A lifeless mansion stood amidst the seamless plains surrounded by a stone fence. The nature within the small territory was dead, branches seemed to have been left with nothing but roots and sticks.

Within the mansion resided a small child, silky pitch black hair, fair white skin and a small black Lolita dress.

She wandered down the silent hallway, her hair fluttered by the wind escaping through a open source of wind.

Despite the harsh temperatures, she was unfazed by the sheer cold.

She reached to the window, and closed it. Her small hands pressed against the humid glass, however it did not leave as much as a stain.

‘It seems another one is coming…’

Her eyes followed the shape of a human being setting foot beyond the gates. Wearing iron armor, and a sword hanging from its waist, it strode across the dead plains.

‘How many has it been this week? Five? Seven? Or maybe even in a ten?’, she asked herself, but knowing the answer already she left the windows side.

Her transparent delicate fingers touched the wooden walls, dust did not accumulate on the tip of her fingers, on the contrary they seemed to pass through.

‘If this goes on, I might have to kill them at this rate.’

She stood a lengthy distance away from the door, awaiting her guest.

Creak

The door opened revealing a young man, the first thing that caught his gaze was the youth standing atop the stairs.

“So you’re the ghost.”, the adventurer spoke, in a low voice.

Silence filled the mansion for a second, when the ice was suddenly broken by a soft voice.

“And you’re the adventurer, who has been assigned to kill me?”, she said, her sharp gaze meeting his.

“Tch, it seems that you’re still sane, that makes things a bit harder.”

“Oh, We’re you expecting me to be like any other ghost? Wild, savage and most importantly thirsty for blood?”

“Yeah, that would’ve made things a lot easier, after all, when you’re acting out of pure rage and sorrow, it makes it easier for you to make mistakes.”

“…”

The girl didn’t respond, simply gazed into his eyes.

“Well, let’s not waste time anymore, shall we?”

Unsheathing his sword, he began chanting a spell, his body radiated in fiery red fire.

“You must be so convinced that you’ll be the one taking me down, like all others who tried and failed to do so.”, she said.

A large number of wind gusts began forming around her. The wind generated made her hair flutter in turmoil.

“A ‘Wind Ghost’, not bad aye?”, he appraised his opponent, he leaped forwards fearlessly ready to meet the projectiles head on.

“Care you not to guess what my race is, it feels disgusting hearing you mention me in a sentence.”, the gusts of wind shot out like bullets at rapid speed towards the adventurer.

He easily dodged them, maneuvering like the wind.

“It’s useless little girl.”, he commented, the little girls however didn’t change. “Don’t be so self-conceited.”

As the adventurer smiled confidently, thinking his enemy was cornered. His body suddenly received an impact from the side.

‘They didn’t dispel?!’

The gusts of wind did a u-turn and came back to its target for one final try. Eight of them landed successfully thus sending him back to where he came from.

His back slammed against the wall generating a small crater the size of a human body.

“Guh, now you’re really getting on my damn nerves.”, he muttered standing up again.

The small gusts of wind returned back to the small girl, and unveiled themselves turning into small spheres of light. 

“They weren’t spells?!”

Coming upon this realization, his face contorted in displeasure.

The small spheres of light began darkened revealing a small orb with gaps drawn in a specific manner glowing in a greenish light.

“Correct, it’s a magic item.”, she responded, even though he didn’t even question.

“What’s the point of telling me that?!”, he asked, his breadth heavy.

“Call it a professionals curtesy, after all…”, the girls blood red eyes flared in deep red.

“… you’ll be dying soon.”

The adventurer gripped his sword tightly, his face full of rage.

“Don’t you dare look down on me!”, he sprang up, and sprinted towards the ghost.

The spheres of light glowed once more and shot out towards him again.

“It won’t work twice on me!”

He used his still red glowing sword to parry the spheres of light, dodging them at the same time. 

The gusts of wind parried by his sword, broke down into fragments of metal and magic crystals.

“Not so cocky now!?”, full of confidence that his victory was assured. Fire assembled on the tip of his blade, swirling around the entirety of his blade coating it in fire.

“Like all others who have failed, you too will fall if not braver than most.”, she said closing her eyes.

