Resume
I only own Brent.
This chapter is dedicated to all veterans.
At Brent's room on the roof of the dorms he was once again spending time with the magically aware population of class 3-A meaning Setsuna, Kazumi, Ku Fei, Asuna, Yue, Nodoka, Konoka, and last but not least Negi. His brothers had also deigned to make an appearance and Falco had even managed to convince Mana to come to. All of them were sitting a various points on the floor save for Averus who was meditating in the corner, Falco and Mana who both were leaning against the wall.
"Come on Brent-kun!" Konoka begged "Tell us more about yourself! We still don't know anything about you or your brothers!"
"That's because I forbid him from telling anyone about myself." Averus said calmly from the corner.
"Well I guess I could tell you my 'Resume' and maybe Falco's too if he minds." Brent replied absently from the couch where he sat between Ku Fei and Kazumi.
"Tell them also give them a brief list of my collection!" Falco said happily from against the wall next to Mana.
"No." Brent replied as soon as Falco finished speaking.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Konoka asked in confusion.
"Let me put it this way. Current kill count for me estimated at about… fifty thousand? Give or take a hundred, with Falco boasting a whopping 1 million at his last guess." Brent explained earning a gasp from all except for Mana who only looked slightly surprised.
"Total number of wars I've been in… maybe fifty though only five of them stand out in my mind and Falco in his never ending need to fight has always been on the opposite side just looking for me… though he's only found me in three of them. I fought in the American Revolution for the colonies, The Union during the American civil war, World War One and Two both on the American side and Vietnam." Brent continued.
"Wow! What battles did you fight in?" Kazumi asked taking out a notepad and preparing to take notes.
"Guadalcanal, D-day, Carentan, St. Lo, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Not going to go into many details but lets just say that when I should be killed I'd vanish from wherever I was and join another part of a war." Brent explained.
"I still don't get it." Ku said.
Brent sighed before he continued.
"I trained in the U.S.M.C. in 1941 and was first deployed on August 7 1942 at Guadalcanal and participated in the entire campaign for the island. It was sometime in February that the Island was won and I decided to use a complex spell to make a clone of myself with a mental link that went for army training." Brent told them calmly.
Most of them were listening intently wondering what else he had experienced in his life… Falco however had fallen asleep standing up.
"Tell us more!" Kazumi said enthusiastically a sentiment echoed around the room.
"Then my clone learned that he was going to be participating in the landing at Normandy and after another complex spell I switched with my clone. I landed at Utah beach and with my squad we managed to take out one pillbox using rifle grenades from the beach and a second upon getting off the beach up the cliff. I fought at Carentan and helped capture St. Lo then I was involved in a series of battles till December of 1944 when my squad volunteered to assist a paratrooper company heading for Bastogne. When the siege was broken on the 26th an artillery round blew near me and I decided to return to the Pacific, once again replacing the clone." He told them before taking a breath "On February 19th I was among the marines who landed on Iwo Jima and I was there till march 10th when my company was pulled back to take part in the Okinawa Invasion."
"That's where he found me!" Falco gloated having just been pretending to sleep.
"FALCO SHUT UP! I'M TELLING THE STORY HERE!" Brent shouted angrily "Anyway we landed on April 1st and helped capture the airbase at Kadena. On June 6th I ran into Falco while attempting to capture Shuri Castle. We put up a barrier and proceeded to fight each other ending with me winning. But it was only recently that I learned he was holding back a great deal! He then made a dead clone of himself and ceased his involvement in WW2. I continued to be involved till the 21st when I was 'killed' by a landmine at which point I did the same as Falco and left."
"Wow! That's amazing!" Negi said excitedly.
"Yeah it is." Brent said gloatingly.
"Both of you are truly pathetic to brag about such trivial things." Averus said from his corner.
"And you're a killjoy." Falco snapped back.
"Where did you learn the Kensei style?" Setsuna asked.
Brent leaned back, crossed his arms and tried to remember where and when he learned the Kensei style.
"My father taught me the basics when I was twenty I think however he died when I was a hundred and never finished teaching me. But then I set out to find a teacher of the Kensei style and found one of the last few to have been trained by 'The Kensei' himself… the man looked like a prune and was a hundred and fifty years old. When I asked him how he could be so old he replied its one of the side effects of mastering the mythical style. I spent the next seventy years training with him at the end of which he gave me my final lesson. He said that in order to truly master the style I must find myself, find my soul, find my heart, find my mind and find my resolve. He then told me that I should look for Kensei's sacred swords which were scattered around the world and hidden or lost so as to keep those with dark hearts from corrupting them." Brent paused to try and remember more details before he continued "He died after telling me that and I left in search of what I needed. It took me seven hundred years before I found one of The Kensei's swords in the Himalaya's at a Buddhist Temple. The sword was called Fudotoku Hikari and I was told by the monks that The Kensei had made it from the bones of a demon the destroyed Atlantis by corrupting its leaders and citizens. I had to undergo a trial in order to claim it for myself."
"What did you have to do?" Asuna asked.
"Well first they put me into a chamber with the sword and sealed me in. The sword suddenly vanished and I became surrounded by a forest full of dead trees." Brent said.
Flashback
"Who dares enter my realm?" A sinister voice asked.
"I am Tiere disciple of the Kensei Style and I have come to claim the sword Fudotoku Hikari!" He replied.
"Well then lets see if you can complete my test or if I'll be adding your strength to my own." The voice stated.
Suddenly the forest was filled with a loud growling sound as two swords appeared at either side of him. A massive yellow cat the size of a rhino smashed through the trees and roaring angrily. The cat had burning paws and two long tails tipped with flame as it blasted Tiere with flames from its mouth. He grabbed the two swords and spun them in front of him.
