True Sight’s uniqueness

Early the following day, Ren was walking down a corridor with a severe look. His body language followed up his look as his motivation to study flew to levels no one has witnessed.

'I have to find out what True Sight is; having a title Izumi didn't know is a terrible sign. She never leaves without finishing her work.'

Ren recalled the time that he was reading something next to the invisible purple barrier. That barrier was surrounding the whole kingdom as a giant sphere but invisible. He put his hand under his chin and looked downward with a struggled face.

'I also need to find a proper explanation for that thing. That information I read didn't make any sense.'

Ren was thinking about what he saw back there, but to him, it didn't make sense since it looked like a riddle more than information.

'Is that riddle the one connecting all the things to today's training? If that's the case, I have to figure it out quick.'

Mai was following him by hiding behind a wall and slowly catching up to him cautiously. Ren made it to the library and picked some books around the shelves.

'I was never that much of a fan for history, but I have to suck it up and read.'

He sat in a chair and put on the table in front of him a big stack of books, history, magic, and mythology. As he was reading, Mai was hiding her presence behind the entrance door. She was suspiciously looking at him, reading and studying the books he stacked up. Finally, with a sigh of desperateness, she took a step back stood against the back of the door. She seemed unhappy with Ren's weird actions, as she recalled yesterday when Ren looked weirdly into thin air. Looking down, she saw at her clothing, a casual-looking pink dress with a tiny skirt.

'We literally came here from nowhere, called heroes, yet Ren didn't give up even he was a misfit, here.'

Mai remembered when she was getting sucked in the magic circle and Ren's stern action to grab her hand.

'He was acting tough even if he was scared inside. But the fear of losing one of his friends was nothing compared to grabbing my hand.'

Another memory of them came to her mind when he stood up for her in the king's throne room. Her eyes were shining, but her reaction was just astonished.

'He stood up for me so that they won't do any weird tests on us.'

A tear flew off her eye, in her memories, without her gaining any other reaction at that moment.

'Then, knowing that his instant death was a chance there, he didn't hesitate and talked.'

Lastly, she recalled the promise they made on top of the palace when they crossed her pinkies.

'He also promised to always be there for me and protect me, even if I am the hero. In the end, the title seems not to affect his decisions at all. He will accept death even if it is for others.'

She smiled happily, and the depressed look left her face. A regret came to her mind as she was clenching her fists slightly in the height of her chest.

'And what did I do all this time? Counting on him?'

She sighed and shook her head slightly, throwing the regret out of her mind, but the smile stayed still.

"Seriously, what am I doing here?"

A brief second of silence surrounded her location as the door opened, and she fell backward. Opening her eyes after the fall, she saw the bottom of Ren's body. Mai realized she fell down in front of Ren in his attempt to open the library's door.

"That's a great question, Mai."

Ren coldly said as he seemed irritated. She looked at him calmly and then started at the bottom of his pants.

"So, that's why you boys like to see our skirts from over here. It's a nice view, can't lie there."

Ren jumped backward embarrassingly.

"W-W-What the hell?"

Mai stood up and patted the dust of her dress politely. After she finished, she looked at him angrily with her hands on her waist.

"What was that, Ren? Don't you know how to open the door to a lady?"

He seemed confused and pointed at her anxiously.

"I-I heard you were mumbling behind the door for quite a while, and I couldn't bring myself to read anymore."

She blushed and backed off while putting her hand in front of her mouth.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry."

Mai cleared her throat kindly and changed the topic without letting Ren say anything else.

"I came here to inform you of our next mission. In four hours, we will be gathering in the king's throne room to claim it. It seems it's an entire team quest this time, so I came to ask if you want to accompany us."

As her stern action continued, she was scared from the inside.

'What am I saying? It's like he is a dog, and I ask him if he wants to come in the quest!'

Mai continued her nonsense thoughts and ignored Ren standing in front of her, but his voice woke her up.

"Sorry, I have something more important right now. Maybe next time."

He gave a faint smile as Mai saw her world getting destroyed in front of her eyes with desperation drawn uglily in her face.

