14

Two hundred years ago

Regen breathed heavily with blood seeping from her cranium, and some bits from her mouth, a punctured lung from being flung against a nearby boulder by the demon she was up against; she dearly wished and hoped her father got the message in time for him to come back home, word had spread that demons were on the prowl searching for leftover elves that they had missed in their genocide.

With her stance defensive, her crescent moon-tip staff held at the ready, Regen narrowed her eyes at the Demon in front of her with scathing hate; if she had not arrived on time, the beast before her would have massacred her hometown.

Regen had done her best in defending the village she was born in, she had ordered Gattung to help look after the human villagers in the woods, out of sight, while she dealt with the Demon.

The demon himself tilted his head slightly, as if observing his prey, "You do…not feel like an ordinary elf…" the demon remarked.

The half elf, in response to the demon's comment, let out an annoyed grunt, "You won't be feeling anything after I'm through with you!" Regen hissed back in anger, she was putting on a brave face, but she knew she was not powerful or good enough to kill the demon in front of her outright.

The demon was still standing before her, he looked to be in mid-contemplation, or something, it was hard to tell with the helmet he wore on his head.

Böse, one of the seven sages of destruction, had acted entirely blasé during the entire fight, never bothering to look like he was struggling against Regen. The defensive barriers were her worst matchup, as the barriers themselves were practically invincible to all of her magic spells.

It was also galling with how the demon wielded his barriers offensively, from using them to smack her into the ground, to hitting her like an entire boulder was chucked at her Regen was lucky at all to reinforce her body with magic to prevent the blunt trauma from making her a bloody smear across the grounds.

Böse relaxed his posture before settling into an aggressive stance to finish their battle, "Now I see, a half elf, that's what you feel like." he said with an annoyed tone, while an orb began charging in his hand.

Regen scowled as she tried to stand up straight, and think of something quick to do; something to help her avoid getting hit or whatever the demon had in mind with his barrier spells.

As the air became more tense between the two combatants, Regen hoped her father would come in time. Böse continued to speak his mind on the matter of the half elf in front of her, "Elves were a problem, we solved that, but half elves were worse." The last line angered and confused Regen, feeling discriminated against by a demon of all beings.

"I'll show you a worse problem!" Regen yelled back, scowling in anger. Her eyes shone with seething hatred for the demon in front of her, while aiming her staff at the demon; she would fire off the best spell she had learned, a spell that the legendary Great Mage Flamme created in her fight against the demons.

Schwarzes Loch

It was one of the most devastating spells that had come about during Flamme's time of bringing magic to the wider public. It took her some time to learn, not to mention it required her to search high and low for such a spell until it led her to learning it from the Mythical Serie. The only problem was, would it be enough against Böse?

Böse simply looked at her through his helm visor, no facial features visible for Regen to see how the demon was expressing himself. Then again, even if he did, it would just be the mimicry that most demons do; an evolutionary tool to fool and deceive their prey to lower their guard. "You can try all you like with that spell you are charging up, it won't matter in the end, I shall make sure I take care of that other half elf when I'm done with you." Böse stated, his tone laced with boredom.

Regen snarled in anger, her pupils dilating as she pumped more mana into her spell, "I WON'T LET YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON MY BROTHER'S HEAD!" Regen screamed hysterically in anger. Her brother was all the family she had left, besides her wandering elven father that was a monk. Her human mother had long since passed away, so the mere thought of losing her brother Gattung was too much to bear.

"Regen!" A familiar voice yelled out from the nearby woods, prompting both the half elf and demon to look to the source of the voice; however, neither Regen nor Böse had the chance to fully see who it was when Regen's father was already planting a fist into the armored cheek of Böse. A loud clang and crunch of metal echoed across the field they were all in, before the impact of Regen's father's fist sent Böse soaring across the earth.

Once Böse righted himself in midair and planted his hand into the ground to stop himself, he finally stopped himself from flying off into the winds, leaving a long trench in the dirt in his wake. Böse slowly stood up while reaching up to feel the indent on his helm, forged from the sturdiest of metals he had found. His fingers traced the imprints of fingers and knuckles from the elven monk that was at the moment tending to, no doubt, his half elf daughter.

