*Three months later*
"Let's agree that I will emerge the victor or our little competition!" Julian said as the two were making their way in the woods.
The two had already made significant improvement from their initial tier two ranking.
Right now, they had both broken through to the third tier. Vivienne Caldwell was on the second array while Julian was on the third array.
This rate of improvement was considered staggering considering that they were still in their early twenties.
But their rate of advancement was reasonable considering their status. They had a noble background this their access to resources wasn't really a problem.
Not to mention that Thalion had been investing a lot into the two. Unlike the temperament his son previous had, he liked this new one as he was easier to control.
At times he had tried to control him however such an attempt resulted with no fruitful ends thus he had slowly given up on it but now, he preferred this.
'Maybe this was for the better!' He had thought.
Vivienne was a little baffled with the strength rate of his brother. Sure hers was considered some of the best present but there were titans above her league to which she didn't mind.
'So what if they are higher tiers than me? They can't directly compete with me!' She knew that when facing people of higher arrays, she had the advantage regardless.
She had already confronted his brother on multiple spars with him and she would emerge victorious most of the time.
At first, she would usually lose but overtime, she had ample time to familiarize herself better with her specialty bolstered her combat not to mention she recalled Vivienne's actual memories making it easier.
What really astounded her was how his brother got accustomed to the mastery and combat of this world.
As to how he could do it, she hadn't figured it out how he did it so fast but since it was beneficial for the both of them, she didn't think much about it.
As of the task at hand, they were out hunting animals in the wild. They had already come across various tier two and many tier one beasts which they had no problem disposing of.
"I doubt it, your arrogance will be your downfall, brother!" Vivienne joked as the two continued to venture deeper in.
So far, they had been sent on quests by Elowen and Elowenera, their instructors.
*Roar*
The two hearing a powerful roar coming from a certain distance, the two immediately charged in that direction to which they came across a strange encounter they hadn't anticipated.
Right in front of them, there was a demon, a tier four and he was against some other elves. The two could identify the party as they were dressed in white robes.
A saintly aura hung around them as they had two had a tier three while the other was a tier two ranking.
However what made their situation perilous was the fact that they had already taken damage and it seemed that it wasn't all inflicted by the demon.
Regardless, the brother and sister duo had to intervene. The two tier three were locked in a confrontation with the tier four demon.
The tier two lady offered support as the two sides would launch torrential attacks at each other at least giving them a slim chance of survival.
The demon had a faint dark red skin color, his eyes were abysmally dark as two projections came from the temples of his head, small horns which were silver in color.
Tier one have dark red horns, tier two have dull red horns, tier three have copper green horns while tier four have silver horns, tier five have golden horns, tier six have black horns and lastly tier seven have crystalline horns.
The aspect of light was the ideal weapon for combating against demons thus the two tier three were able to survive for this long but that didn't mean that their situation was ideal.
Sure they were light users but the demon was a higher tiers not to mention the gap between the two sides was slowly showing. The demon was slowly gaining the upper hand as he could easily outlast his opponents.
"We can't keep on going like this! If we do them we will fall to the hands of this wretched monster!" One of them spoke.
He had an air of perseverance and reverence about him as he spoke. It was clear that he had been in precarious situations before.
His name was Elaris, the one to his right was a tier three on the first array, and his name was Faelon while the lady was Meliara, a tier two on the third array.
Naturally, they were out running tasks for the church which involved fetching a couple of ingredients for some spells when they initially ran into a tier three beast.
It was a pack of Deer Asarins. They had the appearance of regular deer with their caramel coats however they had several differences.
They had protrusive horns similar to moose's while having a strange urge for meat. Despite their calm looks, they hunted other animals or fed off foliage. They would usually resort to consumption of meat when placed in extremely dire circumstances.
However this time, this party of three were lucky as they didn't seem all that interested in them, with one in this pack at least having a tier two ranking, should they be engaged in a conflict, they would easily be overwhelmed.
Thus they took their leave as quick as possible however something strange happened. It seemed as if they suddenly became crazed and they charged towards the trio.
They had already made some distance thus having an advantage but this distance didn't last long before the Asarins caught up to them.
They were locked in a conflict which chipped away their morale and energy and halfway, the Asarins suddenly left without reason.
Elaris could tell that something was wrong and to his testament, they happened to run into this tier four demon.
'What bad luck we have!' Faelon along with the group thought. "Don't worry, seeing that you will all come out dead, I could compromise and make a deal with you all."
"All you have to do is hand over the girl and I'll leave you be!" The demon said with a devilish glee on its face.
