Lucky kneeled on the middle of the road, with a Two-Headed Cerberus being in front of him. The monster was staring back at him, drool coming from its mouth mixed with the blood of the animals it had probably claimed. For it to be there was because it chased the injured cat that Lucky held in his hands, which was bleeding from a large bite on the neck.

“Do not move,” the Decisive Player advised him in his mind.

“I know that,” thought Lucky, glaring menacingly back at the monster, “but the cat is injured and needs treatment.”

“We have no choice. If you move, the monster will strike, and you don’t have a weapon to defend yourself with.”

“Maybe, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing while this cat bleeds to death.”

“She won’t die.”

“Why are so confident about that?”

“I’ll tell you once we get out of this mess,” the Decisive Player said firmly. “Now, stay focused because it could change its mind and leap at you the moment you drop your guard!”

“I know!”

Thus, Lucky ended up kneeling there with the cat in his arms, facing the fearsome monster. Time seemed to have been frozen from their encounter, with no movement coming from either side. A few minutes later, Lucky heard a familiar voice calling out his name from his home.

“Lucky! Lucky! Where are you? Your mom’s calling! Come back wherever you are!”

The Demon girl’s voice was loud and carried all the way out on the street. Then, as if noticing him standing just outside the entrance, she smiled and called to him.

“Lucky, what are you doing on the road? Come here.”

Contrary to her expectations, he remained frozen to the spot staring in front of him at the monster that she could not see. He wished he could somehow let her know of the danger that was right in front of him, but he was afraid to open his mouth because the slight movement might upset the balance and trigger the monster into attacking him.

Sumara became concerned when he remained frozen on the spot and appeared as though he did not hear her. So, she slowly walked towards him with a questioning look on her face.

“What are you doing, Lucky? Why aren’t you responding?”

“Because I can’t,” he thought as he was unable to reply to her, faced with the danger before his eyes.

She gradually drew closer and noticed the look on his face, which made her narrow her eyebrows in seriousness. The worried look on her student’s face told her immediately that everything was not alright and that he was in no position to respond to her. So, she slowly edged closer to the entrance and peered out in the direction that he was looking at.

Her eyes widened with shock the moment she saw the monster standing there, blood dripping from its mouth as it faced her student. She instantly recognised it being a monster known as the Two-Headed Cerberus and instantly realised it was eying him as if it wanted to have him as its next meal.

“This isn’t good,” she thought with worry. “If Lucky moves even a little bit, the monster will attack, and he doesn’t have a sword to defend himself with.”

While withdrawing her head back, she contemplated on what must be done to get him out of that tricky situation. That was when it hit her, and she looked at her hands before clenching them and nodding her head firmly as she came to a decision.

So, the Demon girl leapt out of the entrance and shouted, “Hey!”

The moment she shouted, the monster turned his attention on her and momentarily forgot all about Lucky.

“Get out of the way!” She shouted to her student.

At the same time, the monster realised what had happened and growled viciously before charging towards them. Without saying a word, Lucky scooped up the cat in his arms and dived out of the way as the monster narrowly missed him. Once he was out of harm’s way, Sumara stood on the road and aimed her hand towards the monster. By then it had stopped its charging and turned around to come back at them.

“Oh, Spirits of Wind, come forth and blast my enemy away!”

As the monster charged at her, the wind suddenly began to blow rapidly around her before it swept towards the charging monster. In an instant, the strong impact from the fast blowing wind blasted the monster into the air and caused it to soar into the distance before disappearing from sight.

“Phew!” Sumara said, breathing a sigh in relief and turning to look at her student. “We’re safe now. Are you okay, Lucky?”

“Yes. I’m fine,” he said, nodding at her in return. Then he turned to her and held the cat out while saying, “Please, heal her, miss.”

His teacher was, at first, surprised to see the small wounded animal. But then she nodded in agreement and aimed her hand at it.

“Oh, Spirits of Light, come forth and recover the injuries of this poor soul.”

As soon as she finished chanting the spell, the cat’s body got surrounded by a green glowing light. They watched as the blood around its body vanished and the wound sealed itself until nothing of it remained. Once the light died down, the cat slowly opened its eyes and peered at their savours.

“There. All better,” said Sumara with a smile.

“Great!” Lucky said happily, slowly caressing the cat’s body.

