He stood there, kneeling in utter defeat, shame and envy overriding any emotion as he looked up to the person who had bested him so thoroughly. Even if the fight was tough for both of them, even if they were both warriors of immense stature, Brain could not help but feel left in the dirt on every level.
And right, he was literally left in the dirt. Sitting there, trembling from the wounds his rival Gazef had inflicted. It was a bittersweet feeling - knowing someone stronger than you was right there.
Spatting out a gram of blood and then wiping it with an exhausted hand, Brain looked up to the mountain of a man that was Gazef, his strong figure eclipsing even the Sun that shone above the arena.
His ears were ringing from the clashes of metal, so he could barely make out the audience's howl of cheers. He only saw it. Gazef's sword raised triumphantly above his head, his stance that of a proud warrior. He did not wave at the crowd, nor did he blow kisses at them, nor did he make any obscene gestures at the nobility. He didn't even wink and grin seductively at the beautiful ladies who were swooning over him and dramatically fanning their puffed out breasts...Things that Brain would've definitely done, had he been the victor.
At that moment, bitter shame took root in Unglaus's heart, so much so that it threatened to squeeze it until it started pumping blood. His eyes looked at the floor, near-broken. How could this man, whose only reputation was that of a repugnant mercenary on the outskirts of the Re-Estize Kingdom, overwhelm him so tho- no, absolutely- in every aspect of a warrior's life.
He did not taunt Brain, nor did he respond to Brain's earlier taunting. He did not find this fun. He wasn't fighting just to test his skill. There was a passion that burned hotter than even Brain's passion for the sword. Something indescribable to the defeated man.
"Hey" Gazef's rough voice tore him out of his own thoughts, making him look up at the other man again. He was now standing right in front of him, his posture still proud, but his expression was humble and respectful. "That was a great fight. It's been a while since someone put me on the back-foot like this."
He then offered his free hand to Brain, whose eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe it. Gazef was right now at the peak, no one to challenge his status as the Kingdom's strongest warrior…and yet he was offering his hand to the defeated. Why?
Brain would've never done such a thing. He would've left Gazef there in the dirt to seethe in the misery of defeat. So why…why was his rivaling giving him a treatment that was the complete opposite of that?
The tightening feeling in his chest worsened and something within Brain felt like it was on the verge of snapping. He grumbled lowly and slapped Gazef's out-streched hand away, then with a slight stumble, he walked off from the arena.
On his way out, he vividly remembered hearing Gazef shout:
"Hey, don't feel bad! You're strong, Brain Unglaus! I was merely lucky this time!"
That fragile thread holding Brain's composure fully snapped at those words. Lucky, he said. He was mocking him, wasn't he? Or no, he was taking pity on him. How pathetic had he looked in Gazef's eyes that he felt the need to say that?
His eyes scanned the arena, and everyone was looking at him. Although he did not see it for sure, his mind imagined all the on-lookers to be laughing and grinning at him, indulging in his pitiful misery.
Anger and humiliation built up in Brain until it threatened to explode. It was too much. He needed to go hide in a hole somewhere and die.
After a few more steps towards the exit, Brain Unglaus suddenly took off running.
After that event, nobody in the capital would see Brain again for the next two years.
On the upper stands, where the nobles of Re-Estize had the privilege of observing the battle from the best possible position, there was quite a bit of pontifical chatter carrying around. It was so rampant it almost reached the levels of chaotic noise of the rif-raff of peasants shouting on the lower stands.
"Oh my, how disgraceful..." uttered a noble-woman.
"Hah, who could've known that Brain Unglaus was such a sore loser..." sneered a fat nobleman.
"Well, he was the unchallenged champion of this arena for the last three years." commented a suave gentleman who was cleaning his monocle.
"Yeah, well it seems he's met his match now."
"More like utter superior, if you ask me."
