《Ephemeral World》 Ephemeral World (Chapter 1) How it all started Inside the throne room of the castle of the human kingdom. Many figures gathered around a magic circle while chanting some kind of spell while the king and the guards watched them in silence while gritting their teeth hoping the spell will work. After a few minutes, the casters finished the spell and a bright light enveloped the room. After a few moments, the light disappeared and three unknown figures stood in the middle of the magic cirle. The king stood up and approached them. "Greetings people of another world, my name is Bianreid Lindrymr Ymirad, the king of the kingdom of Ymirad. We''ve summon you here to ask you to help us save this world from destruction. Can you tell me your names?" "Where the fuck am I? Why did you disturb me when I''m working!? You asswipe!" The one who spoke first was a young man with the bangs of his hair white while the rest is black and was wearing a pair of eyeglasses. "Foolish human, thou dare to order me!?" The second one to speak was a young man with white hair, blood red eyes and pale white skin. "Now, now. We won''t know our situation if we don''t cooperate. I am Levus Triliaq Respectacus, I came from the world of Soviuq, I am the king of the orcs of Nyriel. A pleasure to meet you king of Ymirad." The last one who spoke was a huge orc wearing something that looked like a deformed crown. "The pleasure is mine." The two who didn''t reveal their names reluctantly gave up for what Levus said was true. They won''t know what happened to them if they won''t cooperate. "Human, listen well, I am Azazel Euryhar Naqcres, the third prince of the kingdom of Naqcres that dwells in the world of magic, Rymrgi. A magic meister and master swordsman." "*tch* Fine, my name is Xyndis Vi Vermundus. I am a world-class inventor from Aquira de Miria, a world filled with advance technology." Levus Triliaq Respectacus came from a world where there are constant wars raging across the world. He became the Orc King in order to stand up and fight in order to protect his kin and those who can''t fight. He obtained an ability to make unintelligent beasts follow him. Azazel Euryhar Naqcres is from a world of darkness where beasts and supernatural creatures roam. A world where the bloodshed is an everyday happening and magic advanced to a point of forbidden gremoires can be used without certain side effects. He is the third prince of a prestigious vampire kingdom. Xyndis Vi Vermundus is from a world where science and technology has advanced to a point of making a cyberspace to act as a back-up world if their world is in a crisis. He is considered a prodigy and a genius that he received the title of World-class Inventor at a young age. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. "Very well, shall we discuss the whole reason why we summoned you here? Come with me." They followed the king towards a corridor that leads to the dining hall. They saw various dishes unknown to them. "Now then, please take your seats. We will discuss the reason later." The king insisted and pointed towards a long table that has many unoccupied seats. Azazel and Xyndis reluctantly sat in the middle while Levus happily sat on a chair on the right hand side of the king. Azazel used magic to determine if there is poison on the food and Xyndis used his eyeglass to analyze the food contents and determine if there are any harmful substances while Levus without hesitation picked up a piece of meat and swallowed it in one gulp. "There is really no need to worry. We wouldn''t want the heroes to distrust us. Look at your companion, he has a huge smile on his face." The king spoke in a calm and friendly manner which Levus took as a signal and grab more food and ate it. "There''s no need for the great me to indulge mineself in these offerings, for the great me hath already ate my fill before thee summoned me here without prior warning." "Do you really think I would let my guard down? Think again! Being a world-class inventor needs to be prepared when doing a experiment. In other words, I already ate to prepare for my experiment when you assholes dragged me into this unknown world that is still in the medieval era." "..." The king fell silent and when they finished eating. "Now, let''s move on to the reason why you guys are summoned." "Human, ye already said that thou needst us to protect this world, right?" "Yes, we indeed need your help to protect this world from being destroyed by the Epivious" "*tch* Why the fuck would I want to do something so troublesome?!" "We are at our wit''s end. We don''t have any other options left. Furthermore, we can only summon people from other worlds but we can''t send them back." "Can''t be help right. Yo, four eyes and dude that looks like a corpse." "What didst thou say?!" "four eyes!? How dare you!?" "Why don''t we just help them out until we find a way to go back to our worlds?" "..." The both of them sighed dejectedly and taking that for a yes the king rose from his seat. "Thank you very much. Shall we call it a night and rest. We will continue our discussion tomorrow. Maids! Accompany our guest to their rooms." "Yes your majesty." A group of maids entered the dining hall and led the three to their rooms. Ephemeral World (Chapter 2) Exploring the unknown Morning came and the crow of the rooster was heard. The three heroes was summoned at the throne room. They saw the king sitting on the throne and beside him are girls that seems to be princesses. "Human, thou hath the nerve to call me in this time of day." The first one to arrive was Azazel which is visibly in a irritated mood. "Good morrow your majesty. May I know the reason for you to call us this early?" Levus is the next one to arrived. He is unexpectedly in a cheerful mood. "Morning you fatass. What do you want us to do? Help you exercise?" The last one who arrived was Xyndis. He seems to be in a angry mood for some reason. Hearing what Xyndis said, Levus hits Xyndis in the head. "That is no way to speak to a king!" "What? Do you wanna fight me?! I ain''t scared you ugly ass shit!" Xyndis was even more angrier because of what Levus did. "Now now. It''s not good to fight this early so I request you to calm down." Levus and Xyndis stopped fighting. Azazel and Xyndis just glared at the king while Levus was anticipating what will the king say next. "These girls here are my daughters. The eldest is Phaenia Lindde Ymirad. The second is Theamia Obelia Ymirad. And the youngest is Fenrhea Riaka Ymirad." The princesses bowed once the king introduced them. "Tch. Let''s get this over with. What do you want us for? I''m getting tired of waiting." "I told you! That''s not the correct way to speak to the king!" Levus tried to hit Xyndis again but Xyndis dodge and hit levus instead. The two of them started chasing each other around the throne room while the king and princesses watch them in amazement. "Ahem. State thy reason human, and make haste." Azazel who ignored all the events happening hurried the king. "Oh right. I want you three to go to the town and familiarize yourselves with the atmosphere and common sense of this world. You can also buy weapons and other things you need or want. We''ll just send a messenger if we need to discuss something important with you." ----- The three are standing outside the castle with the drawbridge behind them and they are carrying pouches containing the currency of this world. "Damn! What a pain in the ass! Atleast I can finally get out from that shitty castle." "Your sharp tongue never let a single moment pass by without an insult." "What''s that!? Wanna fight huh?!" "I don''t have time for this so I will go now. I want to memorize the town before sundown." Levus started to walk towards the town without looking back at the two. "Well then, I shall also take my leave." Azazel flew towards the town. "*sigh* Such a pain." Xyndis also headed towards the town. ----- Xyndis arrived at the town and decided to ask some questions. "Hey you! Guy with a round hat. Tell me where''s the blacksmith is at." "A-another one!? E-eeek!" The man ran as if his life depended on it and Xyndis was dumbstruck of the man''s reaction. "Tch. What a coward. I''m not that scary or frightening compared to those two." He wandered around and asked where the blacksmith is at but the people showed the same reation due to his unnatural appearance and clothing. "This suck- Huh? That sign, a hammer and a anvil. That''s the blacksmith! Ha! I know I should have not wasted my time asking people questions and just believe in my self." Xyndis pridefully entered the blacksmith to ask for all the metals and materials they have and analyze it in order for him to know which one he can use. ----- Azazel descended to the town and use magic to scan the area around him to determine if there are people who wants to attack him or those who have malicious intent. "Since this is a different world. Their magic must be different compared to mine." He wandered to for a few minutes and then decided to ask for direction. "Hey! Guy with a funny looking hat. Thou shall tell me wherever is the library located." "A-ahhh!" The man ran away from Azazel as if he was scared of him. "Wait!" The man didn''t hear Azazel''s words and continued to run. "I said wait! Ye foolish human." Azazel teleported in front of the man and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. "Human. Thou shall answer my question without withholding any information. Understood?" "Y-yes Milord" Azazel used a skill available to vampires, hypnotism. When this skill is used the victim is compelled to do the orders of the user. But this skill can''t affect the one''s who has a barrier, protection spell and protective talismans that negates or blocks psychological attacks. "Now then. Tell me wherever is the library in this place located." After receiving information, Azazel headed towards the library. "''Tis seems I can still use my world''s magic and skills in this world. Come to think of it, I flew towards this town without thinking of the consequences of using magic unknown to this world." He arrived at the library and began to read books about this world and it''s magical structure. ----- Levus, who was the first one to head towards the town, arrived in a cheerful mood due to being able to have the chance to walk around the town with people and not guerilla soldiers or rebels. "How nice~ The air is clean, the noise of a busy town can be heard. What a nice and peaceful place~ I can''t really believe this world is at war with an ruthless enemy. Humans can be so interesting." Doing what he planned, he wandered around