Living on the Edge

By: Miles Smallhorne

Chapter Prologue - The Beginning

Life contains many mysteries… But none is so great like the one where a giant portal opens in the middle of the city and people drop dead cause some kind of monster or god walks through it and kills everything in sight.

No. I’m not kidding. I do mean that literally.

What was once a peaceful city was now a sea of flames with pools of blood. Buildings collapsed, glass shattered, heads rolled, and bodies exploded.

But… opening portals to other dimensions comes with consequences you know. The creatures from the other dimension brought something from their world. We’ll just call it magic. They brought that magic with them. Giving the inhabitants of this world a way to fight back.

Chapter 1 - Blood Spilled

It was a perfectly normal day.

“RUN!”

“Oh crap”

Two kids ran down an empty street, well empty meaning devoid of people. That were alive.

There were corpses all over the place, that the two kids stepped over while being chased by monsters. The monsters were gargoyles, you know those stone statues that people are scared of? The monsters that fly and abduct people? Is that what a gargoyle is? I have no idea.

Well, that’s what was chasing the two kids, flying stone gargoyles. These two ran for the hills, not literally speaking of course. They reached the end of the street, and both turned in opposite directions. The gargoyles being monsters of a more simpler thinking continued flying forward, and crashed into a trap. One that the two kids had set up. The gargolyes were trapped in wires, thin enough and sharp enough to cut them to pieces.

“And that’s that. Stupid freaking patrols. If they didn’t fly I would just freaking stab them.”

“Cora… We have to be careful.”

“Liam I am being careful! We set up a trap and everything. Now come on dude. Let’s gather their materials and run the hell away from here.”

“... I know I’m just…”

“Being a worrywart. I told you Liam. I’ll always listen to your advice.”

“How sweet.”

Liam and Cora both froze in their tracks. The air around them shook, like they were in an earthquake.

“H-ho-how…”

“Da-dam-damn it…”

“Foolish humans. You can’t even stand in my presence. So why bother resisting? This

world i-”

“SHUT YOUR DAMN PIEHOLE!”

“YEAH SHUT UP!”

“... That’s it!”

…

When this world was invaded, a… god… no a demon brought her eight angels… no generals with her.

When they invaded, they brought their magic to our world. We were given the means to fight back. But in the face of such overwhelming odds, many died. After the inital invasion some went into hiding, or surrendered. But that meant death. These invaders wanted our world, and we were in the way. Because their world was dying.

…

He was a general, one of the eight angels… Charles, a short young man, that looked like a kid.

He wore a fancy overcoat that was way too big for him. His eyes were red and his hair brown.

He dressed like one of those people that acted like they had a superpower in school. Although, here that’s not a joke. This was their reality, a world with powers. Charles was the one that attacked their home. Cora and Liam thought he had moved on further into the country to ravage other cities, but he was here.

“Even if rats are scurrying within my domain, I take notice.”

So that was it, they misjudged him.

“Her holiness told me to wipe out all life here. So I will.”

Charles takes orders from that demon seriously. He was a fanatic. That made him dangerous. His magic pressure made it so they could barely move. But they had to, they had seen his magic before. It made people explode with spikes emerging from inside their bodies. The only way to defend was with magic. His magic force was so powerful it invaded other’s bodies and made them explode, so one must steel themselves.

Cora and Liam had spent days practicing, it was shoddy but it would work for now.

“What?”

Cora looked at Liam, who nodded. Escape was impossible. Generals were masters of magic and enhancing their bodies. They could do the same, but not as well.

“Ah, clever. You found the solution to my power… How wonderful. Two humans figured out how to defend themselves… Shield yourselves from my magic, with your own.”

Charles blitzed them, he rammed his arms into their necks and sent them flying into a building.

He hoped the pain would make them lose concentration, but it didn’t.

“Tch, you two are making this harder than it needs to be!”

Charles jumped into the building, then narrowly dodged the swing of a sword. It was coated in magic as well. Charles looked up to see, the girl with long straight black hair and brown eyes wielding it. Charles dodged the next three strikes narrowly, he then grabbed the blade and slammed it into his knee breaking it.

“Ah!” Cora jumped back, but Charles grabbed her by the neck and squeezed. “G-gh…”

“Give up. Stop using your magic so I don’t have to use such a cr-”

The broken piece of the sword came flying back to join the sword, cutting Charles’ cheek.

“HAH!!!” Cora swung the sword, leaving a big cut on Charles’ chest.

“What the hell? N-no… don’t tell me… Classes carried over as well? I must wa-”

Liam jumped on his back and put him in a chokehold.

“FOOL!” Spikes emerged from inside Charles’ body and stabbed Liam.

“Hah… Whatever. I can just heal it later… Cora… NOW!!!”

Cora stabbed Charles through the throat, nearly cutting Liam’s throat as well. Cora ran behind

Charles and took him off the spike. Liam’s body was surrounded by a bright green glow that healed the hole in his body.

“Phew, thanks Cora.”

“Yeah… No problem. Sorry if I nicked you there.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I’m glad. We made it through…”

“... But?”

“No buts, let me finish. We made it through phase 1.”

“Yeah.”

Cora and Liam both jumped away from Charles’s body. They could feel his magic force

condensing and focusing on his body. The body began to shake and writhe.

“M…y… q…u…e…e…n…”

“GET DOWN!” Cora grabbed Liam and jumped to a lower floor thanks to the wreckage.

Charles’ body exploded, spikes protruded from his body, and even from his blood which spurted out as well. The rest of the building above where Charles’ body fell over, created a mess of rubble and dust.

“... k…i… Ahem. I will kill you.” Charles had now become completely covered in blood, that wasn’t red but black. It was such a dark black that it even made his facial features disappear. He appeared taller, his clothes were almost destroyed.

Chapter 2 - Again.

Alone, is the only word Charles could use to describe himself. He had no mirror, and anyone he encountered had ‘blown’ up. He was caked in blood. Then she appeared. She gave him purpose, direction, and most importantly control over the power that he couldn’t control. She became everything to him. He would die for her.

Spikes grew frpm the ground and rubble, sprouting from his blood that he spread through the area.

“Come out, Come out!”

Charles turned his spikes on himself, allowing himself to bleed out all over the destroyed building. “Goodbye, rats.”

The blood seeped into the cracks of the rubble, and the ground shook and parted as giant spikes came out of the ground further smashing up the area. Cora and Liam rode up one of the spikes. Cora stabbed the spike with her sword.

“Thanks, asshole! Needed help getting out of there!” She then threw Liam straight at him.

“Here I come!”

“Bastards!” Charles threw blood at Liam, causing spikes to grow on his body.

“GAHH!!!!” Liam pushed past it and grabbed onto Charles, allowing his body to be stabbed by spikes. This only worked against Charles, because now he was stuck. Liam punched him in the face constantly.

“Healing? You idiot! You’re healing me!” But Charles would soon realize this was bad, the more healing magic was punched into him, the more his body reverted. Until he was back to his normal self.

“Sh-”

Cora wasted no time lopping his head off. She had coated her body and sword in magic to enhance herself and launched off the spike. Luckily this time Liam had fell on his butt because the spikes shrank into nothingness so he just narrowly got himself out of the crossfire.

That was it, Charles was dead.

“I failed her… I’m sorry…”

“Feh, loyal to the end.” Cora spat, on his corpse. “That devil seems like the type to only use people and not give a shit when they die.”

“In other words, he’s a victim of her too… But we got the worst of it. Come on Cora, now that one of them has died, this will undoubtedly make waves.”

“Right. Let’s get a move on”…

“N-no way… They killed him? And their way of fighting… Classes made their way over here too… I wonder, is this a divine intervention? Oh crap! They’re leaving, they’re potential allies!”

Chapter 3 - Waves

“What’s the big idea?! I'm busy here!”

“Shut up, you reprobate! Our mighty lord has summoned you!”

“Gus Low… Jakt Gal… Enough.”

The area where the portal opened, was in the middle of a large city. Now that area, the buildings, the streets, and the people were all warped, melted, destroyed, cracked, petrified. It looked like the end of the world, or in other words, something horrible happened here. Not like a a bomb dropped like a bunch of people’s flesh was ripped off and melded into a giant table.

Disgusting I know, but it is the truth. Flesh made into a solid object, and a chair made of white lilies. Alone sat a girl, one as beautiful as a doll, but so doll-like that it was creepy because she was indeed the monster that set this all into motion.

Around the table and her, in the shape of a circle were seven shadows… More like holograms, this is magic, right? So magic projections, but you just need to understand that they are holograms, made using magic.

“I’m afraid Charles has been slain… The poor boy.” She didn’t mean that by the way. She doesn’t actually care.

“How is that possible?”

“The humans have means of challenging us?”

“Perhaps that princess will give you trouble after all Ma. Want some help?”

“I don’t need your help, you slimy bastard.”

“Heh! Fine. To each their own.”

“YOU FOOLS! Our great lord has called us to warn us!”

“Gus Low, it is quite all right. But yes, please do be careful of all of you. Surely you all

know what this means…”

“Not only have humans attained magic… They got classes as well… Time for some

experiments!”

One shadow disappeared.

“THAT BASTARD! HOW-”

“Shut up Gus Low!”

“I’m sure dear Fran will gain something from this, so leave her be.”

…

“Run!”

“AGH!”

Cora and Liam dodged around the monsters attacking them.

“They're really aggressive!”

“Well we did kill their boss!”

The monsters were skeletons, spirits, and ghouls. These types of monsters were endless in the borders between regions.

After the portal was opened the entire shape of the world had changed. Now the world was separated into eight regions, convenient no? Or maybe… that demon did it on purpose? Either way, each of her generals went to each region to ravage it. In between regions is the border… In that border only monsters are present. It’s a dead wasteland, a land without life, only death and monsters that are born from death.

As the two dodged the agitated swarm of monsters they were separated from one another.

“Liam!”

“Damn! Cora!”

Seeing her best friend being swarmed and stabbed and gutted repeatedly set something off in her. Her magic force surged, enough to make the air quake, but only lightly barely noticeable. It was enough to make all the monsters turn around and face her. Liam was given ample time to heal all the damage.

“Phew… Cora…?”

Cora’s entire body was glowing, it was covered in a radiant light, that surrounded her like armor.

