The group that arrived in search of Celeste consisted of only one person who was recognizable.
He was the leader. The man who controlled the rest was one of the geniuses who appeared with the Straea Clan group. Other than him, the rest were all people who shouldn't have been in the secret realm at all.
'These people…'
Celeste's eyes narrowed as she watched them.
Her presence was hidden enough for them to not notice her, and as they made their way through the atmosphere looking for traces of her, she followed them and observed.
She already figured out that they were from the Straea Clan, and it didn't take a genius to realize that they used some unscrupulous means to find a way into the secret realm.
'They aren't talking enough.'
She hadn't acted yet because she was waiting for them to reveal something of use, but the most they did was report on her traces.
'I left more traces in other directions on purpose to distract them, but…'
She was able to split them up as she hoped. The only problem was the lack of information.
'They're targeting the whole clan. That's all I know.'
And in a sense, that was all she needed to know.
When combined with the knowledge that the Straea Clan was involved, there wasn't much more that needed to be said.
'Then, just kill.'
She gave up on gathering intel and drew her bow.
'There are twelve total.'
She felt the wind and closed her eyes. Vision was irrelevant right now.
Her senses became one with the atmosphere, and the positions of those she wanted to see became clear to her, clearer than they ever could be with physical senses.
The brushing wind, the way the foliage moved as they stepped through it, the position of the surrounding trees relative to both her and them…
She took them all in, and as she stood with her bowstring drawn, a set of three arrows gradually materialized in their rightful place.
They were white, shining like the moon, and ethereal like moonlight.
They were weightless, but Celeste could clearly feel their weight on her fingers.
And as she let go of the bowstring, they flew true.
Shik!
Shik!
Shik!
Three arrows flew on three separate paths and struck three different targets.
One went clean through a man's head and came out the other side before dispersing into the atmosphere as if it never existed, another went through a man's heart and dropped him before he even knew what was going on, while the last struck a man in the shoulder and slammed him into a nearby tree.
By the time the three arrows hit their targets, another three were already whizzing through the air.
Shik!
Shik!
They hit the same three targets. The first two alternated their targeted areas on their original targets, leaving both with injuries in their heads and hearts, while the last hit the man's other shoulder and pinned him to the tree, restricting his movements.
"ARGH!"
The third man was finally given a chance to scream out in pain.
The first two died instantly. The arrows weren't regular wooden weapons, after all. They were made of pure mana and laced with the strange laws that were born from Celeste's physique.
Not only did they cut the connection between an individual and their mana, but they also corroded their souls with its power until those souls were absorbed and turned into arrows of their own.
Celeste called them banishing arrows, because those who were killed by them would be banished from existence entirely.
Bows were generally looked down upon by the majority, since there usually wasn't a case where a practitioner would meet an arrow they couldn't dodge, but what happened when those same arrows were put in the hands of someone who knew how to use them?
It was a scene like this.
The roars of the man Celeste left alive resounded through the rainforest, drawing the others in his group towards him.
As attention focused on him and people searched the surroundings for the shooter, Celeste moved with the dexterity of a true native of this ecosystem and rushed to a different location, from which she drew her bow again.
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
Nine arrows were fired in quick succession. They split up and targeted six people in a similar pattern to the ones before.
Celeste switched locations again and repeated this pattern one more time before putting away her bow.
At this point, the group was well aware that there was someone targeting them, and they were too alert to fall for another ambush.
But that was still according to Celeste's plan. She never used a bow as her weapon anyway.
Instead, she'd been able to maim and injure a majority of the group within the first few seconds. That damage would gradually worsen due to the qualities of the arrows, which left her in a situation where one against twelve didn't seem so difficult anymore.
Twin daggers appeared to replace her bow, and using the tree branches as footholds, she launched into the crowd and began her dance.
"ARGH!"
"AGH!"
"HEUK!"
Sounds of pain were the only thing that followed.
She didn't fight like anyone Damien had seen before.
Her every movement was calculated, but there was no rigidity at all. It was smooth and flexible, yet extremely erratic.
Sometimes she'd be in the air, hidden daggers made of mana raining down on her enemies. Sometimes she'd be on the ground facing them head-on, but even then she always had something following her back to take them by surprise.
She never stayed in one place for too long. Even if she successfully broke the enemy's guard and had the opportunity to make a fatal move, she didn't. Instead, she'd leap away and inflict more sustained damage while focusing on those around her, never giving them an opportunity.
In no time at all, a group of twelve was taken down to two.
The man pinned to the tree who watched in horror as his comrades fell one by one, and Felix Straea, the genius from the Straea Clan.
"You…!"
He wanted to exclaim something, but he didn't know what to say. He couldn't predict the woman in front of him at all, and none of her information matched what he'd just seen.
He opened his mouth again, but before he could say a word, his eyes shook.
There she was.
Directly in front of him.
Three slashes of light appeared in the air.
Three guttural sounds rang out.
Felix's eyes widened as pain suddenly racked his entire body. Both of his legs were broken in that instant, and a shallow cut was formed on his neck.
It was purposeful.
As if Celeste was telling him she could kill him whenever she wanted to, but was choosing not to.
If she just pushed a little further with that last slice…
He didn't even want to think about it, but if his life was spared, it could only be for one reason.
"Tell me," Celeste said.
"Where are the rest of your people?"
She didn't need to know the reasoning or anything like that. Those questions could be answered later.
But right now, the rest of the Veritas Clan geniuses were also being attacked.
Regrouping with them and forming a united front was her top priority.
From the skies above, Damien watched her with a smile.
'Nice.' He thought.
'This woman has a good head on her shoulders.'
