AN : For those that are wondering, the fall of Gaul with the war of the 4 emperors ended in 1051, 20 years before. From the perspective of races that lives several centuries, it's a pretty recent incident. As for those who don't know, the war of the 4 emperors is when Gaul attacked Leithania, they thought they could anex it easily and got caught in a war againts one person : The Witch King, who is known for one thing : He is the strongest caster PERIOD, past and present. When Ursus and Victoria allied themselve with the Witch King, Gaul was pushed back and felled. It's more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.
Well then, without futher ado, let's do this !
This could not go worse than this.
Wait.
Damn it, I just jixed it didn't I ?
After pulling my gun out, I get ready.
This night is going to be a pain.
The dirty alleyway is dead quiet, the staredown continue as the two guards pulls out their weapon.
The 4 kids are getting more and more anxious, they instinctly know, if they get in the way, there is a good chance that they could die.
One by one, they internally decide that it's better to follow the strange man with a halo.
The silence become deafening, and start to get on the nerve of everyone involved.
Until-
*BANG*
A single shot rings out, and the first guard, the ursus one, block it, expecting it.
Then, the fight start for real.
*BANG* *BANG*
Two more shots, both dodged, they start running down at him, forcing him to start to lower his gun.
Confused, they don't stop the assault and attempt to strike him.
The sword never arrived to their target.
Instead they stop inches away from his skin.
As if the weapon is controlled by another hand, pushing it in the other direction.
Once they understand that their weapon are turning on them, they both let their respective weapon go and jump backwards.
Those two swords seemingly frozen, unmoving.
They then move, and allow the fallen to grab both of them.
"That's not going to work on me."
"*whisper* cool..."
"If you think getting rid of our weapons is enough to force us to leave, you are dead wrong."
"Funny, I would think that two guards running away at the first sign of danger would be in your blood, little cub."
"Taunts will not affect either of us, don't bother."
"Well, if you say so !"
After this, the battle resume.
Fist againts steel.
*BANG*
The bullet is dodged, but everyone apart from the fallen is surprised.
The rifle, floating in thin air, just shot another bullet, out of nowhere.
"What ..? This is ?"
"Art, and a powerfull one at that."
"This is going to be more difficult than we thought. We should wait for the blade to come."
"Don't bother, we shall kill him and complete our mission alone."
"... Very well."
The fighting continue.
Shots are fired, swords are swung, fist are launched.
In the end, they end in a stalemate.
Killing him wouldn't be possible, they realise it now.
But him killing both of them will not be possible either.
Because of that, time flies.
And 30 minutes of constant fighting takes it toll.
The alleyway they fought in is destroyed, and the commotion made it apparent that something was happening to someone.
Someone the fallen would have rather never find out.
The Blade appear on the scene.
"... It takes the both of you to fight a child. You are the shame of our Emperor's might."
"*whisper* damn it, not now you shitty mech..."
"This is going to go two way, child. Either die fighting, or die accepting your death, in either way it is a win, as your life shall be a gift to our glorious Emperor !"
"God damn lunatic, I know it's rich comming from the dude that lives in a religious nation, but that's beyond fanatiscim right now."
"All for this moment, your life shall have meaning. Come, child, and meet your end."
"Alright, but can you allow me to do something first, I want to try something."
"... I shall allow it, as to let you savor your life one last time."
"Good, it's my final and most secret technique. One so profound and so powerfull, it has been given the rank of strongest technique to ever grace this world, one so important that the entire world would not be the same without it."
"Don't test me, child."
"Ahaha, it's a serious technique, don't worry about it."
In a hush tone, he talks to the 4 kids.
"*whisper* Go along with my plan, I'll take care of this."
"*whisper* Give us a second."
"*whisper* That halo guy seems to have lost it."
"*whisper* What shall we do ?"
"*whisper* I don't know, should we follow him ?"
"*whisper*... Let's give him a chance !"
"*whisper* Alright !"
"Well then, I guess it setteled, let's try this out !"
The blade gets ready, even though it seems to be nothing more than a parlor trick.
After nearly a minute of tension, something finaly happened.
"This technique is called... RUNNING AWAY ! AND AT MAX SPEED !"
