Raccoon... Raccoon... I need to defeat him.
Clown simply looked at me, then at the enemy, and simply started to walk to the side with a smirk.
"Well then, good luck darling. I will watch everything."
He leaned against the wall.
Wait he... Is just going to watch?
"C-Clown?... I thought that..."
"Go on little boy, I want to see everything."
The enemy stood up. He looked like he did that day, I don't feel anything coming from him. Or I just can't.
"How dishonest."
he took a knife out of his pocket.
"The raccoon isn't here."
He is just talking about random things. Nobody asked him that!
"Alright! It's time to settle this down for once!! I will finally use my SISU!!!"
Clown smirked at me.
"Muohohoho, i'm sooooooooo excited..."
"And what will be the Protector's one."
He now refers to himself in the third person...
"HERE I GO!!"
Amari Pov:
Now I, Amari, i'm the protagonist hehe.
This girl is staring in my front, in this tight but extensive corridor.
I can't see her face, I can't read her emotions, but she looks pretty confident.
"Green-haired, would you mind telling me your ability?"
"Ha! Like hell I will! But just for you to know, the 3 of us have the same!"
"Ah, understood. So it's the stealing one, or you have an ability like Sayuri's one. One that you can learn many things."
"W-What, N-NO! O-OF COURSE NOT! I-T CAN'T BE THE SECOND OPTION, I-IT WOULD NEVER BE THE SECOND OPTION!!"
...
"It's the second option."
"I'TS NOT! tsk..."
Yeah she isn't that smart, nor seems strong...
"Well then..."
I stretched the chains of the 3 leftmost fingers (the "normal" ones)
"Let's start."
I suddenly, in an attempt at a surprise attack, tried to tie her up with one of the chains, but she managed to dodge it with a jump backwards.
She's fast...
"Ha! Like if that would be enough to catch me."
"We'll see..."
I started a quick sequence of attacks, using the 3 chains one at a time trying to grab her, but she always managed to dodge to the sides or backwards
After a time of attacks, I stopped, having walked a few meters.
She said with a cold tone.
"Too slow too slow too slow... You will never catch me. The chains of your ring always bend at the end trying to grab me. In those moments I dodge it.."
"Yeah, I noticed that... But there's one thing you didn't realize..."
I raised my hand, ready to strike again.
"It doesn't have to bend!!"
I threw my hand towards her, seeing the chains she tried to jump back, but she simply couldn't go far enough, as my chains stretched even further.
"It also works like a whip!!!"
One chain hit her in her body, then another and another.
I hit it right on target, she moaned in pain
"Y-You damn..."
She was gasping, visibly hurt.
"Now i'ts time to use my true power!... Wonder what it is?"
"I kinda already know it..."
"Tsk, it was wrong. I mean, kinda, but it wasn't the second option... So let me ask you again, you wonder what it is?"
I simply nodded.
"Well... I can heal the others!"
...
"Heal the others?"
"Yes. So far only that, but I'm improving."
Is she serious right now? That's really all she can do?
"Hey I have something to tell you... Something that, will make you... go crazy."
She crossed her arms and turned her head, looking with a great arrogance, seen even beneath the mask.
"And what would it be..."
"I can also heal people."
...
"Mind repeating that?"
"I said, I can also heal people..."
"I see..."
...
"W-WHO TAUGHT YOU THE RACCOON'S SECRET SHARED SISU!?"
Yeah, she is angry with me.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but it's just part of my power. And how did you expect to defeat me with that power? What you were gonna do, heal me?!"
I think she had a reality check.
"Oh..."
She was just there, staring at nothing."
"I see..."
"So... Do you surrender?"
Sayuri Pov:
Now, the protagonist is I, Sayuri, the one who's going to become the greatest Wizard in the w-
Suddenly, a knife appeared in my direction, but I was able to dodge it.
"AHHHH! AT LEAST LET ME FINISH MY SENTENCE!!"
"YOU WERE TALKING TO YOURSELF!!"
I'm fighting the brown-haired dude... Wait, he was the one that...
