Hunter opened the room with Mo right behind him. Mo smiled as he sat down on a chair. Hunter flopped onto the bed, trying to figure out what they were going to do next. 

"So, Hunter, was it? I have a question for you?"

Hunter lifts himself up on the bed. "What is it?"

"Were you apart of the Faremin army at one point? Simply curious because of you knowing Kito and all?" Mo poked, a small grin formed in the corner of his mouth.\

Hunter looked away, "Yeah, I was, but I was considered a traitor right after my last mission. I don't know the real reasons, but I do wish to return sometimes."

Mo had a sparkle in his eye. "Well, all I know is that Kito is in a similar boat and wishes to return back. Maybe if you help him, you might be able to return too. With probably more stature?"

Hunter looked at Mo, raising his brow at him. "Wait, that's possible?"

Mo nodded a Hunter. "Yes, apparently, Kito can regain his position if he just kills Lovell. With Lovell out of the way, things might be better for him and his lover?"

Hunter went into thought as the offer was tempting. Mo smiled in glee, feeling his plan was working, but then Hunter shook his head.

"No, I know the offer is tempting, but what proof do you have that I could get back in?" Hunter questioned Mo's motives.

Mo quickly moved over to Hunter. "Because I am the one who ordered you to be disposed of HU-NT-3R."

Hunter froze as he looked at Mo, "No—"

"Yes, and if you tell Kyle, I will have him killed. So, either you listen to me, or your friend will die?"

Hunter froze in fear as he knew who Mo was. "Very well, Vann."

Mo caressed Hunter's chin. "Good boy, now if you tell Kyle any of this—well, you know what will happen?"

Hunter shivered in fear as Mo silently laughed before heading out the door. Hunter covered his head, trying to figure out what to do? As he knew that his and Kyle's life was now in Vann's hands.

Mo walked down the hall, waiting for Kito. Kito walked out of his room, slowly closing the door. Before heading to Mo.

"So, does Kyle suspect anything?"

Kito shook his head. "No, only that he just doesn't trust you. How were things with Hunter?"

Mo smiled in glee as they headed down the stairs. "Oh, let's just say Hunter will do as we ask because of Kyle being his weak point."

Kito whipped in fount of Mo, grabbing him by the collar. "What do you mean?"

Mo continued to smile at him. "If Hunter disobeys my orders, Kyle is going to die. We both know no matter what outcome Kyle will have to be killed off so that we don't have a liability?"

Kito gritted his teeth before letting Mo go. He turned around as to not look at him anymore. "Fine, but we need to get them to their destination. They are going to meet up with Lovell somewhere, and we need to get them there."

Mo touched Kito's shoulder as he walked outside. Kito stood still knowing that he was going to be his brother's killer. He leaned his head against the wall. "Kyle, I am so sorry for what I have to do."

The next morning Kito leads Hunter and Kyle to the carriage. Hunter got in the back know very well what was going to happen once they reached Lovell and his gang. Kyle sat next to Mo, as to keep an eye on him as he told them where they were going. Kito sat beside Hunter, looking at him in despair. 
 With a flick of the reins, they were off. Mo knew very well that the plan was going to succeed as he had promised Lily, he would do everything in his power to make sure Kito came back alive and Lovell dead. Hunter looked over at Kito as he stared into nothingness.

'Hunter, I am so sorry for what you are going through, but hear me out.' Kito telepathically asked Hunter.

Hunter closed his eyes, 'Very well speak, I know this hard on you as well.'

'You see after you had left, and I had told you what would happen after you left. Lord Demora cast a spell on me, the same one that was cast on Terrance, aka Azoth.' Kito began to explain everything as he looked over to Mo.

'So, what happened? All I remember from that time is somehow wondering for six months with no food or water and somehow living until I met Kana?' Hunter sighed before looking over at Kyle, who had a stiff expression.

'Well, Demora had begun the search for the traitor amongst his ranks, and I told Kyle to get out. Right before he cast a spell on me after he checked me and my memories.' Kito curled up into himself. 'Now I have two parts inside myself. Me, known as Kito and the darkness, known as Vail. We do communicate, and he is allowing me to be in control but will take over when he thinks it will be necessary. Right now, he is gloating in my suffering since Crow, and I are a thing.'

Hunter whipped his head at Kito, 'Wait, the same Crow that loves to torcher her victims?' Kito nodded as he glanced a Hunter. 'Now that I never saw coming?'

Kito smiled, 'Yes, we have always loved each other, but never told one another until about a day or two before I left on this mission. She and I agreed if this mission is a success that we would get married and settle down for a while.'

Kito began to remember Black Wolf. Hunter noticed his expression change. 'Kito, what's wrong?'

Kito went to tell him when Kyle looked back, "Hey, were stopping here for the night? So, get ready." Kyle made them both jump. "What? You seem quiet, is something wrong?"

Hunter looked over at him, smiling "No, nothing we just weren't expecting that. That's all."

Kyle raised his brow, "Okay, then just get up. We need to set up camp."

Book 1

From the death of his mother and his village. To the path of friendship. Travel with Lovell as he journey's across the world of Altora, as he searches for what is his place within Altora's conflicted world. Join Lovell with others as they try to save their world from the Faremin forces, that are led by Lord Damora himself. Find a story of forbidden love, ancient conflict and a world fill with the wounds of time.


Book 2

As time moves, so shall the world. Follow Hunter as he finds his path to who he truly is and where he fits within the war-torn planet of Altora.

Book 3
After the devastating fall of their comrade, Lance, Scarlet, Hunter, and Luna take their own paths as they do what they can to as the world seems to crash over them. 

And with a new looming shadow rising, will this be the end or a new beginning as a cloaked man, dubbed Black Wolf. Who is this mysterious man, and what are his goals?

Book 4 
While the death of Lovell still lingers in deep in the heart of the Ren-Ky. Fang, Zero, Gale and Zephyr journey to find themselves as they have lost their way. With Black Wolf watching and growing as no one knows who he is or his motives?

