My dad always protected others that is why he was regarded as a hero. He had saved countless lives from several threats before his death. No one was respected more than him in our city.
He was the leader of a group of warriors who fought to protect the barrier from high-ranking demons who could damage it,they were called the barrier warriors but unfortunately they all died. My dad was the last of them and the most celebrated because he saved the entire city.
The city council decided that a statue should be built in his honor so that everyone would remember him. He had left a legacy too great to be forgotten but they all forgot about me, his son.
After my father's death, the entire city contributed to provide for me in the absence of my father but overtime the contributions kept on reducing until nothing was left. The legend of my father kept on being told but I was forgotten.
When i was five, I searched the house and found his training regimen. It looked impossible for a child my age at first but I knew I had to do it. Fueled by the flames of anger and the thought of avenging my father's death aggravated by the loneliness of being forgotten by the city, I followed the training regimen even though it was meant for adults.
I trained day and night pushing my body to its limits. I injured myself more times than I could count and I would regularly faint from exhaustion. Even for adults, that training was brutal and my father did this everyday to protect the city that forgot me so quickly. Unlike him, I didn't seek strength to protect because I had nothing to protect, I had no friends and no family so I sought strength to destroy demons and kill the soul reaper.
When I was ten, I completed the training regimen not that anyone would know. The first phase of the training was not meant to increase muscle size or form visible abs, it was meant to strenghting the muscles already present .
In order to increase the size of my muscles and subsequently, increase their power, I had to move on to the second stage of the grueling training and that would mean I wouldn't have enough time to go to school.
I decided to continue with the regular training and sped up my schooling. I jumped several classes not that it affected me an d I continued to be the best in the class. I finished school when I was twelve and took an advanced soul sorcery and swordmanship class which I finished when I was fifteen surpassing everyone at the academy including my teachers.
I had learnt every sword technique known to man but no matter how hard I tried in soul sorcery, I could not perform even the most basic spell. Despite that, I memoized all the spells and the necessary signs and symbols to perform all spells and passed the class because of a perfect score in the theory section.
I proceeded to move to the next stage of the training and by the time I was twenty, I had completed the training regimen. During that time, I required a lot of food to build up my muscle mass and I spent most of the money that my dad left behind.
So, in the final few months of my training I resorted to eating mostly riceballs and udon as they were cheaper than normal. This was due to the fact that the economy of the city was getting better because of efforts made by the city council. People were getting richer leading to most people eating at expensive restuarants.
It was sad turn of events for the udon sellers and a lifesaver for me, I for one always preferred cheap food. I patronised a particular rice ball seller who always passed by my house when I was training and we gradually became friends. The fact that my first friend was a riceball guy always reminds me of how big a loser I am.
I kept on living on a budget but I eventually ran out of money and needed a job. The riceball guy whose name was tori also served as my informant on the happenings in the city because I didn't go out much, not that I was a shut-in or anything like that .
One morning, he came to my house clearly excited and he showed me a flier for a job. It was about a certaiin group of people trying to revive the barrier warriors due to the increse in high level demons around the barrier. " all you need is ten thosand rhoci and a death wish".
It was sponsored by the city council so members were paid heavily but this also meant that there was a large entry fee to prevent people just looking for money from entering. The fee was ten thousand rhoci and I was broke. I couldn't borrow from the bank to pay them because that was not allowed so I searched my house looking for anything of value that I had not already sold but there was none. I gave up and went to bed.
In the morning, as I opened my eyes I noticed that there was a keyhole in the ceiling and immediately realized that the key in the last volume of the traning regimen was an exact match. There's something about being broke that sharpens your senses to any posiible source of income. I opened it and inside was a large amount of rhochi which I quickly hid out of fear of thieves, I wasn't about to lose my last lifeline to some thieves.
I took ten thousand rhoci and registered for the barrrier warrriors job, passed the physical test and received pay,clothes and a dagger one month later. I was also given the date that we would be starting the project not that I knew what it was.
I decided not to go a restaurant even though I had the money to do so and opted to celebrate with tori giving him half of my pay as thanks for telling me about the job. Then it was time for business , the dagger and the clothes were good but I knew I needed higher qulity equipment to fight demons.