"B-But... you promised..."

She turned around immediately and started running as fast as her legs could get her. Ren tried to catch her as she was fleeing, but he didn't move his legs at all. Instead, he clenched his teeth and looked down pathetically.

'I-It's safer this way.'

He calmed down and went back to studying. Later that day, the six heroes were bowing in front of the king in the throne room.

"I called you all here regarding your next mission. Follow the instructor, and he will show you the place where you are supposed to be."

The heroes looked at the old man that guided Ren and Mai to the throne room. He looked displeased with the king's decision, but he didn't have that much of a choice there.

"After me."

He turned his back and started walking outside of the room. Everyone, surprised, followed after him quickly since the king seemed that his monologue came to an end. Quite some time passed by, and Ren was still searching around books.

"Come on, why can't I find a book that has what I am seeking."

Ren was really pissed because he lost a lot of time searching books that offered him no information. He was walking around the selves continuously when he suddenly stopped. A shocked look appeared on his face, with his whole body staying entirely still.

"That's it."

His face shined with happiness, and a big smile popped on it. Closed his eyes and focused his energy on his eyes.

"True Sight."

Ren opened his eyes and looked around. Nothing changed, though, just like the spell didn't work at all, and he started looking around the place panicked.

"Wait. What the hell? I thought I knew how to use the spell."

A desperate sigh accompanied his sad look.

'It's no use. I learned everything that literally won't help me at all. So I'm not too fond of the fact that the rest are risking their lives, and I stay in here, wasting time.'

"What am I going to do now? I looked everywhere, like three times, and no luck at all."

He, surprised, spotted something sparkling in the back of the room, looking like a golden book under a bookshelf. The other heroes were walking behind the old man towards an unknown destination.

"Should we really follow him?"

They were walking in pairs of two, one after the other. Akira looked at Kumiko stressed out, but she gave him a cold glance in payback.

"It's fine, the king said so. We can't argue there, can we?"

Akira looked in front angrily.

"Tsk. You have a point. But still, I don't get why Ren declined a mission. He isn't that kind of person."

Kumiko looked in front of her, where the old man was walking.

"I know, something's off. Let's get done with this silly quest and go to see him at once, to seek answers."

Kenji let his palms rest on Kumiko's and Akira's shoulders with a happy smile on his face.

"Why do you both look so down? It's Ren we are talking about, he is all right, and so we are."

They looked at Kenji, confused. Kumiko sighed exhaustedly, and Akira seemed to question something.

"Whatever you saying, Kenji."

"Um, I guess?"

They made it to in front of a giant door at the end of the hallway. Everyone was lined up and watching at it speechlessly. Finally, the old man walked to the side and aimed at the door politely.

"You, heroes, shall go inside. A teleporter is waiting for you inside to take you to the quest area. The king shall instruct you with the information when you get there; no need for worrying."

The heroes looked at him worried and walked inside with hesitation on their faces. They knew heroes' jobs wouldn't be easy, but they were chosen, so backing down wasn't an option. Akira swallowed, scared, and walked first as the oldest one there. He tried to hide his fear to encourage the rest. Akira opened the door and thumbed the others with a smile, hiding the nervousness.

"It's alright, guys, come."

They were all scared because they neither knew where they would be teleported nor who they were sent to fight all six of them. Finally, after a brief moment of doubt, they walked inside, and the door closed behind them. Kumiko seemed to lost her coolness and looked around, scared when she felt Akira's warm hand hugging her from behind.

"Don't worry; we are going to be alright."

Kenji lost his coolness, too, as he was running around scared, now that the king's pawns weren't watching. Sora patted his head kindly and smiled after a long time.

"Calm down, you idiot; it's going to be okay. The king wouldn't sacrifice his most important pawns right from the beginning."

Mai was as scared as Kumiko was, and she was sitting down, hugging her legs and trying to hide her face between her knees. Izumi walked and sat next to her, bored.

"We are going to be fine. I bet Ren wouldn't leave you if it weren't safe, would he?"

