Discord: C7CaQzCfKQ

This is the old Loners Vol 1, if you wish to see the first chapter of the rewrite, it starts at chapter ten. Once all chapters of the Vol 1 rewrite are out, the old ones will be deleted and replaced.

Chapter 2:

"Megumin, I challenge you to a duel!" Yunyun yelled out.

I stood behind her, watching the scene unfold.

"M-Megumin, are you there, hey open up please?" She continued to knock on the door until then it swung open and out came an annoyed-looking girl. She had those iconic red eyes and black hair, her hair was short and messy. I could tell she recently woke up due to the lack of sleep in her eyes. She had light red, borderline pink pajamas on with white frills.

"Who are you?"

"How mean! It's me, Yunyun, your rival!"

"Anyway, what do you want today?"

Yunyun dramatically pointed at her, "I challenge you to a duel!"

The girl who I assumed was Megumin stared at her before developing an ominous smug look, "Oh? It has been a while since I beat you last."

Yunyun flinched, "I don't know what you mean, s-since I was the one who always beat you."

"What is this girl saying?" Megumin stated.

Was it possible that Megumin is a sore loser?

I walked toward her, "From what I hear, Yunyun has said that she won every challenge."

Megumin looked at me with a deadpan expression, "you believed her?"

I tilt my head, "Yeah?"

She looked over to Yunyun, "Ehhhh~ you seem just as gullible as Yunyun."

"I'm not that gullible anymore!"

"E-eh Yunyun?" I turned my head toward her.

Suddenly she starts panicking and throws herself at me.

"Waahhhhhhhhhh, w-wait it's not what it looks like!" She wails.

"Ahhhh, I get it, I get it, please stop shaking me!"

After calming her down, she eventually confesses that she has been lying about her winning.

"So, how many have you won?" I asked her.

"Z-zero," she stutters.

"I-I see."

Megumin then points at me, "So who is he exactly?"

"Ah, this is William; we met the other day."

She looked at me with a deadpan glare, "How much did she have to pay you?"

"Huh?" I looked at her confused, "What do you mean; she didn't pay me anything."

Her eyes went wide, "Y-Y-Y-Yunyun, don't tell me you-"

"N-no, I would never!" Yunyun screamed as her face turned bright red.

"W-Wait, you didn't pay money, and didn't offer your body; you're telling me he is genuine?" She asked.

Yunyun nodded, causing Megumin's face to go pale.

"K-K-K-K-Kazuma, the world is ending! W-What do we do Yunyun found a genuine friend!" Megumin yelled.

"H-hey, even I can make f-friends!" Yunyun stuttered.

Suddenly another voice came from the house, "Megumin, what are you going on about?" I see a green-eyed man walk out of the house. His outfit was a white shirt with a green cloth that draped over his shoulders with an orange and green crystal in front. "Oh, Yunyun; what are you doing?"

"Kazuma Kazuma, get this; this man says he is Yunyun's friend!"

"Oh, that's nice." He then turns back to the house but is stopped when Megumin grabs his clothes.

"W-Wait, don't you think this man is suspicious?"

"Me!? H-how am I suspicious!?" I yell.

"Yunyun has always been tricked by people, so wh-" Suddenly Megumin's monologue was hit in the back of the head.

"Ow- What was that for!?" Megumin yelled.

"Oi, stop your shouting, I actually was about to finally get some sleep!" Kazuma continued to scold her.

Afterward, Kazuma went back to bed.

We all sat there before Yunyun broke the silence, "No matter, I still challenge you!" She declared while dramatically pointing her finger at her.

"Very well, what do you want to do?"

She smirked, "It's simple; if you're a v-virgin I win, but if you're not then I lose."

I stared at Yunyun, I could tell she was using extreme measures. "Y-Yunyun, you don't need to do this."

"Oh?~~~ I wonder." Megumin says as she stares at Yunyun ominously.

Yunyun's face went pale, "Y-you're kidding right; you're pulling my leg right?"

I nodded, "I doubt she actually did such a thing, so don't fall for it," I said reassuringly.

Yunyun nodded, "Y-yeah, I remember that you said he was too afraid to do such a-acts."

Hang in there Yunyun, hang in there; I could see the sheer embarrassment, did she have to go through such lengths to win?

Megumin's face was red, seeing this, Yunyun put on an arrogant smirk.

"W-w-what's wrong, just admit that you lost."

Could it be, did she win?

But then something happened, Megumin put on an evil smirk. "Oh, seems like someone thought that we still didn't do it," she then proceeds to laugh and strike an incredible pose, "I did it with him a month ago!"