Speechless, the Blade doesn't even realise what just happened, and the 4 kids, didn't have time to be surprised, as he caught all for of them in between both of his arm, using one of the blade as a surf, he flys away as fast as he can muster.
The Blade, understanding that he has been duped, and that it will be impossible to catch him without getting found out, start to rage.
He has failed his Emperor, the one thing he swore to never do, and he just did it.
Such a thing will not be accepted.
SUCH A THING SHALL NOT HAPPEN.
And in that moment, he threw caution out of the window.
If he couldn't catch them, he would fail.
If he killed them, at least his failure would be mitigated.
Even if he died.
On the other side, the fallen, still on said flying sword, stop on top of a very tall building.
He drop the 4 on it, and gets back on that sword.
"Wait ! What are you doing ?"
"I'm going to end this, what else ?"
The ashen haired kid, more mature than the other 3, ask him the question on the back of the others minds.
"... Can you beat him ?"
And the fallen, respound to her in a manner that would seem like he didn't just run away from said man.
That he had everything under control.
"Of course I can. I just couldn't do it while protecting you guys. Just trust me."
As he say that, his finger start emiting arts. It's like pure energy gathering at his finger, starting to charge for something.
"I can do something that'll allow me to beat him, I just need to get him to stop moving for a while."
"... Alright. Let's wait here then."
"Are you serious ? You think we can trust him ?"
"There's no other way."
"... Let's follow what Tahlula said."
"You serious, Ch'en ? You think that guy can beat him alone ?"
"No, but I trust Tahlula's judgment, so I'm going to trust her."
"Beatrix, back me up here !"
"Well, I normally would be with you on this, but I don't think we have much of a choice."
"Urgh ! You guys, we can't ..!"
"Let's just trust him for now. He saved our life right before, so let's wait it out."
"You guys are impossible !"
"Well then, I'll come back in a little bit, let me just-"
At this point, the Blade is starting to get closer and closer, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
"Yeah, we don't have the time, so I'm just going to end this."
Jumping down and catching the frozen sword in the sky, he gets on top of it and start riding on it as if it was some sort of surfboard.
Gun in hand, the battle start again, wordlessly this time.
*BANG* *BANG*
Two shots, both blocked.
The Blade know it will be difficult to get close to him, but fighting againts a flying ennemy at long range is impossible.
So he start jumping towards him.
While this rages on, 5 people start to observe this fight.
The 4 kids, on top of the building, admiring the battle taking place, the perfect aiming of the fallen, who never missed a single shot.
And the man in a raincoat, on a rooftop multiple blocks away, looking at the battle with a cautious eye.
He thinks about intervening, but doing so would risk his cover, so he refrain for now.
...
The battle rages on for a little bit.
Little by little, the Blade gets ground.
Little by little, he gets closer.
They both know, that the moment he swing at his neck, the battle will end.
Then, the fallen had a thought.
A fleeting thought that he had once before, but decided to not act on it at the time, because it seemed too good.
'If my aimbot aim for me without needing conscious thought, why bother aiming in the first place ?'
And after he acted on this idea, there was a significant change.
The game was set.
Anyone seeing this fight could understand it immediatly.
It was no longer a battle, it was a one sided beatdown.
Bullet, trashcan, glass shards, rocks, anything that could impeed the Blade's progress fly at him faster than he can react.
His already riddled with bullet body can't take much more of this unending assault.
He's getting hit on every piece of his body, without warning, and without any kind of hint from his opponents body as to where he would fire.
The final straw to this was a shot that no one could comprehend, it was without a doubt, the one that made no sense.
*BANG*
*DING*
After this, the bullet went and pierce his back.
The bullet travel behind him, rickocheted in the bell far behind him, and shot him in the back, without him able to do anything.
For the audience, the 4 kids were stunned.
That shot was so awesome they stopped thinking for a while.
It made no sense- a rickochet like that was impossible !
As for the raincoat, he knew.
The kid wasn't aiming anymore.
All projectile just, always hit the target.
It just didn't matter.
It always hit.
Without question, this was the work of an art ..!
But for a kid this young to develop an art his powerful, this was the work of a genious caster.
This was the thought of the man in a raincoat.
One that impeeded his descion making skill.
One that he regretted immediatly after.
As the Blade, not dead from that shot, decided that he didn't care anymore.