These types of conversations bounced from noble to noble and repeated each other like one huge pompous echo chamber. Basically...nobility being nobility as per usual. And Climb's only reaction was to cringe a little, before setting his expression into a neutral one. He had no love for these arena fights. His mistress had explained to him what a repulsive sport it actually was. It was a cheap way for the nobles to wheat out useless muscle-pawns and the winners only get the chance to be used as meat-shields. Almost all the nobles indulged in this tactic...except for his dear mistress, of course. She was a pure maiden, in spite of all the wealth she was surrounded with. Climb knew in his heart that she was more humble than any peasant on the street. He had experienced her generosity first-hand.
Climb shook his head. There was no need to day-dream about the beautiful Lady Renner. She was right next to him, after all! He turned to look at her. Ah...her face was still so adorable. She had a little smile on her lips and her eyes still shone so brightly, in spite of the annoying buzz of the nobles around them. For a split second, Climb thought he saw her lip twitch, but quickly brushed it off. Lady Renner truly was a fabulous princess, and Climb...well, he appreciated her greatly for all that she was.
His eyes moved on over to her brothers, who were sitting a bit far from them. Barbro and Zannac had frowns on their faces, the former a particularly nasty one. He heard him throw some similarly ugly comments about Brain Unglaus. Climb's brows furrowed a little, but he otherwise said nothing. Even if he didn't hold Lord Barbro in particularly high regard, he saw no reason to cause drama. Certainly not over an arena fight.
Climb generally felt indifferent towards these, only attending them because of the princess, and she herself was only rarely attending them on her own volition. But this time, both he and the princess were actually quite invested. Climb had heard urban tales of both warriors' achievements. Climb found himself admiring the image of those two proud warriors - to have strength and skill on that level, to the point where only one other person could be your equal in combat...it was something Climb had never even conceived in his mind.
Climb knew he was just an ordinary person with no talent, but he also believed even someone as talentless as him could contend with the greatest of warriors if he put enough effort into honing his skills. And he had the proper motivation to do it - to protect his mistress and the good people of Re-Estize. It was a pure reason, a noble reason. So then, wouldn't he have already been on the doorstep of the great warriors of legends past?
But Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus...they broke the misconception in his mind. Watching them fight made Climb realize just how green he was. It humbled him thoroughly...yet also motivated him to improve even more. For the sake of his mistress.
That is why he couldn't understand Brain Unglaus' attitude. If you knew there was someone stronger than you, shouldn't you take that as a lesson? Shouldn't it push you to pursuit your goal even harder?
"Honestly, what was so great about that Brain Unglaus anyways...he seems like a second-rate scoundrel next to Stronoff. And I even considered hiring him a while ago, hah!" Climb heard the voice of the same fat nobleman from earlier. His irritating gurgle snapped him out of his thoughts. Climb chewed on his lip.
As much as he himself disapproved of Brain's reaction to his own loss, he also felt sympathetic. From what little he had heard, that man's life had been nothing but public fights for the last 5 years. Perhaps...he may have become drunk with the fame until he lost sight of his original goal and now that he's become sober, the reality broke him. Or maybe he was just a petty guy. Either way, Climb recognized his strength and skill as genuine treasure and for it to be spat on like that disgusted him.
A tiny part of him hoped Brain Unglaus would redeem himself at some point. And then the Kingdom of Re-Estize could rely on the strength of both Gazef and him.
Somewhere far away, in a certain dark room, sat a certain woman with a prim presence. If a normal human were to idly stand by in that woman's chamber, they would see nothing but darkness, with exception of the faint glow of a certain item belonging to gods long gone.
"Greater Mirror of Insight. Show me the other man."
The artifact did as ordered by the woman's sultry voice. The glass reflection twisted and morphed until it manifested the visual projection of a certain blue-haired warrior running with an enraged, teary-eyed expression. The woman licked her lips and stroked the projection of the man.
"Yes...he's perfect for it."
