First Mission

As I arrived at the airport Maru was already there. “Why do you always have to be late?!” as soon as he saw me, those were his first word.

“*sigh* Good morning. Can’t you just greet me normally instead of pissing me off? Besides, we still have about an hour left before our flight.” I let out a huge sigh because he just always try to get on my nerves.

“I know there’s an hour left, but we still have lots to do. Let’s check in our luggage first.” The reason we were here was because I accepted Principal’s request. I decided to take Maru with me. Although I initially wanted to bring Ari with me but this mission might be dangerous so I do not want anything to happen to him. My last choice was Maru since we have travelled together quite often in the past so there will be not much of a problem. The principal gave us one day for us to pack our stuff because it will be a long trip. He also said that we will meet with the other contractors at the end of the flight. It was still quite suspicious because Principal did not tell us where we will be going but he did tell us the time we should be at the airport.

When we entered, the Principal was standing in wait with one person. It was a boy, around 14 years old in age with short black hair. His skin was pale white and his brown pupil eyes were half closed as if he was about to sleep. He was carrying a bag-pack on his back with a wooden staff tied to the side. A male fairy was standing on his shoulder.

“Ho-ya, there you are. Here are your tickets.” the Principal was the first to greet us and lend us our tickets.

As we get our tickets, I saw the destination was…Berlin?! Why Germany? That was so far away. I had never travel to another country before. I really thought it was just going to be a state in my country but this was a real shocker.

“Haha, your face shows it all. This is my surprise for you. Now, hurry up and go check in your luggage,” the Principal said while pinching his moustache

“W-wait, why Berlin? Isn’t that too far away?” I did not have to ask as Maru had the same thought as mine.

“Hmph, idiots. That’s because that is where you are going to go for your mission.” Suddenly the kid spoke up. With only that one sentence, I get the gist of his personality. The way he speak says it all; rude and egotistical boy. The expensive looking cloth also gave an impression of a pampered rich-boy.

“Ah, I forgot to introduce him. This is Arthur Finlay. He will be joining your party on this mission. He’s a healer so it will be a good asset in the party.” The Principal was the one introducing while he was just yawning and dazing away.

No party need this kind of person but since it had been decided we cannot do anything about it. The principal told us that we will meet the other party members in Berlin. I just hope they would not be another troublesome child like this one. This boy looked like he just cannot do anything by himself. In the end, we were the ones who have to do things for him. Even after entering the airplane, I had to help him fasten the sit-belt.

However, my anger slowly fades away as I was enjoyed the comfiness of this business-class sits. This was my first time so I enjoyed it so much. As for Ember, she was also enjoying the flight. She kept on going about how fast the plane was and she had never been so high in the sky.

As she peeks out the window, the shades of red in her hair shines like burning fire as the sun light reflects onto it as she pressed herself against the glass. Her behavior was just like a child getting a new toy. Somehow, she looked really cute when she called out to me and let me take a peek at what she was pointing to. I could not fight the urge to pat her head  as she called out to me. She was a bit surprised as I pat her head but she did not resisted. A tinge of happiness and also a slight blushing could be seen on her adorable face. I let her continue to watch the scenery as sit back and relax.

Along the flight, I could clearly feel this flight was a slightly different from the past. Usually I would just listen to music or take a ogle on the stewardess but now, I was looking at the view outside the window. Although Ember was still blocking out the view out of the window, I could still see a little bit. Unexpectedly, I could even sense the mana outside the airplane, particularly in the clouds. Sometime, I could even see something flying outside and weird bundle of string-like lines that reached to the end of the horizon.

The most intriguing part was the string-like lines. Somehow, I could feel a very strong mana accumulating in it. It was like a rainbow, filled with different shades of colour, and the lines were more distinct and clear. When I tried to control the mana at the lines, the plane suddenly shocked violently due to turbulence. At first I thought it was just coincidence but as I tried a few more times, the turbulence would follow suit. The lines definitely carried a lot mysterious mana but I did not know what it was. I stopped controlling it because I thought it might cause a lot of problems to the plane. Maru who was sitting next to me actually glared at me as if he knew the turbulence was my fault. He probably thought I use some kind of magic or something.

After about 13 hours of flight, we finally arrived at Berlin international airport. To be honest, I was quite lost at first but luckily Maru knew what to do so we followed him. After we retrieved our luggage, I saw someone who has a fairy floating around him so I thought he must be another contractor. He looks like he had also just arrived as he was carrying a large bag on his shoulder. I approached him and called out. At first he was giving me a cold shoulder but after he saw my fairy, he greeted me.

“Oh, you must be the contractor. I’m Don Manjiro, nice to meet you. I will be the tanker in the party.” He was a huge guy, probably almost 2 metre tall. As we shake hands, I could feel his grip was quite strong. He had a dark-tan skin and bald head. His well-build body could be easily seen from the ripples of his shirt. Anyone seeing him at first glance would absolutely think he is an extreme body builder.

