A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who read the first chapter of this story! Although I won't be able to promise that from now on will become amazing or great, I hope that you all find something in the story to enjoy, no matter what it is!
Once again, thank you and enjoy!
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In a highly decorated and large palace located in a world far different from the modern one, that is often labelled as a common ‘swords and magic fantasy world’, a lone figure walks down its pristine hallway.
The figure passes by a courtyard, letting the sunlight shine onto their figure. Taking a closer look, this figure is wearing a long dress that reaches down to the ankles, clearly made by the finest materials. Long blonde hair that extends down towards her back, blue eyes that exhibit elegance and brilliance, and a face that is neither too childish nor too mature.
An existence that could only be called a ‘true princess’.
But today, this princess does not have an air of joy around her or on her face. Instead, replacing this is an expression of urgency.
Quickening her pace, she arrives in front of a pair of doors far larger than any of the others she had passed coming here.
“It is I, the princess.”
Announcing in a loud and clear voice, the doors open silently.
“Ahh….my daughter, you have arrived!”
The large room she had entered, filled with people in similar high-class clothes and guarded closely by several men in armor, could easily house a small village and still have space to spare. This shows just how large the throne room was.
But not bothering about the size or atmosphere of the room she entered, the princess heads straight towards the elderly man seated on the throne, with graying strands of hair already visible on his head.
Standing next to him is a man around his 30s, wearing a military officer-like uniform, various badges pinned onto its upper portion. His sharp eyes, which were being blocked by the blonde hair that gave him an almost feminine appearance, focus on the girl who interrupted their seemingly important discussion.
Kneeling, she says,
“Father, no, your highness. I have come in lieu of your summons. What is the situation that requires of me to be called from the frontlines?”
Contrary to appearances, this girl is one of the kingdom of Helgas' greatest warriors. Becoming indoctrinated into its highest knight order, the Order of Mikhael, at the tender age of 12.
4 years have passed since then, her growing strength has even caught the eye of other major powers and is a great contribution to the continuing war against the invading ‘demonic beings’.
“Please Stephaly, cease the formalities.”
“As you wish, father.”
Replying in kind, she sees the eyebrows of the man beside her father twitch.
This man has always wanted to be a part of the Order of Mikhael. It is not surprising for him to hold a grudge against me.
Stephaly speaks these thoughts from the bottom of her heart, but does not let them out.
“Now, you must have already heard from the messenger I sent, but we will soon be welcoming the summoned hero our gods have blessed us with after all these years!”
While saying so, the king stretches out his arm towards the large magic circle drawn at the center of the throne room.
Taking that as her cue, Stephaly walks up to the king’s side and stands there. He nods at this and gestures for the gathered mages to begin the summoning.
“****! ********! ***! ******!”
Words coming from a long dead language are recited one by one by the mages circling the room.
“***! ******! *!”
One mage then lowers the hood attached to his robe, revealing the scarred face of a 30 year old man. Stretching out his arms and staff, while putting strength into his words,
“HEAR OUR PRAYERS! O HERO, COME FORTH! AND SAVE US!!!”
After those words, a blinding pillar of lights gushes out of the circle. Ignoring the ceiling up above, it shoots straight through, piercing the clouds above and dispersing them. The light being so intense that cities far away could see it and still needing to cover their eyes. Even with all this, a few nobles stare at the pillar with anticipation and a glimmer of success.
The light dies down. Stephaly and the guards, wary of the summoned person’s abilities, take combat stances, in case of anything going wrong.
As soon as the summoned person’s silhouette can be seen, the king stands up and walks away from his throne.
“Oh great hero! We welcome you! Let me introduce myself, I am---”
“GET THEM NOW! BEFORE THEY CAN REACT!!!”
Before being able to finish, a loud voice echoes throughout the room. The nobles who were able to watch the summoning were no more. In their place were now humanoid figures with skin colors ranging from light red to dark blue. One similarity could be observed from them, each one had a set of horns of varying lengths on their heads. They were a race affiliated with the ‘demonic beings’ and its highest-ranked member, Demons.
Every one that was present held a weapon exuding a dark aura. Their presence drawing out killing intent towards a single target.
As the shout rang out, they all jumped from their positions with weapons raised.
Being surprised by the sudden attack, the princess and guards were just standing in shock.
The first person to react, the scarred magician, starts chanting after being snapped out of his confusion.
However, without being able to finish, another voice echoes through the air.
