Jaden stood facing the
creature before him.
*Is this what a real fight
feels like?*
For the first time in his life,
he felt exhilaration beyond belief.
As the world's most prodigious
swordsman, he finally found a promising match: the Dragon at the Edge of the
World.
"Human... No, Jaden. Why
are you so eager to fight me?" the Dragon spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.
"At first, it was merely
an order from my country. Apparently you've caused humans and demons a lot of
pain in the past. However, now I see why you are hailed as the strongest
creature in all of existence. You are fearsome, and my battle spirit has truly
awakened for the first time!"
Jaden lunged towards the black,
crystalline Dragon with lightning-quick speed. Even the most highly-trained
warriors would find it difficult to keep him in their sights. However, the
Dragon was able to parry the lunge with a claw, albeit with some difficulty.
"The strongest,
huh..." the Dragon mused as he was forced to defend against Jaden's
relentless onslaught.
In all of Jaden's life, he had
never fought a truly difficult battle. He showed promise with the blade at the
early age of two and a half, and though he was born to commoners in a remote
village, the village chief did everything in his power to send him to a
training facility for young soldiers in the city.
When Jaden arrived, it was
natural for everyone to look down on him. After all, he was a commoner from
somewhere the King's hand could hardly reach, and most academy students were
nobles. However, that didn't last long as he quickly established himself as the
number one swordsman in his class by a wide margin.
Of course, being number one in
his class didn't feel particularly challenging for the young talent. So, he
challenged everyone in the class above him.
There were times when he lost,
but those losses were only due to Jaden's young body being unable to handle the
raw forces of more developed physiques. Even though the result was a loss, Jaden
felt like if he became only slightly physically stronger, he could sweep
everyone away.
And become stronger he did.
Jaden grew quickly; his skill
level exploded exponentially and he easily became the number one swordsman in
the academy as a first-year student.
Naturally, this wasn't enough.
Exceptional students of the Royal Swordsmanship Academy had the opportunity to
join the Royal Guard: the King's personal fighting force. However, competition
for this small, elite unit was extremely tough, and not all top students of the
academy would qualify.
But Jaden, a rising second-year
student, was the number one Academy student by far, and he knew it. When he got
the chance, he challenged a Royal Guard member to a duel.
He won, and after dealing with
red tape, he became the youngest Royal Guard member in the Kingdom's history.
Jaden was now a part of the
military, which meant that he would be sent to war. Whatever mission he was
sent on, he completed it flawlessly. With this, Jaden gained much of the King's
favorability, and he was eventually sent on more and more highly tactical
missions. However, no matter how difficult the king seemed to make the
missions, Jaden would always return as if nothing happened.
At age 19, it was clear that Jaden
was the most skilled swordsman in the history of the Kingdom, if not the world.
And the scary thing was that he was still improving.
On his 21st birthday, Jaden
challenged all swordsmen of the Royal Guard to face him at once. On this day, a
significant change occurred within Jaden's heart.
Previously, even though Jaden
found all of his battles easy, he was passionate about studying the ways of the
sword.
However, today there were 49
swordsmen rolling on the ground, and one extremely bored man stared back at all
of them.
"Pathetic. Is this all the
strongest in the Kingdom amount to?"
He turned to the king, who
witnessed this battle in shock, and gave him an ultimatum.
"Jazz, I'm getting bored.
Give me something more difficult or I'll go become a farmer."
When he addressed the king
informally, the Royal Guard stared daggers at him but couldn't do anything but
feebly groan.
King Jazz knew he couldn't lose
the Kingdom's most valued asset, so he frantically gave orders that he thought
would be impossible to carry out.
"There might be assassins
coming for me tonight. They're rumored to be the most skilled in the world and
have taken out the Shogun in the east. Protect me tonight," Jazz ordered.
Assassins in the dark were a
nightmare for swordsmen, especially when they were the most skilled ones in the
world. This irritating group of freelance assassins were even known for taking
out heavily-armored troops in one blow, something unthinkable for ordinary
assassins.
