The desert was quiet. It would've been dead silent if it weren't for the windy sands that nonchalantly blew past the broken swords, armour and bodies that were scattered across the field.

Then more wind began gathering more viciously. A small tornado in the sky that sucked in the sand. But nothing about this tornado was natural. Normal tornadoes weren't green after all.

Looking down on the desert, with two mini tornadoes carrying his two feet, was a man holding an emerald halberd.

He hovered in the sky on top the small tornado of green wind, whistling at the sight of the field. He wore casual leather clothing nd no armour. Despite the heat, he wore a particular jacket that had a very familiar symbol on it.

General Soma.

The colour of the golden sand mixed in with his green winds as he lowered himself to the ground.

One of the mini tornadoes flew circles around the General before eventually transforming back into a tiger/dog-hybrid like creature with emerald eyes and fur. It kneeled at Soma's foot. He rubbed the creature's head gently.

"Go search my boy." The general ordered causing the creature to run off and start sniffing the sand.

The general went in the opposite direction, kneeled down and looked at the nearest body that laid near where he landed. He let out a whistle, "Yep! You're dead..."

He walked around, occasionally poking the bodies with the end of his weapon's shaft, "Let's see...You're dead... you're dead, oh you're so dead... this one is definitely dead...ah yikes, you're dead dead. And as for you my friend... you are very dead."

He found the mages as well but if the soldiers couldn't survive there was no chance that the mages did.

"Some died to 'Sand Leeches'… but most died to-" The wind general eyed a body and poked it with his weapon's shaft.

Upon poking the body, a tiny current of electricity travelled from the dead body, through Soma's weapon and into his hand, giving him a tiny shock.

He let out an impressed whistle as he shook his hand, "Wow, must've been quite the monster."

The general continued scouting the sandy graveyard that was once a war zone, looking for something.

After not being able to find what he was looking for, he concluded that their bodies must've been fully devoured by sand leeches or buried deeply into the sand. Or perhaps they left the field ages ago?

There was only one way to confirm whether the people that Soma was looking for survived or not.

He reached his hand towards the sky, fingers outstretched.

Few seconds later, particles appeared out of nowhere in the sky, slowly forming into two different sized jackets. Jackets that had the same symbol and colour palette as Soma's.

"Ah, so they really are dead."

With wind carrying the two jackets, they slowly fell into his arms. He read the names inside them.

"Ah, General Venom... His obsession with raping Elisabeth demons was a bit strange. But he did buy me a drink once, what a shame... General...Bane? I sure hope I pronounced that right... oh well, I never interacted with the guy, so rest in peace I guess."

He looked at the two jackets. A questioning eyebrow slowly raised itself, "Strange. The report said three generals were here. So where's-"

He heard his pet bark from the distance.

"What is it boy?"

Vicious winds lifted Soma up as he launched himself across the field within seconds, still maintaining that casual posture.

The creature was sniffing a particular body on the ground.

Soma's mouth formed a surprised O-shape as his eyed the body. The body was breathing.

"Oh wow! Ennard, you're alive?"

No response. He was alive but unconscious, half buried into the sand. Soma got here quite quickly all things considered. But it had still been a few days since the three generals and their men were reported missing. So the fact he was still alive was quite amazing, in fact, he should be dead. It certainly earned another impressed whistle from Soma.

The sand leeches were avoiding him as if too scared to go near Ennard's body, which is equally as strange since they shouldn't have a sense of fear.

Soma moved his fingers slightly causing small winds to lift Ennard's body up from the sand. As soon as he did, Ennard's General jacket re-appeared around him.

The green wind blew against Enanrd, causing the wind general to flinch.

"Oh? You're a lot stronger than the last time I saw you... and we literally met last week. Did you go through a rapid skill unlocking?"

Naturally, he got no answer. It only sparked more questions about what type of monster they must've fought that would trigger such a powerful "unlockening".

"Hmm... Well that's always a plus. But losing two generals is still a heavy lost…so... what are your thoughts-" Soma didn't even need to turn around to know he had already arrived, "Head General?"

The new person who had arrived hadn't made a sound. One second it was just Soma and his pet, and then one moment later, there he was, his huge shadow looming over Soma's body.

The individual who had mysteriously appeared was incredibly muscular and almost twice the size of Soma. Compared to Soma's slim figure, this man looked like a giant human. He looked incredibly old especially when placed next to Soma's shining youth. He also wore a similar jacket that all the other generals wear, however, the one he wore was more red rather than blue.

The Head General: ?

"Whatever wiped out these men…." Soma raised his heilberg and pointed it towards a direction. There was nothing in that direction except for sand but he could feel it. The winds were warning him about a hole covered in sand that lead down deep into a large expansive cave, "It's in there. Shall we go finish it? Or shall we call for the help of our beloved heroes again? The original ones I mean."

