With every last ounce of force, I plunge the foot long purplish black blade into the monster's eyeless face.

You should have held down my arms, not my shoulders.

I suppose I should be grateful for you being an idiot.

Now suck on this, chalky!

I scream at the monster with overwhelming contempt in my mind.

It gets off of me. It attempts to create a gap between me but I didn't allow it.

I hold on to the blade as it starts flailing around, attempting to shake me off.

My wound throbs but letting go means certain death. I cling to the blade. Refusing to submit.

Don't ask me why but it doesn't try to pull me apart from it. It wasn't like it doesn't have opposable thumbs, it does. Yet, it does not try to pry me off of it. Really an idiot.

Although, not that the monster needs to pry me off. I am swung along with its struggle. I am waving in the air like a flag. I had to hand it to the monster, its physical strength is enormous.

After a few swings, my grip finally gives out. I let go of the blade and I am thrown into a wall.

Should I have said onto? Or unto? Into? That might not be right. Well, I didn't went through the wall. I was just slam against one.

Whether I went through the wall or not, it doesn't change the fact all my breath was knock out of me. Feeling all the air left my body, I gasp but of course, without air, no sound came out. As you would expect from being deprived of air, the world spun in my eyes. My ears are even ringing.

Still, I tried my best to keep my sight on the monster. I ignore my severe bleeding wound as I forced myself back on my feet.

I grimaced and groaned as I endured the pain.

The purplish black blade that was stuck in the monster's face, vanishes into thin air not long after I let go of it. Can't say I am entirely surprise. It is made from my magic after all. I have half expected it to disappear upon loosing physical contact with it.

What actually surprised me more is the fact that the monster survives a stab into its face. I'm pretty sure with the deepness of my stab, it would have reach the brain. Or does it have a brain in the first place? Or its brain is located somewhere other than its head?

The monster is gritting its teeth while making growling noises. Obvious signs of irritation or it could be enduring the pain. It screeches. I can tell that it's mad. It begins charging towards me.

What?

Oh.

Now that I think about it, my [Presence Detachment] was deactivated when the attempt of the back stab failed. I am now too late in putting it up again.

Since the blade was created from my magic, I think. So I try to create another one in a hurry.

When the monster is close enough, it lunges at me.

I wasn't able to create another blade. So, I dodge to the side. The monster went face first into the wall. I hear sounds of something cracked. It might be the wall or the monster, it might be both.

The monster recovers quickly, merely by shaking its head. The stab wound on its head remains, bleeding profusely. Not that it bothers him the slightest. I am a little bit calmed by the fact the damage I dealt remain instead of being recovered. Silver lining, I guess?

With only this short amount of time, I pour all my concentration and effort into manifesting another blade of purplish black energy.

The monster charges at me again but this time, I succeed. I manage to create another purplish black blade.

I bent my body to the back a little as I swing the blade in a wide arc. The blade catches one of the monster's arm, its right arm, and it cleanly slices of that off that arm.

My eyebrows arch, amaze at the fact at how easily the blade managed to cut off its hand. A clean cut. I barely felt any resistance as the blade separated its hand from its body.

The monster's lunge stopped when it realizes it's missing an arm. It screeches but its screech sounds weaker this time. Less energetic.

The monster's skin is impervious to damage or so I thought, considering how my blade easily cut its hand clean off. Maybe it's only impervious to physical damage?

Its screeches turned into snarls. It is drawing steps back, away from me. Is it trying to run away? I don't think so.

Few more steps back later, my doubts at it escape attempts are proven true. The monster picks up a corpse and flings it at me.

"Motherfucker!" I yell as the corpse grew in size towards me.

The corpse blocked my sight on the monster. I panicked. Instead of dodging to the sides, I sliced the corpse into half. Wrong move on my part. Fool. I scold myself when I realize it was too late.

After the corpse was sliced into half, I see the monster already in the air, diving at me. This time, its mouth bare open. Revealing its rows of teeth, sharp enough to be liken to fangs.

I can't move. I am not some super human who could stop my momentum mid-way and change the trajectory.

Fuck! Fuck! Is this it? Is this the end?

Was my grand retaliation a mere illusion?

