"Papers! Get your papers, folks!" An elderly vendor advertised at the top of his lungs, waving newspapers above his head.
It was an ordinary day in the village of Buraun, with everybody strolling along quite peacefully and tension among villagers remaining quelled to a benign amount. Concerns about Buraun's stance in the nation and with the disruptions in Shanti pertaining to the "Successor of Lucifer," otherwise known as the boy with an Aura Amalgamation making an appearance in the widely-known discriminatory nation run by the Kyuujo's
In short, all was good to the village in this current moment. At least to the public eye it was.
A random village woman with scarlet-colored hair wandered up to the vendor selling newspapers, plucking a fold of papers from a pile and flapping them open, reading the contents within.
"Hey, lady! You have to pay to read them!" The elderly vendor exclaimed, hunching over to cast a stern glare upon the woman before him.
The scarlet-haired woman frowned as she glanced up. "Most of these papers are as old as you! I read this exact paper last month!"
"So you're trying to get a free paper outta me!? Not gonna happen, missy!" The vendor raised his voice to a higher level, saliva flying out of his mouth disgustingly.
As the two bickered meaninglessly, a folded piece of newspaper fell to the ground delicately, landing mere inches from a separate villager's shoes. Bending down to pick up the pieces of paper, the male civilian waded through the information present.
"...Shanti deploying High-Class troops into Adonai…?" The male read with a concerned tone, his mouth widening with every word. "...The idea of war fueling the belligerent advances after recent attacks on Heiwa no Kabe…"
The male villager stood perfectly still for numerous moments, his hands shaking as the edges of the newspaper began to crease under the pressure of his fingers. Terror entered the man's body like a torrential storm, raining down oppressive emotions all throughout his heart and mind.
"...Feuds between Shanti and Adonai are expected to result in a devastating war, unofficially dubbed as the 'Detrimental War' by multiple villages!?"
Anyone within earshot ceased all movement, the heads of every civilian snapping in the direction of the frightened man with looks of immense confusion. In a fit of unquenchable curiosity, a large man marched up and snagged the newspaper for himself, perusing the paragraphs imprinted.
"What!? A war!? This can't be! I have a kid on the way!" The large man hollered, panic infiltrating his tone.
Another villager pitched in: "Our village is already suffering enough on its own! We don't need more conflict!"
"No shit, lady!"
As a major upheaval inclined among the people of Buraun, local warriors hurriedly entered the area with authoritative stances. A massive conglomerate of villagers started to form, prompting the warriors in gray armor to fight their way to the center and settle the disturbance.
"Break it up, people! You're obstructing the pathways!" One warrior yelled tersely, waving his hand around to hopefully garner the attention of the civilians.
There was nothing that any of the village warriors could possibly do to usher the people into a collected state of mind, simply forced to watch on as fear permeated into Buraun like a plague. Unfortunately, even a few of the warriors had caught brief explanations of what the commotion was about, their hearts preventing them from acting any further.
Warriors were supposed to sacrifice themselves to maintain the sanctity of their nation and village if battle proved unavoidable. While most troops who wore Buraun's crest on their chest plates braced themselves for such a future, a small group of warriors refused to live a warring lifestyle for even a second.
"What about Zebulun!? They haven't been mentioned! We'll move there!" One villager suggested desperately.
"Good idea! I'll start packing as soon as I get home!" Someone else concurred with the idea frantically, attempting to flee the area.
Just as the crowd began to disperse, potentially stomping throughout the entire village in hopes of emigrating from Adonai to Zebulun, a warrior hastily stretched his arm out to the sky—*BRRM!*—and formed a purple dome around the people, preventing them from leaving.
"Nothing will be happening to Buraun! You are as safe here as you would be in Zebulun!" The enforcing warrior shouted, maintaining the dome above their heads.
A female villager darted toward the warrior and leaped, only to be stopped by another warrior.
The woman bared her teeth as she asked, "How do you know!? We could be dead by the end of the week!"
The warrior that upheld the purple dome shifted his body and faced the indignant woman boldly.
"I know because we will not let a single troop of Shanti step foot on our soil. Trust us, along with our chief, to protect you all!"
Those words appeared to have been beneficial as most of the bewildered villagers calmed down exponentially, the adrenaline pumping through their veins coursing at a much slower pace. Even the seething woman being held back by a warrior entered a state closer to tranquility than anger.
Gradually, the warrior who expelled the purple dome released the magic flowing from his palm, prompting the magic that fortified everyone within the area to dissipate.
