《Harry Potter And The Mad King Of Swords》 Chapter 1 - Die First, Live Later A man stood with his sword in front of the army. He was a handsome man. His eyes were golden and his hair was pure white. His sword was a black double edged sword, with a golden guard.While an army was marching towards him, he gave off a look of readiness. Behind him, were 2 men and 2 women. Amongst them, there was a large man in heavy armor. He spoke to the white haired man, "General, what are our orders?" The General smiled, "You four, retreat." A woman in the group of 4 people replied, "Why? You can''t take that army down by yourself!" The General laughed and said, "There are many things that I can''t do, but this? I can do it." After he said that, a man similar to his height told him, "We promised that we would stay together till the end! You sweared!!" The General, with a saddened look, told them, "I''m sorry, but promises are either fulfilled or broken." The other woman asked, "Why are you doing this? We''d be able to retreat together." The General said, "This army. It is around 45 percent of the Empires forces. If I take it out, our side wins. We win the war." The woman told him, "There are other chances." The General looked at her and said, "No. No there aren''t any other chances like this. Once this army gets through, they win. Just retreat. Even if I do retreat with you, we will all die either way. They will chase us and instead of just me dying, we will all die. As they went away, the General looked at the size of the army. Uncertainty swept over him. He felt a chill in his bones. This was it. He knew that he could not avoid this. He would die today. He felt death looming over him, but he stood. His sword was most likely the only thing comforting him in that moment. No knew what was. But when the army finally neared. All these bad feelings washed away. He only felt excitement. He also realized that by fighting this army, he was ruining thousands of families indirectly, but he strengthened his resolve, and got into position. He fought and fought and fought. With every swing, he killed 4 men. When he started to slow down, he tried to swing even harder. The ground was painted in blood and it was raining red. After an unknown time. Only six people from the army remained. They were all commanders. They stood in a row as the General stood across them. The air was tense. As the wind blew, they stood. Until, the General swung his sword. One of the commanders struck back as the other other commanders jumped back. His sword broke and the General killed him. The remaining 5 commanders attacked him. One by one they fell. Until one commander remained. He readied his sword. The General was exhausted, so exhausted if any other man felt it, they would collapse. But he was the General. So he stood. The last commander was ready. Ready to die. Ready to fight for however long he would have to. So he held his sword with two hands and struck out. The General blocked and then struck back. With each strike, they both knew that their deaths were near. The battlefield was silent. Accompanied only by the sound of metal colliding. As they stood across each other, the General leaned over and spat out blood. The commander watched, waiting. After he was done spewing out blood, he spoke to the commander, "Thanks for waiting." The commander replied with, "No problem." The General asked him, "Why are you so strong compared to the other commanders?" The commander said, "Demotion sucks." The General let out a chuckle and he got in a stance for the fight, "Let''s make a bet, if I kill you first, you buy me drinks, if I die first, then I''ll buy you drinks instead. The commander said, "Sure!" Then, they struck each other. The both died at the same time. In the few seconds before they both died they thought, "Shit, a tie." Chapter 2 - Living After walking through the door, I saw a light. It felt like the light of a trillion suns. It was... intense. Suddenly, the light disappeared and darkness remained. But then, I woke up. I was on the streets. The buildings around me looked very nice. Got up and started walking around. I saw a person and asked him where we were. He said, "Privet Drive located in Little Whinging in Surrey, England." "Okay, thanks sir!", after saying these words I walked away. I kept walking until I saw a boy with glasses. He had a scar. Seemed like a nice kid, but I had no relation to him, and he was a stranger so I waddled away. 3 Years Later I''m 11 years old now. After a year of walking around and doing research on history. I spent another year doing miscellaneous shit. Then I spent 1 more year in school. During all of this time, I was practicing. Practicing my skill with a sword. During summer vacation, I went to get buy food. After buying food, I walked home. My house was a small small house. It was only 15 by 15 feet. It had one bed. A small table next to the bed. A stove. A counter and a few pots and pans on it. I was very good with keeping myself clean. So I only needed to clean myself every 2 days. Too bad I didn''t have a shower otherwise I''d be taking a shower everyday. I looked at my bed and there was a letter addressed to me. A letter saying I had been accepted to a school named... Hogwarts. What a dumb name. What, did one of the founders have a dream where a f*cking warty pig lead them to where they would build the school? That''s impossible. I kept reading the letter and then, the door opened. There was an around 60 year old woman, with a stern face, an intimidating aura, and black hair. She gave of an aura of sheer strictness. Her clothing was similar to the clothing of the wizards and witches in my old world. I managed to find out that witches and wizards existed, by finding an evil wizard. The wizard was hard to catch. Even harder to capture and interrogate. It was even harder to kill him. I learned that wizards were able to pull off a bunch of crazy things. So I was alert of the woman. Too bad I couldn''t do anything, so I just sat on my bed holding the letter. I spoke to the intimidating woman, "Hello there, ma''am. May I know your name and why you have come to my home?" "Do I need any supplies?" "Yes, they are all listed in the letter." She took a bag out, "In this bag, there is the amount of money you need for the supplies." "Is there anything else I need to know?" 20 minutes later... "And that is all you need to know. See you later." "Ok, have a good day." Then, she walked out of the door. That was too much knowledge to take in. I got up and grabbed something under my bed. Under the bed was a wooden sword. It cost me a lot. Around 20 pounds. Diagon Alley reminded me a lot of my old world. The architecture was similar to most of the villages. It was cool. I walked to Ollivanders. A wand store. I walked in and was greeted by an old man. I walked to the counter and asked for a wand. He spoke, "Ah, you seem peculiar. It''s like you''re a 37 year old stuck in the body of an eleven year old. I wonder what wand to match you with." He got a wand and gave it to Legend, "Here, try it. It''s a 13 and a half cypress wand with a Phoenix feather for the core." I held it. It released a red mist. It smelled of blood and metal. The mist disappeared and a bright light replaced it. He smiled and said, "This wand it for you. It''ll be 7 galleons." "Thanks!" I paid and left. I walked out and bought my supplies. I started walking home. At home I ate and went to sleep. Chapter 3 - Short Side Story: Past Life Hero Long before the General came to be, there was only a frail boy. This child was lonely, angry, and weak. He was told by many, that he would amount to nothing. He hated this. So he decided that if he was gonna die, he''d die to protect the only good people in this crappy world. So he joined the army. The conditions were terrible. Everyday of training left him in bruises and in pain, but he loved it in there. He made friends and this meant everything to him. Many young stupid boys realized they were too young and not ready for this, so they left, but the child stayed. When the child became a real soldier, he was sent to the front lines. Life got harder and he saw his friends a lot less. He didn''t care, he had a purpose in life besides the one he made himself. He was happy with life. After many years of being in the army, he grew strong. He was a general. They called him the mad swordsman. One day, he found a lonely, sad, angry child while scouting. The child was near dead. He saved him. He told the child to follow him while he was scouting to make sure the boy was safe. The boy was happy, he was no longer alone. The general found out that an army was marching towards them. He told the boy to run. Run the other way and to never look back. The mad swordsman looked at the army approaching. He thought about his life. It was bitter, but sweet in the end. He smiled as he faced the army. He fought until the army was no more. Before he died, he smiled. Then, he collapsed. The child he saved was now alone in the world. Lonely, angry, and weak. He was told by many, that he would amount to nothing. He hated this. So he decided that if he was gonna die, he''d die to protect the only good people in this crappy world. So he joined the army. Chapter 4 - The Prophecy Hates Me I woke up from a dream I had and started packing. After a few hours of fitting a cauldron into a backpack, I got my @ss up and walked to King''s Cross. I was suppose to go to Platform 9 and 3 Quarters. Couldn''t find it. I saw a kid walk through a brick barrier. So I