Stand for something...

Some days have gone by from the last time something notable happened, Teras is continuing his hard training under Enyo's wing and also continued chopping wood and in the meantime he discovered something

Mana overload was easier than he thought, the basic fundamental of making an explosion (mana overload) is to violently release too much mana from a single mana vessel thou creating an explosion, this helped Teras distinguish the attacking mana and the defensive mana

'These times are very weird... The night comes faster and it's super cold outside, another thing that troubles me is the feeling of having no progress, no matter how hard I try I feel like I'm left behind on a race, but there is nobody to outrun me or antagonize me, so why do I feel that way? "Your only enemy is yourself" Enyo claims but I can't help but think this is wrong, I mean there are a million others that want to cause harm to innocent people, like the Joker....' Teras thought as he was stargazing on the roof of Enyo's house

"Enyo... Sometimes I wonder... Everyone gazes at the stars, admiring their beauty, but who looks at us? Who is it that admires our beauty?"

"Somebody must be out there, probably GOD..." Enyo replied as she too stared at the stars

…

"I guess it's time to sleep, your body requires sleep to grow Teras"

"I can't sleep..." Teras mumbled

"Why is that?"

"Because when I sleep I see THEM... I see what I couldn't manage on this day..."

Enyo understood what Teras was talking about but she ignored what Teras said and teleported him inside the house with her

"They are dead, you hear me? D-E-A-D! What you see in your sleep is simply a dream, ignore it and you will be fine, or at least try to, I know it's hard to deal with it but by the time you will start to go deaf, and the voices you hear at night will be the same as the wind blowing..." Enyo said as she entered her room

'I guess she is right...' Teras thought as he got in his bed

He then closed his eyes

…

"Look at their faces! Do you want to have the same pathetic face?"

"You know what to do right?"

"Then kill him"

The voice of the dark figure was echoing in Teras's mind as he slept but this time he made it past the voice

"I won't end up like them... I won't die without accomplishing anything in my life, I know that, but I can't help but feel fear, fear of not being able to do what I want, or fear that maybe one day my line will be cut short by madmen, but all I can do is fight, right?"

Teras thought out loud

…

He then woke up

"Morning" Teras said before leaving without eating breakfast

"DON'T FORGET TO COME HERE FOR LUNCH!" Enyo yelled before getting back into her house

Teras ran quickly through the forest and quickly arrived at his destination, He was finally outside Droe's house, and surprisingly he saw Droe cutting wood outside his house

"What are you doing here today? I told you not to come!" Droe said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead

"I didn't come here to cut wood, but to ask you something"

"Okay... What?"

"Where is the direction of the village again?"

"You have stayed weeks here and you still don't know? Just head that way and you will eventually find it!" Droe said as he pointed in the direction

Teras thanked the man and started jogging toward the village, it was winter after all, and he needed to keep his body warm, but oddly enough the first snow of the season hasn't fallen yet, Teras knew that the Heart kingdom was the hottest but he didn't expect to be so hot that snow doesn't form

'The village should be around here right?' Teras wondered as he looked around

"Hey give it back! This ball is mine!"

'Hey that voice is familiar...' Teras thought as he started walking toward the voice

To his surprise he saw Tom surrounded by two boys and a girl, they were bullying him, it was clear that those kids were Teras's age and a bit younger

"Your ball? I didn't know your father had that kind of money!" The older looking boy said

"We didn't buy it, he made it from the skin of a cow, now give it back!" Tom said as he tried to get the ball back by force

But he failed to, instead, he was handed a punch in the face

"HEY!" Teras yelled as he came out of his hiding spot

"That startled me! Who the hell are you kid?" The older looking kid asked

"It doesn't matter! Why do you bully Tom?"

"Oh, you know that loser? Then that means that you are a loser too wouldn't it?" The other boy said pridefully, he was a bit fatter than your common kid

"Guys, I think he is an adventurer, he has a sword and a dagger hanging from his belt..." The girl said as she backed down

"Him? An adventurer? Even if he is he is likely below bronze level, even me, with only the training from my father, could take on this kid!" The older kid said with confidence

Teras then threw the short sword gifted from Tokkou to the older kid

"Then prove it..." Teras said as he raised his dagger

"Uhm... I don't want to waste my time with you!" The older kid said as he threw the sword at Teras's legs

"Pick it up..." Teras said with cold eyes

"What?"

"Pick up the sword and give it to my hands before I kill you, at least have the courage to do that"

The older kid ignored Teras and started to walk away

"Let's go, guys, this kid is craz...."

Before he could finish his sentence Teras grabbed him by his short black hair and threw him on the ground near the sword

"Give it to my hands bitch..." Teras said as he released his aura

Everyone was intimidated

The boy then grabbed the sword and gave it to Teras before taking his friend and running away

"Are you alright?" Teras asked as he handed the ball to Tom

"I didn't need your help! But thanks..." Tom said in a low voice as he cleaned up the ball

"Why are you here anyway?" Tom asked

"Just to look around the town, want to come with me?"

"No way, everyone will treat me like shit and you will be next too"

"If anyone does that I will blast their brains out!" Teras said with a smile

...