However, the next morning, Jaden
nonchalantly presented 5 heads to his ruler.
"We're fighting a battle
on all fronts. Defend the east side of the city by yourself."
Sending one person to defend
against an oncoming army was seen as an insane order by many. King Jazz heard
no end to the complaints that followed. No one in the military could stand for
one side of the city to be so under defended, but orders were orders.
Lo and behold, by the time the
sun was setting, a single man could be seen standing in a field that was
littered with hundreds of corpses.
"Go kill the Demon
King."
This was the most ludicrous
order of all. Demons and humans were at odds with each other ever since they
encountered one another hundreds of years ago. For these hundreds of years, the
two races were in a deadlock that couldn't be broken no matter how hard they
tried. Each side consisted of millions of denizens, so making any significant
progress against them was exceedingly difficult.
However, within a year, Jaden
coldly tossed the head of the Demon King at Jazz's feet. Within this year,
something seemed to have changed within Jaden once again.
He grabbed Jazz by the collar.
All of the soldiers in the throne room were on high alert, but there was
nothing they could do against this man.
As Jazz nervously looked into Jaden's
eyes, he was given another ultimatum.
"If you don't give me an
interesting mission, I'll kill you."
Pin-drop silence resounded
throughout the throne room. Jazz gulped.
"The... The Dragon at the Edge
of the World."
When Jazz said this, commotion
rose up.
"What? Is he talking about
THE dragon?"
"The one that nearly wiped
out both humans and demons almost 5000 years ago?"
"That has to be a myth,
right? There's no way something that strong actually exists."
"If it does, it's easily
the strongest being ever recorded... There's no way King Jazz is going
to...?"
Fear. Doubt. Disbelief. These
were the three main emotions that ran through the throne room when this name
was mentioned.
Jazz cleared his throat and
continued, "Of course you've heard of it, Jaden. It's a threat to all of
humanity. It nearly wiped out the world's dominant species. You know how strong
and dangerous it is. Go kill it."
Jaden slowly released Jazz from
his grip.
"If this mission isn't
interesting, you're dead."
With those words, Jaden was
never seen in the Kingdom again.
"Please go far, far, away
and never return," Jazz pleaded.
After journeying for a couple
of years, Jaden encountered the mythical creature and engaged it in combat,
bringing us back to the present moment.
*CLANG!*
Countless clashes of steel and
claws rang in the air. If there were any unfortunate bystanders nearby, they would
have been vaporized by the mere shockwaves of the impacts.
That's right - Jaden had gotten
even stronger during his years of journeying. He could no longer be described
as human.
"5000 years ago, I
realized a truth about this world. I cannot let you proceed any further than
this," the dragon said.
Of course, Jaden cared nothing
about what the dragon just said; he was as high as a kite experiencing their
current battle.
"Damn, what the hell is
this guy?" the dragon wondered out loud.
In its past experience, the
strength difference between itself and a human was far greater than that of a
human infant and a top-class soldier. Yet in some twist of fate, the infant was
pushing the soldier back. If the fight continued like this, the dragon knew it
was going to lose eventually. However, it refused to back down.
The legendary clash between the
two continued for several days and nights, and one day...
*A chance!*
One of the dragon's parries was
far more sluggish than usual. Seeing this, Jaden thrust his sword towards the
dragon's stomach as quickly as he could. But...
"Jaden. Here is why I am
the strongest being in existence."
As Jaden was charging, the
dragon opened its mouth and an ethereal circle with complex patterns formed in
the air. It was nothing like Jaden had ever seen before, but his instinct
screamed that it was dangerous. However, his momentum was too strong and he
couldn't change direction in time.
*It baited me...*
The past couple of days of
nonstop fighting were merely a ruse. The dragon wanted to drain Jaden's stamina
and underestimate its offensive capabilities. The sluggish parry and false
opening were only executed after Jaden had already been lured into a false
sense of understanding.
