Part 1.

With death staring at them from across the room, no one dared to make a sound. The only noises that could be heard were the sounds of their breathing, which was heavy as if they were trying to cover the sounds of their beating hearts, or the sound of sediment being ground underfoot when someone slightly shifted their positioning.

No one wanted to be the first one to initiate combat, they were too afraid that if things went south, it would be their fault because the others weren’t ready. Meaning that they all just stood there, waiting and watching as from the other side of the room the creature, this embodiment of dread, stood there smiling and watching them, reveling in their fear and indecision.

The creature shifted its head like a dog does when they are trying to understand its master’s command, a twist of ninety degrees to the side. It was still looking directly at them, and this change caused their stomachs to drop. They took it as the creature’s attempt to understand what was happening before them, or more dangerously, what was not happening. To the dismay of the three heroes, it seemed the latter proved to be the correct thought, as when the creature snapped its head back upright, it balled its tendril-like fingers and gave a haunting roar that was like a gargled scream.

Even before it took its first step forward, the teens knew what it meant. They had failed to initiate the fight on their terms, and now it was beginning on the creatures. They had lost the first engagement of this battle, and the creature had the upper hand. All they could do at this point was to try to mitigate any more loss as they looked for some kind of advantage they could gain. What that really meant was that the boys would do their best to fight the creature, while Hina figured out a way to beat it.

At first, its movements were slow, like a plane taking off it began to move into a sprint, however, before it could reach its full stride a bright light blanketed it, causing it to stop in its tracks. The light at the tip of Hina’s staff had just been extinguished, and a new one was building when the boys rushed forward. Tachibana’s shield was raised high and Furuya’s daggers hung at his sides as they moved to intercept the monster when a light surrounded them, blanketing them with a warm exhilarating feeling. They could feel their muscles flex and noticed their speed double, Hina’s magic had bolstered their bodies for the melee they were rushing into.

Their confidence in the fight was struck when their target shook his body and with the motion, the bright light, the symbol of hope, molted off it. With that gone, it focused its gaze on the boys running headlong in its direction. A new sadistic smile crept across its face before it charged, there was no build-up this time, going from 0 to 60 in half a second, then slamming into Maru’s shield, meeting the boy’s bash pound for pound before eventually overpowering him and sending hurtling back almost to where Hina was still standing.

With the initial threat out of the way, the creature turned its attention to the boy rushing up from behind him. Toshiyuki no longer had any uses of the ring’s effect left today and couldn’t predict any surprise attacks before they happened. When the boy jumped into the air, his target was the back of the neck of the creature, he had no way of knowing that the counterattack would come from below. The creature had not lost track of him, and when Furuya had gotten close enough, the creature lowered his body, as it swung its leg behind itself, kicking up. It was timed perfectly, catching a vulnerable airborne Furuya in the gut, sending him flying an extra two meters into the air, before coming back down hard onto the stone floor.

The worst part came when he was on the ground, attempting to understand what had just happened and regain his orientation with the world. The creature had turned its back to the other two fighters, its target now the helpless boy on the floor. It lifted its foot, the sadistic smile painted on its face, and just before it could drop it on the boy’s head, a violent blast of energy crashed into its back.

When Tachibana had seen Furuya sent skyward from the kick, he collected mana into his weapon, the charging had occurred just quickly enough, that he could send the arc-shaped beam of energy flying into the back of the creature, saving his ally’s life in the process. Now, though, he had attracted the attention of the creature, and it stared at him menacingly, before attempting to finish its original task. Thanks to the distraction though, Furuya had managed to roll away, avoiding a close encounter with the creature’s heel, which based on the destruction of the stone floor below it, would have been more than enough to crush his body.

If it had been annoyed by failing to kill its prey, it showed no sign of it. Instead, it turned on the downed heel, and shot off from its current position, racing for the bug that had stung its back. Tachibana had almost no time to react, it was moving faster now than it had been earlier. When it reached him, Tachibana felt a massive pressure on the other side of his shield, one that he couldn’t fight back against. The creature sprinted to him and used its momentum to kick the raised shield like a football, causing Tachibana, in his heavy armor, to gain airtime as he was sent back again.

