《Chance》 Change of Fate Chapter 1 Change of Fate My eyes fluttered open in a start. ¡°I had the worst dream last night,¡± I sighed as I got out of my bed, I tripped on a bottle that wasn¡¯t there last night and fell, as usual. I looked around and examined my room. It was spot-less, after I threw out that bottle. With my bed in one corner, to the right of where you walk in, and a desk with a picture of my deceased parents on it, in the other corner, and a window right next to my bed. It wasn¡¯t big really, just enough so I could lay down horizontally, I¡¯m not that tall though, barely five and a half feet. With lots of fuss, I changed clothes and got ready for the day. I opened the door and walked out. Nice, I was able to get out of my room without bleeding or any bruises. I walked with my head looking down, not because I was shy or sad, but because if I don¡¯t pay attention to the ground, there¡¯s no telling when a hole or hill will randomly appear. I walked from my cottage to the market. I noticed a few people see me and wave out of the peripherals of my vision; I waved back without looking up from the ground. The market was really just a big circle of stalls that sold essentials like food and clothing. There were a lot of people milling about, always was. As I walked past, many people wished me good luck with solome expressions. Today is the day, I thought to myself in fear. Today I plunge into the Dungeon of Chance! I was able to reach Old Rain¡¯s stall without tripping. ¡°Young Fei, today¡¯s the day, are you ready?¡± Asked Old Rain, cheerfully. ¡°How can you be cheerful when I¡¯m going to die in the Dungeon of Chance,¡± I asked, not so sarcastically. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll die, I believe you can at least make it to the mandatory tenth room and become an Old without dying,¡± shrugged Old Rain ¡°Can you really say that when you can site my whole life as the unluckiest person on Eaterial,¡± I snapped. ¡°I¡¯ll get the worst stuff in there! I¡¯ll be lucky if I don¡¯t get something that kills me on the first room!¡± ¡°Listen, Young Fei, I believe in you. You don¡¯t need luck, you can rely on everything else great about you,¡± Old Rain attempted to encourage me. ¡°Who cares about my athletic body, or my top student scores in the learning room, or even my aboveaverage looks? It¡¯s nothing compared to my horrid luck!¡± ¡°Alright, the test starts in twenty minutes, you should eat something before you go. And beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you look darn ugly to me,¡± joked Old Rain as he handed me a piece of bread. ¡°Thanks...If I do die in there, please make sure that I¡¯m buried next to my parents,¡± I asked sadly. "No¡± refused Old Rain with his arms crossed. ¡°What?¡± I wheeled incredulously. ¡°No, I won¡¯t do that because I refuse to believe that someone as great as you will die because of your luck.¡± I looked at him and started tearing up. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said quietly as I rubbed my eyes on my sleeve. ¡°Off you go, it will start in thirteen minutes,¡± Old Rain said as he motioned me forward. Carefully shoving the last piece of bread in my mouth, I continued forward, filled with new vigor. Today is my test day. No one from this or any other clan can go in the Dungeon of Chance today, except the tested. Today I am one of those tested. Every year on this day, each clan sends a young into the Dungeon of Chance, and when they make it to the tenth room, they will be able to leave and become an old. I showed up at the entrance, without tripping again, maybe today is my lucky day. There was a crowd at the entrance. Noticing who I was, the crowd parted and let me through. Only a minute left. That minutes passed silently, like everyone was holding their breath, until they heard the horn and the door slide open. As I walked in, the crowd behind me yelled, ¡°GOOD LUCK!¡± As I stepped through, the previously shaded hallway turned into a spacious blue, well lit room. As I stepped forward, I felt some weird, fundamental, energy shift inside of me. What was that? I thought. There were three sand golems standing in the middle of the room, making me quickly discard any questions. The door closed with a thump. The golems looked at me with deep holes for eyes, and started running forward, well their clumsy stumble of a run. There is no way I am going to die to some pitiful golems, I thought indignantly. I ran forward to greet them and, when they got into range, I spun into a roundhouse kick, connecting with the golem to my right. Millions of grains of sand exploded outward, and the golem collapsed, dead. The other two punched at me with their stubs. Thankfully, they were painfully slow. I side stepped and released two punches, one with each hand. The previously standing golems met the same fate as the first.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I heard a pleasant ding noise and a clatter directly after, followed by a door sliding open. I turned in the direction of the clatter and saw a wicked looking, blue thunder sword. I tossed the idea around in my head, but decided to pass it up. I thought I would get something like a spoon or sombrero, instead I got a thunder sword. It¡¯s probably because my luck is worse than I thought and the sword will shock me to death when I touch it, morbid but true. I regretfully moved on to the next room. The first room room was pretty easy, maybe I will make it out without dying. A small amount of hope started welling up in my chest. The second room was filled with goblins. Real goblins in the wild are somewhat intelligent, but goblins in the dungeon are rabid beasts. At least, that''s what I was taught in the learning room, but they also say demons are vile beasts and that''s a giant lie. There were six in total, they rushed at me while grumbling and yelping like a pack of sick dogs. When they neared, I did the tested roundhouse kick from before. The goblin was sent flying, but didn¡¯t die. It was then that I noticed, two of them were armed with rusty daggers, easily sharp enough to pearce my leather gear. But, the ones without daggers surrounded me while the ones with daggers stayed on the edges. Why aren''t they all rushing me? Is it possible these goblins have some sort of intelligence? An insane possibility popped in my head. ¡°Can you understand me?¡± I asked, feeling a little silly. ¡°Of course, stupid human,¡± replied one of the goblins with a knife. It¡¯s voice was garbled but, other than that, it was fine. Still, the sound hit me like a slap to the face. ¡°Do you think we could reach an arrangement?" I asked. ¡°We already reached an arrangement with the dungeon,¡± waved the other goblin with a knife. With the dungeon? Why are they referring to it as if it was alive? ¡°Attack!¡± commanded the knife goblins in unison. The three surrounding goblins rushed me. I jumped when they punched and, to my surprise, They hit each other. With my luck, they should have accidently tripped and hit me or something. Oh well, I¡¯ll take it as a good omen. My fists sprang out and hit two goblins square in their chests, making them double over. The last goblin, I kicked in the gut. Without my notice, as soon as I initiated my attack, the two knife goblins rushed towards me. I managed to disarm one with a simple counter, but before I could turn, I was stabbed in the back by the other. I gasped in pain. The goblin pulled out the knife and readied another stab, allowing passage for a scary amount of blood to flow out. I didn¡¯t allow them another hit, though. I sweeped its legs, making it drop and I flipped backwards for distance. On my last flip, when I landed on my feet, searing pain came from where I was stabbed, and I dropped to the floor. The pain was too much, I couldn¡¯t move. The goblins all got back up and surrounded me. They all had ear to ear, toothy, and cute in a way smiles seeing I was in too much pain to move. NO! I can¡¯t die here. Not by anything. I even promised Old Rain that I would come back. The goblins raised their daggers in unison. I can¡¯t die! move! The goblin brang the dagger downward. MOVE! But the dagger stopped. Not because I did anything, but because they heard the sound of the door opening. Another person entered the room? But It¡¯s strictly one person per room, how can this be? The goblins were just as surprised, they looked at each other and muttered things, I could vaguely hear them say something along the lines of,¡°Is this why the dungeon told us to respond to the human?¡± The person who stepped through the doorway was a girl with shoulder length brown hair and beautiful facial features, defitnitely a noble from the level of self groom. The girl was wearing the standard tested gear, with a wool shirt and leather vest, pants, and shoes. The feature that attracted the most attention was her heterochromic light green and red eyes. She looked surprised, but then she shrugged and her face quickly formed into a sneer. She raised her peculiar sword and pointed it at the goblins. Wait, what? That was the thunder sword from my earlier room. The weapon stayed? It didn¡¯t shock her to death when she touched it? Suddenly she said, ¡°Y¡¯know, you must be really stupid to leave behind this amazing drop, and proceeding to get yourself surrounded by goblins.