aimlessly to remember the geography of the area. A few minutes of walking, he saw a man with a funny looking round hat that was about to fall from a building. Levus reacted swiftly and caught the man. "Hey, you alright?" "U-uh y-yeah... thank- aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Once the man saw his saviour turns out to an orc with an scary face, he dashed away from Levus without looking back as if looking back and stopping will kill him. "..." Levus continued his wandering in a disheartened mood. ----- Xyndis was surprised because the blacksmiths willingly offered their materials to him and without wasting a second, he used his eyeglass to scan the materials. After scanning all of the materials he bought a few and left the building. "I see. There are materials in this world similar to mine and materials that doesn''t exist in my world is here. Interesting. Now then, time to check this area''s geography." Xyndis didn''t ask people for directions and just headed to the highest place he can see, which is the watchtower built in the center of the town. After getting lost several times, he finally arrived at the watchtower. Since it''s mainly used as a attraction, he got inside by paying a small amount of money. There, he saw a panoramic view of the town and the castle which is located at a higher location than the town. "Yui, draw a map of the area and start scanning the area for any potential danger." "Roger that!" A voice of a girl replied to him in a energetic tone from the earpiece that was with him from the time he was summoned. That was the AI he created back in his world, Yui, she helps him in various things and do what Xyndis commands her. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "By the way, Master." "What is it?" "I have completed the command you gave me last night. I have determined that we really are in a different world. I cannot contact the master AI or any form of communication in our world and the geography of this world is far different from ours." "I see. It can''t be helped then. How much time left to finish the task I gave you?" "Estimated time is 30 minutes." Xyndis just observed the buildings and the culture of this world which is different from his world. ----- Azazel decided to read only the necessary books and just scanned the other books. He obtained some useful information and some information which is of no use to him. "The information regarding this world is somehow lacking. They only have records of the war in the past between the kingdoms before the catastrophe appeared. other than that, there are no records of what came before that. Maybe due to the catastrophe that the records are missing or it was forcibly removed. ''Tis useless to overthink things when I was only summoned in this for a day''s time. However, the magical structure in this world is strangely similar to mine but at the same time it differs." After reading the books he wanted to read he left the library and decided to know the geography of this area. When he arrived at a place without people, he flew upwards until he can see the whole town. "O unholy Gremoire of Darkness, I command thee, come forth at once and serve me." After Azazel finished the spell, darkness gathered in his left hand and soon materialized in to a book. The Gremoire of Darkness, the gremoire created by Azazel by taking various spells from forbidden gremoires in his world and combined it into a single gremoire. "Now then." He opened the gremoire and searched for a blank page. He then used magic to create a map of the town with specific details. "With that out of the way, ''Tis time for a meal. That human forgot to prepare breakfast and now ''tis noon." The bloodline in which Azazel belongs to is a special bloodline of vampires that allows them to replenish their energy not just by drinking blood but also eating food. ----- Levus finished wandering the town and decided to rest for a bit. "I can''t believe walking aimlessly in a relaxed manner can be very tiring.*sigh*" He just observed the blue sky which was different from his world. His world was covered by smoke, ashes and dust turning it''s skies dark in colour. While remembering his world, a ball fell into his feet and a little girl approached him. "U-umm... C-can... I.... Get m-my ball?" "Here." Levus picked up the ball and gently threw it to the little girl. "T-Thank y-you, M-mister Orc." The girl bowed and left Levus. With the smile of the little girl brought a smile on Levus'' face. ----- "So? Why the heck are you guys here!?" Xyndis shouted at the two persons who are also sitting with him at a table in a inn. "Can''t be helped. The other inns are afraid of me because I''m an orc." Levus shrugged at Xyndis which made him even more furious. "Why are you eating at a inn anyway!? You should just go to the woods and search your food there!" "I can''t let that remark slide." Levus and Xyndis started to quarrel while Azazel reads a book he borrowed from the library and ignored the two. While two continued to fight, someone slammed their table so loud that Xyndis and Levus stopped quarreling. Levus, Xyndis and Azazel, which stopped reading, stared at the culprit. "You bastards... SHUT THE HELL UP! You''re disturbing the other customers. If you won''t stop, imma kick you out of this inn!" "S-sorry..." The two apologized to the inn owner which is a tall man with a huge build. "Your orders are ready. So eat quietly." "Y-yes." When the inn owner left they breathed an sigh of relief and started eating. "Hey you, guy with white hair." "Art thou referring to me." Xyndis can''t hold his curiosity anymore and asked Azazel. "You''re a vampire, right? Then why are you eating food and can walk under the sun?" "The bloodline in which I belong is considered special even among vampires. We can replenish our energy not just drinking blood but also eating food. And we can walk under the sun without turning to ashes is because of our great regenerative ability and magic can also help." "Magic? What do you mean?" In Xyndis'' world, magic did not exist. Xyndis uses Science in his everyday life which is different from Levus and Azazel which uses magic. "Hah! You don''t know magic? Acting high and mighty but don''t know magic. What a joke." Levus, who still angry at Xyndis'' remarks before mocked him. "So what? I bet you don''t even know Science." "Science? What''s that? Is it tasty?" "Thou both, stop fighting or the inn owner shall once again shout at thee." "..." Both of them fell silent when Azazel mentioned the inn owner. "Ye can read basic magic in the library which is not far from here." "Huh? You saying that to me? Are you freaking taking pity on me!?" "Not at all. ''Tis just that we are in the same boat so why not help each other? Futhermore, the library only contains books that is an introduction to magic and doesn''t let people cast dangerous spells." "Tch, Since I don''t like to owe someone any favors. So take this." Xyndis tossed a stick-shape metal that has a button on one end to Azazel. "Press the button to activate it. It contains the basic principles of Science. Just touch and swipe the thing that will appear upwards to make it go downwards and vice versa." Azazel pressed the button and a hologram appeared that showed some text and he tried to do what Xyndis said and the hologram scrolled downwards and upwards. "This is indeed quite interesting. Thou have my gratitude." "Hmph, don''t need it." "Since we''re in the topic of helping each other. Do any of you two know a high place where I can see the whole town?" Levus who was quiet until now asked this question in order to determine wether his memory of the geography of this town is accurate. "I think you can do that at the watchtower at the center of the town." Xyndis unexpectedly answered Levus'' question without any rude remarks. ----- Xyndis headed towards the library following Azazel''s directions. When he arrived, he prioritized reading the history of this world and read books related to magic occasionally. ----- Azazel arrived at the blacksmith to determine if there are materials he can use to create his sword which was left in his world. He found some materials similar to what his sword is composed of and bought it. ----- Levus was surprised that Xyndis wasn''t lying about the watchtower and entered it and started to inspect the town. ----- Quite some time has passed by and a messenger of the king informed the three of them that they were called by the king. They arrived at the castle wondering what does the king want. Ephemeral World (Chapter 3) Establishing bonds They were led by the maids into the throne room. There they saw the king and some other men with distressed expressions. "Yo fatass, what is it now?" Without minding the atmosphere of the room, Xyndis insulted the king. "O-oh you''re here, good good. We have a major crisis at hand, that''s why I called you here." "Crisis? Human, what do you mean?" "Our scouts has reported that an army of goblins are heading this way. They will reach the kingdom in 5 days time." "Huh!? Goblins? Why does it have to be goblins!? Oh by the way, what''s a goblin?" "It seems this fellow here doesn''t know what a goblin is, pathetic." "What was that you bastard!?" Xyndis and Levus started fighting as usual and Azazel just breathed a sigh. "Thou both stop. Levus, is that how thou act in front of a king?" "..." Levus became silent with Azazel pointing out his rude behavior in front of the king. "In simple terms. The creature called goblin is a green humanoid being that is small in stature. They usually live in groups and make or steal stuff in order for them to use it. That''s the general idea about them but ''tis rather strange." "Hmmm... So it''s like those stories made for fun in my world huh? But what do you mean it''s rather strange?" "Human" "Y-yes." The king was surprised when Azazel called him instead of answering Xyndis. "Does thy scouts seen a goblin king or shaman leading the goblins?" "As a matter of fact, both of them are present." "W-wait! What do you guys mean a king or shaman!?" Xyndis interjected Azazel and the king due to his lack of knowledge about the goblins and he doesn''t want to be left out. "Normally, goblins live in caves and are only a small threat. A group of adventurers can exterminate them and their hideout for they are only using weapons made from wood and stones and sometimes old blades from dead adventurers or warriors. They would attack other creatures with barbaric tactics. But with a king or a shaman leading them, that''s a different story. If the leader is quite capable, they can wipe out an entire town or a small army." "Heh~ Then, this is a serious matter huh? Wait! Don''t tell me you''re planning to send us three to fight them, fatass!?" "That is correct. But worry not, there will be knights accompanying you." The king gave out a smile which pissed Xyndis even more. "''Tis to be expected." "O king, allow us three to accept this mission." Levus knelt and asked the king for permission to carry out the extermination. "Us three!? What do you mean us three!? Don''t go deciding it on your own!" "Very well, I have high hopes for you, heroes." "Hey! Don''t ignore me!" They were dismissed and was asked to prepare for the upcoming fight. They were granted permission to use all the facilities of the castle. "*sigh* This sucks." "''Tis indeed bothersome." "Hey you two, what''s with those faces? Just think of it as a way to help the citizens and protect them." Levus who was enthusiastic about the fight tried to cheer the two. "Helping and saving the people? No thanks. I would rather lock myself up in a room and do experiments." "The lives of humans does not matter to me. Futhermore, this bothersome task has no merits whatsoever." Refusing to become enthusiastic about the fight, the two continued to refute Levus. "Merits...Merits... There are some!" "Huh?" "You know, like thinking of it as a test practice for our skills and weapons if they are still usable and if they are, we can know their limitations on this world." "Not bad for an orc." "Heh~ So you also have a brain huh?" They headed towards their respective rooms and made plans for tomorrow. ----- Morning came and the first one to wake up was Levus. "*yawn* What a great morning to start the day. Now then, I should go to the armory to check if there are weapons I can use." He walked through a corridor that leads to the armory while listening to the joyful chirping of the birds. He greeted the maids and other people he walked passed by. After some time walking, he reached the armory which was filled with noises from the blacksmiths hammering metals to create weapons. "Good morning everyone!" Levus Greeted the people inside the armory with a loud voice that was enough to draw the attention of those people. "Oh! You''re one of those heroes that his majesty summoned. If I remember correctly, your called Levus, right?" "Spot on! I am Levus Triliaq Respectacus, nice to meet you." "Likewise. So, anything you need?" "I was hoping to find a suitable weapon for me."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. "Just look around and just pick whatever you like." "Thanks." Levus looked around the armory and examined various weapons from daggers to greatswords. After a few minutes of looking, he found his choice of weapon. An axe with a short handle and has a hammer at the other side of the axe. "I''ll pick this one." "Good choice!" "Well then, I''ll take my leave." "Come again anytime!" ----- Xyndis woke up in a rather pleasant mood and headed towards the workshop where inventors and engineers are gathered. They create new things in order to do something more easier or to improve the equipments of the soldiers. "As I though. This place is stuck in the freaking steampunk age!" "Well if Isn''t one of the heroes. What brings you here?" A man with large build who was wearing goggles approached him with a smile on his face. "I was thinking of creating something using the equipments here. Is there any rooms I can use?" "Is that so? How about you use one of the rooms we use for experimenting? It''s rather large and has nobody will complain if you make some noises or explosions." "Hmmm... Fine, lead me to where it is." "Right this way." The man lead Xyndis into a vast room and left Xyndis there. The room was filled with various tools and equipments. "This room is not bad. Not bad at all." ----- When Azazel woke up, he headed straight to the castle''s library to check if there are some useful information and spells he can add to his gremoire. Upon arriving, he saw a bunch of people reading books, writing something on a sheet of paper or on a book and discussing something with others. Azazel ignored the people and began to inspect the books. "U-uhmm... Mister, can I ask your name?" Azazel looked at where the voice came from and saw a petite girl with long black hair and was wearing a lab coat. "''Tis a must to give thy name first, when thou art asking for another person''s name." "S-sorry. My name is Macyl Berariel Risant, the head researcher of the Magic Research Department. And you are." "Azazel Euryhar Naqcres." "Really!? T-then you''re one of the heroes who was summoned here?" "I don''t call mineself a hero but ''tis true that I was summoned. Why?" "You three are rather famous. Due to the fact that you guys are summoned to this world in order to save it. If there''s anything you need just tell me." "Hmmm... Then, could thou check if thou have these materials." Azazel placed a piece of paper which contained various materials into the head researcher''s tiny hands. Macyl read the paper and looked at Azazel. "Leave it to me!" She dashed out the library and Azazel resumed inspecting the books. ----- Levus headed to the training grounds after choosing a weapon. There he saw soldiers training and others was either sparring or resting. "Hey guys!" "Oh! It''s one of the heroes, Levus! What brings you here?" "Can any of you guys have a sparring match with me?" "You heard him. Who wants to go first?" A man raised his hand and he and Levus headed to the center while others watched with excitement. With difference with strength, Levus won and a another challenger stood forth and fought him. ----- Xyndis was sitting in the room with various materials in front of him. "Yui, how''s the blueprints?" "The first one is 100% complete, Master! But the other one is still 20% because I haven''t yet fully analyzed the spell." "It''s fine, just continue." "Yes!" Xyndis conjured a hologram containing the blueprint for his weapon. He molded metals and shaped materials into parts and assembled it. The first weapon he made was a railgun that shaped like pistol. It shoots projectiles at breakneck speed by sending powerful electric currents through the barrel to create a magnetic field to shoot the projectile. Xyndis experimented and adjusted his gun until he was satisfied. "Master, the blueprint for the second one is finished!" "Good job." Using the spare materials, he created his second weapon. It also looked like a pistol but instead of shooting projectiles, it conjures a magic circle that will cast and shoot a basic elemental spell like fireball. To make this possible, Yui first analyzed the basic principles of magic in this world which is using the caster''s energy to conjure a magic circle and use it as a medium to cast a spell. She turned the conjuring sequence of the magic circle into data and inputted it on various circuits she designed and made an case to combine those circuits. The design of the case is a pistol because of her master''s order. By using that gun, Xyndis will be able to cast spells with only a quarter of the energy needed to cast the original spell even though he has not trained to be a mage. Long story short, the both of them made a magical tool that can be used by normal people, that does not have any experiences regarding magic, to cast a spell with only a small amount of energy. "And done! My weapons are done!" "Master, congratulations! But Master, won''t you give your weapons a name?" "A name huh? Good idea! Let me think of one." ----- Azazel finished reading all the books he needed to read and was just reading those he picked randomly when the head researcher came back and was carrying a large sack on her back. "Mister Azazel~ I''m back with the materials!" "Oh? I just told her to check if they have the materials and I will be the one who will get it but it seems I don''t have to do that. But why Mister?" Azazel approached the head researcher while being amazed by how she carried that heavy looking sack from the storage to here. "Why didst thou brought the materials hither? Did I not tell thou to just check if there are any?" "Y-yes, but Mister Azazel wouldn''t bringing it here myself would be much faster than just telling you that we have the materials you need and I bet you will get them yourself." "Not bad. But drop the mister." "If I do, so how will I address you?" "Just call me Azazel." "Ok!" The head researcher handed the sack to Azazel and he checked the materials and surprisingly, all the materials he need is there. "Thou hath my thanks. Now then, I shall take my leave." "Where are you going?" "Somewhere where I can make my weapon." "Can I go with you?" "Suit thyself." They left the library and headed towards the forest behind the castle. After a few minutes of walking, they reached halfway towards the area Azazel picked. "Art thou sure thou still want to go with me?" "Yes, why?" "Nobody goes to this forest much less to the place we are heading. Art thou not afraid that I will do something to you?" "Not really and if you want to do something to me, you would not warn me, right?" "..." They walked for a while and reached the place. They arrived at a vast empty place inside the forest. "This place is good." After placing the sack on the ground, Azazel then proceeded to make a magic circle on the ground with various runes and shapes. "Azazel, what are you doing? Aren''t you gonna make a weapon?" "I am making one." "Huh? Aren''t weapons supposed to be made by molding them or combining parts? I have not heard of a weapon being made with a magic circle." "Is that so? ''Tis seems thou still hath a lot to learn. I will be using this magic circle to use transmutation on the materials." "E-eh? You can do that? Only high-class alchemists can do transmutation and they can only transmute a few metals and not this amount of materials." "Is that so?." Azazel finished the magic circle and placed all the materials at the center. "O unholy Gremoire of Darkness, I command thee, come forth at once and serve me" Darkness gathered in his left hand and materialized into a book. "Woah! Azazel what''s that?" "''Tis my Gremoire. Now, be quiet and let me concentrate." "Ok" "Elements which this world contains. I command thee, change thy form into the form which I desire!" The materials melted and fused together and after a few moments, it changed its shape into a sword. It hardened and it completed it''s transformation, a sword with a dark red blade and handle with the same color. Azazel picked up the sword and started swinging it. "This is good enough." He looked over at Macyl who was still dumbstruck. "Macyl!" "Y-yes?" "We are leaving." "O-ok. But Azazel, that was pretty awesome! Could you teach