In the Imaginary Realm, the land of dreams and nightmares, of stories and myths, of lives and deaths… There was a small world that had been specifically created by a legend.

Perhaps in other worlds, he wouldn't even exist… but this man was the greatest of all.

Simon Rainglow.

"Mmm…" He was sitting on rubble like usual and contemplating with some company.

This time, he was thinking to himself alone in a dark corner. There was a discussion that needed to be had between him and several others. Those who lived in this dreamland.

Those who might not have existed in reality.

In front of the old geezer say a man wearing a barber's base on his head like it was a hat. A sane man wouldn't be wearing such a thing so proudly, but this was wasn't ashamed.

It was a shiny object, after all.

Thus, though worth nothing in gold, a crow would at least find value in this fashion choice. At least the shiny hat didn't clash with the Walmart piece of armour he put together.

Truly an insane individual.

Next but not too close to him was an African descent individual with spider tattoos covering his body. While Simon was deep in thought, this man tried coughing to wake him.

But to no avail.

"First time?" A blonde man wearing more exquisite armour and weapon asked him.

This blondie didn't seem to be bothered by how hard it was to get Simon to pay attention to them. After all, they were the ones who had agreed to the arrangement made by the man.

There were two others awaiting in the shadows and presided here. Awaiting the final conclusion to this meeting rather than making themselves active participants.

The man with the silver barber's base on his head was the first to step toward to talk:

"Thou maketh pact with many. Now the price shall be paid in full. Indulge thyself, but do not forget promises. Do not forget my name." A strong presence erupted out the old fossil.

This man looked even older than Simon. He had a long beard and thick white mustashe.

His breath smelt of alcohol.

"Calm down. I know what I've promised. You all game me this opportunity with your existence on the line. This is the least I can do for you… Alright, who wants to give him his first 'trial'?" These words were followed up faster than the others could react. There was one person here who needed an opportunity.

"…Are you sure about this?" Simon asked the bearded old 'knight'. He had a difficult ego.

Trials made by him wouldn't be easy.

"Thou wishes birth of heroism. Should thy child fail the trial presented, such a title will not be deserving. Let thy decide whence a better time." The old 'knight' asked Simon.

He could only agree.

"Then it's settled then. The first trial shall be encompassing the depths of delusion. To scour the hills of hypocrisy for the right answer." Simon raised his hand and saluted.

The old 'knight' stayed silent.

"He shall be more than a dreamer, nihilist, or delusional dog. That's what I owe you…"

After Simon said that, he spoke the name of the man who had only existed in fiction:

"…Don Quixote."

…..

….

…

..

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It's time to come right back around to the story of someone attempting to end this chaotic incident. Behind her was the loyal companion that would follow to the end.

The girl who held her two swords for justice.

They slated countless zombies to give them eternal rest. Been fighting the worst one.

Little Red Riding Hood.

A dusty figure walked through the rubble and overgrown plant life. This city was lost, but she wouldn't allow this to be the only answer for them. She would revive this broken city.

Expel all the Undead.

"Are you doing okay?" Bella asked Tia's current condition, as it wasn't looking good.

As they had planned, they found the potential Black Death candidate and tried to erase it.

They used the information gathered from their first bout. Using it as a reference to plan their method of attack and exactly how they'd take the enemy down as quick as possible.

The only thing they didn't account for… was the sudden increase in strength all of a sudden. That monster's attack pattern had changed so drastically that it was shocking.

'How did it evolve?' This wasn't such a common occurrence that Bella could stay calm about it. She was losing her mind out of stress piling up from the recent incidents.

This disaster. Lex's sacrifice, the sudden evolution of 'Little Red Riding Hood', and the injury her closest friend took in order to protect her. All of this weighed on her head.

She couldn't think of a solution so easily.

How did this happen?

The only thing she thought of was that there was someone making the current situation worse. They'd somehow managed to make the Dark Muse from earlier turn out different.

Initially, it was a mindless drone that could grow scythes out of its back to attack.

Both her and Tia were capable of handling her after using their transformation. They would've been able to pin it down with both firearms and blades. Cut off its limbs.

But the situation changed.

This monster has become smart and adaptive to their tactics. It didn't fall for shallow baits, trickery, or misdirection. The creature was able to elude their strategies.

