The day is 2, the month is May, the year is 2020 ... On this date, a chain of conflicts began around the world, a new world war was about to break out.
During the morning and in a sunny climate on the Korean peninsula the South Koreans, who had been living quietly, had their lives interrupted by the attack from the north. An artillery barrage hit Seoul, including ... a tactical atomic bomb was used against the South Korean armed forces.
At the same time, the North Koreans also suffered from southern artillery, and also received a nuclear attack in return.
The area once demilitarized, was now devastated, just 1 hour after the start of the conflict, both armies were fighting across the border, the southern and northern air forces were trying to gain an advantage, but were only able to increase the number of dead with bombings .
In the middle of the chaos was Ralph. Dirty from feet to head with mud and ash, he was currently trying to go further south.
Unfortunately for Ralph, he was caught in the middle of the conflict, and even saw the flash of nuclear explosions from afar.
The nuclear explosions caused chaos in communications and even destroyed the circuits of his communication equipment, making it impossible to communicate with HQ through him.
"It's for real, this world is lost ..." Ralph murmured when he realized that nuclear weapons were used.
"I have to get out of here before one of these explodes over my head."
Ralph looked at the southern horizon and sighed, he could see a huge smokescreen stretching across the sky.
Suddenly Ralph heard the sound of gunshots, and explosions close to where he was and he stood up while invisible.
There was a fight between squadrons from the north and the south, they were competing for a position at the top of the hill, which would ensure greater flexibility in the area.
Ralph didn't think much and decided to help the South Koreans, since the damn war started was the North Koreans.
There were about fifty men on each side, with the majority being just soldiers and a portion being sergeants and officers.
Due to the numerous trees in the area, the conflict was in a complex state, since the enemy could easily hide.
The South Koreans were concerned with the advance of the North Koreans in the area, and they need to secure their position on the hill, which is steep and has only one way of climb, for a less steep part on the west side.
Neither side was willing to let the other climb the hill, which was about a hundred meters high in relation to the surrounding terrain.
After half an hour of conflict, the South Koreans realized that, strangely, the numbers of the North Koreans were rapidly decreasing.
The officers, concerned about a pincer attack, ordered half the soldiers to observe the rear and flanks, while the other half advanced towards the mount.
After about fifteen minutes, however, there was no sign of North Koreans anymore.
"Did they back off?" An officer asked himself, he didn't know that Ralph had helped them.
After killing the fifty North Koreans, Ralph was a little disappointed to find that he didn't earn any stat points.
-It seems that killing ordinary people doesn't really score points ...
Ralph thought and I think that was nothing but fair. Otherwise, he would only need to kill several thousand people and he would become invincible in this world. Not that he liked the idea, of course.
After breaking up with the enemy, Ralph recovered almost all the energy he had consumed before. Thanks to the strong vitality he has.
Without hesitating, he started running towards the South again.
He went through several conflicts between the two sides of the war, but decided not to waste time, he could not change the course of the war.
After two hours of intermittent running at full speed, Ralph was finally able to see a city on the horizon.
Unfortunately, the city was razed by artillery and there were few survivors.
Ralph was about to continue running towards the South when suddenly he felt something ... Looking to the side, Ralph saw strange lights flashing on the horizon, it didn't seem like an ordinary fight.
Ralph hesitated for a moment and went to the lights.
There, two Aura Masters were fighting a bloody battle. The two had used their respective domains to try to crush the other, but were unsuccessful since they have equal strength.
Ralph felt that he was at roughly the same level of strength as the two of them. But they were able to use more complex Aura skills. The one who had a North Korean uniform used a skill that manipulates fire, and the other, who uses a South Korean uniform, uses an ability that manipulates air ...
Ralph, however, knows that he has greater versatility thanks to the ability to illusion.
Without much hesitation, Ralph prepared a space punch, his right fist started to glow in green light.
After aiming at the enemy, Ralph punched him.
The North Korean, who was engaged in the battle, had no time to react and was hit directly on the head by the blow, splitting his skull and killing him instantly.
The South Korean looked at Ralph in surprise and asked in Korean:
"Why are you hiding?"
Ralph did not understand his words but he dispelled the illusion.
"You can speak English?" Ralph asked in English.
"... Are you american?" The Aura Master asked in English.
"No. I'm Japanese. I need to contact some of your superiors." Ralph shook his head and spoke.
