A young, lanky man ran through the forest. His blonde hair was messy and ruffled as a drop of sweat escaped his chin. Breathing profusely, he jumped over a fallen tree, only to lose footing and tumble into the earthy dirt face-first. He groaned in pain, but the feeling of absolute terror gave him the strength he needed to pull himself up and continue running. He wouldn't stop running. Or, to be more precise, he couldn’t afford not to, simply because… a monster was chasing him.

The young man wasn’t able to identify the monster. The moment he heard the bushes rustle and the red, bloodthirsty eyes glowing in the darkness, he ran faster than he had thought possible. It was funny how the fear of death could motivate someone to push past their limits.

There was no greater test than this.

As he ran, the bright morning sun cast its rays through the canopy of trees, and as the branches moved from the wind, the sunlight flickered, making him dizzy. Momentarily blinded, he lost his sense of direction and ran into a tree trunk with a big thump. Dazed, he cursed in pain while he lay on the dirt. He had felt as if he had just met with the forest earth a few moments ago, and here he was, somehow bonded to it once again. It was almost comical, he had to admit.

Staggering as he stood up once more, he reached for his nose, only to see blood on his hands. At this point, it almost seemed as if running away did more damage than facing the monster head-on, and judging by the rustling of the undergrowth behind him, he realized he wouldn’t really have a choice but to face it. He turned his head and unsheathed his Sense-sword, aiming it at the menacing sounds.

Heart thumping in his chest, he gulped as the growling of the monster became closer and closer.

“Y-you got this,” the blondie blurted to himself. “I’ve trained for this moment ever since I was a child.”

All his life, he had dreamt of being a powerful Knight, always roleplaying and training, even before his sense had awakened. And when he found out he had Touch, he grew even more eager. He would always tell his friends and family that he’d become a diamond Knight. But as reality became ever more real, doubt began stirring within his mind.

No… he shouldn’t think like that. The battle hadn’t even started yet, so how would he know if he didn’t try? His eyes glowing a familiar blue hue, he activated his sense and saw the gem on the pommel of his sword flickering with light. He had successfully transferred his Sense energy into the weapon.

Now all that was left was–

The monster was upon him before he had a chance to fully prepare. However, he also wasn’t so sure if he’d ever be for what he saw. Standing at a staggering eight feet tall, a white-furred bearlike monster stood on its hind legs from the scrubs, towering over him. Its snout was flat as a pug and had an eerie and terrifying flat mouth, neither opening nor closing it. But to his horror, the young man realized that the flat mouth underneath its squashed nose was fake. The real one was hidden under its neck, beneath the dirty white fur.

At first, it couldn’t be noticed; however, now he could see its massive lips grotesquely move by its shoulders. It was scarily skinny as well. If not for the fur hiding it, the monster would look like a tall, skinny man in the darkness, ready to devour you inside its weirdly placed jaws.

As if everything the young man learned in his life disappeared, he paled before the monster, frozen in fear. The pointed sword trembled, and his wide-open, bloodshot eyes were gaping. He couldn’t even retreat even if he wanted to. His legs would simply not move out of terror.

The monster growled from its actual mouth, its red eyes almost showing pity for the poor, frightened human. But in the end, the monster was hungry. And for its empty stomach to feel at ease, it did what any monster would. Pounce.

The young boy didn’t know what happened, but something else controlled his body, screaming in defiance and fear of dying. On its own, his body lurched out of the way, causing the monster's attacking paw to smash into the ground. Gasping for air, the young blondie looked at his hands as if he couldn’t believe he was alive.

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“I’m not… I’m not dead?”

Not only that, but he was able to evade the monster’s attack. Was this god telling him not to give up? He gripped his sword again, facing the monster, only this time without quivering. An odd shimmer of resolve burned in his eyes, making the monster tilt its head with puzzlement. Neither the monster nor the young man knew why he chose to fight.

