1 Fabled Birth

The air was calm. Nightfall was approaching, and college student Shinteko Renz had only recently arrived at his apartment, grasping a bag of groceries. Within the bag was a container of strawberries, along with three boxed sets of the newest Isekai Anime series. "Hmph, hopefully my co workers haven't wasted my time with their little suggestion" He stated, peering down towards his newest purchase. Shinteko shuffled through his keys before unlocking the door to his overpriced apartment. He entered, removing his shoes right at the front door.

Shinteko noticed that a bit of dirt had somehow made its way onto the white carpeting of his living room. "Tch, I don't see how a landlord could be so careless. I specifically told him to make for certain that my carpet remained in mint condition following his inspection. I wasn't aware that it was my job to constantly tell him what to do." He said to himself in a rather annoyed tone. "Either way, I'm not going to allow it to spoil my night, even if it's already going to be quite bland."

After settling in, Shinteko plopped down onto his couch, letting a sigh escape from his lips as he leaned back. "You know, life gets rather boring after a while" he said to the ceiling.

You see, Shinteko Renz is a college student with reasonably high grades. He never studied, yet somehow he consistently achieved high ranking scores. Most claim that his raw intelligence is the reasoning behind this, however that's just speculation of course. Other than that, Shinteko worked at the local bowling alley, even though he had never been bowling himself. He mostly enjoyed polishing the balls, it helped keep his overly neat tendencies in check. After school and work, he would simply return home. Going to sleep and preparing for the next day, that is however only once he finished his daily bowl of strawberries.

"Well, complaining about it will do me no good I'm afraid" Shinteko leaned forward, and removed the items from his grocery bag. "I think it's high time I find out whether or not this series is a gem." After carefully placing a strawberry into his mouth, he used his TV's built in DVD player to begin watching something that, unbeknownst to him, would forever change his life.

Several hours passed until Shinteko's binging session ended. He stood up with an empty container of strawberries, as well as an angry expression on his face. "Ridiculous!" He yelled. "Utter nonsense! Not only does the concept of being transported to a fantasy world make absolutely no sense whatsoever, it also completely disregards the main character's loss of family, comrades, and loved ones after the first few seconds!" Slams could be heard from the room above. "SHUT THE HELL UP!!" The occupant screamed.

Deep breathes were taken by Shinteko, before he resumed speaking with a calm demeanor. "He's correct, yelling to such a degree over something so foolish is utter nonsense in and of itself. I need to just-.. take a good nights rest that's all. Ugh, this is what happens when I attempt to have a little fun. Apparently from now on I'll need to stick to keeping the place tidy." Following his statement, Shinteko went into his room, covering up in his blankets, still wearing his daily attire of a white sweatshirt, black jeans, his personal anti-dust mouth mask (which was also black), and a necklace given to him by his only true friend. "I-.. can't believe... I'm in bed... with my filthy clothes.." Those were Shinteko's final thoughts as he drifted off to sleep. He had forgotten to remove his clothes due to extreme fatigue. He usually didn't stay up this late. Little did he know, that he would never see his room again anyways.

The next morning, Shinteko slowly opened his eyes, only to be greeted with blinding sunlight. "Huh.. w-what exactly is going on..? Wait hold on a second.." He felt the fresh grass beneath him with his hands. "Am I... SLEEPING OUTSIDE!!" He immediately jumped up, frantically wiping himself off in case any amount of dirt or bugs had gotten on his clothes. "Simply disgusting! How did I manage to get caught up in such a situation!" As he continued to dirt check his entire body, Shinteko noticed that the ground of the surrounding area, which was filled with large hills, fresh grassland, and vast lakes, began to shake.

From a nearby cave, a humongous monstrosity appeared. It stomped it's way over to Shinteko, who was now frozen in place. "Erm... is that a.. uh... an o-ogre?!" He cried.

It was indeed, and this fearful statement amused the large beast. "Eheheheh. That I am little man. And unfortunately for you, I'm quite hungry. Your odd arrival couldn't have occurred at a better time." The smirk of the ogre confirmed his malicious intent. He lifted his enormous club, and swung it straight towards the seemingly terrified face of Shinteko. "NOW DIE IN THE NAME OF ARMUNE THE OGRE!!"

"I-Is this... idiot serious??" Shinteko thought to himself, "He not only plans on eating food directly off the floor, but he believes a human such as I will allow myself to be killed by this revoltingly foul beast." His eyes widened. "I know that I may have no chance of winning, and have an even lesser chance of doing it without sacrificing the cleanliness of my sweater" His fists tightened, "BUT IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, I MUST TRY!!" Shinteko lifted his arm in a rage, completely blocking the opposing Ogre's attack. The impact of the blow against Shinteko's forearm caused the ground underneath his feet to crack.

