Author's Note: Not a lot to say right now, Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 74: The Last Straw
The sword ran through the mouth of the whale person and was subsequently ripped out splitting the head open, a low swing when the church fanatic one swung high took everything his waist and under out from below him, the third slash ripped the man from ass to appetite, and when his body fell away from his soul Ikki switch over his blade and he ate it. Exhausted and surrounded by dead men Ikki sat down and breathed deep.
"What is wrong these people!?" Q'Ten Lo had figured out what they had done and as good as declared war on them for it. Slavers saw a poorly defended village full of half starved refugees and thought of coin. And he had no idea where these other guys had come from but they refused to just stay down until he ripped their souls from their chests and ate them with his sword. This situation needed un-fucking but it wasn't getting done because the people who usually do that have run off as far as another world and he was only one around to fix it, but he couldn't cause he had to stay put and drop these ass holes like flies.
"That was the last of them." Ake stated as he sat down next to Ikki. He was starving, as soon as he got a hold of Trash he was going to undo whatever it was he did to his magic to make his body try to eat itself every time he used it. "Is this going to become a thing?" Ake asked as he let exhaustion bleed him.
"Without Raphtalia a revolution in Q'Ten Lo has neither legitimacy or longevity." Strike one. "Until we know where these mass produced Takt's and Kyo's and whoever the hell these people are coming or how to stop them killing them as they appear one by one, which I can't do until the rest of this situation is managed somehow." Strike 2. "And I can't stick around and fight off slave traders all day because all these other problems exist!"
A thought occurred to Ikki in that moment, a way to deal with the issues before them. Rat was examining the fruits of her last experiment, she was able to successfully cure the diseases that had been plaguing the individuals that Tatsuya had paid to be brought here with cash that he did not have. Then the door came off of it's hinges.
"Alright everyone up and at em we got work to do!" Ikki shouted clapping hands together and getting everyone's attention in the process.
"Why did you kick the door off?" Rat stated as she went through the process of having it reattached.
"I didn't mean to do that." Ikki assessed what was left of the door reattach and repair itself. Bloody creepy plants. "I was trying to be dramatic, as I understand it it's something that people do before they make important decisions."
"And what decision would that be?" One of the refugees, a demi-human child, asked him.
Good. They'll take up less of the much needed space on the boat. What was Seatto without anyone to live there? Empty buildings and plowed fields. Correction booby trapped fields. Rat had promised him that the so called 'Plant Wires' were absolutely nasty. Not quite as nasty as the Cross Dews though, impractical according to Rat, but Ikki had given her two very specific conditions imposed on them. Painful and visible. Having Rat level them all down before they left was both cheaper and more effective then the dragon's hourglass. Without the use of a portal skill, having left instructions to put the barrier back up Q'Ten before they left to deal with the Turtle, the group had to take the long way over of using the Krakken ship. Ikki didn't even have a portal for Siltvelt so they had to fly all the way over. It gave him time to think, about the problems his allies had faced, the reactions that they had and the solutions they picked to deal with them and the conclusion he reached was well... Perspective can be a dangerous thing. Getting sucked into Q'Ten Lo for the second time by the Water Dragon wasn't any less pleasant the second time than the first, but unfortunately they neglected to set a proper date to return to Q'Ten Lo. Ikki didn't both getting dressed up this time, only wait for Raluva to show up passing the time by trimming his nails with his sword.
"Has the empress come back yet?" Raluva asked confused both by Ikki's presence and the fact that he wasn't dressed for infiltration.
"She hasn't. I don't know when she's going to come and speaking frankly I don't give a damn." Ikki stated as Intetsu disappeared from thin air. "Back in my world I went through a lot. I was treated like crap by my family cause I didn't live up to their standards. I had a target placed on my back because my family hates me. There were people trying to kill me and I put up with it. Because there was a system, because I was told that if I played to it things would get better." Something changed in Ikki's eyes, like he had taken off a mask. "But you know, while lying in a pile of bodies of your country men and others trying to catch my breath something finally snapped and I decided I found the straw that broke the camel's back." People want to kill him? They can get in line. They want slaves to sell? He'll happily buy some as long as they keep their efforts limited to refugees that need to get out of the line of fire. But most importantly... "But you guys don't have that do you? It's time I stopped pretending that. Q'Ten Lo declared war on me and my friends the moment they decided that arming our enemies to kill us was a good idea. That has consequences." Ikki has seen things.
He's seen a innocent man, a friend no less, dragged in before a Kangaroo court and framed for the most heinous of crimes. He's seen a group of mad men drag innocent people out of their homes for the purpose of turning them into shock troops for their genocidal campaign. He's seen a mountain get up and walk all over a town because someone had written off a planet. Ikki has changed, or perhaps stopped pretending that he was okay when he wasn't. He's seen suffering both more and less than his own and come realise that he was the abnormal one here, that it isn't normal to just... take this much punishment.
"The Bitch you mentioned. The one that's running the country through a false emperor: where is she?" Raluva knew a mad man when he saw one, the country was full of them. What's one more for the maggot pile?
"The new capital, you won't pierce through their barrier unless you can deal with the creatures protecting it." Raluva stated watching a golden glint in Ikki's eyes.
