"It's the paradoxes..." The young man spoke trying to secure himself and Rai after being surrounded by several paradoxes.
"These are the demons he was referring to huh, they might not look it that much. But they are more powerful than they appear to be." Rai spoke in his thoughts, sensing the huge amount of power that emanated from the paradoxes.
[Hostile enemies detected]
[New Quest: Eliminate all enemies]
[Failure to complete the quest results to a penalty quest]
[Enemies slain: 0/8]
———————————————————
"What!?" Rai exclaimed on reading the notifications from the holographic board that popped out from nowhere.
"What is it?" The young man asked paying attention to the movements of the paradoxes.
"You can't see it?" Rai asked.
"See what?" The young man questioned in confusion. "Pay attention to what's in front of you, do you want to end up dying twice?" He added.
"I see..."Rai uttered in his thoughts, it appeared that he was the only one who could see the HUD, after all it was his system.
"The System wants me to kill these creatures? Or it'll penalize me? In what way?" He spoke in his thoughts once more, it was seemingly a means of survival but the fact that if he doesn't kill the creature, he'd be dead made him wonder if the system has some kind of fail safe.
"Well, no point contemplating on it." Rai stepped forward and picked up a dagger that laid on the ground besides one of the deceased soldiers on the battlefield.
"What are you doing!? Don't tell me you plan on fighting these things!?" The young man exclaimed.
"Huh? Of course I do, you look hopelessly weak so if I don't fight we both are going to die." Rai replied rudely.
"What did you just say!? Do you even know who I am!?" The young man yelled in annoyance.
Rai turned his neck to face the man with a smug look written over his face "Of course not, that's why I asked you earlier you fool." As Rai was distracted, one of the paradoxes dashed towards him and slashed his right claw towards his chest.
"Watch out!" The young man shouted as he noticed the paradox movements.
"Huh?" Rai turned to face the paradox, however to the eyes of the untrained it appeared that it too late for Rai, that split second before the paradox's claws would have penetrated his chest. Rai instinctively leaped upwards over the head of the paradox, performing a Russian front flip he sent his right foot at the skull of the paradox and smashed his head into the ground.
Swiftly, Rai stabbed the dagger through the paradox's back and into its heart. He didn't know much about demons but one thing was for sure, take out their hearts and its over.
"One down.." Rai spoke softly, standing up to his feet and spinning the dagger with demon blood dripping from it in his right hand.
[You have slain a paradox]
[Enemies Slain: 1/8]
"I-impossible..." The young man stood and watched from behind flabbergasted.
"He took out a paradox without even using essence!? Who the hell is he?" He exclaimed in his thoughts, highly shocked by the accomplishments Rai achieved.
"Now then.." As Rai mentioned those words, he stopped spinning the dagger and gripped it tight before propelling himself towards the Paradoxes in front of him.
SWOOSH!
He moved so fast that he only appeared as a blur to both the paradoxes and the young man. With one clean slice to the neck as he dashed forward, he beheaded three more paradoxes.
In the blink of an eye, they all spotted him behind those three paradoxes. Seconds later, their heads rolled off their necks and fell on the ground before their body dropped as well. Blood dripped from their chest which meant Rai aimed for both their chest and their heads.
"3 more down..." Rai spoke in his thoughts, the rest of the paradoxes seemed a bit concerned given their accomplices were taken out in a flash.
Three of the remaining paradoxes dashed forward towards Rai and attacked him from all angles, Rai effortlessly evaded all their attacks with his flexibility and acrobatics.
"Hm." Rai jumped slightly above their head and performed a round house kick and using his awakened strength he beheaded them with just his bare leg.
Landing on his two feet, Rai stared at all the bodies of the paradoxes he had defeated in less than 3 minutes. "Hm, for some reason I thought they'd be more challenging." Rai said as he observed their physiology.
"Outstanding....he defeated a whole squadron of paradoxes all by himself in such little time without even using his essence!?" The young man exclaimed.
"Huh?" His amusement was cut short when he felt an overwhelming presence behind him, the last remaining paradox had hidden it's presence and snucked up behind him.
As the young man turned his head backwards, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the sharp and deadly claws of the paradox descending towards his head.
SWOOSH!
A dagger moving faster than the wind instantly passed by the head of the man and penetrated the forehead of the paradox, the force behind it knocked it off it's feet and downwards at the ground.
"What do you know, guess you can kill these things even without crushing their hearts." Rai laughed as he approached the man slowly.
[Enemies Slain: 8/8]
[You have levelled up!]
The man's body was trembling after being in a near death situation as he turned to face Rai. "Who...are you?" He questioned.
"Nah, I believe you owe me some answers first." Rai responded crossing his arms.
"If you insist." The man replied straightening his shirt and clearing his throat. "My name is Julius, crowned prince of the Ronowa Empire. Pleased to meet your acquintance." The man now revealed to be Prince Julius of the Ronowa Empire addressed Rai.
"Prince? Oh...shii." Rai replied realizing the attitude he had shown to Julius since he met him.
"Now who are you?" Prince Julius questioned.
"My name is Rai, Rai Voltia." Rai replied.
"Tell me Rai, how did you manage to defeat those paradoxes without even making use of essence?" Prince Julius questioned once more.
"Essence?" Rai asked in confusion.
"Yes, essence the power utilized in our world. How did you defeat them without using it?" Julius inquired once more.
"I didn't, it was merely just skills." Rai replied.
"Skills?" Julius eyes widened with shock. "If he was using just skills and not his essence, that means..." He spoke in his thoughts before he began approaching his horse.
"Come with me." He commanded.
"To where?" Rai questioned, not being a fan of being ordered around after what transpired in his previous life.
"How would you like to partake in the Essenmages exams?" Julius turned his neck to face Rai with a huge smile drawn on his face.
"The what?" Rai in confusion blurted out.