¡± The goblins forgot about me and rushed the girl. But before they even got half the distance, a blue lightning bolt shot out of the sword. It instantly disintegrated the first goblin it touched, then bounced to another and another. It quickly killed all the goblins, then disappeared into the air. That sword... was this powerful? But how had my luck produce something so strong? ¡°Really, I was facing off against twelve demon knights in that room earlier, if I hadn¡¯t seen this sword on the ground, that has amazing lightning abilities and cut through their armor like butter, I would be dead by now,¡± the girl laughed. ¡°Here use this, I¡¯m only saving you for being a dimwit and leaving behind this sword for me. Of course, if you just grabbed the sword then you could have killed those goblins with a flick of your wrist,¡± mocked the girl as she threw a potion. I struggled to not drop my saving grace with my shaky hands and greedily drained the bottle. My wound closed up instantly, it must have been high quality. ¡°Is it really that good? I thought it would have shocked me to death if I touched it,¡± I said bitterly. ¡°Why would you think that? You¡¯d have to literally be the most unlucky... wait. Are you Young Fei?¡± asked the girl. I nodded grimly. She burst out laughing. ¡°Wow to think the person everyone in every clan knows as the most unlucky person on Eaterial would have this unfathomably strong sword as their first drop. I would have thought it would be a spoon or sombrero,¡± she said trying to stop herself from another round of laughter. "Those were my exact same thoughts! But when I saw the sword I thought I was so unlucky it would kill me if I touched it,¡± I exclaimed. ¡°I take back what I said about you being stupid, but you really are the most unlucky person alive. To be so unlucky that when you finally got extremely lucky you left the chance thinking it was more bad luck." The girl burst out laughing again. I couldn''t help but feel like she was intentionally rubbing it in. "Well, good luck, is all I can say, hopefully you don¡¯t die,¡± the girl bid goodbye as she walked through the newly opened door. My head lifted as a clatter sounded in the room. That girl left without getting her drop. Hey, wasn¡¯t she just making fun of me for leaving my drop? Too late now, the door already closed behind her. I looked over and examined the item. It was an ebony wood rod with a red hexagonal crystal on the top. Is it a wand? I picked it up and tested it out. When I willed for it to activate, it shot out a laser beam. The laser was a beautiful orange in the center flanked by red. It left a deep scorch mark on the blue wall. That¡¯s insanely strong. The only question was, was it my luck or the girl¡¯s that made this item drop? No way it could be mine, but at the same time, no way could my luck have dropped that lightning sword either. I lied about there being only one question, now that the door closed, how am I supposed to get out? As soon as I thought this, a door slid open behind me. That¡¯s neat! I threw away all of my previous questions and focused on surviving for the time being. Good Luck Chapter 2 Good Luck I steeled my resolve and entered the third room. Horcs ran at me in a computer carrot formation formation. Horcs were giant three feet tall and five feet long hogs with tusks longer and deadlier than swords. Horcs were usually only breeded by orcs and used as war hogs, but anything can appear in the dungeon. I ran to my right and fired my staff, half of the horcs were disintegrated in an instant. I laughed, drunk on power as I repositioned and wiped the other half of horcs from the face of Eaterial. The usual soothing ding sounded followed by a clatter as something fell on the hard blue floor, lined with white. I walked over and picked up the small trinket in confusion. It was a monocle made from a yellow tinted silver metal and with a green glass. I wondered for a brief moment as I put in on what it might do, my limited imagination passing over a few possibilities of interest. When I willed for it to activate, nothing happened. No lasers shot out, no x-ray vision granted, nothing. It couldn¡¯t have been a regular monocle because the glass was green but it didn¡¯t obscure my vision. Well, anything from a living child to a dragon can appear in the Dungeon of Chance. It was possible that the only magical enchantment was to let the wearer see past the green. I shrugged, more than a little disappointed and walked to the fourth room. The ground changed to dirt, a thick mist pervaded the air, and hundreds of tomb stones littered the capacious room. From each grave rose a skeleton, some equipped with weapons, most only had the ripped shreds of clothing hanging from their bones. I smirked, a room like this would be insanely difficult and hopelessly unlucky for anyone else. I raised my staff and sweeped it across the room, erasing the droves of skeletons with a thought. The usual ding graced my ears, but no item dropped. I looked around, slightly worried my stroke of good luck had reached its end. I face palmed when I saw a cloak draped on one of the tomb stones. Not every item has to be loud, idiot. I made a show of flinging it around and putting it on. The cloak was solid white with three red lines running down the center of my back and both my arms, converging at the neck. I walked in the next room with an aloof and dismissive attitude, on a power high I¡¯ve never come close to matching in my humble life. I was put in my place too soon: there were six lightning elementals casually buzzing in the air. Elementals were intelligent but not sentient creatures with no physical bodies. The only way to kill them is to destroy the core usually at the center of the elemental¡¯s element. Lightning Elementals aren¡¯t very strong but particularly hard to deal with because of their insane speed. Suddenly, red holographic images phased from the elementals¡¯ bodies and flew at me. I thought it was an attack and put up my arms in an X. The holograms reached me, but I wasn¡¯t hit. They harmlessly licked my arms. Wha- My baffled thoughts were cut off by the attack of the six elementals. They followed the holograms to a tee and slammed into my raised arms. My world was shaken and I was slammed against the far wall, breathless as I dragged against the wall. I realized after that I wasn¡¯t burnt to a crisp because of my amazing cloak, too bad it didn¡¯t do anything for brute strength. When the red holograms appeared again, I rolled and positioned myself perfectly. I fired my staff a split second before the electric elementals lined up like dominoes, and the laser destroyed their cores. I sighed in relief when I heard the ding. Power really corrupts. The item for this room was a pair of yellow and white boots with a gold broach in the shape of a lightning bolt pinned on the shaft of the left boot. They were too big for me, but adjusted as I slipped them on. I activated their ability and my feet exploded in a shower of electrical sparks. I jumped in panic, but soon realized that I was immune to my own lightning. With a few minutes of playing around, I found that I could control the lightning. Crackling wings of lightning sprouted from my boots and lifted me off the ground with a strong flap. This is awesome! Only after another strained ding sounded did I step through the next door. Five rooms down, five to go! My skin crawled and I cringed against the door. The room was filled with giant red centipedes. I hate bugs, they¡¯re so gross and creepy, I wish they didn¡¯t exist! I spammed my staff for a solid minute before moving my hand from in front of my eyes. I took a deep sigh, they were all gone. Among their ashes was a glinting golden ring with a giant ruby on top. Once I put it on my finger, I felt connected to another space. This is a Spacial Ring! Spacial Rings were rings connected to a pocket dimension where the owner can store anything as long as it fits, no matter the dimensions.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. With a flourish I stored my staff and walked into the next room. Waiting for me were three cyclops, one holding a struggling girl in its giant hand. The cyclops looked exactly like giant bald babies with animal skins for clothing and one eye. I smiled, the girl was the same one from before, looks like I get to return the favor. ¡°Hello again! Want some help?