"Sorry, I'm currently on an important assignment. Besides, I can't completely trust you, you understand me right?" The South Korean spoke.
-It is certainly stupid to reveal the location of important army officers to a stranger.
Ralph thought and nodded before turning and starting to walk in one direction.
"Good luck buddy." The South Korean screamed and also started to move in one direction.
As Ralph ran south, he was increasingly shocked by the destruction left by the long-range artillery from the north. The roads were destroyed, the small towns were decimated, even the fields became a zone of destruction.
After hours of running, Ralph faced a total of five Aura Masters, all North Koreans. In addition, he killed about 100 ordinary soldiers, helping many South Koreans.
-How strange, why are there so many North Korean troops in the south? They should have been stopped at the border ... What happened?
Ralph asked himself confused.
-Unless the war has become a real chaos, both armies should be completely in the demilitarized zone, fighting against each other ...
Ralph decided to ask a South Korean officer who he saved, and got an explanation.
"The North Koreans had infiltrated through amphibious units before artillery launched the attack. We were taken by surprise and the army had to split up to deal with the invaders." The officer spoke and then continued.
"But due to our intelligence, we were able to react quickly enough to avoid a strategic defeat, these North Koreans are now trying to retreat to the north."
Ralph thanked the officer for his explanation and continued to march south.
Unfortunately for Ralph, all the communication networks he passed through were destroyed, there was no way for him to communicate with HQ.
He also didn't know where the top South Korean officers were, only they could help him.
What Ralph did not know, is that information from a mysterious long-haired Aura Master who helped the South Koreans had appeared was spreading across the information network of both armies.
After running for a while again, Ralph finally spotted Seoul. The city was on fire ...
Ralph clenched his fists and imagined the death toll in this situation.
-Fortunately, the city was not hit by a nuclear attack.
Ralph thought and then found an abandoned car on the track.
After getting into the car and checking the condition, he started the engine and started driving in the direction of the city.
-To count on the South Koreans is unrealistic at the moment, I need a way to communicate with HQ.
Ralph thought as he took care of the wreckage on the track.
There was no sign of North Koreans in the city, and only the sad faces of the people appeared in Ralph's vision.
"Tsk ..." Ralph clicked his tongue and continued driving.
A small girl screamed as her mother's body was pressed by a large piece of concrete that fell from an overpass.
Ralph couldn't help himself and stopped the car. He went down and went over to the girl, who looked to be five years old.
"Your mother ... She's ..." Ralph tried but couldn't speak, so he decided to ask:
"Where's her father?"
The girl looked at Ralph with a confused expression.
Ralph then remembered, he can't speak Korean. His emotions his clouded his judgment.
-I know I can't save the world, I can't save everyone ... But I don't feel well seeing an innocent person suffering and still not helping.
Ralph reflected with clenched fists.
After a moment's hesitation, Ralph reached out a hand toward the wreck on top of the girl's mother.
He then went to the wreck and lifted it with both hands, with great effort. That must have weighed more than two hundred pounds. He then threw the wreck to the side.
The girl looked at Ralph in astonishment for a moment before running to her mother.
She started to say something Ralph didn't understand to her mother's body, and started to cry.
Ralph clenched his teeth and knocked the girl out as gently as possible.
He then put the girl and her mother's body in the car and started driving again.
After about five minutes, Ralph saw a policeman helping some people on the side of a building.
Ralph stopped the car next to him and put the girl and her mother nearby. After that, he used a small stone, which he threw at the policeman, to get his attention.
The policeman looked in Ralph's direction, but saw only the girl and the bloody body of a woman lying on the floor. Since Ralph was invisible.
Ralph got in the car and started driving again, leaving the rest to the cop.
Unfortunately for Ralph, the car ran out of gas after a few minutes, and he had to continue on foot.
Ralph stopped in front of a large business building, which was miraculously intact, and entered the building looking for a form of communication.
Ralph found several computers and cell phones, unfortunately for him, most of the country's infrastructure was destroyed, and there was no internet or signal for calls.
Ralph blew out a breath and stored a cell phone and notebook in the space ring.
-The way things are ... It will be difficult to leave the country. Even if I catch a plane, it will probably be shot down. A boat is also out of the question ... How the hell am I going to get out of here?
Ralph thought.
-If I go north ... If I reach mainland China, and the country is not yet at war with someone else, I may be able to return to Japan.
