ITWOK Chapter 1: How Could You?

Lance charged forward, his sword infused with an influx of aura which crackled in the air. The demonic behemoth's guttural roar echoed through the cavern, the ground trembling beneath his feet. Lance saw the spittle flying from its maw, each drop sizzling as it landed on the cavern floor. The stench of sulfur and decay filled his nostrils.

With a fierce battle cry, he unleashed his ultimate skill.

The blade glowed a brilliant blue as it was unleashed in a wide arc, striking the behemoth across its gargantuan body. A strangled gasp escaped the behemoth creature, blood spurting into the air, painting crimson arcs against the walls.

The dark demonic blood sprayed in all directions, hissing as it hit the ground. With a final bellow, the behemoth collapsed, its colossal body crashing to the ground with a thunderous thud which reverberated through the cavern. Dust and debris were thrown into the air, creating a choking cloud that washed through the heroes.

Lance stood over the beast, struggling to catch his breath.

The surrounding heroes paused, panting as they surveyed the carnage. Serena, the group’s skilled healer, wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand. "We did it," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the settling debris. "We actually did it."

Despite his many injuries, Marsh, the stalwart tank who had endured the demonic creature’s relentless onslaught, stood tall. His armor was dented and scorched, yet exuding an aura of unyielding strength. He nodded solemnly. “All the blood and sweat… it was worth it in the end.”

Lance turned to face his companions, a triumphant grin spreading across his face. “Finally, it’s over,” he declared, raising his sword high for all to see. “Kladin is safe. Our names will be etched into the canals of history and remembered for all time!” The heroes cheered.

He then turned to the real reason they had spent the last decade clearing out the demons, the secret which all demons had been guarding. Behind the behemoth, there was a large ancient door which showed the same metallic exterior as the outside exterior of the steel cavern.

Lance walked up to the door and placed his hand on the door. The years of neglect has all but covered the metallic undercoat which one could imagine was in pristine shape and shine at one point.

He took his blade and slashed at the door. However, his blade amazingly did not leave even a scratch. Furrowing a brow, he infused his aura into his blade this time and released his skill.

The strike echoed out but the door remained unchanged, not even a dent which drew not just surprise from Lance, but amazed gasps from the other heroes.

"How strong is this door that not even your skill was able to make a dent?" Marsh commented with astonishment.

"It seems like the demons were truly hiding something important," Serena joined in and said. "Shall we report back to the Saintess first?"

Lance thought for a moment and shook his head. "We should at least try everything we can first." He turned his head and shouted. "Haru, get your butt over here!"

The heroes all turned behind them and coming out of cover, a man in his 30s, disheveled in his appearance, came out. Compared to the others, his clothes were simple and ordinary. It was hard to believe but he too was one of the heroes set out to defeat the demons. Yet, for the entire fight, he had simply been hiding in safety. It was unbecoming of an actual hero.

As Haru walked out, the other heroes did not hide their scorn of him. It was like this since the beginning. Due to how his skill works, all he had to do was use it at the back while the rest did all the work. At least, that was the consensus of the other heroes. To them, he had simply been taken in with a free ride while the rest of them did all the “real work”.

Haru's pace was neither slow nor fast, but his relaxed demeanor as he walked seemed to piss off a few of the heroes, especially Lance. "Hurry it up and use your [World Knowledge] on this door so we can see if there is any way for us to get through!"

However, Haru suddenly stopped in front of the fallen beast and commented, "Good job taking it down. I would never have been able to do it myself."

"By yourself?" one of the heroes snorted. "Are you still dreaming or something? I guess even the most useless of us like to dream big."

There was laughter all around but Haru ignored it all as he walked around the beast until he arrived around the chest area. From there, he drew a gleaming knife from his bag and carved a precise vertical incision into its chest. Without hesitation, he plunged his arm deep into the cavity. The wet sounds of shifting flesh and muscle could be heard by all. With a sickening squelch, he extracted the creature's heart, still pulsing with residual demonic energy. It was the size of three heads and weighed about two large watermelons.

The other heroes looked on with wide eyes, confused and a little sickened by what Haru had just done. Blood splattered all over him, and his eerily calm expression brought a feeling of the uncanny

"Haru, what the heck are you doing? Did you finally lose your mind?" one of them asked.

