With his appearance, Ashley felt that he would complicate the situation. Not that she needed his help but here he was, being abnoxious but she didn't care.
She diverted her attention to the group infront of her. "Since you dare to barge into my clan and commit such an atrocity, your only fate that awaits you is death." The clan head spoke as he signalled his two kids to make the advance.
The duo quickly stepped forward. "Don't think because you're somewhat skilled that makes you invincible." The older male spoke as he crackled his knuckles. As for the sister,she brandished out a small knife,which gleamed precariously in the moon's gleam.
Seeing that they provoked no reaction from Ashley, they decided to initiate the attack.It wasn't long before the two were locked in a fight with a huge disparity already appearing.
The Clan head was visibly surprise at this strange unfold. For the duo,no one had ever proved to be in their league and here,some strange lady was not only equally leveling the field but also showing an unprecedented level of dominance on the fight.
It didn't take long for the fight to come to a close,as Ashley didn't hold back by slaughtering the two, slitting them both by their throats allowing them to slowly watch as their lives slipped through their very own hands before their life came to a close.
It was inhumane but she didn't see herself as a regular human being. With every single person that she would kill in her past life,she always felt a little bit o her own humanity slipping through and overtime,this sensation would snowball to the point that she felt that she was anything but human.
She lacked the remorse,the regret and empathy of a regular human being. She knew that it would only be a form of delusion to think that she was still human even after all that so she accepted her new self.
An apathetic and numb creature that solely existed off the misery if others but something faltered after meeting Andrew. She finally felt something other than apathy and numbness. A sensation that she hadn't felt in a long time.
And just like a drug, she found herself more and more addicted to this without even knowing why but she loved it. At first she contemplated whether what she felt was love, but after reviewing it after a while,she realized it was more than that.
Not only was it a bit of lunacy mixed with delusion of love at first which after regaining her memories made much more sense. She wasn't just in love with him,she was infatuated with him on both accounts.
As the blood ran down her blade,with a chilling aura surrounding her,she had a look of insanity hovering around her. She seemed extremely unstable,as if she would lash out at anything that happened to come infront of her.
Morben,who had been waiting to attack the village head was momentarily taken aback at Ashley's performance. The head who had started to see torches that had starting to come closing in realized that he was on the verge of facing his death decided to go out with at least some form of struggle.
He had already realized that the chances of killing her were getting lower and lower but that wouldn't stop him from trying. He decided to make a sudden lunge at Ashley who seemed dazed as she was breaking into a maniacal laughter.
She had finally realized that a life without Andrew was simply a life that wasn't worth living but that didn't make her ignorant of what was happening around her. She had already sensed that he was approaching.
Some rat that had the audacity to even dare approach her. She intentionally played distracted so as to lower his guard but a sudden pang of pain assaulted her mind.
Her vision blacked out after that. Morben who had expected her to make a sudden move against him but to his surprise,she simply fell unconscious the moment the head clan came into contact with her.
It was weird for him but he knew that he had to do something or else she would get hurt. The desperation was already present in the head's clan face as he saw him being surrounded on all sides.
His clan descending into ruin as some were either slaughtered or captured by the invading clan. He knew that he wasn't making any form of recovery after this especially after looking at his kids who lay lifeless on the ground as their blood kept of pouring out of their corpses.
Even though he would face his demise,he would at least take out the reason for what had killed his offspring. At the age of forty,with a primitive sense of clothing,his world was on the verge of coming to an end.
His hand wrapping around her neck,with her body leaning on his body with his other hand brandishing a small knife that closely teetered on threatening on claiming Ashley's life.He could feel the suppleness of her body but under such a tense situation,his mind was focused on the task at hand.
Morben was outraged upon seeing this but he had more support as his father had already made it for their reinforcement. Fully surrounding the opposing head clan and infiltrating the clan. It definitely would be a day to remember.
"You may bring this clan to an end but that will come at a price of one of your own." The opposing clan head hollered at the Clan head. The clan head was at a dilemma. It wasn't that he valued Ashley that much,after all they could kill the opposing clan head right after but she did play a huge part of this entire operation.
They couldn't repay kindness with treachery but in their current scenario,it would seem that that would be the case. Morben knew that dialogue wouldn't help at all. The two sides had a feud that lasted for years and the chance for such a resolution wasn't on the table.
With the Opposing Clan Head's attention focused on the rest of the reinforcement,he could load a bow and take the shot.