"Killing monsters." Ikki ran his finger across the legendary sword, almost like he was petting it. "What exactly do you think I've been doing since I came to this world?" Ikki went after the snake nest first. It was closest and he took a group of five of the human refugees he brought with him, three slave bonuses and two human, after decapitating the alpha snake their levels were maxed. After that was a group of Lemo's? Mole people? Whatever, a handful more of the snakes and they went from 0 to 40 too with near half a dozen growth bonuses. By the time they finished wiping out the snakes five groups was ready for class up's, and they had only started cleaning out the pests speaking of which...
"I am expecting company shortly, do remember to pay attention, I am going to give you quiz's when this is all over and I expect you, if not know what they did wrong, then to have a idea of it." Ikki's grey eyes had gold flakes in them and he was feeling on top of the world.
"What they did wrong?" The eldest of the Lemo's, a man affectionately called Tolly, asked as he made a move to guard the people behind him. "Who are you talking about?"
"Ant's Tolly, ants. We're here to deal with a infestation of them." Ikki had a evil smirk on his face. "They always make a mistake."
"And how do you know that?" Tolly asked looking at the crazier by the moment man before them.
"So glad you asked! Because they always make them. That is the consequence of training. You become trapped in the pattern of muscle memory and it becomes difficult to break away from that." Ikki stated smiling like he was a genius explaining his ground breaking theory.
"Except for you that is?" Tolly guessed sceptically.
"When I see a swordsman in action I look for every opening they make, and what they should've done instead: consequentially all I need to do is recreate the perfected movements from my imagination." Ikki stated his face of a man whose logic was infallible.
"So you can manipulate matter with your mind now too?" The mole man still looking quite suspiciously at Ikki.
"Close. I can manipulate my body with my mind." Ikki stated bluntly. "If you do do physical training, it should be dedicated to as much exercise to raise your physical stats and taking control as many of your bodily functions as possible. Don't worry." There was nothing to not worry about in regards to the way Ikki was looking at them now. "You will." Now that Ikki had finished being vaguely threatening, for now, he saw the men coming for them. "Ah that would be them now. I suggest taking cover now." The 'ant's' in question more closely resembled foxes, bears and badgers, heavily armoured as they slowly approached them radiating bad intentions. "Good evening gentlemen, how do you do?" Ikki gave the group of soldiers a bow, even as the slave refugees all fled for cover. "Can we get you anything? We were just about to have supper: fried mamba to be specific. It's very tasty you understand."
"We've receive a report of a blatant violation of the emperor's will. The snake monsters that live outside of this town have all been slaughtered, their bodies dragged off to parts unknown." The Fox stated Ikki's so called invitation as good as confession.
"Is that a no to the Mamba then?" Ikki asked as he gave a mocking pout, even as they pulled out their weapons. "The thing you are fundamentally mistaken about is that the emperor has no will, he and his wife died nearly four months ago in Melromarc's wave. Your empress on the other hand kindly requests that you all put your weapons down now before I lose my patience."
"You have no weight here murderer." The fox stated bluntly.
"Oh I am indeed a murderer." Ikki stated stated running his finger along his blade's edge. "I've cut down your countrymen by the hundreds after you people charged into my protectorate with the intention of killing someone who isn't even there."
"Oh? So the rebel princess isn't there? Thank you for letting us know. We will have to extract her location from you once we have captured you and your accomplices." The man pulled out his sword in a way that caused his had arm to pass over his face. A mistake.
"Damn, I should've asked if you were the commander first." One of the Fox's men's heads rolled next to his feet. "You spent so much time talking I didn't bother to question it." Ikki stated seated on a pile of corpses from the 'battle' just now. "Oh damn I was going to use you guys for lesson material too. I'm getting caught up in myself." The commander stepped backwards, watching the legendary blade in Ikki's hand transform.
"Impossible, this is one of the Sitera Destiny Stones!" The commander stated aiming the pink stone Katana in his hands.
"Which is rather ironic you understand, considering this is probably exact situation you should be using that for, but you see you weren't very thorough in making sure that you secret super weapons wouldn't fall into the hands of your enemy." As if to prove his point Ikki held up a pink dagger made with familiar stone.
"Die!" The Fox slammed his blade above Ikki's head and Ikki caught blade with two fingers before twisting it out of his hands and kicking him back. The Katana had high offensive power but no unlocks for Ikki.
"Well that was the last relevant bit." Ikki stated as he walked over and stabbed the fox in his gut with the Dagger of Pride.
"You have information I want. Give it to me!" Ikki learned of the locations of the monsters that powered the barrier from his new loyal servant, for his reward Ikki chopped his head off and buried him alongside his comrades under the local farms.
"Funny I didn't take you for the type." Sadeena walked up to Ikki after he was finished with the dead, concern written on her features. "I use to read a story book to little Raphtalia about a weapon exactly like the one you used against that Fox. Would you like to know how it ends?"
"I imagine that it went something along his own hubris getting him killed most likely at the hand's of another Hero or several of them." Ikki stated as he was already planning out the next fight using the fox's information as a reference. "Yeah. Always something I tried to avoid myself. Miracle I survived long enough to get summoned."
