PoV Marcus
I always thought I was the strongest of my newfound brothers.
I thought while laying on the floor, outside the special ring made by Christian. Everything started when Diego started proposing locations for us to go on a small vacation. He said that it was to motivate us to do more, as he had already used the stick.
"So far, what do you think?" I asked Nina in the group chat.
"I think Feitos is probably the best answer; it's the capital city of the fifth dimension." I responded.
In the past month, we have spent a lot of time studying both the new language and the geography. Feitos could be considered the capital of games; several tournaments are held in that place each year, whether they be sports, esports, or other fun stuff.
"You're not even interested in the city, just the free "ability" you get by going there." Replied Nina.
"I wouldn't mind that." I added.
"Clearly, Hatiri is the best choice." Said Manni.
"See? Even Manni agrees with me." She continued while spamming the photos Kane shared with us of Hatiri.
Hatiri is a coastal city located in the sixth; it's where the strongest aquatic hunters are born and trained. Apparently, they hunt a lot and party a lot because their gods demand they do so. In exchange for many festivals, tournaments, and other things, the gods grant them extremely rich soil that they use to cultivate many plants. It's the dimension Kane and Hyungtae come from.
"Think of the many things we can do there. What are you going to do in Feitos? play video games all day? That's not the vacation I want." She continued.
"The only thing worth mentioning about Hatiri is the food." I responded.
"You really are the dumbest person I know." She responded.
As the conversation seemed to keep going, I simply gave up on convincing her, threw my phone on the bed, and started doing my homework.
Kane had given me a small pile of papers to fill in with what locations I would choose to go on a vacation and the whys. We also had a list of locations, seven in total: the capital of games, Feitos; Hatiri's coastal city; Gramirk, the underground city; Hashur's floating metropolis; Caxim, the white city; a cruise on top of the floating ocean Gassyb; or a week-long trip to Fame, the most advanced city in terms of technology.
Each one is on a completely different planet than the others, each in their own universe (whatever that means). At first, I was interested in Hashur and Feitos, but as I kept thinking about it, Feitos is probably the best choice since this trip also gives us the opportunity to get more comfortable with the new language.
John was thinking the same thing as me. As soon as Mina realized this, she decided to harass Manni until he agreed to side with her.
"I chose Feitos because the best way to learn a new language is to interact with it in a playful manner." I wrote in the why section.
'Maybe I should go search for more classy words... Yeah, the more refined the motive is written, the more they will believe it, right?' I thought so at the time, but I was wrong.
Since we couldn't end in a tie, Kane decided that the best way to solve this was by holding a small competition. He created a small circular ring a couple of meters in diameter outside our house, and he elected himself as the referee. The rules of the competition were simple: 1 vs. 1, no punches or kicks, and push your enemy outside the ring. Basically, it's a cheap version of sumo.
The first ones to go were Manni and John, so they both locked hands, and when Kane gave them the signal, Manni immediately started using mana (his hair became clearer and clearer) to augment his body. John, on the other hand, didn't augment his body with aura; instead, he immediately threw Manni out of the ring since he was probably half his weight.
Then it was time for me to face Nina. As we locked hands, she immediately started gripping my hands intensely, so much so that Kane had to step in.
As Kane gave us the signal, I was the one who made the first move by pushing her using all my weight, leaning forward as much as I could, and burying my feet under the dirt. At that point, I managed to make her move backwards by a few steps before she could regain her balance. Then I tried to shoulder tackle her, but she did the same, and at that point, I was the one who was stepping backwards. I immediately buried my feet as deep as I could to try to stop her, but she was strong enough to push me away despite that, so I simply stopped locking hands and tried to make a side step to make her lose balance.
I tripped on her feet while trying to make a side step and was then pushed out of the ring.
'What the hell? Why is she so strong?'
I thought while Kane was admonishing her. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it was obvious it wasn't something positive by looking at his serious expression and the continuous tapping of his leg.
She simply bowed and said, "Sorry." In his language.
I decided to sit close to Manni.
"I didn't expect to lose so quickly." He commented while chewing something.
"I even used mana." He said this, burying his face in his arms.
'You'll get him one day, don't worry.'
Thankfully, John and Nina's match began right away, so I didn't have to console him for his loss.
As soon as the match began, Nina took the upper hand by being the first to start pushing. John, to stop her, twisted both his arms and started putting pressure on her wrists, causing her to stop. He immediately capitalized on that with a shoulder tackle, followed by a normal tackle. For some reason, when he was about to win, he threw her to his left side.
