Magic is everything here. If you can't use it, you're essentially shunned out of society. There have even been stories of parents disowning their own children because of their lack of magic. However, in Kimuri Village, that wasn't the case.
"Where is Senji?!"
Renji Kimuri, eldest son of the Kimuri family, sighed as the engineers all went in search for his little brother, Senji. When they found him hiding behind some boxes, his father softly punched him on the top of his head while laughing quietly.
"Okay, now that everything is packed, you two will bring these crystals to the edge of the city where the president has sent a group of men to pick up the package."
Renji looked down to his little brother. "What happens if we get attacked by a rogue beast?"
Their father smiled. "That is why I told the both of you to bring your weapons. There shouldn't be anything but some rogue E rank beasts out here, so the two of you should be fine. Now hurry, they said they should receive the package within the next three hours."
Renji and Senji both gave their father a hug before departing. It was always important to them that they gave their dad a hug before leaving for delivery runs since their mother had passed three years ago.
Their current delivery run consisted of ten thousand mana crystals to be delivered to the city of "Redu" and their pay would be three hundred thousand dollars.
"You know, I still don't understand how our family has lived in the desertlands for centuries which consists of the most mana crystals and mana energy on Earth, and yet no one in our family has been able to use magic at all."
Renji laughed softly. "Well, maybe fate just doesn't want us to have it, Senji."
"Not fair man. If we had the power to wield magic, we would be unstoppable!"
"Maybe in the next life, little brother."
Senji scowled towards Renji. "We're twins."
"And yet, I was born first, with white hair. I couldn't imagine having brown hair man, it doesn't look good." Renji joked.
"Oh yeah? I don't see any girls falling for you and your white hair."
"That's because I don't need them to."
Senji smacked his lips at Renji before continuing to lay on the tarp covering the mana crystals as Renji pushed the cart.
In the city of Redu, government officials stood at the border of Redu City and the Dessertlands. Redu City was built centuries ago when the prevalence of mana was first discovered on planet Earth. Those who were granted the power to wield it, began building a city where people could live freely amongst themselves. However, as time passed, humanity slowly became divided. Outside villages were either ran by magic or they had no magic at all. In Redu, it split between magic folk and ordinary folk, There was a civil war, and with magic folk winning the war by a mile, they seemingly took the city over by force, making ordinary folk kneel before them as a sign of surrender. After the war was over, they elected a president, an ordinary man at that who seen the difference from both sides, and yet, even he was being commanded from the shadows by corrupt magic folk.
"How long are we supposed to be here again?" A soldier asked.
"Should be another hour or so before they get here."
A car suddenly pulled up behind them. "They better make it 45 minutes."
When everyone turned at the sudden sound of another voice, they were shocked to see their top ranking mage walking up to them.
"President Ross just yelled at me about some bullshit, so somebody better radio to those little runts and tell them to hurry up." Malik, S rank attacking mage, said with a grunt at the end of his statement.
"Y-yes sir!"
As Renji pushed the cart, his phone began to ring in his pocket. When he grabbed it, he looked and seen it was an unfamiliar number. Senji sat up at the sudden stop of movement and looked at his brother.
"Hello?"
"Yes, is this Renji Kimuri?"
"Yes."
"Good afternoon, Renji. We normally don't say much about your time getting here during exchange, but Malik The Giant has requested you speed up the process due to his rising temper."
"Would we have to deal with his temper if we didn't?"
"Yes."
"Understood."
After hanging up, Renji began pushing the cart while slowly gaining speed.
"What happened?"
"Apparently, Malik the Giant is mad about something and if we don't hurry, we're gonna be the ones he takes his anger out on."
"Hm. I see."
"Come help me idiot!"
As the two ran and pushed the cart, they began to wonder how long they had since they had lost track of time. Nonetheless, the two had never given up at anything, so they were determined to push that cart with all their might.
After a grueling 25 minutes, the soldiers slowly seen the shadow of two people rise over a hill with a large container.
"Okay, lets get the payment ready!"
When the boys arrived, they wiped the sweat off their face and panted heavily. The soldiers ran a scan count over the crystals to make sure everything was there.
"Alright, everything is here. Thanks you two, here is the payment."
Two soldiers walked up with two duffel bags, each one containing one hundred and fifty thousand each. The boys took the duffel bags and bowed to the soldiers. As they left they caught a glimpse of Malik and shivered. His red aura radiated with malicious intent and his narrowed eyes stared deep into their souls. They quickly turned on their heels and left with what they came for.
"Was that necessary?" Said a feminine voice from behind him.
"I wanted to scare them."
She chuckled and stepped next to him. "I thought the white haired one was cute."
"When did Madame Shuri get here?"
"I don't know, but I like her tits. Never seen em' up close before."
After the soldier said that, Malik knocked him out with a finger flick. "Disrespectful runts."
As the boys walked back to their village, Renji noticed his brother wasn't in a good mood. The run couldn't have done it, they've moved things heavier, and they weren't physically weak, so the only other reason would be the intensity of Malik.
