As people began to return to town from the forest they were immediately greeted by the local libraries' otherworldly glow.

Strange colors that they'd never before seen flashed through the sky and loud music playing in reverse echoed throughout the streets.

The entire city block around the library had been blocked off by police officers who were in as much shock as the citizens were.

In the entire town of Albur only two people weren’t confused by this site, without hesitation they leapt over the police blockade and sprinted into the library.

# # #

Julius and Kanashi crashed through the library's front. Upon entering the already bone rattling music seemed to increase in volume. The Libraries furniture which had been levitating in the air flew towards Julius who immediately cut them down with [Corvus].

The larger furniture like metal bookcases and sofas traveled slow enough for Kanashi to destroy them with his [Mana Pistol]. Despite the incoming bombardment of thrown furniture Julius pushed forwards with Kanashi right behind him.

“What the hell is going on in here!?” Kanashi asked as he blew apart another metal bookcase.

“They’re trying to perform the [Ritual] now!” Julius replied. “This situation is being caused by the over abundant amount of mana being clustered here!”

“Damnit!” Kanashi spat leaping over a pile of ruined furniture. So they’re still sucking mana from the townspeople even though Julius cut the threads? Maybe the cult was able to repair it? No, it's only been like 30 minutes since Julius severed them. I don't think they’d have enough time to repair the whole thing so it must be using only a percentage of its total length. But if everyone is clustered outside to watch this then that might just be enough! As Kanashi thought this they entered the back half of the library which had an entirely different atmosphere to it. There was a thick miasma that overtook them. It was suffocating and full of negative emotions.

But that wasn't all, blocking their path forwards to the back of the library where the ritual was being performed stood a barrier. One which Kanashi sensed to be strong enough to repel even an anti aircraft missile.

“I’ll handle the Cult! You need to destroy the summoning circle!” Julius called out. While still running he sheathed Corvus at his side and withdrew [Gaius]. He leaped forward at the barrier and slammed Gaius down onto it.

The barrier shattered from [Gaius]’s impact and the library was split in half, the entire town shaking as if an earthquake had struck.

With the barrier destroyed the final door was now visible, Julius slammed through the door and without hesitation swung Gaius at the first person he saw inside. That person was the cults leader who was wearing a white robe that obscured their face.

From behind the cult leader came a transparent black hand which clashed with Gaius pushing Julius back some before he severed it.

“Kanashi!” Julius called out jumping back and next to Kanashi who nodded.

“Yeah!” Kanashi yelled, creating a finger gun with his hand.

As if on cue both Julius and Kanashis [Observation] flashed red, something from above was coming down onto them.

Kanashi forced his aura to gather around him closely and spike upwards towards the ceiling. As his aura shot upwards the [Stone] which Julius had warned of appeared. [Mana Pistol!] Kanashi blew the stone to bits as soon as it had materialized while Julius using Gaius cleaved the one above him.

“!?’ The cult leader let out a gasp of shock upon seeing how easily they dealt with his [Crushing Stone]. Especially Kanashi who had changed the shape of his aura. Something not many people were capable of doing and at his age it was even more impressive of a feat.

The Cult Leader sent out his [Chaos Hands], a dozen large transparent black hands shot from his back at Kanashi but Julius leapt in the way with [Gaius] cutting them down.

“The circle!” Julius called out.

“Got it!” Kanashi replied, running over to the large glowing pentagram on the opposite of the room.

# # #

Despite Julius having cut the [Chaos Hands] more appeared, double what had previously formed. Is it like a Hydra? The more I cut down the more will grow back? He wondered.

As the hands came at him Julius used [Crescent Moon Style: Cardinal Severance], with a diagonal slash quickly followed by a horizontal one he cut the [Chaos Hands]. But once again they regrew and Julius furrowed his brow in frustration. I must have to cut them all at the same time. He thought while preparing his next move as the hands once again shot at him.

By now there were twenty four in total and they seemed to surround the room, but none went after Kanashi who had run across the room to destroy the magic circle.