Then came the second problem.

Originally, growing scythe limbs was a strong but predictable strategy that didn't require much effort to counter. Not only was it too simplistic, but scythes themselves were bad.

They were glorified farming tools that had no place in war. Being designed to cut crops; not people. The world found it cool thanks to the myth of Grim Reapers, but it was still lacking.

Even if she became human, no amount of mastery could overcome the scythe's design flaws. It lacked piercing and chopping capacities. The farming tool was made to cut while dragging the long pole attached back.

No matter how learned in combat you were, it was a handicap. On top of that, 'War Scythes' may exist… but they weren't the same blade design as the original. To the point that most were more aptly called a 'War Picks' instead.

The latter designed to pierce armour.

Even a regular sword or staff would be more useful. There was no benefits to a scythe.

This was what they had originally thought.

However, the Dark Muse showed the ability to bend and telekinetically manipulate the scythe around. This eliminated all flaws since bodily movement wasn't needed to wield it.

Little Red Riding Hood fought with her dog-like claws. She made them feel helpless.

The suddenness of her change had caught them off guard. Tia got injured because of the bad synergy. That flying scythe managed to get past her defences and nearly killed her.

All because Bella got so careless that she left an opportunity for a counterattack. If she hadn't covered for her, then Tia would've been fine. After all, she was the strongest.

"Tia…!" She shook the girl.

The sensational Gunner opened her eyes tiredly. Wanting to get some more rest.

 "I'm fine. Anyway… That isn't the problem right now." She spoke while holding her stomach. Using the standard military self-healing technique she was taught at school.

There wasn't a need to worry so much.

She might be injured, but she hadn't lost the ability to escape if things became too dangerous. There wasn't a reason to think too deeply. All 'students' had this level of self-preservation capability at the very least.

Maybe not everyone was at the level of healing others, but in a world where everyone was running from death… Well, there WOULD be solid advancements of such a technique.

After seeing that Tia was okay enough to keep herself safe, Bella decided to scout the area. There was an implosive suction of Death Force that had scared Little Red Riding Hood earlier. 'Something' had been created.

And it was highly likely an enemy.

Realistically, now was the time to withdraw until they could come up with a strategy, but the time wasn't giving enough leisure to them right now. They couldn't let the Muses be.

Should too many Black Death candidates show themselves, then those that failed to become the leading figure would instead become the most capable subordinates.

If it had just been created now, she should be able to deal with it even when fighting the enemy alone. If she couldn't handle it, then what was the point in any of her training?

There were few who could strive for excellence without conviction. Although she was only second to Tia right now, she had never stopped making an effort to syrpass her. Training with everything in her power.

And she was realistic enough to sharpen herself with Tia's help. Not simply swinging a sword alone or doing intensive training without tangible effects. She had cultivated herself with each step towards greatness.

Following an orthodox path.

Still, Bella was different from Tia in all aspects. She wasn't a born 'Warrior'. The talents she had couldn't be compared to the natural synergy Tia's Gift had with the Gunner Class. It couldn't bring her to new heights.

In fact, her Innate Gift: 'Hyper Flow', was more suited towards being a Fighter instead.

If she had chose that path for herself, she might have became able to reach a desirable level of strength. Maybe not the strongest ever, but certainly not weak among peers.

However, she chose to be a 'Warrior' instead.

The reason was naturally because even though training would be harder, the upper limit she could reach as a Warrior was higher than that of a Fighter. It wasn't a contest.

'Peak Constitution' could make her reach the limit of her physiology, but it couldn't allow one to break their limits. Moreover, she had to realistically admit that her body was… 'girly'.

If she had been born with more potential to grow muscles without steroids, then she would have believed in her potential as a Fighter to create a body of iron and steel.

Unbreakable even against swords.

However, fate had it that she was simply a better swordsman than she was a Fighter.

The second Stigmata Gift wasn't any better.

 'Riot Hysteria' was an allrounder buff that only kicked in when injured. It was a last resort, and Berserkers who used it as their main abilities had 'Blood Arts' to rely on.

She didn't have anything.

There was no way for her to become the best with her body alone. She needed a weapon.

