The Slayer That Saved Someone…

Once upon a time, there was a place that was so beautiful that everyone wanted to live there. The grass and trees were so green that it could make other greenery jealous, the water was so crystal clear and fresh that one sip could rejuvenate someone, clean air that nowhere else has in the world, hills and mountains that were scattered throughout the land, and so many species that were only found in that environment.

But that's all it is. A once upon a time….

***

"Trinity Astarr, twin sister of Tristan Astarr, has saved a small town from a Tower in United States of America last night, making this her fifth Tower she has destroyed. From spreading rumors, she is planning on celebrating with her friends and family. Good job, Trinity!"

The anchorman spoke with a big, gleaming smile on his face as he spoke about Trinity's achievement as if it was the greatest achievement known to mankind.

"I wanna be like Trinity, Mama!" A young girl shouted in the café.

Her smile reached from ear to ear then let out a gasp when Trinity began to talk to the camera about her philosophy of being a hero. It was something along the lines of 'I protect and fight for those who cannot raise a hand!'

Meanwhile, a young man that stood behind the café counter didn't seem to have the same reaction. He seemed uninterested and switched his gaze to the window pane that has a view of the black ink sky littered with stars that shined ever so brightly.

In this world where Towers are a normal part of life, powers are common, heroes and villains exist, and many more unexplained phenomena in the world that leave many people stumped occur, this young man at the counter looked like as if he didn't care about the world around him. "More power to you, kid." He thought as the family left the café.

"Stop slackin' and get to work, Katsuki!!" A woman shouted from the office in the back kitchen. Just her shouting shot goosebumps down his spine.

"O-On it!" Katsuki frantically yelled.

Within the hour, Katsuki took out the trash, cleaned all the tables, swept the floor, mopped, restocked everything and made the lobby squeaky clean. Despite his bored expressions earlier, he gets the job done when he has to… Or maybe it was because his boss scares him and she is not afraid to show him true pain.

The work day finally came to an end and Katsuki clocked out from work. He took off his work hat as he walked in the beautifully lit street to finally approach a small apartment complex. Katsuki opens the door to his apartment where he's met with his mother sitting on the sofa watching the television screen.

"Welcome home, Katsuki," She said.

"I'll never learn how you know I'm home."

"I guess it's a mother's intuition…?" She jokingly said whilst Katsuki kicked off his shoes near the doormat. "How was work?"

"The usual, you know?"

"Yup."

The more Katsuki approached his mother and the television screen, he saw that she was watching an interview of a famous Slayer and then describing their daily life as a Slayer. The Slayer explained how they love the life of being a Slayer and the perks that come with it. With that being said, the interviewer then asks the Slayer whether or not if they have a good moral compass and save others out of selflessness rather than for self gain. "Would ya really think I'm that kinda guy?" Was the response.

Katsuki and his mother both wore wry faces after hearing the Slayer's response. Maybe if Katsuki was still ten years old he would believe every single word that came out the Slayer's lips. And to add on, there's another reason as to why Katsuki still wouldn't believe a word.

"Remember when you wanted to become a Slayer, Katsuki?"

"Yeah… But that was almost ten years ago," He replied, his voice now a bit more weak.

"I wonder what happened to that whole thing…"

"I guess I outgrew it."

Katsuki then left to his bedroom where he would let himself flop on the bed. After a few minutes of peace and quiet, his words from earlier echoed in his head… That night he was only able to catch a few hours of sleep.

***

As the sun rose, someone in this city of early birds has already been awake this entire time. But do not be confused! What's so different and unique about this person is that they're a Slayer who was given a mission to protect the city of Eyon.

"It's only been nine months. I only got three more months until I can return to the Guild," A young woman talked on the phone while she stood on a rooftop to see the sunrise. "You sound ugly when you fake cry, Kolt."

After talking on the phone for a few more minutes, Emilia hears a roar that sends her into full combat mode.

"A Colossus!?" Emilia immediately began to jump from roof to roof to chase down the Colossus. For the first time in nine months, Emilia felt her heart beat at an unbelievable pace, adrenaline run throughout her body, her sword at the ready, and her new profound powers. "I can sense it! It's over here somewhere!" She said to herself as she moved with haste. That's when the Colossus' presence suddenly disappears in thin air as she was merely a few blocks away.

