[Class C raid]
[Castle]
[Throne room]
The Dogun monster threw a punch at Sho, but Sho rolled out of the way, enduring the pain shooting through his body.
The Dogun missed, punching a large hole in the wall, and glowing green smoke came from his body and fists.
Sho said, "Dammit!"
Sho stabbed his knife in the floor, "Extend: Te-!"
The Dogun grabbed Sho by the face, jumped in the air, spun around, and smashed Sho on the floor, jumped up, turned around, and headbutted Sho in the face, sending him flying across the floor.
Sho was rolling and bumping all over the floor, thinking, 'Not good! I have to do something..and once I do get a chance to upgrade my stats, what should I actually spend it on to help me in this situation right now??'
Sho exclaimed, "Extend: 11 feet!"
Sho's knife was inside of the floor, and he shot upwards hanging onto the handle, and as he was 11 feet high, the Dogun was dashing around the room, jumping from wall to wall as he left behind a glowing green midst.
Sho thinks, 'THIS is a class C raid? I can barely keep up with his movements!'
The Dogun was right in front of Sho, making his arm form into an ax made out of vines, and Sho jumped upwards, saying, "Extend: 15 feet!"
Sho's knife extended a little bit more, and he swung the knife at the Dogun, but the Dogun blocked the attack with his vine-axe arm, and used his other arm to grab Sho's wrist.
'This bastards got me! But I got him right where I wanted him. I can't make the knife too heavy, or else the floor would collapse once it smashes, and we're pretty high up in the tower; a fall from this height will instantly end me.'
Sho quickly said, "Crash: 10,000 pounds!"
Sho let go of the knife, and it fell on the Dogun, but the Dogun caught it, letting Sho go, making him fall on the floor.
Sho crawled backwards, thinking, 'He's able to lift that much?'
The Dogun threw the knife at Sho, and Sho rolled out of the way, with the knife slamming against the floor.
The Dogun screeched, "RAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Sho leaned up against the wall, saying, "Shut the fuck up screaming! I'll kill you!"
The Dogun made vines shoot from his chest, and they began to rush over to Sho, to try and snatch him up.
The vines wrapped around Sho, and even wrapped around Sho's neck, choking him and trying to break his neck and body, trying to kill him easily.
Sho thought, 'I won't let this thing kill me! Not like this! Fuck that!'
Sho looked at his knife, saying, "Let's go!"
The knife darted itself over to Sho's free hand, and once he grabbed it, he pointed it towards the floor, and said, "Extend: 13 feet!"
Sho blasted upwards with the vines still connected to him, and Sho lifted the knife up and hovered it horizontally over the vines, in a position where the blade was right over the vine, saying, "Crash: 20,000 pounds!"
The knife slammed down in between the stretching vines, and slammed into the floor, cutting the vines half, letting Sho go free, coughing loudly.
Sho thought, 'So the floors can tolerate up to 20,000 pounds? As expected of a castle, but an old castle? Weird as hell.'
The Dogun was dashing all around the room again, jumping from wall to wall.
Sho thought, 'I can't track his movements, only if I had raised my speed ability up, then my eyes would be fast enough to follow it. The only time I'm able to dodge is if I feel a gust of wind hitting my face before he reaches me, that's how I was able to dodge before. This monster seems to know that my knife is coming in handy every time, so he's using different tactics. These monsters..they're not dumb throwaway lackeys…they actually have some sort of intellect.'
Sho felt a gush of wind hit him, and he thought, 'Now!'
Sho ducked, and the Dogun slashed past him with his vine-axe arm, smashing into a wall and destroying it.
Then the Dogun turned around and swung his vine-axe arm again, and Sho had his foot knife in front of him, ready to block it. The two weapons connected, blasting a brim of green light out, and Sho flew backwards and hit the corner of the room.
Sho coughed blood, and he grinned, "Is that all you got, bitch?"
