Chapter 7: Herald of Beginning or End
Yang stood there wide-eyed and shocked at the mention of him being a Herald.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Yang asked narrowing his eyes while tightly gripping his katanas.
"So you do not know. Yet you hold the sword that welds their power? It seems Wrath knows his calling, yet you do not know yours how disappointing," Glass admitted closing her eyes slightly while placing her fan in front of her lips.
The look Glass gave Yang made glare at her before taking aim at the enemy.
"Don't look at me like that..." Yang demanded while slowly pulling it back. "You don't know shit about me or my brother. You hear me! NOTHING!"
"yet you are not denying that you are a herald," Glass countered causing Yang to narrow his eyes.
"That's it! I'm going to tear your ass apart!" Yang shouted as he dashed forward with his katana in hand.
'You're fighting a losing battle,' A voice whispered into Yang's ear as he stopped inches away from Glass looking up at her as he was now in a crouched position.
"Judgement of God!" Yang shouted while slashing upward with his katanas.
Glass simply jumped back avoiding the attack with ease before Yang followed suit with his katanas over his head now.
"Path of Moses!" Yang shouted again slashing downward now which Glass sidestepped with a smile.
"What do you hope to gain by swinging your swords around like that?" Glass asked in which Yang snarled but stopped as the woman softly tapped his forehead with her fan launching him back and crashing into the ground by Naofumi leaving him unconscious.
"Yang!" Raphtalia shouted before turning her attention to Yin who still stood there.
"What will you do now, Wrath?" Glass asked as Yin slowly brought his right hand up to take hold of his sword and bring it forward.
Yin's armor and swords turned pitch black with its form shifted from divinity to chaos with spikes spawning on the shoulder parts of the suit as well as the gold lining becoming crimson red. Glass merely watched before she sighed and aimed her left fan at Yin but stopped as Yin dashed forward with his sword over her head. Seeing the blade, she smiled and raised her right fan to block the incoming attack creating a small crater under her feet.
"Now that's more like it," Glass commented and watched as Yin would thrust his free hand toward her face which she blocked with her left hand. "But still too soft,"
"Yang! Wake up! We need your help!" Raphtalia shouted while standing by Naofumi's side.
"Weak. Can't get up after getting hit once!" Filo taunted earning a twitch from the beggar who groaned and slowly sat up.
"What the...hell you calling...weak?" Yang asked with blood dripping from his mouth.
"Yang, we need to push her while Yin had her pinned," Naofumi commanded while narrowing his eyes.
"You got a...plan boss? Cause from what I see...we can't do shit right now," Yang replied while struggling to get to his feet.
'Use them,' The same voice from before called out making Yang shake his head violently.
"No," Yang mumbled while turning his attention to his brother whose armor was now completely pitch-black with crimson redlining. "What the fuck is that?"
"That's your brother! I don't know what is going on but hurry up!" Naofumi shouted.
"Alright. Let me...let me try this again," Yang replied before taking a deep breath and running over to all his katanas and throwing them around Glass.
Glass narrowed her eyes and sighed before bringing both of her palms forward launching Yin back, but he easily flipped back and landed on his feet. Just as Yin was pushed back, Yang appeared in front of her once more grinning.
"You wanted to know why my moves were...not so effective?" Yang asked while Glass merely smiled and tilted her head waiting on an answer. "It's because I didn't use the other ninety-eight blades."
Naofumi watched as narrowed his eyes while Raphtalia and Filo prepared themselves. Yang smiled and did a quick spiral making Glass move back before seeing eight katanas in the beggar's hands, four in each.
"Now, let's try this again!" Yang spoke dashing forward with a grin. "Path of Moses!"
Unlike before Yang slashed downward with eight swords this time, but little did Glass know, it was merely a setup. She raised her left hand to swat the downward attack, but it was still enough to make a small shockwave that launched the ninety-two katana out of the ground. Yang smiled as Glass brought her other fan toward his chest only for the beggar to swiftly jump backward revealing Yin charging toward her again. Glass laughed softly before bringing both fans down and stopping the Paladins charge. As she blocked his attack, Glass looked up to find Yang was nowhere to be seen.