With his attention drawn to the tank, Hina had channeled mana into her staff, and light once again engulfed Furuya, who could instantly feel the effects. His body grew lighter, the pain was receding and he was feeling more energized. He gave a nod of his head, the only kind of thanks that he could offer in the situation, as he charged forward toward their opponent. Last time his attack had failed, and he was left helpless after he launched himself into the air, this time he would stay low and go after the creature’s primary method of attacking, its legs.

Furuya got in close, and when he was close enough behind the target a new sensation came upon him, one that screamed in his head to slice his opponent. When he thought about it, the blades in his hands began to dull, as if trying to disappear. He locked onto the back of his opponent’s heel, the same heel that had nearly ended his life, and moved to strike it.

In a way that said, “I can feel your bloodlust”, the heel moved back toward Furuya, nearly slamming into him in the process. Furuya, however, had anticipated a reaction, and using his superior dexterity mixed with the blessing from Hina, he repositioned his body, evading the reactionary strike and launching himself slightly into the air while spinning. Using the twisting momentum, he forced his arms out, the blades out to his sides, like the blades of a blender, they chopped into the back of the creature’s heel, slicing it over and over until the momentum gave out, and Furuya landed on his feet to the creature’s right side.

The look the creature gave him caused ice to build in his veins. He was sure that with the color change in his blades, some kind of skill had activated, mixed with the buff from the party’s mage, the damage that was done should have been significant. Yet the question in Furuya’s mind was, “Why is it smiling?”. It was a cry from Hina to move that snapped him back into action, and he barely dodge the retaliation, a quick leg swipe from the damaged leg, or the leg that should have been damaged, but looked like nothing had happened to it.

“I don’t like this, Satō!”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“My attack did nothing to it.”

“It did, but its flesh repair itself.”

“It did?”

“Frighteningly fast.”

“Any ideas?”

“Nope. Keep doing what we are doing, just more.”

“Insane.”

“Pretty much. Oh, Tachibana’s up!”

As if he was a glutton for punishment, Tachibana had gotten back up from being sent flying like a bad punt and slammed his shield into the left shin, the one supporting the creature’s weight while it was swinging its leg, causing it to topple on to it back. Not to waste the moment, he then jumped onto the chest of the creature and stabbed his blade into the creature’s body, and began pouring mana into it, attempting to destroy the creature from the inside.

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Part 2

The creature stopped moving after that, but no one moved, waiting for the creature to retaliate. After a solid minute of no response, Tachibana finally removed his sword from the creature’s chest, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It had been the worst fight yet, and no matter what anyone did, it seemed pointless, the creature was faster and stronger than them and moved like it had a sixth sense for battle. Though, in the end, they had triumphed.

Tachibana stepped down from the creature’s chest and began walking toward the group. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he felt like his head was on the verge of splitting open, and there was a ringing in his ears. He was questioning if this hero thing was really worth all the trouble, but he looked on to the other two. They were waving and cheering for him for his effort. He waved back at them enthusiastically, thinking to himself, “Yeah, I know. I am the hero. I am the badass!”

However, something struck him as odd, while they were waving their hands, and definitely screaming something, it looked more frantic than cheerful. He scrunched his face, questioning their behavior, and then something in his stomach dropped. He felt a cold, sinister feeling creeping up behind him. He had just assumed that the internal explosion of mana through the body had taken care of the job, and the lack of movement had confirmed it to him, but every creature before, when their core was destroyed, had vanished and filled the three of them with strength. This time, that had not happened, the creature had stayed there, “This creature is too smart, or I am just too dumb.”

He quickly turned on his heel and raised his shield up. *CRASH* The smack this time had been much heavier this time around, he felt his body lift off the ground, but unlike last time where he just sailed in the air for a bit before coming to a hard landing, this time there came a second strike. This time there was no shield to mitigate the damage, he took the full weight of a hammer fist to his unguarded side. He could feel his right arm and his ribs breaking under the force. His sword fell to the ground, with him chasing after it, but before he could feel the cool stone, he met a hefty foot. A straight kick that sent his body rag-dolling back toward his companions. He didn’t even feel the crash landing, his world had already gone dark.