"Oh, I remember you... You stole my..."
"S-Sorry for that, wasn't my intention... At all."
"At all?!"
He quickly changed the subject.
"Well uh... Are you a Wizard?"
"Yeah of course..."
He didn't realize? My clothes, my staff...
"Oh cool... So uh, how are you?"
Is he wasting time?
I said nothing, and just pointed my staff at him.
"B-"
"It's been enough."
Wait, I'm hearing something spinning? Something from behin-
A knife appeared spinning in the air in my direction.
A knife? Coming from behind me!? Who threw it!?... Wait, a knife... Oh I get it now, his knife has some boomerang effect. Wow. So cool!
The knife came, and in the last second I was able to dodge, and it only made a small scratch on my arm.
It's bleeding too.
I looked at my arm, and stared at it for a second.
"Hey... you tore my clothes..."
He started to walk forward. We were very afar.
"Yeah, luckily you survived... My goal was to kill you, and that might-"
"BIUM!!"
I quickly grabbed my staff, and used Bium (the one that creates a small laser), at behind.
My Bium flew and hit a boomerang knife, destroying it.
He stopped, tho I can't see his face, he probably is shocked!
"How... How did you know!?"
I smirked. This is my win.
"A great Wizard has sharp senses... Or maybe you chose the battlefield, this is a closed place... Obviously you already had something prepared, I just didn't expect it to be something so simple."
I pointed my staff at him.
"So it's a Sisu that the knives spin in the air infinitely in circles huh? Circles not necessarily..."
He seemed quite angry, by his voice.
"M-Maybe... M-Maybe not... But T-"
"AHHHHHH!! BROWN-HAIRED GUY, HELP MEEEEE!!!"
We suddenly started to hear this voices coming from the middle. We are in right corridor, the middle is where we were before, in the right is Amari...
"BIUM!"
I destroyed another knife.
"Ahhhh, this h-"
"BROWN-HAIRED, HELP ME!!!'
Suddenly, the door opened and appeared the green-haired raccoon girl, looking desperate and coming in our direction.
"HELP MEE! I'M GONNA DIE !!!"
The brown-haired guy looked at her.
"Lo-... R-Raccoon girl, what are you doing here!?"
"SHE IS GONNA KILL ME!! AHHHH!"
She quickly ran through us and kept running in the corridor, even though this room has no exit.
"HEY COME BACK HERE!! YOU CAN'T JUST RUN AW- Oh, hi Sayuri!"
It's Amari. She appeared looking very angry. Think she was pursuing the green-haired.
"Bium."
I used it on the brown-haired guy, he was focused in Amari and the other girl, so he got hit in surprised.
Then the green-haired stopped, noticing on her front was me and behind was Amari.
She looked at me, then at Amari, then back at me and said.
"C-Can we talk?..."
Yeah, we won.
Kai Pov:
Clown made a smirk at me, observing everything leaning against the wall of that rocky place.
"Oh finally? Go on, We're waiting for."
I took a deep breath.
"Alright..."
I spread my arms straight out to the sides, and spread my legs.
"Super Stance!"
Suddenly, a viscous and sticky material, more liquid than solid, began to run down my legs and arms very quickly, covering them like armor.
As this substance covered my limbs, it grew more and more, making that type of black armor much larger, which made my limbs appear to be inflated, increasing considerably in size.
At the end, when my limbs were way larger and that stopped growing, it solidified and became very rigid.
I then opened my left hand and pointed at Raccoon, while I raised my right hand and also pointed at him, but keeping it behind, closed and stretched, like an arrow.
"Impact Mode!!!"
The Raccoon stared at me, without moving or showing any reaction.
"Transformation. I see."
Clown giggled a bit.
"Oh my oh my, your limbs are so big, they even look out of proportion to your torso, you look funny Kai."
Let me explain my Sisu, Super Stance.
This black liquid around my limbs, is literally Sankalpa, as what my Sisu does, basically: I transform Sankalpa into a material that I can shape as I wish around my limbs.