"BOSS!" Yang shouted as he was now behind Glass.
Glass turned around only for her to bring her fans forward to block all eight swords once more but this time it had no force behind them. Yang had abandoned them to bring his hands to her chest and widen his eyes launching her into the air.
"Shield Prison!" Naofumi called out locking Glass in a sphere of shields before raising his left hand.
"Tears of the Iron Maiden!" Yang shouted throwing all one hundred katanas at the shields and watching as every last one pierced the iron sphere.
"Iron Maiden!" Naofumi shouted this time as his attack came down and opened for the iron sphere to float inside just to close.
Yang landed on the ground panting heavily while looking at his brother who laid on his back knocked out from the sheer force he had to take from Glass.
"I expected more?" Motoyasu asked.
"Please tell me...you did not fucking say that" yang said as his shoulders slumped down before turning his attention back to the iron maiden.
"I expected more as well..." Glass spoke from the Iron Maiden before breaking out of it.
"God Fucking Damn It!" Yang shouted while bringing his right arm to block the flash as his katana fell in front of him cracked while the other ninety-nine flew off the ship in pieces. "Boss we gotta run. We can't beat this woman,"
"We can take her!" Motoyasu shouted as all three heroes lined up along with their party members while preparing their strongest attacks.
"The fuck you talking about! We couldn't even scratch her with our strongest moves!" Yang argued but saw as he was ignored. "Fucking morons!"
"Meteor Slash!" Rem yelled.
"Meteor Strike!" Motoyasu shouted
"Meteor Shot!" Itsuki called.
The three heroes fired their strongest attacks while Glass simply stood there and took it creating a large cloud of dust. As it cleared it revealed what Yang suspected, she was unharmed or even dirtied by the three attacks.
"Is this all the other three heroes have to offer," Glass spoke with a disappointed stare. "So only the shield hero and his party are worthy,"
"Worthy?" Naofumi repeated as Glass swayed her fans in front of her while opening them.
"Zero-stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons," Glass spoke before slashing away at the heroes parties launching them backward while Naofumi and his party stood their ground, aside from Yin who was still on the ground with his armor shifting back to white.
"Boss we gotta flee..." Yang whispered now standing by Naofumi as the ship tilted.
"The time limit? I did not expect it to be over so soon," Glass commented while looking down at her feet.
"Raphtalia...when I give the single...use your light spell," Naofumi whispered before looking over at Yang. "You and Filo get Yin out of here,"
Yang nodded in agreement as he picked his sword up and held it with his right hand.
"The battle of the wave will be our victory. I have nothing against any of you but that is how it is," Glass spoke smiling and bringing her opened fans to her sides with her arms crossed.
'I grow bored with advising one who does not listen,' The voice called before Yang's sword emitted a faint golden glow.
"What the?" Yang said in surprise before the sword flew out of his hand and toward Glass.
Glass narrowed her eyes and prepared her defenses but was engulfed in a sudden bright light that made her close her eyes for an instance. As Glass opened her eyes, she found that the world around her had stopped completely leaving Yang and herself the only ones able to move.
"And what is this?" Glass asked with an amused smile.
"You got me," Yang said glaring at her.
"This victory is ours...Glass," The woman from before answered as the katana appeared in between the two and impaled the ground.
"Says who? from what I see no one can stop me..." Glass spoke in which the sword shifted into a small child with a fox mask on her face and a short kimono.
Unlike before where he only saw a mask, he was able to see her full body. The fox stood only four feet tall while also having a slim build, yet her hair was pure silver with golden eyes looking at Glass.
"I cannot stop you...not yet at least. This one has much to learn still," The girl spoke turning to look at Yang over her shoulder.
"And what makes you think you will save him?" Glass asked with a smirk.
"Because he and his party is no longer on this ship," She answered earning a surprised look from both Glass and Yang.
"Say what?" Yang asked before Glass swiped both of her fans at the little girl who laughed at the other's attempt.