She swung her sword and that bright light flashed even brighter. After it cleared all the monsters were dead. Cora was unconscious.

“Cora!”

A little further away…

“Whoa… I need to get on their good side.”

Back at the table…

“Hm?”

“What’s on your mind, oh great leader?” he asked sarcastically.

“Jakt so help me…”

“Actually Jakt I just felt a small magic force, near your territory…”

“Perfect… I’ll crush who or whatever killed Charles. You have my word.” Another shadow disappeared from the table.

“Hmph… So he can be loyal.”

“I think his gruffiness is charming.” Another thing she didn’t mean at all.

“And that’s why you remain infallible, my lord.”

…

In another border between regions… A girl sat atop a mountain of monster corpses.

“Huff… Huff… I have to keep going…”

…

In another region…

“It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot…”

…

A boy with black hair and black eyes carried a girl across the border, into a new region.

Of course, that was Liam carrying Cora. This new region used to be a prosperous forest. Now it is nothing but volcanoes, magma, and lava. A steaming hot region.

“Oh, brother… This is gonna suck.”

“Um, excuse me?”

“HOLY SHIT!”

Chapter 4 - Excuse Me?

“Who are you?!”

“Whoa hey relax… I’m not with them.”

“Then what’s with the mask?”

“It’s a keepsake. Also it serves a practical function. I can’t control my magic force without it.”

“Then you’re all the more suspicious. Stay back.”

“Please… Let me help the two of you kill Jakt Gal. I wish him dead all the same as you.”

“What good is someone who can’t control their magic force?”

“It’s fine Liam.” Cora woke up.

“Cora? Ar-are you sure? I mean this guy is…”

“I know. But he means it. Besides he knows his name… That’s not something even we know…”

“True…”

The masked lad was called B, a codename. Apparently he had done away with his name when his master perished. He claimed to have been transported to their world when the portal opened. He was drowned in the magic of their world and he met his master. It’s why he needs the mask. He learned some information there before his master died and returned to this one.

“So their world is dying, and that’s why they came here?”

“I mean we kinda figured that was the case…” Liam said. “It seemed just like the right plot of a movie, like that one flick…”

“Oh yeah. That one was good. Really good. Gave a good setting for the sequel too.”

“The whole world united. If we survive this maybe… Nah, most of the people are dead. That won’t happen no matter what.”

“Yeah…”

“Erm… So… uh…”

“Right, so about this guy… What’s his deal?”

“I only know about three of them. Jakt Gal is a master of lava and magma… So this must be his region. There are two others, a dragon called Ma.”

“Ah yes, fiction must obligatorily have a dragon in it.”

“This isn’t fiction though.”

“Well, it is a pretty fictional setting.”

“Ahem… and a… robot dragon, called Madness… There is also supposed to be a necromancer and a wizard… but I don’t know much about them or their names. But like, enough said right?”

“I’m sorry, shut up. Did you say a fucking robot dragon?”

“I think he did.”

“Well shit, should we give up?”

“I mean maybe we should, that doesn’t even fit with this fucking fantasy setting!”

“Well I mean technically he’s a golem. He’s some kind of bodiless entity that was granted a strong body by… her.”

“Oh, well I guess… that might be manageable.”

“Maybe we should be more worried about the freaking dragon?”

“Later.”

“Right, later.”

“Right… so, Jakt Gal is basically just a guy trapped in a living suit of armor, that armor is made of lava and magma. Not an easy thing to beat… Especially with how deadly that shit is… But you guys discovered the key to beating him while fighting Charles. Your magic force.”

“... Oh, I had no idea it could be that versatile… You mean we can control its temperature?”

“Well, it is typically the medium for spells. But using it for defense against Charles’ overwhelming magic force is something I didn’t see coming.”

“You were watching us?”

“I couldn’t really get close after the building collapsed… ON ME TOO BY THE WAY!!!”

“Oh… Sorry.”

“You are forgiven.”

“Liam… look at you growing to apologize.”

“Don’t patronize me…”

“Anyways let’s get to training… I have assassin training so I can guide one of his minions, a lava sprite here. We’ll use them as practice to get our magic force to cool us off.”

Chapter 5 - Slow Burn to Quick Burn

It was inefficient to train like this, but what else would they do? They had to make sure Jakt didn’t find them like Charles did. They would have B lure a lava sprite away from the group every week or less. Then use it for practice. Cora and B took turns getting hit by it, while Liam would get by with healing them.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t known that Cora’s small awakening in the border had alerted the enemy already. Jakt Gal was no fool, as brash as he was.

On the third week of training…

“World Melt!”

From the sky came a huge wave of lava, as if it were a tsunami, it crashed into their little training area below reshaping the ground into a new fresh hot plain.

“That’s what happens when you challenge me in my domain!”

“I’ll say. Pretty dangerous.” Liam said.

He held onto Cora and B’s shoulders, supplying them with healing magic while Cora and B changed their magic force to cool them off.

“Phew…”

“Nice and toasty all over. Well… not really.”

“We better be careful, rapid cooling and heating can be dangerous.”

“A race against the clock then.”

Jakt Gal was exactly as described. A buff suit of armor made not from metal, but from lava. Now you might be saying it’s just rock because it cooled, right? WRONG! It’s still heated, and that guy is wearing it. So unless he’s burnproof he is getting burnt to a crisp. However none of that really matters, this guy is strong, but he’s a one-trick pony.

“HOW?!”

B and Liam threw Cora with the full might of their magic force, Cora spun like a spinning top while swinging her sword and cut through Jakt Gal’s armor and his body. Cora managed to crack open the armor, but her sword was stuck in the seared flesh of Gal’s body. Cora almost threw up, Have you ever smelled burning flesh before? No? Well, you shouldn’t try it from what I hear. It’s disgusting. Cora had to get away but her sword was stuck in Gal, eventually, Cora couldn’t keep it down and vomited.

“Lo…ok Aht MEH!!!!” Gal’s voice was distorted and his words were slurred. However long he was wearing that armor for he wasn’t burnt, he was still cooking. His flesh was visible and slightly charred, his bones poking out in some spots, his skin and hair completely gone.

“She sheaid… I wash wanderrfuh!”

“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT SHE SAID!!!” Cora is enraged by Gal’s blind faith in the monster that destroyed her world. In her anger, she pushed the sword deeper, then using her magic force rashly, pulled it straight out unleashing a fountain of blood.

A long time ago…

There was a boy whose body had more tolerance to burns. He could be set on fire and survive.

But his body still physically suffered the toll. He wouldn’t succumb to his wounds or his burns, but you could see and smell them. Everyone was disgusted by him, except for one person.

Her. Through her love(Wrong.) and encouragement(Lies.), he found strength. The strength to fight for her.

…

Cora walked away from his corpse covered in his blood. She was dragging her sword while

trying to calm herself down as she rejoined her comrades.

“Nice work! That’s two down!” B cheered.

“Cora… Are yo-”

A hole appeared in Liam’s body preceded by a loud banging noise.

“LIAM!”

And now this battle has truly begun.

Chapter 6 - Madness

“Recording, three individuals… Likely responsible for Charles and Jakt Gal’s demise.”

A figure made of metal stood atop one of the cliffs surrounding the area. Its rifle transformed back into its hand. It jumped off the cliff and landed in front of the group, landing with a heavy thud. It had the look of a dragon-human hybrid, its design sleek, its smell like a new car. Which felt weird since this thing was supposed to have come from there, not here.

“Madness!”

“Interesting… One of these… biosignals recognizes the handicraft of machine works Madness. Storing this knowledge.”

“... HOW DARE YOU!!!”

Once again letting the anger get the better of her, Cora haphazardly releases her magic force and swings her sword.

“Warning. Taking this strike will be dangerous. I hate this. Error: Personal feelings slipping through. Begin surpressi-”

The hit landed, leaving a nice gash in the chest area of Madness’ body.

“System recalibrated.”

Madness grabbed Cora by the throat.

“Ga-gah…” her magic force was released with the loss of her strength.

“Eliminating.”

Madness punched straight through Cora’s body.

“NO!!! W-wah!”

B narrowly dodged Madness’ kick as it dropped Cora.

“You three are a threat to my lady… So you will all die.”

Its arm transformed back into a rifle and fired. The bullet planning to go straight through B’s head.

White.

Chapter 7 - Bomb

“Oh, crap. My life is flashing before my eyes.”

B saw memories of his master, of his struggles to control his magic force while growing up.

How simple life used to be… Then she ruined everything… It’s because of her that his world died. It’s because of her that his master died. It’s all her FUCKING FAULT!!!

He didn’t hesitate, he removed his mask, and his body was surrounded in a bright pillar of light that extended up into the sky. The sudden appearance of this pillar, which was B’s magic force knocked the bullet away.

“Analyzing… We might be fucked. Error, suppressing.”

B held up his knife. “I’LL MAKE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS PAY!!!” The magic force was already bursting out of B, shaking the air and ground. Then it disappeared. B ran at Madness and stabbed its body.

Madness’ body exploded, in such a way that no pieces were left. B was sent flying but Cora and Liam caught him. Then they were all surrounded by the pillar of light that was B’s magic force.

Cora and Liam felt their skeletons shaking, blood coming out of their noses. Cora and Liam helped him put the mask back on, which he was struggling to do as the pillar of light was slightly restricting their movements.

Once the mask was back on, they all fell as the pillar of light disappeared.

“Thanks…”

“Ye-yeah… no problem…”

“Well, we’re all on the same side… Aren’t we?”

“...Yeah…”

“Cora, you can’t lose you’re cool like that again.”

“I-I know… I’m sorry Liam.”

“... Um, guys. Just so you know, that was just one of Madness’ drones. One of his stronger

ones, he probably sent it because they knew we were coming.”

“How the hell did they know?!”

“I mean maybe they just assumed because Charles died… Jakt’s was the closest area

nearby…”

“Now they know our faces… and probably our skillsets too.”

“... It doesn’t matter. We adapt and overcome.” Cora said confidently, but in her mind, she wondered why that armor didn’t appear this time.

Chapter 8 - Surging Tide

“These are their faces.”

Madness showed projections of Cora, Liam, and B’s faces to her.

“I see… Good work Madness.”

“...”

“THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS RESPOND TO HER!”