They must have the restriction of only being able to attack one target at a time, perfect! Julius thought and ducked down right as the hands reached for him.

[Crescent Moon Style: Total Reverse Severance!] As Julius ducked down he quickly spun himself and Gaius around in a circle pushing his blade upwards at an angle.

In a flash all of the [Chaos Hands]were severed at the same time from their under arm. This time instead of regenerating the hands stayed destroyed meaning Julius was right about needing to destroy them at once to keep them down.

Without pause Julius leapt at the Cult Leader and using [Crescent Moon Style: Smiling Lunar Crater] he smashed the man's chest inwards with the flat side of Gaius.

The cult leader sprayed blood from his mouth as he was sent flying backwards and into the room's brick wall.

“You’re done.” Julius said, pointing Gaius at the leader's throat.

“Kehehehe.” The cult leader giggled. His robes hood had fallen back revealing his face. His sunken eyes were almost completely white except for tiny black specks of a pupil in the center of each one. He had a long white goatee that reached his chest and slicked back black hair.

“Even if I fail, our lord will not forget my efforts. I don't fear death in the slightest!” The man laughed wildly.

“Good, because you’ll have a lot of time to reflect upon your death inside the Venator Towers prison.” Julius spat with a look of disgust.

# # #

Kanashi looked down at the growing summoning circle before him. It was a large circle composed of many smaller inner rings with runes scattered across. Some of the runes were large and others were small, it was the most stereotypical summoning circle you could imagine.

[Water Hazard!] Kanashi shot a stream of boiling water from his hand with pressure equal to a fire hose. But the circle absorbed his spell. No, it had sucked the mana out from it, reducing his spell to nothing.

Shit! So the more magic I use to try and destroy this then the more I’ll just be feeding it!? To test his theory out Kanashi used [Mana Pistol] on the circle which it quickly devoured the mana of.

“Julius!” Kanashi called out looking behind him as Julius bound the cults' now defeated leader in [Sealing Chains].

“What!?” Julius yelled back.

“I can’t destroy it! It absorbs the mana from my magic!”

“Then we’ll have to move it out of range!” Julius said, jumping up and charging over to the circle. He used Gaius to stab the stone floor the summoning circle laid on and pried it up off the ground. Using one hand he picked up the massive stone tile he’d just carved out and sheathed Gaius. “Follow me!” He said sprinting out of the library.

Kanashi tried to keep up with Julius but he was too fast. Even though he had that heavy stone tablet in his hand he was running at the speed a Jaguar would. He pumped his legs with [Enhancement] just to keep himself a few meters behind Julius all the while gasping for air and feeling like he was going to puke.

They ran through the forest for what seemed like hours but was probably one a few minutes until the summoning circle stopped glowing completely.

“We left its range.” Julius said without even a hint of exhaustion. He threw the tile onto the floor and stomped on it. The tile shattered like glass would and the circle was broken up into many pieces.

[HellStorm!] Kanashi burnt the pieces of stone until they crumbled from just the night's breeze alone. The sun had set by now and the three moons in the sky shone brightly down upon them.

“Ha-ha-ha.” Kanashi panted leaning up against a tree and spitting out phlegm.

“I’m impressed you managed to keep up so well.” Julius said, patting Kanashi on the back.

“Barley.” Kanashi croaked back with a dry cough. “I feel like I’m gonna die!”

“Don't worry you’ll be fine.” Julius laughed, wiping the sweat from his own forehead. “We managed to stop the summoning and restrain the cult so our mission is complete for now.”

“What about all the other stuff like the tunnels?” Kanashi asked, catching his breath.

“I’ll make a call to El-Saber and he’ll probably assign Sector Alpha to clean the rest up. The only other thing we have to do now is write a report on what we did.”

“I didn’t have to do that with Jin.” Kanashi muttered trying to remember what he and Jin did after finishing their mission.

