The Beast of Death

[So. Here we are again. Do me a favour and enjoy the chapter.]

Her travel continued for a few more days.

She barely stopped running during that time, only taking periotic breaks.

And within her travels, she had killed a good few monsters and wild animals.

Some had attacked her, some tried to hunt her while others were just standing in her path.

Yet Mitsuna did not care. Her current goal was reaching home. Who cares about a few wolves or boars attacking?

Her status now looked like this.

[Name: Mitsuna

Titles: [Princess] [Talented] [Future Calamitas]

Race: Frozen Ash Dragon

Class: Fused Blood Chimera

Level: 48

Status: Normal

Sword Style: Crescent (1/7)

Attributes:

Health: 397,000/397,000

Mana: 394,000/394,000

Attributes:

Strength: 9,940

Vitality: 7,940

Intelligence: 7,880

Agility: 9,450 - 22,950

Dexterity: 2,750

Defence: 7,980

AP: 13,500 - 0

Elemental Affinities:

[Ice - Tier 2]

[Fire - Tier 2]

[Time - Tier 0]

Skills: [Dragon Transformation] [Dragon Breath] [Phoenix Regeneration] [Mixed Physique] [Dragon Scales] [Phoenix Bones] [Elemental Manipulation] [Mana Condensation] [Mana Sense] [Phoenix Eyes] [## ############] [## ############] [Mana Reinforcement] [Aim] [Conceal] [Sprint] [Swordsmanship (Basic)] [Greater Stamina] [Concentration] [Vortex Mana Flow] [Unique Breathing] [Blood Flow Control]

Techniques: [Eclipsed Sakura - Cresent Eclipse, Sakura Monsoon, Sakura Step, Full Eclipse.]

Special Skills: [Determination]]

Since Mitsuna did want to get home as fast as she could, she continuously poured all of her free Attribute Points into Agility.

Her unbalanced status pared nicely with her swordsmanship oddly enough.

She was currently running through a familiar set of fields, the same she saw when she had first departed.

She was close. So very close.

And a few tens of minutes later, she stood in front of the city gates. Her home city.

Although she did see it from afar, she had yet to fully accept she was home. She had to make sure, because...

'That smoke is just from a few chimneys, right?'

Opening the gates, what she saw... made her tear up in silence.

A desolate landscape. Rubble, fire and dust covered the land with the stench of blood acting as reassurance. What she saw was true.

Death had come to the city.

Mitsuna took a step forward.

"No. This... who could do This when the strongest in the country, my family, resides here. They... we live here. Our home."

She muttered. Her first words in a while.

A flock of birds passed by, flying over the castle yet they too, fell to their death the moment they hovered over it.

'The castle.'

This thought ran through Mitsuna's head. It was now all she could think about.

Hopping over a broken roof that somehow ended up in the middle of the main street, Mitsuna made her way to the castle.

...

After Mitsuna had left, I started taking up the hobby I found thanks to her. Painting.

I now left my appraisal skill turned off almost all the time since it distracted me.

At first, like anyone my paintings started out small and pretty bland and ugly and terrible and horrid.

Hmm. Maybe I'm a harsh self-critic?

Anyway after two weeks or so I got the hang of it and made portraits of Mother, Father, the captain of the knights and Mitsuna.

I did often get inspired and tried other things as well. For example, landscape and animals.

I honestly believe one of my best works is what I call 'The Other Perspective' where the painting is pictured as watching me paint my sister, almost like your watching through the eyes of a third person, but calling it 'The Third Person' is really creepy, who would name something that?

I quite like it and my Father said something about a masterpiece and auctioning it for a good profit.

Of course, I refused. It would be far more valuable after 100 years or so. Besides, I did like it so I kept it in my room.

Since Mitsuna left, dinner has been quiet. Mother often comments on Mitsuna's absence while Father refutes everything and mentioning the promise.

I did quite get used to some of her antics so now it seems... hollow? Well maybe just quiet, I'm not some obsessed brother.

To keep myself busy, I started research concerning Mitsuna's rather unique title. What I found is actually quite interesting.

During the talent granting, in extremely rare cases, an error occurs. Titles or skills that are granted are already possessed by the individual which results in a 'reroll' of sorts.

Every time this happens, a bright red message appears so it would be rather hard to miss. I really doubt... hope. I hope that Mitsuna was paying attention when her talent was being granted. She can't be a klutz and she definitely isn't dim.