After the wisps had discovered where the Orcs were, the Demon hunter started burning mana and killing Grunts.
Goph scowled, he most certainly could use the Blademaster to kill the Demon Hunter, but so what? The Demon Hunter could just run back to base and heal up, interrupting his farming.
"You're not farming, but choosing to interrupt my farm? Not gonna work."
Goph didn't take the bait, continuing to kill neutral creeps to level-up.
He thought of running into their base to kill the wisps too, but gave up upon seeing the blockage as there was no way the Blademaster was making it through that.
The Night Elves didn't train any other units other than Archers, instead investing their resources to level the Archers.
The audience was shocked at this move.
"Straight to level three? You're fighting high-tier Orc units using that?
"That's not possible right? Demon Hunter is still level one too, and most of the Orc army is at level two now. As long as Raiders are able to take down buildings quickly, the Night Elves stand no chance!
"The Night Elves trained a Beastmaster! And he's still harassing the Orcs!"
"What's Silent planning, I don't understand this at all!"
The Beast Master learnt Summon Quillbeast and was picking off damaged Orc units. And everytime Goph allied a heal, it would be cancelled.
"Don't worry,it's normal. If he's not doing anything and letting me farm, he's not the real Silent.
Goph was naturally pantient as he was so highly skilled.
Finally, the Night Elves finished their level three training. Silent slapped down two Ancient of Wind as well as increased their population to fifty, and started producing Druid of the Talons.
"What is he playing at, making Druid of Talons?"
"That thing is useless, it does no damage in human form, it only hits air units in crow form. Isn't it just going to feed itself to the Blademaster?"
"Maybe he plans to use Cyclone to control Blademaster?"
"The Druids only have enough mana to use it maybe two times, but the Orcs have Spirit Walkers to deal with that!"
"Maybe that's why Silent has no Ancient of Wind to mass produce the druids? Win in numbers?"
"I think that's too optimistic, you're only controlling the Blademaster, it doesn't do any damage. Once the Blademaster hits the ground, it's going to chop the Druid of Talon into pieces!"
"I think Silent fell into his own trap! The win streak is about to end!"
---
Druids of the Talons were cheap in terms of resources and population, allowing the training of the Night Elves was done pretty quickly. After hiring some mercenaries and summoning the third hero, Goblin Tinker, to fill out some space, the army of fifty was completed and proceeding to grinding levels.
Goph was shocked when his scouting Blademaster walked into the massive army.
Three level one heroes followed by many different mercenaries, it wasn't something that he could say he'd seen before.
Goblin Tinker? What does that thing provide? Are you sure it's not here to give my Blademaster experience?
Without hesitation, Blademaster showed himself and started hacking away at the Goblin Tinker.
But after just a few attacks, the one of the Druid of the Claw raised their hands and threw Blademaster into the air.
And once it hit the ground, another Druid of the Claw raised their hands and threw him into the air.
What was the meaning of this!
He knew that this unit exists, but it was never commonly used because of its low health and damage. It was completely useless to have a few of it. It's only use was to throw enemies into the air, but it didn't deal damage, and would run out of mana after two casts.
But Goph had just realised how disgusting it would be when there were many of them. If they worked together, the Blademaster would permanently be in the air.
Goph was now sweating, as his Blademaster hit the ground, he quickly casted Wind Walk to try and escape.
Although the Night Elves had Faerie Fire to reveal the invisible Blademaster, they chose to continue grinding levels instead of keeping the Blademaster constantly in the air.
Goph knew better than to slack off, levelling in order to summon Tauren Chieftain. Tauren Chieftain's Shock Wave was a pretty good AoE spell, which would certainly be good against the squish Druid of the Talon.
The Orcs were also training Spirit walkers, which could use Spirit Links to split damage across multiple units. It also had Disenchant which would be useful to remove the Cyclone effect off units.
But when Goph's population reached fifty, the Elven army had arrived.
There were a lot more Elven units despite both armies being about fifty population, due to the cheap costs of Druid of the Talons. The Druids charged forwards, immediately tossing the Blademaster into the air!
Goph wanted to retaliate by netting the Demon Hunter, but Silent was mindful of it, staying just out of range. The Goblin Tinker then put down its Pocket Factory, blocking the path towards it! This made it difficult for the Orcs to charge in as most of them were affected by Faerie Fire, and the key units were all in the air too!
Goph used the Spirit Walker to dispel the Cyclone, but that dispelled the Spirit Link of itself too. And after landing, it would immediately be brought back into the sky by another Cyclone. The Orcs had a few Spirit Walkers, but the Elves had an entire army of Druid of the Talons!
The Night Elves also had Mana Flares from two Faerie Dragons, making the Spirit Walkers take damage every time they cast spells.
It didn't take long for the Orc's Raiders to die from the summons from the three heroes and Faerie Fire from the Druid of the Talons. Goph wanted to save them, but his Shadow Hunter was still in the air from the Cyclone!
Goph finally let out a Shock Wave when his Tauren Chieftain landed on the ground, but Silent responded with an AoE heal, replenishing all his units to full health!
It was hopeless!
The match was already decided, but Goph wasn't about to give up. His Tauren Chieftain had enough mana to cast another Shock Wave to at least regain some dignity!
The Tauren Chieftain landed, and shot out another Shock Wave!
But this time, the Druids immediately turned into crows, becoming flying units, causing the Shock Wave to miss!
"Pfft!"
Goph may as well have spat out blood. How could he still toy with me when I'm about to call GG, that's insufferable!
It took the druids a lot of mana to turn into crows. Dodging the Shock Wave by using Crow Form was a cool effect, but might be game losing in a close match.
But Silent could do anything he wanted as the victory was in his hands, and that whole maneuver was just to show off.
Goph's rage was building, his units were thinning out, with just three half dead heroes left alive.
Goph reluctantly called GG.
The chat was filled with laughter.
"What, Night Elves can beat Orcs? I've been living under a rock!"
"Wow, the Blademaster was completely decked out, but it was useless. It never even hit once..."
"This Silent actually defeated Goph just by using Cyclones."
"I'm impressed ! From today onwards I'm team S-god!"
"He's at the top of the leaderboards with straight wins! What a historic moment!"
At the same time this was going on in chat, a paragraph was trending on Weibo.
"The four races were comparing who had the most air units. The humans said they have Flying Machines, Gryphons and Dragonhawks! The Undead say that they have Obsidian Statues, Destroyer, and Frost Wyrm! The Night Elves say that they have Hippogryphs, Druid of the Talons, Faerie Dragon, and Chimeras! The Orcs say, "That's nothing, when we fight the Night Elves, all our units are in the air!"


Chen Mo liked calling himself a video game designer, despite being a mere video game producer.
After dying one day from work-related stress, he transmigrated into a parallel world as himself, right after he graduated. He was now in the body of his younger self, who also aspired to be a video game designer. 
Will he be able to fulfill his dream after being reborn in this oddly different new world, and become the best video game designer in that world?
Follow Chen Mo on his romp through video game classics as he brings the great games of the past to a whole new world in pursuit of his dreams!
Note: This Novel has been continued as a passion project by its translator. The continuation of this novel will not affect the result of Trial Reading or Voting Pool. 

