historical

Sunday Morning, Room 393, Andromeda Building

Russell Moon who just woke up from his short sleep sat on his bed, and looked at the wall clock hanging on the wall above the television, then after a minute or two, he stood up and went to the bath to brush off his teeth before making a quick breakfast.

As he sat on the comfortable couch near his bed, he remembered something before opening the television.

"At the age of ten, Princess Rumia Flora of Nereia, and Princess Elizabeth von Etherion of Etheria had been trained with their lives on the line.

"Criminals from their respective country's prisons that were ranked from F- to E, and proven guilty of their crimes were lined up for death row punishment.

"And in order to wake up Rumia and Elizabeth's perception of another side of reality, the Queen of Nereia, and the Queen of Etheria decided on their own that the frail and less dangerous criminals' death punishment must be used as training for each of their own daughter.

"Although Rumia and Elizabeth were given a choice and not forced to do such a thing, the two princesses accepted it under the premise that the criminals were proven guilty.

"And under the watchful gaze and authority of the Queen of their respective country, every criminal that received punishment within acceptable ranks and proven guilty served as a temporary training partner for the two princesses with their deaths as the end."

Russell recalled the details from his unpublished novel in his previous life and let out a sigh inwardly before muttering in the air.

"I wonder what would be Freya and her classmates' reaction..."

'That the Princess they view as cheerful and friendly could kill without hesitation if the situation calls for it.'

After some time of nostalgia in regard to his unpublished novel, he snapped off his thoughts and remembered what would happen a few weeks from now.

'Ah right! I should ask Amelie later about the Black Market, time to reap some money.'

...

[Activating Skill: Bacterium of the Vacuum]

[Activation of Skill has failed]

[The nature of the Skill: Bacterium of the Vacuum is not recorded in the Virtual System Data]

Elizabeth stared blankly for a few seconds at the holographic screen produced by the Virtual System before composing herself.

She had a rough guess why her Skill didn't manage to activate, but with the situation right now, she couldn't afford to think about it; thus, she activated the other buff skills.

[Activating Skill: Blessing of the Space Overseer (SS)]

[Activating Skill: White Perception (SS+)

[Activating Skill: Weapon Space Coating (SSS)]

The Blessing of the Space Overseer (SS) provides the user a bonus overall stat of 150 and lets the user floats in the air freely during the skill's duration.

The White Perception (SS+) affects Elizabeth's view as her light green eyes became platinum white with white luster.

It helps her to discern the right place where and how to cut something.

And the Weapon Space Coating (SSS) grants Elizabeth's weapon a 'Spatial' attribute which could make her weapon cut through space.

Outside of Virtual Reality, this skill was extremely dangerous because 'cutting through space' unknowingly and without a proper understanding of it could cause it to connect to other worlds, inviting unknown disasters.

But this skill was in perfect harmony with her Skill: White Perception (SS+) which helped her discern the right places to cut and how short or long a cut must be.

...

It was only have been a minute or two that had passed during the activation of their buff skills.

Rumia and Elizabeth stared at it other for a few seconds as various thoughts flowed through their mind.

'I need to overcome you before I could even consider fighting Samantha...'

Rumia thought as a self-deprecating smile formed on her lips.

'I know what you're thinking. It's useless.'

Elizabeth thought as a smile, close to laughing formed on her lips.

~ Whoosh-!

~ Whoosh-!

Without any words left to be said, Rumia and Elizabeth vanished from where they were standing.

...

At Obelisk Virtual Technology Building, A-1 designated room.

'These two will truly be monsters in the future.'

Professor Murak thought as she instinctively glanced at Samantha Hall before letting out a self-deprecating sigh.

He then calmly observed his other students who were going to participate after the first two groups.

pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 ...

The spectacle lay in everyone's eyes including the students who were part of Rumia and Elizabeth's group that were eliminated watching the unfolding battle between Rumia and Elizabeth with awe.

The Virtual Capsule has automatic psychological placation for the students who died in the Virtual World without Pain Reduction.

It would help them to rationality thought for the improvement of themselves, especially the commoners who knew that there were worst things than what happened in the Virtual World when it came to reality, outside of Obelisk Academy.

The information regarding the zero percent Pain Reduction was gossiped about by the first few participants, but those who were watching from Group 3 to 8 perhaps already realized based on the realistic graphics of blood they saw when someone was killed.

It was originally in the program or settings of the Virtual Technology, that if Pain Reduction exists, the sight of blood would be pixels instead.

Freya, Amelie, and Amery were watching closely, scrutinizing the fighting style of Rumia and Elizabeth.

