Hello all~ Thanks for your patience, it's highly appreciated!

Sorry for the fact that this chapter came out slightly later than I had intended, the website went through another maintenance and there was nothing I could do about it. I'm glad the problem was resolved though! C:

Oh? It looks like there's no one new to give a special thanks to this time, well instead, special thanks to everyone who has followed/favourited/reviewed so far. You're the reason this story has reached this far, you keep it alive and for that I'm eternally grateful~! C:

And thanks for your review, SolorCorona! Your compliments are appreciated and I'll use it to further improve the next chapters! C:

And to MitusAura for your review, I'm very sorry but I can't just speed up the story like that, but I promise you'll see what you're looking forward to eventually~! C:

Note: I've been considering the possibility of re-doing the first couple of chapters for the story since they're too short and don't really give a good idea to what the story is all about, or at least that's how I see it. I'm not sure if I should, it might just ruin the story instead...what do you think? Advice on the matter would b highly appreciated and definitely considered~!

Feedback is always welcome and I hope you enjoy~! C:


"Elsword, hurry up, will you? You're falling behind." Aisha groans to the red-haired Knight panting weakly behind her. The Knight was sitting under one of the trees as the Mage ordered him to get back up, the rays of the sun above them was powerful and emitted a lot of heat, both of them were disgustingly sweaty.

"Geez, just how much longer do we have to walk? It's like this forest never ends." The Knight complains as he gets back onto his feet and looks at Aisha, his hair was an absolute mess and his attire was scruffy.

"We have to keep moving and find out where Rena is, the masked man said that he'd bring the three of us back to Ruben, so she has to be around here somewhere."

"This is insane! Just who was that guy, anyway? He seemed pretty darn strong, it's a shame I didn't get to fight him. It could have a good battle."

"This is all because your foolish sister rushed in and tried to attack that weird man, we were all teleported in a rush."

"Hey! Elesis isn't foolish! She's just…not that good with decision-making…"

"That goes for both of you," Aisha retorts as she wipes her sweating forehead with one hand and plays with her staff in the other.

The sound of a large mirror cracking and shattered behind them causes a shiver to slither down their spines as they turn around to see a masked man walk casually out of a blue, cracked void. He waves his right hand out in a friendly manner and chuckles.

"Why, hello there. It's good to see you two rascals again! I apologize for leaving you here with little to no explanation, I was just busy with giving your friends their own challenges to pull through."

"H-How is Sis and everyone else doing?! They'd better not be hurt!" Elsword yells as he unsheathes the sword from behind his back and points it at Glave, the masked man chuckles again and shrugs his shoulders.

"I wouldn't worry about them, they seem dedicated enough to survive the challenges I've set for them. Though…I did give Chung the second-hardest challenge out of all of you…I wonder if he'll make it."

"The second-hardest? Then who got the first?" Aisha questions the masked man calmly, for whatever reason she wasn't in the slightest bit surprised or scared about the situation, contrary to the shaking Knight next to her. Glave takes a daring step forward to the Mage and the Knight and glares at them with his one visible eye.

"I'm afraid you two got the hardest challenge, it's not for any particular reason, I set up these challenges at random. You guys were just unlucky for being the ones to have to fight the most difficult enemy."

"Ha! That's no problem! In fact, I'm actually happy to have the hardest challenge. I'll show you just what I'm made of!"

"Good! That's the spirit. Well then, come on. Kill me." Glave laughs enthusiastically to the two fighters as he holds his hands out and waits for either of them to attack, Aisha raises her left eyebrow and looks confused at the masked man.

"What…? You're the one we're going to fight?"

"Yes, I'm your challenge. I will be your opponent and the one to push you to new limits," The masked man responds in a deep sigh to the Mage, Elsword scratches the back of his head and tilts it to the side.

"And all we have to do to beat this challenge is to kill you?"

"That's correct, just kill me. That's pretty simple right? So, come on!" Glave exclaims to the Knight, Elsword begins to grin as he gets into a battle stance and glares at the strange man before him.

"Are you sure you wanna challenge me, you weirdo? I'll warn you, I'm the best Knight to ever live! Plus, you don't have any weapons or even armor." Elsword snickers like a child as he gradually starts to walk closer and closer to the man with the mask, Glave laughs back at the boy and shrugs his shoulders again.