The last statement of clarification was clearly a joke, however, the head general did not laugh.

"…" The large old man stared in that direction with the same emotionless look on his face.

"Anything that's able to defeat three generals will surely become problematic in th-"

"Leave it."

Soma paused. He opened his mouth. Stopped. Then breathed in slowly, "…Okay, alright, sure."

Who was he to question the Head General's actions anyway?

"Also...Cease all hunts on the demon fakes."

Scratch that. Now it was time to question-

"Come again?"

Soma's casual expression remained frozen in place. Completely frozen. As if time for his face had stopped yet something in his eyes changed in tone.

"All generals and soldiers who are assisting in the fake hunts… order them to stop. If the people wish to continue, let them, but our army will have no part in it... We've lost too many General already, we can't afford to lose any more. They are better off helping our people rebuild the lost we suffered from the war…"

Soma chuckled. The type of chuckle you hear after a joke, even though Soma knew very well that this man was not capable of making such jokes.

"Do not worry," The Head General assured, "I will all take the backlash."

"You say that, but you of all people should know how much our people love to kill the messenger."

"Kill you? Was that another one of your jokes?"

"Twas a figure of speech, Head General….And what shall I say about our precious, fallen comrades?"

"We will leave the corpses here. As far as the everyone knows… these generals were killed by an evolved, undiscovered form of giant sand worms."

Giant sand worms were fierce but they were C-rank at the most. A single general could wipe an entire colony of them if they invested enough time into it.

"Everyone except Ennard, you mean… He won't take that lightly, you know…He's become quite powerful. He could be a valuable assert… He might quit if he hears that."

"If he wishes to quit, then so be it. He was expected to be dead anyway…"

Soma slowly nodded his head, probably a bit too slowly, "Alright… okay, whatever you say."

Placing Ennard over his shoulder, Soma turned around and looked up at the sky while his pet ran circles around, transforming into wind.

"Head General… Since Lily refuses to replace our dead queen and king, you've practically become the strongest political figure of our kingdom alongside the church and the adventurers... just know that also means the people will judge your actions more harshly."

With those last words, strong green winds lifted him up as he flew away on his tornado.

But then, 10-20 giant sand worms suddenly emerged from the sand, all launching towards the flying Soma. They were so large and long that despite being in the air, they were all able to approached the wind General, all bearing their thousands of tiny teeth within their mouths.

"Ooh wow! Are those the 'evolved, undiscovered giant sand worms' that I've been hearing so much about." Soma said with sarcasm leaking from every corner of his voice box, he flung his Helberd in one direction, causing several wind blades to attack all of them at once.

Within three seconds of them surfacing from the sand, all approaching giant sand worms were sliced into 5-10 pieces as their dark green blood splattered all over the sand and the corpses. The defeated sand worms shorted disappeared into particles as all monsters do.

"Wow, so strong! No wonder they were able to beat three generals…" Soma snicked as he zoomed across the sky to leave the desert.

As for the giant sand worms that attacked the Head general… they were already long dead before they could even take a good look at him.

The head General stood there silently, alone and surrounded by the corpses of his soldiers.

He stared at the sand. A spot where a cave entrance once stood. He could see the remains of the cave. It must've been obliterated by the battle. The entrance that lead deeper into a cave system, the one that Soma pointed out, it was covered in sand. He was standing directly on top of it now. However, he did move nor did he have any plans of exploring that cave.

Instead, the head general spoke to himself:

"I should've known… that you would return one way or the other…."

The Head General slowly turned around and walked away…

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

"Lily please… we have to leave. I promised the Samurai I would take care of the others…"

"Without the Samurai?! How?!"

"I don't know, we… we'll managed somehow."

"But the Samurai promised she'll come back! SHE PROMISED!"

"Lily listen to me… if three generals really are on their way, then…. The only people capable of facing them alone would be the original heroes themselves. So please, we need to escape while the Samurai is holding them off-"

"NO! NO! I'M STAYING! THE SAMURAI WON'T LOSE! I KNOW SHE WON'T! SHE'LL COME BACK, I'M SURE!

"Lily…"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HURT SHE'LL BE WHEN SHE COMES BACK TO SEE ALL OF YOU GONE!? I'M STAYIN! I CAN'T LEAVE HER ALONE! I CAN'T!"

Before he could protest, Lily4339 stormed off.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

The night was old at this point yet everyone in the small cottage was wide awake. Their tea had long been finished yet the cups remained firmly in their hands.

"No wonder they ran away."

Lily4339, Alfred and I turned to look at the Reaper.

