Unstoppable Antihero
Chapter 1: The Desert

The bright shining sun illuminated the vast desert. The dust was carried by a gust of wind, like it was about to reach the blue sky. However, the calm did not last long when a row of footsteps were heard accompanied by the cry of the sea of people.

“Strike!!” A horseman uttered an order.

“Life Your Majesty! Live Air Kingdom!” reply to the troop running behind the horsemen.

In front of the troops, other troops were running towards them. A tiger rider drew out a sword, then drew it up.

“Forward!!” the tiger rider.

“Life Kingdom of Fire!” command the army that follows the horseman.

The two armies faced each other, swinging their swords to slash at the opponent. The sound of sword strikes and screams sounded like discordant musical instruments in the middle of the desert. Sparks of blood and a human body full of wounds also fall like unwanted party floor decorators.

...***...

Orange-colored light seemed to radiate from the western horizon and slowly dimmed. In a barren wilderness, a collection of corpses was scattered like garbage with bodies full of wounds. The smell of blood fishy certainly pollutes the air that was once clean.

Slowly but surely, one of the corpses moved a hand. Not long after, a young man with long hair tied together and stuck out backwards, rose up among the corpses.

“Haah .. haah .. haah ...” The young man with long hair stood up, then looked at his two palms covered in fresh blood. “What .... this ...?”

Although there was doubt in his heart, he tried to glare around. However, there were not a few seconds, both of his legs became limp, making him fall prostrate. The young man's tears were dripping, while his breathing became erratic.

“NO!!” He screamed in the middle of a desert filled with a sea of human corpses. The young man's head was bowed as his brain digested what his eyes saw.

A few minutes passed, the young man now wiped the tears that flowed washing his cheeks. He slowly got up, then walked among the sea of lifeless bodies. However, as far as his footsteps retraced, his eyes never saw the end of the expanse of human corpses.

The wind then blew, making the dust fly. However, all of this was ignored by the young man. He continued to step forward, like he was about to reach the sun that was about to set.

“This is ... hell,” murmured.

The young man continued walking, ignoring the pain all over the body. His breathing became increasingly heavy, but he still refrained from stopping, until the young man's body finally gave up. The young man's gaze darkened, and he fell down.

...***...

The sky looked bright, the moon shone brightly put away the darkness of the night. Inside a cave in the middle of the desert, a long-haired girl lay the body of a young man covered in wounds. The girl cleaned the wound of the young man using a potluck wet cloth, then bandaged.

After cleaning the young man's wounds, the girl exhaled a long breath while sitting leaning against the cave wall. He then looked up while taking a bottle of water to his right.

“I didn't think there would be anyone really safe,” murmured while opening the bottle cap.

“Ugh!” The young man who had just been bandaged, suddenly woke up, making the girl who cared for him a little surprised.

“Hei,” scolds the girl while propping up the young man trying to get up, “don't push yourself. You still need a lot of rest.”

“You ... who?” ask the young man. His voice sounded slow, like he was whispering.

The girl ignored the young man's question, but gave him a bottle of water. “Minum.”

“I told you ...” Again the girl rebuked the young man for forcing herself to get up. “You still have to rest.”

However, the young man refused, “It's okay, I'm fine, thank you ...”

“You're really okay?”

The young man nodded, forcing the girl to let him wake up. The girl helped the young man to sit leaning against the wall of the cave.

“Thank you ...,” says the young man.

“No need!” The long-haired girl sat leaning against the cave wall in front of the young man while gulping down her drinking water. “Toh in a moment you will also die because you continue to force yourself.”

“Haha ..” It was clear that the laughter did not sound natural coming out of the young man who then lowered his head. “Actually I'm dead.”

The girl did not immediately answer, but put a water bottle in her hand first, and then said indifferently, “Yes, your eyes do look like dead fish.”

“At least you can lie a little about that. Haha.”

“I was never taught to be a liar!”

Their conversation ended, so time seemed to pass in a vacuum. The silence passed for only a moment, but for the girl, time seemed to freeze.

“Hei.” Suddenly the girl started the conversation. “Can I know what your name is?”

The young man still lowered his head, but still replied, “Didn't you say I'm going to die soon? What do you know my name for?”

“Nothing. I just want to know.”

“You are very interesting.” Finally, the young man re-established his head, then smiled at the girl. His smile this time looked very natural, not forced in the slightest. “I want to know how you react if it turns out you just saved your own enemy.”

“Hm ...” This time the girl thought for a moment, then replied with a flat face, “I think I'll be a little happy? I don't know. So far I still do not have a single enemy in this world.”

“I turned out to meet a very interesting person,” said the young man as he glanced out of the cave. From here he could see the endless wilderness and not see a single corpse. “Hey, have you ever felt completely free?”

“Do not know. Maybe yes, or maybe not.” The girl stared out of the cave.

“I think I want to feel it even once.”

This time the girl turned her eyes towards the man. “I really don't understand you.” He exhaled a long breath, then closed his eyes while raising his head. “If you don't want to say your name, you can say it right away. I never forced you, did I?” Slowly the girl opened her eyes again.

The young man glanced at his helper girl with a faint smile again. “I didn't mean it that way.”

“Hm?”

Slowly the young man took a deep breath, then exhaled. “My name is Atlas Hiromasa. Thank you for helping me, and it's nice to meet you.”

At that moment, the girl did not know whether the young man she helped really came back excited or just looked excited. However, one thing was certain that he understood: the winds of change might be on the shoulders of this young man named Atlas Horimasa.