Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

Prota sat up, expecting to see a black, dark room, but instead found herself at a mountaintop. She squinted, blinded by the sun. Looking down, she found herself standing on snow, fresh and undisturbed. The air around her was chilly, but her cloak’s capabilities seemed to still be working, so she was still very comfortable.

She looked at her minimap. There was a substantial amount of unknown territory from where she was now to where she’d died, meaning any information she’d gathered previously wouldn’t be of any help. Prota sat down and sighed. The potions she’d been guarding were gone now, and based on the positions of the pillars of light, it didn’t seem like there were any she could get to. The loss of the potions was unfortunate, but her mana core seemed full, so it wasn’t the end of the world.

Looking around, she couldn’t find any way to get down from her current location. There was no path. No stairs. No rope. It was just a mountain. Technically, it was possible to try to use earth or crystal magic in an attempt to slide down, but that was too risky. Of course, death was something she could afford, but why waste an entire life on something as foolish as this? Besides, it was entirely possible she just spawned on the mountain again.

“Nn…”

The crunching of snow snapped her out of her thoughts. Someone was here. Prota fell to her stomach, trying her best to blend in with the surroundings. She’d learned from her mistakes. Not everyone was a random, stray individual. There were teams. And a team wasn’t something she could take on right now.

“Here. This is a good place,” she heard, the voice out of breath.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Please. No one would be sane enough to get up here alone.”

“Really?”

“Unless they can also fly using wind magic, no. C’mon, trust me a little bit more, won’t you?”

“It’s just… dying isn’t super fun…”

“...I suppose that’s what death is really like. Well, at least we’re not actually dead, right?”

Prota froze. Flying using wind magic? Something like that was possible? She’d never heard of it before. It was a shame she couldn’t use Soul Steal here, because she really wanted to try something like that. Despite all the talking going on, she still couldn’t see the identity of the voices.

“Phew… we can just wait up here for a bit. As more and more people get out, the more our advantage will grow.”

“I can’t believe we got ambushed twice. Twice! Why do people like hiding in bushes so much?”

“It’s just how things work, sis. If you’re weaker, you can’t win in a battle of pure strength, so you have to do what you can. In these cases, getting the jump on someone is enough, right? It worked on us.”

“That’s true…”

Prota froze. What should she do here? On one hand, it sounded like her opponents were strong. On the other hand, it seemed they were exhausted, and they were on their last life as well. Should she take the fight? She didn’t know. All she knew was that hiding for the rest of the exam wouldn’t do anything. She needed to show talent, right?

She clenched her fists, slowly pulling her staff off her back. She had another life. There was no need to be afraid here.

She crawled through the snow, the cold biting at her fingers. Despite that, her natural resistance to pain was more than enough to allow her to stealthily crawl toward the enemy. She was painfully aware of the sound of the snow shifting around her, making a sort of shuffling and sifting sound, but it seemed that her targets couldn’t hear it.

“How are we getting back down?”

“Same way we came up. Easy, right?”

Prota paused, taking a few deep breaths. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, her body hot as the blood rushed through her veins, her body preparing itself for a fight. Her opponent was someone who could fly. She had no idea as to what circle required that level of magic, but it must’ve been at least level four. If only she had some more mana potions…

It didn’t matter anymore. She clenched her fists, chanting silently, summoning a set of icicles.

“...did you hear that?”

Prota froze. Her magic hovered around her, getting ready to strike.

“Hear what? C’mon, I’m telling you, there’s no one up here.”

She slowly let out a breath. For a second, she thought she’d been caught. She continued to crawl, making her way toward the source of the sound.

“...?”

There was no one there.

“Now!”

Prota whirled around as she felt killing intent flare up behind her, rolling out of the way of a giant spear of flame. Spinning to face the enemy, she saw a red haired boy and a blue haired girl running at her, fire and water swirling around their heads.

“Did you really think we didn’t notice you? Your footsteps were all over the place!”

“...!” Prota flinched. Her footsteps. She hadn’t even thought of that.

“Just because we’re a little tired doesn’t mean we can’t fight. You made a mistake messing with us!”

Prota ignored their words and fired, sending a barrage of icicles their way. Unfortunately, a barrier of wind easily deflected her attack, causing the ice to fall to the ground uselessly.

“First circle magic? As if that’d be enough to take us on.”

Suddenly, a torrent of fire started spewing her way, and Prota was able to guess what was coming next. Throwing herself to the ground, she raised a barrier of earth to shield herself from the incoming blast. It seemed these siblings also understood the synergy between flame and wind, because the explosion nearly took her out.

Knocked back by the sheer force of the attack, she started rolling down the slopes, struggling to get back on her feet. Gritting her teeth, she plunged her staff into the ground, holding on for dear life as she pulled herself back up.

