Chapter 1: Playground

The sun began to set, coloring the sky red and orange. Etzell looked up at the sky with a solemn expression on his face, his eyes filled with sadness.

In his mind, he could still picture the moments when his father and mother died, the sadness and pain that filled his heart.

He knew that he had to be strong, but he couldn't help but think of his loss. Him was now alone, and it was up to him to find his own way in the world.

In the end, Etzell decided to continue learning in understanding the feelings of others. The reason was simple, it was because his parents were always hiding something about what had happened to them.

Etzell kept wishing that if only his could have known from the beginning, then his parents would not have committed suicide due to excessive stress. But it was too late, now his parents were no longer in this world. Inevitably, he had to accept that fact.

"Father, mother, forgive me!"

Deep in his heart, Etzell continued to apologize to them. While hoping that they would forgive him, he lived alone with his part-time job.

He worked at a small restaurant from the afternoon after school to the evening. In short, he works two shifts, afternoon and evening.

By this time, Etzell had already done his afternoon shift and he asked the restaurant manager for permission not to take the night shift because he wasn't feeling well. With the manager's permission, he was allowed to go home.

The journey from the restaurant where Etzell works to his home is quite long. If calculated, he would probably reach his home in another 10 minutes if he walked.

"Come here, look to your right, Etzell!"

On his way home, a mysterious voice faintly whispered in Etzell's ear. It was a command that sounded clear even though it was only a whisper.

"What is it?"

Suddenly, the voice made Etzell turn his face to the right according to what he heard.

"Right? What's with that? Eh?!"

Seeing a woman sitting on a park chair crying, Etzell was shocked. It made him feel sorry for the woman. Then of his own accord, he approached her slowly so as not to disturb the woman.

"Umm... well, are you alright?"

Then Etzell inquired about her condition.

When viewed from behind, the woman's appearance was that of a teenage girl in her teens. She was crying while using both hands to wipe her own tears.

"..."

After a while Etzell asked her, this woman was still silent. Then out of curiosity, he got closer and faced the woman while offering her a handkerchief.

"Here, use this!"

At first glance, there was nothing strange about the woman's form as he faced him, and she even looked at Etzell with a wet face, as if she had been crying for a long time.

"I'll kill you!"

Then after staring at Etzell for a while, the woman began to make a small voice that Etzell could not hear.

"Sorry, what did you say just now? I didn't hear it."

Unable to hear what she said, Etzell asked her to repeat what she said.

The woman looked down for a moment and then looked back at him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Unexpectedly for Etzell, the woman began to transform into a strange and terrifying figure. The figure could not be described in words, it was just that all of her body was blackened and began to elongate on its own.

"Eh?! What is this?!"

Etzell could only be shocked and stiffly silent at the sight of the strange, horrifying figure. Even he couldn't move due to fear.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

"No! Why can't I move?! Anyone, help me! I don't want to die here!"

Seeing that the strange figure began to move and let out sharp claws, Etzell felt very frightened and began to scream even though there was no one to hear him.

"HELP ME! PLEASE DON'T DO ANYTHING TO ME!"

Etzell continued to shout while looking at the strange figure preparing to attack him. At the same time, the surroundings of the park became so dark that it was even darker than the night when there was no lighting in the park.

"Humans who can't master elemental techniques, I must kill!"

"Wa-wait, what does that mean? I-I don't understand!"

Etzell's speech became more stilted when he was afraid. Moreover, he did not understand what the strange figure was saying. And he kept wondering what it meant within himself.

"DEATH!"

The attacks were really coming towards Etzell. Several of the strange figure's scratches were aimed at the head and the heart. The number was numerous and uncountable.

The figure could divide some of its body shadows into a weapon in the form of claws that looked extremely sharp, as if it was ready to slice through anything that came its way.

"WAA!"

Resigned to a reality that he could not understand, Etzell closed his own eyes while feeling terrified as soon as the claws were pointed at him.

"It turns out you're here, huh?"

After a long time of Etzell closing his eyes, he did not feel anything.

Of course, that was because someone had saved him and deflected all the scratch attacks. Vaguely, Etzell also heard someone's voice while he was closing his eyes earlier.

Curious about what was happening, Etzell started to open his eyes again. It was then that he saw a strange figure facing quite close to the person who saved him.

Now his fear began to disappear, and he wanted to thank that person.

"Hei, thank you for saving me!"

When Etzell thought of thanking him, he immediately did so.

"Yes. For the time being, can you shut up and watch?"

"Eh? Alright, I got it!"

Then the person answered him briefly without facing Etzell's direction, he also told him to just shut up and watch.

That person continued to face towards the strange figure while smiling slightly. Seeing his expression, Etzell felt even more confused about what had happened now.

Generally for Etzell, most people would feel scared and confused just like him when they saw such a strange figure. But unlike that person, he seemed to be smiling as if he was taking everything lightly.

"Long time no see, Naste! Looks like your superiors are starting to give orders, huh? Well, I wouldn't mind playing around with you. Considering we're also at the playground right now, don't you think?"

The person began to greet the strange figure whom he called Naste, that was the name of the strange figure.

"Tiwaz Re! I'll kill you first, then I'll kill the person behind you!"

