Ting!

Lina looked up from her books curiously.

"OH! You fuck! Concentrate on the damned book before I shove it up your ass!" Manalok shrieked as he slammed a particularly painful tome on her head. Lina yelped and almost conjured a spell at her damned teacher, but restrained herself.

"Yeah, you better learn all this bullshit so I can go back to being lazy. May Onnea be damned if your brother forces me to teach you for another month!" Manalok swore as he leaned back in his seat and threw his feet on the table. Lina sighed and looked back at the Fifth Edition of this shit is boring. No matter how hard she tried, she could hardly force herself to learn about another world's history. Earth's lore was already messy as it was, why did she need to learn another one?

Ting!

Lina looked up once again, but this time she managed to swiftly dodge Manalok's attack.

"You little...! Stop looking for distractions!" Manalok commanded.

"Teach, someone is waiting at the gate, and nobody but us is there. It's not polite to leave them hanging!" She tried to convince him. The odd, green-haired scholar grimaced and waved his hand dismissively.

"Tch, it's not like I'll be able to cram more information in your tiny brain if whoever idiot is ringing at the house keeps at it. Go, and hurry the hell up!"

Lina wasted no time running away from the study and her exasperating teacher. She dashed outside, sighing in relief as she was finally freed from her lessons.

'Milady, a good education is absolutely necessary for your survival. Please that this a little more seriously,' Tiamanes scolded her, but Lina dismissed him with a thought.

'My brain is going to melt if I keep at it. Anyway, let's see who my savior is...'

She headed for the gate, where two individuals were waiting—a scary-looking man with tribal tattoos covering his face, and an auntie with an eyepatch and a cool armor.

"Huh...Can I help you?" Lina tried as she approached them, staying at a safe distance from the gate.

The two exchanged a glance before the man stepped closer. "My name is Vilroy Lancer, and this is Isadora Fierro. We worked with your brother on a recent rescue mission."

Lina frowned, "My brother? Where the hell is he then?"

Vilroy bit on his lip and looked away in shame while Isadora remained silent.

"Glenn...He sacrificed himself to let us all escape." Vilroy finally said in a whisper. Lina felt her blood turn to ice.

"What? What do you mean, he sacrificed himself?" She repeated, her eyes widening in fear.

"We...We left him behind against an incredibly powerful opponent that mastered teleportation despite the interference of Blumar. He was a great man." Vilroy muttered respectfully. Isadora rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Lina shook her head, "No, you don't make sense. Wait, did you see him die? Like, his body or something?"

"N...No?"

"Then that's good enough for me. What else do you want?" Lina spat as she pushed back against her uneasiness and worries.

'My brother is a living legend. No way he died off on his own when I barely just reunited with him. They're just messing with me,' She thought as she hid her trembling hands behind her back.

Vilroy held out three decorated envelopes with heavy gold filigranes, "This is the reward that was promised to Sir Glenn. After all, he did complete his mission. Two recommendation letters to Exan's University, and one more to compensate for his...Disappearance. We've also transferred the credits to his account with the Gold Church."

Lina took the letters with a blank gaze when Isadora grabbed her hand. She slipped on a black metal bracelet on her wrist and whispered.

"This is your brother's gift. Try injecting Mana in it whenever you're alone, alright?"

Lina nodded slowly as she pulled her hand back. Vilroy bowed slightly while Isadora gave her a reassuring smile. The pair left without another word, their tasks fulfilled. Lina dragged her feet back into the mansion, not hearing Tiamanes' worried voice or her irate teacher. She went to her room and locked the door behind her. She sat on her bed and looked at the sleek, black metal bracelet as she fought back against her tears.

She inspired deeply, trying to quell the turmoil in her heart. She sent one small, hopeless strand of Mana inside the bracelet, not expecting much. A holographic screen suddenly appeared in front of her, thundering with the sound of explosions. She jumped back in surprise, her shock worsening when she realized that her brother was on the screen, fighting against some sort of massive mass of darkness coiled in the shadows.

