《A World Beyond》


 Chapter 1: A Tale Repeated Time and Time Again

    In a land long since forsaken by the Gods there came to be a man who managed to grasp the last vestiges of their power. Thankfully this man was just and upright and wielded his new found powers for peace and prosperity. There was nothing more he wanted than to bring justice to this world. So when a great evil threatened to consume the very world he challenged it and emerge victorious only to disappear shortly after leaving behind nothing but a legend and a single sword.


    But as the centuries passed, the great evil the Hero had slain returned time and time again. After exactly one hundred years, it¡¯s hatred and malice would descend upon the lands like a curse and soon the Demon King would rise again the next more powerful than the last. He would the gather his general, and form an army from the denizens of the Underworld before returning to the Human World once again.


    However, the Human World was fortunate, during each Demon King¡¯s advance a Hero would rise up and together with his comrades to challenge the Demon King. Furthermore, each Hero would inherit a single item from each of their predecessors and together with their combined might they would defeat the Demon King after sacrificing themselves, similarly leaving behind a single item.


    Now a century has passed, and the cycle begins anew¡­


    ~


    In the Northern reaches of the world lies a cold, bleak continent completely isolated from the rest of the world by its glaciers and frigid waters. These were the lands known as the Underworld as at times the skies over this frozen wasteland would seemingly be covered with an eternal darkness appearing those who were unfamiliar with its unique light cycle of a nightmarish landscape only found in their dreams.


    Though in reality this frozen continent wasn¡¯t always shrouded in darkness, there would always come a period of time in the year where the land was instead covered with a seemingly endless amount of light.


    But regardless of what period of the light cycle these lands were in, this frozen wasteland was home to nearly all the world¡¯s Demonic Tribes and the legendary grounds in which the Demon King would spawn each century.


    Currently, the Underworld was in its period of eternal daylight which made it quite easy for one to see into the distance. This allowed several nomads in the distance to peer down and observe two enormous armies charging into each other.


    In the southernmost camp, there were a seemingly infinite amount of Holy Knights charging through their battlefield atop their warhorses that easily ran through the frozen fields even while carrying the knights in their heavy silver armor. There were Dragoneer''s covered in a black scale armor shooting through the air wielding giant obsidian spears covered in a blood red light.


    There were tens of hundreds of mages organized into platoons based of their colored robes casting all sorts of spells as they were covered in a light blue glow. There were Angel-like soldiers flying by surrounded by dozens of golden swords. And there were even several Knights mounted on Griffons charging through the air.


    While on the opposing side there were Giants and Titans swing their massive clubs or picking up giant boulders, there were fire-breathing Dragons, massive nine-headed Hydras, and hundreds of thousands of smaller monsters. There were goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls, there were insect-like monsters, slimes, minotaurs, there were basilisks, and even cockatrice. There were so many races on the opposite side, it was frankly too difficult for anyone to even keep track.


    And as these two sides clashed flinging spell after spell at each other, or using one flash move after another, it was incredibly eye-catching. However, the most eye-catching sight wasn¡¯t the battlefield below, no matter how earth-shattering it was, but instead the sky.


    If one were to look up into the sky above the battlefield, you¡¯d be greeted by a rather bizarre sight, despite the fact that the Underworld was currently in the period of time where the light fell endlessly the sky was an absolute pitch black.


    Yet despite how black the sky it was still surprisingly easy to see, and at times the light from the sky was almost blindingly bright in fact. Suddenly the clouds parted as a massive golden ray of light broke through the blackened sky shining down upon the earth before splitting into hundreds of pieces.


    The light rained down upon the unsuspecting Demon King¡¯s army and annihilated everything it touched. As the seemingly gentle golden light fell on a nearby dragon, it¡¯s entire left wing was instantly cut off and burned to ashes causing the Dragon to cry out and fall from the sky.


    And as the sky parted it revealed the lone figure of a man fully clad in a golden armor in the distance. Everything from his sword to the wings on his back, to the rings on his finger shone brightly with a golden light. It was clear that it was his light that fell from the sky and illuminated the earth below almost as if he were replacing the sun itself.


    This young man looked down upon the battlefield for a moment, before turning his head back towards the dark clouds around him. With a strike of his golden sword another massive ray of light illuminating the dark clouds before him.


    But almost as if the sky was intent on consuming this very ray of light the clouds expanded and began twisting themselves around it, seemingly absorbing it.


    The Hero however merely glared at the clouds, and as if there were solid ground below his feet he stomped his foot down onto the air and a golden halo appeared over his head and expanded outward rapidly. The halo pushed the black clouds away as it expanded into a massive circle in which the region it enclosed was returned to its normal state.


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    The Hero shouted, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of these games Demon King, do you think these pitiful techniques are enough to bring me down!?¡±


    And as if the blackened sky were answering him, six glowing red eyes appeared in a patch of black clouds in the distance. A deafening laugh filled the air causing the world to shake. A vast amount of the black clouds around the halo began to coalesce these eyes and a tall lanky figure vaguely took shape in the distance.


    The figure slowly floated forward before entering the region inside the golden halo fully revealing itself. It was a monster several dozen feet tall whose limbs were almost skeleton like. It had a total of ten incredibly long pitch black arms, and it didn¡¯t seem to have any feet, instead it''s lower half was merely a large mass of smoke.


    Its head appeared to be that of a dragon''s, but it was quite difficult to describe. Its head would constantly shift and contort causing it to appear as if it were a dragon''s head at times while at other times it was completely deformed. Its eyes moved across its head freely ignoring its own eye sockets and gliding on its own skin as its head randomly changed shape.


    It¡¯s very being also seemed to exude a thick poisonous miasma that filled the air despite being within the region enclosed by the halo which possessed the power of purification causing the space to darken once more.


    The Demon King roared and began to shout incoherent words as it extended its long black arms and its jaw unhinged and stretched all the way down to his chest to allow hundreds of eye shaped bats to fly out.


    The Hero tightened his grip on his sword, and four other wings unfurled themselves from his back. The Hero glanced down at the army bellow once more for an instance, and quietly muttered, ¡°Albis, hurry it up I¡¯m counting on you...¡±


    The hundreds of eyes the Demon King spat out having scattered suddenly opened their eyes, and they all began to shoot a single beam of red light all directly aimed at the Hero. They even ignored the Demon King''s own arms which at one point began branching out into smaller arms as they charged the Hero.


    The Hero turned back towards the Demon King and closed his eyes. The countless lights and black arms surrounded him, but suddenly they all seemed to vanish leaving behind only the Hero whose golden hair had suddenly turned a pure white, and his blue eyes a brilliant gold.


    He raised his sword once more and said, ¡°Let¡¯s do this¡±


    ~


    After 48 hours of continuous fighting, a massive figure larger than any dragon fell from the sky crashing into a large castle atop a mountain. While originally being far larger in size than the castle the dragon-like being¡¯s body shrunk to the size of a normal Human being saving the castle from completely being destroyed. However, the speed of the crash caused several large holes to appear in the center of the castle¡¯s roof stopping only at the throne room.


    The figure that fell down opened his eyes and sat up. He was a relatively tall Humanoid taller than most Humans standing at over 7 feet tall. But from his grey skin, and broken horns one could clearly see he was anything but Human.


    The Demon slowly looked down at his own chest, a large golden broadsword had pierced his heart, and as he touched it the golden light it emitted burned his hand. Suddenly another figure fell from the sky landing just a few feet in front of him.


    This figure was a bloody mess, his golden armor which originally glowed a bright golden was covered in dust and his own dried blood and had long since stopped shining. And if you were to look at his back all but one of his golden wings were torn off his back and the one remaining wing was already soaked in blood.


    If one looked closely you could even see fresh blood dripping down his blood-soaked armor, and there was clear evidence of burns and frost on his body. This was the Hero, who after fighting for 48 hours straight finally managed to bring down the Demon King who stood before him.


    The Hero grabbed the sheath hanging from his waist and used it to prop himself from falling down. He turned towards the Demon King before suddenly a blue portal appeared behind him. The Hiro didn¡¯t bother turning around as a mage in purple robes walked out.


    The Hero looked at the broken ceiling and merely said, ¡°Good job Albis, how are the others.¡±


    The mage Albis paused, and clenched his fists, ¡°Dead¡­¡±


    The Hero closed his eyes and allowed the warm light of the sun shining down from the hole in the sky to fall upon his face.


    ¡°I see, I trust the arrangements have been made for my successor Albis?¡±


    ¡°Of course, sir¡­¡±


    ¡°I see, I see¡±


    The Hero touch his golden chest plate, and all his armor fell off his body revealing the dozens of battle scars and several large gaping wounds. Without the support of all these magical items, the Hero lost what little strength he had left to stand and collapse onto the ground and closed his eyes.


    ¡°Hey, Albis.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir¡­¡±


    The Hero smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll see you on the other side.¡±


    The Hero began to recall his journey, his friends, his family, and all the hardships he went through to get here. And as he slowly felt his consciousness fade away, he heard a hoarse laugh.


    The Demon King in front of him laughed as he pulled out the golden sword in his chest ignoring how it was burning his hand, and as the Hero was losing consciousness he could faintly make out the Demon King''s final words, ¡°Ah what a joke, I¡¯ll see you on the other side, Hero...¡±

 Chapter 2: I Have So Many Questions

    ¡°Madam stay with us, please stay with us, Madam!¡±, the Hero could hear several voices call out from around him though he found it quite difficult to make out. He felt as if something was blocking his sense making it difficult to make out anything around him.


    But at the very least he could make out the hurried steps of several people running around and several desperate cries and quiets sobs as people worked in a panic. The Hero tried to open his eyes, but it felt as if his eyes were being held down by some great force.


    And as he slowly managed to lift his eyelids he was greeted by an intense light which immediately forced him to close his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but he found he had no strength to speak and could only make a few soft noises.


    He thought to himself, ¡°What¡¯s going on? What happened to me?¡±


    Then suddenly himself be lifted up and dipped into a pool of ice water. The water was incredibly cold, yet as he soaked in it he felt his body grow warmer. And as he soaked in the water he slowly began to grow tired and what little strength he had to remain conscious slowly vanished.


    But as he was nearing the end of his consciousness he could make out the sharp cries of a newborn child, and the loud boom of a door opening.


    ~


    The Hero opened his eyes and sat upright and looked around. He lay on top of a relatively large crib that appeared especially massive to him. The crib was white was painted a light grey and inside of it was a large plush pillow covered in a soft cotton sheet. Around him were several other smaller pillows and small blanket.


    As he looked around the room he saw a familiar maid cleaning the room he was in. She noticed he was staring at her so she gave him a beautiful smile and waved at him before continuing with her work.


    The Hero sighed, ¡°Just what''s going on¡±


    It¡¯s been nearly been a year since he was inexplicably reborn and other than when he was taken outside by the maids to eat or to be washed or to be fed a variety of bizarre ingredients or items he was mostly confined to his crib where he slept. At times they¡¯d bring him toys to play with, but since mentally he had already grown up, he found no interest in these toys and instead would spend most of his time observing the world from his crib.


    In the beginning, he could barely understand what was happening as his bodies senses were still developing making it quite difficult to see anything or move around. And while he could hear relatively well, his hearing was still impaired slightly and even then there wasn¡¯t much talk around him anyways.


    Most of the maids would just say a few words playfully or wave back at him while smiling. He wasn¡¯t even sure where his mother or father went. But in the end, he was confined to this one room, with his baby brother.


    So to put it simply, living as a child was frustrating for him. He simply had far too many questions. Where is this? Who am I now? Why am I still alive? What happened to the Demon King? What about the Holy Empire?


    But there was nothing he could do, even with his memories his body just couldn¡¯t keep up. Whenever he tried to speak it came out as gibberish and the maids would just fawn over him. Whenever he tried to move around he¡¯d quickly grow exhausted and at the beginning, he found it relatively hard to crawl let alone stand up and walk. And whenever he tried to use his magic, he found that for whatever reason the spells wouldn¡¯t form as they should.


    Once when he tried to cast a spell as a test, he accidentally caused a large fire in his room nearly killing him and his baby brother sleeping beside him. Luckily some of the maids were capable of using magic and quickly came to his aid otherwise he would be the only Hero ever to have accidentally killed himself with his own spell.


    Also to add to his frustrations, the Hero looked down at his hands and a golden ray of light began to form the shape of a ring. But as the light began to consolidate it suddenly disappeared causing the Hero to sigh helplessly, ¡°This doesn¡¯t make sense. I can sense the Divine Artifacts left behind by the other Heroes, but I can¡¯t even summon one of the 7th Heroes rings.¡±


    The Hero lied back down again and stared at the ceiling, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m not a Hero anymore. I should have sacrificed myself in the battle to give birth to another Divine Artifact for the next Hero so this centuries Hero should have inherited it along with the rest of the artifacts...¡±


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    The Hero paused, ¡°But that should be impossible...or at least theoretically. But that also means I might need to fight the Demon King again, and a stronger version this time too...¡±


    Hiro sat back up,¡°That settles it time to train!¡±


    The Hero turned around and began to do push-ups on his crib before falling down, ¡°Or well...let¡¯s wait a few years¡±


    ~ 4 years later


    ¡°Young master!¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡±, the Hero looked down from the tree he was hanging onto with a single hand and saw several maids were staring up at him in panic, ¡°Yes?¡±


    One of the maids rushed over to the base of the tree, ¡°Get down from there young master that¡¯s dangerous!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, this is training¡±


    The maid shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s dangerous!¡±


    The Hero sighed and jumped down from the branch he was hanging on to. The maids below panicked and ran over to catch him. But he kicked himself off the tree as he was falling and landed safely on the ground beside them.


    ¡°Young master!¡±


    ¡°I got off the tree, isn¡¯t this fine?¡±


    The maids paused, ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±


    Then suddenly a tall woman in a maid outfit appeared behind the Hero and smacked him in the head, ¡°Just because you got down doesn¡¯t mean what you did is alright. You¡¯re a child for god''s sake.¡±


    The maids panicked, ¡°H-Head maid you hit the young master.¡±


    The head maid shook her head, ¡°It would do him good to learn not to play these sort of pranks. Now listen here you...you?¡±


    The head maid looked around and clenched her fist, ¡°That rascal where¡¯d he go! All of you come with me, find the young master!¡±


    The maids hurriedly responded, ¡°Y-Yes!¡±


    ¡­


    The Hero sighed and looked at his hand. His hand was seemingly coated with a thin blue translucent layer that slowly pulsed before vanishing.


    ¡°1 minute, 36 seconds...¡±, the Hero shook his head and turned towards the bookshelves behind him. At the moment the Head Maid was lecturing the housemaids he¡¯d taken the time to sneak away to the manor¡¯s study which was surprisingly packed.


    There were so many books, not even the walls lined with bookshelves could fit them all. A lot of them were just stacked on top of each other in large piles of dozens of books. This made it incredibly difficult to find any one particular book, though he didn¡¯t mind.


    There was a limit to how much one could train with the body of a four-year-old, and frankly, it was an amazing feat in its own right that he could exhibit as much power as he could at such a young age. However, since he couldn¡¯t spend all day training, and with nothing else to do the Hero immersed himself in books in an attempt to find out just to figure out what was going on.


    Though over the years the more the Hero read the more troubled he became. Lugh, Raizel, Syl, Ifring, Wale, Tribole, Renton, Belion. These were the names of the eight nearby kingdoms and empires. Lugh, Raizel, Syl, Ifring, and Wale made up the Five Elements Alliance which was in conflict with Tribole the largest of the nearby kingdoms.


    Though Tribole appeared to be quite smaller than the Holy Empire from what he could recall. As for Belion it was a trade federation located to the south-west, and Renton was the country he was currently in and was bordered by the unexplored frontier.


    The Hero didn¡¯t recognize a single one of these countries, in the past, there was no Five Elements Alliance, no trade federation, and Humanity was almost entirely ruled by the Holy Empire and the Church of the White Sun. Yet here there were eight countries he had never heard of.


    Perhaps in the century between his time and the current era the Holy Empire had fallen due to its severe losses in manpower during the final battle with the 9th Demon King. However what was even more concerning was that there were no records of a Demon King, let alone a Holy Empire.


    The Hero couldn¡¯t help but sigh once again, ¡°Just what happened after I died, has it actually been a century? Perhaps the Heroes of old have reincarnated too. Does the Demon King still exist? None of my questions have been answered¡­¡±


    Then as the Hero was lost in thought the door to the study opened.

 Chapter 3: Sons and Daugthers

    As the door to the study opened a tall man in a black suit walked out. He looked towards the Hero and said, ¡°I heard you were making trouble again.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡±, the Hero took the book in his hands and put it down on an adjacent pile, ¡°And you are?¡±


    The man in the suit walked over to a nearby stack and a raised his hand causing a book far above on the shelf to gently float down towards him, ¡°Holstein Whitmore, Baron, and Lord of this Manor. Which makes me your Father Hiro.¡±


    The Hero¡¯s eyes widened, and he couldn¡¯t help but think just what kind of father doesn¡¯t show himself for four whole years.


    ¡°I see, Hiro. So that''s my name. Frankly, I¡¯m surprised it took me so many years to find that out. All the servants simply refer to me as young master.¡±


    Baron Whitmore sat down on a pile of books and began reading, ¡°Well that''s because I never told them, you may keep it if you wish. At the very least it¡¯s the name your deceased mother wanted to give you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean If so I wish?¡±


    Baron Whitmore tossed the book he was reading to the side and snapped his fingers causing another one to float over from across the room, he turned to Hiro, ¡°Other than a few other servants and doctors who were present during your birth, no one else is aware of your name. If you so wish you could call yourself whatever you want. Perhaps you already have a name in mind, you''re probably more used to people referring to you as something else right?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    Baron Whitmore pulled out a small notebook and left the book he called over floating in the air, ¡°You don¡¯t need to play dumb. I may not be around, but I''ve been keeping tabs on you. At age one, you were able to learn to walk, speak and seemingly read despite the abnormal circumstances of your birth leading your body to be weaker than a normal child''s. It should have taken you perhaps another year or a few more months even with all the medicine and magic we''ve administered. At less than two years old you were already capable of freely navigating the manor, and it was in this period you began to start training.¡±


    Baron Whitmore turned the page and continued reciting ¡°From the very start you''ve exhibit an abnormal amount of physical strength an intelligence, and there have been several magical incidents when you were in the vicinity. Further observation over the years shows that you possess a level of maturity above your age, you''re not picky, you don''t have the sense of mentality befitting a child, and somehow you are able to remain uninjured despite this training you put yourself under.¡±


    Hiro paused, before attempting to say, ¡°I see, I wasn¡¯t intending to keep it hidden forever, but I¡¯m-¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care¡±, Baron Whitmore closed the small handbook he pulled out, ¡°I don''t care who you were, I don¡¯t care if this was intentional, I don¡¯t care about your goals, regrets, or true intentions. I simply don¡¯t care.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell any of the servants about any of my conclusions, let alone anyone outside of the manor. You¡¯re free to use the resources we provide you and do as you wish, after all at least to the outside world we''re still Father and Son. But this is under one condition."


    "A condition?"


    Baron Whitmore glared at Hiro and the air in the study grew incredibly chilly. Several icicles began forming around Baron Whitmore as he said,


    "Never drag the Whitmore Family into whatever you¡¯re planning on doing, or whatever you intend to do. You¡¯re on your own. We¡¯ll feed you and shield you, but that¡¯s only as long as you¡¯re a child or you don¡¯t intend on doing anything. But if you want revenge then go ahead be my guest, if you want to save the world so be it! But if you ever make enemies know that if you come to us, there will be no place for you here.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    The Baron continued, ¡°If you come to us, or if anyone that¡¯s involved you with comes to us cause of whatever you¡¯ve been up to...if your enemies come to us and they hurt our family the be warned. It doesn¡¯t matter who you are, it doesn¡¯t matter where you come from, I will personally hunt you down and kill you myself. Now, are we clear?¡±


    Hiro nodded, and an almost transparent layer of blue light began to cover his body. Baron Whitmore breathing grew heavy and his eyes red, "In my eyes, you''re no son of mine, and you''re not her¡¯s either. To me, you¡¯re nothing more than a monster. Remember this!¡±


    Baron Whitmore stood up and as he was about to leave Hiro asked, ¡°Holstein, tell me this at the very least."


    Baron Whitmore turned around and asked, "What?"


    "Do you know of an existence known as the Demon King?¡±


    Baron Whitmore turned around and stared at Hiro for a moment before shaking his head and leaving. Hiro sighed, and looked around, ¡°If he doesn''t know, then I wonder if there¡¯s anything over here about us...¡±


    Then once again the door to the study slammed open and the Head Maid walked out with several other maids following behind her, ¡°Young master!¡±


    ¡°Oh boy¡­¡±


    ~


    After Hiro¡¯s short encounter with his father, he rarely ever saw him again. Later he came to find out that the Whitmore family started off as a family of merchants who managed to secure a noble title, but even after obtaining their title the Whitmore¡¯s continued on the family trade.


    This left Baron Whitmore quite busy as he had to both manage his land and continue managing the family business by traveling and trading with neighboring lords. Naturally, this meant that the Baron himself was often absent.


    Though frankly, this didn¡¯t particularly bother Hiro, in the past the Holy Empire came to find him at a young age to train to defeat the Demon King. Even the previous Heroes experienced similar circumstances, and in the end, while at the moment he was a child, mentally he was already fully grown, adult.


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    So instead Hiro immersed himself in training his physical body so that way he wouldn¡¯t be limited by what meager strength he could currently muster. This was how Hiro spent the years, participating in only a few mandatory events that he was forced into while for the most part shutting himself inside the Whitmore Manor located in the countryside close to the frontier or somewhere in the vicinity.


    Hiro felt it was better like this anyway, he had his own motives and so did the Baron. Besides, in the first place, it would simply be disadvantageous for him to clash with his own Father, and his father didn''t seem to like him anyway. So his absence made the situation a little less awkward.


    As the years passed the servants even stopped bothering him about all the training he did, or how kept breaking equipment. Though oddly enough even his own twin brother seemed to shy away from him, perhaps it was due to his father''s orders or perhaps for some other reason. This lead Hiro to living a mostly uneventful and lonely life of training and research, with but one exception...


    ¡°Wow, you¡¯re so high up!¡±, Hiro heard the cheer of a little girl and lowered his head.


    As he looked down at the ground he could see a small brown haired little girl jumping up and down as she waved at him. She cheered as she looked up at him balancing himself on a massive pile of stone slabs with his fingers.


    ¡°Me next! Me next!¡±


    Hiro laughed wearily, before quickly jumping down. The little girl ran over, and he picked her up, ¡°Eris that¡¯s dangerous you can¡¯t¡±


    Eris pouted, ¡°Aw, why not?¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re too young.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the problem here,¡± the Head Maid walked up from behind Hiro, ¡°In the first place it¡¯s not a matter of age, you shouldn¡¯t be doing something like this in the first place. What if you were to get injured.¡±


    Hiro scratched his head, ¡°But it¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve been doing this for years.¡±


    The Head Maid sighed, ¡°Frankly it¡¯s more concerning that you¡¯ve been doing this for years, I wonder what the Master¡¯s thinking letting you just do as you please...¡±


    Hiro laughed wearily before putting Eris back down to the ground and patting her head, ¡°Anyway I¡¯m going to go out for a bit. Stay here.¡±


    Eris nodded her head, ¡°Big Brother Quinn said he¡¯d read me a book.¡±


    ¡°Heh, is that so.¡±


    A soft blue light covered Hiro¡¯s body and he jumped up into the air, ¡°Well have fun!¡±


    Eris looked up at Hiro and her eyes sparkled as she jumped up again, ¡°Wooooo, teach me how to do that!¡±


    The Head Maid sighed once more, ¡°Please don¡¯t¡±


    ~


    Deep in the forest close to the Whitmore Manor, if one looked carefully they could see a short figure weaving through the trees and foliage. His entire body was covered in a thin blue translucent layer, and despite how quickly he was going whenever he¡¯d land on a tree or a branch he would barely make a sound.


    The moment his feet would make contact with any surface, the blue layer over his body would expand for a fraction of a second seemingly damping his steps and the layer of light under his feet would act akin to a spring launching him forward.


    Hiro jumped off a tree and launched himself up into the air breaking past the tree line revealing the night sky. Hiro stopped atop a tree and looked at the stars.


    He pulled out a piece of jerky from his pocket and began chewing on it as he thought, ¡°It¡¯s getting a bit late.¡±


    The originally thin layer of blue light around Hiro¡¯s body began gathering towards his back into two clumps and became increasing denser. These two lumps began to change shape and color eventually turning into a pair of white wings. Hiro jumped up and flapped the wings on his back as he began to return to the manor.


    These wings allowed Hiro to quickly return, and as he approached the manor he noticed there were several people standing on top of the roof. Hiro gathered some of the light from his wings and gathered it in his right eye allowing him to see further.


    As his vision in one eye increased he was able to make out the figures of a light brown haired child sitting down on the roof of the manor holding what appeared to be a picture book. Behind him stood the head maid and butler along with several other servants.


    This was his younger twin Quinn who he rarely spoke too, and on his lap was Eris from earlier. Hiro retracted his wings and focused the aura surrounding his body around his legs allowing him to safely land.


    He quickly made his way over to the manor before jumping up to the roof. Quinn turned his head towards him and he raised his finger motioning him to stay quiet. He quietly put down the picture book in his hands and picked Eris up handing her to the butler standing behind him.


    Hiro asked, ¡°What are you doing up here so late at night?¡±


    Quinn turned to the sky and said, ¡°I was never particularly fond of sleep, often times I would just lay down with my eyes closed or stare into the sky. Here.¡±


    Quinn passed Hiro a letter with a wax seal, Hiro looked at it and asked, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°An invitation.¡±


    Hiro looked back down at the letter, and broke the seal, removing the parchment within slowly reading it.


    ¡°An academy?¡±


    Quinn sat back down and nodded, ¡°Father said it¡¯s about time we get acquainted with the other nobles, and that we should take the time to better ourselves. We¡¯re already ten years old after all.¡±


    The head maid walked up to Hiro, ¡°This academy is one for Knights and Mages, of course, there¡¯s also a general education curriculum. The Master stated you may freely choose which curriculum to take up in a months time.¡±


    Hiro looked at the letter and then back at Quinn, ¡°Are both of us going?¡±


    Quinn nodded his head, ¡°Also Father said the academy might hold the answers you''ve been looking for. Whatever that means.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±

 Chapter 4: Bandits? Of Course Theyre Coming!

    After a month had passed the promised day had arrived. Hiro and Quinn walked out of the Whitmore manor and they found a large caravan of guards, mercenaries, servants, and coaches before them. Hiro looked around at the large convoy and asked one of the maids behind him, ¡°Aren¡¯t there are a few too many coaches? Even accounting all the guards, and servants we shouldn¡¯t need nearly these many coaches. And in the first place, why are there so many guards? ¡±


    The maid respectfully replied, ¡°Young master, those coaches are for the commoners.¡±


    ¡°The commoners?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the Master has arranged for us to pick up several prospective servants and commoners across all twelve fiefs so that they may receive training in the capital or at the academy. He stressed it¡¯s vital we don¡¯t miss out on any talents as some of these commoners may grow up to be skilled craftsmen or vital personnel to your family.¡±


    ¡°I see, so that¡¯s why we have so many guards.¡±


    The maid shook her head, ¡°The guards are to escort the goods we intend to trade in other territories.¡±


    The maid pointed at one of the coaches in the rear that was filled with barrels and crates, ¡°We also have goods we intend to sell to the capital that are worth quite a sum so we¡¯ve hired extra personnel as a cautionary measure. There¡¯s also additional space for any material we procure during our journey.¡±


    "Hmmm, additional material?"


    ¡°Ah,¡± Hiro heard a little girl cry out, ¡°Big Brother Hiro, Big Brother Quinn!¡±


    Hiro turned his head, ¡°Eris?¡±


    Eris ran up to Hiro and hugged his leg, and one of the butlers walked up to Hiro, ¡°Young Master, while the young miss is too young to attend the academy, the Master has arranged for her to stay in the Capital as the Master will be doing business in there for some time. We apologize for informing you on such short notice¡±


    Eris cheered, ¡°We¡¯ll get to see Papa soon!¡±


    Hiro smiled wearily and patted the little girl¡¯s head, over the years he realized he wasn''t the only one who rarely saw his father. Though he doubted even if he did see his Father that they¡¯d end up talking, or at the very least peacefully.


    Hiro patted Eris''s head and said, "Alright, but behave okay.¡±


    Eris nodded her head, ¡°Mmm¡±


    ¡­


    Hiro walked over to the carriage at the front of the caravan and looked around. Most of the guards wore a standard issued leather armor reinforced with iron that the Whitmore''s smiths had forged. These guards were all either equipped with a sword and shield or a long spear. There were also a few armored knights riding on horseback currently sitting down or tending to their horses.


    Hiro was rather familiar with these guards he''d seen them quite often in the manor. Though he never took the time to really talk to them, after all, he wasn¡¯t quite sure if he should pretend to be a child or go up to them and speak like an adult.


    However, as he looked around Hiro noticed that there several other armed guards who possessed a wild variety of equipment. Some of them seemed to be equipped with large war-axes or daggers, while others were equipped with all manner of weapons from throwing knives to whips to bizarrely shaped swords seemingly constructed from the bones and ligaments of animals and monsters.


    Their armor wasn¡¯t the standard issue armor infantrymen and guards typically wore. Some of them wore pelts while others wore leather armor or the carapace of some large monster. One of these men noticed Hiro was looking at them and came over.


    He was a well-built bald man who didn¡¯t seem to be especially well equipped. His arms were wrapped in bandages, and his armor mostly just consisted of a vest and pants revealing his large bulky muscles. Other than the small knife hanging from his waist and the pouch which seemed to contain a few bottles he didn¡¯t seem to have anything much on him.


    The bald man looked down at Hiro and smiled, ¡°So you¡¯re one of the brats we¡¯re escorting?¡±


    Hiro nodded and extended his hand, ¡°I¡¯m Hiro¡±


    The bald man laughed, and grabbed Hiro¡¯s arm with his large hand and shook it, ¡°The names Edward! You don¡¯t need to worry about a thing with me and my pals here. Just leave things to me and take a nap why don¡¯t ya!¡±


    Hiro smiled, ¡°Alright¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Edward looked around and turned to a maid, ¡°Are we about ready to set off here?¡±


    The maid bowed, and apologized, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but can we wait for just a-¡±


    ¡°No, it''s fine,¡± The Head Maid suddenly appeared holding a halberd on her shoulder, ¡°We can depart.¡±


    The maid turned around slightly confused, "But Head Maid what about-"


    "I said it''s fine, also we don''t have time to wait. We''ll be fine as long as I''m here"


    The Head Maid clenched her fist and put it on her chest, and the air around her began to spin rapidly as her body began to emit a faint white light.


    Edward looked at the Head Maid sizing her up and laughed, ¡°As expected of the Whitmore Family! To think they¡¯d have a magic knight act as a maid.¡±


    Edward walked back to the rest of the mercenaries, and raised his fist, ¡°Alright boys lets get a move on!¡±


    Hiro watched the mercenaries and guards move about, and then turned to the Head Maid, ¡°Noel don¡¯t you think this is a bit excessive?¡±


    The Head Maid shook her head, ¡°On the contrary, I fear we should have hired more armed guards.¡±


    "By the way who were you waiting for?"


    "Thomas, the Head Butler. We sent him out with several guards to complete a mission. We intended to meet up here before departing, however, he''s a bit late."