"Come on, Nina, you can do it!" Was shouting Manni at her.
She managed to recover almost instantly and jump towards him, grabbing his hips. She brought him down. From there, they quickly started wrestling on their knees. John had the upper hand and was slowly pushing her away. She then got up and tried to knee John in the face. He blocked and then grabbed her leg and started to lift it while getting up.
Suddenly, Nina's leg got covered in flames, and John had to quickly get away from her.
'Hey! That's cheating!'
Manni was also shocked to see Nina use magic.
'Kane! She's cheating! Why aren't you intervening? That's clearly against the rules?'
She then proceeded to cover her arms with the flames and charge at John. As soon as they both locked hands, her flames disappeared. John pulled her left arm towards him and hit her with his elbow, knocking her out for a short while. He then tried to push her into a favorable position to throw her away, but Nina managed to regain her senses for a split second and used the same magic as before to cover her body in fire. With the last ounces of strength she had left, she managed to get back up and throw her body against John, making both fall out of the ring.
"KANE!" shouted Daniel.
He had just arrived through his portal, accompanied by Nassus as usual.
"Care to explain what this means?" He asked, pointing at Nina and John, who were both bleeding out of their noses and covered in dirt. He was extremely angry.
Before Kane could even answer, Daniel started covering both Nina and John with his weird slime, creating healing cocoons around them.
"They couldn't agree on where they would travel on vacation, so I let the strongest among them decide." He answered like that was a normal thing.
"We agreed that they wouldn't become warriors like us!" Daniel Shouted.
"They won't fight for a living, but they should at least know how to defend themselves." Kane responded.
Nassus then proceeded to turn off the translator while Daniel and Kane were still arguing, and he accompanied us inside.
PoV Daniel
"Have you gone crazy, Kane? Letting Nina go secretly was one thing, but she nearly killed John." I shouted at him.
"I would've stopped her if she was about to deal a fatal blow." He answered back, in a serious yet calm tone.
"This could scar them for life, for fuck's sake!" I shouted while pointing at traces of blood on the ground.
'A direct hit of an elbow to the face. Poor Nina, I'm sure that must've hurt a lot.'
"Letting them choose you as their teacher was a horrible idea. Tell Chris-"
"No, I'll teach them. If we keep spoiling them, they'll be taken advantage of in the future by others." He said this while heading back to the dorm.
"We're not in the sixth grade anymore. There's no big hunt, no fancy tournaments, and not every world is based on pure power. Can you even be sure this won't affect their relationship in the future?" I tried to stop him by grabbing his arm, but he shrugged me off and kept walking without looking in my direction.
"I will train them so that will not be the case." He said.
"Not everything has to revolve around training." I tried to explain, but it seemed as if my words could not go through his head.
"We're molding their minds. Training both molds your mind and your body, so-" He was adamant in his caveman-like belief.
"Stop! You're giving me a headache. Tonight we'll discuss this with the others, and you'll see that-"
"Fine by me." He broke the door while opening it. Not only did he bend the handle, but he also ripped off the door from its hinges.
'How come he becomes this stubborn when it comes to these kinds of topics and barely pays attention the rest of the time?'
Shortly after, he returned with another translating box in his hands, and then he used his wind magic to start lifting the kids in the air.
"What are you doing?" I asked him while putting myself between him and the exit.
"My shift isn't over; I still have four more hours with them." He said this while getting out of the building.
Before I could say anything against it, he jumped away and started flying away at top speed. I immediately started creating a portal to reach him but got stopped by Nassus.
"It's a waste of time." He said this while yawning.
"You know how he is; he won't listen to you when he's like this." He continued while rubbing his eyes.
"That doesn't give him the right to—what would you have done in my position, Nassus?."
"Don't drag me into this situation. I'm exhausted, and you know how stubborn he can be. If you ask Hyung, he will gladly help you, although… I don't really know how much that will affect his efficiency... *Yawn* I think I'm going to rest for a while. You should too. " He said this before lying on a nearby sofa.
"And don't stay more than 300 meters away; otherwise, I won't be able to protect you." He said this, covering his face with a pillow.
'But the kids—Nassus! Argh! WHatever then! Let's trust Kane this time, but next time we'll stop him!'
I could only sigh in resignation.
'I wonder if the old Kane would've done the same thing as the present Kane or if he would've forbid them from learning aura. He often said that he didn't want his kids to live the life he lived. Were all of those lies?'
I then sat beside Nassus, watching his snore.