After watching the thorough assault by the creature on their front liner, the other two felt dread and indecision take hold of them. Tachibana’s body was lying less than a meter in front of them, he wasn’t dead, there was very shallow breathing, and his chest was moving up and down, but he was out, and unlikely to come back into the fight. He had been the only one so far to be able to pull off any kind of significant attack against the creature, and now, he was out.

“He was a scummy asshole, but he didn’t deserve that. What do I do?”

“What do I do? What do I do? I don’t want to fail! What is Hina’s plan?”

Were the thoughts that were running through their heads. Neither of them had a plan, and neither of them felt that they could come up with one in time. They were paralyzed with fear, and the creature knew it. To show his enjoyment in their fright, it gave the biggest most obvious, most sadistic smile that would hunt them for the rest of their lives. While doing so, the creature showed its hands, spreading its tendril-like fingers wide apart, which hung limply. With a shake, they stiffened into half-a-meter-long claws at the end of his fingers. It relaxed its body and vanished.

“New attack pattern?” Thought Hina.

“Furuya, move!” she screamed, as a large black shadow appeared around Furuya’s spot. He had managed to dodge the strike in time, thanks to her warning, but it had happened so quickly that they couldn’t tell if it had come from above or below, even now it was nowhere to be seen. When Furuya landed in his new spot, another shout came from Hina, and again he managed to dodge just in time. While Furuya couldn’t tell when the next strike would happen, Hina’s intuition was proving to be more than a match for its attempts.

Or at least that is how they intended for it to go, in the middle of all the action they had forgotten how intelligent their opponent really was. When Furuya landed for the second time, they waited just long enough to realize that there wasn’t going to be another attack on him. That is when Hina focused on herself, and again nothing. Her neurons were firing on all cylinders as she put the pieces together, and that is when she realized where their opponent’s next attack was going to be. She turned in place while doing her best to channel as much mana as she could into her staff while picturing an image of a doctor, or some kind of holy spring, the fountain of youth her dad used to talk about.

She made it just in time, a light began shining around Tachibana’s body a second before the attack came. His shining figure was sent flying into the air before being sent hurtling to the floor at what might as well have been terminal velocity. The heavy thud of his body, equipped with his heavy armor and the large kite shield that was still strapped to his arm, echoed throughout the room. With their focus on the sight of their ally’s body being handled in such a way, they had completely forgotten to watch for their enemy.

As if it had been with practiced precision, the moment the thud came down, a dark shadow appeared around Furuya. Even if Hina had noticed it, there was no way for Furuya to dodge this time, all they could do was watch. Furuya had managed to notice just in time to see the attack coming but was helpless as his body was lifted into the air. He could feel long hard rods piercing into his body, eight of them in his chest, and two into his thighs, one in each. Whether it was because of the adrenaline or some kind of divine intervention, the pain was mostly numbed, each rod itself felt more of an annoyance than actual pain. There was a warm wet sensation building up under his gear that made him think, “Slimy water?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Hina could only watch as Toshiyuki was impaled by the creature and hoisted into the air like a girl playing with her doll. She gritted her teeth in order to hold back her tears, the frustration of being powerless in this situation would be enough to make anyone cry. Her instincts kicked in before her brain could, and she began channeling mana into her staff again, her target this time was Furuya, her goal was to try and save his life. The images of healing came to her mind before the light at the tip extinguished, and the bright protective light blanketed her ally.

Furuya could feel the warm tingling sensation cover him with the light, he knew that Hina was working her magic in an effort to protect him. He felt stronger and other than the sensation of a foreign object inside of him, he felt absolutely no pain anymore. He placed his hands on the rods closest to his shoulders and tried to lift himself. Once he had extended his arm as far as it could go, he regripped with his right hand. It was only then he realized that there was a problem. There was a low growling sound that caused him to look down toward the monster, its wicked smile smeared across its corpse-colored face. Furuya could feel a pulling, spreading sensation in his chest, his eyes widened, and then there was a ripping sound, and his world went black.

