Derrien loathed Kronos at this moment. There was not a single emotion within the silver-haired god's body that was quite as insurmountable as the ire that simmered in his heart and mind. Because of the God of Time, Derrien was set off course; because of the blue-haired god that snooped into the business of others, all of what Derrien had strived for was ultimately ruined; and because of Kronos, Derrien was currently strung up in the middle of the universe with light blue rifts that encircled his body in order to prevent even a sliver of movement.
Hovering before the trapped god were Kronos and Aphrodite. Both of their eyes dug deep into Derrien like daggers, analyzing the infamously titled Failed God with either malice or intense rumination.
"I'm surprised Aphrodite over there hasn't killed me already…" The Failed God jested, his lips curling upward.
The goddess he referred to scowled. "You old fool! I would if we didn't have a bigger problem at hand!"
Kronos raised a gentle hand, signaling for Aphrodite to remain collected.
"We just have a few questions, Derrien." Kronos asserted, his low tone making the elderly god sigh.
"And why should I comply? You've whisked my entire life away, Kronos. I'm aware of your intentions after you get what you want from me." Derrien spoke emotionlessly.
Kronos folded his arms into his sleeves, his eyes narrowing. "Well, since you're quite capable of disorienting my ability to see the future that pertains to you, I cannot simply discard you. Not yet."
Derrien curled a brow at the God of Time's words. "That doesn't answer my question."
The blue-haired god inhaled, closing his eyes. The god hated interrogations, whether he conducted them himself or not. It was tedious to slip under a person's skin, especially if it was another god. In retrospect, an immortal being—like most gods—has nothing to lose when they have lived for eons. Too much time; too few things to do. And, since Derrien's only ambition was stripped from him, the silver-haired elder had no qualms with death.
"Regashi Ketsueki. The one from the Abnormal Universe. Why was he different?" Kronos resumed.
"I'm not telling you shit!" Derrien sneered, his jaw clenching. "I have no reason to!"
Kronos hummed. "What if I were to deliver you to Regashi Ketsueki then? He must miss the man who granted him so much power in the first place."
Derrien's eyes dilated, his mouth opening in fear. "No! Keep me away from that monster!"
Aphrodite smirked off to the side, observing the interaction between the two male gods before her. Derrien may be willing to accept his fate, but from what the goddess had both seen and heard about the Regashi Ketsueki in the Abnormal Universe, there was not a being in any universe that would willingly face the abnormal Regashi. For good reason, too.
"I need you to cooperate with us, Derrien. If you do, I promise that I will not do such a thing." Kronos affirmed, staring at the silver-haired god.
The Failed God gritted his teeth. "I find it hard to believe that you would even dare get close enough to lend me to him, Kronos."
"I'm open to trying new things, Derrien. Whatever gets us from Point A to Point B." The God of Time stated with finality, his voice deepening.
After a few moments of silence, leaving the three gods hovering in the center of the universe with nothing but their thoughts, Derrien eventually spoke through his quivering lips.
"Fine!" Derrien forced himself to speak. "I'll speak, damnit!"
Kronos nodded. "Good. Because I really didn't want to have to get near Regashi unless I had to."
With a heavy breath, the Failed God hastily formulated a structured response. "Your question—why the Abnormal Universe's Regashi Ketsueki was different, right?"
"Yes." Kronos replied shortly, refraining from prolonging the interrogation any longer.
Derrien huffed. "To be completely honest… I don't know why he grew so much. After I bestowed a part of my power, he surged higher than he should have."
"There had to have been an anomaly with the Abnormal Regashi, Derrien. Think." Aphrodite chimed in, floating closer to the elderly god.
The Failed God exchanged a brief glance with the goddess before diving into his own mindscape, dwelling on any discernible memories that floated to the top of his brain. A god's memory was quite advantageous, absorbing moments within their psyche for eternity.
"The Regashi in the Abnormal Universe acted differently, given his setting." Derrien confessed.
"Different how?" Aphrodite urged him to speak.
Derrien held a distant gaze. "Usually, in universes that had Regashi living a proper life, he was pure-hearted. But in the Abnormal Universe, he was an entirely different boy. What's worse is that he knew how to use my powers the mere moment I handed them down."
Kronos and Aphrodite felt disappointment linger within them. Of course, Derrien was also out of the loop as to how Regashi Ketsueki became so powerful. Gods could not bestow powers that made an organism mightier than them. The gods were at the top of the multiverse in terms of power; anything more powerful would have to exceed even the limit of the multiverse itself.
"So why did you try to dismantle the multiverse by recreating what you did to the Abnormal Regashi?" Kronos spoke up, pushing past his disappointment.
The Failed God's eyes burned. "Because, the multiverse is nothing but an ongoing loop of atrocities! We may be gods, but not one of us benefited a single universe!"
The interrogative god and goddess remained quiet, enabling Derrien to continue.
"Reiwa Takuetsu opened my eyes… he presented the problems amongst the gods!" Derrien admitted, snapping his head upward. "Reiwa did us a service by massacring us!"
Aphrodite frowned. "Says the 'Failed God!'"
"We survived off of blind luck! Not one of us could hold a candle to Reiwa! But, somehow and some way, Kronos managed to subdue him!" The silver-haired god raged, glaring at the God of Time.
The blue-haired god froze momentarily, staring off into space.
The goddess put her hands on her hips. "So you thought it was a better idea to purge every universe using Regashi!?"
"He will fix it!" Derrien shouted, his eyes wide. "It's too late now! I merely wished to spawn more of his kind. But I know that it will only take one Regashi to take over everything!"
*KRRSH!*
Without warning, the light blue rifts that encompassed Derrien shined brightly, causing the Failed God's breath to hitch and a sharp pain to radiate down his entire body. With one fluid movement of his hand, Kronos allowed his Disruption of Reality to crush Derrien.