The Dogun screeched again, "RAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Sho thinks, 'Dammit..a little bit of my knife is cracking again..even after I raised the stats on it earlier. It can't take a lot more hits. But…I'm all set up nicely, I can create space. I realized I just need to make a move whenever I feel the wind hit against me, since he's going so fast, his wind is reaching me before he even gets here. I think I needed enough time to learn this monster's speed and movements before I could actually do something.'
The Dogun galloped towards Sho, and Sho felt the wind hit him, and he sat up, and rammed the knife on the Dogun's stomach. It didn't go all the way through, but it got stuck in a little bit.
Sho and the Dogun looked in each other's eyes with mean looks, and blood leaking from Sho's head.
Sho said, "Extend: 700 feet!"
The knife extended 700 feet, and Sho and the Dogun went blasting away from each other. They both went crashing through walls, and the distance between them was getting greater and greater.
Sho thought, 'I got 200 Fighter points to spend, so I have to be smart about this shit.'
Sho lifted up his wrist, and he opened up the holographic menu. He went to his stats, and thought, 'What should I spend it on?! Weapon power..or attack? The difference between the two, is that if the attack stat increases, then the strength of the weapon alone increases. But if my power stat increases, that means the power of the weapon causes more damage, or it gives it new powers. But what about defense? Who knows if I need to fight again after I leave this raid, will my weapon hold up?!'
Sho looked forward, seeing that he was in a large empty ballroom, and he saw that the Dogun was running fast along the knife blade, headed towards Sho as the knife kept expanding.
Sho gasped, "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"
The Dogun caught up with Sho, and Sho exclaimed, "Extend: 10 feet!"
The Dogun swung at Sho, but Sho put his knife up at the swing, and it made contact, but the force from the Dogun's punch made Sho fly downward, and the Dogun came right after him.
Sho thinks, 'Gotta distract him for one second!'
Sho launched his knife at the Dogun, and the Dogun knocked it away again, making it crack.
Sho tapped on his watch, and he spent the last of his points on the attack stats.
Sho's weapon stats:
Attack: 6,300/100,000
Defense: 1,100/100,000
Power: 1,000/100,000
Sho yelled to his knife, "Let's go!"
The knife came back to Sho as they fell, and Sho caught it, and he and the Dogun collided.
Sho had his knife stuck in the Dogun's side, but it STILL didn't go through all the way, it only went in halfway, leaving a little bit of the blade out. But the Dogun's vine-axe arm was inside of Sho's hip, spurting blood everywhere.
Sho spit out blood, thinking, 'It still wasn't enough…? Did I fuck up…? I chose the wrong attribute..didn't I? Yeah..I messed up…'
Sho and the Dogun were close to falling to the floor, and Sho smirked, "You bastard…you're going down with me..'
The Dogun tried to rip Sho's knife out of his hip, but he couldn't pull it out fast, it was slowly coming out, no matter how much the Dogun struggled.
Sho gasped, saying, "Haha! Crash: 100,000 tons! Extend: 50 feet!"
The knife started to weigh 100,000 tons, and it grew 50 feet, with the blade ripping the Dogun in half, and it dragged the Dogun down faster than Sho, and they hit the floor, with the knife crushing the floor into pieces, and Sho landed on top of the Dogun's body, or what was left of it.
Dust rushed all of the place, clouding up the area.
Sho rolled off of the Dogun, and he got a notification on his watch, and it came up in a blue holographic screen:
*You have slain the raid target. Raid is complete. 2,000 Fighter points awarded."
Sho grinned, breathing heavily as blood leaked from his side, "Haha..I finished a raid, on my own. Since the blade was stuck in his body..since it expanded..it grew..and dug deeper through his abdomen, ripping him…apart.."
Sho fainted, laying there right beside half of the Dogun's body.
…
[Unknown location]
[A dark void-like area]
Sho found himself standing in the middle of a temple, but the temple had black and red glowing walls, and crumbled stones everywhere.
Sho said, "The hell is this?!"
Sho looked down at his hip, and he saw no wounds.
'I could've sworn..'
