ace himself was not in good shape with the floating sword flying around him. He could do only two things. Summon unlimited swords and control one of them. Right now, he did not control them and so, they were protecting him, out of some instinct in them.
And obviously, he had the Voidflare blade, but what use of having something strong if he did not know to use them at all.
The three humans were surrounding the fiend from all sides, and then Ray rushed forward, a bow in his hands-and skidding to a stop he released an arrow at the humanoid beast which disappeared dodging it effortlessly.
This time however, the flame user was ready and immediately dismissed the bow and when flames covered both his arms, he turned back and caught the blade of the Iron beast momentarily startling the beast.
In the next moment, he pulled the beast, and augmented by the flames-he grimaced and punched the beast in the chest-this time the armour did not break and neither was Ray expected it to.
The next moment, the beast was caught in flames. Ray used Flame arrow to become the victim of the fiend, then with his inhuman ability powered by the Flame domain-he followed its movements and caught it and then punched it and now his palm was touching the beast.
And with Flame touch, the beast was being burnt now. Ace was there, his floating blade striking the beast again and again followed by a slash of venomous sword and the beast was now suffering from flames, poison and a current of strikes from the floating sword.
The beast trembled then let out a furious roar and kicked Ray back and aimed a slash at Ariel though the Floating sword came between them but it still did not stop it as it slashed the sword again and ducked under it.
Punching Ariel towards a wall, its focus shifted back to the sword just as two projectiles shot at it-one fast and multiple flame bullets and the other, from its blind spot a moderately fast dagger.
The beast blocked a slash from the sword and then vanished dodging the bullets.
Then it appeared a few steps away and staggered because of the poison but sadly again resumed fighting the sword and then immediately forced to block a fast arrow leaving it vulnerable to the sword-or so it looked.
Its iron hand shot forward, as it barely swatted the blade away but the mighty humanoid figure staggered due to poison and at the last moment sensed a dagger approaching it from behind.
Turning its entire body, it swatted the dagger and was hit by the floating blade from behind and just as it turned back-a figure covered entirely in flames dashed at him.
As Ray covered himself in complete flames, he let out a scream and caught the floating blade cutting one of the beast's hand.
Just as they were about to lock in on a fight, a dagger pierced the beast from behind. Ariel had dismissed and summoned the dagger and thrown it at the beast, infused with twice as deadly poison-the beast lost its balance and suffered a devastating kick from Ray who then caught it and threw it at his side with all his might.
In the direction where Ray threw the beast, Ace stood watching the beast get thrown at him.
'Guess I can't miss this.'
Then stabbed the beast through where its heart would have been.
'Die, you bastard!'
As he stabbed the beast and fell under the beasts huge body, he somehow pushed it aside and stood up.
Silence.
Ace stood there, breathing heavily.
His hands trembling.
Then a faint light appeared before him.
A rune appeared in front of him.
[You have slain an Elite Monster: Iron Beast.
You have received four abilities.]
They had killed the Iron Beast.
However then, another rune appeared.
[Your soul Rune has evolved.]
Ace then looked back at his friends who looked at him with the same excited and dumbfounded expressions on their faces.