me?" "I''m afraid I can''t do that." "Why?" "The spell I used is a forbidden spell. If someone without training or experience use a forbidden spell, they will suffer greatly." "..." It was night when they headed back to the castle. "Hey Azazel." "What?" "Could I ask you to come and eat with us?" "us?" "Yes, with the Magic Research Department." "I don''t mind. But why?" "Since you used that forbidden spell without suffering from the side-effects. I guess you''re from a world where magic is more advance than ours. So, I want you to teach us some tips to improve our magic." "If that is the case then, sure why not?" "Thank you!" With Macyl leading the way with a big smile on her cheeks, they arrived at a dining hall that is filled with the people Azazel saw at the library. ----- "That was fun! Thanks." "We''re the ones who should be thanking. You helped us improve our fighting styles and gave a few tips." Levus and the soldiers finished sparring and was preparing to leave the training grounds. "Levus why don''t you eat with us? Just think of it as our thanks." "I''ll take you up on that." ----- Xyndis left the room and was surrounded by the inventors. "Yo Xyndis, why don''t you have dinner with us? We want to celebrate because one of the heroes is a inventor like us." "Why do you think I would eat with you!" "Come on!" The inventors begged Xyndis for a while and Xyndis admitted defeat. "Fine! I will eat with you guys!" "Yay!" ----- "Your majesty, we have been told that the heroes will not eat dinner with you." "I see. It''s fine, we need them to get used to this world faster." In the throne, the king sat on the throne worried about the impending disaster. Ephemeral World (Chapter 4) Goblin horde "WHY THE HECK ARE WE THE ONLY ONES HERE!?!" Xyndis shouted at the top of his lungs towards his two comrades while standing on the top of a hill. The sun is high up in the sky and cool winds blew throughout the hill. "Can''t be helped. Something unexpected happened, so that''s why we are here." Levus was sitting on the ground checking his weapon. "''Twas their fault for getting careless and ended in that condition." Azazel was reading his gremoire to finalize if the spells he will use are ready. "But still! This is just plain suicide! Look at them!" Beyond the hill are countless hordes of goblins with decent armors and weapons. They were slowly approaching the hill in which the three heroes are located. "Could you two freaking tell me what happened again!" "Fine." ----- 3 days before the battle. The three heroes was gathered in the inn they went when they explored the town. "So, what now? Are we gonna wait for them to come and siege us here?" Xyndis was eating pasta with mushroom sauce and a bunch of herbs and spices. "Seems that way. But ''tis indeed boring to play the waiting game." Azazel was eating a normal meal consisting of one main dish, 2 side dish and a appetizer. "Isn''t this great? We can reserve our strength for the upcoming battle." Levus was eating various meat from different beasts. All three of them sighed simultaneously and continued eating their lunch. ----- On the outskirts of the town. A soldier was patrolling for any suspicious things. He heard footsteps from the abandoned alley. "Hey, what are doin-" What he saw was a goblin taller than the normal one. It was holding a staff and was wearing a necklace made of tiny skulls of animals. The soldier was incinerated before he finished his sentence nor let out a scream. "Kekeke. Soldiers in this kingdom are so weak. Now then, time to finish the plan. Kekekeke." ----- 2 days before the goblins reaches the kingdom. The king and the three heroes was gathered in the throne room. "Fatass. What do you want?" Xyndis was in a foul mood because the three of them was summoned by the king at dawn. "I am going to tell you some bad news. The soldiers who were celebrating last night in order to boost their morale was found unconscious." "What!?" Levus who was quite close to the soldiers was the most surprised among the three heroes. "The doctors said that they were poisoned. It seems that the food they ate at the celebration was poisoned. We still don''t know how the food was poisoned or who did it. But, all the soldiers who were assigned to accompany you are unable to stand and others are still not waking up." The king with a serious expression on his face was truly worried for his men. "This sucks. So, what now fatass?" "We need to change our plans. We need you three to intercept the goblins. Of course we found a great place for you to set up a ambush." "Oh! You have another plan. I se- Wait!! What the fuck did you say!? Intercept!? Only the three of us!?" Xyndis was furious at the plan of the king. There is a low survival rate if only the three of them are going to fight an army of goblins. Though, it is not yet proven that the survival rate is low when Xyndis doesn''t know the capabilities of the other two. It is still illogical to think that they can do it. "Yes, that is correct." "What did you sa-" "Your majesty, please allow us to accept this important mission." Before Xyndis finished his sentence, Levus interjected and knelt in front of king. "I have high hopes for you." "Thanks your majesty." "Why the heck are you ignoring me again!?" Azazel just sighed because of the same scene when they first arrived was happening again. ----- "So the main culprit in why are we here is Levus, right? And why the heck do we even have escorts when going here? They just left after dropping us and didn''t even bother to help us fight." Xyndis was slightly nervous while looking towards the countless hordes of goblins just at the foot of the hill.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "''Tis about time we start." "Huh?" "Unholy legion of the eternal Naqcres family heed me! I, Azazel Euryhar Naqcres, Third prince of the kingdom of Naqcres, commands thee, come forth at once for I shall bestow upon thee the honor of fighting alongside me!" A magic circle covered the top of the hill and countless skeletons rose from it wearing pitch-black armor and various weapons. "I want to ask. Do you need your gremoire in order to cast magic?" Xyndis asked Azazel in curiosity about how he uses magic. "I only need my gremoire to help me lessen the energy cost when casting high tier magic and forbidden spells. I can cast low, mid and high tier magic without the gremoire and if I want to, I can cast forbidden spells but I want to avoid that if possible." "Is that so. But are we just gonna fight all these goblins until there''s none left? Or should we kill their leader?" "The latter is not bad. If we can kill their leader, the army will have no orders to follow and will fight individually. We can just finish them off easily. I have an idea for this to work. But I need your permission first." "What choices do we have right now? Just do it." "I agree with four eyes." Xyndis and Levus agreed to Azazel''s idea even though they don''t know what it is. "Well then." Azazel snapped his finger and Levus and Xyndis began to float from the ground. "Wait! You don''t mean!" "Have a safe trip." "You baaaaasssstaaaaaaaarrrrdddd!!" Xyndis and Levus flew upwards, then towards the forest where the two leaders of the goblin army namely, the goblin king and goblin shaman, are located. Azazel knew their location because he searched for them earlier when they arrive. "Now then, all forces attack!" ----- "That bastard. He just threw me out of nowhere without giving me a warning." Xyndis slowly stood up then checked his body for any injuries. Surprisingly, there are no injuries nor any scratches. "My body seems fine. Now then, time to look for the leade-" What stood before Xyndis in the distance was a goblin taller than the normal ones with a staff and was wearing small skulls as a necklace. It was the goblin shaman who excels in magic. "Oh. I guess there''s no need to find them if one of them is here. Yui, give me the statuses of Cyrah and Luna." "Cyrah''s magical circle casting algorithms are in order and Luna''s electrical currents are stabilized. Both of them are good to go." "Very well. Time for our first battle in this world. ----- "That''s pretty convenient. I can only cast a flying spell on myself but he casted it on both Xyndis and me and he did it with just a snap of a finger." He heard footsteps with the sound of heavy armor hitting each other that was approaching him. It was a goblin with a unbelievable size complete with armor from head to toe and has a war axe on his hand. Judging from it''s appearance, it''s not wrong to identify it as the goblin king. "What an honor to be able to meet his majesty this fast. But I need your head so no hard feelings, ok?" ----- On the hill stood a young man with white hair and blood red eyes. He was looking upon the battle that was raging before him. His troops, the army of skeletons, fighting an army of goblins. The skeletons has the upper hand when it comes to armor and weapons but the goblins has the advantage in numbers that made them fight equally with the skeletons. "This is getting nowhere." The man opened his gremoire and stopped at the page he wanted. "O foolish beings who dares to oppose me. Thou shall be turned to ashes, removed from this plane of existence, for the might of the heavens shall rain down upon thee in the form of streaks of light! Now feel the despair that thou hath brought upon thyself" Numerous lightning came from a huge magic circle that appeared at the position of the goblins and obliterated them, only to leave a huge crater. "That should do it. All forces advance!" The skeletons killed the remaining goblins and marched towards the forest where the goblins are preparing for a ambush. ----- Various spells and projectiles flew across the air while two beings dodged them. "Yui, how''s the prediction sytem?" "Still at 80% Master, just a little more." "Roger that." Xyndis shot spells at the goblin shaman which it blocked using defensive spells and counter attacked and when Xyndis shot a projectile it just dodged it and retreated to a safe location. "Master, the prediction system is online. Now loading predictions." The prediction system analyzes the magical energy in the atmosphere and that of the goblin shaman in order to predict when and where will the next spell be casted. The only downside is that it can only be used for 1 minute at most. "Well then, let''s go." Xyndis dashed towards the shaman while picking the most probable prediction among other predictions. The shaman casted a earth spell where the ground beneath the target''s feet will move and crushes the target. Having predicted this move, Xyndis used the ground