Redemption's Gunslinger

by Fablemaster

"Redemption's Gunslinger" is an action-packed fantasy western that follows Arthur Morgan, a gunslinger on the brink of death, as he is summoned to a parallel world and bestowed with the powers of the Bow Hero and the Gunslinger Hero. Alongside the Sword, Spear, and Shield Heroes, Arthur must navigate a treacherous world filled with monsters and political intrigue.

3. Chapter 3

Sorry for taking so long, everyone. I had to brainstorm for a bit on how I wanted to do this chapter. I had considered going ahead and making it 20K, but I think 10K and slightly above is my limit. As for everyone's suggestions, I appreciate all of them and will try to implement them into the story. I will experiment with new weapon variant ideas about Arthur's gun and arrows that the Creator probably didn't think of.

Chapter 3

The marketplace was buzzing with street vendors announcing the latest items that they had acquired from unknown places. Street performers danced and played music while sizzling food cooked on an open fire, filling the air with its delicious, fatty aroma. Erhard had grown accustomed to the various things in the marketplace ever since he put down his sword as an adventurer and took up the role of a blacksmith, just as he had planned since he was a boy. Normally, he would have gladly sampled a few spits of meat roasting on the fire, checked out the new raw materials that had come from other kingdoms for crafting new weapons, or even found new designs to add to his growing craft. However, today was different. He came to the marketplace not to partake, but rather to retrieve. With a large sack over his back, he had collected a few items from the various shops he had visited earlier that morning. Now that the sun had reached noon, he had to go straight to the last shop before returning to his own and delivering the items he had been tasked to collect.

He headed straight for the shop that had an enchanted sign hanging above the door, with a dress that looked like it was in the process of being woven together in one color, only to quickly change into another. Under the enchanted wooden sign hung the name of the shop: "Fabrics to dresses or just beautiful clothes, the tailoring shop of all your needs." He always found the name of the shop to be a little more than a mouthful, but it suited the young woman who had bought this place and made it her own.

Opening the door, he stepped inside, the bell notifying the shop owner of his sudden entrance. Surprisingly, he wasn't greeted by the fashion-crazed woman as he normally would be when he visited her. Curious, he started looking around for her, only to find her in her craft room, working on something that looked like it should be addressed to a small girl or even a child, and it looked similar to the second-born Crown Princess with the blue wig and all.

A light humming sound could be heard as the owner of the shop, with a few needles in her mouth, critiqued the dress she was making for the princess, which had been requested by a shadow. She hardly even noticed the man who had walked into her inner sanctum before her eyes immediately caught the smirking blacksmith. Just his presence made her let out a loud "Eep!" The surprise, plus the sound, sent the needles flying toward the intruder.

The old instinctive and knee-jerk reaction allowed the former adventurer to step to the side, avoiding being pierced by the incoming needles. "Damn, Elizabeth, are you a former shadow? You nearly hit me there," he chuckled as he glanced at the few needles that were still embedded in the door frame that led into her little workshop.

She puffed up her cheeks and grabbed hold of a white blanket, throwing it over the mannequin she was working on. "If I were a shadow, I would make sure those needles hit something other than the door frame. And if I were, I would have to kill you, wouldn't I?" she said, tapping between her glasses, causing them to reflect the light of the room with an evil grin on her face.

A cold chill ran up Erhard's spine at the thought that the woman might be crazy enough to be a merchant obsessed with the latest fashions but also focused on the art of killing opponents more fashionably. "Yeah, I'm not going to imagine that. But I am here to collect my order; it's been two days since I made the request," he said, looking around to see if the item they had discussed two days ago was in the room.

Dropping the scary look, she took on a thinking pose and tried to remember what he had requested. After a brief moment, she snapped her fingers. "Oh yes, I remember now. Just wait one moment. I placed it in a box so it wouldn't get messed up," she said, going deeper into her chaotic jumble of fabrics, needles, and other tailoring stuff that went over the blacksmith's head. A few moments later, she came out with a white box and opened it, showing the blacksmith that she had managed to complete the order. "As requested, water-resistant felt with the brims bent over and a leather band," she described, showing the hat to the blacksmith, who immediately nodded in approval.

"Thank you for doing this work so quickly. I knew you were working on your current project," he said, his eyes briefly glancing at the covered-up mannequin. His smirk and chuckle were interrupted as he saw her with another set of needles, almost poised to be thrown at him.

Seeing him stop laughing at her little half-threat of stabbing him with her sewing needles, she immediately returned them to the little pin cushion she kept on her wrist. "Yes, though I must ask, who made the request? I've known you for some time now, and you do not enjoy wearing hats, especially with such a round bald mountain of yours." This time, it was her turn to smile in amusement and let out a ladylike giggle, seeing the blacksmith immediately bring his hand over his head before scowling at her.

"Well, I can't tell you who requested it. You know me, my lips are sealed," he said, bringing his hands down and crossing his arms while holding onto his bag of items.

Seeing how stoic he was acting towards this mysterious person he was doing it on behalf of, she didn't see much reason to pry. She wasn't truly nosy unless it was something cute; then she would want to know everything about it. Until then, she would leave things as they were. "Well, it's best for you to take your hat. We merchants have to stick together after all," she stated, allowing her friend and fellow shop owner to take the requested item. She prepared herself to return to her work once Erhard made himself scarce.

Heading back to the street, the blacksmith went straight home/shop. But on the way there, he couldn't help but notice that the non-guild Affiliated Adventurer board was receiving a new quest. It would have normally been beneath his notice, as he was no longer an adventurer and all that. However, he couldn't ignore it this time, considering the people who were placing their notice were none other than the royal guard.

He waited on the side until they were done before heading straight for the board to see what they had placed. As soon as he read what they had placed, he immediately frowned at what he was reading.

*Wanted*

Name: Arthur Morgan

Current titles: Rogue Hero, Bow Hero, Gunslinger Hero

Crimes: Multiple accounts of assault on Sir Motoyasu, Prince Consort Aultcray, female adventurer Myne, and members of the royal guard. Multiple accounts of theft from noble merchants of the high district, unlawful obtainment of silver coins, assisted rape of Myne, disturbing the peace, escaping custody, and assisting the escape of The Shield hero.

Description: A tan-skinned man in his mid-30s, standing at a height of 185 cm and weighing 81 kg. He wears a light tan jacket with black jeans and brown leather boots. He has short yet messy, dirty blonde hair, a short beard, and brown eyes.

Weapons: The Legendary Bow, Unknown Gun.

Threat Level: High

Rewards: 50 silvers for information obtained about the criminal's whereabouts and associations. 200 silvers for capturing the criminal alive and bringing them to Melromarc's capital for justice. No reward will be granted upon the death of the outlaw, violating this condition will result in a fine of up to 500 silvers and a 2-year stay in the Royal dungeons. *Note that the reward will be readjusted as time progresses or additional crimes are added.*

It had only been a couple of days since the escape from the Royal capital, and already there was a wanted poster for the bow.

