I stand at the once lively town entrance, Lexigon, that is now nothing more but a ball of flame from afar.

Fire spews out from window to window as it continues burning through everything related to life. The buildings that once stood are now on fire, slowly but surely, dissolving as the flames slowly devour them whole.

I fall flat on my knees amongst all of it, in complete shock as tears slowly crawl down my face.

I stay like that for a few moments, trying to take in what is happening until finally standing back up, then walking forward, slowly as I see buildings that I once entered burning to the ground.

I took another few steps until stopping again, struggling to move as my body became heavier by the second.

"This… can’t be happening, right?" These were the words I wanted to say, but all that came out was nothing more than hiccups from shock and sadness welling up within me.

I wanted to barf, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to move forward if I did. Besides, I won't find survivors if I stayed on the floor crying.

As I try to keep myself sane, I slowly reach down and take the leather canteen on the right side of my belt.

I uncapped it and then swallowed some water.

When I finally manage to calm myself, I continue walking... until I catch sight of the first dismembered bodies on the streets.

I cover my mouth and quickly turn around. The moment I saw the corpses, I felt nauseous, my stomach wanted to cough out all the contents I had in it, but I continued to deny it.

I take a few moments to catch my breath and prepare myself mentally until finally turning back.

Everywhere I look, I see dismembered corpses. That is the only thing I see on this blood-stained street. There are ones cut from the top of their head to the bottom, others were cut from one side of the belly to the other. There are more than those two types of corpses; a person I pass by has a head missing, while another next to it has both arms missing.

Everything... is dead.

A special action has been performed! +1 END

A special action has been performed! +1 WILL

"Oh, forgot that I left Charles behind."

Since I have twice his agility, I’ll outrun him entirely. If I’m guessing where Charles is now, he might be in the middle of the path from our treehouse to Lexigon. However, that's a long-distance, which surprises me. How did I manage to sprint this far?

“Vital Status,” I say under my hand that was covering my mouth.

Vital Status:

HP: 414.5/414.5

Rage: 0/100

Stamina: 131/385.5

I’m surprised. The distance I ran when the rogues were chasing me was around half a mile. If I remember what Charles said, the distance between our treehouse and Lexicon is three miles!

...Weird.

It's like, all of a sudden, I can run faster than before, not only that, longer.

The stamina bar is also recovering at a reasonable rate, even when I'm in this immense fire. I get like two points of stamina recovery per second.

This sudden change must've happened before the red orb went missing this morning, but I don’t know what exactly that orb changed within me.

"Wait… within me? W-wait did the orb…" I look at my chest. "Did the orb go inside me?"

It's a possibility; someone could have snuck in, taken the orb, then started messing around with me, but that doesn’t explain why or how they managed to mess up my status and make it begin buzzing out.

Not only that, from what Charles said during his historical lecture, the deities of this world designed this status screen. Well, that's what he said. I honestly don’t think what he read to find out is true.

Anyway, I don’t think there's an actual class that could do that, right? Not only that, the people who made all this stuff are deities, DEITIES! It's most likely that they tested this for thousands of years. So, I don’t think they would add a class that would break the damn status screen.

So overall, the true suspect of this unknown glitch to my status screen is most likely the red orb itself.

What did the red orb change exactly when my screen glitched? Wait… what is a glitch? Another word that I think I shouldn’t know during this time and age, but eh, I don’t care about all that nonsense at this point.

“Status!” All this questioning got me curious if my status screen is still... acting up.

Aden Haraldson:

Race Currently: Human (Teen)

Age: 13 Years Old

Guild: None

Classes Currently:

Warrior (Level 5)

Condition:

Normal

Stat Currently:

Strength: 56 Intelligence: 14

Dexterity: 41 Agility: 43

Perception: 25 Endurance: 41

Willpower: 16 Faith: 0

Charisma: 751 Luck: 158

But the moment it came up, it started spazzing out again.

"Of fucking course..."

I take a deep breath and start focusing on the situation.

The tears from my eyes had finally stopped... as the feelings within me turned from sadness and shock to confusion and curiosity.

How did this all happen? Who could’ve done all of this? And all those clean cuts too, could one person have done all of this? If it were, they must be from the warrior class. It still doesn’t answer the question about how all this fire appeared. Not only that, the fire seemed to have just occurred since there aren’t many buildings burnt to ash yet. So this all must have been done by multiple people.

I continued to think about who could have done this until I heard a young girl scream.

I pause.

It is a scream I recognize.

Layli!

I then began sprinting full speed ahead, as that is where the scream had come from.

