"What a weirdo," was the first thought Adrian had as he raised his guard against the freak licking the blood of victims from his rapier.
"Well, would you look at that, you actually woke up!!" the maniac had a crazed smile.
"I'm guessing you're the perpetrator of the incident here…" Adrian said, barely managing to let out a chuckle of disbelief as he stared at the scattered bodies across the entire area, numbering close to 100.
"That would be correct!! I'm glad you could recognize my work!"
The maniac scratched his head. "When I woke up, I felt this weird lullaby ushering me to sleep, but I fought it and as you can see, reaped the rewards!!" The maniac extended his arms while having a euphoric expression on his face.
"You're talkative, aren't you?" Adrian disappeared from his spot, prompting the maniac to look all around him in search of him.
"Come out, you little rat!" the maniac yelled out.
"Sorry, but I don't really have time for psychos like you." Adrian reappeared in front of the maniac and thrusted his sword.
The maniac, unable to fully deflect the attack, readjusted its direction to hit his shoulder instead of his heart.
"Hahaha!! If you think that's enough to deal with me, then you're in for a bad time, you pathetic prince!!" the maniac retaliated with a rapier thrust of his own aimed directly at Adrian's heart.
"Haha, you really thought that was my attack?" Adrian chuckled as he pulled out a dagger from his holster, stabbing it deep inside the maniac's head.
"A-agh…" the maniac stumbled about until he fell on the ground, foaming.
"Maybe that will help reset your brain, maniac." He wiped the sweat off his forehead.
'I should be able to last another fight without using a health potion,' Adrian thought to himself.
His eyes looked up towards a magic holograph showcasing the remaining survivors in the magical realm.
[860 remaining participants!]
"Haha! That's my disciple!!" Arthur couldn't help but laugh from seeing the progress his disciple achieved.
"Your Majesty seems to be proud of the prince," the butler, Abraham, noted.
"Eh, he still has a long while before I can be proud of him," Arthur said, secretly proud of Adrian.
On the other side, the emperor could be seen looking silently at his son.
"…"
Elsewhere, Aria could be seen fighting against a certain purple-haired girl.
"So you're the girl that Adrian was seen with," Kaya said, a frown on her face.
"And you are?" Aria said in a kind voice; however, she was already preparing three separate spells to kill Kaya.
"Your nightmare." A spell materialized from Kaya's hands.
Whoosh.
A huge ice spear was heading towards Aria; however, she activated a flying spell, avoiding the attack entirely before using a double-layered spell consisting of both electricity and water.
"Tch." Kaya clicked her tongue and activated a barrier spell; however, some of the spell ended up penetrating the barrier, hurting her.
"Agh!" She created 30 homing ice bullets, all heading towards Aria.
"I'd like to see you try to dodge this!!"
"Who said I would dodge that?" Aria smirked before reading the very intricacies of the spells.
'Every spell is, in the end, readable and reversible,' she thought to herself as the ice bullets disappeared.
"What?" Kaya's eyes widened in surprise.
"You… Can you deconstruct spells? How are you so powerful?!"
Aria muttered something underneath her breath.
"Funes fati, prohibete hunc peccatorem ne plura peccata committat."
"An incantation-enhanced spell?!" Kaya looked down, sensing a surge of mana.
Only to see a golden rope holding her by her feet.
"Huh? A restraint spell? How could that help you—" Kaya heard sounds of stomping.
Around 10 participants were coming this way.
"You should really learn to deal with your anger issues," Aria snickered.
"I'll leave you to deal with that." She waved goodbye before flying away.
"Tch, she got me. Is this the end?" Kaya looked around.
'They'll be here in 10 seconds, but…' Kaya hesitantly continued, not believing what her ears were hearing, 'why are they screaming "mommy"?'
"Ahhh!!! M-monster, run!!!""Seriously, how is that fair? What is up with that skill? Wasn't he supposed to be infamously weak?!""Mommy… I only participated because of a lost bet, I don't want to get hurt here!!" the group yelled out.
"Could it be… are they talking about who I think they are?" Kaya used a magnification spell to get a better look at the situation.
In the distance, a green-haired man could be seen chasing the 10 participants.
"Hey you!! Come back here, I promise I'll make it swift." A devilish smile was plastered on his face.
"Brother?!"
"Huh? Kaya!! Hold on, let me deal with these buffoons."
Adrian's playful smile stopped, replaced with steady breathing. He held his sword and exuded ki over it, materializing into sword aura.
"S-sword aura?! And at such a level, it must be close to second rate, how did he—" but before she could question what was going on, a slash that could best be described as a mountain lion's pounce descended on all 10 of the participants.
[The system has recognized usage of a martial art!]
[Warning! Warning! Due to body anatomy, the martial art will be at 50% efficacy!]
[Using active skill: Mountain Lion Descent!]
Swoosh.
"H-help us…" one of the participants reached out to Kaya before—
All of them were cut in half.
During the blood rain, Adrian could be seen sheathing his sword in the midst of it all as the one true perpetrator of a beautiful martial art, one that looked eerily similar to the Swordmaster King during his prime.
"Ah, that was sloppy, I could have cut them better." Blood started flowing out from every crevice of Adrian's body.
"B-brother?! Are you okay??" She tried reaching him, but the rope kept her in place.
"Don't worry about me, Kaya," Adrian reassured her.
"Just make sure not to die or get put in traps." He looked briefly at the rope before escaping.
"Adrian, wait!" Kaya extended her hands outwards, but her brother had already left.
'It seems he has really improved…' she stood in deep thought, revisiting old memories from when they were younger.
She got out of her daze, yelling, "Well, I can't stand here all day and be left in the dust, could I? First things first, let's get rid of these ropes…?"
When she looked down at her feet, she saw the ropes, cleanly cut.
"Did Adrian do this?" She noticed a drop of blood on her shoe.
"Still, he is hurt…" she looked up towards the sky.
"Please be safe, dear brother."
"Ah, damn, did I overdo it?" Adrian sat in a cave, chugging a health potion.
"I have been practicing these martial arts for the past week, but application really is a completely different beast…" Adrian sighed.
"I think I'll rest for now…" Adrian closed his eyes, heading into sleep.
When he woke up, he was confronted by a beautiful green-haired lady.
"Adrian! How many times must I tell you not to go near the main castle?"
"Sorry, Mother…" a young Adrian replied.
'Huh? Is this another memory? Or is it just a dream?' Adrian thought to himself, his mother continuing.
"Seriously… do you know how worried I was for you? That place harbors bad people!"
'Let me test something…' Adrian extended his hand, reciting a heal spell to calm his mother.
Then a warning window he was intimate with appeared in front of him.
[This is a memory being replayed. Changing such memories is strictly prohibited!]
'Ah, so it really is a memory.'
"What are you doing?" Adrian's mother looked at him, confusion on her face.
"I got you something, Mom!" young Adrian took out a flower crown from his bag.
"Ehehe… this is the reason why I went near the main castle, they have the prettiest flowers there!" He scratched his chin nervously.
Adrian's mom's eyes started tearing up.
"M-mom?! Are you okay? Is it that bad?" young Adrian hugged his mother, worry in his eyes.
"No, honey," she sniffed. "It's great, it just reminded me of your father." She used her sleeves to wipe her tears away.
"What is my father like?" young Adrian asked curiously.
Adrian's mom grabbed her son by the shoulders, looking him dead in the eye.
"He is a bad man, honey, a man you should never meet, okay?"
Adrian opened his eyes, stalagmite water falling on his head.
"Bad man, huh?" he muttered to himself before sensing the scent of fire.
He got up and looked outside the cave to see—
The entire forest was on fire.