Hi, I'm the First Knight Of the Kingdom of Lance in the land of Alanuite in age 1702, Sir Kibo Ritomi, and man i have to say, i've got quite the story to tell you. Well then let's not waste anymore time lollygagging. it all began on a foggy morning in the outskirts of one of lance's nearby territories
Yvuen. It just so happened that me and a party of four were sent to investigate some strange events that had been terrorizing everyone, there have been recent reports of an increase in strange disappearances. when we arrived there on our horses, a middle age civilian approached me with tears in her eyes saying,
"Sir Ritomi please you've got to help me, My son and daughter have gone missing since yesterday, the village chief organized a search party for them but we still couldn't find them, please my husband and i have not stopped looking, please my babies, you have to find them".
And as she fell to her knees before me, her husband quickly picked her up and hugged her. Everyone in my party just stood there with looks of sympathy towards this poor woman and her husband. One of my party members that go by the name of tanku said, "no need to worry we'll find them by any means necessary" And to which i then replied
"I've got a direct order from Raito Aratsuna, the second king of the kingdom of lance, to uncover the truth behind the numerous missing person reports in this region, I expect your full cooperation in this".
The woman's husband then replied "yes we will do anything you ask, just say the word".
After that i then said "what i need you to do is to take shelter inside your home, when it reaches night time no one should be seen outside of those hours, because i have an hunch that your kids might have not just disappeared out of thin air, there might have been something else involved, well for now that's all i'll say". The middle age woman then said "So you're saying, it can't be!, isn't this region protected by a strong magical barrier under the order of the kingdom of lance?". At this point, Tanku with a very calm expression said to the both of them. "It'll be alright, we'll ensure your children's safe return. besides we've got the first knight of the kingdom of lance here with us, Sir Kibo Ritomi".
In response to those words, the husband and wife smiled. And the wife said "please bring them home, don't let us down". meanwhile the bystanders stared on, i replied
"we need to get a move on, because we have to check every area of this town and that includes that nearby dungeon, maybe we will find some clues there". After that everyone in my party with a firm stomp said'
"yes sir!".
After that, we got on our horses, but before we left we turned on the devices of legend called Ruie, with these devices we can communicate with each other from long distances. I then said to my party
"everyone go out in pairs of two, Tanku, you and Elder go south, Kawa ,Mizuto you guys go west.
And then Tanku replied
"Sir and where will you be?".
I replied "I'm heading to the dungeon".
Tanku with a frightened look then replied
"Wait Sir, you're not saying that you're going all alone, are you, I have heard stories of that dungeon, no one who enters it ever leaves, at least not alive anyways".
Mizuto then replied "wait just a minute, weren't you the one boasting about how great he is just a second ago, well then if you got that much faith in him let's see how well he does there".
Kawa angrily shouted
"Mizuto!" meanwhile Elder shakes his head and said
"Mizuto, maybe you need to learn a little more from Kawa, i mean do you see him behaving that way in public and as for you Tanku, as soldiers you must honor your fellow comrades, if Sir Ritomi says he wants to go alone then let him".
After Elder's Statement, Tanku calmed down a little and said "ok understood, maybe i was just overthinking it, after all it's the first Knight of Lance we're talking about".
Elder then bowed his head in agreement, meanwhile Mizuto Smirked and thought to himself "now we'll see how good you are, first knight".
At this point in time, I then told everyone.
"It's ok guys, meet me there when you're all sure everywhere's clear of all monsters, but be careful, well off you go".
With that being said everyone took their leave, including myself and when I arrived at the dungeon I discovered the unthinkable. What I discovered was that all the monsters at the entrance of the dungeon were sucked dry, leaving only their skin and bones. As I walked I discovered more and more corpses lying on the ground, I also felt a terrifying aura about ten meters up ahead of me, as I got closer to it I thought to myself.
