The Demon Slayer team had just finished setting up camp for the night.

Domino was talking about one of his adventures to Quinta who seemed to be most interested in the Rorio parts.

Meanwhile, Rorio sat down on the ground with Risa next to him.

“Do you really have to do this?” groaned Rorio as Risa petted his ears.

The embarrassment was clear on his face.

“I can't help it! Your ears and tail are just too fluffy!” Risa replied happily as she continued stroking Rorio’s head.

Normally, Rorio could keep himself together when just a single person petted him.

However, Risa wasn't the only one petting him.

“If I want to win over your affection, I figure this is the best method!” Quinta said as she petted his tail lightly.

She had been petting him the entire time Domino had been telling her the duo's stories.

The girls may have been having fun, but Rorio felt like he was about to cry.

Now if you're wondering, it did feel good.

But since Rorio was a proud adventurer, he found things like his ears and tail a weakness.

Even if they did help him hear and detect stuff better than most people.

Feeling like he couldn’t take it anymore, Rorio jumped up, surprising the two girls who both let out a light yelp.

“I'm...going out on night patrol!” Rorio shouted as he dashed off into the woods.

Seeing his friend's face, Domino let out a chuckle before looking at the two girls.

“I know you both really wanna pet him, but could you maybe tone it down a bit? He's pretty sensitive about the Demi-human thing.

Hearing this, Risa looked down at the ground.

“It's just that..well...I just feel the urge to pet him every time I see those ears and tail.”

Domino nodded.

“I know. But those kinds of reactions are what make Rorio hide them away. He hates being treated like an animal. And since things such as petting are stuff you normally do with pets, he doesn’t like how giddy it makes him feel when people treat him like that.”

It was just the pure truth. Rorio may try to act like a cool-headed guy, but he disliked the fact that he was part of a race that found so much enjoyment from simply being petted and played with.

That's why, when he learned about a spell that could hide that side of him, he took it without hesitation.

Risa understood Domino's words and nodded.

“Right. I Guess I should apologize when he gets back.”

Domino smiled, satisfied with Risa's understanding.

However, that smile instantly vanished when a chill rolled down his spine.

“Huh?”

Grabbing his sword, Domino got onto his feet and looked around.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong, but the chill he felt wouldn't go away.

Suddenly, he heard a crash behind him.

He turned to see Quinta and Risa had both fallen unconscious.

“What is this? Some kinda sleeping magic?”

Domino had seen such magic on occasion, but it wasn’t something used very often.

It was then that Domino started to feel himself beginning to pass out.

“No! Gotta..stay..awake,” he mumbled to himself before he too fell asleep.

The three laid on the ground. Having no idea when they would wake up.

The sound of a phone ringing entered Domino's ear.

He responded by groaning in exhaustion.

“Huh? Where ...am I?” he muttered as he looked around.

There were computers on both sides of him and he heard the voices of people enter his ears.

After he felt his vision clear, he found he was sitting in a mysterious workplace.

Computers could be heard as the clicking of a mouse was followed by the ringing of phones.

PLOP!

“Gah!”

Suddenly, a giant stack of papers flopped in front of Domino.

He looked at them confused before turning his head to find a woman there. She seemed to be on the shorter side.

She came up to Domino's waist in terms of height, had flowing golden blonde hair, and wore what looked like a business outfit that made her look professional.

She wasn’t short on just the height either as her barely visible chest puffed out and her brow furrowed in frustration.

“Domino! I need you to fill out these papers and get them sent to the mailroom pronto!” she shouted.

“...Huh?”

Domino didn't understand what she was talking about. This seemed to only annoy her more.

“Don't huh!? me! Get these done now!”

After saying that, she stormed off and left Domino even more confused.

Near Domino, a man who looked vaguely similar to SpellsWorth rolled his chair over and stopped in front of Domino’s desk.

“It's best to do what the boss says. We don't want to get her even more mad. Otherwise, she might just fire you on the spot,” he whispered.

Domino wasn't sure what he meant by fire but decided to take his warning with a nod.

“Uh...Okay?”

After the man went back to his desk, Domino looked at himself.

He had a similar business attire to the rest of the people in the room.

He moved his hands and felt his surroundings.

“What is this? Another Illusion?” he wondered.

He looked around to find anything off, but nothing seemed to hint at such a conclusion.

“I don't sense anything. What could it be?”

He continued to look around before finally deciding to play along and started writing through the papers in front of him despite needing to ask for help constantly.

As he continued to work, he learned more about where he was and what was going on from the people around him telling him about himself.

Apparently, he was someone who helped solve issues that other people had by reaching out through a thing called a phone and explaining things to them, as well as sending letters and other such items to people.