Sho looked around him, hearing nothing but the ambience of the empty temple.
A woman's voice said, "Sho Takahashi…son of my daughter.."
Sho turned around, and in the air above him, there were glowing white human figures, floating together, and there was a woman who was glowing white as well, and she floated down to Sho.
Sho backed up, "Don't touch me. Who are you?"
"Grandson.."
"Huh?"
"You have entered the Tower of Valhalla.."
"Don't step any closer, I'll kill you. And I'm not related to you."
"As I was chosen by my ancestor, you have been chosen by me. You are a Conqueror…please..get stronger..and be guided by your heart. Us Takahashi's..are no mere humans..you are not like the other Fighters…"
"What the hell are you talking about?! Who are those glowing people behind you? And you mentioned the Tower, did you create it?!"
"We do not know of the tower's origins..but you need to-.."
Sho opened his eyes, and he noticed he was laying on a bed, the same bed at the inn he, Gideon, and Bebop were at.
It was morning time, and Sho thought, 'I didn't get to hear..what that woman was gonna say. I'm at the inn…how did I get here?'
Sho sat up in the bed, and he saw his horse, Bebop, and Gideon looking at him at the end of the bed.
Bebop wiped her tears, saying, "Big bro…"
Gideon grinned, "Yes! You're aliveeee!"
Sho responded, "Don't tell me you brats found me at the raid castle and brought me back? You had no idea where I went."
Bebop ran up and tried to give Sho a hug, but Sho facepalmed her, keeping her away, but Bebop still struggled to get a hug.
Gideon mentioned to Sho, "Actuallyyyyy, we didn't get you. But your horse did. He brought you all the way back here. And I forced a herbal pill down your throat."
Sho looked at the horse, and saw that it's body was black, but its mane was red.
Sho said, "Impossible. That's not my horse…it is my horse..why the hell is it red and black?"
"I don't knowww! Are you gonna name him?"
Sho thought, 'Name the horse? Hell no. I mean, it would make sense to name it actually. After it brought me back to the inn, it would most likely run to me whenever I call him if we got separated from each other.'
Sho pointed at the horse, "Your name is Vixen."
Vixen the horse's tail wagged, and walked in a circle.
Sho said, "Fuck I'm hungry. And I need new clothes."
Bebop exclaimed, "We can go get something to eat first, and then shop for clothes! And then maybe stop at an arcade, I love this tower's arcades! It has a lot of earthy things here!"
Sho slowly got out of bed, saying, "We get food. Now."
[Lunch cafe]
Sho, Bebop, and Gideon sat at a table together, eating bacon, eggs, and waffles.
There were other Fighters in the cafe, eating breakfast meals as well.
Bebop asked Sho with a mouth full of food, "So! How was the raid?"
Gideon added, "Yeah!"
Sho sighed, "Easy as hell."
"Doesn't seem like itttt. You did almost dieeee!"
"Shut up! I'll kill you!"
"But you did defeat the target monster! Completing a raid by yourselffff."
"Tch. I forgot that I needed points to move to the next floor. But I'm constantly spending them on upgrading my talents. I also have a question."
"Anything!"
"The way I'm buying points changed from when we were going up against Acna."
"Whaaaat do you mean?"
"If I want to increase the attack stat in my knife by 200 points, I spend 200 Fighter points. Is that shit normal?"
Bebop and Gideon gasped, "What?!"
Sho explained, "By your loud ass reactions, I'm guessing it's not normal then."
Gideon responded, "It's definitely not normal..you're super duper luckyyy. We have to pay at least 600 points just to upgrade our stats by 200. Did you find an exploitttt?"
"No, fool. It happened when I was in the training room."
"That's so odddddd. How many points did you gain from the castle raid you went onnnn?"
"2,000 in total."
"Are youuu gonna spend any of it?"