"Then this should be a breeze for you, Elsword."

"Heh! Now you're just asking for it, Sonic Blade!" Elsword cheers as he leaps forward and swings his sword around him, emitting a red aura that forcefully drags Glave towards him. The masked man doesn't attempt a counter and watches quietly as the Knight takes the opportunity to slash his weapon around.

Glave laughs in amusement as he dodges the slashes of Elsword's sword, one by one, even acting playful as he did so. He stares at the slow, predictable attacks and grabs the sword as Elsword tries to stab it into his chest. The moment the masked man's right hand grabs hold of the Knight's weapon, it comes to a complete halt.

"I'm thoroughly disappointed, I heard that you were a skilled sword user, but this isn't even close to my expectations." The masked man sighs, Elsword growls angrily under his breath and pulls his sword out of Glave's hand.

"You might be fast enough to dodge my normal attacks, but you can't dodge this! Sandstorm!"

Elsword jumps backwards to make some place between him and the masked man and slices his sword through the air, small particles flow softly in front of the Knight before materializing into a large, swirling storm that fires directly towards Glave. The masked man whistles as he watches the furiously-spinning sand drags itself across the ground, and holds out his right hand.

"Interesting, even though you're a Knight that does not utilize magic, you implemented it slightly into your fighting style. Good thing that's it not completely a magic spell though." Glave speaks as the sandstorm comes to a complete halt before colliding with him and gradually sinks back into the earth beneath them.

Elsword stares in utter awe as the storm he created disappears in front of his very eyes, he had never seen anyone that could stop an attack from happening just by pointing their hand at it. He begins to sweat more as the pressure of the battle starts to weigh down on him, he gets back into a battle position and considers what his next move should be. Aisha begins to grin confidently and almost giggles, she takes a few steps backwards from the masked man and stands calmly behind the Knight.

"Did I just hear that right? You're thankful that musclebrain over here can't properly use magic? Why is that?" She questions Glave cheekily, the masked man's visible eyes widen as he realizes that the Mage had figured out the meaning of his words. "You seem almost…afraid of magic."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Elsword asks to the girl behind her while raising an eyebrow, Aisha nods happily at the Knight and holds out her magical staff.

"Alright, Eldork. I'm pretty sure I've found out about his weakness. Keep attacking him with everything you've got, I'll be your support, so make sure to keep him away from me."

"I'm not sure what you're planning on doing but…okay!" Elsword smiles back at Aisha before picking up his sword and running up to the agitated, masked man. He swings his sword left and right, just barely missing Glave.

The masked man keeps leaning from side to side, carefully dodging each one of the sword's swings. The Mage behind the Knight laughs one last time before pointing her staff at the sky and allowing particles of magic to dance around her.

"Let's see if this works! Chain Burst!" She yells confidently as large fireballs of magic burst out of her and fire at the masked man and Elsword, the Knight notices the attack from his ally and steps back quickly.

"You seem pretty proud about your magic, still…it's nothing but-" Glave sighs as he raises his right hand again to dematerialize the attack, however the fireballs do not stop and smash right into the masked man. He yelps in shock as his cloak catches fire and his skin begins to sizzle. "-graaah!" He cries in agony.

Aisha's eyes widen and her mouth almost drops as she realizes that her prediction was correct.

"Hehehe! I knew it! You can somehow cancel out physical attacks, but you can't cancel any kind of magical attack!"

"S-So what…? Your magical might be able to touch me, but it doesn't even comes close to being able to injure me." Glave groans as he almost drops to his knees trying to regain his powerful composure, Aisha immediately points at the surprised Knight and smiles at him.

"That's when you come in, Elsword! Give him the heaviest hits you've got, do it now!" Aisha commands Elsword quickly, the Knight nods in agreement and slices and cuts directly at the masked man.

Glave attempts to lean past the attacks but instead gets hit by every single one of them, he coughs angrily as he becomes stuck in a lengthy combo of slashes by Elsword, the masked man clenches the cube in his right hand and teleports away, making a small amount of distance between him and the speedy Knight.

