Part 0

  Lying on the eve of death in a sterile white room, his heart beat to the countdown of a st breath, as memories of a long life flickered like dying embers.

  A hand reached out, one that had wrinkled throughout the years yet retained all of its warmth. Saejima Ken gazed at the owner of the hand, who was silver-haired, in gsses, and who had tears running down the side of her face.

  “Ken…” She whispered. “Look, everyone’s here.”

  Around Ken’s bed, was family. There stood his son, Hachiman and his wife, Hanako, and their children, his grandchildren. His daughter, Natsu, sat on the left side of his bed, holding on firmly to Ken’s other arm. Looking at them now, it seemed like yesterday when he held their tiny bodies in his arms.

  Hachiman gripped his pinky finger with so much force, and Natsu was a ball of sunshine who nearly hurt herself more times that he could count. His grandkids, Ryujiro, Takeshi, and Tomoe, would come by his house and yell ‘Great silver one on the chair, grant thee your wisdom’ as though they were in some Kabuki py.

  Look at them now, strong and healthy. Hopefully, happy too.

  “Hachi… Natsu…” Ken said, his voice strained. Lifting his hand never felt more of a chore, like carrying weight. However, just this once. He’d like to feel his children’s touch again.

  “Father…” They both said, of which, Hachiman grabbed his hands gently, and so did Natsu. Their lips trembled and their hands shook. Hachiman’s eyes grew resolute. Ah, that was right. The st time they had seen each other had been a fight. “Father, I know I…” Hachiman begun to speak, but…

  “Not a word. You came back. It’s all that matters.” Ken smiled at his son’s return. “Welcome home, son.” Hachiman’s tears grew, and for the first time, it seemed like he finally allowed himself to cry again. Hanako really changed him, good. He was quite the stubborn kid.

  His grandkids came walking towards him as well. “Great silver one on the… bed, grant thee your wisdom.” Ryujiro struggled to speak in between hard sniffs.

  “Pick your friends carefully. The best ones would help you, even if they’ve turned on you.” Ken struggled to say. Immediately, Ryujiro typed that down on his phone, and sent it to his siblings. They held back tears, and snot dribbled down their noses.

  “Kyoko…”

  “Ken…” She smiled. “I’ll join you soon enough.”

  Ken’s gaze lingered at his wife. Just one st time, he’d like to just look at her. Just her. Nothing else. When the world goes bck and the Shinigami visits, Ken only wanted to see her before he sleeps eternally.

  So he met her puffy eyes that remained unchanged even as the rest of her body aged. He struggled, lifting his hands up to grab her hands again. Kyoko grabbed it immediately, bringing it closer to her own face.

  Ken smiled, and his world went dark and cold.

  …

  Albert Ryker kicked off the floor with every ounce of strength his legs could muster to propel himself forward. Sweat rolled down his cheeks, and the voices from his mouth begun to sound strange. Voices of staff urged him to slow down, yet he never did.

  ‘Please make it! Please make it!’ Albert thought to himself. “Teresa.”

  The door to the maternity ward was in sight, and Teresa’s voice, she was screaming in fear. Albert ran right for it. A foot out of pce and soon the ground came rushing up towards him, and he fell to the floor with a bam. Yet even as the pain and discomfort lingered, he did not care.

  He stood up using the wall to support himself, and he forced the door open. “Teresa!!” Albert yelled.

  As soon as he opened the door, his heart dropped. Teresa… her belly, it flickered with light and the silhouette of their baby fshed before his eyes. The baby… was moving, struggling. It wanted to be free and get out.

  “What in the…” Albert had said.

  Their baby forced its way out. Climbing out. It’s head poked through, it’s hands followed, opening the entrance wider. It looked like it hurt, but Teresa was under a pain nullification charm, thank goodness she couldn’t feel it. Though, Albert was more worried about Teresa’s heart.

  Soon, the body of the baby emerged. Teresa’s eyes grew drowsy, they rolled up, and she dropped back down to her pillow. “Teresa!!” Albert yelled.

  Their baby stood up on his two legs, the umbilical cord still attached to his stomach. He turned. A drowsy look on his face. Eyes struggling to open, and he had his hands out as if walking around blindfolded. Then, one eye opened, then the other.

  His eyes scanned his surroundings, from the doctor to the room around them. He looked down at himself, at his hands, then at Teresa and Albert. The baby scratched his head, and seemed to be in thought.

  In a few short seconds, it seemed that he had finished thinking, and… “It appears I’m dreaming.” The baby spoke coherently. “Though I guess it’d make sense that I would dream of my birth before I die. Kyoko would be surprised to see me open my eyes again.”

  Babies… don’t talk or walk as soon as they were born, not unless they were of Rockfort, whose people mature at a far faster rate. Even then, Rockfort babies start walking and talking a few weeks after birth. This was…

  “What the…?” Albert said.

  “Well, this is quite surprising to say the least.” The doctor said. Albert turned to the doctor, who looked like he had an idea of this talking intelligent baby that can walk as soon as he was born. “It appears that your son is an Areiji, of the reincarnated variant it seems.”

  Areiji? Aren’t those otherworlders? People whose souls get transferred from Earth to Aseri after they die? That… made quite a lot of sense.

  There was a time in the news that he had read the other day of a baby from Edelgard being born with different genetic sources from their parents despite literally emerging from the womb of the mother. Another was about a boy who was born yet in a span of 3 seconds, had grown up into a full blown elderly with the vitality of a prime youngster.

  Really, no one has quite pinned down the unpredictable patterns of Areiji arrivals, some are transmigrated with their original bodies, some were born through mothers, some just… is. Honestly, it wasn’t a first to hear about this, but still… “My son’s an otherworlder.” Albert said.

  As soon as he spoke, Albert heard an audible gulp. He turned. The baby’s eyes widen. “No. No, that can’t be. I…” He said, looking around, then back down to his body again.

  He spped himself again and again, until his cheeks were all red-faced. Albert’s hands seemed gravitated towards the baby, as though wanting him to stop spping himself, but Albert’s eyes were a little too intrigued with what was happening before him.

  “Okay, Mr. Handsome Boy Saejima Ken get a grip on yourself, this is just a dream. Only a dream. Only a dream.” The baby boy, who named himself Saejima Ken, closed his eyes hard, then re-opened again. He looked around, then down at his baby hands.

  A pale expression struck his face. Perhaps, he figured out he’s not dreaming. “Wha… WHAT THE HELL?!!!!” The baby, Saejima Ken, screamed his first ever screamed… or perhaps, his first scream in this world?

  Part 1

  “Stan, is it ready yet?” His little sister, Rachel whispered into the formerly named Saejima Ken, now named, Stanley Ryker’s ears.

  “Just a little more and… done.” Stanley said. He pted the eggs and tip-toed towards a nearby couch as quick as he could. At the same time, footsteps could be heard coming down from the stairs, and Rachel urged him to hurry up.

  Soon, dad came down. The indoor lights were closed and all the windows had been put in sunblock mode. “Something smells good.” He said.

  The switch was flicked, the lights turned on. “SURPRISE!!!” Stanley, Rachel, and mom all jumped, and they sang their happy birthdays to dad as he leaned on the wall in slight shock, yet a warm ugh graced his face as he scratched his bedhead.

  Still in their pajamas, everyone sat down at the dining table. Dad was at the head of the table of course. “Wow, this makes 16 years of being a father already.” He said.

  “Yeah, and more days to come hopefully.” Stanley said.

  “Oh you. Come on, let’s eat.” Dad said.

  Just like that, everyone got to eating. Rachel made audible sounds of happiness as she happily drunk the food, and grabbed more food from the center of the table. Stanley chuckled. Is there a parasite in her stomach?

  “As usual, your cooking is excellent. Maybe we should put you on cooking duty instead of your mother.” Dad then said.

  Mom gently spped Dad’s shoulder. “Albert!”. Dad ughed out loud as a result. “Since it’s your birthday, I’m letting this go, just this once.” Stanley himself and Rachel ughed at Mom’s pouting, as she somewhat scolded Dad despite saying she would let it go just this once.

  Breakfast finished not long after that, as Stanley and Rachel still had to go to school, and Dad needed to get to work. Mom would finish everything here first, before heading out for her part-time job. “Alright, I’m heading out.” Stanley said.

  “Wait! ” Dad called out from within the house.

  Stanley turned, and there he saw dad still not fully dressed yet as he was still in his underwear even as he ran out of the house into the front yard. He manifested out his inventory window screen, and after selecting a stored item, a rge, sheathed Odachi manifested on dad’s hands in blue polygons.

  “Here. For one of your maxima spirits.” Dad said.

  Dad was with the bcksmithing guild working for a shop that allowed clients to customize the kind of magical item they wanted so long as they themselves brought the raw materials. Though, Stanley had never once ordered this, nor had Dad ever once talked about making Japanese swords.

  Looking at the Odachi, it was a lot rger. About the size of the Haja-no-Ontachi at least. Still, it looked good. Though, it’s been a very long time since he had seen an actual Japanese sword. “Since when did you learn to make one of these?” Stanley asked.

  “I attended a swordsmith workshop that was held by an Areiji. He’s Japanese too. I think he said he was a… uhm… Shamura? Is that how you say it right?” Dad expined.

  “A samurai? Are we talking actual or just a fan?”

  “Don’t know the difference, but when I expined about you to him, he did say that he would like to meet you. Maybe next time I’ll take you with me.” Dad expined.

  “Right. Actually, what am I asking? It’s your birthday! Why are you the one giving me gifts?” Stanley then said.

  “Not exactly a gift, just extra protection.” Dad said. His tone a lot deeper. “I saw in the news a few weeks ago that…” Dad continued.

  “Another Areiji?” Stanley said. Dad nodded.

  Another one huh. An Areiji murdered by a hunter, then again, it’s not just Areiji Hunters that Stanley needed to be worried about. After all, there were a lot of reasons for Areijis to be treated differently.

  Hatred? Well, the Decade World War that cimed an estimated 100 million people had been put into motion by an Areiji. Fear? No surprise, Areiji’s were beings from Earth who traversed worlds upon death and came to Aseri with near godlike power, with many having cimed themselves kings and gods.

  It was said these days that the power of the Areiji was waning though.

  Technology, the new empirical system of magic, and hunters of the Areiji saw it to that. Not to mention many of the world’s most powerful artifacts and ancient techniques, at least, the ones that have been discovered, were made with the intention of countering or killing an Areiji.

  Dad pced a firm hand on his shoulder. “Stay safe, and good luck in your exams, alright.” Dad said, almost as if in a prayer.

  “Thanks.” Stanley said. “Anyways, don’t want to be te. Happy birthday again.” Stanley said. He walked out into the street where many elderly neighbors sat and drank by the benches.

  “Take care!” Dad yelled out.

  “Will do! And you’re still in your underwear!!” Stanley said.

  Dad panicked as he looked down at himself, quickly running back into the house and smming the door shut. A suppressed ughter nearly sprang out from Stanley’s lips as the Ryker residence grew distant the further he walked, and soon they faded into the row of houses.

  It didn’t take long afterwards, before he had reached the end of the neighborhood district, and stood at the school bus stop before the town convenience store.

  Though along some of the benches or sitting on the ground, there were a few other students from his grade yet of a different csses, piling through their digital notes about today’s exam on their status windows. That one girl in the back there in particur looked like she would tear her hair out any moment.

  Stanley would’ve been one of them, but perhaps that was the gift of a second life, save for a few differences, the world of Aseri that he lived in today was quite simir to Earth in a number of things.

  If he were to summarize it, it’s as if contemporary 2020’s concept mixed and matched with dark ages concepts, the building architecture sure retained its medieval feel though. It was like that one time when he was with his wife, Kyoko, in Venice… back when he was still Saejima Ken from Japan though.

