"I am the sword saint." Standing triumphantly and seemingly puffing out her chest Rhea spoke those words a second time with such confidence it would impress any crush.
"Well, that sounds cool, but what does that mean?"Or at least it would, but Ryuji was a very oblivious man.
"Wha-!?... I-I'm the Sword S-saint" Her face told him that this might be the first time she's ever had this particular problem before.
"I heard, but I don't really know what that means."
"You...really don't, do you? I thought it was weird. You didn't recognize me just by looking at my armor or my sword. I thought you were just trying to feign ignorance like the protagonist in a novel." She held her head in her hands as she proclaimed some pretty embarrassing stuff.
"No, no, none of that. I'm nowhere near as smooth as that. I seriously know nothing about it."
She sighed and looked kinda dejected before being a little elated for some reason Ryuji couldn't quite figure out.
Now smiling, she started her long-winded explanation. "The Sword Saint is chosen once a generation by the sword god. Whoever is chosen stays that way until they die or until they can't use a sword anymore. It comes with extraordinary power and ability, but because of that, I'm a prime target."
"Ooooh, that makes sense."
'Just like an RPG!'
"So you see, we need to stay away from those people and not cause trouble!" She pointed her finger into his face to get her point across, but he still needed to know one thing.
"Okay, but I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Was that nervous and cute stuff you did an act? Because you've been all cool and stuff ever since we were attacked."
Rhea's face grew hot, and she sputtered before she yelled in protest."I-I-I was not n-nervous!"
Ryuji smiled deviously while he put his hand up to his chin like he just solved something. "Oh, I get it! Since you seem like the loner type, you must never talk to anybody, and so you weren't quite sure about how to do it!"
'I hope this teasing works out, or I'm a dead man.'
She blushed a fearsome crimson and stomped her foot while clenching her hands. "S-S-SHUT IT!" She turned around and started pouting.
'CUTE!'
"So, where are you actually going?" After calming down, Rhea asked a question in a serious tone.
"W-where?" Still reeling back from the diabetes he just got from how cute she was, Ryuji's mind was a little confused about what she was asking.
"It's pretty obvious that you're not going to meet a friend."
"Nope, I'm meeting a friend in Cacim." He answered pretty flatly before making his own accusation. "Now, you, however, are pretty suspicious. I highly doubt that you're going to meet a friend."
Her serious look turned to complete shock.
"So I'm the only bad guy here?"
"Afraid so missy."
"What is this...defeated feeling?" She must have felt terrible for accusing him. Her face looked crestfallen as if she was drowning in shame.
"I know what you're talking about. Trust me, I know." Ryuji very regularly felt like the superiority of others so, he was very aware of the feeling passing through her.
'Ah, moral high ground, what a nice feeling!' He comforted the defeated strongest swordsman by placing a hand on her metallic shoulder.
The rest of the day was spent small talking and walking through the forest. Ryuji had no clue if she was leading him the right way and didn't care much either way. He might be a little late for his fated meeting but, if this person was truly the bestest of friends, they would understand completely.
Eventually, they came to a stop as night began to fall.
Ryuji wanted to make some small talk but didn't know what to say. They had already talked about the normal stuff like their birthdays and favorite foods. Ryuji felt like he needed to uphold this fake bravery when speaking to her to avoid suspicion so, he thought of the bravest thing he could say and said it.
"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" To his surprise, she didn't seem shocked or nervous. In fact, she just seemed a little upset at the question.
"No. I can't have one." Her angry voice was something that Ryuji hadn't heard before and was a little afraid of.
"Some kind of warrior's oath or something?"
"Being the sword saint comes with restrictions. One of those is that physical relationships are forbidden."
"So its-"
"Impossible." The finality of her final word made Ryuji shut his mouth for the rest of the day.
They walked for two more days. In that time, he apologized for his rudeness, and she graciously accepted it. As he became closer to her, he had a thought that maybe she could be one of his fateful friends.
'I mean, if I want to continue being an adventurer, I need someone as badass as this in my party, or else I'm dead meat. But first, I need to make sure that she's not already with someone.'
