'Happy birthday, Sora,' a kind voice whispered through the abyss of Sora's mind.
The young lady, who had passed out, awoke, her eyes meeting the ceiling of what looked like the interior of a castle, its wooden frame perfectly balanced on stone walls that were nailed to make a good result.
She could feel her body pressed against the soft material of the luxurious bed she laid in, adorned in a loose, white gown that provided her proper breathing as it draped over her bare form. Her vision remained blurred and hazy as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
"What is this place?," she muttered.
Just then, the strange sounds of liquid boiling could be heard bubbling from right beside her, followed by the distant sounds of soft humming echoing through the large and empty room.
'Where could that sound be coming from?'
Slowly tilting her head, her neck burning in pain, she caught a glimpse of the back of a striking female structure, her white hair in form of curls crowning their head. Adorned in green cloak-like sleeves flowing like leafy wings in a breeze cut into a state in revealed her chocolate brown skin—her waist, hips and thighs exposed. Around their waist sat a sturdy belt adorned with twin potion vials filled with glowing purpl liquid, gently clicking as she faced a table filled with more of the vials that stood under a small flame, boiling.
That was the sound that Sora heard beside the humming.
As for hummin, it seemed to be coming from this strange person, who could she be? Sora had never seen her before. Turning her head slightly upwards, wanting to catch a glimpse of this person's face—Sora was faced with a bizarre sight.
At the side of the stranger's head, right beside the temples were two ears Sora could only describe as of elven features, adorned with glinting earrings and tiny chains, enhanced by the glow of the morning sun, shining through the glass windows of the room.
The jewelries, reflecting the bright, golden translucent light shone on Sora's face, causing her great difficulty. Wincing in pain, she shielded her gaze with the back of her arm—she dropped it, seeing that the stranger had taken notice of her, their pointed ears twitching as if it caught whispers form another realm.
The stranger suddenly turned, revealing a face so beautiful, yet so unsettling that struck a little fear in Sora. From the front, the stranger looked like a vision sculpted from sweet nightmares and forest magic.
Her green leafy attire could be clearly seen, clung elegantly to her voluptuous and child-like frame—a perfect blend of function and allure with long flowing sleeves to balance the revealing cut of her top, leaving an open cleavage. Her exposed midriff not only revealed her captivating structure but a smoothed, toned stomach.
But this didn't bother or attract Sora at all, the stranger's eyes unsettling her, glowing and unblinking violet orbs holding a serene shock as she caught Sora's gaze.
The stranger couldn't hold her joy, a soft smile spreading on her face before turning to a satisfied laughter, "Unbelievable," she said with soft an attractive tone, "I can't believe it, but it actually worked. The Scourge's heart worked as I anticipated"
Sora stared into the eyes of this strange creature, not moving an inch as she muttered to herself like a mad woman. From the stories her mother had told her about terrible monsters, she remembered the dark elves were one of them, beautiful but disastrous—dark elves were very hostile and unforgiving to those who were innocent and bore bad intentions.
They were very precise when it came to destroying their enemies and they did it with incredible speed and accuracy. Though, the dark elves were described as having dark blue skin—this one in particular had chocolate, creamy skin.
This greatly confused Sora, but her survival instincts had eventually gotten the best of her and before the elven woman could react to Sora's strange gestures and twitching of her fingers, she had charged towards her with incredible speed, far faster than the dark elves.
'Inventory'
Dragging one of her blades from a collection of her inventory in the system's tab, she pounced on the little woman.
Waving her hand as a way to explain that she meant no harm, it was already too late for her as Sora was infront of her, pinning her to the wooden floor, "What.. what in the tarnation do you think you're doing?," the elf asked, confused as to why she was attacked by Sora—her pale, violet eyes glowing with concern
Sora, though, remained determined to put a stop to the creature's life, "Keep your venomous tongue still, you wretched spawn of darkness," she commanded, raising her blade and bringing it down as the stranger swerved, avoiding the tip of the weapon as it damaged the floors.