Fortunately, there wasn't a wanted poster for the shield. "Damn it, he's not going to like this; there already are a lot of things he won't like. Well, better head home," he muttered to himself as he quickly picked up the pace and headed straight home. Just as he turned onto the street that led to his shop, an individual burst out of the door, clutching his right hand.

"You crazed shopkeeper, you broke my fucking fingers. See that I don't come back with a few of my friends, and we'll show you what it means to deal with the Green Vipers," said an unclean street punk, yelling into the open door of the blacksmith shop.

Stepping out and wearing only a gray tunic and black hooded brown pants, Arthur was in disguise. "Go ahead and bring all your idiot friends, and I'll do more than break a few fingers; I'll crack some skulls." He smacked his open hand over a clenched fist and cracked a few knuckles in the process.

Afraid of getting hurt again, the punk quickly ran off, still clutching the same hand that had broken fingers. He continued running until he was far out of view.

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Erhard approached the incognito hero, whose eyes were still trained on where the punk had run off to. "I take it you ran across a thief; I doubt you would do that to any of my good customers," he stated as he walked past the man and headed straight into his shop. Once inside, he noticed that a few things had been knocked around, but nothing that needed more than a little reorganizing to put everything back in order.

"He thought he could make off with a few of your display pieces. I know they are worthless, but the principle of the thing must be exercised, especially when dealing with an actual professional thief, like myself " Arthur said as he stepped into the shop, closed the door behind himself, and then lowered his hood.

The blacksmith nodded in agreement as he placed the items he was tasked to collect onto his counter, then moved on to fixing the display pieces back into their original neat order. "Street punks like him are getting worse every day; maybe you could do something about it?" he stated as he picked up a display battle axe made of tin and placed it back on the wall.

The Gunslinger considered Erhard's suggestion of taking care of the few gangs and street punks in Castle Town. It would help his reputation. Then again, any good he would do would be overshadowed by the current crimes he was accused of alongside Naofumi. If anything, he would be accused of either assaulting or murdering the scum and parasites of the city. "I could take care of them, but there's no telling if it would do any good for my reputation, which was shaky enough when I revealed my previous profession," he says as he opened the box and saw the hat inside, he immediately put it on his head. It didn't quite fit right, but he made some forceful and rough adjustments until the hat was properly on his head. Then he opened the sack and saw the provisions and a few things that would alter his appearance slightly.

"Well, it's a lot better than what I could have guessed. You're planning to make your way out of the city and rough it in the countryside. Plus, you need to find a party member, or at least someone you could attach yourself to, to help you gain more power to defeat the waves," the blacksmith said as he continued tidying up his shop. He finally placed the last of his display pieces back in their proper place, turned around, and watched his current guest rifling through the bag he had brought in.

He let out an annoyed sigh. "It's not like I have many choices; I can only imagine that there's already a bounty on my head. One shouldn't hit the king if they're not going to kill him. I should have, but I didn't, and now that's probably going to bite me in the ass," Arthur commented as he pulled out a black potion vial and read it. The label on the potion read "Hair Darkening Dye Solution: just apply upon head while bathing for an instant change." This would help him from being easily noticed with his dirty blonde hair, and if he was reading the directions correctly on the potion bottle, his hair would naturally grow the chosen color without needing to reapply.

"As for a party member, I have a lead of sorts that may help me obtain one, but I don't know if the source of the information is genuine. It could just as well lead me into the hands of the guards," Arthur added, remembering what the shadow had said to him before entering the inn a few days ago.

The blacksmith almost scoffed at Arthur's comment, but then became surprised by the last bit of information that had been revealed to him. "Who gave you this information?" he questioned out of concern, half expecting the Gunslinger to fall into a trap possibly set up by the nobles or members of the royal family.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders as he closed up the bag and started heading towards the back room of the shop. "I didn't ask, but I know that she was dressed in black and had a silver mask over her face; that was it," he answered, not providing any further details. He could have gone into more detail about the woman's slim figure or her bust size, but he wasn't in the mood after dealing with an incompetent thief.

It didn't take the blacksmith long before he figured out who had given the outlaw advice on where to obtain a party member. "Hold up! You're saying a royal shadow came before you and delivered this information?" he exclaimed in both shock and surprise.

Again, the outlaw was stopped from entering the other room as he turned his head to look at the blacksmith. "I don't have the slightest idea who or why you were making a big deal out of it. It's not like I haven't come across someone sketchy who gives me either useless or worthwhile information," he stated, only to see more surprise as well as a slight annoyance on the blacksmith's face.

Slapping his hand over his face, Erhard couldn't believe Arthur was completely ignorant of the land and its very agents that worked in the shadows. "Arthur, a shadow is like a top-tier assassin and spy; they are seldom used to being messengers, and it's most likely you came across the shadow that's under the direct command of the queen or someone who is at least an Archduke." He lowered his hand from his face as he informed the ignorant outlaw, muttering to himself about how full of crap the Legends were about all four of the Legendary Heroes having complete knowledge of the world.

This was information Arthur could use to string together who may have sent that mysterious woman to him and given the request not to kill the king or his daughter just outright. "So someone like the queen or the higher Rich Noble Folk sent the shadow to me, is that right?" he half-asked and stated.

The blacksmith had crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "It's a possibility that there are only a few archdukes who have their variation of the Shadows at their direct command if I'm just going by the rumors alone," he stated to the outlaw, who seemed to be thinking and memorizing word for word what Erhard was saying.

"Would one of them want the king to live? Or, for that matter, the princess?" Arthur had asked, wondering if it was the high nobility or the queen herself who had sent that shadow, giving him that information and making the request.

A chuckle escaped from the blacksmith just at the thought of one of the Archduke and Archduchesses sending a messenger to request for someone not to be killed. If anything, those two, if the rumors were correct, deserve a Shadow's blade in the night. "No, and hell No," he said in between chuckles before calming down and explaining a little more. From what I have heard from a few rumors, the princess has insulted many nobles even before she began developing those tits of hers, to the point that the queen sent her away only to come back basically ruined for any political marriages amongst the nobility and royalty. As for the prince consort, there is not a demi-human in this world who doesn't want to see him dead, with his head stuck on a pike and carried through all the demi-human kingdoms. And if you had killed him in that throne room, you would be worshipped just as much as the shield hero would be right about now." He could only imagine how Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden might have to add the bow or Gunslinger to their churches as a new deity. if Arthur did kill that warmongering man.

Blinking and confused, the Outlaw didn't seem to recall meeting a prince consort, even though he didn't truly understand the term consort. "Who's the prince consort?" he asked, only to receive a similar confused expression on the blacksmith's face.

"It's the man that you shot in the forehead; you thought he was the King?" Again, the blacksmith chuckled at the nod he had received from the outlaw. "This kingdom has abolished the patriarchal system for over a thousand years; no one has used or claimed to use the title King when the wise Queen had decreed it. Any documentation submitted by the prince consort must be addressed and given the title that he had been granted by Her Majesty the Queen, who happens to be away on a diplomatic mission to a kingdom summit, as far as most folks know," he explained again.

