The army’s cheers began to die down. That is when my ears picked out a distinct scream.

“That was… Viridi!” I made a mad dash toward the castle, straining my ears to make out any other loud sounds. Soldiers dodged out of my way, voicing words of concern and confusion. Some were too slow to move out of my way and I shoved them aside.

Entering Pandemonium, I began to search the halls, looking for Viridi. I found her stumbling out of a room, eyes squeezed shut, feeling her way blindly through the doorway.

“Viridi! What happened?” I approached her with concern, looking her over for wounds and preparing a healing spell. Fortunately there were no visible wounds, but I released the healing spell at her anyway. She turned awkwardly and pointed to a specific spot in the room, shielding her already shut eyes as she did so.

“It is… So powerful… It took Sival!” tears began to fall from her face. I took her head in my arms and patted her head to comfort her as I looked at the spot in the room Viridi pointed at. The air was shimmering there slightly, still disturbed by whatever had been there.

“Stay outside the room, I’m going to investigate.” I told Viridi as I placed her against the wall. I didn’t want to risk her if something suddenly happened. She nodded that she understood, and I entered the room, closing the door behind me.

I heard footsteps outside almost as soon as I closed the door.

“Viridi? Are you ok, Nya? Where is Sival?” It was Hahnu. She had heard the scream too it seems. I’ll leave Viridi to explain the situation.

The room felt saturated with magical energy. I could tell just from walking into this room, whatever had taken Sival, was stronger than me.

“I might finally meet something stronger, huh?” As an extra precaution I opened a small dimensional space. It was a space I discovered I could create, albeit it was not very large. As an experimental method of enchanting items with properties, I tossed a weapon into that space along with as many random spells as I could come up with. It was a potluck, either the magics would infinitely rebound in that small space, destroy the weapon, or be absorbed by the weapon.

I reached into my dimensional space, to find the weapon was still intact, and pulled it out. It was a pair of claws that extended from the knuckles of a matching pair of gauntlets. It seems the experiment was successful one way or another. The claws seemed to exude a purplish miasma. I didn’t recall putting a spell like that into the dimensional space, so it is probably a fusion of some spells.

“Well, it might be better than nothing, or I may not need them yet.” I equip the gauntlets. I didn’t have chainmail, so they might chafe at the elbows, but I could just heal that. I felt like Wolverine with these things.

“Fuuuu…” I took a deep breath, and took a hesitant step towards the shimmering air. As if waiting for that step, the air abruptly fluctuated and the shimmer expanded swiftly, wrapping around my body faster than I could react. The scenery suddenly shifted from the luxurious room of the castle to a space.

The space had a solid white floor, no walls or ceiling, just an empty void. I knew that was just an illusion because this place is a larger version of the dimensional space I am able to create, and I am sure dimensional spaces are closed off.

In front of me was a creature with a disgusting appearance. An elaborate red and black robe was the only normal thing about it. It had deathly white skin, as though taken from a manikin. On it’s face was only an obnoxious looking grin, comparable to that of the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. It’s teeth were pointed and sharp. It was bald, with pointed elf-like ears. Next to it was an over-sized bird cage, where Sival lay unconscious.

“Welcome, Veloth!” The disgusting creature said, somehow grinning wider. “Ohhhh, that must be them then…” The figure commented, tapping his fingers together excitedly. What is he talking about?

“Bastard, release Sival.” Was my only response. My guard was up. I was ready to fire off any and every spell that can run through my mind. Just looking at this guy gave me the chills.

“Awww, is that any way to speak to an acquaintance? You are so cruel, Veloth.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never met you before.” I am absolutely confused. Is this guy just playing mind games to get me to drop my guard?

“No? I guess your soul doesn’t remember the reincarnation process too well. Although, that wasn’t our only interaction…” He knows about my reincarnation?

“Who the hell are you?” This guy was getting on my nerves.

“Quite the cliche question, no? What about this situation, pretty cliche right? The hero comes to rescue the damsel in distress. Just like all those heroes in those books, or in those anime. I’m the ‘Bowser’, and you’re the ‘Mario’... Bwahahaha! The princess is mine! How was my Bowser impression?” The guy just rambled on instead of answering my questions. His words really fucking irritated me. He was right about the cliches too. Somehow he knew also of characters from earth.

“I said who the fuck are you!?” I was starting to lose my cool. I was struggling to maintain composure to avoid any overly reckless maneuvers. I swear I could feel veins popping out.

“How does it feel to be the center of attention for once? To have a parent - albeit shortly? How does it feel to be pampered, respected, feared, and loved? Maybe you will even make a friend soon! Oh, how sad, to have everything you ever wanted, everything you never had before, but it all came from one little reincarnation cliche. You know, I said I would throw the cliches at you left and right, but that was a joke. I didn’t need to. You are an epicenter of your own hatred. Poetic.” He rambled on, again avoiding the question, but something he said rang a bell.

“You’re…”

“God of sacrifice! Zahramiik! At your every inconvenience!” He made a mocking bow, his grin growing even wider yet. That did it. Something inside me snapped.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!” I yelled, casting every strengthening spell I could think of on my body, dashing forward in an attempt to pierce the faceless fuck in front of me. As the claws of my right hand move forward to pierce him, they whistle from the shear speed of the strike, even going so far as to blur in my enhanced vision. The faceless god vanished, reappearing next to the birdcage. My heart dropped as I saw at the same time he had reappeared, his finger was pointed at Sival. At the end of his finger was a small ball of purple energy.

The ball fired off as a beam, creating a high pitched sound, and piercing through Sival’s sleeping form.

“That is how you perform a ‘Death Beam’, little Veloth.” He said, his ever-present grin growing impossibly wider yet.

“NO! FUCKING BASTARD! I WILL KILL YOU!” The last fragment of sanity I had left vanished. I Unleashed all my strength, all my mana, pushing it outwards… Not enough. Not enough to give this man a cruel death… MORE! I pushed more out, releasing any control I had over the mana. Vortexes of the variously colored mana swirled, frothed, and raged, until all last receding again into my body.

“Fuhahaha! You are far from being able to kill a god, little Veloth! Even with the prophesized Fangs of Fenrir, You will no more than flail helplessly! Oh, wait, you aren’t supposed to know about the super-cliche prophecy. Forget I said anything.” This bastard didn’t know when to stop. Must kill. Kill. KILL. KILL. KILL.

My thirst for his blood raged.