Kane shrugs while stabbing his sword into the ground and sitting on a tree trunk while two partners stand by him. "Hand over the elf girl, and no one will be hurt." He looks at Simon rolling his eyes, "Well maybe not him, but demons like him should be able to handle a bite or two." Rina stares at him angrily while Ayame holds a small piece of paper ready to attack. "Ayame, get those poisoned wolves off the kid and take them towards the kingdom, I'll deal with this asshole." Kane stood up rotating his shoulder, he rested the sword on his shoulder, the two near him prepared themselves, a green glow flew by Rina, Sarya flew towards Kane catching him off guard, her aura covering her whole body and sword as she swung it. He quickly blocks the attack but the force from the attack sends him back while digging his feet into the ground.
"Boss!" The man with white hair and yellow eyes, a scar over his eye, and a red bandana told the man, shouted for Kane, he quickly turned back towards Sarya but Rina's fist was in his face, Rina punched the man sending him flying, and crashing into a tree. "You fool! Ace, Theo, and Bless! Back to me!" A man with purple hair his eyes closed and horns on his head ordered the wolves to bite on Simon, all three released him and ran towards Sarya. "You damn dogs!" Sarya whips around swinging her sword, Amy jumps in kicking one of them in the head and kneed one into the ground, the last one leaps towards Amy, and she uses her other leg to kick the wolf sending it flying into a tree. "A beast man? Now that's impressive, I thought you guys only followed the strongest." Kane places the sword back on his shoulder while walking forward, "Check on Dane, Thomas." The man with the horns nodded and quickly ran to check on the man punched into a tree.
"Sarya, you need to leave. This guy isn't a joke.", "No way! If they're after me they'll have to take me by force. And I'll never lose to a human, not to brag or anything." Rina sighs in annoyance, she stands next to Sarya. "Don't forget about me." Amy stood on the other side of Sarya. "Oh? All three of you fighting little O me? Good thing I'm not alone~." Kane slams his sword into the ground as many other people come out of the shadows from all around them. Zuzu looks at all of them confused and worried, "Who are all these people? And why are they here?" Ayame created two other copies of herself, she watched all the men ready their weapons with smiles. "They're a group who kills and captures for money, ex-adventurers. Their leader Kane Nelson, was a person who was known for killing his partners and was kicked from being an adventurer. From what I still remember he has no type of magic but he's skilled with that greatsword.." Ayame explained while Zuzu shook in fear still not understanding. "I expect nothing less from the receptionist of the adventurers guild, and someone I called my closest friend.." A girl walks out with phantom pink hair, she holds a boar head in one hand, and in the other is her short sword covered in blood, her pale skin with blood on her cheeks and clothes. "Killing forest animals for fun... gets boring..." Ayame locked eyes with the girl as she wiped the blood off her cheek. "Lisa... I-", "Don't. I don't have time for people who are weaker than me. I told you I'll never be weak... And I'll prove it." Lisa drops the boar and charges at Ayame, she swings her sword towards her, and one of Ayame's copies blocks Lisa with a dagger. "Stop this now, Lisa. If you don't you might get killed!" Lisa looks up into Ayame's eyes with anger. "Stop looking down on me!" Lisa pulls out another short sword cutting the copy head off, she blitzes towards Ayame, Lisa looks down and sees a paper with a symbol, as she runs over it, it lights up and explodes.
Ayame watches the explosion, of ghostly flames. She turns to look towards Rina, and as she raises her hand, her whole arm goes flying off, she quickly turns to her side locking eyes with Lisa. "Finally..." Lisa stabs Ayame in the side and then cuts off her other arm. "...." Lisa with quick motion cuts off Ayame's head. Lisa stood there as Ayame's head hit the ground, Lisa walked over to her head, picking it up by her hair. "I finally killed you... but I don't feel anything.... but happiness.." A grin slowly appeared on Lisa's face. "Are you done?" Lisa stops laughing and looks back at the head of Ayame. "How are you... that damn copy!" She throws the head at the body. "You do nothing but run and hide! Behind your copies! You know you can't defeat me alone!", "To be fair who could? The Phantom trait isn't easy to defeat, you can just faze through the attack and not get hurt. And there's no problem with that trait. It requires nothing." Ayame explained, Lisa stabs the head with her short sword. "Going to tell me something I already know! You are 'The Mistake of The Winters'!" Rina leaps back sliding on the ground, she looks over her shoulder looking at Lisa. "Listen, if you want to live you should run kid..", "Shut up you hag! I'll never be afraid of a weakling, like her!" A vein appears on her forehead, she throws her arms up. "Fine, your death." Lisa turned to look at Ayame's head as she opened her mouth, "I don't know how you managed to find out I was Winters.... but that means you know why I'm the mistake of the Winters family...?" Ayame's body stood up and picked up her head with the short sword inside it, she pulled it out as hands reached out the split head, and other hands from behind her started to grab her body, arms, and legs. The hands became heads of Ayame that looked as if her face was melting. Lisa watched stumbling back in fear, Ayame split into many other Ayames with their face-melting, holding swords and staffs, some in armor and others that looked like kids, they all were missing parts of their bodies while staring at Lisa. Ayame landed in front of the hoard, her light brown hair and her glowing light blue eyes stared into Lisa and the other men behind her. "Horror Manifestation."
