The Gap

Me, the only Null of Elendria Academy against the most powerful student who is also royalty in Eleiweth. Annie Virian is a princess and wielder of incredibly powerful light magic. If you could think of any unfair match this should be at the top of the list.

The warrior princess walked onto the arena gracefully. Her eyes were not even on me as she turned to Osran wearing a face that showed no emotion.

“I do not see this is a wise choice, headmaster,” Annie said. “It makes no sense to force a Forsaken to face me. The outcome is obvious…”

The entire room erupted in laughter, even Osran was trying his hardest to hold his own inside. The only one who didn’t laugh was Iris who was looking very annoyed that I was being made fun of.

“Your words hold truth, Princess Virian!” Osran spoke loudly after he wiped a tear from his eye, “But this test is mainly for the first years! As I have stated the whole point of these battles is to pin the young fighters against ‘impossible’ odds!”

Annie sighed.

“Impossible indeed…I was hoping to battle someone with talents like Brimstone or Wolfegang. Oh well…let’s end this quickly.”

The blue eyes stared down at me, making me feel as if I was struck by arrows. I felt as small as an ant while standing in the presence of the princess and I knew deep down I had no choice of winning. A part of me wanted to just run out of the arena but that would register as an automatic forfeit. And in turn that would mean failure in this part of the midterm.

But another reason why I didn’t run away was in the crowd—Iris. My beloved stood on the ground with the biggest smile that filled me with courage. Even if I stood against an army of giants I would have charged in with the loudest battle cry that could part the clouds.

I took a deep breath and took my stance. The audience “oh”ed at my choice to fight, surprised that a Null like me would even think of challenging a magical prodigy like her.

“He’s gonna die!”

One student shouted while cackling.

“Damn! Null blood is gonna spill everywhere!”

“Better not! I don’t want his filthy blood on my clothes!”

“I bet he won’t even last a minute!”

I tried my best to tune out the remarks of the students and focus on the enemy before me. Seeing that I was ready, Osran nodded and leaped off of the arena.

“If both fighters are ready then don’t waste any more time! Let the battle begin!”

The headmaster shot his fire spell into the air and the single firework went off.

“Go get her, Baxter!”

The cheer from Iris filled me with energy.

I unsheathed my sword and charged at Annie while screaming at the top of my lungs. As I was getting closer to her I realized that she wasn’t fully focused on me and she had yet to take out of her weapon.

“What is she doing?” Baxter said to himself in his head. “Is she not going to counter?”

Once I was close enough I jumped in the air and swung down. My blade managed to hit something, but it was neither Annie nor her rapier. Instead, the sword was suspended in mid-air right above Annie’s head.

“W-what the—“

“Haha!”

A strange high-pitched giggle rang around the entire arena. As confusion entered my mind a strong gust of wind blew me back. I almost fell off the arena, but I managed to cling my fingers to the ground before getting further.

I quickly got up and tried to defend myself I wasn’t sure what to do to defend myself against an opponent I couldn’t see.

“Haha! You looked so funny! Fly further next time!”

A faint light appeared in front of me and then faded. Coming into view was a young and small girl with a lean build and slender figure. She had orange hair braided and tied into loops with bangs that covered her forehead. The girl also wore a green dress with long green sleeves and white cuffs that completely exposed the side of her torso and legs. She has no footwear and has multiple sunflowers and daises on her hair.

There were two odd things about her. One was that she had green butterfly-like wings that glowed brightly like the end of a firefly. Second was that she was tiny—the literal size of a fly.

The creature was a fairy, the savage familiar that was always beside Annie: Salia the Prankster.

“What the hell is your familiar doing here!?” I shouted. “Virian, what’s the meaning of this!?”

Annie replied to me while still keeping her emotionless expression.

“I have no interest in exerting myself against a Forsaken. I summoned Salia to be your opponent instead.”

Instantly, the booming sound of everyone laughing flooded the room. My face turned red with anger and I grinded my teeth.

“Salia.”

The fairy turned to her master.

“Yeah~?”

“Don’t go overboard. Just knock him off the arena or make him go unconscious.”