'Those kids… That throw could've seriously injured Nina if she landed on her head. Even John was able to realize that. Both were using aura to enhance their bodies, they probably didn't realize it. If that's the work of their curse, I guess I'll have to leave everything in the hands of Kane since he has more experience than me in dealing with cursed individuals.'
"Nassus, you're cursed as well, right?" I asked while trying to wake him up.
"You're the only exception in the army." he answered, while throwing a pillow in my face.
"Is what Kane is doing justified because of the curse?" I asked him.
"Maybe, I don't know. Let me sleep for now." He said this while turning to the other side and covering his ears with the pillow.
PoV Diego
That night, I decided to sneak out and challenge the fifth stage with Forren. He was the safest option to bring around. Most of them were still recovering while the wolves went on their usual hunt.
'Why am I being sneaky?'
Was the first thing that popped into my mind as we were trying to pass through the walls of the shelter. The plan was to wait until Forren's watch time was over. He would then wake Valis, and, with a small excuse, he would come in the middle of the forest, bringing some spare clothes with him.
The reason why I changed my mind about taking it easy and slow was mostly due to our "wage". We each got paid around 10 to 140 points, except for Satsui, who got paid 170.
'It's not enough to cover one month of expenses such as water, filters, and other tools we may need in the future.'
That was indeed a scary thought. As I was wondering, I stopped thinking to calm myself down, and for the first time since I was resurrected there, I was able to enjoy the scenery. A seemingly unending forest of massive trees the size of skyscrapers was hiding the mountains located behind them; a floating ocean was covering the sky; three moons were barely visible in the sky; and the sound of water running was barely audible due to the insects that were making lots and lots of noise.
"Back then, you had to pay a fortune to see this... dumb bastards."
'How does that water stay floating up there as if nothing happened? From what I heard from those girls, this place doesn't have much mana in the air. How can those creatures live there? Without soil, plants cannot exist.'
Forren failed to get there in time, so I decided to proceed without him, summoned the tablet, and opened the golden portal. As I entered the fifth, I heard a strange voice whispering into my ears.
"Don't overestimate your abilities, or it might end badly for you."
As I turned to check whose voice it belonged to, I was transported to the fifth scenario. It was a port. It was filled with containers. A few trucks could be spotted here and there. On my left, there was a massive ship that was unloading its cargo, mainly cars. At the same time, many tower cranes were placing cargo containers on the bridge. The entire process was being guarded by many men armed with a rifle and a handgun attached to their sides.
On my left instead, there was a pile of containers waiting to be picked up and transported somewhere. Most of the people that worked there were bald, and all of them had the same tattoo on their left arm of a snake eating its tail, forming the infinity symbol.
I, in contrast, was sticking out like a sore thumb, naked, with my hair still intact and no tattoo. I could feel their gaze constantly stuck towards me, with some hint of hostility. I then checked the smart watch to see what my objective was.
"Kill every mobster or sink the St. Anne Morn."
Dubir: Wow, what a familiar mission! You've done this kind of work a lot of times, so we should have no problem completing the task given.
Suddenly, I felt the urge to summon Dubir.
'Those times I wasn't barehanded, I had guns, explosives, and a coordinated team that was always making sure the enemy's communication lines were jammed.'
Dubir: Who cares about those things when you have us!
"Who are you?" asked an unknown voice behind me.
I then tried to turn around to see who was behind me, but the guy touched the back of my head with his rifle and said,
"I haven't given you permission to turn around and identify yourself." He had a very deep voice.
"If you want to keep your head attached to your body, then you better scram." I said this while applying my ability to most of my body.
He proceeded to shoot me.
"Dubir!"
Dubir: No mercy!
As I turned around, I managed to cut his hands off with a surprise attack, and before he could react, I beheaded him.
Dubir: No mercy!
I took his rifle and started shooting at every person in sight. Once the rifle had run out of bullets, I took the handgun by his side. It was a semi-automatic handgun with two fully loaded magazines.
Meanwhile, the port had fallen into chaos. Most of the unarmed workers were running away, with a very select few that decided to charge at me. While the armed mobsters were openly shooting at me.
After taking the handgun, I decided to head towards the massive ship on my right. Killing most of the mobsters wasn't that hard, as none of them were wearing bulletproof vests. I tried to cut one of them in two with a diagonal slash of my sword, but Dubir got somehow stuck in his spine, making it very awkward for me to pull it out of him.