"Now!" The same warrior spoke loudly, "I want you all to carry on with your days while we do our job, which is protecting Buraun!"
XXX
"So you're telling me that you actually managed to make yourself sweat? How'd that happen?"
After Tanjo had returned to Asami, managing to leave the alternate universe from which Kronos had momentarily delivered him, the instructor and disciple traversed the nation back to the mountain that Tanjo trained on. Asami was dumbfounded with how evasive her student was when asked about his previous whereabouts—but the blue-haired woman simply enabled the boy to continue his training, just as he always wanted from the start.
"Well, this new power I discovered is just as taxing as my Aura Amalgamation. It's like it depleted everything I had when I used it… really crippling, to say shortly." Tanjo replied, scratching his cheek.
Asami put her hands on her hips as she eyed the boy. "And what was the 'new-found' power again, Tanjo?"
The jet-black-haired boy reflected on what Kronos had told him:
'It's impossible to block, logically speaking. It rips through space itself, so there isn't a concept in the universe that can withstand its power.'
Thinking carefully, Tanjo devised an answer, "It's like a controlled variation of potent magic that… rips things apart."
"So not like an aura print?" Asami raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. "Because I've been wondering what your aura print even is."
Tanjo winced nervously. "I… don't know my aura print, either."
The blue-haired woman sighed exasperatingly, rolling her eyes. Of course, Asami was not all that surprised: Tanjo was becoming rapidly notorious for his lack of control over any facets of his Aura Amalgamation, much less anything else magic-related. Though he was learning, and fast at that. And aside from that, most warriors do not utilize their aura prints due to not having a useful one in the first place.
So it's not like Tanjo needed to have his aura print anyway.
"Figures." Asami chuckled. "All right, now, I want you to improve on dodging. So, what I'm going to do is throw ice—!"
Asami and Tanjo's senses shook their minds.
"What is that?" Tanjo queried, alert.
The blue-haired woman strolled to the edge of the mountain top, peering down as she narrowed her eyes, gazing at the woodlands below. Asami racked her brain for answers as she attempted to locate the source of her spiraling senses.
Then she saw it.
"There's a massive group of warriors marching through the forests at rapid speeds… They're destroying the forest as they move." Asami informed her disciple, unable to see his shock-filled expression.
Tanjo walked closer to Asami. "They're just… wreaking havoc? Are we going to stop them?"
"Looks like we won't have much of a choice. They're coming to us."
As Asami finished speaking, several troops closed the distance between them and the mountain that the Tansu vessel and her apprentice stood atop of, proceeding to scale up the mountain at an intense velocity.
"Try out that new power of yours, yeah?" Asami suggested, bending her knees in anticipation. "Find some stable ground with it for the next time you're in a dire situation, because I'm letting you do all the work for now!"
Then the warriors leaped above the mountain top, blocking out the sky. As they landed, Asami quickly dashed out of the way, forcing Tanjo to be nearly tackled onto his back. For the first few warriors that charged at him, the teenage boy dodged and weaved through several attacks, consisting of the enemies' swords, fists, and beams of light.
Tanjo never wanted to curse at Asami more than now.
As the teenager scuffled with the ever-stoic warriors that shared the same eye color, Tanjo noticed something strikingly odd.
'They're definitely from around here… the crests on their chest plates are confusing, though…' Tanjo briefly examined his opponents, his eyes glued to the emblems on their armor.
"Asami!" Tanjo called out to his instructor. "These warriors have crests of villages that died out months ago!"
Judging by the lack of headbands around their heads, they were full-fledged warriors. Despite the fact that the villages they belonged to were razed in the past, each of them appeared to be quite healthy and active. So what really happened to them?
After getting bored of maneuvering around an ongoing onslaught of attacks, Tanjo grabbed tightly onto one of the warrior's arms as they launched a punch, slinging him around and slamming his body into another one of the warriors.
"None of them even reacted to that! Not a sound!" Tanjo noted, suddenly sensing something behind him.
*BOOM!*
An impending beam of yellow light was shot toward Tanjo, making the jet-black-haired boy respond with a small red beam of his own—*KRRSHH!*—creating an explosion of debris and smoke, blinding everyone on the mountaintop.
