NOVPUBAfter the expulsion, it was a tough life, but Serena was lucky enough to encounter a nice party in her new life as an adventurer.
Her fate was turned upside down, but she managed to return to her feet and make a name for herself.
Warcraft Roses was only a middle-class guild party, but it became her new family with many good seniors taking care of her. The members consisted of many seniors whose fate was not much different from hers. She and they were both former nobles, struggling to survive.
After Serena regained consciousness, the first thing she did was convince her leader to withdraw the duel challenge. Unfortunately, her words were considered a passing thought, and her leader reassured her that everything would be fine, but it would be never fine to offend a God!
"Seniors, you need to convince our leader. This is not about me, but for his good as well. Please don’t offend them!" Serena begged the other seniors with a desperate expression.
"They are the source of your nightmares, and as a senior, I will do something for you. Also, this is just a friendly duel, not a death match. It doesn’t matter if they are stronger than me. I can seek some pointers from an expert." Mason wasn’t too worried. Winning and losing were normal things in duels, and losing was not too detrimental to his stake.
"Is that okay? I mean, if you lose, you have to wear that weird nametag everywhere." The archer lady raised her hand with a frown.
"Are you concerned about my dignity and reputation? I don’t even know the meaning of the name she wrote on that name tag. It’s not a shame to lose to a profound expert, but if I win, I will gain extraordinary prestige." Mason shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Well, you just want to gain Junior Serena’s favor. You need to convince her first because she is so afraid of those devil girls." The warrior gentleman sighed.
"Hm, the duel is almost here. Serena, I would appreciate it if you supported me. You know that my abilities can rival people ranked above me, right? Tell me all about those devil girls, and what they did to you." Mason knelt down, wiping Serena’s tears.
Serena opened her mouth, but she couldn’t reveal anything related to Elysia as she was so frightened. Elysia was the Goddess’ disciple who had attained godhood, but Elysia was always accompanied by many powerhouses who would carry out any orders unconditionally.
Not to mention, the supreme leaders in each faction, including the Emperors, respected Elysia as the world savior. And, she had yet to consider those countless believers. Those fanatics would hunt her down and rip her body to pieces if they knew that she was on their Goddess’ bad side.
There was no escape, but she planned to beg for forgiveness from Elysia as soon as possible, even though it would bring her dignity down to the dust.
Luckily, the duel fell to the Devil Princess Sylvia, not Elysia. So, she could still find a way out.
"Senior Mason, it might be your luck because your duel challenge fell to that devil. She is a high-rank devil with blood manipulation and demonic fire abilities." Serena explained a little, but she didn’t really know much about the Devil Princess.
"Good luck? It should be bad luck because that elder devil is clearly stronger than the younger one. Even though the younger one has a snow fox contracted beast, she shouldn’t be stronger than an intermediate beast tamer." Mason crossed his arms.
He aimed at the devil little sister because he could gain easy victory in a friendly duel. He would gain Serena’s favor after helping her overcome her past trauma against those devils. Unfortunately, an unexpected cold wind came from nowhere and blew his glove away, sealing the duel challenge to the devil elder sister.
"You are wrong... the devil little sister is much stronger than her elder sister."
"Is it because of that fantail snow fox? Well, that makes sense since I had to fight against her beast companion instead of her. Then, tell me about the devil elder sister."
"She, she should be at Saint-level... that’s four ranks above you."
"Holy sht. I dug my own grave, didn’t I? But, it’s not impossible to win. Tell me more about this Saint-level devil."
Mason tried to inquire further about the devil he would fight.
Unfortunately, Serena couldn’t provide much information because she barely knew anything about the Devil Princess Sylvia. Serena tried to convince her party’s leader to withdraw the duel challenge several times, and she would represent to apologize, but her senior was resolute.
"So, her name is Sylvia, the daughter of an overlord from the Devil Continent. She is a noble then. You don’t need to worry, my cute junior. To fight someone strong is an opportunity to improve my capabilities to the maximum. Watch me and cheer for me. I hope it can resolve the trauma in your heart, even a little." Mason patted Serena’s shoulder.
"..." Serena couldn’t help but sigh. She only hoped that Elysia would forgive her continuous offenses.
The time for the duel was almost arrive, and Mason left the inn with everyone, going towards the guild’s arena.
---
In the middle of the 30mx15m arena surrounded by sturdy walls, two people stood straight, facing each other while looking at each other.
The onlookers were present in their spectator seats, feeling excited to watch a human adventurer confront a high-rank devil because of a woman.
The guild’s executives were also present to supervise this sensitive duel. After all, it was a legal duel between a human and a devil in the holy city. The knights from the Holy Knight and Knight Association were also there to keep the situation conducive.
One of the guild’s executives stood in the middle of the arena, reading out the duel’s rules. Since it was a friendly duel over a bet, then neither party was allowed to seriously injure or kill the opponent.
"..." Sylvia crossed her arms and nodded.
"Mason Jenkins, the leader of the Warcraft Roses." Mason introduced himself and his background as a courtesy in a duel.
"Alright, bring it on." Sylvia replied with a taunting hand gesture.
"An arrogant and rude, devil. Unbefitting for a Saint-level expert." Mason gritted his teeth as he felt greatly humiliated and belittled.
"Saint-level? I’ll give you the chance to attack first. You’re the one challenging me. Don’t say I’m bullying you." Sylvia’s lips upturned into a faint smirk.
"You said it. Then, don’t regret it if you get hurt because of my sword, miss devil!" Mason unsheathed his longsword. He charged at Sylvia with impeccable footsteps, covering a distance of seven meters in just one second. "Penetration Stab!"
*Clang!*
"!!!" Mason widened his eyes in complete shock because his high-penetration sword stab technique was stopped only by the devil’s fingertip, or rather, her dainty pinky finger’s nail!
