John was taken to a sort of field, a clearing designed to test the combat abilities of people in one on one combat.

Elfin Ring unsheathed his sword and stood in a sort of pose, his body straight and ready. While the clothes he was wearing were ornamental and fancy, suggesting that he was nothing more than a pretty face, he was clearly one familiar with combat.

“Well? Let’s begin.”

John cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “So, uh…, I just attack you? Is that it?”

“Precisely.”

There was a small smile on the face of the head of the adventurer’s guild as if he knew something John didn’t. It made John uneasy, but he didn’t really care. He tapped the side of his head as his left eye began to glow.

“Power: x1000.”

His legs bent, then pushed off with explosive energy, shooting himself forward. The look on Elfin’s face changed ever so briefly to surprise, but then his body relaxed again as he sidestepped the attack and struck back, his sword flashing in the light. John gave a shout of surprise, then pushed off the ground again and barely dodged.

“Impressive!” Elfin chuckled. “It seems I’ll need to try a bit harder then.”

A sort of aura began to emanate from the man as the wind picked up in the arena they were fighting in. John grit his teeth, now slightly more cautious but still not bothering with a plan.

“Bring it on.”

Suddenly, Elfin vanished. John’s eyes went wide as he felt a small gust of wind behind him, ducking and spinning around to deliver a kick. Elfin’s sword redirected the blow, causing John to fall onto his back. He quickly pushed himself back up, shooting forwards with terrifying speed, then feinting back as Elfin’s sword almost pierced his arm.

Elfin vanished again, reappearing behind John who reacted just in time for Elfin to disappear again. Suddenly, he felt a slash on his back, crying out as blood was drawn.

“You have impressive combat knowledge, but you can’t seem to think more than a single step ahead…” John heard.

He grunted and got back up, dusting his clothes off.

“Mm, sure. But then it would be pretty embarrassing if you were beaten by someone who can’t think?”

“Interesting. I wouldn’t expect that many in your position would still be talking about winning.”

“I wouldn’t expect many in your position to still be talking,” John replied, closing his eyes and focusing.

He felt the air moving around him, the currents moving around, and everything was quiet.

“There!” he yelled, striking out with his fist, which collided against the flat side of a sword. Elfin jumped back, an amused look on his face.

“Very interesting,” he grinned. “Did you train under a master martial artist? That’s an impressive technique.”

“I trained under your mother,” John retorted and instantly regretted it. It was a habit for him to say stupid things like that, but he hadn’t meant to say it under circumstances like these. However, his opponent laughed.

“You get more and more interesting by the moment.”

Elfin vanished again, but as John calmed his breathing he responded to each attack, dodging each blow, the pressure in the air increasing as the speed of their attacks continued to grow. Finally, John parried a blow, causing Elfin’s rhythm to be disrupted. Losing no time, he followed up with a low sweep, causing his opponent to lose balance, then charged forwards with a hard punch sending Elfin flying back. Unfortunately, one lucky blow wasn’t enough to do anything to his opponent. The man dusted himself off, adjusted his monocle, and smiled.

“Very well. One last test, I suppose. Anyone else would have passed with flying colors by now, just to let you know.”

His sword began to glow. “I’ll start using mana now.”

John’s eyes widened as Elfin leapt back, then thrust forwards. A small hole appeared in John’s arm as if the blade itself had gone through.

“Fuck!” he gasped, the pain sharp and sudden. He jumped back, but it was pointless as Elfin slashed, and a thin line of blood appeared on John’s chest.

“...fine,” John said. “It’s time for me to pull something else out, too.”

He held his hand out in front of him, and a thin red blade materialized in it, his hand clenching as the grip formed in his palm. Elfin’s eyes widened in amazement. “A mana blade?”

John just smirked. “Let’s go.”

He dashed forwards again, slashing as he parried the invisible blows that Elfin dealt.

“You’re using wind, aren’t you?” John grunted as he felt blood trickling out of the wound in his arm. “Or… are you just so ridiculously strong that the pressure of your blows are reaching all the way here?”

“...” Eflin just smiled as his feet shifted positions, preparing a final attack.

The way his body was set up suggested a sword dance, but John couldn’t be sure. However, he didn’t need to be sure. He kept charging forwards as Elfin lashed out with his sword like an artist painting on an easel, each slash painting another step toward a masterpiece. It wasn’t something John would be able to block. He threw his sword to the ground, the force of the throw knocking him away from the barrage of attacks, avoiding the thing altogether.

