Chapter 123 : The Knight & The Princess (Part 5)

Finally, they were left alone.

Ray stood there quietly while staring at the forest path, where Iris got away to retreat.

*CLAP*

Then a sound of clapping hands was heard...

*CLAP*

..and the source...

*CLAP*

...came from Kajia.

"Wow~ is this what they call a dramatic retreat? It touches my heart~" Kajia joked while clapping both hands.

"Well, I am in a good mood anyway, so I'll let that one slide," Ray replied in such a mocking tone.

Kajia heard that and it made him smile, "Hoo, so now you're talking smack, eh? That girl couldn't even defeat me, but how about you?"

"Do you think you can defeat me?~"

Kajia spoke as this time he showed how arrogant he was by releasing his aura.

It cause a large gust of wind around him.

While doing so, Ray knew it was the truth about his strength, since Iris couldn't even defeat him with her new power.

Then what about him?

Despite knowing that, Kajia's words and pressure didn't faze him at all.

Instead...

*CLINK*

He lifted his spear that on his left hand, then he aimed it at Kajia,

Followed with both of his weapons were enveloped with black flame as well as his body.

"Yeah, I will defeat you...because I am her Knight."

Ray spoke while his both eyes glowed showing how serious he is.

In his mind, his proclamation surprised Rei, 'Hahaha! well said partner.'

'Heh, I learn a lot from your stubborn dream...but because you are here, I'm not afraid anymore.' Ray replied.

Even Kajia who heard his words felt suprised.

"A knight? How chivalrous you are, staying here alone just to protect your friends~" Kajia spoke before taking his stance.

"But..."

A proper stance of a martial artist, with his legs, stayed on the ground then his right arm was aimed at Ray with an open palm.

"I do not hate that kind of attitude." Kajia spoke while smiling.

"So to respond to your resolve...tell me your name~"

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"My name...is Crimson...[The Wrath Knight, Crimson]."

Ray then took his stance, with his spear aimed at his opponent while his sword was positioned on top of his left arm.

"Heh, in the end, you won't even tell me your real name," Kajia mumbled while grinning widely and then shouted,

"I, [The King of Destruction, Kajia] shall accept your challenge! With my fullest!"

Then his body was surrounded with a large aura, "[Dragonification]."

Then at the same time...something changed.

*CRACK*

"Ugh—!"

His body slowly grew a brown scale, starting from his arms and going down to his fist, the scale spread onto his neck and covered his chin.

"Haah~"

While his yellow eyes turned sharp like lizard eyes and his teeth started to grow sharp.

After that, strong pressure came out from him and immediately applied towards Ray's body.

Ray wasn't fazed by it but he could feel something familiar from the man before him.

'Kiritsuka...this is what they call as [Dragonification].' Ray spoke.

Rei felt nervous to see his opponent changed, he knew that this time his enemy was serious.

'[Dragonification] can be acquired by implanting a [Dragon Heart] which is the core of a Dragon into someone's body.'

'With that...they acquired the strength of a Dragon that they defeated.'

'Then what kind of dragon did he defeated.'

'Hmmm...in his case...based on his destructive power, and how most of the ground move by his own will.'

'It seems he defeated one of the hardest to defeat.' Ray explained.

'And that is...?' Rei asked.

'It's the [Earth Dragon, Doggora], one of the dragons who lives in this world that was known for its hardest defense.' Ray explained.

'Though, he's dead by his hand now.' Ray added.

Rei sighed, 'I see...so basically his body had become the ultimate weapon and shield.'

'Exactly.'

'We fought against all odds all the time...from The King of Bandit, then that World Serpent.' Rei replied.

'I won't back down from this.' Rei spoke confidently.

Ray smiled and began enveloping his body with two kinds of aura, golden and red aura.

"Yeah, me too." Ray responded to his words.

After that, silence fell between them as they stared at each other.

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They haven't moved a single inch after they took their stance...

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Only staring...

