《Torn World》


 Paradise. Chapter 1

    "Paradise."

    Those were the only words that could escape Nathan''s mouth as he looked at the white beaches and crystal clear waters. The breeze smelled like salt water, and seagulls can be heard in the distance.

    "Too bad it is our last day here, let''s try to enjoy it."

    Nathan had been accepted into his favorite college, and to celebrate he invited his friends out on a vacation to a new island that was discovered and made into a new tourist hot spot. The only reason Nathan even considered going to this new island was that the government did a random drawing and Nathan was the lucky one who had won a free trip to this new island and was able to bring 3 people. Those three people where Tanner, an otaku who spends most of his free time playing video games or watching anime though heis considered a genius in school by many; Joey, whois a slightly above average student academics-wise, but was motivated to push himself everyday to become stronger to be able to obtain his dream and become a pro wrestler; and finally Bree, whois Joey''s girlfriend andis a great cook who strived to join the Nation Guard and was doing well at it too.

    "Nathan, don''t have such a sad face."

    Joey was right behind Nathan as he mumbled his earlier statement and tried to cheer him up since they had 1 day before they left. Tanner approached them, holding a cold drink in his hand since it was extremely hot outside. Nathan and Joey weren''t as hot as Tanner since they didn''t have shirts on, but since Tanner was very pale and burnt easy, he decided to keep a shirt on.

    "At least you got accepted into your college, I don''t even know what college I even want to go to yet, so you should be happy."

    Tanner was also trying to cheer up Nathan since he could also tell he was sad. Nathan loved the beach and never wanted to leave. While outside the three could hear yelling in the distance, and could easily recognize the yellingis Bree.

    "Guysss!! The food is done~!"

    They quickly hurried back to the house since they all knew that Bree''s cooking was the best. They come in to the aroma of spaghetti and see the table was already set. It was about 8:00 p.m. They were all hungry from a day of adventuring around the island and the surrounding reefs.

    "This looks amazing!"

    Nathan and Tanner''s mouth was already watering from the beautiful sightlaid out before them.

    "As expected from my Bwee Bear."

    Joey and Bree had nicknames for each other and Joey already knew the prowess of Bree''s cooking so he wasn''t surprised but still amazed.

    "You know I try my best."

    Bree, who had been sunburned, had gone home early from the adventuring to cook and was already eating her plate of food.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    After a while, they had all finished their plates of food with immense speed since they skipped lunch to explore more. Joey let out a satisfied sigh as he leaned back in his chair.

    "Amazing... This is the definition of paradise."

    Nathan exclaimed this while staring out the window at the sun that was about to set. Tanner got up and proceeded to walk out the door while thanking Bree and stating he was going to bed. Tanner wasn''t the most athletic so he was pretty sore and wanted to go to sleep.

    "Goodnight Tanner, and also I think it''s time for us to go to bed soon."

    Joey said this while looking at the sunburned Bree, and she nodded in agreeance. They left the room without hesitation and went to bed. Nathan was the only one left in the room, just staring at the setting sun. He could feel his legs burning from the activities they did today and couldn''t tell if he was just burnt or if he was sore. He decided it is time to go to bed, but got a shower beforehand. As he lay down, he could feel himself slipping away as tiredness and soreness swept over his body. He made a promise to himself that he would do this again with his friends again, no matter where life took them. Being satisfied with the time he spent on his vacation, he falls asleep while feeling at peace.

    ****************************************************************************************************************************************''''Hot.... Very hot.''

    The heat surrounding Tanner was completely unbearable. He quickly awoke to find himself laying out in the blazing sun, on the ground. Heisn''t in a tropical area like the island they had been on but is now at the mouth of a forest, with a plain being to his right and the forest being to his left. He was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt so the heat wasn''t as bad as it could''ve been. He thought about how displeasing the sweat feeling was on his back.

    "Wait."

    Tanner realized, last night he was just in his room in a tropical paradise and thought about how he could''ve gotten out here. At first, Tanner thought that he is being pranked by Nathan and Joey, but then he sees a strange creature. It was huge! Itis like a bird with four legsand wings.

    ''Wait... Massive bird-like creatures, four legs, wings, it is a Griffon!''

    Tanner, who was well versed in the Fantasy Genre in anime, quickly recognized the marvellous beast and started to panic. In most stories, they were nice and calm, but that''s because they were tamed. Tanner could see the wildness in the Griffon''s eyes even if it was from a distance.

    "I gotta find the others."

    Thoughts were racing through his mind, but one stuck out. He has been teleported to a new world, whether it was by himself or with the others. Thisis an unfavorable situation in Tanner''s mind. He tried to slip away from the Griffon without being noticed, but he isn''t very stealthy and as he got up the Griffon noticed him immediately. The Griffon started to move towards Tanner with increasing pace, using a galloping motion. As it picked up crazy speed, it started to lift off the ground and soon it was flying in the air.

    "Oh no."

    Tanner becomes increasingly worried. He doesn''t know the strength of the Griffon but he knows itis too strong for him. ''This is where I die... In a new world that I didn''t even get to experience... I hope the others are ok... Well, I have no regrets.'' As these thoughts raced through Tanner''s mind the griffon drew closer and closer, weaving in out of the trees. Tanneris still running but he soon stumbled on a root of a tree.

    "Woooow, to die from such a stupid cliche."

    As the Griffon approaches Tanner, it extends it''s massive claws andgoes to reach the fallen man. Tanner tried to get up but the Griffonis too close for him to escape, and he just accepts his fate. The Griffon makes an ear-piercing shriek and Tanner closes his eyes. The Beastis right in front of him andis going at an insane speed, and its claws pierced through Tanner''s chest, or at least he expects them too. A soundis heard that sounds like a dying scream, but it came from the Griffon. Before Tanner could open his eyes, he hears the griffon soar above him and into a tree behind him. As he opens his eyes he sees a familiar face. Itis Bree.

 Awakening. Chapter 2

    Peck.... Peck.......... Peck Peck Peck Pec-.

    "WHAT IS DOING THAT."

    Joey awakes furious due to the continuous pecking that is being done to his face. He hears a small bird flapping away after he flails his arms around to stop the annoying pecking. He sits up in confusion.

    "Wait..... Where am I?"

    Joey looks around since this is not the place he remembers falling asleep at. The area around him looks like a flat grassland, or he guesses it would be called "a plain". He looks around to find the nuisance of a bird that was pecking his face. There was something off though. It only had...... One eye?! ''What am I looking at?'' Joey thought. Joey has never seen anything like this before in his life, heis so surprised that he notices his mouth has been wide open the whole time he was looking at it.

    "My guess is that this is a breed of bird that correlates with a breed of cyclops."

    Joey quickly spins around to see a good friend of his, Nathan. Nathan was lying down on his chest andis looking up to where Joey and the bird is.

    "Do you know anything about where we are?!"

    Joeyis talking rapidly as to show that heis slightly frightened by his surroundings and the new creature he has just witnessed.

    "My guess is we are in a different world." "Man I have always wished this would happen, but I never expected it to."

    Joey listens to Nathan, who was mumbling but Joey can''t really hear what heis saying. An intense surge of panic went through Joey''s spine as he realizes something important to himis missing.

    "Where is Bree!"

    Joey quickly searches the area looking for Bree, but sheis nowhere to be seen.

    "I don''t even know how we got here, let alone know where Bree is or even if she is here."

    Nathan stands up after seeing the worry on Joey''s face, and he decides to help him search the area.

    "I don''t care how we got here, but we have to search around to make sure she is safe. With seeing that.... monster, we don''t know what else can be out there." Joey says.

    They continue to search the area of the plains, and soon they found what looks like a small village. They find a group of rocks and decide to hide behind them as they make sure the town isn''t infested with things unknown to them.Unfortunately, it seems what they fearis the reality of their situation. At first glance, Joey sees what looks likeis a small village of humans, but Nathan soon points out that they, as well as the bird, only have one eye.

    Nathan thinks of all the manga and light novels he has read and he hasn''t really read about any humanoid creatures like this. They aren''t as big as the cyclops in the books, in fact, they are rather short. He doesn''t know if he can communicate with them so heis immediately against confronting them, but then he hears one of them yell.

    "What is a human doing in our village, did they break the treaty that was promised to our kind?!"

    Being only 30 feet away from the outskirts of the village, Joey and Nathan easily hear the creatures and were able to understand what they are saying. Upon hearing what they said though, Joey''s heart sinks to the bottom of his chest. He can hear the malicious intent of the cyclops man and tries to think of a way to see this human they speak of. He turns around to talk about what to do and Nathan isn''t there.

    Joey tries to find Nathan in the rock formation they are in, but can''t find him anywhere so he turns back to the village to make sure he hasn''t been spotted. He notices a tall figure sneaking behind a building, and he realizes it is Nathan. Nathan has decided as soon as he heard the cyclops speak that heis going to see who they were talking about. So he goes closer to the center of the village. Nathan realizes he was sneaking behind a building that sells weapons, but the weapons they sell are a medieval style of weaponry. The closest weapons to him is that of a short sword and its scabbard. The short sword is about 20 inches long and Nathan decides to steal it just in case. Joey, who had noticed what Nathan was doing, soon catches up to him without being seen.

    "What are you doing, that''s stealing!!"

    "Yeah, and if that''s Bree and those cyclops are hostile, then we have to be ready to fight," Nathan says with a stern voice. "Here, take this."

    Nathan hands Joey a massive battle axe and a holster for it that attaches to the back. Joeyagrees with what Nathan is saying and quickly takes the battle axe and attaches the holster to his back.

    "Now we can''t approach with our weapons drawn so put away the axe for now."

    Joey nods his head and puts the axe away even though it took some time at first since he has never used a battle axe before in his life. itis about 4 feet long andis pretty heavy on top of that, but since Joey has trained his muscles, it doesn''t bother him too much.

    "It has been decided, since this woman has breached the treaty and does not tell us the reason why, she will be executed by hanging!"If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    When Joey hears the loud yelling of the cyclops in the middle of the town, he quickly stands up to see if he couldidentify the human''s face but to no avail. Knowing that Bree''s life could be in danger, Joey decides to act on his own free will.

    "I don''t think so."

    Joey says this with a harsh voice as he approaches the group of about 30 cyclops, and they all turn towards him. Joey is scared since all of them were armed and they have a malicious intent in their eyes. As soon as they see what Joey was wearing though, the malicious intent soon turns into a panicked looked and all of their facesgo pale.

    "Those clothes, I''ve never seen them before." "That must mean he is a noble or even royalty." "What is someone so exotic doing out here?"

    Theseare all mumbles that the cyclops saywhich Joey can here. Joey thinks about it and soon he realizes that he really did stand out. Heis wearing a pair of shorts and a shirt that said "Bahama Mama". The shirt was something Nathan had bought everyone in the Bahamas so they could have something to sleep in. Nathan realizes that the cyclopsare in fact scared so he too shows up and stands beside Joey.

    While looking at the Cyclops, Nathan''s guess is that they are only about 5''1 at max, and taking it that Nathanis 6''4 and Joey is 6'' even, they tower over these tiny creatures.

    "Another one has appeared, this is not a good situation." "What if they can use magic, then we are all doomed!" "They even have weapons, maybe the treaty has been broken." "Hide the children!"

    The mumblings soon grow louder and more frequent as Nathan shows his face.

    "Let us see the human and no harm will be done to your village, I do not wish to use my magic."

    Joey turns to look at Nathan who said that, and Nathan is looking at them as if they are lower creatures.

    "What are you doing, they are armed!"

    Joeyis practically shouting in Nathan''s ear, but luckily the cyclops are in a state of panic so they did not hear him.

    "It was a bluff, humans seem to be strong in this world so I am using it to our advantage, just play along." Nathan whispers into Joey''s ear.

    Joey realizes what Nathan is doing, and actually agrees with his methods, so Joey puts on a face that is menacing to scare the cyclops even further.

    "We wish no quarrel, just someone of your kind wandered into our village and tried to steal some food. When we caught her, she would not explain why or where she was from, but she just looked at us as if sheis dumbfounded."

    A cyclops with a long white beard and a cane came forth to explain the situation to Joey and Nathan, but he too is also hardly able to keep his composure due to the nasty looks coming from Nathan and Joey.

    "We wish to see her, she might be the girl that we lost in our caravan."

    Nathan decides to keep up with the bluff and tries to persuade what looked like the village elder to let them see the girl. The village elder quicklygoes over to the middle of the group and taps his cane on the head of the girl. Now that she is in sight, Joey can easily tell that thisis not Bree and he becomes more worried.

    "Wake up, someone is here to see you."

    The girl, whois tied up, has long blonde hair, opposed to Bree who has red hair.She stands up and the two got a full view of her. She looks to be around 5''6 and has blue eyes. She looks at Joey and Nathanwith an expression of someone who is being picked up from school by a stranger.

    "Who are you?"

    The girl asks this question while slightly tilting her head to the side.

    "It is me, your cousin. You were travelling with us to your Auntie''s house but then you disappeared."

    Joey looks at Nathan with a surprised expression since he knows it is a bold faced lie, but he decides to play along with it too.

    "We came looking for you since your mom would have our heads if we were to lose you."Joey says with a convincing look on his face.

    The girl just looks at them with complete surprise as if she doesn''t understand that they are trying to save her. Nathan approaches her and she takes a step backwards. The cyclops people look at Nathan curiously and start to think the two humans are suspicious.

    "Come on now, no time to lose, we need to make it home by sundown."

    Nathan quickly grabs the girl by the arm and proceeds to drag her out of the village with Joey right behind them. The cyclops people follow them out without saying a word and the blonde haired girl looks very confused. Nathan keeps dragging her without letting a second for her to speak. When they finally get out of sight of the villagers they all stop and look at each other.

    "I''m sorry for lying, but it was the only way we could''ve saved your life, you seemed to be in a lot of danger back there."

    The girl just nods at Nathan''s remark. Nathan and Joey just look at each other with a worriedly.

    "Alright look, we have no idea where we are or even what is in this world, we saved your life so we would like to know some useful information."

    Joey looks at the girl in the eyes as he said this to make itmore convincing that heis dead serious. The girl juststares at them dumbfounded. Joey realizes how crazy what he said truly sounded like. It sounded crazy since if someonewere to say the same to him, he would probably just ignore them. Joey puts his hand on the girl''s shoulder.

    "Look, we have no idea what is going on, we don''t even know how to use these weapons, please help us."

    Joey, who hopes appealing to her with sadness will work, looks at her with gentle eyes. The girl looks up at Joey, and she gives him a dangerous smile. Joey lets out a slight gasp and removes his hand from her shoulder. The girl quickly starts laughing like a maniac. Joey retreats back beside Nathan, who has drawn his short sword.

    "I appreciate the help back there, but....."

    She hungrily stares at the two and licks her lips. It frightens Nathan and he quickly averts his gaze away from the woman. Joey, on the other hand,is confused and decides to draw his weapon too.

    "I am not what you think I am, and now knowing you''re not as strong as your presence puts off, I think I''ll turn you both into a little snack."

    The girl starts convulsing and soon spider-like arms sprout from her back. The skin from her face begins to melt away and as the two sees this they become completely horrified. Her body twists and turns in ways it shouldn''t. Her clothes rip as if they are just paper and her body expands. The creature soon starts to reveal itself even further. A spider-like body keeps sprouting from the back and soon the human portion expanded so much that it explodes. Flesh, bones, ligaments, blood, everything you can think is inside of a human bodyis sent flying at both Nathan and Joey. They are completely covered in blood. Nathan, whois the most horrified, felt something churn inside of his stomach and quickly threw up what was inside. Joey just looks at Nathan with a blank expression, wondering whatis going on right now. He slowly turns to see the creature... What he sees traumatizes him. It is like a massive black widow spider that has a melted face of a human on it. It is still covered in blood after the explosions of its original body and intestines hang on its legs like it is decorations. Joey, whois just staring at it, falls down and lands on his hands and butt. The spider seems to be about 6 feet long and about 7 feet wide from leg tip to leg tip.

    "Now... Be good boys and DIE!"

 Discovery. Chapter 3

    The massive black widow starts advancing towards Joey while releasing a murderous intent.

    "Time for you to die, too bad you were tricked by my looks."

    The black widow sends one of its thin legs towards Joey with tremendous speed causing Joey to freeze in place. Not being able to think of a way to defend himself, Joey begins to panic.Before the leg reaches Joey, he is sent flying to the right after receiving the impact of a fast-moving object. After tumbling for about 6 feet Joey and the object stops. The object is Nathan.

    "Joey, we need to kill this thing, I know it seems hard and we will surely be injured, but we cannot die here!"

    Nathan is staring into Joey''s eyes with extreme seriousness and Joey starts to calm down. Joey realizes Nathan is right, but he lost his battle axe when Nathan ran into Joey to protect him.

    "How am I going to fight without my axe?"

    "Don''t worry about it, I will stall and just go for the axe."

    Joey nods towards Nathan and wonders what he is planning. Joey looks for the axe and sees it laying on the ground where he once was, but what heisfocused onis that the ground where the creature stabbed its leg into was uplifted. It was as if someone put an explosive into a metal rod, stuck the metal rod into the ground and blew it up. Chucks of the ground were sent everywhere after Nathan saved Joey and Joeyfinally realizes how strong this creature is. It has the strength that anyone back on earth has never seen before. Seeing that Joey is looking at the ground in amazement, the spider takes the opportunity to close the distance between it and Joey, but it was met by a force that was faster than its sight.

    "I am your opponent."

    Nathan tries stabbing the demon with his short sword while using his unexpected speed, but the shell of the spider was too hard for the small sword to pierce it.

    "Ohhh, what speed you have, I thought you were weak, I guess your presence wasn''t a facade."

    "Yeah, I''m not very good with it though because I have just awakened to my powers, so cut me some slack."

    Nathan stares at the demon with the intent of killing it, he just doesn''t know how. While the demon was going after Joey, Nathan felt something inside of him, something that made him feel stronger. Then it just appeared in his mind. "Accelerated Step". Thisis the name of the ability that came into Nathan and he is currently using. He used it to save Joey and he is now using it to fight this demon. Whether he could keep using it or notis a serious question he is asking himself since he could feel the power inside of him draining with each use.

    "Looks like I''ll have to take you on seriously then."

    As the demon says this, it sends its slender leg toward Nathan at an incredible speed, but Nathan uses his new ability, and with the speed that causes an after image, he jumps over the leg and lands on the spider.

    "Foolish human."

    As soon as Nathan lands, the spider moves its abdomen and sends him back into the air, which she then wraps his right ankle with a rope like web.

    "This is where you die~!

    "Not on my watch."

    As those words were said, a destructive force was smashed onto the head of the demon.

    KAaaCHHHhh~

    A shattering soundis heard. The demon took severe damage and its thickskull is cracked open.

    "What was that!"

    The demon turns around to see Joey, holding the handle of whatis left of the battle axe.

    "Huh, looks like the axe couldn''t handle my new power."

    As Nathan was fighting the demon, Joey was able to get the axe and as he picked it up, he felt a surge of power within him. This surge was an ability, but Joey just didn''t realize it. A name popped into Joey''s head, "Physical Explosion". He then looked at the fight between Nathan and the demon and decided to use this new power even if he would get killed doing it. He just had to save his friend. He quickly ran towards the demon and used this new power to smash the axe onto the demon.

    "Well, you have some interesting powersas well to damage my head like that... I''ll make sure to KILL YOU SLOWLY."

    As the demon shrieked those words at Joey, she flung Nathan onto the ground with immense force, and a cracking sound came from him. She thencut the string of webattached to Nathan feeling that he was out for good. She then shoots another web out and wraps it around Joey''s throat, asphyxiating him. While the demon is strangling Joey, he tries to use the handle to pry himself away but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t do anything. He tries to use his ability, but it feels like all of his power is gone and it won''t activate. Joey is fading away, everything was going black. "I hope Bree is ok, maybe she will be able to move on", these were Joey''s thoughts as he could feel like his head is getting ready to explode.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    "I love you, Bree."

    These are Joey''s intended last words, and a single tear falls from his eye. He can feel numbness all over his body, then he sees it. Once he sees it, he smiles.

    "Die you bastard."

    "What?!"

    Joey said those words as he sees Nathan ready his sword. Within a flash, Nathan is in the air above the demon with his sword poised to strike it in the head.

    "See you in hell."

    The demoncuts the web around Joey''s neck and sends one out straight towards Nathan, but he disappears again and this time, his sword is firmly planted into the head of the demon. A blood-curdling shriek is heard and the demon falls down with extreme force. Nathanruns over to Joey and proceeds to cut the web around Joey''s neck off. He then helps Joey up off the ground.

    "What in the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" Nathan says in a sarcastic, yet serious voice.

    "I don''t know, but this new ability that makes me hit harder is pretty good, but why could I only use it once compared to you using yours multiple times."

    "Maybe since mine doesn''t use much of my power as yours, the explosiveness from that attack is insane!"

    "I guess I''ll just have to train everyday until I can use it more but first, let''s find Bree."

    "Maybe on the way we can find Tanner too if he is here."

    After they finish their conversation, theyhead down the road that is near them, but Nathan turns around and notices something.

    "Hold on Joey, what is that."

    "Hmm?"

    Joey also turns around and they both see something shining on the demon.

    "Might as well check it out, we killed it hopefully."

    They go back to look at the shining object and it is in the mouth of the demon. It is a red stone that has a black aura around it. Nathan takes the stone out of its mouth and puts it in his pocket.

    "Let''s go."

    They continue down the road, looking around to see any signs of life. They are extra on guard since Joey doesn''t really have a weapon and doesn''t know how long it will take to be able to use his abilities again. As they are walking down the road, they encounter a strange sight. It was a carriage with a horse, but it seems to be abandoned. They walk up to the carriage and look around the area to see if it has an owner but to no avail.

    "Should we just take it?" Nathan says while looking at Joey with a puzzled face.

    "Wouldn''t that be stealing?"

    "Well there is no one here to claim it and there are no signs of life so who would know?"

    Joey looks at the horse with doubt since he really doesn''t know how to handle one, and the horse stared back at him and neighed a little.

    "Do you even know how to drive one of these things, because I don''t." Joey asks.

    "First time for everything I guess." Nathan responds.

    Joey turns to see Nathan already up into the driver''s seat and taking the reigns.

    "How about you go sit inside the carriage and see if you can find anything in there to help us learn about this world."

    "Alright."

    Joey enters the carriage to find it is kind of a fancy looking carriage, at least to him. It has red cushioned seats, trimmed with gold to match it''s black and gold trimmed exterior. Inside the carriage, Joey finds a suitcase with a pouch beside it. He decides to go against his morals and open the suitcase. It has a leather texture and a simple lock that is easily opened. Inside he finds 2 outfits that belong to a woman and a diary hidden under them. As he opens the diary, the carriage starts moving.

    "Hey, I think I figured it out....... Find anything?"

    "Yeah, I found clothes for a girl, a diary, and a pouch I have yet to open."

    "Well read the diary because maybe it will tell us where we are at."

    "Ok."

    Joey opens the diary to find some sort of writing that he can''t read at all. No matter how many times he adjusts he glasses it is just a language that he cannot comprehend, even though it is written in English. He looks at the back of the book to find a moving circle with some weird inscriptions written on it.

    "Hey Nathan, do you maybe know what this is?"

    Joey passes the book through the small opening of a window inside the carriage to Nathan who takes a look at it.

    "If it was my guess, it looks like an incantation of some sorts that doesn''t let anyone but the maker of it read the book. They are common in Fantasy video games but that''s only my guess."

    "Oh ok, I''ll just leave it be for now and look inside this pouch."

    He opens the cloth pouch to find 2 potions, one is red and the other was a pale, clear blue. He sets them down on the seat across from him and further looks inside the bag. He also finds about 20 greyish looking coins with a face on it, and one that looks like it is gold. He assumes that it is a currency of this world and relays the information to Nathan. Nathan agrees with Joey that it is probably a currency and that he should make sure not to lose it. Joey puts the currency back into the bag and also hands the potions out the window.

    "What''s this... Oh, these seem to be potions. Or simple drinks, who the hell knows."

    "Yeah, I think they are potions too, do you know what they would be used for?"

    "Nah, I got no clue, might as well keep them though."

    Joey takes the potions back and puts them inside of the pouch again. He starts to feel tired so he decides to just relax and have a conversation with Nathan.

    "Hey, Nathan."

    "Yeah?"

    "Do you think Bree is safe?"

    "Nah... I know she is, she is too strong to die out here."

    "Yeah, I guess you are right."

    There is silence for a while between the two, then all of the sudden.

    "What is that?!"

    Joey hears Nathan screaming and looks out the window. Nathan looks at the object flying towards him and is unable to react in time. It looks like a spear made of water and it hits him directly on the side and sends him off the carriage. Losing his breath, he looks in the direction of where the spear came as the carriage moves along. ''We are being attacked''is what Nathan thinking but then he hears a familiar voice.

    "Is that you Nathan?"

    He looks at the tree line and sees Bree.

    "Bree! Where you the one to attack me?!"

    ********

    Joey is finally able to grab the reigns from inside the carriage through thewindow andcauses the carriage to come to a halt. He hears someone running to the carriage and readies his fist to fight since he thinks he is being attacked. As the attacker approaches, he was panting like crazy and opens the door. As the door opened Joey punches the attacker and the attacker falls on the ground and Joey hears a clanging sound. He looks at his attacker to see a man with a long sword, but he recognizes this man. It was...

    "Tanner?"

    "Wait, ith sthat you Joeth?"

    Tanner talks with a mouthful of blood due to the sudden punch to the face.

 Reunion. Chapter 4

    In front of Tanner is someone he knows very well, it is Bree. He turns around to see what happened to the griffon and it is surely dead. It has a large hole in its chest and it has hit the tree sideways at an insane speed so its body is bent around the tree in a "C" shape.

    "How did you do that?"

    Tanner while, still staring at the Griffon, asks Bree this question while thinking of all the possibilities, but nothing comes to mind thatcould cause this happen.

    "I don''t know, I had just woken up while leaning against a tree and saw you run past me. I went to say something but then I heard the screech of that beast and decided to not be seen. I saw it coming towards you, and I wanted to do something, but I couldn''t move my body at all, then it came to my mind all of the sudden."

    Breemulls about what she wants to say for a second with a semi-frustrated face.

    "I think my mind wants to call it "Water Spear" so I''ll just go with that."

    "So it''s magic... A new world and for it to have mythical beasts and magic, this is surely unexpected."

    Tanner does a slight laugh because no matter how much anime he has watched he neverimagined he would livein one. He thinks if Bree is here that must mean Joey and Nathan should be here too. Tanner thinks about how much Nathan is enjoying himself since most of the anime or light novels he has read involved incarnation in another world.

    "All he needsnow is a harem and his stupid dream will come true."

    Tanner mumbles this remark and laughs at what he said. Bree just slightly tilts her head in confusion and stares at Tanner.

    "Well let''s get going, we got to find the others before they get into trouble."

    Tanner gets up after saying this and goes towards the Griffon.

    "Even if they got into trouble and they are together like we were, then Joey would be able to handle it, but why are you going towards that... Thing?"

    "It''s a Griffon, I think, and if this world follows the logic of any RPG world then it has to give users a reward for killing it like a stone of sorts, a weapon, or even some armor."

    "I don''t think this place is the same as a game Tanner."

    "I wouldn''t say that."

    Tanner then sees the hilt of something inside the mouth of the beast and proceeds to pull it out. It looks like a long sword and the blade is about 43 inches long with the hilt adding another 9 inches on top of that. It''s not that wide, in fact, the blade is actually kind of small width wise. It''s about 7 inches wide including the scabbard, and it''s about 2 inches thick at the thickest point. Its hilt has a ball at the end and engraved into the ball is a Griffon. Tanner swings it around a little bit, and for some reason, it''s not as heavy as he thought it would be. He pullsthe sword out of the scabbard and it lets out a glow that would only be described as heavenly. It''s like it is letting out a pure light.

    "Whoa, that''s interesting."

    Tanner just stares at the sword in amazement and looks up at Bree as he puts the sword back into the scabbard. He walks up to her and holds the sword out as to try to give it to Bree.

    "You killed the Griffon so you should be the one who takes the rewards."

    "First, I can''t believe that came out of that Griffon and second you should keep it. I have "Water Spear" to protect me and you have nothing to protect yourself, it would be better if you used it."

    Tanner looks at Bree for a second and thinks about what to do. He decides not to argue with her decision since he knew he will not win and puts the sword at his side. The scabbard came with a belt so he was able to put it on even though he has on shorts. Tanner realizes that he looks like a LARPer at the park.

    "Great, if Nathan sees me he will be sure to say something stupid."

    Tanner mumbles to himself again and Bree decides to just start ignoring it because she can not hear him no matter how hard she tries.

    "So what are we gonna do now?" Bree asks while looking at Tanner since he seems to be surprisingly knowledgeable of this world.

    "We need to find a road and find people, I don''t know if we are safe out here, there could be a Griffon nest nearby and they might want revenge if they see we killed one of them."

    "Sounds like a good idea, how about you take lead since you have a close range weapon."

    Tanner agrees with Bree and they continue deeper into the woods. After about 15 minutes of walking through the dense forest, they come onto a road. Tanner looks far both ways, even squinting to see farther but sees nothing.

    "I don''t see a single sign of life both wa-"

    KAAachHH~

    A distant sound of something shattering is coming from the right. It''s faint but it''s enough to show there is life somewhere close. Bree obviously hears this and starts heading towards it.

    "Wait, Bree, if we wanna go that way, then the least we should do is stay in the tree line just in case whoever out there is hostile."

    Bree doesn''t know what that sound is but she definitely wants to find out, and she agrees with Tanner as they continue down the forest line trying to be stealthy. Bree is conditioned well from her training for the National Guard, but Tanner is having a little trouble keeping up with her speed. After walking for about 9 minutes, they hear a sound of two people talking and the sound of what seems to be carriageechoes throughout the forest.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "What should we do Tanner?"

    Bree looks at Tanner as he starts to think hard about the situation. Several options cross his mind, from standing in the middle of the road to ask for help or killing everyone and stealing the carriage.

    "Alright I got it, it sounds like there are only 2 people so I want you to hit the driver so hard it knocks him off the carriage, then I want you to knock him out. I will go inside the carriage and hold the passenger hostage with my sword, hopefully, the glow of the sword will scare them enough so they don''t fight back. After that, we take the carriage and leave."

    "But isn''t that stealing and assault? Tanner, what''s wrong with you?"

    "Bree, we are in a world where giant mythical creatures try to eat you like a Sunday snack, it''s kill or be killed. Joey and Nathan might not be as lucky as us and have magic so they could be in great danger or even be dead by now."

    "But tha-."

    "Look we have no time so just help me out here please, this could be life or death for all of us."

    "Alright, you want me to knock off the driver right? Then I''ll do it, here they come!"

    Without even looking at the people in the carriage, they ready their sword and magic while hiding behind 2 trees.

    "On my count. 3, 2, 1."

    As Tanner counts down, water appears from thin air right in front of him and soars towards where the sounds of the carriage are coming from.

    "What the-."

    WhHatTooOShhH~

    The sound of someone yelling in surprise and water hitting with a massive impact is heard, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

    "Go."