Yunyun's eye's widened and all color drained from her skin.

As if confirmation, from the house I heard Kazuma yell, "O-oi what are you saying to them, that's private information!"

"I-impossible, the girl who was never interested in romance happened to find a guy and lose her virginity before me! Ahhhh, I'll admit my loss today, but I'll be back I swear!" Yunyun screamed as she ran away.

"W-wait Yunyun!" I began to chase her.

The last thing I heard was Megumin state, "I-I win again!"

000

"Yunyun!?"

I tried to search for Yunyun, looking all over.

For my last-ditch effort, I went to the adventures guild.

I went to the guild lady, "Hey, have you seen Yunyun?"

She looked at me, "No, sorry; did something happen?"

"She went to challenge Megumin and lost."

She then sighs, "Honestly, you shouldn't worry too much this happens all of the time."

"Really?" I asked with a deadpan expression.

I then walk away and try to think of where she would be, suddenly I realized where she would be: the lake.

000

I walked to the lake we when to before, to find a lonely Yunyun sitting on the edge.

"H-hey Yunyun?" I softly called her name.

She looked at me, her eyes dulled.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself for a serious conversation when suddenly...

"WAHHHHH!" Yunyun suddenly started to violently shake me, "HOW DOES MEGUMIN ALREADY HAVE A BOYFRIEND, IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"C-CALM DOWN, STOP, YOU'RE SHAKING ME TOO HARD!" I cried.

She finally calmed down and released me.

I sighed, "You don't have to worry we're both young; I'm sure everyone will be able to find someone special someday."

She looked at me with hopeful eyes, "Y-you really think so?"

I then averted my eyes, "Y-yeah."

"H-hey look at me when answering," she said with an expressionless face.

000

We both decided to go back to the guild, I decided to treat her.

I watch her in amusement as she starts scarfing down food.

"So, I got a plan."

She stops, "Plan for what?"

I laugh ominously, "Why, to win against Megumin of course!"

She stares at me with sparkling eyes, "Tell me!"

Her eyes suddenly started to glow.

"It's a game where only you could possibly win."

I motion for her to come closer, as she leans in I whisper the challenge.

Her eyes suddenly widen, "Why didn't I think of that sooner, that's perfect!"

We both laugh madly as everyone stares at us oddly.

000

"Megumin! I challenge you!" Yunyun dramatically points at Megumin.

"Ohhh~? Back already?" Megumin says.

"Yes, and I have a plan that will beat you once and for all!"

"Oh? What is it? Rock-paper-scissors, who has the most friends, or maybe-"

Yunyun interrupts her with an evil grin, "Nope! The rules are simple, you can't use explosion magic for a week!"

Megumin who had an arrogant smirk dropped to her knees, "I-impossible."

"Nonsense!" I said, walking next to Yunyun.

Megumin stared at me, "W-what do you mean?"

"Surely this is an easy challenge for you," I stated with a smirk.

"There's no way this is possible."

"What's wrong, you said you were a master of explosion magic no? Doesn't that mean you should be able to control when you can do it? Unless you were just making it all u-"

"I'll do it," She said.

Too easy.

000

"Hey, Yunyun what are you doing?"

I look at Yunyun as she is peaking from the bushes while staring at Megumin. "Just making sure she doesn't cheat."

I sigh, "How could she cheat? We can hear her explosion magic from a mile away."

"Still, I have to see if she cheats, just to really make sure."

I look at her with a straight face, "You really want to win, huh?"

000

"This will be impossible for her, especially if she goes on a quest."

"Didn't you say she hardly goes on quests?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it's not like she completely stopped." She explained.

We continued to tail Megumin for half a week, I could see Yunyun slowly become worried as the days fly by.

However, due to her worrying, she hasn't noticed how much Megumin is struggling.

I noticed how the girls managed to drag Kazuma out to do quests.

"Kazuma Kazuma, I think we should do this on-"

Suddenly she stops herself and, hesitantly puts it back on the board.

Is she shaking?

She then grabs a quest to help out some locals, "H-how about we do this o-one?"

Kazuma had a surprised look on his face, "Megumin? You're not going to use you're explosion magic? I noticed you haven't asked to do our explosion walks."

"W-well, I decided to do something a bit l-lighter."

Suddenly the blond lady walks up, "I didn't expect this, I was expecting you to pick something more... exciting." She spoke, almost sounding disappointed.

As we watch this go down and they head out I sigh, "So, want to do a quest if-"

"No, we must follow them, even if it's something as simple as helping locals, I can't miss a moment!"