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Until...

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*SWOOSH*

They finally began to move.

*TAP*

*TAP*

Kajia started to run at Ray at full speed.

"Heh!~"

Then he started swinging his right fist at him.

*SWOOSH*

'[Battle Sense].'

His skill activated on its own as his body immediately reacted to his enemy's fist.

He moved his body aside to let his fist go through him,

*BUSHH*

Which caused a strong shockwave from that fist.

*BOOM*

Followed with the ground behind him was deformed due to his fist alone.

"Hm!"

But Ray just simply swung his sword on his right hand towards his abdomen.

*SWOOSH*

Kajia immediately backed away before his sword could hit him, but the black flame slightly touched his abdomen and left a small burn from it.

"Heh~"

After backing away, Kajia ran towards Ray again and swung his right fist.

*TING*

Ray lifted his sword up and swung it down to clash his sword with Kajia's fist.

*TANG*

"Ugh—!"

Ray was almost pushed back from that strong force, but he managed to stay where he was standing.

"Huf—!"

*THUNG*

and pushed his fist aside with his sword.

"Haha!~"

Kajia didn't stop at that, after his fist got deflected away, he immediately jumped and swung his left leg to perform a kick.

*SWOOSH*

*TING*

Then Ray raised his sword and received his kick by blocking with his sword.

*TSSSKKK*

His kick slipped away from his sword creating a spark,

*BAM*

Then crashed to the ground, but it was quickly followed by Kajia who swung his left fist towards him.

"Hah!~"

With his sword moved down, Ray was left unguarded from Kajia's left fist.

*SWOOSH*

But Kajia forgot that Ray still had his spear, when his fist was about to reach his face,

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*SWOOSH*

Ray immediately turned his head aside, and his fist slip through.

*SWOOSH*

Then followed with his spear on his left hand and he thrust it at Kajia's face.

"Splendid!~" Kajia complimented for Ray who managed to counter him in that short and intense moment.

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But his opponent is Kajia.

So his spear slipped through Kajia because he moved his head aside as well.

As their strikes crossing to each other.

Ray didn't stop at that since his opponent was this close to him.

'[Agni]!' His black flame flared up around his body, creating a wave of flame that approached Kajia in close distance.

"Haha—!!"

Kajia immediately backed away from him but was still caught by that flame which burnt his left arm and leg.

Ray took this chance to step forward to close his distance.

*SWOOSH*

And thrust his spear at such high speed,

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Followed by attacking him in all kinds of directions.

"Heh~"

Kajia immediately dodged it by moving his body side to side.

*TING*

He even swept his spear away with his fist

*TANG*

Or blocking it with his forearms.

Each strike was pretty much deadly because he enveloped it with his black flame, not only that he didn't gave him a chance to take a breath.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Ray showered him with his relentless thrust.

Yet Kajia didn't back off at all from his flurry of attacks.

But instead...

"Hah~!"

...he ran towards him with a wide smile.

As he managed to charge in and slipped in between those flurry attacks while also getting injured a bit at his right cheek.

"Ugh—?!"

The distances shortened again and Ray got caught off guard.

"Hello~"

Kajia greeted him by swinging his both fist to perform a barrage of fists at him and focused on one point which was his chest.

*TING* *TING* *TING*

Ray lifted his sword again, blocking his attacks by keeping his sword on that single point.

"Ughh—!"

But the shockwave caused by that fist was enough to make his body tremble and injured at the same time.

"Ora!"

Then Kajia swung his right fist at Ray's face again.

"Huff—!"

Ray lifted and swung his sword towards his fist again.

*TING*

As they clashed once more, Kajia pulled his right fist and swung his left fist after that.

"What's wrong~ what's wrong~ is that all you got?!~"

Kajia pulled the same action as he switched his fist over and over, and made Ray took a step back while blocking all his fist with his sword.

"Kugh—!!"

In that position, Ray knew he couldn't lifted his spear in that distance.

