Prologue J
EQUALITY
"Huff ... huff … huff…"
"Fuckin'... shit lord …"
There were two men in the middle of a grassy field. Both of them were bleeding very badly, the only difference between the two being that one of them was smiling, while the other one seemed to be biting his lip.
Also, one of them had a silhouette standing beside him.
"Bastard!"
The red-haired one rushed at the black-haired one, who evaded everything efficiently. His golden eyes looked as if they could control the world with how they looked at the person attacking him.
'Blow to the temple, evade, and punish.'
Right after the black-haired one stated that within his mind, he leaned his body back in a complete right angle, showing just how flexible the man was. While doing so, he made sure to kick at the red hair, who jumped and landed on his leg.
WOOSH
The silhouette appeared on top of the red-haired one, and it had a firm grip on his neck. The red haired man was trying very desperately to get out of this chokehold, but the strength of the silhouette was absolutely not a joke.
PAT PAT
The black haired one stood upright once again. After that, he aimed a punch at the red haired one's nose.
'Not going to happen.'
Red hair kicked at him, but he just side stepped it and threw a punch at his nose anyway. Red hair then decided enough was enough, and flipped the silhouette from behind him to about to slam into black hair.
WOOSH
A curtain appeared in the middle of the air, and the silhouette disappeared through it. At the same time . . .
WOOSH
A curtain opened behind Red Hair, but he didn't have the time to worry about it because a punch was being thrown at him from the front.
"Hmph . . ."
Before either one of the two landed their hits on Red Hair, he already had his hands in the air to signal that he surrendered.
"Oi, that was our final battle. All ten thousand of them are done."
"Huh?"
After Red Hair put his hands up into the air, Black Hair immediately pulled a goblet out from nowhere and chugged it.
In reality, these two were Dionysus and Cerberus. After four years of constant training, both of them have now reached a level incomparable to their past selves. They had just wrapped up their final battle, with Dionysus taking the victory for the final time.
". . . Take it and run, you barely win anyway."
"You're damn right, you bastard."
Dionysus said this with a proud voice, but right after that he dropped down onto a single knee. The damage that he had taken was no joke, to say the least.
"To think that we actually fought ten thousand times . . . you really did wring out every single blood stain that I had in me and more . . ."
Dionysus was thoroughly tired. The past four years had genuinely only been fighting, and nothing else. Whether it be with Cerberus, the silhouette, or even the beasts that he would hunt down for food, everything fought with him. At this point, he really was losing a grip on everything else in life.
"You asked to get stronger, are you not stronger?"
". . ."
Dionysus stared at him to reply to his question. After staring at him for a bit, he sighed and then stood up.
"If we're done, may I excuse myself?"
After so much time had passed, Dionysus most definitely had things to see in the world. Whether it be his dungeon, Bruno, or the dungeon that he was attempting to conquer, he really did have things to see.
"Go ahead, nobody is stopping you."
Once Cerberus said these words, realization struck Dionysus as he realized that the training really was over. After truly realizing it, he walked up to Cerberus with his hand extended. Cerberus, who still had his hands on his knees and was breathing hard, looked up at Dionysus.
"I believe it's called a handshake."
Dionysus said it in a very obviously sarcastic tone, but Cerberus could tell that the will to shake his hand wasn't sarcastic.
CLASP
Cerberus stood upright and took Dionysus' hand into his own and both of them shook it with their full strength.
Well, Dionysus had to shake it with his full strength because Cerberus was, so his hand would most likely shatter if he didn't. Cerberus was still stronger than him physically, so it hurt, but at least it didn't fracture.
". . . I hate to say it, but I will. I now view you as my equal, an elite in the world. However, don't forget that I work under the king. No matter what happens, if you decide to fight against the king, I will have to put you down."
"Ha, why would I have something against the king?"
". . . Yeah . . ."
Cerberus looked at Dionysus in the eyes and nodded. After that, he began running off in the direction of the city to the east that they had originally met in.
'I should learn the name of that city.'
For the first time in a while, Dionysus showed a natural smile, and not one of the crazed blood stained smiles that he would show against Cerberus.
'First place on the list would be the dungeon that I was trying to conquer, considering that it's the closest.'
WOOSH
The silhouette appeared in front of Dionysus. Over the years of training, the silhouette had also changed quite a bit. Dionysus had thought it impossible, but the muscles on it had only developed more and more. Along with that, he had discovered two things that he didn't know before.
First of all, it seemed that he could regain the silhouette. After constant training, it seemed that the silhouette was developing. At first, it became common for it to always have a mouth and eyes, which wasn't how it was before the training session. Along with that, it seems as if its mental capabilities were capable of development.
'Let's go…'
Second of all, he and the silhouette were capable of speaking to one another telepathically. In reality, Dionysus didn't know if he had this ability before training or gained it during training, but it was a thing that just felt natural now.
'Yeah, go to our goal.'
'Kay . . .'
The silhouette took Dionysus by the arm and put him on its back. Once he was on its back, it got into a position that resembled a tiger ready to pounce.
