(Disclaimer: I do not own Koihime Musou or SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own this idea, which might become a story, and my OC's)
It is foretold that a time of strife shall arrive. When the land is shrouded in darkness, the souls of the Sovereigns shall be entrusted to the warriors known as the Gundams. Only through will, power, and guidance from the Gyokuji shall they exorcise the land from darkness...
That time of strife will be known as Sangokuden, and that time has come upon us.
Shin Koihime†Musou: Brave Battle Warriors
Shoku 1: Decent of the Azure Dragon
"Come on, you two, hurry up, hurry up!" The voice of a young girl called out to her companions to pick up the pace. The said girl was a young adult woman with long pink hair and blue eyes. Portions of her hair were pulled into twin tails and decorated with two white feathers on each side of her head while the rest cascaded on her back with her forelocks and bangs framing her face. She wore a sleeveless, pinstriped white shirt with a gold-trimmed green-collar held by a pink ribbon. A magenta skirt with white accents at the end hung around her waist. Her appearance was further complemented with a green corset with gold trims on her abdomen which split into two, short tails at the end. Covering her arms and legs were white detached sleeves with golden trims and white knee-high boots with light pink leggings that went slightly past the boots. Hanging on the side of her hip was a regal-looking sword sheathed in a white and gold scabbard.
"Please wait, Touka-sama. Going ahead alone is dangerous," A second voice spoke up. The voice belonged to another young adult woman with long black hair and bright amber eyes. Her hair was tied into a ponytail on the left side of her head held by a golden band and a pink ribbon while her bangs were pulled over to the right side of her head with her forelocks framing her face. Her outfit was much like the first girls as she was wearing a sleeveless, pinstriped white shirt with green collars, a purple-and-white necktie, and a black skirt. To compliment her appearance, she was wearing a yellow-trimmed green corset which split into long tails in the end. White and green detached sleeves with golden trims covered her arms while brown leggings that reached to her mid-thighs covered her legs along with sturdy black loafers. She was holding a pole-arm weapon, a Guan Dao, topped with a green dragon head that had the curved blade coming out of the mouth. Just below the head was a pair of pink tassels wrapped around the shaft.
"That's right. There's no way a star would fall while it's still this bright outside," A third voice spoke up, this one belonging to an adolescent girl with short red hair and blue eyes. Decorating her hair was a cartoonish tiger hairclip located right above the corner of her left eye. She was wearing a navy blue half shirt which revealed her midriff underneath a yellow half jacket with brown stripes resembling that of a tiger along with a yin-yang symbol located the left shoulder. Two brown belts that looked big on her crisscrossed and hung around her navy blue shorts as the front-most buckle also had a yin-yang symbol on it. Her hands were covered with fingerless navy blue gloves with red bangles as the right glove reached below her elbow. She wasn't wearing any shoes and instead opting to just wear navy blue socks with open toes and heels. Finally, completing her out was a red scarf wrapped around her neck. Just like the other two, she too was carrying a weapon, a spear twice her size with a blue ragged ended wrapped right underneath the zigzagged blade. Despite the size of the weapon, the small girl was carrying it just fine.
"Rinrin is right," The second girl said. "This might be some sort of Ayakashi. We should approach with caution."
"Do you think so?" The girl named Touka hummed to herself before smiling to herself. "Well, if two amazing girls, Kan Unchou and Chou Yokutoku, say so, I guess so..."
"Onee-chan, believe in us!" The girl named Rinrin said, puffing her cheeks a bit.
"That's right," The girl who Touka referred to as Kan'u gave the pink-haired girl a stern look. "We won't be able to make excuses if someone as great as Ryuu Gentoku gets attacked by Ayakashi in the middle of the day.'
"But it won't be as scary if we all go together, right?" Touka pointed out before moving on ahead. "Then, let's hurry up and go!"
Rinrin lets a sigh at her sister's easy going-ness. "She just doesn't get it."
"Geez..." Kan'u also lets out a sigh before motioning Rinrin to follow. "Rinrin, let's hurry up."
"Got it!" And so the two followed after their sworn sister, walking for a while until they reached the area near the base of a mountain, entering a small forest area.
"That star fell...around here, right?" Touka asked as she looked around the area.
"From what we could see of the trajectory, it seemed that it landed at the base of Godai mountain," Kan'u said, looking around the area herself though with more caution. "If our eyes were not being deceived by an Ayakashi then it must be somewhere in this area."
"But there's nothing around here," Rinrin pointed out, looking around to find nothing but trees and bushes. "What's going on?"
"How about we all split up and look for where the star fell?" Touka suggested.
"That's dangerous. We still don't know if it's a good or evil being," Kan'u said, shooting down Touka's suggestion.
"Then, we'll just have to search together."
"Let's do that...hm?"
*clang-clang-clang!*
"Is something the matter, Rinrin?" Touka asked, noticing the girl had suddenly stopped speaking.
"I think I just heard something," Rinrin said, cupping her ears as she tried to extend her hearing.
*Clang!*
This time everyone heard it. The sound of metal hitting metal.
"Someone's in trouble!" Rinrin exclaimed, recognizing the familiar sound of weapon's clashing.
"Is it bandits?" Touka wondered out loud, a bit surprised to find bandits this far out.
"Come on!" Kan'u was the first to take off running with Rinrin following close behind.
"Ah! Wait for me!" Touka cried out, getting a late start as she followed after her sword sisters.
The three girls ran past trees and bushes alike until they made it to a clearing, coming up to a sight they were all too familiar with.
A trio of men garbed in light armor and adorned with yellow bandanas was surrounding a young man around Touka and Kan'u's age. With the way the men had their weapons drawn out and held threateningly, they were obviously bandits.
"Oh no! He's surrounded!" Touka pointed out the obvious while noticing the man's strange clothes. They seemed to somehow sparkle under the sunlight. But not wasn't the time to be distracted by clothes.
Wielding her Green Dragon Crescent Blade, Kan'u went to step out.
"Stop—!"
*SHINE!*
Whatever others words Kan'u was about to say died inside her mouth as all of a sudden, a light appeared right above the man's head, surprising everyone as the light died down, allowing everyone to see that the young man was now armed with a weapon, a blue-colored Dao sword with a golden dragon breathing fire decorating the blade.
The young man, as well as the bandits, were starring at the sword in both awe and surprise. The girls too were the same.
"Wha-? Where did that weapon come from?" Kan'u thought out loud, confused as to how a sword just seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Both Touka and Rinrin wondered the same thing.
Suddenly, one of the bandits shook himself out of his stupor and grinned greedily at the man's new sword.
"That's a nice looking sword you got there. I think we'll take that also." the bandit said, possibly the leader as he then ordered one of his subordinates, a giant fat man who's cloths and armor looked ready to pop off of him. "Get him, Fatso!"
The bandit known as Fatso did as told and charged at the young man, sword raised to kill him. The young man himself reacted by crying out and lifting up his sword to guard. Touka and the girls were about to rush out and finally assist the boy...
*CLANG!*
When the fat bandit's sword struck the boy's sword...and broke.
"...huh?" The fat bandit looked at his broken sword in confusion. This moment of confusion soon costed him as the young man jumped up and kicked the bandit's head, hitting the temple as the surprise kick sent the fat bandit down to the ground. Before the bandit could even groan out in pain, the young man landed right on his face feet first, breaking the man's chubby nose and knocking him out.
Stepping off the fat bandit, the young man shouldered his new sword and looked straight at the remaining two, appearing more confident than he had earlier.
"I'm giving you two choices: Either take your friend and leave or share the same fate as him."
"Grrr, don't get so cocky, brat! There's still two of us against one of you!" The leader bandit said as he and his short associate both charged at the young man, swords raised.
Despite being outnumbered, the young man was the definition of calm as he stopped shouldering his sword and leaned back to avoid the short bandit's sword swing, kicking out and striking the bandit right in the gut and sending him flying back just as the sword neared the young man's neck, missing by just an inch. the leader bandit soon came in to replace the short bandit and swung downward. The young man simply stepped to his left, avoiding the bandit's blade as the leader stumbled past him due to overswinging his sword. Turning around, the leader bandit swung against at the young man who, without even turning around, raised his Dao sword and blocked the blade. Spinning around, the young man then got close to the leader bandit and delivered an elbow strike to the man's face who stumbled back and held a now bleeding nose.
