I stare through the hole in my hand. My fingers stiffen up, and I could no longer feel them or move them. Blood was flowing out at an alarming rate, and as my adrenaline wore down, intense throbbing pain began to creep up on every crevice of my body.

"Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, I don't think I can focus right now." I mumble, slowly going into shock from the pain.

"Serim, my name is Seriiiim." The boy enunciates in a child-like manner.

Huh, now that I take a closer look at him, he does look quite young. Maybe Fourteen? Fifteen?

My eyes begin to drift shut. My head bounces back as something hard bounces against my mask, and my eyes immediately shoot open wide.

"Why are you wearing that mask? It looks so... ominous." Serim asks after slapping his knuckle against it.

"It gives me powers... I can use anku because of it." I say, remembering about Actla.

"So that have stuff like this in this world huh?" He mumbles. "So what happens when you take it off? Does your anku grow weaker or something?"

"No, no, I don't think you understand. Without this mask, I have zero anku whatsoever." I say

"Ehhhh? How is it even possible for an Ankudo not to have Anku? I feel sorry for you." Serim exclaims.

This kid probably has some misconception about me, but I don't quite have the energy to explain who I am to him.

"Can I try it on?"

"Huh?" Serim hits me with an unexpected question.

"I just want to know what having Anku feels like, I'll return it immediately I swear." His eyes light up excitedly.

"No, you'll-" Wait a second... I stop talking mid-sentence. If Serim puts on the mask. He'll die... but, won't his powers leech into it?

...

What's going to happen if I say yes? My mind begins to wander at the prospect of gaining his powers, imagining myself being able to manipulate the rock around me, create mountains, spikes.

"...No, this mask only works for me." I say firmly.

"Awww." Serim said with a sigh.

I look to the sky and cover my eyes with my arm. What the hell was I just thinking about right there? This is a damn kid! Having to kill someone may be inevitable in the future, but this is way too harsh, even for me.

"In any case, I want to know more about what's going on here. Why is this place getting attacked? Who even are you? All that kinda stuff." I bite my tongue and try to change the subject.

"You... don't know who I am?"

"I don't know a lot about many things, a little known fact about myself is that I came here from another world about a week ago."

Serim stares at me for a couple seconds.

"Another world? Did you use to live on our side of Rai?"

Huh? What's going on? When I told Rudeus this he didn't seem all that surprised.

"No, it's a place called Earth. I didn't even know that this place existed until then."

"You... You come from a different world?!?"

"Yes that's what I sai-"

"What's it like over there? Do you have dragons, elves, fairies, and all that kind of stuff?" Serim overwhelms me with a burst of excitement.

They sound familiar, but I have no idea what any of those things are.

"I think... we do." I say hesitantly.

"Oh ho ho man, did you also-"

"I would like to get back on topic." I interrupt him, my injuries were only feeling worse and worse over time, we wouldn’t be able to talk for long.

"Oh us? Well... I came here about a week ago as well, and as soon as I showed them my Tetsu; they gave us the idea for me to come to this place, since I could safely pass through the storms under the ground, so I came here, and then as soon as I mapped out a suitable route through the ground, I started working on bringing a bulk of soldiers here as well."

"Okay, okay, that I could probably have figured out by myself, but why? Why is The Eye getting targeted? Who even are you people?" I ask.

"Before I answer that question." Serim suddenly gets serious. "What's your relationship with that Rudeus person?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because he's one of our targets, our highest priority one in fact, so... are you okay with him dying?"

Rudeus

"Why would they send you to take me down?" I rest my sword over my shoulder as Doronzo hunches over, blood dripping from the many wounds I gave him, none of them quite deep enough to be fatal. He seems to somehow avoid it every single time despite his large frame.

"RAH!" Doronzo suddenly glides forward and thrusts his sword forward.

I casually step away. Thin long swords in general have terrible durability, if I manage to get even a little bit of leverage... As the tip of the blade narrowly misses me, I grab my sword with both of my hands, one hand on the dull end of the metal, the other on the hilt, and then I slam it down, easily clashing and forcing his sword to the ground. Almost at the same time, I bring my foot up and kick the middle of his blade.

With a satisfying clang, his sword snaps in half.