“Well well well. It would seem classes did make it over here. But that boy with the mask…”

“Something wrong Dagan?”

“His class seems to be a mutation of sorts…”

“Then there’s the girl… Her class seems to be hero, but it hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

“Madness, Fran… Thank you. Nab Dab.”

“Yes, my lady?”

“They’ll be heading to your territory next… of that I’m sure. So make sure to… Be careful.”

“... Right. Thank you.” The magic shadow disappeared.

Once again Cora and Liam’s actions have made waves, waves that grow more violent with each member they kill. Will they be swallowed up by this surging tide? Only time will tell…

“Fufu… It seems this won’t be so boring after all…” The devil said. She was excited. Not sad that her subordinates were being killed. Of course she wasn’t sad, she doesn’t care for them. And she vever will. She’s a monster. And I will be hammering that in until the end.

…

“So… Listen…” Cora started.

“Yeah?”

“I know Cora.” Liam said.

“... Oh… Don’t worry I’m sure we can find some supplies in the next place were going!”

“We better… Or else it’s your head.”

“WHAT?!”

“I’m kidding.” Liam laughed.

“... I won’t be.” Cora threatened.

“I SWEAR!”

Cora laughed.

“This is gonna be a long adventure…”

Chapter 9 - Killing Dreams

Skipping ahead a little bit, Cora, Liam, and B managed to find a meager amount of supplies. A small amount of food and water… as well as other essentials. But it’s okay. All they need is a little. Liam and Cora trained to micromanage the amount of nutrients their bodies need using their magic force.

“You guys are messed up in the head. I mean changing your bodies like that will-”

“Look around B. No matter where we go everything is gone. What does it matter if we destroy

our bodies? All that matters is that we kill all of them.” Cora said confidently.

“I guess when you put it like that… It’s depressing!”

“...”

“Sorry. I guess I just…”

“Don’t worry about us B. It’s fine.” Cora closed her eyes.

“Cora?”

“Let’s just leave her for now.” Liam said dragging B away.

“Oh okay…”

This place… it used to be full of people. Not really full of life since it was once one of the biggest cities in the world… But it was kinda fun to see as a kid. My parents took me here when I was six. I remember Liam crying when he couldn’t go with me… He used to be so clingy to me…

Like we were twins. Now all he does is wait silently in the corner making sure I don’t kill myself.

He probably thinks I haven’t noticed… but I have. Like I said we’re basically twins.

Cora opened her eyes. “But nothing can go back to how it was. I don’t care about their world. What I care about it killing all of them… I want revenge. I could make them suffer… but no. They have a goal. If I stop it, that’ll be me killing their dreams. And that is a far better revenge.”

That’s what she told herself.

However, Liam’s thinking was more along the lines of:

How do I save my best friend from herself? How do I stop her from endangering herself? How do I stop her from killing herself? How do I…

“Liam, HEY LIAM!”

“O-oh, yeah?”

“Cora’s coming. Let’s move.”

The third region they visited, was the biggest city in the world, a massive tourist trap if you will. No one lived there, they bought timeshares. Yes, timeshares. Now this city was covered in absolute darkness. Unlike the previous two regions, the city was still mostly intact. One thing that did change is that the sun didn’t shine in this region whatsoever. Just complete darkness.

“Well, this is pretty eerie. I hate the dark.”

“How rude.”

“Who said that?”

Soon the street they were walking down was covered in red. Eyes, pairs of red eyes that glow in the dark. And a lot of them. They were surrounded.

“Vampires.” Cora and Liam said at the same time.

“Oh… crap,” B said.

“ATTACK!”

The vampires began to swarm them. But honestly, this was every fight to them. They were always surrounded, or the underdogs. Every time they crossed over to another region they were swarmed by monsters. No matter where they went, it was fight after fight. There was barely any time for a break. Which is why this was nothing new to them. Fighting a swarm of monsters?

Easy. So what if they’re vampires?

Multiple flashes of light and explosions cut through the swarm of vampires annihilating them.

“You must be the leader.” Cora pointed her sword at the only remaining vampire. He had pale skin, red eyes, and he was balding. He was old, like really old for a vampire. Kinda like that one superhero who lives for a long time, but his powers get slower the older he gets. You know the one.

He wore the classic vampire fit, a nice fancy coat. “I am Nab Dab!”

Cora immediately cut off his head, pouring all her magic force into the swing.

“... What.”

“What…?”

Liam and B were both surprised.

A fountain of blood spurted out of Nab Dab’s headless body. The blood fountain changed

course, grabbed his head, and reattached it.

“My dear, you lack manners and flair.”

“You…” Cora clicked her tongue. ‘Damn, not enough magic force huh?’

Vampires are known for being hard to kill in stories. They’re immortal unless burned by sunlight or stabbed in the heart with a wooden stake. But in a world underlaid with a magic system surely magic is the key! In order to beat immortality Cora and Liam figured if they overwhelmed the vampires' magic force it would beat their immortality.

They were correct, the swarm of vampires had died, but Nab Dab didn’t. Nab Dab, has lived for centuries, so beating him in terms of magic force was impossible for Cora. Alone at least.

Liam and B charged, B took off his mask, not hesitating to unleash his full magic force. Cora,

Liam, and B all unleashed the full might of their magic force into Nab Dab.

“HAHAHAHA!!” Nab Dab laughed. “You three are greater than amateurs, but this fight is stacked against you. You won’t be able to beat me in magic force. Now succumb to my magic force!”

The act of subduing to one’s magic force usually means death. Charles showed it, when spikes came out of his target’s body. For Nab Dab, it meant…

Cora and Liam could feel it. Even though their bodies were reinforced with magic force, Nab Dab was overwhelming them. They could feel their bodies changing to something inhuman. B was safe because of his magic force. “Guys!”

They were becoming vampires. Their skin lost color, they had fangs. Their will’s were being absorbed into Nab Dab, leaving husks of their forme-

“GRAH!” Cora and Liam struck at Nab Dab even while their will was weakening. It was being overwritten by Nab Dab’s will. His life, his memories.

Chapter 10 - Behind the Fang

A time so long ago none of us could comprehend. There was a baby. He grew up, from baby to child, child to adult. He lived a completely normal life. Until he reached the age of 30. He fell in love with a woman. No, not the she-devil. A different woman. She was quiet and beautiful.

Was she lonely? Bored? What?! What troubled her? That’s what the man wondered. He worked up the courage to ask her.

I’ll skip all of the private details, and just say they fell in love. She was a vampire, one of the last few left. Eventually, she revealed this to him. She expected him to leave, just like all the others before. But he was the first, and only to stay. He really loved her, so much that he became a vampire to stay with her. However, vampires do die if they get too old. He met her in the middle of her life span. So he outlived her. They decided not to have a child, so they wouldn’t be doomed to their fate. After she died he… existed throughout the ages.

Then he met her. No, he doesn’t love her, or respect her really. All he is, is all that remains of the man known as Nathan Drabboth. Or… Nab Dab. A man who longs to see his wife again. Whether it is through his own demise, or she is brought back to life.

That is why he turns people into vampires. To sacrifice them. To who? Something. If it’s out there. So he may have his love back. Does some kind of dark god exist for him to use?

Possibly. But he doesn’t know where to find it.

While sifting through all that… garbage Cora found it when this all started.

She saw all eight of them. She saw their faces. One of them didn’t have a face.

“Creepy…”

More importantly… Her. Her face had been engraved into her mind since the beginning. When she first appeared, her face appeared on all screens: TV, phone, computers, every type of screen.

But never mind that. Back to Nab Dab’s memories.

“This world is dying… Nab. So I’m going to cross over.”

“... You… if you do that, you will doom our world. It may be dying, but doing that will be the

FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN.”

“I know… But are you going to get in my way? Think about it… If you’re hesitant to use

sacrifices of the people here… Why should you care about aliens?”

“... I still don’t like you. But yes… Using the people of that world irks me less.”

“...Oh Nab Dab… You’re so close to becoming ruthless.”

“... I will never become like you…”

“YOU SELFISH PIECE OF SHIT!!!” Cora screamed and slammed her fists into the ground. Her magic force rose just as it had done before. The armor made of light began to faintly cover her body. That light also surrounded Liam, their bodies returning to normal.

“The hero class… I see.” Nab Dab chuckled. “Selfish… Yes, I am.”

“JUST FOR THAT… YOU KILLED ALL THESE PEOPLE?!” Cora jumped into the air and stabbed him in the chest.

“Cora! That’s not going to do anything!”

“Just for that…? What about you then? Are you not fighting for revenge? That is selfish.”

“... You shut the fuck up. IT’S YOUR FUCKING FAULT!!”

The sword in his chest that was covered in the golden light began to burn Nab Dab. “I see… So this is it. The anger of the people I killed.”

“WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST STAY IN YOUR WORLD AND KILL THEM?!! W-why… couldn’t you just leave us alone…?”

“My wife… It was because of her. But it seems my fight ends.” Nab Dab’s body turned to dust and was carried away by the wind.

“... Holy light…” B muttered.

Cora landed on the ground, she stayed conscious this time. “Th-that jerk…” Cora kept her head down, not showing her crying face.

“Cora…?” Liam grabbed B’s shoulder and shook his head.

“Let’s leave her alone for now.”

“How come you’re fine?”

“I accepted it. That’s why.”

I had been ignoring it… the possibility that these monsters had been… people. It had been obvious with Charles and Jakt Gal. But I ignored it. Does this make me wrong…? But I can’t forgive them… I-I can’t! I WON’T!!!!

Cora got up and wiped away her tears.

Chapter 11 - Tsunami

“To think even Nab Dab…”

“It’s what he deserved… He never followed you like he should have!”

“Gus Low… do not talk about the fallen like that. He fought hard.”

“...”

“...”

“... Computing.”

“Since when did you become a computer?”

“Ma, when will your conquest be completed?” Madness asked.

“That’s what you want to know? That princess is giving me more trouble than I thought. She knows how to fight. Plus her class is troublesome.”

“Interesting… please make notes of it’s power. I will help you.”

“... Oh? You’re being very generous…”

“I think Madness dear might just be worried about everyone.”

“My lady you jest.” Madness’ shadow disappeared.

“Well, I’m going to get ready for battle.” Ma’s shadow disappeared.

