For I Am A Side Character - 136: First Gate

Cecil…a man whose name was not known by many, but to all of those who knew his name, one can simply describe him in one word.

He was strong.

In the fields of hunters fighting day by day in the dungeons, stories of his existence was spread throughout by the mouths of the guild leaders and strong S-ranked men.

They knew him to be a man unbeatable by any form of enemy. Be it the SS-ranked monster or any living S-ranked hunter…

No man has ever come toe to toe with Cecil.

They called him the Ravager.

When going out on day missions, only a few hunters would witness his actions.

Some saw him lifting an entire 200 storey building with one hand.

Some witness his skill in killing a dragon with one bladed technique.

A few witnessed him splitting an ocean in half for a constant hour just so that the people could leave while a volcano was erupting.

His actions were monstrous…to a point that some could not even comprehend.

One man encountered his actions with so much detail, but refused to believe for it was too fictional in their eyes.

AN: He’s basically, the Chuck Norris of this world.

So when Seraphena witnessed his arrival to the battle scene, she was in awe.

“I can’t believe this…he’s here! The Ravager is here!” she said as a tone of excitement was clear on her voice.

“T-the Ravager? Who’s that?” Asked Audrey.

“He’s the strongest man I know…no monster or man has yet to defeat him or make him bleed.” she said.

“Much stronger than Soril?” asked John.

“Ah…Y-yes!” despite the actions that Soril had displayed, Sera was still confident that Cecil was stronger than him.

“But I heard Soril called him brother…does that make any sense?” asked Audrey.

“B-Brother? If that is the case, then it only makes sense why Soril was this strong to begin with. The Ravager must have been the one who trained him!” said Miss Sera.

“If what you say is correct, then we might just have a chance against the demon!” said John as he was excited.

“Right, exactly. We still have a…” as Sera wanted to sound optimistic, all of her attention was taken away when suddenly, she saw a cloaked man up above the clouds.

“What’s wrong Ms. Sera?” asked Audrey.

“…there’s a man looking down on us.” she said as she pointed her finger up to the air.

When all of the conscious people turned their heads, they witnessed the sight of a brown cloacked man.

“Who is that?” asked John.

“I don’t know…but I have a bad feeling about this” as Sera said this, Jessica who was nearby suddenly opened a gate.

“Get in now! We need to evacuate everyone from the forest” she said.

“But why? I want to see the battle.” said Audrey as she was curious.

“We don’t have time. Trust me…its better that we leave. The moment he makes a move, everything will crumble more worse than before.” she said.

“What? How are you so certain?” asked Miss Sera.

“it’s obvious from the level of power the demon was showcasing. It has yet to go all out…if Cecil wants to defeat him, he needs to be just as strong. Its best that we leave now!” she explained.

“You know him?” asked Audrey.

“Now is not the time for questions. We all have to leave now!!” she shouted.

And soon enough, John and Jessica started forcing the injured into the portal, which all lead back to the academy.

‘I’ve done what you asked Brother Cecil, but why didn’t you want me to take back Soril?’ thought Jessica as she looked back, while finally closing the portal.

With all of them leaving, Soril and Cecil was left behind.

“…I’m surprised that Jessica didn’t forced me out from this.” said Soril as he slowly got up from the ground.

From then on, he bought a potion from the system store and healed himself. He didn’t have enough strength after all to use God’s Will properly.

“I wanted you to witness me using the gates of the shadows. This is an opportunity you must not miss.” said Cecil with his back turned.

“…I see, then do your best, brother. I’ll be cheering for you at the sidelines.” with that, Soril moved away to a safe distance.

One step…

Two step…

Three step…

Four…

At the fourth step, Cecil found himself standing before the demon who was without a smile on his face.

“You’re quite sturdy…so this will be fun.” said Cecil as he on the other end, smiled to him.

And at that moment, the battle began.

As quick as light was, it felt like time has stopped…and from it, the demon’s after image started to blur…

Before Cecil could comprehend what was happening, his body already decided to take action before he could.

One strong stab to the front…

The demon put his all to kill Cecil, but Cecil in all his natural state, simply parried the demon’s blade with his hand.

It didn’t stop there.

The demon kept on striking at different areas…vital or not, the demon wanted to see Cecil bleed once, but Cecil simply parried each strike before the blade could touch.

Naturally, Cecil and Soril were both equal in the physical strengths, but one thing he had as an upperhand was the pure experience and pure skill that simply topples anything and anyone.

When it comes to close combat, he was the strongest.

He was a true martial artist trained and perfected.

As he continued to overwhelm the demon with his skill in martial arts alone, soon the demon became furious and frustrated.