“Doesn’t surprise me. He probably threw it at Harold and told him to complete it.”

“Harold? Oh, Eugene yeah I know him… poor guy I’ll have to buy him a present or something when we get back.”

“He’d like that.” Julius laughed in response.

“Yeah.” Kanashi sighed, feeling normal again.

“!!!”

Kanashis observation flashed red, no that’d be an understatement. His entire being flashed red as something approached them from within the forest. He felt his entire body begin to tremble from the overwhelming alien nature of whatever was coming towards them.

Julius drew Gaius and tensed every muscle in his body looking towards the alien creature's presence.

Kanashi could only describe this thing as alien because it lacked what every living thing he’d met to this point had, a Soul. Whatever this thing was, it was wrong. Unnatural in every way just from the vibe it emitted.

After an eternity the thing emerged from the forest brush, it was a massive being in the shape of a man. Its skin had a bluish tint with large cracks running down it and atop its head was pink spiky hair messily swept back over shaved sides. Its eyes were its most haunting feature. Two soulless pits unfit to be called eyes, they were more like a camera's lens.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE TITAN!?” Julius screamed out, His voice cracked with fear and hatred. Julius aura grew so intense it shattered the floor beneath him from the overwhelming pressure it exhumed.

“Lord Randolph requested that I investigate the rumors of a cult of Quek out here in rural Afurenthos. But I didn’t expect to see you here Felix."

“Don't call me by that name!” Julius roared shakily pointing Gaius at Titan.

“And you are?” Titan asked, looking at Kanashi.

Kanashi gulped as the hollow black eyes of the beast known as Titan stared at him. His knees shook violently and he knew they were bound to buckle under him at any moment. Hell his bladder was ready to explode as well.

What the hell is that thing!? Why is it so weird? Why is it lacking a soul? Why are its eyes so hollow and its body look to be carved from stone? I can’t even move let alone fight this thing and Julius is shaking just as bad as I am. Julius called it Titan? Things like this exist in our world? It’s…. Just so… this feeling of palpable dread… It’s unbearable.

“Gurrah!” Julius leapt from the ground with a roar. The ground shattered beneath him from the power he sprung up with. [Wolf Fang Style: Lupus!] Gaius flew with a blur towards Titans neck but Titan threw up his arm to block the slash.

“CRACK!”

The forest rang with the sound of metal clashing metal and Titan swung his arm throwing back Julius.

Titan took a swing at Julius who ducked backwards bringing Gaius along with him. Julius crouched down and used [Crescent Moon Style: Lepus Gibbous]. He smashed Gaius’s blade into Titans leg which resulted in an echo that made all the trees in the area shake like they would if a tornado was overhead.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Kanashi!” Julius screamed, jumping back and grabbing the trembling Kanashi. Julius threw Kanashi over his shoulder and sprinted into the forest gunning it at breakneck speed back towards Albur.

“What the hell was that thing!?” Kanashi asked as his face was blown back by the wind. Julius was running at nearly three times the speed he had before.

“It’s a long story that I’ll tell you later but he’s real bad luck right now! I’m gonna drop you off at Albur and then run back to fight him. While I keep him preoccupied, call Jinen here immediately!” Julius said, his throat trembling and sweat dripping down his face.

“I can't do that! That thing is going to kill you!” Kanashi argued.

“That’s fine! As long as he dies in the end my death is a small price to pay! Now promise you’ll do as I said and call Jinen!”

Kanashi didn't respond, instead biting his lip hard enough that blood trickled down his chin. “Alright…” He sighed.

“!”

Up in the sky Kanashi saw Titan coming down onto them like a missile homing in on its target. “Julius!” He cried out.

“Tch.” Julius spat, throwing Kanashi off his shoulder into the forest brush and turning around to confront Titan.

Titan slammed down onto the floor with a crash. The impact of his landing made tree roots shoot up into the air along with bits of rubble.

Had he really just jumped in the direction they were running and found them that easily?