decided to run after him. Suddenly, I was in Platform 9 and 3 Quarters. I got on the train. I saw a kid with brown hair and green eyes, as well as a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. I recognized him as that kid from a few years ago. So I sat next to him and said, "Hello there, my name is Jon End. What''s yours?" "My name''s Harry Potter." After talking for a while, a kid with red hair and freckles sat next to us. He told us his name was Ron. He seemed to be in wow of Harry. While he was talking I was thinking, ''Harry can''t possibly be famous for something like defeating a dark wizard as a baby! That''s just silly.'' Turns out, that''s exactly what he did. I asked for the name of the dark wizard and Harry said, "His name is Vol-" "DON''T SAY IT!!!", Ron suddenly said. I was confused, "Why can''t he say it?" Ron stared me dead in the eye and after a while he said, "He just shouldn''t." So I said, "Okay, I''ll just find out later." Then a girl sat next to us and she introduced herself as Herminee or something like that. Anyways, she was prepared for school much more than I was. About a few years later I would realize that this was the start of just pure insanity. Chapter 5 - First Day of School After a while, we were finally in Hogwarts. They were gonna sort us into... houses. That sounds stupid, should''ve been something like..... I can''t think of anything, never mind. Anyways, there was a hat. They put it on your head and it yells out what house you''re in. There were four houses. They are called Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, because they were named after the 4 founders. I think. Anyways, if my last name was Hufflepuff, I''d change it. To something cool! Like Black or Riddle or Voldemort. Anyways, while everyone else felt excited, scared, or determined, I felt nothing. All I wanted was to be in the same house as those three other kids. They seemed cool and this would in no way bite me in the a.s.s at all. They put the magic hat on a chair and it sang some really nice song. Really catchy. I wondered where the music came from, though? When it was Ron''s turn, I thought to myself that he would be a Hufflepuff. I got it wrong. He went to Griffyndor On Herminee''s turn, or was it Hermione? On Hermione''s turn, I thought that she''d be in Ravenclaw, turns out, she was a Gryffindor. Harry. He was a Gryffindor. When it was my turn, the hat was silent for a few minutes. It started muttering to itself. "Very peculiar. Strange indeed." Then it kept muttering about how this was interesting and strange. My patience ran out and I muttered. "You damn magical hat, it''s been 4 minutes since you''ve been on my head. Stop reading my life story and just assign me to my house." It stopped talking and yelled out. "Gryffindor!!" I got off the damn chair and went to the Gryffindor table. I sat with Harry and Ron, but I wondered where Hermione was. Harry and Ron didn''t have a very good impression of her. My first day of school was uneventful. Except for the fact that Harry was bullied by the potions'' teacher. Chapter 6 - Troll, stop trolling me. After a bit of school, Hermione was crying in the restroom. I couldn''t go in there to cheer her up, neither did I know why she was crying. I think I''m pretty dumb. Anyways, I was sitting in the Hall. I''m not sure what it''s actually called, but I also wasn''t that prepared for school. So maybe I''m just dumb. Then our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Kwearl. I think that''s how you say it. Either that or Professor Quirrell. Anyways, he started screaming, saying there was a troll or something in the restrooms. I was pretty sleepy at the time, so no realization sunk in to me. Panic broke out before Headmaster Dumbledore stopped it and sent us to the common rooms. Ron and Harry told me something and I realized that Hermione was still in the restroom. Unaware of everything going on. So we went to get her out. We got in an there was a troll. We panicked and locked the door. Until we realized that Hermione was still in there. So I took a wooden sword out from my robes. Ron and Harry stared at me and asked me. "Where in bloody hell did you keep that?" "Magic. I think." I kicked the door open with my 11 year old body. My leg hurt like hell. I kept dodging it''s giant wooden club. I realized that my little kid body would be absolutely broken if I got hit with a single strike. I also realized that I had no way of hurting it. Unless..... I gripped my sword and used a technique from my old world. It was just using every ounce of power within a person''s body without holding back. I would have normally not used this attack as an 11 year old, but since magic existed. I did it with absolutely no fear of dying. While I got prepared to get everything in balmy body to break. Harry jumped on the back of the troll. Trying to avoid getting grabbed. But then he was grabbed and thrown. Realizing the current situation, I ran at the troll and blocked one hit from the troll and blocked 2 more. With each strike breaking my bones. The pain was immense. It felt like getting hit by a giant club that was going fast enough to break bones.... wait a minute. I ran around the troll and climbed the back of it''s leg and got on its back. Then I kept going up. Until I was on its head. I poked both of his eyes with my sword and jumped off. The troll dropped his club. I was screaming at them to use a spell or something since it was strong enough to put me in a comma with a single hit. They decided to use Wingardium Leviosa. Which was a levitation spell. Why? Then the club floated up and it slammed into the troll, knocking it out. How did they do that with a levitation spell. How? Never mind! What was important was that I didn''t get killed by a troll. I was a bit exhausted. I put my wood sword and I put it away. Where did I put it? Magic. Or not. Anyways, when the teachers got there, I collapsed right after a wave of relief washed over me. Chapter 7 - The Commander Once upon a time in a village within the border''s of The Empire. There was a boy. A normal boy. Nothing special, nothing grand, just a normal boy. One day, an army came and killed many people from that village. As a soldier was going to kill him, a man with a sword half as large as his body saved him. The man told him to run. So the boy obeyed. He ran. The next day, the boy came back to see to ruins of his village. Everyone was dead. All except his savior. He was on the ground and had his back against a wall. He told the boy that if they ever met again, he hoped that he''d be a warrior, and a good man. The boy promised. The man died smiling. So then the boy became a soldier. It was hell. His legs were in agony, his arms aches and his lungs burned everyday he went to sleep. But he endured. Soon, the pain lessened as he gained more friends. As his position grew, he met more people. Some corrupted, some annoying, some nice, and some he would give anything to protect. Then, he was demoted. As he was sent to battle, he felt danger. So he told his best friend, who was a soldier. He told him. "Walk home, go to sleep, spend time with your wife, stay warm, stay safe, and be happy. Otherwise I''d feel your sour mood from the other side of the world. Don''t come in tomorrow. Don''t worry, I excused you." ¡ª¡ª¡ª As the commander sat in a bar, he was about to walk through the door, until he saw a similar man. He smiled and he drank with the man. Then, he walked out. Chapter 8 - Healing is Painful No content Chapter 9 - Learning how to Broomstick After a few weeks, we were gonna learn how to fly. Using brooms. Cus that''s very cool, definitely. Not Anyways, the Professor told us to bring our hands out and say. "Up!" I did it and my broom flew up. It hit my hand and I grabbed it tightly. It kept going and I flew. I tried pulling it back, but it wouldn''t obey. So I pulled myself up and stood on it. Then I jumped on it and it slowly lowered. I kept jumping while on top of it and it lowered with each impact. When I got about 4 feet near the ground, it just fell, and I with it. Then I was knocked out cold, I''m just kidding. Instead, I felt the the sharp pain of my body hitting the grassy ground. I got up and the Professor scolded me for how stupid I was for jumping on an broom. She was not wrong. Then, a kid whose name is Drako, wait... I think it''s Drak-O. No. It''s something like, Drago. Ya know what, Imma just call him by his last name, Malfoy. So Malfoy (who is basically Harry''s most hated person besides the evil wizard who murdered his parents) stole Neville''s (who is a chubby boy, whose incredibly nice for a person who is constantly bullied) glass ball that reminds him of stuff. I''d remember what it was called if it weren''t for the fact that I don''t listen to people I don''t know that well while eating. Malfoy flies up and Harry goes up to confront him. While I do absolutely nothing. Malfoy chucks the ball and Harry caught it. Like a champ. Later in the school year, Harry participated in a quidditch match. I don''t know how, since he''s too young to play, but I''m far too uncaring to find out. Chapter 10 - Classes Once, when we had Charms class, Hermione basically shat on all of us. I believe that we were doing a levitation spell. She basically corrected Ron a shit load. Which probably saved me when I fought a troll a few days after this. I stared at my wand and thought, ''this is an elder wand. Technically. But I wonder, what is the core of THE Elder Wand. If I ever find it, I''mma break the