Aligned Paths

After what happened in the king's castle, Yoshiyuki began a journey through the kingdom, just as his brother had told him to do.

Yoshiyuki traveled from south to north, always discovering new places and putting his skills to work.

However, the day before reaching the icy lands of the kingdom, he stopped in the city where he and his friends from the Knights of Redon carried out the mission given by the king. That whole city was still destroyed. Nothing had been rebuilt, there were no more people in the city.

He began to recall the events of that day, friend after friend being killed by the enemy.

Yoshiyuki also began to think what reason he had to live. All the people he loved were killed. He was just a lonely existence.

Yoshiyuki could no longer contain his tears and started to cry. He took the knife he was carrying and pointed it at his neck:

“Let's put an end to this...”

When Yoshiyuki was about to commit suicide, a woman's hand grabbed his wrist, thus stopping him from committing the act.

“Why?” asked the girl.

Yoshiyuki started crying even more and dropped the knife, letting it fall to the ground.

“Why would you do that?” asked the girl once more.

Yoshiyuki calmed down and said:

“It doesn't matter...”

“Do you think this doesn't matter? You hit your head somewhere, did you?”

When Yoshiyuki started to look more closely at the girl, he noticed something. The girl was very beautiful. She had very bright blue eyes and very long golden hair. She was dressed in a dress with different colors and flowers.

“Hey, say something!” said the girl.

Yoshiyuki came to his senses and said:

“I'm fine now, thanks.”

Suddenly, the girl said:

“You've already suffered a lot...”

Yoshiyuki was confused and asked why she was saying that.

“Well, I can catch glimpses of time...”

Yoshiyuki was surprised.

“I know it's hard to accept, but I'm sure the people you loved are okay now.”

“So, did you get to see the people I missed?”

“Yes...”

Yoshiyuki looked at the sky and introduced himself to the girl.

“Nice to meet you, Yoshiyuki. I'm Yuki, and I'm the princess of the icy lands.”

“Princess?”

*Guffaws*

“Yes, but don't worry. You can act normally with me, after all I don't like having the title of princess.”

“Why?”

“People look at you differently and I don't like that.”

“Hmmm... I see...”

“By the way, where are you from?”

“You could say I don't belong anywhere.”

“Why?”

“I used to be a Knight of Redon, but I left because of some confusion.”

“Do you mean what happened in this place?”

“Yes...”

Yuki took Yoshiyuki's hand with her hands and said:

“How about you come to live in the icy lands? So I would have a friend!”

“Friend? Don't you have friends, even though you're a princess?”

“Not true friends.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“As I said, people look at me differently for being a princess.”

“And what makes you think I won't treat you the same?”

“Well, I guess you could say it's my intuition.”

They both started laughing non-stop.

…

“You know, Yuki? I wish there was equality in the kingdom. That people would be good to each other. Why do people want to hurt each other?”

“I think so too. Maybe one day things will be like that.”

“Hope so.”

…

After that day, Yoshiyuki began to live in the icy lands of the kingdom. Every day he would meet with Yuki. Everyone in that place liked and admired Yoshiyuki, as he helped with whatever needed to be done. Children aspired to be strong like him.

As time passed, Yoshiyuki and Yuki's relationship began to develop into something more than just a friendship.

However, one day, Yuki started to get weird. Yoshiyuki noticed something was wrong and decided to ask.

“Is nothing. Everything is fine!” said Yuki while smiling.

Yoshiyuki knew that Yuki was lying, but he didn't want to force her to tell the truth.

A few days passed, and on a snowy day...

Several troops from the capital appeared and declared war on the icy lands. The justification was that the princess's family and the princess wanted to rebuild the kingdom over King Victor's kingdom.

Quickly, the destruction began. People started to run away. Yoshiyuki started running to Yuki's house. It was then that he realized that Yuki was acting strange because she must have had a glimpse of the future that the icy lands were going to have.

When Yoshiyuki was about to reach Yuki's house he saw two members of the capital's troops holding her, one of whom had a spear in his hand.

“STOP!!!” shouted Yoshiyuki in despair.

“Yoshiyuki... Thanks...” said Yuki.

The member of the capital's troops who had the spear pierced Yuki's chest...

Yoshiyuki started to get desperate, it looked like he was going to lose control at any moment.

“Yoshiyuki...” said a girl's voice.

He looked back and saw Yuki's spirit, but she didn't show her eyes, and her hair had turned a little white, like the white of snow falling in the icy lands.

“Yuki...”

“Yoshiyuki... I'm about to lose my consciousness. I already knew this was going to happen, but I didn't want to tell you so you wouldn't suffer even more.”

“What are you saying? I could have saved you!”

“Our destiny is already set, Yoshiyuki. We can't do anything about it.”

“Refused me to accept it!”

