Love Runs The World

Natsuki continued to glide through the air until reaching the back end of Felopsten. He walked towards the man that was causing this. When he walked, he created footprints in the ground from the weight of the armor, but did this purposely, putting all his weight to his feet to show his power.

Natsuki: “That’s some intense mana you got there. Mind telling me who your boss is? I doubt you would be able to do this on your own. If that were the case, then my boss would have reached out to you and made you a Great Swordsman. We do need a 5th one. The current one…Well, he isn’t really with us at the moment.”

The man before him did not say a word. He wore a dark purple tunic that covered his entire body and parts of his face, but Natsuki could see his plain white eyes as the mana seeped into him.

Natuski: “No response? Okay. How about I come at you with force? Let’s do it, Autumn.”

Autumn was the name of Natuski’s beloved sword. He loved it with all his heart. It was forged in the mountains as a child from lava and the cooling of the wind. It was unlike many swords that were found and crafted. Instead, his sword was born from natural elements. Natsuki bolted at him with his double sided sword. Gusts of wind formed at his feet as he pushed off the ground instantly, leaving a crater in the ground. As he closed in on the unknown figure, he was suddenly stopped by a green forcefield that sparked as he tried to push through. Natsuki pulled back in curiosity of what was going on.

He turned on his mana lines, which was a different shade than his sword. Along with the different color shade, instead of mana lines, his body lit up in one solid color of dark blue and his hair changed white. He picked up Autumn with both hands vertically and pulled a string made from mana back towards him like a bow and arrow. A white, green, and blue arrow stretched out with immense power from it.

Natsuki: “Cupid’s Winding Arrow.”

The multicolor arrow shifted towards the man. Smaller arrows dispersed from the colors and circled around the main arrow. To Natsuki’s surprise, the same thing happened. The arrows closed in on him, but the barrier eventually stopped it.

Natuski: “Hmph. Interesting. Alright. I’ll wait till you can talk to me. Bring it on.”

The mana seeping into him quickly came to a halt. No more soldiers remained in the area. Natuski Tooru had at least done his job of evacuating the citizens. The man began to laugh. “You think you stand a chance?”

Natuski: “No formal greeting? Where is the love at?”

“Love? What is love? There is no love in this world?”

Natuski: “Dark thinking. Not a fan of that. If you can’t find love, then you’re not worthy of it. I’ll decide to love you, although I can’t have you spreading this darkness. I’ll love you when you’re buried in the ground. That way, you’ll know that at least someone cared about you. What is your name?”

“Name? I don’t have a name. Names are pointless just like this conversation. I’ll give you a chance. Grovel at my feet and lick them. Maybe then I’ll allow you to live.”

Natsuki: “No name huh? Let’s call you…Gouki. It means strong spirit. I’d feel bad if I killed someone without knowing their name. However, it seems you're hiding behind this hood. Why don’t you show me who’s behind that mask? You can’t hide it from me. I can sense love from you. You are not all gone yet, although it is diminishing.”

“I’m gonna wipe that smirk off your face instead.”

The man stretched his hand out and an evergoing wave of mana rushed towards Natsuki. A dark orange and black clump chased Natsuki around as he evaded it. It was like an alien lifeform that wouldn’t stop.

Natuski: “Whoops. Ta! Ta! Ta!”

Natsuki danced around elegantly without having to use his sword yet. As he avoided the attacks, he questioned whether this man was holding back or not. ‘His barrier was extremely strong, yet his attacks are weak. I’ll admit this is an unusual attack though. I’ve never seen anyone be able to jolt out a large mass of mana that targets someone. He’s not using a Manipulator Chaplet. He doesn’t use a sword either, huh? That could mean 2 things. He’s being controlled by someone else, which is the more likely possibility or he has developed a strength more overwhelming than most in this world. Maybe the man is controlling him from those pitch white eyes, but right now, I’ll expose the fraud’s weakness and show him true love.’