Raven looked upward at some point, having mostly tuned out guild chat for the majority of her fight. Amelia and Elisha were, in her humble opinion, loafing nearby after she had done all the hard work. Next time she joined a game she'd be the cute healer or the one that walked up and said a magic word like Aura and then was done for the fight. Not that she would let any of that bother her, nope! Raven straightened and was about to say something to all the craftsmen who were starting to get up, or were waiting for Elisha to recover enough mana to cast the lengthy resurrection ritual(assuming nothing interrupted her) when she paused. The hairs on the back of her digital neck were starting to prickle, as it were.
Her head raised and she sniffed the air, staring blankly around with a growing sense of concern. Amelia had been writing in her book, totally zoned out like Amelia do when she seemed to notice Raven's peculiar look.
"The environment feels different." Raven had a weird look on her face because she didn't know what was wrong. Something! Raven looked around vigilantly and picked up the large sword, holding it parallel to the ground at waist height as her alarm grew.
Raven looked over to find Amelia was absolutely no help as usual and was about to make a casual smart-aleck comment which was her speed and style when she realized that it was harder to see Amelia than usual. Raven frowned as her nose upturned in confusion once more even as the sense of 'wrongness' increased. 
Raven looked up and her mouth fell open as it suddenly occurred to her what the problem had been for the last minute and a half. 
Elisha for her part had happened to look over and see Raven completely floored with her mouth hanging open and her eyes turned up. She looked up on instinct, her gaze was drawn naturally to the same thing that attracted such interest. The fifteen-minute resurrection ritual which she had been casting failed as she stopped waving her arms and channeling the spell. She paid zero attention to the grumbling craftsmen who were excited about returning to their life as the spell gently dissipated and fizzled into nothingness.
Amelia finally noticed the oddness herself and followed their gaze, looking up just in time to see the unnaturally black night sky burst into fire.
Khiafin cast a glance upward anxiously. His eyes had told him there was a problem with the sky after a casual glance up minutes before. He fought the visage on the front line with Gilduirn and several Ominous. They were shoulder to shoulder in a lot of cases with nightmare claws and teeth snapping in front of them, held at bay by Transient and Resident bodies and sheer cussed will in most cases. While it might have been less noticeable everywhere else in the ruined city, on the front line the stars being 'snuffed' out had increased visage teleportation capability to an annoying degree. Now as a huge portion of the sky lit up as if someone had somehow gotten up there and set the entire atmosphere on fire, the opposite was true. The visage advance actually stumbled for several seconds and then, to everyone's amazement, a large tide of the visage who were waiting for their turn to throw themselves forward moved clockwise across the line as if eagerly trying to force their way through at something unseen further into the city.
"What is going on?" Gilduirn yelled. You pretty much had to yell if you weren't using a channel.
"Don't know!" Khiafin grinned. He grinned because his premonition skill wasn't going off, which meant that whatever was happening wasn't dangerous -- at least not to him.
The load on the men, women, and other adventurers on either side of them lessened to the point where everyone started to glance up at the sky. Due in large part to how enormous whatever it was appeared to be, and how it seemed to be on fire for whatever reason, the night which had been pitch black was almost brighter than when it had been daylight now.
"Don't wanna be wherever they are going!" Gilduirn shouted with a laugh, pointing to the visage who were once again clamoring over one another to skirt around the deadly sword wall closer to wherever they were trying to get.
Khiafin, who had no real like for Gilduirn, found himself nodding his head as he watched the insect-like waves of scrabbling claws and teeth.
Around the city, there were many such instances of people looking up and wondering what the hell was going on. Some identified the spell for what it was, even if they didn't know how it was being done. Those who were under it continued staring grimly upward wondering if they should move even while the suddenly illuminated mass of visage threw themselves against the lines more ferociously in some places and less so in others. 
Those who were outside of the shadow and could sort of see the general shape of the object were left scratching their heads. 
"What do you think that red line points to?" Schulia asked another crafter as they continued to carve posts that would be used to anchor walls that other craftsmen were constructing nearby.
"Or the who!" Her companion laughed, teeth flashing white in a wide smile in the bright light.
--------------------
"Holy hell!" Rat cried.
Riddly didn't say anything at all but had briefly opened a channel like he might say something before shutting it back off.
Several others from the Shadow Fall who were nearby also expressed their disbelief. 
Some of the people who just happened to be nearby also slackened slightly in their fight to stare in wonder.
Hunter, who had originally been planning on backing up Forsythe stared dumbly at the North-West side of the plaza where Rat and Riddly were stationed, watching in amazement as visage started swarming across the buildings like a fleet of wingless hornets that came blazing out of a hive.
It was obvious, or became obvious after the sky lit up like the air was burning, they had become enemy number one here in this run down ghetto of a courtyard. 
Hunter turned and was about to see what Aidan was up to when he ran by her, still, of all things, speaking his spell at the normal pace. 
"--the end, when it comes, will be preceded by a wind. A great gale of death that is as much a mixture of the displacement of gas as it is the exhalation of woe from my enemy as they see the beginning of the nothing--" Aidan still held his staff above his head, pointing somewhat indirectly toward the tremendously large, and on fire, rock that was starting to slowly revolve through the atmosphere down toward Lady Unfair. He did spare Hunter an apologetic smile as he passed, and it was no wonder because Lady Unfair was chasing after him as fast as she possibly could in a flowing robe. 
White ankles flashed as she screamed and ran forward. Hunter froze momentarily, but not because of some fear effect. Everyone was screaming now. The visage were screaming, her guild was screaming, Lady Unfair was screaming, the sound of swords striking each other was almost overpoweringly loud. As the enemy visage mage Lady Unfair came closer, almost not even seeming to be aware of Hunter, all Hunter could really make out over all the cacophonous noise was "aeth, aeth, aeth."
Hunter began giggling even as she raised her bow. She notched an arrow as the giggling turned into an outright burst of laughter, adding more noise to the discordant notes of absolute chaos that had erupted.
Lady Unfair faltered as an arrow struck her shoulder. She paid zero attention to it, not even trying to dodge or block or swing at all as she chased after Aidan passed Hunter. Hunter obliged her and shot her in the back twice, then started aiming for her legs. To her amazement, the arrows actually deflected near the bottom of the robes as if the clothes themselves were projectile-proof. Hunter's laughter increased as Lady Unfair stumbled and fell into the snow, losing control of a flame ball she was about to release. Instead, she released it into the ground as she fell, the explosion sending her tumbling through the air like a doll. She was on her feet in an instant and lightning and ice and all manner of vile spells flew from her fingers and staff as fast as she could cast them.
Hunter's laughter couldn't be stopped at this point, listening as Aidan just dodged and weaved around the courtyard and Forsythe kept Grimgrieve in the middle. It was too loud, too insane, too chaotic… and even though the fire in the sky lit everything up to brighter than the day, darkness was starting to creep over the courtyard as if a long-shadow were falling over it.
Grimgrieve finally broke through Forsythe's blockade and lunged at Aidan, trying to cross the five meters necessary to hit him. Lady Unfair was too far away now, looking like a weaver's pincushion with all the shafts Hunter had plugged into her. Every present member of Shadow Fall were dealing basically free critical strikes to all the visage who were paying them absolutely no mind as they threw themselves forward. 
Dismembered visage were still crawling across the snow, tracing shallow furrows in arcing lines they had drawn with their bodies trying to chase the wizard.
Hunter felt something out of the corner of her eye and lifted her bow, her lips peeled back into joyful laughter as the broadhead of the arrow tracked to where she had seen the movement before dropping the tip and standing still. She stopped laughing and instead smiled beautifully.
"[Aura]."
As the status effect blanketed Forsythe, Aidan, Hunter, Rat, Riddly, and everyone else in the courtyard the running figure in white turned and watched Grimgrieve approach, still speaking even though he didn't move. 
For some reason, Hunter could hear him perfectly clear as if he were speaking next to her and not across the way. "--that is what it means to be Order of the White. To make something from the nothingness. As for myself, I bid you, look up and cast your eyes to what I have wrought. I name it, The Raven]."
The pressure from the falling meteorite finally affected everyone underneath it. Stone rattled and trembled and the pressure borne from above caused everyone nearby and many who were not that nearby to have their audio channels pop as if their ears were adjusting to the atmospheric change. As one, all the visage, transients, residents, those in the control room, and everyone watching the stream looked through the eyes of the Silf and witnessed the end of the spell as a whiteness began to bleach out anything distinguishable visually. Before the screens all went white a burst of intense blue light burst out from the falling rock, forming it into several curtains of smaller falling rocks that burned just as brightly, and their shape, when viewed as a whole, was a Raven.
Through the white screen and the deafening pop of the audio channel briefly muting itself to protect users, a moment later there was the loud laughter of Aidan. "Hahahaha! I think I was off by a few meters!"
A truly ridiculous statement considering the meteorite that had coalesced from nothing in the sky had been larger than a soccer stadium.
---------------------
 Even while he was laughing and everyone was still blind there was one excited voice that popped up over the personal party channel that Amelia, Forsythe, Elisha, Hunter, and Aidan all shared with Raven.
 "Wow did you see that!? I think that looked like a Raven!"

-------------------------
Party Notice:
[Aidan's Staff - Removed as Spell Component. Level 250 Growth Weapon{Legacy weapon} Destroyed.]
[Calculating Experience]
[Calculating Spell Expertise]
[Calculating Notoriety]
[Calculating Fame]
[Calculating Loot]
[Calculating Contribution Points]
[Calculating--]
---------------
Global Announcement
[Divine Intervention] - Though forbidden to interfere with worldly affairs and wars. The children of Aspiria band together warily, forming invisible waves of power to nullify the impact of a catastrophic meteorite impact on the Far North Continent.
Tsunamis settled.
Tectonic plates reset.
Wildlife secured.
Ecology secured.
Atmosphere repaired.
Earth/Ash settled.
[Title Unlocked: Continental Catastrophe]

https://www.patreon.com/RavensURL

Amelia Patrick was your average college student and gamer. Her life was pretty full between her coursework and normal life during the day and her time as a Chronicler and Magical Academy Instructor in Awakened Aspirations Online at night.

Suddenly she's dealing with what, time travelers? Virtual Reality ending super level quests? Singing to monsters? Was that a cooking showdown? Amelia just wanted to putter around in her favorite online game not be involved in some super elaborate game world-ending nonsense.

There's something to be said for simplicity, and after she is somewhat forcibly recruited into the party led by the enigmatic Devil in White, Aidan, it takes all her wits to just stay afloat. That's not even mentioning the one-armed hurricane named Raven who seems to be taking every possible chance to drive Amelia crazy. Or the tall and handsome Forsythe, a swordsman of incredible skill, few words, and cold eyes.

And who is Fred? Why should she fear him? Or not fear him for that matter?

---------------------

Vol. I

Amelia and her compatriots adventure forth in an all original VRMMO named Awakened Aspirations Online, run by a powerful corporate AI where the upper ceiling of content has yet to be found, skills are being discovered every day, and it's popular to let the world watch you while you quest.

 

-------------------

 

"You need rules at some point. It was a world far beyond normal rules. Magic. Skills. HP. True death." Aidan sighed. "The rules were 'strike the enemy', 'press forward', 'you are a human being', 'live', 'don't let them die', 'this is the real world', 'laugh and love', 'mourn and grieve', 'remember'."


"What's 10?" Amelia asked, counting twice.


"Secret," Forsythe said. He was grinning uncharacteristically.


"C'mon. We gotta tell her!" Raven complained.


"Make an exception." Aidan finally supplied.


"Well, what is it then?" Amelia demanded.


"Make an exception," Aidan repeated.


"Look I get the other ones, mostly, but that last one…" Amelia complained.


"There comes a spot in your journey where sometimes you have to break a rule. So we had to have a rule about it." Aidan explained.