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    Hiro paused, and turned back around and looked at all the armed guards and mercenaries, "Are you expecting an ambush?"


    The Head Maid smiled, ¡°One should always prepare and account for the worst of possibilities young master. We intended for our numbers to act as a deterrent but if there¡¯s one thing this world doesn¡¯t lack its fools. ¡±


    ¡°We could always postpone the-¡±


    The Head Maid slammed the butt end of her halberd down to the ground, "We can''t do that young master."


    "..."


    The Head Maid stared into Hiro''s eyes and smiled, before sitting beside the coachman. Hiro walked over to the carriage where Eris and Quinn were sitting in and sat down. As he looked out the window he couldn''t help but lose himself to thought, "In the end, she¡¯s right the world truly doesn¡¯t lack the foolish¡­¡±


    Hiro closed and recalled the memories that were etched into his mind by the Divine Artifacts he wielded and he frowned. He possessed the memories of nine Heroes including himself and while he might not have lived a total of 900 years the Hero¡¯s lineage has existed for nine centuries.


    And over those nine centuries, in the end, no matter how dire the circumstances never once in those nine hundred years had Humanity ever truly united¡­


    While it may be true that to defeat the Demon King Humanity came together and consolidated a great deal of Humanities power and resources under the Holy Empire, in the end, this was merely due to the Empire¡¯s vicinity to the Underworld and their unwillingness to take on the burden themselves.


    In truth, the Holy Empire which prided itself as Humanities sword and shield was nothing more than a meat shield for the Southern Kingdoms. In reality, the incredibly powerful Holy Empire actually lacked the resources to properly sustain itself without the help of the south as the centuries of battle destroyed acres of fertile land, and all those capable of fighting were conscripted in the effort to slay the Demon King.


    So for centuries, the Holy Empire continued it¡¯s dutiful role as the guardian to the Human world while the Southern Kingdoms below, who vowed to eternally support the Holy Empire till the Demon King was truly defeated, remained in constant turmoil as they fought each other for supremacy.


    Hiro couldn¡¯t help but wonder, what if all the powerful Kingdoms in the south banded together? What if the Holy Empire wasn¡¯t merely the guardian of Humanity, but was Humanity as a whole? What if Humanity had truly united, would they even fear the Demon King? Would there be so many sacrifices?


    As Hiro thought about it, and as he awaited the likely assault that would befall him and his family by his own race he couldn¡¯t help but think that Humans were foolish. That Humans were truly, truly foolish.


    ~


    The caravan slowly took off going from one fief to another, visiting farms and villages. Every time the caravan would stop to trade with the villagers, occasionally taking a handful of children. While most villagers were relatively reluctant to part with their children they also felt it was quite an honor and a privilege. To these villagers, the academy represented a hope of a better life, and in the end, they all allowed their children to leave them.


    However as the caravan had just left another one of the fiefs and as it was getting late Hiro heard the sound of a horn, ¡°Children gather to the center! Men form a circle! Mages get your asses out here!¡±


    Suddenly, several balls of light shot into the air and began illuminating the ground like spotlights. And then in a matter of seconds, the battle had started. Several maids and butlers grabbed the children in the back of the coaches and dragged them over to the carriage Hiro and his siblings were in.


    Hiro turned to the Head Maid who was sitting beside the coachman and asked, "How''s the situation?¡±


    The Head Maid smiled as she grabbed her halberd, ¡°Don¡¯t worry it¡¯ll be fine. Leave this to us.¡±


    She pulled out a scroll and opened it up causing a transparent square box to appear covering the children and the carriage. After observing the spell and nodding her head in approval she took off.


    Eris who was taking a nap on Quinn¡¯s lap woke up from the noise and looked at Hiro, ¡°Big Brother?¡±


    Hiro clenched his fists, and smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry just go back to sleep Eris¡±


    He extended her hands, and a white mist shot out causing the already drowsy Eris to fall back asleep. Then as Hiro was about to leave the carriage, Quinn asked him, ¡°What are you doing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to fight.¡±


    ¡°With what your bare hands? You don¡¯t a sword or a shield or even a scrap of armor.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, I¡¯m strong enough even without a weapon¡±, Hiro flexed his arms as he looked at Quinn, ¡°Besides do you want me to just sit here? If I don¡¯t go out someone might die.¡±


    Quinn rebutted, ¡°Yes, you. Besides what makes you think they¡¯ll die so easily.¡±


    ¡°Intuition¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s nonsense and you know it. You don¡¯t know them, you don¡¯t know their names let alone how strong they are. You might just be a distraction if anything. Besides what reason do you have to go out there and risk your life?¡±


    ¡°A reason?¡±, Hiro paused and smiled, ¡°For justice¡±


    Quinn raised his brow and watched as Hiro left the carriage and charged out the barrier frightening the guards standing outside. Quinn looked down at his lap and stroked Eris¡¯s hair and for a slight instant, his dark brown eyes flashed with a tinge of red as he quietly laughed, ¡°For justice he says¡­ ah, what a joke¡­¡±

 Chapter 5: Bandits? Of Course We Kill them!

    Hiro turned around and looked at the guards chasing him and sighed, he quickly jumped into the air and broke past the tree line in an instant before landing softly on top of a tree. The aura surrounding his body surged towards his eyes and he quietly began observing the situation.


    As Hiro watched the guards and mercenaries fight in the darkness he frowned, currently they were doing a good job fending off the bandits from the carriage and the cargo, however, the bandits had released a number of wild beasts such as wolves, boars, and foxes to aid them.


    He didn¡¯t know how to bandits were able to keep themselves from being assaulted by these beasts, but the guards and mercenaries were having a tough time dealing both with the bandits and the beasts.


    As Hiro continued he noticed that as some bandits were injured, they would immediately retreat and be replaced by even more bandits. Hiro closed one eye and focused on using a single eye allowing him to zoom in and have a better look, ¡°Now then just where are you coming from....¡±


    Hiro zoomed in on one of the injured fleeing bandits and began following him by jumping from tree to tree silently. He was careful not to stray too far away as all the leaves and vegetation made it rather difficult to keep track of his target.


    As he followed the retreating bandits he took a mental note of where their reinforcements were coming from and tried mapping it all out in his head. He noticed that, while the caravan was originally surrounded after the bandit reinforcements came in a majority of their forces were stationed at the north and south.


    As Hiro went deeper into the forest he realized the bandits would start as a single large group of reinforcements before splitting up to support the other sides. And as Hiro tailed the injured bandits he noticed that after the bandits reached a point in the forest they disappeared.


    Hiro stopped in his tracks and watched the area the bandit he was following disappeared into. He was certain he couldn¡¯t have lost sight of him under these circumstances. Then after several minutes of waiting, a ripple appeared in the air and another large group of bandits jumped out and began heading towards the caravan.


    ¡°A barrier of some sort?¡±, Hiro paused for a minute before hesitantly jumping down into the part of the forest the bandits appeared from. As he reached the region slightly above the point the bandits disappeared too, he felt his feet come in contact with a very thin film-like surface covering the air and as he broke through he watched as the originally dark forest transform into a well-lit campground.


    The campground was relatively large and was filled with injured men, cages, and several groups of bandits preparing their weapons or eating. Hiro looked up at a startled pair of bandits that were just about to leave, and just as he was about to yell something Hiro lunged forward and grabbed the bandits chin and the top of his head with his palms and twisted it snapping the bandit''s neck.


    The bandit beside him screamed and drew his sword swinging it down at Hiro. Hiro reinforced his arms once more causing them to faintly emit a blue light and grabbed the bandits wrist. He quickly stomped his foot down onto the bandits to hold him down and twisted his torso using that force to punch the bandit in the chest.


    This caused the bandit to loosen his grip on his sword and as Hiro twisted his wrist he was forced to drop it. Hiro pulled the bandit''s arm down, causing the bandit''s upper body to be tugged forward before he was met by an uppercut to the jaw.


    The noise from Hiro¡¯s short exchange caught several bandits attention and they all shouted, ¡°Intruder! Kill him!¡±


    One of the bandits covered in a robe who was tending to the wounded, turned around and grabbed a wooden staff behind him. He pointed the staff at Hiro and began chanting. Hiro noticed this and grabbed the sword at his feet, and it at the mage passing by several other bandits.


    But as the sword was about to pierce the mage a figure suddenly dashed forward and struck the sword into the air. This figure was a woman with bright red hair wielding two sabers. She was quite lightly dressed, wearing only some furs and pelts allowing Hiro to see the dozens of scars lining her tanned body.


    Hiro clicked his tongue and grabbed a dagger from the corpse of the bandit whose neck he snapped and quickly retreated as several bandits charged him.


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    He hurriedly exited the space jumping back into the trees, but as he was about to make his escape into the tree lines he felt a sudden heat behind him and as he turned around he saw several fireballs flying towards him.


    Hiro gathered the aura surrounding his body and focused it into the center of the dagger in his hands before throwing it. As the dagger touched the fireball, the aura within seeped into it causing it to explode prematurely. The fireballs explosion managed to shift the trajectory of the other fireballs but Hiro was also partially caught in the blast as the force of the explosion knocked Hiro back.


    As Hiro was trying to get back on his feet, a bandit jumped towards him and swung down a large war axe. Hiro gathered his strength in his upper body, and the aura around him changed from a blue to a white as he caught the axe¡¯s blade between his palms. The Bandit was surprised that a child managed to stop a strike backed by his weight and the weight of his the heavy war axe, and this brief moment gave Hiro enough time to reinforce his leg and kick the bandit in the chest.


    However, unfortunately, Hiro had exerted too much strength in his attempt to defend himself moments earlier and this resulted in the strike being far weaker than he would have liked. All Hiro could do was used the strike to distance himself from the bandit with the war axe as he noticed several other bandits were already quite close.


    Then Hiro noticed a flash of light from the corner of his eyes, and he swung his right arm to the side as hard as he could creating a powerful gust of wind. This was able to stop several arrows flying through the air or knock them away far enough that they could be ignored. Though he was unable to stop all the arrows as there were simply too many archers among the bandits causing two arrows to pierce his left leg.


    Finally, the red-haired bandit who appeared to be their leader showed up, she looked at Hiro and laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t kill him! We¡¯ll get less out of him dead than alive!¡±


    The men around her cheered, and several men with swords, spears, and axes charged at him. Hiro, exhausted, glared at the bandits, ¡°Ah man, how pathetic¡­.¡±


    Hiro exhaled, and suddenly the light surrounding his arms and legs vanished. Even the energy strengthening his eyes which allowed him to see in the dark as well as he could, and the extremely faint aura around his body disappeared. Instead, all of his energy was concentrated in two fingers on his right hand, his pointer finger and his middle finger.


    Hiro charged the bandit with the war axe, and before the bandit swung down his axe, Hiro suddenly accelerated and his right hand pierced the bandit''s heart. Then suddenly, the light around his right fingers vanished, and gathered around his left fingers as he swung his left hand back and as if it were a sword it cut through another bandits neck.


    The bandit with the spear saw this and grew enraged. He thrust his spear at Hiro, but to his surprise, he saw something white and red before his very eyes before his vision went black and he screamed in pain as his friend''s bones were ripped out and used to blind him.


    Hiro then grabbed his spear and threw it as hard as he could into the distance. The red hair bandit panicked as she moved to intercept it, but as she was charged forward she heard the flap of some wings and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Hiro right beside her.


    She screamed and swung down her sabers in a panic, but Hiro just flapped his wings and shot to the sky. As she looked up at the sky and glared and Hiro, she heard a scream behind her, and the area behind her lit up.


    She turned around and the mage who had shot the fireball earlier was pierced through the chest by a spear. The red-haired bandit clenched her fists, and shouted, ¡°You son of a bitch I¡¯ll kill you!¡±


    Suddenly she shot into the air and kicked herself off a tree rapidly spinning like a top. However as she was about to hit Hiro, she suddenly felt her chest burn. And as Hiro dodged her strike, she looked down and two arrows had pierced her chest.


    Her complexion paled and she asked, ¡°This is...how did you...¡±


    Hiro descended and replied, ¡°It was no big deal really, blood is quite a powerful medium for mana. It¡¯s quite fascinating really.¡±

 Chapter 6: What A Funny Name

    The red-haired bandit grit her teeth and dug her fingers into her chest. She quickly pulled out the arrows leaving behind a gaping wound. Then, she dug into her clothes and pulled out a small red bottle which she uncapped and poured its contents over the wound taking on a small mouthful.


    Hiro frowned, ¡°A potion¡­¡±


    He looked at his feet and grabbed a war axe. His right arm shone a dim white as he threw the axe as hard as he could. However, to Hiro¡¯s surprise, the red-haired bandit caught the heavy war axe he threw with her bare hands by the blade. Hiro recalled just a few moments earlier she''d pulled out several grey pellets and ate them.


    After consuming the pellet her body slowly began to turn a dull grey color similar to those pellets she had swallowed, and now that all of her body was this grey color she shouted, ¡°Kill him!¡±


    The surrounding bandits looked at each other and drew their bows while the rest charged him. The red-haired bandit jumped into the air and swung her two sabers down at the same time. Hiro clenched his fist and as a faint white light began to cover his entire body he mumbled, "Overload."


    But just as the blood dripping from his legs began to faintly shine a golden color, suddenly, the red-haired woman shooting straight towards him was cut in half. Her severed upper body was knocked into the air by the blow and flew away, while her lower body fell to the floor beside Hiro.


    Hiro¡¯s eyes widened as a maid with a halberd and several mercenaries landed beside him. Then before any of the bandits could react, a burly man charged through the forest straight towards them shouting, ¡°Wolf Fang!¡±


    He unleashed several powerful jabs through the air, and several bandits were sent flying with large holes in their chests. The burly man paused and turned to Hiro revealing a familiar face. Edward raised his arm covered in cuts and bite marks, and gave Hiro a thumbs up, ¡°Told ya you could count on us!¡±


    "Ah," Hiro stared at Edward blankly, and thought to himself, "He''s not half-bad"


    Noel looked down at Hiro and sighed, she raised her halberd and the green gem inlaid in the center of the halberd shone with a bright green light. Wind began to gather around the tip of the halberd and as several bandits began releasing the monsters from their cages Noel thrust her halberd in their direction and tornado shot out sending all the beasts and the bandits flying through the forest causing dozens of beasts and bandits to be rendered unconscious from the impact of landing or from hitting a tree.


    Several of the mercenaries followed up using their weapons to make quick work of the remaining bandits. Soon enough the rest of the bandits either threw down their weapons and surrendered or were naturally killed.


    Noel turned to Hiro and sighed, ¡°Young master would you please listen to us for once? What would have happened if we didn¡¯t notice their base of operations? What do you think would happened?¡±


    Hiro scratched his head, and he looked down at his leg covered in dried blood, the golden light it was exuding earlier had vanished, and said, ¡°I would have been fine, probably.¡±


    Suddenly, Hiro felt himself get pushed forward as Edward came up behind him and smacked him a few times in the back with his large hands, he laughed, ¡°I mean with how well he was doing before we got here, perhaps he actually would have been fine.¡±


    Noel turned to Edward, ¡°Sir¡­¡±


    ¡°Edward is fine, enough with the formalities. Then again sir is shorter. Alright, Ed, call me Ed!¡±


    Noel sighed, she couldn¡¯t help but feel as if this has become a bit of a habit of hers over the years she didn''t particularly like lecturing people, but due to her job, it became a force of habit.


    ¡°Edward you shouldn''t encourage him to act like this, he¡¯s still a child.¡±


    Edward laughed, ¡°A child who took down who knows how many bandits after managing to escape the caravan unbeknownst to several dozen trained individuals until we were informed by the guards. Then he managed to not only find the enemy base of operations but hold out until we got here."


    Edward pointed his thumb back at the bandit''s campgrounds, "There''s even a mage skewered over there, and that girlie you killed was one tough nut wasn''t she."


    Edward turned his head towards the red-haired bandit''s corpse whose skin still remained a dull grey even after she perished, ¡°Though I must say you¡¯re one heck of a gal too ya know, cutting through someone who ate a few Ironskin pellets with one swing. A darn heck of a gal.¡±


    ¡°You flatter me, anyway we need to round up the rest up the-¡±, Noel paused in fright as her eyes were fixated on what was behind Edward. Edward turned around and he too gaped in shock.


    Hiro who was tired of listening to their ramblings walked over to the remaining tied up bandits, and with a swing of his hand, he decapitated them all. Edward screamed, ¡°Oi brat!¡±


    Hiro turned around, ¡°Hmmm?¡±


    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, I was just finishing them off?¡±


    Edward clenched his fists, and shouted, ¡°They surrendered!¡±


    ¡°And? They attacked us, they''re criminals, they''re evil. The world would be better off without them. Humanity would be better off. It''s only natural that I killed them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±, Edward clenched his fists and exhaled briefly claiming himself, ¡°Alright whatever, but next time just leave them alive, we could always acquire information from them or something.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Hiro shook his hand wiping off the fresh blood, ¡°Alright, next time I suppose. Anyway, how''s the caravan.¡±


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    Noel walked up and replied, ¡°Everything''s been taken care of.¡±


    Hiro nodded, ¡°I see, then I¡¯m going to wash off, I believe there was a stream around that way.¡±


    Then he quickly made his way through the forest. Edward turned to Noel and gave her a meaningful look. Noel bowed and apologized, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for our young master''s actions¡­¡±


    Edward shook his head, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. In the end, they were criminals, it¡¯s just...it¡¯s just too cruel ya know girlie.¡±


    Edward stared at the decapitated corpses by his feet before turning to his men, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s at least give these guys a proper burial.¡±


    ~


    After Hiro finished washing up at the stream, he made his way back to the caravan who decided to set up camp further down the road as the blood from all the corpses had filled the air and would likely draw beasts to their location.


    As Hiro got back to camp, a girl called out to him, ¡°Um, sir¡­¡±


    Hiro turned around, and a young girl close to his age dressed in a brown dress walked up to him, ¡°Are you alright?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°B-But your leg.¡±


    Hiro looked down at his leg that was tightly covered in bandages, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I applied a healing salve, it should be fine.¡±


    Hiro turned back around and began walking away, the girl panicked and mumbled, ¡°Um, but I-¡±


    But before she could finish someone else threw a pebble that hit the back of Hiro¡¯s head. Hiro turned around and noticed a little boy slightly younger than him walk up from behind the girl. The boy had short light brown hair and for the most part wore rags, he shouted, ¡°Just let Collette heal ya, ya dunderhead!¡±


    Collette panicked, and turned to the little boy, ¡°F-Francis you¡¯re being rude!¡±


    However, the little boy Francis ignored Collette and walked up to Hiro staring him dead in the eye, ¡°Your leg was injured right, Collette knows how to work miracles, I¡¯ve seen her. She¡¯ll fix ya back up.¡±


    Collette grabbed Francis by the shoulder and pulled him back, and began apologizing, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for how rude he¡¯s being, his mother was sick and his father was quite strict. Our village didn¡¯t have much to go around, and the church was always so busy, but Francis would always help around. He may seem rude, but I promise you sir that he¡¯s really a good kid at heart. Back in the village when Jonathan the village elders son was bullying the younger kids I saw him stand up for them and got in a fight. The nuns yelled at him and his father even punished him despite the fact that he was doing the right. I just-¡±


    Collette began speaking in rapid fire as she told story after story in an attempt to apologize on Francis''s behalf causing Hiro to scratch his head. He raised his hand and motioned her to stop, ¡°Alright I get it¡±


    Hiro walked over to a stump and sat down before he began unwrapping the white bandages around his leg. Hiro looked at Collette and said, ¡°So? What are you waiting for?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±, Collette walked over to Hiro and put her hands a foot or so around his injured leg and closed her eyes as she began mumbling something under her breath.


    Hiro watched the young girl cast a healing spell on his leg, it was a bit different from the healing spells he was used too though. As a Hero, the healing spells he had access too were all typically of the highest tier and he never lacked potions, scrolls, and even one of his Divine Artifacts in the past specialized in healing.


    It was known as the Radiant Amulet the Divine Artifact of the Fourth Hero used to combat the Demon King who at the time would spread disease and poison throughout the lands via a large amount of miasma. This was the true nature of the Hero¡¯s Halo. Back then as long as he didn¡¯t lose a limb he could easily recover from practically any injury.


    The Radiant Amulet¡¯s healing properties were so strong he could even regenerate some minor organs and he was rendered immune to all forms of poison, disease, and it granted him immunities against various magical effects.


    As for whenever he¡¯d lose a limb, well if one of the Saint¡¯s typically accompanying him didn¡¯t immediately cast a spell to regenerate his missing limbs then all he really had to do was pull out one of the many magical scrolls he had on hand to do so.


    So this was really the first time he ever saw a low-level healing spell. As far back as his memories went all the healing spells he saw were at the very least far more advanced than the one Collette was casting.


    Hiro was slightly intrigued by it though, It felt quite different, usually with higher tier spells the change was rapid or almost instantaneous, however, it almost felt as if mana was being poured directly into his leg and as a result, the wound began to slowly heal at a visible rate.


    Hiro turned to Collette and noticed that her breathing was quite ragged, and he realized she probably didn¡¯t have a lot of mana, ¡°You don¡¯t need to push yourself.¡±


    Collette shook her head and replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m fine...¡±


    Hiro hesitated on whether or not he should stop her, but decided to allow her to continue, and finally after ten minutes the wound had finally healed.


    Collette sat down on the floor, and wiped the sweat off her face, ¡°It might be a bit itchy later, but do your best not to scratch it.¡±


    Hiro smiled, ¡°Thank you, Collette.¡±


    Collette smiled brightly, ¡°Happy to help uh...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Hiro, Hiro Whitmore.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Hiro¡±


    Francis who was sitting to the side laughed, ¡°Hiro? What a funny name.¡±

 Chapter 7: How Was That?

    Over the course of a week, Hiro and the caravan traveled across Renton and drew further from the unexplored frontier as they approached the capital city. Aside from the first bandit attack that led to several casualties and quite a few injuries the caravan experienced no further disturbances.


    Occasionally Noel would direct the caravan to a few towns or cities to sell the equipment they looted off the bandits or to sell and purchase some goods. Noel also took some time to introduce Hiro, Quinn, and Eris to the lords of these domains who were acquaintanced with their Father.


    Through these interactions, Hiro came to learn that while his Father was a Baron, he was widely respected among the other nobles as a competent mage and leader. Supposedly he garnered a great deal of respect even among those of a higher peerage such as Viscounts and Earls, and in all likelihood, Baron Whitmore would likely see an increase in his peerage in the course of his lifetime being gifted large tracts of land.


    Finally, after departing another city and traveling for a day the capital city of Liwein came into view. Noel who was sitting beside the coachman turned to Hiro and Quinn and said, ¡°We¡¯ll be dropping you two off at Academy first at the northeastern part of the city, afterwards we''ll rendezvous with the Master at the markets with the young miss.¡±


    ¡°Where will you be staying?¡±


    ¡°The Master has naturally prepared accommodations at the southern part of the city. As for all the necessities you two will need, other than the clothes we¡¯ve brought with us further accommodations have been prepared and should have arrived at your dorms.¡±


    ¡°I see¡±


    ...


    As the caravan entered the city Edward and his mercenaries waved goodbye as they took their pay and parted ways. But before Edward disappeared into the distance he shouted, ¡°Oi brat! Next time feel free to hire us again, we¡¯ll even give you a discount!¡±


    Then a mercenary beside him whispered into his ear and then he turned around and shouted, ¡°Never mind they¡¯re stingy, but I¡¯ll give you a discount!¡±


    Hiro waved back, and the rest of the caravan parted ways. The guards from the Whitmore Manor split off and escorted the cargo to the south while Noel and all the children made their way to the eastern district.


    The East District of Liwen was a relatively large residential area with the northern part of the district being exclusively for the rich and powerful. And while there were a large number of people in the eastern district, the north part of the district was actually rather empty. Most of the residents of the eastern district were simply too afraid to head further north and the only ones you could see walking down those streets were either servants or armed guards.


    As Hiro looked out the window he could see several large and elaborate mansions with beautiful gardens filled with all sorts of rare plants. There were also some rather plain mansions with simple decorations, but then there were also mansions that were extremely gaudy.


    Hiro shook his head as they passed by one of such mansions which appeared to be almost coated entirely with gold. The front of the mansion also had several dozen sparkling statues of a naked man flexing his muscles constructed entirely out of gold and gems. And even though there were several barely clothed women cleaning the statue as he passed by Hiro noticed that these statues were actually coated by an extremely thin transparent barrier that kept them from even touching the statue.


    Hiro couldn¡¯t help but frown as he thought of what a waste this was, ¡°To think someone would use so many rare metals for this¡­. I wonder just how many magic items could have been forged with all these resources. What a waste.¡±


    Gold was one of the few non-magical ores that possessed the ability to conduct mana. I say non-magical because unlike magical ores such as Mythril, Gold is unable to store mana, but unlike Iron or Steel, it doesn¡¯t inhibit mana.


    Thus as a result gold¡¯s natural conductivity, the rare metal was often mixed with other metals and magical ores to create special alloys one could use to forge magical items. This was part of the reason why Hiro¡¯s previous armaments were mostly made of gold, even for a Hero it was truly too difficult to have a full set of equipment constructed entirely out of magical metals.


    Soon enough the carriage reached a large gate guarded by two incredibly tall men in obsidian armor. Noel turned around and motioned Hiro and Quinn to get out, and as Hiro left the carriage he noticed that the guard''s eyes were a blood red.


    He walked up to them, and upon closer inspection, he noticed that these guards weren¡¯t Human but instead appeared to be a type of golem. Noel turned to Hiro and said, ¡°Take out the invitation.¡±


    Hiro and Quinn nodded and pulled out the invitations they received slightly over a month ago. He held the invitation out in his hands and it slowly began to float over to the obsidian guard''s hands. Suddenly as the letters lay in their palms they burst into flames and flew into the air as they formed two small fiery birds.


    The birds flew in a circle in front of the guards, and as the guards, red eyes flashed with a red light the flames turned a crimson red and that flew down towards Hiro¡¯s and Quinn''s wrist. The birds'' claws firmly grasped their wrists and despite being made entirely out of fire, oddly enough, they didn¡¯t emit any heat in the least.


    The birds slowly began to shrink and form a crimson around their wrists marked with some wings and a small magic circle. The obsidian guards spoke in a very deep and monotone voice, ¡°These bracelets serve as proof of your admission, you may now pass.¡±


    Hiro raised his hand and looked at the bracelet. Then he turned around and looked at all other children they brought with them and asked, ¡°What about them?¡±


    However, the obsidian guards merely stood where they were and continued to keep guard. Then gates before them opened, and a knight in silver armor and a red cape walked out,


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    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them, they¡¯re only designed to guard the gates, they don¡¯t possess the intelligence to do anything more than fight and recite anything that they¡¯ve been programmed to say¡±


    The Knight put his fist over his chest and saluted Hiro and Quinn, ¡°I¡¯m Owen, Magic Knight Instructor, I welcome you to the academy.¡±


    Noel walked forward and similarly put her fists over her chest, ¡°It¡¯s been too long Captain.¡±


    Owen smiled and walked forward giving Noel a hug, ¡°Noel, ah it¡¯s been too long! I assume these are your young masters and the new recruits?¡±


    Noel nodded, ¡°Yes, also among the recruits we have three suited towards being a mage, one fit to be a magic knight, and the rest can train to be squires.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Owen turned to Hiro and Quinn, ¡°And what of you two?¡±


    Hiro paused and thought to himself, ¡°I think I¡¯ll try out the Magic Knight curriculum.¡±


    Owen laughed as he smacked Hiro¡¯s shoulder, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! Rise to the challenge! I just hope you¡¯re up to the task.¡±


    Hiro smiled, ¡°I think I¡¯ll be perfectly fine.¡±


    Owen nodded his head, ¡°And what about you?¡±


    Quinn turned to Owen and said, ¡°General Education.¡±


    Owen''s paused, ¡°Eh, are you sure? Magic talent is usually hereditary, and even if you don¡¯t possess your father''s talent in the arcane arts with the Whitmore¡¯s resources you can still become a competent mage.¡±


    Quinn shook his head, ¡°No, I¡¯m sure.¡±


    Owen scratched his head and looked at Noel. Noel was similarly lost for words, ¡°The Holstein said they¡¯re free to do as they please. It¡¯s not really my place to tell them otherwise.¡±


    Owen looked at Quinn, ¡°Well alright, but if you ever decide to learn magic or if you ever want to learn to use a sword feel free to come to me. I¡¯ll work some magic and transfer you to a different course.¡±


    ~


    After Noel dropped Hiro and the rest of the kids off, she took the coaches and headed back south to meet up with the baron. After saying farewell Owen led Hiro and the children to their dorm with a few servants helping to carry the luggage.


    The dorms were located to the east side of the campus being comprised of primarily several dozens of interconnected buildings about three stories high. Owen walked up to one of the caretakers and got them to lead all but Hiro and one other child to their rooms. Owen turned to the two of them and said, ¡°For the two of you, we¡¯ll get your examinations over with.¡±


    Hiro tilted his head, ¡°Examinations?¡±


    Owen turned around and began heading towards the northern part of the campus, and as Hiro followed after him along with the other child who was selected to take the exam, he asked,


    ¡°We have to take an exam?¡±


    Owen nodded his head, ¡°The Academy is a royal institute whose funding is strictly managed by the royal house. Raising mages and knights alone is a massive expenditure that can only be accomplished due to the Kingdoms funding and generous donations from all the noble houses. It¡¯s why we invite all the children from the noble houses to the academy unconditionally.¡±


    ¡°I see¡±


    ¡°However magic knights are a different story, the expenditures on raising Magic Knights alone exceeds the combined sum of mages and knights several times over. We simply can¡¯t raise every noble¡¯s child to become a magic knight, this privilege is something only given to the royal family. So to enter the Magic Knight curriculum one must pass an exam.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Hiro nodded his head, ¡°That makes sense¡±


    He understood that raising mages and knights truly was an expensive undertaking so he didn¡¯t argue with Owen. Instead, he quietly followed him to a practice field lined with scarecrows. There were already several children there taking the exams.


    The exam was relatively simple. One merely had to hit a scarecrow with the strongest attack they could muster in front of the Head of the Magic Division, the Head of the Knight Division, and finally, the principal who was also the Head of the Magic Knight Division.


    Hiro positioned himself in front of one of the scarecrows and turned to Owen, ¡°I just need to hit this with my strongest move right?¡±


    Owen nodded, ¡°Feel free to use any of the weapons lying around. Just don¡¯t use any magic scrolls or magic items.¡±


    ¡°I see. Ah, you don¡¯t mind if I damage the surroundings do you?¡±


    Owen laughed, ¡°The practice range has been reinforced with magic, go all out!¡±


    Hiro smiled and turned back around. A thin layer of blue covered his body and he clenched his fists. He took a deep breath and the almost all of his energy began to gather towards his right arm causing the light around his arm to turn from a blue to a white.


    However unlike before the light wasn¡¯t stationary, but instead it began spinning rapidly. The energy around his arm spun and spun and spun almost as if it were a drill while the remaining energy gathered around his feet. Suddenly Hiro shot forward like a bullet closing the distance between him and the scarecrow to a few feet.


    He planted his left foot down on the ground and twisted his body releasing a powerful blow with his right fist. All the energy around his right arm spinning suddenly charged towards the center of his fist and as the light came into contact with the scarecrow it caused a massive boom as the scarecrow was uprooted and sent flying across the field towards a wall.


