SNOWHITE

 "Hmm... there's literally nothing here!" I yelled, kicking a loose stone as I finished yet another mind-numbing round around this goddamn sector.

It wasn't even a big area — maybe a few kilometres across at best — and honestly, it felt like a complete waste of time. No powerful beasts lurking in the shadows. No hidden mana pools humming with energy. No ancient relics waiting to be uncovered. Just a dead-end patch of land wrapped in thick, stubborn grey fog that refused to lift.

I huffed, brushing my hand through my messy hair in frustration.

Honestly, I didn't even get why those Omega Faction idiots bothered coming down here. What did they expect to find? There was literally nothing. But then again, they were known for chasing weird rumours and suicidal missions, so maybe it checked out.

Still, the worst part about this miserable place wasn't the lack of excitement.

It was the fog.

This wasn't your ordinary mist — it was laced with mana. Heavy, clinging, and dense enough to screw with my vision and, more annoyingly, my senses. My mana detection could barely stretch beyond a few meters before the mist started twisting everything out of focus. Shapes blurred. Sounds warped. It felt like walking inside a half-formed dream.

I clicked my tongue in irritation. Today was supposed to be special.

It was my first time venturing into the Rims alone, with an official permit too, and I had big plans. Roam uncharted territories. Push myself. Maybe even challenge a B-rank beast if the opportunity showed up.

But nope.

Just mist, rocks, and wasted energy.

I exhaled slowly, shaking off my disappointment.

Still... one good thing about today? I didn't run into those rumoured Wraiths.

Not that I was scared. Okay, maybe a little.

The information we had on Wraiths was sketchy at best, but every report — and I mean every single one — described them like death incarnate. Spiritual manifestations of raw mana hatred. Supposedly invincible. Definitely not the kind of thing you casually 'spy' on without your affairs in order.

I stretched my arms over my head, rotating my shoulders lazily. Alright, enough sightseeing. Time to head back and get some actual training done.

I still had a window to reach S-rank, and every week counted now.

I bent my knees slightly, preparing to dash forward and boost my core rotation for extra speed when—

SWOOSHHHH!

A shriek of instinct roared through my body — milliseconds to react.

I twisted, barely managing to throw myself sideways as a bright arc of mana sliced through the air where I had stood just moments ago.

The attack smashed into the ground behind me, detonating with a thunderous crack.

The shockwave ripped through the mist, clearing a massive chunk of it, revealing, at last, what had been hiding in the shadows.

I staggered to my feet, heart pounding like a drum against my ribs... in excitement. 

And there it stood.

Emerging from the swirling remnants of the blast like something out of a nightmare — a... beast?

Its body was low to the ground but massive, with a broad, powerful frame covered in a shimmering, turtle-like shell that gleamed under the faint light.

Four muscular legs dug into the dirt, each limb coated in layers of reinforced mana skin so dense they almost looked metallic. Its mouth, wide and sharp, reminded me of a rabid hound ready to rip its prey apart.

But the two things that burned themselves into my brain?

First — the horn.

A massive, sword-like horn jutting straight from its forehead, pulsing faintly with condensed mana. It looked like it could pierce through steel without even slowing down.

And second — those eyes.

Piercing, intelligent, almost mocking — a bright, vivid green that for half a second weirdly reminded me of Rebecca's eyes... if she ever decided to murder me, that is.

Its twin tails flicked behind it, sharp and slick like bladed whips slicing through the air.

A chill ran down my spine as I swallowed hard, my mind finally catching up to what I was seeing.

Guardian Alpha.

A beast ranked A+, notorious for its ruthless territorial nature and unmatched durability. A living fortress armed with lethal offence.

I took a slow, careful step backwards, muscles tensed to move at the first sign of aggression.

?!

What the fuck?

I jerked back, retreating a few cautious steps without even thinking.

Wait—why the hell am I backing off?

This... wasn't me.

All that paranoia about Wraiths, all those warnings, overthinking — had they really messed with my head this bad? Had I lost my damn edge?

