"We gotta be strong, real strong, so that this shit doesn’t happen again."

Everyone stayed silent at Roy’s words looking at each other before Fred interjected, “Yeah, sure. But how are we going to do that?”

“By killing those fucking monsters and awakening,” Jack replied with a serious expression.

“Wait, did you guys finish killing the ten monsters?” Alfonse asked curiously. “What happened? What’s that status awakening?”

“You gain insane power.” Roy stood up from his seat and looked at the rest of his friends, with his focus mostly on Jack and Robb. “Come, let’s go show them. Would be easier than wasting time explaining with words.”

Robb and Jack quickly followed after Roy, while the rest slowly got up with confused expressions on their faces.

Roy took a deep breath to clear his mind and buried the sadness and pain deep in his heart. You need to focus, everyone needs you now.

Roy forcefully smiled and looked at his two awakened friends, “Okay, let’s have a little race from here to that house and back.” He then looked and pointed at Alfonse, “You’re the ref.”

Following Roy’s words, Alfonse stood to the side while Robb, Jack, and Roy made a line.

“Ready, set, go!”

With Alfonse’s signal, the three bolted into a sprint. Roy’s world slowed down and he could feel every muscle fiber in his being tightening, his breath was strong and his eyes were focused. In less than eight seconds, they crossed the whole street that measured around a hundred meters in length. The three touched the wall of the designated house before running back with all their strength.

“And Robb is the winner,” Alfonse announced. “As for the second and third… I guess it’s a tie?”

“Holy damn,” Fred commented. “We were joking earlier, but you guys really went and became sword heroes.”

Even Jaimie who was staring at their race from behind had a star-struck look in his eyes. Looking at Robb who was the fastest, he couldn’t help but come towards him and say, “Wow, you were so cool! How did you do that?”

Looking at Jaimie’s idolizing eyes, Robb scratched the back of his head in annoyance. “It’s nothing. I just awakened and luckily had my speed become unusually high. I’m sure that they have attributes that they are better than me at.”

Even though this little race took his mind off the tragedies and sadness surrounding them for a moment, Roy's inside still felt empty. It was as if a stone was permanently stuck at the bottom of his chest. However, he could not let that feeling overwhelm him. The way he would deal with this situation would dictate how his friends would be feeling, and he needed them focused now more than ever.

“Okay, okay everyone, gather up.” Roy clasped his hands and had everyone gather around him. “There are two things we need to do now. First, we have to go and save the Jacobs, I don’t want the same shit to happen to them too. After that, we’ll focus on having every one of our group awaken.”

Everyone nodded at Roy’s plan. Even though it was quite simplistic, it was helpful to plot it out clearly. As such, no one would be confused about what to do or have misunderstandings.

“Someone will have to stay here though,” Robb interjected. “We can’t leave the Rogers alone.”

The group stayed silent for a while before Jack spoke out, “I’ll be the one to stay here.”

“Are you sure?” Fred retorted. “You’re an awakened. Wouldn’t it be better for you to fight with us?”

“No,” Jack shook his head. “It’s because I’m an awakened that I need to stay here. I can do the job of five people now.” He then paused for a few seconds with a troubled expression on his face before continuing, “Plus, I need to clear out my mind first. I can’t be going around killing monsters with shit in my brain.”

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Roy looked at Jack with a soft expression before nodding and tapping his friend’s shoulder. “Take your time man, and make sure to keep the Rogers safe.”

Jack’s lips curved upward. “Don’t worry about that, they’ll be safe.”

With all of the preparations done, the group bid their farewell to the Rogers before moving out. As they made their way toward the Jacob family’s house, the band of friends encountered a small pack of goblins.

“Three tall ones, and six small. Shouldn’t be too hard, right, Roy?”

Hearing Robb’s confident voice, Roy smiled. He then looked back at his friends and announced his plans. “Me and Robb will take care of the tall ones. You guys can handle the small goblins, right?”

Both Alfonse and Fred looked at Roy with confidence while Jaimie hastily nodded his head. Taking their gestures as a confirmation, Roy focused back on the monsters in front of him.

