Amongst All Other Worlds, Why Did It Choose Such A Clichéd Setting?

After successfully assessing the situation, I briefly turned my attention towards the blood-stained fox behind me. The red liquid was covering almost every part of her red and golden coat, some of it had already begun to dry, turning into a tacky, sticky-like texture, clumping bits of fur together. Her thin, emerald green slitted eyes stared at me with a questioning alure, just as shocked to the recent series of events as I. Wanting to break the silence, I spoke to them.

“Are… Are you alright?”

I muttered these words. I mean, what else was I suppose to say in a situation like this? Faintly, I heard her reply in a soft, struggling tone.

*Cough* - “Yes, well, no bu-- *Cough* why did you – you were supposed to --- run! Leave me, and save yourself, I don’t want to see anyone else die!!!”

Tears began rolling down her face. Even in a situation like this, they were more concerned for my safety, than their own. My heart broke. There was no way I was going to let these bandits kill this creature! Calmly, I tried to collect my thoughts and resolve myself for the upcoming struggle.

“Heh, well, that’s not something I can do. You, you cast magic on me, didn’t you? Somehow, you knew I was poisoned and helped me… What kind of human would I be, if I left my saviour to die a gruesome death! That’s just not right, you know?”

The fox’s face looked at me with confusion. Was what I said really that foreign to them?

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but if you were willing to help a complete stranger such as myself, then I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of leaving you to a horrible fate of death at the hands of these bandits!”

As I was giving my heroic, awe inspiring speech to the damsel in distress, the bandit equipped with a hammer decided “enough was enough!” and began to charge at me with incredible speed and strength.

“AGHHH!!! What the fuck are you yas piece of shit?!? Whats kinds of fancys magics was that’s? Yours weapons, where the fucks did theys come from?!?!?”

His crude speech rang out in violent upheaval as he catapulted his large body towards my direction. His hammer was poised to strike me with a strong, upwards smash. As he quickly began closing the distance, time began to slow again, and I heard my familiar “smartphone’s assistant” ring out in my head again.

[Combat Initiated – Calculating Kotato’s Battle Status]

[Success]

My head felt fuzzy again, but the sensation was much more bearable. The voice continued happily dictating it’s robotic like script.

[Skills & Numerical Values Successfully Uploaded To Designated Summoned Individual]

Everything was clear to me. Without reason, and no combat experience ever in my life, I was staring at the bandit charging towards me, with prophet-like foresight as to his next movements. I could clearly see his future pathing and pending impact from the giant sledge hammer. Instinctively, my body began to move on its own for a counter attack.

With speed I never knew I had, I stepped forward towards my charging assailant and skillfully stabbed my curved blade into the left-hand side of his chest. My target was the area between the ribcages, the tiny muscle protected by a prison of bone and flesh, his heart! While he was still in motion, my blade impacted his chest with no resistance. Hitting my mark, I swiftly withdraw the blade, satisfied it had teared the heart to shreds!

Time resumed, the man motionless, his eyes staring towards the tip of the sword held expertly in my hands. My eyes followed his gaze to find the object imbedded in the blade’s fangs. Pried cleanly from the chest cavity, was the man’s still beating heart, firmly resting between the hook of the serpent-like sword. Blood gushed outwards with each beat as the heart tried to understand why it could no longer power the body it once resided in. Then, to my shock and horror, the blade devoured the heart whole, absorbing all of the blood and tissue with it. At the end of this gruesome process, the blade’s metal turned a slightly, reddish colour.

What the hell just happened??!?!

I was horrified at the unexpected conclusion to my simple stabbing attack. Nowhere in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a sword devouring the heart of it’s enemy. It was almost as if the blade was a hungry, sentient predator!

While I was trying to recover from my shock, a large, flashing triangle with the words “Danger!” flashed in the corner of my peripheral vision. Quickly I turned around to see my once, friendly fellow of a heathen, taking on the pose of a baseball pitcher having just completed their famous “fast ball” throw. Light gleamed and flickered off a small, metallic object quickly soaring towards my direction.

