Someone who looked like his father was staring at Ichiro. He was tall, handsome, with a muscular physique. His hair was long and flowing, covering most of his forehead. He wore a hat that covered his entire head except for a small part at the top, which exposed his shaved scalp. His skin was tanned brown. He wore leather pants and a vest, both made of animal hide, with a pair of boots on his feet. As if he was cosplaying Indy Jonesy, he carried a whip in his hand, wrapped in leather. The whip had several metal spikes at its tip, sharp enough to pierce through flesh or bone.
He stood there, silent, staring at the ground, his hands in his pockets. Ichiro was levitating in some sort of bubble in front of him. He only knew one man who dressed like that in his dreams. Ichiro opened his mouth, breaking the silence.
“Are you cosplaying him again, chichi?”
Ichiro’s father raised an eyebrow before smiling gently.
“YES, I AM! HE IS MY HERO!”
His voice was deep and raspy, almost masculine, yet sweet. It sounded exactly like how Ichiro imagined his father to sound, like after he had died when he was 6 years old.
“What are you doing here?”
The man smiled, shaking his head.
“You know me too well. You always ask this question every time we meet up. And I am not sure why I keep coming to see you. I guess it’s because you’re my son, and I miss you. I wish things turned out differently.”
Ichiro nodded slowly. He remembered his first dream about his chichi from six months ago, when he saved him from a ‘shadow being’ as an octopus-dragon hybrid in some sort of cave. Chichi was dressed in hanfu robes in that dream, which was strange because he looked like a cultivator from those Chinese novels he read.
But the last few times they met up, he started dressing like a cowboy. This time, however, he was dressed like Indy Jonesy. As if he went back to Earth meantime, but it wasn’t possible, because he was still dead.
Ichiro thought to himself for a moment, before feeling he might throw up.
“Can you let me go to the ground? My stomach is churning...”
Chichi’s smile froze for a split second before breaking after Ichiro said hello. After all, he hadn’t seen real Ichiro in two months. Real Ichiro had a unique aura in the end, and those fake ones have none. He opened his mouth and raised his hand.
“Of course, my son!”
Little strands of light blue energy grabbed the bubble, and it lowered to the ground and dissipated after chichi’s snap of the fingers, allowing Ichiro to touch to the ground. Ichiro was overjoyed to touch the ground and almost kissed it. He swore to himself that he wouldn't do skydiving again. But before he could act, he felt like puking.
*BLEEECH*
And he did it. His mouth was spewing a black, gooey substance onto the floor, and it smelled awful. It landed on the dirt and dissolved it, emitting unrealistic smoke. Ichiro quickly wiped it away and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He looked at his chichi, who was staring at the substance with glowing golden eyes. He spoke as soon as Ichiro looked at him.
“This isn’t something you see every day. Pure substance of Corruption. Fascinating. That old man needs to see it. Aperite portas, Inventarium!”
Chichi grabbed the black portal that opened next to his hand and launched it at the black gooey substance. The black portal collided with the goo, sucked it inside, and then closed. The portal disappeared instantly. Ichiro was confused, but didn’t show any signs of it. This dream, like many others he had, was weird.
Ichiro cleared his thoughts, which were going astray, and asked the first question that come to his mind.
“What are you really doing here, chichi?”
“I’m carrying out the mission that the fake ones assigned to me. About defending the little brat while he builds up his strength to defeat the Big Bad that was invading this world.”
“Ah, you’re talking about Arthur’s phoenix-something?”
“Yeah, him. He’s currently in the middle of a crater, and he’ll be there soon. And, yes, the Big Bad is the one who escaped from the portal you were attempting to close.”
Chichi pointed behind him, into the crater’s depths. Because the angle was not steep, both stood normally. A massive dust cloud was erupting from the location chichi had showed. Ichiro turned to face him and opened his mouth.
“Looks like he will be here soon. Do you have any clothes? Mine disintegrated, and I can’t make a new one because my powers are low.”
Ichiro moved his hands to reveal himself, and the piece of armor on his belt fell off, revealing his small friend. chichi smiled and cackled. With embarrassment, Ichiro laughed as well.
Half a minute later, chichi had enough laughing, and opened his mouth while raising his hand.
“Aperite portas, Inventarium!”
The same black portal, smaller than the previous one, appeared right next to his arm. chichi inserted his arm into the portal and removed it with ease, holding clothes. After that, the portal was closed. chichi then handed the clothes to Ichiro, and he quickly put them on because of the approaching Arthur, which chichi looked after handing over the clothes.