Rina rushes towards Kane who blocks Sarya with his sword while holding Amy by the neck, Kane quickly looks at Rina. He pushes Sarya back using the force of his sword and throws Amy into her causing them to fall. "I got you now bastard!" Rina using her lightning sword swings at Kane while he stands there with a smile, within the blink of an eye someone grabs Rina's wrist blocking, protecting Kane, "I told you I would never fight you by myself, did I not?" A powerful aura emitted off this opponent, and Rina quickly jumped back, before she could land the figure quickly elbowed her in the stomach sending her flying back into the ground, she quickly recovered, and as she stood up the figure swung a dagger at her, she quickly ducked backward, the figure cut her cheek as sweat slowly goes down her face. She stumbles back as blood drips down her cheek, the figure spins the dagger and the tongue of the figure licks the dagger as a grin creeps on their face. "I can't believe you don't know who this is, Rina. Do take off the hood, kind sir." Kane said with a smirk, the figure pulled down their hood and the first thing she noticed was the pointy ears of the figure as a large burn scar on the side of their face, their hair matching Rina's, their eyes white. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Rina Yeslar, the second princess of the Elven Kingdom." Rina stares at the man dumbfounded and with anger in her eyes she charges at them as lightning follows behind her, she swings her leg downward, and the person smiles while they raise their hands to block the attack, her eyes glow as she changes her position kicking the person in the side shooting them to the side, crashing into the forest. Rina charges at Kane with the same speed, she pulls her arm back and swings at Kane with force behind the attack. Kane was shocked, he couldn't see Rina until he noticed the lightning behind Rina, he quickly covered himself with his huge sword. As Rina first got closer to Kane, the person appeared in front of Kane with a smile, they spun around with the dagger, and with a quick motion, they cut up Rina's arm and quickly kicked her back, she slammed into a tree, her right arm all cut up and bleeding. "You improved from the last time we met." The person kept a creepy smile on his face while the dagger dripped with blood.
Sarya appears behind the person with her sword swinging upward with killing intent, not looking, the person blocks Sarya's attack with ease. "Another elf? You never told me about the two, Kane.." Sarya struggles to move the sword, and Kane wipes the sweat from his head. "That's because she's the one we need, I only hired you to take care of Rina." The figure's smile slowly fades, and the figure pushes Sarya back with their dagger, Sarya swings at them again, but they parry her with ease, causing her to stumble back, she places both of her hands on the sword, Sarya's eyes glow as she swings at the figure. "!!" The figure whips around ducking backward dodging Sarya's attack, the force from the attack slashes upward splitting the clouds in two. The figure's face is in shock but slowly returns to a smiling one, Kane reaches out to grab her. Amy flies in kicking Kane's hand and follows it with a punch to the face causing him to stumble back. "That damn-!" Amy punches him on the side of the face, as he holds his face in pain she punches him multiple times, as his nose bleeds he goes to grab his sword, but Amy quickly kicks his hand away and then strikes him on the chin causing him to fall over, he catches himself and his eyes beamed at Amy, she throws another punch. "Now you're pissing me off, rabbit!" He catches her fist and stares at her in anger, he picks her up by her hand and punches her in the stomach sending her crashing into the ground. Kane wipes the blood from his nose away, "Are you all going to just stand there!? Grab that damn rabbit!" Kane's henchmen rush over to grab Amy, Zuzu quickly moves in front of them blocking Amy with his body. "You won't touch her!" The henchmen stop in fear but they notice Zuzu is shaking. "Is he... shaking?", "And here we are afraid of nothing. Grab that one too." They all charged at Zuzu with their swords and had wicked grins on their faces. Zuzu closes his eyes preparing for the attack, "All you bandits are sorry people.." Zuzu opens one of his eyes and all the henchmen are on the ground with missing arms and legs. The henchmen in the back watched in horror while Simon stood in front of Zuzu, his hair colors switched, a darker red with black highlights, and steam emitted off his body as he held a dagger that shattered. "You okay?" Simon's voice is different from the hyper-clueless Simon, he sounds more relaxed and calm, he turns around to face Zuzu, his eyes green as the steam that came off his body was from the bite marks from the wolves. "S-Simon? Are you Simon?" Zuzu asked nervously, Simon facepalmed in annoyance, and he looked at Zuzu and Amy who just recovered. "You wolf boy." He pointed at Zuzu, "Either you leave, or you fight. You have to choose. Even if you don't want to fight, one day you will have to fight and you'll have to kill.." Simon told Zuzu while walking towards the other henchmen cracking his knuckles. "I'll give you all a chance to run away." Some of the henchmen laugh while the others stare at the other henchmen on the ground with missing limbs. "A-are you sure we should be laughing? He did just I don't know... rip our teammates in pieces with only a rusted dagger..", "Why should we be afraid? He lost his dagger and he just caught those idiots off guard, they were too focused on that wolf and rabbit beast man. And besides he's just a Demon. Some random weak Knight could've done the same." The one who spoke up looked at his teammate dumbfounded.