    Bree tells Tanner to go after the carriage and that''s what he does, without even looking at the driver he takes off in a dead sprint towards the carriage. It seems to be slowly slowing down and it eventually stops. Burning, that is all Tanner could feel in his lungs as he runs but pushes through this pain while panting severely. Once he finally reaches the carriage he hastily opens the door, but something hard hits him dead in the mouth. Tanner is sent back on his behind and could feel liquid filling his mouth. ''Damn that hurt'' is the only thing that Tanner could even think of for a few seconds. He goes to draw his sword and looks his attacker in the eye. Looks like he will have to fight after all.

    ''Wait... Is that?''

    "Tanner?"

    "Wait, ith sthat you Joeth?"

    Tanner was talking with a mouthful of blood due to the sudden punch in the face.

    Joey gets out of the carriage to find his best friend Tanner laying on the ground due to his fist going straight into Tanner''s face. As he steps above Tanner to help him up Joey hears two people approach him from behind.

    "Joey?"

    Joey turns around instantly due to the sound of a voice that he could recognize instantly.

    "Bree?!"

    As Joey lays his eyes on his beloved girlfriend tears start to fill his vision. Without a second to even think about why she is here, Joey closes the distance between them and hugs her.

    "I thought I''d never see you again, I thought that we would be out here alone and you would be alone back in the real world."

    Joey has forgotten he was helping Tanner up and ultimately let go of his hand causing Tanner to fall down again. Nathan, who has noticed this, quickly ran to Tanner to help him out.

    "Dick."

    Tanner mutters under his breath to show he was displeased with Joey since he punched Tanner in the face and also didn''t help him up afterwards. As Joey and Bree are having a heartfelt reunion Nathan looks at Tanner with a kind face.

    "You good?"

    "Yeah, I''ll be fine. I don''t know what it is but the cut that is in my mouth seems to be closed and healed already. I actually feel no pain."

    Nathan looks at Tanner with a surprised expression since he saw Joey hit him and he hit him pretty hard.

    "You''re lucky he couldn''t use "Physical Explosion" or you would''ve been dead."

    "What is "Physical Explosion"?!"

    "It''s the new ability I learned while Nathan and I fought a demon."

    Joey heard Tanner and Nathan''s conversation and joined in with Bree right beside them.

    "What you guys have abilities too?" Bree asks.

    "Wait you have one too Bree?"

    Nathan looks at Bree with a surprised expression as he had figured Joey and him were the only ones with this so-called "presence" the demon talked about and that is why they had their abilities.

    "Yeah, mine is called "Water Spear", or at least that''s what my body tells me, do you have one Nathan?"

    "Indeed, mine is called "Accelerated Step". I''m not that good with it yet but it causes me to able to move at an insane speed."

    "Then what does Joey''s do?"

    Tanner looked at Joey as if looking for an answer on what it does and how it could''ve killed Tanner if Joey would''ve used it.

    "It seems to boost my physical abilities beyond the point of anything humanly possible. I don''t know it''s full power since I was only able to use it once."

    Tanner is pretty jealous since everyone has an ability except for him, he refuses to let Nathan be stronger than him.

    "Wait, pause. You guys said you faced a demon?!" Bree says this and looks at Joey and Nathan in amazement but she quickly remembers on how she took down a Griffon in one shot so the amazement faded.

    "Yeah, I will tell the story in the carriage. Let''s quit standing aroundin the middle of the road."

    As Joey says this, they all figure out their places in the carriage. The order in the carriage went like this, Tanner was driving the carriage since he has had experiences with horses throughout his life and was easily able to use the horse to its full ability; Nathan is in the seat with it''s back facing the driver and is trying to figure out what the coins are made of or which ones are more valuable but couldn''t figure it out; Joey and Bree are sitting across from him and Joey is telling their story of the village of cyclops, the girl, and how they killed the demon.

    "Are you serious, that''s insane."

    Joey could hear the interest in Tanner''s voice as he drives the carriage.

    "Yeah, I don''t know how we beat it, but we did get a stone from its mouth."

    "The same thing happened with us, what happened to us was-"

    Bree responds to the remark about the stone by telling her and Tanner''s story about the Griffon and that''s how they got the sword. As Bree says that Tanner got the sword, Tanner pulls it out and shows Nathan and Joey its holy aura.

    "Woah, that''s sick."

    Nathan just looks at the sword with a bewildered face, Joey looks at it in utter awe.

    "What have we got into?"

    Nathan asks this question as he looks at his friends and they all just smile and shrug their shoulders in response. After 30 minutes of catching up and thinking about what to do, the four come onto what looks like a massive castle. Around the castle are several rows of houses that look like different types of districts due to thecontrasting styles of each house. They approach the walls and decide to go inside. They want to know more about this world since this was their home now. As they approach the walls, they are met by a guard that is decided by the majority that he is human.

    "Halt! Who are you and what is your business here. If you are not here for anything important then you will be asked to leave. Wait, those clothes, it looks like you are from the Empire, there is no place for you here scum!"

    Joey, Nathan, and Bree just look at each other with a pale face, they can''t think of an excuse as to why they are here or why this guy hated this so-called "Empire" so much.

    "We are here because we received a quest from the guild. It involved us going into the Empire and while we were there, our clothes got shredded while fighting so we got some clothes there. To turn in the quest we have to enter the guild here."

    "I don''t remember seeing you leave, or seeing you near the Citadel at all, but the carriage is definitely Eytherian make, so you must be telling the truth."

    The guard tells the other guards to open the gate and they do so and with this Nathan, Bree, Joey, and Tanner''s epic journies start here, what will become of them is unknown.

 Safe Haven. Chapter 5

    They enter the walls of the supposed "Citadel" and proceed to a back alley where the guards at the front gate can''t hear them. They all take in the sights around them. Even though they are in a back alley, they can still see the castle which is just an outstanding size. Nathan, who has been in several football and basketball stadiums is thinking that it''s about double the size of the WVU football stadium which is able to hold up to 60,000 people, not including the people on the field.

    "This place is just outstanding, there are so many different types of building styles that you can''t pinpoint just one style in a big group."

    Tanner points this out and the others quickly agree with them as they nod their heads up and down.

    "Tanner did an intense bluff for us to get in here, so what''s next on our criminal agenda?"

    Nathan, who has noticed how many crimes they have done, decides to point out all of their bad deeds. Joey looks at Nathan with a sour face.

    "We did all of this to survive this harsh world, and half of these ideas came from either you or Tanner so that says something about your morale characters."

    Tanner, who had gotten out of the driver''s seat and into the carriage to discuss what to do, chuckles at Joey''s remark and just shrugs his shoulders.

    "Well since the lie about taking a request from a guild seems to have worked, let''s look for the guild. Maybe from them, we can find out more about what is going on." says Bree.

    "That''s probably the best thing to do right now so I agree with Bree." Tanner says in return.

    Tanner nods his head as to pump himself up after agreeing with Bree. He starts to think of a few lies he can say to the guild to have them explain the details of this world without looking suspicious.

    "Alright, I''ll ask around and see what I can find."

    As Tanner gets up to get out of the carriage, Nathan stops him.

    "I''ll come with you and ride out front, I can help you look for the guild and I''m pretty good at lying. While I am at it I can find out how much this currency is worth."

    "Alright, sounds good."

    Tanner and Nathan, who are usually arch enemies, finally work together to get something done for once. They both take their spots in the front of the carriage and the carriage starts to move at a slow pace. The part of town they are in seems to be busy especially since it is near one of the entrances. There are merchants everywhere trying to sell their product. The product ranges from an apple looking type of object to what seems to be leather-like armor.

    "Only the finest wares from the Laithys Chapel!" "Get the best weapons from the best blacksmiths from the Dwarven Kingdom." "Here is the best foods and herbs from the Beastial Dukedom!"

    All these are pitches coming from the many merchant stalls stationed up and down the main road. Tanner makes a note in his head of all the different territories that are being said. Nathan is trying to catch the attention of someone beside him but to no avail. The carriage starts to slow down due to the traffic of the other carriages around. Nathan can sense that people are staring at them. He can''t tell whether it is curiosity or something more sinister.

    "Man, we need to ditch these clothes sometime soon, they are attracting too much attention." Nathan says this at Tanner with an urgency, but Tanner just waves him off.

    "We have to wait until we get to the guild and find out how much that currency is worth, we can''t look like easy prey, it might make us lose some money."

    "I guess you''re right."

    Nathan just looks at the ground in defeat because he knows helost that argument.

    "I don''t want to ask someone where the guild is because it will make it seem like we haven''t been here before and I don''t want to stand out due to-"

    Tanner stops talking because he can hear a conversation going on behind him that will completely blow their cover.

    "Uh yes, you. Do you know where we can find the local guild, it seems that my driver has gotten lost."

    Tanner turns around to find Joey with the door open and talking to the man driving the carriage beside them. The man in the carriage is well equipped but doesn''t look like a guard, in fact, he looks like an adventurer.

    "Yeah I do, actually I''m on my way there, you are going the right way but you can follow me just in case so you don''t get lost."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "Thank you, driver, follow this kind man."

    Joey smiles at Tanner as if he is a noble and Tanner is just a driver but Tanner hides his anger so they don''t lose their cover.

    "Yes sir, and thank you, kind sir."

    The adventurer just nods at Tanner in acknowledgement. Nathan chuckles a little bit after hearing Joey talk to Tanner like that, but Tanner comes back with a witty retort.

    "At least I have a position, at the rate you''re going, you''ll just be a lowly peasant that Joey picked up because he felt bad."

    With saying that, the two look at each other with anger but it quickly subsides and they both start laughing. Nathan and Tanner have been like this throughout their Middle school and High school years together so they took no offence. After about 10 minutes of driving around in the carriage and following the adventurer, they come onto an enormous building that is huge in comparison to the other buildings around it.

    "Why does the guild have to be so huge?!" Nathan asks.

    "I don''t know, but it seems to have a lot of purposes." Tanner says in response.

    Tanner could tell this by looking at the different classes of people who walked in and out of the buildings. This is his first time noticing, but there are what seemed to be demi humans living here too. They were just like what is in anime, simply a human with their respective animal ears on their heads. Nathan just stares at these people in utter awe since he is into the demi-human thing, not sexually but you know, just interested.

    "Here we are, this is where we leave our carriages."

    The adventurer shows Nathan and Tanner where to stop the carriage, and once stopped Tanner imitated what the adventurer did and tied the reigns into the post. The post, which has a hole at the top, is at the end of what would be considered a parking spot.

    "Wait, can''t someone just steal this?" Tanner asks the adventurer this, but the adventurer just turns around and looks at Tanner like he is stupid.

    "I don''t know what guild you have been too, but they have watch guards all over the place so no one steals, and no one in their right mind would ever steal from a guild due to how much power they have over the kingdoms."

    "Hahaha, I guess you''re right, I must''ve forgotten."

    Tanner nervously laughed while saying his former statement because he in fact probably sounded like an idiot. Joey and Bree have left the inside of the carriage and Nathan got off the passenger''s seatso they all proceeded inside together, following the adventurer closely as to not get lost. The outside was pure white, and it kinda looked like the Capital of the U.S., just on a slightly smaller scale. The adventurer turned around and looked at them all.

    "Welcome to the Citadel''s guild! I guess this is where we part ways so good luck on your journey."

    The adventurer walks up to Joey and shakes his hand, but ignores the rest of the group, probably since he thought Joey is nobility and the rest are just servants. As he walks away, Tanner makes sure to flip him off. Nathan just shakes his head and laughs at Tanner. Tanner just turns and flips Nathan off too.

    "Come on you two, grow up." says Joey with a smart remark.

    They both look at Joey with the intent of fighting, but Joey just laughs loudly at their anger. They decide to walk up to the closest counter to them.

    "Oh, I have never seen you before, are you new to the Citadel?"

    "Yes we are, can you please inform us of this guild''s functions?"

    Tanner is the first to speak up hoping the woman can quench his thirst for the curiosity welling up inside of him. The guild woman smiled at him and at length explained the guild''s functions.

    "So basically what you''re saying is the guild not only offers quests for adventures, but it also gives out loans, is where all the people go to buy houses, and also has its own army which is stationed in each big town in each kingdom?" Bree asks.

    "That is correct."

    Bree''s statement is confirmed by the guild woman and they all understand why the guild is so big, half of it is used for the guild''s army. The reason behind this is that the original hero Laithys had made the guild and used his influence to firmly make it into an everyday use. This was so there is also a neutral party in any major conflict between kingdoms.

    "So I have a question, what can this get me?"

    Nathan puts the pouch onto the table so the woman could look at it. The woman opens the bag and her eyes open so wide that you clearly see the white from the section around her blue irises.

    "This is... You could buy a medium-sized house with this gold coin and be able to live off these Iron coins for about a year. If you don''t know, 100 bronze coins are 1 iron coin, 100 iron coins are 1 gold coin, and 100 gold coins are equal to one platinum coin."

    "Well I know now, thank you." Nathan says.

    The woman slightly bows to accept the thanks and looks at the others.

    "Do you have any more questions?"

    "Yes, where can we buy a house?"

    Tanner asks this question and the woman immediately points to the woman to her left.

    "If you wish to buy a house, this is the woman to talk to, her name is Catia!"

    The woman slightly elbows the girl named Catia because she was spacing out.

    "Huh, yes?!!"

    The girl is surprised by the sudden elbow to the side and looks at the four.

    "This is her first day, so please be kind to her."

    The woman just walks away, leaving Catia and the four alone together. They awkwardly stand there for about a minute without saying anything. Nathan goes to say something and the woman named Catia interrupts him.

    "My name is Catia and this is my first day, so please let me handle you with utter proficiency."

    The girl violently bows her head down and she is blushing very badly. The girl is about 5''2, and she has short brown hair that kinda looked like she has a bobbed hairstyle. She also has small brown cat ears poking through her blue hat. She has on a matching outfit, which is like a blue jacket vest with a white button up shirt under it, and she has on a short blue skirt with black panty hoes going down her legs.

    "Hey don''t worry, this is our first time too so we can learn together."

    Joey tried to calm the girl down, and it seems it has worked.

    "Really, well then this will be a learning experience for all of us! Please follow me!"

    She leads the group into a room that is behind the counter. Inside is a few filing cabinets on the left and right walls and a desk in the middle. There is two seats on one side, and five seats on the other.

    "Please take a seat and we can begin the process of you buying your first home!"

 New Beginnings. Chapter 6

    "And here is the first choice for your new home!"

    The house comes with about 5 acres of land, and it is on the outskirts of the Citadel. By carriage, it is a 10-minute drive to the guild. The location is in the Western District on a hill, and this district is mainly middle-class wealth to high-class wealth. The house is about 2 stories tall and has an attic and a cellar for food. It is a Victorian style of housing. Its outside walls are pale yellow, and the secondary color was a bright white that blended nicely. The porch of the house extended from the front to the entire right side so you can sit down and have a view of the city. Beside the left side is a stable for horses and a place to tie up the carriage, and about 3 acres of the land that is dedicated to a pasture for the horses.

    Once inside, you are greeted by the living room, which has two 7'' long red velvet couches facing each other. They are to the right and left of the fireplace, which seems to be made completely out of stone. There is one love seat across from the fireplace that is also red velvet. The main body of the couch and love seat seems to be made of metal, which is painted black to give off a gothic view. The living room is about 50'' by 35'' respectively, which made it pretty spacious.

    "Huh, this room is bigger than Tanner''s old trailer."

    "Fuck off, you always wanted to come over to my house, and your old house was about the same size so you just roasted yourself."

    Tanner and Nathan are arguing as Catia continues to give a tour to Joey and Bree. The inside walls of the whole house are a dimmer white compared to the inside, but it still looks nice. All of the floors are made of a dark colored wood that feels cold to the touch. On the left side of the living room is the kitchen, it is comparably small to what the group is used to, but it has all of the simple functions a kitchen needs. It has a 7'' by 4'' table that was made of a thick wood, and it is dark colored too to match the floor. When entering, the table is in the middle, and to the left is another fireplace, but it comes with a cooking pot that''s used to make a stew or to boil water. To the right is what looks like cabinets to put in silverware, plates, and other utensils used for cooking. The cabinets stretch all the way along the wall, until the next door. Bree pulls out some of the plates to look at them, and they have little gold flowers and branches engraved on the outline of the plate to give it a more fancy feeling. Also, beside the fireplace is a water basin with a drain, this looks like it is used to wash off dishes or food. There is, in fact, a faucet in the water basin, but they couldn''t figure out how it is able to dispense water. Catia notices Joey''s curiosity and explains it to him. Apparently here they have simple plumbing, but it is made advanced by the use of magic portals installed into pipes, which are made by the guild.

    "Man, the guild makes everything huh?" Nathan says in amazement.

    "Yes we do, and if you would like a position there, we are always hiring. You seem like you would be able to handle yourself in our many different departments!"

    Catia gives Nathan a warm smile after saying this, and Nathan just looks away and blushes. Going into the room at the back right of the kitchenis the dining room and to the back left is the cellar. The dining room has a massive table that is able to hold ten chairs, four on the right and left side and one at each end. It is made of a thick glass and has metal railings and legs to hold it up. The seats are the same color scheme and make as the couches in the living room. There are windows on the back and left walls, giving the people inside a view of the horse pasture and the city. On the right is a door, this door leads to an open room that also has a door to the living room. This room Is about the half size of the living room and has a roof that goes up past the second floor and below the attic. In the back left is a spiral staircase that leads up to the second floor, and the rest of the room is an armory and a blacksmith''s workshop.

    "The person who owned this before was a blacksmith so this is where he spent most of his time."

    Tanner is especially interested in this and notices the workshop has a furnace, a forge, an anvil, a workbench, and a grindstone. Maybe later Tanner will try to use these. The group walks up the stairs to look at the rest of the house, and there they find the Master Bedroom, which would go to Bree and Joey; three guest rooms, which two of them will be occupied by Tanner and Nathan; and finally two bathrooms and 1 bath. The bath was huge though and could fit around 10 people in it easily. All bedrooms have gothic style beds that matched the rest of the house. Of course, there is the attic and the cellar, but they are both empty at the moment.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "I hate to buy the first house we see, but this seems perfect, what do you guys think?" Nathan asks.

    Nathan looks at the rest of the group and they all nod their heads slightly in agreeance to what Nathan thinks.

    "Alright, we will take it!"

    After going through the process of handing over the money, receiving ownership, and filling out a few papers, the house is theirs for exactly one gold coin. They all took their own private tours to further investigate the house when suddenly there is a knock on the door. Nathan, who is enjoying the couches in the living room, hurriedly opens the door. It is almost sundown and no one really expects any visitors due to them just getting the house today.

    "Hello!"

    Nathan is surprised to see Catia, the guild woman/cat girl they bought the house from. She is wearing casual clothes, a beige sweater made of cotton and a short skirt.

    "Oh hey Catia, what brings you here?"

    "Well since you don''t have any food in your cellar, and you probably don''t have anything for dinner. I decided to bring you guys some food as a present and congratulations on your new house!"

    Catia is holding a basket full of bread, fruits and vegetables.

    "Now that you mention it, we haven''t eaten all day, in fact, I am actually starving."

    Nathan looks at the basket with hungry eyes and it surprises her so much she lets out a little "Ehp~!".

    "Why have you not eaten all day? What are you dieting, you''re too skinny as it is!"

    Nathan, who only weighs about 162 pounds while being 6''4, quickly stares at Catia with an angry look because he doesn''t like it when people mention how skinny he is. She, of course, lets out a louder "Ehp~!" and a chill goes up her spine.

    "A-A-Anyways, I hope you enjoy the food, I will be walking home now."

    She hands Nathan the basket and it is actually really heavy. Nathan slightly strains under the weight of it and looks at Catia in amazement.

    "You carried this thing all the way here while walking, how far away do you live!"

    "I live about 3 minutes away from here actually, we live in the same district."

    Nathan starts to realize howmuch guildworkers are probably getting paid, but wait... Wasn''t this her first day?

    "What did you do before becoming a guild woman?!"

    "I was an adventurer, but some issues came up and I am not able to do it anymore.."

    Catia looks down at the ground and her little ears droop down to her head, and her tail also drops a little bit. ''Wait, what... She has a tail!'' Nathan thinks to himself about how he never noticed. It is brown colored with a white tip at the end of it. Her golden eyes start to water a bit as if she has thought of some bad memories and Nathan realizes his mistake. To make up for it, Nathan quickly hugs Catia to maybe stop the crying before it happens. Catia looks up at Nathan in surprise and her whole face turns a bright red.

    "Wha-Wha-Wha-What are you doing!!!"

    She gives out a cute shriek and tries to back away, but Nathan won''t let her.

    "You seem upset and I knew it was my fault, so I''m making up for it."

    After saying this, Nathan finally releases her and she hurriedly takes four steps back. She grabs her skirt shyly and glances at Nathan a few times.

    "Thank you, I appreciate your concern but I am fine, I hope you have a wonderful evening."

    Catia walks away from the house and Nathan goes inside. "Maybe I took it too far and sent the wrong message....... Nah, I did the right thing" is what Nathan thinks about that last encounter. Nathan brings in the food and calls Bree into the kitchen.

    "Well I had completely forgotten about food, where did you get this?"

    "Catia came by and dropped it off, it was a congratulations present on buying the new house."

    "Oh that was nice of her, well I will see what I can do with this, I''ll call everyone down when I am done."

    With saying that, Nathan leaves Bree to her devices and goes back to the living room. Tanner has been trying to figure out how to work everything in the workshop while all that was going on. He realizes he needs some coals for the furnace and forge to start, and he starts to search for some but doesn''t seem to know where to look.

    "Hey Tanner, what''s up."

    Tanner turns around to see Joey coming down the stairs, and Joey could notice Tanner was having some trouble.

    "Well I figured we would use this house to the best of its abilities, and that includes this workshop, but I am having some trouble on finding where I can get some coal to start it"

    "I never had to use a furnace or a forge in the old world or need to find some coal there, let alone in this world."

    "Yeah, that''s the same for me. Maybe I could ask someone from the guild to help me out, also-"

    "Guyss~, the food is done!"

    Tanner and Joey look at each other in confusion, all they could think is "When did we get food?".

    They enter the dining room, which is where they heard Bree yell. When they walk in, all they can smell is bread, and they see the irregular food assortment in front of them. It was what seemed to be several loafs of bread with a fruit salad and a big bowl of steamed vegetables. It certainly looks good, but Joey was a little unsatisfied.

    "Where''s the meat!"

    "Well this is what Catia brought us, and I''m too lazy to go get some food, so this will have to do for tonight."

    Joey and Tanner look at Nathan as he walked in from the kitchen. Joey and Tanner were confused on when Catia showed up, but they brush it off because they are starving.

 Adventure. Part I. Chapter 7

    "The second day we have been transported into a new world..... It feels so... Surreal."

    Nathan has gotten up from bed and is now looking out the window. He has a perfect view of the sunrise, and he begins to reflect on what happened yesterday. Waking up in a new place with his best friend, encountering basically a cyclops midget village, saving a girl who turned out to be a demon, stealing a carriage, being reunited with his other friends, lying their way into the Citadel and then even buying a house with the money they stole. What an insane turn of events. At least they got to eat last night, they have been so busy that they forgot to buy food but Catia came through and helped them out. Bree made them dinner, which tasted a lot better than expected, the bread tasted like it was homemade, the fruit and vegetables felt and tasted freshly picked too. Catia must''ve gone through a lot of trouble to get that good selection of food, or maybe that is what food ordinarily tastes like here.

    Last night, after the group ate, Nathan realizes something was in his pocket. He pulls it out and it is his phone. The screen was cracked to hell, and it won''t even turn on. He tries to remember when this would''ve happened, but he can''t think of anything. He thought for a while and then he realized it, during the fight with the demon spider he got slammed into the ground, and there was a cracking sound heard. He knew he didn''t have any injuries so it must''ve been then that the phone got cracked.

    "Wow, even now that demon is probably laughing at me, this could''ve been very helpful, but then it could''ve been useless too."

    Knock Knock~

    Nathan turns around to see who is knocking and it was Tanner. He lets Tanner in and Tanner sits in the chair at Nathan''s desk.

    "We need to think of a plan for today."

    "What about Joey and Bree, shouldn''t they be here too?"

    "Well I knocked on their door and Joey said Bree wasn''t awake yet so he was going to stay in the room until she gets up and then they will meet us in the living room."

    "Alright, so what do you think we should do then Tanner?"

    Tanner looks at Nathan for a second then looks out the window, a lot of ideas are going through his mind and all are equally as important as the others.

    "First, we need clothes and equipment. If we plan on living in this world then we must at least look like we are from here, and also not look like we are from this supposed "Empire"."

    "I agree, we do have 20 iron coins, which splits four ways evenly, so how about we ask Catia for some suggestions for our tastes and split ways to find clothes."

    "Sounds like a good idea."

    With that being said Tanner leaves the room and Nathan grabs the pouch full of money and follows him. They go downstairs to find that Bree and Joey are waiting for them in the living room.

    "Well, that didn''t take long." Tanner says this remark as he looks at Bree and Joey.

    "Yeah, when you left, you closed the door too hard and woke up Bree, which isn''t the smartest idea, so we decided to head on down here."

    "Sounds good, Nathan and I have figured out what we are going to do first."

    Tanner explains the plan that he and Nathan thought up and Joey agreed that this is probably the best plan for now. They get ready and head out the door, going straight to the guild. The group enters the building and looks for Catia. The place is pretty empty because it is fairly early in the morning.

    "Back already? I figured you guys would be enjoying your new house, rather than roaming around."

    They all turn around to see a woman that was not Catia, but the original woman they had talked to when they first entered the guild building.

    "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Livian, and I am one of the five heads of this branch of the guild."

    "By heads do you mean one of the leaders?"

    Joey looks at her slightly confused because he has not seen her head on the building, so he assumes it is a leader-like role.

    "Why yes, I am! A sharp one you are."

    She smiles at Joey and Bree gives her the death glare.

    "So what may I help you with today?"

    Livian tries to quickly relieve the death glare from Bree but to no avail.

    "Yes, we are looking for Catia, do you know where she is at?" Nathan asks.

    "Yes I do, but today is one of her days off so she won''t be here at all today most likely, why do you ask?"

    Livian looks at Nathan with a raised eyebrow as if she is implying that Nathan would like to ask Catia out on a date or something of the sort. Nathan just facepalms and decides to ignore the lady.

    "I know what you are thinking, but no, we would just like her advice." Nathan responds.

    "Well I think I could help you with that, what would you like to know."

    "We would like to know where we could find certain items suitable to our tastes, stuff like clothes, armor, weapons, and other items." Tanner asks before Nathan can.

    As soon as Tanner says this, Livian''s eyes start to sparkle and she pushes her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose as if it gave an effect of she knows exactly where to send us.

    "Well, you have come to the right lady. Tell me what fighting style your class is and what kind of clothes you like and I will send you on your way."

    "Well, the problem is we don''t know our "classes", let alone what fighting style it has." Tanner says in a quick response.

    "Wait, you don''t know your own classes? How were you able to get so much money, I figured you got it from adventuring."

    Immediately Joey and Nathan start to sweat bullets since they knew where exactly the money came from, but without a second to pass Tanner says something again.

    "We were servants of a wealthy man in the Empire and he died recently. Since he had raised us as basically his own children, we inherited that money. His actual son inherited everything else."

    "Oh, that makes sense. Well, I can help you find out your classes!"

    After hearing that she isn''t suspicious about them, Joey and Nathan let out a long breath that they have been holding since she brought up the money. Livian leads them to a room behind the counter like when they went to buy a house, but this one had a strange device in the corner.

    "Are you even registered with a guild?"

    "No we aren''t and were never taught how to begin with, so can you please help us with that too?" Bree asks pleadingly.

    Livian nods her head towards Bree as if to accept this request, and asks for them to sit down at the desk. Once they do, she pulls out four clipboards that are basically a questionnaire about yourself. The first one is "What is your safe name?". This immediately confuses all of them, and Livian realizes they don''t know what this is.

    "A safe name is a name the person chooses, and when they accept a quest, it is the name given to the client that offers the quest. This is tocreate a secrecy on who accepts the quest, and the client has one too. It''s mainly used to stop certain criminal activities, and is for everyone''s safety."

    "Makes sense, well I know mine already." Nathan says confidently.

    "Yeah me too." Joey says with a smile on his face.

    Nathan wrote his safe name down as Livian was explaining and it didn''t take Joey long before he knew his. Nathan will be "Novaxil", which was his gamertag for the video games he played. Joey will be "Jeff Crucifix", which was the name that he wanted to use when he became a professional wrestler. It took a little bit before Tanner discovers his, which will be "Haku", which is the name of the MC from one of his favorite anime. It took a little longer for Bree to think of hers, but she settles with "Darya", which meant "sea" in Iranian. The rest of the information was height, weight, place of residence, hair color, eye color, and finally race. The race column had choices, and they all choose human as expected. Once they all finish, they turn in the clipboards and Livian pulls out what looks to be name tags. She puts each paper over their own name tag and the papers begin to float. Magic circles appear, and the papers dissipate into thin air.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "Whoaaa~."

    Joey stares at the name tags in amazement as each of their names are engraved onto a name tag by some sort of magic. Livian gives them all a needle and instructs them to prick their fingers and put a drop of blood on the name tag. They all do so and before the blood even hits the name tag, it disappears in a bright light. The name tags shine blue and they shine for about a minute or two. They all wanna ask what is going on, but they don''t want to interrupt the process. Once the names tags are done Livian hands everyone their name tags.

    "Make sure not to lose these ok? It would be problematic if you did."

    Everyone nods their heads and they look at their name tags, Tanner was the first to speak up.

    "What just happened."

    "Well basically, the name tags have your name engraved onto it so we know it is yours. Also, the magic that involved the paper was to store your information on the tag, and finally the drop of blood was so the name tag would be connected to your souls so it will display your level, stats, skills, and ultimately your class."

    "Did you say ''connected to our souls''? Huh." Nathan quotes.

    Nathan just stares at his tag in amazement while wondering how it was done, but he is too lazy to ask.

    "So how do we check the information in these?" Breeasks as she looks at Livian with a face of doubt, but Livian points to the device in the corner of the room.

    "Insert your cards into the slit in the top, and it will tell you, now who would like to go first?"

    Without anyone having the chance to say anything, Nathan is already at the device, he used "Accelerated Step" to get there first.

    "My my, eager to put something of his into a slit for the first time aren''t we?"

    Livian just looks at Nathan with a surprised and mischievous face and wonders how he got there so fast while Tanner laughs at Nathan because he just got roasted. Joey and Bree are laughing at this comment too. Nathan just ignores them and puts his name tag into the slit. As soon as he puts it in, a white magic circle appears and words starting forming.

    Name: Novaxil

    Height: 6''4

    Weight: 164 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class: GodlyAbyssal Assassin (Legendary)

    Level: 4

    Abilities: Accelerated step, Hide presence, Heighten Senses, Sword Teleport, Pressure,Walk of the Abyss (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 120, Strength: 60, Agility: 140, Magic: 90, Magic Resistance: 10, Defense: 10

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Woah, this is cool, hey Livian, what is an Abyssal Assassin?"

    Livian is already looking over Nathan''s shoulder and her mouth is wide open. The whites of her eyes are showing and she is speechless.

    "Hey, are you ok?"

    Nathan shakes her a few times andLivian comes back to reality.

    "Le-Le-Le-LEGENDARY?!"

    They all look at Livian as if she is actually an insane person all along.

    "There has only been one legendary class ever seen before, and that was the hero "Laithys", who is the one that saved the whole world from the demons, even though they have escaped the abyss he made and-...."

