The Time Horse

Michiaki: “You fool! You’ll kill youself along with the rest of the world. You won’t be able to do anything that you said earlier! All the animals will suffer in the 8 other worlds! Stop this!”

Isamu laughed before speaking and coughing up more blood than before.

Isamu: “They’ll be saved in this one though. And don’t worry. I always come back.”

His sword started to speak…”Sword level 1000, would you like to seal yourself again, master? The new sword level will go back down to 5.”

Isamu agreed to this.

Michiaki knew this would be trouble. Once this killed everyone in the world, nothing would be left, including his family. He started to beat the crap out of Isamu, but he only laughed and was barely affected by his punches.

Michiaki: “Stop this! If this reaches my family, I’ll haunt you for eternity!”

Ezra was watching over, but she couldn’t do anything about this either. If she came down in her human body, then she would end up like Arata. The only reason Michiaki wasn’t being affected was because of how strong he truly was. His elf mana combined with his fairy side was aiding him in not being pushed back and pierced along with the effects of his moon.

Arata struggled to breathe at this point.

Michiaki believed he could stop this by cutting off his head.

Isamu: “Go ahead and try it. It won’t stop this and I’ll still wake up and kill everyone once you're not around in this era. Every animal will be free and humanity will not exist!”

Michiaki believed him, but he had to try. He swung his sword down as quickly as he could, but centimeters before his blade took effect, the entire area ceased. It stopped completely. An unknown cause to many, but Michiaki knew exactly what this was. After all, he had experienced it once before, but not to this magnitude. A timer in the sky was set to 5 years. ‘5 years?!’ he thought. ‘Who did this?’

He looked back at Arata who was frozen, covered in blood, and then to Isamu who was also frozen. The moon state went away and even with his strength, he couldn’t avoid the outcome of this due to him being wounded from Fool’s Judgement and the immense amount of mana that he poured away from his body.

Michiaki: “Had you not done that, we would’ve still been fighting. Not that it matters. I’d still whoop you to hell. You might’ve been able to rule over the 9 Worlds of Protrations…Had I not been born in this time.”

Michiaki grabbed his sword and cut off his head from his body before teleporting to the source of what was going on. He was sure Astro would be mad about Dante, but at this point, he could no longer put his family in danger, plus, the man said he would come back regardless, meaning that Dante was still safe for now.

Before he could do this, he looked over at the animals that were still around. The baby snow dragon did not move a muscle, nor did the small dog, however the horse that should’ve been frozen stood up finally and faced towards Michiaki.

His face peered down in seriousness.

He activated his moon state again, not knowing what was to come next. He checked on the status of his wife and kids who were unharmed, but he knew they were frozen in time as well. “So that was you this whole time. Did you do this?” he asked, looking at the horse. It neighed, but shook its head no as if being able to communicate with Michiaki.

Michiaki: “If you’re with this man, then that means…”

It neighed again as if approving his suspicion.

Michiaki: “The time horse. So, Toshiro is dead, huh? This is worse than I thought. My wife was right and she always is. Coming here was a good thing. Had I not, this might’ve taken a toll for the worse…So, this man revived you? If I’m correct, this is the first time that you and Toshiro have perished in a world?”

Yet again, the horse neighed in approval and shook its head.

Michiaki: “I see. Usually Toshiro is destined only by fate to die and come back to you. I’m sorry. Please, will you tell me how much time we have left?”

A number appeared on the side of the horse.

The number 6 exactly.

“Ah, I see,” Michiaki thought out loud. “Not much time left then. That number in the sky actually helps us then or else it would’ve been shorter. Whoever did this, I owe them. Thank you. I’m sorry this had to happen to you. This means that you’re in the same boat as everybody else. Say hello to Toshiro for me in the afterlife. He’s a good man. We have 6 years before the Time God destroys this world.”

He sighed.

“Guess I’m going to have to kill a God.”

The horse walked away with its head down, tears in its eyes like it was a human being crying for a loved one that had died and then perished into thin air like ashes in the wind.