"Kensei Shitai: Sube Nishikaze!" He shouted causing a whirlwind to appear around the two swords which swallowed up the fire.
He leapt at the cat and easily cut its head off. As the cats body crumbled into ash a long howl was heard and a powerful wind blew through uprooting trees and threatening to blow him away had he not planted a sword into the ground. The next thing he knew a five tailed wolf a little larger than the cat pounced on him and bit into his shoulder. He shouted in pain before he took a deep breath and blasted it with white flames. The wolf howled as it leapt off of him covered in flames, Tiere leapt to his feet, pulled the sword out of the ground and held both of him crossed behind his back.
"Kensei Shitai: Sube Gekiretsu Unabara!" He shouts slashing with his sword.
Two red blades fly out of the edge of his sword and cleanly slice the wolf into four pieces. Suddenly the trees were back up, and the swords were gone.
"Hahaha, you are both skilled and ruthless to your enemy. You are worthy to wield me. But know when I seem gone to look under a floating island." The voice said cryptically.
"What the hell does that mean?" Tiere shouted back.
End flash back
"What about your other sword?" Negi asked.
"That one was even harder. The sword was called Shinsei Kurai and supposedly it was given to The Kensei by a goddess of some kind and was very well hidden too." Brent explained "It took another 721 years to find it under an old monastery in Italy that was cursed by the devil. I found it full of Hell spawn and was forced to fight my way through them. It took me six days of near continuous fighting to get to the chamber where the sword lay and when I did I found a beautiful lady waiting in a beam of white light. She had pure white robes on and alabaster skin, her eyes were like gems and she had an ethereal glow to her."
The way Brent described the woman seemed to show them he was infatuated with her and both Kazumi and Ku Fei were starting to get jealous. The look on his face was one of rapture of the memory of the woman.
"It turns out that she was a Succubus that attacked me as soon as I let my guard down. I managed to kill her quite easily though and reached the sword… though she still was quite memorable." Brent stated "The sword apparently had ripped open a portal to hell which allowed a few Hell spawn out… I estimate about five hundred of the ugly beasts and then sealed them into the monastery by putting up a barrier around the place to keep them in."
"Hey wait a second!" Yue stated "How could you have known that the sword did that?"
"Well as soon as I touched the swords handgrip time seemed to freeze." Brent explained.
Flashback
He was covered in blood ranging in color from red to blue and black that had come from the numerous Hell spawn he had slain, had numerous char marks on his clothing and was breathing heavily after the long battle to reach this sword. He reached out and grasped the handgrip… and everything stopped. He head what sounded like heels on stone. He heard a soft feminine giggle behind him and for a second feared a more powerful Succubi had arrived… until he felt soft feminine arms drape around his neck.
"Such a sad heart for such a powerful soul." A kind, sad and soft voice said.
The next thing he knew the hands had vanished and a girl appeared from out of nowhere on the other side of the stone the sword was leaning against with her hands behind her back. The girl was wearing a pure white kimono that hid her feet from view but showed off her figure to him, around her neck was a simple necklace that had a single four inch long Amethyst that rested between her bust, she had about a C-cup breast he estimated, raven colored hair, bronze skin, and ruby red lips.
"Are you just going to stare at me?" The woman asked "It's not very polite."
"I'm sorry but who are you?" Brent asked.
He could not move despite how hard he tried and hadn't even opened his mouth to speak, he assumed this girl had cast a very powerful spell of some kind or even several powerful spells in order to achieve this affect.
"No I didn't cast any of my spells on you or the place. As for who I am… you may call me Hinagiku the Goddess of Light." Hinagiku said.
"Goddess… of Light?" Brent remarked.
Hinagiku nodded and smiled before she said anything.
"Yes… I have been watching you little one." She said before vanishing and reappearing beside him where she began to stroke his chin as she leaned closer to whisper into his right ear "You are very special as I have already said."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Despite all the hatred and distrust you are given your heart and soul haven't strayed into darkness and hate." She whispered in his left ear "You fight to protect those that hate you and would give anything for a chance to kill you."
She vanished again and reappeared by the rock which had now become a stone pedestal that Hinagiku sat upon. He saw that she had changed so that she was now wearing a leather bodice that covered her chest and hips leaving her stomach and thighs exposed.
"And now you have found the second of my friends swords and managed to claim it as your own. I'm sure you will become even greater then The Kensei ever was through your strength of heart alone." Hinagiku said happily.
"You knew The Kensei?" Brent shouted.
"Of course… I gave Shinsei Kurai to The Kensei." Hinagiku said "We were very good friends."
"What was he like?" He asked.
"Kind, generous, merciful, and incredibly powerful." Hinagiku said "It's time I leave you here but… I do have a small piece of advice. When they seem lost search in the deepest hall of knowledge."
Before Brent could respond she appeared in front of him with her face an inch from his and blew in his face. Everything blacked out and when his vision cleared he was back outside of the monastery… but he was holding something other then the sword. In his hand was the necklace he had seen around Hinagiku's neck. He was amazed at how perfect it was and swore it was as clear as glass as he could see the ridges on his hands through it.
"You have my favor little one… I'll be watching over you." Hinagiku's voice echoed around him.
End flashback
Brent opened up a shadow and pulled out the necklace he had been given and showed it to is friends who were mesmerized by it.
Translations
Kensei Shitai: Sube Nishikaze = Kensei style: Way of the West Wind
Kensei Shitai: Sube Gekiretsu Unabara = Kensei style Way of the Violent Sea