Emerging from the blinding smoke, Tanjo landed multiple unsuspecting blows on the green-eyed warriors, his fists and feet cracking against their bodies with lethal force. However, although a resounding sensation of pain should have shaken the adversaries to their core, not a grunt of pain could be heard. Tanjo's grunting was the only thing audible—besides the repetitive sound of swords clanging and beams being expelled.
"Hit them harder, Tanjo! You're clearly not doing something right!" Asami yelled from afar, enjoying the show before her.
The boy huffed. "Fine. Wouldn't hurt to use Disruption of Reality just a little bit, would it?"
Ignoring the risks, Tanjo flexed his hands as he dwelled deep within his mind to remember how to activate the Disruption of Reality.
*KRRRSH!*
Flashing brightly, rifts escaped from Tanjo's palm, still retaining the light-like appearance.
"Please react to this!"
The Disruption of Reality ripped through the air and collided with all of the green-eyed warriors, the rifts wrapping around their bodies tightly. It was almost instantaneous as screams began to ring in Tanjo's ears, the enemies' eyes constantly changing from bright green to what seemed to be their natural colors.
Tanjo could unfortunately feel his arm starting to shake under the power of Disruption of Reality.
"What the…?"
Within a second, the blue rifts that were entangled around the warriors vanished, dropping the bodies to the stone of the mountaintop like garbage. Both Tanjo and Asami watched as the warriors collectively lifted themselves from the stone, groaning in pain as they touched their wounds to placate the pain they felt.
One warrior spoke, "...Where are we?"
Tanjo stepped before him. "On top of a mountain. Where have you been?"
"...Dead." Another warrior answered, her voice hoarse.
Asami adorned a perplexed visage. "Dead?"
"We were dead for I don't know how long… but not long ago, we were… awakened, but trapped." The first warrior revealed, looking up at the teenage boy and his instructor.
Tanjo hummed, analyzing the armored people. "Well you're obviously alive now, so something happened. Who killed you? And what were you doing before this current moment?"
The mountaintop was quiet for a few moments, the once-dead warriors finding their bearings.
"My village was attacked by rogues… I wasn't informed on who because I died shortly after. A giant fireball scorched me alive…"
Tanjo looked at the warrior's crest. "Asahi. Your crest is the emblem of the village of Asahi. You guys were partnered with Buraun before you were razed."
"You know your stuff, kid…" The warrior exhaled.
Tanjo shook his head. "I just studied a lot before trying to become a warrior."
The man lowered his head. "A warrior, huh? Not a very bright pathway to walk down from what I've experienced…"
"It's not about what you experience, it's about what you let others experience in your wake." Tanjo retorted, his blue eyes gazing into the warrior's.
The warrior chortled dryly. "The goodie-two shoes face will only drag you so far, kid."
"It certainly dragged me further than you and your pathetic mentality. Now, moving on, what were you doing before we fought?" Tanjo adamantly progressed, awaiting for an answer.
Behind the male warrior, someone lifted themself to their feet. "We were ordered to go to Zebulun… stir up some trouble."
Asami observed every one of the now-living warriors, stumped as to what possibly led up to this current predicament. As for Tanjo, he stood motionless, looking out in a random direction with a distant expression, deeply pensive.
"Asami… The man said he died from a fireball, and we know someone who manipulates fire: that man back in Furusato. Those people also took that kid, Mizuki, for his curse—the Kekkan no Sosei—which grants the wielder the power to revive the dead." The jet-black-haired teen voiced his thoughts, hoping for his instructor to catch on.
The blue-haired woman nodded. "So you think that the people in Furusato are responsible for all of this?"
"I'm positive. They're crazy enough to pull something so heinous." Tanjo affirmed.
One of the warriors spoke up: "What are they hoping to gain? If you can lock down on them so quickly, what was the point behind us going to Zebulun?"
"Well, Zebulun wouldn't know immediately. All they'd see are warriors from Adonai attacking them. What do you think would happen then?" Tanjo rationalized, his thought process sending a shiver down his spine.
"A war." Asami finalized her apprentice's thought, a solemn look tainting her face.
Most of the warriors were on their feet, standing tall and attentive.
"Then what do we do? Raid them? They have more than just us under their control. Not to mention that just one of the rogues can wipe out entire villages with ease." A female warrior pitched in with an expectant gaze.
Asami smirked. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are a few people who can handle them. It just matters how fast we act."
XXX
I finalized this chapter on a separate device so it was a little foreign to me, but I still finished it anyway! So, is a war what the Furusato Unit really wants? And how did Tanjo revert the mindless zombies back into people!? Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_