The Return Of The Howling Nightmare

"But by reaching the third kingdom, I will put an end to this. Participating in the tournament, I will prove to my father how strong I can be. And that I can become a knight. That way I can protect my land, and the people that live within it."

The desire in his eyes was self-evident, but he was in a bad mood.

"Protecting the land is not just about power." I said, trying to keep him from it,

"Then why are you fighting? Fighting the epics by applying force. Why are you not able to convince them via words? Because it is impossible for people like that. Because the battle determines the outcome, and the strong one wins. You just can't wait and accept their power nor you could wait for them to change. They are the evil power of this world, and always will be."

I was actually frustrated by his answer. His tone, and not even thinking about what he was doing, was just annoying for me to comprehend. But not for the second left me to talk, Lezlie got ahead of me, and said something that he had to answer before that,

"So what happens if you win the tournament? Will your father let you be a knight?"

"Knights are elected at the request of the king. But that's not what we're talking about here. What I'm trying to mention is that a tournament is held in honor of the gathering of kings, and people from all the kingdoms participate in a big tournament. If the winner is awarded in this tournament, and if the king wishes, he becomes his honored knight and is awarded a valuable weapon. So on, because the trading power of the third kingdom is on the line and because it is located right in the middle of the kingdoms, the tournament is generally held here and all kinds of transactions are processed. It was reported that the tournament planned to be held this year will be quite large, and had attracted the attention of everyone. Because, unlike in previous years, more than one knight will be elected and rewarded. Therefore, compared to my chances of being compromised, the fact that my chances of winning such an honor are higher makes the forces that can follow me insufficient."

"Well, why more than one?"

"There will be three knights for the first kingdom and the second kingdom, and there is also a ranking for other kingdoms in the same way. So as many people will be selected in this year's tournament, because of this, many people from different kingdoms and different backgrounds will try to use it to their advantage. After all, no dam has been set to stop them, and like people with other normal ranks, their participation will allow them to use their own special powers and cause them to strive for victory they could achieve."

"How many people have won so far? We don't want you to lose your head that quickly." said Hiroshi, trying to grasp the situation.

"Not many people. Two, if my memory is misleading me, three. As challenging as the rules and challenges the tournament had were, the only person I remember winning the tournament with sweat on his neck, was my comrade's father. He was quite a strong man, and there was no one who could catch up with him at that time. Gathering the love around the arena, he was the glowing piece of these battles. However, that lasted until the last tournament took place once more."

"What happened?"

"A tall and well-built man had his name on the contest just for fun. He had white short hair, and a pretty hard face, causing everyone to think of him as a strong challenger. He was like a normal traveler though, not much one or two from us, and wore clothes that everyone wore. But unfortunately, the things he had, slipped under my attention and I found his true potential like everyone else did. From the moment we first saw him, we heard that according to what has been said, he was a descendant of Doomsday Lineage. Of course, he came into the eyes of even people who took sides and were engaged in such things as betting, but he had more than that. He was able to manipulate soil and use it as with his mind, with a power quite comfortably. He had such strong control over his power, unlike like the elemental spell users, he was able to do many things to amaze us and even scare us in our own seats. And even after a while, when people started getting bored, he made half of the arena close to collapsing. He had such a destructive and overwhelming power, I wasn't able to forget him to this day."

Lezlie was staring into the depths of the prince's eyes, full of pain. In fact, even though we all knew how unlucky the prince was, and that he was chasing a very low chance deficit, we didn't have the heart to say anything.

Nor like Lezlie, who threw herself in front of him with such courage,

"It's hard to say anything at the moment. However, the future you have, is your future. We don't know where the choices we make will take us, so we don't know what options our enemies have, or what route they are taking either. So even though we're trying to do the right thing and avoid danger, we may also be moving in such a way that we may fall into its lap."

Everything that Lezlie said at that moment, made an incredible amount of sense that left us baffled. We moved so long for us, not to realize how bad or how deep we fell, but to realize that our enemies were following our lead on this chase.

Maybe they were stronger and we had no idea about their power that much, but at the same time neither did they.