“Hey, I’m Harry Straty, nice to meet you too. I’m a ninja.” I did not want to say a necromancer ninja because it would sound so weird so I just say ninja.

“I heard there would be three persons coming together. Where is the other two?” Maru and the boy were still waiting for their luggage so I waited for them to introduce themselves. “I’m Maru Kumawari, nice to meet. I’m a swordsman so you can expect me to be on full offensive.”

“I’m Arthur Finlay…A healer” we chatted for a while then went out.

As we walked to the waiting area, we saw two persons at the waiting area while holding papers with our names on it. They also have fairies floating near them. So we approached them. I did not realised it from far but as we went near them, I saw they were actually twins. They had a long blond hair and beautiful eyes. They wore identical white shirt with short pants. Their white smooth thigh was like a magnet that pulls my gaze to it.

“Hello, I’m Amy Klein and this is my twin sister Anna Klein. We will be your guide here. For now, let’s go to the car and go to the dormitory. You must be tired from that long flight.”

*****

It took 3 hours to arrive at the dormitory. The dormitory was huge and seeing it for the first time I thought it was a mansion. It was three storeys high and there was a huge grass field behind it. This dormitory was quite far from the city so it was surrounded by forest aside from the grass field. The sky was already filled with shades of red and orange as the sun slowly fall behind the horizon. It was already dust.

“Phew, that was quite a long ride.” Exclaimed Maru as he stretched his body.

I also felt my body were aching here and there. So I really wanted to take a rest as soon as possible. The twins guided us into the dormitory and as expected it was very spacious with celings that reach to the third floor. There were staircases leading to the top floor directly in front of the entrance way. Despite being a huge dormitory, the twins told us that there were only 10 people living here including they themselves. This dormitory was supposedly owned by the World Order so the contractors were allowed to live here.

“Okay, let’s get you to your rooms. There are two beds in one room so you will have to pair up,” said one of the twins. It was obvious that I would pair up with Maru but the boy was looking at me with upturned eyes. I honestly did not want to pair up with him because of his rude attitude but I remembered that he cannot do anything on his own so I just paired up with him just in case. After all, this Don guy definitely have bad temper because I have seen him snorted a few times at the boy when he was acting rude. As for Maru, he would definitely leave the boy and mind his own business. When I told Maru I will be pairing with the boy, he gave me a nod so he must have understood.

The twin led us to our room and said, “You can rest for a while. When dinner is done then we will call you out. After that we will have a meeting on the mission.”

*****

The room was also spacious. There were two queen-size beds. A sofa and a coffee table were positioned at the centre of the room with an LCD television hanged on the wall. I took the bed nearest to the window and laid myself flat on the bed. I caught a glimpse of the boy switching on the television but I did not pay attention to it. The bed was so warm and comfy. I closed my eyes and slowly wait until my consciousness fades away.

After roughly two hours, I was woken up by the boy. It was time for dinner and we went to the dinning room. As we enter, the food was already served on the table and the other residents were also present. We took our seat and start filling in our stomach. The food was delicious. If anything, I would even rate it 10 out of 10. It was the twin who cooked all of it. That makes the food even better. After thanking them for the food we went to another room for the meeting.

“Okay, let’s start the meeting. Basically, we will just plan out the formation and objectives of this mission.” Said on of the twins, since both of them were wearing the same outfit and the same hairstyle, I just cannot identify who was who.

“Let’s start with the objective. As you know, we lost contact of two contractors who were on recon mission. So we are now sent by the higher ups to search and rescue them. There will be two possible situations; First, is that they are alive or injured. With this, our priority is to rescue them and protect them at all cost. Their intel on the beast should be reported to the extermination squad as soon as possible. Second, they did not survive or can’t be found. With this, we are responsible to continue on the recon mission and gather as much intel on this beast as possible. However, we must prevent direct contact with the beast at all cost. This is also a direct order from the top brass.” explained one of the twin.

I already knew some of the thing she explained but I did not know that we were supposed to gather intel if Yuz and my math teacher were not alive. For now, I need to keep a positive attitude and go with the possibility of them being alive.

“Then next, party formation. Both of us are wizard so we can cast magic attack.” I finally realized that one of the twin always do the speaking while the other just remain silent.

I still have some question so I asked, “Okay, good to know. So, is the party leader decided yet? And when will be going on this mission?”

Then Don spoke “It is not decided yet, but I will be the party leader. I have more experience so I’m best suited for it.”

I got no problem with it but somehow this guy was a bit too proud and confident. I saw Maru was making a dissatisfied face but he just kept quiet. The boy was also snorting loudly but the twin agreed without much complaint

“Okay then, we both have no problem with that. I dont think the others is dissatisfied in any ways. We will be starting this mission in midnight. So get ready as soon as possible,” said one of the twins.