He was a man who never married, but he had an adopted son who went by the name of Rorio which nearly made him slap himself in disbelief. Also, apparently, there were these two girls who had huge crushes on Rorio and constantly tried to win him over to no avail.

The girl's names were Risa and Quinta which caused Domino to nearly let out a laugh when he learned about it.

Quinta had made her interest in Rorio clear as day, but Risa didn't really have any reaction to Rorio.

The two hung out a lot sure, but neither really made any move to gain the other's romantic interest.

The final major thing he learned was that apparently, Rorio was part of a club that would be competing in some grand tournament today.

Domino ended up leaving work after about another hour or two and was running to make it to the supposed school Rorio was competing at.

Psychological stuff was more up Rorio's alley, so he figured that if he could get in contact with Rorio, then they could find a way out of whatever this was.

So, with no idea what to do, Domino dashed towards the school.

The sun was slowly beginning to float down from the sky as an orange hue filled the classroom.

Risa felt her consciousness returning to her as she groggily woke up.

She groaned in exhaustion before yawning and stretching out her arms.

After that, She looked around confused.

“Where...am I?” she asked aloud.

She got up from her seat and looked out the window.

She wondered if this was similar to the experience she had in that cave a while back, but nothing helped signify that.

The classroom was void of anyone other than her. It looked fairly similar to a Japanese school classroom you'd see in anime. From the sliding doors leading in and out to the seats lined up in front of a giant green chalkboard.

Suddenly, Risa heard footsteps running through the halls and turned her head to find Domino slightly out of breath looking into the classroom.

“Sir Demon Slayer?”

“Come on Risa! We don't wanna be late to Rorio's game!” Domino shouted urgently.

“Huh? Wah!”

Domino grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. Her confused expression never faded from her face.

Before long, the two of them had made it to some bleachers that were filled with people.

It looked fairly similar to the way things would look at a kid's baseball game.

However, one thing that stood out was the strange wrestling ring in the middle of the field.

Looking down at the strange area in front of them, Domino and Risa reached a spot where they found Quinta waving over to them.

“Hurry! It's about to start!” she shouted.

The two quickly took their seats.

“Sorry, we're a bit late!” Domino said as he and Risa sat down.

“Wait! What's going on!?” Risa shouted still completely lost.

Domino turned to her.

“Don't worry. Rorio explained things to me. He said he knows how to handle this.”

“Rorio?”

Risa didn't understand what Domino meant by that, but she nodded and turned her attention to the ring.

Cheers started to erupt from the crowd.

Another person who looked similar to SpellsWorth walked up on the stage with a microphone.

They looked so similar that it almost caused Risa to jump out of her seat, but Domino held her back.

The person who looked like SpellsWorth tapped the microphone to make sure it was working before talking into it.

“Welcome sports fans! Today we got a great lineup of contenders at today's Ability Tournament! We even have returning champion Astra and the runner-up Rorio joining us today!” shouted the SpellsWorth look-alike.

The club Rorio had apparently joined was one that let you practice your physical abilities in battle. This tournament was a way of showing off said abilities.

“First up! Sashat vs Qaros!” SpellsWorths Look-Alike shouted as two people who looked like Domino and Rorio's enemies from a long time ago took the stage.

The crowds once again cheered loudly which caused Risa to flinch and cover her ears.

Grinning, the SpellsWorth look-alike held his hand up in the air before swinging it toward the ground.

“And begin!” he shouted and the two started to brawl it out.

These fights continued for almost an hour as people who relied heavily on their own physical prowess all fought one another.

While not all of them, a lot of the contenders were people Domino recognized immediately. After a little bit longer, the final battle was about to begin.

Rorio and the one they called Astra both stepped out into view.

Rorio wore what seemed like a black skin-tight bodysuit that covered him from head to toe along with a pitch-black coat as he clenched his fists.

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Risa looked at him concerned as she didn't fully understand what was going on. However, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she found Domino looking at her. She knew he was trying to reassure her everything was fine, but Risa was still unsure.

Even so, she nodded and tried to relax herself.

Domino took his hand off her and went back to watching before noticing Quinta fidgeting.

“Quinta?”

He didn't understand why she was shaking so much.

Suddenly, she tried jumping out of her seat.

“I need to go up onto that stage and support him!”

With incredible speed, Domino managed to grab hold of Quinta's waist and hold her back.

“Hold your horses, Quinta! We need to see what Rorio’s planning in order to help!”

“But Rorio needs-!”

“Not right now! He can do this himself!”