"(Weak...! weak...! weak! You're nobody, just a demon who wanted to be a knight... who wanted to be loved..)" Simon's pupils faded as the voice in his head kept laughing at him, Simon stood there not moving. "What's wrong with him..?", "Let's just kill him, he's just another demon kid killed on our list." About ten men charged at Simon one with a mask on and looked way under then the others stayed back. Simon opens his eyes and now he's in a dark and cold hall with torches leading down to a large metal door. Simon pats himself down looking for a weapon but he notices his clothes are changed and on his wrist are claps of iron chains. "...Did one of those bandits cast a spell on me..? Why is it so cold here? I guess I should check that huge door out.." Simon slowly walks down the hall looking around, he looks behind him and the torches are blown out as he walks forward, he turns back towards the metal door in front of him. "How did that... I mean okay." Simon places his hand on the metal door and it starts to glow a crimson red, the chains on his wrist connect with the door and it unlocks the door and slowly opens the door. As the door opens the last torches are blown out and torches in the room he entered, all the torches light up a large cell that sits in the middle of the room, the room is mossy and in ruins. "Just where is this place..?" Simon walks closer to the cell, the cell is covered in all types of chains with all types of weapons surrounding the cell. Simon walks by the weapons and closer to the bars of the cell, a torch of different color lights up in the cell, there is a kid chained up from his arms to his body and legs. The kid is on his knees while he's looking down at the ground, Simon sees the kid, and worry washes over his face. "Hey! Are you okay kid? Why are there so many chains on you?! How do I get in..." Simon checks around the cell looking for a door, the chains that held the boy start to rattle, Simon quickly turns to face the boy who raised his head, his hair is dark red, and it looks black, while his blue eyes beam into Simon's green. "Hello..?", "Are you okay? What's-." Simon sees the scars and shapes the boy was left in, he stares into the blue-eyed boy. "Who are you..? Are you here to beat me like the others..?" The boy looks at Simon with no emotion, his lifeless eyes make Simon shake. "I've already been beaten... more than three? Times? I don't remember.." The fresh cuts and buries on his body made Simon shake even more, either in fear or in rage. "A Demon... like me... can never be a knight... I want to be someone who can save many with a smile... like father...", "What... who would do such a thing.... a demon...? Knight..?" Simon looks at his hand noticing he picked up a sword without even knowing, "Are you just going to stand there?! I said attack! And you will kill if you don't... you'll know what will happen." Simon looks at his hands and notices he's a kid, he looks up and sees a man with white hair, his face is blurred out while a man who was in front of a house is on the ground hurt. Simon looks towards the man who was begging, "Please... don't hurt my family... I'll pay back the kingdom... just please..", "Do it." Simon looks towards the house, and through the window he sees two kids watching with tears, he looks to the side and sees a lady lying in her blood. "What are you waiting for? Do it now!" Without controlling his body Simon raises his sword, and the kids yell with their tears flowing. "Wait! Please no! I promise I won't-!" Simon decapitates the man his blood splats on his face. "Good, now burn everything.." Simon drops the sword making the white-haired man angry, he sighs while picking up a torch and throws it at the house. The house burns with the kids banging on the window trying to get out and Simon watches. Simon snaps back as the boy in the cell stares at him in confusion, Simon grabs the cell bars and slowly falls to his knees, the boy locks eyes with Simon. Simon blinks and now he's walking down the street of the kingdom holding a bag of bread, Simon looks around, everything is blurry. A few knights walk by Simon and some stop in front of Simon causing him to bump into them, "Look what we have here, it's the next 'Knight' of the kingdom!" The knight laughs as the other chip in as well, Simon not being able to do anything replies, "O-oh I'm sorry.." One of the knights slapped the bag out of Simon's hands and laughed, Simon slowly picked up the bread that fell on the floor. "(You damn bastard! Why are you bullying this kid?! What did he do to any of you!? And you call yourselves knights!?)" Simon starts yelling inside his head, one of the knights steps on Simon's bread causing the kid to look up at him, the knight's face is blurred but his grin is noticeable, "Can you please remove your-." The knight grabs Simon by the hair while everyone in the area stops and watches, the Knight laughs in Simon's face while trying to break free. "Look at him, the little demon boy wants to fight back, okay fight back." The Knight throws Simon back, and as he falls on the ground he tries to get back up just for the same Knight to step on his back. "Come on, stand up!" He taunts Simon while stepping on him, "I-I can't..", "Too afraid? Are you going to go and cry to your 'daddy'?" He mocked Simon and the other knights laughed, Simon pushed himself up lifting the knight's foot, and he looked at him in shock. "Tsk!" The Knight kicks Simon in the rib sending him into a wall, Simon held onto his side in pain. "Come over, let's teach this demon a lesson!" The knights start kicking and beating Simon as the onlookers smirk with stares that burn into Simon's brain, ending the memory. Simon wakes up off the cold floor, touches his face but hears rattles every time he moves. "What...? Chains..? Wait a second..." Simon quickly looks forward as 'Simon' stands there staring back at Simon. "Do you know how it feels... to be beaten? To be called a demon? To be weak..? TO BE KILLED...?" The fake Simon points at Simon and a beam shoots through his chest catching him off guard, Simon looks down at his chest as a huge hole goes through his chest, he tries to reach to touch his chest but the chains on his body and arms reacted, pulling his arms back from touching his chest. "Huh... why are you me...? What... why are you doing this!?" The fake Simon walks through the cell bars and crouches in front of Simon. "Do you know how it feels to die...? I already died... you're confused, I know... you're not in your body and some entity is in your body moving around and you have a hole in your chest... You won't die... you won't even feel pain..", "....why me...? And what are you? Who are you..?" The fake Simon sat on the cold floor staring into Simon's eyes. "I... I don't know... I just woke up here... and my name... I think my name is... I don't know my name... As for why I use your body... I will kill those who are wrong... I'll prove my point.." Simon was confused, and the cell slowly shattered and the world around did as well.
The henchmen charge at the standing still Simon, and one of their swords reaches Simon's neck as it connects the blade shatters on impact. "What the!" Simon quickly grabs the man by the neck, he releases the man, Simon's fist connects with his face and slams him into the ground so hard a shock-wave throws the others back, the dust clears as Simon towers above the man whose face is destroyed, black electricity surges off his body. "I'm... not a monster... I just wanted to help..." A shadow hovers over his face as his beaming green eye stares at the other henchmen. "(Demonic Energy?! No... that can't be, I don't feel uneasy... he's no elite demon, so what is that..?)" One of the henchmen thought to himself. "He killed them... I didn't even see him.." Most of the henchmen shook in fear looking at Simon, he looked at his hands as the black electricity went over his hands creating a small electric ball, he closed his hand and it exploded in his hand. They look at Simon as blood drips on the ground and Simon's hands are in bad shape. "What did he just do?!" Simon appears in the face of one of the henchmen in the air with his leg pulled back, in slow motion they all turn to see Simon with his eyes glowing. Simon's leg connects with the henchman's face, the sound of the kick was so loud you could hear a boom. Simon lands on the ground, spins around using his leg kicks another in the face, two charge at him, he jumps up doing a flip, and comes down with an axe kick, burring one of their heads in the ground, the other swings a sword at him, he quickly whips around biting down on the sword he pulls on the sword with his teeth taking the sword from him, the henchmen stumbles forward as Simon turns back around he bring his leg up kicking the man on the chin, the man falls on the ground lifeless. Simon throws the sword up using his mouth and catches the handle in his mouth as his eyes and body emit more black electricity.