He growled in annoyance at being made fun of for his lack of knowledge. "Thank you for the correction; now I'm going to go ahead and just fix myself up a bit and try to figure things out," the outlaw said as he headed into the back room. The back of the blacksmith shop was as expected for a blacksmith: a forge that wasn't lit, several weapons that weren't fully forged, and other miscellaneous items. Moving past all of those, Arthur headed straight for the large barrel of water that would have been used to put out any fires that got out of control within the forge. Taking off everything above the waist, he then dunked his head into the water, rinsing off his hair and face. He pulled his head out of the water, dripping wet. He went over to the side of the barrel, where he had placed a mirror and, next to it, some razors and scissors. Grabbing hold and folding out the blade of the razor, he started to shave the majority of his growing beard until his face was cleanly shaven. Next, he grabbed the bottle he had earlier, uncorked it, and began pouring some of its contents into his hair. The effects were immediate, as he could already see his hair starting to darken. He then began working his fingers into his scalp, making sure to follow the directions completely so he wouldn't have to worry about the color of his hair returning to its dirty blonde look. After that, he trimmed up his hair where it wasn't looking like a rat's nest, creating a more presentable style. After a few minutes of trimming and styling, he had a nice swept-back hairstyle next he grabbed a few of their items they came from other tailors made clothing for those who are always traveling from place to place.

It would be half an hour before Arthur would step out of the forge into the main shop wearing nothing but gray pants, a matching overcoat, a white button-up shirt, and a pair of black suits with new Spurs that jingled with every step he would make. "So what do you think?" he had asked the blacksmith who had resumed his post as the shopkeeper in the store.

Turning his head and glancing at the Outlaw for a brief moment, "You need to wear some armor, chainmail or at least have a breastplate with inlaid hardened leather. If I could imagine that someone who is fast enough to avoid your gun, could end up stabbing you from the sides or the front." He commented but didn't say anything that disapproved of the Outlaw's outfit, as it best fit someone who was always on the move.

He couldn't disagree with Erhard in a world where there are only swords, bows, and lastly, magic - a concept the outlaw was still wrapping his mind around once he learned the general premise of it from the former Adventurer and now blacksmith. "Well, do you have anything in my size that won't clash with my attire?" he had asked.

The blacksmith smirked as he wrote down the price plus the denomination of coins and showed it to Arthur. "There will be no room for negotiations on this part, especially since you sent me on your errands today that I did for free, which I should have charged you for." He said it with a greedy glint in his eyes.

With an annoyed sigh, he reached into the coin purse that was in his Overcoat pocket and tossed it onto the counter, allowing a clatter of multiple coins. "I hope you choke on a few of them," he grumbled. His current funds were already low for all the items he had requested the blacksmith retrieve for him from different shops, so it wouldn't raise suspicions that they could cause trouble for Erhard. Now he was down to the last quarter of what he originally had in silver coins, which was a little more than he usually would have. On any given day when he wasn't busy buying supplies, ammunition, or the occasional modification to the various guns he used to do back in his old world, he was still surprised he hadn't spent it all on luxuries such as whiskey, food, or even a pretty enough girl to give him a special bath.

Counting up the coins and then tying the now lighter coin purse, he tossed it back to his temporary guest. He had placed all the coins into a lockbox that was underneath his counter and out of view. "Well, I'll get to the armor piece as soon as I can without needing to take any measurements since you had already given them to me when I ordered all those clothes and other items on your behalf," he said, watching the Outlaw give a grunt and nod before heading towards the exit of the shop.

Before Arthur could even grab hold of the door, it swung open, revealing a rough and tired-looking Naofumi. The old Outlaw couldn't help but notice how lifeless and depressed he looked just by his appearance alone. If that wasn't telling enough, the fact that his cloth was torn in more than a few places was a good indicator that he had been roughing it for the last couple of days. Some of the nicks and cuts on his outfit looked like bite marks, possibly from the local beasts that had no sense of preservation. "Well, it's about time you showed up. I thought I was going to have to track your ass down and see if you were still kicking yourself for that little harlot's deception," he said plainly, not getting much of a reaction from the boy.

"Can you teach me how to live like an outlaw?" There were millions of things that Naofumi would have liked to ask, one of which was to at least join the older man's party if it weren't for the fact that he was restricted by the rules of this world. But that didn't stop him from trying to learn how to live the way Arthur had lived.

Arthur wasn't taken aback by the question; rather, he was quite impressed. The boy asked him without hesitation, possibly accepting the fact that because of what he is, society would look down on Naofumi just because he had the shield. "There's a thing or two I can show you, but mostly it's just going to be basic survival. As for how to live like a true outlaw, that's something you have to develop on your own. Just to tell you ahead of time, the unspoken rule concerning being an outlaw is that women and children are off-limits. You may rob or kill a man but don't kill his woman or his child. Don't even think about having anyone in your group touch them if this rule is violated. I think you know what you have to do, or at least allow the law to deal with those who violate this rule." He said this as he pushed past the boy and headed outside the shop. "Well, aren't you coming? I know you would probably prefer to rest, but you waited too long to come to see me, so Im going to teach you the basics of how to survive out there with nothing more than the melon in between your ears and your skills with your hands." He stated this as he continued walking away from the blacksmith shop and in the direction that would lead outside of Castle Town.

It was about an hour before they arrived at a decent spot that was away from the creatures that would normally attack anyone in the immediate vicinity, such as the balloon monsters, saber-tooth rabbits, and other impossible creatures that normally would not exist in the Outlaws' world or, for that matter, the Shielders' world. "So what happened to your stuff? I noticed that you weren't carrying that sack around; you didn't throw it away, did you?" he asked as he went to a nearby tree and started hacking at a few branches with his knife. He may not know much about the overall system that he's forced to conform to, but at least allow him to use his knife for non-combat-oriented purposes.

"I buried it just outside of Castle Town. I just didn't want to touch it anymore, so I put back on my normal clothes, and as you could see, it's been chewed up by the balloon monsters," he stated. Looking at his zipped-up jacket, which was in tatters, he was surprised that the zipper even held together despite it going loose in a few places, and the heels of his shoes were already beginning to lose the adhesive material that kept them together.

Stopping what he was doing and looking at the boy, Arthur nodded his agreement at the statement that Naofumi needed a change of clothes. "When I'm done showing you a thing or two, we'll go straight to Erhard's shop and get you some new gear. You can't wear anything that's been tainted by that bitch," he said as he continued where he had left off. After gathering up the bits of wood he had gotten from the tree, he pulled out some sturdy string, picked out a nice spot that had a few small footprints in between some bushes, and began setting up the trap.

Watching this, Naofumi realized what Arthur was doing—he was making an animal trap. "Is that a sling trap?" he asked, watching as Arthur put the final touches on the makeshift trap, with the stick being firmly planted and bent in an almost U shape, followed up with a few berries added.