If only I had a shield. I can block against its teeth if I had one. But I do not. There are shields and bucklers lying around none is within my reach.

Damn it. Is there nothing I could do?

[Spatial Magic: Plane Displacement - Acquired]

Oh?

The monster hits an invisible wall. A crack appear in the air. A crack in the space itself. The crack spreads into a web like a glass.

When I look closely, the invisible wall looks something like a distorted and blurred plate of glass.

Which ever god made this possible, I thank thee.

The monster quickly recovers from its accident and once again screeches, in pure anger this time. It swings its left over arm wildly at me. Of course, the shield seemingly made of space magic is in the way. It made cracks but the cracks reform back like nothing had happen.

The monster sees this and increase its strength and speed to its wild attack.

Perhaps it is the twelfth or thirteenth swing? It finally manages to break through the shield. The shield shatters completely into tiny shards like a glass. The shards then dissipate.

The situation now seems grim but I am more than prepare already.

With the purplish black blade in my hand, I swing it. This time, it cleanly cuts off its remaining left arm.

The monster neither screech nor snarl at me this time. Instead, it is just standing there, in bipedal, looking at me with its metaphorical eyes.

Our staring contest seem to last forever in my mind but in reality, it is just merely seconds.

My mouth slowly turns into smile of victorious. My eyes unintentionally begin to look at the monster like some sort of trash. I feel my face is grimacing at the sight of the monster. I have no mirror but I'm sure my face will not be looking sightly now. My hands gripping on the blade tremble again. Various reasons of emotion are mixed in.

My mouth opens slowly. My gaze focusing on the abomination in front of me, filling with a sort of determination. I give my all into this cry.

A battle cry.

I run towards the monster like it had charged towards me just now. The monster is stunned at my actions and reactions.

It is my turn to lunge at the monster. I thrust the blade into where hearts are suppose to be, the left chest.

We crash into the ground as I had put too much power into the thrust. Just like that, I ended up on top of the monster. I'll admit. That did sound wrong.

Anyways, not the point here.

Even if I can't see how deep the blade went, I can feel the blade popping its heart like a balloon. I had popped balloons before and this is exactly the same feeling.

However, I don't intend to stop with just that.

My emotion has completely taken over my body. Fear, anger, despair, desperation, humiliation, sorrow, all of those had grasp my heart.

With another loud cry, I tear the blade out from its chest, forcibly. I immediately plunge it back into the monster's chest again. I repeat the action once more. Twice more. Thrice more. What comes after thrice? I don't know. All I know is that I am repeating the same action again and again and again, all the while seemingly giving out cries of incomprehensible words.

When I stop, grotesque doesn't even begin to describe the current form of the monster's wound.

I stare at the motionless carcass of a former terrifying monster. I stare hard at it, devoid of any emotion. No, not devoid. It was more on the line of exhausted of all emotions. My world is spinning again.

Why is it spinning? There must be various reasons for it but when I look to my left shoulder, I understood. I was so engross with the monster going for my life that I forget to take notice of my wound. The wound that the monster had repeatedly took a chunk out of it.

Now that I seriously look closely at it, the wound is just as grotesque as the carcass in front of me.

"Huh....." I mutter in a low and energy-less voice.

My vision begins to cloud.

And I faint.

----------------

I once again awake to darkness but with a subtle difference this time. It isn't absolute darkness. Dim cyan light have found its way into the small yet vast room. Which explains why I am able to see the ceiling. Same materials as the floor, stone.

The first thing I did upon regaining my consciousness, I recollect my thoughts and memories.

Right, I fought with a near eight to ten feet tall abomination. A nightmare?

While still lying on the stone floor, I turn my head to my right.

Maybe I was already half expecting it for all those to be real instead, I'm neither scared nor surprised when I see the carcass of a monster right in front of my face. Although, the monster seems different than I remember. It looks dehydrated, similar to a completely dried up corpse. I guess this is what will happen to these monsters when they die.

"Damn it. It's real." I curse and unconsciously clenches my fist. I look back up at the ceiling.