Different from the commanding and terrifying tone of the earlier one, this gave off the impression of being calm and young.
“Seriously? After being brought here, this is what greets me.”
Ignoring these words, the demons continue their attack.
“Alright then. You various colored people, stop right there.”
At those words, everything in the room stops.
===
“Seriously? After being brought here, this is what greets me.”
I scratch my head, seeing the figures heading towards me with weapons drawn.
Oh right, I forgot to ask Libreria what race was summoning me.
Crap, if it turns out these guys are the ones who summoned me, won’t I receive punishment for retaliating?
But they could also just be testing me.
Wait, I also see humans like me.
Well, not like me, more of the European types? Especially that blonde girl with her hands on that sword.
She looks strong….probably the strongest here.
Though their reflexes are surprisingly slow, considering this must be a throne room or something.
Something starts ringing in my head, as if I’m forgetting something.
Oh right! I remember!
Forgot that I tested it on myself after getting surrounded by that pillar of light.
Observing everything around me, my brain starts processing the information at a normally impossible rate.
Since they’re continuing their charge at me,
“Alright then. You various colored people, stop right there.”
While midair, their movements stop as if suspended by invisible wires.
So it worked, that’s good. I thought it wouldn’t for a second there.
“Oh wait, maybe I should remove the effects on myself first.”
Muttering that to myself, the blonde girl and guards started getting into their combat stances with swords drawn.
Does that mean those guys were really planning to kill me?
Scary, scary!
“Eh?”
A voice of confusion permeates the air.
I look at the source, the blonde haired girl whose sword was raised in the air and only a few feet away from me.
Seems she was in the middle of a charge when she noticed me.
“You!”
With her finger raised at me, her words echoed through the now silent room.
“Yes?”
“What did you do?!”
“Huh?”
From her reactions and panicking hand movements, she must be talking about these guys who haven’t moved since earlier.
“Oh, them huh. Wait, first, can you explain the situation I’m currently in right now?”
“Y-you!!! Do you not know who you’re facing?!?!?!”
What’s with her? They’re the ones who summoned me, so the least they can do is answer my questions.
“Enough Stephaly!”
“But father!!!”
“Stephaly!”
Looking at them now, some resemblance can be seen. From their looks and body builds, I’d say the man’s around 50 while the daughter is just around 15 or 16, give or take. To have an age gap this wide, how late did he get married?
While they were arguing, the man notices me gazing at them both. He signals his daughter to be quiet as he approaches me.
“Welcome, hero! Please forgive my daughter for her sudden outburst. It is just that we have never seen such magic before.”
Saying those words, he bows his head in apology.
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“F-father! The king should not be doing that!”
So this guy’s the king? Wait, so that blonde girl, Stephaly, is a princess?!
“Now, as for your previous question. We would like to answer you as soon as possible, but how about we discuss this in a more private area?”
He peeks at the still frozen figures around me.
“Oh, no need. I think I’ll be able to find out by myself.”
I tell him.
“Eh?”
A confused sound escapes the king’s mouth.
Using the skill, not magic, that I received from Libreria from my request, everything stops around me. All noise disappears around me. In this room, from outside, everything stops.
At least, that was how it was supposed to go.
“You! What did you do to everyone?!”
“Eh?”
Now it was my turn to let out a confused voice.
Standing in front of me was the king’s daughter, Stephaly, pointing her fingers at me accusingly.
“How---how are you still moving?”
“What do you mean? Well, whatever! I’ll just take the words out of your mouth!”
She then removed her sword from its sheath and charged at me.
With speed unbefitting of a human, she reaches me in the blink of an eye.
Swinging down her weapon, it cleaves through my thin clothing. The blade cuts through my skin, a burning sensation runs throughout my body as I feel blood leaking out from the gaping hole on my torso.
Just kidding.
Although she is indeed fast, it was nothing compared to me whose abilities have been enhanced with various skills.
But that doesn’t mean I can stay completely calm in front of someone who wants to kill me!!!
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!!!!!!!”
I shout consecutively as I block her attacks with a sword I took from one of the unmoving guards.
“Wha?! How are you able to block my attacks with so many wasted movements?!?!?!”
“Well sorry for being an amateur! But please stop!!!”
Even with the peerless strength granted to me, my stamina still hasn’t recovered and was severely depleting.
Crap, the summer vacation’s taking its toll on me!
I have to finish this fight before she finishes me!