Ralph considered a possibility but shook his head.
-Thinking is easy, but it is probably impossible for me to advance north to China.
Ralph then began a journey in an attempt to find a way out of the Korean peninsula.
For the next three days, he left Seoul and went to the conflict zone on the coast in search of a form of communication.
Ralph's hand increasingly stank of blood, literally, he hadn't taken a shower since he arrived and was looking like a genuine monster.
Ralph suffered several injuries on the way, whether fighting or fleeing, or simply by bad luck.
In the meantime, his control over Aura has increased exponentially in combat, with increased experience.
In addition, he obtained information that nuclear bombs had been used again, in the area that was previously demilitarized. Fortunately, they were just small tactical warheads, and had no potential to end life on the peninsula.
Still, Ralph became increasingly nervous, the war could simply escalate to a level of mutual death.
In these long days, Ralph didn't have time to rest or sleep, he was in continuous movement, fighting, running, running ...
On his fourth day on the peninsula, Ralph was on the coast watching a small boat on the beach, it was really small.
-Stopping to think, would the enemy's navy pay too much attention to a small boat? So far this is the most viable idea.
Ralph thought and went to the small boat.
The boat was rowing, and was about five meters long, one meter wide. It was in good repair.
-The problem is that if I sink, I will be adrift without any prospect of help in the middle of the ocean.
Ralph considered the risk but sighed.
He was in a hurry, he wanted to get off the peninsula as soon as possible, he wants to escape this place that is in danger of becoming a nuclear tomb.
Ralph pushed the boat against the waves and got on it.
He did not use the oars, first he used the illusion ability to create an impulse in the boat, creating an illusory engine.
The boat quickly shot off towards Japan, which was a long way away.
Ralph made himself and the boat invisible, to escape the observations of drones and soldiers.
After half an hour, Ralph spotted a sea battle on the horizon. While cursing, Ralph changed his route to avoid the conflict.
After hours of surfing, Ralph started to feel a little tired due to energy consumption and decided to pause a little. He cannot spend all of his energy in order not to be caught off guard.
After resting for half an hour, Ralph started to propel the boat again.
One day ... Two days ... During this time, Ralph observed many sea and air battles. Both sides seemed to be anxious and the battles became very frequent.
In the meantime, Ralph had to endure hunger, but he had no problem with water, as he can desalinate sea water alone.
It is no use eating something illusory, though, since the energy has to come from somewhere.
Ralph was mentally exhausted, but he put up with the pressure. He continued sailing towards Japan, he used a compass to stay on track.
On the third day of sailing, Ralph finally arrived ... in Japan.
"Finally !! I'm back !!" Ralph screamed out loud in the middle of a deserted beach and started laughing out loud.
"Now ... I need food." Ralph said and looked in one direction.
It was night, the sky was cloudy, everything was dark, except for one point on the horizon.
- Is it a residence? Or a hotel?
Ralph wondered and walked towards the light.
As he walked on the beach and heard the sound of the waves breaking, Ralph slowly approached the point. He liked the feeling of returning to a safe place after days in the war.
The light came from a hut on the beach, it was small and humble, but there were people inside and the chimney gave off smoke and the smell of food.
Ralph swallowed his own spit and knocked on the cabin door a few times.
"Who is it?" A male voice asked from inside the hut, was it Japanese.
Ralph breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the Japanese language and said:
"Sorry to bother you, can I talk to you for a moment?"
After a few seconds, the door opened, and a middle-aged man appeared in Ralph's vision.
"What do you want? Isn't it too late to visit a stranger?" The man spoke with an alert expression.
"I know, I'm sorry about that." Ralph spoke and bowed slightly forward.
"... Besides, what happened to you? Why does it look like it just came out of a stinky hole?" The man asked as he analyzed Ralph's appearance.
"Ah!" Ralph exclaimed and remembered that he hadn't taken a bath in a while, he could have cleaned up in the sea but ended up forgetting while considering more important things.
"..." Ralph didn't know what to say and the man suddenly sighed.
"Don't tell me you're a refugee from Korea? I didn't expect anyone to be able to escape that place by the sea." The man spoke.
"... I need something, I am willing to pay for it." Ralph suddenly spoke.
"What do you need?" The man asked with a hand behind, Ralph realized that the man was holding an iron staff.
"...Food." Ralph spoke with a bitter smile.