Salia pouted in annoyance.

“Is that all you summoned me for!? Boring! Can’t I just play with him a little bit? Just a little!”

Annie sighed.

“As long as you don’t take any of his limbs or give him a life-threatening injury, then it’s fine.”

“Yay! Thanks Annie~!”

My fists were clenched on the helm of my sword so hard that I believed I could snap it in two. So many inappropriate terms came into my brain and I wanted SO badly to yell that at Annie but there was so much a peasant like me was permitted to do. If I said something out of line, the next second I could be in the dungeons.

I tried my best to remain calm but my anger still flared within me like a raging flame.

“If that’s how it’s gonna be…fine! Don’t start crying when I crush your fairy pet like a little bug!”

I charged at Salia and attacked, but my sword hit nothing but air as the fairy flew away.

Salia blew a raspberry and crossed her eyes making herself look ridiculous.

“Nah nah~! You can’t get me~!”

“Son of a—get back here!”

The scene had resembled a comedy of a man trying his damn near hardest to swat a single fly who manages to also avoid getting hit at the last second. The laughters were only getting louder by the minute and I was sure I saw someone on the ground tearing up and clutching their stomach.

“Dammit!”

“Nah nah~! Come on slowpoke! Stop swinging that useless stick at me and try firing some magic!”

“Stop fooling around and fight!”

For one second I thought I had caught Salia, but then the floor below me exploded, releasing a pillar of dirt that rammed right into my stomach.

I let out a painful gasp as all the air in my lungs was pushed out and a majority of my ribs were snapped. I was launched into the air and was ready to fall back down, but then gravity turned off and I was suspended.

“W-what…?”

Salia flew toward me and landed right on my nose. She sat cross-legged and looked with such an energetic smile.

“G-get off…!”

The fairy giggled in response and slightly touched the brim of my nose with her tiny finger which caused a slight ticklish sensation.

“Tag your it! Wind Magic: Atlas’s Domain!”

Out of nowhere, powerful winds gathered me and entrapped me within a sphere of themselves. The strong winds were powerful enough to keep me from falling but I was being spun around inside like a tip. Dizziness and nausea overtook me.

“C-come on! S-stop!”

“Okay!”

Salia snapped her fingers and the dome disappeared. But just before I was about to fall back down to the arena, the fairy had unleashed another spell.

“Wind Magic: Aurae’s Palm!”

A giant female hand made of wind appeared above me and slapped me down back to the arena. I crashed onto the floor, cracking the stone, and blood spilled from a wound on my head.

As I struggled to get back on my feet, I could hear the audience making fun of me. I glanced back at Annie who hadn’t even moved an inch since the battle started. The Princess wasn’t even focused on me and was just taking some dirt out of her nails.

My rage rose to its highest level and I ran to attack the nonchalant royal, but then…

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!? We’re playing together dummy! Earth Magic: Walls of the Titan!”

Two massive walls of rock sprung up from both sides and slammed right into me. My body was crushed between the two walls and even pushed any further I would have resembled a tomato then was stepped on. I could hear the bones in my body breaking. Blood spilled from my nose, mouth, and head and my vision began to dim.

I completely underestimated the capabilities of a fairy. Despite the usual rule that people cannot use more than one attribute of magic, fairies did not fit that register. Fairies are one of Ocaleveth’s greatest mysteries, nobody knows where they came from—not even the elves. The small and powerful race that could wield almost any magic they pleased appeared suddenly during the beginning ages of the world when the elves were the only intelligent beings to walk the planet.

So fairies were to be feared and had the skill to use more than one great attribute of magic. My mother even told me a story that she met an old fairy that could use up to six categories!

The most troublesome fairy for any warrior would be ones that use four types of magic or higher but for a Null like me, fighting a being that could use two so well was a straight nightmare.

“Earth Magic: Rumbling of the Giants!”

Salia did a ballerina spin around the entire arena, small green glitter particles fell from her wings as she did. Once the glitter hit the floors of the arena, the texture transformed into mud and I slipped and fell on my back. As I was on the ground, the mud instantly hardened and transformed into multiple small rock knobs that began to bounce up and pound my back with so much force that was flying in the air.