Meanwhile, Lisa is dodging the melting Ayame's, she phases through one and stabs it in the back of the head, a hand grabs the blade of Lisa. "Why are you not dead!?" Lisa quickly moves her blade, cutting the head off, and sending it into the air, while in the air the head turns and smiles at Lisa. "Hahahaha." The head grows bigger turning into a transparent skull and rushes at her, she tries to phase through the skull but her arms are grabbed from each side. "As long as you are grabbed before you phase, you can be hit and with that let's have a test." All the melting Ayame's copies said at the same time. Lisa tries to break free of the two Ayame's copies as they laugh at Lisa, "Are you idiots going to stand there or are you going to help me?!" Lisa shouted for the henchmen but her look changed to fear in seconds. "What are you looking at?" Ayame asks and turns their head to face something you'll only see on a battlefield, even the huge skull stops. A henchman backed away from a bloody scene, "Y-y-you monster! Stay away from me!" Simon stood in the middle of dead henchmen with all of them missing the same limbs, he bit down on a sword handle as blood covered one side of his face. Kane, the elf man, Rina, and Sarya watched in shock but Sarya looked broken. "Haha... does he work for you?" The elf man asked Kane, who grabbed his neck and his face turning purple, "(Demonic Pressure?! Isn't that a kid? No, someone must be hiding... I don't sense anything. Just what monster is this kid...? He'll be good for my collection..)" The elf licks the dagger with a crazed look. Simon turns to the henchmen backing away from him, "No... stay back!" He has tears flowing from his eyes while he backs away, he bumps into a tree, turns around looking at the tree then quickly turns back, Simon standing in front of him with the sword in his mouth. "Simon! STOP!" A familiar voice called out to Simon, he slowly turned his eyes facing Sarya who was pointing a sword at him, "Snap out of it! Don't let it control you again!" Simon opens his mouth, the bloody sword hits the ground. "R-r-run.." Something fast kicks Simon away crashing through multiple trees and crashing into the ground causing a huge boom. "Let's test this little... monster.." The elf grinned while looking where he kicked Simon, his eyes whipping to the side parrying Sarya with ease, he had an aura around his body as he stared at Sarya with disgust, "Stay out my way... I don't play with trash like you.." He towers over her grabs her by her hair and places the dagger on her neck. "I'm not supposed to do this but I think I might kill you.. I'm about to gain more than I'd lose." Rina appears above him with her left fist and lightning in her eyes, she punches the man on the back of the head with full force, and he slams into the ground creating a crater.
Rina lands next to Sarya, her right arm still bleeding from the elf hunter's attack earlier. "Why didn't you heal yourself?!", "I can't heal, I'm not a nature person, Sarya! Just heal my arm, that idiot isn't down yet. Ayame!" Sarya sighs while healing Rina's arm, Ayame walks over to Rina with her calm tone, "Yes?", "Is this the real you or an undead copy?" Rina pokes Ayame's cheek. "Yes... it's me, Guild Master.", "What did you do with that girl?" Ayame steps to the side showing the copies of herself holding Lisa as she tries to fight her way out. "Can you stop moving?!" Sarya yells at Rina who stops moving as Sarya's hands glow with a green hue as she heals Rina. "What's up with your friend..? I've never seen anyone cut down so many people with destroyed arms and only a sword that went dull after he cut down two bandits. The killing intent that came off him... even shook me to my core..", "I must say, he surprised me as well. I thought I was in the presence of a well-trained killer, it reminds me of someone but I just can't remember who.." Sarya shook her head, she picked up her sword readying herself. "The hunter might be troubling but there's someone more of a threat.." A laugh can be heard from the crater, the elf hunter stood up pushing his hair back showing the burnt side of his face with a crazed smile. "You landed a punch on me?! That attack felt so familiar... yes... that punch... that anger! Show me more, PRINCESS!" The elf hunter's aura surrounds his body as he flips his daggers and gets into a fighting stance looking at the three. "Get ready, this guy is tricky... I thought they locked you up so long ago.." The elf hunter charges at the three at full speed, Ayame quickly raises her arms as the hunter kicks her back, and roots come out of the ground grabbing the hunter. "Rina!" Rina slams her foot into the ground as lightning surges through the roots, lightning from out of the sky strikes down and explodes on the hunter. Sarya sat on the ground and tried, Rina ran over to Ayame, helping her up. "You okay, Ayame? You haven't taken an attack like that in years.", "Yes, I am fine. How's Sarya?" Rina shrugs with a dumb look, Ayame stares at Rina dumbfounded.
"Yes! That was strong but I'm done playing with trash!" Rina stares at the elf hunter with disgust and annoyance, "That scar must have made him crazy.." The elf vanishes from his place. "Rina, move!" Rina turns around as the elf hunter's knife reaches her neck. A hand grabs the man's wrist, Sarya's hair glows as her aura surrounds her, and her eyes leak a green liquid. "Sarya..?" Sarya pulls her fist back and punches the hunter with all the force she can, he goes flying back crashing into trees and slamming into a boulder causing an explosion that shakes the ground, Sarya blitzes forward. "(Where did she get all this powerful force from? Luckily my shield protected me... I would've died from that.)" Before the hunter could pull himself out Sarya swung her sword downward, his eyes widened as he quickly dodged to the side, and as she brought her sword down she cut the entire boulder in half. "(Speed too?!)" Sarya appears in front of the hunter with her leg connecting with the side of his head, he goes through the forest bouncing off the ground, Sarya appears from nowhere and steps on his head burying his head in the ground. "(I have to finish this now... my time is running out..)" Sarya coughed, blood in her hand, she raised her leg again to finish off the elf hunter and she threw her leg to the ground. "Not so fast.." A hand caught her foot, the elf hunter had a smirk as grabs onto her leg and threw her back. "I see... you were using Overdrive... I don't know how and when you learned it but it doesn't matter. Your body should be in pain by now, no matter how much mana you have, Overdrive drains you and keeps going until you die... I must say killing you will be more of a huge loss but that doesn't matter to me anymore!" He laughs and his aura does the same as Sarya, his hair glowing and a gray liquid drips down his face from his eyes.
