AN: Alrighty, that took a bit longer than I liked. Oh well. Time to get crackin, see what I can do with a few days off. Now, part three, the finale of the Prologus Volumen, is done, and I can start going for the true start of the story. Enjoy, R&R, I'm curious to hear what you guys are thinking.
He floated in darkness. He hurt. When he opened his eyes, he found no wound, but something ached. There was nothing there to hurt him, or so he thought. He didn't know why he hurt, nor why he was in the darkness he was in now. Slowly, light invaded his eyes, and he found himself in a room stained in dark green. Stepping out of his Weapon form, he raised a hand to his head, dazed. Suddenly, he began to perceive the room for what it was – rubble was everywhere, and a hole was torn in one of the walls.
He took off his hood, and looked at his clothes while sitting down. The cloth was amorphous and shapeless, but all were black. He wore black robes, and under that, nothing but a pair of black pants and shoes. Black chains wound under his robes, and some were visible at his wrists. The chains looked as if they had been broken from another source, either keeping him in place, or bound to something else.
He slowly stood up, his legs shaking. Leaning against a wall, he walked along the wall to the hole, and peered beyond. The void beyond was colorless, all in blacks, whites, and grays. The scene seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember why. The Weapon eased himself over the edge of the hole in the wall, and began to free-fall into the oblivion-like landscape. However, just before he touched the ground, a large explosion ignited the sky. Streams of white outlined in black and green energy danced around the sky, and the wind from the explosion carried the streams past the Weapon.
Focusing his eyes, the Weapon looked into the distant sky at the source of the explosion. In the distance, he could see two figures standing in the sky. Both figures were dressed in complete white, but he was too far away to get any closer details. Resting, he watched the two. One held a white and green spear, and the other a white sword. The two clashed several times, sending shockwaves through the air.
Eventually, the exhaustion left the lone Weapon, and he began to approach the sky-torn battle. Closer, he could see that the warrior with the sword looked like a mirror replica of himself. The spear-wielding warrior wore a mask to that prevented anyone from seeing his features, but as he approached, the masked man's green eyes flashed at him.
'Lanza de Luz.' The masked man's spear glowed brilliantly. Spinning the spear, the light seemed to shear off of the weapon, and it was now longer, the same length as the wielder, and green rings encompassing the staff and blade. 'It appears,' He said, twisting his waste so he could view both of them. 'That both halves are awake.' The words did not come out as words. The man's words were not audible, as no noise traveled from the source. Instead, each syllable he 'spoke' was accompanied by a brief resonance in the exuded Soul-Wavelengths. No noise was created, and the process was similar to telepathy.
The man in white waved his sword. "I don't know what you're talkin' about, but I couldn't care in the slightest. I don't even know how you're talkin', but…" A white and black energy cloaked the blade of the sword he held in his hand. All I want to get out and eat. I'm hungry."
The spear blocked his way, and more soul waves were exuded. 'As my reputation as Murcielago, you will not leave until Semantics restores your soul.'
"I know how to fix myself… I think. All I have to do is consume the other half of my soul…" The white Weapon paused, staring at the black Weapon. "I'll be damned." His irises glowed white as he looked at the soul of the black Weapon. What he found surprised him. "Your soul's ripped in half. That can only mean-"
Before he could finish his thoughts, Murcielago appeared directly in front of the white Weapon, grabbing his shoulder and tossing him into the distance. As he recovered from the throw, the white energy cloaking his blade was discharged in a large arc. It hurtled towards Murcielago, but he side-step the wave of energy with apparent ease. However, his opponent worked on the opening that was created, and created a second arc of white energy towards Murcielago. Without any additional time to dodge again, he used the staff of his spear to parry the arc.
The black Weapon watched from the sidelines until the parried attack was, intentionally or not, redirected at him. Using the same maneuver as Murcielago, he side-stepped the rogue wave and watched it land on the ground behind him, creating a large explosion. He couldn't watch the collateral damage for long, as the fight continued.
Murcielago raised an arm, fingers spread out as if he was clutching some invisible object in the air. 'Sonar.' A tremendous wave of pressure filled the air as the Soul Wavelengths Murcielago created was intensified, After a second, a nearly colorless stream of energy left Murcielago's hand, only distinguished by the warping of the light around the stream.
"White Light!" The weapon discharged yet another white arc of energy, but as the two attacks collided, the arc of energy almost instantly evaporated under Murcielago's attack. The attack nevertheless missed its target, but he still stood stunned. The cloak of energy darkened until it was pitch-black, and the sword changed to nearly the same shade of black. "Black Light." He stabbed the air instead of releasing the attack as an arc, causing the strike to travel faster than Murcielago anticipated. The black stream of energy touched Murcielago just as he moved to the side, and the entire burst of energy spontaneously ignited in an explosion which engulfed Murcielago, and nearly the black Weapon as well.