“Kanashi when I say so, get down!” Julius commanded.

“Got it!” Kanashi yelled back between chattering teeth as he stared at Titan.

“We didn’t get to finish talking Felix, I’m hurt.” Titan said with a laugh and wide smile.

“A demon like you has no emotions, you’re not even alive!” Julius yelled, gripping Gaius as tight as he could.

At those words Titan frowned and his brows narrowed, meanwhile Gaius began to emit a bright light. A unique powerful aura different from Julius's.

“Down!” Julius roared, he shot into the air and the power from his leap made the tree's leaves drop like flies from above.

Kanashi ducked down right as Gaius struck onto Titans thick skin resulting in a sound similar to that of two trains colliding at full speed.

[Crescent Moon Style: Wolf Moon!]

“Chichichi!” Titan laughed, swinging the arm he’d blocked Julius' attack with upwards and throwing Julius back.

Julius smashed to the ground and spun around and slammed Gaius into Titans chest. [Wolf Fang Style: Black Jackal!]

“!” Titan was thrown back by the force of Julius’s attack and he flew backwards through a dozen or so trees until catching himself and skidding across the forest floor.

“You’ve gotten a lot stronger!” Titan smiled and let out a howling laugh.

Julius dashed towards Titan and swung Gaius at his stomach [Wolf Fang Style: Dire Claw!].

Though the [Dire Claw] form was created with the intention to gut your opponent Julius knew that it was pointless against somebody like Titan whose entire body is like that of flexible steel. Instead Julius wanted to rupture Titans organs but he’d made a fatal error. Titans reach was far greater than his speed could make up for.

Titan threw his hand downwards clutching Julius’s torso in his hand, he picked Julius up and raised him above his head, then with a single clean and quick motion he threw Julius down onto the ground with a crash.

Julius bounced off the floor, spraying blood from his mouth and the injuries which decorated his body.

“Julius!” Kanashi yelled out, conjuring Itachi and taking an aggressive stance.

“Go!” Julius cried out with a mouthful of blood.

I’m sorry Julius but I can just sit here and watch you die without even trying! Thought Kanashi as he closed his eyes. He poured every bit of mana he had into Itachi sparing not even a drop.

“For real?” Titan said, raising his eyebrow in surprise.

[Kyoyu Style: Yuuka!] From the blade of Itachi a gargantuan emission of mana flew out towards Titan. The entire forest was engulfed in a bright orange flash as the attack soared into Titan.

Titan threw up his hand grabbing the massive emission. He held it in his hand as it sizzled against his unnatural skin like oil does in a frying pan. Tian smiled nervously as he felt himself being slowly pushed back by the blast of mana which burned his flesh.

Seeing an opportunity Julius forced all of his strength into lifting himself off the ground. In a single motion he grabbed Gaius and spun around slamming the flat side of it into Titans chest as hard as he could. [Crescent Moon Style: Smiling Lunar Crater!]

Titan was thrown backwards ripping through the forest leaving a massive cloud of dust behind him that reached into the sky. He had been thrown hundreds of meters back giving Julius enough time to turn to Kanashi and tell him “Go now!”

Kanashi nodded his head and turned to run towards Albur, “Don't die-” but he was cut off as a log flew from the direction Titan had been thrown and smashed into his head. Kanashi fell to the floor instantly with blood quickly forming a pool under his head as he laid there.

“!?” Julius curled his bottom lip upwards in a panic as his eyes widened.

“...”

“...”

“Keh!” Kanashi wheezed from the ground which made Julius sigh in relief. He was only unconscious for now but that meant Julius was in an even tougher spot.

He had to kill Titan here and now, the overwhelming monster who was considered the 2nd most powerful being in the Vulracious Empire second to only the Emperor Randolph himself. But this is what he had been prepared for, the restriction he placed on himself to only kill those affiliated with Randolph or Randolph himself. He had also formed a contract with [Gaius] which read the same.

Such a restriction made him many times more powerful when fighting Randolph and those associated with him. He could do this, he knew he could.