¡± I shouted to the girl. The girl looks at me with disgruntled eyes and the cyclops crushing the girl to death roared at the other two. The two cyclops ran at me like feral animals, racing to see who could eat me first. I produced my staff and shot two precise lasers through the cyclops¡¯ eyes. They tumbled to the floor in a flail of giant limbs. My eyes shown at the opportunity to look cool. I walked forward, turned ninety degrees to my left, and leaned to my right, the cyclops head of the closest cyclops slid into position for my wall just in time. No one ogled in the face of my awesome pose but it was fun. My eyes narrowed seriously as my monocle showed me the cyclops¡¯ next action. My boots grew lightning wings popping with pure energy and I flew to intersect the thrown girl¡¯s flight path. The cyclops threw her hard enough to knock me back a few meters and her mithril chestplate didn¡¯t do her any favors. Ouch, I¡¯ll probably bruise tomorrow. The cyclops ran at me with fury in its eyes. When will they ever learn not to take a linear path of attack? I dropped the girl on the bouncy stomach of one of the dead cyclops and finished the remaining cyclone with an accurate shot through its screaming mouth and out the back of its neck. "Thanks for the save," said the girl as she slid down the side of the dead cyclops. ¡°I saved you twice, now you owe me,¡± I told the girl as I walked through the newly open door, out of ear shot before she could argue. The floor of the next room was replaced with deep water, save for the small cube of land extending from the door I was currently standing on. A giant red hologram of a shark splashed out of the water and swallowed me whole. I ran to me left, using the lightning boots to make solid ground, narrowly avoiding the shark that slammed against the door with a loud crash. I took the opportunity to fill it with holes while it was above water. The ding sounded, muffled compared to the loud noise I just heard, followed by the splash of water. As I walked to pick up my item, I eyed the deeply dented door in relief. The item was in a wooden bucket that raised in fell along with the waves created by the shark. The item was a black gloves with blue lines tracing my palm and up my fingers. Only one? I tried it on and willed it to activate. My will separated from my mind and physically affected the water, pushing it aside as if a giant leaver blower was aimed at it. It was a Telekinetic Glove! I threw my staff and whirled it around the room, the red crystal on its top glinting in the light as it spun. The same higher toned ding with a slight threatening feeling told me to hurry up and I continued to my ninth room. In the room were ten demon knights, three riding atop dark stallions in heavy black armor. They all wore the same pitch black heavy plate mail and carried meter long blood red swords, along with intricately carved and glowing shields. I knew the awesome skills of the demon knights first hand. Their horses would be on me in a split second, their reach would make it impossible for me to contend in close combat, and their shields could probably deflect my laser. If I had to fight them, I might have died in this room. I put my arms up in surrender and shouted, ¡°Concordia!¡± The demon knights stopped in their tracks and exchanged glances. After a moment of hesitation, who I assumed was the captain trotted their horse up to me and removed their horned helmet. Underneath was a perfectly human face with small horns jutting from their blue hair. Like the majority of demons, this demon had dark skin with the smallest touch of red that complemented their pinkish red eyes. ¡°I never thought I would live to see the day a human said that to me,¡± he said in perfect english. The rest of the demons put down their weapons and took off their helmets. ¡°I accidently found myself in a demon city when I was younger. The chief told me to say that if I ever came across other demons,¡± I explained. ¡°What was the name of the chief?¡± asked a demon with purple hair, walking up to us. ¡°Her name was City Chief Raima,¡± I told him. The demon laughed a surprisingly high pitched laugh and said, ¡°That Raima always did have a soft spot for humans.¡± ¡°Any ideas how I get past this room without killing you?¡± I asked them. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, we are resurrected by the dungeon whenever we die,¡± shrugged the captain. ¡°Resurrected by the dungeon?¡± I repeated incredulously. The demon captain looked as if they just remembered something they forgot. ¡°You¡¯ll soon understand, just trust me when I say we will all be back home after our shift is over,¡± said the captain. I would have liked to understand now, but I knew that no sentient being would give up their life that easily. ¡°I don¡¯t think my staff will hurt, but sorry in advance if it does,¡±I warned them as I took out my staff. ¡°Wow, you must be really lucky to get a Staff of Disintegration,¡± one of the demons said as they all lined up. I fired the laser after a moment of hesitation, reducing them all to dust. The Tenth Room Chapter 3 The Tenth Room The reward for the demon knights¡¯ room was a shimmering golden card levitating off the floor and spinning around a diagonal axis. When I approached, the card changed. It¡¯s sides glowed brightly for a split second before one side of the card showed a picture and the other side had writing on it. I grabbed the card and studied it in interest. To my shock, I was on the card. The picture showed me in all my glory, all of my dungeon gear I¡¯ve collected was present and I thought I looked cool enough. I had a smirk and posed while pointing my Staff of Disintegration threateningly. I flipped it around and read the back where detailed information about me was written in droves. It described my height, weight, birth, age, race, physical abilities, equipment, and skills. The information I knew all matched with the card¡¯s, and the card seems to know more about myself than I do. It has a quick summary about humans, it¡¯s closing statement sums up that, in general, humans were the weakest of any race but had the potential to grow stronger than any race. It labeled things with a scale of incompotent, lacking, sufficient, proficient, excelling, and mastery. It also told me my level of talent with a skill or weapon. I frowned when I read all of my physical attributes were lacking. My frown deepened into a full fledged grimace when I checked out the skills section. Most things had that slot blank, but I was surprised to see that I had an incompotent talent level for swordsmanship. I always had the thought in the back of my head, but didn¡¯t want to accept it because my parents were sword sages, more skilled with the sword than anyone in the last century. I¡¯ve only ever trained with a sword to try and live up to their memory, but it doesn¡¯t look like that was possible now. Still, I managed to train my swordsmanship to proficient despite my lack of talent. I moved past that depressing thought soon after I started reading the section about my equipment. What the fuck is this name? My lightning boots were called Zeus'' Jays. Who was Zeus? Why are the boots named after a bird, because you can fly with the lightning? At least the other names weren¡¯t as outlandish, my green monocle was called a Scouter and my cloak was called a Cloak of Protection. I didn¡¯t even realize the card was scrollable until I reached the bottom and the scrolling stopped. The final sentence at the bottom said, ¡°If information is suitable, crush Caracter Card.¡± I didn¡¯t think it would hurt, so I crushed the card, wondering what I could do if the information wasn¡¯t suitable. It shattered into hundreds of hyaline bright blue shards and disappeared. I looked around the room, trying to feel a difference but failing to find anything. In confusion, I tried willing the card to appear again, and it floated in my right hand with no fanfare. Just to be sure, I combed over the details on the back of the card and found the Character Card in the equipment section. Character Card- a magical card detailing the specifics of the user¡¯s abilities and personal attributes. Can be used to read the abilities and personal attributes of other beings with success depending on alterity of strength. A well of giddiness built up inside my chest. Information was key in battle. If you knew the techniques and abilities of your opponent beforehand, you had a massive advantage. Not to mention, it also gives me vital information about races. Elated from the amazing drop, I walked into the next room with energy. My footsteps faltered when I realized this was the tenth room. I turned around and the door shut, as if on cue, in my face. I calmed my anxious heart and turned around to face the challenge. The room was the same bland blue box with white lines in a grid, only huge, probably larger than the entire Royal District. Standing in the middle of the huge room was an extremely handsome man dressed in demonic clothing. They had a square jaw with a good amount of stubble, combed short hair, and green eyes. They wore no armor, only a plain looking red shirt, black pants, and black boots that looked similar to Zeus¡¯ Jays. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if those were also Jays. Were Jays a demonic shoe type? ¡°Welcome to the tenth room! I am Narx, a boss of the dungeon. The dungeon wants me to inform you that I will have access to ten percent of my strength instead of the regular five percent because of your unique fate. I hope that you are prepared.