Welcome back to another chapter! Man the traffic on this story really blew up, I am immensely thankful for the attention that is being given to this story and I honestly hope that I continue to make an enjoyable world for you to read! I plan on keeping my word on making these short so don't worry just give me some time to get past these introduction chapters, I will mostly just use this AN section to answer questions in reviews or to let you guys know of changes. Speaking of those actually:
I am changing how Nyau's Teigu: [Military Music Dream: Scream] (Or just Scream) works. The reworked [Scream] will keep all of Nyau's original abilities, but it will also have some major support mechanics to it, like buffing up anyone who hears it (so not just his Trump Card being solo) and it will allow him to have a new Trump Card that acts passively. This is called "Danger Scream" or "Threat Scream", depending on whichever way you want to word it. Essentially Nyau will be able to hear the screams of the dead from whoever has killed said people. When I say that I do mean each soul that is taken leaves an imprint on whoever killed them for [Scream] to be able to pick up. So being near Esdeath he's able to hear the hundreds of thousands she has killed screaming out in pain. This allows Nyau to be more useful, as I am not gonna lie he was pretty underwhelming in both the Anime and Manga both. I mean the Trump Card was kinda cool...but no.
Anyways, onto this chapter!
BLACKICE
[8 Days Prior, Esdeath's Army Encampment, Northern Lands]
If the night was freezing, then the morning didn't really change much. Something she had learned to adapt to during her time in the Partas Clan, no matter how much sunlight was beaming down on you, the Northern Lands would always chill you to the bone.
Although in her experience, the cold lost it's debilitating effects after consuming her Teigu: [Demon's Extract]. Not that she necessarily didn't feel cold, it just...lost its touch.
Stepping out of her tent, the general was greeted to the sight of the morning sun stretching over the horizon, signalling yet another day of marching to the city-state of the Northern Tribes. Soon her hunger would be satisfied however, and when it was she would finally find her enjoyment again in battle. Shuddering in anticipation, a smile set in on her face, not that anyone would notice since everyone was still stuck in their preparations for their march yet again.
Her attention was snapped away from her daydreams by the sound of horns indicating the scouting parties had returned, the gates opened however to reveal a single man on a horse carrying the scouting party banner, and even that was in tatters. Not to say the state of the man was any better, he was covered in ash and his left leg appeared to be broken.
As the army medics pulled the scout off of his horse and down onto a stretcher, Esdeath approached with questions in mind. The scouts were hardened men, and would be able to take questioning whilst injured.
The medical officers gave-way for Esdeath to approach. Even they knew better than to stand between her and who she wanted, that would lead to more than just one body in the ground. Scanning over the injured scout Esdeath found herself displeased...he came back without a single drop of blood on him. This of course meant one of two things: he had deserted or he was a message, either way she was not happy about the result.
"Soldier, you've returned alone and without blood spilled. I hope I've made my position on deserters quite clear, or perhaps do you have any words to offer to explain yourself?" Esdeath's eyes narrowed, the scout immediately sensed the danger and sputtered to life to explain exactly why he had returned alone. "G-General Esdeath! I wasn't a c-coward! I fought tooth and nail against a m-monster!"
The man was hit with a wave of cold so chilling that even the frost that was nipping at him seemed tame in comparison, Esdeath had murder in her eyes. "I don't believe that answers my question."
The scout seemed to almost shrink back into the stretcher he was laid upon. "O-Of course! It was a man! W-We arrived at the town and there was n-nothing left! It was like Great G-General Budo laid waste to it, by t-time we arrived there was a lone m-man there dressed in black f-finishing off survivors!"
This surprised Esdeath, a lone man that decimated one of the largest villages on-route to the city-state? If her mood wasn't already good enough this morning then it just skyrocketed! She let out a mirthful laugh that caught most of her new recruits off-guard. "A lone man? In black you say?"
