“I-Is it…over?”

Under the forever present sun, the gleaming skies far above, the stench of blood drifted in the air. Sounds of dripping blood collided against the hard soil. The days grow ever longer.

Under the sea of unmoving clouds, a world wonder was present. Islands hovered in the air, carrying on them their own wonders. Lakes and waterfalls decorated the already plant-filled islands.

Bounding the islands together, were a group of 3 different water bridges. Moving water glided with no support, connecting one island to another.

On that same island Alex had landed on, as the sounds of splashing water filled the air, Marie could be seen standing there, nervously watching Alex. Without turning his head around, he nodded his head gravely and brandished his blade.

And then,

“Gucho!”

“Gucho!”

“Cho!”

Out from the soil around them, came a group of 8 scale wearing moles. Their claws on their hands shined in the daylight. Inside that group, one of the moles had a slightly different look, having 4 claws on each hand instead of 3.

“Gucho!!”

The moles clashed its claws together, giving a signal to its allies. In unity, the moles divided into two groups and approached the two students, the group with the leader surrounding Alex.

“Eeek!”

Using the only technique she knew, she formed a group of 10 asteroids and surrounded herself. The moles looked at her in excitement as they found an easy prey. She even heard them chuckle a bit! How rude!

“Tch.” Clicking his tongue, Alex held his blade over his face and defended against the moles. They attacked all at once and slashed their claws. The sounds of clashing metal echoed through the air.

As he was defending, one of the moles slipped past him and tried attacking him from behind. Without looking back, he jumped to the side, letting the mole fly past.

Activating his [[Concentration]], Alex dodged more of the incoming claws. Stepping to his left, he freed one of his hands and prepared his {Illustrator}. His finger lit a warm white light.

“Gucho!”

Not letting this chance slip by, the closest mole prepared itself and charged at him, spinning violently through the air. Grunting softly, Alex quickly conjured a wooden wall and stepped aside. The speeding drill easily broke the wooden wall.

*Brrak!*

It doesn’t seem like they were willing to let him use magic.

“Tch.”

He silently cursed under his breath as he took a stance. His right foot behind his left, he gripped his large cleaver, his knuckles turning white from tension.

“Ha!”

*Pang!*

Jumping forward, he swung down his mighty blade at the leader. Clashing its claws together, it commanded one of its allies to step forward, letting it take the full brunt of the attack. His eyes widened in shock.

“Guchhoo!”

Quickly, from under him, a mole jumped out with its claws targeted at him. Taking full advantage of his increased reflex, he let go of the blade and pushed himself off the blade, the drill easily drilled through the large blade.

“Damn it.”

Although that blade was made from iron, but seeing it break that easily from one attack really crushed his confidence. If that drill could easily break through iron, then what would it do to his flesh?

He shuddered at the thought.

Seeing that his blade was broken with such ease, the mole leader chuckled loudly, as if to scoff at him, its allies doing the same. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

Being scoffed at was nothing new, but in this situation, losing his cool could very easily lead to his death.

“……”

Keeping his eyes on the moles, he took a step back, his finger stretched out and ready. Quickly, he activated his magic. The leader mole quickly noticed and sent one of its allies at him, its claws ready to slash away his bare flesh.

A wide grin was plastered all over its face.

“Gucho!”

Its claws intertwined, it jumped into the air and rotated violently, its claws merging together into a deadly drill.

His blade broken and his magic invoked, he silently prayed to the heavens.

He sincerely hoped this works!

*Bwuek*

“G-Gucho?!”

And then, to its surprise, just as his finger let go, its movement was stopped entirely! As the light died down, it was surprised to see that its drill was stuck inside a white cube!

“Awesome.”

Not long after, the white cube began to fall apart, turning into a liquid and dripping onto the ground. The surprised mole was unable to move away as its claws was suddenly freed from the odd substance.

But Alex would never allow it to escape!

“G-Gucho!?”

With both of his hands, he tore off one of its claws. Blood came gushing out from its hands, tainting his fingers red. With his face turning pale, he plunged the claw straight into the opening it had on its neck!

*Puchi!*

The sounds of cutting flesh sounded from its neck. Blood came flowing out like a waterfall, dripping down onto the odd white substance.

“……”

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Sweat dripping down his face like rain, he quickly wiped away the blood off his hands. Stepping away from the dead mole, he turned his focus once again at the moles.