“Like that massage~? Wind Magic: The Sky’s Embrace!”

A wind arm picked me up roughly and hung me over in the air. As I looked over I saw another wind arm appear as well—holding out its hand.

“W-wait—“

The wind arm then tossed me to the other arm and then it tossed me back. I screamed aloud in horror as the wind arms were playing catch with me as the ball, Salia flew up to my face. Her expression revealed that she was bored.

“Hey, why haven’t you used any magic yet? Can you not use magic?”

“N-n-n-no!” I screamed as I was tossed to the other hand.

“REALLY!?”

The fairy sighed.

“That’s so lame! So you can’t even play properly? Argh! Annie this is against our contract! You said that you would only summon me against people who can play with me!”

“Are you not enjoying yourself, Salia?”Annie replied while still not looking at me or the fairy. “I thought you would get a rise out of beating around a weakling like him.”

“It’s not fun if they can’t even fight back! This guy doesn’t have magic, he doesn’t stand a chance against me!”

“W-w-what’d you say!?”

I shouted towards the fairy.

“J-j-just wait until these hands drop me! I will cut those wings off your damn back!!”

Salia looked over at me and rolled her eyes.

“Cease!”

The wind arms disappeared and I fell to the ground—hard. My body was battered. My clothes were ripped, covered in dirt, and soaked in my blood.

“I…I’m not going to continue being a punching bag!”

Salia flew back down and responded to me.

“But you have no choice but to be a punching bag! A Forsaken can’t do anything~!”

The fairy raised her arms and summoned two muscular wind arms which had worse gauntlets made of rock, grass, and small flowers.

“Planet Magic: The Strength of Ocaleveth—Level 1!”

The fists were thrown at me, but I didn’t run. I stood up and took a quick breath.

“Come on, Baxter…dive in!”

The world around me submerged into a dark sea—I had finally entered the Spirit World. I tried to avoid using the technique until fighting Annie because I could usually only use it once a day, but the fairy was kicking my ass.

All other beings in the room were frozen like statues, especially Salia. I held my sword and stomped towards her, but the weirdest thing was that there was no white fish.

“W-where’s the mana?…H-huh?”

My eyes then went up and I saw a strange tall figure behind Salia. A giant created with three white eyes, massive white horns, and a green ring of fire surrounding its bottom legs. If I squinted, I could see small glowing fish moving around inside the creature as if it were a fish tank.

“W-what the hell is that?”

“Huh? What are you doing~?”

I gasped as I heard the voice of Salia. The only that moved was her head and she stared at me as if I was the strange one.

“What’cha lookin’ at Forsaken~?”

“H-how did you—“

Out of nowhere, my sword started to glow with an intense heat that burned my hands and it exploded into multiple pieces.

“W-what the FUCK?!”

Salia giggled.

“I don’t know what you were trying to do but you can’t do anything against me~…”

“You can’t do anything against me…”

The monster spoke in a deep and echoing feminine voice.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU!?”

“I am Titania the Fairy. Why had you entered my home, human? Are you not aware of the consequences?”

“W-what are you—“

“Soul Magic: Unbound the Sinner—Floor Three!”

Springing out from Titania were four purple cloths that flew towards me at such intense speed. I tried to dodge but no matter where I went the cloth followed me.

“S-shit—“

The four fabrics then did something fabric should never do—they pierced me in the chest.

“AUGH!?!”

Like four daggers, my chest was stabbed and blood gushed from the wound. The cloth began to run around inside my body, each of the ends of the fabric reaching the end of my hands and arms.

“W-what are you doing!? What are you—“

“You are an invader,” Titania stated as her eyes glowed intensely. “You will be purged! Judgement Act One!!”

Then the clothes burst out of my hands and feet, rupturing my blood vessels and ruining my body. I vomited my entire breakfast, lunch, and the majority of the fluids in my stomach intestines.

“W-why…?”

Salia continued to giggle and Titania closed her eyes.

“Judgement had passed…”

***

The waters of the spirit world faded and I had returned to the normal dimension. My wounds launched the blood from my wounds and I fell to my knees.