She dropped to her knees as she was helpless to aid him. All she could do was watch as the young man that had come to this world alongside her was ripped apart, almost perfectly down the center. Tears welled in her eyes and her mind raced with thoughts of what to do next, the thought of revival flashed into her mind but was quickly extinguished by all the knowledge of her father’s books, there was no way someone who was so newly summoned could use that kind of magic. Then there was the thought of, “how can I beat this creature?”, nothing seemed possible. Not her magic, not her martial arts that she was so proud of. He could shake off her light magic like it was nothing, and her magic didn’t provide enough of a buff to turn the tables.

“We are dead. We were expendable. Nothing more than an experiment. This was supposed to be a training ground for new priests? How is that even possible?”

She could only stare as the creature slowly moved toward her, menacingly. Its face was dripping with the wet remnants of her ally, as it gave an evil smile. It had relaxed its fingertips, returning them into their long tendril-like form before it reached out to grab hold of her. She didn’t move, she couldn’t. Fear had built up in her, paralyzing her. She could feel a warm wet sensation puddling up below her, but she didn’t even care, what did it matter to someone who was already dead?

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!” a voice roared, as a beam of light smashed into the back of the creature.

Both Hina and the creature looked in the direction it had originated from. It was Tachibana, on his left arm was a half-broken shield, his armor was in pieces, and in his right hand, he held a sword made entirely of light. He lifted his arm, which should have been broken and useless, as he tightened his grip on the blade.

“Should have killed me, dickwad!” he said as he stepped forward back into the fray.

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Part 3.

After Maru had been smacked around and knocked out by the creature, his consciousness drifted into a faraway place. It wasn’t some magical realm full of light and beauty, where he would be surrounded by beautiful women and given access to all his worldly pleasures. No, this realm was dark and cold, it was devoid of any happiness or beauty. For a second, he thought that he had died and gone to hell, to Yomi, and he would instead be met by a vengeful beauty. But there was nothing, no sound, no movement, only the deafening silence. Then, like the sun through clouds, a voice broke the silence.

“You made it here too soon.”

The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. It was a simple, but dignified voice that comforted Tachibana, as a father would to his son.

“It wasn’t my choice.” He responded into the void.

“I know. I have been watching you. You are facing an enemy beyond any of you.”

“We didn’t have a choice!”

“I know. I was watching that too. What will you do now?”

“What do you mean? I am dead.”

“No, you are not dead. Not yet.”

“But isn’t this hell?”

“For some, yes. But in this, you do have a choice.”

When the voice spoke, Tachibana felt like there was a sarcastic smile that had accompanied that last word, choice.

“Can we win?”

“You have to.”

“But that…”

“In life, you aren’t always given… the choice. There are times when you simply must. This is one of those times. If I must tell you the truth, you don’t stand a chance. But that doesn’t change the fact that you must win this fight. Otherwise, it is all over for you.”

“How do we…”

“You are a hero, right? What do heroes do? They make the impossible possible. They find that last hidden ounce of power, tap into, and win the day.”

“But we were never taught…”

“And you were never taught to walk or run. You simply figure it out naturally. The same rules apply here. The three of you are no longer regular people, you are heroes. That means that you are able to do the things that only heroes can do. In your case, you have to learn it now. A trial by fire is what I think it is called. Yes, so work hard and prove to yourself what you really are.”

Just then after his words, there was a warm glow that surrounded Tachibana. He could feel a pulling sensation dragging him back. But he tried to fight back against it.

“You said that I got here too soon. Does that mean I’ll die anyway?”

“All things die… well most things die… well all things can die. But that isn’t your question. You will not come here because you die, but this is where your journey will end up taking you. So become a hero that can challenge the evils in this world. I’ll see you later.”

Before Tachibana could respond, he felt his consciousness being pulled back into the light, back into his body. When he opened his eyes the first thing, he noticed was the pain coursing through his body, but like when ripping off a band-aid, it subsided, he could even feel his right arm, which should have been a mangled mess.

After doing an internal check that all the parts of his body were still attached and could function, he made a move to get up but found it impossible to do so. It was as if there was a giant weight resting on top of his body. The best he could do was to shift his head from one side to the other. He had barely managed to do so when out from his left eye because the right side of his face was against the floor, he watched as his companion got impaled by ten large spikes. There was a flash of light that lived just long enough to provide hope until it was split apart.