After about another ten to twenty seconds of holding her back, Domino finally managed to get Quinta back in her seat and used some rope he found earlier to tie her down.

Once that was done, he turned back to the fight which the SpellsWorths look-alike was still explaining.

The way the game worked was each fighter had to use their own physical strength to knock the other player out of the ring. The first one out loses and there were no second or third rounds.

After Rorio and Astra agreed to these terms, they both made their way into the ring.

Domino looked at Astra and immediately recognized her as the woman who was his Boss back at work thanks to her hair, face, and size being a dead giveaway.

“You got this dear Rorio! I believe in you!” screamed Quinta from the stands despite the competition not starting yet.

Hearing her racket, Rorio rolled his eyes and focused on the situation in front of him.

After another minute, everything was set to start.

“Let the final competition begin!” shouted SpellsWorth's look-alike.

Cheers once again erupted from the stands.

And as he and Astra walked into the ring, Rorio let out a sigh and faced Astra who was smiling confidently.

“I expect a good fight from you,” she said as she put herself in a fighting stance.

Rorio just looked at her bored.

“Can we just get this over with? I'm sick of this place you stuffed us into.”

Upon hearing that, Astra glared at Rorio and clenched her fists tightly.

“First one to drop out of the ring loses! Begin!”

The bell that started the fight rang and Astra charged at Rorio with incredible speed.

She let out a shout as she brought her fist down on Rorio.

However, just as it was about to make contact, Rorio vanished and an expression of confusion appeared on Astra’s face.

Suddenly, she felt pressure coursing through her stomach as Rorio's fist drove into her chest.

She was sent flying across the ring before crashing into the borders.

Astra shook off the pain throbbing in her chest as she glared at Rorio.

However, he only responded with a yawn.

“That the best you got?”

Astra growled in frustration as she ran at him once again and brought her fist down only to be met with air once more. This time, however, she managed to dodge out of the way as Rorio's punch barely grazed her hair.

Risa watched the fight in both amazement and curiosity.

“I don’t understand. Is Rorio using a teleportation spell?”

Domino shook his head.

“Nope. He's using his slow-motion magic to slow time and move away from her. A pretty good technique. Still, I hope he doesn't use it carelessly.”

Risa didn’t seem to understand.

“Slow motion magic? Didn't he mention he can only use that once every three to six months?”

Domino put his hand to his chin.

“True. But I think I'm starting to understand our situation. And if it's what I think it is, he should be able to do it with no problem. All he needs to do in order for it to work is to keep her from catching on.”

Quinta watched amazed.

“Rorio can beat anyone down! He's amazing! After all, he managed to defeat my boss without any issues and faced one of the four Creator Knights while also fighting her minion!”

Risa glared at Quinta annoyed.

Quinta was already told the story of how they defeated the first Creator Knight, but apparently, she wanted it to fit her fantasy more so she twisted the story around.

That’s why, even though Rorio acted as more of a supporting role for Risa throughout the fight, Quinta imagined a different fight than what actually occurred. Putting Rorio in the spotlight.

Risa had only noticed it recently, but for some reason, Quinta seemed to be way more assertive about her feelings than she was a few weeks ago. Making Risa wonder what happened.

Of course, if she’d managed to stick around for the entirety of Rorio and Quinta’s date, she would’ve known exactly why. But that sadly wasn't how things played out.

Ignoring Quinta’s cheers, Rorio focused on the fight as he managed to avoid another punch from Astra, only for her to dodge him just as easily.

“Amazing! It's clear Rorio has grown since their last encounter!” shouted the SpellsWorth look-alike.

Astra looked like she was starting to run out of stamina as she tried to launch another attack at Rorio who once again vanished from sight before finally landing a solid blow to her face as she was sent rolling down to the end of the ring.

It was almost amazing how few bruises were on Astra’s body after all the attacks she endured.

Preparing to strike once more, Astra clenched her fist when she heard Rorio let out a laugh.

“What's so funny?” she asked, annoyed.

“I gotta say. It's pretty hilarious.”

“Huh? What's Hilarious?”

“Last time, I beat you to the ground with ease. And yet you altered the whole thing to make it look like you were the victor. The fact that you still can't beat me in your own dream, despite it being your home turf, is absolutely hilarious!”

Rorio let out another laugh which only seemed to anger Astra as a red aura surrounded her body before she dived straight at Rorio.

As she closed in, Astra turned around in preparation to intercept Rorio's next attack. However, rather than vanishing, Rorio brought his leg up and sent it flying forward.

It rammed right into Astra's ribs and she groaned in pain before flying off and crashing outside the ring.

“Domino!” Rorio shouted.

