It was a time well before the rise of men when it came to this world. An existence from a dark dimension, it appeared suddenly into the world of endless oceans, dense forests, enormous mountains, vast plains, and incredible cities. Creatures of every shape and size roamed the landscape, taking various forms ranging from giant demons to small, scurrying, woodland animals.
It came into the world of spirits and demons - Astral Zero - to end it. Unaware of the otherworldly being's intentions, the six great Elemental Lords first made contact with it. It was then that five of the six Elemental Lords fell victim to the corruptible darkness of the being.
Only the Darkness Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll, was able to evade contamination and escape. Retreating from the spirit capital of Megidoa, Ren Ashdoll fled to gather spirit support to resist and exterminate the evil darkness, and free the Elemental Lords. The other Elemental Lords, driven insane by the filth of the otherworldly being, spread the contamination to all spirits under their domain except for a few of the more powerful ones. Those spirits who escaped becoming corrupted immediately sided with Ren Ashdoll's Resistance to oppose the Elemental Lords.
Thus began the Spirit War between the corrupted Five Great Elemental Lords and the Resistance led by Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll. Lasting for several years, the war between the two forces of darkness turned the forests of Astral Zero into wastelands, its mountains into piles of dust, its oceans into lifeless, black pools, and its plains into deserts. Even in the face of an overwhelming opposition, the Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll powerfully repelled the attacks of the other Elemental Lords again and again.
However, despite having favorable conditions in the war so far, the numbers of the Resistance were dwindling from losses on the battlefield. Although still maintaining a sizeable army of powerful spirits and demons alike, the opposition still had superior numbers. If the fighting continued, the Resistance would surely lose in the end.
Seeing this as the only possible outcome if the war waged on, Ren Ashdoll prepared a last resort to oppose the evil darkness in the future; the seed containing the Darkness Elemental Lord's will and the seed to oppose that will implanted into the human genome. Ren Ashdoll purposely put the first seed on the Y chromosome and the second seed on the X chromosome, insuring that the will of the Darkness Elemental Lord would one day be reincarnated in the body of a pure human male while the opposing will would be reincarnated in a pure human female. This also insured that nearly every pure female would gain a portion of this will, granting them some of the seed's power. This did not mean that every female born would contain the seed to specifically oppose the Darkness Elemental Lord's will; only the purest of human females would be granted the seed to oppose this will, and would only appear around the time Ren Ashdoll's will would soon inhabit the body of a human boy.
On the other hand, the seed on the Y chromosome would seldom appear in the biological code. The seed was only supposed to appear when the evil darkness would begin to stir again. Hence, the Y chromosome would override the X chromosome in this regard, resulting in human males lacking the seed's power given through the X chromosome.
The last sane Elemental Lord's will was also implanted into a darkness spirit, so that one day when a human male obtained the seed of Ren Ashdoll's will, the spirit would help to guide the boy towards awakening the power dormant within him. Finished with the last resort preparations, the Darkness Elemental Lord knew what had to be done to end the war.
Deciding to end the Spirit War in one final decisive battle, Ren Ashdoll and the entire Resistance staged an attack on the spirit capital of Astral Zero, Megidoa, where the other five Elemental Lords resided. Fighting quickly ensued all across the capital city, the more powerful spirits and demons of the Resistance obliterating the fodder produced by the five Elemental Lords.
While the fighting continued to tear apart the city, the Darkness Elemental Lord went straight to the Shrine of the formerly Six Great Elemental Lords. Entering the inner chamber, Ren Ashdoll came face to face with the other Elemental Lords and the otherworldly being. The filth of the evil darkness crept forth to ensnare Ren Ashdoll, but the Darkness Elemental Lord charged forward, colliding head on with the vile being in an intense showdown of pure divine power. The divine power exuded by the two opposing darknesses reached a state of critical mass resulting in an explosion that sent shockwaves throughout the entire realm of Astral Zero.
When the explosion subsided, Ren Ashdoll and the otherworldly being were both gone. The shockwave generated by their clashing divine power effectively wiped the memory of every spirit and demon throughout Astral Zero of any knowledge pertaining to Ren Ashdoll or the vile darkness. With the corruption plaguing the remaining Elemental Lords gone, the war ended and the spirits and demons began to restore Astral Zero to the world before the apocalyptic struggle.