"what kind of monster was responsible for this onslaught, I mean to kill at such a vast rate and to such a degree is beyond me". Something told me that whatever that was up ahead would actually prove to be a challenge for me. As I got closer and closer to my target I saw trails of human blood, so I followed it, and as I did so, I unsheath my sword then I enhanced it with one of my magical techniques called sorizali ze nuite which caused an eruption of purple flames around my sword. The great thing about this technique is that it poses no threat to its' caster but does maximum damage to it's enemies. Now when i finally reached the target I saw the most horrifying monster that ever existed it had four arms, four legs, 3 wings on each side, a skeleton face, a stinger on its tail and beside it was what seemed to be the son and daughter of the couple i spoke to earlier, laying presumably unconscious on the ground. I wasted no time and dashed towards them but the creature glared at me with its glowing yellow eyes and all of a sudden I found myself frozen for a moment but I knew I had to fight it, I had to save them, or else I could never live with myself. But then I heard the monster's voice speaking to me saying "walk forward, it's ok, walk forward to me now!". but then a memory of the look on the woman's face played in my mind and I found the strength to snap out of it. but when I saw all the half-eaten remains of the people who had vanished, on the ground, I yelled out in anger and the monster jumped back. Surprisingly, my thought process was as clear as the morning light, and I instantly came up with a strategy on how to defeat the monster. I leaped from wall to wall and used my sword to block all incoming stinger attacks with a wall of flames, then I dodged its arm attacks coming towards me from the left and then from the right. There were plenty of close calls but I finally managed to get one clean hit on it, but it turned out that it could heal itself. It turned out that this monster wasn't like the usual ones we saw on our missions, no this one had rapid cell regeneration!, which made it a fearsome foe. But i wasn't about to give up, i enhanced my sword again which in turn now became both purple and blue flames which gave me the ability to fire slashes at the monster all while keeping a distance from it, but my priority wasn't only on winning it was more so on saving the children, the only ones that made it. The monster then tried to take control of me again but I decided to put up a wall of flames in front of me and it turned out that I wasn't affected by its devious glare this time. So a thought came to mind, why not cover my eyes with the blue and purple flames of my sorizali ze nuite.
I had a feeling that it might just work out and so I walked up to it slowly then it glared at me again with its glowing yellow eyes but nothing happened, my theory was correct. But I had no time to celebrate. It rushed at me and swung its tail at me but I barely managed to dodge it. I was now bleeding from my leg but it wasn't severe so I tore off a piece of cloth off my armor and wrapped it around my leg which successfully stopped the bleeding.
I looked at the monster dead in it's eyes and said
"bring it on" then i ran toward it, jump up and stabbed it in it's back, it swung itself wildly all around in an attempt to shake me off but i casted a spell by saying "outweigh the darkness, flame of nuite, shiver the conscience of my enemies, sorizali ze nuite level 5!!!". but it still wasn't enough so it shook me off and i fell to the ground but as i rolled i was able to cushion myself with my sorizali ze nuite. then I got back up quickly because it came rushing at me and launched its stinger at me, but I avoided all of its stinger's attacks and then leaped from every corner of the dungeon. all while slashing away at the monster but with each slash it repaired itself, and at this point I was out of breath. I could hardly stand up but I had to muster the strength to fight and so I dashed toward the vile creature and we met face to face and then the most shocking thing happened. It was like I was moving in slow motion when it spoke and said "vanish!" Then the color of it's eyes glowed white, all while the blue and purple flames of my sorizali ze nuite that covered my eyes dissipated.
my whole body started to glow white and next thing I know, I found myself lying down in some strange place near some sort of metal container but someone or rather, a memory, helped me figure out where I was. I was lying in an area called an alley near a trash can and to make matters worse I was covered in blood, I tried to get up but I was feeling weak, and my mind was clouded. i didn't know why this was happening to me but all i know is that i saw some men wearing strange clothing walking away in the distance. I had no time to question them, my first priority was to use my sorizali ze nuite to heal my wounds. After I healed my wounds and my mind was feeling less hazy, I realized that I too was wearing strange clothing and a deep feeling of terror filled my heart. I also realized that my sword was missing as well and so I thought to myself.
"What is going on, where am i? Is this that monster's doing?, what about the children, my party, what happened to it all?".
All of these questions started flooding my mind. As I sat there, something or rather someone was telling me to get away from that alley as quickly as possible because it was bad news but the voice wasn't quite clear. It said words like, "alley", "away", "danger". As I walked out, I learnt that I was no longer in Yvuen. I was somehow transported to another world!. As i walked around and scouted the area, i saw different people, buildings of all sorts as i thought to myself
"How is this possible?".
