Trai had guided several people through her time. She had risen to be a leader, and she grew until one day people started to call her a hero, and she scoffed at it.
A hero? Her?
Looking at her hands, it was filled with the blood of her friends, family, and people she trusted, rades—ones fallen to corruption against their will and others who sold themselves to corruption to get a better life, to get power, to be... free.
She had killed those herself with her hands, and at times that came with sacrifices, using the innocent and using the dark work they do against them to gain a leg up in their never-ending war. She fought, and she fought a war she knew she couldn’t win.
Thus, there were moments where she faltered and where those moments had made her stronger. Right now, she sees a bit of herself in this young man in front of her, the same pain, but he is different from her. Unlike her, who would sacrifice the minority to save the majority, he hadn’t reached that level; he still had his ’purity’.
The will to strive to save everyone—she could see it sparkling brightly in him.
That was why she was giving him this push. With the epiphany being attached directly to his soul, he would take one of the two paths; either his purity would be lost, or he would shine brighter. And somewhere deep within the heart of Tria that had gone cold, a small wish whispered that perhaps she might be able to see someone shine brighter than she did.
Thus, as she took a step back, she saw Austin’s form start to waver, his soul spilling like a wave swirling left and right. As this kept happening, the world around them broke and faded away, the two of them once again returning to that water-like darkness as Tria watched Austin’s soul shine bright once and dim again. He had bee like a whisper, and within this line of fall and rise, Tria stayed neutral.
Her expression was eerily calm as she watched for moments, and as his soul started to dim suddenly, like it was about to flicker out, Tria still stayed calm, though deep in her eyes there was a single flash of disappointment. Though before it could spread, the light soon blasted forth brighter than before, filling up the space.
Soon, that light faded away to show Austin standing on that water-like ground, his eyes clear and brighter than before. As he stood before her, a small smile at the edge of his lips, giving her a light bow and spoke.
"Thank you."
"You look refreshed."
"I feel refreshed."
Austin shot back as Tria could feel that the edge of his powers was on the precipice of getting stronger.
"This world might get its youngest Imperial yet."
The words shocking Austin as he chuckled helplessly while scratching his back.
"Maybe."
Is all the answer he gave, to which a moment later his form started to flicker like it was going to fade away as Austin, looking at the woman in front of him, spoke.
"I wish to repay you for this; is there any way?"
"You will. When the time is right, you will know."
"Then I shall wait, mysteriously looking, cool, yet beautiful woman."
His words made Tria’s lips twitch as she responded.
"You can call me Tri."
"Tri it is."
With that, Austin faded away, leaving Tria behind in this darkness; her lips twitching at its edge like it was going to go upward but held itself back.
"What a rascal."
With those words, she focused on her task, striving to get the power that should be deemed hers.
.....
Austin POV:
’That went as well as it could.’
I thought as I looked at Tria heading back to break this realm of power to get the power she wants. After interacting with this phase of hers, I have gotten a bit more understanding of the type of person she is and perhaps the future she had e from.
With that quick interaction, I got a lot more than I was expecting from her. The plan I had laid out leaned towards the situation in which she had appeared in the soul form. The moment she appeared in the soul form, I got to know much more about her, her character and stuff. I didn’t directly jump into her memory because that would be an issue.
Even then, I got a lean understanding of what type of person she is, and with that understanding, that single test was designed, which was great for me.
’She will be my hardest conqueror yet.’
I didn’t even feel a speck of emotional interest from her at all. In her heart, romance doesn’t exist at all; what she sees is her goal, and she will keep striving to achieve it, and whatever es in between that will derail it, she will kill it without any hesitation at all. Even if it’s love, I could tell that if she forms any feelings like that, she will either kill it or kill the person she has feelings for.
’Talk about Emo.’
Feeling that, I understood that jumping into or trying anything else to force any kind of higher emotions from her would only backfire. Plus, it seems to her I still stay as some little kid, that’s all. Romantic interest will be extremely difficult to nurture in her, so the route I had to take for her will be different, too.
I had to be careful when I played this, because the one I am dealing with is a very suspicious and very cold-hearted person. I could get away with it now due to the speciality of the situation; that space of death takes away any suspiciousness she had, plus it was a good opportunity to get rid of any suspiciousness she had towards me.
’Even then, the info she knows about laws and worlds is definitely beyond normal understanding.’
My eyes narrowed at that thought. She indicated that I will bee the youngest Imperial, but her words meant more because she herself will be breaking that record. With the knowledge she has, it won’t be difficult to find treasures and powers that will boost her to the top of the power ranking.
’What she lacks is only mana and building her internal tower. Once she does that, it will be a smooth ride for her to bee an Imperial. To someone who was that, it’s just retracing your past steps.’
Plus, for the current her, she will make sure to rise more powerful than before, definitely taking up treasures and other stuff she might have in her mind.
’I want to slow her down.’
With the speed at which she is going, it will bee harder and harder for me to control aspects of her life, which is bad for me. Unlike our reincarnated hero Zelda, who embraced her current life and strived to live forward, this is someone stuck in the future, even though she is in the past—the moral saying of where she is still stuck in her ’past’.
I have already planted my first flag with her; her emotions for me now land on the positive, and with my skill and now confirming that I am on the good side, she will try to blend in and contact me more. Of course, she can’t do that as Tria, but she will definitely find her own workaround. My mind was surfing around when an idea hit me.
A widened smirk came to my face as I thought of it; the only way to make her slow down is to change her priorities from rushing towards power to putting out fires. The plan slowly formed through my mind, the end of the term reaching its goal as I smirked.
’It’s perfect.’
With that thought, I focused on Tria finishing up the final of the trials, moving to get the power.
’Guess it’s now or never.’
With that, I took action.
.....
Tria stood in the dark place again, her expression null as she felt the power flowing through to her, rebuilding her body, her bloodline, and her talent into something horrifying. Feeling the rush of that cold touch of death fill her veins, she smirked. For a single moment, the madness and collapse hidden behind her facade of calm leaked out for a moment, after which she sealed it down.
Her expression turned back to that normal one as she was waiting to be ejected, but it did not take place. Feeling the change, she saw new words appearing above her, a bit of suspicion in her gaze as the words turned into a condition being attached to her power, which quickly ruined her mood, but she didn’t lash out as she knew this place changes power with conditions, and thus she waited.
When the conditions of her powers flew into her, her expression cracked just for a moment; she definitely didn’t like the new conditions she just got.
’This will push me back quite a bit on my plans.’
Tria mused.
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