Under the starry night skies of a shimmering field, a young black-haired man made his way through it. With his eyes glancing around the vicinity of the area with a relentless look, he gripped onto the hilt of his blue-black sword—as if ready for battle.

“...”

Scrutinizing his surroundings, the young man quietly made his way forward through the grassy fields. However, his footsteps abruptly stopped. In the next moment, the man swayed to the side as he raised the blade to his right, swiftly fending off against a crescent wave attack that had suddenly shot out towards him.

“...who goes there?” he calmly asked whilst positioning himself in a draw-like position shortly after the attack. “Come out now or be done with it.”

With his voice resounding through the open meadow, the night soon became quiet as only the soft whistles of the wind blowing by the plains and the usual buzz from the bugs could be heard in the area.

Yet even under the eerie atmosphere, he waited and waited. But, his patience was to no avail as there was no response from anyone. It was as if the young man was alone. “...you’re not coming out?”

Within the dead of the night, time stood still from the ceaseless movement in the area. Nevertheless, the young man remained vigilant through the hour as he busily glanced around the fields, pinpointing any sort of discrete movement from his hidden opponent.

And, just as he was about to activate a skill—From the tall grass of the fields, a blonde-haired man protruded out from it. With his arrogant and demeaning smirk, he swiftly charged forward as he hurriedly clashed blades with the young black-haired man.

"Aha! You didn't see that now, did cha?!" With his condescending tone of voice, the man pushed his blade forward, forcing the young man to step backwards.

"Tch…" Being pressed to retreat, the young man hastily withdrew his sword as he leapt backwards. Moments later, he entered a draw position once again. With his palms on the hilt of his blade, he drew his sword into an arc as he shone down a bright ray of light over towards the blonde-haired man.

[ Lunar Sword Technique: Lunar Moon ].

A technique derived from the moons; a powerful skill in which debuffs the enemy of their defences for five seconds whilst dealing a large burst of damage towards them.

…

Wasting no time after the ray enveloped the man, the young man hurriedly shot forward his sword, swiftly gashing at him and, just as he was about to connect his skills—A sudden loud thunderous clap boomed close to him.

"Ugh…" Not wanting to take the full blow from the attack, he hastily cancelled the usage of his skill as he then swayed to the side, successfully dodging the attack.

"Hah! Did you think I'd allow you to follow up with any other skills?!" The blonde-haired man shouted out as he pounced forward with his sword in hand, quickly hacking at the young man over and over.

"You're annoying, just leave me alone." The young man sighed as he enveloped himself in a white aura.

"No way! Today's the day I will win! So brace yourself!" He roared in reply as strips of lightning began to surge around his body.

In the next second, the man quickly placed all his strength into the grip of his arms then—With a swing of his long sword, he swiftly emitted out a ray of lightning over towards the young man, quickly forcing him to jump back and dodge the incoming attacks.

"You're always so persistent, it's annoying." The man remarked as he swayed his body while in midair, skillfully dodging the zaps of lightning pulsating towards him.

"I will take the number one spot as the first ranked player!" The man cried out as he continued to send a continuous line of electricity over towards him.

The one who was still dodging in mid-air, the current 1st ranked player—[ Shinto ], hurriedly enveloped his sword in a tinge of light green aura. In the next moment, he slashed his sword forward, quickly diverting the flow of thunder elsewhere.

Soon after, Shinto jumped over towards the blonde-haired man, as he quickly shot down a white pillar over to him—Enveloping him in it. However, that was not enough to bring the man down. With another thunderous roar, Shinto could see that he had surged himself with a more thundering aura than before.

"Let's end this already, shall we?" Zapping forward to Shinto, the man hurled him high up into the sky as he began to continuously rain down a storm.

"Tch…" At the sudden force that pushed him upwards, Shinto clicked his tongue as he hurriedly regained his balance while in mid-air. Soon after, he moved his eyes over to the man covered in lightning, quickly glancing at the ID that shone a bright green above his head [ Arceus ]—The 2nd placed player on the unified rankings.