"wait no, now isn't the time for that, i may not know exactly whats' going on but i have to adjust to this land's way of living".
After coming to this conclusion, i realized that i was quite hungry and so i approached a merchant who was selling fruits of all kinds in which the voice in my head spoke and said
"those fruits are called apples, oranges and grapes".
At this point i couldn't tell if it was either a voice speaking or it was a memory but all i know is that someone or something was helping me but with that being said one thing's for certain these memories that i was seeing, certainly weren't mine. After that the man selling the fruits said,
"Hey kid, do you see anything you'd like to buy?".
I thought to myself
"why is he calling me a kid, doesn't he realize that i'm a thirty year old man?".
He then said "kid, are you ok?".
As i thought to myself,
"You know what, Maybe it's just his way of speaking".
And then i replied,
"I'd like to have one of those apples please, I'm quite famished".
But the voice that came out wasn't mine, it shocked me to my core. I even checked to see if there was something wrong with my throat but it was perfectly fine considering the fact that I had completely healed myself with my sorizali ze nuite.
At this moment in time, the only thing on my mind was learning what my identity was and so i asked the Merchant how i looked, but he spat and said with a serious look in eyes,
"hey kid you wouldn't happen to be coming onto me now, are you?".
"well no it's just…"
"Hmm?…"
At this point, people were starting to stare so i had to come up with a reasonable excuse and i just said the first thing that came to my mind which was,
"No Sir, not at all i'm just kidding around". I replied nervously as i backed away,
"I'm sorry for wasting your time, I'll go now". And as i walked away he then replied,
"Hey kid you're not from around here are you?".
"No Sir, as a matter of fact i've come from a distant land".
"Oh so you're a traveler then?".
"i awh…".
"it's ok man, my wife and I used to live in the states, but now we call Japan our home".
"oh so this land is called Japan?".
"Well yeah, wait, are you telling me you didn't know?".
"Well you see I don't quite know why, and how I got to this place".
"Wait, seriously?".
"Yeah it's quite a long story".
"you don't say".
"kid, you wouldn't happen to be in any trouble would you?".
"Well that's kind of a hard question to answer, but why'd you ask?".
"Oh nothing, maybe BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT BLOOD ON YOUR SHIRT!".
"Yeah like i said it's a long story". I replied nervously.
"Ok, Well as long as you're fine that's all that matters, you don't seem to have any cuts on you but that does make me wonder where all that blood came from, but ok you said you were hungry didn't you?".
"Yeah I am, I feel like I haven't eaten for days".
"Yeah and you sure don't look like you got any money".
At this point i got frustrated and said
"well who needs your say in any of it anyways", And then i walked away
But for some reason he said,
"Hey kid, i didn't mean to make you angry, i said that because you seem like you've been through a lot recently". I was so shocked by his sympathy that i turned around and said
"It's ok sir sorry for the trouble". As i bowed my head to him,
And then he replied
"you know what kid, i like you, here, take any of these fruits free of charge, pick whatever you like".
And so i took one of the apples and as i ate the apple he replied
"why don't you stay for dinner, my wife is cooking something quite delicious tonight".
I then said
"Sir, I couldn't possibly intrude. Your generosity just now is quite enough".
But then he laughed and said "kid you've got quite the character".
In which i replied
"Well thank you Sir, back in the land where I come from I was well liked by many".
He then laughed and said
"Ain't that the truth".
"But kid, if you don't mind me intruding, where will you go, it's about to be dark soon".
"Well awh…".
At this point, I didn't know what to say because I was in a strange land and I have memories that don't belong to me and so far what I've learnt is that my identity is not of my own. So I decided to hear what he had to say.
"You're homeless aren't you?".
"well…".
"I figured as much".
"But sir how did you know?".
"Well you could say I follow my gut, every once in a while, and my gut's just telling me that you're not a bad person and if you've got a good heart, in the end thats' all that matters to me, so yeah i don't mind helping you out kid".
"thank you so much for helping me in my time of need i won't forget this act".
