In the mountains that looked charred and stained with pools of blood, a place where war had been left. A woman with long golden blonde hair and wearing knight armor walked past the human corpses wearing laboratory coats while holding a sword that was covered in blood spatter from the corpses, she walked straight towards one of the humans in laboratory coats who was currently still alive.
"D-DON'T KILL ME! PLEASE!" The man in the lab coat shouted in a voice that trembled with fear as he stepped back from the woman.
The woman opened her eyes and the man was shocked when he saw that the woman's eyes were bright red with pupils that looked like a system machine had an error.
"Y-YOU! ARK! S-STOP!" The man pressed the tool he was holding tremblingly.
But after he pressed the tool, the woman still didn't stop and walked towards him with an aura of bloodlust and hatred that was so clear that even an ordinary human like him could feel it.
"W-WHY IS IT NOT WORKING?! I'VE ORDERED YOU TO STOP-" Not having time to finish his words, all he saw was a distorted vision and realized that his head had been severed from his body.
The man's neck was slashed so quickly that the man was still conscious for a few seconds before dying horribly.
"Damn Project Ark... how dare you say that after what you guys did..." The woman said in a hateful tone while holding her blood-stained sword.
When the woman wanted to leave the place, suddenly a mana slash with a cold temperature flew towards her quickly.
"?!" The woman slashed her sword strongly towards the slash and created a large explosion that sent her flying far backwards.
The woman looked in the direction the slash came from and saw a woman with shoulder-length dark blue hair and wearing knight armor and a sword coated in thick mana.
"Overseer is right, it seems the weapon that disappeared 14 years ago was here, Ark_Code: E21 or should I call Elidia." The dark blue haired woman said in a low and cold tone as she walked without the slightest fear.
"You.. Glacia, The Fifth Apostles of Project Ark.. What are you doing here." Elidia said to Glacia while holding back her anger even though she could barely hold it in.
"Of course, completing the mission that Overseer gave me." Glacia raised her sword and entered a fighting stance like a knight on the battlefield.
"You Project Ark... you dirty humans... trash... you are more vile than the demon..." Elidia grasped her sword and released a huge flow of mana into her sword.
"For a broken weapon, you can still function this well." Glacia said without the slightest emotion.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU PROJECT ARK USE ME AS A WEAPON OF WAR ANYMORE!" Elidia shouted loudly and released a huge mana explosion that could even be felt by someone 100 meters away.
"Frostbite" Glacia thrust her sword into the ground and made the ground around her freeze quickly.
Elidia slashed her sword powerfully at Glacia without caring about her frozen feet, the slash exploded in the air into hot fire and melted all the ice around her, Glacia slashed the fire with her sword and ran towards Elidia while slashing her sword vertically. Elidia slammed her sword towards Glacia's sword and made Glacia's sword break and sent her crashing to the ground.
"...for a weapon that has been damaged, you are still this strong. It seems the overseer knows that you are a weapon with power and sophistication that is close to the lost weapon: Veli." Glacia threw her sword back and walked towards Elidia.
Glacia ran towards Elidia and hit the ground with her hands covered in mana and froze the area around her, Elidia stomped her foot and released a large amount of mana at her feet making the frozen ground melt again. Glacia hit Elidia's sword and broke half of the sword and used it to attack Elidia, the powerful slashes hit each other on the blades and froze and burned the ground around them. However, Elidia kicked the broken blade of the sword that Glacia was holding and slashed it, sending it flying backwards.
Without waiting a second, Elidia was behind Glacia and slashed her sword without hesitation, but her sword was blocked by Glacia's hand which was strengthened by her thick mana.
"You are indeed a powerful weapon, but you are not perfect like Veli... You lack this information." Glacia grasped Elidia's half-broken sword and cracked it.
Elidia jumped back and saw Glacia's mana change.
"Encryption... Absolute Zero." Glacia said as she released a large amount of mana from her body and the mana changed color.
Elidia's eyes widened slightly seeing something she had never seen, a dark blue mana.
"...Encryption..?" Elidia said while raising her guard against Glacia.
"Did you know Elidia, all humans on this planet or even outside this planet will definitely have mana without exception, the only difference is their capacity and skills in using that mana." Glacia channeled her mana into the palm of her hand and created a dark blue sword that was so cold that the ground around it froze instantly.