"Like when?" Amelia chuckled. "Those are pretty all-encompassing generic rules."


"Like when we fought the final boss and died," Aidan said simply, silencing her.


"I imagined more," Forsythe admitted.


"Rules?" Aidan asked, perplexed.


"No, from death," Forsythe said.

[Read the story here with full formatting and illustrations: https://nicklstories.wordpress.com/burn-and-slay-part-9/]
More roots burst from the dirt and coiled themselves around Raksha's wrists, binding him even more tightly to where he stood. The Hunter turned and began walking to Aisa, who was clutching her throat and weeping even as the unholy song poured from her lips. Her eyes widened with terror as the mutant approached.
Left untended and unfed, Ignatius's fiery circle had begun to die. The corrupted serfs stepped over the last wisps of withered flames, passed Raksha by, and closed in on the stump where Aisa was bound. They all held a blade of sorts in their hands, knives, sickles, or axes.
Midnight moonlight bathed the forest in a cold, bluish hue. The Hunter raised his hands as the serfs' song, led by Aisa, reached its crescendo. Then it died, leaving nothing but silence. The mutant's face twisted into a smile that showed too many teeth.
"Oh Master of the Wild, the Green!" he cried. "On this most sacred of nights, let Your calamitous touch extend! Bring ruin to mankind, who have scorned Your grace, who have betrayed Your magnanimity, who have slain Your children!"
The Hunter lowered his arms and let his voice fall into a whisper. "Humanity shall feast upon fruits of rage, nourished by hearts-blood, and scattered by song."
Aisa began singing again. This time, hers was the only voice that climbed into the night air. She swayed on her feet.
A serf holding a knife climbed the stump. His furred features were frozen into a mask of gleeful anger. He plunged his blade into his chest. Within moments, he had cut his own heart out and was holding it in his hand. As the light of life left his eyes, he cast his heart upon the stump. The ancient wood seemed to drink the spilled blood into its cracked, pitted surface.
Another serf climbed the stump and began cutting his own heart out as well. Then another. Before long, heaps of corpses ringed the stump, and the serfs were climbing over the carcasses of their kin to offer their tributes.
Raksha recoiled at the sight. He was no stranger to sorcery, but this was beyond anything he'd ever witnessed. He struggled anew against the roots binding him, but they were far stronger than the ones the Hunter had used against him in their first battle.
The last serf killed herself. Her heart slapped wetly across the piles of freshly cut meat that had now piled waist high around Aisa. The Hunter wore a yellow, unwavering grin as he turned to the girl.
"And now, my sweet. It is your turn."
He gestured. More roots sprouted from the stump. They wound themselves into a spike. Aisa shook her head and struggled feebly, but the Hunter seized her by the scruff of her neck and lifted her into the air.
Then he impaled her on the spike, pushing her slight form down onto the sharpened wood. The sound of splintering bone and tearing flesh filled the air. As Raksha watched, horrified, the spike burst from Aisa's back. Transfixed upon it was her still beating heart.
"No!" he roared.
But before he could renew his useless struggles, he caught an orange gleam in the corner of his eye. He turned his head as best as he could toward it.
It was Ignatius, holding a burning torch in his hand. The priest hadn't died, after all, but he was at death's door.
"The unholy must be cleansed with fire, thus is God's decree," Ignatius gasped, glaring at Raksha. "My son, it falls to you to burn the heretical and cast them into eternal damnation."
"Father…!"
Ignatius hurled the torch at Raksha. The Hunter's roots recoiled from the flames. Feeling a sudden slackness in his bindings, Raksha tore his arms free and snatched the torch from mid-air. He swept it across his body, trusting in his aegis to protect his flesh from the heat. The roots withered and died under the fire's touch, but not quickly enough.
Gritting his teeth, Raksha pushed past his internal injuries and called upon the full strength of the Conflagration. His fourth Solar Gate blazed with its heat. He pushed it further. And further. The strain in his nexus and main channels grew. Sweat poured from his temples. More blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, a sign of further internal bleeding and ruptured meridians.
The fifth Solar Gate trembled, and for a moment, Raksha was on the verge of imploding his nexus and immolating his main channels. But then an ember danced across its cold, vacant heart. Raksha took a deep breath. He fanned that singular glow with the winds of his skill and will.
The fifth Solar Gate exploded with the flames of the Conflagration. Strength poured through Raksha's limbs. His aegis intensified, sealing his wounds and healing his internal injuries with greater speed than it had ever done so before.
He'd attained a new height with the Conflagration, but now was no time to celebrate.
 Roaring, Raksha flexed his aegis. Its heat set the roots entangled about his frame ablaze. They writhed away in seeming agony, leaving him free.
"Go with God, my son," Ignatius said. "Kill His enemies."
Before Raksha could reply, an arrow sprouted from the priest's temple. He crumpled into the dirt.
"Disgusting, worthless filth," the Hunter spat, slinging his bow once more. "I just did you a favor by silencing him, Raksha. You can thank me later."
"I'm going to kill you, mutant!" Raksha growled. He raised his blade and was about to charge, but a sudden massive tremor in the ground unsettled his gait. "What…"
The Hunter spread his arms and cast his gaze heavenward. "And with that, the festivities come to a close. I bid you goodnight, Raksha. I have a feeling we'll meet again."
Unnatural plant-life, similar to the Hunter's roots, burst from the stump on which Aisa was impaled, wrapping around her limbs and suspending her as if it were some kind of organic crucifix. Green-black tendrils slithered forth, plunged into her exposed heart, and began pulsing like veins. All this time, Aisa was still singing, though her features spoke of unimaginable agony.

“If it lives, we can slay it. And then burn it, just to make sure it doesn’t come back from the dead,” she said.

“...does that happen often?” he asked. 

“Slaying? Yeah, duh? It’s what we're here to do in the first place, dummy.”

“I meant the coming back from the dead part.”

“Eh. More often than you’d like.”

“Great. Just great.” 

Walking away from a life drenched in senseless bloodshed, Raksha embarks on the Warrior’s Pilgrimage. In doing so, he strives to hone his mind, spirit, and martial skills, and he swears to abide by the Ancient Code’s tenets of honor and compassion. 

He definitely did not expect to run into Sadea, a powerful sorceress who loves silk, jewels, and killing things for fun and profit. 

Neither did he expect to be stuck with her as they fight murderous mutants, vicious monsters, and demons.

She calls their entanglement a beautiful partnership, but it’s the last thing he needs. 

Or so he thinks.