I use it as a kind of armor that covers and hardens my limbs, thus making them much stronger.
In Impact Mode, this transformation, my limbs inflate like a balloon, but become extremely stronger in things brute force, but all other stats like speed, agility etc, remain basically the same as without. I basically get an absurd boost in everything related to strength.
And I use 25% Sankalpa on each limb.
The problem is that this transformation only lasts as long as I have Sankalpa available, since I spend a lot of it with this armor.
It took me a long time to think about this, I tested it just a few times.
The Raccoon just said.
"You're still very weaker than me. I have another-"
"SHUT UP!!!"
I've never been so angry in my whole life.
"I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER!! Super Heavy Jump!!!"
I gave a jump in his direction, not going upwards but straight towards him, almost like flying, more like a dash.
While doing this, I closed my right punch and positioned it backwards.
"Super Heavy..."
As my legs are also covered with all the Sankalpa, my Jumps are also enhanced.
And as soon as I got in his face, I yelled.
"PUNCH!!!"
And I tried to punch him right in the chest.
Looking back now, my arm is so big it's as big as his head.
He crossed his arms in an X shape to defend himself from my attack, with several black rays coming out around the clash as we were both using Sankalpa.
And after a few seconds, I applied more and more pressure until I finally broke his defense, but he simply fell back a few meters and landed on his feet.
I finally landed on the ground after 'flying', looking at him with my furious eyes.
"THIS IS FAR FROM OVER!!!"
The remaining Sankalpa that I have is not consumed over time, there is no time limit time that I can use this transformation. But it is spent on attacks, so basically there is a limit to the number of attacks that I can use until the transformation ends, and the attacks of this transformation are very strong and use up a lot of Sankalpa.
And it's worth remembering that these attacks were obviously scaled with all the determination I have now, even so the only thing I did to him was make him walk back a little.
He's very strong.
The Raccoon simply said.
"You're not strong. You're not my opponent, but I have someone for you. Select."
Suddenly, beside him a blond guy wearing a Raccoon mask appeared.
"Uh? B-Boss you called me."
It's the blonde guy from before, I remember him.
The Raccoon said absolutely nothing, but the blondie just looked at me and I think he realized what he should do.
"Ah, ok."
Wait, that's not right!
"HEY!! I'M GONNA FIGHT THE RACCOON, NOT YOU!!!"
The Raccoon simply said.
"You're not my opponent. But there's someone strong here."
In the blink of an eye, he appeared next to Clown, trying to land a punch, but Clown moved his head to the side, with the punch hitting the wall.
"Oh my oh my, I wanted to be just a spectator."
The Raccoon tried to land another punch, but happened the same as before.
"Alright Kai, looks like I'm going to have to entertain this guy for a little while. Defeat the one in your front, and then come to me, he'll still be free for you."
"LEAVE IT FOR ME!! I'm the one who's going to defeat that one!!"
Alright, defeat the blondie to then defeat the Racoon...
Clown smirked.
"See ya."
I turned my eyes to the blondie, he was simply watching me.
"I'M GONNA MAKE THIS QUICK-"
While I talked, I simply heard something crumble, and when I looked to the side, to where Clown and the Raccoon were, a passage had simply been opened in the wall, leading to the outside, into the sunlight.
Clown said.
"We don't want to disturb our little friends, do we?"
And they went away.
The blondie is far from me, observing me with that mask.
"Alright, blondie You're my target now!"
He put one hand around his hip, and said with a mocking voice.
"Oh I remember you buddy. Didn't imagine that you would have such a Sisu... But I-"
"Shut up!! I'm wasting time here!"
"Oh well, fine then... Let me just make this clear... We all share the same Sisu, Raccoon's secret, works kinda Wizard's Magic, but made by the Raccoon. I couldn't even unlock all the skills yet, but the boss did. So, even if you defeat me, you're going to die today. Yuka!!!"
He touched the ground with his right hand, and then suddenly the ground around me started to shake, and cracks opened in the ground, like an earthquake, it was hard to stand up.