priceless artifact to see what''s inside. Probably something stupidly magical... and stupidly easy to break.'' As I stared at the wand, Professor Flitwick stared at me. He abruptly said, "Jon, my boy! Can you demonstrate how to cast this spell?" I said, "Yep! Totally! I totally know how to cast a spell as simple as this!" He stared at me not believing a single word I said. I got my wand and started copying what I saw the other kids do while I was in deep thought. "Wingardium Leviosa!" My feather lifted itself off of the ground multiple feet. Then it dropped. Like a rock. It also flew towards me, I sensed that it''d be bad if it hit me. So I jumped out of my chair into Harry. Who was just staring at me. Hoping I didn''t f*ck it up. When it fell, it hit my chair. Which shattered into about 20 pieces. I stared at chair and though, ''Wow! I could''ve been a bloody mess.'' As I stared at the chair, Harry abruptly said, "Can you get off of me?" He sighed and waved his wand. The chair reformed and the feather was back on the table. "Thank you, Professor." He then told the class how to do the spell and also how I f.u.c.k.e.d up. After class, I had an encounter with a boy about my age. His name was Derma Monc. Blue long hair, red eyes, and tall for his age. Very handsome as well. Not sure if that was important though. He looked at me and I looked at him. I thought that he looked similar. He gave me a feeling of my old world. Where everything was a lot more dangerous. In a strange moment of boldness, I asked him a question. "You look similar, have I seen you before?" He looked me up and down and said, "I don''t know. Well anyways, see ya later. I hope. Ya remind me of someone. Have a good day! Remember to drink water!" And with that, he walked away. A group of 3rd years came up to me. I looked and thought, ''This might not end well.'' Chapter 11 - Badassery Insues When they came over they started insulting me. Weird since I didn''t know them. They also called me Hanni. Weird. They started insulting my mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, and girlfriend, strange since I have none. They also insulted them in way too much detail. Then I started firing back roasts. Which escalated and they started running to beat the shit out of me. There were about 16 of them. I blocked a hit from on of them and grabbed his arm, then I elbowed him and pushed him at some dude trying to save him by punching me. He punched his friend and I laughed. This got them pissed. Like, really pissed. They suddenly moved a lot faster and I was not prepared. One of them suddenly tried kicking me. It was a kick to face. I decided to be bold and head butted it. Which caused him to fall over and me to take a few steps backward. My vision started blurring, maybe I shouldn''t have been stupid, and actually fought smart? Nah, it was totally worth it. As they started walking towards me, they took their wands out. Luckily, it was the magic ones. They pointed it at me and yelled out some stupid spell. A jet of red sparks flew at me. By now, there was a large crowd watching us. If there was no one around me, I probably wouldn''t have done this, but my pride was on the line goddamn it! I took a wooden sword out in record time and struck the sparks. They dispersed, but my wooden sword was a bit less hard. The crowd watched and were in whoa. Then they saw the sword disappear. I put it away, but they had no idea where. I took my wand out, the elder one, and pointed it at them. Then, I said, "Aguamenti!" Then they were sprayed with water. I put my wand in my pocket and laughed. They walked away. I consider this a victory! Haha! This is gonna bite me in the a.s.s one day! Chapter 9 - The Basics He spoke to me. "You see. This place has magic to do with controlling mana. Warping it to your will. Watch." He snapped his hands and a flame appeared in front of his face. Why was he telling me about common knowledge? He then pointed his hand at me. Snapping into finger guns. Fire balls appeared, flying at me with a mediocre speed. Which I dodged with general ease, and those of which that hit me didn''t do much. "Sadly, I''m not talented enough to win using this. Barely even know the basics. Everyone can use flames this weak. They probably can''t even harm a normal human." I stayed cautious of him. "Now, watch this." He traced through the air with his index finger. "Burn." Words of a language I did not know, glowed in the air. A stream of flame flew at me. I dodged most of it, and the flame that reached me didn''t do anything. "This type of magic is different. Requiring not mana, but stamina, and your life. Now, this sort of magic can be coded in advanced. Activation words, situational activation, movement, such and such. It lasts far longer with much less energy, but the effect is similar. It requires much more time to make though." This new information was... quite some news. "However, where I''m from. This requires much more talent. In both intelligence and affinity. Some are blessed by this magic. They can do exactly what I''m currently doing, but with a thought. The ease for them is insane. Wars between one blessed and armies. Now, they still have trouble with even the strongest non magic users. Do you wanna know why? It''s because the magic was not fast nor strong enough to kill them." Dealing somewhat deep and unnaturally shaped scratch lines. "Now. Do you know how to bypass this? Simple. Carve the spell into the enemy. The effect will be increased and it''ll be impossible to miss." Immediately, I hardened my body to the max in an attempt to brace what would happen next. "Combust." The lines glowed, when part of my body heated up then burst in a huge explosion. I then tried to put myself back together, which had become much more difficult with the heated attack I''d been dealt. "Fascinating isn''t it? Bind." I suddenly felt a strange lost of control in my body. I could not manipulate it as I did. No matter how much I tried, I could not change form. I could barely move. "Now, there are ways for the spell to fail. One, the words are somehow separated. For example, if you chose to scatter, breaking up the pieces of my wonderful spell. Spells drawn on water or air though? It''s interesting how to break those. Anyways, seeing as you can no longer change form. You lose this fight. I am quite merciful, so I won''t kill you. Instead, here." "Do you agree to this contract? Say no and I end you. The terms of it are, you can not purposely harm anyone for a reason I deem bad, if you do, you''ll be incapacitated. If you kill anyone without my permission, you die. If you try abusing the rules with any loopholes, you gain my memories. I will give you five hours to think. I will not let you move from this. If five hours pass and you say nothing, I kill you." Then he unleashed his killing intent. Completely paralyzing me. After a few minutes of thinking, I spoke, "Yes." The lines glowed and he left. ... ¡ª¡ª¡ª I stumbled home. I walked through the front door, closed it, locked it, then slowly started collapsing. I was exhausted. Then, I blacked out. Chapter 10 - Past Life - The Strongest and I It was a while ago. In another world. When the General was still gaining power. When he still sought after it like a madman. He had been scouting around a forest. To make a mental map for anything he could use against the enemy. Nothing was noteworthy. Except for a young looking man sitting at the edge of a pond. He gazed into the water. The man was the calmest person the General had ever met. He had the eyes of a dead man. With a sheathed blade next to him. The General stared from a distance. He decided to check it out. Not a very smart move, but he held his life in little regard. He sat on the ground next to the dead calm man and stared into the pond. The dead calm man spoke in a quiet mellow soft tone, "What is it that are you looking for, young soldier?" The General responded with a glimmer of extreme want in his eyes, "Power." The man with a soft and seemingly uncaring face asked, "Why is that?" "I don''t like the world, so I want to change it." The man spoke gently, "I see. What will you do once you reach that point?" "To hopefully become someone like you." "So what type of person am I to you?" "Someone who''s finished it all and can rest now." "That''s nice." "Could you teach me anything?" The man stared into the grey clouds, "Of course. Stand up." The General stood up, took a deep breath, and took a few steps back. The man got up and faced the General. Grabbing his sword as well. He gripped the hilt with one hand and grabbed the sheathe with his other hand, with the sword on the right side of his body. He took an iaido stance in preparation to draw. The air got thinner and heavier. The man spoke in a cold voice, "Get ready." The General took another deep breath and took his double edged sword out. He took a stance and wielded the hilt with both hands, with the sword in front of his body, and the tip of the blade pointed towards his enemy. He studied the other opponent. Based on the sheathe of the weapon, it was a one edged sword, and the General had the range advantage. The tension rose as they stood in their stances for what seemed like forever. Then, eternity was abruptly ended as the General lifted his sword up and swung down, while moving towards the man. In response, the man drew his blade, revealing a broken sword. They flashed past each other and the man sheathed his broken blade. The General smiled bitterly and spoke, "Ah, what a shame." He stared at his