From behind the young man, the short bandit cried out as he charged, sword raised over his head. Spinning around again, the young man swung his sword at the bandit's and with seemingly little effort, broke the bandit's sword much like he (accidentally) did with Fatso's. The short bandit, for his credit, didn't let his broken sword surprise him as he simply threw it away and lunged at the young man only to receive a fist to his face. Stumbling back while holding his face, the young man quickly got behind the short bandit and knocked him out with a strike to the neck using the back of the blade.
"DIE YOU BAS—!"
*CLANG!*
Yelling out in rage, the leader bandit tried to back attack him only to get his sword broken as well before finding the young man's sword right at his neck and was staring right into the young man's emerald green eyes.
"Let's try this again, shall we?" The young man said before saying, "Leave. Now."
Sweat poured down the lead bandit's head as he quickly nodded his head before hauling his two men and ran as fast as he could, leaving a dust cloud before him. Once the bandits were gone, the calm demeanor the young man was displaying fell as he let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew, glad that went well," The young man said to himself before examining the sword in his hand in wonder. "It really is the Sōryūtō(Dragon Claw Saber)..."
While the young man was busy admiring his sword, the girls who had remained hidden all this time looked at him in slight awe, Touka more than the others.
"Amazing..." Touka muttered, amazed by how swiftly the young man took care of the bandits. She could tell just from watching that the man was a much better swordsman than she was.
"He's quite skilled," Kan'u commented, impressed. Men of such skills were rare to find nowadays.
"And strong!" Rinrin added in, having a slight urge to fight the young man herself.
"Let's go introduce ourselves," Touka suggested, tired of hiding like this as she stood up...
*Snap!*
And stepped on a twig, breaking it and alerting the young man who quickly readied the Sōryūtō and turned to where the girls were hiding.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!"
Slightly berating herself for not noticing the twig on the ground, the Touka and the girls quickly revealed themselves, pushing aside the bushes in their way.
"Wait! Please lower your weapon! We mean you no harm!" Kan'u was the first to speak, raising her hands up to appear nonthreatening. Touka and Rinrin copied her actions.
Raising an eyebrow at the girls, the young man lowered his sword but still kept his guard up. Now that they were no longer hiding, the three could now get a better look at the young man.
He was, as stated before, a young adult male with emerald green eyes and long black hair which was tied up into a small bun. The strange clothes Touka had noticed earlier consisted of a mostly white and blue blazer with gold trimmings and with extra pockets located on both sides of the man's chest. Worn under the blazer was a simple blue shirt. Covering the man's lower body was simple looking jeans and black sneakers. Around the man's waist was a black waist bag with the letters E.F.S.F stitched in.
"Who are you three?" The young man asked, looking at them suspiciously.
"Please, sir. We mean you no harm," Touka pleaded while staring nervously at the Sōryūtō. There weren't a lot of weapons she knew of that could casually break other weapons and she'd hate to find out what it could do on flesh and bone.
In order to further prove they meant no harm to the young man, Touka took off her sheathed sword and set it down next to her. Seeing this, the others followed her example and laid down their weapons.
Seeing this, while still looking skeptical, the young man finally relaxed his stance.
"Sorry, I'm just kind of shook right now," The young man said. "I just suddenly woke up here and those guys attacked me and..."
"It's okay, we understand," Touka said, raising her hands up in a calming gesture. "Are...Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," The young man said, running a hand through his hair as he looked around the area they were in before turning back to the girls. "Um, you three wouldn't happen to know where we are?"
"This is the Yuushu region," Kan'u was the one to answer. "We're at the base of Godai mountain."
"Yuushu region?" The young man raised an eyebrow in confusion before asking, "By the way, what's with the strange clothes? Is there some sort of cosplay event going on around here?"
"Hm?" Touka blinks in confusion at the young man's words. "Ko-su-pu-re? Ei-ben-to?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Both the young man and Touka blinked in confusion at one another, failing to properly communicate. (A/N: He's using English loan words which is why Touka is confused.) A strange silence descended upon the two which was soon broken by Rinrin.
"Onii-chan, you're wearing weird clothes yourself. They're all glittering somehow."
"That's true," Touka said, having already noticed it but just wanted to do something about the awkward mood earlier. "It's reflecting the sunlight and sparkling. Is it made with some first-grade silk or something?"
The young man looks down at his clothes with a raised eyebrow before looking back up at the girls.
"This? This is just my school uniform. School uniforms are usually made with polyester, right? It's pretty normal...isn't it?"
"What's this 'Poriesuteru' you're talking about?" Touka asked, once again confused by the young man's words.
"Eh!?" The young man looked at Touka in surprise, shocked that the girl didn't know what he was talking about.
"And you've been using words I don't know for a while now," Touka pointed out. "Onii-san, just what are you?"
"M-Me? Do I look that suspicious?" The young muttered that last part to himself before finally introducing himself. "I'm Akihito Kazuki, just a regular second-grade student of St. Francesca academy. What about you?"
The girls were briefly surprised that the young man now named Kazuki just suddenly introduced himself. While puzzled, they quickly introduced themselves to the man.
"My family name is Ryuu and my first name is Bi, followed by Gentoku," Touka introduced herself followed by Kan'u and Rinrin.
"My family name is Kan, my first name is U, and my common name is Unchou."
"Rinrin is Chouhi! Followed by Yokutoku! Nice to meet you!"
*Swoosh~!*
A sudden gust of wind blew by as Kazuki looked at the girls in surprise and disbelief
"...Huh?"
"Is something the matter?" Kan'u asked, seeing the confusion on Kazuki's face.
"N-No, um, you don't need to play dumb. I know you're cosplaying and all, but just tell me your normal names. Also, could you tell me where I am, for real this time?"
"Did you not hear what I said earlier? I've been saying for a while that this is the Yuushu region," Kan'u said, looking slightly offended.
"Onii-chan, are you stupid?" Rinrin bluntly asked with an easy smile.
"Eh...?" Once again, confusion made it's way to Kazuki's face as he looked at the girls and saw that they weren't lying. "Umm...are those really your names?"
"That's right!" Rinrin said with Touka nodding in agreement.
"We're not lying," Touka said. "Really, who are you, Onii-san?"
"Suddenly, I'm not so sure myself..." Kazuki said, trying to wrap his head around that these girls in front of him shared the same names as the characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Looking up into the bright blue sky, Kazuki tries to organize his thoughts and memories.
'Okay, so I was out late last night buying my little brother some gifts to cheer him up. Then I saw a guy trying to catch some thief and I, along with someone else, went to help. There was a fight and the thing the thief had, I think it was a mirror, fell and broke. There was a bright light after that and then...' Here he was, talking to girls who claimed to be Ryuubi Gentoku, Kan'u Unchou, and Chouhi Yokutoku.
'No good, I still don't get what's going on,' Kazuki thought to himself before looking down at his waist bag. 'Hey, what should I do now?'
[You should try to confirm the situation. I'm just as confused as you are, but for now, we should ask for the aid of these girls. They seem nice enough.]
'If you say so,' Kazuki thought before looking up at the girls, specifically Touka. "Um, Ryuubi-chan, right? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"This is...obviously Japan, right?" Kazuki asked, nervous about what the girl's answer would be.
"Japan?" Touka slightly tilts her head in confusion. "What's Japan?"
"..." For a brief moment, Kazuki goes silent at Touka's answer before nervously asking, "Um, it's the year 2018 AD, right?"
"AD?" Once again, Touka responds to Kazuki's question with confusion.
"..." Kazuki once again goes silent. One thing was confirmed for him though, something was obviously not right.
'I'm starting to think I'm no longer in Japan right now,' Kazuki thought to himself as he took notice of the mountain peaks peeking over the trees in the distance. Last he checked, his home was nowhere near the mountains.
"Umm, can I ask a question next?" Touka asked, snapping Kazuki out of his thoughts.
"Eh? Ah, yeah. Sure."
"Where did you come from, Onii-san?" Touka asked before pointing at the Sōryūtō. "And how did you make that weapon appear? I've never seen anything like it."