Sensing the impending doom that was about to befall her, the stranger spreaded her fingers to leave her palm open, emerging from the center point was a bright ball of light which she flashed on Sora's face—temporarily blinding her.
Using her bare feet to strike Sora against the jaw, the elf found an opening to escape but the blinding trick barely worked on Sora due to her increase in durability in her system. She grabbed the elf by her ankle as she rushed to the door.
"Unhand me!"
Struggling in a helpless dance, the elf writhed like a slug bathed in salt and in an endless battle with death as the white, crystalline ingredient drew moisture.
Sora refused to let go, dragging the young woman towards her, she grinned widely as she raised her weapon, ready to strike down the defenseless elven stranger, but she halted—her body weakening as her mind began to slowly began to drift and before she could do anything, she collapsed to the ground, giving the elf enough time to breath properly.
——
As she laid, motionless with no sign of breath escaping her lungs—Sora's memories returned back to her like a long forgotten dream, the time of the battle with Scourge and how she had ended up in a strange building:
Trapped inside the Scourge's stomach, standing inside a pool of the venomous liquid that reached knee-length—Sora forged the new blade from chaos, huge silver daggers with cracks that showed golden bright light through the spaces. Two chains were at the hilt making it easy for perfect prowess and proper movement of the dual weapons.
Merric, who was about to receive a deadly attack at point blank, stood ready, his blade raised to block the attack. He knew he couldn't run away from such a deadly attack like that, but he was ready to deflect it.
Raising its head, its head jerked back and as it planned to execute this attack, the purple swirling ball of light ceased. Merric stood in confusion as he watched the scourge screech almost like it felt pain.
'What seems to be happening?,' Merric thought to himself. His stance becoming loose as the creature no longer attacked.
Inside the deepest bowels of the deadly creature, Sora swung the chaos blades with such precision and physical prowess like a mad woman—more of the Scourge's venom began to pour out but this didn't affect her anymore. A battle cry escaped her throat as she slashed through the flesh, her memories of the Creator's face and the goal she had to achieve in order to save the planet from damnation played in her head.
'I have to keep on fighting'
Eventually the bowels began to fill up as the Scourge's defense mechanism was in play, and Sora was plunged into the deep liquid almost suffocating. Though, it seemed like it was the end for her, Sora opened her eyes, two monstrous glowing, yellow orbs that overshadowed the venom.
Leaping from within, Sora burst through the bowels, escaping from the confines of the Scourge's digestive system.
Merric was a witness to this, overwhelmed as Sora wasn't the same as she was from the first time they had met, her form, though bare and exposed there was still a hint of gracefulness and precision in her attacks.
Her eyes and body gleamed brightly, making everything around her seem like nothing but mere shadows, levitating in the air, she charged—full force at the Scourge as it hadn't died from its injuries. The Scourge coiled midair, its jaws wide open but its moves and attack patterns were very much different this time.
Lunging herself into the mouth of the Scourge, Sora emerged through the top of its head, breaking through scales with ease once more. Merric on the other hand, could only watch from the sidelines, his jaw unhinged as he couldn't understand the display of movements which Sora possesed.
Slashing around its body, her blade broke through its scales, causing it great pain and with a final attack, Sora made its way to where the Scourge's heart had laid, still beating as it supplied more blood to the mythic.
Sora went straight through her hand stretched forward out with her fingers out to grab whatever she planned to rip from the Scourge, two system tabs emerged as this attack was being executed:
[Double Skill Activated: Minotaurus/Metal Giant]
—9/10 Uses—
Dashing past it, Sora had successfully ripped its beating entrail out. Rolling to the ground, Sora found herself unscathed by any attacks and in that instant, the Scourge began to implode and now purple blood began to escape from every hole created by Sora, staining the battlefield and forcing the two knights to hide as the monster exploded into a dangerous bright purple of mass destruction.