He would kill everyone here, including himself.
For failing his Emperor, death was the only thing he could think that would cleanse just a little of his crime.
So he started gathering his art in his body, to exploded himself in a giant explosion.
One that would engulf at the very least, 10 blocks in radius.
The fallen, however, was waiting for this.
Such a gathering of arts was impossible will moving.
So he unleashed all the arts he had gathered in his finger.
This had the effect of dropping everything he was holding on with his arts. Even the sword that he was on.
And then, the world was cut.
So cleanly it didn't make sense.
The Blade was cut so well, that he could easily be saved by a healing arts.
To link the two sides that were cut back together.
A perfect cut.
Sliced in half, both sides seperates.
Even then, blood does not flow yet.
The Blade isn't dead yet either- just conscious, a impressive feat considering his brain was also cut in half.
Then, the world saw red.
An endless rain of blood, followed seconds later by an explosion in the sky.
Why ? Well, the Blades body was thrown in the sky in an instant, it was like the place under him and the sky were linked.
Almost like space itself oppened up.
The raincoat, understood immediatly.
This wasn't some art that could help him aim better- this was-
Spactial arts.
The perfect cut was created by severing space around the Blade, and the explosion moved to the sky by moving the space under the Blade for somewhere in the sky.
He had to go back to his lady- to tell her everything.
He already knew that with someone that adept at spatial arts, that kid could have gotten everyone of the VIP somewhere safe if he wanted.
He was just playing with them ..!
And so the shadow ran.
And thus, the sky saw red.
Tired...
So fricking tired...
This takes way to much of my energy, I can't really do anything.
I have to just...
Alright, there we go.
Catching a frozen sword is so annoying...
Well I should get those kids home.
"You- What the hell was that ? How can you do something this cool while looking like a hobo !"
"Do I really look like one ?! I mean, um, I just can, my art is just that."
"Really ? Arts can do something like that ?"
This kid Tahlula seems to really likes art.
Almost like forshadowing or something.
Well, I mean, she is going to become one of the most powerful flame caster, so that's understanable.
"Well, I could teach you the basic, but this arts is in my blood, only my parents and so on could use it."
"Really ..? That sucks..."
"Ahahah, don't be so down ! I'm sure your talented at arts, you just have to try !"
Yeah, considering what I just thought !
Geez, spatial arts is costly.
I guess I have an idea why people wanted me, and why they considered my parents as some of the strongest fighter in the Laternien army.
Well, once again, let's get home so I can sleep.
"You girls come with me, I'll send you home."
"Can I go on your back ? Holding on to four people must be tireding."
"Eh sure get on blue kid."
After getting a kid Ch'en on my back, the other 3 hold tightly on my coat and we start flying towards, well, nowhere right now.
"... Where is you girls home ?"
"Oh yeah. It's that way !"
They started to show me towards a big tower.
This is probably more Wei's home than anything.
"How rich are you girls ?"
"Tahlula and my uncle is the leader of this city !"
Well, if I knew who Tahlula was that would be weird, it'll also allow me to get their name and an introduction.
"Which one of you is Tahlula ?"
"Me."
And, unsurprinsigly, the gray haired, horned kid answer.
"Now that I think about it, I never got your name."
"I'm Ch'en Hui-cheh, The tiger is Beatrix Schwire and the pink haired is Lin Yüshia."
"Urgh, Ch'en ! I wanted to introduce myself, why are you always like that !"
"Sorry Beatrix, it's funnier like that."
"You little ..!"
"Nice to meet you four, my name's Dante."
"Dante, huh."
"Yeah, I'm part of the Pontifica Cohors right now, which mean I'm an Envoy of Laterano."
"If your a Sankta, why is your halo black, and you also have horns !"
"That's 'cause I'm a Fallen Sankta."
They all seemed perplex. Well this is news to them, I doubt they met many fallen.
"What's a fallen ?"
"Eh, it's a Sankta that violated one of Laterano's sacred law, as a non beliver, I fell."
"It's that easy ?"
"Yep, well, for the horns it takes more than just not being a beliver, but well, I wouldn't know. I was always a fallen, you see."
Ahh, I can see the question on their face.
"I was just born that way, as to why ? I have an idea, but I can't be sure, so I'll refrain from speaking about it."
