The darkness was like a deep cave where any ray of sunlight would scarcely dare to penetrate. In this darkness, a blazing ray of light illuminated the entire place. The air was impregnated with the acrid smell of burning coal, sulfur, and the constant echo of hammer blows against metal reverberated on the rocky walls.
The atmosphere was rustic, a blend of warmth and chill; it was the forge of a dwarf. No, not just any dwarf, but the forge of the Dwarf King.
"Father?" Clovis's voice echoed, the hammer blows could be heard throughout the kingdom like a symphony; he grew curious and came to see.
Clovis was on his week off, where he decided to return home. Despite still pondering Dante's death, he didn't want to dwell on it and decided to return. He wanted to work in his forge, but upon returning, he heard his father's strikes and decided to find him to see what he was working on.
As he entered his father's forge, a cave supported by some sort of artificial volcano, he felt a different sensation.
Before him, upon a massive anvil, lay a piece of incandescent metal, still raw and rough. With skilled and precise hands, Baskev, the Dwarf king blacksmith, wielded his golden hammer with mastery, shaping the metal with firm and calculated strikes. Each blow was accompanied by a metallic clang, and the metal responded, bending and transforming under the smith's pressure.
As he worked, the dwarf murmured ancient words, intoned in a runic language, as if he were weaving together with the metal. His face was focused, his movements were rhythmic, and his expression revealed a mixture of passion and devotion to his craft. Clovis felt inspired seeing the combination, especially the material he was using: a combination of iron?
No, it was something more resilient; the shape? It was the head of a spear.
Clovis looked around and saw various destroyed hammers, piles of broken hammers that bore great damage, completely destroyed and unusable, while the sounds of hammering continued.
Clovis sat on the ground and watched attentively, beginning to absorb the knowledge his father lightly passed on as he hammered. Baskev was in a state of flow, using everything he had to forge what lay before him. The Fire Mana around the area began to react, lightly being absorbed by the material.
Clovis remained there just watching for several minutes, which felt like hours, but he stayed there in the extreme heat because he needed to understand what led his father to create such a weapon; he stayed there.
"Ahrg" Baskev sighed and sat on the ground, almost falling from exhaustion. He looked at the ground as the sweat from his entire body dripped onto the floor; everything was blurry, the effort he exerted far exceeded his capacity.
"Here." He heard the voice coming from behind him, and as he turned, he saw his youngest son holding a bottle of beer he liked the most. Clovis smiled, and Baskev reciprocated.
Baskev sat there, and Clovis sat beside him, looking at the piece in front of him: a beautiful blade of a spear.
"It's beautiful." Clovis commented as he felt inspired seeing such creation.
"I couldn't make it." Baskev commented with frustration. Despite using everything he had, the material was too primal. Valentina had told him about the material, but he never imagined it would be so difficult to work with.
"What do you mean you couldn't?" Clovis questioned, examining the blade more closely. "Ah, Demon Energy, what material is this?"
"The Horn of a Demon." Baskev commented, and Clovis nearly choked, quickly asking: "Who asked you to do this?"
"Valentina." He remarked, and Clovis fell silent, but he questioned, "Did she say what she would use this weapon for?"
"No, but I already presume what it is for, revenge." Baskev commented as he stood up. "I need to finish this."
"Father, have they confirmed his death?" Clovis asked, lowering his head slightly.
"I know about your interactions, but I believe so, due to how Morgana has been acting and Valentina, I believe they will do something at this winter festival," he said and concluded: "I won't be able to attend, but I recommend you stay away from the events, it could cost you your life, my son," he said, and Clovis nodded.
He was not a natural fighter, but he knew he couldn't get involved in something like that.
"Go talk to your mother, I need to finish this for that woman," Baskev said, and Clovis bid farewell.
Clovis was surprised by how the situation unfolded and decided to go his own way.
Challenge Hall
"Are you sure you don't want to fight tomorrow, Sara?" Akiko asked.
"Yes, I hold no more grudges, and I assume this 'tournament' is merely out of sheer obsession to outmatch opponents. I'm not interested," Sara replied as she read through the competition lists. Only those who wanted to fight put their names down; it wasn't easy to figure out who wanted to; several of them were men with egos as big as the clouds, especially the three idiots Sara despised.
"Hm, that one will be a fierce fight," Akiko pointed to the names of Alexander and Forki.
"An accident could happen, and they could both end up killing each other," she remarked offhandedly, causing Akiko to disbelieve her words.
"The Werewolf King is coming," Akiko commented. "I hope he burns for having a son like that creature," Sara retorted, annoyed.
