Night Two Hundred And Twelve
Age 1991
Dianthus City...
'Dianthus City is what it is called... A man calling himself the count resides there... He has stolen one of my kids... Unlike my other three this one is one that I require in my plans. She's special... So please take care of that blasted beast for me and keep her safe...'
The streets of Dianthus were filled with people all walking about seemingly trying to get out of the cold weather as the snow poured down in this constant frozen world... Several obviously homeless people had ducked down and were using the alleyways or tiles of the house as shelter. On the road several horse drawn carriages could be seen...
Dianthus unlike the many other cities wasn't that grand in its design. It was more... Old fashioned... It's buildings were all small, simple tiled roofs, with stone brick houses. Long stone woods which horses and wheel barrels would march down. The only thing even remotely note worthy was the castle, and the wall...
The Castle rested to the North atop a large hill. It was black and forged from dark stone bricks. It was like something out of an old fashioned vampire movie. All dark and brooding. As for the wall...
It was something else.
The wall was a massive 4500 foot tall wall climbing all the way towards the sky and even piercing past the skies. It was covered in a thick red metal that seemed to glow with the same power as the Equations. There were four of these in total. Each wall broke off the borders of one of the other Nations. Past this wall rested the White Nation... Each wall was made by God and Master Storm and was supposed to be used to get the many Nations to stop fighting with each other.
It often didn't work...
Dianthus City was often regarded as being a trash city due to how close to the wall it was.
With the energy of the wall the city was also often attacked by Bestia Macht. However no Enforcer base rested out here meaning it was often on its own... At least...
It had been on its own...
Before the man in the castle came...
Right outside the village a small train slowly pulled up. It was old fashioned and made out of a terrible looking metal. Sparks slowly seemed to come off of the train as it pulled to a stop making a loud grinding noise.
The doors to it opened allowing a young looking figure to step off of the steamed poured contraption. A few people turned to look at them. He was young male. Only sixteen years old, maybe seventeen. Much of his body remained unseen. He wore a long brown cloak with the hood up hiding most of his body from sight. What little of his skin could be seen was pale. Super pale. Small tuffs of raven black hair poked out of his hood, and the lower half of his face was masked by a black cloth. A pair of stunning silver eyes could also be seen hidden behind a pair of goggles he wore. The strange man looked around for a moment before he nodded his head and stepped off of the train.
Seemingly satisfied with what he saw the boy began to walk...
For a brief second he stopped and stared as a wooden carriage slowly pulled past him moving through the snow a small old looking horse carrying it.
In the carriage several kids could be seen all resting in the back of several cages. The carriage was slowly pulling up towards the black castle in the distance. The man's eyes seemed to narrow for a moment as he stared at them all.
"Hey pal what are you looking at?" Someone on the side of the road snapped.
The hooded man turned to look back at them for a moment making the man step back. Finally the hooded man turned away and entered a nearby tavern.
'Thud!'
"Ha! Nice one Cov! Ya went and missed."
"Ahh shut it! I'll hit it this time just watch!"
'Thud!'
'Thud!'
'Thud!'
"You missed three times!"
"Please stop throwing knives at me!" A voice cried out.
"I told you to shut it damn Blue!"
'Thud!'
'Thud!'
'Thud!'
In the building several people could be seen. It appeared to be some kind of bar. Many people were all seated around drinking. A few however... They were doing something else. These people stood around one of the wooden pillars in the bar. Tied to the pillar was a young ten year old boy with a fearful look in his eyes. He was dressed in what looked like metal armor a sign that he was from the Blue Nation.
Each Nation had their own protectors. The Red had the Enforcers, who wore long snow jackets due to the harsh winter cold. The White had their Samurai who wore robes and all wielded power Equip Type weapons. The Blues had their Knights all in armor and spouting on about justice. The Fifth Captain in the Enforcers, was from here making her the only Enforcer who wore armor. And lastly the weirdest of all the Nations was the Green. It didn't have human protectors... In fact Equations were banned there. They instead had Tamers, people who tamed Bestia Macht and had them fight for them. Jackson Storm, Dawson Blight, Sif Stygain, and Alexander Gates, were all said to have traveled there at one point and learned how to tame their own Bestia Machts.
