Chapter 1
The sun was shining on me as I woke up from the grass beneath the trees. I felt at peace as the wind blew in my face.
I was in a forest all alone. I got up in this unfamiliar place and checked my clothes and patted them; they were all still clean.
“Sign, thankfully my clothes are still clean,” I muttered to myself. I was wearing jeans and a white shirt.
The forest was quiet; only the sound of winds blowing could be heard.
I did some stretches by first stretching my arms up, twisting my body a few times, and then finally stretching my legs. I yawned a few times while I was stretching.
After that, I walked in a random direction.
There were no animals nearby or any insects, for that matter, including those pesky mosquitoes; they are nowhere to be seen.
"Yawn.” I still felt sleepy as I wondered where I was. Suddenly there was a loud sound, something exploded in the sky.
I looked up and saw two men that were fighting in the forest above.
They had air coming out of their feet. They were like jet fighters having a dog fight.
“Crap! How great,” I said sarcastically as I was jolted awake.
“If suddenly waking up in an unknown place wasn’t enough, there are two guys flying in the sky,” I said dumbfounded.
In the skies above, one of the men is a young looking fellow wearing silver plated armor, and the other is a tall man wearing leather armor.
The tall man uses lightning; a thundering sound was generated after the lightning already spreads like a tree growing from the base to spreading its branches to cover a large area before reaching the young man in all but an instant.
But it was blocked by a counterattack of a ball of flame that was formed by the young man's hand.
The flaming ball absorbed the lightning, and it became charged, and he released it, shooting it towards his opponent.
“Take this”
The ball was slower than lightning, but as it moved towards its target, The tall man did not dodge but instead cast a shield and hit it with a zap of lightning. The electric blazing ball reached halfway toward the man before exploding from the impact, creating a blinding light that released shock waves and set the forest on fire.
“To think you can absorb lightning now, beelzebub.”
Said the tall man glaringly.
"Garbage,” said the young man angrily.
“Time stop,” I said calmly.
All of a sudden, the world stood still. Whether the people moving through the air, the swaying trees from the wind, or the second but miniature sun in the sky, all pause.
In a still world that has everything black and white and is also completely silent, I am the only one still moving.
They tossing out nukes in a short exchange, I thought.
“I better get out before it hits me.”
“Magic” various scenes flash through my mind; some of them were fantasy anime.
“No time to waste.” Leaning against the tree in the forest for a short moment, I ran for a while.
As I run, time starts turning again. The nuclear explosion turned everything in its surrounding radius to dust. I was hit by the shock wave and stumbled to the ground. I feel the wave on my back.
“Even though I run so far away, the shock waves are still so strong,” I said as I gripped the dirt with my hand and tried to stand up, but my legs were like noodles.
My clothes are still intact, but they are covered in dirt and sweat from all that running and from the debris that was blown off by the blast. I'm slightly cooked from the heat; well, I am not burned in any way exactly. Sweat trickled down on me as I gasped for breath.
“Those dudes, they probably notice me,” I said to myself as I got back on my feet. And look over in the direction I ran from.
Between the gaps of the trees, I saw that there was a forest fire in the location of the explosion, producing a large amount of smoke. I want to get close, but I'm not strong enough.
“They only have a few exchanges, but this is the result.”
“Have I unfortunately run into a fight between one of the strongest beings of this world?”
As I am thinking while looking at the forest fire. Its fire rises up into the sky and encloses into a dome, turning into a domain of flame, a giant, big ball of fire that looks intimidating but it's badass. The fires also stop producing smoke, but I can still smell the burning of wood.
I laid down against a tree nearby after looking at the situation.
“Hah, I finally got to rest from all that running,” I remark.
“Those people inside that dome, hopefully they stay there for a little while.”
“And I just woke up,” I said angrily now that I have time to think.
“If all is well, I can rest for a little while.”
“I still have a Trump card with me that can help me escape.”
While I was occupied by my thoughts, I looked over that flame dome. There were no sounds of fighting with magic over there, only the sounds of burning flames and the soft wind drying my face and cooling me down. The smell of smoke is still irritating. I'll leave after resting a little while.
After some time, the flame dome slowly opened up.