"...I'd have it easy if I knew that," Kazuki said, raising up the blue Dao sword to his eyes. "I'm not really sure where this came from."
That was a lie. His little friend hiding in his waist bag was the one who gave it to him, except the sword had been no bigger than a toothpick earlier.
"I really don't know anything or why I'm here..."
"Hmm...then, where are you from, Onii-san?" Touka asked.
"From? Tokyo, Asakusa." Kazuki answered but this seemed to once again confuse the girls.
"Asakusa? Did we have a place with that name?" Rinrin asked the others.
"No. Never heard of it," Kan'u said before turning to Kazuki. "Which region is that?"
"Region?"
"Like Yuushu or Keishu that we mentioned earlier," Touka said. "Are you maybe from Rakuyo then?"
"..." Kazuki doesn't answer, going silent again as he processes what the girls have said.
'Yuushu, Keishu, Rakuyo...' He'd be an idiot not to notice the places the girls were describing. None of those places were found in Japan, rather they were places found...in China.
'They call themselves Ryuubi, Kan'u, and Chouhi. They don't seem to be lying, and they don't even know what AD means.' Could it be? Was it true? Had he been—?
"Hey, hey, Onii-san," Touka suddenly spoke up, drawing Kazuki out of his thoughts. "Do you, by any chance, know nothing about this country?"
"...Let me ask you something," Kazuki spoke up. "Is this...China?"
"What are you saying? Of course, it is," Kan'u said.
"Okay...can I ask what year is it?"
"Year? Hmm..." Kan'u hums to herself for a moment before answering. "I believe the year is...two years after Emperor Han has passed on."
"Emperor Han...I see," Kazuki said, nodding to himself. "Now I understand, I'm in ancient China...I'M IN ANCIENT CHINA!"
"Wah!" All the girls jumped up in surprise at Kazuki's sudden outburst who was now freaking out.
"Eh!? How!? How am I here!? How am I in ancient China!? Did I...Did I do some sort of Time-Slip or something? But how? And why are characters from the Three Kingdoms girls!? What is going on!?"
"O-Onii-san, please calm down!" Touka exclaimed, worried about the young man but also unsure if she should get close to him.
Hearing what Touka said, Kazuki stopped moving around frantically, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. After counting to four, he let out that breath. After repeating this two more times, Kazuki finally calmed down and faced the girls.
"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to freak out like that."
"I-It's fine," Kan'u said before asking, "By the way, what did you mean by 'time suip'?"
"Well, it means arriving in the past, or actually, umm..." Kazuki hummed to himself, wondering how he should properly explain what a Time-Slip is.
While Kazuki was racking his brain on how to answer the girl, Touka's eyes widen in realization as if figuring something.
"I knew it...it's as I thought, Aisha-chan, Rinrin-chan!"
"Huh?" Breaking away from his thoughts, Kazuki took notice that Touka's eyes were practically glittering towards him.
"He doesn't know anything about this country, he's using words we don't know, and, and, his clothes are weird!"
"My clothes aren't that weird," Kazuki said. If anything, to him, the girls' clothes were weird to him. They were just too fancy-looking, further letting him know that not only was he somehow in the past, he was also in a whole other world. It was the only explanation his brain could come up with to reason why three major characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms were beautiful girls instead of men.
"He must be the Messenger of Heaven! The angel of love said to arrive to bring peace to these lands!" Touka finished, practically beaming with a smile.
"The Messenger of Heaven that Kanrou mentioned?" Kan'u who's true name was Aisha figured what Touka was saying but was still skeptical. "Wasn't that just babble from a fake diviner?"
"Yeah, yeah, I think so too," Rinrin said, agreeing with Aisha.
"But, didn't Kanrou-chan say that? A falling star coming from the east will bring a messenger that will bring peace to these chaotic times," Touka said, summarizing what she had heard from the diviner. "Plus, that sword of his magically appeared out of nowhere. He must be the Heavenly Messenger!"
"Hmm...true," Aisha said, seeing her sister's logic as she looked at Kazuki, judging him. "Judging by that prophecy, this person would be the Messenger of Heaven."
"But, this onii-chan doesn't seem all that reliable," Rinrin bluntly said. Sure he may be a good fighter but in these times of strife, they along with the people of this country needed more than just a good fighter.
"True. He doesn't feel like a hero to be called the Messenger of Heaven," Aisha said, her thoughts the same as Rinrin.
"Oi," Kazuki couldn't help but send an annoyed glare at the two girls who just basically insulted him.
"Do you think so? Hmm...I don't think so," Touka hummed to herself as she evaluated Kazuki in her eyes who shrank in place a little. Kazuki had no trouble interacting with the opposite gender, but under the judging eyes of three girls, even he would squirm a little.
'This is getting uncomfortable,' Kazuki thought to himself. Wanting to break this awkward tension, he went and asked a question.
"Umm...what this Messenger of Heaven you're talking about?" For a while now, they've been calling him that. If he was supposedly a messenger, where was the message?
"The Messenger of Heaven is an envoy sent from the heavens to bring peace to these warring times...or so the self-proclaimed best diviner of this continent, Kanrou, said," Aisha explained, adding in that last part after a moment of thinking.
"Warring?" Kazuki asked, noticing the word.
"That's how the world is right now," Rinrin spoke up, her expression turning serious which surprised Kazuki due to how young the girl was. "The Kan Dynasty is corrupt and taxes the people a lot, they just do as they please. And there are bandits that bully those weak people."
"So, the three of us stepped forward to protect those powerless people..." Touka spoke up next before she looks downcast. "But...with just the three of us, we can't do anything."
"As we were making plans on what to do, we met Kanrou," Aisha said, explaining how they heard the prophecy in the first place.
"So, our plan was to believe in her prophecy and come here," Rinrin said.
"Plan, huh...so, what you're saying is that I'm supposedly this Messenger of Heaven?" Kazuki asked while thinking that this prophecy about this supposed Heavenly Messenger sounded like the plot to an anime or manga.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not anyone special. I can't do any sort of fancy magic, and for using a sword, well..." Kazuki raised up the Sōryūtō to answer.
"Eh~? So you can do any sorcery or anything?" Rinrin said, looking disappointed. "Onii-chan, you're no good at all."
"S-Sorry..." Kazuki ended up apologizing to the disappointed redhead even though he technically wasn't at fault...right?
"But still! There's no doubt that you're not a person of this country," Touka pointed out.
"Yeah, that's true," Kazuki didn't argue against that since it was true.
"Right? That's why, it's decided, you're the Messenger of Heaven."
'That's not even a syllogism,' Kazuki thought as he made a wry smile at the girl.
"Plus, there's still the fact that that's no normal sword," Touka said, pointing at the Sōryūtō in Kazuki's hand.
"Well..."
*Growl~!*
Before Kazuki could even attempt to explain himself, his stomach suddenly growled so loud that it startled the girls.
"Ah, sorry," Kazuki apologized with a blush adorning his face. Now that he thought about it, he didn't get to have dinner due to trying to stop a thief. He wondered briefly if the other two that were with him were okay.
"Rinrin is hungry too!" Rinrin said, laughing a little at Kazuki. Touka and Aisha too both shared a small laugh, further embarrassing the young man.
"Now that I think, we haven't had breakfast yet," Touka said with a small smile.
"Lead's head back to the nearby town then," Aisha said as she went and picked up her weapon with Rinrin and Touka doing the same.
"Good call. Then, we can hear out Heavenly Messenger-san there," Touka said, planning to continue this talk once they all had something to eat.
"No complaints here," Kazuki said as he followed the trio until he realized something. "Um..."
"Yes?" The trio looked back at him.
Kazuki pointed at the Sōryūtō in his hand. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra sheath on you, do you?"
The girls silently shook their heads.
"Thought so..." Kazuki said with a sigh before he twirled the sword around, holding it in a reverse grip, and proceeded to carry it like that as he followed the trio back to town. As the new group of four walked, none of the girls noticed Kazuki's waist bag moving slightly.
(Later)
"Well, I guess this just proves I'm no longer in Tokyo, or Japan for that matter," Kazuki said as he looked at the town around him. The buildings were built in a way to stay where they were, not to be removed to be rebuilt someplace else. People walked the streets in clothes he had only ever seen people wear in movies depicting ancient times, further proving that he was indeed in ancient china.