    Livian starts mumbling to herself and starts thinking really hard. Tanner comes up and pulls Nathan''s tag out of the device and proceeds to put his own in.

    Name: Haku

    Height: 5''10

    Weight: 160 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class: Godly Battle Angel (Legendary)

    Level: 1

    Abilities:Divine Heal, Divine Light, Vanquishing Light, Foresight, Master Craftsman,Eye of Truth (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 40, Strength: 30, Agility: 20, Magic: 100, Magic Resistance: 100, Defense: 100

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "YOU ARE LEGENDARY TOO?!?!"

    Livian is basically screaming in Tanner and Nathan''s ears as she looks at Tanner''s stats.

    "I wonder how we are going to use these abilities, you have only had one come into your mind and I''ve had none." Tanner says.

    "Yeah, maybe we just have to train some?" Nathan says back to Tanner.

    Tanner and Nathan are having a casual conversation as Livian is hyperventilating at the fact that two Legendary classes have appeared. Livian is so surprised by how calm they are that she faints.

    "I can''t let Tanner and Nathan show me up, let''s see what my stats are."

    Joey puts his name tag into the device and the following information appears.

    Name:Jeff Crucifix

    Height: 6''

    Weight: 180 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Black

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class: Godly King(Legendary)

    Level: 2

    Abilities:Physical Explosion, Impenetrable Defense, Natural Born Leader, Magic Absorption,Demon Destroyer (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 110, Strength: 150, Agility: 80, Magic: 0, Magic Resistance: 0, Defense: 115

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    After Joey got a good look at his stats, he takes Bree''s name tag and puts it in the slit and her stats are as the following.

    Name: Darya

    Height: 5''7

    Weight: 125 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Red

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class: Godly Water Enchantress (Legendary)

    Level: 3

    Abilities:Water Spear, Water Healing, Ice spike, Tsunami (Special), Frozen Wasteland (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 40, Strength: 30, Agility: 45, Magic: 150, Magic Resistance: 120, Defense: 60

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Livian, who has fainted, is laying down in the middle of the room while Tanner is just poking her in the face with his pointer finger to see if she is alright. On the opposite side of the room, Nathan is trying to figure out how to use his newly discovered powers, but he can''t seem to figure it out. Near him are Joey and Bree talking about what they want to eat tonight. Livian finally wakes up to see Tanner crouching near her.

    "You alright?"

    "Yes, I am fine, but I had this dream that you and Nathan haveLegendary Classes."

    "That wasn''t a dream, it''s true, and Joey and Bree have one too, is that special or something?"

    "Special?! If all four of you are Legendary class members, then you should be the strongest people in the world!"

    "Huh, I don''t feel strong."

    Nathan, who was looking at his hand while opening and closing it decided to join the conversation and walk over towards the two. Joey and Bree also follow him over there. Livian just continues to look at them all in awe.

    "I''m just gonna take Tanner''s word for it about the fact you two have Legendary classes since I didn''t see it for myself. I have to tell the king. I have to tell the Guildmaster!"

    "I don''t think so, let''s actually keep this a secret between us, K?"

    Nathan looks at Livian while giving off a malicious pressure that she has never felt before. She immediately starts sweating profusely and she loses the ability to speak. After about 10 seconds, she starts crying because her body feels like she is about to be killed any second now. Nathan, who realizes whats going on, releases his ability "Pressure", and feels terrible about what he just did. As soon as Nathan releases it, Livian stops crying and starts to compose herself.

    "I am so sorry, the ability just popped into my head so I tried it out, I didn''t mean to make you cry."

    "it''s ok, but why did you say you wanted to keep it a secret?"

    The others also wanted to know since they all look just as confused as Livian. Why doesn''t Nathan want to be known by the King? That actually seems like a great idea in the minds of the others.

    "Well, I don''t want to be considered the second coming of Laithys, it will put too much stress on us, we aren''t even able to use most of our abilities so we should wait until we are stronger."

    Nathan brought up a good point that Tanner agrees with by nodding his head. The idea of people swarming them all of the time and having to travel everywhere to meet kings and other royalty didn''t sound that appealing to Tanner.

    "But it is co-"

    Livian tries to reject Nathan''s idea but she is met with the same kind of pressure that Nathan let out earlier and she immediately stopped.

    "Alright, but the second you reach level 25 I''m telling everyone!"

    "I think that is fair, thank you Livian."

    Nathan thanks her and slightly nods his head while stopping his ability "Pressure". Since the process is finished, Livian remembers what the four originally came here for, and is able to tell Tanner and Nathan what type of armor to use, and also what type of weapons to get and where to find them. For Nathan, it is recommended that he use thick leather armor on his chest, knees, and a pair of thin metal shoes and gauntlets, this is so he can have max mobility and also be able to use his feet and forearms for protection if needed. Out of all the weapon styles that Livian gives Nathan, he chooses a Duo combination of a long sword and short sword, while also being equipped with throwing knives and maybe a bow if he can afford it. Tanner''s class suggestion was that he use plated armor on the same spots that Nathan had so he can increase his defence more since he wasn''t very fast, and Tanner already has a weapon but Livian recommended to have a shield as well.

    "Alright sounds good, Tanner and I will go ahead while she looks at your guys'' stats and gives you her recommendations, and I''ll also go ahead and give you guys 10 iron coins. See you at the house!"

    With that being said, Tanner and Nathan leave the guild building and part ways to go to the stores that Livian recommended. Once the two are gone, Joey and Bree bring up their stats and Livian looks at them, and almost faints again. Joey was able to hold her up and she thought of the right places to send them, after a long time of thinking, she knew what they needed.

    "Joey should try to find some armor that covers his whole body, and it should be preferably iron or maybe even Orichalium if you have enough money, as for Bree, she should go with some enchanted cloth armor that gives her extra magic protection. As for weapons, Joey needs something extremely durable and that can withstand his physical abilities, maybe you should go with an Exerium long sword... No, maybe if you found a pair of gauntlets to go with your armor then you would be able to deliver a harder blow, just do one of those two, and for Bree, she needs a water-based staff to boost her magical abilities."

    After she tells the two what they need, she tells them how to go to each location and they go on their way, they decide to go shopping together unlike Tanner and Nathan. Bree and Joey leave and Livian lets out a long breath while in the room with a strange device. A white-robed woman enters the room.

    "Were they as expected?"

    "No, they are still too weak for us to do anything with them, I even tried boosting their egos, but they seem to be extremely cautious about them being publicly known, just keep doing your job and they will blossom into what this world needs... Thatthing''sdestruction. Also, be extra careful about that Nathan and Tanner, they seem to be a dangerous duo."

    "Yes ma''am, I will continue my mission now."

 Adventure. Part II. Chapter 8

    Joey and Bree finally arrive home to find Tanner and Nathan holding their weapons out at each other. They are yelling at each other but Joey and Bree couldn''t understand them. When Joey and Bree start to pick up the pace,Tanner and Nathan''s conversation finally becomes audible.

    "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING A WEEABOO YOU PRIEST."

    Nathan is yelling very loudly while exerting a deadly presence, but Tanner seems to not be affected by it. Tanner is just laughing at Nathan''s anger as if he is used to it.

    "It seems your little baby pressure doesn''t affect me in the slightest, and I might look like a priest, but you look like a middle schooler''s first original character. What do they call it? Oh, that''s right, you look "Edgy"."

    A vein pops out of Nathan''s head after Tanner says this, the atmosphere is just full of tension, and they both look at each other with deadly intentions. Nathan goes into a stance to go for the kill. He uses his "Accelerated Step" to go for the jugular but he is soon met by a sudden chop to his head. Tanner is also met by said chop and they both look up while wincing from the pain. They look up to see not Joey who had done it but Bree.

    "Stop it you two! I have had my fair share of excitement today and would like to just rest up a little bit, so can you kindly stop arguing!?"

    The intense pressure in the atmosphere gets even more intense as Bree stares at the two with the intent of killing them on the spot if they disagree. They both quickly put away their weapons and calm down. The knot on the top of Tanner''s head has already gone down and was healed but Nathan''s is still there and he kept rubbing it to try to stop the pain. Joey just stands behind Bree and laughed.

    Joey finally gets a good look at what Nathan and Tanner bought and they are both kinda right when they insulted each other. Nathan has a cloak that is pure black and has a hood to go with it. He also has what looks exactly like a ninja mask to cover his face from his nose and below.

    As for armor and clothes, he has a tight-fitting black long sleeved shirt and pants to match. Nathan also has gotten a pouch which is strapped to his side which looks completely empty. He has on a leather chest piece and leather knee pads; a pair of metal boots that are a dark gray color, as well as thick metal gauntlets that look like they have sharpened claws at the end.

    He definitely looks like a mix between a ninja and a death lord with the boots and gauntlets. He has a short sword on his hip and the long sword was on his back.

    Tanner, on the other hand, is wearing a thick overcoat which is white and gold trimmed. His chest is protected by an iron chest piece and he has on metal gauntlets. He has on leather leggings and leather boots, so he strayed a little bit from what Livian told him to do. On his side is, of course, his sword, and he has a shield on his back that had a Griffon engraved on it which matches his sword. The shield is a kite shield, but a little bigger than the ones Joey saw in the armor stores. Tanner also has a pouch at his sidewhich is the same as Nathan''s, and it is just as empty as Nathan''s too. Joey can''t see what type of clothes Tanner is wearing due to his armor covering it up, but he can see the overcoat had fur on the inside. The fur is a dark black.

    Tanner and Nathan completely contrasted each other like the light and the darkness. Bree, on the other hand, had gotten a simple blue robe that came with a lot of enchantments, so it is stronger than it looked. It came with a hood as well, and when put on, there is a dragon sewn in the back of the hood.

    She also has a staff that is made of a dark wood that twists around a metal rod until it reaches the tip, and then the wood made a ball around a blue stone which floats in the middle of the ball. The stone lets out a radiant light when it is held by Bree. The robe Bree got also has fur on the inside which will keep her warm during the winter. Bree has also got the same pouch as Tanner and Nathan, but hers isn''t empty.

    Joey had gone to several stores to make sure that he found something that suited him and that he liked. The final result is a pair of enchanted gauntlets made of Exerium, which the enchantment on the right hand is wind-based, and allows Joey to punch faster, and on the left hand is an enchantment that boosted defence so he can block attacks with it. He has on plate armor which covers every inch of his body from the neck downand below that is a layerr of chainmail. It is extremely heavy but Joey is going to train every day until he can run 3 miles straight in it without feeling fatigue. The plate armor is a bright silverish color and sparkles nicely in the sunshine. It is a little flashy, but it is equally as important since it boasts insane defence. Joey had bought a pouch too, but he has no money to put in it.

    When they finally all saw each other''s armor and weapons, they started to explain them, first up was Bree.

    "Well, the cloak absorbs most basic magic spells and helps repel stronger magic spells. It is also completely weightless. The staff helps me concentrate my magic into a smaller area, making my "Water Spear" smaller, but it packs a heavier punch. I also have a dagger concealed inside of the robe just in case I get into a tight squeeze."

    Joey is surprised to hear this because he didn''t even know she bought the dagger. Nathan raises his hand as to show he wanted to go next.

    "Well, I will go up next. Even though I might look stupid to you guys, this cloak has complete resistance to slash attacks and also absorbs most light magic. The face cover can change my voice if I want it to, honestly it came with the hood so might as well wear it. This clothing is to match the cloak and has no special purpose except for mobility. These boots are made of Torium, which is a lightweight metal that can withstand a lot of damage, and the tips of them are sharpened so if I learn how to do kick attacks, I''ll be able to deal damage with them and even defend with them. The gauntlets are the same way. My short sword is the one I used to kill the demon, so it''s just a normal short sword, but the longsword on my back is completely different. It has an incredibly sharp edge, so it is easy to do slash attacks, and it causes an insane amount of bleeding that might kill you if not treated immediately."

    Nathan pulls out the sword and it is so sharp, it easily cuts through the air, making a trail behind it when moved at fast speeds. The sword itself is a dark gray and is apparently made out of Torium as well according to Nathan. If you look closely, you can also see about 10 throwing knives attached to Nathan''s cloak, but he forgot to mention them. Next up is Tanner who decided to give a short explanation.

    "The overcoat protects me, the chest piece protects me, and the leg armor is leather so it slightly protects me worse than the chest piece. Oh, and I almost forgot, the shield protects me as well."

    Joey just chuckles at Tanner''s explanation and Nathan facepalms in disappointment. Bree rolls her eyes as Tanner just ignores all of their criticism. Next up is Joey.

    "As you can see I am wearing a full set of plate armor which is made of steel, and the gauntlets are made of Exerium which have the enchantments-."

    Joey explains what the gauntlets have in terms of enchantments and ends his explanation. After this, they all decide to go inside and relax in the living room with each other. Tanner sits in the love seat and talks to Nathan, who is on the couch by himself. They are talking about an anime Tanner had asked Nathan to watch, but Nathan had never gotten around to it. While they were discussing that, Joey and Bree were snuggled up on the other couch and are as close to the fire as possible. They had both changed into the casual clothes they had bought, but Tanner and Nathan were still in their armor as if they are going to war.

    "Why aren''t you guys in your casual wear?"

    Joey just looks at them in confusion after saying this, Nathan responds first.

    "I bought three pairs of this shirt and pants, so it will be the same no matter what really, and I am too lazy to take off my armor, at least I took off the face mask."

    "I also had bought three pairs of the same clothes, and you know me, I wore jackets in the real world all of the time so I am actually enjoying this overcoat. As for the armor it is the same as Nathan said, I am too lazy to take it off as well."

    Even though they are different, they act like the same person in Joey''s mind.

    "Enough about what we are wearing, I am more worried about what we are eating for dinner tonight." Nathan says while his stomach rumbles.

    Nathan, who had eaten at a restaurant in town on his way home, is already starving again. Apparently, everyone else had eaten out at a restaurant too, but it was about 7:00 p.m. so everyone agrees it was time for dinner.

    "Well, who bought some food for the house?" Joey asks.

    Joey looks at Nathan and Tanner because he knew him and Bree definitely didn''t buy any.

    "I thought that was Tanner''s job?"

    Nathan immediately shifts the blame to Tanner.

    "No, it was Joey and Bree''s job."If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    The blame is just as easily shifted to Joey and Bree.

    "Nooo, don''t try that, I''m pretty sure it was Nathan''s job to begin with."

    And yet again the blame is shifted onto someone else, which was Nathan who is being blamed by Joey. They all started blaming each other and sooner or later Bree gets tired of it.

    "Shut up! I don''t care who was SUPPOSED to do it, I just care about who is GOING to do it, and since Nathan can basically teleport, it will be his job."

    Joey and Tanner laugh at Nathan as in the end the job is given to him, but Nathan just looks at the ground in disappointment because he knows he was broke. Bree notices this and throws her pouch to him.

    "I have about 20 bronze coins left, use it to buy food for tonight, and then take out the carriage in the morning and go buy food for the week. This will also be good training for you to get used to using your ability."

    "Yes ma''am!"

    Nathan stands up and salutes Bree as if she is a drill sergeant and puts on his face cover. After doing that, he vanishes within a blink of the eye. The door opens and closes quickly, and Nathan is officially gone. Tanner sighs a breath of relief as if he has just been cured of everlasting cancer. He gets up and goes outside to take care of the horse. They got lucky and the previous owner left a months worth of hay behind for the new owners. Bree and Joey continue to cuddle on the couch near the warmth of the fireplace and it is not long before they both fall asleep.

    **********************************************************************************************************************************

    It is not long before Nathan is in a part of town where food is sold in stalls on the sides of the road. It isn''t the best part of town, but the hardest working people are always in the poor part of town. He still can''t get used to the diversity in housing across the Citadel. According to the armorer he got his supplies from, the Citadel is a safe haven for all races that roam the planet. If you''re not a demon then you are welcome, and it is the capital of a newly formed country called Eyther, which is a country formed on the idea of everyone is made equally.

    While walking up and down the food stalls with the basket Catia had given him, Nathan picks out a whole chicken that was pre-cooked, freshly loafed bread, and what looks like a potato, but is called a "Dilem". In total, this dinner cost them 2 bronze coins since the chicken was pre-cooked so it costs more. Looking at the basket satisfied, and looking at the sun to see if he can tell what time it is, he decides to take his time getting back and to try out some of his abilities. The first he tries out is "Hide presence". Immediately he feels like he is completely blending into the crowd and no one is noticing him at all, also he seems to not be making any sounds while walking down the road. He realizes how helpful this could be and decides to leave it on since he needs to figure out his limits. The next ability he tries is "Heighten Sense". As soon as he tries to use it, he is overwhelmed by a stimulus that is coming from his sight, smell, and hearing. He freaks out at first due to the immediate expansion of his senses, and he soon learns to control it with a smaller area so it is not as bad as before.

    He can hear conversations inside houses as he walks, and even walked past to what sounded like a piano playing inside of a bar of some sorts. He continues down the road when suddenly he stops dead in his tracks. He focuses all of his power on his hearing and hears the following conversation.

    "Oi, what do we got here, looks like a little cat girl has walked into the wrong part of town." "I haven''t tasted a catgirl yet, maybe she will squeal like the last one did."

    Nathan, after hearing this, uses "Accelerated Step" to run on top of the buildings to find out where this conversation is coming from.

    "Please don''t hurt me, I have no money, I am just a simple beggar."

    Nathan hears the girl''s voice for the first time and he recognizes it instantly, it is Catia. He finds the group of men surrounding Catia in a back alley. It is close to where Nathan originally was when he bought the food.

    "Your pretty, white robe tells us otherwise, so just hand it over and we might think about not making your life a living hell."

    Nathan grits his teeth as he holds the food basket in one hand, and stands on the roof of a house near the alley. He thinks about how to stop them, and then he realizes he is in fact armed and is fairly strong according to Livian. Even though he has next to none combat experience, he decides to intervene, but only at the right moment.

    "Alright, you can have it, just I''m begging you don''t hurt me!"

    Catia takes off the robe while her eyes fill with tears. Apparently, she thought she wouldn''t have had to take the robe off in public because underneath, she was only wearing a bra and what looked like a pair of shorts.

    "Oh, it seems you''re already ready for us to take a ride huh, you don''t have a bad chest you know, despite your size. Now hand me that robe and we will take a better look at you."

    What seems to be the leader of the group of four men thrashes his hand out to grab the robe that Catia was still using to cover herself up from the front and as soon as his hand touches the fabric of the robe, red liquid sprays everywhere. The man looks down at his hand, which was now laying on the ground. He only has the knub of his wrist left and it is a perfectly clean cut. In front of him was Nathan, who had cut of the man''s hand with the Torium long sword. The sword is so sharp that Nathan felt no resistance as he cut off the man''s hand.

    "I swear to god, if I ever see you ever again, whether it is by accident or on purpose, I will cut you down where you stand."

    The man is just screaming at the extreme pain from the loss of his left hand, falls down on his on his back and starts to roll around in pain.

    "That bastard! Let''s kill him boys-!"

    It has started raining and as soon as one of the men in the group starts to say something, Nathan appears in front of them with speed that their eyes can''t keep up with. His sword is pressed against the guy''s throat so hard that it makes a slight cut in it.

    "You have 10 seconds to grab your friend''s hand and run away screaming. one, two-."

    Before he can even get to three, the men had left their one-handed friend behind and are running away screaming. The one-handed man crawls to his amputated hand, grabs it, and he too runs away screaming. Nathan looks at Catia, who is utterly speechless, in fact, she looks terrified. Nathan realizes he has "Pressure" on still and quickly releases it.

    "Put on the robes and let''s go back to your place, I will walk you home."

    The rain is worsening, but they are in no hurry, Nathan went and got the food he had hidden before he attacked the group of thugs and put his cloak over it to hopefully keep it dry. Catia, who is covered in blood from head to toe, just walks beside Nathan in silence while staring at the ground. They get into the West District and they soon arrive at Catia''s house. Well, Nathan wouldn''t call it a house, more like a condo. Catia invites Nathan inside, and he accepts. The inside is very warm and it has a very down to earth feel to it. According to Catia, there is two bedrooms and one bathroom and bath. She asks him to stand in the living room while she changes out of the blood-soaked white robe. He stood there and looks around at the decor. There is a cat porcelain in the corner, which actually kinda surprises Nathan. He was tempted to sit down on the couch, but he quickly remembered he is dripping wet. He checks the food and it was surprisingly dry. Nathan sighs a breath of relief since he knew Bree would have his head if he wasted money.

    "I just want to thank you... For saving me."

    Nathan is startled as Catia came out of her room, with a towel on her head, and with some silk pajamas on.

    "It was no problem, those guys deserved what they got so don''t think anything of it. Why were you in that part of town anyway?."

    "Someone had offered me a mission to do while on my day off and I accepted, the mission involved me being in that part of town, and soon I was surrounded by those men. I mean it when I say it, thank you, Nathan."

    Catia gets really close to Nathan and looks up at him with her golden eyes, all Nathan can do is look away and blush, Catia is blushing too.

    "Well with that being said, I would like to say you''re welcome, and anytime you need something just ask. No matter what it is, you will have our help. Now if you excuse me, I have to bring dinner to my hungry friends."

    Nathan hurriedly leaves the condo and uses "Accelerated Step" to return home as quickly as possible. As soon as Nathan leaves, Catia begins to break down crying. "Why them?" "Why do I have to do it?" "What is she planning?", these are all thoughts racing through her head as she curls up into her bed. She doesn''t want to do this anymore, but she has to if she wants to save him, the one person that makes her happy.

    *************************************************************************************************************************************

    Back at the house, Tanner, who has gone back inside since it was raining, is expecting the immediate arrival of Nathan with the food soon.

    "What could be holding him u-."

    As Tanner starts to mumble to himself, he hears Nathan enter the house and close the door behind him. Tanner decides to greet Nathan but is met with an unruly sight. Nathan''s eyes are bloodshot and his nose is bleeding profusely. When he takes off his mask, a stream of blood comes out of his mouth.

    "Nathan! What happened!!"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You''re bleeding!"

    Nathan, who hadn''t noticed, put his hands all over his body to check for wounds but didn''t find any, and finally, he puts his hand up to his nose and notices the nosebleed.

    "Huh isn''t that something-."

    THHUuDd~

    Nathan falls face first into the floor as Tanner just stares at him with a shocked expression. Tanner runs towards Nathan to see if he is alright. Joey and Bree, who are also in the living room, are awoken by this sudden thud and wonder what it was. They notice what has happened, and they run over to Nathan.

    "Nathan, are you alright?"

    Tanner is shaking Nathan as to try to wake him up, but nothing is happening. He tries to think about what to do, but this happened too unexpectedly and he is not prepared. What exactly had Nathan done that caused these injuries?! "Wait, maybe I can try this", Tanner thought.

    "Divine Heal."

    As those words were said, an immense light warped around Nathan''s body, and once it completely covered his body, it seems as if he absorbed the light. There is no movement for about 30 seconds, then suddenly Nathan gets up and looks at everyone with a bewildered expression.

    "What just happened."

    "Well I healed you, you dumbass. What did you do to cause these injuries?"

    "Well, my guess is since I was using all of my abilities for such a long time, that I ran out of mana or whatever they call the power inside you in this world."

    Tanner looks at Nathan for a second, and then Tanner feels really dizzy for a moment. Maybe this is just an after-effect of using his abilities for the first time. What Nathan said was probably true though, if that''s the case, then Bree will have to be very careful when she uses her magic. Nathan goes to take a step, but stumbles. Before he could fall, Joey catches him and helps him over to the couches. He is soaking wet so he puts him as close to the fire as possible.

    "You should take off everything except for your shirt and your pants, you''ll dry easier."

    "Yeah yeah, alright."

    Nathan does as Joey had told him to and takes off his equipment and sits beside the fire. Bree picks up the basket and takes Nathan''s cloak off of it. It is pretty dry compared to the soaked cloak on it. She takes it into the kitchen and starts to make Chicken and mashed potatoes, with a side of homemade bread. Instead of calling everyone into the dining room, she takes two plates into the living room for Nathan and Joey and then takes another two out for her and Tanner. No one really talks while eating, they just kinda stare into the fire. Nathan''s injury was a quick realization to everyone that they know nothing about this world, and they could all die by unknown causes at any second now. Once they finish their food, they all go to bed and the rain continues to pour down even after everyone is asleep.

 Adventure. Part III Chapter 9

    At sunrise, Nathan is already fully equipped and ready to go out grocery shopping. He hooks up the horse to the carriage, gets in the driver''s seat, and heads down the road. He is slowly getting better at controlling the horse, so he makes it to the part of town he was at last night in about 10 minutes. He ends up at a local farmer''s shop, who sells every type of food you can think of.

    "Hey there, what do you got that can last long in a cellar."

    Nathan walks up to the farmer while asking this question. The farmer looks at Nathan with a surprised look, but he tries to hide it.

    "I can''t remember the last time an adventurer came to buy some food from me, but you didn''t come here to hear me babble. If you''re looking for long-lasting, then I would suggest items like dehydrated meat, Dilems, Dyards, Legim, and Catols."

    Dilems were potatoes, Dyards were apples, Legims were heads of broccoli, and Catol were carrots. Nathan decided to take the farmer''s word for it and bought a week''s worth of it with ten bronze coins. He also bought some grape looking items, and what also seems to be a bag of oranges. Nathan is surprised by how cheap it is and doesn''t know what to do with the remain eight bronze coins. He decides he will give them back to Bree when he gets home. The farmer helps Nathan load up the food into the carriage and Nathan pays him. Nathan gets into the carriage and is getting ready to leave the farmer''s shop when he hears yelling going on behind him.

    "What do you mean you don''t have our money?! All you got me was twenty-five bronze coins?!"

    "Ye-Ye-Yes, I am so sorry! Please forgive me, don''t do what you did last time! My daughter has already been traumatized enough by your sexual acts!"

    "Then make sure to get me my money, but since you didn''t give me enough this week, I will have you watch us rape your daughter this time."

    All the thugs laughed at the same time, and some were doing the dog whistle. Nathan recognizes the voice of one of the thugs, it is the one he had cut the hand off of. Nathan can feel anger boiling inside of him and he decides to take care of this in a very... Violent way.

    "Oh, you have what seems to be a noble in a carriage here, why didn''t you ask them for more money you scumbag! Let''s go say hello to them."

    The thugs surround Nathan''s carriage from the back and move towards the front. They reach the front of the carriage and no one is driving it. The one-handed thug is confused.

    "Check the inside boys."

    There is no response. The one-handed thug grew angry with his "boys" So he turns around and starts yelling.

    "Don''t make me beat the snot out of you answer me when I-."

    He stops talking due to the traumatic scene that is behind him. The men he had lived the past 10 years of his life with were... Dead. They all had slits in the napes of their necks, and their heads barely hung on their bodies by the front skin of their throats. Horrified, the one-handed thug takes a few steps back until he bumps into someone. He turns around to see Nathan standing there, looking down at him.

    "I thought I told you if I ever see you again, I''d cut you down where you stood."

    Nathan is using pressure with all of his power and it paralyzes the thug. He falls down onto the ground and proceeds to urinate himself in fear. He begs and begs for forgiveness since those are the only words he could get out. Nathan decides to punish him accordingly. Nathan stands over the thug and in the blink of the eye, the man''s good arm is sent flying in the air. Nathan wants him to sufferfor what he has done to other people. The man just lays there, on the ground, in shock and sprays blood all over the ground. The light starts to fade from his eyes. Nathan, who had lost complete control, has just realized what he had done. He can''t remember how he did it, or what just happened, but it kind of scares him. He looks down at himself and he is covered in the blood of the six thugs. He knew he had no control of his body at all during that encounter. What if he had lost control towards his friends and killed them? That is all he can think about, but before long the farmer is in front of him, prostrated on the ground.

    "Th-Th-Thank you so much."

    The farmer looks up to Nathan with tears flowing from his eyes. According to the farmer, those thugs have been taking money from him weekly for the past 3 months, and when he didn''t pay enough, they would rape his daughter and slaughter his cattle. Nathan knew he has done a good thing, but he feels like he had handled it in the wrong way entirely, this event traumatizes Nathan slightly. The farmer is so grateful, he fills the carriage with about a month''s worth of food. The food ranged from asparagus to bags of grain and peanuts. Nathan forgot all of the names the farmer said for each item, so he will just use the old world names for them. After that, the farmer sees Nathan away, and Nathan drives straight home. Apparently, the farmer would bury the men in his field for fertilizer. What a messed up world this is, and how could Nathan just kill someone so easily without thinking twice about it? He is going to the guild later to see if there was any new information on his stats, to see if that was the cause, but he is going home first.

    *******************************************************************************************************************

    When Nathan arrives back at the house, he sees Tanner and Joey running circles around the house. Joey is behind Tanner, but the reason why is because he was pushing Tanner to his limits. Joey has his armor on, which is much heavier than Tanner''s, and yet he has more energy than Tanner. Tanner is panting really badly and his face is red. Nathan parka the carriage and leads the horse into the pasture. Hegoes back to the carriage and starts unloading the food. Bree, who was in the living room at the time, saw Nathan and decides to help him carry in the food. No one notices at what Nathan had done, since he jumped into a lake at the bottom of the hill they lived on to wash himself off, and then washed the blood off the carriage. He decides that he will never tell the others what he had done for fear of them hating him for murdering several people.

    "Why is there so much food?!"

    Bree, who went out to the carriage and had seen the insane amount of food that was packed into it, is completely shocked. Nathan lied to her and said that he had found a farmer that was in some money trouble and the farmer was willing to sell most of his product for ten bronze coin, as long as Nathan promised to go there again to buy food. Bree is happy they have found a stable source to buy food from and continues to unpack the carriage. Tanner and Joey are still running and Nathan can hear Joey yelling.

    "Come on Tanner, you''re gonna die out here if you don''t train harder! One more lap and I will let you take a small break!"

    With Joey saying that Tanner picks up the pace and finishes the lap at record speed. Once done, Tanner goes inside to get a drink of water from the faucet. Joey notices Nathan has arrived with the groceries and decides to also help carry them in. Once done, Nathan goes up into his room for a while to rest. Joey decides to talk to Tanner some.

    "So Tanner, have you figured out this "Master Craftsman" ability yet?"Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    "Not really, then again I don''t have any materials to try it with."

    "Yeah, that''s true, but we are too broke to buy any."

    Joey laughs after saying this and Tanner just thinks to himself for a while. Maybe they should start doing some quests for the guild and get some income coming in.

    "Joey, do you know where Nathan is?"

    "Apparently he was really tired after going and getting the food, so he is taking a nap."

    When Tanner heard this, he decides to go wake Nathan up so he would stop being a lazy ass all the time. He tells Joey to get ready to go to the guild, and Joey does just that. Tanner goes up to Nathan''s room and opens the door and behold, Nathan is passed out on his bed. Tanner realizes this is the perfect opportunity to try out his ability "Divine Light". He had tried it outside before, and all it did was make a big flash of light, but no one was around at the time to try it on. Tanner focuses his energy and does the ability.

    "Divine Light!"

    An intense light shines out of Tanner''s hand, enough to permanently blind someone, but it has no effect on Nathan. Nathan''s cloak absorbs all of the light instantly.

    "Goddamnit get up already!"

    Tanner slaps Nathan awake, and Nathan just slightly grunts at the sudden slap in the face. Nathan just looks at Tanner with a sad face.

    "Why would you do that?"

    "We are going to the guild, get up already."