While Tachibana may not have been the biggest fan of Furuya due to their differences in how life should be lived, no surprise considering their upbringings. But he was still a fellow human, a countryman, a peer, and no one deserved to go out like that, especially someone as innocent as him. Especially not when Tachibana was there, “It should have been me!” The guilt of all his past wrongdoings were rushing through his head, he was the scum, he was the liar, the drinker, the abuser, the rapist. He had blackmailed, he had cheated, he had robbed, he had assaulted; not a good little boy like Furuya didn’t deserve anything like this, he never should have been summoned at all, he should have been left to stay in bed, and go on to do things with his life.

Maru didn’t have the luxury of time to feel bad for himself though. After it had finished with Toshiyuki, it started to move toward Hina. She may have been the strongest woman he had ever seen, both physically and mentally, but the list of people that could watch a scene like that and be okay was infinitesimally small. So, he couldn’t fault her for dropping to the floor and accepting her fate.

But that made him angrier than he had any right to be. No, she was supposed to be the strong one in the group, she had done a fantastic job leading them up until this point. She had a gift, a knack for this kind of stuff. She was a hard-hitting, magic-blasting wonder woman. Her grit and fortitude in these situations had drawn him even more to her, and while that attraction may not have always been the purest, he still had feelings for her. The thought of someone coming in and hurting her enraged him deeply. He could feel the anger, the hate for this enemy that had already stolen one person from him building up in him, he was damned if it was going to take another person from him, especially if that person was the one that he considered to be his woman.

Like a beast in its death throes, he roared his command in a deep guttural voice, “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!”

From his right hand emerged a beam of bright pure mana. It was pouring forth from his hand, as completely uncontrolled as his anger. He was breathing heavily, the strain it was having on his body was apparent, but he stepped forward, confident he would defeat the enemy.

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Part 4.

Up to this point, the fight had been incredibly one-sided, but with the return of a previously defeated challenger, the creature, for arguably the first time in its existence, felt the disorienting sensation that accompanied confusion. It turned its head to the side, the motion that said, “I am trying to understand how you are still alive.” Regardless, it moved to answer the boy’s provocation by reaching out its hand to the young girl.

“I said back off!” He roared with another blast from his saber, striking the creature in the outstretched arm.

For the first time in this fight, the beast let out a sound that could have been confused with the sound of pain. Whether or not it really was pain didn’t matter to Maru, he took it as a sign of damage being done, significant damage at that. In return, he let out his own vicious smile.

“So, you do feel pain.” He growled as he continued to move forward.

Something appeared to tick in the creature’s mind, it dropped its hand and turned toward Tachibana. They continued to walk up to each other, reminiscent of two schoolyard kids puffing out their chests, threatening a fight that was likely to not happen. But this wasn’t a schoolyard fight, this was real, this fight had already claimed the life of one person, and Maru was dead set on not letting it happen again. So, when the creature came close enough, he hurled his blade forward like a javelin, its bright shining visage looking like a comet shooting through the sky. With the power behind his throw and the speed at which it moved, it found its target easily, piercing it right through the chest, right next to the spot he had pierced before.

Tachibana Maru, in his rage at watching the creature threaten Hina, had unlocked something within himself. Whether this could be the hero’s power that the voice had spoken about or not, didn’t matter to him right now. All he cared about was that he had in fact unlocked some kind of hidden power within himself and that he could use it to hurt his enemy. Using that newfound power he propelled himself forward, moving at a speed that would normally be beyond human ability. But they had ceased to be humans, they were heroes, and that could be the only reason he could pull off a feat such as this.

First, the blade struck, then Maru’s feet followed, slamming into the creature, the momentum knocking it down onto its back. He then removed the blade from the creature’s chest, he wasn’t about to make the same mistake again, he would ensure his enemy’s demise this time. He moved to strike at the creature’s head. But was met with a monstrous glare from his opponent’s blackhole-like orbits and he began to feel his strength leaving him.

“What is this? Am I going to fail? Am I going to die?”

Negative thoughts began to assault his mind and his confidence, making him sluggish and sapping away at his strength. He could feel the weight in his right arm again, his mana circulation was becoming sporadic, reducing the size of his blade, his eyes were getting heavy and his legs wear becoming weak. There was a cold chill along his spine, like the hand of death had come to greet him.

