Hi and welcome to my third story of the Rakenzarn series.
Well, this is supposed to be my old fic but I wanted to remake it just like how I remake my previous Rakenzarn fics.
The reason is also the same, I notice there are some mistakes in the stories so I want to fix them all up. Only this time, I alter the story a bit.
The main character won't be Kyuu anymore, it'll be an OC of mine.
I also want to thank you readers for reading my stories for the very beginning. I couldn't believe that it's already been this long.
Special thanks to:
- Mask Rider Roy
- Anami-chan
- Chaoslord680
- Vastler75
- Kurush Wuzurg
- Riku-Rocks
- Umeko
- EmissaryX
- Echo the Ethereal Swordmaster
- chihiro Hiroshima
- Kamen Rider Chrome
- and all the other authors that supported me
DISCLAIMER: as usual, I don't own some of characters in the story. The characters that will appear in Rakenzarn Universe are owned by their respective owners. There are also OCs that are owned by their respective authors.
Without further ado, let's get started!
What is reality...
What is fantasy...
Such aspects can either bring peace and salvation to one realm... Or bring forth ruin and damnation.
Our universe consists of different realms.
The modern world... The past of untold history... A world of magic and swords... Kingdom of twisted demons... Country where the gods and angels dwell... The existence of supernatural... The mysterious future...
All those realms are combined with different elements, each resides familiar characters of some sort.
Their stories and histories are all recorded through a series of books. They're all connected to a single world.
What they don't know are shadows lurk behind every corner, working in secrets. The calamity that soon befall upon all the realms...
It must be stopped for the sake both reality and fantasy aspects...
Hence, one will be chosen to prevent a terrible fate.
-/-
A 15-year-old boy stands in a dark place, devoid of light.
The boy has light brown hair in an undercut hair style. He has black eyes and a strange birthmark on the left side of his neck.
He wears a typical high school uniform from Japan.
-/-
"Now...Go forth...
Restore the realms to their former glory... And so as yours..."
-/-/-
Rakenzarn Universe
-/-/-
The Beginning of All
Subete no hajimari
…
"Dude, wake up!"
…
"I said wake up!"
-Tokyo-
"W-What?"
The boy with the light brown hair wakes up and finds himself in a desk. He soon finds a young girl with long blue hair and eyes next to him.
"Frey Tazanuki, you slept half of the class again," the female student sighs.
The light brown haired boy, Frey, chuckles. "Sorry, sorry, Mayu. I was pretty tired so I couldn't help it."
"Geez, you're hopeless sometimes," Frey's friend, Mayu, sighs.
Our protagonist of the story, Frey, is actually at his classroom in the modern world of Japan. He is actually a new student who recently moved to Tokyo.
Welcome to Niwa Senior High School. It is one of the more famous school in the city, known for its interesting background and the famous students who graduated there.
The school is quite big with both its building and the yard. With the addition of its local gym, it even has its own swimming pool.
Much like any other classes at various schools, it has its own sets of desks and a whiteboard in the front. It's also where the teacher's desk is resided. As for the boy's desk, it's in the back.
In both sides, there are glass windows on the walls. The door is on the right side.
School time is already over as most of the students have left the classroom. Only very few remains in class, mostly the ones who are turn for cleaning duty.
Frey immediately packs his things to his backpack. "So Frey, got any plans for tonight?" Mayu suddenly asks while packing. Frey nods.
"Yeah, I promised Keisuke that I'd accompany him to Fujisaki Mall. Well, right after Kendo Club," Frey said to his friend.
"Hanging out Keisuke again?" Frey's friend raises an eyebrow, "That's like the fifteenth time in a row ever since you moved in. Don't tell me you guys are going for the same routine again."
Frey shrugs with his eyes closed and a smile.
"Can't help it, it is Saturday after all. Plus, they're having 50% discount at GameStation for every member AND today's the release of Project X Zone."
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that," Mayu scratches the back of her head, "Been following Hayate no Gotoku that I forgot to check on that."
At the same time, two girls are near the boys gossiping. Since the girls are rather close to the pair, Frey and Mayu overhear their conversation.
"Have you heard about yesterday's news?"
"Yeah, nee-chan told me about it. Really scary, y'know."
"Acid rain at Kyoto, earthquakes at Britain, now a tornado at Australia..."
"Maybe we should stay at home for next month's vacation, Satsuki."
The girls' conversation gains Frey's attention and also disturbs him.
"We're getting a lot of natural disasters lately," Mayu said.
"Yeah... To top it off, it occurs differently once a month," Frey adds with a concerned look on his face.
"But hey, maybe it'll stop this time. It's not like it's the end of the world or something," Frey's friend reassures him.
…
"Yeah, you might be right," Frey's concerned expression soon fades. His usual optimistic outlook returns.