Over time, the statues and shrines dedicated to Ren Ashdoll continued to accumulate dust from lack of use and cleaning, eventually corroding away until virtually no evidence remained of the Darkness Elemental Lord's existence.
The otherworldly darkness surfaced again in this realm, this time in the human world. Although not at full power, the evil being would eventually gain enough power to consume this world in darkness given enough time.
Through the seed implanted on the Y chromosome, Ren Ashdoll's will was reincarnated through a mortal man. But, as a result of the previous battle with the evil darkness, the Darkness Elemental Lord's will became contaminated. The otherworldly being took control of this will, developing the man into a terrifying being that would become known as the Demon King Solomon.
With the will of the Darkness Elemental taken over, the otherworldly being had no more obstacles stopping it from ending this world. Or so it appeared.
Ren Ashdoll had anticipated being contaminated by the darkness, which was why the second seed to oppose the will of the Darkness Elemental Lord was planted along with the first. Arriving at the Palace of Scorpia to oppose the Demon King was the one who inherited the second seed to oppose Ren Ashdoll's will, Areishia Idriss, the Sacred Queen.
The two engaged in relentless battle, the ferocious fighting of the Demon King against the elegant dance of the Sacred Queen. In the end, it was King Solomon who had fallen at the hands of the Areishia Idriss.
Slain by the Demon Slayer, Terminus Est, Ren Ashdoll's will was freed from the filthy darkness thanks to the sword's power to break curses and destroy evil. Along with the otherworldly being, Ren Ashdoll's will dissipated until a time where it would be reincarnated into another human male.
The evil darkness, in a weakened state, was absorbed into the demon sword and transferred into the body of the Sacred Queen, contaminating the seed and turning her body to crystal as a result.
The seed of the Sacred Maiden already activated, it produced several pure young maidens with the ability to control spirits over the course of several generations. Meanwhile, the seed of Ren Ashdoll's will remained elusive to any human male for almost a thousand years.
Cold. Dark. Harsh. Unforgiving.
These words accurately described what he went through every day at the Instructional School. Lying in a dark cell with only the dull flickering of a lightbulb in the corridor, a boy of about three years of age was on his back staring up at the bare ceiling.
He was the only person, as well as the only thing, in the cell. Nothing else existed inside the cold, concrete cage; no bed, no bathroom, just the lone boy. All of the other cells on the corridor were the same as his, each containing one child and lacking anything else.
The young child could not remember why he was here, nor for how long he had been at the institution. He honestly did not care about that anyways. The instructors at the school had destroyed any sense of feeling in his heart, and constantly drilled into his brain the skills required to be an assassin. Even at such a young age, it was better to begin learning as soon as possible, even if he could not learn practical skills yet. But, because of these practices, he lacked any kind of emotion and felt nothing aside from the determination to complete the missions assigned by the instructors. With no knowledge of his parents or his life before the Instructional School, the skills and lessons taught here at the institution were all he had that constituted as his memories.
Hearing footsteps and the sound of a cart being pushed coming down the corridor, the boy shifted to his side to catch a view of the passerby. A middle-aged man was walking by with a cart of mush. He would peer into the cell, take a wooden spoon and dip it in the mush then plop it on the ground in a pile. he would then move on to the next cell and repeat the process.
Reaching the boy's cell, he looked inside the cell, to see the cold and uncaring gaze of the infant boy. The man dropped a serving of slop on the floor on the boy's side of the cell with a *Plop!* and continued on to his next destination right next to this cell.
The boy got up leisurely and walked over to the mush. Taking a scoop into his hands he shoved it into his mouth and began eating it.
This was routine for the young lad. The students of the Instructional School were often only fed once a week if that, and only occasionally were some students allowed to have more than one meal a week as a reward for excellence in assassination training. They were not given any utensils to eat with, nor any plates or bowls to eat from; for those trained in the art of assassination, any conventional household item could instantly turn into a deadly weapon.
They were given water on a more frequent basis, but only three days a week. The instructors would deposit water through a hole in the ceiling for a short amount of time, falling into the cell and draining in the corridor. Because of the inconsistency of the watering times, the students had to keep their senses sharp so as not to miss the opportunity to hydrate for future assassination lessons and practicals.
Although it was hardly edible and devoid of any flavor, the boy continued to eat his portion of slop that he was given. Finishing the rest of it quickly, he returned to his original spot and laid on his back to resume staring at the ceiling. At some point, his eyes had closed, and he drifted off into a light slumber.
