I wait with bated breath as the clock ticks down.

It’s time.

The dark room emanates as an other worldly energy begins pulsating, filling the room up like stars in a sky. At this moment, I close my eyes.

”Huh? What happened to the other three—“ A young boy’s voice says.

Dead silence, complete deprivation of all my senses, and then... a pop. The air breaks onto my face. The silence shatters into whispered chatters... I open my eyes.

In front of me stands a girl, elegantly decorated with a blue and white dress. Sitting behind her is an audience of around twenty other similarly dressed people, all looking rich, wealthy... and filthy.

"I already don't like the look of this…” I murmur.

"Hero, the kingdom of Lyster, welcomes you with open arms. We beseech you to lend us our aid to defend our lands during these troubled times." The girl began talking almost 100% reading off a script.

"The king has been slain by invaders from the land of Oliviand. Our lands have been wrongfully taken away, our people murdered in cold blood."

I look around at my surroundings. I'm in some sort of interior balcony room, pure white marbled pillars, trinkets made of gold just strewn about randomly for decoration, expensive animal fur flooring. Behind me was a massive window overlooking a city flecked with tall, densely crowded buildings with rusty red rooftops. So that means all the people gathered here are exactly who I think they are, royalty.

"Our kingdom will offer you riches beyond your wildest imagination and guarantee that you'll go down in history as a-"

I stand up and walk right across the girl, completely ignoring her.

"S-Sir?" She turns around and calls in a panicked tone. I continue walking without looking back. One of the audience members stood up.

"I am Prince Hanafin, third son of the late Great King Mallefard. Please reconsider what you're doing right now!" The rest of the audience members stood up and began clamoring similarly, all first stating their names just like Hanafin. A damn useless and superfluous ritual, one that I’ve heard hundreds of times.

"Please! our nation is crumbling!" The girl's cry broke through the rest of the noise, this time with a real hint of sincerity behind it.

I pause and turn around. The chatter immediately dies down, then I wait and let the silence permeate the air.

"Why should I fight for you? Why should I trust a single word that comes out of a royal’s mouth?" I talk for the first time since arriving here.

"Wealth and power! It’s all available to you!" One of the audience members speak up and shrinks away as he immediately gets sharp jaded looks from various members in the crowd.

"I see, if you royals think I can be bought off. I'll just go to the enemy nation and get a better deal."

I turn around curtly and begin walking towards the exit once again. "Well, it's not like I'll ever work for royalty anyway. If I'm going to fight for you, I'm going to find out myself the reason why I should."

“Please don’t listen to him. I can recognize that you aren’t the type who’s attracted to low hanging fruit like wealth and fame. Please accept our apologies.” The girl behind me says.

I hear approaching footsteps from behind.

"If you come any closer, I'll kill you." I turn around casually. It was the girl again. I point my finger at her, then a bright white radiance suddenly illuminates the entire hall. At my fingertips was a burning hot flame emanating enough heat to cook anything that comes close.

"So that's Tetsu, huh?" The girl steps back a bit but maintains her composure. Her dress begins to singe at the tips, It must be scorching hot where she was standing, but she was seemingly unaffected. Then she takes another step forward without any hesitation. I jerk my hand back in surprise. Bringing the heat away from her.

Angry red burns immediately coat her face and shoulders from the split second of exposure.

“Thanks for saving me there.” She grins sheepishly at me before falling facedown on the floor.

I extinguish my flame and stare at the ground with thousands of conflicting thoughts ricocheting through my head at once. She would have died if I hadn’t done that, she has to be stupid right? Even acts of goodwill have their limits.

"Princess!" "Guards! We need guards in here right now! You fool! The hero is an enemy! Kill him now!" The hall exploded into action.

I swirl around immediately, then make a dash for one of the doors. I'm sure guards are waiting behind every door in this room. I can't let myself get surrounded. I see a flash of metal out of the corner of my eye and accompanied by the clank of plated armor. Here they come.

"There's an intruder!" A new voice shrieks. Interrupting the scene in the room. Everyone pauses mid-action. An intruder? There’s another enemy here?

"It’s... It’s... Killing everyone! We can’t stop it! it’s coming for this room!"