    Tanner leaves the room and Nathan does too. They go outside to find Joey and Bree are already outside and ready to go. Joey and Bree get inside the carriage while Nathan and Tanner get into the front. Tanner is driving while Nathan is in the passenger''s seat. On the way there, Joey, Bree, and Tanner talked most of the way while Nathan remained silent for the most part. They show up at one of the guild counters to find Livian, whom they decide to talk to.

    "Hey, Liv! Where do we accept quests at?"

    Livian, who did not like the nickname that Joey has given her, explains that they will need a guild representative to find them aquest that is equal to their guild rank. Since they don''t have a representative, they don''t have a guild rank yet. The only way to increase your guild rank is to do enough quests at your rank, and then receive a quest from the next rank, and if completed, you rank up.

    "So, do you have any special requests on who your representative should be?"

    Livian says this as to imply that they pick someone they know. The group does a small huddle and it is quickly agreed that Catia should be their representative.

    "We want Catia if she is available."

    Livian smiles at Nathan after he says this, and Nathan thinks that she got the wrong idea again. Livian excuses herself and goes to get Catia. It takes a while, but once Livian comes back, Catia is right behind her. Catia seems to have a troubled expression on her face, but the group just figures that it is because this will be her first time representing someone. Livian leaves after she whispers something in Catia''s ear, and Catia starts to look perky again.

    "Thank you for requesting me to be your representative! I will try my best as long as you guys do too!"

    With that being said, Catia brought the adventures to what looked like a request board. On the board were different colored papers, the colors went White, Purple, Black, Gold, Green, Red, and finally a Transparent paper. According to Catia, The ranks went White>Purple>Black>Green>Red>Gold>Crystal. So the paper that was transparent was actually a crystal-like substance. Of course, the group started out as a White rank and would have to work their way up. Their first quest was to eliminate 7 Forest Wolves and the reward was 80 bronze coins. In the Dread Woods to the east of the Citadel was where the wolves are located. They prepared themselves, and start to walk out the door when Catia stops them.

    "Wait~! I almost forgot something, this compass, it is imbued with a magic to where the quest giver sets a certain location for you to arrive at, and this compass will take you there. If you use this, it will lead you directly to the Forest Wolves nest."

    "Seems useful, let''s make sure not to lose this, for the moment I will give it to Tanner since he is driving."

    With that being said, Joey hands Tanner the compass and they leave the building.

    "Come back safely!"

    Catia yells at them one last thing before they leave, and they all wave goodbye to Catia. Once they leave the city, Tanner uses the compass to track where to go. The group is trying to decide battle strategies, and they go with Nathan''s strategy. Joey will be in the front, luring the attention of the wolves, and when he has their attention, Nathan will go in there take out about as many as he can in as short as time as possible, and once they are focused on Nathan, Joey will join in the fighting with Nathan. Tanner will stay in the back and protect Bree as she helps out Joey and Nathan take out the wolves. If there is a need to retreat, Tanner will use "Divine Light'' and they will retreat. This is just the plan, but if they are as easy as they are supposed to be, they will probably scrap the plan and just train their abilities on the wolves. It sounds messed up, but they are a lot stronger then a White rank adventurer, they would be ranked at about a Black rank at their current level. They arrive at the entrance of the Dread Woods and tie the carriage up to a tree. Nathan decides to scout ahead, and he uses "Hide Presence" and "Heighten Sense" at the same time so he is not seen and he can find the wolves. The rest of the group follows the compass as Nathan disappears into the woods. After about 10 minutes of following the compass, Nathan appears in front of the group again.

    "I have located the wolves whereabouts, they are in a cave where the compass exactly says, and it''s only about 100 feet in front of our position right now."

    "Nathan, you don''t have to be so formal man."

    Joey chuckles at Nathan''s formality as if he was talking as a soldier. Joey chuckling eases the tension of the group because even though they are supposed to be OP, it is still their first mission. They go on forward and come onto the cave Nathan was talking about. They get into formation, and head onwards. They get about 10 feet from the cave when suddenly a wolf appears in front of Joey. It just looks like a normal wolf to him, but its eyes are shining red. Joey readies his fists to fight, then the wolf just vanishes. Joey is taken by surprise when he hears Bree scream.

    "Behind you Joey!"

    Joey turns around as fast as he can, but he is unable to defend himself in time. The unexpected speed of the wolf completely takes the whole group by surprise. The wolf lunges towards Joey but is met with a throwing knife into its back. It lets out a loud whelp, and it is taken off balance. Joey sees this as an opportunity, and closes the distance between him and the wolf, and puts his fist downwards into its skull. He can feel a crunching feeling under the weight of his fist as the impact of the punch leaves a small crater about 1 foot wide. Joey pulls his fist out and looks at the wolf he had crushed like a bug under his fist. He realizes his punch is nothing to joke around with, but there is no time to celebrate as two more wolves come walking out of the cave. Joey turns around and breaks out into a small sweat because he doesn''t know if he can keep up with two at once. Suddenly, someone put their hand on Joey''s shoulder.

    "Don''t worry, we all have your back."

    Joey looks to see it was Nathan who put his hand on his shoulder and is also probably the one who threw the dagger to help him out. Joey nods his head and readies his fist. The two look at the wolves while both parties wait for someone to make the first move.

    "Punch to your left."

    Joey hears Nathan tell him where to punch and trusts him without a second to think about it. As he punches left with his right hand, his fist is met with the snout of one of the wolves, and it is sent flying into a tree where it makes a splat sound. Joey turns to thank Nathan and sees a headless wolf to his right where Nathan had been. Nathan was standing behind the wolf with his Torium sword in his hand. The wolves were stronger than expected but were still no match for the group. Joey and Nathan both look at the cave again but only see there are dead wolves at the entrance. All of them had ice spikes lodged into their skulls. This was the work of Bree who didn''t want to just sit around and watch Joey and Nathan do all of the work. One more left, and then they just had to collect the gems that came out of their bodies. They thought about going into the cave, but before they could, what seemed to be the alpha came out of the cave. It was about the size of about 3 of the other wolves combined. One of its eyes had a scar on it, which turned its eye a pale pink. The alpha snarls for a second while looking at Nathan and Joey. Joey and Nathan decided to wait for it to make a move first. After about 10 seconds, the alpha cocks its head back and begins to howl. It was very loud and everyone covered their ears. Nathan could feel something inside of his head burning as the alpha howled, but he just assumed it was because he was using "heightened sense",

    "Shut up already!"

    Joey went in for the kill and punched where the wolf was standing, but right before contact, the alpha disappeared. Joey turns around because he already knew this trick, but there was nothing there. He looks all around with his eyes as fast as he can, and then he spots it. It was behind Bree with its mouth wide open, ready to take her as a snack. All Joey could do is scream at her.

    "Bree behind you!"

    Bree turns around to see the inside of the alpha''s mouth closing onto where her head is. She is filled with a fear that she has never felt before and felt like she was paralyzed.

    SSNNNAAAPPPPP~~

    The closing of the alpha''s mouth was heard all throughout the forest.

 Adventure. Part IV Chapter 10

    Joey closes his eyes so he won''t have to see the sight that would befall Bree. The snapping is heard throughout the whole forest, and it resounds through Joey''s soul. Joey finally decides to open his eyes, and what he sees makes him cry. Tanner was able to get to Bree before the alpha bit her in half and push her out of the way, so the alpha completely missed. Joey recuperates himself and was able to make it back into the combat, and Nathan and Tanner were fighting the alpha at the time.

    "Joey! Stay back and protect Bree while she uses some of her spells to kill this thing!"

    Tanner is yelling at Joey while the alpha is biting at his shield, but Tanner is easily deflecting his attacks. Joey nods at Tanner and readies his fists so he can protect the one he loves. Tanner and Nathan look at each other and they both know what exactly to do. They both turn their gaze to the alpha wolf in front of them, and they make the first move this time. Nathan uses "Accelerated Step", and is able to cut the wolf right above its hind paws, so it is slowed down. Tanner uses the opportunity to rush towards the wolf and strikes it with his sword, or so he thought. The wolf still had its insane speed and was behind Tanner before he even knew it. Tanner turns around with his shield up to block the wolves attack, but it disappears again. Tanner tries to keep up with the speed of the wolf, but it just keeps teleporting all over the place. When the wolf was convinced that Tanner didn''t know its location, it went in for the kill, mouthwatering from the meal it was about to enjoy. It came from Tanner''s blind spot, but it was met with an extreme force hitting it in the chin, which caused the beast to bite its own tongue.

    "I don''t think so bitch."

    Nathan had followed the wolf''s movements and was able to appear below it and punch upwards closing its mouth, and sending it flying over Tanner. Tanner smiled at Nathan and asked him just one question.

    "Why didn''t you just kill it there?"

    "Well you need to level up right, plus you need to get your first kill too, might as well be something strong, right?"

    Nathan just smiled back at Tanner after saying this and Tanner just shook his head. Basically, Nathan was forcing Tanner to kill this beast. While they were talking, the wolf started howling again, but this time it wasn''t as confident, in fact, it sounded like a cornered beast that was about to be killed. Nathan could feel the burning in his head, and he can feel himself fading away. He goes down on one knee and has to put his hand on the ground to keep him stable. The wolf starts to morph into something more terrifying. It grew another head as its shoulder exploded and the head popped out. Its fur became metallic looking, and the wolf turned black. The wolf''s eyes started glowing very bright, and it sends a chill down everyone''s spines. On top of that, more Forest Wolves appear and surround the group.

    "Uh Tanner, this would be a nice time to use "Divine Light"!"

    Joey tells Tanner this and Tanner realizes that they should definitely retreat, but as he goes to use the ability, the alpha wolf explodes towards Tanner with a speed so fast, that it left small craters where its feet had been. Tanner couldn''t see where it would go, but a sudden impact blew him backwards, and he was barely able to land on his feet. Nothing had directly hit Tanner, but it seems that an aftershock had. The group couldn''t get a good look at what was going on, but they could see afterimages of a fight that seems to be going on between Nathan and the alpha. After about 10 seconds, about 20 aftershock waves had hit the group and sent them tumbling backwards. The wolves who had surrounded them earlier were also affected by these aftershocks. Then suddenly it stopped, and the image was Nathan standing in front of the alpha, both swords drawn, and had one arm over the other while holding the swords toward the beast. Nathan was in a fighting stance that none of them had ever seen him use.He was also slightly bent over, and his whole body was dead still. The wolf was limping a little bit as if it was losing the fight even though it transformed just seconds ago. One head had accumulated a comparable more injuries than the other one, and that head was the original. When Joey really looked at Nathan, his irises were, in fact, a color that could only be described as blood red, and if he wasn''t mistaken, Nathan had a huge smile. It wasn''t a kind smile, but a smile only a person who was insane would have.

    "Uoy wonk uoy era gniog ot eid, t''nod uoy?"

    Nathan seemed to be speaking a language that none of the others could understand at all, and his voice sounded more like a hiss, rather than his actual voice. The alpha looked actually kinda scared and started to cower. Without a second to think about it, Nathan rushed towards the wolf and left cracks in the ground from where he had pushed off his feetso hard. Not even a second had gone by and Nathan was behind the alpha in the same stance as when he left, and the alpha had exploded into just chunks of meat, cut up organs, and shattered bones. Blood was also sent flying within a 10 feet radius of the explosion. Nathan just stood up and started laughing hysterically as the blood rained down on his face. But it wasn''t long until he fell to the ground and proceeded to not move. Joey and the others just stood there in shock, what happened to their friend? Will he try to kill them too? Was he still the Nathan that they knew and loved? They all rushed towards Nathan to at least see if he was okay. When they arrived, he was unresponsive no matter what they did. Tanner tried to use "Divine Heal" but it had no effect at all.

    "What... Just happened?"

    Joey just looks at his friend with a scared expression, and soon after hearing this, he heard howling all around him. He remembered that there were wolves that surrounded them during that fight. He readies his weapons, and so do the other two. They all go back to back while standing over Nathan, having the intention of fighting to the death. Without letting the wolves get the first move, Bree sends out several ice spikes to impale 5 of the 16 wolves around them. She decides to hold back a little since she didn''t know her limits. One of them rushed at Tanner, and Joey punched it with immense force, and the punch explodes the wolf in half and sends blood flying all over the place. Tanner, who is tired of being saved, rushes towards the wolves and catches them off guard. He stabs towards one with his sword, but the wolf easily dodges it and appears beside Tanner on his left side, but that''s exactly what he wanted. He slashes his shield towards the wolf and cuts its head in half. Its brain slowly slides out of its cranial cavity. Its tongue is also hanging out of the slit in its head. Tanner didn''t tell his friends, but the shield''s edges were sharpened to the point where it could be even be used as a sword if used correctly. Another appears beside him, but he quickly sees it and is able to cut it down using his sword. He turns around to see Joey and Bree had taken down 4 more wolves using teamwork. Seeing that the wolves could not win, they ran away with their tails between their legs and were whimpering. The group decides it is not worth it to give chase.

    They go to Nathan, who is now conscious and barrage him with questions. Before they could get off more than one question each, he puts his hand up.

    "Don''t ask yet, I don''t even know myself. Just get the stones from the wolves so we can get out of here."

    Instead of bothering Nathan anymore, they go to each wolf they had killed and collected the stones. There were 18 stones in total, including the alpha''s stone, which was considerably bigger than the other ones and had a dark aura to it. They all leave the forest as soon as possible, and the carriage ride is a quiet one. Tanner looks like he is going to die from laughter and he decides to break the silence.

    "Looks like we had to work like dogs to finish this quest huh?"

    "God damn you, Tanner, that wasn''t even funny."

    Even though Nathan had said that he was laughing, and soon Bree and Joey were laughing too. The atmosphere had lightened up, and Joey finally brought up what was on everyone''s minds.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    "So, what happened to you, Nathan."

    There was silence for a while, and then Nathan finally answered them.

    "I.. Don''t know. It was like I became a passenger, and someone else had taken control of my body and all I could do was watch the scene going on before me. And when I spoke, the alpha wolf actually understood, and reacted to my words."

    "Wait, what did you say anyways or do you know?"

    Tanner, who was also curious decided to join in the conversation.

    "I said "You know you are going to die, don''t you", which I had said the words in the same order, but the actual words were said in reverse."

    The others just looked at Nathan in mass confusion, they wanted to ask more but decided not to due to how terrified Nathan looked. Soon, they were all in the guild building, and they quickly found Catia behind the counter.

    "You guys are back! Did you kill the Forest Wolves?"

    "Ya we did, one of them transformed into a two-headed version, and it was a lot bigger compared to the others."

    Joey repeated this and Catia replied with a loud shriek

    "EEEHHHHHHHHHH???!!!!"

    This caught the group by surprise, and they all looked at her like she was crazy.

    "Do you have any proof, do you have its stone, are you guys sure you are ok, do-."

    Catia was speaking at a rapid pace that barely anyone could understand, but she was interrupted by Nathan before she got too crazy.

    "Whoa Whoa, calm down. Yes, we are ok, what is the big deal, wasn''t this just a White ranked quest?"

    "The Forest Wolves were yes, but by the way you are talking about it, it seems that you have killed the local Dire Wolf Demon, that had been plaguing this land for many years. It has been a Red level quest that no one has been willing to accept due to its insane speed."

    With that being said, Joey pulls out his pouch, which all of the stones had been placed in, and hands them all over to Catia. She counted and confirmed 17 Forest wolf stones, and 1 Dire Wolf Demon stone. Since they had killed the Demon, they technically completed the quest and received the rewards for it. On top of the 80 bronze coins that was given for the original quest, they were given 4 gold coins, and all of them would get ranked up to the Red rank for completely the Red ranked quest. Joey kinda felt like it was cheating since it was Nathan who had killed the beast, but it didn''t matter since he was a part of the party that killed it. Another reward for completing quests was experience, and since they completed a Red ranked quest, they all got a lot of it. They decided to check out their stats, but the device looks different this time. Nathan decided to ignore what it looked like and put his name tag into the slit. His eyes widened as he saw the results.

    Name: Novaxil

    Height: 6''4

    Weight: 164 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Blood Red

    Race: ???

    Class:GodlyAbyssal Assassin(Legendary)

    Level: 37

    Abilities: Accelerated step, Hide presence, Heighten Senses, Sword Teleport, Pressure, Natural Born Killer, Abyssal Summon (Special), Combat Master, One thousand slashes,Walk of the Abyss(Special)

    Injuries:Abyssal Blood: Anyone with "Abyssal Blood" is connected to a demon in the Abyss, which can run rampant if the person in question is in danger, or wishes to release the said demon. He/she acquires the powers of the demon when it is released. If used more than three times in one day, or used for over an hour in one session, the user will turn into the demon he has summoned. The user will also be considered a part of the demon race from this power.

    Stats: Vitality: 1,235, Strength: 795, Agility: 1,845, Magic: 895, Magic Resistance: 100, Defense: 100

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Tanner looks over Nathan''s shoulder and sees at Nathan''s stats. He just as surprised as Nathan at what he was seeing. When Nathan had acquired this "Abyssal Blood" was unknown to them, and also why was it under the injuries category? Before any questions were asked, Nathan pulled out his name tag and quickly left the building. Tanner went to stop Nathan, but he just vanished before he could. Joey looks at Tanner with a confused face because he did not know why Nathan left so suddenly.

    "It seems something has happened to Nathan''s body that he is scared of."

    "What was it?"

    Catia had overheard the conversation and decided to join in with a concerned look on her face. Tanner just looked at her and shook his head.

    "I don''t know, I got a slight glimpse of it, but it looked like it said "Abyssal Blood", and it was considered an injury."

    "Huh, I have never heard of it in my life."

    Catia puts her hand on her chin as to look like she was thinking hard about this. She thought for a minute and then shook her head.

    "I really don''t know, let''s all just hope he is ok!"

    The group nodded their heads and decided to look at their stats as well, and the following was shown.

    Name: Haku

    Height: 5''10

    Weight: 160 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly Battle Angel(Legendary)

    Level: 28

    Abilities:Divine Heal, Divine Light, Vanquishing Light, Foresight, Master Craftsman, Natural Born Strategist, Angel''s Wings(Special),Eye of Truth(Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 940, Strength: 500, Agility: 600, Magic: 1,000, Magic Resistance: 1,100, Defense: 1,100

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Name:Jeff Crucifix

    Height: 6''

    Weight: 180 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Black

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly King(Legendary)

    Level: 30

    Abilities:Physical Explosion, Impenetrable Defense, Natural Born Leader, Magic Absorption, Lion''s Courage, Lion''s Roar, Lure, Berserk (Special),Demon Destroyer(Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 1,100, Strength: 1,500, Agility: 700, Magic: 0, Magic Resistance: 0, Defense: 1,300

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Name: Darya

    Height: 5''7

    Weight: 125 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Red

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly Water Enchantress(Legendary)

    Level: 31

    Abilities:Water Spear, Water Healing, Ice spike, Thunderstorm, Water Drake, Ice Rain, Water Wave, Tsunami (Special), Frozen Wasteland (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 500, Strength: 300, Agility: 500, Magic: 1,600, Magic Resistance: 1,300, Defense: 800

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    They all looked at the massive improvements in their stats, but they didn''t feel any different. They must have leveled up many times after completing that high tiered quest. They thought about accepting another quest, but finding where Nathan went was Tanner''s main priority at the moment. Before they even left the building, Nathan appeared before them. In his left hand was a book that was as thick as a dictionary, and there was something else in his other hand.

    "Where did you go?"

    Tanner looked at Nathan with slight anger due to his sudden disappearance.

    "Well I remembered that Joey and I got a stone after facing that one demon when we first got here, so I went and got it. I also remembered I saw a bookstore when I went shopping so I went there to find a book that would maybe tell me what I am, and I managed to find a book called "The Abyssal''s and What Is Different About Them" so I bought it."

    As Nathan was explaining where he had gone, he walks up to Catia and hands her the stone in his hand.

    "Is there any information on this stone that you can tell me."

    Catia takes the stone from Nathan, and takes it to a device that was placed under the counter, and waits for something to happen. A card comes out, and she starts to read it.

    "The card says, "Demonic Parasite: A parasite that takes over your body and festers in your insides. It slowly devours you from the inside out until it has matured. Once matured, the demon will take shape and escape the body and will go around rampaging until it has been killed. Value of stone: 10 gold coins.", where did you get this?"

    "It''s a long story, is there any reason we should keep it?"

    Nathan didn''t want to explain how they ended fighting the "Demonic Parasite", but wanted to know if the stone that they had would be useful since it was worth so much.

    "It can be used for many things, but it would be mainly used for making weapons."

    "Well if that''s the case then we will sell-."

    "We are keeping it."

    Tanner interrupts Nathan and takes the stone before he sells it. Nathan doesn''t really care if they sell it or not, but if Tanner can see value in keeping it, then he won''t argue with him.

    "I guess we are keeping it, thank you for the help Catia."

    Nathan thanks Catia with a gentle smile and Catia blushes a little bit and looks away. They decide to leave and go home, everyone wanted to relax after a day of adventuring. They finally get home, and everyone takes turnsusing the bath, and Bree makes dinner. Once dinner is eaten, everyone heads back to their rooms. Nathan decides to read the book he bought, Tanner makes a list of all of the things he wants to buy tomorrow, Joey and Bree decide to go to sleep early, and this would be the end of the day that the group of Nathan, Tanner, Joey, and Bree had their first adventure on.

 Side Story #1

    Nathan walks outside to run around the house a little bit to train his cardio. He saw Joey and Tanner doing it, so why not try it? He decides not to use "Accelerated Step" and just run as fast as possible. He gets into a position he had seen an Olympic sprinter on TV do, and pushes off as fast as possible, which he starts to go at an insane speed. It''s nothing compared to "Accelerated Step", but he is definitely running faster than humanly possible. As he takes the first turn, he takes the turn too hard and flips due to the Law of Inertia. As he goes flying through the air, he saves himself by doing a one-handed handspring, followed a quick backflip to slow himself down. He easily lands on his feet. He is amazed at what he had just done because he had never been barely able to do a cartwheel, let alone a handspring followed by a backflip. Maybe he should try this more often so he can use it effectively.

    *************************************************************************************************

    Bree was inside, in the kitchen, cleaning the dishes that were left over from last night''s dinner. Joey had said he was going to do them, but he wasn''t awake yet so Bree decided to do it for him. As she was washing the dishes, she had a thought come into her mind, "What if I just used water magic?". She takes the dishes out of the water basin and set them on the table. She concentrates her magic into a massive "Water Spear", and she slowly sets it down on the plates. She uses her magic to scrub down the plates with the water and puts the plates in the water basin while her "Water Spear" drains down the drain. There was still dust all over the house because everyone was too lazy to clean it, so Bree decides to use her magic to help out. Bree summons a "Water Spear", and uses it to collect the dust all over the house. She finishes the first floor and proceeds to the next floor. She was cleaning the hallway with all of the bedrooms when suddenly Joey jumps out of the door and yells as loud as he can. This was to scare Bree, and he did it too well. As soon as Bree sees him, she starts screaming and gets scared, but this caused the "Water Spear" to expand greatly. Within 5 seconds, the whole first floor of the house was flooded. When she realizes she did this, she immediately sits down and puts her knees to her chest and starts crying.

    *******************************************************************************************************

    After being soaked with water, and getting a massive lecture from Bree, Joey decides it would be the best to leave the house for a bit. He figures that now would be a nice time to train and find out how to use some of his abilities. He goes to the bottom of the hill they live on, and he finds a lake with a small forest surrounding it. Joey thinks that he would be able to use his abilities on the trees, and it will also train his strength, so he goes to the small forest. The first ability he tries to use is "Lure". He thinks about the word over and over, and activates the power inside of him, then suddenly a teal aura appears around him. He stands there for a second and just looks at this aura. As he is looking, he can feel something tap his foot. He looks down to see a black snake is attached to his plate boots. He freaks out and shakes his leg. He shakes it so hard that the snake goes flying out into the distance towards the direction of the town.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "That''s weird, why is it being so aggressive?"

    He could feel something attach on to his back and crawl up his plate armor. He grabs it immediately and looks to see a squirrel trying to eat his hand. Oh, that makes sense now, "Lure" is an ability that lures enemies to attack me, he thought. He turns off Lure and the squirrel tries to run away from Joey, so he lets it go. He thinks this can be useful, so he will definitely train it more, but for now, it is time to try out the other abilities.

    **********************************************************************************************************

    Tanner had gotten up extremely early that morning so he could get to use the carriage before anyone else tried. He left at sunrise and headed straight towards the guild building. Tanner had become extremely good at driving the carriage, so he made it there pretty fast. As he arrived, he saw Livian walking in so he yelled her name.

    "Hey, Livian!"

    Livian was mumbling to herself and wasn''t paying attention, so she was slightly startled. She stops and looks at Tanner and smiles.

    "Hello Haku, what can I help you with?"

    Tanner followed Livian inside while explaining what he wanted. He wanted to get some materials that he could use to build things with. He wanted this so he could try out his "Master Craftsman" ability. Livian led Tanner to the counter and handed him a book.

    "Actually, here is a book that explains how to use that ability and what you can do with it. As for the supplies, you can order them from the guild and have them sent to your home."

    "Oh thanks Livian, how much do I owe you for the book?"

    Tanner holds out his coin pouch, but Livian shakes her head and hands him back the pouch.

    "How about this, you just owe me a small favor when I need it, ok?"

    Tanner nods his head as to agree with her terms. He decided not to buy anything yet, and read the book first. He goes out to the carriage and begins to read the book.

    *******************************************************************************************

 The King.

    It has been a month since the group of Joey, Bree, Tanner, and Nathan went on their first "adventure", and they have been training ever since then. Nathan has completely mastered the ability to incorporate gymnastics into his arsenal of moves, making him a deadly killer, but his defence is still terrible. Joey, on the other hand, has mastered his abilities "Impenetrable Defense" and "Lure" so he can be able to make sure Bree doesn''t get attacked anymore. Bree has become very skillful with her water magic. She is even able to make a thunderstorm appear out of nowhere, and summon a "Water Drake", which is a water dragon the size of a human. Tanner is now able to use "Angel''s Wings", which summons a set of heavenly wings on Tanner''s back, and he is able to fly freely throughout the air as long as he has enough power.

    Also, Nathanfound out that he, Tanner, and Bree use what this world calls "Soul Power" which is basically mana. As for Joey, he is a rare type of warrior that uses "Life Force", which is thought to be more of a raw power from the body compared to the soul. Tanner had also learned how to use his ability "Master Craftsman". With this power, as long as Tanner has the materials and what he wanted to make in his mind, a magic circle would appear and the item that is thought of will be made instantly. The bigger the item, the more magic it costs. The magic circle will also use the materials appropriate for making this item. The only problem is when it came to making certain weapons. As long as Tanner had the materials, he could make simple weapons such as daggers, swords, and even staffs, but when it came to the point where it could be enchanted, Tanner had to know the enchantment spell and pour a lot of magic into enchanting it.

    There were only about 100 people that were known to be able to do this, and they all had the same ability as Tanner, so it is thought he can do it as well, even though he has not tried yet. Tanner, in fact, has made a weight room, equipped with Dumbbells, a Bench Press, several Kettlebells, and even a small track stretching around the room. It is located out back. At Nathan''s request, he even made bars below the ceiling for agility training. This in total cost about 40 silver, and it spent a lot of Tanner''s power for about 2 days.

    It is about noon, and Joey calls everyone to the living room, Tanner was reading a book about light enchantments, Bree was cooking, and Nathan was doing agility training.

    "Alright, I have been reading a book about combat, and we need assigned positions so we can work efficiently. I have been decided as the leader by a group vote after the adventure, and I will give Tanner the assignment of figuring out the positions."

    "If that''s the case, I already have them decided. Nathan will be the Vanguard, which is a role that is in the front of the group and is the main attacker. Joey will be the Tank, which will be behind Nathan and reinforce him throughout the fight while also protecting Bree. Bree will, of course, be considered the Mage of the group and attacks enemies far away with her magic. I will be support so I will heal you if you need it, but I will also be offensive support by using my ability to fly. If it comes down to fighting aerial enemies, it will be my job to kill them. Any questions?"

    Everyone just looks at each other, and not a word was said in defiance of Tanner''s plan. He had the ability "Natural Born Strategist" so it was, of course, the right thing to do if he thinks so. With this being said, everyone''s positions were assigned, and strategies were thought of. They thought up of about 20, and the differences range from what type of enemy they are facing, to what terrain they are in. When this was decided, everyone went back to what they were doing.

    ************************************************************************************

    Nathan was going from bar to bar like a monkey. He noticed big differences in his muscle mass and weight. When they first arrived, he was weak and skinny, but now he was pretty ripped in his opinion, maybe he would check his weight when they went to the guild again. He had finished his workout, and he went to the sink that Tanner had made in the weight room. Tanner made it for drinks so it had clean water. He filled up the glass and chugged it. While he was chugging, he could feel someone watching him so he acted like he had not noticed. He put a sweat towel around his neck and sat down on the Bench Press seat.

    Tanner had made the sweat towel as well, and it actually felt very well made, but that''s not Nathan was focused on at the moment. The person staring at him was out the window to his left and they were about 5''2. They seemed to be female by their chest, and they had on a white robe. He had been using "Heightened sense" so much that he could view anywhere around him within a mile like he was actually standing there, but that took extreme concentration and he couldn''t be moving while doing it. He looked at this figure for a while, but they seemed to be very intent on watching him.

    He retracted his sense back to his body and stood up. He looked back to where the figure was but they were gone. Huh, that''s weird. He plans on investigating it later. He goes outside to go back into the house when he sees Livian standing at the front door. He approaches her, and she notices him.

    "Hey, Novaxil! Were you working out, it sure looks like it. You''ve grown quite nicely in a month."

    Nathan realizes that he is completely drenched in sweat, and only has his pair of black pants on and his metal boots, but he doesn''t care how he looks in front of the guild.

    "Yeah, what do you want?"

    "I was actually coming to get you guys to take you to the guild so the guild can record your progress."

    Nathan just looks at her with a surprised look, why would the guild care about their progress? Oh wait, they are "Legendary" and are supposed to meet The King after level 25, but they have been passed that for a while, whoops. Nathan goes inside to find that everyone was already getting ready, so he quickly jumps into the bath, gets out, puts his equipment on, and is out the door to the carriage. In the carriage, they are being driven to the guild by Livian, who had originally walked there. They were all in the carriage while Livian was outside, alone and driving. They had a pretty casual conversation while on the way to the guild, mainly what they would eat for dinner, or what Tanner planned on making next with his magic. He had only made the weight room and its commodities, yet since he was running out of money Joey decided to help out Tanner as long as it was for the house. They had split the money 4 ways after the guild quest, so they all were given a gold coin and 20 bronze. Tanner had yet to do anything with the stone from the "Demonic Parasite", so that was his next job. As they arrive at the guild, they are immediately taken to a device that will show their stats, and it goes as follows.

    Name: Novaxil

    Height: 6''4

    Weight: 184 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Blood Red

    Race: ???

    Class:GodlyAbyssal Assassin(Legendary)

    Level: 40

    Abilities: Accelerated step, Hide presence, Heighten Senses, Sword Teleport, Pressure, Natural Born Killer,Abyssal Summon(Special), Combat Master, One thousand slashes,Walk of the Abyss(Special)Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Injuries:Abyssal Blood: Anyone with "Abyssal Blood" is connected to a demon in the Abyss, which can run rampant if the person in question is in danger, or wishes to release the said demon. He/she acquires the powers of the demon when it is released. If used more than three times in one day, or used for over an hour in onesession, the user will turn into the demon he has summoned. The user will also be considered a part of the demon race from this power.

