Who Wants It More?

Astro: “Wh-What happened here? Octavious! What the hell happened here?!”

He stared down at Kanji, who was lying dead on the ground, his head cut cleanly off. Kento, Agatha, Kouki, and Yasuhiro looked from behind while Kento went up to Kanji’s body and started to laugh.

He picked up his head and chucked it across the ground. Astro’s mouth lit up with purple flames as he became so strong in anger, that he was able to draw large amounts of blood from his body before Kento pushed him away and laughed again.

Kento: “Stupid idiot. You are not worthy of being my pupil.”

Octavious: “Astro…I’m sorry.”

He wailed and cried at the sight of his master’s body that was covered in blood. He explained what had happened and who had done it, filling in everyone on who this man was. They all knew who he was already though.

Astro approached Octavious, asking him where Lucky was. They had to get to him before he got to anyone else important to him. “Hey! And where the hell is Ezra?! I know you’re watching me you fool! Shut off the spectators! I don’t want my baby girl to see this!”

Ezra was looking down, not responding, but she had listened to Astro and not allowed Astro’s family to continue to watch.

Astro stabbed Kanji’s body with his weapon, piercing a small glass clear heart. It lit up in a collage of rainbow colors that spiraled into the air, transferring it into his eyes.

Kanji had only told Astro of this just in case, but the vision he had could be passed down from the Infinite Library. It was not a mental aspect, but an object that was given to him, stored away in his chest. Once he died it could transfer to one person.

Astro gained all his knowledge of what he could see. It was overwhelming, but he could bear it. He did not have the vision of where Lucky was, but he endured the pain and yelled at Octavious to give him his location. Telling him the truth, he told them that he was at the Taiphoon Swamps, but also warned him of the rest, having seen all the figures that he gained. He cried more over Kanji, but in rage, as Astro left without them using his Shadow Teleportation.

The rest followed with an Egress Chaplet, but were low on them. They would have to save what they had left to be able to fight in the future, but of course Kento did not want to hear it and just activated one for himself. After all, he had his own chaplets that were overpowered and awaited a strong opponent.

When they arrived, it was a worse scene than they could imagine. The Taiphoon Swamps were not like they were. Completely empty and devoid of water, large craters were strung with bones and vines that hung eggs from the ceiling of a large cave.

Being able to see through, bodies glowed that were familiar to them. Hundreds of eggs layered across while the skeleton figure stood below, blocked walls and walls of bones.

Kento immediately rushed forward and broke through 1 wall, but then couldn’t break through the second even with his strength.

Kouki, Yasuhiro, and Agatha followed behind, showing him up and breaking through the rest, but could not get through the final wall.

They stared at Lucky through the wall as he turned towards them with a flaming green eye. He was nastier looking than they thought. His face molded with moss and the bones that encompassed his body looked old, yet his strength was different.

Astro yelled at Lucky several times to snap out of it and to come back to him.

Astro: “Lucky! Come back! What about Dante?! What about your brothers?! Please! I’m begging…”

Kouki: “Brother, you’ve changed.”

Yasuhiro: “We pushed you that hard eh? You stupid youth. Actually making me feel bad for once.”

He pointed at Kouki and Yasuhiro with his boney fingers, then opened up his chest plate that was underneath his shaggy black outfit.

Inside was a beating heart, but he crushed it as if to make a point to his brothers that he did not care for them anymore. He remained his normal self, claiming that he did not need a heart to survive.

Then…

He purposely let the wall down and all of them besides Agatha attacked Lucky. They threw various Chaplets at him and swung their swords down, but the Chaplets dispersed into thin air and did not activate as if they did not work.

Their swords sliced down on Lucky, which then did the same, dispersing away from their grasps.

They all looked shocked.

Yasuhiro and Kouki called upon multiple swords made from the Sacred Tree, trying more attempts to cut down on the bones and vines, but every sword continued to disappear.

Kento: “You bastard. You think you’re all that. Look at me. I’ll show you something you’ve never seen…Infinite Paradox Chaplet and Imagination Chaplet, activate!”

A buzzing sound thinned the air and they didn’t work. “Huh?” he questioned out loud. “These are the two strongest Chaplets in the world. What the hell did you do?”