sword as it split in half. The man turned around to face the General. He spoke to the General with somewhat emotion, more than he''d shown before, "Follow me, young man." He General followed. They walked around the pond and eventually, were lead to a small hut. The man walked inside and came back out with a sheathed double edged blade with a golden guard, "Once upon many years ago, I had been entrusted with the swords of my past comrades. All of which are now dead. I have one more sword from back then. This is that sword. It''s brothers and sisters have already gone. It''s the third and last sword of this type the Blacksmith made. I give it to you as I deem you worthy. Keep it well." The General took the sword with much care and marveled at it. He looked at the man and bowed. The man spoke, "Well, I''m finished now. Take this broken blade. Perhaps you may find use for it." The General stared into the man''s eyes and asked him, "What is your name sir?" "I''m just a survivor of a dead era. My name is not important for now. Maybe I''ll tell you later, but you must go now." As the General was shooed away, he thanked the man profusely. Soon, the General had left, and the man was alone again. He laughed at how he had given a treasure to a stranger. He was sleepy, tranquil, and happy how the day went. He went to bed and slept. Waiting for the day the world would change, like how his did. Chapter 11 - Treee. I woke up. On the floor. This shit happens way too much. Did some god somewhere curse me with fighting until I lose consciousness? I got up, every part of my body filled with exhaustion. The magic contract I made took a lot out of me. I also used that technique which messed up my body to knock some dude out. I also punched solid metal and brick, multiple times. I also did sleep on the floor. Which was harder to sleep on than concrete or stone for some reason. My hands felt shattered. Getting up had become a much harder task, but eventually, I did. I walked out the door, I decided to take a break today. Then I chose to make a kite. But what could I use to make a kite? Well, it was time to find out. I could try making a paper kite, but that seemed pretty time intensive, as I had nowhere to get paper, until I realized I don''t care. I''d just make it. I had learned how to make paper as a child from this old man. Something about trees. So first, I needed an axe. Actually, no I didn''t. I remember now, I once hunted this giant a.s.s boar. Like it was a decent size, a bit bigger than me. When I hunted it, it destroyed a bunch of trees. Now... where did I put it. Oh right, I put them back together. While cleaning up. How did I do it? Doesn''t matter. Well, luckily I knew magic. Or this''d be a pain in the a.s.s to get the wood. I wrote a long drawn out spell on the tree, to maximize efficiency. Then I activated the spell, while focusing all my mana into cutting the tree. Draining both my stamina and mana, the tree fell. I was a bit tired. By bit tired, I mean unbearably tired. So I took an hour long nap. Then woke up once more. I went for another which was a way larger tree. Decided not to use magic. Now, this tree was about get absolutely decimated by me. I swung with my not so mighty strength and it made a small dent. So just kept swinging. Eventually it fell. That was nice. Then I started cutting the bark and leaves off of the other smaller tree. Which took me a while. I then got the larger tree and cut it in half. I then used my mana to smooth one half out. Until it got surprisingly smooth. Then I took the other half and smoothed it out as well. Which took forever. My hands were in immense pain. But the kite was more important. I placed the pieces on the flat sides of the cut tree''s, I was going to use as huge tables. Then I spent an hour making the axe sharp using magic. Which s.u.c.k.e.d, as it took me so many failed tries. Eventually, it looked like a huge decent axe. Which I was gonna use to mince up the tree pieces into smaller pieces. I started thinking things upon the line of, ''Huh, I wonder if there''s an actual world tree. I wonder what paper made of a world tree would be like." Like, it''d be pretty funny, someone''s journey through countless trials just to get world tree paper. Huh, a world tree would have pretty good quality wood... like the best furniture. And the best door. And the best floor. And the best fire. Huh, I should ask Mono if there''s a super magical tree later. After quite a while, it was all shredded wood. Each about the size of a pebble. Which I was now gonna boil, but where would I find a giant a.s.s metal pot. F.u.c.k. This was gonna take a while. Chapter 12 - Change. In life, there are roughly six levels of mastery. Complete incompetence. One knows nothing about something. Unconscious incompetence. Their experience is little and confidence is high. Conscious incompetence. They know they have little experience, but they''ve reached a point they realize their ability. Conscious competence. They realize they''re decent at it. Unconscious competence. They don''t realize they''re decent at it. Mastery. They''ve mastered it to a high degree. Everything between the first and last level can be mixed up to a degree. I''m so tired. I''ve spent my past life pursuing the mastery of killing all to reach a grand goal. Everyday was hell. I witnessed the death and fall of too many. Sins I''ve committed, sins I''ve seen, the victory of evil, and the failure of good. Terrible things. People thought I was a hero haha. It hurt to see. All my friends died. I was betrayed a number of times. I''ve lost the ability to feel hatred. I''m just so tired. But I can rest now! This kite is gonna be so worth it! I can''t wait! I woke up, hyping myself up for making the kite. I walked back to the house, I saw Mono reading, in my cheeriest voice, "Hey! Mono! How are you?" "I''m fine, you?" "I''m feeling great! Anyways, you got like a giant pot?" "Huh? What for? "Boiling wood." "Why?" "To make paper." "Oh, alright, also no. We don''t have a large pot. "That''s cool, where could I go to find a giant pot?" "The nearest town, just keep walking on the road." "Which direction?" "That way." "Alright, what do they accept?" "Money or trades." "Alright, do you got any money I could use?" "Yeah, lemme go check." She went into her room, eventually coming out with a gold coin, a few silver ones, and a few copper ones. "Alright, this should be enough." "Uhh, could you tell me the value of these?" "....so, the gold coin is worth ten silver coins, the silver coin worth ten of the copper ones." "Alright. Thanks. Welp, Imma go now." Then I got ready for the intense journey for a giant a.s.s pot. After thirty minutes of walking, I saw a unicorn. Just standing there. It looked at me, and spoke, "Uhhhhhh.... hello." "I thought you guys were hard to find?" "We are..." I think it started sweating out of fear. "Right, aren''t unicorn things valuable?" "Yes...." "Sooooooo, can I have some of that tail hair?" "Soo, if I do that... you aren''t gonna try kill me?" "No." "Sure, take as much as you want." I walked up to its back and with one smooth motion with my dagger, I look all of it. Then I walked away. I think I heard the horse sigh in relief. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I was just standing there. Until this human looked at me. As a result of being apart of a race filled with magic, permanent chaotic curses and such might be manifested unconsciously when young. For me, they''d normally they''d be filled with immense hatred for me and attack. That or they''d be struck with paralysing fear. If they attacked I''d usually fight them off. This was awkward, because they weren''t scared nor rabidly attacking me. He just looked confused. This meant a few things. Either he was so powerful it didn''t do anything to him, he had made highly specific defences against such types of magic, or he was incapable of feeling either fear or hatred. So after a somewhat awkward exchange of words, he asked me if he could have some of my tail hair... If he wasn''t one of the only non unicorn who could treat me normally, I would''ve probably tried beating his a.s.s for asking for such a valuable thing. But I had no sense of pride. I decided to let him take some. And he took nearly all of it instantaneously. How? Who gets this good at cutting hair with a dagger so smoothly? Then he vanished from behind me, to walking on the road in front of me. I decided to let him go. I''d grow it back soon... maybe. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Well. Now I had quite a bit of unicorn hair, a dagger, ten copper coins, five silver coins, and a gold one. I wonder how much the unicorn hair cost. That was a strange experience. I just met a mythical creature and got some magic hair. While walking, I noticed that the hair contained some noticeable mana. Very exotic feeling, but I wouldn''t know, as I had virtually zero experience with this sort of magic. So while walking around, I decided to play around a bit. Creating a dark and bright purple galaxy orb. It was pretty fragile, but probably used up more energy than the fireballs I made earlier. It took a lot of focus to keep it from vanishing. I decided to just make as many as I could. Eight. Then I just left them there, floating around me. They were calming to me, but also a bit taxing. Soon enough, I reached the town, and I lost enough focus for the orbs to vanish. There were a lot of people. I haven''t seen that many in like four months, on the day I died. Chapter 13 - Bolt of Lightning In the middle of a grass field, two handsome young men stood. "Finally. Found you." A man with black hair and bright blue eyes said. "Damn. Y''all have an obsession with trying to rob me." Responded a white haired man with grey eyes. "Tch, didn''t you do that first?" "That''s highly debatable, Vill." The white hair said smiling. "Well, either you give the damn sandwich back or Imma have to beat the shit out of you." "You''ll have to pry it off my dead body." Then Vill took a stance, then dashed at the white haired man with blinding speed, doing a side kick aimed at his c.h.e.s.t. So the white haired man let go. Vill immediately brought that leg down, doing a front kick with the other leg, which was dodged with the white haired man moving back, who then responded with a side kick. Vill dodged and then dashed forward, going for a right punch to the head, which got moved out the way by his enemy''s arm. Vill immediately swung with his left arm, which the man leaned his head back, and counter attacked with a front kick to his t.h.i.g.h. Knocking him back. The white haired man smiled, "Hmm. I guess we can raise it a level." "Sure, Aven." The white haired Avery then did a low side kick to loosen his enemy''s guard above the waist, before following up with a punch to the face. Vill blocked and counter punched, with Avery ducking the attack, then elbowing at Vill''s stomach. Raising his leg, Vill managed to block the attack and then took a few steps back, to gain distance. Then Vill started jabbing his enemy, to keep a distance, and tire him out. There was a massive shockwave. Aven did a side kick to his stomach, pushing Vill back, before then dashing towards him, kneeing him in the jaw, sending Vill a few feet up. While Vill fell towards the ground, Avery did a 360 tornado kick to the head. Which sent Vill crashing, ripping through the grass, and creating deep stretches through the dirt. Immediately, he did a kip up and stood. He took a deep inhale, then his neck glowed. He shot out a beam of energy from his mouth, which Aven managed to dodge. The beam destroyed everything in its way. Scorching the earth. Aver looked back at the damage, then at Vill with a look of disbelief. He then smiled, raised his arm, and the sky turned black. Lightning struck down, hitting Aven. Creating a aura of white lightning to appear around him. He went in front of Vill, who tried to roundhouse kicked him, but he had vanished, reappearing in back of him. With lightning pulsing through his body, Aven ran his fist across Vill''s jaw, the lightning aura going into the punch. With a crackle, Vill was sent spinning in the air due to the power of this punch. Aven didn''t let go of this golden moment, as Vill fell, he ran to him, jumping to him. Which Vill rolled away in time to escape being crushed, followed up by Aven running at the rolling Vill, trying to do a sweep kick. While rolling in the floor, Vill avoided this by propelling himself into the air by pushing the ground with his hand. Doing a few spins in the air, before landing. While landing perfectly, Vill punched Aven in the stomach, before taking steps back. "Damn. Come to think of it, I haven''t landed a clean hit yet. Alright, get ready." Aven smirked, "Good luck!" Vill''s torso started glowing a dark blue, the glow came up from his torso to halfway through his legs and halfway through his arms. He flew at Aven, who got ready for the exchange. Before reaching Aven, he spun around, and then kicked him, his leg glowed a bright blue. Aven raised his arm close to his head, blocking the attack, but it still felt like a bomb exploding near his head. He fell over. Vill raised his leg, doing an axe kick. His opponent blocked with both arms, but was crushed under the pressure. "Your. P-Po-Powers. Are. Bullshit. But mine? Hehe." He said with a cheeky tone as he was being crushed. "Ah balls." A bolt of lightning came from the sky, striking Vill. "Argh!!" The smoke settled, revealing Aven. He smiled, "Ya know that saying? Lightning never strikes twice? Well frankly, it''s bullshit." Hundreds of lightning bolts came down and struck him. Thunder crashed as he was covered in blinding light. Lightning enveloped and radiated off of him and into the ground. "Are you ready?" "F.u.c.k no." "Me neither! Hahaha!" He started started running at Vill, becoming a white streak of lightning. After the most epic battle of all time, the grass fields were no longer grass fields, instead, just burnt dirt. Aven stood as Vill was on the ground. Through long heavy breaths, he said, "I. Win." Half his body was charred, while Vill was bleeding everywhere. "Yep. You did." Aven crouched and took a ring off of Vill''s hand. "Anyways. Could you open this spatial ring for me real quick?" "Why?" "Imma take something, because I won." "Yeah sure why not." "Imma take this giant a.s.s pot." "Enjoy. Ah damn it." He said in an exhausted tone. "Yeah, not even sure what I''d do with a pot this big." Then he started limping away, making a trail of blood. Chapter 14 - Potted Plant After reaching the town, I looked for anywhere to get a giant pot. There was this store building labeled The Best Pot Dealer so I walked opened the door and walked in. No pot''s to be found. Someone at the front greeted me. "Hello! We are the best pot story in Maglivad! What type of pot would you like?" "I''d like a large pot, that very large, and can handle high heat." "Ah, So you want it to cook longer?" "Uhh, sure." "K, so you''d like a large pot that can handle high heat... huh the way you phrased that... maybe... nahhhh. Alright, follow me, here''s the back." There were zero pots. God damn it. "Alright, so this here is-" "Stop. I''m here for an actual pot." "Ahhh, I see. Alright, come to the back with me. We reserve that place for the truly determined." They lead me to another room, filled with huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g plants. In glass pots. "Alright, here is the Pot of Pot Room." "Huh? What?" "Each Pot is a pot of pot." I looked, and each glass pot had a pot inside, which contained a plant. "Sir, I''m looking for a cooking pot." "Man, you have a weird sense of grammar, but alright." He lead me to a third room. It was just a kitchen filled with just green plants.... There were some pots, but they were all pretty small. "This is our best cooked hot pots!" "Dude, I meant an actually pot for cooking, not a hot pot." "Oh. Well, come along." He lead me to another room, which was just filled with pots made of a green plant... This made me start thinking. "Dude, what''s the name of this plant?" "Pot." "Sir, I want an actual giant metal pot." "Fine fine, but you have to buy it with the pot." Huh? This made me start thinking. "Hold on, what''s the name of this plant again? "Pot." "What''s it''s purpose?" "For recreational purposes." "F.u.c.k. Alright, I''m out." Then I turned around and walked back. A man came in the entrance, holding an absolutely huge pot, "Yo, I''m here to sell a pot!" Our eyes met, and then I immediately saw his eye''s glimmer with some kind of emotion. I recognized this man as a martial artist, but that didn''t matter. "So, how much you want for this pot?" Chapter 15 - Progress. "So, how much you want for this pot?" "A fight." "Huh? Why?" "I''m a martial artist." "Alright, so you want to fight me?" I said, looking at his face, which half of was burnt, as well as his hands. "Yes." "How about I give you all the money on me?" "How much?" "One gold, seven silver, and nine copper." "Nope, not enough. This pot is worth at least seven gold man. I fought a glowing living energy beam man for it." "... and you want me to fight you for it?" "Yep. That or get seven gold." "Uhh, how about unicorn hair?" I took out a strand of silver white hair. He looked at it with a squint. He grabbed it and looked at it. "That''s some good stuff!! Alright, give me the strand and the money." "Here." I gave it to him, then he gave me the pot. Which was quite heavy indeed. Then I walked out. Yes! Mission success. Didn''t end up needing to fight anyone. Then I sensed danger in the air, and attempted dodging. However, nothing I did could''ve let me avoid damage, as I had been struck by lightning. It had hit the pot and I felt it through the pot. I fell over and took a knee, dropping the pot. The man came to me, "Oh shit, I''m so sorry man." Confused, dazed, and shaken I asked, "Wh-What do you mean? Di-Did you cause that?" "Yeah, sorry. Normally I get struck by lightning instead. It''s like a curse. Damn, you must have a.s.s luck." "What?" I said in an exasperated tone. "N-Nevermind. You just have shit luck. You alright?" "Yeah. I don''t feel any different." But I noticed a slight branching redness from my hand to my arm, which was where I held the pot. "Well. Here." He placed his hand on mines, and then a feeling that I couldn''t describe, went through my right arm, dispersing into my body. I immediately felt an intense feeling and started heavily breathing, before it vanished. The right side of my body felt so much better, but the other still felt like shit. The red disappeared and my arm felt way better than the rest of my body. "Oh wow, thanks so much." "Yeah, no issue. You should probably go now, before you get struck again." "Alright. Thanks." I said, picking up the pot. ¡ª¡ª¡ª That was weird as hell. Normally I get struck by lightning. Must be my lucky day!!! Or his unlucky day haha. Well, he did get a pot for a pretty bad deal. Truly beautiful, the unicorn hair was. Though I wonder, what the f.u.c.k would I do with