kenegi - No, the raid will not happen. Yet. But you'll see how it will happen.

Guest - For now, no love interest, I intend to create a story with lots of adventure, but there will be small snippets of romance.

Anonymous - Thank you! And yeah, I know I make some mistakes, but I will do my best to write as fewer errors as possible. Hmm, you're right that many people have swords in the manga and anime alike, but I wanted May to have at least some decent sword skills. As for the unique element, I stick to canon, but her weapon will be unique. And thanks for suggesting ideas, I love reading them!

Masrur's age: 9 years old

May's age: 8 years old

Morgianas age: 3 years old

Pride of the Fanalis Clan

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By Angelbloodlover

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~ One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

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Benjamin Disraeli

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Chapter 7: Secret of the Dungeon - Part I

I groaned in pain, my head throbbing painfully. "Ugh...Where am I?" Last thing I remembered was that I had been sucked up into the Dungeon and then nothing.

Pushing myself up, I looked around and noted that I was in a cave, "This seems pretty much safe." I picked my bag up and observed everything around me, from the little drips of water to the sizzling of a huge ocean-Wait, ocean? This was weird, and sniffing the place around I could smell that beyond of me was a giant ocean. A bit more confident now that I knew what was lying ahead of me, I walked further until the smell of ocean got stronger. My eyes almost bulged out when I saw a humongous ocean as if it was normal for a Dungeon to have this much water.

In the manga I had seen very weird things, but really-How could such a small building house so much water?

And even with my incredible good eyesight, I could only see water, water and more water. Now, my first question was how those strong Fanalis men could have died? It was very weird indeed. Averting my attention back on the ocean, I stared with narrowed eyes. Could it have been that they had fallen in the water and drowned? The majority of the Fanalis didn't know how to swim, even father and mother couldn't. And since we didn't bump into any river close to our camp-this was a bloody desert, we weren't that lucky to find one either.

Fortunately for me, I had been taught how to swim. Even though I had asthma, my parents had done it anyway since I had literally begged them and cried for it non-stop. I had wanted to do something that every kid of my age would do and so my parents succumbed to my will. I may have been a spoiled brat when I was little... So, under their scrutinizing eyes, inhalers in their hands, my parents had bought me a special form of pool, one that had a warm, humid atmosphere so the breathing would be more comfortable.

In contrary to their belief, I didn't have any problems that day, nor the other one. Until I was much older and I had an asthma attack through sheer teenage stupidity. Ever since then my parents had forbidden me to swim again, which was a shame because I loved to swim.

But now came the question as to how my clan members had fallen in the water? Surely, they weren't that stupid to jump in it, knowing they would drown. Unless...

Out of nowhere a giant dragon-like serpent appeared out of the water-its huge sharp teeth glistening. As if it wasn't any worse, smaller version of the Serpent King popped out. Then, the serpent looked down at me and I could swear that it had smirked at me when it lashed its tail towards me. I yelped and looked around to find a safe place. Turning back to hide in the cave would be stupid since I would get buried under a pile of rocks.

My eyes widened when an idea popped in my head- "That's it!" and I jumped high in the air, towards the cave where I dug my arms in it. It did hurt but not as much as I had thought. Thankfully, the jump had been right on time because the cave had collapsed and now I was stuck hanging in the air with monsters who were eyeing me as food, which I was. Maybe coming here hadn't been such a smart idea after all?

I screamed when the giant serpent hit its tail against the rough texture of the cave, making more pieces of the cave collapse and drop in the water, even killing some its own kind. It seemed that it had no real affection towards them, how cruel. Not that I cared about those slippery things, it was even in my advantage if he killed them.

The fewer I had to face, the higher my survival rate would be.

However, my luck seemed to have vanished into thin air, because then all the smaller version of the serpent seemed to crawl in their tails and then jump towards me, using their tails as a sort of catapult. I cursed my luck-it had to be me who had to face super intelligent serpents. Couldn't it have been those slimy beasts who wanted to eat Aladin and Alibaba? Or those weird bears and flowers in the Dungeon of Zagan?

No, I had to get this.

Someone up there must really hate me.

I pushed my leg backward and charged towards one of the serpent, grabbing its neck and snapping it in one go. Before I would be eaten by one of his little friends, I flipped forward and grabbed the second one, pushing myself away from him and to the next one. Maybe if I-Whoa, almost got eaten by one of its friends-kept up like this, I would be able to find a way out of here.