Then Naste began to also call that person's name, Tiwaz Re.

"One thing is certain, the person behind me will not be killed. That's all," said Tiwaz Re.

"Most spirits are stronger than humans now. Do you know why? It's because humans don't realize the potential they have, they ignore it all. Then those who realize it will claim that they are God's chosen ones. How funny is that?" Naste replied at length.

"I agree with all your explanations, except for the beginning."

"Humans are still much stronger than spirits, I can even say that 100 spirits are comparable to 1 human," Tiwaz Re continued.

"Is that so? You'll realize that your words were a big mistake after I kill you!" said Naste feeling annoyed while looking at Tiwaz Re.

"Alright then, let's fight to the death!" invited Tiwaz Re.

"I'll take you up on that invitation!" said Naste.

Tiwaz Re stood opposite Naste, both exuding the same aura of power and arrogance.

Etzell knew that this battle would be fierce, but he was confident that Tiwaz Re would win.

The two fighters stared at each other, ready to strike.

"Feel this!"

Naste made the first move, launching a powerful claw attack at Tiwaz Re.

Tiwaz Re tried to dodge, but the attack was too fast and he was hit with a blow that left his body injured.

"WAA! Are you okay?!"

Feeling worried because of Naste's attack, Etzell approached Tiwaz Re.

"Body Enchantment!"

Immediately after saying that, Tiwaz Re's wound healed instantly.

"Eh?! What's going on? How can you heal so quickly? I saw you were badly injured earlier!"

Confused, Etzell asked Tiwaz Re some questions.

"Don't worry about me! Please take a few steps back so you don't get hurt!"

"Ah, okay!"

Despite not getting an answer, Etzell still retreated as ordered by Tiwaz Re. Now he decided to stay still without moving anywhere unless he was told to.

"How was it? You overwhelmed me with just one of my techniques!" Naste exclaimed with satisfaction.

The scratching attack was still coming, and it was again directed at Tiwaz Re.

Intending not to fight back, Tiwaz Re stayed where he was while raising his hand and saying "Mirror Flip: Level 1, Reflect Spirit Enery!".

"UGH!!! WHY?!"

Several parts of Naste's body instantly split apart as her claw attack hit Tiwaz Re's body.

That was Tiwaz Re's technique called "Mirror Flip: Level 1, Reflect Spirit Enery!". The technique worked by using Spirit Energy to flip or reflect objects, energy, and attacks, either separately or as a whole. The higher the level, the more attacks that can be reflected.

When Tiwaz Re activated his technique, Naste did not realize that her attack was reflected until it ended up hurting herself. And now her body was split open by her own attack.

"Great!" muttered Etzell.

"Damn you, Tiwaz Re!" said Naste irritably.

Although her body was split open, Naste would not die easily. That's because she is a spirit being called a Shadow Spirit.

Spirits are divided into several types, one of which is the shadow type that Tiwaz Re and Etzell were facing right now.

Shadow-type spirits will not be able to die if they are hit by their own attacks. Therefore, the way to make a shadow-type spirit die was to attack it using Tiwaz Re's own technique.

"How did it go? Still want to kill us?" asked Tiwaz Re with confidence.

"Yes, of course. I haven't even unleashed all the techniques I have!" retorted Naste.

As the two fighters continued their battle, the intensity and speed of their attacks increased.

Tiwaz Re was constantly on the defense using the Mirror Flip, while Naste continued to attack using new techniques.

The new technique that Naste used to attack Tiwaz Re was an extremely sharp shadow knife as if it was ready to pierce all parts of Tiwaz Re's body.

But because of Tiwaz Re's Mirror Flip technique, all of Naste's attacks were reflected and of course she had to attack while avoiding her reflection.

The battle was intense, with both fighters on offense and defense.

Naste was pushed to her limits, even getting stabbed by her own shadow blade.

"Damn it! Die!" Naste shouted.

I don't know how many times she was stabbed because of Tiwaz Re's Mirror Flip technique, but Naste did not give up and continued to attack Tiwaz Re.

"Hah... boring, I thought you could give me some interesting entertainment!" complained Tiwaz Re as he continued to raise his hand.

His Mirror Flip technique was impenetrable by Naste despite being attacked several times.

"Maybe we should just end it now!" he continued.

Casually, Tiwaz Re pointed one of his hands towards where Naste was and clenched his fingers.

"Shadow Cloak: Level 5, Shadow Annihilator!"

"UWAAA!!! Why?! Why, my body! No!"

Shortly after, Naste began to scream accompanied by the slow disappearance of her existence. Not only that, the situation that was previously very dark is now starting to get brighter. And apparently, the sky was still showing twilight, not nighttime.

Now that all of Etzell's worries and fears had disappeared, it was because the playground was back to normal.

"She, disappeared!" said Etzell with an incredulous look.

The battle was ended by Tiwaz Re very quickly, so in a battle that Etzell couldn't understand, Tiwaz Re came out as the winner.

"Yahah! Fighting shadows with shadows turned out to be quite effective!" Tiwaz Re exclaimed with a light laugh.

"H-hei, what exactly happened?" asked Etzell to Tiwaz Re.