Ichiro had changed into a white linen shirt and pants set. The shoes were not included in the package. He tried to use his magic to create a pair of boots, but failed miserably. Ichiro was embarrassed because he couldn’t even make a simple shoe right now.
Ichiro didn’t bother and stood next to chichi, trying to get a better look at the approaching person. There was a tiny figure approaching them, with an appearance hidden in the dust cloud. They stood there for a few seconds, staring at it, before chichi broke the silence with his mouth.
“Say, my son, Commander Ichiro, are you sure you want to do it?”
Ichiro looked at him, perplexed. He took a breath and opened his mouth.
“Do what?”
“The invasion. The thing the fake ones will do after we kill the ‘leader’, whatever it might be. Are you sure that you’re ready for it? That old man said you’d have a lot of enemies if they expand their influence. Of course, I’m not against it, but you’ll have more problems.”
Invasion? What the hell is he on about? Well, it’s a dream, and perhaps it’s a theme of this dream. Ichiro makes a complicated face, looks upwards, and says something ambiguous, because he doesn’t understand what’s going on.
“We’ll have to see.”
Chichi looks perplexed at Ichiro. Why did he make such a forlorn expression? Did he say something wrong? Is it something else? He wanted to say something important after that, but after seeing his face, he didn’t. They both looked at the figure, who was already nearby, in silence.
Small boy was charging at them at incredible speeds, each step kicking up more dust into the air. If he had longer red blonde hair, he would be mistaken for a girl. He was dressed in a pristine white robe with no blemishes. He had a faintly glowing white outline around him. As he got closer, he jumped at the chichi, attempting to hug him while screaming.
“Mister Jouji!!!”
A small boy hugged Jouji. He hugged the legs and buried his face in it because he was short. Jouji smiled and petted his head. After three days of guarding, he was taken to like him. Ichiro was expressionless as he watched. He was baffled. If that small boy was Arthur, how did they confuse Ichiro with him?
The small boy released the hug and spoke.
“Mister Jouji! I did it! I had a conversation with a similar boy who claimed to be the world! He informed me I had inherited the title of administrator, or something like that! After that, little glowies surrounded me and entered my body! It was so cool! And there was this, and that!”
Arthur was flailing his arms because he couldn’t express what had happened. It lasted a few seconds before Jouji crouched and petted his head again. He opened his mouth.
“Okay, I understand. You did an excellent job. Did the world’s Avat—ahem, that boy say anything else?”
“Yes! He said if I can touch the sinful man, I can make him good! I just need to yell ‘PURIFY’ while touching him to make him clean! Can I try?!”
Jouji gave a slight nod, which made the kid jump up happily.
A burst of white energy ejected from the Arthur and struck both men.
But it had no effect on the family duo. Jouji’s smile was frozen, so he took his hand away from Arthur’s head and opened his inventory portal, where he grabbed a couple KidKat chocolate bars and handed them to Arthur. He ate one immediately and felt energetic. The other he placed in his pocket.
Jouji, after giving a ‘bribe’ to Arthur, put his hand to his ear, where the small earpiece was. He opened his mouth after that.
“Did you hear that, command? Yes... Yes, I am aware... Is it possible to make it invisible to the other side? That’s fine; we can deal with it. What? Okay, I’ll stay there. But don’t forget to prepare the extraction point... No, I won’t be able to help much there. Good luck...”
Ichiro had grown tired of staring at the small hamster disguised as a boy, so he opened his mouth when Jouji stood up.
“So, what did they say?”
“They’re going to open the teleportation gate, and we’re going to throw that kid inside so he can deal with the leader. After that, you’re going to rush and make sure he’s dead. I’ll be there to help if something goes wrong, but mostly I’ll pour energy into the gate so it doesn’t close. Did you get it?”
“Yes. However, I only have one question for you, chichi. What made them think I was him? He’s obviously smaller than I am.”
Ichiro pointed to Arthur, who was happily eating chocolate. He put down his chocolate and looked at Ichiro with a puzzled expression. Jouji sighed and spoke after hearing that question.
“Arthur, could you show my son your favorite trick? That one where you’re older and taller... I know it’s embarrassing, but please do it.”
After a moment of hesitation, Arthur nodded. He slowly rose to his feet and stretched his back. He then started walking towards Ichiro, showing him a very awkward posture. Arthur pressed the talisman hidden behind the robe and transformed into the handsome man you’d see in otome games.
His hair became long and silky, his skin turned pale, and his muscles grew bigger and stronger. His height increased dramatically, making him tower over Ichiro. Even though he wasn’t wearing any kind of armor, the aura surrounding him was intimidating.