“He’s better than I thought.” Titan groaned walking out of the forest from the path he’d created by crashing through it.

“Thanks for that, now I don't have to worry about him getting in the way.” Julius said with a nervous smile and sweat dripping down his cheek.

“!”

As if teleporting Julius appeared in front of Titan and swung Gaius at him with a mad barrage of many sword forms. Julius moved with such speed it looked as though he was wielding a dozen swords at once.

Titan attempted to grab Gaius but Julius ducked down and spun around, throwing Gaius upwards and into the underneath of Titans arms, slicing it open with a spray of dark blue blood. [Crescent Moon Style: Total Reverse Severance!]

Blood!? Titan thought in awe before smiling maliciously and suddenly taking in a massive gasp of air.

“!”

Julius, knowing what was next tried to jump back but Titan was faster and released a brain rattling scream. The force his scream carried made the ground below them shatter and the surrounding trees fall over and snap.

Julius’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and blood sprayed from his ears. He stood motionless with Gaius loosely in his hand while Titan loomed above him.

“Not yet…” Julius muttered, clenching his teeth.

Titans eyes widened in surprise at this and he let out a small laugh being greatly impressed.

“I, Julius Phoenicia, the last member of the Phoenicia clan will kill you like you did my everything!” Julius cried, swinging Gaius towards Titan a final time.

This single strike with no proper form or added magical power behind it was stronger than any of his other attacks combined. Bolts of black and red mana flew from Gaius as it smashed into Titans side digging into him more like a baseball bat than a sword would.

[Deus Ex Machina!]

As Gaius caved into Titans side there was a loud crunching sound indicating the lethality of the blow. Titan spewed out blue blood that reeked of strong chemicals and fell to one knee.

“You little bastard!” Titan growled, grabbing Julius by his shoulders and neck.

Julius’s hair was matted down with blood and his teeth chattered from the immense pain he felt but he still stared into Titans eyes with enough Visceral hatred to kill a man just by just looking at him.

[Deus Ex Machina], a 1 in 10 million chance. An occurrence so rare it’s said that those who activate it were chosen by God himself. This phenomena occurs when one's soul and body converge perfectly for just a brief moment. In that brief second the persons attack is amplified by a multiplier of x25. The more correct term would be [Critical Hit].

Titan clenched his teeth so hard that his molars cracked, the pain was severe and the damage even worse. Half of his organs had been ruptured and were slowly repairing themselves over time. Julius however, amplified by the sudden burst of aura from [Deus Ex Machina] was healing faster and entered the [Abyssal Zone] , something in which the person affected's whole being is focused on winning.

He needed to Kill Julius here and now with a final attack, he was going to squeeze Julius in his hand and crush him.

# # #

“GUAAH!” Kanashi cried with a guttural scream. He held his bleeding head with his two little hands as a large pool of blood grew under him staining the dirt below a murky brown color.

Standing above Kanashi was a young boy maybe around the age of nine clutching a wooden baseball bat splattered with blood.

“!”

The sounds of a woman gasping caught the boy's attention and he looked to see his mother running over to him and Kanashi with a face painted in anxiety.

“Frairk!” She cried diving to the ground and picking up Kanashi whose little body she cradled against her. “Why would you hit Kanashi with a bat!?” She asked, angrily and rubbing the sobbing Kanashis back.

The young boy Frairk dropped the wooden bat he’d been holding and held up his arm. “Because he bit me!” He yelled showing his mother the fresh tooth marks on his forearm.

“You should have come and told me! Don’t just go hitting your four year old brother with a bat!” His mother yelled her face bright red. She turned her attention to her youngest son Kanashi and quickly searched through his wet blackened hair looking for any serious wounds.

“It hurts!” Kanashi screamed, clutching his mothers shirt which was now bright red from Kanashis blood.

“I know it does honey, I'm so sorry.” She said, kissing his forehead.