The young boy opened his eyes and saw an endless, pitch-black void stretching out all around him. He silently scanned the area in front of him, but even with eyes trained to see clearly even in absolute darkness he could not see anything.
He silently wondered if he had been taken somewhere by the instructors while he was asleep and was currently being tested, but quickly dismissed the idea since he would have awoken the instant someone stepped foot in his cell. He also could not feel any other presences aside from his own in the darkness, so he highly doubted that this was an assassination practical set up by the instructors.
(So, this is a dream?) He asked himself mentally.
Although he seldom had any dreams, he occasionally had a few that he could recall, but they had all been recollections of what had occurred the previous week. On rare occasions he would receive precognitions and would see the vague events of his dream appear in reality later in the week or month, but this did not seem to be the case either.
"Kazehaya Kamito…"
Hearing a woman call his name, the boy instantly spun around and got into the standard combat stance for assassins trained at the Instructional School. The woman before him was probably in her mid twenties and had gorgeous, black hair that almost blended with the black void in the background. In contrast, her white skin shone as bright and as blinding as the sun in the never-ending darkness. Her attire consisted of a slim fitting dress as black as her hair and matching black high heels. Her eyes, a deep violet, glowed faintly in the dark and shone with a mischievous glint that was reflected by her smile.
"... Who are you and how do you know my name?" the boy Kamito asked without any hint of emotion.
"Ooo~ don't be that way, I just wanted to meet you."
"I will kill you."
His words were to be interpreted not as a threat, but as a definite statement. The woman snickered, and began walking towards the boy.
In response to her action, Kamito propelled his body forward with a powerful leg thrust and aimed a palm strike at the woman's throat. At this distance, evading should have been impossible. But the woman instantly disappeared and Kamito flew through the air before landing on his feet in a crouch.
Turning around, he glared at the woman, who was still smiling mischievously. "Now, Now, don't be so hasty. Like I said, I just wanted to meet you." she said holding her hands in front her disarmingly.
Not sensing an incoming attack, Kamito stood and dropped his stance, facing the woman directly. "Who are you, where are we, and how do you know my name?" he asked in quick succession.
"My name is Ren Ashdoll, we are currently inside the deepest reaches of your psyche, and I know your name because I am a part of you." she answered just as quickly.
"Ren Ashdoll…"
Kamito furrowed his brow. He had not heard of this name before, but he had his intuition telling him it was very important somehow. He did not think that the woman had lied about anything just now, since she had answered all three of his questions without skipping a beat or giving any telltale signs of deceiving him. Her answer would also explain why everything was pitch black around them, and how she knew his name.
"... What do you mean you are a part of me?"
"It is exactly what I said it means. I am a part of your conscience. More specifically, I am your dormant power."
"My power?"
He processed these words into his mind. (A dormant power, huh?)
"... What is this power?"
"It is my power, the very same that was given to the Demon King Solomon."
Her words caused his eyebrows to arch. Even in the Instructional School where information from the outside world was scarcely heard, everyone had at least heard about the tyrant Demon King who ruled one thousand years ago and was slain by the Sacred Queen.
Feeling apprehensive about what he had just learned, he asked monotonously, "Are you saying I'm going to eventually become the Demon King?"
"No, no. That should not happen again. However, it is my wish that one day, you will not become the Demon King… but the Demon Savior."
"Demon… Savior…"
He repeated those words back to her. (What does all of this even mean?) He shook his head to try and sort his jumbled thoughts.
"... Do not think too deeply on it. You are currently unable to harness my power at this point in time. When the time comes for my awakening, you will be able to control my power… or die in the process."
She spoke the last part with a wolfish smile. However, the ominous feeling her words should have conveyed fear fell on the deaf ears of an assassin in training, who did not fear death to begin with.
Ignoring her the implications of her words, he asked, "When will that time come?"
"All in good time, Kazehaya Kamito. For now you can focus on playing assassin. I will be waiting for you to awaken me."
Replying in an amused tone, she cut the mental link keeping the boy in his consciousness and she allowed herself to be swallowed by the pitch-black darkness, entering into a state like hibernation, waiting to be awakened several years from now.