which the spell manipulated as a foothold and jumped into the air. Reacting to this, the shaman casted a fireball spell towards Xyndis but Xyndis already anticipated it and shot a water spell from Cyrah to counter the fireball. "This is the end." Xyndis aimed and shot Luna towards the shaman. The shaman was pierced through his heart and fell to the ground. "Congratulations Master!" "Thanks. How''s Cyrah and Luna." "Cyrah was damaged and can''t continuously cast spells. Luna needs to be used only occasionally, if not, it''s electrical currents will become unstable and will explode." "What a pain. Let''s just sneak around and go back to the hill." "Ok!" ----- Clashes of weapons were heard throughout the area where two huge beings battled each other. Levus was not severely injured even though he did not wear proper armor while bits of the goblins king''s armor was falling unto the ground. "Is that all you got? Are you really the goblin king?" The goblin king didn''t respond, it just dashed towards Levus and swung his weapon down. "Come on, say something." The shaman king continued to attack Levus. Levus dodged the attacks and counter attacked when given a opening. "This getting bothersome. Time to get serious. Reinforce!" Reinforce is a spell that allows the user to boost his body and weapons magically. "Take this!" Levus punched the goblin king and sent it flying. Levus then dashed towards the goblin king and swung his weapon down but the goblin king managed to block it and Levus retreated a few steps away. Levus focused his magic unto his weapon and hit the ground. The ground split apart and the fissure reached the goblin king making him lose his balance. Waiting for this moment, Levus dashed and attacked the goblin king. The goblin king''s head was splattered and the king became a lifeless corpse. "Not bad but I have more experiences than you. I think it''s about time I head back. ----- Xyndis and Levus arrived at the top of the hill at the same time. They saw Azazel sitting beside the tree reading a book different from his gremoire. "You bastard! Why the heck did you do that!?" "''Twas the fastest method to end this fight." "What!? The thing you did almost gave me a heart attack!" "Why art thou mad? Thou managed to defeat them with ease or art thou not confident of thy skills and abilities?" "That''s... Not.." Xyndis stopped talking and just glared at Azazel. "By the way, where are the other goblins? I didn''t encountered even at least one of them." Levus surveyed the surroundings and saw scorched earth, craters, bones and ashes. "After thou both defeated the leaders, the rest just fought without any tactis, so defeating them was easy. Since thou both are here, why don''t we head back to the castle?" "I agree." With the sun at their backs, they walked towards the direction of the castle hoping that they can lay down on their beds and rest when they arrive. The fierce battle was over, the story of the three heroes shall spread across the land bringing hope to the people of this world, their journey shall continue. "As I thought. ''Tis bothersome to walk, Thou both come over hither." "Huh? Why" Azazel snapped his finger, darkness swirled around them and disappeared. Xyndis and Levus noticed that the three of them were standing in front of the gate of the town when they were just walking on the road leading to the town. "Why the heck did you not do that earlier!? We''ve almost walked halfway towards this place!" Ephemeral World (Chapter 5) Journey to the East
Night came and the king grew more worried about the heroes for the soldiers whom he sent to pick them up reported that they did not found any soul in the hill or the road leading to the town. "If we lose them now, it would be troublesome for both me and the whole world. Find their whereabouts." ----- "*yawns* The was unexpectedly comforting, for a room in an inn." Xyndis was rubbing his eyes as he headed to the dining hall in the inn they went before. After the three arrived at the gates of the town, instead of heading towards the castle to rest, they stayed at the inn where the three of them ate before. As he approached the dining hall, he heard murmurs and gossips between the renters of the place. He looked around for a while and headed towards where Azazel and Levus sat. "So, what''s this fuss all about?" "Thou took longer to wake up than I expected." Azazel was eating the same meal he ate before. While Xyndis sat, he ordered the meal he also ate before. "Yeah, yeah. So, what''s up?" "There hath been news about an army of Epivious heading towards the elven woods where the elves and other races'' refugees are located. And this guy, Levus won''t stop blabbing about going there to help." Azazel pointed towards Levus as he said this and Levus quickly swallowed the piece of meat he was chomping down. "Come on, we are summoned to this world to save it. So what''s wrong in helping them. Plus, we managed to pull off the battle with the goblins and who knows? Maybe we can find some information in the elven kingdom." Azazel and Xyndis thought logically and carefully for a while and deduced that what Levus said is more convenient than staying in one place. "Fine." Both of them sighed and agreed to head towards the elven kingdom. ----- "You guys ready to go? Well then, to the elven kingdom!" For some reasons, Levus was high spirited for this journey. "Why do you sound like you''re our leader?" Levus ignored Xyndis'' question and started walking to the carriage they rented to reach their destination. After checking if their supplies are enough, they set out and followed the road that was shown by the map which was given to them by the guards at the gates. "If we follow this road we should be able to reach a place that is great for camping. By the way, are you guys sure we don''t have to inform the king that we are going to the elves?" Levus stared at the map while chomping on a piece of meat that was supposed to be eaten at lunch. "Why not? ''Tis their fault for sending us with no troops at all, just consider this as revenge." Azazel with a bored expression said this as he cast a wide area detection magic on a hourly basis while playing chess which he made using magic with Xyndis. ----- The king drenched in cold sweat was sitting on the throne room when a messenger came. "Have you found them?" The king stood up and frantically approached the messenger. "Y-yes your majesty. B-but..." "But what?" "We received reports that they are heading towards Ertea, the kingdom of the elves." The king stood there frozen and it took a bit of time for him to recover. ----- Azazel and Xyndis sat inside the carriage with bored expressions while still playing chess as the carriage continues follows the road that was on the map they obtained. So far, nothing eventful happened to them or places around them. As time went by, their boredom grew stronger with each bump they encounter on the road. "In my world, there are stories about people transported to another world and gain exciting adventures everywhere they go and yet, we are here sitting inside this torture device with wheels and horses. Oh did I forgot to add that this world is in a crisis where it can be destroyed sooner or later?" Xyndis who had enough of the uneventful journey they had, explained what he think about the flaws of this clich¨¦ isekai-like series of event happening to them which was in the documents he was forced to read by his colleagues back in his world. "If thou want to see something interesting everytime, then I advise you to visit my world for thou shall see innards, blood, explosions and destruction everywhere on a daily basis if you walk around." Azazel who is unexpectedly maintaining his cool live in a world, as said before, where the rule is survival of the fittest. "It sounds dangerous so I''d rather not." "Hey guys! We''re finally at the camping site." Levus informed his comrades in a energetic way. As they started to unpack their things, Xyndis started to notice something was off. "Hey guys! Where''s the tents?" Xyndis looked through their stuff and didn''t found a single tent and he had forgotten that he forgot to buy one. "Tent? What is that?" Azazel asked in confusion. "What do you mean? Tents are needed when travelling so that, we can sleep comfortably in the outdoors." Xyndis tried to explain it as best as he could. "Nope, it does not ring a bell." Azazel replied to Xyndis in a confused manner because in his world and Levus'', tents does not exist due to magic being used in their daily lives and neglected some inventions that they deemed worthless. "Okay, new question. How will we sleep here without any sort of thing that will protect us from the insects and rain."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "So that is what thy problem. Thou hath not gone travelling before, I assume?" "I hate to admit it but yes." "Do not worry. Magic is pretty useful when sleeping outdoors, so leave everything to us." "Fine." Xyndis agreed but did not fully trust them. "W-what happened?" Xyndis was shocked because there was a dome-like barrier surrounding them and inside the air temperature is normal, not too cold or too hot. Also, Insects and beasts seems to avoid this barrier and does not dare to get close. "W-what is this? It''s convenient." "''Tis a barrier, Oculus, that wards off animals and other external factors like cold winds and the like. So, is the temperature comfortable enough for thee? Or would thou like to adjust it?" "No need. It''s already fine as it is." They soon ate dinner and went to find a good sleeping spot and slept. ----- They were awoken by the sound of a huge explosion which was coming from the forest beside their camping site. "What was that!?" Xyndis asked his comrades which was also shocked to hear an explosion at that time of night. "That I do not know. Anyway, let us go and investigate." As soon as Azazel was done speaking he readied his sword and the other two followed and readied their own weapons. They left the barrier and sprinted towards the forest. Explosions continue to disturb the quietness of the forest. "Over there." Levus pointed at a clearing of the forest. When they arrived, they saw a family of elves that was firing spells while being cornered by a bunch of humans that seems to be slave traders based on their carriage. They were accompanied by a magician who was casting a barrier to deflect the attacks of the family of elves. "I can''t bear to watch this. We need to help." Xyndis tightly gripped the handle of his guns while waiting for the right moment to attack. "Xyndis, can thou create a diversion to create a distortion on the barrier?" Azazel