"WHAT!" The Ogre roared, "There is no way a weakling like you could possibly have negated my attack!"

A smirk slowly grew on the face of Shinteko. "Hmph, I think I know what this is. I must be dreaming of myself in some type of Isekai exactly like the television series I was watching! Perfect, not only does this mean that I have remained clean, it also signifies that my strength has..." Shinteko quickly extended his right arm forward, palm opened, hitting the Ogre with a push, "Exponentially increased!!"

To his amazement, Shinteko's push was so overwhelming strong, that Armune the Ogre was sent rocketing towards a nearby collection of hills. Once he collided with them, an explosion erupted, shaking the foundation of all nearby areas whilst sending flames into the air.

"I-.. was merely making a bluff.." Shinteko rested his hand, staring at it in the process. "Did.. that seriously work.. hah... ahahaha! So blocking that first blow wasn't a fluke..! This is remarkable! With power like that, who in their right mind would ever dare to try and stop me from doing as I please!!"

"I would". A mysterious figure appeared behind Shinteko, almost completely concealed under hooded gear, with the only visible portion of skin being his ominous grin. His body was covered with various brown straps and belts for a multitude of tools and weapons. He wore brown shoulder, knee, and shin pads as well. All used not just to protect those areas, but to improve his magic energy, something Shinteko obviously knew nothing about. Those pieces of armor were filled with slight power boosts. Not enough to make them required, but they still gave the stranger a nice increase in magical strength.

Shinteko turned around, "Ah, and who might you be? Yet another weakling unprepared to face off against my immeasurable strength? Actually... I could use you as a guinea pig in order to test my limits. I mustn't allow myself to become too overconfident before knowing the full reach of my newfound abilities." Shinteko placed his hand on his chin in thought, "Although I guess if this is a dream... it wouldn't matter too much now would it? Dreams tend to be quite brief. Hmm.. either way, I'd like to know your identity."

The stranger put his head down and chuckled maniacally, before smirking. "You wanna know who I am!? Hahah, what?? Fat chance at that weirdo!! I'm here to kill ya and that's it, no need to exchange names!"

With a disappointed look on his face, Shinteko began pacing back and forth. "Ugh.. you clearly lack the knowledge of basic respect. You see, whether or not you plan on slaughtering your opponent is irrelevant, knowing their name is still-" His sentence was abruptly interrupted by the stranger, who lunged forward launching some sort of massive blue magic attack right in Shinteko's direction.

"I don't care about your stupid ideals!! All I care about is killin whoever the hell steps in fronta me!!" The strangers projectile was released directly in front of the face of Shinteko, giving him almost no time to react. However, due to the insane abilities he had obtained from this new world, while he was quick enough to react, he didn't need to.

The magic attack blasted Shinteko in the face, causing a massive outburst of mana to become detectable from miles away. This stranger was quite clearly an incredibly powerful foe. Once his attack had finished, he winded to a halt. Stopping behind Shinteko, back facing him. "Oh man, I released a little more power than I meant to. Ah.. who am I kiddin, that was on purpose. The little shit's gonna look like toast!"

The smoke caused by the burst began to settle, as the stranger eagerly awaited to see Shinteko's condition.

As the last bit of smoke faded away, it revealed Shinteko's glaring red eyes. "...was that supposed to do something? Or was it just meant to insult me..?" He said calmly, but with clear anger behind his voice.

The stranger looked surprised, but not completely shocked. "Hahah, alright so you've actually gotta bit of strength!! Nice! Guess that means I'll get to show ya a few more moves before you're dead!!" He sprinted to the side, the only visible part of his face was the wide grin displayed across his mouth, with the rest of his features covered by his cowl. "The names Eken by the way, that's the least I can tell ya for surviving the first blow! That doesn't change the fact that I don't give a shit about ya though, so don't get any crazy ass ideas."

Eken tossed out a dozen long swords from his belt. They each stuck into the ground around Shinteko, who stood there with his hands in his sweatshirt pockets. The swords began to shake, while displaying a purple aura around their hilts. Shinteko looked at a few of the swords that were placed in front of him. "Now what, are these going to explode too?"

Eken responded. "Oh... not exactly. I'm not that stupid, explosions obviously don't effect you so I'll need to test out other tactics til you're dead, which is why I'm gettin so freakin excited! It's not often that I getta kill someone with such a strong defense!" The Swords then began to grow. Not normally though, these swords were growing something from their sides.