  “Stan! You’re early!” Stanley heard a familiar voice. He looked over his shoulder. A rather jolly brunette with painted nails, face dowsed in make-up, and a less than appropriate mini-skirt, came skipping into view with proud bounces and sways in her steps.

  “My dad’s birthday. Though, I’m more surprised that you’re here.”

  It was quite surprising to see Kimi here of all pces. Her mother was quite strict and this close to exam day, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was bound to her room with bars and a spell lock. However, if she was here rather than in the highnds, then that would mean… “Stayed in with Shota?” Stanley said.

  Kimi nodded. “Yeah, we were studying for the finals. Though we ended up sleeping halfway through.”

  “No surprises there I guess.” Stanley said.

  Despite what she had said, Stanley had yet to see the little man. “Bossing Stan!!” Until he heard those familiar words yell out from afar.

  In came running like a storm, a spikey-haired short boy practically flew across the distance with how quick he ran here. His person was as though he came through a hurricane and back, his bedhead was not fixed and his clothes were hanging loose.

  “Good luck to you! Good luck to me! Good luck to everyone!! Let’s do this!! Yahoo!!” Shota yelled all over the pce. A collective gre turned in his direction, and yet he seemed none too worried about them.

  “Can you tone it down their child? The adults are trying to talk here.” Kimi said, looking down cross-armed at the short boy.

  Shota turned, and looked around. “I don’t see Stanley talking to any adult.” He said. With that, Shota drew first blood, and Stanley could only sigh as to what was about to come.

  “Why you? Are you trying to be funny pipsqueak?!” Kimi said.

  “Are YOU trying to be funny?! You she-titan!” Shota countered.

  A grunt escaped from both their lips and both faces turned a heated red.

  “Shorty!”

  “Beanstalk!”

  “Kindergartener!”

  “Giant!!”

  With that, the taller than average girl and shorter than average boy continued on with their usual name-calling quarrels regarding each other’s heights in an endless loop that would go on for who knows how long. It was no surprise however that the nearby students distanced themselves and Stanley was left trying to apologize when police came to check what was going on.

  “Early morning and noise is all I hear.” Someone else said.

  He turned, and the blond-haired Gorro came yawning his way onto the bus stop. He turned to look at the arguing Shota and Kimi, but like Stanley, a couple of years with these two, and it would actually seem like a miracle if a day didn’t go by that they didn’t enter into their usual quarrels.

  So he just walked passed them and headed straight for Stanley.

  “Good morning Gorro.” Stanley greeted.

  “Good morning, is it? Good morning it is. It is definitely a good morning.” Gorro then said, as he puts an arm around Stanley. “After today, we make it to the big leagues. And what do you suppose we find there?” He said, talking as though he was about to find treasure. However, knowing him, it’s anything but.

  “A completely normal school were we can study peacefully to become proper members of society and not be ogling about.” Stanley said.

  “Agree with the first. Going to have to argue with the second. I’m talking about riding the waves of love, and intertwining with girls and men Stanley my boy. Girls and men! Goodbye to baby body town, hello to sexy city!!” Gorro said.

  And just at the right moment, the school bus came by. “Yes. Yes. But before that, let’s focus on today’s exams yeah?” Stanley said, pulling away from Gorro.

  “Oh you bet I am. I’m passing top and bottom.” Gorro said.

  “Come on guys.” Stanley said over to the quarrelling duo still going at it on the side. As soon, as his voice had reached them. They had somewhat quieted down. Though…

  “Tiny whiny.”

  “Long neck.”

  Right now, Stanley could only question the choices that led to this moment. After everything what happened in his past life, one would think that he would be a little more picky about the kinds of friends he makes. Then again, they do remind him of his grandkids.

  Boarding the school bus, it didn’t take long afterwards before they had reached Oldtown Middle Academy. Where a great many chattering students walked past him and downhill towards the entrance of the school below. Some were calmer than others, some were scratching their heads like there was no tomorrow.

  Stanley knew he was fine for the finals, but he was more worried for his friends. Shota looked like he was going off guts and grit. Kimi sounded like she slept a bit too much. Even now, Gorro cared more about ogling at the attractive. The question was, could they actually make it?

  Part 2

  The clueless crowd that walked on the light side of the world, passed by him with ignorance of what went behind it’s glow. Zedric sat there, basking under the sun after years of remaining in the dark, his wrists still sore from what once restrained it.

  At a café, where one of the workers came up to him, and gave him his drink. It certainly felt nice to be served rather than to serve. Certainly, he would love to control the light from within the shadows too. Oh, how much he had missed such chances all these years.

  However, those 20 years of his, if one could call it life, were good experiences. He needed to know the ins and outs of the dark, to tame the light. And that will happen, sooner or ter. In the meantime, a history book was a nice read.

  Zedric Zeppeci sat on the furthest seat of the café, near the canal, with his back comfortably against the backrest, and took a sip of tea, his status menu screen opened.

  Hovering before him, a pair of holographic screens, one overying the other. In front of Zedric’s status screen, was the artificial application screen, and from there, he continued to read about the Decade World War that afflicted the whole world around 60 years ago.

  “That’s the tenth time you’ve read that book.” Zedric heard a familiar voice.

  Zedric looked up from his window screen, where he saw a gring man with messy, unkempt hair in a messy tailored suit with the pants tucked into boots. Dark circles surrounded his eyes. Leisar the Viotor, they called him. It was nice to see that marks on his wrists had disappeared as well, it meant that they had all escaped successfully.

  “History is always a good read. Gives me motivation.” Zedric said.

  Leisar sat opposite him, practically dropped his body on the chair, and looked out at the world beyond the dark for the first time. No doubt, he had never seen the light, just born and raised in darkness. Zedric only had memories of the light from long ago. But… he would rather leave them as they were, memories.

  “The Queen of Ascalion tosses her body down a cliff to die as queen and not as a sve. Yet the next time the Queen of Ascalion was seen, she stood behind the Vahrman Emperor, beauty more than preserved. A desecrated corpse that walked, and talked, and fucked, amongst many other dies of power. All of whom, resisted in life yet presented themselves as gifts in death. Fascinating isn’t it?”

  “Don’t know.” Leisar said.

  With but a thought, Zedric’s status screen disappeared. “Truly, the power of the Areijis that were once considered Divine Authorities became noted as nothing more than cheats. Always guaranteed to bring them a step ahead in life. That’ll be us one day. I can almost taste it.” Zedric said

  “I’ve found out where Ajak is. He’s at one of the Varvadel subspaces downtown.” Leisar said.

  “Good man.” Zedric looked around for the rest of his crew, but nowhere could they be seen. “Where’re the others?”

  “I think you already know.”

  Zedric sighed.

  They had left the café and made it back to their ‘home’, if it could be called that. It was a small turn around the corner, to a room they had rented. No, they had no money. Yes, there’s always alternative payments, especially within the dark, but here in the light, it was certainly a little harder to find those kinds of people who would accept any kind of payment.

  The people of the light were rather stiff. All of them were. Back in the dark, there was always some civilized violence just a turn around the corner. Still, thankfully a few in the light had their eyes open to allow the dark in.

  Except, because treatment of the dark wasn’t as good, it was pretty hard to find a spot where the light’s influence ran low. Thankfully, his former master’s connections led him in the right directions, to here, in this… ramshackle.

  An audible sigh escaped Zedric’s lips.

  Truly depressing. Absolutely depressing. The walls were rough and near broken , the floor needed a lot of repairs, and a familiar itch stung his mind. The smell for one, was familiar yet brutally foul. Perhaps, because someone here hadn’t showered since we had arrived in the light.

  “Look at this pce. Is this the proper base for the man who will be the new godfather of crime?” Zedric spoke.

  “What’s wrong with it?” Leisar said.

  Zedric walked past a sound of gagging, and there was the owner of this little ramshackle, the one whom refused ‘dirty’ money, so he was given one of Zedric’s associates, Buroka, as his personal cumdump while they stayed in.

  As usual, they were on the bed. A foul smell of unwashed body fluids came from within it, and Buroka sat on the floor on her knees with a bobbing head, and that pathetic ramshackle owner moaned like he hadn’t been inside a woman since his mother’s womb.

  On the other end, a man drunk out of his mind. Just id there. Snoring. He slept far too much to the point that he couldn’t even be bothered to clean the piss and shit from his pants.

  Zedric sat down on a couch. It broke down under him, his head struck the wall with a jarring thud, and his body fell onto a patch of stinky, foul vomit. He id there, and sighed in resignation as the dirty smell mixed with hints of booze invaded his nostrils. “Oh, nothing Leisar. Absolutely nothing. I’m just not too sure about the flooring.” Zedric said.

  Zedric heard more moaning, from both Buroka and that ramshackle owner. The bed creaked hard with each movement, and it sounded as if it were going to colpse anytime soon. “Buroka, how long are you going to take? We’ll be leaving as soon as you finish.”

  “Just one more minute boss! This guy’s ready to explode!” Buroka spoke. Her legs all spread out in the air and her face had a normal smile as the pathetic ramshackle owner’s drool fell on her face. That guy looked like he was getting all dried up. Did he look that thin before?

  “Clean yourself when you’re done! We’re leaving afterwards.” Zedric said, heading to the shower himself.

  “Yes boss!!” Buroka yelled, saluting. A slight moan escaped her lips.

  And after a quick shower between himself and Buroka. They had all made it out of that ramshackle, that owner looked completely dried out. Was he dead? No, just passed out. However, no doubt that he won’t remember any of this. Buroka would see it to that.

  Soon, Leisar led them downtown. Zedric opened his status menu with but a thought, his status screen appeared before him. Pressing on the map function, a holographic view of the whole city hovered before him. Tiny blips dotted the map, each, a ripple in space to sections of the crime underbelly.

  One of the blips was near where he stood. He gazed up. A bar. He pushed on the heavy doors, and the murmur of hushed conversations enveloped him. The air stank of whiskey and smoke. A couple of gangsters and punks side-eyed Zedric, but he paid no attention to these low level thugs.

  After tonight, things will change.

  Zedric and his men made their way towards the scarlet curtain in the back. Making his way in, the door to the kitchen was just to his right, but that’s not where he wanted to go. His eyes id on the big, suited man that stood before a pin wall.

  He was in the right pce then. One of the subspaces controlled by the Varvadel Family.

  Zedric and his men approached with cautious steps, then opened his world system. With a few presses here and there, an image was shared with the big man. The Mark of Varvadel, a seal that granted him access into the many subspaces owned by them.

  With an unblinking look to and from the mark and him, the big man stepped aside.

  Zedric and his men continued forward. The wall was as though it wasn’t there. Space rippled, and he passed through. Between the two spatial ripples, it was like moving through water. Then… on the other side, a whole new world opened up to him.

  The sky was as a mere void, no color nor light. Neon mps and signs glowed around him. Up above on a few buildings, dancing within gss billboards were women in clothes of all kinds that left none to the imagination of what’s underneath.

  Bck shops that sold drugs, weapons, and people of the dark lined the streets before him. Out in the corner of his eyes, a shop that fed bodily street food was open and many of the dark enjoyed its pleasures.

  At the center of this undercity of depravity and abyssal shade was a tall and sleek building with intricate mechanical work and incredible security. Where the head honcho in charge of this whole little dark town was based.

  He gnced around.

  Out on the street, a dy walked on all fours stumps like a dog naked, a chain strapped to her colr, as she was walked by the man who bought her. It seemed that he just bought her from the nearby sve shop around the corner.

  A smirk made its way to Zedric’s face.

