Rebirth: Childhood friend of the heroine

"Here, for you two." It was the night before Alex left when he called Celestria and Sarah in the back garden of the palace.

Sarah raised her brows upon seeing the beacon, as she asked, "You don't expect me to have one unless you give me your, no?"

Sarah was aware of the artifact's mechanism. She was herself thinking of planting a tracker in him so at least she could track him down if something happened.

Celestria was smiling in elation. Seeing Alex being concerned for her, filled her heart with warmth.

When your feelings start to get reciprocated, it gives a very pleasant sensation.

However, at that time Celestria didn't know that her beacon would be sending signals to Alex this soon.

"Nnngh...." She groaned, as Celestria held her broken leg and tried to get away from the sight of the inhumane who suddenly appeared in the arena.

The final round was about to commence...when suddenly a portal appeared above the arena, and from that portal jumped a massive beast.

A Soulless.

A hulking beast stood in the middle of the arena, its humanoid body rippling with unnatural strength. Its head resembled a feral lion, with a wild mane and gleaming fangs, while its muscular arms looked powerful enough to crush stone. Clad in tattered brown pants, it radiated a suffocating presence, making the air feel heavy and thick around it.

She has only heard about Soulless beings capable of ensuring great destruction, leaving nothing intact under their unnatural strength. However, this one was not insane like the ones she had heard of.

'This being holds intelligence...but how..." The pain was making her feel numb all over. None of her attacks worked on the beast—its natural resistance was too high for her or the other mages to do any damage.

On one side, Valerie was lying unconscious after she was swatted away by the beast. Hitting her head against the concrete ceased all her movements.

The administrators of the contest were of no match. Some of them fell down just by the oppressive aura the beast radiated. Enjoy new stories from empire

A catastrophe has descended and only a single person was still standing there against it.

"You are commendable, I admit." The Beast voiced, its golden eyes locked with Edric's.

Edric was in his Berserk state since he knew he couldn't inflict any damage on the beast unless he went all out.

'Just by overall comparison, this beast is stronger than the wolf we faced in the labyrinth, and its natural resistance against magic is absurd.'

There was none in the town that could face this catastrophe, and if Edric didn't end this monster right here, thousands of innocent lives would get wasted today.

Amidst the graveyard of corpses, Edric clenched his fist, and through his blurry vision he locked onto the target

"Grrr ...so you still have some fight left in you?"

Edric didn't respond, rather, he dashed forward, his muscles bulging with raw strength, his blurry vision focused solely on the towering beast. His steel knuckles gleamed under the dim light as he swung his first strike straight at the Soulless's chest.

**THUD**

The impact landed, but the beast didn't even flinch. It stared down at him, its golden eyes filled with disdain.

"My turn," it rumbled, its voice like a low growl of thunder.

The Soulless moved faster than Edric expected. Its massive arm swept across, catching Edric in the side like a battering ram. CRACK! Edric's body flew like a rag doll, smashing into the arena wall with a sickening crunch.

Edric coughed, blood dripping from his lips, but he forced himself back up. His mind screamed at him to retreat, but he knew there was no running. If he didn't stop this beast, everyone in the town was doomed.

He charged again, this time feinting to the left before aiming a powerful uppercut at the Soulless's jaw.

The beast caught his fist mid-swing, its massive claws digging into Edric's arm. "You're persistent," it snarled, before slamming him headfirst into the ground. The stone cracked beneath him as a shockwave rippled out, silencing the terrified crowd.

Edric groaned, his vision swimming, but he refused to stay down. He pushed himself up on shaky legs, his knuckles trembling as he prepared another attack.

However, a chill ran down his spine when he found the figure of the beast above him, with its fist cocked and its eyes gleaming with untamed amusement, the beast shot toward Edric—intending to annihilate the bug.

However,

"So there was one left?" The beast scoffed as it found its fist met by a huge ice pillars.