¡± Narx¡¯s voice was calm and quiet, but I could hear it loud and clear from nearly thirty meters. Narx suddenly spasmed and sprouted large, brown, and leathery dragon wings. The skin on his arms and hands turned to red scales, his nails grew into wicked looking metal claws, a red scaled tail with a flame on its tip grew behind him, and his eyes turned bloodshot. My heart tightened in fear and I hurried to make a card of him. I read it in a flash, but my heart sunk further into despair when everything except his race: half fire drake, name: Narx Brieryfang, and status: ninety percent strength sealed, was filled with a question mark. Unfortunately, the Character Card saw a large difference in our strengths. The question was, did the Character card quantify it based off of Narx¡¯s full strength or was he still so much stronger than me with only ten percent? I wasn¡¯t given breathing room to guess how fucked I was, Narx dashed toward me the second his transformation finished. He was using some sort of flight as he didn¡¯t touch the ground, only grazed as he rushed me. I aimed my Staff of Disintegration and fired two shots, aiming for where my Scouter showed he would dodge. A cold sweat rolled down my spine when Narx suddenly increased his speed enough to dodge the second beam. He was able to move fast enough that I couldn''t react before he dodged even with my Scouter. Before I could fire again, Narx reached my position and drew back his right hand, claws glinting in the unfounded light. I activated Zeus¡¯ Jays to boost me as I jumped backwards and pushed off the wall, over Narx. As I passed over him, to cover my movement, I tried to fire my staff. A small ball of orange energy in a shell of red gathered at the tip of the gemstone, on the head of my staff. The second before the shot launched, Narx jumped up and chomped down on the gemstone, cleanly snapping it off the staff, rendering me utterly flabbergasted. I managed to shoot past him nonetheless and ended up in the middle of the room.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I sharpened my mind and forgot about how angry that made me, focusing on what I would use as a weapon after storing the useless stick of wood that my glorious Staff of Disintegration was reduced to. By the time Narx turned around, I realized that I could make a sword out of the electricity from Zeus¡¯ Jays. A cookie cutter sword with a rectangle guard and double edged blade formed out of lightning, floating in my hand more than I held it. It wouldn¡¯t do for blocking, Narx¡¯s attacks would go right through it, however it could be used as a slightly effective attack and I could use it as a pseudo magic sword since I could control the lightning within a three meter radius around me. I thought about using the remains of my staff as the base of the blade, but I didn¡¯t have enough to try anything before Narx was on me again. He slashed horizontally and I leaned backwards in response. If I didn¡¯t have my Scouter, his attacks would be too fast for me to even see. I slashed my sword diagonally to the left and Narx dodged to my right, arching his left claw forward as he thrust it at me. I dropped and sweeped Narx off his feet, but he used his tail to keep him up, bouncing off it like a spring and going for a spinning slash at me. I rolled to my left and javelined my sword at him. Narx pushed off the ground in a jumping push up, my sword flew under him, and the fire on his tail stoked, thrusting himself at me and brandishing his claws for an attack. I lifted my left hand and used my Telekinetic glove to swat him to the floor, controlling my sword to circle back and run him through. Narx seemed to grow bloodlusted as his eyes turned full red and his growls grew ferocious. His claws racked the floor, making lined divots as he overpowered my glove and flipped on his back. I gaped in surprise when he opened his jaws wide and swallowed my sword. Narx levitated to his feet and drew his head back, the fat squishing together made his neck look like a frog¡¯s. Faster than a crossbow bolt, Narx¡¯s head shot forward and spewed my sword. The sword flashed centimeters past my tilted left shoulder, slapping my face and hair with a gust of wind. It was so fast that I couldn¡¯t even clearly see the hologram in my Scouter, I merely noticed a blur of red and dodge on a whim. Sweat streaked past my temple and budded on my cheek bone. The bead of sweat flew off my face as Narx lunged at me and I jumped to my left. For a scant second, we both stood facing each other, catching out breaths before engaging again. I was growing tired and desperate; I made the rash decision to engage him in close combat, something I only knew in theory, never practiced. His left claw jabbed at me and I leaned left while pushing his arm with my right forearm. His right claw lowered, the light reflected in my eyes, blinding me, but I realized the threat and turned left. His claw ripped through air as he raised it, leaving him open. A dagger version of my sword formed in my hands as I thrust my hands towards his chest. But Narx had a third appendage. His constantly writhing tail turned erect in my direction and spit flames like a flame thrower. I abandoned my attack and jumped high. I realized that this was Narx¡¯s tactic when his right hand reached to grab my ankle. I activated Zeus¡¯ Jays and electricity showered from my boots, warding off his hand. Unfortunately, Narx smoothly changed his target, his hand threaded between my legs, intent on splitting me up the middle. My brain was never utilized as well as it was in this fight, keeping me alive on practically instinct alone. I activated Zeus¡¯ left Jay and retracted my leg, spinning me almost horizontal, just enough for Narx¡¯s claws to nick my left boot. My eyes burned with opportunity as I activated Zeus¡¯ right Jay, spinning me about a diagonal axis and landing a force-filled kick on the side of his face. But I wasn¡¯t done there. I spun until my back was to him before I activated both of Zeus¡¯ Jays to push me back and form a lightning sword in my hands. I thrust the sword under my right arm with all of my strength and struck true. It wasn¡¯t solid, so it didn¡¯t pierce him, but it stunned him. I completely deactivated Zeus¡¯ Jays and slammed Narx to the floor before reaching into his mouth with my right hand while forcing it open with my Telekinetic glove. I had no idea how I was going to kill him if my most lethal weapon, my lightning, was only enough to temporarily incapacitate him. I resorted to desperately clawing around in his throat. I gripped the only thing I was able, his uvula, with all of my strength and pulled. In response, Narx¡¯s chest bubbled and fire rose from his throat. I continued my straining pull and activated my Spacial Ring, transporting the flames into a pocket dimension. With one last heave, I tore his uvula from his throat and fell back on Narx¡¯s legs. Narx screamed in pain, clutching his mouth as much as he was able with twitching muscles. I took two chest bulging gasps before throwing his uvulia at his face and running at him again, restraining his arms under my knees. Narx was beyond feral at this point and chomped at me with all his effort, launching saliva every which way. I carefully avoided his bone breaking jaws and forced open one of his eyes, shoving my Spacial Ring toward it and releasing the fire. Narx struggled and roared like a dying animal, which he kinda was, trying to throw me like a bull, but I was holding on for dear life. The fire ran out before it killed him, leaving half of his face charred and deformed. I had a massive stroke of luck when the body of my staff flew out along with the ending sputters of fire. It was glowing in a bright red sheen and pulsed with power in my hand. With an air of bitter finality, I put it just before his face and willed it to activate. Pure azure flames burst out of the head in a concentrated jet of pure heat, screeching like a blow torch and lasting for nearly half a minute. I panted in horror as my heart punched pure adrenaline through my veins, taking in the smoking pile of ash sitting on Narx¡¯s scarred neck, where his head used to be. I lost all strength in my body. my hands opened loosely, letting my staff clatter powerlessly to the floor. The back of my knees fell from a ninety degree angle to zero as I lost feeling in my legs. My back slouched and I used the last ounce of my strength to lean left and collapse on my back, next to Narx. My breaths were shaky and my body vibrated as I heaved air in in out of my lungs in a frenzy. ¡°Holy shit,¡± I choked, ¡°I did it! I! Fucking! Did it!