I stepped into the portal without hesitation. This time, I felt prepared. I was armed and I thought that I was starting to get the hang of this.

Your summoning parameters are as follows:

1. You are being summoned by the mage, Fitzfazzle.

2. Summoning tier, 0.

3. Rewards level, minuscule.

4. This summons is combat related. Prepare accordingly.

5. Forced compliance is active.

6. No compatible gear has been found in your armory. A facsimile of your current attire and gear will suffice for the rank and tier of this summons.

“Hey, you, big guy, go kill those bandits!” A shrill voice sounded as I gathered my bearings. After shouting at me, the voice began muttering an incantation of some sort. Following the link of mana, I could see that my summoner was a small, skinny humanoid, about three feet tall with orange hair and an impressive beard that went all the way to the ground. He was pointing me toward several men charging out from a copse of nearby trees.

My body turned and I ran toward the target of my summoners command, almost dropping my dagger as I clumsily drew it. That was something I would have to practice. The bandits were close, and I didn’t get much chance to take in my surroundings, but from what I could see, we were on a wide road that cut through plains in all directions. A few groups of trees grew here and there, much like the ones the bandits had just come out of.

The bandits were about twenty feet away and there were five of them. It wasn’t good odds, but they were only slightly better armed than I was. The man I was moving to attack held an old, notched and pitted short sword in a clumsy grip. So, these guys weren’t pros like the adventurers I was forced by the orc summoner to fight. These were your run of the mill thugs that wanted to make a quick buck by robbing my summoner’s wagon.

“You get in there too!” I could hear my summoner shout. Good, it sounded like he was calling in reinforcements.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do as the bandit and I closed in on each other. The best I could think of was thrusting my arm forward to get as much reach as I could. My opponent had a longer blade, so I had to compensate for it in some way. Before we crashed, the bandit skidded to a stop and tried to swing his blade. I was too fast and crashed into the man, knocking us both off our feet.

The bandit landed on top of me, and I fought to get out from under him, expecting his sword to stab me at any moment. More sounds of battle were heard, so whatever else my summoner had brought to the fight was doing a good job of keeping the other four bandits tied up. With a big heave, I finally managed to roll the bandit off me. At some point during the fight, I had lost my dagger, but that didn’t prevent me from punching the bandit for all I was worth.

My pugilistic skills didn’t prove to be needed when I finally realized where my dagger had gone. The blade had sunk into his sternum all the way to the hilt. It must have hit his heart or something, killing the guy instantly, and I didn’t even realize I was fighting with a dead guy. Pulling out the dagger proved difficult, it was stuck in there pretty good, so I picked up the man’s shortsword and looked for a new target.

One other bandit was down with his throat ripped out, and the other three were fighting a large wolf. The wolf must have been what my summoner had been working on as I attacked. Sadly, the wolf was losing its fight, but was doing a good job in delaying the attackers. The compulsion to follow my commands kicked in when the system that ran things decided I was taking too long to make my move.

I ran to help out my wolf buddy, choosing a bandit at random as my target. All three were focused on the wolf nipping at them and didn’t notice me until I struck. Unlike the last time, I slowed a bit before charging into my target. I aimed a thrust at the guy’s back, but I wasn’t some trained sword fighter, and instead of skewering the man, my blade skid off his ribs.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The man shouted in pain, drawing the attention of his two comrades. Wasting no time, I began to hack at the man with my sword. There was no technique, just me trying to chop him down like a tree. One of the other bandits shouted in pain as well, the wolf must have been taking advantage of the distraction I caused.

Despite the pain he must be in, my foe tried to fight back. I hammered the shortsword into the bandit’s shoulder, I was trying for his neck, and the man took the opportunity to skewer my belly. It felt like the insides of my stomach were on fire, but the compulsion didn’t allow me any time to recover, and I continued to strike. Another two blows and the bandit I was fighting finally dropped to the ground, probably bleeding out.

The wolf had taken out one of the remaining pair, but the last bandit must have killed it, since it was gone. All of us summoned folks just seemed to disappear in a puff of mana smoke when we were killed. I could only hope that I would disappear soon, as each step I took toward the last bandit caused waves of pain to engulf my stomach. Blood gushed from the wound, but I still had the strength to try and fight.

Turning toward me, the final bandit took a moment to rethink his life choices before fleeing back toward the trees he had emerged from. My command remained so I dutifully pursued the bandit, falling further and further behind as my pace slowed and I collapsed to the ground from blood loss.

“You did good, big human man, I could really use you in the lab. Maybe we’ll get to work together in the future,” the summoner said. As my vision faded and the pain left, I tried to figure out what species my diminutive summoner was. He was too skinny to be a dwarf or what I thought of a halfling as. Maybe a gnome or something like that?

You have expired from exsanguination caused by a sword wound. This summoning is now considered complete.

Your performance rating is calculated as Good.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, and your performance rating of Good.

You have earned 5 experience points.

You have earned 2 summoning points.

Summoner link has been established.

Congratulations, you have reached Tier 0, Rank 1.

Prepare to return to your Personal Space.

It looked like the system finally gave me a good rating on my performance. I guess taking out two bandits and completing the mission was enough to push me over the edge. Having a weapon really made a difference, but I still stunk at fighting. I’d also gained a new rank, maybe getting to the next rank would get some kind of reward?

“Welcome back, and congratulations on attaining rank one,” Minerva said as I returned to Rico’s Place. I pulled up my shirt and checked my stomach where the sword had pierced me. Like always, there was no lasting damage, which I was glad for. The shock of being stabbed to death quickly dissipated, like it always did when I returned. My quick recovery brought up something else, something I needed to ask Minerva before I forgot.

“Minerva, why am I not freaking out over killing people? Sure, they were bandits that were trying to kill me and all that, but, you know, I stabbed and hacked them like a slasher villain,” I asked. I should be going bonkers after having just killed two people from another world.

“The system assuages any negative emotions concerning your actions while being summoned,” Minerva stated.

“So, I won’t go nuts out even when I go home? I’m going home now, right?” I asked.

“You will return to your home world shortly, but there are tasks I must guide you through before your return. As for your mental state when going home, yes, the measures taken by the system should help alleviate the effects of the trauma you experience during your summoning.

“Even killing two people, it won’t freak me out? Are you making me into some kind of psycho?” I asked in a panic.

“Answer me this, have you had any excess difficulty with any of your past summonings? This may be the first time you’ve killed a humanoid, but horrible things have happened to you, and you experienced death on several occasions during your various summonings,” Minerva stated.

Woah, she was right, I should have had some kind of reaction to everything that’s happened, but remembering all my summoning’s was more like watching a movie clip instead of something I was personally involved in. Even more disturbing than my lack of reaction to the killings was the fact that the system was somehow able to affect my brain. If it could keep my mind from reacting to killing and death, what else was it doing to me?