“Anyway, what did you do Forsaken?” Salia asked while dancing around. “It almost seemed like you disappeared for a second! Where did you go I wonder~…”

“W-what’s going on!?” I shouted in my head. “What the hell was that creature behind Salia!? Why did my blade break!? Why did the Spirit World cast me out!?”

“AH!”

The scream from Iris made me turn around and face her. My girlfriend’s face was full of fear as she was pointing in my direction.

“BAXTER—LOOK OUT!”

I turned around in the last second to what she meant and then immediately—

BOOM!

I was crushed by a massive fist from the fairy’s spell. Salia joyously laughed at my pain and proceeded to unleash a flurry of punches on me. The ground shook and the arena continuously broke under the strength and pressure of the giant fists that slammed against me.

After a minute or two I was left barely conscious within a giant fist-made crater.

Everything was starting to turn dark and my eardrums began to ring, dulling out everything even the obnoxious laughter of Salia. Despite the unbearable pain I was in, I used my will to force my ruined body back to its feet. But I bet I looked ridiculous, in the end, I had no weapon and no means to defend myself against any other attack. I could’ve just thrown in the towel and accepted that I was outclassed, but my pride made me stay.

Salia giggled and clapped as I wobbled out of the crater.

“Amazing~! You want to play some more Forsaken~?”

“S-shut…up…”

I managed to speak despite my jaw being dislocated and my vision becoming disorientated. It seemed as if I would fall over any moment but then a new voice from the crowd called out to me.

“YO, BAXTER!!!”

I slowly turned around to see Toto standing next to the surprised Iris grinning and waving. In her right hand was a cloth-covered object.

“SORRY FOR THE WAIT! YOUR KATANA IS DONE!!”

The female dwarf then tossed the object onto the arena and I caught it with my bented left hand.

I tore the cloth off and my mouth hung open at what I saw. A curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip that had room for both my hands. The blade shined like the evening sky and the reverberating sound of the mithril was like a calming music that eased away my anxiety.

“What type of blade is that?”

The students began to talk to one another.

“It’s weirdly shaped…”

“Why did Ms. Toto make a sword like that? It’s awful!”

“How’s that Null supposed to fight properly with a weapon like that?”

I ignored all the critiques and jokes towards me and looked over at Toto with a wide smile. I mouth the words “thank you” before turning back to Salia who was still laughing as if I was a jester performing a show.

“The dwarf completely messed up your blade! Oh dear, what can you do now~?”

“I’ll show you…”

I took the gamble and dove back into the Spirit World a second time. The heaviness of the watery dimension was intense but I persevered through. I saw before me the frozen fairy and the strange beast known as Titania behind her.

“What are you doing back here?”

Titania grumbled as I walked forward.

“This is my home. Leave before I pass judgment on you once more.”

I replied, “I have no clue what you are but here’s all I got to say—by the end of this I’m going to turn you into mincemeat!”

Titania sighed and summoned her fabric once more.

“Foolish human, you do not of the consequences of defying someone like me…Soul Magic: Unbound the Sinner—Floor Three!”

As the four fabrics flew towards me like arrows, I took my stance and anticipated when they would get closer. The moment the cloth was just upon me, I swung my new blade the katana, and sliced them like butter.

No one in the audience could see, but if they could I bet they wouldn’t be able to register what I just did. Heck, I couldn’t even fully register my actions! With the katana in my hands, my speed and attack seemed to have increased in speed and it took my brain a second to realize what I had just done.

My original intention was just to cut the fabrics one at a time, but someone I had already sliced up all four of the fabrics in seconds. Cut up like small napkins and floated down to the floor while evaporating.

“W-what…?”

The creature known as Titania was confused that her attack that worked on me previously was shut down,

“I see,” I said aloud to myself. “Using the katana is more efficient in the Spirit World. The curved blade makes it faster to swing than any normal sword…”

“W-what have you done!?”

I looked up at Titania and grinned.

“Now it’s time to pay you back for what you did to me earlier, freak!”

Filled with determination, I charged right at Salia and Titania. The creature reacted quickly by summoning a multitude of fabrics.