"A-Augh, what is this!? No problem tho! Super Heavy Jump!!"
I simply jumped and was floating in the air, the ceiling just a few inches below me.
The Blondie just looked at me, and giggled.
"Versatility is the best feat. Boomerang."
From the cracks in the ground right below me, several knives appeared, they simply came out of the holes and were there in the air, I counted about 10!
Oh shit, I'm in the air and I'm already starting to fall, the knives are coming at me. No problem.
With my hands, I touched the ceiling with both open hands, and then using my hands I gave a push towards him, with my feet pointing towards him.
"Super Heavy..."
He looked at me, maybe a little surprised, I don't know, I can't see his face. But he didn't move a muscle.
"Clever. But not enough. Kabe."
As he said that, a wall emerged from the ground right in front of him. A small to the sides, but tall and very thick.
But, it's not enough.
"W-WHAT THE-"
To his surprised, I simply break through the wall with my feet, in the position I was already going.
Now, I was still dashing in his direction, almost touching him.
I couldn't see his face, but I'd say he is scared.
"DOUBLE-SMASH KICK!!!
And boom, I hit him square in the chest with both feet at the same time.
More like a push, which made him fly extremely quickly far away, hitting the stone wall behind him and making a great crater with the impact.
I stood up, looking at him from far.
Tsk, I'm wasting too much attacks on this guy, my target is not him! I-
Suddenly I felt something touching my arm from behind, and when I noticed It was the knifes.
I quickly turned around and put my legs and arms up to protect my torso and head, as they were apparently immune to knives.
G-Goddamit! I wasn't expecting this!
It was a surprise attack, but even so I managed to defend myself from almost all of them, only a few scratched my cheek.
At least my neck gaiter is completely fine...
Then, at the gate where I entered, two girls appeared.
I know who they are.
Amari:
"Uh? Kai you look so weird!"
Sayuri widened her eyes and mouth.
"S-So cool!!"
I opened a grin.
"Oi! Amari, Sayuri! I'm not finished yet so get out!"
Amari seemed quite angry.
"Ah? We're done, so we're seeing if you also are, or if you need help."
Sayuri probably didn't listen to her, she was just excited.
"K-Kai, I demand you to tell me what happened to your body!!"
"Oh this? Well uh, it's my Sisu, Super Stance! Very cool right!?"
Sayuri's smile quickly fade away.
"That's the most basic name I've ever heard!"
"Oh shut up! I had never even heard the word "stance" before, I heard it in a guild conversation and decided to look up what it was, and I thought it suits well! At least, I look very cool!"
Sayuri crossed her arms.
"No, it sucks."
T-This girl... Now I'm pissed!
"S-SAY THAT AGAIN! I DARE YOU!"
Before she could talk, Amari intervened.
"Hey hey, we have more important things to worry about... Kai, you're not done right? You have things to do? Need help?"
"Yeah, I still have a guy to defeat. No, I don't need help, I can defeat him alone!"
Sayuri shout.
"SELF-GLAZING!"
"GET OUT!!"
Amari took a deep breath, and just looked at me.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll beat his ass!... You're really done?"
"Yeah, we defeated them, and then Sayuri used Bium to make them unconscious... Wait Sayuri, how long will they be unconscious for?"
Sayuri looked up, at Amari's face, and responded calmly, seeing nothing wrong.
"Around 10 seconds."
...
"W-WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE!! THEY ARE AWAKE NOW!!!"
Sayuri made a big "ohhhhh", as Sayuri grabbed her and started to run back to the corridor.
"KAI, WE'RE NOT ACTUALLY DONE! SORRY!!"
Sayuri tried to free herself from Amari's grip, wriggling a lot, until she gave up.
"AND THEN EXPLAIN YOUR POWER! I-I MAY BE CURIOUS!!"
The two of them disappeared from my vision in that darkness.
I turned back and started to run towards the tunnel.
"Hold up."
I stopped immediately, hearing a voice.