Domino nodded and ran off. Leaving the two girls sitting on the bleachers.

Cheers came from all the stands as Rorio was the only one left standing in the ring.

Rorio looked around before turning to Risa and Quinta. He waved at them with a smile. Risa waved back with her own smile.

However Quinta-

“WOOO...RORIO! YOUR AMAZING! YOU JUST MADE ME FALL FOR YOU EVEN MORE!”

-was freaking out a bit too much.

Meanwhile, SpellsWorth's look-alike looked at Astra before tapping his microphone again.

“And the winner is Rorio, The Demon Slayer's Sidekick!”

Cheers erupted throughout the stadium.

Suddenly a voice screamed into the air. Silencing the cheers.

“Why isn't this working!?”

Hearing that, Rorio turned to find Astra sitting on the ground with her hands glowing yellow.

“Why can't I alter this dream!” she shouted, frustrated.

Rorio jumped from the ring and turned to find Domino walking up to them and handing Rorio a sword.

“Thanks for holding onto this for me.”

Domino grinned.

“Happy to help!”

Looking up at the two boys, Astra tilted her head in confusion.

“Huh...What’s that!?”

Astra didn't understand what was going on at all. Ignoring Astra, Domino smiled and left Rorio to take care of business.

After a moment, Astra’s attention focused on the sword in Rorio’s hand.

It was coated orange and emitted a powerful aura.

“The dream disruption sword Distoris,” Rorio announced as he held the sword.

“Distoris?”

Astra didn't understand.

Distoris was a blade forged about a hundred years ago by a blacksmith that wanted to gain control of his dreams.

And that’s exactly what the blade could do.

When held in the hands of its wielder, the weapon gave them the power to control their dreams as they willed.

However, it took time to prepare the alterations, so Rorio had Domino hold onto it when they met up to talk about a plan and made sure to keep the weapon out long enough for it to gain power.

Rorio walked over to Astra, Distoris in hand.

She looked up at him terrified.

“This dream ends here.”

Those were Rorio’s last words to Astra before he separated her head from her body.

“Gah!” Domino shouted as he shot awake.

He felt a cold wind against his face as he looked around.

The fire they set up earlier had gone out, and the sun was beginning to rise.

He looked over to Risa and Quinta who were both still fast asleep, their heads almost touching before they began to wake up as well.

They both groaned as they stretched their arms. Domino sighed in relief.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of someone screaming nearby.

“Why are you pulling my hair!? Ow! That hurts! Let go you mongrel! Stop this right now! I'm the god of dreams! Unhand me right now!”

Rorio stepped out of the woods and tossed someone onto the ground.

The person he brought back was a girl who had long golden blonde hair, an angelic dress and was around the size of Domino's waist.

“Ow!”

Rorio pulled her up by her hair, annoyed.

“Mind explaining yourself Astra?” Rorio asked in a threatening tone.

The girl whose name was Astra shivered in fear as she looked into Rorio's eyes.

Realizing her position, she sighed and explained herself.

“Well...You see...I may or may not be the one behind you suddenly passing out and giving you that weird dream...maybe.” she said timidly.

She looked down shaking as she felt two gazes piercing into her. She looked up to find Risa and Quinta glaring at her which caused her to shoot her head back down.

Meanwhile, Domino just looked at her curiously.

“I..I had a good reason! I promise I did!” Astra shouted nervously.

It seemed the annoying woman Astra had been earlier was nowhere to be seen. What remained in her place was a nervous wreck that struggled to hold eye contact.

“And that reason is?”

Rorio was growing impatient by the second. Astra let out a light yelp before she continued.

“It's because..because...I wanted to get in contact with Rorio and I needed to use you guys as bait!” she shouted before curling up into a tiny ball. Risa and Quinta seemed to still hold some anger as they both continued to glare at her.

However, Rorio just sighed and shook his head.

“Why do you keep doing this? I've already clarified I'm not interested in fighting you unless it's necessary.”

Domino looked at Rorio curiously.

“You know this lady Rorio?”

Rorio nodded with a frown.

“Back during our adventure in the God Lands, while you were off doing what you needed to, this lady showed up and brought me to her dream world and tried to fight me. Several times at that. Now she claims we're rivals and every time she sees me she tries to put me into her dream world. At this point, I’ve become completely immune and only enter if I want to.”

The God Lands. A place where Gods that decided to come to the human realm usually resided.

Unlike the Gods in the world we know, the Gods in this world are different varieties and contain different names entirely. Names such as “Zeus” or “Poseidon ” don't exist and never have existed. That's why Gods such as Astra “The God of Dreams” existed.

However, the God Lands didn’t always exist.