“Gucho…”

Just like a commander, the mole leader looked onto its fallen ally with insincere eyes, as if it didn’t consider it at all. He grit his teeth in disgust.

If that mole was a human, he would’ve sent a kick to his balls a long time ago. Not that he knew if this mole was a man or anything…Might be a woman.

Conjuring himself a new cleaver, making sure it was made of steel, he pointed his blade towards the moles as his eyes wandered to where Marie was.

“It looks like she’ll be alright…”

Commenting internally, he looked over to the 3 remaining moles and brandished his cleaver. His eyes stared down the moles emotionlessly.

“Guchoo!”

Clashing its claws together, it commanded another one of its allies to attack him. Hesitating slightly, the mole dashed straight at him, spinning violently as it got closer. The metal blades merged together.

“G-Guchooo!”

With a shout filled with hesitation, the moles drill made contact, but not with his sword.

*Bwuek*

“G-Gucho?!”

Just like earlier, Alex easily conjured another block of the odd substance, trapping the incoming drill and stopping its movements entirely. As time passed on, the cube melted away and dripped onto the ground.

“Haaa!”

*Puchi!*

Taking advantage, he pinned the mole down and stabbed his blade straight into its neck. Blood came rushing out, cloaking his large blade in blood. His heart shook tensely.

With this, there were only two moles left! On his side that is.

Seeing that two of its allies had fallen, the leader mole clashed its claws together. The moles that were attacking Marie heard this, and two of the moles broke away and joined its leader.

Standing firmly, the moles sent a piercing gaze at him, who stood there unfazed.

“Gucho!”

Under the command of their leader, two of the moles dived down and dug into the soil. The leader mole brandished its claws and charged straight at him, its last minion following closely.

“Tch.”

Alex clicked his tongue and quickly reached out to his blade. Seeing this, the leader mole jumped into the air and held its claws together. The one remaining mole jumped up and kicked the leader mole, sending him flying towards him.

“What?!”

The leader mole began rotating violently, its figure blurring into that of a blue drill. Keeping his calm, he quickly took hold of his blade and jumped sideways.

*BOOM*

A large dust cloud was sent into the air upon contact. “Gucho!” Just as he was about to land, a mole from earlier came sprouting out, its claw pointed straight at him.

Holding his hand over his blade, he shielded himself with the cleaver’s blade. The sounds of clashing metal echoed once more.

“Gucho!”

The mole took hold of the blade, and threw it away, before diving back down into the soil. “Gucho!” The one remaining mole took this chance and rushed at him. Keeping his concentration, he slid past the incoming mole.

“Ha!”

To its surprise, a bright light exploded from under it, forcing it to look away. Using that, Alex tied a rope he conjured around its neck. Pinning the mole down to the ground, he forcefully pulled the rope, crushing apart the bones inside its neck.

Another kill!

“G-Gucho!”

Out from the ground, the emerged, with their leader looking straight at him. Clashing its claws together, it called the other moles. They immediately complied and stopped attacking Marie.

“Yosh…”

Now that all the attention was on him, he didn’t need to worry for Marie, who was panting heavily as her asteroids slowly crumbled away.

And now, it was purely them against Alex!

Taking a deep breath, Alex let go of his large cleaver, letting it drop onto the ground. With his finger stretched out, he activated his {Illustrator}.

“Gucho!”

Quickly, the five moles rushed to attack him in unison. The four moles led the charge, while the leader stayed closely behind.

“Kuh.”

Alex focused entirely on dodging, avoiding the many attacks the moles threw at him. Looking at it now, it seems the moles were getting desperate, but one misstep could still cause his death.

And then, from behind his back, he let a small cube go as he was dodging. Seeing this, the moles quickly sliced apart the cube, but on contact, the cube exploded into a cloud of mist. “Gucho?”

“Add another one...”

He said to himself jokingly as he threw in another cube, further exploding the mist, causing it to expand. “And now, the last ingredient.”

Conjuring one last cube, he threw the cube into the mist, and what happened after, was dazzling.

“G-Gucho?!”

An intense blue fire danced in the air. The air blazed a dazzling blue light as the screams of the moles were engulfed in the flames. Alex smiled triumphantly as he watched the blue fire.

“G-Guchoo…”

“…?”

Out from the fire, the leader mole weakly slouched and dropped onto the soil. Its scales were burnt up and most of its claws were melted. Half of its face was burnt completely.

