HARMONY [LITRPG / ISEKAI / PROGRESSION / OP MC]

“Fuck, what the hell is this?!”

“H-Help! Hel–Ghaa!”

“No, no, no, this can’t be happening!”

The screams of the men sounded out all at once, some trailing into the air hopelessly while others were cruelly cut off mid-sentence.

Their fates were ultimately decided by the hundreds of swords raining down upon them. They fell like comets, each one landing with explosive force that, added with the momentum of crafted air, decimated the landscape underneath.

The Dark Zone became riddled with holes from these, following alongside dozens of bodies that ranged in varying levels of strength that had no defense against the sort of onslaught being brought down on them.

Of course, there were some that managed to protect themselves. In the end, the projectiles were just swords, not enchanted or durable enough to handle the blowback when some of the Red Riot members used their own means of combat.

Yet despite the plethora of weapons raining down with force, there was one location where none of the swords hit at all. Within the confines of her room, Haley closed her eyes as the walls trembled and the ground shook.

Yet no matter how much mayhem was being made outside, nothing approached her. After a while of hearing nothing but destructive noises from the outside, Haley took it upon herself to try and escape her situation.

Unfortunately, the ropes binding her proved to be adamant in their duty, tightly wound over by the hook of the wall behind her. No matter how much she tried to squirm her way out or use her abilities, she couldn’t release herself. The ropes were clearly made of some tough material as well. Even though her Might increased drastically over the past week, it was nowhere near high enough to break through.

“Ugh, the world is ending around me and I can’t even leave?”

She knew the only reason she was safe right now was due to Aidan, but she didn’t want to keep waiting around for him to find her. But then the door opened, revealing two men running in with gasping breaths and sweaty bodies.

“Fuck, I knew it!” One of the men shouted. “That guy is looking for the girl here. That’s why this place is safe!”

“Then fucking grab her!” Another shouted, pointing at her side. “We’ll use her as a hostage!”

“Aaagh!”

Haley groaned, trying to pull herself out of that situation with force but it proved futile. The men approached her, but quickly stopped when they sensed something coming from behind them.

Only Haley got to see that, rather than men, two swords floated in through the entrance. The men looked back at them, looking more than confused before each sword flew right at them.

“What the fuck is this?!”

“How the hell is that guy doing this?!”

The men fought back, brandishing their weapons to fight back, but the floating swords were merciless as they outmaneuvered the men’s feeble fighting styles and promptly stabbed them.

They tried to fight back, tried to survive, but the swords ruthlessly ended their lives before they could do anything else. Their bodies falling to the floor, Haley watched as someone else floated in.

Seeing the familiar face, she couldn’t help but feel tears ready to fill her eyes at the immense relief.

“Hey Haley,” Aidan said, smiling as he landed. “Need some help?”

…..

He should’ve known that the gang members would notice that he intentionally left the building housing Haley in. While the building itself was riddled with swords at this point, he made sure to keep the room where Haley was at completely unharmed.

So when he noticed several souls belonging to Red Riot coming for her, he knew he had to personally act.

He ignored the absolute chaos he was leaving behind on the outside as he flew right towards where Haley was. Eventually, as he suspected, the men were planning to grab Haley, perhaps use her as a hostage. After promptly dealing with them, he finally got to see Haley after she had been kidnapped.

She looked to be in rough shape, but she still had that fire in her eyes that got Aidan relieved. He feared that something happened to her throughout the time she was taken, but it looked like nothing unforgivable happened.

But despite her situation, Haley looked at Aidan with worry.

“How’s Van? Is he okay? He looked pretty bad before I got taken. Is he–?”

“He’s fine, he’s fine,” Aidan chuckled, patting Haley’s shoulders down to comfort her. “Nina’s taking care of him, and she always makes good on her promises.”

“Whoo…” Haley’s shoulders slumped, finally getting her to relax. Then anger flared as she responded. “This was all her fault to begin with, anyways. I want compensation for all this trouble.”

“Hey, take it up to her, not me,” Aidan shook his head. He didn’t know whether Nina might actually do that, so he’d probably figure something out to appease Haley instead.

Haley looked displeased at that, then added, “Guess you’re gonna have to make it up to me then.”

“Alright, I will,” Aidan laughed. “Glad to see you’re still energetic.”

“So, what now?” Haley asked. “Are we getting out of here?”

