Chapter 1 : Catterpillar Wannabe.

Author Note:

TOBY IS BACK, BOYS !✌️

So...I just wanted to talk about something. I figured out that I wanted to write at LEAST 5 chapters in advance. So while I write the 6th one, I can read your rewievs.

Back to the story, I want to say that the Prologue is just an introduction to the story. Hibiki's journey...at least in this world will last from when he's 7 to when he's 22. So, yeah...Bear with me for a while😊.

In this chapter, we'll talk a bit more about the world they are in...And to be honest, sometime I have to think a bit before I understand my own story.

See you later.

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Chapter 1

Hibiki's POV :

When we got out of the rift, we were on top of a mountain. We were so high in the sky we could see the dawn in the horizon.-"Beautiful..."

"The sight is so good I would like to chill here, but..." Rowdy pointed at the far away bottom of the mountain.

I couldn't see anything but everyone nodded in understanding. -"The elementalists are here." Akira said. Yuri then grabbed my shoulder then said : -"Just so you know, going in a rift before the elementalist is illegal, so..." As I made a terrified expression and tried to run away, Akira grabbed the back of my collar. -"We can't have you snitching on us, right ?".

Then while everybody charged the material on the back of the trucks, Akira gently threw me in the biggest one, and told me to get some sleep. As I was really tired, I didn't struggle much and just took some rest.

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*A few hours later*

As I woke up, my first action was to catch my breath, which instantly worried everyone. Yuri was the first to try and calm me down. Akira then told everyone in the truck to take care of me.

When I calmed down, Akira got down on one knee and asked : -"Are you okay, kid ?" "Yeah, I guess" I said, with a non-existent excitement as my blue eyes took a deep shade of grey.

Akira stared at me, then clapped his hands in front of me, making me snap back to reality.

(This kid got something going, but I'll let it slide for now.) Akira thought

Once I was fully myself, Yuri gave me some meat and vegetables. They were delicious. Then I finished and asked : -"Were are we ?"

Rowdy, driving the car, was the one to answer : -"We are in the Republic of Sand, kid." Yuri, figuring I didn't study the geography of the continent yet, slid me a map. The country is in the middle of the continent, far away from any source of water. "The political situation there is horrible, yet optimal for those...like us."

Like us ? What does he means ?

"All of us here got bad history with a country and is trying to run away from it. To forced marriage..." Yuri looked down at that "...To outcasts because of our origins or powers..." Several people, with Akira included, nodded silently at that.

Rowdy kept silent for a few seconds then continued : -"We are all like a big family, of some sort." Rowdy then did a big smile : -"We can all confort each other so don't be afraid to ask". I smiled back then looked outside for a bit. There was nothing but sand and a few mountains we can see from far away. But I noticed two of them had a unnatural split. Like something slashed throught it.



"Hey, Yuri." I asked. "Wassup ?" "Why are those two mountains split so wierdly ?" I pointed at them. Yuri looked at it from his place, then placed his finger on his chin in a thought-full way. When he finally got his answer, he said : -"Those are the discord mounts." Then he want further in his explanations. "This happened because the fury of a god." He drawed my curiosity, now he got my attention. And he seems to be aware of it.

"The God of Wraith once asked out the Goddess of Magic and Knowledge. She politly refused, saying that he's not what interested her. The Goddess of Love made fun of him, making his fury even greater. When became the hot topic of heavenly realm, he finally snaped. He unleashed himself in the mortal realm. Several people died in this, even a few EX Rank elementalist." I got pissed when I heard that.

"I swear, one day, I will body him, give him his payback !" I sweared. Akira got agitated and said : -"Whoa, there, lil'boy. Some people won't tolerate such behavior." I deflated at that. "But, if you really are willing to take on a god, one of the most powerful one at that...We can train you." "Are you for real, Akira ? You know what we do and it's DEFENITELY not the best for a child, especialy with...HIM around." Yuri screamed.

As I was wondering who in the fuck they were talking about, Akira replied : -"It's actually for the better. When he'll learn we left a child alone, or when he'll find out that the kid came from a rift, and believe me he will, he'll try to take him to do his experiments. If we train the kid to be a mercenary able to disappear from radars, he'll be okay."

Yuri fell silent and considered the options, then nodded his head in agreement but added : -"We'll hide him for the time being."

I wasn't aware of the conversation going on between those two.

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*A bit later*

Everyone was dying in boredom, except me and Yuri. So Rowdy left the truck in auto, and put on some music. With that thick body of his, I never thought he could move so well. Soon enough, everyone started to enjoy the music and dance.

"Hibiki, your turn !" Akira said. I was already moving my head and feet in rhythm, but when he called me, I couldn't resist. I busted those hip-hop and break dance moves.



