"Lawrence!!"

"Shiek!!"

The sound of metal harassing metal clanged loudly into the night. Winds blew as their strikes created sparks. The source of the noise? Two bold adventurers. One dressed in iron armor covered from head to toe. While the other maintained a sleek appearance, wrapped in leather and riddled with knives.

Her blonde hair glistened in the moonlight. From a spectators point of view, their movements seemed impossible to follow. Certainly, they were not the movements of two people recovering. They looked like two streaks of light. One blinding silver light that moved so fast, and one tiny streak of yellow intertwining with each other.

Shiek was naturally fast, however, Lawrence was doubly so. Just for training purposes, he had to reduce his speed to match hers. Both were still commendable.

At various times during their dance, it appeared as if Lawrence was dodging several things that weren't there. Over-exaggerated movements occurred with almost every swing of Shiek's blade. This was due to her hidden radius for Sever.

While it is true, it could cut through anything. Both of the participants were being entirely certain not to injure each other. If a hit might connect, she would turn the relic ability off and it would become just like any other normal knife.

Likewise, whenever Lawrence's sword would reach her, he would turn it onto its flat side. However, none of these precautions were necessary. They were continuing this highspeed blitz for an hour now. Not a single one of them had landed a fatal blow.

While Lawrence's relic granted him tremendous speed with which he could overwhelm Shiek, Shiek's relics were all one hit kills. All it really took was one single strike to connect with bludgeon- or if you're equally unlucky, Sever.

Gradually, as they were drawn into each other's paces, the sounds of metal on metal grew faster. The pitch became higher, and the light- thinner.

A break-away occurred in their fight once Shiek put 250 pounds of force into Bludgeon. Lawrence had managed to block it with his shield, but the impact was still immense. They both pushed back and took the moment to breathe, panting heavily.

It looked almost poetic how the moon shined down upon them. With a ferocious shout, they collided again and continued their movements.

Their training continued like such for several hours before they were both entirely exhausted and lay beside each other, panting heavily.

The moon had long gone and the sound of cicada and birds slowly began to drown the forest.

They technically were not supposed to be moving yet. The soreness in their bodies was not yet alleviated and they needed time for their muscles to heal. Yet here they both were, training their heart's content and ignoring all pleas of the body.

Shiek closed his eyes, to think that she would one day fail Kars. Impossible. Impossibilities should only ever be broken once. She can not allow such an occurrence to happen again. Under any circumstances.

She owed Kars quite a lot. A lot more than she could ever bear to repay. Back then, that world of darkness she knew, Kars became the one blinding light to pull her out of it.

She had grown up in a small city in Yorba. The city that lacked funds, that lacked rules...Lawless City, Ei'lan. In that dark sanctuary, it seemed to rain 24/7. The days that it didn't rain, the sun refused to visit.

She remembered being just 8 years old and having to watch her mother leave nightly and return in the morning with bruises and various aches and pains. It was the only way she could make money. Over in Ei'lan, you're either rich, or you're dust.

There was never an in-between. Even if one wanted to leave that city, there was so much shady business happening that people who leave usually end up abducted in the streets and sold to some outlandish slave trade.

Truly, out of all the crimes fate had committed, the creation of that city rested at the very top. When she was 8 years old, her mother finally died. Death from exhaustion. She must have realized that her days were coming to an end, for she left behind the last bit of money she could muster.

Shiek was not a child who was ignorant of the world. She knew she could not stay in Lawless City. She also knew she needed to protect herself. Even daily, when her mother came home to sleep, she had practiced and practiced with a knife over and over again.

It was her way of fighting through her demons. Each of her imaginary adversaries, her fears were constantly struck down by her knife. It wasn't until after her mother's passing did it gain a taste for real flesh.

The disgusting pig. The money she had was money paid in advance. The man had come to reclaim his dues but insisted that she finish her mother's job. He must have seen her as an easy target... that had to be it. As he salivated and drooled over her, thinking of all manner of perverse actions, she feigned fear.

