" Ouch..." I could not help but let out a pained sound. Sliding down from the wall to the cold, hard ground of my new safehouse, I started treating my injuries.

" You shouldn't have been that reckless!" Admin chided. " You barely made it out with a full set of limbs and the reason you're still here was that the opponent didn't have access to their full power!"

I popped open a bottle, pouring the content on my wounds then finished it all by drinking. I could feel the potion treating my external and internal injuries, at a very slow pace. Still a bit painful, but better.

" I'm sorry." I meant it. " I thought I could hold an exchange with that humanoid Dragoon."

" You idiot! If it was so easy to talk to the Dragoon then this world wouldn't have fallen to such a state!" Admin nearly lost herself. " And you! Be more mindful of your life for cry out loud! I don't want you to..." She left the word unsaid.

" ... My mistake. I will be more careful." Ah... I made her worried.

" Why is it that you can ignore your Death so easily...?" Admin questioned in a sorrowful tone. " No, I guess I know the reason why..."

" ..." I could feel that she wanted to say something but refrain from doing it.

" I am not afraid of Death, not when my soul records and understands the ' Death of all things'. But I do want to live, for one day I will see my dream comes true... I admit I wasn't paying much attention to my well-being lately. For causing you grief, once again I'm sorry." I bow, despite my injuries.

" Wait, sit up... Apology accepted, as long as you take care of yourself more." Somehow, I feel like Admin was acting like a motherly figure.

" I promise." It is not my position to question it, however, I do not want to upset her further.

I leaned back on the wall. Recounting my entanglement with the humanoid Dragoon that beat me to such a sorry state.

Sometime ago.

I was flying near a beach, scouting the perimeter and making plans in my mind for the event that will happen here. Suddenly, I saw a black figure streak through the sky and appeared in front of my flight path.

I almost rammed into 'her' if it was not for my quick avoidance. Slowing down to a stop some ten meters away from 'her', I realized 'she' is just another Dragoon. But this one is special.

Witch-class Dragoon, a humanoid Dragoon shaped like a female witch. Combat capability is presumed to be comparable to an A-class witch.

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To further explain:

D-class witches can fight against a squad of Quadpods and Recovers but unable to survive a Hunting Party of multiple squads of those cannon fodders.

C-class witches can contend with one Hunting Party.

While B-class witches can destroy a Hunting Party but will die if they come across the Extermination Group. This Group is comprised of the Airship Dragoon and many more other Dragoon types that I killed the other day. Extermination Group only appeared when a Nest wants a region, well, exterminated.

Next on the ladder is A-class, a witch of this class can defeat an Extermination Group. An A-class is a strategic weapon for mankind and rarely gets deployed unless in a dire situation.

But S-class is where the rank system receives a jump in difficulty. To attain this rank, you need to clear a Nest or at least, have a major contribution in clearing one.

To truly understand the absurdity of this rank, an Extermination Group has on average 100 Dragoons. The smallest Nest has at least 5 Extermination Groups as bodyguards, not counting the roaming Dragoons surrounding a Nest. Having a good army to back you up is a necessity and even then it is hard to say that the clearing can go smoothly.

Still, I would say that the ranking system of this world is too flawed when compared to an Avatar's. My stats are higher than average for an Avatar of Rank 5 and from my experience in this world, I can put myself in a ranking that is higher than A-class but not as strong as S-class. Thinking carefully, the way this world classified S-class is too weird. I dared to guess that to wipe a Nest you need to be of Rank 4 in the Avatar's ranking. This is impossible to achieve when this is a Dungeon Dimension for Rank 5.

" Why is that?" One day, I asked Admin.

" Why indeed..." Admin said with what could be a mischievous laugh. " Who said that to complete this specific Quest, you need to reach S-class of this world's standard?"

" ... I get it now. To the Quest, the ranking of this world is meaningless. The Quest adapted the Avatar's ranking into this world's ranking system to fix the 'unfairness' of this world. Am I right?"

" 50 EP for a correct answer! The Chief God handles things with fairness. She will not allow an Avatar to do an impossible task." Admin then explained. " The new S-class ranking should be, having a total stats of 75 to 100. So by raising your stats to that level, the Quest will be completed."

" Oh, I see. Though, it will take a while to get there."

" It's ok, the main storyline shouldn't happen for a while. You may have enough time to continue raising your stats." Little did Admin know, by focusing more on raising my stats, I got seriously injured.

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I 'know' this Dragoon, well, not in person. But more like I know 'her' because I watched the anime series. This one was not supposed to show up this early though.

