The Great Swordsmen

 As they walked out, Dante also thought about the boy that stood in front of him. ‘He’s passionate, kind, and uplifting. He speaks with confidence, yet there is none. Anybody can tell this. The smile on his face is just rectifying a fantasy world. He suffers alone in silence and can’t control his own mind. It’s so obvious, it’s stupid. I won’t deny that he needs help, but I don’t know what I can do about it yet. I have my own problems.’

Dante and Lucky ventured through another city unknown to Dante. He realized this was a whole different place, not just a different room. They were in a city known as Treetops Hillside. He saw it on a sign entering the city. It was like the city was separated into two sections. One section had the main villa of people and the community and then in the other section was a small road leading to a large castle in the distance.

They began to approach that large royal castle. As they came closer, Dante looked up in the sky and realized it began to change colors. It began to shift to red, green, blue, yellow, repeating this process.

Lucky: “Don’t worry about that. That’s just my brother’s magic. It’s a protective layer over the castle in case of an enemy attack. It actually covers the whole city, but he just expends more mana on the castle. We’ll go in from the side, so we’ll have a better chance at masking our presence.”

As soon as the boys took a step underneath the covering of the multicolored sky, not even within one thousand meters of the castle, four men appeared out of thin air with swords at the boys' throats within a second. Dante was lost in thought. ‘I trained for years as an assassin, but this goes way beyond that. This speed…They’re fast!”

Lucky slightly whispered, “Crap…I messed up.” A shadowy figure appeared from behind them and began to speak.

???: “Lucky! Did you really think you could come back into the castle without a proper greeting? Where is my chaplet?”

The boys stood there unable to move out of fear. Lucky’s hands began to sweat and shake uncontrollably. Dante built up enough courage to barely move his head behind his shoulder to see the man in the corner of his eye. His presence alone was terrifying. He was bewildered by who stood before him.

A boy younger than both of them with red hair and red eyes stared them down with anger.

???: “Where is the Yellow Egress Chaplet, Lucky?”

Lucky managed to utter a few words.

Lucky: “I…l-lost it, b-brother.”

The sky began to turn pitch black and an aura much like death surrounded Dante and Lucky. Dante couldn’t think or feel anything. It was much like what had just happened to him with the little girl in the forest. All he could think was, ‘Am I going to die?’

???: “Master! Control your mana! The whole city is beginning to shake! You will kill the civilians. Don’t upset the Sacred Tree! Although, I don’t have to tell you that. You already know what happened last time you did.”

The sky began to turn back to different colors and the boy replied, “God, I hate that stupid tree. My ancestors should’ve cut that thing down centuries ago…Lucky, even though I want to kill you right now, tell me where you lost the chaplet, so we can fix this.”

Lucky hesitated, but then rapidly spoke out.

Lucky: “I-I wanted to face Kastor in Deceased Paradise, but the stupid chaplet didn’t take me to him. I ended up on a huge flying skull flying through a valley of nothing but bones, but then it noticed me and shook me off. I started falling and thought I was going to die, but then the bones opened into a sea of water and I fell right into it. I lost my leg somehow and, and, wait, my leg? I didn’t even realize. I opened my eyes and Ren was healing me, but I don’t remember what happened in the water. Kouki, I’m sorry.”

‘Kouki?’ Dante thought to himself. ‘That means light and hope in Japan. They have Japanese names here? So it’s not that completely different. This kid doesn’t seem like a protector of anything though. He doesn’t seem to even like his own brother or care for him. But…he isn’t weak. Just his aura alone froze both of us.’

Kouki: “You fell into the ‘Histeria Waters’ brother. You clearly did not pay attention to any of the books mother lent you. It’s a sea of monsters that slowly chip away at your body parts. The monsters down there use a sword stuck at the bottom of the waters called Palingenesia. It’s a sword that heals you completely even if on the verge of death. They use it to have an infinite amount of food sources. Anyone who escapes loses their memory of what’s underneath blah, blah, blah. That’s why nobody ever goes there. You’re fortunate you were saved. I assume stupid Arata and that magician saved you and your leg. I have yet another debt to repay.”

Kouki scoffed at the thought and then continued speaking.

Kouki: “Lucky, you owe me another Egress Chaplet. Go with your friend to Carmen's Dungeon and find me another one.”

Lucky: “What? That’s impossible! We have to pass through the City of Thieves to get there! There has to be an easier place to get them.”

Kouki: “Hire a mercenary for all I care.”

Kouki started to walk back towards the castle and looked over his shoulder at the boys with rage in his eyes and spoke.

