Wails of pain and clouds of smoke rose into the air as the flames from the great explosion subsided. The quiet wide area in the underground channels had become very loud in an instant but quietened again.

A cloud of smoke veiled everyone in the area to a point where no one could see another.

‘Fuck! What is this!’ the slim bearded man who had been posing as the waiter for the cafe screamed in his mind as he looked around. He closed his eyes and focused on the presences around him. A map of the place formed in his mind as the figures around became clearer with each passing second. From the sculpture to the people, he could roughly make out everything around him.

‘THIS! SHIT! Sugar and Spice betrayed us!’

The waiter could feel his skin furrowing as his face scrunched into a deep frown. After feeling around some more, he could sense a woman to his east, another tall man to his south... and a fallen buff guy on the ground near him!

“Fuck!” he screamed as he ran towards the body. “Cheese!”

The waiter was about to get down next to Cheese when a glint of light approached from his north. The waiter clicked his tongue and jumped backward.

“[Form: Step!]” The waiter crossed his fingers and a translucent blue platform appeared in thin air. “Ketchup! Salt! Sugar and Spice have betrayed us. In the north!!”

‘A smokescreen for them is also a smokescreen for us. Those guys picked a fight with the wrong person!’ the waiter, who had the ability to scan his surroundings, was fully confident in his ability to fight and even lead a battle with compromised visibility.

-Shwing!

The sound of something cutting through the air faintly rang out.

“Heads.”

A firm voice resounded in the air.

“Wind spirits, should we have some fun? [Sprit Magic: Tempest]”

The waiter’s eyes widened as the mana in the room all tremored at once. He cursed in his head and went further up into the air as fast as he could.

A soft breeze passed through within the cloud of smoke, moving around like a small wasp as it pushed a line through the smoke. Then the air trembled. The very sound of the wind buzzed in everyone’s ears like a swarm of buzzing bees. Strong gales coursed through the stale underground room, the gales turned into gusts as they started striking against the skins of the people in the room.

The intensity of the wind kept rising until a tempest itself had fallen on the place! All the smoke in the room cleared away and strong layers of wind danced around the room.

Locks of long brown hair alongside the sides of a mahogany coat fluttered in the air. With a green glow covering one hand and a coin in the other, the Otherworlder stood in the center of the chaos.

“T-there he is!” Ketchup, the other woman in the group, faintly muttered while pointing at the Otherworlder.

Slightly pushed back by the winds, Salt firmly planted his feet on the ground and stood up, glaring at the Otherworlder. Just as the intensity of the winds dwindled, a loud shout came from above.

“Get him, now!”

Salt and Ketchup lept into the air and towards the Otherworlder.

“We’ll kill you, bastard!”

“Take this!”

Ethereal red claws appeared all around ketchup while dozens of knives circled around Salt as they rushed towards the Otherworlder. They were approaching closer at great speeds, but the Otherworlder didn’t even flinch.

Before they could come close, a wall of fire circled them and blocked their path. Salt and Ketchup jumped back to avoid the wall of flames. Standing behind the fire with a wide smirk was Vera.

“Haha!” Vera laughed. “You are going all out, huh?”

“Yeah,” the Otherworlder replied, the green glow in his hand going away with each second. He turned his gaze upward to see the waiter standing on a platform in thin air. “That bastard is mine.”

“Hah! Sure, just don’t kill him, ok?” Leaving those words, Vera waved her hand and rushed toward the other two.

“You! Who do you think you are taking on, huh? I am Racques of the Poison!” The waiter, Racques, lept down from the platform headfirst and rushed towards the Otherworlder. He created many others behind his legs and kicked off of them to continuously increase his momentum.

The Otherworlder scoffed and flicked up the coin in his hand. Taking a lower stance, he kept his eyes firmly towards Racques.

“[Poison Magic: Seven Orbs of Naraka]!”

Seven orbs of seething poison wiggled and formed around Racques. It seemed as if the very air was melting from the poison as Racques charged down towards the Otherworlder.

With the coin still floating above his head, the Otherworlder gathered the mana inside his body at his hand again. Strings of pure white mana flowed out from his palm and formed a circle in the air. Intricate markings filled the circle at rapid speeds as the concentration of mana grew denser and denser.

Though all kinds of magic could be performed by all kinds of people, everyone had certain aptitudes or talents that they excelled in. For Vera, it was her fire magic, for Racques, his poison, and for the Otherworlder. Though not as talented as one would expect, his aptitude was with the most destructive of all elements.

“Such a pathetic attempt! You think you can take my poison on with that?!”

Racques was approaching closer than ever. The Otherworlder could almost feel the potent poison from the air around him, yet he continued his spell without sparing him a glance.

Just then, the coin came back down and landed right on the Otherworlder’s free hand. Racques’ attention was momentarily seized by the coin as he saw the Otherworlder clutch it tight.

Racques was right above him! He pushed his arms forward to send his orbs after the Otherworlder. As if not even noticing it, the Otherworlder stretched his arm out, a magic circle now vividly floating against it. Racques followed the Otherworlder’s hands as they raised from the ground and stopped before reaching him.

A sense of dread overtook Racques as his eyes widened.

“[Light Magic: Ray of the End]”