"See you later, Vik!" Lola waved her hand as she stepped into a starship. Its engine roared as the latch closed. It took off a moment later, flying out of sight in mere moments.
Viktor waved back as he stepped into his starship. The moment the latch closed, he sat on one of the many vacant bench. The Trial of Rupture was known as the Filtering. Only those who lived could continue on their Paths. "Rupture, Purge, Adaptation, Résilience, Calme, Continuité, Impulsion, Furie, Brilliance and Sombrage... The Ten Paths." Viktor was jogging his memory, his finger tapping against his bicep.
Besides the Trial of Rupture, which was a universal requirement—one that gave a slight advantage to those aligned with Rupture—one had to go through two other Trials. Their main Path's Trail and their second Path. For Viktor, it meant Résilience and Continuité.
"Hey." A gentle voice called out the dark-skinned boy. His eyes shot open and his heart almost jumped out of his chest when he saw a face only a breath away from his.
"!" He jumped off the bench, taking a fighting stance.
"Calm down, will you? That finger tapping is getting on my nerves..." Viktor recongnized her.
"Ah, sorry." He dropped his stance and bowed. "You're that redhead from back then," Looking closer, Viktor could see wolf ears on top of her head.
"Elga Cerberella." The redhead said before returning to her bench.
"Huh? Oh, Viktor Rois." Viktor blurted out before returning to his own bench. Elga didn't reply, she picked up her weapons—one broadsword with a flat end and one abnormaly thin katana—and polished them a cloth.
"Not the amical type huh... Oh well." Two golden orbs materialized in his hand, these were cores of the Ruinbringers he had killed. He took a deep breath, a faint brown glow envelopped the cores as energy began flowing into his arms. Visualising his Crest—a great fist holding a heart of stone—he guided the energy throughout his body but primarily into his skin and flesh as that was the standard for anyone walking the Path of Résilience.
Minutes blended into hours, hours into days. Viktor's eyes finally opened when he had exhausted every core he could use. While there were many Ruinbringers that attacked back then, only four had the Earth element. Fortunately, he managed to get all of them but because of how low the beasts' grades were, the dark-skinned boy barely had enough Souline Energy to advance in his cultivation but it did make his Foundations stronger, so it wasn't all bad.
Viktor's eyes drifted to the redhead, she was laid on her bench, sleeping soundly. Viktor smirked before focusing on his arms, manisfesting his weapon—black metallic armbands with large brownish-gold plates that extended to his hands. He tinkered with them, a subtle glint in his eyes, "Hmmm... They're getting old. Hopefully they'll last till I finish this Épreuve..." He mused before dismissing his weapon.
Elga suddenly jumped to her feet, her wolf ears perking up as she sniffed the air. Viktor didn't know what to think of her sudden action, "Is something the matter?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, but Elga ignored him as she walked into the cockpit. There was no one inside, which was not a surprising sight. Artificial Intelligence grew to the point that most cars, ships and aircrafts could function with human intervention.
Elga's ear flattened as she summoned her swords. Viktor, seeing that, re-equipped his armbands, he also summoned a small brown sphere in his palm just in case something went awry. Looking above Elga's head, he could see a flock of birds hovering around their vessel.
"... What are these Murderavens doing—" Viktor's words stopped as a massive blood red eye answered his question. "You've got to be shitting me!" The dark-skinned boy exclaimed as he crushed the sphere in his palm.
"How stupid..." Elga said amidst grinding canines, "I should have smelled that fucking bird earlier!" She pushed past Viktor, summoning her black sphere as darkness envelopped her form.
"Wait!" Viktor called out but Elga had vanished. "Just great..." He sighed.
***
Elga emerged on top of the starship, her blood red hair flowing in the void of space. Her previous casual wear had been replaced with a white bodysuit and thigh high boots. Her surroundings were pitch black, except for the few beady red eyes that glared at her. She gripped her weapons tight until blood flowed out, dripping onto the silver blades.
The sphere she held between her teeth snapped, releasing black mist that consolidated into long translucent gloves that covered her slender arms. "Get off, you waste of space!" She spat at the glaring eyes, slashing with her broadsword. Her blood, which had stained her blades, turned into sharp rows of teeth, shredding the darkness around the starship.
KAAAAAWWWW!
