“Hey, what are you? A dark night or what?” My sword was drawn faster than the man who spoke this words could react. My hungry sword thirsted for battle, eager to press itself into the neck of the person I was targeting but I stopped right before it.
“No. I’m not.” I wasn’t exactly familiar with this magical sword, but it seemed to have some resemblance of a consciousness that was hungry for fighting. Seething the sword in a hurry, I stared at the men and few women who looked back at me wide eyes and fled the scene as fast as I could.
Dressed in my pitch black clothing, I could very well go through as a dark night, but I didn’t want to do evil. I had an unborn child and I desperately wanted to be a good father for it. A role model he or she could look up to even though I knew I fucked up a few things.
I definitely shouldn’t have slept with Chloe, even though I loved her so much. It just … happened without me thinking over it too deeply.
And now she was gone … consoling me with the fact that she couldn’t bear being pregnant in danger and that we would marry for sure afterwards. But truth to be told, I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to marry her.
I loved Lucy more than her by a little bit and thought of it as fair that she would be my first wife. She was responsible for a bit of my progress after all.
“You may enter now.” A guard at the entrance of the coliseum said and thus, the weaklings and I entered the round arena right away. Instantly, I looked up to the saint who sat in her lodge and looked down upon us with a beautiful smile on her lips. Luna had been indeed right to claim that she looked similar to the Lucy I knew, but she would never wear a shoulderless dress so openly. She was far too modest for that.
Standing up, the saint let her gaze wander through the hundred contestants and stood up elegantly.
“Welcome, my brave warriors who have made it to this point. You, whose strength has been recognised, will be the backbone of the incursion into demon territory.” And just like I thought, the voice I heard now was exactly the one I had in my head time and time again. “And therefore, I need you. Every single one. You are all invited to accompany me in two weeks. But before that, we need to select those who will stand at the very forefront. Warriors, please turn to your left where you will find a few solid blocks of iron. The 64 with the deepest mark on it will advance to the next round.” The saint explained slowly with her voice amplified by several folds. Looking over to one of sixteen blocks, I didn’t hesitate long and strolled over to one as the first person to do so.
Drawing my katana, I held it in both hands and slashed vertically with all I had. Effortlessly, the blade cut through the iron and bisected its upper portion immediately, surprising myself and the audience alike.
Even though I couldn’t feel any eagerness in the sword at all as it didn’t pull me along like before, it certainly showed its worth nonetheless.
“Well, it seems we are off to a very strong start. But fear not, you only have to be among the best 68 in this test.” The saint said while applauding my feat. Shortly afterwards, the audience followed suit and I put a fist into the air, strangely happy about their approval. And then, I walked to the side and watched the others.
Some were able to make a dent into the block, some could cut into it halfway and others couldn’t even do anything to it. But there was one other than me who stood out. He swung his maze at the block and sent the upper portion flying straight away.
Then, he strolled over to me and sat beside me in the dirt.
“Not too bad kiddo. Have we seen each other before?” He asked in a hoarse voice which did tell me he smoked a bit too much. I certainly did know him.
“My name is Schwarz. I had been an adventurer, so you may have seen me once or twice.”
“Ahh. One of us is here. Sadly the other S class adventurers all didn’t have the guts to come with us.”
“… because they know very well how dangerous it will be.” I replied a bit bummed out. That so few good adventures were around honestly meant that they all deemed it too risky to join in. And they should have the most experience regarding demons so …
“See? They don’t have the guts.” He said and stood up using his mace. “See you in the finals.”
And with this, he left before I could ask him what finals he was talking about. Well, that was soon answered as we gathered once more in front of the saint and she announced how the best of us would be selected … by a tournament. With 64 participants, I could have guessed that myself.
Sixteen rectangular fields were quickly drawn upon the earth by mages and our names were announced straight away. Sadly, I wasn’t in the first group, but that did allow me to watch the others a little.
What could I say …
They were mediocre? Definitely better than the broad majority but in comparison to me or the maze guy … they were bad.
And thus, it was no wonder that I didn’t feel any pressure as I stepped into an arena myself and faced someone with a board sword on his shoulders.
