The Pillar of Enera

[Chapter 9 part 1] Hope - Sola's Legacy

Hope fumed, leaving that 'thing' sitting innocently behind. The worst part is she's correct, dang it. At least she'd take comfort in knowing her sister was an awful person.

Hope's personality revolved around wry humor and sarcasm. Plus pessimism. These diffused the rage. So far she hadn't enjoyed the best luck in life. Understatement. Being the 'weakest of the weaklings' ——curse you, Dawn—— wouldn't be so bad if not for the competitive environment. She'd read about it, this thing called a 'caring mother'. That's not Astra. She'd only come across one character who resembled her. He'd been a drill Sergeant.

I probably shouldn't complain. Wise and Silver had been through worse. Rose tortured herself with her obsessions. Free had also suffered greatly, but it didn't really count since it was self-inflicted. As for Dawn... Has that narcissist ever known hardship? Light and Soul were closest to normal, which was funny considering one was a wanna-be-ninja and the other a wanna-be-hero.

That's better. Venting and mocking the world's wrongness always improved her mood. She stared across the arena at Wise, her eternal nemesis.

There were three siblings she'd never beaten: Dawn, Soul, and Wise. Nothing could be done about the first two. They're monsters. However, Wise was different. First, he was weak. Nearly as much as me! Second, he won in an annoying fashion. Technically not his fault. Finally, his attitude was infuriating. Again, he's not to blame, but damn him anyway.

Since Wise's foresight made him fatalistic, he used to announce the outcome of their matches. It'd been maddening. I reject that I'm destined to lose. He'd eventually stopped, but she still saw it in his eyes. That bastard knows he'll win.

Dueling Wise felt like battling fate. She hadn't won, not once. My nemesis. Wise looked back with a resigned expression, extending his retractable staff. That hateful thing...

"You're well-equipped..." he noted, "I'll have to work harder than normal"

Hope just glared. She'd learned that saying anything would come back to bite when she inevitably lost. 'Inevitably lost'? Screw that! For every encounter, Hope dreamed up new tricks and plans. Hasn't worked so far, but... Her current strategy had a decent chance: overwhelming him with a wasteful quantity of items. It'll be painful. It took time and effort to infuse spells, making her stingy. But not today.

She tossed a large shuriken in the air, and it whirled to life, diving forwards. She'd imbued the projectile with rotation, levitation, and homing. There were virtually no restrictions on her enchantments. Everything her siblings could do, so could she. It just takes longer and must be done ahead of time.

Wise evaded ——Of course he did——, and the shuriken turned in a wide arc. It'll target him for two minutes. She aimed to drain his stamina while keeping him at bay. For me, Wise is unbeatable up close. Ideally, something would connect once he was exhausted. I only need one hit.

Naturally, it wouldn't be that easy. As the spinning blades came in for a second pass, Wise tapped one with his staff, and the steel dropped with a thud. That bothersome ability...

Wise could cancel magic. Makes sense. If you could create, then it should be possible to unmake too. Whereas other magics added to the world, necromancy focused on erasing. Also bending reality and summoning that which shouldn't exist.

She really wished Wise hadn't future-fried his brain. The pity makes it harder to dislike him. At his insanest, he'd been hideously strong. Rivaling Dawn. While he'd lost nearly all that, the key word was 'nearly'. The portion he'd conserved greatly frustrated her. Especially that staff.