    Suddenly, several magic circles appeared in the air flashing with a bright light in an attempt to slow down the broken pieces of the scarecrow. However under the force of Hiro¡¯s blow, the all the magic circles collapsed allowing the fragments of what remained of the scarecrow to bury themselves into the wall causing a massive crack to appear and pieces of the wall to fall off.


    The area before Hiro was also devastated as pieces of the ground were dug up and dirt was sent flying into the air as the scarecrow was uprooted and obliterated.


    Hiro turned to Owen and asked, "So how was that?"

 Chapter 8: Mana and Qi

    Owen stared at Hiro wide-eyed his mouth gaping, as did everyone else on the field. Suddenly an old man with a long white beard followed by two others appeared beside Owen. Behind the old man stood a red-haired mage in a purple robe and a bulky knight with a receding hairline and a thick brown beard.


    Owen was shocked at their sudden appearance, but then he shook his head and asked, ¡°Hiro just what spell did you use just now? And just what level of a spiritual body have you reached!?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡±, Hiro tilted his head, ¡°Spiritual Body? All I did was use a simple body reinforcement technique and a little trick I learned. Though...¡±


    Hiro turned to the broken scarecrow, and said, ¡°I¡¯m quite confident of its attack power despite how simplistic it is in nature.¡±


    The bulky knight beside Owen shouted, ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±


    He quickly walked over to Hiro and grabbed his arm, and energy seemed to flow from his body into Hiro¡¯s. He exclaimed, ¡°This is¡­¡±


    The bearded old man asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong Albert?¡±


    ¡°He...he hasn¡¯t even achieved the most basic spiritual body...the only Qi circulating in his body appears to be from the baptisms nobles go through as children.¡±


    ¡°What!?¡±, the purple-robed mage exclaimed, ¡°That¡¯s impossible, then that technique he used just now was purely magic?¡±


    Hiro laughed wearily and scratched the back of his head, ¡°Well sort of, you could call it that. Usually, whenever I cast a spell I always manage to mess it up somehow so all I could use was this rather brute force technique of reinforcing my body with mana.¡±


    The Albert glanced at what remained of the wall on the far side of the field and hesitantly asked, ¡°That...you did that just by reinforcing your body with mana? How?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? It¡¯s rather simple really. First I split my mana into two parts, a majority of it spun around my right arm reinforcing it and the rest I used to launch myself forward. I formed a spring on my feet and using a bit more mana I sent myself flying. Then I distributed the mana around my feet around my legs so I could firmly plant myself to the ground.¡±


    Hiro pointed at the footmarks where he landed, ¡°Then with my reinforced arm and the momentum I built up I simply punched the scarecrow as hard as I could, and right as my fist was just about to strike the scarecrow I condensed all of my mana mid swing into a ball which carried all the force and momentum of my strike. And well this was the result.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    The crowd merely stared at Hiro in shock, several of the other students began whispering to each other in the background, ¡°But wait can you even do that? Wouldn¡¯t doing something like that usually tear your arm straight off?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, if he wasn¡¯t quick enough he would have broken his arm. Those scarecrows were reinforced with steel and magic ya know.¡±


    ¡°Man, that kid¡¯s insane?¡±


    And while the crowd was gossiping, the bearded old man walked forward and asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just work to increase your natural strength by absorbing mana?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? Why would I do that? If I coat my body in mana, I can maintain an elevated level of strength beyond my normal capacity, absorbing it would only allow me to achieve a fraction of that strength.¡±


    The bearded old man replied, ¡°But over time the amount of mana you store in your body as Qi would easily allow you to match your current strength, and possibly even surpass that.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Hiro thought about it, ¡°Well that¡¯s true over years of training I¡¯m sure you could reach a level of strength close to my elevated state, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to reach this level of explosive power. After all, I¡¯m sure the energy absorb would be pretty rigid.¡±


    ¡°That may be true, but over time your base level of strength would be able to match this level of explosive strength you¡¯ve exhibited.¡±


    Hiro thought about it before asking, ¡°But just how long would that take? A few years? A decade? A few decades?¡±


    Hiro shook his head, while it is true such a path existed no one in the Holy Empire had the leisure to wait so long just to reach this level of strength. Especially not him, the Hero. He had only a few years after receiving the past Hero¡¯s memories to reach their level of power. And the only a few more years after that to surpass the previous Heroes.


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    ¡°Also I¡¯ve been meaning to ask this, but what¡¯s this Qi you guys have been talking about.¡±


    Everyone paused again and gaped in shock. Owen paused before asking, ¡°Hiro¡­ you don¡¯t know what Qi is?¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°Nope.¡±


    Owen sighed, ¡°Just what is Holstein doing¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± the purple robe mage turned towards Owen and asked, ¡°This is Holstein¡¯s brat?¡±


    Owen nodded, ¡°Ah, yes Miss Campbell.¡±


    Miss Campbell sighed, ¡°Really what¡¯s an honor student like Holstein doing¡­¡±


    She turned to Hiro and walked forward and began to explain, ¡°Well to oversimplify things for you the energy surrounding us is known as mana, this is something we mages use to cast our spells.¡±


    Hiro nodded, Mana was a very unique source of energy that all living beings could tap into somehow and this Mana came from the ley lines that branched out in the ground from their source referred to as dragon veins. It was very likely that the capital itself was built atop a small dragon vein as Hiro noticed both the quality and quantity of mana rose steeply as they approached the capital.


    ¡°As for Qi, it¡¯s simply what we refer to the mana that we store in our bodies. This is something that specifically only warriors use.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Mana that we store in our bodies? But don¡¯t mages do that too? How else would we be able to cast spells? ¡±


    Miss Campbell shook her head, ¡°Spells require too much mana to cast, it would be too inefficient to use the mana stored in our bodies, also the way warriors store Qi in their body is inherently different from Humans natural mana reserves. As a matter of fact, storing Qi irreversibly destroys those inherent mana reserves.¡±


    ¡°Huh, why would you want to do that?¡±


    ¡°The old man-.¡± Miss Campbell coughed, ¡°I mean the principal should explain that to you later in class unless he forces me to do it later. But you see Qi is incredibly pervasive, warriors store it in their flesh, bones, and even their organs. This allows them to reinforce every part of their body, and heighten their bodies natural strength. And quite a few people think trading their natural mana reserves for Qi is rather worthwhile, I mean look at what Qi can accomplish¡±


    Miss Campbell motioned Albert, and he threw a heavy punch into the field causing a whirlwind to blow through.


    ¡°That was a bit exaggerated, but for the most part, you can consider something like that to be the base strength of someone who accumulated a vast amount of Qi. As for magic...¡±


    Miss Campbell raised her hand and fireball appeared, ¡°It¡¯s a bit too complicated to just generalize, but at its root, while warriors store Qi in their body, mages mostly rely on mana outside their body.¡±


    Hiro tilted his head, and wondered, ¡°When did this become a thing, in the last millennium we mostly used the same system for Magic. Could it be different in the south?"


    The principal walked up to Hiro, and asked, ¡°Anyway it wouldn¡¯t really do to put you in either the Magic Division or the Knight¡¯s Division, you don¡¯t mind coming over to the Magic Knight Division do you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind at all, I mean that¡¯s what I came here to do.¡±


    The principal laughed and a ball of light floated out of his hands and into the red bracelet on Hiro¡¯s wrist. As the light touched the magic circle in the center, the bracelet lit up and half the center of the bracelet turned golden, ¡°This marks that you¡¯re in the Magic Knight division, you may head over to your dorm now to find your room.¡±


    Hiro nodded, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    With that Hiro quickly made his way back to the eastern part of the campus. The two heads of the divisions and the principal looked at each other before nodding. The principal waved his hand, ¡°Alright folks, let¡¯s continue.¡±


    Owen laughed wearily and turned to the other child he brought with him, a rather short and pale black haired child, ¡°Alright sorry about the delay, why don¡¯t you go ahead?¡±


    The child looked up at Owen and said, ¡°I already have.¡±

 Chapter 9: You Dont Belong Here

    ¡°Huh?¡±, Owen scratched his head, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    The child before Owen merely replied, ¡°I already killed the enemy.¡±


    Owen laughed wearily, ¡°Oh you already hit it? Let me see then...¡±


    Owen looked around at the field, but no matter how hard he looked he couldn¡¯t figure out which scarecrow the kid hit. There were several children standing in front of the scarecrows they were going to attack or have already attacked. And it surely wasn¡¯t any of the burning or frozen scarecrows since he didn¡¯t feel a sudden change in temperature or even a powerful gust of wind. He didn¡¯t even hear the loud bang.


    He turned to the child once more and asked, ¡°Uh, which one did you attack?¡±


    The child pointed his finger to the space several scarecrows to the right of the one Hiro struck. Owen walked over to the scarecrows, and looked around before asking, ¡°Did you strike the right one or the left one?¡±


    The child shook his head, ¡°The one in between them.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±, he scratched the back of his head and turned to one of the Knights standing guard, ¡°Did someone take the scarecrow over here before we could exam it?¡±


    One of the guards replied, ¡°No sir!¡±


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s odd¡­¡± , Owen turned to the kid and asked, ¡°Yo kid, my bad, but can you hit another one? If you need time to recover I can postpone the test until tomorrow.¡±


    However, the child merely shook his head. He slowly walked up to one of the scarecrows and pulled out a small dagger hidden in his clothes. As he stood in front of the scarecrow that was slightly taller than him, he casually stabbed the scarecrow in the chest and it turned a pitch black.


    As he removed the dagger, the Scarecrow began to fall apart and as the wind hit the scarecrow it would just turn into a black powder and fly away. Owen to stared at the child in shock, his motion was so casual, he barely noticed him use any mana, and the result was absolutely devastating. But that wasn¡¯t the only thing that shocked him¡­


    Owen turned to the principal, but before he could say anything the principal raised his hand motioning him to stay quiet. The principal walked up to the child and asked, ¡°Tell me, child, what¡¯s your name.¡±


    The child looked up and replied, ¡°Mors.¡±


    The principal smiled as a faint light began to gather around him and Mors, ¡°I see Moors, why do you want to be a magic knight. For you parents? For yourself? It¡¯s alright you can be honest with me.¡±


    Mors paused, and faint black aura surrounded him, ¡°To kill...for revenge. He said if I came here, I¡¯d be able to accomplish my goal.¡±


    The principal paused, before asking, ¡°Mors under normal circumstances I wouldn¡¯t let you enter the magic knight division or even the school. You understand what you just did right?¡±


    Mors nodded his head, and the principal continued, ¡°But if you promise me one thing I can let bygones be bygones. Never use that spell ever again. Never use any spells like it ever again. We will teach you how to fight, you can get your revenge, but if you ever use that spell then there¡¯s no room for you here. Am I clear?¡±


    Mors nodded, and the principal pulled out a scroll. He quickly opened it and threw it into the air causing it to turn into a fiery bird that formed a red bracelet with a golden ring around Mor''s hand.


    Mors looked at the bracelet, before turning around and heading back to the east side of campus.


    Owen turned to the Principal with a worried look, but the principal merely shook his head. He walked back to the two other Headmasters and teleported away to observe from a distance. Miss Campbell asked, ¡°The Black Mist?¡±


    And the principal nodded his head, ¡°Stay on your toes, we don¡¯t know if we can trust him, but if we give him time to mature he will be a great asset to our country.¡±


    The bulky Knight Albert nodded his head, ¡°Holstein¡¯s brat is here as well.¡±


    The principal laughed, ¡°We sure have an exceptional group this year, and perhaps just as many troublemakers¡­¡±


    ~


    Hiro laid down on his bed, he looked around his room and was surprised at how large it was. Or rather, he questioned how it was capable of even being this large. When he was walking through the hallway the doors were all spaced relatively close to each other, yet the door to his room was at the center.


    But when he looked to the left and to the right there was just far too much space, especially with all the furniture. Hiro couldn¡¯t help but wonder how they managed to accomplish this.


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    He stood back up and walked over to the large wooden dresser and his room, and as he opened it along with several other drawers he found that someone had already folded and organized his clothes. He looked around, and he even spotted several empty suitcases tucked into a corner of the room.


    When he turned around, he also noticed that other necessities such as books were already on his desk, and there were also several sets of uniforms neatly stack on top of each other on a chair.


    The room was even stocked with weapons hanging or leaning on the walls: there were axes, spears, swords, and even bows and staves. As Hiro looked up at the shelves there was also a wide array of plants beside a small collection of bottle bottles filled with liquids of varying colors. There were also some small jars filled with pellets.


    But other than how unnaturally large the room was, something else was on Hiro¡¯s mind. Just what is Qi? He didn¡¯t quite understand, why would the south change their system of magic? Had it always been like this?


    Hiro raised his hand and began to slowly absorb the mana in the air into his arm. However, as he remained like this for several minutes he frowned and threw a quick jab into the air.


    Hiro sighed, ¡°There¡¯s no difference¡­¡±


    He shook his head, to begin with, while Humans could use mana they were not counted among the species considered to be inherently magical in nature. Some of the species that were inherently magical in nature included the likes of Elves, the Demonic Tribes, Dragons, and several other magical beasts.


    Part of the reason behind this was simply that Human flesh was unfit to store mana. The only part of a Human that could store mana was the ephemeral soul, and it was for this reason that all life forms could to some capacity sense and use mana. While the magical races on the other hand like Elves and the Demonic Tribes had relatively unique constitutions.


    The Elves, for example, were a race blessed with extraordinary senses. Their eyes, ears, and tongues were inherently magical allowing them to see the world like few others. As for the Demonic Tribes, each of the tribes possessed a myriad of unique features that manifested themselves as tails, horns, or even wings. Sometimes their unique feature would even manifest itself as an entirely new organ or its properties would reveal itself on already existing limbs, but regardless of what it was, it had the inherent property to store mana.


    As for Dragon they were the world''s apex predator and were widely considered to be one of the most powerful magical creatures in existence as nearly every part of a Dragon was magical in nature. Legend even stated that Dragons were born from the very source of the world''s mana, hence why these sources were referred to as dragon veins.


    So it simply didn¡¯t make sense, why would one continue to absorb mana into their flesh and bones if it were so ineffective. In theory, over years Humans could heighten the strength of their flesh and bones to that of a magical creatures. However, this would only be at the level of the weaker or the mid-level magical creatures.


    And with a strong enough sword, and a bit of magic one could easily defeat such a beast. It simply wasn¡¯t a practical approach. Plus as Hiro stated before, it would literally take years to reach that sort of level.


    Hiro looked out the window, and thought to himself, ¡°Perhaps I should have done more research while I was home¡­¡±


    ¡°No, kidding¡±


    ¡°!?¡±


    Hiro looked around, but he couldn¡¯t make out where that voice came from or where they were. He shouted, ¡°Who are you! Where are you hiding!?¡±


    The voice laughed, ¡°Who am I? I should be asking that to you¡­¡±


    Hiro frowned, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    However, the voice merely laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it probably doesn¡¯t matter to you either way. So don¡¯t worry, be happy.¡±


    Hiro¡¯s body flashed with light as he clenched his fist, and the voice continued to laugh, ¡°Oh how scary, but don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t hurt you I¡¯m not so foolish as to do such a silly thing. But I really am curious how someone like you got here.¡±


    Hiro repeated himself, ¡°What do you mean¡­¡±


    The voice¡¯s laughing grew hysterical, ¡°Ah, you really don¡¯t know, do you! Well, all you really need to know is that...you don¡¯t belong here.¡±

 Chapter 10: They Just Never Stay Down

    Hiro scanned the room once more, the aura around his body flaring up, ¡°I don¡¯t belong here? What gives you the right to say that?¡±


    Hiro raised his arms forward and pulses of blue light began to fill the air as he used his mana to scan the surroundings like a form of sonar. However, to his surprise, there wasn¡¯t a single trace of residual mana around him.


    As Hiro put his arms down he frowned, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder just whose voice that was. And just what did they mean by `you don¡¯t belong here.`


    Ever since he started going to his family study these questions just kept piling up and up, and to this day he just couldn¡¯t figure out just what in the world was going on...


    ~


    After a week passed all the nobles that were invited to the academy had finally arrived and undertaken their exams. Hiro woke up early in the morning and put on his white and gold uniform, and quickly made his way over to the central part of the campus where they were holding a formal ceremony for the start of the school year.


    During the welcoming ceremony, the new students were split into three divisions with the Magic Knight division being seated all the way at the front, the Magic Division being seated behind the Magic Knight division and to the left, and the Knight division to their right. The latter two divisions were also split up by social class as all the nobles stood in front of all the peasants. They were denoted by their red bracelets.


    Hiro learned in the passing week that commoners required special permission to leave the school grounds since they didn¡¯t possess red bracelets, aside from those in the Magic Knight division, while all the nobles could freely go as they please.


    As Hiro looked around further he spotted Quinn and Collette in the Magic Division even though Quinn opted to take on a general education curriculum, while he noticed Francis was in the Knight Division all the way at the back.  And finally, he noticed the child who was with him and Owen was sitting a few rows behind him in the Magic Knight division.


    Hiro was rather surprised he got into the Magic Knight Division, he recalled the scene of all those children firing off spells at the scarecrows and he could only see a few familiar faces from the field sitting beside him. And all of the ones who got in were rather exceptional in some regard. He didn¡¯t expect this pale black haired child to be capable of such a feat.


    However, as he was trying to figure out how he was able to get into the Magic Knight division a loud clap filled the auditorium. Hiro turned around and noticed the Principal had appeared before the podium with the two headmasters standing behind him. The principal cleared his throat, before speaking into a small crystal in the podium which was used to amplify his voice,


    ¡°As the Principal, I would like to welcome you all to the Royal Academy. Over these next seven to eight years I pray that you may all grow up to be fine Mages and Knights. However, before we go any further let me make one thing clear.¡±


    The Principal turned to Miss Campbell the Head of the Magic Division, and she nodded. She took the wooden staff in her hand raised it into the air. Suddenly, the auditorium turned pitch black and a light blue crystal floated into the air. The Principal continued,


    ¡°In the end, we are a military academy, whether you¡¯re a noble or a peasant it doesn¡¯t make a difference. What we seek are results. Because this is the reality we live in.¡±


    The blue crystal in the air began to shine, and a ray of light shootout displaying several moving images in the air. These images depicted at times two armies clashing, magic being fire rapidly from both sides. Knights charged each other causing limbs to fly, and lives were lost every second.


    While at other times the crystal would display the image of a giant surrounded by dozens of cavalrymen and infantry, and a whole squadron of crossbowmen and archers. There were also dozens of mages in the back either healing, casting buffs, or firing spells at the giant who for the most part wasn¡¯t phased in the least. The giant would occasionally pick up a tree and swing it down on the Knights crushing them, or throw a boulder at the archers flattening them.


    The crystal continued to play all sorts of bloody images one after another, and the principal continued, ¡°As soldiers, as citizens, as nobles, you will all eventually face situations like this. It is simply an eventuality. So while you nobles might think the academy is a place for you to spend your youth and socialize and you peasants might think the academy is a way to get rich quick, just know that for every year you spend slacking off is another year you didn¡¯t haven¡¯t spent training.¡±


    With those words, the auditorium grew deathly silent as more images began to play on the crystal. Afterwards, the Principal made a very short speech introducing the school¡¯s facilities and explaining how the school year would play out. To put it simply, the Knight Division made up the northern part of the campus, the Magic Division the western part, and the Magic Knight Division the central part of the campus though this only included the classrooms on the upper floors.


    More general purpose classrooms and facilities were either on the eastern or southern sections, and all students would undergo three years of general education.


    ~


    After the welcoming ceremony, the Instructors split up each division except for the Magic Knight division into groups and led them outside of the assembly. Though this was primarily due to the fact that there were only about thirty or so students in the magic knight division.


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    When the rest of the other divisions had left, Owen and several other instructors walked off the stage. Owen stood before the students and said, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve got a surprisingly large class this year. Anyway to start this off let¡¯s have a little icebreaker.¡±


    The female instructor beside him nodded and snapped her finger causing a barrel full of practice weapons to appear. ¡°We¡¯ll start things off with a little duel to familiarize ourselves with each other. Would anyone like to volunteer?¡±


    ¡°Me!¡±, a tall blond haired man raised his hands. He was probably around Hiro¡¯s age since they were in the same class, yet despite this, the young man was already quite tall.


    He walked over to the barrel full of weapons and turned around, he pointed his finger at Hiro and asked, ¡°You, what weapon do you use!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±, Hiro pointed his finger at his face, ¡°You mean me?¡±


    He nodded, ¡°What weapon?¡±


    ¡°Uh...a long sword.¡±


    The young man fished through the barrel and dug up a wooden long sword and threw it at Hiro. Hiro caught it, and before he could raise his head the blonde haired young man had already grabbed a wooden greatsword and charged him.


    Hiro quickly parried the blocked the great sword, and yelled, ¡°Wait! You¡¯re starting already!? There are people here!¡±


    The blonde haired young man pushed down with using his body¡¯s and the greatswords weight to apply to pressure Hiro. He smiled, ¡°Of course!¡±


    He quickly raised his sword and swung it down rapidly. Hiro was shocked at the weight of each swing and realized his wooden sword was already on the verge of breaking. Hiro clicked his tongue, and instead of blocking the heavier greatsword, he turned his long sword allowing the wooden greatswords blade to slide off to the side.


    The Hiro quickly stepped in with his left foot and grabbed the young man by the collar of his uniform before throwing him over his shoulder.  Hiro wiped his hands together, and sighed, ¡°You could have waited ya know-¡±


    But as he was about turn around, to his surprise there a hand gripping the right hand of his face, and suddenly he felt himself being dragged through the air before his head was slammed into the floor. Hiro felt shaken as his vision grew slightly blurry, but as he looked up he could see the figure of the young man he had just thrown earlier in the distance.


    ¡°Brother!¡±, a young girl called out, ¡°What are you doing!¡±


    The young man laughed wearily and scratched the back of his head, ¡°My bad, my bad. The blood got to my head, and I just sorta...you know. But I¡¯m sure he¡¯s fine...hmmm?¡±


    The young man turned around as his eyes grew wide as the child he threw with quite a bit of strength into the floor, had gotten up like it was nothing. Hiro looked at the young man, and bowed, ¡°My bad, I underestimated you.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    Suddenly, Hiro¡¯s aura flared up, and he shot forward striking him in the chest. Hiro¡¯s strike sent the young man flying backwards, however, he was quickly able to stop himself with his feet. The kid laughed, as a bit of blood fell from his lips, ¡°You¡¯re not bad either.¡±


    However as he was speaking, Hiro had already closed in again and began raining down strike after strike on the young man forcing him to raise his arms in an attempt to shield his head. The young man clenched his fists, and swung his arms down and roared like a beast.


    As he swung his fist towards Hiro, Hiro swiftly dodged it and gathered a large amount of mana into his fists and sent him flying into the wall.


    ¡°Well, that should do it.¡±


    Hiro turned around, and as he was about to head back to the group, he turned towards the young man sister, and said, ¡°Oh and my apologies.¡±


    The girl turned to Hiro and replied, ¡°No, it¡¯s-¡°


    However suddenly, her face grew paled and she shouted, ¡°Turn around!¡±


    Hiro quickly turned his head, and there again was a hand reaching towards his face. Hiro shouted, ¡°Not this time!¡±


    He quickly swung his left hand and gave the young man charging at him a powerful left hook, but to his surprise the young man completely ignored it.


    The young man¡¯s sister cried, ¡°Brother don¡¯t!¡±


    The young man¡¯s powerful hands gripped Hiro¡¯s face once again and he tried to push Hiro forward. Hiro this time, however, used his mana to resist, he drew his right arm back and struck the young man¡¯s liver.


    However, just like with his earlier strike, the young man seemed to ignore it. Hiro clicked his tongue, and use his arms to pry the young man¡¯s death grip off his face. He quickly swept the young man off his feet and threw him against the other side of the room with the help of some mana.


    Then he quickly gathered a large quantity of mana around his right fist causing the aura around it to glow white, before shooting forward and striking the young man once again in the chest. He quickly backed up just to be safe, and as he stared at the young man on the floor, he asked,


    ¡°Are you sure you guys shouldn''t have stopped me? I¡¯m pretty sure I just broke a few of his bones.¡±


    Owen laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, our infirmary staff here are some of the best.¡±


    ¡°I see, then..¡±, Hiro watched as the young man whose bones he had just broken stood up, ¡°Are you fine if I beat him half to death?¡±


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t go too far now¡­¡±

 Chapter 11: An Ancient Bloodline

    Hiro quickly jumped around the auditorium like a monkey, jumping from the walls, kicking himself off the ceiling, and doing his best just to generally avoid the blond young man chasing him down like a bull. Frankly, he was relatively unsure of what to do, he was more suited towards killing his enemies than rendering them unconscious.


    But if you think about it under normal circumstances having several of your bones broken and suffering several internal injuries plus receiving a large amount of trauma to the head would have easily rendered most normal Human beings unconscious. Hiro couldn¡¯t help, but wonder if he was actually fighting some beastman who was hiding his more animal-like features as the blond young man sped up and charged him once again.


    Hiro sighed and swung his leg down slamming the young man into the ground slamming him straight into the reinforced floorboards. Hiro grabbed the young man¡¯s large arms and twisted them behind his back before putting his knee on them holding him down by force. Hiro the put his palm on the back of the young man¡¯s head and said, ¡°Sorry, but this gonna hurt a lot.¡±


    Suddenly, the light around his arm turned white and rapidly moved up and down his arm gathering towards his palm forming a small shockwave. However, as Hiro continued to hold his palm down these shockwaves increased in frequency and strength and slowly a small crater formed around the young man¡¯s head as Hiro¡¯s mana acted kind of like a jackhammer as he continuously pummeled the young man.


    As Hiro slowly felt the young man lose strength in his arms he finally let go and stood back up. He turned to Owen and said, ¡°Are you sure you should be starting things off like this?¡±


    Owen laughed wearily and pointed behind him where several other students were sparring behind a barrier, ¡°Well usually things end up more like that ya know. In hindsight maybe it would have been better for you two to just spar with the instructors.¡±


    ¡°You could have at least stopped me,¡± Hiro turned towards the young man, ¡°But then again I wonder how you would have stopped him.¡±


    ¡°Oh please, I would have just taken his blows until he tired himself out. That or I¡¯d break his legs or something.¡±


    ¡°But I broke his legs.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t break them hard enough clearly.¡±


    The female instructor turned worriedly towards Owen, ¡°Should you really be saying that?¡±


    Owen smacked her a few times in the back and said, ¡°You worry too much Natasha, his majesty even gave us express permission to roughen him up.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±, Hiro turned to the young man, ¡°His majesty? This guy¡¯s a prince?¡±


    ¡°What I don¡¯t look like it?¡±


    To Hiro¡¯s surprise, the prince rolled around, and laid on the floor looking at him, ¡°The names Baldar Dietrich, third son of Alexander Dietrich.¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that you don¡¯t look like it, but I never expected a prince of come charging at me like a madman ignoring any and all injuries inflicted onto him until I was forced to literally start banging their head onto the reinforced wood floorboards until they lost consciousness.¡±


    Baldar laughed, ¡°Then you haven¡¯t heard of the true power of the royal lineage!¡±


    Hiro sat down beside the fallen Baldar, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the royal lineage is filled with a bunch of rampaging maniacs who willfully charge into battle.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not that bad¡­¡±, Baldar¡¯s sister walked up to Hiro, ¡°I¡¯m Maria Dietrich by the way.¡±


    Hiro raised his hands, ¡°Hiro Whitmore.¡±


    ¡°Oh my! You¡¯re Sir Holstein''s son?¡±


    Hiro tilted his head, ¡°You know of my father?¡±


    Baldar laughed, ¡°Know of your father? He¡¯s practically a legend! He¡¯s one of the Kingdoms most powerful Ice Mages, and one time he even came back from the frontier carrying several Molten Salamanders frozen in giant columns of ice! He froze Salamanders alive!¡±


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    ¡°Heh, is that so.¡±


    Baldar looked at Hiro in shock, ¡°What you¡¯ve never heard stories of his exploits?¡±


    ¡°Nope, I never really cared all that much. In the first place, he¡¯s never really around.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±, Maria tilted her head, ¡°But I heard from Father that Sir Holstein was quite the family man.¡±


    Hiro thought about it and said, ¡°Hmmm, well I personally didn¡¯t see him around, maybe my brother did. I know my sister at least saw him more than me.¡±


    ¡°Heh...wait a minute!¡±, Baldar shouted, ¡°Then how are you so strong!¡±


    ¡°A lot of it training.¡±, and Hiro quietly mumbled, ¡°And the lineage of eight legendary Heroes as well as the knowledge accumulated over the past nine hundred years.¡±


    ¡°I see...by the way why¡¯d didn¡¯t you use any spells?¡±


    Maria nodded, ¡°Now that I think about it if you¡¯d just used some ice magic you probably could have just frozen my brother in place.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well I don¡¯t really know ice magic.¡±


    ¡°No way¡­.¡±


    ¡°By the way, why¡¯d you challenge me of all people?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well you know a week ago when you were taking the exam? I was just sort of sitting there and when I suddenly heard a boom right. And when I turned to look there you were beside an absolutely obliterated scarecrow. So I thought it would be fun to fight you, after all, compared to the rest of our classmates you seemed far stronger.¡±


    ¡°I see, so what was that whole going Berserk thing.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Baldar scratched his head and laughed wearily, ¡°You know the blood sorta got to my head, and after you gave me that really strong punch I sorta lost it for a bit. It¡¯s really hard to control myself at times.¡±


    Owen walked up to Hiro as well as the female Instructor Natasha, ¡°The royal family actually possess a Dragon¡¯s bloodline you see. They serve as the primary deterrent towards invaders, and typically serve as the vanguards during wars.¡±


    Hiro''s eyes widened, ¡°A dragon¡¯s bloodline? How?¡±


    Baldar shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not entirely accurate to say we have a Dragon¡¯s bloodline, after all, we aren¡¯t half-dragon or even a quarter-dragon. And really it¡¯s nothing all that special at all. You see the founder of this country Renton Dietrich established a contract with a dying Dragon to serve as a guardian to these lands in return it would gift him it¡¯s corpse.¡±


    Maria continued, ¡°According to legend the Dragon Vein below the royal capital gave birth to a Dragon eons ago, and after living out its life it wanted to rest in peace in its birthplace. However when it returned it found that several kingdoms had built their countries in the area and the vicinity was filled with constant death and battle. The Dragon couldn¡¯t bear to see it¡¯s once beautiful birthplace be reduced to nothing but a graveyard, so the Ancient Dragon Liwein formed a contract with the Knight Renton before finally passing on.¡±


    Baldar nodded, ¡°The Capital of Liwein is built as a memorial for the Ancient Dragon the helped found the country, and when a child is born into the royal family we¡¯re baptized in the Dragon Veins with the protection of the Ancient Dragon¡¯s blood.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Owen clapped his hands to get everyone attention, ¡°We¡¯d best start heading out. It¡¯s about time for lunch anyway, anyone who needs to head to the infirmary you¡¯d best head now. For those that need help, get the guy that beat you up to carry you or something. I mean it¡¯s the least they could do.¡±


    Owen glanced at Hiro, and Hiro sighed, ¡°Fine.¡±


    Maria laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡±

 Chapter 12: This Isnt Right...

    As Hiro was helping Maria carry Baldar over to the infirmary via stretcher, Baldar leaned over and asked, ¡°Hey Hiro¡±


    ¡°Yeah?"