“You may begin.” A medic to my side announced and the guy stormed towards me. He was already preparing to slash sideways before he was even close to me, which made it painfully easy to track his movements. Additionally, he was so slow. Drawing my black katana in the last second, I struck his sword and cleanly cut through it at the hilt, barely countering the force I felt from the katana itself which would lead to me striking his hand.
The rest of the sword flew past me quickly and slammed into the ground a few metres behind me while I seethed my own weapon once more.
“The winner by disarmament is Schwarz.” Yeah … that was surprisingly easy. After shaking the hand of my opponent, I quickly returned to my place and waited for my next round which ended as quickly as before. In fact, none of the rounds until the finale were that difficult. Sure, they did show off their move, but it felt as if I was fighting against a toddler. Just like I was beating the previous best fighter at the academy, I could easily beat these guys just because of the shred difference in levels.
But I knew for sure that the last round wouldn’t end so quickly. I could feel how he was much more experienced than I was as the adventurers stood in front of me steadily. Directly, I drew my weapon before the round started and faced him for real.
“With or without magic?” The adventurer asked warily after the medic announced the start of the fight.
“You choose.” I said, slowly walking towards him.
“Quicksand.” He said, turning the ground beneath me into a dangerous trap right away.
“World of darkness.” Shadows exploded out of my body, covering the whole ring in an impenetrable darkness. I kept an eye on him the whole time, especially as he smashed the maze onto the ground. At first, I couldn’t feel anything until the earth beneath me rumbled and a column of earth pushed itself against me, freeing me from the trap, but also flinging me into the air. Even worse, he seemed to track me with his finger the whole time as if my magic didn’t do anything.
“Wind cutter.” I said slashing in his direction, sending a wave of dangerously sharp wind in his direction. He blocked with his maze, but was pushed backwards by quite a bit which made me grin a little.
“Earth spears.” Spears grew out of the air, all targeting me while I was still sailing through the air.
“Wind cutter.” But once more, I slashed at him from afar and slightly altered my course with this attack as well. From the distance, I could see how he was pushed back even further and made attempts distance himself from the edge of the ring, but my next attack hid right away. Once more, I attacked him in the air until I needed to focus on myself as I was dangerously close to the spears at this point.
Slashing at the first one, I managed to break it apart easily, but another two quickly took its place. Twisting my body mid air, I dodged most of them, but not all. A single one bore into my left shoulder deeply, hurting me immensely. Grunting loudly, I slashed the spear apart and finally fell onto the ground. Struggling to stand up, I faced my enemy once more and made myself ready, part of the spear still in my shoulder.
“The winner is Schwarz.” The medic shouted before any of us could attack each other again. Then, the adventurer looked down towards his feet and smiled wryly as he noticed he was out of the ring. In the meantime, the medic ran over towards me and looked at the earth spear in horror.
“I … I can’t heal that anymore.” She muttered while I looked at the wound in worry as well.
“I can!” Thankfully, Sofie wasn’t too far away and rushed towards me at top speed. Laying her hands on the earth spear, she yanked it out brutally and directly laid her hand on the wound. I could physically feel the wound healing at top speed, closing up rapidly under her palm without any chant. Stunned, I looked at her while she was highly concentrated.
“Thank you.” I said a bit charmed by her actions and shook my head to shake off these feelings right away.
“That was a good fight kiddo.” My opponent said and gave me a hand to help me up.
“You would have won.” I muttered a bit bummed out. I had won this fight, but only because of the size limitations of the ring and nothing more.
“I’m not so sure … if you had gotten close I would be done for.” He admitted and lifted up my right arm while thunderous applause resounded through the coliseum for a few minutes.
“It does seem two of our heroes have been chosen already. But we still have two to select which is why the hundred mages who had managed to make most laps in the meantime will enter shortly.” The saint explained while looking at me and Sofie with a gentle smile on her lips which made my heart jump a little.
“She surely looks like the Lucy we know.” I commented staring at the saint intensely.
“She sure does.” Sofie sighed a little, and then walked towards the tunnel in front of us.
