Inner monologue

"There's always going to be someone better in school, in sports, in popularity, in life in general."
"Always second best... No matter how hard I tried"
"There's always a gifted newbie, a star boy, a messiah, or an overpowered idiot"
"Even in this new world... No... This time I'll show all of them... My worth!"

; Ali Kasim

Mermaid archipelago

The Diora knights were finally set to go underwater.

Norton located the treasure and could only give 4 of them, the "blessing of the sea", a buff that would allow them to stay underwater indefinitely and swim at great speeds.

Ali led the charge obviously, with Edward and Genevieve following behind. Charlie lost the volleyball match to Tom and was forced to come along instead of staying with her beloved princess Nova.

After swimming through the darkness of the sea, the gang finally saw the beautiful underwater archipelago.

The first thing that caught the eye of the glass-wearing leader was a huge cave on the east side.

"Alright, see you NPCs later, I'll clear this event in no time! Go fight some fishes instead", he then zooms past them.

"What is that guy talking about?" Charlie asked Edward.

"Sir Remi once said this world reminds him of a game, so I believe that's what Sir Ali is talking about", Edward explained the best he could.

"I'll watch out for him, you guys go ahead," Genevieve said, following after Ali.

Charlie then took another glance at Edward before saying, "You... You're an Anderson".

"Ehhh well.... I mean... Yes," Edward panicked; he hadn't been referred to by his last name in almost a year now.

"The Andersons have been a huge help to the Beliora knights for generations", Charlie said, smiling.

"I've even had the honor to speak with your father, Johnathan, before."

"Yeah, he was always the talk of the kingdom, how he killed a Great dragon single-handedly." Edward smiled as he remembered all the cool things his dad did.

"He mentioned you once... But he didn't exactly use the kindest words, saying he wished he only had 3 sons and that you're fat and lazy..." Charlie continued.

"Yep, that's exactly what my father would say," Edward cringed a little as he felt Charlie's gaze on his neck.

The two landed on the island and began walking towards the cave, however.

' Step, step, step!' a woman dressed in a maid outfit emerged from the cave.

Her skin was pale and she had black marks all over her forearms.

Short cream-colored hair, green eyes, and a rose hairpin fit on the right side of her head.

Edward observed her and deducted

"She's an undead, just like Miss Amaka said, a Technique by the Necromancer Harris".

"Good day, Heathens. My master is busy looking for the scripture, so if you could go to hell, it would be appreciated." the Undead said in a cutesy voice.

"How unsettling, listen here Zombie! I, Charlie Wilson of the Beliora kingdom, shall stop your master! Now step aside!" Charlie yelled out, her hair glowing a fierce yellow color.

"Then I! Cecilia Cotta will be your opponent, get ready to die," The maid said with a smile, which scared the hell out of Edward.

"Be careful Miss Charlie, I'll provide support with my air wall". Edward readied his mana to assist his temporary partner.

"Then I'll start with you Tubby, Terra Stomp!" 'Crack!' a large crack appeared on the ground and started growing towards Edward and the ground exploded beneath his feet, launching him upwards.

"Owwwww!" The boy tried to recover but it was hard to balance properly in the water.

Charlie, seeing her opportunity to strike, literally shot her head off her neck at Cecilia.

{Gowl scout Tite}
T.N: SHOOTING HEADBUTT

Her head glowed gold and shot out like a cannonball at the undead woman, forcing her backward quite a bit.

"Ugh, a Dullahan heathen?, I simply must have rotten luck to fight such an ugly creature" Cecilia said with the same disturbing smile on her face.

"Ugly... Uhh, I'm going to enjoy breaking your face!" Charlie's head lit up with golden light again as the battle continued.

Edward managed to get back on his feet but was quite terrified of the two women facing off in front of him.

(Scary!) He thought.
_______________________________________

EASTSIDE

Bubbles began emerging in droves from a huge crater where an island once was.

"Grrrrr ah... The hell... Booby traps suck!" A disgruntled voice echoed from the center of the crater.

It was Blake looking haggard; it seemed the parchment located in the island base was booby-trapped with explosives.

He only managed to survive by unleashing a powerful talisman that shielded him partly from the explosion, but his injuries weren't just a scratch.

He placed the parchment in his bag and tried to resurface it, however...

From right above the Taoist, a stream of lightning severing the sea raced towards him.