" Hello there!" I said with a raise of my right hand. " Uhm... Can you understand me?"

" ..." 'She' tilted her head. While I wanted to say the action was cute, this Dragoon's body was not fully developed yet.

'She' has a feminine body, somewhat similar in stature to mine, this contradicted the anime by not having a shape of a loli. 'Her' clothes, if you could call them that, were exactly like the ones I was wearing at the time. A shirt, combat vest, a skirt that reached down to my knees, and combat boots, minus my weapon holsters, all in metallic black. 'Her' facial features were blank, hair and skin color of same metallic black like 'her' clothing. Surprisingly, 'she' mimic my horns but not my wings.

Overall, a very unnerving form to see... were I a normal person.

" Is it possible for us to talk for a bit?" I asked again, seeing 'she' giving no other response.

" Uhm, I think it is better to just ignore her." Admin pitched her opinion. " She is in a different league, compared to you"

" 'She' is the representative of that Nest. I'm curious whether we can negotiate." According to the storyline, we could communicate with her and even trade. " ... But I guess, it is not possible now!"

I quickly dodged to the right, though a red laser still managed to scorch my side.

" Yeah... I think this is still too soon, she doesn't have a separate consciousness, yet." I erected a barrier on my left as 'she' started circling and bombarding me with lasers. The lasers came from her hands.

" Distract her and escape!" Admin advised.

" I would... If 'she' gives me the chance!" I took out Bruno and Spear and used them to intercept 'her' lasers. Using the downtime between each attack, I closed the distance. Against laser-based attacks that travel at the speed of light, it matters not whether you are close or far away.

" As long as you know where they are aiming... You can dodge it!" I ducked down as another laser almost cut my head off. " Or kill it!" I returned the favor by holding down the trigger of Spear. A full-auto burst from her shattered the barrier of the opponent by hitting the Death Spots. I did fire at the Death Spots on her body, however, another barrier appeared and blocked my lasers. Seeing that I managed to retaliate with deadly effects, 'she' retreated with speed surpassed mine, actually breaking the sound barrier and flung me back. After doing that, the long-range bombardment resumed. Gradually, I started to accumulate injuries.

" Oiya...! 'She' is much faster than me." With my current stats, breaking the sound barrier is doable, but instantaneously? Not a chance unless I have more mastery in Fallen Angel art.

" Closing the distance will be hard. She is faster than you so running is also not possible. Not to mention she can instantly regenerate her barrier with different Death Spots from the previous one." Admin then said. " Best bet will be to tie her down then make a break for it."

" I have just the tool for that, though this will cost me a few pennies." Taking out a cylindrical object, I kicked it in the path of a laser. Exploding into a burst of blue energy that temporarily stunned the 'female' Dragoon. This special stun grenade also affected me but to a lesser extent because I was prepared for it.

Once again, I closed the distance toward the now falling Dragoon. Channeling most of my energy into Spear, I fired a special Mystic bullet that when hit, will seal a target in place for 30 minutes. Though this one is stronger than me so I doubt 'she' will be sealed for that long.

Thankfully, 'she' was stunned for long enough so that the bullet hit true. Golden chains appeared from gaps in the airs, suspending the black assailant from further action. 'She' could not even fall to the ground, for now.

Having received many scorching wounds and spent nearly all of my energy in creating that sealing formation. It was high time to make a run for it.

" If possible, I hope we will meet when 'you' can finally be you." I said to the hanging figure. With my remaining strength, I disappeared into a ruined cityscape.

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Thinking back from that encounter, 'she' was most definitely the peak of Rank 5 even though 'she' did not reach full potential. Her full strength can reach the peak of Rank 4, leaving me to wonder whether I could survive a shot from her... Yeah, I think not since at that stage what gonna come at me will not be limited to just a predictable laser beam.

"As I said, you're just lucky!" Admin, still a little mad at me, said.

" Thankfully, 'she' will have true consciousness at that time. So I don't think I will be obliterated without having a proper conversation."

" ... You are still thinking of seeing her when she kicked your ass? You also used one of your few Dampener grenades. is it worth it to see her again?"

" Haha... With any bit of luck, 'she' can help me get to peak rank 5." I smiled, standing up to go to my makeshift bed.

" I think you overused your luck already." I could imagine Admin shaking her head. " ... Now that you say it, I'm a bit curious of her new look when we meet again."

" She still has room for growth" I commented before dozing off to recuperate. " Please, continue to stay with me when I wake up."

" Always." I let out a sigh of relief at that firm declaration. " Even though you acted like a kid this time." I ignored that sentence, of course.