asked Xyndis in a serious tone. "Fine." Xyndis shot a fire spell towards the ground near the barrier. The slave traders who have not expected this, panicked and bumped into the magician which caused the magician to loose focus and disperse the barrier. "So now wha- huh?" Before Xyndis finished his sentence, he noticed that Azazel was not beside him but teleported behind the enemies. Azazel drew his sword, swung it and sheathed it all in a blink of an eye. Without time to react the slave traders were cut into multiple pieces and blood scattered everywhere. Some companions of the slave traders got off the carriage to attack Azazel but Levus was waiting for this time and killed them. "Hey are you guys alright?" Xyndis rushed towards the elven family to check if anyone of them was severely injured. "Y-yes t-thanks for saving us." The father was the one who spoke on behalf of his family. "No problem, but can you tell us why you guys were being captured? I mean the races should be united now because of the catastrophe and all." "Yeah that is right but there are some who joined forces with the enemy and captured some of the races for experimentations or other stuff." "Is that so? So, where is the guy who sent the traders to capture you?" "It''s up north, you can find a mansion there. Please save the others." The father was on all four and begged Xyndis. Xyndis, who is unexpectedly weak to people begging him, released a sigh while scratching his head and chose to accept the task. "Interesting. Ye, who complains about doing things that are tiresome and have no benefits for him, actually accepted a favor." Azazel, who cannot endure the urge, teased Xyndis. "Shut up. What are we gonna do with them?" Xyndis who was slightly embarrassed asked Azazel because even though they saved them, there''s no telling if they will not be in danger after they leave them and head towards the mansion to save the others. "They will be fine if they stay at the barrier." "Heard him? Head towards the exit of the forest and stay inside the barrier where our carriage is stationed." Xyndis told them in a slightly strict tone. "Thank you very much." The elves solemnly thanked their saviours and followed Xyndis'' directions. "Now then shall we go?" Levus who was eating the food he found at the slave traders'' carriage asked his comrades. "Sure, let''s go." The three of them followed the road towards the mansion while staying vigilant for beasts or ambushes. ----- The mansion was praceful. So peaceful that one would think there are no people living in there. But Azazel already casted a spell around the area and determined that there are prisoners underground, guarded by a few guards, and 2 persons that was inside the study room. One person seems to be the owner of this mansion and the other has a unbelievable amount of magical power. "So? What is the plan." Azazel said his findings and asked the two person beside him. They were some distance away from the mansion and hid their presences. "It would be efficient if we split up in two groups. One group will save the prisoners while the other distracts the two persons upstairs." Levus presented this strategy which is the most logical one they can use. "Yeah, that would be great. But how will we split up? Will Levus be the one to save the prisoners and me and Azazel go distract the two?" Xyndis was willingly cooperating with Levus this time. "That would be best, considering Levus will only have to fight guards and save the prisoners." With Azazel''s advice, they agreed to go with what they have discussed. ----- An explosion rang through the air which is the signal for Levus to start moving towards the dungeon. He encountered some guards but they did not stood a chance against the orc king. Soon, he finally reached the cell where the prisoners are being kept. "Hey, you guys alright?" Levus asked the elves that are dressed in rags and was bruised in various parts of their bodies. "Hold on." Levus casted strengthen and bend the rails like pieces of sticks with his hands. "Let''s go, I''m here to save you." "B-but what about him? If he finds out about this he''ll be mad." An elf said this while trembling in fear while remembering what ''him'' did to them. "Him? You mean the duke? It''s okay, my companions are distracting him." "No! Not the duke! He''s just a pawn. We''ll all be killed! Killed!" The elf was starting to panick which troubled Levus. "Hey calm down, ok? My companions are pretty powerful, so will you guys just follow me." "KILLED! KILLED! KILLED!" Levus lost his patience and karate chopped the elf to make him faint. He carried him and led the prisoners outside. They found a place that has a safe distance from the mansion and stayed there. "Don''t you dare get killed, Azazel! Xyndis!" Levus and the prisoners waited for the outcome of the battle unfolding on the mansion. ----- "Art thou ready?" "As ready as I''ll ever be." Azazel and Xyndis are walking through the courtyard of the mansion. The enemies still hasn''t made any move. Azazel, with his Gremoire in hand, walked a few meters away from Xyndis and faced the room in which their enemies are currently in. "O chaos and destruction which resides in all worlds, heed me! With crimsom flames that blazes through the depths of the netherworld, turn mine foe into ashes and leave nothing of their existence! For ''tis mine will that thou shall follow! Explosion!" A huge explosion enveloped the whole second floor of the mansion. The second floor is nowhere to be seen. Strangely, there was a magical barrier in the area which was before known as the study until Azazel turned it into ashes. The barrier dispersed and inside was the duke and a mysterious man who was wearing a full body armor that looks like that of a knight''s but more grotesque. "What insects dares to disturb me!?" The hoarse voice of the man resounded throughout the vicinity of the mansion with the use of magic. "You now have the attention of the great me, Evito, one of the 13 knights of the Epivious! So what do you pathetic looking weaklings want!? On second thought, all of you die!" A dark green aura surrounds both the duke and Evito and burst pressure in all directions, having both of them at the center. Azazel and Xyndis readied their weapons and entered a fighting stance while Evito conjured a sword and a shield out of thin air. The duke was preparing spells and Evito entered a stance. "Xyndis, I shall fight Evito and I shall leave to thee to take care of the duke. ''Tis seems we need to defeat them and abandon the thought of just distracting them." Azazel strictly said this to Xyndis. "Got it." Not having the urge to retort, Xyndis obeyed Azazel. ----- Azazel and Evito dashed towards each other. Evito swung his sword down but Azazel dodged it and attacked Evito''s left side but that attack was blocked by his shield. Both of them retreated some distance with each other and clashed again. Xyndis took some distance from the two and headed towards where the duke is located. He was assaulted by a volley of spells which he managed to dodge and attack with Luna and Cyrah. "Let them feel your power, Knight''s Despair!" Knight''s Despair is the name of Evito''s sword. After chanting, his sword was covered by dark green aura. He swung it downwards and a slash of dark green energy appeared and moved towards Azazel. "Slay mine enemies, Perpetual Eclipse!" Azazel named his sword Perpetual Eclipse in honor of the royal family sword back in his world. After chanting, a dark red aura coats his sword. He swung it sideways and a slash of dark red energy also appeared and moved towards Evito. The two energies collided and exploded. Unfazed by the explosion, Azazel casted a javelin of ice towards Evito but Evito countered it with multiple balls of fire. Due to the explosion and fragments of the spells casted by the two. Xyndis and the duke was forced to fight in the maze of the mansion. Xyndis was exchanging attacks with the duke when he stepped on a trap of the duke. The ground he was standing exploded and injured him but not severely. "Since I''m at a disadvantage, I have no choice then." The duke was confused of what was Xyndis saying. "Initialize prediction system. Maximum performance." "Okay Master!" A voice of a girl which belonged to Yui replied to Xyndis in his earpiece. Various predictions are now displayed on Xyndis'' eyeglass. "Time to get serious." Ephemeral World (Chapter 6) A new party member appears?! On the courtyard beside a mansion where it''s 2nd floor was obliterated was located at the heart of a quiet forest, two figures were fighting fiercely. The one who wore a grotesque looking knight''s armor was Evito, one of the 13 knights of the Epivious who are ranked lowest amongst the other powerful being in the Epivious, was fighting a man with white hair and blood red eyes, he was Azazel Euryhar Naqcres, one of the three heroes that was summoned to this world by the king. "Heh, I never thought that you would last this long. I''m honestly impressed." Evito glared at Azazel as they anticipated what move will the opponent make. "Same goes for thee. Thy swordsmanship is not that bad." Azazel was the first one to make a move, he dashed towards Evito looking as if preparing to attack. Evito reacting to this tried to attack Azazel but Azazel made a feint and dashed passed Evito and shot multiple blades of air. Evito managed to block some of the blades with his sword but some blades sliced off his left arm and it was thrown quite some distance from him. "Tch. What a pain, I still have one arm, bring it on!" Evito dashed towards Azazel and their battle continues. ----- A few distance from where Evito and Azazel was fighting, the duke, which was the underling of Evito that has a huge amount of magical power, and Xyndis Vi Vermundus, which was also one the three heroes summoned to this world, was having a battle of their own. "It''s seems you''re tired, why don''t you just drop dead!" The duke shot multiple javelins made of ice towards Xyndis. "How about you? You''ve been sweating like crazy and breathing heavily since a while ago." Xyndis managed to dodge the javelins but was grazed on his right cheek by the javelin''s fragments that flew everywhere when it hit the ground. "Tch." Even with the help of the prediction system, Xyndis still has a hard time fighting the duke because of the distortion of the magical energy in the atmosphere due to multiple spells being casted which made the prediction system less accurate. "I need to find a opening... Wait, why not I try and make one myself." Xyndis said this in a tone that would not reach the duke''s ears. "What are you muttering