He blitzes Sarya catching her off guard, she jumps back, and he follows her with a sinister grin. "You can't run!" He brings his leg up, and Sarya quickly blocks her side as the attack lands, she goes flying to the ground landing on her feet. She looks up seeing the hunter swing his leg downward, "(Damn it!)" She steps to the side dodging the attack, she quickly swings at him with her fist, fist punches him square in the face so hard you could hear a boom. "(I... got him..!)" Sarya's smile fades as she hears a laugh, "Hahaha! That was good, even for the missing Princess!" He counters by punching Sarya in the gut sending her back and slamming into a tree, her hair loses the brightness and the aura that was around her slowly fades. Sarya lifts her head as blood drips down her forehead, the hunter walks over to her licking his daggers while laughing at her, "You are something, Princess Sarya, I never expected someone like you, the youngest in your family to be able to use Overdrive... It's... It's... beautiful! Maybe with a little bit of time, you would've even been able to kill a dragon by yourself! That's too bad now... you won't even live to see one. HAHAHAHAHA!" The hunter raises his dagger ready to kill Sarya. "(I...can't move...! My body.... I.... haven't... even told him... my wish..... Simon...)" The hunter brings down his dagger, Sarya closes her eyes a few minutes go by and Sarya doesn't feel anything, she opens her eyes as Simon stands in front of her with the hunter's dagger in his hand steaming. Something flashes in the hunter's head causing him to jump back quickly in fear, leaving his dagger in Simon's hand. "You! What's this feeling... why am I... shaking.." The hunter stares at his hands, as he looks back up and sees a hand closing in on his face, his eyes widen as Simon speed blitzes him grabbing him by the face. Simon runs through tree after tree holding the hunter's head in his hand, he releases him as he starts to skip across the ground, Simon sped up so fast he can only see a blur, as the hunter tries to catch himself Simon appears next to with his fist in his face, Simon punches the hunter sending him rolling on the ground and slammed into a tree. "(How is he overpowering me! Even with Overdrive?! No! I refuse! I refuse to lose to a lowly demon!)" The hunter stands up with his eyes now bloodshot and more gray liquid flowing from his eyes as his aura is raised, sending out a shockwave as Simon stands his ground. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU DEMON TRASH!" The hunter pulls out two daggers from his boots, he charges Simon who watches him as he moves, the hunter appears above him and brings down the two daggers. "DIE!" Simon leaps back but his eyes look to the side and the hunter is there, he kicks Simon sending him flying into an open field, as Simon recovers he looks around not seeing the hunter. "TOO SLOW!" Simon raises his arm blocking the slash attack from the hunter but his arm is out of commission now, Simon swings with his other but the hunter blocks it with a grin. "I GOT YOU NOW!" The hunter quickly slashed at Simon's arm, his arms dropped as he kept his emotionless expression. Simon is about to raise his leg, the hunter remembers what he did to the other henchmen with just his legs and mouth, he cuts the heels of Simon making him fall to his knees. "The final touch!" He grabs Simon's head and knees him in the face, the attack had caused a huge gust of wind to blow back from the attack.
Rina and Ayame finally catch up to Sarya who is leaning against a tree. "I can't believe you! You can use Overdrive and you can use it without warning!" Rina yells at Sarya, Ayame watches as Lisa is being dragged across the ground behind her. "Are you crazy?! Sarya that can KILL you! Do you not know what Overdrive does to your body!?", "Rina relax... maybe we just need-!" Ayame tried to place her hand on Rina's shoulder but she slapped it away, "You don't tell me to relax! This is my little sister who went missing for years! And now she shows up with a 'demon mistake' who is unpredictable! You saw what he did to those henchmen! And now my foolish baby sister is using a move that can cripple her! Maybe even take her life! Do you even know how freighting that is?!" Rina gets slapped, shocking her and Ayame, Sarya stands there with disapproval on her face, "Who are you to call him a mistake..? Just who are you to call someone else a mistake or a fool? You know nothing about me... do you even know why I ran away?! I couldn't keep living a life I didn't want to live! I wanted to be my person!", "You were too young to even think like that!", "Just shut up RINA! I did what I had to do, unlike you, I'd never leave my friends behind to become someone I'm not fit to be... I'm not jealous of our older sister! I'm not the fool who turned my back on the family just because Ayla was better at everything, other than you! So you take back what you said about Simon-!" A loud boom can be heard from the side catching all three of their attention, Sarya pushes herself to run towards the loud boom while Rina stands there looking at the ground. "Follow her, Ayame.." She nods and follows behind Sarya. They make it to an open field to see Simon on his knees with his head down while the hunter still in Overdrive grabs him by his hair and places his dagger on his neck. "And here I thought... taking you in and training you to be more of a killer... but it's dogs like you who bite back and that's not what I need... Any last words?" He smiles sinisterly waiting for Simon to answer, "I...get...now..." The hunter leans closer, "What did you say?" A hand quickly grabs the hunter by the neck and lifts it, he goes to slit Simon's neck but his arm can't move, he looks to the side, and his whole arm is twisted. Sweat starts going down the hunter's face as he panics, "(H-how my arm! I didn't ev-even feel it!)" The ground below Simon started to rumble as the moon shined down on the open field, the black electricity around his body started to change, it circled him as a black aura emitted off his body. "I get it... now.." Simon looks into the hunter's eyes as he lifts him, Simon's body heals itself along with his arms and legs, and he stands tall while holding the hunter by the neck. Ayame looks in awe noticing what Simon just did, Sarya looks on in fear.. "Did he just learn..", "Overdrive..?"