Until...

*TING*

Ray then swung his sword on a horizontal line to catch his final fist.

*TSSSKKK*

As their faces leaned closer to each other with his fist and his sword, creating sparks while holding their position.

"Come on~ have more fun~!"

Kajia remained smiling.

"Haaa!!—" For his respond, Ray flared up his black flame through his sword.

*SWOOSH*

Kajia immediately retreated himself by jumping away,

"Woah that was close~"

While in mid-air he spun his body to face him then take a stance during all that.

*SWOOSH*

"I shall show you..."

Then he clenched his fists.

*SWOOSH*

As a strong wind began to enveloped on his fists.

"That Martial Arts doesn't limit us from doing long distances attack!~"

'[Martial Arts : Air Force]!'

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Then he swung a barrage of fists at him again, followed by a condensed air made from his fist.

Ray braced himself and stayed on his spot on the ground.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"Ughhh...!!—"

...and let the barrage of condensed fists crash to the ground around him, causing a massive destruction around him from that fist alone.

"Ora! Ora! Ora!!~"

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

That was, until some of them approached him directly.

'Kiritsuka!'

'I know!'

Rei took over and lifted his spear on his left hand,

'[Gungnir]!'

Then enveloped his spear with a spiraling black flame,

"Hmp—!!"

Then he threw it at Kajia's direction.

*SWOOSH*

Where those condensed fly towards Ray now.

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*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Those condensed winds were blown away...

*SWOOSH*

And his spear was still flying towards Kajia.

"Heh!!~"

Then Kajia raised both of his arms, using his dragon scale skin on his forearms to block his spear.

*BAM*

A direct hit toward his forearms and caused his body pushed back in mid-air...

*TSSSKKK*

But the spear stayed on his arms and he managed to stop it before he was pushed away.

"Hm!~"

As his spear still trying to pierce through with the raging spiraling black flame.

"Hahaha!~"

But Kajia laughed during that situation.

*THUNG*

Then he forcefully broke away and canceled his skill by pushing his arms away.

And his spear got flung away his spear.

*SWOOSH*

Then Kajia widened his eyes, when he saw Ray jumped his way up towards him while grabbing his spear back to his left hand and on his right hand was his sword that was surrounded with black flame.

"What a big surprise~!!"

Ray swung his sword vertically at him.

'[Vertical Slash].'

"Heh!!~"

But surprisingly Kajia spun his body upwards.

*THUNG*

And managed to deflect his sword by and kicking his sword up to cancel his strike.

*CLINK*

Yet...it's not over.

'[One Strike]!'

Rei took over his body again, then swung his spear to thrust at him.

*SWOOSH*

"Splendid!~"

When his spear was about to hit Kajia's face after he spun his body, he raised his right arm.

*TING*

And his spear was blocked by his right forehand.

*TSSSKKK*

After that his spear slipped through the right side of Kajia's face.

"Heh~!"

*SWOOSH*

Followed with him swinging his left fist that slipped through Ray's arm.

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After a long intense exchange of blows.

*BAM*

Ray got a direct hit toward his face...

*SWOOSH*

...and it sent him flying...

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*BOOM*

...and crashed down to the ground.

"Ack—!!" Ray coughed blood afterwards.

Then Kajia landed on the ground,

"Ugh—seriously..." as he suddenly felt a stinging pain.

*TSSSS*

"What a pain~"

He left him with another burnt injury on his right fist.

'To think he managed to counter that after getting hit once.' Kajia thought while clenching his fist.

And that made him smile again.

'You just make me more excited!~'

But then he saw Ray standing still on the ground after crashing down and took a direct hit.

While spit out his blood again, he took his stance again and didn't faze at all at the danger he is facing now.

'What a tenacious guy, normally people would fall unconscious or their head was blown away after taking a direct hit from my fist.'

'But it seems that black flame reduces the damage and attacks me as well.' Kajia thought.