The black Weapon backed off from the fight, and as he surveyed any places to sit the fight out, he noticed that in the rubble where the rogue White Light landed, a purplish-black crack in the ground shifted. He glanced back up at the still-rampaging explosion. With a sigh, he bent down over the crack. It was just large enough for him to slide through into the strange void beyond it. Just beyond it, he could marginally hear voices coming from the other side. He couldn't make out what they said, only that there were several.
'Impulso!' The explosion created by Black Light was shorn off almost immediately by an unseen force. From the middle, Murcielago appeared to be completely unharmed, save for a cut to his side where Black Light had struck him. Small shreds of Black Light lingered around Murcielago, their dying lights fading away giving him a demonic lighting. 'Impulso Directo!' A solid wall of reflected colors from the battle around them formed, and hurtled its way at the white Weapon. Deftly avoiding the burst of Soul Wavelengths, the Weapon's black cloak discharged again, this time in an wide arc. However, as the Black Light made grew close, it detonated prematurely, and was wiped away as before.
Tensa. The black Weapon froze. It was an inaudible sound, it had no source, but he had definitely heard it. He looked around for the source, however, the only thing in sight was the Weapon who looked strikingly similar to him and Murcielago. Your name… My name… Is… In his hand, a pitch-black longsword formed in fragments.
"Tensa?" He asked aloud. The sword gleamed brilliantly as a White Light flew overhead. 'That voice…? It sounds familiar… He thought in his head.
Wind blasted in his face as Tensa thought, forcing him outside of his head, and in the path of a White Light misfired from the white Weapon. Tensa's blade intercepted the Light, and sparks flew as he guided the wave of energy back at the source as he spun in a circle. Murcielago spun around sharply to look at Tensa, apparently not expecting the attack to be redirected. The white weapon simply avoided the attack by dropping in altitude, but he was clearly staring at Tensa.
Tensa rapidly approached the white Weapon, completely bypassing Murcielago. As the white and black blades clashed, electricity vibrated in the air. Murcielago watched from afar as Tensa replaced him in the battle. He blinked, and looked at the souls of the two contestants. Both were severely damaged, as he had suspected. Loose tendrils of their souls brushed and entwined, almost as if the two broken souls were trying to repair themselves. However, each time the swords made contact, the tendrils were blown off, and sparks between the souls were created. Is this Soul Resonance? It doesn't make sense. Two opponents shouldn't be able to create a Resonance, especially if it's two Weapons. He thought. A shockwave spilled off the edge of a clash, the two dragging their blade across the other's blade. Then again, Semantics informed me that this Weapon would be able to attain an Auto-Soul Resonance- Soul Resonance without a Meister. Is what I'm seeing a pseudo Soul Resonance?
As he was about to come to a conclusion, Tensa vanished with a dull vibration. Murcielago widened his eyes in shock, the warrior completely skipped through his following eyes. The white Weapon was confused as well, he was not able to follow the movements either. As he turned around, Tensa came into sight, his blade extended, just barely missing its target as the white Weapon jumped back.
"Black Light." The white weapon's black arc fired off, but Tensa didn't bother to move.
"Refraction." The black light struck a surface in the air, completely invisible, and the Black Light's energy was shot off in multiple streaks of different yet very dark colors. Each streak had a delayed explosion, but the shockwaves did not affect the wind pressure or velocity. The white Weapon was shocked. Before he could react, Tensa was inside the Weapon's personal space, his blade quickly closing in on his enemy's neck. However, the Weapon struck out himself, his black blade knocking Tensa's white blade out of harm's path.
Gaining additional space between the two, the weapon panted. "The hell did you just do?" He paused. "It doesn't matter, doesn't it feel wonderful? Can't you feel our souls vibrating?" He smiled, now composed again. His blade shimmered both black and white as he brandished his blade.
Four small fragments of Tensa's blade broke off and hovered in the air in front of him. "What's wrong with you?" He muttered motionlessly. Deciding on an attack at the last moment, the entire aura turned black as the Weapon swung his blade. Tensa drew his breath, and as the wave approached, a barely visible outline of a square appeared, each corner one of the fragments of his blade. "Reflection." The arc of energy appeared to slice directly through Tensa in the Weapon's perception, then he widened his eyes as he realized that his own attack had reversed momentum and was approaching him instead.