The small black cat slowly lifted its head and seemed to look around in surprise. Then it tilted its head to look at the boy that saved it. Lucky could see that the cat had small black beady eyes that seemed as though it was looking through him. She purred and turned her body to lick his palm, which made him to chuckle from the ticklish sensation.

“You’re all fine now,” he said with a grin and let the cat down on the ground.

While the two of them looked intently at each other, Sumara asked him, “So, Lucky, how did you find the cat and end up meeting that monster?”

“Oh. Yeah,” he said, looking distractedly up at her.

“How am I supposed to explain I came out because you ordered me to?” Lucky thought, asking the Decisive Player for help.

“Just tell her that you heard a cat crying in pain and came to check it out, which was when the monster came out,” replied the wandering spirit.

“Thanks!” Lucky thought and conveyed the message to her while making it sound like he thought it up on his own.

His teacher nodded in understanding and said, “That’s very observant of you, Lucky. Although, going out without a weapon in hand, I wonder what you were thinking?”

As she looked sternly at him, he smiled sheepishly and replied, “Sorry, miss. I didn’t think a monster would show up.”

She shook her head and did not take it light, going so far as to scold him about it.

“That kind of carelessness could get you killed out there,” she said in a serious voice. “Once you’re outside your home, it’s a dangerous game of life and death, and you must be at the top of your form to survive the harshness.”

“Yes,” he replied, his smile was gone, and he tilted his head down in sadness.

Just as he was thinking that he might have done something bad, his teacher smiled and said, “At least, it’s good that you saved the cat, so I’ll let you off on this one, okay?”

“Really?” He asked her, and when she nodded with a smile, he grinned and said, “Thank you, miss!”

At that moment, the cat purred happily, and they both looked down to smile at it. A moment later, Lucky remembered about the monster and asked her teacher about its whereabouts.

“I sent it flying away,” she replied easily.

He blinked in surprise and asked, “Flying away? To where?”

“To there,” she said, moving onto the road and pointing in the direction it flew away in.

Once he looked in the direction she pointed to, his eyes widened in shock as he realised the town was in that direction.

“Miss,” he began slowly, looking very worried, “the town is in that direction.”

“Huh?” She asked him, blinking in surprise and looking in that direction as well. Then, as she remembered about the town being in that direction, she gritted her teeth and muttered, “Damn. I forgot about that.”

“The town’s in danger!” Lucky said urgently in a concerned voice.

“It’s fine, Lucky,” she said with a smile as she reassured him. “The town is full of adventures that can handle a single monster like that thing. Don’t worry about it and just relax.”

“Oh. Okay,” he said, nodding in agreement and going silent as he turned to face the direction that the town was in.

As they watched, smoke slowly started to rise into the sky from where the town was. That only meant that something bad was happening there.

“Miss!” Lucky said, turning to her and pointing at the rising smoke. “I think something’s wrong!”

His teacher did not immediately reply as she too saw the rising smoke with a serious look on her face. Sumara felt annoyed at her misjudgement in sending the monster flying away in that direction, feeling it was her responsibility to correct her mistake.

“You stay here, Lucky, while I head over to the town,” she instructed him briefly.

He saw her aim her hand at the ground and was about to chant when he exclaimed, “I’m coming with you!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“I said no!”

“I want to come!” Lucky replied stubbornly. “It’s my fault that I went out without a sword with me, miss! I have to go!”

She looked at him and saw the determination in his eyes, making her wish she could say, “What makes you think a kid, such as yourself, could do what no adult can?!” However, she knew those words would devastate him and it was not her wish to harm her student in any way. Because he looked so determined to tag along, she sighed and thought about the positive side of coming with her.

“At least, he can experience in how to defeat a monster,” she thought and smiled.

“Alright. Let’s go,” she said to him.

He nodded and said, “I’ll go tell mom and get my weapon,” and she nodded in understanding.

So, Lucky hurried into his house and spoke to his mother, who exclaimed in a loud voice in shock. Not waiting for her to stop him, he hurried out of the house and to the shed only to return in a few seconds with a sword he had used in that morning’s training.

“I’m back,” he said to her with a smile.

“What the heck is this?” She asked, looking startled by the state the sword was in.

“I used it this morning in today’s training, and dad used the Weapon Force in his hand to cut it off to show me how it worked,” he explained its backstory.

She shook her head and said, “Honestly…! Whatever, you got a weapon, and that’s good enough. Let’s go!”