“You survived that? Impressive!” the girl laughed. “But I bet you can’t do that again!”

In that moment, Prota knew. There was no way to get out of this easily. She would either put her all into this fight, or die.

“H-hey, sis, she’s-”

The boy’s sister was too late. Prota launched herself up, chanting quickly before unleashing a blue fireball. The boy nervously created a barrier of wind, which snuffed the flames out. While that would’ve normally, been a positive exchange for the enemy, Prota was anything but normal in how she fought. Before the boy had even finished casting, she was already running toward her opponents, icicles in hand.

“Go,” she muttered, the sun glinting off the ice as it streaked through the air.

Once again, both spells were easily deflected, but Prota wasn’t done. It was barrage after barrage of simple, first circle spells that forced her opponents to stay on their feet. Prota knew they would deflect them. After all, they were likely stronger mages than she was. It wasn’t as if she knew a lot of complex spells, and her smaller mana core made it impossible to fire off anything of overly large scale.

With that in mind, there was only one thing she could cast.

The entire time she’d been firing off her basic spells, she’d been slowly preparing a Blossom in secret. The explosions from the flame and splinters of ice, combined with the constant slow being kicked up, were more than enough to distract her enemies from seeing through her plan.

“H-hey! How is she doing that?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen a caster move like that!” the girl cried, panicked. She was firing spells off, but they were going wild as she failed to control herself. “Are you sure this isn’t the fighter exam?”

More than that, it seemed neither sibling had ever experienced true combat. There was a visible pause between their chants and their cast time, and reading their moves was painfully easy. They always stared right at where they wanted to shoot, waiting at least half a second before truly firing the spell off. Prota’s constant barrage was making them nervous, preventing them from using their power to the max, and with Prota’s level of training, it was incredibly easy to dodge their attacks.

“Sis! We- we’ve gotta do it!”

“Now?!”

“I think we might die otherwise!”

Prota’s ears perked up. What? They still had something left?

Suddenly, she felt a surge of mana in front of her. They were doing something. Something powerful. The constant sheet of snow was making it hard to see, but… blue flames. She could see that much.

It was all or nothing. Her Blossom was ready.

“Now!” she heard.

The boy had a vortex in his hands, fire violently swirling in an orb. The girl had a spear of ice, densely packed, the sunlight glinting off its sharp tip.

“Go!”

The girl threw the spear. It was fast. Dangerously fast. Prota’s eyes widened as her body flung itself into the air. She didn’t quite dodge. However, instead of piercing her heart, where the spell had initially been aimed, it pierced her shoulder, which was good enough. She winced as the ice spread across her arm, creating an effect similar to her Blossom, but it was slow enough that it wouldn’t kill immediately.

“Do it!” she heard. Her eyes widened. Right. There was one more spell.

The boy flung his orb which grew in size as it flew out. Suddenly, hundreds of flames began to strike at Prota, cutting her from every direction. Blood began to pour down in streams as her body was continually struck, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air, but she didn’t care. She continued to run toward her targets, the Blossom in full bloom.

“Go,” she whispered, throwing it with all her might.

She was out of mana at this point. It was pitiful, but she was going to die anyway. A blade of wind struck the spear in her body, and it exploded, the ice shards scattering everywhere, practically tearing her body apart, ending her second life. While she would revive one more time, it was a shame she didn’t get to see the end of the fight.

The Blossom exploded, the shards striking the siblings over and over. With no experience in hand, they panicked, preventing them from doing anything about the spell. Had they been a bit more calm, it definitely would’ve been possible to defend. After all, Prota hadn’t had time to prepare a Blossom at full strength, even with her improved magic.

