I am running. I cannot think of anything at this moment. My mind is now filled with nothing but Senpai. I want Senpai to be safe and alive. Alive?! It is just an earthquake , not some war!
I reached the place. School. School but it doesn't look like me.
"What the hell is going on?"
I am sounding somewhat calm in my voice but in reality, I am scared. I am not calm. I am screaming in front of this whole different place.
School is broken down to pieces as earthquakes still come. Ground is breaking.
"What is happening?! What the hell is this?"
The thousands of stakes and sickening stench of decay. Something is happening like burning flesh I can smell. I tried to get a view of the scene. As I enter the school from the backhole. Don't say anything. Well, this hole was created back in the days of my childhood. This hole opened when a massive earthquake struck upon this city. The thing is that.....it caused massive damage to the city. This had happened. I found it funny that this school never went through repairs. This hole still exists. Mistake from the school committee.
"This path is never going to be a boring one. Gate closed. So, use this. I don't think that I can use main gate to enter into school as it looks most close to those where weird destruction events had unfold"
I stepped into the school boundary and the first thing I saw was unexpected. No. It was beyond my thinking.
A man who has sharp, red color eyes with a confident smirk. His spiky, orange-blonde hair is wild and unkempt.
He wears a sleeveless red vest with silver buckle straps. His white shirt underneath is tight fitting.
He is someone who I knew. I knew him from my lifetime. He is the one who has fulfilled all the roles in my story(life). His name is——
"Brother!"
Before he could or maybe he didn't hear me at all. I ran at him. But, fate had decided something. Color. My soul color is.....color of death?
Boulders. Yes. Boulders. The large rocks just directly came into contact with my face. I lost my consciousness as a large rock crashed into me.
——
"Do it now, Nakajima!"
I shouted on top of my lungs.
Demon of night is coming close to me. His speed is so incredible that he easily caught up to me. The main question is that how is he still standing? Better question is how is he alive?! He should be dead.
"How?!"
I heard another explosive gun shot and in the next moment, the neck of Dracula was blown up. His body dropped on the ground.
"He is a tough opponent. I like that! I give him a point in terms of survival"
Yusuke gives out a statement like this as he is slowly walking towards me. He is now standing alongside me. We know that he will regenerate again and get up to kill us.
"Do you have any idea why my flames didn't work upon Count Dracula?"
"Huh? How can I know about this?"
He grabbed me by my hip.
"Hey!"
He kicked the ground. He jumped very high with impact. We directly landed upon the school building. I think it is better to call this ruined school building. More than half of the school area is collapsed which includes from elementary to middle and even somewhat of highschool building. It has become a devastated and wild place.
"Now, say before he recovers. Well, he is already recovered from what my senses are telling me. He is not someone who loves to finish matters quickly by showing his overwhelming quantity of souls and abnormal amount of strength. I am sure that he is holding back a lot. If he had used his full power then we wouldn't be standing like we are right now"
He is right. Vlad the Dracula is the strongest person I ever met. The other thing is that godkiller is rusty. He is no longer in his prime to deal with me. Only due to our compatibility and teamwork by combining our might, we were able to hold him back from killing us in his non-serious mode. He is not trying to fight us seriously or anything. He is just enjoying playing with us. But my question is with me. A question that I didn't know.
"You know any reason why he was able to survive against my flames? I am asking this question to you because you are godkiller. You have the most experience in these types of things. You sure have encountered several of these types of cases. So, tell me?"
"Why should I know about this case? I don't even know what is the property of this metal and its history. Are you expecting me to give my opinion on something that I only heard rumors about?"
This statement of his didn't shock me. He is the godkiller. Maybe he never encountered my brother or something 10 years ago. If he had then he would have known about this metal and all of its secrets. The secret of the Alighieri family.
"I cannot give detail on this metal. I have also been curious about this material since my childhood. In terms of knowledge related to this metal. My knowledge is only slightly superior to yours since I am Alighieri"
"You are telling me that you inherited your family traits and position without knowing the history of your family?"
"Yes. My brother who was the previous head of the Alighieri died in the war ten years ago. So, the position was given to me as I was next in line for Alighieri"
We are just standing on the top building. Waiting for his attack. I am sure he should have gone berserk to kill us. Stakes are gone.
"Did he deactivate his relic?"
I look towards Yusuke. His eyes are in the sky. Sky looks clear. Thousands of stars. Endless number of stars have been born and died since the birth of this universe. He look at me with a smirk.