Which was why her choice was being a Warrior. A common and simple path, but one that anyone could take to the highest peak so long as they stayed dedicated to the sword.

Bella sighed, she was thinking too much.

"Stay out of sight for a while and return to the school. I have some business elsewhere." It was with these words she left. Not giving the girl a chance to barrage her with questions.

She quickly got out of Tia's sight, then started to head towards the area she felt a change.

Tia was unaware of her true intent. After all, it was usually only Dark Muses who could sense the flow of Miasma. Humans that could do the same weren't to be regarded as normal. They definitely had a mutation.

Something that made them different.

Bella was going to be alone this moment forward. Having to fight with only her skills alone. No one would be able to cover for her like Tia did before. However, she wasn't scared of dying. Only failing her expectations.

She had so much of them weighing on her shoulders. If she didn't succeed, then it might be better to die. Better to rot away as a corpse than live a life being ashamed of herself.

Her search lead her to a certain empty store.

"What's this…?" Bella awkwardly murmured after seeing the interior. There was a strange crimson cocoon pulsating around with an ominous glow. She had no understanding of what this was. No way of knowing what it is.

The only thing that seemed to register was that this particular Dark Muse oozed… 'evil'.

She could sense the Resentment intertwined into the embryonic being. Unlike the twisted but backstory rich Dark Muses, this was practically glowing with malice towards life.

So clearly and purely that… it would become a menace to humanity should it survive.

She had to take initiative.

She drew her sword and got ready to stab the creature, but was interrupted by the sound coming from within the cocoon. It was a nail-shattering voice that was filled with insanity.

Sounding so joyful and pure…

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall~" A great pulse pushed her away with these words.

"Humpty Dumpty had a great faaaaallllll~" A long and stretched out voice singing the nursery rhyme accompanied cartoonish sound effects. The ugly and deformed cocoon bounced up as if jumping off a wall.

When it finally landed… CRASH!

The cocoon went splat onto the ground without showing whatever was inside of it.

'It died…?' This thought seemed too good to be true. That's what made it more certain…

…that this creature was definitely still alive!

She focused on the contents of the cocoon that spilled out. A kind of dark and filthy yolk came into view. It was the epitome of impure and rotten, but it didn't let out a bad smell.

In fact, it smelled more like pheromones of a human being. Sweat, not some egg yolk.

The nursery rhyme had continued:

"All the king's horses and all the king's men~"

Armour floated in the surface of the yolk monster. The Dark Muse as bad as Little Red.

The creature could barely keep its torn stable.

"Couldn't put me back together again." This time there was no jovial tune in the melodic voice. Eyes peeped out the yolk and looked directly at the strong individual in front of it.

An unordinary sword was lifted out of the black yolk that was covering his body. The man once known as Landan was no longer the same person. He was now a Muse.

The first 'Demonic Muse' at that.

Bella readied her blade. Things hadn't changed enough to alter her actions. All she was here for was taking this undead creature's help. The thing's birth didn't matter.

She readied her two Purple Steel blades.

'Hyper Flow…' There was no hesitation. She immediately readied herself as soon as the vital point of the enemy was certain. It still had a head and neck, so she just had to cut them.

The black slime-like monstrosity held its sword in a reverse grip. It was a stupid move.

Reverse Grips were only handy in action movies. In reality, it had no use whatsoever or benefit to the user. The thumb was what allowed a person to slice and cut with a forward grip, but the reverse did nothing.

The pinky had nothing to push the blade into tendons. No thumb or anything behind it. A reality couldn't be refuted. This meant that striking this way would lose cutting force and might even imbalance the grip immensely.

Causing the user to drop their weapon.

However, just as she was about to attack, her instincts suddenly screamed like an alarm.

She quickly lifted her blades.

BOOM!

There was a supersonic slash nearly shattered her two weapons exploding out of nowhere. A shallow cut appeared on her neck silently. The opponent looked unfazed.

'I had it wrong.' Bella inwardly retracted her mocking thoughts. 

He wasn't holding the large sword in a reverse grip. You needed hands to grasp a tool to do that. There needed to be a certain separation between the two entities.

However, this creature simply WAS the blade itself. There was no separation between the hand and sword handle. One could say that 'Humpty Dumpty' had the sword for a hand.

This wasn't going to be easy at all.