The Nevermore shrieked in pain, flapping its wings away as a trail of dark green blood stayed suspended into space. The Murderavens seemed to react to its shriek, they rapidly encircled Elga, flying around her like a tornado. Her ears perked up as she created a small black portal of darkness, jamming her katana into it before spinning in place while slashing.
"Cercle Rouge!" Blood turned into a smooth and sharp circle, killing several of the birds in one sweep. Many Murderavens lunged at her like spears, but Elga didn't retreat or try to protect herself, she slashed and stabbed birds after birds as they fell lifelessly while opening portals beneath each corpse, capturing them in her darkness.
Unfortunately, as hard as she fought back, there were simply too many. Just as much as she killed, she received injuries from the birds' razor sharp beaks. Her blood splattered on the starship and into the void of space. Her white skin became pale, cold crept into her veins but the number of birds didn't seem to diminish at all.
Despite the dire circumstances, Elga had a massive grin on her face, a crazed one but a grin nonetheless. Her knees were growing weaking but she still stood, ready to dice the birds as they swooped once again. That was when a brown glow shot out of the starship, protecting her from this wave of birds as the sound of breaking bones rung in Elga's ears.
KAAAAWWWW!
The Nevermore finally decided to join the battle, planning to crash into the vessel at maximum speed.
"GET IN! NOW!" Viktor screamed as the brown glow surrounding echoed his voice, forcing Elga covered her ears. Darkness gathered at her feet, her form disappearing back into the starship.
The vessel then accelerated while diving and barel rolling at the same time, avoiding the Nevermore's titanesque body while turning the Murderavens into dark green stains.
***
"Fucking hell my ears!" Elga growled at Viktor, who was operating the vessel.
"That's what it took to make you listen? Maybe I'll start yelling more." Viktor remarked while chuckling. "Sincerely, what were you thinking!? Storming out like that! Now look at you!"
Viktor rose from his seat, toggling back the AI's control. Elga had cuts and holes all over and she was pale due to her overuse of blood. She scoffed at his remark, seemingly amused. The dark-skinned boy pinched his noseridge while sighing.
"Look, I don't give two shits if you don't wanna talk to me or even look at me for that matter but unlike you, I'm not planning to die here and not for someone I don't know." He pointed his fingers at her, a golden round landed squarely in her chest as her gloves fully materialized.
"Oh?" She said, partially surprised. "I'm guessing you have a plan, big boy."
"Yeah, you're gonna kill that fucking bird!" Viktor exclaimed, pushing a bunch of dead Murderavens toward Elga. "Unfortunately, I'm about useless in space, energy attacks aren't my forte. But I can give some protection. The smaller ones won't give harm you, but against that big fucker... I can guarantee you three hits before my protection runs out."
"So you want me to boost my cultivation using the Murderavens' cores and finish that thing off. Sounds simple enough," Elga said, plucking some black cores pulsing with red veins.
"I wasn't done." Viktor continued, displaying a holographic. "There's a whole flock near Arbreris, and as fierce as you are, you won't make it."
Elga giggled at his comment, "A 2ème Étape Combination..." She saw through his plan. He would have her get rid of the Nevermore harassing them, use Dévoreur Du Chaos on it in the meanwhile, and transfer him her rounds. They would perform a Combination in order to break through the flock and reach Arbreris. "... But you only gave me one charge. We can't perform a 2ème Étape like this."
"I know," Viktor said as he stretched. "We won't be performing. I will."
Elga stopped her plucking, jumping to her feet with a furious look as she got in his face as much as she could. "Are you insane!?"
"Could ask the same about you," Viktor chuckled, patting her head. "But no. I won't tire you more than needed, you'll channel one of your elements into me and I'll do the rest of the job."
"... Looks like I was mistaken. You aren't one of these rich bitch who would anyone under the bus to get away." Elga grinned, pushing his hand off her head.
"I'm not rich, that I can guarantee you. Plus I know two who aren't like that at all."
"Whatever man." She shrugged, returning to her plucking session. "If we somehow make it out of all of this alive, how about you bring me somewhere nice, hm?"
Viktor's jaw almost fell to the floor, but just by looking at Elga's smirking face, he could tell that no wasn't gonna cut it. He composed himself with a sigh, "IF we make it out alive, I'll think about it."
"Deal then."
"What did I get myself into..."