Alfred made no comment, his arms crossed as he sat at the table with Lily while the reaper and I sat up on the two single beds.

"Nowadays, the perception of generals have been severely overshadowed by the existence of the Original Heroes… but they are far from pushovers… Heck, even the soldiers themselves are difficult to deal with so you would need to be one hell of a person to lead an army of them. Most Generals are capable of taking on a B-rank monster on their own…You might as well count them as natural disasters."

It was scary to imagine someone being strong enough to defeat a monster like Viridescent on their own, "You've fought one?"

"I wasn't even a Reaper back then so to say I "fought" one would be incredibly inaccurate. But I have seen what one can do closely. Honestly, the only people capable to taking on three generals at once would be-"

"One of the original heroes themselves," Lily4339 interrupted, "I know. The 'older ones' said the same thing. To be honest, I agree with you there…I was probably the foolish one for staying behind."

A short wave of silence followed after that.

It was hard to comment on that particular topic. In hindsight, it worked out quite well for her. But during the moment, the more logical course action would've been to run. To be fair, the "wiser" course of action would've depended on whether you believed the Samurai was going to win or not.

"What happened after that?" I asked, "You said the Samurai came back almost half dead right? How did she survive?"

Lily looked down at her cup, as if the cup was reflecting the memory she was remembering, "Well… I was panicking… I honestly didn't know what to do so I just sat there, staring as Sensei laid there, dying…. But then I randomly received the skill that allowed me to switch skill trees. A skill that traveled between skill trees."

From there, both the Reaper and I could guess the rest of the story but Lily continued-

"I immediately switched to one first healer class I saw and began doing everything I could, activating every heal skill I had. I even unlocked more skills as I healed Sensei."

That brought up an interesting idea: if fighters allegedly unlock a lot of skills when they are on the 'verge of death' (similar to what happened to me with Viridescent), then it would make sense that healers would unlock lots of skill if someone precious to them was "on the verge of dying" right in front of them. Of course, that was just my speculation.

"And that was enough to save her?" I asked.

Lily shook her head, "the first healer class I picked had a skill that told me that Sensei's condition was still critical but at that point, I used up all the available skills and weren't unlocking new ones. They also all had long cooldowns."

"So what did you do?"

"I switched a different healer class," Lily said causing both Yukari and me to look at her with a surprised look, "I had about around 30-40 healers classes to pick from so… I kept switching between each of them. I would pick one healer class, use every skill available, then immediately switch to another healer class and do the same. When I switched back to the first healer class I choose, I realised all the cooldowns had reset themselves completely."

We both stared at her, eyes widening ever so slightly.

That… that was smart. Like… Really smart. I thought to myself. It was obvious that even the Reaper didn't expect Lily to think of something like that but I guess in moments of desperations, your mind will do anything it can think of.

Lily had essentially discovered a small loophole. When first starting a skill tree from a reset, the first few skill you get are usually close to useless. In most cases, the few few skills a healer gets can barely heal a tiny scratch and would have ridiculously long cooldowns that could last up to weeks. In fact, the healer skill tree of the original hero Yukari doesn't even start with any heal skills hence 90 percent of Yukari fakes don't even have the ability to heal.

However… if you have a skill that allows you to endlessly reset yourself with no restrictions plus the fact that the switch resets all cooldowns… What you basically have is unlimited healing. Granted, it would be painfully slow, but still unlimited.

"I didn't sleep at all that day," Lily continued, "I just kept switching and healing, switching and healing, switching and healing for hours and hours and hours…"

It seemed like Lily was becoming exhausted just from remembering the memory.

"And then she… Sensei finally opened her eyes." Lily said with a tired smile, "She still couldn't move. But she was alive. We continued to survive off whatever scraps that was left behind. We even ate bugs at some point. For months, Sensei couldn't even stand up properly. I spent every day, healing, eating, healing, sleeping and then more healing."

It must've been a really close battle if the Samurai was left that injured.

"Each day was terrifying, I dreaded the day that soldiers would come back to kill us both and yet... They never did. I'm actually not sure why-"

"Because no one knows that it happened in the first place." The reaper interrupted suddenly.

This time it was Lily's turn to be shocked, "W-what?"

Even Alfred and I were a bit confused at what she meant.

"Some humans still talk about to this day… About how a "mysterious evolved sand worm" killed two General in a sudden ambush and how it drove one General to complete insanity," Yukari explained, "allegedly, the monster, which was already injured by the other three generals, was finished off by General Soma and the current Head General. The only survivor from the initial attack was General Ennard: The Golden Sword Bringer. However, after he returned home, he remained adamant that it was actually a Lily fake who defeated him and the other two generals along with all of their men… but naturally… no one believed him and to be honest, neither did I. The people labelled him as "mentally sick" and he was later stripped of his General rank for making offensive, blasphemous claims against the title of General. I heard he's just a normal citizen nowadays."