My lips are shivering. My hands are trembling. My eyelids are fluttering. My stomach feels sick. All these are happening because I realize these aren't just nightmare or a bad dream. These are all reality. Unable to hold back any longer, tears begin overflowing from my eyes. I am crying. Something tells me that I haven't cried in a long time.

"Damn it. Damn it." I am uttering in the midst of my pathetic weeping. "Damn it! Damn it!" My voice gets louder as I wonder why did such thing happened to me.

I stayed that way for a considerable amount of time. Maybe an hour passed before I was able to calm down and stop my crying.

When I stop, I sit in a cross-legged fashion. Taking deep breaths, wiping my eyes, hugging myself, cupping my cheeks and then my face. I took these steps to calm myself down.

Finally, I'm able to regain my composure. Not all but enough to move.

Huh?

Something feels off.

When I realize what felt off, I look at my left shoulder. The wound is now gone. My clothes are tore apart by the monster's fangs. That is the evidence that I was attacked and wounded by the monsters. The wounds aren't just imaginary but now, they are gone. Even if they healed over time, there are no scars on the wound.

I wreck my brain up. I'm trying to find a possible explanation for it. Nothing came.

I sigh. Well, I can worry about that later. There are more important things that I have to worry about first.

I survey my surroundings. Now that I look properly, there are five corpses. Six if one takes the two halves into account. Four of them were human or at least they looked humanoid. The fifth one is a monster. The same monster that I have just killed. It is also in the same condition, completely dried up. One can say they withered.

Since there is now a little bit of light, I go and check on the corpses in the room. I discover quite a number of interesting and questionable stuffs.

I doubt I'm still on earth. Why? Four things.

First, the wardrobe choices for the corpses. They looked nothing like what I remembered about the people on earth would wear. Steel armor plates over leather clothing, leather boots, leather backpacks, swords instead of guns. One of them was even wearing robes with a hood. To be honest, it felt like a very imaginative and original cosplay. They have a feel of steampunk but also a feel of medieval fantasy. That was the vibe I get when I saw their clothes. A thought struck me and I looked at my own clothes. I didn't have plate armor like the corpses but I wore leather clothing similar to the three of them.

Secondly, their race. Two of them were human but not the other two. The other two had features that made me doubt their race as a human. One was a male and one was a female. The female was the one in robes. Black hair, black but dead eyes, normal skin tone, normal teeth, normal nose, the two looked normal in every way except for one part, their ears. They weren't grow on the sides, they grew on the head. Fox ears, I believe. They are fox ears. I checked their back. Sure enough, they have black tail similar to a fox's. They were demi-humans. Half human-half fox.

Third, the room I was in. It was old and musty. It was made of stones and in a fashion that one would expect from medieval times. Even the door was just woods and iron hinges. This room was some kind of a cell, a prison.

Forth and last, the fucking abomination of a monster. It looked nothing like a fantasy nor mythical creature. It looks like something that came out from a horror film. It didn't give out the fantasy feel but there was no way such monster resided on earth. Or such monsters did but they weren't found. Anyways, didn't changed the fact that such monsters existed. If anything, it only serves to validate my theory of being in an another world.

I have read and watched stuffs about this. The protagonist gets sent off into another world. Most of the time it started happily but there ar some exception where they were drop right into hell right off the bat. I always thought how bad could such thing be. Honestly, I felt romance from this sort of situation or at least I thought I would have.

Considering the near-death and horrifying experience I just had, I have mix feelings. I look down at my hands. Still trembling. Of course, why would it stop.

I looked to where I first awakened to. Seems to me, I have missed a backpack beside where I laid unconscious. The backpack has a sling. A shoulder sling. It has three or four compartments. One big, one medium, and two small pockets. I ruffle through the medium one first. I found stacks of papers. I guess it would be much more appropriate to call it documents. They seem to be reports. It is written in English. They might call English with a different name though if this is indeed a different world. Anyways, I'll read it later.

Next, I went for the two small pockets. It was small enough to only held a single item. One contained a pair of glass. Maybe its mine? When I was about to wear it, I realized it was cracked. I sighed and put it back into the pocket. The other small pocket contained a small vial of potion. I think it was a potion. It looked like one, if my experience with fiction could be counted on. The content was of a semi-transparent yellowish liquid. I popped the lid opened and gave it a few whiff. Smell like a sour taste. Since I didn't know what it does, I put it back into the pocket.