"Tch, what am I looking at Eken? Swords that grow blades from their sides? A pitiful attempt at defeating me. As a matter of fact, the fact that you even tried something so weak disgusts me." Even though Shinteko had planned on keeping his confidence in check, in most situations, he just couldn't help himself from acting cocky.

"Ughhhh, NO of course that's not all they are!" Eken rolled his eyes as he tossed out a few more swords, each landing nearby the others. "Just freakin watch without opening your big fat mouth and you can find out what they are for yourself!!"

More and more swords were placed around where Shinteko was standing, until Eken finally skidded to a halt. He jumped into the air, and screamed "Maximum strength... DANCING SWORDS!!" before slamming his fist onto the ground, activating his spell.

Each and every blade immediately shot up into the air backwards using their newly grown... arms?? Yes.. the swords all now had arms and legs, as well as facial features. "Seize the enemy... at once!!" One of them yelled. "On it!" Another responded.

"What the-.. Tch, you are one seriously odd fellow." Shinteko said with a sigh. While the living blades landed and began sprinted towards him, he prepared for a counter attack. "If my abilities allow me to survive explosions, I don't see how you expect mere kitchen knives such as these to do any damage."

Shinteko stomped his foot to the ground, causing earthquake like destruction to the floors surface, sending the swords into the air. One of the swords then screamed. "Deploy flight gear!!" Which increased the small army's speed exponentially. Instead of a quick sprint, all 48 blades rocketed forward towards their opponent.. Shinteko himself.

Shinteko caught one of the swords, smacking another out of the way with the newly acquired blade in his hand. A third sword was sent flying with a backwards kick. This continued until each blade had been adequately countered. The incredible display of speed ended with Shinteko bent to a knee, looking downwards whilst grasping two steaming swords within both hands. All of this occurred within a matter of 6 seconds. "Are you satisfied yet?" He asked. Although in his head, Shinteko was truly thinking. "My word! This dream world is superior to my own by inconceivable margins! Hopefully I never manage to awaken!"

"NOPE NOT EVEN CLOSE" Screamed Eken, who had torpedoed towards a distracted Shinteko, kneeing him in the face with the force of 100,000 fighter jets. This caused an incredible amount of air to flow past Shinteko's head, completely wiping out the land behind him until it was unrecognizable. However Shinteko himself... did not move. Nor did he take even a hint of damage. Eken immediately followed this up with a spinning kick to the side of Shinteko's scalp, again causing a devastating amount of damage to the land, without harming his actual target.

Eken skidded backwards in anger. "Dammitttt c'monnn!!!" He roared. "Just how freakin strong are ya huh?!" He then shifted his feet in a different direction, pulling back his left elbow before slamming his fist full power against Shinteko's chest. This time however, while the effectiveness was the same, what he did afterwards was the beginning of a new strategy. Eken used all of the nearby demolished land as a weapon. With what seemed to be some sort of telekinetic or force like ability, he backed away from Shinteko, and lifted the entire surrounding area (hundreds of acres of land) thousands of feet into the air. "Eat this and die ya cocky little shit!!"

Shinteko closed his eyes. "Hmph, I'm growing tired of constantly playing defense in this particular battle. I think it's high time I give some moves of my own a try. Based on how I reacted to the swords, this new body of mine, though identical in appearance, seems to have learned quite a bit. Considering my feats so far.. I should be able to not only negate this attack, but also win the fight entirely. Ah well, the only way that I may be for certain..." Shinteko finally stood up, raising his eyelids. "Is through practice."

"S-Stand up and try to look intimidating a-all ya want pissbag, i-it won't help you survive this shit!" Eken stuttered a bit due to the sheer amount of land he was carrying. "I'm gonna turn ya into a bloody ass flapjack!"

"Go right on ahead, I'm waiting." Shinteko smirked. The confidence he had in his ability to survive any attack, as well as his own battle strength was overwhelming to say the least. Especially this early on following his arrival into this new world.

Then it happened. The entire massive cluster of land carried by Eken was hurled towards Shinteko so accurately, that it was like he had locked onto him somehow. "Alright then, I must allow my body take control. Then we will see what more it's capable of." Shinteko confidently stated. "I believe this battle has run its course, therefore I intend on ending it with whatever I'm able to do right here and now."

