His alarm rang, waking him up in the blink of an eye, yet he didn’t get up. Charlotte was nowhere to be seen, meaning that she changed places after he fell asleep.

"Dang, I could get used to that."

He finally got up, went ahead with his quick morning routine, said his prayers then went ahead to eat.

"Good morning!"

Charlotte was in the kitchen, waiting for him, with an omelette already cooked. He looked at the plate, his hunger devouring him from within, yet he couldn’t help it but ask.

"Is it poisoned or something? I’m kinda scared."

She looked him dead in the eye, almost swinging the pan at him. Lucky for both of them, the pan was empty.

"Ok, ok, I yield, don’t beat me, I still ache all over; please-"

He was, once again, being overly dramatic about something as little as this. He loved acting like that, which he only did with a handful of people he thought of as "close" in one way or another.

The two of them sat down, enjoying the breakfast, which Mark devoured in a few minutes, only to ask for seconds.

"Thank you for the meal."

Mark got up, made the sign of the cross, wished her a good day, and off he thought he’d be.

"Wait! Where do you think you’re going?"

Mark felt threatened by the fork pointed in his direction, which he mildly laughed off.

"The dorm. I need to get my things, and I guess I’ll also have to improve my excuse."

"Wasn’t the dorm, like, a stone’s throw away from the school?"

"Well yes."

"Great! Then we can go together."

Mark gave up, barely hanging on, bent like an old man with back problems.

"Are you sure you want to be seen with the likes of me? I already have a hunch that people don’t think too highly of me, be it that they know me or don’t."

Charlotte nodded, barely caring, focused on the dishes.

"At least let me help you with the dishes. Hell if I know how to do em’, but at least you won’t be here alone."

They stood together, laughing and joking about their battle. To think that one could forgive their enemy so easily.

Done with that, they went to school, talking about themselves and getting to know each other a little better. Perhaps some things said there were lies, and others were painful truths, yet it is between the two of them. One thing Mark had learned was that her parents forced her into the organization. On what grounds, he still has to find out.

Mark ran for his things, leaving Charlotte outside. Some of his classmates saw the two of them coming together, which surprised them more than Contact did. Mark came back running, only to not leave Charlotte there for longer than she should, not because he cared about school in that particular day.

As they made their way inside, the sky shook, as if shattered. A giant portal opened above the city, large enough that a plane could fit.

"What the hell? Don’t tell me."

Mark dropped his bag in his inventory, and in that frenzy, it hit him that he could have taken his things with him.

Shame on me for forgetting about this, and shame on me for not being ready for another one of these cataclysms.

"Just what could it be this time?", asked Charlotte, trying to keep her cool. Even around the world, nothing on this scale had happened.

Mark was reluctant, knowing damn well what had happened before.

"Don’t tell me..."

They both stared as a dragon emerged from the portal, its roar strong enough to shake the ground. Its azure scales reflected the light, making for a scarier sight. Mark stared at its level: 130.

"Shit!"

Sebas came rushing out of the school, knowing that, together with Mark, he could at least have a chance to do something.

"Mark! The hell is that thing?"

"It’s a dragon, my guy, dragondeeznuts."

Mark and Sebas laughed, while Charlotte stared at them, disgusted by Mark’s shitty humor.

"This is no time for jokes. That thing is twice my level, and I don’t know about you, but fighting it mid-air is not my speciality, and I think that neither of you can fly, which is less than taking it down."

Mark started floating, looking at her with a face that spoke exactly his words.

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"What now?"

She watched, barely holding her jaw from falling.

"How in hell can you fly? Just who the hell are you?"

Mark smirked, while Sebas pulled out his weapons.

"Mark, we should go for that fucker."

Mark looked at him, his eye twitching.

"My guy! You barely leveled up, I'm only level 74, and I don’t know about her, but to sum it up, we’re fucked unless I cook up something."

"Then how in hell should we do this?"

Charlotte looked at the dragon, who still soared through the skies.

"I guess the organization won’t help. They must want you dead, knowing that you’re sure to intervene."

Mark cracked his knuckles, knowing damn well that he’d get involved. After all, he had things he cared about—his old reason to keep going, the thing that pulled him out of the grasp of death.

"Well, I do have a plan, since my magic is sort of insane when you think about it, since, well, I’m insane. My plan goes as follows:"

The three of them agreed to it, despite it being past the point of no return.