His eyes displaying no emotions, he conjured a thick rope and tied it around the dying mole’s neck. Pinning down the mole with his leg, he forcefully pulled the rope up, breaking apart the mole’s spine!

And so, the battle ended a flare!

Letting out a silent sigh, he brought up his status.

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 15

Health: 77/157 (+52)

Mana: 53/202 (+67)

Strength: 66 (+22)

Intelligence: 81 (+27)

Resistance: 71 (+24)

Agility: 76 (+24) (+4)

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (31%)

{Blood Borne} Rank 2 (%)

[Agility] Rank 1 (36%)

[Cleaving] Rank 1 (16%)

[Blood Hound] Rank 1 (11%)

[Magic Manipulation] Rank 1 (13%)

[[Concentration]] Rank 1 (09%)

Titles:

(Blood Borne)|

“…Guess that’s over.”

…………

At that same exact time, back in the kingdom of [Tordge],

“Hah…hah…”

The day had already reached noon, the sun was at its peak. However, the light it gave off couldn’t break through the dense sea of clouds high above.

The ground below was painted in a large shadow. The wind was picking up slightly, the leaves blowing silently. Droplets of water dropped down onto the stone pavements.

The streets were quiet. It was empty, a void of people. The laughter of children, the exhausted voices of men, all sounds had disappeared as the sounds of splashing water overtook the air.

In the centre of it all, inside the large castle of the royal blood, the rough breathing of a man could be heard bouncing off the long hallways. The usually noisy castle grew eerily quiet.

“Hah…damnit…hah…”

Inside the west side of the castle, a soldier was panting heavily as he leaned his body against the cold stone wall. His face was covered in sweat and blood as his body shook from severe exhaustion.

Normally, this man would be wearing his helmet, carrying his sword and displaying his Sigil as a proud captain of this kingdom’s army. But at that moment, one would not be able to distinct him from an average soldier.

His once proud helmet was blown away, shattered into many pieces. His normally clean and neat blonde hair turned messy and dirty. His chest plate was heavily damaged, leaving his already bloody chest open to attacks. His durable body was highly damaged, blood slowly dripped out of his many wounds.

Panting heavily, he stared silently at the broken hallways. Clouds of dust rose into the air as small pieces of rubble fell from the shattered ceiling. A puddle of water began piling up from the rain.

But not far from him, he could see the dead bodies of other soldiers. Their bodies were torn apart, their limbs were bisected and thrown around like confetti. Blood splattered all across the broken and shattered walls.

The once beautiful castle he knew was blown away in an instant.

“I…must return…to his majesty…”

Gritting his teeth, he mustered up his remaining MP and fortified his injured legs. Fighting against the pain, he slowly made his way to the king’s room, moving past the broken areas of the castle.

Luckily, from the many holes in the walls, it didn’t seem like the city itself was damaged. He let out a sigh of relief knowing such a fact.

Using his bloody legs, he slowly made his way to the king’s door. But upon sight, his heart shook in fear, and his face warped in terror.

The once beautiful door, built with many carvings and fortifications, was completely blown away. The walls around it had completely collapsed.

And inside,

“Y-Your majesty!”

The once majestic throne room, was only barely holding on. The walls had many cracks on it, only being supported by some flimsy pillars. The many paintings and sigils placed along the walls were torn apart.

At the end of the room, he could see a group of people surrounding a single man. Beads of sweat rained down his face as he fought off the pain. Quickly, he rushed over to the group of people.

“C-Captain?!”

Upon sight, one of the soldiers in the room immediately stood up to salute, but stopped upon seeing the injured figure of his captain. The other people too turned around to see him, only to be horrified to see his injured state.

But he did not care!

“Your majesty!”

His whole body froze as his eyes fell upon the once proud king. His body was completely covered in scars, not that it wasn’t already. One of his eyes had been gouged out, and his right leg had disappeared completely.

His golden robe was torn apart, blown away to none-existence. An enormous amount of blood was rushing out of his scarred chest. The floor around him was painted red in blood.

“Your-, Gah?!”

“Please don’t move, captain!”

The soldier quickly tried to stop him, who suddenly felt an intense pain surging in his chest. It seems his MP wasn’t enough to stop his pain, as he bent over with his hands pressing against his chest.

“D…Damn…it…”

Cursing with his last breath, the world around him slowly faded black.