"He is waiting for an event to happen. Heh. Script got leaked. It looks like everyone is waiting for the appearance of the protagonist. The center of stage is yet to come. Bastard magician"
I didn't understand a single word.
The protagonist?
I understand as white light emerges from somewhere. It illuminates everything. When the view got clear after the light faded away. I see——no way! Everything got fixed. There is no crack. No damage. School is restored back to its perfect condition! What type of magic is this?
"It looks like the event is going to happen"
Just as I heard those words. Me and Yusuke both looked towards the man in front of us. Count Dracula. He is standing there in his normal state. Without any aggression, without relic and without guard.
"Don't let your guard down"
Yusuke shot at point range. The bullet fired with the explosion. This bullet will surely get a headshot count.
But, just from a swing of his finger. Deflected? It would be a wrong word. As soon as the bullet hit his finger when he swung his finger, the bullet got destroyed. You cannot even see the particles of the bullet. He smiled at us with a cocky expression.
"It is a big disappointment that someone like Godkiller let his guard down. Hahaha!"
"It is fun to greet you here, Vlad Tepes of Wallachia. The famous Dracula. I was not sure that tonight, we will meet up with a such great celebrity"
"It is not my style"
Both Yusuke and Dracula are exchanging short words with each other like they are friends and not so long minutes ago, they were killing each other. It is beyond my thinking. I didn't know how this turned up into this in such a short time.
Vlad looked below where the white light came from.
"What's wrong?"
Yusuke gets close to Vlad in order to see what he is seeing. I am also doing the same thing as him.
"Impressive. Did you invite someone?"
My eyes zoom into the area from this building which is three stories tall. In the football ground stood a boy. A teenage boy. He looks ordinary from first glance but he is holding a golden sword. I cannot grasp the image of this sword. Golden and white. Two colors intermixed and gave a blur image but I can white is the most dominant part here. No.....this boy, I know him.
Vlad smirked at the image of the boy.
"Invited or not. His presence will bring me entertainment!"
——
I am in pain. Blood is rushing from my head. I cannot see. I am crushed. My body is in pain. My eyes are not opening. I want to yell in pain but my voice is not coming out.
"Help.....me....."
I give a cry of pain and death. Yes, this is death for me. My body is crushed. I began to understand reality in front of me.
"Lie, right.....why, this is how it will happen....."
Even the words I had squeezed out disappeared in this dark bloody place where a large massacre happened.
"Guuhhh"
It hurts, painful——help. It is painful. My entire body is wounded. My one side is crushed under a large chunk of a building or ground. I am definitely on the verge of death. Because the severe pain on verge is attacking my body, even maintaining consciousness is close to limit.
"My life doesn't matter.....please, Kami-sama(Lord). Save her, Senpai. I don't care if I die here, but only Senpai. Let her be alive and safe"
In the sky, the moon is in the form of a new moon. It is the night of the new moon. I can't help but pray. My head has been damaged.
My past? What was my past? I don't know about my past. My head is damaged. But despite the pain where I couldn't think about anything, my brain started to give me a vague image of the past. You can say that my brain has gone to sleep. It is like a coma. A dream that neither was fire burning the town nor was that voice from nightmare.
A dream of peace. Pure blank. In that blank state, a sword can be seen. I cannot understand the concept of this sword. Very vague and unclear image. I cannot pinpoint what this sword looks like but as I go deeper, the more I understand.
"■■■■"
These words I understood. I don't know but this is the word the sword rang. I understand it now. The image of the sword became clear to me. My eyes are blinded by the bright light that is coming from this sword.
Light is like that of one who can call it divine. It is the most beautiful yet most divinely dominant light. I touch the hilt of the sword with the grip part. Light starts to fade down. It is no longer hurting or burning my eyes. When the light finally faded down. I looked at the sword. The divine sword if I have to describe it in the right terms.
The light blind me. I come back to my consciousness but when I open my eyes. I am all healed. Everything around me is gone. I didn't mean that. My body is fine.
"How? How is it possible?"
I didn't understand what was happening. When I looked around the surrounding area, everything was fixed. Just a minute ago, this place was ruined and a wasteland where the smell of death was all around and now everything is gone like it never happened in the first place.
Before I could understand what and how this happened. I hear footsteps behind me. I looked behind me.
