It was time. The Challenge set by Geus was about to start. Only a few minutes remained. Kelric had a slight feeling of confidence going into the challenge. Hopefully, the feeling lasts. In the two hours of preparation, Kelric found a few usable combos to use during the fight. Probably one would help him.

Kelric was sitting down on a stone table. He was taking his final rest before the challenge. He stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Don’t die on me.” The witch suddenly said a word.

“I don’t plan on dying.”

“I see. As a person who has died once, dying isn’t fun.”

“Heh? Wait, you’re dead?” Kelric’s blank expression morphed.

“Yes… I’m a ghost, didn’t I tell you?”

“No… no, you didn’t.”

“Ah.”

The witch apologized for not informing him earlier. Kelric didn’t mind the apology much. It felt weirdly funny to him.

The witch spoke again out of the blue. “Enjoy these moments as much as you can, they won’t last forever.”

“I know, you don’t have to tell me.” He smiled softly. And it felt as if the witch was also smiling.

But indeed such moments wouldn’t last forever. Kelric felt a painful sting in his chest. He couldn’t move anymore. He coughed up some blood, and his eyes fell shut.

|Do not move!|

A powerful voice resounded in his head, it wasn't the Witch’s. Then whose voice was it? It was an unanswerable question, for now.

Kelric heeded its commands and didn’t move. Or rather he couldn’t move. A sharp noise rounded in his head, followed by harsh winds. The winds swirled around him while the sharp noise got even louder.

Then quickly the winds stopped, and so did the sharp noise. He felt something different. He wasn’t on the cave floor anymore. Instead, the floor felt like grass. The blades of grass tickled his skin. Was he outside the cave? Did he escape somehow?

He tried opening his eyes, but couldn’t fully open them. Through the bit he opened, a harsh light entered. He was definitely not in the cave anymore. Such a light could only come from one thing. The sun. He was outside… right?

He heard the powerful voice again, but this time not in his head.

|Make this worth my time, Geus.|

Of course, he wouldn’t get randomly teleported to the outside world. This was a part of Geus’ challenge.

“I will make sure of it, Sapaq.”

|Do not act friendly with me! Or would you prefer to go to the battlefield of 8th Hell?!|

“Right. I’m sorry, Sir Great Southern Demon of Banished Ones, Sapaq!” Geus’ voice shivered under the might of Sapaq.

|At least, you are brighter than you look.|

“Yes, Sir Great Southern Demon of Banished Ones, Sapaq!”

|You, over there. Get up!|

An incredibly strong hand grasped around Kelric’s body. He felt like he could be crushed at any moment. The hand lifted him up and dropped him on his feet. His eyes shot open as soon as his feet touched the floor. Again the grass tickled him.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. He stood on an endless plane of grass. The grass never ended no matter where he looked. The only other things apart from the grass were him and two other figures.

The first figure was a man that looked in his thirties, wearing tattered clothes. The other figure was tall and shrouded in darkness. Even with the bright sun, the darkness revealed nothing of it. The only thing he could confirm was that the man in his thirties was probably Geus.

“Witch, is that Geus?” He whispered to himself.

No answer came.

He waited a moment before asking again.

“Witch? Are you here? Is that Geus?”

The silence was deep, no one was talking back to him. Then someone interrupted him while he was asking again.

|Do not try again. I did not take her here.| The powerful voice came from the darkened figure. Kelric looked up at it. The darkness that surrounded it was deep.

“Are you ready, kid?” Geus spoke.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Kelric took a step forward to answer, but something else caught his attention. The grass under his feet felt weird. It was too weird. There was no way it was ordinary grass. Then what was it?

“What is this grass?” He asked very slowly.

|You possess remarkable perceptive skills for a human. This grass…| The giant figure crouched down and touched a blade of grass.

|Alphonse, a human butler who killed his master.| It tapped another blade of grass.

|An unnamed mantis, who got eaten by its parent.| It was getting clear what this place was. This place kept something, it kept…

It stood back up and held his hands high.

|I welcome you to my domain. The Domain of the Forgotten Ones.|

The forgotten ones, that’s what this place kept.

|For every forgotten living being, one blade of grass grows.|

Kelric looked around again at the unending grass plane. innumerable forgotten beings were in one place. Even ‘innumerable’ would be an understatement.

|In fear of being forgotten myself, I store every forgotten being here. To make sure they will never truly be forgotten.|

It, the Great Southern Demon of Banished Ones, Sapaq. It was a sentimental being. Its goal of keeping all forgotten ones, it is a noble goal. Even so, why was it a demon? If one were to do this, they would surely be treated like a God or an angel. The savior of the forgotten people, animals, trees, demons, The savior of everything that was forgotten. It would surely be praised, right?

