I want to tell you...
You can't do this, you would only...
Don't be reckless, ■■■
Do you not understand?! This is for your own good!
Stop saying those...
.
A groan escaped from Asura's lips as he slowly opened his eyes. He has had dreams like these before, but at times they felt much closer to him than they usually do.
But those voices were familiar to him, he could hear them much clearer today for some odd reason. One of the voices was clearly his, just lacking his usual 'whoever fucking cares' tone whenever he speaks. All of this never stopped feeling odd to him, that sense of familiarity in the scenarios and voices.
As if he had lived through such a life before.
But how could he question all of this when he barely even understood what was happening around him? He, much like every other 'NPCs' had accepted their roles without a question, never fully asking what, why and how they even got here. He briefly remembered the words of a player who had known about their situation from other NPCs before they met him.
'You're basically a puppet, but even worse than one. Having no home, no identity, no future, no dreams, not even a name to separate all of you from each other aside from your assigned roles.'
Their words were harsh, but he could not help but to agree.
He ran his fingers through his hair, somewhat attempting to comb it neatly before he stopped altogether. He blinked, staring at the system window that suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Why do I have to join a raid?" He grumbled under his breath.
As annoyed as he was about the invitation, he still accepted it anyways, quickly getting out of his bed to change into his usual outfit. After adjusting his collar a little, he was immediately teleported to the raid area.
The raid area was within a forest and their goal was simple enough, just fight through the hordes of monsters thrown their way to defend a little flag pole in the middle of the current crowd. He glanced over to it, then back at the dense forest in front of them.
Generally, NPCs like him would not have been invited to raids, unless there was an extraordinarily tough monster or a special item drop from the monster. Though unfortunately for him, the system window did not even try and explain why he was even invited to the raid. There were no other players or NPCs around him either, which started to make him a little suspicious about the intentions behind the raid.
He did not feel enough like complaining however.
[RAID TIMER: 30:00]
As the raid started, hordes and hoards of monsters immediately ran towards his direction. They were just strengthened wolves, which meant the most annoying part about them were their numbers instead of strength. He shook his head, summoning his sword from his inventory.
"I think the standards for raids must've lowered, eh? Are the players dying too constantly?"
He grinned, black flames lined his blade just before he slashed at the wolf pack, the flames easily taking them out in a single hit. The flames then transferred to the closest wolf, rinse and repeat until every wolf in the entire zone died.
He sighed, shaking his head. "This is too easy. Come on, bring me harder foes."
The system seemed to have heard his words, considering that a few dozens swords suddenly appeared right under him. He was caught off guard, but due to his instincts, just dodged quick enough before the sword could even graze his skin. He stared at the swords, then at the direction of the footsteps approaching him.
His grin grew a little wider. "I guess this will be fun after all."
However, his eyes quickly narrowed at the sight of a human male. They do resemble him somewhat, aside from the different colored hair, skin and eyes. He noticed that they were holding onto twin blades, much like his own fighting style.
Maybe he was just thinking a little too much.
The moment the man lunged at him, he raised his sword and blocked their attack. Their blades screeched and clashed against each other again and again, and yet even with the man's dual blades, he still could not quite get through to actually hurt Asura. Asura was simply much faster, already starting to figure out the pattern of the man's attacks.
"Now, why don't you be a dear and try and switch it up a little, hmm? If you keep doing this, it will get boring real quick." He teased, his grin turning into a smirk.
The man seemed unamused, naturally. His blades were suddenly coated with flames just before he did another strike. Even with Asura blocking the strike, the flames still engulfed him as well as the area around him, burning anything it touched into ashes.
"Oh, how unfortunate." Despite his skin and flesh being burnt, he still had the energy to laugh loudly.
As the man raised an eyebrow, he quickly noticed that his bright orange flames were being replaced by black flames instead. And just as he decided to move himself away from the demon, he noticed an amused smirk from the flames.
The flames all gathered onto Asura's blade just as he did a simple horizontal slash. That slash cut through the air, allowing the flames to quickly travel as well as spread, burning up a large area straight in front of him almost instantaneously. The black flames swallowed everything it came across — the grass, the trees, the leaves and even the air, making the air on the affected area felt much more dry and suffocating.
"Truly, how unfortunate." He laughed once more, his pitch was much higher this time.
Once the flames and smoke subside, he was expecting to see ash. Though much to his surprise, the man was still somehow standing there. Aside from their blades being mostly melted, they were almost completely fine. Some of the fabric on their gloves had burn along with the flames earlier.
His eyes widened at the sight, feeling his heart pumping much faster than it ever had for a long time. He could not help it, not when he was faced with a strong opponent.
He noticed that there was a weak glow coming from the man's pocket. It was clear to him now that they had some sort of protection amulet or pendant on them, but one strong enough to withstand his flames and not be immediately broken meant that said protection item was a Legendary rarity item.
"I've never met you in my challenge zone before." He placed his blade over his shoulder as he approached the man.
"I didn't know that I needed to fight you in order to enjoy the game." The man retorted.
He started to cough, feeling his throat straining due to the incredibly dry air. Asura shook his head, extending his hand out to them. As they stared at him, confused and wary of his sudden show of kindness. He pointed at his system window that was visible to the man, albeit the words seemed reversed from their point of view.
"We are both on the raid, together, as a team."
The man managed to read the text anyways, double reading it again to make sure that they actually read it right. He looked up at Asura, who had a shit eating grin on his lips. They slapped his hand away, coughing harshly as they got themselves out of the burnt area.
Asura chuckled, gently tapping the man's back, "Come on now. That was quite fun, wasn't it?"
At the man's glare, he chuckled even louder, "Come on now~ Don't be such a gloomy bastard. Have some fun here and there."
"You almost killed me." The man grumbled, yet he seemed to ignore it.
Asura slapped the man's back this time, nearly making him tumble over. They glared at him, that anger and annoyance was starting to spill over, making their lips form a light scowl as their hand tightened into a fist.
Before any of them could say anything else, the forest's winds suddenly picked up. Their heads nearly turned in unison, directly staring at the new threat approaching their way.
And that threat, was a dragon who was the height of a five-story tall building.
Asura looked over to the man. "You still have other spare weapons, right?"
"It would be funny if I didn't prepare any spare weapons." He replied with a light bitter tone.
The man took in a deep breath, trying to calm all of the emotions that were trying to spill over. As the red dragon noticed the two of them, it let out a ferocious roar that made the whole forest shake. Wisps of fire crackle between its teeth and jaw, ready to spew out at any time. The man looked back over to where the flag was, then to where the dragon was now at.
Asura gave him a slap on the head. "Tch, do you even need to double check about something as trivial as that?"
That annoyance resurfaced once more as the man shouted, "Of course! If my calculations are wrong —"
"Calculations, calculations. If you're thinking so much, you could get yourself killed."
Asura clicked his tongue, shaking his head at the man's words.
As the dragon opened its jaw, readying itself to release the flames gathered inside of its mouth, Asura shouts, "Trust your instincts, trust your senses. And most importantly..."
"Full speed ahead!"
[RAID TIMER: 24:47]