"Well, gotta go now. Don't wanna be late for the club," Frey puts on his backpack around his back as he slowly makes his way to the door.
"Take care, Frey," Mayu waves at him with a faint smile.
-/-
Kendo Club activity is at the school's gymnasium.
Everyone in the club enter the gym, excited for their upcoming routine.
Among them is Frey, who arrives just in time.
They finish the usual warmup before proceeding to the usual workout. Each one equips the protective armor and shinai. With their equipment ready, they spar with their fellow club members.
As a sport, it is physically and mentally challenging for one.
The club members giving out everything they've got. They make their strikes against their opponents. Their opponents, likewise, block their assaults and counter.
Frey, like the rest of the club, does his best throwing his own set of strikes to his opponent. His performance is okay to say the least as he manages to hit his opponent's sides. That doesn't mean Frey has taken a few hits from his opponent.
The workout is quite exhausting, but fun.
An hour has passed and the club is finally done.
Most of the club members have gone to the locker room. They've already departed the gymnasium, probably going home or to other places to hangout. The rest decides to stay to clean up.
Frey is one of the first to get to the locker room and changes his overall outfit. He wears a black hoodie and jeans. The hoodie is slightly opened revealing a red T-Shirt underneath it. In addition, he wears a pair of black sneakers. He then puts on his backpack.
Now ready to go, Frey makes his way out of the gym and into the school gate. He's supposed to meet his best friend Keisuke there right after kendo. Unfortunately, his best friend is nowhere to be found.
His guess? He's probably late.
Frey decides to wait for him outside the school gate.
Ten minutes have passed and his friend still hasn't shown up yet. He decides to call Keisuke with his cellphone.
As soon as Frey pulls out his cellphone from his pocket, he notices a ring on the ground. He's a bit surprised, seeing that the ring isn't there before. "Did someone drop this?" he wonders.
Frey approaches and picks up the ring.
"Excuse me," a feminine voice suddenly calls out.
The boy with the light brown hair quickly turns around and finds a girl nearby. The girl appears to be same age as he is. She has black, shoulder length hair and blue eyes. She wears a white blouse with a long skirt. She also has a rather cute hairpin on her left side of her forehead.
The girl also carries a sketchbook.
"That's... That's my ring," the girl said meekly.
"Oh, this is yours?" Frey gives the ring to the girl, "I found it on the ground. You should be more careful with your belongings."
"Thanks," the girl said with a smile.
Although Frey doesn't want to admit, he finds the girl rather cute especially when she smiles. He soon notices the sketchbook in girl's hand.
"Are... Are you an artist?" Frey suddenly speaks up and asks.
The girl nods.
"How can you tell?" the girl asks.
"That," Frey points at the girl's sketchbook, "And you could say it's my... Intuition."
"Oh, is that so?" the girl said, seemingly interested with Frey's answer. "Well, I've just came from my art class and finished a few drawings. Would you like to see them?"
"Sure."
The girl hands over the sketchbook to Frey, prompting the latter to open it. He flips to the first page and sees a sketch of a large kingdom, something out of a classy fantasy game. The interesting part of this particular kingdom is an enormous tree with an unusual academy next to it. Although it's a sketch, it's actually looked impressive.
Frey then turns to the next pages. He finds various interesting background sketches of modern cities, futuristic worlds, countrysides, and an old school. All of the girl's sketches are top notch.
"Wow... You draw these? They look really good," Frey asks in an impressed tone as he gives the sketchbook back. The girl nods.
"I worked really hard to perfect my sketches. Glad you like it!" The girl said with a soft smile.
"Oh, excuse me, but I really gotta go now. Thanks again for finding my ring," the girl said as she raises her hand, wanting to shake hands with Frey. The boy with the light brown hair then raises his own hand and shakes the girl's hands.
"Hope we can meet again," the girl said as moves her hand away from Frey's. She then walks away. The boy waves his hand at her.
"Huh?" Frey suddenly feels an odd tingle from his chest. It's only for a brief second though. He touches his chest and rubs it. There's nothing wrong with it or even feel odd afterwards.
"Probably just my imagination," Frey thought.
"YO! FREY!"
From that moment, he finds his best friend Keisuke, approaching. His best friend is slightly taller than Frey. He has a short black hair and black eyes. He wears a blue T-Shirt that has a portrait of a hand giving a thumbs-up with the text 'It's not about win or lost, just play THE GAME' on it in small letters. He also wears long blue jeans and carries his own backpack.
"Sorry I'm late, dude. Mizuki dragged me off to help her with a class project," Keisuke said in an apologetic tone.
"Hey, no worries," Frey reassures his best friend.
-/-
A few hours later...
…
Frey finally returns home after going out with his best friend.