The beast didn't wait for me to figure it out. Another barrage of mana arcs exploded toward me, each one pulsing with a wet, heavy energy.

Water mana!

I snapped out of it, instincts kicking in.

A sharp sidestep, a pivot dash — my body moved faster than my thoughts. The arcs tore past, bursting against the trees behind me with a vicious splash of force.

Focus.

I grounded my stance, summoned every drop of mana I had, and unleashed a compressed pulse of raw force toward the creature.

The beast barely flinched.

Good.

This one's the real deal, I thought grimly.

Without hesitation, I closed the distance, and the moment I moved, the beast reacted. The massive horn on its forehead shimmered, igniting with a deep, cold blue hue. Water element, dense and deadly.

With a breath, I called Crimson Ultima to my hand. The sword materialised in a flash of red, and the next instant—

CLANG!!

Our weapons collided.

Shockwaves burst out, ripping through the mist like shrapnel. Each clash peeled more of the dense fog away, giving me precious slivers of sight.

Between strikes, the beast slammed its front limbs down, trying to crush me. I twisted, using the earth beneath me to launch backwards, barely dodging the impact.

As its massive weight hit the ground, I grabbed the opening, summoning a Telekinetic pull.

WHAM!

The beast lurched forward, its own weight yanking it down face-first into the dirt.

Now!

I surged forward, blade ready to sever its head —

—but the creature roared, firing a mana beam from point-blank range.

I barely managed to duck under it, the beam slicing through the mist like a hot knife.

Before I could reorient, the beast spun, its tails whipping around like bladed vines. One of them came crashing toward me, fast and brutal.

SNAP!!

A direct hit.

Agonising force exploded through my left arm and ribs. I felt my breath hitch — and then I was airborne, flung across the clearing like a broken doll.

CRASH!!

I slammed through the thick trunk of a tree, splinters and leaves erupting around me.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to roll, absorbing some of the impact as I hit the ground hard. Blood slicked the corner of my mouth, the taste sharp and bitter.

The beast was already charging, a juggernaut of muscle and magic, tearing up the earth as it closed in.

Shit!

No broken bones — not yet. But every movement sent bolts of fire through my side. My left arm screamed in protest, but I could still hold a blade.

Cornered now, pressed against the base of a massive tree, the creature loomed over me, ready to drive that monstrous sword-horn straight through my chest.

No time to think. Only time to react.

"REPEL!" I roared.

The surrounding mana trembled, then exploded outward with a violent pulse.

The Guardian Alpha was blasted back, skidding and tearing gouges into the earth as it was hurled dozens of meters away.

Panting, I wiped the blood from my mouth.

"For a weakling like you..." I muttered under my breath, "I don't even need my armour."

Crimson Ultima and my armour dissolved back into my ring with a flash.

I hadn't even bothered to summon my helmet in the first place. Didn't need it.

Instead, I called out my true blade, the one I openly wielded for half a decade now, perhaps even before that. 

A pulse of gentle silver answered.

Snowhite.

Forged from the remains of the Ghost Bear Sia had slain. A manifestation of survival and my past. A reminder of why I fought.

The pure white blade materialised in my hand, humming with suppressed power.

I pointed the tip at the beast, my voice low, cutting through the broken mist.

"Come," I said, lips curling into a smirk.

"I'll show you the difference between us... even if the world calls us the same rank."

The beast roared—a sound no less than a lion's, raw and commanding—as we collided once again.

Snowhite gleamed with a sudden hum of brilliant white light, cutting arcs through the mist-drenched air. My focus narrowed. Mana flooded solely into my left arm and blade—everywhere else? I didn't need it. Overkill would only slow me down.

Unlike wind users, water elementalists always bore a silent disadvantage: their nature was scarce outside oceans and rivers. Here, in the raw mana-drenched forests, fire and wind mana roamed wild; earth mana was ever-present. Water? A mere trickle compared to the sea of others.

It gave me an edge, and the beast was beginning to realise it.