Natuski jumped away swiftly and swung Autumn across the ground creating red flames that he ran through before picking her back up. While running through the flames, he opened his mouth and blew out strong gusts of wind with red ash that sprinkled across the sparkling green barrier. The clump of mana still followed behind him as he sprinted towards the flashy green sparks.

The red ash began to burn through the barrier in tiny holes. Natsuki jumped at the barrier as the mana closed in on him. He turned around and with Autumn, he pulled the mana to his sword with the gold shard on the tip of the blade and threw it at the barrier, which exploded it like glass shattering on the floor. Natuski entered the area where the man stood and ripped his tunic off his body, revealing his appearance.

He took a step back to admire his opponent. In front of him stood someone that he had not considered. A woman. A woman with long black hair wearing a white trench coat that extended to the ground underneath the purple tunic. Her eyes still remained white. She wore long black boots as well and in her right hand was a mask. It was almost cat-like. It had shining layers of blue eyes and indents of black diamond symbols. It was similar to a leopard with its long nose connected to the skinniness of the mask and narrow jawline.

She put the mask on and spoke once again in the male voice from before. “Last chance.”

Natsuki: “Ha! How about you bring your actual body here and threaten me. This hoax won’t last more than a minute. Come. Embrace the fresh air. The beautiful oxygen that bestows this world. It’s simply wonderful! Life at its fullest! Love is in the air!”

Natsuki took a step back and stopped speaking. He combed his hand through his white flowing hair and looked down at Autumn who awaited the fight.

Natuski: “Ah. When I beat this body to a pulp, I’ll make sure the real you comes and visits me. Maybe there is an ounce of love in that beating heart of yours. Or have you completely turned into a monster? Let’s see. Let’s see. I’m pretty sure the neighboring cities have already been dealt with. You’re clearly holding back for some reason–”

Natuski took Autumn in hand and held her out in front of him. He twisted the middle and split it in half to form 2 smaller blades. He looked down at her menacingly.

Natsuki: “Not sure why you’re holding back when you gathered all that mana and detected me somehow, but…I hate when people don’t give it their all.”

Natsuki was faster this time. He bolted in multiple directions so fast that it was hard to detect where he was at. He sliced at the girl in various spots until he appeared above her and used both spears to use cuts of wind and ash to get to her. She rolled out of the way and shot the same wave of mana from before at him.

Natsuki: “Same tricks, eh!”

Natsuki’s blades carved through the thick mana easily as the girl took to the ground and raised a wall of mana dividing the two. He took both his blades in sync and sliced the middle to leap through where the girl had gone missing. He stood still anticipating what was to come.

The girl thought she had the upper hand from above, but he slowly turned from the corner of his eyes and stared her down mid air. He ducked and thrusted his spears through her torso. She coughed up blood and pulled back as fast as she could. The surrounding mana from before rushed to her body and combined with her to form a jelly like substance that healed her wounds slowly, but not enough time to evade Natsuki’s next attack. She fell to her knees still coughing up blood as he combined his blades again and formed the bow.

Natsuki: “Cupid’s Winding Arrow.”

He shot the arrow at the body of mana with intense heat and wind. The eyes on her mask lit up an even brighter blue as she gasped, knowing that she would die. In that instance, she disappeared in plain sight as the mana fell to the ground and dispersed into thin air.

Natsuki: “Coward. I didn’t even have to try. We’ll meet again. Ah! That was exhausting though, wasn’t it Autumn. I hate when people can’t love. Too much evil in this world. The master probably has everything else contained right now. I’ll have to ask him why they decided to attack all of a sudden. They weren’t as strong as I thought. Well, let’s go help miss Claudia. I did promise. And! It’s for love! Just beautiful! Beautiful love. Come on Autumn.”

