Everdark Fiend

1

The Protectorate Guild was an international organization originally established in the Keslahir Republic to the south of the Yves continent. More than half of the continent was once ruled under a unified empire centuries past, but a world-shattering disaster saw that empire break into several city states. The neighbouring Republic of Kessa, now Keslahir, took many of those city states under its own protection, and it did so by establishing several guilds inside them with a strong focus on protecting the rights of people, maintaining order, and advocating for peace. In time the organization grew so large, it broke off from the Keslahir government completely and spread across the entire continent, each guild primarily ran by its local people.

Thus, peace in the continent of Yves was achieved. Or at least that’s how it was for the people who benefited.

“And now the guild wants to extend its reach to Yunha,” I said, sipping my first pint of ale that evening. “It’s apparently part of the guildmaster’s plan to deal with the Everdark. Meifan said official talks will happen during the festival.”

The three of us champions lounged at a local tavern next to our inn. The place looked old, everything appeared to be made of wood, but the atmosphere was bright and vibrant with customers. The food was… fine. There were tons of stews to choose from ranging from dark purple to bright pink. I mostly stuck with the meat skewers.

It's already been five days since our arrival to this world, and in that time, we did nothing but gather information and mingle with the locals. It was a new experience for Allen and myself. I barely had time to speak with people in my previous world, while Allen never met a single person in his. Jennifer was the true extrovert, however. Less than a day had passed and she already made friends with people from the guild. “The fact that its another world is what makes it easy,” the woman explained with a casual shrug. “A part of me still feels that none of this is real.” I understood where she was coming from, and honestly, I felt the same way. I usually kept to myself back in the university and only spoke to people I’d known from high school or those from the same class as me. But here? Here I was a mercenary with a bit of renown. It might’ve been a fake story made by the arbiter, but the locals believed it anyway. When I told Jennifer, she laughed, then apologized with a strained smile. “Sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you. I just… I’m used to fake stories, so I guess that makes sense.”

A mug slammed hard on the table, knocking me out of my reverie. I blinked at Jennifer who was staring at me. “This might be our best chance to get in,” she said. “If we tell Meifan we’re interested in joining their talk with the Everdark village, then we can scratch our act-like-a-dumb-tourist-in-the-festival plan.”

“What if there’s already a group?” I said. “Meifan said the guildmaster’s been planning this for years and it’s why he’s been gathering support all over Shusui.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Jennifer said with a shrug. “But the main point is to show interest. We might not actually be part of the guild’s representatives, but we’d tag along regardless. As tourists except less dumb. The important part is to show that we’re with the guild. The people of Yunha will see us as such, so when we snoop around their village, we have this solid excuse for checking the place out.”

That made sense. I think.

“After we steal their ‘treasured gemstone’, our chance at being suspected will diminish immensely,” Jennifer continued. “The guild wouldn’t risk theft, and the people of Yunha know this. Heck, the guild might even offer to help find the culprit.”

“But we still need to make it known the gemstone was stolen, right?” Allen said as he played with his mug. “I… don’t think it’s enough for the Yunha villagers to realize it’s gone… otherwise the arbiter wouldn’t specify the knowledge of theft. I think, she’s, um, a stickler for detail.”

That also made sense. I think?

Jennifer leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. “You make a good point. And I agree.”

I wish we could speak to the arbiter anytime we wanted to. I tried doing that the other day, actually, just yelling in the wind. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work. And I looked like an idiot.

“I’ll think about it some more,” Jennifer said. “But I still believe we should go to the village as part of the guild.”

Just then I noticed a few familiar faces enter the pub.

“You know, I might get more information about the guild today,” I said, standing up from my seat and waving my hand. Jennifer and Allen turned the other way to look at who’s attention I was getting.

“Oh, was it today?” Jennifer said.

“Yep, me and Allen got a little adventuring to do.”

2

Tori and Hakan were the first members of the protectorate guild we associated with.