With eyes deadly locked on one another, Shinto stabilized himself in the air as he swiftly forced himself down towards Arceus, and in reply, Arceus leapt towards Shinto. In the next second, their blades collided with one another—Quickly causing a large force to blow over the fields.

"Grr…" With all his strength, Arceus gripped onto his sword tightly, quickly putting his muscles to work in hopes of overpowering Shinto. However, he was being wishful. Shinto, who was above him, quickly placed all strength into his body and, at the heat of battle; Arceus was pushed down to the ground. 

"ARGHHH!!" Arceus roared out a cry as he crashed into the ground.

Soon after forcing him to the ground, Shinto held his blade upwards to the sky, as he quickly began to chant a few words while still in mid-air. Finishing in the next second, Shinto murmured with a solemn tone—"Better luck next time."

From above the sky, a ray of pure white light shone down towards Arceus and in an instant, he disappeared without a trace. Arceus had turned into grey ash.

[ System announcement: WINNER - Player, Shinto! ]

Landing onto the ground smoothly, Shinto's eyes turned towards the small crater where Arceus had been.

"..."

Shaking his head in a tired motion, he sighed as he left the once beautiful fields.

…

After wrapping up the battle, Shinto teleported over to the town. Soon after, he opened up his player profile through a holographic interface menu in front of him, quickly scrutinizing its details.

[ Player Profile ]

Player Name: Shinto

Level: 201

Rank: 1st (Unified Rankings)

Class: Lunar Swordsman

-Stats-

HP: 46140/46140 | MP: 6256/6256

Strength: 3472 (+1212) | Stamina: 2109 (+1134)

Intelligence: 782 (+120) | Agility: 3472 (+921)

Insight: ...

...

Taking a look at his four main stats without bothering to glance at the others, he sighed as he quickly received a whisper.

"OI OI OI!"

"I DEMAND A REMATCH!"

"FIGHT ME!"

Receiving and reading through the whisper, Shinto sighed to himself. "Of course, the one who lost time and time again would demand a rematch yet again…" Helplessly empty of words, he sent his reply: "...no thanks. I've had enough for the day."

"What?! You had enough?! Excuses! Fight now!"

"No. I've got a guild meeting after this, so I'm just going to log out for a bit."

"What? Hey, don't-"

…

Within the real world, Shinto, or by his real name: Hasegawa Zayden, awakened from his capsule. Sitting in there for a few seconds; he hurriedly got up from it.

"Yawn…" Stretching his arms and legs, Zayden glanced around his bedroom, quickly taking note of a few posters on his wall relating to that of his favourite video games and shows, his black sheet bed, his study desk and the large capsule.

"Sigh. Another day, another match won I guess?" Zayden muttered listlessly as he walked out of his room whilst rubbing his eyes. Heading into the living hall, he was greeted by a girl, his sister, Hasegawa Jisa.

"Oh, good afternoon. Zay!" she greeted. "Nice of you to finally be out of your capsule, huh?" 

"Ah… Good afternoon, Jisa," Zayden replied with a tired voice.

"Hmm? You don't look so happy… did you lose a match or something?" Jisa tilted her head to the side with a confused look on her face.

"I do? It's nothing," he shook his hand. "I just feel kinda tired, or maybe… Just bored."

"Huh? Bored? Bored of Spiritual Warriors?" Jisa glared at Zayden. "How could you ever?"

"Well… Not bored per se," Zayden shook his head. "It's just been getting quite repetitive with me having to constantly fight against the same old people who want my place. Then there's me having to lead the team to victory and the like," he lamented. "I just don't really find it 'enjoyable' as much as I used to."

"Not as enjoyable as you used to?" Jisa thought to herself. "If it's like that, then why don't you just try something outside of your usual routine?"

"Huh?" Zayden looked at Jisa with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

"Like for example, trying something new!"