Our days passed quickly, and soon we were near the borders of Magnolia. The 80 odd miles here were taxing but enjoyable as I got to teach some students. Oh, and we fought so many of those Goddamn dire wolves I leveled up to 30! Anyway, I still had my mask of Hei, as well as my trusty katana. Three of the celestial spirit keys were with me and another was with the Mononobe siblings.

They, during the three days that we spent travelling, learnt quickly. I taught them several stances, attacks and parries, as well as the odd counter.

"So now that we're within the borders of Magnolia, do you two wanna spar with me?" I asked them this question. They nodded and got up, drawing their weapons. They still had the swords I gave them; there were no alternatives so they had to make do.

They took their stances. Yu prefered holding the sword above his head, point facing forward, whilst Mitsuki preferred the standard stance; sword held diagonally towards the opponent.

"Come at me!"

They obliged. Yu ran in front of Mitsuki and jumped in the air, blade held high. I jumped back as soon as his sword was close after he descended. I blocked a swipe from Mitsuki and palmed her temple.

She stumbled and before I managed to finish her off Yu stepped in. I brought my sword down and Yu parried it. A loud, metallic clang resounded. Yu's feet dug into the ground.

I did not stall, trying to overpower Yu; Mitsuki had already recovered and tried to stab me. I dodged and heard a whistling sound. I tried to step back but I couldn't. I glance down and see tree roots entangling themselves around my ankles. Try as I might, they don't budge.

Suddenly I hear a distinct whistling and ducked. A long green vine flew past my head. It tries to return for a second swing but I free myself from the roots. I run straight towards the siblings.

Yu drops the vine and draws his sword. As soon as the vine hit the ground, I crumbles into dust.

Mitsuki jumps.

"If you face the heavens," she starts. I look at her and suddenly elbowed in the stomach by Yu. "You get hit by the Earth. And if you look to the Earth..."

"Goddammit. I will fini-" I get kicked in the face by Mitsuki. "You get hit by the heavens." She finishes. 'Goddammit their heaven/earth combo is quite effective.'

"Well done. I will get serious now." Their eyes show shock, yet they didn't allow this to impede them. 'Good. My teachings worked.' I ran full speed towards them.

They held their stances, ready to defend against my attacks.

I finished them off rather quickly. I ran right at them. Yu tried to cleave me in half with a horizontal swipe, but I jumped over his attack and knocked him unconscious with the back of my katana. My momentum carried my right into Mitsuki. We crashed into each other and we both tried to recover. Fortunately, I recovered first. I smashed my palm into her temple and watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

I stood up. "Hehe. Good job guys. You learnt well. Who knows, maybe next time you might beat me!" I say to the unconscious pair.

Dylan started clapping. "Well done, sword instructor..."

"Ah shut up! You know that annoys me!"

He grinned. "But it's so fun to annoy you." He replies and I smile at him whilst giving him the finger.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. I gained a new title. Like Dylan kindly said, it is sword instructor. I gained this after I started teaching Yu and Mitsuki swordplay and their sword mastery had just gone up to beginner level 3 when the notification sounded. Dylan had been mocking me endlessly ever since. His only excuse was "I usually make fun of Ryan but since he's not here I will have to make do with you." What a bastard. Anyway, I sat down and removed my mask to eat.

A couple of minutes later, the siblings had finally woken up just as I had finished my food.

"Looks like the two sleepers have awoken.." I smirked. They grumbled something about killing me 1000 times before sitting down to eat.

I soon logged off. Tomorrow, I would finally reach Magnolia and meet Lucy.

Taking the helmet off, I began to wonder: Why am I so adamant on meeting Lucy? I never wanted to meet any before, so why?

'Ah fuck it. Let's see what types of monster I could kill.'

I went on my computer and searched the internet for information about Magnolia. I found several pieces of information that made Magnolia differentiate from Konohoa.