Simon releases the hunter, and as he falls Simon grabs him from the top of the head. Simon punches him in the face sending him back, he slams into a rock wall and slides down, sitting on the ground. "(I can't... breathe...)" A knee comes flying towards his head, the elf quickly ducks dodging the knee attack, and the attack cracks the wall. Simon steps back slowly confused by the force of his attack, the hunter rolls away while his whole body is shaking, he uses the tree to help him stand, his right arm twisted and his whole body in a critical state. "I have to say... you're no pushover..." Simon, not paying the hunter any mind, looks at his hands while looking around. "My goal was just to kill Rina, but you... you are one beautiful being... you... I can feel some type of dark energy inside you... It's not mana but... it's something greater... Too bad you won't be able to find out.." The hunter pulls out a bottle with a symbol on the bottle. "Out of everyone here, you are the only match for me, so I'll tell you my name. I am Almer Enmoira, and I won't lose to some lowly demon!" Using his other arm he drinks the bottle, nothing happens for a minute then a huge gust of wind shoots out his body while his whole body starts to glow. His body heals itself and strings or wires are wrapped around his twisted arm and his other arm, as a heavenly aura surrounds his body, his hair changes to a silver color, and his long hair is cut. "Feast your eyes on the one who the elves see as their hero and the one who shook the world! The Hero! Otherwise known as, Stardust Hero!" As the wind stops around Almer, he stands proud as he crushes the glass bottle in his hand while he stares at Simon with a smug grin.
Sarya and Ayame watch in worry but Rina stares at the back of the silver-haired Almer, time itself freezes around her, causing her to start hyperventilating, "(That hair... who...)" Rina sees a quick flash of her memory of a boy with silver hair reaching out their arm towards Rina. "You can't always depend on your noble blood. You have to learn how to defend yourself and protect others, but you have to be happy! Or try, at least." The silver-haired boy smiled as another memory flashed in her head, but this memory was of the same boy who was older now in the elven kingdom fighting off a dragon as trees and houses burning, he stood in front of the dragon with a huge grin on his face as as his odd looking aura covered his body. From Rina's point of view, she's behind the silver-haired boy holding a sword but her hands are shaking. "Hey.." Rina quickly looks at the boy as he turns to face her with a smile while blood falls down his blurred face. "You should go.", "But-" He says, cutting her off, "You shouldn't even be here, Rina. Do you remember what I told you about being happy?", "Y-yes.." He smiles while turning back to look at the huge dragon. "Go be happy, I'll take care of this 'pet', just be happy, even if it's for a little." She sees his smile from the side as he charges at the dragon with something glowing in his fist. "RINA!" Rina snaps back to reality as Ayame shakes her. "What's going on with you?!" Rina stares at Ayame for a few seconds without saying anything before opening her mouth to speak, "I.. was lost in thought. What's the matter?" Ayame points towards Simon and Almer trading punches with each other as sparks fly out as they speed up faster with each punch.
Almer with a grin punches Simon in the face causing him to stumble backward. "Your lowly demon parents should've taught their mistake, of a son not to fight people stronger than him!" Simon slowly turns to look at Almer, his eyes burning into Almer's as the black aura around his body takes the shape of a beast with many red eyes. "Did I strike a nerve-!" Almer's face goes pale as heavy pressure is pressed down around them. At the Kingdom Of Hope, the King is sweating as he kneels with everyone in the throne room. "Protect... the...King..!" A knight shouted while trying to walk over but fell over passing out as foam came out his mouth. Outside the knights who were at the front gate are either on a knee or passed out. "Shouldn't... something... like this being killed..? Is it the Dragon Lord..?" Shiraki looks around as everyone is either passed out or trying not to. The clouds in the sky have started to swirl on top of the forest.
"No matter how strong you get! I'll get stronger!" A silver aura wraps around Almer protecting him from Simon's pressure, he dashes at him at quick speeds, He swings his fist at Simon but only hits the air, as he stumbles forward from missing the punch he quickly looks around before looking up at Simon came down with a downward axe-kick. Almer barely dodges it, as Simon's foot slams into the ground the ground from under both of them starts to crumble in, and Almer leaps to the side as trees, rocks, and dirt collapse in on itself. "(I can do this! Just don't-)", "Drop your guard.." Simon flies in finishing what Almer is going to say, Simon lands a flying kick into his stomach as black electricity emits off his foot, and with the force he had, Simon sends Almer flying. Almer flies back slamming into a random mountain causing a huge boom that shakes the ground, something spikes down Simon's spine causing him to fall on his knee and he coughs up blood, the black aura around his body slowly fades away.
Meanwhile, Almer, buried in the mountain wall, had a string-like shield that was destroyed over his stomach. "He still managed to break through my defense...? No way he's stronger than the Stardust Hero! No, no, no, no! I refuse to believe it!" He pulls himself out and he gets into a jumping position on the wall with rage in his eyes, his silver hair glows and his aura surrounds the whole mountaintop, with great force he pushes himself off shooting towards the forest. Simon stumbles to his feet as his eyes slowly return to blue, Simon shakes his eyes while holding it, "Why does my whole body feel like it wants to tap out..? !!!" Simon quickly rolls back dodging a slam, just from the impact from the attack that sends him back anyway, he crashes into a log while still rubbing his head. "Ow... what in the world is going on...?" Simon tries to stand but his body recoils from it causing him to drop back on the ground, he looks forward to seeing Almer who has silver hair and bloodshot eyes beam into his own, Simon could feel the killing intent coming off him. "Who is that guy?! And why is he looking at me like that?!" Almer charges Simon with his fist, and he quickly rolls out of the way, as Almer's attack hits the log and blows it away completely erasing it along with everything behind it. Simon watches in silence with a deadpan expression, he looks at Almer who pulls his arm back from punching the log and looks at Simon again. He attacks Simon again but he manages to flip off the ground and stand up but he wobbles. "Damn it!" Almer swings at Simon multiple times, he barely dodges it while stumbling to the side, leaning on a tree, Almer swings again as Simon ducks, the attack blows off the top part of the tree. "(I can't keep this up forever! Think! Think! Aha!)" It was like time slowed down around Simon causing him to see an opening, Simon made a fist and punched Almer in the side catching him off guard, he swung at Simon again but he side steps and punched Almer on the chin, with more anger on his face he throws multiple punches towards Simon. A memory flashes in Simon's head, "Always remember this and if you forget I'll double your training for the week! Now, you can tell if your opponent isn't skilled at hand-to-hand combat. They'll throw punches that they don't even know they're throwing, why? Because you either caused them to get so mad about the point they're sloppy with their movements or you're just being you... living in their head. They will have a bunch of openings and you'll see that, it doesn't have to just be hand-to-hand combat, it can be anything. Once you see that opening, punish quickly and hard!"