“That’s… a difficult question to answer,” Aidan said with a crooked grin. “See, I’m not here just to save you. I’m here to teach them a lesson.”

“W-What exactly are you doing outside?” Haley asked. This time she knew she was asking a question that she may not be fully ready for.

“They kidnapped you and hurt Van,” Aidan answered seriously. “I’m here to show them what happens when they mess with Nina’s… property.”

Haley looked taken aback, but her soul eventually settled on that. There was still plenty of ruckus going on outside, so Aidan turned serious.

“Listen, I’m gonna be straight with you. I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here to yourself to run. So I’m gonna have to carry you. Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Wait, what are you–whoa?!”

Aidan swept Haley up with a forceful grab before carrying her in a princess-carry style, then crafted the air around him to get him out of the building they were at and up into the air.

Haley kept holding on tight to Aidan’s neck as they did so, but faltered when she witnessed the devastation going on outside. Multiple buildings were already desolated and left for ruin, with many bodies scattered about. Blood became the new color marking the normally greyish walls and dirty ground, with the swords flying down upon the Dark Zone as the backdrop for this incredible scene of mayhem and destruction.

“You… you weren’t kidding,” Haley said, astonishment in her voice. “I-Is this really necessary for me?”

“Of course,” Aidan answered. “Nobody fucks with us.”

That was the decision he made as he slowly started gaining strength in this world. This fantasy world was as cruel as one could be, and one needed to show dominance in order to survive in this world. Nina had it right, using whatever means necessary to get ahead, and being the one who taught him that, Aidan would do the same.

But just like him, there were others who could also grow strong and take what they want. That much was proven when he sensed his swords getting destroyed on one side. He looked to find several explosions happening, disrupting the swords making their way and getting destroyed left and right.

“Don’t falter!” He heard one of the men shouting, proving to be the leader. “Use everything in our arsenal to take them down!”

The men shouted in response as they used several tools and equipment riddled with magic power. Some even came out with what looked like ballistas and cannons, shooting into the air and creating a powerful force that left multiple explosions, leaving a destructive aftermath of flying metal bits from the collision.

Aidan flew up with Haley in tow, making sure to hold tight on her as he looked further down where they were at. It was clear that they were mainly focusing on the swords still flying about. The rest of the swords were near the ground, floating and making themselves automatons of murder as they hunted down each lackey with hostile intent.

“Were you always able to control this many swords?” Haley asked. “I thought your maximum was five or something.”

“It increased, but yeah, I normally couldn’t use this many swords,” Aidan answered. He had a silly grin as he pointed out. “Look over there.”

Aidan pointed with his finger to help Haley find one instance where on the ground, a man and a sword were fighting for their lives. He said it like that because the sword was pitifully fighting back against an equally pitiful looking man who kept screaming and panicking whenever the sword fought back.

It was something of a comedy as the two battled it out, each one clearly not showing any sense of actual fighting style.

“The swords I don’t have a direct control on can move on their own, but they’re so dumb that they could barely fight. Look, that guy’s just a level 17 Rogue. Their real power came when they got shot down from the sky. After that, they just go around and try to take down as many as possible.”

“Are you going to take the entire Red Riot down?” Haley asked in surprise.

“That’s the plan,” Aidan said, though he frowned when he witnessed the increased morale coming from the mayhem beyond him. “Though that might be harder than it looks.”

Eventually the Red Riot recovered fast enough for them to take advantage of the situation. They knew the dozens of autonomous swords were of no real danger once they brought out the higher-leveled foes, including the ones from the Stained Brotherhood.

Some even decided to take the swords for themselves, skillfully grabbing them out from the air and forcing their will upon them by slamming them against the ground. That got Aidan to lose his autonomous control over the swords, leaving them for good. He didn’t care much about that, but he did worry as the crowd of Red Riot and Stained Brotherhood began aiming their weapons towards him.

“Fire!”

One shouted, and a barrage of magical attacks flew right at him. Aidan flew off, not willing to get anywhere close to them with Haley by his side. Instead, he crafted air shots and shot directly where the gang was, creating explosions where they landed and seeing various men fly up into the air, some broken and some blown to bits.

Level Up! From Level 38, you became Level 39!

+1 Free Attribute point

+3 Free Stat points

+1 Intelligence

+1 Toughness

+1 Dexterity

+1 Vigor

Before, Aidan would question whether killing so many people would be considered… well, overkill. But he knew better than that. These men would willingly take as many lives as possible, and if that so happens to help them gain levels, then all the more for it.