I turn my head surprised. There stood a young-looking man, wearing shiny, silver, incredibly flashy armor bearing some foreign insignia, holding a sword at his belt, and there was blood splattered all over his suit.

"The intruder suddenly disappeared just moments ago! I-I managed to get out of there alive, but it just... disappeared." He repeats what he just said, his mind obviously not totally there and his voice shaky and shrill.

"Where is it now! What does it look like! Male or female?!" Someone from the audience stepped forward; it the guy who introduced himself as a prince to me earlier... ehh, what was his name? Handfish?

"I don't know, please, I don't know." The guard's voice was beginning to come out in sobs.

The guard most likely got his post from being the son of some prestigious family, never fighting a day in his life, or else there would be no reason he would act like this. Putting your life on the line is part of the job. I snorted, then turned around and continued running.

"And you..." Prince Handfish suddenly barks at me but then pauses.

"What are you going to do now?" He asks.

"To figure out if you guys are worth fighting for." I replied, then made my way out the door...

Right into a crowd of guards, looking blissfully unaware of the mysterious assailant they should be dealing with instead of me. All dressed in ridiculously gaudy and expensive-looking armor. Only a few of them seem practical for combat, while the rest were decorated with useless trinkets. None of them had their swords drawn nor seemed very worried.

One man steps forward in particularly outrageous armor. "Stop right there. I, Cornelius Dravoncon the fifth, will defeat the hero in an honorable one on one duel. Now prepare yourself!" He unsheathes his sword with a dramatic flair and points it at me.

"Seriously..." I mutter under my breath, "All of you people are the same." Even if I do decide that these people are who I want to fight for. I could never work with people who haven't experienced a single hard day in their entire life, being proud of themselves for someone else's accomplishments. And then, when faced with any sort of real challenge, they show their total ineptitude. I start to run directly at the guard.

"Ha! You're slow! You will die right here!" The person raises his sword and flies at me at an incredible speed, far outmatching mine. Then, thrusts it straight at my neck, all before I could finish a single step. I focus on it as it inches closer and closer.

And then it melts. The man looks bewildered for a second, then screams in agony as his armor turns red, the tender metal melting and gluing to his burning skin. Indeed, it's true that I'm probably one of the least physically able people on this side of Rai. However, I'm still among the strongest on the other side.

I roll to a stop and stare the rest of the men down. Unmoving, unflinching, the hall grows dead quiet. Now... Are the rest of them also fools? Or do they possess some substance? The men exchange nervous glances between each other. I could see the indecision and fear in their eyes.

"Just to let you guys know, there's an assassin is running around the building after my life. Getting closer and closer, maybe even watching us right now. If you run away now, I'm sure that assassin would like to get to know you guys a little better." I beamed a grin before I start to walk forward slowly.

"Come on! Do something! I don't have time to wait here all day." I pressured them even further. The distinct smell of charred flesh began to waft across the room. I walk closer and closer. One footstep finally rung out, another, until only the sound of metal reverberating could be heard. Finally, only one person remained.

An aged man with long silver hair extending all the way to his shoulders. He wasn't wearing the same gaudy armor the other guards were doing. In fact, he wasn't wearing any armor whatsoever, just dressed in some plain clothes.

"Well, I knew this would happen. Those boys have too much pride considering their lack of abilities, and they know it too. That's why they ran away from you." The man said.

"And you won't run away because you know you're strong enough to stop me?" I reply back.

"Nope! I'm no match for you. What about it?" The man flashes a toothy grin before a sword flashes into his hands and swings straight toward my neck.

I blast the area between the sword and my neck with a highly pressurized pocket of air. Throwing my head away from the sword and my body towards the ground. The sword nicks my chin and flies over my head before I fly into the ground just barely avoiding the blow. I cushioned the fall with a pocket of air but still hit my head pretty hard.

Shit! I forgot that they're going to have a massive advantage over me close range! That man drew the sword at speeds that defied common sense. I could barely even see that attack

"Hey, my sword is still here! I thought it was going to melt like that other guy's sword! You don't need to hold back for my sake!" The guy laughed before quickly launching into a follow-up attack. This time a lightning-quick stab straight at my heart.

The blade flows straight through my body directly into my heart and comes out through my back.