His house isn't that big but it's not that small either. It's big enough for three or four people. The house even has its own garage.
Frey, carrying a plastic bag (with the Fujisaka Mall label) in hand, makes his way to the living room.
Like your typical living room, it has its own set of sofas, table, and a carpet. There are also glass windows around the room.
It has some cabinets and desks, which has several pictures of Frey and his family displayed.
Lastly and not least, the living room has its own TV that has a cable network.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!"
Nobody answers...
"Alone again," Frey utters to himself. Pulling out the house key from his pocket, he locks the front door. Afterwards, he makes his way upstairs and into his room.
The light brown haired boy's room is a bit small when compare to his parents' and the guest room. However, it's comfy enough. There are many interesting things surrounding the room, adding a little life to his room.
The most common things to note are the closets, cabinets, and the desk, which is in front of a glass window closed by curtain. You can't possibly live without them.
His room has a small TV atop a small desk nearby. It also houses his game console, the Playstation3. As for his collection of games, they can be found in the drawers on the desk. They're all stored in their respective cases, ranged in alphabetic order. One of the CD cases is outside of the drawers, lying on the floor. The cover depicts an anthropomorphic raccoon in blue outfit and a mask while carrying a cane with a C-shaped hook on it.
On the desk, not only there's a book and lamp, there's also the Nintendo 3DS and a small digital clock.
The desk has several drawers with the upper right drawer containing most of the games for the handheld game console.
There are several posters on the wall surrounding the room, mostly the well-known and famous series. They're included a poster of a boy in a red, classy fantasy outfit with some sort of data gathering in his right hand. Another includes a Japanese in a white karate gi with the sleeves ripped off at the shoulders and a red headband facing an American in a bright red karate gi. Two other posters include a famous red plumber and a blue hedgehog.
In addition, there are action figures displayed on the cabinets.
One cabinet in the right side of the room keeps a stock full of books. Some of them are school materials (mainly the upper side) and some of them are mangas.
Frey's favorite mangas are a certain detective series that isn't very well known and a series starring a 10-year-old boy, seemingly starts out as a harem story before it turns into a shonen type.
Frey puts his backpack, his plastic bag, and his cellphone on his desk.
He's really exhausted for today since he has gone to school from the morning, joining up his Kendo Club, and going out with his best friend. Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday.
The light brown haired boy immediately changes his clothes to his favorite pajamas before he jumps to bed in the left side of the room. He lays his head on the soft pillow.
"Damn... What a day..."
Frey's vision slowly starts to fade as he drifts into sleep.
…
"H-Huh?"
Frey opens his eyes and finds that he's not in his room, but a bizarre room. It is very dim that the boy can barely see his surroundings. The only thing he can make out is the closed walls and some of the odd furniture around the room.
The atmosphere in the room is rather creepy, something out of a horror flick.
At first, Frey thinks that he's alone in the room. That is when he suddenly senses a presence.
He looks to the front and, to his surprise, finds someone sitting on a comfy chair. What surprises him that he doesn't remember someone being there. It's almost as if it appears out of nowhere.
Despite the dimmed light, Frey can tell the figure's appearance. The figure is a tall, thin woman with pale skin and long black hair that reaches the back of her knees. The woman's hair is cut in many layers; the front bangs up to her eyebrows, then another layer, reaching up to her jaw, and a layer at her hips and a final one at her knees. She has brownish red eyes. The woman wears a kimono that has a butterfly design.
"Welcome," the woman greets the boy with the light brown hair.
The woman's sudden appearance completely surprises Frey. He'd like to yell, but for some reason, something prevents him from opening his mouth. It feels as if he was being paralyzed.
"No need to be worried. You're not in danger," the woman said to Frey.
…
Taking her advice in, Frey breathes slowly and begins to relax.
From that moment, Frey soon notices three other figures. Unlike the woman, they're completely engulfed in shadows that he can't make out their appearances.
Despite that, Frey maintains his calmness.
The light brown haired boy then stares blankly at the mysterious woman. There's something familiar about the woman. Unfortunately, he's unable to remember.
"You're wondering where you are right now, aren't you?" the woman asks.
Frey nods.
"You see, you're in a world between realms, the boundaries of different worlds. We summon you through your dream," the mysterious woman explains to Frey. Her explanation doesn't do much as it only confuses him. The one thing that attracts his attention is when the woman mentions, 'We.'
"But there's still something that needs an answer," the woman suddenly points her finger at Frey.
"Me?" Frey finally speaks up.
"We've been searching for the one who can wield such power and responsibility, such thing shouldn't be taken so lightly. Are you the one who can restore the realms? Can you hold such unbelievable power?" the woman said.
The mysterious woman suddenly looks up. "One way to find out. Shall we?" she suddenly said.
