Chapter 2

The man with the overly large crossguard buster sword made his way through the town. He dragged his sword behind him causing small sparks to fly from the ground. He then stopped as he noticed the large corpse of Ragnar the Mountain King. He turned to a random citizen and said, “Oi, you, what happened here?”

“O-Oh!” The civilian replied, “Yesterday, this stranger came into town and killed Ragnar! He did it all without even touching him!”

“What?!” The man replied, “Where did he go?!”

“He was taken to the Starfruit Palace! I haven’t seen him since!”

“Hmmm,” he then turned and looked up at the castle on the hill, “I see. I was headed there anyway. Thanks.”

“Yeah! Don’t mention it!”

Inside the palace, in the guest room, Blast laid rather heavily asleep on his side. As he snored a large bubble grew and shrank. The door to the guest room slowly cracked open as Princess Pitaya peeped inside. She quietly opened the door and stepped into the room before slowly closing the door behind her. She turned and snuck over to his bedside where she then sat down beside him. She tilted her head as she noticed his arms. His right arm, which laid in front of him, was adorned with white angelic-like markings and tattoos, while his right arm, which rested beneath his head, was adorned with black and demonic-like markings and tattoos. She was curious about what they could mean. Was he born with them? If not, then who gave them to him.

Her eyes drifted from him to the floor where she saw his shirt and jacket on the floor. She picked up his shirt, folded it, and put it on the bedside table. She attempted to lift his jacket before she gave a “Oomf!” It was heavy. REALLY heavy. She then mustered up all her strength and hoisted the jacket up before she carried it over to the settee at the end of the bed. When she returned to his bedside she noticed the necklace he wore was also on the floor. She picked it up and began to examine it. The pendant was a hazy yellow-brown orb held in a ring. If she looked closer at the orb it was made of colors such as red, brown, and white spots, bands, eddies, and vortices. Though deep at the core it was blue. She didn’t know what it was, but it was a fully 3D pendant of Saturn!

She set the pendant down on top of Blast’s shirt before she sat back down on the bed again. She gave a soft chuckle as she noticed he still had his glasses on. She went to remove them when the bubble from his nose popped. He quickly snatched her wrist and then maneuvered himself on top of her. He had her pinned down with one knee on her shoulder and one hand on her throat. With his other hand he quickly drew his gun and pressed it against her forehead as he breathed heavily. She swallowed lightly as she looked into his eyes. Despite his eyes being blue, they seemed to be rather firey and intense. She wasn’t sure if he was truly himself at that moment. However….being in this position, and with his hand on her throat…it was awakening something in her. As such she began to experience…BLISS!!!! Her bliss nearly overwhelmed her, it got just strong enough to find its way into Blast!

Blast blinked a few times and shook his head. His eyes focused before they popped open. “Gah! P-Princess!!!” He then quickly got off of her and holstered his weapon, “I apologize!! I never meant to-!” She sat up as he continued to babble and stumble over his words, “I-I mean, uh…” He cleared his throat. He looked over at her to see her with her hand over her heart and her face a bright red color, “Are you okay?”

“Hm?” She looked up at him only to experience more bliss. Not because he was totally shirtless and could see his abs, but because of the HUGE scar in the center of his chest! “I-“

“Hm?” He then looked down before he looked at the scar on his chest. “Oh, that.” He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her, “I got this from the one who destroyed my home world.”

“What happened?”

“He nearly killed me,” he said, “He has this ability where he can force blood to drip from his hands. After that he ignites it into plasma with a powerful punch. It was a devastating attack, and the shockwave of said attack completely destroyed my home world.”

“Wow…what did you do from there?”

“I wandered around other planes of existence rather aimlessly, hoping I’d find him. I never saw him again until I reached Earth.”

“I see…” she paused before asking, “Can I touch it?”

“Yeah sure,” he gently took her wrist and guided her hand up to the scar on his chest. She was a bit taken back by it. The scar was rather warm, perhaps just as warm as the rest of his body. And his heartbeat felt strange…but it was steady. She looked from his chest and up into his eyes. His beautiful….welcoming…intoxicating blue eyes. “The truth is…I could’ve healed it a long time ago, however I’ve decided not to.”

“Why not?”

“I keep it as a constant reminder of what happened. If I heal I’d be erasing everything about myself, about my people. I’d forget everything that happened to them.”

“I see…” She then removed her hand from his chest and stood up, “Here,” she unlocked her bet before she found the seam between the top and bottom of her uniform. She pulled her top up and lowered the bottom a bit showing a large scar on her stomach that went partially on her pelvis. “When I was born, someone tried to kill me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know why, and I’ve spent countless sleepless nights trying to find who did it. However, I will find them eventually.” She then put her uniform back together and then clicked her belt back together. “You’ll find the one who inflicted that scar onto you, and when you do I know you’ll do what’s necessary. I’m planning to do the exact same thing. I’ll even help you out with it.”

