Her lungs took in the smell of greenery as two lights shined and the pair opened their eyes to a new world.

"Wow. . .how did they make this?" Maria looked around the area.

She stood upon soft emerald grass, surrounded by forestry as distant roars echoed in her ears. The sky was a cloudy white with sparse sunlight shining through to overhead leaves to highlight the world.

"This space? It was made by Merlin," Rain explained, "the greatest Space Magician to ever live. The orb the guild master held in his hand contains this world we're currently standing in. There's many like it and I believe your four family also owns one too, no? Some say they were created to hasten his disciple's growth."

He took a moment and turned his hand over, "Check your left wrist and flip your arm over."

Maria did as she was told. There was a black bracelet attached just below her left palm, it felt like an armband. Once flipped over, she saw a single, small, green orb embedded into it.

"That orb is your Marker. Try tapping it."

She tapped.

A split second later and a screen hovered over her wrist to show a map.

It was flat and circular, it was an island floating amidst an ocean. A green dot marked her to the south of the entirety of the place—located in a forest that took up what appeared to be half of the map, though, there was a section clouded with a dark mist. Following that, she noticed a green circle around the area her dot was at, she assumed it represented the so-called starting point.

To the left of the forest was a mountain range. At the forest's immediate front was a barren land that seemed to span 10% of the map. She noted to herself that going there was seeking to be a sitting duck. At the right of that land was a river that had cut through the forest and flowed into a city that appeared in ruin.

That was the map, she had no objective idea of how big it was.

Finally, she noticed the numbers at the top right corner of the square screen, hovering at 250 before falling to 249, evidently, someone had already lost. Then there was the single black dot of Black at the edge of the mountain range, likely representing the Hunted, Gushin Mao.

"This is pretty detailed," Maria marveled.

"That's the greatest space mage for you, half of this stuff isn't real."

"You sure know a lot about this place."

The boy shrugged, "My father is the lord of the city."

She nodded, "Right, we should get a move on then."

She looked at the map one last time before tapping the orb again, it flickered off.

"Which way?" He questioned, "What's the plan?"

"Let's move right," She didn't want to encounter Mao too soon, "see if we can kill demonic beasts on our way, who knows, we might get lucky, or run into another person—we need atleast 10 Markers between each of us, after all."

Though she said otherwise, she hoped they wouldn't find the Golden Beast, at least, not at the moment.

Rain nodded.

However, just as they decided to move, their Markers bleeped and the map projected itself before their face.

"?"

A red dot was hurriedly heading towards them.

"There!"

They clicked off the map and turned around.

The sizzling carcass of a beast, resembling a lump of charred wolf, smacked against the grassland of the forest and a person landed upon it.

"Well, of course it's not the Golden Beast, much too weak," A sigh rang as the individual turned off his map.

The first thing they noticed was his perfectly kept blonde hair that sleeked upon his head like a hedgehog. The man was tall, spotting an attire that reminded her of a suit.

His listless blue eyes glanced up to face the two.

"Oh, there you are, princess. This was faster than I thought."

"Do I know you?"

"No, but I suppose I should fight you two now."

They stared at each other then back at him.

[Name: Alex Morman

Strength: C+

Speed: B

Mana: A

Skills: Lightning Maker (S)

Overall: A]

[Lightning Maker: Able to summon and control lightning at will. Strength and quantity is based on the mana slate.

Auxiliary; Leave a mark on an individual and your lightning may chase them to the ends of the earth.]

"He might just be more arrogant than your brother."

"That's impossible."

The man waved them over with a placid face.

"Come, hurry up, don't keep us waiting. Tell you what, if you two manage to hit me 5 times between you, I'll release my Marker for free."

"I take it back, I really want to kick him."

"So do I."

"Oh?" The man grasped into the air.

His front vibrated and soon crackled into a dancing bolt of lightning that he casually wrapped his hand around.

Maria's senses rang as she moved her head.

A crackle of electricity whistled past her face and exploded against the forest floor, bursting fragments of dirt and grass and leaving a sizzling hole in its wake.

Maria's pupils widened, looking at the man retracting his hand as a tinge of numbness simmered from her left cheek and blood leaked.

"That was a warning shot, Princess," The man smiled placidly as a new bolt of electricity sparked into his hand.

"I advise you two to take my conditions seriously, it's already a hassle to fight children, but if it must be done, I will do my job splendidly."

Rain blinked his eyes, finding it odd how the threatening words of the man's words contrasted with the green butterfly that had landed on his head. Would fighting the man be safe?

Maria summoned her weapon, and Rain followed suit in equipping his weapons.

"Very well," She said, light dancing around her as the wound quickly closed.

"We accept your conditions."

His smile brightened.

Maria took a step back.

A bolt of lightning flew.

The edges of her blade burned as she swung.