“Hey, what are you? A dark night or what?” My sword was drawn faster than the man who spoke this words could react. My hungry sword thirsted for battle, eager to press itself into the neck of the person I was targeting but I stopped right before it.
“No. I’m not.” I wasn’t exactly familiar with this magical sword, but it seemed to have some resemblance of a consciousness that was hungry for fighting. Seething the sword in a hurry, I stared at the men and few women who looked back at me wide eyes and fled the scene as fast as I could.
Dressed in my pitch black clothing, I could very well go through as a dark night, but I didn’t want to do evil. I had an unborn child and I desperately wanted to be a good father for it. A role model he or she could look up to even though I knew I fucked up a few things.
I definitely shouldn’t have slept with Chloe, even though I loved her so much. It just … happened without me thinking over it too deeply.
And now she was gone … consoling me with the fact that she couldn’t bear being pregnant in danger and that we would marry for sure afterwards. But truth to be told, I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to marry her.
I loved Lucy more than her by a little bit and thought of it as fair that she would be my first wife. She was responsible for a bit of my progress after all.
“You may enter now.” A guard at the entrance of the coliseum said and thus, the weaklings and I entered the round arena right away. Instantly, I looked up to the saint who sat in her lodge and looked down upon us with a beautiful smile on her lips. Luna had been indeed right to claim that she looked similar to the Lucy I knew, but she would never wear a shoulderless dress so openly. She was far too modest for that.
Standing up, the saint let her gaze wander through the hundred contestants and stood up elegantly.
“Welcome, my brave warriors who have made it to this point. You, whose strength has been recognised, will be the backbone of the incursion into demon territory.” And just like I thought, the voice I heard now was exactly the one I had in my head time and time again. “And therefore, I need you. Every single one. You are all invited to accompany me in two weeks. But before that, we need to select those who will stand at the very forefront. Warriors, please turn to your left where you will find a few solid blocks of iron. The 64 with the deepest mark on it will advance to the next round.” The saint explained slowly with her voice amplified by several folds. Looking over to one of sixteen blocks, I didn’t hesitate long and strolled over to one as the first person to do so.
Drawing my katana, I held it in both hands and slashed vertically with all I had. Effortlessly, the blade cut through the iron and bisected its upper portion immediately, surprising myself and the audience alike.
Even though I couldn’t feel any eagerness in the sword at all as it didn’t pull me along like before, it certainly showed its worth nonetheless.
“Well, it seems we are off to a very strong start. But fear not, you only have to be among the best 68 in this test.” The saint said while applauding my feat. Shortly afterwards, the audience followed suit and I put a fist into the air, strangely happy about their approval. And then, I walked to the side and watched the others.
Some were able to make a dent into the block, some could cut into it halfway and others couldn’t even do anything to it. But there was one other than me who stood out. He swung his maze at the block and sent the upper portion flying straight away.
Then, he strolled over to me and sat beside me in the dirt.
“Not too bad kiddo. Have we seen each other before?” He asked in a hoarse voice which did tell me he smoked a bit too much. I certainly did know him.
“My name is Schwarz. I had been an adventurer, so you may have seen me once or twice.”
“Ahh. One of us is here. Sadly the other S class adventurers all didn’t have the guts to come with us.”
“… because they know very well how dangerous it will be.” I replied a bit bummed out. That so few good adventures were around honestly meant that they all deemed it too risky to join in. And they should have the most experience regarding demons so …
“See? They don’t have the guts.” He said and stood up using his mace. “See you in the finals.”
And with this, he left before I could ask him what finals he was talking about. Well, that was soon answered as we gathered once more in front of the saint and she announced how the best of us would be selected … by a tournament. With 64 participants, I could have guessed that myself.
Sixteen rectangular fields were quickly drawn upon the earth by mages and our names were announced straight away. Sadly, I wasn’t in the first group, but that did allow me to watch the others a little.
What could I say …
They were mediocre? Definitely better than the broad majority but in comparison to me or the maze guy … they were bad.
And thus, it was no wonder that I didn’t feel any pressure as I stepped into an arena myself and faced someone with a board sword on his shoulders.