Frey looks up as well. He finds a book levitating above.
Suddenly, the books descends slowly toward Frey. The brown-haired boy gets to see the book's cover once it's close enough. It depicts a yellow shield in the middle with two different swords forming a cross. The sword on the left is a classical broadsword shined with faint light. The right sword is completely made out of pure energy, colored in black.
"What's this?" Frey asks as the book lands on his lap.
"Just take it. We'll find our answer later," the mysterious woman suddenly said.
Before Frey has the chance to look what's inside the mysterious book, he notices that his body is slowly fading along with the book in his lap.
The mysterious woman leaves him with a cryptic message...
"I'm sure you have more questions, but it's time for you to go back. Know this... A great terror writhes in the shadows of different realms, including yours. If nothing is done, everything you know and love will cease from existence. If you do not wish for that to happen, then you must do something to fix it. Use your new gift wisely."
The mysterious woman smiles as Frey fades out from the room completely...
"Ugh..."
Frey soon wakes up in his bed.
Dazed, he turns around and notices that the lights are still on. Forgot to turn off the lights, he guesses. The light brown haired boy then looks out the window and notices faint sunlight reflecting through the glass. Another peaceful morning, as they say.
Frey turns his head around and gazes at the digital clock on his desk. It's 11 o'clock in the morning.
"Morning already?" Frey utters, still dazed after somewhat a long rest.
"Huh?" suddenly, the young boy notices something. Frey feels that he's holding something in his hands. While still lying on his comfy bed, he turns his head to look at his hands. To his surprise, he finds a book. It's not just any book, it's the very same book from his dream.
"W-What?!" Frey jumps.
He quickly gets up from bed and looks very close at the book's cover. There's no doubt about it. After seeing that book, he slowly remembers the dream he just have.
The boy with the light brown hair immediately opens the book. Strangely, all the pages are completely empty. That definitely confuses Frey as he remembers what the mysterious woman told him in his dream.
If you do not wish for that to happen, then you must do something to fix it. Use your new gift wisely.
…
"What was she talking about? What am I supposed to do with this?" Frey wonders as he continues to inspects the book even further.
From that very moment, the sunlight reflecting through the window suddenly vanishes.
Frey immediately approaches the window and opens the curtains. What he sees completely surprises him.
The entire sky is completely covered in black clouds. In fact, the clouds are very dark that it turns morning to night. Roars of thunder echo across the city followed by lightning striking across the sky.
It would've been seen as a typical typhoon if there hadn't been one thing. A strange red light appears from within the black cloud and begins to flow around, leaving traces of faint red light.
The boy with the light brown hair senses something truly ominous from the dark clouds and the red light. The one that concerns him the most is the red light.
Frey's cell phone suddenly rings.
He quickly picks it up from his desk and answers it. He finds that the call is from his friend, Mayu.
"Frey! Did you see outside?!"
"Yeah, I see it right now. The weather suddenly changes."
"W-What's going on, anyway?"
"I... I don't know."
"Listen, where are you?" Frey suddenly asks while he quickly changes his clothes to his casual overalls.
"I'm at Mifune Restaurant," Mayu answers immediately in the cellphone.
"Okay. Look, just stay there and I'll get to you," Frey said to Mayu in the phone. Once he's finished changing, he immediately leaves his room and heads outside.
-/-
A few minutes later, Frey arrives at the Mifune Restaurant. It's actually not that far from his home.
The restaurant is quite small, but the food they serve there is very good.
Frey finds that many people are outside the restaurant, looking at the sky above. It's mostly they want to see the red light flowing across the darkened sky. There are also several other people in the street around the restaurant. Frey soon finds his friend, Mayu, among the people near the restaurant.
"Mayu!" Frey calls her name in relief.
However, as soon Frey steps forward to get to her, the red light suddenly grows bigger, though not big enough to cover the entire sky.
Just then, something is emerging and descending from the red light... They're monsters.
The people, including Frey and Mayu, are completely surprised to see such thing as monsters.
Their appearances are hideous that anyone can find it very disturbing. They're very skeletal mainly their arms with their body composed of morbid, yet muscular body. Their hands have very sharp claws. Disturbingly, they have no heads as their upper body is entirely composed of crystal-like skin, serving as their 'eyes.' They also don't have legs, rather a skeletal 'tail.' They stand by levitating in the air though not that high.
As soon as the monsters reach the ground below, they suddenly begin to attack the people in the street. They lunge toward their prey and cuts them down with their claws. Their methods of killing are truly inhumane, they cut through a poor man's head off and impale another man's chest. The horrible slaughter prompts everyone to run for their lives.
"W-What the hell?!" Frey yells, staring at the monsters with a shocked expression.