"What the fuck?" She grabbed the holographic screen with both hands, "Hey, Glenn! You fucker! Can you hear me?"

The figure running around with magic twirling around him suddenly froze and looked at the ceiling.

"What the—Lina? How did you...ah, did you get the bracelet?"

Lina nodded, the weight on her heart fading away as quickly as it appeared, "Yeah, that lady Isadora gave it to me." Her face suddenly turned as red as peonies as her anger replaced her precedent fear and worries.

"You fucker! I thought you were fucking dead!" She pointed an angry finger at the screen. Glenn scoffed and dodged the swooping mass of...scaled darkness?

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

'What the hell is he fighting?' Lina couldn't help but wonder.

"Listen, I'll be honest with you, your thoughts might become reality if I don't concentrate on this—oh shit."

A ray of bright red light suddenly carved through the screen and swallowed her brother. Lina held her breath, only for her to discover her brother unharmed, massive shields of Mana protecting him alongside rings of twirling energy reminiscent of Saturn's rings.

"Phew! Anyway, Lina, keep that bracelet close to you. Once I'm done scaling this lizard, I'll call you, alright? But right now—"

Two devastating rays of white and orange merged as they fought back against the massive scaled shadow. Glenn wiped the sweat off his forehead as a great sword appeared in his right hand.

"—Right now, I have to take care of that. Gundam, can you mute her or something?"

"What? Mute me? You fuck, don't dodge my questions!" Lina angrily punched the holographic screen, only for her hand to go right through it. Her voice didn't seem like it reached her brother's ears. The girl clenched her fists angrily before sighing heavily.

"Milady, consider it as a good opportunity to properly evaluate your brother's true skills. Surpassing him would be an excellent goal to set." Tiamanes proposed. Lina paused and smiled.

'Yeah, that's a good idea.'

***

"Are you satisfied, now? Your dumb sister almost caused our death!" Diamanes exclaimed aloud. Glenn almost pierced his left hand right here and then but restrained himself.

"Diamanes, you shut the hell up! Nobody can insult my sister but me!"

"Fine, fine."

Glenn drew a short breath before using Gravity Manipulation to send himself above the swooping tail of the dragon. As it stood, killing an overgrown lizard was harder than it sounded. The young man channeled his Mana as he sent a massive Carbon Blade hurling at the dragon hiding in the shadows, but it barely managed to cut through its tough scales.

"You fucking lizard, I'm turning you into a Lacoste bag, I swear it!" Glenn cursed as threw multiple Lux balls in the corner of the caves, only for them to be snuffed out by the moving darkness. It seemed like the dragon had powers related to shadows or something because he refused to let any light exist. And Glenn's Sun Touch was no exception.

The dragon's jaws opened widely to try and gobble him up, but Glenn used an Earthquake to make the cave collapse on top of the dragon. A massive rock fell right on top of its scaly head, interrupting It.

ROARRR!!!

The beast's roar sent Glenn to his knees, his body trembling from head to toe.

"Dragon Fear! Haha, even you can't fight back against that!" Diamanes exclaimed victoriously.

"You bastard, you're not helping!" Glenn hissed as he used Milena's magic to charm himself. It was a bit of an idiotic attempt, as he only tried to kill off his fear, but strangely, it worked. Glenn shot back up on his feet, just in time to block another Dragon's Breath. His Lord's Shield broke one after the other, straining his Mana as he blocked the powerful attack. The stone melted under his feet and turned into burning magma.

Glenn exhaled and used Sword Grave and Hellzone at the same time, creating hundreds of burning swords that pierced through the dragon. The latter snuffed it out with a burst of Mana before throwing his entire body at Glenn.

"Holy fuck—" Glenn hurriedly crossed his arms in front of him before the dragon made contact with him. There was no way to dodge, no way to block it, he could only do one thing.