There in the background, near the crater in the wall, was the blondie, even with a lot of difficulty to stay up and holding his arm.
Half of his mask had been broken, revealing the blue eyes of a man in his 40s.
He was panting, with blood visible on his body, speaking with difficulty.
"Y-You understand nothing... absolutely nothing..."
He closed his eyes, determined.
"We are not the bad guys, we're going to save the world!!"
I didn't move, just staring at him.
"Are you ok?"
I think he thought I was mocking him, but I don't want to kill him.
"Layer after layer, until the end of humanity... We are the first part of the layer."
"Dude I... Yeah you're right, I don't know what you're talking about."
"For the sake of my wife, children, and literally everyone I know, I can't let you live!"
"H-Hey dude, it's not that deep..."
He grabbed a knife.
"The third most powerful technique in Raccoon's Secret, only me and the boss can use it..."
He took a deep breath.
"I think I can use it in other ways, but that's the most efficient and easy I know... Even though it's kinda suicidal to use."
He raised the knife.
W-Wait he's going to stab himself?! No!
"D-Dude stop!"
"You really don't understand... I'M GOING TO PROTECT EVERYONE, EVEN YOU!!"
"FROM WHAT?!-"
He stabbed his own right leg.
"Zenketsu."
Suddenly, from the wound he made, a burst of blood, coming out kind of hard in the shape of a root, came out of there at extreme speed in my direction.
I didn't have time to react, as that thing pierced my right clavicle.
That thing kept stretching until it reached the wall behind, making a bang and I think it stopped.
"D-Damn...This thing..."
I punched that blood root near my collarbone, as soon as I did so all that blood started to melt.
"Thank god it didn't hit the neck gaiter... I-It hurts tho."
"It hurts me more, way more!"
The blondie, I could see through half of his mask, he was shaking in pain, I don't even know if he could stay conscious for much longer, but he was standing.
He removed the knife from his leg.
"F-For the greater good... F-For the good of all... I-It's worth it... Zenketsu! AGHHH!"
He stabbed his own body again, now his other leg.
Again, a lightning-fast blast of blood came towards me.
I had kind of expected this, so I quickly opened my hand and placed it in front of me, in the path of the blood spray.
The blood can't penetrate the hardened Sankalpa right? So it came in the direction of my hand and-
"W-WHAT?! AUGHHH!"
Upon reaching my hand, that blood thing simply divided in two, one up and one down, thus dodging my hand and coming towards me.
One hit my leg, and the other my shoulder, both piercing it.
I quickly, knowing how it works, smashed the 2 roots of blood making it instantly melt.
I spat blood.
"Aughhh... W-Why are you doing this?! You're killing yourself too!"
"I-It doesn't matter... It doesn't matter... Zenketsu!"
He did it again, now in his right arm.
But I have a plan.
"Super Heavy Wall!"
Using the Sankalpa on my arms, I created a sort of small wall of black, rigid Sankalpa in front of me.
In return, my arms "deflate" a little, becoming weaker etc. (since I am using their Sankalpa on the wall), thus allowing me to use even less Sankalpa, at least until I reabsorb the wall through my arms (just need touch and want to).
The hard blood came, it went right towards the Sankalpa wall, but right before it touched it, the blood divided into multiple parts going up, down to the sides. None hit me.
The blondie was very tired and exhausted, but managed to smile.
"He, I-I can aim this... I-It's not a problem at all."
He took a deep breath.
"Alright... For the good of all... Zen- WHA-"
After he opened his eyes, he saw in his front the Sankalpa wall.
It was coming in his direction, like as if it was sent towards him, no time to react.
The wall hit him in full, sending back towards the wall (which was actually very close)
Even so, it was a shock for me.
"W-What?! H-How did he- oh... He simply gave a punch on that, and since he is so strong, it seemed more like a cannonball... I see."
He barely stood up, leaning against the wall, seriously injured.
But as soon as he looked forward, I was already flying towards him, as I used Super Heavy Jump.
My arms were back to normal, the wall having already been absorbed by me.
