-Kazuya"s POV-

The blinding rays of sunlight seep through the tall rock-like buildings..

It strangely contrasts with the chill of the early morning alleyways..

At this time of day, you can see a boy with dirty black hair with small horns growing out of his head moving throughout the different paths as if he knows it like the back of his hand..

"Come back here, you d.a.m.n thief!"

Needless to say, that boy was me..

I run and run like I always do..

Until I run out of breath, no.. even when that happens, I"ll still continue..

I mean, there was no other choice, is there?

It"s been a harsh life so far for me..

Even more so that I already experienced a fulfilling one..

Before I got dragged here by that woman..

In that world, I was known as Tomohiro Kazuya..

In this one, Reiten..

In my hands is a handful of fruits and bread that I "borrowed" from that peddler over there..

I think I finally shook him off..

It"s to be expected after all, I"ve been here for 5 years already..

"Ren, you"re back!"

Oh yeah, my friends call me Ren..

And by friends, I mean the kids who I got to know in these streets..

Yes, to be frank, I can call them my only family in this world..

"Ah, I"m back Zen!"

This red haired devil(literally) is my best friend, Zenos..

Me and the others call him Zen, since were practically siblings..

I hand him the food for him to distribute among us..

When I came to this world, I"ve been self-aware from the start..

So, I knew right away I was born as a baby..

But as I was being born, when they saw my hair..

They threw me away in an abandoned alleyway..

It seems they thought I was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d child since my parents" hair was either blue and green..

And since they did it right away, I didn"t even get the chance to be fed..

The result was, I starved for 3 days in that alleyway..

Well, it was to the point where I thought I would die..

And when all hope was lost, I was saved by a pa.s.sing old man..

He was who we later called, our foster father..

Since these guys were in an orphanage he ran..

So for 2 years, I grew up in a home.. 

It wasn"t much, but I learned to love it..

But all good things come to an end..

When the old man died of sickness, our daily lives ended..

The orphanage was seized by a corrupt official and we were thrown out into the streets like trash..

But I just thanked my lucky stars I could walk at that time..

During this time period, we supported each other by any means necessary..

Eventually I started doing it too.. Stealing, pick-pocketing, tricking n.o.bles, beating other kids, and all other things..

I"m not proud of it but, if we didn"t..

We would have died here..

And I refuse to die a dog"s death at a tender age not even reaching 10 years old..

So now were back here..

We ate our fill by carefully sharing it among us 8 kids..

Yes, eight..

We were much bigger before, but now..

I try not to think about it..

I wonder what I could do to make things better every day.

The only thing I can do is use this demon body which has a higher specs than a human one..

Even though I remember the G.o.ddess saying something about me being a hero, I don"t get it..

I don"t even know about these things because I don"t read fantasy stories like these in my old life..

I was what they called a "riajuu" now that I think about it..

So I tried to do various experiments by fighting adults..

To see that I had enhanced abilities..

The result was, no..

Not surprising, I got beaten bruised that day..

So, I pa.s.s daily life like this waiting for a miracle..

I am now 7 years old..

How I wish I was back in j.a.pan..

"Yo, what are you sulking about again, Ren?"

"Oh, nothing, just thinking about the future.."

"Haha, don"t worry about it.. When we reach 10 years of age, we"ll join the army!"

"What, no I ain"t joining the demon lord"s army!"

"Then what are you gonna do with that immense power?"

"What immense power? (sigh) anyway, I"ll join the traveler"s guild to tour the world!"

"You still can"t remember huh? Anyway, if you"re going to travel, we"ll all come with you!"

This guy is always saying this..

We apparently "met" when he was 3 years old and I was 2 and a half..

But strangely, I don"t remember how we met..

He wasn"t originally from the orphanage..

He said he was captured to be a slave from another land he can"t remember..

Figures, he was a child back then..

But he kept saying that I was awesome back then with a huge amount of power..

"Fine, do what you want.. We are friends.."

"The very best!"

I still don"t know what he meant but I hope I find out soon..