"What do you mean?" Sadeena asked looking confused.
"I mean that if I was not the Sword Hero I would've been summoned as the Shield Hero instead. I certainly seem to proficient in standing around doing nothing while suffering at the hands of abuse of others in my own world but here?" Ikki smirked a smile that was not entirely his own. "I've come to reevaluate my place in the food chain."
Pride did not seem to be a flaw of Ikki at first glance, on the contrary humbleness was one of his greatest virtues, too much of one one could say. When Ikki was five years old he ran out into waist deep snow during a blizzard in his pajama's because he didn't have enough self worth not to. Once Ikki stood still while another student at his school nearly shot him to death, because he did not have permission to fight back, Ikki mopped the floor with him in three minutes as soon as he received permission to do so. Just before coming here Ikki was nearly starved and drugged to death by his own family before being left on his own in the middle of the streets in a emotional wreck and told to report for a fight anyway. Ikki spent his entire life sharpening his skills stealing the fighting styles of others and cherry picking them for the best of the best and inventing his own until he was the best swordsman in the world and he knew it. So soul shattering depression, the justified belief that he was the best swordsman who ever lived, the fact that he had already copied a weapon refined from the curse series, maybe just being left behind to hold the bag while the world collapsed was just the final straw.
"Now if it's all the same with you, I have matters that need dealing with." Ikki taught the lessons the same way that he learned, he had his students sit down and watch the matches he got from the magicians guild on crystal ball and told them to write down what the people did wrong, memorise the details because when morning came and the children were finished their growing pains he would not be going easy on them. Until then there were monsters that needed tending to, the first of which was a one time rival to the water dragon that was being kept in a hole in the ground near a populated area.
"They blessed this shit didn't they?" Ikki felt the distinct tinge of the Sitera destiny stone barrier in this place, and it annoyed him to no end. "I don't have time for this! Hundred Swords!" The green blades had a distinct pink tinge with gold flakes from the effects of the Sitera Destiny Stone Katana and the Dagger of Pride. "Change Blade: Shovel Sword!" The blades swarmed the area tearing into the ground and ripping out what laid below. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up from your nap?" Bones, bones and rot. From the inky ichor of a dead monster eight long snakes welded together with the body of a dragon rose up and glared down at Ikki hatefully. The middle most head had a length of rope made from rice stalks tied around the base of it's neck. "My my, someone has been making sure you get all your vitamins haven't they?" Ikki used his foot to brush aside bones that were on the ground, too small to belong to an adult animal. "I hope you have some bite to you at least." It should have that much at least: it had seven heads after all.
The first head lashed out at Ikki, he side stepped at the last moment and caught the attack with the tip of his blade swinging his arms around and chopping through the snake's head with his own offensive power.
"Driefach Enchant X." Ikki cut down the incoming attack with his blade and soaked up the poison spat at him with his blade. Wouldn't do him a damned bit of good, trying to use the monster's own poison attack against him. However Ikki did notice that the severed head was bleeding the same poison, right before said head regrew. "So chopping off the heads isn't enough to kill you?"
Ikki cleared his mind of distractions as he got into a stance. Point, Dokuga no Tachi, and the purification technique Setsuna had taught him before, turning the toxic miasma in the blade into a purification technique. Ikki would like to add a dragon slaying sword into the mix but he needed the Sitera Destiny field exclusion keeping his states at the super human level he has become accustomed to more then another damage stack against the dragon. This time when the head came at him Ikki ran forward as fast as he could without Ittou Shura and skimmed over the side of the latest snake head to try and come after him, ripping it starting at the jawline and skimmed it all the way down to the base of the body. Ikki seemed to have found a sore spot, because the rest of the heads immediately began rushing over fangs drawn to stop him.
"Too Slow." Ikki's response was his family's famous 108 strike combo, Retsu no Kiwami - Amatsukaze, which allowed him to strike at front, at the sides, behind him, and above multiple times in the span of a few moments without leaving any openings against a normal opponent, let alone a giant. The giant mass of steaming miasma hissed and shrieked in pain as Ikki sliced it's heads and belly to ribbons with the huge number of damage buffing attacks until the entire thing promptly exploded. "Well now that's unexpected." Ikki saw the core of the monster he just killed. He understood that dragon's had dragon cores from Setsuna, that wasn't being contested, but the mysterious thing here was that the core had been integrated into a sword already which was now lodged inside of the skull of a huge snake monster.
"Don't mind if I do." Ikki picked up the sword and got a new unlock from it.
'Weapon Copy Activated. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi Unlocked. Equip Bonus: Hydra. 4Hours.'
And a second unlocked soon followed.
'Dagger of Pride Advanced. Sword of Pride Unlocked.'
"For better or for worst." Ikki stored the blade inside of his sword. "Whatever happens going forward: I will not flinch."
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: It's almost like people would rather just shove their problems onto someone else instead of dealing with them themselves.
facuf1997: If you understand then please don't do it again.
superpierce: Yuki. Like immediately after Takt was killed.
Dicoan: Maybe a few years into the future, when the age difference isn't as much of a issue.