The left arm of Shinteko rose. Some sort of red energy, similar to Eken's original blue magic attack, began radiating from it. This stunned Eken, as he was able to sense the inconceivably high levels of mana coming from such a small area. "This freak... is somethin else." He thought to himself, "Eh, too late to back out now though. Not that I'd wanna. But if I wanna at least survive this fight while still taking the sucker out, I'll needa hit him with everything I've got... heh, no biggie. That was the plan anyways. My best bet is the sword attack which still hasn't hit yet. When it does land though... no matter how strong my opponent is, they're freakin screwed. Oh this is gonna be real fun to see.."

The mana filled arm of Shinteko began absorbing the flying land mass at an alarming rate. Almost instantaneously making it disappear. Once it was completely gone, Eken quickly used the rest of his mana to form a gigantic cluster of blue magic in the air. Almost the size of the land he had previously held. "Blue Magic has the power to destroy entire damn kingdoms!! Heheh... throwing this much of it at ya should at least slow ya down enough to allow my final blow to hi-... wait... THE HELL?? Oh C'mon where'd he go?!"

Shinteko was absent from where Eken had originally planned on launching his blue magic. Before Eken could react though, Shinteko appeared right behind him.

"AH SHIT!" Eken knew he was screwed. Shinteko pointed his arm towards Eken, and attacked him by shooting the humongous land mass he had absorbed earlier from his hand.

Eken quickly retrieved a bit of the giant blue magic cluster, in order to have enough mana to create a huge mana shield. He attempted to block Shinteko's attack, but was still sent spiraling out of control towards the rubble below. Shinteko landed next to him with overwhelming speed, and kicked Eken forward another few Kilometers. He then, using yet another unknown ability, shot a massive horizontal flaming spray attack from his chest towards the direction of where Eken had been kicked. This incinerated what little still remained of recognizable land around them. What was left of the blue cluster also disintegrated due to the lack of a user.

"Hmph, hopefully that takes care of that annoying little gnat." Shinteko stepped back with his left foot, peering off into the distance behind him. "Ugh, what a mess. Thankfully I'll be departing from this area shortly. The only problem I have now is locating some sort of nearby civilization. Once I do that, I'll be able to gain information in regards to what kind of world this is, as well as how it's rules and superhuman abilities work. Although I must admit, so far it bares a striking resemblance to the series I binged. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. Firstly though, like I already said, I must find a nearby town. Hm... how must I go about this...?" He placed a hand upon his chin in thought. "Ah, damn! Why did I not consider asking the little runt I just defeated! Actually.. if he managed to live through my final series of blows, that may be the best course of action to take." His eyes met the scorched mess of land leading up to where Eken's body was assumedly located. Without a second thought, Shinteko extended a leg backwards, before rocketing to find him. The overwhelming amount of immediate acceleration caused a sonic boom to erupt from behind.

Meanwhile... Eken laid within the rubble in excruciating pain. "Ah.... DAMN! This freakin hurts! Agh.. but who gives a crap... I needa get up so that I can lay that stupid punk out. No way I'll let a sophisticated dummy like him be-... err- AHHH!!" The pain in Eken's arm spiked. "This stings like hell! Ugh.. the only reason I even survived a crazy ass attack like that is because of... because of Oceane. Heheh.. thanks a bunch ya weirdo." He smiled warmly, until finally noticing Shinteko's impending arrival. "God what does he want!? Wait.. he's coming straight to me that's freakin sweet! Just makes killin his ass once and for all a hundred times easier!" With a newfound spark in his step, Eken quickly rose to his feet, preparing for yet another round of battle. "Hahahah ya thought I was dead huh?? Nope! Now c'mon let's get this over with I'm-.." Shinteko interrupted by grabbing Eken by the mouth with a now yellow magic charged arm, and slamming his face into the floor, creating an enormous crater.

"Please do me a favor and keep your mouth shut, it would be a wise decision moving forward let me tell you.. little runt." Shinteko glares. "Now... I only returned to you because I'm in need of a bit of information. You see, I am not from this land. As a matter of fact I have never even heard of it. Therefore... navigation may be quite the conundrum. You on the other hand, seem to be rather wary of your surroundings, considering you were wandering within the middle of nowhere for no reason whatsoever. The true reasoning behind why you were doing that is a question that I am unfortunately unable to answer at the moment. Nevertheless, I'm sure assisting me with my travels for the time being would be an absolute breeze for you, am I right?"

The air was unusually calm. "Hey... I asked you a question.. fool." Shinteko sternly claimed. Eken smirked. The sword attack he had been going on and on about was finally prepared.