“Fran Dagan?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“It seems you’re going to be running into our little assassins next.”

“Fufu… I know…” Fran’s shadow disappeared.

“THE LOT OF THEM HAVE NO MANNERS!”

“Pay them no mind. Great Bone, you’ve been quiet…”

“Nothing to say I’m afraid.”

“... Are you sure?”

“My necromancy doesn’t work on Charles, Nab Dab, or Jakt Gal. I wonder why…”

“... Perhaps because we’ve crossed over?”

“... maybe.”

A couple of days had passed since Nab Dab had perished. The group decided to take a rest.

Since the city had been mostly untouched, maybe they could find supplies.

“Cora.”

“Yeah, Liam?”

“Are we going to keep going?”

“Wh-what? Of course, we are! Why? Are you losing hope? Do you wanna quit? Is-”

“No. I’m fine with whatever you want.”

“O-ok…” Cora put her forehead on his shoulder. “You promise?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

I never get those two… They aren’t lovers… they aren’t siblings… They say they’re friends

but…

“Hey guys! I found some food!” B yelled.

Due to the group’s actions, the devil and her subordinates became worried. Ma increased her efforts to conquer her region. Fran had developed a contingency for them. Madness is also making preparations and preparing a new body to fight them. Their actions have created a tsunami, one that will consume them.

“I was expecting you sooner!”

“LIAM!!!”

“I’m trying! Why isn’t it working!”

“Honestly you two are impressive, taking the magic we accidentally introduced into your world

and making it your own. However, why are you worried about that boy? Isn’t he an enemy?”

“What are you saying?”

“He’s from our world. I can tell… I’ve met him before.”

“...”

“...”

“Liam. Keep trying. She’s sealed our magic somehow… So this will be tough.”

“Cora… she said-”

“I DON’T CARE! He’s our friend. He’s a comrade. He took a bullet for me. Besides, I get why he lied. Now… I’m going.”

Chapter 12 - Now This Is Gaming

Cora charged at Fran Dagan, her magic force wasn’t working as it should. It felt sealed somehow. She could still build it in her body, but releasing it was impossible at this point.

Fran Dagan was your classic female wizard, she sported the classic pointy hat, and she was riding on a broom. Oh wait, that’s witches… So she’s a classic witch? How did I mess that up?

Cora jumped into the air and slashed with her sword, her sword bouncing off a magic barrier.

“Guh…”

“Not enough power to make it through my barrier huh? You’ve been relying on your magic force too much… Although the ways you use it beat the heat, to reduce your bodily needs… All of these things are impressive. However, if you keep it up you’ll…”

“What? I’ll die?! WHO THE HELL CARES!!!” Cora landed on the ground. She built up her magic force in her legs and flew even higher than Fran.

“Wha-”

“Make my body denser!” She built up her magic force all over her body and landed on top of Fran’s barrier, or actually crashed into it.They both crashed into the ground. Fran’s barrier protected her from the fall, but it was destroyed.

“You brat…”

Cora lifted her sword and quickly-

“GAH!” her body was run through by four magic bullets and she fell to her knees.

“CORA!”

“Learn your place,” Cora was surrounded by magic projectiles “and die!”

“Scarlet breeze.”

Fran quickly made another barrier as a different sword surrounded by red cherry blossoms crashed into it.

“Hm.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’ll deal with you later.”

A tall woman grabbed Cora and moved in front of Liam instantly.

“What…?”

“Who are you?”

“... An ally… I presume you can heal her…?”

“Ye-yeah… I could, but th-”

“Gotcha. I’ll bring her away from here. But you two are relying too much on magic force… You can use skills too.”

The woman disappeared.

“I see… Flash Step. A skill in the sword-user class. Although that distance and usage… it’s a little extreme. But looking closer… you’re a hybrid.” Dagan noted.

“... I need you to move.”

“Oh no you don’t! I can’t let th-”

Fran ducked as she sensed the woman was about to swing her sword. Her speed and skill with the blade was a mix of gentle and fierce, two opposites that mixed into an unusual style of swordsmanship.

Fran created another barrier, but the swordswoman’s swings did no damage to the barrier but did physically push Fran back.

Fran’s magic sealing spell was cast over a wide enough area, but thanks to Cora and this swordswoman's efforts Liam was now outside of it. His hands were suddenly covered in green healing light, almost sort of like a surge. He had been attempting to force it out after all.

“Please work… PLEASE!” Cora and B’s injuries were healed. Cora was quickly back on her feet. B was a little slower, but he was up.

“Thanks, dude…”

“... What happened?!”

Liam quickly explained the situation to them.

“Skills…”

“B do you know anything? You’re from their world after all…”

“Wh-wha? H-ho-”

“B! Now isn’t the time! We don’t care that you lied! Now come on!”

“Um… N-no. You guys mean you were this strong without skills? You guys are terrifying. Listen

close your eyes then say list.”

“Wah!”

“AH! Ho- THIS HAS BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!”

“... Yeah. Sorry guys… this is my bad. You two were so strong I thought you were already using

them.”

“Now it’s just like a game…”

“All it's missing is some experience and levels…”

We aren't going that far! O-oh… sorry my bad… Carry on.

Cora, Liam, and B all charged to help the mysterious swordswoman. By the time they got there, however, she was dodging Fran’s magic bullets and elemental projectiles. She was grazed by a couple as she closed the distance using Flash Step. The barrier repelled each stroke of her sword.

“Frustrating…”

“... Damn dragon hybrids… GO DOWN ALREADY!!!”

Fran created three giant projectiles, each made of one element, fire, ice, and lightning.

“Hngh…”

“HERO STRIKE!” Cora launched herself forward enhancing her body by building her magic force in her muscles. She slashed two of the three projectiles in two causing them to explode before they could land.

“Petal Slash!” the woman slashed through the last one. “You have my thanks.”

“Just returning the favor… Now then fo-”

The air shook. Fran was unleashing all of her magic force. “I’ll crush all of you!”

Four giant boulders appeared high in the sky. “Be crushed… METEOR.”

Without hesitation…

B took off his mask, concentrated the massive amount of mana force pouring out of his body and… “EXPLOSION WAVE!” Swung his knife, an explosive wave of mana force crashed into one of the meteors and exploded.

The swordswoman and Liam both jumped into the air.

“Wha- No… NO!”

“Oh don’t get surprised… We’re just getting started.” Cora grabbed Fran by the neck, her fist breaking through the barrier. She jumped high into the air as well.

Liam built up all his magic force into his arm muscles… “STRIKE!” He punched straight through the meteor shattering it.

The swordswoman tensed her arm muscles and swung, unleashing a flying slash that cut the meteor in two, it’s pieces crashing into the other broken ones breaking them all into smaller pieces.

Cora was covered in that same golden light, the armor of light sprouting wings and flying higher than the destroyed ones. She slammed Fran Dagan into the last one.

“NOW TAKE THIS!!! HEROIC… THRUST!” Her sword was coated in gilded light and went straight through Dagan’s neck rupturing her body and the meteor into tiny pieces.

…

“Dear Fran lost even after all that? Well, that is the hero class after all…”

…

A couple of hours later…

Cora was still digging through rubble. “Come on… COME ON!!!” She felt a tug. “YES!”

She pulled the swordswoman out of the rubble, she was holding onto Liam. She immediately hugged them.

“Um…”

“Oh sorry…” Cora let go of her, but she kept holding onto Liam. “Thank you for protecting him.”

“... You’re welcome.”

“B! I found them. You can stop looking.”

“Oh… OKAY!”

Chapter 13 - New Party Member

“Hey… So um…”

“What?”

“O-oh… just…”

“My friend here is trying to ask for your name.” Cora interjected.

“Selene.”

Selene was a tall muscular woman, she had long pink hair, a pink dragon tail along with pink dragon horns. Her eyes were a piercing red during the fight but had now become a nice light blue.

“Ok… Well Selene, I’m Cora. This is Liam and B. Nice to meet you.”

“... Likewise.”

“So… what’s your beef with…”

“The She-Devil and her loyal eight doomed our world by coming to yours. It was-”

“I know it was already on the brink… I saw so in Nab Dab’s… Nathaniel Drabbock’s memories…”

“... You defeated the vampire?”

“Yes.”

“So you are the ones that have been slaying her servants then…”

“Yes, that’s us.”

“I see… What is your end goal then? To save your world?”

“... Save the world…? Selene… B… Since you’ve come to our world is there anywhere that’s

still alive? Just a place of nature? Or a place where people are still thriving?”

“...”

“...”

“Right… No, I’m not trying to save the world, and I can’t let her get away with what she did…

Will that fix anything? No. But… I’ll never forgive her… And I’ll never let her get away with this…

Ever.”

“... I see. I will join you.”

“... Thank you Selene.”

“...”

“... Ba da-”

“Not the time Liam.”

“Right, right. Sorry.”

…

“Ma… I suggest you get started.”

“Yes. It seems I’ll have to go all out after all. Sorry Princess Evelyn. Our game ends here.”

…

The group now had four members, Cora, Liam, B, and Selene. The she-devil had lost four of her servants. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter to her since those four had already conquered their regions. The only one left was Ma, the dragon. Besides that, she had Gus Low her most loyal servant, Madness the robot dragon… the bodiless entity, and Great Bone the necromancer.

However, the Princess of the Greel Empire stood in Ma's way, Evelyn.

Before this great catastrophe, the world was divided up into a handful of nations, many small, some big, and the biggest was the Greel Empire. Its roots were covered in expansion and invasions before the world became more civilized and one of its more ‘sane’ rulers decided it needed to slow down in its growth. Thus it never again acquired more territory as it stabilized itself. The biggest city in the world belonged to one of Greel’s rivals, The Curiel States. A combination of little nations that joined together in fear of Greel’s expansion. That city was proof of their alliance. But ultimately, their army stood no chance. However, Greel’s did!

“Thanks for the history lesson,” B said sarcastically.

“Hey. You live here now. Show some respect.”

“He’s right…”

“You too Selene? You weren’t even listening!”

“It doesn’t matter you guys. And Liam that section about Curiel wasn’t necessary!”

“Come on Cora… History…”

“It wasn’t even your best subject! It wa-”

“DON’T REMIND ME!”