¡± My voice resounded in the empty room, echoing back to me seconds later, dripping with elation and relief. Reunion Chapter 4 Reunion I couldn¡¯t do anything but laugh and scream my victory, the stress of the ordeal marred the edges of my sanity. The release of all that tension was a high of unimaginable proportions, the body¡¯s way of congratulating me for surviving. I dragged myself to my feet after I felt strong enough to continue. I took a glance at Narx¡¯s body, but could only frown discontentedly because it had disappeared. I had no idea the exact time I spent on the floor: I fell asleep. I wasn¡¯t actually ever injured by Narx, any blow that connected would have insta-killed me. I was only extremely exhausted, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ve ever pushed myself to the point I did during that battle. I was no better than an orc the way I clawed at Narx¡¯s face. I tried my best to shut down that depressing thinking and instead looked forward to what amazing reward I would get for clearing this room. Near the place I collapsed, a blue pillar rose one and a half meters from the ground. Nestled comfortably in a nest of ferns and sticks, on top of the pillar, was a black egg with red dots. An egg? It looks weird for an egg, most eggs I¡¯ve seen were usually a light color, and wasn¡¯t it a little big? It was half a meter tall and a fourth meter wide. Suddenly, an idea struck me. I tried using my Character Card on it. Technically the egg was a life form, meaning I should be able to learn everything about it since it was yet to be born and powerless. Unfortunately, the Character Card greeted me with nothing but questions marks and a name: Mysterious Egg. Could it be¡­ a dragon egg? The more I thought of it, the more I felt I was right. I stored it in my Spacial Ring, hoping that it wouldn¡¯t die before I could properly incubate it. Then, I turned my attention to the ordinary looking stick on the ground. It used to be the handle of my Staff of Disintegration. I put in my Spacial ring and checked the Character Card. Amplio Stick- A stick fashioned from amplio wood. It shares the magic absorbing and enhancing properties of amplio wood and the user can decide when to unleash that magic as an enhanced attack. I took one last sweep of the room that I almost died in, and the one where I killed as close to a human as I hope I¡¯ll ever have to. I shook my head wildly in an attempt to physically shake my burdens before hiking towards the exit, intent to never enter this place again. Despite my mental plague, I was all sunshine and smiles as I emerged from the depths of the dungeon. It was tradition for the whole village to see off a tested, but only the tested¡¯s family members stayed until they exited, that or they planned a funeral. It was mid day outside, and Old Rain was pacing through the grass, nervously checking his pocket watch with a grimace. His face visibly softened once he saw me, he quickly wrapped me in a bear hug and I returned it with full force. ¡°I was so worried when you didn¡¯t come out yesterday,¡± He whispered in my ear. ¡°Thanks for having faith in me,¡± I told him with tears in my eyes. Old Rain and I weren¡¯t actual blood relatives, I was his adoptive son. Right around the same time I lost my parents, Old Rain lost his wife and child. It was a heavy relationship at first, but we ended up with a father son bond stronger than most others. Old Rain adopting me was the only lucky thing that ever happened in my life before today. ¡°Let¡¯s go get something to eat, and you can tell me all about it,¡± said old Rain. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped me walk. With my bad luck, I was used to walking purposefully and slow in order to not trip. ¡°Wait,¡± I stopped Old Rain. He looked at me with a quizzical expression. I slowly slid his arm off me and took a step forward, then another, and another before running at full speed and jumping, all with my eyes clamped shut. ¡°My bad luck is gone!¡± I shouted, absolutely elated. I expected Old Rain to explode in positivity, but instead his face contorted in pain and tears filled his eyes. I ran to him and asked what was wrong. ¡°I¡¯m so glad,¡± He whispered before actually choking me in a hug. My own eyes burned with tears, this whole time he felt my pain, he always provided me with a positive outlook and support whenever I gave in to my luck or fixated on it. I never realized how selfish I was. After a healthy amount of crying, we spent the rest of the day together. I told him all about my time in the dungeon, leaving out the conspiracy I slowly convinced myself was true, as narcissistic as it was to think I was special. He also let me sit in and watch him smith for the first time. I was never allowed near the forge room because he was afraid I would get hurt with my luck. The way he worked was really marvelous. It was almost like the iron itself wanted him to succeed as he shaped it into a sword. All too soon, it was night fall, and my eyes drooped despite sleeping half the day in the dungeon. Before going to sleep, I said a few words to the picture of my parents I had on my desk, my only possession besides clothing. It showed them in their iconic white and gold armor with pointed elbows and knees, and small wings on the side of the helmet. Their swords were normal, non-magical iron swords, probably forged by Old Rain back in the day. I never knew why, but my parents never used magic weapons, they insisted on letting their personal skills speak for themselves. My mother was capable of magic and used it from time to time, but I understood that the no magic principle was only for their equipment, my mother¡¯s ability to spell cast was her own power. When I awoke, the sun was already near its apex, and Old Rain was at his stall. He left me porridge at the table with a note wishing me a good day. I hated that I would be going against Old Rain but I put the porridge in my Spacial Ring and wrote on the same note that I would be visiting the demons for the next three days. I knew he would never let me go unless I did it without him knowing, and I needed to visit them again. I never visited them after the space rift incident and I felt like I needed to thank them now that my bad luck was good. The human territory was split into four clans, all with one entrance to the Dungeon of Chance. The Silwind clan, my clan, has the space south of the dungeon, the Marland clan has the North space, the Truvish clan has the west space, and the Kruzik clan has the east space. Further north relative the Dungeon of Chance was the demon¡¯s Nether Lands, further east lies the Dwarven Kingdom, and further west lies the Elves¡¯ Forbidden Forest. Far North was the Dragon Ridge, it wasn¡¯t necessarily controlled by dragons, most dragons just nest there so it¡¯s come to be known as dragon territory. The Silwand clan¡¯s territory was mostly wide and not very tall, with the Royal District located right below the Dungeon of Chance and the territory on both sides as the Common Districts. I was a noble of the Silwind clan and live in the Royal district. My clan doesn¡¯t follow the same idiotic system the other clans and the drawves did. Instead, nobles of the Silwind clan were practically commoners, only nobles had a say in things like the Codex of Laws. You become a noble through being recognized by the chief as the best in your craft. My parents were obviously the strongest warriors of their time and Old Rain was the best smith. A noble¡¯s offspring weren¡¯t nobles and the position couldn¡¯t be passed down through bloodline. The offspring of nobles would only be permitted to live in the Royal District until their nobles died. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system and most of the time since the children learned from the best they ended up as the best and received the noble title after their parents¡¯ deaths.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I ran south on paved stone streets and brick houses, maneuvering around foot traffic and carriages, until I reached the gate. The Silwand clan¡¯s territory was enclosed within a wall that completely surrounded them. The only way in or out was through the gate. People weren¡¯t very itinerant, so it was only a problem for merchants and trade with the other clans. Once I reached the gate, I turned my bearing slightly right, hoping the gossip I heard in the Learning Room was right. The wall around the clan¡¯s territory had guard towers staggered so they could see everything, making escaping or sneaking in impossible. I reached the first guard tower and counted my steps right until I was directly between guard towers. I grinned as I looked up the curved length of wall. The wall in this particular stretch was curved enough that a small hole was made in the guard towers¡¯ fields of view. I boosted myself with Zeus¡¯ Jays and jumped. I frowned at my returning bad luck and dropped flat against the top of the wall in a panic. I picked the exact time a carriage was making its way on the other side of the wall. ¡°You on the wall! Show yourself!¡± a man shouted from the ground. Shit, they saw me. I layed unmoving. ¡°If you refuse, we will alert the guards,¡± warned the man. I tsked and slowly stood up. The carriage was traveling slowly with four guards walking alongside, protecting it. The carriage was lavish with baroque gold patterns decorating either side of the half glass door. On the bottom half of the door was the crest of the Kurzik clan, a dragon traced in gold. There was a noble of the Kruzik clan in that carriage ¡°What is it? Why are we stopping?¡± called a female voice from inside the carriage. A guard walked near the door and explained the situation to the noble. Suddenly, the carriage door opened and a girl in light chainmail with a sword at her hip exited, not what I was expecting. Most nobles from other clans liked to flaunt their riches and looked down on anyone that wasn¡¯t a noble from their clan as lesser. What surprised me the most, however, were the girl¡¯s heterochromic light green and red eyes. She looked up at me and smiled as she said, ¡°It must be fate we ended up meeting instead of me tracking you down, Fei.