Absolutely no idea who this mysterious challenger was, but Brone couldn't pass up a challenge if the person was willing to send a direct message to Paradise Dawn and fight one of the guild's S rank fighters. Though he had been use to fighting and sparring within the training dome within the guild's territory, the challenger suggested to meet and spar on the beach of Luluhawa island. It was a challenge for the dwarf to not only find the location of this 'Luluhawa island' but to find a way to travel to it.

An island outside the country in the middle of the sea as explained by Azure, the informant of the guild, though the blue mage was irritated by the dwarf's unintended rude interruption of his studies. Brone was appreciative of the information, though he prodded the informant further with a barrage of questions such as how to get to such a place, how long it would take, and how much would he would need to bring in currency for such a trip. When Brone was given everything he needed along with a map with direction instructions to the island, he was kicked out of the mage's room, and soon he was on his way.

The travel was enjoyable... at first. Being able to see the sky was enjoyable and traveling to a port was a breath of fresh air, but once the dwarf was on the deck of the ship that he needed to take in order to reach the island, his stomach sank. Out beyond him was the vast ocean and below it was the abyss of the sea that clutched at the fear within him. Brone didn't realize that his fear of the abyss would ever worsen... he was wrong.

As the ship set out, Brone watched as the mainland vanished beyond the horizon behind him. Eventually, all around him was just the open sea, causing his body to shake from the terror. For the rest of the trip, Brone remained below deck, sleeping and eating, where he felt the safest, though the rocking of the ship and the smell of the salty sea was still a reminder of where he was.

When the ship finally docked at the destination, Brone landed upon the hot sand in victory, drawing looks from locals and foreigners but he cared not. After getting a look about the beautiful beach and getting a bite to eat, the dwarf walked up and down the beach line as instructed by the challenger in the letter, stating he would spot the dwarf when he arrived. Fully armored with his weaponry, Brone figured it would be difficult for anyone to miss him, for the entire time he was walking upon the sand, everyone was staring in his direction. The sun beamed down upon the dwarf and the heat was great, but it didn't bother him for two reasons; he had grown up near the forges of his clan's home within the mountains which was always hot, and Casdae's Edict continued to emit a cold aura surrounding him, cooling him but also causing beach-goers to run from him to escape the cold... though the dwarf thought it was actually because of his intimidating look.

539

Brone at the Ready:

Toge had suffered a defeat from Yuurei. He had met him on the beach, and he couldn’t help but attack him when he saw him. Still, it was a useless attempt, and he understood it. Still, it would stop him from wanting more. He figured if he couldn’t touch or land a hit on the man who led the guild, he would attack another person that was within the guild. There was a little guy if he recalled, name Brone within Paradise Dawn. He had invited him over to the beach to fight.

While he waited for the arrival of the man he would start stretching on the beach. He wasn’t sure if he would show up, but if he did, he would be ready for it. Luci was on his shoulder while they were waiting for their opponent's arrival. The demon knew that Toge wasn’t up for the task, but it seemed like he wouldn’t listen.

“Since you’re going to be fighting a fight you can’t win, I will be going now. I will come back after you wake up.” He said this to Toge as he would disappear from the paladin’s sight.

He would shake his head when he heard Luci leave him, but it was fine. The Earth mage didn’t want his help anyway.

It wouldn’t take long, but he would notice that somebody had been walking through the area. They were short of course, and they were daunted in armor. It was as if he was looking for a battle, which allowed Toge to believe that this man was Brone. This was good because he would be able to test his abilities and see what he could do against this man.

Toge would move up to the man and he would be in front of him, but about twenty meters away. He would notice that the area around them would have gotten really cold. He would rub his arms as he would look at the man. It would seem like he was the reason behind it. That was crazy and he wondered just how strong Paradise Dawn was.

“You must be the dwarf from Paradise Dawn. If I can beat you I think Yuurei will give me another rematch.” He said this to him as he was ready to for a fight.

"The name is Toge by the way, and I want to know how much blood you think you have within you?" He asked Brone with a smirk on his face.

416

Stats:

Brone had looked over to his right to view the waves. The sound of their movement was calming, such scenes tend to keep the dwarf calm though this would normally be after he got over his initially uncomfortability with the vast open water. He came to a stop and dug his booted feet into the warm. He could feel the earth, though course, through the leather of the boots, and it comforted him. He was well grounded, as he should be. Throughout his life, Brone was connected to the earth, specifically the Stone, religiously; it was his 'rock', literally and figuratively, it was the safest place for him when he was away from home, so whenever he was lifted into the air, whether through flight, or within the bottomless depths of the ocean, he felt his strength trying to leave him.