The next few years flew by fast..

When we were all 10 years old while Zen was 11..

We registered at the traveler"s guild by using the money we saved..

We are now on our way to the next town..

When we got out of the gate, we attracted the stares of people..

But mostly towards me..

And they"re keeping their distance..

Thanks again hair..

We walked on the rocky uneven road for hours until it became sundown..

We reach a forest with a clearing inside and stop..

"We"ll camp out here tonight guys.."

"Oh, let"s set up the campfire"

"I"ll start preparations for dinner"

The dinner was as usual, meager but good nonetheless..

Since the one who cooked it are the twins Risa and Lisa..

They both have green hair but different colored eyes..

Risa has red eyes and Lisa has yellow..

By the way, mine are total black..

(sigh) Just like when I was a high school student..

But I"m glad to have a reliable family..

When we finished dinner, they went to sleep while me and Zen took first night watch..

It was indispensable to have to have someone to look out for you in this dangerous world..

And the fact that we are in a forest..

A few hours later we heard rustling..

Man, I wish I was the one sleeping..

"Wake up! It"s a pack of demonic wolves!"

Zen shouts to the others to warn them of the impending threat..

They wake up a few seconds after..

"No, did they get attracted to the flame?"

"I think it was the smell of food.."

The twin sisters seem calm but their legs are shaking..

Can"t blame them, I want to scream right now..

But I very well know I can"t..

Even in this hopeless situation..

I lock eyes with Zen and we both..

*NOD*

I knew he"d understand..

"Run guys, we"ll keep them distracted!"

I shout as hard as I can to at least save them from their demise..

But alas, my words fall on deaf ears..

They aren"t moving from where they are..

Almost as if, they were stuck in place..

But it might be due to the overwhelming pressure of the guy in front..

Yes, that"s right..

Demon Wolf Leader, the head of their pack..

It has a different appearance than the others..

The blood-red fur with the golden eyes exuding an overbearing stature of 2 meters..

It"s twice as big as the whole pack..

It"s overwhelming, more so if we are just newly admitted travelers..

I want to run..

Is not what I would say!

We both dash towards the beast with daggers in hand..

....
..........
.........................

It"s no use..

Zen got blown away and I have scratches and wounds all over my body..

It takes all I have just to even stand..

Why did this have to happen?

Why did I even get the delusion to travel..

I fall further into depression and wallow in self-ridicule

Oh yeah, I remembered that guy from my cla.s.s..

That scary guy from my cla.s.s.. Suzuya

Or as we called him, Maou..

He was always alone and made people scared just being near him..

But he suddenly disappeared one day..

"Run, Ren!"

Zen shouts in a hoa.r.s.e voice..

But I don"t notice it..

Wait, did he get sent into this world too?

It might explain how no one remembered him..

Well, it was sad living like that..

Being avoided by everyone around you..

If it were me, I would have locked myself in my room..

But how did he even get day to day..

Even though he had no on to talk to..

While I had lots of friends..

And even now, I have people I care about, and they care about me..

How can I lose? This is silly..

All I need to do is..

"KEEP MOVING FORWARD, ME!"

I shout out loud encouraging myself and the others around me..

I won"t give in to despair..

Even if everyone thinks I"m worthless, a b.a.s.t.a.r.d child, cursed one, whatever!

As long as I"m still alive and there are people I care about..

"I"ll go through h.e.l.l itself to protect them"

I leap forward with reckless abandon..

I don"t notice the seven colored lights gathering around me..


Notification
You have used the skill [Sin Gate]

"Woah, just like 7 years ago.."

Zen says incomprehensible things as he always does..

But I don"t mind it.. that"s just how he is..

I grab two lights colored blue and yellow respectively..

And they turn into gleaming long swords exuding powerful presence..


Notification
You have learned the skill [Judgement of Pride Sword] Proficiency 0.00%


Notification
You have learned the skill [Punishment of Envy Sword] Proficiency 0.00%


Notification
You have learned the skill [Dual-Wielding] Proficiency 0.00%

I use them to slice through the wolves..

