[U] 1- A Noble's beginning.
Unicorns.
Definitely the most pure and noble of magic beasts.
Our bodies are pure white as snow, our auras graceful, our presence is more than enough to tell the nobility of our kind, and on our head our spiral horns that resemble the finest of porcelains stand proud on our head's, they show our superiority to all the other beasts that see us, they see and wish they would be half as magnificent as us.
With all of that said, being nothing more than a fact.
One cannot omit the fact that we are still, very much indeed, an animal type magic beasts.
As such we do not have human level intelligence.
...but, exceptions to that rule exist, for I am one.
I am a unicorn, daughter of the leaders of our herd.
For some reason or another I am a unique monster, among all of the herd, only I have this superior intelligence.
It however, did not take long for me to understand why that is the case.
Said case is simple, it is due to the fact I was born special, unique and powerful, fit to lead.
As a proof of my superiority, this world gifted me with the Unique skill [Noble's Will], a mark of my power and what I am to become, the leader of our herd and much, much more.
For I am no common horse or unicorn even, I am a noble from birth.
Still, it does beg the question of why?
Why me?
It is an important question, that I do not particularly care about.
I am born to be a noble, that is all, it is the message this world gave to me, my purpose is to be great, and I will accept it gracefully.
After all, however strange my special birth is, I still find it acceptable.
It is, after all, a rare yet normal occurence in this world for it to exist unique monsters.
...although, even if my words are completely true, I still find it strange how not only was I born with skills, but knowledge of this world as well.
I already know the language spoke by humans, I already have information about many countries, locations, political knowledge, military knowledge, spells and skills of all kinds, magic and not.
It does make me wonder, am I even more so of a special situation than I thought?
Nonetheless, it does help with my eventual rule, and when I achieve my objectives, all truth shall be mine to have and own, that is my right as a ruler.
...
My father and mother are proud leaders, they guide us and under their leadership, we survive and defeat any who stands in our way, and we as a group respect them very much, it's because of their leadership that we were able to grow to a size of 34, 35 if you count with me Included, considerable higher than an average herd.
They, even with their limited amount of intelligence, have reinforced what I believed, that we are a dignified noble species.
Father always stands stall, if I were to describe him, he is harsh, dedicated to perfection, and responsible.
He always maintains order in the herd, he is the one responsible for the discipline, from the way we eat, for the way we walk, it is always delicate and specific to perfection, that is how we keep our appearances and grace, although harsh, I do admire that about him.
Mother is more combat focused, she is the strongest in the herd, and whenever an enemy arrives, she is the first to charge in with the others as support, all the while father stays back and acts like a strategist.
Together, their rule had conquered many monsters in the short months i have lived with them, they truly show how grateful and powerful a unicorn truly is.
I am proud of what I am, and I was proud of them as my parents.
...
One day.
One day that seemed like any other, something changed.
Something changed because we met something different.
A different kind of enemy from the monsters we faced before.
They stood tall in their two legs, wearing capes of leather, their hair messy, and on their waist and hands weapons, weapons beings like us couldn't possibly use, weapons who no doubt slayed and defeated many a foe.
They were something fearsome, more fearsome than all the monsters we faced before.
They were humans, adventurers ..or perhaps bandits?
Only one thing was certain about them.
They were enemies, I knew that immediately, enemies in great number, a total of over 50 humans.
Humans are a complicated race, their species by itself does not warrant any respect, but through their own ranks they can become someone that is, at least somewhat, worth respecting, I admit that.
But these?
These were nothing, the bottom of the barrel of the human race, rests and scraps left behind while the main meal of human greatness had long since left.
Perhaps some adventurers would be worth respect, their power and elegance could be taken into consideration after all, making them dignified of our time.
This clearly not the case however.
Their bad, rusted looks, want way of walking, and equipment, together with those disgusting expressions.
Yet, although the right decision should have been obvious, even though I already knew we should attack, even though mother herself was ready to charge in, father ordered us to stand back.
I did not understand, but I trusted him, I obeyed, stayed back, evading the humans.
...no that is not accurate, we were running from them, humiliatingly turning our backs to the enemy.
They of course, gave chase, and said chase was what led to a complete defeat for us, the first defeat I ever suffered, we lost a total of 11 members of our herd.
...including mother.
Why would father order this? Why would mother agrees to this?