"Really, just what the heck is going on?" Kazuki mutters to himself, getting lost in his own thoughts.
"Onii-chan, what are you doing?" Rinrin called out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Rinrin is hungry, so hurry up and come!" Puffing her cheeks cutely, the redheaded girl grabbed Kazuki's hand and dragged him into some kind of shop—a small restaurant he soon realized—and after placing their orders did the group proceeded to fill their bellies for the morning.
"Whew! That hit the spot!" Kazuki sighed, patting his now full stomach.
"So you see, Akihito-sama," Touka began while looking straight at him. "As we explained earlier, we've been traveling all this time to assist people who can no longer tolerate it and fall into sorrow. However..." Touka looks downcast again. "The three of us cannot become anyone's support. That's what the current age is."
"Government's rampant tyranny, and weak humans who, in their frustration attack even weaker ones" Aisha spoke up, looking angrier as she went on. "This chain of misery forms huge distress and covers the whole continent."
"Just the three of us can't do anything anymore," Rinrin said, looking downcast too.
"But I don't want to be crushed by that," Touka said, looking back up at Kazuki. "Even the powerless us should be able to do something. That's why, Akihito-sama!"
"Y-Yes!" Kazuki sat up straight when Touka's gaze on him grew more intense and she grabbed his hands and raised them up.
"Please, lend us your power!"
"Huh?"
"I think if you, the Messenger of Heaven, assist us, we can save even more and more people!" Touka said as she strongly clenches Kazuki's hands in hers. "To protect the powerless ones who can't fight. To stop those who have power and misuse it!"
Touka gave Kazuki a straightforward look, her eyes shaking with excitement. Held by her strongly clenched hands, Kazuki could feel the sincerity from her. Her words, her expression, her burning heart, they all touched his heart through those hands of hers.
'She's serious about this,' Kazuki thought as he looked at Touka. Her words held a sincere wish to save people. They were attractive in a way, almost irresistible.
"But...I'm not as amazing as you think I am," Kazuki said, doubting himself. "I'm just a normal guy you could find anywhere. Can someone like me even save anyone?"
To save people. Just in words, they sounded simple, but in reality, it's much more difficult. Kazuki never shied away from helping people before, but those were small things. Helping an old lady cross the street or rescuing a kid's pet stuck in a tree. What Touka was talking about was saving lives from the threat of death. Kazuki was no stranger to pain, having gotten involved in a few skirmishes, but Touka's words made it sound like they were trying to stop a war.
[If she says who she says she is, that just might be the case.]
'She called herself Ryuubi Gentoku,' Kazuki thought as he looked at Touka. 'If what she says is true, and she really is the Ryuubi Gentoku, then that would mean...'
"You are correct," Aisha spoke up, breaking Kazuki from his thoughts. That seemed to be happening a lot today. "But honestly, even if you're not the Messenger of Heaven, that is okay too."
"Huh?" Kazuki looked at the raven-haired girl in confusion.
"That's right!" Rinrin spoke up this time. "The important thing is that there is a possibility of you being the Messenger of Heaven."
"What do you mean?" Kazuki asked, now looking at the redhead in confusion.
"The three of us have some power. But there is something we lack..." Aisha said.
"Fame and reputation," Touka spoke up, taking over from where Aisha left off. "We don't have any achievements that would bring people to us."
"Even if we defeat bandits and claim rewards, that only gives us a reputation in a single area," Rinrin said.
"Yes. Normally we would have gathered achievements slowly, but the situation no longer gives us any time for that," Aisha said.
"If we save one village, people are crying in another," Touka said. "We've reached a limit with our power alone."
"I see now. You want to use the reputation of the Messenger of Heaven to gather followers," Kazuki said, realizing what it is the girls needed. Indeed, if this was certainly the past, specifically the Three Kingdoms period, then using religious reputation would certainly help. Unlike in modern times, people of this period still strongly believed in gods.
The Messenger of Heaven under Ryuubi's flag...just that alone would make people look closer to Ryuubi's deeds and then sympathize with her ideals and join her cause. That is how important fame is. But...
'What should I do?' Kazuki thought to himself. Why was he here in this world, and why him? No matter how hard he thought about it, no answers came to him.
[We should help them.]
'Are you sure? There's still so much we don't know.'
[If this is truly the Three Kingdoms period, and if these girls truly are who they say they are, then you should know just what the future has in store for them. Plus, that girl Ryuubi, she's just like me. No, she's exactly like me. She wants to bring peace to all of China. I want to help her!]
It seems his companion was fully set on helping the girls. And as for him, well, he was still greatly confused as to why he was here. What reason could there be for him to come to this world? No answer would come to him, no matter how long he thought about it. But...
'They need me,' Kazuki thought to himself as he looked at the three girls looking at him expectantly. For the longest time, Kazuki has always been one to help people. Why? Well, much like how his friends and everyone else he's met would say, he, Akihito Kazuki, was just too sensitive to other people's troubles.
It's never wrong to try and help someone.
Those were the words of his grandfather who served in the military and passed away last year.
'I may not know how I got here, but perhaps the reason why I'm here...is to help these three before me.'
[Have you come to a decision?]
Kazuki mentally nodded before facing the three girls. Taking a deep breath, he gave them his answer.
"I understand. If you're okay with me, then I'll accept the role of being your portable shrine."
"Really!?" Touka asked excitedly.
Kazuki grabbed a piece of bread still remaining on his plate and held it up.
"For this single bread, I'll be happy to repay you." He said with a smile.
"Eh?"
"Hm?" Suddenly, the excited looks on the girls completely vanished as they suddenly went pale.
"A single bread..."
"A single bread...you said..."
"A single bread..."
"W-What? I'm just talking about this meal," Kazuki gestured to the plates on the table that the girls were going to pay for since he didn't have a single Chinese bill on him, not like he could use it if he had one considering what time period he was in.
"Did I say something weird?" Kazuki asked.
"Eh...umm...you see..." Touka looked down as she poked her fingers together. "I thought people from heaven were all rich..."
"...eh?" Much like the girls, Kazuki too went pale.
"I thought we were in the Heavenly Messenger's care..." Aisha said, looking nervous.
"Eh? Wait, you don't mean..."
"We don't have any money," Rinrin said, trying to pass it off with a smile.
"Eeeeeeh~!?" Kazuki exclaimed as he looked at the girls in disbelief. If none of them had any money, then...
"Ooooh~?" Suddenly, the group was aware of the restaurant owner looking at them. "So all of you are dirt poor and eating for free!"
"N-No! We thought we had money, but it turns out we don't..." Touka tried to salvage the situation but was failing miserably.
"We had no intention to eat and run—"
"No excuses!" The owner interrupted Aisha before she could finish. "You won't escape! Everyone, get them!"
"Owner, eat and run?" A bearded man, no doubt a worker here, stood up.
"Those shameless bastards!" A youth stood up, joining the bearded man's side.
"Let's punish them so they never forget it!" A boy soon joined the two men's side, carrying a stick and swinging it around threateningly.
"N-No! Listen to us, please!" Touka begged as the three men advanced upon the group.
"Well, shit," Kazuki muttered to himself before stuffing the bread in his hand in his mouth. Might as well finish what was on his plate before receiving punishment.
*FLASH!*
[GET DOWN!]
Something inside Kazuki seemed to flash inside of him, alerting him way before his companion cried out. He quickly stood up, grabbed the girls, and pulled them down to the ground with him as—
*BOOM!*
An explosion outside occurred, shaking the entire building and frightening everyone in the restaurant as plates, utensils, and bits of the ceiling fell down due to the shaking.
"Wha-what's going on!?" Touka exclaimed, pushing herself back to her feet as did everyone else.
"BANDITS!" Someone outside shouted before screams were heard in the streets.
"Bandits!?" Aisah exclaimed in surprise before grabbing her Crescent Blade. "Come on!" She then raced out the door.
"Onee-chan, wait for us!" Rinrin called out as she quickly grabbed her Viper Spear and followed after her sworn sister.