**DHAK**

The ice pillars broke into several pieces before the Soulless turned towards the chanter.

Although bloodied and bruised, Amanda couldn't back down when Edric's life was at stake.

"For fuck sake, I did all the training, just to get down by just a punch?!" She raised her hand and moisture in the air twisted and churned, forming into three massive icebergs above the arena. They loomed like frozen giants, their sharp edges gleaming in the dim light.

The monster roared, "Come at me!"

Amanda slashed her hand down and the massive ice pillars hurtled toward the Soulless like meteors, tearing through the air with a deafening roar. The ground trembled under their weight as they descended, each one carrying enough force to crush mountains.

The first iceberg slammed into the beast, shattering into countless shards. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the arena, the ground caving under the force. The Soulless roared in pain, but before it could recover, the second iceberg struck, forcing it to its knees.

With her eyes cold and emotionless, she launched the third one, "Die, you dog."

The third came down like judgment itself, crashing with an earth-shaking explosion. Ice and dust filled the air, obscuring the beast from sight.

Amanda fell to one knee, gasping for breath, her vision blurry. "That… should hold it," she muttered, hoping her attack was enough.

However,

**CLINK**

A soft glass-cracking voice resounded, followed by a heavy shockwave that shattered the icebergs, and the beast launched out of the cage with nothing but a few wounds visible on its body.

Amanda's eyes parted wide as she saw the beast high in the air, its eyes radiating overwhelming blood lust as it shot toward Amanda, with nothing but annihilation in mind.

However,

**SCREEEECHH**

A massive vortex of ultrasonic sound waves, hit the beast before it could reach Amanda.

Celestria, while still planted on the ground, breathed heavily as she kept using one of her strongest spells to keep pushing the beast away.

"Insolent pests!" The beast slammed its hand, and the glowing arm cut off the sound waves, making Celestria feel nauseous as her Soul Energy was abruptly forced back.

The beast was annoyed as it disappeared from its spot, heading toward the damn bug; however, before it could reach her, Edric lunged at the inhumane, and while holding it from the side, he pushed the beast away from Celestria.

"Ugh!" However, the raven-haired was soon hit on the back with enough intensity to make him lose his grip and fall to the ground.

The beast raised its feet, intending to crush Edric, when,

**SWIISSH**

Numerous ice daggers shot toward the Soulless, crashing and breaking at a blinding pace.

The Soulless gritted its teeth and despite Amanda's effort,

**BOOOOOM**

It plummeted Edric into the ground by stomping on him.

The ice daggers no longer held the strength to advance toward the Soulless, as Amanda cried,

"EDRIC!!!" She couldn't see Edric at all, as she somehow pushed herself to walk towards the beast.

"YOU MONSTER!" She raised her hand, intending to use all her SE in this last attack, when suddenly, the beast appeared behind her, and lifted Amanda by holding her head.

"Agh!!" Amanda groaned as the beast clutched her head and asked,

"Will he come here sooner if I kill you?"

Turning toward Celestria, the Soulless asked, "Or maybe I should kill you first? You seem to have a close connection to the Subject."

Throwing Amanda away, the beast advanced toward Celestria.

The blond Princess was powerlessly lying on the ground, seeing the incoming beast advancing towards her.

She tried to raise her hand and chant a spell but to no avail. She had already used up her reserve, and her mind was no longer stable enough to chant properly.

Each step of the beast resonated loudly in her ears, an announcement of her possible demise.

With tears building up in her eyes, Celestia closed her eyes.

'I wish I could have saw you for the last time....'

The beast halted before Celestria. Flexing its claws, a malicious grin appeared on its face, as it muttered,

"Blame the Cursed One for your demis-" However, before it could have stabbed Celestria and ended her life, the beast paused.

**RUMBLE**

A presence, far stronger than the humans it have faced until now, was approaching.

The Beast frowned, 'The vessel is here.'

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A/N:- Thanks for reading. We will see some development of Alex in the next chapter.