Even as the sun sets the "battle" is not over yet; 3 days and 4 nights have gone by with over two hundred thousand deaths and a ravaged island now with only dead remains and destroyed buildings.
A man then suddenly yells out "Berserk arts! Azure blazed spikes!' spikes embedded with blue flames strikes from above with great force but, it did not affect the other person the attack was launched at.
With a smirk he says "oh... not bad! for a peasant anyway. guess i'll use some weak attacks. Blood arts! Mourning Sensation."
A hazy chill of blood lust and a smell of cremated bodies haunt the man as he trembles slightly at the ominous attack. but he does not back down and with a courageous mind replies "Peasant? i will make you take those words back as i tear your flesh from your skin as you scream! "warp magic! Dimensional warp! Demon magic! Pandora!" his smirk turns into a hysterical smile as he says to the man "The Dimensional warp can warp all of matter! your body will be warped and it will explode due to the sudden changes happening to it and even if you do survive..... ha! Pandora is the strongest of Demon magic! it will cage you into nothingness for eternity and feed of of your sorrows and regrets! you'll be afloat in an endless world of nothingness as the sole being that is there! nothing can help you escape that! DIE!!
"ohhhh sooo weak! what a futile effort!" these words echoed throughout as the man stood behind him. "you forgot Pandora's weakness!" were mumbled onto his ears. the man was shook! "it can't be! yo-" he replied as his body crumbled into ash.
206 years after that incident.
A women replied "No! i won't let him be an adventurer! he's just a child and fighting monsters at his age is just unbelievable!" she even seemed tensed and sad while saying this.
With a slight anger, the boy replies "mom! i am twelve now! and i've always gone out alone by myself before so this is nothing! and i am strong too!"
The women now even more angry at her son replies "I will not let you become an adventurer!
and that is final!"
Unbeknownst to her, the man whom she was taking to said something she never expected "I understand you miss, but only biological parents have the ability to stop their child from entering guilds i am afraid..."
All went silent in the house as the women fell down to her chair and tears came flowing through her left eye; tears from one eye and nothing from the other. The women asked him with a crumbled voice "How?... i...i love him...just like...my own son...he....he is the only family i have! i can't lose him too!...Ritsume.. you!" tears rushed out from the bottom of her heart as she said this but of course, it was all in vain as Ritsume said to her "but just love can't make me stop. Mr Sanders, i want to be an adventurer. and i do not care about the risks.!"
Mr Sanders then says to the women "Mrs Itsuki... we know how hard this can be on you but without his real parents or older siblings we are unable to do anything here."
Itsuki wipes her tears in sadness and asks Mr Sanders 'Can i at least give him something?something his father asked me to give to him when he becomes an adventurer but... all these years i kept it hidden."
Surprised, Mr Sanders replies "yes of course..." he then turns to Ritsume and asks him "aren't you happy that your father has left something for you? see? your father loved you!" he was happy saying these and so were Ritsume.
He replied"A gift from father? yaay!" but with a sudden change of voice and expression he says "is what i would say normally...but honestly i am not that happy to hold or even use something from my old man.honestly i still believe that he abandoned me and my mother but.... if 'mom' s giving it to me as a gift, i will take it.
Sanders and the man next to him were surprised and even a tad bit scared at the words coming out of a twelve year olds mouth. The man who didn't say anything until now whispered to Sanders "Sir, please be vary of this child. he could be dangerous in the future...i...i could feel it when he said those words.
Itsuki was upstairs as she went to take what his father left so she did not hear this, but upstairs she was crying as she placed the dusty old cloth away and took the box downstairs. On the outside she looked happy but that was only a facade to not show her happiness. of course as she came downstairs, Sanders noticed it immediately. Itsuki came down and placed the box down on the floor and asked Ritsume to open it. Ritsume lifts the two hinges and looks inside to see a katana with a black blade and a blue tint at the spine, it had a handle dressed with a bright red cloth and black lining; The only thing keeping it together were a golden pin. there was also a pouch filled to the brim with coins and 2 daggers which seemed as though it were made with fangs.
looking at it, Sanders already knew what his father meant by giving this to Ritsume but he kept it to himself and said "well that's something you don't see everyday...! fanged daggers huh? just one can sell for millions of lye!"