In truth, all her fears had already been killed. Each night in her imagination, she had prepared to kill these strange shadowy creatures that represented every threat to her. From then on, that's exactly how she saw the world. Just a huge collection of shadowy creatures all waiting to get their way with her.

She instantly slew the man, aiming right for the vitals and continued to stab away at him until he couldn't move any longer. At the instant that the blade penetrated flesh, real flesh, Shiek felt nothing at all. Only that it was too easy.

She continued on this path of taking whatever she wanted, killing all the monsters that appeared before her, and grew a habit of removing heads entirely. After all, how could you slay a monster without making sure its entirely dead?

Her movements got better, her speed got better, her efficiency with the blade got better. Soon there was not a single name in Lawless City that did not know of the "Head-Hunter, Shiek."

It was a name that held terror for all who heard it. That city had introduced her to darkness. In turn, she introduced the whole city to darkness.

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The rest of her years passed by rapidly. It was like she was on auto-pilot. Maneuvering through the dark city, killing monsters and madmen alike. She held zero mercy. Slave-traders, Brothel-keepers, Sex-traffickers, she continued to mow through them. Everyone else...-did not exist.

She could only see the bad and the rich. Both were often times synonymous. Before she knew it, ten years had passed She had supporters who owed their lives to her. And many praised her actions. Some even gave her gifts. The very first gift she had received was from a noble family nonetheless.

The twin blades, Bludgeon & Sever. However, with a death toll reaching 300, eventually, she would reach the ears of some powerful people.

Upon reaching 18, it became the very first fateful encounter with Kars, the golden knight.

That day...she could remember it quite well.

"Why am I thinking about that at a time like this..."

That day when Lawrence arrived in Lawless City, it was the very first time she had seen a light so blinding. His armor shimmered within the darkness despite the fact that the sun could never pierce the thick clouds. She was amongst the crowd that saw his arrival.

She didn't care much for the stories of The Silver Knight or other tales of heroes. They had never existed in Lawless City. Or if they did, they never cared to solve problems.

Kars, who was smiling gleefully locked eyes with her in the crowd and she felt an instant of fear run through her. How long had it been...8 years? 10 years? She hadn't felt fear in such a long time.

She had no need to fear though. Not a single person truly knew how Shiek looked. She had masked her face when performing exterminations.

Kars had stayed for a month in Lawless City, apparently just waiting for Shiek to go for his head. It wasn't until an abduction situation that she engaged Kars in combat.

She had assumed that Kars was finally making his move. Anyone that rich would surely be corrupt like the rest. Much to her dismay, she was entirely outclassed. Through and through.Like toying with a child. Impossible.

This was perhaps the strongest monster she had ever had to slay. Yet, he didn't give the appearance of a monster. Unlike the shadowy silhouettes of everyone else, she could see his face and features perfectly. Why?

It wasn't long into the fight until she realized...she was the monster in the situation. She was the silhouette. She had submerged herself in darkness for so long, she didn't even realize. Her whole world was viewed through a lens of black.

Kars had managed to tank and parry all of her hits with bludgeon and sever. It was all over. She had lost both of her weapons, was outclassed in speed, and skill. Kars stood there with his sword drawn at her neck. The words he said next was not what she expected to hear.

"The Head-Hunter huh... I was wondering when we might meet again." Instead, he offered her his hand.

"You don't have to live in darkness in order to save others." He had remembered seeing her the very first day he arrived. Those eyes she had when they peered into each other had already given her away. He knew right then and there that she was the Head-Hunter.

"Why...won't you kill me?"

"Because, even though your eyes are so full of darkness, you only seek to take out evil. That's why you're here no? Not to kill me, but to save them."

"Your eyes are that of someone who could bear so much pain and still not lose sight of her goals. Come with me."

"I believe, you have much light you can spread."

"You can be someone of value."