The boy with light brown hair immediately sees Mayu in the midst of the chaos, kneeling on the ground in fright.
"MAYU!" Frey immediately runs through the chaotic crowd, making his way toward Mayu while avoiding the monsters. Once he reaches her, Frey quickly grabs her by her arm. "Hurry, we gotta get out of here!" He shouts as he drags Mayu away.
They run as fast as they can across the street to escape the monsters.
People screaming in horror, sounds of body being cut... Those horrible sounds echo throughout the street. It's only a matter of time for the cavalry to arrive and combat the monsters.
Unfortunately, more and more monsters emerge from the red light above. From that point, they've already spread across Tokyo rapidly.
The police force soon arrives at the scene and they fight the monsters. Unfortunately, their weapons aren't enough to take on the monsters. It takes more bullets to take one of them out, approximately fifty bullets. With that said, the monsters have no trouble fighting back at ease.
With the police slowly being overwhelmed by the enemy forces, they have no choice but to retreat and wait for backup.
That leaves the military force to handle the job.
-/-
Frey and Mayu run as fast as they can to stay alive.
They eventually reach a lone street. Strangely enough, the monsters haven't infested this street yet and there aren't any people around.
"I... I think we're safe for now," Frey said to Mayu.
The young blue-haired girl is still shaken in fear since she can't get the horrible images of the monsters from her head. Even worse, she still remembers seeing the monsters killing people during their escape. She kneels while holding her head. Her hands shake uncontrollably.
"Frey...Frey..." She calls out in an anxious tone.
Frey immediately goes to her and hugs her. "It's okay, Mayu. I'm here," he said. In his embrace, it manages to calm her down just a bit.
"Listen, Mayu," Frey moves slightly away from Mayu whilst his hands holding her arms. "I don't know what's going on, but I need you to stay calm. We're gonna get out of this mess, I promise."
Mayu nods in silent, though she still has the anxious expression written on her face.
Frey then turns around and looks at the street. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet it doesn't feel right.
The light brown haired boy steps forward as he tries to make sure everything is safe before they can move out. The best course of action in mind is to find a safer place to hide before those monsters find them.
Suddenly, it rains. It's very unusual when it rains, since it's all the sudden. It doesn't start out slowly, it just drops rains.
Something else happens...
A strange, rippling portal appears right in front of them.
Both Frey and Mayu jump out of surprise upon seeing the portal.
"W-What the hell?!" The boy with the light brown hair steps backward.
In that exact moment, a figure emerges from the portal.
"Huh? W-What?!" Frey yells even louder. He's more surprised from usual this time. In fact, he actually recognizes the figure. It's not just him, it's Mayu as well.
The figure is a large, bald man in muscular built with a scar on his right eye and a black goatee. The man has a rather strange red tattoo marks all over his body. His skin is rather pale. The man doesn't wear anything at all, leaving him nearly naked except the lower body. He only wears a leather loincloth and armlets. He also wears sandals as his footwear.
The muscular man carries a pair of large blades featuring horned demon faces on the hilts, pronounced hooks on their lower edges, and a pattern of orange stripes on the flat sides of the blades.
"What sorcery is this? Where have I been taken?" The man turns his eyes and look at the landscape, befuddled. Just by the look of his face, one can tell that he has never seen such construction of buildings in his life.
"You're... You're Kratos!" Frey shouts while pointing at the man, "Kratos from God of War?!"
"Oh my god..." Mayu utters while staring at the muscular man, Kratos. She has a very surprised look. "That's... That's really him? But... That's impossible! Isn't he a video game character?!"
"I don't know if I should be thrilled, scared, or just plain disgusted to see him face-to-face," Frey utters to himself. He scratches the back of his head, wondering.
"Hm? What's this?" Kratos snarls as he glares at Frey. "A child? What sort of clothes is he wearing?"
All the sudden, Kratos is surprised when he takes the time to look at Frey by his face. "Y-You," The Spartan soldier utters, his eyes widened and his jaws opened slightly. However, his surprised expression slowly changes to something else. An unbelievable rage sparks within him.
"So you are the one," Kratos speaks up.
"Huh?"
"There is no doubt about it. You're the very same cretin from my vision. Another fool sent by the gods to challenge me."
Frey immediately realizes that Kratos is referring to him. What is the God of War talking about? Well, he can worry about that later because knowing the God of War from his video game series, the man shouldn't be taken lightly. A slow reaction can get him killed. The light brown haired boy must be quick to act.
"Wait, Kratos!" Frey speaks up in a quick pace, "I think you have the wrong idea! This isn't your-"
"And you even know my name!"
"Oops..."
"Draw your weapon, boy!" Kratos points his right blade at Frey.
"B-But..." Frey utters in a nervous tone.