Mai looked at Izumi, surprised, and smiled.

"Yes. He made a promise!"

She hugged Izumi tightly, filled with energy instead of fear. Izumi seemed shocked by her unexpected hug and patted her on her back.

"There, there, you crybaby. What am I going to do without you, Mai?"

Indeed, Mai's face was filled with tears, but they were mostly relieved tears than sad ones. Then, lights opened all around the darkroom, and the heroes found themselves in the middle of a giant circular arena. There were people around the stadium, sitting in stands. They applauded as soon as they saw the heroes in the middle, and the king stood up from his throne with his hand in the air, excitedly.

"Welcome, heroes."

He shouted as the heroes were trying to understand what was going as they were looking around, confusingly.

"Today's quest is a very spectacular one that I believe all three of you will totally enjoy."

The king continued his speech, and white magic barriers surrounded the arena and the heroes into pairs of two. Kenji with Sora in the first, Akira with Kumiko in the second, and Izumi with Mai in the third.

"Hey, let us out!"

Kenji started hitting the white walls that weren't letting him get in contact with the others.

"It's no use. It won't change a thing an angry reaction. It will only feed the audience's arrogance."

Sora was relatively calm, and Kenji looked at him despairingly.

"I-I don't have a good feeling about this, Sora."

The king resumed his talk by referring to the heroes that were completely caged in the stadium.

"I am here to present you the quest you are supposed to fulfill today. As I mentioned, there was really a story about heroes that defeated the demon race and made our world cut in half between humans and demons, but, unfortunately, that wasn't all. There were actually three demons against three other heroes that were both blessed with an incredible amount of talent and mana. After all this time, the demons managed to summon ten of their demon lords, and we aren't capable of calling ten heroes."

Sora interrupted his talk angrily.

"What's your point? You summoned six of us; isn't that enough to defeat them?"

The king smiled evilly, and Sora seemed shocked, waiting for something terrible to come out of his mouth.

"We expect the demon king to use his ten pawns differently, but we can't stick to that thought, though. We decided to summon the max amount of heroes we could, which should be six, and gather them to defeat each other. Finally, when the slaughter is over, three of them should be alive with double the power they had before. Some training more, and you'll be able to match the demon lords. I know that all of you are against it, but see it that way. The walls aren't able to get destroyed from inside; it's called prison magic, which means you are stuck together for the rest of your life. You can all quickly die, or three people can survive and witness the sun rising in their world once again."

Izumi stood up and left Mai sitting on the floor alone, with a mad look on her face.

"Th-That's foolishness. We can defeat those bastards even without your help!"

She opened her palm and created a device that should allow her to destroy the barrier. She raised her hand in the air, and with some electromagnetic pulses, she tried to dispel the wall, but it was no use. Her magic ability wasn't strong enough.

'Even with a device like this, it isn't good enough to interrupt the magic signals. This means the user is either far away, or it really isn't a way out.'

Izumi thought with a struggling look, and suddenly everyone felt a weird feeling in their bodies. It seemed like a purple shockwave coming from their magic crystals. The heroes fell on their knees and screamed from the pain. After several minutes of torturing, the spell stopped.

"I hope you understand your situation. You are nothing more than pawns. Your magic is nowhere near my level, to begin with. So, learn your place and obey the strongest, fools."

His tone went angrier by the second. Finally, Izumi stood up slowly and hardly looked at Mai. Her vision was blurry, and her head hurt as Mai was sitting down almost passed out.

"M-Mai..."

Ren was reading the golden book he found peacefully back in the library.

"I see, so that's what all is about. Supreme abilities are coming from a high angel's bless or a demon's bless. They are unique since the worshiper can give his power to only one user."

He sighed exhaustedly.

"Seems though that there are no records on True Sight's worshiper. Danmit."

Ren started getting lost in thoughts while he was staring in the ceiling.

'But, in front of other supreme abilities, how can this be useful? I mean, I can see things that a human eye can't. Even though, will I be able to help anyone with this?'