Unseen Things:

But… if Aden hadn't started sprinting, he would have recognized a corpse on the ground next to many others. The corpse had a recognizable long nose on it. Sadly, if that person's face were not entirely covered in blood, he would have recognized the person even if he was running.

As the corpse had been Mr. Papperson’s, whose entire bottom half is missing, or otherwise, pulled out gruesomely by a red giant, who did so by the orders of an innocent-looking girl.

Main Perspective:

“Layli!” I scream in desperation.

Bad, really bad!

I’ve found the spot Layli's scream had come from, but there was nothing in the area other than corpses of dead soldiers. It's a scary sight, not a single sign of life anywhere. But I didn’t have time to stare at dead bodies all day!

I need to find Layli! She is the only person I know that's still alive in this burning town. Even if she is the person I dread, she still cares about me even when blind by all that love. Thanks to her, I felt welcomed at Lexigon, as she was the first person who welcomed me with open arms when we were both six years old.

I stand still for a few seconds, waiting for any hint of sound until hearing the same scream. I dash as fast I can towards the cry for help. I run from corner to corner, alleyway to another, not caring about the amount of stamina I have left.

I begin to breathe heavily as my stamina drops to the fifties. Many droplets of sweat start to creep down my face as I start to become exhausted. But still, I keep running, as it is a risk I’m willing to take if it means saving a life.

I draw my short sword with my right hand, knowing that I'm near my objective. I ran around another corner to a place I knew I’d run into.

The town square, or where you can say the fountain is. I prepare myself, knowing that I'll be facing head-on against an entire party of murderers, but what I saw in the town square, however, is unbelievable.

A special action has been performed! +1 PER

I widen my eyes in shock as I see a red-skinned giant. The red giant is four times my height and has two pointy, thick, and dirty white horns coming out from both ends of its head. It has a face similar to a male orc and two saber-tooth-like fangs coming out of both ends of its bottom jaw. The male giant also has long white hair that's all packed up into a top knot, or you can say man bun. It looks very muscular as well, as it has eight-pack abs, giant muscular arms, giant muscular legs, and just ALL MUSCLE.

It makes you want to yell, “MACHO!” without care, but I doubt the giant is going to do anything but flex, as it is wielding what seems like a giant, black steel cleaver. The cleaver itself is as big as the giant, but the only thing that makes it anything but cool is how it is covered entirely in blood.

The only thing left to describe this red-skinned giant man is that he is only wearing a long, dirty brown, worn-out, cloth skirt that went down to the giant’s knees, which is evident about what that skirt is covering. The skirt didn’t look tight, making it easy for the giant to move around in.

I lean against a wall, staring horrifically at the unknown red giant, as it's my first time seeing such a being. However, my focus moves elsewhere as I hear splashing from the fountain. I turn my head slightly until I catch sight of the person. The person I ran all this way for.

Layli.

I see her as her back is against the middle of the fountain, looking up at the giant with a horrified gesture. As Layli does, the giant looks back down on her emotionlessly, like she’s an insect. It raises its giant cleaver. Layli sat still and stared up at the giant hopelessly the moment it did. All the hope in her had disappeared.

Unseen Things:

The giant pauses for a few seconds until finally swinging down. Layli closes her eyes, knowing that this is the end for her. Her parents, her friends, everything she loved is gone.

No.

There is still one person she loves with all her heart.

Aden.

When she thinks of that name, she feels something clang onto her, like arms wrapping around her in warmth, telling her that everything will be alright. Layli released tension from her body. Then immediately, she is pulled out of the water. She felt like she was flying for a moment until crushing back down into the same water.

There is a huge crashing sound, a sound similar to metal crashing into stone at that exact moment. Her face is underwater for a few seconds until her head is pulled out of the water as she feels someone hugging her.

She slowly opens her eyes to meet face to face with her true love.

“Aden…” Layli smiles at the sight of his face. Aden smiles back.

“I’m sorry that I took so long.” Aden immediately picks Layli up as he says this, in a way similar to how a prince carries a princess. Then he jumps out of the fountain and quickly begins to make a run for it, expecting the giant to follow.

However, the giant didn’t. He turns his head and watches as Aden runs away while carrying Layli.

The giant stands there for a moment until questioning, “Will this be enough, Princess?” Its voice sounds beastly but gentle at the same time.

“Yes, that will be enough, Drezzan. Now go to your next objective.” A young girlish voice says behind the giant, known as Drezzan.

Drezzan nods and begins walking towards his next target. The girl smiles.