I took a fair amount of money to the city's shopping square and asked for a good blacksmith. Unfortunately, there was no blacksmith in the city, the only people that sold armour were frauds who sold wooden armour held together by strings at the same price as iron armour.
So I headed home empty-handed but on the way, I was confronted by some thugs who challenged me asking for money while shouting "this is a robbery"!, you know just in case I didn't understand what was going on. I decided to make the fight interesting by fighting using only two fingers without moving my legs, unfortunately the fight still didn't last long.
The next day I was invited to a meeting for the new members of the barrier warriors to brainstorm and share ideas on ways to defeat the demons.
The captain spoke first , he was well built fighter, one of the strongest on the team with a fierce look and a gaze that would strike fear into the hearts of most people. He was the first decent fighter I saw on the team, his name was satoru aizaki.
"I would like to welcome you all to the new barrier warriors team. I am the captain of this team, you can call me aizaki. I'd like to thank for joining the team because it takes courage to embrace death to protect our people. This meeeting is to discuss ways to subdue the demons and protect the barrier. All ideas are welcome"
Then, the barrier wariors meeeting began. One by one all the members spoke , some ideas were good especially those involving improving the weapons we use and some ideas were clearly thought of by cowards like how some people should wait at the headquarters incase the main force fails as a last line of defense when they really just wanted to avoid fighting and still get paid. I suggested that we kill all the demons , I never knew how easily "how" could end your dreams.
The meeting ended and I was called by the captain hopefully not to be fired for my remark. I entered his office and the stern look on his face meant that he probably didn't call me to congratulate me personally. His office was very minimalistic, all he had was a table and a chair with some dumbells on the floor. He told me to sit down on a wooden chair that looked very uncomfortable,
"I guess even the city council can't escape frauds"
"By now, you probably already know that most of the people here only came for the money and would abandon us in real fight without a second's thought. Out of the hundred people who registered, I have only seen ten who are worthy to follow us to battle"
"his numbers tally with mine, seems he can guage strength by appearances like me but why did he summon me, the training I do makes sure I look as weak as the rest of the members, he couldn't possibly believe I'm strong,right".
"I know you don't expect me to know about your strength but I already know that the training you do conceals your strength".
How, no one knows about it apart from my father and those on the former barrier warriors team.
"That's exactly how I know, my father was a member of the former barrier warriors team, he adored your dad and was very proud to be on the same team as him. He told me everything that happened each day on the team including the training your father did that is before he died".
So what do want with me, are you angry that your father died fighting on my dad's team and my dad couldn't protect yours. If so ,I bear no responsibility for my dad's actions. "No,no,no far from it my dad died happily on your dad's team preventing the deaths of hundreds.
Your father couldn't have done anything because he was another city at that time and he trusted my father to protect the city. In fact, those were some of the happiest days of his life knowing that your father who he adored so much put his faith in him to protect the city. That's not why I called you, I called you cause I know you're someone who actually cares about protecting this city so I want to tell you the real objective of the new barrier warriors. You can come in now, harukawa".
" Hello, I am harukawa the head engineer and scientist for the new barrier warriors, I will now explain our objective. the plan is to expand the barrier further to take control of more land for agriculture and possibly assimilate the neighbouring city. This is part of the plan of the city council to improve the city's economy"
And how will you do this without a secondary amaterasu fragment.
" Oh, that's simple the amaterasu fragment is just an energy source, a complex one at that so if we can get enough energy to rival the amaterasu fragment then we should be able to double its power and extend the range of the barrier."
But won't it return back to normal once the energy is gone.
"No, the way the amaterasu fragment works is that a certain amount of energy was stored in it, its current limit just like a battery and is used to form the barrier that protects us but it doesn't run out of power because it gets its energy back from the sun so what we are doing is basically increasing the storage capacity of the fragment."
Even if that is going to work, how will you get that much energy.
" Simple, soul fishing and this is where you come in. Using this specialized stick we need you to extract the souls from low ranking demons who have lost sufficient vitality so they cannot fight the process".
Yeah right, so you expect me to go around fighting demons and poking them with some stick
"I should have known, when your boss starts acting too friendly he's probably trying to give you more work, my dad's journal is more accurate than I thought".