Haru remained calm, his expression unchanging as he held the grotesque trophy. Words escaped his mouth.

<Reveal>

Before their eyes, the bloody, pulsating organ shimmered and transformed. In its place hung an ebony crystal, sending out waves of dark iridescence. The heroes' let out a collective gasp, their earlier disgust forgotten in their shock.

The moment Haru's fingers brushed the crystal's surface, his vision exploded in brilliant blue light. A familiar screen materialized before him—[World Knowledge] activating at its full potential.

Temporal Fragment(Item)

Description: A fragment of condensed temporal energy, capable of manipulating time and space.

Notes: Highly unstable. Handle with extreme caution. Improper use may result in temporal anomalies.

Usage Limitations: Can only be used once.

As Haru read through the information, an otherworldly change overtook the behemoth's corpse. Its massive form began to dissolve, flesh and bone disintegrating into a fine mist that dissipated into nothingness. Within moments, the cavern floor lay bare, as if the great demonic beast had been nothing more than a fevered dream.

Shock overcame Lance as he turned to Haru in a panic. "Explain yourself, Haru! What the hell is going on?"

As leader of the heroes of Kladin, he had led their group through all their fights since they had first been summoned to this world. They've been travelling together for almost a decade and he thought nothing could surprise him now. But right now, he was more confused than he's ever been and it was unnerving. The biggest issue was that Haru, with his [World Knowledge] was also the only one who knew what was going on. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Last chance, tell us what is happening, NOW!" Lance's tone had shifted and his threat which could once order Haru to heed any command seemed to now fall on deaf ears.

Haru continued to ignore his "comrades" and retrieved an item from his bag. From his storage, he produced an artifact of impossible intricacy. Its surface bore otherworldly etchings, patterns that seemed to shift and flow when viewed directly. He fitted the Temporal Fragment into a perfectly-sized depression. The artifact awakened with a resonant hum, projecting a holographic display that filled the air before him. Strange symbols danced in the void, an alien script that cast a glow across his features. With [World Knowledge] guiding his understanding, Haru's fingers moved across the interface. His eyes widened with fascination as layer upon layer of complexity revealed itself to him.

Chrono-Interface Module(Item)

Description: A sophisticated device originally part of the (⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫) ship, capable of interfacing with the ship's mainframe to manipulate time and space. This module will only work when powered by temporal energy.

Notes: Ensure proper calibration before use to avoid miscalculations in space time travel.

Warnings: Improper use can still result in anomalies in space-time.

His mouth moved.

<Usage>

Power Source: Requires the Temporal Fragment to function.

Activation: Insert the Temporal Fragment into the designated slot and initiate the holographic interface.

Navigation: Use the hologram to choose the desired temporal destination.

Execution: Confirm the selection date to initiate the time displacement process.

Haru fiddled around with the hologram display in front of him. The display was intuitive, almost as if it was guiding him on what to do even without him knowing. He had a date and place in mind and the display reacted accordingly.

'There's no way something like this came from this world. After everything is settled, I'll have to come back here to find the truth for myself.'

As he entered in the information, the artifact began to twist and turn before setting into place. It then lifted from his palms, suspended by an invisible force as it pulsed out strange energies.

At the same time the artifact was activated, a static and almost feminine robotic voice sounded throughout the cavern.

"Chrono-time displacement module has been activated… Setting coordinates…. Please stand by…. "

The energy from the artifact began to fluctuate and reverberate, distorting the air itself. All the while Haru smiled as he mouthed off, "Finally…"

"What's going on? Chrono-what?" One of the heroes asked.

"That voice is robotic. Is this place built with technology similar to our world?" Another commented.

There were too many questions and no one to answer.

Lance was also curious but looking at Haru's smile, he had a sinking feeling. His patience finally shattered. He reached out his hand and channeled his mana towards the slave collar that marked Haru as his property.

"Enough of your secrets!" he bellowed. "Tell me what [World Knowledge] is showing you!"

The collar flared to life, pulsing with energy designed to bring even the strongest of wills to their knees. Yet Haru didn't so much as flinch.