"Uh-huh," Arthur grunted as he walked away from the trap, grabbed hold of the younger man, and went towards some nearby bushes that had the scent of mint on them. "You're going to have to set these traps up yourself; this is the simplest and most cost-effective trap for small game. You'll probably have to be more creative if you want to catch something bigger, like pit traps with spikes, swinging logs, and whatnot, for both the wild animal variety and the human-animal variety," he said as he got himself comfortable in the kneeling position, watching and waiting for any critter to come by to sniff at the bait.

Naofumi got into the same position and listened to survival tips from Arthur while also watching the trap. Not even in a few minutes, there was already something that resembled a rabbit moving towards the trap, making his eyes widen in Surprise. as he saw what looked like a normal rabbit if a normal rabbit had antennas on its head. He continued to watch as the rabbit sniffed around towards the berries that were left behind, not realizing it was getting closer and closer to the trap that was set for it.

* snap…crunch*

Those were the only two sounds as the rabbit was yanked upwards at its little paws, putting just enough pressure to trigger the trap. Its body convulsed and twitched as its neck snapped, killing it instantly. It continued with its death throes of twitching for at least a few more moments before it went completely still.

Getting up from the bushes, Arthur made his way to his dead rabbit. Without too much fuss, he loosened the string that was around its neck and, with one swift motion, he immediately skinned it right there and then, with a small gush of blood spilling onto the ground as its skin was ripped off. With another strand of strong string, Arthur tied his dead rabbit to a nearby tree. Taking his knife, he immediately began to gut it, removing the less edible parts in gory details in front of Naofumi.

The Japanese otaku wasn't a stranger to blood, but the gore that he was forced to witness was almost too much for him to stomach. The brief thought of going vegetarian occurred in his mind if it weren't for the fact that he hated the taste of tofu, and he doubted that there would be any tofu bean farmers in this world. "That's kind of gruesome, don't you think? Wouldn't it be better for me to just buy from vendors?" He asked as he turned his head away from the bloody display.

"Sure, you can have a butcher clean up your kill for a fee, and they will take the good parts. But let's go ahead and think of this situation: You're out in the middle of the woods, miles away from civilization, or at least an outpost of civilization, and you have at least yourself and one other person starving. You have two options: bloody your hands or starve to death." The Outlaw was a little harsh but not unkind as he finished gutting his rabbit.

Naofumi couldn't help but lower his head in shame just at the thought of that scenario. There would be situations where he might not be able to go into certain towns thanks to his reputation being what it was. When he had gone back into Castle Town with the few balloon monsters attached to his body before popping them, many if not all of the vendors wouldn't do business with him. The ones that did were offering almost 90% less than what was expected for the meager drops he got from the creatures he could kill at his current level. "I guess I have very little choice, but how are you using your knife? " he asked then he was surprised to see the handle of the knife was in front of him, held by Arthur.

"So long as you're not using it for combat, you can use items such as a knife. I figured that out yesterday; it's all about what your intentions are when you grab hold of something." Arthur informed the squeamish Naofumi, who was focusing on the blood that was on the knife and his hand.

Pushing aside his distaste for the display of blood that was being shown to him, Naofumi reached over and grabbed hold of the knife. He could feel the sticky, coppery smell of the blood covering his palm and fingers. Despite the ickiness of it, he couldn't help but realize that he wasn't being zapped for violating weapon restrictions. Just to make sure, Naofumi opened up his little hub and went straight for the 'help' option. As he looked through the wall of text talking about weapon restrictions and various other effects, he immediately found the exception to the weapon equipment restriction. Knives and other utilities, as well as other equipment, could be used as long as they were not intended for combat use. This meant that he could use things other than his shield and by what he had witnessed; he could set up traps for animals, possibly even creatures, and kill them in that particular way. However, he doubted that he could create big enough traps or have the animal or creature in question be dumb enough to fall for them, unlike the antenna-bearing rabbit. "This is amazing. I thought I wouldn't be able to wield anything, and at first, I thought I would have to start using my fingers to eat." For some reason, he cringed at the thought of having to use only his fingers.

"Yep, now it's your turn to set up a trap. Best clean off that knife; you don't want blood on the trap and scare away the next critter that comes by in a different spot," Arthur said as he walked away from his little hunting partner, a good distance away, to start the makings of a little camp.

It took Naofumi a few minutes to register that it was his turn to hunt and gut a rabbit of his own. "Arthur, wait, what do you mean clean up the blood and set up my trap?" he asked while starting to follow and seeing Arthur setting the wood in a teepee shape, pulling out a backup knife, and beginning to shave bits from a dried piece of wood and shoving those small bits underneath the teepee.

"What the hell do you think, go get your supper. I got mine unless you want to spend tonight without eating," Arthur replied, and as soon as he said that, he heard growling coming from Naofumi's stomach.

Slumping down and imagining a storm cloud appearing over his head, Naofumi turned around and walked a good distance away from the previous kill spot to set up his trap. He had nothing to wipe the blood off other than his clothes, so he carefully removed the blood from the knife, he dropped down a few limbs on a tree, then he pulled the string that was attached to the hood portion of his jacket and nearly made a perfect replica of the sling trap. He then looked around for some bait and found some berries that looked similar to the ones that were used for the previous trap, placing them on the spot where they needed to be. At the side of his little trap, he felt a sense of accomplishment for setting up what was considered the most basic of traps that didn't require the use of a weapon. With that done, he looked for some nearby bushes that could hide his scent. Soon enough, he found a bush that had a similar quality to the one that he and Arthur had used in the previous trap. Kneeling in the bushes, he waited and waited and waited for anything to come by. Some time had passed to the point that the blue sky was beginning to turn shades of orange and yellow. It was at this point that he felt that his patience was reaching its limits. As he was about to give up, he saw a rabbit similar to the one that had fallen into the previous trap. It hopped around, sniffing the air and the ground, and it was getting closer and closer to the trap. Naofumi could feel his heart racing and the anxious nervous energy in him starting to boil in his veins in anticipation for the rabbit to fall into his trap, but he fought the urge to do anything that would reveal his presence.

*snap*

It was the only sound that could be heard as the rabbit was hoisted up by its neck. Its neck hadn't been broken, and it desperately kicked and flailed, trying to escape from the trap. It even started nibbling on the soft string that was tied around its neck.

Naofumi would have yelled in triumph if it weren't for the fact that the rabbit was still alive and kicking, determined to get away. Not wanting to lose his catch, he ran over and grabbed hold of it, despite its struggles. Once in his grasp, he didn't know what to do. He couldn't simply bring it to Arthur to kill it. No doubt, he would receive a lecture about every man being responsible for his kill, something he imagined the old Western survivalists would say. He looked down at the rabbit, its big black eyes almost begging for freedom. But the pangs of hunger reminded him that this rabbit was dinner, no matter how cute it looked. He had very little choice. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed hold of its head and twisted, hearing the audible *crunch* as the rabbit's kicks grew weaker and weaker until it finally ceased.

