Bound By Fury:The Forced Path

A dungeon outbreak? - Hiro asked Akira

"Yes"

It's called Dungeon Outbreak beacuse where the creatures or monsters inside a dungeon break free and escape into the outside world, causing chaos and destruction. 

Typically, dungeons are self-contained spaces where Adventurers or STARS enter to defeat monsters and claim rewards and the magic stones , but the main reason they raid them it's because they can't let the monsters inside break outside because if the dungeons aren't raided or cleared in a certain amount of time the monsters come out into our world.

Sometimes it happens because of reasons such as a failed raid, an unstable dungeon, or external interference—allowing the monsters to pour out uncontrollably.

The air is thick with smoke and the metallic taste of blood, while screams pierce through the general din of carnage.

Hiro does not think...instincts kick in.

"Akira hide"

Running down the street he finally sees a little girl, very small, almost entirely concealed under stuff that has fallen on her.

Without a moment's hesitation, he is by her side in an instant, bent low to meet her gaze.

Hiro: (voice gentle but urgent)

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be all right."

"I'll get you outta here, okay?"

She looks up at him, her eyes wide, and her tiny body frozen in terror.

At the very moment Hiro scoops her into his arms, a heavy, guttural growl rips through the air nearby.

He spins, and his heart falters-a towering ORC Beast lumbers toward them, its weapon shining with malice.

Hiro's eyes go wide, the reality of the threat sinking in as the Orc raises its weapon, preparing to strike.

Without hesitation, Hiro wraps his arms around the girl, turning his back to the monster-shielding her with his body.

His face is firmly closed, expecting any moment the impact of his decision to hit.

Akira stands off, away from the entire scene, calmly .

He watches Hiro confront the monster with nothing but raw determination, a mere tug of a smirk at the corners of his lips.

Akira mumbles to himself, smirking

"He really has changed he isn't scared at all anymore"

"What an idiot he's become…, sacrificing himself just like that."

Then as the Orc Beast is a glimpse away from killing Hiro

A blindingly brilliant light explodes , hitting the Orc dead center.

Without even time for the beast to scream, it disintegrates to ash, the remnants fluttering in the air like embers in the wind.

Hiro stands frozen, girl still clasped against his chest, eyes wide in shocked horror at the sight of the orc dissolving into naught.

He steps out from behind, his hand still faintly aglow.

The last remnants of the white energy dissipate from his fingertips, leaving him to regard Hiro with near careless calmness - a bare knowing smile tugging the corner of his mouth upward.

Hiro was stuck, dumbfounded and wordless.

Hiro: breathlessly, his voice shaking in wonder

"Akira...was that...was that you??"

Akira exhales a low, soft, amused breath-he's smiling, but there is something in his face Hiro cannot quite read-something remote, and yet almost...soft.

Akira with a soft, reflective smile

"Look Hiro...if there were more people like you in this world, maybe even I wouldn't have resort to turn this way."

For a while, Hiro has only stared, trying somehow to link the friend he knew with this powerful figure.

His voice shakes with awe and bewilderment.

Hiro barely a whisper

"How did you…?"

"I mean… how!?"

Akira's smile tapers into something much softer, almost melancholic, as he catches Hiro's gaze with that very vulnerable expression.

Akira softly cutting him off "Today, I owe you my gratitude because, for the first time in what feels like forever, I caught a glimpse of my humanity once more"

He says this after a pause, his eyes suddenly unbashfully candid as he looks at Hiro.

"Thanks to you, Hiro."

"I really did."

Akira looks again at the oncoming monsters and the edge of calculations sets upon his features once more.

He straightens further and sends Hiro a fast, almost dismissive sideward glance.

Akira:

"Hiro, get out of here."

"Take that little girl and hide."

The monsters lurch closer, their weight causing the earth to shudder; Hiro, in his shocked state, blinks and continues to blink.

He does nothing, torn between wanting to help and realizing what Akira had become

Akira his voice lowers, sharper.

"Go."

"It's going to be a lake of monsters' blood, and you don't want to be here for it."

With that, Akira surges ahead-his aura heightens, an eerie, fierce power welling from his body.

The monsters fumble over, apparently sniffing the dangerous energy he has been exuding.

Hiro, clutching the girl tightly in his arms, stepped backward, his eyes unblinking.

Hiro finds a safe patchand his heart races down while he watches Akira, facing the monsters alone.

He cannot take his eyes off him because his fear and curiosity make him do so.

Akira scans over the growling beasts, hulking forms of energy that once would have intimidated him but now, these are little more than angry dogs.