Worth a shot.

So, I slung myself from one serpent to another one like a monkey. Father had been right about me being a monkey after all, if he would see me now I was sure that he would get a heart attack.

What I did not see coming at all, despite of my enhanced senses, was the giant tail hammering down on me. Choking back my startled cry, I started jumping faster from one serpent to another but I was too late. The sheer strength of that tail was too strong and the tide of the ocean was becoming violent. Unfortunately, the serpent that I had held had ruptured and covered me with blood and gore, something that was becoming quite a normality to me. Father would be displeased if he saw me now, but I had pushed more strength behind my grip than I had thought...

...and now I was in the water, their territory.

Bad luck seemed to follow me everywhere. I started swimming but there were too much of them, and when one bit my leg, I cried out from the pain and punched it away. This was bad, very bad. One of them charged at me, followed by its other companions, all eager to bite of a chunk of meat from my body. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depended on how you viewed it, a giant tail squished those annoying creatures dead.

Guess who it was and let me tell you it wasn't being friendly in any way.

Gulping, I stared at the giant serpent as he descended towards me, its mouth opened. I screamed and jumped in the water, trying to use my speed and strength to fasten my swimming. I had no fucking clue as to how I should capture this Dungeon. Seriously, a small hint would have been nice, stupid Djiin, increasing the level to master. The impact that the monster had made, made the water violent and I was being dragged around the water like a rag doll, much to my irritation.

My lungs were starting to hurt too and I needed to get to the surface to breath.

And soon!

Something slimy wrapped around my torso and from the shock I opened my mouth, a very bad thing to do. Water streamed in my mouth and I lashed out at nothing but water. My strength was leaving me, but I couldn't give up! My family and friends were waiting for me, they needed me!

"May-chan, I'm very proud of you."

"Don't worry, May-chan, your mother will fight of those demons of you. Sleep, darling."

..and, "May-onee-chan, I love you~!"

"How about I teach you the essence of Life?" Marus-sensei...

Annoying, "Chibi, you're doing it wrong, slash your sword with more elegance."

My friend, Masrur, "Let's stay friends forever."

How could I fail them? How could I possibly fail my clan?

I would not!

Using all the remaining strength within me, I grabbed a hold of the thing that had captured me and ripped it apart. I heard a muffled scream of agony, and then was roughly assaulted from my back. Black spots invaded my eyes, and mixed with the lack of oxygen, I was sent flying towards the rough, sharp edges of the cave. A gasp left my lips and I could only support myself by holding on the cave, crawling upwards to breath in sweet air. Again, bad luck intervened and I was swept by the violent waves. Every bit of my body felt as if it was being whipped by thunder itself.

Sharp teeth dug itself in my torso, I was too weak to fight against it, and then I felt the rush of the water. Every sound was dimming around and even the pain was diminishing to an annoyed tingle. This was it, I had done my best to survive and fight for my people, but when everything was against me, I couldn't win.

To my surprise I was brought to the surface where my lungs immediately gasped for air. I coughed out the remaining water and groaned when I was slung towards another set of tails, I could feel it constrict tightly against my injured body. Nails digging in its scale, I choked when the beast swum back inside the violent ocean. The only thing I could see with my blurry eyes was giant water tornadoes swirling around the place and the cave that was falling down. The beast must have been scared and was searching for shelter, but there was nothing in this damned cave, only water and stupid serpents.

Weakly, I struggled against its grip only to have it squeeze tighter.

Against the boss I had zero chance, and against these annoying things it was more than eighty per cent. Pitiful,to lose like this. This was my Fanalis pride, my dignity, my family. Everything depended on me and I was whining because of some water and a stupid snake? Dropping my head on its tail, I bit down with my canines until I tasted the coppery scent of blood and heard a pained howl, coming from the animal itself.

Finally, it released me and I forced my arms and legs to swim, swim damnit! Away from this godforsaken place. But in the water I was weak and before I knew it the ferocious ocean swept me like I was nothing and the last thing I could think of was how stupid I was...

I walked and walked but in this endless plain of nothingness, I found nothing.

...and yet something urged me to continue on, something divine-like. The force of it was luring me, hypnotizing me with its soft, melodious voice. I could feel invisible tendrils pushing me, I could feel the presence of something warm around me, but all I could see was a white path.

Last thing I remembered was drowning in that wide ocean, like a pathetic fool.