"Draw your weapon, now!" Kratos demands in a louder tone as he begins to approach Frey step by step and slowly.
"Ah crap! Too late!" Frey cringes as he steps backward. The Spartan soldier approaching is a sign of trouble; it's too late to talk to him. He will not listen to anything else. The only solution is to run.
"Kyaa! Frey!"
The boy turns around. He soon finds a group of the morbid monsters approaching from the other side of the street. Mayu is still on the ground, kneeling. She immediately stands up and runs to Frey's side.
Frey turns his head to the front and sees Kratos slowly approaching. He then turns his head to the back and sees the monsters.
They're surrounded...
"F-Frey, what're we going to do?" Mayu asks in a nervous tone as the two sides are getting closer.
Frey is dead silent, even he has no idea or solution to get out of their dire situation...
"Damn..." Frey kneels with a distraught look, "This... This is stupid!"
"Am I... Am I really going to die here? With Mayu at my side?" Frey grits his teeth and grips his fists. He can hear Kratos' footsteps and the creatures approaching.
That is when he remembers the book and the mysterious woman from his dream...
From that very moment, the book suddenly appears right in front of his eyes. Both Frey and Mayu are surprised to see the book, especially the former since he left the book back home.
However, something suddenly sparks in his mind and his body... An urge to do something with it...
…
"Kyozen'raku."
Frey holds out his hand at the book as it suddenly flips open by itself, much to Mayu's shock. The book flips the pages endlessly as strange writings begin to appear all over each page.
As soon as both sides get close to the pair, a shining light suddenly engulf them both. It also forces the monsters and Kratos away from them. Mayu shrieks as she quickly closes her eyes, blinded by the light.
Kratos manages to withstand the unknown force as he's pushed back from Frey and Mayu. "What... What is this?" The Spartan soldier covers his eyes with his blades.
As soon as the light fades, they all see Frey engulfed in a yellow aura. Mayu and Kratos see that Frey now holds a katana with his left hand.
"This... This power..." Frey utters as the book suddenly shrinks and clings itself onto the boy's waist, mainly his left side.
"Frey? W-What happened?" Mayu calls him out, now even more confused and anxious.
The morbid monsters suddenly move toward them. In a blink of an eye, Frey turns and forces Mayu to kneel before he lunges at the monsters. He immediately swings his katana and cuts down the monsters one by one. The enemies try to attack back, but Frey manages to evade their claws. Once half remains, Frey executes a vertical slash, cutting the remaining monsters in half.
"Whoa..." Frey utters as he stares at his katana. He can feel unusual powers energy overflowing through his body. His speed, strength, and his sense of awareness, they're evolved.
"Finally, you show your true power."
From that moment, Kratos moves in.
The God of War swings his weapons, extending his blades chained from its hilts. Fortunately, Frey senses the incoming attack so he dodges them by side stepping to the right.
Kratos immediately swings his swords around, extending its sharp blades to cut down Frey. The result remains the same as Frey skillfully dodges them, only this time he slides backward. He keeps sliding backward as Kratos pursues him.
"Only a coward would run," Kratos shouts as he continues to extend his sharp blades. Suddenly, Frey stops in his trail slides around the Spartan soldier, surprising the latter. "Who said about running away?" Frey utters as he reaches the right side of the Spartan, exposed for an attack.
The Spartan tries to defend, but fortunately, Frey swings a slash on his right side. Surprisingly, it doesn't cut through the Spartan's body. It doesn't end just yet, as the light brown haired boy throws a punch right directly at Kratos' torso.
The attack sends Kratos away and wounded.
"Such simple tactic of surprise attack," Kratos growls as he turns to the right, facing Frey. "I will not make that mistake again."
Frey holds his katana's hilt tighter as he prepares for whatever Kratos has in mind.
Kratos dashes toward Frey. This time, he moves much faster than before. He leaves the boy without any chance to defend or evade as he launches him into the air. The God of War jumps high into the air, catching up with Frey. Next, he brutally slashed the light brown haired boy with his weapon, the Blades of Exile. Like Kratos, the blades don't cut Frey in pieces though it's very painful.
The Spartan soldier then smashes Frey to the ground.
"Ugh," Frey quickly gets up as Kratos descends with his blades raised. He blocks the Spartan's attack just in time.
Kratos dashes backward in the air before he lands on the ground. He immediately swings his left blade, extending it toward Frey. The boy with the red hair manages to block it with his sword. Unfortunately, that also leaves his right side unguarded.
The God of War then swings his other blade around once his left blade collides with Frey's katana, extending it toward Frey's left side. The young boy quickly jumps into the air to evade the blade.
Frey then dashes toward Kratos through the air, intending to thrust his katana through the man's body. Unfortunately, he doesn't expect that Kratos defends himself by punching directly at the face. The impact sends Frey flying across the area.