Even so, seeing the bodies and the blood made him realize that he just wasn’t cut out to be a murderer, even if the world would forgave him for doing so. Even if killing others was now the norm here in this world, he would prefer to kill monsters. Now, humans acting like monsters, like these criminals on the other hand, he would gladly also kill. But he wouldn’t be happy about it.

That definitely got them riled up as they kept aiming their magical artifacts and weapons straight at the flying Aidan. There were some mages that tried to take to the sky themselves, but seeing that they were mages, Aidan took them out with ease with air shots.

Even as his mana ran low, all he needed to do was to drink the Soul Mending water from where he was, and he would be right back to full again. He kept unleashing as many spells as possible, taking out as many of these men as he could.

The Dark Zone was just an utter mess at this point, the smoke reaching high into the air and possibly gaining a lot of attention from the outside. From his senses, he noticed several people from the Grim Corner rushing in a panic, perhaps figuring out that there was a war going on inside of this very city.

There would likely be authorities coming by at some point, ready to smack down the trouble brewing within the Corner. Though he wasn’t quite sure if they were brave enough to venture what is publicly known throughout the city as a haven of criminals. Even his old world police force wouldn’t be crazy enough to enter criminal gang territory without some form of heavy artillery behind their backs, and considering the fantasy aspect of this place, he could tell that a lot of lives would be lost through this.

“Aidan!”

Haley’s concerned shout hit him, but he already knew what was coming as he immediately flew backward. A powerful surge of lightning blasted through where he just was, showing it to be caused by several people flying up to the same airspace as he was.

Among them was none other than the very leader Volburn, with several of his men flying beside him. Each of them wore magic equipment, ranging from their flowing capes or their boots, or perhaps some other form of accessory, that allowed them to fly just like Aidan. Though the looks on their faces proved that it was the sort of cost they would not bear willingly, something that Volburn was gladly ready to complain about.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” He growled, his hand gripping tight on a sword ready to stab him if he could. “Hundreds, thousands of gold, lost! You destroyed most, if not all our precious products with that stupid stunt of yours! Your life isn’t even worth the amount of damage done, nor that bitch in your hands. Don’t think for even a second that you’re allowed to leave here without paying for every single fucking piece!”

“I told you before, didn’t I?” Aidan called out. “You fucked around, and you found out. Turns out you found out how much you lost. That ain’t my fault.”

“And for what? Following a bitch’s order to save some other bitch?” Volburn sneered. “Just for that, you destroyed half of everything that I have ever worked for? What we paid in blood, sweat, and tears for?”

Aidan sneered back. “Sounds like a skill issue.”

It was clear that Volburn didn’t intend to back down after his little rant, and before long the men behind him ramped up on their hostility and began launching several spells at Aidan. He flew around, dodging each one, though he made sure to pay special care to Haley who was forced to be part of all of this.

He didn’t feel comfortable leaving her around, but as the attacks started ramping up, he was starting to reconsider his options. They ranged from either fiery strikes to electric blasts, some missiles that flew fast and almost grazed him while others crowded the entire space between him. He had to Phase through some of the attacks that were too fast for him to move around, or were just too turbulent for Haley to handle. He had to remember that while he was Infused to have higher stats, Haley was not, and he needed all the mana he could get just to get out of the path of danger.

Volburn, out of all of them, was the most insistent. He rushed in physically to stab him with his sword, which only prompted Aidan to fight back with his own. Though he had to fight telepathically rather than by hand since both of his were carrying Haley. Volburn definitely showed that out of all the gang members, he was the strongest as the leader.

Marauder, Level 71.

He wasn’t quite sure what a Marauder was, but he knew that it had to be some offensive-specialist evolution of the Warrior Class, proven by his bulking muscles and the way he swung his sword. The sword itself had several spikes at the edge with a cruel looking tip, making it look more demonic than your average sword.

He could also tell that getting cut with that sword would be bad news, as he could tell by its material soul that it contained a sort of toxin or something that could affect Aidan badly if it got into his body. Not even Heal would be enough to fix it, but Volburn was adamant in cutting him down.

He kept the other men away using air shots and his other swords, but the other men were also impressive in their own right, leaving none to counter Volburn as he aimed to strike him down. Eventually he realized that he had to do something that he didn't want to do.

He was going to have to retreat.