Then Ray ran at him and lifted his sword up again.

'What a fun guy!~' His grin became wider when Ray approached him.

"Let's have more fun together!!~ Crimson!!~"

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*BAM*

******

[It was completely dark].

'Ughhh..'

[I cannot move].

[Did I die? No...if I die, I would wake up again to that day]..

"Mmgh..."

[What happened? Where am I?].

'Silvi...Silvi! Please stop him!'

[Stop...who?]

'No!! I have so many things to say! Please...stop him! Stop! Silvi!'

[Why am I calling her?]

'No...I don't want to lose anyone again! I don't want to lose him!'

[Him?...Who's...him?]

'No...Ray...Ray!!'

[Ray?]

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Then Iris woke up.

"Haaah...haaah....haaah..."

When she opened her eyes, she could see an unfamiliar ceiling while breathing heavily.

'Where...'

The ceiling was shaking and her body felt something bumping around which made the spot where she was laid down feel unsteady and uncomfortable.

"Ojou-sama!—"

"Iris!—"

She was greeted by Albert her brother, Silvi her maid and Harson her guard.

"Onii-sama?...Silvi?...Harson?" She muttered, "Where...am I?"

The three of them looked at each other as they couldn't help but feel worried about her.

"We are on our way home now."

"Home...?" Iris spoke as she suddenly felt that she was holding onto something.

'Huh?'

She lifted it...

*CLINK*

It was her rapier...

One that has completely worn out.

The beautiful blue from before had lost its brilliance because of how many times she used it...

And that made her...

"Ray..."

Remember.

"Yes...Ray, what about Ray? Where is he?" Iris asked,

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"Is he safe?" She asked.

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"Did he run?" And asked.

But...

"...."

No one answered her.

Her face turned pale but she forced a smile

"Hey...Answer me...Onii-sama, where is he?"

She asked towards her brother as tears started to form in her eyes.

"...." but her brother didn't answer her.

"Silvi." She turned to look at her maid,

"...." Again, no answer from her.

"Harson." Then she turned to her guard.

"...." And again, no answer.

No...they didn't even look her in the eye.

"Hey...where is he?"

As she become desperate...

"Where is my Ray now?"

She continue to ask.

"Please...tell me..."

As she beg.

"PLEASE TELL ME!!"

Until her soft voice slowly changed into anger and sadness.

*THUD*

Then she grabbed Silvi's collar.

"Where is he?!—"

"He—!!" Albert suddenly cut her off and Iris turned her attention at him.

"He...stayed."

"....?!"

Iris widened her eyes as she felt something just fell within her,

"He...stayed?"

"What do you mean...he stayed?" She looked at him in disbelief.

"No...No!"

Then she began to lose it...

"No...No...No...!!! He shouldn't stay!!"

"I still have strength! I can still fight!"

But when she got up from her seat,

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*THUD*

Her body gave out.

"Huh—"

Silvi immediately caught her in her arms and embraced her body close to her.

"Silvi?"

*DRIP*

Then Iris felt something dripped down on her cheek.

When she looked up, she saw something unbelievable.

Silvi, who's always looked calm and cold…

"Ojou-sama..."

...had began to cry.

"Please...please stop."

And she begged.

"Please do not endanger yourself anymore than this."

And she continue to beg.

"Please...I don't want to lose you."

Silvi spoke while embracing Iris in her arms.

"No...but Ray is...Ray is..."

Her eyes began to well up even more with tears...

"No....No!!!"

...until it reached its limit...

"U-ughhh..."

...she finally broke down,

"UAAAAHHH!!!"

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Iris.

She, who swore not to cry.

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"Ngghhh...uaaaaHHH!!"

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But on her 157th life.

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"No...Ray, please....Ray....nggh!!"

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She began to cry again.

Then, they who is present that day silently does the same.

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As they cried within their heart.

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For the man who stayed behind...

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...to protect them.

They could only prayed for his safety.

And this was also...