“Finally accepted your fate?!”, he sneered cunningly, blood streaming down his head.

“———!”

Blood dripped down from his leg, and fell down to the ground.

His leg was missing, no everything else was gone as well.

“…w-what…. h-happened….?”, he questioned, feeling lightheaded due to the lack of blood circulating through his body.

He looked down on his body, no legs, no arms, and everything from his down chest to his waist was shredded by some mysterious object found stuck between his ribs.

“Disgusting, to think it’d get stuck inside of you.”, the girls pitying gaze was merciless, like looking at the lowest life form on earth.

She reached out her hand, and the small mysterious object forcefully left the ribs.

“AAAAARGHHH!!!”, the pain spread across the remains of his body, he screamed in pain.

The mysterious object rebuilt itself with the scattered fragments left behind by the gusts of wind, turning back into its rightful shape, the previously mentioned sphere of light.

“Has it finally reached you, that it is futile?”

“Shut up, you damn b*tch!”, he cursed, his eyes deliriously swarming inside his eye socket.

He desperately began to crawl back, like a bug who’s last all of its limbs. His body rolled down the stairs, and lied before the door.

‘Just a little bit!’, with what little hope remained, he crawled to the door, his body leaving a trail of blood and entrails behind, like a horror scene of a movie.

“It must be truly unfortunate that it is you of all those who came, to die.”, she said in a matter of fact tone. 

He didn’t spare to look back, as desperate as he was to escape he couldn’t help but to do everything in order to survive.

“I apologize, really. I did not mean it to end like this, but ‘they’ left me with no choice.”, she extended the palm of her hand, and began casting a spell.

“—!”

Without being able to even release a single breath, he died a silent death.

“I truly do need to apologize…”, the little girl, although her expression had not changed, a single tear ran down her face.

She shook her head, and opened the door to outside.

A soft wind carried her hair this time, along with a feeling of warmth.

She carried the dead adventurer outside, although he had been her enemy, she did not wish do disown the dead.

She picked up a shovel and dug a hole, and buried the adventurer within.

“May you rest in peace.”

As his soul returned to the sky’s or heavens above, the little girl offered a small prayer.

Although, she did not know why or how. She felt like it was something to be done…

…for what little memories remained within her, of her former self.

“……”

A small snowflake passed through her body, as well as many others began passing through as well.

“It seems, it began snowing once again.”

 

 

 

“”Big Brother, where are we going?””, Lara and Luna asked simultaneously, their voices synchronized perfectly.

“We’re going to have lunch.”, I responded.

“Aren’t you a ghost though?”

“You don’t need to eat as a ghost.”

The two of them came up with sound arguments, which I answered with a quite unexpected sentence.

“I want to eat, because I like to eat.”

The Lara seemed to still be confused by my answer, while Luna nodded in agreement. 

“And I bet the others haven’t had lunch yet.”, I said looking towards Athena who was holding her stomach, her cheeks slightly reddened by the sound it made a couple of seconds.

Alice averted her gaze, trying to deny that her liver was in need of sustenance. 

“I’d like to eat with master!”, Azure said with a big smile on her face, the smile was either enough to sort of annoy me or warm my heart.

“I am indeed in the need of somethin’ to liven up my stomach, so I’ll take up on your offer.”, Willow said patting his belly full of pride of a dwarf.

“See, the lunch is the most important meal of the day.”

“Isn’t it breakfast?”, Athena interjected.

“I know what I said.”

Everyone decided to stay in silence, knowing that I wouldn’t change my mind as we reached a certain location.

“Oh, we’ve been here before haven’t we?”, Alice remembered that certain café nearby, where we went to take a rest during the tournament.

“Yup, this place had some really good food.”, I reminded myself of that peculiar dessert I ate, simply delicious.

As my mouth began to drool over the fantasies, I spotted a certain figure in the distance.

“Oh, hey Gray.”, I greeted my once been party member and leader, we both once went on a adventure temporarily together with his party.

“….”, he didn’t even spare as much as a look, his eyes were gazing the floor, and his eyes did not seem to budge.

“Oh, hey Shiro….”, he finally noticed me, the sides of his eyes were a little red from something, and his mouth was dropped down showing clear sadness.