"Sebas, hope you’re ready."

Mark used his magic to pick Sebas off the ground, using him to taunt the dragon. Sebas started screaming, as in:

"Holy shit, I’m fucking flying!"

The dragon, still flying through the sky, started following Sebas, breathing fire in his direction. Blue flames spread out behind Sebas, almost cooking him to the perfect temperature.

Charlotte stood near Mark, scared out of her wits for Sebas.

"Just how on earth can you risk the life of your friend like that?"

Mark didn’t bother to turn around, instead focusing on the task at hand.

"You see, I’m sure that my ability to get his ass to safety is enough to make it work."

His words were truly a facade, truly a mismatch to his actual feelings—he was scared, not trusting enough in his own abilities. He made them work in the heat of the moment, something he always does—his only hope.

Mark kept accelerating Sebas –which he enjoyed– to the point of making the dragon dive headfirst after him.

"Just as planned."

Charlotte awaited Mark’s signal, feeling time come to a standstill. Sand did not flow in the hourglass of the universe, putting everything to a halt.

"Now!"

Mark let go of Sebas, which did not halt the dragon’s soaring. Charlotte caught him, looking at Sebas pretend to be a mademoiselle in danger.

"You’re not helping, Sebas."

She glared at him, yet he was too busy feeling good about fulfilling his role.

It’s all up to Mark now.

The dragon switched targets, breathing at Mark, flying his way.

"Shields up!"

He formed a transparent barrier around him, which blocked the fire. The beast still came for him, its speed enough to turn his barrier into dust.

I have a few seconds. First, create the hands.

Mark formed two giant stone hands, which appeared in the blink of an eye. It put a huge toll on him, which was easily seen by how much he started sweating.

Second of all, time for a sword—enough to cut this thing in half.

A giant sword made out of light formed in the air. Mark couldn’t create something as large as that in a split second—he was lucky that all the training paid off.

Now, third, grab it and cut!

The stone arms grabbed the sword’s handle, moving as Mark did. He placed his heads atop his head, pretending he swung a sword. The dragon smashed through the barrier, leaving a sea of mana shards behind, which turned into a sheet of mana, scattered by the wind.

Mark felt the scorching breath, enduring the heat head-on.

Mark swung.

It was all over in a flash. Sebas and Charlotte watched from the sidelines, mouths wide open, their emotions a mixture of everything, from stress to joy.

Mark’s giant sword fell heavily, cracking the road all along its width. The dragon had been slain, its head cut diagonally. The beast’s lifeless body missed Mark by a hair’s breadth.

Mark fell on his knees, barely holding on. It might have looked like a trivial matter, yet his body was torn apart by the high mana output. He hadn’t used that much mana before, which made it worse.

"Guys, I did it."

A blue window appeared out of thin air, the same old system notification.

"Dragon Has Been Slain"

"Distributing XP"

Mark watched as his level rose up to 92, and Sebas screamed out in joy that he had reached level 40. Charlotte was also glad that she had reached level 81.

"Just how much experience did we gain from slaying that dragon?"

"Well, we were the only ones who contributed to this, and also, the level gap was wider than the gap in my knowledge."

Mark still held on to his shitty humor, even when in pain.

"Well, guys, I'll just absorb that dragon into my inventory, and that should be all. I could make some equipment out of it."

Mark opened his inventory, which absorbed the remains, yet a single item from that absorbtion caught his eye: Dragon Egg.

"Well damn..."

The trio peered at that window for a few seconds, before Mark shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I already know who to give it to. Nope, it's neither of you."

Both Sebas and Charlotte couldn't care less; their leveling up was more than enough.

"Well, team, how about we take the day off since we saved the town once again?"

Mark tried to play the fool, painting a pretty picture by pretending it was all alright, yet something about how stupid that dragon was made no sense to him.

Just what could it be?

His answer soon came out on its own, once again taking to the skies.

A rift in time and space cut the sky in half. A whole so wide yet so small that common sense couldn't comprehend it. Space itself was moving, increasing and decreasing the gap. From within, a giant eye peered at the outside world. Everyone stared at it in disbelief, feeling nothing but fear. Mark's entire body screamed at him to move, to run away. For the first time, Mark felt true horror, something words could not even hope to portray, let alone transmit to others. It was that point in Mark's life that made him question reality itself.