...the point where everything would change.

******

*TING*

Few hours had passed.

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*TANG*

The fight wasn't over yet.

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*BAM*

Both of them kept on exchanging strikes.

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*TING*

And none of them, had given up.

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[I wonder...when did this go wrong].

"Haaaa!!"

The male thought as he swung his black flaming sword at his enemy in front of him.

*TANG*

[Am I doing the right thing?]

"Heh!~"

But his enemy deflected his sword aside with his left arm, then swung his right fist at him.

*BAM*

[Heh...nah, why am I regretting this].

"Ugh—!"

The male received his punch directly to his stomach,

*SWOOSH*

But he still swung his spear to his enemy's head.

[Yeah, if it's for her...I will do anything].

"Hah!~"

His enemy took a step back and dodged his spear that was aimed at his face, distancing himself from his opponent.

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Finally...

The two of them stopped.

"Haah...haah..."

Ray was covered with injuries on his shoulder, arms, legs and his face, leaking some blood along with burnt injuries...

...caused by his own flames.

"Ughhh..."

It's a miracle that he was still standing while maintaining that skill as his body got burned.

And his HP.

=======================================

[STATUS]

NAME: Kiritsuka Rei / Ray Houston

JOB : Blacksmith

[HP: 206/11090]

[MP: 505/2090]

[FATIGUE: 190] *red*

=======================================

Was running low.

Meanwhile, on Kajia's state, his body also received some scratches on his armored scale and some burns on his hands and legs.

The two of them are on their peak of exhaustion.

"Heh~"

But only Kajia seemed to have the upper hand.

'Houston...'

'I know...Kiritsuka.'

And at this moment, both of them released their aura.

*SWOOSH*

And increased the density of their aura, causing a large gust of wind around them.

Kajia who saw that smiled once again,

"So you are planning to wrap things up huh~?"

But Ray didn't answer him.

Kajia smiled, "Heh!~ then I shall do the same!~"

Kajia released his aura just like he did, while getting the same stance from what he did on the start, but this time his eyes are even more serious.

"This is my final...attack, Kajia."

This time their voices were mixed together while his two weapons were enveloped in his black flame that flared up.

[HP: -154/11090]

While his HP diminished more and more.

"Kekeke...KEHAHAHAHA!! YESSS!! SHOW ME! CRIMSON!"

As their auras spiked up, the two of them...

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*SWOOSH*

Began to dash forwards to each other...

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"Heh!~"

Kajia raised his right fist and focused his aura in his fist.

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"Hm!"

Ray lifted his spear and performed a charging thrust.

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As they got closer...

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It was at that moment...

'[Destruction Fist]!!'

'[One Strike]!'

...that the fight would reach its conclusion.

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*BOOM*

Then Kajia's right fist met with Ray's spear.

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*TSSSKKK*

The two forces are clashing together, trying to overpower each other.

"Kugh—!!!"

"Hahaha!!~"

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They stayed where they clashed...

*TSSSKKK*

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...and none of them would yield from the fight.

*CRACK*

But...

*CRACK* *CRACK*

...something began to break.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

And it's coming from Ray's spear that managed to hold out this long.

*CRACK*

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*SHATTERS*

His spear shattered into pieces, causing his left hand who held it received the damage that flung his left arm away.

"Ughh—!!"

Ray could feel the bones on his left arm shattered as well.

[HP: -67/11090]

Kajia saw that and smiled, but he forgot about something.

*SWOOSH*

And that is...

'[Kagutsuchi no Ken] + [Sky Decapitation]!!!'

His sword still remain.

"HAAAA!!!"

By using all of his remaining MP, he performed a vertical slash from above while being clad in black flame...

[HP: -24/11090]

While rapidly losing his HP.

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[HP: 10/11090]

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Kajia didn't expect he would perform the skill he saw only once from his fight.

"THAT'S GOOD!! CRIMSON!!"

Yet, Kajia only praised him while facing his sword.