Tori was a local from east Yorutei, a woman with a prestigious background from a merchant-class family. They say she joined the guild as a means to establish a connection between her family and the protectorate organization, but they also say she was a talented magic user who’s killed a hundred Everdark fiends in her first year. The two weren’t mutually exclusive, but she definitely wasn’t the accountant people expected to work behind the guild’s reception. Like most days, she wore a kimono-like pink coat, thigh-boots and the same gemstone-embedded bracers as Jennifer. Perhaps her most striking feature, aside from her white hair and yellow eyes, were the fox-like ears protruding atop her head and the fluffy tail on her backside.

Hakan on the other hand, was human like us champions and the majority of those who lived in Yorutei. In fact, he was an outsider too, only having moved to the northern town in the past eight months as a travelling mercenary. The first thing the guild members gossiped about this guy was the fact that he fell in love with Meifan. He was a very loud, oft times obnoxious, oft times cheery, type of person who’d drink anyone under the table at the local tavern, but soon as Meifan walks by he clams up like a statue unable to speak. Jennifer found the trait hilarious, which she said to his face, putting the two on pretty bad terms. Hakan himself was pretty comely despite his scars, and apparently deadly with a sword. He often wore his brown leather jacket, grey trousers and boots with no sign of armor anywhere. He did, however, wear a gemstone locket with the symbol for ‘protect’.

After the four of us reached a small hill just outside of town, Allen lagging behind, Hakan muttered a chant under his breath and summoned a defensive spell around his body. It was like a transparent armor, wrapping Hakan in a protective shell. When he wiggled his arms and legs to check, the magic reflected light in a funny way that made it look as if the bald man was doused with oil.

So that’s how that worked.

I looked around the hill and noticed two poles, each with a giant lantern on top. I couldn’t read what the symbol in it said—ancient script apparently—but it was part of the town’s defensive system against stray beasts.

I’ve always wondered what it was like to have monsters roam the land like they did in video games, and from what I’ve noticed in the past five days, people were generally terrified to leave the protection of their homes. It made a lot of sense why guilds like the protectorate existed.

Allen stood next to me, looking very self conscious.

“You okay?” I whispered quietly.

Allen gulped, then nodded. “We… were supposed to be powerful, right? We have… abilities and stuff…”

“That’s right,” I said. “At least that’s how it was for me on my first mission. You remember how to fight, right?”

“I think so… I have vague memories of it. I’m just worried, cause you know, it’s fake.”

It definitely felt real when I flew around and used magic back in the Great Bridge of Joren. Part of the reason we accepted this hunting job from the guild was to put our abilities to the test.

I grabbed Allen’s shoulder and nodded reassuringly. “It’s going to be fine. We were chosen by fate, right? We’re going to save this world.”

Allen did not look at all convinced, but he nodded back anyway.

“What are you two whispering over there?” Hakan said in his booming voice. “Let’s hurry and find the Everdark fiend. I’m excited to see how a Dark Knight fights in battle.”

“Get your priorities straight, Hakan,” I said. “We’re doing this to make sure the beasts don’t get too comfortable outside their territory. People rely on the river for more than just water.”

“Sure, but you’d fight regardless of the circumstances, and I’d like to see it,” Hakan replied matter-of-factly.

“I’m also intrigued,” Tori said with a sly expression. “A Dark Knight, a Sun Singer and a Warrior from distant Keslahir. It’s a shame Jennifer couldn’t join us, but you three have been the most interesting additions to our guild in a very long time. I hope you don’t disappoint.”

Great. So did I.

We spent the next few hours traversing the hilly countryside, passing by farms and small settlements gated by lantern protection. The entire time, I couldn’t help but stare at the Everdark to the north. Between the cold azure sky and the dry grassland, it was like a writer spilled his bottle of ink and smudged it across the horizon, blocking out the view. More than that, it almost as if the cursed forest sucked the light from the sun. “You’ll get used to it,” Tori said. “There is land beyond the Everdark too. A few mountains and flatlands, but settlements and cities exist when you go far enough.”

“How do you get there?” I asked.

“You sail around the continent,” Hakan answered. “But a faster way is to get yourself a guide from Yunha to help go across the forest.”

“Is that possible?”

“Oh, sure. Is it safe?” Hakan shrugged, then swung his sword around randomly. “But if things go north, quite literally, imagine fighting blind while monsters jump at you from every corner.”

