“Huh? Another one?” I blinked at the entrance of Amos, the other bandit leader.

Amos flung my chain away, roaring, “Come fight, brat!’

“Hey, don’t forget me!” Qillen also joined as the duo charged at me, knife twirling in her hand.

I sighed. Looked like I had to get serious. I had only been playing around and using direct hits to test my firepower, but it looked like I needed to work harder on it. One more chain appeared on my right hand, shooting out with the other one to bind the attacking enemies.

“You’re dead.” I snapped my fingers and the first chain swirled around Amos, fastening mercilessly while the second chain simply maneuvered out of Qillen’s range and pierced her uncovered neck.

Next, flames appeared, alight with heat and finished off the woman. Qillen collapsed, dead. The man, Amos writhed in pain, dropping his axe while screaming, but resisting the sharp tip of the chain stabbing at his chest. I narrowed my eyes as Amos struggled, muscles glowing brighter and brighter blue, mana even starting to flare in a layer around his body.

It was futile, though, since I simply ramped up the heat on the flames and the red flames shot up while radiating heat. The bandit leader finally fell with the last burst of heat, blood dripping out as the chain tip finally pierced his heart.

“How…” The fallen leader muttered, “I was defeated by a brat.”

My blue chains of mana faded immediately as I turned to the bandits left. Murmurs that had broke out when Amos fell were silenced at my gaze.
I found it amusing. They all knew better than to provoke someone stronger than them. How coldhearted.

“What do you think, Master?” I turned to face him, wiping the blood droplets from my face.

Master, who had been sitting on a branch observing the fight, grinned, “Not bad, kid. Now what shall we do with those failures?”

I didn’t reply and Master laughed, “I know! Let’s make them turn themselves in to the local authorities.”

“Ugh, damn you!” One shout came from behind, “Who cares about your stupid shit? I’ll just kill you two! It’s fifty against two! We can’t lose-”

The bandit’s words were cut off as I reached my hand behind and summoned a tipped blue mana chain that shot into his stomach.

“You heard him? Go turn yourselves in.” I looked behind condescendingly and the bandits looked away, including the one that just tried rebelling.

“Now go away,” I commanded before turning to Master, “Should we go now, sir?”

“Alright. Let’s go. We don’t have to concern ourselves with these weaklings,” Master jumped off from where he was sitting on a branch, “Let’s race again.”

Master launched himself up before I could reply and flew in the direction of the cabin. I sighed and ran after him as quickly as I could.

However, I didn’t know of the powerful force lurking beneath the depths at the time.

---

Warian was bored. Very bored. As he sat in his cave, he remembered something.

“Oh right. That shooting star.” Warian muttered.

He still remembered the night when that golden shooting star shot through the glittering heavens and landed, probably somewhere kingdoms away. The falling spectrum was glowing a bright golden shade, flaring with so much mana that it left Warian in curiosity.

Warian stretched his stiff limbs, “I’ll go find him, that shooting star.

To mere humans, searching for a person across many kingdoms would seem impossible as digging a five-hundred mile deep hole down from ground level with only a shovel, but to Warian, it was simple. Just search every single corner of the kingdoms. He was bound to find the shooting star someday.

It would all start with the small town closest to his cave. Warian trudged there and scanned the perimeter with his eyes. It was obvious that the shooting star was not here or anywhere near, but it was good to cover any loose ends.

“Not here.” Warian glared at the town and raised a palm.

His hand was immediately covered in a thick layer of glowing blue mana. The glow intensified with the mana blast that shook the ground. The blast radius covered the entire town, making sure that no rats could escape. The blinding light of the mana dispersed as Warian retracted his palm.

What was left of the town was smoldering wood splinters and unidentifiable ruins. There weren’t even corpses of the people killed as they had all been reduced to ashes in the blast.

Footsteps sounded indifferently as Warian stepped away and to the next settlement of people. His face was covered in cold delight and his eyes burning with insanity.

It was the reveal of a monster. A monster with dark long hair who wore rags of a beggar. Rumors would spread throughout the kingdoms about this beast. It was a demon sent from hell to reap all the souls. It was a disciple of the Shadow King. It was an ancient being who sought domination over humankind.

But what none knew was the true target of this monster.