After a few seconds of admiring the miserable expression on the defeated fighter's face, she snapped her fingers, summoning two who were seemingly servants of hers. They were dressed in large, dark robes, so their features were completely obscured.
"You two, bring me that man. And bring him in one piece. There will be no point, if he's in worse shape than he is now."
"Yes, mistress!"
"It shall be done as quickly as possible!"
After showing their respect with one last bow, they disappeared in a puff of red smoke and bat-like shades.
A few months later
Enri Emmot was having a fairly normal day. Do the house chores, look after Nemu, help the elderly around the village, check the purlieu, prepare breakfast and dinner and tease her dear friend Nfirea.
However, just before she went to sleep, there was a knock on the door. Strange, she thought. Nfirea never visited this late and all the other villages were most likely asleep at this point. She was also sure it was no adventurer or a tax collector.
She dashed to the kitchen, grabbing one of her knives. She slowly approached her door. She hesitated for a moment when she heard two more hard knocks on the door. With much trepidation, she opened the door slowly, peeking her head out little by little. She gasped and jumped back when she saw the visage of a tall dark figure looming over her doorstop, its frame nearly obscuring the moonlight.
"Greetings, young lady."
"H-H..." Enri coughed and then inhaled deeply in an attempt to regain her composure. She held the hand holding the knife behind her back. At the moment, it seemed like the mysterious person was not hostile, but you can never be sure with those types. Them being in a remote village like this made their presence even creepier. With a shake of her head, she looked directly at them with the bravest face she could put on, which actually made the figure back up one step. "Greetings, what can I do for you?"
"...I'm looking for a man called 'Brain Unglaus'. I know he passed through your village a while ago, so don't dare to tell me you have no idea who I am talking about."
The name sounded familiar to Enri. She racked her memories. Yes, there was indeed a Brain Unglaus who visited Carne Village a while ago. But he was only here for a short stay. All she knew about that person was that he was rumored to be an extremely strong swordsman who could compete with adamantite adventurers. Pretty amazing.
"Hm, yes there was a man by that man who visited our village. What would you like to know about him?"
"His whereabouts, for example."
Enri stared at the figure blankly for a moment before waving her hand.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can be of help with that. Have a nice ni-" just as Enri was about to close the door on the strange, she felt it stuck on something hard. She looked down and gasped, seeing a boot obstructing the door. "E-excuse me?!"
A hand peeped in from outside and grabbed onto the door, forcefully opening it full. The strange was much stronger than Enri, it seemed, as she felt herself being sent reeling back from the momentum alone. The figure had a slightly irritated air about them, as if their patience had grown thin.
"Point me in the direction in which he took off from your village."
Enri gulped, but nonetheless pushed her brain into motion and searched her memories again. She nervously stepped closer to the doorstep so she could point her finger at the main road leading south-east from the village.
"I remember seeing him go that way after he stocked some supplies. I don't know if you'll find him going in that direction, but it's the direction he took. That's all I remember." Enri told them, trying to keep her voice as even as possible to not give away any sign of fear.
The creepy strange looked at the path she was pointing at, but because of the robes obscuring their face, Enri could not tell what their reaction was. Suddenly, they snapped back to her and bowed.
"Thank you for the cooperation." turning around, they began walking steadily towards the south-east path. Enri sighed in relief, but then gasped again when she heard the stranger speak again. "You should put that knife away. You could've cut yourself."
Enri stood there stunned, staring at the figure as they walked off. With slightly trembling hands, she closed the door and walked back to her room. She didn't sleep well that night.
Partially, because she felt some guilt gnawing at her. Had she just sent a demon on course for that warrior's location? She desperately hoped that creep would not find who he was looking for.
Brain was sitting on a on a small pile of hay which he had gathered from the nearest field. He had some skill as a farmer, from his years growing up in his poor village before he took up the sword and dedicated his life to improving his skills. Now, more than ever before, Brain wanted to advance further, to break what he thought was his current limits. And to do that, he soon realized he'd need to look for...more unorthodox methods of training.
