Yara woke up in the void. A broken world floated before her, chunks of earth breaking away from it.
"Where am I? What am I doing here? Wasn't I just sleeping in the church?" These thoughts assaulted Yara as she stared at the dying world.
Before she could think further, a whisper began to echo in her mind.
"I will save them. I will save them all. I will grant them salvation." The words reverberated through Yara's skull.
Suddenly, she was no longer in the void. Instead, she stood on a vast battlefield. Not far away, a group of beings clashed against a girl with a grotesque appearance.
Half her face was bone, while the other half was bathed in light. Yara felt nauseous just looking at her—her stomach twisted, and she doubled over, vomiting uncontrollably.
As she stared, another whisper slithered into her mind.
"Kali…" Yara murmured, forcing herself to look away in terror.
Minutes passed, and Yara watched as more and more of the beings fell lifeless to the ground, their glowing souls drawn toward the woman, Kali.
Strangely, each soul's disappearance sent a pang of pain through Yara—she didn't understand why. Then, something even more shocking happened.
One of the women fighting against Kali, seeing her remaining allies closing in, slowly stepped back—before conjuring hundreds of multicolored fractal lances.
Before the others could react, the lances impaled them. The souls of the newly slain streaked toward Kali.
Yara didn't know how to feel. She didn't understand what was happening… yet something about those lances felt eerily familiar.
Before she could move closer, a voice boomed.
High above the clouds, Yara spotted a muscular man with bronzed skin and long hair. His voice rumbled like the echo of a forgotten god.
"Nut… You've betrayed your own. Your comrades. Your brethren." His words dripped with disappointment and sorrow.
The woman who had slaughtered her allies—Nut—averted her gaze as she stepped closer to Kali.
"She's my daughter, Hou Yi. You of all people should understand. Akasha should understand."
"No. I don't. And neither does my master. That's why he sent me." The man's voice hardened as a bow wreathed in divine flames materialized before him.
"She's his daughter! How could he have the heart to hurt her?! He's a monster! I won't let him lock her away for eternity!" Nut screamed hysterically, the space around her distorting.
Layer upon layer of reality compressed as defensive concepts activated. Kali, despite her mindless state, sensed danger the moment the flaming bow appeared.
Hou Yi sighed, gripping the bow, ignoring the shields mother and daughter had erected.
Yara witnessed it all. It felt surreal—insane. And Nut had mentioned Akasha. Was this her Akasha? The one from Orario?
"No… It can't be. This is just a dream… right?" Yara whispered to herself, her head throbbing.
"Deploying Noble Phantasm—" Hou Yi declared as the flames around his bow roared even fiercer.
"Oh goddess, who stands as both sun and shadow…
My hands are already stained with the blood of the heavens… What is one more?
May your light fade as theirs did—
Jiǔ Rì Luò: Fall of the Nine Suns!"
Then—Yara saw it. Nine colossal suns rose into the sky… before crashing down.
"Ha… You know what's cruelest, Hou Yi? That he never tried to stop her… He just watched."
---
"Wake up!"
Yara jolted awake, her hands clutching her chest as if something had exploded inside her. The mattress was drenched in sweat.
As her vision cleared, she found Hestia staring down at her, worry etched across her face. She must have been the one who shouted.
"Yara, child, what happened? You were thrashing around, sweating… Did you have a nightmare?" Hestia asked, her voice laced with concern.
Yara forced an awkward smile, grimacing at her sweat-soaked clothes, but nodded.
"Yeah… Just a weird dream. Nothing to worry about. Probably drank too much wine at the party," she muttered, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly.
Last night's celebration had gotten out of hand—especially with Bell and Aiz from the Loki Familia joining in. Though Bell had acted a little strange around Aiz… Still, it had been fun.
"Good. If you're fine, then get up and take a bath. Bell and Akasha are waiting for breakfast—Akasha cooked today," Hestia said, already drooling at the thought of Akasha's cooking.
---
An hour later, Bell was training with Akasha, learning how to wield daggers.
"There are two types: short daggers and long daggers. Given your build, long daggers suit you best. So before you buy real ones, you'll train with wooden ones."
Akasha circled Bell, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze distant as he spoke.
Bell nodded eagerly before raising his hand. Akasha tilted his head, still staring into space—something Bell had grown used to.
"What if my opponent has a range advantage? Like an archer or a mage? How do I… y'know, not die?" Bell scratched his head.
Akasha smirked slightly and held up two fingers.
"One: Speed. Two: Instinct."
"Speed covers everything—your feet, your mind. How fast you run, how fast you react."
"Instinct is simpler. Don't think. Don't try to understand. Let your instinct speak for you—act for you. Then, you'll achieve what you seek."
Bell clearly didn't grasp the last part, but he understood speed. Akasha sighed.
"Practice. Train. Master every part of your body. Make the dagger an extension of yourself. That's all. Now, begin."
With that, two wooden daggers appeared in Akasha's hands. He tossed them to Bell, who caught and inspected them.
And so, Bell's training—or rather, beatdown—began.
---
Meanwhile, Yara was in the Dungeon, practicing her spatial magic.
For an hour, she struggled to recreate the lances from her dream. She knew she could make them—she just needed to remember.
"Come on, come on… Ugh, nothing."
Sighing, she stood from the rock she'd been sitting on—when a fragment of her dream flashed in her mind, stunning her momentarily.
"Okay… So that's how it is. Let's try again."
She sat cross-legged on the ground, emptying her mind. She recalled the shape of the lances—their colors, their edges—and tried molding space the same way.
Hours passed.
---
After five and a half hours, Yara succeeded.
A tiny lance, identical to Nut's, hovered in her palm. It shimmered like a diamond, yet every inch of it promised death. She dispelled and recreated it several times, each attempt successful.
"Alright, time to test its destructive range before heading back."
Just then, the monsters she'd killed earlier respawned.
"Perfect. Now… what should I call it? Ah—Spatial Lance!" She grinned, hands on her hips, laughing grandly.
Gathering her focus, space fractured around her, shaping into the lance once more. Half her mana drained into it.
"Destroy them—Spatial Lance!"
The lance struck the monsters' midst—and the resulting explosion shook the entire floor, sending Yara flying hundreds of meters back.
She barely managed to conjure a shield before hitting the ground, but she was still coated in dust and smoke.
"No wonder it took half my mana…" She chuckled weakly before darkness swallowed her.
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Author's note: Hello guys, good morning, good afternoon, good evening friends.
I've been lost, I know. I started classes, and since it's my last year, it's very stressful, tiring, and very busy. But I had these days off, so I decided to make a chapter.
Please tell me what you think, it's something... I feel it's passable, anyway, comment, tell me how it is.