Dawn: Another World, Another Fight, Another Clam

They went in a secluded corner of the castle, their clan members wondering where they had disappeared to. They glanced at each other several times without speaking.

It was hard. After all they've been through. They were practically two entirely different people, strangers.

"You've done well, making it this far"

V slowly breathed in before starting, She nodded in response, not yet ready to make the jump of socialization.

"I came here while working at the the elderly home." He dropped the elephant on his shoulders.

Minerva smiled almost in melancholy, it seemed to be years ago from her recent experiences.

"I was brought here with them."

He emphasized his intent, upon seeing her face which seemed to be misunderstanding something.

"!!!"

She grew steady, silent and still. There was no need to explain. She had experienced it. The first stage. The first test against goblins were directed for the elderly, youth and disabled I'm the first place, it wasn't hard to figure out. But he was forced into that situation with them. It was a miracle he survived.

She thought it was bad when she watched her students died but watching helpless old people die seemed much more strenuous in that situation anyone would freeze up and look away or do nothing.

The goblins would definitely seize the chance and kill them too.

She saw it on his face, the pain he was feeling for them, their memory, her heart felt calm for the first time in a while, and full of emotion but not the recent emotions of unrest, uncertainty, and morality she hid within, but something else entirely.

She went back to those moments he came to her for treatment where she inwardly blushed at his rock hard abs with his torso even more impressive as even his sides and back was muscular despite his seemingly thin frame with clothes.

He was strong physically but such a darling to feel such pain from watching them die.

-has no idea he killed them personally.

V saw her moving towards him but he did nothing not because of trust but because of his sixth sense. She softly clutched his head and brought it over her beating heart, he heard the steady sound of her heartbeat and felt at peace, with no perverted thoughts. She gently stroked the back of his head while cuddling it.

They continued in that intimate position for a while until she let go and he backed up. Minerva was beet red and trying not to show it, the girlish part of her heart was awakened by his thoughtfulness and sensitivity, that showed pain from the eldery's death, she had previous had some good feelings towards him as well.

He wasn't as perverted and annoying as the other male students who threw their wealth around trying to get her in bed, he wasn't like all the men who tried that either, while he did things to a similar means, he did it without l.u.s.t or perversion but she saw the way he looked at her before.

Afterwards he avoided looking at her all together and never made direct eye contact when they conversed. She wasn't sure what to feel right now. She hurriedly changed the topic to remove the ambiguity between them.

<Hey beautiful miss nurse, Why don't the three of us go for a stroll, me, you and that black tube top you're hiding under those work clothes.>

<Let me tell you a story about a princess and her frog Prince. Whom needed a kiss as a frog to become human again.>

<Let's talk about the mythical island of women, bodacious bodies, sharp blades, exclusive membership, and man hunting.. Woo! Girl power>

She recalled all those teasing moments between the two of them where that Damn parrot on his phone wouldn't stop talking although his fingers inputted the words out of its mouth.

"You've become quite capable, becoming a tyrant that even a little nurse only dares look up to."

He chuckled in response before turning and staring at the sky, "I'll try my best to keep you and your clan, no, everyone alive, nonetheless, a lot of people will end up dying, we have to accept that as a fact."

She sighed as she nodded in agreement, it was obvious but many ran away from such thoughts, similar to before, everyone knew they could die and any moment and would eventually die but they ignored that.

She smiled brightly for the first time in a long while, "Thank you Vicente."

His eyes widened with shock. Seeing this she hurriedly asked if he was alright. He shook off his shock and grabbed his head

'Yea that was my name wasn't it, To be honest it was already a name I wasn't living up to, now I've given myself bigger shoes. It isn't a bad goal. Nonetheless, I should accept the name fate gave me, and bring it glory.'

V, no, Vicente assured her everything was alright before sitting her down and reminiscing about trivial things to relax to the breeze.

They recalled their last date like outing together and those moments they spent together for what seemed to be so many years ago.

********************

"Damnit, we can't do a thing because of that damnable council of his!"

One lord slammed the table in their clandestine meeting away from prying eyes.

Obviously they wouldn't stand for him being their keeper but he was one sly son of a bitch.

His council did both a head count before and after a battle. They had tried going around it but when he found out about it, well they just assumed he did, because the forces they hid went to the dungeons with the ones already permitted in there and he also gave them knowing gazes.

Which was far too much as they only had a tenth of the extras 10, they were only allowed 10! , he was putting them in a tight leash.

His forces were too vastly superior, they spent a lot of time in the dungeons, although thankfully they defended and kept everyone alive, they couldn't stand this injustice.