I then spin around, my loose sleeves and clothing forming a pinwheel like pattern, obscuring my sword from his sight. I draw blood as he narrowly dodges the tip of my blade, leaving a long mark of blood on his cheek.

I whip my sword to the side, throwing the blood off of it. Something isn't right.

Why is this person the only one sent to take me down?

"Are you only here to stall me?" I ask bluntly, was it an ego thing? Did he want to take me down personally? I don’t recall ever doing anything bad to this guy.

Doronzo glares at me but doesn't answer.

"You know... If you continue trying to fight." I slowly breath through my mouth, my body relaxes, and my focus increases sharply. "You're going to die." I say in a half-serious, half-intimidating way.

Doronzo readies his broken sword and takes a defensive stance. We hold still for a couple of seconds, just staring at each other.

I shift my foot forward, then kick off the ground, chunks of rock splatter into the air, my velocity goes from zero to one-hundred in an instant, as I turn tail and run.

Yep, this person has to be here just to keep me up; I need to make a run for the barrier and then disappear into the storm. I can meet up with Taiga later, he should know the way out by now and should make it to Astrodam. Yea, I'll wait and meet up with him there.

I continue running.

…

Wait... Do I even have to? The thing he told me to do, it's over right? The week has passed right? I can return home after this. I still haven't upheld my end of my bargain with Taiga, but... huh. Oh well. He’ll probably find out about Dundee eventually.

I whip through the forest, not bothering to check at his reaction. I don't accomplish anything by killing him anyways, and I still need a safe way to get out of this place.

I instinctively duck out of nowhere. I don't know if my body sensed some disturbance in the air, but I stare incredulously as the trees around me fall in half.

Did a sword just pass over my head? I spin my head around, trying to find where it came from. I pour every last bit of anku into my eyes and ears. Time slows down to a halt, every little vibration courses through the ground and comes through my body, even ones made by the tiny ants that roam the dirt.

Over there! In the same motion I smear my sword with blood and throw it, curving it behind a tree that was still tilting over.

At the same time I bring my scabbard up, as the person and blade flashes from behind the tree, the blade, burying itself into my scabbard at lightning quick speeds. I yank the scabbard to the side and thrust it into my opponent's gut, at the same time my sword returns like a boomerang and flies into the opponents back, making it an attack from both sides.

"Whoops!" With a small grunt of exertion. My opponent grabs the scabbard mid thrust and lifts her feet behind and kicks my sword off course.

I stumble in pain as I lose control of the scabbard and it is redirected into my gut, driving the air straight out of my body.

I forcibly send Anku to my lungs, overriding my paralyzed diaphragm muscles and allowing me to breath air in. I recover from the blow instantly and grab my sword out of midair. Sparks fly as our two blades meet together.

The girl in front of me smiles.

"Finally, I get to have fun." Said Yumie, the strongest fighter in Oliviand.

Taiga

"No... I don't think I would mind all that much." I say. After all, Rudeus wasn't someone I really wanted to interact with in the first place. I could appreciate the help he's given me but... I have to be careful with forming attachments. I've seen it, and have even exploited it many times myself. Attachments are weaknesses, if you don't invest yourself into something, nobody can ever take advantage of it.

"Are you sure? You don't have to lie you know. You can feel however you want as long, as you don't act on it, I won't do anything." Serim says.

I close my eyes and reevaluate my emotions one more time. I open them after a brief moment of silence.

"I'm sure. I don't give a damn about that person." I say, both mentally and out loud.

Rudeus

What the fuck is going on! This girl is just too fast!

I step back as she rains blow upon blow on me. I couldn't strike back or anything; I had been pushed fully on the defensive in a matter of seconds. Every single parry I made was all right at the nick of time. If my timing was slightly off for half of these, I would pay the ultimate price. Eyes, arm, leg, eyes, arm, eyes, hand. Anku bounces between locations in my body at unprecedented rates. Without a high concentration of Anku in my eyes, I wouldn't even be able to see her blows, but then I had to immediately direct the anku around my body with uncomfortably strict timings in order to even block her attacks.

As I had this thought, my concentration momentarily breaks and her blade slips through my shoulder drawing blood. It wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it was deep enough to impede my arm movements.