“The climax is near. Soon, you’ll be mine, Aden.” The cheeks of the girl, known as Lilith the Princess of Destruction, went completely red.

Main Perspective:

After another few minutes of running, I fell exhaustingly.

My legs feel utterly sore, and at the same time, my heart feels like it's going to burst at any moment.

A special action has been performed! +1 AGL

Vital Status:

HP: 414.5/414.5

Rage: 0/100

Stamina: 7/390.5

“Aden, are you ok?” Layli asks worryingly. She stands up as I put her down; her clothes continue to drip fountain water.

Of course, I’m FUCKING NOT! My fucking heart feels like it’s going to BURST! GOD DAMN IT!

Good thing I didn’t say that out loud.

“Y-yeah, I just need a breather…” I lay back against a wall while sitting.

There are still parts of this town that aren’t burning yet. Fortunately, we’re in the safe part of it, which means that I don’t have to worry about fire closing in on us. I can finally catch my breath without the worry of ashes going into my lungs.

I continue to look at my stamina bar as Layli and I rest in a small alleyway.

"I get around four points of stamina back per second. Good, it looks like it isn’t going to take long until I get all my stamina back." I think this as I continue to plan our escape.

“Thank you, Aden,” Layli says as I stand up.

“You’re welcome, Layli, but right now isn’t the time. We need to meet up with Charles and get-” But before I could say anything else, Layli walked up to me, then pressed her lips into mine. I paused as our lips made contact.

Our lips stay connected for a few seconds until Layli has finally taken a step back.

She takes a few steps back until falling over with a completely red face. We both say nothing as the alleyway becomes silent. It's a few moments later; Layli nervously says, “Y-you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that…” She says as she looks up at me.

Of course, I knew Layli, but I was too much of a dense idiot back then. Not until now.

I said nothing but smiled at her. I walk up to her, give her a hand, and say, “Let’s get out of this alive, okay?” Layli nods and firmly places her hand on mine, and I grasp it.

We began to walk out of the alleyway to the open street a moment later.

“I see you two have finished confessing.” I quickly draw my sword and face the left of us, moving Layli behind me. To meet the face, I knew I’d meet in due time.

A lot sooner than expected.

A special action has been performed! +1 INT

The owner of the red orb... and the cause of the massacre of Lexigon.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself, have I?” The girl says with her sinister grin, “My name Lilith, Lilith von Bloodbern,” she does a small bow with her hand on her chest, “and I’m one of the three current Princesses of Destruction.” She looks up at me with blood-colored eyes, “Pleased to meet you, Aden.”

“Is that all you’ve got to say?” I question hatefully, which Lilith giggles in return.

“Of course not; I've still got to describe how much fun it was killing everyone you loved here, right?” I grip the handle of my sword harder.

“If that's what you’re going to say next, then I'd rather not hear it,” I say as there was no sight of my smile. I look at Lilith with murderous intent.

There were a lot of things different about Lilith when we last met. She isn’t wearing her black cloak. However, she wore a one-piece, dark gothic lolita dress with many other things like black gloves and high heels. The dress had long sleeves that had ribbons wrapped around the wrist area. The length of the skirt itself seems to go down to the middle of her thighs. The only thing the dress laid bare is her shoulders; otherwise, the clothing is held up by strands linked to a giant silver ring wrapped around Lilith's neck. As if showing its beauty, the front center of the ring is a red ruby.

Those weren't the only things on her body, though, as there are many drawn black lines on her. It covers many parts of her body, but not intensely as they only cover small parts. The only thing those lines made uniquely was the very well-drawn black rose on the left side of her left thigh.

The only place that the lines didn’t cross was the right side of her face.

Lilith cackles, “I see...” She slowly raises her right hand and points a finger at me. A small flame forms on the tip of it. The flame grows until it is the size of her pinky finger, “Then how about we finish this play?”

I get into stance while making sure that Layli is behind me.

I wanted to kill Lilith, but that isn’t my primary goal here. No matter what, I need to protect-

“Firebolt.” Before I could finish my sentence in my head, the fire that formed on Lilith’s fingertip shot out at speeds similar to an arrow. It flies right at me; I brace myself, but… when it is about to touch my sword… it makes a vast curve and goes around my body.

Then not a second later… I hear a sound. A sound similar to an arrow hitting flesh… behind me.

I turn to look towards Layli to see a small hole in her chest, right where her heart used to be.

“A...den…” Layli's body begins to fall slowly, as if time has slowed down.

I screamed her name, but the moment I did…

She's already dead.