While using the dash, I put both hands behind my back.
"You're the one who understands nothing! I'm going to save everyone!Super Heavy..."
I stretched my 2 hands back, and opened them wide, joining my fingers.
The blondie, simply looked at me and accepted his defeat, whispering.
"I hope, I really hope... If you defeat all the layers, also defeat the Raccoon... Please."
"DOUBLE-SMASH SLAP!!!"
When I got close to him, putting the palms of both hands together, with both open, I quickly moved them towards him, hitting him with both at the same time (kind of like a double slap).
He felt like 2 wrecking balls hitting him, the impact was so strong that it completely shattered the wall, brick by brick.
I just saw blood flying, as I went to the outside.
There, I stood, just breathing and observing again the forest on my front, and the rocky terrain I was touching, and the sun.
I looked at my black giant hands... there was-
"B-Blood... Human blood..."
I'm just staring at it.
"I-Is he dead? I-I killed him... N-No, he must be alive... He must be... I-I wouldn't kill him... But the Raccoon guy, if I had too... I would? I-I-... T-The blondie is alright!"
I don't kill people, I promised.
But it scares me to think that I... I wouldn't do that, no, not even to my worst enemy... I can't, I would never do that, I promised, I promised, I can't, I-
"Muohohoho, look who arrived..."
In that open, there was Clown and the Raccoon fighting.
I saw streaks of blood and knives going towards Clown, cracks in the ground, walls being raised, in short, complete madness.
The clown's face had some cuts, his clothes had a little blood, the same thing for Raccoon, except for his mask which was intact, so probably all that blood was Clown's.
While still dodging the Raccoon's attacks, Clown somehow was able to still be talking to me, even though he was quite far.
"I have to admit, this guy is pretty strong. Also fighting a fight without trying to attack is kind of hard. But what a strange guy, he barely speaks, he looks more like a robot."
And then with a jump, he went to the top of the cave, falling with his toes and arms open.
He then smirked at me.
"He is your target right Kai?"
Yeah, I'm here to defeat that guy! He is evil, that's why I'm here.
Later I see if the blondie is alright, my goal is the Raccoon!
"Of course!!! That's why I'm here!!"
Looking back, I've already spent quite a bit of Sankalpa. I don't know exactly how much, but it must be pretty close to my maximum.
But it doesn't matter, it has to be enough to defeat him!
The Raccoon made no move, but seemed a little angry or disappointed.
"I already said he's not my opponent. He's weak. You're the one."
Clown took off his coat, revealing a red shirt.
"Muohoho, I'm sorry but this battle is not mine at all."
The Raccoon didn't answer, and in the blink of an eye he just appeared in Clown's front.
But it was already too late.
Clown grabbed the coat and moved it from bottom to top, without touching his body, in front of him.
As the coat passed, the body part simply disappeared, as if it were a magic trick.
But right before the coat reached his mouth, he said with a last smirk.
"I will be observing all."
And he just disappeared.
The Raccoon just stared at nothing for a while, before slowly turning back to me, looking from the top.
"Ok. Your insistence will result in your death."
This guy, he doesn't scare me, not anymore! He just makes me angry... I'm stronger than before, this time-
"I WILL WIN!!!"
I got into my battle stance (my left hand opened and pointed at the Raccoon, while I raised my right hand and also pointed at him, but keeping it behind, closed and stretched, like an arrow.)
"YOU CAN COME!!"
I'm confident, angry and determined!
Without saying a word, he simply appeared at my side, and tried to stab me.
But I managed to put my arm in front, deflecting the knife.
I see an opening!
"Super Heavy Punch!!"
While his hand was on the knife in my arm, I threw a punch with my other.
He simply put his other arm in front, using it as a shield.
After a small clash, I applied enough pressure and sent him backwards, but again nothing major, he just floated a few meters and landed on his feet as if nothing had happened.
Dammit! My Sankalpa is almost over, how much I still have!?
Without a word, he simply appeared behind me and hold my arm.