"it's ok we should all help each other because we're all that we've got at the end of the day, and besides i'd like to hear more of your story".
I felt sincerity in his voice and i knew he could be trusted, mainly because this man reminded me of my Dad, so i said
"Ok Sir please tell me what i should do".
"Well you need to wash up and get a fresh change of clothes, you know what head on inside i'll call my wife and let her know you're coming".
"Ok".
When I entered the building, I walked around until I saw a picture of the Merchant, his wife and some boy smiling, which I assumed to be their son.
As I stood there, I remembered the days of my youth when I was just like him. We were a happy family back then before that tragic day. I was just too weak at the time to protect them but I swore that I would find the monster that took their lives and avenge them, but I still haven't been able to find it, that creature so ugly that it made my skin crawl, still hunts till this day, i'm more than sure of it now. As i stood there lost in the memories of my past, the merchant's wife walked up to me and said
"Hi, my name's Hotaru, my husband told me all about you, it's a pleasure to have you here with us for the night".
"Thank you for having me". i replied
"hey i must say your japanese is very good".
After hearing this, I realized that there is so much more to learn about this land and its people. I didn't even realize that I was unconsciously speaking their language, it was quite surprising indeed. She then asked me,
"You wouldn't happen to be looking at our old family photo just now, were you?".
"Well as a matter of fact yes i was, it's because it reminded me of my family, but they are no longer here with us".
"Oh, i'm so sorry i didn't mean to–
"It's ok, it happened a long time ago".
"That's still really sad though, I'm so sorry for your loss, they're in a much better place now".
"But if you don't mind me asking, how long ago was it?".
"It's been 30 years now and I still haven't found the culprit behind it".
She then looked at me strangely and then said,
"Well, You know it's the same for us, that boy you see there is our son, he died tragically in a hit and run, we never got to see the person who did it brought to justice".
"That must've been rough for you".
She then replied with tears flowing from her eyes,
"Rough? That doesn't even come close to describing what me and my husband have been going through all these years, I mean it was so sudden, he left us and we're never going to get him back".
For some reason at this moment, I knew I had to comfort her and so I gave her a hug, and she continued to cry on my shoulders.
She then wiped her tears, showed me where the bathroom was and offered to give me some clothes which turned out to be her son's old clothes but I wasn't trying to be picky about it because after all they were going above and beyond for me in my dire situation.
As I stood there in the bathtub with my hand on the wall, and as the water poured down on me, I broke down in tears as I recollected memories of my mother, father, my little sister and my two little brothers. They were all that I had, and now they're gone. I've never cried this much since that fateful day that it happened, I could never forget that day no matter how many years had passed. It was an early sunny morning when me and my family decided to have some food outside in the rich green fields. There were flowers of different kinds, rich vegetation of all sorts and oh yeah don't let me get started on the different bugs that we saw. As we sat there our dad talked about the different monsters he fought on his daily missions and my little sister would usually say things like "oh that's gross", "Dad did you really do that?." and my two little brothers' eyes just glowed with inspiration, they would say things like "Dad I want to be just like you when I grow up". Meanwhile my mother would support anything that Dad came up with even though some of his stories seem impossible and less than likely to be true. but It was all about the thrill for us, and we loved every minute of it. After a while, the wind picked up and my mom's hat blew away into the blue sky. Oh yeah she wasn't happy about that, but before we could even try to get it, all of a sudden my Dad's expression changed, i've never seen him with such a look in eyes before and as he said
"I sense an evil aura in the air". The sky became dark and cloudy and lightning was flashing meanwhile the wind blew harshly.
My Dad then said, "honey take the kids and go to the horse carriage"
My mom listened and we ran to the carriage but the horses were so startled by the evil aura that they ran off and left us.
My little sister and brothers said they were scared so they got closer to my mom but for some reason I wasn't because I knew how strong my Dad was, I knew he would protect us. As we all stood there, my little sister and my two little brothers started crying, so my mom told them to get close to her as we watched as Dad started to cast one of his magical techniques.
the unthinkable happened as the trees swayed in the wind and as the evil aura approached us from a distance and we looked on waiting to see what it was and to our surprise it was 4 goblins with glowing yellow eyes and behind them was a skeleton monster, it was wearing an armor with a shredded cloak over its head. The goblins giggled as they looked at us all while disgustingly licking their lips, meanwhile the cloaked monster just stood there silently behind them just watching us with it's arms folded.