"So who do you normally adventure with?" He attempted to sound nonchalant, needless to say, he failed.
"I don't have anyone to adventure with."
"Why not?" Ryuji couldn't imagine not wanting to adventure with someone as strong as her. All you would have to do is sit back and let her do all the work.
"People don't want to be with a person that attracts the highest level of danger. Not to mention I'm sent out on life or death missions all the time."
"I see." He couldn't imagine the burden of being kept at a distance your whole life just because of a title you never asked for. "Do you want to be the sword saint? It seems like a heavy responsibility."
"Sometimes...sometimes I imagine what it would be like to be a normal girl. What a normal girl would have their days filled with. But then when I save someone that only I could have saved. In that moment, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that fate let me have something that no one else does. Although no matter how grateful I am, those thoughts of being normal never go away." She sounded to Ryuji like she thought about this subject quite a lot and had come to this answer.
"Then why don't you go do something normal? I mean, once you do, you'll find it's not all that it's cracked up to be" Ryuji had an entire life of doing normal things, and all that did for him was lead to an early grave of his own making.
"Do you think I have that kind of time?" Rhea shouted at him as if to say she had already thought about that.
"What, you don't get breaks or vacation?"
"Well, I do but-"
"Then go do something normal." The words that came out of his mouth were harsh, like someone talking to a dumb kid.
As she walked forward, she hid her face so that what she said was almost inaudible. "I don't know what normal girls do."
"Then I could show you. Think of it as payment for protecting me." Ryuji had found a goldmine. This was how he was going to get into her good graces.
"Excuse me for being rude, but how would you know what girls do?" Then just like that, it all fell apart along with his self-esteem.
"Oof! A low blow and one that isn't too off the mark. Look, I may not know what girls specifically do, but I do know what normal people do. Isn't that close enough?" He was almost in tears by the end of his response, which made Rhea feel a little bad.
"Uhm yeah...yeah, that sounds good." Dejectedly she continued to blaze a trail forward, and Ryuji followed.
"How much longer until we get to Cacim?"
"I'd say about 3 more days. Although we could be there right now."
"Sorry that jumping through the skies at sonic speed scares me! Aren't you supposed to be the calm and nervous type? Oh, I get it, yeah I get it. You wanted to show off to your new friend, huh?"
At the accusation, Rhea turned on a dime to face Ryuji, her face red as a tomato. "W-why do you keep teasing me! Ever since we got out here, it's been tease after tease! I swear! And then you just, out of blue, call me your f-friend."
"So we're not friends? I see." Ryuji faked a slightly depressed face and looked at the ground.
"No, no, no, we're friends! We are! come on, stop looking so sad you're making me feel bad, come on."
'So easy.' The sleaze bag attempted to push his initiative. "Okay, I believe you. Can I have a hug?"
"A hug?"
"Yeah, didn't you know friends hug each other when they get sad?"
"O-of course I did! I-I'll hug you right now."
"Thank you, and please do!"
She shuffled around nervously before outstretching her arms. Ryuji took the invitation and began to walk into her embrace. He could smell something sweet, was that perhaps the perfume of the gods Ryuji had always heard pretty women wore?
Before he had a chance to confirm this, he felt a massive shock. Instantly he flew away from Rhea and hit his back on a nearby tree.
Rhea stood sword already drawn and a face that stone-cold serious. Her sword of choice scared Ryuji. It was not the expensive-looking one in her hand but the sinister one. It shone a translucent white and gave off goosebumps from just staring at it.
Across the way further into the forest, rumblings could be heard. A loud noise that was similar to a gun firing was heard throughout the area. The forest that once stood in front of them was now just a bunch of stumps. An invisible force had cut them down and headed towards Rhea.
She was ready though, and with just a single well-timed cut, the invisible force broke.
"Interesting! Interesting!" A man in a cloak stood in the center of the fallen forest.
Rhea struck back with vigor. Every slice of her sword carried weight and traveled even without the use of a skill. The strikes bounced off an invisible barrier around the man. Just as Ryuji was getting a little nervous, Rhea lifted her sword overhead with both arms.