The soldier sat back up in relief, obviously pleased that the general was now in a better mood. "Y-Yes General Esdeath, he w-was dressed in black. I-I'm still pissed that he sent me off a-as a message after s-slaughtering my fellow men-in-arms! I would be f-forever grateful if you l-let me spill his bloo-ACK!" Esdeath didn't even blink an eye as she flash-froze his broken leg. Calming down from her laughter she glanced back at the injured soldier who was now obviously in immense pain.
"Maybe next time don't get so excited when you are injured, I will not allow my men to put themselves out of their service to me so early as yours would have been. You will not be able to harm this man let alone slay him if he dealt with your platoon easily enough to send you as a message back to me." She turned her attention over to her Navigation Officer, Nementz. "Nementz, chart us a direct route to the city-state this time. We must reach the Northern Tribes before we deal with this distraction, our 'side-entertainment' will need to wait until our return back to the Capital."
Pulling out parchment to begin his duties, Nementz pulled aside a separate page that he had already been marking on. "Of course General Esdeath, but what do you wish for me to designate this 'distraction' for the war-report?" At this Esdeath scrunched her face in thought for a second before coming to, what she believed to be, a brilliant designation name for her little pet-project. "Let's name him...Black."
BLACKICE
[5 Minutes Prior, Southern Road to Northern Tribes' City-State]
The siege-plan was simple, in order to preserve as many of her soldier's lives as possible and to ensure maximum hostile casualties, they were to attack via night raid. (AN; See what I did there? No, put the hammer down!)
Escorting Esdeath were none other than her own three-man executioner squad: The Three Beasts. Looking over to Esdeath from his own horse, Liver noticed that Nyau was once again swinging happily on the back of Esdeath's mount. "Nyau, why do you persist in annoying our General so?"
Nyau wasn't even bothered by Liver's questioning, he thought Liver was a stuck up old prude anyways. "I can't believe I have to tell you again, General Esdeath makes the best music! So many screams at once in such a beautiful melody!" At this Liver seemed to flinch back, he could never understand how Nyau found the screams of the dead so amusing.
Diadara just spared both a glance from his position on the other side of Esdeath. "I don't know why you are so obsessed with music anyway, a warrior's best moments are when they provide experience points!" Esdeath gave Diadara an odd look. "Even now I'm not sure if you yourself know what you are referring to with that." Diadara looked away sheepishly.
Esdeath's mood was jovial, not because of her Three Beasts' company of course, but because instead of the anticipation she had for what was to come. Not only would she be able to tear down the city-state of the Northern Tribes, but now that she had intercepted reports of the destruction of all of the other villages in the North she was more than certain Black would arrive at some point during the chaos of the siege.
Esdeath's inner-thoughts were cut short as she paused, something she rarely did, as her [Demon's Extract] went almost rigid. She felt her own blood freezing over in what she could only describe as mind-numbing tremors. Her entire body reacted on it's own to this new and powerful sensation and she flinched hard. Nyau was almost thrown from his position on the back of Esdeath's mount when even the beast flinched at almost the same time as it's master. The three beasts went completely still, as did most of the surrounding troops when they witnessed this.
The General Esdeath flinching? What sort of sorcery had they just witnessed? However, this was only the beginning. Nyau began screaming nonsensically and clawing at his ears, he fell off the back of Esdeath's mount and began rolling around in the snow-covered ground to try and find some semblance of peace. At this Esdeath finally snapped out of her stupor and ordered her army to a complete standstill, screaming wasn't something Nyau did. Even in complete agony he would endure, this was something new to everyone involved.
Reaching down to cup Nyau's tear-stricken face, Esdeath noticed blood was flowing from Nyau's ears, nose, and eyes at a fierce rate. Nyau looked up at Esdeath and cried even harder. "PLEASE GENERAL, PLEASE KILL ME. MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!"
Every soul within hearing distance went still, this was Nyau? Unarguably the most vile of the Three Beasts? Esdeath however went into overdrive, this was a new sensation to her. Totally foreign and apparently onset at the same time Nyau started experiencing what he was now. "Nyau tell me, what is it? I cannot end you yet, you have answers I need!"
