[This is the third chapter. Saiketsu allowed his rage against the murderer of his people to go on until he flipped out. He rushed to Glaist Heims, seeking out the murderer. Gravity owns the areas, but Saiketsu is mine.]

[Theme song for beginning: Halo - Soil]

[Theme song for the beginning of the showdown: Awe is She - Guilty Gear X]

[At the end: Silence]

~------------------------------------------------------------------------~

"Saiketsu! If you continue your path! You will destroy yourself!"

"I don't care. Glaist Heim will experience a massacre until I find that bastard."

"Damnit, you are making it impossible for us to help you!"

"Hmph. Worry about yourself! And it's Shikyo!"

The conversation with Tayln rang in Saiketsu's mind as bodies slammed hard against the cold earth. Ranging from skeletons to zombies, each burning back into ashes. The sickening dead land was earning its name as corpses returned to its place. Glaist Heim, where every warrior feared of traveling. Crimson blood sinking into the slit of the cracked ground, possibly made of dried bones.

A sandal slammed against a twitching hunter fly, revealing blood stained along the faintly blue pants. The golden flap as well as the two blue flaps to the side bounced. The figure was arrayed in a white armor with a blue cross-like shape to the middle. His large blue gauntlets held onto the long japanese blade, which flickered before drawing forward. A snarl escaped from the brown haired youth as his sea blue eyes flickered with rage. Saiketsu was enraged, slicing any monster in his way into ribbons.

A large, charred skeletal knight was dragging itself forward, two long rapiers not far behind it. The onyx helmet covered its face, but the skull is still able to be seen. When it reached near the samurai, it lunged one of the rapiers at Saiketsu. However, Saiketsu swung the tsurugi downward, turning the blade over to send the flat side to deflect the lunge of the sword. He followed the defelction by sliding his right foot forward, sending the blade to plunge through the skeleton's opening along the rib cage. His eyes glew as his body channeled a flow of ki; lightning licked the air before bursting with a thunderous sound. "Raijingeki!" He stepped forward, leaping into the air as he skewered the khalitzberg while twisting the blade. The electricity that came from the body traveled along the tsurugi's edges, shooting upward and then when he came down with the final slash, lightning strucked the khalitzburg.

When Saiketsu landed on the ground, the body was sliced in half, and he begun twirling the blade. He snarled out, "I'll kill you all," before running outward to see what is in front of him.

Various floating books were shooting towards the samurai, who reached out to slice them in various arcs, reducing their teeth to shards and their pages into actual ribbons. A delicate use of the blade, but its power is drawn through the anger. All what Saiketsu could think of was the Wanderer, who slaughtered the people of his home of childhood. When he saw Maiko at Payon, he could not bear what she became because of the slaughter.

Sprinting once again, Saiketsu charged along the maze of the dark castle, furthering himself within the back area. When he reached the large open of the former church, he saw a band of skeletal ronins waiting for him. His eyes lit with fury, then he thrusted the tsurugi low. Twisting the blade, he ignited the edge with flames. "RYUENJIN!" He pushed his right foot from the ground, launching himself forward like a bullet. His body ignited in flames as a trail of flaming spears followed him. When he zipped through the wanderers, the shards of the flaming spears stabbed through each skeleton, igniting them in flames before they all collapsed. The flames died after a moment while Saiketsu cleaned the blade, the ashes blowing away as the samurai sheathed his blade.

His eyes lifted over towards two skeleton archers, each withdrawing a poison tipped arrow. As an arrow fired, Saiketsu stepped forward and crossed his foot to the side, twirling away from the arrow. Then, he shifted his head forward to see the second arrow fired. His hand quickly caught the blade and snapped it in two, then he dashed towards the two. He moved towards the skeleton to the right, swinging his blade from underneath, then he turned around and snapped his right leg in a hook at the other skull. The results turned out in a cleaving and decapitation.

One of the arrows strucked him in the arm, filling him with poison. He took the arrow out, staggered to gain his senses. Another arrow was aimed at his heart, until he blocked the venom in his veins to take out an archer skeleton that was ahead. He lowered his head underneath another arrow, then he lunged the sword against the undead monster.

Sickening laughs were heard from all over the castle's back side. From the shadows were revealed to be mini-devils. "Deviruichis," snarled Saiketsu as he found himself to be surrounded. Each of the devils closed in on him, until he dashed over towards one of them getting closer, snapping his leg out to kick it towards its friend. With two taken out, he lept into the air, somersaulting towards one of them. He plunged the tsurugi into the creature's head, then snapped it out. Three deviruchis closed in on the samurai, swinging their pitchforks at him. A flick of the wrist turned the sword to parry one of the pitchforks, sending it to the air. The disarmed deviruichi tried to reach for the fork, but Saiketsu caught it into the air and used the blade to skewer the disarmed monster. The other two lept into the air, ready to stab the samurai. Saiketsu kept his silence while drawing the blade low. When the two closed in on him, his eyes widen before stepping forward. He swung the tsurugi in an arc, cleaving the two monsters and their pitchforks in half. "....Feel my pain."

