July, 1129.

“I wonder if it will rain today?”

A strong gust of wind swept over the city, along with it, dark clouds large enough to cover the blue sky. A girl carrying a bunch of scroll to the point of overflowing from her backpack muttered to herself.

“This can’t be a good sign.”

She tapped her backpack lightly, an act to reassure herself and sighed. She took out a large bamboo hat and wore it on her head. Not long after, the rain began to pour, and gradually increased in ferocity, making it a heavy rain and a high chance of becoming a storm soon.

She tottered on the road, almost looked careless and somewhat in aimless direction. But her eyes betrayed that expectation. With subtle movements that one could barely notice, occasionally she would glance behind her back.

Two? No, three people. All men. Amateur.

A smirk for less than a second appeared on her face.

She kept walking and stopped in an alley devoid of people. Behind her were the three stalker, each of them wore a leather armour and swords. Their faces were covered with masks with only their eyes remained visible. They showed as little as skins as possible, trying not to leave any clues or hint of who they are.

The girl stopped in the middle of the alley and faced them. Despite their masks, she could see them through as if she possess clairvoyance ability. Their vulgar expressions and desires seeped out through their body, that even an insect could feel it.

Their ugliness is almost palpable…

Who are they? Where did they come from? What do they want? These questions were irrelevant to her. It does not concern her at all. The only thing that she cared about was, these stalker are trying to harm her. That gave her enough reason to do what she was about to do.

“Ohohou, what’s this, what’s this? What could you people possibly want from me, I wonder?”

The stalker in the middle threatened with a deep voice while pointing his sword at her neck.

“Hand over all your belongings, and we might just let you go.”

The girl in turn answered with a small chuckle and escalated to a hearty laugh quickly. Tears dropped from the corner of her eyes and her cheeks filled with the color of red. Her small canine teeth were visible to the surprised stalker.

The stalkers stared at each other and reached a conclusion on themselves that the girl they are robbing, is for a matter of fact, ‘have a screw loose in the head’.

“Oh, oh! Apology, apology! It is not my intent to confuse you gentlemen at all! Not at all! It was just- hahaha! I can’t believe you just said such a cliche dialogue! It almost as if you came straight outta the novel I just read the other day! Hahaha!”

The stalker didn’t reply, they nodded to each other and approached her. A triangle formation, surrounding the girl.

Ohohou, these amateurs seems to have a good judgement. Well, not that good if they know what’s good for them! Hehehe~

The stalkers knew that the girl they are targeting isn’t someone ordinary. They realized that she possess some capabilities to protect herself and prepared themselves to take her out.

After a brief moment of silence, the girl’s laugh stopped and she remained motionless in the centre of the stalkers.

The heavy rain dampen the stalkers clothing, making them somewhat heavier than normal, thus restricting their movements. However, the girl was not exactly in a better situation herself. On her back was a giant backpack filled with unknown scrolls, and some of it even caught the rain which made it even heavier. Technically speaking, the situation should be more favourable towards the stalker.

But that was not the reality.

The stalkers made the first move and tried to stab the girl at the same time, but she dodged it by jumping and kicked two of them. A movement that seems very unlikely to happen coming from a girl like this. But it did happen, and what’s more surprising than that is, she knocked both of them with one kick.

The last stalker couldn’t comprehend what just happened. It happened so quick that he could not process it fast enough. A silhouette of a punch flashed in front of his eyes and everything turned dark.

Everything happened in less than 5 seconds. It was all over.

“My, My, that’s not fun at all~”

“Shall I entertain you then?”

The girl jumped away with a somersault and faced the figure that appeared out of nowhere behind her.

“Reki…? Ohohou, so this is was a trap you made after all? NO PROBLEM! COME AT ME!!”

The canine teeth in her mouth grew sharper as she provoked the man in front of her.

His red long hair was wet from the heavy rain, it faintly swayed around blown by the wind. He who called Reki, shook his head.

“It was just a coincidence I met you here. Though, I figured they followed you, so I just tagged along.”

“You knew!? Why didn’t you do something!?”

The girl jumped in surprise and her eyes turned into a slit.

“Why would I? After all, we are…”

“As expected the Flame Breaker, you would try to down your rival with every means necessary! I can’t believe you are what people consider as my equal! I can’t believe it!”

“Hold your horses there, do you actually think I would use such underhanded method to down you?”

“How should I know! You are the type of guy that would burn even ladies into cinders! I can’t trust you!”

“Gender has no meaning in a deathmatch, furthermore…”

“Furthermore…?”

The girl tilted her head awaiting his answer.

“...We are not equal, Ghia, The Lightning Wallop.”

“Don’t call me that!!”

Reki scoffed and turned around. He walked away without even bother to answer her retort, only to give a cold farewell under the heavy rain.

“Humph.”

The girl called Ghia crossed her hands and sticked her tongue out. Being surrounded by passed out stalkers didn’t give her any comfort and she left only after taking any object of value from them.

...

The day is nigh.

An event that will be held every 100 years soon will arrive. Over thousands of participants will come from all over the world and gather to compete within the sacred land not quite far from the capital. A place where only people of importance can visit, guarded by the best knights chosen personally by the Sage of Bitia, the Tower of Nerio.

Those who possess the bravery and valor to conquer their enemies, overcome them, and claim victory shall obtain the ultimate reward they wished for.

The Tower of Nerio exist since ancient times, before even the Empyrean War. Nobody knows how long it has been around, but experts claimed it exists for billions of year.

Ancient mechanism that is believed created by an Empyrean that contains all sorts of treasure and relics that could advance mankind toward the future. Each century, the tower will begin to activate by itself, and along with it, Dymos, the messenger that will be present on behalf of the Empyreans.

To choose a candidate and to make them a ‘protagonist’, and to fulfill their wish. At the end, All 71 Empyreans will be present and the ‘protagonist’ will have to choose a side.

A large scale event that involves the whole resident of the planet. Gender, cultures, morality, races and languages are irrelevant. Empyreans’ only concern is one.

Will the winner be worthy of them?

Somewhere in the capital, there was a black-haired man. He wore a long-sleeved shirt and a shoulder holster for carrying swords made of leather. His hands were covered in bandages, leaving his fingers exposed.

He didn’t want his clothing to get wet, and decided to take shelter inside a small noodle restaurant. He ordered the cheapest one from the menu even though he wanted to spend more. He needed a place to sleep with roof above his head for the next few weeks at least, every single cald saved is cald earned.

As he stared outside the window of the shop, he muttered.

“...The time for a conclusion is near.”