The memory ends as Simon dashes under the punches and uppercuts him causing Almer's eyes to fade, a leg comes up towards Simon's face as he blocks it. "Agh!" The force from the attack caused Simon to let out a noise in pain. Almer swings at Simon again, Simon dodges the attack grabs his fist counters with a swift punch to the nose, and uses the momentum to throw him back. Simon stumbles back and falls on his butt, he sweats while breathing heavily, "Whew... that took too much energy..." Simon quickly blocks his head as a knee flies towards his face, the attack lands throwing him back, Almer swings his leg kicking Simon in the side so hard you can hear his ribs crack. He rolls on the ground and slams into a tree, Almer stands above Simon with anger in his eyes blood dripping down his nose and mouth, and has bruises on his face.
"I'll kill you..!" Simon held his side while Almer shouted and swung at him with all his might, a shadow quickly moving by. A slash and an arm fly through the sky, Simon takes a deep breath and wipes the sweat off his head, he crosses his legs and looks up at a lady with long blonde hair blowing in the wind, as blood covers her sword. "You aren't hurt, are you?" Simon uses the tree to stand up, he smiles while waving his hand from side to side. "Nothing I can't deal with, a few broken ribs and that's all... okay maybe a sore body as well." The lady turns to face Simon as her orange eyes and beautiful face smile at Simon, "It's just like you, to ignore pain." Almer, who is behind the lady, swings at her as the silver hair slowly fades his hair is now half blonde half silver. "You shouldn't have done that~" Simon with a smug grin caught Almer's attention, he swung with rage as his other arm went flying and landed behind him. Almer's eyes followed his arm flying behind him, the lady with her weapon that was slightly curved, single-edged otherwise known as a katana. "(How did she?! No... I refuse... I WON'T DIE HERE!!)" Almer yells while his eyes start to burn in rage as the white side of Almer's hair glows bright, he swings his nub at the lady, his missing arm appears but it's like his aura replacing his arms. "DIE!" Almer's fist sparked on his aura arm, his arm overflows and he punches the lady causing a huge explosion. As the dust clears from the attack, the lady huffs an icy breath as Almer is frozen in ice. "You're something..." The lady's eyes glow orange, she leans closer to the frozen body of Almer who is sweating in fear. "Just how can you use that 'fool's' abilities? Well, only the physical type but it's 'his' nonetheless. Now if you answer me I might let you live. How. Did. You. Get. His. Abilities." Simon, who is sitting in the back watched with his clueless look but kept quiet anyway. "Like hell, I'd tell you!" Almer had a grin before seeing his new arm off his body again, the lady glares at Almer. "You think you're tough, huh? Let's see how strong-willed you are."
Rina sits on a rock drawing something on the ground with a stick, "Ugh! Dumb and stupid! I hate it!" RIna throws the stick to the side, she leans back looking up in the sky where the clouds disperse. "I guess they stopped him... Sigh, I better catch up." Rina stood up while Kane, who was kneeling in front of her and his face bruised, as she was walking away Kane spoke, "You and I know... that kid.. there's no way he's just a Demon... he's a monster... you saw what he did to my people! I might not have mana like many people but that boy... I felt something, it was like pure rage... but stronger, I can't unsee that... thing." Rina stops before turning to face him, she looks to the side seeing the multiple bodies of the henchmen littered all on the ground. "I know. I've known for a while now. I fought him, and I could tell he was holding back. But this... is something else.", "You don't stand a chance if he loses himself... when that day comes will you be able to win..?" Rina turns away from Kane, "And why do you think he'll lose control? That kid might be hiding a bunch of things but the most important thing to me is to see him become what he wants to be. An Adventurer, a Hero." Sarya and Ayame, (While dragging Lisa behind her) sprints/floats through the forest, following where Simon punched Almer. "Why are you still chasing this kid?! He's unhinged!" Her head bumps a rock making her dizzy, Ayame scoffs while following behind Sarya. Sarya is the first to make it out as Almer is frozen in a block of ice with all of his limbs cut off, the lady huffs in annoyance while Simon wobbles to his feet, dusting himself off. "I hate it when they don't talk.", "Thanks for the save La-" The lady slaps him on the back of the head, "Are you out of your mind? Didn't we talk about this Simon?" Simon rubs the back of his head and sits back on the ground. "Sorry, sorry... it won't happen again." Simon quickly turns his head to the side seeing Sarya kicking him away. "You idiot!" The lady huffs, patting Sarya's head. "Sorry... it's just he changed like something was different about him. His hair was dark red! Wait... why are you here?" The lady shrugs while staring at Simon who clumsily stands up shaking his head, that had leaves all in his hair. "I uhh... I was wandering around and just happened to see Simon... anyway! Did you guys find the adventurers Guild yet?" The lady looks away from Sarya sweating, she quickly changes the subject. Ayame runs out of the forest catching up to Sarya who points her sword at the lady while Simon pretends to be knocked out. "Who are you... crazy sword lady!" Sarya shouted at the lady, the lady kept her hand on her side changing her tone, "I should be asking you that, kid." Lisa sits up and sees the lady her eyes start to sparkle in awe, she struggles to get out but she rolls around on the ground. "OH MY GODDESS! IS THAT LAYLA ISHIGURO! NO WAAAYYYY!!" Ayame covers Lisa's mouth from fangirling, Ayame looks at Layla before walking over and tapping Sarya on the shoulder. "It's okay Sarya, this is a friend. And she'll be here soon after feeling that mana.." Lightning strikes above the clouds as a large blot of lightning strikes a tree, as the tree burns Rina sits on the branch of the tree that is burning, her glowing eyes staring right at Layla, the air becomes heavier as Ayame holds onto the collar of Sarya who was about to fall to her knees from the pressure. "(Is that the same Rina..?! It's not like Simon's pressure it's more focused...)" Ayame with her eyes closed cuts off Sarya's thoughts, "I know what you're thinking, You're confused about why Rina- I meant, The Guild Master usually holds back but when it comes to our old party member. Rina hates her and she shows it." Layla cracks her neck and places her hand on the hilt of her sword, Rina's lightning strikes around her as she stands up looking down at her.