He shook his head tensely since he understood that his imagination was running wild and looked back at the book.

"No matter the case, I think this ability will be useful sometimes."

The king was sitting on his throne with the heroes hardly standing up.

"If you can't rely on their support, you can depend on their survival instinct. Soon enough, they will understand what will happen to them, and they will surrender to their instincts."

The heroes were in a lot of pain. Finally, Kenji couldn't hold back anymore, and his trembling legs made him jumped in the air. He was looking at Sora with a sad face that didn't really suit with his body language.

'Kenji lost it.'

Sora thought as he was looking at him, flying his way. He dodged Kenji's attack and threw his way water with the staff he was holding. The water landed on Kenji but didn't even knock him back.

'Damn. Holy water magic is doing half damage in the race you are from. Do I even have a chance of winning?'

Kenji raised his bow and threw three arrows. The arrows passed next to Sora's hand, leg and abdomen, leaving a scar behind on each place. Sora seemed like he struggled a lot when he raised his staff again and continued shooting holy water towards Kenji. He didn't try to dodge the water and started running towards Sora fast while shooting arrows made from air.

'It's hard winning against someone having Razor Wind magic. He can cut me as sharp as a blade could with only air.'

Sora managed to dodge some of the arrows, but he was getting close to his limit since he was exhausted.

'Seems there is no way out other than killing Kenji in this death battle...'

Sora raised his staff in the air, and it produced a massive amount of vapor surrounding their whole box. Kenji stood for a brief second and looked around, confused. Then, he saw upwards and noticed he couldn't take the mist away due to the secure ceiling.

'I am sorry, Kenji, it's hard for me as well, but in your state, the best option is for me to be the winner...'

A tear flew on Sora's cheek, and the mist started getting together and creating an enormous water line around the stage.

'I need some time to cast this spell, but since we are in here, he won't be able to make the mist leave. Which means I can use all the time I need.'

Sora was struggling to use the spell he was thinking of using. In the end, he slapped his feet on the floor, stood straight, and the magic crystal on his staff started shining blue. The water line formed spikes towards Kenji that was speechless to the view and struck him too fast for him to react. The spikes pierced several areas of his body, making him scream. As Sora saw that, he lowered his head in sadness, and tears started coming out of his eyes like crazy. The next second, he felt Kenji's feet on his belly and fell on the ground.

"I... I don't get it. Weren't you supposed to... die?"

Sora could hardly stay conscious at this point due to the damage he got from the king. Kenji saw him confusingly as he tilted his head.

"Um, those things should hurt?"

He laughed joyfully.

"I blocked their contact under my skin with air magic. When you lowered your head, they got easier to get out of and came here as soon as I could."

Kenji aimed him with his bow, and an arrow made of air appeared on it.

"Now... Farewell."

Sora seemed surprised as he saw a tear falling on Kenji's cheek. Kenji fired the arrow and killed Sora the next second. Kumiko was lying on the floor, almost unconscious, and opened her eyes slowly. She raised her top half and looked around confusingly.

"W-What happened?"

She put her hand on her head and felt some pain all around her body.

'What's that pain?'

Her eyes opened wide as she remembered that they were in pain due to a weird shock inside them.

"Oh yeah-."

A dark sphere flew right in front of her eyes. The shock just left her speechless, and she looked at the way the globe came from. To her surprise, Akira was aiming at her with his hand.

"W-What's the meaning of this, Akira?"

With neither a word nor a reaction, he coldly summoned another sphere and aimed at her. She acted quickly and dodged it by rolling on the ground.

"I have no obligation to answer your questions anymore, Kumiko."

She seemed furious and started shooting light sparks at him constantly. A dark shield surrounded Akira, and Kumiko's attacks were no affected because they vanished before his barrier.

"No way, h-how?"

Kumiko stopped firing for a brief second and lowered her hands, looking at Akira surprised.

"H-How can you block all of my attacks?"

He dashed fast towards her location and punched her on her belly. She spat out lots of saliva as she was sent flying backward. Kumiko fell to the ground and stood up slowly, hardly standing in her feet with the help of her sword. She was severely wounded by the hit and seemed to have lots of injuries all around her face and body.