Ritsume an the other man beside Sanders were both shocked! "millions?" they asked to Sanders and he responded "yup! millions! you don't just get fangs of such quality in shops or even the black market." but upon hearing this, Itsuki said"no, stop this talk, i don't want my son getting into black markets and other things!"
Ritsume smiled and said"yes.. i won't! and it's already time to go so guess i'll pack up!" and took all the stuff and went upstairs. of course, Itsuki were in tears again knowing that her son would go far away from her just like everyone in her family.
Sometime later, he comes back down and says good bye. but as he goes to open the door, Itsuki asks him again "do you...really have to go?we could live here happily you know? i am your mother! at least once listen to me!...Ritsu-" but gets cut by Ritsume,
He turns around to her but something was different! his emerald eyes turned blue as he said to her with a fierce look in his eyes "You know... Once you become an adventurer, your own friends or family does not matter! if it guarantees your survival then using women, children or even family as cannon fodder is a sensible move; In this cruel world, the survival of the fittest is the law! if you don't understand that and talk about saving others then you are just waiting to be eaten alive, ripped apart or even killed by other adventurers! Also, don't call yourself my mother and nor am i your son! you replacement WOMEN!"
Hearing this, she fell down and looked depraved, haunted and disgusted as she looked away from Ritsume and crawled away just to fall down again. Sanders nor the man next to him did not try to respond to his words as they themselves had experienced this while being adventurers...a 'cruel' world it is indeed.
They leave from there on horseback after this incident and while riding, Sanders asks Ritsume "are you sure about what you said? she may never talk to you ever again you know?" he looked sad saying it but no one knows why as he usually never cries on the behalf of others.
Ritsume replied "i don't care about her, every day felt empty with her... she was just a side character that stepped into my life, i never asked for any of it."
Sanders looked mad after Ritsume said that and that got Ritsume thinking "does he have some kind of connection to her?..." after this, the 2 hour journey became silent as no words were spoke by anyone until they finally reached the central city of werlin were the adventurer guild signup were.
"we're here kiddo! this is where you can become an adventurer! and good luck," Sanders said and then he turned to the other man and said "now that we reached her, you can do it now. and do it without anyone knowing it"Ritsume of course was suspicious of this but turned a blind eye towards it as he did not want to involve himself with the matter.
After the other man left, Sanders asked "well, now that you're here, which guild are you going to join?"
Without a moment of thinking, he replied "En-noshitha guild" and this response changed the look on Sanders's face to a surprised but scared at the same time. he then asks him "how do you know of this guild?"
Ritsume replied "ah! posters about that guild were every where when we were traveling and even here! it has to be a strong guild right?"
Disappointed by his reply but also happy and relieved that he did not say the answer he had thought in mind Sanders replies "oh..yaa..of course.."
And in his mind he thinks "good thing he doesn't know about the truth... but Grim...the work you did were too good...he doesn't have the slightest memory of it....i kinda feel bad for him ya know friend?" and with that, Sanders went on his way as he said a simple 'later' to Ritsume and didn't even give him a clue as to where the guild registration is nor of what he should do....
Ritsume tries to say something but as some people walk in front of him, Sanders disappears. and Ritsume was left alone by himself. he goes to a nearby inn asks the owner about the guild registration and also buys a room for one for three nights with the money his father left him.
The 'same' night he goes out to get some fresh air from all the drunkards in the inn but suddenly his heart aches and he vomits blood from his mouth at a worryingly large quantity. 'what the fu-" but the blood wouldn't even let him talk; slowly he walk over to a small corner of the inn and vomits more blood but this time blood seeped through his eyes and ears as well.
In all this confusion, he suddenly changes like before but even more! emerald eyes turned blue and the right side of his body turned black along with hundreds of teeth coming out of his mouth and his tungue splitting into two;blue flames ignite on his right eye and 'another' consciousness awakens within him and says "fi-...finally!....i-.i- am...FREE!" confused, Ritsume says to himself "what are you? no, what are you doing within me?"
But him talking surprised the being even more! "ho-..how are..yo-you able to-...communicate? wi..with me?"
"shut up! what are you?what do you want? why are you inside me?"
It responds to Ritsume saying "to eat! i want to devour flesh! nothing more!"
Ritsume even at that sorry state did not want anything but his goal and opposed it and said "fu-ahh! not gonna happen fool! my goal and dream and everything is to be 'The perfect being to ever exist! and that is what will happen! fool!"
To be continued-