A man who is dressed in a deep crimson-red button-up shirt paired with black pants. He has long silver-white hair. A wide, unsettling grin. His red eyes are glowing in this dark night.
I am feeling afraid. I want to run but my legs refuse to walk. This is not about that I got paralyzed due to this intense fear but this matter is different. My body is acting like it has its own mind. I am maintaining perfect posture with no look of fear on my face. Not even a single sweat was coming from my body. It feels fresh to see him. It feels too fresh to.....battle this person who is standing in front of me.
I can see him. I know what type of soul color he got. He has a large density of power. A power which can rival this city's combined might with his pressure. Even the air is getting its fragrance and speed stolen by him. You cannot breathe in his presence. A red color soul, this is his true path. Anger, pride, rebellion and most emotional. Their pride turns into anger and burns everything including themselves. A self destruction color.
"Tell me, what are you seeing?"
I was the first who broke the silence of night. I want to know his opinion. I want to see his depth. I want his domain of judgement. No. Not those, but I want to understand him.
"Hah, wielder of the divine sword. I only see you. The one and only person who can give me a challenge that I want!"
Divine sword? What? When he pointed out this thing. I look down and am lost in thought. A sword. There is a sword in my hand. The same sword that I saw in my dream. In my afterlife time because I was very close to death. This sword saved my life. It brings me back by healing my wounds and serious injuries that could have led me to my painful death.
"I had killed several people and fought in several wars especially in the war in which the Ottoman Empire was involved to show them their place. I killed, drank, and devoured them. I participated in World War I and World War II in order to see the heights of killing and destruction humanity has created so far——"
I took out an action which was beyond my mind. I don't know why I took this action so quickly. I only mutter a word under my breath.
"Ischys(strength)"
I released those words from my mouth like a spell. I feel a sudden rush of strength in my body. I swing my sword like some sort of a cool hero who brings judgement.
"Guuhhaa!!"
He screamed in pain as my sword slashed in cross slash. There is coming heat steam from his body like that of an acid melting something. This sword is working like a poison against someone like him.
"Impressive. This body of yours is something different. I never saw anything like this"
"It is not healing. I see! This is the entertainment I always seek!! Hahahahahah!"
He raised his fist.
"You need a fucking toy to harm me! I will show you that my hands are equally rated for everyone!"
He swung his arm in the air. The air around is crushed. I am sure that I heard the sound of crushing. An air pressure is created in this medium which travels at high speed. He puts air in high rotation through the swing of his punch that high pressure is generated in which air swirls in this rotation like a miniature tornado in a horizontal path.
The air directly blew on my face. I mean, it literally blew my face. The skin tore up my face. Air suffocates and silent my voice of pain and cry as it rips my skin off from my face. My flesh is coming out from my face. Those muscles tissues break for sure. It will soon drop on the ground. If one sees me right now. They will only see my worse structure. A human face without skin.
"Amrutam(nectar)"
Another unknown word spelled out from my mouth. How am I speaking? I am feeling like this sword is speaking from my side. This sword got its own mind. I am not using a sword as a weapon. This sword is using me as a weapon.
I am feeling better now.
"So, you can heal without souls?! Amazing!! Story of the divine sword warrior was true. Heh!"
I touch my face. I am shocked. My face is back to normal. The skin which I felt a few seconds ago was ripped off is now back to normal.
"Let's fight!!"
He started to come towards me. My body froze. Not due to fear but due to confidence. I am confident in my ability. I am feeling like I can achieve victory. I can defeat him.
He is close to me now. He grabbed my sword.
"Huh?"
Same thing happened when I slashed him. His hand is throwing hot smoke. Sword in my hand is burning his hand but despite this, he is standing with a grin.
"Warrior, don't fucking mess with me!"
He threw a punch at me. A perfect punch at a speed which cannot be seen by normal human vision. His fist connects to my face. It was a direct punch. A direct punch to my face. My nose got broken. If one was standing next to me, they would have heard the sound of breaking bones and teeth. I lifted from the ground. I thought that I was going to fly from this impact but before I could be thrown away by him. He caught me by grabbing my sword again.
He punched me again. This time to my right side. Blood flowed out from my skull. I got cracks from inside and outside of my skull. Blood is rushing out of it. His fist spinned me in rotation. I spinned. I lost my consciousness but I didn't yet. This is something beyond the explanation that any human being can give. He grabbed my sword again to stop me.
