Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 161
Flying through Chaotic space, Kazuki and Sword were in search of Arc and Codex. The two-headed in the last known direction Arc had escaped in. Their speed was incredibly slow. Even after trapping Belux in a meteor and traveling for quite a while, their recovery was incredibly sluggish.
Kazuki assumed that after they left the battlefield, it would be easy to absorb more Chaotic energy and heal up but little did he know it wasn’t just the battlefield that was affected. No Kazuki’s soul had experienced some sort of change. When he had entered the blank white space, his dark soul began to integrate or grow golden threads of light.
These golden threads were now intertwined with his darkened soul and were causing some sort of interference with his magic. Even though he was now far away from the battle zone, and even though he was now surrounded by an abundance of Chaotic energy, the change in his soul was making it difficult to absorb any Chaotic energy.
He wasn’t exactly worried about this though because he could feel this new change starting to settle.
(I don’t quite get what this change in my soul is but it seems like I will regain some semblance of normalcy in a little while. My powers should rebalance and this weird interference should dissipate shortly.)
Kazuki observed his soul closely. He could feel only a small amount of Chaotic energy flowing into him from the outside. It was indeed a sad pace but there was nothing he could do. He could only go along with the process and wait for things to go back to the way they should be.
“Ka…ZuKi…TheRe”
Sword pointed off into the distance. About 6 or 7 Lower Realms away, Sword had discovered Arc’s trail.
(Good job Sword. A little more and we’ll catch up.)
Sword had the metallic Artifact wire wrapped around it and inside the wire’s inner space was Kazuki’s soul. With the trail discovered, the two stuck to it while also slowly increasing their speed.
Time was hard to keep track of inside of Chaotic space so the two were unsure of how much time had actually passed but after what seemed like a long while, they finally spotted Arc and Codex in the distance.
Sword started dancing and swishing and slicing about while also firing sparks and flares into space so as to grab Arc and Codex’s attention. This did not take long as Sword’s light was quite distinguishable in this dark area.
Arc and Codex quickly turned around and flew over.
At first, the two were worried as they did not spot Kazuki but once they were close enough they could naturally sense his soul within the Artifact wire.
Even without a face, Kauzki could tell Arc was smiling when they met.
“Kazuki, you arriving here, don’t tell me you actually won!”
Kazuki smirked.
“If only things were so simple. No, I was nearly erased entirely but for the time being Belux is trapped.”
Arc and Codex were taken aback.
“You…You managed to trap him. Belux was caught?”
“Yes, but the trap will not last. It requires a fairly decent amount of energy. If I did not find you and Codex soon Sqword and I were going to try and find an exit and return later to fuel the trap indefinitely. Now that we found you two though we can go back and make sure that trap lasts forever. Let’s hurry back and see this done before that bastard finds a way out.”
Arc and Codex were blown away. They knew Kazuki was talented but even now he left them shaken to the core. In the end, the pair found it to be ironic. Belux had trapped others but in the end, it was him who became trapped.
None of them waited around. They all flew back to where Belux was trapped and along the way, Kauzki shared his memories of the battle and caught them up.
“Damn, you trapped him in a Golem/Meteor. How did you manage to come up with that one Kazuki?”
Kazuki just chuckled.
“Trade secret.”
Codex analyzed the fight as well and was surprised at how everything came together.
“Kazuki if even one thing was out of place, you would have lost everything. Your existence was nearly removed from this Universe entirely. Your resilience is beyond measure. Still, it’s a shame Arc’s and my combined efforts will now go to waste.”
Kazuki was only now reminded of Gardius’s Artfact ring.
“That’s right the ring. You two cracked it.”
Arc was smug.
“Of course, we cracked it, who do you think we are Kazuki? As a matter of fact, we cracked it within our initial time limit. This ring is now officially under the control of both Codex and I.”
The ring flew out of Arc’s inner space and orbited Arc. It was interesting seeing a ring orbit another ring. It was almost as if two tiny planets were a part of their very own solar system except instead of a star at the center it was Arc.
“Wait you two already took control over the ring. Might I ask why you didn’t return and help me and Sword?”
Arc and Codex both went quiet for a moment before Codex began spitting out statistics and probability. Arc got annoyed by the Codex’s way of speaking and interrupted.
“To put it plain and simple we both became lost.”
Kazuki and Sword were both at a loss.
“Arc you became lost. I get Codex but Arc, with your powers locating someone, especially someone you know like me or Sword, you should have even in Chaotic space been able to find us.”
Arc didn’t disagree.
“Yes that’s what should have been possibly normally but when I tried to locate you, I found nothing. Not a trace. I even tried to use our shared connection to find you but again I couldn’t even find a trace. It was as if you ceased to exist.”
Kazuki quickly realized why. It was at that time Kazuki experienced that strange blank white space. In that moment time seemed to freeze and it was as if he were separated from the Universe. Turns out he may have actually been. Kauzki was having trouble grasping that reality. How could he be in a place that was not in this Universe while actually still being in this Universe?
This was something he just couldn’t explain.
“Truth be told, once I couldn’t locate you nor sense your existence, I thought for certain that you were no longer among the living. No more than that. If you were simply dead, I would still be able to find your soul but I couldn’t even detect that. I believed you had been thoroughly destroyed by Belux and I thought he had already extracted the Artifact fragment from you. At that point, I knew that if he got to me and absorbed me, this Universe would be no more. Codex and I decided there and then we had to escape so as to not fall into his clutches…I’m sorry. Had I known you were still alive
“Forget it.”
Kazuki was not mad and he completely understood.
“The circumstances were too strange and the risk of you being caught after all of that…If I really had died, my and Sword’s sacrifice would all have been in vain had you turned around in search of us. Getting caught would only have doomed this universe and everyone in it. You made the right call.”
Kazuki put questions of what if, abandonment, trust, and anything else that caused doubt to rest right there. He couldn’t blame them even if he wanted to because he knew he would have most likely made the same assumptions under the same situation and would have made basically the exact same call.
With that, the four finally started to relax and joke around with one another as they continued to travel back toward Belux.
Along the way, they ran into someone they did not expect. Floating aimlessly in the depths of Chaotic space was Gardius. They were close to the battlefield and found him. He was of course in rough shape. Wounds all over and missing limbs. Blood continually flowed from all over and his soul and powers were greatly weakened.
Kazuki did not care for Gardius now that things were basically done, he saw no reason to keep him around any longer.
Kazuki had no weapon to destroy Gardius and was about to ask Codex or Arc to finish him off when Sword flew forward.
Sword was displeased that Gardius had used it. Even if Kauzki was the one controlling Gardius, Sword still felt disgusted being used by another, especially one so condemnable. Sword came slashing down at Gardius’s neck, aiming to finish him instantly.
Just as Sword was about to remove Gardius’s head from his shoulders, Gardius’s eyes snapped open and to everyone’s shock his eyes no longer had their fiery crimson color but instead, they were replaced by a dark purplish black color.
Kazuki could no longer feel his slave mark inside of Gardius. He would have noticed it sooner but his powers were still being interfered with.
“SWORD DON’T!”
Kazuki’s warning came too late.
A dark blade extended from Gardius’s hand and it rose up faster than Sword came slashing down. Dark energy spilled out of this blade just as it struck Sword.
*BANG*
Sword already had several cracks running along its blade, with this attack and the Dark energy slamming into it, Sword shattered and broke apart into shards.
Sword…Just like that…was no more.
Comment (0)