It was known that there were deals between demons and humans from time to time however there would be complications, the most relevant one being that the demons would go back on said deal.
They couldn't be trusted!
"Do you really think that we will hand her over?!" Elaris said as he gritted his teeth. His strength had been chipped away by the Asarins and now, he could fatigue slowly claim his body.
The battle had been stretched out by the demon as he was toying with them. Whittle them down and give them hell, and to make sure that they didn't escape, he positioned several Asarins surrounding the place.
However for him, there was an altercation he hadn't calculated for and that was two people joining in the fight. A quick glance at them, they were tier three which made him give out a small scoff.
'And to actually think that they would be a threat.' He thought as he looked at them. He was a tier four expert with several Asarins for support, he was in an advantageous position, and there was no way he would lose.
"Who do you think you two brats are? I don't care as it seems that you have a death proposal!" He said as numerous Asarins came out of hiding.
'It seems that he can control these Asarins somehow. Maybe an artifact or a natural talent?' Vivienne thought as she saw this.
The demon seeing that there would be more people to deal with summoned these Asarins to help compensate for the numbers. Sure he had a higher tier but if he wasn't careful, he could be easily outplayed.
At first there were two tier three which weren't a problem however now, there were five which could prove problematic.
The Asarins charged at the duo, their eyes dyed red seeing red and having an uncontrollable urge to drink blood. Some were tier two while others were tier one.
Julian immediately charged at the demon as he skillfully dodged the Asarins and confronted the demon in a close combat scenario while Vivienne was locked into the Asarins coming for her.
Quick to finish this battle quickly, she used her spatial manipulation as she immediately turned the Asarins coming her way into bloody paste.
For her, this was as easy as lifting a finger as she too took care of those that charged for her brother as well.
'What?!' The demon was taken aback by this sight. He had thought that it would have taken her a while to deal with some of them but to take care of them all in a single swoop was a shock to him.
'Is she really a tier three?' He thought as he was locked in a fight with Julian. 'As for this kid, where did he learn how to fight like this?!'
Julian was extremely precise and quick with his attacks, his reactions were impeccable as he and the demon were locked in a stalemate.
*Boom*
The demon unleashed his tier four pressure to limit Julian's movements but to his shock, he didn't seem affected at all. Similar to Vivienne who seemed unfazed by it.
'What is it with these two?!' The demon thought as he looked at the trio from earlier. They were on their knees as they barely struggled to stand while these two seemed untouched.
Despite Julian's skills, the demon was able to overpower him quickly as he jumped back to reassess. He looked at these two who seemed eager to take him down.
'Aren't humans usually afraid of demons? There is no sense of fear emanating from these two!' He mused as he saw this.
The vile reputations of demons had been spread to every inch of the planet and usually most races would avoid them but these two didn't seem deterred by it.
There were people like this, either they had talent, they were strong or they were monsters themselves.
'I have expended my mana but taking care of these two shouldn't be a problem.' He thought as a plan was formulating in his head when he suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure coat his body.
"What is this?!" He voiced his frustration as he looked at the two. Vivienne had a small smile as she looked at him.
"Don't tell me you can't withstand the pressure from a measly tier three expert! After all, you are on the fourth tier!"
The demon could feel the mockery in her voice but he couldn't ignore the pressure wrapping around him.
"Argghh!!!"
He screamed in pain before....
*Slash*
His head was immediately detached from his body, a casual swing from Julian's sword brought his life to an end.
His senses were clouded by the pressure making him unable to perceive Julian's sneak attack.
Elaris watched the event unfold as he was in disbelief. To think that two tier three could easily take down a tier four expert.
His train of thought was however disturbed as he heard bloodcurdling screams coming from around them.
Vivienne managed to float above them all as she spread out her hands. The trio were in disbelief as they saw what was happening.
Numerous Asarins were floating in the air as they gave out inhumane screams before their bodies succumbed to the pressure that wrapped around their bodies.
It was similar to a python's restriction however it covered every inch of their bodies before bursting like pimples.
Vivienne landed back down with grace as Julian lit up the corpse of the demon with a flame spell and claimed the head after searching it.
Vivienne however had a disinterested look towards the church members as she looked back at her brother.
She handed over a trinket to her as she claimed several heads of the Asarins lying on the ground and so did Julian before they started taking their leave back.
"Wait!! Who are you two?!" Elaris asked in bewilderment as he saw their figures getting smaller and smaller.
The two however paused as they looked back at the trio. "Your average tier three experts." Julian said before they left.