Emilia landed on a rooftop where she would click her tongue, "Damnit! Did it sense me coming? No, it couldn't be that because I hid my Essence…"

That's when it hit her. The Colossus didn't sense her and disappear. There's another reason why…

It was the next day of work. His boring, stress inducing work. For the first time, Katsuki pondered on the thought of when he applied and why. He has his own apartment and is able to pay for himself and his mother. He could get a new job and earn more money, but why didn't he?

If he hated this job, why not quit? It's because he felt like there was a leash wrapped around his throat that would tug him back if he showed any sign of rebellion. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like he couldn't quit to find a better job. It was as if he was glued to this job after working here for nearly a year and a half.

Throughout the day, Katsuki was forced to listen to the anchorman talk about Slayers and Towers on the flat screen TV. All he heard was more news about how the appearance of Towers have plummeted, Slayers saving people from Colossuses, and more unexplained occurrences in the world.

With all of this combined, this was a very stressful day with constant thinking that drained him within the first hour of his shift.

"Throw out the trash, Katsuki!" His boss ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Katsuki obeyed and gathered the trash throughout the entire café and began to make his way to the exit door that led to the alleyway. The door swung open and he could tell from the orange sky that the sun was already setting.

"I get to go home after this…" Katsuki said aloud to give him that extra push to get the job done.

DRIP… DRIP…

"What the hell?" Katsuki thought as a wet substance fell on his arm then in front of him. Then a hot wave of air hit him that made his nose burn from the rancid stench. That's when a reverberating tongue click forces Katsuki to look above. Looking up, Katsuki is looking down the throat of a mouth that looks akin to that of an alligator with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth, a long, slimy tongue that's extending outward, and saliva dripping around its jaw.

"What the-!"

Before Katsuki could finish his sentence, the Colossus's mouth shuts and begins to enjoy the taste of something that's not Human. Turns out that Katsuki was smart enough to throw a trash bag into the Colossus's mouth and make a break for it.

"Help! Help!! It's a Colossus!!" Katsuki cried out as the Colossus began to chase down its prey. It thrashed around dumpsters, trash cans, slammed itself against the walls as it maneuvered through the thin space, and slammed its long tail against the ground to cause the ground beneath Katsuki to shake in hopes of throwing him off balance.

Another bellow came from the lizard-esque beast then it suddenly lunged forward with its mouth open to try and finally chomp down on Katsuki. Hearing that the Colossus lunged forward, so did Katsuki to hopefully create distance between them but it didn't do much. He's done for. That's the end of Katsuki. Died doing what he hated, but at least it was a decent life. In his final moments he only thought of his mother and how she would live without him. She would be depressed and completely shut down as a person. Just by dying, he made another's life horrible.

How pathetic.

"Hurry up and get up, idiot! Run away!"

"H-Huh?"

A young woman is standing in front of Katsuki with her sword resting at her side and her eyes glaring at him.

"W-Who are you?" Katsuki asked the mysterious woman.

"Does it matter!? Just get going!" She screamed as the Colossus came back charging at them.

With no strength in his legs, he was suddenly pushed away by an unknown force and ended up in the street where several vehicles swerve out of the way or stomp on their brakes to not hit the lost Katsuki.

Katsuki then ran back into the alleyway to see the young woman and the Colossus fighting to the death. Could it be? He began to speculate about the identity of the woman. Could it be an officer? Or some government agent? None of those. It finally hit him and he came up with an educated guess, "Is she a Slayer?"

Spectating the fight, he eventually came to the conclusion that she was in fact a Slayer. For the first time in his life, he met a Slayer. For the first time in nearly a decade, a small fire rekindled in him. For the first time in centuries, a Slayer appeared in Eyon.

"ROARR!!" The Colossus opened its mouth as wide as it could and a ball of energy began to form in the mouth.

"Watch out!" Katsuki yelled out to the Slayer before the beam of light shot out at them at an unbelievable speed that nearly no one could react to.

Soon the beam of pure Essence that shot out the mouth of the Colossus began to split the clouds in half and was visible to all residents in Eyon. Then the Colossus's head fell down to the ground and the body grew limp. What Katsuki didn't see was that the Slayer charged at the Colossus, kicked its jaw upward, and sliced the head off with such precision and speed that made the blade seem like air cutting the head off.

"W-What happened? I couldn't see…" Katsuki said his thoughts aloud when he saw the Slayer standing above the large Colossus's carcass.