Lily's mouth kept widening as each word left Yukari's mouth. She clearly had no idea. But her shock was quickly replaced with utter confusion, "B-but why?"

Yukari shrugged, "Who knows… Maybe they didn't want to tarnish the reputation of the other Generals. Fakes are considered to be extremely weak after all."

That did seem like the most logical assumption but it felt like there was something deeper to it. A person guilty of killing two generals should be one of the most wanted people in the country. And yet not even the Reaper knew about the Samurai's existence. She would've looked for the Samurai sooner otherwise. I guess we'll never know.

Lily shortly finished the rest of her story. After the Samurai was finally able to get on her feet, the Samurai lead Lily here to this blue mountain which is where the Scout eventually found them. When I asked why they didn't go to the "forest" where the beast-men lived, Lily said that, apparently, while the Forest could make an exception for the Samurai, there might have been potential conflicts regarding Lily4339 since fakes in general aren't allowed to enter that place.

"Or maybe… she just wanted to go somewhere to be alone," Lily added, "Sensei does spend a lot of time thinking and mediating at the top of that blue mountain, after all."

That could also be it. It would be a natural response to an event like that. I couldn't imagine how the Samurai must've felt at that time. Everything that the Samurai built using her blood, sweat and time to build… all wasted within a day… Even someone like the calm and composed Samurai would be shaken by something like that.

We were both interrupted when the Reaper suddenly rose up from the bed.

Lily tensed a little when the Reaper approached her silently. She must've expected to get scolded again or something judging from Lily's expression.

"Y-yes?"

I could've sworn Lily was beginning to sweat at how close Yukari was to her. I will admit, Yukari can be very intimidating at times. Especially when you meet her for the first time. I could tell Alfred was already having flashbacks in his mind.

The Reaper placed a hand on Lily's shoulder before saying, "Thanks for the tea. It was good."

"Eh?... Oh! T-thank you? I mean y-yeah, of course, no worries." Lily stuttered as she took the Reaper's cup from her.

"The switching between healer classes was a very good move," The Reaper complimented as she headed towards the door, "but my advice still stands: pick one, any one of them, it doesn't matter which you choose… then stick with it till your grave."

Lily gulped as she looked down at her cup. The was probably the nicest form of criticism I have ever heard come out of the Reaper's mouth.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"I just want to have a chat with the… "general killer" herself… she's taking too long."

"Oh she probably got distracted by an 'interesting air fish', she tends to do that." Lily said while giving her best impression of the Samurai's tone.

She seemed awfully calm about the Samurai coming home this late. Then again, who wouldn't be calm when the person in question is that strong.

It was then I remembered our first "rough" encounter with the Samurai. I got up, ran out the house and yelled to her back, "You better not start another fight with her!"

"I won't!"

I half believed those words.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

The Reaper expected the forest to be dark but it was quite bright from above. Not because of the moon but due to large amounts of Angler Air fish, swimming in the high tree branches.

They had no pupils, dark blue skin and long sharp teeth. But of course the most notable and visible feature of them was the fin like appendage on their forehead that held a small ball of blue light.

With many of them swimming up there, it was like the mountain's impression of what stars looked like.

So even at night, this mountain remained blue.

After climbing the mountain to the halfway point-

"Oh hello there."

There she was. The Samurai. Dragging a large net of air fish behind her.

"My apologies. I got carried away and may have caught too many for all of us to eat… and then I got distracted by this interesting air fish."

The Reaper, hands in the pockets of her shadow jacket, looked at the Samurai up and down with her eyes. It was hard to notice before since the Reaper was so focused on fighting and due to the fact that the Samurai was almost fully clothed from neck to bottom unlike the original Lily.

But now, even in the night, she spotted them, hiding right beneath the edges of the Samurai's sleeves…. There were scars.

"Did you need something?" She asked.

"Yeah," The Reaper started, "just wanted to ask whether you've ever met a Yukari fake wearing wooden glasses with the skill tree: Librarian."

"Librarian? With wooden glasses you say…" The Samurai took a long moment to think. She must've known hundreds of fakes in the past so the Reaper waited patiently.

"… No, I do not think I have."

"I see…"

"My apologies. Is she a lost friend or sister that you're trying to find?"

The Reaper didn't answer that question.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

Alfred, and I helped Lily clean up all of the cups. She had a bucket of water in which they used to clean them. We continued to discuss things. We may have to skip dinner at this point.

"This is a really nice place. How did you get all of this?"