All four of the goblins rushed at my Dad but Dad used a high speed magical movement technique called "Jutflin" to break their necks. It all happened in an instant. My brothers and my sister including my mother, looked horrified. but no not me instead of being afraid I cheered my Dad on. My Dad stood boldly before the monster and looked it dead in the eyes and said
"Anyone or anything that tries to hurt my family has to pay dearly".
"So I have a question for you, why have you come here?".
"Cat got your tongue, well it's not like you got one anyways".
At this point, Dad used Jutflin to Dash toward the skeleton monster but it's reflexes were too fast so it was able to see the punch coming and grabbed my dad's arm but my Dad managed to break free and gained a little distance from it. Now it started walking towards my dad, slowly picking up it's pace and started running then dashed towards him but Dad matched it's speed by increasing the speed of his Jutflin and they were all over the place, my Dad kept punching but the monster just kept dodging and blocking. My Dad realized that if he was going to defeat it, he would have to put his all into one single attack, and so he engulfed his fist in a magical energy called Nuite, which does double damage to his enemies by enhancing any part of his body or whatever weapon that he uses. Then my Dad Dashed at the Monster and attacked it with one powerful punch but it took it head on, and it left me shocked to the core when my Dad realized that it had no effect on the monster. Then all of a sudden the unthinkable happened, the Monster's eyes started glowing yellow and my Dad stopped moving for a moment, so we all shouted out
"Dad!!!". But he didn't respond. He stood there for a moment silently and then he slowly turned around with a cold blank expression on his face. his eyes looked droopy as if he was in some sort of trance, and all of a sudden he started running towards us, i couldn't believe what i was seeing. i begged him to stop, but he just kept running towards us and he held my mom by her throat and broke her neck as she muttered the words
"Kyandoru, honey, please, stop, please stop thi–".
After seeing this, I fell to my knees as I watched as he murdered my little brothers. I didn't know what was happening, one minute my Dad was fighting the monster then the next moment he was attacking us. When he got to my sister she screamed and he stopped for moment, it appeared as if he was trying to fight it and he shouted out
"Kibo, take your sister and get as far away from here as possible!!!".
but i was too scared to do anything, i mean i wanted to but all that courage that i had, had left me the moment that he turned on us. And so it happened, he went into the trance again and killed her. After seeing this I finally worked up the courage to stand up and then somehow my dad came back to his senses and as he started crying he yelled and charged at the monster. I knew I had to run away this time because this was the only chance I'd get. i know i acted selfishly but can you blame me, what would you have done if something as horrific as this took place all of a sudden. What I saw after looking behind while running away would stain my mind forever. I saw my Dad swinging wildly at it and it just dodged all of his attacks, and he fell to the ground, then the monster walked up to him and stood over him as my dad breathed heavily as he looked down on the ground. My Dad then tried to punch him with the last bit of strength that he had left, but it grabbed his throat and broke his neck as he looked at me and whispered "forgive me son".
I ran and ran while tears flowed from my eyes. I don't know exactly what happened but what I do know is that, that wasn't my Dad's doing, he would never harm his family, it's that monster's doing and I have to avenge them.
As i finish up my shower, i thought to myself,
"you know what now that i think about it, could it be that, that monster that i fought in the dungeon was connected to what happened back then, i mean they were quite similar, man there's just so much that i don't know".
I shouted out angrily, to the point where even all the people on the outside could hear me saying.
"damn it, my Dad would never do such a thing!".
But luckily her husband covered for me and said nervously,
"Awh, don't worry guys, he's just going through one of those phases".
After that, I looked in the bathroom mirror and realized that my features were entirely different. I was myself on the inside but not on the outside. But of course that was to be expected. I mean I already suspected that much from the beginning, I realized that I was in the body of a teenager. I saw that this body had blue eyes, it had no beard and it was quite thin as well. I stood there staring as i thought to myself,
"Who is this person and why is my consciousness in this body?".