The blades raced over to Shinteko, and each lined up with one another within the air, creating a circle. The swords all spun in unison whilst glowing beat red. Their speed increased by the second, until finally a beam was shot to the ground from the tips, creating a sort of miniature red room shaped like a cylinder.

Shinteko glanced back. "Tch, I'd like to explore this land without any interruption you know." He let go of Eken's face, and began walking towards whatever this cylinder shaped room was. However before he could get there, it exploded. Shinteko put his right arm up to block the wind caused by the blast. Once the wind and dust had settled, it revealed yet another mysterious figure. Shinteko sighed. "This is beginning to grow tiresome. I have barley taken a step within this dream without running into some sort of annoying fool like this."

The figure was large and burly. Red cloth hung from ginormous silver shoulder pads, with darker red armor covering the rest of his body. The figure glanced over to Shinteko, and lifted his humongous curved blade, placing it over his shoulder.

A chuckle could be heard from a ways away. It was Eken, once again maniacally laughing, this time at his creation. "Hey jackass! You're totally screwed now!! This guy right here is the result of one of the most powerful spells in the entire world!! Eheheheheh.. AHAHAHA! Wanna know what it does? Well do ya?"

Without looking back, Shinteko simply claimed, "I could care less, you runt." His eyes continued to remain locked onto the newfound enemy, as he was prepared to again test out some new abilities. "Yet again I get to see what else my body can do while on Auto Pilot." He focused, closed his eyes, and prepared for a fight.

The opposing figure finally began to move, starting with a slow walk, before progressing to a jog, and then a sprint. It lept into the air over the head of Shinteko, and zoomed downwards, blade in hand, ready to strike.

Shinteko's eyes quickly opened, he was glaring. As the curved blade reached him for a slice, he caught it with the tip of his two middle fingers, and a thumb. "Disappointing to say the least, although I guess this means that Eken and I will be able to go on our way without too much of an interruption." He looked down shaking his head, and with ease, snapped the large sword in half.

Without any indication of surprise, the burly figure jumped back and began charging up some sort of response attack. Before anything could come of it however, he grew weak, and heard Shinteko scream. "Agh!! That was the most filthy and disgusting thing I have ever done!" Confused and still growing weaker, the brute looked over at Shinteko, finally realizing what had happened. His guts had somehow been removed, so quickly that he didn't even notice. Strangely enough, they hung from the hand of Shinteko, who continued yelling, attempting to shake them off. "GET! OFF! WHY DID MY HAND NOT FULLY ABSORB THIS OF ALL THINGS! I CANNOT ALLOW SOMEONE OF MY STRENGTH TO STAIN HIS W-WHITE SWEATSHIRT! AHH WHY DID I WEAR THIS! Phew.. okay.. calm down Shinteko.. this is merely a dream. Heheh.. once you awaken, nothing will have occurred! That's right! Nothing!"

Falling to a knee, the figure was on its last legs. Only seconds of his life remained. Before he died though, he realized something. This man in front of him.. was going to change the world.

Several hours passed until Shinteko was ready. He approached Eken, who just looked at him, shocked and confused. "WHAT... THE HELL WAS THAT! YOU JUST FOUGHT ME AND GOT DIRT ALL OVER YOURSELF YA KNOW THAT RIGHT?! PLUS THAT STUPID SPELL IS A FREAKIN CHEAP RIP OFF PIECE OF CRAP I THOUGHT IT'D WORK BETTER THAN THAT I MEAN CMON!!"

Shinteko looked down at him. He wasn't in the mood for this. "Just shut up and take me to the nearest town you runt." He crossed his arms, "And if you're wondering, I freak out over blood because it's much harder to remove the stains when compared to dirt. While this is most likely a dream, I-.. still couldn't hold myself back." Shinteko shuttered at the thought, "The only reason I was able to get over it this quickly is because of the likelihood that this is fantasy."

Rolling his eyes, Eken yelled, "Well here's a news flash ya dummy, this ain't a dream! You're actually in this world and if you keep actin this stupid, you're gonna completely screw it up!!"

The noise of Shinteko's footsteps added onto the light wind. He paced around for a minute, before crouching next to Eken, placing a hand upon his shoulder. His lips widened into a smile. "Now that's where you're wrong, Eken. If the rest of this vile place is filled with people like you, then I am going to fix it." Both men stared at each other. A silence filled the air, until Shinteko spoke once more. "Now then, I'll ask one more time." For the first time in his life, Eken was scared. "Take me to the nearest town."

Eken was shaking. "Yeah.. whatever you say, freak."