“Anyways…”

“AH! DON’T START IGNORING ME NOW!!”

“This place is a lot more trashed than that city.”

“Well, it is a dragon we’re dealing with…”

“But some sections look off…”

Looking at the city, some buildings were melted into mush. Meanwhile, other sections seemed to have not been hit by the dragon’s flames at all.

“Almost like someone protected them somehow.”

“Well maybe someone else got a class like you guys. I mean given the evidence it’s quite likely that a new class was born… Look at Liam…”

“What about you?”

“I’m more of an exception… The bomb class existed before in my world, it was just rare. Not as rare as the hero class mind you…”

“Right…” Selene nodded her head and looked at Cora.

“... A shield class?”

“Oh. Maybe it isn’t new, just stronger… It might be the tank class!” B said.

“Oh… Tank… Good. We can use that.” Selene said.

“You… You don’t talk much usually… but for some reason, you seem to be happy?”

“Revenge. Ma.”

“You want revenge against her?! Oh boy…”

…

“Mom! Dad!”

The air burnt, it was hot. Too hot. It felt disgusting. It wa-

GRAHP!HHFINDI”

The young girl spit up her lunch from the smell. There was nothing left. Not her house, not the town, not the people. All that remained was the dragon.

“I hate those freaks.”

That was her reasoning, it was just a whim, just the same old hatred for hybrids. From one of the pure ones as they were called.

Ma. That was her name. The girl hated her, she wanted to kill her, erase her, destroy her,

ravage her, k-

“Selene?”

“Huh? What is it?”

“You were growling… You were thinking about Ma weren’t you?”

“... Yes. I was.”

“I understand you hate her… But don’t die ok?”

“Relax. I hate Ma. But she isn’t my only enemy. I will see this revenge through.”

Selene squeezed B’s hand. “Trust me.”

“Ok. I trust you… But trust us too.”

“I do. You’ve gotten so far after all.”

“Alright come on love birds. We’ve got some detective work to do.”

“Love birds…?”

“I don’t get it either.”

The group spent the next couple of hours exploring the destroyed city searching for whoever was fighting against Ma. There weren’t any signs, not of any humans or the dragon herself.

“Where co-”

“Don’t move…”

“Cora? Cora!”

Chapter 14 - What We Lost and What We Didn’t

Cora was held at gunpoint…? No that’s a fucking cannon

“GREZBUS! Don’t you think that’s fucking overkill…? Don’t you just have a gun?”

“Don’t take the lord’s name in vain.” The girl lowered her cannon, as she did so it vanished.

Screaming Grezbus is the equivalent of saying “Jesus Christ!” or “Oh my God!”. No, I’m not elaborating.

The girl had long dark green hair, tied into a ponytail that reached her legs. Her eyes were bright pink. “You’re from our world. Where did you come from?”

“Ledger… He and I.” Cora pointed to Liam.

“And the other two?”

“They’re from the other side.”

“... And you’re working with them?”

“Yes. Their homes are gone because of that bitch.”

“I see…” The girl did a small bow, “By way of apology… I am Empress Evelyn of the Greel

Empire.”

“Empress? Then your father is…”

“Yes. He is gone. But some of my people and I have survived.”

“You mean humanity hasn’t died out yet?”

“... Well not yet. But I fear we fa-”

“A dragon. We know.”

“I have come to slay it… I mean we have.” Selene corrected herself.

“Oh really? And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Quick question you think her flames are hotter than the lava?”

“Before that, we need to be able to pierce her scales.” Liam and Cora immediately started

strategizing.

“Um…”

“This is how they always are.” B sighed.

A bit later… Evelyn leads the group to her base. It rested underneath a mass of rubble. There was a cave. Perhaps manmade, but it was inhabited by humans.

“You haven’t lost all your kind,” B said.

“So?”

“Huh? W-well I mean…”

“B even if your world survives or its people do, will it matter if they’re all strangers?”

“Yeah. I guess it doesn’t matter much does it… Not for those who have no one left.”

“But it is good for you princess.”

“Empress.”

“Doesn’t really roll off the tongue like princess.”

Evelyn paused for a moment, “I must address my people.” She took a few steps forward.

“Everyone!” Evenlyn’s voice rang out as if she was using a microphone. “I have come across a

shining hope to fell the dragon. These warriors!” She gestured to Cora and the crew.

Some people looked up with hope, others with something less friendly.

“Hey! She’s one of them!”

“He’s right! She has a tail!”

“SHE CAN’T BE TRUSTED!”

Selene flinched, the opinions of others had always been such a sore subject for her. Her people were wiped out of opinion. It practically dictated how she grew up. It pushed her to take up the sword, it pushed her to become self-taught. She would love to say they never bothered her. But how could she? It was rooted in her very origin. “I-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!”

Evelyn, B, and Selene all jumped.

“Cora… Liam…”

“Who the hell do you bastards think you are? You don’t know the first thing about her.”

“She’s from a completely different world than us, but she helped us. She saved my life when we

were strangers. And what have you guys done? Sat here in a cave.”

“We’re facing a fucking dragon! What do you expect u-”

“Convenient excuse. We’re children. And guess who killed four of that she-devil’s cabal?”

“Cabal? Are you using that right?”

“WHO CARES?!”

“Nevermind.”

“It was us. She meant. A powerful vampire, a guy who bathed in lava for fun, a powerful mage who sealed some of our fighting strength, and someone who could make people explode just by existing… Now a dragon.”

“No matter what…”

“We won’t fall. You guys can just watch.”

Cora and Liam turned around and walked out of the cave.

B and Selene both ran after them.

“Well… You heard them. I will be joining their fight against the dragon. I promise you soon we’ll be able to live in peace.” Evelyn raised her fist in the air and roared. Her people who faithfully trusted the person who single handedly protected them followed suit. Their roars overshadowed by the dragon. Their triumphant roars shrank to screams and wail.

“CALM DOWN!”

They froze.

“Is your faith in me that shakeable?”

“...NO!”

“YEAH NO!”

“WE TRUST YOU!”

Evelyn smiled and walked out of the cave.

“Ever since we played that one game, I’ve been kinda hyped to see a dragon for real one day.”

Liam started.

“Yeah. I feel you. Never thought…” Cora continued.

“We would kill one huh?”

High in the sky, Ma in her majestically huge dragon form soared. Her body was clad in blue scales, her eyes yellow. Her mouth glowed as she flared up a fiery blast. Selene and Cora moved to the front ready to intercept.

A bulky suit of robotic armor flew out of the entrance of the cave.

“Huh?”

“Wha’”

“Cool!” B’s eyes shined with admiration. Selene froze up.

“The latest and last in Greel warfare technology.”

“... I’m kinda glad the world was destroyed.”

“Imagine our livelihoods destroyed by freaking Fechsux. I can’t believe the fan-favorite TV show has been brought to life.”

“What are you on about?”

“You had no childhood.”

“Someone in Greel watched it. I mean that’s Zana Grob’s mechsuit.”

“... Nerds!” Cora and Liam hit B in the stomach. “Wo-worth it.”

“Wasn’t the dragon prepping an atta-”

A giant light crashed into them.

Chapter 15 - Dragon Slaying

Boom! The crackle of the blast hit a barrier made of green energy. The source was from the armor or rather the pilot of it.

“Jump on.”

True enough the bulky armor was basically a huge floating tank. If that tank were a robot. If that robot was just a torso. The group grabbed onto the body of the armor as it blasted off into the sky. Ma continued to launch blasts of fire, each was blocked.

At this point Ma wasn’t surprised at all after their numerous encounters and swung her tail attempting to knock them back down. The armor grabbed the tail, stopping it for a split second before Ma shook her tail free. But in that instant the others jumped off the armor.

Cora was covered in the golden armor made of light once again as she readied her sword. A blade of light flew off her sword as she swung, crashing into Ma’s arm. B unleashed a wave of explosions on her body and Liam attacked the other arm.

They paved the way for Selene who climbed up Ma’s body. She jumped in front of Ma’s head.

“Wha- Another one of you?! That’s impossible! I wi-”

“I know. But you missed me. Guess that’s what happens when you’re used to looking over people like their ants.”

“Petal Blossom Slash!” Selene jumped off the air, while swinging her sword, ramming straight through Ma’s neck, petals falling off of her sword. It cut, piercing her scales it wasn’t deep… but it still cut.

…

“What is it Madness?”

“Since our numbers have been falling to this group… I suggest a new approach to annihilating the princess.”

“What?”

…

A bright flash of light surrounded Ma’s body. Then it disappeared. This didn’t surprise anyone, they knew about her human form already. Evelyn had seen it when Ma first invaded, and Selene had researched everything she could find about Ma in order to kill her.

However what no one was expecting was a woman wearing metal armor… No it was a mech suit.

“Madness…”

In an instant, Ma appeared in front of Selene and punched straight through her body.

“GAH!”

“The two of us will be enough to wipe your group out, heroes.” Ma and Madness’ voices overlapped with each other as Ma spoke.

Selene fell, her body sliding off of Ma’s armored arm. B and Liam both moved to save her. Ma countered, she dodged the wave of explosions then kicked straight through Liam’s body. B and Cora both went straight at her, and easily they were countered as well. Ma punched straight through B’s face, then through Cora’s stomach.

“It’s over. Princess, I suggest you come here and meet your fate.”

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!!” The flying tank slammed right into Ma. “I’M THE

EMPRESS NOW!! AND I WILL PROTECT M-”

Ma ripped the armor’s chest open and pulled her out. Her grip on Evelyn’s neck was cold and deadly.

“You will protect no one. Madness?”

“Shut up. It is as she commands it.” Madness easily detected the thermal signals of living people underground. PIeces of the metal armor opened up, and blasts of magic and metal flew out.

“Hn! NOOOOOOO!!!”

The cave was destroyed in bright beautiful flashes that only a lover of war and death would admire. With that, the last remnants of humanity were three.

“Hm?”

“Madness, what is it?”

“Danger detected do-”

“Spirit Slash!” Cora flew up, covered in the golden armor of light once again. The hole in her stomach had healed, but not completely… The armor of light was holding her organs in place.

“Damn it… I needed more time…” Liam grunted. B shot awake, his brain had come back

“online”. “HOLY SHIT!”

Cora slashed straight through Ma and Madness with a blade of light.