But when I looked in the mirror, all of a sudden I started to see the body's memories, I could see everything so clearly as if I was there in that exact moment. in one of those memories, a school called miyuzaki high went on summer break and when the bell rang all the kids celebrated and threw paper of all sorts all over the place, it all came falling down. Everyone was talking to their friends while leaving, but no not the body that was currently occupying, he looked quite sad. He was walking all alone with a book at his side then at the corner, he saw four guys that were lay waiting him. they looked more like delinquents rather than honorable students, at least that's what the voice was telling me. one of them grabbed his book, and then their leader put his hand around his shoulder and said
"follow us, and act normal or else it'll go bad for you and your family, that i can promise".
He listened and went along with them quietly, in this moment I could feel his anger, and all his anxieties. When they arrived under an old bridge underpass with graffiti on the walls, that read "Kill" in red , "King Kong" in purple and then "chief was here" in white. He said,
"why are you doing this?".
"one of the delinquents then said,
"Ooh what's this, are you into superheroes, well let me tell you something kid, no one's coming to save you".
The guy that had his hands around his shoulder from before then took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, then he started smoking it, meanwhile the others looked at the body i was occupying as he said,
"You see that right there, is why I can't stand people like you, you never take responsibility for your actions, it's always why but never what you did".
The body that i was occupying then replied
"I don't know what you're talking about, whatever you're on about has nothing to do with me".
He then replied,
"Oh is that right, well a little birdie of ours told me that you were the one that had shyru expelled".
"Wait don't get me wrong but wasn't he your enemy, so why would someone like you even care?".
The other guys began to laugh and one of them said,
"Man this guy doesn't know anything".
Their leader then said with an hint of sadness in his eyes,
"Sure, we may have been enemies but I still owe him an old favor he asked of me once, and you got in the way of that, he was one of my best boys, and without our rivalry it just isn't the same".
After hearing those words, the body that i was occupying then said,
"Rivalry? is that what you call it, terrorizing the students day by day, by extorting them out of their money, claiming territories and disrupting everyone's learning experiences for your own petty reasons!, all for the sake of your heartless competitions, you know what, he got what he deserved, people like you should be locked away and never be allowed to be a part of society ever again".
At this point the atmosphere changed, and their leader
Then said "Hakusho, was it?. people like you are what I hate the most", furiously as he threw a straight punch at him but Hakusho Dodged it and then he dropped his book bag. The rest of them saw that their leader was shocked so they surrounded him.
One came in from the right, and got kicked in the stomach, then their leader did a leg sweep but Hakusho saw it coming and jumped up. It was unbelievable how quick his reflexes were. Two of them came at Hakusho while he was falling down and Hakusho kicked both of them in their chest simultaneously and they fell down but their leader came up from behind him and grabbed him then he started to squeeze him tightly but Hakusho started elbowing him in his stomach until he broke free. at this point, everyone else was in pain on the ground meanwhile their leader just stood there holding his stomach as he said
"You bastard, you'll never get away with this".
Then right after he said those words, Hakusho then knocked him out with a single punch and he fell flat on his back. Hakusho then walked over to where his book was and picked it up. Then he picked up his bookbag and left as the rest of them groaned in pain. After the memory was over I was thrown into a world of nothingness. it was all white and there were these squares containing even more memories, then all of a sudden I started getting a headache and at this moment in time i came back to my senses, and so i did what i had to do, i put on the clothes that madam Hotaru gave me and left the bathroom as i thought to myself,
"This body belonged to an incredible human being and his name was Hakusho''. As I walked out into the main hallway, I saw Madam Hotaru kneeling down before her son's photo in her room through the meshy door. I realized that she was praying so I didn't want to interrupt her, because it reminded me of the tradition, passed down from generation to generation in the land of Alanuite, where we would make peace with our dearly departed loved ones. This occurrence made me wonder what was happening in Yvuen. As I watched her, I thought to myself, did my party ever make it to the dungeon and if they did, have they figured out that i left or is my body still there. did they manage to rescue those children, it is possible because they are all highly skilled soldiers in their own ranks, so maybe i shouldn't worry so much about it, they're fine". But I couldn't have been more wrong, back in Yvuen, a lot of twisted things were happening.