Although the two were not using 'attack skills', the impact of Rumia's thrashing using her whip, and Elizabeth's cleaving using her broadsword exceeded what's normal as what a first-year student could do.

'It seems like they have buffs that increase overall stat...'

Freya thought as she looked at the holographic screen and saw Rumia's whip, which was maintaining a meter distance from Elizabeth, turned into water, but this whip of water seemed solid as it grabbed Elizabeth's broadsword.

At that moment, Elizabeth thrust her broadsword into a certain space as it was wrapped by the water whip, then a space torn beside Rumia where the part of broadsword came out, piercing Rumia's hand slightly causing her to retract the water whip instinctively.

With her Skill: Guidance of the Deep, she could predict the incoming attack, but using space to attack was something very challenging and difficult to predict, thus she received a slight wound from the back of her right hand that held the water whip.

'Not good.'

Rumia thought calmly as she saw Elizabeth approaching her.

She's keeping her distance, taking advantage of her three-meter-long whip that was transformed into water that was condensed like ice.

But with Elizabeth's nature of the attack, the distance was not something to be considered an advantage at this point.

...

'Should I force her hand?'

Elizabeth thought as she cleave downward against Rumia, but with the serpent-like whip, her slash was weakened.

'This whip is annoying. Really.'

As she thought of it, a smile of amusement formed on her lips, silently admiring the kind of power Rumia has.

Both of them have a Unique Skill, but they don't know if the opposition has a targeted-type Unique Skill or a buff unique skill.

Although they were friends since childhood, and even partnered up when laying punishment to some criminals, the matters regarding their detailed status windows were agreed to be kept secret for some reason as per the Queens' agreement. Therefore, even if they knew the nature or specialization of each other by training together, they still were both kept in the dark in some matters such as training their Unique Skill on their own.

...

A man with blonde hair and deep blue eyes was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he watched Rumia and Elizabeth fighting each other.

'I need to surpass them! No, I will do it!'

He resolved himself as he looked at Han Jiho from the other side of the seats, and slightly felt irritated.

'This guy gets in my way, too.'

Leon von Obreyon thought before he continued watching the spectacle of the battle of the Princesses.

...

"Won't you use it?"

Elizabeth asked as blood from her head due to earlier's situation of being thrown off guard flowed down to her right cheek.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Rumia said in a calm tone as she thrashed her water whip, hitting Elizabeth's left shoulder.

Fatigue was evident in both of them, but they kept going and going, giving what they could at the moment.

~ Bang!

With a diagonal cleave, a tree fell on the ground as their fight from the top of Rock Turtle ended, they reached the ground as they jumped, and continued to jump from one place to another.

~ Argh!

Rumia groaned from the kick she received as she was tightening Elizabeth's arm, causing her to loosen her grip.

Elizabeth then teleported behind Rumia, but the serpent-like whip detected it and move on its own, coiling itself on Elizabeth's body before throwing her again!

~ Bang!

~ Argh!

Elizabeth let out a groan as her back hit one of the trees. She flew at least 10 meters due to the water whip's power.

'Haha hahahaha'

She let out a self-deprecating laugh inwardly before jumping through space again teleporting in front of Rumia, maintaining at least 2 meters away.

Both of them didn't care anymore about the Obelisk Token hanging on their necks as they preferred battling each other to death... at least virtually.

'Should I snatch her Obelisk Token and run away, forcing her to use her Unique Skill?'

Although it was a dirty move, it was viable.

But after some time, Elizabeth didn't consider it anymore as she thought of another plan.

She looked at Rumia, No, at the spaces where should and shouldn't cut behind Rumia.

She raised her hand holding the broadsword, prompting Rumia who was breathing incessantly due to fatigue to be ready for the incoming attack as she held the water whip in her right hand.

~ Shing-!

A vertical cut of at least two meters long was drawn in the air.

Elizabeth aims for something that she shouldn't cut!

Then, a space connected to somewhere appeared behind Rumia causing chills to run down her spine.

'An attack!'

The Guidance of the Deep Sea triggered, but a gigantic scythe resembling a mantis' blade cleaved down at her.

She attempted to dodge from the right side, but with the size of the scythe and the time of predictability of the incoming attack, she didn't manage to fully dodge it as her left arm got cut off!

The water whip didn't manage to block the attack because of the strength of the monster's hand that came out of nowhere.

'You got me... Heh.'

Rumia thought, acknowledging Elizabeth's rational thinking of using other means.

Elizabeth didn't violate the strict rule to directly attack using a skill, she just opened a space connected to somewhere and let whatever came from there attack Rumia from behind.

Rumia realized what attacked her as she bled after losing her left arm.

It was the Hidden Boss Monster that flattened the top of the Rock Turtle shell!