"I don't know why you're here but the last time we met I remember saying I never want to see your ugly face again." A lightning bolt strikes in front of her, she grabs the bolt and it takes the shape of a sword. "By how much you hate, you would think an elf like you would get face wrinkles." replied with a blink expression, she huffed and she got into a battle stance. "Let's test that. You deadbeat teammate!" A flash of lightning shoots towards Layla. "Don't bother, you might hurt yourself again.." Layla draws her sword as an ice dragon roars and charges at Rina. Simon opened one of his eyes to see if they brought his act, and his eyes widened as Rina and Layla's attacks got closer to clashing. Without thinking Simon's body reacts on its own, and he appears above Rina, she looks up noticing him, and he grabs her arm and spins around throwing her away. He whips around to look at the ice dragon, he pulls his fist back as black electricity emits from it, and he swings at the ice dragon. His attack connected destroying his arm but the dragon shatters, as Simon lands on the ground he looks at his arm snapping back to his senses. "....AAAAAAHHHHHHHH MY ARMMMMMM!!!" Simon fell to the ground and rolled back and forth in pain, Sarya stood above him looking down at him in embarrassment, she poked him with a stick as he passed out in pain and foaming from the mouth. "Sigh, stop crying... oh you passed out." Sarya places her hand over Simon's arm, a green hue covers her hand and his arm.
Rina jumped out of the bush and shook the sticks and leaves from her hair and she's annoyed. "DAMN IT KID! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS BUTTING IN!" Rina stomps her feet in anger while shouting, Ayame now back to normal speaks up, "Uh, Guild Master, can you please relax?" Rina sighs in annoyance and kicks a rock, she sits on Lisa who is unconscious. "I see you still have no respect for others, Princess," Layla commented leaning against the tree and looking at Sarya and Simon. "PFF, as if you would know anything about respect! And I told you once before I'm not a Princess anymore!" Rina scoffs at Layla, Ayame listens to the two, and she turns to Layla who isn't saying anything. "How's things? It's been a while, Miss Layla.", "Don't be so formal, I told you, you can just call me by my name. But I've been well, Ayame. I see you decided to stay with that hag over there." A vein appears on Rina's forehead as you see steam coming out of her ears, "Who are you calling HAG?! You must wanna die!", "Well, it's not that bad. I mean working with Guild Master can be troubling but it's nice either way. I mean her younger sister is amazing, she was able to use Overdrive, and her skills in swordsmanship are also amazing." Rina jumps up yelling at the two, "Are you two ignoring me!? AUGHHHH!", "Were you able to find what you were looking for?" Ayame shakes her head, she looks at the ground unease then she stares at Simon who is unconscious from pain in his arm. "You're wondering about him too, eh? He just reflected my ice dragon and threw Rina into her unstable state. He's a powerhouse.", "You should've seen what he did earlier. I think that kid isn't a normal person." Rina says, "He killed just about thirty men with broken arms, he just used his legs and a dull sword that was in his mouth. Now he fought Almer in that whatever state and he was keeping up, I would even say he won but judging from the body that is on the ground covered in ice means you killed Almer..", "If you have something to say, say it." Layla told Rina who stared at Simon in worry. "He was able to use Overdrive, despite not having a drop of mana or even demonic energy inside of him and now that I look at him he looks as if he was learning or improving from the whole fight.", "It's his business, we shouldn't go poking around in things where we don't belong." Rina was drawing something in the dirt with a stick, and Ayame stood behind her. "That's very unlike you to say, Icy Heart." Layla ignores the nickname, "People change, even me."
Rina stood up exhausted, she dusted herself with a sigh. "Like hell, you'll change. Come on Ayame, bring this girl back with us, we'll question her more." Ayame nods and the unconscious Lisa is lifted into the air by one of Ayame's clones that look normal again. "Sarya, can you wake that brat up?", "Why can't you, hag?" A vein appears on Rina's head, she breathes in and then out. "Drag him if all I care. JUST COME ON! Oh, and you two can come out now." Rina turns her head to the side as Zuzu and Amy walk out from behind the trees dragging an unconscious Kane. "Good job you two. Do you have somewhere to go?" Zuzu was about to speak but Amy covered his mouth. "No, we don't." Rina turns to Ayame, "When we get back get these two a room. Put the boy with Simon and the bunny with Sarya." Rina waves her hand nonchalantly while walking away, she quickly whips around as Layla follows behind them, Rina points at her annoyingly. "Why are you following us, and why are you carrying him..?", "I can't follow an old friend? Who happens to be a hundred or something like that in human years.." She mumbles under her breath. "What was that!? You wanna say that to my face! You may be the Hero of Hope but that doesn't change anything you little-!" Ayame held Rina back while Layla just stared at her with an emotionless expression.
In the Hope Kingdom, while everyone is still recovering from the pressure, that disappeared, a few men stood on the rooftops with bags over their shoulders. "I don't know where that random pressure came from but it made our job easier.", "We barely got out, that pressure was too strong." As they chat something flies by them, they turn around to see no one, as they look back a shadow comes out of nowhere punching one of them into the roof. "Scum.. Taking from the weak makes you worst than scum!" A boy with white hair and a mask on his face spoke with a determined look, holding a dagger made out of a shadow.