A Week Later.
"Ok, everyone, we're here," Hans spoke to everyone sitting on the bus.
They all listened to him and left the white bus.
Astra was peacefully sleeping on the bus. Hito saw this and had a small idea; his lips curled, and an evil smile formed on his face.
As he was walking past Astra, he tightened his hand and—
Slap.
Astra left the bus; his cheek was bright red, and he had a very displeased look on his face.
Hito covered his mouth and was trying to stop his laughter.
Sylvie wrote in her book—Your cheeks look weird. Are you ok?
He read the page and spoke calmly, "Ye, I am ok. It just stings a bit."
"Ok, before we enter, I just want to say that everyone stays in a group so no one gets lost."
"And if any of you brought weapons even though I told you not to bring them, just put them in the bus." He then turns to Rowan, who has a massive sword on his back.
Rowan scoffed and went into the bus.
Astra looked towards Hito, 'Lucky dude. He doesn't need to bring a weapon, even if he puts his staff on the bus, he can just recall it back in the museum.'
Rowan came back, his weapon nowhere to be seen on him.
"Ok, now let's go in."
The group entered the museum.
The inside was massive and plain white. Many soul weapons of people who made a name for themselves, and most of them were from wars, on glass cubes. Most of them were replicas, and the group didn't know if any were real.
"Wow, there barely are any people here," a senior spoke out.
Hans closed his mouth. "Be respectful, and don't say unnecessary things," he spoke with a smile that somehow conveyed a hint of anger.
The senior nodded his head while sweating profusely, 'Scary.'
The group then continued walking through the museum's hallway.
Seeing all the weapons made Astra weirdly happy. He held Sylvie's hand and ran here and there.
"Sylvie, look at this one! And this, and this too." She didn't even touch the ground as she got pulled instantly after reaching one weapon.
She got a bit angry and—
Smack.
Astra fell to the ground. "What was that for?!" he asked, as a small tear formed in his eye.
She put her finger to her mouth, silencing him.Hito laughed, looking at him after he heard the smack.
"What are you laughing at?" Astra side-eyed him.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Hito smiled at him.
Astra just lay on the ground massaging the injury he just got. He then looked around for fun and noticed a weird-looking person.
A person with an unknown mask and a large coat that covered his palms walked toward the group.
' What a weird mask.' His body shivered a bit before he got up. He dusted his pants as he got up and took another step before feeling an intense killing intent from behind.
The other time he felt this feeling was when he was face to face with a dog steed.
He twisted his head fast, looking behind him. A few people were walking away from him, but the person with the mask kept walking toward the group.
'Who gave me that feeling? Was it him?' His eyes locked onto the masked man. At that moment, he trusted his gut and instinctively shouted out loud, "That thing is a monster!" He was pointing at the man as he spoke.
Everyone in the area turned their gaze toward the masked man. The man just ignored him and kept walking toward the group.
A second-year put their hand on Astra's shoulder before speaking, "Wearing a mask doesn't mean the person is a monster." He shook his head. "Know better, man." He went towards the masked man.
"No, but..." Astra spoke but was cut in the middle. "Sorry about our junior, man," he said and turned his head towards the group again.
"It was just a quick misunder..."
Three lines formed on his face before he got cut into three pieces, making his body fall over, and blood covered the nearby ground.
The masked person's jacket was pulled up, revealing its long black nails. It then screamed,
"Kaaaaaaaaak!!"
Everyone in the nearby area ran away as fast as they screamed as loud as they could. "Help, help!" people screaming echoed in the area. The monster's attention was focused solely on the group members.
Everyone from the group was wide-mouthed and shocked. Hans took control fast. He turned to the group.
"Everyone, get ready to fight! We are from Valkor—" He turned his head towards the monster, who was right in front of him, its hand pulled back, ready to pierce him with its long nails.
'Shit, it's too fast. Is this how I'm going to die?'
"Water ball."
A ball of water flew through the air, hitting the monster with enough force to make it crash onto the nearby glass stall.
Hans turned toward the direction where the ball came from.
"You okay, senior?" Hito spoke. In his hand, he held a beautiful black wand.
"Where did you get that wand?"
"We don't have the time for that. Senior, just take a weapon from the museum."
He looked around. "Everyone, take a weapon, stay close, and be calm. We can kill it!"
Astra went to the closest glass case with a sword. He curled his finger in and smashed the glass into pieces, then pulled the metal sword out. Some glass shards even pierced into his hands.
The monster got back to its feet and stretched its body before jumping lightly for a bit.
Then as its feet hit the ground, it sprinted to the person in the back before any of them could react. It flew past all of them; Astra's hair flew back as it passed him.
He turned his head, and his eyes got darker. One of them was in the air, lifted by the monster's nail. It then pulled its hand up, slicing the man's body as it went. Blood and guts flew through the body, most of it landing on the monster.
"That thing is too fast," Astra said, scared after seeing it.
It turned back, facing the crew again. Even though it was wearing a mask, everyone knew it was smiling on the inside.
"Kaaak!"
Only Hito was calm. He formed 10 needles and then shot them at the monster.
The monster moved quickly, easily breaking five of them, but the rest pierced the beast slightly, barely injuring it.
"Someone get his attention, hold him for 5 minutes." He looked towards Astra as he spoke, before going to condense his mana.
Astra understood what he meant and sprinted towards the beast.
Clang.