Chapter 1
It has been years since Zero Kiryu has been at Cross Academy. It has also been years since Zero was a hunter and someone who people looked up to. His life took a dark path down a lonesome road. One he never thought, he would ever take, not even in his wildest dreams. The days of roaming around with the bloody rose, being able to pick on vampires have long gone.
Zero was a level D vampire now, one who the hunter association, said wasn't good enough to be a hunter any longer. They couldn't look at him without detest. He was one of them, even though it wasn't by choice or any of his own doing, they didn't want to hear it. They cast him aside like an old shoe, telling him to get lost, to be never seen again. It was just another blow to his sad life. It wasn't anything new to him. Just another disappointment to follow another. It was just how his life went. Leaving him even more cold-hearted and sarcastic than ever before.
His dear Yuki left with Kaname to never be heard from. It's been years, that he has heard from her. He still thinks about her from time to time which only hurts him deeper. He knew Kaname must be in his glory to hear what Zero has become. Good lord, did he know? Did Yuki? Did his master Yagari? He sure hoped not, but somehow he knew Kaname would. He knew everything, there wasn't a thing that would go by, that he didn't know or hear of. His spies were everywhere.
Kaname at this point was the least of his problems. Since Zero was now a cast out no one would hire him. He had to go on the outskirts of town to even get a dumpy apartment, that he could barely pay for. He was trying for a while to live off the money, he had saved from Cross and even working small jobs since the hunters wouldn't let him work there. Just now things have gotten worse yet, the savings where gone and no one was hiring.
There was only one thing left for Zero to do, and that was to sell himself. He just sat on his bed, thinking what the fuck has my life come to? Could this be it? Zero wasn't really into sex, not this way anyway. He was a good boy, not really having sex with just anyone or really at all. He always thought or hoped it would be with someone he loved, like Yuki. She was who he wanted in that way, she just didn't feel the same.
She wanted Kaname, now she had him. To give his first time to just anyone made him feel even more hopeless than the dry noodles, he has been eating for weeks. At this point, it was like why even be alive? What is there to live for? He even thought who the hell would even want to have sex with him? His choices were getting smaller and smaller by the minute. If this didn't work he was done for altogether and would have to live on the streets.
Granted his apartment wasn't a grand hotel or even a dump of a motel. It was a shack, but it was better than nothing. It was a roof over his head, that he could call his own. Just without money, he couldn't stay here. Even the shack had rent to pay. He wasn't even sure if he started now, that he would have enough to pay the rent at the end of the month. How much could he charge? What would he have to do? Would it be just women?
So many thoughts ran through his mind, it made him queasy at just a quarter of the thoughts. A man touching him?
"No, I have standards!" He shouts to himself. "Then women pay for this sort of thing?" He asked himself.
So unsure of it all, yet he knew he had to try.
Zero goes to take his shower and get ready for his first night, a bit uneasy about it all, just needing the money badly. He had a twenty to his name. How long would that last? Not very long, it wouldn't even buy food for the week.
After his shower, he puts on some tight dark wash blue jeans, and a grey pullover. Hoping it would be good enough to attract someone. He pushes his long silvery hair back out of his face, while he puts on his shoes. Just an old pair of tennis shoes, so in case he needs to run he can do it and fast. He knew his Hunter skills would come in handy with this. He would be able to defend himself if necessary, also spot the bad ones a mile away. He was going to do his best to stay away from the freaks if he could. Not really being into any of that, and having no clue even how it worked.
Then he thought, his Virginity should be worth something. Maybe at least for the first time, he could make some real money doing this? Would anyone care that he hasn't slept with anyone else? Or was it just another no big deal? He had no clue but he thought, he would give it a try anyway. It's not like someone could **** him, he knew how to kick ass pretty good. That was the only thing he had on his side at the moment. His ability to defend himself, not that the hunters gave a fuck. They threw him away like the daily trash.
Zero heads to the spot, where he knows some of the male whores stand to get their clients. He knows he is new and needs to watch out, that they would be pissed he was stepping in on their territory. So he goes to stand a street ahead of them, trying to stay out of there way. Hoping someone would see him and want to pick him up, just hoping it's not a cop. Then his hunter skills would come in with that as well. Instead of for good, it's working for this. He thought.
Zero stands there most of the night, a few guys coming up to him, asking how much and him turning them down. He just couldn't see his first time doing that. He figures if he gets desperate enough he will have no choice, but for now, he was going to do his best to only pick up ladies...if that was even possible.
He stands there as the sun goes down and it starts to pour. The lightning and thunder clanging away in the sky. Matching just how Zero felt inside. Dark and hopeless. He gets soaked just standing there the rain pouring down on him. Chilling him to the bone, was this even worth it? No, he thought, I have become nothing.

Years after Zero has left Cross and the hunters, he finds himself alone and lost. Needing money, not able to get a job or anything for being a level D. He turns to the one thing he feels he has left.  Can he really offer his body up? Who will he encounter? So many questions go through his mind, yet he knows he has to, to be able to survive.

