Grrrrrr….Gwaahhhaaaa…

As both Airi and Yui stared towards the forest they saw the trees and the vast overgrowth of ferns shake violently.

A giant beast covered in grey and black hairs charged towards the river as it stopped to see two young girls in front of it.

“Roaaaarr…arrghhhhhh……” the roars of the beast pierced the clear sky and dented Yui’s and Airi’s eardrums who were only accustomed to each other’s soft voices and whispering.

Airi tried to analyse the beast. At first she had thought it could have been a bear. She would have rather felt relieved if it had been one. If it was something she knew previously no one could defeat her.

But what stood in front of her was a creature. An abomination. Its face the ugliest, an evident characteristic of its un-evolved species and savageness.

Huge body, twice the size of a bear, thick forefoot, sharp fangs and claws. Terrifying eyes and intimidating.

“Airi what’s that?” Yui whispered as she breathed heavily. Fear got hold of her heart, the two stood petrified. Making sure not to alarm the beast.

“I don’t know. It just means that it is something not of this world.” Airi accepted her lack of information on the subject as she gritted her teeth not believing her own words. But she knew a much better term to describe the thing in front of her ⸺ a monster.

Airi realised quickly that they needed to run and the stick poles would be of no help if the enemy itself was an apocalypse. Airi resolved herself to run as she was about to signal Yui, her own legs froze up.

“Groaaaahhhhhh….” Another scream and Airi fell on her legs as if some kind of paralysis had left her legs numb. She slumped to the ground. No matter what she did she could not wake up.

“Airi…” Yui couldn’t help but, reached to Airi’s side to protect her. In that few seconds Airi was lying on the ground, the beast approaching them.

Yui too knew her limits. As she already had a wound on her back. But now if she did not run quickly she would die. Fight for now was out of the question.

But Yui just couldn’t run without her partner, abandoning her behind was never a part of her. Unlike the last time she could not carry Airi around because her burn marks was still fresh and open. They wouldn’t have been able to get that far anyway.

“Airi, do you trust me? I lov…” Before Yui could complete her words she was interjected in between.

“I do.” Airi yelled a she tightly held onto Yui’s sleeve.

“Then run away. And let me take care of this for you. You know what each of us can do.” Yui said with desperate eyes. Though she could not finish her previous words, and now she considered it unnecessary.

This couldn’t be her final goodbye again.

“Yui, don’t do this. We should escape together.” Airi said as she already knew the implications and reality of those words. There was no more than a few meters gap left between the monster and them. Airi legs trembled as she saw Yui picking up the stick and heading in the direction of the monster. She wanted to move. But the numbness still did not disappear from her legs.

Yui who failed to save her most precious thing despite her absolute strength; the two were left to die miserable deaths in the fire at the love hotel.

Yui didn’t knew why they were supposed to die together at love hotel but they were ultimately saved. But she could not fail for a second time. Though it would be too cruel on Airi to leave her behind while Yui went to fight. At the same time Yui did not wanted to get Airi hurt.

And she had no plans to die either. The resolve in Yui’s eyes were clearly visible to Airi. Even if she wanted to stop her, only broken words scrambled out of her mouth. She knew Yui’s true feelings just wouldn’t listen to words alone.

‘Airi is important to me. Her face, her words, her voice, her body and her personality. She is precious to me in her very existence. I won’t let anyone try to snatch that from me again.’ Yui muttered to herself, making sure Airi did not hear this and she could focus on what was coming at her.

“Come at me you beast.” Yui gave out a war cry. Against a strong large monster, the best way for someone smaller in comparison to have an advantage in fight was to get in close proximity.

Yui who was a master in martial arts and staff combat. Knew exactly what moves to take as her soft elastic leg muscles over which Airi used to rest her head were now showing their true fierce nature.

The next moment, the beast approaching and swinging its claws up, bringing it down successively, succeeding to draw a line from it. The air zapped through that very locus.

Yui put her feet forward and the legs that moved like a trained master of combat arts she throttled the staff straight into the monster’s abdomen.

SHHHH…….BRRR..aarrrr…

The monster raged as the pole hit its abdomen hard, but at the same time the damage made the pole-stick shatter into two.

Yui who now held the two pieces in her hand had no option but to dodge the next attack. A slap attack came from up as Yui’s quick reflex made her to shift her body right.

“Graaahhhaaaaa…” The frustration of the monster was clear from its tensed creases and with the uncivilised loud noises it continuously made.

Yui knew that if the monster claws hit her; a neck of a delicate high school girl will be surely ripped off. And if the swung fist came down with a single blow on her, she would be turned into a lump of meat.

Yui already had the back pain which reduced her agility. So, all she could do was shift sides at most. But she also knew that if she moved from the way then the beast would go after Airi.