He shushed them with his boney fingers, then the eggs started to release one by one above. Emerging from them were people that they knew, but it wasn’t like before where they were silhouettes of them. Their bodies seemed real as if they were completely against them and more powerful than the times before.

Welpen emerged from an egg looking totally different as well, alongside hundreds of witches.

None of them even thought that they couldn’t win at this moment, but before they could even attempt to battle the strongest people of this world, a figure came flashing across with his sword.

Aelig and his pupil sliced in front of them, while he allowed for his young pupil to step forth and retry his battle from before.

In such a short amount of time again, Kyuma had gained even more strength. Aelig knew that this boy was an anomaly, and he just had to unlock his strength. ‘On his own, he would break the curse of Centennial’s Parrel,’ Aelig thought. ‘He is an anomaly of this world. His strength continues to build over time especially in this robot suit. He is strong enough to even challenge me.’

Aelig: “Kyuma! Show them! Show them how it’s done!”

Kyuma: “Okay! Blasting Bind!”

Frost chains encompassed everyone in the area, even the swordsmen behind them. Kyuma could not control his own strength, so he targeted everything in the area. He targeted the rest of the eggs to ensure that nothing else would come out, killing whatever was in them in a heartbeat.

Most of what was left were civilians, but some eggs had hatched right before he could get to them. In one, Naoki emerged, shocking Astro, but he did not think anything else of it. Kyuma had been taught to kill by Aelig and felt no remorse for it either. He was content with what he was doing, slaughtering most of the skeleton’s army that he had built up. However, one more being emerged from behind him in an egg bigger than the rest that Kyuma could not break through.

The shell cracked…

Lucky laughed.

Kastor walked out of the broken shells, swelling with dark mana that surpassed even the current Swordsmen.

The skeletal figure put his hand up to his face once more, shushing the area around them, granting his army immense mana and laughed.

Aelig: “Kyuma! Are you scared?!”

Kyuma: “No master!”

Aelig: “Good. Then I will fight alongside you. You take the rest. I’ll take the big boy and the nasty skeleton.”

Lucky’s army was no joke.

Claudia, Kalbokulus, Welpen, Dante, Clara, Wally, Naoki, Seraphelle, Igius, Raven, Asuka, Bella, Lillian, and many more witches behind them.

Kento stepped forward ready to go as well. He was going to fight regardless of what Aelig said, but in this case, Aelig would allow him to do so. Even with his confidence, he knew that they needed help.

Aelig: “You ready?”

Kyuma: “Yes master!”

Both: “O frigid breath of eternity, heed my call! From the still heart of the void, let silence reign! Shatter the heavens and drown the sun in frost—Eternal Winter, Abyssal Cry of the White Monarch!”

Both of their ice helmets glowed white, the same color as their swords. The environment changed, but it was–familiar.

Without anyone knowing, they had all been transported away from the Taiphoon Swamps. They were in Aelig’s domain in the northern lands. His powers only increased when he was in this place. In the not so far distance, a broken castle laid waste to the ground, but the weather was freezing. Parts of everyone’s bodies began to freeze with ice shards.

Constantly having to break the ice from not forming over their entire bodies, Aelig and Kyuma did not care. They did not release the ability from anyone.

Aelig: “You are Great Swordsmen! You should be able to handle this strength! Deal with it!”

Kento became frustrated and gritted his way over to him face to face as the mana in him swelled up in anger, being able to break the ice as he walked. He said, “Oh, we’re gonna have some fun now, aren’t we?!”

Aelig laughed and pushed him on the ground where Kento fell through the thick snow nowhere to be seen. Kouki and Yasuhiro wrapped thick vines around their entire body like armor that was heated, stopping the effects, and Agatha activated her mana across her body as well. Astro used his immortality ability, but wasn’t strong enough to stop the ice, so he hid in his shadow in the ground for the time being.

Kyuma went to attack, but Aelig stopped him. “Wait!” he screamed out. “Ah I see. This isn’t good. Hey you useless swordsmen! I need you all to take on the rest. I need Kyuma with me. Got it?!”

He didn’t even hear an answer as they attacked Lucky in sync. The bones and tree vines continued to block their path as they rapidly pursued him. Kastor stepped in mimicking their abilities, which made it more difficult. These were the two things that Aelig was afraid of and he needed Kyuma for it.

