It was a normal day, like every other normal day.
Rain is pouring outside the house. Inside, in the second room on the second floor, lays a person on his bed.
"Okay… looks like everyone is gone."
With a swift movement, he gets up from his bed, and opens his wardrobe. After that, he pushes a small button in the back of the wardrobe. Almost instantly, a small compartment pops up. Inside, lies a decent number of costumes.
"Mkay… who will I become today?"
Suddenly, his eyes glued on a sword hung on the wall. An uchigatana. It's not quite long enough to be considered a nodachi, but much longer than the average uchigatana. The tsukamaki has a pattern closer to a real katana, with the traditional diamond shape in the negative space. The tsuba is in gold and a deep navy blue, shaped like an octagon with two trapezoidal halves, each with gold dot pattern patches and in a grove like motif with gold rings, inside of which are various circles in clusters of three, arranged in triangular patterns. The scabbard is black, made of traditional lacquered wood, and features several metallic ornaments on its far end. It also features a blue, with gold dot accents sageo.
"Hm. I think I know who it is."
He quickly grabs a pair of costume, and put it on himself. A black coat with light neon blue serpentine patterns and three separated coattails with slightly tattered edges. A black sleeveless zippered-turtleneck beneath a midnight blue formal vest. A pair of charcoal gray fingerless gloves, black pants and dark boots covered by teal gaiters. He also grabs a wig in his wardrobe, a white, swept back wig. All of these probably costs a fortune, but he didn't, and never really cared.
After putting on the clothes, he grabs the sword on the wall, and starts posing consistently.
"You shall die!"
"I shall surpass Sparda!"
"This shall be your grave."
After approximately 30 minutes of posing and spitting random quotes of someone who we already know who, he finally lies down on the bed, with the sword still in his hand.
"Ack… I think it's time to do some of the morning routines."
Despite having said so, he still remains on the bed.
"I hate school… hate pretending to be a perfect student, hate pretending that I like studying…"
Don't mistaken his hobby for his lifestyle. In his 19 years of life, never once he made his parents felt disappointed. Never once he failed a single test.
But also, never once… he is truly happy doing thing like that. Living under others' expectation… it's hard to believe all that he did was only to please everyone.
Only in his alone time, he can be himself. And since people always expect more and more from him, he can't really have much alone time.
He slowly closes his eyes.
"What if… I just leave this place. Yeah. To another world, with all the powers I've ever wanted…"
He chuckled slightly.
"Heheh… hell, even only with his powers and weapons, I can already believe that I can do anything."
A deep sigh coming from the boy's mouth.
"But I'm already 19. I must get real. This should only remain as a hobby."
He opens his eyes and sit up. Suddenly, he can feel some sort of dizziness coming. But he seems not really surprised.
"Ah, iron-deficiency."
He tries to get rid of the dizziness by rubbing his eyes a little.
When the disturbance finally goes away, and he opens his eyes,
the scene in front of him was completely strange.
"…what?"
He is now sitting on the rear of a water fountain, in the middle of what seems like a square. The atmosphere there gives him the feeling that he is in the old Era of Japan… no, that's he's in the fantasy version of the old Era of Japan.
"Am I high?"
People doesn't seem to notice a strangely dressed boy just appeared out of thin air. They all just simply walk by, didn't pay even the slightest attention.
"This feels like the early-modern period feudal society of Japan, along with influences from other eras and regions like the German Hanseatic League… hmm…"
One more thing he's noticed, is this world's people are really strange.
Leave alone the diversity of hair colors on those peoples' hair, which is not really uncommon even compared with his original Earth, the thing he notices is their… animal parts.
He has simply spotted dog ears, cat ears, bunny ears, and even some Lizard-like humanoids.
"Demi humans, live alongside with humans… is this really another world…?"
No way.
He remembered those words he muttered on his bed.
No fricking way.
He suddenly stands up, and go to the nearest stands. Fruits stand. A well-built middle-aged man is taking care of it. He has quite angry eyes, with a piece of grass always on his mouth. Seeing the boy approaching, his eyes relaxed a little bit.
"Fruits! Fresh fruits just harvested this morning! Young boy, care for some apples, pear or grapes? They're freshly harvested!"