"Is this your best move? I’m surprised you took the lengths to challenge me with just this kind of ability." Sylvia swung her hand, casually throwing the warrior away.
"Don’t underestimate me! Shadow Steps! True Slash!" Mason shot out like a flash, releasing a crushing attack that would cause true damage that ignored the target’s defense.
Unfortunately, that kind of penetration force resembled a toothpick in front of a boulder. Sylvia didn’t take any defensive action this time, but the sword slash stopped one millimeter from her arm.
"Why don’t you avoid it or block it?" Mason asked in surprise. There was a limit to how much one could look down on people, but he didn’t know what this devil was thinking.
"You saw it wrong. It wasn’t you who stopped your sword slash before it touched me, but this is you who won’t be able to harm me. Your sword, can’t even slash this blood droplet." Sylvia pointed to a blood droplet, holding the sword in place.
"!!!" Mason gasped in surprise when he realized the truth.
He tried to move his sword, but it remained in place no matter how hard he tried. It was just like a deadly trap. Once it took hold of him, it would never let go.
Sylvia raised her hand, and Mason immediately retreated, abandoning his sword.
"That’s two strikes already. Show me something interesting before I make my move, Mr. Loser."
"I’m Mason, not a loser. Remember my name properly."
"What’s the difference? You are bound to lose and will fulfill the bet to name yourself as a loser, right?"
"Never underestimate humanity’s limitless potential, or you’ll regret it one day, Miss Devil."
"Yeah, maybe humans have limitless potential, but not you."
Sylvia rolled her eyes. The human’s limitless potential would be her master. Elysia was a human before ascending to godhood. As for this human warrior, he was nothing more than a mortal human.
"Fuck!" Mason took out his spare sword and released his ultimate technique.
He raised his sword high. Thick and destructive magic energy enveloped the blade. After a magic chant and spell, Mason swung his sword down.
"Oh, this move is similar to the Caliburn, erm... Ex-caliburn? Whatever." Sylvia slapped the magical sword slash casually.
*Shatter!*
The sword energy shattered into pieces, and the swirling destructive magic crumbled into dust particles.
Mason slumped to the ground after he realized the difference in power was too great. His ultimate technique should be powerful enough to put a scratch on a Saint-level expert, but he couldn’t even make his opponent move a step. She treated him like a child.
"It’s my turn now. I’m not interested in your last words. Behold. This is the real destructive move." Sylvia summoned a bloody-red whip.
She imbued it with her magical power and spun around once, playing with the whip to dance around her body.
*Swoosh!*
Sylvia unleashed her attack without any prior notice.
Mason had his eyes wide open, witnessing the deadly whip come like an unstoppable lash.
A flashback of his life flashed before his eyes. A death door seemed to appear to take him to the afterlife.
That was the first time he was truly belittled, toyed with, and treated like a random nobody, insignificant to anything.
As the whip became closer, time seemed to pass so slowly. He finally understood his utter defeat would cost him something greater than the dignity he had long thrown away.
*Boom!* 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
The whip flashed right beside the petrified warrior, and split the ground apart, creating a two-meter-deep ravine.
"Eh?" Mason felt his blood leave him, making his entire body pale due to the confounded fear and intimidation.
"You should know I’m a blood devil, right? I just need a simple snap to kill a weak living thing like you, but I honor your courage." Sylvia pressed her fingers together, ready to make a simple snap.
"Please stop the duel! It’s your win already!" Serena leaped into the arena and stood in front of her petrified leader.
"Hoo~" Sylvia put her hand to her cheek, responding with a devilish grin. She then cleared her throat and looked back at Elysia. "Ahem, what should I do? Can I punish her?"
"Referee, the duel is over." Elysia got down from the spectator seat and walked over to Sylvia.
The guild’s executive announced the winner with a relief. It would be a great trouble if the friendly duel would lead to someone’s death.
"..." Serena paled and was incredibly terrified. She held her trembling hand, keeping her back straight until Elysia stood in front of her.
Serena’s party members also entered the arena as they had to confront the other party, helping their junior and petrified leader.
"Stand back!" Serena shouted to her party members, warning them not to involve themselves any further.
Serena looked at Elysia for a second before looking down, fear and nervousness had swallowed her. However, she had to confront it as she knew she had no escape.
*Thud*
Serena fell to her knees, ready to apologize without caring about her pride or dignity. It was fine if Elysia would punish her, but she hoped to receive forgiveness.
"Are you doing well lately? I don’t know what has happened to you in recent years, but I can see your development going on the right path. Have you become a good girl?" Elysia faintly smiled.
"?!" Serena had no idea why, but Elysia’s voice was so soft and comforting.
"Why are you kneeling in front of me? Did you do something wrong and want to confess it? What was I supposed to do?" Elysia was amused by Serena’s fear. Some people had done something to Serena on her behalf, even though she never asked for anything.
"I-I I mean... I’m sorry to offend and ruin your academy experience. I, I shouldn’t have intimidated you and assaulted you... Tell me, please, what should I do to get your forgiveness?" Serena’s lips trembled as she tried her best to convey something she should have said five years ago.
If she had received Elysia’s forgiveness at that time, her life would not have been destroyed.
"Hmm, do you think I would put a grudge on that? You were an unstable young girl, influenced by a bad environment. Isn’t that fine now? Be a good, better person. I would be happy if you did. You see... I have forgiven you since the last time we met." Elysia helped Serena to stand up.
Elysia beckoned her people to leave, but she waved her hand at Serena once before disappearing into thin air. "You have some good friends now. Take care."
That gentle voice echoed throughout the arena. After the silence enveloped the room, Serena bowed respectfully and uttered many words of gratitude through her sobs. Elysia’s responses lifted the huge burden and fear in her heart.