Everyone was surprised but they cheered on me while dancing and clapping their hands in rhythm. But when I did the handstand drill to the headstand one, something percuted the truck, making me fall on a side of the truck.

Yuri checked the data and screamed : -"The Giant Earthworms !" I rushed to a windows to take sight of the Earthworms.They were huge, around 200 meters long, with a 20 meters large trap, and there was 5 of them.



I saw them "swimming" in the sand and throwing away nearby trucks. Everyone in truck silently addressed prayers to their respective gods, even Yuri, while me and Akira thought really hard of a solution.

That's when a item in the back of the truck a that got my attention : A rocket launcher we retrived from the rift. Unfortunately, the rocked wasn't here. Actually, we didn't die thanks to that. "How can you use it ?" Akira said "The rocked isn't even here." "Do we really need the rocked though ?" I told him, grinning.

"Fuck you me- Oooooooh, I like the way you think kid." Akira grinnned the whole time. Then he ordered : -"Get the most mana stones you can find. Rowdy, tell everyone to get closer to our truck !". Everyone got active. Rowdy made the call and the passagers got every mana stones in the truck.

"What now ?" "Make them magic stones, preferably ice, earth or plant." Everyone looked at Yuri and Rowdy. "Fine." Rowdy picked up Yuri by the head, and dragged him to the end of the truck. They started making the stones at a fast rate.

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Educational Pause :

I felt like I should explain mana and magic.

Basically, mana is a energy you can change the nature of. Magic is the thing you obtain after the transformation. And there's almost no way to manipulate the mana out of the body. For a humanoid, that is, and without a certain condition (We'll get to that later).

Fire mana X

Fire magic ✓

So right now they are converting the mana stones in magic stones, by changing their nature. It's kinda like a chimical process. Except for the fact you can give any shape to the product.

Hope that helped you. And don't bother thinking to much.

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Once we were done, Akira and I climbed on top of the truck from a window. Akira kept us on it thanks to his shadow.

I placed the rocket launcher on a support that help me aiming. I was the only one who could use it for some reason, others except for Akira didn't know how it worked. We could see the other trucks coming closer to ours. Once they were close enough, we started the plan.

"Shoot them up good, I got us covered" Akira said behind me, while his sword got covered by shadow and formed a two-handed blade like tendril. I nodded at him, turned my face back on the RPG and took aim.

I waited till they opened their mouths. Once they did, I shoot a rocket. The rocket went straight in the mouth of the middle one.

The reason I asked for the magic stones to be of wine, earth or ice is because of one thing. If they explode, they will expand their element at an abnormal rate, depending on the quality of the original mana stone and the quantity of mana inside it. I and the ones we got had a pretty good grade.

That's why a few second later, the worm implosed, spreading wines everywhere. Then, I went on a shooting spree. The worms implosed one after another. Akira and the boys were cheering on me while Akira blowed away the incoming projectiles.

But one of them seemed smart enough to get that it could just close his mouth.

"Crap. I can't do anything like this." I cursed. Akira slowly walked torward me. Then he picked up one of the rocket. "Just leave it to me and shoot if you see an occasion." He affirmed with a smirk, then leaped of the truck in a cool way. I was in awe, so impressed by the sudden coolness that my eye had literal stars

in them.

I snapped back to reality and aimed for the mouth.

Akira ran to the earthworm at high speed, then when he got close enough, he changed the shape of his tendril to a whip. He grapped the back of the earthworm then jumped in the air.

He got high enough, and : "Have a taste of this !". He retracted the whip, making him fall down at high speed, while covering is sword with shadow.

[Dark Magic : Armor Piercing Horn]

He pierced right throught the shell of the earthworm, and placed the rocket in the wound he caused. When he jumped back to the truck, he threw an magicaly enchanced knife to the rocket. The rocket exploded and expanded the wine element, making the earthworm scream in pain. Akira got all the way back to the truck and landed on the truck, watching me shoot.

At this moment...

[Unique Skill : ??????????]

This skill activated.

I wondered why the fuck everything went slow-mo : (The hell is this ?) I thought. But I quickly went back to what's the most important : Blasting this catterpillar wannabe straight to the ground.

I shot it straight into the mouth. It screamed before it eventually got filled with ice, which was covered in blood, and died in horrible suffering.

I sighed in relief, and went back in the car with Akira.

Then everyone carried me on their back.

"You saved the day !" "Well done, lil'Kuze !" "That was so cool !" "Akira was the G.O.A.T there too !". That was the kind of cheering we got.

<And at that time, I really hoped things would stay like that. But the Guardian of Fate is a bitch, ain't she ?>

Chapter 1 : The End

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Hello again !

I have nothing to say, except maybe that I would recommand musics to have a better experience reading the story.

Please tell me if you agree or not.

With that, Peace ✌️

-TOBY