The duo, Roy and Robb, dashed in sync toward the pack of goblins, separating them as a result. One of the unfortunate small goblins froze in its place, leaving him easy prey for Roy. With one slash, he disarmed the little creature and cut deeply into its arm. Without looking back, Roy continued his onslaught and clashed with one of the tall goblins.

With the spark of steel hitting steel, Roy looked deep into the eyes of the tall goblins. For some reason, he could feel a certain human arrogance and hubris within it—as if it was insulted that the human in front of it dared to attack it. Looking at such an expression, Roy couldn’t help but smile. With one swipe of his sword, Roy overwhelmed the creature and planted its weapon in the muddy ground. Not wasting such an opportunity, Roy slashed upwardly at the goblin’s exposed body, leaving it screaming and bleeding out

Roy took back his stance and jumped out of the fray to reassess the situation. The rest of the group was fighting with the small goblins while Robb was fending off two tall ones using his otherworldly speed and agility. Judging that the small goblins weren’t a threat, Roy immediately pounced at one of the goblins that were fighting Robb.

As he had the advantage of a surprise attack, Roy pierced the creature’s back with a stab from his sword. Along with a few more slashes, the monster fell on its knees to its death. Using that momentum and the slight moment of shock from the last two goblins, both Roy and Robb unleashed a torrent of slashes and stabs at the goblin, killing it in seconds.

Without their leaders, the rest of the goblins were confused and fearful. They shrieked, screamed, and tried to run away, but that only made them easier prey to the rest of Roy’s group.

Soon, with the help of Robb and Roy, the group of brothers slayed all of the goblins, bringing their monster kill count even closer to their eventual awakening.

“Here, Fred, Alfonse, take these.” Roy handed over the long swords of the tall goblins to his two friends. As they were both stronger and more senior than young Jaimie, he felt it was only fair that they received the loot first.

Equipped with their new weapons, the group continued on their way toward Jacob’s house.

Once they reached their destination, they found ten goblins all patrolling the house and trying to break into it. Seeing such a scene, Roy let out a big sigh of relief. It felt as if the weight of the world was taken off his shoulders.

“Seems like we weren’t too late.” Roy then looked around at his surrounding before stating his plan. “I think we should go with the same plan as with the Rogers. Let’s bait them here.”

While their power was leaps and bounds higher than when they rescued the Rogers, it was always better to be prudent. Roy would rather take the slow route anytime if it meant that they could minimize their injuries—they had only one life after all, and the human body was very fragile.

“I’ll be the bait this time,” Robb stated before giving out a toothy grin. “I’m the fastest here after all.”

Roy smiled at his friend’s antics before nodding. “Fair enough.”

With the plan set in motion, Robb made his way toward the pack of goblins and baited as he did before, with a slew of expletives and curses. Even though the goblins couldn’t understand him, they were still enraged by his haughty demeanor.

With a light jog and a smiling face, Robb kept the goblins running after him towards the ambush Roy and the rest prepared. Once they crossed the line, the group of four pounced at the ten goblins. Robb and Roy clashed with the three tall goblins while the rest of their teammates slaughtered the smaller monsters. With their new long swords, Alfonse and Fred were able to easily overwhelm their opponents with their higher range. On the other hand, Young Jaimie used his small stature to hit and run. Using that strategy, he was able to secure himself two kills from the scuffle. Inside the battlefield, his eyes were resolute and his hands were firm. His usual meek and cowardly self was nowhere to be seen.

Robb and Roy on the other hand made quick work of the three tall goblins. Using their superior agility and strength, they overwhelmed their opponents with precise slashes and stabs before finally killing them.

Once the fight was over, Roy went over to Jaimie. “Hey Jaimie, it’s your turn now. Do you want the long sword too?”

Surprisingly, young Jaimie shook his head. “No, it’s too big for me. I like this dagger better.”

Roy was surprised by the young boy’s response, but he could only shake his shoulders in the end. The figure Jaimie had shown while fighting was a terrifying one, and Roy agreed that the dagger was the perfect weapon for his fighting style.

After taking care of the corpses of the monsters and throwing them to the sides of the street, the group finally made their way toward mister Jacob’s house.