Arc 1: A first day filled with anarchy -
The boy's mind was blank, freshly stopped in its tracks. As his thoughts slowly returned to his body, he immediately assumed he was dead.
The Boy {Am I dead? It's all black, wonder if that's some void after life. Better than hell I guess.}
The somber words fill his head in the same sad tone you would imagine, but it quickly turns to fear and confusion. Is this eternity? Is this how he's going to spend the rest of his life? Would expecting a religion have fixed this? All questions he asks himself, but they all go unanswered. A question he had yet to ask himself, what is the weather like, is answered though, as he feels a nice cold breeze wash over him. He then tried doing something he hadn't done yet, he opened his eyes. He wiped his glasses off as his eyes adjusted to the afternoon sun, and his heart sank when he finally looked around. He was a weak boy, wearing a gray jacket, black sweatpants, black and white shoes, and small glasses. All of these things directly contrast the area he stands in, which is completely different from where he was ten seconds ago. Stone and brick buildings, either old or falling over. He looked down, finding his once clean, wet, shoes covered in mud, as he was standing in the middle of a dirt road.
Shrubs poked through the ground, weeds covered the buildings, and spider webs held the homes together. It was barren, with no life, other than the insects and arachnids that kept the abandoned buildings inhabited. He brushed his unkempt brown hair out of his face, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His first thought was impossible, so he moved to the next and most plausible option. Which happened to be, that he'd gone insane, but he felt far too sane, which made him think that all crazy people like to think that. After the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ideas, he circled back to the first. With a moon larger than he's used to slowly rising over the area, he takes a deep breath and hopes to death for what this could be.
The Boy: "Medieval buildings, randomly appearing here by way of truck, and being a shut-in loser…yeah, this has to be…an Isekai!"
He yells, and his words echo throughout the lifeless area. Without a care in the world, a newly formed will live, and with a new chance at life, he springs at the opportunity. First, he checks his pockets, finding nothing, as he has left his phone and his wallet on his desk at home. Second, he feels his frail, lanky, feminine body, all things that tell him he hasn't changed forms. Third, he swipes his hands down, trying to force a menu to pop out, when that doesn't work, he tries to focus and form one, and once again, it doesn't work. Now, after three failures, he stops himself, going through his options.
The Boy: "No Excalibur sword, game menu, goddess, or kingdom to greet me…so unless it can revive by dying, which would be the worst option…this is one of those bare-bones Isekai. I better have a rare skill then, a rare affinity, massive mana affinity, and what other protag powers I could get my hands on. Oh please don't be the revive."
With no other ideas, he begins walking around mindlessly. Surprisingly quickly, his moral fades, returning to the more hateful and depressed feeling that once filled his thought-to-be-dead mind. After walking around, seemingly in circles for around thirty minutes, he grits his teeth, balls his fist, and punches a wall beside him. Instead of crushing the wall, all he does is hurt his weak hand as well as get dirt on it.
He begins to break down, finally understanding the horrible situation he's in. There may be a language he can't speak, rules he's already broken, or this is Hell. And if it is another world, his family is sitting at home, waiting for him to return with snacks for movie night. It was just a late-night walk, through a rough storm, but he trucked through. His parents' attempt to make him happy after a fall in his mental health had turned into an unexpected journey through dimensions. He almost gives up right there, just as he had done thirty-one minutes ago when he was back on Earth, but like it was a god intervening, he heard some commotion across the street.
He quickly brushes off his body, forms a fake smile, and runs off. In an alley, between two large yet collapsing buildings, were three people. He was about to simply walk over, but one of the men caused him to stop in his tracks. He wasn't just a person, he was much more. While wearing dirt and ripped clothes, fitting to the area, his body did not fit what the boys' mind could register. With large muscles, a height that passed seven feet, and thick light green skin, he was far from human. His mind started racing, staring at the scene before him. Beside the large man, was a much smaller one, a disheveled young man with dirty hair, tanned skin, and what a thirteen-year-old would call a mustache, who was holding a rusty kitchen knife.
He was pointing such a knife at a young girl with extremmly long dark green hair, so long that it almost touched the ground. She also possessed a short sword that looked like an oversized kitchen knife, a scar going over her left eye, and a large brown jacket. These were all simple things to describe her, but the main thing, aside from the sword and the green hair, was her shaking, large, pointy ears. She, at least what the boy had assumed, was an elf getting mugged.
The Disheveled man: "You're like a cornered animal! I thought you were confident, an ass! But look at you! You're shakin'!"
The dirty man looked at his bigger friend with a smile on his face, but the large man seemed hesitant. He was shaking as well, which brought a bit of levity to this messed up situation, at least to the boy. To see such a scary beast scared of a little girl was surely a sight to see, but what he saw next stood out far more. The air around the young girl began to sparkle, shining a light green. The wind was being pulled all around her, which she seemed to focus around her sword, coating it. The disheveled man became a bit frightened, watching a cocky smirk appear on the young girl's face. She throws it at them, but the large man promptly blocks it without issue.
To see magic, even if it's a weaker form of it than he's used to, stuns him. Every boy's dream, aside from swinging a big sword, was to see this, an action set piece from a movie, game, book, or whatever. His base way of thinking, being a bit more pessimistic and annoyed, is quickly overpowered by a child-like sense of wonder, but the adult within him begins to overpower that as well. This may be cool, but it's dangerous, and even if he can't do anything about it, he feels his stomach turning at the thought of not doing anything.