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"This is final!—

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—KAJIA!!!"

[HP: -2/11090]

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Finally...

*SWOOSH*

Ray swung his sword towards Kajia's body.

*SLASH*

And received a direct hit.

*WOOOSHH*

Followed with a wave of black flame that spread out from Kajia's back and burned down the trees behind him.

*SPURT*

And blood spurted out from Kajia's body after he received the damage done by his sword.

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*CRACK*

*SHATTERS*

His sword shattered apart after that, and Kajia fell...

'I...did it...'

[HP: 1/11090]

As his HP still remain, Ray sighed relieved...

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*TAP*

Or so he thought

"....?!"

Ray could see that Kajia, who was about to fall,

*BAM*

...immediately stomped his feet on the ground and managed to land safely.

'No way...'

Ray thought it was over...

But to think after receiving a fatal injury from his sword…

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he's still standing.

"Heh~"

Then Kajia raised his left fist while smiling with his bloodied mouth.

"That was amazing...

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"Ray."

Instead of calling his fake name...

Out of respect, Kajia called him with his real name.

"Huh?—"

and that surprised him.

*SWOOSH*

Finally, Kajia swung his left fist at him.

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And during that time, it felt like things happened in slow motion

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[I'm sorry...Kiritsuka].

[It's fine, it is my dream to be able to protect someone, like a knight].

One of his memories came inside his mind as he closed his eyes.

[Even though you might die?]

[Hmmm...well].

[I don't mind it~]

A conversation between him and Kiritsuka Rei.

[I see...I am...truly sorry].

And he apologize until the end.

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[Hey! Come on hurry up!~]

But then...

[Hahaha!~ what are you doing!~]

It was switched to a certain image,

[Come on!~ catch me if you can~]

Rather a voice could be heard.

[Hey~ come on~]

A woman voice that came from...

'Huh?'

An imaginary dream that he wanted to happen in the future.

*SWOOSH*

A breeze of wind, a beautiful and colorful flower field blooming in full view.

[This is...?]

He found himself standing there.

[Where...]

After that, a woman ran past him.

[Huh?]

She turned around to look at him with a bright smile while wearing a beautiful white dress and a hat.

[You are...]

And Ray recognized that face, so he returned her smile with his own.

And he called her name…

[Iris].

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[I'm sorry].

*BAM*

After that...everything went dark and cold.

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The unfortunate event happened on a bright sunny day.

During their journey to return home after completing their quest in the Elf Kingdom,

They were stopped by a mysterious man, who was known as [King of Destruction].

The man attacked them and a single girl stood alone, accompanied by her summoned monster.

She fought bravely and yet she still lost against this man.

The Adventurers who she hired began to swarm him, yet none of them could match him in strength.

Even her maid who is twice stronger than them and her personal guard, along with her brother.

Still couldn't stand a chance to this man.

All of them fell one by one...

...leaving the girl alone to face him.

When this man was about to end her life…

One man, one Adventurer stood before her and protected her out of danger.

He was none other than the odd adventurer who always wore armor everywhere he went, and never showed anyone how he truly looked like.

But during his confrontation with this man, his helmet broke apart and it revealed his identity.

His name was Ray Houston, a young man who was supposed to be known to have [Blacksmith] job.

Yet he stayed behind while letting his friends and her to retreat and fought against this man alone.

He fought...

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and kept on fighting...

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without stopping...

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Until the very end...

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Finally...

The young man was found in the field of flowers far away from the forest.

His body was sent flying there after receiving the final attack from the man whose name was Kajia.

*SWOOSH*

While the breeze of wind embraced him, his body was laid on the ground with purple flowers surrounding him, which acted like a cushion for him.

The young man had already closed his eyes as he rested his body.

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While was embraced by the name of those flowers around him...

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A name that came from the woman who truly he loves...

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[Iris].

[HP: 0/11090]

...and took his last breath, after protecting her.

To be continued…