  Someday… all of this would be his. He’d own a subspace just like this, but rger, and people would be paying him to set up shop. Tonight was that one crucial step before he could make it to the top leagues. But for now, he’d have to make a stop to one of the big dogs of the dark.

  They say he got favors from many of the top cns of the dark, and that if you need a little extra juice, you turn to him.

  Soon, he made into one of the buildings. Neon lights in the shape of a woman dancing on every side of the building – The Paradise Icha, a brothel that only uses specially crafted homunculi that look like real, living and breathing people. Whispers always talk of him being found in here, drowning himself in power, money, and women.

  Oh, what he’d give.

  As soon as he asked the homunculi receptionist in a skimpy suit, one of the golem bodyguards in the shape of muscled warrior women led him to his special room, always reserved for him. So, after making their way through moans and the stinky smell of intermingled body juices. Finally, they stood in front of his room.

  He pushed on the heavy doors to the future.

  Loud-music pyed. The big man himself, Ajak, sat on the couch. One homunculus dy strip danced in front of him, as the other two cuddled, one feeding him. Then, as the dancing dy turned to show off her butt to Ajak, her eyes met Zedric. Then the others turned to him and his men.

  “What do we have here?” Ajak said, smiling.

  “Business.” Zedric said.

  Ajak smirked. “Of course. Ladies.”

  As he instructed, the homunculus women walked out of the room. Leaving Ajak, him, and his men. “Please, have a seat.” Ajak said, and Zedric sat down opposite him.

  “Well?” Ajak said.

  “Stanley Ryker. I’m going to steal his cheat skill.” Zedric said.

  Ajak chuckled as he took another gulp from the gss of whiskey, leaning back and pcing his legs atop the table. “Gunning for an Areiji right out of the chains?”

  Zedric remained silent.

  Many people of the dark have tried it before, to steal an Areiji’s cheat skill. Even before the people of the dark, many before that since the ancient times have tried to steal them too, though none have succeeded.

  At least, so he thought. Apparently, there was one man who managed to steal it from an Areiji. The relic he had used was a special gem, and the formu within it, could steal an Areiji’s cheat. Now, the main problem here was, his own soul was too weak to take in a cheat skill.

  Zedric did his research.

  The souls of local inhabitants were too weak to contain such power, the power from a soul that survived the transmigration through worlds. The man who stole the cheat needed to artificially increase his own soul capacity as well. He had everything else prepared, all that he needed now, was the container that is his soul to be expanded.

  “Well, whatever, business is business. So, how much you want me to loan you?” Ajak said.

  “Half of your soul stock.”

  Ajak continued to chuckle. Does he think that this pn wouldn’t work? “You’re going to need more than half of my stock if you’re going to attempt to absorb a cheat skill. Look, as a dispy of good faith, I’ll give you three fourths.”

  There it was. He was expecting this. Everyone knew, it was his signature tactic, the dispy of good faith style. He would suggest to loan more than what one would request, then, he would take back more. But… if he could get his hands on a cheat skill, that… piece of godly power, then it would be worth it.

  “What do you want it for?” Zedric then asked.

  “A portion of that cheat skill. Let’s say one sixth. Also, a measly one tenth of your soul as well.” Ajak said.

  Zedric nodded silently.

  “But if you fail your mission, I’ll take back what I loaned to you and I’ll get one third of your soul.” Ajak said.

  Zedric’s heart sunk. He gulped, his gaze fell.

  One third of a soul, it didn’t sound like much, but… just losing a fraction of a person’s soul heavily depowers someone. One thirds of his soul could heavily lower the quality of his life force to the point that, he may never use magic ever again if Ajak were cheeky enough.

  “Chickening out on me already? I got it. It’s fine. I guess you can find another soul loaner if this is too much for you. Don’t worry, no hard feelings.” Ajak then said.

  No doubt, after tonight. Everything will change. Either he’ll be one step closer, or ten steps further. Zedric took a deep breath. No. It’s worth it. Everything he had been through up until now was for this, for power.

  Even if it wasn’t now and he did managed to lose all his magic, there’s still magical items, there’s still special drugs. This was the underbelly of society, the dark nd of the truly free. There would still be other chances.

  “I’ll take it.” Zedric said, and thus, Ajak smiled.

  “So, how long do you need my soul stocks for?”

  “Until I complete my mission.”

  “Figured as much. Okay, deal.” Ajak said, outstretching his hand.

  Zedric took his hand and shook on it. Warmth could be felt in between his and Ajak’s palm, and both their arms glowed, strings of mana sprouted from each of their arms and entered the other, he could feel something tingling within his soul. The feeling of the spirit contract being set.

  The string tightened into a chain of mana, then disappeared into wisps of blue dust as though it were a mirage. Now, the spirit contract was set, neither of them could break away from this agreement. No weaseling out. No deceptions. Such is the nature of spirit contracts.

  If either one of them were to break away from the deal, the offender would suffer heavily unless other forms of consequences have been put in pce to repce the default soul damage.

  In the next instant, something from Ajak’s arm rushed right into his own. Zedric’s muscles tightened and cramped. A new breath of power rushed into him, overwhelming his soul like a rge sea that Zedric needed to swallow with just his mouth.

  A while had past, and the flow of power stopped. His soul… it felt heavy, physically heavy, as though there was more weight on him despite it not really being there. His chest was warm and his throat felt as though it was burning. Was this what power was like? Power and heat radiating from within the soul?

  “Honestly, I’d understand if you’d go for Hudrick, or Emiliano. Heck, there’s a buffet of cheat skills out on Edelgard, but Stanley?”

  “Take down the weakest first, then make my way up to the strongest. That’s the pn.” Zedrich said.

  Ajak chuckled, taking another sip of his drink. Zedric could only smile at the future ahead of him. A future, where power was all he could drown himself in.

  Part 3

  Exams were finished and there was still enough daylight to hang out, though enough as in, the sun was setting already. Still, they all moved to their usual spot above the hills just near the residential district. From up here, forget seeing their own homes, they could see the whole city skyline.

  No matter how many times, he looked at the world from up here, it still felt so surreal thinking he was in another world. 16 years ago, he was Saejima Ken, an old man in Japan on a death bed, now here he was. Stanley Ryker, a 16 years old high school kid in a strange pce.

  Still odd thinking about it.

  Magic, a term he only thought of as in his granddaughter’s imaginations, were now in reality. This world’s reality. Stanley’s present reality. Tomoe would definitely love this pce the most. Though, it would definitely take some time for Ryujiro to take everything in… he was more of the Gundam type.

  Anyways, now wasn’t the time to think about that.

  Stanley thought he did his exams rather well. There were a few questions in the theoretical comprehension written exam that were a bit too challenging, but the practical exams were an easy pass.

  It was no surprise, he’s an Areiji after all. Areiji’s tend to have higher magical capabilities overall compared to the local inhabitants.

  Turning back to his friends, Shota and Kimi had their faces glued to the artificial applications screen of their status window. The screens hovering above them with their hands moving around as they pyed their game.

  Gorro though, was off to the side, fiddling around with his personal spell again. He just stood there, an artist in thought as the malleable body formed out of his spell was being shaped and developed into his next… sexy art piece, as he would put it.

  “Gorro, figured out which guild you’re going to join yet?” Stanley said, breaking the silence.

  Gorro looked over his shoulder from his incomplete, faceless golem of what looked to be forming into a big-breasted woman. “The entertainment guild I shall go. My artwork to flourish on screen.” Gorro said, almost dramatically. “Then, I could just continue part-timing at the Freencers Guild.”

  Perhaps, Stanley could do that too. Unlike other guilds, the Freencers Guilds is a free for all, just pay the membership fee, and one could get any job with its own niche away different from other sectors. Gorro had always gotten some extra cash from there.

  “Shota?”

  “Still in it for the grind bossing. I’m gunning for that Pro-Battle Mage Card.” Shota said. “But I guess, I could always join the State Military. Yeah, if being a battle mage doesn’t work, I can join the military. I can protect the country, save everyone, and bring about peace!” Shota yelled, pcing a foot on the rails, staring at the sunset with conviction. Though in his excitement, he had lost his game, Kimi smirked.

  “On the bright side, you get to train with some beefy dudes too.” Gorro said, already fantasizing.

  “Really now?” Kimi said. “Be careful there, you’re as short as an ant already, don’t go dying like an ant on me. Oh great captain patriot of the tinies.” Kimi joked.

  At this, Shota dropped down from the steel fence at the smug-faced Kimi. “Well then what’s your choice then, beanstalk?!” Shota said.

  “I’m thinking of going to a crafts guild, and join Lady Gormon at the old age fashion department.” Kimi said, a little proud of herself as she crossed her legs and arms, flicking her hair aside with a strong smile.

  For all her confidence however, Stanley had his reservations. Kimi came from a noble family, one of the few contemporary bestowed heritage peer nobility title after they had made their oaths to queen and prime minister of the City-State of Haroz. Not to mention, she was their heiress. The next in line to wield the magic sword Prisimgre.

  Being such a noble, no doubt her parents wouldn’t be too happy about this decision. “Will you’re parents be okay with that? You know how they are?” Stanley asked worriedly.

  “They can suck it for all I care. Swords this. Oaths that. That’s all they care about. No offense to you boys but I’m sticking to the safer side of careers.” Kimi huffed at the end.

  “Sounds like a waste of talent to me.” Shota said.

  “The only wasted talent is Loras. I mean, why does he get to be sidelined like that when he’s clearly a better choice? He’s got the build, the charm, the princely nature, and-” And there she went.

  Kimi’s family had a strong matriarchy tradition, so her brother Loras in spite of being firstborn, took the brunt of the limiting rules and was sidelined for Kimi. It didn't help that Kimi had some kind of brother complex on her big brother Loras, whenever he came up in a conversation, it didn’t need Shota’s name-calling to get her loud and talkative.

  Stanley sighed.

  “What about you?” Shota asked. Kimi halted, and Gorro turned towards him.

  He wasn't sure himself. All this time, he had been enjoying the gift of a second youth, especially for an old man like him, he hadn't put too much thought into his career in this world. Aseri had a lot of interesting things to see. So many things he wanted to discover. Really, he could just join the Freencer’s Guild and start doing paid adventuring.

  Though, thinking about it now, perhaps returning to w enforcement was still the right career choice.

  An image of a man in a suit struck his mind. A bloody man. Guns and smoking barrels. Cigar chomped on his mouth. Eyes bnk like that of a corpse. One like the devil. In his mind, if crime ever had a face, it would be that man… Okazaki Ryutaro.

  There are people like him in this world too. People who would commit horrendous crimes willy-nilly like it was a Tuesday afternoon.

  This world however was not like Japan, it has magic and supernatural abilities far beyond what anyone back home could imagine. Areiji, the Aseri locals. Every day, someone dies, or someone gets bloody. Yeah... w enforcement was still where he wanted to go.

  “The State Guardians.” Stanley responded.

  “Weren’t you also a police officer in your past life?” Gorro asked.

  “Old life or new life, it’s never not nice to help keep the peace.” Stanley said, returning his gaze back to his friends.

  “Woo, spoken like a true hero.” Kimi said. “Gah!!” She then yelped, quickly jumping from her seat. “Stanley, help me! There’s a little green goblin trying to climb into my skirt. He’s disgusting!” Kimi said, feigning fear as she pointed at Shota as this little green goblin only for her ughs to break through.

  “Ha ha ha.” Shota sarcastically said.

  Stanley continued chatting with his friends for the next while, Gorro went ahead and got one of his themed golems to come back with some bought food for all of them, and they all ate in merry and jolliness.

  But…

  A bright blinding light descended down upon them, a strange magical energy came from the light. When it receded, something hovered a little bit away from them. A strange apparition of some kind. The apparition was that of a fetus that shone with a dim glow.