    ¡°Was that your full strength?¡±


    ¡°When I beat you up?¡±


    Baldar shook his head, ¡°When you hit that scarecrow.¡±


    Hiro thought about it, and the replied, ¡°In a sense, no, but it wouldn¡¯t really do for me to hit it any harder.¡±


    ¡°Well for one¡­¡±, Hiro glanced over his shoulder at Baldar, ¡°I don¡¯t have a body as freakishly durable as yours.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, I slammed you into the ground head first and you shrugged it off like it was nothing!? ¡±


    ¡°I mitigated the damage by dispersing the force with mana through the ground if you¡¯d used a hammer or something it probably would have caused more damage. Probably at least.¡±


    Maria asked, ¡°You dispersed the force with mana?¡±


    Hiro nodded as he turned background, ¡°It¡¯s called a wave technique, ask me later and I might teach it to you. Anyway, this is it right?¡±


    Hiro looked up at the large two-story building located in the southern part of the campus, as he looked around he noticed several other students heading in their general direction.


    Suddenly, Hiro heard a girl call out from in front of him, ¡°Huh? Hiro?¡±


    Hiro turned back around, and noticed Collette was in a white robe in the infirmary holding a clipboard, ¡°Collette?¡±


    Collette hurriedly walked up to Hiro and asked, ¡°Why are you here Hiro? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re hurt? Are you sick? Did you get cut?¡±


    ¡°Um...behind me.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Collette looked behind Hiro and suddenly realized he was holding a stretcher and began apologizing, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry when I just get so worried sometimes when people come to places like this who I know that I start panicking and I just.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright Collette, uh, can we go in?¡±


    ¡°Ah yes! Yes, right away. Please come in.¡±


    Hiro followed Collette in and she introduced Hiro to her instructor. Since Collette wanted to be a healer and she was already capable of some healing magic she was assigned to the infirmary to practice and gain experience as she improves.


    Collette¡¯s instructor¡¯s eyes widened as she noticed who was on the stretcher. She walked up to Baldar and touched his arm causing a faint golden light to pulse through his body. Her eyes widened even further in disbelief as she remarked, ¡°Amazing, just how did you break so many bones already.¡±


    Hiro and Baldar laughed wearily, ¡°My bad.¡±


    Anyway set him on this bed. Collette''s instructor directed Hiro to a nearby room where several other students were resting. Hiro carefully put the stretcher down and picked up Baldar placing him softly on the clean white bed.


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    The Collette¡¯s instructor looked worriedly at Hiro, ¡°And are you alright? You¡¯re clearly in better shape, but you were up against the prince. It¡¯s best to deal with any injuries even if you think they¡¯re minor.¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Collette said worriedly, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Baldar grew slightly red and said in embarrassment, ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s fine...it was rather one-sided honestly.¡±


    ¡°Incredible, but¡­¡±, the instructor turned towards Hiro, ¡°Try not to do this again, especially with normal people.¡±


    Hiro scratched the back of his head, ¡°Well normal people usually go down before I have to do this. Anyway, I¡¯m gonna head out, get better soon.¡±


    ¡°Ah wait!¡± Baldar grabbed Hiro¡¯s arm, ¡°Hiro I wanna ask you something.¡±


    Hiro turned around, ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Be mine.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Maria and Collette covered their mouths and quickly backed up while several of the other students lying down shot up. Collette¡¯s instructor almost broke out laughing as well as she stared at Baldur and Hiro, and the looked down at Collette and Maria.


    One of them was a girl with black hair whose arms were covered in bandages, she just stared at Baldar dumbfounded. She didn¡¯t seem to quite understand what was going on, but she was certain she heard what Baldar just said. While the other student was a young boy with light brown hair who burst out laughing when he turned over to look at what was happening.


    Collette noticed the young boy and shouted, ¡°Francis! Don¡¯t be rude.¡±


    Hiro thought about it and politely bowed his head, ¡°I refuse.¡±


    Baldar closed let Hiro¡¯s arm go, and laid back down laughing, ¡°Well it was worth a shot. Though I¡¯m curious, why not?¡±


    ¡°Brother!¡±, Maria¡¯s face grew red and she looked back and forth from her brother and Hiro, ¡°He must have his reasons¡­¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just that, I¡¯ve already dedicated my life towards someone so I can¡¯t let anyone tie me down.¡±


    Maria paused, before saying, ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, take care of yourselves, Maria, Collette.¡±


    Francis over in the other bed yelled, ¡°I¡¯m here too!¡±


    ¡°You too Francis! Get better. ¡±


    With those words, Hiro left the infirmary, and the finally Collette¡¯s instructor broke out laughing. Collette turned towards her instructor and reprimanded her, ¡°Instructor!¡±


    ¡°Ah, forgive me, forgive me. It was just too funny. Anyway...¡±


    She quickly pulled out a ring and placed it on her finger and began casting a healing spell on Baldar before leaving, ¡°You should get some rest.¡±


    Baldar nodded his head and closed his eyes, and the other students began to lie back down as well. Well except for one, the black haired female student who stared at Hiro and Baldar still remained upright as she mumbled to herself, ¡°This isn¡¯t right¡­¡±

 Chapter 13: Mana, Qi, Prana

    After Hiro left the infirmary he stopped by the cafeteria adjacent to the dorms before heading to his next class. His next class which was in the practice field up north, supposedly this was a special supplementary class for him since he was the only magic knight who in a sense couldn¡¯t be properly classified as either a mage or a knight by the academy. He was admitted to the curriculum purely on his firepower alone.


    As Hiro got to the training grounds he was surprised to see the two Headmasters waiting there with a blackboard. Alfred the Headmaster of the Knight Division pulled out a golden pocket watch, he turned over to Hiro and said, ¡°Well we¡¯re a bit early, but since you¡¯re the only one participating why don¡¯t we start.¡±


    Hiro nodded, there was no point in wasting time, time was something he sorely needed. Hiro quickly grabbed a small box that was on the floor and sat down. The Head of the Magic Division Miss Campbell waved her hand and a piece of chalk began drawing a Human body while she explained, ¡°We¡¯ve already generally explained the concepts of Magic and Qi to you, Mages use mana, while warriors and knights use Qi.¡±


    Hiro nodded his head, ¡°But what''s the point in differentiating the two? In the end aren¡¯t they both mana?¡±


    Miss Campbell shook her head, ¡°Unlike the mana you use to cast your spells, Qi is limited to your body. The only time Qi exits your body is through certain techniques or through reinforcing your equipment.¡±


    Then a red chalk began to float through the air began drawing red wavy lines around the Human figure, while the white chalk began to draw a sword and a shield. Miss Campbell continued,


    ¡°In the end, there are four primary aspects of Qi, reinforcement, purification, transformation, and consolidation. For now let¡¯s focus on the first two aspects of Qi, reinforcement, and purification.¡±


    Hiro looked at Miss Campbell in confusion, ¡°Purification?¡±


    Albert nodded his head, ¡°Hiro have you ever heard of monks?¡±


    ¡°Like the ones at churches?¡±


    Albert shook his head, ¡°No, they¡¯re practitioners of a certain group of people in the south-east that don¡¯t worship Gods. They practice incredibly unique spells that allowed them to have incredibly long life spans. Over here in Renton, due to being the frontier the average lifespan is only about fifty years, and even then that¡¯s only due to magic. In a place like Tribole, the average lifespan is probably about sixty years old. Now take a guess, how long do you think the average lifespan was in these southeastern countries?¡±


    ¡°About the same as Tribole? Maybe slightly higher?¡±


    ¡°No, it was one hundred years, many of the people there would live for upwards of a hundred years because they believed in something called Prana.¡±


    ¡°Prana?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I suppose in a sense you could call it Life Energy. They were able to convert mana into life energy that not only gave them incredible regenerative capabilities but extreme lifespans.¡±


    ¡°I see...then, in reality, Qi is Prana?¡±


    Miss Campbell shook her head, ¡°No, we managed to derive Qi from Prana, but they¡¯re not the same thing. Anyway, that¡¯s a story for another day. Let¡¯s get back on topic.¡±


    ¡°Ah, right.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m sure you understand the gist of reinforcement, by absorbing mana over a long period of time one is able to permanently increase their physical capabilities. I could go over the specifics of how that works, but that¡¯s irrelevant. As for purification, to put it simply it¡¯s too expel impurities out of your body to allow your body to store Qi within your body.¡±


    ¡°Impurities?¡±


    Miss Campbell nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sure you realize that Human flesh isn¡¯t a good medium when you use mana to reinforce your body it gets covered by a faint glow doesn¡¯t it? And the more mana you use the greater the glow. But think about the power to strength ratio when you use magic like that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah I know, when I use a small reinforcement on my body it doesn¡¯t cost that much mana to maintain it. But when I use a lot more mana, while it is stronger, compared to how much mana I used, in the beginning, it¡¯s far weaker.¡±


    Miss Campbell nodded, ¡°It¡¯s a right-skewed bell curve, but if the Human flesh was a more potent conductor of mana then in all likelihood we wouldn¡¯t even see any residual mana left over! We could even see a one to one ratio of mana to some definable level of strength! Though that¡¯s only theoretical, there¡¯s nothing in the world that possess an absolute compatibility for mana, not even those beings practical made of mana oddly enough.¡±


    ¡°But wait, how do you go about removing these impurities then?¡±


    Miss Campbell scratched her head and laughed wearily, ¡°Well no matter how much we study the Human body or how many experiments we conduct we¡¯ve only found one way to definitively achieve this¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? And that is?¡±


    Albert laughed and raised his fist in the air, ¡°Brute force! We simply bombard our bodies with enough Qi to force the impurities out of our body!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Miss Campbell sighed, ¡°Unfortunately there¡¯s no other feasible way. For now, just worry about reinforcing your body. Once your body has been reinforced enough to some degree, we¡¯ll help you expel the impurities from your body, and move on to the remaining aspects. After your purify your body once you¡¯ll also find it much easier to reinforce your body which is why growth for Knights typically follows an S curve.¡±


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    ¡°I see, but how long is it going to take for me to reach that level?¡±


    Albert answered, ¡°Three years.¡±


    ¡°What three years!? But wait how much stronger will I get.¡±


    ¡°For the current you it¡¯ll be like a drop in the bucket.¡±


    ¡°Then what¡¯s the point?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡±, Albert turned his head over to Miss Campbell, ¡°It¡¯s because¡­¡±


    Miss Campbell shook her head, ¡°In the first place reinforcing your body achieve more than just simple strengthening magic. It reinforces everything from your senses, to your defenses, to your immune system. You have a higher resistance to poison, diseases, and it once you purify your body you¡¯re reinforcement magic will become more efficient. Plus in the long run, the strength you get from your later reinforcements will allow your strength to grow rapidly. And if you want to pour your mana into reinforcement your strength could grow exponentially.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±, Albert laughed, ¡°That.¡±


    ¡°I see, but that reminds me before didn¡¯t you tell me that using Qi destroys my mana reserves? Then how am I supposed to cast spells?¡±


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s simple, Hiro try casting a spell right now.¡±


    Hiro nodded his head and began reinforcing his hand with mana causing it to glow a faint white.


    ¡°No, I mean an actual spell, you know how to cast spells right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, um, I have trouble controlling my spells so¡­¡±


    Miss Campbell laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re quite powerful in our own right. Even if you cast a powerful spell we¡¯ll be alright. Unless you¡¯re worried about property damage, if so then I promise if you break anything, blow something up, or anything then you won¡¯t get in trouble.¡±


    ¡°Well alright¡­¡±


    Hiro exhaled slowly, before focusing the mana in his hand into his palm forming a small transparent ball that burst into flames. The ball was only originally the size of a baseball, but as Hiro tried to maintain the size it suddenly grew rapidly to the size of a basketball and continued to expand.


    Miss Campbell stared at the large fireball and remarked, ¡°Impressive¡­¡±


    She grabbed wooden staff and the tapped the fireball in Hiro¡¯s hand causing it to suddenly explode, however, the explosion seemed to be contained by an invisible force and as she raised her staff the explosion erupted in the air away from everyone.


    Miss Campbell turned to Hiro and asked, ¡°Hiro, did you feel that?¡±


    ¡°Feel what? The explosion? The heat?¡±


    ¡°I see you were probably to distracted by the giant fireball to notice. Frankly, I think your abnormally large mana reserves have been holding you back Hiro.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°From what I saw you gathered mana from your reserves into the palm of your hand and gathered some fire element inside of it to serve as the core of the spell. You even did this chantlessly which is quite impressive for a child your age. However, as you were consolidating your spell and trying to maintain it your spell grew to a point that you couldn¡¯t control it causing it to grow rapidly.¡±


    Hiro nodded his head, this has occurred every time he tried to cast a spell. It didn¡¯t matter how much older he grew, or how much mana he used, or even what spell he used. No matter what he did the most he could use were body reinforcement spells or shaping spells that partially solidified mana like the wings he used or the magic springs on his feet.


    ¡°The watch this Hiro.¡±


    Miss Campbell motioned Albert, and Albert began chanting before a small flame appeared on his finger. Hiro stared at Albert slightly confused, ¡°But wait, how? Isn¡¯t he a Knight?¡±


    Albert laughed, ¡°If it¡¯s something as simple as this even I can pull it off!¡±


    ¡°But what about Qi? What about your mana reserves?¡±


    Hearing this Albert gave Hiro a good smack in the back and continued laughing, ¡°Kid don¡¯t you know what program you¡¯re in? The Magic Knight program! Haven¡¯t you ever stopped and wondered about that?¡±


    ¡°That''s¡­¡±, Hiro paused as he thought about it, ¡°Actually yeah, I was so distracted I never really thought about it¡­¡±


    Miss Campbell continued, ¡°You see Hiro we mages control the mana in the surroundings, if we were to simply rely on our mana reserves then, in the end, we¡¯d only have a fraction of the mages we actually do have. That¡¯s the reason your magic went so berserk, you were unwittingly gathering the surrounding mana in your spell. Plus this way even if Magic Knights don¡¯t have mana reserves, they can still cast spells.¡±


    Hiro¡¯s eyes widened, he didn¡¯t think about it like this. To begin with, he was never much of a mage when it came to controlling mana, as a Hero he not only had massive mana reserves, but his Divine Artifacts basically gave him a practically infinite amount of mana. His spells mostly consisted of movement spells and powerful blasts from gathering an extreme amount of mana.


    As Hiro thought of the possibilities, he bowed his head and said, ¡°Thank you, Instructor Campbell.¡±


    Miss Campbell smiled and handed Hiro a small journal, ¡°This is a journal I used back when I was an apprentice. It has all sorts of notes of spells and techniques, I¡¯m sure this will be of great help. Hiro you¡¯ve got a long eight years ahead of you. Put them to good use.¡±

 Chapter 14: Wait Who Are You?

    After finishing up the supplementary class with the two headmasters Hiro continued on to the rest of his classes. His classes were a mix of general education which he barely paid attention too mostly because he already had a good understanding of the subjects they covered. After all, he did live nine other lives before this one.


    Following the general education courses, Hiro would take on some courses for Knights unless they were ones he was given special permission to be excused from. These courses typically included the close quarters combat sparring courses where students would spar with each other and courses designs to teach students how to use weapons and certain techniques.


    He argued with the Headmaster of the Knight Division, Albert, that he was already well familiar with sword techniques and sparring with most of the other students would mostly be pointless. After all other than a few other children in the Magical Knight division, including Baldar, there were few other children his age could really match him in a physical brawl.


    Instead, Hiro argued, it was more efficient to take the time that would have been wasted in such classes and use it to reinforce his body with mana. After all, according to Headmaster of the Magic Division, Miss Campbell, if Hiro spent the next couple years just focusing on reinforcing his body instead of going to class he could shorten the required three years to a mere two years.


    Of course this meant neglecting physical training, which was rather counterproductive, and as a result, Hiro would miss out on his magic classes causing him to be behind all the other students. But if he could take the time to reinforce himself instead of going to a relatively pointless sparring match then it was likely he could slightly speed up the process.


    Thus Albert begrudgingly agreed, though unfortunately for Hiro he was unable to do the same in regards to his general education courses. As for the time spent in his Magic courses, and Magical Knight courses, well he didn¡¯t mind taking the time to go to those classes especially the Magic classes.


    Hiro was never much of a mage, and after understanding his problem on why he couldn¡¯t control his spells he strove to be able to control his magic. Plus taking the class allowed himself to familiarize himself with even more spells and prepare countermeasures against them.


    Though in the end this schedule did leave Hiro rather busy, whenever he wasn¡¯t sleeping, eating, or in class he could either be seen running around the campus doing something bizarre as physical training, sitting in his room just constantly absorbing more mana, or in the library reading up on spells and other miscellaneous information.


    While Hiro was in the library he¡¯d also hoped to find more information about the Holy Empire or the Demon King, but in the end, it was only a school library. Most of the texts focused on Renton, the unexplored frontier, the neighboring countries, magic, combat, economics, and so on.


    Though Hiro didn¡¯t explore all of the library, however in the end, he doubted there was anything relevant that he wanted. So, for the most part, he gave up. But one day when he was reading a book in the library a girl with black hair suddenly walked up to him as he was reading a book and asked, ¡°Um, excuse me. Are you Hiro Whitmore?¡±


    Hiro looked up, at the black haired girl. She looked to be around his age, and when he looked over at her arms that were clutching a book he noticed that she didn¡¯t wear a bracelet signifying her status. As Hiro looked at he felt like he¡¯d seen her somewhere before so he replied, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Hiro Whitmore. Also, excuse me, but have we met before?¡±


    ¡°Ah no, um, in a sense yes, but not directly.¡±


    Hiro thought about it and looked through his memory and he recalled, ¡°Oh, the girl from the infirmary, the one with the broken arms.¡±


    The girl laughed wearily, ¡°Yes, um I¡¯m Karen, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Karen, now did you need something from me?¡±


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    ¡°Ah, yes! Um, by any chance Hiro is your father Viscount Whitmore?¡±


    ¡°Viscount? Well, yes, but my Father is a Baron, not a Viscount.¡±


    ¡°Um, then do you have a brother named Duk-¡± Karen coughed before continuing, ¡°I mean Quinn?¡±


    Hiro nodded his head, ¡°Why what¡¯s this about?¡±


    ¡°And do you have a sister named Eris?¡±


    Hiro paused, ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    ¡°Um¡­¡±, Karne hesitated before finally asking, ¡°Can I ask you a few more questions.¡±


    Hiro stared at Karen, he wasn¡¯t sure why she was asking him these things, but he didn¡¯t feel it would hurt too answer a few more questions and nodded.


    ¡°Then by any chance have you ever heard of the countries China, America, Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, India, Spain, France, Russia, or Germany?¡±


    Hiro shook his head, other than the Holy Empire and the Underworld he wasn¡¯t all too familiar with any other countries. However as he was waiting for the next question Karen seemed to lose herself in thought, so Hiro asked, ¡°Karen? Are you okay?¡±


    Karen snapped out of her daze and replied hurriedly, ¡°Ah yes!¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but can I just ask you one more question. This is a bit weird, but¡­ have you died before?¡±


    Hiro¡¯s eyes widened, and suddenly his mana flared up and he grabbed Karen by the neck and lifted her up causing the books to fall to the ground. He asked, ¡°Who are you? What do you know?¡±


    Karen panicked as she began hitting Hiro¡¯s arm, ¡°I give, I give, please let me down.¡±


    Hiro glared at her, ¡°Answer me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just a normal student, I¡¯m Karen, part of the Magic Division.¡±


    Hiro tightened his grip, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡±


    Karen grew pale, ¡°Please, I promise I¡¯m not an enemy, it¡¯s just that I can...I can see the future!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Please, it¡¯s too tight¡­¡±


    Hiro loosened his grip and let Karen down causing her to fall to her knees and gasp for breath. Hiro looked down at her and asked, ¡°What do you mean you can see the future?¡±


    Karen looked around and said, ¡°It¡¯s a bit inaccurate to say that I can see the future, but I¡¯ve seen the future in a sense. It¡¯s difficult to explain.¡±


    ¡°How can I trust you.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t, and frankly I¡¯m not even sure if I can trust you. Frankly, this was a big risk, but things just went off track too much.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Karen looked up and stared at Hiro in the eyes, ¡°I mean you aren¡¯t supposed to be here.¡±


    Hiro recalled the voice he¡¯d heard back in his dorm, `you don¡¯t belong here` it said. Hiro asked, ¡°What do you mean by that, I¡¯ve been told that before. What do you mean I¡¯m not supposed to be here?¡±


    ¡°Huh? You¡¯ve been told that before? Does that mean¡­¡±,Karen lost herself in thought again before shaking her head, ¡°Well what I meant was originally according to the timeline I saw, you didn¡¯t exist. The person known as Hiro Whitmore never existed.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°According to my memories, Baron Whitmore and his wife gave birth to a single son, a prodigious mage and the Baron¡¯s mistress a daughter who would go on to be a Magic Knight. The Baron and his wife would go on later to rise through the ranks becoming a Viscount and later perish in the War.¡±


    ¡°A prodigious mage? Quinn?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? Is your brother not an incredible mage? Your father should have taught his a great deal of magic at a young age, but due to his frail body he wouldn¡¯t take the path to become a Magic Knight and instead reach incredible heights in the arcane arts under the third prince.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about, I haven¡¯t seen Quinn cast a single spell in my life. He even chose the to take the general education course.¡±


    ¡°What!? No, take that back right now!¡±


    Hiro was taken aback, ¡°Huh why?¡±


    ¡°No, that can¡¯t be...we need him!¡±


    As Karen was stood up and was about to take off, Hiro grabbed her arm and asked, ¡°What are you on about.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you understand!? No, of course, you don¡¯t understand, no one understands! Quinn is one of Renton¡¯s Heroes, well will be. Without Quinn... Renton very well might not exist in the future!¡±

 Chapter 14.5 Theres Nothing Better Than Camping!

    ¡°Hey wake up¡­¡±, Hiro felt someone shake his shoulder a man called out to him once more, ¡°Come on now wake up...¡±


    The before he could open his eyes, he felt himself being flung into the air as a female voice shouted, ¡°He said wake up!¡±


    Hiro opened his eyes as he was swirling through the air before he fell into a shallow river below. He sat back up and looked back at his companions, ¡°That was rude.¡±


    The short red-haired female dwarf in front of him who had just thrown him all the way into the river along with his tent crossed her arms, ¡°The ya shoulda just woken up!¡±


    A purple robed white-haired elf walked up from behind the short female dwarf and patted her head, ¡°Calm down Suri, give him a break.¡±


    Suri hit the white-haired elf¡¯s hand away, ¡°Shut up Albis!¡±


    Then sudden a blonde haired woman in silver armor walked towards the river and clapped her hands, ¡°Now now, play nice you too.¡±


    Suri turned around and her eyes sparkled, ¡°Ah! Princess!¡±


    Suri walked over and gave the Princess a hug, and the princess gently caressed her hair. Hiro walked out of the river, his body exuding a golden radiance causing his clothes to instantly dry and together with Albis he walked over and kneeled down, ¡°Greetings, Your Highness.¡±


    The Princess smiled wearily, ¡°How goes the training Albis, Suri.¡±


    Suri raised her head, and replied, ¡°It¡¯s been horrible, for a man whose inherited the memories and techniques for eight heroes all he can do is use his absurd amount of mana to brute force his way through everything.¡±


    The princess sighed and shook her head, ¡°Suri just because he possesses their memories doesn¡¯t mean his body is capable of executing their techniques.¡±


    ¡°But this is the Hero we¡¯re talking about! He should be stronger than anyone else, faster than anyone else, and his technique should surpass everyone else! If he¡¯s not stronger than Albis, he should at least be stronger than me especially if he¡¯s going to wed you, princess, right...¡±


    Suri turned her head as she was still hugging the princess as she glared at her back at Hiro. Hiro was rendered speechless, and Albis merely laughed wearily before saying, ¡°Anyway you¡¯re highness we should really get back to training.¡±


    Albis stood up and raised his hand causing his staff to fly out towards him from their camping grounds. However as Albis raised his staff to cast a spell, Hiro who was standing in front of him was suddenly flung back across the river.


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    Albis looked at this wide-eyed before turning his head, ¡°Suri!¡±


    ¡°Let me have a go at it!¡±


    ¡°You went last time! Also, give us a warning next time! Are you trying to kill the Hero or something?¡±


    Suri laughed as she easily held her massive hammer twice as large as she was on her shoulder, ¡°No Hero is that easy to kill.¡±


    Suri motioned her head towards the spot the Hero landed, and as he laid buried in the ground covered in his own blood a golden light began to gather around his chest. An amulet flew out from under his shirt and shone brightly.


    Suddenly a golden Halo formed over Hiro¡¯s body and all of his wounds suddenly disappeared. Hiro immediately got back up and a pair of golden wings unfurled from his back. He raised his hand causing golden rays of light to gather.


    But as these rays began to take the shape of a sword a massive spear was suddenly flung towards Hiro to duck which interrupted the formation of the sword. Suri charged forward covered in a white light shouting, ¡°Too slow!¡±


    She swung her massive hammer and Hiro formed a golden shield on his right arm taking the blow and being flung through the trees. Hiro¡¯s halo formed again healing his injuries, but before he could fully heal, several large axes and swords were thrown towards him.


    Suri shouted, ¡°Do you think someone would have given you the time to summon your artifacts in an actual battle!? You need to reach your optimum state in an instance.¡±


    Suri dropped her massive hammer and it disappeared into the floor, she then stuck both hands into the dirt and pulled out two giant gauntlets and smashed them together, ¡°You better get ready for a beating young man.¡±


    Hiro finally summoned his golden sword, and he charged Suri, but as he flew through the forest he suddenly felt his world spin as he heard someone shout, ¡°Wake up!¡±


    Suddenly Hiro felt hit the floor and as he looked around Owen was there with several other instructors and they were in the middle of the forest. Owen looked at all the magical knight students he¡¯d tossed down and said, ¡°Surprise survival boot camp time!¡±


    Hiro slowly got up and dusted the dirt off his clothes, as he mumbled, ¡°How nostalgic.¡±

 Chapter 14.6 How I Met Your Mother

    In the southern district of the Capital City of Liwein, there was an incredibly large market filled with all sorts of products. It was here one could find everything from as simple as fruits and vegetables to weapons and luxury goods. The market was filled with all sorts of skilled craftsmen, there were magic scribes creating scrolls, blacksmiths forging armor, weavers selling fabric, alchemist brewing potions, and so much more.


    And it was due to all these goods that all manner of men of women from all walks of life would come here. There were the residents of the capital coming to buy their groceries, there were adventurers gearing up with some new equipment, mages buying new robes, knights repairing their armor, and naturally the rich would often visit these markets to buy all sorts of luxury goods.


    And last but not least there were the merchants and their employees, they would come to the market every day to buy and sell goods. They would enter the auction houses to bid for specific items, or some would take the time to invest in a business by setting up shop. Though this avenue was only really available to nobles or the wealthier merchants.


    It was also in this district that one could find a maid and several guards leading a caravan down one of the districts larger streets. However instead of following the caravan which was heading further west where a large number of warehouses were located the maid got off and walked towards a building with an emblem of a blue rose.


    As she walked in the employees bowed and greeted her, and she waved her hand dismissing them. She walked up a flight of stairs and down a hallway before reaching a door. But before she could knock she heard a voice from inside saying, ¡°Come in Noel.¡±


    The Head Maid Noel didn¡¯t appear to be shocked as she quietly opened the door and walked into the room. The room was a relatively small office, only furnished with a few lamps, a desk, some bookshelves, and most of the room was used simply to store a few boxes and a large amount of paperwork.


    Baron Whitmore was sitting down using magic to float several papers in the air as he read them while writing something down. At the same time, several other pieces of paper were floating across the room being neatly sorted, and there was even the stamp to the side of the desk stamping a stack of papers.


    Noel looked at this and sighed, ¡°Sir, shouldn¡¯t you get some of the secretaries to do this sort of work?¡±


    ¡°No need, I¡¯m more than plenty.¡±


    Noel shook her head, ¡°Honestly, what I don¡¯t know what to do with you.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s Thomas?¡±


    ¡°Recovering. He said he should be fully healed within a week or two.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± the Baron drew some symbols quickly with his right finger that was writing something down causing a drawer to open and a red box with a yellow ribbon flew out towards Noel, ¡°Do you mind giving this to him?¡±


    Noel looked at the box, but before she could ask anything the Baron replied, ¡°It¡¯s chocolate.¡±


    Noel put away the box and replied, ¡°Alright.¡±


    Then Baron Whitmore put his pen down and clapped his hands causing the papers in the air to turn into a stack that landed on his desk. He raised his head and looked at Noel, ¡°So how are they?¡±


    ¡°According to Owen, the first young master Hiro has performed incredibly. Apparently, in the beginning, he even beat up the Third Prince. In terms of being a Knight, he¡¯s quite lacking in terms of Qi, he¡¯s yet to obtain a first level Spiritual Body either. However, as a Mage, the young master has performed admirably and has shown rapid improvement for a child his age.¡±


    ¡°And his brother?¡±


    Noel replied hesitantly, ¡°The second young master Quinn has yet to do anything noteworthy outside of his general education courses. He¡¯s taken a few Knight and Magic courses but they were all very basic and elementary courses¡­¡±


    Noel paused, ¡°Holstein are you really just going to leave him like this?¡±


    ¡°I told them they could do as they wish.¡±


    ¡°But why!? Even if the Whitmore¡¯s would be fine with the first young master, it doesn¡¯t mean we should just leave the second young master like this. We should push him forward.¡±


    ¡°Noel, I¡¯ve told you before-¡±


    Noel clenched her fist, ¡°He¡¯s your son! He¡¯s her son! What would Victoria think of this!?¡±


    Then suddenly the temperature in the room dropped, it was similar to what happened in the study years ago, but this time the temperature dropped drastically. Noel¡¯s face paled and she began to control the mana in her surroundings and formed a small region around herself where the temperature was warmer.


    Noel looked at the Baron and said, ¡°Holstein¡­ this isn¡¯t like you.¡±


    ¡°Get out.¡±


    ¡°Holstein, think of your children. Think of your family.¡±


    ¡°I said get out.¡±


    ¡°I know it hurt when she died, but it¡¯s been a decade...what about the mistress, what about Eris. I¡¯m not saying you should forget her but-¡±


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    The Baron slammed his fist on the desk causing several stacks of paper to fall off, he slowly said, ¡°Get out Noel.¡±


    Noel clenched her fist and turned around exiting the room. The Baron sighed and went to pick up the papers he¡¯d knocked over as well as the stamp that had also fallen. But as he picked up the stamp which had the same emblem that was in front of the store he couldn¡¯t help but reminisce¡­


    ~20 years ago~


    ¡°So you¡¯re heading back Holstein?¡±


    The Baron who had only just recently graduated from the academy turned around, and bowed, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Headmaster, but I can¡¯t just leave my mother alone. Our territory is close to the frontier and I¡¯ve heard that our sales haven¡¯t been doing too well.¡±


    ¡°I see, I would have liked for you to have become a Royal Mage or an instructor, but I pray for your success.¡±


    Holstein laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll come by to visit whenever I stop by the capital.¡±


    Holstein turned back around and looked at the coaches before him, and asked, ¡°Derrick are those Adventurers we hired here yet?¡±


    A black haired well-built man poked his head out from the coach and replied, ¡°Ah, not yet.¡±


    Holstein walked over to the other coach, and asked, ¡°How are things on your end Charles?¡±


    ¡°Good to go, if they¡¯re late I can just send a letter to the Guild and we can just be on our way.¡±


    Holstein shook his head, ¡°No, you can head to the gates now. I¡¯ll wait here for the Adventurers.¡±


    Charles and Derrick replied, ¡°Alright boss.¡±


    The headmaster walked up to Holstein who sat down, ¡°You hired Adventurers?¡±


    ¡°Yeah according to the Guild these two had just returned from the frontier, they were originally a party of five, but three of them perished. The other two returned to the capital to look for more party members and stock up on equipment apparently.¡±


    ¡°Oh? But do you even need guards, given your level of strength even if you were to be ambushed you could fend off most people?¡±


    Holstein looked up and said, ¡°In truth, I intend to join them, I heard among the adventurers these two are quite powerful, there¡¯s even a magic knight among the two of them.¡±


    ¡°A graduate?"


