Hikari takes her stance.
She practices in full armor, sword in hand.
Visualization exercises.
A horde of small, skittering bark demons approaches her.
She holds up her hand. Two fully charged exploding shards blanket the small demons in wyvern fire.
Two survive, stabbing her leg with their tiny spines, which cannot pierce her wyvern skin.
She ignores them as the giants approach and charges the slow, lumbering giants.
This way, she could take them out one by one.
Woosh, her sword flies through the air.
Low, stable stance, sword in both hands.
Her overwhelming strength crushes through their bark.
A giant monstrosity twice her mass appears.
A Treant walking on four legs.
Vines grow out of its massive trunk.
The charged-up aether fire.
A horde of giants and bark demons blocks her path.
She raises an array of shards floating above her.
The Treant was farther away than muskets could reach.
Aether fire landed around her.
Her shards flared with wyvern fire.
They flew silently over the horde.
Explosions of wyvern fire blanketed the Treant, incinerating the vines growing on its trunk.
The small bark demons swarm up.
A barrier of wyvern fire incinerates their bodies as they stab their needles into her wyvern skin.
Her orb charges up.
The hordes of bark demons surround her on three sides.
Woosh. Her wyvern flame burns through them as she sweeps it from left to right.
The wyvern flame immediately burns through to their flesh, stopping them in their tracks.
If she fought with her RazenHeir flame, she might use less mana, but she would have to back off, as the flames don't do enough damage immediately.
Thud. Thud. A heavily armored golem appeared.
Unlike the flesh golems she faced in the Carla campaign, she imagined these to be heavily armored.
Hikari hurled several shards at it.
The wyvern fire only charred the surface of its armor.
It raised its arm.
Hikari stepped out of the way as its massive arm slammed down on her.
Flowers grew from its shoulders, charging aether fire.
Woosh. Shards exploded, incinerating them before they could fully charge and fire.
Hikari always kept shards floating above her for a quick parry.
The heavily armored golem bark was too heavy to burn through.
She used its own mass against it.
The Traces of golden wyvern fire in her orb dissipated, replaced with the bright blue glow of the mana veins.
The golem turns its body and swings its arm upward.
Hikari steps back to avoid the swing; the shockwave pushes her even further back.
A telekinetic blast propels her back.
She charges up her orb as the golem recoils from its swing.
A wave of frost freezes the golem's leg.
The golem tries to get up, but its frozen leg staggers it.
Hikari holds her wyvern sword upright.
Wyvern fire surges through the bronze sword.
More. With the golem's leg gone, Hikari has the room to charge up a massive attack.
Flowers reemerged from the golem's shoulders.
If it were her RazenHeir flame, the persistent flames would still suppress the flowers.
She still needs to figure out how to use these two conflicting mana forms at the same time.
The flowers fired aether bolts at her.
She tanks them.
It's annoying that the aether fire eats away at her mana, especially as she charges up for a big attack.
It is better nonetheless to release a weaker attack prematurely.
She jumped up into the air.
Woosh! She swung downward as she landed, letting the sword swing behind her as she recovered her stance.
She wiped off her sweat.
That was a good workout before she attempted the last statue.
The half-wyvern wore priestess robes, with a pair of wings behind her back.
Half woman, half beast, Hikari wondered what it was like to live as one.
The rune atop her head got brighter each time Hikari lived through a part of her story.
Hikari gulped down a pot of water and washed up.
She stepped onto the tile.
"Let's see what happens next."
…
Hikari shovels the last of the compost into the large trolley in the middle of the room.
She was tall enough to see it filled up halfway.
The cell right at the gate was not even halfway done.
Its cell bars were the most damaged of all the cells.
The two boys assigned to it were constantly grumbling about drawing the short straw.
They were grumbling so loudly that the foreman told them to shut up twice.
"Hey, if you're free, help out with the rest!"
The foreman barked at her.
Hikari turned to check on the girl.
She was resting against the cell bars, trying to catch her breath.
Her breathing was rushed and shallow; it looked like she was going to faint.
She was choking on her mask.
"Slow."
The girl took her advice.
Her breathing stabilized.
Hikari left her alone to recover.
"Hey!"
The foreman barked at her.
She made her way to the next cell.
The two boys had piled up the compost at the entrance.
Hikari brought her wheelbarrow.
She loaded the compost onto the wheelbarrow.
Five shovelfuls.
She pushed the wheelbarrow towards the giant trolley where all the compost eventually has to go.
"Let me help."
The girl staggered towards her, clearly in no shape to help.
"Rest."
"It's fine. The faster we get this over with, the faster we can go back to the temple."
The girl sticks her shovel into the wheelbarrow.
She freezes as the stench rises from the compost.
She chokes on her mask, placing her hands around her neck.
Hikari catches her shovel.
"Rest."
The girl had little choice but to sit down.
She seemed quite anxious to return.
Hikari holds one shovel in each hand.
She tossed two shovelfuls of compost into the trolley at once.
It seemed like having two shovels was much more efficient.
She pushed the wheelbarrow towards the compost again.
After two more trips back and forth, she cleared the compost.
The two boys who had been making childish remarks nonstop fell silent as they leaned against the bars for a break.
Hikari pushed the wheelbarrow towards another cell.
It was twice as big as the previous pile.