The tide came up and water touched his ankle. A chill ran up his spine, for the memory of him fighting the kraken beneath the borrowed ship, was troubling; his adrenaline kicked up due to the initial fight kept him from giving into fear, and if it wasn't for Sofia and Alisa, he probably would have sank to the bottomless depths where darkness lay, darkness that even his own eyes couldn't pierce... a nightmare that still troubled him to this day.

Someone called out his name, which brought Brone back to reality. He turned to his left and spotted a tall tanned skin man with long hair, "Aye, I'm the dwarf from Paradise Dawn" Brone sounded annoyed; this name, who went by the name of Toge, seemed rude already, "The name's Brone Heavyaxe, they call me the Shield of Dawn" the dwarf smiled. The cocky look on Toge's face already told him that the tall human was over confident, regardless of how strong he may be. And hearing the name of Yuurei did surprise Brone. It seems that the half-elf was popular enough to be challenged by people over seas, which probably led to his own name being known and ultimately called for the challenge.

"Ye probably right, though I should warn ye that Yuurei-dono isn't someone to be taken so lightly" it was the first time Brone used such a high status honorific for his friend, but he was taught by his father to show respect when it came to hierarchy; one should show respect in order to gain respect.

405 | 944

Brone’s Battle Log:

Toge would hear Brone’s words and his confirmation of who he was. That was good to hear, and when he heard about what he had to say about Yuurei. He would shrug as he was disgusted by that damn Nephilim.

“He stinks; the man is a Nephilim, and shouldn’t be allowed to be around someone like me.” He said to Brone.

He was waiting for the dwarf to make his way to him, but it wouldn’t seem like that would be the case. The paladin was surprised that this guy didn’t attack first, which meant that he would be the one to do something like that. The sun beaming from above, he was hoping that he would be able to use that to his advantage. Toge would move a little bit to his right as he was looking at Brone. He was observing him from where he was, yet it was still cold.

He didn’t understand the reasoning behind it, but it seemed like he was the cause of it. When he was ready he would run straight toward Brone. The earth mage wasn’t fast at all, but the cold air couldn’t make him any slower than he already was. When he got to him, he would pretend like he was going to punch Brone as he wanted to get see his reaction, but what he was going to really do was drop down to the ground as he would try for a spinning leg sweep to get Brone off his feet and onto the ground.

He was surprised to see the man was covered in armor, but it shows that he truly had come to fight him. When he fought Yuurei the man wasn’t wearing any armor, so he wondered what would have happened if Yuurei was actually wearing his full gear. Still, he wasn’t sure how this fight was going to go, but he wanted to beat this guy. If he could win against him then it meant that he was indeed becoming stronger than he was before.

340|756

Hearing Toge speak so ill of Yuurei made Brone wonder the reason behind it, "What do ye hate so? he's done great good for the land and citizens of many kinds" the dwarf asked. From what Toge had mention, Brone guessed it had something to do with the fact that Yuurei is a Nephilim, though truth be told, the dwarf still wasn't entirely sure what that was, whenever Yuurei would try to explain it to him, Brone would get lost in the beginning, then lost focus halfway through and sometimes would fall asleep with his eyes open by the end of it.

Speaking of which, Brone had lost his focus upon Toge while he was thinking about what a Nephilim was and what reason would it play to Toge's hate; the tall human had ran towards the dwarf with the attention of attacking the dwarf with his bare fist, which was surprise to him. Seeing how slow Toge was running and the fact that he wielded no weapon, he wondered if this was some sort of trick or prank to get him to drop his guard.

When Toge's fist came flying at him, Brone raised a gloved hand to try and catch the fist... his mistake. Toge had feinted the attack and suddenly dropped below sight and the next thing the dwarf knew was losing his footing and landing on the sand, "Blast it!" he cursed. Because he wasn't taking the young man seriously, he didn't prepare himself in his usual fighting stance, giving the enemy a chance to knock him off his feet.

Brone was instinctively about to reach for one of his axes, but he remembered Toge to be unarmored and there was no indication that he wielded any form of magic either, so to draw a powerful weapon such as the axes upon his back, probably would be overdoing it and would probably bring dishonor to his guild for striking down such a challenger. The moment Brone would get to one knew, he would swing an arm wide at Toge, forcing him back so that it'll give him enough time and space to get back onto his feet. When he would get back to his feet, the dwarf would position himself into a fighting stance, this time with clenched fists raised. The only time he had relied on fighting with just fists was when he fought Kaito, so he still needed practice with such combat.

He would rush in and deliver a right hook at Toge.