Akira to himself

"From the mana energy they're giving off… this must be a D-rank outbreak and the type of Orc's they are… I've faced these countless times in D-rank dungeons and i can say for sure"

A evil smile is seen from his lips 

"They're disgustingly weak." 

Akira takes a moment for a slow count of the still-standing beasts.

"Eleven orcs remain, excluding the one i killed that target Hiro."

He steps forward, his fingers quiver, and in one swift movement, he summons his Panthoblade-the sword materializes in his hand, faintly shimmering.

He sends it spinning, his eyes tracing the deadly edge.

The rest of STARS would definitely think that some sort of advanced, summoning magic was being pulled off if they were there to witness it, but to Akira, it's just one easy, convenient thing-one he earned in the last dungeon he raided after he levels up.

*Flashback.*

He remembered the feeling of leveling up back in a dungeon, the strength coursing through his veins while he beat down those monsters..

Finally, when the dust had settled, up flashed the system notification before him, bringing with it a new ability unlocked:

"Status Update"

[Your level has increased]

[Since the user has reached the necessary level the new option "Inventory" will be unlocked]

New Option Unlocked

[Inventory]

Capacity: 10 slots

Description: Grants the user access to a magical space to store and retrieve up to 10 items instantly. Extremely useful for carrying equipment, weapons, and essential items on demand.

"This is fucking dope"

A faint smile had crept onto Akira's face while he read the details.

Inventory was a restricted but powerful tool-a magical space that allowed him to store and summon up to ten items whenever the need arose.

This wasn't anything like that spell or flashy trick from the other STARS.

Subtle, efficient, and all his own.

Akira: (to himself, in the dungeon)

"It is sure to be useful."

*End of Flashback.*

Now Akira twists the Panthoblade in his hand, weighing the feel of the blade with the ferment of the coming battle. His gaze once more swings to the orc beasts, and his face seizes in a black smile.

Akira thinks as he fixes his gaze at the monsters

"Time to finish this"

Without another thought, he launches himself forward.

Akira narrows his gaze, focusing on what's left of the orcs.

In the blink of an eye, his wrist flicks faster than can be caught, his hand clamping down hard onto his Panthoblade as he launches himself towards the nearest Orc.

A blur of motion, Akira cuts down the first with a clean, precise strike; blood sprays through the air, the creature falling to the ground before its brain even realizes it's dead.

"One down"

In one swift movement, he launches himself without wasting a single moment at the other Orc.

His blade rips into the Orc in an instant.

The beast had no chance.

"Two down"

Other Orc charged him with a guttural roar, swinging some crude club in his direction. Akira does not even bat an eye.

With one leap, he lands square on the neck of the creature, slicing it open with brutal efficiency. Before the beast could collapse, he's in movement, his eyes scanning for his next target.

This time, Akira summoned his new lastest skill the White lighting surging inside him-a power he had come to master over the last two months.

He sends a surging arc of it directly forward, reducing two orcs to instant smoldering ash, which floated in the air as Akira watched, a hint of satisfaction gleaming in his eyes.

"Four down."

"Seven left."

He does not even break a sweat, dancing between the remaining Orcs like a ghost, making swift and quick strikes, hacking the legs from under them, cutting their arms off, beheading them in swift mercy.

Efficient, ruthless, each kill was a testament to his skill and how stronger he has grown wielding complete control over his power.

Finally, now just one Orc is remaining.

It lets out a shrill shriek so deafeningly loud that the other humans, covering their ears, stumble about in agony, eardrums bleeding.

Akira watches unaffected, his instincts warning him that yet another presence had simply been out of sight behind the trees.

A hulking figure stepped into view, towering well over the other orcs, much larger and more fearsome-the Borzug Orc.

"Ah,"

Akira murmurs as he allows a trace of a smirk to cross his features.

"It's hasn't been long since i saw one like you?"

"Did you miss me that much gorilla?"

But the smirk is then replaced by a cold, calculating glare:

"But i don't have time to play with you."

With a swift motion, he flings his Panthoblade at the neck of the last remaining orc.

The blade bites well, and the creature folds onto the ground with a gurgling sound. In the same tempo, Akira shifted his position, eyes fixed on the raised huge axe of the Borzug , ready to squash him.

The Borzug swings his axe in a thunderous arc but Akira is faster. In an instant burst of velocity, he flashes forwards and reemerges behind the monster in the fraction of a moment it took him to pass, before refocusing the white lightning and unleashing another storm of crackling energy, every bolt piercing through and branding a smoldering wound in the monster's flesh.

It lets out one final, agonised roar and then falls, its enormous body twitching once more before lying still.

Akira looks on at the smoldering corpse his gaze catches the streak of blood wiped across his cheek.

"I said-I don't have time to waste with this."