While Vektor is immersed in this moment of disbelief, the monster counterattacks with an elbow, which throws the boy against the wall. The impact of the collision is so strong that it opens a crater in the area of impact.

Vektor falls stunned to the ground, a single hit was able to leave him without the strength to continue fighting. Upon realizing this, Hisami takes over the battle in his place, and starts shooting as many arrows as possible at the monster's body, hoping that some of them can cause some damage.

"Damn it! All of this for nothing! A pure waste! All I have left now is this dagger..."

With no other option, she wields her last weapon and advances against the monster, attacking at different points while using her agility to dodge all the attacks coming her way.

Her movements are fluid, but even attacks from blind spots seem to have no effect. This changes, however, the moment the dagger manages to tear the flesh of the monster's neck, in an area close to the chest.

After that moment, Hisami's focus is momentarily diverted, and that single moment of distraction is all the monster needed to finally be able to grab her.

"Let me go, you damn bird!"

She tries to use her dagger to pierce the monster's hand, but the attack is ineffective, and the dagger breaks when it hits the monster's skin several times in a row. The monster begins to squeeze Hisami's body in its hand, with the force applied gradually increasing.

The armor she is wearing is the only thing that prevents her bones and internal organs from being destroyed, but as the pressure increases, the armor seems to give in to the monster's strength. Desperate, Hisami tries to use the strength of her own hands to free herself, but her situation does not improve.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing?"

Vektor's faint voice reaches Hisami's ears. His body is standing, though he doesn't seem to be able to walk. His gaze is fixed on the monster, who seems to be too focused on the person in his hand to pay attention.

"Hey, don't ignore me. Get your hands off her. Your opponent... is me."

From a third person perspective, Vektor is expressing a completely different look than usual. Eyes wide open, gaze completely fixed. Like an animal staring at its prey, completely ignoring the fact that its prey is several times its size and strength.

But from Vektor's point of view, what he sees is an inexplicably familiar scenario. His weak and harmless body, contemplating a person being the target of cruelty without having the strength to react. Even though no solid memory comes to his mind, a certain instinct makes him feel something that is certainly not new.

A familiar source of fury.

Turning his gaze to Hisami, Vektor for some reason sees a little boy. A fragile and defenseless boy, who uses his last strength to try to extend his hand towards Vektor, with the kid's weak voice echoing in his ears...

"H... Help-"

Vektor's mind returns to reality just as Hisami's armor begins to crack. It is now only a matter of seconds before the armor shatters and the one wearing it has her body destroyed from within.

But there's nothing left to wait for. Vektor's body is already in the air after a jump so powerful and contradictorily light that it makes him seem like he's floating. He already knows the monster's weak point, having seen the fight while weakened. The Slasher Platinum is still in his hand, even if he's holding it delicately.

The delicacy turns into firmness as he prepares to strike. Even with the blade broken, the sword keeps channeling the apprentice's flaming power. As his body falls onto the monster's chest, Vektor stabs its throat with his burning sword, causing the monster to finally scream in pain.

Vektor keeps stabbing the monster's throat relentlessly.

"Let her go! Let her go, let her go!! LET HER GO NOW!!!"

As he prepares to stab the monster again with the strength of his two arms, Vektor is also grabbed by the monster. Unlike Hisami, Vektor has no armor protecting him. Nothing can stop the monster from easily destroying his body from the inside and killing him instantly.

But his current rage is so intense that it prevents him from feeling pain or fearing the current situation he is in. His two hands are still free and gripping his sword, and that is all he needs at the moment.

With all his remaining strength amplified to the maximum by adrenaline, Vektor unleashes his final attack. Instead of pulling the blade back, he continues to press forward in the hopes of finding a gap in the monster's tough skin and ripping open its chest.

However, this skin, unlike armor, has no openings or gaps. The monster progressively increases the force applied to squeeze Vektor's body, who does not give up trying to find an opening.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

What happens, however, is a surprise for both of them. After applying so much force, Vektor manages to crack the monster's skin.

"It's cracking... I can break it...! I can cut it!!"

At that very moment, all the uncertainty surrounding Vektor's mind disappears at once, and all the precautions he had taken with his own body up until that moment are forgotten.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH...!!!!!!"

The necessary spark in his soul is finally ignited, and his body begins to combust. The uncontrolled flames surrounding his body cause the monster to instinctively release his two prisoners.

Hisami falls to the ground but manages to get up without much trouble because she was protected by her armor, now almost broken. She looks at Vektor, who is still on fire while still attacking.

"Vektor! I'm fine now! Get out of there!"

However, these words do not reach him, his senses are now all focused on this attack. Not knowing what else to do, Hisami just moves away. The monster begins to roar in pain and despair as its skin finally breaks, and the broken blade of the Slasher Platinum finally cuts through the flesh of its chest, leaving a trail of flames along the entire course of the blade.

With all his breath exhausted, Vektor stops emanating flames around his body and falls to his knees on the ground, dropping the Slasher Platinum that remains embedded in the monster's flesh. Exhausted, the boy cannot move a single muscle, only able to breathe heavily.

