Hiroshi vs General Hiawatha - Another World Arc

General Hiawatha was stunned into silence, if only for a few moments. This young man had defied him. Nobody in the village ever went against the Acebian Army. Not out of respect, like Hiroshi thought at first.

It was out of fear.

“You really want to die, brat?” the General spat at Hiroshi, a hideous grin appearing on his face as he readied his blade. It was polished to perfection and had a very strong grip on its hilt. The tsuba was a beautiful golden color in the shape of a square and it had a snake-like design on it. “No one will care if you die here. You attacked me, and I defended myself. That’s how the story will go.” Hiroshi shook his head.

“It won’t. How can you tell your story if your dead yourself?” he hissed in retort.

“Why, you?! Die!” General Hiawatha swung his blade, aiming to cut Hiroshi’s neck. Hiroshi easily dodged by stepping backwards, slamming himself into the counter. Hiawatha swung the blade downwards, missing Hiroshi by mere inches as he forward rolled past his aggressor.

Hiawatha’s sword got stuck in the counter and he desperately tried to pull it out. Hiroshi grinned as he took his opportunity to strike. He landed a swift kick to the General’s hip, winding him. The sword dislodged from the counter. Hiawatha’s grip tightened, and with a tremendous yell, he slashed towards Hiroshi’s body.

Hiroshi effortlessly somersaulted over the blade. The blade was so sharp, it would kill Hiroshi instantly. Hiroshi took a more powerful stance as he managed to punch the General in the nose, stunning him. He swept his legs from under him, and the General, with his heavy armor, fell to the ground.

The General jumped back to his feet just as Hiroshi went in for a finishing blow. Hiawatha thrust his sword forward. Hiroshi didn’t move a muscle.

“That’s it! While he has lost his footing,” the General thought as he thrust his sword straight through Hiroshi’s heart. Hiawatha had certainly killed Hiroshi and won the fight. It was not a flawless victory, but at least the villagers would still obey him and give him their money whenever he was patrolling.

However,…

Hiroshi stood there, unharmed, with a massive, evil smile on his face.

“I told you; your story won’t be told! It will be my story and mine alone!”

Hiawatha gapped at Hiroshi’s power. He had never realised this small village had such a strong adversary. He swung his sword again, hoping to slow down Hiroshi’s advances. The young man stood there at first, planning to take the sword by force.

“Hiroshi, dodge!” Kuro-Yami yelped from his inner conscious. With fast reactions, Hiroshi managed to step back in time as the blade sliced open a small mark on his cheek. He felt it and looked at his hand.

Blood. His blood.

“You are not immortal! My power of Darkness is managed by manna! The lower your energy or manna gets, the less effective your power will be! Think of how tired you are after a long day of work. It’s just like that. The energy you expelled in the previous village was immense! You wasted it all!” Kuro-Yami explained in detail to his host.

“Would have been nice to know beforehand, Kuro-Yami!” Hiroshi blurted out. “When do I get my manna back?”

“You must rest to replenish it. Have you ever even played a video game?”

“Was too poor to afford one.”

“Fair point.”

Hiawatha was too bedazzled to even attack. The man he was attacking suddenly began talking to himself. How pathetic to have an imaginary friend at his age. Maybe he wasn’t so scary at all. He yelled, swinging his sword down, attempting to split Hiroshi into two.

Hiroshi focused his remaining manna into his fists and grabbed the blade with both hands an inch from his face. He yanked hard, taking the sword from the General. Hiawatha fell to the ground like a ton of bricks. He was terrified. There was nothing he could do to stop him. He was just his prey, and Hiroshi was playing with his food.

Hiroshi put his hands on the blade and focused hard. He had remembered what Kuro-Yami had told him when he reached the village.

“As a bonus, if you focus hard enough on your energy, you can fuse an object with darkness to. The chains that kept me in confinement for so long had a dark aura around them, remember? Don’t know if that will ever be useful though…”

Hiroshi focused harder. Everything began disappearing around him in a fog, until it was just him and the blade. After what felt like an eternity of trying…

ZZZZZZZISHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The blade turned dark. The once bright silver blade polished two times a day shone an impressive obsidian color. Hiroshi’s heart began beating fast. It was so beautiful and mesmerizing to look at, he almost forgot where he was.

“H-How…did you…What kind of demon are you?!” Hiawatha wailed, completely stared stiff. Hiroshi kneeled down beside him and spoke very plainly and bluntly.

“I think, I should be asking you that question. But, I know what kind of man you are. Taking from these poor people that can’t defend themselves. You selfish bastard. The world would be better without you,” Hiroshi hissed as he pointed the blade at Hiawatha. The General turned away in fright. The sword spat a certain dark aura. He swung his new blade down, instantly killing the General in one slash. He laughed to himself. To him, this was starting to become fun.

“Now, people of Lightley, you’re under my rule now, unless you want to end up like General Hiawatha here. I want a house constructed for me right away. Make it pronto, yes?”

The crowd was silent at first. Hiroshi was expecting some sort of resilience, or mean words thrown at him, or even trying to outcast him from the village altogether.

They did nothing of the sort.

They cheered for him.

“Thank you so much Sir! He terrified us for so long! We will never have to live in fear again!” someone cried from the crowd.

“Our savior!” came another voice.

“I’m so sorry I said we shouldn’t take the fall for you! I was just so scared!” another voice chimed in.

“W-What? Are they…?” Hiroshi stuttered in disbelief.

“Yes, Hiroshi,” Kuro-Yami was just as in shock as his only friend. “They are grateful for us.”