“Wait, midnight?! Isn’t that too quick?” I was surprised that I almost thought it was a joke.

“Well, the longer we wait the lower the possibility of them surviving.”

Well, that was quite a good reason so I just accepted it.

“Okay then, the twin and Arthur will be on support at the back. I will be on the frontline while Maru and Harry will be on guard at the rear,” said Don. His explanation was too vague. I can imagine how the formation looked like but I really do not understand my responsibility in the party. Like am I only supposed to protect the support or do I attack as well?

Maru suddenly spoke, “Wait a second. Are you saying I am supposed to defend the support? I’m a swordsman. I don’t defend, I attack. If you want me to defend then you can expect the support to be dead in a few minute.”

“Tch, what are you trying to say, noob?” after that word, I knew Maru was pissed off without even looking at him

“Haha, I’m trying to say your formation is crappy. I’ll tell you honestly, you just want to steal the spotlight being the frontline. You think being the frontline who slayed the beast could make this twin fall for you? Or you could have a go with one of them? Sorry but your plan don’t work in real life. Those thing just happens in your dream.” Maru was on sarcastic-mode now and he was literally on frenzy. His words were illustrated with his hand gestures and the smirk on his face was even enough to irritate even for me.

“What did you say!” then both of them started to throw insults at each other. While the twins were trying to stop the fight, I was just sitting there, deep in thought. This party definitely have too many holes. Somehow, I get the feeling this getup was just impossible. 'Just how the heck will this party stay alive if we encounter that beast?'

After a few minutes of quarrel, the twins managed to disperse them off. The mission will still be on. We were given a few minutes to get ready before we set off to the targeted location. Somehow the bad feeling started to lingers in my heart again. 

*****

After the brief meeting, I went back to the room to get my sickle and changed my clothes. I wore a sweater with jackets and long jeans. It was still summer here but it was still cold for me. Plus, it was midnight and temperature gets even colder. I just hope the cold does not affect me during a fight. As for the boy, he only took his staff and wore an expensive looking robe. The robe was white in colour decorated with golden line with a weird shape and symbol. We went down to the car park together.

When we arrived, Maru was already leaning on the car. He was also wearing heavy clothing like me. A sword was tied to his waist. From the looks of the hilt, I presumed that it was a knightly sword, a one-handed sword that can normally be seen in medieval Europe.

“Hey, you’re early. That is so rare,” he greeted as he senses my presence.

“The others sure took long,” he continued.

“Haha, the twin might take a while to put on their makeup…” as I finished my word, the twins came up to me from behind.

“Hey, it’s rude to talk behind people’s back! And we don’t put up our makeup if we’re going for a fight.” One of the twins said. There was a hint of annoyance in her words but she was still said it with a smile. Without thinking much, I smiled wryly as I regretted saying those words.

They were also wearing a robe just like the boy and were equipped with a silvery-metallic staff. The robe was dark purple in colour but there was a slit at the side of the robe, making it looked like a Chinese dress. Their thighs were slightly visible through the slit as they walk. The magnetic force of the thigh was so powerful that my eyes just stick their gazes to it for a few minutes before I got scold by them for staring too much. Somehow, I wanted to blame them for wearing it but I liked the view so it was a win-win situation for me. Another question pop out in my mind, do they not feel cold from those thin clothing? I guess they were used to this temperature so it was not much of a deal for them?

“So now we just need to wait for Don.” Said Maru as he released a heavy sigh. Clearly, the hostility from Maru was still presence with the wrinkled anxious face he made. We expected Don would arrive sooner but we waited more than 20 minutes though.

“Sorry for the lateness. I got to twig with this armour a little bit just now,” exclaimed Don. Every step he took would create a clanking metallic sound. It was because of the armour he wore; a bronze coloured plat armour with metal pads covering every parts of his joints. Rubber boots and rubber gloves were also worn with metal chains twined around them. A long sword was leaned on his shoulder as he held onto the sword’s hilt.

As he walked slowly towards us, he took a few looks on me and Maru from head to toe. “Are you two seriously going to wear those outfits? You’re going to sustain a lot of injury without any armour you know.” Don said with a hint of sarcasm in his words. Somehow, Maru was pissed off and turned his back towards Don as if ignoring him.

“Wait, we don’t even have any armour…” I wanted to asked for a spare armour but I was cut off by one of the twins.

“You’re fine. We need to get going now.” They hastily went into the car and the others followed leaving me and Maru standing outside. I looked at him and he was still angry.