"Ah! Wait, you two!" Touka called out to them as she and Kazuki grabbed their respective swords and followed after the two, racing outside to find people running and screaming.
"Oriyah!"
"Whoa!" Reacting on instinct, Kazuki quickly raised his sword and blocked an incoming sword swing while Touka cried out in surprise due to how sudden the attacker appeared.
Before Kazuki could even push back the attacker who Kazuki noticed was dressed very similarly to the bandits he fought earlier, the bandit was pushed back by a surprise strike to his gut. Turning, Kazuki saw Aisha having used the end of her polearm to push back the man. Before Kazuki could even say a word of thanks, Aisha quickly ran up to the man and struck him down with her Crescent Blade, drawing blood.
'She...she killed him!' Kazuki thought in surprise, horrified to see the loss of life happening before his eyes.
"Are you two all right?" Aisha asked after shaking off the blood on her blade.
"We're fine," Touka said while Kazuki shook himself out of his stupor. Looking around again, the town was overrun by bandits who were all either ransacking shops or attacking fleeing civilians. The thing that stuck out most to him was the yellow bandanas the bandits were all wearing.
'It can't be, Yellow Turbans!' Kazuki thought, realizing just who was attacking the town.
"Touka-sama!" Aisha spoke up. "Rinrin and I will go and fight off the bandits. You and Akihito-sama should aid the townsmen!"
"Got it! Be careful you two!" Touka said before grabbing Kazuki's hand. "Come on!"
"R-Right!" Kazuki said as the group split up to cover more ground. Looking behind him, Kazuki caught a glimpse of Aisha and Rinrin battling the bandits just before he and Touka turned a corner. Turning back around, Kazuki saw more of the townsmen fleeing in fright while some tried to stand their ground and fight with only minimal success.
"This...This is horrible," Kazuki said, looking at all the chaos happening around him.
"It is, isn't it?" Touka said as she frowned at everything around them. Such chaos happening around them, Touka felt hurt inside every time she saw such a scene.
"H-Help! Someone!" Hearing a cry for help, the two turned and saw a man backing away from some Yellow Turbans who were smiling wickedly at him. Immediately, both Kazuki and Touka sprung into action.
"Hah!" Kazuki let out a cry as he stepped in just in time to block a sword swing while Touka aided the man to his feet.
*FLASH!*
Kazuki's eyes widen as a flash went through his head. Quickly, he kicked back the Yellow Turban he was fighting and ran back over to Touka, swinging his sword in time to cut down an incoming arrow which would have hit the girl. Looking over to his right, Kazuki spotted an archer up on the roof of a building. Without thinking, Kazuki went and threw his sword at the archer who let out a cry of surprise and pain when the sword stabbed right into his chest and Kazukiw watched as the bandit fell down and crashed to the ground, unmoving.
'I...I killed him!' Kazuki thought as he just registered what he had done.
"Akihito-sama!" Touka's voice brought him back to reality as Kazuki's senses alerted him of incoming danger from behind. Turning around, Kazuki barely dodged a sword swing from the bandit he had been fighting earlier before jumping back when the bandit's comrades joined his side. Seeing that it was three to one and that he had no weapon, Kazuki soon assumed a karate stance.
"Ryuubi-san, take that man and get out of here!"
"But what about you!?" Touka said, not wanting to leave the young man behind.
Before Kazuki could urge the girl to run, the three Yellow Turbans were getting sick of waiting and attacked Kazuki.
The leader of the three thrusts his sword forward, but Kazuki sidesteps away from the attack before chopping at the man's hand, making him drop the sword before Kazuki quickly delivered a backhand to the bandit's face, making him stumble back as his comrades took his place. The two bandits attacked together, swinging and stabbing their respective swords at Kazuki who dodged the attacks as best he could. One of the bandits overextended, allowing Kazuki to throw a kick which knocked the sword out of the man's hands. The last bandit raised his sword over his head and swung down at Kazuki, but the man simply sidestepped the attack before stomping down on the blade and preventing the bandit from pulling back. Using this chance, Kazuki delivered a backhanded blow to the bandit, his arm looking almost like a whip due to how fast his arm was, before throwing a punch which struck the bandits throat, sending the man falling to the ground hacking as he held his neck.
The bandit who's sword Kazuki kicked earlier threw a punch at him, but Kazuki easily caught the fist and grabbed the bandit's arm before pulling hard enough to dislocate the bandit's arm. The bandit screamed out in pain before being silenced by a kick to the face which sent the man down to the ground. A stomp to the face soon knocked him unconscious.
The last bandit had retrieved his sword and attacked Kazuki, cursing up a storm as he swung only to miss when Kazuki dodged and soon stepped right into the bandit's personal space. The bandit then found Kazuki's finger in his mouth as Kazuki pulled and sent the bandit flipping over and crashing down the ground. Before he could try and get up, a stomp to the face knocked him out as Kazuki stood over him, wiping the saliva off of him.
Turning over to the remaining conscious bandit who was now looking at him fearfully, Kazuki sent the man a glare which soon sent the bandit running and screaming.
"Amazing...!" Touka muttered to herself, amazed that Kazuki had so swiftly dealt with the bandits with nothing but his bare fists.
"Are you all right?" Kazuki asked the man he and Touka just rescued.
"Yes, thank you, thank you!"
"It's not safe here, please run!" Touka said as the man nodded and ran to join where the other townsmen have evacuated to. Watching the man run off for a while, Touka turned back to Kazuki to find him retrieving his Sōryūtō from the archer he killed earlier. Touka grew worried when she saw him staring conflictingly at the blood staining the blue blade.
"Akihito-sama?"
"...This..." Kazuki looked up and around, seeing ruined shops and houses around them. "Why is something like this happening?"
Touka herself looks downcast, understanding the feelings Kazuki was currently feeling. She had been the same way.
"There are a lot of reasons as to why this is happening," Touka said, speaking about their conversation back at the restaurant. "That's why we need your power more than ever, Akihito-sama. I want to do something how this. Me, Aisha-chan, and Rinrin-chan, we all want to do something about this injustice!"
"...You really are Ryuubi Gentoku," Kazuki said, confusing Touka as to what he meant. "Ah, nothing, forget I said—"
*BOOM!*
Kazuki was cut off when another explosion shook the town as he and Touka tried not to fall over. Once the shaking stopped and they both regained their balance, the two looked over to see a pillar of smoke rising in the distance. Looking at one another, they both nodded before heading off to find just what had caused that explosion.
*CLANG!*
"Kuh!" Aisha grunted as she blocked an attack and skidded back due to the force of the blow.
"Gyahahahahaha!" An arrogant laugh sounded off as Aisha's opponent stared back at her. "What's wrong? Is that all you got?"
"Don't look down on me," Aisha said as she charged forward, her Green Dragon Crescent Blade twirling in her hands before she jumped and swung down at her opponent who simply smiled...and took her attack.
*CLANG!*
Aisha's blade struck the man's armor, barely even leaving a scratch. Aisha clicked her tongue and jumped back to avoid being grabbed by the man as Rinrin soon charged in to take her place.
"Ha~!" Rinrin cried out as she swung her Viper Spear and struck the bandit's side, sending him skidding back. Unfortunately, that's all she did as her opponent look no worse for wear.
"Heh! Barely felt that one," The man said as he casually brushed his armor as if brushing off dust off him.
"Mou! What's with that armor?" Rinrin said, annoyed that neither hers or Aisha's attacks were doing any damage to their opponent, the leader of the Yellow Turbans currently causing havoc around the town. It wasn't that their opponent was a much more skilled fighter than they were, far from it really. The problem lied with the bandit's strange armor.
"Heh! At first, I was a bit skeptical about this, but this armor that guy gave me really is indestructible!" The Bandit leader said, laughing arrogantly which just annoyed the girls further.
"Aisha-chan! Rinrin-chan!" Running up from behind the girls, Touka called out to her sworn sisters followed by Kazuki who's eyes widen when he saw the bandit leader.
"Touka-sama!"
"Wh-What is that?" Touka asked as she stared at the bandit leader.
"We don't know," Rinrin said as she brandished her spear. "Onee-chan and I's attacks aren't working against that weird armor of his, no matter how hard we hit!"