‘Move! Faster!’ Airi though to herself. As she was now barely able to move her legs.

Seeing Yui struggle against the monster had left her with a heavy heart. She was again becoming a burden for Yui and she would absolutely hate it if Yui was injured on her behalf.

And if Yui died…, if that were to ever happen then Airi would have taken her own life. She was not suicidal but her life would be meaningless if Yui was not there in it.

She might have preferred dying inside the love hotel and happy to know she died in Yui’s arms but getting killed by a beast was unacceptable. And looking at Yui she knew she just couldn’t give up when her girlfriend was fighting out there to protect her with her own life.

Airi reaffirming her strong determination. She knew she had to do something. To use her intellect to get them out of this situation.

“Yui. Yui. I am going to save Yui.” Airi wished. An urgency to saver Yui’s life that was equivalent to her own.

To her surprise, she found some power inside her that came to her so naturally, she didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed it before. It was like this power always existed inside of her. But in this state of emergency, it now blossomed like a blood red rose inside her eyes.

[ Unique Skill : Connect — Concept Domination ]

[Awakening ⸺ Mystic Eyes]

Confused by the mysterious sensation, Airi tried to draw it out from

within her. Huh, It’s actually intuitive. She guessed it just by looking at the strange creation marks that blinked on her retina.

She focused on her eyes and the situation. Her eyes glows with a hint of red that contrasted sinisterly to her stunning white hairs, reflecting the sunlight everywhere.

[ Activating skill : The Eye of the World ]

Millions of letters started floating in front of Airi’s eyes as she read them all, which might had been otherwise impossible. But for Airi, whose IQ had been attested to be at the level of geniuses of the era, it was an easy job.

Like now she understood the concept of this entire world. Without doubt she could say that this world was not the one they lived in.

In fact, she somehow might had traversed universes with Yui and landed here. How that happened she did not knew?

Bu that was not her concern for now.

She looked at the monster to which Yui was fighting against so bravely.

Yui was impossibly dodging every attack the beast threw at her. But Airi knew Yui was reaching her limit as her movements dulled. She knew Yui was moving fast and so the beast tried even faster.

But to Airi’s new found power they appear to be moving in slow motion.

New words floated in air above everything Airi saw. She could even see a mixture of golden blue light leaking everywhere from Yui. And a much similar red aura leaking in larger amounts from herself.

The trees appeared to be labelled as to what should be the names of these new worldly flora. That much she understood. Airi was no stranger to the game mechanics as she easily drew out the analogy.

Despite her studious nature, Airi was also an excellent programmer and had even developed her own games which made huge sales in the market. Obviously all money she earned was then spent majorly on Yui’s athletic classes and training, then came the love hotel expenses and lastly fulfilling her appetite.

Airi felt she was connected to the World’s consciousness as a piece of the world itself fell inside her brain.

Everything felt like magic, or rather everything slowly turned into magic itself around her. Her whole perspective of the world changed in mere seconds and she adapted to it like she had always been there.

All this happened in a matter of few seconds.

And when Airi concentrated on the monster.

A status plate like imagery floated above it.

***

{Red Demonic Bear LV80}

Skills : Throwing LV5, Punch LV5, Claw Strike LV6, Paralysis Cry

***

Now, Airi knew why she fell on the ground and got paralysed. A clear expression of hatred for the demonic bear surfaced on her face.

As she further focused her eyes and peered deeper into what Yui and the monster was doing.

Airi who was now to some extent aware of the working concept of the world. Was also now aware of the guiding force and new energy existing in this world called Magic.

A new form of etheric energy invisible to eyes that could alter the laws of nature on visualising the guiding force and manipulating that energy inside of them.

But with Airi’s unique skill; she could see the flow of magic even on atomic level and the magic veins that ran inside the beast’s body. It was of black colour.

And by the flow she could tell that the skin of the monster was sturdy. There was no sharp weapon in their vicinity that could have pierced through it and killed it.

Further observation revealed Airi, a blind spot at the monster’s back neck, where there was lesser flow of black magic inside the monster compared to other parts that were soaked in it.

Airi instinctively concluded it to be its weak spot.

Calling out to Yui she happily sent her words across and she knew, or she had full confidence that Yui was the only one who could get the job done.

The reason was simple, it was their ⸺ Trust.

It was the purest thing in the entire world and this world was jealous of it.

“Yui! Attack at the back of its neck with the pointed end of the stick. Together we can do this.” Airi cheered from far as she pointed out the monster’s weakness to Yui fighting on the frontline.

“Yes!” Yui replied instinctively as she received the message and strategized accordingly to carry out the rest of the plan.

In her heart she knew if Airi hadn’t given up, then there was always a way out and nothing could have gone wrong in her supervision. The only thing left to do was to end this all with a blow and take down their enemy.

***