"I'm sorry,my son"

Ray's eyes opened as a cold sweat washed over him. The same dream,the same ending. His hands trembled as he clutched his knees.

Ray was a little shook to find his cloak missing. It was replaced by a white bandage that wrapped nicely around his ribs.

He tried touching the bandage but felt a stinging sensation that warned him,to pull back his hand if he valued his life.

"Ouch..." he cried out.

He looked around him and found himself back were the carriage once stood. His eyes although blurry could make out a man packing some boxes together not far from him.

"Jon!' he shouted, as his memory slowly started to return.

Jon who was packing some of the other boxes that got scattered during the attack.

He heard Ray's words and his concentration was momentarily disturbed.

He looked behind him and saw Ray's outstretched arm as if he was trying to grasp something.

He smiled, although a sense of dread lingered in his eyes.

His footsteps were measured as he walked towards Ray.

"I'm glad, you're finally up I was worried" he smiled, before bowing his head infront of Ray.

"I lost the Kuro Oni please forgive me!" his faced had turned salty as he shouted out to Ray.

"No,it's my fault" Ray responded,his voice calm and collected.

"I did this, I wasn't strong enough" Ray's eyes looked around him and he saw the full extent of what had happened.

Rina with a bandaged forehead slept besides him and Shelly slept with next to her. The scary thing was that they were motionless.

"What happened Jon?" he asked, trying to piece out the scattered information in his head.

'All I remember is losing to that old guy,and passing out."

Jon lifted his head, "when I lost the Kuro Oni I was desperate to get it back." Jon started filling him in on what had happened.

"Even though most of my legs were crashed, I was able to move after a few minutes" he started walking towards one of the many boxes that were on the floor.

"If it wasn't for this box.." he lifted it up," we all would've died." Ray listened, a mild headache was threatening to break his concentration.

"I crawled my way to this box, the box had some potions left over. I was able to drink the potion and regain control of my legs." The box had a red cross signifying it was some sort of emergency supply box.

"After that, I gave Shelly a potion and went to find you and Rina." his face turned grim when he remembered what he saw. "I saw Rina covered In blood.. beside her were to children who had been decapitated"

Ray's eyes widened in surprise "what are you saying? are you saying Rina killed them?" Ray questioned,he didn't want to even imagine such a possibility.

"I don't know..."Jon answered, "I'm just telling you what I saw" he added.

"After finding Rina I carried her back here and went to find you,luckily it was easier than expected. You were bleeding heavily from your rear I thought you had died."

Jon continued where he left off before Ray woke up. He continued packing the boxes and tying them together with vines.

"I did my best to give you all some potions to and first aid but you're the first one to wake up" he tightened a knot around a pile he had finished packing, "It's a good thing a merchant never forgets their potions. It's a dangerous world we live in" he concluded.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Ray tried to grasp everything he was saying amd only reached a single conclusion "it was my fault, everyone got hurt because I'm so weak" he tightened his grip on his left knee.

"So what now?" he was able to calm himself down enough to ask after a few seconds.

"We take the Kuro Oni" Jon responded, the weight of his words rippled in Ray's ears.

"We can't let the Kuro Oni land in the wrong hands" Jon stressed, "that blade could decide the fate of our world."

Ray knew Jon was right but the thought of fighting those attackers again in the state they were all in didn't sound like the greatest plan to him.

"I hear you, but I hate to admit it" he paused for a second, "if we ever fight those guys again we'll be dead"

Jon knew where Ray was coming from

"even so, we can't let them keep the Kuro Oni, if they're are string then it just means we'll have to get stronger."

His eyes had a determined look as he spoke.

"I'm sure those guys were ranked magicians, I guess we're still just a bunch of newbies after all" Ray thought to himself.

"Hey Jon, how long before we get to Lival from here?" Jon asked while looking at the forest trees that surrounded them.

"Approximately,2 days since we don't have a carriage." Jon answered.

"I see, I guess I'll need to get to work then.." Ray mumbled to himself.

"Why are you still packing those boxes,Jon we've already lost the Kuro Oni" Ray asked unable to hide his curiosity.

"Some of these blades belong to my father, I can't just leave them here. He entrusted them to me. I have to sell them and prove my worth as a merchant to him" he answered.

Ray didn't know what Jon meant by proving his worth but he didn't want to dig any deeper.

Ray got himself on his feet,the pain that followed was to be expected but he greeted his teeth determined to withstand it.

"What are you doing? You're still not fully healed yet" Jon cried out.

"I can't just stay here and do nothing while my friends got hurt, I don't have time to waste. I need to get stringer!" Ray shouted, his voice echoing the forest.

He walked towards Jon before moving past his figure "I need some time alone by myself, I'll be back as soon as I can"

Jon watched him without saying anything as Ray's body disappeared in the shadows of the forest.

Ray walked around his mind in deep thought as he recalled his last battle with the man with the red suit.

The entire fight made his mouth bitter. "I've got to improve,he clenched his fist" ue stopped at an open spot in the forest. There he decided to sit down and take a meditation position.