The Disheveled Man: "HAHAHAH! YES! AN OGRES SKIN IS THICK, AND RESISTANT TO MANA IDIOT! HE MAY BE A DEMI-HUMAN, BUT HE'S DAMN STRONG!"
The young girl: "SHUT UP! DAMN YOU'RE ANNOYING!"
The smirk on her face dropped, though her angry and annoyed voice was genuine. She wears her heart on her sleeve, which causes the boy to assume how she got into this situation in the first place. The young girl swirls wind beneath her feet, attempting to jump from wall to wall to escape, but the Ogre hits her mid-air, causing her to fall on her back and drop her sword. Without a second thought, the Ogre holds his large disgusting foot over her and is about to crush her.
The Boy wishes he could help, and wants to help, but his will to live is fighting against morals he didn't know he had. And as the Ogre lets his foot off of her, just as she's about to be crushed, he is already off, springing into the scene. His fear, and newly found morals, hadn't beat each other but had lost to something else. As he had no care for his life, finding the life of this random girl much more important. He tucks and rolls under the Ogers' legs, grabs the girl, and barely misses the Ogre's punch, which causes a great impact on the ground.
If that had hit the girl, it would have killed her, if he was any bit slower or the Ogre was any bit faster, they would have both died. He began to sweat, hating himself for inserting himself in this disastrous, dangerous, and stupid conflict.
The Disheveled Man: "Who's this guy!?"
The Ogre: "Yeah dude, what the hell are you doing?"
The young girl: "I could have done that myself you know. And now you're just in my way."
Unable to speak, as the fear within him is keeping him from doing so, a new feeling forms as he hears the demeaning tone of voice coming from this little girl. As it was a feeling of annoyance. The homeless man, what the boy had named him in his head, is also annoyed, screaming out.
The Disheveled Man: "I SAID! WHO! THE! HELL! ARE! YOU!?"
The boy, overcome by every bad emotion in the book, looks to the young, hurt girl beside him. He hesitates but fills his mind with false confidence, forms a fake smile on his face, stands up straight, points his right hand into the air, and then pulls that same hand down to himself, pointing his thumb at himself, making his proclamation.
The Boy: "MY NAME IS GRAY KYOJIN! WORLD'S STRONGEST KNIGHT! AND HERO FROM ANOTHER -"
The Boy, now revealed to be Gray Kyojin, is stopped mid-sentence. His body tenses up, his heart freezes, his blood begins to boil, and feels a sharp, overwhelming pain in an organ he had never felt before. Something in his chest that wasn't there, but felt as if it was, lets out a sharp wave of power. Along with it, his blood boils, his brain feels like it's just been stabbed, and he loses all of the confidence he once had. This quick wave of power causes the two men to freeze in place, giving the young girl time to charge up another attack. And once she does, she leaps off of Gray's back, sending a weak blade of wind toward the Disheveled man, knocking him to the ground.
Gray, still frozen, is about to be crushed by the now-angry Ogre-man but is promptly saved by the young girl as she quickly swirls wind beneath her feet, pushing him away. He's still afraid, but he forces his feet to move. Instead of trying to attack the Ogre, as he knows he would lose in seconds, he leaves that to the much more experienced girl, heading toward another man.
Only just standing up, he finds his knife has been dropped and is currently between Gray and himself and runs toward it. While Gray runs, he quickly unzips his jacket, throwing it in the man's face. As he has no training in any combat, nor has he ever been in a fight, all of his combat skills stem from his lack of confidence in himself. Knowing that he's weaker than most, he'd never win a fight head-on, so he always knew he'd have to rely on dirty tricks to win, and the jacket throw was just that.
Even if the jacket falls not a second later, it gives Gray just enough time to grab the knife and lunge toward the dirty man. While Gray has the advantage, the other man has experience, dodging Gray's lunge and hitting him against the wall to his side. He drops the knife and is about to be stabbed when his survival instincts kick in. Gray barely dodges, and the rusty blade breaks off its handle when it stabs into the brick wall, dropping to the ground.
Once again Gray tries another dirty trick, though this one is much more simple, undercutting the man in his testicles. The Disheveled man screams out, distracting the Ogre and allowing Gray to win the fight. Gray grabs the broken blade, using all of his strength to stab it into the man's shoulder. Now, with his shoulder bleeding profusely, the Ogre moves to help his crying friend.
As he turns his body, he feels the wind around him being pulled backward, but could care less, as all he wants to do is save his partner.
The Young Girl: "YOU IDIOTS MESSED WITH ME!? SOKU!? THE EVIL THIEF? THE WIND ELF!? THE RULER OF THESE STREETS!? YOU BOUGHT THAT SHIT KNIFE FROM ME!"
The Ogre turns around, just in time to be hit with a sharp wind blade right in the eye. This time, the attack goes through, causing his eye to burst, leaking blood everywhere. He quickly grabs his friend while the young girl named Soku laughs at them, watching them both run away crying.
Gray, using that false confidence, adds to his newly forming ego, and extends his arms into the air with a cry of victory.
Gray: "THAT'S RIGHT! I'M THE BEST! PROTAGONIST, MC, WHATEVER! I'M HIM! And got a hundred percent win rate now."
Soku begins laughing at him, finding his stupidity enjoyable. As he grabs his jacket off of the dirty ground, his mind is filled with thoughts, thoughts of victory. He had just one his first fight, his first fight in another world, and finally feels like he's won something. As he zips up his jacket, he ignores all the things around him, only thinking of himself.
Gray: {Gray Kyojin, Strongest Knight, Hero in another world, sounds nice, real nice.}