“Hm? No damage? What wa-” Everything went dark, Ma could see nothing. “Madness?!

Respond!”

“I-I never imagined…” Madness’ voice went dark. The armor detached from Ma and fell.

“MA!!!” Selene flew straight at Ma, her sword ready to behead.

“... Damn dragon hybrids.” Ma said with detest, mainly staring at Selene’s new wings.

Cora fell to the ground following Madness.

In the time it took her to reach the ground, Madness had reconfigured its body. It was clearly the upgrade of the version that they beat before. “To think you have attacks that could affect my consciousness.”

“... This time. I’ll finish you for good.” Cora raised her sword as B and Liam joined her.

Chapter 16 - Returning To Zero

“I see it in my dreams. Flashes of silver and red. Those two were the bane of my existence.”

“So you’re afraid of them?”

“... Yes. They instilled emotion into me. But that me, was complete. I am a broken shard. I carry

no such thing within my consciousness. It is a contradiction that I feel fear. Nay… it is Madness.”

“Then that’s what I’ll call you. Madness. I have no idea how you got here, but I have an idea of

how far you traveled. You won’t be able to return home I’m afraid.”

“Good. I don’t want to.”

“Oh right… Cause you’re-”

…

“Fear. That is what I feel. I hate this. But I can’t hate. Scared. But I can’t be.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“No clue.”

“... He froze.”

“MADNESS!!!!” the robot screamed. It’s body transformed and reconfigured itself again and again. Before it was a rather tall dragon and human hybrid of a mech suit. Now it was human sized. It was now made of black silver. It still looked like a morph between dragon and human.

Its eyes were red, certain parts of his body also carried glowing red bits. Like the tip of its tail, the talons of its wings, and its arm and knee joints.

“Er… he seems to be losing it…” B commented.

“I guess he’s afraid. He’s something akin to a spirit. Well I imagine he’s some kinda AI… But either way the spirit blade skill worked like I thought it would.”

“Well then… B provide support for us please.” Liam said, stretching his arm.

“Got it. Er… but Selene…”

“She’ll be fine. Let her do this.”

“Ok…” B unleashed wave after wave of explosion, creating a smokescreen. Normally this wouldn’t mean anything to the robot, but its eyes were clouded.

“Rage? No… it’s mana. B’s mana is so thick and potent… I need t- DANGER DE-” Madness dodged backward, Cora’s spirit blade just barely missing her target. Another ding in his proximity sensor. He caught it, expecting Liam’s fist.

“You?”

It was B’s fist. “Gotcha!” he swung his other arm upwards, it held his knife charged with a potent

stockpile of explosive mana. It would be easy to block, but Cora swung her sword again.

Fear. It guided Madness’ decision. He grabbed Cora’s wrist. The condensed explosions-

Wait. Too much mana in the area clouding my decisions? No… NO! WAIT!!!

B took his mask off and handed it along with his knife to Liam. Right after Liam swung the knife he dropped it.

“Spirit FIST!” he punched straight through Madness’ body, striking his consciousness. This disruption caused him to let go of both of them. Then with Liam’s other fist and Cora’s sword…

Once again they struck his consciousness.

“Ah… I can see them so clearly. His red life. His silver sword. You three… you remind me of them. I was so afraid… that’s why I joined Ma. I wanted to save her. Save her from you. You shine so brightly… despite having lost everything. You’re dangerous. Congratulations. You three can do it. You can kill her.”

“You talk too much.”

Liam handed B his knife and mask again. “Thanks pal. You doing alright?”

“Yeah. I’m glad I was able to use this over abundance of mana for something.”

“Thank you B. I know you’re worried about Selene… So thank you.”

“... Stop doing that. You’re making it seem like you’ll die or something.”

“...”

“... Cora?”

“Well. Let’s leave it at that for now.”

“Guys?... Oh. Ok.”

Chapter 17 - Beyond Fear

“I’m not special. I just know how to survive. I’m obsessed with it. Humans know it… eating right

and exercising. That’s how you live long. But it’s not just that. Don’t make enemies, treat others well. Survive.”

“But that’s them. What about you?”

“... In order to survive… I have to destroy it. Anyone looking to hunt dragons. Gone. Dragon

hybrids. Gone. Dwarven master smiths… Gone.”

“I’m aware of your hitlist.”

“After all… Dragons have enemies right from the start. But then I learned how to take human form. So I-”

“Stopped killing. I’m aware. But why are you here?”

“You… My lady, are powerful. So I would like to join your service.”

“And that’s why you’ve brought me a heap of dragon corpses?”

“Not just a heap… All.”

Her eyes widened a smidge. “So you do get it. You are special. Welcome Ma.”

…

“This is exactly why I killed all of them…”

HRAAAAAA!” Selene screamed, her muscles ready to swing her sword again and again. Until

the enemy before her was slain.

…

“Is this what death is? Is this where my revenge ends?”

“It’s not.” Liam said.

“Huh? Oh… Liam…”

“You’re all healed up now. So get up. You want revenge right? So go get it. We’ll take care of Madness.” Cora said.

“My revenge…” Selene held her hand up into the sky, aimed right at Ma, then closed her fist.

“Thank you. Let’s do this.”

…

Wings. She had sprouted them. Perhaps her determination, remaining strong after her near death experience, gave her this gift. Or maybe… she always had this.

“Dragon hybrids… they’re dangerous… being between human and dragon. Humanity’s potential for evolution is terrifying… combine that with the strength of the ultimate creature… the dragon, and who knows what will happen.”

“YOU JUSTIFY KILLING MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR THAT?!”

“Fear. Survive. That is the code I live by. Doesn’t everyone?”

“... Fear… and survival… I guess we all do… We fear what’s different. We eliminate what’s different out of fear… But not me. Not the others. You’ve taken everything! So now we no longer need to fear or survive! All we need is revenge!”

“I see… So my way of life… has destroyed yours… And now you don’t care about fear of survival. So you’ve gone beyond fear.”

“Yeah, and you just created another one of us.”

Ma’s head snapped to her side. She had lost the empress somehow. Selene’s attack made her lose focus. Evelyn flew straight up, launching herself up with the broken boosters from her suit

of armor. Using the last of its power, which mixed with her class of tank it fired a barrier shaped like a cannon shell and crashed into Ma’s face, Selene kicked her into the shell as she springboarded off of her face and flew out of the blast zone.

Ma’s face was burnt and had a hole through it… but she was still alive.

“Damn it! Still?” Evelyn yelled in frustration.

“You aren’t a dragon for nothing.”

“Gr… ra…” Ma could no longer speak properly.

“Fine then.” Evelyn coated Selene’s sword in a barrier.

“Barrier Petal Blossom… SLASH!!!”

Selene swung her sword, and cut straight through what remained of Ma’s flesh, cutting her body in half. “Not satisfying…” Selene continued to cut her body, over and over. Crudely. Messey.

Disgusting. Abhorrent. Freak. Monster.

“Enough! You got her.”

“NO!!! NO!!! It’s not enough… It isn’t…” Selene screamed, tears in her eyes. That was it? She killed all of her loved ones, and destroyed her whole world. And now it was over?

“I know.”

Selene looked over at Evelyn. That was another her. Ma took everything away from her as well.

The proof was right below them. A city, now melted and devoid of all life.

…

“Ready to go?” Cora asked.

“Yeah.” Evelyn said.

There was no time for graves. No time to mourn either.

“There’s only one place left.”

“The center…”

“Two guards.”

“This will be problematic.”

“...Let’s go.”

…

“Alright then heroes.” that word came out of her mouth like venom. “You’ve made your point.

Come along then. The path is open for you.”

That was her invitation. And like she said, the monsters had been cleared.

“Finally…”

“Finally.”

“Finally.”

“Finally…” Liam sighed.

“Finally.”

They crossed the border, never having seen it so empty before. As they walked forward, they saw it. The space she created after her arrival. In the center was her private quarters, her

throne, her bed. It was a mountain nay, a temple… In the center of all 8 regions. With a long grand staircase leading up to it. But in front stood…

“Great Bone.”

“The necromancer…”

“Well of course. This land of death is my region.”

Cora wasted no time and charged at him. “GET OUT OF OUR WAY!!!!” In the middle of her lunge, she blinked and…

“Cora! Wake up.”

“Huh…? M-mom?”

“Get up! You’re gonna be late for school!”

“Huh? School? But I-”

“I SAID GET UP!!!”

Cora’s mother was as abrasive as she was. Anyway, having no choice Cora got up and

changed her clothes. She brushed her teeth and grabbed a granola bar for breakfast(Don’t do

this.) She ran into Liam who was waiting for her as he always did.

“Late much?”

“Oh shut it Liam!” Cora hit him on the back of his head.

“Ow…”

“That’s what happens to smart asses.”

“Hey! Liam, take care of my daughter please?” Cora’s mom asked.

“Sure!”

“...MOM!!!” Cora angrily dragged Liam with her to school.

“Liam. What’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“What about the she-devil? Great Bone?”

“...Um… are you talking about your mom? And a boss from a video game? Wait… d-did you go ahead of me in that game? You better not have!”

“WH- NO! I would never leave you behind. Unless you skipped a day. In which case it’s on you.

UGH! No! Stop distracting me! What kinda illusion is this?”

“...What kind of dream did you have last night?”

“Dream? No… this… THIS is the dream!”

Chapter 18 - Cora and Liam

“This is the dream? Don’t be ridiculous…”

“LIAM! WAKE UP!” She slapped him.

“OW! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!”

“LIAM! WAKE UP!!”

“I am up…”

“This is some kinda mental attack! WE HAVE TO WAKE UP!”

…

Outside…

“Damn it Cora… WAKE UP!!!”

“I’m surprised… I thought that attack would get all of you. So the rest of you have your hearts

set on revenge. All of you… except for her.”

“...Cora?”

“But… I thought she was the most enthusiastic of all of you…” Evelyn said.

“...Idiot.” Liam said, looking down at her.

“Very well. The hard way it is.” Great Bone summoned the monsters of the dead, and an army

swarmed them.

“Damn it!”

“Shit!”

“Fuck!”

“Cora… Please… wake up…” Liam said, pressing his forehead into hers. “Wake up… idiot.”

