There was a common story many parents of the current generation of 'Heroes' had.
Many outstanding members of the previous generation had been welcomed to Faustus.
The home of Celest Vagabond.
They were cultivated from an early age around the world with seeds of the newly found technology. Agreeing to become test subjects so their children would have a future.
Landan was one of them.
He grew up in Deanfold City, and had grew up only knowing a fraction of what was known today. The only thing that stayed the same was the 'Class' System and the 13 Graces.
There used to be a saying in the past: "If you want to be a Hero, then survive. Survive. Survive. Keep on surviving until you outlast the death that chases you. Defy it to the end."
Celest had taken these words to heart.
Thus, he created 'Hope Academy'.
It was a Magic Academy that had the best teachers and facilities. They were taught how to behave, but there was an underlying motto that was different from what they knew before. It completely destroyed many people.
"While you are here, you are not going to be judged by law if you kill somebody. The only catch is that you must do it in a duel. Anything is fine so long as it's sincere." Celest told the students who had came from far and wide.
Landan was amongst those students.
Faustus City was a place only those with influential families or great inheritances could stay. The food was high class and restaurants were five star, but everything came at a great cost. There being no one with scholarships.
Those memories started to bubble to the surface of Landan's mind in his cursed state.
He remembered his innocence in the beginning of his journey. The child from Deanfold City had created a Mystic Tool on his own. This being one of the conditions one had to meet before entering Hope Academy.
No one could arrive without a weapon.
And they were restricted from buying 'mass-produced junk' that Celest deemed unworthy of being at his school. Only those who could create their own weapons were recruited. The ones who couldn't do this were dismissed.
At a young age, Landan was talented in both fighting and creating weapons. The Acting Lord of Deanfold City had personally paid his tuition in order to send his finest of the crop.
Getting into Celest's good graces.
His ordinary parents gave their blessings for him to return proud. Unknowing of the result.
When the time came for their reunion with their son, a lot about him had been altered.
Landan used to be brighter and more full of life than anyone else… but he returned broken. No one would tell them what had happened in Faustus, nor what he went through. In fact, all he wanted to do was forget. To pretend nothing had happened.
Then he met the girl who would soon become his wedded wife. She'd become the goddess of his future, and their proof of love the apple of his eye. The past would never have to be relevant to him anymore. He was a free man.
Landan suddenly snapped to reality.
He could see himself reliving a memory that once haunted him. What was he holding?
It wasn't the talismans he now had focused on using as his main weapons as an Exorcist.
Then what was it?
He looked down to see a familiar blade he'd designed himself. The name of the blade…
…'Aegis Bunker'.
A large blade with a firearm trigger on the handle. It was created from many pieces that were put together, and looked like it had more than one function. Definitely not simple at all.
The newly reformed 'Absolute War Devil Sword' was still undergoing a transition.
Change took some time.
Right now, it was taking the form of a blade from his memories… but it was still unstable.
If he used it in his current state for too long without waking, all his efforts would be in vain. The corruption he had been trying to settle would only become more chaotic.
Landan was currently lost in his memories. A strong nudge was needed to bring him back.
But only someone strong enough could do it.
…..
….
…
..
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Meanwhile, outside of his mental world, a fight was going on. A battle of life and death was taking place. It threatened to destroy everything that had worth to the living.
Their buildings and riches. Things that a philosopher would find meaningless, but a realist would know the true value of. There was nothing that could make them stop.
Landan was completely assimilated.
He was now 'Humpty'. An impure humanoid yolk wearing his egg shell as a suit of armour.
His thoughts were distorted, but they were clear enough to notice the little details required to fight others. His experience had lead him to a few conclusions regarding 'her'.
Initially, that girl held her medallion and allowed a burst of energy cover her body.
"Bring peace and prosperity, 'Angel With Kind Eyes'!" Bella spoke some kind of activation chant. An angelic figure was born from her magic, and was summoned behind her body.
Landan could see calmness and warmth balanced in those eyes. Just like a celestial.
That transparent figure covered Bella's body with her wings. Her body faded into a costume. Electrical pulses and magnetic forces focused. Wrapping around her body.
Bella was instantly garbed in a purple dress.
Her two blades took on a more exquisite appearance, but her eyes kept their shine.
