The seeds we plant

Mia's POV:

The hero killer in front of me looks at me arrogantly as he prepares his trident. The trident he's holding looks so familiar to me that I can't help but sigh.

- Don't worry, I'll finish you off quickly.

After saying that, he prepares his trident as he takes a low stance and lunges at me at breakneck speed. I can't help but sigh as I watch the hero killer. I stand up as I shapeshift in front of him. In my wind tank form, I catch the spear with my remaining bare hand. Although the tip digs into my palm a little, it's nothing compared to the pain my missing arm causes me. Surprise immediately assails the hero killer as he desperately tries to pull out his trident.

- I feel sorry for you Cassandra, to think that your successor would be so pathetic.

- Pathetic? Are you referring to me?

The pathetic man glares at me as he desperately tries to pull the trident out of my hand.

- Of course you are pathetic, that charge you just made was so slow that it gave me time to transform without problems.

- Slow?

- Besides being weak, you barely managed to overcome the power of my storm. Even the hero of blood was able to make a deep cut on me without so much momentum.

- What? But how dare you?

His eyes turned bloodshot when I mentioned the hero of blood.

"You really hate being compared"

- You know, I'm going to tell you a little secret. This body is from the hero of the storm before you.

- The previous hero of the storm?

- Even though, due to the nature of my power, I can't bring out the full potential of other powers, in my current state, I can crush you in less than 3 minutes.

A look of fury was the only thing he managed to do as he pathetically tried to pull his trident out of my grip.

- Crush me? The great and beautiful hero of the storm? .... Don't fuck with me!

Even without being able to take his trident out of my hand, he unleashes a huge hurricane that swallows us both. The hurricane was powerful enough to lift the trees around us from the roots. However, despite all that, it couldn't hurt me. My own wind prevented me from being hit by the trees and stones that approached me while I remained firmly planted on the ground.

- Is this the best you can do?

An incredulous look looked at me as large drops of sweat came out of him. He couldn't seem to believe that his hurricane didn't affect me.

- H-how...? How come you don't fly away?

A mix of rage and confusion came out in his words as he desperately tried to send me flying with his hurricane. Even though he increased the speed of the wind, it still wasn't able to overcome my own wind.

- Ah, I get it now.

An idea suddenly came to my head. I raised my head finally understanding.

- What are you babbling so much witch?

- Now I understand why you are so weak.

He seemed shocked by my words as he looked at me in amazement. Pleased with his reaction, I cleared my throat and continued.

- You… You've never fought anyone stronger than you have you?

- W-what?

- By just fighting a bunch of weaklings. You developed your powers into much more visual things and attacks in large areas.

A silence fell that was only broken by the intermittent sound of the wind tearing out a tree or the sound of the wind itself running at high speed. The expression of the hero of the storm was totally strange. It seemed that I had hit the nail on the head here. After a few moments, a clear grimace of rage formed on his face as the wind around us calmed down.

- Nymph, make the trident disappear!

Moments later, the trident that I had been holding transforms into a small drop of light green that travels quickly towards the pathetic man. Then it transforms back into a trident that the man takes with his right arm.

- I'm weak for having crushed a few weaklings? What's the problem if I've crushed a bunch of weaklings!? The strong can crush weaklings at will!

- Really pathetic…

- Shut up! The great me doesn't have to listen to your nonsense, so I'll be serious this time. I won't forgive you, even if you beg for your life.

A deep sigh comes out of me again. Seeing how the power of the hero of the storm has degraded makes me sad for Cassandra. A growing feeling of pity and irritation grows in me as I look at the pathetic man in front of me. He lowers his posture with the trident pointing at me as I lower my posture as well to launch myself at him.

- Okay pathetic man, I will show you the true power of the hero of the storm.

A light snort is heard from the pathetic man before we both charge at each other. Even though his charge is slightly faster than before, it is still too slow. I quickly dodge his trident and grab his head with my hand. A clear surprise is seen in his eyes as he tries to struggle free from my hand.

- First lesson, you are not using your powers correctly when you charge. Don't just propel yourself with the wind, you need to eliminate the wind in your path to go even faster.

Although he seemed to want to say something, I quickly jump with him still in my hand. With the help of the wind I rise until I can practically see the entire forest. The pathetic man seems scared by the sudden change of scenery.

- So little scares you? You really seem more pathetic every second.

Perhaps ignoring my words, he clings to my arm as he looks down incessantly. I sigh heavily as I watch the pitiful spectacle.

- Second lesson. Even though you can't completely stop a fall with the help of the wind, controlling your landing speed is the least you should manage.