    Holstein shook his head, ¡°No, that¡¯s why it peaked my interest.¡±


    ¡°What are their names?¡±


    ¡°Oh, their names are-¡±


    Holsteins suddenly raised his hand and a wall of ice appeared in front of him, and just as abruptly as it appeared it was immediately cut into pieces. A brown haired woman then immediately charged forward knocking the pieces of ice away as she swung her heavy broadsword down.


    Holstein twisted his hand in the air and suddenly a tornado shot out of his hands knocking the woman back. The headmaster immediately pulled out his staff, but Holstein stood up and motioned him to stop.


    Then a blonde haired woman in light silver armor appeared beside the brown haired women, she drew her sword and said, ¡°Sir Holstein I presume?¡±


    Holstein looked at the women¡¯s sword and noticed that it was coated in a layer of frost, and its guard was surrounded by thorns formed of ice. He smiled, and raised his hand causing several spears of ice to form in the air around him, ¡°Victoria I presume?¡±


    Victoria nodded her head, and Holstein turned towards the brown-haired woman, ¡°And Elizabeth?¡±


    The woman named Elizabeth grinned,¡°The one and only!¡±


    Victoria lowered her head slightly, ¡°I apologize for being late and for our abruptness.¡±


    Holstein laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, but should you really just be standing there?¡±


    Holstein took a step forward and a mass of ice surged forward from his feet trying to engulf the two of them. At the same time, the ice spears floating above Holstein shot forward with incredible speed.


    However Victoria appeared quite calm, she merely swung her sword down and the wave of frost around her sword surged forward. As the wave of frost crashed into Holstein¡¯s mass of ice, the ice suddenly transformed into a mass of icy thorns that instead shot backward blocking the ice spears.


    Holstein¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at this phenomenon, and his finger reached towards a ring on his other hand. The suddenly, Victoria appeared beside him, her sword to his throat. He turned to the side and said, ¡°I underestimated you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d do best not to underestimate your opponents, sir.¡±


    Holstein laughed, ¡°No, it¡¯s not that, you¡¯re just a lot more beautiful than I anticipated. And you¡¯re even more so up close.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nice that you can take a compliment.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve naturally been told I was beautiful before.¡±


    Holstein continued to laugh, ¡°I bet! Anyway, I suppose let¡¯s call this a draw.¡±


    Victoria looked over at the ring flashing brightly on Holstein''s finger and put down her sword, ¡°I suppose.¡±


    Holstein extended his hand and smiled, ¡°Once again it¡¯s nice to meet you Victoria¡±

 Chapter 15: A Different Timeline

    ¡°So have you calmed down?¡±, Hiro turned to Karen who was sitting down in his room quietly sipping a cup of tea.


    ¡°Not really.¡±


    ¡°Well then can you at least explain like...everything.¡±


    Karen sighed, ¡°This is all your fault you know.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been doing my best to stick to the damn script, and you¡¯re here just ad-libbing it.¡±


    Hiro raised his brow, ¡°What script? Nothing you say makes any sense.¡±


    ¡°Of course it doesn¡¯t make sense! Why would it make sense?¡±


    ¡°Just calm down and drink your tea.¡±


    Karen puffed up her cheeks and pouted as she raised her cup and took a sip of her tea, she muttered, ¡°This is surprisingly delicious.¡±


    Hiro nodded, as he poured himself a cup of tea, ¡°They were good leaves.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you knew how to brew it though.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s important to maintain your health, both physically and mentally. And well...¡±, Hiro recalled a certain princess and female dwarf, ¡°For one reason or another I came to learn how to properly make tea.¡±


    ¡°Heh¡±, Karen sipped her tea, and then began to explain, ¡°This is going to get confusing, but in the end, these sort of things are always so convoluted so bear with me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±


    ¡°Anyways I¡¯ve seen the future of a single timeline that would likely occur if a certain set of events took place. As for how I saw this, I¡¯m not entirely sure either, but from my own research everything that I saw is likely to occur.¡±


    ¡°And what exactly is going to take place? The destruction of Renton?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°The destruction of Renton was prevented in the timeline I saw, the one to be destroyed is the Five Elements Alliance.¡±


    ¡°The Five Elements Alliance?¡±, Hiro thought back to the books he read and recalled that Lugh one of the countries bordering Renton to the north was part of the Five Elements Alliance and Tribole the other country bordering Renton was at war with Lugh as well as the rest of the Alliance.


    According to the books, the Five Elements Alliance was established solely to defend against Tribole, and if it weren¡¯t for the threat Tribole posed the Alliance would have long since splintered and each Kingdom would be at each other''s throats.


    Hiro asked, ¡°Does Tribole conquer the Alliance?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°No, the Alliance was destroyed due to internal issues, and Tribole at the time was too focused on its own issues to really take advantage of the scenario. The real problem comes after the alliance disbands¡­¡±


    ¡°What happened.¡±


    Karen raised her head, ¡°Hiro do you know why the Five Element Alliance is called the five element alliance or why they¡¯re strong enough to contend with Tribole despite being maybe only a third it¡¯s size?¡±


    Hiro shook his head, and Karen continued, ¡°It¡¯s because the Alliance itself is a giant weapon. Lugh of Earth, Raizel of Lightning, Syl of Wind, Ifring of Fire, and Wales of Water, each country represents a certain element that their country is blessed with, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s abnormal for five countries of such varying elements and climates to all be clustered together?¡±


    Hiro¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me they¡­¡±


    Karen nodded her heads, ¡°It¡¯s probably close to what you think. Centuries ago these five Kingdoms gathered all their mages and forcibly changed the nature of their dragon veins.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s suicidal!¡±


    ¡°But it worked, they built channels connecting all five kingdoms acting as artificial ley lines, they created cities and temples to act as nodes and serve as focal points to guide the mana, and then they carved engravings across their cities splitting the mana into five parts in order to divide it across the five kingdoms. In a sense, the Five Elements Alliance is essentially a giant magic circle.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s insane¡­¡±


    Karen nodded her head, ¡°The range is quite limited, but at any given moment the Five Elements Alliance can cast a spell utilizing the mana of five dragon veins to cast a forbidden spell whose scale rivals a nuke or perhaps even surpasses it.¡±


    ¡°A nuke?¡±


    ¡°Ah my bad, that¡¯s a bad analogy. To put it simply they could level mountains and destroy cities in an instant. No, given the scale of the spell it would likely even surpass that.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±, Hiro thought about how frightening that would be, this meant as long as the five Kingdoms agreed upon it they could install call upon a level of strength previously only those absurd monsters and individuals could exhibit.


    Hiro mumbled, ¡°I wonder if I could apply this to the Holy Empire¡­¡±


    If the Holy Empire could establish something like the Five Elements Alliance or even create two of such weapons the even without the Hero they could fend off the Demon King. But the Hiro suddenly realized something, ¡°Wait then why are the Five Element Alliance at a standstill, even with the limited range of the forbidden spell there should naturally exist other benefits to controlling five dragon veins. Plus with such a powerful trump card, why are they still at war¡­¡±


    The suddenly Hiro¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°No way, they really are insane.¡±


    Karen nodded, ¡°The Five Element Alliances trump card costs a steep price, after all, they weaponized dragon veins. Even a single use can cause an extreme shortage of mana for a decade within the alliance.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°And here lies the problem, when the Five Elements Alliance turn against each other in the future this weapon of mass destruction will be fired. Perhaps this would have been alright in any other scenario, but the spell target the Alliance.¡±


    ¡°Was the alliance reduced to dust?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°No, the Alliance¡¯s forbidden spell is called Elemental Destroyer, it focuses a large quantity of mana into five points and shoots it out. As all five masses collide, they violent explode destroying everything. And in order to stop this the alliance altered the spell, instead of focusing the mana into a single point, all the mana gathered in the five dragon veins gushed outward.¡±


    Then Karen gripped her cup of tea, ¡°As a result not only did the five main dragon veins erupt releasing all the mana they built up but every other dragon vein within the alliance. Mana levels reached toxic levels, beasts experienced mutations, and the alliance became a desolate land.¡±


    ¡°So did a war break out?¡±


    Karen nodded her head, ¡°A war for survival. The alliance couldn¡¯t trust each other anymore, Wales took to the ocean, Raizel charged northward into the adjacent kingdoms, Syl flew to the sky in their artificial floating islands, and Lugh sought refuge with their closest neighbors Renton. However the effects of the elemental tide were far-reaching, the beasts in the frontier grew active, new and more powerful monsters rose up, and finally Tribole with the alliance having vanished marched southward.¡±


    Hiro looked down at his cup of tea which had gone cold by now and asked, ¡°What happened to Renton? Also, what does any of this have to do with me?¡±


    Karen looked up, ¡°During the War Renton exhibit incredible martial prowess as they fought on two fronts. The Royal Family lead their armies to northward stopping Tribole¡¯s armies, as for Quinn he along with a small army held off the countless beasts and monsters heading towards what remained of the Alliance. And the thing is¡­¡±


    Karen stood up and slammed her hands on the table, ¡°How is he going to do that when your presence caused Renton¡¯s most powerful mage to remain a novice!¡±


    Hiro sipped his cup of tea, ¡°I fail to see how that¡¯s my fault.¡±

 Chapter 16: The Tides of History

    Karen sat back down and covered her face in frustration, ¡°Just what did you do¡­¡±


    ¡°I did nothing, I barely talk to my brother. I don¡¯t see how any of my actions could have stopped him from wanting to learn magic.¡±


    Karen sighed, ¡°Of course you didn¡¯t do anything.¡±


    Hiro paused, ¡°You know you¡¯re not making any sense here.¡±


    Karen stood up and walked up to Hiro. She stuck her finger out and tapped Hiro¡¯s chest, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what I said earlier. You don¡¯t belong here. In the timeline, I described you were never born. Your very existence has drastically altered the timeline and right now I have absolutely no clue what to expect anymore.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I see.¡± Hiro finished his cup of tea, ¡°Well good luck.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me do you.¡±


    ¡°Well it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you, which I don¡¯t, it¡¯s more that I¡¯ve got more important things to worry about.¡±


    ¡°More important than the destruction of six countries, including your own, and the death of millions!? Think about how many people will be killed by the beast tides alone ignoring Tribole¡¯s advances. If Quinn doesn¡¯t get out there and stop them you won¡¯t even have a single fief!¡±


    ¡°I am aware.¡±


    ¡°Then why? Even if you don¡¯t, believe me, you should know if there¡¯s even a one percent chance I¡¯m telling the truth then you should at least take precautions. Look I can even prove I¡¯m telling the truth, in about three years-¡±


    Hiro interrupted her, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The events you¡¯re describing are in the future, let¡¯s say a decade from now correct.¡±


    Karen nodded her head, ¡°Around a bit over a decade.¡±


    ¡°Alright, then do you think in these 10 or so years you can stop any of this from happening? Can you make Quinn passionate about magic? Can you stop the Elemental Tide? Can you hold off the invading beasts?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ but if we do nothing...¡±


    ¡°So what if we do nothing? The tides of history aren¡¯t so easily changed. So tell me what do exactly do you plan on doing? If your visions are true then all you need to do is flee.¡±


    Karen paused and looked at the ground, and muttered, ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, why not?¡±


    Karen clenched her fists, ¡°I just can¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Is that so.¡±


    Karen looked up and asked, ¡°I don¡¯t get it why don¡¯t you want to help me if it¡¯s you then-¡±


    ¡°What do you think I can do? Let¡¯s say you are telling the truth, the Elemental Tide occurs, the beasts invade, and Tribole marches southward the what? Do I fight off the beasts on my own? Do I attack Tribole? Am I supposed to stop the Elemental Tide?¡±


    Karen shouted, ¡°Yes! Any of those things would do, if it¡¯s you surely you could pull off something.¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve heard or seen, but your trust is unfounded. I¡¯ve got more important things to take care of.¡±


    Karen gritted her teeth, ¡°Then what about your family! Are you just going to leave them to die?¡±


    Hiro sat down on a chair and began to read a book, ¡°From my understanding my father has more than enough means to safeguards my family, and it¡¯s unlikely Tribole would go around massacring the citizens. Besides just because Renton is missing a single powerful individual doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll fall.¡±


    Hiro turned to Karen, ¡°You overestimate yourself girl. Now let¡¯s go.¡±


    Karen followed Hiro, ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    ¡°To class obviously.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    But as Hiro reached his door Karen tugged his arm and said, ¡°Wait.¡±


    Hiro turned around and asked, ¡°What?¡±


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    ¡°Three years from now your sister will be kidnapped. Originally your brother should have saved her, but as he is now I don¡¯t know what will happen. I don¡¯t know the exact day or time, but it was around three years from now. There¡¯s no other way I would know this if I didn¡¯t see the future.¡±


    Hiro paused, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Karen smiled wearily, ¡°Please, tell me if you change your mind.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t happen.¡±


    ¡°Well, it was worth a try.¡±


    ¡°Oh, and Karen right?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, yes?¡±


    ¡°Do you know of anyone referred to as the Demon King?


    ¡°Hmm?¡±, Karen thought about it and asked, ¡°The Dark Cult¡¯s God?¡±


    ¡°The Black Mist? Alright, thanks.¡±


    ~


    As Hiro was walking to class, he noticed in a brown haired child and a blonde haired girl on one of the central building balconies. He felt as if he recognized these two so he gathered some mana from the surroundings and strengthened his vision.


    To his surprise he found Quinn was up there with Maria, Baldar¡¯s sister and a princess. Hiro thought about it and then reinforced his body shooting up and towards the central building. Maria noticed the sudden burst of mana and turned her head.


    As Hiro landed beside them, and Maria looked up and said, ¡°You surprised me.¡±


    Hiro laughed, ¡°Well you surprised me as well so let¡¯s call it even.¡±


    Quinn looked into the distance, and said, ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Hiro.¡±


    Hiro nodded, ¡°How¡¯s the general curriculum treating you.¡±


    ¡°About as well as you could imagine, Owen¡¯s been coming around try to convince me to try other courses so I¡¯ve been dipping my feet in the water.¡±


    Maria looked at Quinn and asked, ¡°You two know each other?¡±


    Hiro scratched his head, ¡°In a sense.¡±


    Suddenly Baldar showed up behind Maria followed by several other magic knight students, ¡°Hiro? Maria? What are you two doing, classes, are about to start.¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±, Maria turned around, ¡°Brother! Oh, I lost track of time.¡±


    She turned to Quinn and smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll be taking my leave now Quinn.¡±


    Maria walked over to Baldar, and looked over at Hiro, ¡°Come on Hiro let¡¯s go.¡±


    Hiro turned towards Quinn, and said, ¡°Alright just give me a minute, go on ahead.¡±


    Maria waved goodbye, ¡°Alright.¡±


    Hiro waved back and watched the four of them go down the stairs. He got off the railing he was standing and leaned over staring into the distance. He asked Quinn, ¡°So, in the end, did any of it interest you?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡±


    ¡°Like Swords or Bows, or let¡¯s say Magic. Which one would you pick? ¡±


    Quinn looked up to the sky, and replied, ¡°No, it didn¡¯t.¡±


    Hiro paused, and turned around, ¡°Well have fun.¡±


    Hiro thought of what Karen told him. He wasn¡¯t sure whether to believe her or not, however, if the events she predicted would occur three years from now occurred then it¡¯s likely there was some truth in what she said.


    Hiro took a quick glance at Quinn before descending the stairs. But even if it were the truth, he had no way of changing anything, and there were more pressing matters at hand. He had to return to the north, to the Holy Empire, and he had to figure out just where in the world he ended up.


    Also, there was something concerning stuck in his head. If Karen was telling the truth then just what in the world was going on? Why wasn¡¯t he in the original timeline? Why did his existence drastically alter the future? And why does no one seem to know what the Demon King is¡­


    He just couldn¡¯t get it out of his head, like every other question from before and it just made him grow even more frustrated.

 Chapter 17: A Friendly Spar

    One day as all the students were going about their day finishing their classes their instructors informed them that the day after and the following week afterwards there would be no classes. Instead, the Magic Knight Division was ordered to report to the northern part of campus before sunrise, followed by the magic division, and the knight division.


    Thus in the following day, all the Magic Knight students woke up before sunrise and made their way over to the northern campus. Hiro woke up and dragged himself over to the fields where he met some unfamiliar faces.


    His class only had about thirty Magic Knights when everyone was present, but currently, there were over seventy Magic Knights in the field not including the instructors. Hiro observed these unfamiliar Magic Knights and realized that these were likely his upperclassmen.


    As Hiro recalled the fact that academy only sends out invitations once every three years, he understood why there was such a difference between some of these upperclassman physiques. In truth, some of his own classmates were quite close in age to some of these upperclassmen and even within their class they naturally had an age gap of one to two years.


    Soon enough after the sun was starting to rise the Principal suddenly appeared descending from the sky alongside the two other Headmasters. He quickly cast a spell to amplify his voice and began to say, ¡°Frankly we¡¯re short on time so I¡¯ll dispense with the formalities and make this quick otherwise we¡¯ll be here all day. For you upperclassmen this is nothing new, you¡¯ve experienced it three years ago, and some even six years ago. However, for you freshman, this is will be a defining moment for you.¡±


    All the freshman looked at each other and began chattering when suddenly Miss Campbell struck the ground with her staff and shouted, ¡°Silence!¡±


    A powerful shockwave traveled through the ground and immediately silenced everyone. The principal coughed, ¡°It has been close to a year now, and all of you have surely grown a great deal so during this week we will put you all to the test. We will hold an intramural competition to see how all of you have progressed.¡±


    The principal looked over to Miss Campbell and she nodded, she immediately began chanting rapidly and a black sphere shot out of her hand expanding into a dome that covered everyone on the field. The principal then pulled out a blue crystal and it began to display several charts.


    ¡°In the beginning, all of you will be separated by year, and each division will hold a preliminary to determine their seeded fighters. Those who are seeded don¡¯t need to participate until later, however, the rest of you will have to compete against the qualifying students and depending on the results you may be stripped of your position as a Magic Knight.¡±


    The freshman gasped in shock, but they quickly quieted down in fear of any punishment that would follow. The principal laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t let it get to you, quite a few you of you will still be around by the end of the competition. However activities like this are vital for the academy, and there still lies a path for you even if you are stripped of your status. Also, the victors of the competition will naturally receive rewards, and the top contenders can even participate in the upperclassmen tournament to further win prizes.¡±


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    After the principal finished, he turned to Miss Campbell and the black dome broke into pieces. Then Albert the Headmaster of the Knight Division walked forward and shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s settle this quickly, split yourselves up into groups of six and then groups of two. We do it like a simple bracket tournament!¡±


    Miss Campbell nodded, ¡°And for those of you who aren¡¯t confident in grabbing a seeded seat, the at least put in some effort here as a form of practice. Unlike the other divisions, every single one of you is taking part in the actual tournament. At the beginning of the year, you were the best among your peers. However a year is a long time, there may even be some individuals who have surpassed you. You should take the time to put your all into these matches as we¡¯ve focused less on sparring over the year.¡±


    Hiro quickly made his way over to one of the groups and grabbed a fake sword from a nearby crate. However as he stood there in the group, he noticed that everyone was looking at him weirdly. He asked, ¡°Yes?¡±


    One of them, a boy with a light grey hair said, ¡°Um, nothing it¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t realize you used a sword.¡±


    Hiro looked down at the sword and said, ¡°Well I haven¡¯t been really paying attention to my swordplay, it¡¯d be a lot harder for me to improve if I practiced that. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve really used a sword against anyone except Baldar.¡±


    The other students grew quiet and turned to each other whispering. The grey-haired student sighed before walking forward and bowing, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to ask you this Hiro, but can we gang up on you?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I could have worded that better. I mean can we fight you all at once?¡±


    Hiro turned to Albert, before turning back to the grey-haired child and asked, ¡°Can I ask why?¡±


    The grey-haired child hesitated before saying, ¡°To be frank we aren¡¯t a match for you. We heard you were excused from sparring classes, but the prince wasn¡¯t. And after sparring with the prince for a year, and seeing just how strong he is we¡¯re sure that none of us can beat you. So instead we¡¯d like to fight you together, even if we beat you we¡¯ll still give you the win.¡±


    Hiro scratched his head, ¡°I mean I¡¯m fine with it, but is this allowed?¡±


    The grey-haired child nodded, ¡°According to the upperclassmen there might be group events where you have to team up with other students in the main tournament so this experience won¡¯t be a complete waste, and according to them matches like this have been done before for the seeded seat.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±, Hiro took a stance his body being surrounded by a faint blue light, ¡°Then let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got! Come at me!¡±

 Chapter 18: How Shocking

    The grey-haired child in front of Hiro looked at his classmates and nodded. A girl with long orange hair raised her hands and began chanting a lion appeared before her. One of the boys, a rather tall black haired child, turned to the orange haired girl, ¡°I thought you said you had a Chimera.¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lion.¡±


    Then the orange haired girl pointed at the lion, and the beast slowly began to grow larger as its head began to split forming two new heads. The black haired scoffed, ¡°That¡¯s still a lion.¡±


    A golden-haired boy smacked the black-haired child''s head, ¡°Nick, shut it.¡±


    He pulled two tiny shields out of his pocket about the size of a gold ball. The shields were white with a golden trim and were only about a few inches long, however, when he threw them to the air and poured magic into them they grew rapidly in size and felt to the ground.


    The golden-haired child easily picked up both shields despite their size and threw one toward the grey-haired child. The grey-haired child looked at his fellow students one more time and signaled everyone to charge.


    The three-headed lion hearing the signal, roared causing a bright red wave to echo out. As the wave of light reached the other groups of students it caused some of them to freeze up suddenly before being able to move again slightly afterward. And as the wave of light struck Hiro he mumbled, ¡°Fear...impressive.¡±


    Fear was more than emotion, but it was a magical effect others could forcibly induce. To sum up its effects, it made one rash, it made it more difficult to think, it could cause some to freeze up, and it could cause people to enter a prolonged state of confusion.


    However fear was something that was mostly used against weaker opponents, against stronger opponents it could only delay them for maybe only a fraction of a second. But that¡¯s exactly what the grey-haired child was waiting for.


    The black-haired child from early raised a hammer that even adults would find difficult to pick up into the air and swung it down into the ground. However, instead of causing any damage, a magic circle appeared at the end of the hammer and a pitfall appeared bellow Hiro who was immobilized.


    The grey-haired child along with the blonde haired child charged to the side of the pitfall and dug their two shields on the opposite ends of each other. The two cast a spell simultaneously and a pillar of light shot into the air forming a golden cylinder trapping Hiro inside the pitfall.


    The grey-haired child shouted, ¡°Now!¡±


    Then the short light blue haired boy who was completely silent until now shouted, ¡°Lightning bolt!¡±


    And then a flash of lightning fell from the sky and into the center of the golden pillar striking Hiro. Everyone who wasn¡¯t busy fighting turned to the golden pillar and stared. One of the upperclassmen laughed, ¡°He should have just refused, taking on five other magic knights is just too high a hurdle.¡±


    However, the principal suddenly appeared beside him, ¡°You should pay attention.¡±


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    ¡°Ah, p-principal!¡±


    The principal laughed, ¡°No need to be so surprised.¡±


    The upperclassmen bowed,¡°I¡¯m sorry sir.¡±


    ¡°You should pay more attention to over there,¡± the principal pointed towards the golden pillar, ¡°After all it¡¯s not over just yet.¡±


    All the upperclassmen turned to the pillar in confusion. They weren¡¯t exactly sure what the principal meant, but then they slowly realized that even now the pillar had yet to vanish. Why? Shouldn¡¯t that child have been defeated?


    One of the upperclassmen eyes widened, ¡°No way.¡±


    The principal laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to inspire fear in children as prideful as these, yet here they are working together forming a plan like this just to take him down. You should pay attention, after all out of all the freshman he¡¯s the one with the highest chance of entering the second year¡¯s competition.¡±


    And as the principal finished the golden pillar of light shattered and the grey-haired and blonde haired child got blown back. Hiro walked out of the pitfall seeming unscathed and turned towards the orange haired girl.


    ¡°Sarah correct?¡±


    The girl nodded, ¡°But how did you-¡±


    Hiro interrupted her, ¡°It wasn¡¯t a bad plan, frankly I¡¯m impressed you had a beast capable of creating fear. You¡¯re probably a beast tamer, right? When you grow strong enough to control more beasts don¡¯t forget to use that chimera¡¯s fear-inducing capabilities. Though be careful, cause some people like me are capable of quite easily resisting fear.¡±


    And as Hiro finished, he looked up at the black haired child Nick swing his heavy hammer down on Hiro. Hiro quickly jumped back, but as the hammer hit the floor, a powerful shockwave echoed out from the hammer and made its way towards Hiro.


    Hiro smiled as he stared at the shockwaves and slammed his foot on the ground, the shockwaves seemed to enter his body, and he shot forward and kicked Nick in the face.


    ¡°Not bad, a magical hammer that doesn¡¯t hinder your spells and instead can be used as a medium to amplify it. However be careful, you use the shockwaves from your hammer as attacks after amplifying it and as a medium for your spells to travel, but you aren¡¯t the only one capable of controlling waves like that.¡±


    Then Hiro turned to the grey-haired child behind him, ¡°It wasn¡¯t a bad plan, Lightning spells take a while to cast and difficult to aim. By trapping me and creating a cylinder for the lightning to hit you maximized the damage the lightning could inflict.¡±


    The grey-haired child sat up, ¡°You¡¯re a real monster you know that. How are you fine after taking a lightning spell like that.¡±


    Hiro laughed, ¡°Would you believe me if I said I dodged it?¡±


    ¡°No¡±


    ¡°Well, there really wasn¡¯t much I could do. It¡¯s just the moment that the spell shocked my body, I bombarded it with mana and Qi before it did any damage.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°What? It¡¯s more believable than dodging a bolt of lightning.¡±


    ¡°But no less shocking.¡±


    The blonde haired child turned to the grey-haired child, ¡°Did you just make a really bad pun?¡±

 Chapter 19: The Three Seats

    Hiro turned to his classmates and asked, ¡°So are we going to continue or are we done here?¡±


    Hiro¡¯s classmates looked at each other hesitantly, and then the grey-haired child tossed the shield in his hands. He pulled out a golden pendulum connected to a very long golden chain. The tip of the golden pendulum had a blade, and the pendulum itself seemed to have magical runes engraved into it.


    The blonde haired boy saw this and sighed and threw away his shield. He reached into his uniform with both his hands and pulled out several silver balls. He threw the balls into the air and they began to float there as they each expanded into spheres six feet in diameter.


    The grey-haired child shouted, ¡°Sarah!¡±


    Sarah panicked, and the commanded her lion chimera to roar once more causing the red wave to echo outward. The blue haired child began pulled out two peculiar weapons, they were blunt and entirely cylindrical rods of steel and another smaller piece of metal seemed to protrude out of it. He raised the two of these steel prongs together and began chanting causing his body and weapons to begin emitting sparks.


    Nick who was sent flying earlier, finally sat back up with a bloodied nose and looked at everyone else charging Hiro. His eyes widened and he immediately stood back up. He frantically looked around for his hammer and as soon as he spotted it to his side, he raised it to the air and swung it as he cast a spell.


    Suddenly a large chunk of earth flew up in front of him, and he smacked it with his hammer shouting, ¡°Earth Spike!¡±


    As the hammer struck the earth the earth seemed to condense and harden before suddenly forming a large pyramidal cone that rapidly short towards Hiro.


    Hiro smiled as he looked around him, he ignored the gray-haired child and the blonde haired child¡¯s advances and dashed towards the Chimera behind him. He tossed the sword in his right hand to his left, and on his way, his hands dug into the side of the pyramidal cone Nick had shot towards him.


    As he appeared in front of the Chimera, the Chimera stopped roaring and attempted to sink its teeth into Hiro. However, before the Chimera could even touch him Hiro swung his sword into the air leaving a large wound in the chimera¡¯s chest and one of its faces.


    The chimera screamed in pain, as suddenly it¡¯s tail morphed into a snake and it grew a size larger. The snake tail lunged towards, but as it was about to bite into Hiro¡¯s neck it suddenly found that it was dozens of feet away from Hiro. As the snake tail which had a mind of its own looked down at the ground it realized it was floating in the air.


    Just moments before it struck, Hiro tossed the hardened piece of earth in his hand directly into the chimera¡¯s chest with enough force to send it flying into the air. Having received far too much damage, the chimera began to turn into specks of light before disappearing.


    Sarah''s face grew pale, and she raised both her hands surrendering. Hiro patted her head when suddenly the blue haired child and Nick appeared behind her. Hiro smiled as he pushed Sarah away, and jumped backwards.


    However when Hiro landed he was surprised to find his left leg entangled in golden chains, and more chains began to crawl up his leg. Hiro tried to lift his foot, but the pendulum was not only holding on the to the ground but reinforcing it to make it harder for Hiro to forcefully rip it out.


    Hiro frowned as he tugged at the chains when he suddenly felt something behind him and turned around. He was surprised to find all those silver balls had morphed themselves into several weapons made out of silver. The blonde haired child heaved as he waved his hand causing the weapons to shoot towards Hiro.


    At the same time the blue haired child had finished his spell, and suddenly his weapons flashed with lightning as he charged out at Hiro followed by Nick and his hammer. Nick dragged his hammer on the ground as he charged Hiro causing his hammer to be surrounded by reinforced dirt causing its weight to increase


    Hiro quickly glanced around and then he swung his sword splitting several of the silver weapons before reinforcing his leg even further with mana. However, as his legs shone a faint white suddenly the golden chains around him grew stronger as they seemingly began to absorb his mana.


    Hiro thought to himself, ¡°Oh I see.¡±


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    The Hiro exhaled before raising his right fist, three black spheres appeared around his fist and began spinning rapidly. As everyone closed in Hiro slammed his fist into the ground along with those three black spheres and the ground underneath his feet was overturned with a large boom.


    The blast was relatively big and it forced the blue haired child and Nick to momentarily back away. Then suddenly black spheres shot out of the ground from underneath them and struck their chests sending the two of them flying.


    The grey-haired child¡¯s mouth gaped before he turned to the ground underneath him. Then he realized the third sphere wasn¡¯t for him. He shouted, ¡°Eric dodge!¡±


    The blonde haired child Eric jumped back and pulled out another silver ball and threw it in front of him. The silver ball expanded into a shield in front of him as Eric prepared for the strike.


    However to his surprise, nothing happened, instead, Hiro smiled as the last black sphere floated out of the ground and into his hand. Similarly, the other black sphere flew into his hand and they began to rotate again.


    Eric''s face paled as all the remaining silver weapons suddenly collapsed into a liquid goo and he pulled out more silver balls to reinforce the shield in front of him. Hiro shook his head, the black sphere spinning in his hand began to shrink further and further until finally, the spinning of the sphere formed a black ring.