  It’s body was slightly transparent, its red beating heart could be seen from within, and it flickered back and forth between reality and nothingness like a static in a television. It hovered above the ground and spun ever so slowly.

  “An anomaly…?” Shota said, looking at it curiously.

  “It’s a cute one though. Hold on, I’ll ring up the guardians.” Kimi said as she quickly opened her status menu and selected the communications function to contact the authorities.

  They didn’t know. No, they couldn’t know. Their ability to sense mana was a little on the weaker side. However, Stanley could feel it. The hairs on his skin stood, and a chill ran down his spine as he gulped. His stomach churned.

  Gorro shivered. Which meant he could feel it too.

  That fetus apparition had mana as vast as the oceans. This wasn’t just some mana anomaly. Mana anomalies like this happen every now and then, and even when it does, never on this level.

  The apparition opened its eyes as though it were awakening from a long slumber. Its eyes were jet bck as an abyssal void, but its irises were a bloody red shining with an equally dim monstrous glow. It looked left. It looked right.

  It’s mouth opened, and…

  .???????.????.???.?????.????????.??????.?????.??????.???????.???????.??????.?????????.??????.?????.????.?????.?????”

  A deafening shriek. Accompanied by a sudden strong gust of wind. A scream from a girl. Stanley turned, and Kimi didn’t have time to process before she was sent flying over the rails. She yelped.

  “Kimi!!” Shota yelled. He jumped over and quickly caught her, managing to grab hold of the rails in time.

  “Thanks.” Kimi said, holding Shota’s neck firmly as Shota himself held onto the rails as hard as he could. His grip nearly slipped. “Oh dear.” Shota said.

  “Got you Master Shota!” Spoke out a deep-voiced man, as his rge bulky hand grabbed Shota’s smaller ones. The origin of the hand, a brawny mountain of muscle with red skin in thick organic bck armor that seemed to grow from his body. Veins traveled throughout his body like worms beneath the skin.

  One of Gorro’s golems that he had just summoned, and he kept Gorro close to his chest as he himself firmly rooted himself to the ground whilst also holding Shota’s hands firmly. “Thanks Khrun.” Gorro said.

  Stanley stood his ground as the wind threatened to blow him away too. Kimi hung onto Shota, refusing to look down as they both dangled over the edge of the hill. “Shota help Kimi get out of here. Kimi analyze this thing once you’re in a safe distance.” Stanley ordered.

  “I can help.” Shota said.

  “Help by keeping yourselves safe.” Stanley said.

  With a reluctant nod, Shota opened his status window and selected his inventory, he selected something. In blue polygons, his shoes were repced with magic ones. He pulled himself towards Khrun, and leapt over the rails in a single bound.

  In that instant, four more Shotas appeared beside him in wisps of mana. Khrun took Goro into his arms and stood before the four Shotas as they equipped. One clone of Shota equipped a shining metallic-looking shield, another with a long blue spear, another with a bck bow with a gem at the center, and the final one was a sword of enchanted steel.

  Still holding onto Kimi, he and his clones kicked off the pavement and accelerated towards the stairs, leaving a trail of dust behind. The fetus apparition had his eyes tracking Shota, and it brought out its tiny hands, and…

  “Shota!!” Stanley yelled.

  *BANG*

  Something was fired from its hands and rushed towards Shota. The dust cleared, the clone of Shota with a shield halted. The shield had grown thrice its original size and covered his whole body, it shrunk, and he ran after the other clones.

  Stanley’s gaze returned to the fetus apparition. It looked as though it could be looking for them as its eyes moved left to right. Looking towards Gorro, he had already summoned another golem, Men.

  Smoking her pipe, the curvaceous fox-eared silver vixen woman walked in with a sway in a blue figure-hugging dress. Her fur coat blew gently against the strong breath of the fetus apparition. Smoke she blew from her mouth grew thicker as it reached the air, and descended down like thin fog.

  Though for that apparition, it should have its senses completely jammed.

  “Thanks Men.” Stanley said.

  Men blew smoke. “Seems like we’ve got a lost child here.” She said, her voice, a deep sultry one with a bit of rust in it.

  It didn’t take that long afterwards, and Stanley got a message notification from Kimi. <> Kimi messaged.

  Good. Whilst we wait for the State Guardians to arrive, Kimi could analyze as much as she could on this apparition. The information of which the guardians could use to defeat it, should it or something else like this appear again.

  Khrun’s a physical-based metamorphic humanoid male-type shaped entity, so he could provide the physical. Men’s a caster-based fox girl humanoid female type entity, so she could help Stanley provide the support and magic attacks. Gorro would be commanding them from the back.

  “Alright then, ready Gorro?” Gorro nodded. “We’re on the same page Stanley my man.” Gorro said.

  “Khrun? Men?” They nodded too.

  Excellent.

  With that, Stanley opened the dam on his soul, a warm feeling rushed from within his soul like a river, through the spirit pathways and into the body. That warm feeling, that magical energy gathered at the palm of his hands, at the tips of his fingertips.

  For a split nanosecond, the whole world ceased to exist, and he returned to that moment in time, back in Japan. He stood before her grave at the beginning of spring, a burning rage as the image of the student who had left her like this invaded his mind.

  “Haruka…” Escaped his lips.

  The nanosecond ended. <>

  The fetus apparition jolted and his head turned to Stanley’s direction with lightning quick action. It gred hard, it’s midnight bck and crimson red eyes went wide-open in his direction, almost shocked even.

  But it shouldn’t know he was there, Men’s smoke should be cutting it off its senses, all 6 of them, that includes the mana sensory system. Does that mean, it could sense something else?

  “That’s not right.” Men said, confused and she blew more smoke and the fog around grew heavier along with the sweet perfume aroma.

  Yet the fetus apparition continued to stare straight towards Stanle— it disappeare— the ground exploded and air blew back everything it appeared right in front of him. A ball of some dark mana grew at its mouth.

  There was no time to escape, or cast any spells.

  A great boom erupted. Yet no pain was felt, and he wasn’t sent unching back.

  In front of Stanley like an impregnable wall was Khrun. He pushed the fetus back, and somehow, it maneuvered through the air like a fly, clearly registering the attacks in spite of Men’s smoke. Calling the apparition quick was an understatement.

  In frustration, the fog receded under Men’s deactivation of her spell. Khrun struck it with sound-breaking quick speed with his arm now in the shape of bdes. And yet through all that, it’s senses clearly weren’t blocked and it remained undamaged, no, in fact, it looked more alive than before.

  Its heartbeat accelerated, it’s blood vessels were more visible, and it seemed less like a fetus and more like a baby now.

  Gorro went wide-eyed. Stanley wasn’t surprised, after all, Khrun and Men were both B-Rank magical golems. Gorro himself was quite the magic prodigy, so they shouldn’t be having this much trouble. But they did.

  Stanley gulped.

  Khrun and Men held it back as Stanley made his move. “Verse 5.” Stanley whispered.

  <<葬歌の堕春: Verse 5, Activated>> <<100 MP allocated to sub-spell>>

  From the cobbled ground, white lilies sprouted, and it released spores into the air. The target was the apparition.

  The baby apparatus halted at its pace, and whereas it hovered before, now it slowly descended down to the ground. The blood red light in its eyes dimmed, and its heartbeat slowed down to normal pace.

  Good. The perfect time. “Men!”

  “Gotchu baby!” Men said.

  From within her hands, a great fireball that looked almost like the sun appeared at the palm of her hands.

  “Verse 3.” Stanley chanted.

  <<葬歌の堕春: Verse 3, Activated>> <<100 MP allocated to sub-spell>>

  Along with the white lilies, nadeshiko flowers sprouted from the ground around Men and released its spores, the sub-like fireball grew far more proportionately in size. The area was engulfed in orange light, and everything felt as though it would burn if it grew any bigger.

  The B-Rank spell, became S-Rank. It should stop it, if not kill it.

  From the palm of Men’s hands, the sun-like fireball was released. It rushed forward like a shooting star.

  Khrun rushed in front of Gorro and stretched his hand out to reach Stanley, and pulled him in. Covering him in his great trunks for arms.

  A great boom. Fire blossomed outwards. Loud fmes roared. The apparition’s painful cries could be heard. When Khrun let go, its back was burning and he slumped in pain, and Gorro immediately went to healing him. For it is his magical golem spawned from his personal spell, therefore he can heal it without healing magic.

  Stanley looked at his surroundings. The fmes lingered even on the ground and the trees, and weren’t being put away, but the only thing burning was the baby apparition. It keeled over and fell to the floor with a loud thump.

  “Kimi, any info?” Stanley asked.

  The holographic communications screen of his status window popped up beside Stanley. It was on video call. “Several. It’s mana quality has a score of 100, a solid S-Rank, and it’s spell quantity, 7 slots.” Kimi said.

  S-rank mana quality. That surpasses even Stanley’s own, and he only has a score of 94 in mana quality, putting himself at A-Rank. That alone was rare enough in the world, and yet here stood that one anomaly that has 100 points.

  And worse yet, 7 spell slots. This was definitely no ordinary apparition, it was— Wait, spell slots?

  “Is that thing human?” Stanley asked.

  At that Kimi looked at a nearby screen that she had on her end. Her face had this surprised look. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. It’s releasing some kind of energy around it. I can’t tell. However it’s… it’s… Ahhh!!” Kimi yelled. Her legs colpsed, and she crawled back and turned away, sobbing. Shota came running into view, screaming for her, but as he turned to the screen, he leapt back in fear as well, his eyes glued to whatever he saw and he stopped responding.

  The video feed cut.

  “Kimi!! Shota!! Hey!!” Stanley yelled, but there were no answers.

  Gorro came rushing towards Stanley. “What’s wrong?” He said.

  “Gorro, get to Kimi and Shota. See if they’re alright.” Stanley said.

  Gorro nodded. “Khrun!” He yelled. “Thanks Mel.” He continued.

  Men dissipated as she smoked her pipe and absorbed the fmes that were burning the baby apparition back into her cloak. The enormous, muscled red-skinned Khrun held Gorro in his arms as though he were a princess, and Gorro held him firm by the neck.

  They were off. Khrun’s lower body had shifted into a monstrous one, and went over the fence holding Gorro, and from rooftop to rooftop he leapt.

  .???????.????.???.?????.????????.??????.?????.??????.???????.???????.??????.?????????.??????.?????.????.?????.?????！” A familiar screech.

  Stanely turned around, and the baby apparition stood up. Something like a green aura surrounded it, and its burns were healing. It hovered towards him slowly.

  This was bad. Against monsters he was useless without his ultimate spell. For an Areiji, many of their personal spells are embodiments of, representations, or reflections of their personal experiences in their past lives, or just general personality quirks and long ambitions.

  Stanley used to be a police officer, so his spells were much more tailored towards criminals.

  “Guess I have no choice then” Stanley said.

  Stanely csped his hands together. Two cps, mana vibrated at the palm of his hands. The baby apparition floated ever so slowly, the transparency of its skin faded, repced with more visible skin, and its teeth grew into razor sharp ones.

  A final cp. Mana rang out around and vibrated around him. Stanley’s lips opened. “Soul Max—” A woman and a man flew down from above, halting his spell casting. A familiar crest of the Westfield Republic State Guardians on the tactical vest appeared before him.

  “Captain Apex. War Priestess.” Stanley said.

  With this, the load on his chest became lighter as two of the top-tier state guardians came to help him. Captain Apex and War Priestess, the dynamic duo, and the current guild master and his vice-mistress of the Haroz City-State Guardians.

  The baby apparition growled a monstrous growl, one no different than a beast.

  “What do you have on it?” Captain Apex said.