Shit! That bandit, in a desperate attempt to avenge his fallen comrade, had thrown his knife straight at me! The blade whizzed and cut through the air in a clear, horizonal-like arc, seemingly oblivious to the panic, stricken across my face. Failing to shift my body to dodge the unexpected thrown assault, I braced for the inevitable, when suddenly.

*Shroon*Tchink*

The dagger had imbedded itself in the seemingly empty air! Light warped around a small, spherical like object which had stopped the dagger in its menacing pathway towards my face. Then, with a satisfying *cachink* sound, the blade fell onto the forest floor, imbedding itself into the soil.

Behind me, I heard the fox speak to me in a confident, yet strained tone as they struggled to regain their footing.

*Cough* “Don’t worry --*Cough* about me. I’ll protect your flank! Keep your focus on the bandit ahead!”

I could only assume, the creature cast some type of barrier like spell to intercept the flying dagger, stopping it in it’s tracks. Pleased with the turn of events, I shot them a smile and expressed my gratitude.

“Got it, I’ll trust you to keep me safe!”

The fox mustered a soft smile, as their tail wagged ever so slightly at my comment, their face still stained in blood and tears from the whole ordeal beforehand. If we made it out of this… No… When we made it out of this, I would have to do everything I could to thank them for their assistance.

Confident I would be safe to focus my attention towards the assailant armed with the steel sword, I looked towards his direction to find he had just begun to regain his footing. His eyes quickly homed in on his slain comrade, whose body was quickly drowning in a growing pool of blood. In pure anger, the man shouted towards me.

“GARRICK!!! OI! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!! I’ma gut ya and tear each and every limbs from your bodies!!! I WON’T BE GIVING YOUS A CLEAN DEATHS YOU NITWITS!!! SO JUST FUCKING ROLLS OVERS AND DIES ALREADY!!!”

Crude and vulgar, he charged towards me with bloodlust all throughout his eyes. With his years of experience on the battlefield, the bandit scooped up the steel blade that had imbedded itself in the ground from earlier in an efficient motion, fully maintaining his momentum in the process.

Stepping forward to meet his advance, I attempted to perform the same stabbing maneuver from earlier when ---

[Error – Skill Cooldown In Progress – Currently Unavailable]

Shit!

Unable to complete a proper thrust, the man easily knocked my attack to the side with his free hand while bringing his sword down towards my face. Somehow, I managed to twist my arm and deflected the brunt of the blade’s edge with the corner of my shield. While not fully blocked, the blade’s blow was softened as it tore through my suit and ripped into my soft skin underneath with it’s rough texture.

“AGH!!!”

I shouted in pain, mobility in my arm was reduced as one of my tendons had probably been severed from the cruel steel’s surgery. Continuing his assault, the bandit swung his hand around towards my face, and opened it to scatter a cloud of dust into my exposed eyes and face. Damnit! He must have grabbed some of the dirt while he was picking up the sword from the ground! Clearly this man didn’t survive by fighting opponents honourably!!!

I tried to clear my irritated eyes, when suddenly, I felt a sharp impact to my chest.

“Opmh!”

*Crash*

I was sent flying backwards with a powerful kick, straight into a wall of rocks. My body hurt as pain coursed through every fibre of my being. Following up on his combo attack, the bandit had quickly closed the distance and met me at the cliff’s face. Happily, he yelled in my face, causing some spittle to land across my cheeks.

“DIE!”

Swinging down with all his might, the man aimed to cleave my in two with a single cut from top to bottom! But just before impact, I felt the rocks beside me move as energy flowed into them. Suddenly, a neatly formed, column of rocks shot out from just over my left-shoulder, smashing into the Bandit’s chest.

“AGH!”

The man was sent flying 10ft back from the impact. Looking over, I saw the fox facing my direction, their paws glowing a dim yellow colour. Clearly my mysterious benefactor of a neatly constructed rock column was the result of their assistance again!

Realizing I couldn’t afford any more second chances, I started to visualize my movements for how my attacks should play out. I imagined my opponent’s reactions to each and every swing. Charging forward, I began my assault and attempted a jumping stab towards the prone bandit.