“Soul Magic: Relentless Pursuit—Floor One!”

It looked like a flower blooming for the first time the petals expanding outwards. All the fabrics flew towards me with a strange sinister aura surrounding them, they seemed to resemble hands that wanted nothing more but to tear my flesh bit by bit. But the cloth wouldn’t even be able to touch since I wielded my secret weapon: the katana.

Just like before, my arms were able to swing the katana in such a ridiculous motion and the fabrics were sliced into multiple pieces and scattered all over the Spirit World.

“WHAT?!?”

Titania screamed as her attack had failed and I was descending upon her.

“Huh?”

Salia had finally started to move in the Spirit World and looked up at me.

“What are you doing Forsaken~?”

The fairy seemed not to have yet understood that she was in trouble. I got behind her and tried to slice the head of Titania off, but the creature managed to shrink its body and only managed to slice one of the horns off instead.

Cutting the horn also affected Salia as one of her wings fell off. The fairy then looked at herself and screamed allowed while clutching the area where her wing once was.

“M-MY WING!” Salia shrieked and turned to me with tears in her eyes. “W-W-WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

I ignored Salia and tried to slice Titania, but the creature was surprisingly nimble and able to avoid the strikes of my katana. But Titania’s ability to dodge was only temporary, I could tell, the beast was starting to get loser after each move.

“N-no!”

The fear was evident in Titania’s voice and its three eyes turned to Salia who was still behind us.

“HEY—COME HERE!!”

Salia heard the voice of Titania and responded quickly.

“W-who’s speaking? Who are you—“

“I am your power! Help me!” Titania yelled. “This human is trying to erase me! If I disappear you won’t be able to fight back! You need to protect me!”

“H-huh!? How can a Forsaken—I don’t understand—“

“SALIA! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR HESITATION!” Titania’s volume increased as I managed to slice the second horn, which in turn also caused Salia to lose another wing. “COME HERE, NOW!!”

“F-FINE!”

Salia flew toward the two of us and summoned ten glowing orbs that surrounded her.

“Planet Magic: Patterns of the World!”

The orbs were thrown in my direction, but I simply dashed to the left to completely avoid them. However, that was what Salia wanted me to do as the moment I moved away from Titania she tackled the beast and rolled away.

“D-damn…!”

As Salia grabbed a hold of Titania, they fell together and it seemed as if their bodies morphed into one. Like two different sheets rolling together, they fused and a blinding light had taken them. I had no choice but to cover my eyes to avoid losing my sight to the searing brightness that was coming from them. The light faded seconds later and what I saw before me was a new being.

Salia had transformed. The fairy was now as tall as a normal person but her clothes had vanished revealing her nude figure. Her skin had also transformed into a sickly bright cyan color and her hair was unbraided and became longer and wilder, flowing in the air like a flame. Tufts of blue fur were on her arms and legs, and yellow claws that looked sharp enough to tear the flesh from bone on her hands and feet. Her last two butterfly wings were bent strangely, resembling that of cape and the irises of her eyes had changed into the shape of a four-leaf clover. On the top of her head were antennas and on her forehead was a singular eye that looked around the Spirit World crazily.

The fairy had observed her form and was also in awe at what she had become.

“I…I don’t know what this is but…I feel…so much more powerful!”

Salia then opened up her left hand and summoned a sword that resembled a butterfly wing. At the end of the blade were multiple jewels that shined brightly like the stars of the night sky.

“This is wonderful! Let’s keep playing, Forsaken~!”

Salia released a battle cry that resembled that of an animal. While on all fours (her blade still in her hand) she hurled herself towards me. Her eyes glowed with madness and saliva flew from the corners of her mouth. As Salia got closer our blades clashed, creating a strong shockwave following a deafening sound that matched two church bells ringing at the same time. Sparks flew from the swords where we wrestled to see who could outmatch who.

The wild fairy was the first to break the clash and unleashed almost twenty consecutive strikes towards me. I managed to dodge every single one of them in a second after they were unleashed and I tried to land a critical blow on my own. However Salia proceeded to attack ruthlessly, not giving me a chance to perfectly retaliate.