"Okay, well we're in this together," I say as I reluctantly follow Yunyun.

000

Today marks the final day, the day where we take initiative and provoke Megumin.

Throughout the week, as Yunyun was watching Megumin with tired eyes, I was taking the rest of all of the easy quests, completely removing them from the board.

With a deep breath, I pray that there are no new dungeon quests.

YES! I notice that there are none, which means that she can't make the excuse of staying outside so she doesn't explode it.

"Yunyun, today is the day." I look at her with a smug face.

"It is?" She looked confused.

"Yes, today is the day where you get your first victory!"

"Are you sure, all she needs to do is wait one more day?"

I sigh, "Look Yunyun, I don't think you realized how much of an effect this had on Megumin, I mean look at her." As to prove to her, I point at the tired-looking Megumin.

I could see her, twirling her fork with a pale face.

Everyone gathered and they head to the questing board.

"What's this!? Why is everything on this board so hard!?" Megumin panicked.

"The hell!?" Kazuma exclaimed.

The only one who wasn't worried was the blond lady, who I assumed was Darkness according to Yunyun. Why did she seem to be excited?

Kazuma then turned towards Megumin, "Why are you panicking, don't you like to explode things?"

"W-well..." Megumin averted her eyes.

The guild lady walked up to them, "Ah, sorry but William seemed to do all of the quests that were simple. It's a nice thing to do since most just get ignored as adventurers seem to think that they aren't worth the trouble as they are deemed 'too easy.'" She explains.

That made me feel a little guilty.

Yunyun looked at me stunned with newfound respect, "I-I didn't know you were doing such things? That's so kind of you!" She said with a bright smile as she clasped her hands.

Stop, don't make me feel even worse.

I then looked at the group and noticed Megumin glaring at me, if looks could kill I would be dead.

Despite this, I give a huge shit-eating grin, "I think it's a win-win situation! The locals have been happy and you get to do a hard quest where you can blow up as many monsters as you want."

As soon as I say this, she flinches and was about to say something before Kazuma spoke, "Isn't that great Megumin, you can finally find a worthy target."

Megumin sighs in defeat, "alright let's do it."

They head out.

000

We follow them as they lead their way into an open field.

"Let's see, it should be here somewhere." Kazuma said as he looked at the map.

"Kazuma, I found it!" The blue thing shouted as she pointed at a stone pillar.

The pillar started illuminating a bright blue, which seemed to attract monsters.

"K-Kazuma they're coming!" Darkness shouted with a reddened face.

...

Is she okay?

We watch with blank stares as we see Darkness run into the hoard of monsters.

"D-Darkness!" I heard Kazuma yell. "Megumin, use your explosion spell; Darkness round them up for her!"

"N-no! I can't, if I do my dignity will be in ruins!"

"HUH!? OI, WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT!?" Kazuma shouted.

This is looking bad, "Hey Yunyun, think we should help them out?"

She nods and uses some of her spells to wipe out a bunch of monsters without being seen.

They all looked around in confusion.

Suddenly the sky became purple and a beam of lightning came striking down, destroying everything in its path.

The pillar that was once bright blue, was now an ominous purple.

"W-whoa Yunyun, that was impressive! Just be careful, that could have killed them."

I looked at Yunyun, noticing her pale face as she shook.

"T-t-that wasn't me..." She said.

If that wasn't her, then who?

My answer was quickly answered as a beast made from shadow formed.

It walked on four legs and had a shape almost resembling a praying mantis's forelegs.

Its body shape was almost like a wolf, and where you would think its eyes were, instead had horns.

It let out a high-pitched screech, it's head opened vertically to reveal sharp teeth.

The pitch was so loud that we all covered our ears.

It spoke, "Boy, who summed me, what was your purpose?"

Kazuma just stood there either in awe or in fear.

"I must thank you for freeing us, we have been sealed for millennia."

"S-sealed? How?" He squeaked out.

"Why when you killed the demon king of course! Do you know why he was there in the first place?"

He shook his head.

It continued, "To seal us, beings created from nothing. He attacked in order to keep people away from him, he couldn't tell anyone of course. But now, he's gone, and with it the seal. Now we can roam again and destroy everything in our path, mortals, demons, gods, everything that exists!"

It then let out another screech before looking down at Kazuma with its glowing horns, "STARTING WITH YOU MORTAL!"

It charged forward with great speed, and Kazuma seemed to automatically dodge.

He then charged forward and swung his sword, which went through it.

"God requuiem!" I heard Aqua shout as she strikes the beast, it hit but did very little as it just looked at her.