As Glass hit the little girl, the image around her shattered revealing all the heroes, as well as their party members, were no longer there. Glass was on the ship all on her own making her smile at the display of power she had just witnessed.
"So she does exist after all...the fifth horseman," Glass commented while looking up seeing the tear in the sky was beginning to close before jumping up into the air with light surrounding the woman. "Until we meet again...heroes," She spoke before disappearing in a flash of light.
-With Naofumi-
Yang shot up from his slumber not even remembering the time he had passed out.
"What happened?" Yang asked looking around finding himself on Filo as well as Naofumi and Raphtalia. "Where's Yin?"
"In Filo's mouth!" Naofumi answered.
"You let her eat my brother?" Yang shouted looking at Naofumi.
"No. She is carrying him since you passed out," Raphtalia clarified.
"When the fuck did I pass out?" Yang questioned before Naofumi groaned.
"ENOUGH! We'll talk more when we reach the town. We need to treat you and your brother as soon as possible," Naofumi shouted which shut Yang up instantly.
"...got it, boss," Yang replied looking behind them at the falling ship as the skies turned back to normal. 'What the hell happened?'
-Town-
As they arrived at the village, Yin was placed on the ground with Yang sitting beside him.
"What's going on between us bro?" Yang asked loudly as Naofumi walked by him.
"Yin will be fine," Naofumi spoke standing by Yang who nodded his head in thanks.
"What happened?" Yang asked closing his eyes and facing the ground.
"...your sword flashed a bright gold for a second and the next thing we noticed is your body hitting the ground and Glass remaining frozen," Naofumi started while sighing.
"She was frozen, and you didn't attack her?" Yang questioned while looking over his shoulder at the shield hero who shook his head.
"Someone told us to run. I did not question it and retreated," Naofumi answered opening his eyes slightly.
Yang blinked at this and nodded his head in understanding before looking back at the ground groaning.
"This is frustrating," Yang admitted while bringing his left hand to rub the back of his head. "Here I thought we could handle anything and the next thing I know is that all of us are getting tossed around like little toys for a child,"
"I understand your frustration..." Naofumi spoke looking at Yin. "What do you know of your brother Yin?"
"Apparently not as much as I thought. We both have secrets we ourselves did not know about," Yang admitted while shaking his head. "FUCK! There's so much shit I don't know about and I don't know who to ask!"
"...I see..." Naofumi replied before sighing and turning away from the beggar. "I am going to tend to the townspeople. Do what you can for your brother,"
Yang nodded his head and sat there defeated and lost, for years he knew what to do by himself as well as what to ask and who to ask but right now he was filled with so many questions. This annoyed Yang as he tightly gripped his hands into a fist causing blood to drip from his palms before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Who do I ask?" Yang asked before looking to his sword that seemed like it was going to snap at any moment. "It couldn't be that easy...could it?"
Yang sighed and took hold of the sword while still bleeding before the world around him became black and white leaving himself and his sword the only thing that had color.
"Are you ready to listen boy?" The girl's voice spoke making Yang look at the sword and sigh.
"Yes," Yang answered as the sword flew out of his hand and stabbed the ground and morph into the same girl as before.
"Good," She spoke floating in front of Yang. "Because of your arrogance, you lost ninety-nine swords from my collection. They are not going to be happy about that,"
Yang wanted to ask but he remained silent as the girl sighed heavily before floating around the beggar.
"Much more obedient now that you know you are weak," She spoke bringing her hands to his shoulders before they slowly slide off as she floated in front of him chuckling. "If you have questions...I will answer them. At least the ones you can hear for the most part,"
"Thank you," Yang spoke bowing his head before raising it and sighing. "Who or what are you?"
"Me? You know who I am," She said chuckling softly.
Yang sat there silently while looking at the ground in thought before his eyes widened and looked at her.
"Lavar?" Yang said unsure.
"Indeed," Lavar confirmed with a giggle.
"How many of you are there?" Yang asked blinking his eyes.