The way the God Lands came to be was from an incident in the heavens when their realm was destroyed by a strange magic used during a battle to save the world.

And while heaven’s already been rebuilt, many gods have stuck on earth for the fun of it.

Of course, the powers of the gods were shrunken down in order to fit more with mortal society.

And while the gods could stay on the surface as long as they wished, if they died, they would get sent back to heaven and were no longer permitted in the human realm.

Moving past that for now, Astra seemed upset at Rorio's comment about being a self-proclaimed rival.

“We are rivals! And I know one day I'll beat you fair and square!”

Quinta seemed to have calmed down a bit and looked at Astra confused before turning to look at Rorio.

“Wait, So this little girl is both your rival and a God?”

A vein popped onto Astra's head.

“I'm not a little girl!”

Rorio sighed again as he turned to Quinta.

“While she's actually a little over a hundred years old, it's true she still acts like a child. At least I can at least confirm that she is a god. However, she is definitely not my rival.”

“Hey!”

Astra pouted at Rorio who just ignored her and got back on topic.

“Now then, Why the hell are you out here in the Outbursts? You told me how much you hated this place.”

Finally settling down a bit, Astra faced everyone.

“It's because of King Melodis and Princess Filora.”

Domino immediately tensed up as Rorio’s eyes went wide.

“They waged war on the God Lands and have been going across the world with their army trying to control several other nations. I managed to escape with a human friend, but a lot of the Gods didn't make it.”

“Human friend?”

Risa looked at her curiously.

She hadn't really met any humans other than Domino here in the Outbursts, so she didn't really remember much about interacting with normal humans.

Astra's eyes lit up.

“Yes! A really nice person showed up to the God Lands and offered support so that we could keep living here in the human realm.”

After those words, Astra’s expression darkened.

“But now...”

Astra looked off into the woods with a helpless look on her face.

“He disappeared and I've been tracking him down ever since. But after growing tired, I decided to rest near here and that's when I found all of you.”

Risa, Quinta, and Domino all looked at each other.

They felt concerned for Astra and didn't know what to do.

It was then that Domino thought of something. But before he could say it...

“Yeah, that still doesn't explain why you decided to put us in that dream world.”

Astra gawked at Rorio in surprise.

“Are you kidding!? Did my tale of sorrow not persuade you to feel sympathy and forget all about that incident!?”

Rorio sighed.

“Look, It's a sad tale and all, but fighting me out of the blue doesn't just get forgotten because of a sob story. All I asked was why you did it.”

Astra just stared blankly at Rorio before finally letting out a sigh of resignation.

“Okay fine. It's because I saw you and thought a fight with my rival would clear my head,” Astra admitted.

Rorio nodded as if to say “thought so” and turned to look at the others.

They seemed to be giving mixed messages. He could guess what Risa and Domino were thinking, but the gaze Quinta gave him just creeped him out.

After a few minutes of silence...

“So, how long ago was it since you saw this friend?” asked Rorio.

Astra turned to Rorio with hope in her eyes.

“I can tell by the looks on my companion’s faces that they feel sympathy for you. And while I personally don't care, I know that they do. So spit out where you last saw him and we’ll work things out from there.”

Tears started to well up in Astra's eyes before she jumped at Rorio and hugged his chest tight.

“Thank you!”

“Hey! Get off me!”

“No fair! I wanna hug him too!”

Risa and Domino watched the exchange as Quinta and Astra clung onto Rorio.

Risa looked at it with mixed feelings, while Domino just laughed heartily.

With that, the group's journey continued onward.

The group looked down from the top of the path they were on and saw a city off in the distance.

“Okay. So the place your friend vanished to is just beyond the castle of the next Creator Knight?” asked Rorio to which Astra nodded.

“That's where I last saw him. We were going down to find shelter when he vanished and I ran into you guys.”

Rorio turned to face the direction past the next Creator Knight's castle which looked to be another three to four-day journey.

“All right. I guess we'll go find him after we face the next Creator Knight in the town up ahead.”

Astra looked at Rorio in surprise and frowned.

“Wait! What if he’s gone by the time we get there!?”

Rorio glared at her, annoyed.

“Because we can't pass up defeating another enemy! So we're fighting the Creator Knight and that's final!”

Rorio never clarified in what order he was gonna do things. Plus, he already discussed it with Domino who agreed that taking care of the Creator Knight was the biggest problem right now.

If the person who vanished was snatched up by something like goblins or ogres, then they would probably still have plenty of time due to how long it takes to haul humans around.

And so, the group began their journey to the city of the next Creator Knight.

And little by little, danger began to creep ever closer.