Endure it.

Glenn's body shot through the cave and violently hit a wall. The young man coughed out a thick lump of blood as he used C.P.R. to make sure his spine wasn't broken. The pain from using the spell was indissociable from his broken bones anyway.

"Well, I think Pebble might help us there. Arcane Surge too." Diamanes proposed casually. Glenn coughed and pulled himself out of the rubble. His Sun's Touch flickered, only to light up explosively and chase away the shadows. The dragon was revealed in all his splendor—a massive body now covered in small cuts and black broken scales.

"You know what? I actually have a better solution." Glenn grinned as he conjured his Mimic cape and retreated inside a crevasse. His Sun's Touch disappeared, leaving the cave in complete darkness. The dragon's red eyes watched Glenn retreat, before turning back to much on whatever he was previously eating.

"Boring! Go back and fight the hell out of him!" Diamanes commanded like a child. Glenn pressed his lips together and channeled his Mana.

"You see, I created a spell perfect for this kind of situation..." he muttered as he conjured a Flamebane Zone, "Hey, Diamanes. Do you think a dragon is susceptible to hypoxia?"

"You...Are you trying to put it to sleep?" Diamanes exclaimed in disbelief. Glenn remained silent and watched as the CO2 flooded the cave. The Flamebane Zone spell was pretty simple. Perfect to take care of a lot of targets without killing them, while also making it impossible for fires to light up.

"I mean, there's no harm trying, right?" Glenn said with a shrug.

Diamanes clicked his tongue, "And there you are, taking the easy way out. I thought you wanted to break through, but I guess I'm wrong. And showing such a pitiful sight to your sister..."

Glenn froze. "Wait, she can still see what's going on?"

That changed everything. Glenn dismissed the Flamebane Zone before it could have any sort of effect and jumped out of his hiding place. Mana flooded out of him as he cast Sun's Touch once more, illuminating the cave fully and interrupting the dragon from eating. The latter turned back to Glenn as a thick cloud of ash erupted from its snout.

"Round two, you overgrown lizard," Glenn hissed as he conjured two Black Holes at once and combined them. The dragon's reptilian eyes widened and it opened its jaws widely, a white flame brooding inside its throat. Glenn roared as he shot a Gravitational Singularity at the dragon, the latter countering with a destructive white fire Breath. The attacks collided violently, shaking the cave down with an incredible explosion.

The dragon intensified its breath, pushing through the Gravitational Singularity even though it kept on swallowing the white flames. Glenn grimaced as he felt his Mana dwindle. He pulled a small, jade-colored Pebble out of his breast pocket and clenched it tightly.

"It's your turn to shine, Pebble..." Glenn muttered as he used Arcane Surge to channel whatever was left of his Mana in this next attack. He aimed precisely, the small stone pulsing with power. A blue hue covered it as Glenn channeled both Sun's Touch and Gravity Manipulation into the projectile. Glenn exhaled heavily before finally casting the spell.

"Shooting Star." Pebble shot through the cave with a loud bang, shattering the sound barrier easily. The blue flames covering it erupted in a fiery show, piercing through the Gravitational Singularity and the Dragon's Breath. The dragon didn't even have the time to blink. Pebble shot cleanly through its head.

Unbeknownst to Glenn, Pebble continued on his way for a few minutes, shooting out of the Dark Wall and into the sky, leaving behind a blue fiery trail. Many children would make a wish that day.

The dragon stumbled on its paws, its jaw hanging loosely. Glenn fell to his knees, exhausted. He held himself on Nelg, thankful for the weapon even though he didn't find much use with it against the dragon. The creature was bleeding profusely and shrieking in pain, but despite that, it kept its head high. Finally, it crumbled down and collapsed entirely, its body going limp.

"Phew...Dragon-Slayer...Now, that's a title I can get behind..." Glenn muttered.

Diamanes grumbled. "Show-off."

"Fuck you."