Unfortunately for them, they had no such thoughts, and so they froze, leaving two statues of ice on the mountaintop.

~~~

“...”

The balcony was silent. There were a few other fights going on, but no one was watching anything. All eyes were on Prota.

“That was… incredible.”

“Indeed.”

There were murmurs all about. First, everyone commented on the siblings. Fourth circle magic, especially at this age, was impressive. Both of them harboured incredible potential to grow even further. Their synergy was quite impressive as well, and their understanding of their individual elements was quite strong.

However, everyone was just stalling to talk about the girl they’d just watched.

“First circle magic is nothing impressive. It’s all we’ve seen her use,” Orson said hesitantly. “Well, except…”

“Has anyone seen that spell before?”

Shakes all around.

“That is certainly not ninth circle magic. Its usage of mana and potential is nowhere near that. However… unique magic. Perhaps around the fifth circle, although the amount of mana used puts its power around the third circle. Its mana usage is somewhat inefficient, and its preparation is slow. But still.”

Everyone was silent. A new form of magic.

“I’ve seen something similar,” Leora said. “The Ninetails clan uses a similar spell involving flames, creating a rose that explodes into petals. Each petal of flame explodes with destructive power, which is far beyond what this girl accomplished. However, the concept is similar.”

“Forget that,” Lupin growled. “Did anyone pay attention to how she fought? The way she recovered. Her grit. Her determination. Her movements, her reactions. They were those of a seasoned warrior, and not just those of a caster. She wasn’t taught in a school. The fights to survive.”

“What? Do you mean to imply this child has been in numerous battles? That she’s fought in wars, struck down villains, faced off against death?” Rayne scoffed. “No matter how talented the child may be, the level of expertise this girl showed was beyond that. Something is strange.”

“Indeed,” Lupin nodded, stroking his chin. “But more than that. She was fully planning to lose, with the intent to take her opponents down with her. She doesn’t fear death. All she knows is her objective. Is that not enough to convince you?”

Everyone nodded silently. The look in her eyes was something they couldn’t forget. Despite the spear of flame in her shoulder, the cuts tormenting her body, she continued to stare directly at her opponents, her goal and desire clear.

“I believe the girl and boy are worthy to enter,” Leora said. “Does anyone oppose?”

No one raised their voice. Someone stirred, but there were otherwise no complaints.

“And… the girl. I believe that much is obvious.”

There was not a single person who spoke.

~~~

“...she’s doing it wrong,” John muttered, frowning as he watched the end of the fight.

“Wrong?! What do you mean, wrong?” Danjo exclaimed. “Did you see that? That was insane!”

“Danjo, you’ve seen her fight before. What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, but- but still, that was-”

“No, no I’m not talking about the fight,” John grumbled. “I’m talking about the general approach.”

He got up and turned to leave.

“...where are you going?” Destiny said, frowning.

“Uh… different viewing angle. Don’t worry, I’ll still be in the arena, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Oh. Just don’t get into trouble, alright?”

“Thanks,” John said, leaving without another word.

The watched as he left, and he really was just going to somewhere else in the arena. Destiny breathed a sigh of relief as he watched John sit down, opening the viewing magic once more.

“...is he going to be ok like that?” Celeste asked quietly.

“Well, I’m more worried about him getting in trouble,” Destiny grumbled.

“As if you don’t do the same.”

“No, real trouble.”

“Pfft! Don’t you remember when we left and the palace went crazy looking for us? Besides, you’ve done tons of things normal people wouldn’t do. Please, what could he possibly do?”

“Celeste, I don’t think you get it. That guy broke through the front door of a noble’s mansion, punched him in the nose, and left. He’s really not normal.”

Celeste’s eyes went wide.

“Oh. Oh.”

“Yeah.” Destiny sighed. “Well, as long as he doesn’t leave the stadium, I guess he can’t do anything that bad.”

“...hey. What did he mean by different viewing angles, by the way? We’re watching through these screens. Won’t it look the same no matter where we go?”

~~~

Prota found herself in some kind of village. Once again, she was nowhere near her previous locations, meaning she would once again have to scout out new territory. At least she wasn’t stuck the way she’d been stuck on the mountain.

There were little wooden huts spread across a flat prairie, most of them broken or burnt, probably the result of several fights. She prepared herself to head out, making sure there wasn’t anyone nearby, when something caught her attention. A message. Here? How? Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t that strange. Her map worked. Why not this?

[Prota, this exam is similar to a type of game from my original world. I’m not fond of this, but there’s a strategy I used to use that greatly increases your chances of winning. I’m not exactly fond of it, but it does have some benefits. Do you want to win?]

[...?]

[Go find some health potions and mana potions. From what I can see, you should still be able to replenish mana from mana potions, even if you can’t use Soul Steal. You need a means of replenishing your mana after every fight.]

[...]

[You need to hole up. Hole up and make sure you’re at the best possible shape to fight, if you have to fight. And run away if things become risky.]

[...run?]

[It’s called camping, Prota. You have a health bar in your system, don’t you?]

Prota looked around and found that there was indeed some kind of health bar. It was small, and it wasn’t the best since injuries couldn’t be represented numerically, but it was there. She vaguely remembered its existence, but it was never really useful.

[It sucks ass, but it’s a good indicator of when to run. Think of this like a game, Prota. Wait, you don’t- ah, fuck it. Prota. Hit and run. Stay low, but move around. The island is small now. Sit in a bush or tree. Hide. If someone doesn’t know you’re there, hit them and then run. Kinda like the way you fought at the beginning of the exam.]

[...John can see the map?]

[I can see the what?]

There was a pause.

[Oh, I guess I can.]

Another pause.

[Huh.]

John seemed to be thinking.

[Do you want me to tell you where everyone is?]

Prota hesitated. Knowing where the enemies were would be a huge advantage. On the other hand, it would be totally cheating. Something like that wasn’t fair.

[...no.]

[Alright. Remember what I told you. We’re gonna set up a tent, Prota.]

Prota steeled herself. Right. Hit and run. Hide and strike. She’d been taking fights as if she had the disadvantage. She’d been so worried about her mana that she’d forgotten about mana and health potions. She could recover and keep fighting. This wasn’t the dungeon. This was a test.

A test she had an advantage in.