Regen looked up at her father with tears falling from the corners of her eyes, "Pa-er…father!" Her voice cracked, nearly slipping into her youthful habit of addressing him.

Her father, Kraft, palmed his daughter's face with a soft smile, "What, not going to call me papa anymore?" he asked jokingly, to lift some brevity from the situation, before his expression became serious, turning towards the demon Böse. "Where's your brother?" he asked.

While Böse seemed content in observing the newcomer, most likely gauging his new opponent, Regen responded while keeping her next spell prepared, "He's safe with the villagers, making sure to protect them while I try and deal with this demon."

Kraft gave a minute nod, and placed himself in front of his daughter, "Stay behind me, I'll guard the front, you stay here and cover me." He ordered while glaring at the Demon, who looked unbothered by the new combatant.

Regen looked at her father's broad back, feeling like she was his small daughter once again, "Be careful of his barriers…I do not know if they are resistant to physical attacks as well." she warned.

"Right." Kraft nodded back, before Böse spoke up while removing his hand from his damaged helm.

"This makes this a little more…problematic…but manageable…" The demon said, while keeping his posture relaxed, before shifting to a more offensive one as his demonic magic welled up in his hands, "I have an elf and half elf to kil-guack!" Böse was stopped in mid sentence, Kraft already in front of him, his palm striking the demon's solar plexus.

With a determined look on his face, Kraft took a low side-stance, his palm quickly striking Böse square in the torso with heavy force; with his other hand curled into a fist beside him, Kraft followed up his attack on the demon with a palm thrust into Böse's chin. A hard crack and ding echoed from him impacting the demon's chin through his helmet.

The force of Kraft's follow up attack caused Böse to be sent airborne, before the elven father of Regen continued his attack, leaping into the air after him. Twisting in the air into a spin kick, Kraft brought his food down on the demon's head, his kick slamming Böse into the ground with a metallic crunch and an earth shattering quake.

"HWAH!" Kraft exhaled as he did not let up on the demon. Upon landing back down, Kraft lifted his leg until it was angled perpendicular with his body, before swinging it back down just as Böse's body impacted into the earth.

Before Kraft's attack landed however, Böse quickly rolled onto his back and thrust his hands forward, erecting a barrier between them.

CRACK

Kraft's foot landed and caused dozens of cracks to appear, before suddenly giving way for the elven monk's foot to be planted into Böse's stomach.

Böse let out a pained hacking cough, the sound echoing from within his decimated helmet. Just before Kraft could follow up with another attack, Böse quickly snapped his fingers that were covered in demonic magic.

Already feeling the need to withdraw to safety, Kraft leapt backwards, and just in time as a prismatic barrier came into existence where he once was, before it withdrew into itself becoming a small cube.

From the angle of Regen's viewpoint, she saw her father attack Böse so quickly that she barely had the time to finish the spell she had in mind; her father was as powerful as she viewed him, but never got the chance to see him in a real fight. Had her father not retreated, that demon's spell would have crushed him into a fine piece of cubed meat.

Regen swallowed back her nervousness; Böse had been toying with her the entire time, he could have done such a feat at any point in their fight, but now that the demon was pressed on the back foot, he was pulling out pulling out all the stops.

Regen shook her head, and finished charging her spell, and now that her father was out of the way, she could cast it, "Out of the way father!" She shouted, before releasing it.

Not needing to be told twice, Kraft leapt out of the way as a large black orb was cast above Böse; the earth beneath them began getting pulled into the small black orb, along with the demon himself.

The half elf smirked in triumph, with her father allowing her the time to charge her best spell yet; there was no way Böse's barriers had any capability to defend himself from such a force of nature that was Schwarzes Loch.

Regen's eyes widened however, as she watched her spell begin to wane and dissipate, making her curse herself that she didn't pour enough stabilizing mana into it to be sustainable enough to last, until the demon was crushed into mincemeat along with the earth that was pulled into it.

With nothing else to lose, Regen aimed her staff at the waning orb of darkness, and fired off a spell to cause it to explode and catch Böse along with it.