Damn. But if convincing a Yunha native was possible, then at least conversation with them wasn’t off the table. Meifan said that a few of them lived in Yorutei and they looked no different, but we haven’t come across one yet.

For now, though, I’d rather try my hand at fighting with the sun above my head.

To my surprise, monsters weren’t that plentiful in the wild, and those that noticed our party immediately squirmed away. This may be a fantasy world, but it was real somewhere in the universe, so it wasn’t as if we had a high-level status hanging above our heads. In that sense, the monsters were more like what animals were to earth. They were a menace to humans, sure, but they probably feared us as much as we feared them.

And then we came across a rampaging shinza, a bull-like beast with armor like an armadillo and twice the number of horns. It was already huffing and puffing when we found it, ramming itself on a bent down tree.

“Is it hungry?” I asked, unsheathing my dual blades. They gleamed their obsidian color against the bright blue sky. As if I’d used them all my life, my body hunkered down in a defensive stance.

“You’ve never seen a shinza in heat before?” Hakan yelled, his sword at the ready. “Do you not get the beasts down south?”

We don’t get them on earth, I almost said. The fake memories the arbiter had given us were very inconsistent. Most of the time it gave us insight about the world, but right now there wasn’t anything about southern monsters or horny beasts.

The shinza looked my way for some reason.

Shit.

Allen brandished his axe next to me, but it was clear he was shaking.

“You didn’t fight last time in your world, right?” I said. “If it’s anything like how magic worked in Joren, then just let your body do the work. It will remember how to move.”

God, I hope I was right.

“I…I was training… in the military… back home…” Allen muttered. “I… I know how to…”

The shinza suddenly charged at us.

To my surprise a flash of light enveloped my body, making it feel hotter and ready to burst. It was magic, I realized. I briefly saw Tori with her arms raised in our direction, bracers glowing.

As soon as the shinza got within the range of my short swords, I… well, I stood there like an idiot. I waited for my body to move automatically, but as it turned out, physical prowess wasn’t the same as casting a magic spell. I might have a vague notion of how to swing my swords, but it was all in theory.

So, in summary, I almost shat myself.

But that’s when Allen charged the shinza from its flank, the weight of his axe smashing into the monster’s armor like a wrecking ball. The shinza completely toppled over in a thunderous thud. It almost looked surprised to find itself knocked to the ground.

I breathed, then leapt backwards. I wasn’t quick enough to dodge the monster, but my motion just now felt faster. So I could move more than I normally do, but I still needed to make a point of doing it myself. It was as if my mind and body were completely out of sync.

I’ve been doing simulations in my head for the past five days, but nothing beats hands-on experience. In the end, I had a mere two hours in my previous world, whereas Allen got two whole days. “Good job, Allen!” I shouted. “Now finish it off!”

Allen slowly looked at me, his face in shock with tears in his eyes.

That wasn’t the reaction I expected…

The shinza struggled to get back up, its legs moving fast. Eventually it managed to get up with its front legs, then its rear.

I assumed an offensive stance—something that felt right to do—then dashed towards the beast.

It swung its horns towards Allen, who managed to block with his axe. I took that opportunity and slid my left sword towards the shinza’s shoulder. The blade seared into the monster’s armor, slicing through it like butter. The feeling took me by surprise.

The shinza wailed angrily, sounding like a vuvuzela. It swung its horns towards me, but I caught it with my right sword. I didn’t slice through it this time.

That was probably my Dark Knight ability. I felt something with my left hand there.

With that in mind, I summoned the same feeling with my right hand. For a quick second, my armor gleamed, as if it radiated something. Then with a slash, I took off the monster’s horns fairly easily.

The shinza wailed louder, then backed off, kicking dirt in my direction.

I retracted my blades and felt bad for the thing. What should we—

“Aaa…arrghh!” Allen suddenly charged with his axe, slamming it down on the beast’s side. Its armor cracked, then split open spraying blood everywhere. Allen swung his axe a second time, knocking the beast down. This time the shinza did not flail, but let out a final gasp before laying still, a pool of blood seeping on the ground.

I felt sick. Allen’s eyes were wide as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

“Hey, man, you okay?” I said as I walked over to him.