But I think that what happened was that all the talents that she could possess, she already had so the system could only compromise.

But she doesn't have that many skills or titles or even elements. Strange. Maybe she has them but they are sealed or rather, locked away? That of course is only another hypothetical.

About a month after Mitsuna's departure, at dinner, Father suddenly dropped his spoon.

His face was, very surprised. Shock and disbelief along with a tinge of sadness and fear.

When Mother asked him what was wrong, he stood up and dragged Mother into his office.

They both later exited with dire expressions.

I was told nothing but that didn't stop me from thinking.

And a few days later. That.... or rather 'it' appeared.

...

I have always been a proud parent.

If anyone were to challenge my children or family on equal terms, I am sure they would later regret it.

My daughter left home to train under a close friend of mine some time ago.

It has been rather hollow since then. It is absolutely... boriing.

She had a way to lighten the mood even when she sometimes was expressionless. I am sure many would envy that part of her.

A little less than a month after she left. I felt a contract break.

Sensing it closer, I found that it belonged to Em. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. It was impossible, that girl could easily beat the sh*t out of almost every country single bladedly.

Contracts normally break when one of the individuals die or the terms are broken. Breaking the terms we made is basically impossible since Em is not that kind of person.

So who could kill her? Someone that terrifying exists and that is a very big problem.

Besides that. MY Daughter was with her.

Who would dare kill someone with connections to our clan, nay, our family?

I brought my wife to my office where I explained the situation.

She did not take it well. Who would?

I had to melt most of my frozen office after the talk.

I refused to tell Jameson. At least at that time.

The next day, I received news of someone breaking the border of my country.

Being in a bad mood, I sent a few royal guards to just execute them. They did not return.

A few hours after sending them out, I went to dine with my wife and son.

If only, at that time, I had looked closely outside the window.

Everything outside was silenced.

And a few minutes later, not realizing anything was wrong, the door to the dining area opened.

In stepped a beastkin of strange origin.

She was covered in dust, holding what seemed to be a sword belonging to the royal knights.

She stunk of death.

I was already on guard so I appraised her. It failed. I then used a different skill in my possession.

It was a kind of appraisal that judged a person's current state and what I read put me off.

Possessed, sad, excited, terrified, denial.

There were a few more but before I could read the other few that also seemed to conflict with each other, the girl attacked.

She was fast. Too fast for her age.

I planned to block it at first and ask what was happening but a moment before the sword touched me my instincts kicked in.

Dodging out of the way, the girl continued her assault on me.

Sweat trickled down my back. It was almost as if she had millions upon billions of status points in strength. I felt as if a scratch would spell my end.

My wife soon joined the fray, using her ice to create as much distance as possible.

Jameson made his way out while we covered him so he could check the damage dealt to the city.

The fight that came next was not in our favour.

The girl had sent a mirage or illusion after our son during the fight while she kept us busy.

During the fight, I lost my wife. I blundered.

The girl seemed to be an incarnation of death as even her illusionary skills were lethal.

An illusory and barely visible sword was launched towards me and thinking that it was a mere fake image, I ignored it.

It was then that Ary pushed me out of the way and took the hit. A moment later, with a sad smile, she was reduced to dust.

Anger swelled. She took my wife, maybe even Em and my children.

I used every skill I could at that moment and landed a few good hits. The ones I missed produced shockwaves strong enough to blow the roof away.

Rubble rained down from the sky as I continued my onslaught.

It was then that I received a kick to the stomach.

Falling back, I concluded that only her illusions and swordplay Techniques could kill.

Landing on my hands and feet, I was ready to pounce but at that moment when she kicked me, a flock of ravens passed by overhead and the sheer volume of the aura of death killed the weak creatures.

The falling corpses of birds and black feathers momentarily blocked my vision.

I tried to step back but what I saw in front of me was the image of my daughter. I hesitated. An illusion?

And at that moment I felt a blade slice my neck.

I was turning to ash much like my wife. I would soon join her. Yet I wished to not see my children there as well. They have much to live for.

I landed on my knees.

To onlookers, it might look like praying. Heh.

While my body was now mostly ash and dust, I fell. Only to see, in my last moments, the beautiful face of my daughter, embracing me with her arms. She had tears on her face.

I wish I could have comforted her.

Well. I guess that does it for my life flashing before my eyes.

I do hope Mitsuna makes the right decision. Since as of now. She can not defeat that beast of death.