They tried to bend the rules he set but it always backfired, Like 'Accidents' which he allowed to happen. Their forces in the dungeons disappeared, it was obvious that they were killed for their disobedience and each time, for every minor offence.

<Oops sorry, my men accidentally hit your man, if lucks with him he'll live>

They grinded their teeth in anger, some even sighed in defeat. Minerva looked the same but was inwardly gloating, he'd allowed her to keep 30 of her best people within the dungeons. She wasn't suffering from oppression at all. She was almost like a well fed mistress.

' What am I thinking?'

She slapped her cheeks, no one noticed her abnormalities as they were all preoccupied with thoughts of the tyranny of their local tyrant, they had no idea that while she was thinking of him like they were, it was a different variety of thoughts.

"Something must be done!!!!"

"Yes kill that bitch"

"He must die"

Minerva abruptly coughed,

"How are we going to get to him I wonder."

"..." (Clan lords)

"Thought so. So just shut up and endure. It's just a little setback we'll get through it and go up, to a wider stage."

They nodded after blowing out their hot air.

********************

"Wow… It seems like a lot more of us would survive than I thought?"

"It seems so…."

"He actually isn't all that bad a leader.."

"Yea I'll follow him to the ends of the earth, thanks to him the clans can't Lord over us and it's us bullying them."

"Yea right, we're not at earth this is Hell"

"Hahaha"

"And watch how you bully the clans, the big boss punished a few of us for going overboard yesterday."

"Yea yea"

Everyone gazed at V who was fighting fiercely with the Demon in the distance.

At first there was a bit of a inner resentment V said he would monopolize the crystals but after a while it was clear that it wasn't a bad choice.

'Yeah. It's already hard for us to have a look at crystals… It's better for that guy to grapple around with Demons and for us to all ascend together alive.'

20th day of the defense at this moment.

The amount of people alive was a huge number of 1600.

400 had died but if they had gone up against the demon, and if the crystals were set loose as well as if the clans and the warrior union a.k.a. clan clashed, then the number of the people alive and dead would be reversed.

But V, who had cut off the Demon's neck, looked at the blood trickling down his blade in a semi trance like state.

'….Now the hidden piece will activate.'

Defensive Battle.

It really didn't suit his personality.

But despite that, he had been focusing on the defense whilst jumping around back and forth and killing off demons constantly while improving upon his fighting style, the fights told him what to expect and prepare for and thereby change his stance and approach with his Tai Chi.

The stepping stone was hard to use in battle for inexperienced chicks like himself but it was still a great boon to his battles.

He was managing with his best ability in order to gain crystals to arm himself and to set up the rules so no internal fights occurred.

He hadn't even taken a step towards the Demon Lord's Castle because he was also taking care of those who were trying to aim for his back.

Since as long as the hidden piece didn't activate, there was no point in going to the Demon Lord's Castle.

His puppet was destroyed the day before, and he had witnessed it's final moments as they fought together and he collected the items it gathered. There was no way to restore its pieces but he still kept the fragments as a souvenir and token.

It was surprisingly easy after he got used to commanding them, they followed his orders with little to no conflicts with each other, the true Clans clashed with them a bit but they always ended up punished.

They all had also gotten stronger as well, so he kept alive 1600 , which was unheard of.

And when this happened, the fairy, who couldn't watch the peacefulness of the people, appeared and the hidden piece got activated.

'It's here.'

"Hello! Everybody! It's already the 20th day! The people here have really defended well! Normally there's only around 500 alive by now."

At these words the people made expressions full of pride as they still grinded their teeth.

Since it felt like they f.u.c.k.e.d the fairy up from the fact that they dodged the hidden motives of the fairy and had defended in such an excellent way.

'If it stays like this…then we can ascend without many problems'

But the fairy grinned as it looked at those people.

"But what do we do. It gets really bad from now on. Everyone, do you even know how to get out of this island?"

Everyone mumbled about at those words.

How could they know such a thing?

The fairy laughed as it spoke.

"Very simple. After a month, a portal will open from the crystal you guys had been defending. You guys can ascend higher through that."

"Huh…"

"But there is a very slight problem. That crystal has a limit. Only 500 people can leave through that crystal."

"…"

"What to do? Too many survived. Usually I don't even need to come out… since occasions where more than 500 people surviving don't happen often."

Everyone's expressions started to gain an edge.

The current survivors were 1600.

And if they defend in this spirit then at least 1300 could live.

However, the amount that could leave was 500.

But then the fairy grinned whilst watching these people.

"Don't worry too much. There's a place with a much larger crystal! There's more than enough for all of you to escape through in that place!"

"…where is that?"

As someone asked, the fairy grinned as it pointed to the Demon Lord's Castle which could be seen from afar.