"What's wrong, Senji?"
"Why do we have to be weak?"
Renji stopped walking and looked at Senji. "What do you mean?"
"You seen him. That guy. He was so strong, I thought I was gonna melt if I looked at him any longer."
"Senji, we aren't weak. No ordinary people could run and push ten thousand mana crystals. Not two of them anyway. Look Senji-"
"Why aren't we normal?!"
Renji didn't respond. He had never seen his brother this upset before. But he also wondered that too. Why weren't the normal?
"For so long, I've always avoided that question. I always wanted my brother and I to just be normal, but with the way society is, it seems I can't keep running from reality."
Renji looked at his brother with sad eyes. Senji was shaking, trying to keep his composure, but he lived with this thought everyday.
"Why aren't we normal?"
As the two boys stood there, lost in their thoughts, Renji suddenly felt a strange presence behind him. Lunging forward and grabbing Senji, he turned around and froze in fear as a giant wolf stared down at them with red eyes. Senji held on to his brother's arm tightly as this wolf gave off the same presence as Malik.
"That beast isn't ordinary. It's... S Rank! Why is an S Rank beast all the way out here?!"
"Renji, what do we do?!"
"Move!"
The two jumped to their left as the beast swiped its claws at them. The two looked at the beast and then at each other, and after a quick moment of thinking, the two ran in the opposite direction.
As the two ran, the sight of their village came into view, but that beast was chasing them and it was gaining every time they jumped or moved away from its claw swipes.
Senji jumped forward and rolled down a hill to gain momentum in speed. "Renji! If that thing gets closer to our village, it'll kill everyone there, including us!"
"Then we keep it here! I'll call them back, maybe the soldiers and Malik are still close by. Until then, we have to fight it!"
"Are you out of your mind?! We'll die immediately if we try to fight that thing! Shit!" Senji narrowly avoided being bit in half by the wolf.
Renji saw a track with an empty cart on it and thought of an idea. "Senji, hand me your bag!"
Throwing Renji the bag, Renji ran to the cart and tossed the bags inside, Quickly, Renji pushed the cart as fast as he could and let it go, the momentum it gained pushing it the rest of the distance.
When he turned, he saw Senji pinned behind a rock. Fearing for his brother's life, Renji pulled out two ornate double edged daggers. Renji quickly dashed forward with all the power he could put in his legs and with a last ditch effort, jumped up and stabbed the beast in the eye.
The stab was nothing but a scratch, but it did enough to take its attention off of Senji and onto Renji. After he landed on the ground, Renji steeled his resolve and decided that fighting a beast, with or without magic, doesn't determine who you are. Everyone is normal, and he would no longer be treated differently.
"My brother isn't your food. Now if you wanna kill someone, kill me, but you're gonna have to work for it." Renji barked at the wolf.
The wolf roared at Renji, planting its feet into the ground as its fur began to harden. As it shot hardened needles of fur at Renji, Senji jumped down and spun his sickle, deflecting the needles. He pointed the sickle at the wolf, its blade was inward curved, the handle was short for close combat, and the single edged hook was for slashing, cutting, and disarming opponents, similar to a kama sickle.
Senji smirked and looked up, trying to hide the fact he was scared beyond belief right now. "I stand by what he said. Now come and get us!"
"Senji, you stay low and do whatever damage you can do down here. I'll do what I can above and try to cut its eyes out. While I'm doing that, I'll call the military back to see if they can send Malik or Madame Shuri here to deal with this beast. Sound like a plan?"
"The only one that seems to work."
"Good. And Senji, don't die on me." Renji said, getting into a air tight stance.
"Then stay alive."
"We are normal, Senji. Don't let anybody else tell you different." Renji said, dashing forward then running up the beast's leg.
"You ain't gotta tell me twice!" Senji yelled put, running forward and cutting the beast's ankles.
"Sir, we're getting a call."
"From who?"
"The number is the same as Renji Kimuri, the boy I called earlier."
"Maybe they missed something, answer it." The driver said, signaling the cars to slow down.
"Hello?"
"Is this the guy I talked to earlier?!"
"Yes. Is everything alright?"
"Hell no! We're fighting an S Rank beast and we need help!"
"You're what?! Where are you?!"
"Just come towards Kimuri Village! You'll see us! Gah!"
"We're coming kid, hang on. Turn around, now!" The soldier ordered.
"What's going on?"
"Those boys are fighting an S Rank beast! Hurry to Kimuri village, immediately!"
"What did he just say?" Malik's voice came over the radio like a thunder strike.
"The two boys from earlier just called and said that they were fighting an S Rank beast. We're turning around to go and help."
"Oh? Is that right?"
Malik smirked in the car. Opening his door, he placed his foot out and forcefully stopped the car. Stepping out, he cracked his knuckles and stretched a bit before charging up a jump.
"Leaving so soon?" Shuri asked from the passenger seat of the car.
"Keep up." Malik said, and jumped into the air with a malicious smile plastered across his face.