"Amrutam(nectar)"
I opened my eyes again. He is in front of me. This sword brings me back to life again. I cooked.
"You almost killed me. Actually, you killed me many times already in your each strike but only due to this sword, I able to come back"
He is still grabbing my sword in his grasp. The heat which is generated from his palm is due to the sword. Divine might of the sword is burning his hand. I am the only one who can handle this sword!
I don't know where this strength came from. I am feeling very strong. I lift him from the ground. Ignoring his weight, I threw him off from my sword but he landed smoothly and safely on the ground.
"You are not going to hold back, right?! I respect your sense of your warrior. You know when to use all of your hands!!"
He transformed. Rather than transformation. It is more like to say he changed his appearance. Blood spikes. Spears. Many things. Like blood inside of him comes to the surface and acts like a weapon.
"Gazim(air)"
I feel a rush of energy in my body with this word. I ran at him. If this sword was not acting to my will. It is hard to control this speed that I gained. I blade rushed towards it with high speed. I slashed it. Blood spurt from his leg as he dodge it. He only took minor damage. I slash again but this time he dodge my attack.
The man who always took attacks head on is right now trying to escape from it.
"Kawn(world)"
I don't know what I said right now and what type of effects it gave me. I am just focusing on defeating him and achieving victory. This sword is roaring for victory only. This time my blade hit but he dodged it barely as it gave him a few scars on face. Blood became hard as diamond that time covering his face like a shield. I wasn't able to cut through it, only able to give him a minor scar.
"Your energy is fucking great! It is burning me but I will devour it! This light will be consumed by darkness!"
I feel like my body is getting weaker as I am fighting against him. I notice this right.
He gave me a knee in my stomach. That attack literally took the air out of my body.
"What is your name, kiddo?! You are fighting great! I am Vlad the Dracula Tepes!"
"Nakajima.....Kazuya....."
I said my name while in pain. I tried to recover from this attack.
"Stories were really real. Warrior of divine sword who is immortal, cannot be defeated and invincible like a fortress. No. You are even better than those stories I heard"
"Prudence(understand)"
"Huh?"
This time my eyesight expanded. I am feeling like I am seeing this world in a different perspective. I can see his whole body. I am seeing things in 360° vision. I am seeing everything. Maybe even beyond. I am seeing——top, bottom, right, left, high and low. Everything is clear.
I ran at him at full speed. This time. I will get him. I swing my sword in perfect vertical slash. But, he dodged and didn't. I can clearly see that I cut a few hairs of his and he steps back. Due to the speed of the swing of my sword, the air became a lethal weapon even though he dodged. A vertical slash appeared on his right side. A perfect clean hit like that made from a sword.
I jumped on him. He was prepared too. The final clash. He made the barrier of those blood stakes. He is using both offense and defense. A final strike. I am getting weak because of those stakes. He is a vampire. This is why my sword was effective against him. This attack will decide the outcome of this battle. There would be one winner and one loser.
"Huh?"
"Huh?!"
We both were shocked because my sword struck someone but that someone was not him. A girl. A girl who is about my age or maybe younger. I know this girl.
"Beatrice——Alighieri"
I stopped myself in the middle and Vlad took back his blood inside him. What a weird power.....
He kicked at her back.
"Why do you come in the middle of a fight?!"
I heard the crack sound of bones and even rib cage maybe.
He grabbed her by her clothes.
"You fucking trans nigga bitch!!"
He punched her so hard on her face. Not worse than my injury but her face is flat as a plate now.
I heard a gunshot, I just saw that it blew up the fist of Vlad. His hand regrows. I cannot understand what is happening here.
"Enough"
"I will decide what is enough!"
The gunslinger was the same person. For how long he was into this world? Why did he hide this truth from me? Is he even the person I know? Is he the same person who saved my life? Why? Just why?
"I will wipe this city out of this map! You fucking brats!!"
"You will not do this. Just stick to your role in this script"
"What? If I didn't?! I will just kill everyone. If I do this then it means I am better than that bastard magician!"
Nakajima Yusuke is still holding his gun directly at Vlad.
"I am sure. You don't want to ruin the ritual, right? Everyone here is fighting for that ritual. You already opened one point. One point at one time"
"Tch"
He took out an Eyewear from his pocket. The brand is Rodenstock. I wear it. He got drip for sure. He left the scene without any second.
Now, it is time for——
"Brother"
"Protagonist"