Frairk silently watched this scene play out feeling guilt creep into his stomach.

# # #

“You’re not gonna hit me?” Frairk asked, looking at his bedroom's floor while kicking his legs off the side of the bed.

“Of course not Frey, you know your mothers the violent one.” His father said with a sigh. “Do you know why he bit you?” He asked pushing up his glasses and looking at Frairks frowning face.

“I told him he couldn’t go to the park with me and my friends. He started crying and asking me to go over and over again so I got angry and pushed him… Then he grabbed my arm and bit it so I grabbed the baseball bat out of the toy box and hit him with it.”

“Oh I see…” Their father said, rubbing his stubbled chin. “Frairk, I’m a younger brother like Kanashi is and like him I too always wanted to play with my older brothers. Of course they didn’t want me to play with them so we got into fights about stuff like this all the time… But I can’t say they ever hit me with a baseball bat so I’m at a loss for words here…”

“If you’re a little brother then how come you’re not annoying like Kanashi?”

“Well according to your mother I’m still annoying.” Their father said with a laugh. “But I just want you to know that Kanashi isn't annoying you because he doesn't like you or wants to make you mad. He’s only doing it because he loves you and wants to spend time with you.”

“Well I don't love him!” Frairk huffed, turning his head away with a frown. He knew it wasn't true but he was angry and wanted to be mean to vent out his frustration.

“Don't let your mother hear you say that.” Their father said with a grimace, “Not even I can save you from that beating… but even if right now you don't think you love him, he still loves you.” He said pointing to the tiny crack in the door frame. “Look right there.”

Frairk looked where his father indicated and saw Kanashis beady little blue eyes peeking through the small gap between the door and its frame. Silently watching them.

“When me and your mom die the only one of us you'll have left will be him.”

“What about when I die? will he be alone?”

“No, He’ll have friends and a new family to keep him busy and you’ll leave behind a new family like me and your mom who you’ll have spent time with.”

“I don't want any of you to die…”

“Well if that’s the case you shouldn't go around hitting your brother with a bat!” Their father said standing up and stretching his arms and back. “But don't worry, Like I said, when me and your mother eventually aren't here anymore you’ll still have Kanashi and you two can talk about the memories you have with us and laugh. That’s the thing siblings do.” Their father finished before opening the door. He looked down into the crystal clear blue eyes of Kanashi who was looking back up at him with a smile. “Now come on let's get you to bed.” He said cheerfully, reaching down and picking Kanashi up.

“Good night Frairk, Love you!” Kanashi called out with a smile and wave.

“Good night, L-Love you too…” Frairk called back feeling a slight stab of shame in his heart.

# # #

Kanashis eyes shot open and he stared up into the starry night sky between the many tree branches and leaves above him. He felt an oddly nostalgic feeling around the back of his head, that of warm blood pooling around a throbbing wound. Wincing in pain he forced himself to sit up.

“You little bastard!” He heard Titan yell out.

Kanashi turned his head and saw Titan gripping Julius tightly and Julius struggling as he was being crushed by the vice-like grip of their inhuman foe.

Kanashi clenched his teeth and stood up as best he could. He straightened his stance and took a deep breath before shouting into the dark night. “JIN HE’S RIGHT HERE!” He screamed with his phone flipped open and pressed against his ear.

“!”

Titan dropped Julius and looked over to Kanashi who seemed to be full of confidence with a smile that said “Just you wait.”

“Tch, you stupid little bastard!” Titan croaked clutching the wound to his side. He leapt backwards putting a distance between himself and Julius. He gave them a final look this time his alien eyes were of malice and hatred. Then as quickly as he had appeared he disappeared leaping off into the distance leaving a trail of blood behind him as he went.

After a few minutes of waiting Kanashi limped over to Julius and fell down onto the floor next to him.

“Is Jinen really coming?” Julius asked.

“Nah, I don't even have a signal out here.” Kanashi laughed, showing Julius the large red exclamation mark across his phone's screen.