I was oblivious to when it started opening up until I heard sounds of someone using a flamethrower and sounds of electricity. In that direction.
Everything is happening too fast to me.
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I can't catch a break.
Meanwhile, the battle continued, and Beelzebub and the tall man appeared to have taken no damage since the beginning of the battle. Beelzebub spewed up flames from his mouth; his flames covered the skies and descended upon the tall man who is currently on the ground. The tall man created a shield and took out a silver ball, and electric currents appeared in his hands; he used it to launch it towards his enemy in the skies.
Beelzebub, after spewing out flames, with his jet-like speed, was boosted further when flames started coming out of his feet, but he was still hit by the railgun. He fell to the ground but got up immediately after.
He heads towards the forest. He was so fast he crushed into the trees. He got injured, but it was healed immediately. But he did not stop. He continued crashing into the trees everywhere he went. Everything was destroyed and set up in flame. His path was a circle, and in the center was the tall man who was still fighting the flames.
I, as a bystander and a person from another world, unfortunately also got caught up in his trail. Without a second thought, I use the anchor that I left behind to instantly teleport.
My world changed as I was in a desolate place with nothing but ashes, and I saw Belzebub and a long firewall.
also the place where Beelzebub spewed flames; the tall man was already out of it; he was floating in the air, and the world was slowly becoming dark as clouds started gathering above him.
Beelzebub, after leaving a trail of flame, was covered in blood from head to toe; he looked like someone who got stuff into a meat grinder. Everything is in chaos, with lightning flashing in the sky as thunderstorms begin to form. I'm not injured right now, but I'm exhausted, and I'm about to get obliterated with all this. I was just sleeping, I think, a moment ago. Anyway, I started panicking.
Forget having myself not injured. I'm not even sure I will be able to live alive. O God, help me encounter a miracle.
“You shits, stop getting me involved in your fight! I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“You are a witness; your actions can change the fight to my favor,” Beelzebub said, all bloodied. The only thing he said was garbage last time, but I guess it's logical.
“Oy, yo, yo, what are you talking about, Beelzebub? Let's kill this guy first,” said the tall guy, his eyes emitting lightning, and he is standing proudly in the sky.
“This conversation is useless; talking won’t change anything,” Beelzebub said. As he slowly walks towards the tall man, his wounds slowly close and his twisted limbs are starting to be restored.
"Oy, I’m just a bystander, I said. Holding some fear.
“How can a regular guy enter this forest?” the tall man sneered. His voice clearly held anger as he looked away from me and looked at Beelzebub.
The area started raining as sounds of thunder came from the sky. The fire wall was not affected by the rain. Seeing this, my time to escape has not come. But wondering if it is good or not the environment became bearable for me as the rain soaked the newly formed ashes from the fire and the hot environment previously was soaked in the rain. I look at the fight.
The tall man shot out two electrics from both of his hands towards Beelzebub; he also shot several bullets towards him. Beelzebub did not defend himself; instead, fire started spewing out of his feet, but before launching himself, he was struck by lightning from the thunderstorm. The tall man’s bullet attack also hit him and hit him in the shoulder.
Beelzebub got hit by lightning falling into the ground, and several bullets also hit him. Was he dead? I thought to myself.
Then I suddenly felt an unknown power entering inside me—all of my muscles that had been aching from all that running.
I felt power. instead of feeling something as abstract as feeling like one can fly. I felt joy and happiness, and I also felt at peace, and all my worries—all my panic and fear—were gone. I should have felt a sense of dread as the sudden unknown emotions came to my mind, but this peace is so overwhelming than any other emotions that it is perhaps the cause of it.
The tall man, as he sensed something, immediately looked in my direction and decided to stop attacking Belzebub and turn to me instead.
He muttered something; perhaps he noticed my condition and would attack. He looked at Belzebub before, glaring at me. He shot out lightning from his hands the same attack from the first exchange last time—louder than thunder; it's more of an explosion. He created a tree made of lightning and threw it at me.
I was calm even when his attack could kill me... I have too much thought in my head. As the lightning reached me in an instant, it didn’t touch me. Instead, the lightning seems to surround me and blow the surrounding dirt and ash around. Even sound was gone as the lightning carved a mark in the land and then seeped into the dirt being absorbed by the ground.