After Tom agreed to come both of them walked into town and looked around, it didn't have anything in particular and the people look kind of timid when they saw Teras, Teras was unaware of that but the ones that attacked Enyo's house sometime before where them

"Look! He was the guy that created explosions... Don't make anything to piss him off, he almost chopped me down when we attacked..." A villager whispered to another villager

The town was way more advanced than Yuta, it had a big and cleaner river used for bathing, drinking, and also to power a windmill for oil and flour, it also had more buildings and more ways to entertain yourself with bars and love hotels with beastmen, Teras wanted to check it out just to see a beastmen but he didn't, he hopped to see a beastmen on the road but failed to do so and was kind of disappointed

"See? Nobody is saying anything bad to you" Teras said as they were about to leave the town

"I guess if you are around it's okay..." Tom said as he looked at his leather ball

"HEY!"

A loud voice was heard from behind them, when they turned around an angry man stared at them with a sword in his hands

"You are the one that hit my son? I don't care how tough you are! I will make sure you regret even the thought of hurting him!" The father of the kid back then yelled as he started to aggressively walk toward them

"Well he punched Tom so I fought back for Tom since he is too young to fight back himself" Teras said as he shrugged his shoulders

"You must not know who I am, comparing the kid of a stupid woodcutter to a silver-rank adventurer's son is unheard of, if you apologize then I will consider not killing you..."

"Sure thing, if your son apologizes to Tom first then I will apologize" Teras said with a smile

"That is not happening! You take everything back and leave this town! I don't care if you are Enyo's student, we do not accept you!"

"I don't need your acceptance" Teras calmly replied

"Are you going to apologize?" The kid's father asked

"Is your son going to apologize?"

"NEVER"

"Then I will never apologize, let's go Tom" Teras said as he gently pushed Tom

"You are done!" The father yelled as he charged at Teras

'He is... strong!'

Teras thought as he pushed Tom away and also deflected the blow with his dagger

Teras then headbutted the man and with a spin kicked the sword out of his hand

"Don't engage in fights you can't win!" Teras said as he started to walk away

Tom was shocked at what he saw, he was petrified

"Come on Tom!" Teras said

Tom nodded and quickly ran to Teras's side

…

"That move you did earlier was super cool! Like wosh and then paff and it was over!" Tom said with excitement

"Yeah..." Teras replied with a smile

Suddenly an aura different from what he was used to surrounded the forest, it was far stronger than his and more beast-like

"Tom... Whatever happens, you will run to your home okay?" Teras said with a smile

He didn't want to freak out Tom

"What do you mean?" Tom asked confused

Suddenly a man dressed in a long coat started walking from behind them

Without a second thought, Teras attacked the man, he swung his sword at the man but the man easily blocked the attack and with incredible force sent Teras flying back, it was like he pushed him with only a fraction created from the swords colliding

"RUN TOM!" Teras yelled

Thankfully for Teras, Tom started to run as fast as he could

"What do you need?" Teras asked as he glared at the hooded man

"Quite the question to ask a man you attacked on sight!" The man said as he unhooded himself

It was a beastman, he had lion-like ears and a big and yellowish hair a lion has, it was a human-lion beastman

"A negative energy like yours can only mean something bad" Teras said as he drew his dagger

He was now armed with two weapons

"Fair enough, you are the Goddess of war's pupil, after all, I didn't expect an undercover attack to be successful! But for some reason you don't seem that strong, are you a beginner?" The beastman asked

"You could say that! Why does it matter to you?" Teras asked

"You see, I want to live a quiet life but being an escapee from the royal capital's prison makes my goal super hard so the best idea is to settle in the most peaceful kingdom in a random town and lay low, I was supposed to go to Yuta but for some reason, it was annihilated, so I guess this town will do but the problem is that Enyo is here, and if she learns I'm here I will be in great trouble, I realized neither you nor Enyo is accepted in town so by getting rid of the most troublesome person here, meaning you, I can mask myself properly, so what do you say? Can you handle me or are you going to try to run away? Either way, you are not making it alive!"

The beastman said as he started to approach Teras

'A beastman huh? I wanted to see one but I guess the first time I meet one is like that, I guess he can be a good training dummy, the only problem is that he is stronger than me, so even one wrong step can lead to my death'

"Afraid huh?" The dark figure said as it appeared behind Teras

'So you came to watch? What are you saying, you bastard? Do I stand a chance?' Teras asked the figure

"Of course not idiot! I just came to see you die, have a fun time!" The figure said before fading into Teras's shadow

Suddenly the beastman charged at Teras and tried to chop him with a wide slash but Teras managed to dodge the attack by pulling his body back, he then used the special ability of the dagger to attack (The air slash)

The beastman blocked the attack with his sword leaving an opening for Teras that he gladly took, Teras enhance his hand with mana and punched the man's stomach but he didn't budge

"You have to hit harder than that!" The man said as he tried to slash Teras again but he again failed

Teras dodged the attack and hit his head with a kick creating an explosion right away sending the man flying back

"Interesting! I will have to take this seriously if I want to end it fast huh?" The man said as he started doing light exercise

Teras got into a defensive stance...

A sudden fight just broke out, how will it end?