“Huh?!” He asked as he jumped to his feet, “Are you serious?! The person I’m going up against is some serious stuff! You’ll get yourself killed!”

“I’d do anything for yo-“ She then quickly curled her lips before she cleared her throat and said, “I’d do anything for my kingdom. If this person is here, then I’ll do what I can to help you at all costs.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you!” He said with a smile,

She blushed heavily, “That smile~!” She swallowed lightly before saying, “Of course, happy to help!”

“To make it up to you, I’ll help you out with any powerful enemies your kingdom may have!”

“Wait, huh? Really?!”

“Of course! The least I can do is train you and your troops for an enemy such as this!” He then turned to the side table where he then froze. The way his shirt was neatly folded with his necklace on top of it. It reminded him of someone from long ago. “Um…did you…fold my shirt?”

“Hm? Yeah. You just kinda tossed it on the floor, and your jacket is over on the settee.”

“Oh um…thank you.”

“Did you not want me to?”

“No, it’s fine, really.” He picked up his shirt and unfolded it as he put it on followed by his necklace. “Thanks.”

“Of course.”

Awkward silence filled the room as he walked over to the settee and picked up his jacket and put it on. Suddenly the door burst open as a man panted heavily, “P-Princess Pitaya!!!”

“What is it?” She asked as she turned to the man,

“H-He’s returned from his mission!!!”

“Who?”

“Space Bustar!!!”

“Huh?” Blast went as he heard the man speak this person’s name.

“Oh wow,” Pitaya said, “I wasn’t expecting him back for a while. I’ll go greet him at once!”

“Who’s Space Bustar?” Blast asked,

“He’s the most powerful sword user in the Starfruit Kingdom. He’s also one of my closest friends. You’re welcome to come and meet him if you’d like.”

“Sure, why not?” He said with a smile and a shrug. Within moments after his response he was standing at the top of a staircase. Behind him was a stained glass window, with its design being that of Princess Pitaya. Pitaya gave a joyful scream as she ran over to the man with the large crossguard buster sword. He smiled back at her as he jammed his sword into the ground and caught her in his arms as she leapt towards him.

“I wasn’t expecting you back so soon!!!” She said gleefully as he spun around with her before setting her down. “I’ve really missed you!”

“I missed you too, Princess.” He said before he then looked up and saw Blast. “So who’s this?” He asked as he nodded his head in Blast’s direction.

“Oh! That’s Blast!” She exclaimed, “You’ll never believe what he did! He killed Ragnar the Mountain King.”

“Him?” He asked with a cocked brow, “I see.” In less than an instant the man vanished before reappearing directly in front of Blast. He swung his sword towards him only for it to be blocked by Blast’s gun. The two weapons scraped against one another causing sparks to fly before the man pulled back his sword. He went to attack again when Pitaya moved at a neck breaking speed and stood between the two of them.

“Knock it off!” She said as the man then suddenly stopped his sword before it was a few centimeters away from the crook of her neck. The force from the sudden stop of the blade caused the ground beneath them to crack! “He’s a guest here! The least you could do is be nice to him! Where are your manners?! At least introduce yourself.”

The man scoffed as he saw the look on her face. He huffed after a few moments and swung his sword behind him. “As you wish.” The man said before Pitaya moved aside. Blast got a decent look at the moment and took in all his features. His dark brown hair was brushed back a bit, it looked neat, but also rather messy at the same time. His skin was slightly tanned and he had a beauty mark in the corner of both of his light brown eyes. He wore a black leather jacket, gray shirt, and black pants that resembled Japanese fisherman pants. He was fairly muscular, just a bit bulkier than Blast. He had stubble that went from his upper lip and connected with the stubble on his chin and jawline. “I apologize, name’s Estallido D. Bustar. Proper title is Space Bustar.”

“Blast Blazar.” Blast said in return, “Blast Blazar the Singularity.” The two looked rather intensely into each other's eyes with a slight glare. As of now, right here, in this moment, their glorious rivalry was born!

A//N

Chapter 2!!! I was honestly a bit taken back when it was revealed that the topic for the contest was a male POV wholesome romance, but now, I think I’ve finally got a direction I want to go in!!!

Now, but the new character Estallido, here’s some interesting things about him! His ethnic background would be Half-Spanish, Quarter-Yakan (an indigenous group of people in the Philippines), and Quarter-Thin (an indigenous group of people in Thailand!) He’s 6’4” and his sword is about 7 Feet tall, with the blade being about 16 inches wide, and the crossguard being 21 inches wide. His birthday is September 1st! When I was coming up with this characters looks, all I could think about was Miguel O’Hara from Marvel Comics and Jaime Reyes from DC Comics.

Chapter 3 will be the last of the introduction chapters, after that it’s gonna get so wholesome that you’ll probably explode. See you next time!!!