"There are six of us in total," Lavar answered. "In fact, they are all watching you right now,"
This made Yang slowly look around but saw nothing but black and white.
"You can't see them. You're not ready to see them," Lavar said with a chuckle making yang look back at her.
"Why can't I see them?" Yang asked confused.
"Because they do not yet trust you. They believe you are too weak to use them right now," Lavar answered with a sigh.
"Why can I see you then?" Yang asked narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Because I took a chance to tell you my name. Honestly, it is far too early for you to know my name, but I told you anyway," Lavar answered with a shrug. "Even though my father is against it,"
"Who...is your father?" Yang asked with a raised brow.
"Hmm you aren't ready to learn that yet," Lavar said with a smirk.
This annoyed him but the last thing he wanted to do as blow up and start screaming against a force that was clearly stronger than him.
"...what is Yin Todoroki?" Yang asked closing his eyes only for him to hear a loud gasp of surprise followed by a chuckle.
"Now that is something I can answer," Lavar responded before swaying her hands apart. "Yin is the great-grandson of one of the seven deadly sins,"
"Seven deadly sins?" Yang repeated opening his eyes and looking up at Lavar who nodded her head.
"That's right. Pride, Lust, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, and Wrath. Every last one of them is represented by an animal. And every last one of them strong enough to topple countries by themselves with ease," Lavar spoke swaying her hands about causing seven slabs to appear each with an animal engraved in them.
"Hebi for Envy, Taiba for Sloth, Kuzuri for Greed, Buta for Gluttony, Kitsune for Lust, Lion for Pride, and Rhino for Wrath. Each one with a power of their own," Lavar spoke sighing softly before closing the image. "A war broke out between Heaven and the seven deadly sins, one in which that lasted in a blink of an eye thus imprisoning the seven. They were imprisoned for thousands of years asleep and unmoving...but now they are awake and waiting,"
"Waiting for what?" Yang asked with wide eyes.
"What else? For Yin Sai Todoroki to set them free," Lavar answered.
"...is there a way to free him from this...this fate?" Yang asked tightly gripping the ends of his pants.
"No. He has his destiny and you have yours," Lavar answered narrowing her eyes.
"What exactly is my destiny?" Yang asked narrowing his eyes.
"Prevent the seven from breaking out of their prison," Lavar answered.
"How am I supposed to stop them from breaking their prison without killing Yin?" Yang demanded letting his emotions slowly get the best of him while Lavar only smirked causing the beggar to fall silent and fall to his knees looking at the ground. "I have to kill him..."
"There is no way around it Yang Maeda...you will be the one to choose between the life of your brother...or the life of countless others," Lavar answered closing her eyes. "The choice is yours...only you can decide if you will be the herald of the beginning of hope...or end of life,"
As Lavar spoke her last words, the sword fell to the ground bringing him back to reality with the sword falling to the ground. Yang looked at the sword then slowly looked to his brother gritting his teeth while shaking his head.
"I will not kill my brother. I'll find a way for him to break out of his fate...there has to be a way...and I'm going to fucking find it," Yang promised before he heard Yin groan.
"What happened?" Yin asked bringing his left hand up to place on his forehead.
"We won bro," Yang said with a weak smile.
"We won?" Yin asked turning his head to face his brother.
"Fuck yeah we won," Yang answered.
"What I miss?" Yin asked sitting up but groaned in pain as he fell on his back.
"Woo take it easy big guy. You went through a lot...we both did," Yang commented with a chuckle. "What's the last thing you remember bro?"
"Last thing I remember?" Yin repeated while opening his eyes slightly.
"Yeah. You gotta remember something," Yang said softly nudging his brother.
"The last thing I remember was me landing on the ship and looking at the woman calling herself Glass...than I blacked out?" Yin admitted making Yang's eyes widen.
What shocked him was not the fact his brother was already out for the count but rather who he was fighting with when they were attacking Glass. Shaking his head, Yang nodded his head before sighing heavily.
"Alright well, you missed us getting our asses kicked. We won but only because the time for the wave ran out," Yang answered with a chuckle.