something so valuable? Damn. So many possibilities. Like wow, I could infuse it into some metal... and make a pot haha! Or maybe I can feed it into a magic fire and create my very own life. Because when Frankenstein''s Monster was created, he was completely fine. Well, that''s a lie. Eh, he only really went apeshit because he was shunned by his creator. Then again, making a fire spirit might end badly. Creating a being consisting of pure fire might not be so smart. Maybe a water spirit. I can use it to summon the left toe of a god to vanquish my enemies. Well, it''d probably only appear for like a few seconds. Or maybe I can make a unicorn finder, but only find that one unicorn. And it''d probably kill me or escape. They''re notorious for being hella fast. Said to outrun lightning and be able to run on air. And while I''m pretty fast, I can''t go the speed of lightning. Or I could sell it for my innocence. Nahhhh. Who needs a clean record when you can get your a.s.s kicked every month. So many possibilities... Chapter 16 - Paper. Everyday is pain. But not anymore! Hopefully.. Anyways, this pot was like the best pot. Mostly because of the ease of which it was for me to get. Just a small walk, cutting unicorn hair, and getting struck by lightning. Actually... I gotta make precautions for the weird a.s.s luck I have. Didn''t think being possibly cursed would follow me after death. This wasn''t the first time I''ve been struck by lightning. I walked back to the forest and got back to the place where I''d chopped up the wood. Right, I needed to cut down another tree, so that''s what I did. I picked up the axe I left here. While cutting down another tree, I sorta laughed, as I wasn''t even sure this''d work. After the tree fell, I cut the tree into a few pieces. I placed them into a pile, placed a bunch of rocks around them, and then lit a flame using the power of magic! Then I realised I had no water. I had no idea how to make water using magic, so I killed the fire, and grabbed the pot. So I started walking again. Reaching a water pump. I filled the pot to the max, but it didn''t over flow even when more water was put in.... this was quite some news. It was still heavy, so I truly struggled back to the wood. It was quite intense. I finally got back to the pile of wood. I placed the pot on it and lit the fire. I then put the wood ch.i.p.s in it. Now I needed something to stir it. I decided to grab a stripped tree branch and started stirring. This left me alone with my thoughts. I nearly puked, but I hadn''t eaten today, so I just felt pretty shitty. After the mixture boiled for a while, I poured all the whitish liquid onto both smooth wood tables I''d basically made. I enchanted the tables with the power of non stick and made it so liquid could not dribble off. "Contain!" Those magic words took everything I had in me. I collapsed in exhaustion. It was hard to breathe. I made a decision to absolutely never try that again. In the middle of collapsing, I decided to just lay down on the grass ground and look into the beautiful sky. It made me feel the beauty of the world. Even more of my antipathy of life melted away in that moment. It was just nice. Then I got up and stared at my creation. It had dried quite a bit and become like half paper. It was also a lot darker than usual white paper. But it hadn''t finished drying yet. At that moment, I realized I don''t know how to make a kite. I''d deal with that later. I was pretty sure I needed to straighten the paper. So after tracing words with my finger through the paper, it glowed. Then it straightened out into a perfect rectangle shape. It was satisfyingly beautiful. I got the other l large sheet of paper and using mana, I stuck it to the other sheet with mana. Then using the magic power of magical magic, I dried it fully. Then shifted the proportions around. Turning the paper to what I believed to be about the size of a size A0 paper, maybe a bit bigger. Now, I prepared to face the largest hurdle of my life. Folding paper. It was much harder than folding clothes with people in them, or something like that. Probably what one of my past friends would say in this situation. My challenged began! Chapter 17 - Folding I was lost in thought. A specific memory. A group of people. Thought of as heroes for their nation. Stories say they were brought from another world as teens, to slay an evil tyrant. This evil tyrant, they did execute him. Then, their nation went to war once more. But not with an evil tyrant. Just another nation. They fought hard for their nation. Bringing great victories. Then they died. I had killed them. With that, their nation slowly crumbled from both war and corruption. Before the last one died. He smiled. Then he said some words with meaning, knowing his death was insured. His entire soul and life behind them. The importance and emphasis he placed on these words, were blind to me back then. Yet at this moment, I couldn''t remember what he''d say. No matter how hard I focused or how much I thought, I could not remember. Then, I let it go. Maybe it would come back to me later. I soon snapped out of my daze and noticed tiny droplets of water on the paper. Slowly melding into it. I wiped them away with my thumb. Which merely smeared the water on the paper. After a long few minutes, I had finally finished the kite. It looked pretty basic. I realized I needed things to keep it that shape or it''d likely unfold. I somehow forgot that. I needed a stick, some type of glue, and so much string. Sadly, none of my magic is permanent. My magic is basically coded magic. When not activated, it could last basically forever. However, actually activating it uses up some of the energy put into the spell, but it really depends on the spell. Those require much much more energy as well as being much easier to break. A bit more nuance to that, but that doesn''t matter. Maybe I could try to permanently change the make up of the paper itself using magic, instead of just giving it the attribute of sticky. At this time, it reminded me of how some magicians in my old world managed to do world changing things. Then again, they were insane, and fighting a possibly even more insane king. They were also an incalculable amount of times more advanced than me. What a pickle I had landed myself in. Maybe I could find tar. Sadly, I have no clue where to find tar. I also didn''t know how to make it. Ah yes. I could use rice. I walked to the house, cooked some rice, took the small pot of rice, and then just stuck the paper together. I then grabbed a stick. And just covered it in rice, and stuck it onto the kite. I used my whimsical magic powers and dried the rice. And boom. It stuck. I felt great. I had finally succeeded. Except I needed string. I was tempted to just tie grass together for a few hours. Decided that may not have been the smartest move. And thus, I went on a walk. Then I stopped. What the f.u.c.k was I doing? I have an impressive amount unicorn hair. So I turned around, got out the unicorn hair, and got ready. I used my mana and infused it into the hair, gaining control of the mana within, I was able to manipulate the hair. I combined each strand together, creating an impressively long strand of unicorn hair. I named what I had made, unicorn string. Using my dagger, I carved a string holder at the pain of my hand. Then wrapped all the string around it. I then used my mana and poked a tiny hole into the kite and then started trying to put the string through it. Luckily, I had one arm that wasn''t in pain, and managed to get the tiny string through. I was. I was finally finished. So then I got the large kite and started running. Then I sat down. This was nice. Sitting in the cool grass, the warm sun, and gentle breeze. The beauty of it all. And the pretty kite. Chapter 18 - Past Life - An Old Monster Sitting near a fire, the General cleaned his wounds. He was pretty sure the whole river the water came from was poisoned to all in an attempt kill or stop him. But that only gave him a bit of pain. He''d been through enough torture, that this didn''t really compare. His body and skin was also able to withstand actual swords. So fortunately, torture would be a bit more difficult. Sadly, not by much. He then put on some armor and got up. Noticing something over in the distance, he squinted, seeing a figure walking towards him. In response, the General sat back down, and yawned. Soon, the figure got closer. It was a majestic old man. He was bald and had a long white beard, bright yellow eyes, and wearing beautiful gold robes. The old man looked at him. "Hello there young man." "Hello there sir." "For what reason are you sitting here?" "I''m waiting." "For?" "Something worthwhile to happen." "Like?" "Like my death." The General said, looking up at the old man. Then, in a near instant the old man became a blur and vanished, reappearing in back of the General. Patting the General on the back, then punching the General in the face. Before vanishing, reappearing a few steps away. The punch did basically nothing, the General took note of this, his enemy was fast, but nowhere fast enough. He noticed something on his cheek where he''d been punched. Then an explosion took place on his face. Smoke shrouded his head. This did little damage to him. ''Interesting'', the General thought. The General thought back to when the old man patted him in the back, so he reached for his back. Revealing a small bomb. Then it exploded. The old man smiled. Once the smoke subsided, the General decided to