As I boarded the ship, a random bald guy attacked me from behind the main door and tried to choke me. As soon as he realized that he could not even touch me, a weird expression popped up on his face. I cut off both his arms as punishment.
I then headed towards the bottom side of the ship in search of the engine. Oddly enough, I didn't find much resistance on the way there—just a couple of soldiers with whom I could easily deal with my handgun. Suddenly, Dubir burst out laughing.
'What's so funny about this?'
Dubir: I mean, what's not funny about a naked guy who cuts people off naked.
'I don't see the irony in that.'
Dubir: That's because you're a boring man.
As soon as I reached the bottom of the ship, I noticed that most of the corridors were completely sealed.
'Can you cut them?'
Dubir: Don't you dare even think about swinging me against that door.
I sighed in resignation.
"Fury."
As soon as she appeared, I grabbed her with both hands and swung her against the sealed door, putting all my weight into it. I managed to dent it, so I continued till I created a large enough hole to make the gun pass through as well as my weapons, and then I passed through that door using my ability.
'Easy!'
Fury: Couldn't you simply have let that handgun go?
'I still need that door to be open if I want this thing to sink, plus there's no harm in having a long-range weapon.'
As I kept making my way through the ships, I gradually started to lose my vision. My breathing was becoming harder and harder, and there was this high-pitched sound that was constantly irritating my ears.
'What's this? Is it a sleeping gas? I couldn't smell it…'
?: Weird, I thought you had a sensitive nose.
An unknown voice spoke to me. It resembled that of a small kid.
?2: Don't worry, we'll take over here for you.
Dubir: Hey! Fuck off! Who gave you the rights to come out now and
Suddenly, he stopped talking, and everything became silent. I could barely hear my own thoughts at that point.
I could feel my body being dragged around by some strings like a puppet. It was constantly moving me left and right, swinging my arms wildly while I got shot multiple times until I finally got the reset.
As soon as I got my vision back, I noticed that most of them were wearing an anti-gas mask and special goggles. They were shooting sedative darts at me thanks to the gas. I had just enough cover to get a mask, and I used the handgun to shoot whoever I saw in the thick mist.
Fury: You should've taken the goggles!
She said this while I was searching for the hole where the soldiers were coming. A heavily armored soldier suddenly appeared in front of me. He had a standard anti-bullet vest, a small set of throwing knives on his belt, a handgun, a bunch of clips for both his handgun and his rifle, and a special helmet that had an anti-gas mask incorporated.
'What the hell is this? Since when did some random thug have such equipment, a gas that was able to temporarily stop me, and all these security measures?'
As I charged at him, the lights suddenly shut down. The soldier shot a couple of times at my chest with the rifle, and then I felt something piercing my left foot.
'What? Did they-'
Someone behind me had shot me in the foot.
"Frey!" I shouted while throwing Fury at him.
A projectile then hit me in the mouth, piercing the mask in the process. As soon as the spear finished materializing, I threw it at the soldier like a javelin, barely hitting him in the process. I managed to lacerate his nose as we all broke his mask.
'This damned-'
Dubir: Don't aim at the head; aim towards the body, you idiot!
I charged at him, holding Dubir in my right arm. He shot a couple of times before dodging my horizontal slash by ducking.
Dubir: Stop aiming at the head!
He then hit me with a left straight, then a right hook. Before I could recover, he grabbed the sword by the cross guard and kicked me away.
'This is no nameless thug; what in the hell is this place?'
"Fury, Frey, Dubir." Before the soldier could strike me with my own weapon, it vanished and returned to being a weird tattoo on my hand.
Suddenly, many shots could be heard from outside, as well as crashing and exploding sounds. This distracted the soldier for enough time for me to hide away. I used my ability to enter one of the nearby rooms through the wall.
Dubir: That was pathetic of you!
'I don't care; it's time to hunt using my method here.'
Fury: We could use my ability to make a hole in the ship.
'Wait, what was your ability again?'
Dubir: Ignore her; if you tried to use her ability in your current state, you would end up completely depleted of any energy left in your body.
Fury: In exchange, we gain the chance to sink this stupid boat.
'Is it a possibility or a certainty?'
Fury: Possibility.
'Forget it.'
I noticed the room I was in had many weird gadgets plugged into a computer, including a microphone. I took a moment to catch my breath while someone was causing chaos on the bridge of the ship.
'That must be Forren; he'll buy us enough time to sneak into the engine room.'
Fury: Ships of this size usually have-
'I know! I know!'
I sighed in relief, then I heard someone open the door.
.