"Whenever I got stuck as a kid, Allice would always tell me to calm down and try to think of how to further improve. She always said there's a way out if you'rewilling to search for it." He thought to himself.

"Ok,let me break it down step by step. My skill mana reinforcement allows me to enhance the capabilities of any part of my body but I have to concentrate my Mana around that particular body part" he thought deeply.

A blue aura began to manifest around his figure as he tried to deepen his understanding of his skill , "against that old man, I tried to use physical power like I always do... but something tells me it won't work against sneaky guys like him, I couldn't even land a finger on him."

The aura around him grew brighter as he concentrated "there must be a way I can narrow the gap between us,I just have to think..." Ray got lost in his thoughts trying to figure out a way to get stronger.

He knew he didn't have much time. He needed to hurry.

Meanwhile.... Jon who had finished up packing all 10 of his boxes, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw Rina wake up.

She was in obvious discomfort but she tried not to show it. "What happened?" she asked Jon,her headache felt like it would rip her apart.

Jon filled her in on what had happened and that's when glimpses of her memory came back. She remembered the horrors of what she had done and her body trembled as tears went down her cheeks.

She got a closer look at her hand before she buried her face in her palms. She let out all her frustrations in front of Jon. Her otherwise cool and collected persona crumbled.

Jon went over to comfort her. He tried to get closer, "stay back!!" Rina retaliated,the animosity in her tone enough to catch Jon off guard.

"I don't think I've been my self lately, I think it's better if you stand back" she said, before wiping her tears.

Jon stood there with pitying eyes and was surprised when he saw Rina get back on her feet.

"Where are you going,you're still not healed yet."

Rina didn't answer and he walked past Jon without hesitating.

"I need to be alone right now,its what's best for everyone" those were Rina's last words as she disappeared into the belly of the forest.

She walked by herself trying to remember every detail of what happened during her fight. She found herself unable to recall everything but the image of those kids she killed stood out. It still sent shivers down her spine.

She came to a stop after tracing her movement back to where the fight originally took place. She stood there as she saw the two bodies lifeless.

"forgive me" she whispered to them.

She spent about 5 minutes digging a hole despite her injuries. She placed the two bodies gently with with their heads. She looked on with wet eyes before she submerged them in sand. A proper burial was the least she could do.

She knew it wouldn't bring them back but she owed them that much. She stood and leaned against a tree trunk,her eyes looked at the blue sky above her.

"What am I supposed to do now?" she asked herself, as tears began to flow once again.

She tried to wipe them away with the mucus that accompanied them. Crying wasn't going to help anyone,it wouldn't bring back the lives she took and it wasn't making her feel any better.

She had to get stronger, that's the answer she came up with.

If not for herself, she had do it for those around her because no one would want to live with a blood thirsty monster. She had to learn how to best use her partial transformation skill. The question was how.

[A fair distance away from the black forest]

[The impenetrable city: Lival]

[Inside a certain castle]

Its footsteps echoed the hallway before it finally came to a stop infront of a big door. It opened the door without hesitation. The room was dimly lit with only a few candles blessing the room with light. A figure was seated in big chair just further down the room. Their figure was cloaked I'm shadows.

"Did you get the blade?" It asked, looking at the creature that entered the room.

The light shone on the creature as it took several steps before kneeling down. It was Brak. He bowed showing respect to the one before him.

He opened his mouth before spitting out the box. It was covered in his slimy saliva but other than that everything about it was in perfect condition, the box was unharmed.

"Well done Brak" the figure uttered, clearly pleased by the results.

"Now then we should move on to the next stage of the plan. Bring me the Priestess"

[Three days later]

They were a day late but they made it. The four of them had made it to he city of Laval. They stood infront of the giant gates taking it all in for a moment. The gate towered above them and paper seals could be seen scattered across it.

"We've made it..." Jon said, a huge smile on his face, "this is Lival!"

Jon was carrying the boxes he had tied up by hand and Shelly rested on his back. She was still showed no sign of waking up.

Ray stood next to him with a fierce look on his eyes, "we'll get our revenge on those freaks, no doubt about they're in this city."

Ray looked at Jon with a worried expression, "what do we do about Shelly?"he asked.

"I'll find her a healer inside the city. You should probably go on ahead, you said you were meeting someone right?"

Jay smiled, "yes, I'm going to see the old man Allice told me about,don't worry Jon we'll definitely get those blade back!"

Rina who stood next to Ray said nothin, but her eyes had a fire in them an ember that refused to go away.

The four of them didn't waste any more time and took their first steps forward as they entered the impenetrable city.

Before entering the city Rina made sure to adjust her cloak as to hide her face. The four entered the gates and didn't have trouble getting past the magicians who were stationed at the gate as guards.

Upon entering they were taken aback by the shear scale of the city. This was one of the biggest City's in the world. This was Lival.

"Let's do this" Ray said, as they took theri first steps inside the city unaware of what was awaiting them inside.