Short-lived

Somewhere in the anime world.

Two figures were standing at the edge of the cliff, facing each other.

Dacol clasped his hands around Angelia's, staring deep into her eyes. The anime sun was setting behind them, the surroundings were quiet.

Dacol was facing Angelia with a serious look on his face. "Angelia-san. This world. It needs my help. Please, grant me your strength, grant me your light! Give me the power to vanquish the evil and return peace to this land! Please, stay by my side..."

Angelia had tears in her eyes when she heard his heartfelt words. "Yes. Yes, please take care of me from now on, Dacol-kun." Angelia had tears rolling down her cheeks as she nodded fervently in ecstasy.

"Angelia-san!"

"Dacol-kun!"

"Angelia-san!!"

"Dacol-ku- pui pui fuck it happened again." Angelia suddenly released her hands from Dacol's grasp before backing away, annoyance clearly showing in her eyes.

Dacol also snapped out of it, showing an embarrassed look. Although they did not say it, some of the feelings they displayed had a hint of actuality in them.

To prevent the awkwardness from lingering, Angelia hurriedly said. "Let's quickly finish this dungeon, it should not be too far off now."

"Yeap, we should."

They had only climbed this cliff to scout the road ahead but as they stared at the sunset, the anime vibes kicked in. As they traveled deeper into the dungeon, toward the core, the effects the anime world had on them is slowly increasing.

...

"It had been a few days, but the gacha still remained the same. Could it be possible that the time here is faster?" Dacol said as he check the gacha rolls. They had been here for 5 days already, however, the gacha remain 1/1 ever since they entered the dungeon.

Dacol suddenly thought of something as his eyes shined. "Angelia! This could be a training arc! Where time is moving faster than in the real world. If we trained here, we could be super op when we returned to the real world, and nothing would be able to stop us anymore!"

Dacol quickly shared his ideas with Angelia. Angelia was also visibly excited at the thought, now eager to grind some mobs. "If that's the case, we should try to take our time as we work our way towards the exit. Although the anime world effect is annoying, it's bearable."

Angelia had weighed the pros and cons. And... It was not as if she hadn't secretly enjoyed some of those moments secretly.

*blush*

She hurriedly cleared away some of those thoughts as they made plans for their up-and-coming training arc. She had always wanted to improve on her swordsmanship and master that sword slash that had always been on her mind and in her dreams. Poor Dacol.

...

Angelia was standing in a clearing, goblins, and orcs are coming toward her from the front.

She stood there, poised with her hand on the handle of her sword, still sheathed. She tried remembering the sensation, the feeling of something rushing out of her hands and into the sword.

With eyes closed and taking in a deep breath.

*exhale*

Her eyes widened, grip on her sword tightened as the horde closed in on her. 10 meters, 7 meters, 3 meters.

As they got close enough, she felt it. The mana from her body rushed into the sword, it trembled slightly as if asking to be released. It was finally thirsty for blood again.

With a low shout, Angelia unsheathed her sword and did a side slash. A long blue sword slash came out from the sword and mowed down the horde like cabbages. It was harvest time, the demon sword wanted blood.

When the sword slash finally faded, she stood there looking at the horde with only half their numbers. "Wow." She witnessed the carnage that had just happened in awe, surprised by the new strength she had gained. She was left breathless. "I will leave the rest to you." She said lowly, before sitting down in the middle of it all.

A shadow suddenly appeared out of nowhere, entering the horde that was close to being routed. With half their allies gone and adding on with the heavy stench of blood in their surroundings, the monster horde trembled, making it easier for Dacol to reap their lives.

Holding two sharp claws in his hands, he maneuvered between monsters before beheading them. It took about 15 minutes to clear out the rest of the monsters, and by the time he finally got the last one, he too was breathless. Literally.

When there were no more threats in the surroundings, Dacol walked up to Angelia and sat down on the ground too. Unlike Angelia, he had to work hard for those kills, making him a little envious of her new move.

"That move of yours is really cool. What are you going to call it? This is the part where the protagonist discovers her hidden power, so exciting." Dacol commented as he tried to sound excited.

Angelia was of course smart enough to discover his probe, but she didn't mind it.

"Maybe mana slash? It uses mana from within me and empowers my sword strike." She played along.

"Oh, sounds cool. Mana slash..." Dacol said, slowly trailing off into his own thoughts. Angelia looked at him with an amused glint in her eyes. 'Cute.'

...