That day, she couldn't have known how much of an impact those words would have on her. Kars later slew his patron under charges of corruption and gave a report on the true state of affairs in Lawless City. Shiek had followed him to the very edge of the city and was content in following him to the ends of the world.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

"Why am I thinking about something like that...at this time?" Shiek thought, panting.

"Oh..that's right. Heh, those plague children." she laughed softly to herself.

"They had eyes a lot like mine, huh?"

                                                             ____________________________

"Lawrence! Please wake up!"

Lawrence's eyes shot open as he glanced around the room. "We have some grave news..."

The servants looked frantic. He had no idea what she was about to say, but of course, he had already prepared for the worst of news. This was years ago. He and all his brothers were surprised by the news that came from the servant's mouth.

"Y-your father... the head mage Archemedius... has perished in battle."

"What! HOW?!" All three of them exclaimed. 

"Blasphemous!"

The war was just reaching its conclusion. There should have been no one skilled enough to kill him. Nor his group leader. He had survived this far without breaking even a single sweat in all the wars. Who in the world could have-

"Additionally... Helix Kelshung perished in battle." 

Their faces went pale. "Helix...Kelshung? Helix lost?" 

They all realized what this meant. The monster and one of the most powerful magicians taken down within one battle. Insane. It was, to them, an impossibility. 

Of course, for those who think of the impossible, they are constantly reminded how wrong they are. In this world of magic and relics...nothing was an impossibility.

The Kelshung and the Roricks family have had a partnered relationship for generations. Their fathers, their father's fathers, and their grandfather's grandfathers all served with the Kelshung family. It was a strange alliance. 

But it was one that they would prefer not to lose. At this time, Lawrence was just Ten years of age. He had no idea how much the world changed. As generations passed, even the Kelshungs were being upshown by new prodigious talent.

"So..who was it?"

"An no-name variant from Duria. Duria refuses all responsibility for the both of their deaths and has marked the man a rogue who left their school of the arcane 2 years ago."

"They both...perished...by a no-name?"

Enraged Lawrence stomped onto the ground and shouted in defiance. "Impossible! Archemedius would never lose! NEVER!" His teary eyes glared at the servant as if the servant had conjured up these lies.

"You have my condolences young master." He bowed before him and hugged him.

Lawrence could only strike at the servant in anger, lashing out and crying at the realization that his father was dead. His brothers, who had practiced the Arcane arts from their father all lost will to fight after that. They were only 16, 20, and 25, but they had no desire to persue the world of combat.

Their father was dead. They had all the fortune in the world. What use was learning to fight, if all it amounts to is an unexpected death. The fact that both he and the Kelshung were to die, means that no matter the amount of power you have. Impossibilities do not exist. You are never safe.

Lawrence didn't see things that way. Perhaps it was naivety, or perhaps it was a burning desire to reach the heights his brothers thought impossible. But he continued to train. Of all the ancient relics his family had, he much rather loved Acceli.

With this speed...if he can just keep enhancing his range on the relic, keep enhancing his speed, he will attain power beyond what he could imagine. He'll be so fast nothing can touch him. He can save everyone. These were the thoughts flowing through his mind.

He trained and trained and trained.

Then the day came when he was visited by a Kelshung yet again. The Kelshungs had heard that none of the remaining Roricks family had any fight left in them. They had all retired to a life of peacefulness. However, when Kars visited the estate, he came to find that Lawrence was much like someone who had all but given up.

"The Kelshungs have always been partners to our family. When the two of us come together, there is never a challenge you cannot beat."

This was the phraise his father had constantly told them as they grew up. He was too young to learn magic back then, but surely, he was entirely prepared to learn from Kars. He was entirely prepared to reach that newer height that his father once sat upon.

"From this day forward, Kars. I swear to uphold your duties. I will not fail you."

The promise he had spoken back then. To think he had to renege on that promise. That mission could only be called a failure. It was only consolidated by the fact that Kars too even failed that mission.

That day Ora had awoken the strange power, it showed him yet again, nothing was impossible. Yet again, in this crazy world, a no-name was able to hold a candle to one of the world's biggest flames.