The location was not far from the dorm. It was roughly 30 minutes of drive deeper into the forest. As we get deeper, it was getting darker and darker because most of streets lights were not functioning until at one point we have to depend on the headlight from the car. I noticed more trees were wilted and were devoid of any leaves. It was quite surprising because it was still summer but the leaves have already fallen as if it was already autumn. Patches of orange colour could be seen on the ground which I presumed was the wilted leaves.

“Master, I could sense a strong presence ahead. Please be cautious at all times,” warned Ember. Even with the poor visibility due to the lack of light, I could vaguely see she was making a serious face. To be honest, I could even feel the weird fluctuation of magic in the forest and something more sinister ahead of us.

“We have arrived,” said one of the twins. Her words were short and precise but a tinge of fear and anxiety could be felt. I stepped out of the car and as my feet touched the ground, it was cold. Not because of the cold temperature, but somehow I could feel directly from my feet that the ground was icy cold. From that point, I knew it was magic because I could sense the mana in me was fluctuating like crazy. I breath in deeply to focus the mana in my body to stop fluctuating. Slowly the coldness dissipates and it became warmer and warmer. I looked around and saw the others were also looking cold as they hug their bodies tightly. Their breath can clearly be seen from the white puff of air as they exhaled. I wanted to stop their mana from fluctuating crazily but Ember stopped me because I cannot simply control mana inside someone's body. Even with me and Ember talking, the others did not pay any mind as their gazes were fixed to one point; the abandoned building. It was very eerie that it was like a scene from a scary movie. With all the slabs of rock that looked almost like a tombstone and the dead wilted trees around, it definitely made this building looked like it was haunted.

“Let’s get going.” Don broke the silence with that order. His word was firm and confident. Without any delay, he went off towards the entrance of the building with big stride. We followed him with the formation he suggested. At first, Maru was a bit reluctant but followed anyways.

The moment my feet stepped into the building, something started screaming in my head. Although it was just a series of high pitch sound but I knew it was alarming me, warning me, not to go inside and to turn back. This was the same as when I was attacked by my classmates. The screeching and screaming sound was louder this time, so much that my head was starting to ache like it was being pressured and squeezed by the sound. From what happened in school, this definitely was a sign of danger. Cold sweat poured out and goose bumps throughout my body. I stepped back by reflex and looked around to see what was causing my head to alarm me like crazy but only found the puzzled looks from my party. Everyone was puzzled except for Maru. He looked at me, glared at me, stared right into my eyes as his face suddenly changed from the puzzling face into one with an anxious face with the wrinkles clearly seen. It was as if he could understand what I was doing but he remained silent.

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“Hahaha, having cold feet huh? It’s your first mission so I can understand,” Don pated my shoulder as he said those words. He looked sympathetically at me for a moment and wrapped his hand around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Don is here to protect you. Hahaha,” he laughed out loud as he pushed me into the building. I wanted to tell him about the screams in my head telling me an impending danger but as I entered the building again, the scream was suddenly gone. So I decided to keep it to myself.

We walked carefully inside the building. The twins used some kind of magic to create light from their staff so we could see our footstep. The floor was cracked and there were some holes on the upper floor.

After a few minutes, we were already half way to the top floor but we did not encounter anything. I saw Don was already letting his guard down while the twins were actually taking this trip like a tour to a haunted house. They were too relaxed. I did told them to be on guard but they just ignore it like I was just joking around until at one point, one of the twins almost fell from the hole on the floor. The ones who were taking this seriously was me, Maru and the boy.

After another half an hour, we finally reached the top. It took a while because there were a lot of huge holes so we have to take a few detours to get to the next floor. The top floor had no rooms, just a wide open space with the roof 10 metres high. Huge pillars supported the high roof. The top floor was really different. There were no cracks or holes on the floor. There were no windows. The only light that illuminated the hall was only the light from the twins' staff.

However, the light was not enough to reach the end of the hall. We walked slowly to the end. Halfway through, suddenly the scream came again. It was so loud that the pain felt like it was piercing right through my head. My body suddenly move on its own and jumped sideways.

As I jumped sideways, I hit the twins and the boy who was beside me making all four of us fell to the ground. Still laid down, I heard something whizzed past above my head and then continued with the scream from Don and Maru.

They screamed witn agony. I hastily stood up and looked around. The light from the staff of the twins was only enough to let me see a few metres away. I was not able to find the perpetrators because of the poor visibility. Maru was on his knees, holding his bleeding shoulder while Don was laid down on the floor, unconscious. Three holes were present on Don’s plat-armour; one on his left shoulder and two on his abdomen. From the sight of it, I knew a projectile was shot towards us at high speed, strong enough to penetrate through an iron plate. Pool of blood started to form on the floor. Hurriedly, I ordered the boy who was still sitting down surprised by what happened and asked him to heal Don immediately. The twins were already standing and chanting some spell. After the chant was finished, a magic barrier was erected around us.