    Stats: Vitality: 1,500, Strength: 1,400, Agility: 2,535, Magic: 1,595, Magic Resistance: 300, Defense: 300

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Name: Haku

    Height: 5''10

    Weight: 174 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Brown

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly Battle Angel(Legendary)

    Level: 40

    Abilities:Divine Heal, Divine Light, Vanquishing Light, Foresight, Master Craftsman, Natural Born Strategist,Angel''s Wings(Special),Eye of Truth(Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 1,240, Strength: 900, Agility: 1,000, Magic:1,700, Magic Resistance: 2,000, Defense: 2,100

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Name:Jeff Crucifix

    Height: 6''

    Weight: 190 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Black

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly King(Legendary)

    Level: 40

    Abilities:Physical Explosion, Impenetrable Defense, Natural Born Leader, Magic Absorption, Lion''s Courage, Lion''s Roar, Lure,Berserk(Special),Demon Destroyer(Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 2,000, Strength: 2,500, Agility: 1,000, Magic: 0, Magic Resistance: 0, Defense: 2,300

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Name: Darya

    Height: 5''7

    Weight: 125 pounds

    Place of residence: West District, Hollow Hill

    Hair color: Red

    Eye color: Brown

    Race: Human

    Class:Godly Water Enchantress(Legendary)

    Level: 40

    Abilities:Water Spear, Water Healing, Ice spike, Thunderstorm, Water Drake, Ice Rain, Water Wave, Tsunami (Special), Frozen Wasteland (Special)

    Stats: Vitality: 900, Strength: 500, Agility: 700, Magic: 3,000, Magic Resistance: 2,300, Defense: 1,800

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As Livian recorded the stats, it seemed to the group that she wasn''t even surprised or more like she had a worried face. She looks at the adventurers for a second and then back at the stats again. She starts mumbling and it seems that something doesn''t add up. Joey goes to ask something, but Livian interrupts him.

    "It seems you have surpassed level 25 a lot faster than expected, you will be meeting The King right away."

    Before they could even object, Livian snaps her fingers, and they are surrounded by guild workers. They look around and it appears that there isn''t a single person in the building except for them and the guild workers. They all look confused, and before any can even react, a pressure is omitted that makes everyone freeze. It wasn''t coming from Nathan, but a source coming from something entering the building. The source comes towards the group, and the guild workers part to make a path. The source of this power came from a man who looked to be in his mid 50''s. He has long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was about 6''3 and had chizeled features. He was looking at the group with an immense smile on his face.

    "It seems that you are the ones that my favorite succubus likes to brag about."

    Wait, was he talking about Livian, she looked like a normal human. She had long blonde hair, but her body was pretty curvy and would make any man go head over heels, except for Joey. Tanner and Nathan had not even cared really because they were more focused on other things. Livian noticed the confusion on everyone''s faces and smiled. With a glowing light, her clothes were changed into dark looking straps that only covered the important parts. She also had little black horns, as well as a tail and wings to match. Bree had covered Joey''s eyes and Nathan and Tanner weren''t even impressed.

    "What do you think boys, alluring right?"

    "Nah, it''s actually pretty generic, I expected something original."

    "Agreed, it is a very weak outfit, 1 out of 10."

    Tanner had agreed with Nathan and joined into the roast session of Livian. Livian looked she was about to cry, and before she could retort, The King put up his hand.

    "Don''t worry about it, that''s not what we are for, we are here to test the adventures, and if they fail, they will be killed-."

    As soon as The King said something about killing the group, Nathan was in front of him with a sword pressed against his throat. Nathan''s aura was not merciful and was filled with bloodlust. Livian had taken a step back as she had remembered what happened to her when she had that aura pointed at her.

    "Try to kill us and this country will be turned into a pile of dust."

    Nathan was being overconfident, but he didn''t care, no one threatens him or his friends. The King just laughed and tried to put Nathan''s blade away from his throat but it didn''t move an inch. The King gulped and had a nervous smile. The presence he let out before is now gone.

    "L-L-Looks like you passed, but we still have to test the others, this is for your safety. You misunderstood what I meant about being killed, I meant on the battlefield."

    With the group hearing this, Joey ordered Nathan to withdraw, and he did as Joey said. Nathan moved back to his original spot in the group. The King proceeded to explain the situation to the group. Apparently he intended to send his daughter as a representative of their country and of course, she would need an elite guard, and who better than some "Legendary" adventurers.

    "What''s in it for us, and for how long will we be guarding her?"

    "Of course you will be rewarded well, two platinum coins each, a noble title in this country, and it will be until she returns from all seven countries."

    They looked at Joey, who was the person who was decided as the leader, and he thought about it for a long time. After a while, he has come up with his decision.

    "Alright, but it will increase to 2 platinum and 50 gold each, the title will be the highest the country can offer, and we will be allotted a considerable size of land for each person."

    Joey looked at The King with an intense seriousness, and The King sighed and looked defeated. He thought about it and nodded.

    "If you all exceed my expectations then we have an agreement, you will battle me right here and right now."

    "But wait, we are in the guild building, it will surely be destroyed."

    Tanner pointed this out, and The King started laughing.

    "Can''t you tell? We are in another dimension right now, it was made by Livian using Dark magic, and no matter what happens here, it won''t affect the real world. Now Mr. Crucifix, you are up first."

    The King draws out a Longsword and points it at Joey. Since Joey knows the guild building won''t be hurt, he will show everyone how far his "Physical Explosion" has become. The King charges towards Joey, and Joey does the same. The King went to swing horizontally, but Joey went under it and closed the distance between him and The King at an insane speed. He uses "Physical Explosion", and the power of an earthquake was felt. One second the guild building was there, the next second, half of it was completely obliterated. The King was nowhere to be found, and all of the guild worker''s faces went pale white.

    "Hahahahahaha, what strong Life Force, you have passed."

    The King was standing behind Joey, and gave him a good slap on the back while laughing. Nathan was surprised at the fact that even The King was faster than he looked. He didn''t even see him move from his spot in front of Joey to behind him. This slightly worried Nathan. He thought about how he could be so fast, but he decided it was just due to training hard. Joey went back to the group and The King pointed at Bree.

    ''The one called Darya, you are next, show me what you got."

    The King just stood there and waited for Bree to make a move, and while he was waiting, he didn''t notice the "Water Drake" that was summoned behind him. Bree had trained hard so she could use spells without saying the incantations for them, and was able to do so. The "Water Drake" bites at The King''s head, but he just used his sword to cut it in half. As much as The King thought he won, Bree had turned the water from the "Water Drake''and used "Ice Spike" to send small, deadly spikes at The King. Within seconds, The King was bleeding all over from the holes that riddled his body. He chuckled a little and all of the holes closed.

    "You have passed, now for the one named Haku will be-."

    Before he could finish, a light so bright that it would blind a normal person forever, shined throughout the building. The King was taken off guard, and Tanner went in for the kill, but The King was too quick. He appeared beside Tanner and tried to slash him. The slash bounced off Tanner''s armor and he slashed at The King with his shield that was sharpened. He made a small slice on The King''s neck, and The King smiled brightly.

    "It is decided, you are the ones to protect my daughter on her journey."

 Betrayed.

    They had all packed their things and were ready to go on this epic journey throughout this new world they were in. Everyone, except for Tanner. He was forced to go since the amount of money they would be paid was too good to give up, but Tanner still wanted to stay home and try to make some new things.

    "Come on Tanner, it will be fun, we will get to explore the world!"

    "Ya, with assassins always trying to kill us, and with a princess who is extremely snobby."

    Tanner was complaining to Joey while they were waiting for Bree and Nathan to get packed up, and Joey just laughed at Nathan.

    "Just because they are royalty doesn''t mean they are snobby, come on, maybe you''ll fall in love with her and become the next King of the Citadel?"

    Tanner could feel a chill go up his spine as if Joey was foreshadowing his doom. Tanner would hate to become King, too much stuff he would have to do. After talking a little bit more, Nathan and eventually Bree showed up. Bree had bought some books to read about magic so she was sorting them before the trip, as for Nathan, he bought ingredients for poison and was mixing them up before they went. He had decided to put poison on his throwing daggers so he could be even more deadly than he already was. They all went outside and packed their stuff onto the massive carriage The King had sent to pick them up. Apparently, The King''s name was Leano III, and his daughter was named Niki. She was 18 and she was pushing to leave the kingdom. This is why Leano sent her out to explore the world but got her protection first. Their driver took them to the Royal Palace, and they were amazed by the size. They could see it from their house, but they never thought it was this big. Tanner thought it was unnecessarily big, and laughed at how long that must have taken to make. Once inside, the group was brought straight to the dining room so they could have dinner with the Royal Family.

    Creeaaakkk~

    The butler opens the massive twin doors, and it lets out a loud creak and the group is met with a beautiful sight. There was gold everywhere, that is the only way to explain it. Even the plates were made of gold, which is kinda stupid if you really think about it. Beyond that, the Royal Family consisted of Leano, his daughter Niki, The King''s brother Wallas, and his daughter Julia. Niki had long white hair and had an attractive body, as expected of royalty. The group was dressed in their normal equipment but the Royal Family had very formal clothes. Nathan had noticed the Niki and Julia were judging all of them intensely.

    "Come on, sit down and enjoy the food!"

    Leano had urged the group to sit down, so that''s what they did, and there was already food on their plates. It looked like steak served with buttered potatoes for them, but the Royal Family had fancier meals that the group had never seen before. They chose to go ahead and start eating. Nathan turned on his "Heightened sense" just in case something seemed fishy, and sure enough, he found something. It was Niki, and she was looking at Tanner like she was amazed. She would also look at Nathan, but when she did, she looked disgusted. Nathan had caught her staring at him, and Niki looked away quickly.

    "So Novaxil, it is not common for humans to have red colored eyes, may I ask why yours is like that."

    "Now Julia, it is not nice to pry into the personal information of other people."

    Wallas had given Nathan a quick smile to apologize for his daughter''s remark, but Nathan just waved it off.

    "The reason they are red is because I am in fact not human."

    "Then what are you, I was told all of you were human heroes?"

    Now even Leano was intrigued with why Nathan was like this, and especially since Livian said they were all human for sure.

    "Well, first I wouldn''t call us heroes, secondly I was born human, but sooner or later I....... Well, you could say I became a part of the Abyss."

    Nathan had known that demons were shunned throughout any kingdom, so he wouldn''t straight say that he was a demon, but the book he had read explained what had happened to him in great detail. With having the characteristics of an Abyssal, you are connected to a demon from the Abyss, even if it is as weak as a small bug, it is basically your other half. The more you use your powers that are Dark Magic related, the more you become intertwined with your demon, and sooner or later you can even control it. That is all Nathan knew for now, but he will read more of it while on the road with the princess.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    "So you are a demon aren''t you."

    Niki had said that out loud, and everyone gasped at her. Apparently calling someone a demon was the worst thing someone could do, but she did it anyway. She stood up and started yelling at her father.

    "I refuse to have such a disgusting creature as my guard, in fact, I don''t want him in this kingdom!"

    "How do you know he is a demon? You are being irrational! You need to calm down before I calm you down."

    After saying this, Leano exerted a presence that scared Niki straight, and she sat down in defeat. Niki still kept looking at Nathan is disgust and then back to Tanner in amazement.

    "I''m sorry Novaxil, my daughter has the ability to see into people''s souls, and she thinks you are a demon even though your guild card says other wise, so please forgive her-."

    "No, she is right, I am considered a demon due to my blood, but I am not entirely a demon."

    Nathan interrupted Leano to tell him the truth, and Leano''s face was drained of its color. In fact, everyone''s in the Royal Family''s face was like that, except for Niki, who had a "Ha, I told you" kinda face. No one said anything for a while and the group just kept eating their food. Tanner, Bree, and Joey saw nothing wrong with what Nathan was so they weren''t bothered by this. The Royal Family was just sitting there in shock, and Leano just laughed a little nervously.

    "Well, since you''re not full demon, I guess it will be ok to over look your blood."

    "What do you have against demons anyway?"

    As soon as Leano finished, Joey pitched in and asked that question. Leano explained the situation to the group in very, very long detail. Something about how when a demon entered the Citadel, the world will fall, an Angel might save everyone, they might not. Everyone kinda just ignored him because he started talking about side stories and everyone was more focused on food really. They basically listened to the point where the demon came into play and then toned out Leano for the rest. As the group finished their food, the Royal Family had as well.

    "Well then, you all will be leaving tomorrow, it is getting late so we should all go to bed!"

    Even though it seemed like Leano was full of enthusiasm, he was really tired from fighting the group and using most of his power to stay alive, even though he didn''t tell them that. A butler showed everyone to their rooms, and for the first time in a while, Joey and Bree had to stay in separate rooms since it was mandatory. Joey and Bree went to sleep immediately, but Tanner went over to Nathan''s room to talk a little bit. It wasn''t anything too important, it''s just they never go to sleep this early so they talked about books and what Tanner should make next.

    "How about you make me a basketball court?"

    "You''re retarded."

    "What?! How did it go from you wanting suggestions, to me being mentally handicapped?"

    "Don''t try to use big words just to try to prove you are not retarded."

    "I swear to god I will end you-."

    Nathan was interrupted by a knocking at the door, which Tanner was the closest to the door so he went and opened it. Once he upon it, Tanner was met with an extreme hit that burned his skin all over. He was sent flying into the back of the room and hit hard into the wall. He could feel his bones shatter throughout his whole body, and his skin felt like it was melting off. He can barely move, but when he went to go look at Nathan, Nathan vanished in front of him while screaming something. There was such an immense aura coming from Nathan before he vanished that it actually made him look cool for once, at least he was safe. Tanner started blacking out from the pain. "Were we betrayed?", "Was it because of Nathan''s condition?", "This is it, this is where I die, surprisingly it wasn''t due to a cliche." is what Tanner thought as his conscious escaped reality.

    ******************************************************************************************

    Nathan was talking to Tanner as Tanner was roasting when he felt a presence near the door. It was a small one so he didn''t really worry about, but they did knock on the door. They ran away so Nathan figured it was a "ding dong ditch" kinda prank, so he let Tanner get the door so he could be pranked. Tanner touch the door knob and Nathan was instantly blinded, and a vibration could be felt throughout his whole body. Pain shot through Nathan''s left eye as he was pushed back into the wall. What just happened. Nathan tried to open his eyes, but only his right eye would open, he puts his hand up to his left eye and something hard was coming out of it. What is going on, where is Tanner? Nathan turns around to see the sight of what was left of Tanner. The overcoat done its job and below his head there were no burns, but his face was charcoal black and his hair was gone. He slammed into the wall so hard that his body looked like a big pile of just skin and flesh. Nathan could feel something welling up inside him as he tried to hold back the tears. The ground around him started to break under the force Nathan was emitting. "Who would do this, why did Tanner open the door and not him, was it that presence he had felt before", these were all thoughts racing through Nathan''s head as he could feel himself slipping away. It wasn''t because he was dying, but because his inner demon was coming out of him. He didn''t care what happened to his eye now even though he felt so much pain from it he could pass out. All he cared about was finding that person, so he decided that he would finally try it. He would let the demon take control and go find the killer. He let himself go and the demon took over his body. The demon was under Nathan''s command though, but this was the first time so the demon tried to fight back a little. Nathan was transported into darkness and stood in front of him... was his demon.

 An Angel Arrives.

    The demon standing in front of Nathan was a dragon. It is jet black and has massive wings that give off an opposing aura. Its claws looked extremely sharp, and its eye was the same color as Nathan''s. The reason eye was said was because its left eye was missing.

    "Oh, so the one that I have to call my master has shown up huh?"

    The demon looked at Nathan up and down and gave out a mighty chuckle. Nathan didn''t even say a word to the demon.

    "You must be so terrified by my presence that you can''t even speak, this is expected of a puny human."

    "No, it''s actually because I am very under whelmed by you that I am not speaking, I was hoping for something more scary and original. This just makes me look like an average shounen main character in a manga."

    The dragon was severely surprised and confused to Nathan''s words. What exactly is a "manga"? That didn''t matter though, the dragon was soon angered as he realized Nathan had called him "under whelming". The dragon gave out a mighty roar that would cause earthquakes back in the human world.

    "WHO DARES CALL ME UNDER WHELMING, I''LL HAVE YOU KNOW I WAS ONE OF THE DEMON GOD''S FOUR KINGS."

    "Could you please tone it down, you''re too loud for me right now, I have a massive headache."

    Immediately the dragon quieted down and looked like it was obeying against its own will. Nathan realized he actually had control over this thing and was kinda happy about that. One of the demon god''s four kings huh, this could be very useful.

    "How did you get here and what can you do exactly?" Nathan asks with a tint of curiousity in his eyes.

    "Well, I was unfortunately killed a long time ago and feel into the darkness of death. Then you came along and I thought I had found a way out of the clutches of death itself, but it got me trapped in your body and shackled to do your will. It is truly unlucky of me to have fallen for this trick. As for what I can do, I won''t lie it isn''t much. I can''t help you at all unless I completely take over your body since your ability of the Abyss is so weak." the Dragon says with a puff of smoke coming from its nose.

    "Makes sense.... I guess? Anyways, what happens if you take over my body?" Nathan asks.

    "Well as you saw when you fight the Wolf, your consience shuts down and mine takes over, with that I have a portion of my old power, plus I can use your powers more efficiently than you can at the moment."

    "Well, I think that I''m going to ask for your help. I will be giving you control as long as you do one task for me. That taskis to find the person that tried to kill me and my friend. If anyone that isn''t Bree and Joey gets in your way, don''t hesitate to kill them however you wish."

    "Yes, master."

    As this was said, an image popped into Nathan''s head and played like a movie. It was Nathan''s view in the real world, but it was being controlled by the dragon. He decided to sit back and enjoy the show that would unfold before him.

    ***************************************************************************************

    Back in the real world, Nathan''s body started to move on its own and was completely under control of the demon inside of him.

    "WHO IS READY TO DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

    Those words echoed throughout the whole castle as Nathan''s rage fueled the demon''s powers. The demon took a quick looked at Tanner, and more rage built up inside of him. "My My, what powers my master has, looks like I will be having some fun," the demon thought. The demon used "Heightened Sense" and looked at every inch of the massive castle, looking for the small presence so he could kill them. Then, he found it, it came from the west side of the castle, and was climbing up to the third floor. The demon took one last look at Tanner and used "Accelerated Step" to catch up to the killer.

    *************************************************************************************

    Being the princess of this kingdom, I have to protect it no matter what. I refuse to stand by while a demon is sleeping in the Citadel, so I''ll take matters into my own hands. If he taints the soul of the Angel, then we are all surely doomed. Niki had approached the room that was Novaxil''s on the East side of the castle and placed a fire enchantment onto it. Whenever he opened the door, the fire enchantment would self-destruct, hopefully killing Novaxil instantly. She would quickly slip back into her room and play innocent when asked about what happened. Being the only child of The King had its perks, so even if she got caught, nothing would happen to her. Who cared about a stupid demon anyway. After what demons did to her mother, she vowed she would kill any of them that came with her reach. She placed the fire enchantment, knocked on the door, and took off running. She made it around the corner, when she heard the explosion, its power vibrated throughout the whole castle. She started running faster so she wouldn''t get caught, all while who she was thinking of accusing of this happening. Maybe she would accuse the mage of the group Darya, and claim it was because of Darya''s greed for Novaxil''s share of the money.

    She finally makes it to the West Wing, and she finds her father running down the corridor.

    "What happened Niki, are you safe?!"

    Leano had a very worried expression on her face, and Niki decided to play around a little bit. She started crying and hugged her father tightly.

    "I don''t know father, but I am scared, was it an attack by another nation?"

    "I don''t think so, but it sounded as if it came from the East Wing, come now, follow me."

    Leano led Niki back to the East Wing to investigate. They were stopped by a loud yell that resounded into Niki''s soul.

    "WHO IS READY TO DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

    She could easily tell that this was the voice of the disgusting demon who was called Novaxil, and she knew he wasn''t killed. How disappointing, looks like she will just have to kill him the old fashioned way. Leano kept leading his daughter to the East Wing. They approached the door that led to the East Wing when suddenly a guard was sent through the door. They had a massive slash going through their neck, and they were definitely dead. Leano stands in front of his daughter to protect them from the attacker, but no one came through the door. They stood there for a while, then suddenly, Niki heard a whisper come from behind her.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "Hehehe, I fouunnnddd you~."

    Sure turns around quickly, but no one was there. She stared down the hallway they went down, but no movement was seen. She kept looking and even readied some magic to protect herself. Suddenly her father fell down and started screaming in pain. She slowly turned around again, but she had cold sweats going all over her body. The vision she saw before her was truly terrifying. It was Novaxil, but his left eye had a splinter of wood impaled in it and was profusely bleeding. Parts of his skin started shedding, and scales started to appear where the skin had fallen off. The pupil of his eye wasn''t round anymore, it was a slit like seen in a cat. He was completely covered in blood. Behind him was about 10 guards, all of them were covered in blood, which their blood was splattered throughout the whole castle. They weren''t dead, but the lights from their eyes were fading away. It seems Novaxil wanted them to have slow painful deaths.

    "What have you done to my father!"

    Niki didn''t care about some worthless guards, but her father was in immense pain.

    "Oh him, I simply poisoned him so he would die a slow painful death for betraying master. It seems that his daughter had tried to kill us, and ended up killing Tanner instead, oh for you, he is called Haku."

    Novaxil was talking in demon, but Niki had studied about demons so much that she could understand every word he said. But wait, did he say she killed Haku? That can''t be right, she made sure to place the explosion magic on Novaxil''s door, not his. She couldn''t have killed the Angel that was sent to save them, right? Thinking about this, she started crying as Novaxil was slowly walking towards her with the complete intent of killing her, no maybe even torturing her. She sent out a fireball to maybe kill Novaxil, but he just vanished as soon as it was going to touch him, and before she knew, he was right in front of her. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up to his face. She was shorter than he so she was hanging off the ground. She started to cry as she looked into the eye of the demon, and she thought about how she could get out of this, but she had killed the Angel, so she deserved to die.

    "Why would you try to kill the one who was hired to protect you?"

    "You are a demon! You would have tried to kill me first as soon as you heard what I was trying to accomplish! You deserve to die a million deaths!"

    As soon as she started saying death threats to Novaxil, he tightened his grip and brought his Torium sword to her throat, Niki knew this would be where she died, but at least she wouldn''t have to endure the hell this world is going to go through soon. She closed her eyes, she decided to say her last words.

    "I''m sorry Haku, I would''ve loved to see your true form, even if you didn''t know you had it."

    As Novaxil went to slit her throat, he was stabbed in the back by a sword. It hadn''t hit anything important, but it certainly surprised him. He turned his head around and dropped Niki, to see the one he was going to kill the whole kingdom for, Haku.

    "Purify."

    As those words left Tanner''s mouth, pain went soaring throughout Nathan''s body. It felt like his skin was falling off, being regenerated, and was falling off again in an infinite loop. He went down on one hand and knee and stared at Haku. The slit in his eye was fading in and out, from slit back to a normal pupil. The scales that were once on his body had dissipated. He was breathing heavily, and then Nathan finally got a good look at Tanner. He had Angel wings sprouted from his back and a halo was hovering over his head. One eye, his iris was pure white, while the other one was a bright blue. Tanner also had a heavenly aura that burned Nathan''s eyes when he looked at it. The demon could feel his control of Nathan''s body was being taken away from him, but there was nothing he could do. Soon, Nathan had control over his body again. He cried when he saw Tanner standing before him.

    "You were dead.... Then again I''m not surprised, no matter how hard someone tries to do something to you, you always get the last word."

    Nathan had calmed down and all murderous intent that was boiling inside of him was gone. He looks behind Tanner to see Joey, Bree, and all 10 guards he had intended to kill but they were all healed. Leano, who had been poisoned, had also seemed to have recovered. Tanner was looking down at Nathan with an intense stare. It looked like Tanner would strike Nathan down at any time, and Niki decided to butt in.

    "Yes! That''s right, kill this demon like you are made to Haku!"

    Niki was crying in the presence of Tanner by the beauty she saw in him was finally showing. Tanner looked at Niki and released his angel form.

    "If I should kill anyone, it would be you."

    Niki was instantly sweating profusely. Tanner had known that Niki was the one to try to kill him, and he knew why by listening to what she said while Nathan was going to kill her.

    While Nathan was outtrying to find who killed Tanner, Tanner''s body started to heal itself. Joey and Bree had come running around the corner, and by that time, Tanner''s skin wasn''t completely black but it was still burnt, he had his hair again, but it had streaks of white, and his bones were mostly healed. Bree applied "Water Healing" to Tanner and it sped up Tanner''s healing process, but Tanner was still not conscious. After about a minute, a heavenly light appeared around Tanner, and wings sprouted from his back. His eyes changed colors, and he had a halo appear above his head. He had gone out to find Nathan before he did anything stupid and told Bree and Joey he would explain what happened later. He found the guards and healed them all instantly with his heavenly aura. Tanner could direct his aura towards people and give them regenerative powers, but Tanner loses his ability to regenerate. He healed Leano and is now in the situation they are currently in.

    "Why.... would you kill me?"

    "I tried to save you before he could hurt your pure soul!"

    Niki was pleading to Tanner and trying to get him to listen to her, but he just looked at her. He shook his head and crouched down to look at Niki face to face, who was on her knees.

    "That idiot could never do anything to me or my soul, so get that idea out of your mind."

    With that being said, Tanner forced Niki to explain what shehad done to everyone in the room. Tanner released his angel form, but he still had streaks of white in his hair, and the eye that turned white stayed that way. Tanner had tried to heal Nathan''s eye, but it was completely smashed, and there was barely anything left of it, so he simply removed the piece of wood that was lodged in Nathan''s head and healed the wound. Nathan had a scar on his eyelid and was missing an eye now. Leano was furious to learn that Niki had tried to kill Nathan, so he thought of a way for her to make it up to him.

    "Novaxil, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

    "What me, no, but you can do something for Tanner."

    Nathan pushed Tanner forward since it was Tanner who had been almost killed. Leano thought about it for a long time, and it was just four people in the hallway now. Joey and Bree went back to bed, and all of the guards were sent to the doctors. Leano nodded and gave Tanner this offer.

    "Since Niki almost killed you on accident, she will become yours and will serve you for the rest of her life. No questions asked and will basically be your slave."

    "An angel would never take a slave, so you have to think of something else father."

    "Deal."

    Tanner accepted immediately to Niki''s surprise. What did you think he was going to do, deny it? In so many anime has Tanner seen the MC get offered something like this and turn it down. Tanner thought that was stupid and wasn''t going to be like them.

    "But you''re an angel?! You would never take a slave, even though I don''t mind if it is Haku."

    Niki thought about it a little harder, and for some reason, she went from against to completely for it. Tanner had told her to call him Tanner instead of Haku now since it was his real name. Nathan was really tired from summoning his demon, so he went to the bath in his room new room, cleaned up, and went to bed. Tanner had gone back to his room too and they would discuss what was in the future for the group tomorrow. Niki had gone to go back to her room, but as she reached it, she realized that she never apologized to Tanner for almost killing him.

    She decided she would make it up to him by doing him a favor. She thought of a favor she could do, and sooner or later her eyes wondered to her closet. In the back, there was a gown that was supposed to look "sexy", and she thought maybe she could make it up to him with a sexual favor. She blushed really badly just thinking about it. This person was her master now, and even before he was her master, she tried to kill for his sake. She put on the gown and put on a blanket around herself, so when she was walking the hallways, no one would see her like this. She left her room and headed for Tanner''s room, she was lucky and no one saw her.

    She prepared herself and entered Tanner''s room. As she entered, she is met with Tanner, who had just come out of the bath and didn''t have a towel on. When he noticed she was in the room, he just facepalmed and let out a long sigh.

    "Let the stupid cliches begin."

 Late Night Experiences.

    The next day after the incident, it was fully discussed between Leano and Joey what would happen next. They decided to continue on the original journey and the reward would turn into 3 platinum coins each, plus the amount of land will be raised as well. Of course, Tanner would still own Niki, and he can do whatever he wanted to her. Not that she minded since he was the heavenly angel she has admired. Also, one guild representative will be joining them, and it was decided that Catia will be sent. The group had eaten breakfast with the Royal Family and was sent out to leave immediately. They would be accompanied by 15 guards, as well as a month''s worth of food. Niki had received more money to buy food from other countries. They set off on their adventure with 7 different carriages. One for Niki and Tanner, Joey, and Bree; one for Catia and Nathan; finally 5 for the 15 guards that accompanied them. The food was within the guard''s carriages and inside of Nathan''s carriage were the camping supplies if needed. Their first destination was decided as The Empire. This was a country of all humans that treated any other race as slaves. They had accepted to talk about peace with The King, it was also the closest. It would take about 2 days to get there.

    *Later the same day at night*

    "Princess, we think it is a good idea to set up camp here."

    "Alright, I will take your advice Commander Zel."

    The commander of the troops, who was a dog demi-human, had noticed it was too dark to travel so he advised that they had set up camp. They were at a small lake that had a clear opening beside it. They were in The Empire''s land now so they were using a map, and they made it a lot farther than expected. They would arrive at The Empire''s biggest city tomorrow around 4:00 p.m. which was a day early. The guards had set up all of the tents, but there wasn''t many so people would have to share. There was one tent for each carriage, so who shared a tent were the same people who shared a carriage.

    *In the Princess''s tent*

    "Alright, Darya and Jeff can stay on this side of the line, and my hubby and I will stay over here."

    Niki had drawn a line in the middle of the tent so the others wouldn''t get confused and bother her and Tanner. Tanner smacked her on the back of the head.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    "First, who said you could call me that, secondly you are not sleeping with me, you go and the corner and sleep by yourself."

    Niki let out a small sigh of defeat and went over to the corner. "He is so mean.... Maybe he is into that kinda thing" is what she thought to herself. She didn''t get a chance to do what she wanted last night because Tanner used "Divine Light" and blinded her. Once he did that, he quickly pushed her out the door and locked it. She figured that she would sneak into bed with him later, especially since it is getting really cold at night now. It is about mid-September and it was getting colder and colder each day. She put the idea in her head that Tanner would get cold without her so when he was asleep she could warm him up.

    *In Nathan''s tent*

    Nathan and Catia had set up their beds and were getting ready to fall asleep and they both went to grab a blanket. Once they were at the carriage with the blankets, there was only one blanket left. They both looked at each other and laughed nervously.

    "How about this, we will sleep under the same blanket, but we are back to back?"

    Nathan had offered this resolution and Catia just looked away and blushed. She had never slept in the same bed with a man before, but it was just Nathan so it couldn''t be that bad. It wasn''t like he was going to rape her, right?..... Right?

    "A-A-Alright, but I''m going to keep on a T-shirt and shorts on, so don''t get any ideas!"

    Catia looked at Nathan sternly with a finger pointed at his face. Why would he do anything, he was really confused. What did she think he was, a demon? Oh wait, he was.

    "Ok ok, I won''t."

    Nathan laughed a little bit and they went back to the tent. Once in the tent, Nathan takes off his shirt and Catia starts to freak out.

    "W-What are you doing?! I said don''t get any ideas, even if it is you, I''m not ready for that yet!"