"That's because I'm invincible!" The Bandit leader boasted arrogantly as his subordinates laughed along with him.
While the three girls looked on in worry, Kazuki was different.
"No way...a Zaku?" The strange armor the bandit leader was currently wearing was recognizable to Kazuki for he recognized the armor made the man look like a real-life Zaku with some alterations to make it seem more like Chinese armor such as the shoulder pads and chest armor. Really, it was the helmet the bandit leader was wearing that helped Kazuki clue in on what the armor looked like.
"Zaku?" The girls turned to Kazuki, having heard what he said.
"You know what that strange armor is?" Aisha asked the young man.
"Sort of," Kazuki said, not knowing how to explain it to the girls properly due to their current situation.
"Enough!" It seems the bandits were getting tired of being ignored as the leader turned to one of his subordinates. "Hey! Bring out the last one! I want to see these guys explode into a million pieces!"
The bandit nodded before he motioned for others to bring something over. It was a large cylinder object that stood as tall as a full-grown man. At the sight of it, Aisha and Rinrin grew anxious.
"Touka-sama, we need to go!" Aisha said.
"What, why?" Touka asked, confused.
"That thing's what caused the explosions earlier!" Rinrin said, having seen just what the strange object did. It was like some sort of staff of destruction. All one needed to do was point it and things went BOOM!
Much like he did when recognizing the bandit leader's armor, Kazuki recognized just what was being handed to the bandit right now. It was a bazooka, a weapon that should not exist in this time period.
'What the fuck!? Where did they get a bazooka!?' Kazuki as he went and grabbed Touka's hand before he and the rest of the group broke into a run.
"Heh! There's no escape!" The Zaku bandit said as he aimed the bazooka at the fleeing group and, with a sick smile underneath his helmet, pulled the trigger, unleashing a speeding rocket heading straight towards them.
Hearing the sound of the bazooka firing, a flash alerted Kazuki before he went and tackled all the girls down to the ground, dodging the incoming rocket in time as it flew over their heads and struck the restaurant they had all been eating at not too long ago. The results...
*BOOM!*
...were explosive.
"The shop!" The bearded worker, one of few people trying to fight back against the bandits, cried out in horror as he stared in horror at the destruction of the owner's restaurant.
"My restaurant..." The owner herself collapsed to her knees as she stared helplessly as her restaurant fell to ruin.
"Oi! Get a hold of yourself!" The youth who also worked for the owner was now crying as he cradled the body of the boy who had been too close to the explosion and was now sporting burns over the right side of his face, unmoving no matter how much the youth shook him.
Kazuki and the girls too could only stare in horror while the Yellow Turban bandits all laughed.
"Gyahahahaha! With weapons like these, overthrowing the Han dynasty will be a piece of cake! Hell, I bet we can even rule all over China!"
The laughs of the bandits continued to echo throughout the entire town as the townsmen could only look on in despair. Against such destructive power, what could they do?
"...you...YOU BASTARDS!"
All went silent as Kazuki's booming voice drew everyone's attention to him who was now glaring hatefully at the Yellow Turbans.
[Sync Rate: 10%]
"How...how can you just...trample over the people like this? To cause so much pain and suffering...do you feel nothing?"
"Huh? Who the hell are you?" The bandit leader asked, having already forgotten about Kazuki from earlier due to getting caught up in his excitement.
"Answer me!"
"Geez, what's got you so worked up. Of course, I don't feel anything."
"What!?" Kazuki looked at the Zaku bandit in disbelief.
[Sync Rate: 30%]
"Why the hell should I? It's a dog eat dog world we live in. Only by trampling upon the weak can people like us hope to see another day! If you want to blame anyone, blame those rotten nobles for ignoring us common folk!"
"...That doesn't..." Kazuki's grip on his Sōryūtō tightens as he clenches down his teeth hard. "That doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want!"
[Sync Rate: 50%]
[Sync rate is at fifty percent. We're ready!]
'Ready? For what?' Kazuki thought, wondering just what these numbers in his head meant.
[Kazuki, tell me: Are you going to allow these men to continue terrorizing the people of this town? Will you allow this injustice to stand?]
"No!" Kazuki exclaimed out loud as he pointed at the Yellow Turbans. "This injustice will not stand! As Heaven is my witness, I shall deliver justice upon you evildoers!"
[Then we are in agreement! Use my powers and deliver justice, Akihito Kazuki!]
*FLASH!*
A flash went through Kazuki's mind once again, but instead of alerting him to danger, a stream of info forced its way into his brain, telling him what to do.
*SHINE!*
"What!?" The Zaku bandit, as well as everyone else, let out a cry of surprise when a light suddenly bursts from Kazuki's waist bag. From within, a ball of light shot out and into Kazuki's hands.
(BGM: Super Robot Wars T OST-Dann of THURSDAY)
Gripping onto the light tightly, Kazuki then raised the Sōryūtō into the air and drew a circle. Right before everyone's eyes, a circle of light was formed right above Kazuki's head. Defying all manner of space and time, the circle of light opened up to reveal some sort of portal. Holding the ball of light in his hand, Kazuki soon threw it up into the portal before jumping into the portal himself, following after the light. Soon after, the portal closed and the circle of light disappeared.
"Wh-What happened!?" Touka exclaimed, confused as to what was going on and where did Kazuki go.
"He disappeared..." Aisha stated the obvious. Had Kazuki gone up and run?
Everyone else was thinking the same thing as Aisha until the circle of light reappeared and opened up again. Soon after, something dropped from the portal and the circle of light soon disappeared again, leaving behind a man in armor no one's ever seen before. Had this been modern times, the people would have thought the man before them was instead a robot.
From head to toe, the man wore pure white armor that seemingly covered his entire body. Over the white armor was blue-colored armor of eastern design, covering the legs, waist, chest, arms, and shoulders. Consisting of multiple plates, the blue armor was trimmed with gold, making everything stand out. From the back of the chest armor were a pair of swords each held in separate slots as next to them, right behind the shoulder armor, were a pair of red "wings." Long black hair stuck out from a white helmet similar to a kabuto samurai helmet consisting of three fins on both sides. An emerald gem was situated right above the golden dragon head ornament shamed in a v-fin as both ends turned silver and were carved to look like swords.
(A/N: Look at Metal Robot Spirits Ryubi Gundam Real Type Ver. for a better image.)
(BGM End)
"Whoa...!" Touka and her sisters, as well as the surviving townspeople, looked on at the new arrival in awe who seemingly just descended from the heavens. Completely opposite to them, the Zaku bandit and his men stared anxiously at the new arrival.
"W-Who the hell are you!?"
"Who am I?" Green colored lenses acting as eyes peaked out from under the helmet as Kazuki's voice came out clearly despite the faceguard covering his mouth and nose. "Listen well! I am Akihito Kazuki, also known as Ryuubi Gundam! Under Heaven's mandate, I have come to deliver justice upon you scoundrels!"
"Heaven's..." Aisha began, eyes wide in awe.
"Mandate..." Rinrin finished, her eyes too filled with awe.
"Akihito-sama!" Touka smiled at Kazuki. She was right, he truly was the Messenger of Heaven!
"Tch! Big words for someone wearing fancy-ass armor! We still outnumber you!" The Zaku bandit said before pointing his sword at Kazuki. "Get'em boys!"
Shaking themselves out of their stupor, the Yellow Turbans followed their leader's words and charged at the now armored Kazuki, swords, and spears raised to kill. In response to this, Kazuki grabbed the handles of the swords on his back and drew them out. In his left hand was the Sōryūtō, while in his right hand was a red-colored version of his left sword known as the Garyūtō(Dragon Fang Saber).
"Ryuubi!" Kazuki called out to the girls. "You step back and defend the people! Kan'u! Chouhi! Back me up!"
"Understood, Akihito-sama!" Aisha said, standing up and brandishing her Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
"Yeah! Time to beat up some bad guys!" Rinrin cheered as she brandished her Viper Spear.
Touka nodded in understanding as she went to help any injured people that needed aid. Seeing that the people were in good hands, Kazuki and the girls faced the incoming bandits and charged.
'Mind explaining to me just what the hell all this is?' Kazuki thought, asking the armor he was currently donning.
[We can talk after we deal with these bastards.]