¡± I frowned at her words, but I knew she was right. My luck was amazing since stepping foot in the dungeon, something like this would only happen if fate dictated so. ¡°I get that you want answers, but I don¡¯t have any. I¡¯m as clueless as you,¡± I told her. She gave me a pitiful look and said, ¡°I don¡¯t expect an uneducated commoner such as yourself to know of knights Ferdinand and Dallia. To sum it up, they also met in the dungeon and fate pushed them to be married. I won¡¯t be foolish enough to fight against fate.¡± I have heard of that story, which is why I didn¡¯t tell Old Rain about meeting her in the dungeon, but I never believed in those old folk tales. To top it off, her tone pressed my buttons. In the dungeon, she sounded friendly enough, but now I felt like smacking her with my Amplio Stick. ¡°Actually, I am an educated noble of the Silwind clan, not that it matters. We Silwinds don¡¯t believe that something as inconsequential as bloodlines makes one person better than the other,¡± I growled at her. ¡°Watch your tone, brat! You are addressing the future chieftain of the Kruzik clan,¡± threatened one of the guards. Great, I was dealing with the fattest, most cowardly of them all. The girl gave her guard a look and he apologized for stepping out of line. She sighed, ¡°Look, whether you like it or not, our fates are intertwined. I have come to take you back to the Kruzik clan and groom you to be my future husband. I suggest that you bid goodbye to any family members and come quietly.¡± My annoyance reached its peak. I wasn¡¯t about to let her decide my future. ¡°As great as that sounds, I refuse.¡± ¡°Why you! That was an order from the chieftain''s daughter,¡± the same guard shouted. In unison, the guards grunted a battle cry and lifted their spears. They were all outfitted with full iron plate mail and carried enchanted spears. I sneared at them, one hit from one of Old Rain¡¯s morning stars and their armor would crumple like a leaf. ¡°My deepest apologies, but I don¡¯t have time to play with spoiled rats such as yourselves,¡± I said before activating Zeus¡¯ Jays and flashing from my position. I reached an insane speed by riding on a lightning bolt. I never tried it in the dungeon because of its limited area and my minimal amount of control. After a few seconds, I dissipated the lightning bolt and tried to stop my forward momentum. I managed to slow myself down, but I crashed into a tree with a painful snap of wood before I could stop. I gasped sharply through clenched teeth and tumbled to the soft grass filled ground. I would definitely have bruises, but I ignored the throbbing pain and checked my surroundings. As painful as it was, I traveled half the distance to the demon city in a couple of seconds. It was a net gain of zero, though because I moved at half the speed I would usually thanks to my injuries. It was close to sundown by the time I reached the city. The trees stopped and a worn road led to a gate in a massive metal wall. There were two demon knights keeping watch on the wall. ¡°Halt!¡± they commanded in unison as they jumped down the ten meter tall wall. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s me, Fei!¡± I screamed at them while waving my hands in the air. They stopped in their tracks and exchanged looks. The one on the left took off their helmet and looked at me. ¡°Fei? Is that really you?¡± she asked. I recognized them as Shan, a demon knight I met seven years ago. She looked exactly like a human with two paper thin horns jutting from her long blue hair. A giant smile bloomed on my face. ¡°Long time no see!¡± The second demon knight removed their helmet and revealed Xerxes, Shan¡¯s twin brother. I shook their hands and exchanged some small talk before a shadow slammed into me and suddenly swept off my feet. ¡°Y-you''re choking me, Raima,¡± I struggled to get out as Raima, the city chieftain, suffocated me in a hug. She roughly let me go and I waved my arms as I almost tripped. ¡°Seven years, Fei. You couldn¡¯t have visited once?¡± Raima angrily asked me. Raima had dark skin with the slightest hint of red, long black hair, and brown eyes. She also had claws hidden away in gauntlets twenty four seven and small wings she always kept tucked in. She wore what demons called a tank top, baggy leggings with multiple pockets, and dark heavy duty boots. I knew she was just grilling me and wasn¡¯t actually angry, so I just shrugged. Her angry mask fell and revealed her childish, hyper personality. ¡°Well, we have no time to waste! Let¡¯s get you inside,¡± she announced as she spun around and led me down the path. ¡°Oh, one more thing,¡± she suddenly stopped. ¡°Is that girl behind the tree with you, or¡­?¡± she asked while pointing behind me. I didn¡¯t notice anyone following me, but I knew who it must be. ¡°No, she¡¯s an assassin who¡¯s hell bent on killing me,¡± I said. ¡°That is not true!¡± the girl from before jumped out and shouted. ¡°Then, who are you?¡± asked Raima. The girl sighed and put on an innocent, helpless face. ¡°My name is May and I am Fei¡¯s future wife,¡± she said with a smirk. Raima brought the back of her hand to her forehead in a dramatic pose as she said, ¡°Oh how tragic when a girl confesses her feelings, but is ignored.¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°That isn¡¯t what happened,¡± I said. ¡°Well, what did happen?¡± asked Raima. ¡°We met in the dungeon,¡± May answered before I could say anything. ¡°Yeah, and now she thinks we have to get married,¡± I snorted. ¡°Sorry, Fei,¡± interjected Xerxes, ¡°She¡¯s right. I''m sure you¡¯ve heard of knights Ferdinand and Dallia? I knew them personally, when humans and demons weren¡¯t on hostile terms. Believe me, they tried to stay apart, but fate just wouldn¡¯t let them.¡± Hearing this, I helplessly looked to Shan and Raima, who nodded their heads. I still huffed in defiance. My luck has already ruined the first half of my life, I won¡¯t let fate have a turn ¡°No matter! Come, I¡¯ll show you and your spouse around,¡± Raima said giddily. Veltor Chapter 5 Veltor I remembered everything from the first time I visited the demon city and it was a little bland for my taste, making the second time feel like visiting a home away from home. Inside the walls was a vast plane with lush green grass and a dirt walkway leading further in. The massive polished wall extended from behind us and continued at a steep curve unitl it was too far away to see. In the distance were more than a handful of demons and weird looking structures, all made from the same stained metal. Demons live much longer and mate less than humans. Furthermore they live in small communities of around eighty demons in each city. But their cities are huge with lots of empty space, and, for some reason, every building or establishment is extremely spaced out. The first building we came across was visible when we first entered and only four minutes of walking away. The path split as we reached the building, continuing forward to the rest of the city and leading to the doorstep of the Demon Knight HQ. In every city, there are twelve demons who act as demon knights; their duty is to maintain the order and protect the city from attacks. Of course, every demon is capable of being a demon knight and excels at physical feats. Therefore, the twelve demon knights rotate every eighty years and each demon is expected to serve as a demon knight at least twice in their lifetime. The building itself resembled a large, grey metal rectangle, four meters high, with the words Demon Knight HQ, written in demonic, painted in the same red as some demons¡¯ skin tone. There were no doors or windows, and the only other feature was a small diagram painted in white at chest level, near the center of the front face. The alterity between the human and demonic language couldn¡¯t be larger; I was pleasantly surprised when I read the words perfectly during my first visit and discovered I was a polygot. Apparently, polygots among the other races are highly coveted and extremely useful for communication. It doesn¡¯t mean much to humans, though. Humans hate almost every other race and that hatred is reciprocated, so what¡¯s the point in communicating? I also knew what the white diagram was. Each race, other than humans, are only able to learn one type of magic; the demons are gifted with ritual magic. They can only use magic with the help of certain diagrams, the effect changing based on the diagram. Every member of every race, excluding humans, has the ability to learn their specific type of magic, however, they still have to learn and study it. Demons, on the other hand, are innately masters of diagram magic and can use it from birth. Because of that, their infrastructure is impossible to inhabit or use without the ability of ritual magic. We passed by many more practically identical boxes of metal with different writing and diagrams painted on the outside and we saw plenty of demons lounging around the city, doing everything from sparring to cooking meat on something