Sword God in a World of Magic

One month earlier, on Earth.

"Thank you for your loyal support, and please visit us again!"

A superficially cheerful voice shouted this phrase from a medium-sized grocery store. The phrase was targeted at a middle-aged man that was just leaving the store. The middle-aged man slightly waved one of his hands to show that he had heard, but he couldn't be bothered to answer.

As soon as the man left, the grocery store cashier sighed and went back to the cash register. The cashier was a young man with blonde hair, and he looked like he had just hit his 20s. A slight muscular frame was still visible when one looked at him from the back, but when looking at him from the front, one could only see a rather sizable beer belly.

Clack, thump, clack, thump!

As the cashier walked back to the cash register, the sound of his cane could be heard on the floor of the grocery store.

"Hello, welcome to Stevie's!" the cashier greeted with superficial politeness as he handled the next customer.

"Hard day at work, huh?" the young customer asked the cashier.

"It's alright," the cashier answered with a slight chuckle. "Everyone has to make a living."

However, these words didn't reflect the cashier's real feelings.

'This fucking grocery store is killing me, I swear!' he thought as he "happily" bagged the groceries. 'Every day with the same shit. Alex, do this! Alex, do that! I swear, when I've saved up enough money for college, I'm going to burn this place to the ground!'

Of course, these were only thoughts created in a stressful situation. Alex knew that he wouldn't really do it.

This cashier was Alexander Hoffmann.

Alex for short.

Alex's life hadn't always been like this.

He had had a bright future ahead of him in the past.

Sadly, life didn't go his way.

On the urging of his father, Alex started doing sports when he was 12. After all, doing sports while growing was very beneficial to the development of a teenager.

Alex's father was a huge fan of the MNFA, the Multinational Fighting Association.

The MNFA let fighters from nearly all disciplines of martial arts fight each other with the least rules possible. So, in short, it was an organization that handled mixed martial arts fights, MMA for short.

Alex had also grown to like watching these fights, and when his father urged him to do some sports, Alex decided that he wanted to do MMA.

His parents' feelings were mixed on that subject.

On one hand, it was great that their child was finally doing some sports, but MMA could get pretty dangerous if something wasn't handled correctly.

However, since it was not professional MMA and since there were several coaches around in the local gym, they agreed.

Some time later, when Alex had had his first practice fight against another kid in the gym, he got his ass handed to him. Yet, this experience awakened a certain kind of stubbornness in him, an urge to win.

Sadly, he lost the next couple of practice matches too. Well, one couldn't really consider these matches a loss since they weren't real matches. They were simply some sparring between two students.

Yet, when Alex didn't clearly win a fight, he saw it as a loss.

Alex had already planned to change sports and join another one since it felt frustrating to see how everyone was better than himself. Yet, he wanted to win at least one time!

So, he continued training, and eventually, he won.

When Alex won, he felt something that he had never felt before.

It was a kind of indescribable high!

He felt like he was floating on clouds, and he felt like he was the greatest in the world!

The feeling of fighting, which had always annoyed him since his body hurt after it, transformed into the polar opposite.

This feeling of fighting others wasn't annoying.

It was simply a clash between men!

They were showcasing their power in a very primal fashion!

Alex wanted to feel this feeling again!

Alex stayed in the gym and even came more often. MMA had transformed from a chore into a hobby. The pain of sore muscles became a familiar pain that Alex even started to enjoy. It sounded cheesy, but the common phrase of every single sports coach in the world resonated with Alex.

"Pain is simply weakness leaving your body!"

As the years passed, Alex completely focused on MMA. Even his grades started to drop, which had already been average to begin with. Alex wasn't stupid, but he never paid attention in school and didn't learn anything.

Stuff like math and physics was still okay since he could often deduce the correct answers logically, which was why those grades didn't suffer much. However, subjects like history and foreign languages had it far worse since one had to actually learn for these things.

Alex had a ton of arguments with his parents over this, but Alex always said that his future was MMA. He would join the MNFA, and he would earn a ton of money!

high school but decided against going to

MMA was his future!

as hard

life depended on

manage to get into the MNFA,

after Alex's 20th

was the greatest day of his

was about to become

pretty easily since his first opponent was pretty

his second match, but it was a

struck at Alex's third

and forth, and he and his opponent were pretty evenly

the

opening to tackle the other

CRACK!

kick struck, and

opponent's elbow

broke, and the medics

news that his bones

could only fix it to the point that would allow him to walk somewhat normally with the support of

Alex's career was over.

his life, Alex fell to the lowest

from his three fights, but he basically wasted

His life was over.

There was nothing anymore.

for him, and Alex finally realized that he had to stop being such a pussy.

to save

was 22 years old, and he was working in a grocery store precisely

lowest low, Alex was still young, and he knew that he

and everything

It was already dark out, but the streets were well

Alex stepped out of the grocery store, his nose wrinkled. No matter how long he had lived here, he

city was for low-income families, and

cigarette butts, old newspapers,

was a common sight on these

barely a kilometer

to keep his living costs as low as possible. Additionally, Alex somewhat

looked at a couple

bin

he thought. 'The bin

his cane to push the cigarette butts to the side of the closest building. He hated these people that treated the streets as their own toilet, but he didn't hate them enough to pick up the cigarette butts to throw

some minutes, Alex heard the sound of a whining

wasn't the usual sound

high-pitched, painful, and desperate. Obviously, the

normal in this city, but that

around for the dog and found

could barely be seen at the edge

Blood.

Bone.

severely broken. He could see blood coming out of its legs, and he could even

wonder it was in

he should help it or not. He didn't have a pet, but he also didn't hate animals. It was nice to look at and interact with them, but

top of that, pets

injury. A slight pain came from his ankle as the scene

the end, Alex

bring you to a vet, but I won't pay much

dog. The dog didn't move and only continued crying in pain

"Don't move!"

as the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his

was a knife

to move as panic took hold of him, but he calmed down somewhat when he

'A robbery,' Alex thought.

been in panic for two seconds, but his old fighting

Yet, Alex didn't attack.

was essential to analyze the opponent first. Otherwise, mistakes were bound to

hand of the robber searched through Alex's pocket, Alex slightly glanced at the robber. He wore a black hoody and black sweatpants. It was hard to make out his facial features in the darkness while

glanced at the arm that held the

that his arm is shaking, and the knife is also not directly touching my neck. He's probably new at

also noted the appearance and condition

to lure me into this alleyway. A clever

slight smirk appeared on Alex's

you chose the

BANG!

of the robber. At the same time, Alex violently

was never a

just as much pain, but as a former fighter, he could