[ 7 years ago ]
I am the protagonist of this world or so I believed when I was a child.
Just 8 years old and I had upgraded my rank from F – to the peak of Rank-F -. There were not many kids around my age who did so, especially in my neighborhood where talent is scarce.
My parents and literally everyone around me praised me and said that I was going to lead our guild to a new era. I had trained hard to reach that rank but mostly it was because of my talent that I was praised.
In the same rank, my status was a little higher than others which meant that I was stronger than those of the same rank.
Moreover, I was friendly and had lots of friends who followed me. I was outgoing and would spend most of my time playing with my friends. With everything good about me, naturally, I thought about being the Hero.
“Hey, we are going to play in a park.”
I played around with many of my friends when I was a kid, alongside training in the guilds. We would usually go around in the park playing.
Our favorite game was playing the role of heroes, while other players played the role of monsters. Heroes will beat down the monster and save other people.
Although it was just a game, because we would usually end up really fighting, it was very violent. But because we are trained from a young age, those pains were nothing.
That was how we as a kid used to spend our time. Due to how much Explorers and Heroes are revered, even kids who don’t really have an idea about the risk of those professions, dream about becoming one of them.
Zero was no exception, especially since both his parents were Explorers and Guildmaster, on top of that.
Anyway, that day he was going to play with his friend in the park. It was one of those blissful days of his life.
“Take this Divine Cross-Slash!”
Zero pretended to be one of the Rank-SSS, GodSlayer and attacked the monsters which are actually his friends.
“AHHH!”
“OH NO! I am dead.”
One after another the kids pretended to be dead after getting hit by my attacks.
“Haha… your attack is useless in front of my defense.”
One of the boys said.
He was pretending to be the Demon King who fought a deadly battle with GodSlayer back then. Demon King was also on par with Rank-SSS GodSlayer and would not be killed.
-CLANG!
Taking a stick as their weapon, they began to fight. It was your typical kid’s fight with toys. However, because they were trained from little, their techniques were far more sophisticated than Earth kids.
-STAB!
At last, the Demon King was slain by the GodSlayer, and peace was restored in the land of Edolas. That was the story that kids were told by their parents and many kids dreamed about becoming the next GodSlayer.
“Now it is my turn!”
“No, it is me!”
After Zero was done playing the GodSlayer, it was time to change the role and everyone wanted to be the GodSlayer.
Since Zero had already played GodSlayer, he just watched his friends fight for the role. They were using rock paper scissors to decide who is going to play as The GodSlayer.
“Hello!”
The kids’ bricking was suddenly interrupted by a voice.
Zero was also surprised by the voice and instantly turned his face to look at who it was. The voice came from behind him.
!!!
Zero opened his eyes widely. This was the first time that he had seen someone so beautiful. Only one thing came to his mind when he saw her, “GODDESS”.
Zero stared at the beautiful girl.
The girl caught his stare and smiled. Zero immediately turned his face away in embarrassment.
“What do you want?”
A kid asked.
As small kids, not many of them had the patience or manners to deal with situations correctly. So one of the kids fighting for the role of GodSlayer was irritated with her interruption and didn’t hesitate to show his anger.
The girl was not angry at all and just smiled at him. Zero was once again enchanted by her smile.
“Are you playing?”
“Yes, we are playing Heroes Pride. Can you not disturb us?”
The irritated kid was still acting rudely.
Zero was getting angry at the behavior that his friend was showing. His friend’s name was Sixtus and was one with a big behavior problem. Even though he does not have the great talent nor was his family an influential one, he does not shy away from acting like one.
However, because he was his friend, Zero won’t say much and tolerated his arrogant and immature behavior.
-CLAP!
“Really? Can I also play?”
The girl excitedly asked.
“Big Sis, don’t!”
“Yes, those games are only for those violent boys.”
“Come play with us?”
The girl’s friends that were playing in the park dragged the girl into the park where they were playing with their dolls.
The girl seemed to be happy and immediately followed the girls and went to see what they were up to. Zero just stared at the lady as she went further and further.
“Yes, it is my turn!”
Sixtus won the game and it was decided that he was going to play as GodSlayer.
“Hey, Zero!”
Sixtus and the other kids were waiting for Zero who seemed to get lost in his thoughts.
“Hey, Zero! It is your turn to become Demon King.”
!!!
Only after getting called by his friends several times did he come back to reality.
“Coming!”
He immediately went and started his role as Demon King. He commanded the monsters and attacked GodSlayer.
After GodSlayer had slain every monster, he finally entered the fight.
“Haha… You shall not escape this time.”
Zero said as he raised his voice and tried to intimate the Demon King’s voice.
“You will die! Divine Cross-Slash.”
-CLANG!
Sixtus swung his stick fiercely at Zero, but Zero was able to easily parry his attacks. Among them, he was the strongest and had a status much higher than them.
“Divine Cross-Slash”
“Highspeed regeneration”
While Sixtus tried to harm Zero with his skill, Zero pretended to use the Devil’s ultimate regeneration to survive his attack.
“It’s not Highspeed Regeneration.”
“AGH!”
Suddenly, a voice interrupted their fight. Because of how the voice actually came from behind, Zero was more surprised than Sixtus. He turned around only to see that girl from earlier.
“What?”
Zero asked involuntarily. He didn’t know why the girl had interrupted them while they were at the climax.
“The demon King didn’t have Highspeed Regeneration. It was called Ultraspeed Regeneration.”
The girl said.
???
Zero and Sixtus were confused. They didn’t necessarily know the difference between the two skills but what they were taught in school was that the demon king had Highspeed Regeneration.
“Anyway, let me play. Your game seemed more entertaining than playing with those dolls.”
The girl said as she started to attack Sixtus.
-BAM!
The girl was too fast for Sixtus to defend himself and he got himself kicked. The girl didn’t seem to have the idea that this was just fake and started to attack Sixtus for real.
-THUD!
Zero immediately put himself between the girl and Sixtus.
“WAIT! You can’t really hit him.”
Zero said angrily. They were just playing a game and the girl really kicked him hard.
“Huh? Weren’t you all fighting earlier?”
The girl asked confusedly.
“Huh? That is fake. We are just playing around.”
Zero said in a loud voice.
The girl seemed to understand the situation and helped Sixtus to get up and apologized quickly. Zero was happy that she was not deliberately beating him.
However, he was confused. Hero’s pride, which was the name of the game, was well known and for the girl to not know was strange. But he wasn’t able to think for long as he was still a child and didn’t know about complicated things.
Zero was an understanding kid and matured in certain areas such as forgiveness and helping others. Therefore, he didn’t shy away from helping the girl understand the rules of the game and how it is played.
The girl then followed the rules and played along with them. Sometimes she would show overwhelming strength though she would not hurt anyone like earlier. She was fast and strong and even if it was just playing around, Zero could tell that the girl was very strong.
Anyway, the time came for them to go home.
*TUCK!
???
However, someone got hold of his shirt. He turned around to find that the same girl was holding onto his shirt.
“Can I play with you next time?”
The girl asked.
“Of course!”
Zero answered immediately. For him, everyone was his friend and there was no barrier to friendship like adults have.
The girl smiled with happiness and held her hand out for a handshake.
“My name is Lilith.”