they called a grill. Of course, the whole time Raima gave excellent commentary and information about their culture. It was mostly the same stuff she told me from seven years ago, so I tuned it out. I didn¡¯t notice, but somewhere along the way, Shan and Xerxes left. We finally stopped at Raima¡¯s house, a giant metal box like all the others, but in an L shape, and next to her house was a smaller box made of green glass with interesting plants growing inside. Raima took us to the entrance, at the end of the L¡¯s foot, and activated a diagram that carved out a large rectangular doorway, the metal that was previously there disappeared entirely. Once everyone was inside, she activated a different diagram that made the wall reappear, then turned and activated yet another diagram that illuminated the pitch black room. The inside was surprisingly non-metal looking. The walls were painted white and decorated with hundreds of paintings in burgundy red frames of all shapes and sizes. Some were breathtaking landscapes, others were of different events, and very few were random things, with meanings I was clueless to. But, as Raima led us across the room, one painting in particular made me wide eyed. I straight up stopped walking and stared at it. The painting in question was naturally eye catching: it was much larger than all the others, almost life sized even. It showed a demon knight and a human that had just dueled, both heavily injured. The demon knight was on their knees with a broken sword and dented armor. The human stood triumphant over the demon knight, benevolently offering their hand to help them up. The reason I was so dazed was that I recognised the human. I saw the same blue eyes and dark skin every time I looked at my reflection. ¡°Oh, I forgot that you never saw the inside of my house when you first visited,¡± commented Raima as she stopped and turned, hand on her hip and leaning to one side. ¡°Is that the knight Aurelius? I can¡¯t believe you dueled him!¡± gasped May. ¡°Yup. Aurelius was the human who made me the demon that I am today. Humans and demons were practically at war when we dueled and I was undefeated on the battlefield before we dueled, yet he still spared my life, even helped me to my feet,¡± she reminisced. ¡°I hope that one day I can return the favor.¡± I don¡¯t know why, but a feeling of frustration and emotional turmoil washed over me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say that won¡¯t ever happen. He died twelve years ago¡± I said quietly. ¡°How do you know that? The last I heard he settled down with knight Anastasia,¡± said May. ¡°I know because knights Aurelius and Anastasia are my parents.¡± That elicited a shocked sound from the both of them. ¡°N-no way! You must be joking,¡± stutterd May. ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± I assured her grimly. Suddenly, Raima choked me in a hug before shoving me to arm¡¯s length and saying, ¡°To think that you are Aurelius¡¯ son! It must be fate that we met.¡± I frowned at her words. I already made up my mind about fate: I refuse to be its pawn. ¡°Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance,¡± said May as she scrutinized my features. ¡°If you are their son, then you have to be gifted with a sword, right?¡± she added. Raima gasped ecstatically and said, ¡°That¡¯s true, we have to duel, right now!¡± She grabbed my arm and pulled me to her training room before I could explain why that was a bad idea. At the end of the room was a selection of diagrams organized in a grid on the wall. She picked a specific one on the top row, making an empty door frame appear in the wall. Seeing things disappear so mildly made me a little on edge, but I grit my teeth and ignored it. The training room had stone walls and matted floors with an arsenal of weaponry hanging on the walls. I gave in at that point, she would see how horrible I was if she dueled me. ¡°How does it feel? Too light, too heavy, off balance?¡± she asked me as I swung around a practice sword. I shook my head, ¡°No it¡¯s perfect.¡± She turned to May and said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but notice the sword at your hip. Do you practice swordplay?¡± ¡°I am the best swordsman that the Kruzik clan has to offer. It would be an honor to duel you,¡± she said. I faced Raima, wooden swords in hand as we circled each other. Suddenly, her sword flashed towards my chest, almost faster than I could react even with my Scouter. I lifted my sword to deflect hers, but her blade spun around mine and stopped just before my heart. I sighed in defeat while lowering my sword. ¡°I don¡¯t think swordsmanship is my thing.¡± Raima betrayed her disappointment for a split second, but quickly shifted to a supportive smile. ¡°That¡¯s perfectly fine. You are your own person, not your parents,¡± she encouraged. May unhooked the sword on her back and handed it to me like it was our baby before stepping into the painted arena on the floor. I sat down, leaning against the wall with my knees pulled up. What I assumed was the lightning sword from the dungeon leaned next to me, and we watched a dazzling back and forth between Raima and May. Their swords danced through the air as they traded blows, each one sending a resounding clang of metal, and few of them briefly creating sparks. Their footwork put the travel Crucis¡¯ to shame. I frowned discontentedly, their swords are nothing but blurs in my vision. They¡¯re on a completely higher level than I am. Suddenly, Shan burst into the room. ¡°Chief Raima!¡± she shouted. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Your brother is here, he says he wants to discuss something of high importance.¡± All the color drained from Raima¡¯s face at the mention of her brother. She turned to May and I, saying, ¡°You two need to run.¡± I hastily grabbed the sword and May¡¯s arm before booking it as fast as I could manage. That was the first time I had seen Raima so scared, she was always happy go lucky and outgoing no matter what. Seeing her scared terrified me, so I did what she said with no hesitation. Shan followed after us, ordered to keep us safe.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. In no time at all, we jumped the wall and were running through the forest. ¡°What is going on? Why are we running?¡± asked May. ¡°Chief Raima¡¯s older brother doesn¡¯t agree with her ideals, he hates humans and would kill you on sight. He-¡± But she was cut off by another voice, ¡°Well, well, well! I thought Chief Veltor was being paranoid, but there were some humans in the city after all.¡± We were met face to face with another demon knight, equipped with the same exact gear as Raima¡¯s knights, only painted marble white. ¡°Pmxr(pezir)...¡± Shan muttered a curse word in demonic before turning to us and whispering, ¡°I¡¯ll hold him off, you two run.¡± ¡°No,¡± refused May, speaking for both of us. ¡°We won¡¯t run while you risk your life for us.¡± ¡°Listen, you will die if you fight him. That is Remulous, Veltor¡¯s second in command. He once fought against three dragons at the same time and won,¡± she warned us. I clenched my jaw at the mention of dragons, remembering my fight with Narx. I couldn¡¯t even fathom the strength it would take to slay three dragons in a three on one fight. However, if he were that powerful, running would be useless. So, instead I handed May her lightning sword and willed my Amplio Stick to appear in my hand. ¡°My, my, my, How brave. Don¡¯t fret humans, Veltor gave us orders to take you alive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame that we weren¡¯t ordered to spare your piteous life,¡± I replied. ¡°How dare!¡± he exploded, ¡°How dare a mere human insult me?¡± ¡°If humans are so beneath you, why do you speak the human tongue so fluently?¡± May chimed in. ¡°Enough! You have gotten on my nerves for the last time. When Chief Veltor asks how you died, I¡¯ll report that an unfortunate accident occured.¡± With that frankly weak threat, he charged us. Shan was the first one to react, she jumped in front and blocked Remulous¡¯ first strike. Seeing their exchange, I question if Remulous was the warrior Shan made him out to be. I could follow his movements with my eyes, I could even counter attack with the help of the Scouter. It was only then that I had the presence of mind to use the Character Card. I stared at his lackluster stats, flabbergasted that his scrub was imposing just a few seconds ago. May stepped forward and sent forward a maya blue lightning bolt. Remulous managed to half dodge the attack, it just grazed his forearm, but his metal armor easily conducted the electricity, brutally shocking him. He seizured for a few seconds before collapsing on his back. The fraud didn¡¯t even last two attacks, I didn¡¯t get a chance to participate either. May walked up to him and stuck her sword between his helmet and chest piece, finishing the job. I gave Shan a look as I asked, ¡°He fought three dragons?