    The grey-haired child raised both his hands and immediately surrendered as Hiro pointed the ring at him. Then he pointed the ring at Eric, and suddenly the shot forward at an incredible speed.


    Eric slammed his hands on the silver shield in front of him and it expanded massively forming a multi-layered wall of steel. However no matter how many walls the ring encountered it just ripped straight through them. As Eric felt the last few walls tearing apart he grabbed an amulet hanging off his neck and tore it off its chains shouting, ¡°I surrender!¡±


    Suddenly a transparent golden bubble formed around Eric, and as the ring broke through the last wall, several instructors appeared in front of Eric stopping the black ring. As Owen looked down at the small spheres that were fading away, he asked, ¡°What in the world is this?¡±


    Hiro scratched the back of his head, ¡°A little something I came up with.¡±


    Owen turned to the rest of Hiro¡¯s opponents and asked, ¡°Are you guys still alive?¡±


    Nick and the blue haired child grunted, and Owen cheered, ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re alive!¡±


    The principal turned to the two headmasters behind him and said, ¡°Well might as well just give him one of the seeded seats.¡±


    Albert turned to Miss Campbell and asked, ¡°Geez, what did you teach him.¡±


    Miss Campbell stared at Hiro and said, ¡°Hardly anything¡­¡±


    ~


    The over the course of a few hours the freshman class managed to finish their competition for who gets the seeded seats. In the end, Baldar after witnessing Hiro fight five of his classmates challenged the three winners of the first round to fight him.


    In the end, Baldar managed to remind everyone just how absurd the royal families constitution was as he beat every one of them up with almost no magic and basically just brute force.


    Other than Baldar there was one other seeded seat. This seat went to the Magic Knight student referred to as Lilia. Other than Mors she was the only Magic Knight who wasn¡¯t a noble. She had short bright red-haired, and she wielded a black sword with orange markings and an unusually long handle.


    It was a very peculiar weapon that caught Hiro¡¯s attention. During her fight¡¯s Lilia would use the sword both as a spear and as a sword, and what most impressed Hiro was simply her range. If people choose to distance themselves, the sword would act like a mage¡¯s staff and she could perfectly contend against them.


    Should they try to keep her at bay at mid-range she would switch to a spear, before suddenly closing the distance and fighting with it as a sword. She constantly switched back and forth and even though it seemed like such a bothersome weapon originally in Lilia¡¯s hands it was frighteningly powerful.


    With her fire magic and gravity magic as well as her mastery over her very unique weapon there were few that could really match her. Though naturally this excluded Baldar and Hiro, as well as the upperclassmen.


    Then finally it was the upperclassmen turn to fight.

 Chapter 20: Three Black Balls

    Hiro turned watched the upperclassmen gathering into groups before turning around and trying to leave. Baldar noticed Hiro was leaving and asked, ¡°Hiro, why are you leaving?¡±


    Hiro turned his head, ¡°Training.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to watch them fight? You might even go up against them later you know.¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°Not interested.¡±


    Hiro waved his hand and made his way back to the academy¡¯s library. Since he didn¡¯t have any classes today, and he was finished with the preliminaries he thought he should take the time to read some books since the library was basically empty.


    Suddenly a voice called out from above him, ¡°Why aren¡¯t I surprised you¡¯re here.¡±


    Hiro looked up and notice Karen was on the floor above him. He grabbed a few books and jumped up to her floor. He asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you have to worry about preliminaries?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°Unlike the Magic Knight division which is primarily a combat division the other divisions are also filled with non-combatants.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re a non-combatant?¡±


    ¡°No, but for us participating is optional. We¡¯re given monetary incentives to participate, and most of us do, but I won¡¯t¡±


    Hiro flipped through his book, ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s pointless.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Hiro threw the book down to the floor below him and one of the magic circles engraved into the book lit up and caused the book to float into place, ¡°So did you need something from me?¡±


    Karen leaned over the railings and asked, ¡°What is it a crime for me to walk up to one of my friends-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s arguable¡±


    ¡°And say hello to see how they¡¯re doing? Is it wrong to just do that?¡±


    Hiro continued flipping through his book, ¡°Maybe if it was someone other than you.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on, I don¡¯t come to you every time with a weird proposition or plan¡­¡±


    Hiro paused and stared at Karen. Karen raised her finger, ¡°Sometimes the plans aren¡¯t weird.¡±


    Hiro shook his head and continued reading, ¡°So what is it this time.¡±


    Karen paused before saying, ¡°The Black Mist is on the move.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°From what I gather their target is likely a person, likely a single individual. The individual is either extraordinarily powerful on their own right or they¡¯re heavily guarded. This means it¡¯s not like their usual kidnappings.¡±


    Hiro sighed and closed the book in his hands. Hiro snapped his fingers and suddenly a small black ball appeared and engulfed the both of them. Karen looked around in surprise at the dark room she was in. She asked, ¡°Where are we?¡±


    ¡°In my spell.¡±


    ¡°Is this a barrier?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly.¡±


    ¡°Heh¡±, Karen walked up to one of the walls and touched it, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like this. What is this an alternate dimension?¡±


    ¡°How did you find this out?¡±


    Karne turned her head, ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What you just told me doesn¡¯t sound like one of your `predictions` or an attempt to change some future event. Who gave you that information.¡±


    Karen smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I told you I can see the future.¡±


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    ¡°Then tell me what do you want me to do this time? Kill a beast? Rescue someone? Go to the scene of the crime and prevent it from ever happening?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°I just wanted to help a friend. Is there something wrong with telling someone that there¡¯s a criminal loose out there?¡±


    ¡°Yes, because it¡¯s you. Why don¡¯t you go, why don¡¯t you try to stop it? I might not believe but others might. Why haven¡¯t you tried anyone else?¡±


    Karen smiled, as she stared at Hiro, ¡°You just don¡¯t understand Hiro.¡±


    ¡°What don¡¯t I understand?¡±


    Karen shook her head, ¡°We live in two different worlds, Hiro.¡±


    Hiro shook his head and snapped his finger causing them to exit the black sphere. Karen looked at the small sphere in Hiro¡¯s fingers as it vanished and asked, ¡°But just what is that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s mana.¡±


    ¡°Thanks captain obvious as if all spells weren¡¯t made of mana.¡±


    ¡°Do you know what mana is?¡±


    Karen shook her head, and Hiro sighed, ¡°Aren¡¯t you a mage?¡±


    ¡°I can still cast spells even if I don¡¯t know what mana is.¡±


    Hiro shook his head as he began explaining, ¡°You understand at the very least how versatile mana is right?¡±


    Karen nodded, ¡°Of course.¡±


    Hiro raised his hand and the black sphere appeared in his hand and he offered it to Karen. Karen picked it up and held it in her hands and said, ¡°I don¡¯t get it. So what is it.¡±


    ¡°Spells are just how we shape mana right? We can turn mana into matter or other forms of energy or even infuse it into objects. If we wanted we could form a sword entirely out of mana, then do you know why we don¡¯t do that?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s weaker right.¡±


    Hiro nodded, ¡°It¡¯s not only weaker but it¡¯s also inefficient. Creating matter is one thing but maintaining its existence is simply too difficult.¡±


    Karen looked at the black sphere in her hands and asked, ¡°Then this is¡­¡±


    Hiro nodded, ¡°There was originally no Qi in my body you see, and when I was reinforcing my body I found that after I came back from training I could reinforce my body with more mana. And I thought it would be a waste to just use exhaust all my mana reserves on nothing so I started making these.¡±


    Hiro snapped his finger and two more black spheres appeared, ¡°This is essentially all the residual mana my body couldn¡¯t absorb and all the mana from my reserves over the last year. And frankly, I don¡¯t quite understand it either.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? How so?¡±


    ¡°Well I have these spheres on me the entire time and even when I¡¯m in a Magic class I don¡¯t use any of my internal mana. But after time even after I stopped pouring mana into them they just sorta stayed there. I can freely control them changing their mass and size, and they can even transform into an independent space. ¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kinda incredible.¡±


    Hiro nodded they¡¯re quite handy, and you know what they even let me do this. Suddenly the black sphere in Karen¡¯s hand melted and was seemingly absorbed by her body. Karen panicked when suddenly she collapsed.


    Hiro tossed one of the black spheres in his hand down and it engulfed Karen, and he picked it back up and walked away.

 Chapter 21: My name is...

    Hiro locked the door to his room and tossed the black sphere in his hand onto his bed. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a few books from the shelves. He quickly opened the book to a page marked with a variety of notes, and he began copying down a circle filled with lines and engravings onto a sheet of paper.


    Hiro held the paper to the air and then threw it behind him allowing his magic to float the piece of paper over to the door. He walked over to the other side of his room and grabbed a small bottle with a light brown liquid inside and dipped his fingers into it. He walked over to the piece of paper hanging on the door and drew a star before biting his thumb and smearing a bit of blood onto the paper.


    Suddenly the piece of paper seemed began to meld with the door and all that was left was a glowing star that faintly shone a white light. Hiro inspected the door before nodding in approval.


    Hiro walked over to his bed and pulled out another black sphere. He squeezed the sphere in his hand and suddenly it burst like a water balloon and a black liquid oozed out. Hiro allowed the liquid to drip out of his hands and slowly the liquid began to take on a humanoid shape.


    Hiro looked at the figure and shook his head. Hiro extended his hand and allowed the black liquid to absorb some of his blood before he shook it off and used some mana to heal himself. Soon enough the liquid began to take on his appearance so he grabbed an extra uniform and quickly dressed it.


    After finishing all his preparations Hiro looked at the slime doll he¡¯d just created. While it looked exactly like him, in the end, it was still nothing more than a replica. It could replicate the texture of Human skin however in the inside it was nothing more than a bunch of goo holding its shape thanks to mana. This is why he set an alarm at the door so that way he¡¯d immediately know if someone approached his room.


    Content with his preparations Hiro grabbed the sphere on the bed and entered the world within. He slowly walked up the Karen who was still unconscious thanks to his third black sphere, and he touched her forehead with his fingers.


    ¡°Now let¡¯s get some answers out of you.¡±


    Hiro closed his eyes and sensed the black sphere he fused with Karen¡¯s body. He slowly began pouring his mana into her body causing the black sphere within to slowly gather towards her brain. As Hiro opened his eyes he asked her, ¡°Now then who are you really?¡±


    Suddenly Karen¡¯s eyes opened and the whites of her eyes turned pure black, ¡°My name is¡­¡±


    Karen paused, ¡°My name is¡­¡±


    Hiro suddenly felt a sudden surge of mana within Karen and furrowed his brows. He directed the black sphere to absorb all of Karen¡¯s mana, but no matter what he did the sphere couldn¡¯t absorb even a fraction of the mana she was exuding.


    ¡°What in the world?¡±


    Suddenly Karen¡¯s eyes turned pupils turned red, and her eyes still a pitch black. As she turned to Hiro her body flashed with a black light and Hiro immediately jumped backwards. Hiro¡¯s aura flared up quickly turning from a blue to a white and he readied several spells.


    Karen slowly sat up and turned to Hiro, ¡°My name is¡­¡±


    Hiro turned to the black mist Karen¡¯s body was exuding that morphed into countless faces screaming in pain, and looked at Karen who was sitting there, ¡°Pandora!¡±


    ~


    My name is Hikari Ito and I¡¯m what some people would call a writer. Though it was never really a passion of mine, it was more of something I stumbled into as an avid consumer of media. It just sort of happened after reading thousands of stories and seeing thousands of shows.


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    I just wanted to prove to the people that criticized me whenever I criticized a story that I could write a story too, not that you need to know how to write to critique. But as a student just going through the motions I thought why not try my hand at making something for once. So I took on the pen name Karen and wrote a few stories with some modicum of success.


    Though what really gave me my kicks were looking at other peoples stories. It didn¡¯t matter if they were good or bad, I just consumed everything. I mean even bad stories have some merit. They¡¯re good premises, maybe good ideas, or even some interesting takes to a tried and true formula that they just could get right.


    Though it did get tiresome at times like you wouldn¡¯t believe how many another world stories I¡¯ve read over the past years now. And there¡¯s no shortage of people making ridiculous stories just for the heck of it.


    But occasionally you just stumble upon these weird gems like these. The Tales from the Unknown, it was a series of stories told by a relatively new an unknown author that seemingly couldn¡¯t be bothered to answer a single comment or review. Instead, we were merely presented with almost the same story each time.


    With each tale came a new twist, perhaps there was someone from another world, or perhaps suddenly it was like a game with one of the main characters having a weirdly broken system attached to them. Sometimes it was a tragedy, a comedy, or sometimes even a diary. Each story continued to build off the last, sometimes completely retconning the last one or changing the story almost entirely.


    Sometimes there would be a story in the series that attempted to change what another story just changed and to put it frankly it was a mess. But the story was founded upon the idea that there was no one main character, every character we saw and even ones we didn¡¯t see would irreversibly change the world.


    And in the end, the more I read it the more fun I just kept having with it. In the end, the story even became a minor hit and despite all its flaws a lot of people ultimately found that this over the top story was quite enjoyable.


    So when the author of this series reached out and asked if anyone would like to see the next evolution of this story I almost felt obliged to offer my services. But when I got in contact with the author something truly unexpected happened.


    The human known as Hikari Ito suddenly disappeared. At first, it was the chat I was in, I suddenly found I was banned from every single one of them. No matter who I tried to contact they refused to respond. Then when I tried to buy things I found my bank account didn¡¯t exist.


    When I tried to recover my account my email was gone. When I tried to call someone, anyone no one answered me. When I ran outside in a panic trying to figure out what was going on everyone ignored me. So when I went back home resigned to my fate, I found that I was locked outside my own door. The key in my hand was useless.


    Pushed to the brink and with nothing else to do I merely sat outside my apartment and closed my eyes. And it was at the moment that I disappeared from my home for good.


    In the end, it wasn¡¯t something as flashy as a magic circle lightening up from under my feet so I could be whisked away to some far off world. It wasn¡¯t as tragic as dying to save my family or even as cliche as being run over by a truck. In the end, I merely became no one and disappeared.


    And when I woke up I simply became someone else, someone I wish I wasn¡¯t...


    So I suppose I should correct myself. My name isn¡¯t Hikari Ito, it¡¯s not even Karen. My name is Pandora, the bringer of the worst tragedy.

 Chapter 22: Our Hero

    Hiro glared at Karen or rather Pandora who at this point had finally gotten up and was floating in the air in front of him. He asked, ¡°So that¡¯s your real name? Pandora?¡±


    Pandora slowly descended down to the ground and smiled, ¡°Oh sweetie you can call me whatever you want to.¡±


    Hiro looked at the tendrils of smoke around Pandora and couldn¡¯t help but remember his battle the with the Demon King all those years ago,¡°Then who are you, or rather what are you really.¡±


    Pandora walked up to Hiro and put her hand on his cheek, and laughed sweetly, ¡°I can be whatever you want me to be.¡±


    Hiro smacked her hand away and jumped back, he used his mana to spring himself off the wall and then kicked himself off the roof landing on the opposite side of Pandora, ¡°Stay away from me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t need to play hard to get. You were so eager to get your hands on me earlier, you¡¯re going to make me cry.¡±


    Hiro raised his fists, and thought to himself, ¡°Is she the Demon King? No, that should be impossible. But that feeling¡­¡±


    Hiro clenched his fists and shouted, ¡°Answer me! What are you? Who are you? What did you want from me?¡±


    Pandora turned her head and blushed, ¡°So forceful, but I wouldn¡¯t say I hate it.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Oho,¡± Pandora started walking towards Hiro, ¡°Now the silent treatment? I didn¡¯t know you were into such things.¡±


    Hiro exhaled, ¡°Alright I¡¯ve decided.¡±


    ¡°Decided on what honey? Our honeymoon?¡±


    The aura around Hiro¡¯s body gushed towards his right arm, the mana turned a golden color as it rapidly spun around his arm, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.¡±


    Pandora put her hands over her mouth and blushed, ¡°Oh my how adventurous!¡±


    Hiro ignored her remarks and continued, ¡°This presence, you¡¯re too similar to the Demon King. For the sake of the world, in the name of peace and justice as the ninth Hero of the Holy Empire, I will slay you before you become a threat on the level of the Demon King.¡±


    ¡°Oh sweetie you don¡¯t need to praise me so much, I mean¡­¡±


    Hiro raised his left hand and made a grasping motion. Suddenly the black sphere within Pandora¡¯s body charged surged forth directly towards her heart. As Hiro tightened his fist the black liquid completely surrounding her heart tightened and crushed her heart.


    Pandora smiled shyly, ¡°You already have my heart.¡±


    Hiro charged forward closing the distance in an instant. He planted his foot in the ground and he twisted his body he unleashed the strongest attack he could muster with just his fist as all the mana spinning around his arm reinforced him before forming a spear at the end of his fist.


    As soon as the golden sphere came into contact with Pandora¡¯s face it erupted with an immense force and white cracks began to fill the black interior of Hiro¡¯s independent space. Pandora¡¯s upper body shot into the air in a gory mess.


    As Hiro turned around and was about to exit the sphere, suddenly he felt himself being whisked away and suddenly Pandora was standing right in front of him holding his cheek. Hiro panicked and smacked her hand away. He focused all his mana into his fingers and dug them into her chest.


    Pandora exclaimed in excitement, ¡°How eager!¡±


    Hiro felt his fingers grasp Pandora¡¯s heart, and just to be sure he pulled it out and stared at the still-beating heart. Pandora covered her face with her hands as she blushed her red eyes peering through from her fingers, ¡°Hiro you¡¯re such a pervert¡±


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    Hiro continued to ignore her as he crushed her heart in his hands and threw it aside. He immediately looked down and stared at the gaping wound in Pandora¡¯s chest and the pool of blood underneath her feet. However, as he stared at Pandora he felt a cold chill in his spine as he noticed Pandora lick her lips as she stared at him with her red eyes.


    Hiro jumped back and off the wall and landed on the other side. However, as he raised his head to look at Pandora her body was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly his vision shifted as Hiro found himself in a garden sitting on a chair before a white table.


    Sitting right in front of him was Pandora calmly sitting a cup of tea, and as he looked down he noticed there was a porcelain cup filled with some black tea. Hiro¡¯s eyes widened and asked, ¡°What in the world?¡±


    Pandora turned to Hiro and smiled, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that fun?¡±


    ¡°This is...how did you do this...¡±


    ¡°But sometimes it¡¯s nice to just sit here and enjoy a nice cup of tea,¡± Pandora raised her head and looked to the sky, ¡°You know you really do make some great tea.¡±


    Hiro slammed his hands on the table, ¡°Answer me!¡±


    Pandora looked back down at her teacup, instead of tea it was filled with a thick black viscous liquid, ¡°You know Hiro I like you. Karen liked you, in the past years this was probably the most enjoyable time we¡¯ve had. I even got some time to play outside.¡±


    Suddenly Hiro noticed that the sky was darkening and all around him the flowers and plants were rapidly wilting. As Hiro looked to his feet he noticed the ground was suddenly replaced with bones and corpses.


    ¡°So I ask this of you, Hero. Why? Why do this?¡±


    Pandora raised her cup and poured the contents out the ground. Hiro looked at the liquid and suddenly realized it was one of the black spheres he¡¯d forged. However, as he tried to command it to move he found that the innate connection he had with the sphere had completely disappeared.


    Pandora turned to Hiro and smiled once more, however it wasn¡¯t a playful smile like before or a shy smile with a blush. Instead, Hiro felt a sense of melancholy and sadness from her. Pandora raised her hand and pointed it at Hiro.


    Hiro suddenly felt an extreme sense of dread and jumped back, his right hand immediately dug into his left arm as he shouted, ¡°Overload!¡±


    Suddenly Hiro¡¯s body shone a brilliant gold, and as he pulled his right fingers out of his left arm one could see even his blood shone a bright gold. Hiro drew a star in the air with his own blood, and shouted, ¡°Oh stars, oh spirits, oh gods I pray and pay tribute! Blood for blood, and a life for a life! I present to thee a blood sacrifice!¡±


    The star formed of blood suddenly expanded massively over several times his height and formed an intricate magic circle. Hiro jumped through the circle and suddenly his aura expanded massively. His aura surrounded his body and formed a massive physical body.


    Hiro punched downward with his giant body, and then he noticed Pandora was crying as she smiled at him. She muttered, ¡°I was hoping you could be our Hero too¡­¡±


    Pandora raised her arm, and suddenly Hiro felt his right side go black. As he turned to his right he noticed his right arm had disappeared and he realized in that instance Pandora had taken his arm and eye.

 Chapter 23: Tactical Retreat

    Hiro grit his teeth at the pain of losing his arm and right eye. The golden giant forme from his mana collapsed and the mana gathered towards his shoulder forming a golden arm.


    Despite all the mana present, Hiro was incapable of regenerating his missing arm, all he could do was close the wound and form a fake arm in the meantime. He could have formed a false eye, but at the moment he thought it simply wasn¡¯t worth the effort.


    Hiro roared his body shooting forward closing the gap between him and Pandora. Pandora lowered her arm and pointed it towards Hiro¡¯s head, ¡°You just don¡¯t learn.¡±


    However, as a faint black thread gathered at the palm of her hands Hiro disappeared.


    ¡°Eh?¡±, Pandora looked around confused, ¡°Where did he go?¡±


    Suddenly as Pandora searched the area for Hiro she noticed that several dozen cracks began to appear around her. These cracks appeared on the ceiling, the ground, and all the walls around her. A white light shone through these cracks and suddenly Pandora¡¯s face paled.


    ¡°That madman!¡±


    ~


    Hiro realized after fatally wounding Pandora numerous times she possessed some inexplicable means of recovering. It didn¡¯t matter if he ripped out her heart and blew up her head she could simply escape unscathed.


    Hiro thought about it and going off of how Karen previously acted it was likely Pandora¡¯s powers had to do with space and time. Though he wasn¡¯t entirely sure what was the extent of her powers, but after she altered the space inside the sphere into that of a garden he realized that not only had Pandora recovered but so had he. All the mana he had expended recovered instantaneously.


    So while this was only his conjecture, Hiro felt it was also quite likely. However, this presented a rather troublesome problem for Hiro. Currently, as he is he possesses neither time nor strength to deal with Pandora, while Pandora had easily taken one of his arms and his eye.


    So in the moment shortly after receiving such a devastating blow Hiro had immediately decided to retreat. After closing in on Pandora, Hiro quickly exited the sphere. He located the sphere lying on his bed and using as much strength as he could muster threw it out of the window.


    The quickly soared over the academy and as soon as it was far enough away Hiro ordered the sphere to self-destruct.


    Hiro was worried that Pandora would just use her powers to reverse time, or just force her way out of the sphere, but at the moment he simply couldn¡¯t think of any other options. At the very least even if it doesn¡¯t kill her or injure her, as long as Pandora doesn¡¯t reverse time Hiro would have bought himself a sufficient amount of time to escape.


    Not only that but the explosion from an independent space imploding in on itself was more than enough to catch the teachers and most students attention. While this may result in some sacrifice, Hiro was certain that under the combined might of the academy even Pandora would be forced to retreat.


    However, as a few more seconds passed Hiro¡¯s widened. There was no explosion, in fact, he suddenly felt his connection with the sphere simply disappear. Time wasn¡¯t reversed, and he didn¡¯t feel as if someone tore space apart. He didn¡¯t even feel a single trace of mana from the sphere like he did with the first sphere Pandora destroyed. It was almost like the sphere just disappeared.


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    Hiro slammed his fist on the wall in frustration. However, his complexion grew even paler as he felt himself grow even weaker. His golden arm began to flicker before slowly disappearing, and Hiro fell to his knees.


    ¡°A complete defeat¡­¡±


    Hiro suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and tried to keep himself upright with his only arm. He turned to the replica he left in his room and got it to help him back up. The replica slowly moved over and picked Hiro up and put him on his bed.


    Hiro looked at the replica and released his spell causing the replica to collapse into a pile of black goo. The goo climbed up his bed and gathered around his right shoulder. Hiro raised his left hand and cast a short spell causing several bottles to fly over from the shelf.


    He quickly downed a few of the bottles, and then commanded the goo. In response, the part of the goo transformed into needles and hardened piercing his skin. It slowly began sucking up a large quantity of blood causing the goo to go from a pitch black to a dark red.


    After sucking up enough blood the goo moved over to where his arm used to be and Hiro released the magic keeping his wound sealed. The goo quickly covered the wound making sure Hiro wouldn¡¯t lose any more blood and slowly the goo began to fuse with his bones and blood vessels.


    As Hiro turned to the black goo on his arm he let out a sigh of relief before downing the last of the potions. He raised his left hand and slowly another black sphere formed in his hand. This black sphere, however, was especially small, less than a quarter of the size of the previous spheres.


    This was the fourth sphere that was in the works and Hiro had yet to even complete it, however for what he intended it was more than enough. Hiro slowly held the black sphere over his missing right eye before lowering it down.


    As the sphere made contact with his blinded eye it suddenly jumped forward and engulfed the eye as if it were devouring it. Hiro felt an immense surge of pain as the sphere wriggled in his eye socket severing nerves and blood vessels before forming new ones that the black sphere connected to itself.


    Soon enough Hiro opened his black right eye and part of his vision was restored. Though it was a relatively incomplete replacement. As he closed his left eye and only looked around with his right eye he noticed that everything was red, it seems there was a slight problem with the procedure.


    Hiro looked down at his right arm which was now a black stump and sighed. He sat back up and raised his hands pointing it to one of the walls. A sword and a shield slowly flew off the wall and towards Hiro.


    He looked up at the ceiling and thought to himself, ¡°This is problematic¡­¡±


    He began weighing his options, ¡°On one hand I can flee right now, however, I have no clue where Pandora is or how powerful she is. I won¡¯t be able to enlist my father¡¯s help, and I¡¯m in no condition to fight¡­¡±


    Then Hiro looked at the black stump that was his right arm that was slowly transforming into the shape of a hand and thought, ¡°Or I can try that¡­¡±

 Chapter 24: On the Other Side of the Fence

    In one of the dorm rooms of the academy sat what appeared to be a thick black cocoon on a bed. The black cocoon was relatively large taking up most of the bed and as it pulsed a black wave of light would shoot out before being absorbed into the walls.


    This cocoon remained like this, pulsing over and over again for hours and the longer it went the faster the cocoon would beat. Soon enough the pulsing of the cocoon increased to the point where it was practically just vibrating.


    Then suddenly the cocoon stopped, it¡¯s soft exterior seemed to immediately harden before its surface began to crack. A fist suddenly burst through the cocoon and a girl with purple hair suddenly popped out of the cocoon.


    The girl looked around the room in confusion when suddenly a voice called out from beside her, ¡°Oh you¡¯re finally awake.¡±


    The girl turned to the side and she saw a brown-haired child sitting down, and asked, ¡°Quinn?¡±


    ¡°Here¡±, Quinn threw a shirt at the girl and said, ¡°Put that on.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±, the girl looked down at herself and noticed that she was bare naked, ¡°Wha-¡±


    The purple haired girl turned red as she quickly put on the white shirt that was a few sizes too big for her. Quinn turned around to give the girl a bit of privacy and said, ¡°So you¡¯re Karen I presume?¡±


    The girl paused, ¡°How... how do you know that name?¡±


    ¡°Pandora told me.¡±


    Karen looked down and asked, ¡°Just how much do you know.¡±


    ¡°Nothing really, but more than my brother at least. If anything I wanna know just how much you know.¡±


    Karen looked at her purple hair that was previously black and said, ¡°Not much really, Pandora sort of filled me in on what happened¡­¡±


    Karen clenched her fists, ¡°Why, this isn¡¯t how things were supposed to go...¡±


    Quinn turned around, ¡°And how were they supposed to go?¡±


    ¡°But he was so kind! He was a bit off, but he was rather approachable. A lot of people seemed to stay away from him but it was more out of respect than fear. He was powerful, and he helped others. I even learned from one of the nurses that he¡¯d saved some commoners from bandits and even became friends with the prince! There was no sign that this was gonna happen¡­¡±


    Karen slammed her fist down on the cocoon, ¡°This wasn¡¯t supposed to happen. It all escalated too quickly, I couldn¡¯t do a thing¡­¡±


    Then suddenly Karen¡¯s face paled as she recalled the scene of her blasting Hiro¡¯s eye and arm off, ¡°Wait what happened to Hiro!¡±


    ¡°Hmmm? Well, my brother was found dead in his room two days ago. This became a huge scandal and it delayed the upcoming tournament. He was found with an eye and an arm missing. He also appeared to have received other injuries and one of his windows was busted open.¡±


    Karen covered her mouth in shocked, ¡°I-¡±


    ¡°Killed him? Of course not, he doesn¡¯t die that easily.¡±


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    ¡°But you just said!¡±


    ¡°I know what I said, he was found dead, or at the very least there was a corpse in my brother''s room who had similar wounds that you inflicted onto him I presume.¡±


    Karen nodded her head, ¡°Back in the sphere Pandora took his right arm and eye¡­¡±


    ¡°Then he¡¯s alive.¡±


    Karen shouted, ¡°How can you be sure!¡±


    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t rip his heart out, you didn¡¯t sever his head, you didn¡¯t erase his existence or destroy his soul, and most importantly you didn¡¯t see the corpse.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Quinn turned back around and grabbed a kettle filled with hot water and began making some tea. He turned his head and asked, ¡°Do you want some tea?¡±


    Karen nodded her head slowly, and Quinn turned back around. He slowly set out two teacups and grabbed several biscuits from the cupboard. Karen slowly got out of the cocoon and sat down on the chair.


    Quinn poured himself a cup of tea before passing one over to Karen. Karen looked down at her cup of tea, and asked, ¡°Hey Quinn¡­¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°You saved me right?¡±


    ¡°Naturally.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡± Karen looked up at quick slightly confused, ¡°How?¡±


    Quinn took a sip of his tea, and smiled, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I share a body with Pandora, but we normally I¡¯m the only one really doing anything. It¡¯s simply too dangerous to let Pandora use our body you see. But despite being in the same body we don¡¯t inherently share memories. So I¡¯ve just been catching up on what¡¯s been going on. Just how did you get us out of that sphere?¡±


    Karen looked back at Pandora¡¯s memories and recalled the independent space within the black sphere was collapsing. The force of an independent space exploding was more than enough to cause a large explosion that would cause widespread damage, and it was almost guaranteed to kill the person inside.


    Karen knew even with Pandora¡¯s powers there was no way to escape said explosion and they had no other choice but to take on the full force of the explosion. With Pandora¡¯s powers it wouldn¡¯t kill them, however, they¡¯d still be in pretty bad shape.


    However as the independent space was about to implode a hand tore right through the sphere and then plucked them straight out.


    Karen looked at Quinn and asked, ¡°I thought you couldn¡¯t use magic, or you weren¡¯t interested in magic?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not interested in magic.¡±


    ¡°Then how did you just rip open that sphere!?¡±


    ¡°I mean all I did was stick my hand out, grab the sphere, and tore it apart. It¡¯s not that hard.¡±


    ¡°Ah geez,¡± Karen took a sip of her tea, before sticking her tongue out, ¡°Ew what kind of tea is this?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure, but I remember seeing that it was rather cheap back in the markets.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you from a family of merchants? Why are you using cheap tea?¡±


    Quinn thought about it before saying, ¡°It¡¯s nostalgic.¡±

 Chapter 25: A Little Too Early, A Little Too Late

    ¡°So what are you going to do about your hair?¡±


    Karen continued drinking her tea despite the fact that she didn¡¯t particularly like the taste, ¡°Frankly I don¡¯t really know. It¡¯ll probably change back over time I think. It changed due to Pandora¡¯s power after all.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Quinn glanced at Karen¡¯s purple hair, ¡°We should deal with your hair though, it¡¯s too conspicuous¡±


    Quinn walked over to Karen, and Karen looked up at him and asked, ¡°What are you-¡±


    Quinn¡¯s eyes suddenly flashed with a red light, and a black light spun around his pointer finger. He quickly tapped Karen¡¯s forehead and suddenly Karen¡¯s hair shifted from a dark purple to a pitch black.