I did an upward swing which would have cut the wild fairy’s head clean off, but she did a split in the last second, her legs spread out on the floor. While Salia was still on the ground she opened up her free hand and channeled magical energy through it. I jumped back to avoid whatever spell she was ready to throw, but there was no escape.

“Planet Magic: Force of Nature!”

The ball of light resembled that of the globe and flew towards me at incredible speed. A tail of rainbow light followed behind the globe as it came toward me but I managed to move my head to the corner. Avoiding my face from getting bashed by the ball of magic, I turned around to see that the same ball was bouncing around the entire room. With each bounce it increased in speed, leaving sound behind and cracking the floors and walls every time it made contact.

Eventually, the globe bounced back in my direction.

“Oh shit!”

But once again, I moved out of the way. The ball of magic headed towards Salia who cackled and jumped around like an excited child.

“Haha! Let’s keep playing Forsaken!”

Salia then arched her right leg back and then kicked the globe as hard as she could. The ball fired back towards me but at that moment I was sick of dodging.

“Hah!”

With my katana, I sliced the ball in two. Instantly, the globe had become two separate globes; smaller than the previous one but still fast and still strong.

“Are you kidding me!?”

This pattern of me dodging and Salia kicking the globes towards me continued for a while. What broke was the one instance where I decided to drop my guard and one of the balls hit me on the back of the neck. Blood spilled from my mouth and I recoiled forward. Appearing in front of me was Salia who kicked another ball in my direction. Still recovering from the previous hit I was not prepared to dodge or parry, and so the globe slammed right into my already pieced-up ribs.

“At this point, I won’t have any ribs left…”

The globe that hit me in the stomach then transformed into a large vine and entangled. One end of the vine was held by Salia who then pulled towards her and tried to stab me. However, I still had my katana and cut myself out of the vines. I then immediately countered the wild fairy’s strike which angered her. But her dissatisfaction quickly turned back into pleasure, which confused me at first, but then I turned my head back around to see why.

The second globe was flying towards me at incredible speed as if the sun itself was hurling towards me.

I kicked Salia away and flew towards the orb with my sword at the ready.

“No, you don’t!”

The wild fairy yelled out from across the room.

“Planet Magic: Expansion of the World!”

The globe then got bigger, the size of a building. But that did not deter me, I sliced the orb in half with one good cleave and the fragments of the giant became two massive ones.

“Hah!” Salia yelled. “Planet Magic is the basis of earth and wind! You cannot break the cycle of the earth that turns forever more! No matter what—the world will always exist!”

“And no matter what, death will follow…”

I lifted my katana into the air as the two massive globes flew toward me. Taking a deep breath I harnessed enough energy into my arm which emitted black fog that poured out of the pores of my body. With a loud cry, I swung my blade and created a glowing red slash attack which incinerated the orbs. But this time they did not come back.

Salia’s mouth hung open in shock and stared at me as if I were a creature from another world.

“H-how did you…what…argh! How did you stop my spell!?”

I fell back to the ground, landing on my feet perfectly. I looked at Salia with a smile.

“Your magic is useless against me now. With this blade, I can finally harness the skills of zen to the fullest extent!”

“What!? Just because that dwarf gave you a crooked blade you're stronger!?”

“It’s not just the blade...”

The voice of Titania echoed throughout the entire Spirit World.

“It’s the strange energy coming off of him.”

“Is it magic?” Salia asked Titania.

“No, it’s definitely not. But whatever it is, it's dangerous. Stop wasting time and kill him with your most powerful spells! I will give you a hand and let you have access to my archives as well!”

After Titania said those words, light consumed Salia’s body and the fairy screamed to the heavens. Then coming out of the fairy’s third eye was a thin line of paper inscribed with symbols that I could never understand. The fairy moaned and drooled as the paper was either leaving or exiting her brain.

“T-this is…”

“This is my archive,” Titania said. “My spells, the power of soul magic. This is the true strength of all fairies. I’m giving this to you, Salia, so that you can protect me! With this, you are now a queen! Go! Save me from this savage!”