He approached Ichiro until he was standing directly in front of him.
“Isn’t that cool, umm... Commander Ichiro? My name is Arthur. I hope we can become friends someday! Let us start our friendship today! Say hello!”
Arthur held out his hand, which Ichiro shook. The feeling differed completely from before, because the aura coming off him felt more powerful. He wasn’t surprised though, since it seemed like this transformation came naturally to him.
“Nice to meet you, Arthur.”
Ichiro then approached Jouji, who was standing nearby, and asked a question.
“So, when do we start the assault?”
“Right now, if you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.”
As soon as Ichiro said that, a blue portal opened, revealing the bloodied ruins of a former arena in the center. Around 50 meters away, a man in a formal suit sat on the throne, raising his glowing hands. Two black pillars levitated in the sky, and blood from the ground flowed in streaks into them. The entire scene was bathed in crimson light, and the smell of death permeated everything.
The runes embedded in the pillars were slowly rotating and glowing purple. The pillars’ bottoms were visibly regenerating themselves, mending countless cracks all across them.
There was no one in sight except him, who had an arrogant expression on his face and was mumbling incomprehensible words that both men on the other side of a portal could not understand. Jouji opened his mouth after a few seconds of looking.
“Man, that looks even worse than what command reported. We should hurry and finish things fast!”
Ichiro agreed with his father, and Jouji explained their plan to Arthur in simple, childish terms, and he agreed. They started carrying out the plan.
***
Ha-Beleth was attempting to mend the pillars. Because the First Son had damaged no vital parts of the pillar, it was a simple, albeit time-consuming, task to repair. Whatever, it had all the time in the world because The First Son was no longer alive. It was reciting the restoration spell in its employer’s language, which it only knew a few words of. It had no trouble casting that because it had enough soul resistance.
After a while of sitting there, watching the restoration near completion, the pillar slowly regained its former glory. He could use them to open the dimensional gate to his finest legion, which he had trained for a hundred years.
Suddenly, countless dimensional cracks opened and closed almost instantly in the sky, and this continued for a few seconds. Ha-Beleth stood guard, but he couldn’t stop chanting because if he didn’t, the repair would be futile. To be safe, he attempted to fly away from the ground. But something unexpected for Ha-Beleth happened before he could do so.
The space in front of him rippled about 50 meters away, and a man in robes appeared, flying at him at high speeds with his arms raised. Despite its great power, Ha-Beleth had no time to react to him.
Arthur flew into the Ha-Beleth and hugged him. Ha-Beleth was disgusted because the man radiated a specific type of holy energy that it hated, and his instincts told him to flee. It attempted to cast its emergency dimensional crack spell, which did not take time to cast. However, it did not work.
“What in the outer rea-“
“PURIFY!”
“AAAAAAAAAH!”
A flash of light emitted from Arthur’s body, engulfing everything. Crumbling rubble, flowing blood, black pillars that crumbled because the spell had been stopped, and even the hazy air itself was engulfed by the light. A blinding white aura emerged from the area where the pillars once were, and the entire battlefield was filled with it.
***
[Minutes before, a few kilometers away in the corrupted wasteland]
The natives did not sit still while this was happening. Because the princess died four weeks ago, as confirmed by the princess’ flame vanishing from the ancestral grounds, the Emperor of the Leonhart Empire has been preparing the best of the empire to mount an offensive to avenge her. They had planned to attack the Wicked Sprout first, but after learning that the Chosen One’s party had been captured by the Dark Lord, they changed their plan.
Thousands of high-ranking adventurers, knights, and ordinary powerful people marched through the wasteland. More demons appeared as they approached the vortex of purple clouds, eager to stop them. They suffered minor casualties, but it had no effect on their morale. In fact, their morale was boosted because the Chosen One’s companions were saved by an unknown beautiful woman with ‘angelic’ wings.
But, in reality, all of that was a lie. The daemon was called Daydream, and it was a shapeshifter. It voluntarily submitted to Ichiro’s command after being saved from the ancient demon’s lair, which Ichiro destroyed everyone who was inside and had forgotten about. That had happened almost 10 months ago. It had shape-shifted into the first demon Ichiro had seen during this mission, and it had escorted Ichiro to the arena. After that, it stayed there for a while, waiting for an opportunity to rescue Arthur’s companions. Which it did, with outstanding success. After saving them, it shape-shifted into the above form and used daemonic seals to remove the mind control. She then transported them to the empire’s army that was marching towards the battlefield. All of this would not have been possible without the Round Table’s insight.