Although the altitude of the salesman really moved the boy for a second, he still remains calm. He must know the basics of this world.
"Sir, may I ask what day it is and what month are we in?"
"Huh? It's the 14th day in the month of Tanmus."
"Hmph." He thinks to himself. "Things I've never heard before."
The salesman finally noticed the appearance of the boy. He also sees the sword on the boy's hand. He asks with some sort of an unpleasant tone.
"Why are you carrying a sword? Are you a guard? Or a mercenary?"
"There are mercenaries in this world? Are they like adventurers with guild halls and things like that?"
"What is a guild hall? Hey, if you're not a guard or a merc but still carrying around a sword like that, I'll call a guard on you."
"Oh, wait wait," the boy panicked, "this is not a real sword. This is just a model. A prop, you know? For acting?"
"Oh," the man thought for a moment. "so you're a part of the circus that arrived here two days ago?"
The boy was going to denied, but then the salesman tosses an apple at him.
"Here. Y'all are doing a great job at making people laugh. Consider that my thanks."
That's the moment he realized, sometimes identity thief is not really bad.
"Oh, uh… yeah. Thanks."
So, with an apple as a starting item, the boy starts wandering around the place.
"This is strange."
Leaving the old life behind, to him, it's like lifting a heavy weight off his shoulder. It can be said that he had waited his whole life for this.
The only thing he cares right now, is where he is.
"Ah, I should've asked that man back then…"
Doesn't want to get much attention, he headed to a small alleyway. Inside, several individuals with a more scary-looking face than those on the big road are leaning onto the wall, seems to wait for something.
The boy, without a single clue, quickly approach them.
"Hello, gentlemen, do you guys know-"
As soon as they notice the clothes, appearances and the sword on the boy's hand, those men immediately grab their blades on the ground, and point it at him. One of them - seems to be the leader - speaks up.
"Who are you? A contract killer? I'll have to warn you; you can't take us all by yourself! Us brothers will bring you to hell!"
"Wait, what the he-"
Doesn't let the boy finishes his sentences, three men jump at him and swing their blades, with the goal to take his life.
"Chill! I mean no ha-"
The boy, after hardly dodged and blocked the blades with the sword, trying to finish his sentence. But a flying knife from the back line flies towards him. Has no other choice, he swings his sword, with the scabbard still on it, in an attempt to parry it.
A loud, clanking sound of metal clashing with wood. The knife flies to the side, accidentally stabbed a man who is getting into position to surround the boy.
"AAAAA! My leg!"
"You bastard!"
The boy freezes. He doesn't know if he could consider this lucky.
But then he realized something. He looks at his sword.
"A prop cannot be this durable… it should at least have a crack after blocking that blade…"
His eyes lighten. Again, he remembered what he muttered.
"So that means…"
He slowly unsheathes the sword. The sound of steel whistling in the space made everyone, even the boy, feels unpleasant.
Especially the boy. He has a feeling that he is unleashing something that is uncontrollably dangerous. But by the time he finished that thought, the sword has already been drawn.
"Woah…"
The hamon pattern featured is a kawazuko chōji hamon as similar to those found on blades historically made by Osafune Nagamitsu. There are also temper lines on the blade.
Overall, this looks exactly like what people will think of when someone mentioned a blade that "can cut literally everything".
"This… this is it, is it? The legendary Yamato."
"What are you blabbering about, huh? Prepare to die!"
"Wait wait, I don't want to kill you guys!"
Those thugs ignore the boy's words. They lunge towards him; all of their blades are aiming at him.
"Crap! Uh… alright…"
With a swift movement, he sheathes the Yamato back into its scabbard. Following up, he slashes at the area before him with tremendous speed, cleaving the air itself.
Some of the unfortunate thugs who are already inside the effect area immediately got slashed. Still, the bent of time and space caused by the Yamato made it seems like they aren't moving at all.
As soon as the clank sound created by the collision of the tsuba and the scabbard is made, the space effected by the slash shatters, dealing not just one, but multiple sources of damage. The slash also quickly executes, cutting them in half.
"Ugh…"
Seeing all the dead bodies splashing on the ground, everything inside the boy's stomach just want to escape through is mouth, but he managed to keep it down. He looks at his trembling hands, with the Yamato on his left.
"I… I killed someone. A group… of someone."
