The moment Arthur passed through the portal, he found himself again in the realm between realms where he met Kofia before. It was that same quiet, empty white void that had nothing going for it except its bright nature.
"I'm back here…" He murmured in a half-dazed state.
However, instead of meeting his quirky Divine Editor, Arthur noticed something different happening. In the far horizon, black lines, akin to those drawn by a pencil could be seen forming at an extremely fast rate.
The lines seemed to be approaching his position as they expanded, diversified, twisted, and turned like living creatures. The more they moved, the more the image they wanted to create became more and more understandable.
"What the hell is going on?" Arthur knew that this was the process of creating the world he was about to enter happening live in front of him. However, it was still a very odd thing to see.
Moments passed as the lines finally reached Arthur and surrounded him. Some of the lines engulfed his body and made him flinch. But, they didn't seem to harm him as they instead covered his body completely.
"Huh… Is it… Giving me clothes?"
His normal clothes were now gone and what he had on instead were medieval black clothes. They were flexible, and stretchy yet also stealthy and hard to notice with their black color. The black lines also covered his face with a mask that Arthur couldn't determine the outer appearance of as the next second, everything changed.
The black lines had already completely engulfed the white world before they suddenly started gaining color and liveliness to them. The change was sudden and almost instantaneous and Arthur couldn't even react in time to what happened.
"What the FUUUUUCKKK!!!" Suddenly, a huge gush of air hit his face as he was knocked back and started falling.
'Wait, falling?!'
Twisting his body, Arthur found himself in the middle of the air, falling to the ground at an extremely high speed. His location was unknown as he could only see the ground beneath him which was an ashen grey color and expanded to as far as he could see and beyond the horizon.
Behind him was a magnificent dark castle with spires that rose to the sky, piercing the clouds. Built upon a magnificent mountain, the castle was akin to a deity overseeing the world around it with oppression and untold power.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!! AHHHH!!! SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! I DIDN'T SIGN IN FOR A FUCKING FREE DIVE SESSION!!" Arthur screamed as he started throwing his limbs around, trying to balance himself.
The fall was far, way too far for that matter. It was at least double the normal skydiving altitude. At that level, if it wasn't for his powerful lungs, Arthur would've probably lost consciousness because of the air pressure.
'What should I do? What should I do? Shit, shit! Don't I have anything I can do?!' As he was panicking about what he should do, Arthur suddenly felt an arm wrap around his torso as a loud laugh echoed in the sky around them.
"Hahahaha! Get a hold of yourself, Arthur! We're making a run for it!"
"What?!" Looking behind him, Arthur saw a man, completely clad in metallic armor from head to toe. He was tall and muscular to a terrifying degree with a booming voice that seemed to ignore the fact that they were cutting through the violent air and its loud howls.
"Oi, Kali, Mino, Ani! We need a safe landing! Arthur might've shit himself!"
The man yelled as he turned around and looked at a group of three people that were falling not that far away from them. The group consisted of a beautiful mature woman clad in a white robe and holding a book in her hand, a small girl with a huge pointy hat, and a giant staff, and a handsome man wearing simple armor and had a long sword stuck to his hip.
"Ani is preparing a spell! Hold on!" The handsome man responded.
'Is this the hero party? No, hold on a second! Why did the story start like this?! How are we going to survive this fall?!'
As Arthur was having a thousand questions go through his head, the small girl named Ani had her eyes closed and both of her hands holding her gigantic staff. The blue orb on top of the staff lit with a brilliant light as she finally opened her eyes and yelled.
"Wind Sphere!"
Immediately, the air around the group vanished. Arthur didn't feel the sharp wind hitting his face as he was now seemingly engulfed in a sphere made out of air itself. He could vaguely see it by its movement that completely defied the laws of physics.
"Wow…" Arthur murmured in shock as he looked around him.
"Hahahah, good job, Ani!"
"Yeah, Ani is the best!" The handsome man, who Arthur assumed was the hero added.
"My little Ani is always there for the save." The mature woman exclaimed.
"Hehehe, please, I didn't do much."
The group laughed together as they continued falling to the ground. By the time they were a few meters away from impact, the sphere of air suddenly changed its trajectory and instead dispersed beneath them, completely nullifying the momentum of their fall as they landed safely on the ground.
"Hahaha, that was a thrill! We really were almost screwed there!" The giant man exclaimed as he looked down at Arthur before he suddenly tapped his with his index finger. "OOi, you're still alive, Arthur?"
"Y-Yeah…" The latter replied with an awkward tone.
"Good."
*DROP*
"Ouch!" Falling face first, Arthur groaned in pain.
"Oh, my bad! You were heavy."
"At least put me down gently!" Arthur retorted as he sat down and rubbed his face.
"Hahaha, my bad!"
"Hey, be gentle with him, Boriat!" The hero approached the two of them before he tapped them on the shoulders. "But, who cares about that now? We did it, boys! We defeated the demon king!!"
He said with a wide grin that almost reached his ears.
"We had faced a thousand ordeals and yet we, as a group, did it! We have finally ended the reign of that monster!" The hero then turned around and looked at the two girls.
"Kali, Ani…" Then, he stared at Arthur and Boriat again. "Arthur, Boriat! Our mission as the hero's party… Has succeeded!!"
He exclaimed, to which the trio cheered loudly, except for Arthur who was still confused by the situation. But, he eventually shook the thoughts away and cheered with them.
'I need to be a fast thinker and quickly adapt to the situation or I won't be able to survive or finish the story.'
"*Sniff* We did it, guys! We finally are done!" Ani sniffled a cry as she wiped her tears. "I love all of you so much!" Then, she jumped on the group.
"Hahaha, Ani is such a crybaby!" Kali said as she hugged her back and patted her head gently. The little girl cried in her friend's arms. As for Mino, Boriat, and Arthur, they simply watched with a small smile.
Even though Arthur didn't really know how much they went through, he still found their bond to be really wholesome. They seemed like genuine people who truly wanted to destroy evil and uphold good. In his previous world, finding good people was turning out to be a harder and harder task as the years passed.
Perhaps true good only existed in the world of fiction.
"Thanks for having my back there, Arthur. Without your help, I don't even know what could've happened. You were brilliant!" Mino said to Arthur as he gave him a tap on the back.
"No problem, I just did my best," Arthur replied.
"I don't expect less from the best assassin in the world.
'Hmm, I shall accept your gratitude even though I did nothing. But he said that I'm an assassin, huh? I guess that makes sense.'