“I… I didn’t think I could do it,” Allen replied. “Whenever the drill sergeant made me do exercises, I struggled… I failed. But here I… my body could keep up with what I wanted to do.”

Right. I looked at my swords. They were bloodless for some reason, so I sheathed them at my side. “As long as we make the choice to move, our bodies are built with the right reflexes to follow through,” I said as I formed the rationale in my head. “I bet you if I tried the same moves back on earth, I’d more likely drop these swords accidentally or hurt myself in the process.”

Allen looked at me and nodded. “This… this world is great!”

“I guess so, yeah.”

It was a shame I couldn’t do magic like before, but my physical strength and this armor’s ability weren’t bad either.

“You guys took your sweet time,” Tori said as she walked closer to us. “I like how you made yourself a target, Ryota. That takes nerves of steel in front of a raging shinza. Or was it trust in your partner?”

“Haha… yeah, that’s it.”

I sighed inwardly.

Hakan crouched next to the shinza, inspecting the carcass. “I guess Warriors from Keslahir are no different from other warriors I’ve met. Your blades though, Dark Knight, they’re very sharp. Just as the rumors say! Hah!”

Tori moved closer to me and ran her fingers along my right gauntlet. “You must be really skilled to earn this armor from your secretive order.”

My ‘fake’ memories echoed. I remembered a really old man with long white hair and a scar over his forehead. He was my master, and he bestowed me his armor after I defeated him in a duel. I thought of this man as a father figure.

Tori’s fingers carefully made its way to my upper arm, shoulder, neck, then finally my cheek. It was so smooth I didn’t even realize what she was trying to do. Her fox ears twitched as she pushed her ample bosom against my chest. “I would love to learn more about the ancient magics weaved into this armor. It’s not everyday I get to learn magic outside of the usual stones. Maybe we can chat about it after the hunt is over?”

I felt my face flush as I awkwardly, but very softly, pushed the woman away. I already had Ilyana, dammit. Tori laughed, then turned away, making sure her fluffy tail brushed against me. “Perhaps that was a bit too forward. I wouldn’t want to get in Jennifer’s bad side.”

Jennifer’s bad what now?

Tori casted a spell on Allen that removed the blood stains sprayed on his body. “We can come back for this shinza later. It might not be our target, but I’m sure the farmers will be happy to know they have one less thing to worry about during the beasts’ mating season. These monsters attack just about anything to get what they want.” She turned to give me a wink.

“Agreed,” Hakan said as he stood back up. “We might encounter more along the way, so best be ready. They’re as deadly as any Everdark fiend whenever it’s looking for a mate.”

I felt slightly better killing the beast knowing it was an actual terror to the people here, but I wasn’t sure about that wink from Tori. I vaguely knew my Dark Knight armor was special, but the arbiter didn’t think it necessary to simply give me the exact blueprint.

Ancient magic, huh?

I walked next to Allen who looked like he was in a better mood. “Never got the chance to fight in your previous world?” I asked.

Allen chuckled, then shook his head. “All I did was herd a bunch of animals. Ones a lot nicer than that shinza.”

Today’s going to be a long day figuring out exactly what we’re capable of in this world.

For the next three hours the four of us circled around the countryside looking for our prey. I saw hand-shaped trees, bushes with soft spikes, a river that smelled like honey. It felt tiring to walk all day, but the excitement of seeing more fantastical things kept my spirits up. Allen was no different. He’d point at every small animal that skittered about and compared it to whatever we have back on earth. There was a mouse-like creature with giant ears, a centipede-like insect that curled itself into a circle, rolling its body down the hill like it was a wheel, and best yet, a half bird half bee animal that scooped up water from the river and sprayed in on some bell-shaped flowers. According to Tori, those flowers ballooned with honey after it’s taken in enough water, hence the sugary smell in the air.

When the sun was close to setting, Hakan passed around a couple of grilled meat wrapped in sticky rice and fragrant leaves. We sat beneath the shade of a short tree for a well-deserved break. I hadn’t even thought about bringing food, but thankfully our more experienced allies had the tact to do so. We chatted for a while, until Hakan dozed off and Tori checked on her gemstones.

I moved closer to Allen and passed him a drink. “Tori purified that river water with magic,” I said. “It’s kinda sweet though.”

