Ascension: Online

"Everyone has gathered, it seems," the boy said, glancing around. Despite his cowardice, he could actually put up a good speech — as long as no one called his bluff or threatened him with violence like I had.

"What did you call this meeting for?" A guy in the audience asked, raising his hand. "You said it had to do with the control of this Zone, that's why I came. Don't tell me… you plan on driving the rest of us out?"

"Please wait with your questions and let me talk," the boy replied, professionally pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "As you all can tell, there are only 12 available rooms suitable for sleeping in at night, That is enough for exactly 3 full teams in total. I doubt anyone here wants to sleep on the streets, so I have a proposal for those who have already met up with at least one of their teammates."

At this, the crowd began to stir, half-knowing what's coming next but half-uncertain as well.

"I propose…" The boy paused for dramatic effect. "… We kick out all the people who have yet to meet up with a single one of their teammates."

"WHAT? YOU WANT TO CAST ALL OF US AWAY?!"

"You're not the owner of this place! You can't just drive us out!"

"You'll have to do so over my dead body…!"

"Calm down, everyone!" The boy cried, begging for the crowd to just listen to him explain. "Please, let me finish!"

The crowd reluctantly settled down once more, giving him a chance.

"Allow me to put it this way. Rather than getting 'kicked out' of this Zone, you will be provided with an opportunity to go to a different one, where your teammates may very well be at. This way, not only will you be able to meet up with your allies, we can also resolve this overpopulation matter peacefully."

"Fuck peace!" A disciple roared in fury. "I was the first person to arrive at this place, and now you want to kick me out?! I'll never accept this!"

"Yeah, yeah! Just because I haven't found my teammates yet, doesn't give you the right to just kick us out! If anything, we should decide who gets to stay via a fair competitio-"

Before the young disciple could even finish his sentence, a blade sliced through the air and cut his word short as his head was lopped off in the blink of an eye.

"Competition? Sure. Fair…? Not so much, hehe~"

Everyone stood, shocked at what just happened, as the decapitated body fell limply to the floor, spouting fresh red blood from its neck.

The perpetrator, a familiar beautiful girl with long black hair and dazzling pink eyes, landed behind the crowd, scythe stained with blood. Slowly straightening her body, she turned around to face the crowd and swung her weapon around, splattering blood everywhere.

"AHHH!"

A few frantic and cowardly disciples, the one who gave the speech included, hurriedly began running away, while the braver/dumber ones stayed behind.

"… Who are you?" A disciple at the very front asked, raising his long wooden staff in defense and narrowing his eyes, on guard and prepared for anything.

The girl — Nadeshiko — smiled innocently.

"… Your murderer."

SLASH.

In an instant, the boy's head was too lying on the ground, rolling around and coming to a stop beneath another disciple's foot.

"You… how dare you… KILL MY FRIEND?!"

The man lunged towards Nadeshiko, but she merely smiled and pointed behind him.

"Look out~"

"Wha-!"

An arrow, seemingly shot out of nowhere, pierced the man's heart before he could even get close to Nadeshiko. Everyone turned their gazes to the window of a building across from where I was. An elf stood there, eyes filled with malice.

"It is not the individuals that should be kicked out… but the ones who have already found teammates. After all, that would give them a better chance at surviving out in the wilds, no?"

"RAGH!" Two other male disciples immediately leaped onto the building and chased after her disappearing figure, vanishing from sight.

In an instant, the battlefield was enveloped in chaos. Those without teammates banded together to fight against those who did, and before long, two sides had formed.

"Looks like it's begun," Ming Yi said, gazing out at the bloodbath below. Disciples injured, killed, crippled.

"Are you okay with this?" I asked without looking at him.

"Sure. It's not like I have any attachments with these people or anything. I'll just follow your lead, Brother Kaze."

"I see. Koroth?"

"I'm fine as well. It don't care about demons or humans… both races have neglected me. They can be purged, for all I care."

"Okay… that was darker than expected, but-"

"Kaze~~" A voice suddenly called out from behind me as I felt two arms wrap around my neck and pull me backwards.

I quickly stopped her by pulling on her arms, easily overpowering her. She ended up doing a frontflip and landing in my lap instead.

"… Nadeshiko."

"Heehee, surprised to see me~?" She giggled, setting her scythe by my neck. "Oh, how easily I could kill you right now~"

"Go ahead. Just know that if you do, I'll make you suffer a fate worse than death," I said darkly and coldly, glaring into her seductive eyes.

"If you do that, I won't be able to spend any more time with you~ so I'll hold off on the killing for now. There's plenty of prey down there for me, after all…"

She licked her lips and glanced down, where the disciples were still fighting to the death, then turned to me.

"Eh? You're not going to say no?"

Ming Yi laughed. "He was the one who created all this chaos in the first place. Why would he interfere now?"

"Ara ara~ does this mean…" Nadeshiko brought her face closer to mine and tilted my head up to look into her eyes. "… I can let loose~?"

I nodded slowly, and she immediately pulled me into a kiss, slipping her tongue into my mouth and taking me by surprise. After a few seconds of me being completely paralyzed, she backed away, wiping her mouth.

"Hehe~ you're the best, Kaze~<3"

Saying this, she leaped off the edge of the building and dove into the chaos below, preparing to unleash a massacre.

"Man… she's hot," Ming Yi said with a chuckle as she stared at her combat figure. "I'm kind of jealous."

I scoffed. "You want her? Take her. Good riddance. As long as I can keep using her as a powerful ally, I don't care who she's with."

"Sorry, but she seems absolutely infatuated with you, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon."

"Quite unfortunately," I added. "Though I will say, she is cute."

"Not sure cute is the right word…" Koroth trailed off. "When are we going in, Brother Kaze?"

"Give it a little while longer. If things go as planned… we won't need to go in at all. Nadeshiko here can take care of everything," I said with a smirk.

"So you do value her after all," Ming Yi chuckled.

"… Perhaps. But only as a pawn."

"Ha! Keep lying to yourself, buddy. If you really thought of her only that way, you would've pushed her away when she kissed you just now."

"… I was just-"

"Don't worry, don't worry," Ming Yi said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I won't tell her."

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past our head, and I just barely managed to avoid it in time. Immediately, the three of us got to our feet and scanned our surroundings. The arrow came from directly in front of us, but I couldn't see anyone there. They must've already moved positions.

*Is it that elf from earlier…? Did she kill the two who went after her?*

Narrowing my eyes, I dashed from rooftop to rooftop as I searched the building windows for any sign of her.

"Ming Yi, you stay on this side, I'll go directly above her on the other. Let me know if you spot her."

He nodded firmly. "Got it."

I leaped off the roof of the building, using Vanishing Clouds plus Blink in mid-air to bridge the gap and land on the other side. I heard the sound of an arrow being shot out of a bow and instinctively ducked. The projectile whizzed past above my head as I turned to see the elf, who stood by the staircase exit.

I quickly dashed towards her, pulling out Dokujin in the process. She fired another arrow at me, but I knocked it away with my dagger. My reaction speeds were nothing to scoff at, after all.

Realizing she didn't have time for a third shot, she panicked and began running away, but she couldn't outrun me.

Eventually, I corned her in the staircase, slowly walking towards her as she ran out of breath, panting heavily.

Sighing, I shook my head. "If you chose to shoot at literally anyone else, you wouldn't have ended up like this. But you just had to choose me of all people, when I was just chilling on the roof."

"…" The elf gritted her teeth, glancing both ways to search for any way of escaping.

I narrowed my eyes. "Tell me — who sent you?"