I clench my teeth and grimace. Calm down. She must have patterns to her movements. There's no way she can move this fast without some sort of muscle memory guiding it.

"Huh, your eyes are moving a lot faster now, are you trying to search for habits?" The girl smiles as she tears my defenses down.

"Well if you don't mind. You like to..." I'm suddenly thrown off balance as the girl lunges forward, slamming her sword straight into my chest, I barely had time to bring my sword up and block it.

"You automatically shift your balance backwards every time we exchange attacks, if you notice that I'm backing off, you rebalance your foot, if I come at you, you take a step back."

I stumble away, off balance, as she had struck me the exact moment I had shifted my weight backwards.

I bring Anku into my eyes and raise my sword as she brings her's down a second time. I'm met instead with a harsh kick to the groin, bringing me to my knees.

"You also focus way too hard on my sword, don't do that. You should have been able to notice my leg moving."

Yumie puts a slash on my cheek, as she exposes yet another weakness of mine.

I concentrate Anku into my eyes. To see Yumie raising her sword for a swing from the right side, I instantly lift my sword for the parry, but I only encounter empty air.

I cough up blood as Yumie slams her sword into the side of my body.

"See what happens when I vary my timings up even a little bit? That’s what happens when you barely have enough speed to parry my swings at my normal speed. Don't worry, I used the dull side of my sword, won't let this end just yet, I'm having too much fun."

No plan. No strength. No help coming. I'm going to die here aren't I?

"Are you... Are you sure you want to kill me?" I speak up for the first time, my head whirls at all my options for what I could say, as I knew fighting was off the table. Talking is my only chance.

"Mmh, that's what they're telling me to do." The girl says casually.

"Do you know who Celestia is?" After thinking furiously for a moment, I decide to stop on this idea.

I instantly see her eyes light up after saying this.

"Well go on, I wanna hear the rest of what you're gonna say." She says.

"How would you feel at having a chance at fighting her. I'm sure she wouldn't be too upset about having an opponent like you either, and I know where she is right now. All you have to do, is let me escape. " A complete lie, but I didn't have any other option.

"Hmmm, If I let you escape then they'll definitely know I was the one who let you go, I wouldn't mind making some more enemies but... Ehh, that would probably be more annoying than fun." Yumie says, very easily biting into my lie, but there’s no way she’s that gullible right? I haven’t proven that I know Celestia’s location.’

"Then how about I-"

"Are you losing your edge Yumie? That Rudeus man is still alive!" A voice appears from out of the woods, interrupting me.

"Hold on a second Roko, he can-" The girl starts.

"Don't even get started, you always get distracted like this." The man appears out of the woods, his face glistening with water as if he just washed it. He draws his sword and charges me.

My eyes instantly calculate his trajectory and angle of attack. After fighting with that monster over there, this fella looked like he was moving in slow motion.

I throw my sword up into the air and block his attack with the base of my scabbard. Just inches away from where my left hand was gripping it. I then push against the blade like a see-saw and propel the scabbard right into his face.

As he's stunned, I catch the sword with my right hand and viciously swing it towards his neck, aiming to behead him.

"Huh?" The man stares blindly as my blade is stopped inches away from his neck, suspended in midair as the girl thrusts her sword right between my metal and his flesh.

"That's twice now, two debts you now owe me." The girl says.

She then stops and looks at me in the eye. "How about an execution? Maybe four five months from now. It won't be my fault if you somehow, by accident, find a way to slip out of your prison and escape."

"And you have the influence to make that happen?" I ask.

"Probably not, but who's gonna be able to stop me?" She smiles and then swings the dull side of her blade into my neck. My vision wavers for a second and then I slump over unconscious.

"The strongest in the world huh?" Yumie looks up to the sky, then begins running.

Taiga

My eyes droop as I begin to tilt over, I catch myself just in the nick of time before my head hits the ground.

"Well, I better stop holding you up. I would transport you back to some city if I could, but unfortunately, I don't think I'm allowed to take anyone that isn't from our side back." Serim said.

"Wait what do you mean?"