The boy tied to the pillar was a member of the Blue Nation who seemed to have wandered into the Red Nation. He had messy blue hair and bright sapphire blue eyes filled with fear as he side stepped the blades that were thrown at him. On his back rested the handle of a small sword in its sheath but for some reason he didn't draw it.
"What are those idiots doing..." A man sighed. "Where did they even find such a strange thing..."
"Serves the kid right." Another man chuckled. "He shouldn't have wandered in here..."
"Hey check that out." The first man said nudging his head. The second guy turned around finding the hooded man stepping into the bar. The man in the hood slowly walked past their table heading to the bar. "Is that a kid?"
The hooded man slowly rested at the table next to a man in a suit with a black hat on. "So..." The hooded man said. "I hear you know stuff..."
The man in the suit to a puff of his cigarette. "Depends... Who's asking."
"Hero Otoko." Hero said slowly dropping the hood.
"...O... Otoko?"
"No relations to the one of this world."
"This world?"
"We're off to a bad start... So I hear you know stuff?"
"Yeah..." The man reached up pulling his hat off. A metal rod could be seen poking out of his head. "My Cursed Life Technique is called Receive Broadcast." The man explained. "A Transformation type. I can pick up on any signal in the world. And if I focus hard enough I can tap into the Internet, although something that slow isn't too useful. The radios though... I tap into those often. What I'm trying to say is that if this information exists, then I know it. Used to live in Dandelion City... Then some bastard named Kitsune Nine showed up and wrecked my place... I got into so much debt with that damn Organization that bitch, the Jester, sent her men after me and I fled here..."
"Oh so Kitsune attacked your place in this world to. Good to know... I wonder what else is the same." Hero mused.
"What?"
"It's not important." Hero reached into his cloak and pulled out a small photo. He slid it over to the man who picked it up and looked it over. In the picture was a young eight year old girl with messy silver hair and bright red eyes. She looked like the Jester but younger... "Where is she."
"You got a name for her?" The man asked.
"Musume... Musume Vil."
"Hmm... Judging by her age she was likely taken."
"Taken?" Hero asked raising an eyebrow.
The man snorted. "Oh... You don't know?"
"Know what?"
The man's metal rod slowly twisted on his head pointing out the window and towards the castle. "They say a Bestia Macht in human form lives there... They call him the Count... A powerful blood thirsty monster... He's come and killed several of us... Abominations he calls us... So... The locals here... They've been taking some of the kids and sending them to him in hopes of getting him to spare them. Bunch of rotten bastards they are... Those men back there are the ones who round the kids up. Think by doing it they'll get a reward or something..." He sighed pointing a thumb towards the men who were throwing knives at the kid.
"I see... What rank would you say this man is..." Hero asked.
There were several ranks to the Bestia Macht. The first was Peasant Class. These ones were weak and couldn't harm humans. They were typically the size of insects. After them was Baron. Baron Classes were able to kill normal humans in seconds, though a person with an Equation could easily take them out even with no training. After them was Viscount. All Viscount levels had high speed healing, and could only be killed by wiping out their brain. They could also grow spikes, and fire beams of dark matter. All Seraphins had the powers of a Viscount. Some Viscounts also develop a new power that only they can use much like the one that fought Hero, Ken, Kitsune, Irene, and Light, in their first mission. Earl was next. An Earl was considered to be the most dangerous as while there are high threat levels they are rare where as an Earl is not. An Earl can easily wipe out a city if given the chance and must be taken down by high ranking Enforcers. Marquees is next. They are rare and only Captains are said to be able to fight them, not even Vice Captains stand a chance. After them is Duke. There are only five known Duke Classes one of which is the Beast of Hunger that was made by Hero Law. The second is the Bestia Macht that belongs to Master Storm which sorts Recruits. It is said it would take all four Sacred Beasts, as well as all twelve Captains teaming up to take down a Duke, and even then winning is not a guaranteed. Lastly resting at the top of the list the mighty Prince sits. A powerful Bestia Macht that is a threat to the whole planet. It took God, and Master Storm working together in their prime to stop it... It is said now that should it wake up only the Heart, the strongest Equation, could stop it...
