The wind howled through the desolate ruins, carrying the scent of ancient stone and decay. Swordmaster Leafa, her green cloak billowing, stood at the edge of a jagged canyon, her sharp eyes scanning the crumbling structures below.
"Just like the Council stated," she muttered, voice steady despite the unease prickling her skin. The Great Seal, a mystical barrier forged centuries ago to imprison an apocalyptic evil, was fraying.
Faint cracks of dark energy pulsed from the ground, like veins of corruption spreading through the earth. She tightened her grip on Iron Slayer and descended into the cave, its mouth yawning like a wound in the mountainside.
Inside, the air grew thick, heavy with unnatural chill. Leafa's boots echoed on damp stone as she called out, "How about you come out and show yourself? Save us both the time!"
Her voice rang with defiance, but instincts screamed caution. A low, gurgling hiss answered. From the shadows slithered a creature of nightmare—a writhing mass of black slime, surface rippling with glowing, malevolent eyes.
Leafa watched as the ground trembled again—**TREMOR**—mini-earthquakes rippling outward from the slime's core.
"So this is how it sends tremors through the cavern," she said softly. "Trying to widen the cracks, accelerate the collapse… Clever, but futile."
She drew Iron Slayer in a smooth arc.
"There's nothing this sword cannot defeat."
Tentacles lashed. Leafa stepped into them.
**Crescent Veil** — Blade swept in a perfect half-moon, severing three tendrils cleanly. They dissolved before hitting the ground.
The Shoggoth roared, and surged as a tidal wave.
**Helix Tempest** — Leafa leaped, spinning mid-air. Iron Slayer created a radiant spiral vortex, shearing layers of slime into mist.
She landed lightly.
"Wouldn't sending mini-earthquakes inside a cave defeat the monster?"
She paused, tilting her head.
"No… that doesn't seem like the case."
The monster's voice bubbled mockingly:
"What will be told… is this one—unless you're the one who ends up defeated."
Leafa's smile sharpened.
"What will be told… is this one—unless I'm somehow the one who ends up defeated."
**Void Reaving** — She vanished—pure speed—reappearing inside its guard. Iron Slayer thrust straight into the core. Silver light cracked through the darkness—**ドン!**—shockwaves exploding outward.
"But before you can break the Seal," she declared, "you'll fall by the hands of the one the Council calls the most powerful among them all—the one whose skill can definitively, effortlessly bring down even this embodiment of For Darkness."
**Eclipse Sever** — Overhead strike bent space. Blade glowed white then black—eclipse halves. It cleaved the Shoggoth in a single line. The beast shuddered, collapsing into steaming puddles.
"By Swordmaster Leafa."
The cavern quieted. Leafa sheathed her blade.
"The true threat still approaches."
Two days earlier, in the bustling city of Eldoria, Sekai Kuzuno reveled in his private paradise. Time stood still. The bathhouse was a steamy haven, women frozen mid-laugh, mid-soak, forms bared in misty air.
"Dang," Sekai grinned, voice echoing in silence, "who wouldn't want to be here? Time to touch the melons, the peaches, and the tacos to my heart's content!"
He wove through frozen figures, hands grazing soft curves with thief's glee. Satisfied, he slipped out, resuming time. Startled gasps faded as he swaggered toward the quest hall, pouch heavy with gold.
He'd completed a job—freeing a cursed tower. No fireworks came. "No sparkles this time?" he muttered. Fury smirked. "Hoping for rare fireworks?" Sekai nodded. "Yeah, my stage clear."
Townsfolk whispered in awe as he passed. "Unbelievable… he freed the tower single-handedly in under three days." "That place was suicide." Sekai's ego swelled, but the invisible timer in his mind ticked: forty-eight hours left. Piece of cake, he thought.
Over dinner with Ninya and Fury, the ground shuddered—**TREMOR**—rattling plates. Ninya's fork froze. "What was that?" Sekai shrugged. "Earthquake? No big deal. This stage is mine." But the tremor lingered in his bones.
Later, Sekai dozed in his inn room. Ninya burst in, ponytail bouncing.
"Hey, Sekai! Why are you just lying around? Aren't you supposed to be saving the world?!"
Sekai sat up. Then—**time stopped**.
Ninya froze mid-step, eyes wide, mouth open. Her shirt stretched tight across her chest.
Sekai stood, walked around her slowly, staring openly.
"I only have a few hours left and NO QUEST has popped up!" he yelled at her motionless body,looking down her shirt and panties gesturing wildly. "What the hell is this game doing to me?!"
He circled again, eyes lingering.
"Seriously… stop screwing with me!"
He sighed, resumed time.
Ninya blinked, confused. "...Sekai?"
Fury appeared at the door.
"People are waiting downstairs."
Sekai descended. An envoy in royal armor waited.
"Brave-dono. Did you feel the tremors?"
Fury cut in. "That was no earthquake. That's powerful Earth magic."
The envoy's face paled.
"Princess Clau was sent to investigate the southern shrine—where the Great Seal is located—yesterday. She has not returned. King Belltree III personally requests you, Sir Sekai Kuzuno, to check on her condition."
Sekai's grin returned.
"Rescue a princess? Count me in!"
#### Part 4 – The Shoggoth's Domain
In the present, Princess Clau and her all-female guard stood battered in the cave Leafa had entered. Armor hung in tatters, scorched by acid that burned away cloth and dignity, leaving forms exposed.
Clau's red hair clung to her sweat-streaked face.
"This is no ordinary beast. The Dark Shoggoth… the monster that once brought the world to its knees. How did it break free?"
Her team braced for assault. Acid melted stone and bone. Clau's heart sank.
"If it escapes, we're all doomed."
A sudden stillness fell. Time stopped.
Sekai appeared, hoodie up, eyes wide.
"Well, well," he chuckled, "Guess I don't need a disarm spell to see perfection like this!"
He circled the frozen Shoggoth, grin fading.
"Swords are useless, huh? And my Earth magic won't do squat against this thing."
He paced, timer ticking. Less than three hours.
He studied the cavern walls—cracked, pulsing with fading seal energy.
"Maybe the Seal itself is the key. But right now, saving the princess and her team comes first!"