Lance's eyes constricted and he unconsciously left his mouth agape. "I-Impossible," he muttered. "How... How are you resisting the slave collar?"

It wasn't just him, The other heroes stood frozen, their minds reeling as they tried to make sense of what they were seeing.

Haru smirked casually. "Oh, did I not mention? I broke the hold of the slave collar a while ago."

The silence following his assertion was palpable. The slave collars were absolute, their authority supposedly unbreakable, bending any wearer's will to their controller. The very notion that someone like Haru could break its hold was nothing short of seeing something impossible.

"Impossible!" Marsh spat out. "Slave collars are absolute. They can't be removed without the approval of the controller. Everyone knows that!"

"Just because it's never been done doesn't mean it's impossible. But it did hurt like a mofo," Haru lifted his shirt enough for everyone to see the deep lacerations and scars covering his body. "It makes sense that most who try to remove the collars forcibly didn't survive. Without proper preparations on my part, I would've died as well." He put his shirt back down and then shrugged. "Thankfully, none of you cared enough about me or you may have noticed."

Before anyone else could react, Marsh already appeared before Haru, looking down on him, a heinous smile on his face. "So what if you broke the control of the collar? You're still just a person without any attack skills. Did you think we wouldn't touch you because you are weak? C'mon, you know us better than that." Marsh attempted to lay a hand on Haru's head, likely to show his superior position yet the moment his hand got close, a shimmering barrier materialized around Haru.

"Argghhhh!" Marsh was propelled backwards and tumbled to the floor. The moment his hand touched the barrier, a repelling force sent his body back despite his size.

"What the heck!" When he finally saw the barrier around Haru, he couldn't help but point a frightened finger at him. "Th-that, w-why do you have that?!"

It wasn't just him, everyone here recognized the barrier around Haru.

"That barrier... it's identical to the one guarding the Fairy Queen's burial grounds. That's the barrier used by Ophelia, the Ever Knight!" Serena gasped.

Haru's lips lifted and with a coy smile, he sneered. "Good eye. You're correct, it's the barrier of the Ever Knight, the same one which brought us so much trouble and caused the most death of us Summoned." he reached under his shirt from the neck area and retrieved out a porous green stone hanging from his neck. "It doesn't have a name yet, but I've been calling it the Ophelia Stone after the name of the Ever Knight."

"That's impossible! We destroyed that thing when we took down the Ever Knight!" Lance gnashed his teeth.

"True but I kept the destroyed parts and fixed it with some of the Fairy Queen's tears."

"The Queen's tears?"

"Mn, I managed to sneak some away while you all weren't looking. Honestly, you don't know how miraculous those tears were, it fixed the stone right up. I almost wanted to cry every time you wasted it on minor injuries like a broken arm or a simple cut.”

"You knew about it the entire time. You lied to us…" Lance words dripped.

Haru shrugged. "I may have omitted a few things but in the end, it was you guys who wasted the tears. The stone would've been useless in your hands anyways."

Tears spilled down Serena's cheeks, her voice cracking. "How could you, Haru? We were all pulled from our lives, forced to fight for this world. We trusted you… believed in you! And you hid that from us? Fink, Diane, Uru, all of the others… they'd still be alive if we had that stone. They were our friends, and you let them die." She fell to her knees, covering her tearful face.

"We carried their bodies back!" Maize, another of the heroes, blasted. "We buried them with our own hands, while you… you were probably just watching!"

A chorus of angry murmurs rose up, curses and accusations quickly becoming the only words they knew.

"Traitor!"

"Liar!"

"Monster!"

"You're no better than the demons we kill!"

"A monster..." Haru muttered. He bit into his lips, anger coursing through him. "Yeah, that's right, I'm a monster. And you know what? It’s all because of you shit stains who made me like this!” His palpable anger could be felt by the others.

From the very start of their journey, his rage and anger were buried deep within him, not just because of the collar’s restraint, but also out of fear of retribution from the others. He was weak, not strong enough to challenge any of the heroes present. However, today his plans would come to fruition. He no longer needed to filter his thoughts or words.