“Thanks.”

“How you holding up?”

“I think I really like this world. I wasn’t sure before but… that fight earlier convinced me. Maybe here I could change.”

“Huh. Say, um… you mentioned a drill sergeant earlier. I couldn’t help but wonder since you said you were going to medical school.”

“Oh.” Allen blushed. He took a sip from the bamboo-like cup, then smiled sheepishly. “Well, I’m studying to be a medic… at least that’s the plan.”

“For the army?”

“Yes. My family’s had a long history in the military. I’m an only child and… well, they expect me to continue the family legacy.” Allen’s shoulder slumped. “As you probably surmised, I’m not the best at it. My cousins came out right, but me…” he laughed despairingly. “I’m just not built for it, I think.”

I looked at the river. I didn’t know what to say.

“So, my mother came up with a compromise. ‘Join the military as a doctor’, she said. ‘You’ll be the first in the family, but that’s a good thing’. My father wasn’t convinced at first, but to him being part of the military was all that mattered. He’s very patriotic and feels an immense amount of pride for it.”

“I see… and how’s medical school treating you?”

“Good enough, I guess. I don’t hate it. I’d eventually find myself back in the military, my family would make sure of that, so I suppose I’m enjoying myself as much as I can.” He laughed. “It’s a lot of work though.”

“I can only imagine. Anything you do as a hobby?”

“I… well…” Allen turned so red it matched the sunset. “I like to sing… and make videos… covers and stuff…”

“You’re a streamer?”

“N-No! I record myself and post the video online! Anonymously of course. You’re like, only the third person who knows.”

“Huh, you better tell me where I can find you then. I’d totally subscribe.”

Allen laughed. “You haven’t even heard me sing.”

Now that I thought about it though… Allen’s been oddly fascinated watching the bards sing in the taverns at night. “How about tonight then? At the tavern?”

“What? I can’t!”

“Sure you can.” I pointed at the axe sitting next to him. “Remember how you can move better in this world? You may not have the same ability to enhance your voice. But your confidence? Dude, nobody really knows who we are in this world, and we’re leaving in a bit over a month. What’s there to lose?”

Allen looked like he was really considering it, but then Hakan and Tori came up to us to continue our hunt.

It was getting late, so we decided to do one last sweep around the river, then made our way back while keeping watch of the Everdark in the distance. Fighting at night was a terrible idea, but just looking at the cursed forest made it doubly so. We couldn’t let this monster roam around for long either.

In the end, we didn’t find the beast anywhere.

We made our way back to Yorutei, and that’s when something… unexpected happened. The shinza we killed earlier? It was gone. At first, we thought a few brave farmers or other mercenaries passed by and took it, but the trail of blood looked weird. Instead of smearing along the ground to whichever direction, there was a wider splatter where it died, followed by droplets leading east. The only explanation was something lifted it up from the ground and carried it away.

The Everdark fiend we were hunting didn’t say anything about flying, but then again reports were vague.

“I don’t like this,” Hakan said. “There are farms closer to Yorutei.”

“B-But it can’t break through the protective lanterns… right?” Allen asked.

“Normally no,” Tori replied. “The Everdark is known for having canopies bound by the curse, so no flying beasts ever leave or land through the forest. It’s practically impossible for them. On the other hand, protective lanterns are difficult to weave. Put too many layers of them and even humans are going to have a hard time passing. So they built them to be secure while compromising on parts that don’t normally need protection.”

“That would be the area above,” I said, feeling dread in my stomach.

“Correct,” Tori said with a nod. “This is highly unprecedented. I really hope we’re wrong here. This should’ve been a regular hunt.”

Tori casted a spell on the entire party. My body suddenly felt light, as if a faint breeze was pushing me forward. It was a type of magic I was only too familiar with.

“There should be guards at the gates of Yorutei!” Hakan yelled. “We’re checking the nearby farms!”

The four of us nodded to each other, then sprinted away as fast as we could.

This hunt might not have anything to do with my mission, and this might be a different world. But people were people. If I had the means to make a difference and save lives, I would. I glanced over at Allen, and his usual fearful expression was clear as day, but he said no complaints and ran with us.