'Fair enough!' Kazuki thought as he swung both swords, becoming a tornado as he sliced and diced any unfortunate bandit that got too close to him. While the sight of blood made him sick, Kazuki was fresh out of mercy for these people. It was this single feeling alone that allowed the young man to not throw up in his helmet.
Over with Aisha, despite the numbers against her, the woman had no trouble dealing with them. Weidling her Guan Dao with skill that had years of practice behind them, the female Kan'u practically dominated the fight. With a swing of her blade, blood was spilled. A bandit tried to get in close while yelling causes at her, only to be silenced when Aisha twirled her Crescent Blade and the bandit's head rolled on the ground. From the back, a few bandits took aim with bows and arrows and fired. With a keen eye, Aisha dodged two arrows that whizzed by her head before blocking three more with her Guan Dao. One bandit tried to run her through with his spear, but Aisha raised her leg and stomped down on it hard enough to break the spearhead off the shaft. As the bandit looked helplessly at his spearless stick, Aisha used him as leverage to jump over the bandits trying to surround her and leaped over to where the archers were at. Like a raging dragon, Aisha roared as she swung down and removed one of the archer's head along with his arm. The rest of the archers screamed in terror before they were silenced by Aisha who spun around and slit their necks. Twirling her Crescent Blade to get rid of the blood staining it, she slammed it down and faced the rest of the bandits fighting her who now stared at her in fright. Despite the number of men she had just killed, not a drop of blood stained her clothes.
"Toriyah!"
With a loud roar, Rinrin swung around her Viper Spear, blowing back the bandits trying to dogpile her. Despite the weapon she carried being bigger than her, the little girls wielded it with no problem and displayed strength equal to five men. And as if to prove it, Rinrin swung down her spear, hitting the ground and causing a massive cloud of dust to erupt, blinding all the bandits fighting her. Cries of confusion could be heard within the dust before it soon turned to cries of pain as bandits fell one by one. By the time the dust cleared, Rinrin was standing over a pile of men. One survivor, a burly man towering over Rinrin, tried to bodyslam her but was instead sent flying by a simple swing of Rinrin's spear. Twirling the Viper Spear with no problem, the redhead shouldered her weapon and smiled, her eyes daring for anyone else to come face her and meet death.
*Clang-Clang-Break!*
One by one, Yellow Turbans practically threw themselves at Kazuki, swing their swords and thrusting their spears at the living Gundam. But no matter how hard one swung or how much power one used in their thrust, nothing could leave even a scratch on Kazuki's protective armor as every weapon ended up breaking upon contact. Gripping both his Dao swords, Kazuki swung outward and blew back the men surrounded him, leaving him alone to face the Zaku bandit who was now charging straight at him.
"Bastard!" The Zaku bandit cried out as he swung his own sword at Kazuki who crossed his sword and blocked the attack easily. "Dammit! Who the hell are you!?"
"Didn't you hear me earlier? I'm Ryuubi Gundam!" Kazuki exclaimed as with a battle cry, Kazuki disarmed the Zaku bandit before slashing downward, sending the Yellow Turban skidding back. Falling to his knees, the Zaku bandit cried out in pain as he held his bleeding chest seen through the gash in his armor, the first evident damage done to it.
"N-No! My armor!"
"I don't know where you got that armor, but it won't save you from me!" Kazuki said as he advanced upon the wounded bandit. "Face justice!"
"S-Screw that!" The Zaku bandit cried out as he reached for something behind him and pulled out—
*RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!"
"Whoa!" Kazuki cried out in surprise, coming to a stop and crossing his arms as he was suddenly assaulted by bullets. Peaking through his arms, Kazuki saw, to his surprise once again, that the Zaku bandit was now wielding an MMP-78 Machine Gun.
'A machine gun!? Where the hell did this guy get a machine gun!?' Kazuki cried out in his mind as he was forced back by the Zaku. Inside his helmet, a HUD showed Kazuki some sort of meter that was slowly depleting.
"Hahahaha! How do you like that!?" The Zaku bandit laughed as he kept shooting at Kazuki who was pinned down.
"Kuh!" Kazuki gritted his teeth, trying to find a way to break when he saw something from the corner of his eyes. Nearby Yellow Turbans were getting hit by stray bullets ricocheting off his armor and whatever barrier was protecting him from the full brunt of the damage. "Oi! Stop! You're shooting your own men!"
"Hahahahahaha!" Whether the Zaku bandit heard Kazuki or not was unclear as the man just kept shooting at him, not caring about who got caught in the crossfire.
'This bastard! He doesn't care who he hits!' Kazuki angrily thought.
[Sync Rate: 65%]
[Sync Rate is sixty-five percent! We can use it!]
'Use it? Use what?' Kazuki asked until another HUD appeared before his eyes and they soon widen at what he was looking at. 'This is...!'
[Kazuki! Get rid of the Garyūtō!]
Doing as told, Kazuki through fast and threw his red sword at the Zaku bandit, hitting and knocking the machine gun out of his hands. After doing that, Kazuki reached over to his back, seemingly grasping empty air until a golden light appeared behind him and the man felt a handle in his hand. Grabbing whatever had appeared, Kazuki pulled out a new sword, only this one drew everyone's attention to it.
The sword Kazuki had pulled out was a double edge golden blade that looked like a cross between a claymore and a Jian. Within the base of the sword was an Eastern dragon biting down on an orb. This is...
"The Ryuteiken(Imperial Dragon Sword)!" Kazuki exclaimed in surprise, looking at the golden sword in his hand in awe.
"Beautiful..." Touka muttered as she too gazed at the sword in awe. For some odd reason, she felt...connected to the sword despite it being the first time she's ever laid eyes on it.
[Go, Kazuki! It is time to deliver justice!]
"You're days of terrorizing the weak ends here!" Kazuki shouted as a golden aura surrounded Kazuki's armored form.
Right before everyone's eyes, Kazuki began to float into the air. Then, to everyone's surprise, a blue dragon made up entirely of energy emerged from the Ryuteiken and coiled around Kazuki.
"Wh-What is this!?" The Zaku bandit cried out, fearing for his life.
"I can feel it, the power surging through this sword!" Kazuki thought out loud as he raised the Ryuteiken into the air. The dragon that had been coiling around him shrunk and wrapped around the golden sword. Soon, the sword glowed bright gold, turning the very sky from blue to gold as the blade of the Ryuteiken changed, appearing as if a real dragon was emerging from the handle as the blade now had a new pair of 'claws.'
"O Dragon," Kazuki spoke, his voice now echoing with power. "Feel the heat of my justice flow into you!"
*BOOM!*
From up above as if coming from the heavens itself, a bolt of thunder rain down and struck the Ryuteiken, empowering the blade even further. Now ready, Kazuki set his sights on the Zaku bandit dived down. The bandit tried to turn and run, but this only resulted in getting stabbed through the back as Kazuki plunged his sword through the Yellow Turban.
"Ryusei Ryu Ken(Dragon Star Slash)!"
*SLASH!*
With one final slash, Kazuki removed the Ryuteiken from the Zaku bandit and turned his back to him. Suddenly, a light enveloped the golden blade until it returned to its original form. Soon after that...
*BOOOOOOM!*
The Zaku bandit behind Kazuki let out a cry before he exploded, leaving nothing behind but flames licking the ground. And with those flames behind him, Kazuki turned his attention to the surviving Yellow Turbans and raised the Ryuteiken at them.
"Leave. Or face death."
Having seen what became of their leader, the Yellow Turbans all dropped their weapons and ran away screaming. After a couple of minutes passed, the only ones left were Kazuki, the girls, and the remaining townsmen still alive who all stared in awe at the former.
Seeing that the danger was now over, Kazuki raised his golden blade into the air where it reflected the rays of the sun.
"Justice as been served!"
"Wo...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"
And just like that, everyone, even the girls themselves, erupted into cheers. The circle of light from before reappeared above Kazuki and right before everyone's eyes, the armor covering him head to toe was sucked up into the portal, leaving Kazuki back in his civilian form. This didn't matter to the people as they continued to cheer and praise their savior, the Messenger of Heaven.
