In Another World with Absolute Awareness

Melia, now 17 years old, had grown ever since she met Aventine on the day of his arrival.

Bathed endlessly in the gifts wrought by her light-attributed mana, her physique had risen above and beyond that of her peers.

Still... it wasn’t enough to break through the bottlenecks of each Rank.

With no backing to speak of, and the fact that the Hero of Leisha wielding the <Sword of Light> had already surfaced, Melia wasn’t as important to the kingdom as she should have been.

In fact, the other four students with a similar affinity for light-attributed mana also experienced the same drop in care and attention.

They were stuck with a powerful physique that never faltered when fuelled by the sun. Unfortunately, a decent martial art would be awarded to them only after graduation.

They were still too young.

Too naïve.

Since they weren’t guided by the <Sword of Light>, there was no need for them to be rushed to the front lines to fight a war.

Doing so would have gotten them killed.

Thus, Melia and her fellow light users were struggling to beat the demonic minions who terrorized their school.

—SKRIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

An inhuman shriek shook Melia’s eardrums, blurring her vision and damaging her balance.

Just as she raised her blade to defend herself from the Ogre Imp’s charge, she staggered.

"No...!"

—Swish!

A bloody gash tore itself through her arm, coiling around like a vicious snake.

It was almost deep enough to cut through her bones.

—Slash!

Still, Melia was not one to go down without a fight. True to her training, she used the window in the Ogre Imp’s momentum to trade a blow of her own.

—KIKIKIKIKI!

But the Ogre Imp suddenly laughed as she was bound mid-swing.

"...Huh?"

Pain suddenly surged through the girl’s body, pouring into her ankles like electricity and flowing upstream.

"Ahck!"

Melia choked on her own spit as her entire body spasmed in shock.

Her lungs suddenly faltered.

Her heart stopped for a split second.

Hundreds of capillaries burst, staining her skin a vivid red.

—Kekeke...kikiekiekie!

The Ogre Imp’s fiendish laugh echoed in her ears, filled with schadenfreude and amusement.

"Damn... de...mon...!"

Melia cursed.

She wanted to swing her sword with all her might.

Cleave through the imp until it could no longer utter a sound.

And slay the demon who invaded her school.

Unfortunately, she could barely even overpower a single minion. She was no greater than cannon fodder.

But she still fought. With a growing resolution, she did not give in to the overwhelming despair.

The pain would eventually subside.

’As long as it doesn’t kill me right away, I still have a chance!’

She could not fall here.

For the sake of the many friends she made in the academy. For the sake of everything she’d left behind back home.

For those she met along her journey, like Lady Archisse and Aventine.

Names and faces flitted through her mind as she drew strength from sheer will.

Something slowly began to awaken within her.

It wasn’t as legendary as the <Sword of Light>, nor was it as flashy as Aventine’s Powers of the Sky, Sea, and Death...

Instead, it was something every human could naturally awaken. The singular inherent <Trait> of the human race.

Melia felt it just then.

A solidification of her will. Her will to survive, to triumph, and to protect.

The birth of humanity’s racial <Trait> within her was completed.

It was the <Indomitable Human Spirit>, unforgiving and endless.

"Hah!"

—Crack, Boom!

Melia shattered the shadowy hands binding her feet and surged forward.

Her blade whistled through the wind, carving an arc through the air. Mana boiled and summoned a flash of light, enhancing her limbs to the limit.

A sonic boom cracked the air.

...And an impish head, still in the middle of a disdainful grin, flew through the air.

One down...

’A hundred more to go.’

She had struggled so much to kill just a single Ogre Imp. Though it was a little stronger than the usual imps that populated the demonic army, it was still equivalent to cannon fodder.

To have difficulty with one, when there were hundreds more.

It was truly the definition of despair.

Still.

Humanity’s racial <Trait> had awakened within her.

Despite the blood that now dripped down her nose, Melia felt it. The horrific night when she ran through a crumbling school, trying her best to hide...

It was about to end.

Glancing to her left, to a shattered window...

The sun began to rise.

"Hahhhh..."

Taking a deep, fatigued breath, Melia stood tall, staring out into the distant horizon.

The first rays, as golden as the morning about to bless them, illuminated her face.

Suddenly.

—Sizzle!

Her burn wounds started to heal. Strength burned in her muscles, ready to be unleashed.

Her ragged breathing turned leisurely, as if she’d had a full night’s rest.

—RAHHHHHHHHH! DIE!

A familiar voice echoed in her ears—it was the valiant roar of the most brazen among the five light users in the academy.

—BOOM!

Melia couldn’t help but smile in spite of what was lost.

Perhaps... she wasn’t the only one who’d awakened humanity’s racial <Trait>.

"I can’t let Markus outmatch me."

She was the one most attuned to the light. With the morning’s blessing, her strength had already been completely rejuvenated.

In fact, it was greater than before. There was something that accompanied the first gleam of the day.

A piece of information so minuscule, Melia almost missed it.

And because of it, somehow, she had shattered the bottleneck that had barred her growth for more than a few months.

Indeed.

Somehow, a certain movement had been ingrained into her bones.

A Martial Art, in all its glory, had appeared in her mind.

From where?

Well... if the voice that carried this information was exactly as she remembered it...

"Although it’s only F-Tier..." Melia smacked her lips, recalling the whispers inside her head. "It can grow endlessly. Forever. For as long as I continue to move, cut, and wield my sword."

The playful smile of a young man, unbothered by the world’s problems, flashed in her mind.

A defiant light shone in her eyes as she looked at the seven imps who’d appeared before her. They were still cackling like mad witches; their claws stank of blood.

The blood of the students they’d slashed and eaten.

Many of her friends and classmates were probably dead. Had she been without today’s gifts, she would’ve been one of them.

Now that she had power...

The anger she’d hidden finally surged out from Melia’s heart.

For the sake of humanity, she would slay the demons who dared defile their homeland.

For the sake of her family and future friends.

For the sake of those who could only yearn for hope in a world damned by suffering.

She would eradicate the evil tumor—the demons who knew no bounds of mercy.

So, she lowered her head, bent her legs, and placed a hand on the ground.

Her sword rose into the sky behind her, like a lethal, bladed tail.

Mana flared out like a peacock’s feather train.

"[Dance of a Thousand Cuts: A Dozen Limbs]."

With this utterance, and with the Blessing of Light coating both her sword and her body...

—Slash!

She surged forward like a blade.

In her heart, she thanked the one who’d given her this gift—the only one who could’ve done so despite their separation.

’Thank you, Brother Aventine...’

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