Daemons were demons, but they had long since repented of any evil deeds. This caused their energy to change, and they can be called a different species. They were the ones who contributed the most to the demons’ defeat as a fighting force. But, unfortunately, they’ve found a new leader who is even worse...
Anyway, ‘she’ was standing near Emperor Leonhart, explaining what ‘she’ had done. The emperor was not convinced, so he had a few questions.
“So you’re saying they’re both dead, oh, sorry, ‘annihilated,’ and the Chosen One is dealing with the being who invaded this world? And there’s nothing we could do?”
“That’s correct. I just helped you guys save your comrades. You’re welcome.”
Leonhart had many questions for the daemon, but she simply replied, “that’s right,” each time.
Finally, Leonhart got fed up and yelled,
“Enough with the nonsense! Why should I believe you, so-called ‘servant’?”
“Because it’s happening right now.”
She pointed to the vortex, which was swiftly increasing its rotational speed. Emperor kept his gaze fixed on it, observing that nothing was happening. He opened his mouth a few seconds later.
“And what? Nothing happen-“
A white pillar of light erupted and rose into the sky, illuminating the entire field. It was accompanied by an intense sound, which resembled a scream or wail, and it lasted for several seconds. Then, silence fell upon the battlefield. The vortex suddenly disappeared, and the atmosphere returned to normal. In place of a light pillar, a dimensional hole appeared. Small blobs were flying into the hole, visible from where the army was standing. Those were souls who had been consumed by the Ha-Beleth and were returning to their worlds to gain a new body, or to put it another way, to be reborn again.
Immediately after seeing that, Leonhart ordered the army to charge forward. After being proven incorrect, the Emperor bit his tongue. He and the others stood in awe as they witnessed a phenomenon that they would only see once in their lives. But something wasn’t right, and Daydream felt it.
***
Ichiro and Jouji stood on the other side of a gate, their gaze averted from the portal’s bright white light. Because Jouji was pouring his light blue energy inside, the gate did not close. When someone enters the gate, it consumes energy; if no energy is supplied, it closes. After all, the Round Table only ‘teleported’ the teleportation gate, leaving maintenance to Jouji.
Jouji was currently using up all the mana stored inside him, so he could not speak. His eyes were wide open, staring at the source of light, which was growing larger and brighter by the second.
After the light faded, Jouji motioned for Ichiro to enter, which he did. Ichiro entered the teleportation gate and exited on the other side.
The bloody backdrop was replaced with a more neutral one. Grass sprouted, and the menacing purple clouds vanished from view. Two men were hugging each other on the ground. They were Ha-Beleth and Arthur. Ichiro charged at them, opening his mouth and attempting to pry Arthur free from this lethal embrace.
“That’s enough, Arthur.”
After Arthur reluctantly let go of the hug, Ha-Beleth, who had been unconscious because of the hug, levitated. It floated for two meters before opening its mouth and spewing countless souls into the sky, where the dimensional hole had appeared. The two took a few steps back.
The souls stopped pouring out of the mouth after a half minute, and Ha-Beleth fell to the ground. Ha-Beleth’s consciousness returned after it had fallen down. Slowly, it started cackling. Ichiro sensed danger and told Arthur to return to the portal, which Arthur did. After all, he was a good boy who listened to adults.
Ha-Beleth, who was laying in the grassed ground and had no energy to retaliate, stared blankly at Ichiro. Its empty sockets reflected the sun. The only thing moving was its head, which shook from side to side like a snake trying to bite itself.
“First Son, you’ve got me good. You planned all of this, didn’t you? You’ve shown yourself to be weak, given me hope, and then crushed it like nothing. What a fool I am...”
It tried to stand up, but failed miserably. It could barely move its legs, much less its upper body. The sky was clear and cloudless, and it muttered as it looked up.
“My employer was right; you are the most dangerous entity that should not exist.”
Its voice echoed throughout the land. Everyone present heard it clearly. Ichiro was confused. What he is talking about? This is just a dream, where he kills everyone that tries to kill him. There is no meaning behind it. If these nightmares had an actual threat to his reality, it wouldn’t feel so comfortable. The dreams were his playground, his own personal hell. Nightmares that were created by his own imagination.
He walked towards Ha-Beleth, who was still lying on the grassy ground, and began whispering to it.
“You’re wrong. If I was the God, I would’ve already killed you when you showed up.”
This is my dream. I can do anything, including killing myself. I’m dreaming, and I’ll wake up soon. No matter how bad things get, I will never die in the reality because of that. My brain creates these scenarios because...