“Did you think I would exhaust myself with that?” Elfin ssmiled, immediately performing another sword dance.

“No,” John grinned. “Bosses always have more than one stage.”

Another blade, similar to the first one but pitch black, appeared in John’s other hand, and he leapt up once again avoiding the attack, then crashed down, starting a sword dance of his own.

He held his hand out, and his red blade flew into his hands as he rushed forwards, now wielding two blades. He stabbed and his blow was blocked but continued to strike as Elfin expertly parried the blows.

“Huff… huff…”

John was panting as sweat poured down his face, his heart pounding away in his chest. He could feel the blood pulsating from his core to the tips of his fingers, every breath of wind on his skin as he prepared for Elfin’s next move.

“That’s enough,” the tester smiled, putting away his sword. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face, although there were no signs of perspiration. “You’ve exceeded my expectations.”

John hesitated, still tense. “Does this mean I pass?”

“Yes.”

“Alright!” John exclaimed, all smiles. “So I can watch Prota take the test, right?”

“...? That wasn’t the deal,” Elfin said. “You have one more test to take.”

John’s excitement died down. “...you’re kidding, right?”

“You seemed to enjoy that fight. You don’t welcome another?”

“Welcome another? Are you kidding? Do you know how much work that is?” John grumbled. He sighed and shrugged. “Well, what’s the test?”

Elfin smiled and opened a door.

“...Fate?” John said, cocking his head to the side, giving Elfin a questioning look. “What, you want me to fight this guy?”

“He is the other applicant who did exceptionally well,” Elfin explained. “I would like to see the potential of the new generation pitted against each other.”

Fate said nothing, but calmly walked over to the side and put his sword down. Apparently, he wouldn’t be using it this fight.

“...so I just have to beat him?” John asked. “Is that the test? Sounds pretty straightforward to me.”

“No, not even,” Elfin said. “Just… impress me.”

John snorted. “That’s… a lot less straightforward.”

There were only a few things that made John feel emotions. One was the pain of those he loved, shown when he’d gone on a rampage to save Prota. Another was the feeling of connection with a special someone, again briefly shown with Prota.

However, the feeling of excitement was almost always evoked when fighting against a strong opponent. Elfin had been a strong opponent, but the boy in front of him was getting him even more riled up. The reason for this was Fate’s classification as a [Protagonist].

He didn’t know anything more than that. All he knew was that Fate, which wasn’t even this boy’s real name (probably), was the main character of the story he was currently living in. What kind of person was this protagonist? Who was he? What was his story?

John grinned. He was eager to find out.

Immediately, Fate began by forming a fireball in his hand. John anticipated the trajectory of the spell and cut the spell in half, charging forwards. Fate responded by erecting a wall of earth in front of him then made it fall over, forcing John to get out of the way.

“Not gonna let me get close, huh?” John muttered. “We can play ranged.”

He focused as fire formed in his hands. With a cry, he shook the flames into his blades, causing them to ignite. He slashed, sending two blades of flames forwards, similar to the air blades Elfin had used earlier. There was a big explosion of dust as the flames collided with another pillar Fate erected to defend himself. However, John had been so busy attacking he hadn’t noticed his opponent setting up a counterspell of his own.

“What the-” John started as spikes rose all around him, hovering then crashing down. He was forced to roll out, taking a few hits but otherwise unscathed as he deflected many of the projectiles that were the primary threat.

The dust cleared, and the two opponents stopped to catch their breath and reanalyze the other. John would have been under the impression that Fate was a simple earth/fire mage, except for two very important factors.

One, there was the sword Fate had put away at the beginning of the fight. John assumed Fate wasn’t just carrying a sword around for no good reason. He was likely a swordsman of decent talent, and if he was anything like a stereotypical protagonist he was probably just training his magic skill since they were probably weaker.

This coincided with the second factor, which was that Fate was the [Protagonist]. Typically a [Protagonist] was someone with some kind of extraordinary talent or power. John wouldn’t have been surprised if Fate was actually an insane swordsman who was learning how to use magic. That meant that while he had revealed most of the cards he had to play, Fate likely still had many up his sleeve.

John grinned. “This just gets more and more interesting.”

His grip on his swords tightened as he calmed his breathing down. He closed his eyes, focusing on his surroundings, then dashed forwards, blades slashing through the air, sending fiery cuts flying. Fate rose himself up with a pillar, sending fireballs of his own in return, but John pressed forwards, burns starting to appear all over his body as he leapt up, now within melee range of his opponent. His blades began to blur as he slashed, but Fate was able to keep up, dodging the attacks with ease.