“Gmmm”

Shit, my arm was still hurting from the earlier slash near my shoulder. The stab was sloppy as I aimed towards his chest again.

Seeing my target, with a fluid motion, the bandit skillfully deflected my blade with his arm, then utilizing my momentum, delivered a kick to my stomach as I was directly over top of him. Finally, capturing his own kick’s energy, he used the force to complete a backwards summersault to land back on his feet. Alright, in hindsight, that looked pretty cool! However, there was a new problem as I was awestruck by his cool maneuver.

I, was now flying headfirst, upside down, and ready for my face’s debut with the forest floor!

Shit, focus Ko!

I instinctively reached my right-hand towards the ground to catch myself. My hand firmly connected with the darkened soil as I expertly completed a one-handed twisting vault to regain my footing. Then, we both locked eyes, and charged one another yelling with all our might.

“RAAAA!”

*Clang*Smash*Shreen*

Our blades continued to collide with one another, the bandit’s face was scowled in pure, unfiltered rage with each and every blow! Intent to kill was omnipresent with every savage smash and slash aimed my direction. Somehow, I was managing to hold my own, but even I knew the situation was quickly turning towards my assailant’s favour. My arm grew numb from the repeated blows against the intricate shield; as did my grip on the mysterious serpent-like blade. As we continue trading blow after blow, I caught a confident smirk grow across the man’s face, followed by him triumphantly shouting in my ears:

“Game over, kid!”

The man, while our blades were still locked in this deadly dance, kicked me, sending my flying several feet backwards. I stumbled to catch my foot, when that pesky, flashing triangle spouting the words “Danger!” appeared again.

[Warning! Enemy Surprise Attack Detected]

Geez, thanks helpful assistant! Woulda been nice to know about this sooner, ya know? Right behind me, ready to catch me with open, dagger-filled arms, was my good old friend, bandit #1! He yelled as he prepared to stab my torso with his poisoned knives.

“Heh, dies ya shitbag!”

But just before he could complete his attack on my helpless body…

“KITSUNEBI!”

A fierce voice echoed though the battlefield, filled with confidence and command.

*Frooth*

“AHHHHH, FIRE!!!! GAHHH MAKE IT STOP!!! OAAAHH!! BANDIT!!! AHH—”

Furious, blue, white and orange flames erupted from inside the man, completely engulfing him in their fiery embrace. He screamed in such agony I became frightened at the sounds he was making. His skin melted clean off, revealing white bone beginning to char; liquid flesh dripped and dribbled onto the oblivious ground below. Blisters and boils burst as flayed skin twisted and contorted into hideous, unnatural shapes. Then just as quickly as the flames appeared, they vanished without a trace, leaving behind the hollowed, burnt husk of the man in question.

Shocked by the experience, I was even more confused as to where I had been during the brief, fiery inferno. As he suffered his cruel fate of burning to death in agony, I was just mere inches away from the bandit as he was immolated, and yet, I felt no radiating heat of discomfort. It was almost as if the flames knew to avoid harming my person.

“AHHHHHH!!!! YOU FUCKING FILTHY BEAST!!!”

The last bandit roared in incredible anger upon seeing his friend’s horrible death. Quickly, he turned his attention towards the fox who now wore a rather confident smirk across her face, with eyes glistening in the sun’s piercing rays.

Catching up to the situation, I rushed to intercept the bandit’s charge towards the composed fox, but I wasn’t fast enough. However, my cause for concern was unnecessary! As the bandit viciously swung his sword to slice her in two, the vulpine skillfully dodged, and shifted her weight to completely negate the sloppy swings. Without wasting a single movement, she danced around the man, avoiding each and every blow thrown her way. Until, suddenly, she tripped, losing her carefully planned footing.

“AH HA! GOT YOU!”

*WOOSH*

While I was running to catchup and assist my impromptu battle partner, I witnessed the bandit’s blade slice cleanly through her, but to my surprise, nothing happened! Instead, the blade passed right through, as if cutting the very air itself!

That’s when everything came together, the image of the fox, waved and wobbled as the steel blade was clearly inside it’s body, then it vanished completely, leaving nothing behind, not even a trace of it’s former existence.