These questions plagued my mind.
I don't understand, I can't understand.
..no perhaps that is inaccurate, I do understand were he is coming from.
Humans are dangerous, I know that much, and killing these would have consequences ...however.
To allow our kin, our dignified noble kind, to be taken as slaves by these putrid, disgusting, wastes? How could he be so ..cowardly, that was the word that defined his actions.
We had the power to stop them, I kill all of them, not allow a single word to come off their mouths as we put an end to their miserable existences and rid the world of such putridness.
...perhaps one or two of us would die, but that would have been a noble and dignified death protecting their kind, instead of being left behind, abandoned and humiliated in the hands of those vermin.
I will not forget this.
...
I thought about the situation, and decided I would not allow this to pass.
I confronted father, to do this I activated my unique skill [Noble's Will].
Said skill connected our minds, father took a few steps back, possibly confused of what I was doing.
While our minds were connected, the skill's ability activated, with it I could Impose my dominance and will over lesser beings, with our minds connected I also could share my capabilities with him.
And that is what I did, he temporarily gained enough intelligence to communicate fluently, I had already done this rarely, so it wasn't a shock for father, but the next words would be.
"Why?"
I said, serious, perhaps cold even, I was trying to be logical with father, truthfully I don't hate him, I just wish for an explanation, why allow such a heavy loss?
"It was the best decision for the herd, do not oppose me."
Even with the intelligence given, his words are simple, commanding, it does make sense, my rank is lower than his own, he has full authority to speak to me in this way if he wishes, and I would respect it on normal circumstances, however.
"Then please explain to me, why father?"
I could not let go, I needed to know why, what he was thinking when he did this, his reasoning, and that it was anything but what I think it was.
So I had decided to wait a little longer, allow him a last chance to explain it to me.
"..Humans are dangerous, killing them would make it worse for us, when we see them, we shall make our escape and not fight, that is the tradition, the sacrifice was worth our escape."
...Dangerous? Sacrifice? Worth our escape?
I see.
I truly do.
From the way he speaks, something must have happened in the past, something that resulted in a great loss, it's easy to see that this was the reasoning behind his decision to escape and not fight, however.
"That only means you are a coward."
In that moment, I lost my respect for him, yes it was foolish for me to have this much in the first place, or perhaps it was foolish to expect him to be that great of a leader, if that was all, if this was a simple mistake I would have, even if not immediately, let go of it but it wasn't that simple.
He did not just make a mistake, he was cowardly, his justification as he calls it, would not be accepted by me.
It doesn't justify his actions, it doesn't justify his hypocrisy.
I cut his ability to speak back, he doesn't deserve it, then I connect to the minds of everyone in the herd.
"Our leader is a coward that decides when he wants to act noble, one who decides when he wants to sacrifice his kin, all because he himself is scared to fight, all because he fails to see our own greatness, one who preached about superiority while making us run from an enemy we could have defeated with grace, this is who our leader is."
I should have known, mother wasn't his only female, why would he care? He isn't noble, he isn't a leader, he isn't a person, he doesn't have that deep of a emotional bond with us, not truly, he doesn't truly see what a family is.
What he truly is, is an animal, all of them are, all of the herd, they aren't nobles, they are animals.
They do not truly comprehend that being noble isn't about this dignified charade they pass on, but it's about truly being superior, dignified, both to us, and our subordinates, death would have been more dignified than sacrificing our own so you wouldn't be at risk.
If he at least had done so to save more lives, ending lives to save more lives, I wouldn't be pleased, but I would congratulate father on his powerful heart and conviction.
But everything he did was to follow a stupid tradition, everything he did was to follow a rule, a law, that was built in fear, and to the protection of the leader while ignoring his subordinates wishes.
And he dared call himself noble, for what? The way he eats his grass while acting higher and elegant to the others of his herd? While all the others go along with his play, Disgusting.
Perhaps to magical beast standers they are pure and graceful, but to mine? They fall short in everyway.
"I will not stand for this any longer."
But that's ok.
"All who listen, do you believe this to be noble?"
If my own kind has let me down.
"Do you believe this to be just? Do you believe it to be right?"
If they have fallen, and became shorter than my standards.
"If you do, you disgust me, and if do not ..then rise."
Then I will just have to build them back up.
