Fate;
Something that you cannot resist.
Yet, why do you persist?
For an ending that doesn't exist...
Truly amusing.
"Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion."
- Edward Abbey
Monsters in every direction. Everywhere you look, there's a monster peeking at every nook and cranny. I'm such a reckless idiot.
I'm screwed, I know that, but why...
Why can't I give up?
My heart is pumping so fast. I'm scared as hell. But this place is familiar. Recall it.
Recall how elegant that woman fought. Recall your misdirected anger. Recall everything. Combine all your feelings!
Mayu...
All because of these monsters... It's all their fault... I'll crush them all... I will find the one who's controlling these damn monsters!
If only I had a weapon...!
"Ugh!" My heart...!
"I see, I heard your request, loud and clear... Your determination to seek the truth is truly unrivaled. If you need power, I shall give it to you..." Wha...?
"Awaken your power. Thus, your fate will begin, here and now..."
I feel immense power awakening in me!
"Hey, shitty monsters... My name is Kano Kageyama, miss me?"
"I will cut down everything that obscure my path! Whether it is fate, monsters or anything... I don't give a damn!" I proclaimed in front of these monsters while pointing the light in the grasp of my hand to the monsters.
In that one moment, the light finally forms into a solid object... In the shape of an axe. But it seems small, but I feel the power within it... I can control this weapon. Though this is my first time holding this weapon, I feel like I know its power and name.
"Time to do this, Verus Hache!" As I call upon the name of my white-clad axe expands and became long enough to reach the enemy.
Thus, I raise my axe and mutter a farewell to the enemy;
"Die."
And I swing down my axe with all my might—
*BAM!*
A loud thud can be heard from the sound of the axe crashing to the ground.
Within a single strike, I got them all! My axe also returned to its original size... Well, better to carry it this way.
Hm, I just noticed but there's a purple orb in the tip of my axe... Really light, too...
As I was still observing my axe, I heard footsteps from behind.
I quickly ready my weapon and turned around and I saw—
"Are you... the girl from before?" I would never mistake that girl that saved me! Now I can get a chance to thank her!
"I see you have awakened your soul device... Well, I did see the spark in you when we first met. I also noticed you have broken through my memory manipulation, an effect of entering the Eclipse, I suppose?" 'Memory manipulation'? ''Eclipse'? Soul Device'? What does that mean? I have a lotta questions in my mind right now...
"Uh... Yeah... I forgot to say this last night, but thank you for saving me..." I said, scratching my head.
"Don't mention it, it's natural to save people who wandered into the depths of an Eclipse vortex, something like that, hahaha~" This woman talks about complex words, what the hell is an 'Eclipse'?
"Well, if you have questions, ask it later, no time to explain, you can fight, right? Let's go." As I was about to ask a question, the girl ran to a pathway and signaled me to follow her.
"Wait up!" Looks like I'm going to have a lot of work done today...
There's still many things I don't understand, but if I follow this girl I can surely clear those up. Time to go, then.
I followed her along the pathway, which is really wavy and... Kinda gross.
"Some greed are up ahead, oh, you don't know what's a Greed, right? They're monsters that inhabit this world, which is the Eclipse. Anyways, I don't have time to explain, let's fight them." I see, so they're called 'Greed'... They're the ones who killed my friend... I need to destroy them all.
And there it is, a Greed. This monster looks really hideous... They are pretty big too, well, I could probably enlarge my small axe...
"Aha, I'll let you kill this one, since you need more fighting experience. I'll intercept when it gets too rough, though I don't think you need any help." Heh, she's right, I don't need help... I'll be the one to help people, at least, to atone for my actions in the past...
Thus I faced the Golem-like Greed face-to-face. He's definitely scary... But I can cut him down with my axe...
"Whew..." I gather all my strength, sweat continuosly fall and produce on my body. I calm myself down, to get ready. With my small axe in my right hand, it shall cut down mountains of Greed.
"Ha!" I enlarge my axe as to match the enemy's size, but it couldn't get any bigger than that, so I equally match it to their size.
I tightly gripped my now enlarged axe with my two hands and swung it with all my might towards the enemy, causing my weapon to clash with the iron skin of my enemy. More, more, more strength! "Grh!" My hand gets strained out trying to get a single scratch of his armor, but there was no dice.
"Tough guy..." I reverted my axe back to its original size to rest my hand for a while, but there was no rest–
"—Ugh!" I reflexively dodge its attack, causing his hand to get stuck inside the ground... Wait... I think I can do this.
I looked back to the girl, who was smirking in the distance. Is she some kind of sadist? Well, I know what to do now.
Every people has a weakness, well, is the Greed I'm fighting is even a person...? Anyways, I stand by the point that that Greed has a weak spot like every people have. Conviniently, there seem to be a spot I'm considering...
I just need to wait. Wait until their next attack...
I prepare my axe, while taunting the Greed by wiggling my butt in front of him. Can they even be taunted in the first place?
Anyhow, it seems to be working and its pretty angry now...
Shoot, it's coming!
I dived to the left to avoid his downward fist, and due to its punch being downward, it gets stuck in the ground, now before it pulls it out, I gotta climb its arm!
"Wah!" I jumped on the arm, ugh, it's really wriggly on top on this... I cautiously run towards his neck, which looked really soft, and when it's soft, you can penetrate its skin...!
"GRAAAAAHHHH!" I swung my small axe into its giant neck!
I can feel that its working! Now, for the last performance...
Expand.
*SLASH!*
"Agh." I groaned, damn, that was a lot of work.
I check back to the girl, and I noticed her observing me throughly... Weren't she mocking me a few minutes ago?
"Nice work out there with your handy hachet." 'Hatchet'? I see, it's the type of weapon I use... I thought it was just some small axe.
"I haven't told you my name, right?" I nod, I don't feel comfortable not knowing the name of the one who saved me.
"My name is Akemi. Akemi Ichihara. Nice to meet you, Kano." She holds out her hand, meaning a handshake.
She knows my name...
"Nice to meet you too, Akemi."
Well, a first name basis right on the get-go is weird, but I guess we've been weird since we entered this situation.
A/N And now we're done with the first part of this arc, bravo!
Verus means True, by the way, and Hache... Self-explanatory, but it's Hachet. So, basically it's "True Hatchet" when in English form.
Thank you guys for reading~ Stay tuned for the next part!