He considered joining the Adventurer's Guilt, but after giving it some thought and observing what their work schedules were like, he crossed that option off his mind. The constant constant quests and going back and forth aimlessly to fulfill some tasks - some mundane, some exciting - would've given him a headache and distracted him from his true goal. He thought about going solo into the wild and contesting with the many kinds of beasts mother earth had to offer him.
That went while...for a little while at least. He slew a small army of trolls, three giant frogs which were terrorizing the north-west marshes and a few floating entities which the locals referred to as "angels". To Brain they did not look like angels, but some odd automatons which did not belong to this world. The locals seemed to agree as these "Angels" have only recently been sighted. But then...he went to the forest near Carne Village and encountered a beast of peerless prowess.
But then Brain started getting into more troublesome situations. Some of these Angels would be accompanied by men in weird black robes and Brain would have a significantly harder time dealing with them than before. During the night, undead entities would sometimes come out and attack him, forcing him to be on his guard 24/7. Basically, day and night, Brain had to fight off groups of foes to survive, until he almost got killed that one time and decided to make a tactical retreat to a less hostile zone.
He realized that, while his strength was probably more than sufficient to deal with any foe one-on-one, there were countless amounts of variables which he would need to consider on a constant basis if he were to venture the wild alone. So, he would need some...minor assistance. Someone to watch his back.
He heard a knock on the wooden door. Brain sighed. There there were. His new benefactors. Brain had made a deal with one of the bandit groups to lend them a helping hand while they assist him with whatever he needs. Food, water, extra pairs of hands to defend his blind spots, etc.
Brain was not a particular fan of the bandits. He did not approve of any of their methods personally. He also found their tendency to kidnap and rape girls to be distasteful. But, after his defeat and everything else that's happened...Unglaus could care less about morality nonsense. The sword cared naught for his moral stance. So he would do like the sword and trek forward, no matter what happened around him.
He opened the door, but to his surprise, instead of the expected group of crooks greeting him, it was a robed figure. But this one was not like the ones accompanying the "Angels". No, there was something even more ominous and strange about them. Brain instinctively backed away and unsheathed his sword, but the figure raised its hand.
"There's no need for that, Brain Unglaus." the figure said, and from the deep tone Brain figured that was a man, though with the way the robe covered almost everything, even his face, it was hard to tell. Still, he kept his guard up.
"Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?" he asked. He saw the figure smirk.
"It's hard not to know a warrior of your skill. You could be considered this Kingdom's strongest human." he replied, his tone casual and not disturbed by the pressure Brain's gaze had on him. "As for who I am, that is irrelevant at the moment. I have not come to harm you though."
"Really, now...then why are you here, in the middle of nowhere, seeking me out? You couldn't have stumbled upon this shack by accident." Brain had made sure it was well-hidden. So well-hidden that even he himself would sometimes forget its exact location. He also took caution to not be seen by anyone when exiting and entering the shack, so there was no way in hell this shady-looking person just happened to innocently stumble upon his shack.
"Hmm...you're correct. It was your scent that guided me to this location." the figure said, its smirk growing. Brain raised a brow in confusion.
"My scent? What are you talking about...?" he asked in a somewhat unsure tone. A dark feeling probed Brain's gut. It was not exactly dread, but more...uncertainty? Discomfort? There was certainly something amiss with this person...if this even was a person.
"Don't worry about it, it's not important right now." Brain opened his mouth to object to that, but the figure gestured for him to pause. "What is important is the deal I will preposition for you: Join the convent of Morrigana and obtain more power than you ever could've imagined."
"But-"
"Or stay with your new rat-friends and get nowhere."
Brain blinked in shock. Without even thinking about it, he raised his blade to the figure's neck. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. Rat-friends? Did he know about his deal with the bandits? How?! He had told no one. He had made sure nobody knew. Who the hell was this guy?!