“Grrrraahhh!!” his shout caused the dust on the floor to scatter.

And to show his furious nature, he manifested a purple flame from his bladed-hands.

“!?” Soril was shocked.

Not once has the demon ever displayed those hands in battle before. And not only that, the pressure of the demonic energy from those blades suddenly multiplied a thousand times.

It was so toxic that it was burning the air with demonic energy.

It was dangerous to stay in place with such a display of power.

Soril had to step back…but Cecil remained standing in place, continuously parrying each strike with an unfazed expression.

“A little bit of dirt in the air isn’t going to hurt me.” he said as he smiled sadistically towards the demon.

And from that, he followed his words with a punch so sharp and powerful, he tore through the demon’s thick skin.

“KhK!” the demon struggled, and from it, Cecil pulled his arm out along with the intestines exposed.

Blood came pouring out like a broken faucet.

“Ugh…nasty.” he said as he dropped the intestines down to the floor.

One would think that this much damage was enough to end the fight, but the demon’s incredible healing properties, absorbed the pulled intestines right back into its body and like nothing at all, the demon was healed.

But through its experience, it was hesitant to move.

“Hmm, that healing property is one annoying element. Soril, let me quiz you a bit of what we do as the house of shadows.”

“What is it brother?”

“Tell me, with our main occupation being to eliminate every existence of demon in this world, what do you think is best way when handling a demon to fully exterminate their existence down to their core?”

“Holy Magic?”

“True, but there are other ways too…like say, the void which swallows all.”

“The void?”

“Today, I will demonstrate to you the very element that is only available to those who train to claim the right to fully bond with the dark.”

“Bond with the dark…you mean, the fifth final task in learning the basic?”

“Yes, if you are able to successfully attain the ‘Bond of the Dark’, you will now gain access to what is known as the Gates of the Shadows.” he said.

“The Bond you have for the dark, is the key to open the gates…and each gate opened is different for each man…for each gate is unique and only made for one man who made the bond of the dark.”

“So you’re implying that each gate is different? The 20 gates of the shadows is different for each man?”

“Yes and no…the process to attain the rights to open the gates, from the first to the last, is the same for every student, but each power gained from those gates all contain the very essence of your bond towards the shadows. Like I said, each gate is unique as is with its key.” he added.

“…if that’s the case, then show me how.”

“With pleasure…[Bond of the Dark.]”

As Cecil chanted into his inner heart, the bond he had for the dark…his shadow suddenly became alive and what manifested from his shadow was a small case, almost similar to that of a lantern.

“…?” Soril was confused.

But Cecil smiled.

[1^st gate of the shadows – Gate of Embers]

The initiation, a flicker of potential amidst the dark. This was what defined by the embers inside the opening of the gates.

And from his willfully manifestation, the gate opened and from it, the lantern burst out with so much power and darkness, the entire forest was swallowed into the dark.

Every edge of the forest was swallowed by the dark.

And from it, what replaced the lantern was a pair of large blades twice as long as Cecil’s height.

But even with such a large show of weaponry, Cecil approached those two weapons and he easily lifted them off from the dark shadows found all around.

“I-its dark.” said Soril he was feelign nervous.

“This is the domain of the gate. Every time you open a gate, your strength matches just how large your domain is simply by how strong your bond to the dark is. Mine is capable of swallowing the entire region.” said Cecil as he looked to his little brother with a smile.

“T-the entire region?”

“Yes, and as long as I stay inside the domain of my gate, the gate will not be broken and my weapons will continue to exist.”

“You said that every gate is different…explain.”

“Well, for the first gate, you can’t stop the shadow from devouring the size of your domain, but what’s different is the weapon that manifest inside this domain. By the name itself, that weapon is called your Ember. This gate is called the Gate of Embers.”

“I see…I guess that makes.”

“Well, either way, just watch and enjoy the show of me kicking this demon’s ass. Hahaha.”

AN: BANKAI bitches…

Sorry it took me a while to write this up…and I’m sorry its short. been busy with exams lately…also, I’ve just realized that its been an entire year since I’ve published this book here in the site so…yay, I made it an entire year of writing this book. how do you like them peaches.

Like, how do you like your peaches? Ripe or….ripe?

Anyway, I’m almost finish writing the second volume of this novel of mine. so i hope you guys keep supporting me with your comments and your…comments. Ugh….i can’t really think straight right now. my heads been to the boxing ring against the mighty opponent known as Math Fuckyouass Jr. and his partner, Science Mcdickchopper.

So yeah, like i said…Mcdickschopper.

BYE and see you in the next chapter.