"Sword Change!" he screamed.

  Both of his arms transformed into two large sword blades, ready to slash anything.

  From atop the hill, falling down through the clouds above the great river, a young man with two sword blades as his arms directly slashed the large monster right at its neck.

  Without thinking twice, the young man immediately cut the neck and head of the monster off from its body. Not long after, the young man and the dead monster fell and sank into the river.

  The young man closed his eyes only to open them again and see a campfire in front of him along with several people nearby sitting together on a large log.

  "Yeah, that was quite intense, thank goodness I managed to save you," said the woman in front of the young man from before.

  "Yup, that's how it is. Time to sleep, it's already getting dark. I'm going first! Good night," said the young man before entering the small tent.

  Inside the small tent, the young man took out all his small books and wrote something in them.

  "Dear diary. Today was quite enjoyable, we managed to kill a minotaur monster and thankfully that was enough to sustain us and save us from starvation..."

  Back to a few months earlier.

  "Excuse me! I'm Azura, adventurer number 12, I need a party, I have an ambition to beco—"

  "Yes, yes, yes... Please go to table number 5, there's an empty party there, I'll register your name in that party later, thank you," said the receptionist.

  Without thinking about anything, the young man named Azura followed the receptionist's directions and walked straight to table number 5.

  It didn't take long for Azura to find table number 5. Azura immediately stood in front of the table that was surrounded by people Azura didn't know.

  "Excuse me, is this party looking for members?" said Azura.

  "Yep! We're looking for someone who can attack and defend, would you like to join?" asked one of the party members.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Azura's eyes immediately widened, heart pounding rapidly—finally he found a party that needed members after searching for so long.

  "That's right! My name is Azura! I can transform both my arms and legs into all weapons! Including shields. I hope I can join and help each other," Azura answered.

  One of the party members looked at Azura with an expression full of interest. Long brown beard, short hair, and a body that wasn't too tall—he stood up from his seat.

  "I admire your spirit, lad, but actually we're looking for someone who's quite mature. You still look very young, I'm not sure you're ready to do this," said the bearded man.

  Instantly Azura's hopes were shattered into pieces. The hope he had built for months was destroyed just like that, but that didn't mean Azura stopped—instead, it made Azura even stronger to rebuild that hope again.

  "Alright... thank you," said Azura before turning his body around.

  One of the party members suddenly whispered to the bearded man before returning to his seat.

  Azura, who was ready to walk out, was suddenly gently grabbed on the arm by someone.

  "Wait a moment, lad."

  As if pulled back by his shattered hope, Azura turned his body around again to see the bearded man once more.

  "Yes?" Azura asked.

  "After thinking about it a second time, it seems we can accept you, lad, on the condition that you can survive with us," answered the bearded man.

  "Th-thank you!" said Azura

  The next day.

  "Welcome to the Rank Ascension event! Where all parties in the Guild must participate if your party wants to rank up!"

  "Please register your party at the nearest receptionist!"

  Azura was stunned after seeing how massive the circular arena was—Azura couldn't even see the top edge of the circular arena.

  "Hehe, come on lad, you said you wanted to join our party," said the bearded man.

  Azura could only sigh before following his party to register for the arena, to fight and raise their party's rank.

  ? The Last Hope #F

  Guround as the Last Hope Fighter

  Elvien as the Last Hope Archer

  Kyoryu as the Last Hope Assassin

  Kiramagi as the Last Hope Magician

  Azura as the Last Hope Shifter ?

  "Are these all the members of The Last Hope party?" asked the receptionist.

  "That's right, that's everyone," answered the bearded man.

  "Alright, please wait for further information."

  Several hours later.

  "Thank you for waiting! For the first session, it's 1vs1! Someone will be randomly called from your party to fight one member from another party!"

  "Let's see who will go forward in the first round!"

  A large hologram screen was displayed—almost all parties could see the large screen at every corner of the massive arena, including Azura and the members of The Last Hope party.

  Azura could only hope not to get the first position to fight. Every shuffle of paper in that large bag made Azura's heart beat even faster.

  Before long, one paper was lifted from the large bag and opened.

  "Beam! From the God Favors party!"

  "And... Deus! From the Darkness Devour party."

  "Please, both of you enter the arena. While waiting, please eat and drink while watching their fight."

  Finally Azura could breathe a sigh of relief because he wasn't the first one. While waiting for his turn, Azura took some food from the plate on their table.

  "Azura, if you're chosen, then fight with all your might, never be afraid and never attack recklessly, understand?" said the bearded man.

  "This is a life and death battle, there are no rules against killing. They have the right to decide whether to kill or not, so let's hope that if our opponents are strong, they don't have the intention to kill."

  Fight after fight, none of them had been called yet. The battles seemed endless, always spirited with non-stop cheering as if there was no rest.

  One by one they killed their enemies, though quite a few also chose to give them mercy to live.

  At a certain moment during another paper drawing, one name sounded very familiar.

  "Azura! From The Last Hope party!"

  "And Blaze! From Flaming Fairy!"

  His jaw dropped very quickly—why, among the 5 members of The Last Hope, was Azura the one called?

  "Come on, lad! I believe in you, give it your all!" said the bearded man.

  Azura grabbed one last sandwich before walking into the arena to face his opponent with full courage and the burning fire within.