"Hmm... I'd say his power is likely that of a low Marquees... A weak Captain from the Enforcers could maybe beat him... Course that's saying something considering how strong all the Captains are." The man snorted.
"I see." Hero nodded his head as he set a bag of silver Bells on the table. The man quickly snatched it as he ran his hands through the coins. "In that case I'll be going."
"Hmm..."
Hero stood up and began to walk forward...
Over with the men who were throwing knives one of them seemed to get fed up. "Great One Above, you suck at this Cov. Give me the damn knife. I'll show ya how a man throws it-" His head smashed into a wooden table shattering it as Hero slammed him down shocking everyone in the bar.
Before anyone could react though a white tendril stabbed out of Hero's back and whipped around slamming all the men down and slicing the chains of the boy off. Then in the next motion Hero was out the door having taken them down in less than a second.
The boy stood there with wide eyes for a moment. "Whoa..." He shook his head giving a grin. "Hey wait up!" He yelled running towards Hero who ignored the boy and kept on walking. "Wait! Wait! Will you just wait!" He yelled trying to keep up with the fast paces of the man who walked towards through the city. To the boys shock Hero stopped.
"What?" He sighed out.
"T... Thanks for saving me." The boy said. "My name is Rio Livon!" The boy announced.
"I don't recall asking."
"You're rude..." Rio did a pose giving a smile. "But even so you're strong right! You must be an Enforcer!"
"I'm not." Hero growled shaking his head. "At least... Not anymore..."
"Really? So you're a wondering Hero?"
"I'm not a Hero either... Once again... Not anymore..."
"Oh? I think you are though! You took those jerks down and saved me! I wanna be a Hero to."
"Hmm?"
"It's always been my dream!" The boy said. "I want to become a world famous Hero and save the world." Hero didn't say anything as he turned away and began walking. "Wait! Aren't you supposed to ask me why I want to be a Hero? And how good I am!"
Hero sighed. "Why do you want to be a Hero?"
"Because I- Hey don't just start walking away in the middle of my speech!" The boy cried out clinging to Hero's leg. Hero never stopped walking dragging the boy with him. "Because being a Hero means being free and living for justice! I want to be free!"
That did make Hero stop...
"You're an idiot."
"What?"
"Being a Hero doesn't mean being free... Trust me... Being a Hero means your trapped... The worlds issues and problems become your own... Being a Hero means saving the world. A human can't be a Hero. Only a machine can. To be a Hero you have to give it all up and reach out towards your goals. You become trapped... You can claim to cling to your friends but at the end of the day it's going to happen. You'll die and become a machine. A machine who's one goal is to save the world... That's what's going to happen to him..." He muttered his thoughts going to that snow haired boy.
"I don't think that's true Mr. Hero."
"How did you know my name is Hero?"
"No way your name is Hero!"
"Damn it!" Hero sighed and kept on walking still dragging the boy. "So... What's with that sword?"
"Oh this?" Rio reached up and unsheathed his sword showing off a heavily cracked blade. In fact most of the sword was gone. Only a small metal shard was left. "It's my sword!"
"Pretty banged up."
"Maybe. But it's still mine! Blade Of Man is what I call it!"
"Hmm..."
"So where are we going?"
"We?"
"Yeah!"
Hero sighed once more. "First of all there is no we... Second of all... I'm going to go pay the count a little visit..."