"You? getting your ass kicked? Wish I could have seen it," Yin joked causing the two to laugh before the paladin groaned in pain followed by the sound of a loud crack.
Yang and Yin fell silent as the beggar looked at the paladin's armor seeing the left shoulder part had a small crack on it. The beggar could not help but blink at this before looking back at Yin.
"what was that?" Yin asked looking at his brother.
"...nothing much bro. Just as a small crack on your armor is all," Yang answered making Yin's eyes shot open.
"What?" Yin questioned as he tried to sit up but groaned in pain once more before falling back down gritting his teeth.
"You can check it later bro alright. For now, you gotta rest," Yang advised in which Yin looked up at his brother but nodded his head and closing his eyes once more. 'What the hell is going on?'
'The armor of Exodus is breaking,' Lavar answered making Yang close his eyes and grit his teeth.
"Is there nothing I can do?" Yang asked as a single tear rolled out of his right eye.
'There is nothing. You may wish to fight it but no matter what you do...he will turn Yang...and there is nothing you can do to stop it,' Lavar answered.
Suddenly Naofumi returned with a sour look on his face just as Yang wiped his tear away and looked to his boss.
"What's up boss?" yang asked with a soft smile.
"The king has called for an audience," Naofumi spoke which made Yang's right brow raise.
"We just don't get a break do we?" Yang spoke before turning to look at his brother. "For safety reasons, I'm going to stay at the Inn with my brother. We both need the rest,"
"Very well. When we get to the kingdom, both of you rest up," Naofumi spoke before walking away.
-Inn-
Yin laid on the bed without his armor which Yang had removed to allow him to rest better. Surprisingly, he had not turned to ash but with his brother asleep, he sat on his bed and sighed heavily.
"Lavar," Yang spoke causing the young girl to appear behind him.
"Yes?" Lavar answered with a smile while floating behind the beggar.
"I'm going to save my brother," Yang said looking over his shoulder at the spirit who grinned.
"And how would you do that?" Lavar asked tilting her head while floating in front of Yang and sitting on his lap and looking up at him.
"I don't know but there's a way. There has to be," Yang said narrowing his eyes.
"That determination is going to kill you and everyone you love," Lavar replied while closing her eyes but sighed heavily. "...but if you really want to save him I can tell you one way. It'll be really hard though,"
"Tell me," Yang said glaring at Lavar.
"You must stop him from becoming enraged. The angrier he gets the more the armor breaks. If you can give him peace and prevent the armor from breaking, you can save your brother from his fate," Lavar said floating off Yang's lap and floating over Yin.
"But...that's impossible! How am I supposed to stop him from getting angry?!" Yang demanded as he got to his feet with his eyes wide.
"Well, it's not impossible. near impossible but not impossible," Lavar corrected as she looked at Yang then back at Yin. "From what I can tell you still have time...how much time? I do not know but hopefully enough,"
"How do I know when I've run out of time?" Yang asked as he watched Lavar float over to the armor and hover over it.
"The Armor of Exodus. This has been passed down from generation to generation to prevent the awakening of Sai, the mad Rhino, once it breaks then Sai will be fully awakened. This crack only tells me that he is only just beginning to wake up but he, thankfully, still sleeps," Lavar explained before yawning and slowly started to fade away. "That's all I can answer for now...if you want more answers than you best get stronger and be approved by the other five children."
"What do you mean?" Yang asked blinking his eyes.
"You have two more questions before I can answer only simple questions," Lavar answered slowly fading away.
"...how do I gain the other five children's favor?" Yang asked.
"Get stronger," Lavar answered with a chuckle.
"How do I get stronger?" Yang continued.
"March of a hundred warriors. Although that is what you named it, it's real name is trial of the four," Lavar answered as the lower body was gone leaving only her upper chest and head left.
"Trial of the four?" Yang repeated confused.
"If you complete the trial of the four...only then will the five-show themselves," Lavar said as her lips were the last thing left. "One more trial..." With that said Lavar had completely disappeared.