The following day the boy awakened and recalled the strange dream he had, but dismissed it as one of the many side effects of the terrors experienced at the Instructional School. He eventually forgot about ever even having such a dream.
Ten years later, Ren Ashbell wielding the Vorpal Blade would win the Blade Dance and appear before the Five Great Elemental Lords. Secretly Kamito in disguise, he won the tournament with relative ease in no small part due to the single, most favorable condition for him: one on one combat.
Despite being pitted against top competitors from all over the continent, from each of the most renowned, prestigious countries, and even a few of the legendary Numbers that were the Ordesia Empire's most elite spirit knights, he defeated them all just to make her Wish become a reality. The one being that had given light to his bleak world, and his only partner and trusted person, Restia, his contracted spirit.
Outside of the massive doors to the inner chamber where the Five Great Elemental Lords resided, Restia bestowed upon him her one Wish.
(... The Assassination of the Five Elemental Lords…)
That was her Wish. Although an odd Wish to produce, Kamito had already steeled his resolve to see her one wish come true. It was the least he could do for the one person who opened his heart.
Stepping inside the inner chamber, he could see the six great thrones of the Five Elemental Lords. He found it strange that six thrones existed when there were only five Elemental Lords, but that was an irrelevant detail at the moment. In four of the thrones, elemental matter was floating just above the throne seat: A mass of swirling dirt and rock, a controlled vortex of flames, a condensed raging windstorm, and an ever-changing water formation.
(... Where's the Holy Elemental Lord?)
He thought this seemed suspiciously peculiar. If the Holy Elemental Lord was not here, then where could it be?
He shook his head slightly as he took a bowing position before the Shrine of the Elemental Lords. (It does not matter.) he thought. He could just find the Holy Elemental Lord at some other time. There were four others right in front of him that he could attempt to take out right now.
"A most exquisite blade dance, Ren Ashbell. What is your one Wish that you want granted?"
The Elemental lords asked Ren Ashbell(Kamito) and he responded instantly.
"My Wish… is the death of the five Elemental Lords!"
He immediately propelled his body forward with a powerful lunge and appeared before the Water Elemental Lord, stabbing Vorpal Blade right in the center of the water bubble. The water gave off a dazzling white light before transforming into a small girl. "Thank you.."
She smiled and then disappeared into light particles. Finding the reaction he got from him killing the Water Elemental Lord odd, he did not have time to think too deeply on it as he still had three more targets to take out. Storing all of this strange knew knowledge in the back of his mind, he turned to attack the next target.
At this moment, a creeping black fog shot out of the throne and swallowed him up. Falling in the darkness, Kamito readied his sword to fight the shifting forces in the darkness that he could not see clearly, but it transformed into a girl with black hair and dusk-colored eyes, wearing a dress that resembled the color of the night.
"Restia?!"
He called out to her, but she ignored him and began drawing a magic circle as they were falling.
(...! She plans to teleport me out of here!?)
Recognizing the patterns of the magic circle to be that of teleportation seal, he frantically looked at Restia to confirm that this was not the truth.
"... I'm sorry, Kamito…" she said with a tear streaming down her cheek.
"... No… Restia!... Don't go!" he yelled with a hoarse voice.
"... Hey, Kamito…" she spoke as she finished the magic circle and it shone brightly. "If there ever comes a time when I am no longer myself…"
The blinding light blurred out her image and Kamito was teleported away from the vile darkness, but not before hearing her last words.
"... Please kill me..."
Deep inside Kamito's mind, a closed cage of metal bound by chain and lock stood. Obviously meant to keep whatever inside locked away for a long time, the cage appeared to be as impregnable as the sturdiest of fortresses. However…
*Craaaaack!*
A large fault splintered the middle of the cage, allowing a dark aura to seep through the crack.
(... It seems it is almost time for my awakening…)
A feminine voice thought as more and more dark aura seeped through the crack in the cage.
A week had passed since the conclusion of the blade dance. The Strongest Blade Dancer Ren Ashbell was idolized for her performance in the tournament, ensnaring the hearts of young girls and boys alike.
The day after she won, however, she vanished from the spotlight. It was not the case that the media had become disinterested in her. She simply disappeared on her own accord, leaving the whole world wondering where she disappeared to.
Far away from the Ordesia Empire, Kamito had replaced his wig and dress with rags and simple clothing. Currently, he was sitting in an abandoned warehouse building in a small village that was so small it was not even on the map. This was where he had been the past week, sulking and despairing due to his losing Restia.