Corpses of demons were everywhere in the massacre, all lain by the vengeful samurai, dangerously close to return to his former name, Shikyo. His left leg was currently back, sandal grinding against the ground while the right foot was forward. The sword was over his head, pointing downward while the blade was turned to the side.

Beyond the trail of corpses, Saiketsu spotted a lone figure standing with the blade sheathed. The cryptic optics turned to face the individual, bearing the shattered along the eye. It was a form that that haunted Saiketsu his entire life and drove him to become Shikyo.

Eyes narrowing, Saiketsu sprinted towards the ronin, swinging the tsurugi downward against the Wanderer. However, the figure drew its sword, deflecting the downward slash, then it lifted the sword up. It twirled its body, then slammed its skeletal hand against Saiketsu, sending him winding back from the slap.

Recoiling the blade from the air, Saiketsu stepped forward, swinging the sword out to tear through the clothing. However, the Wanderer stepped forward, swinging the blade across the chest of Saiketsu, sending him winding back. Then, the skeleton flipped the blade over, slamming the hilt against the young man's chest, sending him spiralling against the ground.



Blood dripping through the armor, Saiketsu winced at his exposed opening. His left hand touched the chest, allowing the liquid to gather along his fingers. Each drip brought back memories of his earlier scar; both the physical scar to his hand and the emotional scar of losing his father, Maiko, and the rest of the villagers of Amatsu before new people migrated.

"...The child that scared me," muttered the Wanderer. "I spared you because I wanted to see if you were a worthy challenge. Show me what years of pain brought you." It awaited the boy to fight him in a cursed church, awaiting to bring the boy to become what it was.

"This!" snarled Saiketsu as he sprinted towards the monster, rolling forward while swinging the blade outward. The skeleton deflected the blade while moving to the side, then attempted to sweep its leg along the ground to take the boy off balance. Saiketsu purposely fell to the ground over the sweep, then pushed his shoulders against the ground to spring him back onto his feet. He extended the right leg at the stomach of the skeleton, then he stepped forward with a one handed slice downward.

The Wanderer was cut across the back, shifting its optics to face the boy. It turned the blade to swing across the boy's chest, who brought the flat end of the blade down while stepping to the side, countering with a foot sweep before stabbing the ground while leaping back. When reached into a distance, he slid his right foot forward while bringing the sword into the air, channeling his ki to be drawn into the sword. "I'll kill you..." He gritted his teeth, then he drawn the blade to lower the temperature of the surrounding area. He waited for the wanderer to get back onto its feet, then the boy sprinted forward, swinging the blade in an upward arc, "HYOURETSUZAN!!" Shards of ice escaped the blade, sliced into pieces by the blade. "...The Muramasa, a cursed blade. Yet, it brings the wielder so much power. Named after a great crafts-man. can you feel its power?" The blade glew a black tint, before it quickly lashed out at the boy's wound, sending him slamming against the ground.

Growling, Saiketsu got back on his feet, then he lept into the air, twirling his body to slam against the skeleton. Leaning against the building, the wanderer swung the two-handed sword at the boy, but the boy disarmed the skeleton, slamming his foot against the chest. Saiketsu kicked the muramasa into the air, swinging the tsurugi across the chest, then somersaulted backwards, kicking with both legs of the sword at the skeleton's chest.

The wanderer caught the blade, then dashed at the boy, then drove the blade up to the stomach of the samurai. Saiketsu rolled back, then he extended his free hand to push himself back up. After getting up, he spinned his body around towards the wanderer, swinging the tsurugi down across the chest, clashing with the blade. The masamune glew, then it shot the tsurugi into the air, stabbing into the ground. To follow the attack, the skeleton winded its hand back, then slapped the boy across the cold earth.

Debris covered the young samurai's face, and his sword was disarmed. All what he could now feel was the poison's effects all over again. With the wound exposed and the previous venom from the arrow, it can't be ignored now. Saiketsu looked up at the skeleton, only seeing a blur. When he tried to walk towards the ronin, he could only stagger.

Noting the weakened state of the child, the ronin sheathed its blade, then ran towards Saiketsu. Quick as a lightning bolt, it grabbed the boy by the collar, then threw him against the wall.

Slamming against the wall, Saikatsu's face was now covered with his own blood, pouring down his face. "..Ugh.." All what he could see was Mai and his father. He tried to ignore the venom, getting back onto his feet. The skeleton sprinted forward, greeted with a forward punch from the boy. The skeleton was knocked against the wall, the hand smacked a torch, sending it to the ground. Through corpses and clothes that laid along Glaist Heims, it was now engulfed with flames. Flames took shape of a giant ring, where neither could escape.

The skeleton leaned back forward, then it drove its sandal across the boy's chest, then it slammed its elbow across the back, knocking Saiketsu against the wall. Withdrawing the muramasa with a draw, it shoved its foot back to knock Saiketsu across the ground.

"Like father... like son. Live by the sword, die by the sword." The blade drove through Saiketsu, lifting him up as the blade pierced the heart. Flames licked the air around the two, the only sight that the boy saw of Glaist Heim. His eyes shut, then he fell into the ground.

"Goodnight, child," muttered the Wanderer.

To be continued.