"Woah, I actually landed some blows on you. You're slowing down a lot, but you can't be out of energy already…" Elsword says to the panting, masked man. Glave clenches his chest with his left hand and glares at the two fighters before him.

"Don't you get it, you idiot? My magical attacks aren't actually hurting him, but they're slowing him down significantly. He became even slower than you."

"Oh, okay! I get it now, then let's keep hitting him, heh!" Elsword chuckles like a child as he rushes up to the silent, masked man and hits him around a couple more times with his weapon.

Glave glares hatefully and quietly at the Knight as he allows himself to continuously be hit by the annoying brat, he refuses to gasp in pain anymore and continues to stay quiet despite the pain emitting through his skinny body from every hit. He growls as the last hit from Elsword's weapon slams into the right side of his skull, he takes two quick steps backwards to catch his breath and prepare a counterattack.

"Oh no, you don't! We're not going to give you time to recover, Water Cannon!" Aisha shouts to the masked man as she waves her wand around and releases dozens of water balls to blast into the panting Glave, the balls travel directly forward in a straight line and crash into his body, Elswod grins and rushes back up to his enemy.

"Windmill!" He speaks with confidence as he holds his sword out and begins to spin around uncontrollably, cutting through Glave's cloak and his flesh. The masked man closes his visible eye and calmly thinks about the situation.

"Kekeke, okay. I see what's going on now. That mage and the boy have figured out that magical spells don't hurt me, but they can slow me down. That's when the Knight attacks, he waits for me to be stunned by one of the girl's spells then attacks me straight afterwards. And they both think this is a flawless battle strategy because I can't reach for the mage, how adorable!" Glave thinks to himself in his head as he casually allows the Knight to continue to smack him around with his sword, no longer showing signs of him being in pain, causing Elsword's smug grin to fade.

"What's going on? He's just letting us hit him!" The Knight mutters as he stops his series of blows and takes a small step back, Glave chuckles and shakes his head.

"It's intriguing, honestly. You two seem to be like oil and water together when you're alone, but as battle partners, you two work very well with each other. Strange, isn't it? Well, I guess even your sudden teamwork isn't enough, since you two still haven't ascended to a new level. Just what should I do to push you over the edge? Hmm…" The masked man contemplates and speaks at the same time to the two confused fighters, Aisha grits her teeth angrily and pulls out a spell book.

"You talk way too much, Lightning-!" She begins to say as dark clouds materialize above her, Glave's visible eye widens as he figures out a plan and teleports behind Aisha,

The masked man holds out his right hand and stabs it clean through the Mage's back, crimson-red blood gushes out of the bloody wound as Glave slowly pulls his hand back out, a dark pool of blood spreads out across the grass beneath them, with the open hole in her stomach acting as the waterfall. Her mouth gradually drops open and she emits a high-pitched gasp before dropping helplessly on the ground like a ragdoll, Elsword stares in utter disbelief at the scene behind him, his mind failing the register what happened as it all happens so fast.

"E-Els…word-!" Aisha gasps weakly as she crawls across the ground and through her own blood, she stares back at the horrified Knight and opens her mouth to say something more, but her eyes close and her head drops as well, Glave glares at the disgusting liquid on his right hand and slowly rubs it off, acting casually about the murder he had just committed. Elsword rubs his eyes a few times and prays that he was just dreaming.

But every time he would open his eyes again, all that was lying in front of him was Aisha's corpse. He eventually lifts his head and looks quietly at the masked man, Glave chuckles again and tilts his head.

"There, this should help. A death of a comrade usually does the trick, it was a shame to have to lose a skilled fighter like her, but I sensed a larger portion of potential in you, so this sacrifice was necessary. So, do you feel any kind of new power? Do you wish to fight me with everything you've got?"

The Knight lowers his head to the point where his eyes were no longer visible, he stays silent as he slowly walks up to the masked man in front of him, walking lifelessly like a zombie as he does so. He raises his left hand and allows a small flicker of flames to appear in his palm. Glave becomes slightly startled as the flame in Elsword's free hand begins to gradually grow, becoming brighter and brighter in the process.

