On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

"Quite an ally you have, huh?"

The Light Elf Princess stared at Haletha with a strained smile. She had been fine until Layland blasted the air with his overwhelming Mana. The only way she described the Mana was savage. It disregarded the Mana in the surroundings as it occupied the air. Anyone's Mana felt small before it.

Haletha stared back at the Light Elf Princess silently. She was just as baffled as the Princess was but she didn't show it on her face. She had to put up an act that she knew the extent of Layland's capability. It wasn't to make Layland appear stronger than he already was but to show the Princess he was the reason why they were confident in thriving.

"I get your confidence, but I have to warn you that you will be sorry if you put your hope solely on that Demon. We have hundreds of individuals who can team up to chew him up and spit him out," the Light Elf Princess warned with a confident grin, yet strained nonetheless.

"That is for us to mind, not you," Haletha retorted simply.

Clicking her tongue, the Light Elf Princess dashed at Haletha. She held her glaive sideways, making one's spine chill as she twirled it. Unfazed, Haletha extended her hand. Gigantic roots came out of the ground, hampering the Light Elf Princess but failed to stop her. It didn't matter, fortunately, because Haletha still managed to stop her glaive with her Magic Barrier.

The Light Elf Princess' eyes turned solemn as she gazed into Haletha's eyes. The lack of killing intent in Haletha's eyes caught her slightly off guard. Haletha smiled forlornly at the reaction the Light Elf gave her. 'Ironic,' she thought. She couldn't sense any ill will from the Light Elf either. It would be a shame to kill her.

Clank!

The Light Elf Princess distanced herself as a thin yet sharp root came out of the ground and went straight to her chest. She managed to block it with her glaive but she was quite shocked that it almost killed her.

"Having a flashback?" Haletha asked with a small smile.

"I was merely being careless," the Light Elf Princess scoffed.

"I know you since you are a child, Eryn. I can tell when you are not being honest."

"Don't bring up the past, Lady Haletha. The history between us went void the moment you chose to side with the Demon."

"We have no choice, Eryn. I prefer keeping my family's wishes than getting kicked out of the Kingdom that my family left behind."

Eryn the Light Elf Princess scowled and spat, "You could have asked for our help!"

"Would your father agree to help?" Haletha replied simply with a quirked eyebrow. "Iorael received your father's full support, you know? What do you think he will do if I ask him to help?"

Eryn went silent. She was not surprised by the information. She already knew it. What made her silent was the fact that she couldn't tell Haletha that she should have reached out because her father had promised to give Haletha and Arieda a leeway. When she thought about how she would react if she was in Haletha's shoes, she didn't dare to say it.

"You spend time too much with your father," Haletha remarked, awakening the Light Elf Princess from her thought. "Glóredhel, your mother, is a kind woman. She may be the only Light Elf who deserves to be called one. Your father, on the other hand, is a deceitful Elf hiding behind a scrupulous façade. It saddens me to see how you turned out."

"Shut it; you, shameless woman!"

The sincerity in Haletha's tone made Eryn explode. It enraged her because Haletha might be saying the truth. She could tell her father was off, but Haletha was worse by siding with the Demon. Then again, was her father any better? Elves were not encouraged to harm each other. Her father didn't harm other Light Elves, but he encouraged the Dark Elves to kill each other.

Both sides were wrong, but she couldn't tell who was worse. On the one hand, her father had committed an atrocity that a Light Elf should never do. Even Dark Elves relocated to prevent themselves from hurting Light Elves. On the other hand, Haletha sided with everyone's humanity. She did that solely because she wanted to survive.

She couldn't decide whom she should side with. However, she couldn't imagine her collaborating with a Demon. As much as she empathized with Haletha's situation, she still killed her empathy and pointed her glaive at Haletha. Blood is thicker than noodles. She found it easier to kill Haletha than to turn her back on her father.

"I want you to know that I still love you, Aunt Haletha. Unfortunately, you went down the wrong path," Eryn said coldly.

"I could say the same to you, Eryn," Haletha replied, voice bereft of any emotion. "Don't hate me for what I am about to do. I am just trying to keep myself alive."