“...you’re not a mage, are you?” John said, staring deep into Fate’s golden eyes. Without a response, the masked boy flipped backwards and launched a barrage of fireballs in return, lighting up the sky with explosions as he fell down to the ground, the earth rising up to catch him. John too leapt off the pillar they’d been fighting on, diving down like a falcon after its prey, pulverizing the ground as he landed.

“...” his eyes glinted as he leapt forwards once more, not giving his opponent time to distance himself and therefore gain the advantage. To John’s surprise, Fate actually began to fight back, using hand to hand combat, but it wasn’t enough against weapons. Fate just wasn’t physically strong enough.

With a final blow, they both leapt away, once more analyzing the battlefield.

“...” John couldn’t tell how tired Fate was behind that black mask of his. It was like fighting a robot. However, he could tell Fate was reconsidering things when his eyes flickered back to his sword, then went back to John. He wasn’t ready to pull it out yet, but he was considering it. Good.

That meant it was time to reveal John’s last card.

With a cry, John dashed back in, swinging as he had the past two times, and Fate looked annoyed as if telling John to do something new.

That was exactly what John intended to do.

Upon getting within range, John swung the blade, and Fate dodged as usual, but then the boy’s golden eyes widened as he realized he’d mistimed the swing of the blade. It had moved way slower than he’d expected.

What was going on?

He leapt backwards, looking at John, and noticed the glow in his red eye had significantly decreased. It brightened again as John dashed back in, his speed going back to what Fate was used to, then immediately decreased along with the light in his eye. The speed and strength of the attacks kept changing at random intervals, and there was no warning or way to know what was coming next.

This fighting style was one unique to John’s ability; it wouldn’t be able to be used by anyone else. While others might be able to change the pace at which they were fighting, no one would be able to do it with the fluidity and randomness John was.

For anyone else, they would have to physically make an effort to use less or more strength. This would cause a slight delay between someone making the decision to change the amount of strength they’re using and the actual action itself. Moreover, it would be highly disadvantageous to change pace all the time as many fighters benefit from establishing a sort of rhythm in combat.

John, however, was keeping the same rhythm the entire time. His unique ability to multiply his power level allowed him to continue to swing with the same amount of strength and yet change pace at the same time. He was, in his own mind, using the same amount of effort throughout the fight. However, by changing his power level he could change the speed and strength at which he swung without any delay or downsides, at any given time, creating an inconsistency that was impossible to keep up with. It was like walking on a moving sidewalk that changed pace at random intervals; the speed at which you yourself walked might be the same, but the speed you moved at would change depending on how fast the sidewalk itself moved.

“Kh!” Fate grunted, leaping back. The boy’s voice was soft but sharp, giving John the impression of someone like a ninja or samurai.

Fate looked back towards his sword once more, and John started charging up one last attack, getting ready to-

“I’ll forfeit.”

John paused, confused. “Wait, wh-”

“I don’t want to fight this man anymore.” With that, Fate spun around, picked up his sword, and left the arena.

“Congratulations!” Elfin applauded, looking equally confused but covering it up. “That was quite the show you two put on.”

John’s body went limp as he stared at the door Fate had left through. “Hold on, hold on. You- you’re telling me I just could’ve given up at any time? Just like that?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Why didn’t you tell me that at the beginning?!” John exploded. He crouched down in a corner and sobbed. “I just did all that for nothing…”

Eflin stared awkwardly at John and sighed. He’d just met two powerful young men, both strange, but incompletely opposite ways.

“Do I at least pass?” John sulked, turning his head around. Elfin laughed.

“Yes, you pass. I’ll let you watch your sister’s exam.” He sighed and looked off into the distance. “I didn’t know what to expect from you, to be honest. All Catherine told me about you was that she’d never met anyone like you. What are you? Some sort of developed weapon?”

“...developed weapon? Those exist?”

Eflin shook his head. “No, but after seeing you I wouldn’t be surprised if one did.”

John sighed and got up, dusting his pants off. “Say, you said you were really impressed, right?”

Elfin nodded, arms crossed.

“What class of adventurer were you thinking of giving me?”

“...A, to begin with, but you’d quickly climb up to-”

“Give me whatever Prota gets.”

The words shocked Elfin, but he quickly regained his composure. “I presume you’d like to stay with her?”

John nodded. “You’re not as stupid as you look.”

“...hey-” Elfin started, but John was already walking away.

The head of the adventurer’s guild let a small smile appear on his face.

“What an interesting pair of boys…”