421 | 1,365

Toge had gotten the man with a sweep as he would fall to the ground. Still, when the man fell, it would seem like he would try to do something after he had his knee on the ground. They were looking at each other while this was happening. He didn’t think the dwarf would attack him even after the collision, which surprised him. Still, it gave him enough time to move. He would lunge he would throw himself to the side of Brone as he would do a barrel roll to avoid being swung by the man’s arm. He would roll on his back and onto his feet as he would turn to look at the man.

He was impressed with Brone’s quickness even though he was a tiny person. He would see that Brone had gotten to his feet and was ready to fight. He saw that he was not wielding his axes in this fight, which pissed Toge off.

“You see me weak that I cannot take an attack from your Axes? Puny man and mortal fight me with everything you have. I can take it. Bring out your axes and fight me like you mean Brone. If you don’t I will make sure you will have the worst time in your life.” He said this as he spat on the side next to him.

He felt disrespected that Brone wouldn’t use his gears against him. It made his blood boil as the veins on his forehead would start to appear. It was pulsing through the annoyance that Toge was going through right now. It would seem like Yuurei didn’t think of him as a threat when he placed him on the chair unconscious instead of killing him. It would seem like the dwarf felt the same way, which he didn’t like. He would give it a few seconds as he started running toward the dwarf now.

How dare he thinks he can just punch me and fight me like that because I’m unarmored. I’ll show him, and I’ll show them all. He thought to himself as he continued to run to Brone.

It wouldn’t take long, but now that he was next to Brone he figured he would show him just how tough he was. The paladin would swing his fist straight into Brone’s armor with all his might. He confident that he could break it, but if he connected he would find it to be a lie. There were men much stronger than him and he needed to understand that.

424|1180

Amazingly enough, Toge had dodged the punch. Which put Brone in an annoyed mood was the taller man's blabbering. Though The dwarf understood fully what Toge was saying and considered his pride, he couldn't help but get irritated, especially when Toge spat in his direction. "Fine then" Brone simply said as he drew his golden axe from his back. With his primary weapon in hand, he felt the next attack would probably be the last.

As Toge rushed in for a frontal attack, the dwarf didn't move, just simply raised his axe in the air with one hand, albeit half-heartedly like he was waiting for a fly to get in range for him to hit it with a flyswatter. When Toge's fist connected with the golden armor, it made a small 'ding' sound, probably hurting Toge's hand. Then the golden axe came down, slamming the flat side of the blade against Toge's head which would most likely knock him out.

161 | 1,526

Toge’s punch would go all the way through, which he didn’t expect it to. He thought the dwarf would dodge or something, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, he would feel the hit on the armor, and then soon enough, he would feel it striking throughout his entire arm. He clenched his teeth as he felt the pain going throughout his body. He enjoyed pain, so that was an amazing feeling as he had a smirk on his face. Still, he was disappointed that he couldn’t destroy Brone’s armor with that one punch.

It wasn't just that, but he had noticed that Brone’s armor had been in a way that harmed him if he had hit it. That meant he was going to have to go through another way to take this guy out. What Toge didn’t notice was that when he had landed his attack it would seem like Brone was going for an attack of his own. He was going to jump back to plan out his next form of attack, but it would happen. He would feel something slap the crap out of him from above. It was really strong that he would stumble back from the attack.

He would look at Brone for a few seconds as he felt his body was going to limp.

“Is everybody in Paradise Dawn a mons…” He would feel his body falling backward as he couldn’t finish his sentence.

He would hit the ground on his back as he saw everything blurry. It wouldn’t take long, but his eyes would close as he would fade from being conscious. His mind wandered into sleep, all he could hear is a bunch of ding noise. It wasn’t just that, but he would see a dark shadow again. It was the same thing as last time. When this happened, he had gotten Luci the demon. Still, it would seem like the dream was happening again. Who could that dark shadow being that was moving through his thoughts?

334|1514
[exit]

It took a moment, but Toge eventually fell to the sand, unconscious. "Aye, lad" Brone said as he removed his blue helmet to reveal his white hair, the cold aura that surrounded the area came to a stop, "There are many of us that are as powerful as monsters" He then picked up Toge and tossed him onto his golden shoulder guard, "But don't get me wrong, we hunt monsters" he told the tall challenger, though he knew well that the man wasn't listening. He then walked off to find a bench where he would place Toge.

For a moment, Brone was thinking about simply leaving, but he sighed and decided to sit on the bench and waited for Toge to awaken before making his way back home. It was annoying he was summoned to this far region after dealing with his fear of the water for a fight that didn't last even a minute, but he did admire the determination of the man.

167 | 1,693


[Exit]