"Rise with me, let us save those imprisoned, let us take our honor back, let us have our life restored and our strength be showed to the world-"
They will rise with me, they will be the nobles they claim they are.
"-And together we will show them who we truly are!"
And together, we will reach my place of destiny.
...
...
20.
Out of the remaining 23 that were left after the human attack, 20 decided to follow me.
Seems that upon hearing my words, and tasting the intelligence and power that came with my skill and leadership, they decided I was a better leader, than the one who left others to die.
The other two were father's females, I never expected them to leave his side, in truth I hoped in vain that father would follow me as well, attempt to redeem himself, but he did not.
Father himself attempted to stop me, but I quickly defeated him.
Using [Noble's Will], I could quite easily command and force him to follow.
One of my sub skill's is [Thought Domination] after all, however I chose not to.
Let him wail in his misery, having his herd taken by his own daughter, as a punishment for his cowardice.
When mother returns he may see how wrong he was, and then we will consider allowing any path of redemption.
Shortly after this I evolved, I became a High Unicorn.
Perhaps it was because I took charge of the herd?
Father wasn't evolved however, so I can only assume there is more to it.
The easiest and most likely reason? Father was not strong enough, both phiscally and mentally.
I, however, am destined for greatness, and my first step will be saving mother and the others.
...
...
Under my command, we marched through the forest, any monster in our way fell quickly to our skilled horns.
Using [Noble's Will] sub skill, [Food chain], I was able to pass some of my skills to them, each and every one of us have been strengthened by me.
Using [Thought Domination], I can easily conduct a strategy, and then use it to control them into defeating the enemy, I haven't even needed to fight since taking control.
Horned shark, manticore, blade tiger, knight Spider, these beasts and others fell to us.
Without taking a single blow, we defeated our enemies, our power grew more and more, while our opponents fell behind.
And with my power as a base, my intelligence and command, we marched forward, nothing would stop us.
...is what I thought, however this brings me to today, the day I finally stopped and considered anything other than to advance, and for the first time in my life, I met someone that managed to make me stop.
...
...
We were marching forward, our opponents defeated and left behind as carcasses behind us, after all, we don't need to eat their disgusting flesh to survive.
That being said, the quantity of monsters that we faced had dropped significantly since we arrived at this part of the forest.
The result of that, was this.
...
The forest was quiet, the reason why somewhat intrigued me, I had a bad feeling about it, my body was on guard, my subordinates, even with their lower intellectual prowess, felt the same, I could see their bodies shiver, perhaps the monsters fled because of this feeling? Nevertheless I will stay on guard.
I feel the wind picking up, this premonition of something bad continues.
I can't have myself be taken by surprise, I order my subordinates to stand guard, and activate [Magic sense] to the maximum.
...then, I feel it, a faint but fast moving aura approaching us, I activate [Thought acceleration], I concentrate on the area that I believe this new foe will pass through ...and I see it, or perhaps her? I see her.
A figure of a woman, her hair dark light night sky, her eyes a shinning platinum, on her head two horns, almost like a dark ornaments to show her superiority, on her back I can see a silver sharp tail, like a symbol of her monster nature, she wears nothing more than a leather cloak.
But her natural physique and beauty isn't what surprised me and left me guarded, and while her monster nature contributed to it, what truly stroke me as dangerous.. was her state.
Blood.
Blood, that had become dried, it plagued her body, as stains on a pure white cloth, it defiled what could have been a pure and majestic view, together with her apparent canines, her aura counselled it passes her view as what I thought.
A monster.
A dangerous monster to my herd.
Yet, for some reason.. I could not bring myself to feel and look at her the same way I did to the others.
In fact, although in rank she most definitely shouldn't be better than those filthy adventurers, I could not feel the same emotions when I looked upon her form.
In fact for some reason I felt ..Nobility?
But how could she have such a thing?
No, my mind must be tricking me, she is nothing but an enemy.
In truth, to do not wish to, even if she didn't have a noble aura about her, I wouldn't condone death of a being who, most likely, has intelligence and awareness, unless of course they wronged me and crossed my way.
But this girl, she is a threat, one who I will not take a risk and endanger my subordinates.
And for the good of my herd, she will be taken down.
My horn glows, my power accumulating in it.
This is a simple aura technique, one I didn't have trouble using thanks to the knowledge I was born with.
