Her eyes quivered, seemingly sensing the danger. She tried to pull free her weapon, an unfruitful effort. Had she surrendered her weapon, she would have most likely won the duel. In the fraction of a second, she wasted trying to recover her sword, my right hand sprung towards her left wrist, grabbing it and crushing it. No bone was broken, but she yelped in pain and let go of her blade.

My left hand grabbed her by the throat, I lifted her from the ground and threw her down without letting go. Once she sprawled on the ground I stood over her, raised my right fist and prepared to strike. Her eyes opened wide as she saw my hand shooting towards her face. Moments before the impact, I deviated my fist from its course causing it to burrow itself deep into the ground.

"Well, I’d say we are done here. I’ll take this, thank you," I smiled at her, snatching a blue stripe from her bracelet and stepping away, hanging my mace to the belt around my waist.

The crowd was in awe. The eldest amongst the spectators looked at me with a mix of surprise and interest in their gazes, while the youngest instinctively took a step back once I laid my eyes on them, with their hands going to their bracelet as if trying to protect it.

Their actions were certainly not necessary, as I had neither the intention nor the strength to continue fighting. I was barely holding on, my skin so full of wounds and gashes it reminded me of a sheet of paper having gone through a shredder.

My left arm was mangled, not only because I had used it as an improper shield for blocking a greatsword but also because I had kept on using it, causing the damaged muscle fibres to unravel and break apart. I could now only wait for the remnants of electric-like aura to dissipate and my body to put itself together.

Suddenly, a series of low reverberating claps filled the air. They were monotone and low volume, but they commanded attention. Every single pair of eyes turned toward the source of the applause.

"Marvellous, child. Still so young, yet so vicious. You remind me of those old, terrible but glorious times," the voice of the “old-timer” made the surroundings vibrate.

Awe, respect, confusion and pure unbridled terror filled the eyes of the onlookers. Many even started to tremble in front of the unassuming yet regal appearance of the modest-looking man.

A groan broke the atmosphere. It was Lily, recovering from her aura exhaustion.

"It. Was. Incredible. Hey listen, I know it’s sudden but what do you think about…" she started to say, before raising her head and stopping abruptly when the man entered her field of view.

"Dad? What are you doing here," she continued.

I felt great discomfort. My hunch had proven correct: the man that I had first encountered after my arrival, disregarding the insignificant guard, was none other than Lily’s father, Tobias Miller, the oldest and most powerful archuman on the planet. And he had just watched me beat her daughter up.

Although many archs perceived emotions quite differently with respect to humans, this didn’t mean they didn’t cherish their offsprings. The problem was that I had never spent much time designing his character, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

I relaxed. Stressing myself out would be counterproductive. If he really wanted to eliminate me he would have already done so and moreover there was nothing I could do in that case: he could kill me before I could realise he had taken even a single step.

"Hello, my dear. I’m here for the usual occurrence," Tobias answered his daughter.

"It’s already time," she asked in a surprised tone.

Tobias answered with a polite nod and continued walking through the crowds. He passed right in front of me and gave me a smile, which I reciprocated.

The ground started to tremble. Muttering started in between the crowd and the people dispersed and walked towards the Perimeter. I stood still, curious about what was going to happen.

A shadowy front appeared on the horizon. I squinted my eyes and focused my sight on what had appeared. A sea of disgusting things the size of a small car donning a set of antennas, abnormally sharp pincers and more legs than I was comfortable with revealed itself. Their number was uncountable but they stretched for as long as the eye can see.

I heard alarms ringing in my head. This was the first time I witnessed a similar spectacle. The boundless black mass covered the earth and poured in our direction. It was a stampede, a phenomenon in which beasts traversed the lands of the world, destroying everything in their path.

Beasts were the second type of entity mana could birth. In a past long gone, Earth had been a flourishing world, cradle to everything that was living. When things had changed and the old world had died, mana had ravaged the planet.

Only a small percentage of humans were able to survive, thanks to the appearance of archs and genais and the creation of the Perimeters. Members of other species had in time died out, due to corrosion and starvation.

But the world had not forgotten its past and sometimes memories of those days were born anew. These were beasts, entities which at times were faithful replicas of past living beings while others were monstrous parodies, born of pure mana and composed of dirt, stone, mana and ether.

"This year’s stampede is peculiarly extensive. It might have something to do with the unexpected guest," he said, turning towards me.

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not. I felt like his gaze was drilling through my skull, revealing every single secret I had inside of me, even those I was not aware of myself.

Nevertheless, I kept my eyes on the approaching monster wave. I couldn’t get rid of the impression that the myriad eyes of those insects were centred on me, intent on watching me. Moreover, as they got nearer and nearer, I became certain they were in fact converging towards my position.