One red. One blue.
The heterochromia was still there.
The two blades pulsed, but Landan only focused on the fact that she held two of them.
Not one.
The girl, Bella Smith, was a dual-wielder.
This had more significance to anyone who knew anything about fighters. A normal man would have brushed this off as a gimmick, but Landan was raised in the era of martial arts.
He knew that there was a difference between someone risking their lives for a gimmick, and a person who knew exactly what wielding two weapons entailed. It wasn't simply technique.
There was a reason 'Military Swordsmanship' existed in the current era. The most efficient sword moves have already been recorded. It was like how MMA strived to use only the most practical tools while excluding culture.
Using two hands to grip a blade improved balance, blade alignment, weight distribution, cutting power, and speed. Using two hands to grip the handle like he did was more universal. Those like Bella were… different.
If she wasn't simply bluffing, holding two blades meant she had something beyond a technique that filled in for the lack of strength in the blades. Something that wasn't the simple answer of having strong arms or not.
Having two arms strong enough to actually do damage with two swords begged the same question: Why use two swords? After all, single blade swordsmanship was simply better at focusing the strength of two arms.
There had to be something more than that.
Something conditional.
Something that required two blades.
She proved him right.
An electric pulse generated from her Purple Steel blades. A distinction between red and blue pulses showing the polarising factor. It meant she was using a Combat Colour.
Polaris Purple.
This was all figured out from a simple glance at her weapon of choice and the energy she emanated. The only sword style with an option of dual-wielding was this martial art.
She swung her blades while alternating between negative and positive electromagnetic pulses. Controlling the directions her blade was pulled by magnetism, then channelling it into herself.
'Attack.' This was the only thought Landan had. He was being affected as a Dark Muse.
A voice calling for destruction was resounding endlessly in his head. He had no way of ignoring it. Not with the corruption that had engulfed him due to the Absolute War Devil Sword. The devil was controlling him.
He pulled the trigger on his blade.
A red energy covered it. Seamlessly sinking into every point of the great sword, then activated an effect upon getting in contact with the ground. An explosion had occurred.
BANG!
He and his weapon blasted off the ground with that impact. The red energy vanished.
Bella instantly understood what happened.
She parried the attack and tried to counter with her other blade. Only for the impure yolk monster to pull the trigger again. The blade rested on her Purple Steel then blasted off.
Throwing his body into a circular slash.
The twisting and turning of his body was so fast that she wasn't able to capitalise on the opportunity. Stepping back while trying to grasp the timing he would use that function.
Of course, Landan wasn't going to simply trade blows until she figured him out so easily.
He let the blade swing with one hand, and clenched his fist into a Cartridge Load pump.
A familiar scene happened again.
His body was instantly thrown into the direction he threw his 'Bullet Punch'. The sound of a pistol round firing tipped Bella off in what kind of technique he was using.
She frowned.
'Hyper Flow!' She once again got into her groove and went into a deep state of zone.
Once sunk, she needed something greater than simple surprise to get out of this 'Flow State'. Her blade strikes carried with them one of the five techniques of Lightning Swordsmanship. Using it to attack him.
Offensive Art: 'Bolt'.
She concentrated a line of Polaris Purple into her blade to draw paths. A complicated form that made Lightning follow her slashes, and even created a second attack by having those blade lines linger in the air even after a swing.
Landan would find his fist striking those string-like blade lines in the air. Their overall appearance was similar to circuitry. He was weaving through them to find flesh and blood.
One strike was all that it'd take to send her off.
Bella knew that too.
She couldn't allow herself to be struck. The amount of damage even one fist could make was as dangerous as the great sword. There was sweat trickling down her cheeks while skilfully parring and countering his moves.
From an onlooker's perspective, this became the most sophisticated and elegant exchange that didn't even require the two combatants to wiz around the battlefield. Only small adjustments in footwork were needed here.
Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.
Her thinner blades were being chipped. They could hardly take striking at such velocity for too long. This wasn't a lack of quality in her blade, but the difference in weapon type.
The thicker the weapon, the longer it'd take for the density and edge to rot from battles.
Conversely, although her blades were made to cut into flesh, what they weren't adapted to was drawn out fights. The monster in front of her capitalised on the opportunity to rush her.