"I will before we go to the Fighter event this afternoon. I might put some points into all three of my weapon stats, spreading them out, and I might save some points on the side just in case I need to buy something. Especially herbal pills, they're fucking expensive. Before we head to the Fighter event, I want to explore this floor more. From what I've been noticing, it resembles earth a lot, with Passive Fighters creating things that resemble the things on earth, it's caught my interest."
Bebop exclaimed happily, "Yay! Let's visit all the cities!"
"Hell no. Bebop.."
"Hm?"
"Have you been working on your power?"
"It's scary.."
"But you're quick to pull that shit out when we're in trouble. Once you learn to not be afraid of your familiar, then we'll travel to the other cities and look around for your amusement."
Bebop frowned, squeezing Sho's arm, "O-Okay..big bro..I'll try.."
Gideon exclaimed, "Oh! We might meet some class S Fighters! Maybe! But I doubt anyone is class S yet, it's only been a week and one dayyyyy. But in your case..you could PROBABLY be the first S rank! If there are no other S class Fighters around."
Bebop smiled, "More! More! I want orange juice."
Sho said to Gideon, "Get her orange juice."
Gideon grinned, "Yes sir!"
"Don't say yes sir to me either."
[City 6]
[20 minutes later]
(Clothes shop)
The store was packed with Fighters, and clothes and shoes, underwear and socks and other clothing accessories.
The shop looked like a mall, being roughly 100 feet long, and 100 feet wide.
Bebop was on Sho's back, holding onto the top of his head, as Sho was looking at the clothing, and Gideon was on the other side of the store, searching for clothing to his liking.
Sho thought, 'I figured I'd buy clothing before I spent points on my attributes. My clothes are becoming ripped, I don't wanna walk around here naked as hell. Good thing these clothes are as cheap as 70 Fighter points, but it definitely adds up if I get a whole entire outfit. Something I need. The system here works just like it does in the merchant shop, tap the item you want with your first finger, and it'll be added to your cart. I don't need anything flashy, just something long sleeve and pants that are comfortable, and shoes that are comfortable as well. Mostly running shoes.'
Bebop asked Sho, "Big bro?"
"What, brat?"
"Can I pleaseeee-."
"No."
"I-I didn't even get to say anything."
"You want to pick out my outfit."
"How did you know?? You're so discerning!"
"I took a wild ass guess. But you're going to pick out something girly."
"I'm not! I promise!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No."
"Please, big bro!"
Sho looked up at Bebop, and Bebop was giving Sho puppy eyes.
Sho replied, "Knock it off. That doesn't work on me."
"It worked on everyone else!"
"I'm the wrong one, brat."
Sho continued to walk through the aisles of clothing, passing by many shirts and pants and shoes.
As Sho walked, he bumped into a woman.
Sho looked at the woman, saying, "Watch where you're going, fool."
The woman looked at Sho, saying, "Apologies, I shall punish myself for bumping into thy neighbor."
The woman's name was Stacen, she had long light grey hair which was in big braids, yellow eyes, and pale skin. She was in her mid twenties. Class C Fighter, with a power level of 8,000.
Stacen said, "Where are my manners? I am called Stacen, of the northern tribe in the world of Asteran. You are called?"
Sho walked away, saying to Stacen, "Go away."
Bebop says to Sho, "Big bro! That's mean! Please talk to her!"
Sho answered, "I don't have to."
"She's gonna be sad…"
"Let her be sad. She might be trying to set us up."
"Hmph."
Bebop jumped off of Sho's head, and she ran to Stacen, shaking Stacen's hand, "Hi! I'm Bebop! Sorry, my big bro had a rough night!"
Stacen smiled, "Ah, that is understandable, for a heavy burden rests upon his body."
Sho walked over to them, saying, "Let's go, Bebop."
Sho grabbed Bebop by the wrist, and started walking away.
Bebop said, "W-Wait!"