The reality is boring sometimes.
Ichiro dismissed the thought, telling himself that what he heard from him were his delusions. His mind was playing tricks on him, making him think the nightmare was real because it wanted him to suffer. But it was all in his head.
Ichiro displayed no emotion as he conjured a sword-like mana construct and used his ‘magical’ eyesight to locate and pierce the core. It shattered, and Ha-Beleth ceased to function. The demon’s corpse collapsed onto the ground. It lay there unmoving.
Ichiro turned around, facing the horizon. The scenery reminded him of Japan. The same wind blew across his face, carrying the scent of freshly cut grass. Birds chirped, insects buzzed, and butterflies fluttered past. It was peaceful.
There was no pain here. He defeated the ‘shadow being’ and left it lying helpless on the ground.
Ha-Beleth crumbled into the dust. Before dissipating, Ha-Beleth’s corpse mumbled something, which Ichiro ignored.
Ichiro turned around and strolled back into the portal after Ha-Beleth had completely vanished. While talking to ‘command,’ his chichi said something like extraction point; perhaps this is where the dream ends? He got halfway through his walk when he felt something dangerous behind his back. Ichiro tried to turn around, but it was too late. A black blade pierced his back and exited from the front, cutting him cleanly through his heart.
His consciousness faded away. Ichiro looked at it, thought to himself, ‘so that’s how this dream ends, huh?’
The one who pierced him was a being who had emerged from the dimensional hole. It had six arm-like appendages and two legs, but no appearance because it wasn’t a living being. It was a ‘enhancement’ from an unknown being that improved Ha-Beleth, who now attempts to assassinate the killer of its master.
But it froze before it could return. No, it was frozen.
Ichiro’s body radiated black energy, and a black figure emerged from it. It closed down every dimensional thing that was nearby. That was that ‘shadow being’ who entered Ichiro’s body three days ago. It touched Ichiro’s wound, and it vanished in an instant.
Suddenly, the black energy surrounding Ichiro dispersed, and the shadow being reappeared. It formed a humanoid shape with arms, legs, torso, head, hands, feet, and fingers. It was not human, however.
Then it looked at the frozen being and spoke.
“Ṗ̷̡R̵̰̉Ò̷̞T̸̯͊E̴͈̚C̷̼̓T̷͓̓”
Fear gripped the being, who had felt nothing before. For the first time in its existence, fear struck its soul. The creature screamed, begging for mercy, but none came. It had no mouth and couldn’t scream. It shuddered unknowingly and watched as the ‘shadow being’ crept closer to it, jerking now and then. After approaching it face to face, it spoke again.
“B̷͚̀͝E̸͈͉̹̅̌̃͝G̴̛̤̲̅̂̒͋̚O̴̧̳͇̙̗͊̄͋͊̉̋͝Ṉ̵͊̽Ȩ̴̂͊͋”
The being that attacked Ichiro vanished instantly, without a trace. As if it never existed.
The being approached Ichiro, whose body was covered with blood, and took his soul gently in its hand. It gripped it and whispered to it.
“...you’re safe, little one.”
It entered through a new portal, which appeared in the distance. It moved quickly, disappearing immediately afterwards.
***
The portal led to Ichiro’s house, where his body was soundly sleeping. ‘Shadow being’, with Ichiro in his arms, stood there, looking at his body. Ichiro, unlike the previous time, was not a shadow, but a normal-looking man with a gentle golden glow emanating from him. ‘Shadow being’ approached the body and inserted Ichiro into his own body. Following that, it whispered.
“Ì̴̭͕̊̈́̽ ̸̺̣͓̲̅W̴͎̬̪̪̾̆̚Ī̵̦̠L̶̤̪̗̺͒L̸̥̹̑̈́ ̴̳̳̓Ĉ̴̥͒O̸̦̓̓̊͠M̶̛̙̼̣̩͊E̵͓͉̐͒ ̵͙̮̰̹͛̀̚Ḇ̶̼̖̜̿Ǎ̴̯̈C̶̦̞̋̚K̷̢͎͎̈́”
And vanished into another new portal he’d just opened, leaving Ichiro to rest.
Rewritten 07/12/2022
Nowadays I don't have time to write every hour. I was running around in those 6 warm months, and only now I can write without being interrupted. Eh, that's life.
Added details, removed some, and added motivation.
Here's extra for opening the spoiler:
Arthur Phoneixcrest, (adult form from the talisman, 12 years old)
Thanx for the chappy and also I am here