"Urgh, unfair ! Why not ?"
" 'cause it's a boring old theory that doesn't have any basis. Anyway, we're here."
And thus, we arrived to the bottom of said tower.
And unsurpsingly, people were waiting for me there.
More suprsing, was that it was Wei and Fumizuki directly.
I thougt they would have waited up in the higher floor and escorted the kids up, wanting to talk to me separetly from them.
Well, what do I know about politcs right ?
" 'Those your parents ?"
"That's our uncle, Wei Yenwu, and Fumizuki."
" 'Aight, all off of me then."
Need to breath, jeez, those kids have a tight grip.
"A fallen who decided to help random children on the streets ? We find something new everyday..."
"Wei, that's rude. He saved Ch'en and Tahlula, after all."
"Urgh, you're right. How are you both ?"
He came close and hugged them.
They seemed pretty close, all things considerd.
"We're fine, uncle. Dante helped us flee, and he took care of the ones attacking us."
"I see, I already got th gist of what happened, but thank you, young man."
"Already knew, huh. Well, I had a feeling we were being watched. Why not inteverne tho ?"
Ah, the 4 kids didn't get what I meant.
Well the two adults understood immediatly, so I guess they didn't tell them anything about it.
"... You felt his gaze ?"
"What great instinct you have."
"Some dude with a raincoat right ?"
"!"
Yeah, that look of shock is what I wanted from them.
"You saw him ?"
"Not exactly, he probably told you about my arts right ? It's the same thing as 'aiming'."
That's a complete lie, but they don't need to know that.
"I see. This is indeed extremely powerful."
"Mhm... I know. Here, Wei."
What ? Why is she whispering in his hear ?
"Mhm ... Yeah, this would be for the best, since they would at least listen to him."
"Wouldn't it ? Let's try this then."
"... Wait, what was your name young man ?"
"Dante, why ?"
"Are you with the Pontifica Cohors ?"
"Oh, you know of them ?"
"Indeed, they came here, signing some paperwork and cursing someone from ditching them."
"Ahahahah, I wonder who that person is ?"
"Well, I was wondering too, I guess we will never know."
We start making way inside of the building, the kids talking with Wei and Fumizuki.
I stay mostly silent, they are mostly speaking about what happened and what they saw.
I don't really want to explain how I'm able to do all of that.
... Wait, is that ?
"Oh, are you wondering what this sword is doing here ?"
Isn't that Chi Xiao ? I know it's in his possesion, since he ended up giving it to Ch'en later on in the story.
"Kinda, having a sword exposed like that is weird. Usually a weapon would be used, not displayed."
"Oh ? Is this your point of view ? Well, if you can use it, I can lent it to you, if you want."
That's a trap. Well, kinda.
This sword doesn't answer to most people, since it's not a normal sword.
Normally I would call it a 'living blade' but that's not exact either.
It's not known exactly what it is, so I'll just call it what is at least certain.
It's a sword with Intent.
By that I mean, it has a form of desire, and will only allow certain people to unsheath it.
In return, it is a stupidly overpowerd weapon, one capable of cutting pretty much anything.
As long as you can suply it with arts.
If I remeber, it's origin was as of the 10 swords of the Emperor.
On Earth, it was an actual thing too, but it wasn't some kind of mystical thing, just a really good sword, used by an Emperor of China.
It was...
What was it's title again ?
Sword of conquest ?
No, it was...
The symbol of a dynasty...
Ah !
"... The sword of soverignty."
"You know of it ?"
"Well, kinda. Because of my art, I had to learn how to use a lot of weapon, so I also searched for those that are considered the 'strongest'."
"I see. Well, you're right, it is indeed Chi Xiao."
"I see. I only heard a description, it's really striking."
I aproach it. Well, it really is a beautiful weapon.
The red scabard also remind me of another weapon.
One who is also known for it's bloodshed.
Heh.
It's weight is really something, for my frame it's at least usable.
"You sure ?"
"Of course. Well, if you can really unsheath it."
Mhm. Can I do it ?
It's a sword with a purpuse.
What would the purpuse of this blade be ?
Soverignty.
What was it's legend...
Mhm, I guess I can try this.
It's user was a conqueror.
So.
Let's promise it just that.
'If you want to carve flesh once more, accept to be unsheathed.'