"Like hell... this is going to end like this..."

Akira dashed towards her again, and she blinded him for a second by casting her light magic. He put his hand in front of his face as he blinked, and the next moment Akira saw her, she has summoned lots of light magic swords around them. She had a severe look on her face as she saw Akira getting a bit panicked.

"Starfall."

Kumiko clenched her fist, and the swords started flying towards them. Mai was sitting in front of Akira and getting hit by some of the blades too. A sword made of darkness appeared in Akira's hand, and he calmly started defending himself from the swords that were flying towards them.

"Is that all you got? Weakling."

Akira asked Kumiko in a cold tone as the swords were over. But, astonished as she was, she put up a stern face in front of Akira.

"Got a problem with that?"

'Seems there is no way out of this; it's either him or me.'

He grabbed her from her neck and pulled her up. Kumiko noticed a tear falling from his eye, and she smiled warmly.

"Learn your place, peasant."

"Don't worry. It's not your fault."

The reaction he had was more psychologically, but he just clenched his teeth and cut her in two. Before he cut Kumiko, she thought of Ren.

'Sorry, Ren, it seems your big sister couldn't protect you. But, at least, promise me you are going to be... safe... and say hello to our... parents...'

Her thoughts became weaker and weaker when she exhaled her last breath. Ren had a weird feeling that something was off, and he immediately dropped the book on top of the table and started running around the halls.

'W-What was that?'

He seemed worried and angry at the same time. Mai was continuously hitting the barrier, desperately.

"Help! Please!"

"Hey, Mai. It's no use."

Mai, shocked, turned to face Izumi. She seemed lost to anger and raised her hand, creating an ax covered in fire. Mai seemed scared as she was slowly walking backward.

"Come on now, Izumi, not you-."

Before finishing her sentence, Izumi dashed her way and attempted to cut her head out of her body. Mai dodged it fast; her reaction time was incredible. Mai put her hands next to Izumi's abdomen, and a circle appeared, generating ice. Izumi saw that and fastly cut it with the ax covered in fire.

"Do you really think I am that idiotic to just barge in someone without a plan?"

Mai gave Izumi's cold tone a confidant smile.

"I don't know, are you?"

Her leg started generating ice and caught Izumi's legs with the ground. Mai jumped behind quickly to get out of her ax's range. Izumi spawned a pill and threw it in her mouth. She hit her legs with the ax, making the ice melt, but her legs were in one piece.

"W-What? How?"

Mai was astounded by the magic she witnessed.

"This was pain nullification plus damage nullification pill. They aren't out yet, but I had time to visit the lab they were making them due to my father's connections."

She seemed prouder this time and dashed towards Mai. She freaked out, started generating ice in front of her like crazy.

"N-No!"

She yelled, and Izumi was just running and cutting the ice in two.

"Yes. Yes. More! More hatred!"

Izumi completely lost it, and, unfortunately, Mai ignored her words. Izumi stopped next to her and kicked her in her belly, sending her flying towards a corner. Mai fell unconscious as she was sitting against the barrier. Izumi approached her slowly, wearing a deadly face, and raised the ax in the air, shining at the sun. As she was bringing down the ax, Mai woke up, and her neckless started shining. Mai put her hands in front of her and generated an enormous amount of ice, sending Izumi in the other corner. She looked at her hands, surprised.

"How did I wake up? I thought I was dead..."

Ren just made it to the arena and started yelling names.

"Mai! Where are you?!"

Mai, astonished, looked at him and waved him while yelling all happy about.

"Here, Re-."

Izumi appeared from nowhere and cut her neck with a slice from her ax. Ren's hand slowly fell lower with depression, madness, and despair on his face.

"W-What?"

Ren looked at Izumi's face and then at Mai's corpse. He noticed the blood in her weapon as well.

"Wait. No way..."

He looked around and saw Akira holding Kumiko and Kenji sitting next to Sora.

"N... No way."