He realized that Lucky seemed to be able to dismantle abilities for some reason, including Chaplets. He also glanced at Kastor who he knew was able to mimic their powers. In front of them were images of themselves. Doubles that did the exact same thing as them.

Aelig shouted at Kyuma to be confident or he would not be able to beat himself. Every power that they called out, it would shoot back out at them. “This is it, my pupil! If you cannot defeat yourself, then you are not worthy of becoming a true warrior!”

Kyuma screamed out loud and pursued his double with intense speed, while also shooting out Ice Thorns at Kastor and Lucky, boosting his own confidence.

Aelig laughed knowing that he was gaining strength every second. He hadn’t even meant for his powers to leak to them, but it forced them backwards, while the two of them destroyed their doubles simultaneously.

Aelig laughed and continued to send slashes of ice as big as meteors towards the two.

Kyuma was able to communicate with Aelig via a Tone Chaplet that they had activated long ago, but at the moment, they didn’t need to use it to read each other’s movements.

At the same time, one appeared in front, and the other appeared behind Lucky, slashing down their swords, but the moment that their swords reached his skeletal face, they disappeared knowing that it wouldn’t hit, then reappeared in front of Kastor.

Even with their strength and speed, it was like Kastor read their movements, grabbing both their swords and looking down eerily on them.

Kyuma and Aelig’s mana automatically sensed the danger, activating gigantic ice boulders that separated themselves from it, but they didn’t stop the attacks. Both of them were in flow state, not thinking of anything but killing their enemy at this very moment.

Both: “Ice Mana Flow! Winter’s Glacier!”

Their eyes both lit up in a blaze of white, mimicking the color of the snow that fell. Immense mana continued to shoot out from both of them, not in strikes of lightning, but in ice form.

It was enough to keep sending them backwards towards the castle, sending waves of bones, vines, and black flames at Kyuma and Aelig.

Lucky kept putting his boney fingers up to the air, shutting out any power that came at him, but they were too quick. Coming eye to eye with Lucky this time, they slashed his cape and face, but to their surprise, it drew blue blood, but only a slight amount, and the bones on his face weren’t really affected.

It was like he was still human, but had armor that was made from the gods.

Kastor took his fist and punched Kyuma across the snow, while Aelig tried his hand at both of them, but without Kyuma his strength wasn’t enough against these two.

Lucky shushed him, sending him backwards as well, while black flames and vines targeted him. He didn’t have time to stop it, trying to raise his sword before someone he didn’t think would come to the rescue did.

Kento: “Get up you bastard! These guys are mine!”

Aelig: “You idiot! Get back there and help your stupid swordsmen!”

Kento: “HAHAHA! In no lifetime ever will that happen! Don’t ever push me into that snow abyss again!”

Kento rushed towards the two of them, looking specifically at Kastor. He had to actually think this time, something he was not familiar with. He knew he couldn’t destroy Lucky, so he tried to go after Kastor.

Aelig rushed after Kyuma, but before he got to him, he bolted out of the snow more angry than ever, foaming from the mouth like a wild beast. Aelig laughed knowing that his pupil was stronger than even he had thought.

Aelig stuck his sword in the snow chanting, “Line of Indeverty!”

Large blue snowflake patterns stretched across the ground, shooting out spears of ice rapidly and circular forms of hardened snow in waves of thousands that Kastor was keeping up with, but the rapid speed of Kyuma was able to bypass him.

He headed right through Aelig’s ability, headbutting some of the hardened snow without even thinking. He had lost his mind in this moment, completely filled with confidence as his power was at an all time high. His white sword glowed like his eyes, cutting up Kastor’s body before he could make a double of him.

Kento screamed at Aelig to control his pupil as this was not the plan. They needed to switch opponents, but Kyuma could not hear him right now. The robotic body was so in sync with his main body that it began to mimic his main body like he was there in the flesh.

Kento came face to face with Kastro, pulling his blindfold back to reveal the Chaplets underneath his eyes, but Lucky immediately shut it down again. He was focused on Kento out of all 3 of them. Although he didn’t consider him the strongest, the Chaplets that he had were dangerous and even in this skeletal state, he knew this.