A crazed smile reveals itself to be on the Knight's face as he raises his chin and shows himself again, he places his sword on his right shoulder as the dark flames in his left hand converts itself to a rune with the number three on it, a blanket of yellow light curls around his body and materializes a new set of clothes on him [Rune Slayer Attire]

"Fight you? No, I want to kill you."

Glave grunts with irritation at the Elsword's sudden harsh words, the masked man had never seen this kind of expression on the Knight, even though he had been watching him for a while. He glares silently at the Knight as he slowly approaches but finally chuckles instead as he holds out a blue cube in his right hand.

"That's quite brave and confident of you, Elsword. But can you really-" Glave begins to speak smugly, his words get cut off as a sword slams into his gut and lungs, giving him difficulty to breathe. His one visible eye widens as he coughs out a small amount of blood and teleports away with the blue cube in his position. Elsword immediately darts to where the masked man teleported and raises his left hand.

"You're not going anywhere," Elsword whispers in a monotone, emotionless voice to the startled, masked man as he slams the palm of his hand onto Glave's stomach. "Splash Explosion,"

A giant, yellow rune materializes on Glave's stomach as Elsword quickly takes his hand off of it. He leaps backwards and watches as Glave glares with confusion with the object on his chest, he opens up his mouth to growl something at the Knight but gets interrupted by the sheer pain as the rune suddenly expands and explodes into a fury of flames. The force of the explosion sends Glave rolling backwards across the floor, he gasps in agony and clenches his right hand.

"How…how did you-?! You've never been able to use proper magic before, since when did this happen?! Urgh, never mind. That doesn't even matter, no one can utilize magic to its full potential without training. Let's see just how much that weak improvement will help again this!" Glave cackles as he stands back up and regains his composure, he tosses his blue cube into the air and watches as it splits up and forms into sharp daggers. Elsword glares quietly at the blue daggers and raises his sword before rushing towards the masked man again.

Elsword runs under the shower of daggers and sidesteps to the left and the right, dodging each one of them with precise co-ordination. The last one fires straight towards him instead of falling from above, barely grazing past Elsword's left cheek as he leans his head to the side. Glave stares in disbelief as the Knight catches up to him once more, he leans backwards as the Knight goes for direct slashes and dodges swiftly, much to Elsword's annoyance. The Knight gives up and instead slams his left hand onto the ground.

"Rising Wave!" He cries out as he summons large, magical swords from beneath them, each one cutting through Glave one at a time. The masked man hisses from the pain as the magic causes him to be unable to move. He observes in slow motion as the Knight lifts both of his hands and leaps towards him, he growls in frustration as he cannot do anything but watch.

"Damn this child! It was difficult fighting him when he had a mage on his side, but now he's mixed it into his sword fighting style perfectly…I can't allow him to do this to me! At this rate…I might actually die!" Glave gasps weakly in his head as Elsword grabs him by his cloak and stares directly into his one eye.

"This is for Aisha! Sword Fire, Phoenix Talon, Storm Blade!" The Knight shrieks as he stabs his weapon into the ground and uses his magic to cause fire to erupt around them, burning Glave's skin and causing him to yell in pain.

Elsword then raises his left hand to the sky and causes a phoenix made of flames materialize and forcefully drag him into the sky, Glave gasps and summons a cube into his hand as he falls helplessly back to the awaiting Knight below. Magical sword begin to spin around Elsword like a tornado, ready to slice the masked man into pieces, Glave curses angrily under his breathe and uses his new cube to teleport away just a moment before landing on the spiralling sword beneath him.

Elsword watches quietly as the masked man disappears completely before he could finish him off. The Knight waves his left hand dismissively and stares as the sword around him gradually fade, Elsword raises his head and glares silently at where Glave should have been.

"…coward," Elsword mutters with tears in his red eyes as he drops his sword onto the grass below, the both it and the plantation was staining with the blood of his comrade. He brushes his shaggy, messy hair out of his face and walks slowly up to his friends corpse, and grabs the brown book she had dropped onto the ground, he frantically skims through the pages to find some sort of solution. "Come on…please…I'm begging you…please let there be something here! I'll do anything to-"

His fingers come to a stop and he ends flipping through the pages, as his eyes become fixed on a single page in the middle. He begins to properly cry as he reads the content of the page, staining his face with a red colour as the blood dripping from his skull mixes with his tears.