"GRAGHHH!" Derrien howled, twitching sporadically.
After a few seconds, Derrien's body vanished, leaving nothing behind that signified the Failed God's existence.
"Kronos?" Aphrodite called out to the God of Time cautiously. "Are you okay?"
The blue-haired god hovered in space without uttering a word, pondering to himself for what felt like an eternity. Fortunately, after some time, Kronos parted his lips to speak.
"We have to work quickly. If we don't, what Derrien said will really come to fruition." Kronos declared, looking toward the goddess to his side.
Aphrodite blinked. "What are we supposed to do?"
"We must rely on the boy that will balance reality."
XXX
It was a new day—a peaceful day. A gentle breeze had fortunately cast itself over the land, and the sun was hanging as high as usual. Mr. Oshieru loved these days—so much tranquility, bereft of the sound of deafening explosions or the screams of wounded warriors. Days with such calming atmospheres made it relatively easy to fall asleep. In short, it was pure bliss.
Currently, the blue-haired instructor was standing without a hint of bad posture; his arms were folded across his chest, and his eyes were closed gently. However, he happened to be within the Kodaina forest. The expansive but quite local woodland that resided in Buraun's territory.
For several minutes, Mr. Oshieru did not move an inch, posted to his spot motionlessly.
Or, he was until he detected something.
*SHING!*
In under a second, the instructor skillfully extracted his tachi blade from his sheath and slammed it into the blade of another. The two proceeded to slice at each other, bouncing off of the environment that surrounded them.
It would be quite the farce to pronounce the two as visible throughout the duration of their clash; their bodies were like fleeting lights, flickering in and out of existence. Only the sparks that flew off of the swords could be seen flashing into view.
Mr. Oshieru was quick to evade a jab toward his head, his gray eyes concentrating on the blade that ripped past his face, only to respond with a fierce punch that disrupted his opponent's balance, permitting the blue-haired instructor to briskly pin the enemy down to the ground and leave the tip of his tachi blade hovering over their throat.
"Nice job, Akogare. One thousand swings within your first ten seconds: be proud of that improvement." Mr. Oshieru said abruptly, smiling faintly.
Laying on the ground with his back pressed to the earth, the blond-haired student heaved a heavy sigh, his muscles relaxing. "I still feel like this armor is weighing me down, Mr. Oshieru!"
Retracting the blade that the instructor held at his underling's throat, Mr. Oshieru clasped Akogare's right hand as he hoisted the teenager up from the dirt.
"Just do not let your momentum wane and your armor should feel pretty light once you're going fast. I had to make the same adjustments myself when I was your age." Mr. Oshieru professed, sheathing his sword.
Akogare brushed off his shoulders, causing his armor to elicit clanking sounds at every touch. "I feel like I'm going to trip at any moment when I'm going that fast."
Mr. Oshieru eyed his student for a few moments, watching as the blonde caught his breath and equilibrium.
"You and your friends are doing great, Akogare." The blue-haired instructor claimed, "Class 1AB has been improving faster than I initially expected. I'm saddened that the Council of Buraun is mandating stringent requirements on you all, but I've never seen a better class of aspiring warriors."
The blonde perked up at his teacher's words, grinning mirthfully. "We don't like being weak, Mr. Oshieru! Throw anything at us and we'll be ready!"
The instructor chuckled and said, "Slow down a bit, Akogare. I believe you guys could maybe contend with third-year students, but nothing really big. Not yet."
Akogare scratched his cheek. "Then we got some more training to do, huh?"
Mr. Oshieru halted for a bit, his mind temporarily distancing the blue-haired male from the conversation at hand. A plethora of problems had erupted within the hearts of both Buraun and Adonai, and with every new malignant development, the students at Buraunmajikku Academy were forced to work harder, and minuscule tasks were eventually given to them.
The subtlety of the declining peace in the three nations was becoming less transparent with every passing day, especially through the eyes of Mr. Oshieru and just about anybody with a competent mind. Nobody, however, could predict how bad things would shake out to be, but hellish conflicts between villages or nations were the most prominent resolutions that were mutually feared. The last time there was a war, an entire nation was split into three pieces, which just so happened to create the three nations.
Who knows what could happen if a repeat of the Keisan War took place.
"Training is always a necessity, no matter how strong you are. I just hope that you all can be given the right amount of time to grow." Mr. Oshieru uttered softly, his voice gradually quieting.
The student before Mr. Oshieru retained his grin. "Class 1AB has grown a ton already, Mr. Oshieru, so it'd be stupid to stop at anything now!"
Mr. Oshieru smiled calmly with a slight nod. He then began ambling through the Kodaina forest, not turning back.
"I'll take your word for it, Akogare. Now come on—I still have other students to teach."
In the back of the teacher's mind, many thoughts rambled vigorously. Most pertained to the fate of his students and how they might end up by the end of the year, or even by the time they graduate—if such a future would willingly string itself together. Memories of his past class struck Mr. Oshieru like a malicious bolt of lightning.
'I'm trusting you all to be strong… but, no matter what, I'll still be right next to you guys every step of the way.'
XXX
This chapter took a while for me for a couple odd reasons, and I'm more or less surprised I even finished it when I did. I was procrastinating quite a bit. Aside from my laziness, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wanted to bring back Class 1AB, but only Akogare and Oshieru for now, I guess. I will be showing the rest of the class after this point, but I quickly wanted to preface how they were all doing. I simply cannot dwell on their progress as I used to, mainly due to the developments of outside components—but please be aware that Class 1AB and everyone else at Buraunmajikku is growing to be better warriors with every passing day! Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_