Stepping in front of Sho, was another girl, and she had a spiky brown ponytail that stuck out, held together by a red ribbon, and grey eyes with black eyebrows, she had red tengu masks all over her outfit, she had white wrap covering her bosom, but her belly was exposed, she was wearing bracelets on her wrist, she wore wrap around her legs, and she was wearing black samurai shoes with tengu masks on the front of them. Her name was Raiden, and she was a friend of Stacen's. She was a class C Fighter, with a power level of 8,000.
Raiden started to sniff Sho, and Sho backed up, "The hell?"
Raiden sat on the floor criss-crossed, saying, "Menacing stench. Cutthroat attitude. I have heard of this boy. Sho Takahashi, please, make me your disciple. I shall not let you down, for I am worthy to follow in your footsteps. You, who defeated Acna."
Stacen said, "Raiden.."
Sho says, "You knew Acna…so what? I don't trust any of you, no matter what you know."
Raiden pleaded, "Sho, slayer of Acna, Acna, who killed our friend Moxxen, please take heed to my voice. Let me prove myself to you."
"No."
[Inside of a cave 300 miles away]
There were four Fighters standing around in the bright cave.
Vooben - (Male, purple blue skin, white eyes, long black hair, gold and black shoulder armor pads, white obi wraps around his fists and forearms, black pearl necklace. and tiger skin for shorts. Class A Fighter, power level: 150,000.)
Totell - (Male, stone armor elbow pads and knee pads, long white glowing bushy hair, red and black eyes, and red horns, with ankle chains on his ankles. Class A Fighter, power level: 130,000)
Rego - (Unknown species, 13 tails, blue and black body, one red eye in the middle of his monster face, long sharp teeth, five human arms. Class B Fighter, power level: 95,000.)
Kharma - (Female, short crinkly brown hair with a yellow highlight, black eye patch on right eye, light brown eye on the other eye. Class B Fighter, power level: 99,000.)
Vooben asked everyone, "Has anyone found any potential candidates?"
Totell shook his head, not saying anything. Well, he doesn't usually speak at all.
Rego replied, "No, it has been quite difficult to find one worthy of our causssse."
Vooben looked at Kharma, asking, "What about you?"
"U-Uh nobody in particular. B-But there is one Fighter by the name of Sho Takahashi.."
Rego implied with his snake-like voice, "The class D Fighter who beat the class A Fighter Acna….everyone isssss talking about him.."
Totell nodded his hand, giving a thumbs up.
Vooben turned his back to everyone, "He won out of luck. I'm only interested in real potential. Sho is a low rank brat that is made out of lucky shots. I haven't come across any truly worthy candidates in my walks through cities 1 through city 5. We need to go deeper, scouting through the other cities. There is a Fighter event happening this afternoon. There..there I believe true talent will be."
Rego replied, "Yesss..indeed. Smart thinking…as expected of you, Vooben."
Kharma says, "Um.."
Vooben continued, "We shall do a few raids to increase our power until we start our operation. We shall scout the Fighter event later, and find 3 potential candidates who are able to inherit the demon curses within our bodies that were implanted in us in our world, for the curses don't just take anyone, they only will rest in those who have great willpower and drive. Anyone without it would most likely explode and rot instantly if they tried to inherit the curse in their bodies. Not a little bit of willpower and drive, but great willpower and drive. We will suffer no more once the curse is removed from us, we will be free. And what we'll put those Fighters through to test their willpower and drive, will be hell. And most of all, Kharma shall be the one to help us transfer this demonic curse to the candidates bodies, right, Kharma?"
Kharma nodded, "Y-Yes, Vooben. You t-three have promised me something in return, and so I'll h-help you."
"Good. And to all of you, if any other Fighter at the event tries to defy us and stop our plans, fucking kill them. There will be at least 100 to 200 Fighters at the event; but with our type of abilities, they don't stand a chance against us."
Totell nodded fast, Rego said, "Of coursssse, Vooben."
Kharma grinned, "Y-Yes sir.."
Rego asked, "But..when shall we make our move?"
Vooben grinned too, turning around and walking out of the cave, "As soon as the event..is over."
Totell, Rego, and Kharma followed Vooben out of the cave.