Meanwhile, Tanku, Mizuto and Kawa searched the surrounding areas, Elder contacted Kawa and said,
"Kawa, all clear?".
"All Clear, Elder, but what about you?".
"There are currently no monsters in my area"
"Ok, i'll tell Mizuto, but you know he's been acting a little strange".
"And why's that?".
"Not sure, but maybe it's nothing"
"Ok, meet me and Tanku at the Dungeon, we need to check out the dungeon because i've been calling Kibo but he isn't responding".
"Ok we'll be there as soon as possible".
"Understood".
After they got done talking, Tanku said
"Elder, did something happen to the first Knight?".
"Well, i'm not quite sure but let's just do what he told us to do".
"ok".
After everyone met at the dungeon, they felt a presence, it was the same evil aura that I first felt when I went into it. but it felt ten times worse to them than it did to me. Tanku and Kawa quivered in fear, but Elder told them to take heart and as they went further into the dungeon, they saw all the corpses but they ignored it and went on until they saw it, the most horrific site they've ever seen,The monster that i fought was just sleeping soundly in the midst of all the half-eaten human corpses and below it was the half- eaten remains of the children, we were supposed to save. At this point,
Tanku started hyperventilating and then he vomited at the site of it, as he said
"What, is, thi—".
Everyone was shocked to the core, but that wasn't all. Below the monster was what seemed to be a statue lying on the ground. Elder quickly figured out what was happening and said,
"Everyone, i need you to listen very carefully to what i have to say, this is between life and death".
Kawa then said,
"Ok, what is it?". Meanwhile Tanku coughed violently on the ground and as Mizuto stood there staring at the monster.
"I don't know exactly what happened here, but I think that statue over there is the first Knight".
Kawa looked over at the statue and then said,
"No way, did he really lose to that thing?, but that can't be right, he's the first knight. that rank is given to the most capable soldier in the land of Alanuite, so how is it possible for him to lose to that monster?".
"I don't know, but I have a feeling that he isn't dead. I can still feel some magical energy within the statue but it feels corrupted, it's like his soul isn't there".
"But Sir, doesn't that mean that he's dead?".
"I'm not sure but something's telling me that he isn't, I think he may be incapacitated at the moment".
"Incapacitated?, ok please tell us what we should do".
"Ok what i need you to do, since your magical abilities are more so for support, defensive rather than offensive, is to get him out of here because i'm telling you whatever this monster is, it's a force to be reckoned with".
"So you're saying that, we don't stand a chance against that thing?".
"Well look at it like this, if the first knight couldn't beat it then what difference would our struggle make?".
At this point, Mizuto then turned around and said,
"that's right, the amount of magical power this creature possesses is mindboggling, isn't it just incredible". As he chuckled and looked back at it.
Elder and Kawa including Tanku were so shocked to see the way that Mizuto was acting, it's like he thirsted for mayhem.
Mizuto then started walking towards the monster,
So at this point Tanku got up and said,
"Elder, Kawa, I heard what you guys said and I'll do my best, I'm not feeling too well right now, but I'll give you guys my full support". as he trembled in fear. Elder and Kawa bowed in agreement and then Elder said,
"I don't know what Mizuto is thinking, but he's going to get himself killed if he doesn't stop this madness".
And then Kawa replied,
"Let's just focus on getting the first knight's body because time is running out, I have a feeling that Mizuto intends on waking that monster up, so we need to get him right now!".
Then all of a sudden, Mizuto shouted out "hey you, have you had your fill yet?!".
Then the monster's eyes opened up and it got up slowly off the ground and looked at each of us then roared violently, the wind from it's roar pushed us back but we stood our ground. Mizuto then asked the creature,
"Are you capable of speech, or is that far beyond your capabilities".
but the monster started walking towards him, then he said
"Ok then how about a proposition?"
Surprisingly the monster stopped and said,
"What is this proposition of yours, human?".
At this point Mizuto smirked and replied,
"If I take the life of everyone here, will you grant me your power?".
Tanku then said,
"Mizuto, you bastard, you're betraying us, after all that we've been through?!".
The Monster then said,
"Human your heart is blacker than the Night, i've never met a human like you".