    Karen shook her head, and asked, ¡°What did you just¡­¡±


    Quinn pointed towards the mirror, and Karen turned her head. As she looked at her hair she grew wide-eyed, ¡°Wait how!? This is¡­magic? But what sort of magic could have done this? Did you use illusion magic or some transformative magic? But I thought it¡¯s almost impossible to cast transformation magic on someone else especially if they aren¡¯t willing.¡±


    Quinn sat back down, ¡°It¡¯s nothing as fancy as transformation magic, I just used another little trick.¡±


    Karen turned to Quinn and stared at him. She wanted to say something but paused for a moment seemingly losing herself in thought. Quinn took a sip of his tea and glanced at her before suddenly turning his head to the wall behind him.


    ¡°You¡¯re like us aren¡¯t you?¡±, Karen asked, ¡°Are you from the same world as Hiro?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Tell me do you know the countries America, China, or any country from Europe?¡±


    Quinn raised his finger motioning Karen to be quiet. He hurriedly got up and moved towards his bed. He raised his arm and a flash of black like struck the broken cocoon and suddenly it vanished.


    Karen¡¯s mouth gaped at the sight of this. Even if Quinn didn¡¯t know or even Pandora herself despite being the one who made said cocoon Karen was more than well aware of how powerful that cocoon was.


    That black cocoon was an emergency spell that deployed whenever Pandora would ever be knocked unconscious as a sort of last resort. It was not only formed from an immense amount of mana but from Pandora¡¯s unique special abilities. This made it incredibly difficult to even damage the cocoon.


    And while Karen was easily able to punch a hole through the cocoon to exit it, that was because she made the cocoon and even after drying and being left there without its owner that cocoon was still as hard as steel. Yet in an instance, Quinn had silently destroyed the cocoon without leaving a single trace.


    Quinn turned to Karen and grabbed her arm. She protested, ¡°Hey there¡¯s no need to be so rough.¡±


    He pulled Karen over to his closet and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t make a sound.¡±


    He jammed Karen into the closet when suddenly his door opened, ¡°Quinn are you alright!¡±


    Quinn quickly shut the closet and turned to Noel who had just burst into his room in a set of armor and a sword hanging from her waist, unlike her usual attire. Following beside her were several instructors Quinn was familiar with and several he had never seen, and even Maria and the Third Prince Baldar had tagged along.


    Quinn was relatively familiar with the princess, while she couldn¡¯t be considered his best friend they were at the very least more than acquaintances. Over the past year in the academy, Maria would accompany him in a leisurely stroll along with some of her own friends or come to chat with him on the balconies.


    As for Baldar, while he was familiar with his sister the two of them rarely interacted. It was only in the days following Hiro¡¯s death that Baldar began speaking with Quinn.


    In the beginning, when Baldar found out about the incident he immediately grew enraged to the point of destroying part of the dormitory. However, as time passed he grew incredibly pensive and spoke seriously with Quinn reassuring him that he would find and kill whoever did this to his brother.


    However other than a few other cursory words they¡¯ve exchanged over the past couple of days they still didn¡¯t particularly talk that much. So when he suddenly saw Maria and Baldar pop into his room along with Noel and the instructors he was rather surprised.


    Quinn walked up to Noel and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    Noel stared at Quinn and breathed a sigh of relief before hugging Quinn, ¡°Thank the gods you¡¯re still safe.¡±


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    ¡°Noel?¡±


    Noel rubbed Quinn¡¯s head and said hesitantly, ¡°Quinn I need you to stay in your room, put up a barrier, I have some scrolls in my bag, make sure you don¡¯t open the door for strangers and when you go out to eat-¡±


    Quinn pushed Noel away, ¡°Wait what¡¯s going on? Is this about my brother?¡±


    Noel shook her head, ¡°Partially, your sisters been kidnapped¡­¡±


    ~


    Noel quickly got Quinn up to speed with the situation in the capital city.


    Over the past month or so the capital city has been in a bit of an uproar. At first dozens of people have gone missing with seemingly no motive or anything to link the victims. There would always be no sign of forced entry and it happened almost everywhere in the capital city.


    Then slowly without anyone noticing people started dying. At first, it wasn¡¯t noticeable, the poor and the homeless would simply just drop dead in the streets or in some corner. Then it would be a few drunken men in the pubs, most of them just laborers drinking away.


    However soon enough more high profile individuals would be found dead, and this time with wounds signs of a struggle. These would be adventurers, guards, knights, some mages. The problem was while it didn¡¯t seem to be an instantaneous death like those before them there was also no sign of any actual fighting.


    Nothing was reported to the guards, there was no damage to the surroundings, yet these victims would be found dead with their weapons drawn. This led the magic knight corps of the royal family to begin intervening.


    This led to several noble families to begin participating in the investigation, but as things seemed to be calming down we received word from someone in the academy that someone had perished.


    The victim was a noble child enrolled as a Magic Knight who died in his own room having lost an arm and an eye. Then following this event several nobles families were abruptly assaulted leading to the death of several knights and mages, and even a few magic knights.


    Originally the target of their assault was relatively unclear, but later today it was found that dozens of noble children had been kidnapped and among those children was on by the name of Eris Whitmore, the Whitmore Families only daughter.


    This caused the Baron to grow enraged and he deployed all of the Whitmore families resources. Noel was also sent to check up on the Baron¡¯s other son in full magic armor and to borrow some of the school¡¯s instructors to solve the case.


    After stopping by to see how Quinn was doing Noel promptly left with the instructors and two siblings who were being escorted back to their father for protection.


    Quinn looked at the table that was now filled with several scrolls, stones, and weapons that Noel had left him for self-defense and shook his head.


    ¡°This is too early¡­¡±, Karen walked out of the closet, ¡°We need to find Hiro...¡±


    Quinn turned to Karen, ¡°Too early?¡±


    Karen nodded her head, ¡°This was supposed to happen two more years from now.¡±


    Quinn paused and his eyes flashed red, ¡°Time magic? Your other self is capable of that, but that¡¯s not it. It¡¯s not Divining magic either, otherwise, you should have seen this coming. Just what are you.¡±


    Karen paused before hesitantly saying, ¡°I...I¡¯ve seen a certain timeline of events, and in that timeline, your sister was kidnapped and you saved her. However in that timeline, your brother didn¡¯t exist, and you went on to become a mage that saved this country. I know this is hard to believe but¡­¡±


    Quinn turned his head, ¡°I believe you.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°I believe you, at the very least it doesn¡¯t feel like you¡¯re lying. Plus I told you, I know more than my brother.¡±


    Karen¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Really!?¡±


    Quinn nodded his head, ¡°Though I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be finding my brother any time soon.¡°


    ¡°Huh? Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re simply too dangerous. He¡¯s aware that at his current level you possess an immense and imminent threat to his life and as a Hero he feels that until he completes his mission he must survive no matter the costs. After all in his eyes, if he dies, the world might as well be destroyed the very next day.¡±


    ¡°Then what are we gonna do¡­¡±


    Quinn walked over to the scrolls on the table and picked a few of them up, ¡°Well first, let¡¯s go find my sister.¡±

 Chapter 26: A Fake Corpse

    ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve checked on the young master and he appears to be safe. I¡¯ve left him several spell scrolls and an enchanted dagger embed with a barrier as well.¡±


    Noel walked into Baron Whitmore¡¯s office in the southern district of the capital where he owned a store. Baron Whitmore turned to Noel and said, ¡°Good job, take some of our men and head to the western district. After you¡¯re done rendezvous with me in the southern district, Elizabeth will do the same after she¡¯s finished with the northern district.¡±


    ¡°Elizabeth¡¯s already deployed?¡±


    ¡°She was furious, so she gathered up some old friends and took up her old blade. I sent a few men after her just to be safe.¡±


    Noel clenched her fists, ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯ll be heading out.¡±


    Noel hurriedly turned around and walked out the door. Baron Whitmore sighed as he stared at the roof. He quietly mumbled a few words and then an icy mist began to surround him.


    Baron Whitmore got off his chair and walked up to the door, as he was about the grab it the mist surrounding him quickly passed through the door and covered the entire door. And as the Baron opened the door and walked out of his own store seemingly no one noticed him.


    In truth, the mist surrounding the Baron was an application of water and ice magic as well as some illusion magic to not only distort light in order to make the user invisible but even show others an entirely different image.


    Like this, the Baron weaved through the busy streets of the southern district until he made his way over to a shady broken down metal door further south of his own store. This door was located farther away from the main streets and markets and closer to where the merchants stored their goods.


    The Baron knocked on the door quickly twice before slowly hitting it a third time. A piece of metal opened up and a man on the other side asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here to pick up a package.¡±


    ¡°What kind?¡±


    ¡°A headless rat.¡±


    The metal door creaked as it slowly opened, and the man from behind the door let the baron in. The Baron looked around and covered his nose as the stench of the room struck his nose. This was one of many of the southern districts shadier markets, where one could purchase things usually a bit too dangerous to put up for sale in a normal store.


    Though despite how the interior looked and how putrid it smelled stores like these were often backed by powerful nobles and they were a rather important asset. The Baron quickly made his way through the cramped room filled with tiny stalls selling a variety of goods.


    He slowly made his way into a hallway lined with doors, before pausing at one and looking at the number above. He pulled out a key from his pocket and entered the room revealing a blonde haired child missing an arm and who possessed a black eye.


    Hiro turned to his father and asked, ¡°Did you bring me my arm?¡±


    ~Several days ago~


    After realizing his plan had failed Hiro ripped off his new hand and threw it onto the ground. While it was risky he had the hand slowly transform into his body, injured, missing an arm, and an eye. He knew that in all likelihood Karen had survived, and he hadn¡¯t bought much time for himself.


    If Hiro remained here at the academy he¡¯d only be putting himself at risk so instead, he planned to orchestrate his own death. The black sphere while being entirely made out of mana didn¡¯t emit any mana in the least, and after absorbing so much of his own blood the sphere could even replicate his own bones and flesh.


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    If he left the sphere here pretending to be his corpse he could hopefully trick Karen into think he had perished and at worst thrown her off his trail. While this meant he wouldn¡¯t have an arm until he could make another sphere, at the very least this presented an opportunity to him.


    Now Hiro knew more than Karen, with this he could take the initiative. Hiro quickly grabbed several medical supplies and rations and tossed them into his eye. Even though a lot of the mana stored within was now acting to give him sight, it still possessed the ability to create an independent space, though this one was far smaller than the earlier sphere.


    He also moved to the wall and grabbed a few weapons, and a few spare shirts and pants before going to the shelves and downing several more bottles of potions.


    After several hours passed the hand had finally transformed into a fake corpse. Hiro turned to his wrist and took off the red bracelet signifying he was a student before putting it on his corpse. Then he hurriedly walked out of his room, leaving the door slightly ajar before running towards the southern district.


    It was there he was able to contact his father where he secretly met him in a dark alley. The Baron looked at Hiro¡¯s missing hand and said, ¡°I thought I said not to drag us into your mess.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not, I just want your assistance.¡±


    ¡°With what?¡±


    ¡°I left a fake corpse in my dorm room, someone will likely find it and think I¡¯m dead. Although I might be able to trick some students and instructors I definitely won¡¯t be able to trick everyone. I need you to convince them I¡¯m either dead or you¡¯ll handle the situation.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re faking your own death?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s probably safer for your family like this anyway. If you can try and bring the corpse back to me or bury it. It was originally going to be my new arm you see. After things have cooled down I¡¯ll leave the city and disguise myself.¡±


    The Baron thought about it before replying, ¡°Fine.¡±


    ~


    Back in the room Hiro stayed in for several days the Baron shook his head, ¡°I need your help.¡±


    Hiro turned to the Baron, ¡°My help?¡±


    The Baron nodded his head, ¡°You probably aren¡¯t aware of this, but your sister¡¯s been kidnapped. These assailants aren¡¯t weak either, they¡¯ve killed several trained knights and even some magic knights. Currently, I¡¯ve deployed all the Whitmore¡¯s manpower to search for your sister, but nothing turned up.¡±


    Hiro paused for a moment seemingly losing himself in thought, he turned to the Baron, ¡°Did you check the South district?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re currently searching all the districts right now.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that, get everyone back and search the south district. It¡¯s likely the kidnappers are somewhere there.¡±


    ¡°How can you be so sure?¡±


    ¡°A little fairy gave me a tip¡±


    The Baron tilted his head, ¡°A fairy?¡±


    Hiro got off the bed, ¡°Well if anything it¡¯s more like a Demon gave me a clue.¡±


    ¡°Well, either way, everyone will rendezvous back in the southern district. For now, take this.¡±


    The Baron threw Hiro a silver pendant that was shaped like a lion''s head. Hiro caught the pendant and asked, ¡°Whats this?¡±


    ¡°Compensation, I¡¯m not asking for your help as a member of the family, after all, you¡¯re already dead. I¡¯m hiring you.¡±


    Hiro poured some mana into the pendant and suddenly a silver gauntlet covered his arm,¡°Magic armor? Impressive.¡±


    The Baron nodded his head, ¡°It should help hide your identity, though try not to talk to your sister or Noel.¡±

 Chapter 27: An Ominous Feeling

    People in the southern districts were going about their business as usual. There were more guards and people quickly roaming about, but since this didn¡¯t particularly concern them everyone was just going about their day.


    However, as the passerbyers occasionally turned to the sky they would see a flash of silver fly by as a Knight fully clad in armor shot from rooftop to rooftop. The Knights'' armor was entirely made out of silver engraved with dozens of complex etchings and a white cloth hung on his right shoulder hiding his right arm.  His helmet was shaped like that of a lion completely covering his face. And his entire body exuded a white light that was only amplified by the sun and the shiny armor he wore.


    The knight would occasionally stop atop a roof and raise his hands, pausing there only for a few moments before dashing away. This knight was naturally Hiro in his magic armor. He used his mana to shape the armor in such a way that made him appear taller and bulkier despite his age.


    This way if people were to look at him there was no way they could figure out that in truth an eleven-year-old was in that suit of armor. He also made sure the helmet completely covered his face and even made it difficult to see his eyes so that way they wouldn¡¯t notice his peculiar black eye.


    Hiro turned to the ground and notice several knights searching the perimeter and shook his head. It was simply far too inefficient to roam the busy streets like that to search for a someone. So instead Hiro took the skies jumping from roof to roof while occasionally using a spell to search for his sister.


    This made it far easier to search through the expansive southern districts. Though there were some stores with barriers that made it impossible for him to look inside, he noted them down and got his father to send people to inspect them.


    But these stores were mainly magic stores run by reputable salesman or nobles so it was unlikely for them to be harboring criminals. Instead, Hiro was more interested in the back alley stores and locations with barriers.


    Soon enough one of Hiro¡¯s spell hit a barrier and he turned around, he poured mana into his black eye and then the Baron¡¯s figure appeared before him. He signaled his father to descend and quickly pulled out a sword from his eye.


    He dropped down into a dark alley and put his left up against a wall. There was a barrier covering the building, but it was only designed to prevent sound from leaking out and to hide from observation spells. So naturally, the spell did nothing to defend the actual building.


    Hiro gathered mana around his palm and slowly pushed it into the building creating a tiny hole in the wall. Hiro quickly grabbed his eye through his helmet and the eye quickly shrunk to fit through the hole. He pushed the eye causing it to fly through the room and closed his eyes.


    Soon enough an image of the entire room filled Hiro¡¯s head, as soon as he realized the coast was clear he signaled his father. The baron nodded from his mist and rapidly chanted a spell before turning into mist himself.


    The mist leaked into the room through the hole before reforming into the Baron. The Baron quickly looked around before crouching down and hiding as the earlier spell undid his invisibility spell and he began casting the spell again. The Baron whispered, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


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    With those words, Hiro retracted his eye and continued back to the rooftops. As Hiro landed on his roof he sighed, ¡°This city''s too big.¡±


    It¡¯s been several hours since he started searching the district with his father, and even as fast as they were going there were too many buildings with barriers. In the end, his father even got into a fight with some criminals selling illegal goods in his search for his sister.


    Naturally, his father just simply froze everyone to death and he didn¡¯t have much difficulty fending them off, but this was a waste of time. Surely the culprits were well aware that there was a large number of personnel looking for them. It was unlikely they would just sit still and do nothing.


    However, in the end, it was impossible to conduct a massive wide scale search to search for a few individuals. And it would be a problem if they neglected an area and be forced to backtrack.


    As Hiro raised his hand and released another pulse of mana, suddenly he felt the ground shake violently. He turned to the western part of the district, ¡°What was that?¡±


    Suddenly his father appeared beside him, ¡°We should check that out.¡±


    Hiro nodded his head, and a pair of white wings unfurled from his back. He quickly shot towards the district when suddenly he felt a cold chill.


    ¡°This feeling¡­¡±


    Hiro frowned from behind his helmet and unfurled another pair of wings causing himself to accelerate further. Something felt wrong, no something was wrong. Something deep inside him told him that whatever was ahead of him, whatever was waiting for him was dangerous, no worse¡­


    Hiro clenched his fist, he was familiar with this feeling it was engraved in his very soul. For the last nine centuries, he and his fell Hero¡¯s had fought someone who gave him this sort of feeling. Eleven years ago he had died fighting someone who gave him dread feeling. And just a few days ago he nearly died fighting someone who gave him this feeling.


    Soon enough he reached a warehouse and cast a spell scanning the region, but he felt a powerful barrier that not only blocked his spell but retaliated. Hiro summoned a sword and struck the barrier causing it to collapse.


    Hiro frowned and struck the roof of the warehouse and soon enough a field of blood and corpses came into view. As he looked around there were dozens of men in robes and armor with their upper bodies completely torn off or their lower body. Some of these men and women were merely pieces of limbs of organs or even torn off heads lying on the ground.


    Entrails were left everywhere, and the blood was fresh the stench filling the air. And as he looked down he noticed there was a familiar young man. He was a child who was only eleven years old, his hair was brown, and his body was soaked entirely in blood. In his hands, he was holding an unconscious little girl and behind him was a familiar black haired girl.


    Hiro descended falling to the ground retracting his four white wings. Then the large doors to the warehouse burst open and dozens of knights walked in led by Noel before finally, the Baron descended from the hole Hiro opened up.


    As the baron took form he looked at the child in shock and asked, ¡°Quinn?¡±


    Quinn walked forward smiling, ¡°Hello Father.¡±

 Chapter 28: A Fateful Meeting

    Hiro looked at his brother in shock, what was he doing here, how did he get here, how did he find the culprits, how did he defeat everyone, and most importantly why was she here? Hiro glanced at Karen walking slowly behind Quinn.


    ¡°Was this her doing? But that feeling, it felt similar but different from hers...¡±


    He remembered just days earlier having lost his arm to Karen and he felt a sudden sharp pain in his missing arm and eye¡­


    Hiro turned to Quinn, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me he did something to him?¡±


    Hiro tightened the grip on the sword in his hands and closed his eyes. As his world went dark time seemed to slow to a halt, and eight golden pillars of light appeared in his mind. In the center of each pillar were a set of golden items: A sword, a shield, a chest plate, boots, leggings, gauntlets, rings, and finally an amulet.


    These were the eight divine artifacts from the past eight Heroes. Hiro¡¯s eyes suddenly turned a golden color, and his blonde hair turned white as suddenly a six golden wings unfurled from his back. Then a golden pillar of light descended upon him and his body returned to its form from eleven years ago.


    The as the pillars of light began to disappear eight faceless figures appeared in their place each wielding their divine artifacts. Hiro turned to them and asked, ¡°What should I do¡­¡±


    The figure with the shield stepped forward, ¡°To serve as Humanities shield is our duty as a Hero.¡±


    The figure with the amulet with a halo over his head stepped forward, ¡°To fight in sickness, and in death.¡±


    Then the figure with the rings, ¡°For we are Heroes. We stand as a living testament to Humanities strength.¡±


    The Heroes wearing the chest plate and the leggings struck their armor, ¡°Our Ingenuity¡±


    And then the Hero with the gauntlets raised his hand, ¡°And our valor!¡±


    The finally the as the Hero with the sword step forward in front of Hiro, the other heroes took a step back. This Hero raised his sword, ¡°We are Humanities swords and eternal guardians. For centuries we have slain countless enemies in the name of the Holy Light, for what is just and righteous! Till death, we fight!¡±


    All the heroes raised their fists and shouted in unison, ¡°¡°Till death!¡±¡±


    ¡°For peace, and prosperity!¡±


    ¡°¡°We fight!¡±¡±


    These eight faceless figures suddenly released eight brilliant rays of light into the air illuminating Hiro¡¯s world, and he quietly mumbled to himself, ¡°For peace and prosperity we fight¡­¡±


    Hiro opened his eyes and the blooded warehouse once again came into his view. He tightened his grip on his sword, and suddenly his black eye returned to normal as his iris turned from blue to gold.


    With a level of strength unlike before, he swung his sword down at his brother''s neck as he repeated in his mind, ¡°For peace and prosperity!¡±


    The Baron¡¯s eyes widened in shock as he saw this and he raised his hands, his arms were covered in a layer of frost. Karen turned to Hiro in shock and suddenly the tips of her hair began to turn purple.


    Noel and the other knights in the distance immediately grew pale and charged Hiro with all their might. However, the strike was too fast and too sudden for anyone to stop it. Yet the end result was beyond anyone¡¯s expectations, well aside from one¡­


    Hiro¡¯s blade had stopped just centimeters away from Quinn¡¯s neck, and no matter how much strength Hiro put into his sword it simply couldn¡¯t pierce the thin black layer of mist between his blade and Quinn¡¯s neck.


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    ¡°You know I thought I¡¯d be a little angrier you know,¡± Quinn turned his head to the left slightly, ¡°After all you¡¯re a Hero you know, yet here you are trying to kill your own blood brother. But if anything I just feel disappointed really.¡±


    ¡°What are you¡­¡±


    Quinn smiled wearily, ¡°Your brother.¡±


    Hiro shouted, ¡°You¡¯re not my brother! My brother is...he¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s just another bystander. Our father a bystander, or perhaps an asset. Our mother a bystander. Our sister, a liability. And then what about Maria, Collette, Francis, Baldar, Karen? I wonder what they were really too you? Friends, it¡¯s a possibility, but when I think about the blade that¡¯s only a hair''s breadth away from my neck and the fact that we¡¯ve been together ever since we were born I¡¯m sure you¡¯d understand why I find that possibility only laughable at best. ¡±


    Then suddenly a piece of ice came flying towards Hiro, Hiro was about to raise his sword to block it, but then a black light shot towards the ice and it suddenly disappeared. Quinn walked over to Karen and handed her his sister.


    Quinn turned to Hiro and smiled, ¡°Let¡¯s have a nice chat.¡±


    ¡°Nothings up for a discussion.¡±


    Quinn laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry you won¡¯t be talking to me, and¡­¡±


    Suddenly Quinn vanished before suddenly appearing behind Hiro two fingers touching the back of his neck, ¡°That wasn¡¯t really a question.¡±


    Suddenly a tiny black snake coiled around Quinn¡¯s fingers and bit Hiro¡¯s neck, it¡¯s fangs easily piercing the thin metal plating. Hiro screamed in pain as he felt something digging into his skin and up through his flesh into his brain.


    The suddenly Hiro¡¯s world went entirely white and the pain disappeared. Hiro looked around, his armor had seemingly vanished, and then soon he found he was in a rather familiar place.


    The white space changed into that of a castle throne room, one Hiro was particularly familiar with, the Demon King¡¯s throne room.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally meet you, Hero.¡±


    Hiro quickly turned around and there was a grey skin demon with a broken horn standing before him. Hiro¡¯s bulged as he shouted, ¡°Demon King!¡±


    ¡°Now, now let¡¯s calm down for a minute. Look¡±, the Demon King raised his hands, ¡°I¡¯m unarmed, and besides aren¡¯t you missing something pretty important.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about!¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Ah you¡¯re not the most observant man to walk this earth even with centuries of years under your belt.¡±


    The Demon King raised his hand, and suddenly a miniature version of the monstrous form the Hero had fought appeared floating over his palm, ¡°Here¡¯s your first hint.¡±


    Hiro looked at the monster in the Demon King¡¯s palm and the suddenly came to a realization, ¡°You...you¡¯re the Demon King aren¡¯t you?¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Of course, the one and only Demon King.¡±


    ¡°But that doesn¡¯t make sense. The Demon King has never possessed a Human, and this...how are you capable of speech?¡±


    ¡°Never possessed Humans? Oh how you Humans like your jokes. To begin with that massive lump of hatred, anger, despair, and malice that you call the Demon King was something originally given rise to by a Human.¡±

 Chapter 29: The Truth Behind the Tale, Part 1

    ¡°The Demon King was something Humans gave rise to? What are you talking about!¡±


    The Demon King laughed in response, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I never expected you of all people to know what I was talking about. Besides, it¡¯s likely anyone whoever said such a thing in your holy empire would be branded a heretic and be chased out if not killed on the spot. But tell me how do you think they made you?¡±


    ¡°Made me?¡±


    The Demon King turned around and began walking towards his throne, ¡°Is it really that much of a surprise? Think about it, who was the first Hero? According to your Holy Empire, a nameless Knight who upon seeing the destruction left behind by the Demon King choose to take up his sword and with a few comrades went on to slay the Demon King. Afterwards, he sacrificed himself becoming the first Divine Artifact so that others may take up the mantle as Hero when the time arises. Am I correct?¡±


    The Demon King stopped for a moment and glanced behind him. Hiro nodded, it was even a tradition for later Hero¡¯s to cast away their names after taking up the Divine Artifacts so that they may pay tribute to the first Hero.


    ¡°The Hero tell me, what was your name?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    The Demon King turned back around and began walking towards his throne, ¡°I¡¯m sure you heard me. In the history books, the first Hero was some nameless Knight who stood up against the tyranny that was the Demon King leaving behind a single golden sword with his memories and experiences. Every Hero from henceforward would the take up the first Hero¡¯s sword and cast away their names as they fought the Demon King. But inheritor of that very sword what was the first Hero¡¯s name?¡±


    Hiro paused, ¡°That''s¡­¡±


    Hiro went through his head and but no matter how he tried he couldn¡¯t recall the first Hero¡¯s name. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn¡¯t recall any of the Hero¡¯s names. Not the second, nor the third, nor the fourth or fifth, not even his own name¡­


    Hiro¡¯s face paled slightly and his complexion dulled slightly as he said, ¡°I-I¡¯m just a little forgetful. I can¡¯t recall it now, but I¡¯m sure if¡­¡±


    Hiro gulped, ¡°If just given a little more time I could remember it¡­¡±


    The Demon King sat down on his throne and rest his chin on his right palm, ¡°Well alright, you do have over a century''s worth of memories so how about I let this one slide. But how about the Divine Artifacts?¡±


    ¡°What about them?¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t you just think it¡¯s a little suspicious? The Sword of Victory, the Shield of Justice, the Radiant Amulet, man these names really are pretentious don¡¯t you think?  But think about it, the first Hero¡¯s sword on its own was a top class sword.¡±


    The Demon King raised his left arm and suddenly a golden ray appeared over his palm before transforming into a golden broadsword. Hiro¡¯s eyes widened as the first Hero¡¯s Divine artifact slowly fell into the Demon King¡¯s hands.


    The Demon King caressed the sword, ¡°It¡¯s really a work of art, passive strengthening that¡¯s multiplicative rather than additive allowing the sword¡¯s effects to further grow in strength as the user grows in strength. It¡¯s an almost unbreakable sword whose edge will never grow dull. And it possesses the Holy element that naturally counters the Demon King¡¯s natural abilities. Not to mention it possess the natural ability to strengthen any magic sword techniques you use. A hero couldn¡¯t ask for a better sword.¡±


    Hiro clenched his fist, as he tried to call back the divine artifact, but the sword simply didn¡¯t react to his calls.


    The Demon King noticed this and laughed. He raised the sword into the air and smashed it against his throne causing it to shatter into pieces.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised, we¡¯re in a space formed from the combination of our psyche, our souls per se. It¡¯s only natural that I can twist the world to my whim here.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡°But anyway, with such a good sword, why do you think they decided to include something like memories and experiences? If they wanted to pass on techniques they could have just written it out, there was no need to leave it in a sword only one person can use. And have you ever thought about this? Why are the divine artifacts capable of storing something as obscure as emotions?¡±


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    ¡°The divine artifacts don¡¯t store emotions! What I felt when I inherited these memories, these techniques, these experiences were all my own. And it was thanks to these memories that I got to experience their hardships and their difficulties, their resolve! It was in seeing their fate that I gained the resolve to face my own like the Hero before me, and the Hero before them!¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±, the Demon King smirked, ¡°But how can you be so sure? How are you sure what you felt was genuine? How can you be sure what you saw was the truth? Sure it could have been the Hero¡¯s memories, but it could have also been something the artificially, manufactured, something entirely false. How can you know!?¡±


    Suddenly the floor under Hiro¡¯s feet cracked as he shouted, ¡°Because how could it be false! I¡¯ve seen what you¡¯re capable of, I¡¯ve seen all the death and suffering that you Demon Kings bring. And then so what if they were false, what if these memories were fake, these emotions were fake, at the very least there¡¯s something I know that¡¯s true!¡±


    ¡°Oh? Enlighten me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s that you are evil. I may have been a young Hero, and I may not be the brightest man out there. Even with all the memories and techniques of my predecessors, there was a limit to what I was capable of and in the end, I primarily just used brute force. But I¡¯ve seen this war between our two worlds with my own eyes. I¡¯ve seen good men die, and countless lives sacrificed in order to stop you. It was for the peace of the world and justice that I killed-¡±


    Suddenly landscape changed, the brightly lit throne room suddenly changed into a dark cave. Hiro paused and looked around, the cave was filled with a bunch of makeshift buildings made of some mud or some broken pieces of wood and stone.


    A number of monsters and demons could be seen just lying around, some of them were covered in bandages or missing limbs. Hiro could see a variety of monsters stumbling in the dark to go places, and in the distance, he could hear the sound of metal hitting stone and distant coughs.


    ¡°This is...¡±


    The Demon King suddenly appeared behind Hiro, ¡°My hometown in a sense, in truth I don¡¯t really know where I was born or my real hometown. At some point, my father died somewhere in a ditch, and my mother fled with me to this godforsaken place when my tribe was slaughtered about 600 years ago.¡±


    The Demon King looked around, ¡°This is an underground village, they¡¯re a lot more common than you¡¯d think. They¡¯re well hidden and it provides sufficient shelter against the harsh weather outside. Though¡­¡±


    The Demon King looked at a gray-skinned child with two small stubs on his head. The child looked only about six years old and his body was incredibly thin. The Demon King kneeled down and his eyes had already gone white and his body stiffened.


