Science/Magic

"Mom…" The boy sobbed. Tears rolled down on his face, and his small body trembled due to the wind.

However, nobody answered his call.

One day passed, but the boy continued crying, crouched in the ground.

Two days passed, and the boy stopped crying, but his face was filled with despair.

Three days passed, and his body was covered in dust.

The boy ate when he had hunger, he drank water when he was thirsty, and slept when he was sleepy.

However, he never moved away from where he was.

His eyes turned empty, and his face turned expressionless. If someone were to see him now, they would think they saw a ghost.

Finally, five days later, something changed.

*Growl…*

Lifting his head, the boy saw a fox walking towards him.

The fox was dirty, with a rotten smell and blood-red eyes shining ominously, but it was the first creature that the boy saw from coming here.

The boy looked blankly at the fox, not showing the slightest bit of reaction.

But a few seconds later, his eyes recovered a bit of light.

"… A fox?" The boy tilted his head.

The fox looked towards him warily and growled. It stared at the strange creature it had never seen before and circled him slowly.

But soon, it realized that the boy was not dangerous.

Instantly, it began to drool.

*Growl…*

Slowly, the fox approached the boy.

The boy opened his eyes wide and realized that something was wrong. He grabbed the sword that Sebastian had left and held it shakily.

But when the fox saw his movement, it decided to attack.

Before the boy could unsheathe the sword, the fox pounced towards him.

"GROOOOWLLL!"

The boy paled. Flustered, he put the sword on his chest to defend against the attack!

The fox fell on him and pinned the boy to the ground. Then, it tried to bit his neck!

Perhaps lady luck smiled at him, but the boy was able to move the sword in the nick of time. The fox's jaw then bit the sword's handle strongly.

"H-Help!" The little boy shouted, but he then remembered that nobody was going to help him. He was alone, he had been abandoned.

The fox struggled with the sword, trying to take it off of the boy's hands, but the boy held it with all his strength. The sword was his only hope to survive.

Soon, the fox realized that it was not causing its prey damage like this.

So, it let go of the sword and bit towards the boy's arm.

"Arrggghhhh!" The boy cried. Blood flowed out from his wound, dying his clothes red.

However, maybe because the material of his clothes had pretty good defenses, the fox's bite did not injure him gravely.

But the bite awakened the boy.

The pain and despair of seeing death straight to its eyes granted the boy strength.

"Ahhhhhh!" With a scream, the boy threw the fox away. The fox rolled in the ground and moaned in pain, but it quickly stood up once more. It then stared at the boy with even more hunger and anger than before.

But the boy's gaze also turned firm.

I don't want to die! The boy thought.

I don't want to die! The boy raised his sword.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" The boy yelled.

Then, he ran towards the fox.

The fox was almost as big as him. A beast that could have killed him easily.

And him, he was just a little boy. His body was manaless, and he had never trained to wield a sword.

However, he was determined to survive.

He was not going to die here, not like this!

So, when the fox jumped towards him, the boy slashed with his sword.

It was an ugly slash, without any technique whatsoever, but it was filled with the boy's desire to survive.

"Awooooo…!" The sword cut its leg and the fox cried in pain, but its claws also cut the boy's chest. The boy then slashed the fox's back, but it slashed his leg.

Head, legs, arms, chest, mouth. Both of them clashed against each other, fighting with their nails and teeth to eke a victory against their mortal enemy.

This battle was not glorious. Instead, it was ugly and without grace. However, it would determine the fate of the two creatures.

Maybe both of them were weak, but their will to live was strong. The fox needed to kill the boy to eat, and the boy needed to kill the fox to survive.

Finally, the boy's sword cut the fox belly.

"Awooo…" The fox fell in the ground and whimpered painfully. It looked at the boy with sad eyes, trying to convey its strong desire to survive.

However, the boy did not hesitate.

His body filled with injuries and scratches approached the fox, and then, he stabbed it with his sword.

Right into its heart.

The fox gave the boy one last gaze filled with unwillingness and took its last breath.

As for the boy, he stood before the corpse of the fox and bit his lips.

Then, he cried.

He cried harder than ever before.

For half an hour, the boy cried.

Then, he wiped his tears.

He took some clothes out of the space ring and tended his injuries, and then, he walked forward.

Finally, the boy left.

"From today onwards, I'm not longer Glenn Skysword.

"Those were my last tears. From today onwards, I'll not cry again.

"I died today and was born again.

"So, my name is Bloed, because in blood I was reborn."

Under the blood-red sun of the exiled lands, the boy disappeared on the horizon.

His back seemed much bigger than before.

…

Far away, in a mountain, a middle-aged man was looking to the boy.

He saw when the boy cried, when the boy despaired, and when the boy fought.

Then, he saw how the boy left.

When the boy disappeared from his sight, the middle-aged man heaved a sigh.

"Forgive me, your highness, but the royal family can't have cursed blood."

Then, he disappeared.