~~~

“Her strategy’s changed. She’s hiding much more now.”

“But she’s still moving. How curious.”

“...that’s a guerilla warfare strategy,” Lupin said with a frown. “Which is fair on its own, but considering her previous movements…”

There were quiet murmurs. It was true. Something didn’t make sense. During her first life, she’d been quiet and laying low, sitting near a set of mana potions and eliminating anyone who came by. Her death had been a result of numbers rather than skill, something she probably couldn’t avoid.

Her second death had come as unfortunately as the first. An unlucky placement and an unlucky fight that she’d somehow managed to salvage.

Both strategies were something someone could come up with on the spot. They were crude and basic, but camping near an objective and rushing head on were simple, easy strategies. On the other hand, what she was doing now was much more intentional and planned out.

Obviously, the professors weren’t watching her every fight, but her movements on the map were sporadic. She’d sit in some kind of tree or bush, anything to hide her presence, and when they got close, she’d jump out, kill them before they could react, and then run away. Obviously, the examiners couldn’t watch Prota the entire time, but when they saw her moving, she was always running away, chugging potions as she went.

Fights never lasted more than half a minute, with Prota leading the fight with her Blossom. If she won, she’d take whatever potions her opponent had and run off, making sure to cover her tracks. If she heard more than one person in the vicinity, she’d find a tree or bush to hide in and stay hidden until they were gone, often going after the exhausted victor.

The strategy wasn’t strange in itself. It was simply the dichotomy of her old strategies and her new one that made something feel off. If she’d planned this in advance, then why not lead with this strategy? Besides, this strategy felt… well, cheap, in a sense. As if someone else had suggested it to her. But that was impossible.

The professors had agreed that the girl was already talented enough to enter Scholaris, but something about this felt off.

“It’s dishonorable,” Rion, grunted. “Are our students to be mere cleaners?”

“No, Rion,” Hikari purred, a small grin on their face. “On the contrary. I think it’s quite interesting. The girl is using the terrain to her advantage. She’s moving stealthily, taking fights she know she’ll win, and running the moment she’s at a disadvantage. It’s optimal.”

Leora nodded slowly, rubbing her chin. “And yet it is quite unconventional. A caster traditionally fights from afar. Obviously, we are taught to prioritize mobility, but the girl fights with the mindset of a fighter.”

“And yet she isn’t one, nya. Isn’t it interesting? She’s almost like an assassin.”

They watched as the island closed in, the survivors numbering to less than a dozen. Soon, skirmishes turned into a giant fight, with each contestant wrapped up in a battle with every other fighter on the field. Some were eliminated immediately, having hid the whole way through, while others dominated the field, casting large range spells that dominated the terrain.

“Draco Wynton,” Orson mused. “His fire technique is quite interesting.”

“It is unpolished. But yes, there is potential for more. That fire vortex in particular requires a large amount of mana to maintain. How curious,” Leora mused.

Prota, with little mana left, was easily caught up in the spell and died, leaving the other participants to duke it out.

Soon, the exam came to a close, and the students came to their senses one by one, sitting up on the field as their consciousness came back to them. Assisted by aides, they were led back to the school hospital were they’d be treated and checked for any potential injuries.

“What an interesting group of students.”

~~~

“See? It worked, right?” John grinned.

Prota nodded enthusiastically.

“Ah, the third party strategy. It’s just much cleaner. Well, I mean, it probably didn’t look that good. But it works.”

“...?!”

Prota’s head snapped as she turned to look at him. It didn’t look good? Then why the hell had he told her to do that?

“Oh, come on, Prota. As soon as they saw your Blossom, you were probably a guaranteed pass. You wanted to win, right?”

“Nn…” Prota was thinking about that, but then she realized something. “Then… since John knows the best strategy, John will win, right?”

“I’ll- ah, shit. Well… ah, I’ll try,” John mumbled, leaning back.

Winning something like this. Sure, it was technically possible. But in the end, could he survive even a single honest fight? Probably not. And he needed to show an honest showing… or did he?

{Examinees will be required to bring their own weapons. While they will not physically be brought into the exam, participants will be limited to the weapons they bring. A loss of a weapon will be a loss. Examinees will not be able to reacquire a weapon until the end of the exam, or by obtaining it by finding it.}

“Bring my own weapons, huh…?”