Releasing another White Light, the two waves of black-hardened energy collided. His second Light being weaker than his first, the majority of his original attack was still headed in his general direction, but in the form of excess energy. As the last shreds of white and black energy passed by him and the wind began to settle, the Weapon checked his field of vision. Murcielago hovered in the distance, his white mask betraying neither emotion nor thoughts. He was about to grow irritated when he found his target, hovering farther away than before, but still in range of his attacks.
Roaring, the Weapon's blade turned black as a huge burst of energy was prepared. Tensa stood in the background, his own blade lying at his side. Finally, after charging his Black Light for nearly half a minute, he discharged it, and with incredible speed, the Light was hurtling towards Tensa. However, as it approached, the white Weapon looked closely, and saw Tensa's lips move. The Black Light struck its target, but instead of detonating, the Black Light was deflected again, this time the Black Light's velocity could not be countered with either another Black Light or with evasion, and the Weapon had no choice – he was caught in the explosion of his own deflected attack.
The body of Tensa dissolved. The attack had not been completely deflected. As the Black Light was shorn in half, the other portion of the attack continued on its way through where the body of Tensa had been: the unintended target was the purple and black rift behind the body. As both Black Lights detonated, Tensa re-appeared, and two fragments of his blade returned to him in a small orange-ish lights. He rapidly approached the ongoing explosion near the rift, hoping that his opponent would be pre-occupied with his own attack.
'I cannot allow you to leave, even if you've created this much destruction.' Murcielago appeared, directly in front of Tensa. Shocked by the sheer speed he had just been witness of, Tensa jumped back. Narrowing his eyes, Tensa brandished his sword towards Murcielago.
"Stop me." Two visual copies of Tensa appeared, followed by four more coming from the two that had just appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Murcielago showed surprised, even though his mask. All of the copies of Tensa pushed forward, the individuals caught by Mucielago dissipated, until three had made it past him. However, the single copy of Tensa left had not moved, blade in hand and still pointing at Murcielago.
'Three of your visual distractions made it past me, yet you remain.' His spear completed a full circle in his hand. 'What was the purpose in distracting me if you weren't going to act on your diversion?'
Tensa smiled. Almost immediately after, he began to dissolve. Realizing his mistake and mustering all the speed he could without using the technique he had used to intercept Tensa before, he dashed towards the three remaining copies. If anything, their target would be the rift out of the Forge, and out of Semantic's jurisdiction completely. They're trying to make it to the human world… Does he even really understand where he's even trying to go? Murcielago weighed his options. Semantics would normally be visible by now, which meant that he had gone into the depths of the Forge, and had left the broken swords to him.
Two waves of White Light broke Murcielago's train of thought. The waves were traveling faster than he was currently, and thinking quickly, he guided the two waves at Tensa's target. Stopping mid-flight, Murcielago spun around, guiding another White Light out of harm's way as the white Weapon dashed in on Murcielago.
The two Lights destroyed both of the remaining copies of Tensa, and forced him away from the rift he had been planning on voyaging through. The white Weapon neglected to stop, and collided in mid-flight with his blade and Murcielago's spear as he passed over him. Coming to a dramatic stop in the dead center between Murcielago and Tensa, the Weapon tilted his head.
"That's strange. I hear something." He paused, looking in Tensa's direction. "That's coming towards you. Are those voices? Maybe… Voices come from people… Maybe they can regenerate my soul! Make me strong again!" He took a single step forward, then stopped again, the three parties staring warily at each other. "This voice isn't like the others." He paused, listening intently.
Murclielago watched the two continue. "Ji… What? My name is what? I can't hear it very well…" The Weapon seemed nearly in a daze as it took a few steps closer to the void. "Tell me my name before…" Murcielago stopped him, spear jabbing towards his face. Grinning devilishly, he slashed at the spear, and dashed past Murcielago, making sure that the recoil from his attack would keep him busy for at least a few seconds.
Tensa watched from the lips of the purple maw as the Weapon passed him. The two's eyes met, and several minutes seemed to unfold between the two. Their souls' wavelengths tremored as they passed, but no reaction developed. The exchange ended as the Weapon dived into the rift, and vanished.
Now with only one outside party left Tensa watched as Murcielago hounded him down. However, he took one step into the void, and the spear that Murcielago had held was thrown, which he had barely avoided in his descent.
A pulse of green from the shockwave created by the spear's impact cleared away all traces of smoke and debris. Murcielago didn't both to reclaim his spear – it had faded away regardless. He walked towards the edge of the rift, but he could no longer feel either of the two souls' wavelengths from his perspective anymore. He had failed to keep the broken Yata Mirror's fragments in check. It was now Semantic's turn. After that, the it was Shinigami's hand which needed played.