The Great Swordsmen...Lost?

 They stated their names for them.

The boy’s name was Renzou Kurogane. The girl’s name was Maki Kurogane, and the man in front introduced himself not with a name, but a nickname called Black Diamond.

He was the first to speak in an elegant, but also terrifying voice. It lingered through the air with cockiness.

Black Diamond: “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! How lovely it is to see you all here! Many of you do not know who I am, besides Iki over there. Long time no see, Iki Kurogane! Your father did not believe that you would have survived in this world. He will jump for joy when he sees you. Have your powers improved? He may put you back in the ground to try and grow more if he sees you have potential.”

Iki: “Screw off, Black. Those pink eyes aren’t fooling anyone. You only with three people? Ha, you underestimate the people of this world.”

‘Iki Kurogane?’ Natsuki, Wally, and Yahiko thought. ‘That’s not his name.’

Black Diamond: “No, no. I believe that you overestimate them. Although, seeing that the Dark Mold opened, maybe there are some strong foes here. Lovely. You all even defeated half of the effects of that stupid creature that the man promised would be an undefeatable being. Although, he did say that it took some time for the clock to rotate…”

He looked around at everybody, laced with mana lines, chaplets in hands, and in a stance that said they were ready to attack. He then looked at the shard on Michiaki’s sword and his eyes opened wide.

Black Diamond: “Wh-Where did you get that?”

Michiaki: “Huh? Oh, you don’t like this? Why’s that?”

Black Diamond: “You have 3 seconds to hand that over or I’ll destroy every last piece of this world, and you along with it.”

Michiaki: “Ah, you see, I was going to ask if you were here to destroy the world, and if you weren’t, then I actually was going to leave since I fulfilled my original duty here. Goro did say that Welpen would destroy this world, but I didn’t know for sure. I really have no obligation to be here at all. My promise was to my wife that I would help Astro over there, not anybody else here. I also commend you because it seems that Isamu’s power was delayed with the opening of the Dark Mold. I wonder if Arata is keeping an eye on him right now. Well, that’s good, but we only have 1 more year till the Time god. Ah, sorry I am whispering to myself now. My wife and kids might have died had this not been here, so I must thank you. My stomach was squeezing on the inside this entire time thinking that Isamu’s power would take over everything, even myself, but for some reason, whatever you guys house inside that realm is pretty powerful. I do need to go check on the time limit before that man comes back though.”

Iki: “Michiaki, you coward.”

Michiaki: “No, not coward…Loyal. Loyal to what I want to preserve. I’m no different than you, Iki. You have your own selfish goals too. I just sacrificed more than you and now I’m seen as the bad guy. I have no obligation to anyone here. I don’t crave useless violence unless it affects me. That may be selfish, but that’s my choice.”

Iki: “You have no idea what I sacrificed! Shut your mouth. Ever since I took over as leader, I’ve never even seen you. With your help, I could’ve run this place with ease.”

Michiaki: “Maybe, but that’s the choice I made. We all make choices and no matter what, it affects everyone…Natsuki, I know you can sense the love in my heart. What does it say?”

Natsuki: “Michiaki…Your love is the biggest I’ve ever seen. No heart I’ve seen is greater than yours. Although I do not agree with your ideals, I cannot argue against your heart.”

Michiaki: “I see…Black Diamond…If I give you this shard, will you leave this world alone? Do I have your word?”

Black Diamond: “An honorable saying. You are unlike the rest of the people here. Yes, you have my word.”

Black Diamond had not seen the other shards yet. The two that were connected were hidden by Natsuki. He had been using up a ton of mana just to keep them from going berserk this entire time.

Reiken walked forward with the other one, intrigued by what was going on and tossed the other shard to him. The hands emerged once more, grabbing Welpen, Astro, Reiken, and Iki.

Clara screamed out loud knowing that she was about to lose one of the only things she loved in this world. Completely disregarding the fact that Reiken was a key factor in all of this, she swung her sword endlessly to break the hands apart, but it was no use.

Clara: “Michiaki! Please, help me! Someone! Help me! Save my boy! Please!”