about? Oh, are you planning on giving up? Then, I would be more than happy to end your lif-" "Who said something about giving up?" Xyndis shot a spell towards the duke but it missed and hit the ground a few feet behind the duke. The duke casted multiple balls of fire towards Xyndis with a grin on his face. Xyndis dodged and block the balls of fire by casting spells that would counter it. "Is it just me or your attacks became much more weaker compared to before?" Xyndis mocked the duke. "Says the one who has the most injuries out of the two of us." The duke refused to be mocked and retorted Xyndis. The fight continued, Xyndis shot a projectile from luna which grazed the duke''s left shoulder but in return he needed to jump and roll towards the side in order to dodge the duke''s spell but that action made him take off his eyes from the duke which was quite a fatal mistake. The moment Xyndis took off his eyes from the duke, the duke dashed towards Xyndis and kicked him on his abdomen hard enough to throw him a few meters away. "ugh." Xyndis was coughing because of the blow he received. "Master are you okay?" Yui asked her master in a worrying tone. Xyndis stood up and fixed his eyeglasses. "I''m fine, don''t worry." Xyndis shot another spell towards the area where the spell that missed the duke landed. He then dashed towards the duke with great speed, the duke shot various spells at him but he dodged it all. When he was just a few feet away from the duke, he shot an air spell below his feet which allowed him to jump over the duke. With the duke unable to react fast enough, he shot a fire spell which exploded at the back of the duke that threw him a few distance away. "Do you really think that was enough to defeat me!?" The duke stood up but staggered in result. "Is that so?" Xyndis smiled like he was mocking the duke. "Why you!?" The duke dashed towards Xyndis while casting a numerous barrage of spells. ----- Azazel was fighting Evito, that was keeping up with Azazel even though he lost one of his arms, which was now focusing on spells and less on fighting with his sword. Azazel, who was uncertain if he should just dash towards Evito and fight in close range but he will be in a disadvantage because of the various spells Evito casted around him, summoned a lightning bolt, the power of this spell is lesser compared to when he used the gremoire to obliterate the goblins on the human kingdom, from the sky towards Evito. Evito tried to block the spell with a barrier but still got hit by it and injured him not severely but it still damaged him.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Argh. Hey, what''s the use of the gremoire you have earlier if you don''t use it? You might need that to defeat me." Evito tried to mock Azazel while he readied his sword. "That''s none of thy business." Azazel refrained from using his gremoire because even though the gremoire will help him make his spells more powerful and allow him to cast higher tier ones, he needs to chant the spells which requires quite some time and leaves him a lot of openings for Evito to attack. Furthermore, he can try to chant while moving but this will prevent him from casting spells that can counter the spells shot towards him by Evito. Evito dashed towards Azazel and slashed using his sword which was surrounded with various elemental spells. The result is, a huge explosion occured with various elemental spells flew from it. Azazel was blown by it and knocked down a few trees until the momentum of him being thrown stopped. He stood up and checked what happened to Evito. "Hahahhahahha, how do you like that?!" Surprisingly, Evito suffered only minor cuts from the attack he made and was laughing hysterically. "O chaos and destruction which resides in all worlds, heed me! With crimsom flames that blazes through the depths of the netherworld, turn mine foe into ashes and leave nothing of their existence! For ''tis mine will that thou shall follow! Explosion!" With Evito still laughing, Azazel managed to cast an explosion spell using his gremoire and a huge explosion enveloped Evito and the area around him. The smoke cleared and Azazel saw Evito standing on the same spot severely injured, his armor which was destroyed quite a bit from their exchange of attacks earlier was reduced to bits and pieces, his grayish skin was covered with wounds dripping with black-colored blood. "Now you''ve done it! You are now going to die! Haaaaaaaaah!" Evito started to gather magical energy around him and Azazel dashed towards Evito in order to stop him. He readied his sword since he can''t cast spells because it will just add to the magical energy Evito was gathering. "You fell for it." "Wha-" Evito with a smirk punched Azazel on the face strong enough to thow him a few meters from him. Azazel landed beside the dismembered arm of Evito, it turned into rubber-like substance and wrapped itself around Azazel and drained his strength while preventing him from moving. "Tch. I let my guard down, I hath made a blunder." Azazel''s strength was fading as he watch Evito flew up into the sky with thick green miasma around him. "This is the end! Though, I congratulate you on surviving this far." ----- The duke was distracted by the two massive explosions that happened on the mansion and let his guard down. Without missing this chance, Xyndis shot an air spell that threw the duke into the spells which he placed earlier while acting as if he accidentally missed. The spells are designed to be a trap that will impale the creature that came in contact with it, this trap was meant for beasts but he didn''t expect that he will use it this way. He placed two traps so that in the event that the duke has a barrier or shield, the first one will destroy it and the second one will kill the duke. The duke landed on top of the two traps and was impaled with spikes made of ice, his body was covered in blood as he slowly lose his life. "I win." Xyndis walked towards the duke. "I think not. Domain!" The duke used his last remaining strength to cast a spell that will send his targets to another dimension where he keeps a strong chimera detained in there. "I''m taking you down with me!" Xyndis'' vision became black and when it recovered, he saw that he was inside a spacious white room and in front of him was a fierce beast with multiple other beasts fused into it. "So I guess we''re not in that world, right Yui?" Xyndis glared and examined the chimera. "Yes, it seems that we''ve been teleported to another dimension." Xyndis let out a sigh as he readied Cyrah and Luna. "The most logical way to get out of here is to defeat that thing. Then I will just do just that." The beast''s roar enveloped the whole room as Xyndis prepared himself to fight. ----- Evito was floating in the air and started to gather the energy he gathered at the palm of his right hand as he points his arm towards Azazel. A ball of dark greenish light made with concentrated energy appeared and started to expand, it grew until it became as large as his upper body. "You''re finished." Evito shot the ball of light straight towards Azazel. Azazel stared at the ball of light as it became more bigger as it heads towards him, even though he''s a vampire with regenerative capabilities, he can''t regenerate without any of his strength left so, if he was hit by that ball of light he would be completely obliterated without a single cell left. He cursed himself for making a fatal mistake as he watched his end head towards him then gently closed his eyes. "System detected impending doom of the Owner. Now initializing preventive measures. alle Zauber im unheilige Buch der Dunkelheit wird aktivieren sie auf einmal." (''all Magic in the unholy book of darkness will enable all at once'' It''s german cuz why not) Azazel opened his eyes and saw his gremoire hovering above him and was covered with thick miasma of dark energy as the pages flip continuously. "W-what is this!?" Azazel could not believe his eyes, the ball of light that would just obliterate his gremoire into nothing was being absorbed by the said gremoire. The ball of light dispersed and all the energy was absorbed by the gre.moire. Soon, it started to emit a crimson red light and started to change form. "What in the world is happening!?" Evito was dumbfounded as he watched the ball of light he created suddenly disappeared. The gremoire then turned into the shape of a young girl, she is hovering a few feet above Azazel with her arms wide open. "Elimination of the hostile that threatens the Owner shall commence." Numerous high tier magical spells was casted all at once that surrounded and aimed at Evito. The spells activated and various spells of different elements and power shot towards Evito, the spells collided with Evito in the center. A beam of crimson light shot towards the sky and pierced the clouds showing the clear blue sky. The beam of light resided and Evito was nowhere to be found, leaving only Azazel, who was still lying on the ground but the thing that drained his energy and prevented him from moving disappeared along with Evito, and the mysterious girl. The girl stopped emitting the dark red aura that surrounded her when she was still the gremoire up to this point, she fainted and fell on top of Azazel. "What just happened?" Azazel wondered as he sat straight up carefully so that the girl would not fall off, he then stood up while carrying the girl like a princess. Azazel examined the mysterious girl on his arms, she has snow white hair like that of Azazel''s and features that made her look like a cute doll, though strangely, she was only wearing a cloak and nothing underneath. "I should better check on Xyndis and see if he survived." Azazel let out a sigh as he walked towards the place where Xyndis and the duke are fighting. ----- Xyndis dashed towards the chimera while dodging it''s attacks, he shot multiple spells at the chimera but it doesn''t even leave a scratch. "Tch." Xyndis retreated a few distance from the beast. "Master, I have found it''s weakness, it''s the gem on the forehead of it''s head on the middle." Yui automatically scanned the chimera when they first saw it in order to find it''s weakness and to help her master. "Got it, since I can''t fight much longer, let''s end this quickly." He started running towards the chimera while it reacts by swinging down it''s claws but Xyndis jumped atop it''s paws and ran up to it''s shoulders. Xyndis shot an air spell below his feet and jump high enough to shoot the gem on it''s forehead. "Checkmate." Xyndis shot a combination of a electric spell to boost the projectile shot by the railgun to pierce the