"THE VOICES! THEY ARE TOO MUCH. TOO MANY SCREAMS! PLEASE ESDEA-" Everyone's curiosity was cut short as Nyau's head exploded into a gorey mess. The body violently spazzing for several more seconds as if trying to back away from some ominous unseen figure, before going still completely. The army took only moments before they exploded into a frenzy, they went directly into defensive positions and took guard alongside every possible direction of attack. Esdeath was left stunned, for the first time in her life since that day. As she looked down at her front stained with brain matter and crimson essence, she had no answers as to what had just occurred.
Then it began again, her body was overtaken with this mysterious new feeling, it almost felt as if her body was begging her to run, run as far and as fast as possible away from the direction of the city-state. She began to fight it, and that's when an enormous explosion took everyone's attention back to the direction of the city-state. Even if her soldiers didn't know what was going on anymore, she did. Pulling together a somewhat successful attempt at standing up, she froze off the remains of Nyau's head from her front and glared in the direction of the city-state.
Whatever was out there, whatever had done this to someone who had belonged to her. They would pay for it with blood, she was determined that much.
Her body disagreed.
BLACKICE
[Present, South Wall of Northern Tribes' City-State]
Esdeath had ordered a full-scale assault, even if she didn't know the cause of Nyau's death, she was determined to find what and to blow it away. When they finally arrived atop the hill they saw exactly what the cause was, the Southern Wall was gone, and just as they had arrived a second mighty explosion rocked the entire area as a massive plume of sickly yellow and black rose from the center of the city-state. Ordering her men to stand back as she began the initial assault, something stopped her from unleashing her signature [Weissschnabel] to open the attack. As she paused she took another attempt only to be met with the same hesitation.
Esdeath snapped, if her powers and body would both betray her, she would overpower them both. Letting out a mighty battle-charge roar. Edeath kicked off with all the strength she could muster. To her soldier's and Three Beasts' perspective, she vanished under the veil of white she dispersed. Reaching the breached wall she noticed two individuals fervently striking at a lone man garbed in black, who stood completely still as the weapons either seemed to go straight through him or deflect whenever he seemed generous enough to block a strike with one of his fingers.
The feeling Esdeath experienced earlier returned in force as she almost collapsed down to her knees. With the urge to run choking her up at this point she struggled to breath when it finally hit her. Was this fear? Was she afraid of this man? Was this the same man who had instilled fear into her from a great distance away. Was he the one that had killed her servant? Esdeath grit her teeth and disposed of the thought. She was the strongest of the Empire! Some meager unknown variable could not possibly instill her, Esdeath, with fear!
As she was about to lunge in to strike she was caught immediately off guard as the man grabbed both weapons at once and turned to look at her. She froze. In her frozen stupor she watched as the man delicately gestured a backhand at the two men, who were then sent flying as an immense force of wind struck them seemingly coming from that simple movement. The man materialized directly in front of Esdeath and looked down at her crouched form. Esdeath did not move a muscle with the exception of the widened-eyed gaze she sent up to look at him.
Her eyes scanned over his form and her mind immediately set to work to identify this anomaly. 175cm, very strongly built, strange hair, single green earring, and a gaze that seemed to cut directly into her very soul. The man had a small smirk immediately on his face. "You remind me of a woman I destroyed once, in front of her son no less. However, your power is nothing like these weaklings around here. I can tell, your potential is astonishing!"
Snapping out of what would be her third session of freezing still that day, Esdeath jumped back and went to draw her blade, only for her hand to be caught and brought up by the man that was now standing directly behind her. "And what's more, you seem to be in the possession of something not meant for your kind! You are in possession of magic. Something that should never have been lent to you disgusting humans." Esdeath recoiled in shock and confusion, magic? Humans? What on Earth was this man talking about? She responded as quickly as she could in her position. "Magic? Humans? You may be much faster than I am, but I doubt you realize the position you're put in you delusional worm!"