But here it was, a demon. forever forsaken by its title. Everyone looked at him as if he was a dangerous and blood-lusted demon, who murdered for fun. But what if they heard he looked after the forgotten ones? Would they change their minds? Or would they not, and let it be forever treated like a demon? What would they-

|Excuse me for the lengthy and mundane explanation, Geus summon your challenger!| The story of Sapaq, how the Domain of the Forgotten Ones was created, wasn’t mundane. It was interesting. But Sapaq’s powerful voice couldn’t allow Kelric to say anything. Not a word came out of his mouth.

“Alright!” Geus heeded Sapaq’s commands.

Geus then snapped his fingers. A screen of smoke appeared right next to him. A tall being walked out of it. Kelric shivered at its sight. It couldn’t even be compared to the might of Sapaq, but Kelric knew it already. Winning was going to be difficult since it was the thing that brought him here in the first place. A little light blue flower grew on Geus’ hand. The being that came from the smoke was one of the bears that lead him to jump into the cave.

The beast was big. Even if he couldn’t confirm it, it was most likely the leader of the bears. And if his memory served him right, this was no ordinary monster. It was a monster capable of using elements without an elemental weapon.

A small thought crossed his mind. During his two hours of self-training, the witch had told him that the opponent wouldn’t use a weapon. It was obvious why, now. It was a bear, it would be incapable of using a weapon properly. Additionally, it could use an element without an elemental weapon. If the Witch was here, she would’ve scolded Geus and said it was unfair. But Sapaq didn’t bring her here.

“My challenger, Sepaleu.”

|Good, the challenge will start in ten seconds.| Sapaq grabbed Geus by the head and vanished. Two stars shone in the already bright sky. They were Sapaq and Geus watching from afar.

The challenge was going to officially start. Kelric grabbed his Alkadine sword.

|Five seconds.|

Kelric did a quick prayer.

|Three seconds.|

He took a deep breath.

|Two.|

He stared deeply at the bear.

|One.|

He prepared himself for the beginning of the challenge.

|Begin!|

The bear immediately activated its elemental powers. Its claws began exerting blue flames. A sense of loss already existed. He had prepared for a normal battle, not for one against a monster. Even less against a being like Sepaleu. Would the combos he prepared even work against the bear? Getting too close to the bear ensured defeat, so was his training all for nothing?

Kelric ran away with all his might. He didn’t dare face the bear yet. The bear gather its elemental power and began throwing fireballs. Kelric had forgotten about this. It was the exact same as last time.

A fireball brushed right past him. The fire splatted all over the grass, but immediately went out. It was clear that Sapaq didn’t want his grass destroyed. Luckily for Kelric, this helped him.

A few more fireballs flew at him. He nearly dodged all, but the last scraped his shoulder. Kelric staggered and bit his lip, a few drops of blood seeped out.

Another fireball flew straight at him. He didn’t have time to dodge this one. He stared straight at it as it approached. He had to block it.

He swiftly lifted his sword up. And then even higher, to right above his head. He then stepped forward with his right foot. The fireball was less than a second removed from him. He had to do it, otherwise, he would die.

“Mother, Father. I’m not ready to meet you again, so I dedicate this to you.”

His face shifted from the pure strength he used. The sword slashed downward at an incredible speed. He slid his right foot backward, to behind his left. Blades of grass flapped down and back up again. His sword took a sharp turn. A quick follow-up vertical slash sliced through the fireball.

Combo 1: The Multidirectional Slash Pivot.

The sword had cut through the fireball with a ‘plus’ shape. The sword sizzled from the heat. The four pieces of the fireball fell next to Kelric. He did it. He blocked a fireball. It was a victory for Kelric. No, this could only be counted as an incredibly small victory. He blocked only a single fireball. More fireballs would fly at Kelric.

And yet, he was pleased with what he did. The fight didn’t end with just fireballs. After the fireballs came the bear. And after the bear came something even more powerful. But still, Kelric would rejoice at every victory, no matter how small.

Yet this ‘rejoice’ was never made to last long. Maybe the Witch’s words were made for this situation. Maybe he should enjoy such moments for as long as possible. But in the face of death, he couldn’t.

Another fireball flew at him. He would be betting on luck too much if he were to block it. He had to run away and dodge it. He had to run, and keep running. Running away from his problems was easy. But what would happen if your boss caught you slacking at work? What would happen then?

|It is taking too long. Fight or go to the battlefield of 8th hell!|

He had no idea what ‘the battlefield of 8th hell’ was, but if even Geus folded at the mere mention of it, going there would be a death sentence.

It was a tough predicament. If he kept on running, he would get summoned to ‘the battlefield of 8th hell’ and die. On the flip side, if he fought the bear head-on, then he would most likely die.

Every single foreseeable path led to death. How could he survive? Even worse…

Was surviving even possible?