May was hoping she could meet her parents when they entered the second layer. She did not mentioned this to Gran but her family's residence was actually on the second layer and she was quite excited when Gran said that they were going to the second layer.

But what she did not expect was that the reunion with someone she knew had came so fast, but in a completely different form.

The guy that just spoke was one of the bodyguards that had guarded her family for years, he treated him like he was her uncle as he used to drive her somewhere nearby her school so she could walk the rest of the way.

Never did she expect, in her life that the same uncle would threaten to take her baby away from her. She was engulfed in feelings of betrayal, anger and some fear of not knowing what had happened to he parents.

"Dan don't you recognise me?" May said with a chilly tone.

"Oh, if it isn't the young miss. What a coincidence. How have you been, your parents were worried about you." Dan chuckled playfully as he realised that he was talking to his former employer's daughter. "Oh, how you've grown..." There was a glint in his eyes as he scanned her body, admiring the curves she never had.

"Get your filthy eyes off my body! What happened to my parents?!" May was thoroughly enraged. How dare he lay his filthy gaze on her body when he used to worked for them, he was also at least twice her age!

Oh, your parents... They are fine, I had left them because we got into a little disagreement." Dan said casually, hiding a hint of resentment in his tine.

'That's a relief.'

"Since you have left us, get out of my way while I'm still being nice." May said, not wanting to bother with this ex-guard that had left the family, presumably because he had a taste of the power the apocalypse could give.

"No no no, young miss, have you not heard what I've said, hand over that creature. The times have changed, your father's words carry little weight now." Dan chuckled amusedly as he signalled for the men and women by his side to close in on May. "We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. Oh, you know what, to thank your parents for taking care of me so well all these years, why don't you join us? They would surely be grateful if they knew that their now gorgeous daughter is in good hands."

May couldn't stand the blatant threat and lust in his voice. She still had some of the rich young miss pride in her, and if it was someone else but Gran saying something so rude to her, she would end them.

"Kyaaa! Hnnng!" Little Sanya let out an angry cry as she glared at the people making her mother angry. She can feel her mother's emotions faintly due to the bond they had, and although she was curious about the emotions she felt for the first time, she immediately disliked that feeling.

"Is ok, mama's alright. Close your eyes and count to ten alright, mama will settle this soon." May said as she pulled the hoodie of the onsie down to cover Sanya's little eyes.

"You've made my little girl angry, and how dare you call her a creature." This was the daughter she had with Gran, yet they dare to cross the line multiple times.

"If Gran were here, he wouldn't waste a breath on people like you." May muttered.

"Have you gone insane young miss, do you not realise the situation you are in. Can the creature you rely on really take all of us on?" Dan said, slightly annoyed at her attitude.

Without wasting any time she said, "Die."

Two snakes suddenly shot forth towards the attackers, scaring the crap out of them.

The weapons in their hands mostly include mana crossbows that could be bought from the shop. Some had melee weapons such as swords and axes.

The snakes swam in the air towards the attackers, dodging the mana bolts flying towards them. All the stray bolts that had gotten near May and Sanya was deflected by the snake by May's feat. The thing just gobbled them whole.

The snake had finally reached them while. they tried strafing around it to avoid them, Dan had an ugly expression on his face as he fired at the snakes to no avail. He had not thought that May was even more difficult to deal with than the little creature.

The snakes danced in the air, left right, up down, they were not restricted by space. If Gran were to see their movements, he would compliment them on their adept use of Space Style. Maybe May had included her martial arts when creating them.

Unlike normal snakes, those two did not bite or strangle to kill their opponents. Since they are made out of mana, they directly pierced their bodies, leaving them to die with a gaping hole in them.

After a few minutes, Dan was the only one left standing, one of his arms torned off.

He was breathing ruggaredly, almost out of his wits. He really didn't want to die, and resolved himself to beg.

But as an experience body guard who had taken a fair share of lives himself, when he saw May's eyes, he knew that there was no hope. He provided no value to her alive.

'How! How could she be so terrifying, so... Cold blooded.' A faint mirage of a snake head could be seen when he observed her more.

"Any last words?" May said coldly, not minding the massacre that had just happened.

Sanya was peaking from under the hoodie unbeknownst to May, she had a look of fascination in her eyes. Oh no.

"Heheheh, oh how you've grown young miss." Dan chuckled as he laid there, looking like he had lost all hope.

Suddenly, with a mad glint in his eyes, he took out a pistol that still uses gunpowdered ammo and shot towards little Sanya.

*Bang*