Hearing her shout, Arad smiled and sheathed the swords at his waist. “Fine by me. I will see how long you will survive,”
A wide smile crossed Five’s face, and she glared at Arad with a crazed face. “You’re going to use your class? Show me what can you do, druid!”
Arad smiled, closing his fists and leaving his middle and index finger extended. One arm pointing down at his feet and the other at his shoulder.
“I call upon the countless stars of the night sky,” He said, magic slowly radiating from his body.
“What? How could a circle of the star druid fight like that?” One of the adventurers in the back gasped, “Idiot! He must have several classes, now one with that strength is lower than level sixty.”
“Zodiac: Gemini!” Arad’s words boomed like thunder, the stars appearing behind his back with a magnificent glow. He stood and started walking, slowly as his body left, and after image trailing right behind him.
Arad’s afterimage looked exactly like him, only having pink eyes instead of purple. The double’s body was covered in tattoos and had black nails while he didn’t.
Five pulled a crystal ball from her pocket and stared at Arad, sweat dripping across her face. ^Druids usually only have access to one constellation, but void dragons have access to all by birthright. On top of that, Gemini is the weakest of the constellation and only allows you to create a second copy of yourself for one minute a day.^ She pointed all her magic toward Arad.
^It’s considered weak since the caster would have to half his conssioness between the two, dropping all of his metal stats by half and robbing him from any spell casting. It’s only usable to make a dumb body double.^ She thought, feeling her hands shake.
Arad’s close stared at Five, a sinister smile on its face. “[You,]” Doma giggled, “[You aren’t safe outside your office.]”
^That isn’t the same for someone with two minds in his body. Gemini would allow him to temporarily split off from that witch and let each of them act independently,^ Five thought.
Doma lifted her hand and Arad walked to her, doing the same as they touched arms, “Sadly, I can’t draw this place in blood. It’s bad for him,” Doma looked at Arad’s face with a smile. She can’t use curses as that would make it harder for him.
Arad smiled, handing Doma his dragon slayer sword. “Don’t kill her, I don’t need to say that,”
“[Of course, I will only make her cry,]” Doma smiled, putting her hands together, “[I will support you from here with magic, you take the lead,]”
BAM! Arad lunged forward holding the adamantine sword with both hands. In the blink of an eye, his body blasted forward faster than anyone could notice.
Five pointed her wand at him, [Wither]
Magic crackled at the tip of her wand. The spell was about to launch when suddenly it started to fade with a pink spark.
“[Counter spell, don’t forget about me,]” Doma smiled in the back, lifting one finger up and pointing forward with her sword. [Damage Twin]
For a second, Five was puzzled as she didn’t know such a spell. Even though she has a library full of scrolls, that spell shouldn’t exist.
Doma swung the sword down, cutting her own hand.
“What are you doing…” Five said before feeling a sharp pain in her wrist. Her hand fell to the ground with her wand. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine as Doma giggled.
^Voodoo curse,^ She thought, ^The bitch masked it as a spell, the wizard around us won’t know better with how limited they are to spells.^
CLACK! Doma’s arm healed while Five’s kept bleeding, “[Let’s see how far can you heal. Little girl.]” She lifted the sword and stabbed herself in the chest, causing Five to puke blood.
BAM! Arad emerged beside Five, swinging his sword at her neck.
[Teleport] Five teleported to dodge the attack, the wound on her chest prevented her from moving too much.
[Void step]
Arad didn’t let her go, teleporting right after her with a fiery sword of flame and lightning.
PLUCK! Doma pulled the sword from her stomach, healing instantly as she swung it up. With an evil smile, she trusted the sword into her skull. CRACK!
BAM! Five’s vision turned back as she was about to dodge a kick from Arad. She was only a projection of Alice Dagon, so an injury to the head merely immobilized her for a second.
CRACK! When Five regained her vision, her face was already beneath Arad’s foot, her head getting pressed to the ground with the weight of a mountain.
“It’s my win,” Arad stated, glaring down at her with glowing eyes, “I only used about half of my skills and powers,”
“And I’m only one percent of my full power, don’t get cocky,” Five giggled, “But, I have to admit, you were far stronger than I expected,”
Arad removed his foot and she barely stood, “Especially when you broke my time stop,”
Doma walked toward Arad, her body disintegrating as the constellation faded like stars at dawn.
“I do have nineteen constellations on top of several wild shapes and spells, I might have been using less power,” He stared at her.
“Either way, beating me is only the start for you,” She tapped her robe, wiping the dust away as her body healed. “Welcome to the guild, Arad Orion.”
“I was already a member of the guild,” Arad replied.
“Ah! Sorry, I forgot to tell you,” She smiled, “Beating me is the s-rank entrance exam. Albeit I can’t rank you up without you finishing the required number of quests and monsters slayed. You now have the reputation and respect of an S-rank.” She looked at the other adventurers, “HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” They shouted, cheering as they welcomed a new madman to hell, S-rank aren’t known for power or valor, they are known for being insane. Fighting them always feels unfair, and Arad makes people feel like the odds are stacked against them.
“Wait? You should have told me!” Arad cried.
“Why?” Five smiled, “I didn’t expect you to win. You really caught me off guard when you kicked me in the stopped time.” She giggled, even her real body got a scare out of that.
She stared at Arad for a second, “So, how long do want to remain shirtless?”
Arad looked at himself, “For a while, I don’t mind staying naked most of the time,” He’s a dragon and barely cares about clothes or how he looks, “But, I guess I can’t stay like this,” He sighed, pulling a shirt out of his stomach and a fresh pair of boots.
“ARAD!” Eris shouted from inside the guild and Five looked back, “Oh, my, she broke out quickly,”
Eris took her baggy clothes, throwing them over her body as she kicked the door of the room she was locked in open. She walked outside, panting as she left a charred corpse in there. The corpse held the number six.
Eris looked out of one of the guild’s balconies, “You bitch! Finally found you!” She growled, “Come to the shadows, coward!” She growled, her red eyes’s glow appearing even beneath her veil. 𝐞𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺
Five flicked her finger, teleporting herself, Arad, and Eris back to her office. As they landed, Arad and Eris saw Five standing beside the charred corpse.
“Wow,” Five sighed, “Fixing this would take a lot of time and effort,” She looked back at Eris, “You could’ve held back a little,”
CLAP! A fiery spear rushed toward Five’s face. CLANG! Arad caught Eris’s spear with his palm, looking at her face, “Calm down, that was a test,”
Eris took a deep breath, thinking for a while before turning off her magic.
Arad stared at the charred corpse, “You really roasted her,”
Five stared at Arad, “I can see the fight through our shared memories,” She smiled, “Your girl is rabid, she fought like a wild beast, blasting everything she came into contact with while abusing her vampiric regeneration to ignore any damaged Six delts to her.”
Arad stared at Five, “Does this mean that both of us are eligible for s-rank?”
“In terms of power, yes. But for experience, that is still to be seen.” She smiled, pulling her quest paper, “Get rid of the bandit camp at night. I will create a strong barrier for you to work with ease.”
Arad smiled, “Well then, get the bag ready.”
****
The sun started to fade behind the mountains, casting an eminent shadow over the hills. That night was silent, only leaves could be heard dancing upon the trees.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Arad walked out of the woods, Eris by his side. He took a deep breath and smiled, “What a nice night,”
Eris giggled, her eyes glowing red as she gazed at the bandits’ camp in the distance. “I can’t wait to sink my fangs into something soft and bloody,”