The two boys assigned to it piled everything at the cell entrance before loading it onto the trolley.
Hikari paused for a second to catch her breath.
Standing still to conserve energy.
She got to work, double-scooping with her dual-wielding shovels.
After five trips, half the compost was done.
She paused for another rest.
The two boys seemed to have cleaned out the back of the cell.
They paused for a brief rest too.
Then they loaded the compost into her wheelbarrow.
One of them followed her to the trolley, shoveling the compost as Hikari held the wheelbarrow steady.
Hikari pushed the wheelbarrow back.
The boy who left behind had a minute of rest.
Enough to begin filling the wheelbarrow again.
"Make way."
Loud rumbling sounds as the gears at the ends of the room turn.
"Stay clear of the trolley.
Hikari backs off.
She sees the girl resting against the wall between cells.
A relatively clean spot to take a break.
The wyvern knight had been standing like a statue against the wall on the next block, and everyone had forgotten about her.
Hikari sat down beside the girl.
Her breathing was stable, but she could barely move from the exhaustion.
"Wonder what time it will be when I return to the temple. Is there enough time to study today?"
Hikari hears her mumble.
"Look at you, you're not even that tired yet, are you?"
"No."
"Ever thought of being a wyvern knight? They will be going around asking soon. You did exceedingly well on all of the physical tests. I'm sure you'll be one of the first names they call."
Hikari turned and looked at her.
She could sense a hint of excitement even through the thick mask and goggles.
"Booty?"
The girl giggled.
The loud rumbling of gears sounded as the large trolley passed them.
"Since I already told you about how I want to be a wyvern priestess, perhaps you could tell me if you want to be a wyvern knight?"
Hikari turned and glanced at the imposing wyvern knight who had been guarding the hallway the entire time they worked.
"Ok."
She replied casually.
The girl giggled.
"Once you become a wyvern knight, perhaps I'll be your priestess?"
"Hmm?"
"Never mind. After we get out of this dump, we'll go straight to the pantry. There's always something nice to eat after the festivities."
"Rat?"
"Ahem! Well, we are in fact entitled to a share of the food. It's that we are serving our punishment after almost screwing up the initiation ritual. So?"
"Food."
"I knew that'll excite you. Rest up now; leave the remaining cells to the boys. I'm gonna need you to perform some quick footwork to nap us those goodies."
The gate on the other end rumbled.
The trolley disappeared behind it.
The gate they entered from opened, letting a fresh trolley through.
"Burn?"
"Oh no, the wyvern poop is not going to get burnt. It's very valuable, in fact. Some very exotic plants could grow only with the fertilizer that only a wyvern's body produces. After being treated, of course, they are quite toxic as they are. Which is why we have to wear these thick leather coats that feel like we are being boiled in a pot."
"Ah."
Click! The trolley was locked in place.
The foreman began barking orders.
Hikari helped the girl get up.
"Last stretch." She whispered.
Hikari suddenly stopped.
Strange sounds clawed through the earth.
It came from the cell behind her.
She gripped her shovel.
The wyvern knight moved.
The sound of her armor plates sliding.
Stones collapsing. Screeching sounds.
"Get to the gate!" The foreman shouted.
The wardens on the other side scrambled to work the gating mechanisms.
Ghouls emerged into a cell.
They walked on all four limbs on the ground.
Grey, translucent skin. They were skinny to the bone, and their eyes were fixed on the meaty young flesh.
The wyvern knight pulled out a handcannon.
Its barrel glowed with wyvern flame.
After a delay, a stream of wyvern fire was unleashed, incinerating the ghouls as they climbed out of their hole.
Hikari could feel the searing heat from two blocks away.
"Ah!" The girl tripped and fell.
Short of breath, she struggled to get back up.
Hikari stood her ground.
The wyvern knight had incinerated most of the horde, but several slipped past as her handcannon charged.
They crawled towards Hikari.
Dual-wielding shovels, she warmed up her shoulders.
A ghoul stopped.
Its legs tucked in.
Hikari stood still.
It lunged at her.
She swung her shovel straight down onto its skull.
She felt its thin skull smash into the ground.
The thin side of her shovel turned out to be a decent weapon.
It was light. Even lighter than the skinny girl.
She could send one flying with a swing of one arm.
Crack! She swung her shovel down onto a ghoul on the ground.
Crack! A knocks a lunging ghoul to the side.
Another ghoul winds up for a lunge.
Hikari has gotten a good sense of its wind-up time.
She steps back just enough from the crawling ghoul.
Crack! She parries the lunging one. Crack! Her shovel slams onto the ghoul on the ground as it tries to grab her leg.
The boys behind, seeing how she held her ground against the ghouls, joined her at the front.
A ghoul lunged at a boy, causing him to fall back onto the ground.
The shaft of his shovel blocked its teeth.
His buddy kicked the ghoul off of him and beat it to death with his shovel.
With her flank covered, Hikari focused on frontal attacks.
The wyvern knight in front turned around, dragging her sword along the ground.
The sheer weight of her sword crushed the ghouls, which were not even the size of her hand.
Wardens charged into the cell.
They drove the ghouls off with their hammers, sending them scurrying back into their tunnels.
Hikari dropped her shovels and helped the girl up.
"Slow."
She got her to slow her breathing.