Scarlet

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that whole ‘Red and White’ rivalry thing. I’m pretty sure they covered it in high school and always brought it up during sports stuff.

Although I’m willing to bet quite a lot of money that the ‘rivalry’ that the school painted it as is very different from how it actually was.

In fact, Blaze’s words show just how hung up Red was on beating White.

“Son of Red,” I mirror his words with a light nod of my head.

Then neither of us say a word for several seconds, following which he asks with a frown, “Have I met you somewhere before?”

I answer without any hesitation, “No.”

Because he is absolutely not Blaze from Hunter XI. Nope. Not him. At all.

Tar snorts in my head.

Hey, he really might not be, so… yeah.

He just snorts again.

In all honesty though, he didn’t exactly use a censor in the game to hide his identifiable features, so… not like I did.

I’m just gonna leave him not knowing. It’s better this way.

“Anyways, you mentioned something about a duel?” I ask with a frown of my own before my ear twitches at the sound of two more acolytes fighting what sounds like civilians a few buildings down the part. “Actually, hold that thought. I’ve gotta go.”

I run past him, startling the man in the process. And it doesn’t even take three whole seconds before I’m turning the corner around the building and continuing on towards the sound of the acolytes and civilians.

The noises of the acolytes and their attacks continue entering my ears as I run straight towards them, moving far faster than any regular human being can ever hope to run. And after less than ten seconds of this, I find myself entering another museum where two acolytes and seven fomorians are pushing a group of humans defended only by a single Class I Guardian into a corner. And the Class I doesn’t seem to be faring all that well, for obvious reasons.

Without any hesitation, I set a null magic field around the acolytes before activating blood claws on both hands, using blood boil and life drain, then rushing in to attack. And at the same time, I have my blood shadow that’s been following behind me all this time finally jump out of its hiding place in the shadows to join me in my assault.

The Class I Guardian – a kid who appears to be about a year or so younger than me wearing the standard magi-tech armor – looks relieved when he sees me immediately taking the attention of the demons with a volley of blood weapons that pierce into the demon’s backs, making them roar with pain and anger. But the frontmost fomorian actually manages to avoid the attack, proving his level to be higher than theirs before the System even mentions him being level one hundred and thirty.

I grin at that before pushing blood sacrifice, making bloody steam rise from my skin as I literally crack the cement ground by jumping straight towards the fomorian.

The Other Side of the Room

Tyler didn’t want to go to the museum. He really didn’t. And that feeling only magnified tenfold when the Demonic Assault started, and he found himself along with his friends inside of a Class II Fracture.

It didn’t matter even if he was a Guardian if the Fracture was Class II.

But right when he was expecting the metaphorical noose to ring his scrawny neck, a celebrity Guardian he and pretty much anyone who isn’t buried under a rock knows from TV sprints into the building and sends a flurry of attacks straight at the fomorians, drawing most of their attention away from him. Before Tyler can rejoice about that though, one of the fomorians dodges the strike and continues raising its sword to cut Tyler in two.

Until a loud cracking sound echoes from where the girl was, and he finds her appearing out of a blur of movement right behind the creature, who tries to redirect its strike towards her. But it’s too slow, and the Scarlet Wolf simply drags her shapeshifted arm upwards, drawing bloody lines of crimson straight up the thing’s back, making it stumble forwards. She then stomps on the ground next to it and shoves her clawed hand forward, ripping straight into the thing’s back and out its chest to grab its heart before pulling it back through its body.

Tyler can’t help but fall on his rear out of pure shock, the creature’s blood having splattered onto his face. His time as a Guardian, no matter that it’s only been a couple months, makes him quickly begin to climb back to his feet again though, and by the time he does, the girl is already moving, tearing apart the other fomorians.

Wait, something’s wrong…

Tyler – whose magic is focused on divination – feels a tingling sensation at the back of his neck, and he immediately twists his head around to find a strong acolyte whose level is close to one hundred and fifty raising its staff from the stairs and charging a bolt of lightning. He then turns around and shouts out a warning to the girl, but it’s too late.

A crashing sound echoes as the lightning bolt flies straight towards the Scarlet Wolf, making his eyes go wide with fear.

Right when it’s about to hit though, a sudden burst of flames shoots out of the ground and devours the bolt of lightning, leaving the girl to finish off the demons in front of him unharmed. Then Tyler hears a screaming sound from behind him, so he turns around to find that very acolyte burning to death.

Tyler can feel his heart pounding faster than even the first time he was in a Fracture from the action around him. From the combat that is far beyond him at his level.

So when he looks to find the source of the fire and finds the Red Knight of Humanity’s son standing at the door with his eyes blazing with a red flame with streaks of black in it, he once again falls on his rear. But this time he doesn’t get back up because the battle’s already over.