"How do you know about that?" he tried asking calmly, but it was obvious his composure had been shook.
"Aah, so even a great warrior's composure can be shook, even if a little, by mere words. Seems my mistress was right." the figure mused, his composure unflinching in the face of a blade pressed against his neck.
"You better start singing before you lose your ability to talk, you creep!" Brain said. He was starting to get frustrated with how cornered he felt in his own damn shack no less. Most men would at least flinch or talk in a lower voice when a blade was pressed against their neck, but this creep kept smiling as if he found this funny.
"Hehe, try it." the figure chuckled at him.
Brain's last thread of patience snapped and he made his first attack. He kicked a bag that was on the floor at the figure, retraced his sword back to his body, reversed his grip and with a snarl, enacted a Fourfold Slash of Light which he had practiced so many times. This was done in quick succession, all in just one second. He felt his blade cleave through something several times, but it was not flesh, as no blood was spewed. His eyes widened - he had only cut the bag. Where that creep once stood was now empty air.
"Flawlessly done, Brain Unglaus." he heard a voice behind him and felt the hairs on his arms stand up. Without even looking back, he tried to slash what was behind him, but halfway through the figure punched him on the side of the head, sending him crashing through the wall of his shack and into the field outside.
"G-guugh...!" Brain groaned in pain, his vision hazy and his head pulsating in pain. It felt like someone had hit him with a tree trunk over the side of the head. For a moment, his mind was in shambles and he forgot where he was and what he was doing. With a few awkward falls and stumbles, he finally managed to get up on his feet. He shook his head and his vision started clearing a little. He saw a bottle dangling from his hip and figured it'd help him if he drank it.
It turned out to be a healing potion. After he gulped it in one go, his senses recovered for the most part. His head still hurt, but at least he didn't feel nauseous. He could now see the figure slowly approaching him, taking his sweet time getting to him. Casually, he ushered Brain to try again with a mocking gesture. Brain grit his teeth as he glared with anger and frustration at his enemy. He adopted a proper warrior stance and prepared his next move. Meanwhile, the one facing him was utterly at ease as he continued to approach him.
"You're stronger than you look. But just now was your only chance to kill me. You won't get that chance again, buddy." Brain said.
"Haha, I have as many chances to kill you as I please, Brain Unglaus."
"Tch..." Brain couldn't believe the amount of mockery he was facing right now. Who did this person think he was? He didn't seem human. He had an inhuman air about him, he had absolutely no defense instinct and had the physical strength to ragdoll Brain. So that meant... "You're just another arrogant monster, aren't you? Your kind always thinks us humans stand no chance against you lot."
The figure paused its approach for a second, right before Brain's "Field" Martial Art. Brain clicked his tongue in slight frustration.
"...Huh. You figured out I was vampire so fast? I must say, I thought you were an absolute numb-skull at first, but you're more perceptive than I thought. As expected one of this kingdom's top-brass martial artists."
Though Brain's posture did not change, in his mind, he was looking blankly at the figure. A vampire? What? He didn't know that! He just spoke about monsters in general! Well whatever, he seemed to have this 'vampire' on the ropes now. He faked a confident smirk while tightening his grip on his sword.
"Yes, I saw through your disguise almost immediately."
Instead of the same shock and confusion that Brain was feeling earlier, the mysterious vampire only sighed in disappointment.
"If that's the case, then you really are an idiot."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the vampire crossed the distance between them, getting right in his face. Brain's sword was swung the moment he had entered his Field, but the vampire blocked it with his hand, making Brain gasp. Then, he raised his fist and tilted his head back a little, making his cloak fall down a little, revealing most of his face.
"You wouldn't have attacked me, knowing the difference in our abilities, otherwise." the vampire growled.
"NO-"
The last thing Brain saw before his body was smashed into the ground by the vampire's powerful punch were a pair of glowing red eyes.