Episode Thirteen: The Death Of Sora

Sora watched in awesome, her mouth open and her eyes slightly widened as the mysterious, heroic male leaped into the air—his blade poised to strike at the Metal Giant. The creature didn't stand still as well, throwing the rock it held its hand at the man but he didn't seem to flinch.

Sora watched as he sliced through the rock with ease, making a clean cut, dashing forward to strike at the mythic. The mythic raised its hand, blocking the attack and as soon as they clashed, a clang rang through the pathways and hills, producing multiple vibration that caused Sora pain in her ear drums and the ground to shiver beneath their force.

The Metal Giant reacted to the vibrations as its sound waves caused it anger. With great force, it pushed the man's blade away with a swipe which had caused him to flinch back, and with a fatal swoop it grabbed him by the shoulder pinning him against the ground.

It raised its razor sharp claws to deal its final blow, but it had forgotten that Sora had recovered, chugging down a few health potions.

[Health Restored!]

[Siphon Skill Activated: Minotaurous]

Sora rushed to the rescue, utilizing her siphoned skill and slamming into the giant with the sheer force of her body. The man looked up into the Sora's face, his red eyes beneath his hood tracing down to the cloak she wore and he was surprised by the emblem he saw.

As the Metal Giant struggled to stand on its feet, it had given enough time to Sora and the mysterious man to speak. Sora lent a hand but the man indirectly refused, helping himself up.

Sora could finally get a close look at the man's stature, he was much taller, his strengthened core and muscular form was far too intimidating it gave Sora chills. She looked up into his eyes, which was the only visible thing on his face that she could see from her point of view.

The man finally spoke, and Sora was shocked by the tone of his voice. The so-called man sounded more lighter, though cold and non-challant, he still sounded young, "I'll take it you're the new knight at the Bureau of Knights," he muttered.

Sora nodded, "Y- yes I am," she muttered, still feeling intimidated.

"How old are you?," he asked which Sora found quite strange, the question being so sudden.

Though she was overwhelmed by the question, she answered, "I… I'm eighteen years old," she muttered softly.

"Hmph!," the young man exclaimed, "Looks like I'm not your senior"

As the two engaged in an awkward conversation, a gut-wrenching screech echoed right before them from the Metal Giant. The mysterious young man stood ready with his blade in hand as Sora forged her blade from the system, leaving the young man stunned as she had forged the blade out of thing air from his perspective.

A red glow escaped from the mythic as it approached them slowly, its feet cracking the ground with each step. Suddenly, in a haze, it dashed with extreme speed that gave its opponent the impression that it had teleported.

'Where'd it go?!' Sora muttered inwardly.

The two glanced around, looking for any possible area it could have an opening to attack, but it had a different plan entirely. Suddenly the ground beneath them cracked slightly, the cloaked man noticed this, grabbing Sora by the waist and leaping into the air as he announced a warning, "Look out"

Sora was caught off guard by this but her confusion was settled as the mythic emerged from the ground they had stood, charging straight forward as they were still mid-air. Sora and the mysterious man held themselves firm in the air, dropping down at the mythic, clashing their weapons with its claws, pushing back to the ground as they struggled.

They landed with force, the mythic being the land breaker but it quickly recovered, slashing the hooded man across the chest. As the man squirmed, it turned to Sora, grabbing her on by the ankle and colliding her with the man—the force, sending them tumbling to the ground.

The mythic roared, enraged by the duos attack.

Sora slowly opened her eyes, the dust from the ground blinding her, her vision hazy. She dusted her face as she felt something below her and she was laid on top of it, 'What's this hard feeling,?' she whispered inwardly, her palm rubbing against something.

She shook her head, finally getting a clear view of what she was ontop. It started with the view of a face which was blurry but was clear to her:

Burning red and intense eyes that stared into her soul, a well chiseled face, with dark spiky but short hair.

Sora stared into the eyes of this stranger her cheeks flustered, 'Who is this?," she questioned in her thoughts, till her eyes darted towards a torn piece of clothing beside her.

It was the cloak that had sealed the mysterious man's face. Sora's gaze returned back to the man's face.

"Hey," he spoke out, "Can you get off me" He commanded.

Sora's eyes darted down and there, her palm was on his chest.

That was the hard feeling she had on her palm. While the two love at first sight candidate were distracted, the mythic quickly charged at them—and before they could react it would've been too late.

As the monster before them, neared its prey—claws raised in the air to tear at them, the earth began to rumble. Sora noticed this, turning her eyes towards the large rocky hill beside them.

Something was coming, and it seemed much faster, more bigger. And worse, much stronger and hungrier too.

Sora fell on the young man's chest, bringing him down to his back as he attempted to rise up, and just as she had suspected something would come from the very beginning, she was right.

Emerging from the rock, its slithering form glistening under the sunlight, its metallic scales a harsh orange like the flames with its eyes glowing a bright purple and its fangs as sharp as any blade was the Scourge. It hissed loudly, enraged as the sounds of battles had reached its location and it was greatly disturbed by it.

Sora stared in total awe, with a mix of fear and shock as the giant snake charge straight for the Metal Giant—the first living being it had spotted, charging and bitting at its torso with a tremondous force that was enough to tear through its armour.

The Giant didn't decide to give up, it struck at its opponent's eye, causing it great pain and a stream of purple liquid escaped from the wound and landing straight for the two knights.

The nameless young man grabbed Sora, rolling out of the way as they stood to the ground, "We need to go now! It's too dangerous!," he warned before grabbing Sora by the wrist.

Sora returned to her senses but the image of the snake still lingered in her mind. After all these years, she had finally seen one, her mother mentioned that Scourge's were quite a rare find and whoever found it wasn't alive to tell the tale.

But she was alive.

She survived it's attack. But the thought of how she survived it stayed engraved in her mind.

What if the Metal Giant hadn't been the bait? The story could've been different, entirely and she wasn't sure she would be alive to even have a single thought on it.

[Mission Change Activated]

The system chimed in as she ran for her life, and as she read through, she was lost for words, 'Oh, no…' she whispered inwardly.

Displayed on the system's tab was something truly haunting:

[Defeat the Scourge]

Time Duration: 7days:1hr:30min:10secs

Reward: ???

Penalty: Instant Death

Tears almost flowed through her eyelids as she took in, but she had remembered her composure and her mission.

As the two ran, they could hear the sounds of boulders being thrown around them due to the effect of the battle by their two opponents. Suddenly, their feet hit a soft spot on the ground and the two knights were plunged into a dark tunnel that sent them tumbling, till they landed in dark space.

Sora felt her entire body go limp as she fainted, her vision going black instantly, the force of hitting her head on stones catching up to her.

And just like that, it all came to an end. Sora felt this was the end, her body covered in cuts and bruises left by the space, she and her new companion fell into.

Could this all be over for Sora? Or this was the beginning of a new journey that would put her skills to the test?

In order for the young lady to know of her fate, it was either she had to die or she had to stay alive and keep pushing. The choice was in her hands.

The system emerges one last time, displaying a message:

[The First Volume Of Chaos Crafter Comes To A Conclusion]

•Knight Gathering Arc Begins…

•Viewer Must Read

•Punishment: Instant Boredom