Before Hisami even has a chance to check on Vektor's condition, the monster suddenly succumbs to the damage and explodes into dark energy, but this monster has so much of this energy concentrated that the explosion generates a much greater impact than normal, throwing Vektor's body away, much to Hisami's despair:

"Vektor! Are you okay?!"

With the almost non-existent energy he still has left, Vektor raises half of his body and remains seated on the ground while Hisami runs towards him. His head starts bleeding, but even so he answers:

"Yeah. All's OK with me."

"You're not okay at all!"

"What really matters now is that we won. At the end of it all, we're both alive and in one piece."

"You're right, haha... That was an unbelievable battle... I've never faced a monster as powerful as that."

"Me neither. From the way it died, it definitely wasn't just an ordinary monster... Wait, what's that?"

In the place where the monster was killed, a mysterious light shines within the dissolving darkness. In a few seconds, only the light remains, and in the next moment, the door to the room opens, while the ceiling of the room dissolves into the air like dust.

The light soon grows into a gigantic creature and then dissolves, giving way to a huge bird over 20 meters tall. His voice somehow reaches the minds of Vektor and Hisami:

"Thank you very much for freeing me. Thanks to you two, my eternal suffering has come to an end."

Both are taken by surprise, but Hisami expresses more astonishment:

"The bird is talking!"

Vektor however has a better idea of what is happening as it is not a new concept to him, but he has never seen a non-human creature able of something like this:

"That's not it... If it was, his beak should be moving. He is... using telepathy!"

The bird then responds:

"That's right. You are two of the few people able to hear my voice within your minds. You, boy, can hear me because you are of the Drenn bloodline, which means I can connect with your mind. And you, girl, can hear me because all who are able of sensing presences can hear my voice."

"You... know that I'm a Drenn?"

"Yes. Even though I couldn't control the monster's actions, my senses were connected to it, so I was able to see the battle through that creature's eyes. I had been sealed inside that for thousands of years."

"Thousands of years... May I ask who... or what you are?"

"I am an ancient guardian servant of the Drenn. I bear the title of Mythbird of Fire. It is an honor to meet you, Vektor Drenn and Hisami."

"(Another guardian servant... Isn't Sych enough already? Well, what matters now is...)

By any chance, do you know how I can acquire my ancient Drenn power? I came here looking for just that."

"The ancient power of each Etykiran bloodline is sealed within each of the five hidden castles on this planet. Each Mythbird knows the way to one of these castles. Should you wish to acquire this power, I would be honored to take you to the Drenn Ancient Castle."

"Really?! Will you take us there?! That would be a great help, thanks a lot! Hisami, get ready-"

"However, each castle is restricted to only members of the Etykiran family whose power is sealed. Even I won't be able to enter there, so the girl will have much less of a chance."

"Huh...?"

"Only you shall go with me, boy. I'm sorry to say, but you two must go to separate ways from here."

"Oh, I see... That's unfortunate."

Not knowing exactly how to react to the situation, Hisami simply says:

"Looks like my work here is done, right?"

"Yeah... It was just for a while, but thank you so much for all your help. And I'm sorry for not showing you anything too interesting."

"What are you talking about? These last few days must have been the most hectic of my entire life! I doubt anything like that will happen any time soon."

"Haha, alright then. Well... I guess this is where we say goodbye..."

"Yes. I'll miss you, Vektor Drenn. If you come back to this world in search of some new legendary power or something, come by my house, my father and I will gladly welcome you back."

"I'm looking forward to this day. Well, I say that but I honestly don't want another incident like this to happen in my world. What a messy situation... Anyway, enough wasting time. I'll move on and head to the Ancient Castle. But before that, can I ask you one last favor?"

"Sure, just ask."

"It's just... I kinda can't walk right now."

"Oh right, okay."

Hisami climbs onto Mythbird's back carrying Vektor's body, who then sits on the bird's back. The feathers are soft, making it look like the boy is sitting on the grass. Mythbird then spreads his large wings and prepares to take flight. Hisami decides to ask for one last favor as well:

"Hey, before you go, could you take me back home? I don't want to walk alone in the woods after all this."

"Fine by me. What about you, Mythbird?"

"It won't be a problem at all. Get ready!"

Mythbird then flies out of the Ancient Temple and heads towards Hisami's house after she points it out from above Ancient Island. During the flight, she sees the vast ocean beyond the island and wonders:

"What could be hidden beyond the world I know...? If there is an entire world beyond mine in another universe, what prevents there from being another world within this same world? After all, look at all this ocean..."

She arrives at her destination in a few minutes. Vektor bids farewell to Hisami and her father without wasting much time. Mythbird then flies into the sky and heads towards the Drenn Ancient Castle carrying Vektor on his back, while the young man surrenders to exhaustion and falls asleep during the flight. The people of Ancient Island catch a glimpse of the great bird moving away from the island.