“Hehe! That was a good one! Wasn’t that an amazing trick Mr. Bandit? Bet you didn’t see that one coming from a stinking beast such as I!”

From behind, I could hear the voice of the fox, confidently laughing as the man turned to face us. Veins could be seen ready to burst across his entire face. His rage at being tricked was palpable.

Still in the middle of my charge, I wanted to make the most of the opportunity provided to me and land a clean strike to the man, finally bringing our long conflict to a fitting conclusion. Forcing strength into my legs, I leapt into the air to strike him from above! I flew at least 12ft above the ground with my leap, something I was very confident no human could ever achieve! Even I was a little surprised at the height I gained!!! But even so, I didn’t feel fear or tension, this movement, as abnormal as it was, felt like it was natural for my body. But then, I remembered a critical fact…

Shit! I had completely forgotten about my damaged arm!!! All of the adrenaline must have been masking the pain, so I had failed to remember I couldn’t move it well anymore!!! It was also too late, as I had already committed to this cool-looking jumping attack!! Ughhh! How could I have been so stupid??!?

As these unfortunate thoughts raced through my head, I was able to make out a throwing motion from the ground below. The bandit had sent his sword flying into the air to strike me while I was vulnerable!! Damnit!!!

Struggling to twist my body, I managed to rotate just enough along my downwards descent to barely deflect the blade with my shield. It briefly made contact with my hair, severing some loose strands as it continued along it’s path into the forest canopy in the distance. While still rotating in the air, words began to form in my head. Confused, yet curious, I decided to go “all-in” and place my faith in this final attack.

Finishing my rotation to face the bandit below, I was now roughly 6ft away from impact. The man, already anticipating my arrival, had kindly prepared a lovely assortment of one, tightly, curled fist, ready to punch me as I approached.

However, reaching my right hand out towards him. The waves of light and mana surrounding me began to swirl and coalesce into a bright, orangey light around the palm of my hand. Then, saying the words within my mind, I confidently commanded the spell to activate.

“Flaming…. Spear!”

*Schroon*Booth*CHING!*

Erupting in a violent tornado of fire and wind, a blazing inferno burst forth from my hand in a spear-like shape. The flames were more akin to molten plasma as they shot forward, disintegrating the very air they passed through. The plasma beam quickly found it’s target, the image I had so clearly pictured in my head. With incredible force and power, the beam pierced straight through the bandit’s left eye socket! Additionally, the impact from the spell perfectly halted my descent, as I appeared to be floating in the air from the equal, opposite force. A perfect counter balance to my fall!

As the magic began to fade, I could see the damage my ability had inflicted on the man. Vanishing without a trace, the beam of molten plasma left behind a clear opening through the skull of the bandit. Plainly put, I could see straight through his eye socket, and view the forest floor behind him. Finally, as if remembering that his body was subject to the realm of physics again, he fell over under gravity’s influence to land on his back with a satisfying *thud*.

No blood poured out of the bandit’s body. The lifeless corpse was motionless, stuck staring upwards towards the sky in a perpetual state of shock and awe. Feint waves of steam rose into the air making it easy to imagine his soul leaving the earthly plane behind to ascend to the heavens. While I would have much preferred his soul travel somewhere else, such as a well known, warmer and hotter place of punishment, it was still an aptly put comparison!

Realizing the intense, combative encounter had come to an end, I could hardly contain my excitement and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“WE DID IT!”

Somehow, both the fox and I, had managed to make it out of this horrible situation, alive, and mostly unscathed!!! We survived, and that’s all that mattered in this moment!

Then, while I was internally beginning to celebrate, my vision started to grow weak as darkness crept in along the edges of my sight. Accompanying this, was that mysterious voice again:

[Warning – Magic Levels Exceeded Allowable Safety Thresholds – Danger!]

Riding the rollercoaster of emotions, feelings of happiness returned to confusion and despair, until finally, my vision went black. While I could still hear sounds, they were muffled and completely out of focus. Feeling the vibrations along the ground, I could only imagine it was footsteps heading towards me. Then finally, my struggling consciousness faded, as everything went blank.