It feels like I"m dancing on air..

I cut through their bodies like paper..

Finally, I arrive at the boss..

"Let"s dance, Wolfie!"

I join the two swords together in an intersecting shape..

"Your sin must have a fitting punishment.."

I swing them both at the same time in that position like I was used to doing it..

Notification
You have learned the skill [Sin Cross] Proficiency 0.00%


The wolf gets cut into four pieces and it slowly falls, along with me..


"Thank goodness.."


"Ren!"


"Ren-nii!"


"Ren-kun!"


I heard voices as I fade into unconsciousness..


"Ha, this is only the beginning, My H,e,r,o.."


And a strangely familiar one at the end..


-Zenos" POV-


I don"t remember where I came from..


But what I do know is that right now, we are in danger..


I, and a bunch of other people are trapped in a cage crying out our existences..


With the outside littered with the stench of blood and death..


It might be both lucky and unlucky that we are in this cage..


Let me explain..


My name is Zenos Aragor, 3 years old..


I grow faster than most kids my age..


I might have been a genius..


Though I can"t remember clearly where I was born..


All I know is, when I came to.. I was caught by slave traders..


When we were pa.s.sing through the mountains..


We met it..


A dragon..


A being only told of in legends..


I don"t even dare to look at it for more than a second..


But it was large, fortunately.. it was at a distance from us..


So, the slave traders picked up the pace and moved faster getting rid of dead weight..


That"s how much they wanted to get away..


After a few days we arrived at a road near a forest heading to the town..


We all thought it would be fine now..


But we couldn"t be more careless and wrong..


It appears it followed us here..


This dragon might be smart..


In a matter of minutes, it devoured the escorts and the traders themselves..


Now, were next..


It tears open the roof of the cages..


I dash for my life in that small opening at the side..


It was lucky that I was small..


I ran away as fast as I could..


Towards the forest and made it to the clearing..


It was strange since a little boy was swinging two large swords again and again cutting down leaves in halves and quarter parts, which was scary but I"ve got no time to think about it now..


I go past him and dive into the bush to hide..


I"m sorry little boy but I"m too scared to even think..


"Hmm?"


The boy notices me in the bush and stares at me with a surprised look on his face..


He has black hair and eyes that seem to suck you into them..


I don"t notice any horns though..


Is he still a child?


I"m a three year-old and I already have little stumps on my head..


But as I was questioning that.. it appeared..


The large dragon notices the boy and stops in the edge of the clearing..


As does the boy as he turns his head at what I was looking at..


"Hou?"


He grins..


What?


Who can grin in the face of a dragon?


"Good timing, I was thinking of testing the limits on this body.."


A low metallic voice comes out from his mouth..


Very unlikely to have come from a child..


This kid is weird..


What is he saying?


Is he thinking of fighting against a dragon?


As I was thinking that..


"[Sin Gate]"


Seven colored lights appear around him like a rainbow myriad of rays..


He takes out a black and white sword and holds it in his hands..


Glaring at the dragon..


He swings..


And the dragon had countless wounds all over his body.. along with a dozen trees falling down in rapid succession..


It happened in an instant..


"[Seal of the 6th Sin]"


Chains wrap around the dragon"s body and disappears like it was an illusion..


"Well, I guess in the present state.. I could only seal most of its power.. but it"s a good result for the first test"


The dragon had fear in its eyes and flapped his giant wings as fast as he could..


To get away from this monster..


"Amazing!"


"Fufu, right? *Ugh* It seems I used too much power.."


"Huh?"


"This body still can"t handle it.. You, boy bring me to the alleyways in the town and find girls named Risa or Lisa, or anyone of those brats..Fuu, time"s up.."


With that, he falls down to the ground..


I certainly heard that..


So I carry him up on my back towards the town..

I"m quite excited to live life with this guy..

In fact, I think I just found a lifelong friend..

Yes, a friend who can drive away a dragon..

And might possibly change the world..