"Umm, well it used to be a small shack made of literal sticks. But then slowly, day by day, we built it into this- well, it's more fair to say sensei built this place. I mainly just assisted her. She provided everything. Many times she would often disappear for a while and then come back with the materials needed. She would also come back with really random items… like this teapot for example."

It truly was a nice comfy place. So comfy that the more I looked at it, the more my mind kept trying to convince me that this was my true home.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

"Your student told us your backstory."

"Is that so?" The Samurai didn't seem bothered by it nor did she seem surprised, "and what did you think of it?"

"You're a horrible teacher."

The Samurai chuckled gently, "Lily is a lot older than she acts, I may have been a bit too lenient with her decisions. If I had been a bit more stern with her, she would not have abused her reset skill so much for so long…and if I had just been a bit more strict with those Arthur hunters, I might've prevented their deaths…"

The Reaper did not randomly laugh like a maniac, she did not snicker, she did not grin or say much of anything. She simply remained quiet, said nothing and stared as the Samurai stared down at the ground.

"What would you have done?" The Samurai asked. `

"Probably the same as you."

"I see… and how would you have felt if you were in my position?"

Another moment of silence swam by across the two fakes. Yukari had to think before answering.

"Well firstly… I wouldn't win against three generals as I am now… Secondly, if a situation like that ever happens to my village… I hope they run…Rather than stay to get slaughtered."

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

"Every time I ask her, Sensei would keep telling me that running away was an understandable response and that she did not blame them for doing so," Lily explained, "she agrees that it was probably very selfish of her to ask everyone to stay. But deep down… I think she was deeply hurt… being abandoned by the same community you spent so long building by yourself from scratch… that's probably why the Samurai rejected your offer. She might be scared of going through that again…"

After hearing that, it made me wonder about what Fake Town would do if they were put in that same position. Would they also run? Would it be foolish of them to have faith in the Reaper just like how Lily had faith in the Samurai?

Despite knowing each person from Fake Town, it was question I could not answer.

As for the Samurai. I at least understand now why she initially refused and it was no wonder the Reaper and I lost so effortlessly to her. A person capable of going up against three generals… She certainly wouldn't need us for protection.

Not to mention their home was infinitely more comfortable to live in compared to what we have back at Fake Town.

It had become even more obvious that we're the ones who really need the Samurai. But if she doesn't want to go then what right did we have to force her? It's not we could force her even if we wanted to.

Lily had washed the last cup and was putting them away in a small cupboard. We then moved onto lighter topics such as all the different types of air fish that Lily has tried with the Samurai. Apparently they taste quite different to regular fish which wasn't a surprise to me.

As we did, from the corner of my, I saw Alfred randomly stand up from his chair by the window and face the door.

"What is it Alfred?"

"…" He told me he heard the sound of a twig snapping so he wanted to investigate in case it was a nearby monster.

"Oh ok," I said to him, "don't wander too faa…"

Alfred walked to the door, his armour clanking with each footstep. He grabbed the handle and managed to open it about halfway before I swiftly got up and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

Everything paused.

He slowly looked at me and I looked back at him, my eyes unblinking.

Close the door. I mouthed with my lips.

He did.

Lily titled her head at us, "What's wro-"

I glared at her as I placed my index finger in front of my mouth. She tensed.

"Hey Lily!" I said, forcing a bright casual tone, "by the way, there was something I noticed about the bed, could you check it out?"

"O-oh, umm, sure?"

"Alfred, please close the windows, it's getting cold in here."

He nodded at me and I nodded back. He walked around, grabbed the small, wooden window doors of each side and gently shut them.

"What did you want me to check?" Lily asked, she was very confused and I didn't blame her.

"Oh just under the bed…"

"U-under the bed?" Lily crouched down and looked. There was nothing under the bed.

"You gotta look a bit closer to see it." I said.

She looked at me and I looked back, giving her the same look I gave Alfred.

She silently gulped, now a bit scared as she went to hide under the bed.

With my hand, I pointed Alfred to stand with his back against the wall on the opposite of the door so he would have full view of the entire room.

I sat on top the bed where Lily was hiding.

All land monsters here were aquatic and required water to breathe. Lily had told me beforehand that the Samurai picked this specific spot since it was far away from all nearby bodies of water and the air fish from above aren't able to swim down to the lower parts without suffocating. In other words, there shouldn't be any nearby monsters.

A twig snapping. A snapping noise soft enough so that I wouldn't hear it during my conversation with Lily but still loud enough to catch the attention of Alfred who was sitting near the opened window. As if trying to…

Maybe it was just the wind? If I'm being too paranoid then it's nothing a simple apology can't fix. But if it's-

A loud, monstrous, distant roar suddenly shook the entire house. The tea cups and other items clattered loudly against each other. The wooden walls and floor vibrated.