"That is basic information that everyone knows, what do you mean by discussing this information." Elidia gripped her sword tightly preparing to fight him.
"Everyone's mana will definitely be the same color, which is blue, no matter how big and how much mana capacity that person has. However, for someone who has seen the real truth of the universe... you will get information that should not be intended for humans, one of which is what you are seeing right now." Glacia said as she channeled the dark blue mana into her sword.
"?!" Elidia quickly entered a defensive stance and released her mana towards her sword to block Glacia's attack.
"Eternal Freeze" Glacia slashed her sword quickly and powerfully towards Elidia.
Elidia jumped back to increase her chances of dodging the slash but an dark blue ice hand emerged from the ground that had been frozen by Glacia and held Elidia in the air. Without any protection, Elidia was hit by a powerful slash launched by Glacia which froze almost her entire body and continued to freeze it slowly spreading throughout her body.
"G-Glacia... d-damn you..." Elidia said in a small voice that Glacia could barely hear.
The ice hand holding Elidia shattered and Elidia fell into the ravine behind her. Right after Elidia fell into a ravine that looked deep and dark, someone came over to Glacia.
"Why did you let her go Glacia." A large man in sturdy armor and a large shield on his back said to Glacia.
"I don't intend to take a weapon that is broken." Glacia walked and her blue-black mana turned back to normal blue.
"Did you forget the mission the Overseer gave you?" The man asked Glacia who was walking away from him.
"The Overseer ordered me to retrieve the missing powerful weapon, but the weapon is damaged and I have no intention of taking it for now." Glacia put on her cloak and looked at the ravine.
"Then why did you give her that information." The man said irritably to Glacia.
"Avalon, you're a little noisy today. Let's just say I planted the information to make the weapon a little closer to the lost weapon: Veli that Overseer wanted, and also that information.. she wouldn't be able to understand without experiencing it herself like us Apostles." Glacia looked at Avalon with a cold gaze that made Avalon shiver a little.
"Then I'll go report to the Overseer." Avalon walked in the opposite direction.
"Damaged weapons will be useless in Project Ark." Glacia looked at the ravine once again and then walked away from the place.
************************
5 Years after Naku's departure.
A group of bandits destroyed a small village and robbed it, they also held several villagers captive to sell to slave traders.
"Boss! we profited a lot! This damn village hid this pile of gold underground." One of the bandits ran towards the group of bandits gathered in the middle of the village while carrying a wooden box full of gold coins.
"D-don't take that! Please... it's for the agricultural development of this village so that we don't starve anymore..." An old man who was held hostage by the bandit said with tears in his eyes.
"Shut up old man!" The bandit leader said angrily and wanted to kick the old man.
But the old man and other villagers who were held hostage were suddenly moved to the house next to them.
"Huh? Why are they there..." The bandit boss said confusedly.
The bandit boss pulled out his sword and wanted to slash it at the villager but his head was suddenly cut off and fell to the ground.
"B-BOSS?!" The group of bandits said in fear and looked around.
"Hey, don't you guys have anything else to do besides rob and kill? I met a lot of bandits on my journey and they all behave the same." The bandits heard a voice from above the house right in front of them.
The bandit group was shocked and saw a boy with long black hair and red eyes as beautiful as rubies holding a sword in his blood-stained hand.
"W-WHO ARE YOU?!" The bandits drew their swords and prepared to fight.
"Naku, I'm just passing through here." Naku said while smiling at them before then jumping towards them.
Naku quickly slashed all the bandits and killed them.
"No matter where you are, there are bound to be this kind of person." Naku put away his sword and walked towards the detained villagers.
"Then I'll go first, I was just passing by for a while and happened to see this incident. At least no one was hurt, right? Then bye~" Naku walked out of the village and left them shocked and confused by what happened.
Naku walked casually and cleaned his blood-stained sword.
"It's been 5 years... but I haven't found anything, who is the woman in my memory..." Naku muttered while cleaning his sword.
"(I think I should went back to the village first to greet Uncle Carlon and ask him something...)" Naku thought and quickened his steps to return to his village.