Once on ground, Frey intends to get up. Unfortunately, Kratos swings his blades upward extending them and then sending them downward onto Frey, crushing him. The blades retract to their hilts afterwards.
The boy with the light brown hair then gets up.
From that very moment, the God of War moves in and starts swinging and extending his Blades of Exile once again. This time, Frey is more prepared as he slides backward to avoid the attack.
Frey intends to execute the same tactic; running backward and avoiding Kratos' attack until the Spartan leaves an opening.
Unfortunately, doing the same tactic is rather a bad idea. As soon as Frey slides around Kratos and reaches the Spartan's right side, the latter turns around toward the former and punches him. The impact sends Frey backward in midair.
With Frey still in midair, Kratos swings his Blades of Exile and rapidly attacks the young boy, ending it with a powerful downward smash. Frey is pinned on the ground.
"Damn," Frey utters as he slowly gets up. Unfortunately, the pain is too much for him to bear. He can only kneel.
Suddenly, something comes up from his mind almost from out nowhere. Frey slowly lowers his head looking at the mysterious book clinging on his waist.
…
Frey suddenly gestures his right hand. The book shines a faint yellow light. It comes off from his waist, levitating in the air.
The book then opens by itself and flips to a certain page where a set of cards is found hidden within. One of the cards flies away from the page as it levitates into front of Frey. The card has a portrait of a familiar boy in red.
Once the card is in front, Frey slashes the card in half.
"Kite Soul!"
Frey's overall outfit suddenly changes from black to bright red with dark red lines all over his outfit. His katana is also shined with yellow light before it suddenly changes into a pair of short blades. The book then clings back onto the boy's left side of his waist.
"W-Whoa, is this..." Frey utters with a surprised expression while looking at his clothes, now changed color.
"What sorcery is this?" Kratos snarls.
The Spartan warrior wastes no time questioning as he swings his Blades of Exile, extending the sharp blades toward Frey. However, the light brown haired boy suddenly disappears in a blink of an eye.
Kratos is surprised.
Frey suddenly appears behind Kratos.
"You're open!" Frey executes a variety of quick slashes and thrusts at Kratos on his back. He then thrusts his blades upward, sending Kratos high into the air. With his new rapid speed, he jumps high into the air and reach the Spartan warrior. Frey then thrusts through Kratos, leaving a red triangle-shaped mark on the latter.
Kratos yells in pain as he crashes on the ground while the boy with the light brown haired hair lands safely on the opposite side.
Frey then gestures his right hand for the book to summon another card. This time, the card's portrait is a 10-year-old boy with glasses and carries a magical staff. He immediately cuts the card in half.
"Negi Soul!"
Frey's clothes revert to its original color as he gains a silver cape with a magic symbol on it. His short blades are changed into a magic staff similar to the one from the boy's in the card.
Seeing Frey transformed, Kratos intends to swing his Blades of Exile in retaliation.
"Ras tel ma scir magister!" Frey casts a powerful lightning bolt at an unexpected Kratos. The latter screams out of pain as the spell's electrical surges coursing through his veins.
With Kratos paralyzed by the lightning spell, Frey gestures his hand again for the book to summon another card. This one has a portrait of a young man with spiky, blonde hair in a sleeveless shirt, indigo pants, and a belt. His weapon is a massive sword several feet long. Frey suddenly punches the card and it somewhat breaks into pieces like glass.
"Cloud Soul!"
Frey loses the silver cape but he gains gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder. His magic staff changes to the massive sword similar to the one in the card. It is known as the Buster Sword.
The light brown haired boy dashes toward the Spartan warrior.
Kratos recovers from his paralysis state and swings his blades quickly. Their blades collided. The impact is rather fierce as it releases a powerful shockwave from both fighters. Fortunately, the Buster Sword is much stronger as it forces Kratos backward.
"Now then!" Frey is engulfed in a drastic aura.
The young boy then bombards Kratos with slashes from different directions, finishing with a powerful overhead slash.
The powerful attack brutally wounds the Spartan warrior as he leans backward.
"This... This is impossible," Kratos utters in disbelief, seeing that he's slowly losing. "How could a child possess such power?"
"Hey, hey, it's not over," Frey speaks up as he gestures his hand once again. The card this time is a man in a white karate gi. He cuts the card in half with the Buster Sword.
"Ryu Soul!"
Frey's outfit changes color to pure white as he loses the gauntlets and the pauldron over his left shoulder. It is replaced with a red headband.
Frey runs toward Kratos.
The Spartan warrior swings his blades around, extending them at the boy with the light brown hair. Fortunately, he's much more agile and slightly faster from his normal form.