KABOOM

An enormous purple explosion encapsulated the area around Böse, while her father Kraft stood beside her defensively, both of them waiting for the dust to settle. As the area finished settling down from all the dirt and smoke to clear away, Regen cursed to see Böse still standing, minus an arm.

Böse simply stared back at them while the shoulder of his missing arm was shaking a bit, until an arm created from his barrier magic came into existence, "Troubling…I was not expecting this much resistence from a mere monk elf and his halfling." the demon seemed to still be in observance, as if he was still in control of the situation.

Kraft on the other hand, kept a defensive stance beside his daughter, while Regen herself kept her staff at the ready.

"No…I shall retreat for now…this situation is not favorable…" Böse remarked, before he vanished from sight in a blink of an eye, leaving both the monk and mage alone.

Present, Regen

After talking with the elf and the two girls that accompanied her, Regen was able to learn that only the mother was an elf, and the daughter was a half elf; it was surprising in of itself to see an elf, but to see another half elf other than her and her brother was another matter altogether.

The tidbit of information also sent Regen in thinking back to the time she had fought against Böse, and the things he said about the elves and half elves.

If she remembers right, Böse had been ultimately defeated a century or so later.

Regen smiled warmly towards the mother of the half elf and doubtless teacher of the young girl beside her, "Well then, before this conversation gets any deeper, we should at least introduce ourselves." She palmed her chest, "I'm Regen." She greeted the other trio.

Gattung expressed excitement while thumbing at himself, "I'm Gattung, nice to meet you!"

Ton, who stood beside Regen on her left, nervously waved, "Um, hi!"

The mother elf smiled somewhat in response to the three greeting themselves, "Nice names…well, the half elf is my daughter, named Teufel, and the girl is my apprentice-" said girl allowed herself a smile as well, "named Fern." she announced.

Regen kept her smile up, as the two girls were very cute looking, and bent down to be eye level with them both, "And how old are you two?" she asked, her gaze passing over both girls.

Fern answered first with a pleasant look, "I just turned thirteen, um…just a few days ago…." she answered.

"Mhm." Regen nodded, and looked to Teufel, "And you?" she asked the half elf; she looked around Gattung's age when he was reaching his hundredth year, so she had to be around that.

Teufel gave Regen a straight look, and answered, "I should be reaching my mid eighties or so." she informed her.

So she wasn't that far off the mark, then she remembered something as she stood up to look at the elven mother, "Oh, pardon me, I did not get the chance to learn your name." she nervously remarked towards the elf.

"It's fine." the elven mother spoke back to her with an amused smirk, before expressing a calm smile, "My name is Frieren." she answered Regen.

….Wait…as in…Frieren of the hero party? Frieren the Slayer? The Hero party's mage Frieren?

"Um…." Regen nervously spoke up with a closed eyed smile, "I'm sorry, you wouldn't by chance be the same Frieren that was part of the hero party, right?" she asked.

Frieren simply looked back at Regen with a straight and unbothered look, "I am." she answered, before tilting her head a bit in thought, "I mean, I've never met another elf named Frieren." she nodded to herself at her proclamation.

With a trembling smile at the absurdity of meeting Frieren the Slayer of all mages in person, Regen giggled a bit to herself, "Hm, wow…I…never thought I'd meet you in person." she remarked.

Frieren simply shrugged noncommittally and gave Regen an amused smile, "I'm sure we would have met eventually, we do have long lifespans after all, it was never an if but an eventuality." she informed Regen.

"I…I suppose so…" Regen said hesitantly, before giving the trio an observant look, "So…beside the point of meeting a hero in person…" Meeting Serie all those centuries ago was an event of itself in her lifetime, and now she had the chance to meet Frieren in the midst of the third-grade mage exam.

Gattung stepped forward to speak up and add his own input into the conversation, "So which one of you is applying!?" he asked excitedly, before looking at Frieren herself, "I can't see you applying…I'm pretty sure you're already a first grade mage."

Frieren, however, frowned a bit, before pulling out something that was around her neck, "Not really, but I do have something of a certification…" she answered the young half elf brother of Regen, "This should work, right?" she asked the two half elves.