 Gathering up what he could get his hands on, Cray came over to Orison with an armful of stuff and said, "Can you do that fixing up thing on this?"
 Nodding, the young mage got busy. The eerie quite afterwards felt ominous and the load of rotten leather, bows and weapons could make a big difference if there was another wave. While he cannibalized one to better fix another of this or that, hunter watched on curiously.
 "You're not really mending them. It's more like you're fabricating one at the expense of another. If that's the case, why do you need to even use one as a base? Wouldn't it be more efficient to just take two similar items and make one out of it? It would save you half the work," the boy commented.
 It was a welcomed shot of realization. Within quick order, there were two good as new bows and two sets of leathers that perfectly fit Cole and Cray.
 Giving the kid his well earned kudos, the young mage said, "I can't pull up a material pattern for the magic to follow from my head because I'm not much of a craftsman but you're brilliant. As long as I have two relatively identical items, I hardly need to hold the pattern at all. I can even focus on who I'm making it for, if it's clothes and armor, pushing their visualized measurements right into the mix!"
 Focused on what he was doing, Orison had failed to recognize the buildup of inert essence that clung to him like glue. The world might supply magic and make volume casting a breeze but it had it's own balance out for spell happy casters. The greater the amount used, the greater the buildup, making them frailer, more in danger from mundane illness and disease. There were other unpleasant consequences for trailing a smog of inert essence but there was nothing for it except letting natural processes and his understanding of the dull substance to take care of the issue over time.
 Turning to Cray, Orison said, "Now that you have a bow again, save the caster gun as an emergency weapon. That thing is causing spent magic to stick to you. A little bit's relatively harmless and possibly even beneficial over time but larger amounts are bad, very bad."
 The archer looked at Orison to say something when a skeleton with black bones, wrapped in a tattered shroud, floated down into view. Seeing that it was about to cast a spell, the young mage sicked the summoned the spectral dog at it. Both dog and skeleton sank out of view while the ghostly canine chewed on the skeleton's skull.
 All eyes glued on the cave opening, he said, "You were saying, Cray?"
 Readying the bow, the archer said, "I was just going to say how nice it feels to have a familiar friend in hand."
 Orison changed what he was going to reply. "Hey, it's roughly about eighty feet to the water below us. I thought it was a lot farther."
 While Cray nodded, Orison finally lost contact with the spectral dog as both it and the skeleton, oddly rendered powerless in the seawater, crashed into a rock. He was going to tell the rest about that when he felt a rush of essence come up from where his summoned pet and skeleton had perished together. A powerful feeling of deep vertigo and nausea assaulted Orison's senses.
 "Not again," the young mage gasped out before he was swallowed in darkness.
 For what felt like only an instant, three overlapping pictures presented themselves at the same time. A swirling violent chaos he was glad he hadn't seen longer, contained a calm eye. Towards the top of which, laid a rapidly spinning ringed soul spitting small particles of chaos. Layered on that was a calm dark place that didn't feel particularly big but seemed to have things in it that he couldn't make out. Both of those pictures became unnoticeable specks in an endless, uninterrupted nothingness. 
 As if reverse sucked back into his own conscious body, the young mage gasped and immediately assessed. The cave was scorched. So were outer parts of Hunter's arms and feet. The boy was moaning and calling out to Cole who was laying face down, his entire back side a charred ruin.
 With Cray's fate a mystery, Orison handed a chunk of the healing mud core to Hunter and took a smaller piece over to Cole. After checking to make sure the feline teen was still breathing, he cast a Presto to clean what pieces of ash and burnt leather might be stuck to the gruesome burn wounds. Crumbling up a bit of crystal, he sprinkled it over Cole's burn wounds while he told Hunter to do the same.
 "Where's Cray?" he asked.
 A little more harshly than he meant to, the young mage cut off Hunter's speed retelling of events. The gist was that Cray had went the way of the spectral dog to take down a floating skeleton who had a combination of Levitation, Fireball and some kind of magic item that made kinetic armor. It didn't sound like an enemy that would have went down easy.
 Carefully looking over the edge, the dusting of predawn light revealed bedlam down below. With all the crumbling off pieces of cliff that had happened over the past two nights, there was a small pile of rubble down below. Focusing to the best of his ability, Orison did notice enough lumps of material and non-rock debris to warrant giving it a closer look anyway.
 Fastening the rappel rope from Roy's badge in the sturdiest part of the cave he could, the young mage made his way down. At the bottom, he found many broken things, including Cray, who sightlessly stared at the sky. An immense sense of hopelessness washed over Orison for a moment before he realized that, according to the feeble spirit sight he had, Cray wasn't dead.
 After a quick inspection and emergency heal casting, it was still pretty grim. For a moment, he was ready to end Cray himself. Poised to end the archer, he remembered a scene from lifetimes ago when a child version of himself, put the man back together. It was far worse this time but he just couldn't mercy kill the man without trying. 
 For half an hour, he fished out broken pieces and sprinkled some crystal dust. It finally felt safe enough to move the man. After grabbing anything of interest, storing it into the badge, Orison trudged his way back up. By the time he reached the cave, he would forever be grateful for the catch clip that let him dangle rest.
 After hefting the paralyzed and catatonic archer over the lip, he pulled himself in. Heaving for oxygen and shaking from overused muscles, he hobbled over to Hunter to see how Cole was coming along. After seeing what the boy was doing, he snatched up the small remaining crystal.
 "More is not better with this thing. In fact, more can become a slower, more painful kind of death if you pack on more than his body can handle. You're doing fine. Just... spread around what you've already put on him to a more liberal degree," the young mage said.
 Another hour later and Cray was a road map of field surgery scars. He was still catatonic but how the man had survived was no longer a mystery. The enemy that Cray had taken down had been a lich. Even as the accursed creature was dying, it had used some kind of foul magic to trap Cray's soul in his body. It was planning to slowly feed on the essence and cloak it's own dirty, phylactery protected soul til it could claim the body. 
 Over time, the lich's remaining flesh and bone was as black as lightless night. So much inert essence had clogged it up that the sustaining necromantic energies were sluggish and slow to repair what time was finally winning the battle to erode away. As much as it vexed the undead mage, Cray presented a golden opportunity to be a magical powerhouse again.
 That golden opportunity wasn't only snatched away by Orison but had become one for the young mage instead. After insuring that Hunter and Cole knew what to do if he passed out for any significant length of time again, he drew on instinct and knowledge to activate his 2D cutout form for a mere split second with the phylactery in hand. 
 He breathed a sigh of relief after a couple of minutes. Nothing strange had happened other than being extremely tired. Then, vertigo and nausea hit so hard, he nearly choked on his own stomach contents before passing out. Like the time before, he had once again been drawn in to view the three overlaid scenes.
 It wasn't safe for his fragile spirit sense to watch the first at all. It was strange that a creature as peaceful and loving as Green had been possessed such a violent and chaotic spiritual world. Such a thing was a good reminder that even a placid lake can hide untold horrors. It was a lesson a certain lich soul experienced first hand before oblivion claimed it and its magical container.
 In a fascinated terror of his own, Orison watched as tender shoots of tree branch-like latticework unfurled and instantly withered to diseased corruption. Unsatisfied with unholy functional immortality, the lich had placed one doozy of a death grudge curse on itself. Just like that, the young mage's safe soul eating possibilities came and went in the blink of an eye. Or so he thought.
 Once the lich was undeniably unrecoverable, a few thin ribbons of unknown golden essence descended down to the placid middle space. Everywhere it touched, corrupt damage fled. He hadn't realized just how mangled the three layered spiritual world was until that moment.
 Under the light of what Orison decided to label karmic virtue, the withered tendrils of grudge and curse laden latticework reestablished a tenuous and fragile existence. Unfortunately, the virtue had ran out of steam before the spiritual healing was even close to complete. For the first time, the young mage wasn't quite as happy to not have gained much memory knowledge from Green. 
 He had no idea what had occurred at the end of her existence to cause such a disastrous mess but her sub soul, all it had held of the pre-reincarnation Orison and her own growth, had all almost been lost. Some of it probably had been. What that was or wasn't would remain a mystery, perhaps forever.
 It wasn't the only thing the karmic light had illuminated enough for Orison to see. The calm and relatively stable middle scene, lightly decorated with delicate ivy curls of latticework moving through its most extreme edges to connect everything, briefly became visible. A dilapidated and in poor repair cabin took up almost all the space as shadowy, unknown items floated around the base of the condemned looking rustic home.
 In that moment of spiritual 'illumination', the young mage attempted to reestablish a connection with the cabin. The moment his fragile sense touched the edges of it's strange 'slide of time' border, a quiescent power sprang to life. He could no longer 'see' but he could vaguely feel that it had activated its most powerful effect. It would be the last time it could.
 Feeling much like how spreading spiderweb cracks in glass sound, the cabin's self contained 'time space' collapsed after what must have been a 'rewind' of greater than intended effect. Shards of a taboo law rejected by the mid dimensions were momentarily lodged into the boundaries of the space before becoming billowy wisps drawn into the 'great nothing' of the third scene.
 The shockwave of shattered law almost registered as little more than a breeze to his consciousness but the mysterious force shot it out of his inner world like a cannon ball. Before he stabilized within his physical form, he had an 'out of body' experience. For a few breaths of stress inducing panic, the young mage 'viewed' the 'real' astral plane, unable to comprehend what he saw. With as much might as his weak spiritual consciousness possessed, he reeled himself as quickly back into his body as possible.
 Exiting the misty, indecipherable realm, he saw himself and the other three. For the extra second he had before slamming home, Cole looked in his direction. Hunter was fussing over the remaining faded burn scars and hopelessly trying to cover the bald spot on the back of the feline teen's head. Cray was oddly doubled, his spiritual and physical self out of sync and tenuously connected more by curse than natural connection.
 Spiritual consciousness safely back within the protection of soul created aura and spirit sight dimmed back down to slightly better than nonexistent, the young mage came to with a shocked gasp. Taking in the wide vista of blasted and withered land, he almost wished he could pass back out than face was was to come. With a heavy sigh followed by choking coughs, he stood up on wobbly legs.
 Hunter looked over and said, "Thank god you're back. Cole is about to collapse. He had to carry us up one by one over seventy feet of crazy stupid cliff."
 Looking over at the obviously tired feline teen, Orison said in amazement, "How did you manage that?"
 Too tired to glare, Cole adopted a dull, intelligence insulting look and replied, "Very carefully. Claws help."
 Orison said, "Fortunately for us, that leathery sack of bones that tried to kill us last night, threw pretty much all he had our way to do it. That means his lair just a bit northeast of here is mostly cleaned out. We're going to finish cleaning it out and post up in his quarters for the night."
 Hunter said, "How do you know all that?"
 "The soul, like the mind, has a kind of 'life flashes before the eyes' moment before its gone. I destroyed the lich's phylactery and have the ability to spy on such moments in certain circumstances. It's not overly detailed and it happens pretty quick but I could glean that much," the young mage explained.
 A half hour of ration meal break and magic experimenting later, they were riding two to an Enbarr. Not only was he able to cast his trusty horse again with the odd aid the blanket of this world's magic lent but was able to dual cast once more. The second horse was crumby and barely held together but he didn't have to have nearly the personal control he needed to exert in Osomo to make it work.
 It was awkward but the young mage managed to get Cray strapped in a sitting position behind him. Following the lead, Hunter did the same much easier with Cole, so the feline teen could take a much needed rest while the boy clung to the reigns and saddle horn for dear life. Over an hour later, at an ambling pace, they came to the lich's barrow.
 In the malevolent undead's hurry to neutralize the threat in its territory, it hadn't covered up the entrance and most of the traps inside were currently disabled. Despite that, Orison had his spectral hound take point and dispatched a small five ball cloud of 'sprites' as well. After all, even an undead society would have its malcontents and the lich would no doubt have some surprises to thwart the ambitious.
 Without the guiding hand of the lich behind them, the scant remaining skeletons and a couple of shrouded skeleton mages were not the same threat they were. While meandering through the hidden underground tomb, Hunter commented on the lich's aesthetic, sometimes earning chuckles from Orison or frowns Cole when unintentional admiration slipped through. He knew what the kid was doing. To distract himself from the despair inducing horror of it all, Hunter was analyzing the place like a DM setting up a dungeon to raid.
 "How smart is it to hole up in an enemy spawn zone?" Cole said.
 The young mage was about to argue that there was no 'spawn zone' in this world but suddenly realized that undead were certainly an exception. Defeated foes could reconstruct under the influence of enough negatively shifted ambient magic and there was plenty of that. Add on top that he was only ninety percent sure this place didn't speed recycle like Osomo, that left another ten percent possibility to be wrong and Orison wasn't willing to eat his words enough to correct.
 The young mage responded, "Even if those things come back, I assure you their leader isn't. If we come under siege like we did in the cave, the lich's lair has an emergency escape tunnel with plenty of fun ways to play with our pursuers if they follow us."
 Hunter nodded and said, "Yeah, the boss of this dungeon had flair for what a good crawl should be like."
 "It's eerily coincidental how well your game mechanics view of this world fits. Just remember that it's alright to be confident but keep a healthy dose of skepticism on hand. You might get thrown a curve ball," the young mage said.
 "Please stop complimenting the thing that turned my backside into street vendor barbecue. What you're admiring were meant to kill us, not some play pretend person," Cole said grimly.
 Embarrassed and ashamed, Hunter quickly apologized to Cole with watery eyes. Visions of charred flesh and sickening smells no doubt still lingering in the boy's mind. From the sideline, Orison saw that Cole felt bad about hammering Hunter's fragile chipper mood into paste but the feline teen was far better at verbal tear downs than apologies.
 Suddenly remembering a question he'd meant to ask earlier, the young mage adjusted Cray's weight on his back and said, "Speaking of which, how did I avoid the charbroil experience?"
 Cole said, "Your buddy there tackled our would be murderer as it was finishing its cast, making it go up and wide of where you were. I think your uniform might be fire resistant too."
 Orison said, "Ah, that makes sense. Since you actually play with fire but probably have a new found respect for its dangers, I'll resize it for you, Hunter. I'd much prefer a-AHH FU-fudge packing son of a biscuit eater!"
 Focused on the boy, the young mage had stepped on a floor spike trap that hadn't fully deployed. As it was, several barbed metal tips had poked holes through his boot and into his left foot, sticking him painfully in place.