¡± Shan had a helpless expression as her mouth opened and closed, trying and failing to come up with the words. ¡°They lied about his abilities for political reasons. My guess is Veltor lacks personnel on the same level as him, so he made things up,¡± provided May. I found myself nodded along with her explanation, it made perfect sense. ¡°How shrewd of you, future chieften of the Kruzik clan, your conjecture is correct,¡± sounded a deep voice behind us. We spun while simultaneously lunging away from the voice. Veltor stood with his hands behind his back, a passive expression on his face. His skin was slightly darker than Raima¡¯s and he had short, but still comb-able, jet black hair and electric pineapple yellow eyes. The features betraying his demon race were his ears, they pointed like an elf¡¯s at the top and at the lobe, along with copper red colored feathery wings magnificently unfurled at their full two meter length. He wore a black victorian greatcoat with no cape over a maroon red flannel, black slacks and dress shoes, thin white gloves with diagrams on the back of his hands and his palms, and a weird looking black hat. The top resembled a flat mushroom with a golden line at its seam and a copper red visor. I glared at his wings. How the hell does he have them out? Narx had his wings out without any sort of slit or tear in his shirt, and I¡¯m willing to bet Veltor is the same. How? That doesn¡¯t make any sense. I shook my head and focused on the situation at hand. ¡°Is it true? Did you succeed your father?¡± asked Shan, probably only in an attempt to stall for time. ¡°Yes, my father died a few days ago. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t want Raima to participate in the remembrance ceremony because of her love for monkeys,¡± he said in a board monotone. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a choice. Kill yourselves now, or die by my hand.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t just lay down and die,¡± objected May. ¡°Second option, then,¡± he mumbled. I reached out with my left hand and squeezed him with my Telekinetic Glove. He wasn¡¯t very impressed, casually casting a glance my way before walking forward like nothing was there. I frowned in distress, checking the Character Card. Most of his physical attributes were at proficient, with the exception of his strength and speed, which were at mastery. Everything else on the card was filled with a question mark. Welp, we¡¯re done for. But, as May put it, I refuse to lay down and die. ¡°We need some sort of plan,¡± I whispered to my allies. No one spoke up. ¡°How-¡± I stared but cut myself off when Veltor dissappeared from his position. The Scouter failed at tracking his movements. I saw Shan go flying from the corner of my vision and reeled around to see Veltor. May rocketed her sword towards him, sparking with blue lightning. Veltor¡¯s hand was covered in a sheen of light yellow energy as he reached forward and pinched the sword to a stop. May tried to pull away, but he had her sword as stuck as if it were in a vice. Suddenly, he pulled, jerking May towards him, and stepped forward with his left as he kicked her out of sight with his right. After, he tossed the lightning sword in the air and caught it by the hilt. He looked at the sword with a slight frown as he said, ¡°Blue Spark used to be a part of my personal collection. It pains me to see the prestige of such an artifact besmirched by the hands of an ameture.¡± Rage filled me at the sight of May being injured. I bent my knees and activated Zues¡¯ Jays, boosting my speed to the maximum and showering my legs in electricity, feeding the Amplio Stick that just appeared in my right hand. I reached with my left hand and grasped a tree with the Telekinetic Glove. I short hopped and rode on a lightning bolt. When I slammed into Veltor, I used my telekinetic hand to stabilize myself. I grimaced at the sight of Veltor unmoved and unharmed, his greatcoat had sparks flitting across it, but he was unaffected. I desperately pointed the Amplio Stick at him, but before it could discharge the electricity, Blue Spark blurred for a split second and my arm thudded wetly against the ground. I screeched in pain, tears threatening to flow from my eyes, as I stepped back, tripping over nothing, and desperately tried to plug the blood fountain that my shoulder had turned into. My vision blurred and focused in a cycle as Veltor slowly walked toward me, brandishing Blue Spark. Tears gushed freely now, and I futilely flailed my remaining limbs in an attempt to push myself away from him. ¡°Stop!¡± I gasped appallingly. Velotor continued on unfazed. Of course, why would he stop because I asked him? ¡°You shouldn¡¯t kill me!¡± I tried in between the feverish contractions of my lungs. My brain grasped at straws, trying to think of some reason why he shouldn¡¯t. But the pain filled my focus, leaving me with nothing to show for my last ditch attempt. Veltor blocked out the sun in my vision now, and stepped on my shin. I stopped struggling. If I¡¯m to die, I want to do it with some dignity. I want Old Rain to know that I struggled to live for him, I want my parents to know I wasn¡¯t a coward. I sucked in air through the mucus in my nose, lifted my upper body, and gave Veltor the most minacious and withering glare I could muster. He froze in his tracks, studying me for a few seconds, before smiling. It was a warm smile, like he was looking at something that made him proud. I refused to back down, no matter what mind games he threw at me. Then, he pointed Blue Spark and grazed my shoulder with a lightning bolt. I grimaced at the searing pain rattling my sanity and a second shriek of agony escaped from my lips. I gasped a few more breaths before willing my pain to numb and glaring at Veltor with a vengeance. The same smile was on his face as he stepped back and returned light to my eyes. My glare faltered as he stood there smiling and subtly nodding his head approvingly. I didn''t understand what was going on, and I simple stared at him the same way while my brain struggled to catch up. Suddenly, a shadow crashed into him, uplifting dirt. When the smoke cleared, I saw Raima wielding a wicked looking black and red sword, curved in the shape of a khopesh. She was locked in a struggle with Veltor, both arms gripping the handle, shaking from exertion. Veltor was similarly shaking, but he only used his left arm and the rest of his body was relaxed. His face returned to the same stone cold as before. ¡°You really are too hyperactive for your own good, sister. You know you don¡¯t compare to me in swordsmanship,¡± he tsked. ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± she huffed as she heaved his sword back and swung again. Veltor and Raima engaged in a bitter struggle that I could only perceive as a blur of metal and electricity. Suddenly, Veltor was knocked back by a kick from Raima, and she followed up by hooking Blue Spark and disarming him. Veltor¡¯s face was still placid, he wasn¡¯t taking her seriously. Raima¡¯s khopesh flashed in the bleak light that managed to pierce the canopy as Blue Spark flew out of vision, at the same time her ungloved left claw sliced through the air as it descended on Veltor. He jumped back, but Raima followed and slashed at him with her khopesh. Veltor side stepped before grabbing her over extended wrist, spinning behind her, and shoving the back of her shoulder. She dropped her khopesh but retaliated by turning her torso right and jumping into a cartwheel, throwing Veltor against a nearby tree as she landed. ¡°Stop, let me-¡± Veltor grunted as he lifted himself up. Raima didn¡¯t give him the chance to speak, she drew a diagram in the dirt while he was recovering and activated it when he spoke. She flared up in an inferno of green flames. A ball coalesced in her hand and she threw it like a pitcher throws a baseball. Veltor jumped out of the blast radius just in time, the fireball exploded with a deafening bang. The tree was reduced to ash instantly. ¡°Are you mad!? You¡¯ll lay waste to the entire forest!¡± Veltor yelled at her. Even now, the green flames spread from the decimated tree to surrounding foliage. She chucked another fireball at him for his troubles, disintegrating more vegetation. I tried calling out to her, but my voice failed me. With no other option, I lifted myself to my feet and strained myself to a balance. Then, I ran straight into the green fire that razed everything it touched and tackled Raima out of the diagram. I used my Spatial Ring to absorb the fire before it could harm me, I wouldn¡¯t throw myself into danger without a plan. ¡°Fei? What are-Holy Dih, your arm!¡± she gasped. ¡°Calm down, Veltor isn¡¯t trying to kill me.¡± I think, I added in my head. "then, how do you explain your arm?" she retorted. I didn''t know what to say besides, "He didn''t kill anyone. He only incapacitated Shan and May, and he had plenty of time to kill me before you arrived." "You should listen to Fei," Veltor interrupted. Raima was on her feet in an instance, brandishing her claws. "How do you know his name?" she questioned. Veltored sighed as he reached into his coat and revealed a shaped stone. It was the shape of a feather with a shrunken version of the same feather magically pulsing olympic blue engraved in the middle of both sides. "Your parents entreated me to deliver this to you now that you''ve become an old," said Veltor.