  “According to Kimi, it has S-Rank mana quality and 7 spell slots.” Stanley said.

  “That thing human then?” War Priestess asked.

  “Not too sure. Never got an answer, but Kimi should have the analysis report.” Stanley responded.

  “Thanks.”

  “Careful though, it can heal from an A-Rank fireball.” Stanley warned.

  However, just as the two guardians got ready, the baby apparition vanished like smoke blown away by the wind.

  “ ? ”

  If it weren’t for the fact that the State Guardians actually showed up, he’d think he was hallucinating with how quick that apparition vanished. With the only traces of its existence being the cracks and craters on the floor beneath them. He couldn’t even feel its mana anymore.

  Still, Captain Apex and War Priestess stood their guard and looked around. With today’s magic, anything was possible. Many shady people around, and it would be delusional to assume that some voyeurist wouldn’t crystallize their nasty personality quirk into a spell to hide their mana signature as well.

  But, after 5 minutes, nothing happened. The two guardians softened their stances, and turned towards Stanley. “You doing alright Mr. Ryker.” Spoke the tall muscur woman, War Priestess.

  “Better now that you’re both here. What took you both so long?” Stanley said.

  “Got caught up. A Rothiki beast went crazy at west in Dour. Called in reinforcements from other cities as well, so all of the free guardians headed there right away. We actually just finished off a couple of minutes ago, when…” Captain Apex trailed off in the end. “Let’s just say, we ran into a bit of trouble.”

  “Do you think this has something to do with that thing?” Stanley asked.

  “We’ll look into it after taking a look at Kimi’s report if it’s as you say, but my guess is no. It’s not like every spotted beast has to be connected to some world-ending conspiracy.” Captain Apex said, as he looked over at War Priestess.

  War Priestess noticed his strange side-eye at her, and she elbowed his chest hard with a soft thud, and yet somehow, she was the one that was rubbing her elbow in pain. Captain Apex chuckled.

  “Ah, I hear you’re about to enter the State Guardian Training Course at HMC right? Can already tell you’ll pass easily, so better say it now. Gd to have you on our team. Would be nice to have an Areiji on the side of justice once again?” Captain Apex said, putting out his hand for a handshake.

  “Give me that when I actually pass the training course, never know what might come of the 4 years there.” Stanley responded, shaking his hand back.

  “True that—huh?” Captain Apex was about to speak, but his communications window popped up before him, a text it looked like. Quickly, his face fell went serious. “You know Rose Hartgrass and Spike Burner?”

  Then it struck. That’s right, Shota, Kimi.

  And so quickly, he was flown by Captain Apex to the hospital. It wasn’t very long, with barely anyone flying in the air at this hour, besides birds and a couple of people who had personal spells that allowed flight.

  Soon, he made it to the hospital, a great building of intricate stonework, stained gss windows, and pointed arches.

  As soon as his foot struck the ground, he kicked off the dirt running and entered through.

  After a while of running, there he saw… well… why was he worried again?

  Shota handed over his weapon license to Fist Monk, another State Guardian. A cross-armed Kimi had her head turned away in an angry puff as her auntie lectured at her. Gorro was… hmm… to put it bluntly, sitting on Khrun’s p and fondling his muscur pecs as Men sits behind Gorro and id his head on her breasts.

  Shota and Kimi though, the two looked as though whatever happened to them didn’t occur.

  For now, it seemed like everything turned out well for everyone. No other civilian casualties because they were the only ones in that area thankfully, and Shota and Kimi don’t seem all to bothered considering the treatment to their minds. Then again, those two could be stubborn as well.

  Enough thinking, just talk to them. “Hey!” Stanley said.

  Heads twisted in his direction. “Stan!” / “Bossing!” Said the tall girl-short boy duo.

  The state guardian interviewing Shota nudged his head in Stanley’s direction, and with a smile Shota came running to him. Kimi’s auntie seemed to have held her niece’s arm in a lock, yet Kimi threw her hands frantically to break free, and she came rushing over to him.

  Khrun and Men dissipated into wisps of smoke, and Gorro stood up from his seat and slowly approached him as well.

  “Are you two alright?” Stanley said.

  “Now we are. The emergency medics pieced our minds back together, so we’re both olly-dandy!" Kimi said, giving the thumbs up.

  “Piece your minds? What happened back there?” Stanley turned to Gorro. “Gorro, what happened to them?”

  Gorro simply shook his head. “When I found them, they were already passed out. I don’t know what got them.” So he said, but something else was up. He refused to look at him, and his eyes were glued to the ground. There was something he wasn’t saying.

  Doesn’t matter though, at the very least, he got them to safety. What he wasn’t saying, could come ter. “Good going man.” Stanley said, patting Gorro’s shoulder. “Look after everything today, I’m ready to have a nice rest, and you all should too.” Stanley continued.

  “Yeah. I’m feeling it too.” Shota said, stretching.

  “I’m hungry.” Kimi said.

  “Want to go get some ice cream?” Shota then asked.

  “Sure.”

  Finally, they had made it out of the hospital in one piece. Stanley stopped though, he turned to Kimi. “But before that actually, Kimi, sorry to ask of this you, but did you give your analysis report to the state guardians?” Stanley then asked.

  “Oh trust me, I happily gave it away. The st thing I need is that curse in my system storage and for some magical reason, giving me nightmares. I mean, really. Ick!” Kimi said.

  “Your welcome to stay at my pce tonight?” Shota then said.

  “Thanks but no thanks. I’m a big girl tiny weenie, a few nightmares aren’t going to stop me from my 10 hour beauty sleep.” Kimi said, whipping her hair with her hands and walking away confidently.

  Though she acted like this. Stanley could still remember her bloodcurdling scream, it was horrific. Like she saw something far too hideous. Was she really okay? Shota seemed to have sensed it too, as he looked on at the distancing Kimi who walked home ahead of them.

  “Take care of yourself Kimi.” Shota whispered.

  She stopped, and turned around. “Thanks Shota.” She smiled with a great blush on her cheeks. Perhaps it was the silent night as for sure the anomaly sighting has pushed many people to stay at home, that may be why, she heard Shota in spite of the fair distance away.

  “Uh… Kimi, your mansion’s in that direction.” Shota then said.

  “You offered to let me stay! So I’m going to sleep at your pce tonight.” Kimi said.

  Shota’s eyes lit up and he ran towards Kimi. “You said no thank you.” Shota responded, though his happy tone made him sound like a 10 years old boy . It didn’t help that Kimi’s taller than average female height at 15 years old and Shota’s shorter than average male height at 16 years old, made him look like a junior high student.

  “No I didn’t. Are your ears so small that you couldn’t hear words correctly?” Kimi said, she sounded flustered.

  “Whatever. I’ll text my mom now and tell your staying over again.” Shota turned around. “See you bossing! Gorro!”

  And the two were off.

  To this day, he still regrets calling him Shota the first time he met him. He just blurted it out because he remembered his daughter Natsu being a shotacon and giving him a lengthy speech about shotas when she was still 19 years old, and now he nicknamed himself Shota because he thought it sounded cool.

  “Welp, we should be heading home too. Our parents might be worried.” Stanley said.

  Stanley opened his status menu window, selected the communications screen, and just as he suspected. At least 10 calls from mom and 25 calls from Rachel. “Heh. Heh. Hope they’re nice to me.” Stanley then said.

  However, as he turned to Gorro, his eyes still glued to the ground and his face was still crest-fallen. “Gorro, what’s up?” Stanley said.

  “You know when I said that I found them passed out, I lied. They’re fine now, but they weren’t holding it too well earlier.” Gorro suddenly said.

  “What?”

  “Kimi was yelling and crying. Shota was not responding to anything.” Gorro finally looked Stanley in the eyes, and a familiar pain could be seen in them. “The doctor said that whatever they saw left traces of a high-end mind mutition spell.” He continued.

  “So that thing could attack them through a screen.” Stanley said.

  “Stan, it didn’t just break their minds. It nearly shredded their psyches. Thankfully, the mental surgery was successful, but…” Gorro drifted off.

  “What are you saying?” Stanley said.

  “The doctor theorized that maybe this could be the work of an Areiji.”

  “But it couldn’t be, she got it from…” Then Stanley realized.

  Spell slots. Kimi mentioned that the apparition anomaly had spell slots. Spell slots in the first pce were only avaible to the human race of Aseri.

  Long back, in the Otherworlder Demonization Period following the Decade World War, an Areiji managed to create a special program for the human race particurly, based on his game development background and inserted it into the soul of this pnet itself. Every human being born on this pnet, thus, could obtain a status window like in those RPG Video Games his children and even grandchildren had pyed.

  And so, if that thing managed to register having spell slots, then… “Maybe that thing we fought, is an Areiji from Earth crossing over to our world.” Gorro finished his thoughts for him.

  Stanley stood there. He knew it might be true. That was a possibility.

  Throughout history, Areijis were known to be rather odd and unpredictable. In Aseri, Stanley has heard historical figures from his own world.

  Mun of Ancient China, and her lover, a man who came from 2013 Luxembourg, led the charge against the original dark lord thousands of years ago back in the null century. King Charlemagne from the Holy Roman Empire of Earth, came to Aseri a hundred years ago and defeated Dark Lord Draegon, making way for Kleuidia as it was today. His 12 Padins at the time included: Jeanne d’Arc and Musashi Miyamoto.

  All of this were taught in history css.

  Time was no issue, anyone from any time period of Earth’s past could appear anywhere in any pce in time on Aseri, and in any way possible.

  Even the way Areiji’s are reborn were unpredictable. Stanley himself was reborn as a baby after dying at 95 years old. He had heard cases of others being reborn as monsters, others like Hudrik Stormwind was reborn as his game persona. One of the strongest female warriors’ of the current era among the Royal Army, Marian Flowerfield’s legendary bde was an Areiji too, a 30 years old man reborn as a magic sword.

  But regardless of all that, Gorro needed his rest, he shouldn’t be thinking of this anymore. At least not today. “Whether it’s an Areiji or not, let’s leave it to the guardians to figure this out. We can figure things out after we rest, yeah?”

  “Thanks Stanley my man.” Gorro said, as he summoned one of his golems, his ‘art pieces’ as he puts it. In wisps of blue mana, the muscur Khrun stood tall.

  “Let’s head home.” Gorro said.

  As he said that, the muscles beneath Khrun’s lower body unduted. Skin tore and shredded apart, and out grew another pair of legs. It grew and grew.

  Soon, the mass of unduting and twisting flesh finally ended its movement, the final shape was that of a horses lower body, making him look like a centaur— Stanley twisted his head away, cringing.

  Gorro really didn’t need to add a dangling horse penis. Then again, his golem themes were always overtly sexualized humanoid creatures. The st thing he wanted to remember was finding him going at it with his golems in his own room.

  Never want to see something like that again.

  Anyways, moving on… “See you soon man. Have a good rest.” Stanley said.

  “Oh trust me. I will.” He said with a lecherous smile, hugging Khrun’s waist, and Stanley did not want to look down. And at this, he was off as well. Khrun galloped away with him pressing himself on his back.

  Some random passerby turned from his hovering status screen to the riding Gorro, confused. As he looked back, all Stanley could do was shrug. For Gorro had eccentric tastes.

  Moving on…

  It didn’t take long either for Stanley to make it home either. Thankfully, he managed to grab a cab nearby in spite of the silent night, and it didn’t take very long to return back to his neighborhood.

  It wasn’t that te at night just yet, so there were still a couple of kids out in the parks, not pying, but just chatting about. Though, there was a couple of lovebirds on top of one of the tiled roofs, they were sitting and staring at the starry night sky.

  He wanted to tell the kids to get down because it’s too dangerous, but he it looked like memories were being created at that moment. But it didn’t take long before their parents came out to do the work and ruin their time together.