I was ok, then I noticed the surrounding wall of fire appeared to be going out, revealing the forest in the distance; perhaps it was from the rain? Then I also noticed a tread of fiery color unaffected by the rain. It is connected to the wall of flame. The fire seems to be being carried somewhere; I follow with my line of sight where the end of the tread is. Beelzebub was where the thread ended.
It appears to be attached to a ball of flame changing to many different colors in one of his hands; it is connected to many threads. He was kneeling, barely standing, like he was about to fall over any minute now with a ball of flame in his hand.
That's when lightning strikes from the sky around Beelzebub, sending debris, but Beelzebub was unaffected. Beelzebub’s eyes appeared to be close because when he opened, his eyes appeared to be spewing out flames, as his eyes were so bright you could see it from a distance.
It seems that eyes glow when they are using tremendous amounts of mana. As I was thinking,
The tall man appeared to notice as well and switch focus on him. The thundercloud above him is becoming restless.
I used my ultimate Trump card. My body automatically moved, as fast as possible, and got as far away as possible. I ran straight towards the wall of flame that was now as tall as me. I pass burned leftover tree branches and mist. I run over ground that is turning into mud, and the smell of burned ash was drowned out by the rain. It was humid, but it was still hot from the evaporated water mixed with smoke. I inhaled the still bad air; I had never smelled freedom before.
I looked over for a split second behind me.
Beelzebub is still kneeling on one knee; his colorful flaming ball in his hand is emitting a large amount of heat, turning the dirt in the surrounding area, including the ground beneath his feet, into lava.
He uses explosive strength from his small, seemingly weak, and heavily injured body. To send his final attack.
Looking back was a mistake, I thought. I was about to run over the wall so close, I thought as I ran towards escape. I didn’t look back again. I heard an intense wind and lightning behind me.
I controlled the space in front of me to fold in itself; with every step I took, I traveled seemingly covering dozens more of what should be possible. As I moved forward, the space in front of me bent and folded in on itself. the distance collapsing under my feet as if the very fabric of reality was compressing. I walked through a world where the normal rules of space no longer applied.
Before I was about to go inside the wall, I created a portal. I passed through it and appeared on top of a tree, but I got entangled in the tree branches with leaves all over my face and branches poking at me.
I stop time and jump from the tree. As I fall, the tree branches slow me down until I fall heavily into the ground.
I became fatigued from using too much of my powers. My body is also injured from the fall and the tree branches. I have small cuts all over my body.
Time starts spinning again. I find a safe place to hide and cover my head.
The world turned white, and as I heard a massive explosion, I was nearly dragged away by the shock waves. I gripped onto something with one of my arms still covering my head. My ears are ringing because of how loud that sound was. Something hit me as one of my right arms was just injured, fortunately, and I also felt something had fallen over me. The explosion lasted for a while before everything calmed down.
I slowly began to look at my surroundings. I was inside the head of a tree that had fallen over me. I slowly began to crawl out of the tree, and when I got out, in my point of view, it was a mess. the trees that are still standing, its top leaves are getting caught on fire. I don't know how I survive that.
I began to lay down. I'm both physically and mentally exhausted, and I have dirt all over my face and body. Everything is all a mess, but I felt at peace at long last. I just woke up, and now I want to sleep again.
As I slept in Dreamland, I began to dream of something chasing me. Running from it was no use, but running backward was effective, except I had to see that scary thing as I was running backwards. It looks like a mess; it has eyeballs all over its body, and it is constantly changing shape. It folds onto itself and keeps expanding its body. It's like cosmic water, merging and splitting in ways where my brain hurts.
I woke up. I feel like something kicked me in the head. I opened my eyes and saw someone who looked like someone who was as young as me. He has red eyes and black hair, but his face was covered in wounds. He has medieval looking clothes, a plain red shirt, and some black pants covering his body from head to toe. The strange part is that it appears to be covered in bloodstains. He also wore leather shoes. He was Beelzebub.
“You, what's your name?” He asked rudely. The blessing is still in effect, so I remain calm. I should be in fear and even be angry, as he did kick me in the head, and I was also caught up in his fight. Various thoughts flashed through my mind, and I thought for a moment.
“Just call me the wanderer.”