When Frey is very close, Kratos throws a punch directly at his face. The young boy doesn't defend or evade, instead he retaliates with a headbutt. It proves to be very painful as Kratos feels an intense pain from his fist. Frey grins.
"Here goes!" Frey throws several uppercuts, which consists of the boy spins and rockets upward horizontally. He does so, knocking Kratos up in the air several times.
As Kratos is sent into the air, Frey is suddenly engulfed with blue flames as he enhances his right fist. "SHORYUKEN!" he performs another uppercut that sends Kratos even higher.
The boy with light brown hair then positions his hands backward as he gathers a mass of energy from both his fists while yelling, "METSU!" As soon as Kratos descends and nearly reaches the ground...
"HADOKEN!"
Frey fires a huge and powerful burst of purple energy blast at Kratos. The blast is rather painful as it courses through the Spartan's muscular body before it sends him flying away.
The impact sends Kratos crashing toward an abandoned building nearby. To add insult to the wound, the building collapses burying the Spartan warrior.
Victory belongs to Frey much to his surprise.
He stares at his fist in awe, knowing that he just defeated a powerful warrior, let alone the 'God of War.' He can also feel the immense power flowing through his body.
"Oh, and another thing," Frey turns his attention to the ruined building as he reverts to his normal form, "Kratos... Grow up."
Frey then turns around to see if his friend is okay.
Suddenly, Kratos emerges from the rubble, gaining Frey's attention. The boy with the light brown hair quickly turns around toward the remains of the building. He soon finds that Kratos is very angry, much to his surprise.
The Spartan warrior roars loudly as he glares at the young boy.
"You shall pay dearly for this!"
Kratos, armed with his Blades of Exile, starts to charge toward Frey. All the sudden, another rippling portal appears between them.
The boy with the light brown hair can see a faint image of a figure within the portal. He sees a larger, muscular man with long hair armed with a large hammer.
Kratos immediately stops in front of the portal. "Another one?"
The figure within the portal raises his hammer and suddenly releases lightning bolts, striking the Spartan warrior, who prepares for an attack. Kratos grunts out of frustration as he glares at the large figure. He immediately dashes into the portal before it disappears.
"What in the..." Frey becomes silent with a shocked expression.
-/-
Frey quickly turns around and approaches his classmate, Mayu.
He finds that the blue-haired girl is completely in shock since she has witnessed everything from the fight. She's completely silent. "Mayu, are you okay?" Frey asks as he approaches her. Mayu turns her attention at her fellow classmate, her shocked facial expression remains.
"What... Just... Happened?"
"Excuse me?" Frey asks in a casual tone.
"Seriously! What just happened?!" Mayu suddenly stands up with her expression changes to anger. Then again, she's completely confused about everything that just happened.
"First the sky, then monsters, then an angry bald man from a gorey video game shows up, and now YOU... Well, like this!" Mayu shouts. She points her index finger at Frey while waving her other hand uncontrollably. "Just... What the hell's going on here?! Can someone just tell what's going on?!"
Well, that's some reaction.
"Mayu... Why don't you calm down?" Frey asks politely.
"I'm perfectly calm!" Mayu yells, panting heavily after her outburst.
Frey then looks around his surroundings as he notices that the rain gets even harder. Now the question is, what's their next move?
At the same time, there's someone on top of a tall building nearby. The mysterious figure appears to be a tall, devil-like figure in a thick body suit in purple color. He wears a headdress that has a bat-like appearance. He has long, sharp finger nails and wings that are metallic in appearance.
The devil-like figure has watched the entire fight from afar as he stares blankly at Frey in the ground.
"That was quite an entertaining show," the figure said to himself in a calm manner.
"Yes, impressive indeed," another figure appears next to the devil. The figure is slightly smaller than the former though he's still quite tall and slightly more muscular. He appears to be lizard-like with deep purple skin. He sports several armor-like carapaces on his chest, shoulders, shins, and head. He also has red stripes under his eyes.
"But there's no doubt about it... His powers and his victory over the God of War, that proves that he is the one," the lizard-like figure adds.
"However, we should observe him a while longer," the devil-like figure said to his comrade, "I like to see the extend of his power."
"The Azoth has finally appeared."
To be continued...
A/N: And that's the end of the chapter for this fic. Hope you like it. This is just the first chapter of the prologue, the next chapter will be a bit short but also serve as the ending of the prologue.
Also, we'll have more characters from different in the next one, both new and familiar faces.
The characters' debut are:
- Frey Tazanuki, the main protagonist of the story who possessed a mysterious power. His mother is British and his father is Japanese, he joins Kendo Club and really loves entertainment.
- Mayu Kusinaki, Frey's classmate.
- Kratos, the main protagonist and anti-hero of God of War by SCE Santa Monica Studio.
Can you guess the other characters that make their appearances in this chapter?