not waste anymore time. With blinding speed, attacked the old man with his sword. The old man was shocked by this speed and dodged in panic. The General was relentless in his attack, the old man had no time to relax. The old man managed to drop a few bombs while dodging, some purposefully, some accidentally. As the old man was being attacked, many explosions enveloped the General, yet they never seemed to harm him. The General knocked them out the air with his sword. Then the old man grabbed his right hand, then he pushed his hand away from the wrist, revealing a metal interior, as well as a barrel pointed at the General. He placed his hand on his right arm, steadying himself. Soon, bullets started flying out. The General ran, most shots missing, and those that were going to hit, he knocked away with his sword. In seconds, the old man stopped, out of ammo. When this happened, the General dashed at the old man, grabbing him on the neck, before stabbing him. The old man gagged. He started to puke, but nothing came out for a few seconds. Before something solid and green came out of his throat, it had strings on it, but they lead to inside his throat. A chain of round green objects came out of his mouth, all connected to a single pin, which he held with his teeth. He grinned, before giving the string a yank. As this all happened the General had taken his sword out and moved to pierce it through the side of the old man''s head. The old man''s grin vanished into fear as the General had unleashed his killing intent within instances of the old man''s death. Then, the blade came out the other side. However, it was too late as the bombs exploded. The smoke shrouded him and as it subsided, it revealed the General holding a corpse by the neck. He dropped the body then he started digging with his hands. Eventually creating a hole large enough to place the body in. He got a boulder and with a few slashes, cut it into pieces. He slashed a few words into it. To then placed it near the open hole. He did not bother to fill it. He was sure people would come looking for his corpse. Then he walked away. Chapter 19 - Regicide Master I was thinking of how to paint my kite. At first I thought about painting it with my blood, but that thought vanished quickly. Anyways, I decided to focus on the unicorn string. This I could tell, was immensely useful. With a thought and a lot less mana it could change attributes. Like becoming terribly flammable. I took it off the kite from the string and placed it at the house. I was gonna experiment on the unicorn hair. The first idea that came to my head was using it like a whip. So I started swinging it around. I swung it at a tree and willed it to wrap around the tree, and then constrict. It cut pretty deep into the tree. I thought about it for a second and then got a normal rope. I then tested out doing it with the rope. Using my grand and powerful mastery and control of mana, I swung it, willing it to wrap around the tree. Once it reached the tree, then it fell, flopping around on the ground like a complete failure. This made me wonder what the gap between me and actual mages. As I pondered, I considered how long it took for that shapeshifter to eventually meet me, and get destroyed. I also happened to have no idea how long it happened to take. There was the possibility it was absurdly weak and I was way over my head. While I was what someone could call the strongest in my past life, I had no clue how powerful the people in this world. Though I was stronger than some random warrior about to try and commit murder. Not sure if he could''ve succeeded. In my old world, he might have. A very strong emphasis on the word might. Still, I was sure I was stronger than the average person. Unless I just appeared in a place full of weaklings. So in actuality, I still had no idea how much I scaled. Oh well, it didn''t matter much to me. I really wanted a sword or a spear. That or any good weapon. I didn''t like making crappy makeshift weapons when I tried hunting. This reminded me of how myths with swordsman always talk about how a good enough swordsman could use a blade of grass or random object as a dangerous weapon. Which, I used to be able to do. Though, it''d be a lot more efficient if I just used my body as a weapon. Currently I was, pathetically weak. I''d been training for a few months and I was also ready to start stopping, but I always had this fear of being too weak creeping up on me. I also might have needed strength if I had an opportunity to pay off a debt. So I really couldn''t stop. I suddenly just felt tired. I was about to test out hardening the string, straightening it, and then make it thinner. To then use it as a weapon that could cut through anything. But my head hurt and I felt so tired. So I went to the house and slept. Once I awoke, I looked out the window and saw a zombie with the right half of his body revealing a skeleton. It was strange as the side with the skeleton had no clothes, while the other half was still clothed. It was as if the clothings was cut in half, and somehow staying on it''s body. The clothes was probably fused with it''s skin. It had a shield, a sword, and a helmet. I realized that this was a perfect time to get rid of a zombie and get two more weapons I immediately walked to Mono''s room, to check if she was here, and if she was alive. I knocked, then she opened the door. "Oh great, you''re alive." "Huh? Why''d you think I was dead?" "There was a corpse standing outside my window. Anyways, don''t go outside. Imma go bury the zombie." "Alright, uhhh good luck!" Then I left out the door. I saw the zombie, it spoke some words. Something about a supreme lord something something something a the great lord blah blah blah. I didn''t really listen. After it was done monologuing. I said to it, "I really just... do not care. Please leave." Then it started attacking me. Great. Though, how would I kill this thing? Oh right, I still had the string on me. I used the disconnected piece of the string and swung it at the zombie. It wrapped around the arm the zombie struck at me with. Then I pulled and willed the string to constrict, cutting his arm off. Then I recombined the string with the other. I placed it back into my pocket, then I attacked the zombie. Kicking it in the c.h.e.s.t, knocking it back. I knocked it back far enough to give me enough time to get the sword, which was still grasped by the severed arm. While it swung it''s shield at me, I was busy pulling the hand''s fingers off the hilt. It was pretty easy to dodge as it was pretty predictable. Well, to me anyways. Finally, I had finished taking the arm off. Which I really didn''t need to do, but I was in no danger. I then started grabbing it''s fingers to remove the shield. While it wasn''t a very smart move, there was nothing the zombie could do to me. Once I took it''s shield. I started digging with my hands. After quite a while, I had created a grave. I dropped the corpses inside, before I got some wood, and dropped it in the grave, before lighting it on fire. I sat on the ground, lighting a flame. I tended to the flame, until it''s body became ash. Then I buried it. Eventually, I finished, and I went to clean this sword and the shield. Unexpected to me, the sword was still sharp. Which was pretty neat. Though, I probably needed to investigate why a zombie was outside the house. Chapter 20 - The Soul to Absolute Protection I decided I need a map. Well, there''s no point in getting a map if Mono''s dead. So I decided to make something else. I got a small card of paper. In it, I wrote in my blood. [Lit Ablaze Last And Once More] Then more, but in my fantasy magic. Then I wrapped all of it all of my string to the card, connected it to one other thing, in a glow, the string in nothing, and the rest of blood vanished. Leaving only the words. [Lit Ablaze Last And Once More] I''d succeeded. Truly magnificent magic. Something I felt a strange pride in making. Well, the key to this spell wasn''t ability or skill. I gave the card to Mono. "Hey Mono, here''s a gift! It''s a card. It means a lot to me, considering how hard and risky it is to make. If you are ever in mortal danger, rip it to pieces." "Oh, uhh, thanks." "Yeah, also.... I''mma check out if there are more zombies. So if you see like a horde of zombies on you, rip it up." "Uh yeah. I do." "Nice. Also, don''t use the card unless in legitimate danger. I am not joking. Also, here take this." I took out a bag. Inside was my dagger! Except it was magical and glowing, I also handed her the shield. "This''ll light things on fire. Which doesn''t do much, but seems pretty cool haha. This is a zombie shield, doesn''t repel zombies, it''s just a shield I took it off a zombie. No.. bye! Be back in like a few days." "Err, thanks, and see you too..." Then I left with the sword. Man, I should really start to know Mono better. I''ve lived in her house for like over half a year. It''s pretty strange. I stumbled upon a zombie and decapitated it. I also probably should made another fire dagger. I''d have done it with the sword, but I could do it myself. I cut down a tree and threw the corpse in there, then lit it on fire. Luckily this certain tree was a certain distance away from all the other trees, or the forest would burned away, and I''d disappoint Smokey the Bear. After it burned away, I kept moving on the road to that town. I saw the unicorn. It looked at me. As it saw me, it immediately saw my sword, and froze. So did I, just the hair of this thing is incredibly