We reached the first farm. It looked a bit different at night, but I recognized the tower in the middle. It was probably a granary of some kind. We checked the fields and the skies. Nothing.

We dashed off to the second farm. An old farmer couple was working on their wagon lit by lantern light. Tori and Hakan explained the situation, but the couple had seen nothing. They immediately headed back to their house afterwards.

We started running towards the third farm, which was getting pretty close to Yorutei, but then something horrifying barred our path, sprawled in the middle of the cobbled road. It was the mangled carcass of a shinza. I could tell it was the same monster we fought earlier because its horns had the exact same cut I gave it.

Tori searched the skies, then her demeanor changed. “Everyone… northeast, perched on a large boulder, close to the Everdark.”

I brandished my blades and turned to look. I immediately saw the boulder; a large slab of rock jutting from the land. But there was nothing—

The top half of the boulder started to move. That’s when I noticed two sets of crimson eyes glowing in the dark. It leapt off the boulder and quietly moved towards us.

Tori shot lightning into the skies illuminating the land.

The Everdark fiend was a monster similar to a leopard in shape but three times in size. It’s fur was snow white, and at first I thought it had massive horns growing off its shoulder blades, but I realized those were its wings, folded around its body as if wrapping itself in armor. Its tail was very long with a spike tip and curled upwards like a scorpion. Its head looked enormous, cat-like but with jagged teeth that jutted out like a shark. What the hell was I looking at?

“D-Did it try to lure us with the shinza?” Allen asked.

“Could be,” Tori replied. “Or maybe it gave up going to a farm after it had its fair share of food. Odd that it didn’t drag it back to the forest though…”

“Whatever it is, it’s been a menace around these parts,” Hakan said. “It’s getting closer and closer towards the town. We need to kill it now. Allen! Ryota! If you please!”

“W-What?” Allen stammered.

“He probably wanted us to take its attention,” I said. “We’re the ones in armor.”

If this was a video game, we would be the tanks. Except, of course, this wasn’t a video game. That fact was etched into my soul as soon as I moved close enough to the fiend, and it swiped me with its tail.

I saw the attack come, and my reflexes would’ve probably let me dodge. But my brain? It took too long to process all that information. Like earlier in the day, my mind and body were out of sync. So, I got thrown sideways like a rag doll.

I spun and spun and tasted dirt in my mouth. By the time I skidded to a stop, my body hurt all over, though my spellbound armor probably softened most of the blow.

“Arrrggh!” I heard Allen scream. I saw him block the fiend’s tail whip with his axe, pushing him back.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

After the third strike, Allen was knocked off his feet.

A green light washed over me. A healing spell. My eyes darted towards Tori and she was already summoning a lightning spell that hit the beast. She was fast with those things.

Hakan was probably faster. He zoomed across the field with his sword pointed forward like a fencer. He slammed point first into the fiend’s upper body, splashing blood.

I got up and raised both of my blades, feeling a surge of strength in my hands. It was a good thing I didn’t drop these things. As
I ran towards the monster, I could feel my armor doing something. I felt its power course inside, circulating all across my body. On the outside it was gleaming, as if the obsidian surface reflected the stars, brushed with a deep purple glow. Maybe I wasn’t really a tank.

The fiend retaliated with claw strikes and tail swipes, while Hakan dodged best he could. He was good but I think some of the monster’s attacks grazed him a little.

And then lightning. Tori hit the fiend straight to the face. The beast didn’t growl or cry out in pain, but it looked dazed.

As soon as I reached it, I spun around with both blades, the glow of my armor trailing behind like smoke. This time, my body ‘remembered’ the motions of the attack, and I reacted fast enough to do them. I felt my blades sink into the monster’s flesh like a pair of red-hot knives.

The fiend flinched in pain and bared its teeth.

Should I do more damage? I didn’t know. The monster’s crimson eyes were on me, and I shivered.

Another flash of lightning hit the enemy in the head. It backed off, then spread its wings.

Oh. My. God.

Its wingspan was probably the length of two buses. If this body—my body—wasn’t trained to fight, the real me would’ve had its knees buckle.

“W-What is it d-doing?” Allen said.

“I don’t know! But prepare for anything!” Hakan yelled. “Tori!”