“Hahahaha! Very good! More prey, more food! Struggle as much as you can, it will make things more interesting.” The voice was so eerie because it was a combination of different voice speaking at once.

After those few words, the hall was suddenly lit up. Everything was visible; the red wall, the red floor, the red pillar and the source of the light was from dozens of golden chandeliers with red candles. At the end of the hall something was sitting on a throne. It had a human upper body but it had a snake-like lower body.

I thought it was a Medusa but the upper body was that of a muscular guy. I could not see the face because it was covered by a silver mask. He was holding a trident on one hand. The other hand, he was holding a chain that was tying up a little girl.

In my mind, I thought, ‘is this the beast that we were supposed to look for? Or is this really a beast?’ I remembered the order was to not make contact with the beast and only gather information about it. Well, getting to know how the beast looked probably was very good information. We could just retreat because the vice inchou and my math teacher was not there. Plus, Maru and Don were injured badly so the best thing to do was to retreat. However, there was still that tied up little girl. I could not leave without saving her yet. Once the boy finished healing Maru and Don, I ordered everyone to retreat while I hold off this ‘thing’. Don was still unconscious but the holes in his body stopped bleeding, so Maru carried him over his shoulder.

I decided that I would just rescue the little girl while fending this ‘thing’ off.

*****

Sounds of metal clanging with each other echoed throughout the huge hall. The battle was at a dead lock; between a human and a Naga. Never have the Naga thought that he would be held off by a mere human. However, this human was different. He was different than the two humans he had fought before. His battle prowess could be said more than two times stronger than the other two combined. His speed, his agility, his strength, almost everything was not very…human. No hit was able to land on him. Even if the Naga were about to hit him, he would just easily parry his attack and the Naga himself would get hit by a powerful counter.

The Naga race, mostly known for their snake-like body parts, have a latent ability of self-regeneration. This Naga in particularly, had a very quick self-regeneration. If not for this reason, he would not be brave enough to intrude into the Real World. However, this human just really get on his nerve. This human’s counterattack was just too strong. The wounds he inflicted using his sickle was so deep and severe. The way he handled the sickle was not that spectacular, even an amature could see this human was not skilled in using his weapon but the sheer strength in each hit was immense. His regeneration could not keep up with the amount of damage he was inflicted.

“Gghhhh,” The Naga grunted again as his attack was countered and Harry managed to stab into his abdomen. He backed away to let the self-regeneration kick in. His main objective; leave no survivors. The human’s party was retreating while one of them, Harry, held him back. Try as he may, he could not slip pass him. He really must not let them escape this place. Once the information about him is spread, it would only make him an object to hunt. Not just the human, but all the other race as well. This means, ensuring them dead was the only priority he had. Plus, if he could kill this party, the other humans might even go here falling for his trap and it would just be another feast for him.

The Naga’s biggest obstacle right now was this human man, or could he say a boy, probably a young adult. His knowledge of humans was near zero, so he could not think more into it. After every wound on his body was healed, he started his attack again. His move was agile, the snake-like lower body make it possible for him to twist and turn while maintaining his upper body on a standing posture. Moving in a zig-zag shape, the little girl that was tied up by an iron chain was dragged along with him. An enraged face was crystal-clear on the Harry’s face as he saw the little girl was being dragged, bruises and cuts clear on her bare skin.

The Naga thrusted his trident and aimed for the Harry’s chest. However, the human anticipated the attack and he twisted his body, barely evading the thrust. As quick as lightning, he slashed his scythe horizontally at the throat of the Naga. Blood sprayed out as the slash cuts deep enough to slice the arteries open. A critical damage.

Shocked, the Naga dropped his trident and the chain tying up the little girl, as he held his wounded throat to stop the blood gushing out of his throats. He backed away again to let the regeneration heal his wound. Even if his wound was severe, the regeneration would kick in and even adds more blood to counter the blood loss. At the end of the hall, the other party member has already reached the stairs to the lower floor. However, there were a sneering smile on the Naga's face

While the Naga was distracted by his wounded throat, the human took that opportunity to cut the chains tying up the little girl and took her away. The chains clearly left a mark on the body of the little girl; red marks on the skin and even bruises. There was not even a single string on the body of the girl, so Harry took off his jacket and put it on her. He knew he would not be able to fight the creature if he were to carry the girl. After fighting the Naga sp long that he loss track of time, he knew he would have a chance of winning if he were to use most of his skills against it but the Naga’s regeneration ability was too troublesome. Plus, the location of the battle was another troublesome thing. He cannot use Raiton no Jutsu because the sheer power of the lightning might even destroy the pillars and even collapse the whole building down, this was after all an abandoned building. His only choice was to summon undead or clones to fend off the Naga. And so he did, he summoned 3 clones.