“Alright, you're within your rights. Now listen to me carefully. When I lose my consciousness, my spirit will remain by your side to support you, but in my head I will think that I'm your servant.”

“You can't...”

“I already died, Yoshiyuki. My last request is that you be happy and use my power to achieve your goals. Even if those goals are incorrect I will always help you.”

“I just want to be with you, Yuki!”

“Yoshiyuki... Thank you, once again...”

Yuki's spirit remained by Yoshiyuki's side, but her true consciousness disappeared.

Yoshiyuki looked at Yuki's body and saw a smile on her face. He took a deep breath and said:

“Yuki, I will use your power to eliminate all those who took the people I loved from me.”

“So be it, Master.”

The Yoshiyuki wiped out all capital troops present in the icy lands in the blink of an eye.

The next day, the survivors were still shaken by what had happened. Many have lost their loved ones. Many children had died. The royal family had been completely dead.

Yoshiyuki helped rebuild the city and then set out on a journey again.

One day, he returned to the capital. He went to the king's castle and asked to speak with him. King Victor received him.

“It's been a long time, Yoshiyuki.”

“How are you, king?”

“Well, and I see you've gotten stronger.”

“You can say yes...”

“So, what made you come here?”

“I would like to go back to being a Knight of Redon, but not officially.”

“Sorry?”

“I would like to be a self-employed member to prosper the kingdom.”

“Hmmm... Very well, I approve. Despite what has happened in the past I believe you have changed for the better.”

“Thank you, king.”

…

Yoshiyuki knew that the attack by the capital's troops on the icy lands had been ordered by King Victor and that it had somehow been purposeful. He just wanted to “destroy” Yoshiyuki even more. Yoshiyuki knew the king wanted him back, so he did what the king wanted. However, King Victor was unaware of Yoshiyuki's true goal.

Yoshiyuki's real goal was... DISCOVER THE TRUTH BEHIND KING VICTOR AND KILL HIM!!!

…

“You want...” said Yumi.

“Yes, but for that I will need allies.” said Yoshiyuki.

“I understand, but...”

“Yumi. I will make you strong. In return, I just want your strength to achieve my goal.”

“Why did you tell me all this? I could go right now and tell to King Victor.”

“Because I see that you're a humble and trustworthy person.”

Yumi was speechless.

“...Okay! I accept being your ally, but I want to get stronger.”

“Thanks! And you will get stronger, rest. Get ready for tomorrow morning. We are going to take a travel.”

“Okay!”

“Well, see you tomorrow...”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“I was thinking about something. What if the cases of destruction of various forests, villages, towns and cities across the kingdom aren't linked in some way?”

“I believe all of this has Victor's involvement.”

“Now that I think about it, King Victor wanted us to stay away from Minori.”

“Who is Minori?”

“He is a friend of mine and Kin's. He has what appears to be demonic power.”

“That bastard...”

“What?”

“Where is this friend of yours?”

“He went on a travel with Captain Michio, but I don't know where.”

“Hmmm... We will continue with everything agreed, but we have to find this friend of yours quickly. Victor wants to make him one of his pawns.”

Yumi was confused.

“Don't think about it. Tomorrow morning we will meet at the west gate of the capital.”

“Okay.”

“See you tomorrow...”

“See you tomorrow!”

…

In the hospital room where Kin was...

“Looks like he's recovering, but slowly...” said a nurse.

“Yes, but it's weird. The cut wasn't that significant.” said the other nurse.

Both left the place. Kin was still in a coma.

…

In a completely black place...

“Kin... Kin...”

“Who is calling me?”

“It's me, Kin.”

“Who?”

“Gadreel.”

“Gadreel?”

“Yes, don't you remember me?”

“No.”

“It doesn't matter. Now, I will help you get back to your normal state.”

“Normal state?”

“Yes! Rest, I'll take care of everything.”

“Take care of what?”

*Guffaws*

…

Kin woke up and immediately got out of the hospital bed, but is it really him?

…

Somewhere in the south of the kingdom...

“Minori, just a little longer...”

I couldn't stand to walk anymore... We still hadn't found the person Sonia told us to find. Had he already gone to another part of the kingdom?

...

Suddenly, a huge noise and a big cloud of sand appeared right in front of us.

“Come on, Minori!”

...

When we arrived at the place, only one thing crossed my mind. I had already seen something similar. Dozens of men were sprawled on the ground, none showing any reaction. Only one man was standing. The man was calmly guarding his sword.

“Finally found you, Ryota.”

I was surprised to learn that this was the man we were looking for. He looked at us and said very calmly:

“Michio, what brings you here?”

I had a feeling. My life was going to change completely from this moment on. What awaited me from now on?

…

Minori, Kin and Yumi started to follow different paths, but wouldn't these paths be somehow aligned?

END OF PROLOGUE