And even though I wanted to feel regret, sadness and hurt, I couldn't. Something was keeping these hurtful emotions away, locking them up. Sighing, I kept going, and eventually the whiteness was replaced by a giant room with a throne in the middle. This was weird, could it be that I would be judged here? When I looked further, I saw eccentric pillars holding the place up. Open windows with the finest quality of curtains draped elegantly over it. The breeze of the wind playing with them and emitting a delicious aroma throughout the throne room. Things were getting weirder and weirder for sure, because when I was in the middle of the throne room, the presence seemed to vanish and with it came the bombardment of my heavy emotions, leaving me choking for air as tears streamed down.

"I...I had d-died?" I couldn't help but ask, there was still a small part of me that didn't want to believe this. To be reborn in this world, only to die before I could prevent the Finalis Enslavement. This was wrong in so many ways. It couldn't be that I was brought to this world without doing something useful. My family; father, mother and my little sister.

"Was t-this a repeat of my pr-revious life?"

Dropping on the ground, I noticed the drops of tears that filled the throne room up. Wide eyes observed the room and I couldn't believe how much bad luck I seemed to have.

Just pathetic; first I drown in a magical ocean, and now I'll drown again, but this time in my own tears.

How ironic...

But thinking about it now-it had been my choice to come here, a stupid choice, but a choice nonetheless. And now I had to face the consequences. If only I hadn't been so damn stubborn and listened to Marus' warning then I would be still in the arms of mother of Morgiana. I wiped my tears away and stood up. Even knowing all of that, I didn't have any regrets only the fact that I wouldn't be able to see them was hurting my chest.

"As a Fanalis I accept my Fate."

A warm, gentle chuckle resonated throughout the room, "My child, Judgement Day shall not happen today."

I yelped when out of nowhere a white light appeared in the room, thousandths of golden birds accompanying it, and with my strong eyesight, I was forced to shut my eyes. Peeking, I could see that the light was less blinding than before, but it still hurt to look at. My knees dropped down and I was bowing for this divine being, and all the sorrow and pain that I had felt vanished again, a tranquil feeling cloaking my aching heart. Who or what was this person that made me feel so small and insignificant?

The mysterious light moved towards the throne and I gaped when his words repeated in my mind, "What do you mean with that?"

"Like I had said, you shall not die and live."

Amazed, I looked at the birds, "Rukh..."

Another rich and smooth chuckle, "Yes, for an outsider you have great knowledge of our world. But this is all in your advantage, use them to its fullest."

I shook my head, not knowing what was going on at all. "But..I'm so confused."

Judging from his smooth, baritone voice this must be a man. I observed him closely, could this be a Magi? Those Rukh were flying around him, a chirping, melodious voice coming from them. They seemed to love him greatly, and I couldn't help but be curious about this mysterious divine being. Apparently it knew that my existence here was an abnormality, not in the bad way or something...I hoped.

"Then do you know why I was sent here?" I had to know this, I would get crazy with all these swirling questions. "My presence here is against all that Fate stands for! I can't even use my Magoi..." I trailed off, uncertainty and fear plaguing my mind.

My eyes widened even more when the birds all appeared around me, sitting on my shoulder, my head, my knees... And this feeling, "..so warm.." I instantly became a puddle of goo, closing my eyes in bliss as the feeling of the Rukh embraced me.

"What if your presence was through Fate itself? What if you were destined for greater things? Have you ever thought like that?"

I snapped my eyes open, and the birds flew off when I stood up, "Could it be?"

He laughed loudly, his booming laughter increasing the happy feeling within me. "You're being too harsh on yourself, my child. Don't." The light brightened and I shielded my eyes as his drifting voice seemed to vanish, "Let Rukh guide you and become the pillar that this world would need to lean on. Now go forth, child of Rukh, and bring happiness to this world."

"Wait, don't go-!" I ran towards it but I was too late, everything had vanished, and the sea of tears were vanishing, pulling me downstairs. I screamed as darkness engulfed me.

When I fluttered my eyes open, I coughed out water, the ache in my neck felt like a scorching heat. Drowning sucked.

A scream tore through my hoarse throat when I saw dead serpents everywhere, even the giant King had died too. "Where am I?" But more importantly what had happened? I scrambled upwards and looked around. Sand, and more sand. Great, what would happen next; giant crabs ready to tear me into shreds?

Suddenly, the ground started shaking and out of nowhere giant crabs appeared out of thin air. Groaning, I face-palmed, "Why do I have to jinx myself all the time?"