Selene, B, and Evelyn attacked the swarm of monsters, while Liam tried healing Cora, in hopes of waking her.

…

Back in the dream world…

Cora went to school with Liam, and then they went to their secret base and then started the game they were currently playing together. The more time she spent, the more and more Cora

didn’t want to leave.

It happened on a day just like this… They had just defeated the final boss, when…

“Good day humans.” her face appeared right on the screen. The very planet shook, the sky

turned red and monsters started ripping people to shreds.

Cora and Liam ran home.

“MOM! DAD!”

“...Ha… this can’t be happening…”

Liam’s house exploded into flames sending him flying back.

“Liam!” Cora ran over to him, but then she heard her mom scream. “Mom!” Cora froze in place.

Her mother… or Liam? Then her house exploded as well, a monster with blood dripping off of its claws and fangs emerged.

“Y-you…”

“GROWL!!!”

They lost everything that day. Cora was engulfed in rage, but underneath that was just a girl who missed her mother. She desperately wanted her back. But she knew that was impossible.

She assumed Liam was the same, but he wasn’t.

Liam missed his parents, his sister, his cat. But he hadn’t lost everything. He still had his best friend. He could cling to that.

Everyone grieves differently. That’s all this is. Some are consumed by revenge, others by sorrow, and others ultimately cling to everything they still have… until they have nothing left.

“Cora! Please come back!!” Liam screamed. If he lost her… he couldn’t go on. He didn’t need revenge. He was fine with giving up.

Selene had killed Ma. But she knew the cycle would continue until the she-devil perished.

Evelyn had lost her father, and her people, so she was satisfied with hurting the she-devil as much as possible. B… B was lonely, but now he finally had people he cared about in his life again. He missed his master… but he was fine with what he had. Liam clung to Cora. And Cora… she wanted her mother back. But the frustration of not being able to get that wish granted melted into her feelings for revenge. But it was born out of sadness and despair. Not from anger.

“Cora.”

“...Shut up. I get it now.”

“Huh?”

“This is just a dream. I’m the only one that got put in it. I’m alone.”

“Cora?”

“I SAID SHUT UP!!!”

“Cora?” Liam was pushed back by the golden aura that engulfed her.

“She awoke? By herself?”

“Great Bone.” She glared at him. Cora lunged again.

“Monsters! Rise and pro-”

Cora slashed through him with her sword of light.

Purifying Light, Holy Slash.

The cloaked figure crumbled into pieces.

“How dare you show me that…” she clenched her fist so tightly she began to bleed.

“Cora!”

“Shut up Liam.”

“H-huh? Cora?”

Cora didn’t even look at him and went up the stairs.

What?

“What did I do?” Liam pondered, he felt his heart hurt a little. Like a string in its constant rhythm

had been plucked. Cora climbed the stairs without a word. Everyone else followed her, but Liam who was always right next to her was now the furthest from her.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, there was only one left who would defend the she-devil

Gus Low. A tall, faceless man.

“YOU VAGRANTS!!! YOU DARE STEP INTO HER HOME?!”

“Her home? HER HOME?! SHE KIL-”

Gus moved forward in an instant, and swung his fist. Cora dodged out of the way. Gus’ fist crashed into Evelyn’s shield. Selene and Cora slashed his body, but their swords bounced off his body. He quickly spun around and knocked both of them back.

Explosion wave! B attacked, but Gus Low jumped straight through it and slammed him to the ground.

Holy slash!

Sakura blossom rush!

Gus blocked both attacks with his fists.

“What the-”

“Shit!”

“Everything I do… is for my lady!!!”

Gus Low. The most loyal of the eight. He didn’t love her. But he simply must serve. He was her knight, butler, etc.

“I’d like to introduce you…”

“Gustus Lowley. At your service milady.”

“Nice to meet you.”

When he met her, he still had his face, and wasn’t so tall. When he met her, she was still happy.

She was like an angel. Then of course, tragedy struck. But he alone remained to serve her.

“Don’t you hate me?”

“No. Milady.”

After everything she did, every horrible act… he remained at her side.

“A knight’s duty is to protect. A butler serves.” He changed his name as his body was warped into the monster he became today. The transformation was slow, yet noticeable.

It was like he was being punished for each mistake he made. He remained to serve her. That was his purpose. And each time he refused to chide her, or yell at her, or abandon her… The more he protected her or defended her… the less human he became. But why? Simply out of loyalty? Or was there something else?

No. Shut up. Cora didn’t want to know. She didn’t want that she-devil to be human like her. Not like Nab Dab. Not like Charles. Not like Jakt Gal. She didn’t want to see. Don’t ruin her revenge.

Cora charged again, blindly putting herself in his line of sight.

Killer Punch

He launched a punch, with so much force it tore straight through Liam’s body.

“L-Liam?”

“Idiot…” Liam healed himself and smacked her. That smack hurt, but she was instantly healed.

“How dare you push me away!!!” he screamed at her.

“Wh-what?! You’re mad at me?!”

“Why shouldn’t I be?! Give me one good reason!!!”

‘Because you and I aren’t the same!!! YOU AREN’T DOING THIS FOR REVENGE!!!”

“...So? SO FUCKING WHAT?! I’M HERE TOO AREN’T I? I WAS HERE WITH YOU FIRST!!! I

WAS HERE WITH YOU ALWAYS!!! SO FUCKING WHAT?!”

“I… I don’t want you to–”

“Don’t pretend like there’s some kind of happy ending here! There is none! We’ve lost! It’s over!

The only reason we’re doing this is to get even! This fight was already theirs… It doesn’t matter if we win or die here, because after that we’re just gonna wander around aimlessly and die.

There’s nowhere to escape to… nowhere to peacefully spend our days… nowhere to just play video games or read comics just like we used to… That’s all gone.”

“Liam…”

“I’m only doing this because you want to. But if you don’t really want to… let’s leave. There’s no

real point to this. Or to killing these guys. She doesn’t care about them. Not really.”

“...” Even Gus Low remained silent.

“Then why did we do all of this?”

“I don’t know. But our world is destroyed. It’s her fault. If you wanna take that out on her, I’m

here. Right on your side. As always.”

“...”

“You’re my best friend. You’re all I’ve got now. My whole family is gone. So I need you… You’re my last sliver of happiness. So don’t push me away. Even if you do, I'll beat you up and heal you until you understand. It’s over. I need you to understand that.”

“...” It was what she was avoiding this whole time. She has to accept that it’s over. Her world is gone, because a bunch of broken people got together, trying to access some kind of power, greater than a god’s… to bring back their loved ones, to become normal, to be accepted, to regain their memories, or to protect themselves. They all had impossible wishes, just like her…

Yeah… there’s no hatred like one for someone that’s similar to you. Cora had to let go of that single wish. To be with her mom again. She had to accept that it was over.

“It’s… over. It’s over… It’s… over.” She broke into tears, and Liam hugged her.

“So… what do you wanna do?”

“I want… to keep going. We never quit from a game, no matter how long it took. So let’s go.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Are you done?”

“Yeah. Thanks for waiting.” Cora was covered in the golden armor again. Liam surrounded his body in healing mana. They both got in fighting stances and charged.

Gus threw punch after punch, each dodged with ease thanks to their teamwork. At times pushing each other out of the way, at other times taking the hit for one another with Liam healing them. In between each punch, Cora and Liam landed powerful blows. However Gus didn’t even seem to feel them. He wasn’t regenerating or healing himself, he was just ignoring the wounds and striking back with even more force.

“Try all you like! I won’t back down! Not when it comes to defending her!!!”

“Get out of our way!!!”

Chapter 19 - Her

“Should we help them?” Evelyn asked.

“N-no… kinda feels wrong. We’d disturb their rhythm.” Selene said.

“They don’t need us here. Let's go on ahead.” B said.

B, Selene, and Evelyn entered the temple. Upon entering it, there were no walls.

“Why even have an entrance?”

After walking through what seemed to be the entrance to a grand building, there was nothing.

Just open air and skies of a ruined world. From here, she had a grand view of all the destruction.

Ruined cities, charred remains, empty fresh made wastelands, volcanoes and magma, the cold wind, and no noise from nature.

Most importantly… She was there. A kind, warm face perfect for the seductress that she was.

But beneath that face was nothing but a cold beating heart. Her eyes were a golden yellow that seemed to see through all of them. Her hair white, like she was a goddess.

“I see you all made it. Well some of you. Gus is still fighting isn’t he? Oh, what a dear he is. Taking all that damage in order to strike them down. Your friends that is.”

“...You bitch!” Selene charged at her, but with a wave of her hand an invisible force stuck her and sent her flying.

Selene thought she would continue to fly but crashed into a wall. It appeared the walls were transparent. The disruption Selene caused by crashing into the wall made the vision of the transparent wall glitch out for a couple seconds before returning to normal.

“Two of you should’ve died when we made the crossover.” The she-devil said.

”Screw you! How dare you abandon your world to destroy mine!” Evelyn used her barrier magic to create a mech of pure mana. She flew straight at her.

“How adorable.”

Crash.

Evelyn charged straight into her, leaving nothing but a plume of smoke.

“Wh-what?” B stared straight ahead, only to be sent flying when Evelyn flew into him.

“Enough of this. How about it? You three… join me. We’ll cross over to the next world.”

“What?” B said.

“What are you talking about?”

“This world didn’t have any mana, but ours crossed over into this one. An unexpected boon. If we keep going we’re bound to gather enough mana for what I need.”

“What the hell are you saying?!” B screamed. “I’m not gonna spread any more destruction. No one else will go through the pain I did because of you!” B ran straight at her, he smashed his mask for the final time. His magic force skyrocketed.

Big Bang!!

“Foolish child.” she redirected the explosion back towards him.

“Wh-what?” B was engulfed by a bright light followed by an explosion. Evelyn covered herself and Selene.

“Why resist? Why are you mad Selene? I didn’t kill your family or your people. You got revenge.”

“You employed her.”

“Because you did, Ma killed mine.”

“B… Why do you resist? I didn’t kill your master.”

B emerged from the smoke, his clothes in tatters. “No? You did. You destroyed our world. My master passed away in the wake of the destruction you caused. You used our world’s mana to power the interdimensional gate to this world… YOU KILLED OUR WORLD!!!”