“Ten years… ten fucking years on this god forsaken world and you still dare preach to me about companionship? Do you put your friend’s in collars as well because I must have missed that memo since I only ever saw it on me." His sporadic change was enough to catch a few of them in surprise from the normally reserved Haru that they knew

"It wasn't like that," Serena protested weakly. "Your [World Knowledge] and [Minus Strength] were too important to lose. The collar was only put on only because you wanted to leave. We were scared. Scared you might really leave.” She paused, the room filling with silence as she continued, “We were hurt that you wanted to leave and so the other’s treated you coldly. But that was no excuse to treat you the way we did. I-I’m sorry. I should’ve known and done more. Please, if you want to blame any one, just blame me. But you shouldn’t curse our friends.”

To others, this could have been a heartfelt apology which could even calm a rampaging bull but to Haru, he simply had a look of indignation as he held up his hands and looked around. “Who the hell are you talking to? Who are you even putting this performance for? Do you think after a decade together no one knows how you truly are?”

Serena's cries abruptly stopped, and she stared at Haru with daggers. "What are you talking about?"

“I mean the fact that you get off watching little boys getting ch-”

Before he could finish his sentence, a barrage of mana bolts ripped through the air, crashing against the barrier and the surrounding area. Dust and dirt exploded upwards, but as it settled, Haru remained standing, unaffected, the barrier holding firm.

"You didn't think that was going to do anything, did you?" Haru taunted

Serena's gaze darkened, gritting her teeth.

"This has gone on long enough," Lance said, glaring at Haru with his blade pointed at him. "That barrier might have caused us trouble before, but that was a long time ago. We are much stronger now, and it won't be able to protect you against all of us. This is your last chance, Haru. Tell us what you did and remove the Ophelia stone. That way, we can at least leave the decision of what to do with you to the princess. Otherwise..." It wasn't even a veiled threat. Lance was more than willing to kill him based on the answer Haru gave.

Haru laughed, using the most mocking tone he could muster. "Do you think the princess is going to do anything but kill me? Or are saying you’re willing to brown-nose yourself for my sake. Then again, I’m pretty sure you do that willingly anyways.”

Lance gave the order. "Break the shield and destroy the device."

"Yes!" the heroes responded in unison. There were eight in total, nine if you included Haru.

The ground around Haru shifted, and from it emerged a pair of colossal hands made of earth, crashing against the barrier with titanic force. Though they couldn't reach Haru, protected as he was, a hairline fracture snaked across the barrier.

“Oh, you really have gotten stronger,” he chortled.

Suddenly, a cascade of sparks lit up the air and in an instant...

A fiery explosion erupted, engulfing Haru in flames that roared and surged, reaching all the way to the cavern ceiling. The heat intensified, and the air undulated with the intensity of the blaze.

The barrier fractured further, splintering into dozens of cracks, yet Haru's expression remained unchanging. Infused with mana, the barrier began to mend itself.

These skills were what the heroes were known for but they were not the only thing they knew how to do.

Serena, though primarily the group’s healer, was far more than just that. She wielded magic taught by the top mages in the world of Kladin. She lifted her staff, which began to shine brilliantly as runes started to spiral outwards.

She was joined by the other magically inclined heroes, each summoning their own runes. These runes, representing their unique magic, formed magic circles in the air. Five in total, they hovered momentarily before being inexorably drawn towards one another, as if magnetized.

Serena’s staff glowed intensely as she spoke out, "Collapse!"

The magic circles collided and merged, stacking atop one another to form a single, grand magic circle of intricate patterns and power. The air undulated with energy, and the very ground seemed to tremble under the weight of the spell.

Orbs of energy emerged from the spell, transforming into iridescent beams of light that converged into a single, radiant stream. For a moment, time seemed to pause as the light collected into one, then shot out in an intense, unstoppable beam of force.

Haru watched, holding out his hand. "That move would have dealt considerable damage to that behemoth. I don't think I want to face it at full power."

The beam dimmed and reduced in size but it did nothing to stop the raw power from colliding with the barrier. As it struck it splintered in multiple directions.

For once, Haru no longer looked stoic and a concerned wrinkle appeared on his forehead. As the blast subsided, the barrier was completely cracked from all sides. Even with its rate of regeneration, it wouldn’t be able to keep up with the current rate of attack.

“Take him down—NOW!"