"In about 5 minutes, the Kekta surrounding this place will collapse, and the storm will be able to rush in. Pretty much took me the entire week for me to break down that barrier." Serim stands up and walks away as dozens people begin to flood out of the woodwork, standing next to him.

"To apologize, let me give you some advice. Anchor yourself to the earth right now. And if I see you again, I'll treat you to a meal." Hope your injuries aren’t too bad.

I watch incredulously as soldier after soldier begin to come from out of nowhere, many of them were injured in some way, and all of them were covered in streaks of blood.

Wait what’s about to happen? Am I… Am I going to have to travel through that storm in this fucking state?

“Huh? What are you talking about, I’m going to die.” I say plainly.

Serim bites his finger in deliberation. “Anyone here know some Sananku? Do as much as you can in the few minutes before we gotta leave. I owe an apology to this boy.”

I soon feel my bones cracking back to place as a man applies Sananku all over my body. Once again I am reminded of the usefulness of this skill.

A girl comes out of nowhere as I get healed, carrying a limp body over her shoulder. It was his signature long chestnut hair and his red robe draped over her body that identified him as Rudeus.

"Yumie, what the hell are you doing? We're supposed to kill this person." One of the soldiers say.

"I had the orders to capture him so he can be executed publicly." She glances at me from the corner of her eye. "We are to hold him prisoner at the capital until it's time."

Disgruntled murmurs spread across the crowd. "If anyone thinks I'm not telling the truth. By all means speak up." Yumie rests her hand on her sword.

The murmurs quickly dissipate.

Another man comes out of the forest, he carried a broken sword and had injuries scattered all over his massive frame.

”Yumie, what the were you doing? and Roko. We were supposed to fight Rudeus all three of us together, why did I end up fighting him alone?” The giant man says.

“We did didn’t we? After all I’m holding him right now. It was just… a little disorganized.” Yumie smiles mischievously.

“Don’t joke about this. Next time this happens I’ll make sure you don’t get to go on any more missions like this one.”

“Alright, alright, it was Roko’s fault anyways, he wanted to make a little detour before taking on Rudeus.” Yumie shrugs.

All this time while they were having that conversation, I should have been thinking about how I was going to survive the journey that laid ahead. I should have been taking off my shoes and slashing my feet. I should have been trying to avoid all these potential enemies.

But all I could do was stare at that man. The very first person I've met since coming here. The only person I've ever talked with and had a relationship with for more than a day.

"This is bad." I murmur to myself. The man healing me soon gets up. “If you’re strong-willed enough, I can bet you’ll survive just long enough to get to Astrodam with those injuries. Try not to die alright?” The man says before rejoining the rest of the group.

As the last couple of people filter through, the ground opens up. Serim looks at me one last time before holding both his arms down. The earth then opens up like a gaping mouth and swallows up the entire crowd before disappearing into the ground.

And just like that, I was all alone.

The leaves around me begin to drift into the air. A constant steady low horn-like sound could now be heard in the distance, gradually growing louder and louder. The trees bend and sway. I snap out of my stupor and take off my shoes, stuffing them into my shirt. Come on body, give me this last bit of energy I need. I thought as I slash my feet, making sure to be gentle with the cuts, trying to save my already dwindling blood supply.

My anku coalesces into my blood vessels, escaping from my body as it flows through my feet, splattering the stone ground with anku and attaching itself to it. A tree next to me suddenly uproots, a wooden board nearly smacks me in the jaw as it flies through the air at a blisteringly fast velocity. I duck my head and begin running. I could already feel the storm threatening to pick me up and toss me into the sky. I keep my body as low to the ground as possible, trying to minimize my drag.

Then I stop and turn around.

The once beautiful crystal clear streams were murky with debris and blood. The brilliant sun that illuminated the bright and colorful landscape was now gone, proud and tall trees, full of ancient history fall over one by one. The glossy lustrous stones that once dotted the walkways fly into the sky, never to be seen again. The architecture, buildings that could only have been designed by a genius, fall to the wind. The long green grass, scatters away as the soil uproots, unprepared for the strength of the wind.

Centuries of history being erased. Just like that. In the distance I could see the silhouette of a body being picked up and thrown into the air, disappearing into the clouds.

I wonder.

Am I the only one here that’s still alive?