With the killing of the rabbit done, the next task was to skin it. Naofumi tried his best to mimic what he had seen Arthur do, but there were still patches of fur attached to the flesh. Gutting it proved to be even more challenging, especially with its blood and entrails splashing in his face. The smell of blood and guts filled his nostrils, making him feel nauseous. But he managed to clean it out, removing all the inedible bits and pieces, before making his way back to the makeshift camp that was likely already set up.

Arthur had gathered a few more sticks and placed the tied-up feet of the rabbit over the unlit campfire. He didn't want to start the fire until he made sure Naofumi knew how to properly start it. Seeing the campfire completely assembled was one thing, but knowing how to make a spark was another, hence the stick and the carved piece of wood with a small dent and a few shavings.

A bloody Naofumi emerged from the bushes, holding up his less-than-perfect catch for Arthur to see. "The blood is so gross, and the smell..." He couldn't finish his sentence as he held out the dead rabbit to the outlaw.

Arthur didn't comment but simply smiled at the boy's squeamish nature during his first kill. He reached over, took the dead rabbit, removed the leftover bits of skin that hadn't been properly removed, and cleaned it up a little more. "Not bad, and I didn't hear you vomit over there, so you've got stronger nerves. That's good. You'll get used to having to kill and prepare your food. And among other things, when you're not eating meat and you're just gathering whatever you can find, make sure you rub whatever you're planning to eat on your forearm and wait for a few moments, if not an hour. If there is no reaction, you can eat it. If there is a reaction, you should drop it and not bring it to your mouth. The last thing you want is for your airway to close up." Arthur explained, and as he did, he couldn't help but remember the sensation of suffocation he had felt when he was succumbing to TB.

He forced his thoughts away from the cause of his death and switched his focus,

back on the boy that he had brought on this little educational field trip. "My bag is just on the side over there; open it up, and you'll find yourself a rag to wipe off the blood on your face and hands." Arthur pointed to the bag that was hanging on a nearby tree.

Without a word, the bloody Naofumi went for the bag that was on the tree, grabbed a couple of clean rags, and started wiping off his face and hands until the crimson fluid was sufficiently off of him that it wasn't giving him that sticky feeling over his skin. "So when are you going to start the fire? I know it's a little warm during the day, but at night it gets a little cold," he said, as he could already feel the cold air starting to lower the current temperature.

"Oh, I'm not starting the fire; you're going to be starting the fire if you don't manage to do it before we get too cold. We're going to starve and freeze to death," Arthur said with a smirk on his face as he handed Naofumi the stone and flint and again pointed his finger towards the spot on the setup teepee where wood and shavings were neatly piled up, just waiting to be ignited. After that, he sat to the side and watched His student try to start his first fire.

Watching the old Outlaw hand him both Stone and flint and then move off to the side, no doubt watching him try and maybe even fail at starting a fire, Naofumi complained, "Your teaching method stinks," as he got onto his knees near the teepee of wood and then started to rub the rock against the flint.

The complaint caused him to smirk a bit and discreetly chuckle, which was masked as a cough. "Well, it's better than me teaching you the ropes; then you're just simply guessing on your own. Also, don't softly rub them together; be a little rough as you strike them together until you get that spark," Arthur said, correcting his student on the proper way to strike at Flint.

After two hours of trying and failing, Naofumi was able to get a spark, but unfortunately, that spark didn't ignite the fire, and out of frustration, he threw the rocks down and stomped away, leaving the outlaw as the only one to start the fire with very little difficulty.

"You can't allow yourself to get frustrated like that; you need to be a little more patient. I know you're young, but you need to remember that you're going to have to survive like this whenever you turn away from any of the towns or cities that will not tolerate your presence," Arthur lectured as he pulled out some salt and pepper from his bag that he had taken from the tree and began seasoning the rabbits.

Despite his frustration at failing to ignite the fire, Naofumi had taken the outlaw's advice to heart as he went by the fire and started warming up his numb fingers. "I never really asked you this, but I know from the others how they got into this world. How did you get here?" he asked in between rubbing his hands together.

The question made the old outlaw stiffen just by Naofumi's asking how he arrived in this world. He starts to recall what he had heard from the others on how they gotten summoned which was similar to his own 'The blonde prick got himself stabbed by two insane women that he was leading on, and the other also got stabbed by a serial killer. The only one that didn't die and was brought into this world was the same one that was asking about his death.' as far as he could remember when they had briefly mentioned it. "I don't like to talk about it, but I figured at some point I'd have to tell someone. I died from a disease that I had contracted from a man that I beat nearly to death for nothing more than the few bucks in his pocket. In the end, I died on my back, suffocating to death," he bluntly told how he had died, and despite retelling it, he could still feel that burning sensation in his lungs as he was desperately trying to breathe, only to feel the cold sensation as darkness filled his vision, only to be refilled in this new world of warmth and life than more complicated shit.

The shielder was completely stunned by the description of how Arthur had died just like the others had before arriving, leaving himself as the outlier, and he wasn't able to come up with a response to that type of death. Just the thought alone of suffocating to death for some reason was much more horrifying in comparison to dying from a stab wound or possibly just getting hit by a truck; at least one of those deaths would be considered painless in comparison. She was just not able to breathe.

"Alright, with that out of the way, let's focus on our dinner, and once we're fully fed, we're going to bed early, and hopefully, we'll find some wild horses or this world's equivalent," Arthur said as he spun the two rabbits on the stick, adding a little more seasoning before pulling them off, breaking the stick he was using in two, and giving Naofumi his rabbit.

He barely registered Arthur's words as he was staring at the steamy roasted rabbit, delighting in the smell of salt and pepper wafting off of the roasted flesh. It was only then that the outlaw's words registered in his mind. "Wait a minute, you're going to teach me how to ride a horse?" Naofumi asked as he brought the roasted rabbit into his mouth and bit into its stringy yet chewy meat, all the while imagining himself trying to get on a horse and being sent off into space as soon as the horse kicked him off.

He didn't answer his question, not after he had eaten half of his rabbit. "Yes, at some point, you'll need to get yourself something to ride on unless you want to spend 90% of your time here walking. If that is not what you desire, then you better man up and get ready to ride a horse tomorrow because I'm going to put you through hell until you're at least a decent enough rider whenever you have the chance to buy your horse," Arthur informed Naofumi as he continued eating the rest of his rabbit until there were only bones left. He tossed the stick, bones, and whatever bits weren't too appetizing onto the fire and let it burn. Then he picked out a nice, comfortable spot near a tree and readjusted his hat so it would cover his eyes. "Another thing: wake me up in an hour, and I will take over your shift. We're not sleeping at the same time unless you want someone at night to sneak into your camp, slit your throat, and steal all your shit," he said, then hearing a groan coming from Naofumi reminded him of a younger version of himself complaining to Hosea when he was being first trained on how to survive out in the wilderness.

Throughout the night, Arthur and Naofumi took turns watching out for each other. They both doubted that anyone would go deep into the forest just to rob them, but they understood the importance of staying vigilant in unfamiliar territory. Arthur, with his experience and the type of life he had lived dealing with gang feuds, believed in the principle of keeping guard at night.