So thinking about that once more in my mind, I started to revise my plans,

And when Lezlie realized every single one of us was looking at her, she felt anxious and started to stutter.

"A-At least that's what my mom taught me."

And to the words of the Prince, she felt something deep inside, and blushed,

"I have to try, elegant lady. Otherwise, I will not be able to keep my promise."

We learned what we had to, so keeping it short, I decided to end the conversation,

"Let it be as you like. We'll take you there. But after that, the responsibility will remain yours. Let's just hope your father doesn't worry about it during this time."

"You needn't worry. I left him a note and let him know where I am now, and what I am about to do. He is aware of the situation, and I am hoping that he will foresee my actions and behavior as a carrying glory and not a suppressing childish behavior."

"Your pops wasn't so understanding of us. You shouldn't be that sure of it."

"He very much knows me about these matters, unlike people like you, that he just had met. So it shouldn't be a huge difference for him to realize. I also assume that we will reach the destination point at the right time, without any problems in fact. So it shouldn't be a shred of half evidence to keep a note like that."

Then Hiroshi once again replied, letting out a big sigh trying to come up with something against the Prince's overflowing personality,

*sigh* "You really do want too much, don't you Prince?"

After our conversation was over, after the setting sun, we all retreated to our cabins and surrendered to the darkness of the night. After our conversation, we should all have taken the time to review the plan we have and think about what will happen. But very soon, along with the fatigue that the war was upon us, we all fell into a deep sleep. During the time I was sleeping, I was in the same place in the same dream again in my dream.

The very person, that I saw, while I was leaving the first kingdom, was standing in front of me again, talking to me in the shadows. Through thick dark sounds and fogs, with a mist slowly covering the bottom of my footplates. A dream that made the clear sky I had red as a pond of blood. And while the unknown power source in front of me became more visible, it became stronger by the moment. Plunged me into darkness and made me stay there. A thick and fearful sound rang in my ear, and every time I took a step I trembled from my hands to my feet. Fear and anxiety aside, I had become unable to think of what to do in pure shock. It was like I was frozen there. And the more I heard the voice, the more I involuntarily shuddered and became nervous.

That's why I have been reminded once again what it's like to be afraid.

"What is this power?"

"It will soon be the other's turn too, young warrior. You are quite dismissive of your own will, but you are also selfish and greedy."

"Who are you!?" I tried to shout, trying to look at every point I could,

"Tell me, Ryuu. Are you achieve, and find your reality, with what you're doing with the other two hearts? Or is there something I don't know?"

How could he have known that? Who was standing in front of me? If he knew so much about me, then why did the identity of the person whose presence I felt come to mind at that moment? I was so confused. I didn't know what to do. I tried to stand in a sweat, not yielding to the power that captured my arms. But I was desperate too. No matter what I did, I was writhing in pain, trying to stay up, stay awake. As if I was trying to stop something from swallowing me. And neither being prepared about the danger beneath and upon me, I was dying to figure out the unknown voice in front of me.

I didn't know who he was, and I didn't know how he did it. But he knew me. More than I've ever known.

"I'll use both if I have to! But I won't stop no matter what! I won't fall for the covers you put on my eyes and sight!

"There is no such necessity for me to blind a normal mortal like you. My goal is for you to suffer through this alone, and I will not allow you to damage the ambitions of this established provision, warrior. I won't stop just like you and I will never show mercy. I will bury you in the very edge of darkness until you question how real your existence really is."

As his vicious skeleton arm covered around my face, and his red eyes glowed, he continued,

"And will you be able to get this far, warrior? Will you be able to beat them all and face me?"

"You can be sure of that." I replied to him, with the biggest fury I could ever own in my heart and face,

"You're improving, Ryuu. I can feel it. The power you have cannot be underestimated. But this will not be enough. I'm ready to give orders to my other arms to fall on you. That way, your only option is to spend every second of your life that you can make valuable."

Taking back his hand, he stood there menacingly, giving me one last look,

"To make me fall, towards the unbeatable possibility you have been facing."