“What happened?”, I asked hesitantly. 

He slowly turned his head to look at me, and flashed a smile.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that I lost all my money on gambling, my party members don’t even talk to me anymore, and my last hope of regaining everything I lost slipped by my hands. It’s nothing really, it is just MY LIFE GOING DOWN HILL!!!”

His eyes were wide open, I could tell he hadn’t slept in weeks, for unknown reasons.

“Ah, well. I guess that is that. What about you Shiro? How is it going for—“

Before he finished his sentence, he caught a glimpse of the people behind me.

“Hey, Shiro?”

“Yes?”

“Who are those high caliber woman behind you?”

“They’re part of my party, sort of.”

“….”

“….”

“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!”

He suddenly jumped on top of me, his eyes wide open, and tears streaming down nonstop.

“HOW DARE YOU?!?! I THOUGHT WE WERE VIRGIN BROTHERS?! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!?!?!”

“Hey, calm down. You’ll create a lot of misunderstandings, and it’s not like that.”

However my resisting was a useless against this envious idiot, his eyes showed both a mix of rage, sadness and jealousy.

“GODDAMN YOU, I EVEN THOUGH I HELPED YOU WIN THE SECOND ROUND YOU DIDN’T EVEN REPAY ME, AND NOW WHILE I WAS STRUGGLING JUSG TO GET BY, YOU WERE FOOLING AROUND WITH THOSE PRETTY GIRLS WEREN’T YOU?! I BET YOU STARTED OFF WITH THE SILVER HAIRED ONE!!!”

Athena blushed slightly, as if his remark hit spot on, even though it wasn’t true.

‘Athena you’re not helping!’

“I did no such thing, and all I did was thank you since that was the least I could do, you did the struggling thing yourself.”

As he began becoming even more physical, he suddenly unhanded me, and crawled into a ball.

“Uhhh…. My life is officially over, my only hope now is to get the Excalibur, it is my only hope!”, he now began crying hysterically.

‘How much faith is he putting on a sword?’, I began questioning his sanity, but refrained from speaking out loud.

“Hey, Gray what about this? I’ll treat you to a meal, okay?”

“You think you can make amends with some cheap beer and a meal?”

“…”

“Because you can!”

“…?”

‘Whatever floats your boat at this point’

 

 

 

We sat down on around a table everyone in their desired places. 

I introduced some Athena, Azure, Alice and the twins along side Willow to Gray, leaving as little detail, yet as truthful as possible to him.

“… I’m still jealous though…”, he whispered in a low voice, only audible to me.

We ordered food, and right at the moment it arrived Gray started devouring his food like a starving animal at deaths door.

“So, how are you going to get the money back? Or rather what are you going to do?”, I asked him, he stuffed his mouth full of bacon and rice to the brim.

He quickly gulped down his food, and drank a coop to help the food follow down his canals.

“Well, I was thinking about heading straight to the capital.”, he answered, his cheeks flushed red already drunk from the alcohol. 

“And?”, I felt like there was more to the story.

“Unfortunately, I may have forgotten about my party, and as the party leader I have to think about what everyone wants. So…”

“… they said they wanted to take a small brake at a beach.”

“Are they sane? Even I can tell it’s almost winter by the weather.”, I told him, but he shook his head in disagreement. 

“The beach they want to go to, is surrounded by a mana zone.”, he responded, and so the realization hit me.

Mana Zones are zones where a lot of mana is generated, and become influential enough to change its surrounding atmosphere to the ‘Attribute’ manas alignment.

Alice and I explored such a place before, I could actually feel the air sort of cold due to it being made out of mana.

“So it’s filled with ‘Fire’ attribute mana is it?”

He nodded in agreement while taking another bite from his food. “Yes, over there is summer all year around, only during winter there’s a chance it’ll rain, but until then it’s mostly normal temperature and sunny.”

“Master, that sounds like a lot of fun! Could we go there?!”, Azure seemed to have piqued an interest in our conversation, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“Hmm…”

It may not be a bad idea, if we went to the beach the twins could liven up a little and bond with the others.

We would need to buy swimsuits and make a small journey over there, and we wouldn’t use as much money as before however….

I don’t like the beach.