It was Arthur's last shift, and it happened to be his final one, as he could see the sun rising through the trees and the leaves above, along with the mixture of sounds of the woods coming to life with birds chirping and bugs flying around. Not wanting to waste a minute more, he got up, stretched out his legs, and heard a few of his joints starting to pop. He went over to the sleeping Naofumi and, raising his foot, swiftly kicked the sleeping boy on the leg.

He let out a yell as soon as he was kicked and immediately went on guard with his shield at the ready to defend himself. Instead of an enemy, all he could see was a smirking Arthur looking down at him. "Damn it, do you have to kick me? Could you just shake me or something?" he complained as he got up.

"Oh, sure, I could have gotten our water supply and poured it on your head, but again, we need that for today, and besides, it's not the worst way to wake up. I could have found something nasty, wrapped it up in a rag, and left it on your chest for you to discover," the old Outlaw smirked. He reached into his bag, pulled out a dry biscuit, and offered it to the boy.

Grumbling, he swiped the biscuit from The Outlaw and happily began chewing on the bland-tasting biscuit. "So where are we going to go to find horses, or, as you said, this world's equivalent?" he asked the outlaw as he continued to eat his biscuit until it was gone.

He had only shrugged his shoulders at the question, "I don't know, we'll just pick a direction and walk until we find some open fields that usually have horses. If not, we'll pick another direction and another. Even if we have to take a few days at it, if we have to, we're going to find what we're looking for eventually," Arthur answered.

Naofumi found it difficult to swallow as he heard the outlaw's answer, to the point that he was starting to choke. He began beating his chest, only for a waterskin to smack him in the face. Uncorking it, he began downing the life-giving aqua. He managed to clear out his airway a bit before glaring at the outlaw, who seemed to be smirking at his near choke. "How long do you expect us to be out here? We need to train up, and I need to get a party member, one whom I can trust and who won't betray me. Also, we don't know when the next wave is going to happen," he nearly yelled at the outlaw.

Hearing the boy's tirade, he raised four fingers on his right hand. "Four months, that's what we have left. Erhard was kind enough to inform me how much time we have left. Beyond that, who knows? In between waves, it seems to vary depending on how severe the destruction from the previous wave had caused, which is quite inconsistent according to the former adventurer." Arthur informed.

Hearing how long it was going to take until the next wave gave Naofumi some relief, knowing that he wouldn't have to stress too much. Yet, he couldn't just simply relax on his laurels. After his little training with Arthur, he was going to find himself a party member and train to gain XP, learn the land, and show that Trash King and that red-headed Bitch not to underestimate him.

Seeing the boy relax, Arthur pulled out his compass and his journal and began marking the direction he planned on taking. "Well, we're going eastwards from here. If we don't find anything in the next couple of leagues, we'll change direction, and if the same happens again," he explained the plan for how they were going to travel through the wilderness, which seemed similar to simply wandering.

"What if we get lost?" asked Naofumi if he could see the compass in the Outlaw's hand, but I didn't know how he would navigate through the wilderness as he didn't see anything that would appear to be a map.

Flipping a few pages in his journal, Arthur then revealed on one of the pages where he had marked the stars. "I just marked the stars in this current position. We are at the ones I could see through the trees, and one of them points in the same direction as Castle Town. So if we do get turned around, we'll just simply follow the stars. Nothing to it." With that said and done, he snapped his journal and put it into his shoulder bag along with his compass, and took a step in the chosen direction, with Naofumi following after.

(Stepping Along ost)

For the next couple of days, the two navigated themselves through the countryside of Melromarc. During that time, Naofumi had grown accustomed to preparing his food in the gruesome detail that he had learned how to. The rest of their travels went uneventful for the most part, except for goblins and other low-level creatures. However, being near one another diminished the experiences they gained. What they didn't gain in the form of XP, they made up for in knowledge. Their weapons could absorb more than just simple material dropped by monsters; they could also absorb plants and anything that the gems could absorb.

Using a broken piece of rope, Naofumi unlocked the Rope Shield, which had the unusual ability to create a projection of a shield. This projection could be used as a hovering stepping stone in the air or launched like an object to send an enemy or target away. Arthur tried this and discovered a similar ability with his gun. His gun would shoot out a long string of rope, and with his imagination, the rope could turn into the equivalent of a lasso. The same thing happened with his bow, allowing him to launch arrows with a long, strong rope attached. This rope could be used in all sorts of creative ways that the outlaw could think of.

The magical gem's abilities truly shine when they realize they can amplify the existing useful properties of healing herbs. Once they can appropriately identify them and understand the potency of medicine, the possibilities become almost limitless. From a cheap disinfectant to a high-grade healing ointment, the shield proves to be more effective in amplifying the growth and potency of various herbs that can be turned into medicine. Even the medicines themselves seem to be of a higher grade, despite Arthur's skill in producing useful medicines.

During their little experimentation, while tracking a trail of what looked like hoof marks, they also unlocked another gun and bow.

"So HP is my health points, SP is stamina points, and MP is Magic points, am I correct?" the outlaw asked his shield companion, who was explaining the finer gaming mechanics that seemed to run this world. This new information only caused him annoyance and headaches as he tried to decipher the system.

"Yes, that's correct. It will help you keep track of your remaining points and levels. When you level up, all those points will increase, along with other stats," the shielder explained. As he looked through the help menu, he found a guide that provided more information about the status magic system. He also discovered that certain individuals and beasts connected to a hero or a similar powerful artifact could undergo evolution.

Though he may not be the smartest member of the former Vanderlin gang, he understood the system he was forced to accept and use. However, he found it frustrating with its restrictions and the limitations imposed when his weapon was near another legendary weapon. "So, all I have to do is kill monsters, take their XP, and become stronger faster? That's it?" he asked.

"That's pretty much it. In other games, you can increase individual stats by allocating points gained between levels. You can also strengthen other skills you possess, aside from the skills we gain from absorbing objects into our gems," the shielder explained. Naofumi found the ability to gain experience simply by grabbing something and leveling up by adding more of the same material quite interesting. According to the help menu, the item in question had to be of higher quality, but it was still a useful mechanic.

The high-pitched neigh had ended further conversations regarding the gaming system that governed this world, as a group of unusual-looking horses grazed on more than just grass, as indicated by their unusual forms. The horse creatures seemed to be comprised of either plants Earth would have or other elements and their various presence seemed to affect the air and the environment that they were touching with their hooves.

"Oh, lordy, aren't they quite the beauties?" chuckling Arthur said. Just the sight of them reminded him of the few wild horses he had seen and their majestic beauty, especially the painted native horses that he would find all over the West. But these specimens were something else altogether.