“MARU!” came a high-pitched scream, waking him from his daze. There was a light shining all around him, infusing him with strength, healing his aching sores, but most of all, restoring his hope and washing away all the doubts that were weighing him down. Glancing to the side, he could see Hina, tears flowing from her eyes, her staff lifted high in the air with both hands, the tip in a continuous cycle of ignitions, as she refused to let Maru give up.

“If she is fighting so hard, then there is no way I can give up.”

Maru then brought his blade back down at the creature, who attempted to defend itself with a raised arm. Unfortunately for it, Maru was far stronger than Furuya had been, and he wasn’t limited by metal daggers, he had a saber of pure mana that simply melted right through the arm, and continued on and smashing into the creature’s shoulder and severing it. The cry the creature let out rang joyously in Maru’s ears, a clear sign that the beast could feel pain, causing his smile to grow even wider.

He began to work on the creature, shallow slashes into its body, he was determined to make the creature suffer rather than killing it outright. Hina did her best to continue to support him, pouring all of her mana into her staff, thankful for its ability to boost the level with no additional cost, but even with that she was beginning to feel weak, and her legs were feeling shaky.

“Tachibana, we need to finish this now. I don’t know how much longer I can last!” she cried out to him. He returned her order with a nod of his head and a smile in her direction, taking his eyes off the creature, a move that would have proved fatal for him, had he not had some unseen support. When he turned back around, the creature’s right fist was present to greet him, but instead of it connecting, it seemed like it was stopped by some unseen force. He was surprised but internally grateful for the unforeseen assist. He then slashed at the presented arm, removing it from its stump, before shoving the blade into the creature’s chest for a third time, and twisting. He then began to channel all the mana in his body that he could muster, pouring it forth into the body of the creature. This time he wouldn’t stop simply because the beat’s body went limp, he continued to pour more and more mana, until there was light pouring out from within the creature’s empty eye sockets, like a blackhole regurgitating after overindulging for over a billion years.

The inside of the body of the creature could not handle the foreign mana surging within it. It was being cooked on the inside, and due to the pressure, it wasn’t even able to let out a scream of pain, which was a natural reaction to help reduce the pain that was felt by the victim. This meant that as the creature was being cooked, it had no choice but to endure all the searing torment it was feeling without so much as the simplest of ways to reduce it.

As an insurance measure, Tachibana didn’t stop until the body of the creature had turned to ash. By then Hina’s power had practically run out, and she was lying on the floor, next to the remains of what was once Furuya’s body. The fight was over and with the destruction of the creature’s crystal, there was a refreshing feeling that poured over the two who remained, but neither one of them bothered to acknowledge it, neither of them could bring themselves to feel anything other than despair.

Tachibana, having had all that strength left his body, crawled his way over to where Hina was resting, her sobs were the only sound that could be heard in the room, as she cradled the head of her former companion in her arms. When he got to her, he reached out, wrapping his arms around her, which proved to be the signal for her to let go of whatever it was that was holding her back, and her sobbing intensified. He couldn’t help but wonder to himself, “Would she cry like that for me?”

It was then that another portal opened up on the far wall, the purple ominous glow was absent from this one, it was instead replaced by the warm bright light that felt comfortable and safe. Yet neither of them could muster the strength to get up and move to it. Resorting to simply staring at it and each other with blank stares.

“I am happy to see you made it.” Said a familiar, comforting voice.

Eigel stepped through the portal, his pristine white robe a stark contrast to the destruction and death that filled the otherwise dark dingy room. He walked up to the two that were still left, holding out a hand for each of them. When they touched it, a rush of energy and a humbling warm sensation covered them. They could feel any wounds they had healing, their energies were being replenished, and even their mental state seemed to be improving, it was the help that only someone at the highest levels of the church could provide, [Sanctimonious Offering], a skill that, by the grace of the gods, could heal all injuries, whether internal or external. Proof that his position in the church was founded on skill rather than just connections.

“Come with me, children. You have made it through this trial, but there is still much to discuss.”

He helped them raise themselves, and together, hand in hand, they walked through the open portal and into the light.