Alfred and I pulled out our weapons out of reflex. It didn't sound like it was nearby but whatever it was, it must be huge.

"What was that?"

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

"Has that thing always been here?" Asked the Reaper.

They were both stretching their necks in order to look straight up at something.

"Yes," The Samurai answered as she reached for the handle of her katana, "But it has been in a deep slumber for as long as Lily and I have lived here so… why is it awake now?"

Right above them, with it's long tail fully wrapped around at least 10 tree trunks… was a light blue serpent.

It had large thick scales and its mouth was wide open, revealing a glowing source of light coming from its throat.

Above it's main head were the words:

"Levi: The Air Leviathan"

Classification: B-Rank

The monster roared, sending loud blue sound waves in their directions.

The Samurai flinched while Yukari's shadow jacket automatically went to cover her ears.

Upon the roar attack, both fakes began floating off the ground as if gravity had suddenly switched off for them.

The Angler Air Fish. There were hordes of them. They all began swimming downward towards the two fakes. They usually shouldn't be able to reach the lower parts of the forest but it must've been made possible by Levi's unique ability.

But the Samurai paid little attention to that as she was more focused on an odd detail about the air monster. The monster's eye had a dagger stabbed into it and it had several visible cuts on its neck.

The horde of Angler Air Fish swam towards them like a series of slwo, descending lasers, bearing their sharp teeth while Levi powered up another attack.

"Hang on Reaper, I will deal with this quic-" The Samurai froze in shock when she saw someone right behind the Reaper's back.

That someone had stabbed a dagger right into the Reaper's neck.

Shortly after, another dagger was plunged into the Samurai's neck as well.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

Alfred eyed all corners of the room. So did I.

He had his large great-sword raised and pointed towards the door.

My eyes were darting everywhere. Through the roof? The windows? Or maybe through the walls from behind us?

That monstrous roar. Lily said it was her first time hearing something like it.

I'm not sure what was happening but that roar confirmed one thing: something wasn't right.

After the loud roar, I gave up on pretending. We simply remained dead silent, listening for every soft sound our ears could pick up.

I stood in front of the bed that Lily was hiding under. I could hear her breathing get louder.

My hands. They were shaking as it grasped the stone sword and shield.

The Samurai and Reaper still weren't back.

"Alfred, if it's a monster, pay close attention to how it moves…"

Alfred listened but kept scanning the room.

"But if it's what I think it is… it's best to be as unpredictable as you can."

The door creaked, opening slightly by itself.

We tensed.

It was silent now… Too silent.

Every sound we were paying close attention to: the rustling leaves, the swimming air fish from above, the waving grass… it all stopped.

I opened my mouth to talk but I did not hear my voice. Alfred, who doesn't have a voice, told me he also couldn't hear anything anymore.

The door. It was opened.

There. A man wearing all black and a mask to hide his face, standing perfectly still at the threshold of Lily's home.

Alfred almost went to attack but I stopped him with my arm.

"Defensive Gift." We both used the same skill on each other.

Burst!

I did not hear it. But a large stream of water blasted through the wall behind Alfred's back. It directly hit him in the back, launching him towards the man at the door.

The man moved. Spikes protrude out of his metal fist as the water cannon sent Alfred towards him. He swiftly punched my knight's helmet and smashed him into the ground.

They were fast. Not good. Alfred can't deal with swift enemies.

A second man in all black kicked straight through the wooden window doors, right into the house.

I dived to the floor just in time to dodged the sharp blade of his foot.

I expected adventurers or maybe soldiers… but these guys were clear Assassins.

I fell on my back, holding my stone shield on top of me.

Alfred pretended to be dead so when the metal-fist assassin walk passed, he grabbed the assassin's leg and threw him out of the house straight through the other window.

After missing me the first time, the second assassin bounced off the wall and dived straight towards me with a sharp dagger in his hand.

I watched as the dagger came close to my neck-

"SHEILD DASH!"

A ball of energy wrapped around me. With him right above me and my shield pointed upwards, my body launched itself up, hitting the assassin at the same time.

It wasn't strong enough to go straight through the roof but I managed to bash him into the ceiling. As we fell, I was barely able to grab his wrist before he was able to stab me.

It hurt when my back hit the floor again. He was still on top of my stone shield.

Alfred came towards us, swinging his large great sword.

The man backflipped out of the window to avoid so Alfred only ended up hitting a cupboard.

I got up and gave Alfred a glare as I pointed to the bed. Protect Lily.

A third assassin had came in from the opening created by the water cannon and was standing at the bed where Lily was hiding.

With just his foot, the third assassin lifted the bed up. Lily almost screamed as she shakily hugged her weapon starter weapon which was a two handed axe.

