Marcel and his friends were enjoying their time as usual; exploring one world after another as they had been since realizing that the dungeons brought them not much profit except for money-filled beast carcasses and outlets for their pent-up frustrations.

It was supposed to be like any other day, but fate had other plans. They stepped onto the telecircle when Marcel accidentally fed it some magic power, which put the circle on the fritz. They did get teleported but, um… they ended up being way off course. They ended up in the one world normal witches, including Allan, absolutely despised: the world of the Ravencasters.

What’s a Ravencaster? Well, a ravencaster, also known as a Black Witch, is a unique type of witch who has enough magical power to make black holes on their own, without the help of others. Sure, Allan can do that too since meeting Marcel, but Allan was never normal, to begin with.

In the world of witches, it’s almost ubiquitous to find witch squads. Normal witches usually move in groups to supplement their lack of sufficient magic in casting spells that change their surroundings, destiny, fate, life, and death. The witch members of such groups spend almost their entire lives together, but… ravencasters aren’t at all the same.

Ravencasters move alone most of the time and… they do whatever they please! They’re the world of witches’ Dark Horse. They just friggin’ do whatever they want! To witches, they are the worst creatures to exist, despite being of the same species.

There’s also the fact that one ravencaster, or rather the greatest ravencaster of them all, turned their entire race of witches into superstars of the witch world by demonstrating her immense capabilities across multiple worlds. She was extraordinary in every way! Her name... was Niobe Vigil. Does that name right any bells?

If it doesn’t, that’s the name of a certain created summoned beast’s creator and first master. Basically, Niobe made her entire race proud and they, in turn, lived up to her name, proving themselves worthy of having one such as her.

Ravencasters, to the rest of the witch world, are arrogant, conceited loners with the power to justify being alone. Basically, they’re jerks and nobody that isn’t them likes them.

And so, Marcel and his friends upon being told where they were by Allan with a big frown on his face begin to explore the world since everybody, except for Allan, thinks that it might be fun to explore there. Also, ravencasters sound very interesting. Even Shalia, who’s an elven witch by blood, thinks is a good idea, so everyone follows her instead of Allan when it came to just this. Allan just seems generally prejudiced towards this place, something that Shalia isn’t. Seeing his squirm while they explore will be fun!

Allan knew why he didn’t want to play around in this world, unlike the other fools who came with him. Even Kenny who was usually by his side dumped him to join the others on their exploration of the new world they’d found themselves in. That traitor!

Allan, upon seeing that he had no way to change their minds, ended up following them anyway. Hey, he’s also susceptible to feelings like being left out.

They began exploring the world. The girls, as usual, especially Shalia, ended up going on a shopping spree. The guys, Marcel, Kenny, and the thunderbeast brothers, went to find new equipment that they may or may not have to use in the future.

Even Allan who thought otherwise had begun having fun in this world. There was a whole new assortment of ingredients that he needed but never managed to find all around the city they’d arrived in. He was just window-shopping, then entered one of the shops to go buy what he needed, for like the hundredth time.

Entering the shop, he procured all the ingredients he needed except for just one; Burning Flame Wood, a rare treasure most witches search long and hard across multiple worlds before acquiring. It’s acquired from a special that naturally drew fire spirits in its surroundings toward it. It has a wide range of purposes, from being easily flammable and one of the treasures that allowed easy succession when creating fire-type potions and artifacts to being a catalyst that allowed the summoning of fire spirits.

This wood was almost priceless, yet here it was, lying on the display counter, just waiting to be taken home by him. He decided to buy it no matter the price, but then someone pointed at the same thing as him.

This was the beginning of a very long day for Allan.

Allan told the person wanting the burning flame wood, same as him to kindly back off, but he just wouldn’t listen. He took a look at the boy to find a pint-sized child by his side. He looked about 10 in age and had dark hair.  

He laughed and said, “Oh? A child wants to get into a fight with me? How cute!” The child had this smile on his face that never wavered even after getting insulted.

 “Excuse me, but you must be a Blue Dove, am I right?” The kid said with the same smile on his face. Allan seems to know what the kid was getting at, and here’s where the unpleasant part that he didn’t want to experience began.

“Yes, and what’s that got to do with it?” Allan asked the kid. He was boiling with rage even though nothing had happened yet.

“Oh, nothing~! Just that I’m a distant relative to Blue Doves like you. Normally, I'd let you buy this ingredient, but I'm also in urgent need of them, so I don’t think I can today.” The kid said politely and then he dropped the crystals needed to pay for the ingredients. He then took the ingredients and left. Even the shopkeeper didn’t say anything even after seeing what the kid had done that. He just bowed to the kid as he left.

“Hey, shopkeeper! Aren’t you going to do anything? That kid cheated! Why did you still give it to him even though I was here first?” Allan was very angry as he complained to the shopkeeper.

“Yes, and I'm very sorry. But it was the right thing to do. Trust me! You don’t want to pick a fight with that kid. Didn’t you sense his aura, or are you just dumb? Just let that kid go and I'll give you two of the burning flame woods tomorrow. Come back then!” The shopkeeper after, having sold the last of most of his items and giving his opinion, began closing up shop.

Allan nodded, then left, but he wasn’t done with that kid. Not by a long shot! Looks like today was going to have to be the perfect day to pick a fight.

He hurriedly began tracing which route the kid had taken. If he was going to get two more burning flame wood, then why not secure himself one more? He was definitely not letting that rude kid’s attitude slide, so he had to resort to the one thing he absolutely despised: bullying. Allan planned to bully the kid into giving him his burning flame wood, that way, he’d have three instead of just two burning flame wood. He hated having to be so despicable, but it was just something that needed to be done. Burning flame wood was just that much more priceless, even if he knew where to easily acquire some next time.

Allan quickly found the boy enjoying his stroll across the streets. He just looked at the dark-haired boy with a smile plastered on his face and then… he couldn’t do it anymore. His plan to straight-up bully the kid into giving him his burning flame wood completely vanished from his brain.

But! He wasn’t giving up on the burning flame wood that kid possessed. Okay, this time, he was going to buy it from the kid no matter the price!

“Um, kid... Name your price for burning flame wood. I want it!” Allan tried sounding a little intimidating.

“Oh, so, you’ve resorted to try and bully me, have you? I knew this would happen! Can’t I just go and get my own items in peace without anyone trying to bully me?” The kid’s smile on his face seemed to vanish and his dark eyes grew darker. The moment Allan looked at the expression the kid harbored; he began to see why the shopkeeper tried to tell him to give up. He came to a realization that the kid before him… was someone very dangerous!

As Allan stared at the kid’s cold expression, he tried to predict what would happen next, but what happened next surprised him.

“Hm… How about a duel then? If you win, you get my burning flame wood and all the other items I bought from that shop we were just at. If you lose, you just walk away and maybe get laughed at by me every time we meet. How about it?!” The smile on the kid’s face had appeared once again and he sounded so innocent that even the last part of what he’d said sounded just as innocent as he appeared. It was scary!

“Fine, but will you be able to defeat me, kid?! Just so you know, I'm pretty powerful!” Allan bragged a bit in front of the kid and the next thing he knew, the kid was no more. A haze of darkness erupted from the boy and then, a man with long dark hair, fair skin, and a slim body stood where the child once did. His dark eyes seemed even darker than the child’s.

“Now, now! Did you think that it was going to be so easy? Let’s take this to the arena.” The child-turned-man said to Allan. He brimmed with the oppressing, darkness-tainted aura equal in volume to an A-class. The reason why the man had told him to stay away from the kid was even more solid now. He began thinking that challenging the kid might have been a bad idea. Looks like he’s met his match!