As Arthur was the only one who was intrigued by the elemental beauty of the equines, Naofumi, on the other hand, saw a two-golden-horned, black and blue-striped horse with a spiky Mane that had small Sparks of electricity going through the standing hairs, then watched it tilt its head down and point its horn to a nearby large Boulder and blast it with a thunderbolt, causing the giant rock formation to explode, hold tiny pebbles, or dust. Just the side of Destruction that one elemental horse could do made him gag and nervous, and a small part of him wanted to just simply turn tail and run. "Do you think we're out of our depth here? These things don't look like I would fancy myself riding them," he made said to the excited cowboy, who was staring at one horse after another almost as if he were choosing which one he would want to tame.

"Well, we came all this way; let's go ahead and collect something from this little trip." Arthur County knew that the boy wouldn't find trying to tame something as deadly as these beautiful creatures to be less desirable with the possibility of their death using one of their Elemental abilities as retaliation for a possible failed attempt.

After hearing that, Naofumi's head slumped down as he started to imagine getting electrocuted or either burned or buried alive. As he raised his head, he couldn't help but notice there was another Elemental that looked like it consisted of blades, and just at the side of that one, he muttered to himself about the absolute idiocy of attempting anything with these creatures.

Unaware of the mutterings of his shield companion, the outlaw caught sight of a perfect steed for himself. A draft horse with a sturdy yet elegant build, possessing a dark coat filled with sparkling lights, almost as if the night sky and equine form and its mane seemed to flow without any wind causing it to flow like moonlight, and its eyes sparkling and shining like starlight. He knew that this was the one for him. Grabbing hold of his revolver and changing into the rope gun, he aimed and took several steps closer towards the herd, making sure not to be seen by any distracted equines that were either grazing with their preferred grass tree or even rocks, as they were doing all except for the one that he was going after, as they simply raised their heads, exorbiting the rays of the sun, as they were completely unaware of the human that was approaching their flank until they heard an alarming neigh coming from its herd mates.

Turning their heads to their flank, they immediately saw the oddly dressed human. They had tilted their heads to the side out of mild curiosity and confusion, only to see a rope that was tied in a lasso. Outraged by this human's blatant attempt to try to catch them and make them their steed, the celestial horse jumped up on its hind leg, facing towards the human, and kicked its front feet a few times before slamming down onto the earth, sending a wave of devastating starlight destruction.

"OH! SHIT!" The outlaw cried out as he used the rope gun to attach to a nearby rock that wasn't destroyed in this little field and pulled himself quickly away from the giant wave of sparkling starlight of destruction. Only after he had pulled himself away and seen the aftermath of what just happened could he help but be completely horrified as the ground was scorched into the glass just by that one attack alone. Yet he was not going to give up, not even after seeing that form of destruction that his chosen mount would rot upon himself if he failed to capture this mighty beast.

(Final Fantasy 10 Battle ost)

On the side, Naofumi watched in stunned disbelief as Arthur had just avoided an attack that would have reduced him to ash or glass. Part of him wanted to yell out at the crazy cowboy to retreat and say that it wasn't worth risking his life and effort to obtain what was essentially a badass-looking horse, even for a Japanese otaku. He could imagine the two other heroes being green with envy if the outlaw started riding around on what was essentially a space horse with who knows what type of abilities it may have. But all he could do now was watch and pray that the crazy American cowboy could pull through.

The celestial equine snorted in displeasure at not disintegrating the bold human they had watched as the human got up and readied himself in case they decided to use the same attack again. But it wouldn't use the same attack twice. Raising its head in the air, it began sapping out all the light in the immediate area, causing the other Elemental Equines to flee as they were charging up another signature attack.

Watching as the light in the immediate area was being sucked out and building into the mane of the star-touched equine, he just wondered what new attack this beast would unleash upon him. Now he wondered if he could pull himself out again and if this attack was similar to the last.

The visibility between the two was almost impossible for Naofumi to see. He vaguely remembered the concept of a black hole and how its gravitational pull would be so intense that it would prevent anything from escaping its event horizon, even light, yet this was something completely different. Watching the space horse's mane glow and start to spike up like the electric equine, he could only imagine what type of attack was going to be unleashed. "Arthur, get the hell out of there; it's going to blast you or something similar," he cried out to his friend.

Hearing the voice of another human drew the attention of the celestial horse in that human's general direction, who was hiding behind a nearby rock, but like a fly, the cowardly human was ignored as they focused on their true target. With the amount of energy drawn and stored within its body, it unleashed it through its mane, shooting jets of solar photons over the affected dark space and having them rain down like a rain of death.

Hearing Naofumi cry out for him to get out of there, Arthur hardly disagreed, as he was heading for the very edge of this dark field that had swallowed the immediate area that he was in along with the powerful equine. Then, seeing how the dark sky was lit with falling stars trying to rain down upon him, he ran a little faster trying to get out as he could feel small explosions behind him, near him, and almost all around him as he avoided shot after shot, backtracking and circling. He did his best trying to avoid this shower of stars. He was almost near the edge of this field, only to be blasted backward and onto his back. He watched above him as a yellow sphere of death was about to end him. He closed his eyes and prayed the attack would be painless—more painless than suffocating. The only thing that happened was an explosion that caused his ears to ring, yet there was no heat, no pain, nothing. Opening up his eyes, he could see a green, glowing, transparent shield. He turned his head, and seeing a little bit through the darkness, he could see Naofumi with his rope shield drawn out and pointed in his direction.

"You owe me now, and I expect to collect big when you pull your ass out of this fire," yelled Naofumi, even starting to smirk when he saw Arthur giving him the middle finger as whatever effect that the space horse had had was starting to wear off. Yet at the center, there was no space horse. He tried looking around, only to hear heavy breathing behind him. He slowly turned, only to see, to his horror, the space horse that just appeared behind him.

Now annoyed, the celestial equine had teleported out of the center of the field that was part of the Star Shower devastation, right behind the one that had cast that strange shield projection. It had raised its hooves in the air and used a bit of gravitational magic to assure the death and destruction of this human with a shield. As it was about to smash the very atoms out of the cowardly human, its new prey was quickly pulled away by the oddly dressed human, leaving just the rock to take the brunt of the damage it would have done. Unleashed upon the human, if the other didn't pull their companion out of the way with such force, it created a miniature explosion of energy. With its failed attack done, they turned their sights towards the two humans that were standing next to each other. Now that they were done playing with these humans, they created three horn-like moonlight blades around its head along with similar blades on the sides of its front legs. Damn these humans, why don't they just die already? They thought to themselves as they prepared to charge.

Seeing the blades appear on the horse's head and the sides of its legs, Naofumi swallowed his fear and decided to use his rope shield to create more projections, but his MP was running low, and he would only be able to cast a few more times. "This thing's a true monster. How the hell are we going to beat it? I think we're under-leveled for this thing," he exclaimed.

"How many shields can you make with that rope shield of yours?" Arthur asked as he continued to remain focused on the equine monster that keeps pulling out new tricks the longer the fight continues.

He blinked in confusion for a brief moment before looking at his MP and seeing how it was almost three-quarters out of what he had seen the first time he had launched his first projection. Once he unlocked the skill, he just wondered what Arthur was planning. "I've got at least five more in me before I run out of MP," Naofumi informed.