The 3 clones were to hold off the Naga as he retreats with the little girl. The Naga who noticed the little was already free, let out a huge howl, filled with anger. Harry, hastily carry the little girl on a princess-carry but the little girl were hesitating to let Harry carry her. As he went off to the stairs, the little girl tugged his shirt to say something. “If you flee from here, you will be trapped in an eternal maze once you stepped out of this building. Your life will be sucked out dry as you run aimlessly in the maze.” Her voice was devoid of any emotions. She was speaking as if she was mustering every ounce of her energy to warn Harry.

“Master! This girl…” Ember was surprised as she looked at the girl with wide eyes on closer inspection. After hiding in Harry's shirt pocket, she had peeked out. She was so shocked that her words were not even finished.

The little girl shake herself off from Harry and stood in front of him. The jacket fall from her body as she bowed down, revealing a bat like wing on her back and a pointy tail. “Thank you for saving me, I am indepted to you.” Somehow, she was filled with energy unlike when she was chained up. Her black hair slowly fades into a creamy-white colour. Her dark brown pupil also changed into violet red. Two canine-tooth elongates and protruded out her mouth. Both Harry and Ember were surprised by what they saw, maybe shocked would be more relevant. They were too shocked to even notice the battle between the clones and the Naga were already at a different level. The Naga had already shot out dozens of water jet towards them but Harry’s concentration was fixed to a particular places, he thought ‘isn’t that balloon a little too big for her age?’. Luckily the clones were quick enough to activate Suiton no Jutsu to block of the water jet from hitting them.

“Master! Be careful! This girl is a vampire…or maybe a succubus,” Ember was already floating in front of Harry as if to protect him. A tinge of hostility could be felt oozing out from Ember. However Harry was not fond of such hostility towards women. He could not muster any strength if he were to fight such beauty. Even so, he was sure that this little girl could not be his enemy because he was tied by the other creature. 'The enemy to my enemy is my friend' he thought.

“Please do not be afraid. I’m neither of them, I’m a Dhampir, a crossbreed of the two races. Let’s save the question for later, first we need to kill that Naga…”

*****

“What?! That’s preposterous! Just how do I kill that thing! Every wounds it took will be healed in a mere second. The priority right now is to retreat and let the extermination squad do their job,” a mix of anxiety and irritation was presence in Harry’s word. As he looked back, one of his clones was already destroyed by the Naga’s water jet attack. He knew that water jet were the thing that bore a hole on Don’s plate armour. The water jet was so fast that it created a high-pitched hissing sound as it breaks through the sound barrier. He knew he need to take extra care when confronting this water jet attack. To him, it was impossible to kill the Naga. No matter how much damage he inflicted on the Naga, it would just heal itself.

As for him, just one hit from the Naga’s attack was enough to be fatal and kill him. He could only counter because the Naga were quite agile and so he would not easily land a hit if he were to attack him directly. Although he have a few things on his mind, but with the current location it would be fatal as it might affect him too. For example, if he used Raiton no Jutsu, even just the shockwave from the lightning would be enough to create a huge crater on the ground, the effect on an abandoned building could be easily imagined, the abandoned building would just crumble down. Other than that, Suiton no Jutsu lack power, he can try drowning the Naga but he could not flood this place with holes everywhere and looking at the snake-like humanoid in front of him, water won't be a proble, for him since he is also using some kind of water magic to shoot out the water jet. Although he have a few new skills, but he did not try it out yet so it would be dangerous if the skills were too powerful or might even affect him in some ways.

“If you retreat, then you will be trapped in an eternal maze just like your friend right now. They are in the maze, trapped and running aimlessly. Well, the maze is actually my magic but I could not dispel it because the Naga is controlling my magic through slavery crest. So the only way out is by killing him and freeing me then I can dispel it…oh by the way, i know you have been thinking about this, you can use as many destructive magic as much as you can. This is a magic field I created so there will be no damage to the outside, the building won’t collapse.

Fight-oooo!” The little girl, or should we say the little Dhampir, said. At the end of the words, she was actually cheering with huge smile on her face and tilting her head for Harry to give his best and kill the Naga. How could he, Harry, not save such a cute creature like this. Plus, she was half succubus so maybe he could even get some ‘rewards’ from freeing her. Blushing, Harry shook his head to bring himself back to reality, trying to make his final decision. Before he said anything, he took a look at Ember and she shook her head, showing her disapproval.

“How can we trust you. Even if we free you, you might just gain control of your magic and attack us back.” Ember said those with straight face. To her, she could not trust other people, especially when this girl is a race that is very good in deceiving others. She knew that many different races were considered as one single demon race, and this girl was one of them. No, she was two of them, a vampire and a succubus, a variant, all the more reason not to trust her. The Demon had been trying out many variations to defy the Fairies authority in the mirror world. Just how could she, a proud fairy, trust such filthy creature.