The feeling of sick and dizziness started to slowly crippling into the boy's mind. The feeling after killing someone has never been easy to feel, unless you're a serial killer.
"What… what is this power… who… who exactly are you?"
The leader of the thugs trembles. His minions all dropped their weapons and ran away. He tried to run, but his legs are shaking uncontrollably, until eventually, he fell on the ground.
"I- I have money! Please spare me, I can pay anything! Whatever they pay you, I can double it!"
Taking a few deep breaths to suppress the sick feeling of the body pieces and blood all over the place, and take steps towards the leader. Despite the dizziness growling inside his head, every step toward the leader was firm. The leader tries to crawl away, but stumbles.
"I'm lost."
"H-huh?"
"Tell me where I am."
"We… we are in the Third City of the Kararagi United-States, Ivada. I have a map here, just spare me!"
"…give me a map, and all the money you have."
Like a dog with two tails, he quickly rummages inside his stacks, which is a wooden box nearby. Seems like he is the leader of a thief gang, and just waiting for their poor victims to walk by and rob them.
"H- here… please let me go…"
The leader, after handling the boy a folded map and a sack of coins, begging for mercy.
But the boy can't let him go. More than anyone, he knows the consequences if he lets this man leave.
His right hand slowly reaches for the handle of the Yamato. The thief's leader notices it, and begins to panic.
"You… you promised! You son of a bitch! What kind of monster are you?"
"Ashes to ashes."
The boy quickly gets into an Iaidou stance. Faster than anyone can imagine, he unsheathes his sword with blinding speed, unleashing a whirlwind of slashes. Each time he sheathes his sword, multiple slashes tear the lowly thief apart. Blood splashing all over the place, some even get on his face.
"Just… who… are you…"
With the body full of lethal wounds, the thief spits out his last question in pain and despair, before fell to the ground like a sack of meat.
Wiping the blood on his face, the boy replies with a rather calm voice, even though his hand is still trembling, and his face express somewhat unpleasantness.
"I am Stygian. The eternal darkness."
Seeing the last vestige of the thief's life fades away, Stygian eventually fell on his knee.
"I admit that was cool… but this is so gross."
Despite having watched a lot of movies about killing, taking a life for real still feels different. Although 'Judgment Cut' is some kind of a ranged attack, he can still feel his very hands cut deep inside that corpse lying on the ground.
"Let's just get out of here…"
With one hand covered most of his face because of tiredness, and the other holding the Yamato tightly, Stygian staggers out of the alleyway.
The sun slowly falls to the West. The sky darkens, until the only sources of lights are the street lights on the main roads, and lights from houses coming from windows.
Fewer and fewer people can be seen walking on the streets. The night is setting, and Stygian have to find a place to sleep.
Still, the dizziness still didn't completely go away. It sure has lightened, But Stygian still feels the sickness that are roaming in his stomach, just waiting to go through his throat.
Suddenly, he feels shivers running down his spine. A sign of something bad is about to happen.
"Guh… just get out of the main street first…"
With that thought, he quietly, again, take a turn into another alley. This time, there was no one standing inside anymore. Since this alley is formed by two house that are not very far away, it is considered pretty small for a normal alleyway.
Stygian leans on the wall, breathing heavily. Not very long later, a shock of pain strikes him.
"AGH!"
He fell on the ground. The burning feeling in his stomach, and the pain in his head… it feels like he's being attacked.
But when he looks down to his belly, there was no wounds. He is completely unharmed.
"What is… going on…"
The pain quickly grows into some kind of feeling that is unbearable. In matter of seconds, it goes from burning into demonic painful. Can't hold back anymore, he started screaming.
"ARGHH! WHAT IS GOING ON!"
He can't believe it. It's like he's being attacked by a ghost. An assassin ghost. From the start of the shivers to the immeasurable pain, it just took around 30 seconds for all of that to happen. His eyesight blurs and darkens quickly. Memories from the start of this adventure started flashing before his eyes.
"What is this… am I… am I about to die?"
Exactly the moment when the memories about the salesman tosses him an apple flashes, his eyesight suddenly snap back to normal. He can see clearly, like nothing have ever happened.
"…?"
"Yo, circus boy. Consider that my thanks."
"What?"