Discarding the memories of the moment they had spent together; the two Elves went at each other. Eryn smashed her glaive to the ground, splitting it open. A tree emerged from the ground before Haletha, stopping the crack before it reached her. The tree was soon split in two as Eryn swung her glaive down at it.

In response, Haletha pointed her palm upwards. A pair of hands made out of trees emerged out of the ground and caught Eryn's glaive. Eryn panicked as she couldn't pull it back. Haletha used this chance to drive one of the root appendages to Eryn's stomach. Fortunately for Eryn, her Mana burst was enough to shatter the hands clasping her glaive.

The root appendage ended up striking the air, but it immediately changed its course and went straight at Eryn. The Light Elf Princess folded her thumb in and pushed her left palm outwards. A golden shield made out of Mana appeared before her, stopping the root appendage which exploded upon contact. She knew it would happen; hence, she did what she did.

Much to her surprise; as the air cleared up from the splinters, Haletha appeared before her. She didn't take Haletha as a melee combatant, so she was caught quite off guard. Though, she still managed to block Haletha's palm with her the shaft of her glaive.

Clank!

The power behind the palm made her widen her eyes in shock. As she skidded back because of the impact, her eyes were planted solely on Haletha. At that moment, she remembered why she admired Haletha so much. Haletha was the only Elf who could stand toe to toe with her father. She was the second strongest Elf.

Gulp.

She swallowed her saliva along with her nervousness. She had trained under her father for more than two decades. She might not be as strong as Haletha yet, but she was still in her prime. She was sure it would bring a great advantage to her.

Steeling her resolve, she spun her glaive above her head with two hands. She was soon engulfed in a vortex as she used an Elven Secret Art. Her shining blue eyes were the only things Haletha could make of her. The vortex contained extremely dense Mana which impaired her vision.

"[Spira Tusael Mundi], the Elven Secret Art which allows you to become the wind," Haletha muttered under her breath as she stared at the vortex. "It is a powerful Art, but Layland had taught me why it only works on idiots."

Haletha shook her head as she recalled what Layland said after their sparring session. His words always brought a smile to her face as he was always honest about his opinion. Of course, it was also hard to dispute his opinion because he was stating facts most of the time. When he threw in sarcasm, one would simply chuckle at how witty they were.

Swoosh!

"Oh, she has done her preparation?"

Haletha quirked her eyebrow as a wind blast swept over her. Eryn was nowhere to be seen, yet her presence remained. It was impossible to pinpoint where she was, though, because her presence was evenly scattered in the surroundings. She was everywhere.

When Haletha felt a disturbance in the air, she somersaulted to the back. As she did that, the ground on where she had been standing was split open. Eryn appeared briefly before disappearing like she was never there. Haletha smiled softly. She was proud of Eryn for having gone this far, but she also couldn't wait to see Eryn's reaction to what she was about to do.

Standing straight as she stopped somersaulting, she used Fire Magic that an Elf would never use unless it was necessary. A fireball appeared in her palm. Nothing changed until she clasped the fireball. The air temperature immediately rose, causing the air to warp soon. Then, much to the horror of the Light Elf Princess, she revealed herself against her will.

Haletha wasn't well-versed in the Spell that Layland had half-heartedly created, so she felt amazing when she saw it worked. Her admiration toward Layland increased as she wondered what he would produce if he was given a month to create a Spell.

"W-What happened? The Art—it doesn't work!" Eryn exclaimed in bewilderment. "You…what have you done?"

"A certain Demon says Elven Secret Arts change the way the world perceives us. It doesn't change what you are, so the only thing you need to do to render them useless is to apply physics, the law of the world," Haletha said with a calm smile.

"I don't get it…"

"Neither do I, Eryn."

Haletha sighed and steeled her heart. What she was about to do would leave a bad taste in her mouth, but she had to do it. Forming a triangle with her fingers, she used an Elven Secret Art. She was about to attack Eryn when a projectile came flying at her.

Bam!

She managed to dodge the projectile, letting it hit the ground. As she turned around to look what it was, she found an almost unrecognizable Hovarc.