“I see, trust is the problem here. Then Mr. Saviour, will you create a contract with me, a life contract. You can take this as a reward for saving me *wink*” she winked cutely at Harry and somehow he blushed from his cheeks to his ears. Ember on the other hand was furious, with his mouth wide open as if he thought he heard it wrongly.

“Wha… NO! He already have me! There is no more need for another contract! Come on Master, let’s just kill that thing and worry about her later.” After finishing her words, Ember pulled Harry on his ears forcefully, wanting him to ignore the little wretched girl. Although she pulled his ear as much as she can, Harry did not move an inch. There was only little pain to his ear so he did not care much. He was still in a daze, particularly imagining some 'things'. 'Was it illegal? No, but she is not human? So it is legal right?'

“Wait, I can create another contract? And you’re not even a fairy, how do you even create a contract?” Harry who was still confused asked the little Dhampir questions. He really did not know what to do. There was an intense battle going on between his clones and the Naga behind his back, and yet he was just relaxingly talking around with this little Dhampir. Sneering from ears to ears, it was clear that the little Dhampir had some plans in mind.

“Oh, are you curious? Then how about you just give it a try!” after the little Dhampir said those words, she quickly jump towards Harry and wrapped her arms on Harry’s neck. Her lip was connected to Harry’s lip, a kiss, more accurately a French kiss. She stuck her tongue into Harry’s mouth and a surge of mana was flowing into him. A magical circle formed under their feet, glowing dimly with red colour. He could not react quickly to stop the kiss but to Harry, he did not sense the magic because the only thing he sense was, softness, especially the part on his chest, something plump and soft was pressing against his chest. Maybe he even thought it was just too great a reward. But it was totally different for Ember. Her face was red, not of embarrassment but of anger. The little Dhampir slowly let go of Harry and stood in front of him. “The contract is done,” she said and the red glowing magic circle slowly disappear.

“What do you think you’re doing you f*cking slutty little kid!” shouted Ember. She was infuriated by the Dhampir's action. However, she did not solely blamed the Dhampir but she also blamed herself for being too careless. She should have convince her Master or she should have stopped the little Dhampir from stealing a kiss. Harry, looked at Ember shockingly. The last time he saw Ember like this was when she was doing the blood oath. She was using some vulgar words too.

Before he could calm Ember down, a message was telling him in his head that said one of his clone was destroyed. He quickly looked back and saw only one clone was left fighting the Naga.

“Tch, let’s worry about this later. For now, I need to take down this Naga,” as he said those words, he wiped his mouth and took out his scythe. “Let’s use this Naga as a guinea pig to test my new skills”

*****

“Raiton no Jutsu!” Electrical sparks formed on his left hand as he said those words. A sneering smile could easily be seen on Harry’s face. He closed in their distant slowly while the Naga was still occupied by the clone. “As controller of the Dark world, the harbringer of death, and one who call the dead, I call upon you Dark Knights,” after finishing his chuunibyo chants, two dark smog surrounded him. As the dark smog slowly dissipates, two figure could be seen, donning a jet-black armour, wielding a huge sword and a huge coffin-shield. The face could easily be seen through the helm, a rotten skull-like face. The two Dark knights were walking side-by-side along with Harry. The distance between Harry and the Naga slowly shortens. He could feel the his mana was quickly drained by his summons, luckily he could switch from using his mana to the surrounding mana

Finally destroyed the last clones, the Naga took a look at Harry. Fear, was the thing he saw first or maybe death itself. The fear he was looking at was the Dark knight. ‘Why are there two Dark knights here? Why are these infamous elite soldiers of the Lucifer Imperial Guard here? Why are they taking orders from a mere human? Why are they guarding him? Who is he? What is his connection to this fearsome creature?’ Those were the questions that lingered through the Naga’s head. He backed away, with fear in his heart. Every step Harry make, the Naga would move back a step.

Harry understood the situation. He knew the Naga were afraid of these Dark knights. Although he does not know the reason but he could use it to his advantage. This was not his initial plan but using this Dark Knights as decoy is a good plan too. The Naga tensed up and he was full of openings. Not wanting to let this chance slip, Harry kicked the ground and quickly closed the distance. In mere seconds, Harry was in front of the Naga and hit him with the lightning sphere in his hand. Bang! A loud thunder echoed and a bright flash illuminated the hall. The Naga was blown away till the end of the hall, leaving trails of crater along the ground. As it hits the wall, cracks was spread out like spider web on the wall. The body was black and charred but Harry could see clearly from metres away that the Naga’s body was healing itself. Harry knew that it would be in vain if the Naga recover his body again. With the mana he have left, he could only cast this skill for a few more times. Using the surrounding mana to activate Raiton no jutsu will drastically decrease its power. ‘Destroy him until nothing was left to regenerate’ he thought. It was also a good chance to try out his new skills while the Naga was down.

