[A few minutes before the death of Dominic Acker Junior]

A school of oversized tuna fish fell from the sky while shooting large water bullets at several groups of mercenaries. The teams were forced to break their ranks, dodge, and then group back together in order to counterattack.

Thankfully, they had practiced zealously since the massacre in the south for exactly such an occasion. Half the fish were shot down by mages and archers while many of the remainders were cut down upon landing. Some escaped, but that was not a problem.

“They’ll be back.” The one-armed mercenary smirked and swung his katana to get rid of the blood. It was a family heirloom given to his ancestor by a member of the nine tailed tribe. Unfortunately, that species was among the first to be corrupted.

‘What are they doing?’ he wondered upon seeing some teens bickering a few hundred feet in the direction of the wall. ‘Kids,’ he shrugged and resumed combat. The city’s bubble was just a dozen feet in front of him, and new monsters appeared every minute.

“We need to get Natalie to safety,” Michael took her in his arms and tried to sprint towards the wall.

“No, what we need to do is kill Junior.” Luca got in his way. The two elven archers and the three human warriors in his team had caught up to him, but he still seemed unwilling to leave the job half done.

“You do that,” Finn grabbed his shoulders and pulled him out of Michael’s way. “Good luck.”

Although bewildered, the elf did not give up. He jumped in front of Finn just as he was about to run for the wall and shouted. “Wait, half-blood! This is not just about killing that prick. What do you think will happen if he joins the enemy?”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens.” Tommy put a hand on Luca’s shoulder and the boy brushed it off.

“Get lost, pretty boy. Finn, that bastard may return one day and take out half the empire.”

This made Finn stop and rub the bridge of his nose. At this worst possible moment, he started to remember a certain class.

[Six years ago during history class]

Miss Martha had spent almost twenty minutes drawing a map of the world on the beach near the river.

There was a huge oval shaped continent in the middle split in two by a long line in the sand. Several smaller circles, representing islands appeared in the south of the continent, and another, significantly larger island was drawn in the north.

The empire, the land they all called home, was an unimpressive rectangle in the western part of the continent.

“Is this geography class?” asked Finn.

“If it’s a drawing class, then it’s not very good,” Natalie laughed.

“Ok smartasses, pay attention.” Miss Martha stabbed her stick in the middle of the empire’s drawing. “How big is the empire compared to everything else?”

“It’s tiny!” Annie raised her hand and answered immediately. Since Finn would often talk without being chosen by the teacher, Annie had learned to speak whenever she had the chance.

“Exactly,” Miss Martha. “We are five species fighting against 20. They have hordes of monsters while we have chickens and horses. By all accounts, we should have been defeated already.”

“Then, what’s keeping us afloat?” asked Finn. ‘The difference in army sizes must be insane.’

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The entire class had their eyes wide open. Seeing how her drawing efforts weren’t in vain, Miss Martha grinned and lifted three fingers.

“1. The 20 fallen species are fighting among themselves, not just against us.

2. Taking on the empire means fighting the pinnacles of the five species all at once, the five generals who are currently protecting our borders.

3. Our forces are renewed with each generation, while their forces are limited.”

It took a minute for Finn to process. “What the hell does that mean?” That was the first time he used the word “hell” in this lifetime.

Fortunately, there was a similar concept in Loki’s church, so Miss Martha rested on her stick and explained. “When the body mutates into new, hideous forms, the newly evolved monster can lose its ability to reproduce. That’s why the 20 species cannot just throw army after army of monsters at us.

Stronger creatures, be they intelligent or not, have twisted their bodies to such a degree that they can no longer have children.”

“But,” Finn raised an arm. “It’s been 500 hundred years. How are the big-shots still alive?”

“Oh,” Miss Martha chuckled as if she had forgotten. “To be honest, some of them are probably already dead. As for old age, well, at that level of power eternal youth is kind of a given.”

[Back to the present]

‘An asshole that never ages and only gets stronger.’ Finn could envision the abomination that Junior would one day become. If they did not stop him now, there may not be a later.

“Where’s the crystal?” Finn asked in a hurry.

“Above our heads. I need to get closer in order to hit him.”

“How close?” Finn all but shouted.

“100, maybe 150 feet.”

‘Shit... Damnit...’ Finn wanted to punch himself for even entertaining the idea. The number of monsters was growing by the minute. There were so many tuna and clownfish falling near the barrier that they threatened to outnumber the clams of the past.

Each new second was more precious than the last, so Finn made a decision, and he made it fast.

“Michael, take Natalie back to the wall. Tommy and Annie, protect them. I’ll go with Luca.”

Before they could even mutter an objection, Finn sprinted in the direction of the bubble. A second later, Luca gave similar orders to his team and ran after him.

The fate of their friends was now a mystery. Giant fish sent shockwaves into the ground as they fell all around them. The sand flew up causing a thick wall of dust.

Every now and then, Finn and Luca could see the shadow of a mercenary giving his last breath. Every once in a while, a snake would target them through the fog or a crab would try to add them to its collection.

Luca and Finn’s quivers emptied quickly. Being useless in hand to hand, the elf could only rely on Finn to protect him with his knives.

“I’ll stop calling you dumb dumb,” he blurted after Finn pierced all three heads of an encroaching oversized snake.

“I don’t care,” Finn clenched his teeth, and both teens rolled on the ground in order to avoid a falling tuna. “You’re still an asshole, no matter what.”

Finally, the dust parted and the teens were in range. The bubble was eerily close, and they could see the one-armed mercenary fighting near the bubble to their left.

However, their target was in front. Like the complete maniac which he was, Junior ran from monster to monster spreading his flames onto the entire battlefield. If before the fire had simply killed his prey, it was now so tremendous that some of the monsters turned into ashes and fell apart.

“Do it, now.”

“I am, dumb... I mean Finn.”

Luca closed his eyes in order to increase his focus. Annie’s purple crystal, now Luca’s invincible arrowhead, was flying at breakneck speed towards its target.

In the distance, Junior emitted so much fire that even his body was being engulfed within it. He opened both arms wide while saying something to his second in command. Fortunately, the woman was still in one piece, but the flames around her were getting stronger and were slowly closing in.

“Hurry,” Finn hissed.

“I am,” Luca frowned. His crystal had reached the space right above Junior’s head.

‘A straight drop,’ Luca grinned. Junior was just 200 feet below certain death.

“Eat this!” shouted Luca as he dropped his palm into the sand. The crystal also dropped, and at the same time, Dominic Acker Junior fell dead.

“Yes!” Finn clenched his fist and then turned around to leave. The mercenaries behind them had thankfully been victorious, so they would be able to retreat without a hitch.

Still, Luca remained frozen. “Wait.” He was frowning deeply and his mouth was slightly agape. “I didn’t do it.”

“What?” Finn grabbed his arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not the one who killed Junior.”

“Then who did?”

As if on cue, something emerged out of the bubble. It was merely four feet tall, even shorter than Dominic. It rode a flying stingray with purple, vein-like markings on its back. In its hand there was a black crystal ball that emanated mana just as foul as the one guarding the city.

Both teens became pale, for this was the lowest of the 20 intelligent species which their teachers had mentioned by name: It was a goblin.