  After a few more minutes, he made it back home. The lights were open. He knew he was going to get it. He took one step towards the door, and…

  <> <>

  “Hmm…?”

  Part 4

  On a building balcony near the border to the residential area that Stanley lived, Zedric peered from afar using zoomable binocurs.

  So that’s where he lived, in a little neighborhood. The silver-haired Areiji Stanley of the light, stepped into his room. As soon as he opened the door, a little girl rushed and hugged him, and another woman came out, following that a man.

  Confirmed, three more people living with him. They could all be used for hostages, and if he pyed his cards right, maybe that little one could be taken back down into the dark too, and sell her at a high price. Though he could keep her for himself, girls like that are a delicacy.

  No, stay the course. When everything was said and done, he’d be the godfather of crime. He’d be sitting on power most high, servants at his feet, women at the reserves, and all the world’s treasuries and luxuries known to mankind at his disposal, to distribute as he saw fit.

  To do that, he must start with Stanley, the weakest among all contemporary Areijis.

  Hudrick Stormwind would be too much of a hassle to deal with, especially with all his servants around. Charlemagne, who had lived for a 100 years, was far too powerful and experienced, having defeated the Dark Lord Draegon. Many others lived as well, but small ones first.

  The Vahrman Emperor didn’t begin his conquest of the world by dealing with the superpowers first. He began with nds of poverty, and turned them into industrial powerhouses. That’s the start Zedric needed.

  Looking over at the bloodstained Leisar and Buroka, the two sat around and waited. Leisar stared at the world of light beyond the balcony, and Buroka swung her legs at the edge. If Leisar was here, then…

  The room behind them had been painted a beautiful red. Though if it were up to Zedric, he wouldn’t have wasted such good food. They’re all on the floor now. Then again, nothing a little wash and boiling could do to remov bacteria.

  Leisar needed to recharge anyway. He hadn’t had a good meal since they all left the dark, and the light was sorely cking in blood to feast on. Not to mention, some people of the light would make a huge fuss about it too.

  “Leisar, we’re going to get caught this way. There’s no time to gnce around. Buroka salvage as much meat as you can, get dinner ready for us.” Zedric said.

  “Yes boss!!” Buroka jovially said, as she rolled off the edge of the balcony and skipped her way into the messy room. Her bare feet leaving footsteps of blood as she walked. However, Leisar’s eyes followed Buroka.

  Not good. He might eat her raw too. “Leisar.” Zedric called. Leisar quickly turned towards his direction. “Buroka’s off limits.” Zedric said. Leisar simply hummed an approval, not even a growl. Good. At least, he had mellowed out.

  “So, we’re finally going to do it huh?” Leisar said.

  “Not just yet. I still have to pay the masters of the nds after all.” Zedric said.

  With just a thought, the status menu screen popped and hovered before him. He picked the artificial applications, and the map feature was selected. The holographic map of the city hovered before him again. Tiny blips closest to Stanley’s home were seen.

  Nearest one was… right in front of the entrance to the residential district. No problem, the closer the subspace, the easier it is to lure him in. “I’ll leave you guys in a bit. Leisar, keep watch. Buroka, should someone come in, make sure to trick them out.” Zedric said.

  “Yes boss!!” Buroka jovially said as she continued picking up the remains of the previous home residents and storing them in her inventory. Leisar simply nodded silently.

  Zedric heads down the building towards the nearby blip he had seen. Until he had reached a small noodle shop. It seemed to be closing for the night actually as he and his workers were already cleaning the tables and pcing up the chairs.

  He walked through the entrance and the noodle shop owner looked up at Zedric. There were no words. Nothing. Zedric merely opened the status screen, and used the image projector of the artificial application functions. The Mark of the Varvadell was shown.

  At that, the noodle owner snapped his fingers. Everyone else, quickly fell asleep. One boy fell hit his head on the way down, and he bled profusely, but the owner simply sat down and his once kind-looking face, shifted.

  “I’d like to book time for a subspace for 3 people.” Zedric said.

  “What’s the nature of the actions?” He spoke. Equipping from the disguise of a simple noodle owner within the light, the real face shows within, this man, an agent of the Varvadell Family, a renter of abyss subspaces. Go to them for business.

  “Kidnapping, theft and possible murder. I’ll need it spatially customized.” Zedric said, and transferred a document from his status screen to the agent. “Details are on the paper.”

  The agent looked at the document, and as soon as he finished reading, his eyes looked up at Zedric, a slight confused but acceptant expression. “You’ll book for how long?” He continued.

  “72 hours.”

  The agent typed all the details into the floating screen in front of him. He pressed something. A notification had been sent to him.

  <>

  Of course. Yes.

  With just a thought, the payment had been approved, and another notification had been sent to him.

  <<34,000 Jynn transferred>>

  The agent extended his arms out for a shake. Of course, the spirit contract has to be done, to prevent any overstays. Whatever, when everything was done, the one that would be renting the abyssal subspaces would be Zedric Zeppeci, godfather of crime and ruler of the dark.

  Zedric grabbed his hand and shook it. Threads of mana extended from his arm to his own, and threads from his own arm to his. Between their palms, mana shone forth and dimly glowed for a brief moment. He could feel something entering into his spiritual pathways connecting soul and body, like a thread moving within flesh, and it wrote the contract into his heart, before retreating back.

  The threads receded, and the spiritual contract was complete.

  “Gd to do business with you.” The agent said, standing from his seat. “Follow me.” He said. Zedric did as he instructed, and he followed the agent to the back, into the kitchen, and towards a wall. Space rippled, and he passed through.

  Between the two spatial ripples, it was like moving through water. Then on the other side, a barren wastend of sand and ash that stretched far into the distance below a void sky that moved like the surface of the ocean.

  There was no sun, and everything was lit as though there was a light source that came from above. Yes, this was definitely it. His former master used a rented subspace like this for this heist, to steal an entire truck of artifacts. It had ended in failure, but this was what he definitely used.

  “If I may warn, an Areiji is still an Areiji. Even if Stanley is the weakest among them, his power exceeds yours by tenfold.” The agent said.

  “You knew what I was after?” Zedric said.

  “I had a feeling someone would come to attack him one day, I just never expected someone like you to act first before the Areiji Hunters or any of the other big families did.” The agent replied.

  Zedric smirked. Guess some of the others were too cowardly to fight Stanley, or were too proud to go after the weakest one. No problem, he’ll just grab his cheat, and make it to the bigger leagues. Especially now that he had what he was looking for.

  That ancient magic item that would grant him his fortune.

  “When the Vahrman Emperor went after the self-procimed Goddess of Saria, he studied the words of her original nguage and the faith that she imitates her spells from, so that he may take her as one of his corpse brides. And when they fought, his feet and arms moved with the mind of reflexive knowledge.” Zedric said.

  “And…?”

  “I’m no fool. I know who I’m dealing with, and what I need to do.” Zedric said, not looking at the agent.

  “Very well then. Good luck with your… endeavor, sir.” With that the agent takes his leave.

  Looking around at the endless wastend, his heart thumped at the thought of his future. For this wastend was like what he gained when he was sent down to the abyss, a ft, empty space, for Zedric to popute and fill his dreams with once again.

  For all the memories he knew he had in the light, he couldn’t recall a single one of them. Regardless, a smile made its way to his face, as the final preparations were needed.

  “It’s almost time.” Zedric said.

  Part 5

  Stanley Ryker walked amongst the streets of the neighborhood towards Shota’s home. Even if they looked like they were fine, his stomach churned at the thought that they may be hiding it inside. Kimi’s quite stubborn and Shota practically oozes the phrase “burying the pain inside”.

  Of course, if they needed space, he would leave them alone. However, when they called for him to hang out, he quickly jumped off his bed and made strides towards Shota’s house. What happened yesterday must’ve been pretty stressful for everyone.

  A lot has happened after all. First exams, then that anomaly.

  However, for Stanley, there was this… unlocked spell, <<悪竜 封鎖>>.

  For Areijis, a lot of their spells tend to be named in the respective nguage of the country they came from, and from which time. After all, personal spells were crystallized personal experiences and personality quirks, what’s more personal than the name of the spell being from the country of origin as well.

  When speaking to a foreigner in their own nguage, at least in his experience traveling with his son Hachiman, they tend to be taken much better, especially if one was fluent.

  This new unlocked spell, Akuryū Fūsa (悪竜 封鎖, Evil Dragon Seal).

  He had rattled his head half the night about what it does. He tried it st night, but… nothing. Nothing came out of it. He always got the notification, <>. What? Does that mean he needed to actually find some evil dragon? Probably not, but still…

  “Humanity calling to Stanley, hello” The familiar voice of Kimi reached his ears, breaking Stanley from his train of thoughts.

  “Oh, you’re here.” Stanley said.

  “You’ve walked past Shota’s house already.” Kimi said.

  “Really?” He did in fact walk past them. Looking behind Kimi, Gorro and Shota stood on the stairs looking right at him. Shota saluted, and Gorro chuckled. “Sorry, I guess I’m a little tired from yesterday.” He said, walking back to them. “What about you? Are you two doing fine now?” Stanley continued.

  “Us. I’m fine but I don’t know about little Shota over here. I mean, if you saw him huddling beneath his bnket. It’s the cutest thing ever.” Kimi teased. A great smirk on his face as she looked down cross-armed at the surprisingly calm, smirking Shota.

  “Said the giantess that kept calling out for Lord Brother in her sleep.” Shota then said. At this, Kimi’s entire face became red. “Loras. Loras. Oh Loras.” Shota said, chuckling.

  “No I didn’t.” Kimi said.

  “Yeah, and my name is Jenemih Carane.”Shota uttered sarcastically.

  “What the hell does that even mean you goblin?!” Kimi yelled.

  “Don’t be so flustered Mount Rose, you might get a volcanic eruption.” Shota teased again.

  Though, if Shota kept teasing Kimi about her brother like that, there might as well be a ‘volcanic eruption.’ In fact right about now, Kimi’s face just got a shade redder again. She looked like she was ready to explode.

  “Why you?”

  And there they go again. She leapt towards Shota to catch him, but Shota quickly ran away as he continued to tease. “Lord brother. Dear lord brother. Kiss me. Let’s run into the sunset.” Shota teased again.

  “Ew!!!” Kimi said.

  Looking at them like this. The churning in his stomach seemed to have disappeared. A chuckle escaped his lips. Though, what about that apparition? Would it show up again today? If that’s the case, he needed to be ready. As the Areiji of the group, naturally, it fell down to him to at least bring everyone to safety.

  Stanley knew. He wasn’t the strongest of them all. Hudrick Stormwind could random gacha roll an army of servants and legendary magical items. King Charlemagne could crystallize events of bible verses into subspells. Miriam Flowerfield’s bde that houses the spirit of an Areiji is an ultimate sword.

  Still, having strength was better than none, and besides, he’s got tricks up his sleeves too.

  Soon, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. Looking at the source, it was Gorro. “C’mon Stanley my man. Yesterday’s problems are in the past. Today, we enjoy ourselves.” He said.

  “You could tell?” Stanley said.

  “You got this intense look on your face again.” Gorro said.

  “I see.”

  He forgot. Gorro, for all his eccentricities, was quite the observant one as well. He seemed to pick up social cues and slightest of facial expressions. Either that, or Stanley himself just didn’t have that good a poker face.

  If that’s the case, he really needed to work on that.

  At that, Gorro removed his hands from his shoulders, walking towards the constantly teasing Shota and Kimi. “Anyways, let’s go guys. I’ve got a whole day pnned out for us.” Gorro said.