    ¡°In the end, this is the underground. There¡¯s only so much one can do for food.¡±


    Hiro looked at his surroundings before turning to the Demon King and asking, ¡°What¡¯s the point in showing me all of this¡­¡±


    The Demon King sighed and looked towards the dark ceiling above lined with jagged rocks, ¡°Well if I¡¯m being honest I¡¯m venting really.¡±


    The surroundings rapidly changed once more and the two of them were atop a snowy mountain looking down at a field of snow, ¡°You see Hero, I can¡¯t stand you. But you know after I grew older I stopped hating you, the ones who took away my father and led to my mother¡¯s death. Instead, I came to detest the world that necessitated your existence, the world that cheered for a false Hero who brought about anything but peace under the name of some twisted Justice.¡±


    The Demon King turned to the Hiro, ¡°So let me level with you for a bit.¡±


    The Demon King snapped his finger and suddenly they were in a throne room again. However, as Hiro looked around his mouth gaped as he realized was in a different but familiar throne room. This was the Emperor¡¯s throne room, the Emperor of the Holy Empire.

 Chapter 30: The Truth Behind the Tale, Part 2

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this!?¡±, Hiro shouted, ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of your-¡±


    Suddenly Hiro found that even though he was opening his mouth words simply wouldn¡¯t come out. Hiro glared at the Demon King and pointed his finger at him demanding he unsilence him this very instance.


    However, the Demon King merely raised his finger to his lips motioning the Hiro to be quiet, ¡°Ssssh, the show¡¯s about to start.¡±


    The Demon King snapped his finger one more time and the two of them began floating as a black box slowly formed around them. The box flew into the air and allowed the two of them to look down and easily see the whole throne room.


    The doors to the throne room opened and a man concealed in a black robe slowly walked forwards. This figure was quite tall, at the very least far taller than the small escort of knights following closely behind him.


    Though unlike most escorts whose main purpose was to protect their client these Knights geared from head to toe in golden armor had their swords and spears drawn. And while these Knights weren''t pointing their weapons towards the man in the black cloak, they were clearly on high alert and ready to strike at a moments notice.


    Hiro looked around the throne room once more and noticed that several familiar faces all of whom were several powerful and prominent figures within the Holy Empire.


    Standing beside the Emperor, for example, was a familiar white-haired Elf clad in a purple robe, Albis the Royal Mage, and an old man casually leaning against the wall drinking out of a flask with an abnormally long sword in between his legs.


    Also in front of the black cloaked man stood twelve of the thirteen Knight Captains who would later lead the Crusade into the Underworld standing parallel to each other on either side of a red carpet in two orderly rows.


    The throne room was also filled with a number of other guards. To the left there was naturally the Royal Guard, completely outfitted to the brim with magical armor and the some of the best weapons the Empire could offer. While to the left was the Holy Chivalric Order, a group of Knights under the Holy Church in charge of protecting the pope and other important figures in the Church.


    The black cloaked man walked to the center of the room before kneeling, ¡°Excuse me, your Highness, if I¡¯ve been rude it¡¯s been far too long since I¡¯ve been in the presence of one so awe-inspiring and powerful as you, your highness.¡±


    The Emperor gave a cold snort as he said, ¡°Enough with the pleasantries Demon, what have you come here for.¡±


    The Demon removed his hood revealing the kneeling figure of Demon King standing beside Hiro. Hiro turned to the Demon King, before glancing down at the identical demon below. The Demon King noticed his glance, and said,


    ¡°This is about forty years before our fateful battle, so about 51 years ago in total. This is a reconstruction of the scene based off of my memories."


    The two looked back down at the younger Demon King, though he didn¡¯t appear physically different from the one right next to Hiro, and continued watching. The Demon King below laughed,


    ¡°Well, I suppose I don''t have much of a choice in the matter so I''ll be frank. You know you Humans need to stop leaving your unsolved problems for the later generations. Unlike you, our races are rather long living so these problems are quite worrying."


    One of the Knight Captains gave the Demon King a cold snort in response as he released a wave of mana, however, this wave mysteriously disappeared as it approached the Demon King.


    "You see about a month ago Walpurgis Night descended upon the Underworld and the next Demon King was finally chosen. In all likelihood, those Divine Artifacts of yours should start reacting and you''ll be able to raise your new toy for a few decades. But considering what happened with the 8th Hero, just how many more times can you repeat this cycle I wonder."


    ¡°And?¡±, Albis stepped forward, ¡°Even if the odds aren''t in our favor what other choice do we have then to fight? If the Empire were to be defeated in battle... if the Hero should lose, then all that awaits this world is nothing but death and destruction."


    ¡°But if you were to continue this cycle, with the Hero and Demon King growing stronger and stronger each time. Then by the tenth or eleventh Hero, you fools might not even have a world to save! Though I''m sure more than anyone else here you''re aware of that...Immortal."


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    Albis clenched his fist, but as he was about to say something the Emperor raised his hand motioning him to stand back. The Emperor stood up and walked off his throne and down the stairs.


    ¡°Truth Seeker, may I assume you have a proposal to make then?¡±


    The Demon King raised his head, ¡°Naturally your majesty. My proposal is nothing major, it''s merely the proposal I made to your father, and your father''s father, and his father''s father. A simple compromise.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    Albis shouted from the back of the room, ¡°Only a madman would accept such an offer from a Demon like you! And do you have any guarantee that your plan will work!?¡±


    The Emperor glanced back at Albis causing Albis to step back a bit, before turning back around. He looked down at the Demon King and asked, ¡°Let me hear this proposal of yours.¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Well it¡¯s quite simple your majesty, in exchange for helping you Humans rid yourselves of the Demon King, you will help the Demon race regain a foothold back in the continent.¡±


    ¡°Ho, I see," The Emperor caressed his chin, "But how exactly will you get rid of the Demon King that not even we have been able to get rid of for over a millennium?¡±


    ¡°Well you see your Majesty, your ancestors wished to seal the Demon King¡¯s curse or eliminate it entirely. But the only way to truly rid the world of the curse is to fulfill its desire, which naturally is impossible for you as doing so would lead to the destruction of your Empire. So instead of sealing it or destroying it, we merely need to relocate it?¡±


    The Emperor turned to Albis, and asked, ¡°Albis is such a thing possible?¡±


    Albis nodded, ¡°It is indeed possible, but my lord even if we were to gather all the mana from several dragon veins and relocate the Demon King into the stars it would only at most delay the inevitable¡­¡±


    ¡°But instead of relocating the Demon King¡¯s curse into the stars, what if we were to shatter time and space for an instance and transfer the curse from our world to another.¡±


    ¡°That would still merely delay the curse! The Demon King¡¯s curse would eventually find its way through the void between worlds until eventually returning! This would at most buy us a few decades!¡±


    The Demon King smiled, ¡°But what if we sent the Hero with it as well.¡±


    Albis clenched his fists and suddenly the temperature of the room began to increase drastically, ¡°You would forsake an entire world¡¯s population!?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s our world or theirs!¡±, the Demon King shouted, ¡°Or would you rather our world crashes and burns for the mistake of your forefathers?¡±


    ¡°We would betray our Empire¡¯s greatest Hero! The First Hero had willing sacrificed himself knowing full well what would become of him and the later Heroes. For our Empire he toiled away for hundreds of years, to simply cast him away is nothing but the greatest act of betrayal!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d rather save one man, no a weapon, over billions of lives you could be saving!?¡±


    ¡°We may be saving billions of lives, but we¡¯d doom trillions more!¡±


    Albis raised his hand and suddenly what appeared to be a miniature sun appeared in the middle of the throne room. However as it began to grow, it was suddenly cut in half as the drunk man beside Albis disappeared before reappearing on the other side of the room holding the abnormally long sword in one hand and a flask in the other.


    ¡°Albis, you get riled up too easily. It¡¯s not good for your health.¡±


    The Demon King looked up at the vanishing sun, and exclaimed, ¡°Impressive! As expected of the Sword Saint that assisted the 7th Hero in slaying the Demon King!¡±


    The old man took a swig from his flask, ¡°Oh please, I¡¯m nothing but a drunk old man.¡±


    The Emperor shook his head, before asking the Demon King, ¡°Tell me this at the very least Truth Seeker, how do you intend to execute this plan of yours. It¡¯s not easy sending someone to a different dimension let alone a curse.¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Naturally I¡¯ve prepared a means. Though my plan still requires that we can defeat this iteration of the Demon King so I suggest you hurry and look for the Hero. I can assist you with that.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Well naturally because,¡± a thick black mist suddenly shot out of the Demon King¡¯s skin causing the twelve Knight captains to draw their weapons as well as the Royal Guard, ¡°I¡¯m the Demon King.¡±

 Chapter 31: The Truth Behind the Tale, Final Part

    Albis stared at the Demon King in disbelief, ¡°You¡¯re possessed! But how, I thought you possessed the means to hide from the curse!?¡±


    The Demon King laughed as the black mist surrounding his body disappeared, ¡°My plan has a relatively low chance of actually succeeding as it stands, so I decided to take a few matters into my own hands.¡±


    The Emperor caressed his chin, ¡°I was under the impression that the curse chooses it¡¯s host randomly.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re correct your highness, but there is a way to manipulate who becomes the host. For example, if the host of the curse were to die prematurely, the curse will just transfer itself into a different body. And with that in mind, there¡¯s a rather simple method to allow the curse to possess a specific individual.¡±


    Albis eyes widened, ¡°You didn¡¯t¡­¡±


    The Demon King smiled, ¡°19,634.¡±


    The Emperor asked, ¡°And that is?¡±


    ¡°The number of Demons I personally killed until the curse within their bodies entered mine.¡±, the Demon King turned to Albis, ¡°And I know what you want to say. I¡¯m a madman, I¡¯m insane, I¡¯m a monster, and you know what you¡¯re right. I¡¯m a monster because that¡¯s what this world needs right now, not a Hero, not a Demon King, but a monster willing to do anything to make something happen.¡±


    The room went silent upon hearing the Demon King¡¯s words. The Demon King had killed thousands of his own brethren just so he could execute this plan¡­


    The Emperor laughed and clapped his hands, ¡°Ah Truth Seeker, you truly are an amusing Demon. It¡¯s a shame you¡¯re fated to die in only a few more decades. I might have invited you over to tea to have a nice chat.¡±


    ¡°You humble me, your majesty.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, but you never did answer my question. How do you intend to send the curse inside of you into another world?¡±


    ¡°It would require a favor, your majesty.¡±


    ¡°Oh, pray tell?¡±


    ¡°I would like you to send a Crusade over to the Underworld along with the Hero to assault the Demon King¡¯s castle slaying all twelve Generals within a time frame of a week.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯ve constructed a magic circle in the underground over the past couple centuries with the Demon King¡¯s castle being the focal point. There exist sixteen vital points within the magic circle, and I¡¯ve built four of those points upon dragon veins. However if since there¡¯s only a possibility this may work it would be too dangerous to complete deplete the dragon veins especially if we want to attempt this again so¡­¡±


    The Emperor''s eyes widened, and he applauded the Demon King once more, ¡°You wish to use the crusaders as sacrificial pawns in your ritual! Ah, you¡¯re the best, truly the best!¡±


    Albis called out, ¡°Your majesty!¡±


    However, the Emperor ignored him, and turned around, ¡°Very well I agree to your request. The millions of crusaders will be at your behest to serve as sacrifices for the ritual that shall save the world!¡±


    ¡°Your majesty! This is insane! You¡¯d not only be betraying the Hero but all of your citizens!¡±


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    ¡°Betray? The Hero chose to fight the Demon King nine hundred years ago till the end of time, we¡¯re merely following his wish and allowing him to do so eternally within another world. As for betraying my citizens, I¡¯m doing no such thing!¡±


    ¡°But your highness!¡±


    ¡°The citizens have trusted in the royal bloodline for over a millennium. We¡¯re are one of the oldest long-standing Empires and our citizens are proud of it. They understand that every century we must rally together to defeat a common enemy! As an Emperor, it is only fitting that I listen to their requests and oblige! Their sacrifices and valor will inspire the next generation to rise up in the name of our glorious Empire!¡±


    ¡°Your Highness, even the Truth Seeker admits that this plan of his only has a chance of succeeding. What if it fails! Then wouldn¡¯t sacrificing our Hero and millions of lives be for naught!?¡±


    ¡°If we fail, then we merely continue on with this tedious cycle. There¡¯s no real loss, besides if we do succeed allying with the Demons isn¡¯t a half-bad idea.¡±


    The Demon King smiled, ¡°So I take it that we¡¯ve come to an agreement?¡±


    The Emperor smiled, ¡°Naturally.¡±


    The Emperor turned to one of the Royal Guards, and they quickly walked up to the Demon King and handed him a white crystal with a golden cross. The Emperor continued, ¡°With this, you¡¯ll be able to contact me freely, I await the results.¡±


    The Demon King stood back up and put his hood on, ¡°So do I¡±


    Then the Demon King beside Hiro snapped his fingers and the scene changed once more to the Demon King¡¯s castle. He turned to Hiro and asked, ¡°So how was it?¡±


    Hiro shook his head, ¡°Enough with these mind games Demon.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me do you.¡±


    ¡°Why would I!? You¡¯re the Demon King, Humanity''s greatest enemy for centuries. I have faith in the Holy Empire, they¡¯d never do such a thing!¡±


    The Demon King laughed, ¡°Ah, even after I¡¯ve shown you that, even after living in this world for eleven years you still believe that. The how about this? How do I know what the throne room looks like, how did I replicate the Emperor''s younger appearance, how did I recreate all those people?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±, the Hero paused, ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter, you¡¯re the Demon King you¡¯re just trying to get me to betray Humanity!¡±


    ¡°Betray? Oh, Hero, you overestimate your worth. After our souls melded together earlier you already lost your value to me and your Empire. I just wanted to make you the Hero feel but a hint of despair. Now then...¡±


    The Demon King looked at his hand as his body was becoming slightly transparent, ¡°I¡¯m running out of time, so why don¡¯t we say hi to your roommate.¡±


    The Demon King clapped his hands and suddenly the entire ceiling was ripped off and a massive ball of black mist was floating in the air. The Demon King smiled and waved towards Hiro, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it seems to be a trend to have other people stuck in your heads.¡±

 Chapter 32: Turning Point

    In a completely white space that seemed to infinitely stretch into the distance sat a young brown haired boy sitting in front of a tall black door with his eyes closed. Naturally, this child was Quinn, and like his brother, he was sitting in the space formed from his psyche, his mind, and soul.


    Then suddenly this white world of his began to violently shake, and as Quinn opened his eyes and looked behind him he noticed the black door that¡¯s been there ever since he was born began slowly turning into dust and fading away. However Quinn didn¡¯t panic, and he merely stood up and said, ¡°So I assume you¡¯ve finished.¡±


    Then a grey-skinned Demon with broken horns appeared in front of Quinn and laughed, ¡°Of course!¡±


    Quinn stared at the Demon King who even now was slightly transparent and shook his head, ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡±


    The Demon King walked around Quinn and stared at placed his hands upon the fading black door, ¡°In the end, he didn¡¯t believe me, though I already predicted that would happen.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a stubborn man.¡±


    The Demon King shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s more than that, from the very beginning the Hero¡¯s were a very broken and twisted existence. I should know after all I spent all my life studying the Heroes and Demon Kings and the end I eventually became one.¡±


    ¡°Broken and twisted?¡±


    The Demon King stared at the black door fading away in his hands meaningfully and said,


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you understand to some level how pitiful of an existence this curse is, an amalgamation of broken souls and emotions used to drive one mad in exchange for power beyond anyone being¡¯s. Its strength is derived from the theory that souls are the origin of strength, and by fusing countless souls together and uniting them under a single powerful emotion it gives rise to tremendous strength. But in the end, these souls truly are pitiful¡­¡±


    The door before the Demon King finally vanished in its entirety and the Demon King continued, ¡°The Hero¡¯s in a sense are a similar existence, a single-minded being that exists for a singular purpose. Though how they accomplish it is the opposite of the Demon King. A Hero doesn¡¯t need something like emotion, they simply need something to adhere to `justice` something to believe in `peace` and something to achieve `prosperity`.¡±


    Quinn thought back to only moments ago when his own brother had drawn his sword and in a single deceive stroke tried to end his life for peace and prosperity.


    ¡°So in the end what the Divine Artifacts had to do was simple, every single one would shatter its user''s soul into pieces and insert into it memories, emotions, and the holy empire¡¯s false justice. And in the end, their soul would be used to strengthen the Divine Artifacts and what remained would be used to forge the next one. From the very start after the Hero receives their divine artifacts they¡¯ve already become a shell of a Human being and have become akin to a living weapon.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±, Quinn stared at the Demon King and his eyes widened as he noticed the Demon King¡¯s legs had disappeared, ¡°Aslo!¡±


    However the Demon King Aslo merely laughed, ¡°I had intended to remain a bystander, someone who observes from afar, I have even intended to allow the curse to inevitably consume your mind. However, in the end, it¡¯s impossible to predict everything, to think the curse would be rendered into that state after being transferred to another world.¡±


    The Demon King turned around and smiled, ¡°This is goodbye Quinn.¡±


    Quinn grit his teeth and clenched his fists, ¡°What are you doing Aslo!? You said everything would be fine after this!¡±


    ¡°They will be, this is a turning point, Quinn. With this the curse will no longer dwell in your body, you won¡¯t have to worry about being consumed and losing your mind. This is a good thing¡­¡±


    ¡°But what about you! Are you just going to die after everything? What about your daughter? Don¡¯t you want to go back to see her!? I know with enough time you¡¯ll-¡±


    The Demon King interrupted him, ¡°I died Quinn, the moment that sword pierced my chest and the curses strength began to fade I already perished. The one before you now is merely what remains of my soul, I¡¯m nothing more than a ghost.¡±


    The Demon King''s torso slowly began to vanish and he floated over to Quinn and patted his head. Quinn looked up at the smiling Demon King, ¡°In the end, I wasn¡¯t a good husband or a good father. I dragged you into this mess, and frankly, I¡¯m no better than the ones I criticize. I sacrificed your world to save mine, I sacrificed billions to save millions, and all the blood that I¡¯ve spilled would make rivers flow with blood. I haven¡¯t been a good man, so I hope you can be a better one.¡±


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    Quinn¡¯s fingers dug into his flesh, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll be better than you or the Hero ever was!¡±


    Aslo smiled, before turning his head to the sky, ¡°Now then why don¡¯t we send your brother off¡­¡±


    Aslo¡¯s eyes flashed red and he transformed into a beam of light that shot into the distant white sky.


    ~


    ¡°GAAHHHHHH! WHAT DID YOU DO!¡±


    Hiro in his magic armor grabbed his younger brothers arm and threw him across the room causing Quinn to violently crash into the wall. Hiro screamed in pain as the white aura around him began to twist and turn as it was slowly dyed a black color.


    The magic armor around Hiro¡¯s body began to morph as the lion head¡¯s jaws widened as he roared causing the entire southern district to shake. The white cloth covering Hiro¡¯s right arm flew off and suddenly a very thin black arm that appeared to be made of strands of black lines formed.


    Hiro felt an immense heat in his body that tormented him and began scratching his face and neck. While his left hand covered in gauntlets didn¡¯t do much, his newly formed right hand easily tore through the armor and even cut his body causing Hiro to bleed.


    A voice came from Hiro¡¯s left side, ¡°Now, now we should all just calm down.¡±


    Hiro suddenly paused and turned to his brother Quinn whose eyes had turned completely red. Hiro roared one more time and charged his own brother like some kind of beast similar to what Baldar did to him a year ago.


    However, Quinn merely grinned as he raised his hand. Suddenly a black light shot out from Quinn¡¯s body and enveloped Hiro. The light around Hiro then shoot out black spikes that anchored Hiro to the ground, before Quinn began rapidly chanting a bunch of incomprehensible words.


    It was almost as if Quinn had multiplied as if one were to listen closely to him they would notice that it sounded as if several Quinns were rapidly chanting at the same time. Everyone stared in shock at the two brothers when suddenly a massive magic circle formed in the air and the Baron suddenly paled.


    The Baron shouted, ¡°Retreat this instance.¡±


    The Baron suddenly teleported beside Karen and grabbed Eris with one arm and Karen with another before teleporting away again. Noel wanted to charge over to Quinn, however, she was suddenly tugged by another knight who shook his head.


    Noel bit her lip before turning around and running away with everyone else as Quinn finally completed his spell and the massive magic circle finished forming. He shouted, ¡°Black Calamity!¡±


    Then several dark pillars of light descended upon Hiro causing a massive explosion that completely obliterated the warehouse and despite being right in front of Hiro, Quinn was seemingly unaffected by these explosions.


    Hiro screamed as he tried to break free from his restraints, but as one pillar of black light hit after another he continued to be battered and his screams began to die down. After a full minute of continuous firing, seventy-two pillars of black light descended upon the warehouse each striking Hiro and leaving dozens of holes in the ground.


    The warehouse at this point was nothing more than a big crater due to Quinn¡¯s magical bombardment and Hiro lay unconscious in the black binding spell.


    Quinn walked over to his brother huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath. Quinn placed his hand on Hiro¡¯s chest, and the Demon King Aslo said, ¡°I pray at the very least in the next life you become a better man too.¡±


    He twisted his hands and a pillar of light shot into the air and Hiro disappeared. The Demon King Aslo turned to the sky and smiled in content.


    ¡°Dear I¡¯m coming¡­¡±


    Then for the last time, the red within Quinn¡¯s eyes disappeared for good, and the Demon King Aslo, the man known to the Holy Empire as the Truth Seeker, and the man who had, in essence, defeated the Hiro perished.


    He was a legend who had lived over six hundred years, leaving behind three successors¡­

 Final Chapter

    Surprise, in truth the story ended in chapter 32. I was actually supposed to end this at 31 chapters, but I messed up slightly with the pacing. This was supposed to be a story the lasted only a month, or at the very least 31 days of daily uploads, but for whatever reason, I decided to edit the beginning a bit and add side-stories.


    Now while in reality, the story hasn''t completed, and if I wanted to I could go on for several more large arcs that would allow the story to easily go beyond a hundred chapters. But I don''t have that time, the amount of time I can dedicate to a single chapter each day is about half an hour to an hour. Usually, I upload weekly with my other stories so this is by no means too much of a problem, but since this has been a daily release and I didn''t stockpile any chapters it has led to a few problems.


    So until I finish my next semester or until next summer this will be where the story ends. Everything beyond this point is merely a few explanations to some things that might have been unclear and a summary of what happened. And for all of you leaving at this point, until next time.


    ~ Summary Sorta


    So let''s start with the premise I guess, to make this clear A World Beyond is essentially an Isekai story. The original premise was that there was a world ravaged by a Demon King every 100 years and a Hero would rise up to stop him each time. But each recurring Demon King would always be stronger than the last forcing the Heroes to grow stronger in response. But after 900 years the Heroes and Demon King have grown strong enough to the point that they threatened to destroy the very world in their battles.


    So, in the end, the Holy Empire chose to make a deal with the Demons and during the battle with the 13th Demon King (Yes 13, not 9, there were 4 more before the current one, but they were weak enough that a Hero wasn''t needed) and the 9th Hero they used the lives of all the people who died in the battle as a sacrifice to send the two of them to the other world. The mastermind of this plot was the host of the Demon King himself!


    It was explained in the story sort of but I''ll explain it here just for the sake of doing so. The Demon King is basically a curse, that''s why no matter how many times the Demon King dies he just comes back later. As for the Hero, each Hero is an entirely different person each time, but the Heroes leave behind items for the next Hero that contain their memories, abilities, and most importantly their emotions. The Empire has basically used these items, and a lot of coercion to turn the Heroes over the years into the most loyal living weapon in the Empire''s possession.


    There are also various explanations for how each of these things work, and how the soul is the where memories are stored and its relation to power, but that might be going on a bit of a tangent. But that''s essentially the basic premise.


    And when the Hero and the Demon King(By the way this is a bit confusing but I refer to the host as the Demon King and the actual curse as the Demon King''s curse, but I also refer to previous Demon Kings as just the Demon King instead of two separate things. So there are three Demon Kings. The Demon King(MCs Brother), the Demon Kings(Past Demon Kings), and the Demon King''s Curse(The thing controlling them) get sent to another world the MC is born and the Demon King ends up his twin brother.


    ~ Clarifications and Tid Bits


    1. The MC birth was abnormal in the fact that he was never supposed to exist, while the Demon King and his curse ended up just posessing the MC''s brother which did exist. So the MC was a single soul in a single body, while Quinn was 2 souls in a single body (Technically 3, but that''s beyond the point)


    2. Karen was from our Earth and was basically an Isekai MC that wasn''t an MC. Like the Demon King she possessed Pandora''s body but unlike Quinn where the original personality remained in control Karen took over control. Pandora is also the one that caused the destruction of the Five Element Alliance in the story. Karen is also unable to control Pandora or use her powers, and Pandora''s powers cause harm to her body.


    Also, Karen thought Hiro could save her cause she thought he was also an MC and would basically be able to do anything. And while she''s right in the sense that he was the MC, I''m the author so she''d have died eventually anyway.


    3. Hiro''s Father the Baron blames Hiro for his Wife''s death, but he also has a Mistress and while I didn''t really show it all that much has more than a master-servant relationship with the head maid. He also knew her from back at the Academy.


    4. Baldar isn''t gay and Maria was actually partially aware of Quinn''s peculiar circumstances.


    5. Francis liked Collette and Collette had a small crush on Hiro. I was actually trying to find a way to kill her in the 31 chapters, but in the end, I couldn''t. Shame.


    6. Karen isn''t the only Isekai MC, the unknown voice that communicated with Hiro was someone also aware that he didn''t belong in the story. His character was not named or made known beyond his voice.


    7. Mors was the MC of the story Karen read, but despite this Karen refuses to come in contact with him due to his role in the story being that he kills Pandora since Pandora is linked to the cult Mors hates.


    8. While Hiro is in another world, the Demon King Aslo picked a world as close to their original one as possible hence why there was Mana. However the Mana in their new world was different so Hiro found it difficult to use any spells, and do to various reasons that I could explain but would take pages too Qi came into being. Though the two worlds Mana shared many principles such as their origin being the Dragon Veins.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    9. Thomas is Dead, he''s the butler before the bandit attack that was mentioned slightly. He was one of Baron''s Magic Knights and also a graduate from the academy, in the bandit episode he had caught wind of a scheme and moved with a group to deal with the problem at hand. This lead to him being injured and later died at the hands of the kidnappers.


    10. Hiro noticed things were off, but you wouldn''t really think just cause some things were off that you''re suddenly in another world. Being reborn also wasn''t anything new to him, because his memories make him feel as if he''s been reborn several times. A number of his conclusions were even right, for example, he thought his brother was a Demon King, however, the reason he denies this is because from what he''s aware of, which is why the Empire told him, the Demon King never picks a Human host. Instead, Hiro tried to kill his brother cause he thought he was like Karen or that Karen took control of him. Hiro would just keep finding reasons to deny things even if he himself felt they were likely to be true.


    11. Albis is an immortal elf and helped create the original Divine Artifacts.


    12. The Emperor may or may not be insane. The Empire was only as successful as it was due to the help from the Southern Countries who feared that if the Empire fell they would as well. But if they were to find out the threat of the Demon King was gone it was likely the Empire would fall apart, so the Emperor chose to ally himself with the Demons and in return for giving them land he would be able to bolster his army.


    13. Quinn hated sleeping, this was because he was still affected by the Demon King''s curse leading Quinn to experience nightmares whenever he goes to sleep. The curse was severely weakened due to the Demon King Aslo''s spell, but it was still an eternal curse and Aslo couldn''t find a way to destroy it or seal it permanently. However, Aslo did feel sorry for Quinn and while originally only wanting to be an observer he would teach Quinn lessons in his mind and even help him bear the burden of the curse. So while his father neglected him, Quinn became a competent mage thanks to Aslo''s help.


    Quinn also feared his brother due to memories of the Heroes killing the Demon King being passed into his mind whenever he slept. And Aslo would occasionally take over Quinn''s body causing his eyes to change. Quinn also possesses a talent for magic and due to Aslo''s teaching he see''s the world completely differently. He actually tore apart his brother''s black sphere freeing Karen without Aslo''s help.


    14. During the last few chapters Aslo used his soul as a bridge to connect Quinn and Hiro''s, souls. He did this so that he could transfer the curse from Quinn to Hiro which was the reason he was spending so much time talking to Hiro. Though he was also just venting. But he didn''t want Hiro to notice what was going on and even tried agitating him by revealing the truth.


    ~ Spoilers Sorta


    Now since it might be a year since I continue this story or more here''s what I was planning on doing. After chapter 32 and the Demon King''s Curse and Hiro would fuse. There would be a 7-year time skip and Hiro would be 18. And yes Hiro, cause he''s alive, but technically not really.


    We would find out MC in Tribole the massive Empire to the north and Hiro would have lost his memories as both the Demon King and the Hero. However, he would find himself being inexplicably powerful. This is due to the fact that Hero''s have very broken and shattered souls while the curse is merely a bunch of souls being forcibly held together. In a sense, their quite similar but the Hero''s soul was originally whole before being broken. while the curse was taken already broken souls and trying to make them whole.


    So when Aslo fused the two of them the two fused instead of being left separate and became an entirely new person. So in a sense, the soul known as Hiro died, while a new being born from his soul remained. For now I''ll just keep calling this person Hiro, and by the way, Hiro isn''t entirely gone either. He noticed what was happening and created something similar to a Divine Artifact however it just contained his memories and had no other special abilities. He used the magic amulet that turns into armor as a base before molding into a ring.


    The new MC carries this ring around with him as he thinks its the only way for him to figure out who he truly is. Anyway, the MC does stuff in Tribole, before ending up in the Five Elements Alliance, where he then has to make a side-trip to Beliom. before going back and having to deal with the internal conflict. The Alliance is later destroyed, and the beast tide occurs as well. New Hiro follows the refugees of Lugh all the way back to Renton where he reunites with his old friends.


    Other stuff happens and the MC also meets a lot of Isekai MCs and such along the way.


    ~Explination Sorta


    As for why I did this, well I''ve had the idea on my mind for this story for a while now. Like a while. But as much as decent as I think the premise is, the execution of it has been a bit weird and I was well aware of this from the very beginning. There were a few ways I could have written this story imo.


    1. From the Hero''s view, the Hero would be unaware of the truth and would eventually find out what happened denying it to the end before eventually he would be forced into becoming another person. (This is the path I chose)


    2. From the Demon King''s/Quinn''s perspective. Either way, it could have worked, but if I started with Quinn I would have to start at a young age and have to constantly go over all his nightmares before having the Demon King explaining things when he was older. Or I could start from the Demon King''s perspective and have everyone know everything from the start.


    3. I could have started on the fused Hero and Demon King and gotten to all this complicated shit after the reunion. Personally, I don''t really like this option.


    Personally, while I liked the premise, I wasn''t particularly keen on any of these methods. Even the one I chose I didn''t like. There were too many questions, the MC would have to constantly deny things, and until the end, the MC seemed kinda pathetic.


    The second option also had no real mystery to it, everything was known, and nothing exciting would happen. Quinn didn''t really want to stand out all that much, and he didn''t do much of anything in particular so there wouldn''t be too much of a story. That or I''d have to do a ton more time skips.


    And the third option would take too long and it might just seem like an out of nowhere twist. Though it''s not like a lot of the twists weren''t out of nowhere as things were.


    As for why I decided on 31 days. Well I started this in June and June is my birthday month, so I decided to take the time to just sorta spend time not working(though in a sense writing is working), and do this. I knew it wouldn''t really turn out good either, with how I was doing things, but eh. So now I''ve gone over schedule and this is where we are.


    Idk. I guess I''ll see you all next time.