“I don’t know about that…”, answered her question with a vague answer, my voice sounded sort of hoarse to try and make it look convincing.

“Come on master, it might be a lot of fun!”, she insisted. 

‘Maybe a lot of fun for you, but not to me.’

“Come on!”, Azure begged even further, this attitude of hers made me want to die last time. 

“It might not be a bad idea, you could come with us.”, Gray suggested. “We—, I mean ‘they’ already paid a carriage ride, and we still have some space left.”

“See, master! Even the mister agrees, so pretty please!”, Azure persisted, I sighed and looked at the others.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t mind, it might be good way to spend time instead of drinkin’ all day.”, Willow answered.

“If master wants to go, I don’t mind going too.”, Athena didn’t really respond, but I’ll take it as a yes. 

“Uhm… I guess I don’t mind.”, Alice responded in a low voice, averting eye contact, her cheeks blushing slightly which I had not idea what it was about.

“”If Big Brother is going, we’ll go too.””, the twins answered, not really knowing what a beach is in the first place, made it difficult to choose.

“You heard them, I guess we’ll be going then. Sigh”, Gray smiled, it seems like his mood lightened a little which made me happy.

“Oh, look at who it is!”, a voice screamed out to me.

I recognized the user of the voice, as I turned around to meet face to face with ‘him’.

“‘Berserker’.”, there was no way I could mistake that annoying voice, his gallant smile annoyed me to death, since my first impression of him was not a pleasant one.

“To think I’d meet you here, quite a small world isn’t it.”, he addressed me as casually as ever, as if we were friends.

“Hey! I still haven’t forgotten about you! Because of you we almost lost!”, Gray complained, he looked at him in the eyes.

“Uhm, who are you?”

“HOW DARE YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO EVEN FORGET ME!!??”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m not good at remembering people who didn’t make an impression on me, sorry about that.”, he apologized politely, which seemed impossible considering his way of acting.

“So what did you come here for?”, I asked him, as he scratched his head. 

“I wanted apologize.”

I sat there dumbfounded by his words, he smiled as valiantly as always. “You see, I may not act like a ‘normal’ adventurer, but I could truly tell that you were fighting for something far greater than what I could imagine, or so I could tell by how you fought.”

‘But…’

“And so, I came here to apologize! Shiro, you have earned my respect.”

‘I don’t remember fighting you.’

Everything after I passed out was like a blur, I could barely even remember what happened inside that dream.

“O-o-okay, I thought you came here to say something like you wanted to fight again or something—“

“Hell no! You’re scary as all hell, I don’t ever wanna fight you again!”, he suddenly began hysterically begging for mercy.

‘What did I do?’

“Uh-hum, it’s not that I don’t want to fight you, it’s just that I am not ready yet for another match.”, he said in a apologetic tone.

“Anyways, I came here to say what I wanted. If you ever need help, search for me, kay’?”, he turned around to leave.

As he stepped away, he suddenly turned around as if he forgot to mention something.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself properly, my name is Arthur, pleased to meet you Shiro.”

So as he walked away, with his smile as bright as ever, and his determination at its highest.

‘I haven’t lost in a long time, next time. For sure, we’ll fight again, but not now. But then, when the time comes let’s have even more fun!’

He walked away, aiming towards his goal of seeking strength.

 

 

Name: Arthur

Race: Human

Age: 21 Years Old

Titles: 'Berserker'

Job History: Ordinary Person, Swordsman, Light Attribute Mage, Mage, Light Sword User, Earth Attribute Mage, Berserker, Berserk Swordsman,

Job: Berserk Mage

Job Level: 46

Passive Skills:

• Monstrous Strength: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
• Augmented Mana: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
• Status Effect Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
• Intuition: Level 5 
• Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 4 
• Chant Revocation: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
• Magic Resistance: Level 1 (NEW!)
• Murder Healing: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
• Agility Enlargement: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
• Mental Corruption: Level 1 (NEW!)

Active Skills:

• Radiant Sword Technique: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
• Detect Presence: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
• Dismantling: Level 5
• Light Attribute Magic: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
• Alchemy: Level 1
• Mana Control: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
• Surpass Limits: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
• Commanding: Level 4
• Earth Attribute Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Unique Skills:

• Berserk: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)