"Cleave!" A splitting roar echoed, and Ryuji could feel the intense mana surge around her sword. The visible strike of mana crashed the barrier surrounding the man.
The ground in front of her had been cleaved as well. Now, all that lay there; was a chasm. The man wasn't fazed but instead chuckled while taking off his cloak. He revealed himself to be a sunken old man with no hair clinging to his skull and more wrinkles than you could count.
"Ah, just what I expected from a god slayer such as yourself. Truly magnificent! I see why Akumu fell to your blade." The old man pointed while laying on genuine praise.
"If you know what happened to your colleague, then why face me by yourself, Zephyr?"
"That's easy! I didn't want to! We just happened to bump into each other. But you know now that you're here, I can't just let you go! If I did, I wouldn't be able to call myself a Dark Moon!" Zephyr raised his arms and commanded the air. He created a tornado that probably ranked at least an F3 on the scale. Then he condensed down into a blade.
'How in the hell?' Ryuji stared blankly at the impossible sight. Then he saw Zephyr fly back as if he was struck by something invisible.
In front of the god was Rhea, who struck out again and again. Each strike of her blade pushed him back while slowly making cracks appear in the storm blade.
"Supreme Cut!" Rheas reaper blade collided with the storm and blew Zephyr back. "Shave!" The blade seemed to warp forward as if it had transcended to speeds that Ryuji couldn't keep up with.
At this shocking development, the old man smiled. His opposite hand was clenched into a fist. Rhea sliced off the arm that was holding his storm blade while the other arm drilled into her stomach.
The air shook along with the ground. It seemed like the whole world was vibrating in unison. The air cracked like a shattered mirror around the fist buried in her gut. The cracks vanished, but the energy remained. Rhea flew back from the blow and vanished into the horizon.
"Shit! This is not good. I hope she gets up after that, or I am screwed." He stood up and drew his blade.
"Who are you?" The old man now stood directly in front of Ryuji. No blood poured from his missing arm, and he didn't seem to mind it being lost.
"Ryuji."
"If you travel with the saint, you must be pretty strong. How about I test you right now before the pest returns." Ryuji was just about to piss himself when he heard the voice he wanted to hear most.
"The pest is already back, old man." Standing behind Ryuji was Rhea. Her armor was crushed in the center, and one of her gauntlets was cracked. Blood leaked from her mouth while every part of her was now covered in dirt. "You should leave before you get what's coming to you, Zephyr."
"Oh? And why would I leave?" The god seemed genuinely intrigued by the notion of surrender.
"It's simple if you leave, then you don't die. What do you even stand to gain by killing me? Another saint will just be born anyway."
The god stroked his chin and thought. Then a smile spread across his face. "Well, if I kill you, it'll be a good 20 or so years before another saint will be ready to fight, right? So that'll give us plenty of time to crush Mallan."
"I see." Her eyes changed after the last statement. Their former amber hue changed to dark red. Around the iris were lines leading out that you might find on a motherboard. The most disturbing thing of all was how blood seeped out the corners.
"The eyes of death, eh? Truly formidable, but only if you get close!"
Wind ten times stronger than the one that chopped the forest raged towards Rhea. Then gone.
The wind, and Rhea, both instantly vanished. She smashed into Zephyr fast enough to break the sound barrier. He was sent flying as his blade shattered. Rhea followed him through the air and prepared yet another devastating strike.
"I've got you now, Saint!" Again the air and ground shook. A force, so great that it was visible on the old man's hand, coalesced. He threw his left with great speed. Rhea rushed in with no hesitation. This was exactly what the old man wanted. From the sides, enormous clouds formed and great lightning bolts strong enough to incinerate a dragon shot out. Rhea paid them no mind. She cut with speed beyond comprehension. The fist that had laid her out and the arm connecting it was lopped off. Zephyr jumped back the second he lost his arm before he could lose his head as well. She turned her attention to the lightning.
"Zone!" Using a borrowed skill, she expertly repelled the bolt to her left. The impact caused the ground behind her to crumble and break. The force of it pushed her towards the other bolt. A crash rang out. A light enveloped the forest and obliterated it.