Natsuki was the only one that bolted forward, handing the shards off to Yahiko who took over for him the best he could to keep the shards at bay. He tried everything he could as well, but nothing worked. He threw down tons of Smile Chaplets and Rose Chaplets to try and keep Welpen caged, but the hands broke right through them. Kouki and Yasuhiro’s swords lit up, as if being called by Mother Nature herself to help them. They went to attack, but before they did, a blue light came raining down on the man in front, slicing at his head.

Arata: “You’re not going anywhere you bastards!”

Black Diamond raised his hand to the sword and shoved Arata onto the ground, spun, and kicked him, knocking the wind out of him.

Kouki: “Roots of Despair!”

Yasuhiro: “Cyclone Barrage!”

The boy and woman in the back whispered something and 2 large red cubes grew over their heads and sucked in both of their powers. Kouki’s and Yasuhiro’s swords both shook in anger and lit up red. Out of the blades came poisonous plants that specifically affected mana. They didn’t end like the hands, but the red cubes kept sucking them in, not being able to even touch them, until one cracked the cube a little. ‘Interesting,’ Black Diamond thought, but then he reached his hand out and healed the cube immediately.

Michiaki: “Astro, I’m sorry. This is on you now. If you survive, then I will help with Dante.”

Astro: “Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to blame you in the first place. It’s not your job to save me. I’ll make it out alive with everyone. This is my choice.”

They all walked back to the Dark Mold, but Clara wouldn’t stop. She screamed in rage, activating her moon before night time occurred. Everyone gasped, knowing how serious she was.

As a Great Swordsman, you could only activate your moon at night, however with the strongest will, you could activate it in daytime, but what followed was mana poisoning and a decrease in lifespan for every second used.

Every Great Swordsman around plunged their sword into the ground, even Michiaki as a sign of respect, but also as a channeling to increase mana flow to Clara. They stepped back as this was Clara’s battle to deal with.

Her body lit up all one color like before, but this time, her arms bubbled like the sun came down and touched her skin. Spikes ran down her back, and flames shot out from her shoes and shoulders that resembled wings. She kickstarted the flames, which propelled her towards the three beings that tried to take Welpen.

The two in the back activated the giant red cubes again, but to their surprise, they didn’t work. Clara pierced right through them, driving her foot right into the stomach of the girl with flames shooting directly through her stomach.

She coughed up blue blood, but she defended any serious damage to her core before getting jolted away.

Clara was no longer coherent at all.

She could not turn off the state she was in, nor did her instincts guide her anywhere. Her intent was to kill anything in her path until it was decimated. The man beside the girl threw a punch at Clara laced with Dark Mold substance, but it ricocheted off of her before her flaming wings clapped the man into the ground.

Black Diamond was intrigued as he was the next target.

He held up his fingers in a gun position pointed at Clara’s head and fired something invisible, which cancelled out the moon state and sent her to sleep.

Black Diamond: “Wow! Bravo! That was a lot closer than I wanted it to be. That power can rival some of our lower men, but don’t think you can touch the higher ups, worthless piece of trash. I’ll be taking what I came for.”

Clara’s eyes were still closed, but her hand lit up bright with her moon state still activated directly into her hand. She drove it at Black Diamond who ducked below it and kicked her onto the ground.

Natsuki: “Love’s Triangle!”

Yahiko: “Invasion of Species!”

Kouki: “Nature’s Bounty!”

Yasuhiro: “Sunflower’s Gated Cage!”

Arata: “Blue Extension!”

Black Diamond created a red cube large enough around everyone he grabbed and negated every power that came at him. The other two of his people came back to his side, blood still running down them. It seems that Clara’s effects hurt them more than he thought.

Michiaki had not fired off any mana, however he was next to Black Diamond with a sword at his throat before he could even flinch.

Michiaki: “Remember our deal, Black Diamond…Or I’ll personally come kill you myself.”

He laughed and agreed, afraid of Michiaki’s powers. ‘He has the power to rival the Supreme Ones,’ he thought. ‘I need to assure this man that I will leave this world alone.’