Growing annoyed, the monster lunged at him, opening its wide mouth under its shoulders, revealing lines of sharp, dagger-length teeth. Although the sight was horrific, the young man stood his ground, piercing the creature’s belly before it could bite him. Feeling his sword lodge in its flesh, the monster let out a growl of pain similar to a dog’s. But he didn’t care what the monster sounded or looked like. As long as he lived and kept fighting, that was all that mattered.

“I-I’m gonna kill you… you disgusting swine!” he groaned out, shoving his sword even more.

Then the blade went through the monster…

Feeling the sword protrude from the body, he stood there in silence, not daring to move. All of a sudden, the monster became still, lacking any life. Slowly lifting his gaze, he eyed the creature to double-check whether it was dead—and judging by its awfully motionless standing position—he was only left with one conclusion...

“I did it?” he murmured to himself. “I… I actually did it. I killed a monster.”

Until now, he had only gotten lucky, primarily relying on his teammates for help. Although he had a strong sense, he didn’t know how to use it correctly and lost control frequently. So when he got separated from his team by accident, he was sure he wouldn’t survive. But, maybe he underestimated himself this whole time and could achieve the dream that he brazenly told everyone would come true.

“Maybe I do have what it takes to be a Knight,” he breathed.

With newfound confidence, he tried freeing his sword from the belly of the monster. However, regardless of how hard he tried, he just couldn’t pull it out. Opening his Sense again to assist him, it was useless. After a few moments of struggle, an obvious idea dawned on him—to transfer his Sense Energy into the sword again, which would surely do the trick.

Feeling the energy escape his fingertips, charging the pommel’s gem, he tried once again while pushing his leg against the stationary monster. Heaving with all his might, the boy eventually managed to pull his sword out.

“Finally…” he heaved out a sigh. But something was odd. It felt like something was lacking from this battle, and it definitely wasn’t because the challenge wasn’t hard enough. It was something else entirely. Then it dawned on him. Blood…

He wondered why the battle felt odd, and when looking at the large gash on the monster’s belly, it was pretty clear that no blood was present. He crept forward to get a better look at the wound, reaching his finger in awe—

A hot, rancid breath puffed on his leaned-over neck, accompanied by a low, deadly growl. The young blondie froze. He had to be hearing things. But then why did he feel hot air on his neck? They were in the cold mountain… so it wasn’t as simple as a gust of wind. He shouldn’t look up… no, he mustn’t…

But he did.

Slowly lifting his petrified face, he met eyes with the monster’s—very much alive—ruby stare.

It was over. The young man had nowhere to run and no confidence to contest the monster’s lurching claws. Soon, his vision would disappear and reopen in a much nicer place. Perhaps this wasn’t a good time to muse whether heaven existed, or not, but he truly hoped it did. A place not flocking with vile creatures but a peaceful land in which he could spend eternity exploring.

He closed his eyes, waiting for death.

But death was late.

Instead of feeling large claws tearing him open and fangs ripping his head off, a small thud sounded.

No, it was just another trick. It was useless to look because his fate had already been decided. In fact, perhaps he was already dead but just got lucky with a painless death. Yes… that had to be the case. There was no other way to explain why the monster hadn’t eaten him yet, so he must already be dead.

Yet, when he opened his eyes, the cloudy gates of heaven didn’t stand before him, and neither were any angelic songs played by angels. Instead, he was face-to-face with the same monster, only this time, it had no head…

By his feet, the dull-eyed head of the monster lay, making him scream in utter terror. “AGHHHH!”

“Will you shut it?”

“AGHHHH!”

“Hello? I said will you please stop screaming?”

“AGHH—huh?” The young boy barely heard the voice against his own screams. He twirled his head around in bafflement, trying to pinpoint where the voice came from. But yet, he found no one.

“An angel…” he gaped. “An angel saved my life!”

“I appreciate the compliment, but I’m no angel by any means.” A slim shape of a girl emerged behind the decapitated monster’s body. However, the boy found it hard to believe she wasn’t because of her long, silky blue hair and gorgeous ocean eyes…

“You really are an angel—”

“For the last time, I’m not,” the blue-haired girl sighed. “I’m just a human called Ayame.”