"Over there. It normally doesn't work but… I'll start it up now. Heehee"

Hooooong.

At those words, a grand noise started to resonate from one location within the Demon Lord's Castle and everyone who heard it grinded their teeth.

And at the same time the people started to split up.

And Vicente also had a cold expression.

'It starts.'

Actually, this was more of a surprise event if you looked at it differently.

It was a hidden piece that didn't happen unless the requirement of more than 50% living by the 20th day has been accomplished.

Since if it was below that, the numbers would reduce to below 500 whilst defending.

Ironically too many people had survived.

While other teams couldn't even keep 200 alive out of 2000 on average, He had kept over 1000 people alive before the 20th day arrived.

It was the result of firmly rejecting the mini-crystals and combining the people's strengths.

To head towards the Demon Lord's Castle despite the dangers.

Or defend and defend… and have a huge battle royale in order to choose the 500 in the end.

Sssssssssskkkkk

Boooooooommmm

Shatter.

The crystal was shattered suddenly without warning.

A black katana with blue engravings on its hamon with a dual coloured black and light blue handle was grasped by a sturdy delicate looking hand.

It shattered the otherwise tough crystal into pieces in and instant.

They all knew what it was as they had all seen it on the catalogue, their first time seeing it wasn't even today, as it was used several times in the last few days.

"What the f.u.c.k!"

"Who did that!?"

"Which b-"

They all cursed loudly but the words got stuck on their throat upon seeing him and they obediently shut, up, they merely followed after him silently, No one dared to disturb this murderous tyrant and his methods were usually right as well.

Thanks to him, an astonishing amount of 50 people died on his side. They were the weak ones who were going to be weeded out anyways. It was obvious that he had the skills, strength, intelligence and charisma to lead so no one defied him. It was the true clansmen who suffered substantial losses among them.

They could only watch as the commander of their oppression got stronger and stronger, and his troops grow more obedient to his rule, his clan of clanless men even surpassed theirs that were created through traits. It was an absolute disgrace.

They couldn't even speak to him for trivial matters and were told to read the mood and body language.

It was sickening to know that, they had realized what to do after he walked ahead, follow him to the Demons Castle, they didn't have to but they wasted their valuable brain power on cursing and thinking about their situation.

On the other hand, his men had skipped all the complex issues and decided following all his orders were best as they grew stronger, stayed alive and didn't have to worry about being backstabbed as he would make an example as he already has with several of such people.

A clansman who had been sent below came back as he spoke.

"…The dungeons are closed."

"Tsk."

It seemed like the dungeon closed along with the appearance of the fairy.

Which meant that leaving was indeed the better option.

Since they'll just get piled up if they stay here.

Kurrurru.

As the crystal shattered, the island started to shake in a rough manner.

And then the fairy's voice resonated from the air.

<Let's see. There's 13 days and 10 hours until the island falls. Heehee. I give my praises for such courageous actions. Be strong until then!>

Everyone made a complicated expression at those words but then shook their heads as they headed towards the Demon Lord's Castle.

Vicente was overflowing with confidence from the runes he bulked up on through hunting, with the combined might of his new weapon, he had the confidence to do well.

<Wrath of Juto>

A katana with a peerlessly sharp edge and an amazing skill attached to it.

<Wrath>

It strengthened the all users stats by a huge 40% and caused confusion in both living and non living entities.

Worth 60 crystals.

It was only possible to obtain by monopolizing all crystals to this point so not many,I f none, had ever used this blade except for him.

He grew increasingly familiar with how to use it after fighting with it for a while, it was now, that he understood what a truly good weapon was worth. This and his ever handy/ footy stepping stone were key components in his victories.

Especially, Stepping stone that eased the burden on fighting demons quite a bit.

He had gotten a few useful artifacts from his puppet as well but nothing compared to those two, except for maybe the 40 regeneration runes, those were treasures in and of themselves.

He had the confidence to defeat the first gate keeper with this and knowledge from the novel as well as the troops at his beck and call.

******************

The three gateways they needed to go through in order to get to the Demon Lord's Castle.

Door of Bones, Door of Flesh and Door of Blood.

Vicente quickened his footsteps towards the first gateway in the distance, the Door of Bones.

He also glanced behind him from time to time.

'Good'

Ironically due to him, all the self centered selfish bastards cared for one another as they realized that doing so was the same as taking care of themselves. They walked with confidence and certainty within their steps, with a tinge of cautiousness apparent within their faces.

It was an unfamiliar and new environment after all.

He was getting stronger and stronger, fighting was a key component but even more so was collecting the runes of the fallen unceremoniously, he also killed off clan members of his semi rivals in the chaos of battle whenever he could.