Chapter Two: The Blade of Broken Time.

Ash drifting like snow as the battlefield remained quiet, the dragon's golden remains dissolving into the wind.

Exhausted I leaned onto the tall woman, who was kind enough to help me stay on my feet. The mark on my hand dimmed, no longer glowing with power.

"Anyone who can stab a dragon in the eye gets a drink on me." She joked with a heartily laugh.

After I'd told them the story of how I was teleported from my homeland and the next minute found myself fighting a dragon, the party member's reactions varied but they all still believe my seem words which were partly true.

"We're not picking up strays, Vivi." The woman with short blond hair said frowning with her arms crossed. She was the party's leader, Lysia.

"I don't want a handout, just a some directions." I coolly said. "Just point me to the nearest human settlement, I can handle it from there." Joining some random bunch of adventurers wasn't something I wanted to do either.

"No class, no guild tag not even a family seal. You're a wild card." Lysia replied looking me over. "Where do you plan on going? I'm sorry but I never heard a place named Africa before..."

"That's not surprising, it's quite a faraway place." I chuckled to myself holding the leader's gaze.

She had beautiful blue eyes that went well with her smooth pale skin and blond shoulder length hair. Her entire body seemly constantly emitted an soft warm glow.

Tsk..typical heroine rizz.

"She dropped from the sky onto a dragon's head. That's exactly the kind of chaos we need!" The party's dagger wielding rouge–Freddy exclaimed seemingly excited by my endeavor.

While the gloomy boy named Fritz murmured to himself. "The Aether Script glitched around her, I saw it. She's not bound by prophecy."

This seems to catch their Lysia's attention, who after a tense pause...sighs to herself. "Fine, you travel with us to the next trial, Emberhold. You help, you don't slow us down, and you answer questions when asked." She ordered with the air of an commander. "You may do as you please after we reach the town after Emberhold."

Travelling with natives of this world was safer then venturing alone in my current state.

"Deal." I said managing to muster a smirk.

After exchanging further pleasantries, Vivi suggested we take camp in the forest to recuperate a little before tackling another trial to which Lysia found no problem with.

The forest was quiet except for the occasional crackles of burning wood, most of the others curled up in their own private corners to get some rest but despite my fatigue I couldn't help but stay awake, staring at the dancing flames of the campfire.

Of course, having just died and then reincarnated in such a...extreme manner to say the least. My brain had a magnitude of questions that took this opportunity to flood my consciousness.

Crunch...crunch.

The sound of approaching footsteps alerted me as I lifted my head to look at the direction it came from.

Pitch black pupils met my sliver ones as the figure slowly approach the limited light provided by the campfire, this eyes belonged to the child that offered me the restoration pill, Fritz.

He was around the height of an seven year old with his facial features matching his small frame, making him look no different from a child dressed in magician robes too big for his small frame but the glint in his gaze carried knowledge not fitting his body's age.

"You've been watching me since the moment I joined, got something to say?" I asked as he came into a halt a couple feet away from where I sat crossed legged.

"…I watch everyone, it's my job." He calmly replied still looking me over as though to his eyes I was something new.

Matching his gaze I continued. "But I make you nervous."

"No, you make the script nervous despite possessing the system, the script tends to act differently around you..." After a moment of thought he continued. "When you touched that dragon, it flared like it was responding to you. That shouldn't happen, not even with the Fatesworn Class."

"So you think I'm a threat?" I asked with a rise of an eyebrow. I wasn't completely sure of what he was accusing me of but what I understood was that he was saying I was an abnormality to their world, which was true.

"I think… I've heard you before." He replied to which I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at.

"That's not possible." I flatly stated.

Just a couple hours ago I was an regular highschool student about to finish her last school year in a world where the application of magic was limited to making coins disappear.

"It shouldn't be but when you leapt at that dragon, your form...the way you moved…it matched someone from a war that ended a hundred years ago." He said in a rather low tone once more confirming my suspicion of him not just being a seven year old. Weren't characters like him normal in anime?

"What was her name?" Curious, I asked.

Fritz doesn't respond immediately as though judging if he should tell me or not. "She had no name, just a title. The Blade of Broken Time." Having said his peace, Fritz walked back into the dark forest, vanishing as the sound of his footsteps ceased.

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A soft mist clang onto the trees as the party prepared to depart for Emberhold.

I strapped on my boot and equipped the armour offered to me by Vivi fixing the sheathed sword around my waist that Lysia kindly gave to me since Vivi's monk staff was too heavy for me to carry let alone use in battle.

That woman was a tank through and through.

While stretching my arms and legs to get used to the feeling of wearing armour my thoughts couldn't help but linger on my exchange with Fritz.

The Blade of Broken Time.

Why did it feel so…right?

"The armour suits your taste?" Vivi who had helped me through the equipping process asked with a smile.

"Yeah, at least now I feel more safe. Thank you." My school uniform provided little protection against the dangers of this world so the upgrade was welcomed.

"You know…that title Fritz mentioned last night?" After an moment of silence Vivi suddenly asked. "It belonged to a legend. A warrior who existed in fractured eras showing up in battles before she was born and vanishing before she could die."

I froze where I stood listening to her every word. Information after all was the strongest weapon in any arsenal and she was giving it to me for free!

Seeing that she had my attention she continued. "Some say she could bend moments. Others say she was cursed to relive the same fate across timelines, trying to fix something that already broke. The temple where I came from had sacred tablets about on her...and you don't just look like her, Mayi. Your soul feels like hers." She said a certain weight behind her words.

But as I opened my mouth the interrograte her further, Vivi excused herself leaving me alone with a bunch of questions.

Guess that's all I can get for free huh? While this legend interests me I'll leave it until for now.

To obtain the truth I need power and for now I didn't have the power needed to seize that truth.

Under that thought pattern my eyes landed on the system screen in front of me, displaying to me my current [Skills]

[Hero Plunder]

The player can rob hero's of their talents and abilities.

[Soulbrand]

A mark that seals a forbidden power and grows stronger with every life lived and every memory stolen.

[Heaven–Pierce Thrust] (Plundered)

A lancers technique that focuses all one's energy to an single point, holding a deadly piercing force.

[Crimson Step] (Plundered)

The signature move of an famous swordsman hero, hailed as the fastest hero of his time.

After my exchange with Fritz, I summoned the system extracting as much information as I could from how I did seem to have a Class and how my Assimilation stat effected the power of my plundered abilities.

My assimilation at 0,3 meant I could only draw 0,3 percent of the stolen skill's power.

On that note, [Hero Plunder] was the strongest skill in my arsenal. It's performance in the previous battle proving my point. Unfortunately I didn't know how to activate at will yet...

Looking to the mark–Soulbrand on my hand which after the fight with the dragon stopped glowing was my second strongest since with a just a thought I could—

"...!" I felt the familiar burning of the soulbrand as it's sliver ink flared slowing filling my being with power, reinforcing my physique.

I felt lighter, sturdier and stronger.

Drawing the sheathed blade around my waist, I crouched slightly charging all my force onto the tip of it's blade before thrusting the blade towards an tree trunk. Piercing a whole all the way to the other side.

[Heaven Pierce Thrust]

Although not as flashy as it was against the dragon, it's power was undeniably even at 0,3%.

"While it's better then nothing." I muttered to myself stopping the glow of the mark, sheathing the blade.

Let's hope it will get me through the next trial. Hell I doubt it will be worse then facing an dragon, right?

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