According to the internet, the enemies near it are of the same standard as the enemies near Konohoa, but that wasn't the problem.

Apparently, several NPCs had been disappearing all over the town. The local guards had no idea what was going on and were on high alert. Their mutilated bodies were found later. Many a player had left due to the scares. The adventurer's guild had issued a reward for the capture of the perpetrator of the crimes.

'Its like a freaking Jack the ripper again.'

Third person POV

It was a normal day in school. Many people were talking about Endless Online. Many spent a lot of time leveling up.

For some, it was an achievement. For others, it was something to brag about and some people unfortunately thought themselves superior to people of lower levels.

Others nearly talked about their experiences; their fights and their guilds. Some even talked about the phenomenon known as 'Kira.'

John smirked. Only he and Hajime knew who Kira truly was. He went back to reading his book called Higurashi. It was incredibly interesting but then...

A boy walked in arrogantly followed by two of his 'friends.' John glanced up and saw that that boy bore a striking resemblance to Hajime. That boy's name was Eizan. He was known to be so selfish and proud, he sometime didn't realise the simplest of things. John back to his book, uninterested. Eizan saw his uninterested attitude and was secretly angry. How dare that boy not show interest in him! He approached John with a swagger.

"So John, what's your level in Endless online?" He asked. Before John even replied he carried on talking, self-absorbed. "I am level 61 and I am in one of the best guilds in the game." He looked down at John and saw that the object of his anger was still uninterested in him. He grew even angrier. Eizan was, unfortunately, one of those people who had an elitist attitude. He valued level over anything and see HIM, a level 61, being ignored brought out his true personality.

"So what is your level?" He asked once again, this time leaving time for John to answer.

"30." Came the reply. Eizan was shocked. In this day and age, most people who played virtual reality games would grovel under a higher leveled person, but this...this level 30 dared to ignore him. Eizan grew incredibly enraged; he grabbed the book John was reading and dangled it in front of his. His two lackeys behind him grinned; another person to bully.

No-one tried to interfere. Not because of their fear of Eizan or his lackeys, but because of John.

"What the hell is this?" Eizan said. "This doesn't make any sense at all!" He held it higher. John, who was still sitting, couldn't reach his interesting book.

Eizan threw it over to one of his lackeys. That bully then threw it to the other, shouting "pass!" John stood up and walked over, determined to get his book back.

The guy caught it and held it up, laughing. "Aahaha. Come and get it!" He threw the book over to Eizan as soon as John got close. Eizan caught it and laughed.

"Ahaha." He spread his arms and carried on laughing. John's face grew serious. Several students that knew John back away. They knew what was going to happen.

Eizan, oblivious to the danger, carried on. "Over here John! Here! Here!" He laughed again. "What's wrong John? Eh?" He heard whistling and saw... A chair headed straight towards his face.

"ARGH!" He screamed when it hit him. He fell down with a bang, dropping the book. Most people would be content with this but not John. He picked a chair and dragged it over to Eizan's body. John raised the chair. Eizan's friends stared John in horror and shock.

He slammed it down, ignoring the cry of pain that rose from the lying body in front of him. He raised it once more and hit Eizan again and again and again. By the time he was finished, Eizan was on his side, crying holding his head with his hands.

John dropped the chair and it fell with a clatter by his feet. He panted for a second to regain control of his emotions. He looked at Eizan with disgust and started talking, his voice serious.

"Eizan, shut your mouth for a second."

"Since you had the face as my best friend, I endured it for a while. But I'm just about fed up with that arrogant attitude of yours." Several other students crowed round the door, yet none approached.

"The next time you decide to bully me, I won't listen to any of your excuses. So, with that in mind..."

"Nice to meet you."

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Hello. It's me, Tealover! So. have any of you seen Higurashi no cano? It's messed up and the inspiration for some of this chapter. Anyway. Here's a question for you people:

Care to guess who Lucy's character is going to be?