Aelig charged at him, but he couldn’t bypass his defense without Kyuma, but even with him, he didn’t know if he could completely. He couldn’t exactly figure out where to hit him, but he dropped these thoughts and entered a state similar to Kyuma, thinking that they could do what they did before.

Aelig: “Okay, my pupil. If you choose to gain strength that way, then I must do the same. A master must show that he is capable of as much as his pupil!”

He focused for one second, which felt like forever as Lucky charged his hand at Aelig. It felt like slow motion, but in this one second, Aelig purposely went into a tranced state that nobody else in the world could do on command.

He looked similar to Kyuma now, foaming from the mouth, glowing white eyes, and looking like a ravaged beast. He knocked the hand out of the way and sliced his sword at the skeletal figure’s face, engraving another scar onto his armored bones. Kyuma appeared from above, slicing down on his head, but the sword stopped because of his body.

They both didn’t even think twice about it, but continued to slash and slash and slash. Blue blood kept dripping from various spots, but nothing deep enough to kill. All they thought now was, “Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!”

WIth Lucky distracted, Kento looked at Kastor once more with his eyes to activate his Chaplets, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucky slightly raise his hands even with the ferocious attacks being sent his way, cancelling out his Chaplets.

‘You bastard,’ he thought before Kastor sliced him with a black sword across the chest. He coughed up intense amounts of blood before laughing.

Kento: “You know, I’m getting real sick and tired of people crapping on me. I’ve been beaten, battered, and scarred in these past couple days. More than anyone has ever done to me. I feel like I’m back in the Titan War. I told myself I would never feel that way again, and yet here I am, powerless. But you know what? I’m sick of it. I’m supposed to be the strongest. My sister did not perish in front of my eyes for me to be this weak. My mother didn’t get beaten to death on a rock in front of me for me to die like this. My father didn’t drink poison to keep me safe for no reason. I’ve had a life more than you would know. I don’t care that you’re the ruler of some stupid land for hundreds of years. I’ve had enough of this.”

His mana swelled immensely.

His sword expanded its metal and mana spirals appeared on Kento’s body as well as his weapon. His wound healed, but without the help of any Chaplets. His mana stitched his body up as if nothing happened and his sword became heavy, but in a way that he could easily control. The Chaplets in his eyes suddenly appeared in his sword, something that nobody had ever seen before.

It shouldn’t have been possible, but Kento duplicated these Chaplets somehow onto his weapon. His eyes gleamed with cockiness looking at Kastor as everyone around him knew that he had just formed a double covenant–A sure way of his death was to come.

Kento: “I feel like a million bucks! Hahahaha! Good riddance you lousy excuse of a ruler.”

He threw his sword across the air in a spiral until it curved in front of Kastor. He looked at Lucky with his Chaplets in his eyes, forcing him to cancel out his ability instead while the sword’s chaplets took effect, completely obliterating Kastor into thin air.

Kento laughed, knowing that nobody would remember, but he turned at Lucky who was all of a sudden in front of Kento’s face. He completely abandoned the thought of defending against Aelig and Kyuma, targeting Kento without him being able to flinch.

He took a heavy hit as bones pierced his body.

“–BLAH!” he screamed out, coughing up tons of blood before Aelig and Kyuma resumed their perilous attacks, completely losing their humanity.

Lying on the ground, Kento tried to use the last Healing Chaplet he had, but from the ground rose a silhouette of Kastor, crushing the Healing Chaplet before he could use it.

Kento tried to raise his sword to push him away, but his arm was chopped off right away. “Fool’s Gold!” he screamed out, but he was too weak. Kastor’s powers were too strong, thinning the air and grabbing his body before piercing his stomach.

Kento’s eyes began to go dark. He questioned how Lucky knew that he used his Chaplet, being able to bring Kastor back. ‘Is this really it for me? Sister, Mom, Dad…’ he thought in his last moments.

“KENTO! GET UP YOU CONDESCENDING BASTARD! YOU SAY YOU’RE STRONG? THEN PROVE IT!”

In his mind, ‘Huh? Who said that? Who’s voice is that? Who is calling me a bastard? Mom, is that you? Sister? No, you wouldn’t say that to me. That’s not father’s voice. Who said that to me? I’m confused. Who was I fighting with? Who the hell said that?’

An image then popped in his head from an approaching figure that flashed at him before his eyes closed.

It was Kouki.