"One more?" Yang repeated before blinking his eyes and looking at the ground. I've done the march of a hundred warriors three times and each time...it was a different pain..."
Yang thought to himself while closing his eyes to dig into his memory of each experience of the times he used it. The first time was as if he was being shot by thousands of arrows all over his body. On the second time, his body was in intense pain since it felt like he fought thousands of soldiers for an uncountable amount of days on end. During the third time after use, his body was not only badly damaged but unable to perform anything as if the energy in his body had disappeared for a few days leaving his starved and thirsty. It was then he realized it, the trials all were symptoms of the four horsemen meaning the last trial was none other than death.
"Death...the last trial...is death...how the fuck is that supposed to happen?" Yang questioned himself while gritting his teeth and opening his eyes slightly. "If I die, the hells the point of the trials int he first place? Unless I don't die..."
Yang looked at the sword and took hold of it to hold it in his right hand.
'Not now,' Lavar's voice whispered in his ears making him flinch and drop his katana revealing his hands were shaking.
"Shaking?" Yang questioned with wide eyes. "I'm...afraid..."
So much was happening to Yang that he could not keep up with the information he was given. Not only did he figure out the true meaning of the march of a hundred warriors but also why he grew stronger at every time he survived it. He also found out he and his brother were heralds of the end, destined to fight one another to the death. Gripping his hands into fists, he took a deep breath and slowly nodded his head.
"It'll be easy keeping my bro calm. I just have to do things more...faster. If anyone is going to get pissed off it's me...and maybe Naofumi...but mainly me," Yang told himself clasping his hands together and placing his elbows on his thighs as he sat back on his bed. "I just hope I don't overdo it."
-Day Later-
Yin was in the back of the wagon resting still while Yang watched over him.
"What have you learned Yang?" Naofumi asked looking forward as Filo pulled the cart.
"...more than I wanted to," Yang answered in a worried tone. "Enough about me boss, what did the king want from you?"
"...he wanted me to tell him how I was stronger than the other heroes," Naofumi answered earning a soft chuckle from Yang.
"Then it is a good thing I did not go. I would have trash-talked him right there," Yang said earning a faint smirk from Naofumi only for it to fade away.
"Then he threatened Raphtalia and Filo..." Naofumi said in a soft voice causing Yang's smile to fade.
"... then I made the right call in not going. Even if he only summoned you, I have my way of getting into areas. I would have killed them right there in his throne," Yang said gritting his teeth.
"If you did then you would make our lives that much more difficult," Naofumi spoke looking over his shoulder at Yang. "I do not want unnecessary trouble,"
"I know boss. I know," Yang said looking over at Naofumi as well before turning his attention to Yin again while the shield hero looked forward.
"Now tell me what you learned?" Naofumi repeated his question.
"My March of a hundred warriors has a real name. Trials of the four," Yang answered closing his eyes and sighing.
"Trials of the four?" Naofumi repeated. "What four?"
"The four horsemen of the Apocalypse," Yang answered opening his eyes slightly. "And I am their herald to save life on this world as we know it,"
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. What proof do you have of this?" Naofumi asked narrowing his eyes.
"The first time I used it, my body felt like I was shot by a shit tone of arrows. On the second time...felt like I got cut up by a shit ton of soldiers. After the third one, I felt the strength just leave me...I was hungry and thirsty as if I have eaten or drank for years. Each one lines up with one of the horsemen. Conquest, War, Famine. I did those three already," Yang explained.
"...and what is the last trial?" Naofumi asked.
"The last trial is Death. Not sure what that will do but I am hoping that I just see Death...not experience it," Yang said with a faint snicker. "Cause I can't stand pain at all. I can endure but that doesn't mean I like it,"
"We can't afford you to die on us now...you and your brother are still needed," Naofumi spoke as Yang nodded his head in agreement while looking at the armor of Exodus seeing the crack grow bigger.
"We can both agree on that. There is still so much we gotta do before either of us pass. And I am damn well going to make sure we get through it...just like old times bro. I ain't giving up on you," Yang whispered.
/To be continued...