Alfred swung his great sword. The third assassin ducked. When he saw that the assassin was going to dodge, Alfred let go of his sword, effectively throwing it away before he grabbed the back of the man's black shirt and threw him out the window.

At the same time, I had my sword and shield raised as the second assassin walked back to the house through the hole in the back wall. I heard the first metal fist assassin walk through the front door.

They both made eye contact before the first one went towards Lily while the second one made a sign with their hands.

Alfred stood in front of the terrified Lily, re summoning his sword.

I looked at Alfred, he looked at me.

The first assassin dashed towards Lily.

Alfred turned around and wrapped his arms around Lily just as a metal spiked fist stabbed his back.

I positioned my shield right above my head.

A circle of water appeared in front of the second assassin's hand gesture before firing a large water cannon at me.

Lily, Samurai…I'm sorry.

"BLADED MITAGTION! SHIELD ENHANCE!"

My stone shield grew ten times in size. It's edges stretched out and collided into the walls, going right through them.

The water cannon directly hit my stomach as the house began collapsing.

The impact of the water felt even more severe than I had expected, even with bladed mitigation. Alfred took one of these attack to his back, is he okay?

I smashed into a tree before collapsing to the ground. An agonising pain was burning my back as I tried to stand but I only ended up falling on my back.

The wind, the rusting leaves… I could hear sound now. So whatever skill that was blocking noise, it was only big enough to cover the house.

I coughed. My stomach didn't feel okay either. I was seeing stars. Or were those actually air fish. I couldn't tell.

I turned my head to the side and my heart sunk into a deep ocean when I saw the last thing I wanted to see.

Near the debris of the house, was Alfred sitting at the bottom of a tree with a sword impaled through his chest and the trunk.

As for Lily. Oh god, Lily. She was laying in a small but expanding pool of her own blood.

"No…"

Above me, was one of the assassins holding a dagger in hand.

"Death to all demons."

It was the last thing I heard before I felt a cold iron dagger dig itself into my neck.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

An Aria fake sprinted across the dark alley ways within the main city.

She had blood dripping down her arm and head but that didn't stop her from running any slower

By her side, was her summoned familiar: a small blue fairy.

She kept turning around to look over her shoulder as she ran and ran. Trying desperately to get out of these alley ways.

But she was in too deep and in dark of the night, everything looked the same.

She cried tears, begging and praying that everything would turn out alright.

But it only grew worse as she realised that her fairy, which she had summoned using a skill, was gone.

She looked around, calling for her fairy by name. She shouted and screamed, looking around for her. She summoned her starter weapon: a small wooden wand, in hopes of summoning her fairy again… but it wasn't working.

She then discovered why. She looked up and spotted her fairy… impaled through the wall with a needle.

The Aria fake fell to her knees, giving up all hope and falling into despair. She cried as someone from behind plunged a sharp dagger into the her neck, shutting her cries forever.

Once she was dead, they discarded her body to the trash among all of the rotten food, scraps, rats, and bugs.

Little did this Aria fake know, that if she had just kept running and turned around one more corner, she would've been able to exit these dark alleys ways. But alas, these dark alley ways would be the last place she ever drew breathe….

However, later on, her lifeless body would eventually be moved to rest somewhere else.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

Two of them stood on the tree branches located near the middle of the forest. Not too close to the angler air fish but high enough so that normal humans wouldn't be able to reach them.

They waited in silence, positioning themselves discreetly so anyone passing by would never see them.

A third one appeared on a tree branch right next to them.

"Is it done?"

He nodded.

"Good."

"The Aria one caught me off guard. I thought she was a summoner."

"It's fine. It wasn't anything serious."

"It feels like we're eventually going to face a fake that we can't defeat."

"It won't happen. Since that's exactly what we're trying to prevent."

"True."

The three of them stood there, waiting patiently.

"…"

"…"

"Why is our leader taking so long?"

"Be patient. I'm sure h-"

The three of them suddenly tensed at something.

The angler air fish above them. They were acting in a frenzy. In hundreds of hordes they were swimming in the opposite direction of their leader.

But why? That's strange. Angler fish were the most fierce monsters in this region besides Levi. What exactly would they be scared off-

It was at that moment, the assassins saw them.

On the left side, huge shadows were everywhere and stretching out, latching onto fleeing Angler air fish, impaling them with sharp shadow spikes and sucking up every drop of blood out of their bodies.

On the right side, multiple streams of thunder was zapping in all directions. Trees had currents of electricity run through them hundreds of times. The electrifying current traveled swiftly across the upper area, frying and killing every unfortunate Anglier air fish that was nearby.

On the left side, was the Reaper.

On the right side, was the Samurai.