“So many people died in the wake of its destruction. People who were good to me after I lost everything… I watched them die. Some to save me. I won’t forgive you.”

“None of us will!”

“I see. Maybe a little restructuring is needed then? I’ll destroy all of you and make you

submit. I’ll need help conquering the next world.”

“You…”

“You…”

“YOU!!!”

The three of them charged at her with a coordinated attack.

She-devil. Her. We have no documented record of her name now. But before, back when she was with Gustus Lowley, her knight… She was married to a kind young man. He was fairly well

off being a noble, a prince even… But he was like the seventh child or something so there truly wasn’t much to inherit. He had been left to his own devices. He was given a knight… Gustus.

One day he met her.

Back then she had brown hair and blue eyes. She… Gina, wasn’t anything special. A peasant…

but the prince fell in love with her. A regular old fairy tale. However, she did have a talent for magic so her position became justified at the prince’s side. However her power was greater than the prince assumed. Soon all of his siblings vyed for her hand in marriage, or for the princess’ they tried to marry off their knights.

Naturally Gina was in love with only one man. Conflict broke out between siblings. How sad…

How terrible.

Her love was killed. Gustus for his failure had his face taken. He swore to protect Gina.

But

Gina… She wanted him back. She destroyed the kingdom with her now tamed power. Studied everything about magic from mundane to forbidden in hopes of reviving him. She found no hints in this world. Her great power drained the world of its mana and slowly brought it to its demise.

She gathered people to help her destroy and conquer, for whatever methods or mana she might need. Then when she couldn’t find a solution to her problem, she decided to travel to other worlds.

Unfortunately the first one was a dud. But she would keep going. Until sh-

“HAAAAAA!!” Cora’s blade of light cut through her thoughts and her body.

“Wh-”

Chapter 20 - Loyalty Personified

Gustus Lowley failed to protect his charge. He was punished, one he accepted. He lost his face. He still had another charge. The lady his prince loved dearly. He would protect her. No matter what. No matter what. No matter what. No matter wh-

Cora and Liam’s onslaught finally broke through Gus Low’s body. Blood spilled out from every wound, of which his body was covered in. He collapsed to the ground.

“We did it…”

“Dude was tough…”

“...” Cora’s lips trembled as she spoke her next words, “Rest now knight. It’s over. If she was who you were protecting, that lady is gone now. She died with her love.” Cora said.

“Cora…”

“Sorry Liam. I’m just not running anymore. Not from the truth. I have to accept them. They are undeniable truths, just like our world is. Our story has long ended… Let's end this.”

“Yeah. Let’s end this partner.”

“I wouldn’t have it anyother way.”

The best friends ran into the temple together.

Selene, B, and Evelyn all lie on the floor helplessly defeated. Liam charged Cora’s body with healing power so her next strike was unleashed with her limiters off, her arms, and legs would’ve been smashed without it.

“HAAA!!”

Sacred Light: Holy Saber.

A new skill. A reward perhaps for Cora accepting reality as it is. It slashed straight through her.

“Ah… The hero finally arrives.”

“Tch. That didn’t work? I sliced straight through you!”

“Yes, very impressive.” From her bisected body, a pair of hands crawled out and a new body appeared, the last one falling to the floor like molted skin. “I expected as much from the hero.”

This new body was glowing white, like a lightbulb. “I appreciate it. I was going to molt sooner or later.”

White ray.

A blast of white magic flew straight at Cora.

Holy Sab- Liam pushed her out of the way.

He wasn’t sure why. But his body moved first before his brain. He entrusted himself over to his instincts and he was hit by the attack.

Sometimes you make promises to people, sometimes you don’t keep them. Sometimes outside forces prevent you from keeping them.

Liam’s body disappeared.

“Tch. I needed his body intact.”

“N-no… wh-what did you do?!”

“His body was converted to mana. I was going to do that to you since yours will be of a much higher quality than any of the others here. Heroes are quite literally built differently than everyone else.”

White Ra- Gus Low ran forward and grabbed her. “I must apologize, My Lady!”

“Gus? GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!”

“I am naught but a foolish doddering old man. I have failed constantly in my life. Without my face

I haven’t truly been seeing the pain you were in. So unfortunately I must ask you to look at reality like the young heroine has. Speaking of which…”

White RAY!!

Gus low’s body began to disappear. “With the loss of more companions, you will grow

stronger… The hero class is such a curse…” he disappeared.

Chapter 21 - The Final Attack

She knew it was true, with both of their deaths her skill grew in power. Then her eyes widened.

Back then, she killed the monster that killed her mother. That power had been fueling her entire journey. That was when her class awakened. Liam’s class awoke after that and he healed her.

White Ray!!

Golden armor!

Cora dodged to the right, then lunged at her, “SACRED SABER!!!” with a bright flash of golden light she cut through the she-devil once more.

“We’re just side characters here…”

“Best if we don’t get involved really…”

Then it came. An eruption of magic force, enough to destroy the temple. Which it did.

“Cora!” Evelyn screamed. She dashed back jumping to her allies as they were covered in a bubble barrier.

Multiple hands erupted out of the newly bisected body. “ENOUGH!!! ENOUGH ENOUGH!!! I’ll just force the gate open myself!!!”

Most of the hands forced open space itself, creating a portal to a new world. The body writhed as a head popped out. “I hate you… hate you hate you hate you hate you hate you hate you hate you hate you!!! DESTROY YOU DESTROY ALL OF YOU!!! GIVE ME BACK MY

LOVE!!!”

“Fuck you!”

“Yeah! What she said! Give us back our loved ones!”

“WHO CARES ABOUT YOU? YOU SELFISH PRICKS! YOU STUPID BITCHES! YOU STUPID

PIECES OF SHIT! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!”

After the portal was forced open the planet itself began to shake and crack.

“Oh crap!”

“It’s the same thing that happened in our world!”

“Well… Shit. And we’re down my one and only healer.” Cora said.

“Let’s finish this.” Evelyn used her barriers to create footholds for the three of them as they

jumped on each. Her hands writhed and stretched forward reaching for them.

Sakura Slash!

Explosion Wave!

Sacred Saber!!

Barrier Missile!!

They defended with ease and got closer and closer. In this formation Evelyn stayed behind, unusual for the tank, but her barriers were doing so much work that she got a nosebleed from pushing herself. But she knew she had to keep going.

“One more…” Evelyn covered their blades in barrier magic, except for Cora’s which seemed to be incompatible due to the light magic.

B converged all his magic force into his knife. It built up even more because of Eveyln’s barrier.

“Here we go…”

“On your mark.” Selene nodded.

Barrier Slash!

Explosion Compression max!!!

Their attacks destroyed most of the hands, which moved to protect the main body.

“Yes!” Evelyn fell to the ground instantly losing consciousness.

“WHoa!” B fell, but Selene caught him and went straight for Evelyn.

“Leaving your friend behind?!”

“We’ve done all we can do.”

“She’s right. Focus on me.”

Sacred Saber!!!

White Ray!!

“Cra-”

“NO!!!”

“I don’t think so!!” B threw his knife, propelled by controlled explosions, it stabbed part of her body throwing off her aim.

“HAAA!” Once again her body was cut through.

Chapter 22 - Our Last Day

This time no new hands came to rip the body apart like molted skin. It was over. The portal quickly closed. However the planet was still doomed. Gravity was out of wack, and pieces of the planet began to float up into the sky and into space.

“Evelyn won’t wake up…” B muttered.

“Maybe for the best.” Selene said.

“Well guys… if this is it… What do you wanna talk about?”

“I know it sounds messed up… but I was really happy to like, have a group of friends to banter with.” B said.

“I was happy to have comrades.”

“I… was happy to have… friends… Even if it was for a short while.” Evelyn muttered.

“If… it were possible I would’ve loved to play video games with you guys. I bet it would’ve been hilarious to see you two freak out… Princ- No Evelyn I would’ve loved to nerd out with you over our favorite shows.”

“Yeah…”

“What the heck is video games?”

“Probably something that can’t be explained in this amount of time we got left.”

“I’m sorry I dragged you all along with us.”

“We wanted to.”

“We were all mad. I mean look around. This is what happened back home.”

“My master, he pushed me into the portal. Now he’s gone.”

“I’m sorry Liam didn’t make it.”

“I… I wanted to tell him thank you, for always indulging in my selfish desires. For sticking by my side. For letting me stick by his. For being my best friend…”

Mana to flesh. Flesh to mana. Isn't it simple? It’s something he’s done. He’s healed and regenerated his friends multiple times. So why can’t he do it himself?

“Say it to my face.” Liam said.

“L-Liam?!” Cora jumped and almost fell to her death.

There he was, his body made of blue flames that were actually mana. “Call me selfish. But I wanna keep going with you guys.”

“Liam… it's over. You ca-”

“We can’t bring back the dead… but we’re not dead yet.”

“He’s right.” Gus Low said, appearing next to him thanks to Liam.

“I need you guys to trust me on this…”

“Well?”

“Of course I trust you.”

“Come on! Out with it!!”

“Pl…ease…” Evelyn muttered.

Following his instructions they ‘killed themselves’ and Liam used his healing magic to transform their bodies, no their ‘lives’ to mana. With that, they slipped through the cracks to the portal she forced open. It did close, but spatial ruptures never fully close immediately.

The Real Chapter 22 - Our Last Day and The Rest of Our Lives

After they made it to the new world, Liam healed their bodies completely. And there they were. In the new world.

Gus Low was there too.

“Wah! H-Him too?” B said nervously.

Gus bowed. “Yes… let this doddering old knight make up for his mistakes I-”

“No. Gustus. Don’t. You’ve suffered enough. You were wracked with the guilt of failing your duty

that you doubled down all this time. You sacrificed yourself for me, that’s enough for me.”

“...”

“...”

“D-did I overstep speaking for you guys?”

“N-no. We’re good.”

“Yeah… how’d you know his name though?”

“Um… I’ve kinda been seeing all their memories after or during the fights…”

“Me too.” Liam said.

“Lucky.”

“How embarrassing.” Gus said.

“Well I’ll work on fixing your face pal.” Liam said, patting him on the back.

“Liam…” Cora walked over to him.

“Y-yeah?”

“This has been a long time coming. I love you.”

“Wh-WHAT?!”

The End.

Cora and Liam will return.