Standing in the center of the destruction was Rhea clutching her missing arm.
"An arm for an arm, huh? Do you know what the difference between you and me, is though? You need your arms to attack! I'm perfectly fine without em!"
A torrent of lightning came down upon Rhea. Although lacking an arm, she did not lack speed. She repelled every strike with her sword. Her sword cut through the energy like paper. Earthquakes caused her to lose balance. Winds that ripped up nearby trees made it hard to see. Despite all this, she pushed on.
All Ryuji could think about while watching this was how inspiring she was. Even with the strength, she possesses he thought that there weren't a lot of people out there who would continue on after losing an arm. He wanted to be that fearless as well, that strong.
As Ryuji was star-struck by her performance, she rushed down Zephyr and made her last stand. As she closed in through the intense obstacles being thrown at her, the old man spoke. For the first time in the fight, Zephyr used a spell.
"Perfect storm!" An F5 tornado appeared and materialized into a great sword that floated next to the god.
Rhea rushed down Zephyr and summoned her own magical current into her sacred blade. The tornado edge swung, colliding with Rhea's sword. The ground beneath them gave way, and the terrain of the whole forest changed before Ryujis eyes. Rhea was being forced down by the giant sword, but then with a smug smile, she called a skill.
"Photon Razor." A flash and then stillness. Ryuji couldn't see it, but in a single nanosecond, Rhea had slashed her sword at Zephyrs a total of 30 times. The storm shattered, and a piece flew, taking out Rheas left eye and a good chunk of her face.
Zephyr, now missing both arms and half his face, begun laughing in triumph. Being a god came with advantages, and one of those being that blood and other fluids don't mean much to you. For Rhea, however, her dwindling blood supply meant that soon she would perish.
"Well, then Miss Saint, this is where we bid farewell." As he was gloating to the dying swordswoman a cut appeared on his shoulder. The cut itself wasn't deep at all, but it still startled him. He looked over from the direction it came from and saw a man.
It was the man who had basically pissed himself at their previous encounter. He now had self-inflicted wounds that were pouring out blood. Annoyed at the inconvenience, he shot a bolt of lightning at him but was surprised as the man cut through it perfectly.
"So you were strong?!"
Ryuji was practically flying towards Zephyr with his sword outstretched.
'This technique might break me, but I can't just sit here while that beautiful lady dies!'
"Stay still and die, please." Maybe it was because Zephyr was tired, or maybe it's because Ryuji wasn't deemed a valid threat, but the lighting was definitely not as strong or as fast as when Rhea was being attacked.
Noticing that Ryuji was getting too close for comfort, he ramped up the attacks, and the same sideways bolt that took off Rhea's arm appeared in front of Zephyr. The bolt charged and then cracked forward.
"Seven steps: Sixth Step!" By focusing mana into his feet, Ryuji launched himself up at tremendous speed and dodged the bolt. The drawback of this being that now his legs were shattered. As he fell down towards the earth, Ryuji readied his dangerous technique.
"Can't dodge now!" Zephyr created a tornado to intercept Ryuji but forgot about the girl in front of him. Rhea woke up and instantly launched forward, her sword impaling him in his stomach stopped the tornado dead in its tracks.
"You tenacious bitch!"
Unable to dodge, all Zephyr could do was watch as Ryuji fell down.
"Death Series 3: Raging Tiger." As his sword became level with Zephyrs head Ryuji spun like a spinning top. With his life coming to an end soon, thanks to all his cuts, Ryuji's power was nearly maxed out. The blade sliced Zephyrs head clean off. The backlash of such a powerful cut shattered some bones in fragile Ryuji. The ungraceful fall without cushion didn't help either.
As he looked up battered and broken, he saw Rhea and noticed her breaths getting more and more shallow. So he reached out grabbed her foot.
'What would a good person do? Easy.' With an easy-going smile, Ryuji muttered the incantation. "Sacred High Heal."
'She might be the first person I've ever saved since coming here.' With this final thought, Ryuji's vision went black.