Clara tried once more even in her dozed state to enter the cube completely unaware of who she was at the moment. She bolted forward and swung at Black Diamond, drawing blood from his torso before kicking her back again. Arata swooped in and pulled her away as they all entered into the Dark Mold out of sight.

Arata: “Don’t Clara! You’ll die! Think for a minute. We can go in whenever we are ready.”

Michiaki: “Clara–”

She came back to consciousness, still dizzy from the ability she used, but screamed at Michiaki.

Clara “Don’t talk to me! You selfish bastard! Ever since the Titan War, you’re different! You’re just scared! Scared to face reality!

Clara cried until her eyes went completely dry. Michiaki wanted to confirm with Arata what had happened with Isamu, asking if his theory was correct.

Arata: “Yeah, you owe me one and you’re going to freaking repay it. When I woke up, the man’s head was cut off like you did, but the sword rattled and spoke out loud, trying to forge the body and soul back together already. The effects still took place and I was on the verge of death, but it was slowly condensing. I had an Atheron Chaplet, and I tried to summon a Time Chaplet, but it’s impossible to do so. I ended up wasting it to change it into a Yellow Egress Chaplet and transported out of its range. I couldn’t do anything, but wait to see what would happen, but miraculously, the Dark Mold is not only condensed to this area it seems. Thin particles in the air transferred to his sword and body by coincidence just because of the sheer power of whatever that place is. Michiaki, we got lucky. We can’t keep delaying that. Eventually, he’s going to break out of it. I’d give it less than a year.”

Michiaki: “Yeah, I’m going to bring his sword to the Devil. Although, he’s apparently not alive at the moment. I’ll figure out something. The Devil is the key here. If I can find him, then there will be no more problems.”

Everyone looked at Michiaki with disgust.

Arata didn’t know what had happened, but Michiaki didn’t care. He left via an Egress Chaplet back to his wife and kids, stranding everyone to fend for themselves.

Arata: “Did I…miss something?”

Natsuki walked away with Yahiko, Clara, and Wally while Kouki and Yasuhiro went in a different direction. Arata was confused, having been dealing with Isamu the entire time. He didn’t know why everyone was looking at Michiaki like that and nobody was entering the Dark Mold to save them.

Arata: “Hey! Someone wants to explain to me why everyone is just walking away like nothing happened?! I wouldn’t piss me off right now!”

Yasuhiro: “We lost idiot. I love a good fight, but this is different. The Sacred Tree is upset and now we have to go to take a beating for it and probably have to sacrifice ourselves later by going in that stupid place or she’ll cut off all of our power.”

Kouki: “Speak for yourself, brother. I don’t need that stupid tree’s power.”

Natsuki: “We have to reassess. We lost our leader for the second time. We’re not in a good place right now. Our love right now has diminished. We’re going to need a lot of help for a raid, but for right now, we need to take some time and think.”

Arata: “None of you are even injured?! Is this the strength of the Swordsmen?! You’re all a joke! Michiaki is leagues above you all! Hell, I’m leagues above you all! You have less than a day to figure your crap out, no probably even less or your leader and everyone in there is going to die! Figure it out!”

Yasuhiro: “You bastard. If you’d have been here you would’ve known what was going on. If we got touched by any of their weapons, then we would’ve died immediately. Go help someone else if you’re gonna yell at us you idiot martyr!”

Arata’s fury of rage echoed in the air.

He had not understood what took place, but it didn’t make sense.

Nobody could do anything against their opponents in these battles.

No chaplets would’ve worked except for some legendary ones that they did not have. Even their own weapons didn’t really work besides for Clara shortening her lifespan. The only people that might’ve made a difference were Kento and Aamon, both of which did not show their faces for different reasons.

The last people that stayed next to the Dark Mold was Saikou and Ryoko. They entered without hesitation behind them without Arata even seeing and when Arata finally left, the black creature twitched on the ground, trying to get up, but was brutally injured.

A figure in a dark green cape came over, pressing their hand on the back of Lorenzo Cain, and healed the wounds completely before they both left in the same direction.