"We will double your pay".
Too dangerous.
"Triple".
Deal,I'll go get started, it sounds like a good way to stretch my muscles.
"One more thing, don't stray too far away from the city so we can try save you if anything happens"
what do you mean "try"
"and remember to sign the waiver on your way out so that when you die, I mean if you die, we can't be blamed".
Thanks for the encouragement,captain.
" You don't need encouragement, you're paid."
I'm back, Tori.
"Wow, you look terrible "
the demons had no mercy,Tori
"that's quite unfortunate"
Tori, did you know low ranking demons were fast, I always thought they'd be small fry that anyone could beat.
" I always knew"
Then why didn't you tell me
"Come on, where's the fun in that"
I swear, you're trying to kill me but if I'm dead you'll have no friends
" what do mean "have no friends", I have plenty of friends"
yeah right, you were just as lonely as me when I met you
" I wasn't lonely, I was serious"
Yeah right
"you're still alive and that's all that mattters".
Yeah, ten riceballs with sugar.
"you know you aren't meant to eat riceballs with sugar".
I need my energy and it tastes good to me so I don't care what you say.
"of course you don't".
At least I finally filled up that giant machine with the souls I extracted so I'm free.
"isn't your mission I two weeks".
Nice work killing the mood, tori
"anytime".
So how's your business, am I still the only customer.
" of course not, with the money you gave me I set up an actual restaurant that serves all kinds of food and I have tons of customers".
where?
" uh, rice street. You know the one next to bread street"
Those streets don't exist and I know you didn't buy a restaurant, you just put in the bank to accumulate interest and spent some on wine at that tavern.
" oh no! he totally caught me".
Oh crap, its nine o' clock I should be at headquarters, see you around,tori.
"yeah".
"You're late, harukawa will now start the process."
Wait, what exactly do you need those souls for.
"Oh, I'd be happy to explain you see the souls of demons are tainted with demon essence and this prevents them from crossing over. This machine simply extracts that demon essence allowing the souls to cross over."
how does that provide energy.
"Well, the demon's essence contains a large amount of energy but it cannot be used so we purify it until it becomes pure enough to be added to the amaterasu fragment and increase its energy storing capacity. The less pure parts will be used in your combat suits to provide soul energy to fight demons."
Oh, that makes sense.
"Of course, it makes sense I designed it. The purification process is now complete but we have to wait until tommorow before we can move on to the next stage and add the purified demon's essence to the amaterasu fragment."
Why.
" That's because during the process of increasing the amaterasu fragment's energy storing capacity, the barrier will be completely down so you have to protect the city for about one hour from demons."
"As you already know the date is tommorow at nine so get ready.This will be the most important battle in the history of this city since your father saved us from the soul reaper, no pressure." Sure, no pressure .
Everything boils down to tommorow, I have to be strong so that I can live. No,so everyone can live without worry.
"I am vice captain, masato keiji and I am in charge of the strategy development committee for this battle. Here's the plan when the barrier drops, the demons will immediately notice and atttack, you will be thrust into battle immediately so don't let your guard down. We will be using a hexagon formation with the top six at each point of the hexagon with two circles on the inside.
Those in the hexagon will take out the stronger monsters while those in the outer circle will take care of the rest,those in the inner circle are normal civilians with fighting experience and they will take care of any demons that breach the outer circle."
"Today's the day troops, the day all of you prove yourselves worthy of the title barrier warrior. The battle will be tough and some of you will die. I know you're afraid of what's to come, what you've left behind but what you should be most afraid is the future that the city has entrusted you to make. We all have something , someone we want to go back to but if we do not fight who will. If you lack the strength to overcome your fears, its best you run away now for we shall soon stare at death's face but if you stay your legacy shall forever be etched in the history and minds of those in this city now and forever. Onward to victory."
"Initiating amaterasu barrier increment process, adding purified demon essence."
Barrier coming down in 5 ,4 ,3 ,2 ,1 ,0…"
" This is the beginning of the future, fight!"
"the city council is here, let them in"
" Satoru is right, this is the beginning but it could also be the end".