DWFF
Fragmenting the ground that it pounced from, the silhouette began running at an extreme speed, all while Dionysus was on its back getting a piggyback.
'We should reach there in an hour or two…'
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
After running for an hour and a half's worth, Dionysus and the silhouette had arrived upon the dungeon that was once considered impossible by Dionysus.
'Hmm, it doesn't seem to be the same…'
Dionysus thought this for good reason, as it absolutely wasn't the same. Instead of having the hole the size of a well as the entrance, there was now an absolutely humongous gate engraved into the side of the mountain. It had gems and crystals embedded into it, and they were all different colors, making it look like the entrance to a dream.
"It seems as if things have changed in the world."
Dionysus ordered the silhouette to approach the gate, and it obediently did. Once it arrived at the gate, the silhouette began to mess with it to see if anything was going on. After inspecting it for a minute or so, the silhouette took a seat on the ground and crossed its legs.
'Guess nothing's wrong with it.'
After coming to the conclusion that the gate was safe, Dionysus himself approached the gate. Resembling the gate that was underground four years ago, it opened without him doing anything.
'It seems as if the owner finally realized that his dungeon looked and smelled like shit.'
The gate was fully opened, and Dionysus was granted a scene similar to the one that was before him four years ago when he first arrived at this dungeon. It was the same arena, same person handing out papers with numbers on them, and so on.
'Ah, it really is starting to feel as if the training has actually ended.'
Dionysus walked right on into the stadium, and looked around. It most definitely was the same in every regard, but that wasn't what mattered. He walked up to the same man that approached him four years ago.
"Excuse me sir, please pu-"
SWIFF
Dionysus swiped them out of his hands before the man had even realized, and right after that he proceeded to jump to the other side of the arena. The man who handed out the mufflers and tickets looked in the direction that Dionysus had leaped in for a bit before quickly swirling around and dealing with the lady that had arrived after Dionysus.
'That brat . . . he has information about this dungeon. He must've got tipped off by someone about how it works.'
The man tipped his top hat to cover his face and then proceeded to summon something similar to Dionysus' silhouette, the only real difference being their frame and eye color.
"Warn the boss."
After saying these words, the shadow disappeared.
--- SEQUENCE 3 ---
After patiently waiting in line, it was now Dionysus' turn. In front of him was the same brown-haired gentleman that was here before.
"Listen up, I've got the rules to te-"
"No need, I already know them."
Dionysus began to walk up into the arena, but the hand of the man was on his chest. Dionysus turned his head around to look down on him, while the man looked up at him.
"How do you know the rules . . .?"
"No need to worry about it."
PFFF
Something that Dionysus didn't calculate happening had occurred. However, it wasn't a threat to him at all. In fact, it was that the man in front of him was currently laughing.
'Huh . . .?'
"DUMBASS, YOU'RE GONNA DIE."
The tone of the man drastically changed to that of an annoying boar that wouldn't stop squealing at death's door, or at least that's what it sounded like to Dionysus.
CRACK
The man went from laughing to howling in pain quite fast after the silhouette bent his hand the wrong way.
". . . We'll see if I die."
After that, Dionysus walked up into the arena via the stone stairs. What awaited him was something that wasn't there when others were fighting.
'. . . Shit.'
When other people were attempting to conquer this dungeon, the arena was a normal one. There was simply a platform and nothing else. However, there was a cage this time. Dionysus realized that something was up, but it was too late to turn around now.
"Ladies and gentleman, this match is going to be a bit different from the usual one."
At the words of the announcer, a lot of the spectators began to ask one another what he was talking about. Of course, being the talented announcer that she was, the girl knew she had to tell them what she was talking about.
"In reality, this will not be a match, but instead an execution!"
At these words, the spectators all fell quiet for a bit. However . . .
"HAH!"
"Hahahahaha . . ."
"Ahah, ahah . . ."
. . . after some time passed, everyone in the stands began to laugh. All of a sudden, someone in the stands stood up and seemed as if he was about to say something.
"I've been attending this dungeon for six years now, and every single match is an execution for the contender! Never did I ever know that you were such a joker, Mrs. Announcer!"
While saying that, the man looked around and people nodded in agreement with his words.
'. . . looks like everyone in this stadium is messed up.'
Whether it was the lady that was announcing everything from up above, or the spectators that were here to see a blood bath, Dionysus stared at all of them incredulously with a look of confusion.
'Well, I guess that everyone here is fucked in the mind.'
After thinking that up, the silhouette appeared crouching on Dionysus' shoulder. While Dionysus wasn't very powerful, that was compared to the average person who constantly fought. In reality, he himself was actually decently powerful, which was why he had no issue with the silhouette crouching on his shoulder.
". . . Destroy?"
While saying this, the silhouette pointed at the figure standing at the end of the arena. It seemed to be something similar to the succubus that one could find in legends.
"Yeah…"
WOOSH
A curtain appeared in front of the two, and Dionysus walked through it after the silhouette hopped off his back and stood on its own, with the last words that he said before disappearing being . . .
"In fact, destroy them all."
In such a situation, the silhouette could only reply in one way . . .
"Kaaay."