Wearing down her blade immensely.
Until… the cracks had opened.
CRACKLE!
SNAP!
One of her blades finally collapsed from the drawn out exchange. The opportunity was taken. A swift motion that capitalised on the brief opening when focus had heightened.
SWISH!
Bella was the one who capitalised on it.
Her blade instantly reconstructed itself the moment Landan bent for a large swing. Her weapon cut through the air and made a sharp noise. Slicing into the impure yolk around him. Electrical pulses followed her attack.
'This is the end!' Bella erupted with all her energy to strike multiple times at his chest.
Cutting away at his egg shell armour intently.
Her second Stigmata Gift: 'Weapon Healing' had taken effect. Her blades were unable to be broken so easily. Countless circuit lines were drawn by her sword through the yolk.
When she was finally done, she stopped.
Tapping her blades together to detonate the energy lines carved into the armour on him.
BOOM!
Landan was struck away. Flying far before hitting the ground behind a table nearby.
It was then Bella finally took a deep breath.
"Hooo…!" She felt her lungs boiling from having held her breath to do a lightning rush.
Her flow state had made her numb to the condition her body was in. Making her start to convulse when she finished that attack. She became locked in a similar situation to Tia.
Unable to bring out her best anymore.
They needed to find some shelter nearby before night fell… She turned her head back.
"Why didn't you leave?" She asked the girl who had only recently arrived at this room.
Tia limped forward and held her up.
Both of them leaned on each other for support. Deciding to drop the subject.
"You okay? How could I leave you alone and go by myself?" Tis reasoned with the girl.
"…Fine. Help me end that thing while you're here then." Bella didn't forget what she had came here to do. They had to mitigate the oncoming disaster and slay the 'candidates'.
They couldn't allow that thing to escape.
Just when they looked behind the table, all that was left was impure yolk on the ground.
The body had disappeared.
"After it…!" Bella's face twisted and Tia quickly put her tracking skills to the test.
They followed the traces while limping together. Uncaring if they were to die or not.
Chasing it down to the ends of the Earth.
…..
….
…
..
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"My head… It hurts…" After having his mind besieged at both sides, Landan was able to wake up thanks to Bella's attack. Her last ultimate move had struck sense into him.
Forcing him into clarity.
The only problem was that he could still hear voices. They were tearing into him like leeches. He fought, and didn't back down unless he had succumbed to his madness.
'Lex… LEX!' He wanted to see his son one last time. His mind was decaying quickly.
And so was his body.
His once handsome face aged rapidly… to the point he couldn't even see properly anymore.
Time passed… His slow but stubborn footsteps wouldn't stop for even a second.
The sun was going down. Dawn was coming and Dark Muses became much more active.
He passed by one or two of them on the way.
They looked confused at first, but eventually tried biting him. Uncaring of his condition.
This only made Landan happy.
The fact that they were attacking him meant he was 'alive'. At least enough to be considered that by the zombies. They were blocking his path, but he wouldn't let them.
He needed to see him…
His son… He wanted to see his son again…
Finally, he arrived at the barrier at the dead of the night. Only to realise something crucial.
He looked at his reflection in the water barrier.
His face had aged to the point of being unrecognisable. Twisted with his emotions.
The influence of death and the devil.
'I should… just leave.' Landan finally regained enough of his sanity to have that thought.
He took a step back.
Turning around to leave.
If he was going to die like this, he couldn't let his son watch. He could endanger his child.
But before he could take a step-
"Dad?" The barrier had opened, and the boy who had waited this whole time spoke out.
The boy saw someone's unfamiliar back from where he stood, but he recognised this feeling. Although the person looked different than before, he could never forget that back.
The feeling of security that back always gave.
Lex ran forward and hugged the old man. He stopped him before the man went any further.
"You're home." These words broke the resolved heart that Landan had just managed to make. Tears flowed from his blurry eyes. It didn't take good eyesight to see this affection.
This love…
His heart was in pain from knowing this reunion wouldn't be long enough to matter.
The life within him was already fading.
He'd turn into a monster again soon enough.
But just for this moment, Landan wanted to return to being the father of the loveable child.
For just a day longer…
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[Bella Smith Gallery]