    Catia was speaking very fast like she does when she gets excited, and Nathan just looked at her like she was stupid.

    "I never sleep with a shirt on, and what do you mean by ''even if it is you, I''m not ready yet''."

    "Nothing!"

    Catia had finally realized what she had said and her face was entirely red now, but Nathan decided to ignore it. He was so tired from driving all day that he just wanted to get to bed. He laid down and put the blanket over him. Catia decides that Nathan doesn''t have any bad plans about taking her virtue, and decides to lay down too. She presses her back up against his and is hit with a weird feeling.

    "It''s so warm, is this is what it''s like to sleep with a man, I might want to hide the extra blanket again next time."

    "What did you say?"

    Catia was mumbling to herself and Nathan had caught her. She quickly says "Nothing" and goes to sleep smiling. Nathan just decided to let it go and fall asleep too, but before he could get there a bright flash of light awoke him. He could hear a loud slap followed by it and the princess screaming extremely loud. "Meh, I can deal with it in the morning" is what he thought.

 Ambush.

    Nathan woke up to feel a soft sensation on his back. He already had a guess on what it was, but he decided to check and see to make sure. Yep, he was right. Catia had turned around in the middle of the night snuggled up to Nathan''s back. Whether this was by accident or on purpose, well your guess is as good as his. He turned around to see Catia, sound asleep and smiling like she was having a peaceful dream. Her ears were kinda droopy and then Nathan realized something. He had never touched a demi-humans ears. Before he could even think about the consequences, he started to rub Catia''s ears between his fingers. Soft and fluffy, just as expected. While Nathan was rubbing her ears, Catia let out a soft moan.

    "Nope, fuck that. Not dealing with that today."

    Nathan instantly got up and out of the bed before some cliche appears and he ends up getting slapped. As he got up he heard a voice behind him.

    "A disgusting demon and a womanizer huh, you truly are horrendous."

    He turns around to see Niki. Well, no matter how hard he tried, there would be a cliche around every corner. Well, there wasn''t enough time to think about that, he hadn''t talked to Niki since he almost slit her throat so this was an awkward encounter. He could feel a slight rage start to boil inside of him, as he could never forgive her for what she had done.

    "What do you want?"

    "It''s simple, one of the commanders sensed danger ahead, and I''m going to send you out to check what it is."

    "And why should I do that?"

    "Because you are my guard, and if a sacrifice is necessary, thendon''t hesitate to risk your life for me."

    Nathan''s one eye narrowed Niki, so this is why she was sending him. She wants Nathan to be killed, well since he doesn''t have a choice, he gets ready to go ahead. As he puts on his swords, Catia gets up behind him.

    "Where are you going?"

    "I''m going ahead to see if there is any danger, I''ll meet back with you guys later."

    Catia looked surprised at first, but Nathan explained that is was Niki who ordered him to do this, so he had to.

    "Make sure to come back safe ok?"

    Catia had a worried expression because she wanted Nathan to come back safely.

    "Alright, I promise. Also, by the way, your ears are extremely soft and fluffy, you should let me pet them more."

    With that being said Nathan winked and Catia''s face went red and she started stuttering. Before she could get any words out Nathan was gone. She thought about when he petted her, but she couldn''t think of any time when she felt it. She got a huge smile on her face as she had the thought of being petted and something started welling up inside of her. Was this what they called love?

    *In Niki''s tent*

    "I''m going ahead as commanded, I will report back anything I see and will eliminate the target if it is needed."

    Nathan was reporting what he was doing not to Niki, but to Joey, who Nathan saw as the leader of this operation. Joey nodded and Nathan vanished without a trace. Joey was looking at the map and somehow he was able to calculate how far away they were from The Empire. He figured that even if they were attacked, they would arrive at 6:00 p.m. now because everyone slept in. He closed up the map and started unpacking the tent. The reason everyone slept in this morning was was that Niki had tried to sneak into bed with Tanner and he used "Divine Light" to punish her. He also slapped her really hard and put her in the corner. Since he used "Divine Light", Tanner had woke up everyone in the tent and no one could fall back asleep. They all had the dots in their vision, like when you stare at the sun too long. Joey was absolutely furious but decided not to say anything. Once everything was packed, they were off on the road again.

    About 30 minutes down the road, Joey started getting worried about when Nathan would show up again, but he knew Nathan was capable of handling himself. They were in a dense forest when they heard someone scream.

    "AMBUSH-!"

    Commander Zel had tried to warn everyone about the ambush ahead, but he was met with a terrible demise as an arrow pierced him through his eye and into his skull. A small chunk of his brain was still on the tip of the arrow. Once everyone realized what was going on, 20 bandits came out of the woods and surrounded the group. Tanner was inside the carriage with Niki, and Bree and Joey were in the driver and passenger seats. Joey knew his objective, which was to protect the princess, so he got off the carriage to help out the guards. While the guards were trained soldiers, it seems the bandits have the upper hand when it comes to experience fighting. The guards were getting cut down at a rapid pace and finally, Joey was able to make it to the front line. He saw the morale of the guards was rapidly decreasing so he decided to try out one of his new abilities, "Lion''s Roar". A loud roar was heard from Joey and everyone within its range that Joey recognized as a comrade got a bright blue aura. "Lion''s Roar" removes all fear from the caster''s comrades and makes them a better fighter. With Joey using this, the guards were able to push the bandits back and the numbers were even at 10 fighters each excluding Niki and her elite guard. Joey saw that his ability was working and joined the fight. He rushed at the biggest bandit he could find and he was a big one for sure. This bandit was about 6''9 and it seemed that he was the one calling the shots. He carried an axe that looked like it could chop someone in two with one strike. Joey rushed towards the bandit and the bandit started laughing.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    "Hahahaha, a puny knight thinks he can kill me so easily huh, I''ll have to show yo-."

    Joey didn''t let the bandit finish before he punched him in the face. The impact of the punch caused the bandit''s head to evaporate instantly and cause his whole upper chest to have a massive hole in it. You could see the bandit''s heart still beating after the hole appeared, and as the bandit fell over the heart fell out of the chest cavity. Joey didn''t expect to punch so hard and cause such a disturbing scene, but this was due to his constant training.

    "Your leader is now dead, either give up now or perish!"

    Joey wanted to spare some lives if he could, but he heard laughing behind him. He turned around to see a skinny looking man with a killing intent in his eye and is his grasp was Bree in one arm and Catia in the other. In both hands, he had a knife pointed at their throats.

    "Back away slowly and give us the princess or both of these cute young ones die!"

    As he said this, he licked Catia''s face and made her scream. Joey could feel the anger inside of him swelling up and he clenched his fists. Tanner and Niki had left their carriage to see how the fight was going and saw this scene before them. The bandit noticed Niki and started smiling. He gripped the knives closer to the girls and caused a small cut in the throat of Bree.

    "Come now princess, come with us for a while."

    Niki stood there in shock as thinking of what to do. The bandit didn''t know that Catia was a member of the guild staff, and if she was to die then there would be troubles with the guild and Niki''s kingdom. It would make them look weak and Niki would surely be punished. She started to head towards the bandit with her looking at the ground in shame, but then she heard both Catia and Bree scream. Niki looks up to see them both covered in blood and the bandit was like a geyser of blood. His head was completely gone and flying throughout the air, and behind him was none other than Nathan.

    "First you leave 20 of your men to fight me and then you hold women hostage, you''re a disgrace."

    Nathan had said these words after beheading this bandit. They look to see how the guards are doing and they already have all the other bandits killed without losing anyone else. The guards loot and dispose of the bodies while Nathan gives his report to Joey.

    "About 10 minutes ago, I came upon this bandit group, but I was found. They had someone that could use "Heightened sense" like me and they surrounded me. As I was preparing to fight them, their leader split them up so they could torture me and still be able to kidnap the princess. When they left I had to fight 20 of them and I managed to kill them all and loot their bodies. Once I looted them I came here as fast as possible and managed to save both Bree and Catia. End report."

    "You don''t have to be so formal to me man, come on."

    Joey was once again laughing at Nathan''s formalities when addressing him, but Nathan wouldn''t stop. In the end, the group had exterminated 40 bandits and got 5 gold from loot. They all got into their carriages and before they started back down the road, Catia approached Nathan.

    "Oh hey Catia, are you ok? That must''ve been MMPH~?!"

    Before Nathan could finish asking Catia how she was, she had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down into a kiss. Nathan didn''t have a surprised face nor was he was blushing, he looked more confused. "When had Catia caught feelings for me" is all he thought about during the kiss, and after about 10 seconds Catia pulled away. She looked up at Nathan with her golden eyes and she was blushing really bad, but she wouldn''t look away from his eye. She was pretty close to crying. She had been scared for her life and scared that she would be the reason that the princess was kidnapped, but as always, Nathan came to save her.

    "I love you.... Thank you for saving me a second time now."

    Nathan didn''t say anything, he just simply hugged Catia and held her tight. This was truly a touching moment, but Tanner saw his chance to say something. A little bit of backstory, In middle school, Tanner called Nathan Kathan since it was his ship name with a girl Nathan liked, but Nathan absolutely hated that name, back to the present.

    "Well looks like I''ll have to start calling you Cathan now, or is it Natia?"

    Nathan slowly looked up at Tanner and just blankly stared at him and then the ground started to crack. Catia had noticed and started to freak out. She was curious about what this name Tanner was giving Nathan.

    "What is Cathan?"

    The ground started cracking even more from the pressure Nathan was exerting, he just continued to blankly stare at Tanner while Tanner just laughed at him. Without a second more to spare, Nathan punched Tanner in the face and sent him flying. In the distance, Tanner could still be heard laughing.

    "You hit like a bitch!"

    Now Nathan was pushed off the point of no return and a vein popped out of his head. Catia jumped in front of Nathan to stop him and looked at his eyes "why is it a slit now" is what she thought about while she looked at him.

    "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH?!"

    "You, you are a little demon bitch!"

    Tanner could still be heard in the distance and with that being said, Nathan drew his sword. He went to rush towards Tanner''s location and he was met by a force to his head. Joey had chopped Nathan in the head to stop him.

    "Again?!"

    "I don''t know what you said, but you need to calm down before I make you."

    As Joey said that, Tanner started laughing even harder, but another chopwas heard in the distance that stopped Tanner''s laughter. Within seconds, Nathan could hear Bree start yelling at Tanner. At least Nathan got off easier than Tanner. They might be an Angel and a Demon, but Bree was just terrifying when she was mad.

 The Challenge.

    After the fight between Tanner and Nathan, the group had sent off for the biggest city in The Empire. This city was called "Utopia". They had no major disturbances on the way there, so they arrived at about 5:00 p.m. and were standing at the front gate.

    "Halt, what business do you have here?"

    "I, Niki, princess of the EthyrianKingdom, have come here as a representative for talk of peace."

    All the guards that were present for The Empire bowed on one knee after she said and led the party to the castle. The castle was about the same size as the one in The Citadel so the group of Tanner, Nathan, Joey, and Bree were not that impressed when they saw it. Catia, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and awing at the castle, she had been into the castle at The Citadel but she was still impressed.

    Once inside, the guards were to be sent to the barracks to rest and Niki and her Elite Guard, as well as Catia, were sent to the throne room. Everything was laced in gold as like before and Tanner thought that was still stupid and impractical. The Emperor was sitting on his throne as well as his daughter to his right and his wife to his left. They were staring at Niki and her Elite Guard intensely. As they saw Catia, they became disgusted.

    "Why is there a slave inside my castle?"

    Nathan goes to say something, but Niki holds her hand out to quiet him. She thinks that Nathan''s disgusting mouth would surely cause war.

    "She is not a slave, she is a member of the guild, so please show her some respect."

    The Emperor did a snobby laugh and looked at Nathan. His eyes narrowed as he started to stare into Nathan''s one eye. He wondered why it was red, but he decided to not question it, his aura was that of a human so Nathan could be respected as well of the rest of her guard. They have an aura though, one that looks like his newest Commanders. Maybe they were "Legendary" classes as well. "Oh this could be fun," he thought in his mind.

    "I will agree to this peace treaty your father has sent me under one condition, and that is if your Elite Guard enters a tournament that is scheduled to start today."

    "Is that really all it will take?"

    "Yes, but if you lose then I am forced to see that you are weak and capitalize on seizing your land and country."

    Niki looks at the group of adventures she had been forced to bring with, and then she looked at Tanner. She didn''t think that they were capable of defeating The Empire''s best fighters, but they would have to try.

    "We accept."

    Joey had accepted the offer before Niki even got the chance to say anything.

    "Hoo? It seems that we got a confident one here, show them to the arena and start up the tournament!"

    ***************************************************

    The rules were explained to the group, and they are as follows. They will be put into a 32 team bracket and will be in teams of 2. The teams were decided as Nathan and Tanner as team "Turncoat" and Joey with Bree as the team "Joey and Bree". This was decided because each team could have a healer. Tanner and Nathan went with a team name that was an inside joke whereas Joey and Bree went simple with their names. The only rule for the tournament was no surrender. Apparently, The Empire was a militaristic country and believed fighting was the answer and the strongest were the ones that deserved to rule the world.

    It is a very barbaric way to live, but even with that said The Empire was considered one of the strongest countries on the planet and one of the oldest, so they were doing something right. When it came to the brackets, they were 16 on 2 different sides which were the Red and Blue division. Nathan and Tanner were put on the Red division and Joey and Bree on the other. There would be a winner from each division and those winners would be made into The Emperor''s commanders for a year and then the tournament would repeat itself unless a state of war was enacted during the tournament period. The commanders from the last year would also be in the tournament to defend their positions.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    "Tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. the tournament will begin and if you are not here then it is an automatic disqualification. You are now released."

    The group had decided to go shopping around the district and then meet back at their rooms when they were done. They went in the duos that they would be in the tournament. Niki was of course following Tanner and Nathan.

    "Are you sure can trust a demon to guard your back? What if he turns on you and kills you?! What if he is actually is a pervert and stares at your butt the whole time?! You don''t know what demons are like!"

    Tanner just laughs at Niki''s remark and Nathan just completely ignores her. "Man, what a messed up head fora 17-year-old princess" is what Nathan thought. Soon they ended up at an armory with a bookstore beside it. Nathan decided to go to the armory to see if he could find an eye patch and Tanner went to the bookstore to see if he could find any interesting books.

    Nathan found an eye patch that was enchanted with "Pressure" which Nathan already had, but apparently, it made his "Pressure" more effective than before. Tanner was able to find a book that was called "Enchanting for the Advanced", but it was too much money for how much he had. Niki had seen this and decided to buy the book for Tanner without him knowing and gave it to him outside. He gladly accepted and patted Niki slightly on the head as she was squealing in joy.

    Nathan and Tanner decided that theywere kinda hungry and they would go to a restaurant and eat lunch together. Niki was able to recognize a fancy restaurant which was back home and was her favorite so they went there. It mainly served high-class items such as steaks and lobster and it was fairly expensive. Niki said she would pay for them since they were protecting her.

    Nathan ended up getting a steak and Tanner ended up getting a Shrimp Alfredo. Niki got the salad and they were currently waiting for their food. Tanner was reading his book while Nathan was just staring out the window beside him. Niki became excited as she noticed their food was coming out but as soon as the waitress reached the table next to them, she was tripped by someone.

    Once she was tripped, she ended up spilling all of the food all over Niki. Nathan, who was across from her on the table immediately stood up and had his hand on the sword on his back. He spots the person who trips the waitress and they begin to laugh. They are wearing an Imperial uniform and looked like just a common soldier.

    Niki began to cry from the fact her white clothes wear completely soiled and the waitress was still apologizing and bowing deeply. Tanner looked up from his book and just shook his head. If it turned into a fight then he would get involved because he knew Nathan would handle it for now.

    "Fuck was that for?"

    The soldier was accompanied by 3 others and two of them were laughing hysterically, the other one had a pale face. He knew who that woman was and who the other two with her were. He decided to slink back into his chair and not say anything.

    The soldier who had tripped the waitress stood up and went face to face with Nathan. He was a Captain and had fought his way up there with pure strength so he wasn''t scared.

    "Because I felt like it, got a problem boy?"

    Nathan began to laugh as soon as he heard the man call him boy. Nathan''s one eye began to shine slightly as he was beginning to feel angry and was ready to fight. Right before he went to pull back for a punch, the voice of a little girl could be heard behind the soldier.

    "Stop it before you get killed Ramsy."

    The soldier turned around quickly and saw one of the four commanders behind him. He went straight into a salute and so did the other soldiers.

    "May I ask what you mean Commander Lila?"

    "This man could cut you down with one swipe and not feel a single tinge of remorse so I suggest you apologize."

    The soldier gritted his teeth as he just heard someone could easily cut him down but Lila was the strategist out of the Commanders and had the All-Seeing Eye. He apologized to the group in a stern voice and sat back down and so did the others. Lila walked up to Nathan and he finally got a good look at her.

    She was about 4''5 and looked like she was 11 years old but something was off about her. The scars that were on her cheeks showed she was experienced in fighting and her purple hair shone brightly in the light of the sun. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue.

    Nathan had to stop himself from laughing at how short he was but he could definitely sense a faint amount of power in her. She was looking up at Nathan with judging eyes and finally, she said what she had on her mind.

    "Filthy demon."

    "I know right."

    The once crying Niki had regained her composure and agreed with the small girl. Nathan just shook his head and sat back down. Apparently, they were bringing out new food for them soon and Tanner was still reading his new book. Lila ended up taking the seat next to Nathan and began to stare at Tanner. She stared for a while and finally gave her thoughts on Tanner.

    "Beautiful."

    "I know right!"

    Once again Niki had agreed with Lila and Nathan just sat there and shook his head as he continued waiting for his food.

 The Beginning of the Tournament.

    Joey and Bree decide finish shopping and still have an hour before they need to meet back with Tanner and Nathan so they decide to visit the tourist sights. After a while of walking around, they end up stumbling up a huge statue in the middle of an open garden.

    Joey walks up to the massive stone statue while Bree goes and looks at the colorful arrange of flowers surrounding the statue. Joey notices a small metal plate at the bottom of the statue but it is unfortunatelyscratched out and is unreadable. Joey hears someone else had entered the garden and figures they are just another bystander.

    "If you are wondering what this statue is about, it is our original king, Titus the Godly."

    Joey turns around to see the person that explained the statue looked kinda fancy but militaristic at the same. He had a black set of clothes that were accented with gold while wearing a heaving set of boots. He stood straight up and his face lets off that he was an experienced warrior who had seen many battles.

    "Thanks, that is actually interesting."

    The man nods his head and continues to admire the statue. Joey decides he has seen enough of it and goes to see what Bree is doing right now. As Joey walks by the man, he throws a punch in Joey''s direction. It seems half-hearted and Joey decides to just catch it with his hand rather than block.

    BANG~

    As the punch collides with Joey''s hand, a sudden explosion of force comes from the impact of the two. Joey is certainly surprised by this but is also unmoved as his plate armor boasts insane defence. Another punch is thrown at an intense speed and Joey is forced to catch it with his other hand.

    The two are now face to face and are completely unyielding to each other. The man pulls his fist back and bows at Joey while a toothy grin is stretched across his face. Joey is on high alert and is staring at the man intensely. The man sees this and puts his hands in the air as to be surrendering.

    "I am sorry, I just like to test my opponents before we fight."

    Joey continued to say nothing and quietly observe the man. The mysterious man begins to sweat and slowly back away before leaving entirely. Joey realized this man was going to be an opponent in the tournament but that wasn''t a good thing. His fist sure did pack a punch.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Joey looked back to the statue and see it was tipped over from the force of the two clashing. He turns to look at the flowers but they seem to be completely blown away. Soon, Bree could be heard running over to Joey.

    "What happened?"

    "Well, it all started when...."

    ********************************

    Back at the restaurant, the group of Niki, Tanner, and Nathan have finished their meals and Nathan is kinda worried about the presence of the one known as Lila. She continues to sit beside Nathan and stare at him as well as Tanner. She lets out a few remarks ranging from sounding awe-inspired, to sounding like she was hissing. It should be easy to tell who got what comment.

    "So, why are you here exactly?"

    "To gather information about you two for the fight."

    Nathan is shocked by the fact that Lila is so open and straightforward. He then realizes that she is probably in the tournament and will be in fact their opponent. He looks at Tanner and he also has the same shocked expression that Nathan has.

    "What kind of information?"

    "Everything."

    "Huh."

    Tanner decided that he would ask a question and that is what it amounted to. They both look at each other and they both are on the same page. It is time to leave.

    They both get up out of their chairs and exit the restaurant, followed by Niki. The girl just continues to sit there as she soaks in the mass amounts of information she had just received.

    Bothgroups decide they have spent enough time wandering around the town and go back to where they will be staying. Tanner''s group is the first to arrive and they decide to go ahead and go to bed while as Joey and Bree wander around their Inn a little. They eventually go back to their rooms, take baths, and go to bed too. Somehow Niki managed to convince Tanner to let her sleep with him and Catia was currently at the Guild so Nathan slept alone.

    ********************

    The sunshine begins to fill everyone''s room and this is the sign to get up and head of to the tournament. Nathan feels extremely groggy but surprisingly the rest is rather excited. Tanner has some powers he would like to test out of humans whereas Joey would love to fight for his country.

    When arriving at the arena where they will be fighting, the 2 groups of assigned teammates split apart and go to their division. The first of the two groups to fight was Team Turncoat.

    As they enter the arena, they are greeted with the sight of over 65,000 people sitting in the stands just waiting for the bloodbath to begin. On the far left side, the Emperor and his family sat on their thrones, watching for their amusement. On the other side of the arena from Nathan and Tanner stood two tall men. They were shorter than Nathan but they were more muscular than even Joey. They looked extremely battle worn and know their way around in a fight.

    The King stands up and raises his hand. The crowd silenced and the atmosphere became full of bloodlust. The two men looked at Team Turncoat like they were going to eat them. The King throws his hand down in a chopping motion and the battle begins!

 The Battles for the Future. Part I

    Captain Erik and his most promising pupil Private Manwell had decided to enter the tournament. Erik thought it would be good practice for his pupil and he knew they would make it far into the tournament. They might not be made Commanders but that''s not the goal.

    "This one will be easy, right Captian? I mean just look at them."

    Captain Erik has been looking at them since they have entered but he isn''t sure about them.

    "The tall one seems to have been in a few fights since he is missing an eye or he has a special ability. The other one seems to be disinterested and probably doesn''t want to be here. This should be a breeze."

    The two look at each other and nod their heads. The Emperor throws his hand down and the fight begins. Private Manwell goes for the first hit and closes the distance between him and his opponents at an exceptional speed. He gets about 20 feet away from the two and pulls out his halberd. He is 10 feet away and they have still yet to move.

    "Too scared to move huh?!"

    Manwell screams this as loud as possible to further instill fear into his opponents but what he mistook for fear was confidence. He makes a quick horizontalslash with his halberd towards the tall one but he vanishes completely from sight. Manwell recovers from his miss though and turns to do a spin attack on Tanner. Tanner easily blocks this and sends Manwell''s halberd backwards.

    Manwell tries to recover from this but Tanner delivers a swift counter-attack by punching him in the gut. For how weak Tanner looks the punch he landed sends Manwell back about 5 feet. Manwell managed to flex hard enough to basically block the attack but it still injured him some. He decides that these enemies are actually worth facing and decides to go all out. He just made it to level 15 so this should be no big deal.

    He throws the halberd at Tanner with all of his might. Tanner just uses his shield and brushes it off like it was nothing but Manwell used this to close the distance between them once more. Manwell is specialized in hand to hand combat so this should be easy.

    "Divine Light."

    A sudden burst of light erupts from within Tanner and blinds everyone inside the arena, including the Emperor. Using this sudden flash of light, Tanner puts his shield directly into Manwell''s face. The force from the hit shatters Manwell''s nose and once again sends him flying.

    After rolling on the ground a few times, from the impact, Manwell is able to stop himself. He looks back to where Captain Erik is at but he is no longer there. After looking around for a little bit he finally can see his Captian on the ground and covered with gashes all over his body. Standing over him is Nathan with the sharp tips of his gauntlets covered in blood.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Manwell shakes his head and can feel he is getting ready to pass out from the pain. Blood is streaming from his nose and he can feel some teeth are missing.

    "Why are there monsters in the tournament?"

    A blow is delivered to the back of Manwell''s head. It was a powerful kick that knocked him out instantly. With this being done, the crowd erupts in a fit of cheers and horns begin to play. Team Turncoat had won its first battle.

    On Joey and Brees side, their fight was about to start as well. The area had 2 arenas, one for each division. Joey and Bree were up against 2 adventures that went in for just fun. The Emperor wasn''t here since he was at the Red Divison''s fights, apparently, that was the division for the strong people and the group didn''t know this until they had already signed up into their divisions. The person that started the games in place of The Emperor was his childhood friend and General. He throws his hand down and the match begins!

    One of their opponents was a woman who was inside the Ranger class type. She fought like a rogue but had the extra abilities to track people or things down. Her partner was a Magic Caster that used fire enchantments to help out his partner and to also turn his foes into ashes. They wanted to make the first move but Joey was much faster than they thought.

    Unlike Tanner and Nathan, who had decided to hide their best abilities till they were needed, Joey figured he would go all out just in case of extremely strong opponents. The only thing they plan on hiding till needed is Bree''s healing abilities.

    Joey rushes towards the two adventures with extreme speed and readies to deliver the first blow. The Magic Caster starts to cast a spell to try to burn Joey before he arrives but a strong force hits him on the side. His partner had shoved him out of the way and took an Ice Spike to the shoulder.

    She screamed with pain as the 2 foot long Ice Spike was sent at an intense speed and has immobilized her right arm. Bree had sent this but it was nonlethal as she purposely tried to miss any vital parts of the body.

    The Magic Caster got up from being pushed and held his friend up from falling due to the pain. As he goes to pull out the Ice Spike his face meets an explosive power that knocks him out instantly. Joey hadn''t even used any abilities but Magic Casters don''t have good Physical Defense to begin with. With the Magic Caster knocked out Joey goes to quickly do the same to the ranger but she seems to have disappeared.

    Joey turns around to see the ranger had made her way to Bree with great speed and held her dagger towards Bree''s chest. An intense look of bloodlust was in her eyes as she wanted revenge for her arm and her partner. Bree just shook her head and laughed at the ranger.

    "What''s so funny? I will kill you!"

    "Look around you."

    The ranger looks around to see 5 Ice Spikes hovering above her. The bloodlust in her eyes instantly turned into fear as she can still feel the ungodly pain in her arm and she begins to imagine what these ones could do if sent at her. She can''t dodge because they are so close but she has one final trick up her sleeve. She throws down a smoke bomb and goes straight for Bree''s heart.

    She stabs with her dagger where Bree was but meets something incredibly hard. As the smoke clears, Joey stands there with his arms in an X to block the dagger. The ranger could only let out a small squeal as she could see Joey go into a fighting stance. Before she could react further Joey punches her in the gut and the ranger is sent into the wall of the arena.

    A small dent is put into the stone wall and the ranger slowly slides off of it. Horns blare throughout the whole arena and the crowd begins cheering loudly. Joey and Bree had also won their first match.

 The Battles for the Future. Part II

    After their first battles are over the two teams decide to meet up and eat some food together. It''s almost mid-day and their nexts fight would start in about an hour. They go to a local restaurant near the arena and are extremely surprised to find out it is a pizzeria. They got 2 pizzas, one for Nathan and Tanner and one for Joey and Bree. Once the pizzas arrive, they dig in and begin to talk about their fights. Both teams express the fact that they beat their opponents with relative ease and they begin to wonder if they even have to worry about their other opponents.

    "I am mean we are Legendary Classes."

    "You have a good point Tanner, but sometime we will face the Commander''s of an army, so they must be strong."

    Nathan decides to interject on the chat between Joey and Tanner and put his own opinion in.

    "I don''t know about that Joey, the last person who was Legendary was the Hero of the world soooooooo."

    After Nathan let outthe extra long "so", a scoffing noise was heard behind him. Nathan knew who this was because he has trained his "Heightened Senses" and was able to use it throughout most of the day.

    "Man, I was hoping you wouldn''t notice us here."

    "Listen here you demon, I am a princess and even if you tried your best to hide from me I could find you in an instant."

    "Doubt it."

    "What do you mean ''doubt it''?!"

    "I mean Idoubt you could find me if I hid somewhere."

    "Why I would-."

    Tanner raises his hand so Niki would stop arguing with Nathan. Tanner knew that Nathan was probably right but now is not the time for the two to be fighting over something stupid. They needed to focus on the tournament and prepare themselves for the worst, at least that is what Tanner thought.

    Niki takes a seat beside Tanner and theyall continue eating their food and making small talk. Soon everyone is finished and they pay for the food, Joey thanks the cook for making such a delicious meal and they go on their way. As they leave the pizzeria, Nathan puts his hand in front of the group, signaling them to stop. He takes a good look at his surroundings and notices something is off. Joey speaks up first to end the silence between the group.

    "What''s the matter Nate?"

    Nathan shakes his head and laughs as Joey calls his a nickname he hasn''t heard in a long time but this is a serious situation.

    "There is someone watching us, correction many people watching us and they seem to have bad intentions."

    Nathan''s eyes kept darting around as he continued to count up the number of suspicious people within their vicinity and the rest of the group goes on high alert. They make a shield around Niki since they are being paid to protect her. Nathan and Tanner are in front of her and Joey and Bree to her right and left in that order. Tanner decides that at least wants to find out what their description is if possible.

    "Nathan, where are they and what do they look like?"

    "They are constantly moving at high speeds and they are all wearing whiterobes that coverall of their body."

    Tanner doesn''t know about any group with any affiliation with white robes since he has been reading up on his history about this world with some books that he has found so he realizes it must be a group that is very secretive. Tanner decides now is the time to test out his newest ability and try to find out what is going to happen.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    "Foresight."

    Tanner consciousness is sent forward in time and his vision becomes distorted along the edges. This ability lets Tanner see forward in the future but makes his body in the present immobile. He sees glimpses of a fight scene portrayed in front of him and it all starts with an attack from...

    "Joey! To your right!"

    Joey, who was standing to the right of the princess turns to his right and sees someone in a white robe sprint towards him at an incredible speed. Joey is able to react to this and puts his body into a fighting stance. The person in the white robe seems to be surprised that Joey knows that they are attacking and stops completely, about 10 feet away from Joey. Their faces can''t be seen at all, it is like the hood gives some sort of magical darkness to hide their faces. Nathan does a small gasp and realizes something.

    "We are in another dimension, like when we fought the King! That is why there is no one else here."

    Everyone looked around and realized that he was right. There was not a single pedestrian around within eyesight. Even the aura of the place seems to have changed once they left the pizzeria. Tanner only knew of bits and pieces of the fight but he knew that vision he had has been altered entirely with him telling Joey were his attacker was.

    In the original vision, Joey had been stabbed in the neck with a rapier causing him to bleed significantly but it seemed someone healed him throughout the fight because he was fighting in the next vision. At the end though, Tanner saw Niki being stabbed in the head and he intended to prevent that entirely. His brain begins to calculate the best way to approach this situation and a perfect plan comes to mind.

    "Nathan, go and find out if any of them are alone and if so assassinate them, if not wait for Joey to use his Lure ability and come out when you see fit."

    Nathan nods his head in acceptance of these orders and vanishes from sight.