They both had a river of blood trailing down their neck.

"No way… t-they beat a general?! And Levi!?"

"H-how are they alive?"

After making a quick executive decision, the third assassin turned to the others, "We must flee."

"But what about- WATCH OUT!"

He turned back to see that the Samurai was now directly in front of him, their noses almost touching.

He stared directly into her wide-opened yellow eyes. As if he was hallucinating, those eyes were growing bigger and bigger like a consuming void.

He heard the sound of thunder before everything blacked out for the assassins.

...

-I-I-I-I-

…

New Skill Unlocked:

"Endurance II" has upgraded to "Endurance IV"

…

It hurt.

…

New Skill Unlocked:

"Regeneration II" has upgraded to "Regeneration III"

…

I felt sleepy.

…

New Skill Unlocked:

"Desperate Reach (Passive): When you are close to dying, you may remain alive for slightly longer."

…

I felt my head get lifted on something.

..

New Skill Unlocked:

Durable Aura (Active): Increases your defence proportional to your current damage taken until the end of the battle. CD: 12 hours.

…

Something wrapped around my neck.

I opened my eyes to see the Reaper staring down at me.

That look on her face. I had never seen an expression like that on her face.

Her eyes were shaking, starting widely at me. One of her hands was clutching my shoulder firmly while the other one was resting on my forehead. I could feel her trembling.

I half expected her to randomly laugh like a maniac like she always does… yet she was being oddly silent right now.

Her shadow jacket was wrapped around my neck. My neck. My neck felt like it was burning in hot lava.

I'm so sleepy. So… so sleepy.

I felt blood drip down on my face. Was the Reaper hurt?

I saw the Samurai as well.

I saw her drop her katana and then I heard the Samurai scream.

"LILYYYY!" She bolted towards the dying fake.

She rested her student on her lap with shaking hands.

"LILY! LILY!" She cried.

She didn't know what to do. She had no heal skills or any skills that would help the dying life in front of her. It was same for Yukari as well.

"S-sensei?" Lily's voice was weak. Very weak, "You're hurt…"

"Don't speak Lily," her voice stuttered, each word crumbled under tears and cries, "I-t's okay, I… I'll… I…."

"Sensei…. I learned a lot of… new skills… but… I don't think… they'll help me right now." If she was able to, she would've laughed at how cruel it was.

She had tried desperately to unlock new better skills and when she finally does, all of them are skills that can't stop her last dying breath, only postpone it.

"It's okay!" The Samurai shook even more, "I'll find… something… I know! I'll find healing items… in the house… I'll find them… they'll fix you right up…"

Of course, that was a lie. Even if she was able to find those healing items among the debris in perfect condition, it'll do little for a wound as server as this.

"Don't look like that Sensei…" Lily said as she took one good look at the Samurai's face.

The Samurai's usual calm composure, the comforting smile she always carried, her eyes that seem to always be filled with peace. All of that had crumbled away. Now there was only cries and screams coming from the Samurai. Her face was red and scrunching up in all places under the tears.

"You're usually… so cool…"

"Lily?... LILY! LILY! PLEASE!"

I'm… so sleepy. It's so painful.

But if I close my eyes. They'll probably never open again.

I hope Alfred is okay at least. He'll be sad but… I don't think I can stay awake for long.

I wonder if the Reaper is okay. She's bleeding a lot it…

What… what as I thinking?

They were trained assassins. I was a fool to think we could fight against them. My hopes were too high after I landed the first hit. They must've underestimated us before finally getting serious.

We didn't stand a chance. I'm such a fool.

I should've gotten Alfred to run away with Lily or something. Would that have worked out better? Or was it going to end like this regardless?

The timing of this attack… it couldn't be a coincidence… right?

Oh god, did we… did they follow me here? The reason why Lily is going to die…. It's my fault, isn't it?

I should've never come here. I only brought suffering to others.

I should've…. I should've…

Maybe I should just give up?

A worthless, foolish fake like me… a fake who only brings misfortune… is probably better off dead.

It's not like I can do anything….

My eyes slowly close again and as it did, I felt Yukari flinch and shake even more. I felt her grasp on me tighten even more.

Sorry Reaper… I don't think I can… I can…

…

…

..

No.

…

I clenched my first.

…

…

I can die later.

…

…

Right now.

…

…

Someone's dying.

…

…

I have… I have to save them.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

New Skill Unlocked:

The Second Knight

…

…

…

Activate skill?

…

…

…

Alfred forcefully pulled out the sword out of his chest and stood up.

...

To be continued.

A/N I tried to finish the writahton challenge again. As you can see, I failed badly XDD. Sorry, would've posted sooner but stuff in life got in the way.

This chapter was finished on the 17/12/0222.