(... I couldn't save her..) he thought bitterly.
If anything, he would have gladly been taken by the darkness with her, but she teleported him out. Although he did feel a lingering sense of betrayal, the reasonable side of his conscience convinced him that she did not abandon him, but instead saved him.
"... FUCK!..." *Crrrrrrrash!*
Yelling out in frustration, he punched the object closest to him, which happened to be a piles of wooden crates. Old and not very durable to begin with, the crates were obliterated by Kamito's divine power infused punch.
Tears were streaming down his face. Unable to cope with the loss of Restia, he held his head in his hands and curled up on the ground. Just as he was about to cry himself to sleep…
-O pure and divine darkness, cast your protective shadow over the mind!-
He instantly bolted into an upright position, scanning the room for the intruder who had spoken.
"...! Agghh!.."
Gripping his head in pain, a purple aura circled around the boy's head, entering into his body through his ears, nose, and mouth. Once the aura was gone, Kamito slumped to the ground.
When he came to, he tried to sit up quickly, but only ended up causing his head to throb painfully. Thinking hard despite the pain racking his brain, he recalled everything he could remember up to his meeting with the Five Great Elemental Lords. He remembered suddenly appearing outside of the inner chamber and disappearing from the limelight as Ren Ashbell. But he could not remember any details pertaining to the Wish he had asked the Elemental Lords for, and more importantly, anything about Restia any time after his meeting with the Elemental Lords, which left him greatly troubled.
He ignored his throbbing headache and infused divine power into the seal on his left hand. Surprisingly, it did not respond to his will as expected, and the gate remained closed. Frowning, he briefly wondered about what had happened to Restia, but his attention was drawn to a new voice speaking inside of his head.
-Greetings Kazehaya Kamito.- The voice of a woman echoed through his mind, causing his headache to ache with greater intensity.
Ignoring the unbearable pain in his head, he responded, "Who are you?"
-Do you want to find your darkness spirit?- the voice ignored him and asked.
Faced with an unexpected question, Kamito momentarily forgot all about asking the voice for her identity in favor of learning about his contracted spirit. "You know where Restia is!?"
-Unfortunately, I do not know of her whereabouts. You have lost your contracted spirit. Nevertheless, she is still alive. Your spirit seal is proof that she is still contracted to you.-
Kamito had no choice but to agree with her. If a spirit was to die, the contract between the spirit and the contractor would be terminated. The fact that he still had Restia's seal on back of his left hand meant that she was still alive somewhere.
"... I'm going to find her."
-Do you know where to even start looking?-
The voice asked in a mocking tone, but Kamito had already made up his mind. "It doesn't matter. If she's out there, I'm going to search. She's a very important person to me."
-... Very well. I will always be here to provide you with insight and advice should you need it, or I decide it is necessary.-
He felt something inside his mind shut off, and his headache lessened to an extent. He still had his suspicions about the voice inside of his head, but he could always ask her later. After all, she did say she would help him if he needed or wanted it, so a chance to ask her about who or what she was would come eventually.
Taking the few belongings he had with him, he left the abandoned warehouse and set off on his journey to find Restia again.
Okay, so that's a sort of introduction to my story. It's my first attempt at writing a fanfiction, even though I've read several. I wanted to do one on something that wasn't very popular yet, so naturally I decided to do one on Blade Dance.
As I said, this is just the beginning of the story to give a sort of background for where I plan to go with it - hence the chapter title, Genesis. It's going to be semi-canon with the light novel series, so expect to see a lot of the events in the light novel repeated in the story.
Finally, inspiration for this story will come from Eroninja by The Lemon Sage. Which means:
Yes, it will be a harem story.
Yes, there will be love/romance.
Yes, there will be lemons.
Yes, it will be rated MA.
Yes, the plot will sort of revolve around the relationships of the main character, but not as much as with Eroninja. I already have solid idea for how all of these relationships and lemons will tie into the story and how they can be rationally explained by made up elements in the story. That being said, lemons will not be the entire focus of the story, and will not appear in every single chapter, but I do plan to have them play a semi-major part in the main plot line for the fanfic.
Alright, that's all I have for now. I'm working on the next chapter currently, but I'll most likely update sporadically. This is just a hobby for me, after all. Well, until next time!