"Okay, that's enough Sara! You're not like this!" Akiko exploded, she couldn't take the comments anymore and confronted Sara with everyone around watching the scene.
"Akiko, shut up," Sara said with a dark look. Akiko stepped back slightly and walked away, leaving Sara behind.
"Great, another idiot," Sara commented still neutrally, and walked away.
"Are you going to leave your best friend sad?" Sara heard a familiar voice, it was Elizabeth Tapes.
"I hope you're not here to annoy me too," she replied as she finished reading the names, indifferent.
"Scarlet," she said, and Sara immediately turned and stared at her angrily, waiting for Elizabeth to continue. "Not here, we need to talk."
Sara nodded, realizing something was wrong. Elizabeth would never approach her without reason, especially after what happened between them. Although Sara had treated her that way due to possessiveness over Dante, Elizabeth had never done anything to Sara, and there was no reason to treat her poorly. Deep down, Sara knew she was wrong, so she gave her a vote of confidence and followed Elizabeth.
Both went to Sara's apartment, which she used to share with Dante. Now it seemed empty and lonely.
"Make yourself at home," Sara said, and Elizabeth sat at the table. Sara took the leftover coffee made in the morning, heated it in the magic microwave, and handed a mug to Sara.
"So, what did you want to discuss?" Sara asked, and Elizabeth stared at her. "Before I tell you, could you talk to me about Dante?" Elizabeth asked casually, and Sara nodded.
"What do you want to know about him?" Sara questioned. Elizabeth, however, didn't know what to ask and fell silent. Sara saw that this wouldn't lead to anything and began to explain.
"At first, I thought he was like his mother, a disgusting and repulsive being who would kill for anything, as his mother's image has been propagated throughout history. But when I met him, I found him interesting," Sara commented.
"How so interesting?" Elizabeth asked.
"I can't explain it, I met him as he got into a fight in the admission line, I watched from afar and found it interesting how he handled the scene altogether. We ended up revealing ourselves when we took the test, we were the last ones, and all of you had gone; it turned out that... he exploded the Sage Sphere," Sara said, and Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Exploded?" Sara nodded.
"My talent is Celestial, but Dante's... it's above that, it's surprising, isn't it? I found it increasingly interesting, but the interest died quickly when I left that day, but fate fought strongly against me."
"The next day, I arrived late, I had overslept because I was really exhausted. When I arrived... I went into the remaining room since there weren't many things for me to do at school. It was a day before the ceremony, so I settled in first. As I saw the door a bit further away from the others, I thought it was a unique room but...
I was wrong and changed in the living room itself, I really wanted to change clothes soon, and that's where it started."
"What started?" Elizabeth asked curiously. "Dante saw me semi-naked," Sara revealed, and Elizabeth went silent.
The silence hung in the air, and now Dante was portrayed as a pervert, not even Sara had thought about it; she just kept recounting. A few minutes passed, and Sara finally started talking about their relationship.
"At first... I just took things that happened as nonsense, but slowly I kind of started to like him, you know? He's protective, he cares about me, he easily shows how important I am, compliments me, trains with me, supports me. I know, it's silly, but that's how I feel. I might be deluding myself, but as one of the Virtues, I know when something's wrong, and with Dante, it's different.
Since we exchanged swords, since we talked, had coffee together, trained, everything was peaceful... something I didn't feel with anyone except my mother. That's why I like him." Sara concluded, and Elizabeth, for the first time, smiled.
"I guess I was wrong about him. My mother... doesn't take the name Scarlet very well and always said absurd things about Valentina and Dante, so I was childish to antagonize him. That's why I came here, to make amends. Since he's no longer here, I'll apologize to you for everything I did and said," Elizabeth said as she stood up slightly and bowed.
"It's not necessary, Elizabeth... he wouldn't like something like that," Sara commented, but Elizabeth shook her head and took out another Recording Stone.
"This is my apology," she handed the jewel to Sara, who injected some mana, and a conversation began to be transmitted to her.
Sara began to wriggle with anger, her body began to tremble, and her eyes turned completely golden with power. Her blue hair changed to the deepest yellow, and her entire body began to glow.
Her Virtue activated fully, out of pure anger and injustice, the lack of humility in these beings caused the Ascension itself to categorize them as elimination targets.
Soon, Sara calmed down, her hair returned to normal, and she looked at Elizabeth. "Thank you, I know what to do."
As soon as Elizabeth left the room, Sara immediately went to the main hall to register for the battle event, but unfortunately, she never got to fight anyone, at least had any contact with the one she wanted most alive; she could never forget that event, and Dante's Death.