“Katon no Jutsu.” He hold up his hand and activated his new skill, which he gained after defeating two parties of his classmates. After a brief moment, a vortex of fire 50 metres wide was shot out from his hand. The farther it goes, the wider the fire vortex became until it hits the Naga at the end of the hall. The fire vortex was over 200 metres wide reaching thousands of degree as it reached the wall. The heat was so intense that Harry could actually felt his face burning and the Dark knights had to cover him by reflex to prevent him from being burned by the intense heat coming out of his palm.

The fire vortex also created a huge explosion as it hits the wall, releasing a strong shockwave that teared down dozens of pillars. The fire continued burning for more than ten minutes even after his skill activation stopped and razed half of the pillars in the hall to the ground. Harry had to put the fire out using Saiton no Jutsu to prevent it from spreading out and destroying everything. He was surprised that it could do this much damage.

After the fire was extinguished, half of the hall was charred and rumbles from the pillar could be seen everywhere. Although half of the pillars was destroyed, the ceiling did not cave-in so the little Dhampir must have told the truth about this being a magic field. But even she was surprised that the barrier took this much damage, if it were to get hit by another of that flame this barrier would have collapsed.

Harry went to the end of the hall to look for the Naga. The ground was still hot and he was sweating due to the heat. Now he had another overpower skills in his arsenal. What else could go wrong, or so he thought. He knew that such power was due to his dense mana in his body. Using this mana immensely increased the power of his skill, the results could be seen in front of him. He found the Naga’s body, black and charred. The trident could be seen half-melted and lose its shape. The little Dhampir came up to Harry and looked at the corpse. “He’s still alive…”

*Wiggle*wiggle* the snake's tail moved. Harry could not hold himself back from making an annoyed face. ‘Just how much do I need to do to kill you?’ he thought. He was really pissed. If that attack was not enough to kill the Naga, then what will? He spit on the charred body of the Naga in remorse.

“Master, I know you’re angry but there is no need for you to spit him…” the little Dhampir said to Harry. He really did not want her to call him by that because he could feel a murderous aura coming out from Ember after she heard those words. Then she continued “…Let’s just chop off his head and it will be done. The brain signal will be cut off then he will stop the regeneration.”

“What?! Chop his head off? Then it’s done? Why didn’t you tell me sooner! But... that would be hard... for me..” Harry said stutteringly. “…um, Dark knight, please do the honour and chop his head off,” he continued. Although he did not felt anything when casting those deadly skills but he could not muster any courage to chop off someone’s head. The Dark knight held its huge sword up and swung down as hard as it can. Before the meat-cleaver hits, Harry averted his head away and closed his eyes. He could feel his stomach churning in disgust. Nausea and cold sweat poured out. Somehow, he felt uncomfortable. Could it be, he was feeling guilty for killing someone? He does not know what it reallly was himself.

“Yeay, I’m finally free!!! Thank you so much Master! You were so strong, that pitiful Naga didn’t even stand a chance. I can finally see the world!! Hahaha… oh yeah, let me introduce myself, I’m Loli Jupiter, a variant of vampire and succubus, a Dhampir. Well, I’m now under your service Master, you can ask me anything you want *wink*wink*” after she said those words, she pointed her buttock out and swung it around. Seeing this, Ember was once again infuriated.

“Go kill yourself you slutty little bi*ch! Master would not be satisfy by your figure you busty loli!” Ember was in rage and throwing insults. Of course, the little Dhampir did not want to quiet down and insulted Ember too.

“Hahaha, are you speaking to yourself fairy? He wouldn’t be satisfy with that FLAT-CHEST! I would be more satisfying though.” The little Dhampir said. The insult barrage continued on.

Their quarrel continued as Harry smiled wryly. He looked towards the corpse with sorrow. ‘Killing people doesn’t feel good even if its to saving others,’ he thought. After calming both of them, he ordered Loli to dispel the barrier. The huge red hall was now an empty roof top. The half charred hall was no more. Only an open sky with the roof floor filled with holes. He walked to edge of the roof top and saw the others were already out of the building, waiting at the car. They still looked confused and were talking to themselves. Vice Inchou and my Math teacher were also there.

“Hmm, I think it is safe to jump from this height with your current level. Let’s hurry now Master. They need some explanation.” Said Ember. Without wasting time, he put his jacket on Loli and carried her with a princess carry. Then he jumped from the roof and landed on the ground with a loud thud. The ground was cracked due to the momentum but Harry only felt a little pain from the jump.

“Oh, Harry! There you are! What happened?!” Said Maru as he saw him landed on the ground. Although others were astounded when they saw Harry jumped from that height but they were more focused on getting on an explanation from him.