With the combined knowledge and talents of a man from the modern world and an orphan with a mysterious past, Orison must face the challenges of a world that seems hauntingly familiar to a favorite video game yet dangerously different. Armed with determination and gifts from a questionable source, what other choice is worth making but to boldly advance when you're an orphan at the edge of the world.
*Vol 1- Post Ancient Civilization High Fantasy
*Vol 2- Magic Industrial Revolution High Fantasy
*Vol 3- 1940's Alternate Earth Urban Fantasy/Horror

"Can you tell me what's bothering you?" Hunter asked, tucking a stray hair behind Hera's ear. "Can you kiss me?" She asked, and pecked his cheek once more before licking her lips to emphasise her suggestion. Hunter noticed how her eyes stayed glued to his lips. He sighed, and his shoulders visibly slumped down. 
She knew it irked him more every time she kept things bottled up inside. Hera presented him with her dazzling smile before pouting her lips, inviting him to kiss it, and as she expected, he couldn't resist. Returning her smile, he captured her lips in a sweet sensuous kiss. 
When she satisfyingly felt breathless Hera pulled away from his lips and the content smile stayed intact on hers. 
'How much do you love me, Hunter?'
She wanted to ask but thought it was stupid because she already knew the answer to that question. 
"I love you, Hunter," she said instead, and Hunter smirked in return. "You're saying that a lot this evening, Goddess," he stated. 
'Of course, you noticed. You always do.'
"But I love you more, Hera Hunter," he said, and Hera's lips stretched wide into a grin even though she kept her bottom lip seized between her teeth. Her palms rested flat on his chest, fingers locked together, chin propped on them, half of her upper body still pressed to his. 
His heart thumped wild under her palm. The heat radiating from his naked torso burned her deliciously through the shirt she wore. She wanted nothing more than to wrap herself around him, body to body, skin to skin, their heartbeats in sync with each other. She could spend eternity locked in his arms and die with a contented heart if he was the one she gets to see and touch before her last breath. 
"You're zoning out, Goddess," Hunter said. "Don't think you can hide your distress from me. Come on, speak now," he demanded. "I'll tell you if you tell me about that wedding night," she bargained, earning an eye-roll from him. 
"Goddess, it's nothing. You know, how you have something called 'girl talk' between your female friends, we boys have it too. And I don't think you would appreciate it if I shared it with you," he said and sat up, leaning against the headboard as Hera did the same. "I'm not hiding or keeping things from you. It's just that the subject of boys talk is sometimes uninteresting or inappropriate for girls," he concluded. 
Hera nodded in understanding and Hunter's brows quirked up, questioning when she kept staring at him. Hera grinned goofily before speaking. "Could you at least assure me this, if that wedding night was yours then you were with me that night?" She asked, and Hunter looked at her incredulously. 
"Of course, you were with me, Goddess. What kind of ridiculous question is that? Where else would you be on our wedding night? I need my wife with me on my wedding bed to share that wedding night. I can't celebrate my wedding night alone, can I?" He asked rhetorically, and his tone very amused. 
Hera giggled quietly and leaning down to his lips she stole a kiss, a very wet, noisy smooch. Hunter looked at her expectantly, and that was her cue to speak. 
He noticed how her shoulders stiffened before attempting to relax. Wordlessly, Hera opened the posts and showed him all the sketches one by one. Hunter was confused and clueless. "Do you know any of these girls?" Hera asked, and he shook his head, the corners of his mouth pulled down as he shrugged. He couldn't remember meeting them ever, and it didn't help that he could hardly see the girl's face. 
The sketches didn't freshen up any memory either, but one caught his attention where he had his fist ready to destroy something. It wasn't anything unusual for him because he often got into fights. 
"I have no clue," he said, scrutinising the sketch. "I look hot, though. Don't you think?" He asked sounding too arrogant, and Hera rolled her eyes, scowling at him in disapproval. 
"Why were you upset?" He asked. His tone was humorous as if Hera did something strangely stupid by getting upset over those sketches. Hera sighed and explained whatever she thought and felt earlier. Hunter listened to everything she said with keen interest, but he kept scowling at her the whole time. Once Hera poured her heart out, he rolled his eyes at her. 
"Jesus Christ, You're so crazy in love and so fucking cheesy with your feelings," he said mocking disgust on his face. 
Hera glared and pinched his nipples. 
Hunter grabbed her hands, pulled her under him and crashed his lips onto hers. He effectively deprived her mouth and her brain of words and thoughts. 
Hera chuckled into his mouth, tasting him on her tongue and breathing him into her lungs. He didn't have to use words as she felt what he wanted her to understand. He was trying to erase all her doubts and insecurities. His heart, his dedication and his love belonged only to her. 
"You can block those accounts from my profile if you want," Hunter muttered in between the kiss, but Hera was invested too deep into the kiss to reply. That issue didn't matter to her anymore. 
It was weekend, and it wasn't working one bit on Danny's favour because he had less of a chance to escape his friends. If there was anything he hated the most, it was getting grilled with questions. It wasn't easing his nerves, knowing he was at fault. He spent most of his time with Evelyn avoiding Eric and Michael but knew he couldn't do it forever. 
Come by Saturday morning, Evelyn decided it was time for the girls to get pampered and took Hera along with Bianca and Samantha to the parlour to get all prim and proper. She had planned her schedule for the whole day, and accordingly, they would go shopping after. 
Each of the boys cornered him one after the other as soon as they got a chance to interrogate him. Danny snapped in frustration that he wasn't a child, and they were definitely not his parents to keep track of his every move. 
"For fuck's sake, stop monitoring my every step as if I'm your precious baby learning to walk for the first time, it gets annoying when you hover over my personal space," he yelled at all three of them. It wasn't like he could tell them the truth, right?
They were on the third floor at Hunter's gym with the much-needed privacy to get Danny open up. 
They stood surrounding him, and Danny felt like a thief getting caught red-handed. Pushing himself off the chest press machine, he leaned forward, supporting most of his body weight on his knees. He dabbed the towel on his neck, wiping the sweat before tossing it aside. Hunter and his friends watched while Danny sighed in defeat and ran his hands through his hair. 
Head lowered and eyes cast down, Danny thought he could lie. It wasn't that difficult if he could hide the guilt. He had his story ready and memorised, but it's a common trait to struggle before getting started. 
"Are you going to open your mouth today itself or are you going to take an eternity to form your words into a sentence?" Hunter asked, sarcasm dripping through his voice. And lying came a bit easy to Danny after that because he didn't have time to think anymore. 
"I'm involved with a girl, but it's not anything serious. I like her and no, she's not from our school. I met her outside a few weeks before, and I hid it from you all because I thought you wouldn't understand or approve of it," Danny babbled without meeting their eyes. "Why wouldn't we approve?" Eric asked while Michael muttered at the same time, "I thought you liked Evie." 
Hunter didn't utter a word yet. "She's older," Danny said, slowly lifting his head to look at his friends' reactions. "She's a college senior," he added. "Evie will be so disappointed," Eric stated with a scoff. 
They grilled him some more with their cross-questioning and Danny maintained his lie very conveniently. One look at Hunter's face and he knew, his best friend didn't buy his shit one bit, but to his credit, Hunter didn't utter a word, and Danny could live with that for the time being. 
In all this lying crap, the only thing that bothered Danny was Evelyn. He knew the boys would share this info with her, and as Eric said, she was going to be so disappointed. Danny didn't want to hurt her feelings, but right now, saving himself from this crisis was more important. 
Danny had his little sister to keep safe and had a very little time to plan his next moves. He had to find a way to deceive Jack before Hunter discovers the truth. Because if he didn't, Danny knows for sure, Ace Hunter would kill him before Jack could. 


