In the cradle, it's not uncommon for those who fall behind— the stragglers, to be shunned by their peers and people who they once considered friends, likewise, it's not uncommon to discard people who are no longer useful to you and your growth just like Ash did to his twin brother, Arc.
However, this didn't happen in a certain anomaly of a class— Craig Ryder's class.
Despite falling behind his comrades, they never gave up on him. They always carried him along, no matter how wide the gap between them grew, they were a true team, an anomaly in the cradle.
They all shared a dream with the lazy Craig Ryder— To become the best, to become paladins and change the world for the better.
Times were bright and good for a while....until the event that tore them apart
It was a day not unlike today, during an expedition in a gate world where they came across a girl— a demihuman girl, injured.
After some deliberation, they took her in and nursed her back to health. Eventually, every member of Craig's team became fond of the demihuman girl, especially Craig himself— They'd eat together, play around together and a bunch of other stuff, it wasn't long till she was like family to them...
At that moment, they had already fallen under her spell, into her trap
She was a member of the Succubus race, who could control the minds of men she'd gotten close to. At her clan's request, she took advantage of their sympathetic nature to worm her way into their fold, then...
She took control of their minds and made them kill themselves.
"I was supposed to die that day, but Claire...She was the only female in our class so she wasn't affected by the succubus. But instead of saving herself, she gave her life to free me from that demon's grasp. She gave up her hopes and dreams, for a worthless trash like me, a failed genius who disappointed everyone..... I still remember her soft smile as my sword drove through her heart, and her final words...."
I'm glad you're okay, I....love you, Craig.
As his life was flashing before his eyes, he couldn't help think of them
"... I was a mess after that, and had given up on everything, searching for an excuse to die, an excuse to join my friends. But then, thanks to the people I met—Mika, Dave, and yes, even you, Ash.... I found a new purpose, to fulfill the dream of my friends to aim for the top, no matter what"
For a man without talent whose hardwork alone wasn't enough to merit ascending the ranks, he took on any kind of job, pushing the absolute limits of his abilities to break down that wall
If he didn't have the talent to surmount that wall, he'll just break it down with sheer grit. He'll never give up, never back down....
".....I CAN'T LOSE, I CAN'T DIE, UNTIL I BECOME PALADIN!!!!"
"Talk is cheap"
Retorting, he ordered Alberto to land the final blow, but.... Craig dodged it?
"This feeling...."
It was a rare phenomenon, no doubt. But Arc Stollen had the fortune of witnessing it twice before in his life— when Ash bloomed, and Amy later, so he knew the feeling well
Craig Ryder had just bloomed
[Beasts, don't hesit—]
"DON'T HESITATE! KILL HIM BEFORE HE GETS A CHANCE TO ADJUST!"
Responding to Arc's command, the two beasts locked in, hunting the hunter with immense ferocity, but the bloomed hunter dodged each and every attack narrowly, and with each evasion, his moves got sharper
"Yami, shadowflare drive!"
Enveloping itself in a mix and shadow and flame, Yami pounced on Craig with immense speed, but the hunter leaped out of the way
"Huh?"
Craig noticed the beast was still on his tail. He prioritized evasion, but Yami stuck to him like glue, tailing him like a heat seeking missile clocking superluminal speeds
Left, left, right, up, right, right, left, left, down, left.....
No matter how fast he moved or how he turned, the Shadowwolf was there to greet him, the distance so close he couldn't risk charging an attack.
With a huge burst of power, he desperately widened the distance between himself and the Shadowwolf for a moment, all the time he needed to counterattack.
However, he unwittingly zoomed right into Alberto's killzone— the serpent before him, there was no time to react, to counterattack, to breathe
He could only watch as he gets killed, right?
Wrong.
There are no limits to a bloomed hunter's potential, and that was goodnews for a man who constantly pushed past his limits to ascend.
Moving faster than he'd ever before, reducing the time lag of his attack to zero, pushing past his limits....
"Holy Style..... Infinite Slash"
*ZIINGGG
Flying past Craig were thousands of small cubes, and blood— so fast, not a single drop touched him
[Alberto is dead. Removed from Stables]
[ALBERTO ADDED TO DEADMAN'S FORGE]
"W-What?!"
The sight before them was unreal, and no one was more shocked than Arc himself— watching a tier 9 disaster class get sliced like sashimi was nothing to scoff at....
And those cold, dazed eyes gazing at him as though in a trance... This man has gotten infinitely more dangerous
Instantly reacting to Craig's movement for another slash, Arc pulled out all the stops
"Boost Yami again, X100, Ultimate Skill, Shadowflare aura: CONVERGENCE!"
Concentrating his shadowflare aura into a single point, he fired the condensed mass of energy at Craig, who instantly surpassed the man he was a second ago, again.
This time refining his ultimate attack, and ascending to a plane, a slash even greater
"Infinte slash...ULTRA!!!"
*ZIINGGG
His new technique cleaved Yami's convergence in half and continued approaching Arc.
"Yami, Shadow warp"
In response, Arc adopted the strategy he used against Rei to take Craig out with his own attack, but....
The slash sliced the portal as well and dealt severe damage to Yami, rendering him unable to continue fighting
But, it didn't stop there....the slash was still going, at high speeds, approaching Arc
No heavy hitters left, and shadow warp is useless here
"Crap, I'm dea—"
"White Lightning: LIGHTNING ARROW!"
"ROYAL SUN ULTIMATE!!!!"
*BOOOMMMMMMM
Coming in from both directions at the same time, the two high level attacks managed to barely counter the slash that had already been weakened from convergence and shadow warp.
Stepping in front of him was Tetsuro Amami, and swooping to pull him out of the way of the resulting shockwave was Rei Izanagi.
"Looks like you got stuck with a rather troublesome opponent, kid...."
"Mr Tetsuro?!"