Kouki: “Or I’ll kill your friend here.”

The two boys looked at each with concern in their eyes. Dante couldn’t die here. He knew he had to find his son and make it back home to his family. Lucky knew he messed up by coming here in the first place. He thought he could help Dante through his brothers. With resolve fluttering in his eyes, Lucky yelled as his brother continued walking away.

Lucky: “Fine! I’ll get one back with ease! I’ll show you that you and brother aren’t that special! I’ll surpass you both!”

Kouki laughed before he made a daring statement to his younger brother even though they looked similar in age.

Kouki: “Come at me then. Let’s see how many lifetimes it will take.”

In an instant, all five of the Red Faction disappeared in thin air.

Lucky looked frustrated. He held his head down. Dante went to speak.

Dante: “Hey Luc-”

Lucky cut him off immediately and put a smile on his face and propped his head up.

Lucky: “Sorry for all that back there Dante. My brother tends to get a little angry when things like this happen. He has a lot of responsibilities protecting a whole city. He’s constantly expending mana just to maintain that barrier. Anyways, let’s get you a sword.”

Lucky walked leading the way. Dante thought, ‘Th-This kid…I don’t know what happened in his past, but…I have an odd feeling that he is gonna prove his word one day, and not in a good way. His eyes had an unsettling glint in them. I wonder how long it’s been like this before I got here.’

They walked to the nearest vendor in the city. Lucky took the approach to get Dante a good weapon.

Lucky: “Hi there! My friend here wants to purchase a sword.”

The street vendor laughed, dressed in brown pants and brown boots following an outfit completely made out of green leaves as if he was camouflaged.

Vendor: “I love the spirit of the youth! What would you boys want?”

Lucky: “What’s your most expensive sword?”

Vendor: “Well, how much are you willing to spend?”

He laughed before he continued. Not because he thought the boys couldn’t afford the swords, but he enjoyed sparking life into the youth with jokes.

Vendor: “I have a few uncommon swords that would fit you boys. Here is one…number 1,097 out of 14,376. A friend of mine gave this to me he found in a dungeon a while back. It’s called Estron. It has a shaded outer layer that you input your own mana into to produce flying attacks. The drawback is it depends on how much mana you can produce quickly and it can only produce lightning and fire based attacks.”

Dante questioned it. ‘Lightning and fire based attacks?’ he thought. ‘I don’t know much about other sword abilities. He doesn’t seem to be that impressed with it even though he sells. Plus, only flying attacks? So flying lightning and fire? Seems good to me, but that’s because it doesn’t exist in my world.’

Dante: “Does it matter the number of the sword?”

Vendor: “Yes and no. For lesser swords, it does, but for higher tier swords, there are only a few of them that exist for each variant, so if there are 3 of a really good sword, then having number 1 doesn’t matter as much…Otherwise, I have this for you boys.”

The man pulled out medium sized silver daggers.

Vendor: “I know they are small, but they pack a punch. It’d be hard in a fight, but it might suit you guys better.”

Lucky had his eyes open looking behind the man.

Lucky: “What’s that sword?”

The man brought over an interesting looking sword. It was dark blue, sharp, and the handle was wrapped with what looked like hardened sand.

Vendor: “This sword was found by a clean up crew when they were picking up trash on the beach. I don’t really know what it does though. When I check its stats, it comes up with question marks all over the attacks, defense, and number. I haven’t been able to sell it because of this, so I’ll sell it to you boys for a good deal. How about that?”

Lucky blurted out before Dante could ask more questions.

Lucky: “We’ll take it!”

Dante wanted to ask about something the man said.

Dante: “Hey, you said uncommon swords. What is the highest rank that a sword has?”

Vendor: “All swords are classified in different groups all the way from common to legendary. However, some swords match that legendary status, but are marked as mythical, ancient, or honored. So, in total, there are 7 different statuses. Yet again, that’s also based on what you craft.”

Dante: “Craft? Huh?”

Lucky: “Ah, I’ll teach you about that later Dante. I mentioned it before, but let’s just focus on why we are here.”

Dante: “Hold on. What’s the best sword that is known, sir?”

Vendor: “Well, it’s obviously Alcion. It’s a legendary sword owned by the Alcion clan. It's said to have the power to destroy a whole country, but I don’t know for sure. Nobody has ever seen it, so good luck finding books on it. There is no information on it, just rumors.”

Dante wondered if that sword could bring him home possibly.

Dante: “Thank you, sir. We’ll be on our way.”

Vendor: “Come back anytime boys…”