With telekinesis guarding my back, I danced just outside its reach, subtly influencing both my own movement and the beast's. Every small tug, every shift in force... it built up, second by second.

Small openings began to bloom like cracks in stone.

Snowhite whistled through them, leaving deep gashes across the beast's armoured hide—not yet fatal, but bloodied reminders of who was in control.

Sensing the momentum shift, the beast abandoned its earlier aggression. It swung wide, reckless. I strengthened my legs with a pulse of mana, weaving through its strikes, retaliating sharper and sharper. One descending slash from Snowhite nearly carved through its skull—but the bastard twisted just in time, the blade grazing off thick, hardened scales.

No matter.

Using the ground itself, I pushed off with brutal force, dashing forward, and at the same instant, pulled at the beast's midsection with telekinesis.

A hard yank.

Its heavy body lurched forward, lifted momentarily into the air like a ragdoll.

Perfect.

With all my built momentum, I smashed my shoulder into its exposed ribs—a devastating impact meant to rupture organs and, if I was lucky, fracture the mana core's shell.

But as the beast staggered, dazed, its head, sharp, predatory, swivelled toward me.

A condensed beam of blueish mana blazed into existence at the tip of its forehead-blade, honed deadly enough to sever my arm in one shot.

Instinct screamed.

I sidestepped hard, toward my left—the same direction it predicted, no doubt. The small, sharp beam of condensed water beam was avoided as it headed straight towards the night sky. 

Its whip-tail blurred through the mist, from my left side, striking from my blind spot.

I saw it. I felt it, and I was prepared for it. 

Without hesitation, I snatched the incoming tail mid-strike with telekinesis, grabbing hold of the surging, mana-infused limb.

Snowhite flashed.

SLASH.

The tail severed violently, a brutal spray of blood soaking the mist around us.

A guttural scream tore from the beast as it staggered back, enraged, its pain clouding all sense of tactics.

It swung wildly now, thrashing its blade, desperate to kill me or die trying.

Exactly what I wanted.

I rained down mana arcs, a dozen shallow strikes slicing through its mist-blurred form. They weren't strong enough to kill—but that wasn't the goal.

Weaken it. Bleed it. Break it.

As it howled and lashed about, I imbued even more mana into Snowhite, the blade glowing bright as the sun behind storm clouds. I targeted the fresh wounds—the weakest links—striking deep, brutal blows designed to rip it apart from the inside once my slash arc struck, followed by my actual blade as well, in sequence. 

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM!

Small detonations rocked its battered body as mana discharged violently with every hit.

Yet even surrounded by death, even knowing it had lost, the beast did not flee.

It fought.

'What the hell's up with beasts nowadays? Have they abandoned even basic self-preservation?' I thought grimly, weaving under another desperate lunge.

Blood pounded in my ears. My ribs ached. My left arm throbbed where that earlier whiplash struck—but nothing serious. Nothing fatal.

Pain only sharpened the world.

I welcomed it.

As the beast swung its natural blade again—a last-ditch strike fueled by suicidal rage—I made my move.

I reached out.

With the full force of my will, I grasped the beast's entire head with telekinesis.

An invisible grip closed around it.

The beast bucked wildly, fighting it, but my hold tightened like a vice.

'Let's see how strong this has gotten...'

Pouring every drop of mental strength into the technique, I crushed harder, harder—until even its mana-reinforced skin began to groan and crack.

The horn atop its forehead—the core of its power—resisted violently, pulsing with stubborn mana.

I gritted my teeth, raised both arms as if physically lifting its skull into the heavens, and roared in my own heart.

CRAAK— CRAK— CRACKKKK!

With one final shattering force, the horn snapped apart, shards spraying out like bone shrapnel, like broken glass. 

The beast collapsed, twitching, released from my grasp, weaponless... helpless.

Its body hit the ground with a heavy, final thud.

I stood over it, Snowhite humming at my side, the mist swirling as if bowing in silent witness.

Battle-scarred, bloodied, but victorious.