Back at the underground, everyone was essentially gone, except for a few stragglers who refused to leave their home. Claudia stayed back to try and convince them that they will be able to come back, but that it was too dangerous at the moment. They continued to refuse and give her a hard time. After a while, she became fed up with the current situations she had been in and went to use magic to whisk them away from here. As she went to activate this, a hand grabbed her arm.

Natsuki: “Now, now. A leader shouldn’t force others to do as they wish. You have a duty to protect, but you must respect their choices. That’s what you learn as you learn to love.”

Claudia: “Natsuki sir.”

Natsuki: “Yes. You may tell your citizens that they are safe to return to their houses for now. Although, I don’t know who or what their plan was to begin with. I can’t say whether or not they will attack again.”

Claudia: “Thank you. I feel as if I need to repay you.”

Natsuki: “Ha! Ha! Ha! No need. I felt the love that you were giving off. In fact, I shall repay you for your troubles of having to come back here. Now, what exactly did you have to venture all the way back here for? I shall try my best to give that love in return.”

Claudia: “A man and a boy. They need help. We were battling against someone. Well, not even really a battle. It was more one sided. He could have killed us at any point, but I escaped and the other two…I don’t know what happened. He could’ve killed them, but I can’t believe that.”

Natsuki: “You said before that you were at Kastor’s castle, correct?”

Claudia: “Yes.”

Natsuki: “Then who was it you fought with? Was it Kastor himself?”

Claudia: “No. Someone named Shin.”

Natsuki: “Shin? Kastor and Shin? Like I said before, I don’t know much about the land. I’ve only heard stories probably that a simple folk would know, but I do know that the whole land is dangerous. Hmm…Well, why not? I’ve done what my boss needed me to do. Let’s go, shall we?”

Natsuki pulled a Yellow Egress Chaplet from the brown pouch on his side and handed it to her.

Claudia: “What? You can store chaplets inside magic pouches? Not just swords?”

Natsuki: “Yes. Although, it depends on the bag. Not many people know that you can also craft your pouches with blacksmiths. Although, it takes the right blacksmith if you know what I mean.”

He winked at her as she took the Yellow Egress Chaplet from his hand. She didn’t know what he meant. She didn’t really use swords because of her heritage and didn’t know much about them. Sure, she knew about chaplets, but didn’t need to use them either. She didn’t question him, but focused on getting to Astro and Welpen as soon as possible. Before she left, she looked at her people that remained. A handful of about 15.

Claudia: “Everyone. I am truly sorry for what happened here. I neglected my duty as a leader. I should’ve been here. I’m sorry. Please, forgive me. When I get back, I will clean up what I left behind. Please, can someone at least forgive me enough to carry Vannett’s corpse down here safely and anyone else who was injured or killed. I will personally bury them when I get home. Every single one of them and then I will find the other leaders who are missing.”

Natuski: “Interesting. A clash of love. Love for your people, love for your friends, and love for a man. This decision may tear at hearts. I absolutely love it!”

Nobody spoke up, but they nodded their heads in agreement. They were safe for now to return to their homes and look for people on the streets that needed help. The blimps above the city had moved along as well. Natsuki could have shot them down before, but he realized when the girl had disappeared that the mana connecting to her transferred to the blimps above. He felt that they would meet again and that there was no need for that. He wanted to know more about who they were. Getting rid of one problem wasn’t going to be enough to get rid of all the problems.

Natsuki: “Okay. Ready to go? I already informed my boss where I’d be going. Tone Chaplets are pretty convenient right?”

Claudia: “Yes. So, your boss is okay with it?”

Natsuki: “Sure. Boss doesn’t tell me much about anything, but he always lets us do what we want to for the most part. I just go out to fight and love of course. Although…He’s pretty strong. I wouldn’t want to cross paths with him myself. Anyways, let’s go.”

Claudia: “Yes.”

She held the Yellow Egress Chaplet in the air and focused hard on the image of Kastor’s castle. She yelled out, “Deceased Paradise,” as they both vanished from the underground immediately.

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