A violent boom erupted in Sorrow Forest.
And with it, a heat wave befell the land. A fire so hot it could melt steel in seconds.
Seris had managed to survive the impact, somehow.
Though she had been blown back several yards—slamming directly into one of Sorrow's many Great Evergreens.
Her back spasmed, followed by a violent onset of convulsions that struck her body all at once.
Barely managing to open her eyes, Seris lifted her head slightly to see the aftermath of the carnage.
It was horrifying.
The cages that were still left on the back of the caravan had been reduced to puddles. The scent of burnt synthetic metal and blood filled the area.
The once-huge holding area in the back of the truck was now, quite literally, flattened. The grass around it was singed, some of it still burning.
And standing above that wreckage was the Lion, his mirrored skin glowing wildly, reflecting the light coming from his cleaver.
What kind of employer would ever hire someone like that? Someone so merciless and unpredictably violent. How did he even manage to make it this far without exploding?
Seris did not know.
What she did know, however, was that no one other than her had survived that impact. And if anyone truly had the potential to awaken, it would've happened right as their life was in critical danger.
Maybe those who had run away fast enough could've made it. But Seris doubted that as well.
Luckily, at least the trees of Sorrow were special, invulnerable to the sweltering heat of the flames consuming the ground around them.
The Lion waved his hand—A torrent of flames was conjured into a ball in his palm, and in a flash, they surrounded both him and Seris in a large circle.
The heat this fire gave off was especially vile. It was imbued with his innate energy, amplifying its already terrible intensity tenfold.
Seris could feel her back being brutally burned, her muscle fibers beginning to cook.
She was being roasted alive.
Using every ounce of strength she had left, she forced her tired, worn-out body to move once again. She leaned against the tree behind her, propping herself up with her left hand.
The Lion had begun a slow march toward her, a calm, collected strut filled with confidence.
A triumphant chuckle began to billow from the deepest pits of his throat.
To untrained ears, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Seris lifted her chin to the best of her abilities and stared at the man—no, in this case, it would be more fitting to call him a beast instead.
As his walk continued, a large cloud of smoke wrapped tightly around his body, leaving only two large slits where his eyes should've been. A raging flame ignited within those slits, a fire so hot it nearly burned red.
The Lion looked more like a walking calamity now than a person.
Seris struggled weakly while leaning against the Great Evergreen, the influence of the fire and smoke around her growing more intolerable with each passing moment. So, she called over her mirror shard with a mental command, hovering it a little ways away from her face.
Suddenly, the reflected image of a calm lake surface took form on the mirror's face, its peaceful waters lightly rippling.
Seris blinked once, and a large row of runic writing appeared, replacing the image of the lake on the mirror. This time, however, it displayed a whole new list of text.
[~One's True Self~]
[Name: Seris Moonscorn]
[Class: Defect]
[Profession:]
[Shards: 1]
[Infamy: 10/1000]
[You have been given the gift of self-reflection.]
[You have been given the gift of Realization.]
[Would you like to access the descriptions?]
Seris dejectedly clicked the "Yes" option.
[Defect]
[Category: Alter Class]
[Abilities:] Haywire
[Description: You are an undesirable of this world; your very existence should not be. And so, both the world and your class reflect that.]
[Haywire: All capabilities of the enlightened near the wielder of this passive ability have a chance to fail—this also includes the owner of this ability.]
Seris looked at the [Haywire] skill she had unlocked a long, long time ago. It was both the most utterly useless and terrifying power she had ever seen. It was also the reason she was in this predicament to begin with. At the last second before impact, the [Haywire] skill had activated, rendering Seris' [Self Reflection] state useless.
But [Haywire] was a double-edged sword—if it could cancel Seris' [Self Reflection] state, it could also cancel the Lion's.
But as her luck would dictate, it seemed her ability currently wasn't affecting him whatsoever.
He also appeared to be using some other skill in tandem with his State of Self Reflection, effectively doubling the number of targets for [Haywire].
That is to say, Seris was already at her wits' end—and this fight had really only just begun.
A spiteful smile spread across her face, with a slight hint of indignation mixed in as well.
'If only I had unlocked my actual class instead of this piece of crap…'
Seris was scrambling now. There truly seemed to be no way out this time. She had even failed that little girl, only managing to slightly delay her death in the end.
It was truly heartbreaking.
Seris' arms began to shake, unable to uphold her own weight any longer, her body struggling against the heat.
Until they inevitably gave way.
She slumped down haphazardly. Ironically, she was facing in the exact direction of the Lion. Her vision began to fade now, a slight vignette slowly expanding across her field of view. Without even realizing it, she had completely fallen over, her face partially turned toward the ground.
Even the noise around her was slowly being drowned out by an overbearing ringing.
The Lion was standing right above her now, cleaver still in hand, and a sensation of cold, calculated, violent rage could be felt in the air around him.
He lifted Seris in a manner similar to how he had lifted the young schoolgirl before. Then he braced himself and aimed to cleave her clean in half.
But a mere instant before he could strike, a pillar of crimson light erupted from the flattened pile of rubble.
It seemed someone had awakened after all.