Once the paper had disappeared completely, Salia lowered her head and for a second I thought she had lost consciousness. But then the wild fairy looked up at me with her crazy smile and proceeded to laugh.

“Sure…but know that I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this because this Forsaken cut off my wings! It will take years for them to grow back you assholes!”

“You slammed me against two walls and threw me around like a rag doll!” I shouted back. “You expect me to give a shit about your stupid insect wings? Screw you! How about I cut off the rest?”

“Don’t you dare! If you even touch them with those dirty magicless fingers of yours I will be very mad!”

Not wasting any more time, I attacked Salia with everything I had. Our swords clashed over and over but each time we managed to pair each other in our blows. Eventually, I managed to slice Salia across the chest but then she matched me by slicing my lower waist.

After taking damage, we both slid back. We were both bleeding, the blood from me was red as it should be while Salia’s was green and thicker.

The wild fairy was breathing heavily while looking up at me. She then grinned ear to ear and started to summon a garden of flowers below her feet.

“What?”

I jumped back further as the flowers expanded and covered the entire ground. Salia put her hands together and summoned a golden magic circle that imprinted itself in the sky.

“In the wake of my breath, I call to God. Please all that approach and ravage what is lost. I pray for the salvation and the pleasing of nature. I call upon the truth of Ocaleveth to be revealed upon…

Awakening, Land of the Fairies—AVALON!!!”

The world transformed into that of a garden filled with colorful flowers and a vast cliff of raging waters below.

“What did you do, Salia!?”

I screamed at the fairy who was cackling like a mad woman as she jumped towards me.

“I honestly have no clue! But I’m having so much fun~!!”

Flying towards me, Salia conjured another spell.

“Planet Magic: Corner of the World!”

The dirt sprung up from the ground and surrounded me. Salia charged at me from the one open spot.

“Soul Magic: Unbearable Sacrifice—Level Four!!”

A purple magic circle appeared in front of Salia and four long and purple glowing hands came out of it and tried to grab me. I sliced up two of them while two grabbed my legs. I did not even feel them, instead, the hands brushed through me and sunk into my legs, as if they weren’t even there.

“C-crap!”

“I got you! Soul Magic: Unbearable Sacrifice—Level One!!”

Blooming off the end of my feet were multiple small gray baby-like heads with mouths that began to chomp away at my flesh. I cursed aloud as the small critters were eating away at me. I tried to cut them away, but my blade could not touch them.

“They’re not real…?”

“Calling them not real would be very incorrect Null.”

I looked up at Salia who was giggling at me.

“What that spell just did was utilize the negative energy of your soul into a visible form! Using your emotions, the spell then depletes you of your life ever so slowly, the ghostly creatures devouring your flesh bit by bit until you're nothing but a skeleton! Starting with your feet!”

Salia pointed at my feet as the small heads began to multiply and continue chomping away at me. It felt like a hundred mosquitoes were biting me at the same time.

“They will just keep multiplying by the minute! I expect them to be done in around four or five minutes~!”

Instead of being terrified, I folded my arms and stared at the wild fairy.

“Heh, you’re really that mad because I cut off your wings?”

Salia snarled, her hair becoming more wild as she shouted.

“The wings of a fairy are the physical symbol of their pride! By ripping them off you dishonored me! You will pay for that dishonor with your VERY LIFE!!”

“Sorry but I have no intention of dying,” I responded calmly. “Not until I become a Holy Knight at least.”

I launched myself at Salia while smiling with excitement. My fingers clenched onto the helm of my blade and my heartbeat increased exceptionally.

“I just need to beat you before my flesh gets devoured!”

Salia flew towards me, her power emitting a bright aura as she lifted her blade in the air to swing down on me.

“Ha! Like a Forsaken like can defeat an Avatar of Mana like me! Planet Magic: Dolls of the Past!”

Multiple dirt and wooden statues appeared around me, taking the form of strange creatures. Most of them took the shape of super gorgeous men and women. They were so gorgeous to the point that there was no way you would see beings like them in our world. Their beauty even outclassed that of the non-aging elves—which in itself sounds absolutely insane! But there was also a great chunk of statues that looked absolutely hideous. They seemed to resemble humans but their shape, faces, and the vibe they gave off revealed that to be not the truth. Instead, it felt like they were beings pulled from another universe and now were lost in the world of Ocaleveth.