"Good, when it starts to charge at the last minute, throw up that shield, then create a couple more in the air. I have a plan." Arthur smirks as he takes several steps forward, decreasing the distance between himself and the star equine, only to stop halfway. "You put up a mighty fight, you beast, but soon I'm going to put a lasso around you and then put a saddle on you and make you mine," he boldly yelled at the beast.

They were not amused by the human's words and had already decided to kill this one first but make its death slow just to hammer home how insignificant the odd-dressing human was in comparison to it. The other human with the shield was too much of a coward to show themselves; their death would be swift. No mercy, they had long decided. Starting to dig their hooves into the dirt a bit as they prepared themselves to charge.

Meanwhile, Arthur was mentally counting down as he started controlling his breathing, keeping himself calm despite his elevated heart rate. 'The showdown I'm going to win,' he thought to himself as he waited until the final bell rang.

They had raised their heads and let out a bellowing, neigh-like roar as they charged towards the human who was steadily smirking at their charging attack. Inch by inch, they got closer and closer, and at the very last moment, as they were about to impale the human with their serrated horns, a green shield appeared in front of him, followed by more shields in the air.

Everything for Arthur appeared very slowly. As soon as the green shield manifested in front of him, he could see the three serrated horns starting to pierce the green shield, and when the other shields appeared, he used them as stepping platforms, stepping on one and then jumping onto the other until he was hovering above the air. That's when he pointed his rope gun and shot the lasso around the neck of the star horse and quickly pulled himself onto its back.

Its head immediately transformed back as it could feel the presence of the human on its back. It started kicking and flailing to get him off, refusing to be this human's mount and using so much power and force that it was starting to make the air and ground shake before teleporting elsewhere in an attempt to get the human off.

Naofumi just watched as both cowboy and horse disappeared in front of him. Once Arthur managed to get onto the horse's back, he had to duck to the side to avoid getting slashed by the blades that were slowly being retracted into the horse's body. Now he was alone, but not for long. Several elemental horses were approaching him, and his MP was completely depleted. He looked around, immediately raised his hands, and slowly started backing away from the approaching horses. "Nice horses, nice," he said rather gently as he could hear what was equivalent to an amused snort from one of them; hopefully, it wasn't the bladed one.

Arthur had held on for dear life as he put rope after rope around the star horse's neck just to increase the tensile strength of the rope. He was whisked off with it to a frozen wasteland and felt strong winds blasting him in attempts to throw him off as the beast continued to kick and flail before teleporting again into another place. Instead of cold winds, a sandstorm started blasting on the bits of skin that were exposed, cutting him and getting into his eyes and nose. Then, it teleported again, this time underwater. The beast acted like it wasn't affected by being underwater as it continued to flail and kick while he held on for dear life.

From different hellscapes to even ancient ruins, they popped in and out from place to place, but continued their tug of war for control and dominance, neither wanting to yield. Whether it was just stubbornness, pride, or a combination of the two, one thing was certain: there could only be one winner.

'I refuse to submit to you, pathetic human.' A feminine voice spoke through telepathy in Arthur's mind.

Despite the unfamiliar voice in his head, he held on as he received an extra kick trying to send him forward. He leaned back to avoid getting launched off the horse's back. "And I refuse to give up, even if it takes me forever," Arthur said stubbornly as he tightened his grip and ignored the drainage of his stamina or the few damaging hits he got from the different locations that drained his health. Nothing would get him off of her, not until she was broken.

She had heard his words and was surprised at how stubborn he was and how determined his efforts to break her were. 'Stupidity and pride will end you, human. I still have enough MP to take you somewhere that no creature can survive.' She telepathically spoke, and if she could, she would smirk at the little evil plan that she had for the last usages of her teleport.

Before he could think of what she meant, they had just teleported again, but this time they weren't in a wasteland or anywhere in particular. It looked like night, yet it had a glowing blue orb that had a lot of green and mountainous-looking terrain in the distance of his point of view, reminding the Outlaw of those scientific globes he had seen whenever he was collecting debt for Strauss in those fancy laboratories. It was only then that he could no longer take in the air; rather, he could feel the air leaving his lungs into the vacuum of space. Not just that, he could feel a terrible cold creeping up his hands, arms, and legs. The few tears that were coming off of his eyes froze in space and broke off. This is like the first time dying again, he thought as he could feel his near-frozen grip starting to loosen as he watched his HP slowly becoming drained as it turned from a healthy blue into green, yellow, and reaching red.

She could sense as the human's life was becoming drained yet she couldn't remain out here as long as she liked, not without expending all of her MP to provide her body's needs of air. As soon as he would let go, she would leave his frozen corpse to continue to float into the void for all eternity. Suddenly, she sensed something, something powerful, something burning that was coming from the rope around her neck that was coming from the human's odd weapon.

"Don't give up; they need you," an unfamiliar yet familiar voice spoke into Arthur's mind and heart, bringing him out of the small slither of darkness that his mind and body were slowly slipping into as he was about to suffocate in space. He re-strengthened his grip on the lasso and began pulling tightly to the point that he was strangling the horse.

She couldn't believe this; the impossibility of this was beyond her comprehension as she watched her MP drain twice as fast as it normally would, and she couldn't determine what the cause was. If she remained, she would run out of MP, and her fate would be the same as the one on her back. 'Damn you, human scum,' she mentally bellowed as she used the remaining bit of her MP to teleport back to where her heard was located.

With a thunderous boom of a teleport, the celestial horse had no longer any MP, its stamina was nearly depleted, and the one on her back went completely limp on her neck. In the end, I still win despite you trying to drain my magic; none can defeat me; none can break me, she said through telepathy to the dying brain of the human on her back, a last taunt before true darkness.

"I...think...you...lose..." said Arthur as he struggled to breathe, and somehow he managed to sit straight in the triumph of remaining on despite all that he had gone through.

Her star-filled eyes widened in disbelief at the fact that the human was still alive despite all that she had done in attempts to get him off, from nearly freezing him to death during the winter season at the South Pole to having him nearly shredded by the most turbulent desert of this world with its dagger-like sand, or forcing him to the deepest depths of the oceans to try to drown him or have the pressure crush him, and lastly sending him into the void. Nothing shook him off. As she was going through the motions and thoughts, a binding crest appeared on her forehead as the ancient magics started doing their work of binding her to him, and in the process, she lost all of her levels and her major skills to match those of her new owner. 'NOOOOOOOOO!' she screamed in her mind as her body began to shrink into a more normal-sized horse.

(Final Fantasy VII - Victory Fanfare ost)

A notification popped up in Arthur's vision congratulating him on taming a Celestial Mare. It also emphasized that its levels would be reduced to the same level as those of their owner, among several other things that he didn't take note of as he fought the urge to simply pass out. "Come on, take me back to my friend. I don't want to leave him there alone with your friends," he said while kicking his spurs into her flanks and pulling the lasso around her neck.

'Kick me with those spurs again, and I'll kick you when you get off me, and I'll make sure it hurts,' she telepathically grumbled as she went in the general direction where the human should be.

BTC