  “You’re not going to drop us off somewhere while you go and browse the adult magazines for inspiration again, are you?” Kimi asked, a deadpan expression.

  “Oh come on, who do you think I am?” Gorro said.

  “A flirtatious pervert who ogles everyone under the sun and screws his own golems.” Kimi said, cross-armed.

  “Developer and master of your personal harem golem corporation!” Shota said, as jumping up in excitement.

  “An actual charming and nice man, who at least manages to direct his lust towards his golems.” Stanley finally said.

  “You guys are actually quite mean, aren’t you? And they aren’t just golems, they are ‘art pieces’! Anyways, none of that today. Today, we celebrate our first ever encounter with an S-Rank anomaly.” Gorro said, wrapping his arms around Kimi and Shota and pulling them closer to a hug. “And the fact we’re still alive today.” He then said warmly.

  “Thanks.” Kimi said.

  “Gorro bro…” Shota said.

  And so, the morning was spent on Gorro’s little day of fun. First to the Indoor Town Pza. Then, out by the game stop screwing around. Next, by a little café for tea time. Even if it wasn’t, it was like Gorro was basically taking everyone out on a date.

  Each time, Gorro would go out back and pay behind their back too. When Stanley went and confronted him about it, he just waved it off and kept on doing it anyway. Stanley tried to pay once, but Gorro spped his hand away.

  Though there was a specific focus on Shota and Kimi after the events of the previous day. Even with all the fun that was being had, and even if the doctor had managed to piece their minds together and erase sembnces of the mental attack.

  This little voice in his head rang loudly from time to time - ‘Were they really okay?’. Only for it to be lowered as soon as he saw Shota and Kimi getting into their usual shtick. It was clear, the two were doing fine.

  It seemed at least that while memories of the incident remained, but the pain and fear associated with it, were gone. It’s still amazing how that worked, a little odd to hear though, even if its basic mechanics were understood.

  Yet still, why was he having this sinking feeling that something wasn’t right?

  In spite of that, the morning went by quick and the sun began to sink from its peak. They were walking on the streets, heading to t—

  The world shook, a great tremor. The hairs on his arms stood. There was an immense surge of mana from behind him, uncontrolble, a great pressure that threatened to pin him to the ground as his legs felt as though they were pilrs ready to colpse.

  A great familiar shining light shone. The ground rumbled and the clouds blew outwards, clearing the sky. Kimi quickly hid behind Shota. Shota stepped back. Gorro cpped his hands together, gathering mana at the palm of his hands.

  Emerging from wisps of mana, the tall red-skinned, bck-armored muscled warrior Khrun. Like the previous day, Khrun’s lower body shifted into that of a beasts’, this time, like that of an unrecognizable monster’s from some distant pce that Gorro had gone on a trip to before.

  The bck organic armor over his red skinned muscur body grew rger until it coated his whole body, including the lower body, in which a makeshift saddle was made. “Get on!” Gorro said, stepping on the makeshift saddle.

  Kimi went up first before Shota came next. Then, Stanley himself was helped up, and sat on the rear end. With that, Khrun galloped away.

  Like Gorro, everyone else around who had personal spells of transportation used them and ran. Screams could be heard all around, people fled away.

  Kimi gathered mana at the palm of his hands. “Color Spell: Green…” She whispered. Of which swirling pink and white sugar crystals made up of magical energy encased them.

  Stanley opened the dam to his soul as well. A warm feeling rushed from within his soul like a river, through the spirit pathways and into the body. Magical energy gathered at the palm of his hands, at the tips of his fingertips. The funeral of Haruka rushed in and out of his mind.

  <>

  “Verse 3.” Stanley whispered.

  <<葬歌の堕春: Verse 3, Activated>> <<100 MP allocated to sub-spell>>

  From sections of Stanley’s body, the floral subspecies: longicalycinus of the Dianthus superbus flowers sprouted, and wrapped around him. The targets were Kimi, Shota, and Gorro, Khrun as well. Replicas of Haruka’s essence wrapped around all of them, and a dim glow overtook their bodies.

  With Kimi’s barriers and Stanley’s flowers, everyone should be a little safer now.

  The rumbling stopped. A great pressure of mana whirled around like a hurricane behind them, and he dared not look back.

  Kimi perked up and turned back, of which her eyes widened. “STAN!!” She screamed.

  Something pulled at his back, and he was sent unching through the shattered barrier. The world grew blurry, his body struck the ground again and again, each time knocking the wind out of him, until he slowed down and slid on the ground.

  Despite all that, the pain was minimal, barely a discomfort. The flowers that wrapped around his body soothed every pain as soon as they came, and healed all injuries as soon as they came. The faint voice of Kimi’s loud screams could be heard.

  Stanley sat up, using his hand as support, wiping the dirt off his eyes. Upon clearance of the eyes, he looked out.

  “!”

  Looming over him, a chalk-white monster of a man. It’s bloody razor teeth gred at him with a big smile as it salivated. It’s eyes were like the night of the lunar eclipse. It’s muscles rippled and unguted like something creeped around under its skin. Bck markings ran across its body, ending at its sharp fingers and toes. A musky smell of sweat and something else invaded his nose.

  Was this the apparition from yesterday?

  It’s eyes lingered on him, staring him bottom to top. It’s mouth twisted into a smile that went from ear to ear.

  Why was it smiling?

  It drew its hand back. Green magical energy shone dimly at its arms. It swung. Stanley raised his right hand and palm outwards. The wrapped flowers around him moved to his arms and fred outwards as quick as bullets, forming a barrier.

  *BOOM*

  Its arms moved like the crackling of lightning, each strike was fast and pounded on the barrier like a jackhammer.

  Stanley gathered mana at the palm of his hands. “Verse 2.” Stanley chanted.

  Red spider lilies sprouted from his left shoulder and sprouted around his left arm. It’s spores formed miniature thunderclouds orbited around said arm. He swung his fist forward, and the booming sound of thunder sonic waves exploded outwards.

  The air rippled outwards.

  The creeping humanoid monster man-thing was unched backwards, bouncing on the cobbled floor, but it dug its hands down and halted its momentum.

  It stood, but its form was bloodied and bruised. It’s ears bled, there were bruises and scars all over its body, and no doubt that it suffered some form of internal damage too. Yet the rge smile remained.

  It took a deep breath, it’s smile and eyes grew wider. It brought its hands closer together. Bck mana gathered at the palm of its hands, into an orb that shone with bck light.

  Wasn’t this, from yesterday? No, the mana allocated to it was far more powerful.

  The surrounding ground decayed, the nearby trees withered. Stanley cringed at the foul stench of blood and rotten corpses that filled the air and invaded his nostrils.

  Stanley brought his hands together. Mana gathered at the palm of— The monster went unching backwards even more. It roared, and standing in its pce, was… “Captain Apex!”

  The enormous man with the familiar emblem of the Haroz City State Guardians on his tactical vest and police battle suit stood proud and tall. Then there he saw other Haroz City-State Guardians. Bolt-tastic zoomed in a blur.

  A firm grip y on his shoulder. He turned to look at the owner of the hand, and there was the broad, muscur War Priestess. Her braided hair blew gently against the strong winds, as the Haroz City State Guardian jet steadily descended down.

  From the bottom hatch emerged: Dec Z, Fist Monk, Orcling. Many more came down from the hatch, and all were top-tier state guardians, some of the more versatile ones. Dec Z wasn’t as powerful, but held some pretty useful utility spells.

  “You alright Stan?” War Priestess said, taking a step in front of him.

  “Yeah. Good thing you brought the whole squad. That thing’s as strong as an Areiji.” Stanley said.

  “Stan, that monster is an Areiji.” She said.

  As soon as she said that, everything suddenly made sense. Of course, in spite of being a monster, it has spell slots. Of course, it has extremely high mana quality. Of course, it’s such an unusual anomaly. Areiji’s always were unpredictable in their rebirth and were often too powerful for their own good.

  But this one… whoever this was, no doubt would be the most disastrous rebirths in modern Aseri history. At least Stanley was reborn as a baby that retained his cognitive processes, but that’s all that was. Not beginning second life as a monster.

  “Is that so? Then whoever’s in there, might not exactly know what’s going on.” Stanley said.

  Perhaps he or she might’ve been attacking Stanley because it was following the nearest strongest source of power. This wasn’t the first time someone from Earth was reborn a monster in Aseri, and barring exceptions, most would initially came into the world with only their primal instincts. Perhaps this one liked to fight in his or her past life.

  “Take for the streets. Will handle this?” War Priestess said firmly.

  War Priestess, the mistress of weaponry, opened her status window – selected an item – in blue polygons, a double-edged enchanted sword appeared on her left and a shield appeared on her right. The sword in particur gave out a gre, and he knew immediately, it was a standard anti-Areiji magic sword with higher damage output towards Areijis.

  Looking around, it was clear that the other State Guardians had equipped anti-Areiji equipment on as well. Guess they got things handled. Still, his stomach churned and at the sight of the humanoid Areiji monster, it’s blood red irises were still locked onto Stanley.

  “I’m afraid I can’t. It seems to be locked onto me. Last thing I need is to lead it back to the others. Just in case.” Stanley said.

  “Makes sense. Then consider this your internship. Think you could help us?” War Priestess said.

  From there, the notification <> appeared. Of course, accepted.

  A State Guardian near Stanley heard the whole thing and a rexed sigh escaped his lips. “An Areiji on our side, good to know.” He said, side-eyeing Stanley with a smile.

  At this, with the red spider lilies wrapped around his left arm and the nadeshiko flowers around his right arm and the rest of his body. Stanley stood alongside the State Guardians. Yet the monster stood there, wide blood red eyes amongst jet-ink bckness gred directly at Stanley. It was really aiming for him.

  The air grew heavy.

  The wind howled as though the broken down streets were a ghost town.

  Eyes locked onto the monster.

  The monster didn’t move.

  The guardians didn’t move.

  The monster’s gaze shifted forwards and away from Stanley. It’s smile dropped.

  “Ahhh!!” A scream, a human scream.

  The frozen world bubble popped. What once seemed like a silent street, grew loud with a single bloodcurdling scream that seemed would have ripped the throat. For a moment, everyone turned it its direction. The source of the scream was one of the state guardians, on the floor.

  Was this… the mind mutition spell that got Kimi and Shota? He writhed on the floor, foaming at the mouth. Everyone turned to their writhing comrade on the floor, and… the monster’s smile returned.

  Red-hooded wraiths appeared out of thin air from wisps of bck smoke, and with them brought forth a slew of magic being flung with great force. Everyone’s attention was forced back to the monster, now with his surrounding wraiths.

  Incomprehensible were the magic being flung by the wraiths, each of a different kind. Stanley could hardly make out any of them. One with fmes and bringing about heat around them, and another that was causing the sky to distort as though it were a glitching in a computer simution.

  One wraith per 5 state guardians, that was how much was needed. War Priestess next to him, weaved and dodged on slippery feet with her shield in one arm and a sword in the other as though they weighed nothing.

  Looking around, the battlefield was getting chaotic. Far more than his liking. Years of being a police man and dealing with a chaotic prince of crime have kept him from being paralyzed out of fear or a ck of idea on what to do.

  His goal right now was the monster. Stanley csped his hands, and gathered mana. “Verse—”

  The monster was already in front of him. Charged, arm already drawn back for a punch. With crackling speed - *BOOM* - was all he heard. Great pain struck his chest, an aching feeling spread out from chest outwards.

  However the pain disappeared as quick as it came, as the flora wrapped around him spread its energy around him, and what should’ve been broken ribs, torn muscles, and ruptured organs, have been healed as well.

  Stanley quickly stood, a lingering discomfort remained on his chest, but this was not the time to slow down. The monster quickly sped in his direction, zooming like the wind. The flora wrapped around his right arm extended, forming a shield.