[Yanke!] 'Slash!' As Blake narrowly dodges the attack, it leaves a clear mark on the ocean floor.

"Hah... Just my luck... Diora Knights!" Blake coughed out some blood as he glared at the two people who confronted him, a brown-skinned man with glasses and a blonde beauty in a swimsuit.

"Nice shot glasses," said Genevieve in a mocking tone.

"Oh shut up, NPC, and stay out of my way; I'm about to end this in one strike!" Ali retorted with his own rude tone and started preparing another electric attack (only God knew why they weren't all shocked to death in the ocean by now).

The boy's sword began to glow yellow and he began reciting the words in his native language, Hausa.

"{Walkiya: Katon zaki!}"
TN: lightning clad: lion claw.

He then slashes at Blake with his lightning-clad sword, sending out 3 distinct slashes similar to those a lion would leave on its prey.

Blake took out a single talisman from his pocket. He was a proud deacon of the Aris church. If it was his time to go, he wouldn't die running away or begging for mercy; he would face defeat head-on...

However...

In the blink of an eye, Blake was now back on land in a cave far away from the beach and was confused beyond belief but too tired to react properly.

"Damn... Necromancer..." With that, Blake fell onto the cave floor unconscious. The parchment was still in his bag next to him.

BACK IN THE OCEAN

Standing in the exact spot Blake once was, was a beautiful pale-skinned woman in a dazzling pink and yellow kimono.

Her hair was bleached white and her red eyes went well with her geisha makeup.

What really stood out about her was her left hand. It was completely made of bone, no skin, no veins, not even blood, just plain bone.

Next to her, coming out from within her shadow, was another woman. She had long blonde hair braided into pigtails. Her dress was a frilly black and blue dress made for royalty. Her right hand was wrapped in black cloth as if she was injured there.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you now, Matty?" the kimono lady said in a mild voice.

"Can't blame me, I hate that Taoist; I at least hoped he would lose an arm or two in the crossfire," the woman from the shadow smiled.

Ali knew these two were connected to the necromancer through how both had strange black marks on their bodies, the kimono woman on her left leg, and the blonde woman had once across the right side of her face.

He could also sense the most dangerous one was the kimono lady, so naturally...

"Hyah!!" Without even alerting Genevieve, he charged at the woman with his sword raised.

The kimono lady parried his attack and lured him away from the shadow woman to a location not too far away in a field of coral.

Genevieve was annoyed by Ali's behavior, so reckless and hardheaded... Like how she used to be before joining the wrath party.

Regardless, as a knight, she had her duties. Staring the strange woman down, she made the assumption that she was also an Amazon.

The two women then spoke out at the same time.

"I, Genevieve Weiss, future monarch of the Amazons!..."

"I, Matilda Schatten, leader of the Panzer corps!..."

""Order you to stop!""

The two then took a float backward and said in their minds.

(The hell is this girl talking about?!)
(The hell is this girl talking about?!)

"You aren't an Amazon?! What the hell is a Panzer?"

"You're from the Panzer Corps, aren't you? No Amazon can pull off that look!"

The girls growled at each other thinking the other was making fun of them or something, then suddenly....

"{Light needles}" Genevieve shot out 5 needles made out of light magic at Matilda, however...

"{Arrows of Darkness!}" The woman shot out her arrow bolts, canceling out the light due to elemental countering.

(A dark magic user?... My natural enemy! Better not let my guard down...) "Hah!" Suddenly something shot out of Genevieve's shadow and tried to impale her. Thanks to her acrobatic skills, she managed to dodge just in the nick of time.

The projectile turned out to be a black falcon with red eyes that landed on Matilda's shoulder.

"You sensed Falco's presence despite his cloak ability... You aren't just a normal girl, that's for sure". Matilda smiled and covered her left eye with her right hand.

"Hear me heathen, I shall eliminate you with the shadow eye's immense power of domination!" Her voice sounded so intimidating despite the weird words she spoke.

Genevieve summoned her wooden staff from out of thin air(or in this case, water) and got ready for an intense battle ahead.

On the other side of the east field, was Ali taking an offensive stance, getting ready to fight his opponent.

The kimono lady cleared her throat with a cough and spoke out.

"I am Hone Shirogane, samurai of the north wind, and your name?"

"Hehe," Ali chuckled. "I don't give my name to losers," he said in a cocky tone, his sword fuming with lightning mana ready to strike.