The man barely raised an eyebrow before Esdeath gathered her energy and performed her Trump Card of her own making. "[Mahāpadma!]" Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and eventually stop. Esdeath nearly collapsed of exhaustion but managed to remain standing, this wasn't something she was even close to ready to perform effectively. But she needed to destroy this man here and now. As she put her sword's tip up to his throat she recalled the second-objective she had beforehand, the one she named 'Black.' She sighed, while she wasn't able to play with him as she had desired before, this would at least cure her of this strange feeling of 'fear.' "Goodbye, Black." As she went to put all of her strength into penetrating his neck, she noticed her sword didn't scratch him, in fact it was as if she were trying to stab directly through a mountain. Swearing, Esdeath went to back away when suddenly, Black's hand shot up and grabbed Esdeath by the throat. In the midst of her panic Esdeath noticed that time was still stopped. She regained her focus on Black only to be met with a glare so cold she swore that she felt her Teigu's cold immunity waiver if only for a moment.
"You disgusting mortal creature." Black then rocketed forward with Esdeath still in his grasp, away from the city-state, and slammed her into the forest nearby. They both went crashing through countless trees before eventually blasting through a hill-side into an undiscovered cave. Black looked down at Esdeath's bruised and battered body, she was surprisingly still awake but wincing at every movement she made. While this slightly impressed Black, that was nothing next to the unbridled rage he had burning through his very being. "How many times!" Esdeath returned her strained gaze up to Black. "How many! How many times must I be played the fool when mortals openly manipulate time!" Black formed a Ki Blade in the hand opposite to the one holding Esdeath in a death vice. "No more! You will now die for your crimes! The most egregious of sins!"
Suddenly a man jumped into the cave from outside, with his focus off Black could only react by firing out a spike from his Ki Blade into the unknown figure, when it penetrated his hip the figure started screaming in agony. Black ignored the man and went to strike Esdeath down once more when suddenly. "Hey asshole! You missed a spot!"
Black and Esdeath were both then enveloped in white, and then suddenly disappeared. The man then took off his hood and tied it around the point where the semi-translucent spike was sticking from. "Man, this hurts like a bitch! But the payoff from starting my plan extra-early is gonna be sweet!" The man then exploded in a massive plume cloud that would be seen from outside the city-state. Esdeath's army was quick to react after she launched off and witnessed her disappear into the woods, when they saw the explosion from the distance away they knew that was not Esdeath's power.
The army retreated to camp outside of the city's sights while waiting for their General to return. She would not. Esdeath's army, fearing the worst, retreated. An enemy that could defeat the Strongest of the Empire was not an enemy they could face without Teigu support…
BLACKICE
Reappearing on an island in the middle of the open ocean, Black and Esdeath, both still in the same position they were moments before, paused for a few moments. Black now in more confusion than rage looked down at his incredibly injured would-be victim and considered his options. "You are going to explain what magic this is, or you will follow the rest of your kind in death."
Hello everyone! First thing's first, if you want to leave a review I'm going to be responding to all that I have received publicly next chapter. That being said It's that time again for another post-chapter AN, this sure took an unexpected turn didn't it! I would like to start off and mention a few explanations for the behavior of Black. Fortunately Goku Black isn't just Goku but evil, if he had his same tact and situational awareness then most of the incidents here would not have happened. In fact Esdeath would already be dead. However, Goku Black enjoys toying with his victims before killing them off, which is a trait that he displays several times when fighting Vegeta and Goku in base form while also choosing instead to hunt Trunks in the future. He enjoys toying. That being said he also loathes those who mess with time, especially now that he is in this new world after his defeat from mortals in his previous reality. ALSO I would like to point out a few things too, the island bit that was supposed to happen later with Tatsumi and Esdeath happens now. This is supposed to be because Syura realized he was going to need to speed up his time-table in order to remove Esdeath from his plans, so what tipped him off to do this? Well, you'll have to keep reading and find out won't you! As always please consider favoriting and following to find us next time on Black Ice!