powerful, and I didn''t wanna make any movements that would spook it. "Unicorn, are you... Are you undead?" "No...." "Phew. Thought I was about to die." Both of us relaxed. "Oh, you''re fine. That''s wonderful human. Oh, right what''s your name? Not a lot of people can normally find me." "I have none. You wanna give me one?" "Sephtis Aridam." I smiled while thinking of my answer, "Hmm. No thanks." "So what do I call you?" "Whatever you wish." "I will keep that in mind. Sephtis." "So, what are you doing?" "Ignoring the monsters. So, what''d you do with my hair?" "I used it on magic." "For what?" "A little good luck charm." "I see. Well, what are you gonna do now? "Check out the village. See if they''re fine." "Good luck." I kept walking, looking behind me, I saw the unicorn had vanished. Then I looked in front and saw a horde of zombies. I wondered for a few seconds. Deciding whether to just ignore the obstacle or not. I chose not and attacked the crowd of zombies, which were currently coming for me. About six dozen. ¡ª¡ª¡ª Once I finished, I left the corpses. I''d burn them later. I was a bit tired, but it didn''t matter. Somehow, I had not completely been covered in blood. It was quite a bit darker than normal blood. The temperature dropped for a few seconds. I turned around and saw a man in a white cloak. He looked pretty suspicious. How did they just teleport like that? "You. You''re wondering how I just appeared behind you." Was he reading my mind? "Yes." "Who are you?" "Tch, that sounded less like a question and more like a demand." "You can decide what it is for yourself, but I''d like it if you answered." "I am. Nobody." I was tired of this. I''ve had countless people introduce themselves as this. So I decided to kick a head at him. "You''re a foolish soul aren''t you?" "I have...hmm.... absolute faith in my ability to fight you." "Hahahahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!" He pointed his hand at me. A magic circle appeared and a blue beam came out. I fell over and it flew over me. I felt a change in the ground, so using my arms and legs, I pushed my body up into the air. Dodging the spikes that came out the ground. Falling back down, I grabbed two spikes, and pushed both feet against the side of spikes, avoiding my skewering. He smirked and sent another beam at me. I propelled myself with the right side of my body, dodging it. Causing me to stand on my left hand and leg. I let go of the spikes, flipping over onto my back, falling back onto un spiked ground. I yawned. Less because I was bored and more because I wanted to mess with the mage. I catapulted myself onto my feet and turned around, back at the mage. "Wanna see a magic trick? It''s spatial magic! Watch this..." I picked up my sword. Then I spun it around by the hilt and suddenly I revealed, a second sword in my hand. Both awkwardly held. I quickly spun both one more time, grabbing at one with my other hand. Once I stopped, I was now dual wielding swords. I pointed one at him with a smile. Doing a cool pose. I looked into his eyes and then ran at him. Throwing one sword, which stopped in place, then throwing the second, which also stopped in place. They both then shattered. But this didn''t deter me, two swords came out of nowhere and appeared in my hands. I jumped at struck at him with both swords, I felt I had hit something hard and then got thrown back by an invisible force. "A barrier. I see. Well. I really don''t." I chucked another sword at him, but with a lot more power. This seemed to surprise him, as he flinched when the sword collided with his barrier. I then pointed my remaining sword at him, before running towards the mage. I struck at his barrier, quite a few times, before I got hit by the invisible force. Which was probably just mana. It also wiped the smile off my face, which he seemed to react happily to. I immediately activated the spell I had cut into his barrier. "Combust." I whispered. It flared a little, then the spell died. "Haha, you actually though I wouldn''t notice you cut a whole sentence into my barrier? My barrier wouldn''t just let scratches stay on it." I sighed. "Plan B instead I guess!" I flared my mana. Creating an aura around me, before I put it all into my sword. Using the mana, I started writing a spell onto the sword. Which would take about thirty something seconds, which he would not give me the luxury of. He saw this and immediately started attacking. I decided I didn''t need any spells added to my sword and gripped my sword, running at him. I dodged just about all his attacks, then pierced at full strength, my sword bent, but it was fine. I sent my mana into on point, rushing it through my sword. The blade snapped in half and the rest crumbed as I pushed it in the barrier. I felt a few hits on my body, but I ignored them. I decided the hilt would be enough to break through this barrier, and kept pushing. The hilt slowly broke away. I used my other hand and pushed the hilt. After this intense struggle, I broke through. I pointed the hilt at him. "See? I had absolutely no doubt I could fight you. Now, answer the god damn question." He stared at the hilt in fear. Chapter 21 - Slaying Dragons There it was. A mighty dragon, scales tougher than the strongest shields, claws sharper than the greatest blades, and it''s breath of fire hotter than the brightest forges. A single man stood to oppose the beast of nature. He was a behemoth of a man, twice as large as any, wielding a blade even larger than himself. The beast spoke to the man, "You are quite small for a giant." "I''m a human." "Oh really? What is your name?" "Argon. Argon Goliath." "Hah. Very fitting. So what is your purpose here?" "To kill you." "Many have tried." "Alright." The large man said. Then he ran towards the mythic creature. Taking a huge leap he swung his blade. ¡ª¡ª¡ª I snapped out of a daydream. I looked deeply into the man''s eyes. Which I could not see, as they were obscured by shadows. In fact, his entire face was obscured by shadow. Which was quite strange, but I decided not to question it. I spoke, "So anyways, what are you doing?" He sighed, then his eyes started glowing. He started levitating in the air. In a ghostly seemingly ancient voice, he spoke, "You truly know nothing do you?" He looked at me with his glowing eyes. I threw away the hilt and started stretching in preparation. In a situation like this, there was really no guarantee of anything. He then snapped his fingers and a giant explosion came off of him. Creating a huge screen of smoke, covering just about everything around us. Once it had subsided, he was gone. I had expected a battle, but this was fine. Until I remembered I was trying to get info off of him. Well, this s.u.c.k.e.d. I then dropped on the ground, and laid on my back, sighing. I was completely demotivated. "Alright. Here we go." I muttered to myself, taking a deep breath, to then jump back on my feet. I got back to the zombie corpses, picking up several swords, and I resumed walking to the village. I eventually got to the village. It was surrounded by zombies. Thoughts ran through my head. Should I? Do I have the right? What consequences may this cause? Then I remembered zombies are lingering where I''m staying, and f.u.c.k that. So I decided to ignore all of that and walk towards the horde. I started slashing madly. With each one they were ripped in half. I wasn''t really in shape to fight this many. Maybe if I had like another year, I could do this reasonably, but I was being overwhelmed. I had countless techniques, most weren''t so useful, as I wasn''t strong or fast enough to use them, it also wouldn''t be convenient to try. Actually, I had a few techniques, but I decided to save it for later. After a dozen minutes, I had finally felt a slow to the horde of zombies coming for me. I remembered I could imbue my sword with mana. Still, thanks to fact I had quite a small amount of mana, it was a small difference, but still a welcome one. I collapsed onto the ground. I struggled up and sat on the ground. I just sat there for a few minutes. Then I looked up, I saw a man in the distance with a very disappointed and aggravated face, a trail of blood leaking behind him. "F.u.c.k! How did a single man kill all the zombies! This is f.u.c.k.i.n.g bullshit." "I dunno. Anyways, what''s goin on? You seem like you''d know." "..... A necromancer has invaded this place. Soon, it''ll be infested with undead and made to be their domain." "That''s great to know. Now... where are they?" "Why do you wanna know?" "To judge them." "Hah. HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAH." The man laughed loudly, then he stopped dead silent. "You truly must be foolish." He lit ablaze. A blue fire surrounded him. "Well, there isn''t much time left for me. I wish you luck." Then the fire flared and he slowly became ash. My annoyance grew. Disgust grew in me. The stench of blood, the ash, and stain of it on me. I decided at this moment, I wanted to kill the person who caused this. To create something so disgusting and foul. It made my blood boil. I got walking. Following the trail of blood, I saw a man. Someone who had a devilish smile. I asked, "Did you cause this?" His grin got bigger, "Yes." I through a sword at him, it pierced through his throat. By the time he noticed it, was on the ground clutching his neck. I heard a laugh in the distance. I turned around and saw the same man I just killed. Though, he was shirtless this time. Revealing he was pretty muscular. I was gonna kill this man.