“Hehe, how stupid.” Julius laughed quietly. The pair's laughter quickly grew in volume until both of them were cackling with tears in the corner of their eyes.

“You know that only worked because he can’t use observation right?” Julius asked.

“Yeah, I figured he can’t use magic since he doesn't have a soul.”

Julius laughed once again before settling down and standing up which Kanashi copied.

“I accept you.” Julius said, patting Kanashi on the shoulder.

“Hm?” Kanashi hummed tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“Only someone from the Venator Society could think of something stupid like that and make it work.”

“Oh, that’s what you mean!” Kanashi said, connecting the dots in his head. “Hmm, you know I didn't think I’d care if you accepted me or not in the end but I have to say this actually feels kinda good.” Kanashi muttered, placing his hand over his heart.

“Yeah, this kinda does. doesn't it?” Julius sighed with a smile.

# # #

Jin quickly arrived on the scene once he got the phone call, he brought with him a few hundred other members of the Venator Society mostly being a part of his Sector Alpha.

The small town of Albur was overrun with the equivalent of the magical men in black. People were curious about what all the commotion was but something about a gas leak causing the town's population to hallucinate because of oxygen deprivation was enough to settle the majority down. They most likely didn't believe that was the truth but just having an answer was better than nothing.

Jin had immediately scouted for Titan. He searched the entire country in only three hours but because of Titan lacking a Soul his [Pure Eyes] made it no different than someone trying to spot a needle in a haystack from a mile away.

“He’s probably already left the country with an old teleportation circle hidden somewhere.” Jin reasoned to Julius who agreed.

“If anyone knows where they’d be hidden it’d be Randolph.” Julius said with a defeated sigh.

“Welp, there’s not much we can do about it right now even though it's super annoying. If I could have it my way I would go over there and break down the castle doors to kill him.” Jin shrugged before returning into the library.

While Julius and Jin had talked, Kanashi silently sat on the floor with his head in his knees. For the first time in his life he experienced a scenario in which he could have actually died. With the Witch he had Jin there to bail him out in an emergency but now he’d met someone neither he nor his guardian Julius could defeat.

He’d seen how strong Julius was, a [Master] ranked member of the Venator Society. Someone capable of killing an entire army by themselves. Yet that wasn't enough to defeat Titan. Someone Jin could have killed with a flick of his finger.

This was the world he’d been put in and he wasn't at all up to its standard. Julius could have cleared this whole mission by himself in a few hours if he didn’t need to babysit Kanashi. If Julius was Around Hayais level and they both were many times weaker than Titan then what the hell was he doing here?

He’d learned about magic and how to use it and sure he wasn't the best at it by any means but he’d gotten comfortable. Found himself a nice little foot hold where he was confident in his own ability but those abilities did nothing in the end when it really mattered.

I guess it’s my own fault for expecting me to be more talented than I am. I just need to focus on my weaknesses and create ways to boost myself in those categories… He thought with a sigh.

“Well, our job is done.” Julius said, sitting down next to Kanashi on the bench.

“No one's hurt?”

“Nope, we’re all good on that part.”

“I see, that's good…”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“...”

“Say Julius, why don't you use magic?”

“Because I was taught by my family it wasn’t needed for a swordsman. Of course that’s nothing but a foolish idea. There are plenty of times in my life that magic would’ve been useful.”

“Is Titan related to your family?”

“...” Julius didn’t respond, his eyes turned down words and bottom lip raised.

“Never mind sorry I asked.” Kanashi said, putting his head in his hands once again.

“No, it’s fine, I just need to think about where to even begin… I said I’d tell you about him earlier and I didn't forget.”

“Don't worry about it, it seems like a sore topic so I don't want to push it if you’re not comfortable discussing it.”

“It’s not something I like talking about but I think it’s something you should know about. You’re a part of this world now whether I like it or not so you should know just as much as everyone else does about me and my past.”

With that Julius began to tell Kanashi the story of his life up to that point.