"I'll take that as a compliment" replied Mizuto
At this point, everyone looked on in terror as the monster laughed and said
"Human you are quite entertaining, ok i shall fulfill your wish if you do my bidding".
Kawa then said,
"Mizuto please, don't do this to us, we are your friends".
"Friends? Is that what you think we are, no you see you've got it all wrong, we were never friends all i wanted was to ensure my own survival and you guys were the perfect bunch to manipulate. but now things have changed, i. Don't. need . you anymore, it's nothing personal but you all have to die". replied Mizuto as he unsheathed his sword.
Elder then said with a look of disgust,
"You know, i had a feeling you were a bad guy, but now i see that you are
truly rotten to the core".
"So what, do you think you have what it takes to stop me?".
Then right after that, Kawa maximized the output of his Jutflin and took My Body and ran away from the Dungeon, it all happened in an instant, so there was no way for Mizuto nor the monster to react.
but Mizuto smirked as he said,
"That was really clever of you Elder, but you should know he doesn't matter anymore, well not in the grand scheme of things anyway and that fool Kawa, oh don't worry I can kill him at any time".
Tanku then replied,
"Well, you'll have to get through me first".
Then Mizuto said,
"Oh, I intend to!". As he used Jutflin to dash at kawa, and it was an all out battle, Kawa slashed at him many times but he parried and dodged all of his attacks. The battle went on for quite a while, meanwhile Elder stood there clenching his fist, he looked on with sadness in his eyes as he remembered the time they all spent together. As he looked at them, He thought to himself
"should I let this go on any further, should I intervene, would that dishonor him?".
You see Elder was an honorable man, he believed in a code, his morals and values were quite clear. From a younger age he believed that when it comes to war, a man must fight his own battles and he lived by that code. but he was willing to break it because of this betrayal, but just as he decided to intervene, Tanku and Mizuto used Jutflin for one final attack but the winner wasn't who he had hoped for. Mizuto managed to prevail against Tanku leaving him decapitated. Elder shouted out,
"NOOOO!!!".
And then Mizuto started grinning as he pointed his sword at Elder,
At this point, Elder fell to his knees as Mizuto licked some of the blood off his sword. Elder then said,
"You really killed him and he was your comrade". With a shocked expression.
"As I said before, nothing personal".
The monster then thought to itself,
"This human may be more of a monster than I am, he killed his comrade without any hesitation, he could prove to be quite useful to me, yes indeed. He reminds me of a certain human, no, he is far more wicked than he could ever be".
In this moment, Elder found the courage to stand up and then he said,
"I will do everything in my power to stop you from achieving your twisted goals as he used Jutflin to Dash at Mizuto, Mizuto tried to dodged the first slash from Elder's sword but Elder increased the speed of his Jutflin and managed to slightly cut him in his face. Mizuto got angry and said,
"Don't get cocky, you'll have to do more than that if you hope to beat me".
but Elder didn't waste any time talking he kept slashing away at Mizuto but Mizuto was able to parry most of his attacks but he still got some cuts. At this point in time, Mizuto started breathing heavily,
And started getting frustrated as he said,
"Who do you think you are, you all think you're better than me, Elder the war god, isn't that what they used to call you, i'm not surprised you're this strong, you take after that fool Kibo. as one of the royal household, i should've been the one granted the rank of first Knight instead they gave it to that lowly Commoner—".
Elder then said,
"I see, so that's what this is all about, you're after the first knight".
"Well it doesn't matter now, cause he's Dead!".
"You're wrong, Sir Kibo Ritomi is very much alive".
The monster then said "what?!"
At this point, Mizuto turned around and asked the monster
"Is there something wrong?".
"Oh, he was that annoying little pest that I turned to stone".
"So how is he still alive".replied Mizuto with a frightened expression.
The monster then laughed and said,
"I was too careless, I should've finished him off when I had the chance".
Mizuto then said "don't worry i'll finish him off after i—, at this very moment, Elder vanished, he was moving at a such a speed that he couldn't be seen, but at the moment of impact just when he was about to kill Mizuto the monster intervened and it's eyes glowed white turning Elder into stone.
Mizuto then fell to the ground as he looked at Elder's lifeless face stained with anger for all eternity.