I shoot, the beam of white energy flies through the forest.
Even if for some reason, I have conflicting feelings about killing thu enemy, I will not hold back, I will not falter.
If for some reason this girl happens to be noble of heart, and had no I'll intentions then she shall have my apologies when I bury her in her grave, but this is how it must be.
The girl, as expected, felt the attack coming and dodged this, truth be told this wasn't supposed to hit, only stop her in her tracks, so our real attack may begin.
My subordinates fire, their horn beams are powerful, through inferior to mine, still dangerous.
In reality, such a skill would have been almost impossible for them to learn without my control through [Thought Domination], but with me they ascended.
The girl, my opponent, one who I can't bring myself to think harshly of, dodged the beams.
However this is a continuous strike, our distance is big, big enough that my subordinates can not even see the enemy, the only reason I can is through magic sense.
Through our continued bombardment, the girl can't stay still, if she runs we will follow and intercept with attacks, if she advances, she will put herself at harms way, to the point that when she reaches us, if she even managed that, she will be too hurt to fight properly, either way it is our victory.
I truly pity my opponent, but this is their end.
While she keeps dodging the simple beams of my opponents, I fire my own.
Bigger, stronger, and fully under my control, to the point she, somehow, vanishes each time I am about to hit her.
I do not understand what kind of skill that is, but it must have a limited use, otherwise she would be charging at me while using it.
Now the girl has become visible for the third time, it is time to finish this, let us be merciful and give her a quick end.
...
...huh?
She is charging at me?
...
Why?
What could be the reason for this sudden change? Is it a last attack that was born out of desperation and foolishness?
But her expression..
Angry and determined.
It is not an expression of one who is either giving up, or desperately trying to survive.
So what is her plan?
Throwing herself at me is nothing but foolish.
My horn glows.
But if you're so eager to face death head-on like a true noble, then very well, meet a graceful end!
My horn fires it's beam, by far my most powerful one yet, the girl doesn't even bother to dodge, running towards it as the light illuminates her face.
Farewell noble soul, know that your death will be a stepping stone for me!
...
...?
The girl vanishes.
This, it was not the same skill as before, was it?
She did disappear, but instead of reappearing near her original point.
She stands here, looking up at me, face to face with my herd, her expression dark, a bit angry and on her guard.
...I don't understand, how could she simply do this? Was she merely playing with us?
No, her expression is genuine, she must have grown while fighting me, but how? And so quickly.
Had I underestimated her? Indeed I had, her potential and strength surpassed my expectations.
Her aura flares, I couldn't feel it well before, but now she is not holding back.
...she is fully intent on fighting to the death, and this aura.
She is definitely my..
...
My superior..?
...
Strange.
I knew that beings stronger than me existed, and it didn't bother me, I knew it was only a matter of time before I reach their level.
..yet now, when faced with one I feel my blood boil.
It boils both from rage ...and excitement.
I approach, fearlessly, I look down on her, showing my grace and unfaltering will, [Thought Domination] was active, attempting an attack on her mind.
She stands her ground, not faltering by my presence either, and this simple trick with [Thought Domination] didn't work either, as expected of my rival.
Yes.
A rival, that is who she is.
She is someone to defeat, to honor, someone who is currently superior to me ..yet, she is also someone who I will strengthen myself to beat in this very battle.
Someone that I shall remember, a noble like me, though differently from me, she will fall today.
I do not feel hate for you, but this is were you will meet your demise.
My subordinates quickly surrounded us by my orders.
Together in a team effort, a barrier was created around us.
I do not want them to interfere, nor to get caught in the crossfire of the duel, at least not for now.
My rival tenses, of course, this is still an unfavorable situation for her, nonetheless she shall be it for me, the proof I needed.
She shall be my first worthy opponent, and when I defeat her, when I show I can best the odds, I will have it proven to father, I will have the proof so all that follow me can see.
Proof that I was born to greatness, and proof that if we don't surrender we true nobles of body and soul can achieve anything!
And with my new found power and confidence, we will rescue mother, and from then on, continue to grow until I have my rightful position on the top, and those bellow me can rejoice in the happiness of the new that era.
Now I fight for this future, be my stepping stone my noble opponent!
My rival tenses, her arms go up in a fighting position, as I charge in, horn first like a spear.
On guard!