    "Joey, go out into that open area 30 feet in front of us and use Lure as well as Impenetrable Defense, ok?"

    "Sounds good to me."

    "Bree, stay here with me and try to snipe anyone you see with an Ice Spike."

    "Ok!"

    "What about me Tanner!"

    "Uhhhh, you just stay there and try to watch my back, okay Niki?"

    "Alright!"

    Tanner''s position would in front of Niki with his shield ready to fight and if it came down to it he would use Divine Light and escape with Niki since she was the number one priority. He had faith in his friends that they could survive. Niki puts her back to Tanner and watches the roof above the pizzeria and beyond.

    ZZZIIPP~

    CLANG~

    An arrow that seemed to be going the speed of sound is sent towards Niki but it is parried by Tanner''s shield. Several more arrows are shot from different directions but Tanner manages to deflect them as well. Bree sees where they are coming from and begins to send Ice Spikes in their direction. While Bree is having a ranged battle Joey manages to get where Tanner wanted him without a scratch.

    "Lure! Impenetrable Defense!"

    A teal aura appears around Joey and then his whole body turns into a greyish color. Joey has never used Impenetrable Defense before but there is a first time for everything right? As Joey activates his ability he can hear someone begin to run towards him at a rapid pace and it is behind him. He goes to turn around to fight whoever this is but he can''t move at all!

    "What?!"

    Joey''s whole body is completely paralyzed, all he can move is his mouth and his eyes. As the unknown person drew closer, Joey could hear them begin to yell. It sounded like a woman and was extremely close. Joey winced waiting to feel extreme pain but all that happened was the ear-piercing sound of metal completely shattering. It sounds like the woman was sent backwards after the shattering sound and landed on the ground with a loud thump.

    Nathan saw this and decided to capitalize on the stunning of the robed figure. He appeared out of what seemed to be thin air and drew his sword close to the girl''s neck. He put his hand on the robed figure''s hood and began to pull but she grabbed his hand and pleaded to him.

    "No. No no no no, please don''t do that. Just let me go and you''ll never see me again I swear!"

    Nathan hesitated for a second and decided he wanted to know what these people wanted and why they were doing this. He began to pull on the hood again and planned to interrogate her but he quickly let go and pulled out his short sword.

    CLANG~

    Two clangs were heard as Nathan deflected to arrows with his two swords but a third one hit him in the leg. He lets out an audible yell of pain as the arrow has gone completely through his leg and is poking out the other side. Nathan had let his guard down since he thought Joey''s Lure attracted everything to attack him so Nathan only saw two of the three arrows at the last second.

    The robed figure picks herself up and tries to run away but Nathan is extremely pissed now. With adrenaline pumping through his veins he is able to fight the pain and grab the hood of the girl''s robe. As she begins to run he stands his ground and the hood finally comes off. The girl turns around to see what had happened and Nathan''s eyes widened immensely. The person who was in the robe was none other than the woman he had a kiss with and shared a bed with, Catia.

 The Battles for the Future. Part III

    Nathan stumbles backward and is completely baffled. He feels his chest begin to tighten up and his breathing becomes raspy.

    "Wha.... What?"

    Catia''s eyes averted from Nathan''s and she puts her hood back on. She runs away at an intense speed and is out of sight before long. Nathan just sits there shocked and confused but he needs to pay attention to the battle that is ensuing. Nathan tries to stand up and he immediately begins to feel the pain of his current injury and takes a knee. His left leg is completely unusable.Nathan turns around to still see Joey with his grey looking skin and teal aura and he wonders why he got shot at.

    "Joey, I''m hurt man and can''t move. We may need to retreat."

    "Don''t worry Nathan, as long as I have Lure on they can''t kill you from up close it seems like, can you at least parry the arrows? Plus I can''t move as well."

    "Ya, now that I''m on my guard that should be simple enough."

    "Ok, good luck."

    As Nathan is looking at Joey, 3 people in white robes begin running towards Joey with their weapons drawn. Nathan decides that even though he can''t move he can still help plus we don''t know how long Impenetrable Defense lasts but they needed to get closer before he could do that.

    Back at where Tanner''s group is, Tanner is still deflecting arrows as before but they are coming at a much slower rate. It seems that some of Bree''s Ice Spikes have hit their targets but Bree is beginning to look pale and is probably running out of magic power. She realizes this the same time Tanner does and stops sending out Ice Spikes and goes shoulder to shoulder with Tanner so he can defend her.

    The arrows just kept coming and Tanner notices that Lure isn''t working at the people at a certain distance away. Tanner concludes that he can just send Nathan out to take care of them but something is off. Tanner looks at Nathan, who is taking a knee for some reason, and then it finally hits him.

    "Shit, Nathan''s injured and it looks bad."

    Bree looks to where Nathan is and notices his injury too but she doesn''t know what she can do at this point. As she goes to say something she is interrupted by Niki.

    "Behind us!"

    Tanner quickly turns his shield around and manages to narrowly block an arrow going towards Niki''s face. The situation seems to be getting dire as the relentless barrage of the arrows and the growing numbers of enemies are overwhelming the group. Tanner begins to think of strategies on how he could sway the momentum of the battle but not leaving Nathan behind at the same time. As he is blocking the person behind him, an arrow goes straight to the back of Tanner''s head but is met with someone else''s flesh.

    "AHHHhhHHH!!"

    Tanner eardrums are nearly shattered as Niki lets out a blood-curdling scream and blood begins to squirt on top of Tanner''s head. Tanner turns around to see Niki had put her hand out in an attempt to stop the arrow and succeeded but unfortunately had receiveda pretty painful injury in the process.

    Bree sends out an accurate Ice Spike towards the robed person behind them and hits them directly in the head. Bree winced a little as their blood began to spray all over the place but they were the ones who started this fight. Now all Tanner had tofocus on was the people who were originally shooting arrows at them but he catches a glimpse of something that makes his blood run cold.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Back on Joey and Nathan''s side, the 3 people rushing towards Joey is currently hitting his stone body repeatedly but to no avail. Joey begins to wonder how long his Impenetrable Defense would last but that was not the first thing to give out. As Lure wore out completely, the robed figures were drawn out of there relentless bloodlust for Joey and had noticed Nathan was injured and completely immobile.

    Joey begins to taunt them and scream at them as they walked past him but to no effect. He begins to try to deactivate his ability and try to help Nathan but he didn''t know how to do so. As the people disappeared from Joey''s sight he began to worry about what would happen to his friend.

    "Please Tanner, save him."

    As the three people approached Nathan, he put up his hands as to surrender and looks towards the ground but one of them begun to laugh.

    "Man, to be tricked by Catia and to give up in a fight, just how pathetically weak are you?"

    The other two begun to laugh and they seemed to all be male by how they sounded. Nathan slowly looks up with his one eye at the 3 men and he gives them a menacing stare. He had not activated Pressure yet but that was for a reason.

    "Huh, you gonna look at me like that punk? Alright, let''s see you make that menacing look when I''m done with you."

    The one in the middle pulls out a long sword and begins to walk towards Nathan but this exactly what he wanted. The robed man lifts thelong sword in the air as he prepares toslice at Nathan but he quickly drops the sword. Nathan uses Accelerated Step to speed up his entire body and pulls out the throwing knives from his cloak and quickly send them into the darkness of the robed figures heads. He sends out six and they all connect their targets and they all fall lifeless to the ground.

    Nathan had wanted them to be closer so he could have an easier shot at them and it worked perfectly. As the robed figures continued to not move after they hit the ground Nathan let out a long breathe of relief. He limps over to the bodies and takes the two knives out of each of their heads and puts them back into his cloak, blood and all. He limps over to Joey and even deflects two arrows along the way. AsNathan makes it to him, Joey''s worries for his friend evaporate from his body and is replaced by relief. Nathan puts his arm around Joey to help keep him stable and Joey''s paralysis from his ability seems to be wearing off. As it completely wears off he puts his arm around Nathan to support him even more. Nathan looks at Joey and smiles.

    "Let''s get the fuck outta here."

    Joey laughs andnods at Nathan.

    "Agreed."

    As they walk back towards Tanner and Bree, the arrows seemed to have stopped being shot at them. As the two make it back to the rest of the group Joey puts Nathan on the ground. Tanner takes a knee next to Nathan and slightly touches the arrow in his leg.

    "Alright, I''m gonna take it out fast ok-?"

    Before Tanner could finish the sentence Nathan takes out the arrow himself and screams in pain. Tanner takes this as the hint to start the healing process and does so. A slight pain could be felt in Tanner''s leg and he thinks it must be a muscle cramp. The wound closes and Nathan flexes his leg tightly.

    "Seems to be back to normal, thanks Tanner."

    "No problem. So did you find out anything about these people?"

    "Ya, I did..... Catia was one of them."

    The whole group gasps and Nathan explains the story of how he managed to rip a hood off and see Catia''s face. The whole group is baffled at how someone with the guild is connected to what is going on and then Niki finally realizes what it is.

    "Oh my, I just realized that-!"

    Niki is thrown to the side as Nathan had pushed her out of the way of an incoming blade. Nathan countered this incoming blade and swiftly slit the neck of Niki''s attacker. A girl could be heard gasping for air as she falls to the ground and her blood begins to sprinkle thearea around them. Nathan instantly takes off her hood and sees a blue haired elf, which meant that it was not Catia. Nathan looks back to where he had pushed Niki to help her up but is met with a truly infuriating sight.

    Catia stands there with a small dagger to Niki''s throat as she seems to be holding Niki hostage. Tanner gets into a fighting stance whereas Joey has the most confused expression he has ever had in his life and Bree readies an Ice Spike. Nathan just shakes his head and lets out a small response to the situation.

    "What the actual fuck."

 The Battles for the Future. Part IV

    As the steel of Catia''s blade is shining around Niki''s neck the only thing the group could do is stand there feeling completely baffled and furious at the same time. Nathan didn''t know what to think right now since he has been tricked by a woman because he let his guard down. Joey is the first to break the silence.

    "Fuck, shouldn''t have trusted the guild."

    Joey readies his fist as he has a plan on how he could get Niki out of this situation but it will be his first time trying something like this. As Joey goes to start executing his plan, Tanner puts a hand on his shoulder.

    "Not quite, I know what is going on and it does not involve the guild."

    "What do you mean?" asked Joey.

    "I do not know what kind of magic it is, but the people we are fighting right now seem to actually be some sort of doll. I noticed it earlier when I saw one of them shift into their original form. Someone might be controlling them from a distance away."

    "So that means if I stick a knife in Catia''s head, it won''t actually kill the real Catia?"

    An inferno of rage seemed to be swirling around Nathan as he made this remark and Tanner gave him a nod. As Tanner finished his nod, three knives have already struck the head of Catia''s doll. It lets go of Niki and falls lifelessly to the ground. Niki runs over to Tanner and gives him a massive hug.

    "I can''t believe you figured it out! I was gonna say that one of the four commanders could use doll magic and he is testing our skills right now but you said it before I could!"

    Niki is basically jumping for joy since Tanner found out about the dolls and he just gives her a small smile of appreciation. Joey lets out a sigh and puts his hand on Nathan''s shoulder to try to help calm him down and Bree is focusing on her soul to see how much mana she has left.

    "YOU FOOLS! YOU THINK YOU COULD BEAT ME SO EASILY!?"

    The once innocent-looking Catia shot upwards from her lifeless position on the ground and is now standing. Her voice is that of a man''s and she has a maniacal look on her face.

    "Looks like I''ll have to use my secret techniques."

    The manly sounding Catia is then struck by four ice spikes all over her body and then is punched by Joey who is using "Physical Explosion". The doll is completely obliterated and Joey''s punch causes a V-shaped crater to form. With his fist smoking from the impact, Joey laughs and makes a smart remark.

    "Your ''secret techniques'' obviously suck."

    The only one to laugh at this is Tanner since everyone else is cringing. Joey turns around and gives them all a confused look.

    "What? Was it something I said?" Joey asked.

    "Wellllll, it''s just you looked so awesome blowing the doll away but you ruined the mood with a sentence that was worse than the ''secret techniques''." Tanner said in return.

    Nathan just continued to cringe and let out a painful sigh as the puns would not stop even though considering the situation they were just in. He can tell that his friends are trying to lighten up the mood for him and he appreciates their gestures. Nathan turns and looks at Tanner.

    "Well, what now?" he asked.

    Tanner stood there for a moment with his chin in his hand. He gave a little shrug as he came up with his only answer.

    "I guess find whoever made the dolls, kick his ass, and leave?"

    As Tanner said this, someone bumped into him. A man with a long beard and old rags as clothes tells Tanner to ''Move it'' as he walks by. Nathan looks around and sees people, lots of them. The aura of the separate dimension is now gone and they seem to be free of whoever was trying to kill them. He also looks to sees if the bodies are still there but they seem to have disappeared. Everyone letout a breath of relief as the nightmare they had to endure is now over. No one knows what time it is now but they do know their matches will begin soon so both groups split up into their teams and leave for the arena.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Nathan is mentally exhausted and has a massive headache. Tanner notices this and tries to watch what he says as he cannot understand what is going through his best friends mind right now. They continue to jog throughout the streets, bobbing and weaving with Niki in tow. She is complaining about how fast they are running but they ignore her anyway, they didn''t want to miss their match. As they reach the entrance to the battle contestants rooms, they find out their fight is in 5 minutes. Glad that they made it, Nathan, Tanner, and Niki take the extra time they are given to take a minute to relax.

    About 2 minutes pass and there is a knocking on the door. Tanner is having idle chat with Niki so Nathan decides to go answer it. He opens the door to see a familiar cat-eared, gentle-faced girl on the other side. When seeing Nathan, Catia''s ears perk up and she gives him a smile. Knowing that it was only a doll before, Nathan still can''t the image of Catia trying to kill Niki out of his head. He closes his eyes and shakes his head to try and rid himself of it and it works for the moment.

    "Hey Catia, what''s up?"

    "I just had a break from the Guild and wanted to wish you good luck in your next match!"

    Nathan gives Catia a weak smile to show appreciation for her gesture.

    "Thanks."

    Catia''s face goes from bright and happy to slightly dim and confused. She can tell something is bothering Nathan as he is usually always glad to see her but today seems to be different.

    "Is something wrong?"

    "It''s nothing, anyways our match will be starting. Thank you for the wish of good luck."

    Nathan closes the door as Catia goes to say something to him. Slightly distraught, Catia''s tail starts to flick side to side as sheseemed to be expecting something from Nathan but was shut down.

    Back with Joey and Bree, they had shown up for their match but found out that their opponents got severely hurt in their last match and they would have to wait a while for them to be healed. With this being the case, they both decide they will go and watch Team Turncoat''s match until they are told theirs is ready. They manage to receive a seat moderately close to the battlefield and they have arrived just as the two teams are being introduced. Tanner and Nathan''s opponents are what looks like a samurai and a witch.

    Wondering how they will approach this situation, Joey watches the fight closely as he feels he needs to study his best friends attack patterns so they all can fight better together. Tanner stands there, shield and sword ready while Nathan seems disinterested and looks like he is pretty depressed. The witch decides to make the first move and begins to chant something. A massive circle appears at the feet of the two that seems to been forming some sort of foreign language within.Seeing that this is probably a powerful spell due to the size, Joey begins to wonder how his friends can possibly handle this.

    Down on the battlefield, Tanner looks at the fire circle and then looks at Nathan.

    "I''ve seen this spell in one of the books I read. It is a powerful firestorm the follows its targets. We got about 15 seconds before it casts and it is hard to get away from it."

    "Well if that''s the case, I''ll stand right here, go ahead and get out of the circle and take care of the samurai looking guy. I got this bitch..... I mean witch."

    Nathan is staring into the eyes of the witch with his one red eye. The witch doesn''t seem to be intimidated as she continues on with the spell. Nathan could stop her but that would take effort, and he doesn''t feel the greatest right now. Tanner has already run out of the circle and it seems the samurai was waiting for this as he charges at Tanner. As the writing in the circle begins to form faster and faster, Nathan is waiting for the perfect moment to leave, and if he doesn''t shake it off then this witch is dying with him.

    The witch is starting to look more and more perplexed as Nathan doesn''t look worried about her spell.

    ''Ignorant child, you will die if you continue this facade.''

    The sound of metal clashing echoes throughout the arena as the samurai attacks Tanner at great speeds but he blocks them all. The witch finally finishes the spell and fire begins to form at Nathan''s feet. She is giving him one final chance to move as she doesn''t want the fight to end so easily but he just laughs slightly at her hesitation. Becoming a little angry at this, the witch snaps her fingers and an inferno of flames burst into the air. The magic circle summoned a tornado that circulated fire through it and whatever was inside was burnt to a crisp. The woman put a little extra mana into it to make sure that Nathan is dead and when the fire disappeared, he was nowhere in sight. Satisfied with her work, she turns her attention to her partner and is baffled at what she sees. The samurai lays on the ground, sword and face mask shattered. His nose is bleeding and seems to be broken as he remains unconscious on the floor. Knowing that her partner has never lost before, the witch decides to get revenge and begins to cast another spell.

    Back in the stands, Joey is already getting up to leave. Bree looks at him and is perplexed by this.

    "Where are you going?"

    "Tanner and Nathan have already won so there is nothing more to see."

    "You don''t know tha-."

    Bree is cut off by the cheering of the audience and horns blaring. She quickly looks down to the battlefield to see Nathan standing over the witches body. His short sword is stabbed into her back but not anywhere vital so she will surely live but for the moment she seems to be immobile. Tanner gives Nathan a smile and Nathangives Tanner a smirk back. They are on their way to winning this tournament with ease.

 The Battles for the Future. Part V

    "And the winners are... Team Joey and Bree with the easy victory!"

    Loud yelling and horns erupted throughout the stadium as the two stand over their defeated foes with confidence. Their opponents never truly recovered from the last match and were forced to fight at half power, making it an easy win with one punch from Joey and one Ice Spike from Bree. The two foes were both some sort of paladins and their armor shone brilliantly in the sunlight, except for when they fell to the ground due to Joey and Bree''s attacks. Joey felt bad for dirtying such expensive looking armor but Joey figured he did what had to be done. They left the arena and found out there would be no more fights for today and since the sun would be setting soon, they headed back to where everyone was staying.

    The Inn is busier than it was before but Joey and Bree manage to make their way back to their room before encountering Nathan. He had a towel over his shoulder and he seemed to be heading to one of the hot springs the Inn offers. Bree goes on ahead as Joey stops Nathan in the hallway.

    "Hey, Nathan, you alright man?" Joey asks.

    "Yeah, I''m good, why?" Nathan responds in a confused manner. Joey doesn''t want to brush off the fact that one of his greatest friends is down emotionally and Joey is going to help Nathan however he can.

    "Come on, you can tell me. I know something is wrong."

    "Fine, just that fight with the dolls messed me up a bit you know. Everything has really, I mean look at us." Nathan points to his eye patch and then points to Joey''s plate armor.

    "None of us could''ve prepared for this. I took us on this vacation, I got us in this mess. I''ve felt that way for a while and it just-."

    "Look Nathan. This is not your fault, no one could know this was going to happen and as long as we have each other, we will be fine. Also, about the dolls, I''ll find that sick son of a bitch and when I do, he won''t like it."

    Joey says this as he puts a hand on Nathan''s shoulder to reassure him. Nathan laughs a little and realizes that Joey is right. With a new boost in his confidence and his conscience cleared, Nathan puts on a hearty smile.

    "Thanks Joey."

    "No problem man."

    Nathan gives Joey a high five and continues towards the hot springs, whereas Joey continues his way back to his room. Nathan gets done with the hot springs and leaves in around 30 minutes, walking back to his room slowly while enjoying the art that covers the walls. This Inn is extremely fancy but what would be less expected for a place for a Princess and her guards. The art ranges from trees to deadly battles and Nathan seems to appreciate them all equally.

    What he doesn''t appreciate are all the stares that he is receiving when walking down the hallways. Everyone else here seems to be nobles and they all stare at Nathan like he is a peasant. Not from the fact that he is a demon but from the fact he lacks to etiquette to be royalty so he must be an adventurer in their eyes.

    ''Sure I slouch and I don''t care about how I look in public but come on people, I''m human too... Kinda.''

    Shaking his head in disbelief at how rude some people are, Nathan decides he should hurry up to his room and go to bed. It is just now sundown but from the exhaustion he has received from today, he can feel himself falling asleep already. He finally makes his way back to the room and instantly crashes onto his bed, going into a blissful sleep, but not before locking his door first.

    Tanner, on the other hand, has decided to stay up as late as possible, continuing to read his books about the history of the world, how to enchant, and he is even touching up in some of the different languages of the world. As he flips through from page to page, he can hear a knock at his door. He lets out a puff of disappointment since he has to put down his book but nonetheless, he still gets up and answers the door.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Tanner opens the door to find Catia, standing there in casual clothes with a distraught look on her face. Sensing that something was wrong, Tanner invites Catia into his room and lets her have a seat at the table. He gets her a cup of water and then sits down across from her.

    "So what''s up?"

    "I need your advice?"

    "Ok, and what''s that."

    "What does Nathan... Like in a girl?"

    Tanner takes a second to think about his response since he could go about it in a joking matter but this situation could turn serious so he approaches it honestly.

    "I remember him saying he looks for loyalty the most. I mean if you are looking to date him then just go for it. That is all I have to say."

    Catia''s face turns a little red and her ears flick up and down.

    "Do you think I have a chance?"

    Tanner just laughs and nods his head up and down. Catia, now reassured, has a new face of confidence, but Tanner could see something inside of her expression. It looks like a tinge of regret and fear but he just plays it off like he hadn''t seen anything. Tanner gets up and opens the door.

    "You should probably leave now before Niki shows up and gets the wrong idea."

    Catia accepts this since she doesn''t want to get on the princess''s bad side and she leaves the room hastily. Tanner goes back to reading his book and Niki does show up about 30 minutes later, asking to sleep in the same bed as Tanner again, which he accepts. They climb into bed and Niki falls asleep with her back to Tanner while Tanner continues to read further and further into the night, losing himself in the history of this new world.

    Morning arrives and Tanner is the first to get up, even though he was the last one to fall asleep. He puts on his armor and his overcoat and goes to wake Niki up. She lets out a small yawn and stretches her arms out. She smiles when she sees Tanner and gets up out of bed. She thanks Tanner for the good night of rest together and goes back to her own room to put on her clothes for the day since she is still wearing her silk pajamas. Tanner takes the time to inspect his sword and shield to make sure it is in top condition.

    He had found out that the sword heals the wielder''s slight injuries and figured that this sword is probably fairly rare and there is no use in letting it break due to poor attention from the owner. He checks for any chips or if any part of the blade is getting dull and he finds none. Same with his shield and he figures that he is ready to go wake Nathan up. Walking through the hallway Tanner can feel the hairs on his neck rising as the people he walks past seem to be staring at him intensely.

    ''Meh, whatever.''

    Tanner continues his way down towards Nathan''s room and soon arrives. He knocks on the door and is surprised when the door opens with the first knock. Knowing that something might be wrong, Tanner grabs the hilt of his sword on his waist and walks into the room cautiously. Nathan is sleeping on the bed and nothing seems to be wrong with the room. Confused on why the door just opened, Tanner decides that Nathan was just an idiot and forgot to close the door.

    "Hey idiot, wake up."

    Nathan, who is stomach down on the bed, shoots upwards and looks at Tanner with a puzzled expression and with drool on his face.

    "How did you get in here?"

    "You forgot to close the door. It opened when I knocked on it."

    Nathan''s eyebrows furrow together as he swears he locked his door before he went to sleep but he shrugs it off and gets out of bed. While Nathan is in the walk-in closet, putting on his armor and weapons, Tanner walks around the room and looks around. It looks the same as his but Nathan''s room has a few slight differences. Not too much longer later, Nathan appears from the closet and is ready to go to breakfast. They both leave the room and Nathan makes sure to lock it this time while putting the key inside of his pouch. They walk down the hallway and make their way to the small cafeteria that the Inn has to offer.

    There is a breakfast bar and Nathan and Tanner are the only ones in the room so they dig in. After a while, Joey and Bree enter the room and grab their own breakfast, followed by Niki. All 5 of them sit at the table and have small talk while eating their own different variants of food. Even though everything is calm on the outside, everyone is freaking out on the inside. Everyone''s last 3 matches will be today and if both teams win their division, then they must fight each other. The conversations comes up if this situation becomes reality.

    "Personally, I think Nathan and I would just give up and let you guys win." Tanner says while stuffing the rest of his biscuit in his mouth.

    "Now Tanner, you can''t do that. We all need to fight seriously so we can learn each other''s strengths and weaknesses. Wouldn''t you agree Nathan?"

    "Sure, why not? It''ll be your loss, Joey."

    "Really?" Joey says while laughing audibly. Nathan joins him with a small chuckle and Tanner just shakes his head. Bree is also laughing with Joey since she knows Nathan is just messing around. They finish their breakfasts and both teams part their seperate ways with Niki going with Team Turncoat.

 The Battles for the Future. Part VI

    With 4 teams left on each division, the winners of each division will be decided today. Team Turncoat''s chances of winning the whole tournament is extremely high and the number of bets being placed on them is breaking records. Nearly 100 platinum has been placed in bets and 70 of it is on Nathan\Tanner. The sad thing is the other 20 is placed on Joey and Bree. The other 10 has either been lost due to the people getting bet on being beat or it is on the previous commanders that are fighting to keep their spot.

    The only real reason that Nathan and Tanner has more bets is because they are in the Red Division which is considered the division for the strongest people. With people thinking that Team Turncoat and Team Joey and Bree with face off in the end, people believe Team Turncoat will definitely emerge victorious. Especially after seeing Team Turncoat''s win the semi-finals.

    Nathan and Tanner had faced two figures that shrouded their bodies in cloaks. Both of them were a little shorter then Nathan but they were extremely muscular. Unfortunately for them, Tanner and Nathan wanted to get this one done and over with as soon as possible. Nathan ran behind his opponent at a speed barely anyone could comprehend and stabbed the man in the back. Nathan hit a nerve in the man''s back, causing the cloaked man to collapse and scream in agony.

    The man''s teammate hadn''t expected this and turned away from Tanner to see what happened. Before he could react further, a flash of light pierces his eyes, accompanied by a shield to the skull. With the instant knockout of one and the other one severely injured, Tanner and Nathan won. The crowd erupts in cheerful screams as they will most likely be making easy money.

    Nathan and Tanner leave the arena with Niki right behind them. As they walk towards the other arena to see how Joey and Bree are doing, Nathan flips around one of his daggers in his hand and Tanner is reading another book. The handiwork Nathan shows while flipping the dagger around is mesmerizing to the average person and the fact Tanner easily makes his way through the crowd without bumping anyone while reading a book is nothing to scoff at. This shows how far they have come in physical prowess since the two have arrived here.

    Shouts of anger and booing can be heard in the arena Joey and Bree are in as Team Turncoat arrives. Wondering what is going on, Nathan looks down into the arena and sees the predicament.

    Two people sit in a blue bubble with Joey and Bree standing outside of it. Joey is punching the barrier, sending shockwaves through it but the barrier doesn''t seem to be going down anytime soon. Bree is sending ice spikes at the barrier but once again, the barrier stays up and shows no signs of going down.

    One of the two people inside the bubble is laughing to the point he is crying, the other one seems to be focusing on the barrier. The one who is laughing is throwing constant taunts at her opponents as they cannot reach her.

    "Man, for someone who was considered one of the strongest physically in the fight, you are letting me down Joey!" the woman yells at Joey loudly. Joey takes a deep breath to not give in to the taunts and continues to pound away at the barrier. The woman is a little taller then Joey and she is extremely muscular. The other person seems to be a weak little boy thats face is getting paler and paler.

    "And you, Ice Bitch, you''re about as strong as a snowflake!" the woman yells, but she will regret that instantly. With the strength of 1,000 men, Joey rears his right fist back and puts all of his strength into. As Joey sends his right fist forward and hits the shield, the sound of an explosion is heard and the arena is filled with dirt and dust. Everyone goes silent as nothing can be seen nor heard.

    The only ones that can still hear at the moment are people with strong bodies and weak senses. Tanner wasn''t affect by the sound but Nathan is currently clutching his ears and rolling around in pain as he has extremely keen senses. As the dust and dirt settles, two people are left standing. Bree, who has her hands over her ears from the sound of the explosion, and Joey, who has smoke rising from his fist.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Joey''s right gauntlet is completely shattered and lays in pieces on the ground. Joey''s fist is slightly bloodied as cuts have appeared on it and Joey is breathing heavily.

    "Who''s the bitch now?" Joey says as a taunt. The one who he said this too is firmly planted into the wall. If you would follow the cone of destruction caused by Joey''s fist, you would a 100'' long indent in the ground that is about 70'' wide. Inside of the cone shaped indent is disheveled dirt and debris from the rocks below.

    At the end of the cone is the large woman and her partner. Her partner is in the woman''s arms since he would''ve splattered against the wall and most likely would of died instantly. The young boy is unconscious and the large woman can''t move a single muscle.

    With the arena being nearly destroyed and one team unable to fight, the fight ends, Joey and Bree being the ones who are coming out victorious.

    Joey falls down to one knee and Bree makes her way to him. The first to make it there is Nathan though as he instantly appears beside him. Nathan used Accelerated Step and jump from the stands to land in the arena and run towards Joey.

    Nathan crouches down and puts himself under Joey''s armpit to help him back up. Joey leans on Nathan heavily as he feels like he will pass out soon. Bree shows up and wraps Joey''s whole arm in water that begins to glow brightly. Nathan helps Joey back inside and too a room for Joey to be able to rest while Bree walks next to them and continues to heal Joey.

    As Nathan walks Joey through the hallways of the arena he is the least familiar with, Tanner and Niki manage to find the wandering three people. Niki runs up to Joey and opens the door beside her. The door she opens is a bathroom and waves for Nathan to take Joey in there immediately. Nathan takes Joey in the bathroom and lays Joey down onto the wood floor. The pain in Joey''s right arm is disappearing but he still feels like passing out.

    Tanner forms a ball of light infront of himself and puts the ball of light into the water. The water and the light fuse together and the water turns green. Joey can feel all of his pain instantly subside and his body be filled with vigor and strength. Wondering what Tanner did, Bree decides to ask.

    "What was that?" Bree asks. Tanner laughs slightly as the books he has been reading has paid off.

    "Our spells worked together and created a greater spell. It is something that is commonly used, the only problem is sometimes it doesn''t work and the two spells make an unexpected outcome if they are not compatible. Since it was two healing spells, they work well together." Tanner says confidently. Niki looks confused as she thought everyone knew this and wonders why Bree is so amazed.

    Joey sits up and gives Tanner a smile. He is amazed that Tanner has spent the time and has the dedication to learn a lot about this new world so intensely and quickly. With Joey being okay, Nathan lets out a breath of relief and smiles at Joey.

    "Man, you really pack a punch huh? You even broke your gauntlets." Nathan says sarcastically while pointing at Joey''s bare hand. Joey laughs and shakes his head.

    "Yeah, this really hurts my ability to fight since this is my main punching hand but now it has no protection. I guess I''ll have to be more careful now." Joey says with a tinge of sadness in his voice. Niki shakes her head back and forth and Joey raises an eyebrow.

    "I''ll buy you a new gauntlet. I mean the future of my kingdom is on the line and I can''t have my guards being anything but 100%. Right?" Niki says with a warm smile.

    "Yeah, I guess you''re right... Thank you." Joey says with a thankful voice.