“Argh! What now!?”

“The finale! Time to play the last game—tag! Planet and Soul—Fuse into One! World Magic: Playground of the Aos sí!!”

The statues that became physical flesh and the beings that were once fake had become real. Like wild beasts the People of the Mounds descended upon me, trying to grab or tear me apart. I tried to get away, but I was surrounded by thousands of them from every corner. Everywhere I went there would always be some weird human-shaped person waiting for me with the strangest look.

As many of them tried to get their hands on me, the very ground began to ripple like the waves of the sea. My footing was lost but I still managed to avoid getting dog-piled on at the last minute.

But it became harder as the People of the Mounds fired multiple spells in my direction. Many times of magic, such as fire, water, air, earth, gravity, light, and even dark were thrown. Many normal humans would have shit themselves but luckily I was able to see the white fish swimming with the formations of the very spells themselves.

Each time, I sliced the spell and destroyed its formation. I then began cutting the people themselves, their forms dissolving like melted snow.

“We’re not done yet!”

After slicing a big and creepy-looking creature, Salia emerged right behind it as it died.

“Wind Magic: Whispers of the Lost Maidens!”

The wild fairy’s cheeks became bigger and then she spat out glittery smoke from her mouth. As the glowing fog got in my face it smelled like marshmallows and apples. It was strangely nice until my vision started to swirl and colors began to merge in strange ways that they shouldn’t. The motor functions of my body were also starting to not listen to me which caused the People of the Mounds to finally get their hands on me.

“Damn, hallucination magic…”

I put all my strength into my legs and hopped into the air. I launched myself into the air, escaping the smoke and the People of the Mounds, but my vision was still wary. To ward it off I took out my right hand and bit myself so hard that blood drew. It was painful, but it was enough to snap me out of whatever trance was coming upon me. However, I didn’t get a moment to relax as Salia was immediately in front of me with her wide grin.

The wild fairy screamed loudly as she tried to stab me right in the head, but I managed to grab her wrist and stop her sword from getting any further. But Salia was still not done.

“Soul Magic: Release of the Form!”

Like a thousand grasshoppers, the People of the Mounds jumped up where me and Salia was floating and grabbed a hold of me. The extra weight was starting to make us fall faster.

“That’s right Aos sí—respond to the calls of your Queen!” Salia shouted while laughing maniacally. “Give me your strength so that I can crush this loser!”

I grunted as I tried my best to shrug off the strange beings, but their strength was true and could barely budge.

“Argh! Get off!“

“Give up! You did well to fight this far but in the end you’re still a Forsaken! Know when you are outclassed and accept death!”

“Heh…I’ve technically already died once and I came back stronger than ever…”

At that moment, the memory of my death experience and the memory of me meeting Azriel repeated itself throughout my brain a thousand times. The words from the very personification of death gave me courage and then I started to feel overflowed with a bountiful of energy.

“It’s about time…”

The voice of Azriel who sounded very pleased echoed in my skull.

“Time to see if you can break the barrier in your path…”

“I’ll break any barrier if it means I can achieve my dream! I will become a Holy Knight! I will become…A HERO!!!!”

Karma exploded from my body, taking the form of a wave of darkness that drowned my body. The People of the Mounds that were attached to me shriveled up like raisins and turned into mummified corpses.

“W-what the—“

Salia was freaked and backed away.

“The Aos sí…w-what have you done, Baxter Ale!?”

The darkness faded and I came into view. I mostly still looked the same but I radiated with an inhuman presence. My eyes were glowing red like a ruby and my hair was untied and flowed calmly in the wind. It was dark but a silver color that matched the metal. My very skin was also jet black with white bone-like markings covering my face, arms, and legs. Even the small ghostly that was eating away at my feet were incinerated by the “Energy of Death” that branched from me.

“Your magic is nothing compared to me…because I am a being that destroys magic!”