“You may begin.” A medic to my side announced and the guy stormed towards me. He was already preparing to slash sideways before he was even close to me, which made it painfully easy to track his movements. Additionally, he was so slow. Drawing my black katana in the last second, I struck his sword and cleanly cut through it at the hilt, barely countering the force I felt from the katana itself which would lead to me striking his hand.
The rest of the sword flew past me quickly and slammed into the ground a few metres behind me while I seethed my own weapon once more.
“The winner by disarmament is Schwarz.” Yeah … that was surprisingly easy. After shaking the hand of my opponent, I quickly returned to my place and waited for my next round which ended as quickly as before. In fact, none of the rounds until the finale were that difficult. Sure, they did show off their move, but it felt as if I was fighting against a toddler. Just like I was beating the previous best fighter at the academy, I could easily beat these guys just because of the shred difference in levels.
But I knew for sure that the last round wouldn’t end so quickly. I could feel how he was much more experienced than I was as the adventurers stood in front of me steadily. Directly, I drew my weapon before the round started and faced him for real.
“With or without magic?” The adventurer asked warily after the medic announced the start of the fight.
“You choose.” I said, slowly walking towards him.
“Quicksand.” He said, turning the ground beneath me into a dangerous trap right away.
“World of darkness.” Shadows exploded out of my body, covering the whole ring in an impenetrable darkness. I kept an eye on him the whole time, especially as he smashed the maze onto the ground. At first, I couldn’t feel anything until the earth beneath me rumbled and a column of earth pushed itself against me, freeing me from the trap, but also flinging me into the air. Even worse, he seemed to track me with his finger the whole time as if my magic didn’t do anything.
“Wind cutter.” I said slashing in his direction, sending a wave of dangerously sharp wind in his direction. He blocked with his maze, but was pushed backwards by quite a bit which made me grin a little.
“Earth spears.” Spears grew out of the air, all targeting me while I was still sailing through the air.
“Wind cutter.” But once more, I slashed at him from afar and slightly altered my course with this attack as well. From the distance, I could see how he was pushed back even further and made attempts distance himself from the edge of the ring, but my next attack hid right away. Once more, I attacked him in the air until I needed to focus on myself as I was dangerously close to the spears at this point.
Slashing at the first one, I managed to break it apart easily, but another two quickly took its place. Twisting my body mid air, I dodged most of them, but not all. A single one bore into my left shoulder deeply, hurting me immensely. Grunting loudly, I slashed the spear apart and finally fell onto the ground. Struggling to stand up, I faced my enemy once more and made myself ready, part of the spear still in my shoulder.
“The winner is Schwarz.” The medic shouted before any of us could attack each other again. Then, the adventurer looked down towards his feet and smiled wryly as he noticed he was out of the ring. In the meantime, the medic ran over towards me and looked at the earth spear in horror.
“I … I can’t heal that anymore.” She muttered while I looked at the wound in worry as well.
“I can!” Thankfully, Sofie wasn’t too far away and rushed towards me at top speed. Laying her hands on the earth spear, she yanked it out brutally and directly laid her hand on the wound. I could physically feel the wound healing at top speed, closing up rapidly under her palm without any chant. Stunned, I looked at her while she was highly concentrated.
“Thank you.” I said a bit charmed by her actions and shook my head to shake off these feelings right away.
“That was a good fight kiddo.” My opponent said and gave me a hand to help me up.
“You would have won.” I muttered a bit bummed out. I had won this fight, but only because of the size limitations of the ring and nothing more.
“I’m not so sure … if you had gotten close I would be done for.” He admitted and lifted up my right arm while thunderous applause resounded through the coliseum for a few minutes.
“It does seem two of our heroes have been chosen already. But we still have two to select which is why the hundred mages who had managed to make most laps in the meantime will enter shortly.” The saint explained while looking at me and Sofie with a gentle smile on her lips which made my heart jump a little.
“She surely looks like the Lucy we know.” I commented staring at the saint intensely.
“She sure does.” Sofie sighed a little, and then walked towards the tunnel in front of us.