"Your virginity has always been mine to take," he said while his fingers gripped the neckline of her gown ready to rip it off. Her teary eyes widened in shock at his declaration, and she forgot to breathe. All the colours drained from her face as she froze frightened.

She was meant to be his forever, but his one mistake turned her love into hatred. He was her Prince Charming, but her hatred turned him into a heartless Villain. 

Mistakes and misunderstandings led to heartbreaks.

She doesn't want to be with him anymore, but he doesn't want to let her go, ever. 

A Love-Hate relationship between childhood Sweethearts who turned into archenemies by the time they reached adulthood. 

Read on to know more about their journey into the roller-coaster ride of LOVE. 


PS. The male protagonist comes with a bit of negative shade. My characters are immature reckless teenagers, and they act impulsively. They make mistakes and wrongs, but eventually, they'll learn from their wrongdoings. Don't be too quick to judge them unless and until you read till the end.

When Augustus were wandering around he learn that the Government here in Korea has a Ministry of Defense they call it "Hunters Guild" the only guild in Korea. 

To become a hunter here, one must take an Hunter Exam, this will serve as a certification that you are qualified to enter the dungeon portal.

After that you will go to the Ranking bureau to determine your hunter rank and Mage class, in ranking there are 

S rank (strongest)

A rank

B rank

C rank

D rank, 

and E rank.

In mage type, you will just be characterized if you are a 

Dealer or Supporter.

The dungeon ranking, is a different one the guild has a agent to determine the Class level of the dungeon using Energy meter specifically designed to measure the energy of the dungeon. 

Augustus now go back to the mountain.

Old man "ohhh your back, how was the city?"

Augustus reply " yeahh it was nice, there are things that are completely new to me, and btw I will apply to the hunter guild tomorrow." 

Old man "ok."

In the morning, Augustus is now at the front gate of the hunters guild. 

Suddenly, a guy at his back told Augustus to step aside and said that this is not a play of a kid like you, and the Big guys companion laugh hard, but Augustus made a promise to the old man that he will now make a commotion, since the he told the old man his identity and the old man believed in him, so what he did is just he say sorry and walk now to the guild. 

Many people are applying now.

10:00 a agent from the guild tell what will happen, that they will just fill out the form and submit it to the registrar after that they will proceed to the ranking bureau since they are registered to the guild, in the bureau they will determine your ranks.

While he was sitting in the waiting area a guy with black messy hair beside him looking at him he says that "aren't you are so young to be a hunter" 

Augustus "why?" 

The Guy, " because you are inexperienced in this matter" 

Augustus "ahhh, I just want to enter because this is my dream (the old man says this to him so others will not get suspicious)." 

The agent "Next, Augustus Elnix"

he reply " ohh that's me" 

he says goodbye to guy.

The agent say put your hand to the magic meter to determine your rank 

but before that flashback to the evening he went home, he conceal his magic considerably and put it into its weakest.

He now put his hand to the magic meter and it says his rank is E rank. 

after that the mage type is determined by the person itself if he or she want to be a dealer or supporter. 

Augustus say that he want to be a supporter.

Augustus achieved his first goal to be a Rank E, because he wants to investigate on how the Dungeon works here. 

As the ruler of the Dark kingdom they all have the magic affinity but it is not strong as a Dominant magic affinity. 

Dominant Magic Affinity or True Magic is the most powerful magic of a person, and Sub magic affinity are not strong compared to the dominant

it is just to support the person but this sub magic affinity are nature based magic like fire, water, ice, earth etc. [But not everyone possess this ability.]

As an E rank hunter they must have a party to enter a dungeon or he can join any team. 

The next morning he went back to the guild hall looking for a job and suddenly a guy approached him, he says that they need a supporter to complete the team and raid the E rank dungeon portal. 

The guy with a orange hair and eyes, so Augustus joined the team, they arrived at the portal. 

Augustus was amazed. 

the guy "is this your first time"

Augustus "yeah" 

the guy "don't worry we got your back" 

'they now enter the dungeon.'

When they entered, it is a rocky canyon, the teams are composed of 5 C rank dealer, 3 D and E rank supporter and 2 C rank Healer, they now begin the hunt. 

When they are walking they feel an earthquake, but the team leader says that 

"this is not a earthquake, 2 minutes have past and they saw a Giant Rock lizard, a monster that may live underground or above. 

One of the supporter says that

"that's a E rank monster, its has a very hard armor made of rocks and its moves fast, this can only be defeated by beheading it, that's the only way." 

The team leader says "get into formation" 

the team are now in position the magic swords man are in front and the magic spear bearer put the distance as well as the supporters. 

The team leader says that "we need to block its vision" 

one of the Supporters cast a mist magic to hide them, the Rock lizard stops its movement and suddenly a spear appeared on the left and stabbed the lizard in the stomach, but the wound is not too deep because of the hard armor of the lizard.

One of the supporter cast a water magic to the lizard and the other cast fire and electricity and it make a explosion the lizard now is immortalized, the magic swordsman try to cut the head but the lizard show some resistance, Augustus is just watching for a while and now he will fight too, 

he cast an ice magic and make the rock lizard immobile for a while a he suggests something to the, he says 

" what if we destroy the place and so that the rock that will fall into the lizard will put some weight and make the lizard immobile so that wee will have a much time to cut off its head" 

the leader think and says "ok, let's give it a shot.... A teams destroy the sides of the canyon where in tight now"

the others " what? Are you insane? We can die." 

The leader " don't worry, the spear bearer will grab you (spear bearers are known for their outstanding strength)" 

they now destroy the sides and huge rocks came to fall in the body of the lizard, the leader 

"now...charge" 

they have successfully beheaded the rock lizard.

They are now heading to exit. 

Successful hunt, and they received they payment. 

The next morning, in the guild hall, Augustus are looking for a team to join in, and suddenly a big man approached him and say

" hey punk, we need supporters" Augustus recognized the big man it was the man that bump in him on the hunter exam.

Augustus agree with him, the big guy is Park Yo Ri a and his companions, they are known for being arrogant and overestimating themselves. 

They now entered a dungeon, it is a Jungle type dungeon they say that many hunters has a high chance of getting killed since they are not familiar with the topography.

We are now walking and surveying the area, and we heard a sound coming from the bush of plants and we saw an goblin, the dealers fought them and killed all 10 goblins, and we still continue the search and at night reach the swamp and a cave.

The army of goblin spread out were are completely surrounded my teams are still overestimating themselves that they can eradicate them, and the battle begins. 

Most of the goblins are dead and in our party most of them are exhausted, the healers heal the wound of the hunters and suddenly we heard a foot stomps coming out in the cave, it is the Goblin Lord and C rank monster, the magic swordsman in out team attack head on, but he was easily killed by the Goblin Lord sword.

The team leader and the other dealers are fighting the Lord and the supporters are running out of mana, many hunters were killed, but..... the goblin lord is still strong, the people overestimating there power, were completely powerless against a powerful opponent. 

The Park Yo and the others are shaking in fear and begging for help.

I, Augustus need to step in but as the ruler of the Dark Kingdom I was known for being ruthless after all. 

So I jump in into the battle and I use my sub affinity magic Blazing Fire and killed the Goblin lord. 

Augustus is standing in giant rock looking at the red moon after he killed the goblin army and its lord , the swamp were filled with dripping blood and my hunters are looking at him. 

The silence were broken, while facing the moon Augustus eyes glared at his teammates with his demonic snake eyes he look at them in pity and states this words 

"please, Don't be a burden" 

and the hunters were shaking in fear and rendered immobile by his mere presence.

50, 000 years ago, a ruler known for being cold, cruel and ruthless fight the 7 ruler of yhe kingdoms, and he is Augustus Elnix - the absolute ruler of Dark kingdom. While fighting the 7 rulers, one of the 3 Great Gods appear in front of him and put him into eternal slumber. When he wake up, the world has change. Will he be able to rebuild his kingdom? 



#powerfulMainCharacter
#Magic
#Hunters
#Dungeon
#Action
#otherWorldAdventure
#Rankers. High Ranker. Top Ranker

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