Ton spoke up with a confused look on her face, "I…I don't think so…I've never seen such an emblem before." she observed.

Regen however, looked closely at the emblem before standing back up straight to look at Frieren in a new light, "Wow…you..really go back that far?" she asked the elven mother.

Frieren shrugged while stuffing her necklace away under her shirt, "Humans change a lot…figures this thing wouldn't last that long…" she grumbled.

Regen simply laughed a bit at Frieren's blunt attitude, before looking between Fern and Teufel, "Your daughter I can understand applying, but I'm not sure about your student."

Fern, in response to Regen's comment, simply puffed out her cheeks and pouted at the eldest half elf of the group, "I am applying, it was a promise I made to master Heiter before he passed away."

There was a story there in of itself, that much Regen could tell looking at the young girl, but it was not her business to pry further unless the girl wanted to. "Well, I wish you the best of luck! Who knows who will be proctoring the exam this year?" she informed the girls.

Teufel spoke up with a keen look in her eyes, "Is it always a different person for every test?" she asked the other half elf.

Regen looked back at Teufel thoughtfully, "It usually is, and I can't really say for sure who will be proctoring it." she informed the girl, "Why, you applying as well?" she asked, earning a nod from the young half elf.

Looking over at Frieren, Regen spoke to the once hero of the lands, "What about you?"

Frieren simply shrugged, "I don't think I will…it's too much of a hassle to keep whatever they give you for the rank, only for it to change a century later." she groused, while expressing an annoyed look.

"Mother." Teufel spoke up to her elven mother, earning the attention of Frieren, "Is it really that hard to keep up with things every five decades or so at the very least? I am sure it helps matters for the traversal through various cities when documentation is needed." she challenged.

In response to her daughter's question, Frieren's expression became comically downcast as she poked her fingers together, "Too much of a hassle…" she pouted.

Regen couldn't help but giggle and laugh along with her brother and student, while Fern and Teufel gave the elf hero an annoyed look. It was really refreshing to meet Frieren the hero in such a way, it brought the mythos of the hero herself down to earth and relatable.

Felson, 2nd-grade mage

"Aaaahhh!" Felson mentally screamed in panic as he poured himself over all the papers on his desk, trying to come up with an appropriate test for the sheer amount of mages he was supposed to proctor for. "Why me!? It was supposed to be a reasonable amount of ten to twenty mages applying for the exam!

"But now I have over fifty!" Felson finally spoke aloud to the ceiling with his hands on his head, before palming his desk to look over his ideas for tests once more. He then gazed off into the space of his office, "And if that was not enough, I have Master Serie looking over the test the entire time no doubt!" he screamed, nervous sweat dripping from his brow from the pressure.

A sudden knock on his door caused Felson to shut up, and nervously speak up with a quiver in his voice, "...c-c-come in." he announced.

The door to his office opened, allowing him to see who it was, making him further panic when he saw Sense let herself in, "AAAHHH! What is it now?! Am I about to be asked to make sure I do my best? Don't let anyone but the best pass? Examine what test I have in mind? Wait, I don't even have anything in mind yet! Wait, I did! But now it's all out the window with how many mages showed up!" While the turmoil inside Felson's mind was in overdrive, Sense approached the man's desk to speak with him directly, unaware of the panicking fit he was having mentally.

"Master Serie wishes to proctor the exam, is that alright with you?" The first ranked mage questioned the second ranked mage.

Feeling all his worries suddenly drain from his being, Felson smiled nervously, "...Yeah…sure…" he squeaked out.

Sense nodded in thanks, "Thank you, I apologize for my master's whims." she informed the man.

Felson stood up straight and coughed into his fist before speaking further on the matter with a smile, "Nonsense! I am happy to hand the test off to master Serie." he assured Sense, who nodded once more with a dull look, before excusing herself and left the room.

Once the door was shut, Felson wilted and collapsed into his chair, an entire mountain's worth of weight feeling like it was lifted off his shoulders, "...wait…" He spoke to himself with a listless look, "Why would she want herself to proctor the exam?" he asked himself.