"... That's it? How disappointing, the team who defeated the demon king can hardly damage me?" It said as it howled with laughter.

"K-Kazuma! It didn't work!" Aqua shouted. She then turned to it, "How could it fail!"

"I'm no demon, your power is useless against me." It said.

"LIGHT OF SABER!" I heard, looking over I noticed Yunyun was missing.

"Yunyun, what are you doing here!?" Megumin yelled.

"I just happened to w-walk by and noticed you guys."

I sigh and jog up to where Yunyun was.

"Geez, don't run off like that."

"Oh, two more?" It looked at us, "Interesting."

"My name is Yunyun! Master of advanced magic and cheif of the crimson demons!" Yunyun cries out.

I stopped its rampage for a moment, "... Are you making fun of me?"

"N-no!" Yunyun shouted with a red face.

"No matter as long as a part of me is intact I will never die. Now prepare yourselves!"

Yunyun used the 'light of saber' again, which seemed to damage a bit.

"Seems like it's weak to magic attacks!" I said. Yunyun seems to nod.

She seemed to kill it at one point, as it split in half; however, it reformed itself.

It seemed to focus completely on Yunyun as she was the only one who could use strong magical attacks.

I could see Yunyun grow tired, it seemed to notice too.

With a loud screech, it charged at her.

"YUNYUN!" I ran up in front of her, trying to act as a shield.

I closed my eyes preparing myself for some kind of impact.

However nothing happened, I opened my eyes to see everything standing still as if time itself stopped.

I looked around to see everyone frozen.

Then I looked up.

...

What I saw was something that was straight out of cosmic horror.

Eyes filled the sky with black tentacles reaching and every direction.

"The one who wishes to protect this girl, use this power we give you."

"Who, what are you, and why are you helping me?" I asked

All it said was, "We have plans for you, one who will bring ruin."

I looked up, seeing something like a tornado of what seemed to be tentacles surrounding me. It then stabbed me as I screamed in pain.

"WILLIAM now is not the time to be daydreaming!" I heard Yunyun scream.

... Wait, was that seriously all a dream?

Suddenly I noticed Megumin chanting an all-too-familiar spell.

"EXPLOSION!"

Suddenly the area surrounding the creature ignited in a massive explosion.

It hissed before nothing remained.

"You fool, we'll be back!" It screamed before fading away.

We all collapsed to the ground.

"The hell was that thing?" Kazuma asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that won't be its last." I replied.

With a deep sigh, we all got up.

"Well, thanks for helping us, if Yunyun hadn't shown up who knows what would have happened." Kazuma said, causing Yunyun to blush.

"Nonsense, if it w-wasn't for Megumins explosion magic we would have died." Yunyun hastily replied.

"Yeah, that's true, if it wasn't for her explosion magic we could have died." Kazuma said while patting Megumin's head.

"Yeah, explos-" I started before cutting off.

Wait... explosion magic.

I noticed that Megumin realized as she made an audible "grk" sound.

"Yunyun," I said, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Huh, what is it?" She asked.

"You won." I said with a smile on my face.

She stood still for a second before practically jumping on top of me, "I won! I actually won!"

I couldn't help but blush a little.

Megumin stares, "T-this cannot be!"

Yunyun laughs, "Admit your loss today!"

"F-fine, I lost this one." She said with a sigh.

Yunyun walks over to her and holds out her hand with a smile.

She then grabs it and shakes it, "Next time, I won't slip up again!"

"I wouldn't expect anything less!" Yunyun said gleaming with joy.

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by loss?" Kazuma asked.

"Well, Yunyun challenged Megumin to a duel where she couldn't use her explosion magic for a week." I explained.

"Oh, so that's why you trying to go with easy quests," Kazuma said, looking at Megumin. "So you're telling me that the reason we almost got killed was that you were holding back due to some challenge?"

She points at me, "He's the one who took all the easy quests today in order to make us do a question that will allow me to use explosion magic."

Suddenly I felt my spine shiver.

"Oh, is that why you did those quests, not due to the kindness from your heart?" Yunyun said, staring at me.

"W-well, sort of?"

"Please apologize when we get back." Yunyun sighs.

"O-okay..." I said guiltily.

000

Due to feeling guilty, I decided to continue doing low-level quests in my off time. After a couple of days, I felt like I could stop and could be forgiven by Yunyun. However, my guilt took over; so I helped out once in a while.

It was nice getting along with some of the locals, even if they forgot me the next day.

I lay down on my bed with a slight smile, staring at the ceiling I fall asleep.