As the clan was an awakened,he would have his senses heightened but if his attention was diverted elsewhere and the trajectile would have to be fast and silent,then saving Ashley come out unscathed.
He readied the bow and coated it with mana,waiting for the chance to present itself to launch it. The Head Clan had to diffuse the situation without letting ot get out of hand.
But as he had expected,it resulted with no progress. "Look, should you choose to kill her off,the backers behind her will make sure that every single member of your clan will regret it!" He warned but it failed.
"Does it look like I actually care?! I'm dead regardless of what happens in this situation and you think that I will care about the rest of my clan. My son and daughter are already dead so I have nothing to lose.!" The Opposing Clan Head voiced out.
Nonetheless, he tried another approach. "Okay, if you choose to let her go, then you will be allowed to walk out alive." He offered. "My whole family is dead. It makes no reason for me to live." The Opposing Clan Head said. And besides, it could give him a chance to enact his revenge later on though he doubted.
The Opposing Clan head realized that Ashley seemed to hold some form of value towards the other Clan Head this if should he get rid of her,then it would be a huge hit for him.
Though he wasn't sure how the two were related because he was confident that he didn't have a daughter but regardless,he would make him suffer before he met his demise. "Fuck you!" The Opposing Clan Head shouted as he raised the dagger in his hand,ready to stab Ashley...
*Swish*
The perfect moment Morben had been anticipating had finally come as his arrow perfectly landed into the the Opposing Clan Head's head, bringing his life to an end. He couldn't believe the scene unfold before him before he fell flat to the ground before his vision went dark.
...
Ashley who had succumbed to an embracing darkness was shocked to see that she was back at her own mental state. The flower that had fell silent finally seemed to be undergoing changes.
It seemed to be enveloped in a dark fiery red and white flame that resulted in an unrealistic pain coursing through her entire body,unlike before which was just her mind.
The process was an eye opener for her,as she finally gained the sufficient willpower to finally bend reality to her will. So far she had found it weird that this skill was still inaccessible for her especially after realizing the horrors fifth dimensional plane beings could do.
It turned out that the assimilation that occurred earlier focused more on her intellect which now focused on her capabilities. A near infinite level of information flowed into her brain at a nanosecond, realizing the whole picture that had been cut out for her.
She could finally understand the whole concept of protagonists and villains,the kinds of halo,the near infinite worlds and the structuring of it all. If course she could now go against worlds without lifting her finger.
Her system had now become a utility system which still had some uses but now,it wasn't as necessary unlike before. The system simply acted as a way for her to understand how to use her abilities but now,she could understand them fully without it's assistance.
The very threshold of the cosmos,reality itself and life was laid bare for her,all concepts instantly becoming mastered in a matter of seconds of not just upto the fifth dimensional plane but higher planes as well thanks to Andrew.
A dark crimson eminated from the flower that tinted the entire flower in a new shade of black that she hadn't even known before, it's blackness was so absolete that it scared her to an extent but somehow she felt familiar with it.
She could now tread to her heart's content,whether should it be a goddess or a horror was upto her liking. The possibility of a threat was no longer a concept for her in this dimensional plane or any other as for that matter. She was invincible.
As soon as she could feel her body,she immediately jolted awake to see a familiar sight,it was the home that she had been gifted to stay at. It was empty with her clothes still on which relieved her.
However the timing for such an event to happen couldn't have been any worse.It wasn't that she was glad but the timing was extremely concerning for her. As soon as she recalled the events that happened last night, opening a crack through space to see what had happened.
The whole scene unfolded before her as a flash of disgust came across her face. To think that someone else was able to land a touch in her in such a vulnerable state was gut wrenching.
*Snap*
With a single snap of her fingers,the soul of the Opposing Clan Head appeared infront of her before it was immediately swallowed by her shadow. She had inherited some of Andrew's mechanics in approaching and tackling nuisances.
The only figure that she couldn't beat was Andrew along with other figures which appeared in her mind.
'So It's just Andrew who is on this level?' She realized as she went through the information that was in her mind. Sure Andrew wasn't the only one but he definitely was the strongest despite his average looks. And other monstrous horrors had descended into this plane for various reasons.
Realizing something,she closed her eyes and immediately covered her senses on the entire world, trying to locate Andrew. She realized the different worlds that existed but ignoring all of that,she still couldn't precisely find him.
But she could feel a faint aura if his somewhere way off of this piece of rock. It wasn't strong but it was there,serving as a beacon of hope for her.