Moments later I dive towards the ground. With the help of the wind I accelerate our fall while the man desperately tries to stop the fall. Just before impact, I release the pathetic man, throwing him to the ground while I brake quickly to fall gently to the ground. The impact of the pathetic man resonates on the ground as a series of creaks and screams of pain resonate in the environment. Despite his efforts, the man barely stayed alive as he crawls languidly along the ground.

- Third lesson, even if you don't manage to completely stop your speed, with the help of the wind you can disperse the impact if you place a current of air around you, that way you wouldn't have suffered any damage.

The man doesn't have the strength to respond. Tears and blood spill from his eyes as he tries to breathe heavily. His eyes gravitate in their sockets as blood comes out of the gaps in his armor. The poor pathetic man seems to be on death's doorstep.

- You're leaving so fast? You're really no fun at all.

I grab him by the head again and lift him up. Unlike before, this time he doesn't resist at all. He just lets out some pathetic, unrecognizable mutters as he cries.

- I could kill you right now, but that wouldn't leave a good taste in my mouth... ah, I think I have an idea.

I quickly shapeshift into a guy with black armor and sunken, gloomy eyes. As I change into this form, the pathetic man reacts slightly as he glares at me with hatred.

- Oh? You reacted to my figure.

A malicious smile quickly forms on my face as I come up with a fun game.

- It seems that, despite everything, you still recognize the hero of blood. I just thought of a fun game.

I quickly release the pathetic man, only to pierce his thorax with my hand and lift him up from there. A pitiful cry of pain comes out of the man as I do so.

- I originally only planned to test this body's abilities on you, but... I think I'll just kill you slowly in this form.

From my hand I begin to be able to feel all the blood running through the pathetic man. Almost as if he were a part of me.

- Fine, now that I know how it feels, let's try this.

With my head, I begin to think about his right leg, I concentrate on it for a few moments and finally.

- Coagulation

A cry of pain echoes throughout the forest. The cry quickly increases in intensity the more I concentrate on his leg. Small crimson red spikes quickly protrude from his armor. The spikes extend from his foot to the base of his leg.

- Hmmmm, it went pretty well for a first time, don't you think?

- D-damn… weakling… cowardly bastard.

- Wow, he doesn't even remember who he's facing anymore… Will this make you remember?

I immediately cast coagulation on his 2 arms. Crimson spikes quickly begin to protrude from the armor as the screams resume. The intensity of them increases as they mix with light cries for help. Soon the only words coming out of his mouth are to pathetically ask for help. After a while of experimenting with Keir's powers, I finally get fed up with the incessant screams. I cast coagulation on his chest to pierce his heart. A long scream is heard before he finally lets his arms fall limply. The trident that was at the side of our fall, stuck in the ground, begins to fade into specks of light.

- I hope your next sucessor is more worthy than this.

I throw a small prayer to the weapon that slowly fades away next to me. I finally throw the pathetic man's body aside as I look at my bloody hand for a moment. I let out a sigh as I think of the previous owner of this body.

- Hopefully, this will help you find some peace up there.

A sudden idea comes to my head as I look at some rocks that were next to me. I take some of them and concentrate. A few moments later, several colorful birds come out of my hand and fly towards the horizon.

- I think that will do.

As I watch the birds take flight, a voice from the back suddenly sounds.

- Keir?... And that body?

A large man with a staff reveals himself before me. He wears a white robe with gold trim on it. His smile shows some concern.

- He's just the hero of the storm. He was pathetically beaten by the witch of appearance. What do you need from me?

- …The heroes are waiting for you at the camp. They want a full report of the situation.

- Understood, I'll go right away.

- Sure, follow me.

Not really understanding the situation. I follow the man towards the plain where I had fought Keir at the beginning. Apparently he hasn't realized yet that I'm not Keir. I could take this opportunity to kill him, but I don't feel any opportunity to do so. Even though he has his back to me, I can't sense any opening. I can tell he's a warrior who won't go down without a fight. In my current state I can't allow myself to be discovered. Even if it's in enemy territory, I have to recover before I fight again. When we reach the camp, the man looks sadly at the corpses that are scattered all over the plain.

- Doesn't that seem sad to you Keir?

- Of course I do, they were my precious companions after all.

- … Even though you killed them yourself?

- Huh?

Before I could process what the man said, a huge rock fell where I was. I quickly jumped out of the range of the rock that crashed and left a huge crater on the ground. When I looked back at the man, a cold smile greeted me as 3 other heroes left the place and rushed towards our position.

- What the hell are you doing?

Trying to play the fool, I ask with clear anger to the priest of the staff in front of me.

- Do you think you can fool me without the angel of the blood witch of deception?

At his comment I can only sigh as the other 3 heroes arrive with their weapons ready.