 The Battles for the Future. Part VII

    Joey looks down at his right fist. The gleam and shine of his new gauntlet catches his eyes constantly and Joey can''t stop looking at it. The bright green gauntlet on Joey''s right arm was insanely expensive but getting it wasn''t Joey''s idea. Niki had gone and bought it without Joey''s input but he is still grateful to her.

    With this new gauntlet, Joey feels like he can destroy a stone tower with one punch. With the fight against the former commanders coming up in about an hour, Joey is amazed at the timing in which they managed to find a gauntlet that made him more powerful.

    As Niki and her guards walk through the streets, enjoying the sights around them, Catia runs up to the group with a happy smile on her face and a pep in her step.

    "Congratulations on making it to the finals of your division everyone! I''m so proud to be the personal guild assistant to such strong individuals."

    Catia speaks with genuine happiness for her team and everyone except Tanner says "Thank you" for the kindness Catia is showing them. Tanner decides now is the time to mess with Nathan a little bit.

    "Add more personal and less guild to that sentence and that is what you are to Nathan." Tanner says under his voice but Nathan heard him and swiftly delivers a quick jab to Tanner''s shoulder. Tanner just laughs at Nathan as Tanner''s overcoat absorbed the blunt of the hit. Catia tilts her head as she doesn''t understand what just happened between the two.

    Catia decides to ignore the two and turns her attention to the Princess, who seems to be the most nervous about the upcoming fight. As they all walk along together, Niki and Catia slow down so they can have talk among themselves.

    "Why are you so nervous Princess?" Catia asks with a quizzical tone in her voice. Niki nervously laughs as she begins to think about the various reasons on why to be nervous.

    "Though I have faith in my guards, the fate of my country rests on their shoulders. There is also the fact I am sending someone who I intend to be very close to me in a fight he could nearly die in. On top of that, something happened recently that seems to have mentally shaken Nathan and I worry if he will lose control again..." Niki says with a stiff and scared voice as she remembers when Nathan lost control back at the castle.

    "What do you mean he lost control?" Catia asks with a really worried voice. Niki covers her mouth in surprise as that event was supposed to have never happened and to never be spoken about. Knowing that Catia is with the guild and Niki telling Catia, it could cause a political catastrophe. Trying to kill someone you hired through the guild is declaring war against the guild. Niki shakes her head and puts a hand up to Catia.

    "Nevermind." Niki says in a dismissive tone, hoping that Catia will just drop the topic and Catia does just that. An awkward silence comes between the two and they look forward at the four in front of them. Tanner looks disappointed as Joey is standing beside him and laughing hysterically. Bree stands there shaking her head at the two and Nathan isn''t seen unless you look up a little bit.

    Nathan is standing on the shoulders of a large statue and to Niki and Catia, he is making the a weird gesture with his arms. It could only be explained as sneezing into your right arm and sticking your left arm outwards. This was known in the group''s old world as "dabbing". Nathan did it all the time to mess with people and he is currently doing it on the shoulders of a famous Emperor.

    "Nathan! Get down from there!" Niki yells as she runs towards the group. This only makes Joey laugh even more as Nathan is now getting by their Princess. Nathan stops dabbing and begins laughing as well. Nathan jumps off the shoulders of the statue and does a backflip in mid air to show off. A soft thud is heard as Nathan lands gracefully.

    Joey continues chuckling while clapping in approval at the acrobatic display before him. Tanner sighs as though mentally exhausted and Bree slightly giggles. Nathan is smiling ear to ear as he looks over his three friends that he would never let go, even if the world is offered to him.

    Nathan''s head turns sharply and the laughter around him begins to die down. Everyone looks at Nathan with confused gazes but Nathan ignores his comrades and stares at the buildings around them.

    "I swear we are being watched." Nathan mumbles under his breath before shaking his head.

    "Don''t mind me, I just thought I heard something." Nathan says to reassure the group. Everyone relaxes after that and the group continues to be tourists in the beautiful city.

    The sun begins to disappear over the horizon giving the sky a beautiful orange and violet tone. The final fight in each division will be starting soon and the group of 6 are sitting in a wide open court yard, each doing their own thing and reacting different ways to the upcoming fight.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Tanner seems to be doing a thorough check to make sure his equipment is ready for the upcoming fight while also talking to Niki at the same time. The conversation consists of Niki trying to make moves at Tanner and even though he doesn''t seem interested, Tanner''s mind is fully focused on the fight. Tanner more than anyone knows how important this fight is to the stability of the world with the knowledge he has gained about the recent events of this world.

    Nathan sits on a bench and is making a mentally going through the combat moves he knows and how to combo them together. No one in the tournament so far has been able to withstand an all out attack from Nathan and with so many people betting for Team Turncoat, they are obviously the favorites. Nathan knows he cannot underestimate his opponent so he is going through many different attack plans for many different scenarios in his head. He also seems to be humming a catchy tune while he does so.

    Catia, Bree, and Joey are all sitting on a bench on the other side of the courtyard from Team Turncoat and all three of them are having idle chatter. Joey is enjoying his free time while he can since he can''t be anymore ready than he already is. Where as Tanner and Nathan are thinking of strategies and checking their equipment, Joey already has done this a long time ago. Joey likes to get things done as soon as he can with the most amount of effort he can put in. He is especially good at planning things out before hand.

    Bree is practicing her magic by summoning a ball of water and controlling it for a long amount of time. Bree believes this will help her train her mana usage and she will become more efficient in using magic. She also seems to be the least worried since she has the most faith in the group''s success.

    Several people walk by the group and gawk at them with wide open eyes. After the most recent fight for each team, it is hard to tell who is stronger. With everyone witnessing Joey''s physical power first hand, they know Nathan is most likely not going to be able to take a hit from Joey, but that''s only if Joey hits him. On top of that, Bree might have range on Tanner to everyone''s knowledge, Tanner is completely shrouded in mystery. No one really knows what he is capable of, just that he has extremely high defense. Then is again, all of this is just the opinion of the public.

    Now what is known as a fact among the public is that the Elite Guard of the Princess Niki is something otherworldly. The public is actually scared of a war against the Ethyrian Kingdom if they can have powerful people like this on their side.

    A horn blares throughout the whole city, signifying the battle will start in ten minutes and masses of people begin to flood both stadiums. The crowds do split open and let both Team Turncoat and Team Joey and Bree make their way into the stadiums. Finally inside their stadiums, both groups take on different demeanors. Team Joey and Bree are brimming with attitude as Joey loves to be in front of big crowds of people, entertaining the masses with his ability to fight. Bree loves to win and believes that having a good attitude while help in morale. Team Turncoat on the other hand has a more somber and sharp attitude.

    Nathan is holding a glare that can pierce your soul and instill fear whereas Tanner has a face that seems indifferent but shows a glimpse of concentration. This just shows the difference in the personalities between the two groups, but that doesn''t matter in the arena. What matters is their ability to fight, and those abilities while be tested now.

    *****************

    Tanner and Nathan both walk out to the middle of the arena. They are met with the ear deafening shouting and cheering of the crowds. The stadium is completely packed with people and it even sounds like there are people outside of the stadium cheering to Nathan. With their being so many people, Tanner and Nathan''s attitudes do not waver and they look prepared to fight.

    "Welcome everyone to the Finals in the Red Division! I am Dante, your host and play by play announcer! The first team on the field is some of the strongest fighters ever seen in the Empire, the Demonic Flash and his partner, Unbreakable Holiness!"

    Nathan looks at Tanner and mouths the words ''What the hell?'' and Tanner just shrugs his shoulders. Apparently the populace came up with nicknames. Tanner didn''t mind but the corny nicknames slightly struck a nerve to Nathan. He thought the names were stupid and the announcers should use the names given to tournament, Haku and Novaxil.

    "Now entering the arena are your two reigning champions in the red division and 2nd place winners in last years tournament, Lila, the Neverending Onslaught, and Zorg, the Green Heaven."

    As this echoes throughout the bustling stadium 2 figures come out into the arena, both of them shaking their heads. One is comparably short and has purple hair put up in pigtails while the other one is covered head to toe in armor. It seems they don''t like the nicknames they were given either.

    A certain amount of bloodlust is coming from the short one named Lila while the other one named Zorg is radiating confidence. Tanner looked over at Nathan with a face full of indifference.

    "Think we can take them?" Tanner says nonchalantly. Nathan scoffs loudly and looks down at Tanner.

    "What are you, dumb? Of course we can. Easy peasy-."

    "Ready.....?"

    Nathan''s statement was cut off before he can finish it by the deafening sound of the announcer. With the match getting ready to begin, Tanner readies his shield and pulls out his sword for the first time in the tournament. The crowd cheers loudly at the magnificent looking sword that Tanner has had sheathed for most of the fight. Nathan pulls out his long sword and twirls it in his right hand a few times while grabbing some throwing knives from the inside of his cloak. Nathan has the knives concealed for the time being and they are even coated in poison that Nathan had bought.

    Their opponents also readies their weapons, the one in armor has a massive mace weapon and a tower shield while the short one twirls a Scythe around like it is a baton.

    "Then begin the fight to the DEATH!" the announcer yells in a sadist tone and the crowd cheers even louder than ever.

    ""Wait, what?"" Tanner and Nathan both exclaim at the same time.

 The Contracts. Part I

    "Well, I guess I should punish this so called ''demon'' thorougly." The muscular man covered in bright armor says confidently with an accent that Nathan nor Tanner have ever heard before.

    The large man pulls out a large hammer and his bright green eyes are full of anticapation as he stares at Nathan. His body begins glowing brightly and he gives off the aura of the holiest paladin ever, drawing the attention of the whole arena onto his person.

    "Wait, you''re talking about punishing me?" Nathan says and then looks over at Tanner.

    "That''s you''re problem now, I want the small one."

    Tanner laughs and shrugs at Nathan''s remark.

    "Whatever, you filthy demon." Tanner says in a mocking tone and Nathan slaps him in the back of the head while laughing.

    Even though they are in a match to the death at the moment, Nathan and Tanner still have a second to laugh and bring their morale up even if they were so serious just a few moments ago.

    "Oh, so you don''t want to fight me because of a past grudge or because you''re scared?" the paladin looking man says with a condesending tone. Nathan''s eyes turn serious for a second and he shakes his head.

    "No, because Tanner already saw through your ploy. What do you think we are, idiots?" Nathan says and he flashes a toothy grin at the large paladin and then throws a knife at the small girl beside him.

    *Tch*

    The clicking of someone''s tongue is heard behind Nathan and Tanner as the dagger hits the girl''s head but she disappears into a thin layer of smoke as the knife comes in contact with her body.

    "Also, I wanna see who is faster too."

    Nathan disappears from everyone''s sight and a symphony of metal hitting metal fills the arena as the battle between Lila the Never Ending Onslaught and the Demonic Flash commences.

    "*Sigh* I swear he is too eager to fight sometimes. I will tell you now, you drawing attention on yourself while your partner snuck behind us with her speed was a good idea in theory, but..."

    *Boom!*

    The sound of a person''s body being thrown into a wall echoes throughout the whole arena and a battered and scratched Lila is finally visible after the short battle between her and Nathan. She grits her teeth and vanishes again, presumably going after Nathan.

    "My partner is faster than yours." Tanner says with a smile on his face but a deadly glint in his eye.

    "Well it seems that you saw through our plan and counter attacked easily, I''d like to apologize for the dirty tactics but I cannot lose this fight. I have too much to lose to lose to you youngins. But now you''re fired up so I might as well get fired up as well."

    The light surrounding the man burns brighter and he roars loudly. Tanner unsheathes his blade and pulls out his shield. Not going into a stance for defense or offense, Tanner just stands there as his opponent runs at him with a holy light flowing from the paladin and a burning passion in the man''s heart.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ''Now it is time to show off my true strength to everyone.'' Tanner thinks to himself as the man comes closer and closer.

    *In the other arena*

    In front of Joey and Bree stands two men, one that is huge and has the intimidation of a mountain, and another one that looks sickly and pale.

    A blue light swallows the arena to signify the barrier to protect the audience and Joey sighs a breath of relief.

    "Looks like I can go all out without worrying about hurting anyone but myself... Hopefully." Joey says while laughing nervously.

    Joey knows how strong the opponent with the opposing aura is but the other one is shrouded in mystery. The big one is eyeing Joey up and down with his eyes full of hope and Joey is eyeing his back with a glare of suspicion.

    "Take a picture, it''d last longer." Joey says while chuckling himself, but no one else is laughing. This is a fight to the death and the only people Joey knows that would crack jokes in this situation is Nathan and Tanner. The only reason Joey said the joke was to calm his nerves and he knows it.

    Seeing as no one is making the first strike and both sides are just glaring at each other, Bree makes the first move and several ice spikes form in the air and surround the enemies. The big man laughs and points at Joey.

    "You are my opponent young warrior. Let''s see how strong you''ve become in this short span of time." the man says with a happy attitude. The big man then looks at his partner but his eyes seem to be filled with disgust when looking at his partner.

    In a condescending and judgemental voice, the big man talks to his partner.

    "Just deal with the ice woman. Puppeteer, I don''t care how you do it as long as you don''t do anything too horrorific. You got me?"

    He made sure to put extra emphasis on his last words like he is threatening his teammate

    "Yeah, whatever. Whatever you say Liam." Puppeteer retorts back to his teammate with a disinterested tone.

    After Puppeteer says this, Ice spikes rain down from the sky at both of the two even though Liam declared Joey was his opponent. Seeing this, Liam shook his head and pulled back his fist and released it forward right before the Ice Spikes riddled the two with holes.

    As Liam''s fist is extended all the way, gusts of wind blow from his punch and a massive gust of wind blows all of the Ice Spikes into random directions.

    Liam follows up his punch with a forward leap at Joey that catches Joey by surprise but Joey is stronger since the last time they fought. The truth is, even if the four don''t do anything they still get stronger as the days go by as their bodies become used to the new world and the mana in it. With Joey facing opponents with comparable strength and the daily awakening of his powers, Joey is nearly double the strength he was when he first faced Liam in the garden.

    The biggestrepercussion was his powers can hurt his body but that doesn''t matter to Joey right now.

    Joey widens his stance and prepares to take the powerful punch that is full of wind head on. Bree runs away from Joey and towards Puppeteer while summoning Ice Spikes around him.

    Liam''s face turns into a smile as he sees Joey is not running but planning to block his attack and he fills his punch with more power.

    As Liam reaches Joey, Joey reaches out his hand which threatens to catch Liam''s punch head on. Liam inwardly laughs on the inside at the arrogance of Joey as he knows what is going to happen next, or so he thought.

    Instead of catching the punch and absorbing the damage, Joey grabs Liam''s arm and uses Physical Explosion. As he does so, Joey uses all of his strength and Liam''s forward momentum and throws Liam over his shoulder and straight into the ground.

    Not expecting Joey to have any grappling skills, Liam wasn''t prepare for this and took considerable damage as he coughs up blood from the impact. Joey doesn''t want to give Liam any breathing room and jumps into the air and above Liam. Joey pulls his fist back beside his face and prepares to do an aerial punch downwards onto the now stunned Liam.

    Joey''s fist falls with the power of 100 men towards the face of Liam and Joey has a wide smile on his face as he thinks his win is secured now.

 The Contracts. Part II

    *Back in the other arena*

    *BBBBOOOOOOMMMMM!* *RUMBLE!*

    A ground shattering explosion can be heard in Joey''s arena and the ground rumbles violently. This throws Zorg the paladin off balance as he goes to strike Tanner once more with his massive hammer. Tanner has been on the defense for now and has just been blocking and dodging the paladin''s hits but this is his opening.

    Slinging his deadly shield forward, Tanner hits the paladin named Zorg in the helmet and stuns him. With him being stunned, Tanner swings down his sword vertically above his head but a shield of light blocks his blade and sends it rebounding backwards.

    Using the backward moment of his sword, Tanner spins and his recovery causes an even more powerful slash than the last one but it''s now horizontal and at Zorg''s chest.

    *Clang!*

    Tanner can feel vibrations travel up his arm violently as his sword clashes with the ever sturdy armor of Zorg. Tanner''s arm begins to turn numb and he can only slightly gasp in pain and prepare to go back on the defensive as Zorg has recovered from being stunned by the shield bash.

    Zorg swings his hammer behind him and upwards then proceeds to bring it down towards Tanner''s unprotected skull with the intent to kill. His hammer seems to be filled with a dark holy power as it has now turned black and threatens to curse Tanner if he dare touch it.

    Unfortunately for Tanner, the pain in his arm was too unexpected and he realizes he has no time to react to Zorg''s attack and block it.

    Gritting his teeth and bracing himself for serious pain, Tanner expects the worst, but the death awaiting Tanner never came as when he opens his eyes, he sees Zorg getting kicked in the face by Nathan. Nathan had saw the trouble Tanner was in and came to help using his insane speed.

    With both of his feet firmly implanted in Zorg''s helmet, Nathan pushes off of Zorg and goes back into the fight with Lila while stunning Zorg once again for Tanner.

    Tanner smiles as he knows he can trust Nathan and already has a plan if Nathan ever gets in danger. Not wanting to waste this opprotunity, Tanner sends his shield into Zorg''s stomach and starts a combo to chip away at his enemies defense.

    When Nathan went to help Tanner, to be honest it is because he was running away from Lila and decided to help Tanner while using Zorg as a foothold and a point to push off of to continue dodging. It was basically killing two birds with one stone.

    Though the first skirmish that seemed to last 10 seconds but resulted in nearly 16 clashes of a sword and a scythe resulted in Nathan''s win, Lila seemed to come back stronger after that small defeat.

    She became much more faster and deadlier as she aims for Nathan''s vital points every time she attack and forces Nathan to constantly block and be on the run.

    ''The worst part is that there are an endless amount of her!'' Nathan screams to himself in his head as he does a quick back flip and throws three daggers that makes 3 Lila''s explode into a puff of smoke.

    Following the backflip, Nathan swings his longsword to block a Scythe attack in the front and then uses his shortsword to stop another attack going for his head.

    Nathan stares the Lila in front of him in the eyes and his one eye seems to explode with anger. Nathan hates being overwhelmed at something he specializes in so he needs to turn this around now if he plans to win.

    Using his incredibly sharp senses, Nathan can tell that Tanner is once again in a disadvantagous position as he is being completely destroyed by Zorg''s raw strength.

    Nathan sends pure strength to his arms and pushes away Lila''s scythe but he knows that this cannot be kept up for too much longer.

    "Tanner! I think it''s about time." Nathan does another flip to dodge 2 more attacks and then disappears 10 feet backwards to try and distance himself from Lila.

    "You need to go Angel Mode about now. I don''t know how strong you are in it but we definitely need it!" Nathan yells at Tanner before he is forced to dodge more and more.

    "Nothing can help you now." a version of Lila says confidently. She has a haughty attitude asLila continues to bully Nathan around the arena.

    "I have seen everything about you and I can guarantee you that you are not strong enough to take us on! I don''t care if you are an Angel or a Demon! You will feel the wrath of my Soul Hunting Scythe!"

    Lila does a horizontal but Nathan does not dodge. Rushing forward suddenly Nathan catches Lila and grabs her Scythe by the hilt as the blade goes behind him.

    Pulling on the Scythe as hard as possible, Nathan pulls Lila towards him and swings his longsword right for her neck.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Seeing Nathan suddenly change his strategy and take advantage of an over cofident Lila, the crowd braces themselves for a beheading but as soon as Nathan''s sword touches the young girl''s neck, she disappears into a puff of smoke again.

    "GOD DAMNIT FIGHT ME YOU BITCH!" Nathan yells as his blood begins to boil from Lila constantly using scape goats and never fighting him 1 on 1. Tanner just shakes his head and decides Nathan is right.

    Tanner''s arm feels like it is about to break from blocking so many high powered hit on his shield. Like releasing the gates of Heaven, a bright light fills the entire arena and a beam of light shoots into the sky like a lazer.

    Zorg is blown backwards but recovers as he digs his heels into the ground to not get blown too far away. All of Lila''s explode into smoke except for one who just so happened to be the one in the back.

    Tanner''s bright white wings unfurl from his back and spread in the air for the second time in their short exsistences. His brown iris were washed over with a color of bright white in one eye and bright blue in the other. Finally, a bright halo formed into exsistence as it is the final sign of Tanner''s holiness.

    "Prepare yourselves, for I will not be the only using a new form." Tanner then points towards Nathan and a slightly familiar circle surrounds itself around Nathan''s feet.

    "Release.'' Tanner says and the circle of incantations fades away and Nathan can feel something inside of him begin to grow and explode throughout his body.

    ''My demon blood, I haven''t felt much of it since Tanner purified me. Did he seal it and now he is releasing it?!'' Tanner then smiles at Nathan and then looks at Zorg.

    Floating in mid air, Tanner points his sword at Zorg and challenges him while flying 20 feet above the ground.

    "Hahahaha. HAHAHAHA! So Lila was telling the truth!" Zorg says maniacally while laughing hysterically. A dark green aura begins to cover his armor and an explosive force explodes forward at Tanner. With a quick swipe of his longsword, Tanner cuts the force in half like it is butter.

    "So that isn''t strong enough to knock you down huh? Well it doesn''t matter, I''ll kill you and your friend so I can evolve!" Zorg yells passionately.

    On the other side, Nathan falls to one knee as the Demon Blood inside of him runs rampade. He is barely managing to keep control of his body. Lila takes this chance to deal a devastating attack onto Nathan and she slahes his chest wide open.

    The once boiling Demon Blood inside of Nathan begins to cool down as it sprays out of his chest and onto Lila''s small frame.

    Nathan tries to say something, anything at all but all he can do is feel heavy and weak as he falls backwards. Blood continues to spray, Tanner continues to fight with his all, and Lila continues to walk towards Nathan with her Scythe poised to kill.

    A horrifying smile is spread across Lila''s face as it seems that she is enjoying bathing in the blood of her enemies. This sparks a flame of hatred and pure rage inside of Nathan''s soul.

    ''You bitch... I''ll get you... I swear...'' Nathan tries to curse Lila aloud but all he can do is say it in his head, hoping that some magical force will save him.

    But as his eyes become heavier and heavier, Nathan is losing his grasp of reality and he barely clings to a string that holds him from falling into the deep darkness know as death.

    Alas, Nathan is unable to hold on for long and his eyes finally close and he falls into the darkness he feared to fall into.

    Something stops him on the way down though. A large jet black dragon catches Nathan and flexes its mighty wings and soars away from the darkness.

    "Master, you cannot die yet as I do not wish to return to the darkness."

    "Well, I can''t help it, I got out classed out there and I guess this is my punishment. Sorry to bring you down with me." Nathan says with a disappointed voice. The jet black dragon sighs and begins to hover when it far enough away from the darkness, but that won''t work for long.

    A long black tentacle is stretching outwards and threatens to take both of them into the end of their lives.

    "I have a confession, I have lied to you. When I said you had to relenquish control to me for you to use my power, that wasn''t the whole truth."

    "Wait, what?" Nathan asks in disbelief. Did he get swindled by a Dragon? Then again he was a King at one point.

    "The truth is that we can make a contract, and I basically give you my soul and you can draw power from it."

    "But I control my body when this happens?"

    "Correct."

    "So... Let''s do the contract? Unless you want to be in a hentai staring me, you, and that tentacle." Nathan says with an urgent voice. The dragon raises its eyebrow as it doesn''t know what a hentai is but it doesn''t sound good.

    "Ok... Just touch my snout and our souls will do the rest..." The Dragon says with a slight hesitation. Nathan isn''t exactly trusting of the former demon but he truly has no other choice.

    Outstretching his hand, Nathan touches the snout and he can feel warmth return to his body. Where the slash was begins to heal inside of this space between reality and the Abyss, making Nathan assumes that it might be healing in the real world too.

    After a few seconds, Nathan has memories flow to his mind that comes from the depths of the soul of the dragon. The memories are a good amount of magic the dragon could use at one point and a deep knowledge about the Abyss and how to walk in it safely.

    A smile creeps on Nathan''s face and his red eye begins to change and a slit replaces his round pupil. Glistening black scales form on his skin that feel as hard and as sharp as diamond and a strength fills his muscles. A comfortable warmth flows throughout his formerly cold dead body and settles inside his stomach.

    "Your power... Is mine, and with it, I will let both of us live on and avoid the reaches of death!" Nathan yells loudly to assure the Dragon he has made the right choice. The dragon slightly chuckles and its eyes are filled with anticipation.

    "I am excited to see how you grow with this new seed. Good luck in your fight, I have helped you as much as I can for now."

    Chains materialize around the Dragon and completely cover its beautiful scales, showing it has been restrained by Nathan''s soul.

    Nathan then closes his eyes and focus on a way out, a portal out of this space between the realms and soon his consiousness is flown forward and back into the real world.

    Lila, who rose her arm in victory torwards the crowd and put her foot onto Nathan''s bloody chest, suddenly feels a sharp pain seep into her small leg. Looking down in horror, Nathan is using his sharpened metal gauntlets to grab Lila''s leg and pierce into her skin.

    "I hope you''re not celebrating, cuz I ain''t dead yet!" Nathan yells and uses his insane strength to throw Lila at a break neck speed off of him and into the nearest wall. A deep indent forms into the wall and Lila spits out blood in pain and surprise.

 The Contracts. Part III

    *Heavy Gasp*

    Lila struggles for breath as she continues to spit out blood due to sheer force that Nathan threw her at. Her body slumps off the shattered wall and Lila struggles to hold herself up as her small bod is feeling extremely heavy. With a quick jump, Nathan is on his feet and the deep gash that was spread across his chest is beginning to close as a dark metallic skin begins to form over it.

    Nathan shoots at an aura that is equivalent to a primordial beast as his demon blood circulates through his body and begins replacing small portions of his original blood. A dark red light of hatred forms in Nathan''s already crimson colored eye and it is directed at Lila.

    Lila feels like pins and needles are being stabbed in her body as Nathan gives her the hundred yard stare but 1,000 times more intense. Lila showed no mercy in trying to end Nathan''s life so he won''t show her mercy. The aura that Nathan was once releasing with reckless abandon is draw back into his body and his dark figure slowly vanishes from sight with the last thing seen being the crimson color of his eye.

    Lila gulps and soon she multiplies and disappears as well, only trying to escape the newly awoken demon''s wrath.

    Zorg begins to panic as Tanner seems like an unmovable obstacle in Zorg''s way of slaying the horrendous in front of him. Tanner''s calm and collect expression pisses Zorg off more as Zorg is trying fairly hard and is straining himself to the max.

    With the two holy powers of the both clashing, one being a bright white and the other being a dark green, a stray beam can kill most level 30 adventurers. Zorg sends his heavy warhammer barreling towards Tanner and instead of using his wings to fly and dodge, Tanner is able to use his shield to redirect the strike to the side and then sends a piercing attack at Zorg''s side.

    Zorg is confident at first but soon the sword that came from a griffin pierces straight through Zorg''s spiritual armor and his actual armor as well as Tanner aimed straight at a weak point in the expensive armor. Zorg grits his teeth as Tanner''s sword sends a searing pain through Zorg''s whole body and blood stains the white armor of the large orc.

    Zorg jumps backwards from Tanner and tries to start up a healing spell called "Rejuvenation" but this time instead of standing his ground, Tanner''s wings flex and chase after Zorg with speeds Zorg is barely able to physically keep up with.

    Several clashes between Zorg''s warhammer and Tanner''s long sword end in a stalemate but if one watched close enough, Zorg''s confidence from before is beginning to wither as Tanner is not stop attacking, a complete opposite from the beginning.

    Though Tanner is a complete novice at flying, just having the ability itself is borderline legendary in these regions to begin with and puts Tanner at a speed advantage compared to Zorg. Before Tanner only had the defensive advantage, and had a small speed advantage followed by a major disadvantage in strength. With his new advantage in speed, Tanner is able to overcome the strength advantage Zorg has, slowly pushing the stalemate in Tanner''s favor.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    People watching from outside the blue barrier "ooh" and "aww" at the battle between Zorg as nearly nobody actual has the senses to be able to see the one sided battle between Lila and Nathan right now. The king himself even looks intrigued as he looks at the polar opposite pair of the demon and angel.

    "They seem to be fighting their own battles yet the manage to help each other out by keeping the healer away from the attacker to prevent healing and Nathan is keeping the attacker away from his healer at the same time to prevent Lila from turning the tides. Clever. For people so young they have potential. The main reason this is one sided though is because of the difference in power after their power ups."

    The king believes even with all the battle experience physically possible one can have, it is near useless against someone who has such overwhelming power over you that you can barely breath. This is shown as Tanner finally pushes the stalemate into a one sided affair.

    More puncture wounds have appeared in Zorg''s body and no matter what Zorg cannot get a healing spell off as he needs to be still for at least a second but that could mean the paladin''s death, yet the paladin is becoming more and more tranquil as the fight goes on.

    On the other side of the arena, Lila continues to run away crazily as Nathan continues to slay Lila''s clones. To be truthful, Nathan can tell which one is the real one now as he can hear the scared woman''s heart beat fiercely due to either exhaustion or fear. Nathan has decided to run Lila until she is completely unable to do anything and then he will kill her.

    A smile comes across Nathan''s face and he stabs his dark sword outwards and punctures a Lila clone in the head. Realizing she is just being toyed with, Lila''s eyes turn dead as a fishes for a few seconds before they too begin to burn with desperation and nonacceptance.

    The fight that started as a death battle has turned into one of desperation and hatred as two of the fastest existence in a 1,000 mile radius fight like they are facing their mortal enemy.

    Lila cuts into her own hand with the long scythe and uses her finger to drawn incantations into the ground. Nathan laughs and is curious as to what this girl is planning and casually walks towards her while killing the woman''s clones. Lila hoped that Nathan would be confident enough for him to let Lila do this and her desperate attempt seems to be going smoothly. Finishing the incantation, Lila lets out a breath and smiles weakly at Nathan.

    "If I die, you''re coming with me boy." Lila says while struggling.

    "Boy? You''d be lucky to call me daddy you bitch." Nathan says as he vanishes and appears next to the paling Lila. Kicking her in the side with his metal greaves. Cracking sounds fill the arena as a few of Lila''s ribs are shattered on impact due to Nathan''s new metal hard skin/scales.

    Landing about 30 feet away, Lila''s back is now to Nathan and she proceeds to not move. Seeing as Lila''s seems to have run out of gas, Nathan figures now is the time to end it, but before he can use Accelerated Step, the blood incantation''s Lila write on the floor glow brightly and menacingly. Sensing a extreme danger and a demonic aura stronger than his own, Nathan retreats back towards where Tanner and Zorg are fighting.

    "Switch." Nathan says he dashes under the flying Tanner faster than Zorg''s eyes can see and then sends a fist directly into Zorg''s stomach. Zorg grunts and is sent 5 feet backwards but is still standing and his weapon is ready to fight.

    *Tch* " I sensed the evil aura while she was writing those incantations, why did you let her finish them dumbass?" Tanner says mockingly.

    "I didn''t feel anything from them and since you are the bane of most sinister things, it''s your problem now." Nathan responds as uses a hand spring to casually dodge Zorg''s slow attack.

    "Fine, at least finish the person you are the bane of too." Tanner says as he begins to fly away.

    "Don''t worry, I will. But leave that Lila girl for me to end. K?" Nathan says as he begins to run circles around the beaten paladin.

    Tanner just shrugs and flies towards the ever expanding evil aura of the incantation.