Silence ensues.

"Now isn't that just a bit unfair?" The man looks at me in the eyes. His blade begins to turn white, chunks of metal dripping down the ground. The palm of his hand gripping his sword began to smoke, the skin in his hand charring. The blade harmlessly passed through me without leaving a single scratch. the part of my body that had been stabbed flickers and roars with flame as the sword passes right through. It was one of my signature techniques, the ability to turn my flesh into pure fire.

“I know you’re suspicious of us but at least give Yesenia a chance alright? Now, I would rather stay alive, but you’re free to do whatever you want to me now, my fate is in your hands.” The man lets go of his sword as it gets eaten up inside my body, melting and then resolidifying on the floor. “I think you’re a good person to have come through from the other side.”

I stand still, contemplating what to do. Blood drips down from my chin, painting the pearl white marble floor red. I break the silence. "...Who's Yesenia?"

"Oh did she not introduce herself? She was in charge of the greetings and negotiations with you, she should have been the first person you saw."

Now that I think of it, that girl was the only person in the hall who didn't initially introduce herself when I arrived at this world.

"And your name?" I asked.

"I’m Crux, and what’s your name?"

"... Next time we meet-"

"Ignoring me huh?" Crux quietly muttered to himself.

"I’d like to have a good conversation with you. For now, you'll live."

I then walked near a window.

"It's pretty high up huh?" I turned around and looked at Crux.

"Hold on hold on hold on, I know we just met but you don't gotta-"

A bomb of air exploded right underneath Crux's feet flinging him headfirst through the window and shattering the glass. A couple moments later, I heard a loud crash.

I peeked down at the ground. Crux was lying on a rack of wooden practice dummies, his mouth open, groaning.

I then began walking down the hallway, whistling and thinking about how to deal with this assassin. The people in the world already move faster than I can react. I'd be dead in a heartbeat against a trained assassin. I need to get somewhere open, where I can easily see someone coming, or another option. I can hide and sneak out of the castle.

I come to an open door, the door the many guards fled through. Behind that door was a staircase to the bottom and what seems to be my escape. It also looks like a perfect location to ambush someone, the staircase obstructing my view of the room, the 2 adjacent walls an attacker can hide behind right next to the door... The assassin wouldn't be that predictable right? I nodded to myself and then walked through the door with confidence. I looked at both sides, checked both corners, and scanned every crevice of the staircase, looked down and up, then paused. Yep, nobody's here.

"Is what you said true?" A woman's voice suddenly rang from behind just as I was about to make my way down the staircase. Goosebumps ran down my body, she had every chance to kill me right here, but I was still standing here unharmed.

"I'm assuming you're the mysterious assassin wreaking havoc?" I replied.

“That's right, and if you aren't going to fight for this country without a good reason to. I can give you a good reason to fight for ours." The assassin offered an unexpected proposition.

"I was originally sent here to kill the hero just as he arrived into this world alongside killing as many other important people, including princess Yesenia, as I could before leaving. However, I've decided to cancel that, hero, and instead try my hardest to convince you to join our side."

“That sounds very un-assassin like, making your own decisions like that.” I replied.

The assassin continued. "I truly would like to avoid killing other people as much as possible, I'm here to save as many lives as possible, not take them, and the most efficient way to do that is to win this war as quickly as possible. We are going to win the war, and your joining our side would avoid so much bloodshed."

"If you heard me say that, that means you also heard my conversation with Crux right? I'm planning on meeting him later so why didn't you just kill him?"

"I'm not planning on manipulating you to get what I want.”

I turn around to take a look at the assassin for the first time. A dark mask covered a good portion of her face, yet her eyes were full of bitterness. She then quickly turned around and leaped out into the city. Blending into the long shadows overcast by the tall buildings.

“What an oddly ideal situation.” I muttered to myself. Two representatives from each side, both of them of seemingly quality character.

I made my way down the staircase, only to be met with a locked door and a couple of guards. I quickly took care of the guards, melted the door lock, then made my way outside.

For now, I'll blend into the city. Wander around, get to know the situation and intricacies behind the war. Discover the truth bit by bit. I'll listen to the assassin and Crux, and if I haven't made a decision by then. I'll observe the war until I do.