(Days Later)
Days have passed since then. After burying and mourning the loss, Kazuki and the girls stuck around town to help the people rebuild despite the townsmen insisting they didn't need to worry themselves with it. The days were long as Kazuki and the girls did their part in helping with repairs, but the town was eventually rebuilt after about half a week of nonstop work. With repairs now done, it was finally time for Kazuki and the girls to hit the road. Despite the pleas of the people asking them to stay, they couldn't as they had stated their wish to save all of China and thus could not stay rooted in one place. So after being given some money and a bag of supplies, the group of four walked together, following advice from the restaurant owner to seek out Kousonsan who Touka knew as Pairen, an old friend of hers.
"I sure hope those people will be fine without us," Kazuki said, worried that the town might be beset by bandits again one day.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Gōshujin-sama(Master)," Aisha said, carrying her Crescent Blade over her shoulder. "After the display you did days ago, I'm sure bandits will hesitate in attacking the town lest they incite your holy wrath."
"You talk as if I've given that town my blessings or something," Kazuki said, ignoring how Aisha referred to him. He had given up trying to get the girls to stop calling him 'master' and just decided to roll with it for now.
"Still, you were amazing, Gōshujin-sama!" Touka said as she thought back to Kazuki as the Ryuubi Gundam and his display of power. "You were so strong and dashing...aah~!"
[I think you have a fan now.]
Kazuki rolled his eyes. "Come on, it wasn't just me. Ryuubi played a big part too."
When Kazuki spoke of 'Ryuubi,' he wasn't talking about Touka. Gesturing to his shoulder, Kazuki was referring to the 'Ryuubi' that was currently sitting on his shoulder.
A tiny robot sat on Kazuki's shoulder, looking like a chibi-fied version of the armor Kazuki wore days ago as the most noticeable thing were the big, cartoonish eyes. This was the SD Ryuubi Gundam, the source of Kazuki's powers and the one who's been talking in his head.
"I still find it hard to believe that this being is supposedly another Touka-sama," Aisha said, still not used to Ryuubi's presence. She was afraid to admit that she had freaked out when Kazuki first introduced the girls to Ryuubi who they all first thought was some sort of doll until he started talking and moving.
"He's so cute!" Rinrin giggled as she reached up to touch Ryuubi.
"Hey! Stop that! That's rude!" Ryuubi exclaimed as he swatted Rinrin's finger away before turning over to Aisha. "How do you think I feel seeing myself and my sworn brothers as women? Trust me, this is strange for all of us."
"It's still hard to imagine ourselves as men," Touka said, trying and failing to picture what she and her sworn sisters would look like as men.
"I wouldn't think too hard about now," Kazuki said as even he was still trying to comes to terms that he was now traveling with female versions of the future founders of Shoku.
"Oh! Everyone, look!" Touka cried out, pointing over the hill they were walking over as a beautiful scene welcomed them the second they reached the top.
"Whoa..." Kazuki breathed out as rows of peach trees in full bloom stood before the group.
"So this is Toen(Taoyuan)," Touka said, gazing at the trees around them in wonder. "Amazing..."
"Beautiful...Toen's beauty was not unfounded," Aisha said, sharing the same feelings as the pink-haired girl.
"Yeah, it's like a garden of sakura trees," Kazuki said having almost mistaken the trees as sakura trees.
"Oh? So there are such beautiful places in the Heaven Gōshujin-sama comes from?" Aisha asked which Kazuki nodded in response.
"These trees...could it be...?" Ryuubi muttered to himself as he recognized where they all were.
"I think this a good place as any to take a break," Kazuki said, having the same thoughts as Ryuubi as he set down the bag of supplies the townspeople gave them.
"Yay, let's drink sake!" Rinrin cheered as she ran around Kazuki in excitement.
"It seems one of us doesn't understand the gracefulness of this place," Aisha commented, looking slightly annoyed at the redhead.
"Haha, it's so like Rinrin-chan," Touka smiled and laughed as Kazuki took out a clay bottle containing sake. While he wasn't much a drinker if this place was what he and Ryuubi thought it was, then he was not missing out on what happens next. Plus, this was a celebration and no one liked a party pooper.
Pouring everyone a glass each(even one for Ryuubi though he didn't know where the Gundamn got such a tiny cup from), the group took a glass for themselves and gathered around.
"Is everyone ready?" Kazuki asked, looking at each of the girls.
"Yeah!"
"Yes."
"Of course!"
Seeing that everyone was ready, Kazuki quietly mutters to himself, "I never thought I would participate in this famous event."
"Is something wrong, Gōshujin-sama?" Touka asked.
"It's nothing," Kazuki said. "Just feeling emotional and thinking about what we're going to so from now on."
"Look straightforward and keep walking is all we can do," Aisha said.
"If we stop and think, we'll never achieve anything," Rinrin said.
"I guess it's as Chouhi said," Kazuki said, smiling amusingly.
"That's right!" Chouhi said with a smile of her own. "By the way, Onii-chan."
"Hm?"
"Onii-chan is now our Gōshujin-sama, so call us by our Mana!"
Kazuki blinked in confusion. "Mana? What's that?"
"Our true names," Aisha answered. "Only family and those close to us are allowed to use our true names."
"Those names hold our true selves in it," Touka explained. "So, even if someone knows it, unless they're close to us, they're not allowed to use it."
"But I want Onii-chan to call us that way!" Rinrin said, giving Kazuki permission to call the girls by their true names, their Mana.
"Mana, huh..." A special name not everyone is allowed to us. By allowing Kazuki to use it told him that they expect that much from him.
Kazuki still wasn't sure if he was this so-called Messenger of Heaven, even with him having Ryuubi's powers. But the expectations the girls had for him, he wanted to answer them.
"I understand," Kazuki nodded. "Then, umm..."
"My mana is Aisha."
"Rinrin is Rinrin!"
"I am Touka!"
"Aisha, Rinrin, Touka..." Kazuki looked straight at them as he said called them by their true names. "What should I do. What I can do. I still don't know that yet, but..." Kazuki lifted up his glass as Ryuubi ran up his arm and lifted his own tiny glass. "I hope Ryuubi and I can become your source of strength. Pleased to be working with you from now on."
"Then, it's a promise!" Touka said as she and the girls raised their glasses high with Kazuki.
"The four of us!" Aisha began as Touka and Rinrin followed suit.
"While our last names are different, we pledge sisterhood!"
"We share the same goal of saving the troubled and aiding the endangered!"
"While we were born in different years, months, and days..."
"We hope the year, month, and day, when we die, will be the same!"
As the famous oath was formed before Kazuki's very eyes, he couldn't help but join in.
"May the Gods of Heaven and Earth attest to what is in our hearts. If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may heaven and the people of the earth both strike us dead."
"Kanpai(Cheers)!"
*Click!*
With a click of their glasses, the group downed their cups. Engraving the very Oath of the Peach Garden into his heart, young Akihito Kazuki stepped into the course of history.
And...done! Well, this didn't take as much time to finish as I thought. It goes to show when I have free time and are motivated. Now, as for the reason I did this, well, much like how I did a full chapter of Eternal Ga Kill, I was bored, simple as that. I've been reading some Koihime for a while and thought I should redo one of my earliest previews when I first started out as an author. Just to let you know, this does not mean this story will be published, I just did this to kill my boredom, nothing else.
Now as you've probably already noticed, I'm following the story of Shin Koihime Musou, hence the title. I thought about following the anime much like KR Chrome did, but I decided to do my own thing and decided to follow the Visual Novel. I'm lucky enough that a Youtuber, who will go named, for now, has (somewhat) completely translated the Shoku route which one of my characters is going through. Yeah, I said once. Kazuki's not the only one here in China. Speaking of my OC...
When I first did this, I was using my OC Haru Yamamoto who many of you probably know from my Kamen Rider stories. I decided to change this and make a brand new OC named Akihito Kazuki. I'm still trying to get down what kind of personality I want for Kazuki so forgive me if he seemed a bit shifty. Also, real people turning into Gundams is a thing. You're welcome all those who have thought about this. I wanted to introduce Ryuubi(Gundam) better, but this is the best I could do for now.
Anyway, I hoped you all liked today's story preview. Don't know when I'll publish this, but it won't be anytime soon, unfortunately. Until then, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out.