*I guess long-lived beings are
something else...*
This was the last thought that Jaden
had before he was struck with a beam of black light that came directly from the
dragon's mouth. It was the same attack that was dealt 5000 years ago.
---
"Hmmm... Jaden. I will
always remember this name," the dragon said with reverence. After all,
this human had changed its perspective on the world. "It's a shame someone
as talented as you has to perish, but..."
The dragon looked back in the
distance.
"That's something that no
one should ever discover."
Sighing, the dragon collapsed
on the stony ground.
It was exhausted after firing a
magic attack that could only be executed very rarely. It was about to go into a
long sleep when suddenly...
*Shik.*
It felt a sharp pain on its
stomach.
"What the f*ck, you're not
dead?" the dragon said in disbelief.
"You... bastard... You
think... I'd die... from that?"
An extremely ragged voice could
be heard from within the smoky remnants of the dragon's breath attack. Though
the dragon was in pain, it shook its head.
"You have grit, but one
stab with a sword won't be enough to kill me."
"Is... that so? Why...
don't you... take a look?"
Confused, the dragon looked at
the item that pierced his belly. When he confirmed its identity, his eyes
widened.
"That's...!"
"Yup... A sword... Made
from... one of your old claws!"
The dragon didn't know where Jaden
learned this information or where he got the weapon, but it was true that its
own claws were probably the most lethal material in the world. Even drawing a
small amount of blood with it could instantly kill someone. With the sword deep
inside its belly, it was only a matter of time before the dragon perished.
The dragon sighed.
"Jaden... Promise me one
thing. Please don't let anyone go near the cave at the edge of the world."
"I... wasn't thinking
about it. But now... I might go there myself."
The dragon laughed at this
response.
"It's the wish of an
honorable enemy... Can't you honor it?"
"... I'll think about
it..."
"I see..."
With those final words, the
Dragon at the Edge of the World slumped onto the ground and breathed its last.
---
Jaden's breath was still
ragged, and it wasn't getting any better.
*Damn... What the hell was
that?*
The dragon's strange breath
attack was nothing like he'd ever seen before.
*That circle with the complex
patterns... Could I learn that?*
For the first time ever, Jaden
was fascinated with something other than the sword.
*Can it make me stronger?*
However, as he thought that, he
collapsed on the ground. What was the point in becoming any stronger? He had
just defeated the most powerful creature in existence. He would have just
become a farmer if Jazz didn't decide to give him this last-minute mission.
*Well, whatever.*
Regardless of anything else, Jaden
was finally overcome with the great satisfaction of experiencing a true battle.
It was a fitting end for him.
Was this surprising? He was
dying. At the end of the day, apparently even Jaden was unable to completely
withstand an attack that wiped out most of humanity and demon-kind.
With the greatest satisfaction
anyone could experience, Jaden closed his eyes for the last time.
Or so he thought.
When he woke up, everything
around him was a strange color.
*What? Where am I? Didn't I
just kill the Dragon at the Edge of the World? Is this the afterlife?*
His body felt strange, and his
movement felt restricted. It didn't take him long to realize he was trapped
inside something.
*What the f... Let me out of
this damn place...*
Jaden quickly noticed that
whatever enclosure he was in was more difficult to break out of than anything
else he'd experienced before.
When he finally escaped, he
couldn't help but note the strangeness of his surroundings.
*Where in this goddamn world am
I...*
He was in an underwater cave of
some sort. Before he could explore further, though, he noticed something else.
*What?*
When he looked down, he noticed
a large number of orange spheres laid out across the cave's floor.
*... What the fuck?*
He was pretty sure he
recognized what those spheres were, and it didn't make any sense.
*What the fuck??*
When he looked at where he came
from, he noticed that his strange-colored prison was in fact one of the
countless orange spheres that was now busted open.
*What the fuck???*
That's right - the legendary
swordsman Jaden, who had just killed the legendary Dragon at the Edge of the
World, was reborn as one of the weakest creatures in existence. A fish.
*WHAT THE
FUCK??????????????????*
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