"."

Her speed matched that of the bolt, cutting it in half as two crackles struck the ground by their side.

She didn't stop there, in conjunction with Rain, her figure moved towards Alex Morman.

The boy swung his blade, once, then twice, as an azure wave of condensed mana flew forwards.

A burst of lightning broke apart the advancing attack before the man simply dodged the remainder of it.

However,

Rain's second sword had already sliced down as Maria followed after its trajectory.

Another blue wave slammed into Alec, one sent him flying as his clothing ripped with a deep cut.

He flipped within the air, skidding against the ground as his feet made contact.

His eyes quickly shot up to see Maria's weapon, glowing with light, already swinging before him.

'1.'

Light fanned the area around them, swirling and brightening the forest even further.

'2.'

The area was no shielded in a blinding light, and Maria ended her attack with a last swing.

'3.'

Her weapon cut through air, slicing past the man's face as he dodged.

Lightning sparked from his body, wallowing into the area.

An intense pain ran through her body, forcing her hands to stop as her body shook. Her grasp weakened on her weapon and she couldn't help but drop to a knee.

The beating of her heart was intense, her vision blurred, and simply raising her head seemed impossible.

The man stood there, surrounded by lightning as he wiped the blood from his cheek, "That's 2. Two more to go, then."

The man crouched infront of her.

"I suppose you're only worth this much," The man said, extending a finger to her forehead.

Maria felt a twinge of electricity touch her skin.

"Nope." She gritted her teeth.

A white blade materialized and struck at the man's hand.

Alex jumped back, dodging quickly as ten mana blades flew around, attacking him.

"Enough." He swiped his hand.

Lightning fanned out, coursing through the air and shattering those weapons.

Rain saw the situation outside the range of the continually flying sparks. He couldn't enter, but he thought quickly on his feet as he jumped into the air and blue lights danced around him.

"Fourth form, !"

His figure spun and he impaled his two blades into the ground.

The ground below Maria rumbled, white light dancing around her body, as cracks spread about.

Soon,

-BOOM-

A pressurized pillar of water burst from beneath Alex's feet, sending him into the air.

However,

He landed onto the floor, a cocoon of sparks dancing around him like a solid shield. His clothing only soaked.

"Very well," He said, "that's the fourth."

He reached his hand forward as the cocoon expanded with him at its center.

Maria, who had only just begun to get up, was forced back down to her knees.

Her body had fully stopped listening to her.

"A strange thing about lightning," He said, electricity dancing between his hands, "shock someone with enough force and their internals will fry. Their heart will speed up, their blood boils, and that would be the end of them."

Maria felt a wave of mana spike as the lightning danced widely within the man's hands. He senses screamed at her to move but the numbness she felt, the paralysis, the burns, all anchored her down. She tried to move her mana but that step seemed all the more painful.

"Will you willingly release your Marker to me?" He asked, staring down at her body.

She had no thought of failing the Hunt. It was either pass, or Arthur left to see the world on his own, seeking a lonely path. They had made that promise together, as long as she could become an adventurer.

Her mind spun, thinking, as she forced her lips to move.

"No. . .o . ."

"Bye bye, then, Princess." He smiled as his hand slammed down.

A barrier of light appeared before her head.

A cold, dark, blade touched his neck.

His motion stopped.

"That's the third," Rain said, barely standing with shaking hands. His clothing was ripped and torn and the side of his abdomen showed a visible scarred, burn.

"Your conditions," He was breathing heavily.

"We win, right?"

Alex Morman smiled.

The lightning in his hand danced and crackled, before fizzling out. The rest of them disappeared around the area as he stood up.

He looked at the two, barely standing children.

"My job here is done, either way."

He flipped over his wrist and tore his marker from the bracelet, throwing it towards them.

Before they could speak, his figure blurred, and he was gone from the space.

"How are you feeling?" Rain asked as he too fell to his knees.

"You entered through the barrier of lightning. . ." She said, not answering his question, but looking at his charred body.

"My eyes said I would be safe." He smiled. Which he thought peculiar, it was as if the man had left a weaker part of the storm open for him to pass through.

"What?" She frowned as she shook to stand, "Stay still, let me heal you."

'What a terrible match-up,' She thought.

"Heal yourself first."

"I'm fine, I'll heal you."

As slight danced, she checked the map.

223.

'Why had he given up so easily?' They both thought the man an eccentric figure.

Alex Morman appeared back in the real world, although clothing torn, his wounds had been healed as he walked away from a portal below the floating ball and stared at his hand.

Sparks of electricity danced on top of his palms and through his fingers. Oddly, each and everyone seemed to want to jump into the swirling mass of mana behind him, slithering within the air into that direction before dispersing at his command.

"Got you, princess."

Under the gaze of the stadium, the peculiar man left with a conceitful smile.