Maybe if I use it on my entire body, but I won’t know its effects. I’ve only tried it on my brain, after all.
An attack from Stephaly shaves a bit of hair when I dodged it.
Fine, I’ll do it! Better not make it too much to avoid anything serious!
Thinking that to myself, at the same time blocking or dodging her attacks,
I jump back to avoid another attack aimed at my neck.
“Tsk! This is taking too long!”
She mutters something under her breath. However, I’m too busy controlling my skill to take notice.
“Be honored hero! Upon arriving here, you will bear witness to my most powerful skill!”
Most powerful skill? Can it be some forbidden skill?!
“Behold!
A golden glow erupts from her body and surrounds her, giving her an appearance close to those of divine beings.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Thinking it was some forbidden or near-godly skill, I slightly panicked. But now that I know it’s just a clichéd strengthening skill, my mind is back to its calm state.
“What is it hero? If you fear for your life then---”
“Be quiet.”
“What?”
Interrupting her, I raise my sword and point it at her.
Weird, I feel like I know how to wield this thing properly and skillfully now. Is it an effect from [Unlimited Potential]? No good, I’ll think about it after beating her.
“You dare talk back to me? Very well, then greet death with the swing of my sword.”
“You’re mistaken, you know?”
“About what?”
A smirk makes its way onto my face.
My normally expressionless face now gives the impression of a villain who is sure of his victory.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that you’ll be the one greeting death, or maybe begging for it? Well, whatever.”
“What are you talki---!!!!!!”
And with that exchange, I disappear.
===
“What are you talki---!!!!!!”
In the middle of questioning him of his nonsensical statement, his body disappears right in front me.
Where? Where did he go?!
After having used
Then, I feel a slight disturbance in the wind behind me. Only slight, so very slight that normally, you would not even feel it.
Moving at a speed that even surprised me, my body instinctively moved to block his attack.
Fast! How did he get behind me without me noticing?!
“So you blocked it huh. Let’s see if you can block these then!”
Taking a few steps away from me, he charges again. Almost like teleportation, I’m only barely able to dodge with only a scratch on my face.
But his attack didn’t stop there, a flurry of sword swings and kicks bombarded me at an unbelievable pace.
As I blocked his attacks one after another, I noticed something strange.
During our first volley of attacks, his movements were amateurish. Now, they were too skillful, as if he had been training for years.
No, wait, these movements…..
“Are mine?!”
“Correct! But knowing that it’s yours won’t be helping you though.”
“Guh!!!!”
A kick had passed through my defense and landed cleanly on my stomach, sending me crashing into the wall.
I fall down coughing out blood, the taste of iron spreading in my mouth.
“Su---such strength.”
“Hey, hey, this isn’t over!”
I roll to the side in time to see the crater that formed in the spot I had fallen down on earlier.
Kicks normally don’t have that much power, do they?!
Raising my sword, I’m able to block most of his attacks. But wounds were starting to appear on my body and tears on my clothes.
I knew I should have worn my armor.
“Let’s see if I can use this.
No chant magic?!
Mages normally have to recite a chant, no matter how long or short, to activate a spell. This proved true to only humans and beastkins though as no one has ever witnessed demon and elf mages chant to activate spells.
20 fist-sized fireballs were floating around him. Unlike the normal red which fire is known for, these were colored blue and gave off unimaginable heat.
“So princess, will you give up?”
“****! **! ***!
He sighs, disappointment showing on his face.
You dare!!!!!!!
“Very well. Just don’t blame me for scars that remain on your body.”
Casually flicking his finger, as if it was a signal, all 20 fireballs hurls themselves towards me. They collide with my barrier and explode. Each one creating cracks in the barrier I put most of my magic power into.
This isn’t good! The barrier’s about break, and this heat is unbearable!
5 fireballs left. 4. 3.
“!!!”
The 3rd to the last fireball exploded and my barrier broke into several pieces before disappearing.
“Kuh!!!”
Using my sword as a makeshift shield, I’m able to redirect a fireball to the wall behind me but the last one explodes as it came into contact with the blade. My sword leaves my hand, its blade malformed from the heat.
“Now, please sleep for a while.”
“?!”
Behind me, a voice whispers into my ear.
As if taken over by a sense of drowsiness, my body collapses only to be caught by his arms.
My eyes flutter and try to stay open, but it’s all in vain.
“Good night, princess!”
The last thing I see before falling asleep is a smiling face on the hero that made him seem like a completely different person.