"Next time I say run, run!" The Slayer scolded Katsuki.

"…I'm sor-"

The Slayer approached Katsuki whilst sheathing her sword, "Just go home." And within an instant, she turned her back to him and began to call someone on her phone.

***

After that day, Katsuki lost his job and the café had to permanently shut down. Whilst in the comfort of his home, he kept thinking about what the Slayer had said to him and hated himself for it. If he distracted her for even one second, he could've caused many others to die all because he wanted to be involved.

Tossing and turning in his bed, he was beginning to overthink and taint the hypothetical future ahead of him with thoughts of him forever being the one who almost caused a lot of people to die.

Meanwhile, in the Guild Hall, Emilia is submitting her report of the Colossus in Eyon. Despite it being her first time entering a report, she did quite well as the receptionist guided her through it. At the end of all the tedious paperwork, Emilia already began to feel exhausted. "Why is paperwork this hard!?" She complained to herself.

"And everything here is truth? You dealt with the Colossus on your own with no help?" The receptionist asked Emilia, her tone exaggerated.

"Yes."

"I will send the report to the Ten Gems directly. For now, return to Eyon and continue to be on standby for further instructions."

"Right…"

Agreeing to her orders, Emilia had to bite her tongue to hold back from arguing. If she did, she would make herself much more unliked in the Guild.

Taking her leave, Emilia passed by several Slayers and Juniors who all were chatting. She seemed like a ghost moving through the world of the living. As Emilia walked in the large, extravagant hallways of the Guild Hall, a familiar man catches her attention. He's leaning on the wall, arms crossed, "You know that you were just apart of history, right?"

"Yeah," She says as she stops in her tracks to converse with him, "Not like anyone will know me."

Kolt pushes himself from the wall to walk away from the conversation, "Ah, don't say that. Someone will."

She didn't take what Kolt said to heart. She's used to it already. Nothing and no one will change her mind and it's no help that she hates her guard job at an isolated island.

Using her pendant around her neck, Emilia stepped through a portal to travel to Eyon instantly. "Today seems like a good day…" She thought to herself as she watched the beautiful morning sun rising from the horizon.

Within a small convenient store, Katsuki is torn between two options. On the left is his favorite candy of all time and on the right is favorite drink of all time.

"Good morning, Eyon!!! Today already seems like a good day with some nice sunshine, warm weather, clear skies, and the birds chirping," The anchorman informed the customers from the television stand sitting adjacent to the counter to pay at.

"I'll just choose both." Katsuki grabbed both of his items and walked to the counter to see missing persons papers, now hiring signs, vacation spots, and more.

"Are you… Hiring?" Katsuki painfully asked the cashier.

"Yeah, were you interested?"

"Yeah." Katsuki replied as the cashier waved down the hiring manager to grab the application.

After Katsuki pays for his drink and candy, he begins to leave the convenience store with the bag in his left hand. A hard smack is heard and the surrounding people see Katsuki on the floor.

[Did the ground shake…? It did feel like the ground below me shook…] Katsuki's assumption was proven right when he noticed the ground below him shaking.

An earthquake? Or was it an explosion off in the distance? Is the Slayer, Emilia Talva, fighting a Colossus again? Or could it be a tsunami!? No. It was none of those. It wasn't a natural disaster or fight between a Slayer and Colossus. It was the most feared phenomenon in the entire world…

In the dead center of Eyon, the ground began to cave in, the sky darkened, the ground shook violently, and a horn blared throughout the city. It actually happened to Eyon, the place said to be free of them. The only thing that haunts this world. This "claim" that the citizens of Eyon held so close to their heart was crushed instantly when it appeared. It casted a large shadow, the design is terrifying, and the impossible became possible.

"A To… A Tower!!!" A woman screamed in fear, holding her child close.

The citizens of Eyon were in a state of shock for several minutes. Some of them thought it was some horrible nightmare, some thought they were hallucinating, some theorized it was government, while some thought it was a prank. However, that was only for a few minutes until they all realized what invaded their city is an actual Tower.

No one could blame them for acting the way they did. It was an unbelievable sight to behold. A Tower invaded the city that was known to be Tower free for several centuries. The only thing they could do is run away, but where? They lived on an island isolated from the rest of the world and a majority of the citizens have no means of transportation over water to escape.

In other words, the city of Eyon is their grave.