There was one way he could bring her back, one way he could save her from the horrible fate that she had succumbed to.

But it was going to change her forever.


"I think I've gotten a pretty good idea of what this place is now," Rena mutters quietly to herself as she wanders through the lush, green forest. She raises her left hand's index finger and gives it a quick lick before holding it up into the air.

She closes her eyes and concentrates on the sensation of the wind on her finger, checked the direction of the breeze. The green-haired Elf shakes her head and places her hands on her hips.

"Yes…the wind is flowing in random directions and…" She whispers in deep thought, she drops to her knees and grabs pieces of the grass beneath her, feeling it carefully in her hands. It looked green and healthy, however it was stiff and the surface was undeniably rough. Rena nods her head to herself as she comes to her conclusion.

"…the grass feels like plastic, the clouds in the sky aren't moving at all, and the flow of the wind is completely random. I'm absolutely sure of it now, this place isn't Ruben. This world is so fake I felt like something was off the moment I teleported here. That masked man might have the power to create worlds that could fool ordinary humans, but I can recognize what is nature and what isn't."

"The real world…and the fake one…I hate them both." A voice growls from behind the Elf, Rena takes a quick swing around and notices a scarred, tall man walking towards her. Her face shows a sign of relief as she smiles at him.

"R-Raven! It's so good to see-!" She begins to giggles as she holds out her arms for him, the scarred man hisses and leaps forward while pointing his Nasod Arm out.

"Valkyrie's Javelin!" Raven roars as he slams his robotic arm onto the ground below them, Rena's eyes widen as she backflips away and watches as Nasod javelins appear from out of nowhere and rain down at her. She sidesteps and gasps as she just narrowly dodges the sudden attack.

"Raven! What are you doing?! Please, stop this! What has gotten into you?!" The Elf cries as the scarred man wastes no time and rushes up to the green-haired girl.

"Silence, you all sent Seris to her grave…so I'll send you to yours! Charged Bolt, Bloody Thorns!" Raven yells as he holds his hands out and allows several spiked balls to hurdle towards the Elf. Rena gasps again as she rolls to the side to dodge but grazes past the last spike. She looks anxiously at her leg and notices the deep cut on her right knee, the blood soaks out rapidly, staining the grass beneath her. She turns her head back to the scarred man before her, her expression absolutely horrified.

"W-Why would you…? Don't you recognize me anymore, Raven…? It's me, Rena. Why are you hurting me?"

"I don't know you! You're just another damned human that took everything away from me!" Raven shrieks angrily as the Elf gradually walks closer and closer to him, she lowers her head and senses tears rolling down her cheeks.

She knew this day would finally come, Raven had warned her whenever they were alone. He always told her that he was running out of time, that he would soon lose his mind to the Nasod Arm. She would lean in, and gently wipe away his tears, and hug him. She would reassure him, let him now that she would always be there for him. Telling herself that he was wrong, that she'd never have to see that heartless side of him.

She was tricking herself.

She experiences a sharp pain in her heart, almost as though it was being stabbed multiple times, as she raises her chin and looks at Raven again. His eyes were full of hate and the urge for revenge, but they were tired. His body was tense, ready to crush anything in his way, but it was also shaking and shivering weakly. His Nasod Arm was clenched by his side, his claws sticking out to rip someone to pieces, but it was trembling. She could see past the monster standing before her, and the suffering Raven inside.

Her vision becomes blurred by the large amount of tears in them as she stands confidently before the scarred man. She equips a bow on her shoulder and gets into a battle stance.

She was going to help Raven, she was going to be there for him, to spare him anymore suffering.

She was going to put him out of his eternal misery.

"Please, Raven. Let me be the one to do this. I can see the agony in your fierce eyes. I promised you that you would never hurt any of your friends if you ever lost to that arm." She weeps softly to the scarred man as she lungs forward and kicks Raven directly in his gut.

"Forgive me, b-but…I'll do whatever is necessary…to keep that promise!" She whispers quietly as her heavy tears drop from her cheeks and down onto the grass below.