"W-WHAT?! GET OUT-"
I tried to move my arm away, but he quickly gave an giant jump, reaching the clouds.
I don't think even with Impact Mode I could do that!
"H-HEY! W-WAIT WHAT... AHH!"
He then grabbed my arm with both hands, and put me on his back to give me momentum, then simply threw me down.
When I realized, I was going towards the cave, actually, I was already there.
In the matter of a few seconds, my body crushed against the Raccoon's cave roof, and my body landed in the ground, making a huge creater.
"A-Augh... T-This ahhh, I-I... M-My Sankalpa is still o-on, but I can't barely move..."
I spat blood, extremely breathless and tired, with practically no energy left.
"H-How I will... N-No it can't be I-... What..."
As I looked up through the hole I made in the ceiling, he was there in the sky, going down right towards me.
"O-OH NO, THAT'S NOT GOOD... SUPER HEAVY WALL!!"
Again, I made that black Sankalpa wall, now on top of me while I was lying down.
"N-No I need to get out of here... I-"
Suddenly, the wall was simply crashed.
I just saw him breaking the wall with his foots, simply as that.
He landed on top of me, but for some reason without hitting me, standing over me, looking at my face.
"Why do you hate me."
I said, as my body started to return to normal, no more huge limbs, just a normal guy who can't move.
"B-Because... You're a monster!"
"A monster. I see. Then you're scared of me."
"N-No, not that... I hate you!"
"Then I'm not a monster. Monsters are things that scare. And I know a monster. Because..."
He got on his knees on top of me, and started whispering in my ear.
"I am scared of a monster, the Raccoon... But what scares me the most is thinking about what will happen to humanity if I don't live.
If I die, there is only one more layer left for the end of humanity to begin, the apocalypse.
I molded myself to be who I am, an emotionless beast whose only purpose is to keep the Raccoon under control, but I'm not like that...
I'm capable of doing so much more, but for the sake of humanity I gave up everything just to protect it.
I don't like this, I don't like killing what I intend to protect, but I'm used to it and I need to.
In the beginning I cried every night, and today sometimes I still want to, but it wouldn't change anything, and I know that what I do is for the good of everyone, so I have to do it, even if it hurts a lot.
When I kill someone, do I feel pity and empathy like I did in the beginning? Or do I simply feel nothing anymore? I don't even know how to answer that...
I lied, I'm not the protector of the Raccoon, no, I protect humanity from the Raccoon.
The name of the Raccoon... I get goosebumps just saying that name, it scares me."
He grabbed his knife.
"Take these words to your grave."
As he raised the knife, I simply closed my eyes.
Yeah, I'm scared...
But then, I heard the sound of metals touching.
I quickly opened my eyes and-
"R-RED HAIRED?!"
It was Iulius! The red haired guy from the guild.
He was in a clash with the Raccoon, sword against knife, with several red sparks coming out of Iulius' sword.
"Kai, finally found you!..."
And then, after some seconds, the clash ended with the Raccoon stepping back with a leap away.
Iulius pointed his sword forward, je was very serious and confident, not nervous.
"Kai-"
Before he could talk, Amari and Sayuri appeared through the gate.
Amari quickly yelled.
"R-RED HAIRED!? K-KAI!? W-WHY ARE YOU... WHATS GOING ON!?"
Iulius:
"When I heard that you guys had gone to do the Raccoon's Thieves mission, I knew you would have serious problems, and I've also wanted to do that mission for a while. So I simply followed your footsteps and finally arrived."
Without taking his eyes off the Raccoon, he simply waved us away with one hand.
"Go! Take Kai and go! Don't worry, I can handle him!"
Amari and Sayuri were both surprised and very confused, but just decided to agree.
Amari quickly extended one of her chains, which wrapped around me and then she quickly brought it close to her.
"O-Ok Red Haired, we trust you!"
As we 3 started to run away, I yelled.
"R-RED HAIRED!... W-Why are you doing this?!"
He sighed with a smile and said.
"Just like my hero, I'm going to be the hero to as many people as possible!"