gem. The gem was destroyed but the chimera refused to die without fighting back and breathed fire, Xyndis was hit and blown away, the chimera went down and Xyndis'' vision turned black. Xyndis was teleported back to the place where he fought the duke. He didn''t want to stand up or do anything so he remained lying on the ground not budging even an inch until a shard fell atop him. He picked it up and examined it. "Yui isn''t this?" "Yes Master, it is the same one we got from the goblin shaman, it has the same energy inside of it." Xyndis stole the same shard when he defeated the goblin shaman to think of any way of using it. "I think it''s better to keep this for now." He soon heard footsteps. "''Tis seems that you hath survived, well done." The footsteps belonged to Azazel who was Princess-carrying a young girl with white hair that was wearing a cloak. "W-wait! Where did you kidnap that girl from!? where''s the police!? Tell them that I''m not your partner in crime!" Faced with this unexpected sight, Xyndis suddenly panicked. "Quiet down. I did not kidnap her, I shall explain everything later, for now we should regroup with Levus." Azazel let out a sigh with a displeased look on his face. "You sure? Well, that''s the most logical move to make." Xyndis stood up and the both of them started to head towards the rendezvous point in which they agreed beforehand. Ephemeral World (Chapter 7) The elven kingdom, Ertea "Could you atleast tell your name oka-" "No." Inside a room in a inn that is inside the city which is located at the kingdom of the Elves, the city of spirits, Ertea, sat around a round table was a man with white hair and blood red eyes was staring at the young girl, with the same features as him, who was glaring at him in return. "Just your nam-" "No." The man was Azazel Euryhar Naqcres, a vampire that was summoned to this world by the king to save this world, and the young girl was the same mysterious girl that saved Azazel when he was fighting Evito. Azazel sighed as he stood up and left the room as the girl continued to glare at him. He descended the stairs and head towards the dining hall where his companions were eating. "How did it go?" The one who asked was a man with unusual hair color and wore eyeglasses, he was Xyndis Vi Vermundus, he was one of the heroes who was summoned to this world. "She would not speak." Azazel ordered a delicacy of the Elven kingdom and sat down beside his companions. "Maybe she''s hungry because she just woke up after a long time." The next one to speak was an orc named Levus Triliaq Respectacus, also one of the heroes summoned to this world. "Hmmm..." They arrived in the Elven kingdom with the help of the prisoners they rescued. Ever since the battle, the mysterious girl did not woke up until now. "Fine, I shall take some food for her to eat. I will be back." When Azazel''s order arrived, he picked it up and head back to the room where he left the girl. He noticed that the door was slightly open, not minding that fact, he pushed the door and entered the room. The room was empty, the mysterious girl was nowhere to be found. "What!?" He placed the dish he was carrying on the table and dashed downstairs to the dining hall. "Did any of thee seen that girl!?" Levus and Xyndis was startled with that sudden question that came out of nowhere. "Calm down, me and Xyndis haven''t noticed anyone like her passed by the dining hall, so why?" Azazel was also shocked because he was unnaturally worried about something regarding that girl. He left the two without saying anything to them. "I wonder what happened." "Who knows?" "Hey! that''s my meat!?" They continued their lunch without even pondering hard as to why Azazel was acting that way. Azazel reached the front desk which was close to the entrance and this area could be seen from the dining hall due to it being opposite direction. "Did thou see a girl with white hair past by hither?" Azazel was unexpectedly calm when asking this question to the clerk than when he was asking Levus and Xyndis. "White hair huh?... Oh! That one! She passed by earlier. Was she your sister? You two sure are alike." Azazel dashed out of the inn without even saying anything to the clerk. "Hmm... That was quite unexpected."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The clerk sighed as she resumed her work on arranging the documents of the inn. He then realized what his worried about, he was worried that the girl might do something to this town and a commotion is the thing they need to avoid. When Azazel got out of the inn, he used a spell that could trace the residual energy of the target, each individual has a unique magical signature that belongs only to that individual so the spell could lock on that individual''s magical signature and locate their whereabouts, though this spell can be easily blocked if the target hid his energy or cut if off from the trail he left. He used the energy signature of his gremoire which was quite effective, and located where the mysterious girl is. After running a few minutes, he found himself in front of a clothing shop that contains mostly outfits for girls. "..." Azazel spaced out for a bit and resolved himself to go inside the shop. His hands were almost touching the door knob but the door suddenly swung open which made him jump back a few steps back reflexively. The person who came out the door was the mysterious girl, though she was not anymore wearing the cloak she originally wear but a Gothic Lolita style dress and she also tied her hair into twintails. "Oh, it''s the insensitive idiot." The girl looked at Azazel with a tired look on her face. "What!? Wait, thou hath said something other than no, so shall I presume that thou art willing to talk?" Azazel quickly dismissed the insult that the girl let out and questioned her instead. "Hmph, if you buy me something to eat I might do that. Even though I used your money to buy these clothes, so go." Azazel who has a dozen of questions he wants to ask, reluctantly obeyed her. ----- "Here." Azazel handed a paper bag to the girl who was sitting on a bench beside the fountain. The girl quickly opened the paper bag and got a cookie that has some sort of a cream on top of it. "What''s this?" The girl asked Azazel while examining the cookie she got. "Who knows? I forgot the name but they said it is a popular delicacy in the elven kingdom." Azazel sat beside the girl. "So, will thou tell me who art thee?" Azazel without wasting any moment, he asked the girl the most important question. "How rude, you should not rush a lady. Oh well, my name is Lilith, I''m not quite sure how I got inside that gremoire but I was released when you''re about to die." Lilith said this while biting the cookie. "That''s quite convenient. So, what made thee to finally speak to me?" Azazel asked one of the questions he wanted to know. He is prepared to take in any serious reason Lilith will give. "C-clothes." "Huh?" Faced with that unexpected answer, Azazel paused for a while to process what Lilith said. "What?" Azazel, who still didn''t figure out why Lilith said clothes, asked in a confused manner. "I said clothes! Who in their right mind would want to talk to a person who didn''t even consider the fact that a cute girl in front of him was only wearing a cloak and nothing underneath but still didn''t gave her any clothing!?" After Lilith shouted at Azazel, she lowered his head while slightly blushing due to embarrassment. "..." With the sudden outburst of Lilith, Azazel was left speechless. The two of them sat on the bench without talking until Lilith finished her snack and they went back to the inn. It was dusk when they arrived at the inn. "Oh! You guys are back! You two must be hungry, we also ordered something for the both of you. Come, Xyndis is waiting." The one who greeted Azazel and Lilith was Levus who was going to the dining room but stopped when he saw the both of them. Azazel and Lilith followed Levus to the dining hall, they saw a long table filled with various dishes and Xyndis was sitting on one of the many chairs around it. "We just knew this a while ago but it turned out that one of the prisoners whom we saved, that was discharged this afternoon from the hospital, was the daughter of the owner of this inn. Once the owner knew this, he arranged a feast for us as thanks." Levus explained to Azazel and Lilith as to why there are many dishes served before them. "Here you go little one." Levus pulled the chair back so that Lilith can sit without doing anything, she reluctantly sat while pouting and was trying to retort at Levus because he called her "little" but decided not to say anything. Azazel and Levus then sat on the vacant chairs around the table and they all started eating. "So, I pressume that you now know who she is and what she is?" Xyndis suddenly asked Azazel out of nowhere. "I only know that her name is Lilith, she was trapped inside the gremoire and was released during the fight with that Epivious." Azazel nonchalantly answered Xyndis'' question. "Wait! Just that? Did you even interrogate her properly so that she will spill all she knows?" Xyndis almost shouted at Azazel but kept his voice down in order to prevent the other people in the inn to worry. "Why would I do that? Think about it, she was just released from the gremoire after being trapped all this time, it is most probable that she lost her memories or doesn''t remember anything. Furthermore, I do not wish to force someone or torture them unless necessary." Azazel still nonchalantly answered Xyndis and the latter just stared at him suspiciously. "Let''s just leave it at that and think about what are our plans on the upcoming war." Levus sighed as he spoke and the others, excluding Lilith, made a serious face. "Based on the battle before, we will have some difficulties if we fight numerous, what did he called themselves again, was it knights? I''m positive about that so we''ll go with that." Xyndis gave his opinion about the topic at hand. "Furthermore, the Epivious are bringing an army to attack this forest, even if we request an army of our own, it would still be disadvantageous for us due to the fact that the said army are still tired because of the previous wars." Azazel also gave his opinion. "Then there''s one thing we need to do, and it''s to become strong enough to fight them equally or be more stronger than them." After Levus said his opinion, Azazel and Xyndis nodded in agreement with Levus. The young girl, Lilith, stared at the three guys making smug expressions while a bored look is painted on her face. She was displeased because she was undeniably been ignore all this time.