  It’s booming strike ripped throughout his body – he skid backwards – yet all the pain and injuries disappeared as soon as they came. In a quick movement, his hands cpped together, gathering mana at the center of his palms. “Verse 5!” Stanley yelled.

  <<葬歌の堕春: Verse 5, Activated>> <<200 MP allocated to sub-spell>>

  From the broken cobbled ground littered with debris, white lilies jumped up and formed in the blink of an eye around the monster and it released its spores into the air. The target was the monster, whose blood red light in its eyes dimmed – it fell down to its knees.

  <>

  The notification came. He didn’t knew what it did, why he got it now of all times, nor why something like it was registered as a target, but he’d figure things out ter when he finds out what its capable of. So, his answer – Yes.

  <<悪竜 封鎖, Activated>> <<200 MP allocated to spell>>

  His hands shot outwards on their own, as if they knew what to do without any training. Mana gathered at the palm of his hands, turning a bright neon red that shot outwards. A red ring of magical energy –shrieking and crackling, encircled the monster.

  The dim glow in its eyes relit, and it roared with the power of a wind that nearly blew him off his feet. A stench of rotten corpses invaded his nostrils again. It stood and kicked off the dirt – Stanley cpped his hands together.

  *BOOM*

  The cackling ring shrunk, smming into the monster at full force. It keeled over.

  Two more rings appeared that bound its wrists and ankles. From the ring, a kind of crimson crystalline substance begun emerging – encasing the Areiji monster within as it writhed on the floor in a desperate attempt to escape.

  .???????.????.???.?????.????????.??????.?????.??????.???????.???????.??????.?????????.??????.?????.????.?????.?????”

  It roared with a thousand voices – deafening and painful. It felt as though his eardrums were about to burst open. The rest of the guardians seemed covered their ears as well. In spite of that, the red-hooded wraiths seemed as though they weren’t attacking.

  Yeah, they all stopped, and little by little, disappeared into wisps of bck smoke. The green mana returned and coated his body, yet it shattered. The crystalline substance grew on its body, slowly encasing it.

  The roar lost its sound, like echoes in the distance. The red-hooded wraiths had fully dissipated into bck smoke, there only remnant of existence being the damage they had done on the surrounding environment, and to the state guardians.

  Its midnight blood eclipse eyes lost its light, the color faded until… normal eyes returned.

  Huh?

  Like water washing away dirt, , the sclera that were once a midnight bck had returned to a common, no, human white color. The blood red irises became a common hazelnut. The pupils which used to be shining gleaming red scarlet faded.

  And his voice, the roar of a thousand voices became one man’s voice. A bloodcurdling scream. A rather familiar scream.

  Images of past life and days gone past invaded his mind, a boy of 16 he met in high school. A voice eerily simir to the sound being heard at this instant. Except at that time, it was ughter. Yet fshes of corpses ying at the morgue came with it, and one man y one of said morgues, that same ughing 16 year old boy, peaceful as he may be, his corpse, a disfigured mess.

  The voice of the Areiji monster died down, but before the crystal completely encased it. It vanished as though it were never real, like a dream when the morning rises.

  The crystalline substance shattered, and nothing was in there. Yet the ughter and the voices lingered… pying in his mind over and over, like a record had been broken.

  Part 6

  Lights flickered and camera applications of the status window’s artificial applications were out in the open. 10 minutes has yet to go by after the incident, and yet reporters were quick to crowd the scene.

  Though in this case, it’s understandable. The incident was rare to say the least, for an entire squad of State Guardians to come in and handle such a threat. Most of the time, at least two to three state guardians were dispatched for a magic anomaly, so naturally, people were curious.

  Among the reporters, whom some were talking in front of the cameras, and others were interviewing other state guardians. There were some that were yelling out for him. “Mr. Ryker! Mr. Ryker!” They called. “Can we have a statement from you?” Many said.

  However, that was the least of his problems. No. That monster… it felt, like… there was something about it. It bothered him a lot. He didn’t know why, or how, but everything about it didn’t sit right with him.

  It came after him specifically. Now, something like this could’ve easily been chalked up to the unpredictability of Areiji reincarnation and its initial ck of thought process due to being reborn, and it was following the strongest one. But…

  It’s scream. It sounded like… but it can’t be. Something like that was rare. Far too rare. No two people of the same time period on Earth could be reborn in the same era in Aseri. Then again… it would be hard-pressed to argue the unpredictability of it, it was still a possibility after all.

  “Thanks again, Stan.” War Priestess said from behind him. Halting Stanley’s train of thoughts.

  He looked over his shoulder, and there he saw War Priestess coming with Bolt-tastic coming over towards him. “My man, you were awesome there. Sucks that we couldn’t hire you now? If you ask me, you pass the exam already.” Bolt-tastic said. “It’ll sure save the logistics company some money too. Anti-Areiji equipment’s a bit too useless if you ask me.” He continued.

  “Probably still somethings I could learn. Plus, I’m not leaving my friends behind. We promised we’d graduate together.” Stanley then said. “By the way, how’s Lean Green.” Said Stanley.

  Lean Green was the State Guardian who was mentally assaulted by that monster.

  Looking over, the mentioned guardian was completely in shock. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he foamed at the mouth. A dy sat there holding his hand, perhaps his girlfriend. Lean Green was a newly promoted State Guardian, or so the news reported.

  “The medics are still piecing his mind back together.” So said War Priestess with an audibly depressed tone.

  Her mouth trembled and she balled her hand into a fist. Even Bolt-tastic, looked on at Lean Green without his usual snappy demeanor. In spite of that, he said calmly. “In any case. Thanks for your help today. We’ll take care of the press, so you go on ahead.”

  “Thanks.”

  With that, he began walking away from the sight. Though, not even a couple of seconds away from the barrier that covered the street and road that had been demolished by their battle, he saw three idiots running towards him. “Stan!!” / “Bossing!!” The tall girl and short boy duo yelled at the same time.

  Though it was Gorro who zoomed past them. Before he knew it, a strong force grabbed hold of him and seemed as though he wouldn’t let him go. Gorro’s hair brushed against his cheeks, and an audible sniffling was heard as his sleeve became damp.

  “Gorro, I’m good.” Stanley said, yet his cries continued. Stanley shook him off and pulled him away, so that he could see that nothing’s wrong. “Hey, I’m fine. Look at me Gorro, I’m okay. Can you see?” Stanley said.

  Gorro’s eyes lit up, and it seemed like he was out of his episode. His eyes stared down to up, and his chest rexed as though he forgot to breath.

  “You’re good. You’re good. Yeah. Sorry.” Gorro said, pulling out a tissue from his inventory and blowing the snot.

  Shota came running in, excited. His beaming face of awe was like that of his grandson Ryujiro’s after he had just finished a new Gundam episode and was ready to yap about it on hours end until he had to be forced away from his chatter because it was getting te.

  “Bossing you were so cool though, you just went – BOOM BAM! The monster goes rawr!! Then you just stood there, whapoom!! And Schaboom!! Then he came back at you, and you just drew the big ring and BABABOOMIE!!” Shota said with waving hands.

  Stanley could only chuckle. “Went better than I expected honestly.” – was all he could respond to Shota’s enthusiastic verbal reenactment.

  “In all seriousness though, you really scared us. But I knew you could do it, you’re an Areiji after all. Of course you’d survive.” So said the puffy-eyed Kimi whose make-up was like a watercolor painting left out in the rain. Yeah, she just finished crying too.

  “What’s done is done? It’s a good first internship though. I’m definitely making it to the State Guardians after this.” Stanley said. It was starting to sound depressing, so maybe a little humor could do some work here.

  Shota ughed. Kimi giggled. Though Gorro… “No. No. That’s not funny man! That’s not funny!” Gorro said, though little by little, his chuckles broke through and the tears lessened.

  “Lady Rose!!” A deep voice of a feminine baritone yelled out from the distance.

  Large stomping was heard, like that of a giant’s. Then, in the distance, there was a rather tall woman, stomping her way towards them. Her eyes rather glued to whom she called Lady Rose, Kimi. Her actual name was Rose Hartgrass of the esteemed Hartgrass Household, and being that she was a nobility and part of Haroz aristocracy, one would think that she’d show a bit more grace.

  But…

  “Kuuh, it’s Ghilen. Shota, be my wall!!” She said.

  Kimi ran on quick feet towards Shota - practically lept towards him - squated down and hid behind the tiny Shota.

  “You chose me of all people!?” Shota whispered.

  A huge stomp of her boot. The tall, tanned redhead that Stanley had to crane his neck up slightly just to look at, one who as broad as a doorway, muscles rippling even beneath her pink shirt with a cartoon bear imprint on it, said cute bear's cheeks were being stretched out by the size of her bosom.

  “Lady Rose. Here you are.” Ghilen said.

  Gorro quickly stood in front of her.

  The tall woman Ghilen looked down, gred, seemingly ready to fight back. Though knowing Gorro, no doubt he would- Gorro knelt down as though proposing. One hand on his chest, another outstretched as if to start singing.

  “Pray, what is thy most precious name? Forsooth, the muscles of thy flesh shall consecrate my heart, and we shall ride forth in a fiery tempest of amorous strife, till the rightful heir to the throne of our domestic realm doth come to be. 'Tis in this fervent whirlwind of bed battles that our love shall be tried, and from thence, a noble scion shall arise, to cim dominion o'er the household's hallowed halls.” Gorro spoke as though in a drama.

  “Isn’t that too quick of an emotional shift?!” Stanley yelled.

  Ghilen looked down, gring. Piercing sharp eyes that could bore a hole through the earth through pure hatred alone. The shadow cast by her bangs onto her eyes just made her look all the more menacing. And Gorro, as usual, had not taken the hint.

  “Thou art a goddess, fair and beauteous queen, with flesh as sturdy as the Titans of old. They lovelin- Eh?” Ghilen just walked past him. “As, it seemeth our love is not ordained by fate! Cruelty thy name is love!!” Gorro then said, completely defted onto the ground.

  Anyways… moving on.

  Ghilen stood before Shota and the… hiding Kimi. The same menacing gaze loomed over the much smaller Shota, who trembled like a kid ready to wet his pants. “I’m going to leave you now.” Shota whispered.

  “No.” Kimi whimpered.

  “I’m not even going to make an excuse why? I’m just really scared. Good luck.” Shota then said, and he ran behind Stanley’s back, peeking out ever so slightly.

  “Shota, you traitor!” Kimi said.

  Kimi turned to Ghilen. “Hey, Ghilen. Looks like you’re muscles have gotten bigger. I see all that training’s doing you well, you must be winning a lot of competitions with those.”

  Ghilen simply grabbed Kimi’s arm and began walking the other way. “You’re mother wants you back home now. Loras is also worried about you.” She said, surprisingly gently. Though, Ghilen looked back, as if wanting to say something else to them, but just seemed to have kept silent and left.

  “Welp, that happened.” Gorro said.

  “Your emotional shift’s too votile I swear.” Shota said.

  “I can’t help it. Love makes me go crazy.” Gorro said, flicking his hair.

  “To be fair, she nearly was killed two days in a row. I’m sure Lady Hartgrass will be lenient.” Silence from Gorro and Shota, as they both shook their head no. Yeah, who was he fooling. Kimi’s mom is going to go all out on her. “At least Loras will be there. Hopefully.” Stanley said.

  “Stanley!” He heard the voice of Captain Apex call out to him. He turned, and the equally broad and muscur man as Ghilen came approaching him. “Sorry to call you again, but do you have a minute? We’ll need your cooperation for this.”

  “What is it?” Stanley said.

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  [[To be Continued]]