The monster blocked Astra's blow using his right hand, then moved its left hand to pierce, but that one got blocked by a brown and muscular man.
Astra smiled, "Thanks, Rowan."
He instantly twisted his body and moved his sword in a smooth motion, slightly slicing a part of the monster's abdomen.
"Kaak!"
It kicked the muscular man, making him crash into a wall.
"Rowan!" Celtics screamed while trembling.
It then jumped back and kept on screaming in pain. Astra looked at it, confused.
"It was only a light scratch. Don't cry for something like that," he said, disappointed.
The monster turned to Astra in rage and then charged toward him. It moved its hand rapidly, striking Astra each time, and he kept blocking each blow of the monster using the thick side of his sword.
But slowly, he was getting overpowered by the beast, and before he knew it, the monster was going to pierce him.
Swoosh.
A huge hammer flew through the air and hit the beast before it could touch the white-haired man.
"We can't let the first years do all the work!" he spoke while holding his hammer.
The strike did nothing to the beast. The beast then turned to the jolly senior.
"No, senior!" Astra screamed, still holding himself against the force of the monster's nails.
"Nooo, Rayy!" Hans screamed while running towards them as fast as he could.
The monster moved swiftly and cut the senior's head without another thought. The head rolled to Hans.
He looked at his friend's face below him, and a droplet of water fell on it. His face was covered with tears.
"This can't be real, this cannot be real." His face was horrid. "Why did you kill him? Why him?!" he screamed while running towards the beast with his small battle axe in his hand.
The beast ran to him, and in an instant, it was right in front of him. Its hand moved gracefully, his palm was straight, and its nails were about to stab him.
But a ball covered the distraught young man, making the beast unable to stab him.
"Senior, calm down! This is not the time! You can still get revenge… just calm down!" Hito spoke. His beautiful face was filled with sweat, and the feeling around him was stronger.
At that moment, Astra was scared and took a step back. "That thing is too strong." He was about to take another but then stopped as soon as he saw Hans's devastated face in the ball.
He clenched his sword hard. "No, I won't run. Not again."
'I will get stronger. 'In an instant, his attitude changed. His eyes became serious.
"I'm sorry, professor, but I have to do it."
A yellow glow surrounded him, making him more present in the area.
In a calm but loud voice, "Hito, I'll distract him, you hit him with all you got."
"Got it."
Astra moved fast to a position where the monster could see him.
The monster turned its view a bit and saw a young white-haired boy taunt him with a big smile on his face.
"Kaaaakakakk!"
It instantly went to attack Astra.
Both went into a frenzy, hitting each other as fast as they could. The monster kept dodging his strike, while on the other side, Astra had gotten many shallow cuts and started bleeding in most parts of his body.
"Jump back!!" Astra didn't think; he just reacted to the voice of the genius.
Ten twenty-centimeter water needles flew straight to the beast. The beast scoffed and ran to the side, dodging the needles.
It turned back as it ran and saw the needles curve and move straight toward him.
Hito smiled, "They're homing, you freak."
The monster moved quickly and jumped all over, cutting the needles with its nail as it continued maneuvering over the water needles.
Astra didn't go near the monster, just so he didn't get hit by either the beast or the needles. He turned back and saw the rest of the group cower in fear. "What are you guys doing? Help us!" he spoke in anger.
The beast had only two needles left to slice, and in less than two seconds, he sliced both of them, freeing him from the chase. It then looked toward Hito.
Hito smiled, "I'm a 3-starred mage for a reason."
Shhk,
Three water needles pierced the nails of the beast's left hand.
'Shit, I missed his arm.' He then turned to look at his surroundings.
"Hito, behind you!!"
Hito's head jerked back fast. In front of him, the beast was ready to punch him.
'Shit, he's too close. I can't protect myself in time.'
Hans rammed himself onto the beast, pushing it down and sitting on top of it.
"How dare you kill him!"
He took his axe and smashed its head, but instead of injuring the beast, the metal broke from the handle, and the beast only got a shallow cut on its mask.
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!"
It screamed as blood flowed from its mask. The beast was going to strike him.
Swish.
An arrow flew through the air and pierced the beast's mask where his eyes were put.
"KAAK!"
Hans turned around to see a pale girl elf who was still in a position of shooting, even without an arrow loaded into the bow. Her face was in awe, and her mouth was wide open.
She then clenched her hand and felt exhilarated by what she had just done. She quickly took out another arrow and loaded it to the bow.
"Nice one, Sylvie." He smiled as he got ready to charge.
"What the warrior said," Hito added while he summoned some small water balls near him.
The monster pulled out the arrow and then punched Hans, making him fly into a wall.
It got back up to its feet, filled with anger. Its one hand was covering its bloodied eye, while with the other hand, it pointed straight to Sylvie.
"Kaak!"
It jumped to attack Sylvie.
Step-step, step-step,
He ran as fast as he could.
Clang.
Astra blocked the blow with a smile.
"Don't forget about me."
...
While in a destroyed city in a faraway place,
Kirko looked up to see a huge worm in front of him. He smirked.
Both Astra and Kirko stood in front of an enemy they had to defeat, but neither of them cowered; rather, both looked at their enemies with big smiles on their faces.
Astra and Kirko spoke with fire in their eyes. They told the same thing before their next move,
"Let's fucking do it, you beast."
Volume 1: A New Beginning. End