As I open the biggest compartment on the backpack, a foul stench hit my nose. I recoiled a little at the odor. Instead of reaching into the bag, I turned it upside down and shook out the contents. Various things went falling out of the bag.

It seems the stench came from an object wrapped in leaves with strings. Hesitantly, I unwrapped the object. An even fouler stench attack my nose. Although mold had covered the whole thing, I could tell that it was bread. I guess I was unconscious for quite an amount of time. I threw the whole thing to a corner of the room. No thanks, I don't want to constantly having to take a whiff of something so disgusting. Surprisingly, the carcass smelled less fouler than the bread. Maybe it was because the carcass were recent or they were carcass that doesn't smell. Not that I care about which is which. I was just grateful they didn't smell.

The next items were books. Okay, these will be useful. I put them aside and went to the next item. A dagger in a leather scabbard. Maybe a foot long or lesser. I drew the dagger. The blade seems clean and the least bit rusty nor dirty. Unused, was my guess. I set it aside where I put the books. The next items were a change of clothes and a cloak. Useful. I put it with the books and dagger.

The last item was a chest, a small chest. Slightly bigger than my hand. I opened the chest and found tools of sorts. They range from small knives to some sort of a chisel. They looked like archaeologist tools. They look used but cleaned. Someone had been taking care of these tools. Most likely me. Useful, I think. I'm sure I could come up with a use for it.

I patted the backpack in case I missed anything. I felt something. In fact, I did miss something. Two things, actually. They were in a compartment inside the big compartment.

A small box similar to a ring box and a book different of from other books. How different? This book had a hardcover with silver bindings. It seemed to be in a good shape in comparison with the other books in the backpack. There was an insignia or a crest of the cover. I traced my fingers on it. Seems like gold poured on it for it to take the shape of such insignia. The book even had a strap that made sure it stayed close. Now this only got me more curios about it.

Before I proceed to reading the strange book, my attention was shifted to the ring box. Before I opened it, I gave a shake. No sound but if it is indeed a ring box, it wouldn't have make a sound considering how to ring was embedded in its slot. With a strange sense of excitement, I opened it.

When I saw the content, a memory flash into my mind. A memory of a face. A face of a beautiful girl. Raven black hair, tied into a tail although not a ponytail but still, it looks good on her. Sharp and intense amber eyes that carries dignity. Thin lips that look palish pink and smooth. Her nose was a little bit sharp but not too much just the right amount. Her skin was neither pale nor dark, a skin tone on just the right scale.

Just a mere glimpse of her face in my memory, I have fallen in love with her. Rather, I recall the love I have for her.

Who is she? I asked myself. I couldn't seem to recall who she is but my heart beats for her.

Strange. Why did it beat for her? I don't even know her. Maybe I do. Maybe I just don't remember who she is. She could be someone important to me.

What trigger the memory? It was a ring. Yes, a ring.

It was precisely what I thought it was. It was actually indeed a ring box and a ring was inside it.

The ring itself was silver made. A small jewel was embedded. Amber, just like the eyes of the girl in my memory.

Somehow, remembering such stuff drained my energy. For a moment, I seemed to have lost my bearing and I almost fell on to my back. I supported myself in time but my hands pressed onto something. It didn't feel like stones. Besides, I hear a crack when I pressed on it.

I looked over and saw a mirror. Well, fragments of it. A shard, I would call it. I was sure as hell glad that I didn't cut my hand on it. I brought the shard to my face.

For the first time since I got here, in this dark room, I saw my own face. I may have forgotten how I looked like but I knew the face I was looking at , was not the face I had back on earth. I just somehow knew. But what bothered me the most wasn't the face that I didn't recognized but it was something that appeared on my face.

I might be on earth but on an uncharted territory. Then again, that might not be the case. Nevertheless, it was safe to say, I was not a normal human anymore.

Veins of purplish black covered the lower part of my face. The color was similar to the blade I have used to kill the monster.

My lips fluttering, my teeth chattering.

With a trembling and uncertain voice, I utter

"What the fuck?"