> Perspective:Kaiser
> Time:2:53 AM
> Location: Campfire Clearing — Deep Mountain Woods, Celestine Realm
I stood in the cold dirt, tasting copper on my tongue.
My right eye was dark, completely blind from the fire blast. My left ribs throbbed where the ice spear had cracked the bone.
I have to accept it now.
I am an E-rank adventurer with a broken body.
I cannot fight like myself. I have to fight like a weakling.
Across the smoking ground, Kiel stood with his burned right stump pressed against his ribs. Ronan held his twin daggers, his eyes darting between me and Celia.
They had tortured her. They chased her through the dark, trapped her in flames, and treated her like trash.
I will never forgive Kiel for that. She trusted him.
I will make him pay.
I took 2 slow steps back, putting space between myself and Celia. I needed their eyes on me, not on her.
Kiel and Ronan split apart, sprinting in opposite directions around the clearing.
They want to separate us. Ronan is taking the wide arc to reach Celia.
A weakling doesn't wait to get surrounded. A weakling strikes 1st.
I bolted straight at Ronan.
My boots tore through the dead needles. Ronan's eyes widened in panic as I closed the distance in 2 strides. He raised his daggers to guard his face, his voice shrieking into the night.
"Flare of the heavens, descend and annihilate! Solar Cataclysm!"
The frozen soil split open. A towering phoenix of roaring flame erupted from the crack, its burning wings throwing superheated drafts across my chest. The heat scorched the fabric of my shirt, blistering the skin of my neck.
Flames are cute.
The flaming bird dove down, throwing spheres of liquid flame and burning feathers into my path.
I dropped my hips, rolling across the frozen turf to slip under the 1st blast. The heat washed over my back, singing my hair. 2 more fire blasts struck the earth right behind my heels, exploding in fountains of black dirt.
The phoenix spread its wings for a crushing sweep.
I slid on my side through the soot, ducking under the fiery talons, and pushed straight toward Ronan.
Ronan's grin vanished. Panic flooded his face as my boots stopped right in front of him. I leveled the tip of my steel blade flat against his throat.
"That's right, Ronan," I whispered, breathing cold air against his sweat-drenched brow.
"I win."
Before my blade cut skin, the earth groaned.
"From the pit of torment, tear them asunder—Vengeful Grasp!" Kiel's voice roared from the dark.
Black, thorny vines burst through the frozen ground beneath my feet.
The thickest root whipped around my chest and threw me backward with crushing speed. My body slammed against the trunk of a spruce tree. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs, and my sword flew from my hand, tumbling into the mud.
I dropped to my knees, gasping for air.
Get up. Move!
I tried to push off the frozen ground, but 3 more vines wrapped around my shins and waist. They slammed me flat into the frozen mud a 2nd time.
Thorns dug straight through my leather armor into my shoulders and ribs. Agony ripped through my chest as dark, cursed mana seeped into my blood, freezing my limbs and stealing my breath.
My fingers clawed at the mud. The vines coiled tighter, pulling me down, trying to snap my ribs in half.
She is watching you, Kaiser.
She stood up with burnt hands to protect you.
I grabbed the thickest vine with both of my wrapped hands. Thorns bit into my palms, warm blood running down my wrists, but I held on. I braced my boots against the tree roots and pulled with every scrap of strength left in my back.
The wood fibers groaned. With a wet, splintering crack, I tore the cursed root in half.
The grip loosened. I ripped the remaining vines from my shins, scrambled forward on my knees, and retrieved my sword from the mud.
I stood up, breathing hard, dark blood dripping from my knuckles.
Across the clearing, Ronan stumbled back, holding his throat where my blade had rested. His hands shook as he turned to Kiel.
"Why didn't you kill Celia when you had the chance, Kiel?!" Ronan yelled, his voice cracked with fear.
"You had her cornered earlier! You could have finished her! Why did you hesitate?!"
Kiel's jaw clenched. He looked down at his scorched stump, his eyes tight with a sudden flash of guilt before his face turned cold and ugly.
"I had to save you, Ronan!" Kiel snapped, his voice trembling with fury.
"Kaiser was about to take your head off! You think I wanted this?!"
Ronan stared at him, breathing heavily.
"I'm done playing," Kiel snarled, turning his glowing blue eyes back toward me.
"No more mistakes. I'll burn both of them until nothing is left but ash."
Kiel could use wind, fire, ice, and now cursed earth magic.
The guild had ranked him as an A-rank adventurer.
Ronan commanded high-tier B-rank fire summons.
And I was an E-rank with a blind eye, bruised ribs, and no magic at all.
I can't beat them like this. It makes no sense.
A gentle hand touched my arm.
Celia stepped beside me in the mud. Her burnt hands wrapped around my bloody fingers, warm and steady. Tears tracked lines through the soot on her pale face, but she didn't look away.
"K-Kaiser..." she whispered softly.
"I know you will win."
Her words cut through the ringing in my ears.
She wasn't crying because she was helpless.
She was holding on to me because she truly believed in me, even when I stood here half-dead.
I might be an E-rank in their eyes.
I might have no magic.
But she is standing right here.
I squeezed her fingers gently, then released her hand and stepped forward.
"It'll be over soon," I murmured, resting my blade against my shoulder.
"I'm going to end this."