“Got it!” Tori replied, then casted two spells in quick succession. The first was wind for movement speed, the other for protection.

And then the fiend lunged its entire body forward. It was so fast
I was knocked backwards before I could blink. I saw Hakan get thrown away same as me, but Allen… Allen stood his ground.

I hit the dirt, spun around, then got back up fast.

Instead of blocking, Allen had his weapon meet the enemy. He buried his axe on the enemy’s left paw, but the fiend kept pushing. It moved to swipe with its right paw, but that’s when Hakan moved in to intercept it.

Damn, he got up faster than I did.

What should I do? Before I could act, the fiend spun around, almost what I did earlier and shook off the two fighters. It flew upwards.

Allen finally sank to the ground, his axe making a loud thud. Tori healed both him and Hakan.

I braced myself and looked at the night sky. The moon was bright, almost radiating a yellowish hue. Circling around it was the fiend, casting its enormous shadow. It wasn’t leaving. It could strike at any moment, and from that height, it could be fatal.

In that moment, I genuinely feared for my life. Being a champion of fate, having these fantastical abilities, succeeding on my first mission. It made me confident. Like we were safe under the arbiter’s watchful eye. But then I remembered Eddy. He was the one most excited to accept his fate and save the universe… and then he just died. The arbiter didn’t actually care.

My hands trembled. Should I run? This wasn’t even our mission. I couldn’t leave without Allen of course, and I cared about our new friends too, so maybe we should all leave. Fight another day. Bring more mercenaries. That was logical, right?

My eyes darted left and right, looking for a possible place to hide under. That’s when I saw Tori. She could cast a spell from a distance, but she probably—

Oh shit. I looked at the monster again. I was a mere engineering student at university who couldn’t even confess his feelings to his crush, but somehow… my instincts told me where the fiend was going to strike. Or who it was going to strike.

I dashed towards Tori as she started another spell. The monster was probably waiting for it—waiting for the perfect opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Lightning soared to the sky above, but I didn’t even need to look to know the monster dodged it. I saw it in Tori’s shocked expression. I saw it in the shadow that washed over her figure.

My arms, no, my entire body felt a surge of strength.

The moment I reached Tori, it was as if time slowed to a crawl. I spun around to face the sky. The monster was mid-dive with wings folded, long tail trailing behind, and right leg reaching forward. Its claws were unveiled, gleaming a sinister red against moonlight.

I knew exactly what I had to do. A feeling—a memory—I have as if it’s something I’ve done hundreds of times. My mind caught up to it. I wasn’t simply Ryota Rutherford. I was a Dark Knight who struggled in the underworld until an old mercenary of the protectorate guild took pity on me. He taught me how to fight. He taught me how to fend for myself, so I clawed my way out from the dark recesses of society into the bright morning sun. In the end I inherited not just his armor, but his power.

I could lose myself in this persona. In this fake life. It was scary, but for this one moment I let it happen.

I summoned the dark energy residing in my armor, channeled it all into my left arm, then thrusted that power directly towards the moon—towards the Everdark fiend falling.

My sword extended into the sky, growing in size and length with dark magic. It pierced through the monster from its right leg, through its body, and out its tail. It shot like a bullet that almost reached the moon. At least from my vantage point. The force pushed the fiend far enough that it landed before us instead, shaking the ground as it fell.

I couldn’t believe what I just did. I had that much power? I breathed heavily as I looked at Allen and Hakan’s faces, shocked at what I did. And then at Tori who caught me as my legs gave out. “Goodness, Ryota,” the woman said. “You sure you don’t want some alone time with yours truly? Because I would really love to learn more about you.”

I wasn’t even sure I understood myself. I had memories planted in me, but just now they faded, and I was back to being the old me. The normal, unassuming me.

I glanced at the Everdark fiend. It was dead. It died pretty much instantly. “Are all creatures from that forest that strong?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Tori replied. “We can handle them as a group, but the fact that this one flew made it hard to predict. I wonder why it decided to come out now.”

I guess we really have no choice but to do our mission in the village during the festival. No way was I fighting one of those things inside the forest. Especially not without veterans like Hakan or Tori. And I’d doubt they’d be interested in pulling off a heist.