... Mhm ? Am I seeing things ?
Is it ? Oh I know.
*SHING*
The tower is shaking a little.
The roar of that red blade sure is something.
"So that's what you want, huh ?"
Seeing my reflection in that blade, I can feel it.
It wants blood.
...
What a bloodthirsty sword.
It's like a pit of malice, one who would carve the flesh of everyone it could sink it's teeth in.
It gleems with a unspoken rage.
A blade made for battle, one where a man kills another.
It only knows that story, what a lonely existance.
Well, if I can use it, I'm not complaining.
As for Wei and the others...
"So you managed to unsheath it, huh."
"Yeah, I understand it a little, so it answered my called."
"Truly ? You can understand it ?"
"Eh, just a bit."
Ch'en looks at me with wide eyes.
Well, she's going to use it later.
I'll give it back once I found something just as good.
Maybe there's more weapon in the ruins of Gaul ?
I'll look it up once I have the time to do so, which is going to be in a while.
Well, all in all, a pretty good hoard.
Considering I just gotten a really good weapon, albeit temporarily.
"So, what was that condition you wanted me to do for the weapon ?"
"Two things, one, I'm lending it, I will need it back in a couple of year."
"Yeah, I figured."
"Two, I will need you to teach someone how to use it later."
Oh, I see his angle.
He wants me to teach Ch'en later so she can use it better.
Makes sense, if she can learn to use it more easily she'll be even stronger than canon.
Instead of struggiling to unsheathing it, she would be able to use it however she wished.
That's a scary thought, considering just unsheathing and resheathing it was considered her trump card.
"Yeah, sure. I have a sneaking idea about who I'll teach, so yeah sure."
At this, Wei and I both look at the same person.
Guess he had the idea of giving it to her back then.
"Anyway, I shouldn't overuse your hospitality, I'll go back to our hotel and-"
"You can't !"
What ?
Everyone in the room look at little Ch'en.
Well, it seems someone doesn't want me to leave.
I may have saved he life but well, she shouldn't be attached to me just for that.
"C-can you stay here for the night ? Can he, uncle ?"
"Well, if he wants, I'm not going to stop him, espetially if you want him to stay."
The others seems to prefer me staying too, it would seem.
Well, one still have aprehension. I'll let you guess at who it is.
If you guessed pink rat, you get a prize.
"Well, sure. If you'll have me here."
"Very well, I'll show you to the guest room."
Well, sleeping in this will be as good as a 5 star hotel, compared to the comfort of the ground while we were outside, this is great !
All in all, this day was good !
...
Finding myself infront of the bed, I just plop on it.
... Uh ...
G-guess I was more tired than I tought huh...
Well, good night...
AN : Hey ! Thanks to the people who finnished here !
This conclude the first part of the first Arc.
I don't know how many arc there will be, but I want 2 Arc to be before canon, after that, Chernobog, the event that started everything in the game, will happen.
The next chapter will be this fight from the perspective of Ch'en.
A side story, if you will.
This will happen at the end of every part, so get used to them !
An Arc will have 3 parts, this one is just the introduciton part of Arc 1, so I'm far from canon, lol.
For the record, the second part will be about the two Sankta of PL, and a very tired pheonix.
A little heads up for some who wants some info :
Dante's art works like this :
His art can move by thought anything that he consider a 'weapon'. Because of that, he can use it to move any item that he think are weapon.
Because of that, he can't move himself and other people, since they are people, not weapon.
He also can manipulate space, but he can't teleport.
He can, however, link two space together.
Like a wormhole basicly.
As for his aimbot, it is unconscious, so he doesn't need to think about it to use it.
His body will move towards the best shot no matter what, so he doesn't actually need to aim.
For the shot throught the bell, it's because he wanted to shot the EB in the back, so his body shot somewhere it would hit his back.
Yes, it also mean he can shot anyone from anywhere.
As long as his bullet can hit.
It indeed is pretty strong.
As for the sword thing, he wants to be able to use any weapon he wants, so he can be every operator class in the game.
It's just a personal goal, a grindset, if you will.
Kashey will not stop at this. But if you wanna know, Tahlula's fate WILL change.
Doesn't mean it will be the best though.
In any case, thanks for the read ! Hope you have a good day.